After football players receive high-intensity training, they often have muscle injuries. The development of a stretchable wearable sport sensor with high sensing performance will effectively solve ...this problem. In this work, we develop a flexible and stretchable pressure sensor based on graphene/ESTANE TPU nanofiber electrodes and the C2OHMIMCl/ESTANE TPU nanofiber electrolyte. Owing to the microporous structure of electrospun film, the pressure sensor has the advantages of good air permeability and skin compatibility. The working mechanism of the pressure sensor is based on the supercapacitance sensing mechanism, which brings a wide detection range, high repeatability, high sensitivity, and fast response. Besides, the sensor installed at the knee can perform gait analysis, such as walking and running with the ball, in football. Furthermore, the sensor array developed can monitor the pressure distribution at the knee in football in real time. This research will promote the application of intelligent sports equipment in football training.
Inflammation and immunity dysregulation have received widespread attention in recent years due to their occurrence in the pathophysiology of many conditions. In this regard, several pharmacological ...studies have been conducted aiming to evaluate the potential anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of phytochemicals. Epimedium, a traditional Chinese medicine, is often used as a tonic, aphrodisiac, and anti-rheumatic agent. Icariin (ICA) is the main active ingredient of Epimedium and is, once ingested, mainly metabolized into Icaritin (ICT). Data from in vitro and in vivo studies suggested that ICA and its metabolite (ICT) regulated the functions and activation of immune cells, modulated the release of inflammatory factors, and restored aberrant signaling pathways. ICA and ICT were also involved in anti-inflammatory and immune responses in several diseases, including multiple sclerosis, asthma, atherosclerosis, lupus nephritis, inflammatory bowel diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer. Yet, data showed that ICA and ICT exhibited similar but not identical pharmacokinetic properties. Therefore, based on their higher solubility and bioavailability, as well as trends indicating that single-ingredient compounds offer broader and safer therapeutic capabilities, ICA and ICT delivery systems and treatment represent interesting avenues with promising clinical applications. In this study, we reviewed the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory mechanisms, as well as the pharmacokinetic properties of ICA and its metabolite ICT.
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•Bidirectional regulation of immune system by ICA and ICT in diseases.•Effects of ICA and ICT on the immune system via epigenetic modification.•Drug delivery systems of ICA and ICT have more pharmacokinetic advantages.•ICA and its derivatives have the potential for anti-inflammation and immunomodulation.
Self-rated health (SRH), a subjective assessment of health status, is extensively used in the public health field. However, whether SRH can reflect the objective health status is still debatable. We ...aim to reveal the relationship between SRH and objective health status in the general population.
We assessed the relationship between SRH and objective health status by examining the prevalence of diseases, laboratory parameters, and some health-related factors in different SRH groups. Data were collected from 18,000 residents randomly sampled from the general population in five cities of China (3,600 in each city). SRH was assessed by a single-item health measure with five options: "very good," "good," "fair," "bad," and "very bad." The differences in prevalence of diseases, laboratory parameters, and health-related factors between the "healthy" (very good plus good), "relatively healthy" (fair), and "unhealthy" (bad plus very bad) groups were examined. The odds ratios (ORs) referenced by the healthy group were calculated using logistic regression analysis.
The prevalence of all diseases was associated with poorer SRH. The tendency was more prominent in cardio-cerebral vascular diseases, visual impairment, and mental illnesses with larger ORs. Residents with abnormalities in laboratory parameters tended to have poorer SRH, with ORs ranging from 1.62 (for triglyceride) to 3.48 (for hemoglobin among men) in a comparison of the unhealthy and healthy groups. Most of the health-related factors regarded as risks were associated with poorer SRH. Among them, life and work pressure, poor spiritual status, and poor quality of interpersonal relationships were the most significant factors.
SRH is consistent with objective health status and can serve as a global measure of health status in the general population.
Background
The role of sine oculis homeobox 4 (SIX4) has been found in some malignant tumors. However, there have been few studies on the function of SIX4 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma ...(ESCC). This study aimed to explore the regulatory mechanism of SIX4 in ESCC.
Methods
RT‐qPCR and Western blot analysis were used to measure mRNA and protein expression. The function of SIX4 was investigated using CCK‐8, colony formation, flow cytometry, wound healing and transwell assays. A mouse xenograft tumor assay was designed to perform in vivo experiments.
