Unraveling ferroptosis in osteogenic lineages: implications for dysregulated bone remodeling during periodontitis progression.

Periodontitis is a highly prevalent disease characterized by inflammation and destruction of tooth-supporting tissues that leads to tooth loss in extreme situations. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms of periodontitis pathogenesis and progression will establish the groundwork for developing effective treatment strategies. Recently, evidence concerning the role of ferroptosis in periodontitis progression has emerged. Osteogenic lineage cells are key regulators of bone remodeling. Osteogenic cell death, as observed in experimental periodontitis models, disrupts the balance between bone resorption and bone formation. However, whether the osteogenic lineage undergoes ferroptosis during periodontitis and the corresponding effect on periodontitis progression remain elusive. Here, we investigated cell-specific ferroptosis within the alveolar bone in a murine periodontitis model. Through immunofluorescence double staining and immunohistochemistry, we identified ferroptotic osteocytes and osteoblasts in inflammatory alveolar bone. Next, in vivo administration of erastin or liproxstatin-1 was conducted to either induce or inhibit ferroptosis, respectively. Severe bone resorption and inflammation, accompanied by increased osteoclast formation and impaired osteogenic potential were detected following ferroptosis activation. Subsequently, we carried out in vitro experiments on osteocytes and further verified that ferroptosis enhanced the osteocytic expression of RANKL and IL-6. These findings suggest that ferroptosis occurring within the osteogenic lineage acts as a catalyst in the progression of periodontitis by stimulating osteoclastogenesis through the secretion of inflammatory cytokines and inhibiting osteoblastic function, providing insights into ferroptosis-induced alterations in microenvironment-based intercellular communication. Ferroptosis is a promising target for controlling inflammation and preventing bone resorption in periodontitis.

Probing the Link Between Vision and Language in Material Perception.

Materials are the building blocks of our surroundings. Material perception enables us to create a vivid mental representation of our environment, fostering the appreciation of the qualities and aesthetics of things around us and shaping our decisions on how to interact with them. We can visually discriminate and recognize materials and infer their properties, and previous studies have identified diagnostic image features related to perceived material qualities. Meanwhile, language reveals our subjective understanding of visual input and allows us to communicate relevant information about the material. To what extent do words encapsulate the visual material perception remains elusive. Here, we used deep generative networks to create an expandable image space to systematically create and sample stimuli of familiar and unfamiliar materials. We compared the representations of materials from two cognitive tasks: visual material similarity judgments and verbal descriptions. We observed a moderate correlation between vision and language within individuals, but language alone cannot fully capture the nuances of material appearance. We further examined the latent code of the generative model and found that image-based representation only exhibited a weak correlation with human visual judgments. Joining image- and semantic-level representations substantially improved the prediction of human perception. Our results imply that material perception involves the semantic understanding of scenes to resolve the ambiguity of the visual information and beyond merely relying on image features. This work illustrates the need to consider the vision-language relationship in building a comprehensive model for material perception.

