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Abstract Aims Right ventricular pacing (RVP) dependence could impair left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). This study aimed to illuminate the relationship between RVP proportion and LVEF, as well as disclosing independent predictors of RVP dependence. Methods and results Patients indicated for permanent pacemaker implantation were included (2016–2020). The ventricular pacing lead was placed in right ventricular apex or septum. Pacing mode programming followed universal standard. Electrocardiographic, echocardiographic, and serological parameters were collected. RVP dependence was defined according to its influence on LVEF. This study was of case–control design. Included patients were matched by potentially confounding factors through propensity score matching. A total of 1183 patients were included, and the mean duration of follow‐up was 24 months. Percentage of RVP 120 ms (OR = 2.46, 95% CI: 1.42–4.27), QTc interval > 470 ms (OR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.33–3.05), and pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) > 40 mmHg (OR = 1.93, 95% CI: 1.46–2.56) were proved to predict RVP dependence. Conclusions High RVP percentage (>80%) indicating RVP dependence significantly correlates with poor prognosis of cardiac function. High degree/complete AVB, AF, ischaemic aetiology, PCI history, HRmax 120 ms, QTc interval > 470 ms, and PASP > 40 mmHg were verified as independent risk factors of RVP dependence.

Abstract Backgrounds Inflammation underlies the mechanism of different kinds of heart disease. Cytoplasmic membrane localized N‐terminal fragment of gasdermin‐D (GSDMD‐N) could induce inflammatory injury to cardiomyocyte. However, effects and dynamic changes of GSDMD during the process of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) related inflammatory stress induced cardiomyocyte injury are barely elucidated to date. In this study, LPS related cardiomyocyte injury was investigated based on potential interaction of GSDMD‐N induced mitochondrial injury and mitophagy mediated mitochondria quality control. Methods HL‐1 cardiomyocytes were treated with LPS and Nigericin to induce inflammatory stress. The dual‐fluorescence‐labelled GSDMD expressed HL‐1 cardiomyocytes were constructed to study the translocation of GSDMD. The mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was measured by JC‐1 staining. Mitophagy and autophagic flux were recorded by transmission electron microscopy and fluorescent image. Results GSDMD‐N showed a time‐dependent pattern of translocation from mitochondria to cytoplasmic membrane under LPS and Nigericin induced inflammatory stress in HL‐1 cardiomyocytes. GSDMD‐N preferred to localize to mitochondria to permeablize its membrane and dissipate the MMP. This effect couldn't be reversed by cyclosporine‐A (mPTP inhibitor), indicating GSDMD‐N pores as alternative mechanism underlying MMP regulation, in addition to mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP). Moreover, the combination between GSDMD‐N and autophagy related Microtubule Associated Protein 1 Light Chain 3 Beta (LC3B) was verified by co‐immunoprecipitation. Besides, mitophagy alleviating GSDMD‐N induced mitochondrial injury was proved by pre‐treatment of autophagy antagonist or agonist in GSDMD‐knock out or GSDMD‐overexpression cells. A time‐dependent pattern of GSDMD translocation and mitochondrial GSDMD targeted mitophagy were verified. Conclusion Herein, our study confirmed a crosstalk between GSDMD‐N induced mitochondrial injury and mitophagy mediated mitochondria quality control during LPS related inflammation induced cardiomyocyte injury, which potentially facilitating the development of therapeutic target to myocardial inflammatory disease. Our findings support pharmaceutical intervention on enhancing autophagy or inhibiting GSDMD as potential target for inflammatory heart disease treatment.

