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This study sought to identify a method for swiftly improving the correlation between sensory crispness and acoustic characteristics of puffed food. The sensory group was formed by selecting individuals adept at identifying brittleness through sequencing test, with sensory assessments conducted on various puffed food. Adopting 1000 Hz as the interval for energy segmentation, the Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) was utilized to segment the energy of the sound signal from puffed food to observe the process of energy migration. The relationship between sensory evaluation and acoustic properties of 10 varied puffed food types was studied. The results of sensory evaluation showed that samples with higher "crispness" were more likely to obtain higher evaluation scores. The pulse factor (r=0.937) and kurtosis (r=0.889) showed an extremely significant correlation with sensory crispness between different types of puffed food, revealing that the energy release characteristics remained consistent (P

The refined wheat flour was mixed with different types of wheat starch in different addition levels, their microstructure, chemical bonds in the dough and baking characteristics of 0–8 weeks frozen dough bread were studied. With the increase of A-Type starch granules and whole wheat starch, the pores of gluten network first decreased and then increased. Conversely, an increase in B-Type starch granules consistently reduced gluten network porosity. With the increase of whole wheat starch, the content of free sulfhydryl group and hydrophobic interaction decreased gradually. Minimal additions of B-Type granules were found to enhance the specific volume of fresh bread, whereas increased quantities improved the specific volume of frozen dough bread. The addition of a small quantity of A- or B-Type granules enhances the freezing stability of bread. This study provides effective information for elucidating the effects of wheat starch on the frozen dough and bread properties in protein-starch matrix.

Portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) is very common and it plays a major role in the prognosis and clinical staging of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We have published the first version of the guideline in 2016 and revised in 2018. Over the past several years, many new evidences for the treatment of PVTT become available, especially for the advent of new targeted drugs and immune checkpoint inhibitors which have further improved the prognosis of PVTT. So, the Chinese Association of Liver Cancer and Chinese Medical Doctor Association revised the 2018 version of the guideline to adapt to the development of PVTT treatment. Future treatment strategies for HCC with PVTT in China would depend on new evidences from more future clinical trials.

The composition of green tea cream is extremely complex, and identification of key components is a prerequisite for elucidating its microstructure formation mechanism. This study examined the dynamic changes in the content of components and properties of colloid particles during the formation process of tea cream by chemical analysis and dynamic laser scattering (DLS). A “knock-out/knock-in” method was developed and used to further explore the relationship between the interaction of these components and the microstructure formation of tea cream. The results revealed that polysaccharides, proteins, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and caffeine were the main components involved in tea cream formation. These components participated in the formation process in the form of polysaccharide–protein and EGCG–caffeine colloidal particles. Consequently, there were synchronized dynamic changes in the levels of polysaccharides, proteins, EGCG, and caffeine. The “knock-out/knock-in” experiment revealed that the interactions between EGCG or caffeine and macro-molecule components were not the key factors in tea cream microstructure formation. However, it was found that the complexation between EGCG and caffeine played a crucial role in the formation of tea cream. The findings suggested that decreasing the concentrations of EGCG and caffeine could be useful in controlling tea cream formation during tea beverage processing and storage.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies in China. Most HCC patients are firstly diagnosed at an advanced stage, and systemic treatments are the mainstay of treatment. Summary: In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors have made a breakthrough in the systemic treatment of middle-advanced HCC, breaking the single therapeutic pattern of molecular targeted agents. To better guide the clinical treatment for effective and safe use of immunotherapeutic drugs, the Chinese Association of Liver Cancer and Chinese Medical Doctor Association has gathered multidisciplinary experts and scholars in relevant fields to formulate the “Chinese Clinical Expert Consensus on Immunotherapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (2021)” based on current clinical studies and clinical medication experience for reference in China. Key messages: The consensus contained 17 recommendations, including the preferred regimen for first- and second-line immunotherapy, evaluation and monitoring before/during/after treatment, management of complications, precautions for special patients and potential population for immunotherapy.

BackgroundMitral valve surgery (MVS) is an effective treatment for mitral valve diseases. There is a lack of reliable personalized risk prediction models for mortality in patients undergoing mitral valve surgery. Our aim was to develop a risk stratification system to predict all-cause mortality in patients after mitral valve surgery.MethodsDifferent machine learning models for the prediction of all-cause mortality were trained on a derivation cohort of 1,883 patients undergoing mitral valve surgery [split into a training cohort (70%) and internal validation cohort (30%)] to predict all-cause mortality. Forty-five clinical variables routinely evaluated at discharge were used to train the models. The best performance model (PRIME score) was tested in an externally validated cohort of 220 patients undergoing mitral valve surgery. The model performance was evaluated according to the area under the curve (AUC). Net reclassification improvement (NRI) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were compared with existing risk strategies.ResultsAfter a median follow-up of 2 years, there were 133 (7.063%) deaths in the derivation cohort and 17 (7.727%) deaths in the validation cohort. The PRIME score showed an AUC of 0.902 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.849–0.956) in the internal validation cohort and 0.873 (95% CI: 0.769–0.977) in the external validation cohort. In the external validation cohort, the performance of the PRIME score was significantly improved compared with that of the existing EuroSCORE II (NRI = 0.550, [95% CI 0.001–1.099], P = 0.049, IDI = 0.485, [95% CI 0.230–0.741], P < 0.001).ConclusionMachine learning-based model (the PRIME score) that integrate clinical, demographic, imaging, and laboratory features demonstrated superior performance for the prediction of mortality patients after mitral valve surgery compared with the traditional risk model EuroSCORE II.Clinical Trial Registration[http://www.clinicaltrials.gov], identifier [NCT05141292].

Objectives: Discuss the experience and practice of multidisciplinary cooperation of diabetic foot in China and analyze its impact on the quality of care.Methods: This study observed the medical procedure by interviewing 12 key personnel in-depth. We extracted data from medical records and assessed the effect of MDT in three dimensions: quality, efficiency, and cost, to eventually achieve a final conclusion.Results: The studied reform includes the following three aspects: the adjustment of hospital buildings layout and disciplines, one-stop outpatient, and one-stop inpatient service. After the multidisciplinary collaboration, the rate of above-knee amputation is reduced by 3.63%, the disability score per 100 diabetic foot patients decreases by 6.12, the average length of stay decreases significantly, and the cost of hospitalization shows an increasing trend.Conclusions: Multidisciplinary collaboration is performed based on spatial layout adjustment and clinical pathway optimization, which provide more comprehensive and integrated care than a general medical team or a single specialist, thereby reducing the rate of disability, shortening the length of hospitalization. Besides, the new measurable indicator called disability score per 100 diabetic foot patients has been verified to evaluate the living ability of patients after surgery. This paper provides a reference for organizational reform of multidisciplinary diseases to support treatment and management of other multiorgan diseases.

