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Abstract Background Acute hepatic dysfunction (AHD) is a common postoperative complication in patients with acute type A aortic dissection. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for acute hepatic dysfunction after surgery for acute type A aortic dissection. Methods We performed a retrospective study from March 1, 2019, to February 28, 2021. The primary endpoints of this study were morbidity due to AHD and risk factors for incidence. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to analyse the related factors, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to evaluate their predictive value. Results Among 147 patients, 29 (19.73%) developed postoperative acute hepatic dysfunction, and 9 (6.12%) died. Univariate analysis revealed that the ALT (P = 0.042), Cr (P 24) patients with ATAAD. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for Cr was 0.745 > 0.7, indicating good predictive value. Conclusion A high Cr concentration is an independent risk factor for postoperative AHD in overweight (BMI > 24) patients with ATAAD.

AimsTo investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) in Hubei, China.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed inpatients with MPP from 20 hospitals in Hubei, China from January 2021 to December 2022. The co-detected pathogens of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) were investigated using targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS), and 23S rRNA gene mutations were analyzed to assess the macrolide resistance.ResultsM. pneumoniae infected 20.7% of patients with CAP, with cough (96.59%) and fever (80.28%) being the most prevalent symptoms. The infection rates in children younger than 1, 1–2, 3–6, 7–12, and older than 12 years were 6.17%, 19.98%, 26.97%, 43.93%, and 2.95%, respectively. Among 1,349 patients undergoing tNGS, the overall co-detection rate was 59.45%, with Streptococcus pneumoniae (29.30%), Haemophilus influenzae (23.57%), and Human rhinovirus (17.21%) being the most commonly co-detected pathogens. In 635 patients undergoing the 23S rRNA gene mutation test, 86.30% exhibited positive mutations (A2063G, 98.00%; A2064G, 1.50%; A2067G, 0.50%). Despite a significant age difference (P = 0.037) between macrolide-resistant M. pneumoniae and macrolide-sensitive M. pneumoniae groups, there were no significant differences in symptoms, lab data, or disease severity.ConclusionsIn Hubei Province, the prevalence of exhibited consistent changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. MPP was prevalent year-round, particularly in summer and autumn, with school-age children being more susceptible. Co-detections of viruses and bacteria were frequent in MPP cases, and macrolide resistance exceeded 85%. Ongoing surveillance of M. pneumoniae in children is crucial for understanding the healthcare impact of MPP.

A rapid and sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was established for the simultaneous determination of doxorubicin (DOX) in mouse plasma and tissues, including the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and tumor, and to investigate the pharmacokinetics and distribution in mice. In this study, daunorubicin (DNR) was used as an internal standard, and the mobile phase consisted of ammonium formate 2 mM containing 0.1 % formic acid (A) and acetonitrile (B), the chromatographic column was ACQUITY UPLC BEHTM C18 with a gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. Electrospray ionization (ESI) in positive ion pattern was utilized for the ion separation of DOX, with the ions used for quantitative analysis being DOX m/z 544.28 → 397.10 and DNR m/z 528.35 → 321.08, respectively. The results showed that a good linear relationship in the calibration curve range of 1–800 ng/mL in mouse plasma and 1–2500 ng/g in tissues (R2 > 0.99) with the limits of quantification of 1 ng/mL in plasma and tissues. The method exhibited good matrix effect and extraction recovery, with the intra-day and inter-day precision of plasma and tissue were less than 10.3 % and 15.4 %, and the relative error (RE) were both less than ±14.8 % and ±18.9 %, respectively. The stability results under different conditions were found to be accurate. It also revealed the distribution of DOX in various tissues of mice, with the concentration ranking as liver > heart > kidney > spleen > lung > tumor. This method was successfully used to the study for the pharmacokinetics in plasma and drug distribution in tissues of BALB/c mice.

