Displaying publications 61 - 80 of 165 in total

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  1. Exposure to polystyrene nanoplastics induces apoptosis, autophagy, histopathological damage, and intestinal microbiota dysbiosis of the Pacific whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)
    Li Y, Ye Y, Yuan H, Rihan N, Han M, Liu X, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2024 Apr 01;919:170924.
    PMID: 38360329 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170924
    Nanoplastics (NPs) are widely distributed environmental pollutants that can disrupt intestinal immunity of crustaceans. In this study, the effects of NPs on gut immune enzyme activities, cell morphology, apoptosis, and microbiota diversity of Litopenaeus vannamei were investigated. L. vannamei was exposed to five concentrations of NPs (0, 0.1, 1, 5, and 10 mg/L) for 28 days. The results showed that higher concentrations of NPs damaged the intestinal villi, promoted formation of autophagosomes, increased intestinal non-specific immunoenzyme activities, and significantly increased apoptosis at 10 mg/L. In response to exposure to NPs, the expression levels of ATG3, ATG4, ATG12, Caspase-3, p53, and TNF initially increased and then decreased. In addition, the concentration of NPs was negatively correlated to the expression levels of the genes of interest and intestinal enzyme activities, suggesting that exposure to NPs inhibited apoptosis and immune function. The five dominant phyla of the gut microbiota (Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria, and Actinomycetes) were similar among groups exposed to different concentrations of NPs, but the abundances tended to differ. Notably, exposure to NPs increased the abundance of pathogenic bacteria. These results confirm that exposure to NPs negatively impacted intestinal immune function of L. vannamei. These findings provide useful references for efficient breeding of L. vannamei.
  2. Fulltext Recent Advances in Scaffolding from Natural-Based Polymers for Volumetric Muscle Injury
    Nuge T, Liu Z, Liu X, Ang BC, Andriyana A, Metselaar HSC, et al.
    Molecules, 2021 Jan 29;26(3).
    PMID: 33572728 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26030699
    Volumetric Muscle Loss (VML) is associated with muscle loss function and often untreated and considered part of the natural sequelae of trauma. Various types of biomaterials with different physical and properties have been developed to treat VML. However, much work remains yet to be done before the scaffolds can pass from the bench to the bedside. The present review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the latest developments in the construction and application of natural polymers-based tissue scaffolding for volumetric muscle injury. Here, the tissue engineering approaches for treating volumetric muscle loss injury are highlighted and recent advances in cell-based therapies using various sources of stem cells are elaborated in detail. An overview of different strategies of tissue scaffolding and their efficacy on skeletal muscle cells regeneration and migration are presented. Furthermore, the present paper discusses a wide range of natural polymers with a special focus on proteins and polysaccharides that are major components of the extracellular matrices. The natural polymers are biologically active and excellently promote cell adhesion and growth. These bio-characteristics justify natural polymers as one of the most attractive options for developing scaffolds for muscle cell regeneration.
  3. Fulltext Application of ultrasonication at different microbial growth stages during apple juice fermentation by Lactobacillus plantarum: Investigation on the metabolic response
    Wang H, Tao Y, Li Y, Wu S, Li D, Liu X, et al.
    Ultrason Sonochem, 2021 May;73:105486.
    PMID: 33639530 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2021.105486
    In this work, low-intensity ultrasonication (58.3 and 93.6 W/L) was performed at lag, logarithmic and stationary growth phases of Lactobacillus plantarum in apple juice fermentation, separately. Microbial responses to sonication, including microbial growth, profiles of organic acids profile, amino acids, phenolics, and antioxidant capacity, were examined. The results revealed that obvious responses were made by Lactobacillus plantarum to ultrasonication at lag and logarithmic phases, whereas sonication at stationary phase had a negligible impact. Sonication at lag and logarithmic phases promoted microbial growth and intensified biotransformation of malic acid to lactic acid. For example, after sonication at lag phase for 0.5 h, microbial count and lactic acid content in the ultrasound-treated