Late‐life time‐restricted feeding and exercise differentially alter healthspan in obesity

Aging and obesity increase multimorbidity and disability risk, and determining interventions for reversing healthspan decline is a critical public health priority. Exercise and time‐restricted feeding (TRF) benefit multiple health parameters when initiated in early life, but their efficacy and safety when initiated at older ages are uncertain. Here, we tested the effects of exercise versus TRF in diet‐induced obese, aged mice from 20 to 24 months of age. We characterized healthspan across key domains: body composition, physical, metabolic, and cardiovascular function, activity of daily living (ADL) behavior, and pathology. We demonstrate that both exercise and TRF improved aspects of body composition. Exercise uniquely benefited physical function, and TRF uniquely benefited metabolism, ADL behavior, and circulating indicators of liver pathology. No adverse outcomes were observed in exercised mice, but in contrast, lean mass and cardiovascular maladaptations were observed following TRF. Through a composite index of benefits and risks, we conclude the net healthspan benefits afforded by exercise are more favorable than those of TRF. Extrapolating to obese older adults, exercise is a safe and effective option for healthspan improvement, but additional comprehensive studies are warranted before recommending TRF.     

Perivascular adipose tissue‐derived stromal cells contribute to vascular remodeling during aging

Aging is an independent risk factor for vascular diseases. Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), an active component of the vasculature, contributes to vascular dysfunction during aging. Identification of underlying cell types and their changes during aging may provide meaningful insights regarding the clinical relevance of aging‐related vascular diseases. Here, we take advantage of single‐cell RNA sequence to characterize the resident stromal cells in the PVAT (PVASCs) and identified different clusters between young and aged PVASCs. Bioinformatics analysis revealed decreased endothelial and brown adipogenic differentiation capacities of PVASCs during aging, which contributed to neointimal hyperplasia after perivascular delivery to ligated carotid arteries. Mechanistically, in vitro and in vivo studies both suggested that aging‐induced loss of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐γ coactivator‐1 α (PGC1α) was a key regulator of decreased brown adipogenic differentiation in senescent PVASCs. We further demonstrated the existence of human PVASCs (hPVASCs) and overexpression of PGC1α improved hPVASC delivery‐induced vascular remodeling. Our finding emphasizes that differentiation capacities of PVASCs alter during aging and loss of PGC1α in aged PVASCs contributes to vascular remodeling via decreased brown adipogenic differentiation.     

Circular RNA circABCC4 as the ceRNA of miR‐1182 facilitates prostate cancer progression by promoting FOXP4 expression

In recent years, circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been identified to be essential regulators of various human cancers. However, knowledge of the functions of circRNAs in prostate cancer remains very limited. The correlation between circABCC4 and human cancer is largely unknown. This study aims to investigate the biological functions of circABCC4 in prostate cancer progression and illustrate the underlying mechanism. We found that circABCC4 was remarkably up‐regulated in prostate cancer tissues and cell lines and promoted FOXP4 expression by sponging miR‐1182 in prostate cancer cells. CircABCC4 knockdown markedly suppressed prostate cancer cell proliferation, cell‐cycle progression, migration and invasion in vitro. Furthermore, silencing of the circRNA also delayed tumor growth in vivo. Taken together, our findings indicated that circABCC4 facilitates the malignant behaviour of prostate cancer by promoting FOXP4 expression through sponging of miR‐1182. The circABCC4–miR‐1182‐FOXP4 regulatory loop may be a promising therapeutic target for prostate cancer intervention.     

Quantifying and Understanding Voltage Losses Due to Nonradiative Recombination in Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells with Low Energetic Offsets

Open‐circuit voltage (V_OC) losses in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) inhibit devices from reaching V_OC values comparable to the bandgap of the donor–acceptor blend. Specifically, nonradiative recombination losses (?V_nr) are much greater in OPVs than in silicon or perovskite solar cells, yet the origins of this are not fully understood. To understand what makes a system have high or low loss, an investigation of the nonradiative recombination losses in a total of nine blend systems is carried out. An apparent relationship is observed between the relative domain purity of six blends and the degree of nonradiative recombination loss, where films exhibiting relatively less pure domains show lower ?V_nr than films with higher domain purity. Additionally, it is shown that when paired with a fullerene acceptor, polymer donors which have bulky backbone units to inhibit close π–π stacking exhibit lower nonradiative recombination losses than in blends where the polymer can pack more closely. This work reports a strategy that ensures ?V_nr can be measured accurately and reports key observations on the relationship between ?V_nr and properties of the donor/acceptor interface.     

Decreases in Both the Seroprevalence of Serum Antibodies and Seroprotection against Japanese Encephalitis Virus among Vaccinated Children

The incidence of Japanese encephalitis(JE) has significantly decreased in China due to JE vaccines. In this study, we investigated the post-JE vaccination seroprevalence and protection provided by vaccinated sera against Japanese encephalitis virus(JEV) to elucidate the persistence and waning of antibodies to JEV among JE-SA14-14-2-vaccinated children. A total of 300 serum samples were collected from vaccinated children aged 3–10 years in Zhaotong, Yunnan,China. The seroprevalence of anti-JEV antibodies was determined by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay and plaque reduction neutralization test. The highest seropositivity of 82% was observed in vaccinated children during the first0.5–1.5 years after booster vaccination. Then, the seropositivity began to decline and remained lower than the original level observed in the 0.5–1.5-year group. An association was found between the waning of seroprevalence and elapsed time of the post-booster vaccination. Similarly, the neutralizing antibody(nAb) titres gradually decreased over time, and the levels showed a positive correlation with the protective efficacy in mice. This finding suggests that nAbs play an important role in the antiviral process and that the nAb titre is an adequately credible parameter for evaluating the protective efficacy induced by the JE vaccine. Our results provide data that clarify the persistence and waning of antibodies to JEV, which may help elucidate the pathogenesis of JE.     

