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Oridonin, a tetracyclic diterpenoid from Rabdosia rubescens (Hemsl.) Hara, exhibits various pharmacological actions, such as anti-tumor, anti-infective, and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the underlying pharmacological effects of oridonin on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are yet to be elucidated. This study aims to examine the molecular mechanism and pharmacological impact of oridonin on TNBC using a network pharmacological strategy. Initially, the pharmacological databases and analysis platforms were employed to identify the potential targets of oridonin using the GeneCards website. The process of standardizing gene names involved the conversion of all target genes using the UniProt database. The acquired data was subjected to identify prevalent target genes. Then, these genes were examined using the STRING website to create a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. In addition to Gene ontology (GO) functional annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, a molecular docking analysis was conducted to validate the binding conformation between oridonin and the putative target genes. Among the selected 549 genes, 106 genes were found to interact with TNBC. The KEGG study suggested that the underlying mechanism could potentially be linked to the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and proteoglycans in cancer. Moreover, molecular docking studies indicated that oridonin exhibited the strongest binding affinity with AKT1 (binding energy: -11.40 kcal/mol) and significant associations with other major targets, including EGFR, NFKB1, MAPK1, and SRC. In summary, the resultant findings based on molecular docking and network pharmacology could demonstrate the potential applicability of oridonin for treating TNBC through pathways like PI3K/Akt signaling.

In practical engineering, the improvement and reinforcement of peat soil often depend on the use of different chemical materials and composite curing agents. The chemical reaction between these materials and peat soil may lead to a change in the underground acid-base environment. Based on the indoor immersion test, the influence of underground acid-base environment on peat soil strength and its mechanism are analyzed in this paper. Under acidic environment conditions, the dissolution of humic acid will also destroy the internal structure of peat soil samples. Under long-term immersion conditions, the acid environment has a more obvious weakening effect on the strength of peat soil samples than the alkaline environment. The research results provide a certain theoretical basis and research ideas for weakening the adverse effects of underground acid-base environment on peat soil and improving the engineering properties of peat soil.

Addressing the poor engineering properties and difficulties in the reuse of peat soil, this study investigated the use of ordinary portland cement (OPC) and composite cement stabilizer (CCS) for its solidification treatment (CCS is made by uniformly mixing 90% OPC and 10% ultra-fine cement). Based on direct shear tests, the study explored the influence of patterns and mechanisms on the shear strength of solidified peat soil. The results indicate that when using OPC to strengthen peat soil, the optimal mixing ratio is approximately 17.5%, at which the cohesion (C) of the sample can reach 44.2 kPa and the internal friction angle (φ) is approximately 30 °, both of which are higher than the shear strength indicators of general cohesive soils. When using CCS to strengthen peat soil, the optimal mixing ratio is 12.5%, at which the C value can reach 41 kPa and the φ value exceeds 20 °, both of which are also greater than the shear strength indicators of general cohesive soils. Under the same conditions, the reinforcement effect of CCS specimens is much greater than that of OPC. Under the same conditions, the shear strength of the 12.5% CCS sample is close to that of the 17.5% OPC sample. CCS can save 28.6% of the cement usage compared to OPC, indirectly reducing CO2 emissions. Therefore, the conclusions of this study provide theoretical guidance for addressing the challenges of peat waste disposal and carbon reduction in engineering.

