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Abstract Background Cancer patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has always been a hot discussion spot. Loneliness and psychological resilience are considered to be significant psychosocial factors impacting the HRQoL of the cancer population. However, there is a lack of studies on the interrelationship among loneliness, resilience, and HRQoL in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study aims to explore the relationship between resilience and HRQoL among NPC patients and to recognize the potential mediating role of loneliness in this relationship. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed in this study. A convenience sampling method was conducted to recruit participants. A total of 155 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were required to complete the socio-demographic questionnaire, the Cancer Loneliness Scale (CLS), the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Quality of Life Questionnaire C-30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) from April 2022 to August 2022 in a tertiary grade A hospital in Guangzhou, China. The multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify influencing factors, and structural equation modeling with the bootstrap method was performed to test the mediating role of loneliness. This study complied with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines. Results HRQoL was at a median level among NPC patients, with a mean score of 64.19 (24.38) on the Global health status/quality of life (GHS/QoL) scale. Monthly household income (B = 4.973, P

Abstract Background Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is frequently observed in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Pleural fluid cytology is a less invasive procedure compared to pleural biopsy. Therefore, it is crucial to identify novel effective biomarkers for LUAD-associated pleural fluid cytology. Methods The RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and clinical data of LUAD cases were downloaded from TCGA and OncoSG databases. Differential gene expression analysis, survival analysis and immune cell infiltration analysis were performed on the LUAD datasets. The expression levels of FAM83A, TFF-1, and NapsinA in 94 paired LUAD and adjacent normal tissues, and in the pleural effusion specimens of 40 LUAD and 21 non-neoplastic patients were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Results FAM83A expression levels were significantly different between the LUAD and normal tissue datasets, and correlated with overall or disease-free survival, and histological grade of the tumors. Furthermore, the in-situ expression of FAM83A was higher in 89/94 LUAD tissues compared to the paired normal tissues. FAM83A expression was significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration, and showed a positive association with macrophage infiltration. In addition, FAM83A staining was positive in 37 LUAD pleural effusion samples, and negative in 20 non-neoplastic pleural effusion samples. The expression pattern of FAM83A in the pleural effusion of LUAD patients was relatively consistent with that of TFF-1 and NapsinA, and even stronger in some specimens that were weakly positive or negative for TTF1/NapsinA. Conclusions FAM83A is a promising immune-related biomarker in LUAD biopsy specimens and pleural fluid, and can distinguish between malignant and benign pleural effusion.

Abstract Migratory birds are important vectors for virus transmission, how migratory birds recognize viruses and viruses are sustained in birds is still enigmatic. As an animal model for waterfowl among migratory birds, studying and dissecting the antiviral immunity and viral evasion in duck cells may pave a path to deciphering these puzzles. Here, we studied the mechanism of antiviral autophagy mediated by duck STING in DEF cells. The results collaborated that duck STING could significantly enhance LC3B-II/I turnover, LC3B-EGFP puncta formation, and mCherry/EGFP ratio, indicating that duck STING could induce autophagy. The autophagy induced by duck STING is not affected by shRNA knockdown of ATG5 expression, deletion of the C-terminal tail of STING, or TBK1 inhibitor BX795 treatment, indicating that duck STING activated non-classical selective autophagy is independent of interaction with TBK1, TBK1 phosphorylation, and interferon (IFN) signaling. The STING R235A mutant and Sar1A/B kinase mutant abolished duck STING induced autophagy, suggesting binding with cGAMP and COPII complex mediated transport are the critical prerequisite. Duck STING interacted with LC3B through LIR motifs to induce autophagy, the LIR 4/7 motif mutants of duck STING abolished the interaction with LC3B, and neither activated autophagy nor IFN expression, indicating that duck STING associates with LC3B directed autophagy and dictated innate immunity activation. Finally, we found that duck STING mediated autophagy significantly inhibited duck plague virus (DPV) infection via ubiquitously degraded viral proteins. Our study may shed light on one scenario about the control and evasion of diseases transmitted by migratory birds.

Developmental defects of enamel are common due to genetic and environmental factors before and after birth. Cdc42, a Rho family small GTPase, regulates prenatal tooth development in mice. However, its role in postnatal tooth development, especially enamel formation, remains elusive. Here, we investigated Cdc42 functions in mouse enamel development and tooth repair after birth. Cdc42 showed highly dynamic temporospatial patterns in the developing incisors, with robust expression in ameloblast and odontoblast layers. Strikingly, epithelium-specific Cdc42 deletion resulted in enamel defects in incisors. Ameloblast differentiation was inhibited, and hypomineralization of enamel was observed upon epithelial Cdc42 deletion. Proteomic analysis showed that abnormal mitochondrial components, phosphotransferase activity, and ion channel regulator activity occurred in the Cdc42 mutant dental epithelium. Reactive oxygen species accumulation was detected in the mutant mice, suggesting that abnormal oxidative stress occurred after Cdc42 depletion. Moreover, Cdc42 mutant mice showed delayed tooth repair and generated less calcified enamel. Mitochondrial dysfunction and abnormal oxygen consumption were evidenced by reduced Apool and Timm8a1 expression, increased Atp5j2 levels, and reactive oxygen species overproduction in the mutant repair epithelium. Epithelium-specific Cdc42 deletion attenuated ERK1/2 signaling in the labial cervical loop. Aberrant Sox2 expression in the mutant labial cervical loop after clipping might lead to delayed tooth repair. These findings suggested that mitochondrial dysfunction, up-regulated oxidative stress, and abnormal ion channel activity may be among multiple factors responsible for the observed enamel defects in Cdc42 mutant incisors. Overall, Cdc42 exerts multidimensional and pivotal roles in enamel development and is particularly required for ameloblast differentiation and enamel matrix formation.

ABSTRACT The Changle goose (CLG), a Chinese indigenous breed, is celebrated for its adaptability, rapid growth, and premium meat quality. Despite its agricultural value, the exploration of its genomic attributes has been scant. Our study entailed whole‐genome resequencing of 303 geese across CLG and five other Chinese breeds, revealing distinct genetic diversity metrics. We discovered significant migration events from Xingguo gray goose to CLG and minor gene flow between them. We identified genomic regions through selective sweep analysis, correlating with CLG's unique traits. An elevated inbreeding coefficient in CLG, alongside reduced heterozygosity and rare single nucleotide polymorphisms (RSNPs), suggests a narrowed genetic diversity. Genomic regions related to reproduction, meat quality, and growth were identified, with the GATA3 gene showing strong selection signals for meat quality. A non‐synonymous mutation in the Sloc2a1 gene, which is associated with reproductive traits in the CLG, exhibited significant differences in allelic frequency. The roles of CD82, CDH8, and PRKAB1 in growth and development, alongside FABP4, FAF1, ESR1, and AKAP12 in reproduction, were highlighted. Additionally, Cdkal1 and Mfsd14a may influence meat quality. This comprehensive genetic analysis underpins the unique genetic makeup of CLG, providing a basis for its conservation and informed breeding strategies.

