The direct lineage reprogramming of one specialized cell type into another using defined factors has fundamentally re-shaped traditional concepts regarding the epigenetic stability of differentiated ...cells. With the rapid increase in cell types generated through direct conversion in recent years, this strategy has become a promising approach for producing functional cells. Here, we review recent advances in lineage reprogramming, including the identification of novel reprogramming factors, underlying molecular mechanisms, strategies for generating functionally mature cells, and assays for characterizing induced cells. We also discuss progress toward the application of lineage reprogramming and the major future challenges for this strategy.
Deng and colleague review the latest advances in direct lineage reprogramming, including the identification of novel reprogramming factors, the underlying molecular mechanisms, strategies for generating functionally mature cells, and assays for characterizing induced cells.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Pesticides, extensively used in agriculture production, have received enormous attention because of their potential threats to the environment and human health. Hence, in this study, a kind of highly ...sensitive and stable hybrid surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active substrates constructed with flower-like two-dimensional molybdenum sulfide and Ag (MoS2@Ag) has been developed, and then the above substrate was sequentially utilized in the recyclable detection of pesticide residues on several kinds of fruits and vegetables. In the first place, the excellent photocatalytic performance of the MoS2@Ag hybrid substrate was demonstrated, which was attributed to the inhibition of electron–hole combination after the formation of Schottky barrier between the Ag NPs and MoS2 matrix. Thereafter, two calibration curves with ultra-low limits of detection (LOD) as 6.4 × 10–7 and 9.8 × 10–7 mg/mL were established for the standard solutions of thiram (tetramethylthiuram disulfide, TMTD) and methyl parathion (MP), and then the recyclable assay of their single and mixed residues on eggplant, Chinese cabbage, grape, and strawberry was successfully realized. It is interesting to note that the detection recoveries from 95.5 to 63.1% for TMTD and 92.3 to 62.6% for MP are greatly dependent on the size and surface roughness of these foods. In a word, the MoS2@Ag composite matrix shows attractive SERS and photocatalysis performance, and it is expected to have the potential application on food safety monitoring.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Infrared radiation count (IRC) is considered as an indicator for damage evolution of rocks. This new indicator links damage intensity and corresponding infrared radiation temperature. As demonstrated ...exemplary for sandstone, the sudden change of IRC can be considered as a damage indicator for rocks under loading. All samples showed IRC sudden changes around the peak stress, and 75% of the samples showed sudden changes before reaching the peak stress. Therefore—considering that infrared camera covers only about 25% of sample surface—IRC can be used as an early warning signal for rock failure. IRC variations are mainly related to energy release during the energy transformation process from elastic strain energy into fracture energy, heat and seismic energy. IRC is randomly distributed over the whole sample surface with very low values in the quasi-elastic deformation stage, but with the onset of local cracking, sudden and significant changes occur. The use of IRC as a nondestructive failure precursor in laboratory tests is recommended.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Metabolic responses are important for plant adaptation to osmotic stresses. To understand the dosage and duration dependence of salinity effects on plant metabolisms, we analyzed the metabonome of ...tobacco plants and its dynamic responses to salt treatments using NMR spectroscopy in combination with multivariate data analysis. Our results showed that the tobacco metabonome was dominated by 40 metabolites including organic acids/bases, amino acids, carbohydrates and choline, pyrimidine, and purine metabolites. A dynamic trajectory was clearly observable for the tobacco metabonomic responses to the dosage of salinity. Short-term low-dose salt stress (50 mM NaCl, 1 day) caused metabolic shifts toward gluconeogenesis with depletion of pyrimidine and purine metabolites. Prolonged salinity with high-dose salt (500 mM