Machine Learning and Experimental Validation Identified Ferroptosis Signature and Innovative Biomarkers (ESR1 and GSTZ1) in Liver Fibrosis.

Background: Targeting ferroptosis is an effective approach to mitigate hepatic fibrosis, yet no reports exist on the ferroptosis signature in liver fibrosis. This study aimed to explore ferroptosis characteristics in this disease.

Methods: RNAseq data from GSE6764, GSE188604 and Cancer Genome Atlas Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC) were downloaded.

Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Nanocrystal Superlattices Enabled by Shear and Nanowires.

The self-assembly of colloidal nanocrystals typically leads to the formation of highly symmetric superlattices, while chiral symmetry breaking within these structures remains rare. Here, we present a universal approach for achieving chiral symmetry breaking within self-assembled nanocrystal superlattices through the incorporation of nanowires and shear force. The networked film, composed of highly flexible nanowires that are only a few nanometers in diameter and bound by weak van der Waals interactions, can be manipulated to stretch and rotate, resulting in a controlled chiral pattern with a specified handedness.

Enhanced Chirality Transfer in Self-Assembled Nanocomposites Powered by A Trace Amount of Chiral Dimeric Molecules.

Chiral-selective self-assembly has markedly advanced the development of chiral materials. While the Sergeant and Soldiers principle allows for chirality amplification, it necessitates precise shape-matching between chiral and achiral molecules, leading to a low chirality transfer efficiency-where one chiral molecule influences the chirality of a limited number of achiral molecules. Here, we show that this efficiency can be markedly enhanced by introducing chiral dimeric molecules.

Melatonin attenuates cardiac dysfunction and inflammation in dilated cardiomyopathy via M2 macrophage polarization.

Melatonin is a neuroendocrine hormone that exerts protective effects on the heart. Increasing evidence suggests that macrophage M2-type polarization improves myocardial regeneration and repair. Therefore, this study investigated whether melatonin ameliorates dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) by modulating M2-type polarization.

Long-term subculture induces syncytialization and influent the response to bisphenol A (BPA) of placental JEG-3 cells.

The placenta is a temporary organ that exists only during pregnancy, responsible for connecting the mother and the fetus. During placental development, the cytotrophoblast cells differentiate into multinucleated, syncytialized cells that envelop the chorionic villi, a process known as syncytialization. These syncytiotrophoblast cells serve as a barrier between maternal circulation and the fetus and secrete important hormones such as human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), estrogen, and progesterone.

Alligamycin A, an antifungal β-lactone spiroketal macrolide from Streptomyces iranensis.

Fungal infections pose a great threat to public health and there are only four main types of antifungal drugs, which are often limited with toxicity, drug-drug interactions and antibiotic resistance. Streptomyces is an important source of antibiotics, represented by the clinical drug amphotericin B. Here we report the discovery of alligamycin A (1) as an antifungal compound from the rapamycin-producer Streptomyces iranensis through genome-mining, genetics and natural product chemistry approaches.

Primary productivity regulates rhizosphere soil organic carbon: Evidence from a chronosequence of subtropical Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantation.

Tree plantations worldwide are a large terrestrial carbon sink. Previous studies on the carbon sequestration capacity of plantations mainly focused on tree biomass carbon sequestration, but the importance of soil organic carbon (SOC) was relatively unclear. Living root carbon inputs influence SOC via plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere and play an essential role in nutrient cycling.

Development of a TDCR counting system with anti-coincidence detectors.

When employing the TDCR method for standardization of low-activity liquid scintillation samples, fluctuations in system background can significantly impact both measurement uncertainties and minimum detectable activity (MDA). To mitigate this impact, a TDCR counting system with anti-coincidence detectors was developed. By analyzing the time difference distribution spectrum between the anti-coincidence channel and β channel, optimal parameters for the anti-coincidence module are determined.

Body Roundness Index Trajectories and the Incidence of Cardiovascular Disease: Evidence From the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.

Background: Several previous cross-sectional studies suggested that body roundness index (BRI) may be associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the association should be further validated. Our study aimed to assess the association of the BRI trajectories with CVD among middle-aged and older Chinese people in a longitudinal cohort.

Combinatorial iterative method for metabolic engineering of Yarrowia lipolytica: Application for betanin biosynthesis.

