Investigation of structural and dynamic properties of the Butyrophilin BTN3A1/BTN2A1 cytoplasmic complex by F solution NMR.

Butyrophilin 3A1 (BTN3A1) is an integral membrane protein capable of detecting phosphoantigens, like (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl diphosphate (HMBPP), through its internal B30.2 domain. Detection of phosphoantigens leads to interactions with butyrophilin 2A1 and the subsequent activation of γδ-T cells.

Establishment and Clinical Application of Rh Blood Group Bank in the East China Region.

Purpose: To investigate the expression and distribution of Rh phenotypes (C, c, D, E, e) among voluntary blood donors in a specific region of East China, to establish a regional Rh phenotype database, and to enhance the precision and efficacy of clinical blood transfusions.

Patients And Methods: A total of 28979 blood samples were collected from voluntary donors at a central blood station in East China between May 2023 and December 2023. An automated blood type analyzer was used to determine Rh phenotypes, which were then applied clinically for ABO and Rh blood type-matching in transfusions.

Numerical simulation of fluid-structure interaction analysis for the performance of leaflet reimplantation with different types of artificial graft.

Background And Objective: In clinical practice, valve-sparing aortic root replacement surgery primarily addresses left ventricular dysfunction in patients due to severe aortic regurgitation, but there is controversy regarding the choice of surgical technique. In order to investigate which type of valve-sparing aortic root replacement surgeries can achieve better blood flow conditions, this study examines the impact of changes in the geometric morphology of the aortic root on the hemodynamic environment through numerical simulation.

Methods: An idealized model of the aortic root was established based on data obtained from clinical measurements, including using the model of the aortic root without significant lesions as the control group (Model C), while using surgical models of leaflet reimplantation with tubular graft (Model T), leaflet reimplantation with Valsalva graft (Model V), and the Florida sleeve procedure (Model F) as the experimental groups.

An Interstitial Boron Inserted Metastable Hexagonal Rh Nanocrystal for Efficient Hydrogen Oxidation Electrocatalysis.

Constructing metastable phase structure plays an important role in changing the physicochemical properties and improving the catalytic performance of nanocrystals. Unfortunately, the synthesis of metastable phase metallic nanocrystals is highly challenging, mainly due to the thermodynamically unstable ground-state. Here, we report a synthesis of unconventional metastable hexagonal rhodium nanocrystal (B-Rh/C) via interstitial boron insertion.

Global changes and their environmental stressors have a significant impact on soil biodiversity-A meta-analysis.

Identifying the main threats to soil biodiversity is crucial as soils harbor ∼60% of global biodiversity. Many previous meta-analyses investigating the impact of different global changes (GCs) on biodiversity have omitted soil fauna or are limited by the GCs studied. We conducted a broad-scale meta-analysis focused on soil fauna communities, analyzing 3,161 effect sizes from 624 publications studying climate change, land-use intensification, pollution, nutrient enrichment, invasive species and habitat fragmentation.

Detection and analysis of parvovirus B19 among blood donors in a regional blood center in Eastern China.

Background And Objective: The B19 virus is mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract; however, studies have shown that it can also be transmitted through blood transfusions or plasma products. This study investigated B19V antibodies, DNA, and gene typing in blood donors at a central blood station in China to evaluate the status of B19V infection.

Materials And Methods: A total of 7728 samples from Suzhou Blood Center were collected from July 2022 to April 2023.

Synthesis and evaluation of (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl diphosphate analogs as competitive partial agonists of butyrophilin 3A1.

Phosphoantigens (pAgs) induce conformational changes after binding to the intracellular region of BTN3A1 which result in its clustering with BTN2A1, forming an activating ligand for the Vγ9Vδ2 T cell receptor. Here, we designed a small panel of bulky analogs of the prototypical pAg (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl diphosphate (HMBPP) that contain an aromatic ring attached to the C-3 position in place of methyl group. These compounds bind with high affinity to BTN3A1 but fail to fully support its interaction with BTN2A1 and only partially trigger T cell activation relative to HMBPP.

