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Epidemiological evidence links exposure to 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP) with lipid metabolic disruption, typically attributed to nuclear receptors, while the role of membrane receptors remains underexplored. This study explored the role of adiponectin receptor 1 (AdipoR1) in EHDPP-induced lipid metabolic disturbances. We examined EHDPP’s binding affinity and transcriptional impact on AdipoR1. AdipoR1 knockdown (AdipoR1kd) human liver cells and coculture experiments with AdipoR1 activator (AdipoRon) were used to investigate the effect and the mechanism. EHDPP disrupted triglyceride and phospholipid synthesis and altered corresponding gene expression, mirroring effects in AdipoR1kdcells but diminishing in EHDPP-treated AdipoR1kdcells. RNA sequencing revealed that EHDPP primarily disrupted oxidative phosphorylation and insulin signaling dependent on AdipoR1. Mechanistically, EHDPP interacted with AdipoR1 and reduced AdipoR1 protein levels at 10–7mol/L or higher, weakening the activation of the calmodulin dependent protein kinase β (CaMKKβ)/AMPK/acetyl CoA carboxylase pathway. Furthermore, EHDPP pretreatment blocked the increase in Ca2+flux and the corresponding kinase CaMKKβ, as well as liver kinase B1 (LKB1) activation induced by AdipoRon, which is necessary for AMPK activation. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that EHDPP-induced lipid imbalance is partially dependent on AdipoR1, expanding the understanding of environmental metabolic disruptors beyond nuclear receptors.

This study focuses on two key factors influencing job performance, technological value recognition (TVR) and emotional labor, that inform the digital labor job performance model. In this study, we argue that digital enterprises enhancing digital workers' TVR and emotional labor can enhance employees' job performance. By analyzing data from 571 digital preschool teachers working in 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region of China, we came to the following conclusions: TVR has a positive impact on job performance, emotional labor has a positive impact on job performance, and emotional labor mediates the relationship between TVR and job performance. Our findings also indicate that enhancing the digital resource support employers offered and providing emotional training to employees are two important actions companies can take to improve job performance and innovation capabilities in the digital transformation era.

The fairness of vocational contest scoring is key to generating reliable competency assessments. This study examined the performance impact of the motivation of English-as-a-foreign-language learners in contests with vocabulary knowledge antecedents in the contexts of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain (BC). The sample comprised 185 participants of an oral English contest at higher vocational institution in China. AI-powered scoring of learners' contest performance and a survey were used to collect data. The findings revealed that learners' intrinsic drive was the main positive factor, outweighing their extrinsic motivation, and that AI and BC increased the trustworthiness and integrity of contest records, thus providing new opportunities to build learner trust and form psychological incentives. This study enriches foreign language motivation theory in the context of contest research and highlights the importance of using AI and BC to enhance the scoring accuracy and credibility of contests as authoritative evaluation instruments in vocational education.

Byline: Qun. Wang, Yaqiong. Li, Jiamei. Li, Zhigang. Yao, Xiaochun. Ma, Ji-wei. Ma Delta and Notch-like endothelial growth factor-related receptor (DNER) is a transmembrane protein that mediates signal communication between [...]

