Abstract
Tuning metal–support interaction has been considered as an effective approach to modulate the electronic structure and catalytic activity of supported metal catalysts. At the atomic level, ...the understanding of the structure–activity relationship still remains obscure in heterogeneous catalysis, such as the conversion of water (alkaline) or hydronium ions (acid) to hydrogen (hydrogen evolution reaction, HER). Here, we reveal that the fine control over the oxidation states of single-atom Pt catalysts through electronic metal–support interaction significantly modulates the catalytic activities in either acidic or alkaline HER. Combined with detailed spectroscopic and electrochemical characterizations, the structure–activity relationship is established by correlating the acidic/alkaline HER activity with the average oxidation state of single-atom Pt and the Pt–H/Pt–OH interaction. This study sheds light on the atomic-level mechanistic understanding of acidic and alkaline HER, and further provides guidelines for the rational design of high-performance single-atom catalysts.
In comparison to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), SARS-CoV-2 appears to be more contagious 1, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients demonstrate varied clinical ...manifestations distinct from those seen in patients with SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections 2. Collective results from the clinical and epidemiological observations suggest a distinct viral–host interaction in COVID-19 patients. Profiling of the antibody response during SARS-CoV-2 infection may help improve our understanding of the viral–host interaction and the immunopathological mechanisms of the disease.
Humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2 showed an early response of IgA, instead of IgM, in COVID-19 patients. As highlighted by this study, enhanced IgA responses observed in severe COVID-19 might confer damaging effects in severe COVID-19.
https://bit.ly/3fA7c1I
Digital currencies, as an emerging monetary form, have profoundly transformed the landscape of financial transactions and redefined the structure of economic ecosystems, exerting an unprecedented ...influence on traditional financial systems. This study scrutinizes the ramifications of digital currencies on conventional financial systems, utilizing a theoretical framework as the foundation. It specifically employs Vector Autoregression (VAR) and Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models to construct an impact model that examines the influence of digital currencies on monetary policies. The analysis utilizes empirical data to assess the efficacy of digital currencies in shaping economic policy, focusing particularly on their effect on monetary intermediation targets. The findings reveal that digital currencies significantly affect monetary policy, primarily through mechanisms of interest rate and exchange rate transmission. Moreover, the advent of digital currencies is associated with reductions in the money supply, exchange rates, and credit volumes of commercial banks. The analysis establishes a long-term stable equilibrium among the money supply, digital currency volume, cash leakage rate, fixed-to-floating rate ratio, and excess reserve ratio. Notably, the scale of digital currency exerts the most substantial impact on the money supply, contributing 10.89% to its variance. This study underscores the intricate relationships between digital currencies and economic policies, highlighting their critical role in contemporary financial systems.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is transmitted through respiratory droplets and close contact 1–4. To ...diagnose COVID-19, oropharyngeal swab (OP swab) sampling is widely used for viral nucleic acid detection 3. However, healthcare workers who perform OP swab are at high risk of infection due to aerosol from patients during the process of sampling. And the quality of manual OP swabs is inconsistent among different collectors, which may lead to misdiagnosis 5. Use of a remote-controlled OP swab robot has the potential to avoid close contact between healthcare workers with patients, and thus reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection during sampling. Here, we invented a robotic sampling (RS) system and evaluated the safety and efficacy of this system on OP swab sampling during the period of pandemic.
Clinical application of the safety and effectiveness of an intelligent oropharyngeal-swab robot, and its implication for the COVID-19 pandemic
https://bit.ly/2BUsV55
Prevention and management of lung cancer in China Hong, Qun‐Ying; Wu, Guo-Ming; Qian, Gui‐Sheng ...
