Real-world clinical effectiveness of nonsurgical treatments for female with POP-Q stage II cystocele: a retrospective analysis of therapeutic efficacy.

Background: Patients with cystocele of pelvic organ prolapse quantification (POP-Q) stage II and below can be treated conservatively, but there are few reports on non-surgical treatment for these patients. This study aimed to present the real-world clinical effectiveness of nonsurgical treatment, including pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT), PFMT combined with pessary (PFMT + P), or non-ablative radiofrequency (PFMT + RF) for female with POP-Q stage II cystocele. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed females with POP-Q stage II cystocele between January 2020 and January 2022 who received PFMT, PFMT + P, or PFMT + RF treatment and were followed up for 12 months. Clinical parameters including Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 questionnaire (PFDI-20), Persian version urinary incontinence quality of life questionnaire (I-QOL), POP-Q, pelvic floor Glazer evaluation, and trans-labial ultrasound at different time points were analyzed. Results: There were 147 participants enrolled. PFDI-20 and I-QOL scores were improved in all groups, but the mean decrement in the PFDI-20 scores (-14.28±8.57 and -9.78±8.25) was higher in the PFMT + P group than in the PFMT group and PFMT + RF group at both 6 and 12 months (P<0.05), and the mean I-QOL score (3.82±23.43 and 3.47±22.06) was higher in the PFMT + RP group at both 6 months and 12 months (P<0.05). The PFMT + P group also showed higher improvement rate (43.3%, P=0.03) in terms of changing the severity of cystocele (point Ba) and delta bladder neck-symphyseal distance (ΔBSD) (P<0.05) than the other 2 groups at 12 months. No statistical difference was found in the type-I and type-II myofiber function-based Glazer assessment among 3 groups. Conclusions: The combination of 2 treatment strategies seems to be superior to PFMT only for stage-II cystocele. Specific prolapse-related symptoms and objective indicators did improve more in the PFMT + P group, whereas stress urinary incontinence (SUI) symptoms and quality of life were improved in the PFMT + RP group.

Identifying featured indels associated with SARS-CoV-2 fitness.

As an RNA virus, severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is known for frequent substitution mutations, and substitutions in important genome regions are often associated with viral fitness. However, whether indel mutations are related to viral fitness is generally ignored. Here we developed a computational methodology to investigate indels linked to fitness occurring in over 9 million SARS-CoV-2 genomes. Remarkably, by analyzing 31,642,404 deletion records and 1,981,308 insertion records, our pipeline identified 26,765 deletion types and 21,054 insertion types and discovered 65 indel types with a significant association with Pango lineages. We proposed the concept of featured indels representing the population of specific Pango lineages and variants as substitution mutations and termed these 65 indels as featured indels. The selective pressure of all indel types is assessed using the Bayesian model to explore the importance of indels. Our results exhibited higher selective pressure of indels like substitution mutations, which are important for assessing viral fitness and consistent with previous studies in vitro. Evaluation of the growth rate of each viral lineage indicated that indels play key roles in SARS-CoV-2 evolution and deserve more attention as substitution mutations. IMPORTANCE The fitness of indels in pathogen genome evolution has rarely been studied. We developed a computational methodology to investigate the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 genomes and analyze over 33 million records of indels systematically, ultimately proposing the concept of featured indels that can represent specific Pango lineages and identifying 65 featured indels. Machine learning model based on Bayesian inference and viral lineage growth rate evaluation suggests that these featured indels exhibit selection pressure comparable to replacement mutations. In conclusion, indels are not negligible for evaluating viral fitness.

Rethinking Cross-Domain Pedestrian Detection: A Background-Focused Distribution Alignment Framework for Instance-Free One-Stage Detectors.

