The working state of firefighters is important for their own safety as well as that of the general public. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlations between self-concept clarity, ...resilience, work engagement, and job burnout among firefighters, as well as the impacts of self-concept clarity and resilience as resources that can maintain their working state. Based on data from 2,156 firefighters, analysis showed that self-concept clarity was negatively associated with job burnout and positively associated with work engagement. The results also showed that self-concept clarity had a direct effect on job burnout and work engagement, and an indirect effect by improving the firefighters' resilience. Maintaining and improving their self-concept clarity and resilience promises to be an effective strategy for guaranteeing the working state of firefighters.
Dandelion has received wide attention in food and medicine fields due to its excellent antioxidant properties. Nonetheless, the underlying mechanism of this action has not yet been fully clarified, ...particularly at the metabolic level. Herein, the effects of dandelion extract (DE) on H2O2-induced oxidative damage was investigated. The results indicate that the DE alleviated H2O2-induced cell damage (increased by 14.5% compared to H2O2 group), reduced the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level (decreased by 80.1% compared to H2O2 group), maintained the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) level, and increased antioxidant-related enzyme activities. Importantly, the metabolic response of PC12 cells indicates that H2O2 disturbed phospholipid metabolism and damaged cell membrane integrity. In addition, energy metabolism, the central nervous system, and the antioxidant-related metabolism pathway were perturbed. In contrast, DE rescued the H2O2-induced metabolic disorder and further alleviated oxidative damage. Collectively, these findings provide valuable stepping stones for a discussion of the mechanism and show the promise of DE as a suitable additive for functional food products.
In the present work, we report a solution-based strategy to produce crystallographically textured SnSe bulk nanomaterials and printed layers with optimized thermoelectric performance in the direction ...normal to the substrate. Our strategy is based on the formulation of a molecular precursor that can be continuously decomposed to produce a SnSe powder or printed into predefined patterns. The precursor formulation and decomposition conditions are optimized to produce pure phase 2D SnSe nanoplates. The printed layer and the bulk material obtained after hot press displays a clear preferential orientation of the crystallographic domains, resulting in ultralow thermal conductivity of 0.55 Wm-1K-1 in the direction normal to the substrate. Such textured nanomaterials present highly anisotropic properties, with best thermoelectric performance in plane, i.e. in the directions parallel to the substrate, which coincide with the crystallographic bc plane of SnSe. This is an unfortunate characteristic because thermoelectric devices are designed to create/harvest temperature gradients in the direction normal to the substrate. We further demonstrate that this limitation can be overcome with the introduction of small amounts of tellurium in the precursor. The presence of tellurium allows reducing the band gap, increase both charge carrier concentration and mobility, especially cross plane, with a minimal decrease of the Seebeck coefficient. These effects translate into record out of plane ZT values at 800 K.
Guanylate binding proteins (GBPs), a family of interferon-inducible large GTPase, play a pivotal role in cell-autonomous immunity and tumor malignant transformation. Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most ...prevalent and lethal primary brain tumor in adults. Here we show that GBP5 was highly expressed in GBM cell lines and in clinical samples, especially in the mesenchymal subtype. The expression levels of GBP5 were negatively correlated with the prognosis of GBM patients. Overexpression of GBP5 promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GBM cells in vitro and in vivo. In contrast, silencing GBP5 by RNA interference exhibited the opposite effects. Consequently, targeting GBP5 in GBM cells resulted in impaired tumor growth and prolonged survival time of mice with GBM tumors. We further identified that the Src/ERK1/2/MMP3 axis was essential for GBP5-promoted GBM aggressiveness. These findings suggest that GBP5 may represent a novel target for GBM intervention.
The present study aimed to evaluate the perinatal outcomes and influencing factors in twin pregnancies undergoing emergency cervical cerclage. The present retrospective cohort study included clinical ...data that were recorded between January 2015 and December 2021 at The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University (China). The study included data from 103 pregnancies (26 twin and 77 singleton pregnancies) that underwent emergency cerclage and 17 twin pregnancies that underwent expectant treatment. The median gestational age of twin emergency cerclage was significantly lower than that of singleton emergency cerclage, but higher than that of expectant treatment (28.5, 34.0 and 24.0 weeks, respectively). The median interval to delivery of twin emergency cerclage was significantly lower than that of singleton emergency cerclage, but significantly higher than that of expectantly treated twin pregnancies (37.0, 78.0 and 7.0 days, respectively).
IMPACT STATEMENT
What is already known on this subject? An important cause of premature birth is cervical insufficiency. Cervical cerclage extends the gestational period of women with cervical insufficiency. According to 2019 SOGC's No. 373-Cervical Insufficiency and Cervical Cerclage, both twin and single pregnancies benefit from emergency cerclage. However, there is minimal information about the pregnancy outcomes of emergency cerclage in twin pregnancies.
What the results of this study add? This study shows that the outcomes of pregnancy in twin pregnancies undergoing emergency cerclage were better than that of expectant treatment but worse than that in singleton pregnancies undergoing emergency cerclage.
What the implications are of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? In this study, pregnant women with cervical insufficiency in twin pregnancies can benefit from emergency cerclage, we should treat those pregnant women as early as possible.
