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Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and fatal lung disorder characterized by excessive scarring of lung tissue, predominantly affecting middle-aged and elderly populations. Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis, disrupting redox homeostasis and driving fibrotic progression. Glutathione reductase (GSR), a key antioxidant enzyme, is essential for maintaining cellular glutathione (GSH) levels and mitigating oxidative damage. However, the specific involvement of GSR in IPF remains poorly understood. This study found that GSR levels were downregulated in IPF patients and mice treated with bleomycin (BLM). GSR knockdown enhanced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in A549 cells and promoted the activation of MRC5 cells. Additionally, GSR depletion promoted cellular migration and senescence in both A549 and MRC5 cells. Mechanistically, silencing GSR in A549 and MRC5 cells led to a marked reduction in intracellular GSH levels, resulting in elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, thereby promoting the activation of the TGF-β/Smad2 signaling pathway. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that GSR deficiency aggravates pulmonary fibrosis by impairing antioxidant defense mechanisms, promoting EMT, and activating fibroblasts through the TGF-β/Smad2 signaling. These findings suggest that GSR may be essential in reducing the fibrotic progression of IPF.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive, fatal, and aging-associated interstitial lung disease with a poor prognosis and limited treatment options, while the pathogenesis remains elusive. In this study, we found that the expression of nuclear receptor subfamily 2 group F member 2 (NR2F2), a member of the steroid thyroid hormone superfamily of nuclear receptors, was reduced in both IPF and bleomycin-induced fibrotic lungs, markedly in bleomycin-induced senescent epithelial cells. Inhibition of NR2F2 expression increased the expression of senescence markers such as p21 and p16 in lung epithelial cells, and activated fibroblasts through epithelial-mesenchymal crosstalk, inversely overexpression of NR2F2 alleviated bleomycin-induced epithelial cell senescence and inhibited fibroblast activation. Subsequent mechanistic studies revealed that overexpression of NR2F2 alleviated DNA damage in lung epithelial cells and inhibited cell senescence. Adenovirus-mediated Nr2f2 overexpression attenuated bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis and cell senescence in mice. In summary, these data demonstrate that NR2F2 is involved in lung epithelial cell senescence, and targeting NR2F2 may be a promising therapeutic approach against lung cell senescence and fibrosis.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive and fatal interstitial lung disease with a poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options, which is characterized by aberrant myofibroblast activation and pathological remodeling of the extracellular matrix, while the mechanism remains elusive. In the present investigation, we observed a reduction in ADRB2 expression within both IPF and bleomycin-induced fibrotic lung samples, as well as in fibroblasts treated with TGF-β1. ADRB2 inhibition blunted bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis. Blockage of the ADRB2 suppressed proliferation, migration, and invasion and attenuated TGF-β1-induced fibroblast activation. Conversely, the enhancement of ADRB2 expression or functionality proved capable of inducing fibroblast-to-myofibroblast differentiation. Subsequent mechanistic investigation revealed that inhibition of ADRB2 suppressed the activation of SMAD2/3 in lung fibroblasts and increased phos-SMAD2/3 proteasome degradation, and vice versa. Finally, ADRB2 inhibition combined with antioxidants showed increased efficacy in the therapy of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis. In short, these data indicate that ADRB2 is involved in lung fibroblast differentiation, and targeting ADRB2 could emerge as a promising and innovative therapeutic approach for pulmonary fibrosis.

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a chronic interstitial lung disease characterized by myofibroblast abnormal activation and extracellular matrix deposition. However, the pathogenesis of PF remains unclear, and treatment options are limited. Epidemiological studies have shown that the average age of PF patients is estimated to be over 65 years, and the incidence of the disease increases with age. Therefore, PF is considered an age-related disease. A preliminary study on PF patients demonstrated that the combination therapy of the anti-senescence drugs dasatinib and quercetin improved physical functional indicators. Given the global aging population and the role of cellular senescence in tissue and organ aging, understanding the impact of cellular senescence on PF is of growing interest. This article systematically summarizes the causes and signaling pathways of cellular senescence in PF. It also objectively analyzes the impact of senescence in AECs and fibroblasts on PF development. Furthermore, potential intervention methods targeting cellular senescence in PF treatment are discussed. This review not only provides a strong theoretical foundation for understanding and manipulating cellular senescence, developing new therapies to improve age-related diseases, and extending a healthy lifespan but also offers hope for reversing the toxicity caused by the massive accumulation of senescence cells in humans.

