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Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a potent hepatocarcinogen in humans and exposure to AFB1 is known to cause both acute and chronic hepatocellular injury. As the liver is known to be the main target organ of aflatoxin, it is important to identify the key molecules that participate in AFB1-induced hepatotoxicity and to investigate their underlying mechanisms. In this study, the critical role of caveolin-1 in AFB1-induced hepatic cell apoptosis was examined. We found a decrease in cell viability and an increase in oxidation and apoptosis in human hepatocyte L02 cells after AFB1 exposure. In addition, the intracellular expression of caveolin-1 was increased in response to AFB1 treatment. Downregulation of caveolin-1 significantly alleviated AFB1-induced apoptosis and decreased cell viability, whereas overexpression of caveolin-1 reversed these effects. Further functional analysis showed that caveolin-1 participates in AFB1-induced oxidative stress through its interaction with Nrf2, leading to the downregulation of cellular antioxidant enzymes and the promotion of oxidative stress-induced apoptosis. In addition, caveolin-1 was found to regulate AFB1-induced autophagy. This finding was supported by the effect that caveolin-1 deficiency promoted autophagy after AFB1 treatment, leading to the inhibition of apoptosis, whereas overexpression of caveolin-1 inhibited autophagy and accelerated apoptosis. Interestingly, further investigation showed that caveolin-1 participates in AFB1-induced autophagy by regulating the EGFR/PI3K-AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Taken together, our data reveal that caveolin-1 plays a crucial role in AFB1-induced hepatic cell apoptosis via the regulation of oxidation and autophagy, which provides a potential target for the development of novel treatments to combat AFB1 hepatotoxicity.

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The pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase 1 (PYCR1) plays important roles in cancers, but its contribution to adenocarcinoma of the kidney (AK) and the potential mechanism remain to be clarified. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate the relationship between PYCR1 mRNA and AK based on The Cancer Genome Atlas database. PYCR1 mRNA in AK and normal tissues was compared using Wilcoxon rank sum test. The relationship between PYCR1 mRNA and clinicopathological characters was evaluated using logistic regression. The association between PYCR1 mRNA and survival rate was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier test and Cox regression of univariate and multivariate analysis. Additionally, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis was conducted to annotate the biological function of PYCR1 mRNA. Increased PYCR1 mRNA was found in AK tissues. Increased PYCR1 mRNA was related to high histologic grade, clinical stage, and lymph node and distant metastasis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and univariate analysis showed that AK patients with increased PYCR1 mRNA had worse prognosis than those without. PYCR1 mRNA remained independently associated with overall survival (HR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.07–1.66; P = .009) in multivariate analysis. The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis suggested that ribosome, proteasome, inhibition of p53 signaling pathway, extracellular matrix receptor interaction, and homologous recombination were differentially enriched in increased PYCR1 mRNA phenotype. Increased PYCR1 mRNA is a potential marker in patients with AK. More importantly, p53 pathway, ribosome, proteasome, extracellular matrix receptor interaction, and homologous are differentially enriched in AK patients with increased PYCR1 mRNA.

Background: COVID-19 is spreading rapidly intercity and international despite rigid public health prevention and control measures been taken.Case presentation: In a cluster of infection, six out of seven participants engaged in persistent singing and talking in confined space were later diagnosed COVID-19 patients. One of the cases was asymptomatic with no SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid detected, but positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG. None of the household contacts was infected during the following month.Conclusions: This epidemiological evidence revealed that asymptomatic patients transmitted the coronavirus in confined space with relatively high efficiency, suggesting that it is important to provide better ventilation in public buildings to prevent COVID-19 transmission.

The complete mitochondrial genome (14,414 bp) of the blood-feeding leech Hirudo nipponia, which was an important natural medicinal resource, was sequenced and characterized. The genome encodes 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs and 22 tRNAs. The content of A + T was 72.60% for H. nipponia (31.69% A, 40.91% T, 15.45% G and 11.95% C). All protein-coding genes started with ATN except for nad3 and nad5, which used GTG as start codon. Eight protein-coding genes stopped with termination codon TAA. Five protein-coding genes used incomplete stop codon TA or T. The A + T-rich region was located between tRNA-Arg and tRNA-His with a length of 83 bp. This is the first report about completely sequenced mitochondrial genome from the family Hirudinidae. The complete mitochondrial genomes of H. nipponia would be useful for the exploration of Hirudinea polygenetic relationships.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on the method to improve real‐time property of real‐time operating system (RTOS), one of the most essential problems in RTOS studies.Design/methodology/approachImproved task models are proposed based on the basic task and extended task models of OSEK operating system (OSEK OS). According to different task states, optimized scheduling algorithm was put forward. Some examples in a practical environment are described that illustrate the value of the method.FindingsThis method has been successfully implemented and evaluated in an OSEK compatible operating system, SmartOSEK OS. The time cost of context switching is decreased and the efficiency is enhanced.Research limitations/implicationsThe improvement gained depends on the ratio of each strategy applied. In case the strategy D is applied too many times, the performance will be lead to a depressing result. For real‐time system, a long‐lived process that maybe increase the ratio of strategy D is not the optimal selection.Originality/valueDividing the ready state of task into intermediate state and initial state, can optimize the process of task context switching for OSEK OS. The method has proven to be useful in improving the real‐time property of RTOS.