BackgroundBlood glucose disorders are prevalent in heart failure, while the influence of the gut microbiota on this process remains unclear. Here, we used heart failure model mice and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) mice to evaluate the effect of the gut microbiota on the regulation of blood glucose during heart failure.MethodsThoracic aortic constriction (TAC) surgery was performed in a heart failure model, while an antibiotic cocktail was used to eliminate the microbiota to establish a germ-free (GF) model. Blood glucose, insulin, and glucagon levels were measured, and an intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT) was performed. 16S rRNA sequencing and metabolomics were used to evaluate the changes in gut microbiota structure and metabolism induced by TAC. Another group of FMT mice was established to observe the effect of the gut microbiota on host metabolism.ResultsAfter microbiota clearance, the glucagon concentration, the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and the area under the curve (AUC) of the IPGTT were decreased significantly in the TAC germ-free (TAC-GF) group in the third month as compared to the other groups. 16S rRNA sequencing indicated that TAC surgery affected the gut microbiota structure, and fecal metabolomics suggested that noradrenaline and adrenaline levels were higher in the TAC group than in the sham group. The FMT mice transplanted with the feces of the TAC (FMT-TAC) mice displayed a higher AUC of IPGTT, accompanied by a higher glucagon level, insulin level, and HOMA-IR than those of the mice in the other groups. The serum metabolomics of the FMT-TAC group showed that noradrenaline levels were significantly higher than those of the FMT-sham group.ConclusionThe gut microbiota and its metabolism were altered during heart failure, which increased blood glucose and glucagon in the host.

Background: The influence of different right ventricular lead locations on ventricular arrhythmias (VTA) in patients with a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is not clear. This study aimed to evaluate the influence on VTA in patients with a CRT when right ventricular lead was positioned at the right ventricular middle septum (RVMS) and the right ventricular apical (RVA). Methods: A total of 352 patients implanted with a CRT-defibrillator (CRT-D) between May 2012 and July 2016 in the Department of Cardiology of Anhui Provincial Hospital were included. Two-year clinical and pacemaker follow-up data were collected to evaluate the influence of the right ventricular lead location on VTA. Patients were divided into the RVMS group (n = 155) and the RVA group (n = 197) based on the right ventricular lead position. The VTA were compared between these two groups using a Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox multivariate analysis. Results: When the left ventricular lead location was not considered, RVMS and RVA locations did not affect VTA. However, the subgroup analysis results showed that when the left ventricular lead was positioned at the anterolateral cardiac vein (ALCV), the RVMS group had an increased risk of ventricular arrhythmias and appropriate defibrillation (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.29, P = 0.01 and HR = 4.33, P < 0.01, respectively); when the left ventricular lead was at the posterolateral cardiac vein (PLCV), these risks in the RVMS group decreased (HR = 0.45, P = 0.02 and HR = 0.33, P < 0.01, respectively), and when the left ventricular lead was at the lateral cardiac vein, there was no difference between the two groups. In regard to inappropriate defibrillation, there was no significant difference among all these groups. Conclusions: When the left ventricular lead was positioned at ALCV or PLCV, the right ventricular lead location was associated with VTA and appropriate defibrillation after CRT. Greater distances between leads not only improved cardiac function but also may reduce the risk of VTA.

Divorce has been a significant societal issue since antiquity, warranting careful scholarly attention. The evolution of divorce systems from ancient times to the present day mirrors broader societal, ideological, and marital transformations. This paper presents an analytical exploration of the social implications of ancient divorce legislation through the lens of four historical divorce models. By assembling a corpus of ancient divorce texts and employing the vector space model for data representation, this study leverages the TF-IDF algorithm for keyword extraction. Subsequently, it utilizes a keyword co-occurrence network to scrutinize pivotal elements within the ancient divorce systems. Furthermore, the study employs the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model to investigate the thematic evolution of these systems. Analysis of the corpus reveals that the term “separation” appears 513 times, underscoring its prevalence. The keyword co-occurrence network exhibits a point degree centrality of 0.523, indicating significant interconnectivity. The principal legal term, “shall,” occurs 68 times, reflecting its normative importance. Notably, the study identifies subtle variations in legal stipulations across different dynasties, primarily concerning changes in the grounds and moral considerations for divorce. These historical divorce systems were profoundly influenced by the dynamics of marital relationships, as well as patriarchal, familial, and societal constraints. This historical perspective offers valuable insights for contemporary marital law implementations, suggesting a nuanced understanding of divorce’s legal and social dimensions.

