Factors Associated with Respiratory Insufficiency in Children with Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: The risk factors for respiratory insufficiency in children with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) are poorly known. This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with respiratory insufficiency in children with GBS. METHODS: This retrospective study included children diagnosed with GBS by pediatric neurologists and admitted at the Wuhan Children's Hospital and other hospitals from January 2013 to October 2022. The patients were divided into the respiratory insufficiency and nonrespiratory insufficiency groups according to whether they received assist breathing during treatment. RESULTS: The median (interquartile range) age of onset of 103 patients were 5 (3.1-8.5) years, 69 (67%) were male, and 64 (62.1%) had a history of precursor infection. Compared with the nonrespiratory insufficiency group, the respiratory insufficiency group showed more facial and/or bulbar weakness (p = 0.002), a higher Hughes Functional Grading Scale (HFGS) at admission (p < 0.001), and a shorter onset-to-admission interval (p = 0.017). Compared with the acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN) subtype, the acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP) subtype showed longer days from onset to lumbar (p = 0.000), lower HFGS at admission (p = 0.04), longer onset-to-admission interval (p = 0.001), and more cranial nerve involvement (p = 0.04). The incidence of respiratory insufficiency between AIDP and AMAN showed no statistical difference (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, facial and/or bulbar weakness, HFGS at admission, and onset-to-admission interval were associated with respiratory insufficiency and might be useful prognostic markers in children with GBS.

Hybrid Message-Passing Interface-Open Multiprocessing Accelerated Euler-Lagrange Simulations of Microbubble Enhanced HIFU for Tumor Ablation.

Microbubble enhanced high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is of great interest to tissue ablation for solid tumor treatments such as in liver and brain cancers, in which contrast agents/microbubbles are injected into the targeted region to promote heating and reduce prefocal tissue damage. A compressible Euler-Lagrange coupled model has been developed to accurately characterize the acoustic and thermal fields during this process. This employs a compressible Navier-Stokes solver for the ultrasound acoustic field and a discrete singularities model for bubble dynamics. To address the demanding computational cost relevant to practical medical applications, a multilevel hybrid message-passing interface (MPI)-open multiprocessing (OpenMP) parallelization scheme is developed to take advantage of both scalability of MPI and load balancing of OpenMP. At the first level, the Eulerian computational domain is divided into multiple subdomains and the bubbles are subdivided into groups based on which subdomain they fall into. At the next level, in each subdomain containing bubbles, multiple OpenMP threads are activated to speed up the computations of the bubble dynamics. For improved throughput, the OpenMP threads are more heavily distributed to subdomains where the bubbles are clustered. By doing this, MPI load imbalance issue due to uneven bubble distribution is mitigated by OpenMP speedup locally for those subdomains hosting more bubbles than others. The hybrid MPI-OpenMP Euler-Lagrange solver is used to conduct simulations and physical studies of bubble-enhanced HIFU problems containing a large number of microbubbles. The phenomenon of acoustic shadowing caused by the bubble cloud is then analyzed and discussed. Efficiency tests on two different machines with 48 processors are conducted and indicate 2-3 times speedup with the same hardware by introducing an OpenMP parallelization in combination with the MPI parallelization.

Graph Neural Network-Based Efficient Subgraph Embedding Method for Link Prediction in Mobile Edge Computing.

Link prediction is critical to completing the missing links in a network or to predicting the generation of new links according to current network structure information, which is vital for analyzing the evolution of a network, such as the logical architecture construction of MEC (mobile edge computing) routing links of a 5G/6G access network. Link prediction can provide throughput guidance for MEC and select appropriate c nodes through the MEC routing links of 5G/6G access networks. Traditional link prediction algorithms are always based on node similarity, which needs predefined similarity functions, is highly hypothetical and can only be applied to specific network structures without generality. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a new efficient link prediction algorithm PLAS (predicting links by analysis subgraph) and its GNN (graph neural network) version PLGAT (predicting links by graph attention networks) based on the target node pair subgraph. In order to automatically learn the graph structure characteristics, the algorithm first extracts the h-hop subgraph of the target node pair, and then predicts whether the target node pair will be linked according to the subgraph. Experiments on eleven real datasets show that our proposed link prediction algorithm is suitable for various network structures and is superior to other link prediction algorithms, especially in some 5G MEC Access networks datasets with higher AUC (area under curve) values.

