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AIM: To test the effect of autophagy on inflammatory damage resulting from oxidative stress in adult retinal pigment epithelial cell line (ARPE-19). METHODS: ARPE-19 cells were pretreated with 200 and 600 µmol/L hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at various time intervals. The changes of cell morphology, cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, autophagic activity, and the inflammatory cytokines (TNFα, IL-6, and TGFβ) were measured at baseline and after treatment with autophagy inducer rapamycin (Rapa) and suppressor wortmannin (Wort) or shATG5. RESULTS: The levels of ROS, cytokines (TNFα, IL-6, and TGFβ), and autophagic activity were significantly increased in ARPE-19 cells after pretreated with H2O2 (all P

Abstract Background Childhood emotional maltreatment, non-suicidal self-injury and depression are prevalent among adolescents with mood disorders. While existing model indicated that childhood emotional maltreatment, functions of non-suicidal self-injury and depression are interrelated, not much is understood about the interplay of functions of non-suicidal self-injury in the relationship between childhood emotional maltreatment and depression. Thus, the goal of this research was to ascertain how functions of non-suicidal self-injury relate to childhood emotional maltreatment and depression. Methods The participants were adolescents with mood disorders from three hospitals in Sichuan Province, data was collected using self-administered questionnaires, including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Ottawa Self-injury Inventory-Functions, and Childhood Depression Inventory. SPSS26.0 software and PROCESS v3.3 model 4 were used for analysis. Results In all, 235 adolescents (M age=14.8, SD = 1.62) participated in the research. The functions of non-suicidal self-injury (r = 0.289, P

BackgroundThe escalating demographic shift towards an aging population and the widespread occurrence of immunological diseases have contributed to an elevation in the frequency of community-acquired infections. Notably, among these infections, community-acquired bloodstream infections (CABSI) stand out due to their significant lethality. Detailed medical history inquiries, assessment of underlying immune status, detection of the source of infection, and initial precise identification and treatment of the infectious agents can improve the prognosis of CABSI.Case descriptionIn this paper, two incidences of severe CABSI with insidious onset and rapid progression are described. Both patients had compromised basic immunity: one developed the infection following unhygienic dietary practices, and the other after repeated enemas leading to intestinal damage. Blood genomic sequencing revealed the presence of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in the respective cases, with the origin of the infection traced back to the gastrointestinal tract. Both patients experienced positive outcomes following targeted antibiotic therapy, fluid resuscitation, support for organ function, and surgical interventions. Nevertheless, one patient manifested dry gangrene in the extremities during the course of treatment, potentially associated with the administration of vasoconstrictor drugs, considering the compromised baseline vascular conditions.ConclusionClinicians are advised to expeditiously uncover concealed medical histories and potential sources of infection in patients, thoroughly investigate the origin of the infection, and initiate early genomic testing to ascertain the specific nature of the infection. This proactive approach aims to facilitate precise treatment strategies and, consequently, enhance the overall prognosis.

Highlights Ordered intermetallic pallium-zinc (PdZn) electrocatalyst comprising a high density of PdZn pairs is synthesized for achieving co-adsorption and co-activation carbon dioxide and nitrate. Both operando measurements and theoretical calculations reveal that the PdZn pairs provide a dual-site geometric structure conducive to the key C–N coupling with a low kinetical barrier. The intermetallic PdZn displays excellent performance for the co-reduction of nitrate (NO3 –) and carbon dioxide (CO2) toward urea, with a maximum FEurea of 62.78% at a small potential of – 0.4 V versus RHE.

Background The cancer burden in China has been increasing over the decades. However, the cancer incidence remains unknown in Ma’anshan, which is one of the central cities in the Yangtze River Delta in Eastern China. The study was designed to describe the cancer incidence and trends in Ma’anshan from 2011 to 2018, providing information about cancer etiology that is useful for prevention programs. Methods The cancer incidence rate and age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) were calculated using the cancer registry data in Ma’anshan during 2011-2018. The average annual percentage change (AAPC) of the ASIR was analyzed by the Joinpoint regression analysis. Age, period, and cohort effects on cancer incidence were estimated through the age-period-cohort model. Results There were 13,508 newly diagnosed cancer cases in males and 9558 in females in Ma’anshan during 2011-2018. The ASIR maintained a steady trend in both males and females. Age effects showed that cancer risk increased with age in both genders; no visible period effects were detected during this study period. Cohort effects changed slowly until the end of the 1950s, then started decreasing in males while increasing in females after 1960. Lung, gastric, female breast, colorectal, cervical, esophageal, liver, thyroid, lymphoma, and pancreatic cancer were the most common cancers in Ma’anshan during the study period. The ASIR of gastric cancer (AAPC: −3.72%), esophageal cancer (AAPC: −8.30%), and liver cancer (AAPC: −5.55%) declined, while that of female breast cancer (AAPC: 3.91%), colorectal cancer (AAPC: 3.23%), and thyroid cancer (AAPC: 22.38%) rose. Conclusion During 2011-2018, the cancer incidence in Ma’anshan was lower than that in China, nation-wide. The incidence of upper gastrointestinal cancer decreased gradually while female breast, colorectal, and thyroid cancers showed an upward trend, consistent with the changes in the cancer spectrum in China. Further studies should be designed to discover the underlying causes of these findings.

