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Project-based learning (PBL)originated in the 1950s and has been widely applied to the education field. After reviewing previous research, this paper found that in input classes: 1) The ability to retrieve and read academic papers, critical thinking, analytical abilities, team organization and coordinated ability of students have been shown to improve. 2) There are still existing weaknesses such as task building and requirements on basic English level. In output classes, the paper found that: 1) The reading skills of undergraduates enhanced and the ability to use vocabulary and grammar correctly gained great progress. 2) Learners lack of motivation is still a problem. Moreover, this paper also provided some possible research directions for future PBL studies, and they could address some solutions or could develop comparative studies of PBL application in different countries. In this paper, college English classes in China will be divided into input classes and output classes. The ability to retrieve and read academic papers, critical thinking, analytical abilities, team organization and coordinated ability of students have been shown to improve, but there are also existing weaknesses such as tasking building and requirements on basic English level in the PBL applied input English courses in Chinese colleges. Likewise, the application of PBL in output classes has shown that not only have the reading skills of undergraduates enhanced, but the ability to use vocabulary and grammar correctly has also gained great progress. However, learners lack of motivation is still a problem, according to which there are also solutions at the end of this paper trying to solve the existing problems found in the application of the PBL model in Chinese English courses.

Chan Dai,1 Huoying Chen,2 Mengya Jiao,1 Na Zhang,1 Xuhuan Tang,1 Anqi Fan,3 Shiwang Liu,1 Zhigang Qian,1 Chenchen Wang,1 Yong Xu,1 Zheng Tan,1,4 Fanfan Zeng,5 Fang Zheng1,4 1Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guizhou, People’s Republic of China; 3College of Life Science, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, People’s Republic of China; 4Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation, Ministry of Education, NHC Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation, Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Clinical Laboratory, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Fang Zheng, Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430000, Hubei, People’s Republic of China, Email zhengfangtj@hust.edu.cn Fanfan Zeng, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430000, Hubei, People’s Republic of China, Email zengfanfan@126.comPurpose: IL-33 is constitutively expressed in skin tissues. Alopecia, a T cells-driven disorder of the hair follicles (HFs), is a common complication in the development of psoriasis. However, the role of IL-33 in psoriatic alopecia remains uncovered. Here, we investigated the roles of IL-33 in inducing pathological changes of hair follicles in psoriasis.Patients and Methods: Clinical samples and imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriatic mice samples were used to investigate the pathological changes and T-cell infiltration of HFs. By using immunohistochemistry staining, the distribution and expression alteration of IL-33 in HFs were determined. Next, by using IL-33 and ST2 knockout mice, we investigated the role of IL-33/ST2 axis in the pathological changes of HFs in psoriasis. Meanwhile, recombinant IL-33 protein was subcutaneous injected to confirm its effect. Finally, RNA sequencing was used to clarify the genes and signaling pathways that involved in this process. Differentially expressed genes were further verified by RT-PCR in cultured HFs in vitro.Results: We found that the pathological changes of HFs and T cells infiltration in imiquimod-induced psoriatic mice were similar to that in psoriasis patients. The IL-33 positive keratinocytes in the outer root sheath of HFs were increased in both psoriasis patients and psoriatic model mice compared with the controls. By using gene knockout mice, we found that the pathological changes and T cell infiltration were attenuated in IL-33−/− and ST2−/− psoriatic model mice. In addition, subcutaneous injection of recombinant IL-33 exacerbated the pathological changes of HFs and T cell infiltration. RNA sequencing and RT-RCR revealed that IL-33 upregulated the transcription of genes related to keratinocytes proliferation and T lymphocytes chemotaxis.Conclusion: Our study identifies that IL-33 promotes the pathological changes of HFs in psoriasis, which contributes to psoriatic alopecia. Inhibition of IL-33 may be a potential therapeutic approach for psoriatic alopecia.Keywords: IL-33, psoriatic alopecia, hair follicle, keratinocytes

We propose a novel intrinsic room-temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor, the MgV2S4 monolayer, which is an ideal candidate for low-dimensional spintronic field-effect transistors.

