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Sangsang Xiong,1,* Mingqi Tu,1,* Xiaoting Wu,1 Siying Qu,1 Nisang Chen,1 Junyan Jin,1 Haiqin Rong,1 Shuangyi Pei,2 Jianqiao Fang,1 Xiaomei Shao1 1Key Laboratory for Research of Acupuncture Treatment and Transformation of Emotional Diseases, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Neurology of Zhejiang Province, The Third Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaomei Shao; Jianqiao Fang, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, No. 548, Binwen Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 189 5713 0287, Email shaoxiaomei@zcmu.edu.cn; fangjianqiao7532@163.comBackground: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly prevalent, affecting more than 300 million individuals worldwide, and its occurrence may be related to the abnormality of the prefrontal cortex and bilateral temporal cortex. Acupuncture, rooted in the theories of acupoints and meridians, has demonstrated its efficacy in regulating cortical blood flow (CBF) in the brains of MDD patients. As one form of acupuncture, intradermal acupuncture (IA) can alleviate clinical symptoms such as depressive mood and insomnia in MDD patients. However, it remains unknown whether IA will have a specific effect on the prefrontal cortex and bilateral temporal cortex in MDD patients.Methods: In total, 60 participants will be recruited: 20 healthy control participants and 40 MDD patients. All healthy control participants will be allocated to the control group, whereas the 40 MDD patients will be randomly divided into two groups: the gallbladder meridian acupoint (GBA) group and the non-acupoint (NA) group, at a 1:1 allocation ratio. All groups will undergo a one-time IA intervention while their cortical activity is monitored using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Total hemoglobin, oxygenated hemoglobin, and deoxygenated hemoglobin of the prefrontal and bilateral temporal cortices will be measured by fNIRS during the test procedure.Discussion: This trial aims to use fNIRS to compare real-time hemodynamic changes in the prefrontal and bilateral temporal cortices of healthy individuals and MDD patients during IA. The primary objective is to investigate whether MDD patients exhibit specific real-time responses to IA stimulation in these brain regions. The findings from this study will provide clinical data and a possible theoretical basis for the assumption that stimulation of IA may treat MDD by modulating the relevant brain regions.Trial Registration: The study protocol has been registered in the clinicaltrials.gov with the code NCT05707299.Keywords: major depressive disorder, intradermal acupuncture, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, prefrontal cortex, temporal cortex

Wen Wei,1,2,&ast; Chengwen Xie,3,&ast; Ronghua Cao,4,&ast; Yanwen Que,3 Xuejing Zhong,5 Zheyuan Chen,6 Fenyan Lv,6 Qianqian Kang,6 Ruiyu Lin,6 Baozhen Cao,7 Xiaomin Lai,7 Mei Tu1 1Department of Endocrinology, Fujian Longyan First Hospital, Longyan First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Longyan, 364000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Endocrinology, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510280, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Ultrasonography, Fujian Longyan First Hospital, Longyan First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Longyan, 364000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Nuclear Medicine, Fujian Longyan First Hospital, Longyan First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Longyan, 364000, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Science and Education, Fujian Longyan First Hospital, Longyan First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Longyan, 364000, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Endocrinology, Fujian Longyan First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350004, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Fujian Longyan First Hospital, Longyan First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Longyan, 364000, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Mei Tu, Department of Endocrinology, Fujian Longyan First Hospital, Longyan First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Longyan, 364000, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 5972958989, Fax +86 5972292374, Email tm13859596628@163.comObjective: This study aims to examine the clinical significance of ultrasound evaluation of the gastrocnemius muscle (GM) in identifying sarcopenia in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).Methods: One hundred and fifty-three patients with T2D were included in this study. We measured the appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI), handgrip strength, and 6-meter walking speed. The US-derived muscle thickness (MT), cross-sectional area (CSA), and shear wave ultrasound elastography (SWE) of GM were also measured. We assessed the correlations between clinical indicators and US features. The model for screening sarcopenia was established using stepwise logistic regression. Stepwise linear regression was used to identify a set of variables that jointly estimated ASMI. The model’s ability to identify sarcopenia and low muscle mass was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.Results: The prevalence of sarcopenia in this study was 24.2%. The CSA, MT and SWE values of the patients with sarcopenia were lower than those of patients without sarcopenia (all p < 0.05). ASMI was positively correlated with CSA (r = 0.56, p < 0.001) and MT (r = 0.39, p < 0.001). Handgrip strength was positively correlated with CSA (r = 0.45, p < 0.001), MT (r = 0.25, p < 0.001), and SWE (r = 0.26, p = 0.002). A diagnostic model for sarcopenia was established with a sensitivity of 81.1%, specificity of 75.0%, and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.800. The estimated ASMI equation was developed and found to have a positive correlation with actual ASMI (r = 0.70, p < 0.001). It was also effective in diagnosing low muscle mass, with an AUC of 0.787 for males and 0.783 for females.Conclusion: Ultrasonographic assessment of the gastrocnemius muscle was found to be a useful and convenient method for detecting sarcopenia in patients with T2D.Keywords: sarcopenia, ultrasound, shear wave elastography, gastrocnemius muscle, T2D

