Effects of heat on the biological activity of wild Cordyceps sinensis

Background:Current methods of extending the storage time of wild Cordyceps sinensis adversely affect the nutritive and medicinal value of the product.Thus,this study was designed to investigate the effects of heat treatment,a relatively safe storage extension method,on the biological activity of wild C.sinensis.Methods:Samples were heated to 60,80,or 100℃ for 15,30,or 60 minutes.SOD activity in wild C.sinensis before and after heating was assayed using a standard colorimetric assay.Deoxyribonuclease (DNase) activity was measured using the plasmid-nicking assay.Cordycepin content was analyzed using HPLC.Polysaccharide content was measured using the phenol sulfuric method.The Student's t-test was used for comparison.Results:After heating at 60,80,100℃ for 15,30,60 minutes,respectively,no significant reduction in DNase activity or polysaccharide dissolution was noted (P >.05).Interestingly,heating at 80℃ for 30 minutes led to a significant increase in the SOD activity of C.sinensis (P <.05).In addition,heating at 60℃ for 60 minutes or at 80℃ for 15 minutes significantly increased cordycepin dissolution (P <.05).Other heat treatments had no significant effects on SOD activity or cordycepin dissolution (P >.05).Conclusions:These results suggested that heat treatment does not adversely affect SOD or DNase activity,polysaccharide content,or cordycepin dissolution.Thus,heat treatment might be a safe processing method to extend the storage time of wild C.sinensis without compromising biological activity.

Author Correction:A crucial role of the PD-1H coinhibitory receptor in suppressing experimental asthma

In the Acknowledgement section of this article,NIH grants numbered P50 CA196530 and P30 CA016359 were incorrectly attributed to author Lieping Chen and should not have been cited.The original article has been corrected.

Low-dose real-time X-ray imaging with nontoxic double perovskite scintillators

X-rays are widely used in probing inside information nondestructively,enabling broad applications in the medical radiography and electronic industries.X-ray imaging based on emerging lead halide perovskite scintillators has received extensive attention recently.However,the strong self-absorption,relatively low light yield and lead toxicity of these perovskites restrict their practical applications.Here,we report a series of nontoxic double-perovskite scintillators of Cs_(2)Ag_(0.6)Na_(0.4)In_(1-y)Bi_(y)Cl_(6).By controlling the content of the heavy atom Bi^(3+),the X-ray absorption coefficient,radiative emission efficiency,light yield and light decay were manipulated to maximise the scintillator performance.A light yield of up to 39,000±7000 photons/MeV for Cs_(2)Ag_(0.6)Na_(0.4)In_(0.85)Bi_(0.15)Cl_(6) was obtained,which is much higher than that for the previously reported lead halide perovskite colloidal CsPbBr_(3)(21,000 photons/MeV).The large Stokes shift between the radioluminescence(RL)and absorption spectra benefiting from self-trapped excitons(STEs)led to a negligible selfabsorption effect.Given the high light output and fast light decay of this scintillator,static X-ray imaging was attained under an extremely low dose of ∼1μGy_(air),and dynamic X-ray imaging of finger bending without a ghosting effect was demonstrated under a low-dose rate of 47.2μGy_(air) s^(−1).After thermal treatment at 85℃ for 50 h followed by X-ray irradiation for 50 h in ambient air,the scintillator performance in terms of the RL intensity and X-ray image quality remained almost unchanged.Our results shed light on exploring highly competitive scintillators beyond the scope of lead halide perovskites,not only for avoiding toxicity but also for better performance.

A high-sensitivity MEMS gravimeter with a largedynamic range

Precise measurement of variations in the local gravitational acceleration is valuable for natural hazard forecasting,prospecting,and geophysical studies.Common issues of the present gravimetry technologies include their high cost,high mass,and large volume,which can potentially be solved by micro-electromechanical-system(MEMS)technology.However,the reported MEMS gravimeter does not have a high sensitivity and a large dynamic range comparable with those of the present commercial gravimeters,lowering its practicability and ruling out worldwide deployment.In this paper,we introduce a more practical MEMS gravimeter that has a higher sensitivity of 8μGal/√Hz and a larger dynamic range of 8000 mGal by using an advanced suspension design and a customized optical displacement transducer.The proposed MEMS gravimeter has performed the co-site earth tides measurement with a commercial superconducting gravimeter GWR iGrav with the results showing a correlation coefficient of 0.91.

Design of freeform geometries in a MEMS accelerometer with a mechanical motion preamplifier based on a genetic algorithm

This paper describes a novel,semiautomated design methodology based on a genetic algorithm(GA)using freeform geometries for microelectromechanical systems(MEMS)devices.The proposed method can design MEMS devices comprising freeform geometries and optimize such MEMS devices to provide high sensitivity,large bandwidth,and large fabrication tolerances.The proposed method does not require much computation time or memory.The use of freeform geometries allows more degrees of freedom in the design process,improving the diversity and performance of MEMS devices.A MEMS accelerometer comprising a mechanical motion amplifier is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the design approach.Experimental results show an improvement in the product of sensitivity and bandwidth by 100%and a sensitivity improvement by 141%compared to the case of a device designed with conventional orthogonal shapes.Furthermore,excellent immunities to fabrication tolerance and parameter mismatch are achieved.

