The Triticum ispahanicum elongated glume locus P2 maps to chromosome 6A and is associated with the ectopic expression of SVP-A1.

KEY MESSAGE: We propose the MADS-box transcription factor SVP-A1 as a promising candidate gene for the elongated glume locus P2, which maps to chromosome 6A instead of the previously proposed chromosome 7B. In rice and wheat, glume and floral organ length are positively correlated with grain size, making them an important target to increase grain size and potentially yield. The wheat subspecies Triticum ispahanicum is known to develop elongated glumes and floral organs as well as long grains. These multiple phenotypic effects are controlled by the P2 locus, which was previously mapped to wheat chromosome 7B. Using three mapping populations, we show that the long glume locus P2 does not map to chromosome 7B, but instead maps to a 1.68 Mbp interval on chromosome 6A. Within this interval, we identified SVP-A1, a MADS box transcription factor which is the direct ortholog of the maize gene underlying the 'pod corn' Tunicate locus and is a paralog to the T. polonicum elongated glume P1 gene. In T. ispahanicum, we identified a unique allele which has a 482-bp deletion in the SVP-A1 promoter and is associated with ectopic and higher expression of SVP-A1 in the elongated glumes and floral organs. We used near-isogenic lines (NILs) to show that P2 has a consistent positive effect on the length of glume, lemma, palea, spike and grain. Based on the mapping data, natural variation, biological function of SVP genes in cereals and expression analyses, we propose the MADS-box transcription factor SVP-A1 as a promising candidate for P2.

Burnout and well-being of healthcare workers in the post-pandemic period of COVID-19: a perspective from the job demands-resources model.

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed 1) to examine the effects of epidemic-related job stressors, perceived social support and organizational support on the burnout and well-being of Chinese healthcare workers in the period of COVID-19 regular epidemic prevention and control and 2) to investigate the moderating effects of social support and organizational support on the relationship between job stressors and burnout and well-being within the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. METHODS: A sample of healthcare workers (N = 3477) from 22 hospitals in Beijing, China participated in the cross-sectional investigation in October 2020 and reported epidemic-related job stressors, perceived social support, organizational support, burnout, anxiety and depression symptoms. RESULTS: 1) Medical doctors, females, people aged from 30 to 50, and those who worked in the second line during the pandemic reported higher scores of psychological symptoms and burnout in the period of regular epidemic prevention and control; 2) Epidemic-related job stressors positively predicted burnout, anxiety, and depression among healthcare workers; 3) Perceived social support and organizational support were negatively related to reported burnout, anxiety and depression symptoms; 4) Social support reduced the adverse effects of epidemic-related job stressors on anxiety and depression but enhanced the association between stressors and burnout; 5) Organizational support mitigated the adverse effects of epidemic-related job stressors on depression. CONCLUSION: The results shed light on preventing burnout and enhancing the psychological well-being of healthcare workers under epidemic prevention and control measures by reducing epidemic-related job stressors and strengthening personal and organizational support systems.

Influence of abdominal fat distribution and inflammatory status on post-operative prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer patients: a retrospective cohort study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the influence of visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous fat area (SFA), the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and total inflammation-based systemic index (AISI) on the postoperative prognosis of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) patients. METHODS: 266 NSCLC patients received surgery from two academic medical centers were included. To assess the effect of abdominal fat measured by computed tomography (CT) imaging and inflammatory indicators on patients' overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards models were used. RESULTS: Kaplan-Meier analysis showed the OS and PFS of patients in high-VFA group was better than low-VFA group (p < 0.05). AISI and SII were shown to be risk factors for OS and PFS (p < 0.05) after additional adjustment for BMI (Cox regression model II). After further adjustment for VFA (Cox regression model III), low-SFA group had longer OS (p < 0.05). Among the four subgroups based on VFA (high/low) and SFA (high/low) (p < 0.05), the high-VFA & low-SFA group had the longest median OS (108 months; 95% CI 74-117 months) and PFS (85 months; 95% CI 65-117 months), as well as the lowest SII and AISI (p < 0.05). Low-SFA was a protective factor for OS with different VFA stratification (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: VFA, SFA, SII and AISI may be employed as significant prognostic markers of postoperative survival in NSCLC patients. Moreover, excessive SFA levels may encourage systemic inflammation decreasing the protective impact of VFA, which may help to provide targeted nutritional support and interventions for postoperative NSCLC patients with poor prognosis.

Increased water content in multifidus muscles of young adults with chronic nonspecific low back pain detected by dual-energy CT and MRI.

OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate the feasibility of better diagnosing young adults with chronic nonspecific low back pain (CNLBP) by measuring water content in paraspinal muscles using water-muscle decomposition technique in dual-energy CT (DECT) and T2-mapping in MRI. METHODS: This prospective cross-sectional study included 110 young individuals (56 with CNLBP at age of 25.7 ± 2.0 years and 54 of asymptomatic at age of 25.1 ± 1.9 years) who underwent both MRI and DECT on the spine. T2 values on T2 mapping in MRI and water density (WD) value on water(muscle) images in DECT were generated at the L1-L4 levels for erector spinae muscle and L2-L5 for multifidus muscle. Pain duration time, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were recorded for CNLBP patients. Difference of T2 value and WD between the two patient groups, and correlations between T2 value and WD, and T2 value and WD with clinical indicators were analyzed. RESULTS: Compared with asymptomatic participants, the mean WD of multifidus muscle at L4-L5 and mean T2 values of multifidus muscle at L5 were significantly higher in CNLBP patients (all P < 0.05). T2 values had moderate to strong positive correlations (r = 0.34-0.60, all P < 0.05) with DECT WD in CNLBP patients and healthy volunteers. There was a weak correlation between VAS and WD in L5-level multifidus muscle (r = 0.29, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The T2 values in MRI and WD in DECT are higher in multifidus muscles of lower vertebra levels for young CNLBP patients, and there exists positive correlation between WD and T2 values, providing useful information for diagnosing CNLBP.

Microarray expression profile of long noncoding RNAs in human osteosarcoma.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are pervasively transcribed and have a critical role in genome regulation. Alterations in the expression of several lncRNAs have been observed in some types of cancers; however, the contributions of lncRNAs to osteosarcoma remain unknown. Here, we describe the expression profile of lncRNAs in osteosarcomas compared with paired adjacent noncancerous tissue using microarray analysis. In our study, 25,733 lncRNAs were expressed in osteosarcoma; 403 lncRNAs were consistently over-regulated and 798 lncRNAs were consistently under-regulated in all samples analyzed (⩾2.0-fold, p<0.05). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to validate six over-regulated and four under-regulated lncRNAs. Bioinformatic analysis (gene ontology analysis, pathway analysis and network analysis) was used for further research. Pathway analysis indicated that 32 pathways corresponded to under-regulated transcripts and that 34 pathways corresponded to over-regulated transcripts (p-value cut-off is 0.05). Our results are the first to reveal differentially expressed lncRNAs in osteosarcoma and suggest that lncRNAs may be novel candidate biomarkers for the diagnosis of osteosarcoma and potential targets for therapy.

Network analysis of comorbid depression and anxiety and their associations with quality of life among clinicians in public hospitals during the late stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

BACKGROUND: Mental health problems are common among clinicians working in public hospitals even in the late stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Network analysis is a novel approach to explore interactions between mental health problems at the symptom level. This study examined the network structure of comorbid depression and anxiety and their associations with quality of life (QOL) among hospital clinicians in China during the late stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A total of 4931 participants were recruited from October 13 to 22, 2020. The nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) were used to measure depressive and anxiety symptoms, and QOL, respectively. Central and bridge symptoms were identified with centrality and bridge centrality indices, respectively. Network stability was examined using the case-dropping procedure. RESULTS: The prevalence of depression (defined as PHQ-9 total score ≥ 5) was 35.1 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) = 33.73-36.41 %)], the prevalence of anxiety (GAD-7 total score ≥ 5) was 32.5 % (95 % CI = 31.20-33.84 %), while the prevalence of comorbid depression and anxiety was 26.9 % (95 % CI = 25.7-28.2 %). "Impaired motor skills", "Trouble relaxing" and "Uncontrollable worry" were the central symptoms in the whole depression-anxiety network. "Irritability", "Feeling afraid" and "Sad mood" were the most key bridge symptoms linking depression and anxiety. Three symptoms ("Fatigue", "Trouble relaxing" and "Nervousness") were the most strongly and negatively associated with QOL. Neither gender nor the experiences of caring for COVID-19 patients was associated with network global strength, distribution of edge weights or individual edge weights. LIMITATIONS: The causality between variables could not be established. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed by self-report measures, which may result in recall bias and limitations in capturing clinical phenomena. CONCLUSIONS: Both the central (i.e., "Impaired motor skills", "Trouble relaxing" and "Uncontrollable worry") and bridge symptoms (i.e., "Irritability", "Feeling afraid" and "Sad mood") identified in this network analysis should be targeted in specific treatment and preventive measures for comorbid depressive and anxiety symptoms among clinicians in the late stage of the pandemic. Furthermore, "Fatigue", "Trouble relaxing" and "Nervousness" are key symptoms to address to improve clinicians' QOL.

The Progress of Global Antimicrobial Resistance Governance and Its Implication to China: A Review.

China has great potential for engaging in global actions on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) control. This study aims to summarize the process of global AMR governance and provide relevant policy recommendations on how China could take more initiative in the global AMR governance. We searched for academic articles and official document published or issued before December 2020 in e-journal databases, official websites of major organizations, and the relevant national ministries. This review revealed that global action on AMR control has experienced three stages: (1) The beginning stage (1980s and 1990s) when actions were mainly sponsored by high-income countries and AMR surveillance was focused on hospitals; (2) The rapid development stage (2000-2010) when global AMR governance began to concentrate on joint actions in multi-sectors, and developing countries were gradually involved in global actions; (3) The comprehensive stage (2011 to present) when global actions on AMR have covered various fields in different countries. China's AMR governance has fallen behind at the beginning but recently began to catch up with the global trend. The central government should take a far-fetched view, act decisively and positively towards the global efforts of addressing AMR to play a more active and greater role on the international stage.