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Simulation course serves as an efficient supplement to the experiential learning inside the operation room in surgical residency programs. Furlow double-opposing Z-plasty (DOZ) remains an important and challenging surgical technique in cleft palate repair, but the simulation is currently limited. This study aims to develop a blended learning module with low-cost and easy-to-promote DOZ simulation.Comparison among the common rodent experimental animals and the readily available porcine tongue was made to select the ideal animal for surgical simulation, with which a DOZ learning module was developed. Oral surgery residents were enrolled to attend the blended learning module. An after-session questionnaire and a quiz were distributed to the participants to collect their feedback of the course perceptions and to assess their learning outcomes.The porcine tongue had more advantages in simulating the human soft palate over the common experimental animals. The surgical procedure of DOZ could be well designed and simulated on the porcine tongue. The vast majority of the participant liked the learning module regarded it as beneficial for the comprehension if DOZ principles and procedures. With the help of the porcine tongue simulator, the blended learning module helped the participants grasp the designing principles of DOZ procedure and promote their associative learning.The blended learning module incorporating the porcine tongue simulator can help oral surgery residents master the principles and procedures of DOZ palatoplasty.

L-ribulose, a kind of high-value rare sugar, could be utilized to manufacture L-form sugars and antiviral drugs, generally produced from L-arabinose as a substrate. However, the production of L-ribulose from L-arabinose is limited by the equilibrium ratio of the catalytic reaction, hence, it is necessary to explore a new biological enzymatic method to produce L-ribulose. Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase (Rpi) is an enzyme that can catalyze the reversible isomerization between L-ribose and L-ribulose, which is of great significance for the preparation of L-ribulose. In order to obtain highly active ribose-5-phosphate isomerase to manufacture L-ribulose, ribose-5-phosphate isomerase A (OsRpiA) from Ochrobactrum sp. CSL1 was engineered based on structural and sequence analyses. Through a rational design strategy, a triple-mutant strain A10T/T32S/G101N with 160% activity was acquired. The enzymatic properties of the mutant were systematically investigated, and the optimum conditions were characterized to achieve the maximum yield of L-ribulose. Kinetic analysis clarified that the A10T/T32S/G101N mutant had a stronger affinity for the substrate and increased catalytic efficiency. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations indicated that the binding of the substrate to A10T/T32S/G101N was more stable than that of wild type. The shorter distance between the catalytic residues of A10T/T32S/G101N and L-ribose illuminated the increased activity. Overall, the present study provided a solid basis for demonstrating the complex functions of crucial residues in RpiAs as well as in rare sugar preparation.

The epidermal stratum corneum (SC) lipid matrix, principally consisting of an equimolar ratio of ceramides, free fatty acids, and cholesterol, plays a crucial role in maintaining proper skin barrier function. Conditions which impair barrier integrity, such as in atopic dermatitis, correlate with the alternation of key ceramide subclasses and reduced chain length of acyl moieties. However, there is limited knowledge about the impact of unprotected repeat sun exposure on the skin lipid composition, especially ceramide profiles.This study investigated the effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the ceramide profile using both an ex vivo skin and a clinical model. Lipidomic analysis of UV-exposed skin showed shifts to the composition of ceramide subclasses essential in repairing and strengthening the SC barrier (including CER1[EOS], CER3[NP], and CER6[AP]) and reduced very long-chain acyl moieties. Gene expression analysis and immunohistochemical staining of key enzymes (aSMase, DES1, CerS5, CerS3) suggested that lipid alterations can be attributed to changes within the ceramide biosynthesis process. Topical application of ceramide-containing suncare products help maintain SC-essential ceramide subclasses and proper ceramide chain length, demonstrating the importance of proper photoprotection to maintain healthy skin barrier and ceramide quality during daily sun exposure. J Drugs Dermatol. 2022;21(1):77-85. doi:10.36849/JDD.6331.

The phagocytic receptor CED-1 mediates apoptotic cell recognition by phagocytic cells, enabling cell corpse clearance in Caenorhabditis elegans. Whether appropriate levels of CED-1 are maintained for executing the engulfment function remains unknown. Here, we identified the C. elegans E3 ubiquitin ligase tripartite motif containing-21 (TRIM-21) as a component of the CED-1 pathway for apoptotic cell clearance. When the NPXY motif of CED-1 was bound to the adaptor protein CED-6 or the YXXL motif of CED-1 was phosphorylated by tyrosine kinase SRC-1 and subsequently bound to the adaptor protein NCK-1 containing the SH2 domain, TRIM-21 functioned in conjunction with UBC-21 to catalyze K48-linked poly-ubiquitination on CED-1, targeting it for proteasomal degradation. In the absence of TRIM-21, CED-1 accumulated post-translationally and drove cell corpse degradation defects, as evidenced by direct binding to VHA-10. These findings reveal a unique mechanism for the maintenance of appropriate levels of CED-1 to regulate apoptotic cell clearance.

