Uncovering Molecular Mechanisms of Feed Efficiency in Pigs Through Multi-Omics Analysis of the Jejunum.

Feed efficiency (FE) is a crucial trait in pig production that influences both economic viability and environmental sustainability. The jejunum, an essential organ for nutrient absorption, plays a significant role in determining FE by affecting how pigs process and utilize feed. To explore the genetic and regulatory mechanisms behind FE, we conducted an integrative multi-omics study using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and ATAC sequencing (ATAC-seq) on pigs with high and low FE.

Baicalin Mitigates Cardiac Hypertrophy and Fibrosis by Inhibiting the p85a Subunit of PI3K.

Heart failure (HF) is a serious public health concern. Baicalin is one of the major active ingredients of a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, Huang Qin, which is used to treat patients with chest pain or cardiac discomfort. However, the underlying mechanism(s) of the cardioprotective effect of baicalin are still not fully understood.

Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Restores NAD Levels to Alleviate LPS-Induced Inflammation via the TLR4/NF-κB/MAPK Signaling Pathway in Mice Granulosa Cells.

Inflammation disrupts the normal function of granulosa cells (GCs), which leads to ovarian dysfunction and fertility decline. Inflammatory conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), primary ovarian insufficiency (POI), endometriosis, and age-related ovarian decline are often associated with chronic low-grade inflammation. Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) is an important precursor of NAD and has gained attention for its potential to modulate cellular metabolism, redox homeostasis, and mitigate inflammation.

When I Receive Too Much Social Support: The Effect of Social Support Overload on Users' Life Burnout and Discontinuance in Fitness Apps.

Background/objectives: As fitness apps increasingly incorporate social interaction features, users may find themselves overwhelmed by an excess of received support, struggling to effectively manage it. Highlighting a novel recipient-centric perspective, we aim to investigate the impact of social support overload on users' life burnout and discontinuance within fitness apps.

Methods: Utilizing Social Support Theory and Basic Psychological Needs Theory, we develop a model to examine how emotional, network, and informational support overload affect life burnout and discontinuance through the frustration of basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

The Impact of Preoperative Risk Factors on Delayed Discharge in Day Surgery: A Meta-Analysis.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate and identify the main preoperative risk factors affecting the timely discharge of day surgery patients, offering evidence to enhance preoperative assessments and minimize delayed discharge.

Background: With the widespread adoption of day surgery in global healthcare systems, ensuring timely discharge of patients post-surgery has become a critical challenge. Numerous studies have explored various preoperative risk factors influencing delayed discharge.

A Novel Konjac Powder with High Compressibility, High Water-Holding Capacity, and High Expansion Force.

The inherent physico-chemical properties of commercial konjac powders often limited their application across various industries. While existing modification techniques had produced konjac powders with diverse physical attributes, these methods were frequently associated with high costs and environmental concerns. Hence, there was a critical need to develop a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and straightforward method for modifying konjac powders.

Maternal exposure to ambient temperature and risk of preterm birth in Chengdu, China, from 2017 to 2020: a cohort study.

Background: Due to climate change, the frequency and intensity of heat waves and other extreme weather events are rapidly increasing. Compared to the general population, pregnant women and fetuses are increasingly vulnerable to the effects of extreme temperatures and are associated with the occurrence of adverse birth outcomes, including preterm birth (PTB). However, its risk of preterm birth is currently uncertain.

Disrupting of IGF2BP3-stabilized CLDN11 mRNA by TNF-α increases intestinal permeability in obesity-related severe acute pancreatitis.

Background: Obesity is a significant risk factor for severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and is typically associated with increased intestinal permeability. Understanding the role of specific molecules can help reduce the risk of developing SAP. Claudin 11 (CLDN11), a member of the Claudin family, regulates the permeability of various internal barriers.

Interlayer reconstruction phase transition in van der Waals materials.

Van der Waals materials display rich structural polymorphs with distinct physical properties. An atomistic understanding of the phase-transition dynamics, propagation pathway and associated evolution of physical properties is essential for capturing their potential in practical technologies. However, direct visualization of the rapid phase-transition process is fundamentally challenging due to the inherent trade-offs among atomic resolution, field of view and imaging frame rate.