samples at 58.3 W/L reached 7.91 ± 0.01 Log CFU/mL and 133.70 ± 7.39 mg/L, which were significantly higher than that in the non-sonicated samples. However, the ultrasonic effect on microbial growth and metabolism of organic acids attenuated with fermentation. Moreover, ultrasonication at lag and logarithmic phases had complex influences on the metabolism of apple phenolics such as chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, procyanidin B2, catechin and gallic acid. Ultrasound could positively affect the hydrolysis of chlorogenic acid to caffeic acid, the transformation of procyanidin B2 and decarboxylation of gallic acid. The metabolism of organic acids and free amino acids in the sonicated samples was statistically correlated with phenolic metabolism, implying that ultrasound may benefit phenolic derivation by improving the microbial metabolism of organic acids and amino acids.
  4. Physiochemical Coupled Dynamic Nanosphere Lithography Enabling Multiple Metastructures from Single Mask
    Chang L, Liu X, Luo J, Lee CY, Zhang J, Fan X, et al.
    Adv Mater, 2024 Mar;36(13):e2310469.
    PMID: 38193751 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202310469
    Metastructures are widely used in photonic devices, energy conversion, and biomedical applications. However, to fabricate multiple patterns continuously in single etching protocol with highly tunable photonic properties is challenging. Here, a simple and robust dynamic nanosphere lithography is proposed by inserting a spacer between the nanosphere assembly and the wafer. The nanosphere diameter decrease and uneven penetration of the spacer during etching lead to a dynamic masking process. Coupled anisotropic physical ion sputtering and ricocheting with isotropic chemical radical etching achieve highly tunable structures with various 3D patterns continuously forming through a single etching process. Specifically, the nanosphere diameters define the periodicity, the etched spacer forms the upper parts, and the wafer forms the lower parts. Each part of the structure is highly tunable through changing nanosphere diameter, spacer thickness, and etch conditions. Using this protocol, numerous structures of varying sizes including nanomushrooms, nanocones, nanopencils, and nanoneedles with diverse shapes are realized as proof of concepts. The broadband antireflection ability of the nanostructures and their use in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy are also demonstrated for practical application. This method substantially simplifies the fabrication procedure of various metastructures, paving the way for its application in multiple disciplines especially in photonic devices.
  5. Biodiversity responses to agricultural practices in cropland and natural habitats
    Zhao J, Yu L, Newbold T, Shen X, Liu X, Hua F, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2024 Apr 20;922:171296.
    PMID: 38423324 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171296
    Largely driven by agricultural pressures, biodiversity has experienced great changes globally. Exploring biodiversity responses to agricultural practices associated with agricultural intensification can benefit biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. However, the effects of agricultural practices may also extend to natural habitats. Moreover, agricultural impacts may also vary with geographical region. We analyze biodiversity responses to landscape cropland coverage, cropping frequency, fertiliser and yield, among different land-use types and across geographical regions. We find that species richness and total abundance generally respond negatively to increased landscape cropland coverage. Biodiversity reductions in human land-use types (pasture, plantation forest and cropland) were stronger in tropical than non-tropical regions, which was also true for biodiversity reductions with increasing yield in both human and natural land-use types. Our results underline substantial biodiversity responses to agricultural practices not only in cropland but also in natural habitats, highlighting the fact that biodiversity conservation demands a greater focus on optimizing agricultural management at the landscape scale.
  6. Fulltext Effects of high-intensity functional training on physical fitness and sport-specific performance among the athletes: A systematic review with meta-analysis
    Wang X, Soh KG, Samsudin S, Deng N, Liu X, Zhao Y, et al.
    PLoS One, 2023;18(12):e0295531.
    PMID: 38064433 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295531
    OBJECTIVE: This study aims to meta-analyze the impact of high-intensity functional training on athletes' physical fitness and sport-specific performance.

