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Modulating autophagy and mitophagy, vital cellular quality control systems, offer therapeutic potential for critical illnesses. However, limited drug screening options hinder progress. We present a novel assay using the photoswitchable fluorescent reporter, mito-Kaede, to quantify mitophagy flux. Mito-Kaede's superior UV-induced photoconversion and brightness post-conversion make it ideal for prolonged mitochondrial dynamics tracking. Its specificity in responding to mitophagy, confirmed by parkin-knockout cells, adds value. When coupled with a custom fluid exchange system, enabling efficient medium changes, precise mitophagy observations become feasible. This mitophagy assay, alongside our methodological insights, can decipher mitophagy's role in pathology and supports drug screening efforts.

This study focuses on the impact of education on health and health inequalities in rural areas of China. Education significantly enhances economic status and health, driving economic growth and improving public health standards. Integral to the “Healthy China Strategy,” it provides essential guidance for public policy and underscores the need for strategic human capital investments to achieve these goals. The study utilizes data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) spanning 2010–2020 and employs the average educational level within counties as an instrumental variable. The causal impact of education on health and health inequalities is estimated using the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between enhancing education levels and health improvements. Specifically, after controlling for endogeneity, the duration of individual education significantly improves both subjective and objective health outcomes. It reduces health inequalities, with these effects being more pronounced among women and low-income groups. Mechanistically, education positively impacts health primarily by altering health behaviors and social network levels and reducing health inequalities through socio-economic factors. This paper provides important implications for public policy, suggesting that enhancing educational investments can drive economic development and improve population health standards.

Background: Cold environments pose serious threats on human health, with increased risk for myocardial infarction, stroke, frostbite, and hypothermia. Acquired cold acclimation is required to minimize cold-induced injures and to improve metabolic health. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be fully elucidated. Objective: We aimed to identify critical amino acids involved in cold acclimation and unmask the regulatory mechanisms. Methods: A total of twenty male participants were recruited and followed up after 3 months’ natural cold exposure. Cold-induced vasodilation (CIVD) tests and clinical biochemical analysis were performed at baseline and after 3-months cold exposure, whilst blood samples were collected, and plasma amino acids were analyzed by targeted metabolomics. To further confirm the effect of lysine on cold tolerance and explain the latent mechanism, mice were challenged with chronic cold exposure for 7 days with lysine supplement, then core and local surface temperature as well as thermogenesis activity were detected. Results: Continuous cold exposure shortened the CIVD onset time and increased the average finger temperature. Levels of the plasma lysine and glycine were decreased in both humans and mice. Venn analysis from three datasets revealed that lysine was the only significantly changed plasma amino acid, which strongly correlated with the altered CIVD. Moreover, mice sustained a relatively higher core temperature and surface temperature in the back, tail and paws upon lysine supplementation. Furthermore, lysine supplementation increased the level of histone H3K18cr and promoted the gene and protein expression of Cpt1a, Cpt2 and Cyp27a1 in liver. Conclusion: Our work identified lysine as a critical amino acid for the remodeling of hepatic histone crotonylation that facilitates cold acclimation.

Abstract In recent years, with the unremitting advancement of higher education reform, academics have been experiencing stress associated with conducting scientific research. In this study focusing on university teachers in China, we adopted a stepwise regression method and reviewed related literature to construct a mechanism of academic stress and occupational burnout. Specifically, we tested job satisfaction and relative deprivation as mediating and moderating variables and conducted empirical research on 1239 teachers from 15 universities in eastern, central, and western China. Our findings show that: (1) academic stress has a significant positive effect on occupational burnout; (2) job satisfaction has a partial role as the intermediary agent between academic stress and occupational burnout; and (3) relative deprivation positively moderates the relationship between academic stress and job satisfaction, indicating that teachers in universities and colleges are also affected by relative deprivation and the perception of inequity. These findings have significant value in the management of higher education and academic research.

