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Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is still on the rise worldwide, and millions of patients have to be treated through dialysis or transplant because of kidney failure caused by DN. Recent reports have highlighted circRNAs in the treatment of DN. Herein, we aimed to investigate the mechanism by which high glucose‐induced exo‐circ_0125310 promotes diabetic nephropathy progression. circ_0125310 is highly expressed in diabetic nephropathy and exosomes isolated from high glucose‐induced mesangial cells (MCs). High glucose‐induced exosomes promote the proliferation and fibrosis of MCs. However, results showed that the effects of exosomes on MCs can be reversed by the knockdown of circ_0125310. miR‐422a, which targets IGF1R, was the direct target of circ_0125310. circ_0125310 regulated IGF1R/p38 axis by sponging miR‐422a. Exo‐circ_0125310 increased the luciferase activity of the WT‐IGF1R reporter in the dual‐luciferase reporter gene assays and upregulated the expression level of IGF1R and p38. Finally, in vivo research indicated that the overexpression of circ_0125310 promoted the diabetic nephropathy progression. Above results demonstrated that the high glucose‐induced exo‐circ_0125310 promoted cell proliferation and fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy via sponging miR‐422a and targeting the IGF1R/p38 axis.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a serious kidney disease resulted from diabetes. Dys‐regulated proliferation and extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation in mesangial cells contribute to DN progression. In this study, we tested expression level of MIAT in DN patients and mesangial cells treated by high glucose (HG). Up‐regulation of MIAT was observed in DN. Then, functional assays displayed that silence of MIAT by siRNA significantly repressed the proliferation and cycle progression in mesangial cells induced by HG. Meanwhile, we found that collagen IV, fibronectin and TGF‐β1 protein expression was obviously triggered by HG, which could be rescued by loss of MIAT. Then, further assessment indicated that MIAT served as sponge harbouring miR‐147a. Moreover, miR‐147a was decreased in DN, which exhibited an antagonistic effect of MIAT on modulating mesangial cell proliferation and fibrosis. Moreover, bioinformatics analysis displayed that E2F transcription factor 3 (E2F3) could act as direct target of miR‐147a. We demonstrated that E2F3 was greatly increased in DN and the direct binding association between miR‐147a and E2F3 was evidenced using luciferase reporter assay. In summary, our data explored the underlying mechanism of DN pathogenesis validated that MIAT induced mesangial cell proliferation and fibrosis via sponging miR‐147a and regulating E2F3.

Recently, microRNAs have been recognized as crucial regulators of diabetic nephropathy (DN) development. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) can play a significant role in tubulointerstitial fibrosis, and it is a hallmark of diabetic nephropathy progression. Nevertheless, the function of miR-98-5p in the modulation of EMT and renal fibrosis during DN remains barely investigated. Hence, identifying the mechanisms of miR-98-5p in regulating EMT and fibrosis is of huge significance. In our present research, decreased miR-98-5p was demonstrated in db/db mice and mice mesangial cells treated with the high dose of glucose. Meanwhile, activated EMT and increased fibrosis was accompanied with the decrease of miR-98-5p in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, to further find out the roles of miR-98-5p in DN development, overexpression of miR-98-5p was applied. Firstly, in vivo investigation exhibited that elevation of miR-98-5p restrained proteinuria, serum creatinine, BUN, the EMT process, and fibrosis. Furthermore, high glucose was able to promote mice mesangial cell proliferation, EMT process, and induced renal fibrosis, which could be prevented by overexpression of miR-98-5p. Moreover, high mobility group A (HMGA2) can exhibit an important role in diverse biological processes. Here, HMGA2 was investigated as a target of miR-98-5p currently. Luciferase reporter assay was conducted and the correlation of miR-98-5p and HMGA2 was validated. Moreover, it was displayed that HMGA2 was remarkably elevated in db/db mice and mice mesangial cells. Furthermore, miR-98-5p strongly depressed HMGA2 protein and mRNA levels in mice mesangial cells. Overall, these revealed miR-98-5p could suppress the EMT process and renal fibrosis through targeting HMGA2 in DN.

