At high altitudes, oxygen deprivation can cause pathophysiological changes. Liver tissue function is known to impact whole-body energy metabolism; however, how these functions are affected by chronic ...hypoxia remains unclear. We aimed to elucidate changing characteristics underlying the effect of chronic hypoxia on protein and amino acid metabolism in mouse livers. Mice were maintained in a hypobaric chamber simulating high altitude for 4 weeks. Livers were collected for metabolomic analysis via ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. For transcriptomics analysis, we conducted RNA sequencing of hepatic tissues followed by Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses. Chronic hypoxic exposure caused metabolic disorders of amino acids and their derivatives in liver tissue. We identified a number of metabolites with significantly altered profiles (including amino acids, peptides, and analogues), of which serine, phenylalanine, leucine, proline, aspartic acid, L-glutamate, creatine, 5-aminovaleric acid, L-hydroxyarginin, and g-guanidinobutyrate showed great potential as biomarkers of chronic hypoxia. A total of 2124 genes with significantly different expression levels were identified in hypoxic liver tissue, of which 1244 were upregulated and 880 were downregulated. We found pathways for protein digestion and absorption, arginine and proline metabolism, and mineral absorption related to amino acid metabolism were affected by hypoxia. Our findings surrounding the regulation of key metabolites and differentially expressed genes provide new insights into changes in protein and amino acid metabolism in the liver that result from chronic hypoxia.
As a new class of materials, implantable flexible electrical conductors have recently been developed and applied to bioelectronics. An ideal electrical conductor requires high conductivity, ...tissue‐like mechanical properties, low toxicity, reliable adhesion to biological tissues, and the ability to maintain its shape in wet physiological environments. Despite significant advances, electrical conductors that satisfy all these requirements are insufficient. Herein, a facile method for manufacturing a new conductive hydrogels through the simultaneous exfoliation of graphite and polymerization of zwitterionic monomers triggered by microwave irradiation is introduced. The mechanical properties of the obtained conductive hydrogel are similar to those of living tissue, which is ideal as a bionic adhesive for minimizing contact damage due to mechanical mismatches between hard electronics and soft tissues. Furthermore, it exhibits excellent adhesion performance, electrical conductivity, non‐swelling, and high conformability in water. Excellent biocompatibility of the hydrogel is confirmed through a cytotoxicity test using C2C12 cells, a biocompatibility test on rat tissues, and their histological analysis. The hydrogel is then implanted into the sciatic nerve of a rat and neuromodulation is demonstrated through low‐current electrical stimulation. This hydrogel demonstrates a tissue‐like extraneuronal electrode, which possesses high conformability to improve the tissue–electronics interfaces, promising next‐generation bioelectronics applications.
A new conductive hydrogel is developed through the simultaneous exfoliation of graphite and polymerization of zwitterionic monomers triggered by microwave irradiation. This hydrogel demonstrates tissue‐like extraneuronal electrodes satisfying requirements of bioelectronics such as low storage modulus, high viscoelasticity, low toxicity, reliable adhesion, and conformability to biological tissues, and maintenance of conductivity and hydrogel volume in wet environments.
Recent studies on soft adhesives have sought to deeply understand how their chemical or mechanical structures interact strongly with living tissues. The aim is to optimally address the unmet needs of ...patients with acute or chronic diseases. Synergistic adhesion involving both electrostatic (hydrogen bonds) and mechanical interactions (capillarity‐assisted suction stress) seems to be effective in overcoming the challenges associated with long‐term unstable coupling to tissues. Here, an electrostatically and mechanically synergistic mechanism of residue‐free, sustainable, in situ tissue adhesion by implementing hybrid multiscale architectonics. To deduce the mechanism, a thermodynamic model based on a tailored multiscale combinatory adhesive is proposed. The model supports the experimental results that the thermodynamically controlled swelling of the nanoporous hydrogel embedded in the hierarchical elastomeric structure enhances biofluid‐insensitive, sustainable, in situ adhesion to diverse soft, slippery, and wet organ surfaces, as well as clean detachment in the peeling direction. Based on the robust tissue adhesion capability, universal reliable measurements of electrophysiological signals generated by various tissues, ranging from rodent sciatic nerve, the muscle, brain, and human skin, are successfully demonstrated.
Electrostatic–mechanical, synergistic, in situ, multiscale tissue adhesion for various bioelectronic applications is demonstrated. To deduce the mechanism, a thermodynamic model based on a tailored elastomer–hydrogel combinatory adhesive architecture is proposed. Reliable real‐time measurements of electrophysiological signals generated by various tissues, ranging from rodent sciatic nerve, the muscle, brain, and human skin, are also successfully demonstrated.
