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.
How two subgenomes in allo-tetraploids adapt to coexistence and coordinate through structure and expression evolution requires extensive studies. In the present study, we report an improved genome ...assembly of allo-tetraploid common carp, an updated genome annotation of allo-tetraploid goldfish and the chromosome-scale assemblies of a progenitor-like diploid Puntius tetrazona and an outgroup diploid Paracanthobrama guichenoti. Parallel subgenome structure evolution in the allo-tetraploids was featured with equivalent chromosome components, higher protein identities, similar transposon divergence and contents, homoeologous exchanges, better synteny level, strong sequence compensation and symmetric purifying selection. Furthermore, we observed subgenome expression divergence processes in the allo-tetraploids, including inter-/intrasubgenome trans-splicing events, expression dominance, decreased expression levels, dosage compensation, stronger expression correlation, dynamic functionalization and balancing of differential expression. The potential disorders introduced by different progenitors in the allo-tetraploids were hypothesized to be alleviated by increasing structural homogeneity and performing versatile expression processes. Resequencing three common carp strains revealed two major ecotypes and uncovered candidate genes relevant to growth and survival rate.
Highly power‐efficient white organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) are still challenging to make for applications in high‐quality displays and general lighting due to optical confinement and energy ...loss during electron‐photon conversion. Here, an efficient white OLED structure is shown that combines deterministic aperiodic nanostructures for broadband quasi‐omnidirectional light extraction and a multilayer energy cascade structure for energy‐efficient photon generation. The external quantum efficiency and power efficiency are raised to 54.6% and 123.4 lm W−1 at 1000 cd m−2. An extremely small roll‐off in efficiency at high luminance is also obtained, yielding a striking value of 106.5 lm W−1 at 5000 cd m−2. In addition to a substantial increase in efficiency, this device structure simultaneously offers the superiority of angular color stability over the visible wavelength range compared to conventional OLEDs. It is anticipated that these findings could open up new opportunities to promote white OLEDs for commercial applications.
Highly efficient, white, organic light‐emitting diodes are achieved by combining deterministic aperiodic nanostructures for broadband light extraction with a multilayer energy cascade structure for energy‐efficient photon generation. This results in light‐emitting diodes with a record power efficiency of 123.4 lm W−1 at 1000 cd m−2 with superior color stability and extremely small efficiency roll‐off.
Spinal sensory transmission is under descending biphasic modulation, and descending facilitation is believed to contribute to chronic pain. Descending modulation from the brainstem rostral ...ventromedial medulla (RVM) has been the most studied, whereas little is known about direct corticospinal modulation. Here, we found that stimulation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) potentiated spinal excitatory synaptic transmission and this modulation is independent of the RVM. Peripheral nerve injury enhanced the spinal synaptic transmission and occluded the ACC-spinal cord facilitation. Inhibition of ACC reduced the enhanced spinal synaptic transmission caused by nerve injury. Finally, using optogenetics, we showed that selective activation of ACC-spinal cord projecting neurons caused behavioral pain sensitization, while inhibiting the projection induced analgesic effects. Our results provide strong evidence that ACC stimulation facilitates spinal sensory excitatory transmission by a RVM-independent manner, and that such top-down facilitation may contribute to the process of chronic neuropathic pain.
Background and Aim
The effect of real‐time analysis of needle‐based confocal laser endomicroscopy (nCLE) for gastric subepithelial lesions (SELs) on the diagnostic value is unclear. The study aimed ...to investigate the diagnostic efficacy of real‐time nCLE for gastric SELs and to assess the technical aspects and safety of real‐time nCLE.
Methods
Consecutive patients with gastric SELs ≥ 1 cm were prospectively investigated by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), followed by nCLE. During EUS‐nCLE, real‐time nCLE diagnosis was made by an expert endoscopist. The procedure‐relative adverse events were assessed and recorded. One‐month washout period later, nCLE videos were reviewed off‐line by the same endoscopist. The nCLE diagnoses were compared with corresponding pathological results. Additionally, image quality and interobserver agreements for the criteria were evaluated by three experienced endomicroscopists.
Results
Except for one failing to be punctured, 60 patients completed EUS‐nCLE procedures successfully. Real‐time nCLE had high diagnostic accuracies of ≥ 88.3% for gastric SELs. There were no significant differences between real‐time and off‐line nCLE diagnoses for gastric SELs (P > 0.05). The overall accuracy of real‐time nCLE for diagnosis of gastric SELs was 86.7%. There were no procedure‐relative adverse events occurred. In addition, the mean image quality score was 3.6 (1 = poor and 5 = excellent). The interobserver agreement was “almost perfect” for ectopic pancreas and “substantial” for gastrointestinal stromal tumor, leiomyoma, and carcinoma.
Conclusions
Endoscopic ultrasound‐nCLE could provide in vivo real‐time diagnostic imaging with a high diagnostic accuracy. Meanwhile, real‐time nCLE was feasible and had a satisfactory safety profile.
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•Chitosan/g-C3N4/TiO2 (CS/CNT) nanofibers were fabricated for Cr(VI) removal.•The addition of g-C3N4/TiO2 enhanced the acid resistance of nanofibers.•CS/CNT nanofibers exhibited ...synergistic effect of adsorption and photocatalysis.•The possible mechanism of Cr(VI) removal was proposed.
