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The morphological evolution of SiGe films is examined during vacuum thermal annealing. A mechanism is proposed to form Ge islands on SiGe films rather than strain driven in terms of surface potential energy profile induced by the process of decomposition of native oxide.

Understanding the family systems and structures of our diverse populations is one of the most important tasks of professionals in education. Children learn from their family, school, and community. They learn from their experiences by observing, talking, and interacting with their environment. Parents play a pivotal role in the education of their children. However, as illustrated by case studies that focus mostly on Asian families, cultural definitions and differences can create conflict between the family and educators--conflict that can end in tragedy. Creating a school-home educational relationship is crucial to the needs of the child. This article provides suggestions for creating and providing an optimal learning environment for children to help build a foundation for academic and life success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professionals in the field of special education are constantly being asked about efficacy and outcome-based practice. The tragic event that took place at Virginia Tech shocked the world. This article uses the Virginia Tech tragedy as a base to discuss the need for all professionals to develop cultural competence. Furthermore, it discusses the topic of cultural reactions to communicative disorders and the need to develop cultural competence to decode each message in its cultural, linguistic, and social contexts and to provide culturally appropriate intervention when called for. It also builds on the notion that the world is flat and describes the challenges we face as we try to decode the messages from the world of English-language learners, the world of Englishes, and the codes shared by the e-generation. Finally, it advocates the need to develop cultural humility with the goal to quest for cultural competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyone speaks with an accent. Today's global economy depends on the interaction of people from all comers of the world who speak many different languages. The interaction can be challenging. Some accents are regional, others are foreign. The accent of a person tells his or her life story. Intelligibility is compromised when an accent is too 'thick' and hard to understand. This article presents a discussion of some of the fundamentals surrounding accent: it seeks a macrodefinition of accent, proposes a paradigm shift, and provides some clinical suggestions for moving beyond accent. Copyright (c) 1999 by Aspen Publishers, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the attitude and cognition towards hospice care among student nurses in Macau. Method: 171 full-time student nurses were selected from a nursing college in Macau to participate by a questionnaire. Result: Both freshmen and sophomore have less understanding of hospice care, whereas junior and senior obtain higher understanding. The result indicated 84.5% participants having positive attitude of hospice care. Also 100% of them agree that dying patients should have holistic care and have the right to seek for good quality of life. Conclusion: Nursing college should enhance and enrich its curriculum on hospice care, and physical, psychological, spiritual contents so as to enhance the knowledge of holistic care of patients for student nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The reparative process of root absorption begins in the periodontium when orthodontic force is discontinued or reduced below a certain level. Our aim was to evaluate cementum repair at 4 and 8 weeks of retention after 4 weeks of continuous light and heavy orthodontic forces. The effects of age, tooth movement, and fluoride exposure were also investigated. Methods: Forty patients were recruited and divided into 4 groups of 10. The maxillary first premolars were loaded with either light (25 g) or heavy (225 g) orthodontic force. After 4 weeks of loading, the maxillary left first premolars were extracted as the positive control group, and the maxillary right first premolars were placed in retention for 4 or 8 more weeks before extraction; these were the experimental groups. The extracted teeth were studied with microcomputed tomography. To assess cementum repair, volumetric changes of the resorption craters were measured with specially designed computer software. Tooth movement was also measured on study casts taken before and after the extractions. Results: Root resorption continued for 4 weeks after orthodontic force ceased. The resorptive activity was more pronounced from heavy forces. Passive retention after 4 weeks of light force had the least root resorption crater volume (cube root scale). The total amount of the cementum repaired did not depend on magnitude of orthodontic force or retention time within our parameters (P >0.05). This might indicate concurrence of resorption and repair during passive retention. Most repair seemed to occur after 4 weeks of passive retention following the 4 weeks of heavy forces. The volume of root resorption craters positively depended on tooth movement (P = 0.02) and negatively correlated with chronologic age (P <0.01). Conclusions: Although there was no significant difference in the amounts of repair between groups, root resorption continued for 4 weeks after orthodontic force stopped. Resorptive activity was more pronounced after the heavy forces. The reparative processes were different between the light and heavy forces, with marked individual variations. Repair seemed to become steady after 4 weeks of passive retention following 4 weeks of light force application, whereas most repair occurred after 4 weeks of passive retention following 4 weeks of heavy force application. Root resorption crater volume positively depended on tooth movement and negatively correlated with chronologic age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of this study was to measure the rate and the amount of orthodontically induced tooth movement under heavy (300 g) and light (50 g) continuous forces with superelastic nickel-titanium closing coils over a defined time (12 weeks). Methods: Fourteen patients who required maxillary canine retraction into first premolar extraction sites as part of their orthodontic treatment completed this study. In a split-mouth design, precalibrated nickel-titanium closing coil springs delivering a force of 300 g or 50 g were used to distalize the canines after an alignment and stabilization