Modifying the Resistant Starch Content and the Retrogradation Characteristics of Potato Starch Through High-Dose Gamma Irradiation.

Potato starch is widely utilized in the food industry. Gamma irradiation is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly method for starch modification. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of comprehensive and consistent knowledge regarding the physicochemical characteristics of high-dose gamma-irradiated potato starch, retrogradation properties in particular.

The analgesic effect of continuous adductor canal block combined with popliteal plexus block for total knee arthroplasty: a randomized controlled trial.

This study aimed to confirm the hypothesis that continuous ACB (CACB) combined with a popliteal plexus block (PPB) can improve posterior knee pain, reduce nalbuphine consumption, and shorten the length of hospital stay. Patients who underwent TKA were allocated to the CACB + sham block (SHAM) or CACB + PPB groups. The primary outcome was the maximum pain score originating from the posterior knee within 4 h after TKA.

Methylation alterations of imprinted genes in different placental diseases.

Background: Imprinted genes play important functions in placentation and pregnancy; however, research on their roles in different placental diseases is limited. It is believed that epigenetic alterations, such as DNA methylation, of placental imprinting genes may contribute to the different pathological features of severe placental diseases, such as pre-eclampsia (PE) and placenta accreta spectrum disorders (PAS).

Results: In this study, we conducted a comparative analysis of the methylation and expression of placental imprinted genes between PE and PAS using bisulfite sequencing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and quantitative PCR, respectively.

Effects of the ZrO Crystalline Phase and Morphology on the Thermocatalytic Decomposition of Dimethyl Methylphosphonate.

Thermocatalytic decomposition is an efficient purification technology that is potentially applicable to degrading chemical warfare agents and industrial toxic gases. In particular, ZrO has attracted attention as a catalyst for the thermocatalytic decomposition of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), which is a simulant of the nerve gas sarin. However, the influence of the crystal phase and morphology on the catalytic performance of ZrO requires further exploration.

Prediction of preeclampsia using maternal circulating mRNAs in early pregnancy.

Purpose: Preeclampsia (PE) is one of the most common and serious complications of pregnancy, and novel methods for the early prediction of PE are needed for clinical application.

Methods: In this study, a circulating cell-free RNA (cfRNA) panel of target genes for PE prediction was designed and validated in a case-control cohort and a nested case-control cohort. The QPCR was applied to quantify the copy number of cfRNA, and the data were normalized as multiples of the median.

Unimolecular Cascaded Multienzyme Conjugates Modulate the Microenvironment of Diabetic Wound to Promote Healing.

An abnormal microenvironment underlies poor healing in chronic diabetic chronic wounds. However, effectively modulating the microenvironment of the diabetic wound remains a great challenge due to sustained oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. Here, we present a unimolecular enzyme-polymer conjugate that demonstrates excellent multienzymatic cascade activities.

Environmental determinants and demographic influences on global urban microbiomes, antimicrobial resistance and pathogenicity.

Urban microbiome plays crucial roles in human health and are related to various diseases. The MetaSUB Consortium has conducted the most comprehensive global survey of urban microbiomes to date, profiling microbial taxa/functional genes across 60 cities worldwide. However, the influence of environmental/demographic factors on urban microbiome remains to be elucidated.

Screening of placenta accreta spectrum disorder using maternal serum biomarkers and clinical indicators: a case-control study.

Background: Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) disorder is a major cause of postpartum hemorrhage-associated maternal and fetal death, and novel methods for PAS screening are urgently needed for clinical application.

Methods: The purpose of this study was to develop new methods for PAS screening using serum biomarkers and clinical indicators. A total of 95 PAS cases and 137 controls were enrolled in a case-control study as cohort one, and 44 PAS cases and 35 controls in a prospective nested case-control study were enrolled as cohort two.

The Enhancement of CO Oxidation Performance and Stability in SO and HS Environment on Pd-Au/FeO/AlO Catalysts.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colourless, odourless, and toxic gas. Long-term exposure to high concentrations of CO causes poisoning and even death; therefore, CO removal is particularly important. Current research has focused on the efficient and rapid removal of CO via low-temperature (ambient) catalytic oxidation.

Application of urease-producing microbial community in seawater to dust suppression in desert.

In order to solve the dust problem caused by sandstorms, this paper aims to propose a new method of enriching urease-producing microbial communities in seawater in a non-sterile environment. Besides, the difference of dust suppression performance of enriched microorganisms under different pH conditions was also explored to adapt the dust. The Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed the formation of CaCO.

Glycan-selective in-situ growth of thermoresponsive polymers for thermoprecipitation and enrichment of N-glycoprotein/glycopeptides.

In view of the biological significance and micro-heterogeneity of protein glycosylation for human health, specific enrichment of N-glycosylated proteins/peptides from complex biological samples is a prerequisite for the discovery of disease biomarkers and clinical diagnosis. In this work, we propose a "grafting-from" N-glycoprotein enriching method based on the in-situ growth of thermoresponsive polymer brushes from the N-glycosylated site of proteins. The initiator was first attached to the pre-oxidized glycan moieties by hydrazide chemistry, from which the thermoresponsive polymers can be grown to form giant protein-polymer conjugates (PPC).

Hyaluronic acid-targeted and pH-responsive drug delivery system based on metal-organic frameworks for efficient antitumor therapy.

Drug delivery systems (DDSs) have emerged to help delivering the required cargo into the region of the tumor, achieving the objectives of extenuating the potential damage to the body and improving the therapeutic effectiveness. Here, we developed a one-pot process for encapsulating the unstable and hydrophobic d-α-Tocopherol succinate (α-TOS) in zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) compounds (defined as α-TOS@ZIF-8) and subsequently coated with a hyaluronic acid (HA) shell to form the HA/α-TOS@ZIF-8 nanoplatform. Of particular note was when the concentration of α-TOS is l mg/mL, the loading rate was high up to 43.

Response to crizotinib in a lung adenocarcinoma patient harboring a novel - fusion variant.

fusion is a common genetic alteration in non-small-cell lung cancer. Crizotinib, an anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitor, shows efficacy in the treatment of lung cancer cases with translocation. We report the response to crizotinib of a lung adenocarcinoma patient harboring a novel - fusion variant, which was different from the two common - fusion types reported in the literature.

Identification and characterization of genes involved in the jasmonate biosynthetic and signaling pathways in mulberry (Morus notabilis).

Jasmonate (JA) is an important phytohormone regulating growth, development, and environmental response in plants, particularly defense response against herbivorous insects. Recently, completion of the draft genome of the mulberry (Morus notabilis) in conjunction with genome sequencing of silkworm (Bombyx mori) provides an opportunity to study this unique plant-herbivore interaction. Here, we identified genes involved in JA biosynthetic and signaling pathways in the genome of mulberry for the first time, with the majority of samples showing a tissue-biased expression pattern.

Two dimensional barcode-inspired automatic analysis for arrayed microfluidic immunoassays.

The usability of many high-throughput lab-on-a-chip devices in point-of-care applications is currently limited by the manual data acquisition and analysis process, which are labor intensive and time consuming. Based on our original design in the biochemical reactions, we proposed here a universal approach to perform automatic, fast, and robust analysis for high-throughput array-based microfluidic immunoassays. Inspired by two-dimensional (2D) barcodes, we incorporated asymmetric function patterns into a microfluidic array.