Frequency and predictors for early-achieved lupus low disease activity state in systemic lupus erythematosus patients treated with telitacicept or belimumab: A real-life, single-center observational study.

Objective: To collect real-world data regarding the attainment of the early-achieved lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients receiving telitacicept or belimumab treatment, and identify factors predictive of target achievement. Methods: Eighty-seven SLE patients who received telitacicept (N=42) or belimumab (N=45) were retrospectively reviewed in this observational study. Clinical and laboratory data, disease activity assessment, and glucocorticoid dosage were collected for analysis. Achieving LLDAS at least once within 24 weeks post-treatment was considered as early-achieved LLDAS. Multivariate regression was used to assess baseline predictive variables for early-achieved LLDAS. Subgroup analysis and interaction tests were also performed to examine the robustness of the results across different sets of baseline characteristics. Prognostic stratification for early-achieved LLDAS was established based on the identified risk factors. Results: During the 24-week follow-up period, LLDAS was achieved by at least one time in 49.43% (43/87) of the patients, with sustained achievement through week 24 observed in 36 out of these 43 patients (83.27%). Multivariate analysis revealed that early achievement of LLDAS was particularly observed in patients with higher baseline lymphocyte counts [HR=1.79, 95% CI (1.19-2.67), P=0.005]and serum albumin levels [HR=1.06, 95% CI (1.003-1.12), P=0.039]. Conversely, hematological involvement [HR=0.48, 95% CI (0.24-0.93), P=0.031] predicted lower attainment of early-achieved LLDAS. The use of telitacicept was associated with a reduced risk of failing to attain early achievement of LLDAS [HR=2.55, 95% CI (1.36-4.79), P=0.004]. Subgroup analyses and interaction tests showed a stable relationship between the telitacicept use and LLDAS achievement. The results remained consistent across all subgroup analyses. Significant differences (P<0.001) were observed in the Kaplan-Meier estimates for LLDAS among risk groups based on the number of identified risk factors. Conclusion: The achievement of LLDAS is attainable in the management of SLE patients undergoing treatment with telitacicept or belimumab in real-life clinical practice. Baseline lymphocyte counts, serum albumin levels, hematological involvement and the use of telitacicept serve as robust predictors for early-achieved LLDAS, helping to identify patients who are likely to benefit on the treatment.

Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma with Hemangioblastoma-Like Features: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) constitutes the most frequently encountered sporadic class of kidney cancer in adults. Recently, a rare form of clear cell kidney cancer known as ccRCC with hemangioblastoma-like features was proposed, with unique immunological characteristics and a good prognosis. The tumor expressed alpha-inhibin and carbonic anhydrase Ⅸ (CA9) as examined by immunohistochemistry. METHODS: Herein, we report a clinical instance of ccRCC with hemangioblastoma-like features. A 49-year-old woman presenting with a chief complaint of hematuria underwent a comprehensive and meticulous assessment. Imaging findings indicated the presence of a mass in the right kidney. Subsequently, she underwent a partial nephrectomy. RESULTS: Histopathological analysis of the resected specimen confirmed the presence of ccRCC with hemangioblastoma-like features. The patient was discharged from the hospital six days post-surgery and could resume her daily activities. During a one-year follow-up after surgery, no signs of recurrence were detected. CONCLUSIONS: This case demonstrates the importance of including ccRCC with hemangioblastoma-like features in the differential diagnosis of renal masses in patients with hematuria, and suggests partial nephrectomy as an effective treatment modality for this rare subtype of renal cell carcinoma. However, because of the small number of reported cases and insufficient follow-up time, further investigation is necessary to determine the optimal therapeutic approach and to identify the molecular and genetic characteristics of this tumor.

Regenerative plantlets with improved agronomic characteristics caused by anther culture of tetraploid potato (Solanum tuberosum L.).