Nisang Chen,1,&ast; Xiaoting Wu,1,&ast; Mingqi Tu,1 Sangsang Xiong,1 Junyan Jin,1 Siying Qu,1 Shuangyi Pei,1,2 Jianqiao Fang,1,2 Xiaomei Shao1,2 1Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Neurology of Zhejiang Province, Department of Neurobiology and Acupuncture Research, The Third Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Key Laboratory for Research of Acupuncture Treatment and Transformation of Emotional Diseases, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaomei Shao; Jianqiao Fang, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, No. 548, Binwen Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China, Email 13185097375@163.com; shaoxiaomei@zcmu.edu.cn; fangjianqiao7532@163.comBackground: Major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibits a pronounced occurrence among adolescents, aligning closely with the lifetime prevalence rate of 16.6% observed in adults. It is difficult to treat and prone to recurrence. Acupuncture has shown potential in enhancing treatment effectiveness. Nonetheless, there is a lack of research on the use of intradermal acupuncture (IA) in treating adolescent MDD.Methods: This study is a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. A cohort of 120 participants will be assigned randomly to three distinct groups, namely a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)-only group, a sham intradermal acupuncture combined with SSRIs (SIA) group, and an active intradermal acupuncture combined with SSRIs (AIA) group. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale will serve as the primary outcome, while Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Self-Rating Depression Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Short Form 36 Questionnaire will serve as secondary outcomes in assessing the amelioration of depressive symptoms in patients. These data will be analyzed using SPSS26.0 software.Results: We will assess the efficacy and safety of IA for MDD using commonly employed clinical psychiatric scales.Conclusion: The efficacy of IA in treating adolescent MDD may be demonstrated in this study, suggesting its potential for optimizing MDD treatment schemes.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT 05832619 (April 27, 2023).Keywords: major depressive disorder, intradermal acupuncture, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, adolescent, randomized controlled trial, protocol