Aiming at the problem that the abandoned soil after engineering excavation is difficult to reuse, a Composite Cement Solidification curing agent is proposed (CCS) is proposed. It is a mixture of 10% superfine cement and 90% ordinary Portland cement, which improves organic silty clay spoil and clay spoil respectively. Based on the unconfined compressive strength test results, the strength development law of CCS-modified organic silty clay spoil and clay spoil was explored. The results show that the compressive strength development law of the two types of spoils shows certain similarities. That is, the compressive strength of the sample increases with the increase of CCS content and curing age. And when the CCS content increases to 17.5%, the compressive strength growth rate is the fastest. Comprehensive analysis shows that 17.5% CCS content is the best content. There are also differences in the effects of improved silty clay and clay. That is, the compressive strength growth rates of the two are different, and they are divided into a rapid strength increase stage (within 28 days) and a steady strength increase stage (28 days to 90 days) to analyze the mechanism of the compressive strength change of the two samples.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been proposed as a leading cause of mortality for acute pancreatitis (AP) patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). This study investigated the predictive value of procalcitonin (PCT) for AKI development and relevant prognosis in patients with AP, and compared PCT's predictive power with that of other inflammation-related variables. Between January 2011 and March 2013, we enrolled 305 cases with acute pancreatitis admitted to ICU. Serum levels of PCT, serum amyloid A (SAA), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and C reactive protein (CRP) were determined on admission. Serum PCT was tested in patients who developed AKI on the day of AKI occurrence and on either day 28 after occurrence (for survivors) or on the day of death (for those who died within 28 days). Serum PCT levels were 100-fold higher in the AKI group than in the non-AKI group on the day of ICU admission (p<0.05). The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve of PCT for predicting AKI was 0.986, which was superior to SAA, CRP, and IL-6 (p<0.05). ROC analysis revealed all variables tested had lower predictive performance for AKI prognosis. The average serum PCT level on day 28 (2.67 (0.89, 7.99) ng/ml) was significantly (p<0.0001) lower than on the day of AKI occurrence (43.71 (19.24,65.69) ng/ml) in survivors, but the serum PCT level on death (63.73 (34.22,94.30) ng/ml) was higher than on the day of AKI occurrence (37.55 (18.70,74.12) ng/ml) in non-survivors, although there was no significant difference between the two days in the latter group (p = 0.1365). Serum PCT is superior to CRP, IL-6, and SAA for predicting the development of AKI in patients with AP, and also can be used for dynamic evaluation of AKI prognosis.

Background Tea trees originated in southwest China 60 million or 70 million years ago. Written records show that Chinese ancestors had begun drinking tea over 3000 years ago. Nowadays, with the aging of populations worldwide and more people suffering from non-communicable diseases or poor health, tea beverages have become an inexpensive and fine complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy. At present, there are 3 billion people who like to drink tea in the world, but few of them actually understand tea, especially on its development process and the spiritual and cultural connotations. Methods We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, CNKI, and other relevant platforms with the key word “tea”, and reviewed and analyzed tea-related literatures and pictures in the past 40 years about tea’s history, culture, customs, experimental studies, and markets. Results China is the hometown of tea, tea trees, tea drinking, and tea culture. China has the oldest wild and planted tea trees in the world, fossil of a tea leaf from 35,400,000 years ago, and abundant tea-related literatures and art works. Moreover, tea may be the first Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) used by Chinese people in ancient times. Tea drinking has many benefits to our physical health via its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immuno-regulatory, anticancer, cardiovascular-protective, anti-diabetic, and anti-obesity activities. At the moment, COVID-19 is wreaking havoc across the globe and causing severe damages to people’s health and lives. Tea has anti-COVID-19 functions via the enhancement of the innate immune response and inhibition of viral growth. Besides, drinking tea can allow people to acquire a peaceful, relaxed, refreshed and cheerful enjoyment, and even longevity. According to the meridian theory of traditional Chinese medicine, different kinds of tea can activate different meridian systems in the human body. At present, black tea (fermented tea) and green tea (non-fermented tea) are the most popular in the world. Black tea accounts for over 90% of all teas sold in western countries. The world’s top-grade black teas include Qi Men black in China, Darjeeling and Assam black tea in India, and Uva black tea in Sri Lanka. However, all top ten famous green teas in the world are produced in China, and Xi Hu Long Jing tea is the most famous among all green teas. More than 700 different kinds of components and 27 mineral elements can be found in tea. Tea polyphenols and theaflavin/thearubigins are considered to be the major bioactive components of black tea and green tea, respectively. Overly strong or overheated tea liquid should be avoided when drinking tea. Conclusions Today, CAM provides an array of treatment modalities for the health promotion in both developed and developing countries all over the world. Tea drinking, a simple herb-based CAM therapy, has become a popular man-made non-alcoholic beverage widely consumed worldwide, and it can improve the growth of economy as well. Tea can improve our physical and mental health and promote the harmonious development of society through its chemical and cultural elements.