Stabilizing atomic Ru species in conjugated sp carbon-linked covalent organic framework for acidic water oxidation.

Suppressing the kinetically favorable lattice oxygen oxidation mechanism pathway and triggering the adsorbate evolution mechanism pathway at the expense of activity are the state-of-the-art strategies for Ru-based electrocatalysts toward acidic water oxidation. Herein, atomically dispersed Ru species are anchored into an acidic stable vinyl-linked 2D covalent organic framework with unique crossed π-conjugation, termed as COF-205-Ru. The crossed π-conjugated structure of COF-205-Ru not only suppresses the dissolution of Ru through strong Ru-N motifs, but also reduces the oxidation state of Ru by multiple π-conjugations, thereby activating the oxygen coordinated to Ru and stabilizing the oxygen vacancies during oxygen evolution process.

Increased circulating polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells are associated with prognosis of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Introduction: Myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) exhibits immunosuppressive functions and affects cancer progression, but its relationship with prostate cancer remains unclear. We elucidated the association of polymorphonuclear MDSC (PMN-MDSC) and monocytic MDSC (M-MDSC) levels of the total peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with prostate cancer progression and evaluated their roles as prognostic indicators.

Methods: We enrolled 115 patients with non-metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (nmHSPC, n = 62), metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC, n = 23), and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC, n = 30).

Establishment and clinical application of the HLA genotype database of platelet-apheresis donors in Suzhou.

The establishment of a platelet-apheresis donor database may provide a feasible solution to improve the efficacy of platelet transfusion in patients with immune platelet transfusion refractoriness (PTR). This study aimed to establish HLA genotype database in Suzhou, to provide HLA-I compatible platelets for PTR patients to ensure the safety and effectiveness of platelet transfusions. We used a polymerase chain reaction sequence-based typing (PCR-SBT) method to establish the database by performing high-resolution HLA-A, -B, and -C genotyping on 900 platelet-apheresis donors.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide treatment confers resistance to neonatal ischemia and hypoxia: effects on neurobehavioral phenotypes.

JOURNAL/nrgr/04.03/01300535-202412000-00031/figure1/v/2024-04-08T165401Z/r/image-tiff Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury is the main cause of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and cerebral palsy. Currently, there are few effective clinical treatments for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.

A self-centering and stiffness-controlled MEMS accelerometer.

This paper presents a high-performance MEMS accelerometer with a DC/AC electrostatic stiffness tuning capability based on double-sided parallel plates (DSPPs). DC and AC electrostatic tuning enable the adjustment of the effective stiffness and the calibration of the geometric offset of the proof mass, respectively. A dynamical model of the proposed accelerometer was developed considering both DC/AC electrostatic tuning and the temperature effect.

A distinct topology of BTN3A IgV and B30.2 domains controlled by juxtamembrane regions favors optimal human γδ T cell phosphoantigen sensing.

Butyrophilin (BTN)-3A and BTN2A1 molecules control the activation of human Vγ9Vδ2 T cells during T cell receptor (TCR)-mediated sensing of phosphoantigens (PAg) derived from microbes and tumors. However, the molecular rules governing PAg sensing remain largely unknown. Here, we establish three mechanistic principles of PAg-mediated γδ T cell activation.

Energy and Mass Matching Characteristics of the Heat-Absorbing Side of the Ammonia Energy Storage System under Nonuniform Energy Flow Density.

Ammonia thermochemical energy storage is based on a reversible reaction and realizes energy storage and utilization by absorbing and releasing heat. Under different energy flow densities, the efficiency of an ammonia reactor composed of multiple ammonia reaction tubes is different. Based on the coupling model of light, heat, and chemical energy of an ammonia decomposition reaction system, taking a 20 MW solar thermal power plant as the research object, this paper proposes a new model of ammonia energy storage system, which places the ammonia decomposition side in a low-pressure environment and the ammonia synthesis side in a high-pressure environment.

Cancer trends and risk factors in China over the past 30 years (1990-2019).

