Advanced application of alkaline/basic electrolyzed water in the food and agriculture industry as cleaning, processing, preserving, and functional agents.

With a growing emphasis on sustainable and eco-friendly technologies, the food industry is actively seeking innovative solutions to improve safety, quality, and operational efficiency. Alkaline/basic electrolyzed water (ALEW/BEW), produced through the electrochemical dissociation of water and salts, presents a promising alternative that minimizes environmental impact while enhancing hygiene and safety standards. While prior studies have explored its individual applications, comprehensive reviews specifically examining ALEW/BEW within food systems are scarce.

Programmable Circular Multispecific Aptamer-Drug Engager to Broadly Boost Antitumor Immunity.

Safely and effectively harnessing innate immunity to boost cancer immunotherapy is promising yet challenging. Hence, we have developed a series of programmable aptamer-based multispecific engagers by encoding various artificial aptamer-drug codons with DNA-templated polymerization, aiming to broadly boost innate and adaptive immunity for antitumor therapy. All circular single-stranded multivalent aptamer-drug conjugates (os-mvApDCs) had a dendritic structure, precise size, and excellent stability, enabling prolonged blood circulation, targeted tumor accumulation, and rapid multireceptor-mediated endocytosis.

The stronger the ability, the greater the destructiveness? CEO ability and stock price crash risk.

The impact of CEO ability on corporate behavior is dual-faceted. Based on the "rent-seeking hypothesis", this paper focuses on the "dark side" of CEO ability and suggests that CEO ability may hurt corporate behavior. Using the DEA method to measure CEO ability and selecting Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2017 as a sample, we examine the relationship, mechanisms, and boundary conditions between CEO ability and stock price crash risk.

Fecal Coprococcus, hidden behind abdominal symptoms in patients with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

Background: Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is the presence of an abnormally excessive amount of bacterial colonization in the small bowel. Hydrogen and methane breath test has been widely applied as a non-invasive method for SIBO. However, the positive breath test representative of bacterial overgrowth could also be detected in asymptomatic individuals.

Enhancing Fresh-Cut Apple Preservation: Impact of Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water and Chitosan-Apple Essence Microencapsulation Coating on Browning and Flavor.

Fresh-cut apple preservation is a critical concern in the food industry due to the rapid deterioration of texture, color, and flavor. While our previous study introduced apple essence microencapsulation (AEM) to enhance flavor during storage, its impact on overall storage quality was minimal. Thus, this study explores the application of two preservation techniques, namely, slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) and chitosan-apple essence microencapsulation (CH-AEM) coating, to enhance the quality of fresh-cut apples.

Eddy impacts on abundance and habitat distribution of a large predatory squid off Peru.

The pelagic cephalopod species jumbo flying squid Dosidicus gigas is ecologically and economically important in the Humboldt ecosystem off Peru. This squid species is sensitive to oceanic environmental changes, and regional oceanographical variability is one of the important factors driving its redistribution. Off Peruvian waters, mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous and dominate the biogeochemical processes in this region.

Lipopolysaccharides protect mesenchymal stem cell against cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury by HMGB1/STAT3 signaling.

Background: Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) is a serious and irreversible injury. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is considered to be a potential therapy for I/R injury due to the paracrine effects. High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a novel mediator in MSC and regulates the response of inflammation injury.

Integrative Metabolomic and Transcriptomic Landscape during Fruit Ripening and Cracking.

fruit is prone to crack after ripening, but little is known about the mechanism underlying the cracking process. This study integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic data, revealing significant changes in 398 metabolites and 8414 genes during ripening and cracking, mainly impacting cell-wall metabolism. Multi-omics joint analysis indicated that genes related to polygalacturonase, pectate lyase, α-amylase, and glycogen phosphorylase were up-regulated after cracking, degrading cell wall and starch.

miR-379-5p regulates the proliferation, cell cycle, and cisplatin resistance of oral squamous cell carcinoma cells by targeting ROR1.

Objective: To analyze the regulatory mechanism microRNA miR-379-5p in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).

Methods: We collected serum samples from patients with OSCC and examined the expression of miR-379-5p and receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1) by real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot. OSCC cells were purchased for molecular research, cell multiplication was tested using the BrdU assay, cell cycle was tested using flow cytometry, and resistance to cisplatin (DDP) was assessed using the MTT assay.

Berberine and rifaximin effects on small intestinal bacterial overgrowth: Study protocol for an investigator-initiated, double-arm, open-label, randomized clinical trial (BRIEF-SIBO study).

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) leads to non-specific abdominal discomfort and nutrient malabsorption. Currently, rifaximin is widely applied in SIBO based on its antibacterial and non-absorbable nature. Berberine is a natural component of many popular medicine plants that ameliorates intestinal inflammation in humans through its modification of the gut microbiota.

HIF-1α/IL-8 axis in hypoxic macrophages promotes esophageal cancer progression by enhancing PD-L1 expression.

Esophageal cancer (EC) is a malignancy with poor prognosis and high mortality. Hypoxic microenvironment has also been proved to be an important feature of tumors. Herein, we mainly studied the influence of hypoxia-treated tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) on EC malignant phenotype and related molecular mechanism.

Dynamic changes in mental health status related to the COVID-19 pandemic among health care workers and inpatients in China.

Background: Exposure to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can cause severe mental health problems, the dynamics of which remain unclear. This study evaluated the mental status of frontline health care workers (FHWs) and suspected infected patients (SIPs) during different periods of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Materials And Methods: Demographic and psychological data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 409 participants in a hospital from 20 January to 7 August 2020.

