The Microbial Tryptophan Metabolite Contributes to the Remission of Salmonella typhimurium Infection in Mice.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Tm) causes severe foodborne diseases. Interestingly, gut microbial tryptophan (Trp) metabolism plays a pivotal role in such infections by a yet unknown mechanism. This study aimed to explore the impact of Trp metabolism on S. Tm infection and the possible mechanisms involved. S. Tm-infected C57BL6/J mice were used to demonstrate the therapeutic benefits of the Bacillus velezensis JT3-1 (B. velezensis/JT3-1) strain or its cell-free supernatant in enhancing Trp metabolism. Targeted Trp metabolomic analyses indicated the predominance of indole-3-lactic acid (ILA), an indole derivative and ligand for aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR). Based on the 16S amplicon sequencing and correlation analysis of metabolites, we found that B. velezensis supported the relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Ligilactobacillus in mouse gut and showed positive correlations with ILA levels. Moreover, AHR and its downstream genes (especially IL-22) significantly increased in mouse colons after B. velezensis or cell-free supernatant treatment, suggesting the importance of AHR pathway activation. In addition, ILA was found to stimulate primary mouse macrophages to secrete IL-22, which was antagonized by CH-223191. Furthermore, ILA could protect mice from S. Tm infection by increasing IL-22 in Ahr+/- mice, but not in Ahr-/- mice. Finally, Trp-rich feeding showed amelioration of S. Tm infection in mice, and the effect depended on gut microbiota. Taken together, these results suggest that B. velezensis-associated ILA contributes to protecting mice against S. Tm infection by activating the AHR/IL-22 pathway. This study provides insights into the involvement of microbiota-derived Trp catabolites in protecting against Salmonella infection.

A novel CAF-cancer cell crosstalk-related gene prognostic index based on machine learning: prognostic significance and prediction of therapeutic response in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF)-cancer cell crosstalk (CCCT) plays an important role in tumor microenvironment shaping and immunotherapy response. Current prognostic indexes are insufficient to accurately assess immunotherapy response in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). This study aimed to develop a CCCT-related gene prognostic index (CCRGPI) for assessing the prognosis and response to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy of HNSCC patients. METHODS: Two cellular models, the fibroblast-cancer cell indirect coculture (FCICC) model, and the fibroblast-cancer cell organoid (FC-organoid) model, were constructed to visualize the crosstalk between fibroblasts and cancer cells. Based on a HNSCC scRNA-seq dataset, the R package CellChat was used to perform cell communication analysis to identify gene pairs involved in CCCT. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was then applied to further refine the selection of these gene pairs. The selected gene pairs were subsequently subjected to stepwise regression to develop CCRGPI. We further performed a comprehensive analysis to determine the molecular and immune characteristics, and prognosis associated with ICI therapy in different CCRGPI subgroups. Finally, the connectivity map (CMap) analysis and molecular docking were used to screen potential therapeutic drugs. RESULTS: FCICC and FC-organoid models showed that cancer cells promoted the activation of fibroblasts into CAFs, that CAFs enhanced the invasion of cancer cells, and that CCCT was somewhat heterogeneous. The CCRGPI was developed based on 4 gene pairs: IGF1-IGF1R, LGALS9-CD44, SEMA5A-PLXNA1, and TNXB-SDC1. Furthermore, a high CCRGPI score was identified as an adverse prognostic factor for overall survival (OS). Additionally, a high CCRGPI was positively correlated with the activation of the P53 pathway, a high TP53 mutation rate, and decreased benefit from ICI therapy but was inversely associated with the abundance of various immune cells, such as CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and B cells. Moreover, Ganetespib was identified as a potential drug for HNSCC combination therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The CCRGPI is reliable for predicting the prognosis and immunotherapy response of HSNCC patients and may be useful for guiding the individualized treatment of HNSCC patients.

Probiotic Bacillus licheniformis ZW3 Alleviates DSS-Induced Colitis and Enhances Gut Homeostasis.

