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Jin-ning Wang,1,&ast; Wei Xie,2,&ast; Da-Wei Song,1,&ast; Jun Zou,1 Qi Yan,1 Tao Feng,1 Sheng-yang Jin,1 Chao Yang,1 Zong-ping Luo,1,3 Jun-jie Niu1 1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Orthopaedics, Suzhou Ninth People’s Hospital, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 3Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zong-ping Luo, Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-512-67781351, Email zongping_luo@yahoo.com Jun-jie Niu, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-512-67780111, Email jjnewzzzx@sina.comBackground: Recurrent of local kyphosis after percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) is rarely reported and discussed. Literatures reported that re-kyphosis is usually a consequence of refractures of augmented or adjacent vertebra. However, whether re-kyphosis should be considered as a complication of refractures and has an impact on clinical efficacy of PKP during follow-up time is unknown. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the related risk factors and clinical significance of the recurrent of local kyphosis in osteoporotic vertebral fracture (OVF) patients without refractures.Patients and Methods: A total of 143 patients who underwent single-level PKP were recruited and assigned into the re-kyphosis group and non-re-kyphosis group. Clinical and radiographic data were collected and compared between the two groups. Then, multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the related risk factors.Results: During follow-up, 16 of the 143 patients presented postoperative re-kyphosis. The average local kyphosis angle increased from 11.81± 8.60° postoperatively to 25.13± 8.91° at the final follow-up which showed a statistically significant difference (p< 0.05). Both groups had significant improvements in postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores compared to their preoperative values (p< 0.05). However, in the re-kyphosis group at final follow-up, the VAS and ODI scores showed worsening compared to the postoperative scores. Logistic regression analysis showed that disc–endplate complex injury (OR=17.46, p=0.003); local kyphosis angle correction (OR=1.84, p< 0.001); and vertebral height restoration (OR=1.15, p=0.003) were risk factors for re-kyphosis.Conclusion: Re-kyphosis is not rare in patients with osteoporotic vertebral fracture and tends to have an inferior prognosis following PKP surgery. Patients with disc–endplate complex injury and more correction of vertebral height and kyphosis angle are at a higher risk for re-kyphosis after PKP surgery than others.Keywords: percutaneous kyphoplasty, risk factors, re-kyphosis, disc–endplate complex injury, clinical efficacy

Background: Since telomere length and DNA methylation both correlate with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis, telomere-methylation genes could be novel prognostic markers for HCC., Method: This study first investigated the interaction between telomere length and DNA methylation in HCC through Mendelian randomization analysis. Then, this study identified telomere-methylation genes in HCC by employing the TCGA-LIHC cohort, and explored the expression patterns of these genes in the tumor microenvironment of HCC and potential underlying mechanisms. Finally, the HCC risk-scoring model and prognostic model based on these genes were established, and the performance of the model was assessed., Result: The findings revealed a bidirectional relationship between telomere length and DNA methylation in HCC. Fifty telomere-methylation genes were identified, and the prognosis-related telomere-methylation genes were closely associated with Treg and Tprolif cell subsets within the HCC tumor microenvironment. Telomere-methylation genes could potentially impact the prognosis of HCC patients by modulating chromosome stability and regulating the cell cycle. Additionally, the constructed risk scoring model and prognostic prediction model showcased compelling clinical applicability, as evidenced by the receiver operating characteristic curve, the decision curve analysis, and the calibration curves., Conclusion: This study elucidated the potential of telomere-methylation genes as prognostic biomarkers for HCC and paves the way for novel approaches in prognostication and treatment management for HCC patients., 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 © 2024 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To identify mtDNA and OGG1 as potential biomarker candidates for mechanical asphyxia., Method: The human tissues are divided into experimental group (hanging and strangulation) and control groups (hemorrhagic shock, brain injury group, and poisoning group). Detected the expression of OGG1 and integrity of mtDNA in cardiac tissue of each group. We used over-OGG1 vector and siRNA-OGG1 transfecting H9C2 cell line to observe the function of OGG1 in hypoxic cells., Results: 1. mtDNA integrity decreased in the mechanical asphyxia group, OGG1 expression increased in mechanical asphyxia groups. They can be biomarkers for mechanical asphyxia. 2. OGG1 increased first and decreased in hypoxia-induced H9C2 cells. OGG1 upregulated the TFAM, NRF1, and Bcl2 in hypoxia-induced H9C2. OGG1 downregulated cleaved-Caspase3 in hypoxia-induced H9C2 cells. 