Background: Hepatic encephalopathy is a common and serious complication of decompensated cirrhosis. It can considerably contribute to economic burden and impaired quality of life. However, its pathogenesis remains unclear. Method: In this study, we aimed to visually analyse the research status and development trends in hepatic encephalopathy pathogenesis using bibliometrics and knowledge mapping. Information regarding publications between 1978 and 2022 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace was used to analyse and present data by year, author, institution, country, journal, reference, and keyword. Results: A total of 1578 publications on hepatic encephalopathy pathogenesis in patients with cirrhosis were retrieved from Web of Science Core Collection. A gradual increasing trend in annual publications has occurred. The collaborative network analysis results suggest the United States of America, the University of London, and Bajaj, Jasmohan S as the most influential country, institution, and author, respectively, in this research field. Notably, China appeariiuis to be the most promising country. Research on ‘hepatology’ garners the most significant papers in the field. Combined with reference co-citation and keyword co-occurrence analyses, we found that ammonia metabolism, gut microbiota, sarcopenia, and trace elements will become future research frontiers that are likely to be explored for a considerable length of time. Conclusion: Future research directions in HE pathogenesis may target modulating the ammonia metabolism, the gut microbiota, sarcopenia, and trace elements.

Abstract Periodontitis is a highly prevalent disease characterized by inflammation and destruction of tooth-supporting tissues that leads to tooth loss in extreme situations. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms of periodontitis pathogenesis and progression will establish the groundwork for developing effective treatment strategies. Recently, evidence concerning the role of ferroptosis in periodontitis progression has emerged. Osteogenic lineage cells are key regulators of bone remodeling. Osteogenic cell death, as observed in experimental periodontitis models, disrupts the balance between bone resorption and bone formation. However, whether the osteogenic lineage undergoes ferroptosis during periodontitis and the corresponding effect on periodontitis progression remain elusive. Here, we investigated cell-specific ferroptosis within the alveolar bone in a murine periodontitis model. Through immunofluorescence double staining and immunohistochemistry, we identified ferroptotic osteocytes and osteoblasts in inflammatory alveolar bone. Next, in vivo administration of erastin or liproxstatin-1 was conducted to either induce or inhibit ferroptosis, respectively. Severe bone resorption and inflammation, accompanied by increased osteoclast formation and impaired osteogenic potential were detected following ferroptosis activation. Subsequently, we carried out in vitro experiments on osteocytes and further verified that ferroptosis enhanced the osteocytic expression of RANKL and IL-6. These findings suggest that ferroptosis occurring within the osteogenic lineage acts as a catalyst in the progression of periodontitis by stimulating osteoclastogenesis through the secretion of inflammatory cytokines and inhibiting osteoblastic function, providing insights into ferroptosis-induced alterations in microenvironment-based intercellular communication. Ferroptosis is a promising target for controlling inflammation and preventing bone resorption in periodontitis.

The concept of an action threshold that depends on predator density and the rate of change is relatively novel and can engender new ideas among scholars studying predator-prey systems more effectively than earlier concepts. On this basis, a predator-prey system with an action threshold based on predator density and its change rate has been established and its dynamic behavior studied. The exact phase set and pulse set of the model were obtained conducting image analysis. The Poincaré map of the model has been constructed and the extreme value points, monotonic interval and immobility points of the Poincaré map have been studied. In addition, the nature of the periodic solution is discussed and we present simulations of the interesting dynamical behavior of the model through the use of numerical examples. An action threshold that depends on the density and rate of change of predators is more reasonable and realistic than techniques proposed in earlier studies, which is significant for the study of control strategies. It is the analytical approach adopted in this paper that allows researchers to explore other generalized predator-prey models more fully and in-depth.

Abstract Objective Our research aims to elucidate the significance of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and provides an insight into a novel risk model for post-cerebral infarction cognitive dysfunction (PCICD). Methods Our study recruited inpatients hospitalized with cerebral infarction in Xijing hospital, who underwent cognitive assessment of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) from January 2010 to December 2021. Cognitive status was dichotomized into normal cognition and cognitive impairment. Collected data referred to Demographic Features, Clinical Diseases, scale tests, fluid biomarkers involving inflammation, coagulation function, hepatorenal function, lipid and glycemic management. Results In our pooled dataset from 924 eligible patients, we included 353 in the final analysis (age range 65–91; 30.31% female). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to show that Rural Areas (OR = 1.976, 95%CI = 1.111–3.515, P = 0.020), T2D (OR = 2.125, 95%CI = 1.267–3.563, P = 0.004), Direct Bilirubin (OR = 0.388, 95%CI = 0.196–0.769, P = 0.007), Severity of Dependence in terms of Barthel Index (OR = 1.708, 95%CI = 1.193–2.445, P = 0.003) that were independently associated with PCICD, constituting a model with optimal predictive efficiency. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, this study provides a practicable map of strategical predictors to robustly identify cognitive dysfunction at risk of post-cerebral infarction for clinicians in a broad sense. Of note, our findings support that the decline in serum direct bilirubin (DBil) concentration is linked to protecting cognitive function.

Rubus fructus, the dried fruit of Rubus chingii Hu, is a versatile medicinal and edible plant. In this review, we used “Rubus chingii” or “Fupengzi” as the keyword and collected relevant information from classical Chinese herbal texts, PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure database, and patent websites. An ethnopharmacological survey shows that R. chingii Hu belongs to a class of Rubus plants known for nourishing the kidneys and liver, consolidating essence, reducing urine, and improving vision. R. chingii is rich in flavonoids, phenolic compounds, terpenes, amino acids, and vitamins. Currently, ellagic acid and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside are used as quality markers of R. chingii. Modern medical research indicates that it has multiple functional activities, including antioxidation/anti-aging, blood glucose regulation, immune enhancement, growth promotion, reproductive support, regulation of intestinal flora, and improvement of gastrointestinal function. Due to its numerous health benefits, various health products such as canned foods, fruit wine, fruit vinegar, beverages, teas, jams, and other foods have been developed worldwide. In summary, this review provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, quality control, functions, and food application of R. chingii, contributing to the advancement of health food and medical development related to this plant.

