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Abstract Background Gouty arthritis (GA) is characterized by monosodium urate (MSU) crystal accumulation that instigates NLRP3-mediated pyroptosis; however, the underlying regulatory mechanisms have yet to be fully elucidated. The present research endeavors to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms underpinning this MSU-induced pyroptotic cascade in GA. Methods J774 cells were exposed to lipopolysaccharide and MSU crystals to establish in vitro GA models, whereas C57BL/6 J male mice received MSU crystal injections to mimic in vivo GA conditions. Gene and protein expression levels were evaluated using real-time quantitative PCR, Western blotting, and immunohistochemical assays. Inflammatory markers were quantified via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Pyroptosis was evaluated using immunofluorescence staining for caspase-1 and flow cytometry with caspase-1/propidium iodide staining. The interaction between MDM2 and PPARγ was analyzed through co-immunoprecipitation assays, whereas the interaction between BRD4 and the MDM2 promoter was examined using chromatin immunoprecipitation and dual-luciferase reporter assays. Mouse joint tissues were histopathologically evaluated using hematoxylin and eosin staining. Results In GA, PPARγ was downregulated, whereas its overexpression mitigated NLRP3 inflammasome activation and pyroptosis. MDM2, which was upregulated in GA, destabilized PPARγ through the ubiquitin–proteasome degradation pathway, whereas its silencing attenuated NLRP3 activation by elevating PPARγ levels. Concurrently, BRD4 was elevated in GA and exacerbated NLRP3 activation and pyroptosis by transcriptionally upregulating MDM2, thereby promoting PPARγ degradation. In vivo experiments showed that BRD4 silencing ameliorated GA through this MDM2–PPARγ–pyroptosis axis. Conclusion BRD4 promotes inflammation and pyroptosis in GA through MDM2-mediated PPARγ degradation, underscoring the therapeutic potential of targeting this pathway in GA management.

Abstract Background Cost-related medication nonadherence (CRN) is associated with poor prognosis among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a population that requires long-term treatment for secondary prevention. In this study, we aimed to estimate the prevalence and sociodemographic characteristics of CRN in individuals with COPD in the US. Methods In a nationally representative survey of US adults in the National Health Interview Survey (2013–2020), we identified individuals aged ≥18 years with a self-reported history of COPD. Cross-sectional study. Results Of the 15,928 surveyed individuals, a weighted 18.56% (2.39 million) reported experiencing CRN, including 12.50% (1.61 million) missing doses, 13.30% (1.72 million) taking lower than prescribed doses, and 15.74% (2.03 million) delaying filling prescriptions to save costs. Factors including age

The gut microbiota influences host metabolism and health, impacting diseases. Research into how diet affects gut microbiome dynamics in model organisms is crucial but underexplored. Herein, we examined how dietary adenine affects uric acid levels and the gut microbiota over five generations of Drosophila melanogaster. Wild-type W1118 flies consumed diets with various adenine concentrations (GC: 0%, GL: 0.05%, and GH: 0.10%), and their gut microbiota were assessed via Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Adenine intake significantly increased uric acid levels in the GH group > the GC group. Despite no significant differences in the alpha diversity indices, there were significant disparities in the gut microbiota health index (GMHI) and dysbiosis index (MDI) among the groups. Adenine concentrations significantly altered the diversity and composition of the gut microbiota. High adenine intake correlated with increased uric acid levels and microbial population shifts, notably affecting the abundances of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. The gut microbiota phenotypes included mobile elements, gram-positive bacteria, biofilm-forming bacteria, and gram-negative bacteria. The significantly enriched KEGG pathways included ageing, carbohydrate metabolism, and the immune system. In conclusion, adenine intake increases uric acid levels, alters gut microbiota, and affects KEGG pathways in Drosophila across generations. This study highlights the impact of dietary adenine on uric acid levels and the gut microbiota, providing insights into intergenerational nutritional effects.

Background: The evidence on the association between cobalamin (Cbl) and aging or relevant outcomes is limited and controversial. We aimed to investigate the relationships between cobalamin intake- and function-related biomarkers and biological aging. Methods: The study encompassed 22,812 participants aged 20 years and older from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A panel of biomarkers or algorithms was used to assess biological aging, including Klemera–Doubal Age Acceleration (KDMAccel), Phenotypic age acceleration (PhenoAgeAccel), telomere length, α-Klotho, and PhenoAge advancement. Weighted generalized linear regression analysis was used to assess the associations between cobalamin-intake biomarkers (serum cobalamin, cobalamin intake from food, cobalamin supplement use, serum methylmalonic acid [MMA], and homocysteine [Hcy]) and function-related biomarkers (functional cobalamin deficiency and cobalamin insensitivity index). Results: Among the 22,812 individuals, the weighted mean (SE) age was 48.3 (0.2) years and 48.0% were males. Unexpectedly, serum and dietary cobalamin as well as serum MMA and Hcy levels were positively associated with most indicators of biological aging. Cobalamin sensitivity was assessed by the combination of binary Cbllow/high and MMAlow/high or Hcylow/high (cutoff values: 400 pg/mL for cobalamin, 250 nmol/L for MMA, and 12.1 μmol/l for Hcy) and a newly constructed cobalamin insensitivity index (based on the multiplicative term of serum cobalamin and serum MMA or Hcy). The multivariable-adjusted β (95%CIs) of KDMAccel in the MMAlowCbllow, MMAlowCblhigh, MMAhighCbllow, and MMAhighCblhigh groups were reference, 0.27 (0.03 to 0.51), 0.85 (0.41 to 1.29), and 7.97 years (5.77 to 10.17) respectively, which were consistent for the combination of serum Hcy and cobalamin. Both cobalamin insensitivity indices were robustly associated with biological aging acceleration in a dose-response pattern (each p

