Genomic and phylogenetic characteristics of a novel goose astrovirus in Anhui Province, Central-Eastern China.

Goose astrovirus (GAstV) causes a novel disease characterized by urate deposition in the viscera and joints in goslings in many provinces of China, leading to huge economic losses in the goose industry. To better understand the genetic diversity of GAstV in the Anhui Province, Central-Eastern China, 48 kidney samples from goslings with gout were subjected to reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis for detecting GAstV, and phylogenetic analysis of whole genomes and ORFs was performed. Thirty-five samples were GAstV-positive, indicating that the virus is a frequent cause of gout.

Long non-coding RNA SNHG7 promotes neuroblastoma progression through sponging miR-323a-5p and miR-342-5p.

Dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has been known to be relevant to the progression of human cancers, including neuroblastoma (NB). Small nucleolar RNA host gene 7 (SNHG7) has been identified as an oncogene in a series of human cancers. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the function and underlying mechanism of SNHG7 in NB progression.

Detection of azithromycin residue in broiler feathers by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

In the study, a sensitive and reproducible method for the quantitative analysis of azithromycin in broiler feather samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed. Feather samples were rinsed after being wrapped in medical gauze, then chopped and then added to 5% (v/v) ammonia in methanol solution for ultrasonic extraction. The extract was purified by the combination of commercial polymeric microparticles (Oasis MCX) and FeO nanoparticles.

Responses of nitrification performance, triclosan resistome and diversity of microbes to continuous triclosan stress in activated sludge system.

Triclosan (TCS) is commonly found in wastewater treatment plants, which often affects biological treatment processes. The responses of nitrification, antibiotic resistome and microbial community under different TCS concentrations in activated sludge system were evaluated in this study. The experiment was conducted in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for 240 days.

Photothermal augment stromal disrupting effects for enhanced Abraxane synergy chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer PDX mode.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are crucial for forming the desmoplastic stroma that is associated with chemoresistance in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). In the clinic, depleting dense stroma in PDAC tumor tissue is a promising chemotherapeutic strategy. In this study, we report that the local hyperthermia can reduce the number of CAFs in the PDAC PDX mouse mode, which further augments chemotherapeutic efficiency in the PDAC therapy.

Melatonin Represses Oil and Anthocyanin Accumulation in Seeds.

Previous studies have clearly demonstrated that the putative phytohormone melatonin functions directly in many aspects of plant growth and development. In Arabidopsis (), the role of melatonin in seed oil and anthocyanin accumulation, and corresponding underlying mechanisms, remain unclear. Here, we found that () and () genes were ubiquitously and highly expressed and essential for melatonin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis developing seeds.

Sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron is an efficient material for the removal and regrowth inhibition of antibiotic resistance genes.

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile gene elements (MGEs), the emerging genetic contaminants, are regarded as severe risks to public health for impairing the inactivation efficacy of antibiotics. Secondary effluents from wastewater treatment plants are the hotspots for spreading these menaces. Herein, sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron (S-nZVI) was occupied to remove ARGs and MGEs in secondary effluents and weaken the regrowth capacity of their bacterial carriers.

Equipping Natural Killer Cells with Specific Targeting and Checkpoint Blocking Aptamers for Enhanced Adoptive Immunotherapy in Solid Tumors.

Herein, we propose an aptamer-equipping strategy to generate specific, universal and permeable (SUPER) NK cells for enhanced immunotherapy in solid tumors. NK cells were chemically equipped with TLS11a aptamer targeting HepG2 cells and PDL1-specific aptamer without genetic alteration. The dual aptamer-equipped NK cells exhibited high specificity to tumor cells, resulting in higher cytokine secretion and apoptosis/necrosis compared to parental or single aptamer-equipped NK cells.

Single-Energy Retrospective Metal Artifact Reduction Using Adaptive Thresholding for Metal Implants in the Abdomen and Pelvis.