Min Tu,1,2,&ast; Shuangfeng Yang,3,&ast; Lan Zeng,2 Yuling Tan,2 Xiaoming Wang2 1People’s Hospital of Deyang City, Department of Neurology, Deyang, People’s Republic of China; 2Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Department of Neurology, Nanchong, People’s Republic of China; 3People’s Hospital of Yuechi County, Department of Neurology, Guangan, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaoming Wang, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Department of Neurology, No. 1 Maoyuan South Road, Shunqing District, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 13990769566, Email wangnsmc@163.comObjective: This study aims to compare the superficial vascular density from the macular region and the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness from the optic disc region between Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and controls.Methods: We enrolled 56 idiopathic PD patients, totaling 86 eyes (PD group), and 45 sex- and age-matched healthy individuals, amounting to 90 eyes (control group). All subjects underwent examination using Zeiss wide-field vascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) (Cirrus HD-OCT 5000 Carl Zeiss, Germany), with a scanning range of 3 mm × 3 mm. We divided the images into two concentric circles with diameters of 1 mm and 3 mm at the macular fovea’s center. Patients with PD were evaluated during their “off” phase using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale III (UPDRS-III) and the Hoehn-Yahr scale (H-Y scale) to assess disease severity.Results: The PD group exhibited significantly lower RNFL thickness (106.13± 12.36 μm) compared to the control group (115.95± 11.37 μm, P < 0.05). Similarly, the superficial retinal vessel length density was significantly lower in the PD group (20.7 [19.62, 22.17] mm− 1) than in the control group (21.79± 1.16 mm− 1, P < 0.05). Correlation analysis revealed a negative correlation between RNFL thickness and UPDRS III score (rs=− 0.036, P=0.037), and RNFL thickness tended to decrease with increasing severity of movement disorders. However, during the 6 and 12-month follow-up of some PD patients, we observed no progressive thinning of the RNFL or decreased superficial vascular density.Conclusion: PD patients show retinal structural damage characterized by RNFL thinning and reduced retinal vessel length density. However, RNFL thickness did not correlate with vascular density nor did it decrease with the disease’s progression.Keywords: Parkinson disease, tomography, optical coherence, retina

Mingqi Tu,1,&ast; Sangsang Xiong,1,&ast; Shengxia Lv,2,&ast; Xiaoting Wu,1 Hantong Hu,3 Renjie Hu,4 Jianqiao Fang,1 Xiaomei Shao1 1Key Laboratory for Research ofAcupuncture Treatment and Transformation of Emotional Diseases, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Neurology of Zhejiang Province, The Third Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2The School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaomei Shao, Key Laboratory for Research of Acupuncture Treatment and Transformation of Emotional Diseases, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Neurology of Zhejiang Province, The Third Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, No. 548, Binwen Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 189 5713 0287, Email 13185097375@163.comIntroduction: Acupuncture has a long history of treating major depressive disorder (MDD), yet the acupoint selection of acupuncture for MDD varies greatly. This study aimed to explore the characteristics and principles of acupuncture for MDD by analyzing clinical trials of acupuncture for MDD using data mining techniques.Methods: In this study, clinical trials of acupuncture for MDD were retrieved and relevant data were extracted, and then the data were analyzed by data mining techniques. In addition, association rule mining, network analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to determine the correlation between different acupoints.Results: The results revealed that GV20, LR3, PC6, SP6 and GV29 were used most frequently; acupoints in the Yang meridian were used more often than those in the Yin meridian, with the most applied acupoints in the Governor Vessel; the percentage of specific acupoints applied was 69.39%, with the most applied being five-shu points; the frequency of acupoints used was highest in the lower limbs, while the head, face, and neck had the most acupoints used; GV29 combined with GV20 were the most used acupoint groups; the core acupoints used for MDD were GV20, PC6 and SP36; there were 5 acupoint groups according to the cluster analysis. The most used acupuncture method was manual acupuncture; the frequency of treatment was mostly 7 times per week and the duration of treatment was mostly 42 days.Discussion: We discussed the current character of acupuncture treatment on MDD, including the frequency used of acupoints, the property of used acupoints, the acupoint combination, the acupuncture method, and the frequency and duration of treatment. These findings may provide new ideas for the clinical treatment of MDD. However, further clinical/experimental studies are needed to demonstrate the significance of this concept and approach.Keywords: acupuncture treatment, data mining technology, association rule mining, network analysis, cluster analysis