Single-cell RNA sequencing combined with proteomics of infected macrophages reveals prothymosin-α as a target for treatment of apical periodontitis.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic apical periodontitis (CAP) is a common infectious disease of the oral cavity. Immune responses and osteoclastogenesis of monocytes/macrophages play a crucial role in CAP progression, and this study want to clarify role of monocytes/macrophages in CAP, which will contribute to treatment of CAP. OBJECTIVES: We aim to explore the heterogeneity of monocyte populations in periapical lesion of CAP tissues and healthy control (HC) periodontal tissues by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), search novel targets for alleviating CAP, and further validate it by proteomics and in vitro and in vivo evaluations. METHODS: ScRNA-seq was used to analyze the heterogeneity of monocyte populations in CAP, and proteomics of THP-1-derived macrophages with porphyromonas gingivalis infection were intersected with the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of macrophages between CAP and HC tissues. The upregulated PTMA (prothymosin-α) were validated by immunofluorescence staining and quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction. We evaluated the effect of thymosin α1 (an amino-terminal proteolytic cleavage product of PTMA protein) on inflammatory factors and osteoclast differentiation of macrophages infected by P. gingivalis. Furthermore, we constructed mouse and rat mandibular bone lesions caused by apical periodontitis, and estimated treatment of systemic and topical administration of PTMA for CAP. Statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism software (v9.2) RESULTS: Monocytes were divided into seven sub-clusters comprising monocyte-macrophage-osteoclast (MMO) differentiation in CAP. 14 up-regulated and 21 down-regulated genes and proteins were intersected between the DEGs of scRNA-seq data and proteomics, including the high expression of PTMA. Thymosin α1 may decrease several inflammatory cytokine expressions and osteoclastogenesis of THP-1-derived macrophages. Both systemic administration in mice and topical administration in the pulp chamber of rats alleviated periapical lesions. CONCLUSIONS: PTMA upregulation in CAP moderates the inflammatory response and prevents the osteoclastogenesis of macrophages, which provides a basis for targeted therapeutic strategies for CAP.

RAB27B-regulated exosomes mediate LSC maintenance via resistance to senescence and crosstalk with the microenvironment.

The fate of leukaemia stem cells (LSCs) is determined by both their inherent mechanisms and crosstalk with their niches. Although LSCs were confirmed to be eradicated by restarting senescence, the specific key regulators of LSC resistance to senescence and remodelling of the niche to obtain a microenvironment suitable for stemness remain unknown. Here, we found that RAB27B, a gene regulating exosome secretion, was overexpressed in LSCs and associated with the poor prognosis of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients. The increased RAB27B in LSCs prevented their senescence and maintained their stemness in vitro and in vivo. Mechanically, the increased RAB27B expression in LSCs selectively promoted the loading and release of exosomes rich in senescence-inducing proteins by direct combination. Furthermore, RAB27B-regulated LSC-derived exosomes remodelled the niche and induced senescence of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with increased RAB27B expression ex vivo and in vivo. The increased RAB27B in the senescent MSCs conversely promoted LSC maintenance ex vivo and in vivo via selective excretion of exosomes rich in stemness-promoting proteins. Therefore, we identified the specifically increased RAB27B in LSCs and their educated senescent MSCs as a hub molecule for LSC resistance to senescence and maintenance through crosstalk with its niche via selective exosome excretion.

The Impact and Correlation of Anxiety and Depression on Pressure Pain Threshold of Acupoints in Patients with Chronic Pelvic Inflammatory Disease.

Background: Chronic pelvic inflammatory disease (CPID) is a clinically common gynecological disease. Patients experience chronic pelvic pain and often accompany with emotional dysfunction. However, the impact and correlation of anxiety and depression on pain sensitization is not completely known. Objective: To explore the differences and correlations among anxiety, depression, and pressure pain threshold (PPT) of acupoints in patients with CPID. Methods: One hundred and forty-seven patients with CPID were recruited. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) were used to assess pain. Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) were used to evaluate the emotional state of patients. The PPT of acupoints was collected using an electronic Von Frey by two licensed acupuncturists. Results: The CPID patients were divided into anxiety-depression group (group A) or nonanxiety-depression group (group B), according to the SAS and SDS scores. Finally, there were 73 patients in group A and 74 patients in group B. Group A had significantly higher SAS, SDS, VAS, and SF-MPQ scores than group B (P < 0.05). In addition, significant differences were observed in the PPTs of ST28 (R), ST29 (R), SP10 (R), SP9 (R), SP9 (L), ST36 (R), and LR3 (L) between the two groups (P < 0.05). No considerable differences in PPTs at the other acupoints were observed between the two groups. SAS scores showed a positive correlation with PPTs of ST29 (R), SP10 (R), SP9 (L), ST36 (R), and LR3 (L). No remarkable correlation was observed between the SDS scores and PPTs. Conclusion: Anxiety and depression can affect the PPT of some acupoints in CPID patients, which may provide a reference for acupoint selection for acupuncture treatment of CPID with emotional disorders. This trial is registered with ChiCTR2100052632.

A study of allergen detection panel in Guangzhou, southern China based on real-world data from the past 7 years.

This study aims to reduce the cost of allergen testing for Guangzhou, China by limiting the number of allergens for which patients are tested, and provide a testing panel to improve diagnostic and therapeutic efficiency. This retrospective study of real-world data from 2012 to 2019 included 39,570 patients with suspected allergies in Guangzhou, southern China. All the patients were tested for one or more of the following allergens serum specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE): Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae, cat dander, dog dander, Artemisia vulgaris, Aspergillus fumigatus, Alternaria alternata, Blattella germanica, egg whites, milk, wheat, peanuts, soybeans, Cancer pagurus, and Penaeus monodon by PhadiaCAP 1000. Totally, only the positive rates of allergens sIgE in D. farinae, D. pteronyssinus, milk, egg whites, B. germanica, C. pagurus, A. alternata, and P. monodon were > 10%, the other allergens were between 4-7%. Moreover, among the allergic diseases, dust mites exhibited the overall highest positive rate, followed by milk and B. germanica. In children, milk was the main allergen, whereas in adults, mites, cockroaches, shrimp, and crab allergens had higher positive rates. The optimal scale analysis shows that the multiple sensitization classification of patients can be divided into three categories: I D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus; II. C. pagurus, P. monodon, and B. germanica; III. Milk and egg whites. Generally, a panel including 4 allergens can detect > 90% of the potential allergy in this local population. In Guangzhou, southern China, D. farinae, milk, B. germanica, and A. alternata as a panel screening allergy for suspected allergic patients was suggested base on this study.

Engineered mesenchymal stem cell exosomes loaded with miR-34c-5p selectively promote eradication of acute myeloid leukemia stem cells.

Most patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) relapse eventually because of the inability to effectively eliminate leukemia stem cells (LSCs), prompting the search of new therapies to eradicate LSCs. Our previous study demonstrated that miR-34c-5p promotes the clearance of LSCs in an AML mouse model, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target for eradicating LSCs, but the effective delivery of miR-34c-5p to LSCs remains a great challenge. Here, we employed simultaneous two-step modifications to engineer mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and MSC-derived exosomes to create exosomes overexpressing the fused protein lysosome-associated membrane protein 2-interleukin 3 (Lamp2b-IL3) and hematopoietic cell E-selectin/L-selectin ligand (HCELL), and demonstrated that the engineered exosomes exhibited an enhanced ability for bone marrow homing and selective targeting of LSCs. Additionally, using a humanized AML mouse model, we confirmed that the engineered exosomes, loaded with miR-34c-5p, could selectively promote eradication of LSCs and impede the AML development in vivo. In summary, we successfully designed an effective delivery system and provided new insights into the development of novel therapies for delivering miRNA or other molecules to LSCs with greater cellular targeting specificity.

The Effects and Potential Mechanisms of Moxibustion for Rheumatoid Arthritis-Related Pain: A Randomized, Controlled Trial.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of moxibustion in relieving pain, and other clinical symptoms for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and explore the potential mechanism of moxibustion treatment for RA. Patients and Methods: Seventy qualified RA patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to the moxibustion group or the routine group. The routine group only took oral methotrexate tablets and folic acid tablets. The moxibustion group was treated with moxibustion based on oral pharmaceutical. Moxibustion was performed two times weekly for 8 weeks, a total of 16 sessions. Patients scored their pain on a visual analog scale (VAS). The American College of Rheumatology improvement criteria of 20%, 50% and 70% (ACR20, ACR50 and ACR70) after treatment were investigated. Clinical symptoms, a disease activity score using 28 joint counts (DAS28), simplified disease activity index (SDAI), clinical disease activity index (CDAI), health assessment questionnaire (HAQ), interleukin 1ß (IL-1ß), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) of RA patients were analyzed before and after treatment. Results: After treatment, the VAS scores, tender and swollen joint counts, morning stiffness scores, disease activity scores (DAS28, SDAI, CDAI), HAQ scores in the two groups were both improved, and the effects of moxibustion group were more obvious (P < 0.05). The ACR20 and ACR50 of the moxibustion group were greater than that of the routine group (P < 0.05), no significant difference of the ACR70 existed between the two groups (P > 0.05). In addition, the decreases of IL-1ß, TNF-α, VEGF of the moxibustion group were better than that of the routine group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Moxibustion could effectively relieve pain, ameliorate the clinical symptoms, and decrease the disease activity of RA. The potential mechanism may be the decrease in the level of serum inflammatory factors.

A single-blind field intervention study of whether increased bedroom ventilation improves sleep quality.

A four-week-long field intervention experiment was conducted in twenty-nine bedrooms with extract ventilation systems and air inlet vents. During the first week no interventions took place. In the three weeks that followed, each participant slept for one week under a low, moderate, and high ventilation rate condition in a balanced order. These conditions were established by covertly altering the fan speed of the exhaust ventilation system without changing other settings. Participants were not informed when or even whether the changes to bedroom ventilation would be executed. The bedroom environmental quality was monitored continuously and sleep quality was monitored using wrist-worn trackers. Tests of cognitive performance were conducted in the evening and morning. In twelve bedrooms where clear differences between the three ventilation conditions occurred, as indicated by the measured CO2 concentrations, participants had significantly less deep sleep, more light sleep and more awakenings at lower ventilation rate conditions. In twenty-three bedrooms where a clear difference in ventilation rate between the high and low ventilation conditions was observed, as confirmed by the measured CO2 concentrations, the deep sleep was significantly shorter in the low ventilation rate condition. No differences in cognitive performance between conditions were observed. At lower ventilation rate conditions, the concentrations of CO2 increased, as did the relative humidity, while bedroom temperatures remained unchanged. The present results, which were obtained in actual bedrooms, confirm the findings in previous studies of a positive effect of increased ventilation on sleep quality. Further studies with larger populations and better control of bedroom conditions, particularly ventilation, are required.

Hypoxia preconditioned DPSC-derived exosomes regulate angiogenesis via transferring LOXL2.

Hypoxia was proved to enhance the angiogenesis of stem cells. However, the mechanism of the angiogenic potential in hypoxia-pretreated dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) is poorly understood. We previously confirmed that hypoxia enhances the angiogenic potential of DPSC-derived exosomes with upregulation of lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2). Therefore, our study aimed to illuminate whether these exosomes promote angiogenesis via transfer of LOXL2. Exosomes were generated from hypoxia-pretreated DPSCs (Hypo-Exos) stably silencing LOXL2 after lentiviral transfection and characterized with transmission electron microscopy, nanosight and Western blot. The efficiency of silencing was verified using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot. CCK-8, scratch and transwell assays were conducted to explore the effects of LOXL2 silencing on DPSCs proliferation and migration. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were co-incubated with exosomes to assess the migration and angiogenic capacity through transwell and matrigel tube formation assays. The relative expression of angiogenesis-associated genes was characterized by qRT-PCR and Western blot. LOXL2 was successfully silenced in DPSCs and inhibited DPSC proliferation and migration. LOXL2 silencing in Hypo-Exos partially reduced promotion of HUVEC migration and tube formation and inhibited the expression of angiogenesis-associated genes. Thus, LOXL2 is one of various factors mediating the angiogenic effects of Hypo-Exos.

Unsupervised learning reveals interpretable latent representations for translucency perception.

Humans constantly assess the appearance of materials to plan actions, such as stepping on icy roads without slipping. Visual inference of materials is important but challenging because a given material can appear dramatically different in various scenes. This problem especially stands out for translucent materials, whose appearance strongly depends on lighting, geometry, and viewpoint. Despite this, humans can still distinguish between different materials, and it remains unsolved how to systematically discover visual features pertinent to material inference from natural images. Here, we develop an unsupervised style-based image generation model to identify perceptually relevant dimensions for translucent material appearances from photographs. We find our model, with its layer-wise latent representation, can synthesize images of diverse and realistic materials. Importantly, without supervision, human-understandable scene attributes, including the object's shape, material, and body color, spontaneously emerge in the model's layer-wise latent space in a scale-specific manner. By embedding an image into the learned latent space, we can manipulate specific layers' latent code to modify the appearance of the object in the image. Specifically, we find that manipulation on the early-layers (coarse spatial scale) transforms the object's shape, while manipulation on the later-layers (fine spatial scale) modifies its body color. The middle-layers of the latent space selectively encode translucency features and manipulation of such layers coherently modifies the translucency appearance, without changing the object's shape or body color. Moreover, we find the middle-layers of the latent space can successfully predict human translucency ratings, suggesting that translucent impressions are established in mid-to-low spatial scale features. This layer-wise latent representation allows us to systematically discover perceptually relevant image features for human translucency perception. Together, our findings reveal that learning the scale-specific statistical structure of natural images might be crucial for humans to efficiently represent material properties across contexts.

How Do Extracellular Vesicles Play a Key Role in the Maintenance of Bone Homeostasis and Regeneration? A Comprehensive Review of Literature.

The maintenance of bone homeostasis includes both bone resorption by osteoclasts and bone formation by osteoblasts. These two processes are in dynamic balance to maintain a constant amount of bone for accomplishing its critical functions in daily life. Multiple cell type communications are involved in these two complex and continuous processes. In recent decades, an increasing number of studies have shown that osteogenic and osteoclastic extracellular vesicles play crucial roles in regulating bone homeostasis through paracrine, autosecretory and endocrine signaling. Elucidating the functional roles of extracellular vesicles in the maintenance of bone homeostasis may contribute to the design of new strategies for bone regeneration. Hence, we review the recent understandings of the classification, production process, extraction methods, structure, contents, functions and applications of extracellular vesicles in bone homeostasis. We highlight the contents of various bone-derived extracellular vesicles and their interactions with different cells in the bone microenvironment during bone homeostasis. We also summarize the recent advances in EV-loaded biomaterial scaffolds for bone regeneration and repair.

MODECP: A Multi-Objective Based Approach for Solving Distributed Controller Placement Problem in Software Defined Network.

Software-Defined Network is an emerging networking paradigm that enables intelligent and flexible network management. Specifically, the design of the control plane is crucial. Therefore, in order to avoid a single point of failure, multiple controllers are deployed constantly in a distributed manner on the control plane. In this paper, we propose a controller placement approach based on multiple objectives (MODECP), including network delay, network security, load-balancing rate, and link occupancy. In the controller placement stage, an improved multi-objective differential evolution algorithm is proposed to search for controllers' positions and assign switches to controllers reasonably. Furthermore, an improved affinity propagation algorithm is proposed to obtain the number of controllers placed in the network partition stage, comprehensively considering the delay, node security, and load. Simulations are performed based on several topologies from Internet Topology Zoo. Extensive results show that the proposed algorithm can realize trade-offs among multiple objectives and improve network performance in delay, security, controller load, and link occupancy compared to the single-objective based approach. Moreover, compared with the genetic algorithm and random placement algorithm, the proposed algorithm performs better with low latency, high security, low load rate, and low link overhead.

Major Grass Pollen Allergen Components and Cross-Reactive Carbohydrate Determinants in Mugwort-Sensitized Child Patients With Allergic Respiratory Disease in Western China.

Mugwort is a common pollen allergen in western China, and this study aimed to investigate the patterns of molecular sensitization to major grass pollen allergens (mugwort, ragweed, bermuda grass, and timothy grass) and cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCD) in children who were sensitized to mugwort in western China. Serum-specific IgE (sIgE) of major allergen components and CCD were detected among 121 mugwort SPT-positive children via the EUROBlotMaster system if the mugwort-sIgE was positive (MSP). A CCD inhibition test was further performed on the serum of patients with positive CCD-sIgE. Latent class analysis was used to identify the patterns of potential sensitization to major grass pollen allergens. Of a total of 100 patients with mugwort-sIgE positive (MSP), 52.0, 41.0, and 31.0% of them were positive to Art v 1, Art v 3, and Art v 4, respectively. An optimal model with three latent classes was determined using grass pollen allergens, components, and CCD. The sensitization patterns can be summarized as (1) MSP and cosensitized to ragweed, bermuda grass, and timothy grass (23.74%); (2) MSP and cosensitized to Art v 1 (54.08%); (3) MSP and cosensitized to Art v 4, Cyn d 12, Phl p 12 (22.18%). Additionally, CCD sIgE levels had a significant positive correlation with ragweed, bermuda grass, and timothy grass (P < 0.05), and CCD-Inhibitor can highly inhibit the above allergens sIgE. Our findings suggest that Art v 4 was the typical cross-reaction component of mugwort, which is cosensitized to Phl p 12 and Cyn d 12. A wide cross-reaction among ragweed, bermuda grass, and timothy grass caused by CCD was observed.

A comprehensive analysis of the components of common weed pollen and related allergens in patients with allergic diseases in southern China.

BACKGROUND: Pollen allergens are vital contributors to allergic diseases. The frequency and coreactivity pattern of allergens are closely related to geographical distribution. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to characterize the prevalence of the molecular components of the common weed pollen allergens, birch pollen, walnut, and cross-reactive carbohydrate determinant (CCD), as well as investigate the relationship between the allergens and CCD in Chinese pollen-sensitized patients with allergic diseases. METHODS: Based on previous vegetation surveys, serum samples from 165 pollen-sensitized patients with allergic diseases in Guangdong Province in southern China were used to test 19 crude allergen extracts, their components, and CCD using component-resolved diagnosis (CRD). Moreover, the potential associations among CCD, allergens, and their components were described. RESULTS: In the 165 samples, the most common sensitized allergens were goosefoot (43.0%), ragweed (40.6%), walnut (37.6%), walnut tree (37.6%), and mugwort (37.0%), followed by platane (35.2%), cocklebur (27.9%), and birch (24.2%). The positivity rate of CCD was 39.4%. Among the samples positive for mugwort, 11 (18.0%), 15 (24.6%), and 15 (24.6%) were positive for Art v 1, Art v 2, and Art v 3, respectively. Among the 67 patients sensitized to ragweed, only five (7.5%) were positive for Amb a 1. In the 40 patients sensitized to birch, Bet v 2 had the highest positivity rate (40.0%). There were 62 patients who were sensitized to walnut. Their components had a lower positivity rate (less than 15%). The hierarchical clustering and optimal scale analysis showed that Art v 4 and Bet v 2 were closely related, and 91.9% of CCD-positive samples were polysensitized. Meanwhile, Spearman's rank correlation method showed that CCD was closely correlated with the sensitization of crude allergen extracts, and there was a low correlation between CCD and allergen components. CCD was highly correlated with goosefoot, ragweed, and walnut trees (r＞0.8). Moreover, there was a strong relationship between the levels of Jug r 3 and Art v 3 (r = 0.78; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In southern China, the weed pollens (ragweed, cocklebur, and goosefoot) exhibited higher positivity rates in adults and had a stronger relationship with CCD but not with mugwort. The positivity rate of allergen components was not high. CCD-positive samples were always polysensitized.

Crystal or jelly? Effect of color on the perception of translucent materials with photographs of real-world objects.

