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Salinity is one of the main limiting factors driving the expansion of Spartina alterniflora by affecting plant functioning. Comparative studies of plant leaves, under 0 (T0), 5 (T5), 10 (T10), and 20 g/kg (T20) soil salinity, were carried out. Results showed that soil salinity significantly affected most leaf traits of S. alterniflora. Total and live leaf numbers first increased and then decreased with increasing soil salinity. Leaf morphology in T5 were substantially larger than another three treatments, and the ratio of leaf length to width considerably decreased with increasing soil salinity. As the soil salinity increased, leaf dry mass and leaf dry matter content (LDMC) displayed a pattern similar to total leaf number. Leaf mass traits indicated that while a more efficient nutrient conservation strategy was adopted in T10, S. alterniflora rapidly produced biomass in T0. Strong correlations were observed between leaf morphological and mass traits except for some parts of LDMC. The confidence ellipses of leaf traits indicated significant differences in leaf traits of the four treatments. We believe that insights into the aforementioned aspects can contribute to a better understanding of the responses of leaf traits of S. alterniflora and provide valuable information about its adaptation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater from agricultural source carries excess nitrogen and phosphorous into wetlands and causes eutrophication in waterbody. Enrichment of nitrogen and phosphorous affects the natural nutrient removal and plant growth in wetlands. We conducted a greenhouse experience to explore the effects of excess N and P on the growth of Carex schmidtii, so as to provide evidence for wetland phytoremediation. The results showed that high concentration of N had negative effects on the plant height and growth rate of C. schmidtii. Excess N and P significantly reduced the leaf morphology and mass per plant or leaf but increased the length and the ratio of withered leaf. Furthermore, the chlorophyll content and lid peroxidation indicated that high concentrations of N and P exerted much injury to the blades of C. schmidtii. These results help in understanding the responses of C. schmidtii to agricultural wastewater and suggest the limited capacity of C. schmidtii tussock for the phytoremediation of agricultural wastewater in wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although sphingomyelins known to be are lipid constituents of the plasma membrane in vertebrates, much remains obscure about the metabolism of sphingomyelins in insects. With ultra performance liquid chromatography‐time‐of‐flight‐tandem mass spectrometry analysis, we revealed for the first time that sphingomyelins are abundant in Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), the brown planthopper (BPH), and their biosynthesis is carried out by sphingomyelin synthase‐like protein 2 (SMSL2), which is homologous to sphingomyelin synthase‐related protein (SMSr). Unlike other insect species, high concentrations of sphingomyelins rather than ceramide phosphoethanolamines exist in the BPH. Two putative genes, which are homologous to SMSr, are named Nilaparvata lugensSMS‐like 1 (NlSMSL1) and 2 (NlSMSL2). Knockdowns of both NlSMSL2 and NlSMSL1 were conducted but only the first decreased concentrations of sphingomyelins in the BPH, indicating that NlSMSL2 plays a role in the biosynthesis of sphingomyelins. Real‐time quantitative PCR analysis revealed both NlSMSL1 and NlSMSL2 are highly expressed in BPH adults, with NlSMSL1 specifically highly expressed in reproductive organs (ovaries and testes) whereas NlSMSL2 was highly expressed in the malpighian tubules. The knockdown of NlSMSL1 or NlSMSL2 increased BPH female body weight but not that of males, suggesting sex‐specific roles for SMSLs in influencing BPH body weight. The results suggest that NlSMSL2 catalyses the synthesis of sphingomyelins and maintains female BPH body weight through alteration of sphingolipid content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hybrid improper ferroelectricity (HIF) has been proposed as a promising way to create multiferroic materials with strong magnetoelectric coupling by the first-principle calculation, and the experimental evidences of HIF in Ruddlesden-Poper Ca3(Ti1-xMnx)2O7 (x=0, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15) ceramics have been shown in the present work. The room temperature ferroelectric hysteresis loops are observed in these ceramics, and a polar orthorhombic structure with two oxygen tilting modes has been confirmed by the X-ray powder diffraction. A first-order phase transition around 1100K in Ca3Ti2O7 was evidenced, and the temperatures of phase transitions decrease linearly with increasing of the contents of Mn4+ ions. Based on the result of first-principle calculations, the polarization should be reversed by switching through the mediated Amam phase in Ca3Ti2O7 ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 65-year-old male patient was admitted for recurrent lymph node enlargement for 5 years and elevated creatinine for 6 months. This patient was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma 5 years ago and underwent multiple lines of anti-tumor therapy, including cytotoxic chemotherapy; epigenetic modifying drugs such as chidamide and azacitidine; the immunomodulator lenalidomide; and targeted therapy such as rituximab, a CD20-targeting antibody, and brentuximab vedotin, which targets CD30. Although the tumor was considered stable, multiple virus activation (including BK virus, JC virus, and cytomegalovirus) accompanied by the corresponding organ damage (polyomavirus nephropathy, cytomegalovirus retinitis, and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy) occurred during anti-tumor treatment. Anti-tumor therapy was suspended and ganciclovir was used. The serum viral load decreased and organ functions were stabilized. The purpose of this report was to raise clinicians' awareness of opportunistic virus reactivation during anti-tumor treatment.

The number of diabetic patients visiting stomatology for periodontal disease is increasing, and the symptoms are relatively severe, and often complications increase the complexity of periodontal treatment. This article briefly describes the research progress and clinical manifestations of the epidemiology and related pathological mechanisms of periodontitis with diabetes, focusing on the treatment and providing reference for stomatologists in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with diabetic periodontitis.

