Search

Abstract Background Analyzing the glaucoma burden in "Belt and Road" (B&R) countries based on age, gender, and risk factors from 1990 to 2019 in order to provide evidence for future prevention strategies. Methods We applied global burden of disease(GBD) 2019 to compare glaucoma prevalence and Years lived with disabilities (YLDs) from 1990 to 2019 in the B&R countries. Trends of disease burden between 1990 and 2019 were evaluated using the average annual percent change and the 95% uncertainty interval (UI) were reported. Results From 1990 to 2019, most B&R countries showed a downward trend in age-standardized prevalence and YLDs (all P 85 years), Malaysia(75–84 years), Brunei Darussalam(45–49 years), Afghanistan(70–79 years). Finally, in all Central Asian countries, the age-standardized YLDs due to glaucoma caused by fasting hyperglycemia demonstrated have an increase between 1990 and 2019 (all P

BackgroundPeriodontitis is a prevalent inflammatory periodontal disease that has an impact on the overall quality of life. Although several studies have indicated an association between individual vitamin intake and periodontitis risk, the associations of the multivitamins with periodontitis risk remain unclear.AimThis study aimed to explore the joint effect of multivitamins (including vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K) on periodontitis.MethodsFor this cross-sectional study, data were collected from participants aged ≥ 30 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2009–2014 (n = 9,820). We employed weighted multivariate logistic regression models to evaluate the single association between individual vitamin intakes and periodontitis, and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR), weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, and quantile g-computation (qgcomp) models to assess the joint effect of nine vitamins on periodontitis.ResultsThe overall prevalence of periodontitis was approximately 35.97%. After adjustment of covariates, vitamin B6 [odds ratio (OR) = 0.82, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.72–0.94] and vitamin E (OR = 0.79, 95%CI: 0.69–0.92) were negatively related to the likelihood of developing periodontitis, respectively. The result of three models indicated that, mixture of vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K had a significant negative combined effect on the risk of periodontitis. In the BKMR model, when all remaining vitamins were at their median levels, the periodontitis risk decreased with increased concentration levels of vitamin E and vitamin B2. WQS analysis indicated the highest weighted chemical was vitamin E, followed by vitamin B12 and vitamin D. In the qgcomp model, vitamin E received the highest negative weights for the periodontitis risk, followed by vitamin B2 and vitamin D, respectively.ConclusionBoth dietary vitamin B6 and vitamin E were associated with decreased odds of periodontitis. Additionally, the mixture-exposed analyses consistently showed the negative correlations between nine dietary vitamins mixtures and periodontitis.

In this paper, we study the energy equality for weak solutions to the compressible Navier–Stokes–Korteweg equations with general pressure law in a bounded domain Ω⊂Rd (d=2,3). By exploring the special structure of the nonlinear terms, and using coarea formula, we formulate the sufficient conditions for the regularity of weak solutions to ensure that energy equality holds.

ObjectiveThe Omicron BA.5.2 variant of SARS-CoV-2 has undergone several evolutionary adaptations, leading to multiple subvariants. Rapid and accurate characterization of these subvariants is essential for effective treatment, particularly in critically ill patients. This study leverages Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) to elucidate the clinical and immunological features across different Omicron BA.5.2 subvariants.MethodsWe enrolled 28 patients infected with the Omicron variant, hospitalized in Zhangjiajie People’s Hospital, Hunan, China, between January 20, 2023, and March 31, 2023. Throat swabs were collected upon admission for NGS-based identification of Omicron subvariants. Clinical data, including qSOFA scores and key laboratory tests, were collated. A detailed analysis of lymphocyte subsets was conducted to ascertain the extent of immune cell damage and disease severity.ResultsPatients were infected with various Omicron subvariants, including BA.5.2.48, BA.5.2.49, BA.5.2.6, BF.7.14, DY.1, DY.2, DY.3, and DY.4. Despite having 43 identical mutation sites, each subvariant exhibited unique marker mutations. Critically ill patients demonstrated significant depletion in total lymphocyte count, T cells, CD4, CD8, B cells, and NK cells (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in clinical and immunological markers across the subvariants.ConclusionThis study reveals that critically ill patients infected with different Omicron BA.5.2 subvariants experience similar levels of cellular immune dysfunction and inflammatory response. Four mutations - ORF1a:K3353R, ORF1a:L3667F, ORF1b:S997P, S:T883I showed correlation with immunological responses although this conclusion suffers from the small sample size. Our findings underscore the utility of NGS in the comprehensive assessment of infectious diseases, contributing to more effective clinical decision-making.

