Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely used in various manufacturing processes. Accumulation of these chemicals has adverse effects on human health, including inflammation in multiple organs, ...yet how PFAS are sensed by host cells, and how tissue inflammation eventually incurs, is still unclear. Here, we show that the double-stranded DNA receptor AIM2 is able to recognize perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), a common form of PFAS, to trigger IL-1β secretion and pyroptosis. Mechanistically, PFOS activates the AIM2 inflammasome in a process involving mitochondrial DNA release through the Ca
-PKC-NF-κB/JNK-BAX/BAK axis. Accordingly, Aim2
mice have reduced PFOS-induced inflammation, as well as tissue damage in the lungs, livers, and kidneys in both their basic condition and in an asthmatic exacerbation model. Our results thus suggest a function of AIM2 in PFOS-mediated tissue inflammation, and identify AIM2 as a major pattern recognition receptor in response to the environmental organic pollutants.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder in gastrointestinal system and impairs the quality of life of the patients. Clostridium butyricum (CB) is a probiotics that has been used in ...several gastrointestinal diseases. The efficacy of CB in treating IBS is still unknown. This prospective, multi-centre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of CB in treating diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D) and analyze the fecal microbiota after treatment. Two hundred patients with IBS-D were recruited and were given CB or placebo for 4 weeks. End points included change from baseline in IBS symptoms, quality of life, stool consistency and frequency. Compared with placebo, CB is effective in improving the overall IBS-D symptoms (-62.12 ± 74.00 vs. -40.74 ± 63.67, P = 0.038) as well as quality of life (7.232 ± 14.06 vs. 3.159 ± 11.73, P = 0.032) and stool frequency (-1.602 ± 1.416 vs. -1.086 ± 1.644, P = 0.035). The responder rates are found higher in CB compared with the placebo (44.76% vs. 30.53%, P = 0.042). The change in fecal microbiota was analyzed and function pathways of CB in treating IBS-D were predicted. In conclusion, CB improves overall symptoms, quality of life and stool frequency in IBS-D patients and is considered to be used as a probiotics in treating IBS-D clinically.
Lung cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage and has a poor prognosis. Conventional treatments are not effective for metastatic lung cancer therapy. Although some of molecular targets have ...been identified with favorable response, those targets cannot be exploited due to the lack of suitable drug carriers. Lung cancer cell-derived exosomes (LCCDEs) receive recent interest in its role in carcinogenesis, diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis of lung cancer due to its biological functions and natural ability to carry donor cell biomolecules. LCCDEs can promote cell proliferation and metastasis, affect angiogenesis, modulate antitumor immune responses during lung cancer carcinogenesis, regulate drug resistance in lung cancer therapy, and be now considered an important component in liquid biopsy assessments for detecting lung cancer. Therapeutic deliverable exosomes are emerging as promising drug delivery agents specifically to tumor high precision medicine because of their natural intercellular communication role, excellent biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, low toxicity, long blood circulation ability, biodegradable characteristics, and their ability to cross various biological barriers. Several studies are currently underway to develop novel diagnostic and prognostic modalities using LCCDEs, and to develop methods of exploiting exosomes for use as efficient drug delivery vehicles. Current status of lung cancer and extensive applicability of LCCDEs are illustrated in this review. The promising data and technologies indicate that the approach on LCCDEs implies the potential application of LCCDEs to clinical management of lung cancer patients.
A
bstract
Different frameworks exist to describe the flat-space limit of AdS/CFT, include momentum space, Mellin space, coordinate space, and partial-wave expansion. We explain the origin of momentum ...space as the smearing kernel in Poincare AdS, while the origin of latter three is the smearing kernel in global AdS. In Mellin space, we find a Mellin formula that unifies massless and massive flat-space limit, which can be transformed to coordinate space and partial-wave expansion. Furthermore, we also manage to transform momentum space to smearing kernel in global AdS, connecting all existed frameworks. Finally, we go beyond scalar and verify that
VV
O
maps to photon-photon-massive amplitudes.
A
bstract
We study heavy-light four-point function by employing Lorentzian inversion formula, where the conformal dimension of heavy operator is as large as central charge
C
T
→ ∞
. We implement the ...Lorentzian inversion formula back and forth to reveal the universality of the lowest-twist multi-stress-tensor
T
k
as well as large spin double-twist operators
O
H
O
L
n
′
,
J
′
. In this way, we also propose an algorithm to bootstrap the heavy- light four-point function by extracting relevant OPE coefficients and anomalous dimensions. By following the algorithm, we exhibit the explicit results in
d
= 4 up to the triple-stress- tensor. Moreover, general dimensional heavy-light bootstrap up to the double-stress-tensor is also discussed, and we present an infinite series representation of the lowest-twist double- stress-tensor OPE coefficient. Exact expressions of lowest-twist double-stress-tensor OPE coefficients in
d
= 6
,
8
,
10 are also obtained as further examples.
