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BackgroundThe use of virtual reality is popular in clinical rehabilitation, but the effects of using commercial virtual reality games in patients with stroke have been mixed. ObjectiveWe developed a depth camera–based, task-specific virtual reality game, Stomp Joy, for poststroke rehabilitation of the lower extremities. This study aims to assess its feasibility and clinical efficacy. MethodsWe carried out a feasibility test for Stomp Joy within representative user groups. Then, a clinical efficacy experiment was performed with a randomized controlled trial, in which 22 patients with stroke received 10 sessions (2 weeks) of conventional physical therapy only (control group) or conventional physical therapy plus 30 minutes of the Stomp Joy intervention (experimental group) in the clinic. The Fugl-Meyer Assessment for Lower Extremity (FMA-LE), Modified Barthel Index (MBI), Berg Balance Scale (BBS) score, single-leg stance (SLS) time, dropout rate, and adverse effects were recorded. ResultsThis feasibility test showed that Stomp Joy improved interest, pressure, perceived competence, value, and effort using the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. The clinical efficacy trial showed a significant time-group interaction effect for the FMA-LE (P=.006), MBI (P=.001), BBS (P=.004), and SLS time (P=.001). A significant time effect was found for the FMA-LE (P=.001), MBI (P

Objective: Microtia is a congenital auricular malformation with a hypoplastic external ear that ranges in severity from a slightly smaller auricle to complete the absence of the auricle. The present study was conducted to identify and analyze the characteristics of microtia-related articles published from 2006 to 2020 by using bibliometric analyses. Method: Microtia-related studies published from 2006 to 2020 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Keywords, first author, citations, date of publication, and publication journal were extracted and quantitatively analyzed using Bibliographic Item Co-Occurrence Matrix Builder software and the Bibliometric (https://bibliometric.com/app). VOSviewer was used to visualize research and form a network map on keywords and citations. Results: A total of 1031 articles from 2006 to 2020 were included. The number of articles showed an overall trend of growth over time. The United States and China are the top 2 countries in terms of the number of microtia-related articles. From the analysis of keyword clustering, keywords could be mainly divided into 4 clusters in the field of microtia research: surgery, tissue engineering, epidemiology, and rehabilitation including hearing-related treatments, evaluation of effects, and quality of life after surgery. The top 10 most frequently cited papers from 2006 to 2020 were also extracted and analyzed. Conclusion: A bibliometric research of microtia-related articles from 2006 to 2020 was conducted. This study may be helpful to understand the current research status of microtia and find the research trends in this field, thus proposing future directions for microtia research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Central sensitization (CS) is commonly seen in chronic pain disorders, including neuropathic pain. However, there exist inconsistencies concerning the presence of CS in chronic pain secondary to carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). CS and neuropathic pain manifestations in CTS remain not well established. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the CS and pain profiles in patients with CTS and to explore the potential determinants associated with CS.Patients and Methods: Patients with suspected CTS symptoms lasting 3 months or above and healthy controls were enrolled. History, physical examinations, and nerve conduction studies were employed to confirm the diagnosis and severity of median nerve dysfunction. The central sensitization inventory (CSI) was used to screen CS. Other outcomes included neuropathic pain, CTS-specific symptom severity and functions, emotion, and health-related quality of life. Between-group comparisons were conducted in terms of the CS presence. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify determinants associated with CS.Results: Over 60% of participants with CTS were found with clinical CS, significantly higher than that in the control group. More than 70% of the CTS participants were identified to have possible or very likely neuropathic pain components. In addition, one-fourth of CTS cases had depression or anxiety. Anxiety was associated with an increased risk of developing CS in CTS (adjusted OR=1.31, 95% CI 1.08– 1.59), whereas higher self-perceived general health rating was negatively associated with the presence of CS (adjusted OR=0.92, 95% CI 0.88– 0.97) in the multivariate adjusted regression model.Conclusion: CS is prevalent in patients with CTS. Predominant neuropathic pain characteristics were uncovered in CTS patients as well as comorbid psychological distress. Significant association was found between anxiety and CS presence. Self-perceived general health was inversely related to CS. Further research is warranted to explore the mechanisms of anxiety and central pain processing in painful entrapment neuropathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes can be classified as type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). It