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Purpose: Mutations of G protein-coupled receptor 143 (GPR143) and FERM domain containing 7 (FRMD7) may result in congenital nystagmus (CN) in the first 6 months of life. We aimed to compare the differences in ocular oscillations between patients with these two gene mutations as well as the functional and structural changes in their retinas and visual pathways. Methods: Medical records were retrospectively reviewed to identify patients of congenital nystagmus with confirmed mutations in either GPR143 or FMRD7 genes from January 2018 to May 2023. The parameters of the ocular oscillations were recorded using Eyelink 1000 Plus. The retinal structure and function were evaluated using optical coherence tomography and multi-focal electroretinography (mERG). The visual pathway and optical nerve projection were evaluated using visual evoked potentials. The next-generation sequencing technique was used to identify the pathogenic variations in the disease-causing genes for CN. Results: Twenty nystagmus patients of GPR143 and 21 patients of FMRD7 who had been confirmed by molecular testing between January 2018 and May 2023 were included. Foveal hypoplasia was detected only in patients with the GPR143 pathogenic variant. mERG examination showed a flat response topography in the GPR143 group compared to the FRMD7 group. VEP showed that bilateral amplitude inconsistency was detected only in the patients with GPR143 gene mutation. The amplitude and frequency of the ocular oscillations were not found to differ between patients with two different genetic mutations. Conclusions: Although the etiology and molecular mechanisms are completely different between CN patients, they may have similar ocular oscillations. A careful clinical examination and electrophysiological test will be helpful in making a differential diagnosis. Our novel identified variants will further expand the spectrum of the GPR143 and FRMD7 variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive loss of neurons following brain injury or disease is the primary cause of central nervous system dysfunction. Recently, much research has been conducted on how to compensate for neuronal loss in damaged parts of the nervous system and thus restore functional connectivity among neurons. Direct somatic cell differentiation into neurons using pro-neural transcription factors, small molecules, or microRNAs, individually or in association, is the most promising form of neural cell replacement therapy available. This method provides a potential remedy for cell loss in a variety of neurodegenerative illnesses, and the development of reprogramming technology has made this method feasible. This article provides a comprehensive review of reprogramming, including the selection and methods of reprogramming starting cell populations as well as the signaling methods involved in this process. Additionally, we thoroughly examine how reprogramming astrocytes into neurons can be applied to treat stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, we discuss the challenges of neuronal reprogramming and offer insights about the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to deposit a thin layer of TiO2 on a Co-Cr substrate, serving as a deactivation film protecting the metallic fitting surface. The crystalline structure and surface morphology of the film were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A scratch tester was used to examine the adhesion strength between the TiO2 film and the Co-Cr substrate. The water contact angles and antifungal efficacy against C. albicans of the TiO2-deposited Co-Cr samples were investigated and further compared with those of uncoated Co-Cr substrates. The results indicated that a pure anatase microstructure and dense and smooth surface texture as well as strong binding to the underlying metallic surface were obtained. The originally hydrophobic Co-Cr alloy surface turned hydrophilic after TiO2 film coating. Most importantly, the TiO2-coated surface showed a superior antifungal capability under UV-irradiation compared to those without TiO2 coating. This work contains meaningful results for the development of a new metallic framework coating with improved hydrophilicity and antifungal properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To study the clinical efficacy of wrist-ankle acupuncture on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after work-related injury. Methods: 62 patients were divided into an observation group (n = 30) and a control group (n = 32). The observation group was treated with wrist-ankle acupuncture combined with Paroxetine, and the control group accepted Paroxetine only. They were assessed with the Clinical Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD), and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) before, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks after treatment. Results: The scores of CAPS, HAMD and HAMA reduced in both groups (P < 0.01) after treatment, and the reduction rate was greater in the observation group than in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Wrist-ankle acupuncture may further relieve PTSD after work-related injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: China is at greatest risk of the Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 due to its huge population and high residential density. The unclear comprehension and negative attitudes towards the emerging infectious disease among general population may lead to unnecessary worry and even panic. The objective of this study was to investigate the Chinese public response to H1N1 pandemic and provide baseline data to develop public education campaigns in response to future outbreaks. Methods: A close-ended questionnaire developed by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention was applied to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 among 10,669 responders recruited from seven urban and two rural areas of China sampled by using the probability proportional to size (PPS) method. Results: 30.0% respondents were not clear whether food spread H1N1 virusand. 