Sustainable sponge cultivation depends on advanced larval cultivation techniques. This study investigates the cultivation of Haliclona simulans larvae on soft substrates, aiming to develop a scalable and easily manipulated method. Initial screening of 40 materials identified linen, 80-mesh nylon, 80-mesh polyethylene mesh, and black silk as optimal settlement materials. 14-day survival test confirmed 80-mesh nylon as the optimal soft substrate. Subsequent large-scale cultivation on nylon sheet involved approximately 160,000 H. simulans larvae. These larvae experienced indoor incubation followed by in-situ sea cultivation. Indoor cultivation resulted in a 65.26 +/- 13.32 % settlement rate, and groups supplemented with microalgae achieved a 63.71 +/- 23.98 % survival rate over 30 days. The optimal indoor-to-in-situ transition window was determined to be 28 days, with one individual achieving a 130-fold volume increase within 14 days post-transfer. During in-situ cultivation, larvae showed higher survival rates when oriented sideward or downward. However, environmental stress, sedimentation, and predation highlighted the need for optimizing the indoor-sea transfer process. This study presents initial insights into larval cultivation on soft substrates, offering valuable information for the sustainable, large-scale cultivation of H. simulans larvae and potentially other sponge species.

Sponges are capable of rebuilding functional individuals from cell aggregates (primmorphs), a process termed whole-body regeneration that morphologically parallels larval development. To systematically compare these processes, we established an in vitro primmorph regeneration model in Haliclona simulans and performed multi-level analyses across planktonic, settled, and metamorphic stages. Although both processes formed similar structures (e.g., the aquiferous system), planktonic primmorphs exhibited a reduced stem cell proportion (archeocyte/choanocyte), along with the increase of seemingly dedifferentiating cells and vacuolar cells. Microbiome diverged: while sharing core symbionts (e.g., AqS1), primmorphs enriched Tenacibaculum and Vibrio species during remodeling process. Transcriptomics revealed distinct signatures: regeneration upregulated genes potentially related to DNA repair and dedifferentiation but downregulated stem cell markers. Our integrative study indicates that regeneration and development constitute distinct processes, achieving similar functional outcomes via divergent cellular, microbial, and molecular profiles that provides a foundational framework for future mechanistic studies of regeneration.

Ocean warming is threatening the stability of marine ecosystems, yet the mechanisms underlying the resilience of foundational species like sponges remain poorly understood. Polyphosphate (PolyP), a key player in marine phosphorus burial, is hypothesized to play an important role in sponge stress adaptation. Here, we demonstrated that microbiome-mediated PolyP dynamics were closely associated with sponge adaptation to thermal stress. Field investigation of three sponge species (Spongia sp., Tedania sp., Haliclona simulans) revealed marked interspecific differences in PolyP accumulation, with Spongia sp. maintaining the highest PolyP levels. Strong seasonal fluctuations in sponge PolyP content, peaking in June and reaching a minimum in January, correlated with ambient temperature. We found that this variation was regulated by ppk1 gene expression levels rather than by altering the microbial composition. The ppk1-harboring microbial assemblages exhibited host specificity, and phylogenetic analysis uncovered sponge-specific clades of ppk1 genes. Laboratory warming experiments further confirmed the functional link: under acute heat stress, both the ppk1 gene of the symbiotic microorganisms and the inorganic pyrophosphatase (ppa) gene in the host were upregulated in Spongia sp. PolyP likely provide an energy source for the host, maintaining holobiont stability and leading to low mortality. Conversely, H. simulans, with limited PolyP supply, ultimately suffered 100% mortality. Our results establish a link whereby sponge-associated microbes, via ppk1 expression, modulate PolyP accumulation to support host oxidative phosphorylation and mitigate thermal stress. This microbiome-mediated physiological pathway contributes to our understanding of sponge climate resilience, offering new functional insights into holobiont persistence in a warming ocean.