In recent years, with the improvement of people’s living standards, the incidence of DM has increased year by year in China. DM is a common metabolic syndrome characterized by hyperglycemia caused by genetic, environmental and other factors. At the same time, long-term suffering from DM will also have an impact on the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves, and associated serious diseases. The human body has a large and complex gut microbiota, which has a significant impact on the body’s metabolism. Research shows that the occurrence and development of DM and its complications are closely related to intestinal microbiota. At present, western medicine generally treats DM with drugs. The hypoglycemic effect is fast and strong, but it can have a series of side effects on the human body. Compared with western medicine, Chinese medicine has its unique views and methods in treating DM. TCM can improve symptoms and treat complications by improving the imbalance of microbiota in patients with DM. Its characteristics of health, safety, and reliability are widely accepted by the general public. This article reviews the relationship between intestinal microbiota and DM, as well as the mechanism of TCM intervention in DM by regulating intestinal microbiota.

Whether thymectomy (TM) or thymomectomy (TMM) is better for non-myasthenic patients with early-stage thymoma. We conducted a meta-analysis to compare the clinical outcomes and prognoses of non-myasthenic patients with early-stage thymoma treated using thymectomy versus thymomectomy. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and CNKI databases were systematically searched for relevant studies on the surgical treatment (TM and TMM) of non-myasthenic patients with early-stage thymoma published before March 2022. The Newcastle–Ottawa scale was used to evaluate the quality of the studies, and the data were analyzed using RevMan version 5.30. Fixed or random effect models were used for the meta-analysis depending on heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses were performed to compare short-term perioperative and long-term tumor outcomes. A total of 15 eligible studies, including 3023 patients, were identified in the electronic databases. Our analysis indicated that TMM patients might benefit from a shorter duration of surgery (p = 0.006), lower blood loss volume (p

Background: Persistent hyperuricemia can lead to the generation and deposition of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals. This can trigger gouty arthritis (GA), which in turn induces inflammation. Activation of the Nod-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome plays a critical role in the onset and progression of GA. Autophagy may have a dual effect on GA with regard to the NLRP3 inflammasome. Therefore, the present study aimed to gain a deeper comprehension of the interaction between autophagy and NLRP3 inflammasome activation is imperative for developing more efficacious treatments for GA. Methods: Peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs) were first isolated from GA patients and healthy controls and underwent bulk RNA sequencing analysis. Overexpression and knockdown of dual specificity phosphatase 1 (DUSP1) was performed in THP-1 monocytes to investigate its role in the immune response and mitochondrial damage. The luciferase assay and Western blot analysis were used to study the interaction between autophagy and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Results: Bulk RNA sequencing analysis showed significant upregulation of DUSP1 expression in PBMCs from GA patients compared to healthy controls. This result was subsequently verified by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). DUSP1 expression in human THP-1 monocytes was also shown to increase after MSU treatment. Downregulation of DUSP1 expression increased the secretion of inflammatory cytokines after MSU treatment, whereas the overexpression of DUSP1 decreased the secretion levels. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) combined with adenosine-triphosphate (ATP) led to mitochondrial damage, which was rescued by overexpressing DUSP1. DUSP1 overexpression further increased the level of autophagy following MSU treatment, whereas downregulation of DUSP1 decreased autophagy. Treatment with the autophagy inhibitor 3-Methyladenine (3-MA) restored inflammatory cytokine secretion levels in the DUSP1 overexpression group. MSU caused pronounced pathological ankle swelling in vivo. However, DUSP1 overexpression significantly mitigated this phenotype, accompanied by significant downregulation of inflammatory cytokine secretion levels in the joint tissues. Conclusions: This study revealed a novel function and mechanism for DUSP1 in promoting autophagy to mitigate the MSU-induced immune response in GA. This finding suggests potential diagnostic biomarkers and anti-inflammatory targets for more effective GA therapy.

