EP4 and EP2 Receptor Activation of Protein Kinase A by Prostaglandin E 2 Impairs Macrophage Phagocytosis of Clostridium sordellii

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102186/1/aji12153.pd

Roles of ncRNAs in Ovarian Dysfunction of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disease in women of childbearing age. Many heterogeneous clinical manifestations of PCOS, including hyperandrogenism, obesity, insulin resistance, hirsutism, acne, chronic anovulation and infertility, seriously affected the quality of life of women worldwide and made it difficult to clearly demonstrate the specific pathophysiology. In recent years, large-scale studies have shown that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play an important role in the regulation of ovarian functions, which did not have the ability to encode proteins and could regulate hormone synthesis and germ cell development, differentiation, and apoptosis by silencing transposable elements and regulating coding genes. A number of researches by whole transcriptome sequencing of polycystic ovaries (PCO) from PCOS patients or PCOS model animals found that the abnormal expressions of many ncRNAs were involved in the regulation of ovarian dysfunctions of PCOS, including the development of oocytes, the microenvironment of follicular fluid, and the proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis of granulosa cells. The present review focused on the roles of ncRNAs in the PCO of PCOS, in order to provide a theoretical basis for further understanding of the molecular mechanisms of PCO formation in PCOS

Carrot and Stick: Inducing Self-Motivation with Positive & Negative Feedback

Positive thinking is thought to be an important component of self-motivation in various practical fields such as education and the workplace. Previous work, including sentiment transfer and positive reframing, has focused on the positive side of language. However, self-motivation that drives people to reach their goals has not yet been studied from a computational perspective. Moreover, negative feedback has not yet been explored, even though positive and negative feedback are both necessary to grow self-motivation. To facilitate self-motivation, we propose CArrot and STICk (CASTIC) dataset, consisting of 12,590 sentences with 5 different strategies for enhancing self-motivation. Our data and code are publicly available at here.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Effect of enzymatically produced tuna oil acylglycerol on the characteristics of gelatin O/W emulsion during microencapsulation using complex coacervation

Complex coacervation is an effective process to deliver ingredients for functional food applications. A stable oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion with desired characteristics significantly affects the complex coacervation and the quality of final microcapsules. In this study, tuna oil was partially hydrolyzed using TL100 and ADL lipases to produce acylglycerols TL100-AC and ADL-AC, respectively. These lipids were subsequently stabilized by gelatin in the O/W emulsion, followed by the complex coacervation with sodium hexametaphosphate. The effect of lipids on emulsion properties, such as interfacial properties, rheological properties, protein conformation and microcapsule formation during complex coacervation, was investigated. Compared with tuna oil-based emulsion, acylglycerol-based ones exhibited reduced droplet size (75%). These changes were beneficial to the formation of coagulant and flocculant so that gelatin-stabilized acylglycerol-based O/W emulsion resulted in improved complex coacervation between gelatin and sodium hexametaphosphate. This study provides a scientific basis for designing specific gelatin O/W emulsions and microencapsulation for the stabilization and delivery of omega-3 fatty acids

An adaptive forecasting method for the aggregated load with pattern matching

Electrical load forecasting plays a vital role in the operation of power system. In this paper, a novel adaptive short-term load forecasting method for the aggregated load is built. The proposed method consists of two stages: load forecast model preparation stage and adaptive load forecast model selection stage. In the first stage, based on historical load data of all consumers, the typical monthly load patterns are firstly identified in an optimal fashion with the aid of the cosine similarity. Then, for each identified monthly load pattern, a stacking ensemble learning method is proposed to train the load forecasting model. In the second stage, according to the similarity between individual load data of the latest month and the identified monthly load pattern, all the consumers are firstly classified into different groups where each group corresponds to a particular load pattern. Then, for each group, the corresponding trained load forecasting model is employed for short-term load forecast and the final forecast of the aggregated load is calculated as a simple aggregation of the produced load forecast for each group of consumers. Case studies conducted on open dataset show that, compared with the single forecasting model, the proposed adaptive load forecasting method can effectively improve the load forecasting accuracy

Engineered biomimetic cisplatin-polyphenol nanocomplex for chemo-immunotherapy of glioblastoma by inducing pyroptosis

