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The over 4,100 species of bird lice are classified into 214 genera in the parvorders Amblycera and Ischnocera. Congeneric species of bird lice usually share much similarity in morphology and in mitochondrial (mt) genome organization. Two recent studies, however, reported substantial intra-genus variation in mt genome organization in bird lice. Both the ancestral single-chromosome mt genome and a fragmented mt genome with two or three minichromosomes were observed in the genera Austromenopon and Laemobothrion. To better understand intra-genus variation in mt genome organization, we sequenced the complete mt genome of the white spoonbill louse Ibidoecus plataleae and compared it with that of the glossy ibis feather louse Ibidoecus bisignatus reported previously. We found that I. plataleae had a fragmented mt genome with 12 minichromosomes; each minichromosome was 2,798 to 3,628 bp in size and had 2 to 6 genes. This is in stark contrast to the mt genome of I. bisignatus, which has all genes on a single chromosome, 14,909 bp in size. This is the most drastic intra-genus variation in mt genome organization observed to date in animals, indicating an unprecedented rapid process of mt genome fragmentation in the genus Ibidoecus. The divergence time between I. plataleae and I. bisignatus is currently unknown but is estimated to be less than 23 million years. Either many minichromosal split events occurred after I. plataleae diverged from I. bisignatus, or one minichromosome splits into multiple minichromosomes in a single event. Sequencing and comparing more Ibidoecusi species will help understand the unusual mt genome fragmentation in this genus., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate The experimental protocol was established, according to the ethical guidelines of the IACUC and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hunan Agricultural University (no. 202282). Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The bottleneck of Li metal batteries toward practical applications lies at inferior cyclability as well as Li dendrite issues. As a promising solution, an interface engineering strategy is proposed herein for the Li anode through constructing a hybrid artificial interface. It is assembled onto the Li anode using photocontrolled free radical polymerization (photo-CRP) of polyethylene glycol diacrylate-hexafluorobutyl methacrylate and hexafluorobutyl methacrylate-trifluoroethyl carbonate (PEGDA-HFMBA@HFMBA-FEMC or PH@HF layer). Among such hybrid interfaces, the interior layer of PEGDA-HFMBA exists as a protective shield with flexibility and fracture resistance, while the exterior layer of HFMBA-FEMC plays a role as a LiF reservoir to promote Li mass transfer and its even electrodeposition. In the meantime, some excess HFMBA and FEMC monomers further dissolve into the electrolyte as molecular additives, followed by in situ generation of a thin and robust LiF-rich cathode electrolyte interface (CEI). With the resulting Li anode, Li/NCM811 full cells showcase multifold cyclability amplification in comparison to cells using Bare-Li, covering durable cyclability with a capacity retention of 81.8% after 400 cycles. When the cutoff voltage is elevated to 4.5 V or the working temperature is elevated to 45 °C, the cells still maintain a stable operation for extending 300 cycles.

This is a prospective case-control study investigated the factors influencing ultra-early visual acuity and quality after Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE) surgery, with a specific focus on the morphology and distribution of "black clefts" observed in posterior lenticule laser scanning images. A total of 174 patients who underwent SMILE surgery were included, and their preoperative ocular clinical parameters, visual quality indicators, and posterior lenticule laser scanning images were analyzed. The morphological features of black clefts were calculated using image processing techniques. Univariate and multivariate logistic analyses were conducted to identify factors impacting ultra-early visual acuity recovery, while correlation analysis was used to explore the association between black cleft morphology and postoperative visual quality. The results showed that although patients experienced significant visual acuity improvement one day after surgery, 26% had poor early recovery. Postoperative visual quality parameters were significantly lower, while the Object Scatter Index (OSI) was higher compared to preoperative values. Patients with poor visual recovery had a higher number of irregular black clefts in their laser scanning images. Logistic regression analysis revealed that intraoperative morphological parameters of black clefts were independent factors influencing early postoperative visual acuity recovery. Additionally, correlation analysis demonstrated a negative correlation between black cleft morphology and postoperative visual quality parameters, and a positive correlation with OSI. In conclusion, the morphology and distribution of black clefts during SMILE surgery significantly affect ultra-early postoperative visual acuity and quality, with increased variability in black cleft area leading to higher OSI, thereby impacting visual quality recovery., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Haematopinus suis is an obligatory ectoparasite of the domestic pig, serving as a vector of several swine pathogens and posing great threats to the pig industry. The gut microbiome of lice is thought of an important mediator of their healthy physiology. However, there is a great paucity of lice-associated microbial communities' structure and function. The current study aimed to profile the gut microbiome and to understand the microbial functions of swine lice by metagenomic sequencing and bioinformatics analyses. In total, 102,358 (77.2 %) nonredundant genes were cataloged, by contrast, only a small proportion of genes were assigned to microbial taxa and functional assemblages. Bacteria of known or potential public health significance such as Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Chlamydia trachomatis, Waddlia chondrophila, Bacillus cereus, and Leptotrichia goodfellowii were observed in all samples. The integrated microbial profile further illustrated the evolutionary relevance of endosymbionts and detailed the functional composition, and findings suggested H. suis may acquire adenosylcobalamin by feeding due to an adenosylcobalamin synthesis defect and a lack of complete synthases of endosymbionts. Sucking lice contained fewer functional genes compared with ticks and fleas probably because of the obligate host specificity of parasitic lice. In addition, the genes from the intestines contained encompassed most of the microbial functional genes in sucking lice. A wide range of unknown taxonomic and functional assemblages were discovered, which improves our understanding related to microbial features and physiological activities of sucking lice. In general, this study increases the characterization of the microbiota of lice and offers clues for preventing and controlling lice infestation in swine production in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that all authors have read this original article and had no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The prior studies have shown that interleukin-2 (IL-2) exerts important roles in the pathological and physiological processes of lung diseases. However, the role of IL-2 in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is still uncertain. Through a prospective cohort study, our research will explore the correlations between serum IL-2 levels and the severity and prognosis in CAP patients. There were 267 CAP patients included. Blood samples were obtained. Serum IL-2 were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Demographic traits and clinical characteristics were extracted. Serum IL-2 were gradually elevated with increasing severity scores in CAP patients. Correlation analyses revealed that serum IL-2 were connected with physiological parameters including liver and renal function in CAP patients. According to a logistic regression analysis, serum IL-2 were positively correlated with CAP severity scores. We also tracked the prognostic outcomes of CAP patients. The increased risks of adversely prognostic outcomes, including mechanical ventilation, vasoactive agent usage, ICU admission, death, and longer hospital length, were associated with higher levels of IL-2 at admission. Serum IL-2 at admission were positively associated with severe conditions and poor prognosis among CAP patients, indicated that IL-2 may involve in the initiation and development of CAP. As a result, serum IL-2 may be an available biomarker to guide clinicians in assessing the severity and determining the prognosis of CAP., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Previous research has discovered that surfactant protein A (SP-A) is involved in the pathophysiology processes of certain lung illnesses. However, no definitive clinical studies have delved into the function of SP-A in individuals afflicted with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). A prospective cohort study was used to investigate the relationships between blood SP-A levels