Zn-driven metformin conjugated with siRNA attenuates osteoarthritis progression by inhibiting NF-κB signaling and activating autophagy.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a type of joint disease that influences millions of individuals. Regrettably, effective treatment for OA is currently unavailable. The challenge lies in the deep location of chondrocytes within the dense cartilage matrix that hinders the delivery and efficiency of clinical OA drugs.

Bat-infecting merbecovirus HKU5-CoV lineage 2 can use human ACE2 as a cell entry receptor.

Merbecoviruses comprise four viral species with remarkable genetic diversity: MERS-related coronavirus, Tylonycterisbat coronavirus HKU4, Pipistrellusbat coronavirus HKU5, and Hedgehog coronavirus 1. However, the potential human spillover risk of animal merbecoviruses remains to be investigated. Here, we reported the discovery of HKU5-CoV lineage 2 (HKU5-CoV-2) in bats that efficiently utilize human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a functional receptor and exhibits a broad host tropism.

Diversity and functions of quorum sensing bacteria in the root environment of the Suaeda glauca and Phragmites australis coastal wetlands.

The quorum sensing (QS) system plays a significant role in the bacteria-bacteria or plant-bacteria relationships through signal molecules. However, little is known about the distribution and functional diversity of QS bacteria in the root environment of Suaeda glauca and Phragmites australis in coastal wetlands. We explored the bacterial community by amplicon sequencing and isolated 1050 strains from the rhizosphere soil and root tissues of S.

Composition, content, source, and risk assessment of PAHs in intertidal sediment in Shilaoren Bay, Qingdao, China.

Intertidal sediment samples from Shilaoren Bay, Qingdao, China, were collected to determine the concentrations and compositions of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The sources of PAHs were analyzed, and risk assessment was performed. Results show that the pollution level of PAHs in the investigated area was low.

Abnormal Galactosylated-Glycans recognized by Bandeiraea Simplicifolia Lectin I in saliva of patients with breast Cancer.

Currently, the definitive diagnosis in breast cancer requires biopsy and histopathology, such the most effective markers are tissue-based. However, the advantages of saliva in collection and storage make it possible for assessing human pathology and contributing to the development of cancer-related biomarkers for clinical application. The present study validated alteration of salivary protein glycopatterns recognized by Bandeiraea simplicifolia lectin I (BS-I) in the saliva of patients with breast diseases using saliva microarrays, and the N/O-glycan profiles of their salivary glycoproteins isolated by the BS-I-magnetic particle conjugates from 259 female subjects (66 healthy volunteers (HV), 65 benign breast cyst or tumor patients (BB), 66 patients with breast cancer in stage I (BC-I) and 62 patients with breast cancer in stage II (BC-II)) were analyzed by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS.

Marine microplastic-associated bacterial community succession in response to geography, exposure time, and plastic type in China's coastal seawaters.

Microplastics have emerged as new pollutants in oceans. Nevertheless, information of the long-term variations in the composition of plastic-associated microbial communities in coastal waters remains limited. This study applied high-throughput sequencing to investigate the successional stages of microbial communities attached to polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride microplastics exposed for one year in the coastal seawater of China.

Complete Genome Sequence of a Quorum-Sensing Bacterium, sp. Strain D3, Isolated from a Microplastic Surface in Coastal Water of Qingdao, China.

sp. strain D3 was isolated from the plastisphere of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in coastal water of Qingdao, China. Here, we present the complete genome sequence of strain D3, which consists of a chromosome of 3,926,685 bp with a G+C content of 64.

iTRAQ-Based Quantitative Proteomic Profiling of Under Different Osmotic Stress Conditions.

() is an extremely halotolerant pathogenic bacterium with high osmotic stress tolerance, and it is frequently encountered in aquatic production and preservation. However, the mechanism underlying the extremely high osmotic stress tolerance of remains unclear. In this study, the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) method was used to identify the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) under different sodium chloride (NaCl) concentrations.

Prediction of Damage Accumulation Effect of Wood Structural Members under Long-Term Service: A Machine Learning Approach.

It is well known that wood structural members can stand a relatively heavy load in the short term but will gradually get weaker if the load is applied for a longer period. This phenomenon is caused by the damage accumulation effect in wood and should be appropriately considered during the design of timber structures. Although various formulation methods (also known as classical models) have been proposed to evaluate the damage accumulation effect in wood, the calibration of model parameters is very time-consuming.

Emergence of Two different recombinant PRRSV strains with low neutralizing antibody susceptibility in China.

PRRSV causes major economic loss in global swine industry. 41 of 131 (31.29%) tissue samples collected from pig farms in central and east China from 2016 to 2017 were confirmed as PRRSV positive in RT-PCR.

Salivary Glycopatterns as Potential Biomarkers for Screening of Early-Stage Breast Cancer.

Objective: We systematically investigated and assessed the alterations of salivary glycopatterns and possibility as biomarkers for diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer.

Design: Alterations of salivary glycopatterns were probed using lectin microarrays and blotting analysis from 337 patients with breast benign cyst or tumor (BB) or breast cancer (I/II stage) and 110 healthy humans. Their diagnostic models were constructed by a logistic stepwise regression in the retrospective cohort.

Mechanical Behavior of Dowel-Type Joints Made of Wood Scrimber Composite.

As a renewable building material with low embodied energy characteristics, wood has gained more and more attention in the green and sustainable building industry. In terms of material resource and physical properties, scrimber composite not only makes full use of fast-growing wood species, but also has better mechanical performance and less inherent variability than natural wood material. In this study, the mechanical behavior of bolted beam-to-column joints built with a kind of scrimber composite was investigated both experimentally and numerically.

Quorum sensing of microalgae associated marine Ponticoccus sp. PD-2 and its algicidal function regulation.

Quorum sensing (QS) systems play important roles in regulating many physiological functions of microorganisms, such as biofilm formation, bioluminescence, and antibiotic production. One marine algicidal bacterium, Ponticoccus sp. PD-2, was isolated from the microalga Prorocentrum donghaiense, and its N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated QS system was verified.