Efficacy and safety of sintilimab combined with apatinib as third-line or above therapy for patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer.

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the combination of sintilimab and apatinib for the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer (GC) and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer. This retrospective study analyzed data from 34 patients who had advanced or metastatic GC/GEJ cancer and received the combination therapy of sintilimab and apatinib as a third-line or above treatment. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), and secondary endpoints included objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS), and safety. Among the 34 patients, none achieved a complete response (CR), 3 patients (8.8%) achieved a partial response, 23 patients (67.6%) had stable disease, and 8 patients (23.5%) experienced progressive disease. The ORR and DCR were 8.8% and 76.5%, respectively. The median PFS was 6.0 months (95% CI: 3.6-8.4), and the median OS was 11.6 months (95% CI: 8.1-15.1). Subgroup analysis revealed significant differences in OS between patients with high and low Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status scores and between patients with and without a history of gastrectomy. Common adverse events (AEs) during treatment included fatigue (52.9%), anemia (47.1%), leukopenia (26.5%), hypothyroidism (23.5%), nausea and vomiting (20.6%), neutropenia (20.6%), and thrombocytopenia (17.6%), most of which were grade 1 and 2 AEs. No deaths occurred due to AEs. These findings indicate that the combination of sintilimab and apatinib has a favorable therapeutic effect in patients with advanced GC. Moreover, the AEs associated with this therapy are generally manageable.

Regulation of the CB1R/AMPK/PGC-1α signaling pathway in mitochondria of mouse hearts and cardiomyocytes with chronic intermittent hypoxia.

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the effects of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) at different times on the mitochondria of mouse hearts and H9C2 cardiomyocytes to determine the role of the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R)/adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) signaling pathway. METHODS: Animal and cellular CIH models were prepared in an intermittent hypoxia chamber at different times. The cardiac function of mice was determined, and heart tissue and ultrastructural changes were observed. Apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial membrane potential were detected, and MitoTracker™ staining was performed to observe cardiomyocyte mitochondria. Western blot, immunohistochemistry, and cellular immunofluorescence were also performed. RESULTS: In the short-term CIH group, increases in mouse ejection fraction (EF) and heart rate (HR); mitochondrial division; ROS and mitochondrial membrane potential; and the expression levels of CB1R, AMPK, and PGC-1α were observed in vivo and in vitro. In the long-term CIH group, the EF and HR increased, the myocardial injury and mitochondrial damage were more severe, mitochondrial synthesis decreased, the apoptosis percentage and ROS increased, mitochondrial fragmentation increased, membrane potential decreased, CB1R expression increased, and AMPK and PGC-1α expression levels decreased. Targeted blocking of CB1R can increase AMPK and PGC-1α, reduce damage attributed to long-term CIH in mouse hearts and H9C2 cells, and promote mitochondrial synthesis. CONCLUSION: Short-term CIH can directly activate the AMPK/PGC-1α pathway, promote mitochondrial synthesis in cardiomyocytes, and protect cardiac structure and function. Long-term CIH can increase CB1R expression and inhibit the AMPK/PGC-1α pathway, resulting in structural damage, the disturbance of myocardial mitochondria synthesis, and further alterations in the cardiac structure. After targeted blocking of CB1R, levels of AMPK and PGC-1α increased, alleviating damage to the heart and cardiomyocytes caused by long-term CIH.

Machine Learning Classification of Body Part, Imaging Axis, and Intravenous Contrast Enhancement on CT Imaging.