Abstract Background Although the most thyroid carcinoma patients have good prognosis, around 20% of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients have a high rate of metastasis and recurrence after routine treatment, which causes high lethality with these patients. Tumor proliferation, metastasis, and invasion are important predictors of PTC invasiveness and are key factors in cancer-related death. Angiopoietin-like 2 (ANGPTL2), a secreted protein which belongs to the angiopoietin (ANGPTL) family, was reported to be involved in the regulation of several different type of cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. However, whether ANGPTL2 plays a role in the progression of PTC, particularly in metastasis and recurrence of PTC, remains unclear. Hence, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of ANGPTL2 in PTC and normal thyroid, as well as para-cancerous tissue. Furthermore, the impact of ANGPTL2 on PTC cell proliferation, metastasis, recurrence and invasion was assessed to investigate the possibility whether ANGPTL2 may become a novel target for PTC therapy and cancer prognosis. Materials and methods The level of ANGPTL2 in PTC and para-cancerous tissue was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The biological effect of ANGPTL2 on thyroid cancer cell proliferation and metastasis was investigated by the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) assay, cell scratch test, and transwell assay. Correlations of ANGPTL2 expression levels with proliferation, migration, and metastasis of thyroid cancer were assessed with the TCGA data set and analyzed by gene set enrichment analysis. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to evaluate the utility of ANGPTL2 as a biomarker for prediction of thyroid cancer. Survival analysis was performed using the thyroid cancer database in K–M Plotter to detect correlations between survival time and ANGPTL2 levels. Results Current study revealed that: (1) ANGPTL2 was highly expressed in thyroid cancer in comparison with adjacent normal thyroid tissue; (2) ANGPTL2 expression was increased with thyroid tumor progression; (3) ANGPTL2 increased proliferation of thyroid cancer cells; (4) ANGPTL2 promoted migration and invasion of thyroid cancer cells; (5) high level of ANGPTL2 in thyroid cancer patients were significantly associated with a poor prognosis. The patients showed a higher metastasis and recurrence rate. Conclusion ANGPTL2 promoted and enhanced proliferation, metastasis, and invasion of thyroid cancer cells. ANGPTL2 may be considered as a potential biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of thyroid cancer patients. Further evaluation needs to be done to analyze the possibility of taking ANGPTL2 as a prognostic marker and therapeutic target for papillary thyroid cancer.

Background: The association between the premorbid use of statin and the early outcomes of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) after intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) remains uncertain. We performed a meta-analysis of observational studies to evaluate the influence of the premorbid use of statin on functional outcome and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (SIH) in AIS after IVT.Methods: Relevant studies were identified by search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane's Library databases. Only studies with multivariate analyses were included. A random-effect model, incorporating inter-study heterogeneity, was used to pool the results.Results: Twenty observational studies with 20,752 AIS patients who were treated with IVT were included. The pooled results showed that the premorbid use of statin was not associated with improved 3-month favorable functional outcome [odds ratio (OR): 1.05, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87–1.26, p = 0.60, I2 = 52%), 3-month functional independence (OR: 1.13, 95% CI: 0.96–1.33, p = 0.15, I2 = 52%), or 3-month mortality (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.94–1.34, p = 0.20, I2 = 20%). Moreover, the premorbid use of statin was associated with an increased risk of SIH in AIS after IVT (OR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.12–1.95, p = 0.006, I2 = 60%). Subgroup analyses according to study design, adjustment of baseline low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and definitions of SIH showed consistent results (p-values for subgroup difference all >0.05).Conclusions: The premorbid use of statin is not associated with improved functional outcomes or mortality but is associated with a higher risk of SIH in AIS patients after IVT.

This study investigates the morphological and rheological properties of blended gelatin (GA; a cooling-induced gel (cool-gel)) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC; a heating-induced gel (thermo-gel)) systems using a fluorescence microscope, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and a rheometer. The results clearly indicate that the two biopolymers are immiscible and have low compatibility. Moreover, the rheological behavior and morphology of the GA/HPMC blends significantly depend on the blending ratio and concentration. Higher polysaccharide contents decrease the gelling temperature and improve the gel viscoelasticity character of GA/HPMC blended gels. The SAXS results reveal that the correlation length (ξ) of the blended gels decreases from 5.16 to 1.89 nm as the HPMC concentration increases from 1 to 6%, which suggests that much denser networks are formed in blended gels with higher HPMC concentrations. Overall, the data reported herein indicate that the gel properties of gelatin can be enhanced by blending with a heating-induced gel.

Over the past 30 years, particulate matter (PM) air pollution has progressively worsened in many of China′s urban and suburban areas. This review provides a current picture of the air pollution in China with an emphasis on the history of PM pollution, policies and reduction goals, recent improvements, and known adverse health effects of PM exposure. Several studies have provided the analyses of current PM pollution levels in cities across China using satellite data and air-monitoring stations. These analyses are consistent with the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) 2015 air pollution report, which concluded that only 8 of 74 (10.8%) cities met the Chinese standards for safe annual average PM 2.5 exposure (35 μg/m 3 ). Even fewer cities met the World Health Organization PM 2.5 guideline of 10 μg/m 3 . The Government of China has acknowledged the public health threat of PM pollution and enacted higher standards and goals through the 12 th five-year plan (FYP) (2010), National Ambient Air Quality Standard (2012), the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (2013), and the 13 th FYP (2016). A comparative analysis between 2010 and 2015 satellite data shows that PM pollution decreased by around 17% during this period. This improvement is corroborated by the MEP′s report on the State of the Environment in 2014 and the global burden of disease report in 2013. Despite these changes, PM pollution remains a substantial public health challenge. In 2010, an estimated 1.235 million deaths in China were attributed to PM air pollution. Long-term exposure to PM pollution increases the rates of cardiovascular, metabolic, and respiratory mortality. In particular, PM exposure increases the morbidity of respiratory illnesses such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and lower respiratory infections (LRIs). Elevated levels of PM have been found to increase the incidence of all of the top five causes of death in 2012: Ischemic heart disease, stroke, COPD, LRI, and lung cancer. In addition, higher PM pollution decreases average birth weight, raises incidence of preterm birth, and increases the prevalence of Type II diabetes mellitus across the population. With the knowledge of these serious health consequences, China must enact greater measures to reduce dangerous PM levels.

