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Objectives: Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) is a noninvasive marker of atherosclerosis, a typical pathologic process underlying cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). It is essential to explore the relationships between weight loss and the reduction of CIMT., Study Design: This was an updated systematic review and meta-analysis., Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted to collect relevant clinical trials. The pooled results of meta-analyses were assessed by weighted mean difference (WMD) and the corresponding 95 % confidence interval (95% CI)., Results: Thirty-three articles involving 2273 participants were collected in this meta-analysis. Among all participants with obesity, the pooled mean of weight loss was -23.26 kg (95% CI: -27.71 to -18.81), and the pooled mean change of CIMT was -0.06 mm (95% CI: -0.08 to -0.04). Compared with Non-surgical interventions, Surgical ones could lead to much higher weight loss (P between groups < 0.001). A more significant CIMT reduction was identified among Surgical intervention patients than among Non-surgical intervention participants (P between groups < 0.001)., Conclusions: Effective interventions, especially Surgical interventions, could reduce the weight of patients with obesity, followed by the decline of CIMT, which might further disturb atherosclerosis progression and lower CVD risk., (Copyright © 2023 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: All authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Soil genesis is important for ecological restoration of red mud disposal area. Soil genesis of red mud and the microbial mechanism were studied by analyzing the change of physicochemical and biochemical characteristics of red mud. We analyzed the microbial community structure in a red mud disposal area without any human-induced restoration through a space for time substitution approach. The results showed that, with the increases of storage time, the physical parameters of porosity, water-stable aggregates content, and mean weight diameter increased, but the bulk density decreased. The chemical parameters, including pH, electrical conductivity, acid neutralizing capacity, and exchangeable sodium percentage, decreased with increasing storage time. The bio-chemical parameters of total organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, microbial biomass carbon and basal respiration increased, but the metabolic quotient decreased. The Shannon diversity index increased, and the dominant microflora in red mud changed from the oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria Cyanobacteria and thanaerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria Chlorobi and Chloroflexi to Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. The ratio between eutrophic and oligotrophic bacteria substantially increased. The micromorphology results showed that the microorga-nism-red mud aggregates were formed through adsorption, linkage, intertwinement and package between red mud particles, microbial cells and their metabolites. The red mud biotope changed spontaneously from extreme and oligotrophic into soil-like under natural stockpiling. The soil genesis process was mediated by microbes through increasing nutrient level, decreasing alkalinity and sali-nity, and improving soil structure.

Aeromonas veronii is an important zoonotic and aquatic pathogen. An increasing number of reports indicate that it has caused substantial economic losses in the aquaculture industry, in addition to threatening human health. However, little is known about its pathogenesis. Exploration of new virulence factors of A. veronii would be helpful for further understanding its pathogenesis. Hence, we comparatively analyzed the proteomes of virulent, attenuated, and avirulent strains of A. veronii using tandem mass tag (TMT) protein labeling and found numerous proteins either up- or downregulated in the virulent strain. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses showed that these differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were involved mainly in pathways associated with bacterial chemotaxis and microbial metabolism in diverse environments. Furthermore, the expression levels of lysine decarboxylase, endoribonuclease, maltoporin, pullulanase, and aerolysin were positively correlated with the virulence of the strains, suggesting that their function may be closely related to the virulence of A. veronii. The results of qRT-PCR and multiple reaction monitoring for some DEPs were consistent with the results of TMT protein labeling. These results suggest that these DEPs may be novel potential virulence factors and will help to further understand the pathogenesis of A. veronii., (© 2020 New York Academy of Sciences.)

Objective: Abnormal lipid metabolism plays a role that cannot be ignored in articular cartilage bone marrow lesions, synovial inflammation, and the destruction of chondrocytes (CHs). Ceramide is one of the key constructions of membrane lipid bilayers, which is an intracellular lipid mediator regulating varieties of cellular behaviors. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of ceramide and its inhibitor in the development of the CHs degeneration., Patients and Methods: CHs were isolated from the cartilage collecting from the osteoarthritis (OA) patients, and oleic acid/palmitic (O/P) acid was used to induce CHs lipid disordered. Then, myriocin was used to inhibit the accumulation of ceramide. After that, the apoptosis, cell viability, glucose uptake, oxidative stress, and the chondrogenic gene expression were tested to evaluate the degenerated degree of CHs., Results: Results revealed that O/P induced CH apoptosis, ceramide accumulation, a higher level of oxidative stress, IL-1β and MMP-13, but it also decreased the collagen-Ⅱ and SOX-9 expressions and affected the glucose uptake of CHs. After the stimulation of myriocin, the side effects induced by O/P was partly reversed., Conclusions: O/P induces the accumulation of ceramide and the degeneration of CHs, and myriocin can reject the harmful effect caused by O/P via the suppression of ceramide.

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase catalytic subunit δ isoform (P110δ) is mainly expressed in white blood cells. It is involved in T and B lymphocyte differentiation, maturation and the neutrophil chemotaxis process. Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is an arginine‑rich alkaline protein, which is present in plasma chylomicron, low‑density lipoprotein and very low‑density lipoprotein. The present study aimed to determine the effects of P110δ deletion on myocarditis in ApoE‑/‑ mice. A mouse model of ApoE and P110δ double deletion was initially constructed; hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was performed to detect the histological alterations in the mouse myocardium. Systolic and diastolic alterations, and alterations in the left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were examined by electrocardiogram. Blood cell of ApoE and P110δ double mice was used to detect changes in white blood cells and monocytes. Western blotting was used to detect the expression levels of apoptosis‑associated proteins, whereas flow cytometry was used to detect the percentage of apoptosis. Morphological alterations in myocardial cells were observed under a microscope. The results of polymerase chain reaction demonstrated that double deletion mice were successfully constructed. H&E staining revealed that cells in the ApoE‑/‑ mice were spindle‑shaped; however, the nuclei were smaller in the double deletion mice. There was no change in cardiac contraction in normal mice; however, in double deletion mice, the systolic and diastolic contractions were markedly reduced. LVFS and LVEF were decreased compared with in the control group. Blood cell analysis indicated that the content of white blood cells and monocytes in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group. Western blotting demonstrated that the expression levels of apoptotic proteins in double deletion mice were significantly higher compared with in the control group. Flow cytometry revealed that the apoptotic ratio was increased in double deletion mice compared with in the control group (42 vs. 21%). These findings suggested that deletion of P110δ may induce monocyte peritoneal infiltration and increase apoptosis, thus promoting the development of myocarditis.

Objective: Acute lung injury (ALI) is the most common organ damage in sepsis and sepsis-induced ALI is a clinically extremely dangerous disease. Therefore, it is essential to find an effective way to treat ALI. We hope to provide a new target for the treatment of clinical ALI by studying the effect of GDF11 on LPS-induced ALI., Materials and Methods: C57BL/6 male mice and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were used to induce mouse ALI. Recombinant GDF11 protein was used to treat mice to detect the effect of GDF11 on mouse ALI. In addition, BEAS-2B cells were used to further validate the effects of GDF11 on inflammation and apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cells., Results: Recombinant GDF11 protein significantly reduced the expression of inflammatory factors and apoptosis-related pathways in mouse lung tissues. Overexpression of GDF11 in BEAS-2B cells also significantly attenuated the levels of inflammation and apoptosis in the cells. In addition, GDF11 can reduce the activity of TLR2/HMGB1/NF-κB signaling pathway, which is an important mechanism for GDF11 to play a role in lung protection., Conclusions: GDF11 can exert lung protection effects by inhibiting the TLR2/HMGB1/NF-κB signaling pathway and reduce the level of inflammation and apoptosis of the lung.

As a structural analogue of pyridylthiazole, 2-(2-benzothiazoyl)-phenylethynylquinoline (QBT) was designed as a fluorescent probe for Hg(II) based on an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) mechanism. The compound was synthesized in three steps starting from 6-bromo-2-methylquinoline, with moderate yield. Corresponding studies on the optical properties of QBT indicate that changes in the fluorescence ratio of QBT in response to Hg(II) could be quantified based on dual-emission changes. More specifically, the emission spectrum of QBT before and after interactions with Hg(II) exhibited a remarkable red shift of about 120 nm, which is rarely reported in ICT-based fluorescent sensors. Finally, QBT was applied in the two-channel imaging of Hg(II) in live HeLa cells.