Purpose: The development and evaluation of machine learning models that automatically identify the body part(s) imaged, axis of imaging, and the presence of intravenous contrast material of a CT series of images. Methods: This retrospective study included 6955 series from 1198 studies (501 female, 697 males, mean age 56.5 years) obtained between January 2010 and September 2021. Each series was annotated by a trained board-certified radiologist with labels consisting of 16 body parts, 3 imaging axes, and whether an intravenous contrast agent was used. The studies were randomly assigned to the training, validation and testing sets with a proportion of 70%, 20% and 10%, respectively, to develop a 3D deep neural network for each classification task. External validation was conducted with a total of 35,272 series from 7 publicly available datasets. The classification accuracy for each series was independently assessed for each task to evaluate model performance. Results: The accuracies for identifying the body parts, imaging axes, and the presence of intravenous contrast were 96.0% (95% CI: 94.6%, 97.2%), 99.2% (95% CI: 98.5%, 99.7%), and 97.5% (95% CI: 96.4%, 98.5%) respectively. The generalizability of the models was demonstrated through external validation with accuracies of 89.7 - 97.8%, 98.6 - 100%, and 87.8 - 98.6% for the same tasks. Conclusions: The developed models demonstrated high performance on both internal and external testing in identifying key aspects of a CT series.

Effects of bovine milk and buffalo milk on lipid metabolism in mice.

Buffalo milk contains more polyunsaturated fatty acids than bovine milk. However, it is not clear about the effects of buffalo milk and bovine milk on lipid metabolism. In this study, a mouse model was used to explore the effects of buffalo milk and bovine milk on lipid metabolism in mice. The experiment was divided into three groups: a control group on a normal diet; a bovine milk group infused with bovine milk; a buffalo milk group infused with buffalo milk. We fed three groups of mice (n = 6) for 6 weeks. These results showed that bovine milk and buffalo milk had no effect on body weight gain. Bovine milk increased the content of ApoA1, ApoB and glucose in serum, compared with the control group, but buffalo milk has no profound change in serum ApoB. Remarkably, buffalo milk decreased the content of total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) in the liver lipid profile, and also downregulated the expression of the carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2 (Cpt2) gene involved in the fatty acid oxidation in the liver. This study also found that bovine milk and buffalo milk did not cause the expression of pro-inflammatory factors in serum and colon tissues. This experiment proved that buffalo milk has beneficial effects on the regulation of lipid metabolism, and also does not affect the normal growth and pro-inflammatory response of the colon in mice. It provides a theoretical basis for future in-depth research on the special functions of buffalo milk and the development of buffalo milk functional foods.

Recombinant Snail Sialic Acid Aldolase is Promiscuous towards Aliphatic Aldehydes.

Aldolases are enzymes that reversibly catalyze the cleavage of carbon-carbon bonds. Here we describe a recombinant sialic acid aldolase originating from the freshwater snail Biomphalaria glabrata (sNPL), and compare its substrate spectrum with a sialic acid aldolase originating from chicken (chNPL). In contrast to vertebrate animals which can synthesize, degrade, and incorporate sialic acids on glycoconjugate ubiquitously, snails (as all mollusks) cannot synthesize sialic acids endogenously, and therefore the biological function and substrate scope of sNPL ought to differ significantly from vertebrate sialic aldolases such as chNPL. sNPL was active towards a series of sialic acid derivatives but was in contrast to chNPL unable to catalyze the cleavage of N-acetylneuraminic acid into N-acetylmannosamine and pyruvate. Interestingly, chNPL and sNPL showed contrasting C4(R)/(S) diastereoselectivity towards the substrates d-mannose and d-galactose in the presence of pyruvate. In addition, sNPL was able to synthesize a series of 4-hydroxy-2-oxoates using the corresponding aliphatic aldehyde substrates in the presence of pyruvate, which could be not achieved by chNPL.

Bleeding From Band Ligation-induced Ulcers Following the Treatment of Esophageal Varices: A Retrospective Case-control Study.