Translucent materials are ubiquitous in nature (e.g. teeth, food, and wax), but our understanding of translucency perception is limited. Previous work in translucency perception has mainly used monochromatic rendered images as stimuli, which are restricted by their diversity and realism. Here, we measure translucency perception with photographs of real-world objects. Specifically, we use three behavior tasks: binary classification of "translucent" versus "opaque," semantic attribute rating of perceptual qualities (see-throughness, glossiness, softness, glow, and density), and material categorization. Two different groups of observers finish the three tasks with color or grayscale images. We find that observers' agreements depend on the physical material properties of the objects such that translucent materials generate more interobserver disagreements. Further, there are more disagreements among observers in the grayscale condition in comparison to that in the color condition. We also discover that converting images to grayscale substantially affects the distributions of attribute ratings for some images. Furthermore, ratings of see-throughness, glossiness, and glow could predict individual observers' binary classification of images in both grayscale and color conditions. Last, converting images to grayscale alters the perceived material categories for some images such that observers tend to misjudge images of food as non-food and vice versa. Our result demonstrates that color is informative about material property estimation and recognition. Meanwhile, our analysis shows that mid-level semantic estimation of material attributes might be closely related to high-level material recognition. We also discuss individual differences in our results and highlight the importance of such consideration in material perception.

The Prognostic Value of Krebs von den Lungen-6 and Surfactant Protein-A Levels in the Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The highly variable clinical course of interstitial lung disease (ILD) makes it difficult to predict patient prognosis. Serum surfactant protein-A (SP-A) and Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6) are known prognostic biomarkers. However, the clinical or pathophysiological differences in patients with these biomarkers have not been well evaluated. We investigated the clinical and pathophysiological differences through the comparison of SP-A and KL-6 levels before and after treatment. METHODS: This study included retrospective data from 91 patients who were treated for ILD between August 2015 and September 2019. Serum SP-A and KL-6 levels were measured before and after treatment. The patients were followed up for 3 months. RESULTS: Changes in the serum biomarkers (Delta SP-A and Delta KL-6) were found to be significantly correlated (rs = 0.523, P < 0.001); Delta SP-A and Delta KL-6 were inversely correlated with changes in pulmonary function (% predicted values of diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide [DLCO], forced vital capacity [FVC], and forced expiratory volume in 1 s [FEV1]). Patients were divided into four groups based on their Delta SP-A and Delta KL-6 levels in a cluster analysis (G1, G2, G3, and G4). Both SP-A and KL-6 were elevated in the G1 group, with all the patients enrolled classified as progressive or unchanged, and 86.4% of patients showed improved disease activity in the G4 group, where both SP-A and KL-6 levels were reduced. In the G2 group, only SP-A levels decreased post-treatment, indicating an improvement in respiratory function; the patients were not at the end stage of the disease. Only the SP-A levels increased in the G3 group with immunosuppressive treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced serum SP-A and/or KL-6 levels are associated with improved lung function in patients with ILD. Some patients only showed a decrease in SP-A levels could prognosis an improvement in respiratory function. When only SP-A is increased, it may imply that the patients are at an early stage of disease progression. As a result, for proper disease monitoring, measuring both markers is important.

The Efficacy of Moxibustion on the Serum Levels of CXCL1 and ß-EP in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of moxibustion on joint swelling and pain and the levels of C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 1 (CXCL1), ß-endorphin (ß-EP) in serum of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to investigate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic mechanism of moxibustion on improving RA. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with RA were randomly and equally classified into the control and treatment groups. The control group was treated with routine drug therapy, while the treatment group received routine drug therapy and moxibustion. Both groups were treated for eight weeks. The symptoms and laboratory indicators of RA patients were compared in the two groups before and after intervention. RESULTS: Sixty-one patients completed the study: four patients dropped out from the treatment group and three from the control group. Trial endpoints were change (∆) in symptoms, measured by Ritchie's articular index (RAI), swollen joint count (SJC), and laboratory indicators, measured by the level of CXCL1, ß-EP, tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-α), and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß). ∆RAI, ∆SJC, ∆CXCL1, ∆ß-EP, ∆TNF-α, and ∆IL-1ß in the treatment group were superior to the control group (13.50 [14.50] versus 6.00 [13.00] in ∆RAI, 4.00 [3.00] versus 2.00 [4.00] in ∆SJC, 0.04 ± 0.79 ng/mL versus -0.01 ± 0.86 ng/mL in ∆CXCL1, -2.43 [5.52] pg/mg versus -0.04 [4.09] pg/mg in ∆ß-EP, 3.45 [5.90] pg/mL versus 1.55 [8.29] pg/mL in ∆TNF-α, and 6.15 ± 8.65 pg/mL versus 1.28 ± 8.51 pg/mL in ∆IL-1ß; all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Moxibustion can improve the joint swelling and pain symptoms in patients with RA, which may be related to the fact that moxibustion can reduce the release of inflammatory factors in patients with RA and downregulate the level of CXCL1 and increase the level of ß-EP at the same time. This trial is registered with ChiCTR-IOR-17012282.