Radiographic measurement of the posterior tibial slope in normal Chinese adults: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Measurement of the posterior tibial slope (PTS) angle has important applications in total knee replacement surgery, high tibial osteotomy, and anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. This study aimed to determine the mean PTS of knee joints in healthy Chinese adults, and provide data to guide knee surgery in China. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 1257 (n = 1233, 50.4% male) plain X-ray films of participants aged 25-59 years was performed. The picture archiving and communication system was used for PTS measurement. The PTS was defined as the angle between the vertical line of the tangent of the anterior tibial cortex of the proximal tibia, and the tangent line of the tibial cortex. Two imaging physicians conducted the PTS measurements independently, and both the inter- and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated. RESULTS: The mean PTS value was 7.68 ± 3.84° (range: 0-21°). The left PTS was significantly smaller in males than in females (7.22 ± 3.89 vs 8.05 ± 3.60; P = 0.005). Additionally, the PTS in participants aged 25-29 years was significantly larger than that in the other age groups (Left side: 8.64 ± 3.73 vs 6.92 ± 3.42, 7.42 ± 3.75, 7.53 ± 3.98; P <  0.001 and Right side: 8.68 ± 3.84 vs 7.48 ± 4.21, 7.13 ± 3.64, 7.66 ± 3.80; P = 0.004). There were no significant differences in PTS between the left and right sides. Two-way analysis of variance suggested that the differences in PTS between age groups were not affected by sex. The interobserver ICC was 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.85-0.94), and the intraobserver ICC was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.82-0.94). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that there were significant differences in PTS based on sex and age, highlighting the need to provide individualized treatment for knee surgery. It provided valuable information regarding the normal PTS values in Chinese adults and presented regionalised data to guide knee surgery.

Hilbert Space Shattering and Disorder-Free Localization in Polar Lattice Gases.

Emerging dynamical constraints resulting from intersite interactions severely limit particle mobility in polar lattice gases. Whereas in absence of disorder hard-core Hubbard models with only strong nearest-neighbor interactions present Hilbert space fragmentation but no many-body localization for typical states, the 1/r^{3} tail of the dipolar interaction results in Hilbert space shattering, as well as in a dramatically slowed down dynamics and eventual disorder-free localization. Our results show that the study of the intriguing interplay between disorder- and interaction-induced many-body localization is within reach of future experiments with magnetic atoms and polar molecules.

Application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing in the diagnosis and treatment guidance of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in renal transplant recipients.

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) is difficult to be diagnosed, so this study explored if PJP could be diagnosed by metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and if mNGS could guide the therapy of PJP. mNGS was successfully diagnosed 13 out of 14 PJP recipients with 11 through peripheral blood samples, verified by PCR. Ten non-PJP recipients were enrolled as the control group. Blood tests revealed a high ß-D-glucan (BDG) level in all recipients with PJP during the hospitalization. Four (28.6%) of 14 PJP patients were infected with cytomegalovirus simultaneously, while 8 (57.1%) suffered from a combined infection caused by Torque teno virus. Five (35.7%) of 14 cases died of PJP or the subsequent bacteremias/bacterial pneumonia with a longer interval between the onset and diagnosis of/the available therapy against PJP than survival cases. Univariate analysis of characteristics between PJP and non-PJP recipients revealed that BDG assays was higher at the admission in PJP group (P =0.011). This present study supports the value of mNGS detection of blood sample in diagnosing PJP, which could assist clinical decision for therapy against PJ and improve outcome of PJP. The study also highlights the sensitivity of BDG assays. Cytomegalovirus and Torque teno virus infections often occur at the same time of PJP, thus can be alerts of PJP.