•Strain DM02 efficiently removes TAN, nitrate, nitrite under high oxygen environment.•Diverse organic carbon can be used by strain DM02 for NO3−-N removal (>95%).•NO3− and NO2− removal efficiency was ...linearly related to C/N ratio (range 0–10).•The contribution of N assimilation for N removal increased linearly with C/N ratio.•Immobilized technology has been used for real aquaculture wastewater treatment.
A bacterial strain was isolated and identified as Pseudomonas sp. DM02 from an aquaculture system. Strain DM02 showed efficient heterotrophic nitrification-aerobic denitrification capability. Total ammonia nitrogen (TAN, 10 mg/L) could be completely removed by strain DM02 within 12 h under low nutrient condition. Nitrogen mass balance indicated that 70.8% of the initial TAN was translated into gaseous nitrogen and 28.1% was converted into intracellular nitrogen. Various carbon sources can be used for nitrate removal (>95% within 28 h). The optimal conditions for TAN, nitrate and nitrite removal were pH 7 with carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios of 8, 12 and 12, respectively. The napA, nirK, and nosZ functional genes were successful amplified from strain DM02. Both bioaugmentation and immobilized technology of strain DM02 present ability (>88%) for continuous treatment of real aquaculture wastewater. This research indicated a great potential for practical application of Pseudomonas sp. DM02 in aquaculture wastewater treatment.
The ongoing deployment of 5G network involves the Internet of Things (IoT) as a new technology for the development of mobile communication, where the Internet of Everything (IoE) as the expansion of ...IoT has catalyzed the explosion of data and can trigger new eras. However, the fundamental and key component of the IoE depends on the computational intelligence (CI), which may be utilized in the sixth generation mobile communication system (6G). The motivation of this article presents the 6G enabled network in box (NIB) architecture as a powerful integrated solution that can support comprehensive network management and operations. The 6G enabled NIB can be used as an alternative method to meet the needs of next-generation mobile networks by dynamically reconfiguring the deployment of network functions, providing a high degree of flexibility for connection services in various situations. Especially the CI technology such as evolutionary computing, neural computing and fuzzy systems utilized as a part of NIB have inherent capabilities to handle various uncertainties, which have unique advantages in processing the variability and diversity of large amounts of data. Finally, CI technology for NIB, which is widely used is also introduced such as distributed computing, fog computing, and mobile edge computing in order to achieve different levels of sustainable computing infrastructure. This article discusses the key technologies, advantages, industrial scenario applications of CI technology as NIB, typical use cases and development trends based on IoE, which provides directional guidance for the development of CI technology as NIB for 6G.
Obesity is a major independent risk factor for chronic kidney disease and can activate renal oxidative stress injury. Ascorbate and aldarate metabolism is an important carbohydrate metabolic pathway ...that protects cells from oxidative damage. However the effect of oxidative stress on this pathway is still unclear. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the ascorbate and aldarate metabolism pathway in the kidneys of high-fat diet-fed obese mice and determine the effects of oxidative stress. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed on a high-fat diet for 12 weeks to induce obesity. Subsequently, non-targeted metabolomics profiling was used to identify metabolites in the kidney tissues of the obese mice, followed by RNA sequencing using transcriptomic methods. The integrated analysis of metabolomics and transcriptomics revealed the alterations in the ascorbate and aldarate metabolic pathway in the kidneys of these high-fat diet-fed obese mice. The high-fat diet-induced obesity resulted in notable changes, including thinning of the glomerular basement membrane, alterations in podocyte morphology, and an increase in oxidative stress. Metabolomics analysis revealed 649 metabolites in the positive-ion mode, and 470 metabolites in the negative-ion mode. Additionally, 659 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the obese mice, of which 34 were upregulated and 625 downregulated. Integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses revealed two DEGs and 13 differential metabolites in the ascorbate and aldarate metabolic pathway. The expression levels of ugt1a9 and ugt2b1 were downregulated, and the ascorbate level in kidney tissue of obese mice was reduced. Thus, renal oxidative stress injury induced by high-fat diet affects metabolic regulation of ascorbate and aldarate metabolism in obese mice. Ascorbate emerged as a potential marker for predicting kidney damage due to high-fat diet-induced obesity.