In recent years, deep learning has made successful applications and remarkable achievements in the field of medical image registration, and the method of medical image registration based on deep learning has become the current research hotspot. However, the performance of convolutional neural networks may not be fully exploited due to neglect of spatial relationships between distant locations in the image and incomplete updates of network parameters. To avoid this phenomenon, MHNet, a multiscale hierarchical deformable registration network for 3D brain MR images, was proposed in this paper. This network was an unsupervised end-to-end convolutional neural network. After training, the dense displacement vector field can be predicted almost in real-time for the unseen input image pairs, which saves a lot of time compared with the traditional algorithms of independent iterative optimization for each pair of images. On the basis of the encoder-decoder structure, this network introduced the improved Inception module for multiscale feature extraction and expanding the receptive field and the hierarchical forecast structure to promote the update of the parameters of the middle layers, which achieved the best performance on the augmented public dataset compared with the existing four excellent registration methods.

Feature detection is one of the basic research topics in the fields of image processing and corner that has been widely applied on vehicle detection, UAV image matching, camera calibration and so on. Particularly, a fast corner detector is of much benefit to many real-time tasks. A novel discrete curvature estimation method for corner detection based on the ratio of center distances of symmetric contour (RCDSC) is proposed in this paper. Benefiting from calculating the Euclidean distance twice only to estimate the discrete curvature at each point on a contour, RCDSC is much fast compared with other corner detectors. In addition, by choosing a relatively large radius of region of support and employing relative distance instead of absolute distance for constructing corner response function, RCDSC is also much robust to noises and local variations of contour. Extensive experiments exhibit the effectiveness and the efficiency of RCDSC in terms of average repeatability (AR), accuracy (ACU) and localization error (LE).

Diabetes is characterized by increased fracture risk. Evidence from

This paper explores a novel setting of temporal sentence grounding for the first time, dubbed as dense events grounding. Given an untrimmed video and a paragraph description, dense events grounding aims to jointly localize temporal moments of multiple events described in the paragraph. Our main motivating fact is that multiple events to be grounded in a video are often semantically related and temporally coordinated according to their order appearing in the paragraph. This fact sheds light on devising more accurate visual grounding model. In this work, we propose Dense Events Propagation Network (DepNet) for this novel task. DepNet first adaptively aggregates temporal and semantic information of dense events into a compact set through a second-order attention pooling, then selectively propagates the aggregated information to each single event with soft attention. Based on such aggregation-and-propagation mechanism, DepNet can effectively exploit both the temporal order and semantic relations of dense events. We conduct comprehensive experiments on large-scale datasets ActivityNet Captions and TACoS. For fair comparisons, our evaluations include both state-of-art single-event grounding methods and their natural extensions to the dense-events grounding setting implemented by us. All experiments clearly shows the performance superiority of the proposed DepNet by significant margins.

Dynamic changes to the skin barrierrsquo;s molecular structure and ceramide profile are well-documented in skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. Pathological and environmental factors have been shown to impair barrier integrity and demonstrate shifts in ceramide composition in the skin. However, the relationship between acute and prolonged sun exposure and its effects on skin barrier homeostasis is insufficiently investigated. This study aims to uncover new scientific evidence to elucidate the relationship of UV irradiation with the skin barrier using an ex vivo tissue model following simulated UVA/UVB exposure.nbsp;Fresh ex vivo human skin pretreated either with or without a broad-spectrum sunscreen was exposed to either a physiological or elevated UV condition. Following eight days in culture, structural and molecular changes were evaluated. UV irradiated skin displayed epidermal cell death and altered expression of key barrier proteins. TEM analysis demonstrated disruption to adherens junctions and dissociation between tissue layers following both physiological and extensive UV exposures. An effective broad-spectrum sunscreen containing essential skin ceramides completely protected the skin from such changes. This is one of the first works demonstrating a clear correlation of altered skin barrier integrity using a physiologically relevant dose in an ex vivo tissue model. Our findings also further support the additional importance and benefits of sun protection among the consumers.nbsp;J Drugs Dermatol. 20(4 Suppl):s23-28. doi:10.36849/JDD.S589D.

Background Age-related cataract (ARC) is the main cause of blindness in older individuals but its specific pathogenic mechanism is unclear. This study aimed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with ARC and to improve our understanding of the disease mechanism. Methods Anterior capsule samples of the human lens were collected from ARC patients and healthy controls and used for RNA sequencing to detect DEGs. Identified DEGs underwent bioinformatics analyses, including Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. Subsequently, reverse transcription quantitative RT-qPCR was used to validate the different expression levels of selected genes. Results A total of 698 up-regulated DEGs and 414 down-regulated DEGs were identified in ARC patients compared with controls by transcriptome analysis. Through GO and KEGG bioinformatics analysis, the functions of significantly DEGs and their possible molecular mechanisms were determined. Sequencing results were verified by RT-qPCR as being accurate and reliable. Conclusions This study identified several genes associated with ARC, which improves our knowledge of the disease mechanism.

BackgroundIntracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS) is one of the leading causes of ischemic stroke. Conventional anatomical analysis by CT angiography, MRI, or digital subtraction angiography can provide valuable information on the anatomical changes of stenosis; however, they are not sufficient to accurately evaluate the hemodynamic severity of ICAS. The goal of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance of the pressure ratio across intracranial stenoses (termed as fractional flow (FF)) derived from cerebral angiography for the diagnosis of hemodynamically significant ICAS defined by pressure wire-derived FF.MethodsThis retrospective study represents a feasible and reliable method for calculating the FF from cerebral angiography (AccuFFicas). Patients (n=121) who had undergone wire-based measurement of FF and cerebral angiography were recruited. The accuracy of the computed pressure ratio was evaluated using wire-based FF as the reference standard.ResultsThe mean value of wire-based FF was 0.78±0.19, while the computed AccuFFicas had an average value of 0.79±0.18. Good correlation (Pearson’s correlation coefficientr=0.92, PConclusionAngiography-based FF computed from cerebral angiographic images could be an effective computational tool for evaluating the hemodynamic significance of ICAS.

Objective: Prepump arterial (Pa) pressure indicates the ease or difficulty with which the blood pump can draw blood from the vascular access (VA) during hemodialysis. Some studies have suggested that the absolute value of the Pa pressure to the extracorporeal blood pump flow (Qb) ratio set on the machine (|Pa/Qb|) can reflect the dysfunction of VA. This study was conducted to explore the impact of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) dysfunction and to explore the clinical reference value of |Pa/Qb|. Methods: We retrospectively identified adults who underwent hemodialysis at 3 hospitals. Data were acquired from electronic health records. We evaluated the pattern of the association between |Pa/Qb| and AVF dysfunction during 1 year using a Cox proportional hazards regression model with restricted cubic splines. Then, the patients were grouped based on the results, and hazard ratios were compared for different intervals of |Pa/Qb|. Results: A total of 490 patients were analyzed, with an average age of 55 (44, 66) years. There were a total of 85 cases of AVF dysfunction, of which 50 cases were stenosis and 35 cases were thrombosis. There was a U-shaped association between |Pa/Qb| and the risk of AVF dysfunction (p for nonlinearity 0.52 increased the risk of AVF dysfunction. Compared with the group with a |Pa/Qb| value between 0.30 and 0.52, the groups with |Pa/Qb| 0.52 had a 4.04-fold (p = 0.002) and 3.41-fold (p < 0.001) greater risk of AVF dysfunction, respectively. Conclusions: The appropriate range of |Pa/Qb| is between 0.30 and 0.52. When |Pa/Qb| is 0.52, the patient’s AVF function or Qb setting should be reevaluated to prevent subsequent failure.

Posterior pharyngeal flap palatoplasty is used to restore the function of velopharyngeal (VP) closure, after which 2 ports remain between the nasal and oral cavity. The authors hypothesized that the airflow dynamics of the upper airway is different in PPF patients compared to health subjects, who only has 1 movable port. Twenty adults who have multislice spiral computed tomography scan were included in this study. Two cylinders (radius, 2.00 mm; height, 4.5 mm) were used to recapitulate the 2-port VP structure after PPF palatoplasty. The areas of ports were modified by changing the radius of 2 cylinders. Real-time computational fluid dynamics simulation was used to capture the airflow velocity and pressures through the 2 ports. The airflow velocity and pressure of upper airway were recorded as the total areas of 2 VP ports increased. The total orifice areas of the 2-port VP closure for 4 VP conditions, including adequate closure, adequate/borderline closure, borderline/inadequate closure, and inadequate closure, were demonstrated. Significant differences between the 2-port VP function for demonstrating PPF reconstruction and the 1-port VP function were found. Airflow dynamics is dependent on the VP structure. The 2-port airflow model for mimicking VP closure after PPF palatoplasty demonstrated airflow characteristics that were significantly different from the 1-port model in normal VP closure.

Sinomenine was found to play anti-cancer functions in different type of cancers, while the mechanisms underlying the anticancer effects of sinomenine in retinoblastoma (RB) remains unclear. The present study was designed to explore the impacts of sinomenine on cell proliferation and invasion ability of RB cells and the related mechanism. Human retinoblastoma cell line WERI-RB-1 and Y79 cells were cultured and treated by different concentration of sinomenine, and then the proliferation ability of the cells was determined via performing the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) proliferation assay. The cell apoptosis was examined via performing the flow cytometry assay. Then scratch wound healing analysis as well as and transwell invasion analysis have been performed to determine the effect of sinomenine on cell migration ability as well as invasion ability. The proteins level of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signaling molecules were determined with Western blot assay. We found that sinomenine was able to decrease the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of RB cells in a dose-dependent manner; moreover, sinomenine also significantly suppressed the migration as well as invasion ability of WERI-RB-1 and Y79 cells in vitro. Furthermore, sinomenine also de-activated PI3K/AKT signaling in WERI-RB-1 cells via inhibited the phosphorylation of PI3K and AKT proteins. Sinomenine can exert anti-tumor function on RB cells in vitro, therefore sinomenine might be a potential alterative medication for the treatment for RB.