© 2025. The Author(s).Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is characterized by pronounced immune escape and resistance to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Preliminary investigations revealed a marked overexpression of gasdermin E (GSDME) in GBM. Notably, cisplatin (CDDP) demonstrated a capacity of inducing pyroptosis by activating caspase-3 to cleave GSDME, coupled with the release of proinflammatory factors, indicating the potential as a viable approach of inducing anti-tumor immune activation. For the effective delivery of CDDP, the CDDP-polyphenol nanocomplexes were prepared, and catalase and copper ions were incorporated to fortify structural integrity, enhance glutathione (GSH) responsiveness, and ameliorate tumor hypoxia. Additionally, BV2 microglial cells were engineered to overexpress programmed death-1 (PD-1), and the membrane is employed for nanocomplex coating, effectively blocking the CDDP-induced upregulation of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1). Furthermore, the angiopep-2 peptide was modified to efficiently cross the blood brain barrier and specifically target GBM cells. In vitro analyses confirmed potent cytotoxicity and characteristic induction of pyroptosis. In vivo assays corroborated the enhancement of tumor targeting, culminating in an obvious suppression of tumor proliferation. A notable activation of immune cells was observed within tumors and lymph nodes, indicative of a synergistic effect of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, underscoring its potential as a safe and efficacious therapeutic strategy against GBM.publishersversionpublishe

IL-1β-induced activation of p38 promotes metastasis in gastric adenocarcinoma via upregulation of AP-1/c-fos, MMP2 and MMP9

BACKGROUND: Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) has been implicated in the progression of gastric adenocarcinoma (GA); however, the molecular mechanisms of action of IL-1β in GA are poorly characterized. P38 and JNK are the major MAPK family members that regulate IL-1β signaling pathways. Here, we investigated the role of both p38 and JNK in IL-1β-induced GA cell migration, invasion and metastatic potential. METHODS: The effects of IL-1β-induced p38 and JNK activation in GA cells were determined using in vitro Transwell migration and invasion assays of MKN-45 and AGS cells, or an in vivo metastasis assay in nude mice. The IL-1β-induced p38 signaling pathway was further characterized in GA cells. Activation of the IL-1β/p38 signaling pathway was also assessed in human primary GA tissues by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: IL-1β-induced activation of p38 increased GA cell migration and invasion in vitro and promoted the metastatic potential of GA cells in vivo; these effects were attenuated by p38 siRNA or the p38 inhibitor SB202190. MMP2 or MMP9 siRNAs and the MMP2/9 inhibitor BiPS also inhibited IL-1β-induced GA cell migration and invasion in vitro. IL-1β-induced p38 activation significantly increased MMP2 and MMP9 mRNA and protein expression and activity. Luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that the activator protein-1 (AP-1) and the AP-1 binding sites of the MMP9 promoter (−670/MMP9) were activated by IL-1β-induced p38 activation. Phospho-p38 was significantly upregulated in human GA tissues (compared to matched non-neoplastic tissues), and significantly associated with lymph node metastasis, and invasion beyond the serosa. Expression of phospho-p38 significantly correlated with IL-1β, MMP2, MMP9, and c-fos expression in both human GA tissues and GA cell metastases in the lungs of nude mice. IL-1β was also capable of activating JNK in GA cells, but activation of JNK was not associated with GA cell migration and invasion. Therefore, IL-1β-induced the migration and invasion in GA cells were regulated by p38, but not by JNK. CONCLUSIONS: IL-1β-induced p38 activation and the IL-1β/p38/AP-1(c-fos)/MMP2 & MMP9 pathway play an important role in metastasis in GA; this pathway may provide a novel therapeutic target for GA

Soil temperatures and active carbon components as key drivers of C stock dynamics between two different stand ages of <i>Larix principis-rupprechtii</i> plantation

Forest soils sequester a large amount of carbon (C) and have a significant effect on the global C balance. Forests are commonly managed to maintain certain age structures but the effects of this management on soil C pools (kg C m−2) is still uncertain. We compared 40-year-old (1GF) and 24-year-old (2GF) plantations of Larix principis-rupprechtii in North China. Specifically, we measured environmental factors (e.g., soil temperature, moisture, and pH), the active C and nitrogen (N) pools (e.g., soil organic C, soil total N, dissolved organic C and N, microbial biomass C and N), and soil processes (e.g., C mineralization and microbial activity in different seasons) in five soil layers (0–50 cm, 10 cm for each soil layer) across the growing seasons in three 25 m × 25 m plots in each age class (1GF and 2GF). Findings indicated that the soil organic C pool in the older 1GF forest (12.43 kg C m−2) was significantly higher than 2GF forests (9.56 kg C m−2), and that soil temperature in 1GF forests was 9.8 °C, on average, 2.9% warmer than temperature in 2GF forests. The C lost as carbon dioxide (CO2) as a result of mineralization in the 2GF plots may partly explain the lower soil organic C pool in these younger forests; microorganisms likely drive this process.</jats:p