Customizable bioadhesives for individual organ requirements, including tissue type and motion, are essential, especially given the rise in implantable medical device applications demanding adequate ...underwater adhesion. While synthetic bioadhesives are widely used, their toxicity upon degradation shifts focus to biocompatible natural biomaterials. However, enhancing the adhesive strengths of these biomaterials presents ongoing challenges while accommodating the unique properties of specific organs. To address these issues, three types of customized underwater bioadhesive patches (CUBAPs) with strong, water‐responsive adhesion and controllable biodegradability and stretchability based on bioengineered mussel adhesive proteins conjugated with acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid are proposed. The CUBAP system, although initially nonadhesive, shows strong underwater adhesion upon hydration, adjustable biodegradation, and adequate physical properties by adjusting the ratio of poly(acrylic acid) and poly(methacrylic acid). Through ex vivo and in vivo evaluations using defective organs and the implantation of electronic devices, the suitability of using CUBAPs for effective wound healing in diverse internal organs is demonstrated. Thus, this innovative CUBAP system offers strong underwater adhesiveness with tailored biodegradation timing and physical properties, giving it great potential in various biomedical applications.
This paper proposes a unique bioadhesive patch, CUBAP, which is a crosslinked mussel protein with UV‐induced polyacrylation designed to adhere underwater for various biomedical applications. CUBAP is nontoxic and customizable, providing strong water‐responsive adhesion, adjustable biodegradability, and controllable physical properties suitable for healing wounds in specific internal organs and for the implantation of electronic medical devices.
This paper investigated the multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) relays' assisted network in the Internet of Things (IoT) systems enhanced with energy harvesting in order to overcome the ...large-scale fading between source and sink as well as achieve the green cooperative communications, where time switch (TS) and power splitting (PS) strategies were typically applied for UAV relays to implement energy harvesting transmission, which was also selected via signal to noise ratio (SNR) maximization criterion so that the terminal node can obtain the optimal signal. Meanwhile, it was worth noting that the terminal node may be disturbed by aggregated interference caused by dense network signaling interaction in the future 5G/B5G systems. Therefore, after TS and PS protocols designing and utilizing, the closed-form expressions of outage probability and bit error rate (BER) for UAV relay assisted IoT systems suffered from aggregated interference were derived in detail. In addition, the throughput and delay limited state of UAV relay assisted transmission were also analyzed thoroughly. The derivations and analysis results showed that the proposed multi-parameter joint optimization of transmitting power, scaling factor, and UAV relay selection could effectively improve the system throughput and reduce the system outage probability and BER. The simulation experiments verified the effectiveness of the proposed schemes and the correctness of theoretical analysis.
The microplastics removal and its effects on membrane fouling in membrane bioreactor (MBR) for treating polluted surface water in drinking purpose was investigated in this study. Typical ...microplastics polyvinylchloride (PVC) with concentration 10 particles/L was added in the feed water. MBR was effective in treating organic matters and ammonia with removal rate over 80% and 95%, respectively. The removal performance was immediately inhibited with the microplastics PVC added into the MBR system, and recovered after operated for few days. The membrane fouling and cleaning results indicated that microplastics contamination could led to higher membrane fouling, and also the irreversible membrane fouling. The main contributor of rejection is the membrane module and the adsorption onto bio-carrier. The microbial community of the system before and after PVC addition did not show obvious difference. MBR has the potential to be used as effective technology in treating microplastics contaminated polluted surface water.
•Microplastics contaminated polluted surface water treatment by membrane bioreactor for drinking purpose was investigated.•The effect of microplastics contamination to membrane fouling was characterized.•Microplastics was observed on the fouling membrane surface.
Adipose tissue plays a central role in energy substrate homeostasis and is a key regulator of lipid flow throughout these processes. As hypoxia affects lipid metabolism in adipose tissue, we aimed to ...investigate the effects of high-altitude chronic hypoxia on lipid metabolism in the adipose tissue of rats using a lipidomic analysis approach. Visceral adipose tissues from rats housed in a high-altitude hypoxia environment representing 4,300 m with 14.07% oxygen (hypoxia group) and from rats housed in a low-altitude normoxia environment representing 41 m with 20.95% oxygen (normoxia group) for 8 weeks were analyzed using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-Orbitrap mass spectrometry system. After 8 weeks, the body weight and visceral adipose tissue weight of the hypoxia group were significantly decreased compared to those of the normoxia group (p < 0.05). The area and diameter of visceral adipose cells in the hypoxia group were significantly smaller than those of visceral adipose cells in the normoxia group (p < 0.05). The results of lipidomic analysis showed a total of 21 lipid classes and 819 lipid species. The total lipid concentration of the hypoxia group was lower than that in the normoxia group (p < 0.05). Concentrations of diacylglycerols and triacylglycerols in the hypoxia group were significantly lower than those in the normoxia group (p < 0.05). Using univariate and multivariate analyses, we identified 74 lipids that were significantly altered between the normoxia and hypoxia groups. These results demonstrate that high-altitude chronic hypoxia changes the metabolism of visceral adipose glycerides, which may potentially modulate other metabolic processes.
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