IMPORTANCE: Previous research has suggested that Xuebijing injection (XBJ), an herbal-based intravenous preparation, may reduce mortality among patients with sepsis. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of XBJ vs placebo on 28-day mortality among patients with sepsis. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The Efficacy of Xuebijing Injection in Patients With Sepsis (EXIT-SEP) trial was a multicenter, randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in intensive care units at 45 sites and included 1817 randomized patients with sepsis (sepsis 3.0) present for less than 48 hours. Patients aged 18 to 75 years with a Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score of 2 to 13 were enrolled. The study was conducted from October 2017 to June 2019. The final date of follow-up was July 26, 2019. Data analysis was performed from January 2020 to August 2022. INTERVENTIONS: The patients were randomized to receive either intravenous infusion of XBJ (100 mL, n = 911) or volume-matched saline placebo (n = 906) every 12 hours for 5 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. RESULTS: Among the 1817 patients who were randomized (mean [SD] age, 56.5 [13.5] years; 1199 [66.0%] men), 1760 (96.9%) completed the trial. In these patients, the 28-day mortality rate was significantly different between the placebo group and the XBJ group (230 of 882 patients [26.1%] vs 165 of 878 patients [18.8%], respectively; P < .001). The absolute risk difference was 7.3 (95% CI, 3.4-11.2) percentage points. The incidence of adverse events was 222 of 878 patients (25.3%) in the placebo group and 200 of 872 patients (22.9%) in the XBJ group. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this randomized clinical trial among patients with sepsis, the administration of XBJ reduced 28-day mortality compared with placebo. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03238742

Objectives:We attempted to identify and validate the subphenotypes of sepsis-associated liver dysfunction (SALD) using routine clinical information. Design:This article is a retrospective observational cohort study. Setting:We used the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV database and the eICU Collaborative Research Database. Patients:We included adult patients (age ≥18 years) who developed SALD within the first 48 hours of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. We excluded patients who died or were discharged from the ICU within the first 48 hours of admission. Patients with abnormal liver function before ICU admission were also excluded. Measurements and Main Results:Patients in the MIMIC-IV 1.0 database served as a derivation cohort. Patients in the eICU database were used as validation cohort. We identified four subphenotypes of SALD (subphenotype α, β, γ, δ) using K-means cluster analysis in 5234 patients in derivation cohort. The baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes were compared between the phenotypes using one-way analysis of variance/Kruskal-Wallis test and the χ2test. Moreover, we used line charts to illustrate the trend of liver function parameters over 14 days after ICU admission. Subphenotype α (n = 1,055) was the most severe cluster, characterized by shock with multiple organ dysfunction (MODS) group. Subphenotype β (n = 1,179) had the highest median bilirubin level and the highest proportion of patients with underlying liver disease and coexisting coagulopathy (increased bilirubin group). Subphenotype γ (n = 1,661) was the cluster with the highest mean age and had the highest proportion of patients with chronic kidney disease (aged group). Subphenotype δ (n = 1,683) had the lowest 28-day and in-hospital mortality (mild group). The characteristics of clusters in the validation cohort were similar to those in the derivation cohort. In addition, we were surprised to find that GGT levels in subphenotype δ were significantly higher than in other subphenotypes, showing a different pattern from bilirubin. Conclusions:We identified four subphenotypes of SALD that presented with different clinical features and outcomes. These results can provide a valuable reference for understanding the clinical characteristics and associated outcomes to improve the management of patients with SALD in the ICU.

ABSTRACTIschemic heart disease (IHD) is one of the most deadly diseases worldwide. To detect the regulatory mechanism, the circular RNA (circRNA)-differentially expressed in normal cells and neoplasia domain containing 4 C (DENND4C) was explored in the H9c2 cells.The circRNA-DENND4C overexpressing plasmid, si-circRNA-DENND4C and miR-320 mimic were transfected into the H9c2 cells and treated with OGD/R stimulation. We took CCK-8 method, Annexin V-FITC/PI-flow cytometer to search for viability and apoptotic ability. With the help of qRT-PCR and western blot, the expression of circRNA-DENND4C and miR-320, as well as the Bax, Cleaved PARP/caspase 3 and signal proteins were separately determined. Regulation of circRNA-DENND4C and miR-320 was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay.OGD/R induced suppression of cell viability, but enhancement of apoptosis and block of ERK and mTOR pathways. Moreover, circRNA-DENND4C was up-regulated after OGD/R stimulation and augmented OGD/R-stimulated damage while circRNA-DENND4C silencing displayed opposite influences. miR-320 was negatively controlled and targeted by the circRNA-DENND4C.The overexpressed miR-320 impeded the effects of circRNA-DENND4C. Besides, circRNA-DENND4C relieved the suppression of ERK and mTOR pathways caused by OGD/R stimulation, and all promoting impacts of circRNA-DENND4C were reversed by the miR-320 mimic.Overexpressed circRNA-DENND4C in H9c2 cells attenuated OGD/R-induced injuries by the down-regulation of miR-320 through the ERK and mTOR activation.

