Oligosaccharides isolated from Rehmannia glutinosa protect LPS-induced intestinal inflammation and barrier injury in mice

Objectives

We investigated the protective effect of Rehmannia glutinosa oligosaccharides (RGO) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced intestinal inflammation and barrier injury among mice.

Methods

RGO is prepared from fresh rehmannia glutinosa by water extraction, active carbon decolorization, ion exchange resin impurity removal, macroporous adsorption resin purification, and decompression drying. LPS could establish the model for intestinal inflammation and barrier injury in mice. Three different doses of RGO were administered for three consecutive weeks. Then the weight, feces, and health status of the mice were recorded. After sacrificing the mice, their colon length and immune organ index were determined. The morphological changes of the ileum and colon were observed using Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining, followed by measuring the villus length and recess depth. RT-qPCR was utilized to detect the relative mRNA expression of intestinal zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and occludin. The expression of inflammatory factors and oxidation markers within ileum and colon tissues and the digestive enzyme activities in the ileum contents were detected using ELISA. The content of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the colon was determined with GC. The gut microbial composition and diversity changes were determined with 16S-rRNA high-throughput sequencing. The association between intestinal microorganisms and SCFAs, occludins, digestive enzymes, inflammatory factor contents, and antioxidant indexes was also analyzed.

Results

RGO significantly increased the weight, pancreatic index, thymus index, and colon length of mice compared with the model group. Moreover, it also improved the intestinal tissue structure and increased the expression of intestinal barrier-related junction proteins ZO-1 and Occludin. The contents of IL-6, IL-17, IL-1β, and TNF-α in the intestinal tissues of mice were significantly reduced. Additionally, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and catalase (CAT) were elevated. In contrast, the malondialdehyde (MDA) content decreased. Trypsin and pancreatic lipase activities in the ileum enhanced, and the SCFA contents such as acetic acid, propionic acid, and butyric acid in the colon increased. The study on intestinal flora revealed that RGO could enhance the abundance of intestinal flora and improve the flora structure. After RGO intervention, the relative abundance of Firmicutes, Lactobacillus, and Akkermania bacteria in the intestinal tract of mice increased compared with the model group, while that of Actinomycetes decreased. The intestinal microbiota structure changed to the case, with probiotics playing a dominant role. The correlation analysis indicated that Lactobacillus and Ackermann bacteria in the intestinal tract of mice were positively associated with SCFAs, Occludin, ZO-1, pancreatic amylase, SOD, and CAT activities. Moreover, they were negatively correlated with inflammatory factors IL-6, IL-17, IL-1β, and TNF-α.

Conclusions

RGO can decrease LPS-induced intestinal inflammation and intestinal barrier injury in mice and protect their intestinal function. RGO can ameliorate intestinal inflammation and maintain the intestinal barrier by regulating intestinal flora.

A2M inhibits inflammatory mediators of chondrocytes by blocking IL-1β/NF-κB pathway

A hallmark of osteoarthritis (OA) is cartilage degeneration, which has been previously correlated with dramatic increases in inflammatory enzymes. Specifically, interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and subsequent upregulation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) is implicated as an important player in the development of posttraumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Alpha 2-macroglobulin (A2M) can inhibit this inflammatory pathway, making it a promising therapy for PTOA. Herein, we demonstrate that A2M binds and neutralizes IL-1β, blocking downstream NF-κB-induced catabolism seen in in vitro. Human chondrocytes (cell line C28) were incubated with A2M protein and then treated with IL-1β. A2M was labeled with VivoTag™ 680 to localize the protein postincubation. The degree of binding between A2M and IL-1β was evaluated through immunoprecipitation (IP). Catabolic proteins, including IL-1β and NF-kB, were detected by Western blot. Pro-inflammatory and chondrocyte-related gene expression was examined by qRT-PCR. VivoTag™ 680-labeled A2M was observed in the cytoplasm of C28 human chondrocytes by fluorescence microscopy. IP experiments demonstrated that A2M could bind IL-1β. Additionally, western blot analysis revealed that A2M neutralized IL-1β and NF-κB in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, A2M decreased levels of MMPs and TNF-α and increased the expression of cartilage protective genes Col2, Type2, Smad4, and aggrecan. Mostly importantly, A2M was shown to directly neutralize IL-1β to downregulate the pro-inflammatory responses mediated by the NF-kB pathway. These results demonstrate a mechanism by which A2M reduces inflammatory catabolic activity and protects cartilage after joint injury. Further in vivo studies are needed to fully understand the potential of A2M as a novel PTOA therapy.

