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Introduction: Intraamniotic infection is crucial in preterm prelabor rupture of membranes(PPROM), a clinical condition resulting from the invasion of vaginal opportunistic microbes into the amniotic cavity. Although previous studies have suggested potential associations between infection and PPROM, the role of vaginalopportunistic bacteria in PPROM has received limited attention. Methods: This study aimed to confirm the vaginal bacterial etiology of PPROM. We investigated vaginal microbiotas using automatic analysis of vaginal discharge, microbiological tests, and 16s rRNA genehigh-throughput sequencing. Results: The research findings revealed that the proportion of parabasal epitheliocytes, leukocytes, toxic leukocytes, and bacteria with diameters smaller than 1.5 um was significantly higher in the PPROM group than that in the normal full-term labor (TL) group. The top three vaginal opportunistic bacterial isolates in all participants were 9.47% Escherichia coli, 5.99% Streptococcus agalactiae, and 3.57% Enterococcus faecalis. The bacterial resistance differed, but all the isolates were sensitive to nitrofurantoin. Compared with the vaginal microbiota dysbiosis (VMD) TL (C) group, the VMD PPROM (P) group demonstrated more operational taxonomic units, a high richness of bacterial taxa, and a different beta-diversity index. Indicator species analysis revealed that Lactobacillus jensenii, Lactobacillus crispatus, and Veillonellaceae bacterium DNF00626 were strongly associated with the C group. Unlike the C group, the indicator bacteria in the P group were Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus agalactiae. Discussion: These findings provide solidevidence that an abnormal vaginal microbiome is a very crucial risk factorclosely related to PPROM. There were no unique bacteria in the vaginalmicrobiota of the PPROM group; however, the relative abundance of bacteria inthe abnormal vaginal flora of PPROM pregnancies differed. Antibiotics should bereasonably selected based on drug sensitivity testing. The findings presented in this paper enhance our understanding of Streptococcus agalactiae, Enterococcus faecalis, and Escherichia coli vaginal bacterial etiology of PPROM in Western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem: To compare the clinical characteristics and pregnancy outcomes between patients with primary obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome (OAPS) and those with primary non‐criteria obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome (NC‐OAPS), and to identify the risk factors of adverse pregnancy outcomes in both groups. Methods: A retrospective single‐center study was performed in a university hospital of western China, including 141 patients with OAPS and 865 patients with NC‐OAPS. The clinical characteristics, pregnancy complications, and obstetric outcomes of the cohorts were collected from the hospital system and were compared by univariable analysis, and the independent risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO) were investigated by logistic regression analysis in these two populations. Results: The OAPS patients had a significantly higher risk for stillbirths compared to the NC‐OAPS patients, while the NC‐OAPS group had a significantly higher risk for preterm birth and overall APO. Double aPL positivity, triple aPL positivity, and gestational hypertension were the independent risk factors for APO in OAPS patients, whereas two of the double aPL positivity subtypes, triple aPL positivity and placenta previa were independent risk factors for APO in NC‐OAPS patients. Conclusion: This study identified different rates in different APOs among OAPS and NC‐OAPS patients. Additionally, this study revealed different risk factors for the development of APO between the two populations. These findings indicated that OAPS and NC‐OAPS are two distinct entities of the same disease, providing new insights into the individualized management for patients with OAPS and NC‐OAPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature, especially in hot environments, triggers the phase change of the abundant metabolites in plants from solid to liquid as a survival mechanism. Therefore, taking cues from nature, these metabolites could have potential as green solvents for the dissolution of biopolymers. Because of their green credentials, plant-derived aromatic monoterpenoids have gained considerable attention for the extraction of bioactive compounds to replace toxic halogenated solvents. In this work, we report for the first time the fast dissolution of high concentration poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) using carvacrol (5-isopropyl-2-methylphenol) – a plant metabolite – as a