The Effects of Mobile Phone Radiofrequency Radiation on Cochlear Stria Marginal Cells in Sprague–Dawley Rats

To investigate the possible mechanisms for biological effects of 1,800 MHz mobile radiofrequency radiation (RFR), the radiation-specific absorption rate was applied at 2 and 4 W/kg, and the exposure mode was 5 min on and 10 min off (conversation mode). Exposure time was 24 h short-term exposure. Following exposure, to detect cell DNA damage, cell apoptosis, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, the Comet assay test, flow cytometry, DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride) staining, and a fluorescent probe were used, respectively. Our experiments revealed that mobile phone RFR did not cause DNA damage in marginal cells, and the rate of cell apoptosis did not increase (P > 0.05). However, the production of ROS in the 4 W/kg exposure group was greater than that in the control group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, these results suggest that mobile phone energy was insufficient to cause cell DNA damage and cell apoptosis following short-term exposure, but the cumulative effect of mobile phone radiation still requires further confirmation. Activation of the ROS system plays a significant role in the biological effects of RFR. Bioelectromagnetics. © 2020 The Authors. Bioelectromagnetics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Inhibition of low pH evoked activation of airway sensory nerves by capsazepine, a novel capsaicin-receptor antagonist.

Low pH is a well known sensory irritant in pathological conditions such as inflammation. The mechanisms underlying this low pH effect were therefore studied in the guinea pig. Acid exposure caused marked nasal irritation via a specific subset of sensory nerves sensitive to capsaicin. Furthermore, acid caused bronchoconstriction via release of neuropeptides from capsaicin sensitive afferents. Interestingly, capsazepine, a recently developed competitive capsaicin receptor antagonist, selectively inhibited these responses to low pH. Ruthenium red, which blocks the cation channel associated with the capsaicin receptor, had effects similar to those of capsazepine. Therefore, acid irritation of the airway mucosa may involve capsaicin-receptor mechanisms and capsazepine represents a novel protective agent.     

Coupling of N7-methyltransferase and 3′-5′ exoribonuclease with SARS-CoV-2 polymerase reveals mechanisms for capping and proofreading

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Proteomic Profiling of Purified Rabies Virus Particles

While host proteins incorporated into virions during viral budding from infected cell are known to play essential roles in multiple process of the life cycle of progeny virus, these characteristics have been largely neglected in studies on rabies virus(RABV). Here, we purified the RABV virions with good purity and integrity, and analyzed their proteome by nano LC–MS/MS, followed by the confirmation with immunoblot and immuno-electronic microscopy. In addition to the 5 viral proteins, 49 cellular proteins were reproducibly identified to be incorporated into matured RABV virions. Function annotation suggested that 24 of them were likely involved in virus replication. Furthermore, cryo-EM was employed to observe the purified RABV virions, generating high-resolution pictures of the bullet-shaped virion structure of RABV. This study has provided new insights into the host proteins composition in RABV virion and shed the light for further investigation on molecular mechanisms of RABV infection, as well as the discovery of new anti-RABV therapeutics.     

Application of Rice-Straw Biochar and Microorganisms in Nonylphenol Remediation: Adsorption-Biodegradation Coupling Relationship and Mechanism

Biochar adsorption presents a potential remediation method for the control of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) pollution in the environment. It has been found that HOCs bound on biochar become less bioavailable, so speculations have been proposed that HOCs will persist for longer half-life periods in biochar-amended soil/sediment. To investigate how biochar application affects coupled adsorption-biodegradation, nonylphenol was selected as the target contaminant, and biochar derived from rice straw was applied as the adsorbent. The results showed that there was an optimal dosage of biochar in the presence of both adsorption and biodegradation for a given nonylphenol concentration, thus allowing the transformation of nonylphenol to be optimized. Approximately 47.6% of the nonylphenol was biodegraded in two days when 0.005 g biochar was added to 50 mg/L of nonylphenol, which was 125% higher than the relative quantity biodegraded without biochar, though the resistant desorption component of nonylphenol reached 87.1%. All adsorptive forms of nonylphenol (f _rap, f _slow, f _r) decreased gradually during the biodegradation experiment, and the resistant desorption fraction of nonylphenol (f _r) on biochar could also be biodegraded. It was concluded that an appropriate amount of biochar could stimulate biodegradation, not only illustrating that the dosage of biochar had an enormous influence on the half-life periods of HOCs but also alleviating concerns that enhanced HOCs binding by biochar may cause secondary pollution in biochar-modified environment.