GOAL: Our study aimed to explore the incidence of bleeding from ulcers due to premature band slippage and to identify possible associated factors. BACKGROUND: Band ligation (BL) plays a vital role in treating esophageal varices; however, the procedure carries a considerable risk of band slippage, variceal site ulcer formation, and posttreatment bleeding. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients with esophageal varices who underwent endoscopic hemostasis by BL at our institution between 2015 and 2020. We statistically compared the patients with post-BL ulcer bleeding and those without (controls). The outcome variable was the development of BL-induced ulcer bleeding. The patients' demographics, clinical, and laboratory parameters, and BL procedure parameters were independent variables. Univariate followed by a multivariate logistic regression were performed to identify possible associated factors from the odds ratio (OR). RESULTS: Of the 4579 eligible patients, 388 (8.5%) presented with post-BL ulcer bleeding. The presence of high-risk stigmata indicated a 1.271 times higher risk of bleeding [95% confidence interval (CI):1.018-1.587], and a greater number of varices was associated with an increased risk of post-BL ulcer bleeding [OR=1.184 (95% CI: 1.073-1.307)]. Conversely, the use of fewer bands per variceal site was associated with fewer bleeding incidents [OR=1.308 (95% CI: 1.090-1.569)]. Univariate analysis identified proton pump inhibitor as protective [OR=0.770 (95% CI: 0.603-0.983)]; however, the difference was not significant after multivariate analysis [OR=1.283 (95% CI: 1.003-1.640)]. CONCLUSIONS: The overall incidence of post-BL ulcer bleeding was 8.5%. The presence of high-risk stigmata, higher number of varices, and bands per variceal site were associated with an increased risk of post-BL bleeding. The effect of adjuvant proton pump inhibitors was not statistically significant.

Co-exposure to multiple air pollutants and sleep disordered breathing in patients with or without obstructive sleep apnea: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Air pollution may be a contributing risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, the health effects of co-exposure to multiple air pollutants on OSA patients remain unclear. OBJECTIVES: To assess the joint effect of multi-pollutant on sleep disordered breathing (SDB) parameters in patients with or without OSA and identify the dominant pollutants. METHODS: A total of 2524 outpatients from April 2020 to May 2021 were recruited in this cross-sectional study. Ambient air pollutant data were obtained from the nearest central monitoring stations to participants' residential address. SDB parameters were measured by the ApneaLink devices, including apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), hypopnea index (HI), oxygen desaturation index (ODI), average oxygen saturation (SpO2), percentage sleep time with <90% saturation (T90), and desaturation. Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) was applied to evaluate the effects of multiple pollutants. RESULTS: Significant associations were observed between air pollutants and SDB parameters (including increases in AHI, HI, ODI, and desaturation) among patients with OSA. Co-exposure to air pollutants was positively correlated with AHI, HI, and ODI. PM10 and O3 dominated the effects of pollutant mixtures on OSA, with the highest posterior inclusion probability (PIP) values of 0.592 and 0.640, respectively. Stratified analysis showed that, compared to male patients with OSA, stronger effects on the SDB parameters were observed in female patients. Stronger associations were also found in the warm season than those in the cold season. CONCLUSION: Co-exposure to air pollutants was associated with SDB parameters among patients with OSA, PM10 and O3 might play the dominant roles.

Ultrasound-Guided Clavipectoral Fascial Plane Block With Intermediate Cervical Plexus Block for Midshaft Clavicular Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Regional anesthesia such as interscalene brachial plexus block (ISBPB) with intermediate cervical plexus block (ICPB) is generally a preferred choice for clavicular surgery. However, various studies have shown that these blocks, especially ISBPB, could cause phrenic nerve paralysis and decrease diaphragmatic motion. The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of clavipectoral fascial plane block (CPB), an alternative technique to ISBPB, with ICPB, in reducing hemidiaphragmatic paralysis during midshaft clavicular surgery. METHODS: Forty patients scheduled for right midshaft clavicular surgery were randomized (1:1) into an ultrasound-guided ISBPB with ICPB (BC) group or ultrasound-guided CPB with ICPB (CC) group. Five milliliter of 0.375% ropivacaine was used for ICPB, another 20 mL for ISBPB or CPB, and no administration of additional sedative or general anesthetic was planned. Primary outcome was measured by the incidence of hemidiaphragmatic paralysis using M-mode ultrasonography, while secondary outcomes were measured by bedside pulmonary function test, the success rate of block, the time required for the block procedure and onset of block, and motor block score in right upper extremity. RESULTS: In comparison with BC group, the incidence of hemidiaphragmatic paralysis postblock was decreased in CC group (50% vs 0%; P < .001), and measurement of bedside pulmonary function was significantly improved. There was a 100% success rate for anesthetic block in both BC and CC groups, and CC group showed lower motor block score in upper extremity and less block procedure time than BC group (7.1 ± 1.2 vs 3.2 ± 0.6 minutes; P < .001). Moreover, no significant differences were found between time of onset of block and other anesthetic complications in the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound-guided CPB with ICPB could significantly reduce hemidiaphragmatic paralysis and provide an adequate surgical anesthesia with fewer complications such as motor block in upper extremity during right midshaft clavicular surgery.