Cross-domain pedestrian detection aims to generalize pedestrian detectors from one label-rich domain to another label-scarce domain, which is crucial for various real-world applications. Most recent works focus on domain alignment to train domain-adaptive detectors either at the instance level or image level. From a practical point of view, one-stage detectors are faster. Therefore, we concentrate on designing a cross-domain algorithm for rapid one-stage detectors that lacks instance-level proposals and can only perform image-level feature alignment. However, pure image-level feature alignment causes the foreground-background misalignment issue to arise, i.e., the foreground features in the source domain image are falsely aligned with background features in the target domain image. To address this issue, we systematically analyze the importance of foreground and background in image-level cross-domain alignment, and learn that background plays a more critical role in image-level cross-domain alignment. Therefore, we focus on cross-domain background feature alignment while minimizing the influence of foreground features on the cross-domain alignment stage. This paper proposes a novel framework, namely, background-focused distribution alignment (BFDA), to train domain adaptive one-stage pedestrian detectors. Specifically, BFDA first decouples the background features from the whole image feature maps and then aligns them via a novel long-short-range discriminator. Extensive experiments demonstrate that compared to mainstream domain adaptation technologies, BFDA significantly enhances cross-domain pedestrian detection performance for either one-stage or two-stage detectors. Moreover, by employing the efficient one-stage detector (YOLOv5), BFDA can reach 217.4 FPS ( 640×480 pixels) on NVIDIA Tesla V100 (7~12 times the FPS of the existing frameworks), which is highly significant for practical applications. The code from this study will be made publicly available.

Effects of Acoustic Environment Types on Stress Relief in Urban Parks.

Urban public space environments are critical to the health of residents. In previous studies on urban park environments and health, landscape environment questionnaires have been the main method to evaluate the environmental quality and comfort of urban parks. The research on sound perception also focuses on the exploration of evaluation methods and evaluation indicators; there is little objective empirical evidence in these studies. To further explore the nature of the health role of urban parks, this study started with the sound types of urban parks, based on a field survey, combined the electrocardiogram (ECG) index with the sound type of the park through a portable intelligent device, and HR and RMSSD were selected as the ECG indicators to evaluate the stress relief status. The regression model between the type of acoustic environments and the ECG data was established through the analysis of relevant data. This paper tries to improve the physiological recovery benefit and influence mechanism of sound types in urban parks from an objective point of view and puts forward reasonable suggestions to improve the sound environment in urban parks. The preliminary results show that, in a short time frame, natural sound has a strong relieving effect on mental pressure, while mechanical sound has an obvious impediment effect on the recovery of mental pressure. The results also reveal that the human voice has no obvious impediment effect, and changes in wind and broadcast sound have little impact on the recovery of mental pressure.

Overview of the LAMOST survey in the first decade.

The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), also known as the Guoshoujing Telescope, is a major national scientific facility for astronomical research located in Xinglong, China. Beginning with a pilot survey in 2011, LAMOST has been surveying the night sky for more than 10 years. The LAMOST survey covers various objects in the Universe, from normal stars to peculiar ones, from the Milky Way to other galaxies, and from stellar black holes and their companions to quasars that ignite ancient galaxies. Until the latest data release 8, the LAMOST survey has released spectra for more than 10 million stars, ∼220,000 galaxies, and ∼71,000 quasars. With this largest celestial spectra database ever constructed, LAMOST has helped astronomers to deepen their understanding of the Universe, especially for our Milky Way galaxy and the millions of stars within it. In this article, we briefly review the characteristics, observations, and scientific achievements of LAMOST. In particular, we show how astrophysical knowledge about the Milky Way has been improved by LAMOST data.

Characterization of MicroRNA Expression Profiles in Patients with Giant Cell Tumor.

OBJECTIVE: Giant cell tumors of bone (GCTs) are bone destructive neoplasms, the bone resorption being mediated by osteoclasts. Given that microRNAs are crucially involved in tumorigenesis and the modulation of cell fate and behavior, they are promising candidates for regulation of osteoclastogenesis. However, no reliable miRNAs profile for GCT is available. Our study aimed to evaluate osteoclastogenesis-related miRNA expression in GCTs of Chinese patients. METHODS: From January 2013 to December 2014, 11 patients with GCTs were treated in our department and grouped into a GCT group. A control group comprising four patients with benign tumors of the iliac bone was established. The diagnoses were initially established by imaging examinations and intraoperative frozen sections and later confirmed by standard histologic examination. The GCT group (five male and six female patients) were aged from 17 to 61 years (mean, 32.9 years; SD, 12.8 years). Six patients with GCT underwent intralesional curettage surgery and the other five wide resection. According to Campanacci grading, four patients had Grade I tumors, three Grade II, and three Grade III. The average age of the control group was 28.75 years (SD, 14.24 years); all of them were diagnosed as having benign tumors and underwent iliac grafting. The morphology of the excised tissue was evaluated by examining standardized hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stained paraffin-embedded samples. In all, three osteoclastogenesis-related RNAs and 20 microRNAs (miRNAs) were extracted from the patients. The strength of expression was assessed by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR ) and the results assessed by a Student's t test. RESULTS: Examination of HE stained sections revealed that the higher the Campanacci grade, the more numerous and bigger the osteoclasts (P < 0.05). PCR results indicated large amounts of osteoclast-related mRNA (cathepsin K, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase and matrix metalloproteinase9) in GCTs (P < 0.05). Expression of six miRNAs was significantly weaker in the GCT than the control group (P < 0.05). The expression of has-mir-16-5p and has-let-7a-5p was correlated with Campanacci grade in the GCT patients (P = 0.009 and 0.034, respectively). The expression of these two miRNAs may indicate severity of bone destruction. CONCLUSION: Overall, the clinical utility of six novel miRNA markers for GCTs was demonstrated. Of these, strength of expression of hsa-mir-16-5p and hsa-let-7a-5p may indicate the grade of bone resorption.

