The limitations of classical node centralities such as degree, closeness, betweenness and eigenvector are rooted in the network topology structure. For a deeper understanding, we regulate the basic ...network topology structure clustering and assortative coefficient to study the effect on these four classical node centralities. To observe the structural diversity of the complex network, we firstly construct two types of the growing scale-free networks with tunable clustering coefficient and assortative coefficient respectively, and simulate three types of null models on ten real networks to adjust cluster and assortativity. The results indicate that the impact of varying cluster and assortativity on node centrality in complex networks is obvious. We should pay more attention to the network topology when selecting node centralities as identifying the significance or influence of nodes in complex networks.
•The limitations of the node centrality are rooted the network topology structure.•We study the effect of structural diversity on node centrality.•The impact of varying cluster and assortativity on node centrality is obvious.
•Inorganic Cu2GeS3 nanocrystals are utilized as hole transporting layer in C-PSCs.•Cu2GeS3 could effectively extract photo-generated holes and suppress the charge carrier recombination.•C-PSC with a ...champion PCE of 19.0% is demonstrate.
Hole transporting layer (HTL) is indispensable for promoting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and device stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), especially for the carbon electrode based PSCs (C-PSCs). Compared with the large amount of organic HTLs, which are available for metal electrode based PSCs, the inorganic HTLs for C-PSCs are relatively scarce. In this study, we successfully synthesized Cu2GeS3 nanocrystals with spherical shape and well dispersibility, and further explore their potential to function as inorganic HTL for C-PSCs. The Cu2GeS3 HTL can greatly improve the PCE of C-PSCs to 19.0 %, which is enhanced by 36.3 % compared with that (PCE = 13.9 %) of HTL-free C-PSCs. The reported PCE in our study is among the highest PCEs for C-PSCs with inorganic HTL, therefore, our study indicates that Cu2GeS3 nanocrystals are excellent inorganic HTL for C-PSCs.
Snakes have numerous features distinctive from other tetrapods and a rich history of genome evolution that is still obscure. Here, we report the high-quality genome of the five-pacer viper, ...Deinagkistrodon acutus, and comparative analyses with other representative snake and lizard genomes. We map the evolutionary trajectories of transposable elements (TEs), developmental genes and sex chromosomes onto the snake phylogeny. TEs exhibit dynamic lineage-specific expansion, and many viper TEs show brain-specific gene expression along with their nearby genes. We detect signatures of adaptive evolution in olfactory, venom and thermal-sensing genes and also functional degeneration of genes associated with vision and hearing. Lineage-specific relaxation of functional constraints on respective Hox and Tbx limb-patterning genes supports fossil evidence for a successive loss of forelimbs then hindlimbs during snake evolution. Finally, we infer that the ZW sex chromosome pair had undergone at least three recombination suppression events in the ancestor of advanced snakes. These results altogether forge a framework for our deep understanding into snakes' history of molecular evolution.
The study aims to investigate the clinical characteristics of early postnatal period in children with prenatal hydronephrosis (HN) in our single center for 8 years.
The clinical data of 1137 children ...with prenatal HN from 2012 to 2020 were retrospectively analyzed in our center. Variables of our study mainly included different malformations and urinary tract dilation (UTD) classification, and main outcomes were recurrent hospitalization, urinary tract infection (UTI), jaundice, and surgery.
Among the 1137 children with prenatal HN in our center, 188 cases (16.5%) were followed-up in early postnatal period, and 110 cases (58.5%) were found malformations. The incidence of recurrent hospitalization (29.8%) and UTI (72.5%) were higher in malformation, but the incidence of jaundice (46.2%) was higher in non-malformation(P < 0.001). Furthermore, UTI and jaundice were higher in vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) than those in uretero-pelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, Children with UTD P2 and UTD P3 were prone to recurrent UTI, but UTD P0 was prone to jaundice (P < 0.001). In addition, 30 cases (16.0%) of surgery were all with malformations, and the surgical rates of UTD P2 and UTD P3 were higher than those of UTD P0 and UTD P1 (P < 0.001). Lastly, we concluded that the first follow-up should be less than 7 days, the first assessment should be 2 months, and the follow up should be at least once every 3 months.
Children with prenatal HN have been found many malformations in early postnatal period, and with high-grade UTD were more prone to recurrent UTI, even to surgery. So, prenatal HN with malformations and high-grade UTD should be followed up in early postnatal period regularly.
The mammalian imprinted Dlk1-Gtl2 locus produces multiple non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) from the maternally inherited allele, including the largest miRNA cluster in the mammalian genome. This locus has ...characterized functions in some types of stem cell, but its role in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is unknown. Here, we show that the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus plays a critical role in preserving long-term repopulating HSCs (LT-HSCs). Through transcriptome profiling in 17 hematopoietic cell types, we found that ncRNAs expressed from the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus are predominantly enriched in fetal liver HSCs and the adult LT-HSC population and sustain long-term HSC functionality. Mechanistically, the miRNA mega-cluster within the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus suppresses the entire PI3K-mTOR pathway. This regulation in turn inhibits mitochondrial biogenesis and metabolic activity and protects LT-HSCs from excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Our data therefore show that the imprinted Dlk1-Gtl2 locus preserves LT-HSC function by restricting mitochondrial metabolism.
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•Transcriptome profiling reveals Gtl2-derived ncRNA enrichment in LT-HSCs•Loss of Dlk1-Gtl2 imprinting leads to functional defects in fetal liver HSCs•miRNAs of the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus suppress components of the entire PI3K-mTOR pathway•PI3K-mTOR inhibition restricts mitochondrial metabolism to preserve LT-HSC function
Qian and colleagues show that ncRNAs expressed from the imprinted locus Dlk1-Gtl2 maintain fetal liver and adult LT-HSCs through multiplexed inhibition of PI3K-mTOR signaling that in turn keeps mitochondrial biogenesis and metabolic activity in check.
