Data-driven approaches predict infectious disease dynamics by considering various factors that influence severity and transmission rates. However, these factors may not fully capture the dynamic ...nature of disease transmission, limiting prediction accuracy and consistency. Our proposed data-driven approach integrates spatiotemporal human mobility patterns from detailed point-of-interest clustering and population flow data. These patterns inform the creation of mobility-informed risk indices, which serve as auxiliary factors in data-driven models for detecting outbreaks and predicting prevalence trends. We evaluated our approach using real-world COVID-19 outbreaks in Beijing and Guangzhou, China. Incorporating the risk indices, our models successfully identified 87% (95% Confidence Interval: 83–90%) of affected subdistricts in Beijing and Guangzhou. These findings highlight the effectiveness of our approach in identifying high-risk areas for targeted disease containment. Our approach was also tested with COVID-19 prevalence data in the United States, which showed that including the risk indices reduced the mean absolute error and improved the R-squared value for predicting weekly case increases at the county level. It demonstrates applicability for spatiotemporal forecasting of widespread diseases, contributing to routine transmission surveillance. By leveraging comprehensive mobility data, we provide valuable insights to optimize control strategies for emerging infectious diseases and facilitate proactive measures against long-standing diseases.
Birefringent materials with large optical anisotropy, which can be used to modulate the polarization of light, play a key role in laser techniques and science. However, the exploration studies of ...new, superior birefringent materials develop extremely slowly due to the lack of effective guidelines for rational design. Herein, three antimony(III) fluoride oxalates, namely, Na
2
Sb
2
(C
2
O4)F
6
, K
2
Sb
2
(C
2
O
4
)F
6
, and Cs
2
Sb
2
-(C
2
O
4
)
2
F
4
·H
2
O, were successfully synthesized through a rational combination of π-conjugated C
2
O
4
2−
anions and Sb
3+
cations with stereochemically active lone pairs. These oxalates feature unique quasi-one-dimensional chain structures that induce large optical anisotropy. Remarkably, Cs
2
Sb
2
(C
2
O
4
)
2
-F
4
·H
2
O exhibits the largest birefringence (0.325@546 nm) among all reported antimony(III)-based oxysalts. Detailed structural analysis and theoretical calculations confirmed that the optical anisotropy of these oxalates could be tuned through the synergetic interactions of templated cations and anionic functional groups. This work may open the door to efficiently designing excellent birefringent materials and guide the further discovery of other novel structure-driven functional materials.
Spongiactinospora rosea is a rare actinomycete derived from sponges belonging to the Streptosporangiaceae family. Genomic analysis of the strain S. rosea LHW63015 revealed that it contains 41 ...secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), including four cryptic type II polyketide synthases (T2PKS) BGCs. By using a metabolite mining approach in conjunction with LC-MS guided isolation, we identified three previously undescribed sulfur-bridged angucycline dimers, namely spongisulfins A-C (1–3), a configurational isomeric new angucycline monomer, rubiginone A3 (4), as well as three known related analogs (5–7). Comprehensive analyses of 1D/2D NMR, HR-ESIMS, single-crystal X-ray diffraction and ECD calculations were performed to elucidate their structures. Further sequence analyses of the chain length factors (CLF) protein and biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) identified the angucycline-type T2PKS BGC spo in the genome. Additionally, a dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS)-induced Drosophila melanogaster reporter line (gstd1-GFP) model was established to evaluate the gut epithelium protective activities of these isolated compounds. The results demonstrated that spongisulfin A (1), with a concentration of 5 nM, significantly alleviated the high mortality caused by 5 % DSS treatment, and exerted its gut protective activity by modulating the ROS level through alleviation the expression of gstd1 in the gut.
The inflammatory cascade mediated by macrophages and T cells is considered to be an important factor in promoting the progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our previous study found that berberine ...(BBR) can therapeutically impact adjuvant arthritis (AA) in rats through the regulation of macrophage polarization and the balance of Th17/Treg. However, whether BBR's effects on CD4
T cells response are related to its suppression of M1 macrophage still unclear.
The study aimed to estimate the mechanism of BBR in regulating the immunometabolism and differentiation of CD4
T cells are related to exosome derived from M1-macrophage (M1-exo).
Mice model of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) was established to investigate the antiarthritic effect of BBR was related with regulation of M1-exo to balance T cell subsets. Bioinformatics analysis using the GEO database and meta-analysis. In vitro, we established the co-culture system involving M1-exo and CD4
T cells to examine whether BBR inhibits CD4
T cell activation and differentiation by influencing M1-exo-miR155. Exosome was characterized using transmission electron microscopy and western blot analysis, macrophage and CD4
T cell subpopulation were detected by flow cytometry. Further, the metabolic profiles of CD4
T cells were assessed by ECAR, OCR, and the level of glucose, lactate, intracellular ATP.
BBR reinstates CD4
T cell homeostasis and reduces miR155 levels in both M1-exo and CD4
T cells obtained from mice with CIA. In vitro, we found exosomes are indispensable for M1-CM on T lymphocyte activation and differentiation. BBR reversed M1-exo facilitating the activation and differentiation of CD4
T cells. Furthermore, BBR reversed glycolysis reprogramming of CD4
T cells induced by M1-exo, while these regulation effects were significantly weakened by miR155 mimic.
