Inflammation secondary to tissue injuries serves as a double-edged sword that determines the prognosis of tissue repair. As one of the most important enzymes controlling the inflammation process by ...producing leukotrienes, 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX, also called 5-LO) has been one of the therapeutic targets in regulating inflammation for a long time. Although a large number of 5-LOX inhibitors have been explored, only a few of them can be applied clinically. Surprisingly, phosphorylation of 5-LOX reveals great significance in regulating the subcellular localization of 5-LOX, which has proven to be an important mechanism underlying the enzymatic activities of 5-LOX. There are at least three phosphorylation sites in 5-LOX jointly to determine the final inflammatory outcomes, and adjustment of phosphorylation of 5-LOX at different phosphorylation sites brings hope to provide an unrecognized means to regulate inflammation. The present review intends to shed more lights into the set-point-like mechanisms of phosphorylation of 5-LOX and its possible clinical application by summarizing the biological properties of 5-LOX, the relationship of 5-LOX with neurodegenerative diseases and brain injuries, the phosphorylation of 5-LOX at different sites, the regulatory effects and mechanisms of phosphorylated 5-LOX upon inflammation, as well as the potential anti-inflammatory application through balancing the phosphorylation-depended set-point.
•25 co-expressed gene modules are identified using 129 public RNA-seq datasets.•Module M7 is identified to be responsible for rubber biosynthesis.•SRPP1, CPT2, and REF1 are the hub genes ...participating in rubber biosynthesis.•Two cis-regulatory motifs that might regulate rubber biosynthesis are identified.•The expansion of REF/SRPP clusters II and V is critical for rubber biosynthesis.
Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) is an important tropical plant that produces natural rubber; however, the hub genes and regulatory networks associated with rubber synthesis remain largely unclear. In this work, 129 publically available RNA-seq datasets were collected to perform gene co-expression network analysis in rubber tree. In total, 25 co-expressed gene modules (M1-M25) were identified, and the molecular functions and hub genes of each module were systematically analyzed. Associations between modules and tissues/stresses revealed that modules were significantly associated with stresses in the tissues where the modules were specifically highly expressed. Notably, module M7 was highly expressed in latex and dramatically responsive to ethylene, jasmonate, and tapping panel dryness treatments. Besides, the genes from M7 were significantly enriched in isoprenoid metabolism, indicating a great contribution of this module to rubber biosynthesis. The co-expression network of rubber biosynthesis genes from M7 revealed that small rubber particle protein 1 (SRPP1), cis-prenyltransferase 2 (CPT2), and rubber elongation factor 1 (REF1) were the most connected hub genes participating in rubber biosynthesis. Two candidate cis-regulatory motifs and three transcription factors that might regulate rubber biosynthesis were further identified. Genomic evolutionary analysis suggested that the expansion of two independently evolved REF/SRPP clusters, II (containing SRPP1) and V (containing REF1), was critical for rubber synthesis. Together, this integrative transcriptomic and genomic analysis provides novel insights into the hub genes and regulatory networks underlying rubber synthesis in H. brasiliensis.
Myocardial infarction (MI) is a myocardial injury caused by coronary thrombosis or persistent ischemia and hypoxia. Due to its high morbidity and mortality, a safer and more effective treatment ...strategy is urgently needed. Daming capsule (DMC), a hypolipidemic drug, reportedly exerts cardioprotective effects in clinical and basic research, although its protective mechanism remains unknown. To investigate the mechanism underlying DMC-mediated improvement of cardiac function post-MI, C57/BL6 mice subjected to coronary artery ligation were administered DMC for 4 weeks. Our data demonstrated that DMC significantly improved cardiac structure and function compared to the saline group. Moreover, DMC inhibited inflammatory response and oxidative stress and improved mitochondrial structure and function in MI mice and hypoxia-stressed cardiomyocytes. Next, our research proved that DMC increased the expression of mitophagy receptor NLRX1. Interestingly, with the administration of DMC and siNLRX1, NLRX1 expression, mitochondria and lysosome colocalization, and mitochondrial membrane potential decreased, while mitochondrial ROS accumulation increased, suggesting that DMC promoted mitophagy to improve mitochondrial function via NLRX1 regulation. Further analysis showed that DMC activated the SIRT1/AMPK signaling pathway in vivo and in vitro. Our data showed that SIRT1 knockdown downregulated NLRX1 expression, leading to structural damage and functional impairment in mitochondria, as well as increased oxidative stress, inflammatory response, and decreased cardiac function in MI mice. Collectively, our findings reveal that DMC improves cardiac function post-MI by increasing mitophagy and inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammotory response in cardiomyocytes through the SIRT1/AMPK signaling pathway.
