Origin and return of lignin in agriculture and forestry: Realizing a closed-loop system for lignin biological activity utilization.

Lignin is a biologically active compound that exhibits notable antioxidant, antibacterial, and UV-resistant properties, thereby playing a crucial role in sustainable agroforestry systems. This article provides a comprehensive review of strategies aimed at augmenting the biological activity of lignin, with particular emphasis on its applications in regulating plant growth, controlling pests and diseases, and serving as feed additives. The antibacterial properties of lignin present a viable alternative to conventional copper-based pesticides, thereby diminishing the prevalence of plant pests and diseases while fostering ecological sustainability.

Causal association between 91 circulating inflammatory proteins and primary open-angle glaucoma: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Glaucoma, especially primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), is a leading cause of irreversible vision loss. While elevated intraocular pressure is a major risk factor, the pathogenesis of POAG also involves genetics, oxidative stress, abnormal hemodynamics, and inflammatory factors. The role of systemic inflammation in POAG remains a subject of debate.

Grifolic acid, a FFAR4 agonist, identified as a dual antagonist of voltage-gated sodium and Ca2.2 channels with potent antinociceptive effects.

Background And Purpose: Chronic pain affects nearly 30% of the global population. Because of significant adverse effects of opioids, alternative therapies are urgently needed. In a drug discovery project, we identified grifolic acid (GA) as a potent Na1.

The impact of demographic factors and personality traits on nurse compassion fatigue: A cross-sectional analysis.

Background: Compassion fatigue significantly impacts nurses' work efficiency, care quality, and overall well-being. Consequently, the phenomenon of compassion fatigue among nurses has garnered considerable attention. Research from abroad indicates that demographic factors and the Big Five personality traits are closely related to the burnout dimension of compassion fatigue.

Identification of a small molecule targeting EPLIN as a novel strategy for the treatment of pediatric neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma.

Amplification of the MYCN proto-oncogene serves as a key marker of aggressive disease and poor treatment outcomes in certain pediatric tumors originating from the nervous system, including neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma. However, the complex nature of the challenging MYCN protein underscores the urgent need for additional targets and therapies to tackle neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma. In this study, with a primary focus on neuroblastoma and the aim of also benefiting children with medulloblastoma, we identified FLIX5, a small compound that exhibits broad cytotoxicity against both neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma cells, primarily by triggering apoptosis.

Correlation between sunrise/sunset times and peak onset periods of primary intracerebral hemorrhage.

Although the bimodal diurnal pattern of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) onset has been well established, the exact timing of these peaks remains inconsistent across previous studies. Sunrise and sunset times serve as critical zeitgebers closely tied to diurnal rhythms, but whether their geographical and seasonal variations can explain the observed differences in peak timing remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate potential correlations between sunrise/sunset times and morning/afternoon onset peaks of ICH.

A molecularly defined brain circuit module for regulating panic-like defensive state.

Panic is an episode of strong defensive state, characterized by intense fear and severe physical symptoms such as elevated cardiorespiratory activities. How the brain generates panic state remains poorly understood. Here, we developed a robot-based experimental paradigm to evoke panic-like defensive state in mice.

Left ventricular segmentation method based on optimized UNet and improved CBAM: ESV and EDV tracking study.

This paper introduces an optimized nested UNet model for automated left ventricular segmentation in cardiac function assessment. We utilize the EchoNet-Dynamic dataset, which contains both video data and expert annotations. Unlike conventional methods such as DeepLabv3 that struggle with large model sizes and imprecise segmentation, Our proposed model introduces a deeper feature extraction module to effectively capture multi-scale features and reduce computational overhead.

Targeting the cholinergic-astrocyte axis: A novel strategy for brain metastasis prevention in lung adenocarcinoma.

Brain metastasis (BM) represents a highly detrimental complication of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), persisting even following curative resection of primary tumors, with limited effective preventive measures. This study explores the role of cholinergic metabolism, a pathway crucial for both LUAD progression and brain function, in the pathogenesis of BM. Through comprehensive analysis of RNA-sequencing data from 875 LUAD cases and validation using tissue microarrays from 280 patients, we identified cholinergic metabolic activation as a defining characteristic of tumors prone to BM, which is significantly associated with poor survival outcomes.

Dynactin subunit 1 facilitates mast cell degranulation to drive food allergy pathogenesis.

Background: Mast cells play pivotal roles in allergic pathogenesis and inflammatory disorders, with their pathologic effects largely mediated through granule exocytosis. Dynactin subunit 1 (Dctn1), a microtubule-associated motor protein, remains unexplored in mast cell-driven inflammation. This study investigates Dctn1's functional role in regulating mast cell degranulation during food allergy (FA).

Determining Linker Ratios of Mixed Metal-Organic Frameworks via Magnetic Susceptibility Measurements.

Partial replacement of the organic linkers of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) often optimizes their functionalities, however, accurate characterization of their molar ratios in many cases is challenging. This work presents a method of determining such linker ratios via measurements of the magnetic susceptibility of small quantities of powdered samples. The main presumption is taking the diamagnetic and paramagnetic contributions to the molar magnetic susceptibility of the two parent MOFs to be additive.

Type One Protein Phosphatase 4aD Negatively Regulates Cotton () Salt Tolerance by Inhibiting the Phosphorylation of Kinases That Respond to Abscisic Acid.

