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Zhou-peng Zheng,1– 4 Su-lin Tang,1– 4 Shao-lan Fu,1– 4 Qian Wang,1– 4 Li-wei Jin,1– 4 Yan-li Zhang,1– 4 Rong-rong Huang1– 4 1Department of Anesthesiology, Stomatology Hospital, School of Stomatology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310,000 People’s Republic of China; 2Zhejiang Provincial Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Hangzhou, 310,000 People’s Republic of China; 3Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Research of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310,000 People’s Republic of China; 4Cancer Center of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310,000 People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Rong-rong Huang, Stomatology Hospital, School of Stomatology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 166, Qiutao North Road, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, Email hrr8310@zju.edu.cnObjective: To identify risk factors for postoperative sore throat (POST) after general anesthesia in oral and maxillOfacial surgery.Material and Methods: This study is a retrospective cohort design study. We enrolled patients with oral and maxillofacial surgery who underwent endotracheal intubation under general anesthesia in the Stomatology Hospital, Zhejiang University School Of Medicine between April 2020 and April 2021. They were divided into the POST group and the without POST group. The distribution Of various characteristics in the two groups was firstly analyzed. Then, logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the independent predictors for POST occurrence. Following this, logistic regression and random forest models were constructed and their performance was evaluated to predict POST occurrence.Results: A total of 891 participants were enrolled in the study. Female gender and cough during extubation were significantly associated with increased POST occurrence in multivariate analysis (all P < 0.05). Stratified logistic regression analysis results showed that the female gender was an independent predictor for POST occurrence in the 4≤age≤ 14 and 14 60 group after adjusting American Society of Anesthesiologists status and throat and lung disease (all P < 0.05). The logistic regression model had a similar effect to the random forest model in predicting POST occurrence. Interestingly, the female gender had a higher important weight compared to the cough during extubation.Conclusion: This research reveals female gender and cough during extubation as potential risk factors for POST occurrence, which may provide guidance for the effective prevention of POST in oral and maxillofacial surgery.Keywords: oral and maxillofacial surgery, postoperative sore throat, female gender, cough during extubation, predictors

During this COVID-19 pandemic, massive unverified information has flooded the social media platforms, causing heightened levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms among public. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) and its psychological impact, such as anxiety and depressive symptoms in Malaysia population. A crosssectional online survey was conducted from 8th to 22nd April 2020, involving 227 respondents. The set of questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics, the KAP questionnaire -- 11 items on knowledge (K1-K11), 3 items on attitude (A1- A3), 4 items on practice (P1-P4), together with Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) Scale. To evaluate the data, descriptive analysis, Chi-square test and item response theory analysis were implemented. The percentage of respondents who answered the true statements items from Knowledge component (K1-K3) correctly was almost 100%. However, that of items testing on COVID-19 myths (K4-K11) ranged from 38.8% to 95.2%. The only item from Attitude component which had less than 95% being answered correctly was A1 (78.9%), regarding face masks usage. From the Practice component, over 80% of respondents identified that they used social media to obtain updates on COVID-19 all the time. This is alarming as most of the information circulating on social media have not been verified by relevant authorities, which might lead to, and continuously reinforce anxiety-inducing myths. This study showed that lower overall KAP scores, particularly for Knowledge component items, are related to higher anxiety levels and more depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three reading time experiments were conducted in order to examine the relative contributions of order of antecedents and semantic context to the resolution of temporarily ambiguous Chinese pronouns. These pronouns were ambiguous because each of them was preceded by two antecedents, both of which were likely candidates for coreference. The identity of the pronoun was revealed by subsequent disambiguating information that constrained the pronoun to one particular interpretation. Experiment 1 showed that reading of the disambiguating phrase was slower when the phrase confined the pronoun to the second rather than to the first antecedent. Experiment 2 produced the same effect of antecedent order (first vs. second antecedent) regardless of whether the target antecedent was an action-performing or an action-receiving entity. In Experiment 3, the order effect was eliminated by a biasing modifier inserted immediately before the pronoun. These results indicate that in a semantically neutral environment, the first-appearing antecedent is the preferred candidate for coreferencing the ambiguous Chinese pronoun. The interaction between order of antecedents and semantic context (in the form of preposed biasing modifiers) suggests that the initial comprehension of Chinese pronouns depends as much on contextual as on structural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic diseases have become one of the most important factors threatening human health. Subjective life expectancy (SLE) describes an individual's expectation or subjective perception of lifespan. This article aims to explore the relationship between chronic diseases and SLE, as well as the differences among different age groups and different types of chronic diseases in this relationship. China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) is a nationwide longitudinal study that evaluates the social, economic, and health conditions of middle-aged and older adult families and individuals aged 45 and above in China. In this study, CHARLS used probability proportional to size sampling (PPS sampling) to ensure the breadth and representativeness of the sample. This study selected cross-sectional data from CHARLS 2018, removed missing values, and obtained a valid sample of 10,658 middle-aged and older individuals, of whom 8564 had chronic diseases. After controlling demographic, health behavior, socioeconomic, psychological, and social security factors, an ordered logistic regression was performed to explore the relationship between chronic disease and SLE in middle-aged and older adults. The results show that chronic diseases negatively correlate with SLE in middle-aged and older adults. Middle-aged and older adults with chronic diseases are 36.2% less likely to have high life expectancy than those without chronic diseases. Many different types of chronic diseases are negatively correlated with SLE. Cancer is most negatively correlated with SLE, far exceeding other chronic diseases. Chronic disease and SLE of middle-aged and older adults have age-heterogeneous differences. For middle-aged people aged 45-59 and young older adults aged 60-79, there is a significant correlation between chronic diseases and SLE. However, there is no correlation between chronic diseases and subjective life expectancy in the older population aged 80 and above. The government and society should pay close attention to the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases among middle-aged and older adults and adjust policies and measures according to the population's age structure. In addition, the government and society should pay attention to the spiritual needs of middle-aged and older adults. The government and society should pay more attention to cancer patients. Finally, the scientific research team should also strengthen research on chronic diseases, research and development of specific drugs and vaccines, improve the cure rate of chronic diseases, promote people's health, and make people no longer afraid of diseases., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Coral microbiomes differ in the mucus, soft tissue and skeleton of a coral colony, but whether variations exist in different tissues of a single polyp is unknown. In the stony coral, Fimbriaphyllia ancora, we identified 8,994 amplicon sequencing variants (ASVs) in functionally differentiated polyp tissues, i.e., tentacles, body wall, mouth and pharynx, mesenterial filaments, and gonads (testes and ovaries), with a large proportion of ASVs specific to individual tissues. However, shared ASVs comprised the majority of microbiomes from all tissues in terms of relative abundance. No tissue-specific ASVs were found, except in testes, for which there were only two samples. At the generic level, Endozoicomonas was significantly less abundant in the body wall, where calicoblastic cells reside. On the other hand, several bacterial taxa presented significantly higher abundances in the mouth. Interestingly, although without statistical confirmation, gonadal tissues showed lower ASV richness and relatively high abundances of Endozoicomonas (in ovaries) and Pseudomonas (in testes). These findings provide evidence for microbiome heterogeneity between tissues within coral polyps, suggesting a promising field for future studies of functional interactions between corals and their bacterial symbionts., (© 2024 The Author(s). Environmental Microbiology Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