Stroke is the most common type of cerebrovascular disease and is a leading cause of disability and death. Ischemic stroke accounts for approximately 80% of all strokes. The remaining 20% of strokes are hemorrhagic in nature. To date, therapeutic options for acute ischemic stroke are very limited. Recent research suggests that shifting microglial phenotype from the pro-inflammatory M1 state toward the anti-inflammatory and tissue-reparative M2 phenotype may be an effective therapeutic strategy for ischemic stroke. The dietary phytochemical curcumin has shown promise in experimental stroke models, but its effects on microglial polarization and long-term recovery after stroke are unknown. Here we address these gaps by subjecting mice to distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (dMCAO) and administering curcumin intraperitoneally (150 mg/kg) immediately after ischemia and 24 h later. Histological studies revealed that curcumin post-treatment significantly reduced cerebral ischemic damage 3 days after dMCAO. Sensorimotor functions—as measured by the adhesive removal test and modified Garcia scores—were superior in curcumin-treated mice at 3, 5, 7 and 10 days after stroke. RT-PCR measurements revealed an elevation of M2 microglia/macrophage phenotypic markers and a reduction in M1 markers in curcumin-treated brains 3 days after dMCAO. Immunofluorescent staining further showed that curcumin treatment significantly increased the number of CD206+Iba1+ M2 microglia/macrophages and reduced the number of CD16+Iba1+ M1 cells 10 days after stroke. In vitro studies using the BV2 microglial cell line confirmed that curcumin inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-induced M1 polarization. Curcumin treatment concentration-dependently reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-12p70, in the absence of any toxic effect on microglial cell survival. In conclusion, we demonstrate that curcumin has a profound regulatory effect on microglial responses, promoting M2 microglial polarization and inhibiting microglia-mediated pro-inflammatory responses. Curcumin post-treatment reduces ischemic stroke-induced brain damage and improves functional outcomes, providing new evidence that curcumin might be a promising therapeutic strategy for stroke.

Puffed-grain food is a crispy snack whose consumer satisfaction depends on snack crispness and crunchiness, which can be characterized by the sound and the acoustic signals of food breaking. This study aimed to evaluate whether acoustic characteristics can be used to predict the crispness of various puffed-grain food. Sensory evaluation was performed on puffed-grain products with varying hygroscopic durations and different types. The relation between sensory evaluation and acoustic characteristics of nine different types of food was examined. The Hilbert--Huang transform was used to perform energy segmentation of the acoustic signal of puffed-grain food and observe its energy migration process. The results showed that energy release was more concentrated in the low-frequency range for grain-puffed foods with different hygroscopic durations. No notable correlation was observed between the lowfrequency interval and sensory crispness for the different types of puffed-grain foods. However, the acoustic features extracted from their inherent low-frequency intervals showed a significantly improved correlation with sensory crispness. Therefore, it provides a theoretical reference for applying acoustic characteristics to describe food texture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) pose a significant health burden in China, where the large population and vast geography limit access to care. Telehealth (tHealth) services provide a virtual model of care that can enhance CVD management. This study aims to describe the trajectory of tHealth services for cardiovascular care between 2016 and 2020 in China, assess their utilization, and discuss their implications for improving access to care in resource-scarce regions. Data were collected on patient-facing, operational tHealth apps in Mainland China. In 2016, 45.8% of tertiary hospitals were accessible via tHealth apps, with a 10.7% annual growth rate. Wealthier regions had better tHealth coverage, irrespective of CVD burden. In 2016 and 2020, 34% and 67% of patients, respectively, consulted doctors located outside of their provinces, primarily in wealthier areas. The most common CVDs managed were hypertension, coronary artery disease, and arrhythmia. These findings suggest that tHealth services improve care access, especially in underdeveloped regions, but widespread technology adoption remains crucial.

Abstract Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder with increasing prevalence and poor control rates, leading to adverse events. Prognostic nutritional value (PNI) has been identified as a protective factor in DM, but its role in uncontrolled DM remains unclear. Methods This study based on the representative cohort of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2005 to 2018. A total of 3,313 participants with uncontrolled DM were included in our analyses. PNI was calculated as 5×lymphocyte count (109/L)+ 10×serum albumin (g/L). The endpoints were DM-related and cardiovascular mortality, which were obtained from National Death Index. Univariable and multivariable cox proportional hazard regression were performed to investigate prognostic value of PNI. Results Among 3,313 patients with uncontrolled DM (mean age of 61.75 ± 12.78 years, 53.4% male), PNI level was negatively associated with inflammatory markers and positively associated with metabolic markers of lipid and protein. During a median follow-up of 77 months, 247 DM-related deaths and 205 cardiovascular deaths occurred. Higher PNI levels independently predicted low DM-related (adjusted Hazard ratio [HR] = 0.872, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.840–0.906, P

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and caffeine are inevitable to be ingested together in the process of drinking green tea. This study used Caenorhabditis elegans as an organism model to examine whether the binding of EGCG and caffeine could influence the fat-reduction effect. The results revealed that EGCG significantly reduced the Nile Red fluorescence intensity and the triglyceride/protein ratio of the C. elegans obesity model by 14.7% and 16.5%, respectively, while the effect of caffeine was not significant. Moreover, the degree of reduction in fluorescence intensity and triglyceride/protein ratio by EGCG + caffeine was comparable to that of EGCG. In the exploration of underlying mechanism, we found that EGCG and EGCG + caffeine treatments had no influence on food intake and energy expenditure of C. elegans. Their fat-reduction effects were dependent on the regulation of lipogenesis, as shown by the decreased expression of the sbp-1, fat-7, and daf-16 genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Native core microbiomes represent a unique opportunity to support food provision and plant-based industries. Yet, these microbiomes are often neglected when developing synthetic communities (SynComs) to support plant health and growth. Here, we study the contribution of native core, native non-core and non-native microorganisms to support plant production. We construct four alternative SynComs based on the excellent growth promoting ability of individual stain and paired non-antagonistic action. One of microbiome based SynCom (SC2) shows a high niche breadth and low average variation degree in-vitro interaction. The promoting-growth effect of SC2 can be transferred to non-sterile environment, attributing to the colonization of native core microorganisms and the improvement of rhizosphere promoting-growth function including nitrogen fixation, IAA production, and dissolved phosphorus. Further, microbial fertilizer based on SC2 and composite carrier (rapeseed cake fertilizer + rice husk carbon) increase the net biomass of plant by 129%. Our results highlight the fundamental importance of native core microorganisms to boost plant production.

Abstract Background Microplastics, widely present in the environment, are implicated in disease pathogenesis through oxidative stress and immune modulation. Prevailing research, primarily based on animal and cell studies, falls short in elucidating microplastics' impact on human cardiovascular health. This cross-sectional study detected blood microplastic concentrations in patients presenting with chest pain using pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and evaluating inflammatory and immune markers through flow cytometry, to explore the potential effects of microplastic on acute coronary syndrome. Results The study included 101 participants, comprising 19 controls and 82 acute coronary syndrome cases. Notably, acute coronary syndrome patients exhibited elevated microplastic concentrations, with those suffering from acute myocardial infarction presenting higher loads compared to those with unstable angina. Furthermore, patients at intermediate to high risk of coronary artery disease displayed significantly higher microplastic accumulations than their low-risk counterparts. A significant relationship was observed between increased microplastic levels and enhanced IL-6 and IL-12p70 contents, alongside elevated B lymphocyte and natural killer cell counts. Conclusion These results suggest an association between microplastics and both vascular pathology complexity and immunoinflammatory response in acute coronary syndrome, underscoring the critical need for targeted research to delineate the mechanisms of this association. Highlights 1 Blood microplastic levels escalate from angiographic patency, to angina patients, peaking in myocardial infarction patients. 2 Microplastics in acute coronary syndrome patients are predominantly PE, followed by PVC, PS, and PP. 3 Microplastics may induce immune cell-associated inflammatory responses in acute coronary syndrome patients. Graphical abstract