65.7% reported that the pandemic had no impact on their life. The immunization rates of the seasonal flu and H1N1vaccine were 7.5% and 10.8%, respectively. Farmers and those with lower education level were less likely to know the main transmission route (cough or talk face to face). Female and those with college and above education had higher perception of risk and more compliance with preventive behaviors. Relationships between knowledge and risk perception (OR = 1.69; 95%CI 1.54-1.86), and knowledge and practices (OR = 1.57; 95%CI 1.42-1.73) were found among the study subjects. With regard to the behavior of taking up A/H1N1 vaccination, there are several related factors found in the current study population, including the perception of life disturbed (OR = 1.29; 95%CI 1.11-1.50), the safety of A/H1N1 vaccine (OR = 0.07; 95%CI 0.04-0.11), the knowledge of free vaccination policy (OR = 7.20; 95%CI 5.91-8.78), the state's priority vaccination strategy(OR = 1.33; 95%CI 1.08-1.64), and taking up seasonal influenza vaccine behavior (OR = 4.69; 95%CI 3.53-6.23). Conclusions: This A/H1N1 epidemic has not caused public panic yet, but the knowledge of A/H1N1 in residents is not optimistic. Public education campaign may take the side effects of vaccine and the knowledge about the state's vaccination strategy into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-and p-MOSFETs have been fabricated in strained Si-on-SiGe-on-insulator (SSOI) with high (15-25%) Ge content. Wafer bonding and H-induced layer transfer techniques enabled the fabrication of the high Ge content SiGe-on-insulator (SGOI) substrates. Mobility enhancement of 50% for electrons (with 15% Ge) and 15-20% for holes (with 20-25% Ge) has been demonstrated in SSOI MOSFETs. These mobility enhancements are commensurate with those reported for FETs fabricated on strained silicon on bulk SiGe substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Klebsiella pneumoniae can enter a viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state to survive in unfavorable environments. Our research found that high-, medium-, and low-alcohol-producing K. pneumoniae strains are associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. However, the presence of the three Kpn strains has not been reported in the VBNC state or during resuscitation. In this study, the effects of different strains, salt concentrations, oxygen concentrations, temperatures, and nutrients in K. pneumoniae VBNC state were evaluated. The results showed that high-alcohol-producing K. pneumoniae induced a slower VBNC state than medium-alcohol-producing K. pneumoniae, and low-alcohol-producing K. pneumoniae. A high-salt concentration and microoxygen environment accelerated the loss of culturability. Simultaneously, both real-time quantitative PCR and droplet digital PCR were developed to compare the quantitative comparison of three Kpn strain VBNC states by counting single-copy gene numbers. At 22°C or 37°C, the number of culturable cells decreased significantly from about 108 to 105-106 CFU/mL. In addition, imipenem, ciprofloxacin, polymyxin, and phiW14 inhibited cell resuscitation but could not kill VBNC-state cells. These results revealed that the different environments evaluated play different roles in the VBNC induction process, and new effective strategies for eliminating VBNC-state cells need to be further studied. These findings provide a better understanding of VBNC-state occurrence, maintenance, detection, and absolute quantification, as well as metabolic studies of resuscitation resistance and ethanol production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the intelligent traffic field, accurate recognition of license plate information is not only conducive to the handling of traffic accidents, but also beneficial to safety in the autonomous field. However, the identification of license plate information becomes very difficult if there are tilted angles in the license plate image. The objective of the work is to establish a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based license plate tilt angle recognition network realizing the horizontal and vertical tilt angles detection of the license plate accurately; and then, according to the detected angles, the tilt angle detection algorithm is proposed to realize the tilted license plate image correction and character segmentation. Firstly, the YOLOv3 is adopted to locate license plate and classify the clockwise rotation and anticlockwise rotation license plate images. Secondly, the regression CNN is established to detect the horizontal and vertical tilt angle of the cropped license plate image. Thirdly, the tilted license plate correction algorithm is proposed to correct