Abstract Objective Acute mesenteric vein thrombosis (AMVT) is an acute abdominal disease with onset, rapid progression, and extensive intestinal necrosis that requires immediate surgical resection. The purpose of this study was to determine the risk factors for nosocomial intestinal resection in patients with AMVT. Methods We retrospectively analysed 64 patients with AMVT diagnosed by CTA at the Affiliated Hospital of Kunming University of Science and Technology from January 2013 to December 2021. We compared patients who underwent intestinal resection (42 patients) with those who did not undergo intestinal resection (22 patients). The area under the ROC curve was evaluated, and a forest map was drawn. Results Among the 64 patients, 6 (9.38%) had a fever, 60 (93.75%) had abdominal pain, 9 (14.06%) had a history of diabetes, 8 (12.5%) had a history of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and 25 (39.06%) had ascites suggested by B ultrasound or CT after admission. The mean age of all patients was 49.86 ± 16.25 years. The mean age of the patients in the enterectomy group was 47.71 ± 16.20 years. The mean age of the patients in the conservative treatment group (without enterectomy) was 53.95 ± 15.90 years. In the univariate analysis, there were statistically significant differences in leukocyte count (P = 0.003), neutrophil count (P = 0.001), AST (P = 0.048), total bilirubin (P = 0.047), fibrinogen (P = 0.022) and DD2 (P = 0.024) between the two groups. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that admission white blood cell count (OR = 1.153, 95% CI: 1.039–1.280, P = 0.007) was an independent risk factor for intestinal resection in patients with AMVT. The ROC curve showed that the white blood cell count (AUC = 0.759 95% CI: 0.620–0.897; P = 0.001; optimal threshold: 7.815; sensitivity: 0.881; specificity: 0.636) had good predictive value for emergency enterectomy for AMVT. Conclusions Among patients with AMVT, patients with a higher white blood cell count at admission were more likely to have intestinal necrosis and require emergency enterectomy. This study is helpful for clinicians to accurately determine whether emergency intestinal resection is needed in patients with AMVT after admission, prevent further intestinal necrosis, and improve the prognosis of patients.

Extreme heat events caused by climate change have seriously threatened the sustainable human-environment system development. It has become the frontier of integrated geography to scientifically assess the comprehensive impact of heat waves on the urban system and to provide stakeholders with decision support services to cope with extreme heat. This study constructed an "exposure-susceptibility-adaptive capacity" framework for urban heat vulnerability and an early warning index system based on the perspective of the human-environment system. We then proposed key early warning technologies, including an urban heat index model, multi-subject adaptive capacity coupling technology, and a multi-group vulnerability assessment criteria library. Taking urban diversified groups and urban administrators as the service target, we designed the urban heat vulnerability early warning system. The system mainly comprises a mobile application that provides users with an interactive interface, and a dedicated management backend. The mobile application has four main functions: Urban heat index forecast, Crowd heat vulnerability risk warning service, Outdoor work guidance service, and Public facility-assisted adaptation and decision support menu. The layer data and the warning message are mainly handled by the dedicated management backend. The system provides hourly location-based heat vulnerability warnings and targeted healthy living tips for tourists, the elderly, children, and people with heat-sensitive conditions. Additionally, the system can provide a scientific basis for communities to improve their adaptive capacity to heat waves. As a pilot, the system was deployed in Xiamen City to provide personalized support services for healthy living in hot weather to residents and communities. In September 2021, the "Urban Heat Index" module was officially launched on the "Zhi Tian Qi" public meteorological service platform of the Fujian Province. The research perspective and methodology, based on a multiscale vulnerability framework, provide an effective method to dynamically and finely characterize the impacts of extreme natural hazards. The research results support urban multi-stakeholders in managing production and life during hot weather and help authorities develop targeted disaster prevention and mitigation plans for specific areas. Moreover, the findings provide a scientific reference for planning departments to improve and optimize the spatial allocation of emergency resources.