Submucous cleft palate (SMCP) is a congenital condition related to abnormal muscle attachments within the soft palate. Even though hypernasality and nasal emission, the primary symptom of SMCP, have been well-documented, research on articulation errors is currently lacking. The object of this study was to examine the consonant articulation in patients with unoperated SMCP and its possible correlation with the velopharyngeal function. This study analyzed the perceptual speech assessment and nasopharyngoscopy data of 338 patients with unoperated SMCP between years 2008 and 2016 retrospectively. The mean age of the patients was 13.27 years. About 125 patients showed velopharyngeal competence (VPC), 174 velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI), and 39 marginal VPI (MVPI). Among the 338 patients, 137 presented normal articulation, 124 consonant omission, 25 compensatory articulation, 36 consonant weakening, 51 consonant substitution, and 36 posterior placement. About 70.40% VPC patients, 17.24% VPI patients, and 48.72% MVPI patients demonstrated normal articulation. About 59.20% VPI patients showed consonant omission. The results demonstrated that consonant articulation varied among patients with unoperated SMCP and was correlated with their velopharyngeal functions, while consonant omission was the most common articulation error. Velopharyngeal closure pattern was not associated with either velopharyngeal function or consonant articulation.

The compound 20(S),25-epoxydammarane-3β,12β,24α-triol (24-hydroxy-panaxadiol or 24-OH-PD), isolated from the red Panax ginseng CA Meyer possesses anticancer activity. Our aim was to study the pharm...

Objective: To observe differences in meibomian gland morphology among patients with meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) with liquid meibum, with solid meibum, and a non-MGD group by laser scanning in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM), and then analyze the correlation between meibomian gland abnormalities and dry eye disease.Methods: Twenty-one patients with MGD (42 eyes) with liquid meibum, 21 patients with MGD (38 eyes) with solid meibum, and 24 non-MGD patients (39 eyes) were enrolled in the study. IVCM examination and Schirmer II test were performed, and non-invasive tear-film breakup time (NIBUT) was measured.Results: Data obtained from all the patients were normally distributed; therefore, one-way analysis of variance was performed. The meibomian gland opening diameter and gland opening area of the patients with MGD were greater than those of the non-MGD patients, and values of the liquid meibum group were greater than those of the solid meibum group (F = 17.96, p < 0.001; F = 8.84, p < 0.001, respectively). Due to changes in meibomian gland opening diameter and dilation of meibomian gland acini, the acinar longest diameter and unit area of the patients with MGD were also greater than those of the non-MGD patients, and the values of the solid meibum group were greater than those of the liquid meibum group (F = 36.52, p < 0.001; F = 27.81, p < 0.001, respectively). In the aspect of acinar shortest diameter, there was no difference among the three groups (F = 0.24, P > 0.05). Highest inflammatory cell density was observed in the solid meibum group, followed by the liquid meibum group, and the non-MGD group (F = 111.54, p < 0.001). Similarly, the results of the Schirmer II test and NIBUT showed that the condition of the patients with MGD in the solid meibum group was worst, followed by that of the liquid meibum group and the non-MGD group (F = 99.57, p < 0.001; F = 11.87, p < 0.001, respectively).Conclusions: The different meibum in the patients with MGD is accompanied by different meibomian gland morphologies. Compared with the patients with liquid meibum, those with solid meibum have more obvious dilatation of meibomian glands under confocal microscopy and in these patients, the density of inflammatory cells among glands is higher, and the quality of tears is worse.

Goethite is a commonly found iron (hydr)oxide in soils and sediments that has been proven to possess abundant defects in structures. However, the underlying impact of these defects in goethite on arsenic immobilization remains unclear. In this study, goethite samples with abundant, moderate, and sparse defects were synthesized to evaluate their arsenic adsorption capacities. The characteristics of the defects in goethite were investigated by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), high angle annular dark field-scanning transmission electron microscopy-energy dispersion spectrum (HAADF-STEM-EDS) mapping, vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM), and electron spin resonance (ESR). The characterization analysis revealed that the defects in as-synthesized goethite primarily existed in the form of Fe vacancies. Batch experiments demonstrated that the adsorption capacities of defect-rich goethite for As(V) and As(III) removal were 10.2 and 22.1 times larger than those of defect-poor goethite, respectively. The origin of the impact of Fe defects on arsenic immobilization was theoretically elucidated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The enhanced adsorption of goethite was attributed to the improvement of the arsenic affinity due to the Fe vacancy defect, thus considerably promoting arsenic immobilization. The findings of this study provide important insight into the migration and fate of arsenic in naturally occurring iron (hydr)oxides.

