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There are increasing concerns regarding the rapid expansion of polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs), which could impact human health. Previous studies have shown that nanoplastics can be transferred from mothers to offspring through the placenta and breast milk, resulting in cognitive deficits in offspring. However, the neurotoxic effects of maternal exposure on offspring and its mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, PS-NPs (50 nm) were gavaged to female rats throughout gestation and lactation to establish an offspring exposure model to study the neurotoxicity and behavioral changes caused by PS-NPs on offspring. Neonatal rat hippocampal neuronal cells were used to investigate the pathways through which NPs induce neurodevelopmental toxicity in offspring rats, using iron inhibitors, autophagy inhibitors, reactive oxygen species (ROS) scroungers, P53 inhibitors, and NCOA4 inhibitors. We found that low PS-NPs dosages can cause ferroptosis in the hippocampus of the offspring, resulting in a decline in the cognitive, learning, and memory abilities of the offspring. PS-NPs induced NOCA4-mediated ferritinophagy and promoted ferroptosis by inciting ROS production to activate P53-mediated ferritinophagy. Furthermore, the levels of the antioxidant factors glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and glutathione (GSH), responsible for ferroptosis, were reduced. In summary, this study revealed that consumption of PS-NPs during gestation and lactation can cause ferroptosis and damage the hippocampus of offspring. Our results can serve as a basis for further research into the neurodevelopmental effects of nanoplastics in offspring. Graphical Abstract

Lead (Pb) exposure can induce the severe deleterious damage on the central nervous system (CNS). High-fat diet also has been suggested that it had some adverse effects on learning and memory, cognitive function, but there is lack of study on Pb and high-fat diet co-exposure on the CNS damage. In this study, the goal was to explore the effect of Pb on the cognitive function of mice with high-fat diet and to investigate whether Nrf2 signaling pathway acts in the cerebral cortex. C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control, high-fat diet, Pb (drinking water with 250 mg/L lead acetate), and high-fat diet with Pb (drinking water with 250 mg/L lead acetate) co-exposure groups for 12 weeks. Experiment data showed that learn memory and exploration ability of mice obviously decreased in Pb and high-fat diet, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) increased; then, the protein expressions of Nrf2, heme oxygenase-1, NADP(H):dehydrogenase quinone 1, and superoxide dismutase 2 were lower significantly compared with those in the control group. This study suggested that down-expressed Nrf2 signaling pathway possibly related to the cognitive dysfunction induced by Pb and high-fat diet co-exposure.

(1) Background: The increasing environmental concentration of polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs) may pose a risk of human exposure and health threats. Previous studies have demonstrated that exposure to PS-NPs poses a threat to neural synaptic plasticity, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. (2) Methods: Hippocampal astrocytes and neurons were co-cultured, exposed to PS-NPs at concentrations of 10, 50, and 100 μg/mL, and cytotoxicity was assessed. We investigated PS-NP-induced impairment of synaptic plasticity by regulating the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). (3) Results: Calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a central molecular organizer of synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory, and its activity is intrinsically linked to intracellular calcium ion concentration. Our research indicates that PS-NPs may interfere with calcium ion signaling and CaMKIIα activity, thereby reducing CaMKIIα activity. This subsequently downregulates the expression of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), modulates BDNF expression, and impacts synaptic plasticity. (4) Conclusions: In summary, this study primarily focused on the effects of PS-NPs exposure on hippocampal synaptic plasticity.

Lanthanum can induce neurotoxicity and impair cognitive function; therefore, research on the mechanism by which the ability to learning and memory is decreased by lanthanum is vitally important for protecting health. Microglia are a type of neuroglia located throughout the brain and spinal cord that play an important role in the central nervous system. When overactive, these cells can cause the excessive production of inflammatory cytokines that can damage neighboring neurons. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of lanthanum in the form of lanthanum chloride (LaCl3) on learning and the memory of mice and determine whether there is a relationship between hippocampal neurons or learning and memory damage and excessive production of inflammatory cytokines. Four groups of pregnant Chinese Kun Ming mice were exposed to 0, 18, 36, or 72 mM LaCl3 in their drinking water during lactation. The offspring were then exposed to LaCl3 in the breast milk at birth until weaning and then exposed to these concentrations in their drinking water for 2 months after weaning. The results showed that LaCl3 impaired learning and memory in mice and injured their neurons, activated the microglia, and significantly overregulated the mRNA and protein expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and nitric oxide in the hippocampus. The results of this study suggest that lanthanum can impair learning and memory in mice, possibly by over-activating the microglia.