Despite Bacillus species having been extensively utilized in the food industry and biocontrol as part of probiotic preparations, limited knowledge exists regarding their impact on intestinal disorders. In this study, we investigated the effect of Bacillus licheniformis ZW3 (ZW3), a potential probiotic isolated from camel feces, on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. The results showed ZW3 partially mitigated body weight loss, disease activity index (DAI), colon shortening, and suppressed immune response in colitis mice, as evidenced by the reduction in the levels of the inflammatory markers IL-1ß, TNF-α, and IL-6 (p < 0.05). ZW3 was found to ameliorate DSS-induced dysfunction of the colonic barrier by enhancing mucin 2 (MUC2), zonula occluden-1 (ZO-1), and occludin. Furthermore, enriched beneficial bacteria Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and decreased harmful bacteria Escherichia-Shigella revealed that ZW3 improved the imbalanced gut microbiota. Abnormally elevated uric acid levels in colitis were further normalized upon ZW3 supplementation. Overall, this study emphasized the protective effects of ZW3 in colitis mice as well as some potential applications in the management of inflammation-related diseases.

Parametric analysis of craniocerebral injury mechanism in pedestrian traffic accidents based on finite element methods.

PURPOSE: The toughest challenge in pedestrian traffic accident identification lies in ascertaining injury manners. This study aimed to systematically simulate and parameterize 3 types of craniocerebral injury including impact injury, fall injury, and run-over injury, to compare the injury response outcomes of different injury manners. METHODS: Based on the total human model for safety (THUMS) and its enhanced human model THUMS-hollow structures, a total of 84 simulations with 3 injury manners, different loading directions, and loading velocities were conducted. Von Mises stress, intracranial pressure, maximum principal strain, cumulative strain damage measure, shear stress, and cranial strain were employed to analyze the injury response of all areas of the brain. To examine the association between injury conditions and injury consequences, correlation analysis, principal component analysis, linear regression, and stepwise linear regression were utilized. RESULTS: There is a significant correlation observed between each criterion of skull and brain injury (p < 0.01 in all Pearson correlation analysis results). A 2-phase increase of cranio-cerebral stress and strain as impact speed increases. In high-speed impact (> 40 km/h), the Von Mises stress on the skull was with a high possibility exceed the threshold for skull fracture (100 MPa). When falling and making temporal and occipital contact with the ground, the opposite side of the impacted area experiences higher frequency stress concentration than contact at other conditions. Run-over injuries tend to have a more comprehensive craniocerebral injury, with greater overall deformation due to more adequate kinetic energy conduction. The mean value of maximum principal strain of brain and Von Mises stress of cranium at run-over condition are 1.39 and 403.8 MPa, while they were 1.31, 94.11 MPa and 0.64, 120.5 MPa for the impact and fall conditions, respectively. The impact velocity also plays a significant role in craniocerebral injury in impact and fall loading conditions (the p of all F-test < 0.05). A regression equation of the craniocerebral injury manners in pedestrian accidents was established. CONCLUSION: The study distinguished the craniocerebral injuries caused in different manners, elucidated the biomechanical mechanisms of craniocerebral injury, and provided a biomechanical foundation for the identification of craniocerebral injury in legal contexts.

Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Framework Supporting Atomic Bi-N2O2 Sites for High-Efficiency Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction.

Single atomic catalysts (SACs) offer a superior platform for studying the structure-activity relationships during electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). Yet challenges still exist to obtain well-defined and novel site configuration owing to the uncertainty of functional framework-derived SACs through calcination. Herein, a novel Bi-N2O2 site supported on the (1 1 0) plane of hydrogen-bonded organic framework (HOF) is reported directly for CO2RR. In flow cell, the target catalyst Bi1-HOF maintains a faradaic efficiency (FE) HCOOH of over 90 % at a wide potential window of 1.4 V. The corresponding partial current density ranges from 113.3 to 747.0 mA cm-2. And, Bi1-HOF exhibits a long-term stability of over 30 h under a successive potential-step test with a current density of 100-400 mA cm-2. Density function theory (DFT) calculations illustrate that the novel Bi-N2O2 site supported on the (1 1 0) plane of HOF effectively induces the oriented electron transfer from Bi center to CO2 molecule, reaching an enhanced CO2 activation and reduction. Besides, this study offers a versatile method to reach series of M-N2O2 sites with regulable metal centers via the same intercalation mechanism, broadening the platform for studying the structure-activity relationships during CO2RR.

Identification and Characterization of Nanobodies from a Phage Display Library and Their Application in an Immunoassay for the Sensitive Detection of African Swine Fever Virus.