In this work, an efficient strategy for improving CO2 capture based on anion-functionalized ionic liquids (ILs) by reducing cation–anion interactions in ILs was reported. The influence of the cationic species on CO2 absorption was investigated using 2-hydroxyl pyridium anions ([2-Op]) as a probe. CO2 capture experiments indicated that the CO2 absorption capacity in [2-Op] anion-based ILs varied from 0.94 to 1.69 mol CO2 per mol IL at 30 °C and 1 atm. Spectroscopic analysis and quantum chemical calculations suggested that the increase of the CO2 absorption capacity may be ascribed to the reduction of the strength of cation–anion interactions in ILs, and stronger cation–anion interactions would make one CO2 site in the [2-Op] anion inactive. Furthermore, the effect of the cation unit on the anion was evidenced by FT-IR spectra, implying that strong interactions between ions may lead to the decrease of the IR absorption wavenumber of hydroxy pyridium and work against CO2 capture. Following this strategy, it was finally found that [Ph-C8eim][2-Op] (Ph-C8eim = 1-N-ethyl-3-N-octyl-2-phenylimidazolium) with weaker cation–anion interactions exhibited a significant increase in the CO2 uptake capacity, and extremely high capacities of 1.69 and 1.83 mol CO2 per mol IL could be achieved at 30 and 20 °C, respectively. The study presented here would be helpful for further designing novel and effective ILs for advancing CO2 capturing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This study was conducted to investigate the clinical significance of claudin-1 ( CLDN1) expression in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Methods We examined CLDN1 protein expression by immunohistochemistry in a tissue microarray from 258 patients with lung adenocarcinoma. We investigated messenger ribonucleic acid (m RNA) expression in H358 (formerly bronchioloalveolar carcinoma) and lung adenocarcinoma cell lines (A549) by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Results Multivariate analysis showed that prognostic factors for lung adenocarcinoma were histologic type, CLDN1, T stage and N stage. Patients with positive CLDN1 expression had a poorer prognosis than patients with negative CLDN1 expression. CLDN1 expression was correlated with Ras and epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR) expression. Patients with positive expressions of both CLDN1 and Ras/ EGFR had a poorer prognosis than patients with CLDN1 (+) Ras/ EGFR(−) or CLDN1 (−) Ras/ EGFR(+) and patients with negative expressions of both CLDN1 and Ras/ EGFR. CLDN1 m RNA expression was lower in the H358 compared with the lung adenocarcinoma cell line (A549). Conclusion The combination of CLDN1 and Ras/ EGFR is a valuable independent prognostic predictor for lung adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internal hydrostatic pressure (IHP) of the intervertebral disc is the functional and physiological basis of the spine. Disc bulging is a direct effect of increased IHP and can be used to evaluate the IHP without destroying the structure of the disc. Disc tissue engineering is a developing field but more data on the properties of normal discs are required for evaluation of possible graft materials. However, very little data is available concerning bulge distribution along the normal disc surface under creep.Methods: Fifteen motion segment specimens of ovine IVD were used to analyze axial creep, and disc bulging deformations of 5 markers on the surface were measured and analyzed.Findings: The maximum radial bulging rate was 2.78%±1.09% and the position at which the maximum radial deformation occurred was found to be below the midline of the disc during all levels of loading. The results showed that deformations occurred in the order vertical, radial, circumferential.Interpretation: Disc bulging during creep is a very important biomechanical response, affecting spinal functions. The deformation regularities of the disc surface were identified and may help supply important basic data for disc tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internal hydrostatic pressure (IHP) of the intervertebral disc is the functional and physiological basis of the spine. Disc bulging is a direct effect of increased IHP and can be used to evaluate the IHP without destroying the structure of the disc. Disc tissue engineering is a developing field but more data on the properties of normal discs are required for evaluation of possible graft materials. However, very little data is available concerning bulge distribution along the normal disc surface under creep.Methods: Fifteen motion segment specimens of ovine IVD were used to analyze axial creep, and disc bulging deformations of 5 markers on the surface were measured and analyzed.Findings: The maximum radial bulging rate was 2.78%±1.09% and the position at which the maximum radial deformation occurred was found to be below the midline of the disc during all levels of loading. The results showed that deformations occurred in the order vertical, radial, circumferential.Interpretation: Disc bulging during creep is a very important biomechanical response, affecting spinal functions. The deformation regularities of the disc surface were identified and may help supply important basic data for disc tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fusarium