AIM To quantitatively evaluate the relationship between nasal appearance and nasal septum deviation in unilateral complete cleft patients using cone-beam computed tomography.Method: Cone-beam computed tomography images of 180 patients with unilateral cleft lip/palate from June 2014 to June 2017 were used in the study. None of the subjects had undergone septoplasty. The data were compared between the 2 groups to elucidate the relationship between nasal appearance and deviated nasal septum in unilateral complete cleft patients. RESULTS The mean age of a total of 180 patients (126 males and 54 females) was 14.58 years, with a standard deviation of 7.10 years, ranged from 6 years old to 49 years old. Columella nasi symmetry parameters show slight positive significant association with angle of nasal septal deviation on transerve plan (r = 0.250, P

Objective: Velopharyngeal (VP) closure has high impact on the quality of life, especially in patients with cleft palate. For better understanding the VP closure, it is important to understand the airflow dynamics of different closure patterns, including circular, coronal, sagittal, and circular with a Passavant’s ridge. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the airflow characteristics of different velopharyngeal closure patterns. Methods: Sixteen adults with no notable upper airway abnormality who needed multislice spiral computed tomography scans as part of their clinical care. Airways were reconstructed. A cylinder and a cuboid were used to replace the VP port in three models of VP port patterns. Flow simulations were carried using computational fluid dynamics. Airflow pressures in the VP orifice, oral cavity and nasal cavity, as well as airflow velocity through the velopharyngeal orifice, were calculated. Results: The airflow dynamics at the velopharynx were different among different velopharyngeal patterns as the area of the velopharyngeal port increased from 0 to 25 mm2. The orifice areas of different closure conditions in four velopharyngeal closure patterns were significantly different. The maximal orifice area for adequate velopharyngeal closure was 7.57 mm2 in the coronal pattern and 6.21 mm2 in the sagittal pattern. Conclusions: Airflow dynamics of the velopharynx were correlated to the velopharyngeal closure patterns. Different closure patterns had different largest permitted orifice areas for getting the appropriate oral pressures for normal speech.

Background:. Acute ankle fractures can lead to high rate of concomitant intra-articular lesions which may compromise clinical results. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence of concomitant intra-articular lesions in acute ankle fractures with arthroscopy. We also sought to analyze the relationship between intra-articular lesions and the fracture type, as well as the severity of the fracture. Methods:. It was a retrospective cohort study. From April 2014 to December 2015, we have chosen arthroscopy-assisted open reduction and internal fixation (AORIF) for the treatment of unstable acute ankle fractures. All concomitant intra-articular lesions were assessed and documented carefully and prospectively, such as ligament injuries, osteochondral lesions, and tibiofibular syndesmosis injuries. All fractures were classified according to the Lauge-Hansen classification system. The American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society's (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot scale was used to assess post-operative function. Statistical comparisons between the intra-articular lesions, the fracture type, and the severity of the presenting fracture were performed using a Chi-squared analysis. Results:. Data of 36 patients were analyzed in the study, including 23 supination-type fractures and 13 pronation-type fractures. The incidence of tibiofibular syndesmosis injuries, chondral lesions, and loose bodies were 92%, 72%, and 39%, respectively. Avulsion fractures of the anterior tibiofibular syndesmosis were more commonly found in supination-type fractures than pronation-type fracture (45% vs. 15%, χ2 = 5.78, P = 0.02), which would cause mechanical blocking in the anterior portion of the ankle. On the contrary, chondral lesions were more commonly found in the more severe fractures than mild fractures (86% vs. 53%, χ2 = 4.57, P = 0.03). A mean 41.7 months (range, 33.0–51.0 months) of follow-up was achieved. A mean AOFAS's ankle-hindfoot scale was 96.9, and 97.2% of the patients were satisfied with the procedure. Conclusions:. Acute ankle fractures have a high incidence of concomitant intra-articular lesions. Avulsion fractures of the anterior tibiofibular syndesmosis are more commonly found in supination-type fractures. Chondral lesions are related to the severity of the fractures, but not with the classification of the fractures. AORIF can be one reliable solution in dealing with the associated injuries seen with acute ankle fractures.

