Cerebral toxoplasmosis mimicking stroke in a woman living with undiagnosed HIV.

Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic pathogen that can intrude into the blood-brain barrier and reside in the brain only with low inflammatory reaction. When infected with HIV, the immune system becomes severely compromised and leads to the reactivation of latent toxoplasmosis infection, which can mimic the clinical manifestation of stroke. We report a case of a 65-year-old female patient who presented with sudden right limb weakness, walking difficulty, and numbness without other typical symptoms, raising suspicion of acute ischemic stroke. The HIV serology returned positive, which expedited the diagnostic workup for opportunistic infection. Combining imageological examination and metagenomics next-generation sequencing of cerebrospinal fluid, HIV-associated cerebral toxoplasmosis was confirmed. The patient underwent treatment for toxoplasmosis and HIV. Six months after onset, the patient can walk independently but still exhibits weakness in the right upper limb. In HIV-infected patients, cerebral toxoplasmosis, particularly presenting as isolated stroke-like episodes, poses a more significant challenge, emphasizing the need for more thorough investigations to reduce the potential for misdiagnosis.

Synthesis of Selenium-Containing N-Quinazolinyl Acroleins via a 3,3-Radical Rearrangement Cascade Reaction.

An effective approach for the construction of 2-aryl-3-(3-oxo-1-aryl-2-(organoselanyl)prop-1-en-1-yl)quinazolin-4(3H)-ones was developed. Excellent to almost quantitative yields were obtained by the cascade reaction of propargyl quinazoline-4-yl ethers, diselenides, and 70% tert-butyl hydrogen peroxide aqueous solution under metal-free and mild conditions. The synthesized hybrids, with conglomeration of quinazolinone, organoselenium, aldehyde, and fully substituted alkene moieties in one molecule, will have the potential for applications in development of new drugs or drug candidates.

Circular replication-associated protein-encoding single-stranded DNA virus with risk of spillover is widely prevalent in domestic animals in China.

Circular replication-associated protein (Rep)-encoding single-stranded (CRESS) DNA viruses are highly diverse and have a broad range of hosts. In this study, we report the detection of Bo-Circo-like virus AH20-1 in the feces of diarrheal cattle. The virus has a circular genome of 3,912 nucleotides, three major putative open reading frames, and encodes a Rep gene of 310 amino acids. We found that the virus is closely related to the Bo-Circo-like virus CH strain, which belongs to the novel Kirkoviridae family. Furthermore, we conducted a nationwide surveillance program and found that the virus is prevalent in China (23.6%, 205/868), with the BCLa subtype being the predominant strain. Our findings suggest that the virus can infect sheep, highlighting the potential for cross-species transmission. Our pressure analysis indicates that the CRESS-DNA Kirkoviridae family has broad host adaptation, and that selection pressure played an important role in the evolution of its Rep genes. Our study underscores the need for continued epidemiological surveillance of this virus due to its widespread prevalence in our ruminant population and potential for cross-species transmission.

Systematic Surveillance of an Emerging Picornavirus among Cattle and Sheep in China.

Emerging viruses are a constant threat to human and animal health. Boosepivirus is a novel picornavirus considered a gastrointestinal pathogen and has broken out in recent years. In 2020, we identified a strain of boosepivirus NX20-1 from Chinese calf feces and performed genetic characterization and evolutionary analysis. NX20-1 was closely related to the Japanese strain Bo-12-38/2009/JPN and belonged to Boosepivirus B. We found that 64 of 603 samples (10.6%) from 20 different provinces across the country were positive for boosepivirus by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. Further, coinfection with other diarrheal pathogens was also present in 35 of these positive samples. Importantly, we found the prevalence of boosepivirus in sheep as well, indicating that Boosepivirus can infect different domestic animals. Our data suggest that boosepivirus is a potential diarrheal pathogen, but the pathogenicity and the mechanism of pathogenesis need further study. IMPORTANCE We identified a novel picornavirus, boosepivirus, for the first time in China. Genetic evolutionary analysis revealed that NX20-1 strain was closely related to the Japanese strain Bo-12-38/2009/JPN and belonged to Boosepivirus B. In addition, we found that the virus was prevalent in China with an overall positivity rate of 10.6% (64 of 603 samples), and there was significant coinfection with other pathogens. Importantly, we found the prevalence of boosepivirus in sheep as well, suggesting that boosepivirus has a risk of spillover and can be transmitted across species.

