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Abstract. Background:. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) plays an important role in the progression of gastric cancer (GC). Their involvement ranges from genetic regulation to cancer progression. However, the mechanistic roles of RP11-789C1.1 in GC are not fully understood. Methods:. We identified the expression of lncRNA RP11-789C1.1 in GC tissues and cell lines by real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction. A series of functional experiments revealed the effect of RP11-789C1.1 on the proliferation of GC cells. In vivo experiments verified the effect of RP11-789C1.1 on the biological behavior of a GC cell line. RNA pull-down unveiled RP11-789C1.1 interacting proteins. Western blot analysis indicated the downstream pathway changes of RP11-789C1.1, and an oxaliplatin dosing experiment disclosed the influence of RP11-789C1.1 on the drug sensitivity of oxaliplatin. Results:. Our results demonstrated that RP11-789C1.1 inhibited the proliferation of GC cells and promoted the apoptosis of GC cells. Mechanistically, RP11-789C1.1 inhibited checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) phosphorylation by binding ataxia-telangiectasia mutated and Rad3 related (ATR), a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase, promoted GC apoptosis, and mediated oxaliplatin sensitivity. Conclusion:. In general, we discovered a tumor suppressor molecule RP11-789C1.1 and confirmed its mechanism of action, providing a theoretical basis for targeted GC therapy.

Acute cerebral infarction (ACI) is a lethal disease whose early diagnosis is critical for treatment. microRNA (miR)-19a targets CC chemokine ligand 20 (CCL20) in myocardial infarction. We investigated the expression patterns of serum miR-19a and CCL20 of ACI patients and assessed their clinical values. Serum samples of 50 healthy subjects and110 ACI patients were collected. Serum levels of miR-19a, CCL20 mRNA, and biochemical indexes were assessed. miR-19a downstream target gene and the binding relationship between miR-19a and CCL20 were predicted and verified. miR-19a and CCL20 mRNA were subjected to correlation and diagnostic efficiency analysis. miR-19a was poorly expressed in the serum of ACI patients, especially in patients with unstable plaque and large infarction. tumor necrosis factor-α, low-density lipoprotein, and platelet/lymphocyte ratio negatively correlated with serum miR-19a level and positively correlated with CCL20. Dual-luciferase assay revealed that miR-19a could negatively regulate CCL20 expression. CCL20 was highly expressed in the serum of ACI patients. The area under receiver-operating characteristic curve of miR-19a combined with CCL20 was 0.9741 (98.00% specificity, 90.91% sensitivity), higher than their single diagnosis. Collectively, miR-19a had high diagnostic value for ACI and could target to restrain CCL20. The combination of miR-19a and CCL20 improved diagnostic value for ACI.

Abstract SMYD3 (SET and MYND domain‐containing 3) is a histone lysine methyltransferase highly expressed in different types of cancer(s) and is a promising epigenetic target for developing novel antitumor therapeutics. No selective inhibitors for this protein have been developed for cancer treatment. Therefore, the current study describes developing and characterizing a novel small molecule ZYZ384 screened and synthesized based on SMYD3 structure. Virtual screening was initially used to identify a lead compound and followed up by modification to get the novel molecules. Several technologies were used to facilitate compound screening about these novel molecules' binding affinities and inhibition activities with SMYD3 protein; the antitumor activity has been assessed in vitro using various cancer cell lines. In addition, a tumor‐bearing nude mice model was established, and the activity of the selected molecule was determined in vivo. Both RNA‐seq and chip‐seq were performed to explore the antitumor mechanism. This work identified a novel small molecule ZYZ384 targeting SMYD3 with antitumor activity and impaired hepatocellular carcinoma tumor growth by reducing H3K4 trimethylation of the Rac1 promoter triggering the tumor cell cycle arrest through the AKT pathway.

Abstract The extracellular matrix (ECM) has been demonstrated to be dysregulated and crucial for malignant progression in gastric cancer (GC), but the mechanism is not well understood. Here, that discoidin domain receptor 1 (DDR1), a principal ECM receptor, is recognized as a key driver of GC progression is reported. Mechanistically, DDR1 directly interacts with the PAS domain of hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1α (HIF‐1α), suppresses its ubiquitination and subsequently strengthens its transcriptional regulation of angiogenesis. Additionally, DDR1 upregulation in GC cells promotes actin cytoskeleton reorganization by activating HIF‐1α/ Ras Homolog Family Member A (RhoA)/Rho‐associated protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) signaling, which in turn enhances the metastatic capacity. Pharmacological inhibition of DDR1 suppresses GC progression and angiogenesis in patient‐derived xenograft (PDX) and organoid models. Taken together, this work first indicates the effects of the DDR1‐HIF‐1α axis on GC progression and reveals the related mechanisms, providing experimental evidence for DDR1 as a therapeutic target for GC.

Abstract Background Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been proved to play crucial roles in the development of various cancers. However, the molecular mechanism of circGLIS3 involved in gastric cancer (GC) tumorigenesis has not been elucidated. Methods The higher expression level of circGLIS3 was identified in GC through RNA sequencing and subsequent tissue verification using Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). A series of functional experiments in vitro and in vivo were performed to evaluated the effects of circGLIS3 on tumor growth and metastasis in GC. The interaction and regulation of circGLIS3/miR-1343-3p/PGK1 axis was confirmed by RNA pulldown, western blot, and rescue experiments. RIP and western blot were performed to demonstrate the role of circGLIS3 in regulating phosphorylation of VIMENTIN. We then used qRT-PCR and co culture system to trace circGLIS3 transmission via exosomal communication and identify the effect of exosomal circGLIS3 on gastric cancer and macrophages. Finally, RIP experiments were used to determine that EIF4A3 regulates circGLIS3 expression. Results CircGLIS3(hsa_circ_0002874) was significantly upregulated in GC tissues and high circGLIS3 expression was associated with advanced TNM stage and lymph node metastasis in GC patients. We discovered that overexpression of circGLIS3 promoted GC cell proliferation, migration, invasion in vitro and in vivo, while suppression of circGLIS3 exhibited the opposite effect. Mechanistically, circGLIS3 could sponge miR-1343-3p and up-regulate the expression of PGK1 to promote GC tumorigenesis. We also found that circGLIS3 reduced the phosphorylation of VIMENTIN at ser 83 site by binding with VIMENTIN. Moreover, it was proven that exosomal circGLIS3 could promote gastric cancer metastasis and the M2 type polarization of macrophages. In the final step, the mechanism of EIF4A3 regulating the generation of circGLIS3 was determined. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate that circGLIS3 promotes GC progression through sponging miR-1343-3p and regulating VIMENTIN phosphorylation. CircGLIS3 is a potential therapeutic target for GC patients.