African swine fever (ASF) is one of the most lethal and devastating diseases of domestic and wild swine. The continual spread and frequent outbreaks of ASF have seriously threatened the pig and pig-related industries, causing great socioeconomic losses at unprecedented proportions. Although ASF has been documented for a century, no effective vaccine or antiviral treatment is currently available. Nanobodies (Nbs) derived from heavy-chain-only antibodies in camelids have been discovered to be effective as therapeutics and robust biosensors in imaging and diagnostic applications. In the present study, a high-quality phage display library containing specific Nbs raised against ASFV proteins was successfully constructed, and 19 nanobodies specific to ASFV p30 were preliminarily identified by phage display technology. After extensive evaluation, nanobodies Nb17 and Nb30 were employed as immunosensors and applied to develop a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of ASFV in clinical specimens. This immunoassay showed a detection limit of approximately 1.1 ng/mL target protein and 102.5 hemadsorption (HAD50/mL) of ASFV and exhibited high specificity with no cross-reaction with the other porcine viruses tested. The performances of the newly developed assay and a commercial kit in testing 282 clinical swine samples were very similar (93.62% agreement). However, the novel sandwich Nb-ELISA showed higher sensitivity than the commercial kit when serial dilutions of ASFV-positive samples were tested. The present study describes a valuable alternative technique for the detection and surveillance of ASF in endemic regions. Furthermore, additional nanobodies specific to ASFV may be developed using the generated VHH library and employed in different biotechnology fields.

Antioxidant effects of Bifidobacterium longum T37a in mice weight loss and aging model induced by D-galactose.

BACKGROUND: Probiotics can reduce free radical scavenging rate and oxidative damage, and improve activity of crucial antioxidative enzymes in host cells. This study aimed to isolate Bifidobacterium spp. from faeces of babies, and investigate the antioxidant effects of the Bif. longum T37a in mice weight loss and aging model induced by D-galactose. RESULTS: T37a have good antioxidant properties in the DPPH assay and anti-lipid peroxidation test. Compared with the model group, T37a low group significantly increased the thymus index and the levels of T-AOC and GSH-Px of mice. T37a high group significantly decreased the spleen and liver index of mice and the levels of MDA in liver, significantly increased in liver HDL-C levels, and decreased LDL-C in liver. CONCLUSIONS: T37a may be an anti-aging and weight-loss probiotics for its antioxidant capacity, and it is necessary to study further the molecular mechanism of T37a as antioxidant.

Detection of multiple biomarkers associated with satellite cell fate in the contused skeletal muscle of rats for wound age estimation.

From the perspective of forensic wound age estimation, experiments related to skeletal muscle regeneration after injury have rarely been reported. Here, we examined the time-dependent expression patterns of multiple biomarkers associated with satellite cell fate, including the transcription factor paired box 7 (Pax7), myoblast determination protein (MyoD), myogenin, and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), using immunohistochemistry, western blotting, and quantitative real-time PCR in contused skeletal muscle. An animal model of skeletal muscle contusion was established in 30 Sprague-Dawley male rats, and another five rats were employed as non-contused controls. Morphometrically, the data obtained from the numbers of Pax7 + , MyoD + , and myogenin + cells were highly correlated with the wound age. Pax7, MyoD, myogenin, and IGF-1 expression patterns were upregulated after injury at both the mRNA and protein levels. Pax7, MyoD, and myogenin protein expression levels confirmed the results of the morphometrical analysis. Additionally, the relative quantity of IGF-1 protein > 0.92 suggested a wound age of 3 to 7 days. The relative quantity of Pax7 mRNA > 2.44 also suggested a wound age of 3 to 7 days. Relative quantities of Myod1, Myog, and Igf1 mRNA expression > 2.78, > 7.80, or > 3.13, respectively, indicated a wound age of approximately 3 days. In conclusion, the expression levels of Pax7, MyoD, myogenin, and IGF-1 were upregulated in a time-dependent manner during skeletal muscle wound healing, suggesting the potential for using them as candidate biomarkers for wound age estimation in skeletal muscle.

SrCl2·6H2O: An Alkaline-Earth-Metal Chloride Hexahydrate as Deep-Ultraviolet Nonlinear-Optical Crystal with the {[Sr(H2O)6]2+}∞ Cationic Framework.