Objective: To assess impact of single-energy metal artifact reduction (SEMAR) algorithm utilizing retrospective adaptive thresholding in reducing metal artifacts in the abdomen and pelvis.

Methods: In this prospective institutional review board-approved, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant study, 90 patients with various metals (n = 97) on computed tomography of abdomen and pelvis (Canon Medical, Aquilion ONE and PRIME) scanned 07/2017-09/2018 with SEMAR retrospectively applied were included. Density was measured in the near and far field to the metals.

Estimating patient water equivalent diameter from CT localizer images - A longitudinal and multi-institutional study of the stability of calibration parameters.

Purpose: Water equivalent diameter (WED) is a robust patient-size descriptor. Localizer-based WED estimation is less sensitive to truncation errors resulting from limited field of view, and produces WED estimates at different locations within one localizer radiograph, prior to the initiation of axial scans. This method is considered difficult to implement by the clinical community due to the necessary calibration between localizer pixel values (LPV) and attenuation, and the unknown stability of calibration results across scanners and over time.

DNA-based stable isotope probing identifies triclosan degraders in nitrification systems under different surfactants.

Three widely-used surfactants, rhamnolipid (RL), sophorolipid (SL) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), were chosen to investigate their effects on the nitrification systems treating step-wised triclosan (TCS). Surfactants had little effects on nitrification. Surfactants could promote the desorption of TCS and enhance the TCS biodegradation in nitrification systems.

Cross talk between RNA N6-methyladenosine methyltransferase-like 3 and miR-186 regulates hepatoblastoma progression through Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway.

Objectives: N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a ubiquitous epigenetic RNA modification that plays a pivotal role in tumour development and metastasis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression profiling, clinical significance, biological function and the regulation of m6A-related genes in hepatoblastoma (HB).

Materials And Methods: The mRNA and protein expression levels of m6A-related genes were analysed using Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and tissue microarray (TMA) cohort.

Protein Family Classification from Scratch: A CNN Based Deep Learning Approach.

Next-generation sequencing techniques provide us with an opportunity for generating sequenced proteins and identifying the biological families and functions of these proteins. However, compared with identified proteins, uncharacterized proteins consist of a notable percentage of the overall proteins in the bioinformatics research field. Traditional family classification methods often devote themselves to extracting N-Gram features from sequences while ignoring motif information as well as affinity information between motifs and adjacent amino acids.

Mercury Benefits of Climate Policy in China: Addressing the Paris Agreement and the Minamata Convention Simultaneously.

National commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change interact with other global environmental objectives, such as those of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. We assess how mercury emissions and deposition reductions from national climate policy in China under the Paris Agreement could contribute to the country's commitments under the Minamata Convention. We examine emissions under climate policy scenarios developed using a computable general equilibrium model of China's economy, end-of-pipe control scenarios that meet China's commitments under the Minamata Convention, and these policies in combination, and evaluate deposition using a global atmospheric transport model.

L-Cystathionine Protects against Homocysteine-Induced Mitochondria-Dependent Apoptosis of Vascular Endothelial Cells.

The study was aimed at investigating the effects of L-cystathionine on vascular endothelial cell apoptosis and its mechanisms. Cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were used in the study. Apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells was induced by homocysteine.

Multimodal deep representation learning for protein interaction identification and protein family classification.

Background: Protein-protein interactions(PPIs) engage in dynamic pathological and biological procedures constantly in our life. Thus, it is crucial to comprehend the PPIs thoroughly such that we are able to illuminate the disease occurrence, achieve the optimal drug-target therapeutic effect and describe the protein complex structures. However, compared to the protein sequences obtainable from various species and organisms, the number of revealed protein-protein interactions is relatively limited.

Ultrasound-induced reactive oxygen species generation and mitochondria-specific damage by sonodynamic agent/metal ion-doped mesoporous silica.

