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Probucol has been utilized as a cholesterol-lowering drug with antioxidative properties. However, the impact and fundamental mechanisms of probucol in obesity-related cognitive decline are unclear. In this study, male C57BL/6J mice were allocated to a normal chow diet (NCD) group or a high-fat diet (HFD) group, followed by administration of probucol to half of the mice on the HFD regimen. Subsequently, the mice were subjected to a series of behavioral assessments, alongside the measurement of metabolic and redox parameters. Notably, probucol treatment effectively alleviates cognitive and social impairments induced by HFD in mice, while exhibiting no discernible influence on mood-related behaviors. Notably, the beneficial effects of probucol arise independently of rectifying obesity or restoring systemic glucose and lipid homeostasis, as evidenced by the lack of changes in body weight, serum cholesterol levels, blood glucose, hyperinsulinemia, systemic insulin resistance, and oxidative stress. Instead, probucol could regulate the levels of nitric oxide and superoxide-generating proteins, and it could specifically alleviate HFD-induced hippocampal insulin resistance. These findings shed light on the potential role of probucol in modulating obesity-related cognitive decline and urge reevaluation of the underlying mechanisms by which probucol exerts its beneficial effects.

Abstract Background Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an autoimmune disease affecting mainly spine and sacroiliac joints and adjacent soft tissues. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) are used to evaluate genetic associations and to predict genetic risk factors that determine the biological basis of disease susceptibility. We aimed to explore the race-specific SNP susceptibility of AS in Taiwanese individuals and to investigate the association between HLA-B27 and AS susceptibility SNPs in Taiwan. Methods Genotyping data were collected from a medical center participating in the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative (TPMI) in the northern district of Taiwan. We designed a case–control study to identify AS susceptibility SNPs through GWAS. We searched the genome browser to find the corresponding susceptibility genes and used the GTEx database to confirm the regulation of gene expression. A polygenic risk score approach was also applied to evaluate the genetic variants in the prediction of developing AS. Results The results showed that the SNPs located on the sixth chromosome were related to higher susceptibility in the AS group. There was no overlap between our results and the susceptibility SNPs found in other races. The 12 tag SNPs located in the MHC region that were found through the linkage disequilibrium method had higher gene expression. Furthermore, Taiwanese people with HLA-B27 positivity had a higher proportion of minor alleles. This might be the reason that the AS prevalence is higher in Taiwan than in other countries. We developed AS polygenic risk score models with six different methods in which those with the top 10% polygenic risk had a fivefold increased risk of developing AS compared to the remaining group with low risk. Conclusion A total of 147 SNPs in the Taiwanese population were found to be statistically significantly associated with AS on the sixth pair of chromosomes and did not overlap with previously published sites in the GWAS Catalog. Whether those genes mapped by AS-associated SNPs are involved in AS and what the pathogenic mechanism of the mapped genes is remain to be further studied.

ObjectiveTo develop a professional occupational stress scale for medical staff （CSSM） and test its reliability and validity， so as to provide a technical tool for the evaluation and management of medical staff occupational stress.MethodsThe initial index item pool was formed by literature retrieval， in-depth interview and expert evaluation. Pre-survey questionnaires were distributed in April 2021， stratified sampling was used to randomly select 1 tertiary hospital， 2 secondary hospitals and 1 community health service center in Shanghai. Sampling was performed according to the number of medical staff in all level hospitals and the proportion of doctors， nurses and medical technicians. 848 valid questionnaires were collected. Item differentiation method， correlation analysis and exploratory factor analysis were used to filter the pre-survey item pool and form a formal scale. From June to July 2021， stratified sampling method was used to carry out formal survey with formal scale， and the reliability and validity of the scale were verified. A total of 5 510 valid questionnaires were collected. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the construct validity of the scale. Job burnout， sleep disorder and job demand-autonomy （-support） model occupational stress scales were used as calibration scales， respectively. Pearson correlation analysis was used to test the scale's calibration validity and aggregate validity， and Cronbach's α coefficient was used to evaluate the scale's reliability.ResultsThrough project differentiation method， correlation analysis， exploratory factor analysis on the preliminary survey item pool， we produced the formal scale of 7 dimensions and 32 items， respectively， including "career development"， "interpersonal relationship"， "working overtime and work-life imbalance"， "physical environment"， "the doctor-patient relationship"， "social environment"， "work load". The cumulative variance contribution rate of common factors in exploratory factor analysis was 65.937%， and the factor loading value of each item ranged from 0.513 to 0.880. The scale was used for formal investigation to verify the reliability and validity of the scale. The goodness of fit index （GFI）， comparative fit index （CFI） and root mean square error of approximation （RMSEA） were 0.913， 0.909 and 0.064， respectively. The scores of the scale and all dimensions were positively correlated with the scores of occupational stress in the mode of job burnout， sleep disorder symptoms and job demand-autonomy （r=0.235‒0.754， P

