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Objective To analyze the clinical features and prognostic factors of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) encephalitis. Methods A total of 51 patients with HSV-1 encephalitis hospitalized in He'nan Provincial People's Hospital from January 2018 to September 2023 were selected, and their clinical data, laboratory and imaging examination results were recorded. The modified Rankin Scale (mRS) was used to evaluate the prognosis of patients and the recovery of neurological function after brain injury. Univariate and multivariate stepwise Logistic regression analyses were screened for risk factors of adverse prognosis of HSV-1 encephalitis. Results The main symptoms of 51 cases were fever and headache. The serological examination results showed increased white blood cell count (14 cases), increased neutrophil count (14 cases), decreased lymphocyte count (8 cases), and decreased serum sodium level (17 cases). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination by lumbar puncture showed increased CSF pressure (18 cases), increased white blood cell count (28 cases), increased protein (32 cases), and increased glucose (15 cases). There were 48 patients who underwent head MRI examination, and 43 patients (89.58%) showed obvious brain region involvement on head MRI, among which 35 patients (72.92%) with positive MRI showed typical unilateral or bilateral temporal and frontal lobe involvement, and 8 cases (16.67%) with increased cerebral pia mater enhancement. 66.67% (34/51) of the patients recovered completely within 6 months after discharge, 21.57% (11/51) of the patients had sequelae, and the fatality rate was 11.76% (6/51). There were 34 (66.67%) patients with good prognosis and 17 (33.33%) patients with adverse prognosis. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed age increased (OR = 1.090, 95%CI: 1.020-1.200; P = 0.023) and increased CSF glucose level (OR = 23.800, 95%CI: 23.800-1250.000; P = 0.030) were risk factors for adverse prognosis in HSV-1 encephalitis patients. Conclusions Increased aging and CSF glucose level are risk factors for the adverse prognosis in HSV - 1 encephalitis patients. In clinical practice, it is necessary to master the clinical characteristics of patients with HSV-1 encephalitis, so as to achieve early detection, diagnosis and treatment.

Since 2017, human encephalitis caused by pseudorabies virus (PRV) has been reported in 28 cases in China. The clinical symptoms include fever, headache, seizures, focal neurological loss, disturbance of consciousness, etc.. This disease has the high disability rate and fatality rate. PRV is mainly transmitted through close contact with infected pigs or their excrement, or spread via blood-borne. Patients are mostly practitioners in the live pig industry chain. Early diagnosis and treatment are critical to the prognosis of patients. Therefore, this article reviews the progress on diagnosis and treatment of human encephalitis caused by PRV, in order to improve the clinical diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

Abnormal expression of GDNF (glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor) and its receptor(RET) are associated with the emergence and development of tumors in the digestive system. GDNF and RET are associated with peripheral nerve invasion with a dose-dependent manner in pancreatic cancer, while RET(-) cancer cells lose the ability to invade and destroy nerves. RET mutations promote the proliferation, migration and survival of colon cancer cells, and are associated with poor prognosis of colon cancer patients. GDNF can promote the angiogenesis of liver cancer tissues independently of vasogenic growth factor, providing sufficient nutrition for the growth and invasion of tumor cells. Methylation of the GFR 3 promoter was found in gastric cancer, and the degree of methylation was negatively related to postoperative survival of patients.

Plant height is an important index for the ideal maize breeding, which not only affects the mechanical harvest of maize, but also closely relates to the lodging resistance and the biological yield of maize. In this study, a plant height reducing mutant-1 (phr-1) was obtained by using low-dose fast neutron (4.19 Gy) irradiation to mutate the maize inbred line KWS39 at the low ear position. Phenotypic traits were investigated and analyzed in the field, and candidate genes were identified by mining and functional annotation of genes in the target region based on the B73 reference genome using the extreme trait pool sequencing analysis (BSA-seq) and the method of target region recombination exchange identification with F2 segregation population of phr-1xB73. These results indicated that there might be a variation site in Bin1.06 interval on chromosome 1, and the target region was precisely located between two markers, Umc1122 and Umc1583a, with a 600 kb interval by using the large segregation population and polymorphic markers. Brachytic2 (BR2), encoding a sugar protein regulating the polar transport of auxin in maize stems, is a known gene controlling plant height in this region. The sequencing of candidate genes revealed that phr-1 was a new allelic mutation of br2-1, with a 165 bp insertion in the fourth exon of the BR2 gene resulting in the amino acid at position 547 changing to a stop codon and premature protein translation termination. The mutation site and variation mode of phr-1 were completely different from those of br2-1 single base mutation site. The allelic hybridization experiment confirmed that the PHR1 candidate gene is a new allelic mutation of the BR2 gene. This study provides new germplasm resources for maize BR2 gene in plant height genetic improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]