To address the challenge of detecting tiny flaws in tile defect detection, a lightweight algorithm for identifying minor defects in tile images has been developed, referred to as CTDD-YOLO. Firstly, CAACSPELAN is proposed as the core component of the backbone network for extracting features of tile defects; secondly, full-dimensional dynamic convolution ODConv is introduced at the end of the backbone network to enhance the model’s ability to deal with tiny defects; next, a new neck network, CGRFPN, is proposed to improve the model’s ability to represent multi-scale features and enhance the model’s ability to recognize small targets in the context of large formats; finally, MPNWD is proposed to optimize the loss function to improve the model’s detection accuracy further. Experiments on the Ali Tianchi tile defect detection dataset show that the CTDD-YOLO model not only has a lower number of parameters than the original YOLOv8n but also improves the mAP by 7.2 percentage points, i.e., the proposed model can more accurately recognize and deal with minor surface defects of tiles and can significantly improve the detection effect while maintaining the light weight.

PCBs (printed circuit boards) are the core components of modern electronic devices, and inspecting them for defects will have a direct impact on the performance, reliability and cost of the product. However, the performance of current detection algorithms in identifying minor PCB defects (e.g., mouse bite and spur) still requires improvement. This paper presents the MDD-DETR algorithm for detecting minor defects in PCBs. The backbone network, MDDNet, is used to efficiently extract features while significantly reducing the number of parameters. Simultaneously, the HiLo attention mechanism captures both high- and low-frequency features, transmitting a broader range of gradient information to the neck. Additionally, the proposed SOEP neck network effectively fuses scale features, particularly those rich in small targets, while INM-IoU loss function optimization enables more effective distinction between defects and background, further improving detection accuracy. Experimental results on the PCB_DATASET show that MDD-DETR achieves a 99.3% mAP, outperforming RT-DETR by 2.0% and reducing parameters by 32.3%, thus effectively addressing the challenges of detecting minor PCB defects.

Phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1), the core rate-limiting enzyme of glycolysis, has transcended its classical metabolic regulatory role and emerged as a multi-dimensional hub in tumour biology. This review systematically delineates the dynamic regulatory networks of PFK-1 isoforms (PFKP, PFKL, PFKM) in cancer: epigenetic remodelling drives tissue-independent expression reprogramming; post-translational modification networks confer metabolic–signalling dual functions; and the dynamic nature of its subcellular localization facilitates noncanonical roles, such as intranuclear transcriptional regulation. These mechanisms collectively orchestrate hallmark oncogenic processes, including tumour proliferation, metastatic invasion, cell death evasion, angiogenesis, immune escape, and metabolic reprogramming. In clinical translation, PFK-1 isoform expression profiles, modification states, and subcellular dynamics exhibit robust correlations with cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic response. The isoform-specific modification networks unveil novel targets for developing diagnostic biomarkers and tissue-selective therapeutic strategies. This work not only reestablishes the central role of PFK-1 in tumour metabolic plasticity but also offers a fresh perspective for overcoming cancer treatment challenges. Graphical abstract

Objective The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of high mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1) in placental development and fetal growth. Methods We employed the Cre-loxP recombination system to establish a placenta-specific HMGB1 knockout mouse model. Breeding HMGB1flox/flox mice with Elf5-Cre mice facilitated the knockout, leveraging Elf5 expression in extra-embryonic ectoderm, ectoplacental cone, and trophoblast giant cells at 12.5 days of embryonic development. The primary goal of this model was to elucidate the molecular mechanism of HMGB1 in placental development, assessing parameters such as placental weight, fetal weight, and bone development. Additionally, we utilized lentiviral interference and overexpression of HMGB1 in human trophoblast cells to further investigate HMGB1’s functional role. Results Our findings indicate that the HMGB1flox/floxElf5cre/+ mouse displays fetal growth restriction, characterized by decreased placental and fetal weight and impaired bone development. The absence of HMGB1 inhibits autophagosome formation, impairs lysosomal degradation, and disrupts autophagic flux. Depletion of HMGB1 in human trophoblast cells also suppresses cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion by inhibiting the ERK signaling pathway. Overexpression of HMGB1 observed the opposite phenotypes. Conclusions HMGB1 participates in the regulation of autophagy through the ERK signaling pathway and affects placental development. Loss of HMGB1 can inhibit the autophagy, migration, and invasion of placental trophoblast cells by inhibiting the ERK signaling pathway. Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract