Trace elements accumulation in the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) - A threat to the endangered freshwater cetacean

As a freshwater cetacean with a population of only approximately 1000 individuals, the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) is threatened by water pollution. However, studies of contaminants accumulated in the Yangtze finless porpoise remain limited. In this study, concentrations of 11 trace elements in different tissues sampled from 38 Yangtze finless porpoise individuals were determined. The elements V, Ni, Zn, and Pb were mostly accumulated in the epidermis, Cr, Mn, Cu, Se, and Hg were mostly accumulated in the liver, while As and Cd were mostly accumulated in the blubber and kidney, respectively. The results show that trace elements concentrations in the epidermis do not reliably indicate concentrations in internal tissues of the Yangtze finless porpoises. Positive correlations between different trace elements concentrations in tissues with the highest concentrations suggested the similar mechanism of metabolism or uptake pathway of those elements. Concentrations of As, Se, Cd, Hg, and Pb in the tissues with the highest concentrations were significantly positively correlated with the body length. Furthermore, significantly higher trace elements concentrations were measured in the reproductive organs of females (ovaries) than males (testis). However, no significant difference of trace elements concentrations between habitats was found. In consideration of higher Hg and Cd level in Yangtze finless porpoises compared to other small cetaceans, the potential risk of Hg (in particular) and Cd toxicity to Yangtze finless porpoises needs further attention. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.</p

Resource Allocation in the Cognitive Radio Network-Aided Internet of Things for the Cyber-Physical-Social System: An Efficient Jaya Algorithm

Currently, there is a growing demand for the use of communication network bandwidth for the Internet of Things (IoT) within the cyber-physical-social system (CPSS), while needing progressively more powerful technologies for using scarce spectrum resources. Then, cognitive radio networks (CRNs) as one of those important solutions mentioned above, are used to achieve IoT effectively. Generally, dynamic resource allocation plays a crucial role in the design of CRN-aided IoT systems. Aiming at this issue, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been identified as one of the successful technologies, which works with a multi-carrier parallel radio transmission strategy. In this article, through the use of swarm intelligence paradigm, a solution approach is accordingly proposed by employing an efficient Jaya algorithm, called PA-Jaya, to deal with the power allocation problem in cognitive OFDM radio networks for IoT. Because of the algorithm-specific parameter-free feature in the proposed PA-Jaya algorithm, a satisfactory computational performance could be achieved in the handling of this problem. For this optimization problem with some constraints, the simulation results show that compared with some popular algorithms, the efficiency of spectrum utilization could be further improved by using PA-Jaya algorithm with faster convergence speed, while maximizing the total transmission rate

The SNP rs961253 in 20p12.3 Is Associated with Colorectal Cancer Risk: A Case-Control Study and a Meta-Analysis of the Published Literature

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third common cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs961253 located in 20p12, was firstly described to be associated with the increased risk of CRC in a genome-wide association study; however, more recent replication studies yielded controversial results. Methodology/Principal Findings: A hospital-based case-control study in a Chinese population was firstly performed, and then a meta-analysis combining the current and previously published studies were conducted to explore the real effect of rs961253 in CRC susceptibility. In the Chinese population including 641 cases and 1037 controls, per-A-allele conferred an OR of 1.60 (95 % CI = 1.26–2.02) under additive model. In the meta-analysis including 29859 cases and 29696 controls, per-Aallele have an OR of 1.13 (95 % CI = 1.09–1.18) under a random-effects model due to heterogeneity (P = 0.019). Nevertheless, the heterogeneity can be totally explained by ethnicity, with the tau 2 reduced to 0 after including ethnicity in metaregression model. In stratified analysis by ethnicity, per-A-allele had ORs of 1.34 (95 % CI = 1.20–1.50) and 1.11 (95% CI = 1.08–1.14) for Asian and European, respectively, without heterogeneity. Modest influence of each study was observed on overall estimate in sensitive analysis, and evident tendency to significant association was seen in cumulative analysis over time, together indicating the robust stability of the current results

Identifying the Species of Seeds in Traditional Chinese Medicine Using DNA Barcoding