    METHODS: A systematic search was conducted in five well-known academic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, and the Cochrane Library) up to July 1, 2023. The literature screening criteria included: (1) studies involving healthy athletes, (2) a HIFT program, (3) an assessment of outcomes related to athletes' physical fitness or sport-specific performance, and (4) the inclusion of randomized controlled trials. The Physical Therapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was used to evaluate the quality of studies included in the meta-analysis.

    RESULTS: 13 medium- and high-quality studies met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review, involving 478 athletes aged between 10 and 24.5 years. The training showed a small to large effect size (ES = 0.414-3.351; all p < 0.05) in improving upper and lower body muscle strength, power, flexibility, and sport-specific performance.

    CONCLUSION: High-intensity functional training effectively improves athletes' muscle strength, power, flexibility, and sport-specific performance but has no significant impact on endurance and agility. Future research is needed to explore the impact of high-intensity functional training on athletes' speed, balance, and technical and tactical performance parameters.

  7. iMSEA: A Novel Metabolite Set Enrichment Analysis Strategy to Decipher Drug Interactions
    Wang Y, Liu X, Dong L, Cheng KK, Lin C, Wang X, et al.
    Anal Chem, 2023 Apr 18;95(15):6203-6211.
    PMID: 37023366 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c04603
    Drug combinations are commonly used to treat various diseases to achieve synergistic therapeutic effects or to alleviate drug resistance. Nevertheless, some drug combinations might lead to adverse effects, and thus, it is crucial to explore the mechanisms of drug interactions before clinical treatment. Generally, drug interactions have been studied using nonclinical pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and pharmacology. Here, we propose a complementary strategy based on metabolomics, which we call interaction metabolite set enrichment analysis, or iMSEA, to decipher drug interactions. First, a digraph-based heterogeneous network model was constructed to model the biological metabolic network based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database. Second, treatment-specific influences on all detected metabolites were calculated and propagated across the whole network model. Third, pathway activity was defined and enriched to quantify the influence of each treatment on the predefined functional metabolite sets, i.e., metabolic pathways. Finally, drug interactions were identified by comparing the pathway activity enriched by the drug combination treatments and the single drug treatments. A data set consisting of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells that were treated with oxaliplatin (OXA) and/or vitamin C (VC) was used to illustrate the effectiveness of the iMSEA strategy for evaluation of drug interactions. Performance evaluation using synthetic noise data was also performed to evaluate sensitivities and parameter settings for the iMSEA strategy. The iMSEA strategy highlighted synergistic effects of combined OXA and VC treatments including the alterations in the glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway and glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism pathway. This work provides an alternative method to reveal the mechanisms of drug combinations from the viewpoint of metabolomics.
  8. C-Reactive Protein Biosensor for Diagnosing Infections Caused by Orthopedic Trauma
    Liu X, Wang C, Fu H, Li X, Gopinath SCB, Subramaniam S
    Curr Med Chem, 2024 Nov 07.
    PMID: 39513307 DOI: 10.2174/0109298673322598241021111322
    INTRODUCTION: Infections linked to orthopedic trauma are common complications that place a significant strain on the healthcare system. Immediate identification of the infection and its severity is essential for providing effective treatment.

    METHOD: C-reactive Protein (CRP) is a commonly used inflammatory marker in orthopedic surgery and has proven to be a valuable biomarker for diagnosing and monitoring infections. Specifically, CRP aids in the early identification of postoperative infections. This research work has focused on developing a highly sensitive CRP biosensor using iron oxide nanomaterial-modified dielectric sensors.

    RESULT: Gold Urchin (GU)-conjugated aptamers and antibodies were used as probes and attached to the electrode via amine linkers. The aptamer-GU-antibody-modified electrode detected CRP at concentrations as low as 1 pg/mL, with an R2 value of 0.9942. Furthermore, CRP-spiked serum exhibited an increase in current response at all concentrations of CRP, indicating selective detection of CRP. Additionally, control experiments using complementary sequences of the aptamer, relevant proteins, and non-immune antibodies did not enhance the current responses, confirming the specific identification of CRP.

    CONCLUSION: The sensing strategy has enabled the detection of CRP at its lowest levels, facilitating the identification of infections during orthopedic surgery and subsequent treatment.

