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Influenza A virus (IAV) infection while primarily affects the lungs, it is often associated with cardiovascular complications. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are not fully understood. Here, we investigated the potential role of FBXL19, a member of the Skp1-Cullin-F-box family of E3 ubiquitin ligase, in IAV-induced cardiac inflammation. We demonstrated that FBXL19 overexpression in endothelial cells (ECs) reduced viral titers and IAV matrix protein 1 (M1) levels, while increasing antiviral genes expression, including interferon (IFN)-α, ß, γ and RANTES in the cardiac tissue of IAV-infected mice. Moreover, EC-specific overexpression of FBXL19 attenuated the IAV infection-reduced interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) level without altering its mRNA level, and suppressed cardiac inflammation. Furthermore, IAV infection triggered cellular senescence programs in the heart as indicated by the upregulation of p16 and p21 mRNA levels, and the downregulation of lamin B1 levels, which were partially reversed by FBXL19 overexpression in ECs. Our findings indicate that EC-specific overexpression of FBXL19 protects against IAV-induced cardiac damage by enhancing interferon-mediated antiviral signaling, reducing cardiac inflammation, and suppressing cellular senescence programs.

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Acute kidney injury (AKI) induced by renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) is a severe clinical condition. ROS accumulation, antioxidant pathways deficiency, and inflammation are involved in IRI. Pioglitazone (Pio) exerts anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. The aim of this study was to explore the protective effects of pioglitazone against IRI-induced AKI. Pathogen-free Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were arbitrarily divided into four groups: Sham operation group Control (CON) group, CON + Pio group, I/R + Saline group, and I/R + Pio group. In addition, HK-2 cells were subjected to hypoxia and reoxygenation to develop an H/R model for investigation of the protective mechanism of Pio. Pretreatment with pioglitazone in the model rats reduced urea nitrogen and creatinine levels, histopathological scores, and cytotoxicity after IRI. Pioglitazone treatment significantly attenuated renal cell apoptosis, decreased cytotoxicity, increased Bcl-2 expression, and downregulated Bax expression. Besides, the levels of ROS and inflammatory factors, including NLRP3, ASC, pro-IL-1ß, pro-caspase-1, cleaved-caspase-1, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1ß, in I/R rats and H/R cells were normalized by the pioglitazone treatment. Pioglitazone improved IRI-induced AKI by attenuating oxidative stress and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Therefore, pioglitazone has the potential to serve as a novel agent for renal IRI treatment and prevention.

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BACKGROUND: Previous studies have established a positive correlation between serum uric acid to creatinine (SUA/Cr) ratio and cardiovascular disease, but the relationship between SUA/Cr ratio and the prognosis of heart failure (HF) remains unknown. This study investigated the potential of SUA/Cr ratio as a prognostic predictor for patients with HF. METHODS: This single-center prospective cohort study enrolled 2,122 patients with HF between March 2013 and June 2017. All patients were divided into 3 groups according to SUA/Cr ratio tertiles and were followed up with until December 31, 2022. The association between SUA/Cr ratio and the prognosis of HF was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: The mean (SD) age and mean (SD) SUA/Cr ratio of the study cohort (66% male) were 59.3 (14.7) years and 4.71 (2.09), respectively. During a median follow-up period of 15 months (range, 11-26 months), 390 end-point events were observed. Prognosis analysis revealed that a high SUA/Cr ratio was associated with an increased mortality risk of HF (hazard ratio, 1.62 [95% CI, 1.26-2.09]; P < .001) compared with the SUA/Cr ratio in the lowest tertile. After adjusting for covariates, the hazard ratio for mortality risk of HF was 1.71 (95% CI, 1.23-2.37; P = .001). Subgroup analysis showed that mortality risk increased in direct proportion with the SUA/Cr ratio in female patients, patients with a history of hypertension and ß-blocker use, and patients with UA levels below 428 µmol/L and creatinine levels less than 97 mg/dL. Stratification by age; by history of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and smoking; and by level of fasting plasma glucose, however, had no obvious effect on the association between SUA/Cr ratio and HF prognosis. Patients with higher SUA/Cr ratios had reduced left ventricular ejection fraction and increased left ventricular end-diastolic diameter. CONCLUSION: A high SUA/Cr ratio was an independent risk factor for the mortality risk of HF.