and the severity and prognosis among CAP patients., Materials and Methods: This study included 260 patients with CAP. Clinical traits and demographic data were examined during hospitalization. The concentrations of serum SP-A and serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, to evaluate the severity of CAP, a variety of scores, including the CURB-65, PSI, SMART-COP, and APACHE II, were employed., Results: The serum levels of SP-A at admission exhibited a gradual decline as the severity scores of CAP increased. Through Spearman correlation analysis, we observed an association between serum SP-A and some clinical indicators among CAP patients. Furthermore, results from a multiple linear regression model suggested changes in PSI scores (-17.868 scores, 95% CI: -32.743, -2.993) affect serum SP-A more than CURB-65 (-0.547 scores, 95% CI: -0.964, -0.131), SMART-COP (-1.097 scores, 95% CI: -1.889, -0.304) and APACHE II (-3.475 scores, 95% CI: -5.874, -1.075) with age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cerebral infarction, coronary heart disease, and bronchitis adjusted. In addition, the prognosis in CAP patients was monitored. Throughout their hospital stay, higher serum levels of SP-A decreased the risks of mechanical ventilation (RR: 0.315; 95% CI: 0.106, 0.937), vasoactive agents (RR: 0.165; 95% CI: 0.034, 0.790), intensive care unit (ICU) admissions (RR: 0.218; 95% CI: 0.066, 0.717) and longer hospital stays (RR: 0.397; 95% CI: 0.167, 0.945)., Conclusion: In CAP patients, inverse dose-response correlations exist between serum SP-A levels with severity scores as well as prognosis at admission, suggesting that SP-A may take part in the CAP pathophysiological processes. Moreover, lower serum SP-A on admission is associated with an elevated prognostic risk of mechanical ventilation, the use of vasoactive agents, longer hospital stays, ICU admission, and mortality. Therefore, as a biomarker, SP-A may have the potential to predict the severity and poor prognosis of CAP patients., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: With the increasingly extensive application of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical systems, the accuracy of AI in medical diagnosis in the real world deserves attention and objective evaluation., Aim: To investigate the accuracy of AI diagnostic software (Shukun) in assessing ischemic penumbra/core infarction in acute ischemic stroke patients due to large vessel occlusion., Methods: From November 2021 to March 2022, consecutive acute stroke patients with large vessel occlusion who underwent mechanical thrombectomy (MT) post-Shukun AI penumbra assessment were included. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) and perfusion exams were analyzed by AI, reviewed by senior neurointerventional experts. In the case of divergences among the three experts, discussions were held to reach a final conclusion. When the results of AI were inconsistent with the neurointerventional experts' diagnosis, the diagnosis by AI was considered inaccurate., Results: A total of 22 patients were included in the study. The vascular recanalization rate was 90.9%, and 63.6% of patients had modified Rankin scale scores of 0-2 at the 3-month follow-up. The computed tomography (CT) perfusion diagnosis by Shukun (AI) was confirmed to be invalid in 3 patients (inaccuracy rate: 13.6%)., Conclusion: AI (Shukun) has limits in assessing ischemic penumbra. Integrating clinical and imaging data (CT, CTA, and even magnetic resonance imaging) is crucial for MT decision-making., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are one of the most studied groups of arthropods worldwide due to their high transmission capacity for pathogens, including viruses and parasites. During June to October 2022, the prevalence of mosquito species in 12 intensive pig farms from 12 representative administrative regions in Hunan province of China was investigated using traps with ultraviolet light. All collected mosquitoes were counted and identified to species according to morphological and molecular methods. A total of 4,443 mosquito specimens were collected in the pig farms, and they represented one family, four genera and nine species. Culex pipiens pipiens (24%) was the most common mosquito species, followed by Armigeres subalbatus (23.4%) and Culex tritaeniorhynchus (20.6%). Phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial cox1 sequences revealed all mosquito species from present study grouping into distinct monophyletic groups corresponding to nine known mosquito species with strongly supported. The results of the present investigation have implications for the ongoing control of mosquito infestation in pig farms in Hunan province, China. This is the first report of mosquito populations in intensive pig farms in Hunan province, China., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) infertility has attracted great attention from researchers due to its high incidence. Numerous studies have shown that Chinese medicine is effective in treating this disease, but there is a wide variety of Chinese medicine therapies available, and there is a lack of comparative evaluation of the efficacy of various Chinese medicine combination therapies in the clinic, which requires further in-depth exploration. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a combined traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy for the treatment of infertility with PCOS using network meta-analysis (NMA)., Methods: In PubMed, web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, China Knowledge Network, Wanfang Data, VIP Database, China Biomedical Literature Database (SinoMed) databases, searchs were conducted for information about the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of combined TCM therapy for the treatment of infertility with PCOS. Quality evaluation was performed using the Cochrane 5.3 risk of bias assessment tool, and NMA using Stata 16.0., Results: This study comprised 28 RCTs using 8 combined TCM therapies in total. The results of the NMA showed that moxibustion + herbal, fire acupuncture + herbal, acupuncture + herbal, electroacupuncture + herbal, and acupoint application + herbal improved the clinical pregnancy rate better than acupuncture, herbal, and western medicines monotherapy (P < .05). Additionally, ear point pressure + herbal enema + herbal, acupuncture and moxibustion + herbal, fire acupuncture + herbal, and acupuncture + herbal improved the ovulation rate better than acupuncture, herbal, and western medicines monotherapy (P < .05). Moxibustion + herbal, fire acupuncture + herbal, and acupuncture + herbal are the 3 most effective therapies for improving the clinical pregnancy rate. Fire acupuncture + herbal, acupuncture + herbal, and ear point pressure + herbal enema + herbal are the 3 most effective therapies for improving the ovulation rate., Conclusion: The combined TCM therapy demonstrated better efficacy for the treatment of infertility with PCOS compared to acupuncture, herbal, and western medicines monotherapy. However, the optimal treatment therapy varied depending on the outcome indicators. Further large sample, high-quality, and standardized RCTs are needed to verify these findings., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: This study aims to assess the long term effectiveness, safety, predictability and stability of V4c implantable collamer lenses (ICL) for correction of moderate to extreme high myopia., Methods: We reviewed 125 eyes from 64 patients who implanted V4c ICL at the Refractive Surgery Center of West China Hospital in Chengdu, China, between May 2015 and January 2017. The median spherical equivalent was -11.50 D (interquartile range [IQR]: -13.00 to -9.00 D). We followed up with the patients over five years and evaluated several parameters, including uncorrected visual acuity (UDVA), corrected visual acuity (CDVA), axial length, refractive error, endothelial cell density (ECD), intraocular pressure (IOP), white-to-white distance (WTW), and vault. We performed a correlation analysis to explore the potential impacts on vault following implantation., Results: The median safety index (postoperative CDVA/preoperative CDVA) during the last follow-up was 1.00 (interquartile range [IQR]: 1.00-1.20), and the efficacy indices (postoperative UDVA/preoperative CDVA) were 1.20 (IQR: 1.00-1.25), 1.20 (IQR: 1.00-1.33), and 0.8 (IQR: 0.65-1.00) at postoperative 1 week, 1 month, and 5 years, respectively. At the five-year mark, 16% of the eyes were within ±0.50 D of expected correction, and 73% were within ±2.00 D. No significant difference in ECD was observed between pre-operative and post-operative measurements. Compared to baseline, we observed a significant increase in IOP at the one-week follow-up, which decreased significantly at the one-month visit. Furthermore, we identified ICL size and spherical equivalent (SE) as independent variables in a multiple linear regression model that accurately predicted the five-year vault after surgery., Conclusion: In conclusion, V4c ICL implantation is an effective and safe treatment for moderate to extreme high myopia with good predictability and stability over the long-term., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Royal College of Ophthalmologists.)