Up-Regulation of miR-204 Enhances Anoikis Sensitivity in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Cell Line Via Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Pathway In Vitro.

OBJECTIVE: Genomic loci encoding miR-204, which was predicted to target brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), were frequently lost in multiple cancer, including epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). In this study, we aimed to find out the influence of miR-204 expression level on EOC cell anoikis sensitivity and to explore possible mechanisms of this process. METHODS: First, we screened EOC cells, which maintain anoikis resistance forming an anoikis pattern. miR-204 expression level and apoptosis were measured, respectively, by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Annexin-V-R-PE/7-amino-actinomycin assay. Then we restored the expression level of miR-204 by transfection with pre-miR-204. miR-204 expression level and apoptosis were measured as before; cell invasion and migration ability were detected by transwell invasion assay and wound-healing assay. The messenger RNA level of BDNF was also detected by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; Western blot analysis was performed to assess pAKT expression. RESULTS: Expression of miR-204 is significantly down-regulated in an anoikis pattern. Restored expression level of miR-204 enables cells to acquire more sensitivity to anoikis and decrease invasive and metastatic behavior, and also results in BDNF down-expression and inhibits activation of mitochondria-dependent pathway through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway leading to cancer cell anoikis in EOC cells. CONCLUSIONS: miR-204 up-regulation may be linked directly to the sensitivity of EOC cell anoikis by contributing to BDNF down-regulation. Our findings provide a novel mechanism for manipulating miR-204 levels therapeutically to restore anoikis sensitivity.

MicroRNA-494 inhibition protects nucleus pulposus cells from TNF-α-induced apoptosis by targeting JunD.

BACKGROUND: Human nucleus pulposus cell (HNPC) apoptosis plays an important role in the development of intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). Our previous research revealed that among all of the dysregulated microRNAs in the degenerated nucleus pulposus tissues of patient with IVDD, miRNA-494 (miR-494) is the most significantly increased. However, the influence of miR-494 HNPC apoptosis has not been confirmed. OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to evaluate the effect of miR-494 on the HNPC apoptosis induced by TNF-α and to explore the possible mechanism of this process. METHODS: First, HNPCs were stimulated with TNF-α at different concentrations (0 ng/ml, 10 ng/ml, 50 ng/ml, or 100 ng/ml) for 0 h, 8 h, 16 h, or 24 h. Annexin V-PE/7-AAD assays and real-time quantitative PCR were used to detect the cell apoptosis rates and miR-494 expression. Second, we successfully knocked down endogenous miR-494 in HNPCs via lentiviral antigomiR-494 vector infection and then stimulated with TNF-α (100 ng/ml, 16 h). The rates of apoptosis and miR-494 expression were then detected again. Additionally, a dual-luciferase reporter assay and western blotting were used to determine whether JunD is a target of miR-494. Finally, western blotting was used to analyze the expression of cytochrome C. RESULTS: We found that the rate of apoptosis increased with concentration, time (p < 0.05) and miR-494 expression (p < 0.05). The rate of apoptosis in the 100 ng/ml, 16 h group appeared to be suitable. After transfection, the apoptosis rate and miR-494 expression were significantly decreased in the antigomiR-494+TNF-α group compared to the controls (p < 0.05). We also revealed that JunD is a target of miR-494. Western blotting analysis demonstrated that treatment with the lentiviral antigomiR-494 vector resulted in increased expression of JunD (p < 0.05) and decreased expression of cytochrome C (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: These results indicated that miR-494 is a novel regulator of HNPC apoptosis induced by TNF-α. The knock-out of miR-494 expression protected the HNPCs from apoptosis via the up-regulation of JunD, which was possibly mediated via cytochrome C apoptotic signaling. These findings suggest that the miR-494/JunD signaling pathway might represent a novel therapeutic target for the prevention of IVDD.