Cancer,
September 1, 2015, 2015-Sep-01, 2015-09-00, 20150901, Volume:
121, Issue:
S17
Journal Article
With the development of functional genomics studies, a mass of long non‐coding RNAs (LncRNA) were discovered from the human genome. Long non‐coding RNAs serve as pivotal regulators of genes that are ...able to generate LncRNA–binding protein complexes to modulate a great number of genes. Recently, the LncRNA urothelial carcinoma‐associated 1 (UCA1) has been revealed to be dysregulated, which plays a critical role in the development of a few cancers. However, the role of the biology and clinical significance of UCA1 in the tumorigenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remain unknown. We found that UCA1 expression levels were upregulated aberrantly in tongue squamous cell carcinoma tissues and associated with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. We explored the expression, function, and molecular mechanism of LncRNA UCA1 in OSCC. In the present work, we revealed that UCA1 silencing suppressed proliferation and metastasis and induced apoptosis of OSCC cell lines in vitro and in vivo, which might be related to the activation level of the WNT/β‐catenin signaling pathway. Our research results emphasize the pivotal role of UCA1 in the oncogenesis of OSCC and reveal a novel LncRNA UCA1–β‐catenin–WNT signaling pathway regulatory network that could contribute to our understanding in the pathogenesis of OSCC and assist in the discovery of a viable LncRNA‐directed diagnostic and therapeutic strategy for this fatal disease.
Our data highlighted the pivotal role of UCA1 in the tumorigenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma, and revealed a novel LncRNA UCA1‐β‐catenin‐Wnt signaling pathway regulatory network, which may contribute to understand the pathogenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been reported to have critical regulatory roles in tumor biology. However, their contribution to melanoma remains largely unknown.
CircRNAs derived from oncogene CD151 ...were detected and verified by analyzing a large number of melanoma samples through quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Melanoma cells were stably transfected with lentiviruses using circ_0020710 interference or overexpression plasmid, and then CCK-8, colony formation, wound healing, transwell invasion assays, and mouse xenograft models were employed to assess the potential role of circ_0020710. RNA immunoprecipitation, luciferase reporter assay and fluorescence in situ hybridization were used to evaluate the underlying mechanism of circ_0020710.
Our findings indicated that circ_0020710 was generally overexpressed in melanoma tissues, and high level of circ_0020710 was positively correlated with malignant phenotype and poor prognosis of melanoma patients. Elevated circ_0020710 promoted melanoma cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro as well as tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, we found that high level of circ_0020710 could upregulate the CXCL12 expression via sponging miR-370-3p. CXCL12 downregulation could reverse the malignant behavior of melanoma cells conferred by circ_0020710 over expression. Moreover, we also found that elevated circ_0020710 was correlated with cytotoxic lymphocyte exhaustion, and a combination of AMD3100 (the CXCL12/CXCR4 axis inhibitor) and anti-PD-1 significantly attenuated tumor growth.
Elevated circ_0020710 drives tumor progression via the miR-370-3p/CXCL12 axis, and circ_0020710 is a potential target for melanoma treatment.
Increased circulating branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have been involved in the pathogenesis of obesity and insulin resistance (IR). However, evidence relating berberine (BBR), gut microbiota, ...BCAAs, and IR is limited. Here, we showed that BBR could effectively rectify steatohepatitis and glucose intolerance in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. BBR reorganized gut microbiota populations under both the normal chow diet (NCD) and HFD. Particularly, BBR noticeably decreased the relative abundance of BCAA-producing bacteria, including order Clostridiales; families Streptococcaceae, Clostridiaceae, and Prevotellaceae; and genera Streptococcus and Prevotella. Compared with the HFD group, predictive metagenomics indicated a reduction in the proportion of gut microbiota genes involved in BCAA biosynthesis but the enrichment genes for BCAA degradation and transport by BBR treatment. Accordingly, the elevated serum BCAAs of HFD group were significantly decreased by BBR. Furthermore, the Western blotting results implied that BBR could promote the BCAA catabolism in the liver and epididymal white adipose tissues of HFD-fed mice by activation of the multienzyme branched-chain α-ketoacid dehydrogenase complex (BCKDC), whereas by inhibition of the phosphorylation state of BCKDHA (E1α subunit) and branched-chain α-ketoacid dehydrogenase kinase (BCKDK). The ex vivo assay further confirmed that BBR could increase BCAA catabolism in both AML12 hepatocytes and 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Finally, data from healthy subjects and diabetics confirmed that BBR could improve glycemic control and modulate circulating BCAAs. Together, our findings clarified BBR improving IR associated not only with gut microbiota alteration in BCAA biosynthesis but also with BCAA catabolism in liver and adipose tissues.