The development of AI for fluorescent materials design is technologically demanding due to the issue of accurately forecasting fluorescent properties.

We have proposed a deep learning protocol to effectively forecast the electronic transition properties of delayed fluorescence molecules, and achieved a significant predictive accuracy when the torsional profile of the dataset is enriched.

In the petrochemical industry, the manifolds are usually adopted as the distributor of the heating furnace. The structure of the manifold plays a crucial role in the safe operation of the heating furnace. For the straight tube structure and fishbone structure of the manifold, thermal expansion calculation was carried out in this paper. The expansion amount of each branch pipe was obtained, and the maximum expansion amount of the branch pipe was 91.8% of the reserved size. The accuracy of the design of the branch pipe wall clearance allowance was verified. Numerical simulations of the fluid-structure interaction were carried out for both structures, which showed that the two structures have similar deformation and frequency in terms of overall structural vibration. However, in the branch vibration, the stress and vibration frequency of the fishbone branch increase by 12.6% and 25.3%, respectively, compared to the straight tube branch, which is caused by the presence of large vortices in the branch of the fishbone structure. Finally, modal analyses were performed for both structures, and the results can be used to estimate whether the vibration frequencies of the two structures avoid the natural frequencies.

2D–2D hybrids have large heterointerfaces and strong interactions between the two components, leading to strong coupling effects that influence the electronic structure of active sites and benefit charge transfer during energy conversion reactions.

Astroviruses are considered the cause of gastroenteritis in humans and animals. Studies in recent years show avian astroviruses are also associated with duckling hepatitis, gosling gout, and chicken nephritis. In this study, a GAstV strain, designated as JS2019/China, was detected in dead goslings from a commercial goose farm in Jiangsu province of China. Viral strain was proliferated in goose embryos and sequence analysis showed the isolated strain had a classical structure arrangement and a series of conserved regions compared with other GAstVs. Sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis of whole genome and ORF2 revealed that JS2019/China belongs to the GAstV-1 group, which consists of most of the GAstV strains. Amino acid analysis indicated that some mutants might have an impact on viral protease capacity, such as V505I and K736E of ORF1a and T107I, F342S, and S606P of ORF2. Taken together, a novel GAstV strain was isolated and genomic analysis and protein polymorphism analysis indicated that some amino acid mutants might affect the viral virulence.

This study aims to explore the molecular mechanism of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification-related long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)-microRNA (miRNA)-messenger RNA (mRNA) network in regulating autophagy and affecting the occurrence and development of acute pancreatitis (AP). RNA-seq datasets related to AP were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and merged after batch effect removal. lncRNAs significantly related to m6A in AP, namely candidate lncRNA, were screened by correlation analysis and differential expression analysis. In addition, candidate autophagy genes were screened through the multiple databases. Furthermore, the key pathways for autophagy to play a role in AP were determined by functional enrichment analysis. Finally, we predicted the miRNAs binding to genes and lncRNAs through TargetScan, miRDB and DIANA TOOLS databases and constructed two types of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks mediated by upregulated and downregulated lncRNAs in AP. Nine lncRNAs related to m6A were differentially expressed in AP, and 21 candidate autophagy genes were obtained. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt signaling pathway and Forkhead box O (FoxO) signaling pathway might be the key pathways for autophagy to play a role in AP. Finally, we constructed a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network. An upregulated lncRNA competitively binds to 13 miRNAs to regulate 6 autophagy genes, and a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network in which 2 downregulated lncRNAs competitively bind to 7 miRNAs to regulate 2 autophagy genes. m6A modification-related lncRNA Pvt1, lncRNA Meg3 and lncRNA AW112010 may mediate the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network, thereby regulating autophagy to affect the development of AP.