The Polycomb group (PcG) protein chromobox 8 (CBX8) is the subunit of Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) and recognizes the trimethylation of histone H3 on Lysine 27 (H3K27me3), and coordinates with PRC2 complex to function as an epigenetic gene silencer. CBX8 plays a key role in cell proliferation, stem cell biology, cell senescence, and cancer development. However, the post-translational modifications of CBX8 remain poorly understood. Here, we report that protein kinase D1 (PKD1) interacts and phosphorylates CBX8 at Thr234 and Ser256 /311 residues. PKD1-mediated CBX8 phosphorylation at Thr234 reduced its expression level by promoting its ubiquitination-mediated degradation, whereas Ser256/311 phosphorylation decreased CBX8 binding to other PRC1 components BMI1 and RING1A. Overall, CBX8 phosphorylation by PKD1 impaired PRC1 complex integrity and activity, mitigated H2AK119ub1 level, caused the upregulation of multiple target genes repressed by CBX8, and decreased CBX8, H2AK119ub1, and H3K27me3 enrichment at INK4A/ARF locus, thereby derepressing p16INK4A and facilitating cellular senescence. Collectively, these results suggest that PKD1-mediated CBX8 phosphorylation at T234 and S256/311 is a key mechanism governing CBX8 function, including cell senescence.

Objective: Aging becomes the most predominant risk factor for all age-associated pathological conditions with the increase of life expectancy and the aggravation of social aging. Slowing down the speed of aging is considered an effective way to improve health, but so far, effective anti-aging methods are relatively lacking.Methods: Anemonin (ANE) was screened from eight existing small-molecule compounds by cell viability assay. The function of ANE was determined by the analysis of cell proliferation, beta-galactosidase (SA-beta-Gal) activity, cell cycle, SASP secretion, NAD+/NADH ratio, and other aging-related indicators. The targets of ANE were predicted by Drug Target Prediction System (DTPS) and Swiss Targe Prediction System. The effect of ANE on PARP-1-NAD+-SIRT1 signaling pathway was assessed by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blot, PARP1, NAD+ and SIRT1 activity detection.Results: ANE can delay cell senescence; PARP1 is one of the targets of ANE and plays a crucial role in ANE anti-aging; ANE release more NAD+ by inhibiting PARP1 activity, thereby conversely promoting the function of SIRT1 and delay cell senescence.Conclusions: Our study indicates that ANE can delay cellular senescence through the PARP1-NAD+-SIRT1 signaling pathway, which may be considered as an effective anti-aging strategy.

The marine bacterium Streptomyces sp. HNS054 shows promise as a platform for producing natural products. Isolated from a marine sponge, HNS054 possesses several desirable traits for bioengineering: rapid growth, salt tolerance, and compatibility with genetic tools. Its genome contains 21 potential biosynthetic gene clusters, offering a rich source of natural products. We successfully engineered HNS054 to increase the production of aborycin and actinorhodin by 4.5-fold and 1.2-fold, respectively, compared to S. coelicolor M1346 counterparts. With its unique features and amenability to genetic manipulation, HNS054 emerges as a promising candidate for developing novel marine-derived drugs and other valuable compounds.

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Aging biomarkers are a combination of biological parameters to (i) assess age-related changes, (ii) track the physiological aging process, and (iii) predict the transition into a pathological status. Although a broad spectrum of aging biomarkers has been developed, their potential uses and limitations remain poorly characterized. An immediate goal of biomarkers is to help us answer the following three fundamental questions in aging research: How old are we? Why do we get old? And how can we age slower? This review aims to address this need. Here, we summarize our current knowledge of biomarkers developed for cellular, organ, and organismal levels of aging, comprising six pillars: physiological characteristics, medical imaging, histological features, cellular alterations, molecular changes, and secretory factors. To fulfill all these requisites, we propose that aging biomarkers should qualify for being specific, systemic, and clinically relevant.

To resolve all kinds of fire emergencies in the ship's engine room, increase the ability of fire risk source rectification and emergency-disposal, improve the problem in current risk assessment method including the complexity and poor targeting, huge difference between the calculation results and expected goal, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine weights of a ship engine room fire risk source, in this work. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was used to evaluate the current engine room fire risk. The results show that the order of fire control optimization for a certain type of ship is high temperature object, electrical equipment, chemical or mechanical heat energy. Through the study on fire risk assessment method of ship engine room, this work provides scientific basis for improving engine room fire control ability.