AimTo determine the prevalence of subclinical keratoconus (SKCN) among individuals undergoing routine, uncomplicated age-related cataract surgery and its impact on visual and refractive outcomes.Patient and MethodsAt a major academic ophthalmology department in the United States, we reviewed records of patients aged 50 years and older who underwent surgery from January 2011 to June 2022. We excluded patients who had poor-quality or unreliable tomographic data, previous corneal surgery, keratorefractive procedures, and significant vision-limiting ocular pathology. We defined SKCN if an eye had a Belin-Ambrósio enhanced ectasia index (BAD-D) ≥1.7, which was based on the results of a meta-analysis of large studies. In addition to the BAD-D cutoff, the eye had to deviate significantly on at least one of seven additional parameters: 1) posterior elevation at thinnest point, 2) index of vertical asymmetry, 3) index of surface variation, 4) total front higher order aberrations, 5) front vertical coma, 6) front secondary vertical coma, 7) back vertical coma. An individual had SKCN if at least one eye met the tomography-based classification and did not have manifest KCN in either eye. Visual and refractive outcomes data were acquired from patients of one experienced cataract surgeon with cases done from July 2021 to June 2022. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.ResultsAmong 5592 eyes from 3828 individuals, the prevalence of SKCN was 24.7% (95% CI, 23.4 – 26.1, 945 individuals), and the prevalence of KCN was 1.9% (95% CI, 1.6 – 2.4, 87 individuals). The prevalence of SKCN did not increase with age and was more prevalent among females and non-white races. Median post-operative month one distance-corrected visual acuity (DCVA) and proportion of eyes with improvement in DCVA were similar between normal and SKCN eyes. The proportion of eyes reaching ±0.5 and ±1.0 diopter within the refractive target were similar between normal and SKCN eyes.ConclusionSKCN is highly prevalent and should be detected but is unlikely to have a significant deleterious effect on outcomes in routine, uncomplicated cataract surgery.

Yunqiang Liu,1,&ast; Mengjun Tu,2,3,&ast; Lingling Wang4,5 1School of Medical College, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guang Dong Province, 524023, People’s Republic of China; 2Eye Hospital and School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325027, People’s Republic of China; 3National Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325027, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Clinical Laboratory Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital & Yu Ying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325027, People’s Republic of China; 5School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325035, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Lingling Wang, Department of Clinical Laboratory Center of The Second Affiliated Hospital & Yu Ying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325027, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8618867786629, Email ll77sky@163.comPurpose: Only a few studies have reported the role of FOXS1, a transcriptional factor, in the tumor development process. In this article, we investigate the function of FOXS1 in distinct neoplastic development and the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME).Patients and Methods: The latent roles of FOXS1 in various tumors were prospected based on TCGA, GTEx, CCLE, GEPIA2, cBioPortal, TIMER, ImmuCellAI databases, GSVA datasets, GSEA datasets, and R packages. The expression difference, gene alteration, clinical characteristics, prognostic values, biological mechanism, potential pathways, tumor microenvironment, and immune cell infiltration related to FOXS1 were appraised.Results: FOXS1 was strongly expressed in pan-cancer, and this gene was associated with low survival rates. FOXS1 was linked to many pathways that are cancer-promoting and immune-related. The expression of this transcriptional factor in cancers was positively related to immune cell infiltration, especially M2-like macrophages and Treg cells. In addition to that, FOXS1 demonstrated a positive relationship with many immune-suppression genes, such as TGFB1 and ARORA2A.Conclusion: Our study identified an oncogenic effect of FOXS1, which may play a vital role as a prognosticative biological marker in pan-cancer. Exorbitant expression of FOXS1 is associated with high TAMs and Treg cells infiltration. These cells have an immunosuppressive function and promote the development of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The research of FOXS1 provided a potential drug target for tumor immunotherapy.Keywords: FOXS1, pan-cancer, biological marker, M2-like macrophages, Treg cells, immunosuppressive microenvironment

Domain adaptation methods in machine learning deal with the domain shift issue by aligning source and target data representation. This paper proposes a novel domain adaptation method for semantic segmentation that exploits the Fourier transform on chromatic space to improve the quality of style transfer, and generates pseudo-labels for self-training by combining the results from different teachers obtained at different rounds of self-training. Our method also applies class-level adversarial learning to achieve a more fine-grained alignment between the two domains, and a late fusion with a depth-estimation model to improve its segmentation outputs. Experiments show that our method yields superior performance in terms of accuracy compared to other existing state-of-the-art methods.

