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Background Elevated temperature and drought stress have substantial impacts on fruit quality, especially in terms of sugar metabolism and content. β-Amylase ( BAM ) plays a critical role in regulating jujube fruit sugar levels and abiotic stress response. Nevertheless, little is known about the regulatory functions of the BAM genes in jujube fruit. Results Nine jujube BAM genes were identified, clustered into four groups, and characterized to elucidate their structure, function, and distribution. Multiple sequence alignment and gene structure analysis showed that all ZjBAM genes contain Glu-186 and Glu-380 residues and are highly conserved. Phylogenetic and synteny analysis further indicated that the ZjBAM gene family is evolutionarily conserved and formed collinear pairs with the BAM genes of peach, apple, poplar, Arabidopsis thaliana , and cucumber. A single tandem gene pair was found within the ZjBAM gene family and is indicative of putative gene duplication events. We also explored the physicochemical properties, conserved motifs, and chromosomal and subcellular localization of ZjBAM genes as well as the interaction networks and 3D structures of ZjBAM proteins. A promoter cis -acting element analysis suggested that ZjBAM promoters comprise elements related to growth, development, phytohormones, and stress response. Furthermore, a metabolic pathways annotation analysis showed that ZjBAMs are significantly upregulated in the starch and sucrose metabolism, thereby controlling starch-maltose interconversion and hydrolyzing starch to maltose. Transcriptome and qRT-PCR analyses revealed that ZjBAMs respond positively to elevated temperature and drought stress. Specifically, ZjBAM1 , ZjBAM2 , ZjBAM5 , and ZjBAM6 are significantly upregulated in response to severe drought. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation analysis demonstrated ZjBAM1-ZjAMY3, ZjBAM8-ZjDPE1, and ZjBAM7-ZjDPE1 protein interactions that were mainly present in the plasma membrane and nucleus. Conclusion The jujube BAM gene family exhibits high evolutionary conservation. The various expression patterns of ZjBAM gene family members indicate that they play key roles in jujube growth, development, and abiotic stress response. Additionally, ZjBAMs interact with α-amylase and glucanotransferase. Collectively, the present study provides novel insights into the structure, evolution, and functions of the jujube BAM gene family, thus laying a foundation for further exploration of ZjBAM functional mechanisms in response to elevated temperature and drought stress, while opening up avenues for the development of economic forests in arid areas.

Strong substrate affinity and high catalytic efficiency are persistently pursued to generate high‐performance nanozymes. Herein, with unique surface atomic configurations and distinct d‐orbital coupling features of different metal components, a class of highly efficient MnFeCoNiCu transition metal high‐entropy nanozymes (HEzymes) is prepared for the first time. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that improved d‐orbital coupling between different metals increases the electron density near the Fermi energy level (EF) and shifts the position of the overall d‐band center with respect to EF, thereby boosting the efficiency of site‐to‐site electron transfer while also enhancing the adsorption of oxygen intermediates during catalysis. As such, the proposed HEzymes exhibit superior substrate affinities and catalytic efficiencies comparable to that of natural horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Finally, HEzymes with superb peroxidase (POD)‐like activity are used in biosensing and antibacterial applications. These results suggest that HEzymes have great potential as new‐generation nanozymes. Limited catalytic efficiency and poor selectivity are bottlenecks in the development of nanozymes. This work integrates state‐of‐the‐art high‐entropy alloys with currently reported intrinsic enzyme activity sites to design a class of high‐efficiency transition metal nanozymes. This unique design strategy advances the systematic understanding of the structure‐performance relationship between the electronic structure and catalytic activity of nanozymes.

The cathode channel of air-cooled open-cathode proton exchange membrane fuel cell (AO-PEMFC) is both a reactant supply channel and a cooling and heat dissipation channel, and its structural design is a key factor affecting its output performance. Firstly, the numerical study of AO-PEMFC with different cathode channel bending angles was carried out, and the results showed that the output performance of a single cell with a cathode bending angle of 2.5° was improved by 3.88% compared with that of a single cell with a cathode straight channel at rated point-density electricity, and the cathode voltage drop increased by only 1.5%. In addition, in order to further improve the power density of the fuel cell, two agent models, support vector regression and Gaussian process regression, are constructed and trained, and a genetic algorithm is used to find the parameter optimization for the bending angle, width and height of the cathode channel. Finally, the proposed ranges of width, height and bending angle of the optimal flow channel are obtained, which are w = 1.1–1.2 mm, d = 1.3–1.5 mm and θ = 2.23°–2.99°, respectively, and the output power density of a single cell within this range will be no less than 0.489 W/cm 2 .