Abstract Background Empowerment is a comprehensive concept involving intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral aspects. However, there is a lack of a specific empowerment scale for Coronary artery disease (CAD) related to knowledge and skills in China. The reliability and validity of the Coronary Artery Disease Empowerment Scale (CADES) need to be tested. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of CADES among patients with CAD in China. Methods The study adopted a cross-sectional design. After obtaining the copyright by contacting the author, the original English CADES was developed into Chinese by forward translation, back-translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and a pretest (30 patients). The Chinese version of CADES was administered to 391 CAD patients between September 2022 and June 2023, with the reliability and validity of the version evaluated. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to examine the underlying factor structure of the translated questionnaire. The Cronbach’s α coefficient, Guttman’s split-half coefficient, and McDonald’s omega coefficient were calculated to verify the scale’s reliability. Results For the Chinese version of CADES, the scale-content validity index was 0.972, with the item-content validity index ranging from 0.86 to 1.00. The questionnaire comprised 25 items, and exploratory factor analysis extracted four factors with loadings > 0.40, explaining 62.382% of the total variance. An acceptable model fit was achieved (χ2/df = 1.764, RMSEA = 0.060, TLI = 0.901, CFI = 0.912, IFI = 0.913). The Cronbach’s α coefficient of the total questionnaire was 0.928, with coefficients for the four factors ranging from 0.683 to 0.913. The split-half reliability coefficient was 0.777, and the McDonald’s omega reliability coefficient was 0.926. Conclusions The Chinese version of CADES is reliable and valid among CAD patients in China. This instrument can serve as a valuable reference for guiding the implementation of targeted intervention strategies tailored to the empowerment status of CAD patients in clinical practice.

BackgroundPeripheral arteriosclerosis is caused by any atherosclerosis outside the heart and brain. However, the underlying biological mechanisms are not fully understood. This study aims to explore the causal relationship between blood metabolites and peripheral arteriosclerosis.MethodsA Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was implemented to estimate the causality of blood metabolites on peripheral arteriosclerosis. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 1,400 metabolites was used as the exposure, whereas two different GWAS datasets of peripheral arteriosclerosis were the outcomes. Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) was the main analysis of causal analysis. MR-Egger, the simple mode, weighted median and weighted mode were used to increase the stability and robustness of the results. Cochran Q test, MR-Egger intercept test, the funnel plot, and MR-Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier were used for sensitivity analyses. Furthermore, metabolic pathway enrichment analysis was performed using MetaboAnalyst5.0.ResultsIn this MR study, eight blood metabolites have a strong causal relationship with peripheral arteriosclerosis, including 1-myristoyl-2-arachidonoyl-GPC (14:0/20:4), 1-palmitoyl-2-arachidonoyl-gpc (16:0/20:4n6), 1-(1-enyl-stearoyl)-2-arachidonoyl-GPE, 1-palmitoyl-2-dihomo-linolenoyl-GPC, Gamma-glutamylleucine, Deoxycholic acid glucuronide and two named X- (X-24546, X-26111). In addition, five important metabolic pathways in peripheral arteriosclerosis were identified through metabolic pathway analysis.ConclusionThis study provides evidence for the causal relationship between blood metabolites and peripheral arteriosclerosis, and these eight blood metabolites provide new perspectives for screening and prevention of peripheral arteriosclerosis in the future.

Increasing evidences suggest the important role of calcium homeostasis in hallmarks of cancer, but its function and regulatory network in metastasis remain unclear. A comprehensive investigation of key regulators in cancer metastasis is urgently needed. Transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) of primary esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and matched metastatic tissues and a series of gain/loss-of-function experiments identified potassium channel tetramerization domain containing 4 (KCTD4) as a driver of cancer metastasis. KCTD4 expression was found upregulated in metastatic ESCC. High KCTD4 expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients with ESCC and contributes to cancer metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, KCTD4 binds to CLIC1 and disrupts its dimerization, thus increasing intracellular Ca2+ level to enhance NFATc1-dependent fibronectin transcription. KCTD4-induced fibronectin secretion activates fibroblasts in a paracrine manner, which in turn promotes cancer cell invasion via MMP24 signaling as positive feedback. Furthermore, a lead compound K279-0738 significantly suppresses cancer metastasis by targeting the KCTD4‒CLIC1 interaction, providing a potential therapeutic strategy. Taken together, our study not only uncovers KCTD4 as a regulator of calcium homeostasis, but also reveals KCTD4/CLIC1-Ca2+-NFATc1-fibronectin signaling as a novel mechanism of cancer metastasis. These findings validate KCTD4 as a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for ESCC.

The Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI) sensor on board the geostationary satellite Fengyun-4B (FY-4B) is capable of capturing particles in different phases in the atmospheric environment and acquiring aerosol observation data with high spatial and temporal resolution. To understand the quality of the Land Aerosol (LDA) product of AGRI and its application prospects, we conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the AGRI LDA AOD. Using the 550 nm AGRI LDA AOD (550 nm) of nearly 1 year (1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023) to compare with the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET), MODIS MAIAC, and Himawari-9/AHI AODs. Results show the erratic algorithmic performance of AGRI LDA AOD, the correlation coefficient (R), mean error (Bias), root mean square error (RMSE), and the percentage of data with errors falling within the expected error envelope of ±(0.05+0.15×AODAERONET) (within EE15) of the LDA AOD dataset are 0.55, 0.328, 0.533, and 34%, respectively. The LDA AOD appears to be overestimated easily in the southern and western regions of China and performs poorly in the offshore areas, with an R of 0.43, a Bias of 0.334, a larger RMSE of 0.597, and a global climate observing system fraction (GCOSF) percentage of 15% compared to the inland areas (R = 0.60, Bias = 0.163, RMSE = 0.509, GCOSF = 17%). Future improvements should focus on surface reflectance calculation, water vapor attenuation, and more suitable aerosol model selection to improve the algorithm’s accuracy.

Atmospheric methane is one of the major greenhouse gases with a drastic impact on climate change. This study developed a random forest model to obtain a daily 5 km resolution atmospheric methane concentration dataset with full spatial coverage (100%) from 2019 to 2021 in mainland China, thereby filling the gap in the methane product data from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). The coefficients of determination for a sample-based and spatial-based cross-validation are 0.97 and 0.93, respectively. The average deviation of the seamless methane product reconstructed by the random forest model is less than 1%, validated with the measured methane concentration data from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network sites. Methane concentrations in China show a distribution of high in the east and south and low in the west and north. The high-concentration areas include Central China, the Sichuan Basin, the Pearl River Delta, and the Yangtze River Delta. In terms of time scale, the methane concentration has evident seasonal variation, as it is low in spring (average 1852 ppb) and winter (average 1881 ppb) and high in summer (average 1885 ppb) and autumn (average 1886 ppb). This is mainly due to the significant increase in emissions from rice cultivation and wetlands during the summer and autumn. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the methane concentration decreases significantly and then starts to return to normal around 70 days after the Lunar New Year, indicating that the seamless methane product can potentially detect anomalous changes in methane concentration.