A dynamic mucous layer containing numerous micro-organisms covers the surface of corals and has multiple functions including both removal of sediment and "food gathering." 1 It is likely to also act as the primary barrier to infection; various proteins and compounds with antimicrobial activity have been identified in coral mucus, though these are thought to be largely or exclusively of microbial origin. As in Hydra, 2 anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) are likely to play major roles in regulating the microbiomes of corals. 3 , 4 Some eukaryotes employ a complementary but less obvious approach to manipulate their associated microbiome by interfering with quorum signaling, effectively preventing bacteria from coordinating gene expression across a population. Our investigation of immunity in the reef-building coral Acropora millepora, 5 however, led to the discovery of a coral gene referred to here as AmNtNH1 that can inactivate a range of acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs), common bacterial quorum signaling molecules, and is induced on immune challenge of adult corals and expressed during the larval settlement process. Closely related proteins are widely distributed within the Scleractinia (hard corals) and some other cnidarians, with multiple paralogs in Acropora, but their closest relatives are bacterial, implying that these are products of one or more lateral gene transfer events post-dating the cnidarian-bilaterian divergence. The deployment by corals of genes used by bacteria to compete with other bacteria reflects a mechanism of microbiome manipulation previously unknown in Metazoa but that may apply more generally., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no completing interests., (Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Dietary emulsifiers are linked to various diseases. The recent discovery of the role of gut microbiota-host interactions on health and disease warrants the safety reassessment of dietary emulsifiers through the lens of gut microbiota. Lecithin, sucrose fatty acid esters, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), and mono- and diglycerides (MDG) emulsifiers are common dietary emulsifiers with high exposure levels in the population. This study demonstrates that sucrose fatty acid esters and carboxymethylcellulose induce hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia in a mouse model. Lecithin, sucrose fatty acid esters, and CMC disrupt glucose homeostasis in the in vitro insulin-resistance model. MDG impairs circulating lipid and glucose metabolism. All emulsifiers change the intestinal microbiota diversity and induce gut microbiota dysbiosis. Lecithin, sucrose fatty acid esters, and CMC do not impact mucus-bacterial interactions, whereas MDG tends to cause bacterial encroachment into the inner mucus layer and enhance inflammation potential by raising circulating lipopolysaccharide. Our findings demonstrate the safety concerns associated with using dietary emulsifiers, suggesting that they could lead to metabolic syndromes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Electrocatalytic oxidation of formaldehyde (FOR) is an effective way to prevent the damage caused by formaldehyde and produce high-value products. A screening strategy of a single-layer MnO 2 -supported transition metal catalyst for the selective oxidation of formaldehyde to formic acid was designed by high-throughput density functional calculation. N-MnO 2 @Cu and MnO 2 @Cu are predicted to be potential FOR electrocatalysts with potential-limiting steps (PDS) of 0.008 and -0.009 eV, respectively. Electronic structure analysis of single-atom catalysts (SACs) shows that single-layer MnO 2 can regulate the spin density of loaded transition metal and thus regulate the adsorption of HCHO ( E ad ), and E ad is volcanically distributed with the magnetic moment descriptor -| m M - m H |. In addition, the formula quantifies E ad and | m M - m H | to construct a volcano-type descriptor α describing the PDS [Δ G (*CHO)]. Other electronic and structural properties of SACs and α are used as input features for the GBR method to construct machine learning models predicting the PDS ( R 2 = 0.97). This study hopes to provide some insights into FOR electrocatalysts.

Ensuring the safety of analgesics during lactation is crucial for women of childbearing potential. Available data regarding the transfer of nalbuphine for postoperative acute pain via breast milk are limited to the postmarketing experience. This lactation study aimed to assess nalbuphine and dinalbuphine sebacate concentrations in breast milk from lactating women with postoperative pain treated with dinalbuphine sebacate extended-release injection (150 mg dinalbuphine sebacate/2 mL Naldebain). Breast milk was collected throughout the 5-day posthospitalization interval from 20 mothers injected with one dose of extended-release dinalbuphine sebacate intramuscularly. Maternal safety was assessed during the study period. Nalbuphine was detectable in 71% of milk samples collected from all mothers, whereas dinalbuphine sebacate was undetectable or below the quantitation limit (0.1 ng/mL). The mean nalbuphine concentration in milk was approximately 10.55 ng/mL, with the peak concentration reaching up to 12.7 ng/mL. The mean relative infant dose was 0.39% (coefficient of variation, 65%). The mean pain intensity at rest was reduced to mild pain from Day 2 morning to discharge. Overall, the maternal safety profile was tolerable. The breast milk of women who receive one dose of dinalbuphine sebacate injection postpartum contains low nalbuphine concentration. In addition, dinalbuphine sebacate injection potentially reduces maternal pain intensity during the first postpartum week and offers low toxicity risk among breastfed infants., (© 2024 American College of Clinical Pharmacology.)

