Patterned nanofiber air filters with high optical transparency, robust mechanical strength, and effective PM_(2.5) capture capability

PM_(2.5), due to its small particle size, strong activity, ease of the attachment of toxic substances and long residence time in the atmosphere, has a great impact on human health and daily production. In this work, we have presented patterned nanofiber air filters with high optical transparency, robust mechanical strength and effective PM_(2.5) capture capability. Here, to fabricate a transparency air filter by a facile electrospinning method, we chose three kinds of patterned wire meshes with micro-structures as negative receiver substrates and directly electrospun polymer fibers onto the supporting meshes. Compared with randomly oriented nanofibers (named “RO NFs” in this paper) and commercially available facemasks, the patterned air filters showed great mechanical properties, and the water contact angles on their surfaces were about 122–143° (the water contact angle for RO NFs was 81°). In addition, the patterned nanofibers exhibited high porosity (>80%), and their mean pore size was about 0.5838–0.8686 μm (the mean pore size of RO NFs was 0.4374 μm). The results indicate that the transparent patterned air filters have the best PM_(2.5) filtration efficiency of 99.99% at a high transmittance of ∼69% under simulated haze pollution

Patterned nanofiber air filters with high optical transparency, robust mechanical strength, and effective PM_(2.5) capture capability

PM_(2.5), due to its small particle size, strong activity, ease of the attachment of toxic substances and long residence time in the atmosphere, has a great impact on human health and daily production. In this work, we have presented patterned nanofiber air filters with high optical transparency, robust mechanical strength and effective PM_(2.5) capture capability. Here, to fabricate a transparency air filter by a facile electrospinning method, we chose three kinds of patterned wire meshes with micro-structures as negative receiver substrates and directly electrospun polymer fibers onto the supporting meshes. Compared with randomly oriented nanofibers (named “RO NFs” in this paper) and commercially available facemasks, the patterned air filters showed great mechanical properties, and the water contact angles on their surfaces were about 122–143° (the water contact angle for RO NFs was 81°). In addition, the patterned nanofibers exhibited high porosity (>80%), and their mean pore size was about 0.5838–0.8686 μm (the mean pore size of RO NFs was 0.4374 μm). The results indicate that the transparent patterned air filters have the best PM_(2.5) filtration efficiency of 99.99% at a high transmittance of ∼69% under simulated haze pollution

Fiber‐specific regulation of lignin biosynthesis improves biomass quality in Populus

Lignin is a major component of cell wall biomass and decisively affects biomass utilisation. Engineering of lignin biosynthesis is extensively studied, while lignin modification often causes growth defects. We developed a strategy for cell‐type‐specific modification of lignin to achieve improvements in cell wall property without growth penalty. We targeted a lignin‐related transcription factor, LTF1, for modification of lignin biosynthesis. LTF1 can be engineered to a nonphosphorylation form which is introduced into Populus under the control of either a vessel‐specific or fibre‐specific promoter. The transgenics with lignin suppression in vessels showed severe dwarfism and thin‐walled vessels, while the transgenics with lignin suppression in fibres displayed vigorous growth with normal vessels under phytotron, glasshouse and field conditions. In‐depth lignin structural analyses revealed that such cell‐type‐specific downregulation of lignin biosynthesis led to the alteration of overall lignin composition in xylem tissues reflecting the population of distinctive lignin polymers produced in vessel and fibre cells. This study demonstrates that fibre‐specific suppression of lignin biosynthesis resulted in the improvement of wood biomass quality and saccharification efficiency and presents an effective strategy to precisely regulate lignin biosynthesis with desired growth performance

Staphylococcus aureus increases Prostaglandin E2 secretion in cow neutrophils by activating TLR2, TLR4, and NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathways

IntroductionIn clinical settings, dairy cows are often attacked by pathogenic bacteria after delivery, especially Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Neutrophils have long been regarded as essential for host defense against S. aureus. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) can additionally be used as an inflammatory mediator in pathological conditions to promote the repair of inflammatory injuries. However, whether S. aureus can promote the accumulation of PGE2 after the infection of neutrophils in cows and its mechanism remain unclear. Lipoprotein is an important immune bioactive ingredient of S. aureus.MethodsIn this study, the changes in neutrophils were monitored in dairy cows infected with wild-type S. aureus (SA113) and an S. aureus lipoprotein-deficient strain (Δlgt); meanwhile, we established whether pattern recognition receptors mediate this process and whether S. aureus lipoproteins are necessary for causing the release of PGE2 from cow neutrophils.ResultsThe results showed that Δlgt was less effective than SA113 in inducing the production of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and PGE2 within neutrophils; furthermore, TLR2, TLR4, and NLRP3 receptors were found to mediate the inducible effect of lipoprotein on the above inflammation mediators and cytokines, which depended on MAPK and Caspase-1 signaling pathways. In addition, TLR2, TLR4, and NLRP3 inhibitors significantly inhibited PGE2 and cytokine secretion, and PGE2 was involved in the interaction of S. aureus and neutrophils in dairy cows, which could be regulated by TLR2, TLR4, and NLRP3 receptors. We also found that S. aureus was more likely to be killed by neutrophils when it lacked lipoprotein and TLR2, TLR4, and NLRP3 were involved, but PGE2 seemed to have no effect.DiscussionTaken together, these results suggest that lipoprotein is a crucial component of S. aureus in inducing cytokine secretion by neutrophils as well as killing within neutrophils, which could be accomplished by the accumulation of PGE2 by activating MAPK and the Caspase-1 signaling pathways through TLR2, TLR4, and NLRP3 receptors. These results will contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between S. aureus and host immune cells in dairy cows

Identification and characterization of bone/cartilage-associated signatures in common fibrotic skin diseases

Background: Fibrotic skin diseases are characterized by excessive accumulation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and activation of fibroblasts, leading to a global healthcare burden. However, effective treatments of fibrotic skin diseases remain limited, and their pathological mechanisms require further investigation. This study aims to investigate the common biomarkers and therapeutic targets in two major fibrotic skin diseases, namely, keloid and systemic sclerosis (SSc), by bioinformatics analysis.Methods: The keloid (GSE92566) and SSc (GSE95065) datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, followed by functional enrichment analysis using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). We then constructed a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network for the identification of hub genes. We explored the possibility of further functional enrichment analysis of hub genes on the Metascape, GeneMANIA, and TissueNexus platforms. Transcription factor (TF)–hub gene and miRNA–hub gene networks were established using NetworkAnalyst. We fixed GSE90051 and GSE76855 as the external validation datasets. Student’s t-test and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used for candidate hub gene validation. Hub gene expression was assessed in vitro by quantitative real-time PCR.Results: A total of 157 overlapping DEGs (ODEGs) were retrieved from the GSE92566 and GSE95065 datasets, and five hub genes (COL11A1, COL5A2, ASPN, COL10A1, and COMP) were identified and validated. Functional studies revealed that hub genes were predominantly enriched in bone/cartilage-related and collagen-related processes. FOXC1 and miR-335-5p were predicted to be master regulators at both transcriptional and post‐transcriptional levels.Conclusion: COL11A1, COL5A2, ASPN, COL10A1, and COMP may help understand the pathological mechanism of the major fibrotic skin diseases; moreover, FOXC1 and miR-355-5p could build a regulatory network in keloid and SSc

Internal Geometric Quality Improvement of Optical Remote Sensing Satellite Images with Image Reorientation

When the in-orbit geometric calibration of optical satellite cameras is not performed in a precise or timely manner, optical remote sensing satellite images (ORSSIs) are produced with inaccurate camera parameters. The internal orientation (IO) biases of ORSSIs caused by inaccurate camera parameters show a discontinuous distorted characteristic and cannot be compensated by a simple orientation model. The internal geometric quality of ORSSIs will, therefore, be worse than expected. In this study, from the ORSSI users’ perspective, a feasible internal geometric quality improvement method is presented for ORSSIs with image reorientation. In the presented method, a sensor orientation model, an external orientation (EO) model, and an IO model are successively established. Then, the EO and IO model parameters are estimated with ground control points. Finally, the original image is reoriented with the estimated IO model parameters. Ten HaiYang-1C coastal zone imager (CZI) images, a ZiYuan-3 02 nadir image, a GaoFen-1B panchromatic image, and a GaoFen-1D panchromatic image, were tested. The experimental results showed that the IO biases of ORSSIs caused by inaccurate camera parameters could be effectively eliminated with the presented method. The IO accuracies of all the tested images were improved to better than 1.0 pixel