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Polylactic acid (PLA) fiber is a degradable material with good environmental friendliness for textile applications. However, the main problems of difficult dyeing of PLA fibers were: high crystallinity to the adsorption of dyes, more ester and methyl groups producing non-hydrophilic problems, long chains making dyes difficult to penetrate, and producing a low dyeing rate. Here, we attempted to change the crystallinity of the PLA fiber to a lower degree from hydrophobic to hydrophilicity property variation, destroy the long chain structure to grant more staining sites, and improve the PLA fiber staining depth and the resilience dyeing effect with deep eutectic solvent (DES) treatment and natural dyes. We discovered that a controlled DES treatment process could make PLA fibers less crystallized, help amorphous areas form, and break up long chains, which lead to more dye sites. After DES treatment, the crystallinity decreased from 56.12 to 29.86%, and the instantaneous water contact angle decreased from 108.79 to 64.39°. The DES-treated PLA fabric exhibited a higher K/S value of 15.14 for natural dyes under specific conditions. The fabric, which had remarkable fastness characteristics and wash resistance, could endure frequent laundering and fulfill the demands of everyday use. Moreover, the fabric had good antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans and possessed a certain level of biocompatibility with fibroblasts. This DES treatment and natural dye combination method offered a new strategy for improving PLA fabric staining depth and color fastness, making it a promising option for low-carbon environmental protection in the textile industry.

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Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are linked to cancer, but it's still not clear what role they play in prostatic cancer. Through high-throughput sequencing, the goal of this study was to compare how circRNAs are expressed at different stages of prostate cancer. 12 patients attending the Department of Urology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University between June 2020 and October 2021 were used for RNA sequencing, and 14 patients were used for real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). The expression profiles of prostate cancer circRNAs were constructed by sequencing with the help of next-generation high-throughput sequencing technology, and the differentially expressed circRNAs were analyzed by targeting microRNA (miRNA) loci and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis of the genes from which circRNAs originated. Finally, the expression of target circRNAs in two prostate tissues was verified by qRT-PCR. Following high-throughput sequencing, 13,047 circRNAs were identified, and 605 circRNAs with significant differential expression were identified, of which 361 circRNAs were up-regulated, and 244 circRNAs were down-regulated. Analysis of circRNA-originated genes using GO and the KEGG enrichment analysis showed that circRNA host genes can regulate and influence multiple signaling pathways in prostate cancer with important biological functions. And the circRNA-miRNA network was constructed. The highest number of differentially expressed circRNA-binding miRNAs were: hsa_circ_000 7582 (52), hsa_circ_000 6198 (37), hsa_circ_000 6759 (28), hsa_circ_000 5675 (25), and hsa_circ_000 2172 (22). Moreover, we further screened out the circRNA (hsa_circ_0005692) that was significantly differentially expressed and common to all groups and verified by qRT-PCR that the expression of the target circRNA (hsa_circ_0005692) was significantly downregulated in prostate cancer compared with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissues.

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BACKGROUND: TUBA1C is an α-tubulin isoform involved in mitosis, and its dysregulation has been implicated in tumor progression. There is still no clear understanding of its role in bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA). METHODS: This study examined the differential expression of TUBA1C and its prognostic significance in bladder cancer based on data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and also assessed the correlation of TUBA1C expression level with immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint gene expression levels and the half-inhibitory concentration (IC50) of different chemotherapeutic agents. Immunotherapy response was estimated using the Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) algorithm. We detected TUBA1C expression in BLCA cells using PCR and Western blotting. Functional assays, including CCK-8, colony formation, transwell, apoptosis and cell cycle assays, were also performed to assess the oncogenic role of TUBA1C in BLCA. RESULT: In three independent public cohorts, TUBA1C was significantly upregulated in bladder tumor tissues, and high TUBA1C expression in bladder cancer was associated with a poorer outcome than low expression. TUBA1C was an independent prognostic risk factor for bladder cancer, and numerous immune checkpoint genes and infiltrating immune cells were associated with TUBA1C. TIDE analysis revealed that TUBA1C showed great potential for predicting the immunotherapy response in bladder cancer patients. In addition, drug sensitivity analysis revealed that high TUBA1C expression indicated sensitivity to multiple chemotherapeutic agents. Functional assays revealed that silencing TUBA1C significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of BLCA cells and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. CONCLUSION: The overexpression of TUBA1C in bladder cancer predicts a poor prognosis and may also be a potential immunotherapeutic target. As a prognostic marker, TUBA1C influences tumor progression by regulating the cell cycle.