As one of the most frequently used explosives, hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) can cause persistent pollution in the environment, leading to the potential ecological threat crossing the generations. In this study, we employed Caenorhabditis elegans to explore the toxic effects of RDX on the parental and offspring worms and the involved signaling pathways. Exposure up to 1000 ng/mL of RDX produced a significant increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, germ cell apoptosis, and decrease in eggs laid. Various mutants were used to demonstrate the RDX-induced apoptosis signaling pathway, and the metabolism of RDX in the nematodes was found related to cytochrome P450 and GST through RNA sequencing. Exposure of parental worms to RDX produced significant reproductive toxicity in F1 and F2, but was recovered in F3 and F4. The transgenerational effects were associated with the decreased expression of met-2, spr-5, and set-2. Our findings revealed the signaling pathways related to the reproductive toxicity caused by RDX in C. elegans and their future generations, which provided the basis for further exploration of the ecological risks of energetic compounds in the environment.

In this paper, we study the regularity and energy conservation of the weak solutions for compressible ideal Hall-magnetohydrodynamic (Hall-MHD) system, where $ (t, x)\in(0, T)\times {\mathbb{T}}^d(d\geq\; 1) $. By exploring the special structure of the nonlinear terms in the model, we obtain the sufficient conditions for the regularity of the weak solutions for energy conservation. Our main strategy relies on commutator estimates.

Purpose: Older cancer patients are more likely to develop and die from chemotherapy-related toxicity. However, evidence on drug safety and optimal effective doses is relatively limited in this group. The aim of this study was to develop a tool to identify elderly patients vulnerable to chemotherapy toxicity.Patients and methods: Elderly cancer patients ≥60 years old who visited the oncology department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital between 2008 and 2012 were included. Each round of chemotherapy was regarded as a separate case. Clinical factors included age, gender, physical status, chemotherapy regimen and laboratory tests results were recorded. Severe (grade ≥3) chemotherapy-related toxicity of each case was captured according to the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 5.0. Univariate analysis was performed by chi-square statistics to determine which factors were significantly associated with severe chemotherapy toxicity. Logistic regression was used to build the predictive model. The prediction model was validated by calculating the area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic (ROC).Results: A total of 253 patients and 1,770 cases were included. The average age of the patients was 68.9 years. The incidence of grade 3–5 adverse events was 24.17%. Cancer type (non-GI cancers), BMI

In this paper, we investigate the problem of energy equality of the two and three dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes-Korteweg equations with general pressure law. By using the commutator estimation to deal with the nonlinear terms, we obtain the sufficient conditions for the regularity of weak solutions to conserve the energy.

Innovation is the main driving force to promote national technological progress. It is of great significance to explore the optimal path to improve innovation efficiency by using the qualitative method and neural network prediction model to promote the high-quality development of the national economy. This study focuses on high-tech industries in the eastern, central and western regions of China; a factor-dependent research framework for innovation efficiency improvement in high-tech industries is constructed in China. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method (QCA) is used to explore multiple paths to enhance the innovation efficiency of China’s high-tech industries. Then, a GA-PSO-BP neural network is used to construct an optimization model for the enhancement path of technological innovation efficiency, which clarifies the optimal path for the enhancement of innovation efficiency of high-tech industries in the eastern, central and western regions of China. Finally, innovation management strategies for high-tech industries are presented with regional features. The study finds that none of the individual conditions are necessary to promote the innovation efficiency of China’s high-tech industries, and only the linkage effect of the factors can achieve the goal of improving the innovation efficiency level of China’s high-tech industries. There are four configuration paths to improve the innovation efficiency of China’s high-tech industries, which are: “Multinational company (MNC) innovation—economic development—government support”; “MNC innovation—government support”; “economic development—government support”; and “economic development”. The characteristics of regional heterogeneity make differences in the optimal paths of innovation efficiency improvement in high-tech industries in eastern, central and western regions of China.