period. Intraoral and maxillary cast measurements were made at the beginning of canine retraction (T0) and every 28 days for 84 days (T1, T2, T3) to assess total space closure, canine retraction rate, canine retraction and molar anchorage loss, and canine rotation. Results: Statistical analysis showed that the amount of initial tooth movement (T0-T1) was not related to force magnitude; however, during the T1-T2 and T2-T3 periods, increased amounts and higher rates of tooth movement were found with heavy forces. These significantly increased the rate and the amount of canine retraction, but the adverse effects of loss of canine rotation control and anchorage were concomitantly increased. Light forces provided a greater percentage of canine retraction than heavy forces, with less strain on anchorage. Conclusions: Initial tooth movement would benefit from light forces. Heavier forces tend to increase the rate and the amount of canine retraction but lose their advantage because of unwanted clinical side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we report a familial cluster of 3 cases of coxsackievirus B3 infection: a recent history of illness in a woman's 3-year-old son with a coxsackievirus B3-positive stool culture indicated that he probably infected his mother at home during her last week of pregnancy. Consequently, she delivered an infected neonate who developed severe hepatitis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and bilateral intracranial hemorrhage. The neonate remained well for the first 2 days of life. On the third day, he developed fever (39 degrees C) and poor peripheral circulation. On the fourth day, he developed petechiae and bruises over his chest wall and extremities, and prolonged bleeding was observed over venipuncture sites. Investigations revealed severe thrombocytopenia (platelets: 41 x 10(9)/L) and a markedly deranged coagulation profile (prothrombin time: 19 seconds [reference: < 10 seconds]; activated partial thromboplastin time: > 120 seconds [reference: 24.2-37.0 seconds], serum D-dimers: 6722 ng/mL [reference: < 500 ng/mL]), suggestive of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. Clinical examination revealed yellow sclera, hepatomegaly (5 cm), and splenomegaly (2 cm), consistent with hepatitis. Serial chest radiographs showed bilateral pleural effusions, and an ultrasound of the abdomen demonstrated ascites. An echocardiogram showed normal cardiac structure and good contractility of both ventricles. However, a cranial ultrasound revealed bilateral grade 2 intraventricular hemorrhages. Serum C-reactive protein increased to 33.9 mg/L. Liver-function tests were also markedly deranged at this time, with maximum values for serum alanine transferase, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, and ammonia concentration of 1354 IU/L, 258 micromol/L, 189 IU/L, and 147 micromol/L, respectively. Serum glucose levels were normal. Over the next 3 days, his fever subsided, and his liver function and clotting profile normalized by day 13 after onset of illness. A stool sample from the older brother, collected 14 days after his onset of illness at home, was positive for coxsackievirus B3 by both virus culture and enterovirus reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. He had neutralizing coxsackievirus B3 antibody titers of 1:2560 and 1:1280 on days 14 and 28 after his onset of illness, respectively. No virus was cultured from the mother's stool sample, collected 5 days after her onset of illness, but the enterovirus polymerase chain reaction was positive and maternal sera neutralized the coxsackievirus B3 isolated from the neonate. The maternal sera also showed a more than fourfold rise in antibody titer from 1:80 to 1:640 on days 5 and 16 after her onset of illness, respectively. Neonatal antibody titers also showed a more than fourfold rise from < 1:80 to 1:2560 on days 1 and 21 after his onset of illness, respectively. This demonstrates that both the mother and the neonate had had recent coxsackievirus B3 infections. Serially collected neonatal throat swab and stool samples were culture negative for enterovirus by 4 and 8 days after his onset of illness, respectively. However, enterovirus RNA remained detectable by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction in these samples for considerably longer, only becoming undetectable by 16, 23, and 41 days after his onset of illness. We show that even mild household infections may have potentially serious consequences for pregnant women and their infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagnosing and classifying central nervous system tumors such as gliomas or glioblastomas pose a significant challenge due to their aggressive and infiltrative nature. However, recent advancements in metabolomics and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) offer promising avenues for differentiating tumor grades both in vivo and ex vivo. This study aimed to explore tissue-based metabolic signatures to classify/distinguish between low- and high-grade gliomas. Forty-six histologically confirmed, intact solid tumor samples from glioma patients were analyzed using high-resolution magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (HRMAS-NMR) spectroscopy. By integrating machine learning (ML) algorithms, spectral regions with the most discriminative potential were identified. Validation was performed through univariate and multivariate statistical analyses, along with HRMAS-NMR analyses of 46 paired plasma samples. Amongst the various ML models applied, the logistics regression identified 46 spectral regions capable of sub-classifying gliomas with accuracy 87% (F1-measure 0.87, Precision 0.82, Recall 0.93), whereas the extra-tree classifier identified three spectral regions with predictive accuracy of 91% (F1-measure 0.91, Precision 0.85, Recall 0.97). Wilcoxon test presented 51 spectral regions significantly differentiating low- and high-grade glioma groups (p < 0.05). Based on sensitivity and area under the curve values, 40 spectral regions corresponding to 18 metabolites were considered as potential biomarkers for tissue-based glioma classification and amongst these N-acetyl aspartate, glutamate, and glutamine emerged as the most important markers. These markers were validated in paired plasma samples, and their absolute concentrations were computed. Our results demonstrate that the metabolic markers identified through the HRMAS-NMR-ML analysis framework, and their associated metabolic networks, hold promise for targeted treatment planning and clinical interventions in the future., (© 2024. International Association of Scientists in the Interdisciplinary Areas.)