ABSTRACTMyocardial infarction (MI) is the main cause of morbidity and mortality. Reperfusion ways can cause damage to cardiomyocytes. CircMAT2B, a novel circRNA, takes positive roles in regulating glucose metabolism under hypoxia. Therefore, we aimed to explore the effects of circMAT2B on MI. Oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced H9c2 cell model was employed to stimulate MI. Ex-circMAT2B, si-circMAT2B, miR-133 inhibitor and relative control were transfected into H9c2 cells. qRT-PCR was employed to examine levels of circMAT2B and miR-133. Cell activity, apoptosis, ROS generation and release of inflammatory factors were assessed by CCK-8, flow cytometry, ROS species assay kit and ELISA, respectively. Moreover, the expression of apoptosis-related and pathway-related factors was detected through western blot analysis. The results showed that circMAT2B expression was notably up-regulated by OGD treatment. Moreover, circMAT2B knockdown could effectively decrease OGD-induced the increasing of apoptosis, ROS generation and the expression of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α. Besides, miR-133 was positively regulated by si-circMAT2B. CircMAT2B knockdown attenuated OGD-induced H9c2 cell damage and alleviated OGD-induced the inhibition of PI3K/AKT and Raf/MEK/ERK pathways through up-regulating miR-133. In brief, circMAT2B knockdown works as an inflammatory inhibitor in OGD-induced H9c2 cells inflammatory injury through up-regulating miR-133.

The thermal compression deformation behavior of Mg-6Li-11Zn-2.5Y alloy was systematically investigated by using the isothermal hot compression tests using the Gleeble-3500 thermal mechanical physical simulation system with the conditions of the temperature of 513–593 K and the strain rate of 0.01–10 s−1. The constitutive model and thermal processing map were established. The variation pattern of the unstable region under different strains was analyzed and the safe processing region was determined. The influence of different power dissipation values and deformation activation energies on the dynamic recrystallization mechanism was clarified. The results demonstrate that the deformation activation energy is 156.08 kJ/mol. The unstable region gradually expands from the low temperature and low strain region to the high temperature and high strain region with the strain increasing. In the unstable region, adiabatic shear band pear in α-Mg phase, of which the main reason is the poor processing formability in the unstable region. The dominant nucleation mechanism is discontinuous dynamic recrystallization under the conditions of high power dissipation and low deformation activation energy. While, under the conditions of low power dissipation and high deformation activation energy, the nucleation mechanism is mainly driven by the particle stimulated nucleation.

Egg weight (EW) and age at first egg (AFE) are economically important traits in breeder chicken production. The genetic basis of these traits, however, is far from understood, especially for broiler breeders. In this study, genetic parameter estimation, genome-wide association analysis, meta-analysis, and selective sweep analysis were carried out to identify genetic loci associated with EW and AFE in 6,842 broiler breeders. The study found that the heritability of EW ranged from 0.42 to 0.44, while the heritability of AFE was estimated at 0.33 in the maternal line. Meta-analysis and selective sweep analysis identified two colocalized regions on GGA4 that significantly influenced EW at 32 weeks (EW32W) and at 43 weeks (EW43W) with both paternal and maternal lines. The genes AR, YIPF6, and STARD8were located within the significant region (GGA4: 366.86-575.50 kb), potentially affecting EW through the regulation of follicle development, cell proliferation, and lipid transfer etc. The promising genes LCORLand NCAPGwere positioned within the significant region (GGA4:75.35-75.42 Mb), potentially influencing EW through pleiotropic effects on growth and development. Additionally, three significant regions were associated with AFE on chromosomes GGA7, GGA19, and GGA27. All of these factors affected the AFE by influencing ovarian development. In our study, the genomic information from both paternal and maternal lines was used to identify genetic regions associated with EW and AFE. Two genomic regions and eight genes were identified as the most likely candidates affecting EW and AFE. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the genetic basis of egg production traits in broiler breeders and provide new insights into future technology development.