Exploring deep-ultraviolet (DUV) nonlinear-optical (NLO) materials is significant for the conversion of high-frequency laser. Herein, two alkali-earth-metal halide hexahydrates, SrX2·6H2O (X = Cl, Br), were obtained, and the centimeter-sized single crystals of SrCl2·6H2O were grown by a slow evaporation method. Both of them crystallize in the trigonal space group P321, and their crystal structures show {[Sr(H2O)6]2+}∞ cationic chains, with isolated Cl- or Br- anions interspersed between the chains. SrCl2·6H2O exhibits a moderate second-harmonic-generation response (0.4 × KDP) at 1064 nm and can realize phase matching. Importantly, SrCl2·6H2O has a short ultraviolet cutoff edge (<200 nm). Crystal growth, crystal structures, optical performances, and theoretical calculations of the title and related compounds have been discussed in this work. This study enriches the understanding of metal halide hydrates as NLO materials in the DUV region.

Effect of Limosilactobacillus reuteri ZJF036 on Growth Performance and Gut Microbiota in Juvenile Beagle Dogs.

This experiment investigated the effects of Limosilactobacillus reuteri ZJF036 on growth performance, serum biochemical parameters, and gut microbiota in beagle dogs. Sixteen 75 ± 5-day-old healthy male beagles (4.51 ± 1.37 kg) were randomly divided into two groups; the experimental group (L1) and the control group (L0), and then fed with or without a basal diet containing L. reuteri ZJF036 (109 CFU/g), respectively. The results showed that there was no significant difference in daily weight gain between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, we found that L. reuteri ZJF036 decreased Chao1 index and ACE index and increased the relative abundance of Firmicutes and Fusobacteria (P < 0.05) compared to the L0 group. In addition, we also found that the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes was decreased in L1 group. Furthermore, the relative abundance of Lactobacillus increased, while that of Turicibacter and Blautia decreased in L1 group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, L. reuteri ZJF036 appeared to regulate the intestinal microbiota of beagle dogs. This study revealed the potential use of L. reuteri ZJBF036 as a probiotic supplement for beagle dogs.

Comparative genomic analysis of Babesia duncani responsible for human babesiosis.

BACKGROUND: Human babesiosis, caused by parasites of the genus Babesia, is an emerging and re-emerging tick-borne disease that is mainly transmitted by tick bites and infected blood transfusion. Babesia duncani has caused majority of human babesiosis in Canada; however, limited data are available to correlate its genomic information and biological features. RESULTS: We generated a B. duncani reference genome using Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) and Illumina sequencing technology and uncovered its biological features and phylogenetic relationship with other Apicomplexa parasites. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that B. duncani form a clade distinct from B. microti, Babesia spp. infective to bovine and ovine species, and Theileria spp. infective to bovines. We identified the largest species-specific gene family that could be applied as diagnostic markers for this pathogen. In addition, two gene families show signals of significant expansion and several genes that present signatures of positive selection in B. duncani, suggesting their possible roles in the capability of this parasite to infect humans or tick vectors. CONCLUSIONS: Using ONT sequencing and Illumina sequencing technologies, we provide the first B. duncani reference genome and confirm that B. duncani forms a phylogenetically distinct clade from other Piroplasm parasites. Comparative genomic analyses show that two gene families are significantly expanded in B. duncani and may play important roles in host cell invasion and virulence of B. duncani. Our study provides basic information for further exploring B. duncani features, such as host-parasite and tick-parasite interactions.

A Deep Recurrent Learning-Based Region-Focused Feature Detection for Enhanced Target Detection in Multi-Object Media.

Target detection in high-contrast, multi-object images and movies is challenging. This difficulty results from different areas and objects/people having varying pixel distributions, contrast, and intensity properties. This work introduces a new region-focused feature detection (RFD) method to tackle this problem and improve target detection accuracy. The RFD method divides the input image into several smaller ones so that as much of the image as possible is processed. Each of these zones has its own contrast and intensity attributes computed. Deep recurrent learning is then used to iteratively extract these features using a similarity measure from training inputs corresponding to various regions. The target can be located by combining features from many locations that overlap. The recognized target is compared to the inputs used during training, with the help of contrast and intensity attributes, to increase accuracy. The feature distribution across regions is also used for repeated training of the learning paradigm. This method efficiently lowers false rates during region selection and pattern matching with numerous extraction instances. Therefore, the suggested method provides greater accuracy by singling out distinct regions and filtering out misleading rate-generating features. The accuracy, similarity index, false rate, extraction ratio, processing time, and others are used to assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The proposed RFD improves the similarity index by 10.69%, extraction ratio by 9.04%, and precision by 13.27%. The false rate and processing time are reduced by 7.78% and 9.19%, respectively.