Background: Microbial infection and colonization are frequently associated with disease progression and poor clinical outcomes in bronchiectasis. Identification of pathogen spectrum is crucial for precision treatment at exacerbation of bronchiectasis., Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study in patients with bronchiectasis exacerbation onset and stable state. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected for conventional microbiological tests (CMTs) and metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing (mNGS). Bronchiectasis patients were monitored for documenting the time to the next exacerbation during longitudinal follow-up., Results: We recruited 168 eligible participants in the exacerbation cohorts, and 38 bronchiectasis patients at stable state at longitudinal follow-up. 141 bronchiectasis patients at exacerbation onset had definite or probable pathogens via combining CMTs with mNGS reports. We identified that Pseudomonas aeruginosa, non-tuberculous mycobacteria, Haemophilus influenzae, Nocardia spp, and Staphylococcus aureus were the top 5 pathogens with a higher detection rate in our cohorts via combination of CMTs and mNGS analysis. We also observed strong correlations of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Haemophilus influenzae, non-tuberculous mycobacteria with disease severity, including the disease duration, Bronchiectasis Severity Index, and lung function. Moreover, the adjusted pathogenic index of potential pathogenic microorganism negatively correlated (r = -0.7280, p < 0.001) with the time to the next exacerbation in bronchiectasis., Conclusion: We have revealed the pathogenic microbial spectrum in lower airways and the negative correlation of PPM colonization with the time to the next exacerbation in bronchiectasis. These results suggested that pathogens contribute to the progression of bronchiectasis., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Article Title and Bibliographic Information: Häggman-Henrikson B, Ali D, Aljamal M, Chrcanovic BR. Bruxism and dental implants: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Oral Rehabil. 2024 Jan;51(1):202-217. 10.1111/joor.13567. Epub 2023 Aug 17. PMID: 37589382., Source of Funding: None., Type of Study/design: Systematic review with meta-analysis., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Ophthalmic manifestations have recently been observed in acute and post-acute complications of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our precious study has shown that host RNA editing is linked to RNA viral infection, yet ocular adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing during SARS-CoV-2 infection remains uninvestigated in COVID-19. Herein we used an epitranscriptomic pipeline to analyze 37 samples and investigate A-to-I editing associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, in five ocular tissue types including the conjunctiva, limbus, cornea, sclera, and retinal organoids. Our results revealed dramatically altered A-to-I RNA editing across the five ocular tissues. Notably, the transcriptome-wide average level of RNA editing was increased in the cornea but generally decreased in the other four ocular tissues. Functional enrichment analysis showed that differential RNA editing (DRE) was mainly in genes related to ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic process, transcriptional regulation, and RNA splicing. In addition to tissue-specific RNA editing found in each tissue, common RNA editing was observed across different tissues, especially in the innate antiviral immune gene MAVS and the E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase MDM2. Analysis in retinal organoids further revealed highly dynamic RNA editing alterations over time during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our study thus suggested the potential role played by RNA editing in ophthalmic manifestations of COVID-19, and highlighted its potential transcriptome impact, especially on innate immunity., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Two novel vanadoborate compounds, [Cu(en) 2 ] 3 [Li(H 2 O)] 4 [Li(H 2 O) 3 ] 2 [V 12 B 18 O 50 (OH) 10 (H 2 O)] 2 ·33.5H 2 O (1) and (H 2 en) 4 [Li(H 2 O)] 4 [V 12 B 18 O 55 (OH) 5 (H 2 O)]·14H 2 O (2), were synthesized via hydrothermal synthesis under identical conditions except for temperature. Structural analysis revealed that although both contain [V 12 B 18 O 60 ] n- cluster anion, the different countercations potentially lead to variations in the [V 12 B 18 O 60 ] n- cluster anion skeletons. In compound 1, the V 4+ /V 5+ ratio was 10:2; while in compound 2 the ratio was 11:1. It is speculated that different countercations may influence the valence states of cluster anions. In this study, quantum chemical calculations revealed that the aromaticity and activity