Objective: To evaluate the predictive value of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on admission and before discharge for long-term all-cause death (ACD) in patients hospitalized with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Methods: Patients hospitalized and discharged from hospital alive with the clinical diagnosis of HFrEF in cardiac care unit (CCU) of TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital from January 2013 to December 2017 were consecutively enrolled. NLR, which was defined as neutrophil counts divided by lymphocyte counts, was measured 1 day within admission and 3 days before discharge to evaluate the prognostic value of admission NLR in combination with discharge NLR for the ACD after discharge by using of multivariate Cox regression analysis. Patients were followed-up until December 2020 or ACD. Results: A total of 368 patients hospitalized with HFrEF were enrolled with an age of (54±14) years, including 79 females (21.5%). During the median (inter-quartile range, IQR) duration of follow-up after discharge of 30 (10, 60) months, 95 patients died, thus, the rate of ACD was 25.8%. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the NLR level before discharge was an independent predictor of ACD after discharge [hazard ratio ( HR )=1.143, 95% confidence interval ( CI ) 1.048-1.248, P =0.003] after adjusting for other parameters such as systolic blood pressure on admission and at discharge, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter on admission, and usage of aldosterone receptor blockers at discharge. Moreover, compared to those with NLR level at admission ≤2.25 and ≤2.00 before discharge, the long-term risk of ACD after discharge was nearly doubled for patients with NLR level at admission>2.25 and>2.00 before discharge (adjusted HR =1.968, 95% CI 1.198-3.234, P =0.008). Conclusions: The NLR level before discharge was an independent predictor of ACD after discharge for patients hospitalized with HFrEF. Combining NLR levels at admission and before discharge help to better predictive the risk of long-term ACD after discharge.

Objective: To investigate the effect of antibiotics application in perioperative period on carotid artery and serum interluekin-6 (IL-6) in chronic periodontitis (CP) rats with hyperlipidemia (HL) or diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods: The models of CP rats with HL or DM were established in different batches. The rats were divided into groups as follows: A and A' were normal control groups, n =7 in each group; B(HL) and B'(DM) were groups of HL and DM, n =7 in each; C(HL+CP) and C'(DM+CP) were groups of CP with HL and CP with DM, n =21 in each. After the establishment of the models, groups C and C' were divided into C1 and C1' non-intervention group, C2 and C2' simple tooth extraction group and C3 and C3' antibiotic-assisted tooth extraction, with 7 rats in each of the groups. Two time interventions were performed to extract experimental teeth (bilateral maxillary first and second molars) in groups C2, C2', C3 and C3'. Serum samples were collected at 5 time points before and after tooth extraction (T1: before the first tooth extraction; T2: one week after the first tooth extraction; T3, T4, T5: the first, third and fifth week after the second tooth extraction), respectively. The absolute content of IL-6 in serum was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Ratio of the absolute content in the experimental groups and control groups were calculated as the relative content of IL-6. At the end of the experiments, all rats were euthanasia and the bifurcation vascular tissues of carotid artery were collected for the observation of the carotid artery pathology and plaque formation and the measurement of the thickness of carotid intimal-medial layer (IMT). Results: Carotid artery pathology observation showed the IMT in group C was significantly thickened and the group C2 was the most thickened one (compared with group A, P ＜0.01). Elastic fibers in groups C1 and C2 were disordered or even broken and disappeared, presenting typical atherosclerotic plaques, which were diffuse calcium salt deposits in the intimal-medial layers and protrude into the lumen. Elastic fibers in group C3 were ranged in ordered relatively without obvious fracture and the number of plaques was significantly reduced. The vascular walls in rats of groups B' and C' were incomplete, the IMTs had no obvious changes, elastic fibers were ranged disorderly and broken and the smooth muscle cells had vacuolar changes. In group C2', the vascular wall was significantly thinned and calcified plaques appeared in the artery, which showed multiple calcification lesions penetrating through the intimal-medial layer or even the whole layer. The vascular wall of group C3' was integrity and the elastic fibers arranged relatively clutter-free, the number of plaques was reduced. Results of detections of IL-6 showed the relative contents of IL-6 in groups B, B', C1, and C1' increased with time. At T3 time point, the relative contents of IL-6 in groups C2 and C3 reached the peak, C2 was 10.4 times of group A and C3 was 9.5 times of group A, and then decreased to different low levels. At T5 point, comparisons of the relative contents of IL-6 showed C3 < C2 < C1 (3.2 times, 5.4 times, 9.6 times of group A, respectively). The relative contents of IL-6 in groups C2' and C3' reached the peak at T2 point (4.9 times and 4.5 times of group A, respectively), and then decline with time. At T5 point, comparisons of the relative contents of IL-6 showed C3'< C2'< C1' (1.2 times, 1.4 times and 3.1 times of group A, respectively). Conclusions: Blood vessels were observed more obvious thickened in the tooth extraction without antibiotic of HL+CP rats with calcifications increase. Blood vessels of DM+CP rats became thin and fragile and even the integrity was damaged. Perioperative use of antibiotics might reduce the carotid artery lesions and decrease serum levels of inflammatory cytokines.

The homogenized sample is diluted with water. After adding copper(II) chloride solution and 20 mg of ascorbic acid, dilute the sample to the volume with water. After thorough mixing and microfiltration over a 0.45 microns filter, the filtrate is ready for injection into the HPLC system and detected at 254 nm. The 125 mm x 4 mm i.d. chromatographic column is packed with Hypersil ODS 5 microns, eluted with a mobile phase of water-methanol (80:20, V/V) containing 20 mmol/L tetrabutyl ammonium bromide, 0.03 mol/L sodium acetate buffer (pH 4) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The injection volume is 20 microL. The response value was linear between 10 mg/L-400 mg/L. The recovery was 95.5%-98.9%. The RSD was 0.82%-1.32%.