Major Traditional Probiotics: Comparative Genomic Analyses and Roles in Gut Microbiome of Eight Cohorts

Modulating gut microbiota to promote host health is well recognized. Therefore, people consume dietary products containing traditional probiotics in wishing to improve their health, and they need more research-based advices on how to select products with suitable probiotic species. Probiotic designers are sometimes confused about how to design precision products for different consumers by taking advantages of different probiotic species’ strengths. Additionally, large-scale analyses on traditional probiotic complementarity potentials and their roles in gut microbiome related to common diseases are not well understood. Here, we comprehensively analyzed 444 genomes of major traditional probiotic (sub) species (MTPS, n = 15) by combining one newly sequenced genome with all of the public NCBI-available MTPS-related genomes. The public human fecal metagenomic data (n = 1,815) of eight cohorts were used to evaluate the roles of MTPS, compared to other main gut bacteria, in disease association by examining the species enrichment direction in disease group or the control group. Our work provided a comprehensive genetic landscape and complementarity relations for MTPS and shed light on personalized probiotic supplements for consumers with different health status and the necessity that researchers and manufactures could explore novel probiotics as well as traditional ones

LncRNA-mediated cartilage homeostasis in osteoarthritis: a narrative review

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease of cartilage that affects the quality of life and has increased in morbidity and mortality in recent years. Cartilage homeostasis and dysregulation are thought to be important mechanisms involved in the development of OA. Many studies suggest that lncRNAs are involved in cartilage homeostasis in OA and that lncRNAs can be used to diagnose or treat OA. Among the existing therapeutic regimens, lncRNAs are involved in drug-and nondrug-mediated therapeutic mechanisms and are expected to improve the mechanism of adverse effects or drug resistance. Moreover, targeted lncRNA therapy may also prevent or treat OA. The purpose of this review is to summarize the links between lncRNAs and cartilage homeostasis in OA. In addition, we review the potential applications of lncRNAs at multiple levels of adjuvant and targeted therapies. This review highlights that targeting lncRNAs may be a novel therapeutic strategy for improving and modulating cartilage homeostasis in OA patients

Roadmap on commercialization of metal halide perovskite photovoltaics

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) represent one of the most promising emerging photovoltaic technologies due to their high power conversion efficiency. However, despite the huge progress made not only in terms of the efficiency achieved, but also fundamental understanding of the relevant physics of the devices and issues which affect their efficiency and stability, there are still unresolved problems and obstacles on the path toward commercialization of this promising technology. In this roadmap, we aim to provide a concise and up to date summary of outstanding issues and challenges, and the progress made toward addressing these issues. While the format of this article is not meant to be a comprehensive review of the topic, it provides a collection of the viewpoints of the experts in the field, which covers a broad range of topics related to PSC commercialization, including those relevant for manufacturing (scaling up, different types of devices), operation and stability (various factors), and environmental issues (in particular the use of lead). We hope that the article will provide a useful resource for researchers in the field and that it will facilitate discussions and move forward toward addressing the outstanding challenges in this fast-developing field

Transformer-Based Multi-Modal Data Fusion Method for COPD Classification and Physiological and Biochemical Indicators Identification

As the number of modalities in biomedical data continues to increase, the significance of multi-modal data becomes evident in capturing complex relationships between biological processes, thereby complementing disease classification. However, the current multi-modal fusion methods for biomedical data require more effective exploitation of intra- and inter-modal interactions, and the application of powerful fusion methods to biomedical data is relatively rare. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-modal data fusion method that addresses these limitations. Our proposed method utilizes a graph neural network and a 3D convolutional network to identify intra-modal relationships. By doing so, we can extract meaningful features from each modality, preserving crucial information. To fuse information from different modalities, we employ the Low-rank Multi-modal Fusion method, which effectively integrates multiple modalities while reducing noise and redundancy. Additionally, our method incorporates the Cross-modal Transformer to automatically learn relationships between different modalities, facilitating enhanced information exchange and representation. We validate the effectiveness of our proposed method using lung CT imaging data and physiological and biochemical data obtained from patients diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Our method demonstrates superior performance compared to various fusion methods and their variants in terms of disease classification accuracy

Oleoylethanolamide Protects against Acute Ischemic Stroke by Promoting PPARα-Mediated Microglia/Macrophage M2 Polarization

Oleoylethanolamide (OEA) has been demonstrated to be a feasible protectant in ischemic stroke. However, the mechanism for OEA-afforded neuroprotection remains elusive. The present study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effects of OEA on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα)-mediated microglia M2 polarization after cerebral ischemia. Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) was induced for 1 h in wild-type (WT) or PPARα-knock-out (KO) mice. Mouse small glioma cells (BV2) microglia and primary microglia cultures were used to evaluate the direct effect of OEA on microglia. A coculture system was used to further elucidate the effect of OEA on microglial polarization and ischemic neurons’ fate. OEA promoted the microglia switch from an inflammatory M1 phenotype to the protective M2 phenotype and enhanced the binding of PPARα with the arginase1 (Arg1) and Ym1 promoter in WT mice but not in KO mice after MCAO. Notably, the increased M2 microglia caused by OEA treatment were strongly linked to neuron survival after ischemic stroke. In vitro studies confirmed that OEA shifted BV2 microglia from (lipopolysaccharide) LPS-induced M1-like to M2-like phenotype through PPARα. Additionally, the activation of PPARα in primary microglia by OEA led to an M2 protective phenotype that enhanced neuronal survival against oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) in the coculture systems. Our findings demonstrate the novel effects of OEA in enhancing microglia M2 polarization to protect neighboring neurons by activating the PPARα signal, which is a new mechanism of OEA against cerebral ischemic injury. Therefore, OEA might be a promising therapeutic drug for stroke and targeting PPARα-mediated M2 microglia may represent a new strategy to treat ischemic stroke