Background Congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM) is the most frequent pulmonary developmental malformation and the pathophysiology remains poorly understood. This study aimed to identify the characteristic gene expression patterns and the marker genes essential to CPAM. Methods Tissues from the cystic area displaying CPAM and the area of normal appearance were obtained during surgery. Bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) were performed for integrating analysis. Iterative weighted gene correlation network analysis (iWGCNA) was used to identify specifically expressed genes to CPAM. Results In total, 2074 genes were significantly differentially expressed between the CPAM and control areas. Of these differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 1675 genes were up-regulated and 399 genes were down-regulated. Gene ontology analysis revealed these DEGs were specifically enriched in ciliated epithelium and involved in immune response. We also identified several CPAM-related modules by iWGCNA, among them, P15_I4_M3 module was the most influential module for distinguishing CPAMs from controls. By combining the analysis of the expression dataset from RNA-seq and scRNA-seq, SPOCK2, STX11, and ZNF331 were highlighted in CPAM. Conclusions Through our analysis of expression datasets from both scRNA-seq and bulk RNA-seq of tissues obtained from patients with CPAM, we identified the characteristic gene expression patterns associated with the condition. Our findings suggest that SPOCK2 could be a potential biomarker gene for the diagnosis and therapeutic target in the development of CPAM, whereas STX11 and ZNF331 might serve as prognostic markers for this condition. Further investigations with larger samples and function studies are necessary to confirm the involvement of these genes in CPAM.

Poaceae plants can locally accumulate iron to suppress pathogen infection. It remains unknown how pathogens overcome host-derived iron stress during their successful infections. Here, we report that Fusarium graminearum (Fg), a destructive fungal pathogen of cereal crops, is challenged by host-derived high-iron stress. Fg infection induces host alkalinization, and the pH-dependent transcription factor FgPacC undergoes a proteolytic cleavage into the functional isoform named FgPacC30 under alkaline host environment. Subsequently FgPacC30 binds to a GCCAR(R = A/G)G element at the promoters of the genes involved in iron uptake and inhibits their expression, leading to adaption of Fg to high-iron stress. Mechanistically, FgPacC30 binds to FgGcn5 protein, a catalytic subunit of Spt-Ada-Gcn5 Acetyltransferase (SAGA) complex, leading to deregulation of histone acetylation at H3K18 and H2BK11, and repression of iron uptake genes. Moreover, we identified a protein kinase FgHal4, which is highly induced by extracellular high-iron stress and protects FgPacC30 against 26S proteasome-dependent degradation by promoting FgPacC30 phosphorylation at Ser2. Collectively, this study uncovers a novel inhibitory mechanism of the SAGA complex by a transcription factor that enables a fungal pathogen to adapt to dynamic microenvironments during infection.

Adversarial generative models are becoming an essential tool in molecular design and discovery due to their efficiency in exploring the desired chemical space with the assistance of deep learning. In this article, we introduce an integrated framework by combining the modules of algorithmic synthesis, deep prediction, adversarial generation, and fine screening for the purpose of effective design of the thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules that can be used in the organic light-emitting diode devices. The retrosynthetic rules are employed to algorithmically synthesize the D-A complex based on the empirically defined donor and acceptor moieties, which is followed by the high-throughput labeling and prediction with the deep neural network. The new D-A molecules are subsequently generated via the adversarial autoencoder, with the excited-state property distributions perfectly matching those of the original samples. Fine screening of the generated molecules, including the spin-orbital coupling calculation and the excited-state optimization, is eventually implemented to select the qualified TADF candidates within the novel chemical space. Further investigation shows that the created structures fully mimic the original D-A samples by maintaining a significant charge transfer characteristic, a minimal adiabatic singlet-triplet gap, and a moderate spin-orbital coupling that are desirable for the delayed fluorescence.

Purpose: To introduce a new method of minimally invasive repair of Congenital diaphragmatic hernia intrapartum(CDH). Methods: We present five CDH cases diagnosed prenatally. Each patient was evaluated by a multidisciplinary team and received thoracoscopic defect repair on placental support. The neonates were transferred to NICU for further treatment, and all cases were under follow-up. Results: The patients enrolled were mild to moderate, with thoracic herniation of the liver occurring in one case. All five cases were repaired on placenta support. Maternal morbidity was reported in one case for acute pulmonary embolism (case 2), but no recorded case of maternal mortality. Postoperative neonatal death occurred in two cases (case 2,3), the remaining three neonates are under follow-up with a good prognosis. Conclusion: The intrapartum thoracoscopic repair is feasible and safe for selected CDH cases.

PurposeTo investigate the feasibility and safety of non-intubated general anesthesia with spontaneous breathing combined with paravertebral nerve blocks (PVNB) in young children undergoing video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and to determine its significance for rapid recovery after pediatric thoracic surgery.MethodsThe data of 46 children aged 6–36 months with an American Society of Anesthesiologists status of I–II who underwent elective VATS under general anesthesia were retrospectively analyzed. Of these patients, 25 underwent non-intubated general anesthesia with spontaneous breathing combined with PVNB (non-intubation group), and 21 received conventional intubated general anesthesia combined with local infiltration anesthesia (intubation group). The following perioperative parameters were compared between the two groups: heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure, saturation of pulse oximetry (SpO2), partial pressure end-tidal carbon dioxide, time from the completion of the operation to extubation or removing laryngeal masks, time to first feeding after the operation, length of postoperative in-hospital stay, incidence of postoperative complications, and hospitalization expenses.ResultsThe operations were completed successfully in both groups. When the non-intubation group was compared with the intubation group, the minimal SpO2 level during the surgery was higher (93% vs. 88%, P P = 0.027), time from the completion of the operation to extubation (P P P ConclusionsNon-intubated general anesthesia with spontaneous breathing combined with PVNB is safe and feasible in young children undergoing VATS and can promote rapid recovery in young children undergoing thoracoscopic surgery.

Four-stranded G-quadruplex (G4) structures formed by guanine-rich nucleic acids play a role in many essential physiological processes. To date, studies have focused almost exclusively on monomeric intramolecular G4s with three or more G-tetrads. Based on the analysis of Okazaki fragment syntheses and G4 probing, we report here a massive genome-wide formation of a hybrid type of G4s (hG4s), composed of G-tracts from both DNA and RNA, in the genome of live yeast cells. We found that hG4s can form with as few as one G-tract in DNA, increasing the total number of G4 sites from 38 to 127841. Furthermore, we also effectively detected hG4s of two G-tetrads, bringing the total number of G4 sites to a final of 587694, an increase of >15,000-fold. We even found that hG4s dominate in DNAs capable of forming the canonical intramolecular DNA G4s by themselves. Taken together, our results reveal a previously unrecognized rule governing G4 formation in eukaryotic genomes that makes hG4s the overwhelmingly dominant G4 species. They are present in all genes, with greater structural diversity and a wider dynamic range. More importantly, the involvement of RNA gives hG4s the ability to function in a transcription-dependent manner. These new findings thus emphasize a complete renewal and expansion of our current perspective on the existence and functional role of G4s in eukaryotic cells.SignificanceOur work reveals a massive and genome-wide formation of a virtually unnoticed, but in reality overwhelmingly dominant type of G-quadruplexes (G4s), i.e. DNA:RNA hybrid G-quadruplexes (hG4s), in living yeast cells. The involvement of RNA confers several unique properties to hG4s: 1) it allows genomic DNA to form G4s with as few as one G-tract, resulting in complete hG4 dominance over canonical monomeric DNA G4s (dG4s) and their ubiquitous presence in genes; 2) it increases the structural diversity of G4s by offering different combinations of DNA and RNA G-tracts; and 3) it couples G4 formation to transcription, such that hG4s function in a transcription-dependent manner. The discovery of hG4s reveals the physiological reality of the prevalence and functionality of G4s in the context of transcription.