Objective: As the primary means of plant-induced haploid, anther culture is of great significance in quickly obtaining pure lines and significantly shortening the potato breeding cycle. Nevertheless, the methods of anther culture of tetraploid potato were still not well established. Methods: In this study, 16 potato cultivars (lines) were used for anther culture in vitro. The corresponding relation between the different development stages of microspores and the external morphology of buds was investigated. A highly-efficient anther culture system of tetraploid potatoes was established. Results: It was shown in the results that the combined use of 0.5 mg/L 1-Naphthylacetic acid (NAA), 1.0 mg/L 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), and 1.0 mg/L Kinetin (KT) was the ideal choice of hormone pairing for anther callus. Ten of the 16 potato cultivars examined could be induced callus with their respective anthers, and the induction rate ranged from 4.44% to 22.67% using this hormone combination. According to the outcome from the orthogonal design experiments of four kinds of appendages, we found that the medium with sucrose (40 g/L), AgNO3 (30 mg/L), activated carbon (3 g/L), potato extract (200 g/L) had a promotive induction effect on the anther callus. In contrast, adding 1 mg/L Zeatin (ZT) effectively facilitated callus differentiation. Conclusion: Finally, 201 anther culture plantlets were differentiated from 10 potato cultivars. Among these, Qingshu 168 and Ningshu 15 had higher efficiency than anther culture. After identification by flow cytometry and fluorescence in situ hybridization, 10 haploid plantlets (5%), 177 tetraploids (88%), and 14 octoploids (7%) were obtained. Some premium anther-cultured plantlets were further selected by morphological and agronomic comparison. Our findings provide important guidance for potato ploidy breeding.

Comparative study on the microbiota of colostrum and nipple skin from lactating mothers separated from their newborn at birth in China.

Increasing studies have found breast milk (BM) contains its own microbiota. However, the route through which microbes enter the BM is still unclear. In order to verify the entero-mammary pathway of BM, we designed a rigorous study that prevented oral bacteria from contaminating the breast and nipple skin (NS) during baby nursing. Thirty-one healthy, postpartum mothers living in southern China who were immediately separated from their newborn after delivery were enrolled in this study. Using an aseptic protocol for sampling, sterile water was used to wash the NS and was then collected. Then the first drop of BM was discarded and colostrum was collected manually. Amplicon sequencing was performed targeting the V3-V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene, and the differences between the microbiota of the colostrum and NS were analyzed. Additionally, the effects of environmental factors, such as the delivery mode and intrapartum antibiotic exposure, on the diversity of the colostrum microbiota were also analyzed. We found significant differences in the α diversity and richness between the BM and NS as evidenced by richness, Chao1, and Simpson indices. There were 170 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) shared by colostrum and NS, while 111 and 87 OTUs were unique, respectively, as well as a clear distinction in OTUs was observed by unifrac binary analysis between them. Linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis found that anaerobes, such as Bifidobacterium and Pantoea at the genus level and enterobacteria including Enterobacteriaceae at the family level, were predominant in the colostrum, while the predominant bacteria on the NS were Bacteroides, Staphylococcus, and Parabacteroides at the genus level. BM is colonized by bacteria prior to baby suckling, and the diversity of the colostrum microbiota differs from that of the NS. The predominant microbiota taxa in BM indicated that they were likely to be transferred to the breast through the intestinal tract. Our study provides direct evidence for the revolutionary active migration hypothesis. Additionally, factors like intrapartum antibiotic exposure did not significantly affect the diversity of the microbiota in the BM. Therefore, it is suggested that mothers continue to provide BM for their newborns during separation.

Liobagrus brevispina, a new species of torrent catfish (Siluriformes: Amblycipitidae) from the upper Chang-Jiang basin, South China.

A new species of Liobagrus is unearthed in the Nan-Jiang flowing into the Jialing-Jiang of the upper Chang-Jiang basin in which currently recognized Chinese congeners have a concentrated distribution. This small-sized (less than 100.0 mm LS ) torrent fish belongs to the species group defined by the presence of a smooth posterior edge of the pectoral-fin spine and upper and lower jaws of equal length or a lower jaw slightly longer than the upper jaw in length. It is distinct from Liobagrus aequilabris and Liobagrus formosanus by the presence of a pectoral-fin spine extending short of (vs. beyond) the vertical through the dorsal-fin origin, maxillary barbels reaching the middle of the pectoral fin (vs. pectoral-fin insertion or slightly beyond), 17-19 anal-fin rays (vs. 15-16 in L. formosanus), 39-41 (vs. 35-37 in L. aequilabris) post-Weberian vertebrae and the pectoral-fin spine length 3.6%-7.4% of LS (vs. 7.6-10.5 in L. aequilabris). It differs from Liobagrus marginatoides by the presence of upper and lower jaws of equal length (vs. a lower jaw slightly longer than the upper jaw in length) and a rounded or unevenly rounded (vs. subtruncate) caudal fin. The validity of the new species is confirmed by its monophyly recovered in a cytochrome b gene-based phylogenetic analysis and its significant genetic distance with sampled congeneric species.

SmileGNN: Drug-Drug Interaction Prediction Based on the SMILES and Graph Neural Network.