Metabolomics serves as an important tool in distinguishing changes in metabolic pathways and the diagnosis of human disease. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignance present of heterogeneous ...metabolic disorder and lack of effective biomarker for surveillance and diagnosis. In this study, we searched for potential metabolite biomarkers of HCC using tissue and serum metabolomics approach.
A total of 30 pairs of matched liver tissue samples from HCC patients and 90 serum samples (30 HCC patients, 30 liver cirrhosis patients, and 30 healthy individuals) were assessed. Metabolomics was performed through ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in conjunction with multivariate and univariate statistical analyses.
A total of six differential metabolites including chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), glycocholic acid (GCA), LPC20:5, LPE18:0, succinyladenosine and uridine were present in HCC tissue and serum samples. CDCA, LPC20:5, succinyladenosine and uridine were used to construct a diagnostic model based on logistic regression. The four-metabolite panel discriminated HCC from liver cirrhosis with an AUC score of 0.938, sensitivity of 93.3% and specificity of 86.7%. For all HCC and cirrhosis patients, the diagnostic accuracy increased to 96.7% and 90.0%, respectively.
The combination of CDCA, LPC20:5, succinyladenosine and uridine can be used as a biomarker panel to improve HCC sensitivity and specificity. This panel significantly benefits HCC diagnostics and reveals new insight into HCC pathogenesis.
•Liver is the metabolic hub of humans, which makes metabolomics analysis particularly suitable for liver disease.•Liver tissue and serum metabolomics were combined to explore the reliable candidate for HCC, which were associated with HCC development and detected with a non-invasive approach.•A four-metabolite panel of CDCA, LPC20:5, succinyladenosine and uridine was identified and discriminated HCC from liver cirrhosis with an AUC score of 0.938, sensitivity of 93.3% and specificity of 86.7%.•For all HCC and cirrhosis patients, diagnostic accuracy via this constructed panel increased to 96.7% and 90.0%, respectively.
Increased hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury in steatotic livers is a major reason for rejecting the use of fatty livers for liver transplantation. Necroptosis is implicated in the pathogenesis ...of fatty liver diseases. Necroptosis is regulated by three key proteins: receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase (RIPK)-1, RIPK3, and mixed-lineage kinase domain–like protein (MLKL). Here, we found that marked steatosis of the liver was induced when a Western diet was given in mice; steatosis was associated with the inhibition of hepatic proteasome activities and with increased levels of key necroptosis-related proteins. Mice fed a Western diet had more severe liver injury, as demonstrated by increases in serum alanine aminotransferase and necrotic areas of liver, after IR than did mice fed a control diet. Although hepatic steatosis was not different between Mlkl knockout mice and wild-type mice, Mlkl knockout mice had decreased hepatic neutrophil infiltration and inflammation and were protected from hepatic IR injury, irrespective of diet. Intriguingly, Ripk3 knockout or Ripk3 kinase-dead knock-in mice were protected against IR injury at the late phase but not the early phase, irrespective of diet. Overall, our findings indicate that liver steatosis exacerbates hepatic IR injury via increased MLKL-mediated necroptosis. Targeting MLKL-mediated necroptosis may help to improve outcomes in steatotic liver transplantation.
We investigate the effects of geometrical and structural disorders on perfectly asymmetric diffraction (PAD) in Raman-Nath regime. The two types of disorders are realized by introducing random ...fluctuations in the position and width of one-dimensional (1D) driven atomic lattices. Raman-Nath diffraction is modified differently with respect to the geometrical and structural disorders. It is shown that the PAD is observed with a certain strength range of geometrical disorder, exceeding which it can be destroyed, while the PAD is rather robust against structural disorder. The different behaviors originate from the disorder-induced random variations of the spatial phase shifts of the standing-wave (SW) coupling field and atomic lattices with Gaussian profile. Furthermore, we find that, in the presence of geometrical disorder, the PAD is more susceptible to correlated disorder than to uncorrelated disorder. Our scheme may be useful for understanding the effects of disorder on the diffraction of light and matter waves in disordered potentials..
Plant leaf senescence has been recognized as the last phase of plant development, a highly ordered process regulated by genes known as senescence associated genes （SAGs）. However, the function of ...most of SAGs in regulating leaf senescence as well as regulators of those functionally known SAGs are still unclear. We have previously developed a curated database of genes potentially associated with leaf senescence, the Leaf Senescence Database （LSD）. In this study, we built gene networks to identify common regulators of leaf senescence in Arabidopsis thaliana using promoting or delaying senescence genes in LSD. Our results demonstrated that plant hormones cytokinin, auxin, nitric oxide as well as small molecules, such as Ca2＋, delay leaf senescence. By contrast, ethylene, ABA, SA and JA as well as small molecules, such as oxygen, promote leaf senescence, altogether supporting the idea that phytohormones play a critical role in regulating leaf senescence. Functional analysis of candidate SAGs in LSD revealed that a WRKY transcription factor WRKY75 and a Cys2/His2-type transcription factor AZF2 are positive regulators of leaf senescence and loss-of-function of WRKY75 or AZF2 delayed leaf senescence. We also found that silencing of a protein phosphatase, AtMKP2, promoted early senescence. Collectively, LSD can serve as a comprehensive resource for systematic study of the molecular mechanism of leaf senescence as well as offer candidate genes for functional analyses.
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