of the two compounds were different, and two-dimensional correlation infrared spectroscopy (2D-COS-IR) under magnetic perturbation confirmed that distinct response peaks of functional group vibrations to the magnetic field due to the different V 4+ /V 5+ ratios and aromaticity of the two compounds. An electrochemical analysis revealed that compound 2 exhibits higher electrocatalytic activity. The results of quantum chemical calculations are aligned not only with the changes in the 2D-COS-IR spectra but also with the conclusions obtained from experiments on electrochemical properties. Overall, this work proposes a novel strategy for interpreting the alteration of vanadoborate anionic skeleton due to the introduction of different countercations by combining 2D-COS-IR with quantum chemical calculations., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The National Cancer Institute issued a Request for Information (RFI; NOT-CA-23-007) in October 2022, soliciting input on using and reusing metabolomics data. This RFI aimed to gather input on best practices for metabolomics data storage, management, and use/reuse., Aim of Review: The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) Interest Group within the Metabolomics Association of North America (MANA) prepared a set of recommendations regarding the deposition, archiving, use, and reuse of NMR-based and, to a lesser extent, mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics datasets. These recommendations were built on the collective experiences of metabolomics researchers within MANA who are generating, handling, and analyzing diverse metabolomics datasets spanning experimental (sample handling and preparation, NMR/MS metabolomics data acquisition, processing, and spectral analyses) to computational (automation of spectral processing, univariate and multivariate statistical analysis, metabolite prediction and identification, multi-omics data integration, etc.) studies., Key Scientific Concepts of Review: We provide a synopsis of our collective view regarding the use and reuse of metabolomics data and articulate several recommendations regarding best practices, which are aimed at encouraging researchers to strengthen efforts toward maximizing the utility of metabolomics data, multi-omics data integration, and enhancing the overall scientific impact of metabolomics studies., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This study explored the carbon metabolism efficiency of a production-living-ecological space system, which is of great significance for regional factor integration and spatial optimization. In this study, the material flow analysis method was introduced to establish a framework for evaluating the carbon metabolism efficiency of the production-living-ecological space system, and the super-efficiency DEA model and Malmquist index were used to empirically analyze the spatio-temporal distribution, dynamic change, and evolution patterns of the carbon metabolism efficiency of production-living-ecological space in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China, from 2000 to 2020 on the basis of the urban metabolic perspective. The results showed that:① the carbon metabolism efficiency of the production-living-ecological space showed a fluctuating growth trend, indicating the significant spatial differentiation of carbon metabolism efficiency in each city. There was a low overall carbon metabolism efficiency level, with a distribution pattern of being high in the middle and low in the north and south. ② The Malmquist index showed that the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) of carbon metabolism efficiency was greater than 1, and both the Technical Change (TC) and Pure Efficiency Change (PEC) were less than 1, in which the TFP showed an increasing trend, whereas there was no significant contribution of technological progress or pure technical efficiency to carbon metabolism efficiency. The total factor productivity of more than 50% of the cities showed an improving trend, only 38.46% of which made technological progress in improving carbon metabolism efficiency, and more than half of the urban pure technical efficiency showed a decreasing trend, in which the technical efficiency change and scale efficiency change were greater than 1 in most cities. ③ There were different types of carbon efficiency characteristics in each city, and according to the movement rules of the corresponding points in the quartile map, the evolution patterns of tourism industry efficiency were classified into stable, reciprocating, progressive, and abrupt. Therefore, local governments should adopt differentiated strategies to reasonably allocate spatial resources of production-living-ecological space and improve the technical level and scale efficiency, so as to improve the efficiency of urban carbon metabolism.