has been reported that children born from mothers with GDM present motor impairment, however, underlying mechanisms of GDM‐induce fetal neurological diseases remain unknown. In this study, NOD (nonobese diabetic) mice were used to construct the GDM model; after 2 weeks of gestation, thalamocortical axon development of fetal was evaluated by immunofluorescence. PCR of LRRC4C was used to confirm axon development of the thalamus cortex. RNA array was used to predict possible targets affected by GDM during fetal neurodevelopment. Western blot was used to investigate the underlying mechanism, PI3K inhibitor, and MAPK inhibitor was used to determine key pathway involved in this model, in vitro axonal growth was evaluated using neural stem cells, tactile sensory behavior of offspring was assessed to confirm neurological influence further. The result shown that maternal diabetes significantly suppressed axonal development of fetal thalamus cortex, PCR array of GDM fetal brain indicated that upregulation of GLP‐1R compared with normal fetal, ELISA confirmed that GLP‐1 level was decreased in GDM maternal serum compared with that of wild type pregnant mice. In vitro study observed enhanced axonal elongation after supplements of GLP‐1 analog, GLP‐1 analog PI3K‐dependently active ROCK1 activity, IP injection of GLP‐1 analog could partly reverse GDM‐induced suppression of fetal thalamocortical axon development and improve tactile sensory behavior of GDM offspring. Our study provided a novel mechanism of GDM induced‐neurological diseases and predicted GLP‐1 as possible prevention supplement during gestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household consumption has become an important field of carbon dioxide emissions. Urban–rural disparity in the household carbon emissions (HCEs) of residents and their influencing factors are relevant to HCE reduction. Taking Fujian as the study area, the LMDI and SDA models were used to analyze the effects of influencing factors for the direct household carbon emissions (DHCEs) and indirect carbon emissions (IHCEs) of urban and rural residents from 2006 to 2018. The HCEs continue to rise, approximately 65% from the IHCEs in 2017, and urban areas occupied 67% in 2018. The gap between urban and rural per capita HCEs is narrowing. In 2017, approximately 75% of urban per capita HCEs came from the IHCEs, while the per capita DHCEs' occupation exceeded the IHCEs in rural areas. Per capita consumption expenditure has the largest positive effect on the DHCEs and IHCEs in urban and rural areas. With the urbanization process, the inhibition effect of rural DHCEs is larger than the positive effect of the urban DHCEs, while the positive impact on urban areas is more substantial than on rural areas in the IHCEs. Combined with regional differences, urban and rural areas should take "common but differentiated" emission reduction responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ZEB2 gene mutations or deletions cause Mowat-Wilson syndrome (MWS), which is characterized by distinctive facial features, global developmental delay, intellectual disability, epilepsy, friendly and happy personalities, congenital heart disease, Hirschsprung disease and multiple congenital anomalies. Currently, more than 300 MWS patients have been described in the literature, and nearly 280 variants in ZEB2 have been identified. Methods: In this study, we report three unrelated Chinese patients presenting multiple congenital anomalies that were consistent with those of MWS. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was used to identify the causative variants. Results: WES identified two novel de novo frameshift variants in ZEB2 (NM_014795.4:c.2136delC, p. Lys713Serfs*3 and c.2740delG, p. Gln914Argfs*16) in patients 1 and 2, respectively, and a novel de novo splicing variant in ZEB2 (NM_014795.4:c.808-2delA) in patient 3, all of which were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Next, we systematically reviewed the clinical characteristics of Chinese and Caucasian MWS patients. We revealed a higher incidence of constipation in Chinese MWS patients compared to that previously reported in Caucasian cohorts, while the incidence of Hirschsprung disease and happy demeanor was lower in Chinese MWS patients and that epilepsy in Chinese MWS patients could be well-controlled compared to that in Caucasian MWS individuals. Conclusion: Our study expanded the mutation spectrum of ZEB2 and enriched our understanding of the clinical characteristics of MWS. Definitive genetic diagnosis is beneficial for the genetic counseling and clinical management of individuals with MWS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the effect on vascular dementia of involuntary exercise induced by functional electrical stimulation and of forced and voluntary exercise, focusing on the recovery of cognitive function and using a rat model of dementia. Methods: A demential model was created in Wistar rats who were then given forced exercise, allowed voluntary exercise (wheel running) or had exercise induced through functional electrical stimulation. Their responses were quantified using a Morris water maze and by measuring long-term potentiation in the hippocampus. Immunohistochemical staining was used to evaluate neurogenesis in the hippocampus and Nissl staining was applied to visualize viable neuron loss in the DG sector. In