Results
SIX4 was upregulated in ESCC and indicated poor clinical outcomes in ESCC patients. Functionally, knockdown of SIX4 inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in ESCC. In addition, the silencing of SIX4 inhibited cell migration, invasion and EMT in ESCC. More importantly, upregulation of SIX4 could activate the PI3K/AKT pathway in ESCC cells and promote tumor growth in vivo.
Conclusions
Upregulation of SIX4 indicates poor clinical outcomes in ESCC patients and promotes tumor growth and cell metastasis in ESCC.
1. SIX4 was upregulated in ESCC and indicated poor clinical outcomes in ESCC patients. 2. SIX4 promotes tumor growth and cell metastasis in ESCC. 3. Upregulation of SIX4 could activate the PI3K/AKT pathway in ESCC cells.
Self-supported mesoporous NiO nanoflake arrays prepared by a simple hydrothermal synthesis method and show enhanced supercapacitor performance. Display omitted
•Construct self-supported mesoporous ...NiO nanoflake array.•Mesoporous nanoflake array shows high pseudo-capacitive properties.•Mesoporous nanoflake array structure is favorable for fast ion and electron transfer.
Highly porous metal oxide nanoflake arrays are important for developing high-performance electrochemical devices. Herein, mesoporous NiO nanoflake arrays have been successfully prepared by a facile hydrothermal synthesis method. Except for the mesoporous walls, the NiO nanoflakes are interconnected with each other to form macroporous structure. This porous structured NiO nanoflake arrays possess a high specific surface area of ∼185m2g−1. The supercapacitor performance of the mesoporous NiO nanoflake arrays is fully characterized. The mesoporous NiO nanoflake arrays exhibit weaker polarization, higher specific capacitance and better rate capability than the common NiO nanoflake arrays. The mesoporous NiO nanoflake arrays deliver a specific capacitance of 400Fg−1 at 2Ag−1 and 339Fg−1 at 40Ag−1, respectively, higher than those of the common NiO nanoflake arrays (287Fg−1 at 2Ag−1 and 179Fg−1 at 40Ag−1). The enhanced performance is mainly due to the hierarchical pore system in the mesoporous NiO nanoflake arrays.
Carbon dots (CDs) possess considerable potentials in fields like biomarker and cell imaging due to its good fluorescence properties. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism concerning influences of CDs ...on plant growth still remains unknown. In this study, the subcellular localization of CDs in Arabidopsis and the molecular mechanism of CDs toxicity to plants were investigated. Results demonstrate that CDs tend to accumulate in meristematic nucleus of root tips. CDs can inhibit growth of meristem zone of primary root (PR) of Arabidopsis seedlings significantly. The transcription level of auxin biosynthesis related genes decreases and the abundance of auxin efflux carriers PIN1 and PIN2 declines after 40 mg/L CDs treatment, thus lowering the auxin level in root tips. Moreover, CDs weaken activity of cell division in meristem zone by disturbing expressions of DNA damage repair genes and cell cycle regulation genes, thus enabling to inhibit growth of the meristem zone. To sum up, CDs inhibit growth of Arabidopsis seedlings through above pathways. These results provide useful information to elaborate potential toxicity mechanism of CDs on terrestrial plants.
•Carbon dots tend to accumulate in meristematic nucleus of root tips.•Carbon dots inhibit root growth by disrupting auxin biosynthesis and transport.•Carbon dots inhibit cell division of root meristem.
Many “hot spot” geographic areas across the world with drinking water co-contaminated with inorganic arsenic (iAs) and fluoride (F-), two of the most common natural contaminants in drinking water. ...Both iAs and F- are known neurotoxins and affect neurodevelopment of children. However, very few studies have investigated the neurodevelopmental effects of concurrent exposure to iAs and F-, which could potentially pose a greater risk than iAs or F- exposure alone. Further, perturbations of gut microbiota, which plays a regulatory role in neurodevelopment, resulting from iAs and F- exposure has been reported in numerous studies. There is lacking of information regarding to the relationship among concurrent iAs and F- exposure, microbiome disruption, and neurodevelopmental impacts. To fill these gaps, we treated offspring rats to iAs (50 mg/L NaAsO2) and F- (100 mg/L NaF), alone or combined from early life (in utero and childhood) to puberty. We applied Morris water maze test to assess spatial learning and memory of these rats and generated gut microbiome profiles using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We showed that concurrent iAs and F- exposure caused more prominent neurodevelopmental effects in rats than either iAs or F- exposure alone. Moreover, Unsupervised Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) analysis of gut microbiome sequencing results separated concurrent exposure group from others, indicating a more sophisticated change of gut microbial communities occurred under the concurrent exposure condition. Further, a correlation analysis between indices of the water maze test and microbial composition at the genus level identified featured genera that were clearly associated with neurobehavioral performance of rats. 75% (9 out of 12) genera, which had a remarkable difference in relative abundance between the control and combined iAs and F- exposure groups, showed significantly strong correlations (r = 0.70–0.90) with the water maze performance indicators. Collectively, these results suggest that concurrent iAs and F- exposure led to more prominent effects on neurodevelopment and gut microbiome composition structures in rats, and the strong correlation between them indicates a high potential for the development of novel microbiome-based biomarkers of iAs and/or F- associated neurodevelopmental deficits.
