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Crocodiles are cultured in large numbers in Asia and other places in order to protect wild resources and meet the needs of human life. In this study, crocodile ( Crocodylus siamensis ) meat proteins were extracted and hydrolyzed into peptides, their antioxidant peptides were isolated and purified by silica gel chromatography and identified by LC/MS. Crocodile meat proteins were optimally extracted with water and hydrolyzed by papain based on the degree of hydrolysis and antioxidant activity. The hydrolysates were fractionated by ultrafiltration into 3 kDa, 3–30 kDa, and ≥ 30 kDa fractions. The 3 kDa fraction showed most antioxidant activity of the hydrolysates. Its active peptides were separated by silica gel column chromatography and purified by silica gel TLC, based on TLC bio-autographic assays of the activity. Four highly active peptides were identified by LC/MS as SSLTIQFVEGQFVDSYDPTIENTFTK, VPPHIY, VAPEEHPVLLTEAPLNPK, and RNGLPGPIGPAG. The identified peptides were synthesized and showed 50% free radical scavenging activities at 1.0 mg/mL, equal or higher to ascorbic acid at 0.5 mg/mL, in both DPPH and ABTS assays. The results indicated that the 3 kDa hydrolyzed peptides of crocodile meat had high antioxidant activity and the active peptides can be effectively separated and purified by silica gel column chromatography and TLC.

As the largest transporter family impacting on tumor genesis and development, the prognostic value of solute carrier (SLC) members has not been elucidated in colorectal cancer (CRC). We aimed to identify a prognostic signature from the SLC members and comprehensively analyze their roles in CRC. Firstly, we downloaded transcriptome data and clinical information of CRC samples from GEO (GSE39582) and TCGA as training and testing dataset, respectively. We extracted the expression matrix of SLC genes and established a prognostic model by univariate and multivariate Cox regression. Afterwards, the low-risk and high-risk group were identified. Then, the differences of prognosis traits, transcriptome features, clinical characteristics, immune infiltration and drug sensitivity between the two groups were explored. Furthermore, molecular subtyping was also implemented by non-negative matrix factorization (NMF). Finally, we studied the expression of the screened SLC genes in CRC tumor tissues and normal tissues as well as investigated the role of SLC12A2 by loss of function and gain of function. As a result, we developed a prognostic risk model based on the screened 6-SLC genes (SLC39A8, SLC2A3, SLC39A13, SLC35B1, SLC4A3, SLC12A2). Both in the training and testing sets, CRC patients in the high-risk group had the poorer prognosis and were in the more advanced pathological stage. What’s more, the high-risk group were enriched with CRC progression signatures and immune infiltration. Two groups showed different drug sensitivity. On the other hand, two distinct subclasses (C1 and C2) were identified based on the 6 SLC genes. CRC patients in the high-risk group and C1 subtype had a worse prognosis. Furthermore, we found and validated that SLC12A2 was steadily upregulated in CRC. A loss-of-function study showed that knockdown of SLC12A2 expression restrained proliferation and stemness of CRC cells while a gain-of-function study showed the contrary results. Hence, we provided a 6-SLC gene signature for prognosis prediction of CRC patients. At the same time, we identified that SLC12A2 could promote tumor progression in CRC, which may serve as a potential therapeutic target.

High-performance lead-free K 0.5 Na 0.5 NbO 3 piezoelectric ceramics present a practical alternative to lead-containing counterparts by effectively reducing potential environmental hazards. This advancement is particularly relevant to the development of ferroelectric heterojunction devices for biomedical applications. Here, we design and fabricate a frequency-adjustable ferroelectric heterojunction based on the developed K 0.5 Na 0.5 NbO 3 piezoelectric ceramics with a high piezoelectric coefficient ( d 33  = 680 pC/N). By leveraging flexible encapsulation, the heterojunction achieves miniaturization ( φ  = 13.3 mm, h  = 2.28 mm) and suitability for implantation. After penetrating the rat skull, the ultrasound generated by the heterojunction at a frequency of 3 MHz reaches a focal depth of about 7.9 mm, a focal width of approximately 480 μm at −6 dB, and millimeter-scale continuous focal tuning (1.5 mm) within a narrow frequency range (2.7–3.3 MHz). Additionally, the implanted heterojunction enables long-term and high-precision transcranial neuromodulation, and consequently yields therapeutic effects in a myocardial infarction animal model. Collectively, this study highlights a viable strategy for developing and applying lead-free ferroelectric heterojunctions, expanding their potential in brain modulation, and providing new insights into clinical treatments of myocardial infarction. The authors present a frequency-adjustable ferroelectric heterojunction based on K 0.5 Na 0.5 NbO 3 piezoelectric ceramic, which enabling therapeutic effects in a myocardial infarction animal model by long-term and high-precision transcranial neuromodulation.