NaCl) induced progressive accumulation of osmolytes, such as proline and myo-inositol, and changes in GABA shunt. Such treatments also promoted the shikimate-mediated secondary metabolisms with enhanced biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids. Therefore, salinity caused systems alterations in widespread metabolic networks involving transamination, TCA cycle, gluconeogenesis/glycolysis, glutamate-mediated proline biosynthesis, shikimate-mediated secondary metabolisms, and the metabolisms of choline, pyrimidine, and purine. These findings provided new insights for the tobacco metabolic adaptation to salinity and demonstrated the NMR-based metabonomics as a powerful approach for understanding the osmotic effects on plant biochemistry.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Abstract Background Oxidative and inflammatory damages have been suggested to play an important role in cerebral ischemic pathogenesis, and provide promising therapeutic strategies for stroke. ...Nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a pleiotropic transcription factor, has been shown to play a key role in protecting cells against oxidative injury in cerebral ischemia. In this study, we demonstrated the hypothesis that ursolic acid (UA), a natural pentacyclic triterpenoid acid, isolated from edible plants in the Oleaceae family, a well-known anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory reagent, protects the brain against ischemic injury by activating the Nrf2 pathway. Methods : Nrf2−/− and wild-type (WT) mice were induced into focal cerebral ischemia by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), and received UA treatment immediately after MCAO. The behavioral dysfunction, infarct size, and the expression of Nrf2, HO-1 and inflammatory factors (TLR4 and NF-κB) in ischemic brain were measured at 24 h after stroke. Results : UA treatment significantly improved neurological deficit and reduced infarct size in WT mice after MCAO. Administration of UA also decreased the product of lipid peroxidation, promoted the activation of Nrf2 pathway and decreased the expression of TLR4 and NF-KB after stroke in WT mice. However, Nrf2−/− mice demonstrated more severe neurologic deficits, infarct size and inflammatory damage after MCAO, and did not benefit from the protective effect of UA. Conclusion : The results indicated that UA protected the brain against ischemic injury in mice by anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects after MCAO. Activation of the Nrf2 pathway contributes to the neuroprotective effects induced by UA in cerebral ischemia.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
TiO
2
-halloysite (TiO
2
-HNT) composites were fabricated by depositing anatase TiO
2
on the halloysite (HNT) surfaces with calcination treatment at 100, 200, 300 and 500 °C. The obtained composites ...were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). HNT was attached with TiO
2
particles or clusters in sizes of 10–30 nm. With the increasing of calcination temperature, the crystalline of anatase became more perfect, but the structure of HNT could be destroyed at 500 °C. The adsorption and photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) by TiO
2
-HNTs were investigated. The kinetic adsorption fit the pseudo second-order, and the isotherm data followed the Langmuir model. The maximum adsorption capacities of MB were in the range of 38.57 to 54.29 mg/g. TiO
2
-HNTs exhibited an efficient photocatalytic activity in the decomposition of MB. For TiO
2
-HNT calcined at 300 °C, 81.6% MB were degraded after 4 h treatment of UV irradiation.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The maintenance of terminally differentiated cells, especially hepatocytes, in vitro has proven challenging. Here we demonstrated the long-term in vitro maintenance of primary human hepatocytes ...(PHHs) by modulating cell signaling pathways with a combination of five chemicals (5C). 5C-cultured PHHs showed global gene expression profiles and hepatocyte-specific functions resembling those of freshly isolated counterparts. Furthermore, these cells efficiently recapitulated the entire course of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection over 4 weeks with the production of infectious viral particles and formation of HBV covalently closed circular DNA. Our study demonstrates that, with a chemical approach, functional maintenance of PHHs supports long-term HBV infection in vitro, providing an efficient platform for investigating HBV cell biology and antiviral drug screening.