Deep learning has advanced object detection, but generalizing models from source to target domains remains a challenge due to multi-level domain drift and untransferable information. To address this, we propose a transferability-aware hierarchical domain-consistent object detector (THNet), incorporating instance-level, pixel-level, and image-level alignment subnets for robust cross-domain detection. THNet first aligns local foreground-transferable features through pixel-level adversarial learning and foreground-aware attention, then captures global domain-invariant features via image-level subnet with channel-transferable attention. Additionally, a prototype graph convolutional network alleviates instance distribution differences by maximizing inter-class distances and minimizing intra-class distances. A domain-consistent loss harmonizes training for better convergence in multi-level domain alignment. Extensive experiments demonstrate that THNet outperforms state-of-the-art methods on multiple cross-domain datasets, achieving top accuracies of 51.9%, 46.0%, 41.2%, and 51.9% across different tasks.

Cardiovascular surgery has a high risk of neurological complications, which can increase the burden of disease. Perioperative real⁃time monitoring of neurological function in cardiovascular surgery can assist clinicians to detect neurological abnormalities as early as possible, intervene and reduce the risk of neurological complications in time. The main monitoring indicators include cerebral oxygen saturation (ScO2), EEG, cerebral blood flow (CBF), etc. In this paper, the common perioperative neuromonitoring techniques and their research advances in cardiovascular surgery are reviewed to provide theoretical basis for reducing neurological complications and improve the prognosis of patients.

Abstract The efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in patients with advanced gastric cancer (GC) varies greatly. Thus, we aimed to verify the predictive value of tumor‐infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) on the treatment response to NACT and the prognosis of patients with advanced GC, and to explore the impact of NACT on the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). Paired tumor tissues (pre‐ and post‐NACT) from patients with advanced GC were collected for this study. TIICs were assessed using immunohistochemistry staining and analyzed using logistic regression to establish an immune microenvironment score for GC (ISGC score) and predict NACT efficacy. Kaplan–Meier curves were used to evaluate the survival outcome of patients. The results showed that TIME was dramatically heterogeneous between NACT response and nonresponse patients. In the validation cohort, the ISGC score demonstrated good predictive performance for treatment response to NACT. Moreover, high ISGC indicated better long‐term survival in patients with advanced GC. Furthermore, tumor‐infiltrated T cells (CD3+ and CD8+) and CD11c+ macrophages were significantly increased in the response group, while CD163+ macrophages and FOXP3+ Treg cells were decreased after NACT. However, opposite results were exhibited in the nonresponse group. Finally, we found that the percentage of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD‐L1)‐positive tumors was 31% (32/104) pre‐NACT and 49% (51/104) post‐NACT, and almost all patients with elevated PD‐L1 were in the NACT response group. The ISGC model accurately predicted NACT efficacy and classified patients with GC into different survival groups. NACT regulates the TIME in GC, which may provide strategies for personalized immunotherapy.

Non-circular gear transmission is a new type of mechanical transmission mechanism relative to circular gear transmission, which can realize special movement, improve mechanism performance and improve mechanism motion conditions. With the improvement of non-circular gear transmission design ability and the increase of application scope, the research on non-circular gear transmission is increasing. This study introduces the current research status of non-circular gear transmission applications, summarizes the research progress of non-circular gear transmission design and analysis, discusses the methods and strategies for manufacturing non-circular gear drives, summarizes the problems faced by the current development of non-circular gear transmission, and looks forward to the research directions of non-circular gear transmission in applications, design and analysis, and processing and manufacturing.

Background: Symmetry is a special kind of balance. This study aims to systematically explore and apply the role of balanced composition in aesthetic judgments by focusing on balanced composition features and employing research methods from computational aesthetics and neuroaesthetics. Methods: First, experimental materials were classified by quantifying balanced composition using several indices, including symmetry, center of gravity, and negative space. An EEG experiment was conducted with 18 participants, who were asked to respond dichotomously to the same stimuli under different judgment tasks (balance and aesthetics), with both behavioral and EEG data being recorded and analyzed. Subsequently, participants’ data were combined with balanced composition indices to construct and analyze various SVM classification models. Results: Participants largely used balanced composition as a criterion for aesthetic evaluation. ERP data indicated that from 300–500 ms post-stimulus, brain activation was more significant in the aesthetic task, with unbeautiful and imbalanced stimuli eliciting larger frontal negative waves and occipital positive waves. From 600–1000 ms, beautiful stimuli caused smaller negative waves in the PZ channel. The results of the SVM models indicated that the model incorporating aesthetic subject data (ACC = 0.9989) outperforms the model using only balanced composition parameters of the aesthetic object (ACC = 0.7074). Conclusions: Balanced composition is a crucial indicator in aesthetics, with similar early processing stages in both balance and aesthetic judgments. Multi-modal data models validated the advantage of including human factors in aesthetic evaluation systems. This interdisciplinary approach not only enhances our understanding of the cognitive and emotional processes involved in aesthetic judgments but also enables the construction of more reasonable machine learning models to simulate and predict human aesthetic preferences.

Background: In recent years, computational aesthetics and neuroaesthetics have provided novel insights into understanding beauty. Building upon the findings of traditional aesthetics, this study aims to combine these two research methods to explore an interdisciplinary approach to studying aesthetics. Method: Abstract artworks were used as experimental materials. Based on traditional aesthetics and in combination, features of composition, tone, and texture were selected. Computational aesthetic methods were then employed to correspond these features to physical quantities: blank space, gray histogram, Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM), Local Binary Pattern (LBP), and Gabor filters. An electroencephalogram (EEG) experiment was carried out, in which participants conducted aesthetic evaluations of the experimental materials in different contexts (genuine, fake), and their EEG data were recorded to analyze the impact of various feature classes in the aesthetic evaluation process. Finally, a Support Vector Machines (SVMs) was utilized to model the feature data, Event-Related Potentials (ERPs), context data, and subjective aesthetic evaluation data. Result: Behavioral data revealed higher aesthetic ratings in the genuine context. ERP data indicated that genuine contexts elicited more negative deflections in the prefrontal lobes between 200 and 1000 ms. Class II compositions demonstrated more positive deflections in the parietal lobes at 50–120 ms, while Class I tones evoked more positive amplitudes in the occipital lobes at 200–300 ms. Gabor features showed significant variations in the parieto-occipital area at an early stage. Class II LBP elicited a prefrontal negative wave with a larger amplitude. The results of the SVM models indicated that the model incorporating aesthetic subject and context data (ACC = 0.76866) outperforms the model using only parameters of the aesthetic object (ACC = 0.68657). Conclusion: A positive context tends to provide participants with a more positive aesthetic experience, but abstract artworks may not respond to this positivity. During aesthetic evaluation, the ERP data activated by different features show a trend from global to local. The SVM model based on multimodal data fusion effectively predicts aesthetics, further demonstrating the feasibility of the combined research approach of computational aesthetics and neuroaesthetics.

Abstract Background Isolated pulmonary vasculitis (IPV) is a rare, insidious, and localized inflammatory disease affecting the pulmonary arteries, often leading to severe luminal obstruction. The prognosis for patients with occlusive IPV is poor, and there is currently a lack of effective treatments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) as a treatment for occlusive IPV. Methods This single-center retrospective analysis included patients who received PEA for occlusive IPV between January 2018 and June 2022. Clinical characteristics and hemodynamic parameters were evaluated at baseline and follow-up. Results Among 114 consecutive patients who underwent PEA, occlusive IPV was identified in 7 patients. Two patients underwent bilateral PEA for the involvement of both pulmonary arteries. Patch angioplasty was performed to treat four severe constrictions. One patient died from residual pulmonary hypertension after limited PEA of a transmural vascular lesion. In addition, no obvious surgical complications were observed. Three months after PEA, a substantial relief in symptoms was achieved. Also, there is a decrease in the mean pulmonary artery pressure (median 33 [20–48] mmHg before versus median 21 [16–26] mmHg after; P

Given the frequent adhesion of vertically arranged double-split conductors， the research on adhesion is of practical significance. The fault of 220 kV lines is taken as an example to establish an adhesion model of the double-split model based on the conductor state equation and electromagnetic force calculation to study the impact of wire temperature， wind speed， DC resistance error， tension， and other factors on conductor adhesion. The study shows that the critical current of the conductor adhesion increases as the conductor temperature rises and decreases with the increase of the tension， sub-conductor resistance error， and wind speed. Under the interaction of resistance and wind speed， the critical current reaches its minimum in the case of the maximum resistance error value and the minimum wind speed. The research results can provide a useful reference for line design and modification.

Postharvest rot, caused by Penicillium expansum, in tomatoes poses significant economic and health risks. Traditional control methods, such as the use of fungicides, raise concerns about pathogen resistance, food safety, and environmental impact. In search of sustainable alternatives, plant secondary metabolites, particularly phenolic compounds and their derivatives, have emerged as promising natural antimicrobials. Among these, feruloyl glyceride (FG), a water-soluble derivative of ferulic acid, stands out due to its antioxidant properties, antibacterial properties, and improved solubility. In this study, we provide evidence demonstrating FG is capable of inhibiting the spore germination of P. expansum and effectively reducing the incidence rate of Penicillium rot of tomatoes, without compromising quality. Electron microscopy observations combined with metabolite and transcriptomic analyses revealed that FG treatments resulted in enhanced suberin accumulation through promoting the expression of suberin synthesis related genes and, consequently, inhibited the growth and expansion of P. expansum on the fruits. This work sheds light on the mechanisms underlying FG’s inhibitory effects, allowing its potential application as a natural and safe alternative to replace chemical fungicides for postharvest preservation.

The resistance of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) to various antibiotics has increased dramatically due to the misuse of antibiotics, and thus the development of new anti-infective drugs with new targets is urgently needed to combat resistance. Caseinolytic peptidase P is a case in hydrolase that regulates the virulence level of S. aureus. Here, we found that nepetin, a small-molecule compound from traditional Chinese herbal flavonoids, effectively inhibits ClpP activity. Nepetin suppressed the virulence of S. aureus and effectively combated the lethal pneumonia caused by MRSA. The results of cellular thermal shift assay showed that nepetin could bind to ClpP and reduce the thermal stability of ClpP, and the KD value of 602 nM between them was determined using localized surface plasmon resonance. The binding mode of nepetin and ClpP was further investigated by molecular docking, and it was found that Ser-22 and Gln-47 of ClpP residues were found to be involved in the binding of nepetin to ClpP. In conclusion, we determined that nepetin is a ClpP inhibitor and an effective lead compound for the development of a virulence factor-based treatment for MRSA infection.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been developing rapidly in recent years. It poses a severe peril to global health care, and the new strategies to against the MRSA is urgently needed. Sortase A (SrtA) regulates the anchoring of many surface proteins. Compounds repress Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) cysteine transpeptidase SrtA are considered adequate potent virulence inhibitors. Then, we describe the identification of an effective SrtA inhibitor, cyanidin chloride, a bioflavonoid compound isolated from various plants. It has a reversible inhibitory effect on SrtA activity at an IC50 of 21.91 μg/mL. As a SrtA inhibitor, cyanidin chloride antagonizes SrtA-related virulence phenotypes due to its breadth and specificity, including fibrinogen adhesion, A549 cell invasion, biofilm formation, and surface protein (SpA) anchoring. Subsequently, molecular docking and fluorescence quenching revealed that SrtA and cyanidin chloride had robust mutual affinity. Further mechanistic studies revealed that Arg-197, Gly-167, and Sep-116 were the key-binding sites mediating the interaction between SrtA and cyanidin chloride. Notably, a significant therapeutic effect of cyanidin chloride in vivo was also observed on the mouse pneumonia model induced by MRSA. In conclusion, our study indicates that cyanidin chloride potentially represents a new candidate SrtA inhibitor for S. aureus and potentially be developed as a new antivirulence agent.

[Introduction] The solenoid pressurizer spray valve is one of the key valves for PWR nuclear power plant, and it is of great significance for nuclear power construction to realize the independent research and development of the valve. [Method] In this paper, Starting from the system functional requirements and technical parameter requirements of the solenoid pressurizer spray valve, the overall structure, proportional solenoid, middle thermal protection device, valve position detect and output device, control system with pilot disc of the independently-developed solenoid pressurizer spray valve were briefly introduced in this paper. [Result] Through this independent research and development, the design technology of the solenoid pressurizer spray valve is mastered, the technical difficulties of the electromagnetic drive structure and the adaptability of the valve working under high temperature and high pressure medium conditions are solved, the system functional requirement for pressurizer spray valve is realized. [Conclusion] The independently-developed solenoid pressurizer spray valve meets the development needs for third generation nuclear power plant, and can be popularized and applied.

Employees who work long hours frequently complain of muscle fatigue caused by prolonged sitting. As a result, products that assist them when resting in a chair in a reclining position, in order to relieve fatigue and improve comfort are required. To ensure that the new product works as intended, a usability test based on prototyping must be developed. The research process was divided into three stages: firstly, the development of the perception assessment questionnaire; secondly, a validated factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on the perception assessment data of 26 subjects and the measurement model was fitted to verify the reliability and validity of the questionnaire; finally, the sEMG technique was used to verify the comfort level of 21 subjects. Based on usability experiments and an exploration of human factor relationships, this study develops a prototype testing model, which focuses on the comfort perception of body parts, as a means of promoting innovation in the design and manufacturing industry.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), but the pathological determinants of adverse outcomes remain unknown. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of various sleep parameters in patients with CTEPH undergoing pulmonary endarterectomy. Methods: Consecutive patients diagnosed with CTEPH who underwent overnight cardiorespiratory polygraphy for the assessment of OSA were enrolled. Time-to-event analysis was performed investigating cardiorespiratory indices (e.g., apnea-hypopnea index [AHI], time percentage with oxygen saturation below

As an important research tool in neuroscience, event-related potential (ERP) technology enables in-depth analysis of the consumer’s product image cognition process and complements and verifies the product image cognition model at the ERP level. It provides an important theoretical basis for systematically capturing product image and improvement of the product image cognitive model. In this work, the correlation between ERP data, product image word pairs and the degree of semantic match with the product is investigated, and a support vector machine algorithm is selected to build a classification model with physiological data (behavioral data + ERP data) as the independent variable and the degree of semantic match with the product image as the dependent variable. By adjusting the model parameters, the final classification accuracy reaches 95.667%, which shows that the model has some reliability and is a viable research method for ERP-based product image researchers in the future.