Designing tumor microenvironment (TME)-specific active nanoparticles with minimum side effects for synergistic cancer therapy has become a hot topic in the recent decades. Aiming at further enhancing the therapeutic efficacy, an -induced mitochondrial dysfunction is a very promising strategy. To achieve these goals, a nano-sono-chemodynamic agent denoted as TPP-Cu@HMS, which integrated hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME), mPEG-NHS, triphenylphosphonium (TPP)-decorated mesoporous silica (MS) and coordinatively bound Cu ions for mitochondria-specific sonodynamic-chemodynamic therapy (SDT-CDT) of cancer, was designed.

The Long Non-coding RNA ZFAS1 Sponges miR-193a-3p to Modulate Hepatoblastoma Growth by Targeting RALY via HGF/c-Met Pathway.

Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common and aggressive malignant hepatic neoplasm in childhood and the therapeutic outcomes remain undesirable due to its recurrence and metastasis. Recently, long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) zinc finger antisense 1 (ZFAS1) has been reported to be an oncogenic gene in multiple cancers. However, the expression status and specific role of ZFAS1 involved in cancer progression of human HB remain unknown.

Photodynamic Therapy Combined with Antihypoxic Signaling and CpG Adjuvant as an In Situ Tumor Vaccine Based on Metal-Organic Framework Nanoparticles to Boost Cancer Immunotherapy.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) usually aggravates tumor hypoxia, which promotes the survival and metastasis of residue cancer cells; furthermore, although PDT-induced immunogenic death of cancer cells can induce host antitumor responses, such responses are generally weak and not enough to eliminate the residue cancer cells. Here, metal-organic framework (MOF)-based nanoparticles to combine PDT, antihypoxic signaling, and CpG adjuvant as an in situ tumor vaccine to boost host anticancer responses after PDT are designed. The MOF-based nanoparticles are self-assembled from H TCPP and zirconium ions with hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) signaling inhibitor (ACF) and immunologic adjuvant (CpG) loading, and hyaluronic acid (HA) coating on the surface.

Long non-coding RNA PVT1 encapsulated in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes promotes osteosarcoma growth and metastasis by stabilizing ERG and sponging miR-183-5p.

Exosomes secreted by bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) promote osteosarcoma cell proliferation and migration, while the underlying mechanism remains unknown. Since the long non-coding RNA PVT1 has been reported to be upregulated in osteosarcoma cells and contributes to its growth and metastasis, we aim to investigate whether BMSC-derived exosomes promote osteosarcoma growth and metastasis via transporting PVT1 into osteosarcoma cells. The PVT1 expression in BMSC-derived exosomes was markedly higher than that in osteosarcoma cell-derived exosomes.

Hypoxic adipocytes induce macrophages to release inflammatory cytokines that render skeletal muscle cells insulin resistant.

Adipose tissue hypoxia occurs early in obesity and is associated with increased tissue macrophages and systemic inflammation that impacts muscle insulin responsiveness. We investigated how hypoxia interacted with adipocyte-macrophage crosstalk and inflammatory cytokine release, using co-culture and conditioned media (CM). Murine primary adipocytes from lean or obese mice were cultured under normoxic (21% O) or hypoxic (1% O) conditions.

Endogenous hydrogen sulfide sulfhydrates IKKβ at cysteine 179 to control pulmonary artery endothelial cell inflammation.

Background: Pulmonary artery endothelial cell (PAEC) inflammation is a critical event in the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, the pathogenesis of PAEC inflammation remains unclear.

Methods: Purified recombinant human inhibitor of κB kinase subunit β (IKKβ) protein, human PAECs and monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertensive rats were employed in the study.

Study on Rheological Behavior and Surface Properties of Epoxy Resin Chemical Grouting Material Considering Time Variation.

Epoxy resins are widely used for repairing cracks in stone, mortar and masonry. A main factor that influences the grouting quality is the permeability of grout. However, the permeability will deteriorate over time because of the reaction of chemical grouting materials, which will greatly affect the results of grouting.