Background: In recent years, the incidence of rectal prolapse has increased significantly due to the sedentary lifestyle and irregular eating habits of modern life. However, there is a lack of clinical studies on the treatment of rectal prolapse with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with a large sample size. Therefore, this study investigated the characteristics of rectal prolapse treatment formulas and then studied the network pharmacology of their core therapeutic drugs, which can help to provide a reference for the treatment and postoperative care of rectal prolapse patients., Objective: This study aimed to explore the prescription characteristics and the mechanism of action of core drugs in the treatment of rectal prolapse in Chinese medicine through data mining and bioinformatics techniques., Methods: We collected the diagnosis and treatment information of patients with rectal prolapse from January 2014 to September 2021 in the electronic case database of Nanjing Hospital of TCM, mined the patient information and prescription features using R, screened the active ingredients of the core pairs of drugs and disease drug intersection targets using TCMSP and GnenCard databases, and constructed a Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network using STRING and Cytoscape, and Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses of the intersecting targets were performed using Metascape and R., Results: We found that prolapse is easy to occur in people over 50 years old, preferably in autumn and winter. Commonly used therapeutic Chinese medicines include Glycyrrhiza glabra, Radix angelicae sinensis, Radix astragali, Atractylodes macrocephala, and Pericarpium citri reticulatae, which are mostly deficiency tonic medicines, warm in nature, and belong to spleen meridian. The core therapeutic medicinal pair was "Bupleuri radix-Cimicifugae rhizoma". There were 190 common targets of Bupleuri radix and Cimicifugae rhizoma, and 71 intersection targets of the drug pair and prolapse. The main components of the core drugs for the treatment of prolapse may be quercetin, kaempferol, Stigmasterol, etc, and the core targets may be CASP3, AKT1, HIF1A, etc. The total number of GO entries for the intersection targets of "Bupleuri radix-Cimicifugae rhizoma" and diseases was 3495, among which the molecular functions accounted for the largest proportion, mainly Pathways in cancer, IL-18 signaling pathway, etc. KEGG enriched pathway analysis yielded 168 results, and the major pathways were pathways in cancer, lipid and atherosclerosis, IL-17 signaling pathway, etc. Conclusion: This study adopted real-world research methodology and used data mining and bioinformatics technology to mine the medication law of rectal prolapse and its core drug action mechanism from the clinical information of Chinese medicine., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: The objective of this research is to investigate the dynamic developmental trends between Age-Friendly Environments (AFE) and healthy aging in the Chinese population., Methods: This study focused on a sample of 11,770 participants from the CHARLS and utilized the ATHLOS Healthy Aging Index to assess the level of healthy aging among the Chinese population. Linear mixed model (LMM) was used to explore the relationship between AFE and healthy aging. Furthermore, a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) and a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) were used to examine the dynamic developmental trends of healthy aging, taking into account both Between-Person effects and Within-Person effects., Results: The results from LMM showed a positive correlation between AFE and healthy aging (β = 0.087, p < 0.001). There was a positive interaction between the geographic distribution and AFE (central region * AFE: β = 0.031, p = 0.038; eastern region * AFE: β = 0.048, p = 0.003). In CLPM and RI-CLPM, the positive effect of healthy aging on AFE is a type of Between-Person effects (β ranges from 0.147 to 0.159, p < 0.001), while the positive effect of AFE on healthy aging is Within-Person effects (β ranges from 0.021 to 0.024, p = 0.004)., Conclusion: Firstly, individuals with high levels of healthy aging are more inclined to actively participate in the development of appropriate AFE compared to those with low levels of healthy aging. Furthermore, by encouraging and guiding individuals to engage in activities that contribute to building appropriate AFE, can elevate their AFE levels beyond the previous average level, thereby improving their future healthy aging levels. Lastly, addressing vulnerable groups by reducing disparities and meeting their health needs effectively is crucial for fostering healthy aging in these populations., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The importance of age on the development of ocular conditions has been reported by numerous studies. Diabetes may have different associations with different stages of ocular conditions, and the duration of diabetes may affect the development of diabetic eye disease. While there is a dose-response relationship between the age at diagnosis of diabetes and the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality, whether the age at diagnosis of diabetes is associated with incident ocular conditions remains to be explored. It is unclear which types of diabetes are more predictive of ocular conditions., Aim: To examine associations between the age of diabetes diagnosis and the incidence of cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and vision acuity., Methods: Our analysis was using the UK Biobank. The cohort included 8709 diabetic participants and 17418 controls for ocular condition analysis, and 6689 diabetic participants and 13378 controls for vision analysis. Ocular diseases were identified using inpatient records until January 2021. Vision acuity was assessed using a chart., Results: During a median follow-up of 11.0 years, 3874, 665, and 616 new cases of cataract, glaucoma, and AMD, respectively, were identified. A stronger association between diabetes and incident ocular conditions was observed where diabetes was diagnosed at a younger age. Individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) diagnosed at < 45 years [HR (95%CI): 2.71 (1.49-4.93)], 45-49 years [2.57 (1.17-5.65)], 50-54 years [1.85 (1.13-3.04)], or 50-59 years of age [1.53 (1.00-2.34)] had a higher risk of AMD independent of glycated haemoglobin. T2D diagnosed < 45 years [HR (95%CI): 2.18 (1.71-2.79)], 45-49 years [1.54 (1.19-2.01)], 50-54 years [1.60 (1.31-1.96)], or 55-59 years of age [1.21 (1.02-1.43)] was associated with an increased cataract risk. T2D diagnosed < 45 years of age only was associated with an increased risk of glaucoma [HR (95%CI): 1.76 (1.00-3.12)]. HRs (95%CIs) for AMD, cataract, and glaucoma associated with type 1 diabetes (T1D) were 4.12 (1.99-8.53), 2.95 (2.17-4.02), and 2.40 (1.09-5.31), respectively. In multivariable-adjusted analysis, individuals with T2D diagnosed < 45 years of age [β 95%CI: 0.025 (0.009,0.040)] had a larger increase in LogMAR. The β (95%CI) for LogMAR associated with T1D was 0.044 (0.014, 0.073)., Conclusion: The younger age at the diagnosis of diabetes is associated with a larger relative risk of incident ocular diseases and greater vision loss., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Ischemic ulcers pose a multifaceted clinical dilemma for patients with atherosclerosis, frequently compounded by suboptimal wound healing mechanisms. The dual function of Transforming Growth Factor Beta 3 (TGF-β3) in ischemic ulcer healing is not fully comprehended, despite its involvement in modulating inflammatory responses and tissue regeneration. The main aim of this investigation was to clarify the functions and mechanisms by which TGF-β3 regulates inflammatory responses and promotes wound healing in patients with ischemic ulcers who have atherosclerosis. Between August 2022 and November 2023, this cross-sectional investigation was conducted on 428 patients diagnosed with atherosclerotic ischemic ulcers in Haikou, China. The expression and function of TGF-β3 were examined throughout the different stages of wound healing, including inflammation, proliferation and remodelling. In addition to documenting patient demographics and ulcer characteristics, an analysis was conducted on biopsy samples to determine the expression of TGF-β3, pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory markers. A subset of patients were administered topical TGF-β3 in order to evaluate its therapeutic effects. The expression pattern of TGF-β3 was found to be stage-dependent and significant, exhibiting increased levels during the phase of inflammation and reduced activity in subsequent phases. TGF-β3 levels were found to be greater in ulcers that were larger and deeper, especially in inflammatory phase. TGF-β3 applied topically induced discernible enhancement in ulcer healing parameters, such as reduction in ulcer depth and size. The therapeutic significance of TGF-β3 was emphasised due to its twofold function of regulating the inflammatory environment and facilitating the regeneration of damaged tissues. Ischemic ulcer lesion healing is significantly influenced by TGF-β3, which functions as an anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory mediator. Its correlation with ulcer characteristics and stages of healing suggests that it may have utility as a targeted therapeutic agent., (© 2024 The Authors. International Wound Journal published by Medicalhelplines.com Inc and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Bacteria contribute to many physiological functions of coral holobionts, including responses to bleaching. The bacterial genus, Endozoicomonas , dominates the microbial flora of many coral species and its abundance appears to be correlated with coral bleaching. However, evidences for decoupling of bleaching and Endozoicomonas abundance changes have also been reported. In 2020, a severe bleaching event was recorded at reefs in Taiwan, providing a unique opportunity to re-examine bleaching- Endozoicomonas association using multiple stony corals in natural environments. In this study, we monitored tissue color and microbiome changes in three coral species ( Montipora sp., Porites sp., and Stylophora pistillata ) in Kenting National Park, following the bleaching event. All tagged Montipora sp. and Porites sp. recovered from bleaching within 1 year, while high mortality occurred in S. pistillata . Microbiome analysis found no correlation of Endozoicomonas relative abundance and bleaching severity during the sampling period, but found a stronger correlation when the month in which bleaching occurred was excluded. Moreover, Endozoicomonas abundance increased during recovery months in Montipora sp. and Porites sp., whereas in S. pistillata it was nearly depleted. These results suggest that Endozoicomonas abundance may represent a gauge of coral health and reflect recovery of some corals from stress. Interestingly, even though different Endozoicomonas strains predominated in the three corals, these Endozoicomonas strains were also shared among coral taxa. Meanwhile, several Endozoicomonas strains showed secondary emergence during coral recovery, suggesting possible symbiont switching in Endozoicomonas. These findings indicate that it may be possible to introduce Endozoicomonas to non-native coral hosts as a coral probiotic., Competing Interests: On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there are no conflicts of interest., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Microbial Ecology.)

