Protective effects of combined Astragalus membranaceus and magnesium ions on global brain ischemia

The traditional Chinese herb Astragalus membranaceus is a well-known treatment for neurological diseases and is considered to exhibit anti-dementia properties.This study investigated the synergistic effects of magnesium ions and Astragalus membranaceus on global brain ischemia in rats.4＇-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining demonstrated that the number of living neurons was significantly greater in the rat hippocampus after administration of a combination of Astragalus membranaceus and magnesium,compared with a vehicle group,an Astragalus membranaceus alone group,and a magnesium alone group.Western blot assay revealed that cleaved Caspase-3 protein expression was significantly reduced in the rat hippocampus in the combined Astragalus membranaceus and magnesium group compared with the Astragalus membranaceus alone group and the magnesium alone group.The results suggested that the combination of Astragalus membranaceus and magnesium exhibits a stronger neuroprotective effect on global brain ischemia in rats compared with Astragalus membranaceus or magnesium alone.This effect was associated with decreased Caspase-3 expression.

Rotating tank experiments for the study of geophysical fluid dynamics

Geophysical fluid dynamics(GFD)is an interdisciplinary field that studies the large-scale motion of fluids in the natural world.With a wide range of applications such as weather forecasts and climate prediction,GFD employs various research approaches including in-situ observations,satellite measurements,numerical simulations,theoretical analysis,artificial intelligence,and physical model experiments in laboratory.Among these approaches,rotating tank experiments provide a valuable tool for simulating naturally-occurring fluid motions in laboratories.With proportional scaling and proper techniques,scientists can reproduce multi-scale physical processes of stratified fluids in the rotation system,which allows for the simulation of essential characteristics of fluid motions in the atmosphere and oceans.In this review,rotating tanks of various scales in the world are introduced,as these tanks have been actively used to explore fundamental scientific questions in ocean and atmosphere dynamics.To illustrate the GFD experiments,three representative cases are presented to demonstrate the frontier achievements in the the GFD study by using rotating tank experiments:mesoscale eddies in the ocean,convection processes,and plume dynamics.Detailed references for the experimental procedures are provided.Future studies are encouraged to further explore the utilization of rotating tanks with improvements in experimental design and integration of other research methods.This is a promising direction of GFD to help enhance our understanding of the complex nature of fluid motions in the natural world and to address the challenges posed by global environmental changes.

Cuproptosis:A potential therapeutic target in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

To the Editor:Copper is a crucial trace element in the body that plays a key role in metabolism and biological functions.Copper ions are found in two forms,Cu^(1+)and Cu^(2+),of which Cu^(1+)is the main form stored in cells.Numerous studies have shown that intracellular copper accumulation can cause oxidative stress and disrupt cellular function.[1]Different from apoptosis,autophagy,pyroptosis,and ferroptosis,cuproptosis is a newly discovered type of cell death in 2022.[2]It is mediated by protein lipoylation with ferredoxin 1(FDX1)in mitochondria.The most common pathological type of kidney cancer in adults is clear cell renal cell carcinoma(ccRCC),which accounts for 70-80%of all cases of renal cell carcinoma(RCC).[3]Currently,surgical resection is the preferred treatment for RCC,as radiotherapy,chemotherapy,and immunotherapy have shown limited effectiveness in treating ccRCC.However,cuproptosis induction may offer a new approach for ccRCC treatment.

中国人群颅内动脉瘤不稳定性的标志物及风险分层模型

评估颅内动脉瘤的不稳定风险(破裂和生长风险)对于指导未破裂颅内动脉瘤(UIA)的治疗决策具有重要意义.本研究自2017年1月-2022年1月前瞻性地纳入了UIA患者,进行了2年的随访,并进一步分为发掘队列和验证队列,主要终点事件是UIA的不稳定事件,定义为在随访期内,动脉瘤出现破裂、大小生长或者形态学改变.基于758个UIA患者的发掘队列,联合影像特点和多组学分析,发现大小指数、形态不规则、油酸、花生四烯酸、白细胞介素-1β(IL-1β)和肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α)是UIA出现不稳定事件的危险因素.进一步分析显示,组织中和血清中油酸和花生四烯酸的表达水平有一致性趋势.运用机器学习算法,本研究构建了不稳定分类器,并能较好地识别发掘队列中的不稳定UIA(曲线下面积(AUC)为0.94).在含492个UIA患者的验证队列中,该分类器也能很好地识别不稳定UIA(AUC为0.89).基于大鼠颅内动脉瘤模型,发现干预油酸、IL-1β和TNF-α能预防UIA破裂.本研究基于中国人群揭示了UIA不稳定风险的标志物,并提供了一个风险分层模型,有望指导UIA的临床决策.

Hybrid Method Based on Information Gain and Support Vector Machine for Gene Selection in Cancer Classi?cation

It remains a great challenge to achieve sufficient cancer classification accuracy with the entire set of genes, due to the high dimensions, small sample size, and big noise of gene expression data. We thus proposed a hybrid gene selection method, Information Gain-Support Vector Machine （IG-SVM） in this study. IG was initially employed to filter irrelevant and redundant genes. Then, further removal of redundant genes was performed using SVM to eliminate the noise in the datasets more effectively. Finally, the informative genes selected by IG-SVM served as the input for the LIBSVM classifier. Compared to other related algorithms, IG-SVM showed the highest classification accuracy and superior performance as evaluated using five cancer gene expression datasets based on a few selected genes. As an example, IG-SVM achieved a classification accuracy of 90.32% for colon cancer, which is difficult to be accurately classified, only based on three genes including CSRP1, MYLg, and GUCA2B.

Electrochemical Rhodium-Catalyzed Enantioselective C–H Annulation with Alkynes

The synergistic use of transition metal catalysis and electrochemistry is an attractive strategy for oxidative site-selective C–H functionalization since the use of stoichiometric chemical oxidants can be avoided and novel reactivity can be achieved.However,metalcatalyzed electrochemical C–H functionalization is mainly limited to arene C(sp^(2))–Hfunctionalization,and enantioselective C–H functionalization is uncommon and remains challenging.

Inhaled multilevel size-tunable,charge-reversible and mucus-traversing composite microspheres as trojan horse:Enhancing lung deposition and tumor penetration

Dry powder inhalation represents a promising approach for the treatment of lung cancer,offering several advantages such as enhanced targeting,improved bioavailability,and reduced toxicity.However,traditional dry powder formulations suffer from limitations,notably low pulmonary delivery efficiency and inadequate penetration into tumor tissues,thereby limiting their therapeutic efficacy.In response to these challenges,we have developed an innovative trojan horse strategy,harnessing an inhalable nanoparticlein-microsphere system characterized by tunable size,reversible charge,and mucus-penetrating capabilities.The inhalable nanoparticle-in-microsphere system exhibit stable structural properties,excellent environmental responsiveness and high biocompatibility.More importantly,the therapeutic effect of MTX@PAMAM@HA@Gel(MPHG)was demonstrated in vitro and in vivo.This system offers improved pulmonary delivery efficiency,enhanced drug retention within tumor tissues,and effective penetration,thus representing a promising strategy in lung cancer treatment.