AEN Suppresses the Replication of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus by Inducing the Expression of Type I IFN and ISGs in MARC-145 Cells.

Apoptosis-enhancing nuclease (AEN), which shares close evolutionary relationships with the interferon-stimulated gene 20 protein (ISG20) homologs in humans, is a member of the DEDDh exonuclease family. Numerous studies on various pathogens have identified the essential roles of ISG20 in inhibiting virus replication. However, the fundamental functions of AEN during viral infection remain largely unknown. This study discovered that AEN expression was significantly upregulated in MARC-145 cells infected with Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) strain 85-7. In contrast, the amount of AEN protein decreased as viral replication increased. It was found that PEDV nsp1 and nsp5 mediated the decrease in AEN production, suggesting that an increase in AEN was not conducive to virus replication. By comparing AEN and its exonuclease-inactive mutant AEN-4A, we determined that the antiviral activity of AEN was independent of its exonuclease function. qPCR analyses revealed that AEN and AEN-4A could induce a significant increase in the transcription levels of IFN-α, IFN-ß, and ISGs (OASL, IFI44, IFIT2, ISG15, Mx1, Mx2), and that AEN-4A has a higher induction ability. Overexpression of AEN and AEN-4A in MARC-145 cells targeting IFN-ß knockdown or IFN-deficient Vero cells showed reduced or a complete loss of antiviral activity of both, suggesting that AEN may activate the type I IFN immune response and promote the expression of ISGs, thereby inhibiting PEDV replication. Taken together, our data prove the novel mechanism of AEN-mediated virus restriction.

Positive regulation of endothelial Tom70 by metformin as a new mechanism against cardiac microvascular injury in diabetes.

Microvascular protection is the main mechanism of metformin against diabetic complications. Cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) are the basic component of cardiac microvessels, and they suffer from oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction under type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane 70 (Tom70) improves mitochondrial dysfunction, but its role in the hearts of T2DM patients remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the protective effect of metformin on diabetic cardiac microvascular injury and to identify the role of Tom70 in this effect. T2DM mice were established by multiple intraperitoneal injections of low-dose streptozotocin and 12-week high-fat feeding. CMECs were isolated and cultured with normal glucose (NG), high glucose (HG), and HG plus high fat (HG-HF) media. The results indicated that long-term metformin treatment partly reversed cardiovascular complication and mitigated cardiac microvascular injury in T2DM. In addition, exposure to HG-HF led to CMEC damage, aggravated oxidative stress, aggravated mitochondrial dysfunction, and reduced mitochondrial Tom70 expression, whereas upregulation of Tom70 significantly ameliorated these injuries. Furthermore, metformin treatment promoted Tom70 expression and effectively reversed CMEC injury induced by HG-HF. However, all of these effects were interrupted after Tom70 was knocked down. In conclusion, T2DM damages microvascular integrity by activating a cycle of decreased Tom70 expression, mitochondrial dysfunction, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) overload in CMECs. However, metformin suppresses oxidative stress, relieves mitochondrial dysfunction, and promotes the expression of Tom70, ultimately ameliorating diabetic microvascular injury and heart complications.

Improvement of nonreciprocal unconventional photon blockade by two asymmetrical arranged atoms embedded in a cavity.