Unsupervised domain adaptation methods aim to alleviate performance degradation caused by domain-shift by learning domain-invariant representations. Existing deep domain adaptation methods focus on holistic feature alignment by matching source and target holistic feature distributions, without considering local features and their multi-mode statistics. We show that the learned local feature patterns are more generic and transferable and a further local feature distribution matching enables fine-grained feature alignment. In this paper, we present a method for learning domain-invariant local feature patterns and jointly aligning holistic and local feature statistics. Comparisons to the state-of-the-art unsupervised domain adaptation methods on two popular benchmark datasets demonstrate the superiority of our approach and its effectiveness on alleviating negative transfer., Comment: AAAI-2019 accepted

Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections pose a huge threat to cystic fibrosis patients, as well as those suffering from immunodeficiency. Antimicrobial resistance, especially multi-drug resistance, due to its ability to aggregate the compact biofilm, makes it more inefficient to treat this pathogen with traditional antibiotics. Biofilm and quorum sensing (QS) have become the alternative targets for treating P. aeruginosa infections. Previously, a cyclic dipeptide cyclo(L-Trp-L-Ser) has been identified as a QS inhibitor of P. aeruginosa. On the other hand, some monosaccharides have been proved lectin-targeting behavior and to mediate biofilm formation and adhesion of P. aeruginosa. We constructed novel cyclic dipeptide-carbohydrate conjugates as a low molecular weight dual-functional QS inhibitor, which can not only enhance its anti-QS activity but also enable good anti-biofilm and anti-adhesion ability. The IC

The human skin, particularly the stratum corneum, serves as a protective barrier against exogenous factors, including ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and pathogen invasions. The impact of UVR on skin cancer and photoaging has been extensively studied. However, the direct impact of UVR on skin barrier integrity under clinical settings remains poorly explored. Due to their benefits in reducing inflammation and promoting skin barrier repair, ceramide-containing formulations can provide added photoprotection benefits. In this study, the efficacy of a ceramide-containing sunscreen and moisturizer were evaluated in preventing UV-induced skin surface barrier changes. Expert grading, instrumental, and tape-stripping assessments demonstrated that UVR induced erythema and hyperpigmentation and caused changes in skin cells surface morphological organization and maturation. Treatment with a ceramide-containing sunscreen and moisturizing cream routine reduced erythema and hyperpigmentation, improved skin hydration, and maintained normal superficial skin cells morphology and turnover after UVR. Our results indicate that barrier-enforcing lipids formulations can provide additional benefits in patientrsquo;s daily routine by strengthening the barrier and improving skin health overall against chronic sun exposure. J Drugs Dermatol. 20(4 Suppl):s29-35. doi:10.36849/JDD.S589E.

Photocatalytic H2O2 production is an innovative on-site H2O2 synthesis method to treat organic pollutants through Fenton-like reactions, avoiding the need and potential liability of H2O2 storage and transportation. Accurate quantification of H2O2 is crucial to explore the mechanism of photocatalytic H2O2 production and optimize reaction parameters. In this work, three common H2O2 quantification methods (i.e., titration with potassium permanganate (KMnO4), and colorimetry with ammonium metavanadate (NH4VO3) or N,N-diethylp-phenylenediamine-horseradish peroxidase (DPD-POD)) were compared and their susceptibility to interference by seven types of representative organics were considered. Interference mechanisms were explored based on the electron-donating (Egap) and electron-accepting (ELUMO) ability of the present organics. The accuracy of the KMnO4 titration method is greatly compromised by aromatic compounds even at 0.1 mM due to the increased KMnO4 consumption by direct oxidation. The presence of p-benzoquinone that directly reacts with NH4VO3 and DPD compromises these colorimetric methods, especially DPD-POD colorimetry at concentrations as low as 0.1 mM. The DPD-POD method should also be scrutinized in the presence of phenols due to significant disturbance by oxidation byproducts (e.g. hydroquinone inducing immediate color disappearance). A flowchart was generated to provide guidelines for selecting an appropriate H2O2 quantification method for different water matrices treated by Fenton-like reactions.

Orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) has been widely observed worldwide. The OTM process is involved in several biological activities and can result in temporary hypoxia. The dynamic changes of autophagy and apoptosis during OTM have not, to the best of our knowledge, been previously reported. In the present study, an OTM animal model was established. Periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs) and osteoclasts were investigated using H&E and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining. The changes in the expression levels of certain autophagy and apoptotic markers were investigated using immunohistochemical staining. A significant decrease in PDLC and an increase in osteoclast numbers were observed 1 day following OTM induction. The expression levels of Beclin-1 and LC3-II peaked at 1 h post-OTM, followed by a gradual decrease. The expression levels of P62 in each experimental group were significantly lower than those noted in the 0 h group. The expression levels of Bcl-2 were markedly increased 1 h following OTM and reached a maximum at 1 day post-OTM. The highest expression levels of Bax and caspase-3 were observed 7 days following OTM induction. The present study provided additional information regarding the involvement of autophagy and apoptotic markers in the OTM process and aided the understanding of the initiation and pathophysiological progression of this condition.