Karst caves are characterized by darkness, low temperature, high humidity, and oligotrophic organisms due to its relatively closed and strongly zonal environments. Up to now, 1626 species in 644 ...genera of fungi have been reported from caves and mines worldwide. In this study, we investigated the culturable mycobiota in karst caves in southwest China. In total, 251 samples from thirteen caves were collected and 2344 fungal strains were isolated using dilution plate method. Preliminary ITS analyses showed that these strains belonged to 610 species in 253 genera. Among these species, 88.0% belonged to Ascomycota, 8.0% Basidiomycota, 1.9% Mortierellomycota, 1.9% Mucoromycota, and 0.2% Glomeromycota. The majority of these species have been previously known from other environments, and some of them are known as mycorrhizal or pathogenic fungi. About 52.8% of these species were discovered for the first time in karst caves. Based on morphological and phylogenetic distinctions, 33 new species were identified and described in this paper. Meanwhile, one new genus of
Cordycipitaceae
,
Gamszarea
, and five new combinations are established. This work further demonstrated that Karst caves encompass a high fungal diversity, including a number of previously unknown species. Taxonomic novelties: New genus:
Gamszarea
Z.F. Zhang & L. Cai; Novel species:
Amphichorda cavernicola
,
Aspergillus limoniformis
,
Aspergillus phialiformis
,
Aspergillus phialosimplex
,
Auxarthron chinense
,
Auxarthron guangxiense
,
Auxarthronopsis globiasca
,
Auxarthronopsis pedicellaris
,
Auxarthronopsis pulverea
,
Auxarthronopsis stercicola
,
Chrysosporium pallidum
,
Gamszarea humicola
,
Gamszarea lunata
,
Gamszarea microspora
,
Gymnoascus flavus
,
Jattaea reniformis
,
Lecanicillium magnisporum
,
Microascus collaris
,
Microascus levis
,
Microascus sparsimycelialis
,
Microascus superficialis
,
Microascus trigonus
,
Nigrospora globosa
,
Paracremonium apiculatum
,
Paracremonium ellipsoideum
,
Paraphaeosphaeria hydei
,
Pseudoscopulariopsis asperispora
,
Setophaeosphaeria microspora
,
Simplicillium album
,
Simplicillium humicola
,
Wardomycopsis dolichi
,
Wardomycopsis ellipsoconidiophora
,
Wardomycopsis fusca
; New combinations:
Gamszarea indonesiaca
(Kurihara & Sukarno) Z.F. Zhang & L. Cai,
Gamszarea kalimantanensis
(Kurihara & Sukarno) Z.F. Zhang & L. Cai,
Gamszarea restricta
(Hubka, Kubátová, Nonaka, Čmoková & Řehulka) Z.F. Zhang & L. Cai,
Gamszarea testudinea
(Hubka, Kubátová, Nonaka, Čmoková & Řehulka) Z.F. Zhang & L. Cai,
Gamszarea wallacei
(H.C. Evans) Z.F. Zhang & L. Cai.
For classification problem, the training data will significantly influence the classification accuracy. However, the data in real-world applications often are imbalanced class distribution, that is, ...most of the data are in majority class and little data are in minority class. In this case, if all the data are used to be the training data, the classifier tends to predict that most of the incoming data belongs to the majority class. Hence, it is important to select the suitable training data for classification in the imbalanced class distribution problem.
In this paper, we propose cluster-based under-sampling approaches for selecting the representative data as training data to improve the classification accuracy for minority class and investigate the effect of under-sampling methods in the imbalanced class distribution environment. The experimental results show that our cluster-based under-sampling approaches outperform the other under-sampling techniques in the previous studies.
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