Publications by authors named "Zhai K"

Background: The therapeutic and prognostic outcomes for colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unsatisfactory. Among multiple reported bioactive functionalities of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. one vital recently reported activity is its therapeutic role against numerous cancers but limited information is available related to its underlying key mechanisms and therapeutically active ingredients, especially against CRC treatment.

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Maize ( L.) is an important cereal crop species for food, feedstock and industrial material. Maize seeds host a suitable ecosystem for endophytic bacteria, facilitating seed germination and seedling growth.

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The objective of this study was to investigate the biological activities and mechanisms of chlorogenic acid (CGA) in the treatment of septic acute liver injury (SALI) based on the network pharmacology, molecular docking, in vivo studies, and other techniques. Chlorogenic acid and potential related targets of septic acute liver injury were searched from the public databases. Then, the protein-protein interaction (PPI), Gene Ontology (GO), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were conducted.

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Nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors mediate pathogen effector-triggered immunity (ETI) in plants, and a subclass of NLRs are hypothesized to function at the plasma membrane (PM). However, how NLR traffic and PM delivery are regulated during immune responses remains largely unknown. The rice NLR PigmR confers broad-spectrum resistance to the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.

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Understanding the sensitivity of ecosystem respiration (ER) to increasing temperature is crucial to predict how the terrestrial carbon sink responds to a warming climate. The temperature sensitivity of ER may vary on a diurnal basis but is poorly understood due to the paucity of observational sites documenting real ER during daytime at a global scale. Here, we used an improved flux partitioning approach to estimate the apparent temperature sensitivity of ER during the daytime (E) and nighttime (E) derived from multiyear observations of 189 FLUXNET sites.

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Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a progressive, irreversible disease characterized by heterogeneous interstitial lung tissue damage. It originates from persistent or repeated lung epithelial injury and leads to the activation and differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts. Interleukins (ILs) are a group of lymphokines crucial for immunomodulation that are implicated in the pathogenesis of PF.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the influence of thermophilic bacteria on the formation of humus during hyperthermophilic composting of organic waste, particularly mushroom residue.
  • Results indicate that composting at high temperatures (>80°C) for 18 days resulted in significantly more humus production (83 mg/g) compared to traditional thermophilic composting (9.7 mg/g).
  • Machine learning revealed that specific thermophilic bacteria contributed to the breakdown of organic matter and the production of humic substances, enhancing the efficiency of converting organic waste into nutrient-rich compost.
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Background: In recent years, dexamethasone (Dex) has been used to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in patients with COVID-19 and achieved promising outcomes. Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV ECMO) support for patients with ARDS has increased significantly worldwide. However, it remains unknown whether Dex could improve the efficiency of VV ECMO to reduce lung injury.

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Medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs) are semi-crystalline elastomers with a low melting point and high elongation at break, allowing for a wide range of applications in domestic, agricultural, industrial, and mainly medical fields. Utilizing low-cost cellulose hydrolyzed sugar as a carbon source and metabolic engineering to enhance synthesis in is a promising strategy for commercializing mcl-PHAs, but little has been attempted to improve the utilization of glucose for synthesizing mcl-PHAs. In this study, a multi-pathway modification was performed to improve the utilization of substrate glucose and the synthesis capacity of PHAs.

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Monitoring mercury (Hg) is critical for environmental and public health. Metal-organic framework (MOF)-based sensors demonstrate the advantage of high sensitivity and rapid response. We summarize the advances of MOF sensors for Hg detection from the perspective of MOF type and role in the sensors.

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Probing magnetic susceptibility of a microsized ferromagnet is a long-standing problem in condensed matter physics. Among various measuring methods for magnetic susceptibility including vibrating sample magnetometry and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry, almost all require large-scale bulk samples or thick films. However, the quantitative measurement for magnetic susceptibility on a microscale nanoflake is a great challenge.

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Soybean protein isolate (SPI) cannot meet the needs of modern food production due to various shortcomings. By change of its structural characteristics, its application in the food field may be increased. This study explored the impact of ultrasonic treatment on the structural and gelation properties of the SPI dispersions.

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The Peierls distortion plays an essential role in governing the in-plane ferroelectricity and nonlinear optical characteristics of anisotropic niobium oxide dihalides, such as NbOCl and NbOI. Despite its significance, experimental investigation into the structural, optical, and ferroelectric properties of NbOBr has been lacking. Here, the successful fabrication of centimeter-sized, high-quality NbOBr single crystals, enabling direct observation of Peierls distortion using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, is reported.

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Introduction: Interest is growing in investigating the ability of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to process social information under conflicting and complex environments. However, few studies have employed objective behavioral measures to directly explore the underlying profile of social-emotional interference control.

Methods: In the current study, 53 children with ASD and 53 typically developing (TD) control, aged 6-12 years, completed a set of modified flanker tasks involving arrows, schematic faces, same real faces (with facial interference by the same person), and different real faces (with facial interference by different people), respectively.

