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Abstract Background This study investigated the role of apoptosis-related genes in thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) and provided more insights into TAA's pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms. Material/methods Two gene expression datasets (GSE9106 and GSE26155) were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Apoptosis-related genes were obtained from the KEGG apoptosis pathway (hsa04210). Differentially expressed apoptosis-related genes were identified by performing differential expression analysis using limma for TAA blood and tissue samples. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of the differentially expressed apoptosis genes was performed using the Metascape web tool. The miRNA-mRNA regulatory network was reconstructed using the ENCORI and miRDB databases, and functional enrichment analysis was performed on the related miRNAs using the miEAA tool. The correlation between the expression levels of differentially expressed apoptosis-related genes and genes involved in immune infiltration in TAA was calculated using the CIBERSORT algorithm. The apoptosis modification patterns mediated by differentially expressed apoptosis-related genes were systematically assessed in TAA samples. Results A total of 9 differentially-expressed apoptosis-related genes were identified in TAA samples compared with normal samples. 150 miRNAs and 6 mRNAs regulatory networks were reconstructed using the ENCORI and miRDB databases. Immune infiltration analysis revealed that the GZMB had the strongest positive correlation with activated NK cells and the DFFA presented the strongest positive correlation with T cells follicular helper. 3 distinct apoptosis modification patterns mediated by 9 differentially-expressed apoptosis-related genes were identified. They differ in immune characteristics and drug sensitivity, and their biological functions in these subtypes were further studied. Conclusions This study identified key apoptosis-related genes related to TAA and evaluated the modification patterns of key apoptosis genes in TAA, providing insights into potential targets and mechanisms of TAA pathogenesis and progression.

Our patient, a 48-year-old man from Guangdong’s coastal region, worked selling and processing oysters and other seafood. He started experiencing swelling and pain in his left knee on October 4, 2022, and they got worse over time. The findings of mNGS test showed Vibrio vulnificus infection. The patient had AIDS, hepatitis A and hepatitis B concurrently. He was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) for treatment as his symptoms worsened. We refrained from performing an amputation because the family members expressed a desire to keep the limb. The limb was managed with regular dressing changes, thorough debridement, wound closure, ongoing VSD drainage, and local antibiotic irrigation. The patient’s organ function eventually returned to normal, and the systemic infection got better. On November 1, the wound’s new granulation tissue had grown well and had gradually crept to cover 80% of the wound. The tissue’s blood flow had also improved, indicating a trend of growth and healing.

Abstract. The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 is “not over,” in fact, the “dynamic clearing” policy for SARS-CoV-2 control and prevention in China has been firmly enforced. This study aimed to analyze the clinical symptoms and dynamic viral RNA changes in 2021 at Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital. This study showed that 31.4% of the patients (695/2212) tested negative for viral RNA from admission to the final release from quarantine. Of all negative cases, 86.5% (601/695) remained in the hospital for no more than 5 days and were asymptomatic or mild. Among the remaining 402 patients who stayed for no more than 5 days, 76.4% (307/402) were viral RNA retest positive during the isolation stage. However, 96.4% of the peak viral RNA (296/307) was over Ct = 33 cycles during the isolation stage.

Currently, high dynamic range (HDR) videos with high resolution (HR) have become popular due to the display and the rendered technological advancements. However, making ultra-high definition (UHD) with HDR videos is expensive. The legacy low-resolution (LR) standard dynamic range (SDR) format is still largely used in practice. It is necessary to search for a solution to transform LR SDR videos into UHD HDR format. In this paper, we consider joint super resolution and learning inverse tone mapping an issue of high-frequency reconstruction and local contrast enhancement, and we propose an architecture based on a generative adversarial network to apply joint SR-ITM learning. Specifically, we include the residual ResNeXt block (RRXB) as a basic module to better capture high-frequency textures and adopt YUV interpolation to achieve local contrast enhancement. By adopting a generative adversarial network as a pivotal training mechanism, our designs show advantages in both integration and performance. Our code is now available on GitHub: SR-ITM-GAN.

Holothurian counting is a basic requirement in aquaculture. An in situ noncontact approach for holothurian counting is basically harmless, which makes such techniques an optimal choice for aquaculture monitoring. To develop an in situ noncontact counting system, there are two main challenges. In the underwater environment, the light is absorbed by the water, which distorts the underwater image color. Another challenge comes from the dynamic background, which makes it difficult to associate the ID to each holothurian. In this paper, we propose an effective usual framework for holothurian counting. The framework is composed of three modules: an underwater enhancement module, a multiple object detection module and a multiple object tracking module. To evaluate our system comprehensively, we collect and release the first underwater multiple object tracking dataset following the same format as MOT-16. The results show that our system can practically detect, track and count holothurians under different conditions.