Apelin is an endogenous ligand of the G protein-coupled receptor APJ. Both apelin and APJ receptors, which are expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), play important roles in the cardiovascular system. Our previous studies researches indicated that mitophagy mediated apelin-13-induced VSMCs proliferation. However, little is known about how apelin-13 regulates mitophagy to participate in VSMC proliferation. The results of the present study demonstrated that mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) uptake-dependent mitochondrial calcium-induced mitophagy is involved in apelin-13-induced VSMCs proliferation. Apelin-13 promoted the expression of MCU which increases mitochondrial calcium uptake. Apelin-13-induced MCU-dependent mitochondrial calcium uptake further increased mitochondrial ROS (mtROS) concentrations and promoted mitophagy, which can be evidenced through the upregulation of the Dynamin-related protein 1(Drp1), PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1), and Parkin. The clearance of mtROS by Mito-TEMPO significantly reversed apelin-13-induced mitophagy. Moreover, both the Drp1 inhibitor mdivi-1 and siRNA-Drp1 inhibited apelin-13-induced mitophagy. Furthermore, the APJ receptor antagonist F13A, MCU inhibitor Ru360, mitochondria-targeted antioxidant Mito-TEMPO, Drp1 inhibitor Mdivi-1, siRNA-Drp1, siRNA-PINK1, and siRNA-Parkin inhibited the proliferation of VSMCs induced by apelin-13. In ApoE-/- mice, intraperitoneal administration of apelin-13 induced the expression of MCU, Drp1, PINK1, Parkin, and α-SMA and increased atherosclerotic plaque lesions. However, F13A and Ru360 decreased the expression of MCU, Drp1, PINK1, Parkin, and α-SMA and reduced atherosclerotic plaque lesions in ApoE-/- mice injected with apelin-13. Collectively, our results demonstrate that MCU-dependent mitochondrial calcium uptake-induced mitophagy is involved in apelin-13-stimulated VSMCs proliferation.

Digital inline holography (DIH), as a three-dimensional (3D) measurement technique, is widely used in characterizations of the particles, droplets or bubbles under different multi-phase flow circumstances. By analyzing the phase information carried by the interference pattern, the reconstruction of shape and the location of a test target is then achieved. However, such reconstruction mechanism produces different levels of uncertainty between the in-plane (the plane parallel to the hologram plane) direction and out-of-plane (the plane normal to the hologram plane) direction, and the uncertainty of the latter is larger than the former. Also, the reconstruction algorithm fails when the interference patterns of some sections of the target are overlapped on the hologram since the overlapped patterns are merged into a pure shadow which doesn’t carry any phase information. This paper tested a method, the Multi-view Digital Inline Holography (MvDIH), that combines the holograms recorded from multiple views to overcome the addressed defects of the single view DIH. This technique uses the similar setup as the DIH but applies a different post-process method to implement the reconstruction. As the DIH is applied to each view, one can not only acquire the cross-section of the target in the hologram plane but also the outline of such cross-section in the space. Then, two reconstruction methods with different ideologies are developed as, the one based on the outline and the one based on the cross-section. A post-process algorithm is developed to realize these two reconstruction methods with the holograms recorded from different views. To evaluate the performance of the Multi-view DIH, a test model which imitates the droplet and liquid ligament structure is 3D printed and measured by the proposed method. The results demonstrate that, with only three view, both method provides limited reconstruction result. When comparing to the true test model, for the outline based method, some parts of the reconstructed model are missing and some details are merged into one piece with simple geometry. Yet, for the cross-section based method, the reconstructed model contains redundant parts which also make such result unsatisfied. As the used holograms are increased to six views, the reconstructed result for cross-section based method is approaching to the true model, but still some sections are reconstructed with certain level of ambiguity.