F‐Doped Carbon Nanoparticles‐Based Nucleation Assistance for Fast and Uniform Three‐Dimensional Zn Deposition

Abstract Aqueous Zn metal‐based batteries have considerable potential as energy storage system; however, their application is extremely limited by dendrite development and poor reversibility. In this study, to overcome both challenges, F‐doped carbon nanoparticles (FCNPs) are uniformly constructed on substrates (Ti, Zn, Cu, and steel) by a plasma‐assisted surface modification, which endows reversible and uniform deposition of Zn metal. FCNPs with high surface charge density act as nucleation assistors and form numerous homogenous Zn nucleation sites toward Zn 3D growth, which improves Zn plating kinetic and results in uniform Zn deposition. Furthermore, the ZnF2 solid electrolyte interface generated during cycling contributes to rapid mass transfer and enhances Zn reversibility, but also suppresses the side reaction. Accordingly, the half‐cell of P‐Ti coupled with Zn exhibits an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.47% with 500 cycles. The symmetric cell of the P‐Zn anode presents a lifespan of over 1500 h at the current density of 5 mA cm−2. Notably, the cell works for 100 h at 50 mA cm−2. It is believed that this ingenious surface modification broadens revolutionary methods for uniform metallic deposition, as well as the dendrite‐free rechargeable batteries system

Reversible Zn/polymer heterogeneous anode

Abstract Commercialization of Zn‐metal anodes with low cost and high theoretical capacity is hindered by the poor reversibility caused by dendrites growth, side reactions, and the slow Zn2+‐transport and reaction kinetics. Herein, a reversible heterogeneous electrode of Zn‐nanocrystallites/polyvinyl‐phosphonic acrylamide (Zn/PPAm) with fast electrochemical kinetics is designed for the first time: phosphonic acid groups with strong polarity and chelation effect ensure structural reversibility and stability of the three‐dimensional Zn‐storage‐host PPAm network and the Zn/PPAm hybrid; hydrophobic carbon chains suppress side reactions such as hydrogen evolution and corrosion; weak electron‐donating amide groups constitute Zn2+‐transport channels and promote “desolvation” and “solvation” effects of Zn2+ by dragging the PPAm network on the Zn‐metal surface to compress/stretch during Zn plating/stripping, respectively; and the heterostructure and Zn nanocrystallites suppress dendrite growth and enhance electrochemical reactivity, respectively. Thus, the Zn/PPAm electrode shows cycle reversibility of over 6000 h with a hysteresis voltage as low as 31 mV in symmetrical cells and excellent durability and flexibility in fiber‐shaped batteries

Exopolysaccharides of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis E4 on the immune and anti-inflammatory effects in vitro

Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are biological macromolecules produced by Bifidobacterium to the outside of the cell wall during growth and metabolism. The EPS of Bifidobacterium have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities and could regulate the immune system. In this study, the Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis E4 (B. infantis E4) has 21 specific genes for carbohydrate transport and metabolism compared with other 12 strains of B. infantis and could produce exopolysaccharides. The average molecular weights of EPS-1, EPS-2 and EPS-3 were 2.68 × 104, 3.79 × 104 and 4.72 × 104 Da, respectively. The EPS-1 mainly comprised of 7 kinds of monosaccharide, and EPS-2 and EPS-3 mainly comprised of 8 kinds of monosaccharide. The immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties of EPS-1, EPS-2 and EPS-3 on RAW264.7 cells, spleen lymphocytes and NK cells of mouse were investigated in vitro of this study. EPS-1, EPS-2 and EPS-3 promoted the growth and increased phagocytic index of macrophage RAW264.7 at the concentration of 100 μg/mL. Subsequently, EPS-1, EPS-2 and EPS-3 groups were found to increase splenic lymphocyte proliferation and NK cell activity. Compared with the LPS group, EPS-1, EPS-2 and EPS-3 reduced the production of NO, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and PGE-2 in RAW264.7 cells after in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced, with EPS-1 having the best effect. Meanwhile, EPS-1, EPS-2 and EPS-3 down-regulated the expression levels of LPS-induced NF-κβ signaling pathway-related genes p-p65, p-Iκβ, iNOS, COX-2 and reduced the nuclear translocation of p65 protein in RAW264.7 cells. In conclusion, our study suggested that EPS produced by B. infantis E4 has immunostimulatory and anti-inflammatory activities and may serve as a potential prebiotic to maintain future health