Objective: To reduce health-related threats of heat waves, interventions have been implemented in many parts of the world. However, there is a lack of higher-level evidence concerning the intervention efficacy. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of an intervention to reduce the number of heat-related illnesses., Methods: A quasi-experimental design was employed by two cross-sectional surveys in the year 2014 and 2015, including 2,240 participants and 2,356 participants, respectively. Each survey was designed to include one control group and one intervention group, which conducted in Licheng, China. A representative sample was selected using a multistage sampling method. Data, collected from questionnaires about heat waves in 2014 and 2015, were analyzed using a difference-in-difference analysis and cost effectiveness analysis. Outcomes included changes in the prevalence of heat-related illnesses and cost-effectiveness variables., Results: Relative to the control participants, the prevalence of heat-related illness in the intervention participants decreased to a greater extent in rural areas than in urban areas (OR=0.495 vs. OR=1.281). Moreover, the cost-effectiveness ratio in the intervention group was less than that in the control group (US$15.06 vs. US$15.69 per participant). Furthermore, to avoid one additional patient, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio showed that an additional US$14.47 would be needed for the intervention compared to when no intervention was applied., Conclusion: The intervention program may be considered a worthwhile investment for rural areas that are more likely to experience heat waves. Meanwhile, corresponding improving measures should be presented towards urban areas. Future research should examine whether the intervention strategies could be spread out in other domestic or international regions where heat waves are usually experienced., (Copyright © 2016 The Editorial Board of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences. Published by China CDC. All rights reserved.)

We conducted a case-control study to assess the role of two IL10 gene polymorphisms (rs1800896 and rs1800872) in susceptibility to liver cirrhosis, and their association with chronic hepatitis B in a Chinese population. A case-control study was designed to investigate the association between functional polymorphisms of IL10 (rs1800896 and rs1800872) and the development of liver cirrhosis. Between March 2012 and March 2014, we recruited 241 patients with liver cirrhosis and 254 controls from Xianyang Central Hospital. Genotyping of IL10 rs1800896 and rs1800872 polymorphisms was carried out using the polymerase chain reaction coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that individuals with the AA genotype of IL10 rs1800896 showed an increased risk of liver cirrhosis compared with those with the GG genotype in a codominant model (OR = 2.01, 95%CI = 1.10-3.65). In dominant and recessive models, we found that the IL10 rs1800896 polymorphism was correlated with the development of liver cirrhosis (for the dominant model, OR = 1.46, 95%CI = 1.01-2.13; for the recessive model, OR = 1.72, 95%CI = 1.01-3.02). In summary, our study suggests that the IL10 rs1800896 polymorphism is associated with the development of liver cirrhosis.

Aim: To study the mechanism responsible for alteration of T cell response in IDDM patients., Methods: T cells from peripheral blood of IDDM patients were activated by anti-TCR antibodies. The level of TCR-mediated signaling pathway was analyzed., Results: T cells from IDDM patients responded weakly to anti-TCR antibody-induced proliferation, as compared with T cells from normal subjects (P < 0.05). The defect could be partially remedied by the addition of rIL-2, while the anti-CD28 antibody stimulation did not restore the proliferative response of anti-TCR-induced cells from IDDM patients (P = 0.03)., Conclusion: Unresponsiveness of the T cells from IDDM patients to anti-TCR antibody may result from a defect in the signaling pathway, the CD28 co-stimulation-signaling pathway is normal. Defect in the TCR signaling pathway increases the sensitivity of T cells from IDDM patients to apoptosis or anergy.

12 cases of enterogenous cysts were treated from 1985 to 1992, and its pathology, definition, clinical manifestation and treatment were discussed. A variety of terms has been used for this entity but enterogenous cyst is more suitable. The clinical manifestation varies with different location. Complications are the most common cause bringing a patient to the hospital. The key point for radical therapy is removal of entire cystic wall. One case was cured by intracystic injection of formalin.