Underwater depth prediction plays an important role in underwater vision research. Because of the complex underwater environment, it is extremely difficult and expensive to obtain underwater datasets with reliable depth annotation. Thus, underwater depth map estimation with a data-driven manner is still a challenging task. To tackle this problem, we propose an end-to-end system including two different modules for underwater image synthesis and underwater depth map estimation, respectively. The former module aims to translate the hazy in-air RGB-D images to multi-style realistic synthetic underwater images while retaining the objects and the structural information of the input images. Then we construct a semi-real RGB-D underwater dataset using the synthesized underwater images and the original corresponding depth maps. We conduct supervised learning to perform depth estimation through the pseudo paired underwater RGB-D images. Comprehensive experiments have demonstrated that the proposed method can generate multiple realistic underwater images with high fidelity, which can be applied to enhance the performance of monocular underwater image depth estimation. Furthermore, the trained depth estimation model can be applied to real underwater image depth map estimation. We will release our codes and experimental setting in https://github.com/ZHAOQIII/UW_depth.

BackgroundThe current belief is that Randall’s plaques (RP) constitute a nidus for the formation of idiopathic calcium oxalate stones, but the upstream events in RP formation remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate whether RP formation shares similarities with biomineralization and to illustrate the potential role played by the lncRNA MALAT1 in osteogenic differentiation of human renal interstitial fibroblasts (hRIFs).Materials and MethodsBiomineralization and MALAT1 expression were assessed in RP, and hRIFs were isolated and induced under osteogenic conditions for further experiments. The transcription initiation and termination sites in MALAT1 were identified by 5′ and 3′ RACE. RNA immunoprecipitation assays and luciferase assays were used to validate the interactions among MALAT1, Runx2 and miRNAs.ResultsUpregulated expression of osteogenic markers and MALAT1 was observed in RP and hRIFs induced with osteogenic medium. Biomineralization in RP and calcium phosphate (CaP) deposits in induced hRIFs were further verified by electron microscopy. Furthermore, overexpression of MALAT1 promoted the osteogenic phenotype of hRIFs, while treatment with a miR-320a-5p mimic and knockdown of Runx2 significantly suppressed the osteogenic phenotype. Further analysis showed that MALAT1 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA to sponge miR-320a-5p, leading to upregulation of Runx2 and thus promoting osteogenic differentiation of hRIFs.ConclusionEctopic calcification and MALAT1 partially contributed to the formation of RP, in which MALAT1 might promote Runx2 expression to regulate osteogenic differentiation of hRIFs by sponging miRNA-320a-5p. The current study sheds new light on the lncRNA-directed mechanism of RP formation via a process driven by osteogenic-like cells.

Objective: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to systematically assess the influence of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology in laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) of complex renal tumors.Methods: A systematic literature review was performed in June 2020 using the Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane library, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and the Wanfang Databases to identify relevant studies. The data relative to operation time, warm ischemic time, intraoperative blood loss, positive surgical margin, reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and complications (including artery embolization, hematoma, urinary fistula, transfusion, hematuria, intraoperative bleeding, and fever) were extracted. Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of all included studies, and the eligible studies were included and analyzed using the Stata 12.1 software. A subgroup analysis was performed stratifying patients according to the complexity of the tumor and surgery type or to the nephrometry score.Results: One randomized controlled trial (RCT), two prospective controlled studies (PCS), and seven retrospective comparative studies (RCS) were analyzed, involving a total of 647 patients. Our meta-analysis showed that there were significant differences in operation time, warm ischemic time, intraoperative blood loss, reduction in eGFR, and complications between the LPN with 3D-preoperative assessment (LPN-3DPA) vs. LPN with conventional 2D preoperative assessment (LPN-C2DPA) groups. Positive surgical margin did not differ significantly.Conclusion: The LPN-3DPA group showed shorter operation time and warm ischemic time, as well as less intraoperative blood loss, reduction in eGFR, fewer complications for patients with complex renal tumor. Therefore, LPN assisted by three-dimensional printing technology should be a preferable treatment of complex renal tumor when compared with conventional LPN. However, further large-scale RCTs are needed in the future to confirm these findings.

