Publications by authors named "Yuan Kai"

Article Synopsis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease affecting many people, and neutrophils are key players in its development, making them potential targets for treatment.
  • Tetrandrine, a compound from a traditional Chinese herb, shows promise in treating RA by reducing inflammation and proliferation of certain immune cells, but its effects on neutrophils were previously unclear.
  • In a study using a mouse model of RA, tetrandrine demonstrated significant effectiveness in reducing joint symptoms and sizes compared to control treatments, indicating its potential role in managing RA by targeting neutrophil activity.
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Atomically nitrogen-coordinated iron atoms on carbon (FeNC) catalysts are emerging as attractive materials to substitute precious-metal-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, FeNC usually suffers from unsatisfactory performance due to the symmetrical charge distribution around the iron site. Elaborately regulating the microenvironment of the central Fe atom can substantially improve the catalytic activity of FeNC, which remains challenging.

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van der Waals materials possess an innate layer degree of freedom and thus are excellent candidates for exploring emergent two-dimensional ferroelectricity induced by interlayer translation. However, despite being theoretically predicted, experimental realization of this type of ferroelectricity is scarce at the current stage. Here, we demonstrate robust sliding ferroelectricity in semiconducting 1T^{'}-ReS_{2} multilayers via a combined study of theory and experiment.

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Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. The protein plays a significant role in tumor development. We set up a tissue microarray (containing 140 NSCLC and ten normal lung tissues) and performed immunohistochemistry to assess expression in the tissues of 140 patients.

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Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is an emerging non-invasive neuromodulation technique, which could be potentially applied to enhance stroke rehabilitation. In this study, we aimed to characterize the frequency-specific effects of tACS in chronic stroke. Therefore, concurrent tACS and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were conducted in 13 chronic stroke individuals.

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An enormous challenge in the post-genome era is to annotate and resolve the consequences of genetic variation on diverse phenotypes. The genome-wide association study (GWAS) is a well-known method to identify potential genetic loci for complex traits from huge genetic variations, following which it is crucial to identify expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL). However, the conventional eQTL methods usually disregard the systematical role of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or genes, thereby overlooking many network-associated phenotypic determinates.

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Zinc ion capacitors (ZICs) hold great promise in large-scale energy storage by inheriting the superiorities of zinc ion batteries and supercapacitors. However, the mismatch of kinetics and capacity between a Zn anode and a capacitive-type cathode is still the Achilles' heel of this technology. Herein, porous carbons are fabricated by using tetra-alkali metal pyromellitic acid salts as precursors through a carbonization/self-activation procedure for enhancing zinc ion storage.

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Purpose: To investigate the expression profile of systemic RNA interference deficient-1 transmembrane family member 1 (SIDT1) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and assess its prognostic value and immune infiltration.

Materials And Methods: A tissue microarray (TMA) was purchased containing 60 paired NSCLC tissues and matched para-tumor tissues, and another TMA was constructed comprising 140 NSCLC tissues. Then, immunohistochemical staining and scoring were performed.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cue reactivity is widely used in fMRI studies of substance use disorders, but inconsistencies in reporting participant characteristics and study design limit understanding and clinical application.* -
  • A Delphi study involving 45 experts aimed to create a checklist of 38 important methodological items for fMRI drug cue reactivity research, categorized into seven main areas.* -
  • A review of 108 recent FDCR studies found significant gaps in how these important items were reported, hindering the reproducibility and interpretability of research findings.*
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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates how total sleep deprivation (SD) and subsequent recovery affect the gut microbiota in rats, highlighting the links between sleep loss and metabolic disorders.
  • - Rats experienced significant changes in gut microbial composition and functional pathways after 48 hours of SD, with some alterations persisting even after a week of recovery.
  • - The findings suggest that while acute total sleep deprivation causes notable shifts in gut microbiota, these changes can potentially be reversed with adequate sleep recovery.
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Continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS), a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, can induce long-lasting changes in synaptic plasticity, vital for memory reconsolidation. For this study, a total of 170 participants completed four experiments by a randomized controlled design. Succeeding fear conditioning, the subjects received cTBS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) or vertex (control) with or without exposure to the conditioned stimulus to reactivate the original fear memory, and then underwent fear response tests.