Atmospheric methane is one of the major greenhouse gases and has a great impact on climate change. To obtain the polluted levels of atmospheric methane in the ground-level range, this study used satellite observations and vertical profile features derived by atmospheric chemistry model to estimate the ground methane concentrations in first. Then, the improved daily ground-level atmospheric methane concentration dataset with full spatial coverage (100%) and 5-km resolution in mainland China from 2019 to 2021 were retrieved by station-based observations and gaussian regression model. The overall estimated deviation between the estimated ground methane concentrations and the WDCGG station-based measurements is less than 10 ppbv. The R by ten-fold cross-validation is 0.93, and the R2 is 0.87. The distribution of the ground-level methane concentrations in the Chinese region is characterized by high in the east and south, and low in the west and north. On the time scale, ground-level methane concentration in the Chinese region is higher in winter and lower in summer. Meanwhile, the spatial and temporal distribution and changes of ground-level methane in local areas have been analyzed using Shandong Province as an example. The results have a potential to detect changes in the distribution of methane concentration.

BackgroundEmbodied conversational agents (ECAs) are computer-generated animated humanlike characters that interact with users through verbal and nonverbal behavioral cues. They are increasingly used in a range of fields, including health care. ObjectiveThis scoping review aims to identify the current practice in the development and evaluation of ECAs for chronic diseases. MethodsWe applied a methodological framework in this review. A total of 6 databases (ie, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, and Web of Science) were searched using a combination of terms related to ECAs and health in October 2023. Two independent reviewers selected the studies and extracted the data. This review followed the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) statement. ResultsThe literature search found 6332 papers, of which 36 (0.57%) met the inclusion criteria. Among the 36 studies, 27 (75%) originated from the United States, and 28 (78%) were published from 2020 onward. The reported ECAs covered a wide range of chronic diseases, with a focus on cancers, atrial fibrillation, and type 2 diabetes, primarily to promote screening and self-management. Most ECAs were depicted as middle-aged women based on screenshots and communicated with users through voice and nonverbal behavior. The most frequently reported evaluation outcomes were acceptability and effectiveness. ConclusionsThis scoping review provides valuable insights for technology developers and health care professionals regarding the development and implementation of ECAs. It emphasizes the importance of technological advances in the embodiment, personalized strategy, and communication modality and requires in-depth knowledge of user preferences regarding appearance, animation, and intervention content. Future studies should incorporate measures of cost, efficiency, and productivity to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the benefits of using ECAs in health care.

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is a common type of cancer among women with an increasing worldwide incidence rate. However, there are no specific and sensitive molecular biomarkers for DTC diagnosis or prognosis. Angiopoietin-like protein 1 (ANGPTL1) may be a novel tumor suppressor in lung, breast, colorectal and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, little is known about the influence of ANGPTL1 on the malignant properties of thyroid cancer cells or DTC recurrence in patients. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of ANGPTL1 on thyroid cancer malignancy or recurrence. The present study examined the mRNA levels of ANGPTL1 in thyroid cancer and paracancerous tissues using RNA sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. The present study also determined the effects of ANGPTL1 on thyroid cancer cell proliferation using the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. Associations were identified among ANGPTL1 expression levels and thyroid cancer proliferation, migration and metastasis using The Cancer Genome Atlas data set and by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. The expression of ANGPTL1 in patients with DTC and without recurrence was compared in order to assess its potential as a prognostic biomarker for DTC. In addition, ANGPTL1 concentrations in the serum of patients with DTC and individuals with benign thyroid nodules were compared to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of ANGPTL1 as a predictive biomarker for DTC. The results of the present study demonstrated that ANGPTL1 expression levels were lower in thyroid cancer compared with those in adjacent normal thyroid tissues. ANGPTL1 expression was observed to decrease with thyroid cancer progression. In addition, ANGPTL1 was demonstrated to inhibit thyroid cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion and ANGPTL1 expression levels were reduced in patients with DTC with recurrence compared with those in patients with non-recurrent DTC. Additionally, serum concentrations of ANGPTL1 in patients with DTC were decreased compared with those in individuals with benign thyroid nodules. In conclusion, ANGPTL1 may be a novel predictive biomarker for DTC diagnosis and recurrence in patients with DTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-level ozone concentration has demonstrated a noteworthy increasing trend in easternChina over the past 20 years, exerting inescapable influence on atmospheric chemistry, climate change, and air pollution. To support epidemiological research and prevent further environmental pollution, it is imperative to monitor the spatio-temporal distribution of ground-level ozone pollution. Geostationary satellites prove a promising approach to make up for the limitation of ground-based measurement and polar-orbiting observation by acquiring regional atmospheric measurements of high spatio-temporal resolution, yet inevitably exists spatial discontinuity caused by the cloud cover. This study established an effective model to produce spatially continuous estimation of hourly 5 km ground-level ozone (O3) concentrations covered most of China by firstly integrating hourly Himawari-8 SWR product from 1 March 2018 to 28 February 2019. The R2 values of established model of all available samples for direct fitting, 20-fold cluster-based CV, 10-fold site-based CV, and 10-fold sample-based CV reaches 0.95, 0.69, 0.87 and 0.89, respectively, implying superior universality and spatial scalability. The R2 values of seasonal site-based CV range from 0.78 (Winter) to 0.86 (Autumn), and that of hourly site-based CV ranges from 0.73 (0900 BST) to 0.86 (1300 BST). In addition, this study displayed the spatial distribution of the estimated ground-level ozone from the temporal scales of quarter, week, and day. Summer (87.1 ± 28.2 μg/m3) proves to be the most polluted season, and the least polluted season is winter (59.4 ± 16.1 μg/m3). 1400 BST appears to be the most polluted hour (87.4 ± 26.6 μg/m3) and 0900 BST is the least polluted hour (59.1 ± 16.8 μg/m3). Remarkable “weekend effect of ozone” has been detected in northeast Hebei and Sichuan Basin and Yangtze River valley.

Abstract The development of fifth‐generation technology has resulted in increased demand for materials with low dielectric losses and superior thermal and mechanical properties. However, ensuring the widespread use of such materials by investigating their aging mechanisms and operating lifetimes remains challenging. In this study, a glass‐fiber (GF)‐reinforced acrylate‐styrene‐acrylonitrile/polycarbonate (ASA/GF/PC) composite is designed and comprehensively investigated its aging behavior, mechanism, and service lifetime under long‐term hygrothermal conditions. Based on the general Peck model, the composite maintains a high level of quality for over 10 years, including under harsh conditions of 40 °C and 80% relative humidity. The aging mechanism is primarily ascribed to cracking between the GF fibers and matrix, the breaking of chemical bonds, the generation of new cross‐linked domains, and physical aging. These findings provide valuable insights into the long‐term utilization of ASA/GF/PC composites in harsh environments.