Previous studies have demonstrated the influence of external factors (environmental factors and the coral host factors) on the community structure of coral-associated bacteria. However, the internal factors, e.g. the interaction within the bacterial community or bacteria itself, have often been overlooked in studies of the coral microbiome. Hence, we performed a reciprocal transplant of corals between two different climate zones to examine the resultant alterations in coral-associated bacterial communities. The findings highlight the significance of environmental factors, host selection, and highly resilient bacteria in shaping the coral microbial composition. The results support that coral species consistently harbor specific predominant bacterial groups influenced by host selection, while locations display unique bacterial taxa due to environmental variations. The transplantation of corals into new environments leads to a gradual shift in the bacterial community, from initially resembling that of the native location to eventually resembling that of the transplanted location, emphasizing the crucial role of bacterial community composition for coral survival under changing ambient conditions. Furthermore, highly resilient bacteria that persisted throughout the reciprocal transplant experiment demonstrated their adaptability to environmental and host changes, suggesting the presence of robust adaptation or resistance mechanisms in bacterial communities. Genetic adaptations within the prevalent bacterial group, Endozoicomonas, were also observed, suggesting variations in resilience and adaptation capabilities among different phylotypes. This study highlights the need to conduct further investigations into the coral-associated bacteria themselves, as they may hold some key insights into understanding the dynamics of coral-associated microbial communities. These data also highlight some key species of coral-associated bacteria which could benefit coral in response to alterations in ambient environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Febuxostat and benzbromarone are two common drugs for the treatment of gout, but the clinical efficacy of these two drugs is controversial. This meta-analysis aimed to compare the efficacy of febuxostat and benzbromarone in the treatment of gout., Materials and Methods: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for articles related to febuxostat and benzbromarone in the treatment of gout from inception to January 7, 2023. Titles and abstracts were reviewed in accordance with predesigned inclusion and exclusion criteria, and data were extracted independently. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to evaluate the quality of the studies, and the continuous variables were expressed as the standard mean square error (SMD) by STATA 16 (Stata Corp., College Station, TX, USA). The sensitivity analysis was conducted by randomly removing a study, and the heterogeneity was analyzed by funnel plots and Egger's test., Results: According to the search strategy, a total of 1,043 publications were retrieved from the three aforementioned databases, of which 45 publications were excluded due to duplication. Fourteen studies remained after screening titles and abstracts, and a total of 7 studies met the inclusion criteria after a comprehensive evaluation of the 14 studies. Meta-analysis showed that the uric acid (UA)-reducing effect of febuxostat is better than that of benzbromarone, while febuxostat showed a better ability to improve the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and reduce Cr and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). In terms of hepatotoxicity, benzbromarone was not as potent as febuxostat in increasing alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), suggesting that benzbromarone has less hepatotoxicity. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the effect on blood lipid levels between the two drugs., Conclusions: The beneficial effect of febuxostat on renal function-related indexes such as the eGFR, Cr and BUN is significant, while benzbromarone is more effective in reducing UA and has relatively less hepatotoxicity. The specific efficacy of the two drugs needs to be confirmed by further research.

Endozoicomonas are often predominant bacteria and prominently important in coral health. Their role in dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) degradation has been a subject of discussion for over a decade. A previous study found that Endozoicomonas degraded DMSP through the dddD pathway. This process releases dimethyl sulfide, which is vital for corals coping with thermal stress. However, little is known about the related gene regulation and metabolic abilities of DMSP metabolism in Endozoicomonadaceae . In this study, we isolated a novel Endozoicomonas DMSP degrader and observed a distinct DMSP metabolic trend in two phylogenetically close dddD -harboring Endozoicomonas species, confirmed genetically by comparative transcriptomic profiling and visualization of the change of DMSP stable isotopes in bacterial cells using nanoscale secondary ion spectrometry. Furthermore, we found that DMSP cleavage enzymes are ubiquitous in coral Endozoicomonas with a preference for having DddD lyase. We speculate that harboring DMSP degrading genes enables Endozoicomonas to successfully colonize various coral species across the globe.

Background: This nationwide prospective registry study investigated the real-world effectiveness, safety, and persistence of vedolizumab (VDZ) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients in Taiwan. Disease relapse rates after VDZ discontinuation due to reimbursement restriction were assessed., Methods: Data were collected prospectively (January 2018 to May 2020) from the Taiwan Society of IBD registry., Results: Overall, 274 patients (147 ulcerative colitis [UC] patients, 127 Crohn's disease [CD] patients) were included. Among them, 70.7% with UC and 50.4% with CD were biologic-naïve. At 1 year, 76.0%, 58.0%, 35.0%, and 62.2% of UC patients and 57.1%, 71.4%, 33.3%, and 30.0% of CD patients achieved clinical response, clinical remission, steroid-free remission, and mucosal healing, respectively. All patients underwent hepatitis B and tuberculosis screening before initiating biologics, and prophylaxis was recommended when necessary. One hepatitis B carrier, without antiviral prophylaxis due to economic barriers, had hepatitis B reactivation during steroid tapering and increasing azathioprine dosage, which was controlled with an antiviral agent. No tuberculosis reactivation was noted. At 12 months, non-reimbursement-related treatment persistence rates were 94.0% and 82.5% in UC and CD patients, respectively. Moreover, 75.3% of IBD patients discontinued VDZ due to mandatory drug holiday. Relapse rates after VDZ discontinuation at 6 and 12 months were 36.7% and 64.3% in CD patients and 42.9% and 52.4% in UC patients, respectively., Conclusions: The findings demonstrated VDZ effectiveness in IBD patients in Taiwan, with high treatment persistence rates and favorable safety profiles. A substantial IBD relapse rate was observed in patients who had mandatory drug holiday., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Two Ag(I) complexes containing triphenylphosphine and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ligands were synthesized and investigated using various spectroscopic studies and single crystal X-ray crystallography. The binding properties of tolfenamic acid, ibuprofen and the two complexes with DNA and BSA were investigated using UV or fluorescence spectroscopy. The results showed that two Ag(I) complexes bound to DNA by the intercalation mode and interacted with BSA using a static quenching procedure. Furthermore, the results of fluorescence titration suggested that the complexes had good affinity for BSA and one binding site close to BSA. The in vitro cytotoxicity of tolfenamic acid, ibuprofen, and the two complexes against four human carcinoma cell lines (MCF-7, HepG-2, A549, and HeLa cells) was tested using an MTT assay. Complex 1 had higher cytotoxicity against HeLa cells. The intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay showed complex 1 induced the ROS generation in HeLa cells in a concentration dependent manner. Flow cytometry analysis showed complex 1 could suppress the HeLa cells growth during the G0/G1 phase and induce apoptosis in dose-depended manner., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Color vision is mediated by the expression of different major visual pigment proteins (opsins) on retinal photoreceptors. Vertebrates have four classes of cone opsins that are most sensitive to different wavelengths of light: short wavelength sensitive 1 (SWS1), short wavelength sensitive 2 (SWS2), medium wavelength sensitive (RH2), and long wavelength sensitive (LWS). UV wavelengths play important roles in foraging and communication. However, direct evidence provide links between sws1 and first feeding is lacking. Here, CRISPR/Cas9 technology was performed to generate mutant zebrafish lines with sws1 deletion. sws1 mutant zebrafish larvae exhibited decreased sws1, rh2-2, and lws1 expression, and increased rod gene (rho and gnat1) expression. Furthermore, the sws1-deficient larvae exhibited significantly reduced food intake, and the orexigenic genes npy and agrp signaling were upregulated at 6 days postfertilization (dpf). The transcription expression of sws1 and rh2-3 genes decreased in sws1 -/- adults compared to wild type. Surprisingly, the results of feeding at the adult stage were not the same with larvae. sws1 deficiency did not affect food intake and appetite gene expression at adult stages. These results reveal a role for sws1 in normal cone development and first feeding in larval zebrafish., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Polyp bail-out constitutes both a stress response and an asexual reproductive strategy that potentially facilitates dispersal of some scleractinian corals, including several dominant reef-building taxa in the family Pocilloporidae. Recent studies have proposed that microorganisms may be involved in onset and progression of polyp bail-out. However, changes in the coral microbiome during polyp bail-out have not been investigated. In this study, we induced polyp bail-out in Pocillopora corals using hypersaline and hyperthermal methods. Bacterial community dynamics during bail-out induction were examined using the V5-V6 region of the 16S-rRNA gene. From 70 16S-rRNA gene libraries constructed from coral tissues, 1,980 OTUs were identified. Gammaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria consistently constituted the dominant bacterial taxa in all coral tissue samples. Onset of polyp bail-out was characterized by increased relative abundance of Alphaproteobacteria and decreased abundance of Gammaproteobacteria in both induction experiments, with the shift being more prominent in response to elevated temperature than to elevated salinity. Four OTUs, affiliated with Thalassospira , Marisediminitalea , Rhodobacteraceae , and Myxococcales , showed concurrent abundance increases at the onset of polyp bail-out in both experiments, suggesting potential microbial causes of this coral stress response. IMPORTANCE Polyp bail-out represents both a stress response and an asexual reproductive strategy with significant implications for reshaping tropical coral reefs in response to global climate change. Although earlier studies have suggested that coral-associated microbiomes likely contribute to initiation of polyp bail-out in scleractinian corals, there have been no studies of coral microbiome shifts during polyp bail-out. In this study, we present the first investigation of changes in bacterial symbionts during two experiments in which polyp bail-out was induced by different environmental stressors. These results provide a background of coral microbiome dynamics during polyp bail-out development. Increases in abundance of Thalassospira , Marisediminitalea , Rhodobacteraceae , and Myxococcales that occurred in both experiments suggest that these bacteria are potential microbial causes of polyp bail-out, shedding light on the proximal triggering mechanism of this coral stress response., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