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Conventional therapy for kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is unpromising. The tumor microenvironment (TME) is intimately linked to the invasiveness of a variety of tumor forms, including KIRC. The purpose of this research is to establish the prognostic and immune-related significance of dihydrolipoamide branched chain transacylase E2 (DBT) in individuals with KIRC. In this investigation, we discovered that DBT expression was down-regulated in a range of human malignancies, and low DBT expression in KIRC was linked to higher-level clinicopathological characteristics as well as a poor prognosis for KIRC patients. Based on the findings of univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, DBT might be employed as an independent prognostic factor in KIRC patients. Furthermore, we developed a nomogram to better investigate DBT's predictive usefulness. To confirm DBT expression, we examined KIRC cell lines using RT-qPCR and Western blotting. We also examined the role of DBT in KIRC using colony formation, CCK-8, EdU, transwell, and wound healing assays. We discovered that plasmid-mediated overexpression of DBT in KIRC cells slowed cell proliferation and decreased migration and invasion. Multiple enrichment analyses revealed that DBT may be involved in processes and pathways related to immunotherapy and drug metabolism. We computed the immune infiltration score and discovered that the immunological score and the ESTIMATE score were both greater in the DBT low expression group. According to the CIBERSORT algorithm, DBT seems to promote anti-cancer immune responses in KIRC by activating M1 macrophages, mast cells, and dendritic cells while inhibiting regulatory T cells. Finally, in KIRC, DBT expression was found to be highly linked to immunological checkpoints, targeted medicines, and immunotherapeutic agents. Our findings suggest that DBT is a distinct predictive biomarker for KIRC patients, playing a significant role in the TME of KIRC and serving as a reference for the selection of targeted treatment and immunotherapy.

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Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumour of the urinary system and one of the leading causes of cancer-related death. Cuproptosis is a novel form of programmed cell death, and its mechanism in tumours remains unclear. This study aimed to establish the prognostic signatures of cuproptosis-related lncRNAs and determine their clinical prognostic value. RNA sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas were used to detect the expression levels of cuproptosis-related genes in BC. Cuproptosis-related lncRNAs linked to survival were identified using co-expression and univariate Cox regression. Furthermore, consensus cluster analysis divided the lncRNAs into two subtypes. Subsequently, we established a signature model consisting of seven cuproptosis-related lncRNAs (AC073534.2, AC021321.1, HYI-AS1, PPP1R26-AS1, AC010328.1, AC012568.1 and MIR4435-2Hg) using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression. Survival analysis based on risk score showed that the overall survival and progression-free survival of patients in the high-risk group were worse than those in the low-risk group. Multivariate Cox analysis demonstrated the independent prognostic potential of this signature model for patients with BC. Moreover, age and clinical stage were also significantly correlated with prognosis. The constructed nomogram plots revealed good predictive power for the prognosis of patients with BC and were validated using calibration plots. Additionally, enrichment analysis, Single sample gene set enrichment analysis and immune infiltration abundance analysis revealed significant differences in immune infiltration between the two risk groups, with high levels of immune cell subset infiltrations observed in the high-risk group accompanied by various immune pathway activation. Moreover, almost all the immune checkpoint genes showed high expression levels in the high-risk group. Moreover, TIDE analysis suggested that the high-risk group was more responsive to immunotherapy. Finally, eight drugs with low IC50 values were screened, which may prove to be beneficial for patients in the high-risk group.