Polysaccharides have been assessed as a potential natural active component in Chinese herbal medicine with anti-inflammatory properties. However, the complex and indefinite structures of polysaccharides limit their applications. This study explains the structures and anti-inflammatory potentials of three neutral polysaccharides, RIP-A1 (Mw 1.8 × 104 Da), RIP-B1 (Mw 7.4 × 104 Da) and RIP-B2 (Mw 9.3 × 104 Da), which were isolated from the roots of Isatis indigotica Fort. with sequenced ultrafiltration membrane columns, DEAE-52 and Sephadex G-100. The planar structures and microstructures of RIP-A1, RIP-B1 and RIP-B2 were further determined by HPGPC, GC–MS, methylation analysis, FT-IR, SEM and AFM, in which the structure of RIP-A1 was elucidated in detail using 1D/2D NMR. The Raw 264.7 cells were used for the anti-inflammatory activity in vitro. The results showed that RIP-A1, RIP-B1 and RIP-B2 are all neutral polysaccharides, with RIP-A1 having the smallest Mw and the simplest monosaccharide composition of the three. RIP-A1 is mainly composed of Ara and Gal, except for a small quantity of Rha. Its main structure is covered with glycosidic linkages of T-α-Araf, 1,2-α-Rhap, 1,5-α-Araf, T-β-Galp, 1,2,4-α-Rhap, 1,3,5-α-Araf and 1,6-β-Galp with 0.33:0.12:1.02:0.09:0.45:11.41:10.23. RIP-A1 significantly inhibited pro-inflammatory cytokines (NO, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β) and increased anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-4) in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Moreover, RIP-A1 could significantly inhibit the mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-6 and L-1β. It could also activate IKK, p65 and IκBα (the components of the NF-κB signaling pathway). In conclusion, the above results show the structural characterization and anti-inflammatory potentials of RIP-A1 as an effective natural anti-inflammatory drug.

Abstract Background Gouty arthritis is the most frequently diagnosed inflammatory arthritis worldwide. Dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), a regulator of mitochondrial fission, contributes to various inflammatory disorders via activating NLRP3 inflammasome. However, the biological role of Drp1 in gouty arthritis remains undefined. Methods A mouse model of monosodium urate (MSU)-induced gouty arthritis and MSU-stimulated macrophages were established as in vivo and in vitro models, respectively. Histological changes were assessed by H&E and IHC analysis. RT-qPCR and western blot were used to detect the expression of Drp1 and the key molecules in joint tissues and macrophages. Cytokine secretion was measured by ELISA assay, and antioxidant enzymes activities and LDH release were monitored using commercial kits. Mitochondrial structure and functions were assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and MitoSOX staining. Co-IP and GST pull-down assay were used to detect the direct interaction between USP16 and Drp1, as well as the ubiquitination of Drp1. Results Drp1 was elevated in MSU-induced gouty arthritis model, and it induced gouty arthritis via NF-κB pathway and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In addition, Drp1 activated NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling via modulating mitochondrial fission. Mechanistically, USP16 mediated deubiquitination and stabilization of Drp1 through its direct interaction with Drp1. Functional studies further showed that USP16 was highly expressed in MSU-stimulated macrophages and induced gouty arthritis via Drp1-dependent NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Conclusion Deubiquitinase USP16 induced gouty arthritis via Drp1-dependent mitochondrial fission and NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling.

Abstracts: MicroRNA-132 (miR-132) is a highly conserved molecule that plays a crucial regulatory role in central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The expression levels of miR-132 exhibit variability in various neurological disorders and have been closely linked to disease onset and progression. The expression level of miR-132 in the CNS is regulated by a diverse range of stimuli and signaling pathways, including neuronal migration and integration, dendritic outgrowth, and complexity, synaptogenesis, synaptic plasticity, as well as inflammation and apoptosis activation. The aberrant expression of miR-132 in various central neurodegenerative diseases has garnered widespread attention. Clinical studies have revealed altered miR-132 expression levels in both chronic and acute CNS diseases, positioning miR-132 as a potential biomarker or therapeutic target. An in-depth exploration of miR-132 holds the promise of enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms underlying CNS diseases, thereby offering novel insights and strategies for disease diagnosis and treatment. It is anticipated that this review will assist researchers in recognizing the potential value of miR-132 and in generating innovative ideas for clinical trials related to CNS degenerative diseases.

The recognition of underwater acoustic targets plays a crucial role in marine vessel monitoring. However, traditional underwater target recognition models suffer from limitations, including low recognition accuracy and slow prediction speed. To address these challenges, this article introduces a novel approach called the Multi-Gradient Flow Global Feature Enhancement Network (MGFGNet) for automatic recognition of underwater acoustic targets. Firstly, a new spectrogram feature fusion scheme is presented, effectively capturing both the physical and brain-inspired features of the acoustic signal. This fusion technique enhances the representation of underwater acoustic data, resulting in more accurate recognition results. Moreover, MGFGNet utilizes the multi-gradient flow network and incorporates a multi-dimensional feature enhancement technique to achieve fast and precise end-to-end recognition. Finally, a loss function is introduced to mitigate the influence of unbalanced data sets on model recognition performance using Taylor series. This further enhances model recognition performance. Experimental evaluations were conducted on the DeepShip dataset to assess the performance of our proposed method. The results demonstrate the superiority of MGFGNet, achieving a recognition rate of 99.1%, which significantly surpasses conventional methods. Furthermore, MGFGNet exhibits improved efficiency compared to the widely used ResNet18 model, reducing the parameter count by 51.28% and enhancing prediction speed by 33.9%. Additionally, we evaluated the generalization capability of our model using the ShipsEar dataset, where MGFGNet achieves a recognition rate of 99.5%, indicating its superior performance when applied to unbalanced data. The promising results obtained in this study highlight the potential of MGFGNet in practical applications.

