CRISPR/Cas13-Based Anti-RNA Viral Approaches.

RNA viruses pose significant threats to global health, causing diseases such as COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, influenza, and dengue. These viruses are characterized by high mutation rates, rapid evolution, and the ability to evade traditional antiviral therapies, making effective treatment and prevention particularly challenging. In recent years, CRISPR/Cas13 has emerged as a promising antiviral tool due to its ability to specifically target and degrade viral RNA.

Investigating the Trichosanthis Pericarpium - Trichosanthis Radix herbal pair's role in alleviating COPD through gut microbiota function, metabolomics analysis and cell validation experiment.

The herbal pair of Trichosanthis Pericarpium - Trichosanthis Radix (TP-TR) is derived from the classic prescription Bei-Mu-Gua-Lou-San in Yixue Xinwu, which is commonly used to treat lung heat and cough. Both originate from Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim, a medicinal plant known for its effects to clear heat, dissolve phlegm, promote salivation, and relieve dryness. However, the compatibility, pharmacological synergy and gut-lung axis regulation mechanisms of TP-TR remain unclear.

High fat diet (HFD) induced hepatic lipogenic metabolism and lipotoxicity via Parkin-dependent mitophagy and Errα signal of Pelteobagrus fulvidraco.

Background: Mitophagy is an essential cellular autophagic process which maintains mitochondrial homeostasis, but its role in high fat diet (HFD)-induced lipid accumulation is unclear in the yellow catfish. Thus, this study aimed to elucidate mechanism of mitochondria mediating HFD-induced hepatic fat accumulation.

Results: In the present study, yellow catfish were fed three diets with dietary fat at 6.

CILP1 interacting with YBX1 promotes hypertrophic scar formation by suppressing PPARs transcription.

Hypertrophic scar (HS) represents the most prevalent form of skin fibrosis, significantly impacting the quality of life. Despite this, the molecular mechanisms driving HS formation remain largely undefined, impeding the development of effective treatments. The study showed that Cartilage Intermediate Layer Protein 1 (CILP1) was predominantly expressed in myofibroblasts and was up-regulated in various forms of skin fibrosis, including human hypertrophic and keloid scars, and in animal models of HS.

Deficits in Emotional Perception-Related Motor Cortical Excitability in Individuals With Trait Anxiety: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study.

Abnormal emotional perception may contribute to emotional dysfunction in individuals with anxiety. This study explored the progression of impaired emotional perception with the deepening of anxiety in individuals with nonclinical trait anxiety, by measuring the motor cortical excitability associated with emotional perception. In total, 87 participants were assigned to a high trait anxiety ( = 27), moderate trait anxiety ( = 30), or low trait anxiety ( = 30) group.

Targeting PIM1 by Bruceine D attenuates skin fibrosis via myofibroblast ferroptosis.

Skin pan-fibrosis diseases-such as hypertrophic scar (HS), keloid scar (KS), and systemic sclerosis (SSc)-pose significant threats to patients' health and quality of life. In this study, the authors conducted both in vivo and in vitro experiments and discovered that the serine/threonine kinase PIM1 is upregulated in the myofibroblasts of human HS, KS, and SSc tissues, as well as in various animal models of skin fibrosis. Overexpression of PIM1 enhanced the profibrotic phenotypes of human hypertrophic scar fibroblasts (HSFs), which serve as key effector cells in the pathogenesis of skin pan-fibrosis diseases.

Versatile poly (deep eutectic solvents) electroactive chitosan eutectogel for infected wound healing and monitoring administration.

The treatment and monitoring of infected skin wounds present significant clinical challenges. Herein, a multifunctional poly(deep eutectic solvent) (PDES) electroactive hydrogel is developed by optimizing the components and the ratio of hydrogen donors and acceptors, achieving well wound hemostasis, wound healing, and monitoring administration performace. The PDES hydrogel dressing exhibits mechanical properties, including high toughness, fatigue resistance (over 9000 compression cycles), and superior skin adhesion (over 70 kPa).

A nomogram based on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging improves the diagnostic performance of breast lesions diagnosed as BI-RADS category 4: A comparative study with the Kaiser score.

Purpose: To construct a nomogram combining Kaiser score (KS), synthetic MRI (syMRI) parameters, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and clinical features to distinguish benign and malignant breast lesions better.

