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In this study, we aimed to analyze the blood screening detection strategies employed for voluntary blood donation in a specific region of East China and evaluate the efficacy of the blood safety detection system. A total of 539,117 whole blood samples were collected from voluntary blood donors between January 2018 and July 2021, as well as in 2023 and 2024. The samples were screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies, human immunodeficiency virus antibodies/antigen (HIV Ab/Ag), and Treponema pallidum (TP) antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were measured using a rapid method. Chemiluminescence immunoassay technology was used to detect five hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers. Polymerase chain reaction was employed to detect HBV DNA, HCV RNA, and HIV RNA. The reactivity rates of each marker were analyzed. The overall positivity rate for blood testing among donors in this region was 0.76% (4,078/539,117). The positivity rates for the individual markers were as follows: anti-TP (0.20%)> HBsAg (0.18%)> ALT (0.13%)> anti-HCV (0.085%)> nucleic acid testing (0.080%)> HIV antigen/anti-HIV (0.079%). No significant differences were observed (P > 0.05). Before 2023, the positivity rates for ALT and HBsAg exhibited occasional fluctuations, followed by a significant decline. Conversely, in 2024, a slight upward trend in the HIV positivity rate was noted. The current multitiered blood screening and detection strategy in this region exhibits complementary advantages, ensuring effective blood safety. However, the observed slight upward trend in the HIV positivity rate among voluntary blood donors highlights the necessity for enhanced pre-donation counseling and risk assessment for key populations.

Blue horizontal-branch (BHB) stars are low-mass, core-helium-burning objects with nearly constant luminosities, making them powerful tracers of old, metal-poor populations and valuable standard candles for mapping the Galactic halo. However, robustly identifying BHB stars from low-resolution spectra remains challenging. We present MSFA-Net, a two-stage framework developed for the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) DR12. By combining multiscale convolutions with a soft frequency attention mechanism, MSFA-Net learns discriminative representations in both the wavelength domain and the Fourier-frequency domain. On the test set, the framework achieves a precision of 94.67% in the initial multiclass screening and 98.07% in the subsequent binary refinement. Applying the trained pipeline to LAMOST DR12, we retrieve 27,853 BHB candidate spectra. After spectral deduplication and removal of previously known objects, we identify 3583 new BHB stars, confirmed via Balmer-line profile fitting. We further estimate atmospheric parameters (Teff, logg , and [Fe/H]) using the machine learning–based SLAM model and examine their distributions. A nonnegligible subset shows unusually high logg and/or metallicities, which we interpret primarily as inference-related systematics rather than intrinsic properties. Photometric crossmatching with Gaia DR3 and color–magnitude diagrams provide an additional consistency check for the sample. The resulting catalog substantially enlarges the spectroscopically confirmed BHB sample from LAMOST and offers a homogeneous dataset for studies of Galactic-halo structure and stellar populations.

Filter or screening methods are often used as a preprocessing step for reducing the number of variables used by a learning algorithm in obtaining a classification or regression model. While there are many such filter methods, there is a need for an objective evaluation of these methods. Such an evaluation is needed to compare them with each other and also to answer whether they are at all useful, or a learning algorithm could do a better job without them. For this purpose, many popular screening methods are partnered in this paper with three regression learners and five classification learners and evaluated on ten real datasets to obtain accuracy criteria such as R-square and area under the ROC curve (AUC). The obtained results are compared through curve plots and comparison tables in order to find out whether screening methods help improve the performance of learning algorithms and how they fare with each other. Our findings revealed that the screening methods were useful in improving the prediction of the best learner on two regression and two classification datasets out of the ten datasets evaluated.

The primary impediment to the success of immunotherapy lies in the immune evasion orchestrated by tumors, contributing to the suboptimal overall response rates observed. Despite this recognition, the intricacies of the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Through preliminary detection of clinical patient tissues, we have found that ALDH1A1 was a key gene for the prognosis of cancer patients and tumor glycolysis. In vitro experiments and tumor formation in nude mice suggested that targeting ALDH1A1 could inhibit tumor growth. Through further analysis of xenograft tumor models in immune-normal mice and flow cytometry, we found that deficiency in ALDH1A1 could promote immune system suppression of tumors in vivo. Specifically, RNA-seq analysis, combined with qPCR and western blot, identified the transcription factor ZBTB7B as downstream of ALDH1A1. The binding sites of the transcription factor ZBTB7B on the LDHA promoter region, which is responsible for regulating the rate-limiting enzyme gene LDHA in glycolysis, were determined using luciferase reporter gene detection and Chip-qPCR, respectively. In addition, the increased SUMOylation of ZBTB7B stabilized its transcriptional activity. Further in vivo and in vitro experiments confirmed that the combination of targeting ALDH1A1 and ZBTB7B with immune checkpoint inhibitors could synergistically inhibit tumors in vivo. Finally, after conducting additional verification of patient tissue and clinical data, we have confirmed the potential translational value of targeting ALDH1A1 and ZBTB7B for tumor immunotherapy. These results emphasize the potential translational significance of targeting ALDH1A1 and ZBTB7B in the realm of tumor immunotherapy. The convergence of ALDH1A1 inhibition and immune checkpoint blockade, particularly with PD-L1/PD-1 mAb, presents a compelling avenue for curtailing tumor immune escape.