Aims Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common primary glomerular disease to cause end-stage kidney disease. This study investigated the difference in urinary exosomal circular RNA(circRNA) expression profiles between patients with IgAN and healthy controls (HCs), for better understanding of gene regulation in exosomes of IgAN patients. Methods A pairwise comparison of urinary circRNA expression profiles between IgAN patients and HCs was performed using methods, including high-throughput sequencing and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Moreover, the potential functions of differentially expressed circRNAs(DECs) in IgAN were investigated by Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis; Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis; and the circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network. Results We identified 450 upregulated and 26 downregulated circRNAs in the IgAN patients. GO analysis showed that these enriched circRNAs might regulate primary miRNA processing, the ability of angiotensin receptor binding, and stress fiber function. KEGG analysis suggested these DECs may be closely associated with the phosphoinositide-3-kinase-protein kinase B/Akt (PI3K-Akt)signaling pathways. Network analysis revealed the relationship between circRNAs and their target genes. Conclusions The identified DECs may be useful for both research on molecular etiology of IgAN and development of potentially novel non-invasive biomarkers of IgAN.

Background. Medical image registration is an essential task for medical image analysis in various applications. In this work, we develop a coarse-to-fine medical image registration method based on progressive images and SURF algorithm (PI-SURF) for higher registration accuracy. Methods. As a first step, the reference image and the floating image are fused to generate multiple progressive images. Thereafter, the floating image and progressive image are registered to get the coarse registration result based on the SURF algorithm. For further improvement, the coarse registration result and the reference image are registered to perform fine image registration. The appropriate progressive image has been investigated by experiments. The mutual information (MI), normal mutual information (NMI), normalized correlation coefficient (NCC), and mean square difference (MSD) similarity metrics are used to demonstrate the potential of the PI-SURF method. Results. For the unimodal and multimodal registration, the PI-SURF method achieves the best results compared with the mutual information method, Demons method, Demons+B-spline method, and SURF method. The MI, NMI, and NCC of PI-SURF are improved by 15.5%, 1.31%, and 7.3%, respectively, while MSD decreased by 13.2% for the multimodal registration compared with the optimal result of the state-of-the-art methods. Conclusions. The extensive experiments show that the proposed PI-SURF method achieves higher quality of registration.

Visible light (400-700nm), which contributes to 45% of solar radiation, contributes to skin darkening and worsening of dyschromias, particularly in individuals with Fitzpatrick skin phototypes III and higher. Currently, sunscreens provide limited protection against that spectrum. Due to their capabilities in absorbing, scattering, and reflecting visible light, topical products containing pigments and/or metal oxides can provide additional photoprotection. In this study, the efficacy of two formulations containing iron oxide was evaluated in preventing visible light-induced pigmentation compared with a non-tinted mineral SPF 50+ sunscreen. Expert grading and colorimetry demonstrated that the iron-oxide containing formulations significantly protected against visible light-induced pigmentation compared to untreated skin or mineral SPF 50+ sunscreen in Fitzpatrick IV individuals. These results highlight that iron-oxide containing formulas in a foundation format have dual functions and can provide additional benefits in patients' daily routine by masking existing pigmentation and preventing the development of pigmentation triggered by sunlight exposure, extending protection beyond UV spectrum. J Drugs Dermatol. 2020;19(7): doi:10.36849/JDD.2020.5032 THIS ARTICLE HAD BEEN MADE AVAILABLE FREE OF CHARGE. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO ACCESS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS ARTICLE WITHOUT LOGGING IN. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PLEASE CONTACT THE PUBLISHER WITH ANY QUESTIONS.

aThe Vitiligo and Pigmentation Institute of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA bDepartment of Dermatology, Howard University, Washington, DC cLrsquo;Oreal Research and Innovation, Paris, France dLrsquo;Oreal Research and Innovation, Clark, NJ.

OBJECTIVES: Retinoblastoma (RB) is a highly malignant eye tumor with a low survival rate and a high metastatic rate. The current work was designed to investigate the potential roles of microRNA-144 (miR-144) in the diagnosis and prognosis of RB. METHODS: miR-144 expression levels in RB tissues and adjacent normal tissues, as well as serum samples from RB patients and healthy controls were measured. The association between miR-144 expression levels and clinical features were analyzed. Moreover, diagnostic and prognostic values of miR-144 in RB were verified by receiver operating characteristic analysis and Kaplan-Meier survival assays. RESULTS: The expression level of miR-144 was markedly decreased in tumor tissues of RB patients, and the expression level of miR-144 was positively associated with tumor size and metastasis in RB patients. Moreover, miR-144 can distinguish tumor tissues from normal tissues with high specificity and sensitivity, and RB patients with lower miR-144 expression have shorter overall and disease-free survival rates than those with higher miR-144 expression. Alternatively, miR-144 also decreased in the serum of RB patients in comparison with healthy subjects, and miR-144 expression levels in the tissue samples and serum were positively correlated. Furthermore, miR-144 levels in the serum of RB patients sensitively distinguished RB patients from healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: miR-144 expression was downregulated in serum and tissue samples of RB patients and may function as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for RB.