Palmprint recognition (PPR) has recently garnered attention due to its robustness and accuracy. Many PPR methods rely on preprocessing the region of interest (ROI). However, the emergence of ROI attacks capable of generating synthetic ROI images poses a significant threat to PPR systems. Despite this, ROI attacks are less practical since PPR systems typically take hand images as input rather than just the ROI. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a method that specifically targets the system by composing hand images. The intuitive approach involves embedding an ROI into a hand image, a comparatively simpler process requiring less data than generating entirely synthetic images. However, embedding faces challenges, as the composited hand image must maintain a consistent color and texture. To overcome these challenges, we propose a training-free, end-to-end hand image composition method incorporating ROI harmonization and palm blending. The ROI harmonization process iteratively adjusts the ROI to seamlessly integrate with the hand using a modified style transfer method. Simultaneously, palm blending employs a pretrained inpainting model to composite a hand image with a continuous transition. Our results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a high attack performance on the IITD and Tongji datasets, with the composited hand images exhibiting realistic visual quality.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02521-0

With the continuous optimization of energy structures, wind power generation has become the dominant new energy source. The strong random fluctuation of natural wind will bring challenges to power system dispatching, so it is necessary to predict wind power. In order to improve the short-term prediction accuracy of regional wind power, this paper proposes a new combination prediction model based on convolutional neural network (CNN) and similar days analysis. Firstly, the least square fitting and batch normalization (BN) are used to preprocess the data, and then the recent historical wind power data set for CNN is established. Secondly, the Pearson correlation coefficient and cosine similarity combination method are utilized to find similar days in the long-term data set, and the prediction model based on similar days is constructed by the weighting method. Finally, based on the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method, a combined forecasting model is established. The results show that the combined model can accurately predict the future short-term wind power curve, and the prediction accuracy is improved to different extents compared to a single method.

With the large-scale distributed energy resources (DERs) interfaced by power electronic converters connected to the power grid, the traditional synchronous generation is gradually replaced, and the inertia and primary frequency regulation capability of the power system is weakened, which seriously threatens the frequency security of the power grid. In view of the above problems, a hierarchical control strategy by coordinating the distributed wind turbine (WT) and photovoltaic (PV) is presented to improve the transient frequency (TF) and steady-state frequency (SSF). For the system control level, the optimal frequency regulation coefficients of multiple WTs and PVs clustering systems are determined by the optimal control principle with minimum frequency regulation energy, while considering the constraints of TF and SSF. For the WT/PV control level, the frequency regulation coefficients of WTs and PVs are solved by the model predictive controller (MPC) and alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), with the minimum control cost of WT and PV. It achieves the optimal allocation of frequency regulation power and improves the computing efficiency. Finally, the validity of the proposed method is tested in the modified IEEE 10-machine 39-bus system.

Previous studies show that chronic acrylamide exposure leads to central and peripheral neu- ropathy. However, the underlying mechanisms remained unclear. In this study, we examined the permeability of the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, and its ability to secrete transthyretin and transport leptin of rats exposed to acrylamide for 7, 14, 21 or 28 days. Transthyretin levels in cerebrospinal fluid began to decline on day 7 after acrylamide exposure. The sodium fluorescein level in cerebrospinal fluid was increased on day 14 after exposure. Evans blue concentration in cerebrospinal fluid was increased and the cerebrospinal fluid/serum leptin ratio was decreased on days 21 and 28 after exposure. In comparison, the cerebrospinal fluid/serum albumin ratio was increased on day 28 after exposure. Our findings show that acrylamide exposure damages the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier and impairs secretory and transport functions. These changes may underlie acrylamide-induced neurotoxicity.

This study aimed to compare the long-term clinical outcomes and costs between using either transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) or X-ray fluoroscopy for Percutaneous atrial septal defect (ASD) closure in children. An analysis was conducted on clinical data from children undergoing TEE-guided ( n  = 168) and X-ray-guided ( n  = 139) percutaneous ASD closure. Demographic characteristics, technical indices, acute complications, follow-up outcomes, and costs were compared between the groups. The results are that TEE-guided closure demonstrated shorter surgical times (20.3 ± 7.6 min vs. 32.8 ± 7.9 min, P  < 0.001) and lower procedural costs ($3093.3 ± 451.5 vs. $3589.1 ± 219.4, P  < 0.001) compared to X-ray guidance. Initial successful closure rates were similar between the groups (TEE: 98.2%, XR: 97.1%, P  = 0.691). TEE guidance also resulted in fewer acute complications and reduced radiation exposure. TEE-guided percutaneous ASD closure offers advantages in terms of shorter surgical times, lower procedural costs, and reduced radiation exposure compared to X-ray guidance. These findings support the preference for TEE guidance in pediatric ASD closure procedures, with potential implications for improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs.