Effects of the Pituitary-targeted Gland Axes on Hepatic Lipid Homeostasis in Endocrine-associated Fatty Liver Disease-A Concept Worth Revisiting.

Hepatic lipid homeostasis is not only essential for maintaining normal cellular and systemic metabolic function but is also closely related to the steatosis of the liver. The controversy over the nomenclature of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the past three years has once again sparked in-depth discussions on the pathogenesis of this disease and its impact on systemic metabolism. Pituitary-targeted gland axes (PTGA), an important hormone-regulating system, are indispensable in lipid homeostasis. This review focuses on the roles of thyroid hormones, adrenal hormones, sex hormones, and their receptors in hepatic lipid homeostasis, and summarizes recent research on pituitary target gland axes-related drugs regulating hepatic lipid metabolism. It also calls on researchers and clinicians to recognize the concept of endocrine-associated fatty liver disease (EAFLD) and to re-examine human lipid metabolism from the macroscopic perspective of homeostatic balance.

The Role of OH Cards in Psychological Interventions for Children With Fractures.

Context: Fractures are traumatic events, with psychological effects that can have a negative impact on children hospitalized with fractures. They can seriously affect children's physical rehabilitation and quality of life and even produce psychological disorders The OH card is a metaphorical card that allows access to an individual's inner world and can have a positive effect in psychotherapy. Objective: The study intended to investigate the use of OH Cards during psychological interventions with children with fractures and to provide a methodological reference for the use of OH Cards in therapy. Design: The research team performed a randomized controlled study. Setting: The study took place in the Department of Trauma Surgery at Children's Hospital of Hebei Province in Shijiazhuang, China. Participants: Participants were 74 children with fractures who had been admitted to the hospital between September 2020 and November 2021. Intervention: The research team randomly divided participants into two groups using a random number table: (1) 37 in the intervention group, who received a conventional nursing intervention and also an OH-card intervention, and (2) 37 in the control group, who received conventional nursing interventions only. Outcome Measures: At baseline and postintervention, the research team: (1) measured the participants' posttraumatic growth scores, using the children's version of the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI); (2) assessed their coping styles, using the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (MCMQ); (3) determined the existence of any stress disorders, using the Child Stress Disorder Checklist (CSDC); (4) evaluated their mental statuses using the Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRSC) and the Screen for Child Anxiety-related Emotional Disorders (SCARED); and (5) measured participants' Fracture Knowledge Questionnaire scores. Results: At baseline, no significant differences existed between the groups for any outcome measure at baseline. Postintervention, the intervention group's scores: (1) on the PTGI, were significantly higher for mental change, appreciate life, individual force, new possibilities and personal relation than those of the control group; (2) on the MCMQ, were significantly higher for facing and significantly lower for avoidance and yield than those of the control group; (3) on the CSDC, were significantly lower for trauma incidents and acute response than the control group did; (4) on the DSRSC were significantly lower and on SCARED were significantly higher than those of the control group; and (5) on the Fracture Knowledge Questionnaire were significantly higher than those of the control group. Conclusions: OH Cards can increase the posttraumatic growth scores of children with fractures, improve their coping styles, reduce stress disorders, decrease depression and improve their psychological state, increase their knowledge about fractures, and promote their recovery.

Avoiding "COVID Blindness": Advocating Cognitive Bias Teaching in the Context of COVID-19.

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A glutathione S-transferase GhTT19 determines flower petal pigmentation via regulating anthocyanin accumulation in cotton.