Nanoplastics (NPs) are ubiquitous in harvested organisms at various trophic levels, and more concerns on their diverse responses and wide species-dependent sensitivity are continuously increasing. However, systematic study on the toxic effects of NPs with different functional group modifications is still limited. In this review, we gathered and analyzed the toxic effects of NPs with different functional groups on microorganisms, plants, animals, and mammalian/human cells in vitro. The corresponding toxic mechanisms were also described. In general, most up-to-date relevant studies focus on amino (−NH 2 ) or carboxyl (−COOH)-modified polystyrene (PS) NPs, while research on other materials and functional groups is lacking. Positively charged PS-NH 2 NPs induced stronger toxicity than negatively charged PS-COOH. Plausible toxicity mechanisms mainly include membrane interaction and disruption, reactive oxygen species generation, and protein corona and eco-corona formations, and they were influenced by surface charges of NPs. The effects of NPs in the long-term exposure and in the real environment world also warrant further study.

Microplastics (MPs) have become a hot issue of environmental pollution. However, insufficient evidence exists regarding the distributions and fates of MPs in terrestrial environment, especially in farmlands. The distributions of MPs in paddy fields were investigated in Xiangtan City, a typical rice production area in China. The abundance of MPs in paddy seedling raising fields was 3805 ± 511 n·kg −1 , which increased by approximately 9 times than that in common paddy fields. Transparent films became the dominant forms due to the huge usage of mulching films, corresponding to that the proportion of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) increased to 17% there. Moreover, an industrial plant nearby also contributed considerably to the MP pollution; the proportion of PVC (33%) in the paddy fields nearby increased to approximately 4 times of common paddy fields, while polyvinyl alcohol (PVA; 13%) used as an important chemical raw material to synthesis in various applications was uniquely detected there. These results highlight the input of MPs from agricultural and industrial activities in farmlands. Their contributions to the MP pollution in farmlands should be continuously investigated.

Widespread antibiotic residues in aquatic environments pose escalating threats to ecological stability and human health, highlighting the urgent demand for effective remediation strategies. In recent years, photocatalytic technology based on advanced nanomaterials has emerged as a sustainable and efficient strategy for antibiotic degradation, enabling the effective utilization of solar energy for environmental remediation. This review provides an in-depth discussion of six representative categories of photocatalytic nanomaterials that have demonstrated remarkable performance in antibiotic degradation, including metal oxide-based systems with defect engineering and hollow architectures, bismuth-based semiconductors with narrow band gaps and heterojunction designs, silver-based plasmonic composites with enhanced light harvesting, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) featuring tunable porosity and hybrid interfaces, carbon-based materials such as g-C3N4 and biochar that facilitate charge transfer and adsorption, and emerging MXene–semiconductor hybrids exhibiting exceptional conductivity and interfacial activity. The photocatalytic performance of these nanomaterials is compared in terms of degradation efficiency, recyclability, and visible-light response to evaluate their suitability for antibiotic degradation. Beyond parent compound removal, we emphasize transformation products, mineralization, and post-treatment toxicity evolution as critical metrics for assessing true detoxification and environmental risk. In addition, the incorporation of artificial intelligence into photocatalyst design, mechanistic modeling, and process optimization is highlighted as a promising direction for accelerating material innovation and advancing toward scalable, safe, and sustainable photocatalytic applications.