The delivery of miR-155 by M1-exo contributes to CD4
T cell immunometabolism dysfunction, a process implicated in the development of RA. The anti-arthritic effect of BBR is associated with the suppression of glycolysis and the disruption of CD4
T cell subsets balance, achieved by reducing the transfer of M1-exo-miR155 into T cells.
Anthocyanin has attracted increasing attention due to its superior biological activity. However, the inherently poor stability of anthocyanin limits its practical applications. In this study, a fast ...and straightforward method was developed to improve the stability of anthocyanin. Cellulose acetate ultrafine fiber-loaded anthocyanin (CA@Anthocyanin UFs) was prepared by robust electrospinning, and the potential application of cellulose acetate ultrafine fibers (CA UFs) as a bioactive substance delivery system was comprehensively investigated. The experimental results showed that CA@Anthocyanin UFs had protective effects on anthocyanin against temperature, light, and pH. The results of the artificially simulated gastric fluid (pH = 2.0) indicated that the CA@Anthocyanin UFs had a controllable release influence on anthocyanin. A 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging assay suggested that the CA@Anthocyanin UFs still had an excellent antioxidant activity similar to anthocyanin. This work demonstrated the potential application of robust electrospinning-constructed cellulose acetate ultrafine fibers in bioactive substance delivery and controlled release systems, as well as its prospects in green packaging due to the nature of this environmentally friendly composite.
Abstract
The COVID-19 lockdowns have transitioned to a new normal and triggered commodity supply disruption and trade uncertainty, yet little is known about the seafood trade resilience of developing ...and developed countries amid pandemic-related shocks. Here, employing a newly developed geographical transition-net model, we simulate a set of idealized lockdown scenarios in a real-world seafood network. The results show that (1) even if restrictions from regions with high strictness policies were eventually lifted globally at the end of 2022, the pandemic-induced disruption will continue to affect global seafood trade until 2030, and the annual growth rate of the global seafood market would be around 1% lower than that during 2006–2019; (2) Due to the continued high level of stringency in China in 2022 and the soaring demand of seafood in the developed countries in the post-COVID-19 era, developed countries are increasingly reliant on their intra-regional trade until 2030; (3) The global seafood supply chains will magnify export losses beyond the direct effects of COVID-19, and there would be 17 to 57 million people in the developing countries in 2030 facing seafood supply shortage. The new long-term challenge is to call for the multilateral cooperation of major exporters for global seafood trade recovery. Our study provides a new perspective to evaluate the economic impact of COVID-19 as well as the cascading effect caused by the supply-chain linkages in the global seafood system.
The fire safety of industrial buildings has always been a great concern. An excellent evacuation indicator system can guide the personnel to escape quickly, thus reducing the casualties. In this ...study, we present a virtual simulation fire scene based on virtual reality to explore the impact of different colors, brightness values, and flashing frequencies on escape time in case of fire emergencies. The presented scene can help shorten the time required for evacuation in an industrial plant by identifying the escape path under the fire and smoke environment and improve the escape efficiency. The results show that the green color is the most suitable color for evacuations; the escape efficiency increases with an increase in brightness, and there is no significant difference between the escape times under high and medium brightness; the evacuation time decreases with an increase in the flicker frequency. Based on these experimental results, the fire evacuation indicating system is designed. A virtual reality verification experiment is used to compare the escape efficiency of the improved design with an original factory’s indicating system. The verification results show that the improved scheme reduces the evacuation time and significantly improves the psychological stress on the evacuees. This work provides a theoretical basis for safe evacuation designs.
Background. Dahuang Zhechong pills (DHZCP) is a classic Chinese medicinal prescription in “Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Miscellaneous Diseases (Shanghan Zabing Lun),” and it has the function of ...tonifying blood, nourishing Yin, and removing blood stasis. Previous studies have shown that DHZCP could alleviate SiO2 induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice. This study aims to further explore the preventive and therapeutic effects of DHZCP against silicosis fibrosis and the underlying mechanisms in vitro. Methods. We used the experimental model of SiO2-induced MH-S cells to evaluate the therapeutic potential of DHZCP. MH-S cells induced by SiO2 were intervened with the drug-containing serum of DHZCP, and the effects of drug-containing serum of DHZCP on the MH-S cells were detected by CCK8, ELISA, flow cytometry, western blot, and immunofluorescence. Results. DHZCP improved cell viability by reducing apoptosis. It also decreased the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 in the supernatant of MH-S cells induced by SiO2, inhibited the expression of p38 MAPK, blocked the activation of NF-κB, and controlled the upstream inflammatory response by multiple targeting. Concomitantly, we observed upregulation of Smad7 and a marked decline in TGF-β1, α-SMA, Smad2, Smad3 expression in MH-S cells treated with DHZCP. Conclusion. To sum up, we conclude that DHZCP protects against SiO2-induced silicosis by reducing the persistent irritation of inflammation, regulating the p38 MAPK/TGF-β1/Smad pathway.
Smart tourism is a highly systematic, efficient and convenient tourism mode. The development of rural tourism should evolve in the Internet era, and explore the industrial path of smart rural ...tourism. This paper discusses the developing opportunity of rural tourism in perspective of smart tourism, studies the developing status of rural tourism in the context of smart tourism, shape rural tourism by using the Internet information mode, and finally summarizes the development path of smart rural tourism.