Background: Delirium is a frequent postoperative complication in elderly patients after non-cardiac surgery. We performed this updated meta-analysis to ascertain more precisely the efficacy of dexmedetomidine (DEX) on the incidence of postoperative delirium (POD) in elderly patients after non-cardiac surgery. Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) from inception until February 24, 2019. In this meta-analysis, we included randomized-controlled trials comparing the effect of DEX vsnormal saline (NS) or other anesthetic drugs on POD incidence in elderly (either ≥ 60 or ≥ 65 yr old) patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. We performed subgroup analyses of the DEX dosing strategy (starting time, dose, and duration of administration, with or without loading dose) and the strategy of various control drugs. A random-effects model was used for all analyses. Results: We included 11 studies involving 2,890 patients in our meta-analysis. The pooled results of these studies revealed that DEX significantly reduced the incidence of POD (relative risk [RR], 0.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.38 to 0.58; P< 0.001) compared with the control group. Meanwhile, the incidences of hypotension (RR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.39; P =0.01) and bradycardia (RR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.63; P= 0.007) were increased in the DEX group. Subgroup analyses revealed a decrease in POD incidence when DEX was administered intraoperatively (RR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.33 to 0.57; P< 0.001) and postoperatively (RR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.54; P< 0.001) with a loading dose (RR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.69; P< 0.001) compared with NS (RR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.37 to 0.64; P< 0.001) and other anesthetic drugs (RR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.60; P< 0.001). There were significant differences in the time to extubation (standardized mean difference, -0.60; 95% CI, -1.17 to -0.03; P= 0.04) and the length of hospital stay (mean difference, -0.50 days; 95% CI, -0.97 to -0.03; P= 0.04). The amount of data for the duration of mechanical ventilation and length of intensive care unit stay were insufficient to perform a meta-analysis. Conclusion: Perioperative dexmedetomidine reduces the incidence of POD in elderly patients after non-cardiac surgery, but this comes at the cost of an increased incidence of hypotension and bradycardia.

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Abnormal platelet activation plays an important role in the development of sepsis. The effect of antiplatelet drugs on the outcome of patients with sepsis remains unclear. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the effect of antiplatelet drugs on the prognosis of patients with sepsis.

AbstractThe corrosion behaviors of 316L stainless steel welds in stagnant liquid lithium and lithium with 0.2%H at 325°C for 1000 h was investigated by using weight loss method, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. After liquid Li corrosion, a large number of (M)23C6and NiCxparticles (sizes of 1 ~ 2 μm) were found on the weld surface, while almost no such particles were found on the weld surface after corrosion in liquid Li with 0.2%H. The corrosion rates of welds were about 4.10 × 10−3  and 6.65 × 10−3 g · m−2· h−1in liquid Li and Li with 0.2%H, respectively, while the penetration depth of Li increased by 1.375 times after adding 0.2%H to Li. It was found that the penetration depth of Li was basically consistent with the dissolution depth of Cr, and the dissolution depth of Cr was larger than that of Ni and Fe in liquid Li and Li with 0.2%H.

Critically ill patients are at high risk of hypoglycemia and are particularly vulnerable to unrecognized hypoglycemia. Close blood glucose monitoring is therefore crucial. There are several options to conduct frequent blood glucose measurement and a number of conditions in intensive care unit patients may affect the accuracy of blood glucose measurement. The aim of the study was to compare the accuracy of capillary glucose by bedside glucometer with arterial samples by bedside glucometer and arterial samples by blood gas analyzer in critically ill patients through a prospective case-control study.