Circ_0001821 Affects Proliferation and the Cell Cycle in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma by Elevating BTRC-Mediated IKBA Ubiquitination.

Unlabelled: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a fatal human cancer featured with a tendency to metastasis and relapse. Increasing studies have emphasized the critical roles of circular RNAs (circRNA) in ESCC. This study targeted at a novel circRNA and uncovering its function and mechanisms in ESCC.

and promoter G-quadruplexes dependent metabolic regulation mechanism of berberine in colon cancer.

Background: G-quadruplexes are molecular switches regulating gene transcription. and hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha () play important roles in cell proliferation, apoptosis, and metabolic regulation in colon cancer. Whether berberine can regulate metabolism by interacting with and G-quadruplexes in colon cancer needs to be explored.

CD16/PD-L1 bi-specific aptamer for cancer immunotherapy through recruiting NK cells and acting as immunocheckpoint blockade.

It is well established that natural killer (NK) cells can be used as an alternative candidate of T cells for adoptive cell therapy (ACT) due to its high killing capacity, off-the-shelf utility, and low toxicity. Though NK cells provide rapid and potent immune effects, they still suffer from insufficient infiltration and tumor immunosuppression environment, which result in unsatisfactory therapeutic efficiency. Herein, a highly stable CD16/PD-L1 bi-specific aptamer (defined as CP-bi-apt) with high affinity and selectivity was introduced to overcome these obstacles.

Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with reduced risk of Barrett's esophagus: a meta-analysis and systematic review.

Background: Helicobacter pylori (Hp) is a class I carcinogen in gastric carcinogenesis, but its role in Barrett's esophagus (BE) is unknown. Therefore, we aimed to explore the possible relationship.

Methods: We reviewed observational studies published in English until October 2019.

Identification of gene biomarkers and immune cell infiltration characteristics in rectal cancer.

Background: Compared with colon cancer, the increase of morbidity is more significant for rectal cancer. The current study set out to identify novel and critical biomarkers or features that may be used as promising targets for early diagnosis and treatment monitoring of rectal cancer.

Methods: Microarray datasets of rectal cancer with a minimum sample size of 30 and RNA-sequencing datasets of rectal adenocarcinoma (READ) were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.

DDX10 promotes human lung carcinoma proliferation by U3 small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein IMP4.

Background: Lung cancer is a common tumor and a leading cause of death worldwide. DEAD/H box RNA helicases (DDX) include several family members which regulate mRNA translation in cancer cells. In this study, we demonstrated that DEAD/H box RNA helicase 10 (DDX10) was significantly upregulated in lung cancer tissues compared with adjacent nontumor tissues.

A highly stable multifunctional aptamer for enhancing antitumor immunity against hepatocellular carcinoma by blocking dual immune checkpoints.

T-lymphocytes play a potent role in cancer immunotherapy; while, limited tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) combined with severe immunosuppression always significantly hinder their antitumor immune responses, especially in solid tumors such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we prepared a highly stable multifunctional aptamer for strengthening antitumor immunity against HCC solid tumors through a dual immune checkpoint blockade of CTLA-4 and PD-L1. The engineered multifunctional aptamer (termed P1/C4-bi-apt) can block both CTLA-4/B7 and PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathways and thus enhance the antitumor immune responses.

A novel long-wavelength off-on fluorescence probe for nitroreductase analysis and hypoxia imaging.

Hypoxia is one of the most important features of various diseases including solid tumors. It is of significant clinical importance for hypoxia analysis in tumors, and the analysis of hypoxia can be moved away to the indirect detection of nitroreductase. Various fluorescence methods have been developed for the analysis of nitroreductase and tumor hypoxia due to their simplicity, non-invasiveness and excellent spatial-temporal resolution.

[Analysis of Influencing Factors of Preoperative Anxiety or Depression in Patients with Lung Cancer Surgery].

Background: Preoperative anxiety/depression can bring physical and mental harm to the patients with lung cancer. There is little study on whether hospital waiting time before surgery can increase the psychological burden of patients with lung cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the preoperative anxiety and depression of patients with lung cancer in our hospital, and to analyze the related influencing factors.

Protein-assisted formation of gold clusters-MnO nanocomposite for fluorescence imaging of intracellular glutathione.

Herein, a bovine serum albumin-stabilized gold clusters-MnO nanocomposite (BSA@AuNCs-MnO) was constructed. Manganese dioxide (MnO) was generated in situ on the gold clusters (BSA@AuNCs) based on the redox reaction between bovine serum albumin (BSA) and potassium permanganate (KMnO). The fluorescence of BSA@AuNCs can be quenched by the in-situ grown MnO, which has strong light absorption ability.

Dual sensing of glutathione and acidic pH values by using MnO nanosheets and 3-acetyl-7-hydroxy-2H-chromen-2-one as a fluorescent pH probe.

A multifunctional nanoprobe is described for dual sensing of acidic pH values and glutathione (GSH) by combining the pH-responsive fluorescent probe 3-acetyl-7-hydroxy-2H-chromen-2-one (AHC) and MnO nanosheets. The fluorescence of the MnO/AHC composite is weak due to an inner filter effect. If, however, the MnO nanosheets are reductively decomposed by GSH, the blue fluorescence of the pH probe AHC (with excitation/emission maximum at 417/456 nm) will be restored.