Anthocyanin accumulations in the flowers can improve seed production of hybrid lines, and produce higher commodity value in cotton fibre. However, the genetic mechanism underlying the anthocyanin pigmentation in cotton petals is poorly understood. Here, we showed that the red petal phenotype was introgressed from Gossypium bickii through recombination with the segment containing the R3 bic region in the A07 chromosome of Gossypium hirsutum variety LR compared with the near-isogenic line of LW with white flower petals. The cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (Cy3G) was the major anthocyanin in red petals of cotton. A GhTT19 encoding a TT19-like GST was mapped to the R3 bic site associated with red petals via map-based cloning, but GhTT19 homologue gene from the D genome was not expressed in G. hirsutum. Intriguingly, allelic variations in the promoters between GhTT19LW and GhTT19LR , rather than genic regions, were found as genetic causal of petal colour variations. GhTT19-GFP was found localized in both the endoplasmic reticulum and tonoplast for facilitating anthocyanin transport. An additional MYB binding element found only in the promoter of GhTT19LR , but not in that of GhTT19LW , enhanced its transactivation by the MYB activator GhPAP1. The transgenic analysis confirmed the function of GhTT19 in regulating the red flower phenotype in cotton. The essential light signalling component GhHY5 bonded to and activated the promoter of GhPAP1, and the GhHY5-GhPAP1 module together regulated GhTT19 expression to mediate the light-activation of petal anthocyanin pigmentation in cotton. This study provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms for anthocyanin accumulation and may lay a foundation for faster genetic improvement of cotton.

Contribution of Subway Expansions to Air Quality Improvement and the Corresponding Health Implications in Nanjing, China.

With China's rapid economic development, particularly its accelerated urbanization, air pollution has been one of the serious environmental issues across China. Most major cities in China expand their subway systems to handle this problem. This study takes both long- and short-term effects of subway expansions on air quality and its corresponding health implications into account based on a network density-based time series analysis and a distance-based difference-in-differences analysis. The daily and hourly monitor-level air quality data on Nanjing from 13 May 2014 to 31 December 2018, combining with corresponding weather variables, are used to quantify the effect of subway expansions on local air pollution caused by eight new subway lines in Nanjing. The results reveal that subway expansions result in a statistically significant decrease in the air pollution level; specifically, the air pollution level experiences a 3.93% larger reduction in the areas close to subway lines. Heterogeneous analysis of different air pollutants indicates that the air pollution reduction effect of subway expansions is more significant in terms of Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and CO. A back-of-the-envelope analysis of the health benefits from this air improvement shows that the total number of yearly averted premature deaths is around 300,214 to 443,498. A set of alternative specifications confirm the robustness of our results. These results provide strong support for putting more emphasis on the environmental effect of subway expansions in the cost-benefit analysis of subway planning.

Clinical characteristics of platelets and its possible gender dimorphism in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of platelet-associated parameters in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients with varying degrees of disease severity and investigate the sexual dimorphism of platelet features in NAFLD patients. METHODS: A total of 829 NAFLD patients were divided into separate groups based on body mass index (BMI), liver stiffness measurement (LSM), controlled attenuation parameter (CAP), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. The platelet count (PC), mean platelet volume (MPV), and platelet distribution width (PDW) parameters were analyzed among different groups, and the sex-based differences were compared. RESULTS: The PC decreased with age in both sexes; in 30-59-year-old female subjects, the PC decreased by a conspicuous margin. The MPV increased with age in females, but not in males. The PDW increased significantly in females aged 30-59 years. With the increase in BMI and CAP, the PC showed a decreasing trend. The MPV increased with the increasing CAP value in male patients. With the increasing LSM value, the PC displayed a decreasing trend. CONCLUSION: The PC showed marked sex-based differences in NAFLD patients and is affected by age and BMI. Regular changes of platelet parameters could be found in patients with varying degrees of NAFLD. These changes might be helpful in assessing the severity of NAFLD.

Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on global air quality and health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put much of the world into lockdown, as one unintended upside to this response, the air quality has been widely reported to have improved worldwide. Existing studies examine the environmental effect of lockdowns at a city- or country-level, few examines it from a global perspective. Using a novel COVID-19 government response tracker dataset, combining the daily air pollution data and weather data across 597 major cities worldwide between January 1, 2020, and July 5, 2020, this study quantifies the causal impacts of 8 types of lockdown measures on changes of a range of individual pollutants based on a difference-in-differences design. The results show that the NO2 air quality index value falls more precipitously (23-37%) relative to the pre-lockdown period, followed by PM10 (14-20%), SO2 (2-20%), PM2.5 (7-16%), and CO (7-11%), but the O3 increases 10-27%. Furthermore, intra/intercity travel restrictions have a better performance in curbing air pollution. These results are robust to a set of alternative specifications, including different panel sizes, independent variables, estimation strategies. The heterogeneity analysis in terms of different types of cities shows that the lockdown effects are more remarkable in cities from lower-income, more industrialized, and populous countries. We also do a back-of-the-envelope calculation of the subsequent health benefits following such improvement, and the expected averted premature deaths due to air pollution declines are around 99,270 to 146,649 among 76 countries and regions involved in this study during the COVID-19 lockdown. These findings underscore the importance of continuous air pollution control strategies to protect human health and reduce the associated social welfare loss both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Air quality improvement from COVID-19 lockdown: evidence from China.

As we move through 2020, our world has been transformed by the spread of COVID-19 in many aspects. A large number of cities across the world entered "sleep mode" sequentially due to the stay-at-home or lockdown policies. This study exploits the impact of pandemic-induced human mobility restrictions, as the response to COVID-19 pandemic, on the urban air quality across China. Different from the "traditional" difference-in-differences analysis, a human mobility-based difference-in-differences method is used to quantify the effect of intracity mobility reductions on air quality across 325 cities in China. The model shows that the air quality index (AQI) experiences a 12.2% larger reduction in the cities with lockdown. Moreover, this reduction effect varies with different types of air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and CO decreased by 13.1%, 15.3%, 4%, 3.3%, and 3.3%, respectively). The heterogeneity analysis in terms of different types of cities shows that the effect is greater in northern, higher income, more industrialized cities, and more economically active cities. We also estimate the subsequent health benefits following such improvement, and the expected averted premature deaths due to air pollution declines are around 26,385 to 38,977 during the sample period. These findings illuminate a new light on the role of a policy intervention in the pollution emission, while also providing a roadmap for future research on the pollution effect of COVID-19 pandemic.

Diagnostic performance of fibroscan and computed tomography in 322 normal alanine aminotransferase non-obese non-alcoholic fatty liver disease patients diagnosed by ultrasound.

AIMS OF THE STUDY: To compare the evaluation of various non-invasive examination include ultrasound, fibroscan and computed tomography (CT) in normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) non-obese patients, to analyse the consistency and advantages among these non-invasive examination in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients. METHODS USED TO CONDUCT THE STUDY: About 322 cases of non-obese NAFLD patients (BMI < 25 kg/m2 ) with normal ALT were enroled. All patients were diagnosed with fatty liver by abdominal ultrasonography. Meanwhile, computed tomography and fibroscan were used to evaluate the existence and severity of fatty liver. RESULTS OF THE STUDY: A 47.52% and 67.70% patients who diagnosed as NAFLD by ultrasound were unable to be diagnosed with fatty liver in accordance with the standard of controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) value by fibroscan and liver/spleen density ratio (L/S ratio) by CT. The evaluation of NAFLD by CAP standard were influenced by several factors, while only age and Triglyceride (TG) may affect the judgement of fatty liver when CT was used. Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) affects the diagnostic coincidence rate of fibroscan, CT and ultrasound. Statistical difference could be found among different LSM groups in the severity of NAFLD evaluated by Fibroscan and CT. CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE STUDY AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: There is a discrepancy in the evaluation NAFLD by fibroscan, CT and ultrasound. LSM may affect the diagnostic coincidence rate of fibroscan, CT and ultrasound. Non-invasive assessment model including multiple clinical data and image results should be investigated in evaluating the degree of NAFLD. Interpretation of the diagnostic results about fibroscan, CT and ultrasound in the evaluation of NAFLD should take into account the specific clinical data of each patient.