Approximately one-third of agricultural land worldwide is affected by salinity, which limits the productivity and sustainability of crop ecosystems. Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are a ...potential solution to this problem, as PGPR increases crop yield through improving soil fertility and stress resistance. Previous studies have shown that Priestia megaterium ZS-3(ZS-3) can effectively help plants tolerate salinity stress. However, how ZS-3 regulates its metabolic adaptations in saline environments remains unclear. In this study, we monitored the metabolic rearrangement of compatibilisers in ZS-3 and combined the findings with genomic data to reveal how ZS-3 survives in stressful environments, induces plant growth, and tolerates stress. The results showed that ZS-3 tolerated salinity levels up to 9%. In addition, glutamate and trehalose help ZS-3 adapt to osmotic stress under low NaCl stress, whereas proline, K+, and extracellular polysaccharides regulate the osmotic responses of ZS-3 exposed to high salt stress. Potting experiments showed that applying the ZS-3 strain in saline and neutral soils could effectively increase the activities of soil acid phosphatase, urease, and invertase in both soils, thus improving soil fertility and promoting plant growth. In addition, strain ZS-3-GFP colonised the rhizosphere and leaves of Cinnamomum camphora well, as confirmed by confocal microscopy and resistance plate count analysis. Genomic studies and in vitro experiments have shown that ZS-3 exhibits a variety of beneficial traits, including plant-promoting, antagonistic, and other related traits (such as resistance to saline and heavy metal stress/tolerance, amino acid synthesis and transport, volatile compound synthesis, micronutrient utilisation, and phytohormone biosynthesis/regulatory potential). The results support that ZS-3 can induce plant tolerance to abiotic stresses. These data provide important clues to further reveal the interactions between plants and microbiomes, as well as the mechanisms by which micro-organisms control plant health.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emissions lead to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ground-level ozone pollution, and are harmful to human health, especially in urban areas. However, ...most BVOCs estimations ignored the emissions from urban green spaces, causing inaccuracies in the understanding of regional BVOCs emissions and their environmental and health effects. In this study, we used the latest local vegetation datasets from our field survey and applied an estimation model to analyze the spatial-temporal patterns, air quality impacts, health damage and mitigating strategies of BVOCs emissions in the Greater Beijing Area. Results showed that: (1) the urban core was the hotspot of regional BVOCs emissions for the highest region-based emission intensity (3.0 g C m−2 yr−1) among the 11 sub-regions; (2) urban green spaces played much more important roles (account for 62% of total health damage) than rural forests in threating human health; (3) BVOCs emissions from green spaces will more than triple by 2050 due to urban area expansion, tree growth and environmental changes; and (4) adopting proactive management (e.g. adjusting tree species composition) can reduce 61% of the BVOCs emissions and 50% of the health damage related to BVOCs emissions by 2050.
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•Urban core is the hotspot of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emissions in the Greater Beijing Area.•Neglecting BVOCs emissions from urban green spaces leads to a 62% underestimation of the related health damage.•BVOCs contribute significantly to ozone pollution while make limited contribution to PM2.5 pollution.•BVOCs emissions from urban green spaces will triple by 2050, and 61% of these emissions can be reduced through management.
Although BVOCs emissions from urban green spaces make limited contribution to regional emissions, their health impacts could be significant in urban areas.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a rising problem in global public health. The traditional physical and imageological examinations are invasive and radioactive. There is a need for less harmful ...new biomarkers. Tumor mutational burden (TMB) is a novel prognostic biomarker for various cancers. We intended to explore the relationship between TMB-related genes and the prognosis of OSCC and to construct a prognostic model.
TMB-related differential expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by differential analysis and optimized via the univariate Cox and LASSO Cox analyses. Risk Score model was constructed by expression values of screened genes multiplying coefficient of LASSO Cox.
Seven TMB-related DEGs (CTSG, COL6A5, GRIA3, CCL21, ZNF662, TDRD5 and GSDMB) were screened. Patients in high-risk group (Risk Score > - 0.684511507) had worse prognosis compared to the low-risk group (Risk Score < - 0.684511507). Survival rates of patients in the high-risk group were lower in the gender, age and degrees of differentiation subgroups compared to the low-risk group.
The Risk Score model constructed by 7 TMB-related genes may be a reliable biomarker for predicting the prognosis of OSCC patients.
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