Elevated D-dimer on admission may predict poor prognosis in childhood influenza associated encephalopathy.

To determine the risk factors for poor prognosis of influenza-associated encephalopathy (IAE), 56 eligible children with IAE who were treated in the pediatric intensive care unit of Wuhan Children's Hospital from January 2022 to December 2023 were selected for retrospective analysis and grouped according to poor prognosis or not, and independent risk factors for poor prognosis were found by regression analysis. Results showed 26 children (26/30, 46.4%) had a poor prognosis.

Revealing ionically isolated Li loss in practical rechargeable Li metal pouch cells.

The degradation of rechargeable lithium (Li) metal batteries is primarily attributed to active Li loss, encompassing isolated Li, also known as "dead Li", and solid electrolyte interphase (SEI-Li). Comprehending the formation of dead Li is pivotal for devising strategies to mitigate Li loss. Herein, we reveal the existence of an alternative form of dead Li, termed ionically isolated Li (I-iLi), which diverges from the traditionally recognized electronically isolated Li (E-iLi).

Amoenucles A-F, novel nucleoside derivatives with TNF-α inhibitory activities from Aspergillus amoenus TJ507.

Amoenucles A-F (1-6), six previously undescribed nucleoside derivatives, and two known analogs (7 and 8) were isolated from the culture of Aspergillus amoenus TJ507. Their structures were elucidated through spectroscopic analysis, single-crystal X-ray crystallography, and chemical reactions. Notably, 3 and 4 represent the first reported instances of nucleosides with an attached pyrrole moiety.

Study on the reforming performance of liquid products from biomass staged gasification based on component analysis and simulation.

Biomass staged gasification technology (BSGT) divides the traditional gasification into medium-temperature devolatilization (MTD) stage, high-temperature gasification (HTG) stage and high-temperature reforming (HTR) stage. The present study conducted MTD and HTG experiments on corn stalks and focused on the effect of MTD at 200-550 °C on the reforming performance of BSGT liquid products through component analysis and simulation. The results demonstrate that the MTD temperature above 350 °C could prevent the participation of phenols and oxygen in HTG and HTR stages, respectively, thereby improving the reforming performance of BSGT liquid products and the quality of BSGT syngas.

Single-cell transcriptome reveals three types of adipocytes associated with intramuscular fat content in pigs.

Intramuscular fat is an essential component of muscle tissue, and understanding its contribution to skeletal muscle fat infiltration and meat quality, together with the underlying genetic mechanisms, is a major topic in pig husbandry. However, the composition of cell types and gene expression profiles essential for this purpose remain largely unexplored. Here, we performed single-cell transcriptome analysis on muscle tissue from adult pigs and identified 15 cell types, including three previously uncharacterized types of adipocytes: Adipocyte 1, Adipocyte 2, and Aregs.

Upregulation of CD19 by low-dose chidamide promotes CAR T cells functionality in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) is a highly heterogeneous group of lymphopoietic malignancies that account for 85% to 90% of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas. In recent years, CD19 Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cell immunotherapy has significantly improved the cure rate of B-NHL patients, but there are still some patients who cannot achieve remission after treatment, or relapse after remission. Therefore, it is of great importance to overcome the drug resistance of CD19 CAR T cells after B-NHL treatment and reduce the recurrence rate of CD19 CAR T cells after B-NHL treatment.

Cholecystokinin (CCK) Is a Mediator Between Nutritional Intake and Gonadal Development in Teleosts.

Nutritional intake is closely linked to gonadal development, although the mechanisms by which food intake affects gonadal development are not fully understood. Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a satiety neuropeptide derived from the hypothalamus, and the present study observed that hypothalamic CCK expression is significantly influenced by food intake, which is mediated through blood glucose levels. Interestingly, CCK and its receptors were observed to exhibit a high expression in the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad (HPG) axis of grass carp (), suggesting that CCK is potentially involved in regulating fish reproduction through the HPG axis.

The role of Exo70s in plant defense against pathogens and insect pests and their application for crop breeding.