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To enhance the fast and accurate detection of pollution-free green apples for food safety, this paper uses the DETR network as a framework to propose a new method for pollution-free green apple detection based on a multidimensional feature extraction network and Transformer module. Firstly, an improved DETR network main feature extraction module adopts the ResNet18 network and replaces some residual layers with deformable convolutions (DCNv2), enabling the model to better adapt to pollution-free fruit changes at different scales and angles, while eliminating the impact of microbial contamination on fruit testing; Subsequently, the extended spatial pyramid pooling model (DSPP) and multiscale residual aggregation module (FRAM) are integrated, which help reduce feature noise and minimize the loss of underlying features during the feature extraction process. The fusion of the two modules enhances the model's ability to detect objects of different scales, thereby improving the accuracy of near-color fruit detection.

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Article Synopsis
  • Bilayer and trilayer nickelate superconductors, specifically LaNiO (n=2 and 3), show unique properties at both high-temperature superconductivity and ambient pressure, including non-Fermi liquid behavior and density-wave transitions.
  • Using ultrafast reflectivity measurements, researchers found significant differences in the dynamics of bilayer and trilayer nickelates, highlighting a coherent phonon mode in the bilayer LaNiO that isn’t present in the trilayer.
  • The study reveals that the electron-phonon coupling has a minor effect on the electronic properties of LaNiO, with findings necessary for further understanding the relationship between superconductivity and density-wave transitions in these materials.*
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Plants employ cell-surface receptors to perceive non- or altered-self, including the integrity of their cell wall. Here we identify a specific ligand-receptor module responsive to cell wall damage that potentiates immunity in Arabidopsis. Disruption of cell wall integrity by inhibition of cellulose biosynthesis promotes pattern-triggered immunity transcriptionally in a manner dependent on the receptor kinase MALE DISCOVERER 1-INTERACTING RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASE 2 (MIK2).

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We propose and demonstrate a photonic-assisted approach for generating arbitrary microwave waveforms based on a dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator, offering significant advantages in terms of tunability of repetition rates and anti-dispersion capability. In order to generate diverse microwave waveforms, two sinusoidal radio frequency signals with distinct frequency relationships are applied to the dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator. By adjusting the power of the applied sinusoidal radio frequency signal, the power ratio between these orthogonal polarized optical sidebands can be changed, and thereby desired radio frequency waveforms can be obtained after photoelectric conversion.

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Patients with brain metastases (BM) face a 90% mortality rate within one year of diagnosis and the current standard of care is palliative. Targeting BM-initiating cells (BMICs) is a feasible strategy to treat BM, but druggable targets are limited. Here, we apply Connectivity Map analysis to lung-, breast-, and melanoma-pre-metastatic BMIC gene expression signatures and identify inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), the rate-limiting enzyme in the de novo GTP synthesis pathway, as a target for BM.

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In this paper, a highly sensitive method for sulfur ion (S) detection was developed based on a four-color fluorescence probe constructed from copper-containing metal-organic framework (CuBDC) and four dye-labeled single-strand DNA (ssDNA). In the absence of S, dye-labeled ssDNA can be adsorbed on the surface of CuBDC, and the dyes are close to copper ion on the CuBDC surface, their fluorescence is quenched by copper ion, and their fluorescence signals are weak. In the presence of S in the system, S reacts with copper ion in CuBDC to form CuS, which has a more stable structure than complex CuBDC, resulting in the decomposition of CuBDC.

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Kale is rich in various essential trace elements and phytochemicals, including glucosinolate and its hydrolyzed product isothiocyanate, which have significant anticancer properties. Nowadays, new types of pollutant microplastics (MP) pose a threat to global ecosystems due to their high bioaccumulation and persistent degradation. Silicon (Si) is commonly used to alleviate abiotic stresses, offering a promising approach to ensure safe food production.

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Defect engineering offers a promising approach to enhance the sensitivity of biosensing materials by creating abundant chemically active sites. Despite its potential, achieving precise control and modification of these defects remains a significant challenge. Herein, we propose atomic-level defect engineering in GeP two-dimensional (2D) layered materials, following precise growing Au nanoparticles on the single defect active sites for the design of ultrasensitive biosensors.

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Recognition layer materials play a crucial role in the functionality of chemical sensors. Although advancements in two-dimensional (2D) materials have promoted sensor development, the controlled fabrication of large-scale recognition layers with highly active sites remains crucial for enhancing sensor sensitivity, especially for trace detection applications. Herein, we propose a strategy for the controlled preparation of centimeter-scale non-layered ultrathin β-InS materials with tailored high-active sites to design ultrasensitive Hg sensors.

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Background: Metronidazole is a first-line antibiotic to treat Helicobacter pylori infections. However, the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines recommend against using antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) to test metronidazole resistance, due to the unreliable predictive power which can result in treatment failure.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish an 8-h, metabolic-phenotype based AST for H.

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The extraction of total flavonoids from (Boreau) H. Ohba () leaves was studied through the use of a double enzyme-assisted ultrasonic method, and the extraction process was optimized using the Box-Behnken design. Eight different macroporous resins were screened for purification in single-factorial experiments, and the flavonoid compounds in the extract of leaves were identified using HPLC-MS.

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