Purpose: Genetic counseling (GC) is standard of care in genetic cancer risk assessment (GCRA). A rigorous assessment of the data reported from published studies is crucial to ensure the evidence-based implementation of GC., Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 17 patient-reported and health-services-related outcomes associated with pre- and post-test GC in GCRA in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology., Results: Twenty-five of 5393 screened articles met inclusion criteria. No articles reporting post-test GC outcomes met inclusion criteria. For patient-reported outcomes, pre-test GC significantly decreased worry, increased knowledge, and decreased perceived risk but did not significantly affect patient anxiety, depression, decisional conflict, satisfaction, or intent to pursue genetic testing. For health-services outcomes, pre-test GC increased correct genetic test ordering, reduced inappropriate services, increased spousal support for genetic testing, and expedited care delivery but did not consistently improve cancer prevention behaviors nor lead to accurate risk assessment. The GRADE certainty in the evidence was very low or low. No included studies elucidated GC effect on mortality, cascade testing, cost-effectiveness, care coordination, shared decision making, or patient time burden., Conclusion: The true impact of GC on relevant outcomes is not known low quality or absent evidence. Although a meta-analysis found that pre-test GC had beneficial effects on knowledge, worry, and risk perception, the certainty of this evidence was low according to GRADE methodology. Further studies are needed to support the evidence-based application of GC in GCRA., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest Julie O. Culver, Nicole L. Bertsch, Raluca N. Kurz, Smita Rao, Shannon Stasi, Chris D. Stave, and Ravi N. Sharaf have no conflicts of interest to declare. At the time of the systematic review, Linda L. Cheng was an employee of Quest Diagnostics and received salary from Quest Diagnostics. Mary Pritzlaff is an employee and receives full time salary from Ambry Genetics and is an intellectual property owner and receives royalties for CancerGene Connect., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Untargeted metabolomics is an analytical approach with numerous applications serving as an effective metabolic phenotyping platform to characterize small molecules within a biological system. Data quality can be challenging to evaluate and demonstrate in metabolomics experiments. This has driven the use of pooled quality control (QC) samples for monitoring and, if necessary, correcting for analytical variance introduced during sample preparation and data acquisition stages. Described herein is a scoping literature review detailing the use of pooled QC samples in published untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based metabolomics studies. A literature query was performed, the list of papers was filtered, and suitable articles were randomly sampled. In total, 109 papers were each reviewed by at least five reviewers, answering predefined questions surrounding the use of pooled quality control samples. The results of the review indicate that use of pooled QC samples has been relatively widely adopted by the metabolomics community and that it is used at a similar frequency across biological taxa and sample types in both small- and large-scale studies. However, while many studies generated and analyzed pooled QC samples, relatively few reported the use of pooled QC samples to improve data quality. This demonstrates a clear opportunity for the field to more frequently utilize pooled QC samples for quality reporting, feature filtering, analytical drift correction, and metabolite annotation. Additionally, our survey approach enabled us to assess the ambiguity in the reporting of the methods used to describe the generation and use of pooled QC samples. This analysis indicates that many details of the QC framework are missing or unclear, limiting the reader's ability to determine which QC steps have been taken. Collectively, these results capture the current state of pooled QC sample usage and highlight existing strengths and deficiencies as they are applied in untargeted LC-MS metabolomics.

Nocardia is an opportunistic pathogen that most commonly affects immunosuppressed hosts, while disseminated infections in healthy hosts are rare. In this paper, we described a case of disseminated Nocardia infection in a non-immunosuppressed host whose initial imaging was strikingly similar to systemic metastasis from a tumor. Since no tumor cells were found in any of the numerous biopsies taken, we considered infection by specific pathogens before metagenomic next-generation sequencing of a lumbar spine tissue biopsy finally confirmed the diagnosis of Nocardia infection. To help doctors better understand this condition and avoid misdiagnosis a, this article provided a summary of the clinical characteristics, diagnostic techniques, and therapeutic options for disseminated nocardiosis.