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  • Respiratory infections like SARS, H1N1, and COVID-19 have posed significant threats to global health, leading to unclear recommendations regarding facemask usage due to lack of solid evidence on their effectiveness.
  • A meta-analysis of 21,341 records included 8 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 78 studies focusing on facemask efficacy and public perception, revealing that facemasks can notably reduce infection risk, especially when used for longer than two weeks.
  • The analysis showed that while 71% of participants believe facemasks are effective and 68% intend to wear them, actual usage was lower at 54%, with regional differences in attitudes influenced by cultural factors and public health policies.
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During the pandemic era, quarantines might potentially have negative effects and disproportionately exacerbate health condition problems. We conducted this cross-sectional, national study to ascertain the prevalence of constant pain symptoms and how quarantines impacted the pain symptoms and identify the factors associated with constant pain to further guide reducing the prevalence of chronic pain for vulnerable people under the pandemic. The sociodemographic data, quarantine conditions, mental health situations and pain symptoms of the general population were collected.

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  • Increased participation in online gaming and other addictive behaviors among adolescents poses risks for unhealthy addictions due to immature cognitive control and high risk-taking tendencies during this developmental stage.
  • The study emphasizes the role of frontostriatal circuits in addiction, particularly focusing on internet gaming disorder (IGD) and nicotine addiction as emerging serious issues.
  • Findings reveal that two brain systems—an affective system (striatum) driven by emotional stimuli and a cognitive system (prefrontal cortex) providing inhibitory control—impact behaviors associated with addiction, highlighting potential avenues for effective treatments.
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Single atom Fe-nitrogen-carbon (Fe-N-C) catalysts have high catalytic activity and selectivity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and are possible alternatives for Pt-based materials. However, the reasonable design and selection of precursors to establish their relationship with Fe-N-C catalyst performance is still a formidable task. Herein, precursors with controllable structures are easily achieved through isomer engineering, with the purpose of regulating the active site density and microscopic morphology of the final electrocatalyst.

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Materials with a quasi-one-dimensional stripy magnetic order often exhibit low crystal and magnetic symmetries, thus allowing the presence of various energy coupling terms and giving rise to macroscopic interplay between spin, charge, and phonon. In this work, we performed optical, electrical and magnetic characterizations combined with first-principles calculations on a van der Waals antiferromagnetic insulator chromium oxychloride (CrOCl). We detected the subtle phase transition behaviors of exfoliated CrOCl under varying temperature and magnetic field and clarified its controversial spin structures.

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The common ancestor of seed plants and mosses contained homo-oligomeric cellulose synthesis complexes (CSCs) composed of identical subunits encoded by a single CELLULOSE SYNTHASE (CESA) gene. Seed plants use different CESA isoforms for primary and secondary cell wall deposition. Both primary and secondary CESAs form hetero-oligomeric CSCs that assemble and function in planta only when all the required isoforms are present.

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Nowadays, the simultaneous inhibition of two or more pathways plays an increasingly important role in cancer treatment due to the complex and diverse pathogenesis of cancer, and the combination of the cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) inhibitor and PIM1 inhibitor was found to generate synergistic effects in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treatment. Therefore, we discovered a novel lead targeting CDK6/PIM1 pharmacophore-based and structure-based virtual screening, synthesized five different series of new derivates, and obtained a potent and balanced dual CDK6/PIM1 inhibitor , which showed high kinase selectivity. Meanwhile, displayed an excellent safety profile and great pharmacokinetic properties.

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Lithium-sulfur battery is one of the most promising choices for next-generation batteries due to its high theoretical energy density and natural abundance. However, the sulfur cathode undergoes a stepwise reduction process and generates multiple soluble polysulfide intermediates; for the further conversion from the dissolved intermediates to the final solid product (LiS), the surface nucleation barrier limits the speed of the electrochemical precipitation, resulting in serious polysulfide diffusion loss and low sulfur utilization. Herein, the trace LiS (tLiS) is modified on the carbon fiber (CF) skeleton as preloaded crystal nuclei to boost the electrokinetics of LiS deposition in the initial cycle.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to public health, with vaccines being a key preventive tool, and understanding related psychological stress is vital for improving vaccine acceptance.
  • - An online survey conducted in China involved over 34,000 participants to assess psychological stress levels regarding COVID-19 vaccination at different stages, revealing a mean stress score of 3.90 that significantly decreased after receiving information about vaccines and after vaccination itself.
  • - Factors contributing to higher stress included being younger, having lower education, chronic health issues, mistrust in vaccine efficacy, past allergic reactions to vaccines, and existing mental health symptoms, with some stress factors persisting even post-vaccination.
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  • Tropical indigenous peoples in Asia (TIA) possess unique genetic distinctions despite significant intergroup variations, revealing a shared ancestral lineage known as basal Asian ancestry (bASN) that traces back approximately 50,000 years.
  • This ancient ancestry contributes to specific adaptations related to hair and bone morphology, as well as pigmentation traits in TIA populations.
  • The study highlights the initial human migrations into Asia and how genetic factors, including natural selection and new mutations, have influenced the observable traits in TIA cultures today.
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