BackgroundChronic disease self-management is a public health issue of worldwide concern, and gamification is an emerging strategy to improve patients’ participation in chronic disease self-management. Some studies have summarized designs for the gamification of chronic disease self-management from the perspective of eHealth technology, but they have not mentioned differences in design methods, functions, and evaluation methods of gamified designs for self-management in different chronic diseases. ObjectiveThis scoping review aims to synthesize the characteristics of realization forms, functions, and evaluation methods in chronic disease self-management gamification to improve self-management among the chronic disease population. MethodsWe applied a methodological framework for scoping reviews and the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist. As of January 7, 2023, we systematically searched 9 databases for relevant studies from January 2012 to December 2022. Related data were extracted based on the research questions. We calculated the frequencies, charted the quantitative data, and coded the extracted material for qualitative content analysis. ResultsWe retrieved 16,221 records, of which 70 (0.43%) met the eligibility criteria. In the included research, the target populations for gamified designs for self-management of chronic diseases included patients with stroke, cancer, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, obesity, and hypertension. Almost all studies mentioned technical support for gamification (68/70, 97%), mainly in the form of active video games (58/70, 83%); however, less than half of the studies mentioned the theoretical basis for gamification (31/70, 44%). There were 37 concepts or theories relevant to gamification design, most of which were in the field of psychology or were cross-disciplinary (n=33, 89%). Gamification for the self-management of chronic diseases has been widely recognized, including for promoting physical exercise and rehabilitation training (48/99, 48%), increasing initiative for symptom management (18/99, 18%), providing psychological support (14/99, 14%), improving cognitive function (12/99, 12%), and improving medication adherence (7/99, 7%). A total of 39 studies mentioned the gamification effect; however, we did not find a unified evaluation standard. ConclusionsThis scoping review focuses on gamification designs for chronic disease self-management and summarizes the realization forms and functions of gamification in self-management for different patient populations. With practice in a gamified internet-based environment, patients can not only master the knowledge and skills of self-management in fascinating scenarios but also benefit from gaming experience and make better health-related decisions in real life. It is worth noting that a comprehensive evaluation of the users as well as a personalized and targeted intervention should be developed before gamification.

Objective: Doxorubicin (DOX) is commonly used for chemotherapy; however, its clinical value is extremely dampened because of the fatal cardiotoxicity. Leucine zipper protein 1 (LUZP1) plays critical roles in cardiovascular development, and this study is designed for determining its function and mechanism in DOX-induced cardiotoxicity. Methods: Cardiac-specific Luzp1 knockout (cKO) and transgenic (cTG) mice received a single or repeated DOX injections to establish acute and chronic cardiotoxicity. Biomarkers of inflammation, oxidative damage and cell apoptosis were evaluated. Transcriptome and co-immunoprecipitation analysis were used to screen the underlying molecular pathways. Meanwhile, primary cardiomyocytes were applied to confirm the beneficial effects of LUZP1 in depth. Results: LUZP1 was upregulated in DOX-injured hearts and cardiomyocytes. Cardiac-specific LUZP1 deficiency aggravated, while cardiac-specific LUZP1 overexpression attenuated DOX-associated inflammation, oxidative damage, cell apoptosis and acute cardiac injury. Mechanistic studies revealed that LUZP1 ameliorated DOX-induced cardiotoxicity through activating 5′-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway, and AMPK deficiency abolished the cardioprotection of LUZP1. Further findings suggested that LUZP1 interacted with protein phosphatase 1 to activate AMPK pathway. Moreover, we determined that cardiac-specific LUZP1 overexpression could also attenuate DOX-associated chronic cardiac injury in mice. Conclusion: LUZP1 attenuates DOX-induced inflammation, oxidative damage, cell apoptosis and ventricular impairment through regulating AMPK pathway, and gene therapy targeting LUZP1 may provide novel therapeutic approached to treat DOX-induced cardiotoxicity.

A breakthrough has been made in the Permian Maokou Formation by the well of YB 7 in Yuanba area of the Sichuan Basin, which shows a great exploration potential. With continuous enrichment of data, it is necessary to strengthen the understanding of oil and gas laws and to summarize the main controlling factors of hydrocarbon accumulation, by which a basis for oil and gas exploration and deployment may be provided. In this paper, basic accumulation conditions and characteristics of gas pools in the Maokou Formation were studied, gas-source correlation and hydrocarbon charging time analyses were carried out, and some main controlling factors for hydrocarbon accumulation were summarized. The study area has favorable conditions for source rock and hydrocarbon preservation. The reservoir is mainly shoal superimposed karst fractured type. The gas pool is characterized by abnormally high pressure and high temperature. The natural gas is accumulated from both kerogen and crude oil cracking gas, mainly derived from the Wujiaping Formation. The oil and gas are largely filled in the Middle Jurassic, characterized by continuous filling. The hydrocarbon accumulation in the study area is mainly controlled by reservoir development, source rock conditions and hydrocarbon preservation conditions.

Splenectomy before or immediately after stroke provides early brain protection. This study aims to explore the effect of splenectomy on long-term neurological recovery after stroke, which is currently lacking in the field. Adult male rats were randomized into splenectomy or sham groups and then subjected to 90 min of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Spleen was removed right upon reperfusion or 3d after MCAO. Infarct volume, neurological functions, and peripheral immune cell populations were assessed up to 28d after stroke. The results show that delayed removal of spleen did not reduce brain tissue loss and showed no effect on sensorimotor function (Rotarod, beam balance, forelimb placing, grid walk, and adhesive removal tests) or cognitive function (Morris water maze). Spleen removal immediately upon reperfusion, although significantly reduced the infarct size and immune cell infiltration 3d after MCAO, also failed to promote long-term recovery. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that immediate splenectomy after MCAO resulted in a prolonged decrease in the percentage of CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ T cells in total lymphocytes as compared to non-splenectomy MCAO rats. In contrast, the percentage of CD3-CD45RA+ B cells was significantly elevated after splenectomy. As a result, the ratio of T/B cells was significantly reduced in stroke rats with splenectomy. In conclusion, delayed splenectomy failed to provide long-term protection to the ischemic brain or improve functional recovery. The acute neuroprotective effect achieved by early splenectomy after stroke cannot last for long term. This loss of neuroprotection might be related to the prolonged disturbance in the T cell to B cell ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the integration of satellite-based LiDAR (ICESat-2) and continuous remote sensing imagery has been extensively applied to mapping forest canopy height over large areas. A considerable fraction of low-quality photons exists in ICESAT-2/ATL08 products, which restricts the performance of regional canopy height estimation. To solve these problems, a Local Noise Removal-Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LNR-LGB) method was proposed in this study, which efficiently filtered the unreliable canopy photons in ATL08, constructed an extrapolation model by combining multiple remote sensing data, and finally mapped the 30 m forest canopy height of Hunan Province in 2020. To verify the feasibility of this method, the canopy parameters were also filtered based on ATL08 product attributes (traditional method), and the accuracy of the two models was compared using the 10-fold cross-validation. The conclusions were as follows: (1) compared with the traditional model, the overall accuracy of the LNR-LGB model was approximately doubled, in which R2 increased from 0.46 to 0.65 and RMSE decreased from 6.11 m to 3.48 m; (2) the forest height in Hunan Province ranged from 2.53 to 50.79 m with an average value of 18.34 m. The LNR-LGB method will provide a new concept for achieving high-accuracy mapping of regional forest height.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have emerged as a powerful and efficacious therapeutic approach for many cancer patients. Sintilimab is a fully human IgG4 monoclonal antibody that binds with programmed cell death receptor-1 (PD-1) to block its interaction with ligands, thereby enhancing the antitumor effects of T cells. However, ICIs may induce immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in various systems and organs, with fulminant myocarditis being the most severe one. We report the case of a 45-year-old female with gastric cancer who developed chest pain two weeks after chemotherapy with sintilimab; she was diagnosed with immune-associated fulminant myocarditis and experienced an Adams–Stokes syndrome attack in the hospital. Eventually, she was discharged after being treated with methylprednisolone, immunoglobulin, and an IABP.