Purpose This study was performed to compare the application of robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in the treatment of pulmonary sequestration (PS) in children. Methods Clinical data of 128 consecutive pediatric patients undergoing robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for PS from May 2019 to July 2022 at our institution were reviewed. 62 patients underwent robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS group)，while 66 patients underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS group). There were no significant differences in age, weight, gender, type of PS, preoperative infection and surgical method between the two groups. Aberrant artery was ligated with silk suture or vascular clips and lobectomy, partial lobectomy or sequestrectomy was performed depending on the type of lesion in the two groups. Perioperative outcomes were compared between the two groups to evaluate the efficacy of the RATS. Results Neither group had surgical mortality.One case in each group required conversion to thoracotomy (1/62 vs 1/66, P>0.999).The median operation time of the RATS group was 77.5(60.0,111.3) minutes, while the VATS group was 60.0(40.0,75.0)minutes which had a significant difference (PConclusion Although there was limitation of application of RATS in low-age, low-weight infants, RATS was a feasible and safe approach for pediatric patients with PS over 6 months and more than 7kg in weight. Furthermore, due to the enhanced vision and hand-wrist control, RATS had some advantages over VATS with less intraoperative blood loss and shorter postoperative drainage time and hospital duration.

The objective is to evaluate and apply the robot-assisted endoscopic surgical technique for treatment of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in children. Clinical data of 106 children with PDA who underwent robot-assisted endoscopic operation were retrospectively analyzed from August, 2020 to March, 2022. Demographic and preoperative data were collected, including the patient’s age, weight, diameter of the ductus arteriosus, operation time, length of postoperative hospital stay, postoperative complications and hospitalization cost. The age ranged from 6 months to 12 years with median age of 2.5 years. In addition, the weight ranged from 6.6 kg (kg) to 51.6 kg with median weight of 12.5 kg. Patients who received transcatheter PDA closure were also enrolled during the same period. Clinical features and perioperative data were compared between the two groups. All the 106 cases underwent robotically assisted surgery for PDA ligation. No one was converted to thoracotomy. The length of operation time was 15–84 min, with an average of 39.4 min. There was no obvious bleeding during the operation. The length of postoperative hospital stays were 1–3 days, with an average of 1.1 ± 0.2 days, which was significantly shorter than that of patients underwent transcatheter approach PDA closure (2.2 ± 0.2 days) (p p

Tensor completion is an important problem in modern data analysis. In this work, we investigate a specific sampling strategy, referred to as tubal sampling. We propose two novel non-convex tensor completion frameworks that are easy to implement, named tensor $L_1$-$L_2$ (TL12) and tensor completion via CUR (TCCUR). We test the efficiency of both methods on synthetic data and a color image inpainting problem. Empirical results reveal a trade-off between the accuracy and time efficiency of these two methods in a low sampling ratio. Each of them outperforms some classical completion methods in at least one aspect.

Early and precise diagnosis are propitious to timely treatment and simultaneously increase the chance of successful treatments. It is of critical importance to develop rapid, sensitive, and reliable sensing techniques of physiological biomarkers for disease diagnosis. Due to the advantages of structural designability and property tunability, nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (nMOFs) have been widely applied in the field of biomedicine in recent years. Particularly, enhanced stability, more modification sites and improved distribution make nMOFs more suitable as biosensors for detection of biomarkers. This review article will summarize the recent advancements of nMOFs-based biosensors for detection of biomarkers, classified into four sections via different sensing modes: fluorescent sensing, colorimetric sensing, electrochemical sensing and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing within the latest years. Except introducing and comparing the role of nMOFs in different sensing modes, designing strategies of nMOFs-based biosensors are involved as well. At last, a brief conclusion and outlook for further applications are provided, which is helpful for exploring multi-functional biologic nano-platforms with nMOFs. We expect that this review can inspire the interest on this promising research area of nMOFs-based biosensors for detection of biomarker and early diagnosis.

