Solution structural analysis of the single-domain parvulin TbPin1

10.1371/journal.pone.0043017PLoS ONE78

Absence of Appl2 sensitizes endotoxin shock through activation of PI3K/Akt pathway

BACKGROUND: The adapter proteins Appl1 (adaptor protein containing pleckstrin homology domain, phosphotyrosine domain, and leucine zipper motif 1) and Appl2 are highly homologous and involved in several signaling pathways. While previous studies have shown that Appl1 plays a pivotal role in adiponectin signaling and insulin secretion, the physiological functions of Appl2 are largely unknown. RESULTS: In the present study, the role of Appl2 in sepsis shock was investigated by using Appl2 knockout (KO) mice. When challenged with lipopolysaccharides (LPS), Appl2 KO mice exhibited more severe symptoms of endotoxin shock, accompanied by increased production of proinflammatory cytokines. In comparison with the wild-type control, deletion of Appl2 led to higher levels of TNF-α and IL-1β in primary macrophages. In addition, phosphorylation of Akt and its downstream effector NF-κB was significantly enhanced. By co-immunoprecipitation, we found that Appl2 and Appl1 interacted with each other and formed a complex with PI3K regulatory subunit p85α, which is an upstream regulator of Akt. Consistent with these results, deletion of Appl1 in macrophages exhibited characteristics of reduced Akt activation and decreased the production of TNFα and IL-1β when challenged by LPS. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the present study demonstrated that Appl2 is a critical negative regulator of innate immune response via inhibition of PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway by forming a complex with Appl1 and PI3K.published_or_final_versio

Strand Displacement Amplification for Multiplex Detection of Nucleic Acids

The identification of various targets such as bacteria, viruses, and other cells remains a prerequisite for point-of-care diagnostics and biotechnological applications. Nucleic acids, as encoding information for all forms of life, are excellent biomarkers for detecting pathogens, hereditary diseases, and cancers. To date, many techniques have been developed to detect nucleic acids. However, most of them are based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology. These methods are sensitive and robust, but they require expensive instruments and trained personnel. DNA strand displacement amplification is carried out under isothermal conditions and therefore does not need expensive instruments. It is simple, fast, sensitive, specific, and inexpensive. In this chapter, we introduce the principles, methods, and updated applications of DNA strand displacement technology in the detection of infectious diseases. We also discuss how robust, sensitive, and specific nucleic acid detection could be obtained when combined with the novel CRISPR/Cas system

Graphene Oxide-Based Biosensors

In this chapter, the latest developments in graphene oxide-based biosensors are presented. These biosensors are complexes of graphene oxide and biomacromolecules, including enzymes such as glucose oxidase, horseradish peroxidase, laccase, and nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA. The structure, design and preparation process (immobilization process) of the above graphene oxide-biomacromolecule composites were summarized. Some typical examples of immobilization of biological macromolecules are described. The immobilization efficiency and electrochemical performance of immobilized biomolecules based on graphene oxide were discussed, which may guide designing better graphene oxide-based biosensors

3D characterization of ultrasonic melt processing on the microstructural refinement of Al-Cu alloys by synchrotron X-ray tomography

The effect of ultrasonic melting processing on three-dimensional architecture of intermetallic phases and pores in two multicomponent cast Al-5.0Cu-0.6Mn-0.5 Fe alloys is characterized using conventional microscopy and synchrotron X-ray microtomography. The two alloys are found to contain intermetallic phases such as Al15(FeMn)3Cu2, Al7Cu2Fe, Al3(FeMn), Al6(FeMn), and Al2Cu that have complex networked morphology in 3D. The application of USP in alloys can obtained refined and equiaxed microstructures. The grain size of 0.5Fe and 1.0 Fe alloys is greatly decreased from 16.9 m, 15.8 m without USP to 13.3 m, 12.2 m with USP, respectively. The results show that USP significantly reduce the volume fraction, grain size, interconnectivity, and equivalent diameter of the intermetallic phases in both alloys. The volume fraction of pores in both alloys is reduced due to the USP degassing effect. The refinement mechanism of USP induced fragmentation of primary and secondary dendrites via acoustic bubbles and acoustic streaming flow were discussed.Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures

Sources, aging, and management of coastal plastics in Shanghai

To investigate the plastic sources and aging, the number and weight ratios of 4 main plastic categories, namely hard plastics, membranous plastics, fibrous plastics, and foam plastics in the Shanghai coast were determined. Aging of polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, and polystyrene includes the appearance of scratches and damage and even the forming of cracks and micropores. Composite packaging plastics were cracked from the external surface. Aging plastics showed new bands at around 1700 cm−1 for carbonyl functional groups, and 1000 cm−1 for C–O bonds, indicating the surface oxidation and adsorption of organic matter. The number of foam plastics was the highest among the different types of plastics, probably due to their lowest density. The sources of foam plastics varied because they are used in both the daily life of the city resident and ocean fishing and farming. This study provides scientific data for the management of Shanghai marine plasticsThis work was supported by the China Scholarship Council (202008310005), the Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning and Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Advanced Thermal Functional Material

CloudBrain-NMR: An Intelligent Cloud Computing Platform for NMR Spectroscopy Processing, Reconstruction and Analysis

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has served as a powerful analytical tool for studying molecular structure and dynamics in chemistry and biology. However, the processing of raw data acquired from NMR spectrometers and subsequent quantitative analysis involves various specialized tools, which necessitates comprehensive knowledge in programming and NMR. Particularly, the emerging deep learning tools is hard to be widely used in NMR due to the sophisticated setup of computation. Thus, NMR processing is not an easy task for chemist and biologists. In this work, we present CloudBrain-NMR, an intelligent online cloud computing platform designed for NMR data reading, processing, reconstruction, and quantitative analysis. The platform is conveniently accessed through a web browser, eliminating the need for any program installation on the user side. CloudBrain-NMR uses parallel computing with graphics processing units and central processing units, resulting in significantly shortened computation time. Furthermore, it incorporates state-of-the-art deep learning-based algorithms offering comprehensive functionalities that allow users to complete the entire processing procedure without relying on additional software. This platform has empowered NMR applications with advanced artificial intelligence processing. CloudBrain-NMR is openly accessible for free usage at https://csrc.xmu.edu.cn/CloudBrain.htmlComment: 11 pages, 13 figure

Role of glucose in the repair of cell membrane damage during squeeze distortion of erythrocytes in microfluidic capillaries

The rapid development of portable precision detection methods and the crisis of insufficient blood supply worldwide has led scientists to study mechanical visualization features beyond the biochemical properties of erythrocytes. Combined evaluation of currently known biochemical biomarkers and mechanical morphological biomarkers will become the mainstream of single-cell detection in the future. To explore the mechanical morphology of erythrocytes, a microfluidic capillary system was constructedin vitro, with flow velocity and glucose concentration as the main variables, and the morphology and ability of erythrocytes to recover from deformation as the main objects of analysis. We showed the mechanical distortion of erythrocytes under various experimental conditions. Our results showed that glucose plays important roles in improving the ability of erythrocytes to recover from deformation and in repairing the damage caused to the cell membrane during the repeated squeeze process. These protective effects were also confirmed inin vivoexperiments. Our results provide visual detection markers for single-cell chips and may be useful for future studies in cell aging

Ultrasound desquamation coupled with roasting transformation and magnetic separation for recycling cobalt, lithium and graphite from spent lithium cobaltate batteries

The development of electronics industries has produced a large number of spent lithium cobaltate batteries (LCBs), whose effective recycling can avoid environmental pollution and save valuable resources. At present, research on the recycling of spent LCBs mainly focuses on the pyrometallurgical and wet hydrometallurgical recycling of metals, while little research was conducted on the recycling of full parts and compositions. In this paper, by coupling thermal and ultrasonic treatment, sieving, sorting, carbothermic reduction, magnetic separation, filtration and concentration, spent LCBs were used to obtain plastic, printed circuit board, copper, aluminum, lithium carbonate, cobalt and graphite. Ultrasonic waves were used to peel off the electrode powders from electrodes foils, and the exfoliation rates of anode and cathode powders can reach 92.9 % and 97.1 %, respectively. The Co and Li were recovered by carbothermic reduction combined with wet magnetic separation, filtration and concentration, and recovery ratios reached 86.5 % and 81.1 %, respectively, with the molar ratio of lithium cobaltate and graphite at 6:18.3. The results of this study prove the possibility of recycling metal and graphite from spent LCBs with no additivesWe gratefully acknowledge China Ministry of Education Chunhui Programme (202200704) and Shanghai Pujiang Programme (23PJD039), Pudong Livelihood Project (PKJ2023-C01) and National Key Research and Development Plan Project (SQ2023YFE0102961)