Plant diseases caused by pathogens and pests lead to crop losses, posing a threat to global food security. The secretory pathway is an integral component of plant defense. The exocyst complex regulates the final step of the secretory pathway and is thus essential for secretory defense.

The development of thickened fermented rice milk formulation for people with dysphagia: A view of multiple in vitro simulation methods.

Based on the huge blank of thickened fluid staple food for people with dysphagia, multiple in vitro simulations were utilized to develop the thickened fermented rice milk. Here, the effect of amylase content, hydrolysis time and thickener content were considered. The rheological study and Cambridge throat evaluation revealed that hydrolysis could significantly reduce the viscosity and yield stress of fermented rice milk, accompanied by the decreased swallowing residue.

Development and validation of a novel artificial intelligence algorithm for precise prediction the postoperative prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a highly aggressive malignancy, and current postoperative prognostic assessment methods remain unsatisfactory, underlining the urgent to develop a reliable approach for precision medicine. Given the similarities with gametogenesis, cancer/testis genes (CTGs) are acknowledged for regulation unrestrained multiplication and immune microenvironment during oncogenic processes. These processes are associated with advanced disease and poorer prognosis, indicating that CTGs could serve as ideal prognostic biomarkers in ESCC.

Conversion Surgery for Initially Unresectable Stage Ⅲ Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer After Induction Treatment of Immunochemotherapy: A Multicenter Study.

Background: Immuno-chemotherapy has demonstrated significant anti-tumor effects in patients with resectable nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Additionally, for patients initially diagnosed with unresectable stage III NSCLC, induction immuno-chemotherapy may achieve tumor downstaging, enabling conversion to resectable disease allowing for by R0 resection. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety of induction immuno-chemotherapy followed by conversion surgery in unresectable stage III NSCLC.

[Artificial light at night effects glucose metabolism in the developing jawbone by inhibiting melatonin secretion].

To investigate the effects of artificial light at night on the growth of mandibles in mice and its regulatory mechanisms. A mouse model of artificial light at night (night light pollution group) and normal lighting (normal light group) was established by controlling light exposure time, with 4 mice in each group. Micro-CT was employed to analyze the differences in bone quantities of the mandibles between the two groups.

Exploring the impact of nano platinum-hydrogen saline on oxygen-induced retinopathy in neonatal rats.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the impact of nano platinum-hydrogen saline (Pt NPs + H) on oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) in neonatal rats, with the goal to contribute new insights into the therapeutic strategies for retinopathy of prematurity.

Methods: Pt NPs + H formulation was synthesized to address OIR in a rat model. Subsequent examination included the assessment of retinal blood vessel distribution and morphology through hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and isolectin B4 (IB4) staining techniques.

Aculeanoids A-D, the second 17-nor fusicoccane diterpenoids with immunosuppressive activity from Aspergillus aculeatus.

Chemical investigation on the secondary metabolites of Aspergillus aculeatus led to the identification of ten modified fusicoccane-type diterpenoids aculeanoids A-J (1-10). Their structures and absolute configurations were characterized by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, DP4+ analysis, Mo(OAc)-induced ECD, single-crystal X-ray diffractions, and ECD calculations. Compounds 1-4 belong to a rare class of 17-nor fusicoccane diterpenoids, with only one previously reported example.

In vitro culture of the parasitic stage larvae of hematophagous parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus.

Current research on common parasitic nematodes is limited because their infective stages cannot be propagated in vitro. Here, we report a culture system for developing L4s of Haemonchus contortus, a blood-feeding nematode of ruminants. Our results demonstrated that a proportionate mixture of NCTC-109 to Luria-Bertini (1:2) media promoted the formation of early L4s and then into late L4s upon inclusion of 12.

Retinal vasculature changes as indicators of imaging signs of cerebral small vessel disease: A community-based, cross-sectional study of older adults.

Objectives: This study investigated the correlation between retinal vasculature and cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) imaging markers, providing new evidence for the retina-brain association.

Methods: Two hundred and thirty-nine participants aged 55-85 were enrolled in the study. CSVD indicators, encompassing white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), lacunes (LAs), cerebral microbleeds (CMBs), and enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVSs), were assessed.