[Traceability Analysis and Environmental Quality Assessment of Soil Heavy Metal Pollution in West Hunan Province].

In order to explore the status of soil heavy metal pollution and environmental quality in west Hunan, relevant areas of Phoenix County were selected as the study area. Using data from 440 soil samples collected in the study area from June to August 2022, the pH value of the soil and contents of eight heavy metal elements, namely, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn, were analyzed. The PMF model was used for traceability analysis and geochemical evaluation of soil environmental quality. The results showed that the average values of soil heavy metals ω(Zn), ω(Cr), ω(Pb), ω(Ni), ω(Cu), ω(As), ω(Cd), and ω(Hg) were 81.02, 64.67, 31.63, 29.27, 25.52, 9.93, 0.28, and 0.13 mg·kg-1, respectively. The soil in the study area was mainly weakly acidic, and the contents of the Cd and Hg elements were relatively high compared to the national soil background values and were highly variable. The contents of the Hg and Cd elements in forest land were higher than that in other land uses. The PMF model results showed that the contribution rates of heavy metal pollution sources in the study area were mining sources (37.4%), atmospheric sedimentation sources (7.7%), natural sources (41.1%), and agricultural activity sources (13.8%) and provided suggestions on pollution control measures according to the spatial distribution of the four types of pollution sources. Through the comprehensive assessment of soil environmental geochemistry, the study area was divided into three types of plots, namely, non-risk areas (94.27 km2), accounting for 76.38%; risk-controllable areas (27.45 km2), accounting for 22.24%; and high-risk areas (1.7 km2), accounting for 1.38%. This study provided data support for the prevention and control measures of land pollution in the research area, as well as the delineation of the prevention and control scope.

Study on the clinical correlation between the expression of serum TNF-α and iNOS as well as cognitive impairment and disease burden in patients with schizophrenia.

Objectives: To investigate the clinical correlation between the expression of serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) as well as cognitive impairment and disease burden in patients with first-episode schizophrenia. Methods: A total of 102 patients with first-episode schizophrenia admitted to the Department of Psychiatry, Hainan Province Anning Hospital from June 2018 to June 2020 were randomly selected as the observation group, and 102 healthy people who underwent physical examination in our hospital during the same period were selected as the control group. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the expression level of serum TNF-α in each group, and the colorimetric method was adopted for detecting the expression level of serum iNOS in each group; Moreover, cognitive function of patients was assessed by MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), disease burden was assessed by Family Burden of Disease Scale (FBS), and the correlation between the expression of serum TNF-α and iNOS as well as cognitive impairment and disease burden was analyzed by Pearson method. Results: The serum levels of TNF-α, iNOS, trail making test scores and FBS scores of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p<0.05), while the scores of symbolic coding, verbal memory, maze, visual memory, and semantic fluency were significantly lower than those of the control group (p<0.05); Pearson correlation analysis results showed that the serum levels of serum TNF-α and iNOS in the observation group were positively correlated with the trail making test and FBS scores respectively (p<0.05), and negatively correlated with the scores of symbolic coding, verbal memory, maze, visual memory, and semantic fluency (p<0.05). Conclusions: Patients with first-episode schizophrenia have remarkably increased expression levels of serum TNF-α and iNOS, which is associated with cognitive impairment and disease burden.

Cardiac Denervation for Arrhythmia Treatment with Transesophageal Ultrasonic Strategy in Canine Models.

Stellate ganglion (SG) modification has been investigated for arrhythmia treatment. In this study, transesophageal SG imaging and intervention were explored using a homemade 30F integrated focused ultrasonic catheter in healthy mongrel canines in vivo. Anatomic details of SGs were ultrasonically imaged and evaluated. SG had a heterogeneous echoic structure and characteristic profiles sketched by hyper-echoic outlines in an ultrasonogram. Left SGs in the experimental group were successfully ablated through the esophagus under ultrasonic guidance provided by the catheter itself. Two weeks after the ablation, the QT and QTc of the experimental group decreased compared with those of the sham group and at baseline (both p values < 0.001). Histologic examination revealed that left SGs were destroyed. No major complications were observed. This approach may be further explored as a method for ganglia remodeling evaluation and as a strategy of ganglia modification for arrhythmia and for other diseases.

Association of EVI5 rs11808092, CD58 rs2300747, and CIITA rs3087456 polymorphisms with multiple sclerosis risk: A meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a major demyelinating disease of the central nervous system with a strong genetic component. Previous studies have reported that the association of EVI5 rs11808092, CD58 rs2300747, and CIITA rs3087456 polymorphisms with the susceptibility to MS. However, the results were inconsistent. Thus, we conducted this meta-analysis to provide a more accurate estimation of the association between any of these polymorphisms and MS risk. METHODS: The PubMed, Embase, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan Fang databases and MSGene were used to search all potentially relevant studies. The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to investigate the associations between these three polymorphisms and MS risk. RESULTS: 16 independent case-control studies from 12 publications were finally included into this meta-analysis. The results showed that EVI5 rs11808092 polymorphism was related with increasing the development of MS under five genetic models (allelic: OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.10-1.24, P < 0.01; homozygous: OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.18-1.59, P < 0.01; heterozygous: OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.07-1.26, P < 0.01; recessive: OR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.11-1.48, P < 0.01; and dominant: OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.11-1.48, P < 0.01). CD58 rs2300747 polymorphism was found to be associated with decreasing MS risk in three genetic models (allelic: OR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.78-0.94, P < 0.01; heterozygous: OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.76-0.94, P < 0.01, and dominant: OR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.76-0.93, P < 0.01). However, this meta-analysis indicated that CIITA rs3087456 polymorphism was not related to multiple sclerosis. CONCLUSIONS: The mutant alleles of EVI5 rs11808092 polymorphism may increase the susceptibility to MS while those of CD58 rs2300747 polymorphism may decrease MS risk. In addition, CIITA rs3087456 polymorphism might not be associated with MS.