Abstract Background The pollen ornate surface of flowering plants has long fascinated and puzzled evolutionary biologists for their variety. Each pollen grain is contained within a pollen wall consisting of intine and exine, over which the lipoid pollen coat lies. The cytology and molecular biology of the development of the intine and exine components of the pollen wall are relatively well characterised. However, little is known about the pollen coat, which confers species specificity. We demonstrate three types of pollen coat in Zingiberaceae, a mucilage-like pollen coat and a gum-like pollen coat, along with a pollen coat more typical of angiosperms. The morphological differences between the three types of pollen coat and the related molecular mechanisms of their formation were studied using an integrative approach of cytology, RNA-seq and positive selection analysis. Results Contrary to the ‘typical’ pollen coat, in ginger species with a mucilage-like (Caulokaempferia coenobialis, Cco) or gum-like (Hornstedtia hainanensis, Hhn) pollen coat, anther locular fluid was still present at the bicellular pollen (BCP) stage of development. Nevertheless, there were marked differences between these species: there were much lower levels of anther locular fluid in Hhn at the BCP stage and it contained less polysaccharide, but more lipid, than the locular fluid of Cco. The set of specific highly-expressed (SHE) genes in Cco was enriched in the ‘polysaccharide metabolic process’ annotation term, while ‘fatty acid degradation’ and ‘metabolism of terpenoids and polyketides’ were significantly enriched in SHE-Hhn. Conclusions Our cytological and comparative transcriptome analysis showed that different types of pollen coat depend on the residual amount and composition of anther locular fluid at the BCP stage. The genes involved in ‘polysaccharide metabolism’ and ‘transport’ in the development of a mucilage-like pollen coat and in ‘lipid metabolism’ and ‘transport’ in the development of a gum-like pollen coat probably evolved under positive selection in both cases. We suggest that the shift from a typical pollen coat to a gum-like or mucilage-like pollen coat in flowering plants is an adaptation to habitats with high humidity and scarcity of pollinators.

Background Despite previous concerns about ocular side effects related to amiodarone, the relationship between amiodarone and cataract remains uncertain. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the potential association between amiodarone use and the subsequent risk of cataract, taking into account potential confounders. Methods This population-based, active comparator-controlled cohort study utilized the data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance program and involved adults over 40 years old between 2001 and 2013. We analyzed 12 055 new amiodarone users and contrasted them with a propafenone user cohort. The primary outcome was the incidence of cataract. Inverse-probability treatment-weighting (IPTW) was further used to eliminate the potential confounding effects, and Cox proportional-hazard regression analyses were performed to calculate the risk of cataract. Serial subgroup analyses were also performed. Results In the main analysis, amiodarone users did not exhibit a significant causal relationship in both full cohort [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR): 0.994, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.913–1.082] and IPTW cohort (IPTW-aHR 0.977, 95% CI: 0.900–1.060). Furthermore, it is important to highlight a significantly reduced risk of cataract among patients with heart failure (IPTW-aHR 0.708, 95% CI: 0.554–0.905) and during the 2-year follow-up period (IPTW-aHR 0.889, 95% CI: 0.794–0.996), implying potential advantages linked to the use of amiodarone. Conclusions The study found no increased risk of cataract with amiodarone, one of the most frequently used antiarrhythmic medications, compared to the use of propafenone. Future research is recommended to explore potential mechanisms and their implications for clinical practice. What is already known on this topic Although numerous case reports suggest a potential association between amiodarone and various ophthalmic conditions, no study has directly examined the link between amiodarone and cataracts while considering potential confounders. What this study adds In this population-based, active-comparator study, amiodarone did not raise the incidence of cataract events compared to propafenone users, even after adjusting for several confounding factors. Importantly, this study observed a reduced risk of cataract among patients with heart failure and during the 2-year follow-up period. How this study might affect research, practice or policy This study could provide crucial clinical information for the safe use of amiodarone in arrhythmia patients and highlight the safe issue for ophthalmologists. Future research is suggested to investigate potential mechanisms and their clinical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional turnout fault detection method not only leads to consume a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources, but also relies on manual experience. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, designing an intelligent diagnostic system to diagnose the turnout is a key problem. In this paper, an intelligent detection system is proposed, which contains data preprocessing, feature extraction, switch intelligent classifier and more suitable evaluation criterion design. It is simulated by MATLAB, the experimental results on Guangzhou village station switch current data of model W1902# and model W1904# shows that the current intelligent detection method not only has the ability of self-learning, but also can be detected efficiently in the complex changes of the environment, and the recognition time is only 0.04 s, which meets the real-time requirement of railway.

To date, it remains uncertain whether benzodiazepine receptor agonists (BZRAs) are aggravating factors even though these drugs can elevate the levels of biomarkers associated with the development of psoriasis. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association of BZRA use with changes in psoriasis severity. All data were sourced from the National Health Insurance system in Taiwan. We conducted a population-based retrospective cross-sectional study of 15,727 psoriasis patients who received BZRAs (BZRA users), and 18,856 psoriasis patients who did not receive BZRAs (nonusers). At least a 1-year washout period without any BZRA prescriptions was required. The main outcome was the change in psoriasis severity between before and after BZRA exposure. This study detected the exacerbation of psoriasis severity in mild psoriasis population by using a logistic model. Then, this study carried another logistic model among those patients who had severe psoriasis to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) for the improvement of the psoriasis severity. Among patients with mild psoriasis, BZRA users had a significantly higher probability of psoriasis severity exacerbation (IPTW-adjusted OR = 1.46). Mild psoriasis patients who received high and low doses of BZRAs had 1.70- and 1.39-fold higher probabilities of psoriasis severity exacerbation, respectively, than the non-users. Furthermore, in the severe psoriasis population, more low-dose BZRA users improved psoriasis severity than non-users. In conclusion, this study provided clinical evidence of the effects of BZRA use on patients with psoriasis severity. Among patients with mild psoriasis, high-dose BZRA users may be associated with the changes in psoriasis severity. However, low-dose BZRA exposure only slightly exacerbated disease severity among patients with mild psoriasis. Accordingly, clinicians should evaluate the risks and benefits of the BZRA usage.