Diabetic nephropathy is a leading cause of end‐stage renal disease globally. The vital role of circular RNAs (circRNAs) has been reported in diabetic nephropathy progression, but the molecular mechanism linking diabetic nephropathy to circRNAs remains elusive. In this study, we investigated the significant function of circ‐AKT3/miR‐296‐3p/E‐cadherin regulatory network on the extracellular matrix accumulation in mesangial cells in diabetic nephropathy. The expression of circ‐AKT3 and fibrosis‐associated proteins, including fibronectin, collagen type I and collagen type IV, was assessed via RT‐PCR and Western blot analysis in diabetic nephropathy animal model and mouse mesangial SV40‐MES13 cells. Luciferase reporter assays were used to investigate interactions among E‐cadherin, circ‐AKT3 and miR‐296‐3p in mouse mesangial SV40‐MES13 cells. Cell apoptosis was evaluated via flow cytometry. The level of circ‐AKT3 was significantly lower in diabetic nephropathy mice model group and mouse mesangial SV40‐MES13 cells treated with high‐concentration (25 mmol/L) glucose. In addition, circ‐AKT3 overexpression inhibited the level of fibrosis‐associated protein, such as fibronectin, collagen type I and collagen type IV. Circ‐AKT3 overexpression also inhibited the apoptosis of mouse mesangial SV40‐MES13 cells treated with high glucose. Luciferase reporter assay and bioinformatics tools identified that circ‐AKT3 could act as a sponge of miR‐296‐3p and E‐cadherin was the miR‐296‐3p direct target. Moreover, circ‐AKT3/miR‐296‐3p/E‐cadherin modulated the extracellular matrix of mouse mesangial cells in high‐concentration (25 mmol/L) glucose, inhibiting the synthesis of related extracellular matrix protein. In conclusion, circ‐AKT3 inhibited the extracellular matrix accumulation in diabetic nephropathy mesangial cells through modulating miR‐296‐3p/E‐cadherin signals, which might offer novel potential opportunities for clinical diagnosis targets and therapeutic biomarkers for diabetic nephropathy.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is still on the rise worldwide, and millions of patients have to be treated through dialysis or transplant because of kidney failure caused by DN. Recent reports have highlighted circRNAs in the treatment of DN. Herein, we aimed to investigate the mechanism by which high glucose‐induced exo‐circ₀125310 promotes diabetic nephropathy progression. circ₀125310 is highly expressed in diabetic nephropathy and exosomes isolated from high glucose‐induced mesangial cells (MCs). High glucose‐induced exosomes promote the proliferation and fibrosis of MCs. However, results showed that the effects of exosomes on MCs can be reversed by the knockdown of circ₀125310. miR‐422a, which targets IGF1R, was the direct target of circ₀125310. circ₀125310 regulated IGF1R/p38 axis by sponging miR‐422a. Exo‐circ₀125310 increased the luciferase activity of the WT‐IGF1R reporter in the dual‐luciferase reporter gene assays and upregulated the expression level of IGF1R and p38. Finally, in vivo research indicated that the overexpression of circ₀125310 promoted the diabetic nephropathy progression. Above results demonstrated that the high glucose‐induced exo‐circ₀125310 promoted cell proliferation and fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy via sponging miR‐422a and targeting the IGF1R/p38 axis.

The main source of urban waste is the daily life activities of residents, and the waste sorting of residents’ waste is important for promoting economic recycling, reducing labor costs, and protecting the environment. However, most residents are unable to make accurate judgments about the categories of household waste, which severely limits the efficiency of waste sorting. We have designed an intelligent waste bin that enables automatic waste sorting and recycling, avoiding the extensive knowledge required for waste sorting. To ensure that the waste-classification model is high accuracy and works in real time, GECM-EfficientNet is proposed based on EfficientNet by streamlining the mobile inverted bottleneck convolution (MBConv) module, introducing the efficient channel attention (ECA) module and coordinate attention (CA) module, and transfer learning. The accuracy of GECM-EfficientNet reaches 94.54% and 94.23% on the self-built household waste dataset and TrashNet dataset, with parameters of only 1.23 M. The time of one recognition on the intelligent waste bin is only 146 ms, which satisfies the real-time classification requirement. Our method improves the computational efficiency of the waste-classification model and simplifies the hardware requirements, which contributes to the residents’ waste classification based on intelligent devices.

Global climate change has prompted research on carbon emissions (CEs), with the freight transportation sector in China exhibiting a significant increase in CEs. This study aimed to optimize the freight structure in China and to develop a low-carbon freight transportation system. As one of the main factors influencing freight CEs, research on the freight structure is helpful for understanding the comparative advantages and potential environmental impacts of various freight transportation modes. The freight structure was characterized by calculating the proportion of the freight turnover of four transportation modes, and the mechanism of the influence of the freight structure on freight CEs was examined by combining the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology model and geographically and temporally weighted regression model. It is worth noting that from 2005 to 2023, the transport carbon intensity (CEI) has decreased significantly in some provinces, such as Beijing and Tianjin Province, by 22.94% and 75.49%, respectively. But freight costs in both Hebei and Gansu have risen by more than 65%. Nevertheless, the overall freight CEI in China has decreased by approximately 25.69% over the past 15 years due to freight transportation mode and technology advancements. The findings provide valuable insights for establishing government transport policies to reduce freight CEs and promote sustainable transport systems. Emphasizing the importance of restructuring freight transport, this study offers a methodological framework for future research, and strategies are proposed to reduce CEs from the perspectives of institutional adjustment, potential direction exploration, and policy incentives.