Enhanced Metal-Support Interactions Boost the Electrocatalytic Water Splitting of Supported Ruthenium Nanoparticles on a Ni3 N/NiO Heterojunction at Industrial Current Density.

Developing highly efficient and stable hydrogen production catalysts for electrochemical water splitting (EWS) at industrial current densities remains a great challenge. Herein, we proposed a heterostructure-induced-strategy to optimize the metal-support interaction (MSI) and the EWS activity of Ru-Ni3 N/NiO. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations firstly predicted that the Ni3 N/NiO-heterostructures can improve the structural stability, electronic distributions, and orbital coupling of Ru-Ni3 N/NiO compared to Ru-Ni3 N and Ru-NiO, which accordingly decreases energy barriers and increases the electroactivity for EWS. As a proof-of-concept, the Ru-Ni3 N/NiO catalyst with a 2D Ni3 N/NiO-heterostructures nanosheet array, uniformly dispersed Ru nanoparticles, and strong MSI, was successfully constructed in the experiment, which exhibited excellent HER and OER activity with overpotentials of 190 mV and 385 mV at 1000 mA cm-2 , respectively. Furthermore, the Ru-Ni3 N/NiO-based EWS device can realize an industrial current density (1000 mA cm-2 ) at 1.74 V and 1.80 V under alkaline pure water and seawater conditions, respectively. Additionally, it also achieves a high durability of 1000 h (@ 500 mA cm-2 ) in alkaline pure water.

ASPP2 reduction attenuates HBV induced chronic liver damage: A hybrid mouse model study.

BACKGROUND & AIM: P53 Apoptosis Stimulating Protein 2 (ASPP2) is confirmed to participate in cellular activities including apoptosis, proliferation, autophagy, injury and so on. However, the role of ASPP2 in Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has not been reported in detail. The study explored the role of ASPP2 in HBV induced chronic liver damage. METHODS: Transcriptome profiling of ASPP2-konckdown mouse liver were analyzed by RNA-sequencing. HBV-ASPP2-knockdown mice was the hybrid offspring of HBV transgenic mice and ASPP2 knockdown mice. Liver tissues were taken for the experiments such as western Blot (WB), PCR, Hematoxylin and Eosin (HE), Immunohistochemistry and high throughput sequencing of transcriptome. RESULTS: Pathological and transcriptomic analysis of liver tissue from ASPP2 knockdown vs con mice showed that after ASPP2 knockdown, the pathological changes in the liver tissue of mice were not significant, but transcriptomics showed obvious changes in immune system process, and response to stimulus, metabolism, Human Diseases and other directions etc. In the HBV-ASPP2-knockdown mice, liver tissue HE staining found less cell swelling and necrosis foci; F4/80 and MPO staining showed less inflammatory cell infiltration; serum ALT and AST decreased than the HBV-ASPP2-con mice. Transcriptome results showed significantly changed in HBV-ASPP2-knockdown mice including immune system process, inflammatory response, and innate immune response etc. Further comparison of the two transcriptomes yielded 9 identical pathways related to inflammatory and cell injury. The PPAR pathway was verified, and found that the increase of PPARγ caused by the reduction of ASPP2 is likely to be the reason for the reduction of HBV-related liver injury. The expression of PPARγ was then analyzed by transcriptome and PCR, it was found that in the absence of HBV, ASPP2 knockdown resulted in a mild decrease in PPARγ, and in the presence of HBV infection, ASPP2 knockdown resulted in a marked increase in PPARγ.In addition, this study found that high expression of ASPP2 had opposite effects on HCC (HBV-none) and HCC (HBV-yes). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that reduction of ASPP2 reduces HBV-induced hepatocyte damage during chronic HBV infection. This phenomenon is related to the different regulation of PPARγ by ASPP2 in the presence or absence of HBV stimulation.

Cerebral hemorrhage caused by shaking adult syndrome? Evidence from biomechanical analysis using 3D motion capture and finite element models.