  9. Fulltext What Is New in the Preventive and Therapeutic Role of Dairy Products as Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods?
    Khalaf AT, Wei Y, Alneamah SJA, Al-Shawi SG, Kadir SYA, Zainol J, et al.
    Biomed Res Int, 2021;2021:8823222.
    PMID: 33681381 DOI: 10.1155/2021/8823222
    Nutraceuticals have taken on considerable significance due to their supposed safety and possible nutritional and medicinal effects. Pharmaceutical and dietary companies are conscious of monetary success, which benefits healthier consumers and the altering trends that result in these heart-oriented value-added products being proliferated. Numerous nutraceuticals are claimed to have multiple therapeutic benefits despite advantages, and unwanted effects encompass a lack of substantial evidence. Several common nutraceuticals involve glucosamine, omega-3, Echinacea, cod liver oil, folic acid, ginseng, orange juice supplemented with calcium, and green tea. This review is dedicated to improving the understanding of nutrients based on specific illness indications. It was reported that functional foods contain physiologically active components that confer various health benefits. Studies have shown that some foods and dietary patterns play a major role in the primary prevention of many ailment conditions that lead to putative functional foods being identified. Research and studies are needed to support the possible health benefits of different functional foods that have not yet been clinically validated for the relationships between diet and health. The term "functional foods" may additionally involve health/functional health foods, foods enriched with vitamins/minerals, nutritional improvements, or even conventional medicines.
  10. Fulltext Design and implementation of adolescent health Latin dance teaching system under artificial intelligence technology
    Liu X, Soh KG, Dev Omar Dev R, Li W, Yi Q
    PLoS One, 2023;18(11):e0293313.
    PMID: 37917594 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293313
    Since various dance teaching systems have attracted much attention with the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, this paper improves the recognition performance of Latin dance teaching systems by optimizing the action recognition model. Firstly, the object detection and action recognition technology under the current AI technology is analyzed, and the Two-stage object detection algorithm and One-stage object detection algorithm are evaluated. Secondly, the technologies and functions contained in the adolescent health Latin dance teaching system are described, including image acquisition, feature extraction, object detection, and action recognition. Finally, the action recognition algorithm is optimized based on object detection, and the rationality and feasibility of the proposed algorithm are verified by experiments. The experimental results show that the optimization algorithm can search the optimal feature subset after five iterations on Undefine Classes of 101 (UCF101) dataset, but it needs seven iterations on Human Motion Database 51 (HMDB51) dataset. Meanwhile, when using support vector machine classifier, the optimization algorithm can achieve the highest accuracy of motion recognition. Regressive Function, Multinomial Naive Bayes and Gaussian Naive Bayes Algorithms have lower prediction delay, as low as 0.01s. Therefore, this paper has certain reference significance for the design and implementation of adolescent health Latin dance teaching system.
  11. Fulltext Characterization and phylogenetic analysis of the chloroplast genome of Duhaldea cappa (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) Pruski & Anderb. (Asteraceae)
    Luo J, Liu X, Li T, Chen H, Qu T, Wang Y, et al.
    Mitochondrial DNA B Resour, 2024;9(1):186-190.
    PMID: 38282979 DOI: 10.1080/23802359.2024.2306203
    Duhaldea cappa, a valuable medicinal plant of genus Duhaldea in the tribe Inuleae, is predominantly found in China, Bhutan, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. However, the genomic studies of Duhaldea cappa are limited. In this study, we successfully sequenced and assembled the complete chloroplast genome of Duhaldea cappa. The chloroplast genome is 150,819 bp in length with a 37.73% GC content. The chloroplast genome has a quadripartite structure, consisting of a large single-copy region of 82,731 bp, a small single-copy region of 18,168 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat sequences of 24,960 bp. The genome contains 133 genes. Among these genes, there are 88 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The phylogeny reconstructed from data of the complete chloroplast genome indicated that Duhaldea cappa is closely related to Pluchea indica in the tribe Inuleae. Analyzing and reporting the chloroplast genome of Duhaldea cappa will establish a solid theoretical and data foundation for the efficient development, conservation, and utilization of this plant species.
  12. Fulltext The Attenuation of Chronic Ulcerative Colitis by (R)-salbutamol in Repeated DSS-Induced Mice
    Deng L, Guo H, Wang S, Liu X, Lin Y, Zhang R, et al.
    Oxid Med Cell Longev, 2022;2022:9318721.
    PMID: 35178163 DOI: 10.1155/2022/9318721
    Racemic salbutamol ((RS)-sal), which consist of the same amount of (R)-sal and (S)-sal, has been used for asthma and COPD due to its bronchodilation effect. However, the effect of (R)-sal on repeated dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced chronic colitis has not yet been investigated. In this study evaluated the potential effect of (R)-, (S)-, and (RS)-sal in mice with repeated DSS-induced chronic colitis and investigated the underlying mechanisms. Here, we verified that chronic colitis was significantly attenuated by (R)-sal, which was evidenced by notably mitigated body weight loss, disease activity index (DAI), splenomegaly, colonic lengths shortening, and histopathological scores. (R)-sal treatment noticeably diminished the levels of inflammatory cytokines (such as TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, and IFN-γ). Notably, the efficacy of (R)-sal was better than that of (RS)-sal. Further research revealed that (R)-sal mitigated colonic CD4 leukocyte infiltration, decreased NF-κB signaling pathway activation, improved the Nrf-2/HO-1 signaling pathway, and increased the expression of ZO-1 and occludin. In addition, (R)-sal suppressed the levels of TGF-β1, α-SMA, and collagen in mice with chronic colitis. Furthermore, the 16S rDNA sequences analyzed of the intestinal microbiome revealed that (R)-sal could mitigate the intestinal microbiome structure and made it more similar to the control group, which mainly by relieving the relative abundance of pathogens (such as Bacteroides) and increasing the relative abundance of probiotics (such as Akkermansia). Therefore, (R)-sal ameliorates repeated DSS-induced chronic colitis in mice by improving inflammation, suppressing oxidative stress, mitigating intestinal barrier function, relieving intestinal fibrosis, and regulating the intestinal microbiome community. These results indicate that (R)-sal maybe a novel treatment alternative for chronic colitis.
  13. A New Methylbutyric Acid Derivative with Pro-angiogenesis Activity from the Mangrove Fungus Penicillium polonicum M-3
    Zhang Y, Cao W, Liu X, Ma Z, Li P, Chen H, et al.
    Chem Biodivers, 2024 Dec 05.
    PMID: 39638771 DOI: 10.1002/cbdv.202402399
    A new methylbutyric acid derivative penianoic acid A (1), along with fifteen known compounds (2-16), was isolated and identified from the culture extract of Penicillium polonicum M-3 sourced from Malaysian mangrove root soil. Their structures were determined by detailed spectroscopic analysis of NMR and MS data and quantum chemical calculations of ECD and NMR (with DP4+ probability analysis). The isolated compounds were evaluated for pro-angiogenesis activity using zebrafish in vivo model. Compounds 1, 3, 4, 6-10, and 12-15 showed potent in pro-angiogenic activity in transgenic zebrafish.
  14. Fulltext Table tennis coaching system based on a multimodal large language model with a table tennis knowledge base
    Ma W, Liu Y, Yi Q, Liu X, Xing W, Zhao R, et al.
    PLoS One, 2025;20(2):e0317839.
    PMID: 39946390 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0317839
    Table tennis is one of the most popular sports in the world, and it plays a positive role in the overall development of people's physical and mental health. This study develops an AI table tennis coaching system using a Multimodal Large Language Model with a table tennis knowledge base, aiming to provide precise training guidance and match strategies for table tennis beginners.