Abstract Background The understanding of molecular changes in mCRC during treatment could be used to personalise therapeutic strategies. The aim of our study was to explore the association of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) with clinical outcome in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Methods Sequential patients with mCRC receiving standard first-line chemotherapy were included prospectively. Both plasma ctDNA and serum CEA were assessed in samples obtained before treatment and after 4 cycles of chemotherapy (C4). Computed tomography (CT) scans were carried out at baseline and post-C4 (8–10 weeks) and were assessed using Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumours version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1). Target-capture deep sequencing with a panel covering 1021 genes was performed to detected somatic mutations in ctDNA. Results A total of 20 patients were prospectively included and treated with either leucovorin, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) (15/20) or leucovorin, fluorouracil, and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) (5/20). Median follow-up was 6.9 months (range 1.6–26.6). Somatic mutations for baseline ctDNA analysis were identified in 85% (17/20) of the patients. Mutation variations of ctDNA after chemotherapy were tested in 16/20 (80.0%) of the patients. In multivariate analyses, a high baseline molecular tumour burden index (mTBI) in ctDNA was associated with a higher risk of disease progression, as well as emergence of new mutations in ctDNA during chemotherapy. Patients with newly detected mutations had shorter progression-free survival (PFS) compared to those without (median 3.0 versus 7.3 months; hazard ratio (HR), 5.97; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.70–50.69; P = 0.0003). Fold changes in mTBI from baseline to post-C4 were obtained in 80.0% (16/20) of the patients, which were also related to PFS. Patients with fold reduction in mTBI above 0.8-fold had longer PFS compared to those below (median 9.3 versus 4.1 months; HR, 4.51; 95% CI, 1.29–15.70; P = 0.0008). Conclusions Newly detected mutations in ctDNA during treatment might potentially be associated with clinical outcome in mCRC and may provide important clinical information.

Abstract In this work, we consider the density-dependent incompressible inviscid Boussinesq equations in R N ( N ≥ 2 ) $\mathbb{R}^{N}\ (N\geq 2)$ . By using the basic energy method, we first give the a priori estimates of smooth solutions and then get a blow-up criterion. This shows that the maximum norm of the gradient velocity field controls the breakdown of smooth solutions of the density-dependent inviscid Boussinesq equations. Our result extends the known blow-up criteria.

Abstract Power grid dispatching is among the forefront issues in the power industry for it can highly influence the efficiency of electricity-related industries. At present, power grid dispatching is usually managed manually, which is quite time-consuming with the continuous growth of scale and complexity of electric power systems. To mitigate the time cost of power grid dispatching, an automatic power grid dispatching system is proposed. The system contains devices configuration detection, flexible and automatic device detection and vertical encryption to ensure the efficiency, adaptability and security of power gird dispatching. In this paper, modeling and algorithm details of the automatic power grid dispatching system are presented, and the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed system was evaluated with power grid data in Kunming, China.

In this paper, we study the energy conservation of the nonhomogeneous incompressible Hall-magnetohydrodynamic equations in a bounded domain Ω⊂Rdwith d=2,3. By exploring the special structure of the nonlinear terms in the Hall-magnetohydrodynamic equations, we obtain the sufficient conditions for the regularity of the weak solutions for energy conservation. The treatment of the boundary terms mainly relies on the coarea formula.

Flower color, including color hues and spot patterns, is an extremely important trait in Asiatic hybrid lilies. Investigating flower color variation across different cross combinations may help us select breeding parents efficiently. Thus, three hybridizations with different compositions of anthocyanins and carotenoids were performed, and 65, 289 and 125 offspring were obtained, respectively. For the parents and progenies, flower color hues were quantified by the CIELAB system, and the total number of raised spots on tepals was counted. Then, a cluster analysis and a statistical analysis were used to explore the inheritance patterns of flower color. The results showed that an orange flower color with high levels of carotenoids was highly heritable and that the progenies were less segregated, showing orange, orange-red, and yellow flowers. Parents showing red and purple-red flowers with differing levels of carotenoids and anthocyanins produced offspring with extensive segregation, including pink-white, pink, orange-pink, orange-red, yellow, and orange flowers. Meanwhile, different contents of anthocyanins and carotenoids resulted in variable proportions in color groups. Additionally, for F1 generation, the number of raised spots was continuously separated, demonstrating distinct quantitative genetic characteristics. For parents with few or intermediate spots, the hybrid plants showed both prominent negative and positive heterosis. For parents with many spots that covered almost the full tepals, the hybrid seedlings all exhibited raised spots.

Biomass-derived carbon materials (B-d-CMs) are considered as a group of very promising electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage (EES) by virtue of their naturally diverse and intricate microarchitectures, extensive and low-cost source, environmental friendliness, and feasibility to be produced in a large scale. However, the practical application of raw B-d-CMs in EES is limited by their relatively rare storage sites and low diffusion kinetics. In recent years, various strategies from structural design to material composite manipulation have been explored to overcome these problems. In this review, a controllable design of B-d-CM structures boosting their storage sites and diffusion kinetics for EES devices including SIBs, Li-S batteries, and supercapacitors is systematically summarized from the aspects of effects of pseudographic structure, hierarchical pore structure, surface functional groups, and heteroatom doping of B-d-CMs, as well as the composite structure of B-d-CMs, aiming to provide guidance for further rational design of the B-d-CMs for high-performance EES devices. Besides, the contemporary challenges and perspectives on B-d-CMs and their composites are also proposed for further practical application of B-d-CMs for EES devices.