Objective: A meta-analysis is used to explore the relationship between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the risk of Sleep disturbances.Method: Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases are searched by computer from their establishment to 1 May 2022. Review Manager 5.4 software is used for the meta-analysis.Results: A total of nine articles are included, with 1,107 subjects. The results show that PCOS is positively associated with the risk of Sleep disturbances. Comparing with the “PCOS group” (experimental group) with the “NON-PCOS group” (control group), the incidence of Sleep disturbances is higher (OR = 11.24, 95% CI: 2.00–63.10, Z = 2.75, p = 0.006); the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores of the PCOS group is higher than that of the NON-PCOS group (MD = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.32–1.25, Z = 3.30, p = 0.001); the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) scores of the PCOS group is higher than that of the NON-PCOS group (MD = 2.49, 95% CI: 0.80–4.18, Z = 2.88, p = 0.004); Apnea hypopnea index (AHIs) in the PCOS group are higher than those in the NON-PCOS group (MD = 2.68, 95% CI: 1.07–4.28, Z = 3.27, p = 0.001); the sleep efficiency of the PCOS group is lower than that of the NON-PCOS group (MD = -5.16, 95% CI: 9.39–-0.93, Z = 2.39, p = 0.02); the sleep onset latency of the PCOS group is higher than that of the NON-PCOS group (MD = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.40–3.50, Z = 4.57, p < 0.001); and the Rapid Eyes Movement (REM) sleep in the PCOS group is higher than that in the NON-PCOS group (MD = 17.19, 95% CI: 11.62–55.76, Z = 6.05, p < 0.001). The studies included in each analysis have publication biases of different sizes. After subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis, the heterogeneity of each study in the meta-analysis is reduced, the bias is reduced accordingly, and the stability of the results can be maintained.Conclusion: PCOS is positively associated with the risk of Sleep disturbances. In order to reduce such risk, attention should be paid to the role of PCOS management, and PCOS prevention and treatment should be actively carried out.

As a notorious pathogenic fungus, Botrytis cinerea has been reported to infect more than 1400 species of plants and cause postharvest gray mold of numerous economic fruits, leading to substantial economic losses. Traditional chemical fungicides in pathogen control have potential issues regarding environmental pollution, disease resistance and human health. More safety and efficacious prevention technique of postharvest gray mold are in urgent demand. This study aims to investigate the potential function and mechanism of Bacillus velezensis to control gray mold for harvested fruits. The results showed that the cell-free supernatant (CFS) generated from B. velezensis strain A4 was able to inhibit spore germination, germ tube elongation and hyphal growth of B. cinerea in vitro, and impair the pathogenicity of B. cinerea on the four tested fruits. Further analysis demonstrated that CFS significantly reduced the expression of genes associated with growth and pathogenicity and weakened the ability of B. cinerea spores to penetrate plant cell walls in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, the CFS destroyed the membrane of hyphae, resulting in exosmosis of cell contents and caused hyphal cells to accumulate excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to hyphal oxidative damage. Our findings indicate that B. velezensis CFS can damage B. cinerea mycelial cells by promoting excessive accumulation of ROS to realize its biological control function.

Hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC) is one of the high mortality cancers with a poor prognosis, which is driving the development of new chemotherapeutic agents. We identified the anticancer effects of a natural compound, solamargine (SM), on FaDU cells and explored its mechanism in terms of non-coding RNA. It was observed that SM inhibited the proliferation of FaDU cells with an IC50 of 5.17 μM. High-throughput sequencing data revealed that lncRNA HOXA11-AS was significantly downregulated in cells co-incubated with SM. Further assays demonstrated that SM-induced downregulation of lncRNA HOXA11-AS showed important implications for apoptosis. Given the properties of HOXA11-AS as a miR-155 sponge, we further confirmed that SM upregulated the expression of miR-155 in FaDU cells. C-Myc is a transcription factor that regulates cell differentiation and apoptosis, whose mRNA is considered to be targeted by miR-155. We showed that c-Myc expression was downregulated by SM and accompanied by increased apoptosis, which was consistent with the findings of transcriptome sequencing. Furthermore, SM administration suppressed xenograft tumor growth in a xenograft mouse model in vivo. In the light of the aforementioned findings, our results suggested that SM downregulated the expression of HOXA11-AS, which in turn induces apoptosis by downregulating c-Myc in FaDU, providing evidence for the anticancer effect of SM on HSCC and uncovering the effect of SM on non-coding RNAs as, at least partly, a mechanism of action.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Exosomes have great potential as liquid biopsy specimens due to their presence and stability in body fluids. However, the function and diagnostic values of exosomal genes in CRC are poorly understood. In the present study, exosomal data of CRC and healthy samples from the exoRBase 2.0 and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases were used, and 38 common exosomal genes were identified. Through the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) analysis, support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) analysis, and logistic regression analysis, a diagnostic model of the training set was constructed based on 6 exosomal genes. The diagnostic model was internally validated in the test and exoRBase 2.0 database and externally validated in the GEO database. In addition, the co-expression analysis was used to cluster co-expression modules, and the enrichment analysis was performed on module genes. Then a protein–protein interaction and competing endogenous RNA network were constructed and 10 hub genes were identified using module genes. In conclusion, the results provided a comprehensive understanding of the functions of exosomal genes in CRC as well as a diagnostic model related to exosomal genes.

BackgroundExosome circRNAs (Exo-circRNAs) regulate cancer progression and intercellular crosstalk in the tumor microenvironment. However, their biological functions and potential clinical importance in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unknown.MethodsWe used exoRBase 2.0 data to identify significant differentially expressed Exo-circRNAs (Exo-DEcircRNAs) in CRC patients and healthy individuals. The least absolute shrinkage and selector operation algorithm, support vector machine-recursive feature elimination, and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to select candidate Exo-circRNAs and constructed a diagnostic model. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis was performed to confirm the expression of Exo-circRNAs in the serum samples of patients. Furthermore, we constructed an exosome circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network for CRC. Upregulated target mRNAs in the exosome competing endogenous RNA (Exo-ceRNA) network were used for functional and pathway enrichment analyses. We identified 22 immune cell types in CRC patients using CIBERSORT. Correlation analysis revealed the relationship between Exo-ceRNA networks and immune-infiltrating cells. The relationship between target mRNAs and immunotherapeutic response was also explored. Finally, using the Kaplan–Meier survival curve, a prognostic upregulated target mRNA was screened. We constructed a survival-related Exo-ceRNA subnetwork and explored the correlation between the Exo-ceRNA subnetwork and immune-infiltrating cells.ResultsThe constructed diagnostic model had a high area under the curve (AUC) value in both the training and validation sets (AUC = 0.744 and AUC = 0.741, respectively). qRT-PCR confirmed that the Exo-circRNAs were differentially expressed in CRC serum samples. We constructed Exo-ceRNA networks based on the interactions among seven upregulated Exo-DEcircRNAs, eight differentially expressed miRNAs, and twenty-two differentially expressed mRNAs in CRC. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that the upregulated target mRNAs were significantly enriched in cytoskeletal motor activity and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Co-expression analysis showed a significant correlation between the Exo-ceRNA networks and immune cells. The significant correlation was observed between target mRNAs and the immunotherapeutic response. Additionally, based on the prognostic upregulated target gene (RGS2), we constructed a survival-related Exo-ceRNA subnetwork (Exosome hsa_circ_0050334-hsa_miR_182_5p-RGS2). CIBERSORT results revealed that the Exo-ceRNA subnetwork correlated with M2 macrophages (P = 4.6e-07, R = 0.31).ConclusionsOur study identified an Exo-diagnostic model, established Exo-ceRNA networks, and explored the correlation between Exo-ceRNA networks and immune cell infiltration in CRC. These findings elucidated the biological functions of Exo-circRNAs and their potential clinical implications.