Chitosan/g-C3N4/TiO2 (CS/CNT) nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning technique for Cr(VI) removal through the adsorption and photocatalytic processes. The effects of crucial factors in the adsorption process including contact time (0–1440 min), pH (1–7), initial concentration of Cr(VI) (20–800 mg/L) were investigated. The photocatalytic experiment was executed in a photochemical reactor with an 800 W xenon lamp to simulate visible light. In adsorption process, at pH = 2, the adsorption capacities of chitosan (CS) nanofibers, CS/CNT10:1 (CS : g-C3N4/TiO2 = 10:1) nanofibers and CS/CNT5:1 nanofibers were 20.8, 165.3 and 68.9 mg/g, respectively, suggesting the addition of g-C3N4/TiO2 (CNT) could notably enhance the acid resistance of CS and widen its practical application. Under visible-light irradiation, the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) using CS/CNT nanofibers was appreciably improved, which was about 50 % higher than that of pure adsorption, indicating that the CS/CNT nanofibers exhibited the effective synergistic effect of adsorption and photocatalysis.
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Although genomic mutations and single nucleotide polymorphisms have been extensively studied, the epigenomic status in colorectal ...cancer patient tissues remains elusive. Here, together with genomic and transcriptomic analysis, we use ChIP-Seq to profile active enhancers at the genome wide level in colorectal cancer paired patient tissues (tumor and adjacent tissues from the same patients). In total, we sequence 73 pairs of colorectal cancer tissues and generate 147 H3K27ac ChIP-Seq, 144 RNA-Seq, 147 whole genome sequencing and 86 H3K4me3 ChIP-Seq samples. Our analysis identifies 5590 gain and 1100 lost variant enhancer loci in colorectal cancer, and 334 gain and 121 lost variant super enhancer loci. Multiple key transcription factors in colorectal cancer are predicted with motif analysis and core regulatory circuitry analysis. Further experiments verify the function of the super enhancers governing PHF19 and TBC1D16 in regulating colorectal cancer tumorigenesis, and KLF3 is identified as an oncogenic transcription factor in colorectal cancer. Taken together, our work provides an important epigenomic resource and functional factors for epigenetic studies in colorectal cancer.
Perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs) are emerging candidates for the applications of solution‐processed full‐color displays. However, the device performance of deep‐blue PeLED still lags far ...behind that of their red and green counterparts, which is largely limited by low external quantum efficiency (EQE) and poor operational stability. Here, a facile and reliable crystallization strategy for perovskite grains is proposed, with improved deep‐blue emission through rational interfacial engineering. By modifying the substrate with potassium cation (K+) as the supplier of heterogeneous nucleation seeds, the interfacial K+‐guided grain growth is realized for well‐packed perovskite assemblies with high surface coverage and the controlled crystal orientation, leading to the enhanced radiative recombination and hole‐transport capabilities. Synergistical boost in device performance is achieved for deep‐blue PeLEDs emitting at 469 nm with a peak EQE of 4.14%, a maximum luminance of 451 cd m–2, and spectrally stable color coordinates of (0.125, 0.076) that matches well with the National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard blue.
A rational interface engineering strategy is presented for the potassium‐guided grain growth of deep‐blue perovskites with controlled crystal orientation. Efficient and stable perovskite LEDs emitting at 469 nm exhibit an external quantum efficiency of 4.14% and a Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage coordinate of (0.125, 0.076), matching well the National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard blue.
Within the transport model evaluation project (TMEP) of simulations for heavy-ion collisions, the mean-field response is examined here. Specifically, zero-sound propagation is considered for ...neutron-proton symmetric matter enclosed in a periodic box, at zero temperature and around normal density. The results of several transport codes belonging to two families (BUU-like and QMD-like) are compared among each other and to exact calculations. For BUU-like codes, employing the test particle method, the results depend on the combination of the number of test particles and the spread of the profile functions that weight integration over space. These parameters can be properly adapted to give a good reproduction of the analytical zero-sound features. QMD-like codes, using molecular dynamics methods, are characterized by large damping effects, attributable to the fluctuations inherent in their phase-space representation. Moreover, for a given nuclear effective interaction, they generally lead to slower density oscillations, as compared to BUU-like codes. The latter problem is mitigated in the more recent lattice formulation of some of the QMD codes. Furthermore, the significance of these results for the description of real heavy-ion collisions is discussed.
Glucose metabolism reprogramming, which is a well‐established characteristic of multiple cancers, demands a higher rate of glycolysis to meet the increasing demands for macromolecular synthesis and ...to maintain rapid proliferation in a hypoxic environment. However, the mechanism underlying this switch remains to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated the function of circular RNA MAT2B (circMAT2B) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) glucose metabolism reprogramming and malignancy. CircMAT2B was identified by bioinformatics analysis of Gene Expression Omnibus data sets. CircMAT2B expression was up‐regulated in HCC tissues and cell lines. HCC patients with high circMAT2B expression had shortened overall survival. We analyzed the positive correlation between glycolysis and circMAT2B expression in HCC using a maximum standardized uptake value determined by preoperative positron emission tomography/computed tomography scanning combined with high‐performance liquid chromatography assessment of the metabolites of glycolysis and the citric acid cycle. The effect of circMAT2B on glycolysis was validated in vitro and in vivo under hypoxic (1% O2) conditions. Functional assays were performed in HCC cells, HCC organoids, and nude mice to explore the tumor‐promoting roles of circMAT2B in HCC. Biotin‐coupled probe pull‐down assays, biotin‐coupled microRNA capture, luciferase reporter assays, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and RNA immunoprecipitation assays were performed to confirm the interaction among different RNAs. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that circMAT2B up‐regulated expression levels of the microRNA (miR)‐338‐3p target gene PKM2, which encodes a key enzyme in the process of glycolysis, through “sponging” miR‐338‐3p; thus, glycolysis and HCC progression are promoted through this mechanism. Conclusion: CircMAT2B promoted HCC progression by enhanced glycolysis by activating the circMAT2B/miR‐338‐3p/PKM2 axis under hypoxia, which may provide a therapeutic target for HCC.
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