We improve the nonreciprocal unconventional photon blockade (UCPB) in an asymmetrical single-mode cavity with two asymmetrical arranged two-level atoms (TLAs) where cavity and atom spatial symmetry breakings are involved in. In order to get direction-dependent UCPB in asymmetrical system, we deduce two restrictions of frequency and intensity through the steady solution of the cavity QED system analytically. The former restriction is exactly the same as that of a single-atom case, and the latter restriction combined with both spatial asymmetries. Controllable UCPB in this model shows an improving nonreciprocal UCPB with wider operating regime which is promoted by two asymmetrical arranged atoms. The most innovation of this work is that the contributions of two spatial symmetry breakings are figured out clearly and they play different roles in nonreciprocal UCPB. The cavity spatial symmetry breaking and weak nonlinearity are essential to quantum nonreciprocity, while the atoms spatial symmetry is not and it only can promote such nonreciprocal UCPB. Our findings show a prospective access to manipulate quantum nonreciprocity by a couple of atoms.

Assessing the Effect of Bilateral Trade on Health in the Asian Region: Does Digitization Matter?

A recurrent theme of the literature and wider public discourse is that trade and digitization are good for health as it promotes economic prosperity. The present study investigates the impact of trade and digitization on health in 12 selected Asian economies for the period 1991-2019. The study applied FMOLS and DOLS approaches for confirming the panel and economy-wise findings. The core findings of the panel FMOLS confirm the significant negative impact of trade and digitization on mortality rate, and trade and digitization have significantly positively contributed to life expectancy in selected Asian countries in the long run. The study deduces some imperative policy implications related to trade, digitization, and health, specifically for Asian economies.

All-optical negative differential transporter of Bose-Einstein condensates in cavity.

We present a new and interesting physical phenomenon of optical negative differential transmission (ONDT, whose output intensity decreases with the increasing of input field intensity for an arbitrary optical system) in present BEC-cavity coupling system which pumped by a strong light and probed by a weak light. Theoretical results show that the transmission of the probe can be suppressed or promoted greatly by the pump due to optical nonlinearity and the Stokes/anti-Stokes scattering. To our most interest, two kinds of ONDT respectively induced by the nonlinear incoherent light-controlling and the nonlinear coherent interference have been uncovered, which have promising prospect in producing hyper-stable light source since it provides an unusual negative feedback.

[Analysis of heavy metals in Guizhou soil planting Eucommia ulmoides].

In order to understand the pollution of heavy metals in Guizhou soil planting Eucommia ulmoides,the paper has determined the contents of five heavy metals respectively( Cu,Cd,Pb,Hg and As) by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The soil environmental quality by single factor pollution index was evaluated,nemerow integrated pollution index and potential ecological risk index,the correlation of 5 heavy metals was analyzed and the relationship between heavy medals content and p H value was discussed. The results showed that: ①The soils of LP,SB and ZA-2 had low heavy metals content,LP soil met the first national standard,and other soils met the second national standard; ②The soils of LP,ZA-1 and ZA-2 were all in a clean state,while HX and BZ-1 were in a light pollution state,and the pollution degree was Cu>Pb>As>Cd>Hg; ③The soil of BZ-2 was light warning( medium ecological risk),the soils of HX,BZ-1 and MT were early warning( low ecological risk),the main warning source was Cu and Pb,and the rest were no warning( no ecological risk); ④Cd and As were positively correlated with Pb and Hg,and Cd,Pb and As were positively correlated with p H. The research showed that the soils of LP,SB,ZA-1 and ZA-2 were clean and could be used for E. ulmoides to continue planting,the soils of HX,MT,BZ-1 and BZ-2 were polluted and should be treated in time by effective measures.

Xuebijing injection attenuates pulmonary injury by reducing oxidative stress and proinflammatory damage in rats with heat stroke.