This study aimed to develop a machine learning model based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) radiomics for predicting early recurrence after curative surgery in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).A retrospective analysis was conducted on 200 patients with HCC who underwent curative hepatectomy. Patients were randomly allocated to training ( n  = 140) and validation ( n  = 60) cohorts. Preoperative arterial, portal venous, and delayed phase images were acquired. Tumor regions of interest (ROIs) were manually delineated, with an additional ROI obtained by expanding the tumor boundary by 5 mm. Radiomic features were extracted and selected using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO). Multiple machine learning algorithms were employed to develop predictive models. Model performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, decision curve analysis, and calibration curves. The 20 most discriminative radiomic features were integrated with tumor size and satellite nodules for model development. In the validation cohort, the clinical-peritumoral radiomics model demonstrated superior predictive accuracy (AUC = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.74–0.95) compared to the clinical-intratumoral radiomics model (AUC = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.68–0.93) and the radiomics-only model (AUC = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.69–0.93). Furthermore, calibration curves and decision curve analyses indicated superior calibration ability and clinical benefit. The MRI-based peritumoral radiomics model demonstrates significant potential for predicting early recurrence of HCC.

Sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas L.) is the sixth most important food crop in the world. The industry discarded huge amount of sweet potato stems, rich of peroxidases and phenolics. A simple procedure was developed to make peroxidases and phenolics from sweet potato old stems. Dried stem powder was loaded into columns with water and eluted sequentially with water and 50% ethanol. Peroxidases (91%) were extracted in 5.5-fold water extracts and 87% phenolics were extracted in 4.4-fold ethanol extracts. Purified peroxidases powder was yielded at 3.1 g (8.6 unit/mg) per kilogram stems by PEG6000/Na 2 SO 4 aqueous two-phase purification from the water extracts (93.2% recovery), followed by ethanol precipitation and vacuum freeze-drying. The purified peroxidase had high activity in transforming tea catechins into theaflavins. Phenolics powder containing 43% phenolics and 27% flavonoids was yielded at 76.9 g per kilogram stems after vacuum-concentrating the ethanol extracts. This method can make valuable functional products using the sweet potato waste.

It is important to explore the effective approaches to prevent dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In this study, significantly decreased full-field electroretinograms wave amplitudes and disordered retina structures were detected in rat retinas of sodium iodate induced dry AMD model. Six a- and b-wave amplitudes and the antioxidant activities were significantly increased, and the outer nuclear layer thickness was significantly improved in the rat retinas treated with the combination of Lactobacillus fermentum NS9 (LF) and aronia anthocyanidin extract (AAE) compared with the model. The effects were much better than the treatment with AAE alone. The proteomics analysis showed the expressions of α-, β- and γ-crystallins were increased by 3–8 folds in AAE treated alone and by 6–11 folds in AAE + LF treatment compared with the model, which was further confirmed by immuno-blotting analysis. Analysis of gut microbial composition indicated that higher abundance of the genus Parasutterella and species P. excrementihominis was found in the AAE + LF treatment compared with the other groups. The results indicated that the combined treatment of AAE + LF is a potential way to prevent the retina degeneration which is significantly better than the AAE treated alone.