Curcumin, a natural organic component obtained from Curcuma longa’s rhizomes, shows abundant anti-tumor, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory pharmacological activities, among others. Notably the anti-tumor activity has aroused widespread attention from scholars worldwide. Numerous studies have reported that curcumin can delay ovarian cancer (OC), increase its sensitivity to chemotherapy, and reduce chemotherapy drugs’ side effects. It has been shown considerable anticancer potential by promoting cell apoptosis, suppressing cell cycle progression, inducing autophagy, inhibiting tumor metastasis, and regulating enzyme activity. With an in-depth study of curcumin’s anti-OC mechanism, its clinical application will have broader prospects. This review summarizes the latest studies on curcumin’s anti-OC activities, and discusses the specific mechanism, hoping to provide references for further research and applications.

Platelet transfusion is important in clinical treatment, especially for patients with hematological diseases. In this study, an in vitro transfusion model was established to explore the effects of apheresis platelets on the immune responses of myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) and a specialized subset of DCs with blood DC antigen (BDCA3 + ). The results demonstrated that during viral infection simulation, exposure to apheresis platelets reduced CD83 expression on mDCs. However, no significant effect on the expression of surface antigens on BDCA3 + DCs was observed when they were exposed to apheresis platelets. In addition, exposure did not affect the production of inflammatory mediators by either type of DC. Apheresis platelets can alter the overall leukocyte inflammatory response of recipients. The levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-8, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were increased upon exposure to apheresis platelets alone. In the simulation of viral infection, the levels of IL-8, MCP-1, IFN-γ and IL-12p70 were increased, and the IP-10 level was inhibited. In the bacterial infection simulation, the IL-8 and MCP-1 levels were increased, whereas the IL-10 and IP-10 levels were decreased. In conclusion, apheresis platelet transfusion may inhibit the maturation and activation of mDCs during viral infection and enhance the overall leukocyte inflammatory response in recipients.

Grape peelability varieties meet the demand for convenience and hygiene and are popular Grape varieties with easy peelability meet consumer demands for convenience and hygiene, making them increasingly popular. Differences in grape peelability are likely associated with variations in cell wall polysaccharide composition in the pulp and skin. Twelve table grape varieties (‘Zaoheibao’, ‘Qiuhongbao’, ‘Summer Black’, ‘Black Balado’, ‘Jinghongbao’, ‘Lihongbao’, ‘Flame Seedless’, ‘Crimson Seedless’, ‘Wanheibao’, ‘Wuhecuibao’, ‘Thompson Seedless’ and ‘Hutai No. 8’) were selected to investigate skin-pulp adherence, skin cell morphology, and cell wall polysaccharide content during fruit development. The role of cell wall polysaccharides in peelability was evaluated by assessing skin-pulp adherencce, skin cell morphology, cell wall polysaccharide content, and activities of related degrading enzymes across developmental stages of different grape varieties. Results showed that skin-pulp adherencce decreased by 6.4%~52.4% during fruit development, with significant varietal differences. ‘Black Balado’ exhibited the highest adhesion, while ‘Flame Seedless’ had the lowest. Cluster analysis grouped ten Eurasian grape varieties into two categories. The first group, which was easier to skin, included ‘Flame Seedless’, ‘Thompson Seedless’, ‘Wuhecuibao’, ‘Zaoheibao’, ‘Wanheibao’, ‘Jinghongbao’, ‘Lihongbao’, ‘Qiuhongbao’ and ‘Wuhebai’. The second group, characterized by poor peelability, included ‘Black Balado’. Anatomical observations revealed that as fruit development progressed, intercellular adhesion weakened and pulp cell separation became more pronounced. As fruit developed, cell wall polysaccharide content (cell wall material, cellulose, hemicellulose, protopectin, chelator-soluble pectin, water soluble pectin) decreased, while the activities of related degrading enzymes (cellulase, β-glucosidase, xylanase, xyloglucan endotransglycosylase, β-mannanase, polygalacturonase, pectate lyase, pectin methyl esterase, β-galactosidase, α-L-arabinofuranosidase) gradually increased. Specifically, the cell wall material content of the cell walls decreased by 30.3% to 64.8% in the pulp and by 23.9% to 51.4% in the pericarp across different varieties. protopectin and chelator-soluble pectin showed the most significant declines. In ‘Flame Seedless’ peel, protopectin content decreased by 97.1%, from 2067 µg•g –1 FW at the expansion stage to 60 μg•g –1 FW at maturity, and by 93.9% in the pulp. Chelator-soluble pectin content decreased by 87.8% to 97.7% in the peel and by 73.7% to 94.6% in the pulp, depending on the variety. The activities of cellulase and β-glucosidase showed relatively moderate changes during fruit development. From the expansion to the ripening stage, xylanase activity increased by 0.37-2.55 times in the peel and 0.01-1.84 times in the pulp. Similarly, xyloglucan endotransglycosylase activity rose by 0.38-2.37 times in the peel and 0.42-2.33 times in the pulp, while polygalacturonase activity increased by 0.21-2.85 times in the peel and 0.58-2.43 times in the pulp. Pectate lyase activity increased from 16% to 43% before the veraison stage and from 1% to 11% afterward. During both the expansion-to-verasion and verasion-to-ripening stages, pectin methyl esterase activity increased by 0.69-1.07-fold in the peel and 0.29-1.53-fold in the pulp, while β-galactosidase activity increased by 0.21-0.55-fold in the peel and 0.05-1.02-fold in the pulp. α-L-arabinofuranosidase activity increased by 1% to 341% in the peel and by 85% to 365% in the pulp. This study found that the peelability of table grapes gradually decreased during fruit ripening and varied significantly among different varieties. Further analysis indicated that peelability was negatively correlated with cell wall polysaccharide content and positively correlated with the activity of related cell wall-degrading enzymes. This study provides a theoretical framework for understanding the physiological mechanisms underlying grape peelability.

