Modeling post-gastrula development via bidirectional pluripotent stem cells.

The absence of stem cells capable of efficiently generating both trophoblast and epiblast lineages has hindered precise recapitulation of embryonic development. Through high-content chemical screening, we established an (AS and LY) AL medium to generate mouse bidirectional pluripotent stem cells (BPSCs) characterized by concurrent expression of OCT4 and CDX2. Mouse BPSCs demonstrated highly plastic differentiation into trophoblast, epiblast and primitive endoderm (PrE) lineages in vitro within 48 h without exogenous inducing factors and efficiently contributed to embryonic and extraembryonic tissues in vivo.

Intravenously injected hPSC-derived pericytes for Alzheimer's disease: neuroprotection and vascular repair via extracellular vesicles.

Intravenously injected human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived pericytes and their extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent promising therapeutic strategies for neurological diseases. Our study aimed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of intravenous transplantation for treating Alzheimer's disease (AD), with a focus on elucidating the critical role of EV-related mechanisms. We generated pericytes (hPSC-CNC PCs) from hPSC derived cranial neural crest (CNC) and employed 12-month-old 5xFAD mice as an advanced stage AD model.

Performance Degradation Behavior and Service Life Prediction of Hydraulic Asphalt Concrete Under Long-Term Water Immersion.

Hydraulic asphalt concrete (HAC) is susceptible to performance deterioration under long-term water immersion. This study conducted compressive, tensile, and bending tests on HAC under various immersion times (0-96 h), established a multidimensional performance evaluation method, and developed a service-life prediction model for long-term water immersion. The average relative error between test values and predicted values was less than 5%, validating the model's effectiveness and applicability.

Temporal Deformation Characteristics of Hydraulic Asphalt Concrete Slope Flow Under Different Test Temperatures.

To investigate temporal deformation mechanisms of hydraulic asphalt concrete slope flow under evolving temperatures, this study developed a novel temperature-controlled slope flow intelligent test apparatus. Using this apparatus, slope flow tests were conducted at four temperature levels: 20 °C, 35 °C, 50 °C, and 70 °C. By applying nonlinear dynamics theory, the temporal evolution of slope flow deformation and its nonlinear mechanical characteristics under varying temperatures were thoroughly analyzed.

Soft graph clustering for single-cell RNA sequencing data.

Background: Clustering analysis is fundamental in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data analysis for elucidating cellular heterogeneity and diversity. Recent graph-based scRNA-seq clustering methods, particularly graph neural networks (GNNs), have significantly improved in tackling the challenges of high-dimension, high-sparsity, and frequent dropout events that lead to ambiguous cell population boundaries. However, one major challenge for GNN-based methods is their reliance on hard graph constructions derived from similarity matrices.

Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors improve insulin resistance and β-cell function in type 2 diabetes: A meta-analysis.

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are widely used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Aim: To evaluate the influence of SGLT2 inhibitors on homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and β-cell function (HOMA-β) in patients with T2D in a meta-analysis.

Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing SGLT2 inhibitors to placebo in T2D patients, with a minimum treatment duration of 12 weeks, were searched using the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases.

Combined approaches to enhance the Pichia pastoris-expressed PET hydrolase.

Enzymatic degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) provides a sustainable and promising strategy for the recycling of plastic waste. Herein, we employed site-directed mutagenesis and machine learning methods to further enhance the performance of an efficient mutant of IsPETase, FAST-PETase-N212A, and resulting in seven variants with enhanced activity. We also found that the α3-β5 loop containing the T140D mutation plays a significant role in both type I and type II cutinases.

Built-in electric field of AgSe thermoelectric effect activated persulfate for humic acid decomposition in water: Molecular transformation mechanism.

Water temperature fluctuations directly impact pollutant decomposition processes in wastewater. Thermoelectric effect is considered an alternative to utilize these temperature variations for pollution control. In this study, a system for persulfate (PS) activation by AgSe thermoelectric catalyst under water temperature gradients (Ag₂Se/Δ/PS) was developed for humic acid (HA) degradation in water.