addition, the levels of NMDAR1, AMPAR1, pAMPAR1, pCaMKII, CaMKII, Bcl-2 and Bax in the hippocampus were assessed by western blotting. Results: All of the exercise groups showed a recovery of cognitive performance and improved long-term potentiation. The three modes of exercise all increased the number of DCX immunopositive cells and reduced losses of intact-appearing neurons in the hippocampal DG zones roughly equally. All proved about equally effective in increasing the levels of NMDAR1, pAMPAR1 and pCaMKII and increasing the Bcl-2/Bax ratio to protect neurons from apoptosis. Conclusion: Exercise induced by electrical stimulation has beneficial effects comparable to those of other types of exercise for alleviating the cognitive deficits of vascular dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Screening for post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is necessary because stroke increases the incidence of and accelerates premorbid cognitive decline. The Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment (Q mci) screen is a short, reliable and accurate cognitive screening instrument but is not yet validated in PSCI. We compared the diagnostic accuracy of a Chinese version of the Q mci screen (Q mci -CN) compared with the widely-used Chinese versions of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-CN) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-CN). Methods: We recruited 34 patients who had recovered from a stroke in rehabilitation unit clinics in 2 university hospitals in China: 11 with post-stroke dementia (PSD), 15 with post-stroke cognitive impairment no dementia (PSCIND), and 8 with normal cognition (NC). Classification was made based on clinician assessment supported by a neuropsychological battery, independent of the screening test scores. The Q mci -CN, MoCA-CN, and MMSE-CN screens were administered randomly by a trained rater, blind to the diagnosis. Results: The mean age of the sample was 63 ± 13 years and 61.8% were male. The Q mci -CN had statistically similar diagnostic accuracy in differentiating PSD from NC, an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.94 compared to 0.99 for the MoCA-CN (p = 0.237) and 0.99 for the MMSE-CN (p = 0.293). The Q mci -CN (AUC 0.91), MoCA-CN (AUC 0.94), and MMSE-CN (AUC 0.79) also had statistically similar accuracy in separating PSD from PSCIND. The MoCA-CN more accurately distinguished between PSCIND and normal cognition than the Q mci -CN (p = 0.015). Compared to the MoCA-CN, the administration times of the Q mci -CN (329s vs. 611s, respectively, p < 0.0001) and MMSE-CN (280 vs. 611s, respectively, p < 0.0001) were significantly shorter. Conclusion: The Q mci -CN is accurate in identifying PSD and separating PSD from PSCIND in patients post-stroke following rehabilitation and is comparable to the widely-used MoCA-CN, albeit with a significantly shorter administration time. The Q mci -CN had relatively poor accuracy in identifying PSCIND from NC and hence may lack accuracy for certain subgroups. However, given the small sample size, the study is under-powered to show superiority of one instrument over another. Further study is needed to confirm these findings in a larger sample size and in other settings (countries and languages). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cognitive frailty describes cognitive impairment associated with physical decline. Few studies have explored whether short cognitive screens identify frailty. We examined the diagnostic accuracy of the Chinese versions of the Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment (Q mci -CN) screen and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-CN) in identifying cognitive frailty. Methods: Ninety-five participants with cognitive symptoms [47 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 34 with subjective cognitive disorder, and 14 with dementia] were included from two outpatient rehabilitation clinics. Energy (work intensity) and physical activity levels were recorded. Cognitive frailty was diagnosed by an interdisciplinary team using the IANA/IAGG consensus criteria, stratified on the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Instruments were administered sequentially and randomly by trained assessors, blind to the diagnosis. Results: The mean age of the sample was 62.6 ± 10.2 years; median CFS score was 4 ± 1 and 36 (38%) were cognitively frail. The Q mci -CN had similar accuracy in differentiating the non-frail from cognitively frail compared to the MoCA-CN, AUC 0.82 versus 0.74, respectively (p = 0.19). At its optimal cut-off (≤55/100), the Q mci -CN provided a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 67% versus 91% and 51%, respectively, for the MoCA-CN (≤23/30). Neither was accurate in separating MCI from cognitive frailty but both accurately separated cognitive frailty from dementia. Conclusion: Established short cognitive screens may be useful in identifying cognitive frailty in Chinese adults with cognitive complaints but not in separating MCI from cognitive frailty. The Q mci- CN had similar accuracy to the MoCA-CN and a shorter administration time in this small and under-powered study, necessitating the need for adequately powered studies in different healthcare settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Functional electrical stimulation (FES) may induce involuntary exercise and make beneficial