In recent years, several types of platelet concentrates have been investigated and applied in many fields, particularly in the musculoskeletal system. Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) is an autologous biomaterial, a second-generation platelet concentrate containing platelets and growth factors in the form of fibrin membranes prepared from the blood of patients without additives. During tissue regeneration, platelet concentrates contain a higher percentage of leukocytes and a flexible fibrin net as a scaffold to improve cell migration in angiogenic, osteogenic, and antibacterial capacities during tissue regeneration. PRF enables the release of molecules over a longer period, which promotes tissue healing and regeneration. The potential of PRF to simulate the physiology and immunology of wound healing is also due to the high concentrations of released growth factors and anti-inflammatory cytokines that stimulate vessel formation, cell proliferation, and differentiation. These products have been used safely in clinical applications because of their autologous origin and minimally invasive nature. We focused on a narrative review of PRF therapy and its effects on musculoskeletal, oral, and maxillofacial surgeries and dermatology. We explored the components leading to the biological activity and the published preclinical and clinical research that supports its application in musculoskeletal therapy. The research generally supports the use of PRF as an adjuvant for various chronic muscle, cartilage, and tendon injuries. Further clinical trials are needed to prove the benefits of utilizing the potential of PRF.

Atherosclerosis is the major pathophysiological basis of a variety of cardiovascular diseases and has been recognized as a lipid-driven chronic inflammatory disease. Gelsolin (GSN) is a member of the GSN family. The main function of GSN is to cut and seal actin filaments to regulate the cytoskeleton and participate in a variety of biological functions, such as cell movement, morphological changes, metabolism, apoptosis and phagocytosis. Recently, more and more evidences have demonstrated that GSN is Closely related to atherosclerosis, involving lipid metabolism, inflammation, cell proliferation, migration and thrombosis. This article reviews the role of GSN in atherosclerosis from inflammation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and thrombosis., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is a very large dsDNA virus. The accepted shape of the WSSV virion has been as ellipsoidal, with a tail-like extension. However, due to the scarcity of reliable references, the pathogenesis and morphogenesis of WSSV are not well understood. Here, we used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) to address some knowledge gaps. We concluded that mature WSSV virions with a stout oval-like shape do not have tail-like extensions. Furthermore, there were two distinct ends in WSSV nucleocapsids: a portal cap and a closed base. A C14 symmetric structure of the WSSV nucleocapsid was also proposed, according to our Cryo-EM map. Immunoelectron microscopy (IEM) revealed that VP664 proteins, the main components of the 14 assembly units, form a ring-like architecture. Moreover, WSSV nucleocapsids were also observed to undergo unique helical dissociation. Based on these new results, we propose a novel morphogenetic pathway of WSSV.

A fractional factorial design was used to investigate the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of oligosaccharides from coconut husk, an agroindustry by-product. The effects of five key influencing parameters ( X 1 , incubation temperature; X 2 , extraction duration; X 3 , ultrasonicator power; X 4 , NaOH concentration; X 5 , solid-to-liquid ratio) were studied. Total carbohydrate content (TC), total reducing sugar (TRS), and degree of polymerisation (DP) were the dependent variables. The optimal extraction condition was attained when oligosaccharides with a desired DP of 3.72 were extracted when the coconut husk in a liquid-to-solid ratio of 127 mL/g was treated with 1.05 percent (w/v) of NaOH solution at an incubation temperature of 30.4°C for 5 min using an ultrasonicator power of 248 W. The optimised parameters for oligosaccharide extraction from coconut husk reported in this study could be useful for the effective isolation of these compounds for prebiotic research., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Shie-Lih Tang et al.)

Black band disease (BBD) in corals is characterized by a distinctive, band-like microbial mat, which spreads across the tissues and often kills infected colonies. The microbial mat is dominated by cyanobacteria but also commonly contains sulfide-oxidizing bacteria (SOB), sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), and other microbes. The migration rate in BBD varies across different environmental conditions, including temperature, light, and pH. However, whether variations in the migration rates reflect differences in the microbial consortium within the BBD mat remains unknown. Here, we show that the micro-scale surface structure, bacterial composition, and spatial distribution differed across BBD lesions with different migration rates. The migration rate was positively correlated with the relative abundance of potential SOBs belonging to Arcobacteraceae localized in the middle layer within the mat and negatively correlated with the relative abundance of other potential SOBs belonging to Rhodobacteraceae. Our study highlights the microbial composition in BBD as an important determinant of virulence., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Endozoicomonas euniceicola EF212 T and Endozoicomonas gorgoniicola PS125 T were isolated from soft corals (Eunicea fusca and Plexaura sp., respectively) and sequenced using a PacBio Sequel IIe sequencer. This is the first report of the genome sequences of culturable octocoral-isolated Endozoicomonas strains.

The shallow-water hydrothermal vent system of Kueishan Island has been described as one of the world's most acidic and sulfide-rich marine habitats. The only recorded metazoan species living in the direct vicinity of the vents is Xenograpsus testudinatus, a brachyuran crab endemic to marine sulfide-rich vent systems. Despite the toxicity of hydrogen sulfide, X. testudinatus occupies an ecological niche in a sulfide-rich habitat, with the underlying detoxification mechanism remaining unknown. Using laboratory and field-based experiments, we characterized the gills of X. testudinatus that are the major site of sulfide detoxification. Here sulfide is oxidized to thiosulfate or bound to hypotaurine to generate the less toxic thiotaurine. Biochemical and molecular analyses demonstrated that the accumulation of thiosulfate and hypotaurine is mediated by the sodium-independent sulfate anion transporter (SLC26A11) and taurine transporter (Taut), which are expressed in gill epithelia. Histological and metagenomic analyses of gill tissues demonstrated a distinct bacterial signature dominated by Epsilonproteobacteria . Our results suggest that thiotaurine synthesized in gills is used by sulfide-oxidizing endo-symbiotic bacteria, creating an effective sulfide-buffering system. This work identified physiological mechanisms involving host-microbe interactions that support life of a metazoan in one of the most extreme environments on our planet.

The Taitung region is one of Taiwan's main sites for ginger agriculture. Due to issues with disease and nutrients, farmers cannot use continuous cropping techniques on ginger, meaning that the ginger industry is constantly searching for new land. Continuous cropping increases the risk of infection by Pythium myriotylum and Ralstonia solanacearum, which cause soft rot disease and bacterial wilt, respectively. In addition, fertilizer additives, which are commonly used to increase trace elements in the soil, cannot restore the soil when it is undergoing continuous cropping on ginger, even when there has been no observable decrease in trace elements in the soil. Recent studies about soil microbiome manipulation and the application of microorganisms have shown that plant-associated microbes have the ability to improve plant growth and facilitate sustainable agriculture, but studies of this kind still need to be carried out on ginger cultivation. Therefore, in this study, we used the bacterial 16S V3-V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA region to investigate microbe compositions in ginger soil to identify the difference between ginger soil with and without disease. Later, to investigate the influence of the well-known biocontrol agent B. velezensis and the fungicide Etridiazole on soil microbes and ginger productivity, we designed an experiment that collected the soil samples according to the different periods of ginger cultivation to examine the microbial community dynamics in the rhizome and bulk soil. We demonstrated that B . velezensis is beneficial to ginger reproduction. In accordance with our results, we suggest that B. velezensis may influence the plant's growth by adjusting its soil microbial composition. Etridiazole, on the other hand, may have some side effects on the ginger or beneficial bacteria in the soils that inhibit ginger reproduction. IMPORTANCE Pythium myriotylum and Ralstonia solanacearum cause soft rot disease and bacterial wilt, respectively. In this study, we used the bacterial 16S V3-V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA region to investigate microbe compositions in healthy and diseased ginger soil and find out the influence of the well-known biocontrol agent B. velezensis and the fungicide Etridiazole on soil microbes and ginger productivity. These results demonstrated that B . velezensis benefits ginger reproduction and may influence the soil bacterial composition, while Etridiazole may have some side effects on the ginger or beneficial bacteria in the soils. The interactions among ginger, biocontrol agents, and fungicides need to be further investigated.