Characteristics of nitrous oxide emissions and the affecting factors from vegetable fields on the North China Plain.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is one of the most important greenhouse gases emitted from fertilized agricultural soils. Vegetable fields, mostly managed under intensive mode with higher rate nitrogen application, frequent irrigation, and multiple planting-harvest cycles, does contribute to national GHG inventory greatly due to the increasing planting area in China. N2O emissions from four different fields - a maize field (maize), a newly established open-ground vegetable field converted from a maize field four years earlier (OV4), an established open-ground vegetable field converted from a maize field more than 20 years ago (OV20), and an established sunlight heated greenhouse vegetable field converted from a maize field more than 20 years ago (GV20) with four different fertilization treatments for the OV4 field were measured using the closed chamber method between March 15th, 2012 and March 14th, 2013 in suburban area of Beijing, North China Plain. Results showed that the annual N2O emissions from vegetable fields were 3.1-4.6 times higher than the typical maize field. All the N2O emission peaks were occurred after fertilization and the fertilization associated emissions accounted for 81.1% (ranging from 77.0% to 87.2%) of the annual N2O emission with 22.2% time duration in the whole year for vegetable fields. Both the occurrence data and duration of N2O emission peaks were associated with N input type (chemical or manure) and the application rate. The N2O emission peaks appeared earlier (on the 3rd day after application) and lasted shorter when only chemical N was applied; while they appeared later (on the 7th to 10th day after application) and lasted longer when the combination of manure and chemical N were applied. The magnitudes of N2O emission peaks increased when the N application rate was higher. Dicyandiamide (DCD) decreased N2O emissions by 30.1% and 21.1% in the spring cucumber and autumn cabbage seasons respectively (averaged of 24.7% over the whole year). Calculations showed that it is critical to estimate the emission factor (EF) by N type in order to decrease the uncertainty of regional N2O emissions when using EF as calculation method. EFs were 0.20% and 0.42% for manure N in the cucumber and cabbage seasons respectively; and were 0.55-1.30% and 0.8-1.59% for chemical N in the cucumber and cabbage seasons respectively.

Synthesis, property and field-emission behaviour of amorphous polypyrrole nanowires.

Polypyrrole nanowires have been electrosynthesized by direct oxidation of 0.1 mol l(-1) pyrrole in a medium of 75% isopropyl alcohol + 20% boron trifluoride diethyl etherate + 5% poly (ethylene glycol) (by volume) using porous alumina membranes as the templates. The as-prepared nanowires had a smooth surface and uniform diameter and were arranged in an orderly manner in a high density. The conductivity of a single nanowire was measured by the four-electrode technique to be 23.4 S cm(-1) at room temperature. The field emission devices based on the nanowire array were fabricated and their operations were explored. The experimental results indicated that the field emission characteristics of the devices fitted well to the Fowler-Nordheim model of emission. The turn-on electric field was only 1.2 V microm(-1) and the current density reached 200 microA cm(-2) at 2.6 V microm(-1).

One-pot synthetic routes to multiply substituted indene derivatives by hydrolysis of zirconocene-mediated intermolecular coupling reactions of aromatic ketones and alkynes.

Two one-pot multicomponent synthetic methods for highly substituted indenes are described. The intermolecular coupling of aromatic ketones with alkynes on low-valent zirconocene species generates oxazirconacyclopentenes, which upon hydrolysis with 20% HCl for 3 h afforded indene derivatives in good to excellent yields. Similarly, the pair-selective coupling of two identical or different alkynes bearing at least one aromatic substituent formed zirconacyclopentadienes. Quenching of the reaction mixture with concentrated H(2)SO(4) also results in the formation of highly substituted indenes in high yields.