Effects of MTG and GSH on Human Sperm Motility and DNA Integrity during Vitrification in the Presence of Trehalose

Limited information exists about the effects of antioxidants on sperm motility and DNA integrity during vitrification in humans. This study compared the effects of reduced glutathione (GSH) and monothioglycerol (MTG) at different concentrations on post-thaw sperm motility and DNA integrity after vitrification in humans using 0.25 M trehalose as a cryoprotective agent, and found that supplementation of MTG or GSH at 0.5 mM resulted in significantly higher (P < 0.05) recovery rates of post-thaw total and progressive motilities. GSH was more powerful than MTG at the same concentration in cryoprotecting sperm motility (38.9% ± 3.6% vs 32.8% ± 2.4% compared to the control 26.8% ± 2.1% in recovery rate of progressive motility), but both had no significant influence on sperm DNA integrity during vitrification. It was concluded that sperm motility is more sensitive to oxidative stress during vitrification than sperm nuclear DNA, and supplementation of MTG or GSH in vitrification medium is beneficial in cryoprotecting sperm motility.

Non-coding RNA as future target for diagnose and treatment of perineural invasion in cancers

Perineural invasion(PNI),a particularly insidious form of tumor metastasis distinct from hematogenous or lymphatic spread,has the capacity to extend well beyond the primary tumor site,infiltrating distant regions devoid of lymphatic or vascular structures.PNI often heralds a decrease in patient survival rates and is recognized as an indicator of an unfavorable prognosis across a variety of cancers.Despite its clinical significance,the underlying molecular mechanisms of PNI remain elusive,complicating the development of specific and efficacious diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.In the realm of cancer research,non-coding RNAs(ncRNAs)have attracted considerable attention due to their multifaceted roles and cancer-specific expression profiles,positioning them as promising candidates for applications in cancer diagnostics,prognostics,and treatment.Among the various types of ncRNAs,microRNAs(miRNAs),long non-coding RNAs(lncRNAs),and circular RNAs(circRNAs)have emerged as influential players in PNI.Their involvement is increasingly recognized as a contributing factor to tumor progression and therapeutic resistance.Our study synthesizes and explores the diverse functions and mechanisms of ncRNAs in relation to PNI in cancer.This comprehensive review aims to shed light on cutting-edge perspectives that could pave the way for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to address the challenges posed by PNI in oncology.

Exploration of a Three-Stage Blended Teaching Model for the Medical Microbiology Course in the Context of Smart Education

Objective:This study explores the effectiveness of a three-stage blended teaching model in the Medical Microbiology course for Clinical Medicine students within the context of smart education.Methods:Clinical Medicine students from the 2021 and 2022 classes were studied,comparing the traditional and three-stage blended teaching models.Academic performance and survey feedback were analyzed.Results:The research group’s academic performance,including daily,final exam,and average scores,was significantly higher than the control group(P<0.05).Over 95%of students approved of the new teaching model,noting improvements in competencies.Conclusion:The three-stage blended teaching model effectively boosted student engagement,interaction,academic performance,and overall skills,showing potential for broader application in medical education.

An Overview and Experimental Study of Learning-Based Optimization Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing Problem

The vehicle routing problem(VRP)is a typical discrete combinatorial optimization problem,and many models and algorithms have been proposed to solve the VRP and its variants.Although existing approaches have contributed significantly to the development of this field,these approaches either are limited in problem size or need manual intervention in choosing parameters.To solve these difficulties,many studies have considered learning-based optimization(LBO)algorithms to solve the VRP.This paper reviews recent advances in this field and divides relevant approaches into end-to-end approaches and step-by-step approaches.We performed a statistical analysis of the reviewed articles from various aspects and designed three experiments to evaluate the performance of four representative LBO algorithms.Finally,we conclude the applicable types of problems for different LBO algorithms and suggest directions in which researchers can improve LBO algorithms.

Archaea Diversity of Five Hot Springs in Lushan from Henan

There are five hot springs named separately SHANGT,ZHONGT,WENT,XIAT and SHENT in Lushan County,Pingdingshan City,Henan Province.The archaeal diversity of the five hot springs was investigated and analyzed.16 S rD NA v4-5 genes of archaea were sequenced by Illumina Hisiq2500 PE250 technology.The numbers of sample sequences and OTUs were sorted by using Uparse,Mothur,SILVA,MUSCLE and Qiime software.Finally,the archaeal abundance and diversity in the five hot springs were analyzed.87993,67326,44400,48611 and 48495 effective reads have been obtained from SHANGT,ZHONGT,WENT,XIAT and SHENT respectively,and 520,280,678,451 and 437 OTUs have been acquired.The analysis of archaeal classification showed that the archaea from the five hot springs could be classified into 11 phyla,in which Thaumarchaeota accounted for 95.25%and was the dominant archaea.In the genera level,the dominant archaea of the SHANGT,ZHONGT and WENT was Candidatus-Nitrosocaldus,and unidentified-Thaumarchaeota was the dominant archaea in XIAT and SHENT.The results showed that the five hot springs in Lushan are rich in microbial resources.The research provided basic data for further research and utilization of the archaea resources in the five hot springs of Lushan.