The development and advancement of malnutrition is associated not only with the progression of hepatic dysfunction, but also with cirrhosis-related complications. However, the prevalence of malnutrition reported in different studies varies widely due to differences in diagnostic methods and patient investigation settings. Therefore, we need to identify malnourished patients promptly and accurately. The purpose of this review was to compare the validity and reliability of nutritional screening tools and to select the most appropriate nutritional risk screening for patients with cirrhosis. We compared nutritional risk screening tools such as the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), Royal Free Hospital-Nutritional Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT) and Liver Disease Undernutrition Screening Tool (LDUST). Royal Free Hospital-Nutritional Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT) is more feasible to screen cirrhotic patients for nutritional risk, and is highly reproducible, considering the impact of sodium and water retention; so it is practical to screen cirrhotic patients via RFH-NPT for nutritional risk, subsequently, to evaluate the nutritional status of patients with nutritional risk via the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) diagnostic criteria. L3-SMI (third lumbar-skeletal muscle index) can accurately define sarcopenia in cirrhotic patients and also be used for clinical nutritional status assessment.

BackgroundStudies have shown that work readiness is closely related to nurses’ role adaptation, career development, and patient safety. However, we know little about the nursing students’ work readiness and its influencing factors before participating in a nurse residency program, and whether factors have changed from before.Aim(1) To investigate the work readiness of nursing students ready to engage in a nurse residency program; (2) to identify the factors affecting the nursing students’ work readiness and the associations between emotional intelligence and work readiness; and (3) to discuss the changes of factors affecting nursing students’ work readiness.DesignAn online, multicenter cross-sectional study.Methods878 nursing students from eight tertiary hospitals in Chongqing, China were recruited. The online investigation used the General Information Questionnaire, the Nursing Students’ Work Readiness Scale, and the Emotional Intelligence scale. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS V23.0.Results768 valid questionnaires were included in this study. The nurses obtained a work readiness score of 277.08 ± 44.39 and an emotional intelligence score of 89.57 ± 13.89. Univariate analysis revealed that the following factors affected work readiness: age, sex, family support for becoming a nurse, voluntary choice of nursing major, previous experience as a student cadre, scholarship recipient status, willingness to engage in nursing work during the COVID-19 pandemic and confidence in clinical nursing practice. Frequent incidents of violence, poor salary for nurses for the nurse residency program, and low social acceptance were the top three reasons for decreased confidence in clinical nursing among nursing students. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis indicated that age, voluntary choice of nursing major, student leadership experience, confidence in clinical nursing work, self-emotion, and emotional application significantly influenced nurses’ work readiness.ConclusionClinical instructors and administrators should dynamically assess nurses’ work readiness, prioritize individuals aged ≤23, who have chosen the nursing profession involuntarily, lack prior experience as student cadres, and exhibit low confidence in clinical nursing work. This focus will enhance their emotional self-management skills and ability to apply emotions effectively, improving their work readiness and training efficacy.

expert finding in community question answering sites aims to match target questions with experts who are most likely to provide satisfactory answers. Network embedding techniques have been highly successful in expert finding. Nevertheless, most network embedding techniques generate only a single feature vector for experts based on historically answered question to match the target question, often ignoring multi-granularity linguistic matching information. As a result, these methods cannot fully capture the similarity between questions and experts. To tackle these challenges, this study proposes a multi-granularity encoded community question answering expert finding model incorporating graph neural networks, i.e., LG-ERMG: 1) LG-ERMG constructs a relationship graph based on the experts and their history of answered questions and utilizes a lightweight graph convolutional network to capture the potential connections among the experts, which can help to enhance the representation of expert expertise; and 2) multi-granularity coding technique is used to learn different granularity of semantic matching information between target questions and experts’ historical answer questions. In this study, experiments on two real community question answering datasets are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.

The occurrence of pests and diseases during agricultural production affects the quality and quantity of agricultural products. It is important to evaluate the impact of various factors on pests to achieve optimal results of integrated pest management (IPM) during its implementation. In this paper, we considered the transient and non-transient effects of chemical control on pests and the effects on natural enemies at different times, and developed a corresponding pest control model. Detailed studies and comparisons were conducted for spraying pesticides either more or less frequently as compared to strategies for releasing natural enemies. The threshold conditions for global asymptotic stabilization of the pest extinction period solution was obtained. Using two-parameter and sensitivity analysis techniques, the parameters affecting the variation of the threshold were discussed. By comparing these two pest control strategies, we found the existence of optimal application and release frequencies. Finally, in order to control pests below the economic threshold level, the state-dependent pest model was numerically investigated. The results show that the presence or absence of chemical control of pests can depend on the values taken for the parameters in the model. Based on this information, pest control experts can make decisions about the best spraying time and the best release rate.

Abstract Background and aims Manganese (Mn) deficiency and intoxication may affect nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) risk differently. We aimed to explore the association between blood Mn and NAFLD in an area with high Mn exposure in drinking water. Methods We conducted a case–control study among 1407 patients with NAFLD and 1774 sex- and age-matched healthy controls in a physical examination population in Zhoushan hospital, Zhejiang province in China. We used the restricted cubic splines method to investigate the dose–response relationship. Logistic regression models were applied to determine the risk of NAFLD, and severity of NAFLD. Results The blood Mn concentration was higher in the NAFLD group than in the control group in women (16.1 ± 6.2 μg/L vs. 14.7 ± 6.4 μg/L, P = 0.022) and men (14.5 ± 6.3 μg/L vs. 13.6 ± 6.8 μg/L, P

Abstract Background Oculogyric crisis (OGC) is a rare focal dystonia of the ocular muscles that not only interferes with patients’ medication adherence but also negatively affects the course and prognosis of the primary disease. Early detection and treatment of OGC can improve patients’ medication adherence and quality of life. Case presentation This paper reports a case of a 19-year-old Asian female with a diagnosis of schizophrenia who was treated intermittently with atypical antipsychotics aripiprazole or risperidone for 2 years, with improvement of psychotic symptoms during the course of medication, and then developed double eye rolling and staring with irritability when treated with risperidone 4 mg/d or 6 mg/d. Then, we changed the medication to clozapine, and the patient’s psychotic symptoms were controlled and stable. The symptoms of double eye rolling and gaze disappeared. Conclusion Oculogyric crisis (OGC) is a rare focal dystonia of the oculogyric muscle. This case provides clinicians with a basis for the early recognition and management of oculogyric crisis during the use of atypical antipsychotics (risperidone).

Summary: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples are commonly collected via lumbar puncture (LP) in both clinical and research settings for measurement of biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). To determine the effects of LP on CSF AD biomarkers, we collected CSF samples at seven different time points after an LP in rhesus monkeys. We find that amyloid-beta (Aβ) and Tau levels increased significantly on day 1, peaked on day 3, and returned to baseline on day 10 after LP. The NFL levels increased significantly on day 5, peaked on day 10, and returned to baseline after day 30. The increased AD biomarker levels were mainly due to CSF outflow and deep intrathecal invasion during LP. Therefore, if LPs are repeated within a short period of time, prior LP can affect Aβ and Tau levels within 10 days and NFL levels within 30 days, which may lead to clinical misdiagnosis or incorrect scientific conclusions.