Seed is not only the main reproductive organ of most of herbal plants but also an important part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Seed TCMs possess important medicinal properties and have been widely used as components of pharmaceutical products. In parallel with the increasing popularity and accessibility of seeds as medicinal products in recent years, numerous substitutes and adulterants have also appeared on the market. Due to the small volume and similar appearances of many seed TCMs, they are very difficult to accurately identify the constituent plant species through organoleptic methods. Usage of the wrong herb may be ineffective or may worsen the condition and even cause death. Correct identification of seed herbal medicines is therefore essential for their safe use. Here, we acquired 177 ITS2 sequences and 15 psbA-trnH sequences from 51 kinds of seed TCMs belonging to 64 species that have been described in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Tree-building analysis showed that the ITS2 sequences of 48 seed TCMs can be differentiated from each other, and they formed distinct, non-overlapping groups in the maximum-likelihood tree. Furthermore, all of the sequences acquired in this study have been submitted to the public DNA barcoding system for herbal medicine, and this integrated database was used to identify 400 seed TCM samples purchased from medicinal markets, drug stores, and the Internet, enabling the identification of 7.5% of the samples as containing non-declared species. This study provides a brief operating procedure for the identification of seed TCMs found in herbal medicine. In the future, researchers and traditional herbal medicine enterprises can use this system to test their herbal materials

An investigation on border traps in III-V MOSFETs with an In0.53Ga0.47As channel

Continuing CMOS performance scaling requires developing MOSFETs of high-mobility semiconductors and InGaAs is a strong candidate for n-channel. InGaAs MOSFETs, however, suffer from high densities of border traps, and their origin and impact on device characteristics are poorly understood at present. In this paper, the border traps in nMOSFETs with an In0.53Ga0.47As channel and Al2O3 gate oxide are investigated using the discharging-based energy profiling technique. By analyzing the trap energy distributions after charging under different gate biases, two types of border traps together with their energy distributions are identified. Their different dependences on temperature and charging time support that they have different physical origins. The impact of channel thickness on them is also discussed. Identifying and understanding these different types of border traps can assist in the future process optimization. Moreover, border trap study can yield crucial information for long-term reliability modeling and device timeto-failure projection

Caspase-11–mediated endothelial pyroptosis underlies endotoxemia-induced lung injury

Acute lung injury is a leading cause of death in bacterial sepsis due to the wholesale destruction of the lung endothelial barrier, which results in protein-rich lung edema, influx of proinflammatory leukocytes, and intractable hypoxemia. Pyroptosis is a form of programmed lytic cell death that is triggered by inflammatory caspases, but little is known about its role in EC death and acute lung injury. Here, we show that systemic exposure to the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) causes severe endothelial pyroptosis that is mediated by the inflammatory caspases, human caspases 4/5 in human ECs, or the murine homolog caspase-11 in mice in vivo. In caspase-11–deficient mice, BM transplantation with WT hematopoietic cells did not abrogate endotoxemia-induced acute lung injury, indicating a central role for nonhematopoietic caspase-11 in endotoxemia. Additionally, conditional deletion of caspase-11 in ECs reduced endotoxemia-induced lung edema, neutrophil accumulation, and death. These results establish the requisite role of endothelial pyroptosis in endotoxemic tissue injury and suggest that endothelial inflammatory caspases are an important therapeutic target for acute lung injury

Spread of Streptococcus suis Sequence Type 7, China

Streptococcus suis sequence type (ST) 7 has been spreading throughout China. To determine events associated with its emergence, we tested 114 isolates. In all 106 ST7 strains responsible for human outbreaks and sporadic infections, the tetracycline-resistance gene, tetM, was detected on the conjugative transposon Tn916. Horizontal transmission of tetM is suspected

Effect of magnesium sulfate on cerebral vasospasm in the treatment of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a systematic review and meta-analysis

IntroductionThe use of magnesium sulfate for treating aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) has shown inconsistent results across studies. To assess the impact of magnesium sulfate on outcomes after aSAH, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of relevant randomized controlled trials.MethodsPubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for relevant literature on magnesium sulfate for aSAH from database inception to March 20, 2023. The primary outcome was cerebral vasospasm (CV), and secondary outcomes included delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI), secondary cerebral infarction, rebleeding, neurological dysfunction, and mortality.ResultsOf the 558 identified studies, 16 comprising 3,503 patients were eligible and included in the analysis. Compared with control groups (saline or standard treatment), significant differences were reported in outcomes of CV [odds ratio (OR) = 0.61, p = 0.04, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.37–0.99)], DCI [OR = 0.57, p = 0.01, 95% CI (0.37–0.88)], secondary cerebral infarction [OR = 0.49, p = 0.01, 95% CI (0.27–0.87)] and neurological dysfunction [OR = 0.55, p = 0.04, 95% CI (0.32–0.96)] after magnesium sulfate administration, with no significant differences detected in mortality [OR = 0.92, p = 0.47, 95% CI (0.73–1.15)] and rebleeding [OR = 0.68, p = 0.55, 95% CI (0.19–2.40)] between the two groups.ConclusionThe superiority of magnesium sulfate over standard treatments for CV, DCI, secondary cerebral infarction, and neurological dysfunction in patients with aSAH was demonstrated. Further randomized trials are warranted to validate these findings with increased sample sizes