effects on vascular dementia (VD) by strengthening the BDNF-pCREB-mediated pathway and hippocampal plasticity. Whether FES improves recognition memory and synaptic plasticity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) was investigated by establishing a VD model. Methods: The VD rats were administered with two weeks of voluntary exercise, forced exercise, or involuntary exercise induced with FES. Sham-operated and control groups were also included. The behavioral changes were assessed with the novel object recognition test and novel object location test. The expression levels of key proteins related to synaptic plasticity in the PFC were also detected. Results: All types of exercise improved the rats’ novel object recognition index, but only voluntary exercise and involuntary exercise induced with FES improved the novel object location index. Any sort of exercise enhanced the expression of key proteins in the PFC. Conclusion: Involuntary exercise induced with FES can improve recognition memory in VD better than forced exercise. The mechanism is associated with increased synaptic plasticity in the PFC. FES may be a useful alternative tool for cognitive rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During the prenatal period, the number variation of chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y accounts for more than 80% of the clinically significant chromosomal abnormalities diagnosed. Rapid tests for prenatal diagnosis of these abnormalities can improve pregnancy management and alleviate parental anxiety. Here, we present a molecular alternative method for detecting common aneuploidies. Methods: This method is based on co-amplification of segmental duplications located on two different chromosomes using a single pair of primers. Segmental duplications have a high degree of sequence identity, but have single-nucleotide differences in some regions. These sequence differences can be quantified using melting curve analysis of dual-labeled probes to estimate the relative dosages of different chromosomes. We designed two quadruplex real-time PCR assays to detect aneuploidies of chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y. Results: We examined 75 aneuploid DNA samples and 56 unaffected DNA control samples using these two assays and correctly identified all samples. Four cases of unbalanced translocation were also accurately detected. The observed averaged ratio for each chromosomal disorder was similar to the theoretically expected value. Conclusions: Our real-time assay is a robust, rapid, and easy to conduct technique for prenatal diagnosis of common aneuploidies, representing a competitive alternative for use in diagnostic laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Forced and voluntary exercises are known to improve cognition and induce neuroprotection after stroke, however, any effects of involuntary movement induced by functional electrical stimulation (FES) are unclear. The effects of involuntary exercise induced by FES, forced and voluntary exercise on the recovery of cognitive function in vascular dementia and the regional repair of ischaemic lesions were investigated using a rat model. Methods: Wistar rats were randomly assigned to a sham group, a vascular dementia control group (VD), an involuntary exercise group (I-Ex), a forced exercise group (F-Ex) or a voluntary exercise group (V-Ex). An object recognition test (ORT) and an object location test (OLT) were used to evaluate the recovery of cognitive function. Levels of synapsin I (SYN), synaptophysin (SYP), postsynaptic density 95 (PSD-95), microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP-2) and Tau in the hippocampus were evaluated using western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Nissl staining was applied to visualise the loss of viable neurons from the hippocampus. Results: Involuntary exercise and voluntary exercise both improved cognition in terms of ORT and OLT results. Forced exercise only improved ORT results. The levels of SYN, PSD-95, MAP-2 and Tau in the hippocampus were enhanced by all three patterns of exercise training. Moreover, all three patterns reduced losses of dendrons and neurons in the hippocampal CA1 and CA2 zones, but without significant differences among the three exercise regimens. Conclusion: Involuntary exercise induced by FES has beneficial effects on cognitive function after vascular dementia comparable to those of forced and voluntary exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycophenolate embryopathy (ME) is a congenital malformation induced by mycophenolic acid (MA). Microtia is the most common ME phenotype. This study aimed to identify the key genes in the pathological process of microtia caused by mycophenolate mofetil (MM) through bioinformatics methods, to explore the potential pathogenesis, and to provide a direction for future genetic research on aetiology. Genes related to MM and microtia were obtained from the GeneCards database for bioinformatics. Metacore was used to identify and visualize the upstream and downstream gene relationships in the protein-protein interaction (PPI) results of these genes. The clusterProfiler R software package was used to simulate and visualize the enrichment results based on data from Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. Fifty-nine genes were associated with microtia and MM/MA. The hub genes with the most