solvent. Remarkably, 20 wt% PHB was completely dissolved within 30 min at 100 °C, whereas a 10 wt% PHB dissolved in 21 min, and even faster dissolution for 1 wt%, 3 wt% and 5 wt% PHB. The carvacrol/PHB solution exhibited stability characterized by rheology measurements and the atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations elucidate the mechanism behind carvacrol's rapid dissolution of PHB. Most importantly, the carvacrol solvent can be fully recovered by adding anti-solvents. Furthermore, the resultant highly viscous carvacrol/PHB solution could find applications in coating formulations, adhesives, and consumer care additives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gene, structural maintenance of chromosomes 4 (SMC4) plays important role in chromosomes condensing and mitotic sister chromatid segregation, which has been revealed in regulating multiple cancer development and carcinogenesis. However, the role of SMC4 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) propagation and its function in regulation of leukemia stem cells (LSCs) is not yet clear. Using an MLL-AF9 induced AML mouse model, we demonstrated that down modulating of SMC4 expression could prolong the survival time of AML mice. Furthermore, we found that knockdown SMC4 expression decreased the proportion of LSCs and affected its leukemia-initiating capacity. Cell cycle assay demonstrated that more LSCs were arrested in G0 phase by SMC4 knockdown. This activity was accompanied by increased expression of the Cdkn1a (P21) and Cdkn1b (P27) as well as decreased expression of CDK4. Therefore, our study revealed the critical role of SMC4 during AML progression and provided new insights into the mechanism of LSC maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface residual lithium compounds of Ni-rich cathodes are tremendous obstacles to electrochemical performance due to blocking ion/electron transfer and arousing surface instability. Herein, ultrathin and uniform Al2O3 coating via atomic layer deposition (ALD) coupled with the post-annealing process is reported to reduce residual lithium compounds on single-crystal LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (NCM622). Surface composition characterizations indicate that LiOH is obviously reduced after Al2O3 growth on NCM622. Subsequent post-annealing treatment causes the consumption of Li2CO3 along with the diffusion of Al atoms into the surface layer of NCM622. The NCM622 modified by Al2O3 coating and post-annealing exhibits excellent cycling stability, the capacity retention of which reaches 92.2% after 300 cycles at 1 C, much higher than that of pristine NCM622 (34.8%). Reduced residual lithium compounds on NCM622 can greatly decrease the formation of LiF and the degree of Li+/Ni2+ cation mixing after discharge–charge cycling, which is the key to the improvement of cycling stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19663-3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the effects of insulin resistance (IR) on embryo quality and pregnancy outcomes in women with or without polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)., Methods: A retrospective cohort study concerning patients with/without PCOS who received gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-antagonist protocol for IVF/ICSI from January 2019 to July 2022 was conducted. All the patients included underwent oral glucose tolerance test plus the assessment of insulin release within 6 months before the controlled ovarian stimulation. The Matsuda Index was calculated to diagnose IR. Two populations (PCOS and non-PCOS) were included and each was divided into IR and non-IR groups and analyzed respectively. The primary outcome was the high-quality day 3 embryo rate., Results: A total of 895 patients were included (751 with PCOS and 144 without PCOS). For patients with PCOS, the IR group had a lower high-quality day 3 embryo rate (36.8% vs. 39.7%, p=0.005) and available day 3 embryo rate (67.2% vs. 70.6%, p<0.001). For patients without PCOS, there was no significant difference between the IR and non-IR groups in high-quality day 3 embryo rate (p=0.414) and available day 3 embryo rate (p=0.560). There was no significant difference in blastocyst outcomes and pregnancy outcomes for both populations., Conclusion: Based on the diagnosis by the Matsuda Index, IR may adversely affect the day 3 embryo quality in patients with PCOS but not pregnancy outcomes. In women without PCOS, IR alone seems to have less significant adverse effects on embryo quality than in patients with PCOS. Better-designed studies are still needed to compare the differences statistically between PCOS and non-PCOS populations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Hu, Zeng, Tang, Liao, Li and Qin.)