proliferatum is an important pathogen of maize that is responsible for ear rots, stalk rots and seeding blight worldwide. During the past decade, F. proliferatum has caused several severe epidemics of maize seedling blight in many areas of China, which led to significant losses in maize. To understand the molecular mechanisms in the fungal developmental regulation and pathogenicity, we isolated and characterized the FPK1 gene (GenBank accession No. HQ844224) encoding a MAP kinase homolog of FUS3/KSS1 in yeast. The gene includes a 1,242-bp DNA sequence from ATG to TAA, with a coding region of 1,068 bp, 3 introns (58 bp, 56 bp and 60 bp) and a predicted protein of 355 aa.The mutant ΔFPK1, which has a disruption of the FPK1 gene, showed reduced vegetative growth, fewer and shorter aerial mycelia, strongly impaired conidiation and spore germination, as well as deviant germ tube outgrowth. When the strain was inoculated in susceptible maize varieties, the infection of the mutant ΔFPK1 was delayed, and the infection efficiency was reduced compared to the wild-type strain. Complementation of the disruptions within the FPK1 open reading frame restored wild-type levels of conidiation, growth rate and virulence to maize seedlings. Our results indicated that the FPK1 gene functioned in hyphal growth, conidiation, spore germination and virulence in F. proliferatum. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The molecular mechanisms of signal transduction of plants in response to infection by Verticillium dahliae (VD) are not well understood. We previously showed that NO may act as an upstream signalling molecule to trigger the depolymerization of cortical microtubules in Arabidopsis. In the present study, we used the wild-type, and atrbohD and atrbohF mutants of Arabidopsis to explore the mechanisms of action of H2O2 signals and the dynamic microtubule cytoskeleton in defence responses. We demonstrated that H2O2 may also act as an upstream signalling molecule to regulate cortical microtubule depolymerization. The depolymerization of the cortical microtubules played a functional role in the signalling pathway to mediate the expression of defence genes. The results indicate that H2O2 modulates the dynamic microtubule cytoskeleton to trigger the expression of defence genes against V. dahliae toxins (VD-toxins) in Arabidopsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trichoderma spp. are well-known biocontrol agents because of their antimicrobial activity against bacterial and fungal phytopathogens. However, the biochemical mechanism of their antiviral activity remains largely unknown. In this study, we found that Trichokonins, antimicrobial peptaibols isolated from Trichoderma pseudokoningii SMF2, could induce defense responses and systemic resistance in tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum var. Samsun NN) against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infection. Local Trichokonin (100 nM) treatment led to 54% lesion inhibition, 57% reduction in average lesion diameter and 30% reduction in average lesion area in systemic tissue of tobacco compared with control, indicating that Trichokonins induced resistance in tobacco against TMV infection. Trichokonin treatment increased the production of reactive oxygen species and phenolic compounds in tobacco. Additionally, application of Trichokonins significantly increased activities of pathogenesis-related enzymes PAL and POD, and upregulated the expression of several plant defense genes. These results suggested that multiple defense pathways in tobacco were involved in Trichokonin-mediated TMV resistance. We report on the antivirus mechanism of peptaibols, which sheds light on the potential of peptaibols in plant viral disease control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Microwave-irradiated Diels–Alder reactions of anthracene and endoxides (6a–g) in water afforded the cycloadducts (8a–g) with high efficiencies. The extended triptycenes (2a–g) were readily obtained by dehydration of 8a–g in a mixture of AcOH and Ac2O with good overall yields. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indole with α,β-unsaturated aldehyde was catalyzed by camphor sulfonyl hydrazine (CaSH) with good enantioselectivity (81-88%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The molecular mechanisms of signal transduction of plants in response to Verticillium dahliae (VD) are not known. Here, we show that Arabidopsis reacts to VD-toxins with a rapid burst of nitric oxide (NO) and cortical microtubule destabilization. VD-toxins treatment triggered a disruption of cortical microtubules network. This disruption can be influenced by NO production. However, cortical microtubule disruptions were not involved in regulating the NO production. The results indicated that NO may act as an upstream signalling molecule to trigger the depolymerization of cortical microtubule. Cortical microtubules may act as a target of NO signal and as a sensor to mediate the activation of PR-1 gene expression. These results suggested that NO production and cortical microtubule dynamics appeared to be parts of the important signalling system and are involved in the defence mechanisms to VD-toxins in Arabidopsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]