TEAseq-based identification of 35,696 Dissociation insertional mutations facilitates functional genomic studies in maize

In plants,transposable element(TE)-triggered mutants are important resources for functional genomic studies.However,conventional approaches for genome-wide identification of TE insertion sites are costly and laborious.This study developed a novel,rapid,and high-throughput TE insertion site identification workflow based on next-generation sequencing and named it Transposable Element Amplicon Sequencing(TEAseq).Using TEAseq,we systemically profiled the Dissociation(Ds)insertion sites in 1606 independent Ds insertional mutants in advanced backcross generation using K17 as background.The Ac-containing individuals were excluded for getting rid of the potential somatic insertions.We characterized 35,696 germinal Ds insertions tagging 10,323 genes,representing approximately 23.3%of the total genes in the maize genome.The insertion sites were presented in chromosomal hotspots around the ancestral Ds loci,and insertions occurred preferentially in gene body regions.Furthermore,we mapped a loss-of-function AGL2 gene using bulked segregant RNA-sequencing assay and proved that AGL2 is essential for seed development.We additionally established an open-access database named MEILAM for easy access to Ds insertional mutations.Overall,our results have provided an efficient workflow for TE insertion identification and rich sequence-indexed mutant resources for maize functional genomic studies.

Design of a large-range rotary microgripper with freeform geometries using a genetic algorithm

This paper describes a novel electrostatically actuated microgripper with freeform geometries designed by a genetic algorithm.This new semiautomated design methodology is capable of designing near-optimal MEMS devices that are robust to fabrication tolerances.The use of freeform geometries designed by a genetic algorithm significantly improves the performance of the microgripper.An experiment shows that the designed microgripper has a large displacement(91.5μm)with a low actuation voltage(47.5 V),which agrees well with the theory.The microgripper has a large actuation displacement and can handle micro-objects with a size from 10 to 100μm.A grasping experiment on human hair with a diameter of 77μm was performed to prove the functionality of the gripper.The result confirmed the superior performance of the new design methodology enabling freeform geometries.This design method can also be extended to the design of many other MEMS devices.

A crucial role of the PD-1H coinhibitory receptor in suppressing experimental asthma

Programmed death one homolog (PD-1H) is a cell surface molecule of the B7/CD28 immune modulatory genefamily. Although PD-1H has been shown to function as a coinhibitory receptor on T cells to limit naive T-cellactivation and proliferation, its role in the regulation of the T-cell response to allergens is unknown. We report herethat genetic ablation or blockade of PD-1H drastically promotes pulmonary inflammation with massive accumulationof eosinophils in a mouse model of experimental asthma, indicating a suppressive function of PD-1H in allergicinflammation. The loss of PD-1H led to elevated production of both innate cytokines (IL-6, MCP-1 and TNFα) andTh2 cytokines (IL-5 and IL-13) in the lung, indicating a critical role of PD-1H in suppressing the production ofairway inflammatory cytokines. In addition, the loss of PD-1H also impaired the expansion of systemic andpulmonary regulatory T cells during asthma induction. These findings support a critical role of intrinsic PD-1H inthe regulation of inflammatory responses to allergens. Finally, we showed that treatment with a PD-1H agonisticmonoclonal antibody reduced the severity of asthma, which was accompanied by suppressed lung inflammation.Our findings support PD-1H as a potential target and suggest a possible strategy for the treatment of allergicasthma in humans.

Feature-based Quality Assessment of Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Using 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography

In animal experiments,ischemic stroke is usually induced through middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO),and quality assessment of this procedure is crucial.However,an accurate assessment method based on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose(FDG)positron emission tomography(PET)is still lacking.The difficulty lies in the inconsistent preprocessing pipeline,biased intensity normalization,or unclear spatiotemporal uptake of FDG.Here,we propose an image feature-based protocol to assess the quality of the procedure using a 3D scale-invariant feature transform and support vector machine.This feature-based protocol provides a convenient,accurate,and reliable tool to assess the quality of the MCAO procedure in FDG PET studies.Compared with existing approaches,the proposed protocol is fully quantitative,objective,automatic,and bypasses the intensity normalization step.An online interface was constructed to check images and obtain assessment results.

Real-world effectiveness of early insulin therapy on the incidence of cardiovascular events in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes

Early insulin therapy is capable to achieve glycemic control and restoreβ-cell function in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes(T2D),but its effect on cardiovascular outcomes in these patients remains unclear.In this nationwide real-world study,we analyzed electronic health record data from 19 medical centers across China between 1 January 2000,and 26 May 2022.We included 5424 eligible patients(mean age 56 years,2176 women/3248 men)who were diagnosed T2D within six months and did not have prior cardiovascular disease.Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate the associations of early insulin therapy(defined as the first-line therapy for at least two weeks in newly diagnosed T2D patients)with the incidence of major cardiovascular events including coronary heart disease(CHD),stroke,and hospitalization for heart failure(HF).During 17,158 persons years of observation,we documented 834 incident CHD cases,719 stroke cases,and 230 hospitalized cases for HF.Newly diagnosed T2D patients who received early insulin therapy,compared with those who did not receive such treatment,had 31%lower risk of incident stroke,and 28%lower risk of hospitalization for HF.No significant difference in the risk of CHD was observed.We found similar results when repeating the aforesaid analysis in a propensity-score matched population of 4578 patients and with inverse probability of treatment weighting models.These findings suggest that early insulin therapy in newly diagnosed T2D may have cardiovascular benefits by reducing the risk of incident stroke and hospitalization for HF.