Temporal alteration of serum bilirubin levels and its renoprotective effects in diabetic kidney disease: exploring the hormonal mechanisms.

Objective: This current study represents a novel endeavor to scrutinize the correlation between the temporal alteration in serum total bilirubin (TBIL) concentrations and the rate of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Additionally, this study aims to probe the plausible molecular mechanism underpinning the renoprotective effects of bilirubin concerning its hormonal characteristics.

Materials And Methods: In this study, a cohort of 103 patients diagnosed with DKD and receiving medical care at Dongzhimen Hospital were recruited and monitored over a period of 2-7 years.

One-atom-thick hexagonal boron nitride co-catalyst for enhanced oxygen evolution reactions.

Developing efficient (co-)catalysts with optimized interfacial mass and charge transport properties is essential for enhanced oxygen evolution reaction (OER) via electrochemical water splitting. Here we report one-atom-thick hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) as an attractive co-catalyst with enhanced OER efficiency. Various electrocatalytic electrodes are encapsulated with centimeter-sized hBN films which are dense and impermeable so that only the hBN surfaces are directly exposed to reactive species.

Patriotism, nationalism, and evaluations of the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by a global rise of nationalism, and many countries' responses to the pandemic have further intensified nationalist sentiments. The public is polarized over government policies toward the pandemic. Hence, this study examined the associations of patriotism and nationalism with the support for lockdown policies and evaluations of governmental performance.

Gas permeation through graphdiyne-based nanoporous membranes.

Nanoporous membranes based on two dimensional materials are predicted to provide highly selective gas transport in combination with extreme permeance. Here we investigate membranes made from multilayer graphdiyne, a graphene-like crystal with a larger unit cell. Despite being nearly a hundred of nanometers thick, the membranes allow fast, Knudsen-type permeation of light gases such as helium and hydrogen whereas heavy noble gases like xenon exhibit strongly suppressed flows.

An App-Based Workplace Mindfulness Intervention, and Its Effects Over Time.

We investigated the week-to-week effects of a mindfulness intervention on emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and job satisfaction in a field study involving 218 participants who participated and reported their weekly outcomes during the 8-week program. To examine how mindfulness impacted work outcomes, we used intraindividual modeling of the 8-week data. Mindfulness increased over time, and time also had indirect effects on emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and job satisfaction, through mindfulness.

Stay Mindful and Carry on: Mindfulness Neutralizes COVID-19 Stressors on Work Engagement Sleep Duration.

We examine whether mindfulness can neutralize the negative impact of COVID-19 stressors on employees' sleep duration and work engagement. In Study 1, we conducted a field experiment in Wuhan, China during the lockdown between February 20, 2020, and March 2, 2020, in which we induced state mindfulness by randomly assigning participants to either a daily mindfulness practice or a daily mind-wandering practice. Results showed that the sleep duration of participants in the mindfulness condition, compared with the control condition, was less impacted by COVID-19 stressors (i.

Atomically thin photoanode of InSe/graphene heterostructure.

Achieving high-efficiency photoelectrochemical water splitting requires a better understanding of ion kinetics, e.g., diffusion, adsorption and reactions, near the photoelectrode's surface.

Seamlessly Splicing Metallic Sn Mo S at MoS Edge for Enhanced Photoelectrocatalytic Performance in Microreactor.

Accurate design of the 2D metal-semiconductor (M-S) heterostructure via the covalent combination of appropriate metallic and semiconducting materials is urgently needed for fabricating high-performance nanodevices and enhancing catalytic performance. Hence, the lateral epitaxial growth of M-S Sn Mo S/MoS heterostructure is precisely prepared with in situ growth of metallic Sn Mo S by doping Sn atoms at semiconductor MoS edge via one-step chemical vapor deposition. The atomically sharp interface of this heterostructure exhibits clearly distinguished performance based on a series of characterizations.

Identification of conserved and novel microRNAs that are responsive to heat stress in Brassica rapa.

The species Brassica rapa includes various vegetable crops. Production of these vegetable crops is usually impaired by heat stress. Some microRNAs (miRNAs) in Arabidopsis have been considered to mediate gene silencing in plant response to abiotic stress.

A genome-wide survey over the ChIP-on-chip identified androgen receptor-binding genomic regions identifies a novel prostate cancer susceptibility locus at 12q13.13.

Background: The molecular mechanisms for the genome-wide association studies (GWAS)-identified prostate cancer (PCa) risk-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) remain largely unexplained. One recent finding that the PCa risk SNPs are enriched in genomic regions containing androgen receptor (AR)-binding sites has suggested altered AR signaling as a potentially important mechanism.

Methods: To explore novel associations by leveraging this knowledge, we utilized a meta-analysis previously done over SNPs harbored in ChIP-on-chip identified AR-binding genomic regions using the GWAS data from the Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) and the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) study, and subsequently evaluated the top associations in a third population from the CAncer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS) study.

Association of prostate cancer risk with SNPs in regions containing androgen receptor binding sites captured by ChIP-On-chip analyses.

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified approximately three dozen single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) consistently associated with prostate cancer (PCa) risk. Despite the reproducibility of these associations, the molecular mechanism for most of these SNPs has not been well elaborated as most lie within non-coding regions of the genome. Androgens play a key role in prostate carcinogenesis.

A novel class of heat-responsive small RNAs derived from the chloroplast genome of Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa).

Background: Non-coding small RNAs play critical roles in various cellular processes in a wide spectrum of eukaryotic organisms. Their responses to abiotic stress have become a popular topic of economic and scientific importance in biological research. Several studies in recent years have reported a small number of non-coding small RNAs that map to chloroplast genomes.

Functional annotation of risk loci identified through genome-wide association studies for prostate cancer.

Background: The majority of established prostate cancer (PCa) risk-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified from genome-wide association studies do not fall into protein coding regions. Therefore, the mechanisms by which these SNPs affect PCa risk remain unclear. Here, we used a series of bioinformatic tools and databases to provide possible molecular insights into the actions of risk SNPs.