Tumor-associated macrophages of the M2 phenotype promote cancer initiation and progression. Importantly, M2 macrophage-derived exosomes play key roles in the malignancy of cancer cells. Here, we report that circTMCO3 is upregulated in ovarian cancer patients, and its high expression indicates poor survival. M2-derived exosomes promote proliferation, migration, and invasion in ovarian cancer, but these effects are abolished by knockdown of circTMCO3. Furthermore, circTMCO3 functions as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-515-5p to reduce its abundance, thus upregulating ITGA8 in ovarian cancer. miR-515-5p inhibits ovarian cancer malignancy via directly downregulating ITGA8. The decreased oncogenic activity of circTMCO3-silencing exosomes is reversed by miR-515-5p knockdown or ITGA8 overexpression. Exosomal circTMCO3 promotes ovarian cancer progression in nude mice. Thus, M2 macrophage-derived exosomes promote malignancy by delivering circTMCO3 and targeting the miR-515-5p/ITGA8 axis in ovarian cancer. Our findings not only provide mechanistic insights into ovarian cancer progression, but also suggest potential therapeutic targets., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Environmental arsenic (As) exposure is strongly related to the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Pulmonary epithelial cells apoptosis is implicated in the pathophysiological mechanisms of COPD. However, the role of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), one biomarker of apoptosis, remains unclear in As-mediated pulmonary function alternations in COPD patients., Methods: This study included 239 COPD patients. The serum level of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The blood As level was determined through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)., Results: Blood As levels exhibited a negative and dose-dependent correlation with pulmonary function. Per unit elevation of blood arsenic concentrations was related to reductions of 0.339 L in FEV1, 0.311 L in FVC, 1.171% in FEV1/FVC%, and 7.999% in FEV1% in COPD subjects. Additionally, a positive dose-response correlation of blood As with serum TRAIL was found in COPD subjects. Additionally, the level of serum TRAIL was negatively linked to lung function. Elevated TRAIL significantly mediated As-induced decreases of 11.05%, 13.35%, and 31.78% in FVC, FEV1, and FEV1%, respectively among the COPD patients., Conclusion: Blood As level is positively correlated with pulmonary function decline and serum TRAIL increase in individuals with COPD. Our findings suggest that elevated TRAIL levels may serve as a mediating mechanism through which As contributes to declining lung function in COPD patients., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Despite the increasing effort in advancing oxygen electrocatalysts for zinc-air batteries (ZABs), the performance development gradually reaches a plateau via only ameliorating the electrocatalyst materials. Herein, a new class of external field-responsive electrocatalyst comprising Ni 0.5 Mn 0.5 Fe 2 O 4 stably dispersed on N-doped Ketjenblack (Ni 0.5 Mn 0.5 Fe 2 O 4 /N-KB) is developed via polymer-assisted strategy for practical ZABs. Briefly, the activity indicator ΔE is significantly decreased to 0.618 V upon photothermal assistance, far exceeding most reported electrocatalysts (generally >0.680 V). As a result, the photothermal electrocatalyst possesses comprehensive merits of excellent power density (319 mW cm -2 ), ultralong lifespan (5163 cycles at 25 mA cm -2 ), and outstanding rate performance (100 mA cm -2 ) for liquid ZABs, and superb temperature and deformation adaptability for flexible ZABs. Such improvement is attributed to the photothermal-heating-enabled synergy of promoted electrical conductivity, reactant-molecule motion, active area, and surface reconstruction, as revealed by operando Raman and simulation. The findings open vast possibilities toward more-energy-efficient energy applications., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Background: The purpose of this research was to stratify the level of frailty to examine the risk factors associated with reversible cognitive frailty (RCF) and potentially reversible cognitive frailty (PRCF) in nursing homes to provide a basis for hierarchical management in different stages of frailty., Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted from September to November 2022; 504 people were selected by stratified random sampling after convenience selection from the Home for the Aged Guangzhou. The structured questionnaire survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews using the general data questionnaire, Fried Frailty Phenotype, Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale., Results: In total, 452 individuals were included for analysis. A total of 229 cases (50.7%) were PRCF, 70 (15.5%) were RCF. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that in pre-frailty, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) score (odds ratio (OR) 1.802; 95% CI 1.308-2.483), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL) score (0.352; 0.135-0.918) and energy (0.288; 0.110-0.755) were influencing factors of RCF. GDS-15 score (1.805; 1.320-2.468), IADL score (0.268; 0.105-0.682), energy (0.377; 0.150-0.947), lack of intellectual activity (6.118; 1.067-35.070), admission time(>3 years) (9.969; 1.893-52.495) and low education (3.465; 1.211-9.912) were influencing factors of PRCF. However, RCF with frailty was associated with the Short-Form Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA-SF) score (0.301; 0.123-0.739) and low education time (0 ~ 12 years) (0.021; 0.001-0.826). PRCF with frailty was associated with age (1.327; 1.081-1.629) and weekly exercise time (0.987; 0.979-0.995)., Conclusions: The prevalence of RCF and PRCF was high among pre-frail and frail older adults in nursing homes. Different levels of frailty had different influencing factors for RCF and PRCF. Depression, daily living ability, energy, intellectual activity, admission time, education level, nutrition status, age and exercise time were associated with RCF and PRCF. Hierarchical management and intervention should be implemented for different stages of frailty to prevent or delay the progression of cognitive frailty., (© 2024 Japanese Psychogeriatric Society.)

Zinc-air batteries (ZABs) are promising energy storage systems because of high theoretical energy density, safety, low cost, and abundance of zinc. However, the slow multi-step reaction of oxygen and heavy reliance on noble-metal catalysts hinder the practical applications of ZABs. Therefore, feasible and advanced non-noble-metal electrocatalysts for air cathodes need to be identified to promote the oxygen catalytic reaction. In this review, we initially introduced the advancement of ZABs in the past two decades and provided an overview of key developments in this field. Then, we discussed the working mechanism and the design of bifunctional electrocatalysts from the perspective of morphology design, crystal structure tuning, interface strategy, and atomic engineering. We also included theoretical studies, machine learning, and advanced characterization technologies to provide a comprehensive understanding of the structure-performance relationship of electrocatalysts and the reaction pathways of the oxygen redox reactions. Finally, we discussed the challenges and prospects related to designing advanced non-noble-metal bifunctional electrocatalysts for ZABs., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Cattle ticks (Rhipicephalus microplus) are important economic ectoparasites causing direct and indirect damage to cattle and leading to severe economic losses in cattle husbandry. It is common knowledge that R. microplus is a species complex including five clades; however, the relationships within the R. microplus complex remain unresolved. In the present study, we assembled the complete mitochondrial genome of clade C by next-generation sequencing and proved its correctness based on long PCR amplification. It was 15,004 bp in length and consisted of 13 protein genes, 22 transfer genes, and two ribosomal genes located in the two strains. There were two copies of the repeat region (pseudo-nad1 and tRNA-Glu). Data revealed that cox1, cox2, and cox3 genes were conserved within R. microplus with small genetic differences. Ka/Ks ratios suggested that 12 protein genes (excluding nad6) may be neutral selection. The genetic and phylogenetic analyses indicated that clade C was greatly close to clade B. Findings in the current study provided more data for the identification and differentiation of the R. microplus complex and made up for the lack of information about R. microplus clade C., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Aim: To explore the clinical efficacy and safety of stromal lenticule addition keratoplasty (SLAK) with corneal crosslinking (CXL) on patients with corneal ectasia secondary to femtosecond laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK)., Methods: A series of 5 patients undertaking SLAK with CXL for the treatment of corneal ectasia secondary to FS-LASIK were followed for 4-9mo. The lenticules were collected from patients undertaking small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) for the correction of myopia. Adding a stromal lenticule was aimed at improving the corneal thickness for the safe application of crosslinking and compensating for the thin cornea to improve its mechanical strength., Results: All surgeries were conducted successfully with no significant complications. Their best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) ranged from 0.05 to 0.8 -2 before surgery. The pre-operational total corneal thickness ranged from 345-404 µm and maximum keratometry (Kmax) ranged from 50.8 to 86.3. After the combination surgery, both the corneal keratometry (range 55.9 to 92.8) and total corneal thickness (range 413-482 µm) significantly increased. Four out of 5 patients had improvement of corneal biomechanical parameters (reflected by stiffness parameter A1 in Corvis ST). However, 3 patients showed decreased BCVA after surgery due to the development of irregular astigmatism and transient haze. Despite the onset of corneal edema right after SLAK, the corneal topography and thickness generally stabilized after 3mo., Conclusion: SLAK with CXL is a potentially beneficial and safe therapy for advanced corneal ectasia. Future work needs to address the poor predictability of corneal refractometry and compare the outcomes of different surgical modes., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: Wang LX, None; Deng YP, None; Xie MZ, None; Ma K, None; Yin HB, None; Wang Q, None; Gong R, None; Tang J, None., (International Journal of Ophthalmology Press.)