Background: The Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) comprises fungal pathogens responsible for mortality in a diverse range of animals and plants, but their genome diversity and transcriptome responses in animal pathogenicity remain to be elucidated. We sequenced, assembled and annotated six chromosome-level FSSC clade 3 genomes of aquatic animal and plant host origins. We established a pathosystem and investigated the expression data of F. falciforme and F. keratoplasticum in Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) host., Results: Comparative analyses between the FSSC genomes revealed a spectrum of conservation patterns in chromosomes categorised into three compartments: core, fast-core (FC), and lineage-specific (LS). LS chromosomes contribute to variations in genomes size, with up to 42.2% of variations between F. vanettenii strains. Each chromosome compartment varied in structural architectures, with FC and LS chromosomes contain higher proportions of repetitive elements with genes enriched in functions related to pathogenicity and niche expansion. We identified differences in both selection in the coding sequences and DNA methylation levels between genome features and chromosome compartments which suggest a multi-speed evolution that can be traced back to the last common ancestor of Fusarium. We further demonstrated that F. falciforme and F. keratoplasticum are opportunistic pathogens by inoculating P. sinensis eggs and identified differentially expressed genes also associated with plant pathogenicity. These included the most upregulated genes encoding the CFEM (Common in Fungal Extracellular Membrane) domain., Conclusions: The high-quality genome assemblies provided new insights into the evolution of FSSC chromosomes, which also serve as a resource for studies of fungal genome evolution and pathogenesis. This study also establishes an animal model for fungal pathogens of trans-kingdom hosts., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Currently, cancer theranostic studies have only focused on integrating existing medical imaging techniques with therapeutic modalities. Obviously, this strategy is not a real theranostic method, as diagnosis and therapy are based on different principles and require independent operation. Here, a cancer theranostic method was established by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)-mediated synergistic photothermal/photodynamic therapy, which was activated by a single 1064-nm light for simultaneous tumor localization and treatment. PEGylated cobalt phosphate (CoP@PEG) nanoparticles (NPs) with strong near-infrared (NIR)-II absorbance, high photothermal conversion efficiency and a reactive oxygen species generation effect were fabricated, and they produced excellent antitumor outcomes under 1064-nm excitation, as evidenced by the substantial increase in HepG2 cell death in vitro and complete tumor elimination in vivo. Meanwhile, the diagnostic method of the LIBS imaging system used in the present study also uses 1064-nm light. The LIBS imaging system can provide fast, real-time analysis and imaging of elements and facilitate the localization of the tumor site by monitoring the distribution of CoP@PEG NPs for precise tumor treatment. We postulate that this theranostic platform will promote the development of further theranostic research., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The pet trade and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) consumption are major drivers of global biodiversity loss. Tokay geckos ( Gekko gecko ) are among the most traded reptile species worldwide. In Hong Kong, pet and TCM markets sell tokay geckos while wild populations also persist. To clarify connections between trade sources and destinations, we compared genetics and stable isotopes of wild tokays in local and non-local populations to dried individuals from TCM markets across Hong Kong. We found that TCM tokays are likely not of local origin. Most wild tokays were related to individuals in South China, indicating a probable natural origin. However, two populations contained individuals more similar to distant populations, indicating pet trade origins. Our results highlight the complexity of wildlife trade impacts within trade hubs. Such trade dynamics complicate local legal regulation when endangered species are protected, but the same species might also be non-native and possibly damaging to the environment.

Background: We aimed to explore the association between long-term exposure to particulate matter ≤ 2.5 µm (PM 2.5 ) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components including fasting blood glucose (FBG), blood pressure, triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and waist circumference among adults and elderly in south China., Methods: We surveyed 6628 participants in the chronic disease and risk factors surveillance conducted in 14 districts of Guangdong province in 2015. MetS was defined based on the recommendation by the Joint Interim Societies' criteria. We used the spatiotemporal land-use regression (LUR) model to estimate the two-year average exposure of ambient air pollutants (PM 2.5 , PM 10 , SO 2 , NO 2 , and O 3 ) at individual levels. We recorded other covariates by using a structured questionnaire. Generalized linear mixed model was used for analysis., Results: A 10-μg/m 3 increase in the two-year mean PM 2.5 exposure was associated with a higher risk of developing MetS [odd ratio (OR): 1.17, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01, 1.35], increased risk of fasting blood glucose level. (OR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.36), and hypertriglyceridemia (OR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.18, 1.58) in the adjusted/unadjusted models (all P < 0.05). We found significant interaction between PM 2.5 and the region, exercise on the high TG levels, and an interaction with the region, age, exercise and grain consumption on FBG (P interaction  < 0.05)., Conclusions: Long-term exposure to PM 2.5 was associated with MetS, dyslipidemia and FBG impairment. Efforts should be made for environment improvement to reduce the burden of MetS-associated non-communicable disease., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Bacteria in the coral microbiome play a crucial role in determining coral health and fitness, and the coral host often restructures its microbiome composition in response to external factors. An important but often neglected factor determining this microbiome restructuring is the ability of microbiome members to respond to changes in the environment. To address this issue, we examined how the microbiome structure of Acropora muricata corals changed over 9 months following a reciprocal transplant experiment. Using a combination of metabarcoding, genomics, and comparative genomics approaches, we found that coral colonies separated by a small distance harbored different dominant Endozoicomonas -related phylotypes belonging to two different species, including a novel species, " Candidatus Endozoicomonas penghunesis" 4G, whose chromosome-level (complete) genome was also sequenced in this study. Furthermore, the two dominant Endozoicomonas species had different potentials to scavenge reactive oxygen species, suggesting potential differences in responding to the environment. Differential capabilities of dominant members of the microbiome to respond to environmental change can (i) provide distinct advantages or disadvantages to coral hosts when subjected to changing environmental conditions and (ii) have positive or negative implications for future reefs. IMPORTANCE The coral microbiome has been known to play a crucial role in host health. In recent years, we have known that the coral microbiome changes in response to external stressors and that coral hosts structure their microbiome in a host-specific manner. However, an important internal factor, the ability of microbiome members to respond to change, has been often neglected. In this study, we combine metabarcoding, culturing, and genomics to delineate the differential ability of two dominant Endozoicomonas species, including a novel " Ca. Endozoicomonas penghunesis" 4G, to respond to change in the environment following a reciprocal transplant experiment.

