Search Results (62)

Segregative phase separation technology demonstrates substantial potential for precise molecular fractionation in food and biomaterial applications. The investigation elucidates the causal relationship between viscosity variations and phase separation dynamics, which govern molecular fractionation in GA/HPMC composite systems. By conducting a comparative analysis of two GA subtypes (CGA and SGA) and three HPMC grades with controlled viscosity gradients, we utilized gel permeation chromatography-multi-angle laser light scattering (GPC-MALLS) coupled with rheological characterization to elucidate the critical relationship between continuous phase viscosity and fractionation efficiency. Notably, increasing HPMC viscosity significantly intensified phase separation, resulting in selective enrichment of arabinogalactan-protein complexes: from 6.3% to 8.5% in CGA/HPMC systems and from 27.3% to 36.5% in SGA/HPMC systems. Further mechanistic investigation revealed that elevated HPMC viscosity enhances thermodynamic incompatibility while slowing interfacial mass transfer, synergistically driving component redistribution. These findings establish a quantitative viscosity–fractionation relationship, offering theoretical insights for optimizing GA/HPMC systems in emulsion stabilization, microencapsulation, and functional biopolymer purification via viscosity-mediated phase engineering. Full article

Prolonged expression of gene-editing components in CRISPR-modified plants can interfere with phenotypic analysis of target traits, increase the risk of off-target mutations, and lead to unnecessary metabolic burden. To mitigate these issues in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), callus-specific promoters were screened to restrict Cas9 expression to the callus stage, minimizing its activity in regenerated plants. In this study, six callus-specific genes in peanut were identified by mining RNA sequencing datasets and validating their expression profiles using quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. The promoters of Arahy.H0FE8D, Arahy.WT3AEF, Arahy.I20Q6X, Arahy.ELJ55T, and Arahy.N9CMH4 were cloned and assessed for their expression activity. Beta-glucuronidase (GUS) histochemical staining confirmed that all five promoters were functional in peanut callus. Further investigation revealed their ability to drive cytosine base editing via a deaminase-nCas9 fusion protein, with all promoters successfully inducing precise base substitutions in peanut. Notably, P_Ah-H0FE8D, P_Ah-WT3AEF, P_Ah-ELJ55T, and P_Ah-N9CMH4 exhibited comparable or higher editing efficiencies than the commonly used cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. These findings provide valuable tools for improving the biosafety of CRISPR-based genome editing in peanut breeding programs. Full article

Background/Objectives: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) has become the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver disorders globally. Nevertheless, only one expensive drug, resmetirom (Res), has been approved by the FDA for MASH treatment to date. However, its high price has imposed a heavy financial burden on patients. Methods: In this study, half-dose Res and low-dose metformin (Met) (referred to as RM) were administered in combination to treat MASH models in vitro and in vivo. We utilized transcriptome and lipidomics sequencing to assess the efficacy of RM in improving MASH. Our goal was to systemically compare the therapeutic effects of RM, Met, and Res on MASH and elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Results: Our results demonstrated that RM was comparable to Res and superior to Met in reducing lipid production in vitro, attenuating lipid accumulation, inhibiting inflammation, and improving fibrosis in vivo. Transcriptome and lipidome analyses further revealed that RM regulated the expression of genes and lipids in a manner similar to Res, particularly in pathways related to cholesterol metabolism and inflammation. Further validation showed that RM facilitated cholesterol transformation by robustly promoting the expression of CYP7A1, thereby mitigating MASH. Conclusions: Collectively, our findings highlight that a combination of half-dose Res and Met is equivalent to Res alone in terms of MASH treatment efficacy. This study provides a novel therapeutic strategy that is not only effective for MASH treatment but also reduces the economic burden on patients. Full article