Jianwei Wang,1,2,&ast; Lili Yu,1,3,&ast; Yulong Sun,4,&ast; Liangming Zhang,1,3 Mingshu Tu,1,3 Liqing Cai,1,3 Xiaoqing Yin,3,5 Xiaojie Pan,1,6 Tao Wang,4 Yi Huang1,3,7,8 1Provincial Clinical College, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350001, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fujian Provincial Hospital South Branch, Fuzhou, 350008, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, 350001, People’s Republic of China; 4Shanghai Liangrun Biomedicine Technology Limited Company, Shanghai, 200000, People’s Republic of China; 5Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine College, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350001, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, 350001, People’s Republic of China; 7Central Laboratory, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, 350001, People’s Republic of China; 8Center for Experimental Research in Clinical Medicine, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, 350001, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yi Huang; Tao Wang Email hyi8070@126.com; wangtao@microdiag.comPurpose: Our pilot study has shown that cystatin SN (CST1) protein is highly expressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissues. We intend to develop a chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) available for serum CST1 detection and define the diagnostic value of CST1 detection for early ESCC patients, and establish a panel of CST1 with traditional tumor markers to improve the diagnostic sensitivity for early ESCC.Methods: Detection performance of CLEIA for CST1 was evaluated by linearity, detection limit, accuracy, precision, anti-interference and stability. Diagnostic performance of CST1 for early ESCC was evaluated by detecting CST1 of 112 early ESCC, 107 esophageal benign lesions (EBL), and 151 healthy controls (HC). CEA, CYFRA21-1 and SCC-Ag were detected by chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA).Results: The linear range and detection limit of CLEIA for CST1 were 6.25– 400 pg/mL and 1.35 pg/mL, respectively; the average recovery rate was 102.65%; CVs of intra-batch precision and inter-batch precision were < 1/4 TEa and < 1/3 TEa, respectively; 8 interferents including 7 common interferents and CST4 had no interference on CST1 detection; stability evaluation showed good sample and reagent stability. The level and positive rate of CST1 in early ESCC group were significantly higher than those in EBL/HC groups (P< 0.05). The diagnostic sensitivity of CST1 for early ESCC was 31.25% (specificity 92.64%, AUC 0.654). The diagnostic sensitivity of traditional tumor markers ranged from 16.07% to 28.57%, at > 93.0% specificity, and SCC-Ag showed the highest AUC (0.709). Combination of CST1 and CEA, SCC-Ag exhibited the highest AUC up to 0.736 (sensitivity 49.11%, specificity 89.53%).Conclusion: CLEIA has excellent detection performance for CST1. CST1 might be a prospective serological biomarker for early diagnosis of ESCC, while combination of CST1 and CEA, SCC-Ag might improve the early diagnostic performance.Keywords: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, cystatin SN, chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay, methodological evaluation, early diagnosis

Mengjie Tu,1 Yafei Guo,2 Xincai Zhang,3 Quanlei Yu1,4 1School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Business Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA; 3Fuyang City No.11 Middle School, Anhui, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Quanlei Yu Email yulei19881987@mail.ccnu.edu.cnBackground: Parent-child facial resemblance, as an important cue of paternal uncertainty, may impact fathers’ parenting behaviors and further affect children’s academic performance. However, mothers are almost 100% confident of the blood relationship with their child and care less about the facial resemblance cues.Methods: To test these hypotheses, the present study recruited 122 junior high school students and measured the perceived facial resemblance with their parents, the parents’ parenting style, academic performance, and demographic variables.Results: The results showed that the perceived father-child facial resemblance rather than the mother-child facial resemblance significantly influenced adolescents’ academic performance. Further, fathers’ caring parenting style mediated the relationship between the perceived father-child facial resemblance and academic performance.Conclusion: These findings not only supported the paternal uncertainty hypothesis but also extended the parental investment theory.Keywords: perceived father–child facial resemblance, academic performance, caring parenting, paternal uncertainty