Background: Data regarding the association of sarcopenia with chronic lung disease (CLD) has led to inconclusive results. The main goal of this research was to investigate the association between sarcopenia and CLD in middle-aged and elderly individuals in China. Methods: The study sample consisted of 11,077 individuals without CLD at baseline chosen from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data from 2015, followed up until 2018. Sarcopenia was identified utilizing the criteria set by the Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia (AWGS 2019) in 2019. Individuals were categorized into no-sarcopenia, possible-sarcopenia, and sarcopenia groups. The outcome of the study was considered to be incident CLD, which included chronic bronchitis, emphysema, pulmonary heart disease, and asthma. The association between sarcopenia and the risk of CLD was also examined by employing weighted Cox proportional hazard regression models. Results: A total of 356 (3.20 %) participants developed CLD during the 3.6-year follow-up period. The cumulative incidence of CLD in the no-sarcopenia, possible-sarcopenia, and sarcopenia groups was 2.80 % (230/8222), 4.37 % (55/1260), and 4.45 % (71/1595), respectively. Individuals with possible sarcopenia {hazard ratio [HR] [95 % confidence interval (CI)]: 1.48 [1.04–2.09]} and sarcopenia [HR (95 % CI): 1.68 (1.12–2.51)] demonstrated a considerably high risk of developing CLD compared to individuals in the no-sarcopenia group. Moreover, individuals diagnosed with sarcopenia, as per the criteria established by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) 2018, were at considerably high risk for developing CLD compared to those in the no-sarcopenia group. Conclusion: This research involving adult Chinese individuals demonstrated a significant association between, possible sarcopenia and sarcopenia with an elevated risk of incident CLD, thereby emphasizing the importance of monitoring respiratory health in this population. Key points: Question: Whether muscle mass and sarcopenia are associated with the development of chronic lung disease (CLD) in Asian middle-aged and elderly individuals.Findings: This longitudinal study encompassing 11,077 adults aged ≥45 years from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data with 3.6 years of follow-up revealed a positive association between sarcopenia at baseline and incidence of CLD.Meaning: The findings suggest that possible sarcopenia and sarcopenia are linked to the development of CLD. Consequently, middle-aged and elderly individuals with possible sarcopenia and sarcopenia can be considered vulnerable regarding the primary prevention strategies for CLD.

BackgroundAlthough the association of zinc (Zn) with cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been studied, no consensus has been reached on this relationship, particularly dietary Zn intake. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of dietary Zn intake on the risk of CVD and to analyze whether this effect varied according to zinc consumption using representative data from China.Methods11,470 adults from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) were eventually enrolled. The dietary information was collected by the 3 day 24-h dietary recalls combined with dietary weighting method. CVD was defined as participants with self-reported physician-diagnosed apoplexy and/or myocardial infarction during the follow-up. Cox regression was used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) of CVD with 95% confidence intervals. Restricted cubic spline function plus Cox regression was used to visualize the influence trend of dietary Zn intake on new-onset CVD and to test whether this trend is linear. 2-segment Cox regression was established to address the nonlinear trend.Results431 participants developed CVD, including 262 strokes and 197 myocardial infarctions. Compared with the lowest quintile (Q1), the adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence interval (CI) of CVD in Q2 to Q5 of dietary Zn intake were 0.72 (0.54, 0.97), 0.59 (0.42, 0.81), 0.50 (0.34, 0.72) and 0.44 (0.27, 0.71), respectively. The influence trend of dietary Zn intake on new-onset CVD was nonlinear and L-shaped. When dietary Zn intake

Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is a type of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma with a high incidence. About one-third of patients are resistant or eventually relapse. The prognosis for patients with relapsed/resistant diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who need salvage therapy is not optimistic. Aims: To explore whether homebox D3 binding to lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5C promoted malignant progression of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma by decreasing p53 expression. Study Design: Cell culture study. Methods: The mRNA and protein expression of lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5C and homebox D3 in cells were respectively detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis and Western blot. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis and Western blot were also applied to determine the transfection effects of shRNA-KDM5C or OeHOXD3 in OCI-Ly7 cells. After transfection, the cell viability, proliferation, and apoptosis were respectively analyzed by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, EdU staining, and acridine orange—ethidium bromide staining. The interaction between homebox D3 and lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5C promoter was verified by the dual-luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay. Results: Lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5C mRNA expression (HBL1 2.84 ± 0.29; SUDHL4 3.53 ± 0.21; OCI-Ly8 4.06 ± 0.24; OCI-Ly7 5.03 ± 0.28 vs. GM12878 1.00 ± 0.07; all P < .001) and protein expression (HBL1 1.52 ± 0.06; SUDHL4 1.77 ± 0.10; OCI-Ly8 2.34 ± 0.07; OCI-Ly7 2.78 ± 0.07 vs. GM12878 1.00 ± 0.07; all P < .001) in DLBCL cells were higher than that in GM12878 cells and showed the highest in OCI-Ly7 cells. Homebox D3 mRNA (OCI-Ly7 3.85 ± 0.17 vs. GM12878 1.00 ± 0.05; P < .001) and protein (OCI-Ly7 1.73 ± 0.10 vs. GM12878 1.00 ± 0.06; P < .001) expression were also highly expressed in OCI-Ly7 cells. Moreover, down-regulation of lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5C suppressed the viability and proliferation and enhanced the apoptosis of OCI-Ly7 cells. Knockdown of lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5C decreased the B-cell lymphoma 2 expression while increased the expression of Bax, cleaved caspase 3, cytochrome C, p53, and p21. The transcription factor homebox D3 was confirmed to interact with the lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5C promoter. Homebox D3 overexpression could reverse the regulating effect of down-regulation of lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5C on the OCI-Ly7 cells. Conclusion: Homebox D3 up-regulating lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5C promotes malignant progression of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma by decreasing p53 expression.