Miao embroidery of the southeast area of Guizhou province in China is a kind of precious intangible cultural heritage, as well as national costume handcrafts and textiles, with delicate patterns that require exquisite workmanship. There are various skills to make Miao embroidery; therefore, it is difficult to distinguish the categories of Miao embroidery if there is a lack of sufficient knowledge about it. Furthermore, the identification of Miao embroidery based on existing manual methods is relatively low and inefficient. Thus, in this work, a novel method is proposed to identify different categories of Miao embroidery by using deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Firstly, we established a Miao embroidery image database and manually assigned an accurate category label of Miao embroidery to each image. Then, a pre-trained deep CNN model is fine-tuned based on the established database to learning a more robust deep model to identify the types of Miao embroidery. To evaluate the performance of the proposed deep model for the application of Miao embroidery categories recognition, three traditional non-deep methods, that is, bag-of-words (BoW), Fisher vector (FV), and vector of locally aggregated descriptors (VLAD) are employed and compared in the experiment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed deep CNN model outperforms the compared three non-deep methods and achieved a recognition accuracy of 98.88%. To our best knowledge, this is the first one to apply CNNs on the application of Miao embroidery categories recognition. Moreover, the effectiveness of our proposed method illustrates that the CNN-based approach might be a promising strategy for the discrimination and identification of different other embroidery and national costume patterns.

Abstract Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) DANCR has been reported to participate in key processes such as stem cell differentiation and tumorigenesis. In a high throughput screening for lncRNAs involved in Doxorubicin-induced apoptosis, we found DANCR was suppressed by Doxorubicin and it acted as an important repressor of apoptosis in colorectal cancer. Further studies demonstrated that DANCR promoted the oncogenic lncRNA MALAT1 expression via enhancing the RNA stability of MALAT1 to suppress apoptosis. MALAT1 could efficiently mediate the suppressive function of DANCR on apoptosis. Mechanistic studies found the RNA-binding protein QK served as an interacting partner of both DANCR and MALAT1, and the protein level of QK was subjected to the regulation by DANCR. Furthermore, QK was able to modulate the RNA stability of MALAT1, and the interaction between QK and MALAT1 was controlled by DANCR. In addition, QK could mediate the function of DANCR in regulating the expression of MALAT1 and suppressing apoptosis. These results revealed DANCR played a critical role in Doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells, which was achieved by the interaction between DANCR and QK to enhance the expression of MALAT1.

Objective To investigate the effect of modulating thrombomodulin (TM) expression on renal injury in a rat model of diabetic nephropathy (DN) and explore the possible mechanism. Methods We examined the expression of liver X receptor-α (LXR-α), TM, coagulation factor XⅢ-A (FXⅢ-A) and CD163 in 25 renal biopsy samples from patients with DN and in 6 normal renal tissue specimens using immunohistochemistry. Twenty-four 12-week-old male db/db mice with DN were randomly assigned into 4 equal groups and treated daily with intragastric administration of normal saline or LXR-α agonist T0901317, or with intravenous injection of an adenoviral vector carrying TM shRNA or the control adenoviral vector for 7 consecutive days; 6 wild-type C57BL6 mice with intragastric saline treatment served as the normal control group. Four weeks after the treatment, the expression of TM, LXR-α, FXⅢ-A and CD163 in the renal tissues of the mice were detected using Western blotting, the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukine-6 (IL-6) were detected by ELISA, and the urinary microalbumin level was determined. Results The renal expression levels of TM and LXR-α were decreased (P < 0.05) and those of FXⅢ-A and CD163 were increased significantly (P < 0.05) in the kidney tissues of DN patients compared with normal kidney tissues. In db/db mouse model of DN, the expression levels of TM and LXR-α were positively correlated while those of FXⅢ-A and CD163 were negatively correlated with glomerular filtration rate (P < 0.05). Compared with the wild-type mice, the mouse model of DN showed significantly increased urinary microalbumin levels and serum levels of TNF-α and IL-6, lowered renal expressions of TM and LXR-α, and increased renal expression of FXⅢ-A and CD163; these changes were further exacerbated in the mice treated with Ad-TM shRNA (P < 0.05) but significantly improved in the mouse models treated with T0901317. Conclusion Upregulating TM expression can reduce urinary microalbumin level in db/db mouse model of DN by inhibiting the renal expression of FXⅢ-A and CD163 and downregulating blood levels of inflammatory mediators.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to compare outcomes of re-repair with those of mitral valve replacement (MVR) for failed initial mitral valve repair (MVr).MethodsWe searched the Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases for studies that compared mitral valve re-repair with MVR for the treatment of failed initial MVr. Data were extracted by two independent investigators and subjected to a meta-analysis. Odds ratio (OR), risk ratio (RR), hazard ratio (HR), ratio difference (RD), mean difference (MD), and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated with the Mantel-Haenszel and inverse-variance methods for mode of repair failure, perioperative outcomes, and follow-up outcomes.ResultsEight retrospective cohort studies were included, with a total of 938 patients, and mean/median follow-up ranged from 1.8 to 8.9 years. Pooled incidence of technical failure was 41% (RD: 0.41; 95% CI: 0.32 to 0.5; P = 0.00; I2 = 86%; 6 studies, 846 patients). Pooled mitral valve re-repair rate was 36% (RD: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.26–0.46; P = 0; I2 = 91%; 8 studies, 938 patients). Pooled data showed significantly lower perioperative mortality (RR: 0.22; 95% CI: 07 to 0.66; I2 = 0%; P = 0.008; 6 studies, 824 patients) and significantly lower long-term mortality (HR:0.42; 95% CI: 0.3 to 0.58; I2 = 0%; P = 0; 7 studies, 903 patients) in the re-repair group compared with MVR.ConclusionsMitral valve re-repair was associated with better immediate and sustained outcomes for failed MVr and should be recommended if technically feasible.