3. In the normoxia condition, NAC maintained mtDNA integrity and decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential and amount of ATP., Conclusion: mtDNA integrity and OGG1 expression can be biomarkers for mechanical asphyxia. OGG1 can maintain mtDNA integrity and maintain the stability of the mitochondrial membrane., 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 © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Phosphorus-solubilizing microorganisms convert insoluble phosphorus in the soil into phosphorus that can be absorbed by plants. Soluble phosphate combines with heavy metals to form precipitation, reducing the content of available heavy metals, thereby reducing the absorption of heavy metals by crops, which plays an important role in the remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soil. The effects of the immobilization of Cd and Pb and the release of PO 4 3- by the phosphorus-solubilizing bacterium Klebsiella sp. M2 were studied through solution culture experiments. In addition, the effects of strain M2 on wheat uptake of Cd and Pb and its microbiological mechanism were also explored through pot experiments. The results showed that strain M2 reduced the concentrations of Cd and Pb and increased the concentration of PO 4 3- in the solution through cell wall adsorption and induced phosphate precipitation. Pot experiments showed that compared to those in the CK group and inactivated strain M2 group, inoculation with live strain M2 significantly increased （123%-293%） the contents of Ca 2 -P and Ca 8 -P in rhizosphere soil, decreased the content of DTPA-Cd （34.48%） and DTPA-Pb （36.72%） in wheat rhizosphere soil, and thus hindered the accumulation of Cd and Pb in wheat grains. Moreover, high-throughput sequencing results showed that strain M2 significantly increased the diversity of wheat rhizosphere bacterial communities； increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Bacteroidota in wheat rhizosphere soil； and increased the proportion of heavy metal-immobilizing and phosphorus-promoting bacteria in wheat rhizosphere soil （mainly Sphingomonas , Nocardioides , Bacillus , Gemmatimonas , and Enterobacter ）. These bacterial genera played an important role in immobilizing heavy metals and preventing wheat from absorbing heavy metals. These results provide bacterial resources and theoretical basis for the bioremediation of heavy metal-contaminated farmland.

Competing Interests: Potential conflicts of interest. The authors: No reported conflicts of interest. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest.

Objective: To identify efficacy and safety of pudendal nerve block in tubing through the third posterior sacral foramen for the treatment of pudendal neuralgia (PN). Methods: A retrospective study with 222 PN patients was conducted in the Department of Pain Management of Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital from January 2020 to April 2023. These patients were divided into two groups based on their treatment methods: pudendal nerve block in tubing through the third posterior sacral foramen (observation group, n =101) and ultrasound-guided pudendal nerve block (control group, n =121). Primary outcome measure was the 90-day postoperative pain relief rate. Secondary outcome measures included visual analog scale (VAS) at 1, 7, 14, 30 and 90 d after surgery, the incidence of tramadol uses after surgery, postoperative self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) scores and the incidence of adverse events. Factors that influenced pain relief within 90 days after surgery were analyzed by using binary logistic regression analysis. Results: Observation group included 34 males and 67 females, aged (49.8±16.0) years old. Control group included 38 males and 83 females, aged (43.7±14.0) years old. The 90-day postoperative pain relief rate of the observation group patients was 38.6% (39/101), which was higher than the 24.0% (29/121) of the control group patients ( P =0.018). Both the observation group and the control group showed an interaction effect of time and group after treatment for VAS scores (both P <0.05). In intra-group comparison, the VAS scores at 1, 7, 14, 30 and 90 d after treatment in both groups were lower than those before treatment (all P <0.05). In inter-group comparison, the differences of the VAS scores were not statistically significant in the observation group compared with those in the control group at 1, 7, 14, 30 and 90 d after surgery (all P >0.05). The SAS score of the observation group at 90 d after surgery was 51.5±6.2, which was lower than the 53.4±5.8 of the control group ( P =0.022). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of postoperative tramadol uses and adverse events between the two groups (both P >0.05). Pudendal nerve block in tubing through the third posterior sacral foramen was a protective factor for pain postoperative relief in PN patients at 90 d after surgery ( OR =1.92, 95% CI : 1.05-3.48, P =0.033). Conclusion: Pudendal nerve block in tubing through the third posterior sacral foramen is a safe and effective minimally invasive treatment. It has a higher postoperative pain relief rate within 90 d after surgery, without increasing the uses of postoperative rescue analgesics and the incidence of adverse events.

