Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) are regarded as suitable substitutes for precious Pt as the hydrogen evolution catalysts due to their low cost and unique electronic structure. However, the ...bulk crystals of these materials are good conductors but show poor catalytic performance, whereas their nanostructures exhibit better activity but lower conductivity. In this study, a self-supported three-dimensional (3D) porous nitrogen-doped nickel selenide (NNiSe2) electrode is constructed and its HER activities over a wide range of pH are evaluated. Especially, only an overpotential of 86 mV is needed to afford the current density of 10 mA cm−2 in an alkaline medium (1.0 M KOH, pH = 14). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that NNiSe2 has lower Gibbs free-energy of H (ΔGH*) and water adsorption energy (ΔGH2O*) compared to pristine NiSe2, revealing that the catalyst-H* and catalyst-H2O state are easily to occur on the surface of NNiSe2 and finally enhance the HER activity. The as obtained NNiSe2 can be a potential non-noble-metal catalyst for practical hydrogen evolution reaction application.
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•The 3D porous self-supported N-doped NiSe2/Ni foam electrode is synthesized by one-step CVD method.•The N-doped NiSe2/NF electrode exhibits highly efficient HER activities over a wide range of pH.•DFT calculations confirm that the doped N atoms could enhance the HER performances.
In order to investigate the impact of environmental conditions on the distribution and migration of 90Sr in the Longji terrace environment, the activity concentrations of 90Sr and 137Cs were ...determined. The activity concentration ranges of 90Sr and 137Cs in surface soil were 0.15–1.04 Bq/kg and 2.16–6.94 Bq/kg, respectively. These results showed that there was a similar trend between the activity concentration of 90Sr and 137Cs in the surface soil along the runoff path and their activity concentration were influenced by the slope of the terraced terrain. On the other hand, the activity ranges of 90Sr and 137Cs in soil cores were 0.01–2.74 Bq/kg and 0.43–7.19 Bq/kg, respectively. These results indicate that the migration mechanism of 90Sr is different from that of 137Cs. As compared with 137Cs, 90Sr is significantly influenced by the moisture content. In addition, high span of 137Cs/90Sr activity ratios were found in this study, which were attributed to the characteristics of cultivated land and frequent artificial disturbances that intensified the migration of 90Sr.
•The first research of 90Sr in the terraces.•Runoff and slope are key factors driving 90Sr and 137Cs levels in terraced soil.•Compared with 137Cs, the migration trend of 90Sr in the core of terraced soil is more affected by moisture.
In order to investigate the impact of environmental conditions on the distribution and migration of
Sr in the Longji terrace environment, the activity concentrations of
Sr and
Cs were determined. The ...activity concentration ranges of
Sr and
Cs in surface soil were 0.15-1.04 Bq/kg and 2.16-6.94 Bq/kg, respectively. These results showed that there was a similar trend between the activity concentration of
Sr and
Cs in the surface soil along the runoff path and their activity concentration were influenced by the slope of the terraced terrain. On the other hand, the activity ranges of
Sr and
Cs in soil cores were 0.01-2.74 Bq/kg and 0.43-7.19 Bq/kg, respectively. These results indicate that the migration mechanism of
Sr is different from that of
Cs. As compared with
Cs,
Sr is significantly influenced by the moisture content. In addition, high span of
Cs/
Sr activity ratios were found in this study, which were attributed to the characteristics of cultivated land and frequent artificial disturbances that intensified the migration of
Sr.
Estimating whether to treat the rupture risk of small intracranial aneurysms (IAs) with size ≤ 7 mm in diameter is difficult but crucial. We aimed to construct and externally validate a convenient ...machine learning (ML) model for assessing the rupture risk of small IAs. One thousand four patients with small IAs recruited from two hospitals were included in our retrospective research. The patients at hospital 1 were stratified into training (70%) and internal validation set (30%) randomly, and the patients at hospital 2 were used for external validation. We selected predictive features using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method and constructed five ML models applying diverse algorithms including random forest classifier (RFC), categorical boosting (CatBoost), support vector machine (SVM) with linear kernel, light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost). The Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) analysis provided interpretation for the best ML model. The training, internal, and external validation cohorts included 658, 282, and 64 IAs, respectively. The best performance was presented by SVM as AUC of 0.817 in the internal 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.769–0.866 and 0.893 in the external (95% CI, 0.808–0.979) validation cohorts, which overperformed compared with the PHASES score significantly (all
P
< 0.001). SHAP analysis showed maximum size, location, and irregular shape were the top three important features to predict rupture. Our SVM model based on readily accessible features presented satisfying ability of discrimination in predicting the rupture IAs with small size. Morphological parameters made important contributions to prediction result.
To evaluate if valproic acid (VPA) therapy is associated with vitamin D deficiency among infants and toddlers with epilepsy, a cross-sectional clinical study was conducted in 25 children with ...epilepsy taking VPA. Blood levels of calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, and 25-hydroxy vitamin D 25(OH)D and plasma VPA level were measured at 1- to 3-month intervals. At the initial and final measurements, vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency was recognized in 8 (32%) and 12 (42%), respectively. In girls, a decreasing trend in serum 25(OH)D levels (
<0.05) was observed. Polytherapy had a significant negative effect on the longitudinal change of 25(OH)D (
<0.05) in girls. In conclusion, our study indicates that a high proportion of girls after VPA therapy had hypovitaminosis D.
Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified numerous genetic variants for major depressive disorder (MDD) although most of the genetic variants are intergenic. It has been found that ...approximately 54% of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are located in the intergenic regions. We hypothesized that intergenic variants might be involved in the pathogenesis of MDD through regulating the expression of lncRNAs where these variants are located. In this study, several MDD-associated SNPs in three known intergenic lncRNAs were initially genotyped among 978 patients with MDD and 1176 controls, and the real-time PCR assay was performed to quantify the expression of LINC01108 and LINC00578 in peripheral blood cells from 20 MDD patients and 20 controls. The results showed that rs12526133 present in LINC01108 was strongly associated with MDD (χ2=11.68, P=6.3E−04), and LINC01108 expression was significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group (FC=1.90, P<0.001). The expression of LINC00998 was significantly lower in MDD patients than controls based on microarray analysis (FC=0.11, P<0.001), so that its tag SNPs were genotyped and rs2272260 in LINC00998 was found to be associated with MDD (χ2=26.39, P=2.8E−07). This work suggests that non-coding variants may play an important role in conferring risk of MDD.
•We provide preliminary evidence that intergenic variants might contribute to the pathogenesis of MDD through regulating the expression of lncRNAs where these variants are located.•We identified two lncRNA genes for MDD susceptibility, namely LINC01108 and LINC00998.•Non-coding variants may play an important role in conferring risk of MDD.
Abstract
Background
Although colonoscopy is the standard screening test for colorectal cancer (CRC), its use is limited by a poor compliance rate, the need for extensive bowel preparation, and the ...risk of complications. As an alternative, an FDA-approved stool-based DNA test, Cologuard, has demonstrated satisfactory detection performance for CRC, but its compliance rate remains suboptimal, primarily attributable to individuals’ reluctance to provide stool samples.
Methods
We developed a noninvasive blood-based CRC test, ColonSecure, based on cell-free DNA containing cancer-specific CpG island methylation patterns. We initially screened publicly available datasets for differentially methylated CpG sites in CRC with prediction potential. Subsequently, we performed two sequential bisulfite-free methylation sequencing on blood samples obtained from CRC patients and non-cancer controls. Through rigorous evaluation of each marker and machine learning-assisted feature selection, we identified 149 hypermethylated markers from over 193,000 CpG sites. These markers were then utilized to construct the ColonSecure model, enabling accurate CRC detection.
Results
We validated the efficacy of our cell-free DNA methylation-based blood test for CRC screening with 3493 high-risk individuals identified from 114,136 urban residents. The ColonSecure test identified 89 out of 103 CRC patients diagnosed by the follow-up colonoscopy, outperforming CEA, CRP, and CA19-9 (with a sensitivity of 86.4% compared to 45.6%, 39.8%, and 25.2% for CEA, CRP, and CA19-9 respectively; an AUROC of 0.956 compared to an AUROC of < 0.77 for other methods).
Conclusion
Our observations emphasize the potential of our multiple cfDNA methylation marker-based test for CRC screening in high-risk populations.
The aggregation and the rapid restructuring of the photoinduced electron−hole pairs restructuring in the process of photoelectric response remains a great challenge. In this study, a kind of ...Multi-walled carbon nanotubes loaded Alpha-Fe2O3 (CNTs/α-Fe2O3) heterostructure composite is successfully prepared via the one-step method. Due to the synergistic effect in the as-prepared CNTs/α-Fe2O3, the defect sites and oxygen-containing functional groups of CNTs can dramatically improve the interface charge separation efficiency and prevent the aggregation of α-Fe2O3. The improved photocurrent and enhanced hole–electron separation rate in the CNTs/α-Fe2O3 is obtained, and the narrower band gap is measured to be 2.8 ev with intensive visible-light absorption performance. Thus, the CNTs/α-Fe2O3 composite serves as an excellent visible light photocatalyst and exhibits an outstanding photocatalytic activity for the cationic dye degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). This research supplies a fresh application area forα-Fe2O3 photocatalyst and initiates a new approach for design of high efficiency photocatalytic materials.
Astrocyte dysfunction and inflammation are associated with the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. Here, we found ...that multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (Men1; protein: menin) expression is attenuated in the brain of mice exposed to CUMS (chronic unpredictable mild stress) or lipopolysaccharide. Astrocyte-specific reduction of Men1 (GcKO) led to depressive-like behaviors in mice. We observed enhanced NF-κB activation and IL-1β production with menin deficiency in astrocytes, where depressive-like behaviors in GcKO mice were restored by NF-κB inhibitor or IL-1β receptor antagonist. Importantly, we identified a SNP, rs375804228, in human MEN1, where G503D substitution is associated with a higher risk of MDD onset. G503D substitution abolished menin-p65 interactions, thereby enhancing NF-κB activation and IL-1β production. Our results reveal a distinct astroglial role for menin in regulating neuroinflammation in depression, indicating that menin may be an attractive therapeutic target in MDD.
•Astroglia menin deficiency leads to depressive-like behaviors in mice•Menin reduction in astrocytes promotes IL-1β generation through NF-κB activation•NF-κB and IL-1β inhibitors attenuate the depressive-like phenotypes•A MEN1 SNP associated with MDD risk leads to aberrant NF-κB activation
Mechanisms underlying astrocyte-mediated neuroinflammation in depression remain unclear. Menin regulates NF-κB activity in astrocytes to promote neuroinflammation. Clinically, a MEN1 SNP is associated with the onset of depression. This study reveals a distinct role for menin in neuroinflammation and depression.
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