Heparanase, a heparan sulfate (HS)–specific endoglycosidase, plays an important role in inflammation and mediates acute pulmonary and renal injuries during sepsis. To explore its role in septic intestinal injury, a non-anticoagulant heparanase inhibitor, N-desulfated/re-N-acetylated heparin (NAH), was administrated to a mouse sepsis model induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Immunohistochemical staining revealed massive shedding of HS from the intestinal mucosal surfaces after CLP, and effective inhibition of heparanase by NAH was confirmed by markedly reduced HS shedding. Following CLP, intestinal expression of heparanase was increased, whereas pretreatment with NAH reduced the sepsis-induced upregulation of heparanase expression. Meanwhile, CLP led to shedding of syndecan-1 and upregulated expression of proteases such as matrix metalloprotease-9 and urokinase-type plasminogen activator in the intestine, whereas NAH markedly suppressed syndecan-1 shedding and protease upregulation following CLP. In addition, pretreatment with NAH attenuated intestinal injury, inhibited neutrophil infiltration and suppressed the production of inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor–α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6) in the intestine during sepsis, and it also significantly reduced the elevation of inflammatory cytokines in the serum 24 hr after CLP. Our findings demonstrate that the activation of intestinal heparanase contributes to intestinal injury during early sepsis by facilitating the destruction of mucosal epithelial glycocalyx and promoting inflammatory responses.

The weight of breast muscle (WBM) is a highly monitored indicator in broiler breeding that can be obtained after slaughtering. Currently, due to the lack of accurate in vivo phenotypes for both genomic and phenotypic selection, genetic gains in WBM fall short of initial expectations. In this study, 1006 market-age (42 d) broilers from three generations over 2 years were randomly selected, and the breast width (BW), fossil bone length (FBL), breast muscle thickness (BMT) and live weight (LW) were measured exactly in vivo. Eight models, including multiple linear regression (MLR), ridge regression (RR), least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and elastic net (EN), were fitted to explore the best regression relationships between breast muscle weight and these indicators. Support vector machine (SVM) methods with both linear kernels and radial kernels were used to fit the models, while two decision tree-based machine learning algorithms, random forest (RF) and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), were used to establish the prediction model. The predictive effects of different combinations of independent variables were compared, leading to the conclusion that the EN model achieves the best predictive power when all four live features are used as inputs and is slightly better than the other models (R2 = 0.7696). This method could be applied in practical production and breeding work, leading to substantial cost savings and enhancements in the breeding process.

Inflammatory responses can induce microvascular and endothelial dysfunction, which is associated with the development of sepsis. This study is aimed at examining the concentrations of plasma tissue factor (TF), von Willebrand factor (vWF), and tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) in patients with sepsis and at determining how septic plasma (SP) regulates TF and vWF expression and p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK)nuclear factor-B (NF-B) pathways in human endothelial cells. The concentrations of plasma TF, vWF, and TNF- in 22 septic patients and eight healthy controls (HCs) were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and their potential association with disease severity was analyzed. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with SP from patients or normal plasma (NP) from the HCs, and the levels of TF and vWF were measured. The SP-induced ERK, p38 MAPK, and NF-B activation was characterized by Western blot and immunofluorescent assays. The SP-induced HUVEC apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. The concentrations of plasma TF, vWF, and TNF- in the patients were significantly higher than that in the HCs and were positively correlated with the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores in the patients. Furthermore, treatment with SP, but not NP, induced TF and vWF production in HUVECs in a dose- and time-dependent manner, which was associated with sequential activation of the p38 MAPK and NF-B pathways. Septic plasma induced HUVEC apoptosis, which was inhibited by activating the NF-B pathway. The sepsis-related inflammatory factors promoted endothelial cell activation, dysfunction, and apoptosis through activation of the p38 MAPK pathway that was regulated by NF-B signaling.