Objective This study investigated the correlations of digit ratio (relative length of second and fourth fingers, 2D: 4D) and muscular strength with the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods In total, 164 patients with COPD were enrolled in this prospective study. In all patients, the following parameters were measured: body compartments, pulmonary function, digit ratio (i.e., 2D: 4D), muscle function, and levels of partial pressure of oxygen and partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood. Results The right-hand digit ratio (R2D: 4D) was associated with dominant hand muscle dysfunction, non-dominant hand muscle dysfunction, and inspiratory muscle dysfunction. Logistic regression analysis showed that right-hand 2D: 4D (odds ratio [ OR ] = 0.01) and dominant hand muscle dysfunction ( OR = 5.60) were significantly associated with past hospital admission. After adjustment for forced expiratory volume in 1 second, the following factors were associated with present acute exacerbations: right-hand 2D: 4D ( OR = 0.01), dominant hand muscle dysfunction ( OR = 3.83), expiratory muscle dysfunction ( OR = 3.80), and inspiratory muscle dysfunction ( OR = 3.61). Conclusions Lower digit ratio may be associated with higher prevalence of muscle dysfunction. This factor could be used to identify patients with COPD who are at higher risk of acute exacerbation.

BACKGROUND Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive muscular dystrophy and paralysis; most ALS patients die from respiratory failure within 3 to 5 years, and there is currently no effective treatment. Some studies have indicated sex differences in the incidence of ALS, and evidence suggests a neuroprotective role for estrogen. MATERIAL AND METHODS We used human Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (hSOD1-G93A) transgenic mice to determine the effects of ovariotomy on the onset of disease and behavior; we also used Western blotting to measure the expression of aromatase and estrogen receptors, as well as the inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis markers, in the lumbar spinal cord to determine the mechanism of estrogen-mediated neuroprotection. RESULTS Ovariectomy advanced the onset of disease, down-regulated aromatase and estrogen receptor alpha (ER-a) expression, and inhibited expression of the anti-inflammatory factors arginase-1 and the anti-apoptotic factor B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) in the lumbar spinal cord of hSOD1-G93A transgenic mice. CONCLUSIONS Ovariectomy resulted in earlier disease onset and attenuated the anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic actions of estrogen in hSOD1-G93A transgenic mice. Therefore, estrogen may play an important role in protecting spinal cord motor neurons.

We investigated the levels and distributions of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in 159 background soil samples collected from 30 forested mountain sites across China. The sum of DDT was the most abundant OCP, with the concentrations of 0.197-207 ng/g and 0.033-122 ng/g in the O-horizon and A-horizon, respectively. High concentrations of OCPs usually occur near agricultural regions or high consumption areas. The spatial distribution was mainly influenced by the emission sources and soil total organic contents (TOC). The chiral compounds were generally nonracemic in the soils and showed preferential degradation of (-) o,p'- dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, (+) trans-chlordane, and (-) cis-chlordane in both the O- and A-horizons. The enantiomeric fraction (EF) distributions of chiral OCPs displayed no differences across the forest sites in the O-horizon or the A-horizon. Comparing the deviation of EFs from racemic (DEVrac = absolute value of 0.500 - EF) with environmental parameters, we found that DEVrac of cis-chlordane demonstrated a strong positive correlation with TOC (p 0.05) and the C/N ratio (p 0.01). This relationship suggests that these factors could affect the microbial activity and significantly impact the extent of enantioselective degradation of chiral compounds in the soils. Fresh and historical applications of DDT and historical chlordane and endosulfan uses may be prominent sources of OCP accumulation in Chinese forest soils.

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease with a high prevalence worldwide, which typically delays or impairs wound healing, potentially causing death. Low-frequency ultrasound treatment promotes the repair of various injuries and may promote wound healing. The aim of the present study was to determine whether low-frequency ultrasound can accelerate wound healing, as well as investigate its effects on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in diabetic rats. A total of 45 Wistar rats were intraperitoneally injected with 1% streptozocin following intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital sodium anesthesia. Subsequently an incision wound was created in the skin of back. The area of the wound was recorded to calculate the rate of wound healing. The expression of VEGF and TGF-β1 was determined via immunohistochemical analysis and their mRNA and protein levels were measured via reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis. The results revealed that when compared with the control group, low-frequency ultrasound treatment significantly increased wound healing rate in diabetic rats and markedly increased the mRNA and protein levels of VEGF and TGF-β1. US treatment also reduced the mRNA and protein levels of TNF-α and IL-6. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicated that low-frequency ultrasound promotes the expression of VEGF and TGF-β1, and inhibits the expression of IL-6 and TNF-α, thereby promoting wound healing in diabetic rats.