significant effects on MM/MA-induced microtia pathogenesis included tumour protein P53 (p53), MDM2 proto-oncogene (MDM2), ribosomal protein L5 (RPL5) and ribosomal protein S14 (RBS14). The GO term with the most enriched genes was peptidyl-tyrosine phosphorylation. For the KEGG terms, there was significant enrichment regarding the haematopoietic cell lineage, apoptosis, p53 signalling, proteasome and necroptosis. We propose that an axis composed of MA, microtia, TP53 and related genes is involved in ME pathogenesis. The important role of TP53-associated ribosome stress in ME pathogenesis is consistent with our previous findings from MA-induced cleft lip and palate. Deregulation of genes protective against TP53 overexpression, such as MDM2, could be a strategy for constructing a microtia animal model. • An axis composed of MA, microtia, TP53 and related genes is involved in ME pathogenesis. • Associated genes like MDM2, RPL5 and RPS14 have been found to be involved in the regulation of this process. • Integrated bioinformatics approaches are used for the first time to screen pathogenetic genes and pathways of mycophenolic acid-induced microtia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethanol used by women during pregnancy increases the risk for microtia in the foetus. Traditionally, laboratory experiments and Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI) have been used to explore microtia pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to screen and verify hub genes involved in ethanol-induced microtia and to explore the potential molecular mechanisms. Overlapping genes related to ethanol and microtia were acquired from the GeneCards database and filtered by confidence score. These genes were further analysed via bioinformatics. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis results were visualized with the clusterProfiler R package. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed based on data from the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) database. Overall, 41 genes related to both ethanol and microtia were identified. The genes most relevant to ethanol-induced microtia pathogenesis included FGFR-2, FGFR-3, FGF-8, TP53, IGF1, SHH, CTNNB1, and PAX6, among others. Most genes were strongly enriched for tissue and organ development in GO analysis. Additionally, many genes were enriched in the Ras, FoxO, MAPK, and PI3K-Akt signalling pathways in KEGG analysis. Bioinformatics analysis was conducted on genes currently known to be related to ethanol-induced microtia pathogenesis. We propose that mechanisms involving FGF-family genes, TP53, IGF1 and SHH contribute significantly to ethanol-induced microtia and the accompanying malformation of other structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cutaneous amyloidosis has been classified into primary cutaneous amyloidosis (PCA, OMIM #105250), secondary cutaneous amyloidosis and systemic cutaneous amyloidosis. PCA is the deposition of amyloid in previously apparent normal skin without systemic involvement. Amyloidosis cutis dyschromica (ACD) is a rare distinct type of PCA. Here, the unique clinical and histological findings of two Chinese female siblings with ACD were described.Cases Presentations: Patient 1 was a 34-year-old female, presented with mildly pruritic, diffuse mottled hyperpigmentation and hypopigmentation. The lesions involved all over the body since she was 10 years old. There were a few itchy blisters appearing on her arms, lower legs and truck, especially on the sun-exposed areas in summer. Some hypopigmented macules presented with slight atrophy. Patient 2 was 39-year-old, the elder sister of patient 1. She had similar skin lesions since the same age as the former. The atrophy and blisters on the skin of the patient with amyloidosis cutis dyschromica have not been described in previous literature. Histological examinations of the skin biopsies taken from both patients revealed amyloid deposits in the whole papillary dermis. Depending on the histological assessment, the two cases were diagnosed as amyloidosis cutis dyschromica.Conclusion: The two cases suggest that the atrophy and blisters may be the uncommon manifestations of amyloidosis cutis dyschromica. It alerts clinicians to consider the possibility of ACD when meeting patients with cutaneous dyschromia. Skin biopsy is essential and family consultation of genetic investigation is very important in such cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The aim of the study was to set up an alternative automatic molecular diagnostic method for deletional α-thalassaemia mutations without gel electrophoresis. Methods Based on the sequence variation within the two Z boxes and melting curve analysis of dually labelled probes, a real-time PCR assay was developed and validated for the rapid detection of major α-genotypes (-- SEA /αα, -- SEA /-α 3.7 , -- SEA /-α 4.2 , -- SEA /-- SEA , -α 3.7 /-α 3.7 and -α 4.2 /-α 4.2 ). Results Samples with the -α 3.7 /-α 3.7 , -α 4.2 /-α 4.2 , -- SEA /αα, -- SEA /-α 3.7 , -- SEA /-α 4.2 , and -- SEA /-- SEA genotypes could be clearly distinguished. The accuracy of this technique for these samples was 100% sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion This technique is rapid and reliable, demonstrating feasibility for use in large-scale population screening and prenatal diagnosis of deletional Hb H disease and Hb Bart's hydrops fetalis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• QST was used to evaluate the analgesic effects of tDCS in different brain regions. • M1-tDCS can effectively improve the efficiency of CPM in healthy individuals. • The role of DLPFC as a target for pain regulation deserves further exploration. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is increasingly used in pain treatment. tDCS targeting both primary motor cortex (M1) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) may modulate the descending pain inhibitory system, however, it remains controversial regarding the optimal stimulation region for pain modulation. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effects of high-definition anodic stimulation of M1 and DLPFC on conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and pain thresholds and establish a preferred stimulation setting. Twenty-six healthy adults were randomly assigned to M1-tDCS, DLPFC-tDCS, or sham-tDCS groups. During the three sessions, each participant received an active or sham stimulation of 2 mA for 20 min, with at least 3 days' interval between sessions. Quantitative sensory tests were performed to obtain pressure pain threshold (PPT), cold pain threshold (CPT), and CPM before and after the tDCS intervention. Only M1-tDCS significantly increased CPM in healthy individuals compared with sham control (P = 0.004). No statistically significant difference was found in PPT and CPT between tDCS vs. sham control (P > 0.05). Our findings further support the important role of M1 as a target in pain regulation. Further large-scale, multicenter studies in chronic pain populations are needed to validate the alterations of distinct target brain regions related to pain and thus for an optimal target stimulation strategy in pain management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic structures mimicking the transport function of natural ion channel proteins have a wide range of applications, including therapeutic treatments, separation membranes, sensing, and biotechnologies. However, the development of polymer-based artificial channels has been hampered due to the limitation on available models. In this study, we demonstrate the great potential of bottlebrush polymers as accessible and versatile molecular scaffolds for developing efficient artificial ion channels. Adopting the bottlebrush configuration enhanced ion transport activity of the channels compared to their linear analogs. Matching the structure of lipid bilayers, the bottlebrush channel with a hydrophilic-hydrophobic-hydrophilic triblock architecture exhibited the highest activity among the series. Functionalized with urea groups, these channels displayed high anion selectivity. Additionally, we illustrated that the transport properties could be fine-tuned by modifying the chemistry of ion binding sites. This work not only highlights the importance of polymer topology control in channel design, but also reveals the great potential for further developing bottlebrush channels with customized features and diverse functionalities., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Objective: Microtia is a congenital auricular malformation with a hypoplastic external ear that ranges in severity from a slightly smaller auricle to complete the absence of the auricle. The present study was conducted to identify and analyze the characteristics of microtia-related articles published from 2006 to 2020 by using bibliometric analyses., Method: Microtia-related studies published from 2006 to 2020 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Keywords, first author, citations, date of publication, and publication journal were extracted and quantitatively analyzed using Bibliographic Item Co-Occurrence Matrix Builder software and the Bibliometric (https://bibliometric.com/app). VOSviewer was used to visualize research and form a network map on keywords and citations., Results: A total of 1031 articles from 2006 to 2020 were included. The number of articles showed an overall trend of growth over time. The United States and China are the top 2 countries in terms of the number of microtia-related articles. From the analysis of keyword clustering, keywords could be mainly divided into 4 clusters in the field of microtia research: surgery, tissue engineering, epidemiology, and rehabilitation including hearing-related treatments, evaluation of effects, and quality of life after surgery. The top 10 most frequently cited papers from 2006 to 2020 were also extracted and analyzed., Conclusion: A bibliometric research of microtia-related articles from 2006 to 2020 was conducted. This study may be helpful to understand the current research status of microtia and find the research trends in this field, thus proposing future directions for microtia research., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