Machine learning integration of multimodal data identifies key features of circulating NT-proBNP in people without cardiovascular diseases.

N-Terminal Pro-Brain Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP) is important for diagnosing and predicting heart failure or many other diseases. However, few studies have comprehensively assessed the factors correlated with NT-proBNP levels in people with cardiovascular health. We used data from the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Drought-induced 19 gene FvDi19-3 from woodland strawberry enhances drought and salt tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis.

FvDi19-3 enhances drought and salt tolerance in Arabidopsis by promoting stomatal closure, improving the ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species, and increasing the expression of drought- or salt-responsive genes. Di19 (drought-induced 19) proteins play a crucial role in regulating plant development and various stress responses. However, a systematic identification and functional analysis of the Di19 gene family members in woodland strawberry has not yet been conducted.

Deep learning-assisted cellular imaging for evaluating acrylamide toxicity through phenotypic changes.

Acrylamide (AA), a food hazard generated during thermal processing, poses significant safety risks due to its toxicity. Conventional methods for AA toxicology are time-consuming and inadequate for analyzing cellular morphology. This study developed a novel approach combining deep learning models (U-Net and ResNet34) with cell fluorescence imaging.

Channel Fitting Network for Retinal Lesion Segmentation from OCT Images.

Retinal lesion is a cause of age-related macular degeneration that poses a big threat to elderly population. The accurate detection and segmentation of retinal lesions benefits the early diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration and monitoring of disease progression. However, due to the large variant of imaging characteristics among different subtypes of diseases, it is challenging for a model to precisely segment retinal lesions.

Rapid charge transfer and O selective catalysis induced by B-doped nanoconfined reactor realized complete Cu-EDTA decomplexation: Significant role of BC conformation.

Nanoconfinement strategy that overcomes the defects of conventional heterogeneous catalysts in electron and mass transport provides a new outlet to enhance REDOX processes. Nonetheless, limitations in the activity and selectivity of effective catalytic sites are still the drawbacks of nanoconfined catalysts. In this study, a B-doped carbon nanotubes-confined-FeO catalyst (BFe@CNTs-L) coupled with a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma system (DBD/BFe@CNTs-L) was developed for Cu-EDTA removal.

Construction of a microfluidic SELEX platform for efficient screening of advanced glycation end products aptamer.

Aptamers, as a kind of recognition molecules with stable nature and excellent binding ability, are usually obtained by systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). However, the traditional SELEX suffers from the problems of low screening efficiency as well as excessive number of screening rounds, making the screening a cumbersome process, which greatly restricts the application and development of aptamers. Here, a microfluidic SELEX platform based on capture SELEX was designed and developed to make the screening more integrated and convenient.

Development of an Automated Capture-SELEX Device for Efficient Screening of β-Conglycinin Aptamer.

β-Conglycinin is the main allergen present in soybeans, and it is causing wide concern due to its notable allergenicity, heat, and digestive enzyme resistance. Screening for aptamers that both recognize β-conglycinin and inhibit the allergic reactions that it triggers is necessary. Conventional aptamer screening is labor-intensive, requires skilled personnel, and has limited reproducibility.

Asthma and cognitive dysfunction in older adults: the mediating role of systemic immune-inflammation index.

Asthma and cognitive dysfunction represent significant public health challenges. Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between asthma and cognitive dysfunction in adults aged ≥ 60 years, and explore the role of systemic immune inflammation index (SII) in asthma - cognitive dysfunction link. The retrospective cross-sectional study included 2,579 participants aged ≥ 60 years from the 2011-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycles.

The key to 2,6-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone reproductive toxicity and green tea detoxification: Covalent binding and competitive binding.