Spider mite infestations are a serious hazard for jujube trees in China. The use of remote sensing technology to evaluate the health of jujube trees in large-scale intensive agricultural production is an effective means of agricultural control. Hyperspectral remote sensing has a higher spectral resolution and richer spectral information than conventional multispectral remote sensing, which improves the detection of crop pests and diseases. We used hyperspectral remote sensing data from jujube fields infested with spider mite in Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang to evaluate their use in monitoring this important pest. We fused spectral and spatial information from the hyperspectral images and propose a method of recognizing spider mite infestations of jujube trees. Our method is based on the construction of spectral features, the fusion of spatial information and clustering of these spectral–spatial features. We evaluated the effect of different spectral–spatial features and different clustering methods on the recognition of spider mite in jujube trees. The experimental results showed that the overall accuracy of the method for the recognition of spider mites was >93% and the overall accuracy of the band clustering–density peak clustering model for the recognition of spider mite reached 96.13%. This method can be applied to the control of jujube spider mites in agricultural production.

BackgroundAs an essential trace element in the body, selenium is associated with the development of many diseases. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between dietary selenium intake and new-onset stroke risk in Chinese adults.MethodsAdults aged ≥18 years in the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 2004 to 2015 were enrolled. Participants were divided into five groups according to the quintile of dietary selenium intake: Q1 (≤ 29.80 μg/day), Q2 (29.80–38.53 μg/day), Q3 (38.53–47.23 μg/day), Q4 (47.23–60.38 μg/day), Q 5(>60.38 μg/day). Cox proportional-hazards model was used to explore the effect of dietary selenium on new-onset stroke. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) was used to visualize the dose-response relationship between dietary selenium and the risk of morbidity.ResultsA total of 11,532 subjects were included, and 271 (2.35%) of them developed stroke during a mean follow-up of 6.78 person-years. Compared with the lowest selenium intake group, the HR and 95%CI of stroke in the participants with selenium intake of Q2, Q3, Q4 and Q5 were: 0.85 (0.59, 1.21), 0.62 (0.42, 0.92), 0.43 (0.28, 0.68), 0.49 (0.30, 0.82), respectively. There was an L-shaped relationship between dietary selenium and stroke (nonlinear P-value = 0.0420). The HR and 95%CI of developing stroke was 0.75 (0.65, 0.87) in participants with selenium intake ≤ 60 μg/day.ConclusionsThe L-shaped negative association between dietary selenium and stroke in Chinese adults which indicated that dietary selenium should be improved to a certain level to prevent stroke.

During the growth season, jujube trees are susceptible to infestation by the leaf mite, which reduces the fruit quality and productivity. Traditional monitoring techniques for mites are time-consuming, difficult, subjective, and result in a time lag. In this study, the method based on a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm extreme learning machine for estimation of leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD) under leaf mite infestation in jujube was proposed. Initially, image data and SPAD values for jujube orchards under four severities of leaf mite infestation were collected for analysis. Six vegetation indices and SPAD value were chosen for correlation analysis to establish the estimation model for SPAD and the vegetation indices. To address the influence of colinearity between spectral bands, the feature band with the highest correlation coefficient was retrieved first using the successive projection algorithm. In the modeling process, the PSO correlation coefficient was initialized with the convergent optimal approximation of the fitness function value; the root mean square error (RMSE) of the predicted and measured values was derived as an indicator of PSO goodness-of-fit to solve the problems of ELM model weights, threshold randomness, and uncertainty of network parameters; and finally, an iterative update method was used to determine the particle fitness value to optimize the minimum error or iteration number. The results reflected that significant differences were observed in the spectral reflectance of the jujube canopy corresponding with the severity of leaf mite infestation, and the infestation severity was negatively correlated with the SPAD value of jujube leaves. The selected vegetation indices NDVI, RVI, PhRI, and MCARI were positively correlated with SPAD, whereas TCARI and GI were negatively correlated with SPAD. The accuracy of the optimized PSO-ELM model (R2 = 0.856, RMSE = 0.796) was superior to that of the ELM model alone (R2 = 0.748, RMSE = 1.689). The PSO-ELM model for remote sensing estimation of relative leaf chlorophyll content of jujube shows high fault tolerance and improved data-processing efficiency. The results provide a reference for the utility of UAV remote sensing for monitoring leaf mite infestation of jujube.