Universal Algebraic Growth of Entanglement Entropy in Many-Body Localized Systems with Power-Law Interactions.

Power-law interactions play a key role in a large variety of physical systems. In the presence of disorder, these systems may undergo many-body localization for a sufficiently large disorder. Within the many-body localized phase the system presents in time an algebraic growth of entanglement entropy, S_{vN}(t)∝t^{γ}. Whereas the critical disorder for many-body localization depends on the system parameters, we find by extensive numerical calculations that the exponent γ acquires a universal value γ_{c}≃0.33 at the many-body localization transition, for different lattice models, decay powers, filling factors, or initial conditions. Moreover, our results suggest an intriguing relation between γ_{c} and the critical minimal decay power of interactions necessary for many-body localization.

Canonical Transient Receptor Potential Channel 3 Contributes to Febrile Seizure Inducing Neuronal Cell Death and Neuroinflammation.

Febrile seizure (FS) counts as the most common seizures symptom in children undergoing recurrent seizures, posing a high risk to developing subsequent temporal lobe epilepsy. Canonical transient receptor potential channel (TRPC) members are identified as the FS-related genes in hyperthermia prone rats. However, the role of TRPC3 in hyperthermia-induced FS rats remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether TRPC3 functionally contributes to the development of FSs. Elevated TRPC3 mRNA and protein levels was detected in hyperthermia-induced FS rats and rat hippocampal neuron cells. The specific inhibitor of TRPC3, Pyr3, remarkably attenuated the susceptibility and severity of seizures, neuronal cell death, and neuroinflammation in FS rats. Conversely, NCX3 activation was apparently suppressed in rats subjected to recurrent FS and rat hippocampal neuron cells. The expression of NCX3 was up-regulated after TRPC3 inhibition in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, an interaction between TRPC3 and NCX3 was detected by co-immunoprecipitation. Inhibition of TRPC3 suppressed intracellular Ca2+ levels in hyperthermia-treated hippocampal neuronal cells. In conclusion, our findings supported that TRPC3 functions as a critical regulator of seizure susceptibility and targeting TRPC3 may be a new therapeutic strategy for FS.

Enhanced Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Benefited from Graphene Modified by Ag Nanoparticles.

In this paper, graphene modified by Ag nanoparticles was successfully applied into dye sensitized solar cells. The morphologies and compositions of graphene and graphene-Ag nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The optical and electrical properties were evaluated by UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and current-voltage curve. The results indicated that the incorporation of graphene or graphene-Ag nanoparticles can improve the light absorption and decrease the charge recombination. The solar cells with graphene-Ag nanoparticles exhibited short-circuit current density of 14.34 mA cm-2, open-circuit voltage of 709 mV and conversion efficiency of 6.01%, which were higher than those of DSSCs with graphene or pure TiO2.

Morphology-controlled syntheses of α-MnO2 for electrochemical energy storage.

Manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanoarchitectures including microspheres assembled by nanosheets and hollow urchins assembled by nanorods have been successfully synthesized using a facile and efficient hydrothermal method at 150 °C. The effects of concentrations of the reactants and reaction time on the structures and morphologies of MnO2 were systematically investigated. The experimental results showed that the morphologies of MnO2 transformed into nanosheet-assembled microspheres (10 min) from nanorod-assembled hollow urchins (5 min) by tuning the suitable reaction time. The nanorod-assembled hollow urchins experienced the morphology transformation cycle from urchin to a disordered structure to urchin with the extension of the reaction time. Furthermore, the nanorods with different diameters and lengths were formed with different concentrations of reactants at the same reaction time (8 h). The MnO2 nanorods fabricated with 0.59 g KMnO4 showed a maximum specific capacitance (198 F g(-1)) with a good rate capability and excellent cycling stability (maintained 94% after 2000 cycles). Furthermore, the nanosheet-assembled microspheres exhibited the higher specific capacitance of 131 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1) with a long-term cycling stability for the samples at different reaction times. These results indicated their promising applications as high-performance supercapacitor electrodes and provided a generic guideline in developing different nanostructured electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage.

Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance Using One Dimensional Ordered TiO2 Nanorods Modified by Graphene Oxide.

A new architecture of one dimensional ordered TiO2 nanorods modified by graphene oxide (GO) was assembled. The GO as the higher carrier mobility can reduce the recombination of carriers, which is more favourable for the methy orange (MO) degradation. Incorporating GO with the unblocked passageway for carrier transportation of the TiO2 nanorods can separate the transport pathway of electron and hole effectively. Furthermore, the large surface areas of TiO2 nanorods grown on the GO are beneficial to the enhancement of photocatalytic properties, and the reasonable band energy level can be obtained for the architecture, which is favorable for enhancing carrier separation and transportation. Finally, the higher transparency of the structure can enhance the light absorption. The photocatalyst grown on FTO substrates makes it easier to collect and recycle.

Rab GTPases are essential for membrane trafficking-dependent growth and pathogenicity in Fusarium graminearum.

Rab GTPases represent the largest subfamily of Ras-related small GTPases and regulate membrane trafficking. Vesicular transport is a general mechanism that governs intracellular membrane trafficking along the endocytic and exocytic pathways in all eukaryotic cells. Fusarium graminearum is a filamentous fungus and causes the devastating and economically important head blight of wheat and related species. The mechanism of vesicular transport is not well understood, and little is known about Rab GTPases in F. graminearum. In this study, we systematically characterized all eleven FgRabs by live cell imaging and genetic analysis. We find that FgRab51 and FgRab52 are important for the endocytosis, FgRab7 localizes to the vacuolar membrane and regulates the fusion of vacuoles and autophagosomes, and FgRab8 and FgRab11 are important for polarized growth and/or exocytosis. Furthermore, both endocytic and exocytic FgRabs are required for vegetative growth, conidiogenesis, sexual reproduction, as well as pathogenesis and deoxynivalenol metabolism in F. graminearum. Thus, we conclude that Rab GTPases are essential for membrane trafficking-dependent growth and pathogenicity in F. graminearum.

C6 ceramide sensitizes pemetrexed-induced apoptosis and cytotoxicity in osteosarcoma cells.

Chemotherapy has significantly improved the prognosis of high-grade osteosarcoma (OS), but over 30% of OS patients can still not be cured. Pemetrexed, the newly-developed anti-folate chemotherapy drug, exerted lower efficacy against OS cells. Here, we aimed to increase pemetrexed efficiency, and found that the cell-permeable short-chain ceramide (C6) significantly enhanced pemetrexed-induced viability reduction and death in cultured OS cell lines (U2OS and MG-63). Pemetrexed induced moderate apoptosis in OS cells, which was dramatically augmented by C6 ceramide. The apoptosis inhibitor z-VAD-fmk largely inhibited C6 ceramide plus pemetrexed-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis in OS cells. By using pharmacological and siRNA-knockdown strategies, we showed that Akt-mammalian TOR (mTOR) over-activation was an important pemetrexed resistance factor in OS cells, and C6 ceramide-mediated pemetrexed sensitization effect was mediated, at least in part, by Akt-mTOR inhibition. Finally, we found that Akt-S6 Kinase 1 (S6K1, an indicator of mTOR activation) was over-activated in human OS tissues. On the other hand, the osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells, which expressed lower Akt-S6K1 phosphorylation, were resistant to pemetrexed and/or C6 ceramide. Together, we conclude that C6 ceramide sensitizes pemetrexed-induced apoptosis and cytotoxicity in OS cells probably through in-activation of Akt-mTOR signaling.

Development and characterization of microsatellite markers for rice leaffolder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée) and cross-species amplification in other Pyralididae.