Methods: From December 2022 to February 2024, a retrospective cohort of 168 patients with breast lesions diagnosed as Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category 4 by ultrasound and/or mammography was included. The research population was divided into the training set (n = 117) and the validation set (n = 51) by random sampling with a ratio of 7:3.

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to ipsilateral primary motor cortex intercortical interactions during inhibitory control enhance response inhibition in open-skill athletes.

Numerous studies have reported that long-term sports training can affect inhibitory control and induce brain functional alterations. However, the influence of environmental dynamics in sports training on inter-cortical connectivity has not been well studied. In the current study, we used twin-coil transcranial magnetic stimulation to investigate the functional connectivity between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and ipsilateral primary motor cortex (M1) during proactive and reactive inhibition in participants with sports skills in dynamic environment (open-skill experts), stable environment (closed-skill experts), and no sports skills (controls).

Evaluating the added value of synthetic magnetic resonance imaging in predicting sentinel lymph node status in breast cancer.

Background: The noninvasive prediction of sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), particularly with synthetic MRI (syMRI), is an emerging field. This study aimed to explore the potential added benefits of syMRI over conventional MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in predicting metastases in SLNs.

Methods: This retrospective study consecutively enrolled 101 patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer (BC) and underwent SLN biopsy from December 2022 to October 2023 at the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University.

The trial-by-trial fluctuations in primary motor cortex excitability during attentional bias among smokers: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

Background: A relatively new computational approach called trial-level bias score (TL-BS) has shown that attentional bias to smoking-related stimuli in smokers fluctuates temporally, trial by trial, during attention tasks. Here, we investigated the reliability of using TL-BS values to assess attentional bias and the electrophysiology mechanisms undergirding fluctuations in attentional bias among smokers.

Method: In total, 26 male smokers and 26 male non-smokers performed a dot-probe task in Experiment 1.

Fluorocitrate inhibition of astrocytes reduces nicotine self-administration and alters extracellular levels of glutamate and dopamine within the nucleus accumbens in male wistar rats.

Emerging evidence suggests an important role of astrocytes in mediating behavioral and molecular effects of commonly misused drugs. Passive exposure to nicotine alters molecular, morphological, and functional properties of astrocytes. However, a potential involvement of astrocytes in nicotine reinforcement remains largely unexplored.

Transcriptional regulation of Znt family members znt4, znt5 and znt10 and their function in zinc transport in yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco).

The study characterized the transcriptionally regulatory mechanism and functions of three zinc (Zn) transporters (znt4, znt5 and znt10) in Zn metabolism in yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco), commonly freshwater fish in China and other countries. We cloned the sequences of znt4 promoter, spanning from -1217 bp to +80 bp relative to TSS (1297 bp); znt5, spanning from -1783 bp to +49 bp relative to TSS (1832 bp) and znt10, spanning from -1923 bp to +190 bp relative to TSS (2113 bp). In addition, after conducting the experiments of sequential deletion of promoter region and mutation of potential binding site, we found that the Nrf2 binding site (-607/-621 bp) and Klf4 binding site (-5/-14 bp) were required on znt4 promoter, the Mtf-1 binding site (-1674/-1687 bp) and Atf4 binding site (-444/-456 bp) were required on znt5 promoter and the Atf4 binding site (-905/-918 bp) was required on znt10 promoter.

Spectral CT in the evaluation of perineural invasion status in rectal cancer.

Purpose: To investigate whether preoperative spectral CT quantitative parameters can assess perineural invasion (PNI) status in rectal cancer.

Methods: Sixty-two patients diagnosed with rectal cancer who underwent preoperative spectral CT were retrospectively enrolled and divided into positive and negative PNI groups according to histopathologic results. The CT attenuation value (HU) of virtual monochromatic images (40-70 keV), spectral curve slope (K), effective atomic number (Z), and iodine concentration (IC) from spectral CT were compared between these two groups using t test or rank sum test.

Methoxsalen Inhibits the Acquisition of Nicotine Self-Administration: Attenuation by Cotinine Replacement in Male Rats.

Introduction: Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of disease and death. Nicotine is the primary reinforcing ingredient in cigarettes sustaining addiction. Cotinine is the major metabolite of nicotine that produces a myriad of neurobehavioral effects.