Along with the increasing knowledge of long noncoding RNA, the interaction between the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and tumor immune infiltration is increasingly valued. However, there is a lack of understanding of correlation between regulation of specific lncRNAs and tumor-infiltrating macrophages within melanoma. In this research, a macrophage associated lncRNA signature was identified by multiple machine learning algorithms and the robust and effectiveness of signature also validated in other independent datasets. The signature contained six specific lncRNAs (PART1, LINC00968, LINC00954, LINC00944, LINC00518 and C20orf197) was constructed, which could diagnose melanoma and predict the prognosis of patients. Moreover, our signature achieves higher accuracy than the previous well-established markers and regarded as an independent prognostic indicator. The pathway enrichment revealed that these lncRNAs were closely correlated with many immune processes. In addition, the signature was associated with different immune microenvironment and applied to predict response of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (low risk of patients well respond to anti-PD-1 therapy and high risk is insensitive to anti-CTLA-4 therapy). Therefore, our finding supplies a more accuracy and effective lncRNA signature for tumor-infiltrating macrophages targeting treatment approaches and affords a new clinical application for predicting the response of immunotherapies in melanomas.

Developing commercially viable electrocatalyst lies at the research hotspot of rechargeable Zn-air batteries, but it is still challenging to meet the requirements of energy efficiency and durability in realistic applications. Strategic material design is critical to addressing its drawbacks in terms of sluggish kinetics of oxygen reactions and limited battery lifespan. Herein, a "raisin-bread" architecture is designed for a hybrid catalyst constituting cobalt nitride as the core nanoparticle with thin oxidized coverings, which is further deposited within porous carbon aerogel. Based on synchrotron-based characterizations, this hybrid provides oxygen vacancies and Co-N x -C sites as the active sites, resulting from a strong coupling between CoO x N y nanoparticles and 3D conductive carbon scaffolds. Compared to the oxide reference, it performs enhanced stability in harsh electrocatalytic environments, highlighting the benefits of the oxynitride. Furthermore, the 3D conductive scaffolds improve charge/mass transportation and boost durability of these active sites. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the introduced N species into hybrid can synergistically tune the d-band center of cobalt and improve its bifunctional activity. As a result, the obtained air cathode exhibits bifunctional overpotential of 0.65 V and a battery lifetime exceeding 1350 h, which sets a new record for rechargeable Zn-air battery reported so far., (© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background: Prior studies in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had indicated a potential correlation between cadmium (Cd) exposure and reduction in lung function. Nevertheless, the influence of Cd exposure on the progression of COPD remained unknown. Exploring the relationship between Cd exposure and the progression of COPD was the aim of this investigation., Methods: Stable COPD patients were enrolled. Blood samples were collected and lung function was evaluated. Regular professional follow-ups were conducted through telephone communications, outpatient services, and patients' hospitalization records., Results: Each additional unit of blood Cd was associated with upward trend in acute exacerbation, hospitalization, longer hospital stay, and death within 2 years. Even after adjusting for potential confounding factors, each 1 unit rise in blood Cd still correlated with a rise in the frequencies of acute exacerbation, longer hospital stay, and death. Moreover, COPD patients with less smoking amount, lower lung function and without comorbidities were more vulnerable to Cd-induced disease deterioration., Conclusion: Patients with COPD who have higher blood Cd concentration are susceptible to worse disease progression., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The Golden apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata , is one of the world's 100 worst invasive alien species that is best known for its damage to wetland agriculture. It also acts as an intermediate host of some zoonotic parasites such as Angiostrongylus cantonensis , posing threats to human public health and safety. Despite is being an important agricultural pest, the genetic information and population expansion history of this snail remains poorly understood in China. In this study, we analyzed the genetic variation and population genetics of P. canaliculata populations in seven regions of China based on molecular markers of three mitochondrial (mt) genes. A total of 15 haplotypes were recognized based on single mt cox1 , nad1 , and nad4 , and eight haplotypes were identified using the concatenated genes. High haplotype diversity, moderate nucleotide diversity, low gene flow, and high rates of gene differentiation among the seven P. canaliculata populations were detected. Shanghai and Yunnan populations showed higher genetic flow and very low genetic differentiation. The results of Tajima's D , Fu's F s , and mismatch distribution showed that P. canaliculata did not experience population expansion in China. Genetic distance based on haplotypes suggested that nad1 gene was more conserved than cox1 gene within P. canaliculata . The phylogenetic analyses showed there may be two geographical lineages in the Chinese mainland. The present study may provide a new genetic marker to analyze P. canaliculata , and results support more evidence for studying the genetic distribution of P. canaliculata in China and contribute to a deeper understanding of its population genetics and evolutionary biology., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Introduction: The primary objective of this study was to develop an end-to-end model that can accurately identify corneal endothelial cells and diagnose keratoconus based on corneal endothelial images acquired from a non-contact specular microscope., Methods: This was a retrospective case-control study performed at the Refractive Surgery Center of West China Hospital. A total of 403 keratoconus eyes (221 patients) and 370 myopic eyes (185 normal controls) were consecutively recruited from January 2021 to September 2022. Specular microscopy was used to image and measure the morphometric parameters of the corneal endothelial cells. A Fully Convolutional Network model with a ResNet50 (FCN&#95;ResNet50) was established to perform the endothelial segmentation. The images were then classified using an ensemble machine learning system consisting of four pre-trained deep learning networks: DenseNet121, ResNet50, Inception&#95;v3, and MobileNet&#95;v2. The performance of the models was evaluated based on different metrics, such as accuracy, intersection over union (IoU), and mean IoU., Results: We established a fully end-to-end deep-learning model for the segmentation of endothelial and diagnosis of keratoconus. For endothelial segmentation, the accuracy of the FCN&#95;ResNet50 model achieved near 90% with mean IoU converging to about 80%. The ensemble machine learning system can achieve over 92% accuracy, and > 98% area under curve (AUC) values to diagnose keratoconus with endothelial cell images. In addition, we constructed a diagnostic model based on deep-learning features and developed an associated nomogram which manifested an excellent performance for diagnosis and monitoring the progression of keratoconus., Conclusions: Our research developed an end-to-end model to automatically identify and assess corneal endothelial morphological changes in keratoconus eyes. Moreover, we also constructed a novel nomogram, which can provide valuable information for the diagnosis, monitoring, and management of the disease., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Tumor stem cells have emerged as a crucial focus of investigation and a therapeutic target in the context of cancer metastasis and drug resistance. They represent a promising novel approach to address the treatment of uveal melanoma (UVM)., Methods: According to the one-class logistic regression (OCLR) approach, we first estimated two stemness indices (mDNAsi and mRNAsi) in a cohort of UVM (n = 80). The prognostic value of stemness indices among four subtypes of UVM (subtype A-D) was investigated. Moreover, univariate Cox regression and Lasso-penalized algorithms were conducted to identify a stemness-associated signature and verify in several independent cohorts. Besides, UVM patients classified into subgroups based on the stemness-associated