Meteorological conditions play a key role in the occurrence and evolution of atmospheric complex pollution. Considering the different pollution formation mechanisms of PM 2.5 and O 3 , statistical calculation and in-depth learning methods were used to construct the PM 2.5 and O 3 meteorological condition indexes based on long-term pollution meteorological observation data. A research method was developed to study the meteorological characteristics and impact contribution of atmospheric complex pollution by using the meteorological condition index, and quantitative analysis of the distribution and variation of pollution excluding the influence of regional meteorological differences was also conducted. The results showed that in the summer of 2021, the pollution meteorological conditions in the key regions in central and eastern China were generally worse in the north and better in the south(index:"2+26" cities>the border area of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, and Henan>the Yangtze River Delta) and the worst in June and the best in July. The "double high" pollution began to appear when the PM 2.5 meteorological condition index>30 and O 3 meteorological condition index>100; meanwhile, the unfavorable meteorological conditions for O 3 also promoted the increase in PM 2.5 concentration, resulting in the frequency of "double high" increases with the increase in O 3 meteorological condition index. Compared with that during the same period last year, ρ (PM 2.5 ) of each region decreased by 3.9 μg·m -3 , 3.3 μg·m -3 , and 1.4 μg·m -3 due to the contribution of the improvement in the pollution meteorological conditions, which is nearly 58.5% on average of the total decrease in PM 2.5 concentration. However, the change in O 3 pollution meteorological conditions was better in the north and worse in the south, and the overall deterioration in the Yangtze River Delta Region led to approximately 2.8 μg·m -3 growth for the O 3 concentration. The PM 2.5 and O 3 concentrations after excluding the impact of meteorological differences showed different distribution characteristics from the air quality monitoring, in which the high concentrations of PM 2.5 were distributed along the Bohai Sea, the inter-provincial border, and the south of the region, whereas the high concentrations of O 3 were concentrated along the Taihang Mountains, around Mount Tai, and in parts of the Yangtze River Delta. The daily concentration variations in a single city during a specific pollution control period could be used as a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of local supervision and control, which will provide a reference for the dynamic supervision and daily scheduling of local control management.

The level of HClO/ClO - in mitochondria is essential to keep the normal function of mitochondria. Therefore, it is meaningful to accurately and quickly monitor ClO - in mitochondria. In this work, a new triphenylamine-based fluorescence probe PDTPA was designed and synthesized, in which pyridinium salt and dicyano-vinyl group were introduced as mitochondria targeting site and reaction site for ClO - . The probe showed high sensitivity and fast fluorescence response (<10 s) in the detection of ClO - . Moreover, the probe PDTPA had good linearity in a wide concentration range of ClO - and its detection limit was calculated as 10.5 μM. Confocal fluorescence images demonstrated that the probe could target mitochondria and track the fluctuations of endogenous/exogenous ClO - levels in the mitochondria of living cells., 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 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The migratory ability of microglia facilitates their rapid transport to a site of injury to kill and remove pathogens. However, the effect of Treponema pallidum membrane proteins on microglia migration remains unclear. The effect of Tp47 on the migration ability and autophagy and related mechanisms were investigated using the human microglial clone 3 cell line. Tp47 inhibited microglia migration, the expression of autophagy-associated protein P62 decreased, the expression of Beclin-1 and LC3-II/LC3-I increased, and the autophagic flux increased in this process. Furthermore, autophagy was significantly inhibited, and microglial cell migration was significantly increased after neutralisation with an anti-Tp47 antibody. In addition, Tp47 significantly inhibited the expression of p-PI3K, p-AKT, and p-mTOR proteins, and the sequential activation of steps in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways effectively prevented Tp47-induced autophagy. Moreover, Tp47 significantly inhibited the expression of p-FOXO1 protein and promoted FOXO1 nuclear translocation. Inhibition of FOXO1 effectively suppressed Tp47-induced activation of autophagy and inhibition of migration. Treponema pallidum membrane