Background Definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) is the standard treatment for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LANSCLC) patients, but the treatment response and survival outcomes varied among these patients. We aimed to identify pretreatment computed tomography-based radiomics features extracted from tumor and tumor organismal environment (TOE) for long-term survival prediction in these patients treated with CCRT. Methods A total of 298 eligible patients were randomly assigned into the training cohort and validation cohort with a ratio 2:1. An integrated feature selection and model training approach using support vector machine combined with genetic algorithm was performed to predict 3-year overall survival (OS). Patients were stratified into the high-risk and low-risk group based on the predicted survival status. Pulmonary function test and blood gas analysis indicators were associated with radiomic features. Dynamic changes of peripheral blood lymphocytes counts before and after CCRT had been documented. Results Nine features including 5 tumor-related features and 4 pulmonary features were selected in the predictive model. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the training and validation cohort were 0.965 and 0.869, and were reduced by 0.179 and 0.223 when all pulmonary features were excluded. Based on radiomics-derived stratification, the low-risk group yielded better 3-year OS (68.4% vs. 3.3%, p < 0.001) than the high-risk group. Patients in the low-risk group had better baseline FEV1/FVC% (96.3% vs. 85.9%, p = 0.046), less Grade ≥ 3 lymphopenia during CCRT (63.2% vs. 83.3%, p = 0.031), better recovery of lymphopenia from CCRT (71.4% vs. 27.8%, p < 0.001), lower incidence of Grade ≥ 2 radiation-induced pneumonitis (31.6% vs. 53.3%, p = 0.040), superior tumor remission (84.2% vs. 66.7%, p = 0.003). Conclusion Pretreatment radiomics features from tumor and TOE could boost the long-term survival forecast accuracy in LANSCLC patients, and the predictive results could be utilized as an effective indicator for survival risk stratification. Low-risk patients might benefit more from radical CCRT and further adjuvant immunotherapy. Trial registration: retrospectively registered.

Poleroviruses are widely distributed and often of great economic importance because they cause a variety of symptoms, such as the rolling of young leaves, leaf color changes, and plant decline, in infected plants. However, the molecular mechanism behind these viral-induced symptoms is still unknown. Here, we verified the pathogenicity of the polerovirus Brassica yellows virus (BrYV) by transforming its full-length amplicon into Arabidopsis thaliana , which resulted in many abnormal phenotypes. To better understand the interactions between BrYV and its host, global transcriptome profiles of the transgenic plants were compared with that of non-transgenic Arabidopsis plants. An association between the BrYV- induced purple leaf symptoms and the activation of anthocyanin biosynthesis was noted. Using the transgenic approach, we found that movement protein of BrYV was responsible for the induction of these coloration symptoms. Collectively, our findings demonstrate the BrYV’ pathogenicity and show that the BrYV-induced purple leaf symptom resulted from its movement protein stimulating anthocyanin accumulation.

Lycopene is a highly potent antioxidant that is prevalent among dietary carotenoids. However, its use in food formulations is restricted due to its poor water-solubility and proneness to oxidation. The aim of this research was to encapsulate lycopene in yogurt using emulsion technology for improving its stability during processing and storage, in order to diversify a widely consumed food product and enhance its nutritional value. Confocal laser microscopy data showed that the incorporation of oil droplets with emulsification did not have a negative effect on the formation and microstructure of yogurt. Syneresis of lycopene-fortified yogurt samples was approximately twice as high compared with plain yogurt at day 7; the ability to retain water was significantly improved with storage time for all emulsified samples. Additionally, storage reduced the Turbiscan Stability Indices (TSI) for all yogurt samples, which suggests that physical stability improved at 4 °C. Emulsification resulted in increased oxidation levels due to increased oil content. This effect was ameliorated by lycopene encapsulation, which effectively protected corn oil from oxidation and prevented degradation. This study indicates that emulsification is a promising method for lycopene encapsulation and can be used for developing yogurt with desirable nutritional properties.

With fast-growing aviation markets, many developing countries are showing remarkable economic development in global terms. As significant growth of air transportation is crucially interrelated with regional growth, it is essential to identify relevant criteria to ensure effective allocation of investments in this regard. This study aimed to investigate airport centrality using social network analysis to detect the key hubs and examine the interrelationship between airport centrality and regional economy indicators in Vietnamese regions. The results revealed that the cities of Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai, and Da Nang were the key regional hub airports in the air transport network and the development of these leading cities had played a significant role in promoting the improvement of the entire domestic air network. Moreover, the results showed a strong positive correlation between airport centrality and regional growth features. Therefore, policymakers can optimize their decision-making processes in relation to sustainable regional development by considering air transport mobility and network in addition to conventional socioeconomic criteria.