Chao Zhou,1,* Pu Wang,1,* Mengtian Tu,1 Yi Huang,2 Fei Xiong,1 Yue Wu3 1Department of Gastroenterology, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan 610072, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Laboratory Medicine, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Sichuan 610072, People’s Republic of China; 3Personalized Drug Therapy Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Pharmacy, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Sichuan 610072, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yue WuDepartment of Pharmacy, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, No. 32 West Second Section First Ring Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-028-87393405Email zegyex@163.comBackground: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary hepatic malignancy worldwide. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as effective markers for the detection of multiple cancers. This study aimed to illuminate the mechanism of prostate androgen regulated transcript 1 (PART1) in HCC.Materials and Methods: The levels of PART1, miR-149-5p and mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAP2K1) mRNA were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay. Cell proliferation was assessed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, and cell migration and invasion were evaluated by transwell assay. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was carried out to examine the relationship among PART1, miR-149-5p and MAP2K1. Western blot assay was conducted to measure the protein expression of MAP2K1.Results: PART1 and MAP2K1 expression were greatly increased and miR-149-5p level was decreased in HCC tissues. Functional analysis revealed that the si-PART1 inhibited proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells. PART1 directly bound to miR-149-5p and miR-149-5p level was down-regulated by PART1. Moreover, restoration experiment demonstrated that the effect of PART1 knockdown on HCC cell progression could be partially rescued by miR-149-5p depletion. MiR-149-5p was predicted to target MAP2K1 and MAP2K1 expression was negatively modulated by miR-149-5p. Also, MAP2K1 rescued the inhibitory effects of miR-149-5p overexpression on proliferation, migration and invasion in HCC cells. Besides, the inhibition of miR-149-5p weakened the impact on MAP2K1 expression mediated by PART1 repression.Conclusion: PART1 promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells by regulating miR-149-5p/MAP2K1 axis.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, PART1, miR-149-5p, MAP2K1

Purpose: To report a rare case of a unilateral choroidal mast cell infiltration in a patient with aggressive systemic mastocytosis (ASM). Observations: The patient is a man in his fifties with a diagnosis of ASM. He developed visual complaints in the right eye associated with an area of subretinal fluid on fundus examination. Visual acuity at presentation was 20/150 in the right eye and 20/25 in the left eye. After ophthalmic and radiologic imaging workup, the patient was diagnosed with presumed choroidal mast cell infiltrate. The index of suspicion was high due to the prior ASM diagnosis. External beam radiation and intravitreal injection treatments were offered but the patient declined. The patient was switched from interferon to a new targeted systemic therapy for ASM, midostaurin. Despite some mixed, temporary response in systemic symptoms/signs of ASM at four months, the choroidal lesion and subretinal fluid were stable with visual acuity at 20/125. Conclusion and importance: Mast cell choroidal infiltration in ASM should be considered as part of the differential with acute/subacute vision changes. Diagnosis requires exclusion of other possibilities with ocular imaging and in this case, monitoring for development of other malignancies in which there were none. Midostaurin's ocular response was not on par with systemic response. Additional localized ocular therapies may be required.

While the trifluoromethylative difunctionalization of unactivated alkenes has been largely explored, methylative difunctionalization remains underinvestigated. Here, the authors report copper-catalyzed alkoxy- and azido-methylation reactions of alkenes leading to important synthetic building blocks and valuable O- and N-heterocycles.