The high sensitivity to color browning during room-temperature storage was a significant factor in limiting the development of fresh spinach noodles (FSN). The practice of humidity-controlled heat treatment (HCHT) at varying temperatures, relative humidity, and time was carried out to limit enzyme activity and improve the quality of FSN. Results showed that HCHT could maximize the color preservation of fresh spinach noodle quality while effectively inactivating polyphenol oxidase and the yeasts, and mold count in FSN during storage was almost undetectable after mild conditions (80 °C). The hardness and chewiness of HCHT noodles were significantly increased, but the free sulfhydryl content was reduced. At 80 °C, 90 %, 5 min, protein structural aggregation was found in the microstructure of HCHT fresh spinach noodles. HCHT also caused partial gelatinization, as evidenced by the decrease in starch gelatinization enthalpy from 5.49 to 4.77 J/g, although the gelatinization degree of FSN was comparatively low., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most prevalent cancers in men worldwide. For its detection, serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening is commonly used, despite its lack of specificity, high false positive rate, and inability to discriminate indolent from aggressive PCa. Following increases in serum PSA levels, clinicians often conduct prostate biopsies with or without advanced imaging. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics has proven to be promising for advancing early-detection and elucidation of disease progression, through the discovery and characterization of novel biomarkers. This retrospective study of urine-NMR samples, from prostate biopsy patients with and without PCa, identified several metabolites involved in energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and the hippuric acid pathway. Of note, lactate and hippurate-key metabolites involved in cellular proliferation and microbiome effects, respectively-were significantly altered, unveiling widespread metabolomic modifications associated with PCa development. These findings support urine metabolomics profiling as a promising strategy to identify new clinical biomarkers for PCa detection and diagnosis., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: The current study evaluated the diagnostic performance of serum (1,3)-beta-D Glucan (BDG) in differentiating PJP from P. jirovecii-colonization in HIV-uninfected patients with P. jirovecii PCR-positive results., Methods: This was a single-center retrospective study between 2019 and 2021. The diagnosis of PJP was based on the following criteria: detection of P. jirovecii in sputum or BAL specimen by qPCR or microscopy; Meet at least two of the three criteria: (1) have respiratory symptoms of cough and/or dyspnea, hypoxia; (2) typical radiological picture findings; (3) receiving a complete PJP treatment. After exclusion, the participants were divided into derivation and validation cohorts. The derivation cohort defined the cut-off value of serum BDG. Then, it was verified using the validation cohort., Results: Two hundred and thirteen HIV-uninfected patients were enrolled, with 159 PJP and 54 P. jirovecii-colonized patients. BDG had outstanding specificity, LR, and PPV for PJP in both the derivation (90.00%, 8.900, and 96.43%) and the validation (91.67%, 9.176, and 96.30%) cohorts at ≥ 117.7 pg/mL. However, it had lower sensitivity and NPV in the derivation cohort (89.01% and 72.97%), which was even lower in the validation cohort (76.47% and 57.89%). Of note, BDG ≥ 117.7 pg/mL has insufficient diagnostic efficacy for PJP in patients with lung cancer, interstitial lung disease (ILD) and nephrotic syndrome. And although lymphocytes, B cells, and CD4 +  T cells in PJP patients were significantly lower than those in P. jirovecii-colonized patients, the number and proportion of peripheral blood lymphocytes did not affect the diagnostic efficacy of serum BDG., Conclusions: Serum BDG ≥ 117.7 pg/mL could effectively distinguish P. jirovecii-colonization from infection in qPCR-positive HIV-uninfected patients with infectious diseases, solid tumors (excluding lung cancer), autoimmune or inflammatory disorders, and hematological malignancies. Of note, for patients with lung cancer, ILD, and nephrotic diseases, PJP should be cautiously excluded at BDG < 117.7 pg/mL., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with severe immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) related myocarditis. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on the 50 patients with ICIs-related myocarditis in the multidisciplinary cardio-oncology clinic of Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University from April 2020 to April 2022. The age of patients was (63.7±10.8) years old, including 37 males and 13 females. The patients were divided into the mild group ( n =37) and the severe group ( n =13) according to severity. The differences of basic characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, auxiliary examination, combined irAEs, treatment and outcomes between the two groups of patients were analyzed. Results: The immunotherapy time [ M ( Q 1 , Q 3 )] of patients in the mild group and severe group were 81 (49, 134) and 24 (20, 116) days, respectively ( P <0.05). In the severe group, the levels of cTnT [0.605 (0.317, 1.072) μg/L], NT-proBNP [1 126 (386, 1 744) ng/L], CK-MB [78 (48, 238) U/L], and CK-MM [240 (45, 6 543) U/L] were higher than those in the mild group [0.104 (0.045, 0.189) μg/L, 237 (39, 785) ng/L, 24 (20, 33) U/L, 108 (72, 168) U/L, respectively] (all P <0.05). The left ventricular ejection fraction of the severe group [64% (57%, 65%)] was lower than that of the mild group [66% (63%, 69%)] ( P <0.05), and the incidence of conduction block ( n =4, 4/13) and abnormal ventricular wall motion ( n =4, 4/13), the incidence of ICIs-related myositis ( n =10, 10/13), ICIs-related hepatitis ( n =4, 4/13) and ICIs-related neurotoxicity ( n =4, 4/13) were higher than those in the mild group ( n =1, 2.7%; n =2, 5.4%; n =16, 43.2%; n =2, 5.4%; n =1, 2.7%, respectively) (all P <0.05). The proportion of patients receiving intensified immunosuppressive therapy and mortality rate in the severe group were 12/13 ( n =12) and 4/13 ( n =4), which were both higher than those in the mild group [10.8% ( n =4) and 0] (both P <0.05). Conclusions: The incidence of ICIs-related myocarditis is not high, but the severe rate and mortality are high. The differential diagnosis of severe ICIs related myocarditis should be combined with myocardial markers, electrocardiogram and echocardiogram, and early diagnosis and treatment can improve the prognosis of patients.