In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of Gaojiao chicken (Gallus gallus) was sequenced using samples collected from Puding county of Guizhou province, China. The mitogenome of Gaojiao chicken is 16,786 bp in length, and it contained 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), and a control region (D-loop), the overall base nucleotide compositions encoded are 30.27% A, 32.52% C, 13.49% G, and 23.72% T. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using neighbor-joining (N-J) method, which indicated that the Gaojiao chicken has the close relationship with Nandan chicken, Daweishan chicken, Wuding chicken, and Guangxi three-buff chicken.

Purpose: To describe a novel digital design technique for creating an individualized emergence profile for implant restoration based on the contralateral tooth. Methods: Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) data were used to accurately obtain a three-dimensional (3D) model of the contralateral tooth, which was mirror-flipped to design the emergence profile. The emergence profile was further divided into critical and subcritical areas; the critical area precisely replicated the mirror-flipped 3D model, whereas the subcritical area featured a slight concavity on the buccal side, flatness on the lingual side, and slight convexity on the mesial and distal surfaces. Subsequently, a milling machine was used to fabricate healing abutments with individualized emergence profiles. The design of the definitive restoration completely duplicated the emergence profile of the individualized healing abutment and was fabricated using a milling machine. Conclusions: This technical procedure presents an alternative novel method for designing the emergence profiles of implant restorations, with the potential to improve esthetics and functions as well as to maintain the long-term stability of peri-implant soft and hard tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare inherited genetic syndrome with highly variable clinical manifestations. Fifteen genetic subtypes of FA have been identified. Traditional complementation tests for grouping studies have been used generally in FA patients and in stepwise methods to identify the FA type, which can result in incomplete genetic information from FA patients. Methods We diagnosed five pediatric patients with FA based on clinical manifestations, and we performed exome sequencing of peripheral blood specimens from these patients and their family members. The related sequencing data were then analyzed by bioinformatics, and the FANC gene mutations identified by exome sequencing were confirmed by PCR resequencing. Results Homozygous and compound heterozygous mutations of FANC genes were identified in all of the patients. The FA subtypes of the patients included FANCA, FANCM and FANCD2. Interestingly, four FA patients harbored multiple mutations in at least two FA genes, and some of these mutations have not been previously reported. These patients' clinical manifestations were vastly different from each other, as were their treatment responses to androstanazol and prednisone. This finding suggests that heterozygous mutation(s) in FA genes could also have diverse biological and/or pathophysiological effects on FA patients or FA gene carriers. Interestingly, we were not able to identify de novo mutations in the genes implicated in DNA repair pathways when the sequencing data of patients were compared with those of their parents. Conclusions Our results indicate that Chinese FA patients and carriers might have higher and more complex mutation rates in FANC genes than have been conventionally recognized. Testing of the fifteen FANC genes in FA patients and their family members should be a regular clinical practice to determine the optimal care for the individual patient, to counsel the family and to obtain a better understanding of FA pathophysiology. This study were approved by the ethics committee of the Institute of Hematology, CAMS/PUMC (KT2010072302). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chromosomal instability is a prominent biological feature of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), with over 50% of patients with MDS harboring chromosomal abnormalities or a complex karyotype (CK). Despite this observation, the mechanisms underlying mitotic and chromosomal defects in MDS remain elusive. In this study, we identified ectopic expression of the transcription factor ONECUT3, which is associated with CKs and poorer survival outcomes in MDS. ONECUT3-overexpressing cell models exhibited enrichment of several notable pathways, including signatures of sister chromosome exchange separation and mitotic nuclear division with the upregulation of INCENP and CDCA8 genes. Notably, dysregulation of chromosome passenger complex (CPC) accumulation, besides the cell equator and midbody, during mitotic phases consequently caused cytokinesis failure and defective chromosome segregation. Mechanistically, the homeobox (HOX) domain of ONECUT3, serving as the DNA binding domain, occupied the unique genomic regions of INCENP and CDCA8 and transcriptionally activated these 2 genes. We identified a lead compound, C5484617, that functionally targeted the HOX domain of ONECUT3, inhibiting its transcriptional activity on downstream genes, and synergistically resensitized MDS cells to hypomethylating agents. This study revealed that ONECUT3 promoted chromosomal instability by transcriptional activation of INCENP and CDCA8, suggesting potential prognostic and therapeutic roles for targeting high-risk MDS patients with a CK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]