Chinese Stroke Association guidelines for clinical management of cerebrovascular disorders:executive summary and 2019 update of clinical management of stroke rehabilitation

Stroke is the third leading cause of long-term disability.Effective stroke rehabilitation should be provided to patients with a moderate or severe stroke so as to achieve functional recovery.Also,stroke rehabilitation is moving towards more intense therapy models that incorporate technologies such as robotics and computer games.Evidence-based guidelines are useful for promoting the best possible clinical practices.This guideline summarises the modes of stroke rehabilitation in China-three-stage rehabilitation network,rehabilitation of stroke dysfunction,training for activities of daily living,stroke complications and rehabilitation care.The aim of this guideline was to provide a synopsis of best clinical practices in the stroke rehabilitation of adult patients in China.

Heat Shock Factor A1s are required for phytochrome-interacting factor 4-mediated thermomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis

Thermomorphogenesis and the heat shock(HS)response are distinct thermal responses in plants that are regulated by PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 4(PIF4)and HEAT SHOCK FACTOR A1s(HSFA1s),respectively.Little is known about whether these responses are interconnected and whether they are activated by similar mechanisms.An analysis of transcriptome dynamics in response to warm temperature(28℃)treatment revealed that 30 min of exposure activated the expression of a subset of HSFA1 target genes in Arabidopsis thaliana.Meanwhile,a loss-of-function HSFA1 quadruple mutant(hsfa1-cq)was insensitive to warm temperature-induced hypocotyl growth.In hsfa1-cq plants grown at 28℃,the protein and transcript levels of PIF4 were greatly reduced,and the circadian rhythm of many thermomorphogenesis-related genes(including PIF4)was disturbed.Additionally,the nuclear localization of HSFA1s and the binding of HSFA1d to the PIF4 promoter increased following warm temperature exposure,whereas PIF4 overexpression in hsfa1-cq partially rescued the altered warm temperature-induced hypocotyl growth of the mutant.Taken together,these results suggest that HSFA1s are required for PIF4 accumulation at a warm temperature,and they establish a central role for HSFA1s in regulating both thermomorphogenesis and HS responses in Arabidopsis.

Molecular mechanisms governing plant responses to high temperatures

The increased prevalence of high temperatures （HTs） around the world is a major global concern, as they dramatically affect agronomic productivity. Upon HT exposure, plants sense the temperature change and initiate cellular and metabolic responses that enable them to adapt to their new environmental conditions.Decoding the mechanisms by which plants cope with HT will facilitate the development of molecular markers to enable the production of plants with improved thermotolerance. In recent decades, genetic, physiological, molecular, and biochemical studies have revealed a number of vital cellular components and processes involved in thermoresponsive growth and the acquisition of thermo- tolerance in plants. This review summarizes the major mechanisms involved in plant HT responses, with a special focus on recent discoveries related to plant thermosensing, heat stress signaling, and HT-regulated gene expression networks that promote plant adaptation to elevated environmental temperatures.

Visible frequency broadband dielectric metahologram by random Fourier phase-only encoding

In recent years,metasurfaces that enable the flexible wavefront modulation at sub-wavelength scale have been widely used into holographic display,due to its prominent advantages in polarization degrees of freedom,viewing angle,and achromaticity in comparison with traditional holographic devices.In holography,the computational complexity of hologram,imaging sharpness,energy utilization,reproduction rate,and system indirection are all determined by the encoding method.Here,we propose a visible frequency broadband dielectric metahologram based on the random Fourier phase-only encoding method.Using this simple and convenient method,we design and fabricate a transmission-type geometric phase all-dielectric metahologram,which can realize holographic display with high quality in the visible frequency range.This method encodes the amplitude information into the phase function only once,eliminating the cumbersome iterations,which greatly simplifies the calculation process,and may facilitate the preparation of large area nanoprint-holograms.

Advanced MOF-based electrode materials for supercapacitors and electrocatalytic oxygen reduction

Metal-organic frameworks(MOFs)have attracted a lot of attention due to their diverse structures,favorable porous properties,and tunable chemical compositions in the multiple fields.Notably,MOF-based materials(including pristine MOFs,MOF composites,and their derivatives)play the vital role in electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems,due to their ability for regulating chemical composition at the molecular level and their highly porous frameworks for facilitating the mass and charge transfer.Supercapacitors and fuel cells are used as one of energy storage and conversion systems respectively,and it is unstoppable to design and synthesize high-efficiency electrode materials for them.This review starts with the strategies for designing targeted MOF-based materials in electrochemical energy storage and conversion applications followed by the state-ofthe-art MOF-based materials discussed as to their potential applications in supercapacitors and electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction(ORR).Finally,the challenges and perspectives of MOF-based materials applied for supercapacitors and electrocatalytic ORR are discussed.