Continuous monitoring of vital signs based on advanced sensing technologies has attracted extensive attention due to the ravages of COVID-19. A maintenance-free and low-cost passive wireless sensing system based on surface acoustic wave (SAW) device can be used to continuously monitor temperature. However, the current SAW-based passive sensing system is mostly designed at a low frequency around 433 MHz, which leads to the relatively large size of SAW devices and antenna, hindering their application in wearable devices. In this paper, SAW devices with a resonant frequency distributed in the 870 MHz to 960 MHz range are rationally designed and fabricated. Based on the finite-element method (FEM) and coupling-of-modes (COM) model, the device parameters, including interdigital transducer (IDT) pairs, aperture size, and reflector pairs, are systematically optimized, and the theoretical and experimental results show high consistency. Finally, SAW temperature sensors with a quality factor greater than 2200 are obtained for real-time temperature monitoring ranging from 20 to 50 °C. Benefitting from the higher operating frequency, the size of the sensing system can be reduced for human body temperature monitoring, showing its potential to be used as a wearable monitoring device in the future.

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP) is the primary etiological agent of porcine contagious pleuropneumonia and is responsible for substantial economic losses in the swine industry worldwide. In April 2023, an acute respiratory disease outbreak occurred on a pig farm in Longyan City, Fujian Province, China, resulting in a morbidity rate of 30% and a mortality rate of 56%. This study aimed to isolate and identify the causative pathogen and to characterize its major biological properties. An NAD-dependent bacterial strain was isolated from the lung tissues of deceased pigs and identified as APP serotype 1 through morphological characterization, biochemical testing, and serotype-specific PCR analysis. The isolate was designated APPFJLYC01. Toxin gene profiling revealed the presence of the ApxII , ApxIII , and ApxIV genes, whereas the ApxI gene was absent. This toxin gene pattern differs from the typical profile reported for serotype 1 strains ( ApxI , ApxII , and ApxIV ), suggesting potential genetic diversity in the distribution of toxin-associated genes among local APP populations. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing demonstrated that APPFJLYC01 was resistant to polymyxin, tetracycline, enrofloxacin, ampicillin, gentamicin, and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, indicating a multidrug-resistant phenotype. Pathogenicity assessment in mice confirmed the virulence of the isolate, with a median lethal dose (LD 50 ) of 7.91 × 10 8  CFU/mL. In conclusion, this study reports the isolation and characterization of a serotype 1 APP strain from Longyan, Fujian Province, exhibiting an atypical toxin gene profile and multidrug resistance. These findings provide valuable epidemiological data for understanding the genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistance characteristics of APP strains circulating in the region and may contribute to the development of effective prevention and control strategies for porcine pleuropneumonia.

为探讨微塑料（MPs）在农田系统的污染情况及可能的作用途径，以湖南省湘潭市3个镇的水稻田为研究对象，测定分析了该地区水稻田56个点位的表层土壤中MPs的分布特征，并在水稻成熟后随机选取14个点位收集稻谷，分析了MPs对土壤中双酚A（BPA）与镉（Cd）向稻谷中迁移的影响。结果表明，该地区水稻田中MPs以老化的薄膜、颗粒、碎片、纤维4种形态存在。3个镇的水稻田土壤中 MPs的丰度相似，丰度范围为 48~1 771 个·kg-1，主要成分为聚乙烯（PE）和聚氯乙烯（PVC），占比分别为 46.77% 和24.19%，且聚碳酸酯（PC）含量均显著低于苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）含量，二者平均含量分别为2.51 μg·kg-1和113.35 μg·kg-1。相对于非解聚土壤，解聚土壤中 BPA含量与稻谷中的 BPA含量呈现出显著的正相关关系（P<0.01），表明随着环境中 MPs老化程度的加重，BPA有二次释放的风险。另外，土壤中Cd的含量也与MPs丰度表现出显著的正相关关系（P<0.001），表明MPs促进了Cd向稻谷中的转移。本研究对全面、客观评估农田系统中MPs的污染水平和健康风险具有参考意义。To investigate the pollution caused by microplastics（MPs）in agricultural systems and their possible mechanisms of action, the distribution characteristics of MPs in the surface soils of 56 sites in paddy fields of three towns in Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, China, were determined. Fourteen sites were randomly selected to collect rice grains after harvest. The effect of MPs on the migration of bisphenol A （BPA）and cadmium（Cd）from soil to rice grains were analyzed. Four forms of aging MPs were detected in soils：film