As highly concentrated urbanized areas, urban agglomerations bear increasing resource depletion and environmental pressures, which threaten the regional sustainable development. Resource and environmental problems arising from the process of urbanization can be attributed to the dislocation or maladjustment of material metabolism in time or space. Conducting research on material metabolism at the level of urban agglomerations is helpful in finding the root causes of environmental problems to provide support for the reduction of regional resource consumption and pollution emissions. The material metabolism characteristics of the urban agglomeration and internal cities of the Fujian Delta Urban Agglomeration (FDUA) in China are evaluated using the material flow analysis. The following results are observed. (1) The economic development of the FDUA is still at risk of resource consumption, and a large proportion of hidden flow (HF > 80%) drags down the overall metabolic efficiency and sustainable development. (2) The discharge of various pollutants in the FDUA generally shows a downward trend. Improving metabolic efficiency, delayed MCI growth, and improved overall regional environmental quality are observed. (3) Cities that have relatively scarce land resources but are economically developed, such as Xiamen, still bear a relatively heavy ecological burden (EC dmc  > 1). (4) Regional collaboration is conducive to the sustainable development of multiple regions. On the one hand, the results of this study provide decision-making basis for the sustainable development of the national ecological civilization demonstration area. On the other hand, this work guides the establishment of a comprehensive industrial linkage and cooperation mechanism for the same type of small- and medium-sized urban agglomerations., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Introduction: It is not clear whether high-activity radioactive iodine (¹³¹I) treatment will affect renal function. This study aimed to investigate the effects of high-activity ¹³¹I treatment on the clinical metrics of renal function in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC)., Material and Methods: 262 DTC patients with abnormal baseline renal function (group A) and 262 DTC patients with normal baseline renal function (group B) who received 131I therapy were analysed. Each group was further divided into three subgroups based on the cumulative activity of 131I: subgroup 1 if the cumulative activity was less than 11.1 GBq; subgroup 2 if the cumulative activity was between 11.1 GBq and 18.5 GBq; and subgroup 3 if the cumulative activity was more than 18.5 GBq. The clinical metrics of renal function including serum creatinine (SCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were measured and compared before initial 131I treatment and 5 years later., Result: There was no significant difference of the demographics between the two groups. In group A, SCr and BUN levels were elevated in 186 and 113 patients, respectively, and eGFR was decreased in 108 patients before the initial ¹³¹I therapy. SCr and BUN levels were found to be increased in all subgroups 5 years after the initial ¹³¹I therapy; furthermore, eGFR was found to be decreased in all subgroups after ¹³¹I therapy, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). A gender bias was not observed in the changing trends of SCr and BUN levels and eGFR. In group B, no significant difference in the mean levels of SCr, BUN, and eGFR was observed in the 3 subgroups (p > 0.05), regardless of gender, before the initial ¹³¹I therapy and 5 years later. A total of 5, 2, and 2 patients presented with abnormal renal function after ¹³¹I treatment in subgroups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. No statistically significant difference was observed in the incidence of renal dysfunction among the 3 subgroups (p = 0.423)., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the nephrotoxicity of high-activity ¹³¹I therapy, regardless of gender, is very low in patients with DTC with normal renal function; however, high-activity ¹³¹I therapy may exacerbate the loss of renal function in those with renal dysfunction.

Abstract: Mycophenolate embryopathy (MPE) is a mycophenolic acid (MPA)-induced congenital malformation with distinctive symptoms. Cleft lip/palate (CLP) is one of the most common symptoms of MPE. The aim of this study was to screen and verify hub genes involved in MPA-induced CLP and to explore the potential molecular mechanisms underlying MPE.Overlapping genes related to MPA and CLP were obtained from the GeneCards database. These genes were further analyzed via bioinformatics. The Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis results were visualized with the Cytoscape ClueGO plug-in. Gene protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed based on data obtained from the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) database.Overall, 58 genes related to MPA and CLP were identified. The genes most relevant to MPA-induced CLP included ABCB1, COL1A1, Rac1, TGFβ1, EDN1, and TP53, as well as the TP53-associated genes MDM2 and RPL5. GO analysis demonstrated gene enrichment regarding such terms as ear, mesenchymal, striated muscle, and ureteric development. KEGG analysis demonstrated gene enrichment in such pathways as the HIF-1 signaling pathway, glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchor biosynthesis, the TNF signaling pathway, and hematopoietic stem cell development.Bioinformatic analysis was performed on the genes currently known to be associated with MPA-induced CLP pathogenesis. MPA-induced CLP is mediated by multiple ribosome stress related genes and pathways. MDM2, RPL5 and TP53 could be the main contributor in this pathogenesis, along with several other genes. ABCB1 polymorphism could be related to the probability of MPA-induced CLP., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)