Summary: Background: Since the initial identification of the Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS) in ticks in rural areas of China in 2009, the virus has been increasingly isolated from a diverse array of hosts globally, exhibiting a rising trend in incidence. This study aims to conduct a systematic analysis of the temporal and spatial distribution of SFTS cases, alongside an examination of the infection rates across various hosts, with the objective of addressing public concerns regarding the spread and impact of the disease. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, an exhaustive search was conducted across multiple databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Medline, CNKI, WanFang, and CQVIP. The literature search was confined to publications released between January 1, 2009, and May 29, 2023. The study focused on collating data pertaining to animal infections under natural conditions and human infection cases reported. Additionally, species names were unified using the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. The notification rate, notification death rate, case fatality rate, and infection rates (or MIR) were assessed for each study with available data. The proportions were pooled using a generalized linear mixed-effects model (GLMM). Meta-regressions were conducted for subgroup analysis. This research has been duly registered with PROSPERO, bearing the registration number CRD42023431010. Findings: We identified 5492 studies from database searches and assessed 238 full-text studies for eligibility, of which 234 studies were included in the meta-analysis. For human infection data, the overall pooled notification rate was 18.93 (95% CI 17.02–21.05) per ten million people, the overall pooled notification deaths rate was 3.49 (95% CI 2.97–4.10) per ten million people, and the overall pooled case fatality rate was 7.80% (95% CI 7.01%–8.69%). There was an increasing trend in notification rate and deaths rate, while the case fatality rate showed a significant decrease globally. Regarding animal infection data, among 94 species tested, 48 species were found to carry positive nucleic acid or antibodies. Out of these, 14 species were classified under Arthropoda, while 34 species fell under Chordata, comprising 27 Mammalia and 7 Aves. Interpretation: This systematic review and meta-analysis present the latest global report on SFTS. In terms of human infections, notification rates and notification deaths rates are on the rise, while the case fatality rate has significantly decreased. More SFTSV animal hosts have been discovered than before, particularly among birds, indicating a potentially broader transmission range for SFTSV. These findings provide crucial insights for the prevention and control of SFTS on a global scale. Funding: None.

BackgroundHypotension is a risk factor for postoperative complications, but evidence from randomized trials does not support that a higher blood pressure target always leads to optimized outcomes. The heterogeneity of underlying hemodynamics during hypotension may contribute to these contradictory results. Exploring the subtypes of hypotension can enable optimal management of intraoperative hypotension.MethodsThis is a prospective, observational pilot study. Patients who were ≥ 45 years old and scheduled to undergo moderate-to-high-risk noncardiac surgery were enrolled in this study. The primary objective of this pilot study was to investigate the frequency and distribution of perioperative hypotension and its subtypes (hypotension with or without cardiac output reduction). The exposure of hypotension and its subtypes in patients with and without myocardial or acute kidney injury were also explored.ResultsSixty patients were included in the analysis. 83% (50/60) of the patients experienced perioperative hypotension. The median duration of hypotension for each patient was 8.0 [interquartile range, 3.1–23.3] minutes. Reduced cardiac output was present during 77% of the hypotension duration. Patients suffering from postoperative myocardial or acute kidney injury displayed longer duration and more extensive exposure in all hypotension subtypes. However, the percentage of different hypotension subtypes did not differ in patients with or without postoperative myocardial or acute kidney injury.ConclusionPerioperative hypotension was frequently accompanied by cardiac output reduction in moderate-to-high-risk noncardiac surgical patients. However, due to the pilot nature of this study, the relationship between hypotension subtypes and postoperative myocardial or acute kidney injury still needs further exploration.Clinical trial registrationhttps://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojEN.html?proj=134260, CTR2200055929.