signature. The differences in clinical outcomes, tumor microenvironment, and probability of immunotherapeutic response were investigated further., Results: We observed that mDNAsi was significantly linked with overall survival (OS) time of UVM, but no association was discovered between mRNAsi and OS. Stratification analysis indicated that the prognostic value of mDNAsi was only limited in subtype D of UVM. Besides, we established and verified a prognostic stemness-associated gene signature which can classify UVM patients into subgroups with distinct clinical outcomes, tumor mutation, immune microenvironment, and molecular pathways. The high risk of UVM is more sensitive to immunotherapy. Finally, a well-performed nomogram was constructed to predict the mortality of UVM patients., Conclusions: This study offers a comprehensive examination of UVM stemness characteristics. We discovered mDNAsi-associated signatures improved the prediction capacity of individualized UVM prognosis and indicated prospective targets for stemness-regulated immunotherapy. Analysis of the interaction between stemness and tumor microenvironment may shed light on combinational treatment that targets both stem cell and the tumor microenvironment., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The domestic pig louse Haematopinus suis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) is a common ectoparasite of domestic pigs, which can act as a vector of various infectious disease agents. Despite its significance, the molecular genetics, biology and systematics of H. suis from China have not been studied in detail. In the present study, the entire mitochondrial (mt) genome of H. suis isolate from China was sequenced and compared with that of H. suis isolate from Australia. We identified 37 mt genes located on nine circular mt minichromosomes, 2.9 kb-4.2 kb in size, each containing 2-8 genes and one large non-coding region (NCR) (1,957 bp-2,226 bp). The number of minichromosomes, gene content, and gene order in H. suis isolates from China and Australia are identical. Total sequence identity across coding regions was 96.3% between H. suis isolates from China and Australia. For the 13 protein-coding genes, sequence differences ranged from 2.8%-6.5% consistent nucleotides with amino acids. Our result is H. suis isolates from China and Australia being the same H. suis species. The present study determined the entire mt genome of H. suis from China, providing additional genetic markers for studying the molecular genetics, biology and systematics of domestic pig louse., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

As one of the promising sustainable energy storage systems, academic research on rechargeable Zn-air batteries has recently been rejuvenated following development of various 3d-metal electrocatalysts and identification of their dynamic reconstruction toward (oxy)hydroxide, but performance disparity among catalysts remains unexplained. Here, this uncertainty is addressed through investigating the anionic contribution to regulate dynamic reconstruction and battery behavior of 3d-metal selenides. Comparing with the alloy counterpart, anionic chemistry is identified as a performance promoter and further exploited to empower Zn-air batteries. Based on theoretical modeling, Se-resolved operando spectroscopy, and advanced electron microscopy, a three-step Se evolution is established, consisting of oxidation, leaching, and recoordination. The process generates an amorphous (oxy)hydroxide with O-sharing bonded Se motifs that triggers charge redistribution at metal sites and lowers the energetic barrier of their current-driven redox. A pervasive concept of Se back-feeding is then proposed to describe the underlying chemistry for 3d-metal selenides with diversity in crystals or compositions, and the feasibility to fine-tune their behavior is also presented.

Human lice have always been a major public health concern due to their vector capacity for louse-borne infectious diseases, like trench fever, louse-borne relapsing fever, and epidemic fever, which are caused by Bartonella quintana, Borrelia recurrentis, and Rickettsia prowazekii, respectively. Those diseases are currently re-emerging in the regions of poor hygiene, social poverty, or wars with life-threatening consequences. These louse-borne diseases have also caused outbreaks among populations in jails and refugee camps. In addition, antibodies and DNAs to those pathogens have been steadily detected in homeless populations. Importantly, more bacterial pathogens have been detected in human lice, and some have been transmitted by human lice in laboratories. Here, we provide a comprehensive review and update on louse-borne infectious diseases/bacterial pathogens., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare no competing interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Nowadays, with the development of the social health care system, there is an increasing trend towards an aging society. The incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is also on the rise. AD is a kind of neurodegenerative disease that can be found in any age group. For years, scientists have been committing to discovering the cause of AD. DNA methylation is one of the most common epigenetic mechanisms in mammals and plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of several diseases, including tumors. Studying chemical changes in the epigenome, or DNA methylation can help us understand the effects of our environment and life on diseases, such as smoking, depression, and menopause, which may affect people's chances of developing Alzheimer's or other diseases. Recent studies have identified some crucial genes like ANK1 , RHBDF2 , ABCA7 , and BIN1 , linking DNA methylation to AD. This review focuses on elucidating the relationship between DNA methylation and the pathogenesis of AD and provides an outlook on possible targeted therapeutic modalities., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Ibrain published by Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University and Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Fleas are important ectoparasites and vectors associated with a wide range of pathogenic diseases, posing threats to public health concerns, especially cat fleas that spread worldwide. Understanding the microbial components is essential due to cat fleas are capable of transmitting pathogens to humans, causing diseases like plague and murine typhus. In the present study, metagenomic next-generation sequencing was applied to obtain the complete microbiota and related functions in the gut of Ctenocephalides felis. A total of 1,870 species was taxonomically recognized including 1,407 bacteria, 365 eukaryotes, 69 viruses, and 29 archaea. Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum among the six samples. Pathogens Rickettsia felis, Acinetobacter baumannii, Coxiella burnetii, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum were taxonomically identified and had high abundances in all samples. The resistance gene MexD was predominant in microbial communities of all cat fleas. We also performed epidemiological surveys of pathogens R. felis, A. baumannii, C. burnetii, and A. phagocytophilum among 165 cat fleas collected from seven provinces in China, while only the DNAs of R. felis (38/165, 23.03%) and C. burnetii (2/165, 1.21%) were obtained. The data provide new insight and understanding of flea intestinal microbiota and support novel information for preventing and controlling fleas and their transmitted diseases., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no declarations of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Deep learning has been extensively used in digital histopathology. The purpose of this study was to test deep learning (DL) algorithms for predicting the vital status of whole-slide image (WSI) of uveal melanoma (UM)., Methods: We developed a deep learning model (Google-net) to predict the vital status of UM patients from histopathological images in TCGA-UVM cohort and validated it in an internal cohort. The histopathological DL features extracted from the model and then were applied to classify UM patients into two subtypes. The differences between two subtypes in clinical outcomes, tumor mutation, and microenvironment, and probability of drug therapeutic response were investigated further., Results: We observed that the developed DL model can achieve a high accuracy of >  = 90% for patches and WSIs prediction. Using 14 histopathological DL features, we successfully classified UM patients into Cluster1 and Cluster2 subtypes. Compared to Cluster2, patients in the Cluster1 subtype have a poor survival outcome, increased expression levels of immune-checkpoint genes, higher immune-infiltration of CD8 + T cell and CD4 + T cells, and more sensitivity to anti-PD-1 therapy. Besides, we established and verified