This study introduces two distinct post-processing strategies to address systematic biases in sea surface temperature (SST) numerical forecasts, thereby enhancing SST predictive accuracy. The first strategy implements a spatiotemporal four-dimensional multi-grid analysis (4D-MGA) scheme within a three-dimensional variational (3D-Var) data assimilation framework. The second strategy establishes a hybrid deep learning architecture integrating empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, empirical mode decomposition (EMD), and a backpropagation (BP) neural network (designated as EE–BP). The 4D-MGA strategy dynamically corrects systematic biases through a temporally coherent extrapolation of analysis increments, leveraging its inherent capability to characterize intrinsic temporal correlations in model error evolution. In contrast, the EE–BP strategy develops a bias correction model by learning the systematic biases of the SST numerical forecasts. Utilizing a satellite fusion SST dataset, this study conducted bias correction experiments that specifically addressed the daily SST numerical forecasts with 7-day lead times in the Kuroshio region south of Japan during 2017, systematically quantifying the respective error reduction potentials of both strategies. Quantitative verification reveals that EE–BP delivers enhanced predictive skill across all forecast horizons, achieving 18.1–22.7% root–mean–square error reduction compared to 1.2–9.1% attained by 4D-MGA. This demonstrates deep learning’s unique advantage in capturing nonlinear bias evolution patterns. Full article

The biosynthesis of isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP), which are essential for sesquiterpenes and triterpenes, respectively, is primarily governed by the mevalonate pathway, wherein farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (FPS) plays a pivotal role. This study identified eight members of the FPS gene family in Euphorbia hirta, designated EhFPS1–EhFPS8, through bioinformatics analysis, revealing their distribution across several chromosomes and a notable tandem gene cluster. The genes exhibited strong hydrophilic properties and key functional motifs crucial for enzyme activity. An in-depth analysis of the EhFPS genes highlighted their significant involvement in isoprenoid metabolism and lipid biosynthesis, with expression patterns influenced by hormones such as jasmonic acid and salicylic acid. Tissue-specific analysis demonstrated that certain FPS genes, particularly EhFPS1, EhFPS2, and EhFPS7, showed elevated expression levels in latex, suggesting their critical roles in terpenoid biosynthesis. Furthermore, subcellular localization studies have indicated that these proteins are primarily found in the cytoplasm, reinforcing their function in metabolic processes. These findings provide a foundational understanding of the FPS genes in E. hirta, including their gene structures, conserved domains, and evolutionary relationships. This study elucidates the potential roles of these genes in response to environmental factors, hormone signaling, and stress adaptation, thereby paving the way for future functional analyses aimed at exploring the regulation of terpenoid biosynthesis and enhancing stress tolerance in this species. Full article

Lentinula edodes has a strong cadmium-enrichment ability, posing a potential threat to human health. However, the cadmium tolerance and detoxification mechanisms of Lentinula edodes are not understood. We investigated the physiological responses, subcellular distribution, and chemical forms of cadmium in two Lentinula edodes strains (1504 and L130) with contrasting cadmium tolerance. The results showed that appropriate, low-level cadmium promoted mycelial growth, and higher cadmium exposure induced obvious inhibition of mycelial growth by damaging the cell wall and membrane structure and triggering the overproduction of ROS. Antioxidant enzymes played an important role in cadmium detoxification, as well as functional group modulation. Cadmium was predominantly distributed in the cell wall fraction, and NaCl-extractable cadmium was the main chemical form. Enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities, reduced cadmium accumulation, and increased HAc-extractable cadmium with less toxicity promoted stronger cadmium tolerance and detoxification abilities in L130 compared to 1504. Thus, this study provides new insights into cadmium tolerance and detoxification in Lentinula edodes. Full article

Carbon nanorings (CNRs) serve as an ideal quantum system for novel electronic and magnetic properties. Although extensive theoretical studies utilizing molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have investigated the formation and structural characteristics of CNRs, systematically analyzing their properties across various toric sizes remains challenging due to the inherent complexity of this system. In this study, we introduce a novel finite element method, the Chebyshev–Ritz method, as an alternative approach to investigating the structural properties of CNRs. Previous MD simulations demonstrated that stable CNRs adopt a regular buckled shape at specific toric sizes. By meticulously selecting mechanical parameters, we observe that the critical deformation of a CNR with 50 repeated units, as determined by the Chebyshev–Ritz method, aligns with an MD simulation presenting a buckling number of 14. Additionally, the implementation of the Chebyshev–Ritz method with a constant mechanical parameter for 50 repeated units reveals a structural transition at varying toric sizes, leading to the stabilization of buckling numbers 13, 14, and 15. This structural transition across different buckling modes has also been corroborated by MD simulations. Our approach offers a reliable and accurate means of examining the structural properties of large-scale nanomaterials and paves the way for further exploration in nanoscale mechanics. Full article