protein Tp47-induced autophagy and inhibited cell migration in HMC3 Cells via the PI3K/AKT/FOXO1 pathway. These data will contribute to understanding the mechanism by which T. pallidum escapes immune killing and clearance after invasion into the central nervous system., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Laboratory tests to diagnose neurosyphilis using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are currently disadvantageous as a lumbar puncture is required, which may result in patients with neurosyphilis missing an opportunity for early diagnosis. Thus, blood biomarker candidates that are more convenient and minimally invasive to collect for diagnosing neurosyphilis is urgently needed., Methods: This observational study aimed to analyze serum ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and neurofilament light chain (NF-L) levels in 153 patients without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and to evaluate their diagnostic performance in neurosyphilis compared with CSF., Results: Serum UCH-L1, GFAP, and NF-L levels were significantly higher in patients with neurosyphilis compared with patients with uncomplicated syphilis or non-syphilis. For the diagnosis of neurosyphilis, serum UCH-L1, GFAP, and NF-L revealed sensitivities of 90.20%, 80.40%, and 88.24%, and specificities of 92.16%, 78.43%, and 80.39%, respectively, at cutoff levels of 814.50 pg/mL, 442.70 pg/mL, and 45.19 pg/mL, respectively. In patients with syphilis, serum UCH-L1, GFAP, and NF-L levels correlated strongly or moderately with those in the CSF, with similar or better diagnostic performance than those in the CSF. The testing algorithms' sensitivity and specificity increased to 98.04% and 96.08%, respectively, when subjected to parallel and combination testing, respectively., Conclusions: To avoid lumbar puncture, each serum UCH-L1, GFAP, and NF-L is a good entry point and biomarker candidate for the diagnosis of neurosyphilis among patients without HIV. These proteins used in concerto can further improve the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity., Competing Interests: Potential conflicts of interest. The authors: No reported conflicts of interest. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

PCR can be a supplement to Treponema serological testing. However, its sensitivity is not satisfactory for blood sample testing. The aim of this study was to investigate whether pretreatment with red blood cell (RBC) lysis could enhance the yield of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum DNA extraction from blood. We developed and verified the efficacy of a quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay that utilizes TaqMan technology to specifically detect T. pallidum DNA by targeting the polA gene. Simulation media with 10 6 to 10 0 treponemes/mL were prepared in normal saline (NS), whole blood, plasma, and serum, and RBC lysis pretreatment was performed on a portion of whole blood. Then, blood samples drawn from 50 syphilitic rabbits were divided in parallel into five groups, labeled whole blood, whole blood/lysed RBCs, plasma, serum, and blood cells/lysed RBCs. DNA extraction and qPCR detection were performed. The detection rate and copy number were compared among different groups. The polA assay showed good linearity and an excellent amplification efficiency of 102%. In the simulated blood samples, the detection limit of the polA assay reached 1 × 10 2 treponemes/mL in whole blood/lysed RBCs, plasma, and serum. However, the detection limit was only 1 × 10 4 treponemes/mL in NS and whole blood. Among the blood samples from syphilitic rabbits, whole blood/lysed RBCs showed the best detection rate (82.0%), while the detection rate for whole blood was only 6%. The copy number of whole blood/lysed RBCs was higher than that of whole blood. RBC lysis pretreatment can significantly improve the yield of T. pallidum DNA from whole blood, and the yield is better than that from whole blood, plasma, serum, and blood cells/lysed RBCs. IMPORTANCE Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by T. pallidum that can spread into the blood. T. pallidum DNA can be detected in blood by PCR but with low sensitivity. Few studies have applied RBC lysis pretreatment to blood T. pallidum DNA extraction. This study shows that the detection limit, detection rate, and copy number of whole blood/lysed RBCs were better than those of whole blood, plasma, and serum. After RBC lysis pretreatment, the yield of low concentrations of T. pallidum DNA was improved, and the low sensitivity of blood-based T. pallidum PCR was improved. Therefore, whole blood/lysed RBCs are the ideal sample for acquiring blood T. pallidum DNA., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acute myocardial ischemia (AMI) remains the leading cause of death worldwide, and the post-mortem diagnosis of AMI