Erratum: Twist1 downregulation of PGC-1α decreases fatty acid oxidation in tubular epithelial cells, leading to kidney fibrosis: Erratum

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.7150/thno.71722.].

Uncertainty analysis and optimization for mild moxibustion

During mild moxibustion treatment, uncertainties are involved in the operating parameters, such as the moxa-burning temperature, the moxa stick sizes, the stick-to-skin distance, and the skin moisture content. It results in fluctuations in skin surface temperature during mild moxibustion. Existing mild moxibustion treatments almost ignore the uncertainty of operating parameters. The uncertainties lead to excessive skin surface temperature causing intense pain, or over-low temperature reducing efficacy. Therefore, the interval model was employed to measure the uncertainty of the operation parameters in mild moxibustion, and the uncertainty optimization design was performed for the operation parameters. It aimed to provide the maximum thermal penetration of mild moxibustion to enhance efficacy while meeting the surface temperature requirements. The interval uncertainty optimization can fully consider the operating parameter uncertainties to ensure optimal thermal penetration and avoid patient discomfort caused by excessive skin surface temperature. To reduce the computational burden of the optimization solution, a high-precision surrogate model was established through a radial basis neural network (RBNN), and a nonlinear interval model for mild moxibustion treatment was formulated. By introducing the reliability-based possibility degree of interval (RPDI), the interval uncertainty optimization was transformed into a deterministic optimization problem, solved by the genetic algorithm. The results showed that this method could significantly improve the thermal penetration of mild moxibustion while meeting the skin surface temperature requirements, thereby enhancing efficacy.

Full-Cut Manufacture of Skin-Interfaced Microfluidic Patch with Copper Electrode for In Situ Admittance Sensing of Sweat Rate

Sweat-rate measurement has received more and more attention, especially for specific groups, such as athletes, soldiers and manual workers, due to their excessive sweat loss under prolonged intense heat stress, which increases the risk of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. The highly effective manufacture of a sweat-sensing device is essential to its wide range of applications in perspiration-related physiological information detection. In this work, we propose a simple and cost-effective strategy for the manufacture of a microfluidic sweat-rate-sensing patch via laser cutting and transfer printing technology. A copper foil tape is used as the electrode for in situ admittance based sweat-rate-sensing. The detection circuits and measurement conditions are optimized to prevent the negative effect of an electrochemical reaction between a copper electrode and sweat for precise admittance measurement. In vitro and on-body experiments demonstrate that the copper electrode is applicable for admittance-based sweat sensing and is capable of achieving equivalent sensing accuracy as a gold electrode and that the proposed sensor structure can perform consecutive and accurate sweat-rate-sensing and facilitates a significant increase in manufacturing efficiency.

