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The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most significant public health threats in recent history and has impacted the lives of almost everyone worldwide. Epigenetic mechanisms contribute to many aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle, including expression levels of viral receptor ACE2, expression of cytokine genes as part of the host immune response, and the implication of various histone modifications in several aspects of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 proteins physically associate with many different host proteins over the course of infection, and notably there are several interactions between viral proteins and epigenetic enzymes such as HDACs and bromodomain-containing proteins as shown by correlation-based studies. The many contributions of epigenetic mechanisms to the viral life cycle and the host immune response to infection have resulted in epigenetic factors being identified as emerging biomarkers for COVID-19, and project epigenetic modifiers as promising therapeutic targets to combat COVID-19. This review article highlights the major epigenetic pathways at play during COVID-19 disease and discusses ongoing clinical trials that will hopefully contribute to slowing the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Key words: epigenetics, COVID-19, ACE2, DNA methylation, histone modifications, clinical trials. La pandemie de la COVID-19 constitue l'une des plus importantes menaces a la sante publique de l'histoire recente et a touche les vies de presque tous a l'echelle planetaire. Des mecanismes epigenetiques contribuent a plusieurs aspects du cycle de replication du SRAS-CoV-2, incluant le niveau d'expression du recepteur viral ACE2, l'expression des genes codant pour les cytokines qui participent a la reponse immuni-tairedel'hote, et l'implication de plusieurs modifications des histones touchant de nombreux aspects de la COVID-19. Les proteines du SRAS-CoV-2 se lient physiquement avec plusieurs proteines de l'hote au cours de l'infection et, notamment, des etudes de correlation ont revele de nombreuses interactions entre des proteines virales et des enzymes epigenetiques telles que les HDAC et des proteines a bromodomaine. Les nombreuses contributions des mecanismes epigenetiques dans le cycle vital du virus et dans la reponse immunitaire de l'hote ont fait en sorte que les facteurs epigenetiques sont vus comme etant des biomarqueurs emergents pour la COVID-19 et laissent entrevoir que des modificateurs epigenetiques pourraient constituer des cibles therapeutiques interes-santes pour combattre la COVID-19. Cet article de synthese met en lumiere les principaux sentiers epigenetiques qui jouent un role dans la maladie de la COVID-19 et les auteurs discutent des essais cliniques en cours qui con-tribueront possiblement a ralentir la propagation du SRAS-CoV-2. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: epigenetique, COVID-19, ACE2, methylation de l'ADN, modifications des histones, essais cliniques., Introduction Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation and post-translational modifications of histone tails, contribute to the regulation of almost all biological processes, and are also involved in many different human [...]

Z-number that proposed by Zadeh is an effective tool to describe the information with uncertainty in decision-making problems. However, most of the researches on Z-numbers employed linguistic cardinalities with uniformly distributed scales. In fact, unbalance situation is much common in terms of the psychology of experts. In this paper, we propose a new computational method based on Probabilistic Linguistic Z-number with Unbalanced semantics(UPLZ), which can represent the linguistic evaluations of experts precisely combined with individual risk appetite. A new score function of UPLZs is provided based on hesitant degree and linguistic scale function to reduce the computational complexity. Afterward, a linear programming is constructed to determine weights of criteria by considering cross entropy maximization. The robust decision result can be obtained by applying MULTIMOORA method since it is specific with peculiarities of three subordinate models. Finally, a case study concerning medicine selection for the patients with mild symptoms of the COVID-19 is provided to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. The advantages of it are highlighted by sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis with two outstanding multi-criteria decision-making methods.