ABSTRACT The dramatic increase of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses a great challenge to the treatment of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infections. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify novel anti-infective agents to attack new targets to overcome antibiotic resistance. Casein hydrolase P (ClpP) is a key virulence factor in S. aureus to maintain cellular homeostasis. We screened from flavonoids and finally determined that quercetin could effectively attenuate the virulence of MRSA. The results of the thermal shift assay showed that quercetin could bind to ClpP and reduce the thermal stability of ClpP, and the KD value between quercetin and ClpP was 197 nM as determined by localized surface plasmon resonance. We found that quercetin exhibited a protective role of a mouse model of MRSA-induced lethal infection in a murine model. Based on the above facts, quercetin, as a ClpP inhibitor, could be further developed as a potential candidate for antivirulence agents to combat S. aureus infections. IMPORTANCE The resistance of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) to various antibiotics has increased dramatically, and thus the development of new anti-infective drugs with new targets is urgently needed to combat resistance. Caseinolytic peptidase P (ClpP) is a casein hydrolase that has been shown to regulate a variety of important virulence factors in S. aureus. Here, we found that quercetin, a small-molecule compound from traditional Chinese herbal flavonoids, effectively inhibits ClpP activity. Quercetin attenuates the expression of multiple virulence factors in S. aureus and effectively protects mice from lethal pneumonia caused by MRSA. In conclusion, we determined that quercetin is a ClpP inhibitor and an effective lead compound for the development of a virulence factor-based treatment for S. aureus infection.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disease. Recent studies have reported the close association between cognitive function in AD and purinergic receptors in the central nervous system. In the current study, we investigated the effect of CD73 inhibitor α, β-methylene ADP (APCP) on cognitive impairment of AD in mice, and to explore the potential underlying mechanisms. Results: We found that acute administration of Aβ1–42 (i.c.v.) resulted in a significant increase in adenosine release by using microdialysis study. Chronic administration of APCP (10, 30 mg/kg) for 20 d obviously mitigated the spatial working memory impairment of Aβ1–42-treated mice in both Morris water maze (MWM) test and Y-maze test. In addition, the extracellular adenosine production in the hippocampus was inhibited by APCP in Aβ-treated mice. Further analyses indicated expression of acetyltransferase (ChAT) in hippocampus of mice of was significantly reduced, while acetylcholinesterase (AChE) expression increased, which compared to model group. We observed that APCP did not significantly alter the NLRP3 inflammasome activity in hippocampus, indicating that anti-central inflammation seems not to be involved in APCP effect. Conclusions: In conclusion, we report for the first time that inhibition of CD73 by APCP was able to protect against memory loss induced by Aβ1–42 in mice, which may be due to the decrease of CD73-driven adenosine production in hippocampus. Enhancement of central cholinergic function of the central nervous system may also be involved in the effects of APCP.How to cite: Song W, Tang Y, Wei L, et al. Protective effect of CD73 inhibitor α, β-methylene ADP against amyloid-β-Induced cognitive impairment by inhibiting adenosine production in hippocampus. Electron J Biotechnol 2020;48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2020.09.002

Introduction The hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has been widely applied in clinical practice for peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC). The temperature is one of the important elements affecting the efficacy of HIPEC, and it can become fluctuant by several factors. This study is aimed to explore the role of a stable perfusion temperature in promoting bowel recovery of PC patients due to gastrointestinal malignancies.Methods Between January 2012 and July 2013, 59 PC patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery and three-cycle HIPEC were included. Patients having stable perfusion temperature for all cycles were assigned into the study group, with the rest having unstable temperature into the control group. Time of flatus and defecation passage and initiation time of enteral nutrition were compared between both groups to detect the significance in bowel function recovery, with visual analogue scale (VAS) pain intensity and overall survival (OS) compared meanwhile.Results In sum, 33 (55.9%) patients obtained stable temperature during HIPEC, and the rest of 26 (44.1%) developed fluctuant perfusion temperature. Average time of flatus (2.3 ± 1.2 vs 3.9 ± 2.2 days, P =.002), defecation passage (5.2 ± 2.1 vs 7.1 ± 2.9 days, P =.004) and enteral nutrition initiation (4.3 ± 1.5 vs 6.7 ± 2.3 days, P

Objective To determine the effects of liver X receptor (LXR) agonist T0901317 and thrombomodulin (TM) interfering RNA recombinant adenovirus Ad-TM shRNA on renal injury of db/db mice with diabetic nephropathy (DN). Methods A total of 36 male db/db mice (12 weeks old) were randomly assigned into 6 groups (n=6), DN group, Ad-ctrl+DN group, Ad-TMshRNA+DN group, T0901317+DN group, Ad-TMshRNA+T0901317+DN group and Ad-ctrl+T0901317+DN group. PBS, 2.5×109 pfu Ad-TM shRNA and Ad-ctrl were injected into mice through tail vein to corresponding mice, while 0.5 mg/(kg·d) T0901317 was intragastrically administered to the corresponding mice for 7 consecutive days. After treatment for 4 weeks, the kidney tissues were collected for detecting the expression of LXRα, LXRβ, VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 by Western blotting. The serum creatinine level was also detected in all the mice. Male wild-type C57BL/6 mice at the same age served as normal control. Results The expression of LXRα in kidney tissue was significantly lower in the DN group and Ad-ctrl+DN group than the wild-type mice (P < 0.05), but was obviously higher in the T0901317+DN group, the Ad-TMshRNA+T0901317+DN group and the Ad-ctrl+T0901317+DN group than the DN group, Ad-ctrl+DN group and the Ad-TM shRNA+DN group (P < 0.05). The expression of LXRβ in DN mice was notably lower than that in the wild-type mice (P < 0.05). T0901317 had no significant effect on the LXRβ expression in renal tissue of DN mice. The DN control group and Ad-ctrl+DN group had significantly higher serum level of creatinine and renal expression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1, and aggravated renal pathological damages when compared with the wild-type mice (P < 0.05). When compared with the DN group, Ad-TMshRNA silenced mice groups had severer renal damages and elevated expression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 (P < 0.05), while the renal damages were alleviated and the expression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 were decreased in the T0901317+DN group and the Ad-ctrl+T0901317+DN group (P < 0.05). Conclusion T0901317 improves renal injury in db/db mice by activating LXRα to reduce the expression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1.

For the split delivery vehicle routing problem in the distribution link of logistics where the optimization objective is to minimize the total distance of the transportation path, a hybrid discrete differential evolution (HDDE) algorithm is adopted in this study. The algorithm applies the encoding and decoding method based on the remaining vehicle capacity to split the demand of customer point and adjust the splitting node to the optimal position of its path. In order to avoid the prematurity of the algorithm, the perturbation mechanism is added, i.e., the three-point insertion method is used in the crossover stage. To ensure the higher quality of the solution, the idea of tabu search is introduced in three cases: initial population generation, selection operation and local optimal situation. Finally, through the numerical experiments based on benchmark data, the HDDE algorithm is compared with other competitive algorithms to demonstrate its domination.