ObjectivesDiquat poisoning is an important public health and social security agency. This study aimed to develop a prognostic model and evaluate the prognostic value of plasma diquat concentration in patients with acute oral diquat poisoning, focusing on how its impact changes over time after poisoning.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study using electronic healthcare reports from the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University. The study sample included 80 patients with acute oral Diquat poisoning who were admitted to the hospital between January 2019 and May 2022. Time-to-event analyses were performed to assess the risk of all-cause mortality (30 days and 90 days), controlling for demographics, comorbidities, vital signs, and other laboratory measurements. The prognostic value of plasma DQ concentration on admission was assessed by computing the area under a time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC).ResultsAmong the 80 patients, 29 (36.25%) patients died, and 51 (63.75%) patients survived in the hospital. Non-survivors had a median survival time (IQR) of 1.3(1.0) days and the longest survival time of 4.5 days after DQ poisoning. Compared with non-survivors, survivors had significantly lower amounts of ingestion, plasma DQ concentration on admission, lungs injury within 24 h after admission, liver injury within 24 h after admission, kidney injury within 24 h after admission, and CNS injury within 36 h after admission, higher APACHE II score and PSS within 24 h after admission (all p

Abstract The escalating spread of drug‐resistant bacteria and viruses is a grave concern for global health. Nucleic acids dominate the drug‐resistance and transmission of pathogenic microbes. Here, imidazolium‐type poly(ionic liquid)/porphyrin (PIL‐P) based electrospun nanofibrous membrane and its cerium (IV) ion complex (PIL‐P‐Ce) are developed. The obtained PIL‐P‐Ce membrane exhibits high and stable efficiency in eradicating various microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and viruses) and decomposing microbial antibiotic resistance genes and viral nucleic acids under light. The nuclease‐mimetic and photocatalytic mechanisms of the PIL‐P‐Ce are elucidated. Co‐infection wound models in mice with methicillin‐resistant S. aureus and hepatitis B virus demonstrate that PIL‐P‐Ce integrate the triple effects of cationic polymer, photocatalysis, and nuclease‐mimetic activities. As revealed by proteomic analysis, PIL‐P‐Ce shows minimal phototoxicity to normal tissues. Hence, PIL‐P‐Ce has potential as a “green” wound dressing to curb the spread of drug‐resistant bacteria and viruses in clinical settings.

Highlights Temperature-responsive transparent nanofiber membranes were successfully fabricated using a straightforward and widely applicable method. The temperature-responsive nanofiber membranes exhibit a lower reaction temperature (~ 37 °C) and higher transmittance (> 90%). The prepared temperature-responsive transparent nanofiber membranes exhibited a short response temperature time (~ 5 s), and remarkable stability

This study investigates the dynamic behavior and vibration mitigation of a fractional single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) viscoelastic shape memory alloy spring oscillator system subjected to harmonic external forces. A fractional derivative approach is employed to characterize the viscoelastic properties of shape memory alloy materials, leading to the development of a novel fractional viscoelastic model. The model is then theoretically examined using the averaging method, with its effectiveness being confirmed through numerical simulations. Furthermore, the impact of various parameters on the system’s low- and high-amplitude vibrations is explored through a visual response analysis. These findings offer valuable insights for applying fractional sliding mode control (SMC) theory to address the system’s vibration control challenges. Despite the high-amplitude vibrations induced by the fractional order, SMC effectively suppresses these vibrations in the shape memory alloy spring system, thereby minimizing the risk of catastrophic events.