Objective: To investigate the role of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated myocarditis (ICIAM) with programmed death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibitors involvement, and to explore the therapeutic potential of targeting NETs in the treatment of ICIAM. Methods: Thirty 6-week-old male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into control group ( n =10), myocarditis group ( n =10), and treatment group ( n =10). Apart from the control group, each mouse was subcutaneously injected with 100 μl of complete Freund's adjuvant containing 250 μg of mouse cardiac troponin I peptide on the 1st and 7th day. Starting on the 8th day, PD-1 inhibitor (15 μg/per mouse) was intraperitoneally injected every other day for a total of 5 times. Since 1 day before the beginning of PD-1+TnI injection, the treatment group was injected with PF-1355 (50 mg·kg -1 ·d -1 ) for 16 consecutive days. The mice's general state was observed during the whole process. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RTFQ-PCR) was carried out to evaluate the transcriptional regulation of neutrophil related chemokines, NETs, pyronecrosis related factors and proinflammatory cytokines. Immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and western blot were applied to determine the changes of pyrosis related molecules. Echocardiography showed the differences of main cardiac indexes while cardiac pathology compared the degree of inflammatory infiltration in 3 gruops. Results: The immunofluorescence intensity of myocardial NETs in the myocarditis group was significantly increased compared to the control group mice (2.49±0.08 and 0.99±0.26, P <0.001). The protein expression levels of pyroptosis-related NLRP3, cleaved-Caspase 1, Caspase 1, cleaved-GSDMD, GSDMD, IL-1β and IL-18 in myocardial tissue of the model group were higher than those of the control group (all P <0.05). After treatment with PF-1355, compared to the myocarditis group, the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (73.58%±5.31% and 58.12%±3.19%, P <0.001) and left ventricular fraction shortening (LVFS) (39.78%±4.31% and 33.89%±2.19%, P <0.001) increased. H-E staining showed a reduction in inflammatory infiltration area in the treatment group compared to the myocarditis group (30.12%±3.57% and 14.92%±2.46%, P <0.001). The immunofluorescence intensity of NETs decreased in the treatment group compared to the myocarditis group (2.52±0.04 and 1.03±0.05, P <0.001). The levels of NLRP3 and other pyroptosis-related molecules were downregulated in the treatment group compared to the myocarditis group (all P< 0.05). Conclusions: NETs lead to myocardial cell pyroptosis by activating the NLRP3 inflammasome in PD-1 inhibitor-associated myocarditis. The specific MPO inhibitor PF-1355 shows a therapeutic potential by regulating the formation of NETs, decreasing NLRP3 level and relieving myocardial pyroptosis, thus reducing myocardial damage.

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a metabolic disease, with subtypes exhibiting aberrations in different metabolic pathways. Metabolomics may offer greater sensitivity for revealing disease biology. We investigated the metabolomic profile of RCC using high-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 HMRS)., Methods: Surgical tissue samples were obtained from our frozen tissue bank, collected from radical or partial nephrectomy. Specimens were fresh-frozen, then stored at -80 °C until analysis. Tissue HRMAS- 1 HMRS was performed. A MatLab-based curve fitting program was used to process the spectra to produce relative intensities for 59 spectral regions of interest (ROIs). Comparisons of the metabolomic profiles of various RCC histologies and benign tumors, angiomyolipoma, and oncocytoma, were performed. False discovery rates (FDR) were used from the response screening to account for multiple testing; ROIs with FDR p < 0.05 were considered potential predictors of RCC. Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare median 1 HMRS relative intensities for those metabolites that may differentiate between RCC and benign tumor. Logistic regression determined odds ratios for risk of malignancy based on the abundance of each metabolite., Results: Thirty-eight RCC (16 clear cell, 11 papillary, 11 chromophobe), 10 oncocytomas, 7 angiomyolipomas, and 13 adjacent normal tissue specimens (matched pairs) were analyzed. Candidate metabolites for predictors of malignancy based on FDR p-values include histidine, phenylalanine, phosphocholine, serine, phosphocreatine, creatine, glycerophosphocholine, valine, glycine, myo-inositol, scyllo-inositol, taurine, glutamine, spermine, acetoacetate, and lactate. Higher levels of spermine, histidine, and phenylalanine at 3.15 to 3.13 parts per million (ppm) were associated with decreased risk of RCC (OR 4 × 10 -5 , 95% CI 7.42 × 10 -8 , 0.02), while 2.84 to 2.82 ppm increased the risk of malignant pathology (OR 7158.67, 95% CI 6.3, 8.3 × 10 6 ). The specific metabolites characterizing this region remain to be identified. Tumor stage did not affect metabolomic profile of malignant tumors, suggesting that metabolites are dependent on histologic subtype., Conclusions: HRMAS- 1 HMRS identified metabolites that may predict RCC. We demonstrated that those in the 3.14 to 3.13 ppm ROI were present in lower levels in RCC, while higher levels of metabolites in the 2.84 to 2.82 ppm ROI were associated with substantially increased risk of RCC. Further research in a larger population is required to validate these findings., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Spouses of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients are at a higher risk of developing incidental dementia. However, the causes and underlying mechanism of this clinical observation remain largely unknown. One