In vitro experiments have indicated prebiotic activity of isomaltulose, which stimulates the growth of probiotics and the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). However, the absence of in ...vivo trials undermines these results. This study aims to investigate the effect of isomaltulose on composition and functionality of gut microbiota in rats. Twelve Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups: the IsoMTL group was given free access to water containing 10% isomaltulose (
), and the control group was treated with normal water for five weeks. Moreover, 16S rRNA sequencing showed that ingestion of isomaltulose increased the abundances of beneficial microbiota, such as
and
, and decreased levels of pathogens, including
. Bacterial functional prediction showed that isomaltulose affected gut microbial functionalities, including secondary bile acid biosynthesis. Targeted metabolomics demonstrated that isomaltulose supplementation enhanced cholic acid concentration, and reduced levels of lithocholic acid, deoxycholic acid, dehydrocholic acid, and hyodeoxycholic acid. Moreover, the concentrations of propionate and butyrate were elevated in the rats administered with isomaltulose. This work suggests that isomaltulose modulates gut microbiota and the production of SCFAs and secondary bile acids in rats, which provides a scientific basis on the use of isomaltulose as a prebiotic.
Aging population has led to an increased proportion of older adults and cognitively impaired. We designed a brief and flexible two-stage cognitive screening scale, the Dual-Stage Cognitive Assessment ...(DuCA), for cognitive screening in primary care settings.
In total, 1,772 community-dwelling participants were recruited, including those with normal cognition (NC, n = 1,008), mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 633), and Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 131), and administered a neuropsychological test battery and the DuCA. To improve performance, the DuCA combines visual and auditory memory tests for an enhanced memory function test.
The correlation coefficient between DuCA-part 1 and DuCA-total was 0.84 (P < 0.001). The correlation coefficients of DuCA-part 1 with Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III (ACE-III) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment Basic (MoCA-B) were 0.66 (P < 0.001) and 0.85 (P < 0.001), respectively. The correlation coefficients of DuCA-total with ACE-III and MoCA-B were 0.78 (P < 0.001) and 0.83 (P < 0.001), respectively. DuCA-Part 1 showed a similar discrimination ability for MCI from NC (area under curve AUC = 0.87, 95%CI 0.848-0.883) as ACE III (AUC = 0.86, 95%CI 0.838-0.874) and MoCA-B (AUC = 0.85, 95%CI 0.830-0.868). DuCA-total had a higher AUC (0.93, 95%CI: 0.917-0.942). At different education levels, the AUC was 0.83-0.84 for DuCA-part 1, and 0.89-0.94 for DuCA-total. DuCA-part 1 and DuCA-total's ability to discriminate AD from MCI was 0.84 and 0.93, respectively.
DuCA-Part 1 would aid rapid screening and supplemented with the second part for a complete assessment. DuCA is suited for large-scale cognitive screening in primary care, saving time and eliminating the need for extensively training assessors.
An increasing number of small nucleolar RNA host genes (SNHGs) have been revealed to be dysregulated in lung cancer tissues, and abnormal expression of SNHGs is significantly correlated with the ...prognosis of lung cancer. The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to explore the correlation between the expression level of SNHGs and the prognosis of lung cancer.
A comprehensive search of six related databases was conducted to obtain relevant literature. Relevant information, such as overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), TNM stage, lymph node metastasis (LNM), and tumor size, was extracted. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled to evaluate the relationship between SNHG expression and the survival outcome of lung cancers. Sensitivity and publication bias analyses were performed to explore the stability and reliability of the overall results.
Forty publications involving 2205 lung cancer patients were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled HR and 95% CI values indicated a significant positive association between high SNHG expression and poor OS (HR: 1.890, 95% CI: 1.595-2.185), disease-free survival (DFS) (HR: 2.31, 95% CI: 1.57-3.39) and progression-free survival (PFS) (HR: 2.01, 95% CI: 0.66-6.07). The pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% CI values indicated that increased SNHG expression may be correlated with advanced TNM stage (OR: 1.509, 95% CI: 1.267-1.799), increase risk of distant lymph node metastasis (OR: 1.540, 95% CI: 1.298-1.828), and large tumor size (OR: 1.509, 95% CI: 1.245-1.829). Sensitivity analysis and publication bias results showed that each result had strong reliability and robustness, and there was no significant publication bias or other bias.
Most SNHGs are upregulated in lung cancer tissues, and high expression of SNHGs predicts poor survival outcomes in lung cancer. SNHGs may be potential prognostic markers and promising therapeutic targets.