represents a current challenge for both clinical and forensic pathologists. In the present study, the untargeted metabolomics based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography combined with high-resolution mass spectrometry was applied to analyze serum metabolic signatures from AMI in a rat model (n = 10 per group). A total of 28 endogenous metabolites in serum were significantly altered in AMI group relative to control and sham groups. A set of machine learning algorithms, namely gradient tree boosting (GTB), support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), logistic regression (LR), and multilayer perceptron (MLP) models, was used to screen the more valuable metabolites from 28 metabolites to optimize the biomarker panel. The results showed that classification accuracy and performance of MLP model were better than other algorithms when the metabolites consisting of L-threonic acid, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, CMPF, glycocholic acid, L-tyrosine, cholic acid, and glycoursodeoxycholic acid. Finally, 17 blood samples from autopsy cases were applied to validate the classification model's value in human samples. The MLP model constructed based on rat dataset achieved accuracy of 88.23%, and ROC of 0.89 for predicting AMI type II in autopsy cases of sudden cardiac death. The results demonstrated that MLP model based on 7 molecular biomarkers had a good diagnostic performance for both AMI rats and autopsy-based blood samples. Thus, the combination of metabolomics and machine learning algorithms provides a novel strategy for AMI diagnosis., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The invasive capability of Treponema. pallidum is central to its infection process. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which are specifically inhibited by the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs), play a pivotal role in promoting pathogenic invasion by destroying tissue barriers within the body. This study aimed to explore the effect of T. pallidum protein Tp0136 on the balance of MMPs/TIMPs in human dermal vascular smooth muscle cells (HDVSMCs) and the related underlying mechanisms. A number of in vitro studies were conducted to access the impact of recombinant Tp0136 protein on the balance of MMPs/TIMPs in HDVSMCs. The involvement of the PI3K, MAPK, and NF-κB signaling pathways in this process was also investigated. Tp0136 induced the mRNA and protein expressions of MMP1 in HDVSMCs in a concentration-dependent way. In addition, MMP1/TIMP1 and MMP1/TIMP2 ratios were also increased. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that treatment of HDVSMCs with Tp0136 activated the PI3K, MAPK, and NF-κB signaling pathways. Inhibition of PI3K, JNK, P38, and NF-κB, suppressed MMP1 expression and reduced the induction of MMP1/TIMP1 and MMP1/TIMP2 ratios by Tp0136. These findings demonstrate that Tp0136 enhanced the expression of MMP1 involving the PI3K, MAPK, and NF-κB signaling pathways in HDVSMCs, and thus generated the unbalance of MMPs/TIMP, which could contribute to the early spread of T. pallidum and pathogenesis of syphilis., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

Purpose: The accuracy of level of anti- severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies is a great concern. We aimed to compare the efficacy of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection kits from two manufacturers in evaluating the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines., Methods: The immune responses and consistency of four anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were evaluated using two manufacturers' antibody kits (A and B) in 61 subjects within 160 days after vaccination with the CoronaVac vaccine., Results: The total seropositivity rates of neutralizing antibodies and IgM antibodies detected by kit A were higher than those detected by kit B (P = 0.003 and P < 0.001, respectively). Conversely, the total seropositivity rates of total antibodies and IgG antibodies were higher in kit B than kit A (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). The consistency rates showed less than 90% agreement between the kits for the detection of the four antibodies, and the κ score showed moderate or substantial consistency. The half-lives of neutralizing antibodies, total antibodies, and IgG antibodies within 160 days after vaccination, detected by kit A were 63.88 days, 80.50 days, and 63.70 days, respectively and by kit B were 97.06 days, 65.41 days, and 77.99 days, respectively., Conclusion: The efficacy of antibody detection differed between the two commercial anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody kits, although there was moderate consistency, which may affect the clinical application and formulation of the vaccine strategy., 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.)