Background: The harmful effects of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications have become a major global public health problem. In this study, the effects of Momordica charantia saponins (MCS) on lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and insulin signaling pathway in type 2 diabetic rats were investigated. Results: MCS could attenuate the tendency of weight loss of the model rats. It could also improve glucose tolerance; reduce fasting blood glucose, nonesterified fatty acid, triglyceride, and total cholesterol; and increase the insulin content and insulin sensitivity index of the rats. The activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase increased, and the content of malondialdehyde decreased in the liver and pancreas tissues of rats in MCS-treated groups significantly. In addition, the expression of p-IRS-1 (Y612) and p-Akt (S473) increased, and the expression of p-IRS-1 (S307) decreased in the liver tissues and pancreas tissues of rats in MCS-treated groups significantly. Conclusion: MCS has an antidiabetic effect, which may be related to its improving the lipid metabolism disorder, reducing oxidative stress level, and regulating the insulin signaling pathway.How to cite: Jiang S, Xu L, Xu X, et al. Anti-diabetic effect of Momordica charantia saponins in rats induced by high-fat diet combined with STZ. Electron J Biotechnol 2020;43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2019.12.001. Keywords: Animals, Blood glucose, Diabetes mellitus, Glucose, Humans, Insulin resistance, Insulin, Lipid metabolism, Momordica charantia, Oxidative stress, Rats, Saponins

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of low-protein diets on blood calcium (Ca) level, bone metabolism, and the correlation between bone metabolism and blood calcium in goats. Twenty-four female Xiangdong black goats with similar body weight (19.55 ± 3.55 kg) and age (8.0 ± 0.3 months) were selected and allocated into two groups: control group (CON, 10.77% protein content) and low-protein group (LP, 5.52% protein content). Blood samples were collected on days 1, 4, 7, 16 and 36 before morning feeding to determine the concentration of calcium (Ca), parathyroid hormone (PTH), bone gla protein (BGP), C-terminal telopeptide of type 1 collagen (CTX-1), bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP), and 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3]. Liver samples were collected to determine the expression of bone metabolism-related genes. There was no difference observed between LP and CON in concentration of plasma Ca or any of bone metabolism markers (P > 0.05). In the liver, the mRNA expression of bone gamma carboxyglutamate protein (BGLAP), alkaline phosphatase (ALPL), and mothers against decapentaplegic homolog-1 (SMAD1) were increased (P < 0.05) in LP as compared with CON. The correlation analysis of Ca and bone metabolism markers showed no significant correlation between Ca and bone metabolism. These results suggest that the blood Ca concentration in mature goats may keep at a stable level through nitrogen cycling when the providing protein is not enough.

There is evidence suggesting that immune genes play pivotal roles in the development and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). Colorectal carcinoma patient data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were randomly classified into a training set, a test set, and an external validation set. Differentially expressed gene (DEG) analyses, univariate Cox regression, and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) were used to identify survival-associated immune genes and develop a prognosis model. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to evaluate the discrimination of the risk models. The model genes predicted were verified using the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) databases, colorectal cell lines, and fresh CRC and adjacent tissues. To understand the relationship between IRGs and immune invasion and the TME, we analyzed the content of immune cells and scored the TME using CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE algorithms. Finally, we predicted the potential sensitive chemotherapeutic drugs in different risk score groups by the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC). A total of 491 IRGs were screened, and 14 IRGs were identified to be significantly related to overall survival (OS) and applied to construct an immune-related gene (IRG) prognostic signature (IRGSig) for CRC patients. Calibration plots showed that nomograms have powerful predictive ability. PCA and ROC analysis further verified the predictive value of this fourteen-gene prognostic model in three independent databases. Furthermore, we discovered that the tumor microenvironment changed significantly during the tumor development process, from early to middle to late stage, which may be an essential factor for tumor deterioration. Finally, we selected six commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs that have the potential to be useful in the treatment of CRC. Altogether, immune genes were used to construct a prognosis model for CRC patients, and a variety of methods were used to test the accuracy of this model. In addition, we explored the immune mechanisms of CRC through immune cell infiltration and TME in CRC. Furthermore, we assessed the therapeutic sensitivity of many commonly used chemotherapeutic medicines in individuals with varying risk factors. Finally, the immune risk model and immune mechanism of CRC were thoroughly investigated in this paper.

Although research on the metabolism related to gastric cancer (GC) is gradually gaining increasing interest, there are few studies regarding metabolism-related genes in GC. Understanding the characteristic changes of metabolism-related genes at the transcriptional and protein levels in GC will help us to identify new biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets. We harvested six pairs of samples from GC patients and evaluated the differentially expressed proteins using mass spectrometry-based proteomics. RNA sequencing was conducted simultaneously to detect the corresponding expression of mRNAs, and bioinformatics analysis was used to reveal the correlation of significant differentially expressed genes. A total of 57 genes were observed to be dysregulated both in proteomics and transcriptomics. Bioinformatics analysis showed that these differentially expressed genes were significantly associated with regulating metabolic activity. Further, 14 metabolic genes were identified as potential targets for GC patients and were related to immune cell infiltration. Moreover, we found that dysregulation of branched-chain amino acid transaminase 2 (BCAT2), one of the 14 differentially expressed metabolism-related genes, was associated with the overall survival time in GC patients. We believe that this study provides comprehensive information to better understand the mechanism underlying the progression of GC metastasis and explores the potential therapeutic and prognostic metabolism-related targets for GC.

BackgroundPost-infarction left ventricular (LV) pseudoaneurysm is a rare mechanical complication of myocardial infarction that carries a substantial risk of sudden rupture. The purpose of this study was to compare the surgical results of post-infarction LV pseudoaneurysm with those of conservative treatment.MethodsFrom 2016 to 2021, 22 patients were hospitalized for LV pseudoaneurysm, including 17 cases (77.3%) caused by myocardial infarction. Of the 17 patients, 10 (58.8%) underwent surgical repair, while seven (41.2%) were treated medically. The clinical course, echocardiograph data, and surgical outcomes were analyzed. Survival rates of the surgical and conservative groups were compared.ResultsThere were no perioperative deaths. Intra-aortic balloon pumping support was required in two (20%) patients. No follow-up mortality was observed in the surgical group and at the last follow-up, all the patients were classified as New York Heart Association class I–II. In the conservative group, there was one (14.3%) hospital death and two (28.6%) additional deaths during follow-up. A significant difference was found in survival between the two groups (P = 0.024).ConclusionsSurgical repair of post-infarction LV pseudoaneurysm can be performed with good results, while conservative treatment carries a significant risk of sudden death. Surgical repair is indicated for every patient diagnosed, even those with a small pseudoaneurysm without symptoms.

Confronting the age of artificial intelligence, exploring art through technology has become one of the directions of interdisciplinary development. Not only does artificial intelligence technology explore sustainability on a technical level; it can also take advantage of itself to focus on the visual perception of the living environment. People frequently interpret environmental features through their eyes, and the use of intuitive eye-tracking can provide effective data that can contribute to environmental sustainability in managing the environment and color planning to enhance the image of cities. This research investigates the visual responses of people viewing the historic city of Macau through an eye movement experiment to understand how the color characteristics of the physical environment are perceived. The research reveals that the buildings and plantings in the historic district of Macau are the most visible objects in the environment, while the smaller scale of St. Dominic’s Square, the Company of Jesus Square, and St. Augustine’s Square, which have a sense of spatial extension, have also become iconic environmental landscapes. This also draws visual attention and guides the direction of travel. The overall impressions of the Historic Centre of Macau, as expressed by the participants after the eye movement experiment, were mainly described as “multiculturalism”, “architectural style”, “traditional architecture”, “color scheme”, and “garden planting”. The 60 colors representing the urban color of Macau are then organized around these deep feelings about the environment. Therefore, for future inspiration, the 60 colors can be applied through design practice to create color expressions that fit the local characteristics, and thereby enhance the overall visual image of the city.