Engineering multimetallic nanocatalysts with the entropy‐mediated strategy to reduce reaction activation energy is regarded as an innovative and effective approach to facilitate efficient heterogeneous catalysis. Accordingly, conformational entropy‐driven high‐entropy alloys (HEAs) are emerging as a promising candidate to settle the catalytic efficiency limitations of nanozymes, attributed to their versatile active site compositions and synergistic effects. As proof of the high‐entropy nanozymes (HEzymes) concept, elaborate PdMoPtCoNi HEA nanowires (NWs) with abundant active sites and tuned electronic structures, exhibiting peroxidase‐mimicking activity comparable to that of natural horseradish peroxidase are reported. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the enhanced electron abundance of HEA NWs near the Fermi level (EF) is facilitated via the self‐complementation effect among the diverse transition metal sites, thereby boosting the electron transfer efficiency at the catalytic interface through the cocktail effect. Subsequently, the HEzymes are integrated with a portable electronic device that utilizes Internet of Things‐driven signal conversion and wireless transmission functions for point‐of‐care diagnosis to validate their applicability in digital biosensing of urinary biomarkers. The proposed HEzymes underscore significant potential in enhancing nanozymes catalysis through tunable electronic structures and synergistic effects, paving the way for reformative advancements in nano‐bio analysis. As a proof of concept for high‐entropy nanozymes (HEzymes), a class of PdMoPtCoNi nanowires with abundant active sites and tuned electronic structure are designed, and with density functional theory calculations it is demonstrated that their peroxidase‐mimicking activity is comparable to HRP originating from the d electrons self‐complementation effect. The HEzymes are combined with a portable electronic device to achieve IoT‐activated POC digital urinalysis.

In large-scale radiological events, there is a need to triage affected individuals based on their biological absorbed dose. Biodosimetry measures biological responses in relation to the received dose. Radiation-responsive protein biomarkers in peripheral blood lymphocytes, especially intracellular proteins, have been validated for biodosimetry with immunochemical-based measurement methods. However, these antibody-based assays can suffer from stability and batch-to-batch variations. Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotide alternatives to antibodies that are stable and much smaller in size, making them ideal probes for intracellular targets. However, few aptamers have been developed against intracellular targets, and these efforts are especially hampered due to the time-consuming nature of the conventional aptamer selection method. An efficient method for isolating aptamers against intracellular radiation-responsive proteins is not available yet. Herein, we used a microfluidic aptamer isolation method to develop an aptamer against the intracellular radiation biomarker BAX in blood lymphocytes. The isolated aptamer has a dissociation constant of 6.95 nM against human BAX protein and a bright detail similarity score of 1.9 when colocalizing with anti-BAX aptamer intracellularly. The in situ labeling of the intracellular BAX protein also shows the aptamer can be used to differentiate 2.5 Gy or 3 Gy of radiation in ex vivo human and in vivo mouse peripheral blood samples exposed to X-rays. In conclusion, this proof-of-concept study indicates that the microfluidic-enabled aptamer isolation method could be used for the development of a panel of targeted intracellular proteins for radiation biodosimetry applications.

In recent years, the construction of China’s power grid has experienced rapid development, and its scale has leaped into the first place in the world. Accurate and effective prediction of power grid investment can not only help pool funds and rationally arrange investment in power grid construction, but also reduce capital costs and economic risks, which plays a crucial role in promoting power grid investment planning and construction process. In order to forecast the power grid investment of China accurately, firstly on the basis of analyzing the influencing factors of power grid investment, the influencing factors system for China’s power grid investment forecasting is constructed in this article. The method of grey relational analysis is used for screening the main influencing factors as the prediction model input. Then, a novel power grid investment prediction model based on DE-GWO-SVM (support vector machine optimized by differential evolution and grey wolf optimization) algorithm is proposed. Next, two cases are taken for empirical analysis to prove that the DE-GWO-SVM model has strong generalization capacity and has achieved a good prediction effect for power grid investment forecasting in China. Finally, the DE-GWO-SVM model is adopted to forecast power grid investment in China from 2018 to 2022.