Humoral and cellular immune response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 vaccination in haemodialysis and kidney transplant patients.

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are amongst the vulnerable groups and thus prioritized in the Coronavirus disease-2019 vaccination programmes. However, this cohort was excluded from vaccine-trials and yet shares the same vaccination scheme with the general population. Here, we explore trends of immune response-proportions amongst ESRD patients on renal replacement therapy for up to 4 weeks post-vaccination completion with Pfizer/Moderna vaccines. From inception to 10 July 2021, we searched six online-databases for articles reporting humoral and cellular immune response proportions for up to 4 weeks post booster-vaccination. We pooled the responders' proportions by meta-analysis and conducted a meta-regression stratifying outcomes by significant confounders. Twenty-seven eligible studies reported 2789 ESRD patients. 1337, 1452 and 477 were on haemodialysis, received kidney transplantation, and healthy controls, respectively. Haemodialysis patients' proportions of humoral and cellular immune responses varied from 87.29% (80.77-93.81)-88.78% (86.76-90.80) and 62.86% (56.56, 69.17)-85.78% (78.99, 92.57), respectively, between first- and fourth-weeks. Kidney transplant patients' proportions of humoral and cellular immune responses ranged from 2.6% (0.06-13.48)-29.87% (27.68, 32.07) and 5.13% (0.63-17.3)-59.84% (54.57-65.10), respectively, between first- and fourth-weeks. All healthy controls maintained ≥93% proportions of both responses throughout the follow-up. Study design and country of study influenced the pooled response proportions. Conclusively, haemodialysis and kidney transplant patients have lower proportions of humoral and cellular immune responses than healthy controls. However, haemodialysis patients' response proportions improve, reaching near healthy-control levels by the fourth week. Kidney transplant patients' lower responses' proportions also improve but remain significantly lower than healthy controls throughout four-weeks. The "one-size-fits-all" vaccination scheme might be inadequate for kidney transplant patients.

CB1 receptor antagonist rimonabant protects against chronic intermittent hypoxia-induced renal injury in rats.

BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) induced chronic kidney disease is mainly caused by chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH). Our study investigate the mechanism underlying CIH-induced renal damage and whether the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) antagonist rimonabant (Ri) alleviates CIH-induced renal injury. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: one normal control (NC) group, two chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) groups, and two CIH + Ri groups. Rats in the NC groups were exposed to room air, while the CIH groups were exposed to a CIH environment for 4 weeks (4w CIH group) and 6 weeks (6w CIH group), respectively. Additionally, rats in the CIH + Ri groups were administered 1.5 mg/kg/day Ri for 4 weeks (4w CIH + Ri group) and 6 weeks (6w CIH + Ri group), respectively. Following this, the rats were euthanized and kidneys were excised for downstream analysis. In the renal tissues, the morphological alterations were examined via haematoxylin eosin (HE) staining and periodic acid schiff (PAS) staining, CB1R, Fis1, Mfn1, and p66Shc expression was assessed through western blot and immunohistochemistry, and the mitochondrial ultrastructural changes in kidney sections were assessed by electron microscopy. RESULTS: CB1R expression in the 4w and 6w CIH groups was significantly elevated, and further increased with prolonged hypoxia; however, Ri prevented the increase in CIH-induced CB1R expression. Fis1 and p66Shc expression in the CIH groups were increased, but Mfn1 expression decreased. Ri decreased Fis1 and p66Shc expression and increased Mfn1 expression. Renal damage in the 4w or 6w CIH + Ri group was evidently improved compared with that in the 4w or 6w CIH group. CB1R expression was positively correlated with Fis1 and p66Shc and negatively correlated with Mfn1. Meanwhile, electron microscopy showed that the percentage of fragmented mitochondria in the tubular cells in each group was consistent with the trend of CB1R expression. CONCLUSION: CIH causes endocannabinoid disorders and induces abnormal mitochondrial dynamics, resulting in renal injury. Treatment with CB1R antagonists reduces CIH-induced renal damage by inhibiting dysregulated renal mitochondrial dynamics.