the horizontal and vertical tilt angles of the license plate using image rotation and shearing transformation theory according to the detected horizontal and vertical tilt angles. Subsequently, the bilinear interpolation is used to improve the correction performance. Finally, the characters of the license plate are segmented from the corrected license plate image after removing the upper and lower boundary. The results show that the proposed tilt angle detection network and the correction algorithm have a good performance, which is superior to the current state-of-the-art tilted license plate correction algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tetrocarcin A (TCA), produced by Micromonospora chalcea NRRL 11289, is a spirotetronate antibiotic with potent antitumor activity and versatile modes of action. In this study, the biosynthetic gene cluster of TCA was cloned and localized to a 108-kb contiguous DNA region. In silico sequence analysis revealed 36 putative genes that constitute this cluster (including 11 for unusual sugar biosynthesis, 13 for aglycone formation, and 4 for glycosylations) and allowed us to propose the biosynthetic pathway of TCA. The formation of D-tetronitrose, L-amicetose, and L-digitoxose may begin with D-glucose-1-phosphate, share early enzymatic steps, and branch into different pathways by competitive actions of specific enzymes. Tetronolide biosynthesis involves the incorporation of a 3-C unit with a polyketide intermediate to form the characteristic spirotetronate moiety and trans-decalin system. Further substitution of tetronolide with five deoxysugars (one being a deoxynitrosugar) was likely due to the activities of four glycosyltransferases. In vitro characterization of the first enzymatic step by utilization of 1,3-biphosphoglycerate as the substrate and in vivo cross-complementation of the bifunctional fused gene tcaD3 (with the functions of chlD3 and chlD4) to {Delta}chlD3 and {Delta}chlD4 in chlorothricin biosynthesis supported the highly conserved tetronate biosynthetic strategy in the spirotetronate family. Deletion of a large DNA fragment encoding polyketide synthases resulted in a non-TCA-producing strain, providing a clear background for the identification of novel analogs. These findings provide insights into spirotetronate biosynthesis and demonstrate that combinatorial-biosynthesis methods can be applied to the TCA biosynthetic machinery to generate structural diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the prevalence and predictors of incidental prostate cancer (IPC) after transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) with negative results on transperineal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) fusion prostate biopsy or TRUS-guided prostate biopsy. Materials and Methods: Data of 253 patients who underwent TURP with a preliminary diagnosis of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were evaluated. The prevalence of IPC was calculated. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore independent predictive factors of IPC. Results: A total of 253 patients were included. IPC was diagnosed in 12 patients (4.7%). The mean age of the patients and the mean prostate volume were 69.8±7.07 years and 89.3±49.29 mL, respectively. The prevalence of IPC was higher in the TRUS guided prostate biopsy group than in the transperineal MRI/TRUS fusion prostate biopsy group (11 of 203 [5.4%] vs. 1 of 50 [2.0%], p=0.47), but the difference was not statistically significant. Our results indicated that older age (≥70 y) (odds ratio [OR], 1.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.27; p=0.025) and smaller prostate volume (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.938-0.998; p=0.039) were associated with an increased incidence of IPC after TURP. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the prevalence of IPC may be higher among patients who undergo transrectal prostate biopsy before TURP than among those who undergo transperineal MRI/TRUS fusion prostate biopsy. Older age and smaller prostate volume were independent predictors of increasing the risk for IPC after TURP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aimed to study absorption and reduction of PM2s by different plant community structure, and explore which plant community can have better or best comprehensive absorption efficiency, thereby improving and optimizing urban vegetation structure, further promoting improvement of urban air quality, improving people's quality of life, and ensuring a good living environment. In this paper, the method of quadrat survey commonly used in field survey was adopted to record the height, coverage, DBH and other indicators of statistical plants, and corresponding comprehensive value was calculated through these indexes. PM2 s was measured at forest edge, 4 and 8 m in the forest, with three repetitions. Subtraction amount of PM2 s determined at different layers was analyzed, as well as its relationship with comprehensive value of community structure. The results showed that PM2J amount decreased significantly at forest edge, 4 and 8 m in the forest, and better community structure had a positive effect on PM2 s absorption. The higher the comprehensive indexes of community structure such as plant height, DBH (arbor), density and coverage, the better the ability of absorbing and reducing PM2 j. Therefore, it must pay attention to the diversity of plant species per unit area, to build a good plant community structure, which could better improve structure of local ecosystem, and play a good role in absorbing and reducing PM2S pollutants in the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