Abstract Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is an important plant used worldwide for medicine and food. The R2R3‐MYB transcription factor (TF) family has essential roles in plant growth, development, and stresses resistance, and the number of genes in the family varies greatly among different types of plants. However, genome‐wide discovery of ZoMYBs and gene responses to stresses have not been reported in ginger. Therefore, genome‐wide analysis of R2R3‐MYB genes in ginger was conducted in this study. Protein phylogenetic relations and conserved motifs and chromosome localization and duplication, structure, and cis‐regulatory elements were analyzed. In addition, the expression patterns of selected genes were analyzed under two different stresses. A total of 299 candidate ZoMYB genes were discovered in ginger. Based on groupings of R2R3‐MYB genes in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., ZoMYBs were divided into eight groups. Genes were distributed across 22 chromosomes at uneven densities. In gene duplication analysis, 120 segmental duplications were identified in the ginger genome. Gene expression patterns of 10 ZoMYBs in leaves of ginger under abscisic acid (ABA) and low‐temperature stress treatments were different. The results will help to determine the exact roles of ZoMYBs in anti‐stress responses in ginger.

BackgroundThe mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway has a significant effect on central precocious puberty (CPP). However, the causality between mTOR-dependent circulating protein levels and CPP is still unclear. Our aim is to assess the effects of seven mTOR-dependent circulating protein levels on CPP using Mendelian randomization (MR).MethodsInstrumental variables (IVs) for mTOR-dependent circulating protein levels were retrieved from the proteomics-GWAS INTERVAL study and eQTLGen. The summary-level genetic datasets for CPP outcome were obtained from the FinnGen Consortium. Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) was used as the primary method and the pleiotropy, heterogeneity and robustness of the analyses were detected as sensitivity analysis. Positive exposures in the discovery cohort would be revalidated in the validation cohort.ResultsThis two-sample MR study revealed a causal association between eIF4G level in plasma and CPP in both discovery cohort (IVW: OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.22–0.91, p = 0.026) and validation cohort (IVW: OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.24–0.85, p = 0.014).ConclusionsThere was a causal association between eIF4G level in plasma and CPP. Whether eIF4G can be used for the prevention or treatment of CPP needs to be explored in further studies.

Abstract Background Epidemiological evidence shows a robust relationship between cognitive dysfunction and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study identified major risk factors that might prevent or ameliorate T2DM-associated cognitive dysfunction in the realm of clinical practice. Methods Using Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) in the light of education level, we identified older adults with T2DM on admission aged 50 and above. We conducted this case–control study when eligible participants were divided into Cognitively Normal (CN) group and Cognitively Impaired (CI) group. Analytical data referred to demographic characteristics, clinical features, fluid biomarkers, and scale tests. Results Of 596 records screened, 504 cases were included in the final analysis. Modified multivariate logistic regression analysis verified that homocysteine (OR = 2.048, 95%CI = 1.129–3.713), brain infarction (OR = 1.963, 95%CI = 1.197–3.218), dementia (OR = 9.430, 95%CI = 2.113–42.093), education level (OR = 0.605, 95%CI = 0.367–0.997), severity of dependence (OR = 1.996, 95%CI = 1.397–2.851), creatine kinase (OR = 0.514, 95%CI = 0.271–0.974) were significant risk factors of incident T2DM-related cognitive dysfunction in patients of advanced age. Conclusion Our study supported a robust relationship between T2DM and cognitive dysfunction. Our results provide clinicians with major risk factors for T2DM-related cognitive dysfunction, in particular the protective role of creatine kinase.

Abstract Duck plague virus (DPV) is one of the major infectious and fatal diseases of geese, ducks, and other wild waterfowl. The DPV UL49 gene product VP22 is one of the most abundant tegument proteins. However, the role of the DPV VP22 is enigmatic to be clarified. In this study, we found deletion of the UL49 gene resulted in reduced viral growth curve and smaller plaque size in duck embryo fibroblast (DEF) cells, confirming that DPV VP22 is required for efficient viral growth in vitro. In addition, deletion of the UL49 gene inhibited the secondary envelopment of the virus, the release of viral particles, and the spread of viruses between cells. Our study signified the importance of VP22 for DPV secondary envelopment, release, cell-to-cell spread, and accumulation of viral RNA. These findings provide a basis for further study of the function of VP22 in DPV or other herpesviruses.

The atmospheric corrosion behavior of Q345NH steel exposed to various coastal distances was investigated in Wenchang, China. The results revealed that with the shortening of the distance from the coast, the amount of chloride ion precipitation increased and the corrosion rate accelerated. After exposure at different locations, the surface conditions and microstructure are widely divergent owing to their unique composition and phase distribution of the rust layer. The high Cl− concentration along the coast promoted the synthesis of β-FeOOH, which favored the synthesis of Fe3O4 in humid environments. Due to the disparity in molar volumes of these phases, the transformation process led to the crack and deterioration of the rust layer.

In the digital innovation ecosystem, the symbiosis mode formed between ecosystem members not only relates to their survival and development but also affects the ecosystem's symbiosis evolution mechanism. Based on symbiosis theory, this study first explores the evolutionary equilibrium strategy and its stability for three types of populations-core enterprises, digital platforms, and university research institutes-and then uses numerical simulation and a case study to explore the symbiotic evolution mechanism of the digital innovation ecosystem. The results show that: First, the digital innovation ecosystem is a complex adaptive system in which the three types of populations form different symbiotic relationships under different symbiotic modes and conduct symbiotic activities, such as value co-creation, to characterize the unique symbiotic evolutionary structure. Second, in this ecosystem, the symbiotic relationship formed by the combined values of different symbiotic coefficients between populations determines the outcome of symbiotic evolution. Third, the ideal direction of the evolution of the digital innovation ecosystem is a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship. Thus, the symbiotic relationship between populations should be transformed into a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationships as much as possible. This study makes theoretical contributions by shedding light on the symbiotic evolution mechanism of the digital innovation ecosystem. It also offers countermeasures for the digital innovation cooperation of various stakeholders in China's digital innovation ecosystem.

Two kinds of composite mineral admixtures were prepared by grinding iron tailings powder and silicon powder in the ratios of 3∶2 and 4∶1, respectively to substitute cement for the preparation of mortar and concrete samples. The basic properties of iron tailings-silica fume composite mineral admixture mortar and concrete have been studied through microstructure analysis, strength and durability analysis. Results show that: as the content of the composite mineral admixture increases, the heat of hydration reaction, compressive strength, split tensile strength and freeze-thaw durability of the sample gradually decrease; and adding iron tailings powder can increase the pore structure of the hardened mortar test block, which reduces the compressive strength and freeze-thaw durability of the concrete. However, increasing the amount of silica fume can increase the strength of the hydration reaction of the sample, and increasing the silica fume can reduce the content of Ca(OH)2. The CSH gel produced by the hydration reaction of silica fume can also refine the pore structure, thereby improve the microscopic properties, compressive strength, split tensile strength and freeze-thaw durability of concrete; make up for the negative impact of iron tailings powder on concrete performance. On the whole, the compressive strength of modified concrete is more than 85% of that of ordinary concrete, which can meet engineering requirements.