Interpersonal sensorimotor synchronization (interpersonal SMS) is the foundation of complex human social interaction. Previous studies primarily focused on the individual cognitive processes of ...interpersonal SMS. However, all individuals compose an entire interaction system with emerged holistic properties during interpersonal SMS. Therefore, we proposed the `holistic cognitive and neural processes' of interpersonal SMS and defined quantitative measurements that included Holistic Correction Gain (HCG), Holistic Timekeeper Variance (HTV) and Holistic Motor Variance (HMV) based on linear error correction model and inter-brain couplings obtained by hyperscanning technique. We performed a joint-tapping experiment including bidirectional and unidirectional conditions using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning to evaluate effects of these holistic processes on synchronization performance. We found that the dyads' performance highly correlated with the integrated effect of holistic cognitive processes in both conditions. Each holistic cognitive process played different roles in interpersonal SMS. HCG was critical to maintain synchronization. HTV related to mentalizing others' behavior. Holistic neural process, the inter-brain coupling of right prefrontal cortex (PFC), was significantly different between bidirectional and unidirectional conditions, which suggested the existence of neural markers at holistic level in interpersonal SMS.
•FNs from Auricularia auricula water extract solution were used as zinc nanocarrier.•Zn(II)-FNs were synthesized simply by a one-step water bath heating method.•Good biocompatibility was found for ...Zn(II)-FNs to NRK cells and red blood cells.•Zn(II)-FNs were mainly distributed in stomach, intestine, lung, liver and kidney.
Food-borne nanoparticles (FNs) may have potential for microelement delivery due to their good biocompatibility and healthy benefits. In this paper, hydrophilic FNs with ultra-small size of 1.7 nm were prepared from the water extract solution of Auricularia auricula by hydrothermal method. The structural characterization showed that Zn(II)-FNs were formed after the interaction of abundant functional groups like amino, hydroxyl, and carboxyl functional groups on the surface of FNs with Zn2+. The Zn(II)-FNs showed better cell compatibility than ZnSO4 and zinc gluconate with no visible cytotoxicity at concentrations up to 75 μg/mL for the normal rat kidney cells. Less than 5% hemolysis rate was found when the concentration of Zn(II)-FNs was 5 mg/mL after incubation for 3h. The biodistribution experiments indicated that Zn(II)-FNs had no obvious toxic effect after being orally administrated at a dose of 500 mg/kg mouse body weight, and Zn(II)-FNs were present in the stomach, intestine, lung, liver, and kidney. Our data indicated that FNs collected from Auricularia auricula water extract solution might act as a safe and effective nanocarrier for Zn(II).
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Patients with pulmonary fibrosis often have low vitamin D levels, the effects of which are largely unknown. We here report that early vitamin D supplementation significantly reduced the severity of ...pulmonary fibrosis and inflammatory cell accumulationin in the bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis mouse model on supplementary days 14, 21 and 28 (P < 0.001). Vitamin D supplementation also prevented some ultrastructural changes in response to bleomycin administration, including basement membrane thickening, interstitial fibrin deposition and microvilli flattening or disappearance on days 14, 21 and 28, and lamellar body swelling or vacuolation on days 21 and 28. The bleomycin group had rising hydroxyproline level on days 14, 21 and 28, whereas the vitamin D treatment group showed consistently lower hydroxyproline level but still higher than that of the control group (P < 0.001). Our immunohistochemistry and densitometry analyses showed less staining for α-smooth muscle actin, a myofibroblast marker, in the vitamin D group compared to the bleomycin group (P < 0.001). Thus, vitamin D treatment could prevent bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis by delaying or suppressing ultrastructural changes, as well as attenuating hydroxyproline accumulation and inhibiting myofibroblastic proliferation. These data further our understanding of the roles of vitamin D in pulmonary fibrogenesis and in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.
: Thin endometrium is a reproductive disorder that affects embryo implantation. There are several therapies available for this disease, however they are not so effective. Fibroblast growth factor 1 ...(FGF1) is a member of fibroblast growth factor superfamily (FGFs), and it has been demonstrated that FGF1 expression was altered in samples collected from patients with thin endometrium. However, it is unclear if FGF1 could improve thin endometrium. The aim of this study was to investigate whether FGF1 have a therapeutic effect on thin endometrium.
A model of thin endometrium induced by ethanol was constructed to investigate the effect and mechanism of action of FGF1 in thin endometrium. In the characterization experiments, 6-8 weeks female rats (n = 40) were divided into four groups: i) Control group; ii) Sham group; iii) Injured group; (iv) FGF1 therapy group. Endometrial tissues would be removed after three sexuel cycles after molding. Morphology and histology of the endometrium were evaluated by visual and hematoxylin and eosin staining. Masson staining and expression of α-SMA in endometrium showed the degree of endometrial fibrosis. Western blotting (PCNA、vWF and Vim) and immunohistochemistry (CK19 and MUC-1) demonstrated the effect of FGF1 on cell proliferation and angiogenesis. Moreover, immunohistochemistry (ER and PR) was used to explore the function of endometrium. The remaining rats (n = 36) were divided into three groups: i) Injured group; ii) FGF1 therapy group; and iii) 3-methyladenine. Western blotting (p38、p-p38、PI3K 、SQSTM1/p62、beclin-1 and LC3) was used to explore the mechanisms of FGF1.
In FGF1 therapy group, the morphology and histology of endometrium improved compared with the model group. Masson staining and the expression level of α-SMA showed that FGF1 could decrease the fibrotic area of endometrium. Besides, changes in ER and PR expression in the endometrium suggested that FGF1 could restore endometrium-related functions. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry revealed that PCNA, vWF, Vim, CK19 and MUC-1 were significantly increased after FGF1 treatment compared with the thin endometrium. In addition, Western blotting showed that p38, p-p38, PI3K, SQSTM1/p62, beclin-1 and LC3 levels were higher in FGF1 group than in the injured group.
FGF1 application cured the thin endometrium caused by ethanol through autophagy mechanism.
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