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Objective: Long-chain acyl-coenzyme A synthases (ACSLs) catalyze the activation of fatty acid and are often dysregulated in malignancies. The purpose of this research was to figure out the ACSL3's prognostic value and mechanism in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Methods: The expression of ACSL3 in ccRCC was investigated in this work using data from the GEO, TCGA, Oncomine and HPA databases. The expression differences of ACSL3 in the cell lines were further detected by qPCR and Western blot. GEPIA, MethSurv, cBioPortal, and the TIMER were used to perform survival and correlation analysis on ACSL3. GO and KEGG analyses were carried out in R using clusterProfiler and GOplot. Protein-protein interactions (PPI) are constructed from Strings website, and the results were visualized in Cytoscape software. Results: The expression level of ACSL3 was significantly reduced in ccRCC tissues, and its mRNA and protein expression were also significantly lower in both renal cancer cell lines. ACSL3 is significantly related to clinical stage, OS, DFS, DNA methylation, and immune-cell infiltration. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that data mining was capable of eliciting information on ACSL3 levels and its role in genetic regulatory pathways in ccRCC.

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Cuproptosis is a novel kind of programmed cell death that has been linked to tumor development, prognosis, and responsiveness to therapy. Nevertheless, the precise function of cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) in the tumor microenvironment (TME) remains unknown. We characterized the genetic and transcriptional changes of CRGs in papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC) samples and analyzed the expression patterns in two separate cohorts. We observed that two unique cuproptosis-related subgroups and three separate gene subgroups were connected with clinicopathological, prognostic, and TME features of patients. Then, a risk score for predicting overall survival (OS) was created and validated in patients with PRCC. To make the risk score more clinically useful, we created a nomogram that was very accurate. A lower risk score, which was associated with higher tumor mutation burden, and immune activity, suggested a better prognosis for OS. Additionally, the risk score was shown to be substantially linked with the drug's susceptibility to chemotherapeutic agents. Our extensive research of CRGs in PRCC identified possible roles for them in the TME, clinicopathological features, and overall survival. These findings may help advance our knowledge of CRGs in PRCC and pave the way for improved prognosis and the creation of more effective immunotherapy therapies.

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Background: The immune microenvironment profoundly affects tumor prognosis and therapy. The present study aimed to reveal potential immune escape mechanisms and construct a novel prognostic signature via systematic bioinformatic analysis of the bladder cancer (BLCA) immune microenvironment. Patients and Methods: The transcriptomic data and clinicopathological information for patients with BLCA were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Consensus clustering analysis based on the CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE algorithms was performed with patients with BLCA, which divided them into two clusters. Subsequently, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the two were subjected to univariate Cox and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analyses to identify prognostic genes, which were used to construct a prognostic model. The predictive performance of the model was verified by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and Kaplan-Meier (K-M) analyses. In addition, we analyzed the differentially altered immune cells, mutation burden, neoantigen load, and subclonal genome fraction between the two clusters to reveal the immune escape mechanism. Results: Based on the ESTIMATE and clustering analyses, patients with BLCA were classified into two heterogeneous clusters: ImmuneScoreH and ImmuneScoreL. Univariate Cox and LASSO regression analyses identified CD96 (HR = 0.83) and IBSP (HR = 1.09), which were used to construct a prognostic gene signature with significant predictive accuracy. Regarding potential immune escape mechanisms, ImmuneScoreH and ImmuneScoreL were characterized by inactivation of innate immune cell chemotaxis. In ImmuneScoreL, a low tumor antigen load might contribute to immune escape. ImmuneScoreH featured high expression of immune checkpoint molecules. Conclusion: CD96 and IBSP were considered prognostic factors for BLCA. Innate immune inactivation and a low tumor antigen load may be associated with immune escape mechanisms in both clusters. Our research complements the exploration of the immune microenvironment in BLCA.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate gender differences after renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice and the effects of androgen receptor (AR) and microRNA-21 (miR-21) on apoptosis in renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. Methods: Renal ischemia-reperfusion injury model was induced by 45 min of bilateral renal artery ischemia and reperfusion. BALB/c mice were randomly divided into groups according to different experimental protocols. The levels of renal function were evaluated by serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen. TUNEL staining was used to analyze the pathological changes and apoptosis levels of renal tissue, and western blotting and qPCR were used to detect the expressions of miR-21, AR, PDCD4 and caspase3. Results: After renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice with different genders, the levels of plasma urea nitrogen and creatinine in female and male mice increased, the histopathological score increased, and TUNEL staining in renal tissue indicated increased apoptosis. The expressions of miR-21, PDCD4, and active caspase-3 protein were up-regulated. The above trend was more pronounced in male mice, and a significant decrease in AR mRNA expression was detected. Silencing the expression of AR aggravated the decline of renal function and renal tubular injury after renal ischemia in mice. The expression of PDCD4 and active caspase-3 increased, while the level of miR-21 was correspondingly decreased. Up-regulation of miR-21 expression by pre-miR-21 could negatively regulate PDCD4, reduce the expression level of active caspase3, and yet induce AR expression accordingly. MiR-21 alleviated renal ischemia-reperfusion injury by inhibiting renal tubular epithelial cell apoptosis. The effect of antagomiR-21 was the opposite, which aggravated renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. Conclusion: There are gender differences in renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. Male mice are more susceptible to renal ischemia-reperfusion injury than female. Silencing AR expression or down-regulating the level of miR-21 can promote the expression of PDCD4 and apoptosis protein caspase3, thereby aggravating ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice. The protective effect of AR and miR-21 in renal ischemia-reperfusion injury has a certain synergy.