Combinatorial library-based metabolic engineering approaches allow lower cost and faster strain development. We developed a genetic toolbox EXPRESS for combinatorial engineering of the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. The toolbox enables consecutive rounds of engineering, where up to three combinatorially assembled gene expression cassettes can be integrated into each yeast clone per round.

Environmental risk evaluation for radionuclide transport through natural barriers of nuclear waste disposal with multi-scale streamline approaches.

Natural barriers, encompassing stable geological formations that serve as the final bastion against radionuclide transport, are paramount in mitigating the long-term contamination risks associated with the nuclear waste disposal. Therefore, it is important to simulate and predict the processes and spatial-temporal distributions of radionuclide transport within these barriers. However, accurately predicting radionuclide transport on the field scale is challenging due to uncertainties associated with parameter scaling.

Stiff extracellular matrix drives the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells toward osteogenesis by the multiscale 3D genome reorganization.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness is a major driver of stem cell fate. However, the involvement of the three-dimensional (3D) genomic reorganization in response to ECM stiffness remains unclear. Here, we generated comprehensive 3D chromatin landscapes of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exposed to various ECM stiffness.

A comparative study to determine the key aroma components of yogurt aroma types based on Sensomics and Flavoromics.

This study used Sensomics to examine four previously obtained yogurt aroma type profiles. 14 key aroma-active compounds were identified as significant contributors (p ≤ 0.05) in the four aroma types using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry (GC-MS/O), aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA), odor activity values (OAV), and aroma recombination and omission experiments.

Association of serum metal levels with type 2 diabetes: A prospective cohort and mediating effects of metabolites analysis in Chinese population.

Several studies have suggested an association between exposure to various metals and the onset of type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the results vary across different studies. We aimed to investigate the associations between serum metal concentrations and the risk of developing T2D among 8734 participants using a prospective cohort study design.

Functional type mediates the responses of root litter-driven priming effect and new carbon formation to warming.

Input of root litter can alter soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics via causing priming effect (PE) on native SOC decomposition and forming new SOC. However, it is unknown how functional type mediates the root litter-driven PE and new C formation as well as their response to warming, which are of pivotal for soil C budget. We mixed litter segments of absorptive roots and transport roots from a Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantation into isotopically distinct soil and incubated at 19°C (local mean annual temperature) and 23°C (warming by 4°C) for 210 days.

Identification of potential therapeutic targets for plaque vulnerability based on an integrated analysis.

Background And Aims: This study aimed to explore potential hub genes and pathways of plaque vulnerability and to investigate possible therapeutic targets for acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Methods And Results: Four microarray datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs), weighted gene coexpression networks (WGCNA) and immune cell infiltration analysis (IIA) were used to identify the genes for plaque vulnerability.

Phosphorus addition enhances heterotrophic respiration but reduces root respiration in a subtropical plantation forest.

Soil respiration (R) is a major component of the global carbon (C) cycle and is influenced by the availability of nutrients such as phosphorus (P). However, the response of R to P addition in P-limited subtropical forest ecosystems and the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. To address this, we conducted a P addition experiment (50 kg P ha yr) in a subtropical Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantation forest.

TO-UGDA: target-oriented unsupervised graph domain adaptation.

Graph domain adaptation (GDA) aims to address the challenge of limited label data in the target graph domain. Existing methods such as UDAGCN, GRADE, DEAL, and COCO for different-level (node-level, graph-level) adaptation tasks exhibit variations in domain feature extraction, and most of them solely rely on representation alignment to transfer label information from a labeled source domain to an unlabeled target domain. However, this approach can be influenced by irrelevant information and usually ignores the conditional shift of the downstream predictor.

Soil warming-induced reduction in water content enhanced methane uptake at different soil depths in a subtropical forest.

Global warming can significantly impact soil CH uptake in subtropical forests due to changes in soil moisture, temperature sensitivity of methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB), and shifts in microbial communities. However, the specific effects of climate warming and the underlying mechanisms on soil CH uptake at different soil depths remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a soil warming experiment (+4 °C) in a natural forest.

Causal Relationship Between Immune Cells/Cytokines and Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

To date, whether there is any causal relationship between dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and the changes in the levels/expression of immune cells/cytokines is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the causal relationship between the levels of various types of immune cells/cytokines and DCM. Herein, two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) (TSMR) using R software was conducted.