Salinity severely affects plant growth and development. Thus, it is crucial to identify the genes functioning in salt stress response and unravel the mechanism by which plants against salt stress. This study used the phosphoproteomic assay and found that 123 of the 4 000 quantitative analyzed phosphopeptides were induced by salt stress. The functional annotation of the non-redundant protein database (NR) showed 23 differentially expressed transcription factors, including a phosphopeptide covering the Serine 31 in the RAV (related to ABI3/VP1) transcription factor (named SiRAV1). SiRAV1 was located in the nucleus. Phenotypic and physiological analysis showed that overexpressing SiRAV1 in foxtail millet enhanced salt tolerance and alleviated the salt-induced increases of H2O2 accumulation, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and percent of electrolyte leakage. Further analysis showed that SiRAV1 positively regulated SiCAT expression to modulate the catalase (CAT) activity by directly binding to the SiCAT promoter in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, we found that phosphorylation of SiRAV1 at the Ser31 site positively regulated salt tolerance in foxtail millet via enhancing its binding ability to SiCAT promoter but did not affect its subcellular localization. Overall, our results define a mechanism for SiRAV1 function in salt response where salt-triggered phosphorylation of SiRAV1 at Ser31 enhances its binding ability to SiCAT promoter, and the increased SiCAT expression contributes to salt tolerance in foxtail millet.

Somatic embryogenesis is valuable for clonal propagation and genetic improvement, and it also serves as an ideal system for studying plant development mechanisms. In Larix kaempferi, microRNA171 and its target gene L. kaempferi SCARECROW-LIKE6 (LaSCL6), which has two alternative splicing variants, can regulate somatic embryogenesis; however, the underlying molecular mechanism is still unknown. In this study, we overexpressed these two LaSCL6 variants in Oryza sativa and Arabidopsis thaliana and then used the RNA-Seq method to screen genes from O. sativa and A. thaliana, whose expression patterns are related to those of LaSCL6 variants. The screened genes were then used to search L. kaempferi proteins to identify the candidate target genes of LaSCL6. After yeast one-hybrid and dual- luciferase transcriptional activity assays, cytochrome P450, family 89, subfamily A, polypeptide 5 (CYP89A5), and wall-associated receptor kinase-like 20 (WAKL20) were confirmed to be the target genes of LaSCL6-var1; in addition, WAKL20 and UDP-glycosyltransferase 85A3 (UGT85A3) were confirmed to be the target genes of LaSCL6-var2. Moreover, APETALA2-like protein 2, a transcription factor from the AP2/ERF family, was shown to interact with LaSCL6-var1 and LaSCL6-var2. Taken together, our results suggest a regulatory network of miR171-LaSCL6. The findings presented here not only provide novel insights into the regulation of the miR171-LaSCL6 module but also explain the mechanism underlying larch somatic embryogenesis and other biological processes.

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease with unclear pathogenesis, and its incidence is increasing gradually. Recently, with the popularization of the concept of healthy diet, reducing the risk of ulcerative colitis through dietary intervention has become increasingly popular. In this paper, we report on the protective effect of Gallus gallus domesticlus Brisson peptides on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis in mice. For this purpose, we measured changes in body mass, disease activity index (DAI), colon length, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stained colon sections, the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleulin-6 (IL-6), IL-10, IL-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), intestinal microbial community composition and the levels of short-chain fatty acids in cecal contents. The results indicated that G. gallus domesticlus Brisson peptides significantly alleviated the symptoms of ulcerative colitis such as body mass loss, hematochezia, diarrhea, and the shortening of colon length and colon tissue injury in mice, and significantly decreased the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6. In addition, G. gallus domesticlus Brisson peptides alleviated intestinal microflora disturbance induced by DSS, down-regulated the relative abundance of Shigella and Clostridiaceae_Clostridium, increased the relative abundance of Akkermansia, Ruminococcus and Oscillospira, and significantly increased the contents of acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid in cecal contents, thereby alleviating colon inflammation induced by DSS in mice.