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Background: Immunotherapy has emerged as an important technique for treating a variety of cancers. The dynamic interplay between tumor cells and invading lymphocytes in the tumor microenvironment is responsible for the good response to immunotherapy (TME). Pyroptosis, or inflammation-induced cell death, is closely linked to a number of cancers. However, in papillary renal cell carcinoma (KIRP), the association between pyroptosis and clinical prognosis, immune cell infiltration, and immunotherapy impact remains unknown. Methods: We carefully investigated the link between pyroptosis and tumor growth, prognosis, and immune cell infiltration by evaluating 52 pyroptosis-related genes. The PRG score was utilized to measure a single tumor patient's pyroptosis pattern. After that, we looked at how well these values predicted prognoses and therapy responses in KIRP. Results: We discovered that PRG differences between subgroups were linked to clinical and pathological aspects, prognosis, and TME in two separate genetic subtypes. After that, a PRG score for estimating overall survival (OS) was developed, and its predictive potential in KIRP patients was confirmed. As a result, we developed a very precise nomogram to improve the PRG score's clinical usefulness. A low PRG score, which is determined by mutation load and immune activation, suggests a good chance of survival. Furthermore, the PRG score was linked to chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity in a substantial way. Conclusions: The possible functions of PRGs in the TME, clinical and pathological characteristics, and prognosis were established in our thorough investigation of PRGs in KIRP. These results might help us better understand PRGs in KIRP and offer a new avenue for prognostic evaluation and the development of more effective immunotherapy treatments.