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•For the first time, we demonstrate that DMC promotes mitophagy, and reduces oxidative stress and inflammation induced by MI.•The cardioprotective effect of DMC may regulate mitophagy through the SIRT1/AMPK signaling pathway.•DMC is a promising drug for treating cardiovascular diseases.
Abstract Hypoxia has been implicated as a crucial microenvironmental factor that induces cancer metastasis. We previously reported that hypoxia could promote gastric cancer (GC) metastasis, but the ...underlying mechanisms are not clear. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently emerged as important regulators of carcinogenesis that act on multiple pathways. However, whether lncRNAs are involved in hypoxia-induced GC metastasis remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the differentially expressed lncRNAs resulting from hypoxia-induced GC and normoxia conditions using microarrays and validated our results through real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We found an lncRNA, AK058003, that is upregulated by hypoxia. AK058003 is frequently upregulated in GC samples and promotes GC migration and invasion in vivo and in vitro . Furthermore, AK058003 can mediate the metastasis of hypoxia-induced GC cells. Next, we identified γ-synuclein (SNCG), which is a metastasis-related gene regulated by AK058003. In addition, we found that the expression of SNCG is positively correlated with that of AK058003 in the clinical GC samples used in our study. Furthermore, we found that the SNCG gene CpG island methylation was significantly increased in GC cells depleted of AK058003. Intriguingly, SNCG expression is also increased by hypoxia, and SNCG upregulation by AK058003 mediates hypoxia-induced GC cell metastasis. These results advance our understanding of the role of lncRNA-AK058003 as a regulator of hypoxia signaling, and this newly identified hypoxia/lncRNA-AK058003/SNCG pathway may help in the development of new therapeutics.
Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) have attracted considerable attention because they make it possible for materials to have a variety of enhanced properities. However, the unsatisfied electrochemical ...performance of an individual component and the poor electrical conductivity caused by insufficient physical contact points become the fully addressing issues when CNFs are proposed as electrode material in a flexible supercapacitor. Hence, this paper proposes a feasible perspective on enhancing the electrochemical performance and flexibility via the method of electrostatic self-assembly and the “dipping and drying” strategy. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) layer is uniformly anchored on the surface of SnCl2 modified carbon-based fiber polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fabricated by the electrospinning method. Pseudocapacitance material polypyrrole (PPy) is subsequently deposited and selected to design a composite PAN@rGO@PPy electrode. As expected, the as-constructed binder-free PAN@rGO@PPy electrode shows a specific capacitance of 203 F g−1; the assembled flexible supercapacitor delivers a high energy density of 15 Wh kg−1 together with a power density of 500 W kg−1, and displays remarkable cycling stability after 10,000 cycles. Finally, the flexibility via various deformations is discussed, meanwhile, the structural and compositional stability of the PAN@rGO@PPy electrode during long-term cycling test are demonstrated. In light of the facile preparation strategy and the excellent electrochemical performance, this work offers an instructive direction for the development of flexible energy storage devices.