Abstract Hydraulic fracturing and waterflooding are both widely applied methods for improving the recovery of oil and gas resources. These methods have increasing commonality because many waterfloods are being carried out at high enough pressure to generate hydraulic fractures. Even so, it is challenging for engineers to make an optimal wellbore pressure design for layered and otherwise complex underground formations. An overly aggressive injection pressure may lead to uncontrollable fracture height growth into non-producing layers adjacent to the reservoir. In contrast, when using classical but highly simplified height growth models, the pressure limits can be far too conservative which may lead to lower recovery rates and inefficient use of resources invested in developing producing reservoirs. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the mechanism of fracture height growth while considering the coupling effect from multiple dominated factors. This research contributes an experimental approach to evaluating the role of stresses, weak interfaces, and mechanical properties of a three-layer system in promoting or containing hydraulic fracture height growth from a central reservoir into neighboring barrier layers. In all cases, the experiments agree that the pressure required to induce substantial height growth exceeds the stress applied to the barrier layers and is far above classical predictions. Additionally, when the reservoir layer is softer than the barriers, the containment is sustained to even higher pressures than for layers with similar material properties. Finally, the experiments show that permeability of the barrier layer can induce a more sudden transition to uncontrolled height growth when fracture reaches the bedding interfaces. Hydraulic fracture height growth is mitigated by weak interfaces between layers. Unstable height growth typically requires fluid pressure to exceed the in-situ stress in the bounding layer(s). Contrasting layer stiffness and permeability often leads to further mitigation of height growth.

Sensory quantitative descriptive analysis (SQDA) was used to analyze the flavor structure of nine samples of three aroma types (Nongxiangxing, Jiang-flavor and Zhima-flavor) of Shanzhuang Laojiu, and the results showed that there were significant differences in flavor and taste attributes among the aroma types. Liquid-liquid extraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LLE-GC-MS) was used to analyze the composition of volatile compounds in these samples, and a total of 74 volatile flavor compounds were identified at high concentrations, manly including esters, alcohols and acids. Based on their aroma activity values (OAVs), 10 characteristic compounds contributing to the aroma of Shanzhuang Laojiu were identified. Partial least squares (PLS) analysis and correlation analysis were used to study the correlation between the sensory attributes and the characteristic aroma compounds, and the results showed that the Jiang, Qu and empty-cup aromas all had good correlation with acetic acid; ethyl butyrate, ethyl caproate, ethyl octanoate, butyric acid and capric acid were the main flavor compounds responsible for the alcoholic, ester, grain-like, sweet and fruity aromas; and the caramel-like and burnt aromas were highly correlated with ethyl myristate, ethyl oleate, ethyl linoleate and 2,3-butanediol. This study may lay the foundation for future research of the flavor formation mechanism of the three aroma types of baijiu.

Objective To investigate the effect of thrombospondin-1(TSP-1) knockout on radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis and explore its underlying mechanism. Methods Male wild type C57BL/6 mice (6~8 weeks old, WT mice) and TSP-1 knockout mice (TSP-1-/- mice) were subjected and received 16 Gy 60Co γ-ray whole lung irradiation (IR) to induce radiation pulmonary fibrosis, and then, the mice were assigned into WT+IR group and TSP-1-/-+IR group, respectively, with 6 mice in each group.In 16 weeks after irradiation, HE staining was performed to observe the morphological changes in lung tissues, and Sirius red staining was used to observe the collagen expression in lung tissues.qRT-PCR was employed to detect the mRNA expression of TGF-β1 and Collagen Ⅰ in lung tissues.Micro-CT scanning was adopted to evaluate lung injury and substantial lung changes.FlexiVent system was employed to assess pulmonary function.Immunofluorescence staining was conducted to measure the protein levels of LC-3 and p62 in lung tissues.Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to observe the cellular autophagic vesicles in lung tissues. Results Compared with the WT+IR group, the TSP-1-/-+IR group had reduced lung injury and collagen deposition in lung tissue, significantly lower mRNA levels of TGF-β1 and Collagen Ⅰ in lung tissue (P < 0.01), and improved pulmonary function.Immunofluorescence assay and TEM showed that autophagy was observed in the mice of TSP-1-/-+IR group. Conclusion TSP-1 knockout can alleviate radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis, which may be related to activation of autophagy.