Posttranscriptional regulation of MMP-9 by HuR contributes to IL-1ß-induced pterygium fibroblast migration and invasion.

Inflammation is considered to be critical in the pterygium progression and recurrence. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not well understood. Herein, we investigated the potential role of RNA binding protein human antigen R (HuR) responsible for the impact of inflammation on pterygium development. The expression of HuR and matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) in pterygium and normal conjunctiva was detected with immunohistochemistry and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The influence of interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) on HuR expression and cellular distribution was determined with western blot and immunofluorescence. The pterygium fibroblast (PTF) migration was determined with scratch wound healing assay and Transwell migration assay. MMP-9 production was determined with qRT-PCR and gelatin zymography. The interaction between HuR and MMP-9 was investigated with RNP immunoprecipitation (IP) followed by RT-PCR and messenger RNA (mRNA) stability analysis. HuR and MMP-9 expression are elevated in pterygium, especially progressive pterygium compared with normal conjunctiva. IL-1ß could increase the expression and nucleus-cytoplasm shuttle of HuR in cultured PTFs. HuR mediated the stimulatory effect of IL-1ß on PTF migration and MMP-9 production. HuR bound to MMP-9 mRNA and in turn increased it stability. Our results suggest that posttranscriptional regulation of MMP-9 via stabilizing mRNA by HuR might contribute to the stimulatory effect of inflammatory factor IL-1ß on pterygium progression. These findings shed light on the pathogenesis of pterygium and provide a promising target for adjuvant treatment of pterygium.

Risk of rebleeding from gastroesophageal varices after initial treatment with cyanoacrylate; a systematic review and pooled analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cyanoacrylate alone or in combination with other interventions, can be used to achieve variable rates of success in preventing rebleeding. Our study aims to assess the pooled risk of gastric and esophageal varices rebleeding after an initial treatment with cyanoacrylate alone and/or in combination with other treatments, by a systematic review of the literature and pooled analysis. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, and the Cochrane library were searched for studies that reported the risk of rebleeding during the follow-up period after treatment of gastric or esophageal varices with either cyanoacrylate alone or in combination with other treatments. Standard error, upper and lower confidence intervals at 95% confidence interval for the risk were obtained using STATA Version 15 which was also used to generate forest plots for pooled analysis. The random or fixed effect model was applied depending on the heterogeneity (I2). RESULTS: A total of 39 studies were found to report treatment of either gastric or esophageal varices with either cyanoacrylate alone or in combination with other treatments. When gastric varices are treated with cyanoacrylate alone, the risk of rebleeding during the follow-up period is 0.15(Confidence Interval: 0.11-0.18). When combined with lipiodol; polidocanol or sclerotherapy the rebleeding risks are 0.13 (CI:0.03-0.22), 0.10(CI:0.02-0.19), and 0.10(CI:0.05-0.18), respectively. When combined with percutaneous transhepatic variceal embolization; percutaneous transhepatic variceal embolization; endoscopic ultrasound guided coils; or with ethanolamine, the rebleeding risk are 0.10(CI:0.03-0.17), 0.10(CI:0.03-0.17), 0.07(CI:0.03-0.11) and 0.08(CI:0.02-0.14), respectively. When esophageal varices are treated with cyanoacrylate alone, the risk of rebleeding is 0.29(CI:0.11-0.47). When combined with percutaneous transhepatic variceal embolization; sclerotherapy; or band ligation, the risks of rebleeding are 0.16(CI:0.10-0.22), 0.12(CI:0.04-0.20) and 0.10(CI:0.04-0.24), respectively. When combined with a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt; or ethanolamine, the risks of rebleeding are 0.06(CI: - 0.01-0.12) and 0.02 (CI: - 0.02-0.05), respectively. CONCLUSION: In treating both gastric and esophageal varices, cyanoacrylate produces better results in terms of lower risk of rebleeding when combined with other treatments than when used alone. The combination of cyanoacrylate with ethanolamine or with endoscopic ultrasound guided coils produces the lowest risk of rebleeding in esophageal and gastric varices, respectively. We call upon randomized trials to test these hypotheses.