    METHOD: By using visual recognition technology, motion capture technology, and advanced multimodal large language models with a comprehensive professional table tennis knowledge base, the system accurately identifies common errors made by beginners and provides targeted training guidance.

    RESULT: The AI Table Tennis Coaching System demonstrates high accuracy in identifying mistakes made by beginner players, particularly in recognizing arm-related errors and racket-related errors, with accuracies reaching 73% and 82% respectively.

    CONCLUSION: The system operates at low costs, is easy to deploy, and offers a high cost-performance ratio, providing effective technological support for table tennis teaching and training. The AI table tennis coaching system is expected to play a significant role in enhancing training efficiency, promoting athlete skill improvement, and popularizing the sport. Future research will focus on improving the accuracy of footwork recognition in AI table tennis coaching systems and expanding their capability to provide training guidance for high-level athletes, thereby promoting the overall advancement of table tennis.

  15. Fulltext Effects of high-intensity functional training on physical fitness in healthy individuals: a systematic review with meta-analysis
    Wang X, Soh KG, Zhang L, Liu X, Ma S, Zhao Y, et al.
    BMC Public Health, 2025 Feb 10;25(1):528.
    PMID: 39930392 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-025-21538-5
    The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis of the effects of high-intensity functional training on the physical fitness of healthy individuals. This system review followed the PRISMA guidelines and has been registered in PROSPERO with the registration number CRD42023475055. As of January 2024, we did a thorough search across five databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, and Cochrane Library. We evaluated the methodological quality of the included study by TEST EX tool and ROB 2 tool. GRADE framework determines the level of certainty of evidence. Meta-analysis of random effects model calculations. 19 high-quality studies were included in this review, involving 911 healthy individuals. Positive effects were observed in improving strength (ES = 1.380; p 
  16. Fulltext ResGRU: A Novel Hybrid Deep Learning Model for Compound Fault Diagnosis in Photovoltaic Arrays Considering Dust Impact
    Liu X, Goh HH, Xie H, He T, Yew WK, Zhang D, et al.
    Sensors (Basel), 2025 Feb 09;25(4).
    PMID: 40006264 DOI: 10.3390/s25041035
    With the widespread deployment of photovoltaic (PV) power stations, timely identification and rectification of module defects are crucial for extending service life and preserving efficiency. PV arrays, subjected to severe outside circumstances, are prone to defects exacerbated by dust accumulation, potentially leading to complex compound faults. The resemblance between individual and compound faults sometimes leads to misclassification. To address this challenge, this paper presents a novel hybrid deep learning model, ResGRU, which integrates a residual network (ResNet) with bidirectional gated recurrent units (BiGRU) to improve fault diagnostic accuracy. Additionally, a Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) module is incorporated to enhance relevant features while suppressing irrelevant ones, hence improving performance. To further optimize inter-class separability and intra-class compactness, a center loss function is employed as an auxiliary loss to enhance the model's discriminative capacity. This proposed method facilitates the automated extraction of fault features from I-V curves and accurate diagnosis of individual faults, partial shading scenarios, and compound faults under varying levels of dust accumulation, hence aiding in the formulation of efficient cleaning schedules. Experimental findings indicate that the suggested model achieves 99.94% accuracy on pristine data and 98.21% accuracy on noisy data, markedly surpassing established techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANN), ResNet, random forests (RF), multi-scale SE-ResNet, and other ResNet-based approaches. Thus, the model offers a reliable solution for accurate PV array fault diagnosis.
  17. Surface-engineered nanofiltration membranes for sustainable lithium recovery from real brine: Addressing fouling and scaling challenges
    Li X, Xu M, Liu X, She Q, Lau WJ, Yang L
    Water Res, 2025 Feb 26;278:123400.
    PMID: 40054378 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2025.123400