Context.—: Neutralizing antibody detection can assess the incidence of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of vaccines. However, commercial reagents for neutralizing antibodies were developed after the anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgM antibodies. Therefore, some laboratories did not perform neutralizing antibody testing services because of multiple factors., Objective.—: To find a fast, accurate, and economic alternative for the detection of neutralizing antibodies for the development of COVID-19 screening programs., Design.—: The response and correlation of 3 antibodies (anti-spike protein neutralizing antibody, total anti-receptor-binding domain [RBD] antibody, and anti-RBD IgG) were determined by observing the dynamics in 61 participants for 160 days after vaccination., Results.—: The levels of neutralizing and anti-RBD IgG antibodies reached their peak values on day 42 after vaccination (120.75 IU/mL and 14.38 signal-to-cutoff ratio [S/CO], respectively). The total antibody levels peaked at 138.47 S/CO on day 35 after vaccination. The strongest correlation was found between neutralizing and anti-RBD IgG antibody levels (r = 0.894, P < .001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for total antibody levels for the prediction of seropositivity for neutralizing antibodies was 0.881 (P < .001), and that for anti-RBD IgG antibody levels was 0.937 (P < .001)., Conclusions.—: Neutralizing and anti-RBD IgG antibody levels were strongly correlated, and thus anti-RBD IgG antibody levels can be used for the accurate assessment of immunity following SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination.

Aim: The present study examined the membrane location of cardiolipin antigen in treponemes. Materials & methods: The authors used different methods to disrupt the outer membrane of treponemes, detected the location of the cardiolipin antigen and analyzed the immune response in rabbits immunized with various antigens. Results: All organisms were labeled with nontreponemal antibodies on immunoelectron and fluorescence microscopy, except the citrate buffer-treated group, which is a method leading to relatively complete removal. Except for citrate buffer-treated spirochetes, all treponemes produced low-titer, nontreponemal antibodies in immunized rabbits. Conclusion: These findings indicated that the cardiolipin antigen was localized in the outer membrane of spirochetes. This study provided further evidence of the origin of nontreponemal antibodies during Treponema pallidum infection.

Background: Pudendal neuralgia (PN) is one of the most common forms of genital pain. Only 42.2% of PN patients respond to the first-line treatment. Novel neuromodulation techniques in the treatment of refractory PN patients are urgently required., Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the treatment effects and adverse events of sacral nerve stimulation (SNS) for patients with refractory PN., Study Design: A prospective nonrandomized study., Setting: This prospective analysis included 33 patients who received the phase II surgical implantation., Methods: A total of 55 eligible PN patients were recruited for SNS treatment after informed consent, and 33 of 55 patients with a minimum 50% improvement were candidates for surgical implantation. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores, Self-rating Anxiety and Depression Scale, Quality of life score (SF-36), and sleep monitoring indicators before and after surgery were used to assess the effects of SNS on patients with refractory PN., Results: Thirty-three patients were included in the final analysis, involving 24 women and 9 men with a mean age of 49.5 years (26-70 years). There was a favorable decrease in pain severity (VAS scores) from 7.1 ± 1.1 at baseline to 6.1 ± 1.0 on postoperative day 1, and 2.8 ± 0.7 at 1 week, 1.7 ± 0.5 at 1 month, 1.1 ± 0.7 at 6 months, and 1.0 ± 0.6 at 12 months after surgery, respectively (P < 0.05). The mean score of each section of SF-36 after SNS was significantly higher than that at baseline (P < 0.05). Total sleep time and sleep time in each period were significantly prolonged after SNS implantation compared with that before surgery (6 months vs Pre, total: 5.32 ± 1.49 hours vs 3.66 ± 1.19 hours, deep: 2.52 ± 0.63 hours vs 1.36 ± 0.43 hours, light: 1.78 ± 0.42 hours vs 0.99 ± 0.30 hours, rapid eye movement: 1.41 ± 0.29 hours vs 0.89 ± 0.27 hours, P < 0.05). No serious device complications were reported during the follow-up period., Limitations: Large-scale randomized clinical trials are warranted to evaluate the risk factors for prediction of refractory PN., Conclusions: These data imply that SNS can have beneficial effects on patients with refractory PN.