A high-performance flexible supercapacitor was fabricated by surface modification and polymerization process. The flexibility via various deformations and the structural and compositional stability of the PAN@rGO@PPy electrode during long-term cycling test were discussed. Display omitted
•A novel method for the construction of flexible supercapacitors is proposed.•The supercapacitor exhibits desirable flexibility and long cycling stability.•The remarkable performance is related to the Graphene/Polypyrrole modification.
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•The optimal whitening process of coal gangue by ammonium salt calcination is obtained.•Ammonium sulfate has advantage in improving the specific surface area of calcined ...products.•Phase transformation and gas products in the calcination process are thoroughly investigated.•The mechanism for removing impurities and whitening of coal gangue were proposed.
The resource utilization of coal gangue is of great significance for the reduction of bulk solid waste and the decrease of environmental risk. In this study, we changed the existence of iron-bearing substances (mainly hematite, Fe2O3) contained in the pre-calcinated coal gangue into iron sulfate (Fe2(SO4)3) by ammonium sulfate calcination. The results suggested that after being calcined with 40 % of (NH4)2SO4 at 500 °C and removing soluble iron salts (Fe2(SO4)3) by rinsing, the whiteness and specific surface area of raw coal gangue was upgraded from 38.5 % and 12.85 m2/g to 85.3 % and 34.79 m2/g, respectively, and the total amount of iron-bearing substances was reduced to 0.08 %. Moreover, the gas products obtained from the ammonium sulfate calcined coal gangue process were analyzed by simultaneous Thermogravimetry-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-Mass spectrometer (TG-FTIR-MS), and the main compounds released from CG860 + 40 % (NH4)2SO4 in the whole calcination process were NH3, H2O, SO, SO2, and NO.
Duckweeds are a family of freshwater angiosperms with morphology reduced to fronds and propagation by vegetative budding. Unlike other angiosperm plants such as
and rice that have physical barriers ...between their photosynthetic organs and soils, the photosynthetic organs of duckweeds face directly to their nutrient suppliers (waters), therefore, their responses to salinity may be distinct. In this research, we found that the duckweed
L. accumulated high content of sodium and reduced potassium and calcium contents in large amounts under salt stress. Fresh weight, Rubisco and AGPase activities, and starch content were significantly decreaseded in the first day but recovered gradually in the following days and accumulated more starch than control from Day 3 to Day 5 when treated with 100 mM and 150 mM NaCl. A total of 2156 differentially expressed genes were identified. Overall, the genes related to ethylene metabolism, major CHO degradation, lipid degradation, N-metabolism, secondary metabolism of flavonoids, and abiotic stress were significantly increased, while those involved in cell cycle and organization, cell wall, mitochondrial electron transport of ATP synthesis, light reaction of photosynthesis, auxin metabolism, and tetrapyrrole synthesis were greatly inhibited. Moreover, salt stress also significantly influenced the expression of transcription factors that are mainly involved in abiotic stress and cell differentiation. However, most of the osmosensing calcium antiporters (OSCA) and the potassium inward channels were downregulated, Na
/H
antiporters (SOS1 and NHX) and a Na
/Ca
exchanger were slightly upregulated, but most of them did not respond significantly to salt stress. These results indicated that the ion homeostasis was strongly disturbed. Finally, the shared and distinct regulatory networks of salt stress responses between duckweeds and other plants were intensively discussed. Taken together, these findings provide novel insights into the underlying mechanisms of salt stress response in duckweeds, and can be served as a useful foundation for salt tolerance improvement of duckweeds for the application in salinity conditions.
Most previous image matting methods require a roughly-specificed trimap as input, and estimate fractional alpha values for all pixels that are in the unknown region of the trimap. In this paper, we ...argue that directly estimating the alpha matte from a coarse trimap is a major limitation of previous methods, as this practice tries to address two difficult and inherently different problems at the same time: identifying true blending pixels inside the trimap region, and estimate accurate alpha values for them. We propose AdaMatting, a new end-to-end matting framework that disentangles this problem into two sub-tasks: trimap adaptation and alpha estimation. Trimap adaptation is a pixel-wise classification problem that infers the global structure of the input image by identifying definite foreground, background, and semi-transparent image regions. Alpha estimation is a regression problem that calculates the opacity value of each blended pixel. Our method separately handles these two sub-tasks within a single deep convolutional neural network (CNN). Extensive experiments show that AdaMatting has additional structure awareness and trimap fault-tolerance. Our method achieves the state-of-the-art performance on Adobe Composition-1k dataset both qualitatively and quantitatively. It is also the current best-performing method on the alphamatting.com online evaluation for all commonly-used metrics.