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Ingenious microstructure design and appropriate multicomponent strategies are still challenging for advanced electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials with excellent shielding effectiveness (SE) and reliable mechanical properties in harsh environments and low filling levels. In this study, nickel@multiwalled carbon nanotubes/alumina (Ni@CNTs/Al2O3) ceramic composites with segregated structures and electric/magnetic-coupling networks anchored by CNTs and magnetic Ni nanofillers were prepared by hot-press sintering. CNTs/Al2O3 ceramic composites exhibit a percolation threshold of only about 0.32013 vol %, which is lower than those of other reported CNTs/Al2O3 composites with segregated or uniformly dispersed structures. The electrical conductivity and EMI SE of 9CNTs/Al2O3 ceramic composites with 9 vol % (4.76 wt %) CNT content were 103.1 S/m and 33.6 dB, respectively. In addition, EMI SE and toughness were both enhanced by the synergistic effect of Ni nanoparticles and CNTs. In the unit of a segregated structure, a three-dimensional (3D) electric/magnetic-coupling network effectively captures and attenuates electromagnetic wave energy by electrical conduction, dielectric loss, and magnetic loss. On the other hand, the pull-out of CNTs and deflection of cracks distributed along the segregated structures synergistically enhance the fracture toughness of Ni@CNTs/Al2O3 ceramic composites. High-performance 3Ni@5CNTs/Al2O3 ceramic composites with 5 vol % (2.64 wt %) and 3 vol % (0.76 wt %) CNT contents have been achieved, whose EMI SE is 41.8 dB, density is 90.99%, flexural strength is 197.83 ± 18.62 MPa, and fracture toughness is 6.03 ± 0.23 MPa·m1/2. This efficient method provides a promising way to fabricate EMI shielding ceramic composites with high mechanical properties.

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BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate long-term longitudinal changes in chest computed tomography (CT) findings in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors and their correlations with dyspnea after discharge. METHODS: A total of 337 COVID-19 survivors who underwent CT scan during hospitalization and between 102 and 361 days after onset were retrospectively included. Subjective CT findings, lesion volume, therapeutic measures and laboratory parameters were collected. The severity of the survivors' dyspnea was determined by follow-up questionnaire. The evolution of the CT findings from the peak period to discharge and throughout follow-up and the abilities of CT findings and clinical parameters to predict survival with and without dyspnea were analyzed. RESULTS: Ninety-one COVID-19 survivors still had dyspnea at follow-up. The age, comorbidity score, duration of hospital stays, receipt of hormone administration, receipt of immunoglobulin injections, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, receipt of mechanical ventilation, laboratory parameters, clinical classifications and parameters associated with lesion volume of the survivors with dyspnea were significantly different from those of survivors without dyspnea. Among the clinical parameters and CT parameters used to identify dyspnea, parameters associated with lesion volume showed the largest area under the curve (AUC) values, with lesion volume at discharge showing the largest AUC (0.820). Lesion volume decreased gradually from the peak period to discharge and through follow-up, with a notable decrease observed after discharge. Absorption of lesions continued 6 months after discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Among the clinical parameters and subjective CT findings, CT findings associated with lesion volume were the best predictors of post-discharge dyspnea in COVID-19 survivors.

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Renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is considered as a major cause of acute kidney injury. In this study, we investigated the role of the NF-κB signaling pathway and inflammation in the amelioration of renal IRI using pioglitazone. Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were subjected to bilateral renal artery clamping for 45 min followed by perfusion restoration for establishing a simulated renal IRI model. At 24 h post-operatively, we assessed the serum levels of creatinine and urea nitrogen, expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) and NF-κB-related (p-IKK-ß and IκB-α) proteins, and mRNA expression levels of the inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α and MCP-1, in the renal tissue of various study groups. The histopathological evaluation of renal tissue was also conducted. In rat renal tissue, pioglitazone treatment decreased the serum levels of post-renal IRI creatinine and urea nitrogen, as well as necrosis. Furthermore, it elevated the expression of PPAR-γ protein and decreased the expression of NF-κB-related proteins. Pioglitazone also decreased the mRNA expression of TNF-α and MCP-1 in the renal tissue. Thus, pioglitazone ameliorates renal IRI by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway and inflammatory response in rats.

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Metamaterials display many electromagnetic properties, such as the manipulation of electromagnetic waves through the arrangement of small discrete structures. However, complex designs of mechanically or electrically patterned structures are required to modify these properties. We report on the use of rare earth orthoferrites to tune transmitted waves by engineering the thickness, composition, and temperature using terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy. The modeling of the process of manipulating the transmitted waves helps to elucidate the manipulated amplitude, transmittance, peak height, and frequency. The effectiveness of thickness engineering in tuning the transmitted waves, which conformed to the Beer-Lambert law, was demonstrated. The transmitted waves were also strongly affected by doping. In addition, a thermal anisotropic energy manipulation approach to tuning transmitted waves was developed by lowering the temperature. Rare earth orthoferrites are a kind of effective medium in the THz range and exhibit the signature of natural metamaterials.