Biological control of postharvest diseases has been proven to be an effective alternative to chemical control. As an environmentally friendly biocontrol agent, Bacillus subtilis has been widely applied. This study explores its application in kiwifruit soft rot and reveals the corresponding mechanisms. Treatment with cell-free supernatant (CFS) of Bacillus subtilis BS-1 significantly inhibits the mycelial growth of the pathogen Botryosphaeria dothidea and attenuates the pathogenicity on kiwifruit in a concentration-dependent manner. In particular, mycelial growth diameter was only 21% of the control after 3 days of treatment with 5% CFS. CFS caused swelling and breakage of the hyphae of B. dothidea observed by scanning electron microscopy, resulting in the leakage of nucleic acid and soluble protein and the loss of ergosterol content. Further analysis demonstrated that CFS significantly induces the expression of Nox genes associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by 1.9–2.7-fold, leading to a considerable accumulation of ROS in cells and causing mycelial cell death. Our findings demonstrate that the biocontrol effect of B. subtilis BS-1 CFS on B. dothidea is realized by inducing oxidative damage to the mycelia cell.

Background: There have been no systemic studies about right heart filling pressure and right ventricular (RV) distensibility in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Therefore, we aimed to explore combinations of echocardiographic indices to assess the stages of RV diastolic dysfunction.Methods and Results: We recruited 32 healthy volunteers and 71 patients with CTEPH. All participants underwent echocardiography, cardiac catheterization (in patients with CTEPH), and a 6-min walk test (6MWT). The right atrial (RA) end-systolic area was adjusted for body surface area (BSA) (indexed RA area). RV global longitudinal diastolic strain rates (SRs) and RV ejection fraction (EF) were measured by speckle tracking and three-dimensional echocardiography (3D echo), respectively. All 71 patients with CTEPH underwent pulmonary endarterectomy. Of the 71 patients, 52 (73%) had decreased RV systolic function; 12 (16.9%), 26 (36.6%), and 33 (46.5%) patients had normal RV diastolic pattern, abnormal relaxation (stage 1), and pseudo-normal patterns (stage 2), respectively. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the optimal cut-off values of early diastolic SR 8.8 cm2/BSA had the best accuracy in identifying patients with RV diastolic dysfunction, with 87% sensitivity and 82% specificity. During a mean follow-up of 25.2 months after pulmonary endarterectomy, the preoperative indexed RA area was shown as an independent risk factor of the decreased 6MWT distance.Conclusions: Measuring early diastolic SR and indexed RA area would be useful in stratifying RV diastolic function.

Increasing the ratio of amylose in the diet can increase the quantity of starch that flows to the large intestine for microbial fermentation. This leads to the alteration of microbiota and metabolite of the hindgut, where the underlying mechanism is not clearly understood. The present study used a combination of 16S amplicon sequencing technology and metabolomics technique to reveal the effects of increasing ratios of amylose/amylopectin on cecal mucosa- and digesta-associated microbiota and their metabolites in young goats. Twenty-seven Xiangdong black female goats with average body weights (9.00 ± 1.12 kg) were used in this study. The goats were randomly allocated to one of the three diets containing starch with 0% amylose corn (T1), 50% high amylose corn (T2), and 100% high amylose corn (T3) for 35 days. Results showed that cecal valerate concentration was higher (P < 0.05) in the T2 group than those in the T1 and T3 groups. The levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 were decreased (P < 0.05) in cecal tissue while IL-10 was increased (P < 0.05) in the T2 group when compared with T1 or T3 groups. At the phylum level, the proportion of mucosa-associated Spirochaetes was increased (P < 0.05), while Proteobacteria was deceased by feeding high amylose ratios (P < 0.05). The abundance of Verrucomicrobia was decreased (P < 0.05) in the T3 group compared with the T1 and T2 groups. The abundance of digesta-associated Firmicutes was increased (P < 0.05) while Verrucomicrobia and Tenericutes were deceased (P < 0.05) with the increment of amylose/amylopectin ratios. The LEfSe analysis showed that a diet with 50% high amylose enriched the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Faecalibacterium and Lactobacillus in the digesta and Akkermansia in the mucosa compared with the T1 diet. The metabolomics results revealed that feeding a diet containing 50% high amylose decreased the concentration of fatty acyls-related metabolites, including dodecanedioic acid, heptadecanoic acid, and stearidonic acid ethyl ester compared with the T1 diet. The results suggested that a diet consisting of 50% high amylose could maintain a better cecal microbiota composition and host immune function.

Radiogenomics research is one of the most important applications of artificial intelligence in the field of medicine. It is a new booming emerging discipline recent years. It combines image omics and genomics to make relatively intuitive research on disease in a non-invasive and efficient way. This review introduces the definition, advantages, methods and application fields of imaging genomics. We highlight the research progress of radiogenomics in clear cell renal cell carcinoma, to achieve accurate diagnosis of cancer and make optimal individualized treatment regimen.

BACKGROUND Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous soil fungi in natural and agricultural ecosystems. They are obligate symbionts that can form symbiotic association with the majority of terrestrial plants. AMF obtains carbohydrates from host plants to maintain its own growth; in return, AMF can help plants absorb mineral nutrients and water from the soil. Many studies demonstrate the importance of AM symbiosis in plant adaptation to various environmental stresses, including nutrient deficiency, drought stress and heavy metal (HM) contamination. OBJECTIVES To summarize the underlying mechanisms for the enhanced plant tolerance to HMs by AM symbiosis, and to overview the possible involvements of AMF in HM translocation, transformation and accumulation in the soil-plant continuum. METHODS A literature review was conducted and a total of 189 publications were identified, from 1984 to 2018. Direct and indirect involvements of AMF in metal uptake and accumulation by host plants have been overviewed. Key factors influencing the mycorrhizal effects have been fully discussed. RESULTS AMF can take an active part in HM uptake, accumulation and detoxification, resulting in protective effects on host plants against HMs. On one hand, AMF can directly immobilize HMs, influence bioavailability of HMs, and consequently influence HM uptake and accumulation by host plants. On the other hand, AMF can also indirectly influence plant tolerance to HM by improving plant mineral nutrition and promoting plant growth. The mycorrhizal effects can be influenced largely by HM type and contamination level, plant and AM fungal species, and soil chemo-physical properties. CONCLUSIONS AMF can essentially influence plant metal uptake and tolerance, thus can be used for ecological restoration of HM contaminated soils. Future research should go deep into the stress physiology of AMF. The effectiveness of AMF in bioremediation is also expected to be tested under field conditions.