[Research progress on biosynthesis of sesquiterpenoids in Atractylodes lancea].

The traditional Chinese medicine Atractlodis Rhizoma is the dried rhizome of the Asteraceae herbal plant Atractylodes lancea, and it has the functions of drying dampness and strengthening the spleen, removing wind and dissipating cold, and brightening the eyes. The sesquiterpenoids in A. lancea are the main ingredients of its pharmacological activities in clinical practice, including atractylone, β-eudesmol, and hinesol, which possess anti-inflammation, antibacterial, antiviral, and hepatoprotective effects.

[Tissue distribution of volatile compounds in secretory cavities of different rhizome sections of wild Atractylodes lancea and A. lancea transplanted for different years].

Laser capture microdissection(LCM) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS) was employed to investigate the distribution of volatile compound in the secretory cavities of different tissues(cortex, phloem, xylem, and pith) in different rhizome sections of wild Atractylodes lancea. The same method was used to study the metabolic characteristics of the volatile compounds in the secretory cavities of different rhizome tissues of A. lancea transplanted for 1-3 years.

Hope for Others: Research Results from the University of Pittsburgh Rapid Autopsy Program for Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer affects 1/8 of women throughout their lifetimes, with 90% of cancer deaths being caused by metastasis. However, metastasis poses unique challenges to research, as complex changes in the microenvironment in different metastatic sites and difficulty obtaining tissue for study hinder the ability to examine in depth the changes that occur during metastasis. Rapid autopsy programs thus fill a unique need in advancing metastasis research.

Integration of CeO-Based Memristor with Vertically Aligned Nanocomposite Thin Film: Enabling Selective Conductive Filament Formation for High-Performance Electronic Synapses.

The CeO-based memristor has attracted significant attention due to its intrinsic resistive switching (RS) properties, large on/off ratio, and great plasticity, making it a promising candidate for artificial synapses. However, significant challenges such as high power consumption and poor device reliability hinder its broad application in neuromorphic microchips. To tackle these issues, in this work, we design a novel bilayer (BL) memristor by integrating a CeO-based memristor with a Co-CeO vertically aligned nanocomposite (VAN) layer and compare it with the single layer (SL) memristor.

Efficacy of subcutaneous specific immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis combined with asthma: a retrospective analysis.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of subcutaneous specific immunotherapy (SCIT) for allergic rhinitis (AR) combined with asthma.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of clinical data from 93 patients with AR combined with asthma admitted to our hospital from January 2022 to January 2023 was conducted. Based on the treatment interventions received, the patients were divided into a control group (n=46, receiving sublingual specific immunotherapy [SLIT]) and an observation group (n=47, receiving SCIT).

Conditioned Pain Modulation Differences in Central and Peripheral Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) Patients.

Aim: To evaluate conditioned pain modulation (CPM) in burning mouth syndrome (BMS) patients with different pain mechanisms.

Materials And Methods: Twenty BMS patients (52.0 ± 6.

Effect of Lingual Nerve Block and Localised Somatosensory Abnormalities in Patients With Burning Mouth Syndrome-A Randomised Crossover Double-Blind Trial.

Aims: To investigate the effect of a lingual nerve block on spontaneous pain in patients with burning mouth syndrome (BMS) and to estimate associated somatosensory abnormalities by quantitative sensory testing (QST).

Protocol And Methods: A standardised QST battery including cold detection threshold (CDT), warmth detection threshold (WDT), thermal sensory limen (TSL), paradoxical heat sensation (PHS), cold pain threshold (CPT), heat pain threshold (HPT), mechanical pain threshold (MPT), wind-up ratio (WUR) and pressure pain threshold (PPT) was performed at the oral mucosa of the most painful site and intraoral control site in 20 BMS patients, and at the tongue and cheek mucosa in 22 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. The effect of a lingual nerve block on spontaneous burning pain reported by the BMS patients on a 0-10 cm visual analogue scale (VAS) was investigated in a randomised double-blind crossover design using (1 mL) lidocaine (lido) or saline (sal) with an interval of 1 week.

Nuclei instance segmentation using a transformer-based graph convolutional network and contextual information augmentation.

Nucleus instance segmentation is an important task in medical image analysis involving cell-level pathological analysis and is of great significance for many biomedical applications, such as disease diagnosis and drug screening. However, the high-density and tight-contact between cells is a common feature of most cell images, which poses a great technical challenge for nuclei instance segmentation. The latest research focuses on CNN-based methods for nuclei instance segmentation, which typically rely on bounding box regression and non-maximum suppression to locate nuclei.

Sub-1K Cold-Electron Quantum Well Switching at Room Temperature.

Quantum states can provide means to systematically manipulate the transport of electrons. Here we present electron transport across quasi-bound states of two heterogeneous quantum wells (QWs), where the transport of thermally excited electrons is blocked or enabled depending on the relative positions of the two quasi-bound states, with an abrupt current onset occurring when the two QW states align. The QW switch comprises a source (Cr), QW1 (CrO), QW2 (SnO, < 2), a tunneling barrier (SiO), and a drain (Si), where the effective electron mass of QW1 (*) is selected to be larger than QW2 (*).

Dendrite Growth and Dead Lithium Formation in Lithium Metal Batteries and Mitigation Using a Protective Layer: A Phase-Field Study.

Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) are considered one of the most promising next-generation rechargeable batteries due to their high specific capacity. However, severe dendrite growth and subsequent formation of dead lithium (Li) during the battery cycling process impede its practical application. Although extensive experimental studies have been conducted to investigate the cycling process, and several theoretical models were developed to simulate the Li dendrite growth, there are limited theoretical studies on the dead Li formation, as well as the entire cycling process.