Vertebrates need suitable lipases to digest lipids for the requirement of energy and essential nutrients; however, the main digestive lipase genes of fishes have certain controversies. In this study, two types of digestive lipase genes (pancreatic lipase ( pl ) and bile salt-activated lipase ( bsal )) were identified in mammals and fishes. The neighborhood genes and key active sites of the two lipase genes were conserved in mammals and fishes. Three copies of PL genes were found in mammals, but only one copy of the pl gene was found in most of the fish species, and the pl gene was even completely absent in some fish species (e.g., zebrafish, medaka, and common carp). Additionally, the hydrophobic amino acid residues (Ile and Leu) which are important to pancreatic lipase activity were also absent in most of the fish species. The PL was the main digestive lipase gene in mammals, but the pl gene seemed not to be the main digestive lipase gene in fish due to the absence of the pl gene sequence and the important amino acid residues. In contrast, the bsal gene existed in all fish species, even two to five copies of bsal genes were found in most of the fishes, but only one copy of the BSAL gene was found in mammals. The amino acid residues of bile salt-binding sites and the three-dimensional (3D) structure modeling of Bsal proteins were conserved in most of the fish species, so bsal might be the main digestive lipase gene in fish. The phylogenetic analysis also indicated that pl or bsal showed an independent evolution between mammals and fishes. Therefore, we inferred that the evolutionary selection of the main digestive lipase genes diverged into two types between mammals and fishes. These findings will provide valuable evidence for the study of lipid digestion in fish., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Tang, Liang, He, Li, Alam and Wu.)

One of the most important advancements in harnessing the biological nitrification in the field is enrichment solution of nitrifying microbial consortia. In the current study, we developed an improved multi-step enrichment to amplify a targeted microbial consortium from a sediment sample collected in tropical mangrove, Vietnam. The results showed that it took 122 culturing days with five unique continuous enrichment steps, the microbial consortium consumed total 5665 mgN L -1 . Relative substrate removal rate increased rapidly from 0.114 mgN L -1  h -1 at the end of the first-step enrichment up to 3.58 mgN L -1  h -1 at the end of the fifth-step enrichment. High-throughput sequencing revealed that Nitrospirae, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the dominant taxa at the phylum level while Nitrospira, Marinobacter, Denitromonas and Nitrosomonas were the dominant taxa at the genus level in the enriched consortia. A pilot-scale experiment for shrimp cultivation of L. vannamei in 84 day-period proved the efficiency of Total ammonium nitrogen and nitrite removal in the consortium-activated treatment was much higher than the control., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Bacteria commonly form aggregates in a range of coral species [termed coral-associated microbial aggregates (CAMAs)], although these structures remain poorly characterized despite extensive efforts studying the coral microbiome. Here, we comprehensively characterize CAMAs associated with Stylophora pistillata and quantify their cell abundance. Our analysis reveals that multiple Endozoicomonas phylotypes coexist inside a single CAMA. Nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging revealed that the Endozoicomonas cells were enriched with phosphorus, with the elemental compositions of CAMAs different from coral tissues and endosymbiotic Symbiodiniaceae, highlighting a role in sequestering and cycling phosphate between coral holobiont partners. Consensus metagenome-assembled genomes of the two dominant Endozoicomonas phylotypes confirmed their metabolic potential for polyphosphate accumulation along with genomic signatures including type VI secretion systems allowing host association. Our findings provide unprecedented insights into Endozoicomonas -dominated CAMAs and the first direct physiological and genomic linked evidence of their biological role in the coral holobiont.

Objectives: This study aimed to develop and assess the effectiveness of an encounter decision aid for Malaysian patients with MDD to support treatment decision-making during the consultation., Methods: The decision aid prototype was developed following a literature review and six focus groups. Alpha testing assessed its comprehensibility, acceptability, usability and desirability through user-centered cognitive interviews. Beta-testing evaluated preliminary evidence on its efficacy using the SDM Scale and PDMS. Feasibility was assessed by timing the consultation., Results: The alpha testing demonstrated that the decision aid was patient-oriented, comprehensible, comprehensive, concise and objective with an appealing design. Beta-testing indicated that PtDA significantly increased patients satisfaction with SDM from patients' [83.32 (13.92) vs 85.76 (13.80); p < 0.05] and physicians' [81.07 (10.09) vs 86.36 (10.10); p < 0.05] perspectives and prepared the patients for decision making from the patients' [PDMS patients: 84.10 (12.69)] and physicians' [PDMS physicians: 83.78 (16.62)] perspectives as well. There was no change in the consultation time between the control and the intervention groups., Conclusions: We developed an antidepressant PtDA for Malaysian patients with MDD that increases patients' involvement in shared decision making and enhances their preparedness for decision making., Practice Implications: Using the PtDA can support collaborative decision-making in routine clinical practice without extending the consultation time., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Methane-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs) play an ecological role in methane and nitrogen fluxes because they are capable of nitrogen fixation and methane oxidation, as indicated by genomic and cultivation-dependent studies. However, the chemical relationships between methanotrophy and diazotrophy and aerobic and anaerobic reactions, respectively, in methanotrophs remain unclear. No study has demonstrated the cooccurrence of both bioactivities in a single methanotroph bacterium in its natural environment. Here, we demonstrate that both bioactivities in type II methanotrophs occur at the single-cell level in the root tissues of paddy rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Nipponbare). We first verified that difluoromethane, an inhibitor of methane monooxygenase, affected methane oxidation in rice roots. The results indicated that methane assimilation in the roots mostly occurred due to oxygen-dependent processes. Moreover, the results indicated that methane oxidation-dependent and methane oxidation-independent nitrogen fixation concurrently occurred in bulk root tissues. Subsequently, we performed fluorescence in situ hybridization and NanoSIMS analyses, which revealed that single cells of type II methanotrophs (involving six amplicon sequence variants) in paddy rice roots simultaneously and logarithmically fixed stable isotope gases 15 N 2 and 13 CH 4 during incubation periods of 0, 23, and 42 h, providing in vivo functional evidence of nitrogen fixation in methanotrophic cells. Furthermore, 15 N enrichment in type II methanotrophs at 42 h varied among cells with an increase in 13 C accumulation, suggesting that either the release of fixed nitrogen into root systems or methanotroph metabolic specialization is dependent on different microenvironmental niches in the root. IMPORTANCE Atmospheric methane concentrations have been continually increasing, causing methane to become a considerable environmental concern. Methanotrophy may be the key to regulating methane fluxes. Although research suggests that type II methanotrophs are involved in methane oxidation aerobically and nitrogen fixation anaerobically, direct evidence of simultaneous aerobic and anaerobic bioreactions of methanotrophs in situ is still lacking. In this study, a single-cell isotope analysis was performed to demonstrate these in vivo parallel functions of type II methanotrophs in the root tissues of paddy rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Nipponbare). The results of this study indicated that methanotrophs might provide fixed nitrogen to root systems or depend on cells present in the spatially localized niche of the root tissue. Furthermore, our results suggested that single type II methanotrophic cells performed simultaneous methane oxidation and nitrogen fixation in vivo . Under natural conditions, however, nitrogen accumulation varied at the single-cell level.

The first occurrence of the cyanobacteriosponge Terpios hoshinota was reported from coral reefs in Guam in 1973, but was only formally described in 1993. Since then, the invasive behavior of this encrusting, coral-killing sponge has been observed in many coral reefs in the West Pacific. From 2015, its occurrence has expanded westward to the Indian Ocean. Although many studies have investigated the morphology, ecology, and symbiotic cyanobacteria of this sponge, little is known of its population genetics and demography. In this study, a mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) fragment and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) were sequenced to reveal the genetic variation of T. hoshinota collected from 11 marine ecoregions throughout the Indo-West Pacific. Both of the statistical parsimony networks based on the COI and nuclear ITS2 were dominated by a common haplotype. Pairwise F ST and Isolation-by-distance by Mantel test of ITS2 showed moderate gene flow existed among most populations in the marine ecoregions of West Pacific, Coral Triangle, and Eastern Indian Ocean, but with a restricted gene flow between these regions and Maldives in the Central Indian Ocean. Demographic analyses of most T. hoshinota populations were consistent with the mutation-drift equilibrium, except for the Sulawesi Sea and Maldives, which showed bottlenecks following recent expansion. Our results suggest that while long-range dispersal might explain the capability of T. hoshinota to spread in the IWP, stable population demography might account for the long-term persistence of T. hoshinota outbreaks on local reefs., Competing Interests: James Reimer is an Academic Editor for PeerJ. Hock Chark Liew is employed by Alchemy Laboratory & Services., (©2022 Chow et al.)