Background: Posterior circulation Acute Stroke Prognosis Early Computed Tomography Scores (pc-ASPECTS) is a rapid method of measuring early ischemic changes. However, there was no agreement study about pc-ASPECTS. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the agreement on pc-ASPECTS based on non-contrast CT (NCCT) and CT angiography (CTA) source images in patients with acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO). Methods: We prospectively enrolled consecutive patients with acute BAO from January 2022 to August 2022 at the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China. The NCCT and CTA were scored independently by 15 raters during 2 different reading sessions at least 3 weeks apart. The pc-ASPECTS based on NCCT and CTA were analyzed on the full scale or were dichotomized (0–6 vs. 7–10, 0–7 vs. 8–10, and 0–8 vs. 9–10). The level of agreement was measured using Fleiss κ statistics. Results: The median (IQR) CT-based pc-ASPECTS was 8 (6.75–9). The interrater agreement for CT-based pc-ASPECTS (κ = 0.133 [0.132–0.133]) and CTA-based pc-ASPECTS (κ = 0.204 [0.203–0.204]) was slight for all raters. Dichotomizations obtaining the highest concordance for the CT-based pc-ASPECTS (0–6 vs. 7–10) and the CTA-based pc-ASPECTS (0–8 vs. 9–10) failed to increase the interrater agreement to a substantial level (κ = 0.350 [0.348–0.351] and 0.396 [0.395–0.398], respectively). Intrarater agreement for global CT-based pc-ASPECTS was less than substantial for the 14/15 raters and reached the level of substantial for the 3/15 raters with dichotomization. Conclusions: Agreement between clinicians assessing CT-based and CTA-based pc-ASPECTS cannot be sufficient to make reproducible clinical decisions and assessments. The dichotomization failed to improve interrater and intrarater agreement to the level of substantial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploration of low‐dimensional Pb‐free halide perovskites with high stability and outstanding properties is still a pursuing target for developing integrated optoelectronic devices. Herein, comprehensive computational screening of a new class of two‐dimensional (2D) all‐inorganic Pb‐free A3B2X9 perovskites is performed based on the first‐principles calculations. The results indicate that the structural and electronic properties of 2D A3B2X9 structures strongly depend on the B‐X bonding interactions, which makes that their thermodynamic stability follows the trend of A3Bi2X9≈A3Sb2X9>A3In2X9>A3Ga2X9 and their interlayer interactions show a reversal trend. Owing to the lack of lone‐pair electron effect, A3In2X9 indicate direct bandgap characteristics and present the relatively smaller bandgaps and higher electron mobilities than A3Sb2X9 and A3Bi2X9. Benefit from optimal bandgaps (0.8–2.1 eV) and large absorption coefficients (104–105 cm−1) in the visible region, A3B2I9 (B = In, Sb, Bi) exhibit high power conversion efficiency up to 18.2%. Moreover, A3B2I9 (B = Sb, Bi) is verified as efficient photocatalysts for overall water splitting. The theoretical solar‐to‐hydrogen efficiency of Rb3Bi2I9 and Cs3Bi2I9 are >16%. This work suggests huge potential of 2D A3B2X9 perovskites for photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Conotruncal heart defects (CTDs) are a group of congenital heart malformations that cause anomalies of cardiac outflow tracts. In the past few decades, many genes related to CTDs have been reported. Serum response factor (SRF) is a ubiquitous nuclear protein that acts as transcription factor, and SRF was found to be a critical factor in heart development and to be strongly expressed in the myocardium of the developing mouse and chicken hearts. The targeted inactivation of SRF during heart development leads to embryonic lethality and myocardial defects in mice. Methods To illustrate the relationship between SRF and human heart defects, we screened SRF mutations in 527 CTD patients, a cross sectional study. DNA was extracted from peripheral leukocyte cells for target sequencing. The mutations of SRF were detected and validated by Sanger sequencing. The affection of the mutations on wild-type protein was analyzed by in silico softwares. Western blot and real time PCR were used to analyze the changes of the expression of the mutant mRNA and protein. In addition, we carried out dual luciferase reporter assay to explore the transcriptional activity of the mutant SRF. Results Among the target sequencing results of 527 patients, two novel mutations (Mut1: c.821A > G p.G274D, the adenine(A) was mutated to guanine(G) at position 821 of the SRF gene coding sequences (CDS), lead to the Glycine(G) mutated to Asparticacid(D) at position 274 of the SRF protein amino acid sequences; Mut2: c.880G > T p.G294C, the guanine(G) was mutated to thymine (T) at position 880 of the SRF CDS, lead to the Glycine(G) mutated to Cysteine (C) at position 294 of the SRF protein amino acid sequences.) of SRF (NM_003131.4) were identified. Western blotting and real-time PCR showed that there were no obvious differences between the protein expression and mRNA transcription of mutants and wild-type SRF. A dual luciferase reporter assay showed that both SRF mutants (G274D and G294C) impaired SRF transcriptional activity at the SRF promoter and atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) promoter (p