Abstract Background This study incorporates fundamental research referring to considerable amounts of gene-sequencing data and bioinformatics tools to analyze the pathological mechanisms of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Methods A lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network of DLBCL was constructed through database analysis combining GTEx and TCGA. qPCR was used to detect the expression of LINC00963 and miR-320a in DLBCL cell lines. After LINC00963 or miR-320a overexpression in vitro, western blot was performed to assess the protein levels of UPR sensors (GRP78, p-IRE1, IRE1, active ATF6, ATF4 and XBP1), along with apoptosis markers (Bcl-2, Bax, caspase 3) and autophagy indicators (Beclin1, LC3II, LC3I and p62). Additionally, the expression of LC3 was analyzed through immunofluorescence (IF) assay. Results Following LINC00963 overexpression in vitro, SUDHL4 cell line showed a marked increase in the level of UPR-related GRP78, p-IRE1 and spliced XBP-1/XBP-1(s), apoptosis-related Bax and cleaved caspase 3, as well as autophagy-related Beclin1 and LC3II, whereas miR-320a mimic greatly diminished the effects of LINC00963 overexpression. Moreover, LINC00963 targeted miR-320a while miR-320a bound to the 3’UTR of XBP1. It was also found that LINC00963 overexpression resulted in significantly delayed tumor growth in a xenograft model of DLBCL. Conclusion Mechanistically, LINC00963/miR-320a regulated XBP1-apoptosis pathway and autophagy, implying the therapeutic potential of this pathway for selective targeting. The data presented here illustrated the mechanism of LINC00963/miR-320a/XBP1 in DLBCL for the first time.

A high-purine diet can cause hyperuricemia and destroy the microbial composition of the gut microbiota. Both folic acid and zinc significantly reduce uric acid levels and alleviate hyperuricemia. However, whether the underlying mechanisms are associated with the regulation of the gut microbiota remain unknown. To explore alterations of the gut microbiota related to folic acid and zinc treatment in rats with hyperuricemia in our study. A hyperuricemic rat model was established with a high-purine diet. The effects of folic acid and zinc on uric acid levels were evaluated. Alterations of the gut microbiota related to hyperuricemia and the treatments were evaluated by sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq system. The results demonstrated that uric acid levels dropped observably, and the activities of adenosine deaminase (ADA) and xanthine oxidase (XOD) were downregulated after folic acid or zinc intervention. 16S rRNA gene sequencing-based gut microbiota analysis revealed that folic acid and zinc enhanced the abundance of probiotic bacteria and reduced that of pathogenic bacteria, thus improving intestinal barrier function. PICRUST analysis indicated that folic acid and zinc restored gut microbiota metabolism. These findings indicate that folic acid and zinc ameliorate hyperuricemia by inhibiting uric acid biosynthesis and stimulating uric acid excretion by modulating the gut microbiota. Thus, folic acid and zinc may be new and safe therapeutic agents to improve hyperuricemia.

The traditional agent-based model requires high computing power of the central processing unit. Thus, an improved agent-based model combined with the discrete event simulation method is proposed. The result of the equation-based Susceptible-Exposed-Infective-Asymptomatic-Recovered (SEIAR) model with the same parameter combination, which has been demonstrated to be effective, is used to verify the validity of this improved agent-based model. Additionally, an analysis based on simulation results of the Contact Tracing Measure (CTM), Location-Based Checking-Testing Measure (LCTM), Lockdown Measure (LM), Mobile Cabin Isolation and Hospital Measure (MCHM) is presented. The simulation results show that implementing long-term lockdown measures has the best effect on epidemic control. Moreover, according to the simulation results, we inferred that using only nonpharmaceutical epidemic prevention measures may result in a second outbreak of COVID-19 owing to the risk of asymptomatic transmission.

Taking the deep foundation pit of a metro station with rich water environment as the research background, a three-dimensional model of seepage-stress coupling is established. Numerical simulation is used to study the deformation process and influencing factors of deep foundation pit dewatering and excavation of the station, and the influence of dfferent pre-dewatering conditions and different depths of the water-stop curtain on the deformation of the foundation pit is analyzed. The results show that during the dewatering and excavation of foundation pits, seepage-stress has an obvious coupling effect in dewatering and excavation. The stress concentration position of retaining structure and the maximum displacement of lateral displacement are about 0.5–0.6 excavation depth of pile body. With the depth of precipitation increases, the seepage effect in the soil layer is obviously enhanced, which is not conducive to the stability of the foundation pit.

Background: The benefit of postoperative chemotherapy remains controversial for patients with either a micropapillary or solid pattern in stage IB non-small cell lung cancer. This study is designed to explore the significance of postoperative chemotherapy in patients with either a micropapillary or solid pattern in stage IB lung adenocarcinoma.Method: To conduct the meta-analysis, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase and Medline were used to collect literature on long-term follow-up studies published before March, 2021, involving postoperative chemotherapy for patients with both a micropapillary or solid pattern in stage IB lung adenocarcinoma as compared to non-postoperative chemotherapy. Survival data was extracted from the literature, including the overall survival and disease-free survival. Based on overall survival and disease-free survival, hazard ratios and their 95% of confidence intervals were applied to assess the prognostic effect of postoperative chemotherapy. Review Manager software was used to merge the effect size for the meta-analysis.Result: In total, 6 papers with 956 patients were included. In terms of the prognosis of patients suffering from lung cancer when receiving postoperative chemotherapy, this study comprehensively reviews and evaluates the available evidence of micropapillary or solid patterns. After excluding the heterogeneity between the studies, we found that the pooled results from 6 studies report that postoperative chemotherapy was associated with a better overall survival rate when compared with non-postoperative chemotherapy (hazard ratio = 0.58, 95% confidence interval, 0.44–0.77; P = 0.0002). Postoperative chemotherapy also significantly improved the disease-free survival in patients with either a micropapillary or a solid pattern in stage IB lung adenocarcinoma (postoperative chemotherapy vs. non-postoperative chemotherapy, hazard ratio = 0.51, 95% confidence interval, 0.40–0.64; P < 0.001). However, a subgroup analysis showed that compared with non-postoperative chemotherapy, tumor size was unrelated to the prognosis of patients in stage IB undergoing postoperative chemotherapy (hazard ratio = 0.98, 95% confidence interval, 0.94–1.02; P = 0.27).Conclusion: Postoperative chemotherapy results in a better long-term survival rate for patients with either a solid or a micropapillary pattern in stage IB lung adenocarcinoma. Multi-center, prospective, clinical trials are needed to validate our findings.