Vision is important for fish to forage food and fishes express opsin genes to receive visual signals. Chinese perch (Siniperca chuatsi) larvae prey on other fish species larvae at firstfeeding but donoteat any zooplankton, the expression of opsin genes in S. chuatsilarvae is unknown. In this study, we conducted a whole-genome analysis and demonstrated that S. chuatsihave5cone opsin genes (sws1, sws2Aα, sws2Aβ, rh2and lws)and 2 rod opsin genes (rh1and rh1-exorh). The syntenicanalysisshowedthe flanking genes ofall opsin genes were conserved during fish evolution, but the ancestorof S. chuatsimightlost some opsin gene copies duringtheevolution.The phylogeneticanalysisshowed sws1of S. chuatsiwas closest to those of Lates calcariferwhich had a truncated sws1gene; the sws2Aα, sws2Aβ,lws,rh2,rh1 andrh1-exorh of S. chuatsihad a closer relationship with those of Percomorpha fishes.Importantly, results of in situhybridization showed the sws1 opsingene,which is related to forage zooplankton,had extremely low levelexpression in retinaat early stages.Surprisingly, the rh2 opsin gene had a high level expression at firstfeeding stage. The sws2Aα, sws2Aβand lwshad a little expression at early stages but the lwsshowed a increasing trend with larval development, rh1 opsin gene expression appeared at15 dph. In thisstudy, we found a specialpattern of visual opsin genes expression in S. chuatsi, it might influence the larval first feeding and feeding habit., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To analyse the patterns of transition of health burden for 110 causes of death by stratification of age, sex and geographic regions in Guangdong between 2005 and 2015., Methods: We analysed the age-specific, sex-specific, region-specific mortality in Guangdong based on assembled databases. County-level surveillance data were calculated to inform city-level changes., Results: The age-standardised mortality of all causes, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), communicable diseases, maternal diseases, neonatal diseases, malnutrition and injury declined progressively. Despite declining mortality of NCDs, the overall burden of disease was dominated by NCDs (ie, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) that still accounted for 86.93% and 88.12% of death in 2005 and 2015, respectively. Considerable variations across geographic regions were observed (lowest in Pearl River Delta and highest in west Guangdong). There was a modest shift to transport injuries at younger ages and unintentional injuries in the elderly., Conclusions: We have documented a dramatic change in the overall mortality and age-specific, sex-specific and cause-specific mortality in Guangdong province between 2005 and 2015. The significant burden of NCDs remains a major healthcare issue despite the notable progress in reducing mortality in Guangdong, China. Our findings highlight important unmet needs to refine healthcare services by taking into account the inequity of age, sex and geographic regions. Identification of the 'treatable' risk factors and improved disease surveillance should be continuously improved to minimised the overall and cause-specific mortality., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Terpios hoshinota is an aggressive, space-competing sponge that kills various stony corals. Outbreaks of this species have led to intense damage to coral reefs in many locations. Here, the first large-scale 16S rRNA gene survey across three oceans revealed that bacteria related to the taxa Prochloron, Endozoicomonas, SAR116, Ruegeria, and unclassified Proteobacteria were prevalent in T. hoshinota. A Prochloron-related bacterium was the most dominant and prevalent cyanobacterium in T. hoshinota. The complete genome of this uncultivated cyanobacterium and pigment analysis demonstrated that it has phycobiliproteins and lacks chlorophyll b, which is inconsistent with the definition of Prochloron. Furthermore, the cyanobacterium was phylogenetically distinct from Prochloron, strongly suggesting that it should be a sister taxon to Prochloron. Therefore, we proposed this symbiotic cyanobacterium as a novel species under the new genus Candidatus Paraprochloron terpiosi. Comparative genomic analyses revealed that 'Paraprochloron' and Prochloron exhibit distinct genomic features and DNA replication machinery. We also characterized the metabolic potentials of 'Paraprochloron terpiosi' in carbon and nitrogen cycling and propose a model for interactions between it and T. hoshinota. This study builds a foundation for the study of the T. hoshinota microbiome and paves the way for better understanding of ecosystems involving this coral-killing sponge., (© 2021 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Global warming threatens reef-building corals with large-scale bleaching events; therefore, it is important to discover potential adaptive capabilities for increasing their temperature resistance before it is too late. This study presents two coral species ( Platygyra verweyi and Isopora palifera ) surviving on a reef having regular hot water influxes via a nearby nuclear power plant that exhibited completely different bleaching susceptibilities to thermal stress, even though both species shared several so-called "winner" characteristics ( e.g., containing Durusdinium trenchii , thick tissue, etc. ). During acute heating treatment, algal density did not decline in P. verweyi corals within three days of being directly transferred from 25 to 31 °C; however, the same treatment caused I . palifera to lose < 70% of its algal symbionts within 24 h. The most distinctive feature between the two coral species was an overwhelmingly higher constitutive superoxide dismutase (ca. 10-fold) and catalase (ca. 3-fold) in P. verweyi over I. palifera . Moreover, P. verweyi also contained significantly higher saturated and lower mono-unsaturated fatty acids, especially a long-chain saturated fatty acid (C22:0), than I. palifera , and was consistently associated with the symbiotic bacteria Endozoicomonas , which was not found in I. palifera . However, antibiotic treatment and inoculation tests did not support Endozoicomonas having a direct contribution to thermal resistance. This study highlights that, besides its association with a thermally tolerable algal symbiont, a high level of constitutive antioxidant enzymes in the coral host is crucial for coral survivorship in the more fluctuating and higher temperature environments., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests., (©2022 Wang et al.)

Current anticancer treatments are inefficient against glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), which remains one of the most aggressive and lethal cancers. Evidence has shown the presence of glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs), which are chemoradioresistant and associated with high invasive capabilities in normal brain tissues. Moreover, accumulating studies have indicated that radiotherapy contributes to abnormalities in cell cycle checkpoints, including the G 1 /S and S phases, which may potentially lead to resistance to radiation. Through computational simulations using bioinformatics, we identified several GBM oncogenes that are involved in regulating the cell cycle. Cyclin B1 ( CCNB1 ) is one of the cell cycle-related genes that was found to be upregulated in GBM. Overexpression of CCNB1 was demonstrated to be associated with higher grades, proliferation, and metastasis of GBM. Additionally, increased expression levels of CCNB1 were reported to regulate activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase 7 ( MAPK7 ) in the G 2 /M phase, which consequently modulates mitosis; additionally, in clinical settings, MAPK7 was demonstrated to promote resistance to temozolomide (TMZ) and poor patient survival. Therefore, MAPK7 is a potential novel drug target due to its dysregulation and association with TMZ resistance in GBM. Herein, we identified MAPK7 /extracellular regulated kinase 5 ( ERK5 ) genes as being overexpressed in GBM tumors compared to normal tissues. Moreover, our analysis revealed increased levels of the cell division control protein homolog ( CDC42 ), a protein which is also involved in regulating the cell cycle through the G 1 phase in GBM tissues. This therefore suggests crosstalk among CCNB1/CDC42/MAPK7/ cluster of differentiation 44 ( CD44 ) oncogenic signatures in GBM through the cell cycle. We further evaluated a newly synthesized small molecule, SJ10, as a potential target agent of the CCNB1/CDC42/MAPK7/CD44 genes through target prediction tools and found that SJ10 was indeed a target compound for the above-mentioned genes; in addition, it displayed inhibitory activities against these oncogenes as observed from molecular docking analysis.