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a common chronic pain condition resulted from lesions or diseases of somatosensory nervous system, but the pathogenesis remains unclear. A growing body of evidence supports the relationship between pathogenesis and N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications of RNA. However, studies on the role of m6A modifications in NP are still at an early stage. Elucidating different etiologies is important for understanding the specific pathogenesis of NP. This article provides a comprehensive review on the role of m6A methylation modifications including methyltransferases (''writers''), demethylases (''erasers''), and m6A binding proteins (''readers'') in NP models. Further analysis of the pathogenic mechanism relationship between m6A and NP provided novel theoretical and practical significance for clinical treatment of NP.

Respiratory infections, whether chronic or acute, are frequent in both children and adults and result in an economic burden in health care systems. In particular, for an immunocompromised patient, respiratory infection leads to acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, a leading cause of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Most respiratory infections are caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, smoking, or air pollution. Over the last two decades, considerable improvements have been made in understanding and identifying respiratory infections. Various biosensing techniques have been developed with a range of targets to identify the infection at earlier stages. Recently, nanomaterials have been effectively applied to improve biosensors and their analytical performances. This review discusses recent biosensor developments for identifying respiratory infections caused by viruses and bacteria assisted by different types of nanomaterials and target molecules.

Recommender systems are an effective way to address the information overload problem. Due to the rapid development of deep learning, recommender systems based on deep learning can efficiently process massive training samples and integrate a variety of additional information, which can alleviate the inherent data sparsity and cold start problems of recommender systems. However, deep learning recommender systems need to collect massive amounts of user data for training models, which poses challenges for data security and user privacy protection. By using users’ local, not centrally collected, data, federated learning can collaboratively train deep learning recommendation models and improve the accuracy of recommendations without compromising user privacy. In this paper, we propose FedDeepFM, a deep recommender system model based on federated learning. First, FedDeepFM follows the standard paradigm of federated learning by uploading each client’s model parameters instead of the original data for model updates, according to the data processing inequality, which ensures that the server cannot collect users’ private information directly but at the same time is able to use the private data held by each client to jointly train a global model with generalization capabilities. Second, to prevent the server from learning users’ private information through indirect inference methods, a pseudo-interaction filling method is used to expand the client data to mask the real user data. The experimental results show that FedDeepFM, the deep recommender system model based on federated learning proposed in this paper, can provide high-quality recommendations while enhancing users’ privacy.

Abstract Objective To detect differentially expressed genes in patients with neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) by bioinformatics methods and to provide new ideas and research directions for the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of NEC. Methods Gene chip data were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. The genes that were differentially expressed in NEC compared with normal intestinal tissues were screened with GEO2R. The functions, pathway enrichment and protein interactions of these genes were analyzed with DAVID and STRING. Then, the core network genes and significant protein interaction modules were detected using Cytoscape software. Results Overall, a total of 236 differentially expressed genes were detected, including 225 upregulated genes and 11 downregulated genes, and GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were performed. The results indicated that the upregulated differentially expressed genes were related to the dimerization activity of proteins, while the downregulated differentially expressed genes were related to the activity of cholesterol transporters. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes were significantly concentrated in metabolism, fat digestion and absorption pathways. Through STRING analysis, 9 key genes in the protein network interaction map were identified: EPCAM, CDH1, CFTR, IL-6, APOB, APOC3, APOA4, SLC2A and NR1H4. Conclusion Metabolic pathways and biological processes may play important roles in the development of NEC. The screening of possible core targets by bioinformatics is helpful in clarifying the pathogenesis of NEC at the gene level and in providing references for further research.

Background: R2R3-MYB genes comprise one of the largest and most important gene families in plants, and are involved in the regulation of plant growth and development as well as responses to abiotic stresses. However, the functions of R2R3-MYB genes in Dendrobium nobile remains largely unknown. Methods: Here, a comprehensive genome-wide analysis of D. nobile R2R3-MYB genes was performed, in which phylogenic relationships, gene structures, motif composition, chromosomal locations, collinearity analysis, and cis-acting elements were investigated. Moreover, the expression patterns of selected DnMYB genes were analyzed in various tissues and under different abiotic stresses. Results: In total, 125 DnMYB genes were identified in the D. nobile genome, and were subdivided into 26 groups based on phylogenetic analysis. Most genes in the same subgroup showed similar exon/intron structure and motif composition. All the DnMYB genes were mapped to 19 chromosomes with the co-linearity relationship. Reverse transcription-quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) results showed that 8 DnMYBs exhibited different expression patterns in different plant tissues, and were differentially expressed in response to abscisic acid, methyl jasmonate, low-temperature stress. Conclusions: This work contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the R2R3-MYB gene family in D. nobile, and provides candidate genes for future research on abiotic stress in this plant.

Background Therapeutic hypothermia has a beneficial effect on cardiac function after acute myocardial infarction, but the exact mechanism is still unclear. Recent research has suggested that microRNAs participate in acute myocardial infarction to regulate cardiomyocyte survival. This study aimed to explore the ability of hypothermia‐regulated microRNA‐483‐3p (miR‐483‐3p) to inhibit hypoxia‐induced myocardial infarction. Methods and Results Primary cardiomyocytes were cultured under hypoxia at 32 °C to mimic therapeutic hypothermia, and the differentially expressed microRNAs were determined by RNA sequencing. Therapeutic hypothermia recovered hypoxia‐induced increases in apoptosis, decreases in ATP levels, and decreases in miR‐483‐3p expression. Overexpression of miR‐483‐3p exhibited effects similar to those of therapeutic hypothermia on hypoxia in the treatment of cardiomyocytes to associate with maintaining the mitochondrial membrane potential, and cyclin‐dependent kinase 9 (Cdk9) was identified as a target gene with downregulated expression by miR‐483‐3p. Knockdown of Cdk9 also promoted cardiac survival, ATP production, and mitochondrial membrane potential stability under hypoxia. In vivo, the expression of miR‐483‐3p and Cdk9 was tested in the cardiac tissue of the mice with acute myocardial infarction, and the expression of miR‐483‐3p decreased and Cdk9 increased in the region of myocardial infarction. However, miR‐483‐3p was overexpressed with lentivirus, which suppressed apoptosis, infarct size (miR‐483‐3p, 22.00±4.04% versus negative control, 28.57±5.44%, P