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), a versatile polymer, is extensively used across many industries, such as chemicals, food, healthcare, textiles, and packaging. However, research on applying PVA to triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) remains limited. Consequently, we chose PVA as the primary material to explore its contact electrification mechanisms at the molecular level, alongside materials like Polyethylene (PE), Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Our findings show that PVA has the highest band gap, with the smallest band gap occurring between the HOMO of PVA and the LUMO of PTFE. During molecular contact, electron transfer primarily occurs in the outermost layers of the molecules, influenced by the functional groups of the polymers. The presence of fluorine atoms enhances the electron transfer between PVA and PTFE to maximum levels. Experimental validation confirmed that PVA and PTFE contact yields the highest triboelectric performance: V_OC of 128 V, I_SC of 2.83 µA, Q_SC of 82 nC, and an output power of 384 µW. Moreover, P-TENG, made of PVA and PTFE, was successfully applied in self-powered smart devices and monitored human respiration and bodily movements effectively. These findings offer valuable insights into using PVA in triboelectric nanogenerator technologies. Full article

Under simulated conditions typical of a high-temperature, high-pressure (HTHP) oil and gas reservoir in the South China Sea, dynamic corrosion evaluation experiments were performed on a three-layer screen structure and three types of sand retaining media. The results showed significant variations in corrosion morphology and rates among different screen components and materials. Corrosion products on the base pipe accumulated as cubic crystals, while the protective shroud showed surface needle-like corrosion products. Sand retaining media exhibited “coiled wire” corrosion products with cubic accumulations along seam edges. The 316L media showed a high corrosion risk, especially at temperatures between 140–150 °C. As CO₂ partial pressure increased, corrosion rates generally rose. A new predictive method was developed to assess and compare the corrosion resistance and life of screens, achieving a compliance rate of over 90%. This method supports evaluating the corrosion life of screens in HTHP environments. For a typical well in the South China Sea gas field with 4% CO₂, there is a high risk of screen corrosion. The screen media was identified as a failure site with a minimum corrosion life of about 5 years, while the protective shroud’s life was estimated at 11–12 years. Full article

Red yeast rice dietary supplements have been proven to ameliorate hyperglycemia, but the mechanism was unclear. In this work, ankaflavin (AK) and monascin (MS), as typical pigments derived from red yeast rice, were found to exert noteworthy inhibitory ability against α-glucosidase, with an IC₅₀ of 126.5 ± 2.5 and 302.6 ± 2.5 μM, respectively, compared with acarbose (IC₅₀ = 341.3 ± 13.6 μM). They also exhibited mixed-type inhibition of α-glucosidase in vitro and caused fluorescence quenching through the static-quenching process. Molecular-docking studies indicated that AK and MS bind to amino acid residues outside the catalytic center, which induces structural changes in the enzyme, thus influencing its catalytic activity. The anti-glycation ability of Monascus-fermented products was evaluated, and they exhibited a high inhibition rate of 87.1% in fluorescent advanced glycation end-product formation at a concentration of 0.2 mg mL⁻¹, while aminoguanidine showed a rate of 75.7% at the same concentration. These results will be significant in broadening the application scope of Monascus pigments, especially AK and MS, in treating type 2 diabetes. Full article

In recent years, renewable and sustainable triboelectric nanogenerators have attracted attention due to their high energy conversion rate, and enhancing their functionality further contributes to their applicability across various fields. A pH-sensitive triboelectric nanogenerator (pH-TENG) has been prepared by electrostatic spinning technology, with anthocyanin as the pH indicator and environmentally friendly polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the substrate. Among many friction-negative materials, the pH-TENG exhibits the best combination with fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) and yields an open-circuit voltage of 62 V, a short-circuit current of 370 nA, and a transferred charge of 21.8 nC. At a frequency of 3 Hz, it can charge a 4.7 μF capacitor to 2 V within 45 s, effectively powering a thermometer. Furthermore, the presence of anthocyanin does not affect the pH-TENG’s power generation performance and enables the monitoring of a wide range of environmental pH changes, with an ΔE change of 28.8 ± 7.6. Therefore, pH-TENG prepared with environmentally friendly materials can bring new available materials to the biological and medical fields. Full article