possible explanation is linked to microbiota dysbiosis, a condition that has been associated with AD. However, it remains unclear whether gut microbiota dysbiosis can be transmitted from AD individuals to non-AD individuals and contribute to the development of AD pathogenesis and cognitive impairment. We, therefore, set out to perform both animal studies and clinical investigation by co-housing wild-type mice and AD transgenic mice, analyzing microbiota via 16S rRNA gene sequencing, measuring short-chain fatty acid amounts, and employing behavioral test, mass spectrometry, site-mutations and other methods. The present study revealed that co-housing between wild-type mice and AD transgenic mice or administrating feces of AD transgenic mice to wild-type mice resulted in AD-associated gut microbiota dysbiosis, Tau phosphorylation, and cognitive impairment in the wild-type mice. Gavage with Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium restored these changes in the wild-type mice. The oral and gut microbiota of AD patient partners resembled that of AD patients but differed from healthy controls, indicating the transmission of microbiota. The underlying mechanism of these findings includes that the butyric acid-mediated acetylation of GSK3β at lysine 15 regulated its phosphorylation at serine 9, consequently impacting Tau phosphorylation. Pending confirmative studies, these results provide insight into a potential link between the transmission of AD-associated microbiota dysbiosis and development of cognitive impairment, which underscore the need for further research in this area., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Article Title and Bibliographic Information: Reis INRD, do Amaral GCLS, Hassan MA, Villar CC, Romito GA, Spin-Neto R, Pannuti CM. The influence of smoking on the incidence of peri‑implantitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Oral Implants Res. 2023 Mar 20. doi:10.1111/clr.14066. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36,939,434., Source of Funding: None reported., Type of Study/design: Systematic review with meta-analysis., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Currently, many prostate cancer patients, detected through the prostate specific antigen test, harbor organ-confined indolent disease that cannot be differentiated from aggressive cancer according to clinically and pathologically known measures. Spermine has been considered as an endogenous inhibitor for prostate-confined cancer growth and its expression has shown correlation with prostate cancer growth rates. If established clinically, measurements of spermine bio-synthesis rates in prostates may predict prostate cancer growth and patient outcomes. Using rat models, we tested the feasibility of quantifying spermine bio-synthesis rates with 13 C NMR. Male Copenhagen rats (10 weeks, n = 6) were injected with uniformly 13 C-labeled L-ornithine HCl, and were sacrificed in pairs at 10, 30, and 60 min after injection. Another two rats were injected with saline and sacrificed at 30 min as controls. Prostates were harvested and extracted with perchloric acid and the neutralized solutions were examined by 13 C NMR at 600 MHz. 13 C NMR revealed measurable ornithine, as well as putrescine-spermidine-spermine syntheses in rat prostates, allowing polyamine bio-synthetic and ornithine bio-catabolic rates to be calculated. Our study demonstrated the feasibility of 13 C NMR for measuring bio-synthesis rates of ornithine to spermine enzymatic reactions in rat prostates. The current study established a foundation upon which future investigations of protocols that differentiate prostate cancer growth rates according to the measure of ornithine to spermine bio-synthetic rates may be developed., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: The early radiological signs of progression in bronchiectasis remain unclear. The objective of the present study was to compare endobronchial optical coherence tomography (EB-OCT) and chest computed tomography (CT) for the evaluation of radiological progression of bronchiectasis via stratification of the presence (TW + ) or absence (TW - ) of thickened-walled bronchioles surrounding dilated bronchi in patients with bronchiectasis based on CT, and determine the risk factors., Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we performed both chest CT and EB-OCT at baseline and 5-year follow-up, to compare changes in airway calibre metrics. We evaluated bacterial microbiology, sputum matrix metalloproteinase-9 levels and free neutrophil elastase activity at baseline. We compared clinical characteristics and airway calibre metrics between the TW + and TW - groups. We ascertained radiological progression at 5 years via CT and EB-OCT., Results: We recruited 75 patients between 2014 and 2017. At baseline, EB-OCT metrics (mean luminal diameter (p=0.017), inner airway area (p=0.005) and airway wall area (p=0.009) of seventh- to ninth-generation bronchioles) were significantly greater in the TW + group than in the TW - group. Meanwhile, EB-OCT did not reveal bronchiole dilatation (compared with the same segment of normal bronchioles) surrounding nondilated bronchi on CT in the TW - group. At 5 years, 53.1% of patients in the TW + group progressed to have bronchiectasis measured with EB-OCT, compared with only 3.3% in TW - group (p<0.05). 34 patients in the TW + group demonstrated marked dilatation of medium-sized and small airways. Higher baseline neutrophil elastase activity and TW + bronchioles on CT predicted progression of bronchiectasis., Conclusion: Thickened-walled bronchioles surrounding the dilated bronchi, identified with EB-OCT, indicates progression of bronchiectasis., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: W-j. Guan is an associate editor of this journal., (Copyright ©The authors 2023.)