Seasonal variability could have an impact on the incidence and outcome of stroke. However, little is known about the correlation between seasonal variability and location of acute cerebral ...infarction. This study aimed to explore the relationship between onset season and the lesions distribution of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We retrospectively analysis data from 1488 AIS patients admitted to the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University from 2018 to 2022. All subjects completed head magnetic resonance imaging examination (MRI) and were divided into four groups according to the onset seasons. The lesions distribution of AIS was evaluated for anterior/posterior/double circulation infarction (DCI), unilateral/bilateral infarctions, and single/multiple cerebral infarctions based on MRI. Logistic regression models were employed to assess the association of season with lesions distribution of AIS. Subgroup analysis was performed in different stroke subtypes. Of 1488 patients, 387 (26.0%) AIS occurred in spring, 425 (28.6%) in summer, 331 (22.2%) in autumn and 345 (23.2%) in winter. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that the winter group had 2.15 times (95% CI:1.44-3.21) risk of multiple infarctions, 2.69 times (95% CI:1.80-4.02) of bilateral infarctions and 1.54 times (95% CI:1.05-2.26) of DCI compared with summer group, respectively. Subgroup analysis showed an increased risk of multiple (p < 0.01) or bilateral infarctions (p < 0.01) in small-artery occlusion (SAO) subtype, and higher risk of bilateral infarctions (p < 0.01) or DCI (p < 0.05) in large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) subtype during winter. No significant associations of season with lesions distribution in cardioembolism subtype. Our study highlighted a prominent seasonal variability in the lesions distribution of AIS, particularly in LAA and SAO subtypes. The findings could help to formulating meteorological risk warning strategies for different subtypes.
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•The Ce-doped MnO2 was prepared by the potentiostatic electrodeposition strategy.•The assembled flexible Zn//Ce-MnO2@CC battery exhibits long cycle-life.•The doped cerium ions could ...stabilize the structure of the cathode materials.•A H+/Zn2+ co-insertion mechanism of the Mn-based oxides cathode was demonstrated.
With the development of flexible electronic devices, power sources' higher safety, lighter, and bending ability have been demanded in recent years. While, aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have gained much attention due to their low cost, rich zinc resources, and high safety. Hence, they have been considered the most promising secondary battery in the near future. However, the practical application of aqueous ZIBs is still impeded by the unsatisfied performance of the cathode materials and the complex manufacturing process. Moreover, the electrochemical energy storage process and mechanism of the cathodes at the flexible ZIBs still remain ambiguous and under discussion, which severely limited the development of the ZIBs. Herein, a Ce doped-MnO2 binder-free cathode electrode was prepared via a one-step potentiostatic electrodeposition strategy. A flexible ZIB assembled based on the Ce-MnO2@CC cathode and a homemade gel electrolyte exhibits a high reversible specific capacity (∼311 mAh g−1), a significant energy density (370 Wh kg−1), an excellent stability performance, and achieves good electrochemical behavior even under different bending conditions. Furthermore, the energy storage mechanism of the flexible ZIBs with Mn-based oxides cathode was monitored by the in-situ Raman, XRD, SEM, and TEM, revealing the reversible insertion/extraction of Zn2+ and H+ during the charge/discharge process. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that the structural shedding, and dissolution of the MnO2 structure are the major factors in reducing capacity. This research opens up new opportunities for flexible ZIBs in the field of portable and wearable electronics.