    Nanofiltration (NF) membranes hold great promise for lithium (Li) recovery from brines, with numerous studies focusing on improving Li/Mg separation performance. However, real brine environments pose significant challenges, as fouling and scaling severely hinder Li recovery efficiency. Despite their critical impact, these challenges have received limited attention. This study addresses these issues through surface engineering of polyamide (PA) NF membranes, achieving a positively charged, ultra-smooth surface. The engineered membrane demonstrated exceptional fouling and scaling resistance during real brine treatment, exhibiting only a 12 % flux decline over 12 h, compared to 28 % and 20 % for the control and commercial NF270 membranes, respectively. This superior antifouling performance enabled sustained high Li flux (>80 mM·m⁻2·h⁻1) while reducing the Mg/Li mass ratio from 4.1 in the feed to 1.4 in the permeate. Additionally, the membrane displayed remarkable resistance to scaling in synthetic brine containing high concentrations of Ca2+ and SO42-. Systematic evaluations in both synthetic and real brines revealed that the enhanced process stability arises from the synergistic effects of reduced surface roughness and optimized surface charge, which together minimize foulant adhesion and mitigate scaling. These findings mark a significant advancement toward the practical implementation of membrane-based Li recovery, underscoring the critical importance of addressing fouling and scaling in real brine environments.
  18. Fulltext Caffeine and Beetroot Juice Optimize 1,000-m Performance: Shapley Additive Explanations Analysis
    Liu X, Huo L, Wang F, Wang T, Rong W, He Y
    Am J Mens Health, 2025;19(2):15579883251327907.
    PMID: 40145446 DOI: 10.1177/15579883251327907
    The 1,000-m run is a key component of university physical fitness assessments. Effective supplementation strategies to enhance performance and recovery in this test remain underexplored. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of caffeine (CAF) and beetroot juice (BJ) on 1,000-m performance and used SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis to identify key influencing factors. A randomized crossover design compared the effects of CAF (6 mg/kg body weight), BJ (70 mL providing 6.4 mmol of NO3-), and their combination with placebo (PLA) on 1,000-m running performance. Twenty healthy male participants took part in the study. Physiological, nutritional, and behavioral data were collected during each condition. SHAP analysis of a multilayer perceptron model quantified the relative importance of various performance determinants, providing a clear assessment of their contribution to the outcome. The CAF + BJ group performed significantly better than PLA (p  weight > age > nighttime sleep duration > nutritional strategy > average vertical jump height > grip strength > resting heart rate > time since last meal > alcohol consumption > height > smoking frequency. This study suggests that CAF and BJ supplementation may improve 1,000-m performance. SHAP analysis introduced a novel framework for identifying key factors, offering insights for targeted interventions. Tailored dietary supplement strategies that address critical physiological and lifestyle factors are important. Combining supplementation with these approaches can further enhance performance and recovery.
  19. Fulltext Thyroid Hormone Upregulates Hypothalamic kiss2 Gene in the Male Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus
    Ogawa S, Ng KW, Xue X, Ramadasan PN, Sivalingam M, Li S, et al.
    Front Endocrinol (Lausanne), 2013;4:184.
    PMID: 24324459 DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2013.00184
    Kisspeptin has recently been recognized as a critical regulator of reproductive function in vertebrates. During the sexual development, kisspeptin neurons receive sex steroids feedback to trigger gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons. In teleosts, a positive correlation has been found between the thyroid status and the reproductive status. However, the role of thyroid hormone in the regulation of kisspeptin system remains unknown. We cloned and characterized a gene encoding kisspeptin (kiss2) in a cichlid fish, the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Expression of kiss2 mRNA in the brain was analyzed by in situ hybridization. The effect of thyroid hormone (triiodothyronine, T3) and hypothyroidism with methimazole (MMI) on kiss2 and the three GnRH types (gnrh1, gnrh2, and gnrh3) mRNA expression was analyzed by real-time PCR. Expression of thyroid hormone receptor mRNAs were analyzed in laser-captured kisspeptin and GnRH neurons by RT-PCR. The kiss2 mRNA expressing cells were seen in the nucleus of the lateral recess in the hypothalamus. Intraperitoneal administration of T3 (5 μg/g body weight) to sexually mature male tilapia significantly increased kiss2 and gnrh1 mRNA levels at 24 h post injection (P 
  20. Fulltext A replication study confirms the association of dendritic cell immunoreceptor (DCIR) polymorphisms with ACPA - negative RA in a large Asian cohort
    Guo J, Wu X, Too CL, Yin F, Lu X, He J, et al.
    PLoS One, 2012;7(7):e41228.
    PMID: 22829930 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041228
    OBJECTIVES: Dendritic cell immunoreceptor (DCIR) has been implicated in development of autoimmune disorders in rodent and DCIR polymorphisms were associated with anti-citrullinated proteins antibodies (ACPA)-negative rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Swedish Caucasians. This study was undertaken to further investigate whether DCIR polymorphisms are also risk factors for the development of RA in four Asian populations originated from China and Malaysia.