The present study aimed to investigate the protective effect of Xuebijing injection (XBJ) on lung injury in heat-stroke rats and the underlying mechanisms. In total, 54 rats were randomly assigned to non-thermal, saline vehicle and XBJ groups. The rectal temperature (Tc), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and respiratory rate (RR) of the rats were recorded. The time-point of heat stroke and the time of survival were assessed, and indicators of arterial blood gas were regularly measured from 0 to 60 min. The concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) and IL-10 was also determined. At the end of the experiment, lung tissue was harvested for histopathological analysis. Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) expression was measured by immunohistochemistry. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling was used to measure apoptosis. XBJ pretreatment prolonged the decline of clinical characteristics, as demonstrated by increases in Tc, MAP, RR and indicators in arterial blood gas in rats under heat stress. The time until heat stroke and the survival time in the Saline group were shorter than in rats treated with XBJ. The expression of iNOS in lung tissue and the concentration of TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-10 in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of rats treated with saline was higher than in rats with XBJ pre-treatment. Contrarily, SOD expression in rats treated with saline was decreased compared with that in rats treated with XBJ. Moreover, the apoptotic rate in the lung tissues of rats with saline treatment was higher than that in rats treated with XBJ. In conclusion, XBJ delayed the development of heat stroke and increased the survival time in rats under heat-stress by ameliorating pulmonary failure and acute lung injury. The underlying mechanisms of this effect may be the reduction of inflammatory cytokines as well as attenuation of oxidative stress and apoptosis by XBJ.

Distinct Changes in Functional Connectivity in Posteromedial Cortex Subregions during the Progress of Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder which causes dementia, especially in the elderly. The posteromedial cortex (PMC), which consists of several subregions involved in distinct functions, is one of the critical regions associated with the progression and severity of AD. However, previous studies always ignored the heterogeneity of the PMC and focused on one stage of AD. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we studied the respective alterations of each subregion within the PMC along the progression of AD. Our data set consisted of 21 healthy controls, 18 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 17 patients with mild AD (mAD), and 18 patients with severe AD (sAD). We investigated the functional alterations of each subregion within the PMC in different stages of AD. We found that subregions within the PMC have differential vulnerability in AD. Disruptions in functional connectivity began in the transition area between the precuneus and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and then extended to other subregions of the PMC. In addition, each of these subregions was associated with distinct alterations in the functional networks that we were able to relate to AD. Our research demonstrated functional changes within the PMC in the progression of AD and may elucidate potential biomarkers for clinical applications.

Inferior glucose metabolism and chemosensitivity of post-radiotherapy local recurrence in comparison with distant metastases as assessed by sequential (18)F-FDG PET/CT imaging.

PURPOSE: To compare glucose metabolism and chemosensitivity between recurrence within the irradiation field and metastases outside the irradiation field in the same patient using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography images (PET/CT). METHODS: The (18)F-FDG PET/CT images of 43 cancer patients with both local recurrence (in-field) and distal metastases (out-field) after initial treatments were reviewed. 23 patients after definitive radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy and 20 patients after radical surgery were assigned to a radiation group and surgery group, respectively. The tumor maximal diameter on CT and PET images (D CT and D PET), maximal SUV (SUVmax), and mean SUV (SUVmean) were measured. All the patients were administered chemotherapy, and 17 patients from the radiation group and 10 patients from the surgery group underwent PET/CT scanning within 1-2 months after the treatment. The changes in D CT, D PET, SUVmax and SUVmean for each lesion were calculated and compared between in-field and out-field tumors for both groups. RESULTS: In the surgery group, no significant difference was found in tumor size or FDG uptake between the local recurrence and metastases. In the radiation group, both SUVmax (7.03 ± 3.48) and SUVmean (4.33 ± 1.67) of the in-field tumors were lower than those (8.45 ± 4.34 and 5.36 ± 2.51, respectively, P < 0.05) of out-field tumors. Moreover, the response extent of in-field tumors was lower than that of out-field tumors in the radiation group (P < 0.05). However, in the surgery group, there was no difference in the response extent (tumor size and SUVs) between the local recurrence and metastases (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The recurrence within the irradiation field and metastases outside the irradiation field in the same patient do not share the same biological characteristics or treatment response, with inferior glucose metabolism and chemosensitivity seen in locally recurrent tumors.

A new phenolic glycoside from the aerial parts of Solidago canadensis.

A new phenolic glycoside, 2'-hydroxy-4',6'-di-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-butyrrophenone (1), was isolated from the aerial parts of Solidago canadensis. The structure was elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic methods.