Treating periodontitis-a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing ultrasonic and manual subgingival scaling at different probing pocket depths.

BACKGROUND: Mechanical plaque removal has been commonly accepted to be the basis for periodontal treatment. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of ultrasonic and manual subgingival scaling at different initial probing pocket depths (PPD) in periodontal treatment. METHODS: English-language databases (PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, Medline, and ClinicalTrials.gov, by January, 2019) were searched. Weighted mean differences in primary outcomes, PPD and clinical attachment loss (CAL) reduction, were estimated by random effects model. Secondary outcomes, bleeding on probing (BOP), gingival recession (GR), and post-scaling residual dental calculus, were analyzed by comparing the results of each study. The quality of RCTs was appraised with the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. The GRADE approach was used to assess quality of evidence. RESULTS: Ten randomized controlled trials were included out of 1434 identified. Initial PPD and follow-up periods formed subgroups. For 3-months follow-up: (1) too few shallow initial pocket studies available to draw a conclusion; (2) the heterogeneity of medium depth studies was so high that could not be merged to draw a conclusion; (3) deep pocket studies showed no statistical differences in PPD and CAL reduction between ultrasonic and manual groups. For 6-months follow-up: (1) too few shallow initial PPD studies to draw a conclusion; (2) at medium pocket depth, PPD reduction showed manual subgingival scaling better than ultrasound. No statistical differences were observed in CAL reduction between the two approaches; (3) for deep initial PPD studies, both PPD and CAL reduction showed manual subgingival scaling better. GR results indicated no statistical differences at medium and deep initial pocket studies between the two methods. BOP results showed more reduction at deep pocket depths with manual subgingival scaling. No conclusion could be drawn about residual dental calculus. CONCLUSION: When initial PPD was 4-6 mm, PPD reduction proved manual subgingival scaling was superior, but CAL results showed no statistical differences between the two means. When initial PPD was ≥6 mm, PPD and CAL reductions suggested that manual subgingival scaling was superior.

Quantitative proteomic analysis of human corneal epithelial cells infected with HSV-1.

HSV-1 infection in corneal epithelium initiates the process of herpes simplex keratitis. We investigated the dynamic change of the host proteins in corneal epithelial cells infected with HSV-1 to understand the virus-host interaction. iTRAQ coupled with LC-MS/MS was applied to quantitatively analyze the protein profiles in HSV-1 infected corneal epithelial cells at 6 and 24 h post-infection (hpi), and the results were validated by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). We also performed bioinformatic analysis to investigate the potentially important signal pathways and protein interaction networks in the host response to HSV-1 infection. We identified 292 proteins were up-regulated and 168 proteins were down-regulated at 6 hpi, while 132 proteins were up-regulated and 89 proteins were down-regulated at 24 hpi, which were validated by MRM analysis. We found the most enriched GO terms were translational initiation, cytosol, poly(A) RNA binding, mRNA splicing via spliceosome and extracellular exosome for the dysregulated proteins. KEGG pathway analysis revealed significant changes in metabolism pathway characterized by decreased tricarboxylic acid cycle activity and increased glycolysis. Proteins interaction network analysis indicated several proteins including P4HB, ACLY, HSP90AA1 and EIF4A3, might be critical proteins in the host-virus response. Our study for the first time analyzed the protein profile of HSV-1 infected primary corneal epithelial cells by quantitative proteomics. These findings help to better understand the host-virus interaction and the pathogenesis of herpes simplex keratitis.