Objective.A genome-wide association study and 2 replication studies identified 2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of caspase recruitment domain-containing protein 9 (CARD9) and small nuclear RNA-activating complex polypeptide 4 (SNAPC4) at Chr 9q34.3 associated with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in whites. We explored a possible association of SNP in CARD9 and SNAPC4 and AS in a Chinese Han population from Shandong.Methods.The study included 1150 patients with AS and 1120 healthy controls who underwent genotyping for 4 SNP of CARD9 and 2 of SNAPC4; we replicated the results in another 490 patients and 380 healthy controls of Ningxia Han Chinese during the same time. We used quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to measure CARD9 and SNAPC4 mRNA expression in peripheral leukocytes from 44 patients and 36 controls and allele-specific mRNA expression of CARD9 and SNAPC4 in leukocytes from 130 controls.Results.We validated that an SNP in SNAPC4, rs11145835, was significantly associated with AS in our Chinese Han population (p = 0.001) and replicated the association in samples from the Chinese Ningxia Han population (p = 0.002). Carrying the G allele of rs11145835 was associated with increased risk of AS (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.12–1.59) and with decreased expression of CARD9 (p = 0.001) and SNAPC4 (p = 0.02) in leukocytes. SNAPC4 mRNA expression was lower in leukocytes from patients than from controls (p = 0.0002).Conclusion.Our study confirmed that an SNP rs11145835 in 9q34.3 that harbors CARD9 and SNAPC4 is associated with AS in a Chinese Han population, and rs11145835 in SNAPC4 is a potential causal variant.

Magnesium-lithium (Mg-Li) alloys have become promising metal engineering materials due to the outstanding weight reduction performance. However, the vulnerability to corrosion is a major obstacle for development. A variety of surface treatment methods have been applied to protect Mg-Li alloys against corrosion deterioration, among which micro-arc oxidation (MAO) is an effective and economic method. Additionally, MAO coatings also present high hardness, excellent wear resistance, and strong bonding to the substrate. This article reviews advances in MAO coatings on Mg-Li alloys, which includes summarizations for the MAO parameters and factors affecting the properties of the coatings. The main focus is given to characteristics of the MAO coatings on Mg-Li alloys, as well as the functionalization performance in a wide application.

The bcc-structured Mg-Li alloy is currently the engineering metallic material with the lowest density, but it has not been widely used due to its low strength. In this paper, alloying Zn effectively improves the strength of the bcc-structured Mg-Li alloy. Due to the semi-coherent B2 structured nanoparticles, the compressive yield strength of the as-cast Mg-13Li-9Zn alloy reaches higher than 300 MPa. Due to the solid solution strengthening of Zn and the spinodal zone, the compressive yield strength of the as-quenched Mg-13Li-15Zn (LZ1315) alloy immediately increases to 400 MPa. In addition, the as-quenched LZ1315 alloy exhibits natural aging strengthening behavior. Due to the precipitation of B2 nanoparticles, the yield strength of the peak aged alloy is up to 495 MPa.

Exploring stable and highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is critical for the novel energy conversion and storage devices including fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Herein, the core-shell structured Co3Fe7@Fe2N nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets (Co3Fe7@Fe2N/rGO) is designed though the simple annealing of MOFs. The as-fabricated samples present an excellent electrocatalytic performance for ORR and OER due to the synergistic effect of electrode materials. The Co3Fe7@Fe2N/rGO exhibits an onset potential of 0.98 V (vs. Reversible hydrogen electrode), peak current intensity of 1.531 A g−1and long-term stability for ORR, which is close to that of the benchmark Pt/C (20%) in 0.1 M KOH. It also shows good oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance with an overpotential of 371 mV (at 10 mA cm−2). When used as a bifunctional air electrode in Zn-air batteries, the core-shell materials enabled an excellent mass power density of 60 W cm−2 g−1at 0.57 V and stable cycling performance for over 100 cycles.

ETS1is a negative regulator of the Th17 differentiation gene and plays a central role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. We aimed to investigate whether polymorphisms in ETS1confer susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in Han Chinese.