Flexible pressure sensors have attracted increasing attention due to their potential applications in wearable human health monitoring and care systems. Herein, we present a facile approach for fabricating all-textile-based piezoresistive pressure sensor with integrated Ag nanowire-coated fabrics. It fully takes advantage of the synergistic effect of the fiber/yarn/fabric multi-level contacts, leading to the ultrahigh sensitivity of 3.24 × 105 kPa−1 at 0–10 kPa and 2.16 × 104 kPa−1 at 10–100 kPa, respectively. Furthermore, the device achieved a fast response/relaxation time (32/24 ms) and a high stability (> 1000 loading/unloading cycles). Thus, such all-textile pressure sensor with high performance is expected to be applicable in the fields of smart cloths, activity monitoring, and healthcare device.

As a natural satellite of the Earth, the moon is a prime target for planetary remote sensing exploration. However, lunar polarization studies are not popular in the planetary science community. Polarimetry of the lunar surface had not been carried out from a spacecraft until the Korean lunar exploration program was initiated. In previous polarization observations of the moon, images of different polarization states were obtained by a rotating linear polarizer. This method is not well suited for future polarization observations from space-based spacecraft. To this end, we present a new kind of polarized observation of the moon using a division of a focal-plane polarization camera and propose a pipeline on the processing method of the polarization observation of the moon. We obtain a map of the degree of white-light polarization on the nearside of the moon through polarization observation, data processing, and correction. The observation and data processing methods presented in this study have the potential to serve as a reference for analyzing polarization observation data from future orbiting spacecraft. These are expected to lead to new discoveries in the fields of astronomy and planetary science.

Background Intestinal fibrosis is a serious complication of Crohn’s disease (CD), often resulting from chronic inflammation. However, the precise mechanisms through which inflammation induces intestinal fibrosis remain inadequately elucidated. Methods A comprehensive single-cell atlas of full-thickness CD, provided by Dr. Florian Rieder, was subjected to reanalysis. Our study used a DSS-induced chronic colitis model in both wild-type (WT) and Areg −/− mice. Additionally, a CD45RB hi CD4 + T cell adoptive transfer model involving WT and Areg −/− Treg cells (Tregs) was used. The expressions of AREG in CD with or without intestinal fibrosis, Tregs and human intestinal myofibroblasts (MFs) were determined. The effect of AREG on proliferation/migration/activation in human intestinal MFs was determined. Results Several types of cells were differentially expressed between stricture and non-stricture CD. Among T cells, Tregs accounted for a larger proportion and were significantly increased in stenotic tissues of stricture CD. Although DSS-induced colitis was more severe in Areg −/− mice, which developed less severe intestinal fibrosis compared with WT mice. The transfer of Areg −/− Tregs resulted in less severe fibrosis in Rag −/− mice than WT Tregs. Moreover, TGF-β stimulated AREG expression in Tregs and human intestinal MFs via activation of Smad3. Conclusion These findings demonstrated that AREG derived from Tregs and human intestinal MFs, induced by TGF-β, amplifies intestinal fibrotic reactions in experimental colitis as well as in human CD patients. Thus, the TGF-β-Smad3-AREG pathway could be a potential therapeutic target for treating fibrosis in CD.