The present study combined three-dimensional (3D) motion capture with finite element simulation to reconstruct a real shaking adult syndrome (SAS) case and further explore the injury biomechanics of SAS. The frequency at which an adult male can shake the head of another person, head-shaking amplitude, and displacement curves was captured by the VICON 3D motion capture system. The captured shaking frequency and shaking curve were loaded on the total human model for safety (THUMS) head to simulate the biomechanical response of brain injury when a head was shaken in anterior-posterior, left-right, and left anterior-right posterior directions at frequencies of 4 Hz (Hz), 5 Hz, 6 Hz, and 7 Hz. The biomechanical response of the head on impact in the anterior, posterior, left, left anterior, and right posterior directions at the equivalent velocity of 6 Hz shaking was simulated. The violent shaking frequency of the adult male was 3.2-6.8 Hz; head shaking at these frequencies could result in serious cerebral injuries. SAS-related injuries have obvious directionality, and sagittal shaking can easily cause brain injuries. There was no significant difference between the brain injuries caused by shaking in the simulated frequency range (4-7 Hz). Impact and shaking at an equivalent velocity could cause brain injuries, though SAS more commonly occurred due to the cumulative deformation of brain tissue. Biomechanical studies of SAS should play a positive role in improving the accuracy of forensic identification and reducing this form of abuse and torture in detention or places of imprisonment.

Identification and isolation of pathogenic Theileria orientalis Ikeda genotype from confined dairy cattle, in Hebei, China.

Theileria orientalis is known to be a group of benign cattle parasites with a cosmopolitan distribution, and has been classified into 11 genotypes through MPSP gene phylogenetic analysis. In China, T. orientalis is the most prevalent Theileria species, with several genotypes, but few fatal cases have been reported. In June 2020, dairy cattle in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, showed clinical symptoms of piroplasmosis, causing many animals to die. Blood smears and PCR detection results confirmed T. orientalis infection with a 66.7% positive rate of collected blood samples. The MPSP sequences analysis revealed parasite genotypes 1 (Chitose) and 2 (Ikeda). Aiming to isolate the pathogens, experimental animal was infected with T. orientalis via inoculation of the positive blood samples. The results has shown that only T. orientalis genotype 2 (Ikeda) was obtained that has confirmed by MPSP and 18S rRNA sequences analysis, indicating that the Ikeda type was predominant and responsible for the disease. Although many T. orientalis genotypes are present in China, the possibility of T. orientalis genotypes 1 and 2 infections in confined dairy cattle should be considered to avoid additional economic losses.

Nested qPCR assay to detect Babesia duncani infection in hamsters and humans.

Human babesiosis is caused by Babesia duncani that is transmitted through tick bites, blood transfusions, and transplacental transmission. Despite its health burden, diagnostic assays for this pathogen are either unsuitable for clinical applications or have a low detection efficiency; therefore, it remains undetected during transfusion and utilization of blood and blood-component transfusions. This study used a molecular approach via nested quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) by designing primers and probes corresponding to the variable regions of B. duncani 18S rRNA gene to specifically detect B. duncani DNA in experimentally infected LVG Golden Syrian hamster (n = 70) and human (n = 492; tick bite patients from Gansu Province, China) blood samples. Moreover, comparative analyses of this technique with previously reported nested PCR and microscopy were conducted. The newly optimized diagnostic technique exhibited no cross-reactivity with genomic DNA or plasmids containing the 18S rRNA gene of other zoonotically important Babesia spp., including B. microti, B. divergens, B. crassa, and B. motasi Hebei. The detection limit of nested qPCR was approximately one plasmid copy in 20 µL or one infected red blood cell in 200 µL whole blood. The specificity and sensitivity of the method were 100% and 98.6%, respectively. Comparative analyses revealed that nested qPCR detected B. duncani had relatively higher efficacy and specificity than microscopic examination and nested PCR. The 492 human blood samples were negative for B. duncani infection. Thus, the present study provides an improved diagnostic assay for the efficient and effective detection and analysis of B. duncani infections and its prevalence in infection-prone areas.

Alleviating effects of selenium on fluoride-induced testosterone synthesis disorder and reproduction toxicity in rats.