In order to understand the electrochemical oxidation mechanism of oxalic acid on platinum, glassy carbon and boron doped diamond(BDD) electrodes in nitric acid medium, cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry were used to carry out electrochemical tests. The effects of electrode potential, current density and nitric acid concentration on oxalic acid oxidation were studied, and the influence of nitric acid mainly comes from H+. On the Pt electrode, it is speculated that oxalic acid is not only electrooxidized, but also adsorbed ·OH reacts with adsorbed oxalic acid to produce CO2 and H2O. On the boron doped diamond electrode, indirect oxidation of ·OH is the main role of oxalic acid oxidation. The increase of nitric acid concentration reduces the amount of ·OH production, which leads to the decrease of oxalic acid oxidation rate. On the glassy carbon electrode, the diffusion coefficient of oxalic acid is 1.4×10-5 cm2/s measured by rotating disc electrode, the exchange current density of oxalic acid electrochemical oxidation obtained by Tafel extrapolation at 1.34-1.42 V is 5.8×10-6 A/cm2.

SCARECROW-LIKE6 (SCL6) plays a role in the formation and maintenance of the meristem. In Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carr., an important afforestation tree species in China, SCL6 (LaSCL6) has two alternative splicing variants—LaSCL6-var1 and LaSCL6-var2—which are regulated by microRNA171. However, their roles are still unclear. In this study, LaSCL6-var1 and LaSCL6-var2 were transformed into the Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. genome, and the phenotypic characteristics of transgenic A. thaliana, including the germination percentage, root length, bolting time, flower and silique formation times, inflorescence axis length, and branch and silique numbers, were analyzed to reveal their functions. It was found that LaSCL6-var1 and LaSCL6-var2 overexpression shortened the root length by 41% and 31%, respectively, and increased the inflorescence axis length. Compared with the wild type, the bolting time in transgenic plants was delayed by approximately 2–3 days, the first flower and silique formation times were delayed by approximately 3–4 days, and the last flower and silique formation times were delayed by about 5 days. Overall, the life cycle in transgenic plants was prolonged by approximately 5 days. These results show that LaSCL6 overexpression inhibited the transitions from the vegetative meristem to inflorescence meristem and from the flower meristem to meristem arrest in A. thaliana, revealing the roles of LaSCL6-var1 and LaSCL6-var2 in the fate transition and maintenance of the meristem.

Background: Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress plays a pro-apoptotic role in colorectal adenocarcinoma (COAD). This study aimed to develop a novel ER-stress-related prognostic risk model for COAD and provide support for COAD cohorts with different risk score responses to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies. Methods: TCGA-COAD and GSE39582 were included in this prospective study. Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses were performed to identify prognostic ER stress-related genes (ERSGs). Accordingly, the immune infiltration landscape and immunotherapy response in different risk groups were assessed. Finally, the expression of prognostic genes in 10 normal and 10 COAD tissue samples was verified using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: Eight prognostic genes were selected to establish an ERSG-based signature in the training set of the TCGA-COAD cohort. The accuracy of this was confirmed using a testing set of TCGA-COAD and GSE39582 cohorts. Gene set variation analysis indicated that differential functionality in high–low-risk groups was related to immune-related pathways. Corresponding to this, CD36 , TIMP1 , and PTGIS were significantly associated with 19 immune cells with distinct proportions between the different risk groups, such as central memory CD4T cells and central memory CD8T cells. Moreover, the risk score was considered effective for predicting the clinical response to immunotherapy, and the immunotherapy response was significantly and negatively correlated with the risk score of individuals with COAD. Furthermore, the immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment was less effective in the high-risk group, where the expression levels of PD-L1 and tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion scores in the high-risk group were significantly increased. Finally, the experimental results demonstrated that the expression trends of prognostic genes in clinical samples were consistent with the results from public databases. Conclusion: Our study established a novel risk signature to predict the COAD prognosis of patients and provide theoretical support for the clinical treatment of COAD.