While numerous studies have shown that fluoride or arsenic exposure may damage the reproductive system, there are few reports of co-exposure to fluoride and arsenic. In addition, the literature on ...autophagy and intestinal flora composition in reproductive toxicity studies of co-exposure to fluoride and arsenic is insufficient. In this study, we developed a rat model of fluoride and arsenic exposure via drinking water from pre-pregnancy to 90 days postnatal. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sterile water control group, fluoride group (100 mg/L NaF), arsenic group (50 mg/L NaAsO2) and combined exposure group (100 mg/L NaF+50 mg/L NaAsO2). Our results showed that fluoride and arsenic exposure caused a reduction in testicular weight and significant pathological damage to tissue. We found that the levels of follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and testosterone were reduced to varying degrees. Meanwhile experiments showed that fluoride and arsenic exposure can modulate autophagic flux, causing increased levels of Beclin1 and LC3 expression and decreased p62 expression. Analogously, by performing 16S sequencing of rat feces, we found 24 enterobacterial genera that differed significantly among the groups. Furthermore, the flora associated with testicular injury were identified by correlation analysis of hormonal indices and autophagy alterations with intestinal flora composition at the genus level, respectively. In summary, our study shows that fluoride and arsenic co-exposure alters autophagic flux in the testis, causes testicular injury, and reveals an association between altered intestinal flora composition and testicular injury.
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•F and As exposure caused an imbalance in the intestinal flora of rats.•F and As exposure caused alterations in autophagic flux, which were positively correlated with SMB53 and Anaerostipes.•F and As exposure caused alterations in reproductive hormones, which were negatively correlated with Parabacteroides.•Under experimental conditions, the co-exposure to fluoride and arsenic showed some antagonistic effects in rat testis.
NiO nanoparticles with average particle size of 25
nm were successfully prepared by anodic arc plasma method. The composition, morphology, crystal microstructure, specific surface area, infrared ...spectra, particle size distribution of product were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the corresponding selected-area electron diffraction (SAED), Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FTIR) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) N
2 adsorption. The experiment results shown that the NiO nanoparticles are bcc structure with spherical shape and well dispersed, the particle size distribution ranging from 15
nm to 45
nm with the average particle size is about 25
nm, and the specific surface area is 33
m
2/g.The infrared absorption band of NiO nanoparticles show blue-shifts compared with that of bulk NiO.
Abstract
A large number of data suggest that caloric restriction (CR) has a protective effect on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R) in the elderly. However, the mechanism is still unclear. ...In this study, we created the I/R model in vivo by ligating the mice left coronary artery for 45 min followed by reperfusion. C57BL/6J wild-type mice were randomly divided into a young group fed ad libitum (y-AL), aged fed ad libitum (a-AL) and aged calorie restriction group (a-CR, 70% diet restriction), and fed for 6 weeks. The area of myocardial infarction was measured by Evan’s blue-TTC staining, plasma cholesterol content quantified by ELISA, fatty acids and glucose measured by Langendorff working system, as well as protein expression of AMPK/SIRT
1
/PGC
1a
signaling pathway related factors in myocardial tissue detected by immunoblotting. Our results showed that CR significantly reduced infarct size in elderly mice after I/R injury, promoted glycolysis regardless of I/R injury, and restored myocardial glucose uptake in elderly mice. Compared with a-AL group, CR significantly promoted the expression of p-AMPK, SIRT
1
, p-PGC
1a
, and SOD
2
, but decreased PPARγ expression in aged mice. In conclusion, our results suggest that CR protects elderly mice from I/R injury by altering myocardial substrate energy metabolism via the AMPK/SIRT
1
/PGC
1a
pathway.
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