Rice leaffolder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée), is a destructive and widespread pest on rice. In this study, 20 microsatellite markers were isolated and characterized from C. medinalis partial genomic libraries using the method of fast isolation by AFLP of sequence containing repeats. Of these markers, 18 markers displayed polymorphisms. Polymorphisms were evaluated in 48 individuals from two natural populations. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 15, and the expected and observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.324 to 0.934 and from 0.304 to 0.917, respectively. Cross-species amplification was also performed to test the transferability of the 20 microsatellite markers and a moderate level of cross amplication was observed across the three species of Pyralididae (26.67 %). These microsatellite loci would facilitate the future study on population genetics and molecular genetics of rice leaffolder and would also be useful for study in Chilo suppressalis, Scirpophaga incertulas and Pyrausta nubilalis.

Large scale screening of genetic interaction with sgf73(+) in fission yeast.

Genetic interaction (GI) not only suggests functional correlations between different genes in vivo, but also provides clues for understanding the potential biological function of a specific gene. Screening of GI is an important method for understanding GI between different genes. In this study, we selected sgf73⁺ as a query, which encodes a subunit of SAGA (Spt-Ada-Gcn5 acetyltransferase) complex deubiquitination module, to perform a large scale screening of GI in fission yeast. Our data showed that 164 genes had negative GIs whereas 42 genes had positive GIs with sgf73⁺. GO (Gene ontology) analysis indicated that these genes were enriched in several important biological processes, including chromatin modification, DNA damage repair, cellular response to stress, RNA transcription and so on. By using histone modification detection, we showed for the first time that loss of sgf73⁺ led to a decreased level of histone acetylation at H3K9 and H4K16 and an increased level of histone H3K4 methylation. Furthermore, the spot assay results showed that the sgf73∆ cells exhibited increased sensitivity to DNA damage agents, HU and CPT, and sgf73⁺ was involved in responses to hyperoxia stress. All these results suggested that sgf73⁺ plays important roles in chromatin modification, DNA damage repair and hyperoxia responses.

Network pharmacology to explore the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of ground glass nodules.

Background: Ground glass nodules (GGNs) in the lung are considered to be a high-risk factor of lung adenocarcinoma. Immediate surgery is not recommended for GGNs patients, and low-dose computed tomography (CT) is often used for observation and follow-up, which brings high psychological and economic burden to the patient. Methods: Three traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescriptions for the treatment of GGNs were found through database including PubMed, Google Scholar, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Scopus and so on. The possible targets of the active ingredients of the TCM preparations and the gene targets of GGNs were screened out from Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP), UniProt and GeneCards. Network visualization was realized via STRING, Cytoscape 3.7.2, Evenn, DAVID and Hiplot. Finally, molecular docking Vina and PyMOL software were performed to further explore the possibility of drug-target interactions using PubChem compounds, protein data bank (PDB) database, Autodocktools and Autodock. Results: Three TCM preparations could target the same 13 potential therapeutic targets in GGNs. From network pharmacology, 14 signaling pathways, the functions of the significant targets, an effective ingredient in TCM prescriptions and its functions were obtained. Conclusions: Chinese herbal formulas containing quercetin could be a potential treatment for GGNs, targeting C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) through the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) pathway, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, and leukocyte transendothelial migration.

Nucleotide and dinucleotide preference of segmented viruses are shaped more by segment: In case study of tomato spotted wilt virus.