Heart rate and heart rate variability comparison between postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome versus healthy participants; a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: A number of published literature has reported that, physiologically, heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) to be greatly confounded by age, sex, race, physical fitness, and circadian rhythm. The purpose of this study was to compare between POTS patients versus healthy participants, in terms of heart rate (HR) and HRV after Head-Up tilt test (HUTT), by systematic review and meta-analysis of available published literature. METHODS: MEDLINE (using PubMed interphase), EMBASE and SCOPUS were systematically searched for observational studies comparing POTS patients versus healthy patients, in terms of HR and HRV. HRV was grouped into Time and frequency domain outcome measurements. The time domain was measured as mean RR- interval and mean the square root of the mean of squares of successive R-R waves (rMSSD) in milliseconds. The frequency domain was measured as mean values of Low frequency power (LF), High frequency power (HF), LF/HF-ratio, LF-normalized units (LF(n.u)) and HF-normalized units (HF(n.u)). Demographic data, comorbidities, and mean values of HR, RR- interval, rMSSD, LF, HF, LF/HF-ratio, LF-(n.u) and H.F-n.u were extracted from each group and compared, by their mean differences as an overall outcome measure. Computer software, RevMan 5.3 was utilized, at a 95% significance level. RESULTS: Twenty (20) eligible studies were found to report 717 POTS and 641 healthy participants. POTS group had a higher mean HR (p < 0.05), lower mean RR-Interval (p < 0.05), lower rMSSD (p < 0.05) than healthy participants. Furthermore, POTS group had lower mean HF(p > 0.05), lower mean LF(p > 0.05), and lower mean HF(n.u) (p > 0.05), higher LF/HF-Ratio (p > 0.05) and higher LF(n.u) (p > 0.05) as compared to healthy participants. CONCLUSION: POTS patients have a higher HR than healthy patients after HUTT and lower HRV in terms of time domain measure but not in terms of frequency domain measure. HR and time domain analyses of HRV are more reliable than frequency domain analysis in differentiating POTS patients from the healthy participants. We call upon sensitivity and specificity studies.

Double-excitation manifold's effect on exciton transfer dynamics and the efficiency of coherent light harvesting.

The efficiency of natural light harvesting systems is largely determined by their ability to transfer excitations from the antenna to the energy trapping center before recombination. The exciton diffusion length similarly limits organic photovoltaics and demands bulk heterojunction architectures. Dark state protection, achieved by coherent coupling between subunits within the antenna, can significantly reduce radiative recombination and enhance the efficiency of energy trapping. In this work we extend the dark state concept to the double-excitation manifold by studying the dynamical flow of excitations. We show that the lowest double-excitation state carries minimal oscillator strength, but relaxation to this state from higher lying double excitations can be relatively rapid such that the lowest double excitation state can act as a dynamical dark state protecting excitation from radiative recombination. This mechanism is sensitive to topology and operates differently for chain and ring structures, while becoming more pronounced in both geometries when the size of the antenna increases. When the exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA) mechanism is considered, the double-excitation population is quickly depleted and the dynamics change dramatically. However the efficiency and output power are still significantly different from those calculated using the single-excitation manifold alone, justifying the necessity of considering the double-excitation manifold. Remarkably, in certain scenarios, EEA can even increase the overall light harvesting efficiency by bringing population down from the double-excitation dark states to the single-excitation manifold.

Connecting bright and dark states through accidental degeneracy caused by lack of symmetry.

