Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease affecting free-ranging and captive cervids (deer and elk), is widespread in the United States and parts of Canada. The large cervid population, the popularity of venison consumption, and the apparent spread of the CWD epidemic are likely resulting in increased human exposure to CWD in the United States. Whether CWD is transmissible to humans, as has been shown for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (the prion disease of cattle), is unknown. We generated transgenic mice expressing the elk or human prion protein (PrP) in a PrP-null background. After intracerebral inoculation with elk CWD prion, two lines of "humanized" transgenic mice that are susceptible to human prions failed to develop the hallmarks of prion diseases after Ͼ657 and Ͼ756 d, respectively, whereas the "cervidized" transgenic mice became infected after 118 -142 d. These data indicate that there is a substantial species barrier for transmission of elk CWD to humans.

Astrocyte dysfunction and inflammation are associated with the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. Here, we found that multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (Men1; protein: menin) expression is attenuated in the brain of mice exposed to CUMS (chronic unpredictable mild stress) or lipopolysaccharide. Astrocyte-specific reduction of Men1 (GcKO) led to depressive-like behaviors in mice. We observed enhanced NF-κB activation and IL-1β production with menin deficiency in astrocytes, where depressive-like behaviors in GcKO mice were restored by NF-κB inhibitor or IL-1β receptor antagonist. Importantly, we identified a SNP, rs375804228, in human MEN1, where G503D substitution is associated with a higher risk of MDD onset. G503D substitution abolished menin-p65 interactions, thereby enhancing NF-κB activation and IL-1β production. Our results reveal a distinct astroglial role for menin in regulating neuroinflammation in depression, indicating that menin may be an attractive therapeutic target in MDD.

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Uniform hierarchical microspheres scaffolded from ultrathin ZnGa2O4 nanosheets with over 99% exposed facets were synthesized using an easy solvothermal route with ethylenediamine (en)/H2O binary solvents. Substitution of different chain length amines for en results in no formation of the nanosheet structures, indicating that the molecular structure of En is indispensable for the generation of two-dimensional structures. Inheriting both a high surface area of nanosheets and a high crystallinity of bulky materials allows the unique 3D hierarchical nanostructures to possess great CO2 photocatalytic performance. The normalized time-resolved traces of photo-induced absorption recorded from the nanosheet and meso-ZnGa2O4 indicate that the photo-excited carriers can survive longer on the nanosheet, which also contributes to the high photocatalytic activity of the ZnGa2O4 nanosheets.

Although semiconductor photocatalysis has made great progresses as a promising solution to solve the problem of environmental pollution, the highly efficient decomposition of organic pollutants driven by sunlight is still a challenge. Herein, we successfully constructed a Z-scheme photocatalyst BiOCl-Au-CdS for the first time by stepwise deposition of Au and CdS. It was found that the Au nanoparticles (NPs) were selectively anchored on the {001} facets of BiOCl nanosheets in the process of photoreduction while CdS NPs were further in situ deposited on Au NPs via the strong S–Au interaction. Compared to BiOCl, BiOCl-Au, and BiOCl-CdS, the Z-scheme BiOCl-Au-CdS exhibited evidently higher sunlight-driven photocatalytic activity toward the degradations of anionic dye Methyl Orange, cationic dye Rhodamine B, colorless pollutant phenol, and antibiotic sulfadiazine. The radical trapping experiments indicated that ·OH, h+, and ·O2 – are the main reactive species responsible for the degradations of organic pollutants over BiOCl-Au-CdS. Based on the photoelectrochemical measurements, PL spectra, and band potential calculation, it can be concluded that the Z-scheme structure of BiOCl-Au-CdS not only retains the photogenerated electrons and holes with higher redox ability but also decreases their recombination rate. As a highly efficient sunlight driven photocatalyst, BiOCl-Au-CdS can be potentially used in environmental pollutant remediation.

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