Background: Abdominal operations account for a majority of surgical volume in low-income countries, yet population-level prevalence data on surgically treatable abdominal conditions are scarce. Objective: In this study, our objective was to quantify the burden of surgically treatable abdominal conditions in Uganda. Methods: In 2014, we administered a two-stage cluster-randomized Surgeons OverSeas Assessment of Surgical Need survey to 4,248 individuals in 105 randomly selected clusters (representing the national population of Uganda). Findings: Of the 4,248 respondents, 185 reported at least one surgically treatable abdominal condition in their lifetime, giving an estimated lifetime prevalence of 3.7% (95% CI: 3.0 to 4.6%). Of those 185 respondents, 76 reported an untreated condition, giving an untreated prevalence of 1.7% (95% CI: 1.3 to 2.3%). Obstructed labor (52.9%) accounted for most of the 238 abdominal conditions reported and was untreated in only 5.6% of reported conditions. In contrast, 73.3% of reported abdominal masses were untreated. Conclusions: Individuals in Uganda with nonobstetric abdominal surgical conditions are disproportionately undertreated. Major health system investments in obstetric surgical capacity have been beneficial, but our data suggest that further investments should aim at matching overall surgical care capacity with surgical need, rather than focusing on a single operation for obstructed labor.

Migraine and tension-type headaches (TTHs) comprise a significant burden of neurological disease globally. Trochleodynia, also known as primary trochlear headache or trochleitis, may go unrecognized and contribute to worsening of these headache disorders. It may also present in isolation. We review the English literature on this under-recognized condition and describe what is known about the theorized pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and differential diagnosis. We also present a management algorithm for patients presenting with trochleodynia.

OBJECTIVE:According to recent estimates, at least 11% of the total global burden of disease is attributable to surgically-treatable diseases. In children, the burden is even more striking with up to 85% of children in low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC) having a surgically-treatable condition by age 15. Using population data from four countries, we estimated pediatric surgical needs amongst children residing in LMICs. METHODS:A cluster randomized cross-sectional countrywide household survey (Surgeons OverSeas Assessment of Surgical Need) was done in four countries (Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Nepal and Uganda) and included demographics, a verbal head to toe examination, and questions on access to care. Global estimates regarding surgical need among children were derived from combined data, accounting for country-level clustering. RESULTS:A total of 13,806 participants were surveyed and 6,361 (46.1%) were children (0-18 years of age) with median age of 8 (Interquartile range [IQR]: 4-13) years. Overall, 19% (1,181/6,361) of children had a surgical need and 62% (738/1,181) of these children had at least one unmet need. Based on these estimates, the number of children living with a surgical need in these four LMICs is estimated at 3.7 million (95% CI: 3.4, 4.0 million). The highest percentage of unmet surgical conditions included head, face, and neck conditions, followed by conditions in the extremities. Over a third of the untreated conditions were masses while the overwhelming majority of treated conditions in all countries were wounds or burns. CONCLUSION:Surgery has been elevated as an "indivisible, indispensable part of health care" in LMICs and the newly formed 2015 Sustainable Development Goals are noted as unachievable without the provision of surgical care. Given the large burden of pediatric surgical conditions in LMICs, scale-up of services for children is an essential component to improve pediatric health in LMICs.

Eleven different laboratory experiments were designed and executed throughout a semester to provide a meaningful research experience for 23 undergraduate biochemistry majors at UTSA. The topic of the semester was based on the idea of exploring new aspects to enhance our understanding of how the human body uses cytochrome P450 enzymes to metabolize artemisinin, an endoperoxide-containing plant natural product used to treat malaria. Biochemical techniques introduced to the students included computational (dry lab) techniques: the use of bioinformatics tools to design plasmids for protein expression, software to analyze the 3-dimensional structure of proteins, metabolomics software to analyze enzyme-catalyzed reaction extracts by mass spectrometry, and docking software to dock ligands into the active site of proteins. In addition, students performed experimental (wet lab) techniques including: a transformation experiment to incorporate plasmid DNA into bacteria, an extraction of plasmid DNA from bacterial cells, performing enzymatic incubations and preparing samples for analysis by mass spectrometry, and running an SDS protein gel electrophoresis. The semester ended with the use of a web-based program to allow students to visualize the proteins they were studying throughout the semester with a virtual reality headset. This course was taught for the first time at the university, so this manuscript should inspire ideas for future biochemistry laboratory courses taught in the course based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) format.