We establish the existence of solutions to the Orlicz electrostatic q-capacitary Minkowski problem for polytopes. This contains a new result of the discrete Lp electrostatic q-capacitary Minkowski problem for p

Height-diameter (H-D) models are important tools for forest management practice. Sandy Mongolian pine plantations (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) are a major component of the Three-North Afforestation Shelterbelt in Northern China. However, few H-D models are available for Mongolian pine plantations. In this paper we compared different equations found in the literature for predicting tree height, using diameter at breast height and additional stand-level predictor variables. We tested if the additional stand-level predictor variable is necessary to produce more accurate results. The dominant height was used as a stand-level predictor variable to describe the variation of the H-D relationship among plots. We found that the basic mixed-effects H-D model provided a similar predictive accuracy as the generalized mixed-effects H-D model. Moreover, it had the advantage of reducing the sampling effort. The basic mixed-effects H-D model calibration, in which the heights of the two thickest trees in the plot were included to calibrate the random effects, resulted in accurate and reliable individual tree height estimations. Thus, the basic mixed-effects H-D model with the above-described calibration design can be an accurate and cost-effective solution for estimating the heights of Mongolian pine trees in northern China.

Abstract The ternary transitional metal oxide NiCo2O4 is a promising anode material for sodium ion batteries due to its high theoretical capacity and superior electrical conductivity. However, its sodium storage capability is severely limited by the sluggish sodiation/desodiation reaction kinetics. Herein, NiCo2O4 double-shelled hollow spheres were synthesized via a microwave-assisted, fast solvothermal synthetic procedure in a mixture of isopropanol and glycerol, followed by annealing. Isopropanol played a vital role in the precipitation of nickel and cobalt, and the shrinkage of the glycerol quasi-emulsion under heat treatment was responsible for the formation of the double-shelled nanostructure. The as-synthesized product was tested as an anode material in a sodium ion battery, was found to exhibit a high reversible specific capacity of 511 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1, and deliver high capacity retention after 100 cycles.

Lilium martagon var. pilosiusculum is an endangered species with high ornamental value in Xinjiang province (China). In this study, we reported a complete chloroplast genome of L. martagon var. pilosiusculum, which was de novo assembled using the next-generation sequencing data. The complete chloroplast genome is 152,816 in length, including a large single copy region of 82,265 bp and a small single copy region of 17,541 bp and two inverted repeat regions of 26,505 bp. A total of 110 functional genes were encoded, consisting of 76 protein-coding genes, 30 transfer RNA genes, and four ribosomal RNA genes. The overall AT content of the chloroplast genome is 63.00%. In addition, 68 SSRs and 31 large repeat sequences were found. In the maximum likelihood tree, a strong phylogenetic signal showed that L. martagon var. pilosiusculum is a species of lilium.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate plumbagin (PL) on liver fibrosis in vitro and in vivo and to explore the underlying mechanisms. Methods: Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) was used to establish a rat liver fibrosis model, primary hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) were isolated from the rat liver, and fibrosis-related indicators were detected. Results: The results revealed that PL significantly prevented CCl4-induced liver fibrosis, as evidenced by the attenuation of histopathological changes, the decrease of MDA and the increase of SOD and GSH-P X . In addition, PL downregulated the mRNA levels of NOX4 and procollagen I; the protein expression levels of NOX4 and p-IκB; and the transcriptional activity of NF-κB in liver fibrosis rats. Moreover, PL significantly decreased ROS expression, protein expression of α-SMA and collagen III, and activation of NF-κB and inhibited the nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 in IL-1β-stimulated HSCs in vitro. Conclusion: The results of our study indicate that PL can mitigate liver fibrosis in vitro and in vivo, which may be related to the ROS-mediated NF-кB signaling pathway.

Efficient reduction of graphene oxide to obtain high-quality graphene nanosheets is desirable for energy storage, catalysis, electronics and environmental remediation. In this brief review, we mainly focus on the microwave-assisted production of reduced graphene oxide in three categories: (1) microwave-assisted chemical reduction of graphene oxide; (2) microwave-assisted thermal reduction of graphene oxide; (3) microwave-assisted simultaneous thermal exfoliation & thermal reduction of graphite oxide. We also summarize common techniques for characterizing reduction efficiency and quality of as-obtained rGO.