Objective This study aims to reveal the use and management status of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in tertiary hospitals in China and to determine the potential factors affecting the application of CGM, based on which more effective solutions would be produced and implemented.Design An online, cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2021 to December 2021.Setting Eighty-three tertiary hospitals in China were involved.Participants Eighty-three head nurses and 281 clinical nurses were obtained.Outcome Current condition of CGM use and management, the factors that hinder the use and management of CGM, scores of current CGM use and management, as well as their influencing factors, were collected.Results Among the 83 hospitals surveyed, 57 (68.7%) hospitals used CGM for no more than 10 patients per month. Seventy-three (88.0%) hospitals had developed CGM standard operating procedures, but only 29 (34.9%) hospitals devised emergency plans to deal with adverse effects related to CGM. Comparably, maternal and children’s hospitals were more likely to have a dedicated person to assign install CGM than general hospitals (52.2% vs 26.7%). As for the potential causes that hinder the use and management of CGM, head nurses’ and nurses’ perceptions differed. Head nurses perceived patients’ limited knowledge about CGM (60.2%), the high costs of CGM and inaccessibility to medical insurance (59.0%), and imperfect CGM management systems (44.6%) as the top three factors. Different from head nurses, CGM operation nurses considered the age of CGM operators, the type of hospital nurses worked in, the number of patients using CGM per month and the number of CGM training sessions as potential factors (p

The mechanisms behind the oncogenic role of the PIK3CA helical domain mutant is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that its oncogenic function depends on the release of p85β from mutated p110α, its translocation to the nucleus and the consequent increased activity of EZH proteins.

Abstract Objectives To establish the three-dimensional facial soft tissue morphology of adolescent and adult females in the Guangdong population and to study the morphological characteristics of hyperdivergent skeletal class II females in Guangdong compared with that of normodivergent class I groups. Materials and methods The 3dMDface system was used to capture face scans of 160 patients, including 45 normal and 35 hyperdivergent skeletal class II adolescents (aged 11–14 years old) and 45 normal and 35 hyperdivergent skeletal class II adults (aged 18–30 years old). Thirty-two soft tissue landmarks were mapped, and 21 linear, 10 angular and 17 ratio measurements were obtained by 3dMDvultus analysis software. Data were assessed with a t-test of two independent samples between the normal adolescent and adult groups and between the normal and hyperdivergent skeletal class II groups. Results The linear measurements of the Guangdong adult females were larger than those of the adolescents in both Class I and Class II groups. However, the angular and ratio measurements had no significant difference. The vertical linear measurements were higher and the sagittal and transverse linear measurements were smaller in the hyperdivergent class II group (p

Oral inflammatory diseases (OIDs) include many common diseases such as periodontitis and pulpitis. The causes of OIDs consist microorganism, trauma, occlusal factors, autoimmune dis-eases and radiation therapy. When treated unproperly, such diseases not only affect oral health but also pose threat to people’s overall health condition. Therefore, identifying OIDs at an early stage and exploring new therapeutic strategies are important tasks for oral-related research. Mitochondria are crucial organelles for many cellular activities and disruptions of mitochondrial function not only affect cellular metabolism but also indirectly influence people’s health and life span. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in many common polygenic diseases, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, increasing evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction plays a critical role in the development and progression of OIDs and its associated systemic diseases. In this review, we elucidated the critical insights into mitochondrial dysfunction and its involvement in the inflammatory responses in OIDs. We also summarized recent research progresses on the treatment of OIDs targeting mitochondrial dysfunction and discussed the underlying mechanisms.

Abstract Background The regeneration and repair of articular cartilage remains a major challenge for clinicians and scientists due to the poor intrinsic healing of this tissue. Since cartilage injuries are often clinically irregular, tissue-engineered scaffolds that can be easily molded to fill cartilage defects of any shape that fit tightly into the host cartilage are needed. Method In this study, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSC) affinity peptide sequence PFSSTKT (PFS)-modified chondrocyte extracellular matrix (ECM) particles combined with GelMA hydrogel were constructed. Results In vitro experiments showed that the pore size and porosity of the solid-supported composite scaffolds were appropriate and that the scaffolds provided a three-dimensional microenvironment supporting cell adhesion, proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation. In vitro experiments also showed that GelMA/ECM-PFS could regulate the migration of rabbit BMSCs. Two weeks after implantation in vivo, the GelMA/ECM-PFS functional scaffold system promoted the recruitment of endogenous mesenchymal stem cells from the defect site. GelMA/ECM-PFS achieved successful hyaline cartilage repair in rabbits in vivo, while the control treatment mostly resulted in fibrous tissue repair. Conclusion This combination of endogenous cell recruitment and chondrogenesis is an ideal strategy for repairing irregular cartilage defects. Graphical Abstract

BackgroundCampomelic dysplasia (CD) is an autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia syndrome characterized by shortness and bowing of lower extremities, and often accompanied by XY sex reversal. Heterozygous pathogenic variants of SOX9 or rearrangement involving the long arm of chromosome 17 are the causes of disease. However, evidence for pathogenesis of SOX9 haploinsufficiency is insufficient.MethodsWe enrolled a Chinese family where the fetus was diagnosed with CD. The affected fetus was selected for whole-exome sequencing to identify the pathogenic mutations in this family.ResultsAfter data filtering, a novel non-sense SOX9 variant (NM_000346.3; c.1249C > T; p.Q417*) was identified as the pathogenic lesion in the fetus. Further co-segregation analysis using Sanger sequencing confirmed that this novel SOX9 mutation (c.1249C > T; p.Q417*) was a de novo mutation in the affected fetus. This terminated codon mutation identified by bioinformatics was located at an evolutionarily conserved site of SOX9. The bioinformatics-based analysis predicted this variant was pathogenic and affected SOX9 transactivation activity.ConclusionCD is a rare condition, which connected with SOX9 tightly. We identified a novel heterozygous SOX9 variant (p.Q417*) in a Chinese CD family. Our study supports the putative reduced transactivation of SOX9 variants in the pathogenicity of CD.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Lespedeza buergeri is presented in this report. It is 149,065 bp in length and divided into four distinct regions: a small single copy (SSC) region of 18,934 bp, a large single copy (LSC) region of 82,476 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat regions of 23,826 bp. The annotation of the L. buergeri complete chloroplast genome predicted a total of 123 genes (77 protein-coding genes, 38 transfer RNA genes, and 8 ribosomal RNA genes). Phylogenetic analysis with the reported chloroplast genomes revealed that L. buergeri is nested in the genus Lespedeza of Fabaceae family. Furthermore, L. buergeri exhibited a close relationship with Lespedeza bicolor and Lespedeza cuneata. This results in this study might contribute to further investigating the evolutionary relationship of family Fabaceae.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to compare the applications of bedside ultrasonography (US) and bedside chest radiography (CR) in positioning peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC) at Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs).MethodsThe study is a prospective before and after self-control clinical trial. A consecutive series of 181 neonate patients were finally enrolled for PICC placement. CR, followed by US, was used to evaluate and readjust the sites of catheter tips. The imaging capability for PICC key structures, fluctuation of the measured data, measurement of tip-to-atrium distance, operation time, infants' body temperature changes, and direct expenses of the two imaging modalities were obtained and compared.Results(1) Comparison in viewing PICC key structures: the display rate of catheter tip, SVC-and-right-atrium junction, IVC-and-right-atrium junction and tip-to-atrium distance is 99.47%, 100%, 100% and 99.47% for US and 100%, 98.42%, 97.37% and 95.79% for CR, respectively. (2) Fluctuation of the measured data by US and CR: the tip-to-atrium distance measured by US is 0.631 (0.435–0.820) cm, and that measured by CR is 0.593 (0.210–0.825) cm. US showed a narrower range of datum variance. (3) Consistency between US and CR: for consistency analysis, the Kappa coefficient (κ) was 0.843 (P