VEGF-B was discovered a long time ago. However, unlike VEGF-A, whose function has been extensively studied, the function of VEGF-B and the mechanisms involved still remain poorly understood. Notwithstanding, drugs that inhibit VEGF-B and other VEGF family members have been used to treat patients with neovascular diseases. It is therefore critical to have a better understanding of VEGF-B function and the underlying mechanisms. Here, using comprehensive methods and models, we have identified VEGF-B as a potent antioxidant. Loss of Vegf-b by gene deletion leads to retinal degeneration in mice, and treatment with VEGF-B rescues retinal cells from death in a retinitis pigmentosa model. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that VEGF-B upregulates numerous key antioxidative genes, particularly, Gpx1. Loss of Gpx1 activity largely diminished the antioxidative effect of VEGF-B, demonstrating that Gpx1 is at least one of the critical downstream effectors of VEGF-B. In addition, we found that the antioxidant function of VEGF-B is mediated mainly by VEGFR1. Given that oxidative stress is a crucial factor in numerous human diseases, VEGF-B may have therapeutic value for the treatment of such diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocular neovascularization is a devastating pathology of numerous ocular diseases and is a major cause of blindness. Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) plays important roles in the vascular system. However, little is known regarding its function and mechanisms in ocular neovascularization. Here, using comprehensive model systems and a cell permeable peptide of Cav-1, cavtratin, we show that Cav-1 is a critical player in ocular neovascularization. The genetic deletion of Cav-1 exacerbated and cavtratin administration inhibited choroidal and retinal neovascularization. Importantly, combined administration of cavtratin and anti-VEGF-A inhibited neovascularization more effectively than monotherapy, suggesting the existence of other pathways inhibited by cavtratin in addition to VEGF-A. Indeed, we found that cavtratin suppressed multiple critical components of pathological angiogenesis, including inflammation, permeability, PDGF-B and endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression (eNOS). Mechanistically, we show that cavtratin inhibits CNV and the survival and migration of microglia and macrophages via JNK. Together, our data demonstrate the unique advantages of cavtratin in antiangiogenic therapy to treat neovascular diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blood vessel degeneration is critically involved in nearly all types of degenerative diseases. Therefore strategies to enhance blood vessel protection and survival are highly needed. In this study, using different animal models and cultured cells, we show that PDGF-CC is a potent vascular protective and survival factor. PDGF-CC deficiency by genetic deletion exacerbated blood vessel regression/degeneration in various animal models. Importantly, treatment with PDGF-CC protein not only increased the survival of retinal blood vessels in a model of oxygen-induced blood vessel regression but also markedly rescued retinal and blood vessel degeneration in a disease model of retinitis pigmentosa. Mechanistically, we revealed that heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1) activity is critically required for the vascular protective/survival effect of PDGF-CC, because blockade of HMOX1 completely abolished the protective effect of PDGF-CC in vitro and in vivo. We further found that both PDGF receptors, PDGFR-β and PDGFR-α, are required for the vasoprotective effect of PDGF-CC. Thus our data show that PDGF-CC plays a pivotal role in maintaining blood vessel survival and may be of therapeutic value in treating various types of degenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the application of three-dimensional positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/Cl) for the analysis of 13NO3 uptake and 13N distribution in growing kohirabi. The analytical procedures, equipment parameters, and image reconstruction mode for plant imaging were tested and selected. 13N in growing kohlrabi plants was imaged versus time using both PET movies and PET/CF tomograms. The 13NO3 transport velocity in kohirabi from root to petiole was estimated to be 1.0 cm/mm. The appearance of shellshaped 13NO3 transport pathways, corresponding to the kohlrabi corm, suggests the existence of special routes with higher efficiency for 13NO3 transport, which tends to have the shortest distances to the leaves or buds. Standardized uptake values (SUVs), used as the representative figures for describing 13N distribution, were quantified versus lime at some putative sites of interest. For multiple analysis of the same-plant, 13N distribution in kohlrabi under normal conditions, methionine sulfoxmmine (MSX) Stress, and recovery from MSX stress was examined. The 13N distribution variation studies were also done under the above three growth conditions. Our results suggest a significant downregulation of nitrate uptake in kohirabi in the presence of MSX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]