Quenched Co-based ribbon strips are widely used in the fields of magnetic amplifier, magnetic head material, magnetic shield, electric reactor, inductance core, sensor core, anti-theft system label, and so on. In this study, Co-based composite CoFeNiSiB ribbon strips with a micron width were fabricated by micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The carbon and FeCoGa nanofilms were deposited for surface modification. The effect of carbon and FeCoGa nanofilm coatings on the crystal structure, surface morphology, magnetic properties, and magnetoimpedance (MI) effect of composite ribbon strips were systematically investigated. The results show that the surface roughness and coercivity of the composite ribbon strips are minimum at a thickness of the carbon coating of 60 nm. The maximum value of MI effect is 41% at 2 MHz, which is approximately 2.4 times greater than plain ribbon and 1.6 times greater than FeCoGa-coated composite ribbon strip. The addition of a carbon layer provides a conductive path for high frequency currents, which effectively reduces the characteristic frequency of the composite ribbon strip. The FeCoGa coating is able to close the flux path and reduce the coercivity, which, in turn, increases the transverse permeability and improves the MI effect. The findings indicate that a successful combination of carbon layer and magnetostrictive FeCoGa nanofilm layer can improve the MI effect and magnetic field sensitivity of the ribbon strips, demonstrating the potential of the composite strips for local and micro area field sensing applications.

With its immersive, interactive, and creative capabilities, virtual reality (VR) has been widely used in educational settings to provide students with challenging real-world experiences. As a result, interest in its effectiveness has grown. The goal of this meta-analysis is to examine how VR technology affects students' motivation to study. A comprehensive analysis of the literature up to December 2022 revealed 15 randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental studies. These studies were also coded to examine the moderating effects of their features, such as types of learner engagement, learner stages, learning domains, types of VR technology, and the moderating effect of knowledge types. The results indicate a large effect of VR on student engagement in learning (g=0.85). Furthermore, the findings of the moderator analysis demonstrate that VR has a more significant impact on cognitive engagement, higher education learners, immersive VR experiences, the field of art education, and procedural knowledge learning.

Background Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is a serious cerebrovascular disease, which causes a heavy burden on society and patients. Ligustrazine injection has been widely used in the treatment of AIS with significant efficacy, but there is still a lack of direct or indirect comparison between ligustrazine injections. Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of ligustrazine injection in the adjuvant treatment of AIS within 72 hours. Methods CNKI, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, VIP, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about the efficacy and safety of ligustrazine injection in the treatment of AIS from inception to April 2023. Literature was independently screened, extracted and quality assessed by 2 investigators using the Cochrane Evaluation Tool. RevMan 5.3, Stata 17, Addis and RStudio software were used to statistically compare and rank the efficacy and safety of different types of ligustrazine injection. Results A total of 71 papers involving 7 304 cases were included, and the interventions included Salvia Miltiorrhiza Ligustrazine Injection (DSCXQ), Shenxiong Glucose Injection (SXPTT), Xingxiong Sodium Chloride Injection (XXLHN), Ligustrazine Phosphate Injection (LSCXQ) and Ligustrazine Hydrochloride Injection (YSCXQ) combined with conventional western medical therapy (CT), respectively, and CT alone. Direct Meta-analysis results showed that in improving all the outcome indicators of AIS, the total effective rate, NIHSS score, fibrinogen level, and incidence of adverse reactions of ligustrazine injection combined with CT were better than those of CT alone (PYSCXQ+CT (0.20) >LSCXQ+CT (0.15) >DSCXQ+CT (0.03) >XXLHN+CT (0.02) >CT (0) ; the order of cumulative probability in improving NIHSS score was SXPTT+CT (0.55) >XXLHN+CT (0.26) >YSCXQ+CT (0.12) >DSCXQ+CT (0.07) >CT (0) ; the order of cumulative probability in reducing fibrinogen level was XXLHN+CT (0.32) >LSCXQ+CT (0.22) >DSCXQ+CT (0.17) >SXPTT+CT (0.15) >YSCXQ+CT (0.14) >CT (0) ; the order of cumulative probability in safety was SXPTT+CT (0.79) >XXLHN+CT (0.13) >CT (0.04) >DSCXQ+CT (0.03) >YSCXQ+CT (0.01) . Conclusion Ligustrazine injection is effective and safe in adjuvant treatment of AIS, among which Shenxiong glucose injection was the best in total effective rate and improving NIHSS scores, with the least adverse reactions; Xingxiong sodium chloride injection has the most advantages in fibrinogen level.