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Silybin is a flavonolignan extracted from the seeds of Silybum marianum that has been used as a dietary supplement for treating hepatic diseases and components of metabolic syndrome such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension. Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) channels are Ca

Due to the rise of 5G, IoT, AI, and high-performance computing applications, datacenter traffic has grown at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 30%. Furthermore, nearly three-fourths of the datacenter traffic resides within datacenters. The conventional pluggable optics increases at a much slower rate than that of datacenter traffic. The gap between application requirements and the capability of conventional pluggable optics keeps increasing, a trend that is unsustainable. Co-packaged optics (CPO) is a disruptive approach to increasing the interconnecting bandwidth density and energy efficiency by dramatically shortening the electrical link length through advanced packaging and co-optimization of electronics and photonics. CPO is widely regarded as a promising solution for future datacenter interconnections, and silicon platform is the most promising platform for large-scale integration. Leading international companies (e.g., Intel, Broadcom and IBM) have heavily investigated in CPO technology, an inter-disciplinary research field that involves photonic devices, integrated circuits design, packaging, photonic device modeling, electronic-photonic co-simulation, applications, and standardization. This review aims to provide the readers a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art progress of CPO in silicon platform, identify the key challenges, and point out the potential solutions, hoping to encourage collaboration between different research fields to accelerate the development of CPO technology. Graphical Abstract

Although endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) is a standard procedure for nasolacrimal duct obstruction (NLDO), the failure rate remains approximately 10%. A small lacrimal sac is considered the main reason for surgical failure. We explored the efficacy of endoscopic DCR for the treatment of NLDO with a small lacrimal sac.The clinical data of 72 patients (88 eyes) diagnosed with NLDO and undergoing endoscopic DCR from 2012 to 2020, with at least 24 months of follow-up were retrospectively collected. Intraoperatively, the Rosenmüller valves were fully exposed, mucosal flaps were preserved to cover the naked bone, and a silicone tube was implanted if necessary. Postoperative intervention was performed if necessary. The main outcome measures were symptomatic improvement and objective ostium patency.Eighty-eight eyes of 72 patients were divided into two groups: the refractory group (34 patients, 47 eyes), with a small lacrimal sac (≤ 5 mm in diameter), and the simple group (38 patients, 41 eyes). Patients with small lacrimal sacs were more prone to bilateral eye disease than those in the simple group (P = 0.014) and required a longer postoperative follow-up (P 0.001). Refractory NLDO and simple NLDO had a success rate of 91.5% and 95.1%, respectively, with no significant difference.Endoscopic DCR for refractory NLDO with a small lacrimal sac could achieve a beneficial result by exposing the Rosenmüller valves, preserving mucosal flaps, implanting necessary intubation, and intervening postoperatively. Thus, a small lacrimal sac should not be regarded as a contraindication to surgery.

The aorta contains numerous cell types that contribute to vascular inflammation and thus the progression of aortic diseases. However, the heterogeneity and cellular composition of the ascending aorta in the setting of a high-fat diet (HFD) have not been fully assessed. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing on ascending aortas from mice fed a normal diet and mice fed a HFD. Unsupervised cluster analysis of the transcriptional profiles from 24,001 aortic cells identified 27 clusters representing 10 cell types: endothelial cells (ECs), fibroblasts, vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs), immune cells (B cells, T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells), mesothelial cells, pericytes, and neural cells. After HFD intake, subpopulations of endothelial cells with lipid transport and angiogenesis capacity and extensive expression of contractile genes were defined. In the HFD group, three major SMC subpopulations showed increased expression of extracellular matrix-degradation genes, and a synthetic SMC subcluster was proportionally increased. This increase was accompanied by upregulation of proinflammatory genes. Under HFD conditions, aortic-resident macrophage numbers were increased, and blood-derived macrophages showed the strongest expression of proinflammatory cytokines. Our study elucidates the nature and range of the cellular composition of the ascending aorta and increases understanding of the development and progression of aortic inflammatory disease., Cardiovascular disease: High-fat diets cause changes to aorta cells RNA sequencing of aorta cells reveals how key changes in cell populations and gene expression caused by a high-fat diet can increase risk of cardiovascular diseases. Xin Ma and co-workers at Jiangnan University in Wuxi, China, performed single-cell sequencing on over 24,000 cells from the ascending aorta of mice fed either high-fat or normal diets. The resulting dataset of around 1,700 genes and 4,000 unique molecular identifiers reveals numerous fat-induced differences across the ten main aortic cell types. The high-fat diet extended specific sub-populations of endothelial cells that enhance lipid transport, while muscle cells showed increased expression of genes that degrade the extracellular matrix. Other fat-induced differences, including increased populations of immune cells known as macrophages and a sub-cluster of muscle cells that up-regulate pro-inflammatory genes, may act to promote excessive immune responses in obese individuals.