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OBJECTIVE: To compare the accuracies of quantitative computed tomography (CT) parameters and semiquantitative visual score in evaluating clinical classification of severity of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled 187 patients with COVID-19 treated at Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College from February 15, 2020, to February 29, 2020. Demographic data, imaging characteristics, and clinical data were collected, and based on the clinical classification of severity, patients were divided into groups 1 (mild) and 2 (severe/critical). A semiquantitative visual score was used to estimate the lesion extent. A three-dimensional slicer was used to precisely quantify the volume and CT value of the lung and lesions. Correlation coefficients of the quantitative CT parameters, semiquantitative visual score, and clinical classification were calculated using Spearman's correlation. A receiver operating characteristic curve was used to compare the accuracies of quantitative and semi-quantitative methods. RESULTS: There were 59 patients in group 1 and 128 patients in group 2. The mean age and sex distribution of the two groups were not significantly different. The lesions were primarily located in the subpleural area. Compared to group 1, group 2 had larger values for all volume-dependent parameters (p < 0.001). The percentage of lesions had the strongest correlation with disease severity with a correlation coefficient of 0.495. In comparison, the correlation coefficient of semiquantitative score was 0.349. To classify the severity of COVID-19, area under the curve of the percentage of lesions was the highest (0.807; 95% confidence interval, 0.744-0.861: p < 0.001) and that of the quantitative CT parameters was significantly higher than that of the semiquantitative visual score (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The classification accuracy of quantitative CT parameters was significantly superior to that of semiquantitative visual score in terms of evaluating the severity of COVID-19.

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The function of androgen receptor (AR)/microRNA-21 (miR-21) axis in tumor development was well investigated. However, the roles of the axis performed in hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-induced apoptosis of mouse renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs) is not known. In this study, H/R-induced apoptosis of RTECs was established to evaluate the role of miR-21-AR axis. The protocol of 8-h hypoxia and 24-h reoxygenation were selected to produce H/R injury. Our data showed that H/R increased miR-21 and caspase-3 expression, reduced the expression AR and programmed cell death protein 4 (PDCD4). By contrast, AR-siRNA increased H/R-induced apoptosis, and promoted caspase-3 expression, but reduced PDCD4 expression (vs. H/R group). pre-miR-21 reduced, while antagomiR-21 promoted apoptosis and PDCD4 expression in H/R-induced RTECs. Moreover, pre-miR-21 promoted, while antagomiR-21 reduced caspase-3 expression in H/R-induced RTECs. Together, H/R increased miRNA-21 and reduced AR expression, then regulating PDCD4- and caspase-3-dependent apoptosis. AR/miR-21 axis could be a potential therapeutic target for the kidney ischemia injury.

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Nanofibrous aerogels constructed solely by ceramic components with temperature-invariant hyperelasticity could have broad technological implications in extreme environments. However, creating such materials has proven to be extremely challenging. Despite the results from laboratory, those aerogels are, unfortunately, still plagued with issues that would retard their further application: inferior structural integrity, failure at large compressive deformation, high production cost, and inability to withstand rigorous working conditions. To tackle these challenges, we report a facile strategy combining the chemical vapor deposition process and layer-by-layer self-assembly to construct hyperelastic SiC nanofibrous aerogels with three-dimensional porous architecture and improved structural integrity. The resultant aerogels outperform their natural counterparts and most state-of-the-art ceramic nanofibrous aerogels in their capability to quickly recover from large compressive deformation (50% strain), function in a wide range of temperatures, from -196 °C to 1100 °C in air, maintain high particle matter removal efficiency of >99.96%, and rapidly absorb various organic solvents and oils with high capacity and robust recoverability. Nanofibrous aerogels constructed by such a versatile method could provide fresh insights into the exploration of multifunctional nanofibrous aerogels for a variety of applications in extreme environments.