Publications by authors named "Xinxin Cheng"

: Frailty is common in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and is associated with poor prognosis and increased mortality. Anti-inflammatory dietary education is a promising and cost-effective strategy for frailty improvement. : A prospective, assessor-blinded, two-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted to assess the effects of a 12-week dietary inflammatory index (DII)-based anti-inflammatory dietary education program on frailty in frail CRC patients.

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Context: Three healthy dietary patterns-the Mediterranean (MED) diet, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and the Mediterranean-Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet-have all been recognized to show potential protective effects against dementia, but the results are inconclusive.

Objective: The present study investigated the associations between the 3 healthy dietary patterns and risk of dementia in elderly individuals through a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data Sources: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus databases were searched up to April 12, 2024.

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Sweet corn is highly susceptible to low temperatures, especially during seed germination, which severely affects plant growth and crop yield. This study used 100 sweet corn micro-core germplasms to evaluate two key germination traits under cold stress: seed storage material utilization efficiency (SRUE) and mobilization weight (WMSR). To investigate the genetic basis of cold germination in sweet corn, we selected the BLINK model for GWAS due to its ability to minimize false positives.

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While ferroptosis is involved in the pathogenesis of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, the exact mechanism underlying the induction of ferroptosis by I/R remains elusive. Since downregulation of Zrt, Irt-like protein 13 (ZIP13) plays a role in I/R injury by targeting mitochondria, we hypothesized that ZIP13 downregulation during I/R leads to ferroptosis through a mitochondria-dependent mechanism. ZIP13 cKO (cardiac-specific conditional knockout) induced ferroptosis and suppressed mitochondrial iron-sulfur cluster (ISC) biosynthesis.

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: Depressive symptoms (DepS) are prevalent among patients with breast cancer. Offering an anti-inflammatory diet is a promising strategy for DepS management, but it is costly and difficult to scale up. Instead, anti-inflammatory dietary education is cost-effective and may be more conducive to the promotion of an anti-inflammatory diet strategy.

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Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are emerging promising agents for the treatment of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), however, there are only a small proportion respond to ICI therapy. Therefore, selecting candidate patients who will benefit the most from these drugs is critical. However, validated biomarkers for predicting immunotherapy response and overall survival are lacking.

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Maize is a critical crop for food, feed, and bioenergy worldwide. This study characterized the genetic diversity and population structure of 212 important inbred lines collected from the Southeast China breeding program using the Maize6H-60K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. To investigate the genetic architecture of plant height (PH) and ear height (EH), genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) was performed on this population in 2021 and 2022.

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Objectives: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is highly prevalent in patients with breast cancer, resulting in undesirable outcomes and even reduced survival rates. This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between dietary quality and CRF in patients with breast cancer, and the potential role of gut microbiota (GM) in this association.

Methods: Dietary intake and CRF were evaluated in 342 patients, with 64 fecal samples collected for 16sRNA sequencing and 106 plasma samples for tryptophan (TRP) metabolite determination.

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We describe the design and performance of a magnetic bottle electron spectrometer (MBES) for high-energy electron spectroscopy. Our design features a 2 m long electron drift tube and electrostatic retardation lens, achieving sub-electronvolt (eV) electron kinetic energy resolution for high energy (several hundred eV) electrons with a close to 4π collection solid angle. A segmented anode electron detector enables the simultaneous collection of photoelectron spectra in high resolution and high collection efficiency modes.

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Objectives: To explore the association between the oxidative balance score (OBS) and cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) in patients with lung cancer, as well as the oxidative stress biomarkers involved.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 315 lung cancer patients were recruited, from whom 142 blood samples were collected to determine oxidative stress biomarkers. Dietary intake was assessed using 3-day, 24 h dietary recalls.

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Symmetry control is essential for realizing unconventional properties, such as ferroelectricity, nonlinear optical responses, and complex topological order, thus it holds promise for the design of emerging quantum and photonic systems. Nevertheless, fast and reversible control of symmetry in materials remains a challenge, especially for nanoscale systems. Here, reversible symmetry changes are unveiled in colloidal lead chalcogenide quantum dots on picosecond timescales.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the metastatic process in cancer, focusing on the survival of quiescent cancer cells in the bloodstream, which is crucial for understanding metastasis and improving treatments.
  • A new quiescent cancer cell model was created through high-density cultivation, revealing that the protein CDC25A is essential for maintaining quiescence and influences cholesterol metabolism, which affects cell behavior during metastasis.
  • The findings highlight how CDC25A enhances resistance to mechanical forces by reinforcing the cytoskeleton and altering membrane properties in these quiescent cells, thereby facilitating their ability to metastasize in the lungs.
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RG-I pectin has excellent health benefits, but its raw materials are relatively scarce, and its complex structure often breaks down its side-chain structure during the extraction process. In this study, the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of a branched-chain-rich pectin gained from watermelon peel were demonstrated, and the structure-function relationships of RG-I-enriched pectin and emulsification properties were investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, high-performance anion exchange chromatography, high-performance gel permeation chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and methylation analyses reveal it as acetylated, low-methoxylated pectin, rich in RG-I side chains (MW: 1991 kDa, RG-I = 66.