Coupled excitonic structures are found in natural and artificial light harvesting systems where optical transitions link different excitation manifolds. In systems with symmetry, some optical transitions are allowed, while others are forbidden. Here we examine an excitonic ring structure and identify an accidental degeneracy between two categories of double-excitation eigenstates with distinct symmetries and optical transition properties. To understand the accidental degeneracy, a complete selection rule between two arbitrary excitation manifolds is derived with a physically motivated proof. Remarkably, symmetry analysis shows that the lack of certain symmetry elements in the Hamiltonian is responsible for this degeneracy, which is unique to rings with size N = 4l + 2 (l being an integer).

Dark states and delocalization: Competing effects of quantum coherence on the efficiency of light harvesting systems.

Natural light harvesting systems exploit electronic coupling of identical chromophores to generate efficient and robust excitation transfer and conversion. Dark states created by strong coupling between chromophores in the antenna structure can significantly reduce radiative recombination and enhance energy conversion efficiency. Increasing the number of the chromophores increases the number of dark states and the associated enhanced energy conversion efficiency yet also delocalizes excitations away from the trapping center and reduces the energy conversion rate. Therefore, a competition between dark state protection and delocalization must be considered when designing the optimal size of a light harvesting system. In this study, we explore the two competing mechanisms in a chain-structured antenna and show that dark state protection is the dominant mechanism, with an intriguing dependence on the parity of the number of chromophores. This dependence is linked to the exciton distribution among eigenstates, which is strongly affected by the coupling strength between chromophores and the temperature. Combining these findings, we propose that increasing the coupling strength between the chromophores can significantly increase the power output of the light harvesting system.

Vernalophrys algivore gen. nov., sp. nov. (Rhizaria: Cercozoa: Vampyrellida), a New Algal Predator Isolated from Outdoor Mass Culture of Scenedesmus dimorphus.

Microbial contamination is the main cause of loss of biomass yield in microalgal cultures, especially under outdoor environmental conditions. Little is known about the identities of microbial contaminants in outdoor mass algal cultures. In this study, a new genus and species of vampyrellid amoeba, Vernalophrys algivore, is described from cultures of Scenedesmus dimorphus in open raceway ponds and outdoor flat-panel photobioreactors. This vampyrellid amoeba was a significant grazer of Scenedesmus and was frequently associated with a very rapid decline in algal numbers. We report on the morphology, subcellular structure, feeding behavior, molecular phylogeny, and life cycle. The new amoeba resembles Leptophrys in the shape of trophozoites and pseudopodia and in the mechanism of feeding (mainly by engulfment). It possesses two distinctive regions in helix E10_1 (nucleotides 117 to 119, CAA) and E23_1 (nucleotides 522 and 523, AG) of the 18S rRNA gene. It did not form a monophyletic group with Leptophrys in molecular phylogenetic trees. We establish a new genus, Vernalophrys, with the type species Vernalophrys algivore. The occurrence, impact of the amoeba on mass culture of S. dimorphus, and means to reduce vampyrellid amoeba contamination in Scenedesmus cultures are addressed. The information obtained from this study will be useful for developing an early warning system and control measures for preventing or treating this contaminant in microalgal mass cultures.

Modeling light-induced charge transfer dynamics across a metal-molecule-metal junction: bridging classical electrodynamics and quantum dynamics.

We develop a numerical approach for simulating light-induced charge transport dynamics across a metal-molecule-metal conductance junction. The finite-difference time-domain method is used to simulate the plasmonic response of the metal structures. The Huygens subgridding technique, as adapted to Lorentz media, is used to bridge the vastly disparate length scales of the plasmonic metal electrodes and the molecular system, maintaining accuracy. The charge and current densities calculated with classical electrodynamics are transformed to an electronic wavefunction, which is then propagated through the molecular linker via the Heisenberg equations of motion. We focus mainly on development of the theory and exemplify our approach by a numerical illustration of a simple system consisting of two silver cylinders bridged by a three-site molecular linker. The electronic subsystem exhibits fascinating light driven dynamics, wherein the charge density oscillates at the driving optical frequency, exhibiting also the natural system timescales, and a resonance phenomenon leads to strong conductance enhancement.