A hierarchical nanoreactor based on covalent organic frameworks (COFs) was fabricated using polystyrene spheres (PSs) as a template. When applied in cascade catalysis, the nanoreactor significantly improved the catalytic activity of internal enzymes, and showed protection for the enzyme in harsh environments. Moreover, glucose can be sensitively detected (detection sensitivity: 10 μM) by the nanoreactor.

The article uses the Spss statistical analysis software to establish a multiple linear regression model of short-term stock price changes in domestic agricultural listed companies. It uses a stable time series based on the ARMA model for stable agricultural value-added, fiscal expenditure and market interest rates. The regression method is used to study its impact on the stock price index. Compared with the existing stock forecasting methods, this method has simple data collection and no specific requirements for data selection, and the prediction results have a high degree of fit. Therefore, this method is suitable for most stocks.

Activation of T cells and pro-inflammatory cytokines are essential for human autoimmune hepatitis. The receptor for advanced glycation end-product(RAGE) is one of receptors for inflammatory alarm molecule high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), and is involved in autoimmune hepatitis. However, the molecular mechanism of RAGE in setting of autoimmune hepatitis remains elusive. This study aimed to identify the function and mechanism of RAGE in autoimmune hepatitis. The RAGE deficient mouse was used to investigate the role and underlying mechanisms by which RAGE signaling-driven immune inflammatory response in the ConA-induced experimental hepatitis. We found that the RAGE deficiency protects the mouse from liver inflammatory injury caused by ConA challenge. mRNA expression of VCAM-1, IL-6, TNF-α within the livers is markedly decreased in RAGE-deficient mice compared to wild-type mice. In parallel, RAGE deficiency leads to reduced levels of serum pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-α as compared to wild type control mice. RAGE-deficient mice exhibits increased of hepatic NK cells and decreased CD4+ T cells than those of wild type control mice. Notably, in vivo blockade of IL-6 in wild type mice significantly protected mice from ConA induced hepatic injury. Furthermore, RAGE deficiency impaired IL-6 production is associated with decreased expression of Arid5a in liver tissues, a half-life IL-6 mRNA regulator. RAGE signalling is important in regulating the development of autoimmune hepatitis. Immune modulation of RAGE may represent a novel therapeutic strategy to prevent immune-mediated liver injury.

Significant advances have been made in our understanding of the neural substrates of human chemosensory processing, involving the piriform cortex, insula, and orbitofrontal cortex. However, the important and challenging issues are to localize the brain regions with high anatomic precision that can causally produce chemosensory perception and further delineate the topography of different classifications of chemosensory perception.We quantitatively measured subjective responses of chemosensory perception to intracranial electrical stimulation over the brain in neurosurgical patients (n = 302) with medically refractory epilepsy.The chemosensory perceptions including olfaction, gustation, and chemesthesis were elicited in 21 of 302 patients (7%). Chemosensory responses were evoked in 53 (0.2%) of 21,661 stimulated sites. The highest response rate (1.8%) was in the insula (37/2,051 stimulated sites from 15/163 patients). The chemosensory perception emerged predominantly during stimulation of the insula along the central sulcus axis. Notably, there existed a distinct pattern that the anteroventral insula predominately represented orthonasal olfaction, whereas different chemosensory modalities converged in the mid-dorsal insula.This study provided a detailed characterization of chemosensory perception across the brain, especially in the insula. These results suggest that the cortex along the banks of the central sulcus of the insula may play a role in producing the supramodal sensation of flavor. It also indicates that dysfunction of the central insula should be considered during the evaluation of chemosensory-related epileptic seizures. ANN NEUROL 2022.