With the development of information technology, the amount of power grid topology data has gradually increased. Therefore, accurate querying of this data has become particularly important. Several researchers have chosen different indexing methods in the filtering stage to obtain more optimized query results because currently there is no uniform and efficient indexing mechanism that achieves good query results. In the traditional algorithm, the hash table for index storage is prone to “collision” problems, which decrease the index construction efficiency. Aiming at the problem of quick index entry, based on the construction of frequent subgraph indexes, a method of serialized storage optimization based on multiple hash tables is proposed. This method mainly uses the exploration sequence to make the keywords evenly distributed; it avoids conflicts of the stored procedure and performs a quick search of the index. The proposed algorithm mainly adopts the “filter-verify” mechanism; in the filtering stage, the index is first established offline, and then the frequent subgraphs are found using the “contains logic” rule to obtain the candidate set. Experimental results show that this method can reduce the time and scale of candidate set generation and improve query efficiency. Keywords: Power grid, Graph database, Graph computing, Multi-Hash table, Frequent subgraphs

Bone defects occurring for various reasons can lead to deformities and dysfunctions of the human body. Considering the need for clinical applications, it is essential for bone regeneration to exploit a scaffold with bioactive bone cement. In this study, we fabricated bioactive magnesium phosphate bone cement (BMPC) at room temperature; then, it was set at to °C and 100% humidity for 2 h. The process was as follows: Simulating a clinical environment, magnesium oxide (MgO) was formed by calcining basic magnesium carbonate (Mg2(OH)2CO3). MgO, potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4) and carboxymethyl chitosan (C20H37N3O14, CMC) were mixed to form magnesium phosphate bone cement (MPC); then, monocalcium phosphate (Ca(H2PO4)2) was added to neutralize the alkaline product after MPC hydration to fabricate bioactive magnesium phosphate bone cement (BMPC). The influence of the doped content of Ca(H2PO4)2 on the properties of bone cement was discussed. The results showed that Ca(H2PO4)2 and CMC can adjust the setting time of bone cement to between 8 and 25 min. The compressive strength increased first and then decreased. After 48 h without additional pressure, the compressive strength reached the maximum value, which was about 38.6 MPa. Ca(H2PO4)2 and CMC can play a synergistic role in regulating the properties of BMPC. The BMPC was degradable in the simulated body fluid (SBF). The results of the cytotoxicity experiment and laser confocal microscopy experiment indicated that BMPC fabricated at room temperature had better biocompatibility and degradability, which was more consistent with clinical operation requirements. BMPC is a promising orthopedic material and is suitable for repairing bone defects.

Polyphonic sound event detection (SED) is the task of detecting the time stamps and the class of sound event that occurred during a recording. Real life sound events overlap in recordings, and their durations vary dramatically, making them even harder to recognize. In this paper, we propose Convolutional Recurrent Neural Networks (CRNNs) to extract hidden state feature representations; then, a self-attention mechanism using a symmetric score function is introduced to memorize long-range dependencies of features that the CRNNs extract. Furthermore, we propose to use memory-controlled self-attention to explicitly compute the relations between time steps in audio representation embedding. Then, we propose a strategy for adaptive memory-controlled self-attention mechanisms. Moreover, we applied semi-supervised learning, namely, mean teacher–student methods, to exploit unlabeled audio data. The proposed methods all performed well in the Detection and Classification of Acoustic Scenes and Events (DCASE) 2017 Sound Event Detection in Real Life Audio (task3) test and the DCASE 2021 Sound Event Detection and Separation in Domestic Environments (task4) test. In DCASE 2017 task3, our model surpassed the challenge’s winning system’s F1-score by 6.8%. We show that the proposed adaptive memory-controlled model reached the same performance level as a fixed attention width model. Experimental results indicate that the proposed attention mechanism is able to improve sound event detection. In DCASE 2021 task4, we investigated various pooling strategies in two scenarios. In addition, we found that in weakly labeled semi-supervised sound event detection, building an attention layer on top of the CRNN is needless repetition. This conclusion could be applied to other multi-instance learning problems.