Halobenzoquinones (HBQs) are ubiquitous disinfection by-products (DBPs) in chlorinated drinking water with various health risks including reproductive toxicity, while the potential mechanisms are still unclear. Although green tea exhibits common detoxifying properties, its ability to mitigate the toxicity of HBQs still needs to be further deepened and explored. This study attempted to investigate the possible mechanism of the most common HBQ, 2,6-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone (2,6-DCBQ) induced reproductive toxicity and elucidate the protective effect of green tea using a series of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) approaches.

Design and application of microfluidics in aptamer SELEX and Aptasensors.

Aptamers are excellent recognition molecules obtained from systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) that have been extensively researched for constructing aptasensors. However, in the process from SELEX to the construction of aptasensors, there are many disadvantages, such as tedious and repetitive operations, interference from external factors, and low efficiency, which seriously limits their application scope and development. Introducing the microfluidic technology can realize the integration and intelligence of SELEX and aptasensing, improve the efficiency of SELEX, and enhance the detection performance and convenience of aptasensing.

PuERF008-PuFAD2 module regulates aroma formation via the fatty acid pathway in response to calcium signaling in 'Nanguo' pear.

Calcium acts as a secondary messenger in plants and is essential for plant growth and development. However, studies on the pathway of aroma synthesis in 'Nanguo' pear (Pyrus ussriensis Maxim.) are scarce.

APOE2 protects against Aβ pathology by improving neuronal mitochondrial function through ERRα signaling.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotypes (APOE2, APOE3, and APOE4) show different AD susceptibility. Previous studies indicated that individuals carrying the APOE2 allele reduce the risk of developing AD, which may be attributed to the potential neuroprotective role of APOE2. However, the mechanisms underlying the protective effects of APOE2 is still unclear.

Multi-view attribute learning and context relationship encoding enhanced segmentation of lung tumors from CT images.

Graph convolutional neural networks (GCN) have shown the promise in medical image segmentation due to the flexibility of representing diverse range of image regions using graph nodes and propagating knowledge via graph edges. However, existing methods did not fully exploit the various attributes of image nodes and the context relationship among their attributes. We propose a new segmentation method with multi-similarity view enhancement and node attribute context learning (MNSeg).

Amyloid β oligomer induces cerebral vasculopathy via pericyte-mediated endothelial dysfunction.

Background: Although abnormal accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) protein is thought to be the main cause of Alzheimer's disease (AD), emerging evidence suggests a pivotal vascular contribution to AD. Aberrant amyloid β induces neurovascular dysfunction, leading to changes in the morphology and function of the microvasculature. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms between Aβ deposition and vascular injuries.

Understanding the Enhanced Catalytic Desulfurization Mechanism: Gas-Phase and Surface Reactions with a CuCeO Catalyst under Nonthermal Plasma Conditions.

To understand the mechanisms of enhanced catalytic technologies under nonthermal plasma (NTP) conditions, complex surface processes must be assessed. However, the predictive capability of the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) and Eley-Rideal (E-R) processes is limited by various factors. The present study aimed to clarify the interaction mechanisms between NTP and catalysts in the enhancement process, explore the specific pathways of the enhancement process based on E-R and L-H model validations, and obtain data to support the rational design of NTP-enhanced catalytic processes.

Experimental Investigation of the Size Effect on Roller-Compacted Hydraulic Asphalt Concrete under Different Strain Rates of Loading.

Asphalt concrete is widely used in hydraulic structure facilities as an impermeable structure in alpine cold regions, and its dynamic mechanical properties are influenced by the strain rate and specimen size. However, the specimen size has an important effect on mechanical properties; few systematic studies have investigated on the size effect of hydraulic asphalt concrete (HAC) under dynamic or static loading rates. In the present study, four sizes of cylindrical roller-compacted hydraulic asphalt concrete (RCHAC) specimens with heights of 50 mm, 100 mm, 150 mm, and 200 mm were prepared and tested under different loading rates ranging from 10 s to 10 s to investigate the size effects of mechanical properties and failure modes at the temperature of 5 °C.