β-galactoside α-2,3-sialyltransferase 2 (ST3GAL2) is a member of the sialyltransferase family that mediates terminal modification of glycoproteins and glycolipids. ST3GAL2 has been found to play a role in obesity, aging, and malignant diseases. In this study, we cloned porcine ST3GAL2 (pST3GAL2) from porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs), and its role in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection was investigated by transcriptome analysis. pST3GAL2 was found to be located in the Golgi apparatus, and it was expressed at high levels in PRRSV-infected PAMs. Overexpression of pST3GAL2 resulted in a slight increase in PRRSV proliferation, and the interaction between pST3GAL2 and GP2a of PRRSV was detected by coimmunoprecipitation and confocal microscopy. The expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-18, IL-1β and TNF-α) was significantly inhibited in pST3GAL2-overexpressing, PRRSV-infected cells and upregulated in PRRSV-infected pST3GAL2-knockout cells, while the pattern of expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4 and IL-10) was diametrically opposite. Our results demonstrate that the regulation of pST3GAL2 plays an important role in PRRSV proliferation and functional alterations in virus-infected cells. These results contribute to our understanding of the role of β-galactoside α-2,3-sialyltransferase 2 in antiviral immunity.

A subsystem impactor test for pedestrian lower limb injury evaluation has been brought in China New Car Assessment Protocol (CNCAP). Concerning large anthropometric differences of the people from different countries, the present study aims to establish and validate a finite element lower limb model representing 50th Chinese male size for pedestrian safety research, then compare its biomechanical responses with the general models currently in wide use in the world for pedestrian safety evaluation. Concerning the vehicle-pedestrian impact loading environment, the previously developed lower limb model with three-dimensional muscles was adjusted and validated through the related experiments. Then, the biomechanical responses of the validated model were compared with the Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS) and Advanced Pedestrian Legform Impactor (aPLI) models by combing with four typical vehicles. The results showed that both consistency and significant differences of biomechanical responses existed between the present model and the other two models. The injury measurements of the thigh region of the present model showed extremely large differences with the other two models, while the tibia and Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) injury measurements show similar values. Thus, it can be concluded that directly using the aPLI or THUMS models for Chinese pedestrian safety evaluation is not robust concerning both kinematic responses and injury measurements.

Hydrogels have drawn considerable attention in the field of drug delivery, yet their poor mechanical strength and uncontrollable drug release behavior have hindered further applications in clinical practice. Taking utility of metal–ligand coordination for structurally reinforcing the hydrogel network, we report design and synthesis of magnetic nanocomposite hydrogels (HA-DOPA·MNPs) that are crosslinked by DOPA–Fe(III) coordination existing between dopamine-conjugated hyaluronan (HA-DOPA) and iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). The MNPs in the nanocomposite hydrogel not only serve as structural crosslinkers, but also facilitate magnetic hyperthermia and on-demand release of doxorubicin (DOX) in HA-DOPA·MNPs/DOX hydrogels, for release rate of DOX accelerates when external alternating magnetic field (AMF) is ON, and it restores to a slow pace when AMF is OFF. Importantly, HA-DOPA·MNPs/DOX hydrogel shows a longer retention time than HA-DOPA/DOX gel or DOX solution in vivo. Further experiments confirm the efficacious anticancer potency of HA-DOPA·MNPs/DOX in vitro and in vivo, that is mediated by a combination therapy consisting of chemotherapy (DOX) and hyperthermia (MNPs). In contrast, single-modality treatment (DOX or hyperthermia only) fails to show an equivalent efficacy at the same dose. Statement of significance This study reports the design of a class of magnetic nanocomposite hydrogel (HA-DOPA·MNPs) that was structurally reinforced by DOPA–Fe (III) coordination between HA-DOPA and iron oxide MNPs. On one hand, MNPs served as crosslinking centers for structurally reinforcing the nanocomposite hydrogel; on the other hand, MNPs facilitated temperature rise under an external MNPs, which prompted on-demand drug release as well as a combination therapy. Comparing to single modality treatment (chemotherapy or hyperthermia alone), the HA-DOPA·MNPs/DOX formulation with AMF demonstrated better efficacy against proliferation of tumor cells (A375) both in vitro and in vivo. We believe that design of HA-DOPA·MNPs/DOX hydrogel in this report provides a general approach to fabricate structurally-reinforced nanocomposite hydrogels for on-demand drug delivery and efficacious combination therapy.