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Background: Current diagnostic methods cannot effectively distinguish between latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and active tuberculosis (ATB). This study aims to explore novel non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers for LTBI and to elucidate possible molecular mechanisms of LTBI pathogenesis.

Methods: Three GEO datasets (GSE19439, GSE19444, and GSE62525) were utilized to analyze the differentially expressed genes (DEGs).

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The development of biodegradable antimicrobial bioplastics for food packaging holds great promise for solving the pollution and safety problems caused by petrochemical plastics and spoiled food. Herein, a natural active-bioplastic synthesized from citrus peel biomass is presented for perishable fruit preservation. These plastics are characterized by the nanoscale entanglement and recombinant hydrogen bonding between the endogenous pectin, polyphenols and cellulose micro/nanofibrils.

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Deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most abundant mycotoxin in cereal crops and derived foods and is of great concern in agriculture. Bioremediation strategies have long been sought to minimize the impact of mycotoxin contamination, but few direct and effective enzyme-catalyzed detoxification methods are currently available. In this study, we established a multi-enzymatic cascade reaction and successfully achieved detoxification at double sites: glutathionylation for the C-12,13 epoxide group and epimerization for the C-3 hydroxyl group.

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Background: In addition to functioning as a precise monitoring mechanism in cell cycle, the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) is reported to be involved in regulating multiple metabolic processes by facilitating the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of key enzymes. Fatty acid oxidation is a metabolic pathway utilized by tumor cells that is crucial for malignant progression; however, its association with APC/C remains to be explored.

Methods: Cell cycle synchronization, immunoblotting, and propidium iodide staining were performed to investigate the carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 C (CPT1C) expression manner.

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Article Synopsis
  • Alterations in zinc transporter expression help protect cardiac cells from ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury due to zinc loss, though the exact mechanisms are still unclear.
  • Zinc deficiency leads to the degradation of the protein PIAS3, which is essential for activating STAT3 and increasing the expression of zinc transporter genes.
  • The RING finger domain of PIAS3 plays a key role in its degradation and inhibition of STAT3, with studies showing that knocking down PIAS3 can increase cardiac zinc levels and reduce heart damage during I/R, while its overexpression worsens the injury.
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  • Researchers studied cyclopentadiene (CP) after exciting it with light at 243 nm using advanced X-ray techniques at LCLS.
  • They found direct evidence that CP quickly transforms into bicyclo[2.1.0]pentene (BP), a unique molecule with strained rings.
  • BP reverts back to CP over about 21 picoseconds, with a smaller proportion of reactions occurring on a subpicosecond timescale.
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Patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) are at high risk of frailty, leading to reduced quality of life and survival. Diet is associated with frailty in the elderly through regulating inflammation. Thus, we hypothesized that dietary inflammatory potential (as assessed by dietary inflammatory index [DII]) might be associated with frailty in patients with CRC through regulating inflammatory biomarkers.

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  • The study investigates the possibility of replacing waxy rice starch with eight varieties of waxy or sweet-waxy corn starch, including three self-cultivated types.
  • Various analyses revealed that while all ten starches have a typical A-type crystal structure, they differ in key characteristics such as relative crystallinity, peak viscosities, and paste transparency.
  • Jing cai tian nuo 18 and Feng nuo 168 show potential as effective substitutes for commercially available waxy rice starch in rice-based product development.
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  • Rapeseed is a key source of plant oil, and silique length (SL) is a critical trait that affects its yield, controlled by multiple genes.
  • Researchers mapped twenty-six quantitative trait loci (QTL) for SL across different environments, identifying eight consensus QTL including two major ones that account for significant variability in SL.
  • By analyzing candidate genes and gene expression, they identified an ideal QTL combination (A02C06) that produced the longest silique length, which could enhance rapeseed breeding efforts.
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Background: Motor imagery therapy (MIT) showed positive effects on upper limbs motor function. However, the mechanism by which MIT improves upper limb motor function is not fully understood. Therefore, our purpose was to investigate the changes in functional connectivity (FC) within and outside the sensorimotor network (SMN) induced by MIT associated with improvement in upper limb motor function in stroke patients.

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Trichothecene (TCN) contamination in food and feed is a serious challenge due to the negative health and economic impacts. Here, we confirmed that the glutathione S-transferase (GST) Fhb7-GST could broadly catalyze type A, type B and type D TCNs into glutathione epoxide adducts (TCN-13-GSHs). To evaluate the toxicity of TCN-13-GSH adducts, we performed cell proliferation assays in vitro, which demonstrated decreased cytotoxicity of the adducts.

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