Extracellular-matrix-mimicked 3D nanofiber and hydrogel interpenetrated wound dressing with a dynamic autoimmune-derived healing regulation ability based on wound exudate

Dynamic regulation of wound physiological signals is the basis of wound healing. Conventional biomaterials delivering growth factors to drive wound healing leads to the passive repair of soft tissues because of the mismatch of wound healing stages. Meanwhile, the bioactivity of wound exudate is often restricted by oxidation and bacterial contamination. Herein, an extracellular matrix mimicked nanofiber/hydrogel interpenetrated network (NFHIN) was constructed with a 3D nanofibrous framework for cell immigration, and interfiled aerogel containing cross-linked hyaluronic acid and hyperbranched polyamidoamine to balance the wound microenvironment. The aerogel can collect wound exudate and transform into a polycationic hydrogel with contact-killing effects even against intracellular pathogens (bactericidal rate > 99.9% in 30 min) and real-time scavenging property of reactive oxygen species. After co-culturing with the NFHIN, the bioactivity of fibroblast in theex vivoblister fluid was improved by 389.69%. The NFHIN showed sustainable exudate management with moisture-vapor transferring rate (6000 g m^-2×24 h), equilibrium liquid content (75.3%), Young's modulus (115.1 ± 7 kPa), and anti-tearing behavior similar to human skin. The NFHIN can collect and activate wound exudate, turning it from a clinical problem to an autoimmune-derived wound regulation system, showing potential for wound care in critical skin diseases.

Guest-adaptive molecular sensing in a dynamic 3D covalent organic framework

Molecular recognition is an attractive approach to designing sensitive and selective sensors for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Although organic macrocycles and cages have been well-developed for recognising organics by their adaptive pockets in liquids, porous solids for gas detection require a deliberate design balancing adaptability and robustness. Here we report a dynamic 3D covalent organic framework (dynaCOF) constructed from an environmentally sensitive fluorophore that can undergo concerted and adaptive structural transitions upon adsorption of gas and vapours. The COF is capable of rapid and reliable detection of various VOCs, even for non-polar hydrocarbon gas under humid conditions. The adaptive guest inclusion amplifies the host-guest interactions and facilitates the differentiation of organic vapours by their polarity and sizes/shapes, and the covalently linked 3D interwoven networks ensure the robustness and coherency of the materials. The present result paves the way for multiplex fluorescence sensing of various VOCs with molecular-specific responses.

Touch IoT enabled by wireless self-sensing and haptic-reproducing electronic skin

Tactile sensations are mainly transmitted to each other by physical touch. Wireless touch perception could be a revolution for us to interact with the world. Here, we report a wireless self-sensing and haptic-reproducing electronic skin (e-skin) to realize noncontact touch communications. A flexible self-sensing actuator was developed to provide an integrated function in both tactile sensing and haptic feedback. When this e-skin was dynamically pressed, the actuator generated an induced voltage as tactile information. Via wireless communication, another e-skin could receive this tactile data and run a synchronized haptic reproduction. Thus, touch could be wirelessly conveyed in bidirections between two users as a touch intercom. Furthermore, this e-skin could be connected with various smart devices to form a touch internet of things where one-to-one and one-to-multiple touch delivery could be realized. This wireless touch presents huge potentials in remote touch video, medical care/assistance, education, and many other applications.

[Influencing factors for postoperative survival of patients with pneumoconiosis treated by lung transplantation]

Objective: To explore the influencing factors for postoperative survival of patients with pneumoconiosis (silicosis) after lung transplantation in order to improve their clinical outcomes. Methods: In August 2021, retrospective alalysis from December 2015 to July 2021, 29 patients with end-stage pneumoconiosis underwent lung transplantation at Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou University. The survival, postoperative complications, and causes of death were analyzed. Life table and Kaplan-Meier method were used to draw survival curves, the log-rank test was used to compare the influence of each factor on survival rates, and the multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to evaluate the influence of each factor on survival. Results: All the patients underwent successful lung transplantation, with survival rates of 75% at 6 months, 70% at 1 year, 65% at 2 years, 50% at 3 years and 50% at 5 years. The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that BMI, age and preoperative albumin level were influencing factors for postoperative survival rates (P<0.05) . The multivariate COX regression model showed that BMI≥18.5 kg/m(2) and the albumin level≥35 g/L were the protective factors (P<0.05) . Conclusion: Aging older, preoperative BMI<18.5 kg/m(2) and hypoalbuminemia are independent risk factors for death after lung transplantation. Survival rates are affected by preoperative BMI index, albumin level and age. Early intervention should be made before lung transplantation to promote the BMI index and albumin level to reach the standard.

Clinical Feature, Lifestyle Behavior and Non-Communicable Diseases Comorbidities Among Psoriasis Patients in Shanghai: Gender Disparity Analysis Based on a Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Gender difference is prevalent in clinical feature, disease severity for noncommunicable diseases (NCD), but studies on gender disparity in clinical feature, disease severity and NCD comorbidity among psoriasis patients are limited. This cross-sectional study explores gender differences in clinical feature, lifestyle behavior and NCD comorbidity among psoriasis patients.

Methods

Psoriasis patients were recruited through cluster survey method in two hospitals, and questionnaire interviews were applied to collect the demographic feature, lifestyle habits, clinical feature and NCD among patients.

Results

A total of 2102 psoriasis patients included 1332 males (63.4%), 70% were over 35 years old and approximately 50% of them were overweight or obesity. The median value for psoriasis initiation age and disease duration was 33 years old (34 for male and 32 for female) and 9 years (10 for male and 7 for female), respectively. The psoriasis recurrence was mainly in winter (73.4%) and autumn (34.2%) both for patients. The prevalence of tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking was 31.2% and 12.6%. Male patients had higher prevalence of tobacco smoking (odds ratio (OR) = 13.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 9.54-18.44) and alcohol drinking (OR = 14.44, 95% CI: 7.90-26.40). The prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome were 13.2%, 28.5%, 23.4% and 21.5%, respectively. Male patients had higher prevalence of diabetes (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.16-2.02), hypertension (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.52-2.30), hyperlipidemia (OR = 2.34, 95% CI: 1.85-2.95) and metabolic syndrome (OR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.63-2.62) than female patients. The proportions for 4 types of NCDs diagnosed after psoriasis onset were over 58%, which were also higher in males than females.

Conclusion

Female patients had shorter disease duration and with less NCD, and male patients had more body weight issue, with fewer sleep time and higher prevalence of tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking and NCDs. We recommend that dermatologist should notice the gender disparity in psoriasis patients, which is helpful for the disease diagnosis and treatment.

Different Features of a Metabolic Connectivity Map and the Granger Causality Method in Revealing Directed Dopamine Pathways: A Study Based on Integrated PET/MR Imaging

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Exploring the directionality of neural information in the brain is important for understanding brain mechanisms and neurodisease development. Granger causality analysis and the metabolic connectivity map can be used to investigate directional transmission of information between brain regions, but their differences in depicting functional effective connectivity are not clear.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Using the Monash rs-PET/MR imaging data set, we conducted Granger causality and metabolic connectivity map analyses of the dopamine reward circuit in the brain. The dopamine reward circuit is a well-known system consisting primarily of the bilateral orbital frontal cortex, caudate, nucleus accumbens, thalamus, and substantia nigra. We validated these circuit pathways using Granger causality and the metabolic connectivity map for identifying effective connectivities against a priori knowledge by testing the significance of directed pathways (P < .05, false discovery rate-corrected).

RESULTS

We found 3 types of effective connectivities in the dopamine reward circuit: long-range, neighborhood, and symmetric. Granger causality analysis revealed long-range connections in the orbital frontal cortex-caudate and orbital frontal cortex-nucleus accumbens regions. Metabolic connectivity map analysis revealed neighborhood connections in the nucleus accumbens-caudate, substantia nigra-thalamus, and thalamus-caudate regions. Metabolic connectivity map analysis also found symmetric connections in each of the bilateral nucleus accumbens, caudate, thalamus, and orbital frontal cortex-caudate regions. Different patterns in directional networks of the dopamine reward circuit were revealed by Granger causality and metabolic connectivity map analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

Granger causality analysis primarily identified bidirectional cortico-nucleus connections, while the metabolic connectivity map primarily identified direct connections among neighborhood and symmetric regions. The results of this study indicated that investigations of effective connectivities should use an appropriate analysis method depending on the purpose of the study.

Attenuated effective connectivity of large-scale brain networks in children with autism spectrum disorders

INTRODUCTION

Understanding the neurological basis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is important for the diagnosis and treatment of this mental disorder. Emerging evidence has suggested aberrant functional connectivity of large-scale brain networks in individuals with ASD. However, whether the effective connectivity which measures the causal interactions of these networks is also impaired in these patients remains unclear.

OBJECTS

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effective connectivity of large-scale brain networks in patients with ASD during resting state.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The subjects were 42 autistic children and 127 age-matched normal children from the ABIDE II dataset. We investigated effective connectivity of 7 large-scale brain networks including visual network (VN), default mode network (DMN), cerebellum, sensorimotor network (SMN), auditory network (AN), salience network (SN), frontoparietal network (FPN), with spectral dynamic causality model (spDCM). Parametric empirical Bayesian (PEB) was used to perform second-level group analysis and furnished group commonalities and differences in effective connectivity. Furthermore, we analyzed the correlation between the strength of effective connectivity and patients' clinical characteristics.

RESULTS

For both groups, SMN acted like a hub network which demonstrated dense effective connectivity with other large-scale brain network. We also observed significant causal interactions within the "triple networks" system, including DMN, SN and FPN. Compared with healthy controls, children with ASD showed decreased effective connectivity among some large-scale brain networks. These brain networks included VN, DMN, cerebellum, SMN, and FPN. In addition, we also found significant negative correlation between the strength of the effective connectivity from right angular gyrus (ANG_R) of DMN to left precentral gyrus (PreCG_L) of SMN and ADOS-G or ADOS-2 module 4 stereotyped behaviors and restricted interest total (ADOS_G_STEREO_BEHAV) scores.

CONCLUSION

Our research provides new evidence for the pathogenesis of children with ASD from the perspective of effective connections within and between large-scale brain networks. The attenuated effective connectivity of brain networks may be a clinical neurobiological feature of ASD. Changes in effective connectivity of brain network in children with ASD may provide useful information for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Comparative analyses of three complete Primula mitogenomes with insights into mitogenome size variation in Ericales

BACKGROUND

Although knowledge of the sizes, contents, and forms of plant mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) is increasing, little is known about the mechanisms underlying their structural diversity. Evolutionary information on the mitogenomes of Primula, an important ornamental taxon, is more limited than the information on their nuclear and plastid counterparts, which has hindered the comprehensive understanding of Primula mitogenomic diversity and evolution. The present study reported and compared three Primula mitogenomes and discussed the size expansion of mitogenomes in Ericales.

RESULTS

Mitogenome master circles were sequenced and successfully assembled for three Primula taxa and were compared with publicly available Ericales mitogenomes. The three mitogenomes contained similar gene contents and varied primarily in their structures. The Primula mitogenomes possessed relatively high nucleotide diversity among all examined plant lineages. In addition, high nucleotide diversity was found among Primula species between the Mediterranean and Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains. Most predicted RNA editing sites appeared in the second amino acid codon, increasing the hydrophobic character of the protein. An early stop in atp6 caused by RNA editing was conserved across all examined Ericales species. The interfamilial relationships within Ericales and interspecific relationships within Primula could be well resolved based on mitochondrial data. Transfer of the two longest mitochondrial plastid sequences (MTPTs) occurred before the divergence of Primula and its close relatives, and multiple independent transfers could also occur in a single MTPT sequence. Foreign sequence [MTPTs and mitochondrial nuclear DNA sequences (NUMTs)] uptake and repeats were to some extent associated with changes in Ericales mitogenome size, although none of these relationships were significant overall.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study revealed relatively conserved gene contents, gene clusters, RNA editing, and MTPTs but considerable structural variation in Primula mitogenomes. Relatively high nucleotide diversity was found in the Primula mitogenomes. In addition, mitogenomic genes, collinear gene clusters, and locally collinear blocks (LCBs) all showed phylogenetic signals. The evolutionary history of MTPTs in Primula was complicated, even in a single MTPT sequence. Various reasons for the size variation observed in Ericales mitogenomes were found.

In situ crafting of a 3D N-doped carbon/defect-rich V2O5-x·nH2O nanosheet composite for high performance fibrous flexible Zn-ion batteries

Aqueous fibrous batteries with tiny volume, light weight and stretchability have furthered wearable smart textile systems like biocompatible electronics for a more efficient use of electricity. Challenges still faced by fibrous batteries include not only the deficient actual capacity but the cyclability on the cathode side. Herein, an in situ anodic oxidation strategy is reported to prepare 3D N-doped/defect-rich V₂O_5-x·nH₂O nanosheets (DVOH@NC) as fibrous cathodes for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs). Benefiting from the substantially abundant reaction sites, enhanced electrical conductivity, short electron/ion diffusion path and high mass loading, the newly designed DVOH@NC fibrous electrode delivers impressive capacity (711.9 mA h cm^-3 at 0.3 A cm^-3) and long-term durability (95.5% capacity retention after 3000 cycles), substantially outperforming previously reported fibrous vanadium-based cathodes. First-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations further revealed that the oxygen vacancies can weaken the electrostatic interaction between Zn²⁺ and the host cathode accompanying the low Zn²⁺ diffusion energy barrier. To highlight the potential applications, a prototype wearable fiber-shaped AZIB (FAZIB) with remarkable flexibility and extraordinary weaving capability was demonstrated. More encouragingly, the resulting FAZIB could be charged with solar cells and power a pressure sensor. Thus, our work provides a promising strategy to rationally construct high-performance flexible vanadium-based cathodes for next-generation wearable AZIBs.

Imperceptible, designable, and scalable braided electronic cord

Flexible sensors, friendly interfaces, and intelligent recognition are important in the research of novel human-computer interaction and the development of smart devices. However, major challenges are still encountered in designing user-centered smart devices with natural, convenient, and efficient interfaces. Inspired by the characteristics of textile-based flexible electronic sensors, in this article, we report a braided electronic cord with a low-cost, and automated fabrication to realize imperceptible, designable, and scalable user interfaces. The braided electronic cord is in a miniaturized form, which is suitable for being integrated with various occasions in life. To achieve high-precision interaction, a multi-feature fusion algorithm is designed to recognize gestures of different positions, different contact areas, and different movements performed on a single braided electronic cord. The recognized action results are fed back to varieties of interactive terminals, which show the diversity of cord forms and applications. Our braided electronic cord with the features of user friendliness, excellent durability and rich interaction mode will greatly promote the development of human-machine integration in the future.

Fabric computing: Concepts, opportunities, and challenges

With the advent of the Internet of Everything, people can easily interact with their environments immersively. The idea of pervasive computing is becoming a reality, but due to the inconvenience of carrying silicon-based entities and a lack of fine-grained sensing capabilities for human-computer interaction, it is difficult to ensure comfort, esthetics, and privacy in smart spaces. Motivated by the rapid developments in intelligent fabric technology in the post-Moore era, we propose a novel computing approach that creates a paradigm shift driven by fabric computing and advocate a new concept of non-chip sensing in living spaces. We discuss the core notion and benefits of fabric computing, including its implementation, challenges, and future research opportunities.

•

Fabric computing constructs a non-chip sensing with non-disturbance and ultra-dense structure

•

Multifunctional fibers obtain first-view sensory data; The value of sensory data will be distilled by intelligent fabric agents

•

Potential cognitive applications can be enabled by integrating fabric computing with AI