AimsThe cost of drug regimens prescribed to Chinese patients has not been evaluated. This study aims to evaluate the medical costs and hypoglycemic agents for diabetes mellitus patients with or without chronic respiratory disease in Beijing, and to investigate the changes in the costs and number of antidiabetic medications used for diabetes patients with chronic respiratory disease from 2016 to 2018.MethodsThis observational, retrospective study included diabetes patients with outpatient medication records from Beijing Medical Insurance between 2016 and 2018. The medications, including hypoglycemic and nonhypoglycemic drugs, insulin dosage, comorbidities, diabetes-related complications, treatment strategies, and annual medical costs, were recorded.ResultsThis study included 2,853,036 diabetes patients from 2016 to 2018. About 18.95%–20.53% of patients with chronic respiratory disease were predominantly distributed among those aged 45–84 years (88.7%–89.1%). Diabetes patients with chronic respiratory disease used more medications (4.48 ± 2.41 vs. 3.76 ± 2.33) and had higher total annual drug costs (¥12,286 ± 10,385 vs. ¥9700 ± 9202) to treat more comorbidities (2.52 ± 1.53 vs. 2.05 ± 1.85) than those without chronic respiratory disease (p ConclusionsIn summary, diabetes patients with chronic respiratory disease had more comorbidities, required more hypoglycemic drugs, and had higher medical costs. During 2016–2018, diabetes patients with chronic respiratory disease used more medications and spent less money on medical care.

Tellurite [Te(IV)] is a high-toxicity metalloid. In this study, a fungus with high Te(IV) resistance was isolated. Strain AB1 could efficiently reduce highly toxic Te(IV) to less toxic Te(0). The reduced products formed rod-shaped biogenetic Te(0) nanoparticles (Bio-TeNPs) intracellularly. Further TEM-element mapping, FTIR, and XPS analysis showed that the extracted Bio-TeNPs ranged from 100 to 500 nm and consisted of Te(0), proteins, lipids, aromatic compounds, and carbohydrates. Moreover, Bio-TeNPs exhibited excellent antibacterial ability against

Purpose Haemorrhoidal disease (HD) plagues one in every ten people, with a plethora of surgical treatment modalities, of which laser haemorrhoidoplasty (LHP) is a relatively novel option. This systematic review and meta-analysis objectively evaluated the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of LHP compared against conventional (Milligan-Morgan) open haemorrhoidectomy (CoH). Method A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and Google Scholar was conducted. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and comparative cohort studies (CCSs) which compared LHP against CoH were included, with postoperative pain as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included intraoperative characteristics, short- and moderate-term outcome, and complications. Results A total of 12 studies (6 RCTs and 6 CCSs), with a total of 1824 patients, were analysed. LHP resulted in reduced postoperative pain for the first day (mean difference of 2.07 visual analogue scale units), week, and month. The mean dosage and duration of postoperative analgesia use was similarly lower, with a mean difference of 4.88 mg (morphine) and 2.25 days, respectively. Crucially, recurrence was equivocal (HR: 0.72, CI: 0.21–2.40) at a mean follow-up duration of 8.58 ± 9.55 months. LHP resulted in lower blood loss and was 12.74 min shorter on average. LHP’s postoperative recovery time was 9.03 days less with equivalent or decreased risk of most short- and moderate-term complications except anal thrombosis. Conclusion Our study suggests that LHP is more tolerable than CoH, providing patients with superior postoperative quality of life at equivalent moderate-term efficacy. These findings contribute to improved understanding of LHP and its potential at enhancing the quality of HD care.