Early biomarkers of therapeutic responses can help optimize the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancers (mCRC). In this prospective exploratory study, we examined serial changes of plasma-circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in 41 mCRC patients receiving first-line chemotherapies and tested its association with treatment outcomes according to radiological assessments. Using next-generation sequencing technologies, we profiled somatic mutations in 50 cancer-related genes in ctDNA before each of the first four treatment cycles. We observed mutations in 95.7% of pre-treatment ctDNA samples. Using mutations of the maximal frequency in each pre-treatment plasma ctDNA sample as the candidate targets, we computed log2 fold changes of ctDNA levels between adjacent treatment cycles. We found that ctDNA reductions as early as prior to cycle 2 predicted responses after cycle 4. Log2 fold changes of ctDNA after cycle 1 (ctDNA log2 (C1/C0)) > −0.126 predicted progressive disease, with an accuracy of 94.6%. These patients also showed significantly worse progression-free survival than those with ctDNA log2 (C1/C0) ≤ −0.126 (median 2.0 vs. 9.0 months; P = 0.007). Together, the present exploratory study suggests that early changes in ctDNA levels detected via targeted sequencing are potential biomarkers of future treatment responses in mCRCs.

Tree height growth is sensitive to climate change; therefore, incorporating climate factors into tree height prediction models can improve our understanding of this relationship and provide a scientific basis for plantation management under climate change conditions. Mongolian pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) is one of the most important afforestation species in Three-North Regions in China. Yet our knowledge on the relationship between height growth and climate for Mongolian pine is limited. Based on survey data for the dominant height of Mongolian pine and climate data from meteorological station, a mixed-effects Chapman-Richards model (including climate factors and random parameters) was used to study the effects of climate factors on the height growth of Mongolian pine in Zhanggutai sandy land, Northeast China. The results showed that precipitation had a delayed effect on the tree height growth. Generally, tree heights increased with increasing mean temperature in May and precipitation from October to April and decreased with increasing precipitation in the previous growing season. The model could effectively predict the dominant height growth of Mongolian pine under varying climate, which could help in further understanding the relationship between climate and height growth of Mongolian pine in semiarid areas of China.

Abstract Utilizing a new method to structure parallellotopes, a geometrical interpretation of the inverse matrix is given, which includes the generalized inverse of full column rank or a full row rank matrices. Further, some relational volume formulas of parallellotopes are established.

The carbon supercapacitance strongly relies upon the electrolyte’s nature, but the clear-cut structure−performance nexus remains elusive. Herein, a series of bio-carbons with gradually varied pore structure and surface chemistry are derived using a new salt template protocol (with eco-benign KNO3 as the template, activator, and porogen, and cheap gelatin as the carbon precursor), and are used as model systems to probe the dependence of the electrochemical mechanism of such nanocarbons on two typical electrolytes (KOH and EMIBF4). By only adjusting the KNO3 dosage, two pivotal figures of merit of biochar—multiscale porosity and surface functionalization—were finely modulated to construct electric double layers. Electrochemical data clarify that the combined porosity and doping effects all contribute to enhanced supercapacitance, but with only one of the two factors playing the leading role in different electrolytes. Kinetic analysis corroborates the fact that ample heteroatom doping can effectively compensate capacitance by intensive surface redox insertion in KOH, while a suitable pore size dispersion plays a preponderant part in self-amplifying the ion partitioning, and thus dictating a good charge separation in EMIBF4. A quasi-quantitative model of performance−structure relevance in EMIBF4 is judiciously conjectured to hint at a superb ion−pore-size compatibility, in which the bi- and mono-layer ion confinement coupling in integrated single and double ion-sized pores is found to be more useful for curbing notorious over-screening effects and for changing the coordination number, Coulombic ordering, and phase conformation of EMIBF4 in several nm-sized nanopores. This unique energy storage fashion in ion-matching pores promotes the energy density of optimal samples to a novel level of 88.3 Wh kg−1 at 1 kW kg−1, which rivals the overwhelming majority of the reported carbon materials. In short, the comparison case study here reveals a valuable correlation of carbon’s figure of merit and electrolyte type, which may act as a vital rudder to design electrolyte-contingent state-of-the-art supercapacitor materials.