Concurrent use of multiple drugs can lead to unexpected adverse drug reactions. The interaction between drugs can be confirmed by routine in vitro and clinical trials. However, it is difficult to test the drug-drug interactions widely and effectively before the drugs enter the market. Therefore, the prediction of drug-drug interactions has become one of the research priorities in the biomedical field. In recent years, researchers have been using deep learning to predict drug-drug interactions by exploiting drug structural features and graph theory, and have achieved a series of achievements. A drug-drug interaction prediction model SmileGNN is proposed in this paper, which can be characterized by aggregating the structural features of drugs constructed by SMILES data and the topological features of drugs in knowledge graphs obtained by graph neural networks. The experimental results show that the model proposed in this paper combines a variety of data sources and has a better prediction performance compared with existing prediction models of drug-drug interactions. Five out of the top ten predicted new drug-drug interactions are verified from the latest database, which proves the credibility of SmileGNN.

Re-description of the catfish species Liobagrus kingi Tchang, 1935 (Pisces: Amblycipitidae) from the upper Chang-Jiang basin, China.

The identity and validity of Liobagrus kingi Tchang, 1935 remain contentious to date due to its inaccurate original description. A re-description is provided here for this species based on our examination on its type, hitherto deposited in ASIZB and available topotypic material. It is confirmed that L. kingi is a species with a serrated posterior edge of the pectoral-fin spine and distinct from the sympatrically existing species L. nigricauda. Comments on former recognitions of specimens from the upper Chang-Jiang basin as L. kingi are presented.

Carboxylation of terminal alkynes with CO2 using novel silver N-heterocyclic carbene complexes.

Four novel N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) silver complexes, , have been synthesized and characterized. The single X-ray crystal diffraction data indicate a dinuclear solid-state structure for and and a mononuclear structure for and . These complexes have been successfully used as efficient catalysts for the C-H activating carboxylation of terminal alkynes with CO2. A wide range of substrates with various functional groups afforded the corresponding aryl or alkyl substituted propiolic acids in good yields under mild conditions. Moreover, the role of bases and the reaction mechanism is thoroughly discussed.

DDR1 enhances invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer via epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

In this study, we investigated the effects of DDR1 on the invasion and metastasis in gastric cancer (GC) via epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Immunohistochemistry analysis was used to detect DDR1, E-cadherin, and Vimentin expression in GC tissues as well as DDR1 expression in GC cell lines and normal gastric epithelial cells. The relationship between DDR1 expression and EMT in GC cell lines was explored by down and upregulating DDR1 and examining corresponding changes in the expression of EMT-related proteins and in biological characteristics. Furthermore, a nude mice model with a transplantation tumor generating from stably transfected GC cells with DDR1 overexpression was established and performed to further reveal the effects of DDR1 expression on cellular morphology and growth of GC. Our results showed that DDR1 was highly expressed in GC tissues and cell lines compared with adjacent tissues and normal cell line, and its expression was significantly higher in GC having poor differentiation (p < 0.01), advanced depth of wall invasion (p = 0.020), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.0001), liver metastasis (p < 0.01), and high TNM stage (p < 0.01). Western blot analyses revealed that DDR1 overexpression resulted in a significant decrease in the expression of E-cadherin (p < 0.01) and an increase in the expression of Vimentin and Snail (p < 0.01), while knockdown of DDR1 led to opposite outcomes. We further demonstrated that DDR1 overexpression promoted GC cell proliferation (p < 0.05), migration (p < 0.01), and invasion (p < 0.01), and accelerated the growth (p < 0.05) as well as the microvessel formation (p < 0.01) of transplantation tumor in nude mice. Our study establishes that DDR1 enhances invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer via EMT.

Silver carboxylate metal-organic frameworks with highly antibacterial activity and biocompatibility.

Two novel Ag-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) [Ag2(O-IPA)(H2O)·(H3O)] (1) and [Ag5(PYDC)2(OH)] (2) were synthesized under the hydrothermal conditions using aromatic-carboxylic acids containing hydroxyl and pyridyl groups as ligands (HO-H2IPA=5-hydroxyisophthalic acid and H2PYDC=pyridine-3, 5-dicarboxylic acid). Single crystal X-ray diffraction indicated that two compounds exhibit three-dimensional frameworks constructed from different rod-shaped molecular building blocks. Both compounds favor slow release of Ag(+) ions leading to excellent and long-term antimicrobial activities towards Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Their antibacterial potency was evaluated by using a minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) benchmark and an inhibition zone testing. High-resolution transmission electron microscope images indicate that the Ag-based MOFs could rupture the bacterial membrane resulting in cell death. Hematological study showed that these MOFs exhibit good biocompatibility in mice. In addition, good thermal stability and optical stability under UV-visible and visible light are beneficial for their antibacterial application.