A survey of bedroom ventilation types and the subjective sleep quality associated with them in Danish housing.

We performed a survey of the types of bedroom ventilation in Danish dwellings (January-February 2020) and the associated subjective sleep quality. Five hundred and seventeen people responded. Their median age was 33 years old and 55.4% of them were males. We used an online questionnaire and collected information on the type of bedroom ventilation, bedroom airing behaviour by the respondents, the bedroom environment, building surroundings and location, and sleep disturbance caused by stuffy air, noise, and the thermal environment. Subjective sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); its median among respondents was >5 indicating reduced sleep quality. 35.4% of the bedrooms had mechanical, 24.6% exhaust, and 40.0% natural ventilation. Sleeping in a bedroom with mechanical ventilation tended to reduce sleep disturbance. The absence of mechanical ventilation and the presence of carpet in the bedroom were all associated with stuffy air causing sleep disturbance, which was the second most sleep disturbing factor. PSQI increased significantly with increased sleep disturbance. People who reported that their sleep was disturbed by stuffy air or "too warm" conditions opened windows frequently during the day or night, but no association was found between PSQI and bedroom airing behaviours. Our results are valid for the heating season and the survey would have to be repeated in the non-heating season to permit generalization of the findings. The results present associations and are qualitative, so field measurements are necessary to validate the present observations and provide further explanations.

Metabolomics reveals a correlation between hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids and allergic asthma: Evidence from three years' immunotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) is an effective, safe, preventative treatment for allergic asthma; however, potential biomarkers for monitoring SCIT have rarely been reported. OBJECTIVE: Metabolomics was utilized for the discovery of new biomarkers and analyzing disease pathophysiology of allergic asthma, and it was also applied to determine the metabolomic profiles of serum samples from children with asthma undergoing SCIT and identify potential biomarkers for allergic asthma and its therapeutic monitoring. METHODS: Untargeted metabolomics using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry was performed on 15 asthmatic and 15 healthy pediatric sera to profile carboxylic acids. Statistical analysis combined with pathway enrichment analysis was applied to identify potential biomarkers. Then, targeted metabolomics was performed to study longitudinal changes of eicosanoid profiles on sera from 20 participants with asthma who received SCIT at baseline, 6 months, one, two, and three years (ChiCTR-DDT-13003728). RESULTS: Metabolomic analysis revealed that levels of eicosanoids, particularly 12(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE; AUC = 0.94, p < .0001) and 15(S)-HETE (AUC = 0.89, p = .0028), metabolized from arachidonic acid by lipoxygenase and glutathione peroxidase enzymes, were significantly higher in asthma group than in healthy individuals. Furthermore, levels of these important metabolites increased in the first year of SCIT treatment and then decreased from years one to three, being significantly lower after three years of treatment than baseline levels. CONCLUSION: 12(S)- and 15(S)-HETEs are potential biomarkers to participate in the pathogenesis and treatment of allergic asthma. Moreover, these metabolites may be a new target for biological indicators to monitor the therapeutic effect of SCIT, particularly in the setting of allergic asthma.