The effect of renal denervation on resistant hypertension: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: This meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of renal denervation (RDN) on resistant hypertension. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central database were searched for eligible randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs). Changes from the baseline of the office blood pressure and the 24-h ambulatory blood pressure were extracted. RESULTS: Nine RCTs were included. RDN reduced the mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by -8.23 mm Hg (95%CI: -16.86, 0.39) and -3.77 mm Hg (95%CI: -7.21, -0.32), respectively, compared with the control. In the population with a baseline SBP more than 170 mm Hg, the RDN reduced SBP by -17.77 mm Hg (95%CI: -33.73, -1.82) and DBP by -7.51 mm Hg (95%CI: -12.58, -2.44). In the subgroup with no medication adjustment, the RDN reduced SBP by -15.56 mm Hg (95%CI: -26.33, -4.80) and DBP by -6.89 mm Hg (95%CI: -9.99, -3.79). The proportion of patients with SBP decrease of 10 mm Hg or more and the controlled office BP were not different between two groups. RDN reduced 24-h mean SBP and DBP by -3.34 mm Hg (95%CI: -5.30, -1.38) and -1.56 mm Hg (95%CI: -2.71, -0.41), respectively. The SBPs in the subgroups with higher baseline SBP and with no medication adjustment were significantly decreased after the HTN-3 was omitted. CONCLUSION: Radiofrequency RDN in a randomized manner did not have superiority compared with medical treatment at 6-month follow-up in general population. Current evidence provides insufficient evidence to support the use of such RDN strategy in the treatment of resistant hypertension. The result could not be used to extrapolate other strategies' effect.

The short-term and long-term effects of tolvaptan in patients with heart failure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

A comprehensive evaluation of the benefits of tolvaptan for the management of heart failure (HF) is lacking. The objective of this meta-analysis was to assess the short-term and long-term effects of tolvaptan in patients with HF. Articles were searched from PubMed, MEDLINE and Cochrane Library before March 31, 2015. Randomized controlled trials enrolling adult HF patients and reporting the all-cause mortality, cardiac events, body weight change or changes of serum electrolytes including sodium, potassium and creatinine were included in our meta-analysis. Ten studies covering 5574 patients met the inclusion criteria. Based on the data of meta-analysis, tolvaptan had no impact on the all-cause mortality [relative risk (RR) 0.96; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.87-1.06; P = 0.40] and incidence of cardiac events (RR 1.03; 95 % CI 0.96-1.11; P = 0.40) of HF patients. Furthermore, in comparison with control treatments, tolvaptan significantly decreased the body weight [weight mean difference (WMD), -0.87; 95 % CI -1.03 to -0.71; P < 0.001] and statistically increased serum sodium (WMD, 2.58; 95 % CI -1.83 to 3.33; P < 0.001) without any change in serum potassium (WMD, 0.01; 95 % CI -0.03 to 0.05; P = 0.577). However, serum creatinine may be increased slightly by tolvaptan (WMD, 0.05; 95 % CI 0.03-0.07; P < 0.001). This meta-analysis suggests that in HF patients, tolvaptan may not bring long-term benefits, but it effectively improves the volume overload and hyponatremia without obvious increases in serum potassium and creatinine. Hence, tolvaptan is likely to be a promising diuretic for the treatment of HF.

Characterization and precise mapping of a QTL increasing spike number with pleiotropic effects in wheat.

Tiller number (TN) and spike number per plant (SN) are key components of grain yield and/or biomass in wheat. In this study, an introgression line 05210, developed by introgression of chromosomal segments from a synthetic exotic wheat Am3 into an elite cultivar Laizhou953, showed a significantly increased TN and SN, but shorter spike length (SL) and fewer grain number per spike (GNS) than Laizhou953. To investigate the quantitative trait locus (QTL) responsible for these variations, the introgressed segments in 05210 were screened by SSR markers and one follow-up segregation population was developed from the cross 05210/Laizhou953. The population showed 3:1 segregation ratios for SN, SL and GNS, indicating that QTLs for these traits have been dissected into single Mendelian factors. Bulked segregation analysis showed that the markers located on the 4B introgressed segment were polymorphic between the two bulks. Therefore, they were further analyzed in the F(2) population to construct a linkage map. Three new QTLs, QSn.sdau-4B, QSl.sdau-4B and QGns.sdau-4B, were detected for SN, SL and GNS, respectively, which explained a large portion of the phenotypic variation (30.1-67.6%) for these traits with overlapping peaks. Correlation analysis and multiple-trait, multiple-interval mapping (MMIM) suggested pleiotropic effects of the QTL on SN, SL and GNS. Therefore, the QTL was designated as QSn.sdau-4B. By a progeny test based on F(3) families using SN, the QTL was mapped as a Mendelian factor to the proximal region of 4BL. It is a key QTL responsible for variation in spike number and size, which had not been reported previously. Thus, it is an important QTL for wheat to achieve high and stable biomass and grain yield. Dissection and mapping of this QTL as a Mendelian factor laid a solid foundation for map-based cloning of grain yield-related QTLs in wheat.