Since the birth of cyanidation, it has been dominant in the gold extraction industry. Recently, with the increasing awareness of environmental hazards and potential risks posed by the severe toxicity ...of cyanide, attempts to seek alternative lixiviants have arisen. Over the past three decades, a significant amount of literature has examined alternative lixiviants to cyanide for recovering gold, while few industrial applications have been reported due to various obstacles, such as toxicity, excessive consumption, or low leaching efficiency. These obstacles are progressively overcome in multiple ways, including process improvement, system optimization, use of co-intensifying systems, and development of additives. In this paper, related studies about alternative lixiviants and methods such as cyanide, thiosulfate, thiourea, thiocyanate, polysulfides, halides, and microbial leaching are summarized. The history, fundamentals, advancements, and challenges of alternative lixiviants are fully concluded to provide a reference for cleaner gold production. In addition, the comprehensive performance of lixiviants was evaluated according to a novel evaluation criterion proposed in terms of economy, efficiency, and environment.
Display omitted
•The history and mechanisms of gold lixiviants in gold extraction were reviewed.•A novel evaluation criterion was proposed to evaluate the performance of lixiviants.•The current advances and progress of each lixiviant were summarized.•The challenges and prospects of each lixiviant were forecasted.
Influenza virus (IFV) causes acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) and leads to high morbidity and mortality annually. This study explored the epidemiological change of IFV after the ...implementation of the universal two-child policy and evaluated the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the detection of IFV.
Hospitalized children under 18 years with ARTI were recruited from Hubei Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital of Hubei Province from January 2014 to June 2022. The positive rates of IFV were compared among different periods by the implementation of the universal two-child policy and public health measures against COVID-19 pandemic.
Among 75,128 hospitalized children with ARTI, the positive rate of IFV was 1.98% (1486/75128, 95% CI 1.88-2.01). Children aged 6-17 years had the highest positive rate of IFV (166/5504, 3.02%, 95% CI 2.58-3.50). The positive rate of IFV dropped to the lowest in 2015, then increased constantly and peaked in 2019. After the universal two-child policy implementation, the positive rate of IFV among all the hospitalized children increased from 0.40% during 2014-2015 to 2.70% during 2017-2019 (RR 6.72, 95% CI 4.94-9.13, P < 0.001), particularly children under one year shown a violent increasing trend from 0.20 to 2.01% (RR 10.26, 95% CI 5.47-19.23, P < 0.001). During the initial outbreak of COVID-19, the positive rate of IFV decreased sharply compared to that before COVID-19 (0.35% vs. 3.37%, RR 0.10, 95% CI 0.04-0.28, P < 0.001), and then rebounded to 0.91%, lower than the level before COVID-19 (RR 0.26, 95% CI 0.20-0.36, P < 0.001).
IFV epidemiological pattern has changed after the implementation of the universal two-child policy. More attention should be emphasized to comprehend the health benefits generated by COVID-19 restrictions on IFV transmission in future.
The electrocatalytic transformation of carbon dioxide (CO2) to formate is a promising route for highly efficient conversion and utilization of CO2 gas, due to the low production cost and the ease of ...storage of formate. In this work, porous poly(ionic liquid) (PPIL)‐based tin‐silver (Sn‐Ag) bimetallic hybrids (PPILm‐SnxAg10‐x) are prepared for high‐performance formate electrolytic generation. Under optimal conditions, an excellent formate Faradaic efficiency of 95.5% with a high partial current density of 214.9 mA cm−2 is obtained at −1.03 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode). Meanwhile, the high selectivity of formate (>≈83%) is maintained in a wide potential range (>630 mV). Mechanistic studies demonstrate that the presence of Ag‐species is vital for the formation, maintenance, and high dispersion of tetravalent Sn(IV)‐species, which accounts for the active sites for CO2‐to‐formate conversion. Further, the introduction of Ag‐species significantly enhances the activity by increasing the electron density near the Fermi energy level.
Porous poly(ionic liquid) (PPIL)‐based tin‐silver (Sn‐Ag) bimetallic hybrids (PPILm‐SnxAg10‐x) are synthesized for high‐efficient electrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2)‐to‐formate conversion. An excellent formate selectivity of 95.5% with a high partial current density of 214.9 mA cm−2 is achieved at −1.03 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode). Besides, the formate selectivity of > ≈83% is maintained in a wide potential range (>630 mV).