Soil moisture is an important factor determining yield. With the increasing demand for agricultural irrigation water resources, evaluating soil moisture in advance to create a reasonable irrigation schedule would help improve water resource utilization. This paper established a continuous system for collecting meteorological information and soil moisture data from a litchi orchard. With the acquired data, a time series model called Deep Long Short-Term Memory (Deep-LSTM) is proposed in this paper. The Deep-LSTM model has five layers with the fused time series data to predict the soil moisture of a litchi orchard in four different growth seasons. To optimize the data quality of the soil moisture sensor, the Symlet wavelet denoising algorithm was applied in the data preprocessing section. The threshold of the wavelets was determined based on the unbiased risk estimation method to obtain better sensor data that would help with the model learning. The results showed that the root mean square error (RMSE) values of the Deep-LSTM model were 0.36, 0.52, 0.32, and 0.48%, and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values were 2.12, 2.35, 1.35, and 3.13%, respectively, in flowering, fruiting, autumn shoots, and flower bud differentiation stages. The determination coefficients (R2) were 0.94, 0.95, 0.93, and 0.94, respectively, in the four different stages. The results indicate that the proposed model was effective at predicting time series soil moisture data from a litchi orchard. This research was meaningful with regards to acquiring the soil moisture characteristics in advance and thereby providing a valuable reference for the litchi orchard’s irrigation schedule.

Instance segmentation of fruit tree canopies from images acquired by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is of significance for the precise management of orchards. Although deep learning methods have been widely used in the fields of feature extraction and classification, there are still phenomena of complex data and strong dependence on software performances. This paper proposes a deep learning-based instance segmentation method of litchi trees, which has a simple structure and lower requirements for data form. Considering that deep learning models require a large amount of training data, a labor-friendly semi-auto method for image annotation is introduced. The introduction of this method allows for a significant improvement in the efficiency of data pre-processing. Facing the high requirement of a deep learning method for computing resources, a partition-based method is presented for the segmentation of high-resolution digital orthophoto maps (DOMs). Citrus data is added to the training set to alleviate the lack of diversity of the original litchi dataset. The average precision (AP) is selected to evaluate the metric of the proposed model. The results show that with the help of training with the litchi-citrus datasets, the best AP on the test set reaches 96.25%.

The traveling-salesman problem can be regarded as an NP-hard problem. To better solve the best solution, many heuristic algorithms, such as simulated annealing, ant-colony optimization, tabu search, and genetic algorithm, were used. However, these algorithms either are easy to fall into local optimization or have low or poor convergence performance. This paper proposes a new algorithm based on simulated annealing and gene-expression programming to better solve the problem. In the algorithm, we use simulated annealing to increase the diversity of the Gene Expression Programming (GEP) population and improve the ability of global search. The comparative experiments results, using six benchmark instances, show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other well-known heuristic algorithms in terms of the best solution, the worst solution, the running time of the algorithm, the rate of difference between the best solution and the known optimal solution, and the convergent speed of algorithms.

To assess the association between dietary magnesium intake and hyperuricemia in United States (US) adults, we extracted 26,796 US adults aged 20–85 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in 2001–2014. All dietary intake was measured through 24 h dietary recall method. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between magnesium intake and hyperuricemia after adjusting for several important confounding variables. When compared to the lowest quintile (Q1), for male, adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of hyperuricemia in the second quintile (Q2) to the fifth quintile (Q5) of the magnesium intake were 0.83 (95% CI: 0.72–0.95), 0.74 (0.64–0.85), 0.78 (0.67–0.90), and 0.70 (0.58–0.84, p for trend = 0.0003), respectively. For female, OR was 0.75 (0.62–0.90) in the fourth quintile (Q4) (p for trend = 0.0242). As compared to Q4 of magnesium intake (contains recommended amount), the relative odds of hyperuricemia were increased by 1.29 times in Q1 (OR = 1.29, 1.11–1.50) in male. The ORs were 1.33 (1.11–1.61) in Q1, 1.27 (1.07–1.50) in Q2 in female. Our results indicated that increased magnesium intake was associated with decreased hyperuricemia risk. It also indicated the importance of recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of magnesium and the potential function of magnesium intake in the prevention of hyperuricemia.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a specific autoimmune disease related to genetic and autoimmune factors. Recent studies have found that the intestinal flora is one of the important environmental factors in the development of T1D. The gut microbiota is the largest microbiota in the human body and has a significant impact on material and energy metabolism. Related studies have found that the intestinal floras of T1D patients are unbalanced. Compared with normal patients, the abundance of beneficial bacteria is reduced, and various pathogenic bacteria are significantly increased, affecting the occurrence and development of diabetes. Medicinal and food homologous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a multicomponent, multitarget, and biphasic regulatory effect. Its chemical composition can increase the abundance of beneficial bacteria, improve the diversity of the intestinal flora, reduce blood sugar, and achieve the purpose of preventing and treating T1D by regulating the intestinal flora and its metabolites. Therefore, based on a review of T1D, intestinal flora, and TCM derived from medicine and food, this review describes the relationship between T1D and the intestinal flora, as well as the research progress of TCM interventions for T1D through regulation of the intestinal flora. Medicine and food homologous TCM has certain advantages in treating diabetes and regulating the intestinal flora. It can be seen that there is still great research space and broad development prospects for the treatment of diabetes by regulating the intestinal flora with drug and food homologous TCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]