PurposeWe prospectively evaluate the short-term clinical and radiographic outcomes of the only Chinese domestically produced trabecular titanium acetabular cup(3D ACT™ cup) in primary total hip arthroplasty (THA), aiming to provide evidence-based support for its clinical application.MethodsA total of 236 patients, who underwent primary THA using 3D ACT™ cup in the Department of Joint Surgery at our hospital between January 2017 and June 2019, were included in this study. General patient data, imaging information, functional scores, and complications were collected to evaluate the early clinical efficacy.ResultsAll patients were followed up for 33–52 months, with an average of (42.2 ± 9.2) months. At the last follow-up, the preoperative HHS score increased significantly from 43.7 ± 6.8 to 85.6 ± 9.3 points (P

Abstract Background 3D cancer stem cell (CSC) cultures are widely used as in vitro tumor models. In this study, we determined the effects of enriching HCT116 tumor spheres initially cultured in serum-free medium with different concentrations of serum, focusing on the effect of microserum environment stimulation on extraction and biological function of colorectal cancer stem cells (CCSCs). Methods CCSCs were enriched in standard serum-free medium and serum-free medium with different concentrations of serum for 1 week. The expression of CSC-associated markers in CCSCs, and the presence and relative proportion of CSCs (CD133/CD44 cell sorting) were then determined to elucidate the effect of the microserum environment on the preservation of CSC-related features. Further, the tumorigenic capacity of CCSCs was evaluated in an immunodeficiency mouse model. Results Our data indicated that a significantly greater number of spheres with a greater size range and high viability without drastic alteration in biological and structural features, which maintained self‐renewal potential after sequential passages were formed after serum supplementation. Real-time analysis showed that both serum spheres and serum-free spheres displayed similar expression patterns for key stemness genes. Serum spheres showed higher expression of the CSC surface markers CD133 and CD44 than did CSCs spheres cultured in serum-free medium. Adherent cultures in complete medium could adapt to the serum-containing microenvironment faster and showed higher proliferation ability. The addition of serum induced EMT and promoted the migration and invasion of serum globular cells. Compared with serum-free cells and adherent cells, serum spheres showed higher tumor initiation ability. Conclusions Microserum environment stimulation could be an effective strategy for reliable enrichment of intact CCSCs, and a more efficient CSC enrichment method.

Abstract Although patients are undergoing similar lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) with statins, the outcomes of coronary plaque in diabetic mellitus (DM) and non-DM patients are different. Clinical data of 239 patients in this observational study with acute coronary syndrome was from our previous randomized trial were analyzed at 3 years, and 114 of them underwent OCT detection at baseline and the 1-year follow-up were re-anlayzed by a novel artificial intelligence imaging software for nonculprit subclinical atherosclerosis (nCSA). Normalized total atheroma volume changes (ΔTAVn) of nCSA were the primary endpoint. Plaque progression (PP) was defined as any increase in ΔTAVn. DM patients showed more PP in nCSA (ΔTAVn; 7.41 (− 2.82, 11.85) mm3 vs. − 1.12 (− 10.67, 9.15) mm3, p = 0.009) with similar reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) from baseline to 1-year. The main reason is that the lipid component in nCSA increases in DM patients and non-significantly decreases in non-DM patients, which leads to a significantly higher lipid TAVn (24.26 (15.05, 40.12) mm3 vs. 16.03 (6.98, 26.54) mm3, p = 0.004) in the DM group than in the non-DM group at the 1-year follow-up. DM was an independent predictor of PP in multivariate logistic regression analysis (OR = 2.731, 95% CI 1.160–6.428, p = 0.021). Major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) related to nCSA at 3 years were higher in the DM group than in the non-DM group (9.5% vs. 1.7%, p = 0.027). Despite a comparable reduction in LDL-C levels after LLT, more PP with an increase in the lipid component of nCSA and a higher incidence of MACEs at the 3-year follow-up was observed in DM patients. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov. identifier: NCT02140801.

INTRODUCTION: With the development of technology and policy support, high-speed rail's temporal and spatial layout is gradually expanding, and it becomes essential to ensure high-safety operation. OBJECTIVES: The real-time correlation fault diagnosis technology of critical components of electromechanical systems of high-speed trains is analyzed, and a new method of automatic fault diagnosis based on genetic support vector machine is proposed. METHODS: In this study, the Author combines two techniques, IFD and AE, and introduces an adaptive weighting algorithm to fuse the data of the two and experimentally verify their accuracy. RESULTS: The experimental results show that in the IFD experiment, the 2-point frequency at 1050 speed is 347.6 Hz, and the 3-point frequency is 498.4 Hz, both of which are very close to the 2 and 3 times frequencies of the 1-point frequency, and the multiplicative relationship is much more straightforward. CONCLUSION: Combining IFD and AE can realize automatic and accurate diagnosis of bearing state and pre-diagnosis of bearings by adaptive weighted fusion algorithm, which is effective in the practical mechanical diagnosis of rolling bearing faults in high-speed railroads.