Abstract The High Altitude Detection of Astronomical Radiation (HADAR) is a novel wide-field Cherenkov Telescope. It is designed for gamma-ray astronomy in the energy range of 10 GeV to 100 TeV, with ...gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) being one of its primary research focuses. To assess its complementary capabilities, this study first presents the Crab sensitivity of HADAR. Then, to compare the sensitivity of GRBs, the observation time for all experiments is standardized to 100 s. To clearly demonstrate HADAR’s advantages, we estimate its observational results with a 221009A-like GRB. The study found that HADAR is capable of more comprehensively recording the bending and absorption of self-Compton radiation, which is expected to fill observational gaps in space- and ground-based experiments. We anticipate that this facility will ensure a large statistical GRB sample and advance our understanding of GRBs.
As an important antiviral target, HIV-1 integrase plays a key role in the viral life cycle, and five integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) have been approved for the treatment of HIV-1 ...infections so far. However, similar to other clinically used antiviral drugs, resistance-causing mutations have appeared, which have impaired the efficacy of INSTIs. In the current study, to identify novel integrase inhibitors, a set of molecular docking-based virtual screenings were performed, and indole-2-carboxylic acid was developed as a potent INSTI scaffold. Indole-2-carboxylic acid derivative
was proved to effectively inhibit the strand transfer of HIV-1 integrase, and binding conformation analysis showed that the indole core and C2 carboxyl group obviously chelated the two Mg
ions within the active site of integrase. Further structural optimizations on compound
provided the derivative
, which markedly increased the integrase inhibitory effect, with an IC
value of 0.13 μM. Binding mode analysis revealed that the introduction of a long branch on C3 of the indole core improved the interaction with the hydrophobic cavity near the active site of integrase, indicating that indole-2-carboxylic acid is a promising scaffold for the development of integrase inhibitors.
Cyanide leaching, as a typical traditional method, hardly achieves the cleaner production of gold due to high consumption of auxiliary materials, inefficient production and heavy environmental ...pollution. In this work, stepwise thiourea leaching was used to extract gold and silver from refractory gold concentrate calcine. In the first stage, gold and silver extractions of 84.42% and 44.15% are obtained by thiourea leaching without any additive, respectively, which are further enhanced to 88.71% and 52.65% by adding the additives of lignin sulfonate sodium, urea and iron ion. The spent thiourea can be recycled to leach next batch of calcine after the treatment of replacing gold by iron powder. In the second stage with mechanical activation, higher gold and silver extractions are achieved 96.51% and 70.43%, respectively. Furthermore, a pilot-scale test is carried out to prove the reliability of this technology, which is hopefully adopted in industry to extract gold and silver efficiently and cleanly
•Stepwise thiourea leaching was proposed to extract gold and silver from calcine.•Adding CMN, urea and iron ion could reduce the thiourea consumption.•Adding CMN, urea and iron ion could increase the extraction of gold and silver.•Mechanical activation could increase the extraction of gold and silver.•A pilot-scale test proved the reliability of this technological route.
Hydrogenation of furfural to value-added chemical products is largely hindered by its multiple reaction pathways and complicated product distribution. Thus, to selectively achieve the desired ...products, catalysts with precise catalytic properties are highly required. Herein, a series of PdAg bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) of similar size and tunable composition supported on activated carbon (Pd
4
Ag
1
/C, Pd
2
Ag
1
/C, Pd
1
Ag
1
/C and Pd
2
Ag
3
/C) were synthesized in a controlled manner and applied in the selective hydrogenation of furfural. Interestingly, an obvious composition-dependent catalytic performance was observed: upon incrementally increasing the proportion of Ag in PdAg NPs, the hydrogenation selectivity can transform from tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (sel. 94% for Pd
4
Ag
1
/C) to furfuryl alcohol (sel. 95% for Pd
1
Ag
1
/C) with nearly complete conversion (99%) of furfural. DFT calculations revealed that the adsorption free energy of
in situ
generated furfuryl alcohol on Pd(111) surface is inversely proportional correlated with the Ag content in PdAg bimetallic NPs, which accounts for the alteration of chemoselectivity. Importantly, the present study is the first demonstration of composition-induced selectivity reversal for the hydrogenation of furfural under ambient conditions (25 °C, 0.1 MPa H
2
).
Selectivity reversal for the hydrogenation of furfural is acheived by PdAg/C bimetallic catalysts under ambient conditions.
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