Solar‐driven syngas production by CO2 reduction provides a sustainable strategy to produce renewable feedstocks. However, this promising reaction often suffers from tough CO2 activation, sluggish ...oxidative half‐reaction kinetics and undesired by‐products. Herein, we report a function‐oriented strategy of deliberately constructing black phosphorus quantum dots‐ZnIn2S4 (BP/ZIS) heterostructures for solar‐driven CO2 reduction to syngas, paired with selectively oxidative C−N bond formation, in one redox cycle. The optimal BP/ZIS heterostructure features the enhanced charge‐carrier separation and enriched active sites for cooperatively photocatalytic syngas production with a tunable ratio of CO/H2 and efficient oxidation of amines to imines with high conversion and selectivity. This prominent catalytic performance arises from the efficient electronic coupling between black phosphorus quantum dots and ZnIn2S4, as well as the optimized adsorption strength for key reaction intermediates, as supported by both experimental and theoretical investigations. We also demonstrate a synergistic interplay between CO2 reduction and amine dehydrogenation oxidation, rather than simply collecting these two single half‐reactions in this dual‐functional photoredox system.
A function‐oriented strategy of engineering black phosphorus quantum dots‐ZnIn2S4 heterostructures for solar‐driven CO2 reduction to syngas, paired with selectively oxidative C−N bond formation, in one redox cycle is reported. The promoted charge‐carrier separation, enriched active sites and optimized adsorption strength of key reaction intermediates for CO2 reduction, as well as the cooperative photoredox manner, jointly contribute to the enhanced photoactivity and selectivity.
The relationship between obesity and bone mineral density (BMD) varies in different studies. Our aim in this study was to explore the association between obesity (body mass index ≥ 30) and BMD among ...adults 40-59 years of age.
This study was conducted on a sample of 2218 participants (986 men and 1232 women) aged 40 to 59 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2018. The independent variable was body mass index (BMI). The outcome variable was lumbar BMD. The associations of BMI with lumbar BMD were examined using multivariable linear regression models.
BMI was positively associated with lumbar BMD after adjusting for other covariates β 0.006; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.003-0.008. An inverted U-shaped association between BMI and lumbar BMD was further identified, with the point of infection at approximately 50 kg/m
. In the subgroup analyses, the relationship between BMI and lumbar BMD in women and blacks was an inverted U-shape.
Based on the results, it may be beneficial to appropriately increase BMI to promote BMD. However, considering the inverted U-shaped association, excessive BMI may be harmful to bone health in women and blacks.
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•Recent advances in increasing hydrolysis are introduced.•Strategies for enhancing enzyme activity relevant with VFA generation are reviewed.•Acceleration of direct interspecies ...electron transfer facilitates methanogenesis.•Improving methane production through special pathway is beneficial to anaerobic digestion.•Techno-economic assessment of approaches in the lab-scale is presented.
With the increase of energy consumption and wastes generation due to human activities, anaerobic digestion (AD), a technology which turns wastes into bio-energy, is receiving more and more attention in the world. It is well known that there are at least three stages involved in anaerobic digestion, i.e., hydrolysis, acidification, and methanogenesis. Until now, however, the advances in enhancing acidification and methanogenesis have not been reviewed. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the methods reported to enhance each step involved in anaerobic digestion. More important, enzymes are the key to anaerobic digestion, and the strategies for improving enzyme activity are summarized. As electron transfer has been reported to play an important role in anaerobic digestion, the research progress of the approaches for the acceleration of direct interspecies electron transfer in methane production is also introduced. In addition, the recent advances in increasing the reduction of carbon dioxide to methane, which has been widely observed in methanogenesis step, are reviewed. Furthermore, the techno-economic assessment of anaerobic digestion is made, and the key points for future studies are proposed.
A one‐step procedure for the self‐switchable block copolymerization of monomer mixtures of epoxides, cyclic anhydrides, and lactide (LA) was developed by using simple organocatalysts without an ...external stimulus. This multicomponent polymerization bridges two catalytic cycles involving ring‐opening alternating copolymerization of epoxides with anhydrides and ring‐opening polymerization (ROP) of LA, in which the presence/absence of anhydrides in mixed feedstocks switched the ROP of LA off/on. The self‐switchable terpolymerization showed distinct noncoordinating and living nature, as well as perfect chemoselectivity. Different combinations of epoxides, anhydrides, and initiators enabled the generation of a variety of new block polyester polyols.
Admirable self‐control: A self‐switchable route to multiblock copolymers from three‐component feedstocks (see picture) was developed with commercially accessible organocatalysts. The one‐step procedure showed perfect chemoselectivity, living nature, and applicability to a wide range of monomers.
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