In this study, the fibrous mesoporous silica F-SiO2 was functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). The reversible thermochromic composites of fibrous mesoporous silica (F-SiO2) and amino group-modified fibrous mesoporous silica (F-SiO2-NH2) microspheres loaded with cresol red-boric acid (CR-BA) were termed as S2 (F-SiO2/CR-BA) and SN2 (F-SiO2-NH2/CR-BA), respectively. The materials obtained were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis. The fibrous morphology of this rigid carrier was maintained after loading with the CR-BA composite system. Owing to the APTES modification, the F-SiO2-NH2/CR-BA composites underwent more severe color changes than the F-SiO2/CR-BA composites. In addition, the F-SiO2-NH2/CR-BA composites can recover the original color in only 210 s, illustrating excellent reversibility.

Effective topical medications delivery to the frontal sinus is crucial to recovery from frontal sinusotomy. However, finding a way to deliver local medications to the frontal sinus is still a major challenge. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of various head positions on postoperative frontal sinus drug deposition. The safety and efficacy were also evaluated in postoperative chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients.Full house surgery was performed on six fresh frozen cadaver heads. The fluorescein solution was dropped into the nasal sinuses in three different head positions, and the fluorescein deposition was evaluated. A prospective cohort study was performed to validate the results in 20 postoperative CRS patients. The cortisol level, symptom VAS and the frontal recess endoscopy scores were evaluated pre- and postoperatively.The frontal recess delivery of fluorescein was better in the Mygind and vertex-to-floor positions than in the head back position. The cortisol level of patients dropped markedly after taking oral methylprednisolone, but returned to baseline when replaced with budesonide drops. The pre- and postoperative symptom VAS scores did not differ significantly between the two groups. Endoscopic scores of the vertex-to-floor group were significantly better than those of the Mygind group.Both the Mygind and the vertex-to-floor head positions were optimal for delivery of topical medications to the frontal recess. When applying the steroid drops, both positions were found to be safe and associated with effective relief of symptoms. The vertex-to-floor position can better improve the endoscopic scores of frontal recess and frontal sinus.

Laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) is a newly developed technique associated with advantages as open surgery, but the study on outcome of liver function recovery was scarce. This preliminary report was aimed to comparatively assess the short-term outcomes between LH and open hepatectomy (OH) for primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC). This study retrospectively analyzed the demographic data and short-term outcomes of 81 patients who underwent LH or OH for the primary treatment of PHC between Oct. 2017 and May 2018 at Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China). A total of 81 PHC patients who received major liver resection were enrolled. There were 38 (47%) patients in the LH group and 43 (53%) patients in the OH group. The operative time was significantly longer (373.53±173.38 vs. 225.43±55.08, P

Helicobacter pylori infection is an essential factor in the development of human gastric diseases, but its pathogenic mechanism is still unclear. In this work we have showed that, the LC3II levels were increased and β1-integrin levels were decreased in H. pylori-positive human gastric tissue samples and H. pylori co-cultured GES-1 cells. There was significant upregulation of LC3II levels and downregulation of P62 levels in GES-1 cells after β1-integrin knockdown co-cultured with H. pylori. This indicated that β1-integrin downregulation promoted autophagy in GES-1 cells after H. pylori infection. The cell apoptosis rate and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) and caspase-3 activities were increased in GES-1 cells pretreated with 3-methyladenine (3-MA ) after H. pylori infection. Furthermore, there was a significant decrease in apoptosis of β1-integrin knockdown GES-1 cells co-cultured with H. pylori; apoptosis was also downregulated in β1-integrin knockdown- and 3-MA-treated GES-1 cells co-cultured with H. pylori. Correspondingly, PARP and caspase-3 activities were decreased in β1-integrin knockdown cells co-cultured with H. pylori and β1-integrin knockdown-3-MA-treated-1 cells with H. pylori infection. Thus, β1-integrin is a novel autophagy and apoptosis regulator during H. pylori infection. However, inhibition of autophagy did not reverse the decrease in apoptosis caused by downregulation of β1-integrin.