氰酸盐诱导氧化应激促进肾小管上皮细胞上皮–间充质转化

该研究探讨氰酸盐(cyanate)诱导肾小管上皮细胞氧化应激损伤和促进肾纤维化的作用。氰酸盐作用HK-2肾小管上皮细胞后, CCK8法检测其对细胞活力的影响;倒置显微镜观察细胞形态的改变; DCFH-DA法检测细胞ROS水平;细胞免疫荧光和Western blot分别检测E-cadherin、Fibronectin、α-SMA的表达; Western blot检测TGF-β的表达水平。结果显示, 2 mmol/L氰酸盐明显下调HK-2细胞的活力(P<0.05),细胞形态变为长梭形。氰酸盐作用24 h后, HK-2细胞内ROS水平呈浓度依赖性升高。免疫荧光和Western blot结果均显示,氰酸盐作用24 h后, HK-2的Fibronectin、α-SMA表达升高, E-cadherin表达下降; TGF-β的表达水平随氰酸盐浓度升高而上调(P<0.05)。以上结果表明,氰酸盐诱导肾小管上皮细胞产生过量ROS,上调TGF-β水平促进细胞上皮–间充质细胞转化(epithelia-mesenchymal transition, EMT)。     

Insecticidal and antifeeding activity of Perilla frutescens‐derived material against the diamondback moth,Plutella xylostella L

Insecticidal and antifeeding activities against Plutella xylostella were observed using whole‐plant‐derived Perilla frutescens material. The active ingredient in P. frutescens was identified by spectroscopic analysis as the sesquiterpenoid α‐farnesene, which showed insecticidal activity against third‐instar larva of P. xylostella in a leaf‐dipping bioassay based on 24‐h LD₅₀ values (LD₅₀ = 53.7 ppm). The feeding inhibition rate of α‐farnesene was 82.98% against P. xylostella at 10 ppm, and the antifeeding responses were determined using an oscilloscope to detect electrophysiological responses. The electrophysiological responses of the medial styloconic sensillum (MSS) were approximately 7‐fold more sensitive at 100 ppm than those of the lateral styloconic sensillum (LSS). These results suggest that the insecticidal and antifeeding effect of α‐farnesene, which is a P. frutescens‐derived material, can be used as a potential control agent for P. xylostella.     

Museum specimens provide reliable SNP data for population genomic analysis of a widely distributed but threatened cockatoo species

Natural history museums harbour a plethora of biological specimens which are of potential use in population and conservation genetic studies. Although technical advancements in museum genomics have enabled genome‐wide markers to be generated from aged museum specimens, the suitability of these data for robust biological inference is not well characterized. The aim of this study was to test the utility of museum specimens in population and conservation genomics by assessing the biological and technical validity of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data derived from such samples. To achieve this, we generated thousands of SNPs from 47 red‐tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhychus banksii) traditional museum samples (i.e. samples that were not collected with the primary intent of DNA analysis) and 113 fresh tissue samples (cryopreserved liver/muscle) using a restriction site‐associated DNA marker approach (DArTseq^?). Thousands of SNPs were successfully generated from most of the traditional museum samples (with a mean age of 44 years, ranging from 5 to 123 years), although 38% did not provide useful data. These SNPs exhibited higher error rates and contained significantly more missing data compared with SNPs from fresh tissue samples, likely due to considerable DNA fragmentation. However, based on simulation results, the level of genotyping error had a negligible effect on inference of population structure in this species. We did identify a bias towards low diversity SNPs in older samples that appears to compromise temporal inferences of genetic diversity. This study demonstrates the utility of a RADseq‐based method to produce reliable genome‐wide SNP data from traditional museum specimens.     

Germline variants in oculocutaneous albinism genes and predisposition to familial cutaneous melanoma

Approximately 1%–2% of cutaneous melanoma (CM) is classified as strongly familial. We sought to investigate unexplained CM predisposition in families negative for the known susceptibility genes using next‐generation sequencing of affected individuals. Segregation of germline variants of interest within families was assessed by Sanger sequencing. Several heterozygous variants in oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) genes: TYR, OCA2, TYRP1 and SLC45A2, were present in our CM cohort. OCA is a group of autosomal recessive genetic disorders, resulting in pigmentation defects of the eyes, hair and skin. Missense variants classified as pathogenic for OCA were present in multiple families and some fully segregated with CM. The functionally compromised TYR p.T373K variant was present in three unrelated families. In OCA2, known pathogenic variants: p.V443I and p.N489D, were present in three families and one family, respectively. We identified a likely pathogenic SLC45A2 frameshift variant that fully segregated with CM in a family of four cases. Another four‐case family harboured cosegregating variants (p.A24T and p.R153C) of uncertain functional significance in TYRP1. We conclude that rare, heterozygous variants in OCA genes confer moderate risk for CM.     

Expansion of Bacteriophages Is Linked to Aggravated Intestinal Inflammation and Colitis

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