[Effects of Different Biochar and Effective Microorganism Agent Improvement Approaches on the Nutrient Release Characteristics and Potential of Compost]

The nutrient release characteristics of four types of composts, pure municipal sewage sludge compost, corn straw biochar (CSB) improved compost, effective microorganism agent (EM) improved compost, and CSB+EM improved compost, in coastal wetland soil were examined through a soil incubation experiment. The effects of different composts on the spectral characteristics of soil dissolved organic matter (DOM) and microbial community were also investigated. The results demonstrated that the compost additions could significantly reduce soil pH, while increasing soil electrical conductivity and contents of plant available nutrients (e.g., dissolved organic carbon, NH4+-N, NO3--N, available phosphorus, and available potassium). By comparing the nutrient release potential among the improved composts, the CSB+EM-improved compost (CSB+EM-C) evidently had the highest nutrient release potential. Furthermore, the DOM in CSB+EM-C amended soil exhibited a higher humification degree than that of the other composts. The high-throughput sequencing results indicated that the compost additions increased the relative abundances of dominant bacteria at the phylum level, such as the Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria. CSB+EM-C exhibited a greater potential to improve the relative abundance of these dominant bacteria phyla than other improved composts. Overall, among all the improvement approaches, the combined use of CSB and EM agent was the optimal composting strategy owing to its highest potentials of nutrient supply and soil quality improvement. The present findings can provide a solid scientific theoretical basis for establishing an effective technology strategy involving the combination of municipal sewage sludge utilization and degraded coastal wetland soil remediation.

A novel presentation of idiopathic adulthood ductopenia (IAD) in a young man

A 24-years-old male patient was admitted to our institution for intermittent jaundice, fatigue, anorexia and dark urine which occurred six times in the past 8 years (twice in 2019). Liver function test showed elevated levels of bilirubin and liver enzymes. He had no fever, vomiting, abdominal pain or diarrhea, and denied special medication, heredity or family history. He drank alcohol occasionally.

Emerging roles of MiR-133a in human cancers

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of cancer-relevant genes via binding to the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of the target mRNAs. MiR-133a, as a miRNA, participate in tumorigenesis, progression, autophagy and drug-resistance in various malignancies. Based on the recent insights, we discuss the functions of miR-133a in physiological and pathological processes and its potential effects on cancer diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.

An Integrative Pan-Cancer Analysis Revealing LCN2 as an Oncogenic Immune Protein in Tumor Microenvironment

Background

Lipocalin 2 (LCN2), an innate immune protein, plays a pivotal role in promoting sterile inflammation by regulating immune responses. However, the role of LCN2 in diverse cancers remains poorly defined. This research aimed to investigate the correlation between LCN2 expression and immunity and visualize its prognostic landscape in pan-cancer.

Methods

Raw data in regard to LCN2 expression in cancer patients were acquired from TCGA and GTEx databases. Besides, we investigated the genomic alterations, expression pattern, and survival analysis of LCN2 in pan-cancer across numerous databases, including cBioPortal and GEPIA database. The correlation between LCN2 expression and tumor immune infiltration was explored via TIMER, and we utilized CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE computational methods to assess the proportion of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) and the amount of stromal and immune components from TCGA database. Protein–Protein Interaction analysis was performed in GeneMANIA database, and gene functional enrichment was performed by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA).

Results

On balance, tumor tissue had a higher LCN2 expression level compared with that in normal tissue. Elevated expression of LCN2 was related to poor clinical regimen with OS and RFS. There were significant positive correlations between LCN2 expression and TIICs, including CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, B cells, neutrophils, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Moreover, markers of TIICs exhibited different LCN2-related immune infiltration patterns. GSEA analysis showed that the expression of LCN2 was related to retinol metabolism, drug metabolism cytochrome P450 and metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450.

Conclusions

These findings suggested that LCN2 might serve as a biomarker for immune infiltration and poor prognosis in cancers, shedding new light on therapeutics of cancers.

[Study on fermentation of long-chain dicarboxylic acid based on enzymology]

In this paper, we studied the effects of the adding time of alkane on the expression of P450 and production of dicarboxylic acid. A novel fermentation process, in which no or a little alkane was added to make the cells growing more quickly during the growth stage, followed by the addition of alkane to induce cytochromes P450 for 6-8 hours, was established. The results showed that the new process was much better than the old process on inductivities of cytochromes P450 and production of dicarboxylic acid. The new process improved nearly 14.56% expression of P450 and 14.15% production of dicarboxylic acid.