Objective: To develop an artificial intelligence vaginal secretion analysis system based on deep learning and to evaluate the accuracy of automated microscopy in the clinical diagnosis of aerobic vaginitis (AV)., Methods: In this study, the vaginal secretion samples of 3769 patients receiving treatment at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University between January 2020 and December 2021 were selected. Using the results of manual microscopy as the control, we developed the linear kernel SVM algorithm, an artificial intelligence (AI) automated analysis software, with Python Scikit-learn script. The AI automated analysis software could identify leucocytes with toxic appearance and parabasal epitheliocytes (PBC). The bacterial grading parameters were reset using standard strains of lactobacillus and AV common isolates. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the cut-off value of AV evaluation results for different scoring items were obtained by using the results of manual microscopy as the control. Then, the parameters of automatic AV identification were determined and the automatic AV analysis scoring method was initially established., Results: A total of 3769 vaginal secretion samples were collected. The AI automated analysis system incorporated five parameters and each parameter incorporated three severity scoring levels. We selected 1.5 μm as the cut-off value for the diameter between Lactobacillus and common AV bacterial isolates. The automated identification parameter of Lactobacillus was the ratio of bacteria ≥1.5 μm to those <1.5 μm. The cut-off scores were 2.5 and 0.5, In the parameter of white blood cells (WBC), the cut-off value of the absolute number of WBC was 10 3 μL －1 and the cut-off value of WBC-to-epithelial cell ratio was 10. The automated identification parameter of toxic WBC was the ratio of toxic WBC toWBC and the cut-off values were 1% and 15%. The parameter of background flora was bacteria<1.5 μm and the cut-off values were 5×10 3 μL －1 and 3×10 4 μL －1 . The parameter of the parabasal epitheliocytes was the ratio of PBC to epithelial cells and the cut-off values were 1% and 10%. The agreement rate between the results of automated microscopy and those of manual microscopy was 92.5%. Out of 200 samples, automated microscopy and manual microscopy produced consistent scores for 185 samples, while the results for 15 samples were inconsistent., Conclusion: We developed an AI recognition software for AV and established an automated vaginal secretion microscopy scoring system for AV. There was good overall concordance between automated microscopy and manual microscopy. The AI identification software for AV can complete clinical lab examination with rather high objectivity, sensitivity, and efficiency, markedly reducing the workload of manual microscopy., Competing Interests: 利益冲突　所有作者均声明不存在利益冲突, (© 2024《四川大学学报（医学版）》编辑部 版权所有Copyright ©2024 Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Sciences).)

Background: The effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on tumors remains controversial and requires further exploration. In this study, we isolated MSCs from umbilical cord (UC) and co-cultured with cervical cancer HeLa cells. Flow cytometry was conducted to detect apoptosis and cell cycle. CCK8 and Matrigel-transwell were performed to assay cell proliferation and invasion ability, respectively. Results: Our results indicated that UCMSCs inhibited proliferation of HeLa cells 72 hours post co-culture but had no obvious effect on apoptosis and cell cycle. UCMSCs dramatically suppressed invasion of HeLa cells in transwell detection. In mechanism study, we found that UCMSCs could inhibit expression of AKT/PI3K/STAT3/mTOR pathway and influence epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers. Conclusion: Our study clearly confirms that UCMSCs could inhibit biological functions of cervical cancer cells., Competing Interests: None., (IJCEP Copyright © 2018.)

This study was aimed to detect the effect of genipin and Vitamin E (VitE) on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. L02 cells were divided into five groups:control group, palmic acid treated group, VitE treated group, genipin treated group, and a combination group. All treatments were terminated at the end of 72 hours. Pathological changes of L02 cells were observed. Mitochondrial membrane potential changes were detected by flow cytometry. MDA, SOD, ALT, AST, GGT, TG in culture medium and expression of UCP2 mRNA and protein in L02 cells were detected. We also studied the effects of genipin and VitE on UCP2 and other related factors such as NF-kappaB and TNF-alpha on the L02 cell model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In combination group, the degree of adipose degeneration of L02 cells mitigated significantly; mitochondrial membrane potential and the level of SOD activity increased; the level of MDA, ALT, AST, GGT, TG and the expression of UCP2, NF-kappaB,TNF-alpha in L02 cells decreased. The use of genipin in combination with VitE can increase mitochondrial membrane potential and markedly relieve the adipose degeneration of liver cells.