Several studies have showed that the nucleotide and dinucleotide composition of viruses possibly follows their host species or protein coding region. Nevertheless, the influence of viral segment on viral nucleotide and dinucleotide composition is still unknown. Here, we explored through tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), a segmented virus that seriously threatens the production of tomatoes all over the world. Through nucleotide composition analysis, we found the same over-representation of A across all viral segments at the first and second codon position, but it exhibited distinct in segments at the third codon position. Interestingly, the protein coding regions which encoded by the same or different segments exhibit obvious distinct nucleotide preference. Then, we found that the dinucleotides UpG and CpU were overrepresented and the dinucleotides UpA, CpG and GpU were underrepresented, not only in the complete genomic sequences, but also in different segments, protein coding regions and host species. Notably, 100% of the data investigated here were predicted to the correct viral segment and protein coding region, despite the fact that only 67% of the data analyzed here were predicted to the correct viral host species. In conclusion, in case study of TSWV, nucleotide composition and dinucleotide preference of segment viruses are more strongly dependent on segment and protein coding region than on host species. This research provides a novel perspective on the molecular evolutionary mechanisms of TSWV and provides reference for future research on genetic diversity of segmented viruses.

Spatiotemporal expression of SKIP after rat sciatic nerve crush.

Ski-interacting protein (SKIP) is a highly conserved protein from yeast to Human. As an essential spliceosomal component and transcriptional co-regulator it plays an important role in preinitiation, splicing and polyadenylation. SKIP can also combine with Ski to overcome the G1 arrest and the growth-suppressive activities of pRb. Furthermore SKIP has the capacity to augment TGF-ß dependent transcription. While the distribution and function of SKIP in peripheral nervous system lesion and regeneration remain unclear. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal expression of SKIP in an acute sciatic nerve crush model in adult rats. Western Blot analysis revealed that SKIP was expressed in normal sciatic nerves. It gradually increased, reached a peak at 1 week after crush, and then returned to the normal level at 4 weeks. Besides, we observed that up-regulation of SKIP was approximately in parallel with Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and numerous Schwann cells (SCs) expressing SKIP were PCNA and Ki-67 positive. Collectively, we hypothesized peripheral nerve crush induced up-regulation of SKIP in the sciatic nerve, which was associated with SCs proliferation.

The role of IL-6 in bone marrow (BM)-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) proliferation and chondrogenesis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common degenerative arthritic cartilage and represents a disease where the prospect of stem cell therapy offers considerable hope. Currently, bone marrow (BM) represents the major source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for cell therapy. In the pathology of RA, the pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin 6 (IL-6) play a pivotal role. To investigate the direct role of IL-6 in the chondrogenic differentiation of murine MSCs (mMSCs), we isolate MSCs from the murine bone marrow, and induce MSCs chondrogenesis with different concentrations of IL-6 in vitro. Through detecting the histological and histochemical qualities of the aggregates, we demonstrate that IL-6 inhibited the differentiation of MSCs into chondrocytes in the dose-dependence manner. These findings suggest that possible strategies for improving the clinical outcome of cartilage repair procedures.

[Cnb1 involved in cytokinesis in Schizosaccharomyces pombe].

Serine/Threonine-specific calcineurin (CN) is highly conserved in eukaryotes, which plays an important role in transcriptional regulation. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, CN exists as a heterodimer composed by catalytic subunit Ppb1 and regulatory subunit Cnb1. Deletion of cnb1+ reduced the growth rate of cells, and caused a chained phenotype, and had delay in cytokinesis. In cytokinesis, Cnb1 could form CN complex with Ppb1 and could colocalize and constrict with the contractile ring at division plane. Tubulin could cross the septum in cnb1Δ strain, suggesting that the septum is not fully matured. These results suggest Cnb1 might be involved in maturation of septum. The signals of septins in cnb1Δ strain were also analyzed. Septins include Spn1, Spn2, Spn3, and Spn4. Septins help to guide hydrolytic enzymes for septum degrada-tion. Eighty percent of cnb1Δ cells lacked the signals of Spn2 or Spn3 at septum, and twenty percent of cnb1Δ cells lacked the signals of Spn1 or Spn4 at septum. The reduction of the septin signals was not due to impaired transcription of septins, since the protein levels of septins in the cnb1Δ cells were not decreased. These results imply that Cnb1 might regulate the stability of septin ring in a transcription-independent manner. In general, our study showed that Cnb1 contributes to the maturation of septum and the stability of septin ring and is important in the cytokinesis.