Background: The penile corpus cavernosum is a critical tissue, serving as a prerequisite for maintaining normal erection during sexual intercourse. The pathological changes of penile corpus cavernosum are significantly associated with erectile dysfunction (ED), whose prevalence increases pronouncedly with age. However, the cellular composition and molecular changes of penile corpus cavernosum during aging remain unclear.Methods: To map the single-cell transcriptomic landscape of penile corpus cavernosum during aging, we performed uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP), differential gene expression analysis (DGEs), pseudotime analysis and single-cell entropy algorithm to dissect cellular composition and transcriptional heterogeneity. For validation analysis, we further performed immunofluorescence studies on key molecules involved during penile corpus cavernosum aging.Findings: Clustering analysis of cell-type specific gene expression identified 19 cell types, and revealed their transcriptional alterations, which exhibited distinct properties rather than universally consistent. DGEs analysis demonstrated that genes related to extracellular matrix organization were highly expressed. Among these cell types, fibroblasts showed apparent heterogeneity. By performing pseudotime and single-cell entropy analysis on fibroblasts, we observed the age-associated decrease of entropy, and aged fibroblasts were found to adopt senescent secretory phenotype, as evidenced by the high expression of genes associated with the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Since eliminating senescent cells or SASP were demonstrated to improve health and life span, we further investigated the distinct senescence-related gene expression signatures across all cell types during aging.Interpretation: Overall, we plotted a cellular atlas of penile corpus cavernosum, and revealed the molecular alterations of aging cells, especially fibroblasts. Our work will deepen the understanding of the heterogeneity among certain cell types during penile corpus cavernosum aging, which will generate positive effects on the future treatment of aging-related penile disorders.Funding Statement: This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81771573).Declaration of Interests: None declared.Ethics Approval Statement: All experimental procedures were approved by the Committee of Animal Care and Use at Sun Yat-sen University.

This paper presents an experimental study of the flow field in a residential gas furnace model, with a focus on the measurement of the detailed flow field around the primary heating exchangers. A modified gas furnace model was tested in an air circulation system, which was designed to generate well-controlled conditions so that the obtained experimental data can be further used to validate design outputs. In addition to monitoring the flow pressures and velocities using manometers and hot-wire anemometer, Particle Image Velocimetry was applied to characterize the flow field around the primary heat exchangers of a residential gas furnace at isothermal condition by seeding fog particles into the circulated air flow. Three cases with different operating conditions are generated by controlling the differential pressure of the inlet and the outlet of the furnace, simulating the ideal design condition (no damper case), normal operation condition (open damper case), and the condition with severe filter blockage (highly restricted damper case), respectively. The 2D flow field around the primary heat exchangers in the gas furnace at different operating conditions is measured with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Under ideal and normal conditions, the flow field is symmetric, while separation is observed above the upper portion of the primary heat exchangers, and vortex shedding is observed downstream of the tip of the side baffles. In the highly restricted condition, the flow field becomes asymmetric with the reverse flow at the furnace’s right side. This case presents a severe challenge for the numerical tools to predict the correct mean flow structures.

我一点也不“方” 海绵是海绵动物门的统称,因为身体有很多的孔洞,也被称为多孔动物.海绵动物的外形并不像动画片里的海绵宝宝那样方正,它们的形态多样,有块状、鹿角状、荔枝状、扇子状、火山口状,还有的海绵动物只是薄薄的一层膜,无规则地随意摊附在石头或螃蟹、贝壳的甲壳表面.另外,海绵动物色彩斑斓,红橙黄绿青蓝紫应有尽有.