In this study, caffeic acid (CA) and chlorogenic acid (CGA) were incorporated onto chitosan (CS) using free radical grafting initiated by a hydrogen peroxide/ascorbic acid (H2O2/Vc) redox system. The structural properties of the CA (CA-g-CS) and CGA (CGA-g-CS) derivatives were characterized by UV–Vis absorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and thermal stability analysis. Then, the antioxidant and antibacterial properties were evaluated, and the effect of CGA-g-CS on the postharvest quality of Saimaiti apricot was studied. It proved that phenolic acids were successfully grafted onto the CS. The grafting ratios of CA-g-CS and CGA-g-CS were 126.21 mg CAE/g and 148.94 mg CGAE/g. The antioxidation and antibacterial activities of CGA-g-CS were better than those of CA-g-CS. The MICs of CGA-g-CS against E. coli, S. aureus, and B. subtilis were 2, 1, and 2 mg/mL. The inhibitory zones of 20 mg/mL CGA-g-CS against the three bacteria were 19.16 ± 0.35, 16.33 ± 0.91, and 16.24 ± 0.05 mm. The inhibitory effects of 0.5% CGA-g-CS on the firmness, weight loss, SSC, TA, relative conductivity, and respiration rate of the apricot were superior. Our results suggest that CGA-g-CS can be potentially used as an edible coating material to preserve apricots.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects approximately 35 million people worldwide, and diet has been reported to influence the prevalence/incidence of AD. Colorectal cancer is among the most common cancers in Western populations, and the correlation between constipation and the occurrence of colorectal cancer has been identified in a number of studies, which show that a Westernized diet is a mutual risk factor. Constipation is a growing health problem, particularly in middle-aged and older adults. As the most common gastrointestinal disorder in adults, constipation affects 2-20% of the world population, and it is associated with several diseases, such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and others. Comparing the epidemiological data on colorectal cancer and AD, we find that colorectal cancer and AD have similar epidemiologic feature, which is both disease correlate with high prevalence of constipation. Therefore, we hypothesized that constipation may influence Alzheimer's disease in a similar way that it contributes to colorectal cancer. This review aimed to systemically elucidate the evidence that constipation contributes to Alzheimer's disease progression.

To study the effect of graded nursing based on the Glasgow-Blatchford score in liver cirrhosis patients complicated with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGIB). From January 2022 to December 2024, eighty patients with liver cirrhosis complicated with AUGIB treated in our hospital were chosen and separated into control group and study group. The control group received routine nursing, and the study group received graded nursing based on the Glasgow-Blatchford score. The hemostatic time and hospital stay, number of patients with re-bleeding and death, Glasgow-Blatchford score, incidence of complications, psychological states, self-care ability, quality of life and nursing satisfaction were compared between the two groups. Compared to the control group, the study group had shorter hemostatic time and hospital stay, lower rate of re-bleeding and death, lower incidence of complications and higher nursing satisfaction ( < 0.05 and < 0.01). At discharge, the Glasgow-Blatchford score was declined, the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) scores were declined, the exercise of self-care agency (ESCA) scores were elevated and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) scores were elevated in both groups ( < 0.05). Compared to the control group, the study group had lower Glasgow-Blatchford score, lower SAS and SDS scores, higher ESCA scores and higher SF-36 scores at discharge ( < 0.05). Graded nursing based on the Glasgow-Blatchford score can reduce the re-bleeding rate and incidence of adverse reactions, alleviate the anxiety and depression and enhance the self-care ability, quality of life and nursing satisfaction of patients with liver cirrhosis combined with AUGIB.

The goal of this study was to characterize the mechanisms of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) ZNF883 regulating NOD-like receptor 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation in epilepsy (EP). Rat and cellular EP models were established using pilocarpine and magnesium-free extracellular fluid, respectively, to detect the differential expression of ZNF883, microRNA (miR)-138-5p, ubiquitin-specific peptidase 47 (USP47), and NLRP3. The pathology of the hippocampal neurons was examined by whole-cell patch clamping. The expression of ZNF883, miR-138-5p, and USP47 was modified in epileptic neurons, and the EP rats were injected with sh-ZNF883. Then, alterations in ZNF883, miR-138-5p, and USP47 levels were measured. The histopathology of the hippocampus was detected, along with the detection of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, and NLRP3. Neuronal apoptosis in the rat and cellular EP models was determined. The relationship among ZNF883, miR-138-5p, and USP47 as well as the regulation of NLRP3 ubiquitination by USP47 was determined. ZNF883, USP47, and NLRP3 were increasingly expressed and miR-138-5p was downregulated in epileptic neurons and rats, concurrent with aggravated inflammation and apoptosis. ZNF883 overexpression in epileptic neurons elevated USP47 expression. ZNF883 targeted miR-138-5p and miR-138-5p negatively regulated USP47. In epileptic neurons, inhibiting miR-138-5p or overexpressing USP47 partially reversed the ZNF883 silencing-induced inhibition on NLRP3 inflammasome activation, neuronal apoptosis, and epileptiform activity. ZNF883 silencing in EP rats decreased USP47 and NLRP3, increased miR-138-5p, and inhibited inflammation and apoptosis. USP47 reversed the ubiquitination of NLRP3. ZNF883 inhibits NLRP3 ubiquitination and promotes EP through upregulating USP47 by sponging miR-138-5p.