Infrared thermography is a widely utilized nondestructive testing technique in the field of artwork inspection. However, raw thermograms often suffer from problems, such as limited quantity and high background noise, due to limitations inherent in the acquisition equipment and experimental environment. To overcome these challenges, there is a growing interest in developing thermographic data enhancement methods. In this study, a defect inspection method for artwork based on principal component analysis is proposed, incorporating two distinct deep learning approaches for thermographic data enhancement: spectral normalized generative adversarial network (SNGAN) and convolutional autoencoder (CAE). The SNGAN strategy focuses on augmenting the thermal images, while the CAE strategy emphasizes enhancing their quality. Subsequently, principal component thermography (PCT) is employed to analyze the processed data and improve the detectability of defects. Comparing the results to using PCT alone, the integration of the SNGAN strategy led to a 1.08% enhancement in the signal-to-noise ratio, while the utilization of the CAE strategy resulted in an 8.73% improvement.

ABSTRACT The soil fungal community plays pivotal roles in soil nutrient cycling and plant health and productivity in agricultural ecosystems. However, the differential adaptability of soil fungi to different microenvironments (niches) is a bottleneck limiting their application in agriculture. Hence, the understanding of ecological processes that drive fungal microbiome assembly along the soil-root continuum is fundamental to harnessing the plant-associated microbiome for sustainable agriculture. Here, we investigated the factors that shape fungal community structure and assembly in three compartment niches (the bulk soil, rhizosphere, and rhizoplane) associated with tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.), with four soil types tested under controlled greenhouse conditions. Our results demonstrate that fungal community assembly along the soil-root continuum is governed by host plant rather than soil type and that soil chemical properties exert a negligible effect on the fungal community assembly in the rhizoplane. Fungal diversity and network complexity decreased in the order bulk soil > rhizosphere > rhizoplane, with a dramatic decrease in Ascomycota species number and abundance along the soil-root continuum. However, facilitations (positive interactions) were enhanced among fungal taxa in the rhizoplane niche. The rhizoplane supported species specialization with enrichment of some rare species, contributing to assimilative community assembly in the rhizoplane in all soil types. Mortierella and Pyrenochaetopsis were identified as important indicator genera of the soil-root microbiome continuum and good predictors of plant agronomic traits. The findings provide empirical evidence for host plant selection and enrichment/depletion processes of fungal microbiome assembly along the soil-root continuum. IMPORTANCE Fungal community assembly along the soil-root continuum is shaped largely by the host plant rather than the soil type. This finding facilitates the implementations of fungi-associated biocontrol and growth-promoting for specific plants in agriculture practice, regardless of the impacts from variations in geographical environments. Furthermore, the depletion of complex ecological associations in the fungal community along the soil-root continuum and the enhancement of facilitations among rhizoplane-associated fungal taxa provide empirical evidence for the potential of community simplification as an approach to target the plant rhizoplane for specific applications. The identified indicators Mortierella and Pyrenochaetopsis along the soil-root microbiome continuum are good predictors of tobacco plant agronomic traits, which should be given attention when manipulating the root-associated microbiome.

Abstract Background Although most adults are infected by Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV), some patients develop highly lethal diseases associated with EBV infection, including EBV‐hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (EBV‐HLH), chronic active EBV infections (CAEBV), and lymphoma, the pathogeneses of which remain to be investigated. The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex may be associated with the viral infection pathway, and, therefore, HLA alleles may be associated with EBV‐related diseases and subpopulations of infected cells, studies related to EBV‐associated diseases, and subpopulations of infected cells that were conducted in China are scarce. Methods In this study, we analyzed the high‐resolution HLA genotypes of 269 patients with EBV‐associated diseases and 213 EBV‐seronegative hematopoietic stem cell donors using PCR‐SBT assay and elucidated the associations of HLA‐A, ‐B, ‐C, ‐DRB1, and ‐DQB1 alleles with EBV‐associated diseases in the Chinese population, Benjamini–Hochberg correction to adjust for multiple testing. HLA genotypes were also analyzed in patients with EBV‐associated diseases showing EBV‐infected lymphocyte subpopulations. Results We found that individuals carrying the following alleles showed the following levels of risks: HLA‐DRB1*11 allele, reduced risk of EBV‐related disease (OR [odds ratio]: 0.56; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.32–0.99; p