沐浴角骨海绵(Spongia officinalis)主要分布于海南沿海,在海洋生物材料开发领域具有较好前景.为培育该地域特色的海绵品种,在海南省儋州水牛坡村潮间带海域(109.40°E,19.87°N)开展了为期18个月的沐浴角骨海绵人工养殖,通过组织块的长、宽、高变化表征海绵的增长,分析了3种养殖方式下该海绵的存活和生长状况差异.结果显示瓷砖法、穿绳法和弹簧法养殖的沐浴角骨海绵均有较高的存活率,分别为80％,60％和50％,其中以瓷砖法最佳.瓷砖法养殖的海绵组织块的平均长度增长率为50.1％,显著高于穿绳法和弹簧法(p＜0.05);平均宽度增长率为63.5％,与穿绳法相当而显著高于弹簧法(p＜0.05);平均高度增长率为76.2％,接近弹簧法而显著高于穿绳法(p＜0.05).可见瓷砖法相对于其他两种方式在存活率和增长率有较大优势.此外,生长指标与海水温度的相关性分析结果表明,沐浴角骨海绵组织块的增长与海水温度之间的相关性不显著,增长速度未呈现季节性变化.综上,在自然条件下获得的沐浴角骨海绵第一手养殖资料有助于当地特色的基础海绵生物学研究与资源开发.

This paper investigates whether the monitoring function of short sale on firms’ financial reporting quality is conditional on the regulatory quality of the markets, and the strength of internal control at firm level. Using data on Chinese cross-listing AH-shares over the period of 2010–2015, we find that short sale restricts accrual earnings management in A-share markets but not in the H-share market. This difference is explained by the relative inferiority of the A-share markets’ regulatory quality, and is accentuated when the cross-listing AH-share firms have weak internal control. Taken together, the results indicate that short-sellers impose strong monitoring on reporting quality when they perceive a great likelihood of managerial expropriation in a weak legal environment, or in firms with weak internal control.

Digital in-line holography (DIH) has been applied to measure the 3D position of objects in a variety of applications, including bubbles and droplets in multi-phase flows, tracking particles in turbulence flows, etc. In addition to the 3D position, the morphology and dimension of the individual particles can also be extracted from the recorded hologram. In this study, a lens-less digital in-line holography setup is applied to measure the morphology and size of three kinds of solid particles (Wollastonite Powder, Pearl Mica Powder and Solder Powder), whose sizes range from several to hundreds of micrometers. The statistics of equivalent diameter, aspect ratio and circularity are introduced to describe the morphology and dimension of each kind of particles. Microscopic images of the particles are taken to verify the accuracy of measurements with DIH. The results measured from DIH are in good agreements with results from microscopic images.

Mitochondrial dysfunctions play major roles in ageing. How mitochondrial stresses invoke downstream responses and how specificity of the signaling is achieved, however, remains unclear. We have previously discovered that the RNA component of Telomerase TERC is imported into mitochondria, processed to a shorter form TERC-53, and then exported back to the cytosol. Cytosolic TERC-53 levels respond to mitochondrial functions, but have no direct effect on these functions, suggesting that cytosolic TERC-53 functions downstream of mitochondria as a signal of mitochondrial functions. Here, we show that cytosolic TERC-53 plays a regulatory role on cellular senescence and is involved in cognition decline in 10 months old mice, independent of its telomerase function. Manipulation of cytosolic TERC-53 levels affects cellular senescence and cognition decline in 10 months old mouse hippocampi without affecting telomerase activity, and most importantly, affects cellular senescence in terc(-/-) cells. These findings uncover a senescence-related regulatory pathway with a non-coding RNA as the signal in mammals.

In recent years, the bladeless fan that does not have visible impellers have been widely applied in household appliances. Since the customers are particularly sensitive to noise and the strength of wind generated by the fan, the aerodynamic and acoustic performances of the fan need to be accurately characterized in the design stage. In this study, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) and computational aeroacoustics (CAA) are applied to investigate the performances of different designs of a bladeless fan model. The influence of four parameters, namely the airfoil selection for cross-section of the wind channel, the slit width, the height of cross-section and the location of the slit, is investigated. The results indicate the streamwise air velocity increases significantly by narrowing the outlet, but the noise level increases simultaneously. In addition, the generated noise increases while the height of fan cross-section increases, and a 4 mm height of the cross section is optimal for aerodynamic performance. When the slit is closer to the location of maximum thickness, the performances of the bladeless fan increases. Moreover, the performance is not changed significantly by changing the cross-sectional profile. Finally, the optimal geometric parameters are identified to guide the future design of the bladeless fan.