We explore to what extent data-driven prediction models have skills in forecasting daily sea-surface temperature (SST), which are comparable to or perform better than current physics-based operational systems over long-range forecast horizons. Three hybrid deep learning-based models are developed within the South China Sea (SCS) basin by integrating deep neural networks (back propagation, long short-term memory, and gated recurrent unit) with traditional empirical orthogonal function analysis and empirical mode decomposition. Utilizing a 40-year (1982–2021) satellite-based daily SST time series on a 0.25° grid, we train these models on the first 32 years (1982–2013) of detrended SST anomaly (SSTA) data. Their predictive accuracies are then validated using data from 2014 and tested over the subsequent seven years (2015–2021). The models’ forecast skills are assessed using spatial anomaly correlation coefficient (ACC) and root-mean-square error (RMSE), with ACC proving to be a stricter metric. A forecast skill horizon, defined as the lead time before ACC drops below 0.6, is determined to be 50 days. The models are equally capable of achieving a basin-wide average ACC of ~0.62 and an RMSE of ~0.48 °C at this horizon, indicating a 36% improvement in RMSE over climatology. This implies that on average the forecast skill horizon for these models is beyond the available forecast length. Analysis of one model, the BP neural network, reveals a variable forecast skill horizon (5 to 50 days) for each individual day, showing that it can adapt to different time scales. This adaptability seems to be influenced by a number of mechanisms arising from the evident regional and global atmosphere–ocean coupling variations on time scales ranging from intraseasonal to decadal in the SSTA of the SCS basin. Full article

In order to improve the corrosion resistance of Mg-3Gd-1Zn-0.4Zr (GZ31K) alloys for biomedical application, the alloy was micro-arc oxidation (MAO)-treated using silicate electrolyte system under various voltages (400 V, 425 V, 450 V, 475 V). The effects of voltage on the microstructure and corrosion properties of MAO coating were investigated via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) combined with an energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS), and electrochemical experiments. The results showed that, with the increase in voltage, the MAO coatings became thicker and the micropores on the MAO coating increased in diameter. The main phase compositions of the MAO coatings were MgO and Mg₂SiO₄. Potentiodynamic polarization curve results showed that MAO coatings could enhance corrosion resistances, where the corrosion current density decreased by six orders of magnitude and the corrosion potential of the specimens increased by 300 mV for the voltage of 450 V in the MAO treatment; nevertheless, the corrosion resistance rapidly deteriorated due to the creation of large micropores in the MAO coating, which provide a pathway for corrosive media when the voltage is 475 V. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results showed that MAO treatments could increase low-frequency modulus resistance and increase the corrosion resistance of Mg alloys. In addition, MAO-treated GZ31K alloys still exhibited uniform corrosion, which is desirable for biomedical applications. Full article

In this paper, multi-source observation, such as aircraft, ground-based remote sensing, and satellite-retrieved data, has been utilized to compare and analyze the vertical characteristics of aerosol optical properties and the planetary boundary layer height (H_PBL) over the North China Plain (NCP) region during May–June 2016. Aircraft observations show the vertical profiles of aerosol absorption coefficients (σ_abs), scattering coefficients (σ_sca), and extinction coefficients (σ_ext) gradually decrease with altitude, with their maximum values near H_PBL. The vertical profiles of σ_ext depended most on the vertical distribution of measured σ_sca, indicating a significant contribution of scattering aerosols. In addition, the prominent characteristic of the inverse relationship between σ_ext and moisture profile could serve as a reference for predicting air quality in the NCP region. The lower layer pollution during the field experiment was likely caused by the accumulation of fine-mode aerosols, characterized by the vertical distribution of the Ångström exponent and the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) products. Typically, H_PBL derived from aircraft and surface Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) was approximate, while the predicted H_PBL by meteorological data indicates an underestimation of ~192 m. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) calculated from aircraft and ground-based remote sensing (such as MPL and AERONET) experienced a strong correlation, and both of them exhibited a similar tendency. However, the AOD retrieved from satellites was significantly larger than that from aircraft and ground-based remote sensing. Overall, the inversion algorithm, cloud identification algorithm, representativeness of the space, and time of the observation may lead to an overestimation or underestimation of AOD under certain circumstances. This study may serve as a re-evaluation of AOD retrieved from multi-source observations and provide a reference to uncover the actual atmospheric environment in the NCP regions. Full article