BackgroundThe reinfection rate of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is high; thus, exploring the risk factors for reinfection is important for the effective control of the epidemic. This study aimed to explore the effects of psychological and sleep factors on re-positivity with Omicron.MethodsThrough a prospective cohort study, 933 adult patients diagnosed with Omicron BA.2.2 infection and testing negative after treatment were included for screening and follow-up. We collected data on patients' demographic characteristics, SARS-CoV-2 Omicron vaccination status, anxiety, depression, and sleep status. Patients underwent nucleic acid testing for SARS-CoV-2 Omicron for 30 days. Regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to determine the risk factors for re-positivity of Omicron.ResultsUltimately, 683 patients were included in the analysis. Logistic regression analysis showed that older age (P = 0.006) and depressive status (P = 0.006) were two independent risk factors for Omicron re-positivity. The odds ratios of re-positivity in patients aged ≥60 years and with a Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score ≥5 was 1.82 (95% confidence interval:1.18–2.78) and 2.22 (1.27–3.85), respectively. In addition, the time from infection to recovery was significantly longer in patients aged ≥60 years (17.2 ± 4.5 vs. 16.0 ± 4.4, P = 0.003) and in patients with PHQ-9≥5 (17.5 ± 4.2vs. 16.2 ± 4.5, P = 0.026). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that there was a significantly higher primary re-positivity rate in patients aged ≥60 years (P = 0.004) and PHQ-9 ≥ 5 (P = 0.007).ConclusionThis study demonstrated that age of ≥60 years and depressive status were two independent risk factors for re-positivity with Omicron and that these factors could prolong the time from infection to recovery. Thus, it is necessary to pay particular attention to older adults and patients in a depressive state.

Flammutoxin (FTX), as well as its precursor TDP, is a protein from Flammulina velutipes with antiviral activity. Transgenic tobacco with the FTX271 (gene of FTX or TDP) can not only delay the onset time of symptoms but also alleviate the symptoms caused by tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), but the mechanism is still unclear. In this study, FTX271 was introduced into Nicotiana benthamiana, and the disease resistance mechanism activated by FTX271 was speculated by transcriptomic and proteomic techniques. The results showed that TDP was detected, and some genes, proteins and pathways were significant upregulated or enriched in transgenic tobacco, including the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade signal transduction pathway, the expression of hypersensitive response (HR) marker genes H1N1 and HSR203J, pathogenesis-related (PR) genes, and the key genes COI1 and lipoxygenase gene LOX2 of the jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway, indicating FTX271 may activate the MAPK pathway and increase the content of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and JA, which promoted the HR and inducible systemic resistance (ISR). ISR caused increased expression of peroxidase (POD) and other proteins involved in pathogen defense. In addition, transgenic tobacco may use sHSP-assisted photoreparation to alleviate the symptoms of TMV. In conclusion, JA-mediated ISR and sHSP-assisted photoreparation are activated by FTX271 to protect tobacco from TMV infection and alleviate the symptoms caused by the virus. The study provided a theoretical basis for the TMV resistance mechanism of FTX271, which may represent a potential gene resource for plant antiviral transgenic breeding.

It is found that the growth of Dendrobium huoshanense was dependent on Fe3O4, while the bioavailability of plants to ordinary Fe3O4 was low on the earth. In order to improve the growth, quality and yield of D. huoshanense, we used Fe3O4 NPs (100 or 200 mg/L) that was easily absorbed by plants as nano-fertilizer to hydroponically treat seedlings of D. huoshanense for 3 weeks. Fe3O4 NPs induced not only earlier flowering and increased sugar content and photosynthesis, but also stressed to plants, increased MDA content and related antioxidant enzymes activities. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) revealed that Fe3O4 NPs caused a significant accumulation of Fe and some other nutrient elements (Mn, Co, B, Mo) in stems of D. huoshanense. Metabolomics revealed that the metabolites were reprogrammed in D. huoshanense when under Fe3O4 NPs exposure. Fe3O4 NPs inhibited antioxidant defense-related pathways, demonstrating that Fe3O4 NPs have antioxidant capacity to protect D. huoshanense from damage. As the first study associating Fe3O4 NPs with the quality of D. huoshanense, it provided vital insights into the molecular mechanisms of how D. huoshanense responds to Fe3O4 NPs, ensuring the reasonable use of Fe3O4 NPs as nano-fertilizer.

As an important component to promote the development of affective brain–computer interfaces, the study of emotion recognition based on electroencephalography (EEG) has encountered a difficult challenge; the distribution of EEG data changes among different subjects and at different time periods. Domain adaptation methods can effectively alleviate the generalization problem of EEG emotion recognition models. However, most of them treat multiple source domains, with significantly different distributions, as one single source domain, and only adapt the cross-domain marginal distribution while ignoring the joint distribution difference between the domains. To gain the advantages of multiple source distributions, and better match the distributions of the source and target domains, this paper proposes a novel multi-source joint domain adaptation (MSJDA) network. We first map all domains to a shared feature space and then align the joint distributions of the further extracted private representations and the corresponding classification predictions for each pair of source and target domains. Extensive cross-subject and cross-session experiments on the benchmark dataset, SEED, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model, where more significant classification results are obtained on the more difficult cross-subject emotion recognition task.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection can cause life-threatening pneumonia and bronchiolitis, posing a significant threat to human health worldwide, especially to children and the elderly. Currently, there is no specific treatment for RSV infection. The most effective measures for preventing RSV infection are vaccines and prophylactic medications. However, not all population groups are eligible for the approved vaccines or antibody-based preventive medications. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel vaccines and prophylactic drugs available for people of all ages. High-throughput assays that evaluate the efficacy of viral entry inhibitors or vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies in blocking RSV entry are crucial for evaluating vaccine and prophylactic drug candidates. We developed an efficient entry assay using a lentiviral pseudovirus carrying the fusion (F) protein of type A or B RSV. In addition, the essential parameters were systematically optimized, including the number of transfected plasmids, storage conditions of the pseudovirus, cell types, cell numbers, virus inoculum, and time point of detection. Furthermore, the convalescent sera exhibited comparable inhibitory activity in this assay as in the authentic RSV virus neutralization assay. We established a robust pseudovirus-based entry assay for RSV, which holds excellent promise for studying entry mechanisms, evaluating viral entry inhibitors, and assessing vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibodies against RSV.