Fluoride (F) exists widely in food, water and other natural resources, and can cause damage to the reproductive system of human and animals. Studies have shown that selenium (Se) is a necessary trace element to maintain the normal male reproductive system. However, it is not clear whether it can alleviate the damage of reproductive system induced by F. Hence, sodium fluoride (NaF) was administered singly in drinking water at 100 mg L-1 alone and co-administered by drinking with sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) at 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 mg L-1 for 10 consecutive weeks. The results demonstrated that the sperm deformity rate were increased significantly by F, however, it was improved significantly after the addition of 2.0 mg L-1 Na2SeO3. The contents of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX-4), selenoprotein P (SePP), pregnenolone (PREG), androstenedione (ASD), and testosterone (T) were reduced obviously in the F group, however, it was increased significantly after adding 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg L-1 Na2SeO3. F decreased noticeably the mRNA and protein expression levels of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), cytochrome P450 cholesterol side chain lyase (P450scc), 3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3ß-HSD), cytochrome P450 17α-hydroxylase (P450c17) and 17ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17ß-HSD), which was increased obviously after the addition of 1.0 and 2.0 mg L-1 Na2SeO3. In summary, 2.0 mg L-1 Na2SeO3 can alleviate testosterone synthesis disorder induced by F via reducing oxidative stress, increasing the level of selenoprotein in testis and regulating the content of related hormones and enzyme activity during testosterone synthesis pathway.

Intelligent Labeling of Tumor Lesions Based on Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography.

Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) plays a vital role in diagnosing tumors. However, PET/CT imaging relies primarily on manual interpretation and labeling by medical professionals. An enormous workload will affect the training samples' construction for deep learning. The labeling of tumor lesions in PET/CT images involves the intersection of computer graphics and medicine, such as registration, a fusion of medical images, and labeling of lesions. This paper extends the linear interpolation, enhances it in a specific area of the PET image, and uses the outer frame scaling of the PET/CT image and the least-squares residual affine method. The PET and CT images are subjected to wavelet transformation and then synthesized in proportion to form a PET/CT fusion image. According to the absorption of 18F-FDG (fluoro deoxy glucose) SUV in the PET image, the professionals randomly select a point in the focus area in the fusion image, and the system will automatically select the seed point of the focus area to delineate the tumor focus with the regional growth method. Finally, the focus delineated on the PET and CT fusion images is automatically mapped to CT images in the form of polygons, and rectangular segmentation and labeling are formed. This study took the actual PET/CT of patients with lymphatic cancer as an example. The semiautomatic labeling of the system and the manual labeling of imaging specialists were compared and verified. The recognition rate was 93.35%, and the misjudgment rate was 6.52%.

Reliability and Validity of the Self-Report Chinese Version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Modified for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD-YBOCS) in Patients Undergoing Plastic Surgery.

BACKGROUND: To develop a self-report Chinese version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Modified for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD-YBOCS) and determine its validity and reliability in patients seeking a consultation with a plastic surgeon or undergoing plastic surgery in China. METHODS: Forward and backward translation and cultural adaptation of the BDD-YBOCS were performed according to recommended guidelines. The self-report Chinese version of the BDD-YBOCS was psychometrically tested using data collected from a cross-sectional validation study, which included 240 patients seeking a consultation with a plastic surgeon or undergoing plastic surgery at the Department of Plastic Surgery, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China, between May and September 2020. Item analysis used the independent sample t test and bivariate Pearson test. Content validity was established through expert interviews. Construct validity was measured with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Convergent validity and discriminant validity were analyzed using Pearson's correlation to evaluate the association between the self-report Chinese version of the BDD-YBOCS and the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire (BDDQ). Internal reliability was assessed using Cronbach's α. RESULTS: No items were removed from the original English version of the BDD-YBOCS based on expert interviews and factor analysis. A total of 220 patients completed the study survey (91.7%). EFA extracted 3 factors, which accounted for 64.50% of the variance. CFA supported a 3-factor structure (χ2/df = 1.322, RMSEA = 0.054, GFI = 0.904, NFI = 0.902, CFI = 0.974 and TLI = 0.966). The scale had good convergent and discriminant validity. Cronbach's α for the scale was 0.871 (P < 0.001) and ranged from 0.852 to 0.873 when individual items were removed. CONCLUSION: The self-report Chinese version of the BDD-YBOCS shows good validity and reliability for use in patients seeking a consultation with a plastic surgeon or undergoing plastic surgery in China. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .