Effect of Inoculation Volume on a Mouse Model of Influenza Virus Infected with the Same Viral Load.

Background: Influenza is a highly contagious respiratory disease that poses significant health and economic burdens. Mice are commonly used as animal models for studying influenza virus pathogenesis and the development of vaccines and drugs. However, the viral volume used for nasal inoculation varies substantially in reported mouse influenza infection models, and the appropriate viral dose is crucial for reproducing experimental results.

Blocking CCL3-mediated neutrophil recruitment into the brain alleviates immunopathology following severe enterovirus 71 infection.

Inflammatory cells infiltration in the cerebrospinal fluid is a hallmark of severe enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection, but which type of immune cells are critical for severe EV71 infection remains unclear. Here, we observe that both neutrophils and macrophages are increased in the brains of patients and mice with severe EV71 infection, and the depletion of neutrophils but not macrophages results in a marked enhancement of survival of EV71-infected mice. Furthermore, CCR1/3 may play an important role in CCL3 facilitating the accumulation of neutrophils in the brains of patients.

Microplastics have additive effects on cadmium accumulation and toxicity in Rice flower carp (Procypris merus).

Procypris merus, a local fish species found in Guangxi, China is often exposed to both microplastics (MPs) and Cd. However, it remains unclear how these two pollutants affect P. merus.

Ultrafast removal of organics peroxymonosulfate activation over CoP/TD hollow spheres derived from ZIF-67.

CoP/tetrasodium diphosphate (TD) derived from ZIF-67/sodium phytate was newly developed and synthesized, and exhibited excellent degradation ability toward various refractory organics peroxymonosulfate activation. A corresponding reaction mechanism was proposed. In addition, a continuous-flow operation of phenol degradation was realized.

A highly susceptible hACE2-transgenic mouse model for SARS-CoV-2 research.

Several animal models have been used to assist the development of vaccines and therapeutics since the COVID-19 outbreak. Due to the lack of binding affinity of mouse angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) to the S protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), increasing the susceptibility of mice to SARS-CoV-2 infection was considered in several ways. Here, we generated a COVID-19 mouse model expressing human ACE2 (hACE2) under the control of the CAG promoter.

Acupoint catgut embedding improves learning and memory impairment in vascular dementia rats.

Background: Vascular dementia (VD) is a disease that affects brain function through cerebrovascular disease. Due to its complex pathogenesis, there is no effective drug treatment for VD. The present study aimed to evaluate the role of acupoint catgut embedding in the treatment of rats with VD and its possible molecular mechanism.

Humic acid addition sequence and concentration affect sulfur incorporation, electron transfer, and reactivity of sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron.

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is extensively used in field remediation and can be sulfidated in situ with sulfide or sulfate-reducing bacteria to enhance its performance. Humic acid (HA) widely exists in nature, but its influence on both the sulfidation process of nZVI and the reactivity of sulfidated nZVI (S-nZVI) has been rarely reported. Herein, we first synthesized S-nZVI by one-pot (S-nZVI) and two-step (S-nZVI) approaches with adding HA before (pre-added) or after (post-added) FeS generation, respectively.

Electroacupuncture Attenuates Immune-Inflammatory Response in Hippocampus of Rats with Vascular Dementia by Inhibiting TLR4/MyD88 Signaling Pathway.

Objective: To investigate whether electroacupuncture (EA) alleviates cognitive impairment by suppressing the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) signaling pathway, which triggers immune-inflammatory responses in the hippocampus of rats with vascular dementia (VaD).

Methods: The experiments were conducted in 3 parts and in total the Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 8 groups by a random number table, including sham, four-vessel occlusion (4-VO), 4-VO+EA, 4-VO+non-EA, sham+EA, 4-VO+lipopolysaccharide (LPS), 4-VO+LPS+EA, and 4-VO+TAK-242 groups. The VaD model was established by the 4-VO method.