Salinity is one of the major factors limiting the growth, development, and yield of cotton. Although the mechanisms of cotton tolerance to salt stress have been studied, the regulatory roles and mechanisms of protein kinases and phosphatases in cotton salt response remain poorly understood. Here, we identify Type One Protein Phosphatase 4aD (), belonging to the Type One Protein Phosphatase (TOPP) family, as a negative regulator in cotton salt stress response.

Elucidation of the relationship between lignin structure and its inhibitory effect on enzymatic hydrolysis.

In this work, milled wood lignin (MWL) was isolated from three distinct raw materials, including reed, poplar and pine. The research focused on investigating the adsorption of lignin onto cellulase and its subsequent impact on enzymatic hydrolysis. Analysis revealed that reed lignin consisted of three structural units: syringal (S), guaiacyl (G), and p-hydroxyphenyl (H), with a G/(G + S + H) molar ratio of 0.

Dietary inflammatory potential, genetic predisposition, and incidence of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Background: Evidence for a potential link between dietary inflammatory potential and inflammatory bowel disease is limited, and the moderating role of genetic susceptibility remains to be assessed.

Objective: To evaluate energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII) for the associations with incident Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) and the role of genetic susceptibility.

Methods: A total of 205,706 UK Biobank participants who were aged 39-72 years and had no known CD or UC at baseline (2006-2010) were included.

Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer Performances of Aluminum Alloy Lattices with Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces.

Thermal protection systems play a pivotal role in astronautical engineering fields. However, traditional rectangular fin (RF) structures exhibit low thermo-fluid properties. Inspired by the minimal surfaces in nature, this study develops three types of triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) lattices, namely, sheet primitive (SP), network I-WP (NW), and sheet I-WP (SW) by using mathematical formulae.

Identification of a novel calcium-binding peptide from Lentinula edodes and structure, stability and absorption evaluation of its calcium chelate.

Background: Peptide-Ca chelates are promising calcium supplements. Lentinula edodes (LE) is rich in amino acids with calcium-binding ability, and so it is hypothesized that it can be used to develop peptide-Ca chelates. Additionally, aiming to save time, molecular docking, using Ca or calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) (a regulator of calcium homeostasis) as target, has been applied in the screening of calcium-binding peptides (CBP).

Treatment and fertility outcomes of moss-like endometriosis with hemorrhagic ascites: A case report.

Rationale: Endometrial tissue in the greater omentum with a large amount of hemorrhagic ascites is relatively uncommon. Endometriosis is similar to ovarian malignancy in cases of hemorrhagic ascites. Hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy are the only effective and clear treatments, and their indications are limited by patient age and fertility.

Food safety assessment of genetically modified soybean DBN9004×DBN8002×DBN8205 in a subchronic rodent feeding study.

Soybeans provide a nutritionally complete plant-based protein, containing all nine essential amino acids and bioactive compounds. The food safety of a novel triple-stacked genetically modified (GM) soybean, DBN9004 × DBN8002 × DBN8205 was evaluated in a 90-day rat feeding study. The GM soybean, developed through conventional hybridization of three GM lines (DBN9004, DBN8002 and DBN8205), incorporates genes conferring resistance to glyphosate (epsps), glufosinate (pat), and lepidopteran pests (cry1Ac, cry2Ab2, and mVip3Aa).

Bulk transcriptome and single-nucleus RNA sequencing analyses highlight the role of recombination activating 1 in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a prevalent chronic condition with an incompletely understood pathogenesis. In this study, five candidate genes-RAG1, CKAP2, CENPK, TYMS, and BUB1-were identified as being associated with NAFLD progression through integrative bioinformatics analyses. A predictive model incorporating these genes demonstrated strong robustness and diagnostic accuracy.

The food application of a novel Staphylococcus aureus bacteriophage vB_SA_STAP152 and its endolysin LysP152 with high enzymatic activity under cold temperature.

Staphylococcus aureus, a foodborne bacterial pathogen, poses a serious challenge due to antibiotic resistance, highlighting the urgent need for effective and alternative antimicrobial agents. Undoubtedly, bacteriophages and bacteriophage-encoded antibacterial proteins have been considered effective biopreservatives. Herein, we report the isolation and characterization of a novel lytic bacteriophage, vB_SA_STAP152, along with its endolysin LysP152.

LuAlO:Ce Fluorescent Ceramic with Deep Traps: Thermoluminescence and Photostimulable Luminescence Properties.

Electron-trapping materials have attracted a lot of attention in the field of optical data storage. However, the lack of suitable trap levels has hindered its development and application in the field of optical data storage. Herein, LuAlO:Ce fluorescent ceramics were developed as the optical storage medium, and high-temperature vacuum sintering induced the formation of deep traps (1.

Enhanced Compressive Mechanical Properties of Bio-Inspired Lattice Metamaterials with Taper Struts.

The stress distribution within the struts of lattice metamaterials is non-uniform under compressive loads, with stress concentrations typically occurring at the node regions. Inspired by bamboo, this study proposes a type of body-centered cubic (BCC) lattice metamaterial with tapered prism struts (BCCT). The compressive behavior, deformation modes, mechanical properties, and failure mechanisms of BCCT lattice metamaterials are systematically analyzed using finite element methods and validated through compression tests.

Exploring the structural validity and reliability of the swimming competence assessment scale in college students.

Purpose: As a globally popular physical activity, swimming also presents challenges due to its inherent aquatic risks. Therefore, the cultivation of swimming competence emerges as a crucial strategy in preventing drowning incidents. This study aimed to develop and validate the Swimming Competence Assessment Scale in College Students (SCAS) to address the gap in structured swimming proficiency evaluation, essential for drowning prevention and water safety education.