•Physiological changes in the brain under different vibration frequencies were measured using a custom-built vibration instrument.•Cerebral blood flow was modulated with vibration and decreased with increased frequency.•The regions with a significant cerebral blood flow decrease coincided with the default mode network. Human brain experiences vibration of certain magnitude and frequency during various physical activities such as vehicle transportation and machine operation, which may cause traumatic brain injury or other brain diseases. However, the mechanisms of brain pathogenesis due to vibration are not fully elucidated due to the lack of techniques to study brain functions while applying vibration to the brain at a specific magnitude and frequency. Here, this study reported a custom-built head-worn electromagnetic actuator that applied vibration to the brain in vivo at an accurate frequency inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner while cerebral blood flow (CBF) was acquired. Using this technique, CBF values from 45 healthy volunteers were quantitatively measured immediately following vibration at 20, 30, 40 Hz, respectively. Results showed increasingly reduced CBF with increasing frequency at multiple regions of the brain, while the size of the regions expanded. Importantly, the vibration-induced CBF reduction regions largely fell inside the brain's default mode network (DMN), with about 58 or 46% overlap at 30 or 40 Hz, respectively. These findings demonstrate that vibration as a mechanical stimulus can change strain conditions, which may induce CBF reduction in the brain with regional differences in a frequency-dependent manner. Furthermore, the overlap between vibration-induced CBF reduction regions and DMN suggested a potential relationship between external mechanical stimuli and cognitive functions.

Megacity clusters are the key battlegrounds for carbon emission reduction in China, and the polycentric spatial structure of these clusters has a profound impact on their carbon emission intensity. This paper focuses on five major megacity clusters: the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Pearl River Delta (PRD), the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (MRYR), and the Chengdu–Chongqing (CY) City Clusters. We construct an inter-period panel dataset spanning from 2002 to 2023 and utilize an index of polycentric spatial structure, which equally considers both morphology and functionality. A fixed-effects model is employed, and the Lind–Mehlum U-shape test is applied to identify the nonlinear relationship. Additionally, a two-step approach is used to examine the mediating effect of industrial agglomeration, while interaction terms help identify the moderating effects of technological innovation and transport infrastructure. The results indicate a significant U-shaped relationship between the polycentric structure of megacity clusters and carbon emission intensity. When the polycentric spatial structure index reaches a specific threshold, carbon emission intensity is minimized, suggesting that a moderate degree of polycentricity is most conducive to carbon reduction. Mechanism analysis reveals that industrial agglomeration functions as a significant mediator, whereas technological innovation and transport infrastructure serve as critical moderators in this relationship. Based on these findings, we propose several policy recommendations: to guide the moderate adjustment of the polycentric structure of city clusters with stage-specific targets, optimize the mechanism of industrial synergy and transfer, differentiate the allocation of innovation resources, and achieve a fine-tuned alignment between the transport system and spatial structure. These measures will support the high-quality, low-carbon transformation of city clusters.

In this study, polymeric nanocomposites of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) were synthesized by assembly of a biomimetic polymer-polydopamine (PDA)onto halloysite nanotubes (HNTs@PDA), followed by the in situ growth of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) on the surface of HNTs@PDA. The obtained nanocomposites (HNTs@PDA/ZIF-8) prevented agglomeration of ZIFs and increased the number of active sites derived from PDA. The factors influencing heavy metal ions (Pb2+, Cd2+, Cu2+, and Ni2+) adsorption by HNTs@PDA/ZIF-8 were discussed. The Langmuir model was able to well describe the adsorption, and the maximum adsorption capacity of HNTs@PDA/ZIF-8 was calculated to be 285.00 mg/g for Cu2+, 515.00 mg/g for Pb2+, 185 mg/g for Cd2+ and 112.5 mg/g for Ni2+. Thermodynamic parameters confirmed that the adsorption was exothermic and spontaneous. Moreover, HNTs@PDA/ZIF-8 has good regenerability, which is very important in practical applications. The adsorption mechanism study showed that electrostatic attraction, coordination reactions and ion-exchange were the main mechanisms between the adsorbents and heavy metal ions. Hence, HNTs@PDA/ZIF-8 is a promising candidate for removing heavy metal ions from wastewater.