prognostic histopathological DL-signature and gene-signature which outperformed the traditional clinical features. Finally, a well-performed nomogram combining the DL-signature and gene-signature was constructed to predict the mortality of UM patients., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that DL model can accurately predict vital status in UM patents just using histopathological images. We found out two subgroups based on histopathological DL features, which may in favor of immunotherapy and chemotherapy. Finally, a well-performing nomogram that combines DL-signature and gene-signature was constructed to give a more straightforward and reliable prognosis for UM patients in treatment and management., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Culex mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) can transmit a variety of arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), causing human and animal diseases. Cx. vishnui, Cx. pseudovishnui, and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus are three representative species in Culex vishnui subgroup, which are widely distributed in southeast Asia, and they have been proved as the main vectors transmitting Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) that could cause human infectious mosquito-borne disease across Asia. However, the epidemiology, biology, and even molecular information of those mosquitos remain poorly understood, and only the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus has been reported in these species. In the present study, we sequenced and annotated the complete mitogenome sequence of Cx. vishnui which was 15,587 bp in length, comprising 37 genes. Comparisons of nucleotide and amino acid sequences between Cx. vishnui and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus revealed that most genes within Culex vishnui subgroup were conserved, except atp8, nad1, atp6, and nad6, with differences of 0.4 (rrnS) - 15.1% (tRNAs) and 0 (nad4L) - 9.4% (atp8), respectively, interestingly suggesting the genes nad4L and rrnS were the most conserved but atp8 gene was the least. The results based on nucleotide diversity also supported a relatively uniform distribution of the intraspecific differences in Cx. vishnui and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus with only one highly pronounced peak of divergence centered at the control region. Phylogenetic analyses using concatenated amino acid sequences of 13 protein-coding genes supported the previous taxonomic classification of the family Culicidae and the monophyly of tribes Aedini, Culicini, Mansoniini, and Sabethini. The present study revealed detailed information on the subgroup Culex vishnui, reanalyzed the relationships within the family Culicidae, provided better markers to identify and distinguish Culex species, and offered more markers for studying the molecular epidemiology, population genetics, and molecular phylogenetics of Cx. vishnui., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Aim: To compare the subjective and objective visual quality between small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (tPRK) in patients with low and moderate myopia., Methods: Patients undertaking SMILE or tPRK for the correction of low and moderate myopia were consecutively recruited in this prospective cohort study with a 3-month follow-up period. Objective evaluation [visual acuity test, manifest refraction, wavefront aberrations, the total cut-off value of the total modulation transfer function (MTF cut-off ), and Strehl ratio (SR)] and subjective evaluation of visual quality (quality-of-life questionnaire) were conducted before surgery and at days 1, 7, 30, and 90 after surgery., Results: A total of 47 patients (94 eyes) with SMILE and 22 patients (22 eyes) with tPRK were enrolled. The uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) was better in SMILE patients on day 7 after surgery (1.13±0.13 vs 0.99±0.17, t =4.85, P <0.001) but was comparable at days 30 and 90. At day 90, the SMILE group had a lower spherical equivalent (SE) than the tPRK group (0.04±0.31 vs 0.19±0.43, t =2.08, P =0.042). Total higher order aberrations (HOAs) were induced in both surgical types, which were more evident in the tPRK group with 3-mm pupil diameter (0.16±0.07 vs 0.11±0.05, t =4.27, P <0.001) and 5-mm pupil diameter (0.39±0.17 vs 0.36±0.11, t =2.33, P =0.022). The MTF cut-off and SR showed a trend of improvement in both SMILE and tPRK patients but were statistically better in the SMILE group with both pupil diameters. There was a significant improvement of contrast sensitivity (CS) over baseline levels at the spatial frequency of 18 cycles/degree (c/d) in the SMILE group ( F =2.72, P =0.033) and at 3 c/d ( F =3.03, P =0.031), 12 c/d ( F =3.72, P =0.013), and 18 c/d ( F =4.62, P =0.004) in the tPRK group. The subjective quality of life questionnaire showed a steady improvement in the SMILE group ( F =8.31, P <0.001) but not the tPRK group., Conclusion: SMILE and tPRK are both safe and effective ways to correct low and moderate myopia. A generally better and quicker recovery of visual quality favors the application of SMILE in qualified patients., (International Journal of Ophthalmology Press.)

Introduction: Deep learning (DL) has been widely used to estimate clinical images. The objective of this project was to create DL models to predict the early postoperative visual acuity after small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) surgery., Methods: We enrolled three independent patient cohorts (a retrospective cohort and two prospective SMILE cohorts) who underwent the SMILE refractive correction procedure at two different refractive surgery centers from July to September 2022. The medical records and surgical videos were collected for further analysis. Based on the uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) at 24 h postsurgery, the eyes were divided into two groups: those showing good recovery and those showing poor recovery. We then trained a DL model (Resnet50) to predict eyes with early postoperative visual acuity of patients in the retrospective cohort who had undergone SMILE surgery from surgical videos and subsequently validated the model's performance in the two prospective cohorts. Finally, Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) was performed for interpretation of the model., Results: Among the 318 eyes (159 patients) enrolled in the study, 10,176 good quality femtosecond laser scanning images were obtained from the surgical videos. We observed that the developed DL model achieved a high accuracy of 96% for image prediction. The area under the curve (AUC) value of the DL model in the retrospective cohort was 0.962 and 0.998 in the training and validation datasets, respectively. The AUC values in two prospective cohorts were 0.959 and 0.936. At the video level, the trained machine learning (ML) model (XGBoost) also accurately distinguished patients with good or poor recovery. The AUC value of the ML model was 0.998 and 0.889 in the retrospective cohort (training and test datasets, respectively) and 1.000 and 0.984 in the two prospective cohorts. We also trained a DL model which can accurately distinguish suction loss (100%), black spots (85%), and opaque bubble layer (96%). The Grad-CAM heatmap indicated that our models can recognize the area of scanning and precisely identify intraoperative complications., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that artificial intelligence (DL and ML model) can accurately predict the early postoperative visual acuity and intraoperative complications after SMILE surgery just using surgical videos or images, which may display a great importance for artificial intelligence in application of refractive surgeries., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is a ligand-dependent nuclear receptor and highly expressed in human and rodent lungs. 