Modulation of intracortical circuits in primary motor cortex during automatic action tendencies.

Humans display automatic action tendencies toward emotional stimuli, showing faster automatic behavior (i.e., approaching a positive stimulus and avoiding a negative stimulus) than regulated behavior (i.

Characterization and expression analysis of seven lipid metabolism-related genes in yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco fed high fat and bile acid diet.

SREBPs, such as SREBP1 and SREBP2, were the key transcriptional factors regulating lipid metabolism. The processing of SREBPs involved many genes, such as scap, s1p, s2p, cideb. Here, we deciphered the full-length cDNA sequences of scap, srebp1, srebp2, s1p, s2p, cideb and cidec from yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco.

Dietary chenodeoxycholic acid attenuates high-fat diet-induced growth retardation, lipid accumulation and bile acid metabolism disorder in the liver of yellow catfish .

This experiment was conducted to investigate whether dietary chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) could attenuate high-fat (HF) diet-induced growth retardation, lipid accumulation and bile acid (BA) metabolism disorder in the liver of yellow catfish . Yellow catfish (initial weight: 4·40 (sem 0·08) g) were fed four diets: the control (105·8 g/kg lipid), HF diet (HF group, 159·6 g/kg lipid), the control supplemented with 0·9 g/kg CDCA (CDCA group) and HF diet supplemented with 0·9 g/kg CDCA (HF + CDCA group). CDCA supplemented in the HF diet significantly improved growth performance and feed utilisation of yellow catfish ( < 0·05).

miR-20a-5p targeting mfn2-mediated mitochondria-lipid droplet contacts regulated differential changes in hepatic lipid metabolism induced by two Mn sources in yellow catfish.

Understanding the hazards of different forms of metal elements provided innovative insights into their toxicity and environmental risk assessment. To date, few studies had been conducted to investigate the differential effects and mechanisms of MnO NPs and MnSO, two widely distributed environmental pollutants, on hepatic toxicity and lipid metabolism since lipid metabolism-relevant parameters were broadly used as biomarkers for risk assessment of hazardous contaminants. Thus, using yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, an ecologically and economically important freshwater fish as the model, the present study investigated the differential effects and mechanisms of MnO NPs and MnSO influencing hepatic lipid metabolism.

Effects of Different Dietary Zinc (Zn) Sources on Growth Performance, Zn Metabolism, and Intestinal Health of Grass Carp.

This research was conducted to investigate the effects of four dietary zinc (Zn) sources on growth performance, Zn metabolism, antioxidant capacity, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and tight junctions in the intestine of grass carp . Four Zn sources consisted of Zn dioxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), Zn sulfate heptahydrate (ZnSO·7HO), Zn lactate (Zn-Lac), and Zn glycine chelate (Zn-Gly), respectively. Grass carp with an initial body weight of 3.

Predictive modeling based on tumor spectral CT parameters and clinical features for postoperative complications in patients undergoing colon resection for cancer.

Background: Colon cancer is a particularly prevalent malignancy that produces postoperative complications (POCs). However, limited imaging modality exists on the accurate diagnosis of POCs. The purpose of this study was therefore to construct a model combining tumor spectral CT parameters and clinical features to predict POCs before surgery in colon cancer.

Low levels of circulating methylated IRX3 are related to worse outcome after transcatheter aortic valve implantation in patients with severe aortic stenosis.

Background: Aortic stenosis (AS) is one of the most common cardiac diseases and major cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is performed in such patients with symptomatic severe AS and reduces mortality for the majority of these patients. However, a significant percentage dies within the first two years after TAVI, such that there is an interest to identify parameters, which predict outcome and could guide pre-TAVI patient selection.

A nomogram for predicting postoperative complications based on tumor spectral CT parameters and visceral fat area in gastric cancer patients.

Purpose: To construct a nomogram combining tumor spectral CT parameters and visceral fat area (VFA) to predict postoperative complications (POCs) in patients with gastric cancer (GC).

Method: This retrospective study included 101 GC patients who underwent preoperative abdominal spectral CT scan and were divided into two groups (37 with POCs and 64 without POCs) according to the Clavien-Dindo classification standard. Logistic regression was used to establish spectral, VFA, and combined models for predicting POCs.