Background: Determining what quarantine period and detection strategy are more effective and sustainable remains a challenge for further prevention and social stability., Methods: From October 2020 to December 2021, 290,547 inbound overseas travelers were subject to government quarantine in Xiamen, China. The detection rate of COVID-19 during different quarantine periods using dual or single nucleic acid testing reagents., Results: The COVID-19 positive rate was 1.79% (519/290,547). The detection rates during the 7-day, 14-day and 14+7-day quarantine periods using the dual reagents were 78.4%, 91.7%, and 100%, respectively. The detection rate of the 7-day, 14-day and 14+7-day quarantine periods were 73.99%, 86.51%, and 94.22%, respectively, using the Liferiver reagent and 72.25%, 84.59%, and 91.91%, respectively, using the Daan reagent. Based on the 14+7 day strategy, dual nucleic acid testing reagent strategy detected all imported cases, but 30 cases (5.78%) were not detected via Liferiver reagent and 42 (8.09%) cases not detected via Daan reagent., Conclusion: A 14+7-day quarantine period and dual nucleic acid testing reagent strategy are effective screening methods for COVID-19 among inbound overseas travelers. The superior detection rate of these strategies reduce the risk of secondary transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of hepatitis E vaccine(HEV)in Maintenance hemodialysis(MHD)patients. Methods: Based on an open-labeled controlled trial, from May 2016 to March 2018, 35 eligible MHD patients were recruited in the Hemodialysis Center of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Xiamen University as the experimental group, and 70 MHD patients with matched age, gender and underlying diseases as the control group. The experimental group received HEV at 0, 1 and 6 months according to the standard vaccination procedures, while the control group received routine diagnosis and treatment without vaccine and placebo injection to observe the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine. The safety of vaccine in MHD population was evaluated by the incidence of adverse reactions/events in the experimental and control groups. The immunogenicity of HEV in MHD patients was evaluated by comparing the data from the phase Ⅲ clinical trial. Results: The overall incidence of adverse reactions/events was 17.1% (18/105), and there were no grade 3-4 adverse reactions/events related to vaccination. In the experimental group, the incidence of local adverse reactions/events was 20.0% (7/35), and the incidence of systemic adverse reactions/events was 17.1% (6/35).There was no significant difference in the incidence of systemic adverse reactions/events between the experimental group and the control group ( P >0.05). There were 23 patients receiving 3 doses with the standard schedule. The positive rate of HEV-IgG antibody was 100% and the GMC was 14.47(95% CI :13.14-15.80) WU/ml, which showed no significant difference compared with the 46 patients in Phase Ⅲ clinical trial ( t =-1.04, P >0.05). Conclusion: Recombinant HEV has good safety and immunogenicity in MHD patients.

The study aimed to explore the neutrophil's spatial distributions used to estimate the histological age of contused skeletal muscle, and assessed the accuracy of various indicators, such as the proportion of neutrophils, "neutrophil mean distance," and distribution of neutrophils in areas of "contiguous contour lines." Fifty-five Sprague-Dawley rats were divided randomly into a control group and contusion groups at 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, and 6 h, as well as 1, 3, 5, and 15 days, post-injury (n = 5 per group). Nuclei and neutrophils were detected by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. At 0-24 h after injury, the distribution of neutrophils at distances of 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 µm from adjacent blood vessels was determined, and the best samples were screened to estimate wound age. To estimate wound age as accurately as possible, Fisher discriminant analysis (FDA) of the proportion of neutrophils, neutrophil mean distance, and distribution of neutrophils was performed, and 100.0% and 95.0% of the original and cross-validated cases were correctly classified, respectively. The spatial distribution of neutrophils at different distances from adjacent blood vessels showed a strong correlation with the histological age of contusion skeletal muscle, and the combination of the proportion of neutrophils, neutrophil mean distance, and distribution of neutrophils could be used to accurately estimate wound age., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)