We retrospectively studied cancer mortality and incidence in China from 1990 to 2019, investigated the cancer trends and risk factors, and analyzed the effects of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on cancer mortality and incidence. Data was obtained in "Our world in data" in October 2022 to explore mortality rates of different cancers and their trends and the roles of cancer risk factors, including GDP, air pollution, etc. Over the past 30 years, cancer had been China's second leading cause of death.

Analysis of survival and prognostic factors of clear cell adenocarcinoma of the prostate: a case-control study for a rare cancer entity.

Clear cell adenocarcinoma of the prostate (CCPC) is a rare entity compared to acinar carcinoma of the prostate (APC). The survival rate and prognostic factors of CCPC are still unclear and deserve further study. We downloaded data on prostate cancer from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database for 1975-2019.

Electric-Double-Layer Origin of the Kinetic pH Effect of Hydrogen Electrocatalysis Revealed by a Universal Hydroxide Adsorption-Dependent Inflection-Point Behavior.

The mechanism of the kinetic pH effect in hydrogen electrocatalysis, that is, the order-of-magnitude kinetic gap between the hydrogen oxidation and evolution reactions (HOR/HER) in acidic and alkaline electrolytes, has been drastically explored but still intractable to reach a consensus, which severely limits the catalyst advance for alkaline-based hydrogen energy technologies. Herein, the HOR/HER kinetics on a number of precious metal-based electrocatalysts are evaluated in electrolytes with pHs spanning a wide range from 1 to 13. Instead of a monotonous decrease with pH as generally believed, we surprisingly find a universal inflection-point behavior in the pH dependence of HOR/HER kinetics on these catalysts, with both the inflection-point pH and the acid-alkaline activity gap depending on the hydroxide binding energy of the catalyst.

Mutations to the BTN2A1 Linker Region Impact Its Homodimerization and Its Cytoplasmic Interaction with Phospho-Antigen-Bound BTN3A1.

Intracellular binding of small-molecule phospho-Ags to the HMBPP receptor complex in infected cells leads to extracellular detection by T cells expressing the Vγ9Vδ2 TCR, a noncanonical method of Ag detection. The butyrophilin proteins BTN2A1 and BTN3A1 are part of the complex; however, their precise roles are unclear. We suspected that BTN2A1 and BTN3A1 form a tetrameric (dimer of dimers) structure, and we wanted to probe the importance of the BTN2A1 homodimer.

Division of labor and cooperation between different butyrophilin proteins controls phosphoantigen-mediated activation of human γδ T cells.

Butyrophilin (BTN)-3A and BTN2A1 molecules control TCR-mediated activation of human Vγ9Vδ2 T-cells triggered by phosphoantigens (PAg) from microbes and tumors, but the molecular rules governing antigen sensing are unknown. Here we establish three mechanistic principles of PAg-action. Firstly, in humans, following PAg binding to the BTN3A1-B30.

Hydroxyl-Binding Energy-Induced Kinetic Gap Narrowing between Acidic and Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction on Intermetallic Ru Sn Catalyst.

Developing highly efficient catalysts toward alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and narrowing the kinetic gap between acidic and alkaline electrolytes are of great importance for the practical application of alkaline exchange membrane fuel cell . Herein, ordered Ru Sn /C intermetallic compound has been developed for the HOR under alkaline and acidic conditions. The authors demonstrate that the ordered intermetallic Ru Sn /C shows much enhanced HOR activity, stability, and CO-tolerance compared with its disordered RuSn solid solution alloy counterpart.

Correlation between Laboratory-Accelerated Corrosion and Field Exposure Test for High-Strength Stainless Steels.

Equipment in a long-term marine atmosphere environment is prone to corrosion failure. Natural field exposure tests usually require a long time to obtain corrosion information. This study worked out a laboratory-accelerated corrosion test method that has a strong correlation with the natural environment test in Wanning, Hainan, and can be used as the basis for life assessment and the prediction of two high-strength stainless-steel materials.