Abstract Background Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common cancer worldwide. It is essential to identify non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of GC. The aim of the present study was to screen candidate biomarkers associated with the pathogenesis and prognosis of GC by a novel strategy. Methods The expression level of gene higher in cancer than in adjacent non-cancer tissue was defined as “positive”, and the top 5% genes with “positive rate” were filtered out as candidate diagnostic biomarkers in three Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Further, a prognostic risk model was constructed by multivariate Cox regression analysis in GEO dataset and validated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The expression level of candidate biomarkers was determined in serum and serum-derived exosomes of GC patients. Moreover, the effect of biomarkers in exosomes on migration of GC cells was analyzed by transwell assay. Results Ten candidate biomarkers (AGT, SERPINH1, WNT2, LIPG, PLAU, COL1A1, MMP7, MXRA5, CXCL1 and COL11A1) were identified with efficient diagnostic value in GC. A prognostic gene signature consisted of AGT, SERPINH1 and MMP7 was constructed and showed a good performance in predicting overall survivals in TCGA. Consistently, serum levels of the three biomarkers also showed high sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing GC patients from controls. In addition, the expression level of the three biomarkers were associated with malignant degree and decreased after surgery in GC patients. Moreover, the expression level of AGT and MMP7 in exosomes correlated positively with serum level. The exosomes derived from serum of GC patients can promote migration of SGC‐7901 cells. After neutralized the expression level of three proteins in exosomes with antibodies, the migration of GC cells was obviously suppressed. Conclusions Our findings provided a novel strategy to identify diagnostic biomarkers based on public datasets, and suggested that the three-gene signature was a candidate diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for patients with GC.

Abstract Background Dendrobium officinale, an endangered Chinese herb, possesses extensive therapeutic effects and contains bioactive ingredients such as major polysaccharides, alkaloids, and minimal flavonoids. We first obtained the protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) of this plant through tissue culture in order to determine the distribution of the main secondary metabolites in each organelle and the PLBs. We then analyzed the correlation between gene expression level from comparative transcriptome sequencing and metabolite content in different organs to identify putative genes encoding enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of polysaccharides, alkaloids, and flavonoids. Results We used seeds as explants for protocorm induction and PLB propagation of D. officinale. The optimal medium formula for PLB propagation was 1/2 MS + α-NAA 0.5 mg·L− 1 + 6-BA 1.0 mg·L− 1 + 2, 4-D 1.5–2.0 mg·L− 1 + potato juice 100 g·L− 1. Stems, PLBs and leaves of D. officinale had the highest content of polysaccharides, alkaloids and flavonoids, respectively. Naringenin was only produced in stem; however, PLBs with high alkaloid content can replace other organs producing alkaloids. The hot water extraction method outperformed the ultrasound-assisted extraction method for extracting polysaccharides from D. officinale. A comparative transcriptome analysis of PLBs and leaves of D. officinale revealed differential expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in polysaccharide, alkaloid and flavonoid biosynthetic pathways. Putative genes encoding enzymes involved in these biosynthetic pathways were identified. Notably, we identified genes encoding the alkaloid biosynthesis enzymes strictosidine β-D-Glucosidase, geissoschizine synthase and vinorine synthase in D. officinale. Conclusions The identification of candidate genes encoding enzymes involved in metabolite biosynthesis will help to explore and protect this endangered species and facilitate further analysis of the molecular mechanism of secondary metabolite biosynthesis in D. officinale.

Abstract Background Due to the multifactorial aetiology and unpredictable long-term stability, skeletal anterior open bite (SAOB) is one of the most intractable conditions for orthodontists. The abnormal orofacial myofunctional status (OMS) may be a major risk factor contributing to the development and relapse of SAOB. This study is aimed at evaluating the OMS and the efficacy of orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT) alone for SAOB subjects. Methods Eighteen adolescents with SAOB (4 males, 14 females; age: 12–18 years) and eighteen adolescents with normal occlusion (2 males, 16 females; age: 12–18 years) were selected. The electromyographic activity (EMGA) associated with mastication and closed mouth state was measured. Lateral cephalography was used to evaluate craniofacial morphology. Wilcoxon signed rank tests and t-tests were performed to evaluate myofunctional and morphological differences. Pearson or Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlations between EMGA and morphological characteristics. SAOB subjects were given OMT for 3 months, and the EMGA was compared between before and after OMT. Results During rest, anterior temporalis activity (TAA) and mentalis muscle activity (MEA) increased in SAOB subjects, but TAA and masseter muscle activity (MMA) decreased in the intercuspal position (ICP); and upper orbicularis activity (UOA) and MEA significantly increased during lip sealing and swallowing (P

Abstract Platycodin D and platycoside E are two triterpenoid saponins in Platycodon grandiflorus, differing only by two glycosyl groups structurally. Studies have shown β-Glucosidase from bacteria can convert platycoside E to platycodin D, indicating the potential existence of similar enzymes in P. grandiflorus. An L9(34) orthogonal experiment was performed to establish a protocol for calli induction as follows: the optimal explant is stems with nodes and the optimum medium formula is MS + NAA 1.0 mg/L + 6-BA 0.5 mg/L to obtain callus for experimental use. The platycodin D, platycoside E and total polysaccharides content between callus and plant organs varied wildly. Platycodin D and total polysaccharide content of calli was found higher than that of leaves. While, platycoside E and total polysaccharide content of calli was found lower than that of leaves. Associating platycodin D and platycoside E content with the expression level of genes involved in triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis between calli and leaves, three contigs were screened as putative sequences of β-Glucosidase gene converting platycoside E to platycodin D. Besides, we inferred that some transcription factors can regulate the expression of key enzymes involved in triterpernoid saponins and polysaccharides biosynthesis pathway of P. grandiflorus. Totally, a candidate gene encoding enzyme involved in converting platycoside E to platycodin D, and putative genes involved in polysaccharide synthesis in P. grandiflorus had been identified. This study will help uncover the molecular mechanism of triterpenoid saponins biosynthesis in P. grandiflorus.