This paper explores the temperature distribution (TD) and maximum temperature (MT) below the ceiling induced by the ceiling jet of an asymmetric dual fire sources in a naturally ventilated tunnel. Considering strong plumes, this study investigates the effects of fire size and spacing of asymmetric dual fire sources on TD and MT. With the same power of fire source, when the size of one of the fire sources increases, the corresponding maximum temperature beneath ceiling decreases. Additionally, the temperature peak below the ceiling shifts from one to two, and the peak temperature of the larger fire source is lower compared to that of smaller one. When the fire sources distance increases, the maximum temperature initially decreases and then increases. Beyond a certain distance, the maximum temperature no longer changes with increasing distance. In this study, we investigated the effect of fire source size and spacing on the MT of the tunnel ceiling for asymmetric dual fire sources. A new model for predicting the MT underneath the tunnel ceiling was developed, taking into account the factors as fire spacing and fire size. The model is able to make effective predictions of the simulation results.

IntroductionFluoride is considered an environmental pollutant that seriously affects organisms and ecosystems, and its harmfulness is a perpetual public health concern. The toxic effects of fluoride include organelle damage, oxidative stress, cell cycle destruction, inflammatory factor secretion, apoptosis induction, and synaptic nerve transmission destruction. To reveal the mechanism of fluorosis-induced brain damage, we analyzed the molecular mechanism and learning and memory function of the SIRT1-mediated BDNF–TrkB signaling pathway cascade reaction in fluorosis-induced brain damage through in vivo experiments.MethodsThis study constructed rat models of drinking water fluorosis using 50 mg/L, 100 mg/L, and 150 mg/L fluoride, and observed the occurrence of dental fluorosis in the rats. Subsequently, we measured the fluoride content in rat blood, urine, and bones, and measured the rat learning and memory abilities. Furthermore, oxidative stress products, inflammatory factor levels, and acetylcholinesterase (AchE) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity were detected. The pathological structural changes to the rat bones and brain tissue were observed. The SIRT1, BDNF, TrkB, and apoptotic protein levels were determined using western blotting.ResultsAll rats in the fluoride exposure groups exhibited dental fluorosis; decreased learning and memory abilities; and higher urinary fluoride, bone fluoride, blood fluoride, oxidative stress product, and inflammatory factor levels compared to the control group. The fluoride-exposed rat brain tissue had abnormal AchE and ChAT activity, sparsely arranged hippocampal neurons, blurred cell boundaries, significantly fewer astrocytes, and swollen cells. Furthermore, the nucleoli were absent from the fluoride-exposed rat brain tissue, which also contained folded neuron membranes, deformed mitochondria, absent cristae, vacuole formation, and pyknotic and hyperchromatic chromatin. The fluoride exposure groups had lower SIRT1, BDNF, and TrkB protein levels and higher apoptotic protein levels than the control group, which were closely related to the fluoride dose. The findings demonstrated that excessive fluoride caused brain damage and affected learning and memory abilities.DiscussionCurrently, there is no effective treatment method for the tissue damage caused by fluorosis. Therefore, the effective method for preventing and treating fluorosis damage is to control fluoride intake.

Staphylococci, mainly including Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS), are one of the most common pathogens causing bovine mastitis worldwide. In this study, we investigated the antimicrobial resistance and virulence profiles of staphylococci from clinical bovine mastitis in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. Antimicrobial resistance was determined by disc diffusion combined with E-test method. Genes of antimicrobial resistance and virulence factors were determined by PCR. A total of 332 staphylococcal isolates were confirmed from 1,519 mastitic milk samples, including 172 S. aureus and 160 CNS isolates. Fifteen CNS species were identified, with S. chromogenes being the most frequent found (49.4%), followed by S. equorum (13.8%). Noticeably, 2 S. agnetis isolates were found among the CNS isolates. To our knowledge, this is the first report documenting the presence of S. agnetis from bovine mastitis in China. The S. aureus and CNS isolates showed high resistance against penicillin, followed by erythromycin and tetracycline. Multidrug resistance was found in 11.6 and 16.3% of the S. aureus and CNS isolates, respectively. Resistance to penicillin was attributed to the presence of blaZ, erythromycin resistance to ermC (alone or combined with ermB) and tetracycline resistance to tetK (alone or combined with tetM). Notably, one S. equorum isolate and one S. saprophyticus isolate were both methicillin-resistant and mecA positive. Additionally, all S. aureus isolates carried the adhesin genes fnbpA, clfA, clfB, and sdrC, and most of them contained cna and sdrE. Conversely, only a few of the CNS isolates carried clfA, cna, and fnbA. Regarding toxin genes, all S. aureus isolates harbored hlb, and most of them were hlg positive. The lukE-lukD, lukM, sec, sed, sei, sen, seo, tst, seg, seh, and sej were also detected with low frequencies. However, no toxin genes were observed in CNS isolates. This study reveals high species diversity of staphylococci from clinical bovine mastitis in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. The findings for the genetic determinants of antimicrobial resistance and virulence factor provide valuable information for control and prevention of staphylococcal bovine mastitis.