15-Deoxy-delta- 12,14 -prostaglandin J2 (15d-PGJ2), known for cyclopentenone prostaglandin, is the endogenous ligand of PPARγ. However, the associations among PPARγ, 15d-PGJ2 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were unclear., Methods: All 130 fasting blood samples and 40 lung specimens were obtained from COPD patients and control subjects. Serum 15d-PGJ2 was detected by ELISA. The expressions of oxidative stress indicators were measured using western blotting and PPARγ nuclei were evaluated with immunohistochemistry in lungs. The associations among serum 15d-PGJ2, pulmonary PPARγ and oxidative stress indicators, and COPD were estimated., Results: Serum 15d-PGJ2 was reduced in COPD patients compared with healthy volunteers. Linear and logistic regression analysis indicated that serum 15d-PGJ2 was positively associated with pulmonary function in COPD patients. In addition, PPARγ-positive nuclei were reduced and oxidative stress indicators, included HO-1 and NOX-4, were increased in lungs of COPD patients. Further correlative analysis suggested that pulmonary function parameters was positively correlated with serum 15d-PGJ2 and pulmonary PPARγ-positive nuclei, inversely related to oxidative stress indicators in lungs of COPD patients. Pretreatment with 15d-PGJ2 obviously attenuated TNFα-induced oxidative stress in BEAS-2B cells., Conclusions: Serum 15d-PGJ2 and pulmonary PPARγ are reduced, and oxidative stress is elevated in COPD patients. Serum 15d-PGJ2 is inversely associated with oxidative stress in COPD patients., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Background: Survivin is a member of apoptosis inhibitor proteins that evokes cellular proliferation and inhibits apoptosis. However, the role of survivin in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients remains to be firmly established. The aim of this cohort study was to evaluate the correlations of serum survivin with the severity and prognosis of CAP patients., Methods: This research included 470 eligible CAP patients. Serum fasting samples were drawn from patients, and serum survivin was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Meanwhile, demographic characteristics and clinical information were collected. The prognosis of CAP patients was tracked., Results: Serum survivin gradually decreased with elevated CAP severity scores. Additionally, the correlative analysis suggested that serum survivin was associated with many clinical characteristics. Furthermore, mixed linear and logistic regression models indicated that serum survivin was negatively associated with severity. After adjusting for confounding factors, logistic regression analyses found that lower serum survivin on admission elevated the risks of mechanical ventilation, vasoactive agent usage, longer hospital stays, ICU admission, and even death during hospitalization. Serum survivin in combination with CAP severity scores elevated the predictive capacities for severity and death in CAP patients compared with a single indicator., Conclusion: On admission, there are inverse dose-response associations of serum survivin with severity and poor prognosis in CAP patients, demonstrating that serum survivin may be involved in the pathophysiology process of CAP. Serum survivin may serve as a potential biomarker for disease evaluation and prognosis in CAP patients., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Japanese Respiratory Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The family Capillariidae is a group of thread-like nematodes of 27 genera and over 300 species that infect a great variety of hosts including humans. Among these, some taxa such as the genus Aonchotheca have remained controversial regarding their systematic status for decades. The aim of the current study was to verify Aonchotheca's systemic status and to further determine whether it is a distinct genus from Capillaria using molecular and phylogenetic analyses., Results: We sequenced the mitochondrial (mt) genome and nuclear small subunit (18S) rRNA gene of Aonchotheca putorii, a representative species of the genus, and investigated its systematic status in Trichinellida using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. The differences in amino acid sequences of 13 protein-coding genes were 12.69-67.35% among Aonchotheca, Capillaria, Eucoleus, and Pseudocapillaria with cox1 (12.69%) and atp8 (67.35%) as the most and the least conserved gene, respectively, and the difference of two mt rRNAs was 18.61-34.15%. Phylogenetic analyses of the complete mt genome and 18S rRNAs unequivocally showed that Aonchotheca was a distinct genus from Capillaria., Conclusions: Large difference exists among Aonchotheca, Capillaria, Eucoleus, and Pseudocapillarias. Aonchotheca putorii is the first species in the genus Aonchotheca for which a complete mitogenome has been sequenced. These data are useful for phylogenetics, systematics and the evolution of Capillariidae., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Lice are six-legged, wingless, insect parasites of mammals and birds, and include two main functional groups: blood-sucking lice and chewing lice. However, it is still not clear whether the Chinese red panda Ailurus styani is infested with the parasitic louse. In the present study, we describe a new genus and a species of chewing louse, Pancola ailurus (Phthiraptera: Trichodectidae) based on morphological and molecular datasets. The morphological features showed that Pancola is closer to Paratrichodectes . The genetic divergence of cox 1 and 12S rRNA among the Pancola ailurus n. sp. and other Trichodectidae lice was 29.7 - 34.6% and 38.9 - 43.6%, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses based on the available mitochondrial gene sequences showed that P . ailurus n. sp. is more closely related to Trichodectes canis and Geomydoecus aurei than to Felicola subrostratus and together nested within the family Trichodectidae. This study is the first record of parasitic lice from the endangered Chinese red panda A . styani and highlights the importance of integrating morphological and molecular datasets for the identification and discrimination of new louse species., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Background: Cell death patterns can give therapeutic and biological clues that facilitate the development of individualized treatments for this lethal form of skin cancer., Methods: We employed unsupervised clustering to establish robust classifications based on the four kinds of cell death-associated gene expression of 462 melanoma patients in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and tested their reproducibility in two independent melanoma cohorts of 558 patients. We then used dimensionality reduction of graph learning to display the different characteristics of cell death patterns and immune microenvironments., Results: We examined 570 cell death-associated gene expression data of melanoma patients for exploration, independent verification, and comprehensive classification of five reproducible melanoma subtypes (CS1 to CS5) with different genomic and clinical features. Patients in death-inactive subtypes (CS1, CS2, and CS5) had the least immune and stromal cell infiltration, and their prognosis was the poorest. A death-active subtype (CS4), on the other hand, had the highest infiltrated immune and stromal cells and elevated immune-checkpoints. As a result, these patients had the highest response to immunotherapy and the best prognosis. An additional subtype (CS3) had more diversified cell death and immune characteristics with moderate prognoses. Based on graph learning, we successfully divided the CS3 subtype into two subgroups (group A and group B) with distinct survival outcomes and immune features. Finally, we identified eight potential chemical drugs that were specifically targeted for the therapy of melanoma subtypes., Conclusions: This research defines the intrinsic subtypes of melanoma based on the crosstalk of four kinds of cell deaths, which affords a blueprint for clinical strategies and guiding precise immunotherapy and chemotherapy for melanoma patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wan, Wei, Wei and Deng.)

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) can trigger the apoptosis pathways through binding to relative death receptors. However, the relationship of TRAIL with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) was unclear. This study aims at exploring the relationships between circulatory TRAIL with severity and prognosis in CAP patients through a prospective cohort study. The whole of 239 CAP patients was enrolled. Demographic characteristics and clinical information were analyzed. TRAIL and inflammatory cytokines were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Circulatory TRAIL was gradually increased in accord with CAP severity scores. Spearman or Pearson correlative analysis indicated that circulatory TRAIL was strongly associated with physiologic indicators among CAP patients. Mixed logistic and linear regression models revealed that circulatory TRAIL was positively correlated with the severity scores in CAP patients. After adjusting for confounders, higher levels of circulatory TRAIL on admission significantly elevated the risks of ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, longer hospital stays, or even death during hospitalization. The predictive capacities of serum TRAIL for death were higher compared with CAP severity scores, inflammatory and infectious indicators. There are obviously positive dose-response relationships between circulatory TRAIL on admission with the severity and poor prognostic outcomes in CAP patients. Circulatory TRAIL on admission may be used as a potential biomarker in predicting the severity and poor prognosis for CAP patients., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Medicina Interna (SIMI).)