In 2010, 50 indica rice varieties were cultivated in three sites in southwestern China along a contamination gradient (background, moderately-contaminated and highly-contaminated sites) to determine environment and genotype controls on MeHg accumulation in polished white rice and bran. Rice grain MeHg concentrations were significantly higher in the moderately-contaminated site compared to the other two sites (ANOVA, p

PurposeTo employ quantitative fundus autofluorescence (qAF) imaging in rhesus macaques to noninvasively assess retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) lipofuscin in nonhuman primates (NHPs) as a model of aging and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).MethodsThe qAF imaging was performed on eyes of 26 rhesus macaques (mean age 18.8 ± 8.2 years, range 4-27 years) with normal-appearing fundus or with age-related soft drusen using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope with 488 nm excitation and an internal fluorescence reference. Eyes with soft drusen also underwent spectral-domain optical coherence tomography imaging to measure drusen volume and height of individual drusen lesions. The qAF levels were measured from the perifoveal annular ring (quantitative autofluorescence 8 [qAF8]) using the Delori grid, as well as focally over individual drusen lesions in this region. The association between qAF levels and age, sex, and drusen presence and volume were determined using multivariable regression analysis.ResultsMean qAF levels increased with age (P < 0.001) and were higher in females (P = 0.047). Eyes with soft drusen exhibited reduced mean qAF compared with age-matched normal eyes (P = 0.003), with greater drusen volume showing a trend toward decreased qAF levels. However, qAF levels are focally increased over most individual drusen (P < 0.001), with larger drusen appearing more hyperautofluorescent (R2 = 0.391, P < 0.001).ConclusionsIn rhesus macaques, qAF levels are increased with age and female sex, but decreased in eyes with soft drusen, similar to human AMD. However, drusen lesions appear hyperautofluorescent unlike those in humans, suggesting similarities and differences in RPE lipofuscin between humans and NHPs that may provide insight into drusen biogenesis and AMD pathogenesis.

There are currently 1.5 million undocumented Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) in the US. Undocumented API young adults, in particular, come of age in a challenging political and social climate, but little is known about their health outcomes. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the psychosocial needs and health status of API undocumented young adults. Guided by social capital theory, this qualitative study describes the social context of API undocumented young adults (ages 18–31), including community and government perceptions, and how social relationships influence health. This study was conducted in Northern California and included four focus group discussions (FGDs) and 24 in-depth interviews (IDIs), with 32 unique participants total. FGDs used purposeful sampling by gender (two male and two female discussions) and education status (in school and out-of-school). Findings suggest low bonding and bridging social capital. Results indicate that community distrust is high, even within the API community, due to high levels of exploitation, discrimination, and threats of deportation. Participants described how documentation status is a barrier in accessing health services, particularly mental health and sexual and reproductive health services. This study identifies trusted community groups and discusses recommendations for future research, programs, and policies.

This article describes the development of a low-cost, real-time simulator of several control strategies for brushed DC motor drives. An educational brushed DC motor drive test bench and an Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller board were used to build the simulation system. The system can serve as a platform for laboratory studies in which various control strategies helpful for instruction and research purposes. The interaction between MATLAB Simulink and the Arduino board can be managed through the exploration of the MATLAB Support Package for Arduino. Different speed control algorithms for brushed DC motors can be easily deployed, monitored, and analysed using the Simulink multiform library. Three different types of controllers have been used in this study: a standard PI controller, a fuzzy logic controller, and a fuzzy PI controller. Finally, the system is particularly helpful in comparing various control approaches for many other controlled objects in addition to drives for brushed DC motors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]