    METHODS: We genotyped two DCIR SNPs rs2377422 and rs10840759 in Han Chinese population (1,193 cases, 1,278 controls), to assess their association with RA. Subsequently, rs2377422 was further genotyped in three independent cohorts of Malaysian-Chinese subjects (MY_Chinese, 254 cases, 206 controls), Malay subjects (MY_ Malay, 515 cases, 986 controls), and Malaysian-Indian subjects (MY_Indian, 378 cases, 285 controls), to seek confirmation of association in various ethnic groups. Meta-analysis was preformed to evaluate the contribution of rs2377422 polymorphisms to the development of ACPA-negative RA in distinct ethnic groups. Finally, we carried out association analysis of rs2377422 polymorphisms with DCIR mRNA expression levels.

    RESULTS: DCIR rs2377422 was found to be significantly associated with ACPA -negative RA in Han Chinese (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.27-2.90, P=0.0020). Meta-analysis confirms DCIR rs2377422 as a risk factor for ACPA-negative RA across distinct ethnic groups (OR(overall) =1.17, 95% CI 1.06-1.30, P=0.003). The SNP rs2377422 polymorphism showed significant association with DCIR mRNA expression level, i.e. RA-risk CC genotype exhibit a significant increase in the expression of DCIR (P=0.0023, Kruskal-Wallis).

    CONCLUSIONS: Our data provide evidence for association between DCIR rs2377422 and RA in non-Caucasian populations and confirm the influence of DCIR polymorphisms on RA susceptibility, especially on ACPA-negative RA.
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