Search Results (11)

Objectives: Research on the immunocastration vaccine is of great significance for animal management. In this study, the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) ferritin nanoparticle vaccine was constructed using Spy Catcher-Spy Tag (SC-ST) as a delivery system; Methods: The Spy Catcher was constructed to fuse with the expression vector pET-30a-SF of ferritin nanoparticles. Two polypeptides, STG1: Spy Tag-GnRH I-PADRE and STG2: Spy Tag-GnRH I-GnRH II, coupled to SF in vitro to form two nanoparticles, were designed and synthesized to detect castration effects in mice. We mixed them with the adjuvant MONTANIDE ISA 206 VG to explore the adjuvant’s effect on immunogenicity; Results: All immunized groups produced anti-GnRH specific antibodies after the second immunization, which was significantly higher in the immunized group and the combined adjuvant group than in the control group, and the immune response could still be detected at the 12th week. The concentrations of testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone in serum were significantly decreased. The number of sperm in the epididymis of mice in each immune group was significantly reduced, and the rate of sperm deformity was high; Conclusions: The two ferritin-based GnRH nanoparticles developed in this study can significantly cause testicular atrophy, decreased gonadal hormone concentration, decreased sperm count, and increased deformity rate in male mice. These findings provide experimental evidence supporting their potential application in animal immunocastration. Full article

Loran is a crucial maritime navigation system and is also considered a key backup for satellite navigation systems. To enhance positioning and timing services, improving the accuracy of the Loran system is essential. This paper discusses the factors affecting Loran’s positioning and timing performance, with a focus on ASF (additional secondary factor) measurement techniques and filtering methods. This study specifically addresses challenges in maritime navigation and employs a first-order Gauss–Markov process to simulate ASF+SF values. This approach eliminates the need for precise geodetic distances or real-time GNSS corrections. The research included experimental tests conducted along the eastern coast of China, evaluating environmental conditions and the positioning station’s location data. Positioning calculations were performed under maritime navigation conditions. The experimental results demonstrate that when satellite navigation systems are unavailable, the proposed model significantly enhances navigation accuracy. The accuracy, previously at the level of several hundred meters, was improved to approximately 40 m, making Loran a more reliable alternative for maritime applications. Full article

Diet plays a crucial role in regulating individuals’ lifestyles and is closely related to health. The intake of animal-sourced foods (ASF) provides the human body with high-quality protein and various micronutrients. This study aimed to investigate whether the diversity of animal foods has a positive impact on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among residents. The data came from the Shaanxi baseline survey of the Northwest Chinese Regional Ethnic Cohort Study, which recruited more than 100 thousand participants aged 35 to 74 from five provinces between June 2018 and May 2019. A total of 39,997 participants in Shaanxi (mean age: 50 years; 64% women) were finally included in this current study. The animal source food diet diversity score (ASFDDS) was established based on the frequency of consuming pork, mutton, beef, poultry, seafood, eggs, pure milk, and yogurt. The physical component score (PCS) and mental component score (MCS), ranging from 0 to 100 on the 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12), were used to assess participants’ HRQoL. Better PCS/MCS was defined as scores higher than the 90th percentile. The results showed that men had a higher intake of ASF and ASFDDS than women. After adjusting for potential confounders, compared with those who never or rarely consumed animal foods, the likelihood of having better PCS and MCS increased by 16% (OR = 1.16, 95%CI: 1.01–1.34) and 24% (OR = 1.24, 95%CI: 1.03–1.448), respectively, in men with an ASFDDS ≥ 2. In women, a 34% increase (OR = l.34, 95%CI: 116–l.54) likelihood for better PCS was observed for an ASFDDS ≥ 2, but no association was observed for MCS. Increasing each specific animal source’s food intake was associated with better PCS after adjusting for all covariates. However, for MCS, positive associations were only observed in seafood consumption among men and eggs among women. Restricted cubic splines showed a substantial dose-response association between intake frequency of animal-source foods and PCS, both in men and women. The study suggests that a diverse intake of animal-sourced foods can potentially improve the HRQoL of Chinese adults. Full article

Necroptosis is a newly discovered mechanism of cell death, and its key regulatory role is attributed to the interaction of receptor-interacting protein kinases (RIPKs) RIPK1 and RIPK3. Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII) is a newly discovered RIPK3 substrate, and its alternative splicing plays a fundamental role in cardiovascular diseases. In the present study, we aimed to explore the role and mechanism of necroptosis and alternative splicing of CaMKIIδ in myocardial hypertrophy. Transverse aortic constriction (TAC) was performed on wild-type and knockout mice to establish the model of myocardial hypertrophy. After 3 weeks, echocardiography, cardiac index, cross-sectional area of myocardial cells, hypertrophic gene expression, myocardial damage, and fibers were assessed. Moreover, we detected the levels of inflammatory factors (IL-6 and TNF-α) and examined the expressions of necroptosis-related proteins RIPK3, RIPK1, and phosphorylated MLKL. Meanwhile, we tested the expression levels of splicing factors ASF/SF2 and SC-35 in an attempt to explore CaMKII δ. The relationship between variable splicing disorder and the expression levels of splicing factors ASF/SF2 and SC-35. Further, we also investigated CaMKII activation, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial ultrastructure. In addition, wild-type mice were administered with a recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) carrying RIPK3, followed by TAC surgery to construct a model of myocardial hypertrophy, and the above-mentioned indicators were tested after 3 weeks. The results showed that RIPK3 deficiency could alleviate cardiac dysfunction, myocardial injury, aggravation of necrosis, and CaMKII activation induced by TAC surgery in mice with myocardial hypertrophy. Tail vein injection of AAV could reverse cardiac dysfunction, myocardial damage, aggravation of necrosis, and CaMKII activation in mice with myocardial hypertrophy. These results proved that RIPK3 could be used as a molecular intervention target for the prevention and treatment of myocardial hypertrophy. Full article

The global environmental issue of arsenic (As) contamination in drinking water is a significant problem that requires attention. Therefore, the aim of this research was to address the application of a sustainable methodology for arsenic removal through mycoremediation aerated with micro-nanobubbles (MNBs), leading to bioscorodite (FeAsO₄·2H₂O) generation. To achieve this, the fungus Trichoderma atroviride was cultivated in a medium amended with 1 g/L of As(III) and 8.5 g/L of Fe(II) salts at 28 °C for 5 days in a tubular reactor equipped with an air MNBs diffuser (TR-MNBs). A control was performed using shaking flasks (SF) at 120 rpm. A reaction was conducted at 92 °C for 32 h for bioscorodite synthesis, followed by further characterization of crystals through Fourier–Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. At the end of the fungal growth in the TR-MNBs, the pH decreased to 2.7–3.0, and the oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) reached a value of 306 mV at 5 days. Arsenic decreased by 70%, attributed to possible adsorption through rapid complexation of oxidized As(V) with the exchangeable ferrihydrite ((Fe(III))_4-5(OH,O)₁₂), sites, and the fungal biomass. This mineral might be produced under oxidizing and acidic conditions, with a high iron concentration (As:Fe molar ratio = 0.14). The crystals produced in the reaction using the TR-MNBs culture broth and characterized by SEM, XRD, and FTIR revealed the morphology, pattern, and As-O-Fe vibration bands typical of bioscorodite and römerite (Fe(II)(Fe(III))₂(SO₄)₄·14H₂O). Arsenic reduction in SF was 30%, with slight characteristics of bioscorodite. Consequently, further research should include integrating the TR-MNBs system into a pilot plant for arsenic removal from contaminated water. Full article

With the advent of many optofluidic and droplet microfluidic applications using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), the need for a better understanding of the heating effect induced by pump laser excitation sources and good monitoring of temperature inside such confined microsystems started to emerge. We developed a broadband highly sensitive optofluidic detection system, which enabled us to show for the first time that Rhodamine-B dye molecules can exhibit standard photoluminescence as well as blue-shifted photoluminescence. We demonstrate that this phenomenon originates from the interaction between the pump laser beam and dye molecules when surrounded by the low thermal conductive fluorocarbon oil, generally used as a carrier medium in droplet microfluidics. We also show that when the temperature is increased, both Stokes and anti-Stokes fluorescence intensities remain practically constant until a temperature transition is reached, above which the fluorescence intensity starts to decrease linearly with a thermal sensitivity of about $-0.4\%/°$C for Stokes emission or $-0.2\%/°$C for anti-Stokes emission. For an excitation power of 3.5 mW, the temperature transition was found to be about 25 $°$C, whereas for a smaller excitation power (0.5 mW), the transition temperature was found to be about 36 $°$C. Full article

To properly conduct a micro-siting of an orthopter-type vertical axis wind turbine (O-VAWT) in the built environment, this study investigated the effects of horizontal shear flow on the power performance characteristics of an O-VAWT by performing wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. A uniform flow and two types of shear flow (advancing side faster shear flow (ASF-SF) and retreating side faster shear flow (RSF-SF)) were employed as the approaching flow to the O-VAWT. The ASF-SF had a higher velocity on the advancing side of the rotor. The RSF-SF had a higher velocity on the retreating side of the rotor. For each type of shear flow, three shear strengths (Γ = 0.28, 0.40 and 0.51) were set. In the ASF-SF cases, the power coefficients (C_p) were significantly higher than the uniform flow case at all tip speed ratios (λ) and increased with Γ. In the RSF-SF cases, C_P increased with Γ. However, when Γ = 0.28, the C_P was lower than the uniform flow case at all λ. When Γ = 0.51, the C_P was higher than the uniform flow case except at low λ; however, it was lower than the ASF-SF case with Γ = 0.28. The causes of the features of C_P were discussed through the analysis of the variation of blade torque coefficient, its rotor-revolution component and its blade-rotation component with azimuthal angle by using the CFD results for flow fields (i.e., horizontal velocity vectors, pressure and vorticity). These results indicate that a location where ASF-SFs with high Γ values dominantly occur is ideal for installing the O-VAWT. Full article

When the low power wide area network (LPWAN) was developed for the internet of things (IoT), it attracted significant attention. LoRa, which is one of the LPWAN technologies, provides low-power and long-range wireless communication using a frequency band under 1 GHz. A long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) provides a simple star topology network that is not scalable; it supports multi-data rates by adjusting the spreading factor, code rate, and bandwidth. This paper proposes an adaptive spreading factor selection scheme for corresponding spreading factors (SFs) between a transmitter and receiver. The scheme enables the maximum throughput and minimum network cost, using cheap single channel LoRa modules. It provides iterative SF inspection and an SF selection algorithm that allows each link to communicate at independent data rates. We implemented a multi-hop LoRa network and evaluated the performance of experiments in various network topologies. The adaptive spreading factor selection (ASFS) scheme showed outstanding end-to-end throughput, peaking at three times the performance of standalone modems. We expect the ASFS scheme will be a suitable technology for applications requiring high throughput on a multi-hop network. Full article

Land use change (LUC), disturbances, and their interactions play an important role in regional forest carbon (C) dynamics. Here we quantified how these activities and events may influence future aboveground biomass (AGB) dynamics in forests using national forest inventory (NFI) and Landsat time series data in the Northern United States (US). Total forest AGB predictions were based on simulations of diameter growth, mortality, and recruitment using matrix growth models under varying levels of LUC and disturbance severity (low (L), medium (M), and high (H)) every five years from 2018 to 2098. Land use change included the integrated effects of deforestation and reforestation/afforestation (forest [F]→agriculture [A], settlements [S, urbanization/other], and A&S→F), specifically, conversion from F→A, F→S, F→A&S, A→F, S→F, and A&S→F. Disturbances included natural and anthropogenic disturbances such as wildfire, weather, insects and disease, and forest harvesting. Results revealed that, when simultaneously considering both medium LUC and disturbances, total forest AGB predictions of LUC + fire, LUC + weather, LUC + insect & disease, and LUC + harvest indicated substantial increases in regional C stocks (± standard deviation) from 1.88 (±0.13) to 3.29 (±0.28), 3.10 (±0.24), 2.91 (±0.19), and 2.68 (±0.17) Pg C, respectively, from 2018 to 2098. An uncertainty analysis with fuzzy sets suggested that medium LUC under disturbances would lead to greater forest AGB C uptake than undisturbed forest C uptake with high certainty, except for LUC + harvest. The matrix models in this study were parameterized using NFI and Landsat data from the past few decades. Thus, our results imply that if recent trends persist, LUC will remain an important driver of forest C uptake, while disturbances may result in C emissions rather than undisturbed forest C uptake by 2098. The combined effects of LUC and disturbances may serve as an important driver of C uptake and emissions in the Northern US well into the 21st century. Full article

This paper analyzes and compensates for process and temperature dependency among a (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) CMOS image sensor (CIS) array. Both the analysis and compensation are supported with experimental results on the CIS’s dark current, dark signal non-uniformity (DSNU), and conversion gain (CG). To model and to compensate for process variations, process sensors based on pixel source follower (SF)’s transconductance g_m,SF have been proposed to model and to be compared against the measurement results of SF gain A_SF. In addition, A_SF’s thermal dependency has been analyzed in detail. To provide thermal information required for temperature compensation, six scattered bipolar junction transistor (BJT)-based temperature sensors replace six image pixels inside the array. They are measured to have an untrimmed inaccuracy within ±0.5 °C. Dark signal and CG’s thermal dependencies are compensated using the on-chip temperature sensors by at least 79% and 87%, respectively. Full article

The human endogenous retrovirus (HERV)-K, human mouse mammary tumor virus like-2 (HML-2) subgroup of HERVs is activated in several tumors and has been related to prostate cancer progression and motor neuron diseases. The cellular splicing factor 2/alternative splicing factor (SF2/ASF) is a positive regulator of gene expression, coded by a potent proto-oncogene, amplified, and abnormally expressed in tumors. TAR DNA-binding protein-43 (TDP-43) is a DNA/RNA-binding protein, negative regulator of alternative splicing, known for causing neurodegeneration, and with complex roles in oncogenesis. We used the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 technology, with the Cas9 system from Staphylococcus aureus (SaCas9), to disrupt the HERV-K(HML-2)env gene, and evaluated the effects on cultured cells. The tool was tested on human prostate cancer LNCaP cells, whose HERV-Kenv transcription profile is known. It caused HERV-K(HML-2)env disruption (the first reported of a HERV gene), as evaluated by DNA sequencing, and inhibition of env transcripts and proteins. The HERV-K(HML-2)env disruption was found to interfere with important regulators of cell expression and proliferation, involved in manaling, RNA-binding, and alternative splicing, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R), nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), SF2/ASF, and TDP-43. These novel findings suggest that HERV-K is not an innocent bystander, they reinforce its links to oncogenesis and motor neuron diseases, and they open potential innovative therapeutic options. Full article