Plagiorchis elegans (Trematoda: Digenea) is mainly parasitic in the intestines of vertebrate animals, including humans, causing irreversible pathological damage and herd-spherical influences. However, little information is available about its molecular epidemiology, population genetics, and phylogeny. In the present study, we sequenced, assembled, and annotated the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of P. elegans. Combining with the available mitochondrial data of subclass Digenea, phylogenetic analysis was performed based on Bayesian inference (BI). These results showed that the complete length of P. elegans is 13,862 bp, including 12 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), and one non-coding region (NCR). There was an obvious A + T content from 61.0% to 71.3% and the values of the Ka/Ks ratio ranged from 0.119 (cox1) to 1.053 (nad6). In the BI analysis, different from previous studies, phylogenetic analysis showed genus Glypthelmins was paraphyletic rather than monophyletic and had a closer relationship with Plagiorchis and Orientocreadium. Additionally, the BI tree also presented that the genus Echinostoma was monophyletic. Our results provided molecular data in the family Plagiorchiidae proposing new insight within Xiphidiata and Echinostomata., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Contracaecum species are zooparasitic anisakid nematodes and occur in gastrointestinal tracts of vertebrate/invertebrate animals, including humans, causing gastrointestinal pain, diarrhea, and increasingly severe vomiting. Although the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome (mitogenome) of Contracaecum sp. isolated from night herons in Beijing has been reported, the detailed information about this mt sequence is still puzzling. In the present study, we described the detailed characteristics across the complete mt DNA of Contracaecum sp., which includes 36 genes consisting of 12 protein genes, 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), and 2 noncoding regions (NCRs), and all genes have the same orientation of transcription. The AT content in the complete mitogenome of Contracaecum sp. was 72.2%, and it was the least value (66.7%) in the cox 1 gene but was the highest rate (84.1%) in NCRs. The highest nucleotide diversity (Pi) among the genus Contracaecum was nad 4 (0.190) and the least was cox 1 (0.125), which indicates that nad 4 might have the potential ability as useful markers to detect cryptic species in the genus Contracaecum or subspecies. Based on the maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) computational algorithms within subfamilies Ascaridoidea and Heterakoidea, the results supported that Contracaecum sp. was a new species and the family Ascaridiidae was paraphyletic. The complete mitogenome sequence of Contracaecum sp. supported a clear recognition of Contracaecum species and provided the potential existence of cryptic species in the genus Contracaecum . Our findings would better contribute to the surveillance, molecular epidemiology, and control of Contracaecum ., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest None., (© 2022 Deng et al. published by Sciendo.)

The sympathetic nervous system is involved in the physiological pathogenesis of many different types of chronic pain. Sympathetic blocks can interrupt the reflex control system by intercepting the noxious afferent fibers accompanying autonomic nerves, resulting in changes in peripheral or central sensory processing. A lumbar sympathetic ganglion block (LSGB), as a treatment method, refers to the injection of nerve blockers into the corresponding lumbar sympathetic nerve segments, usually requiring imaging assistance (CT, X-ray, ultrasound) to guide. At present, LSGB has been widely used in the clinical treatment of lower limb pain, such as neuropathic pain, lower limb ischemic pain, and so on. Its mechanism of action may be through inhibiting sympathetic nerve activity and dilating blood vessels, thereby alleviating pain and inhibiting stress response. However, there are few reports of LSGB during the perioperative period, especially in postoperative pain and gastrointestinal function. Therefore, by studying the literature about LSGB-related studies, this article reviews the anatomy of the lumbar sympathetic nerve (LSN), with its clinical application and possible mechanism. We reviewed the analgesic effect of LSGB in patients with lower limb pain and postoperative pain and the potential application prospects in the recovery of gastrointestinal function, finally providing a reference for its clinical application., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Ibrain published by Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University (AHZMU) and Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Electrochemical CO 2 reduction to CO is a potential sustainable strategy for alleviating CO 2 emission and producing valuable fuels. In the quest to resolve its current problems of low-energy efficiency and insufficient durability, a dual-scale design strategy is proposed by implanting a non-noble active Sn-ZnO heterointerface inside the nanopores of high-surface-area carbon nanospheres (Sn-ZnO@HC). The metal d-bandwidth tuning of Sn and ZnO alters the extent of substrate-molecule orbital mixing, facilitating the breaking of the *COOH intermediate and the yield of CO. Furthermore, the confinement effect of tailored nanopores results in a beneficial pH distribution in the local environment around the Sn-ZnO nanoparticles and protects them against leaching and aggregating. Through integrating electronic and nanopore-scale control, Sn-ZnO@HC achieves a quite low potential of -0.53 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) with 91% Faradaic efficiency for CO and an ultralong stability of 240 h. This work provides proof of concept for the multiscale design of electrocatalysts., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background: Fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) are obligatory hematophagous ectoparasites of humans and animals and serve as vectors of many disease-causing agents. Despite past and current research efforts on fleas due to their medical and veterinary importance, correct identification and robust phylogenetic analysis of these ectoparasites have often proved challenging., Methods: We decoded the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of the human flea Pulex irritans and nearly complete mt genome of the dog flea Ctenocephalides canis, and subsequently used this information to reconstruct the phylogeny of fleas among Endopterygota insects., Results: The complete mt genome of P. irritans was 20,337 bp, whereas the clearly sequenced coding region of the C. canis mt genome was 15,609 bp. Both mt genomes were found to contain 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and two ribosomal RNA genes. The coding region of the C. canis mt genome was only 93.5% identical to that of the cat flea C. felis, unequivocally confirming that they are distinct species. Our phylogenomic analyses of the mt genomes showed a sister relationship between the order Siphonaptera and orders Diptera + Mecoptera + Megaloptera + Neuroptera and positively support the hypothesis that the fleas in the order Siphonaptera are monophyletic., Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that the mt genomes of P. irritans and C. canis are different. The phylogenetic tree shows that fleas are monophyletic and strongly support an order-level objective. These mt genomes provide novel molecular markers for studying the taxonomy and phylogeny of fleas in the future., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Hydatigera taeniaeformis is one of the most common intestinal tapeworms that has a worldwide distribution. In this study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of H. taeniaeformis from the leopard cat (designated HTLC) and compared it with those of H. taeniaeformis from the cat in China (designated HTCC) and Germany (designated HTCG). The complete mt genome sequence of HTLC is 13,814 bp in size, which is 167 bp longer than that of HTCC and is 74 bp longer than that of HTCG. Across the entire mt genome (except for the two non-coding regions), the sequence difference was 3.3% between HTLC and HTCC, 12.0% between HTLC and HTCG, and 12.1% between HTCC and HTCG. The difference across both nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the 12 protein-coding genes was 4.1 and 2.3% between the HTLC and HTCC, 13.3 and 10.0% between the HTLC and HTCG, and 13.8 and 10.6% between the HTCC and HTCG, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on concatenated amino acid sequences of 12 protein-coding genes showed the separation of H. taeniaeformis from different hosts and geographical regions into two distinct clades. Our analysis showed that the cat tapeworm H. taeniaeformis represents a species complex. The novel mt genomic datasets provide useful markers for further studies of the taxonomy and systematics of cat tapeworm H. taeniaeformis ., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wang, Li, Deng, Liu and Fu.)

The cattle tick (Rhipicephalus microplus) is one of the most common ticks parasitizing livestock, causing diseases as the vector of pathogens. In this study, we amplified and sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of R. microplus from Hainan province of China and compared it with that of R. microplus from Guizhou province of China. The mt genome sequence of R. microplus from Hainan isolate was 15,163 bp in size, which was significantly longer (299 bp) than R. microplus from Guizhou isolate. Nucleotide sequence difference in the entire mt genome except for non-coding region was 5.6% between R. microplus from Hainan and Guizhou isolates. For the 13 protein-coding genes, this comparison revealed the sequence differences of nucleotide (3.8-10.1%) and amino acid (1.2-17.3%). Phylogenetic analysis of R. microplus indicated that R. microplus from Hainan isolate clustered in clade A, and R. microplus from Guizhou isolate clustered in clade B. Taken together, the findings support the recent proposal the existence of two lineages (clades A and B) of R. microplus in China., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)