Contribution of Genomic Imbalance in Prenatal Congenital Anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract: A Multi-Center Cohort Study.

Objectives: To investigate the diagnostic utility of copy-number variant (CNV) detection by chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) and genotype-phenotype associations in prenatal congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT).

Methods: This is a retrospective multi-center study of CNV analysis in 457 fetuses with ultrasound-detected CAKUT and normal karyotypes. Cohorts from published studies were included for further pooled analyses (N = 2746).

Genome sequencing in the prenatal diagnosis of structural malformations in the fetus.

Prenatal genetic diagnosis has undergone two pivotal paradigm shifts, initially with the introduction of chromosomal microarray and subsequently with the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS). NGS technology has given rise to a multitude of applications, with gene panels, exome sequencing (ES), and genome sequencing (GS) emerging as highly promising tests for prenatal genetic investigations. These advanced approaches have demonstrated superior diagnostic rates when compared to conventional testing methods, showcasing the evolution and enhancement of prenatal genetic screening and diagnostic capabilities.

Evaluating the impact of shift work on the risk of cardiometabolic disease: A Mendelian randomization study.

Background And Aims: Evidence is increasingly suggesting that shift work is a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease. However, the causal relationship between shift work and cardiometabolic disease is not yet fully understood. In this study, we employed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to investigate the causal relationship between shift work and the risk of cardiometabolic outcomes.

Detection of genomic variants by genome sequencing in foetuses with central nervous system abnormalities.

Objective: Clinical validity of genome sequencing (GS) (>30×) has been preliminarily verified in the post-natal setting. This study is to investigate the potential utility of trio-GS as a prenatal test for diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) anomalies.

Methods: We performed trio-based GS on a prospective cohort of 17 foetuses with CNS abnormalities.

Nano-drug delivery system for the treatment of multidrug-resistant breast cancer: Current status and future perspectives.

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in women. Chemotherapy continues to be the treatment of choice for clinically combating it. Nevertheless, the chemotherapy process is frequently hindered by multidrug resistance, thereby impacting the effectiveness of the treatment.

Dietary medium-chain fatty acids reduce hepatic fat accumulation via activation of a CREBH-FGF21 axis.

Objective: Dietary medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), characterized by chain lengths of 8-12 carbon atoms, have been proposed to have beneficial effects on glucose and lipid metabolism, yet the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. We hypothesized that MCFA intake benefits metabolic health by inducing the release of hormone-like factors.

Methods: The effects of chow diet, high-fat diet rich in long-chain fatty acids (LCFA HFD) fed ad libitum or pair-fed to a high-fat diet rich in MCFA (MCFA HFD) on glycemia, hepatic gene expression, circulating fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), and liver fat content in both wildtype and Fgf21 knockout mice were investigated.

Interferon subverts an AHR-JUN axis to promote CXCL13 T cells in lupus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is prototypical autoimmune disease driven by pathological T cell-B cell interactions. Expansion of T follicular helper (T) and T peripheral helper (T) cells, two T cell populations that provide help to B cells, is a prominent feature of SLE. Human T and T cells characteristically produce high levels of the B cell chemoattractant CXCL13 (refs.

Theoretical study of the structural and thermodynamic properties of U-He compounds under high pressure.

Uranium is considered as a very important nuclear energy material because of the huge amount of energy it releases. As the main product of the spontaneous decay of uranium, it is difficult for helium to react with uranium because of its chemical inertness. Therefore, bubbles will be formed inside uranium, which could greatly reduce the performance of uranium or cause safety problems.

TBC1D1 is an energy-responsive polarization regulator of macrophages via governing ROS production in obesity.

Energy status is linked to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in macrophages, which is elevated in obesity. However, it is unclear how ROS production is upregulated in macrophages in response to energy overload for mediating the development of obesity. Here, we show that the Rab-GTPase activating protein (RabGAP) TBC1D1, a substrate of the energy sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), is a critical regulator of macrophage ROS production and consequent adipose inflammation for obesity development.

Secure output consensus for multi-agent systems under edge-based event-trigger against denial-of-service.

This paper is concerned with the secure output consensus problem for the heterogeneous multi-agent systems under the event-triggered scheme in the presence of the denial-of-service attack. Without detecting the attack, the hold-input controller update strategy is adopted when some transmission data may be lost due to the effect of the attack. Based on the tolerable duration of the attack, a novel edge-based event-triggered scheme is developed.

In Vitro Cell Surface Marker Expression on Mesenchymal Stem Cell Cultures does not Reflect Their Ex Vivo Phenotype.

Cell surface marker expression is one of the criteria for defining human mesenchymal stem or stromal cells (MSC) in vitro. However, it is unclear if expression of markers including CD73 and CD90 reflects the in vivo origin of cultured cells. We evaluated expression of 15 putative MSC markers in primary cultured cells from periosteum and cartilage to determine whether expression of these markers reflects either the differentiation state of cultured cells or the self-renewal of in vivo populations.

Ligand Homogenized Br-I Wide-Bandgap Perovskites for Efficient NiO-Based Inverted Semitransparent and Tandem Solar Cells.

Phase heterogeneity of bromine-iodine (Br-I) mixed wide-bandgap (WBG) perovskites has detrimental effects on solar cell performance and stability. Here, we report a heterointerface anchoring strategy to homogenize the Br-I distribution and mitigate the segregation of Br-rich WBG-perovskite phases. We find that methoxy-substituted phenyl ethylammonium (-MeOPEA) ligands not only contribute to the crystal growth with vertical orientation but also promote halide homogenization and defect passivation near the buried perovskite/hole transport layer (HTL) interface as well as reduce trap-mediated recombination.