Background: Stroke has high mortality and morbidity. Biomarkers are required for to predict stroke outcomes, which could help clinicians to provide rationale approaches for patient management. The dynamic changes in circulating immune cells have been reported in stroke patients and animal models of stroke. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore biomarkers to predict stroke outcomes by investigating the relationship between the frequencies of circulating immune cells and stroke outcomes. Methods: In all, 50 acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients were enrolled. Their blood samples were collected upon hospital admission and on day 1 and day 7 after stroke, and the leukocyte subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry. The dynamic changes in some types of immune cells in the AIS course and their correlation with clinical parameters were analyzed. Blood samples from 123 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects were used as controls. Results: The proportions of T-lymphocytes and NK cells in stroke patients were significantly lower than in healthy controls. The frequencies of B- and T-lymphocytes were negatively correlated with stroke severity at onset, including neurological deficits as assessed by National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), and infarct volume as measured by the diffusion- weighted images (DWIs) of magnetic resonance (MR). Logistic regression analysis showed that modified Rankin scale (mRs) scores, a score system for the long-term neurological dysfunctions, were negatively correlated with the percentage of B-lymphocytes at stroke onset. Conclusion: The proportions of B- and T-lymphocytes are associated with neurological outcomes of stroke patients and might be used as an indicator for severity and prognosis of ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stroke is the most common type of cerebrovascular disease and is a leading cause of disability and death. Ischemic stroke accounts for approximately 80% of all strokes. The remaining 20% of strokes are hemorrhagic in nature. To date, therapeutic options for acute ischemic stroke are very limited. Recent research suggests that shifting microglial phenotype from the pro-inflammatory M1 state toward the anti-inflammatory and tissue-reparative M2 phenotype may be an effective therapeutic strategy for ischemic stroke. The dietary phytochemical curcumin has shown promise in experimental stroke models, but its effects on microglial polarization and long-term recovery after stroke are unknown. Here we address these gaps by subjecting mice to distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (dMCAO) and administering curcumin intraperitoneally (150 mg/kg) immediately after ischemia and 24 h later. Histological studies revealed that curcumin post-treatment significantly reduced cerebral ischemic damage 3 days after dMCAO. Sensorimotor functions--as measured by the adhesive removal test and modified Garcia scores--were superior in curcumin-treated mice at 3, 5, 7 and 10 days after stroke. RT-PCR measurements revealed an elevation of M2 microglia/macrophage phenotypic markers and a reduction in M1 markers in curcumin-treated brains 3 days after dMCAO. Immunofluorescent staining further showed that curcumin treatment significantly increased the number of CD206+Iba1+ M2 microglia/macrophages and reduced the number of CD16+Iba1 + M1 cells 10 days after stroke. In vitro studies using the BV2 microglial cell line confirmed that curcumin inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-induced M1 polarization. Curcumin treatment concentration- dependently reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-12p70, in the absence of any toxic effect on microglial cell survival. In conclusion, we demonstrate that curcumin has a profound regulatory effect on microglial responses, promoting M2 microglial polarization and inhibiting microglia-mediated pro-inflammatory responses. Curcumin post-treatment reduces ischemic stroke-induced brain damage and improves functional outcomes, providing new evidence that curcumin might be a promising therapeutic strategy for stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biochemicals, such as chlorophyll (Chl) and nitrogen (N), are closely related to photosynthesis process of vegetation. Their accurate estimation is an important topic in remote sensing of vegetation. Previous studies mainly focused on Chl-N content inversion in leaf and canopy level, and few cared about their 3-D distributions, which was also an important indicator for the growth status of vegetation (GSV). Hyperspectral LiDAR (HSL) is a novel active remote sensing technology, which has target-sensitive band with hyperspectra resolution. Its 3-D point cloud data simultaneously contains rich spectral and precise geometrical characteristics of the target. This work aims to apply HSL data on 3-D Chl-N content mapping in vegetation through constructing HSL-based spectral indices (SIs). Except for following the SI forms of previous works, the normalized differential vegetation index and ratio index (RI) with four broadbands in an HSL spectral space were successively proposed to invert Chl-N content for the whole vegetation based on the artificial neural network (ANN) method. These four broadbands were transformed based on the relative spectral response curve of detector and the feature weights (FWs) of multiwavelength, respectively. Results show that most HSL-based ANN models can accurately invert Chl-N content with a mean R2 of >0.75, and some that fusing broadband data with convolution transformation, namely the FW-based RI, can even obtain a model R2 of 0.84 for N content inversion. Thus, HSL can be efficiently applied to 3-D Chl-N content mapping of vegetation and has great potential in GSV monitoring.

Based on the abundant outcrops and 3D seismic data in Yuanba and its surrounding areas in northeastern Sichuan Basin, the characteristics, main controlling factors and development regularities of reservoirs in the fourth member of Sinian Dengying Formation (shortened as Deng 4 Member) were analyzed comprehensively. The results show that the reservoirs were mainly developed in microbial dolomite associated with the microbial mound and dolarenite associated with grain beach, and had intergranular dissolution pores, inter-frame dissolution pores and karst caves as main storage space. The reservoirs were large in scale and strong in heterogeneity. The analysis of the reservoir genetic mechanisms shows that the reservoirs in the fourth member of Dengying Formation were the products of karstification on mound-beach facies deposited in the second episode of Tongwan movement. The karstification had the marks of eogenetic karstification such as granophyric karst system and half-dissociation zone. The reservoirs were controlled by the sedimentary facies belt, the mound beach facies was the decisive factor in reservoir development. Further analysis indicates that the Yuanba area had a geological background of well-developed platform margin mound beach facies, so mound beach bodies can be taken as a favorable exploration target.

BackgroundMalignancies, especially lymphoma, are a common cause of adult secondary HLH and an independent risk factor for the prognosis of HLH patients.MethodsPatients with lymphoma alone or concurrent lymphoma-associated phagocytic syndrome (LAHS) admitted to Beijing Friendship Hospital from January 2016 to December 2020 were enrolled in this study.FindingsThere were 348 lymphoma patients, 104 concurrent with LAHS. The pathological type of lymphoma without LAHS was dominated by B-cell lymphoma, while those with LAHS were T/NK-cell lymphoma predominantly (p < 0.001). Superficial lymph node enlargement was more significant in patients with B-LAHS (p = 0.006), while patients with T/NK-LAHS had lower neutrophil counts (p = 0.005), lower fibrinogen levels (p < 0.001), higher transaminase levels, and more co-infection with EBV (p < 0.001). B-LAHS had significantly higher IL-10 levels than with T/NK-LAHS (p = 0.006), and NK/T-LAHS had significantly higher IP-10 levels than other T-LAHS (p = 0.008). Age, platelet count, IPI, history of NK/T lymphoma, and no remission of HLH were independent risk factors for prognosis in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma-associated phagocytic syndrome (NHL-LAHS), and a prognostic risk score model for NHL-LAHS was developed.ConclusionLAHS is a life-threatening disease with a poor prognosis. The prognostic risk score model for NHL-LAHS with a good fit and validation for the test has value for clinical application.

Abstract Background Few studies examined the effect of long-acting nitrates on renal function in chronic heart failure (CHF). Thus, we aimed to investigate the effect of long-acting nitrate on the expression of adrenoceptors (AR) and angiotensin II receptor (ATR) subtypes of the renal cortex, in rats with myocardial infarction-induced CHF. Methods Rats were randomly divided into the following groups: control, sham-operated, CHF, low- and high-dose nitrate, positive drug control (olmesartan), and high-dose of long-acting nitrate + olmesartan. Ultrasound echocardiography markers were compared, and the levels of AR subtypes, AT1R, and AT2R were measured using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. Histopathology of the kidney was determined on hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections. Results CHF significantly increased plasma renin activity (PRA) and angiotensin II levels, upregulated AT1R expression and downregulated α1A-, β1-, β2-AR, and AT2R expression compared to the sham control. High-dose nitrate or olmesartan alone, and especially in combination, decreased the levels of PRA and angiotensin II and downregulated the CHF-induced expression of AT1R, α1A-, β1-, and β2-AR, and AT2R. CHF resulted in significant impairment of the renal tissue, including inflammatory cells infiltration to the tubular interstitium and surrounding the renal glomerulus, and tubular necrosis, which was alleviated in all treatment groups to different degrees. Conclusions Long-acting nitrates could reverse CHF-induced changes in AR and ATR subtypes in the kidney, and improve cardiac function to protect renal function. Compared with monotherapy, the combination of nitrates and olmesartan shows more significant benefits in regulating AR and ATR subtypes.