Purpose. To investigate the choroidal thickness (CT) and retinal thickness (RT) in highly myopic tessellated eyes. Methods. In this study, 115 highly myopic eyes were recruited and divided as tessellated fundus (n=93) and normal fundus (n=22). RT and CT were quantified using optical coherence tomography with enhanced depth imaging (EDI-OCT). Correlation between subfoveal CT (SFCT) and tessellation was analyzed using logistic regression models. Results. Tessellated fundus eyes had thinner CT than did normal fundus eyes, while RT was not statistically different across groups. The tessellated eyes had a thinner choroid than did the control eyes at all measured macular locations (all P

We investigate the Lp dual geominimal surface area and volume forms of Busemann-Petty problems for the quasi Lp intersection bodies and establish some new geometric inequalities. Our results provide a significant complement to the researches on Busemann-Petty problems for intersection bodies.

Objective. In this study, we aimed to identify mt3243A > G mutation carriers in a group of Chinese elderly type 2 diabetic patients by a rapid and noninvasive diagnostic system. Methods. DNA was extracted from blood, saliva, and urine sediment samples. The mutation screening and quantitation of heteroplasmy were performed by high-resolution melting (HRM) curve and pyrosequencing, respectively. Patients with mt3243A > G mutation underwent a detailed audiometric, ophthalmologic, neurological, and cardiac examination. Results. Two patients (2/1041) carrying the mt3243A > G mutation were detected among all type 2 diabetic patients. In patient 1, the heteroplasmy was 0.8%, 2.8%, and 14.7% in peripheral blood leukocytes, saliva, and urine sediment, respectively. In patient 2, the heteroplasmy was 5.3%, 8.4%, and 37.7% in peripheral blood leukocytes, saliva, and urine sediment, respectively. Both of the two patients showed hearing impairment. Abnormal ophthalmologic conditions and hyperintensity on T2-weighted magnetic resonance images were showed in patient 1. Conclusion. The occurrence of mt3243 A > G mutation was 0.2% in Chinese elderly type 2 diabetic patients. Moreover, detection of mt3243 A > G mutation in urine sediment with high-resolution melting (HRM) curve and pyrosequencing is feasible in molecular genetic diagnosis.

A superkine variant of interleukin-2 with six site mutations away from the binding interface developed from the yeast display technique has been previously characterized as undergoing a distal structure alteration which is responsible for its super-potency and provides an elegant case study with which to get insight about how to utilize allosteric effect to achieve desirable protein functions. By examining the dynamic network and the allosteric pathways related to those mutated residues using various computational approaches, we found that nanosecond time scale all-atom molecular dynamics simulations can identify the dynamic network as efficient as an ensemble algorithm. The differentiated pathways for the six core residues form a dynamic network that outlines the area of structure alteration. The results offer potentials of using affordable computing power to predict allosteric structure of mutants in knowledge-based mutagenesis.

Objective: The Omicron BA.5.2 variant of SARS-CoV-2 has undergone several evolutionary adaptations, leading to multiple subvariants. Rapid and accurate characterization of these subvariants is essential for effective treatment, particularly in critically ill patients. This study leverages Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) to elucidate the clinical and immunological features across different Omicron BA.5.2 subvariants. Methods: We enrolled 28 patients infected with the Omicron variant, hospitalized in Zhangjiajie People's Hospital, Hunan, China, between January 20, 2023, and March 31, 2023. Throat swabs were collected upon admission for NGS-based identification of Omicron subvariants. Clinical data, including qSOFA scores and key laboratory tests, were collated. A detailed analysis of lymphocyte subsets was conducted to ascertain the extent of immune cell damage and disease severity. Results: Patients were infected with various Omicron subvariants, including BA.5.2.48, BA.5.2.49, BA.5.2.6, BF.7.14, DY.1, DY.2, DY.3, and DY.4. Despite having 43 identical mutation sites, each subvariant exhibited unique marker mutations. Critically ill patients demonstrated significant depletion in total lymphocyte count, T cells, CD4, CD8, B cells, and NK cells (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in clinical and immunological markers across the subvariants. Conclusion: This study reveals that critically ill patients infected with different Omicron BA.5.2 subvariants experience similar levels of cellular immune dysfunction and inflammatory response. Four mutations - ORF1a:K3353R, ORF1a: L3667F, ORF1b:S997P, S:T883I showed correlation with immunological responses although this conclusion suffers from the small sample size. Our findings underscore the utility of NGS in the comprehensive assessment of infectious diseases, contributing to more effective clinical decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]