Metabolic and immune costs balance during natural acclimation of corals in fluctuating environments.

Epigenetic modifications based on DNA methylation can rapidly improve the potential of corals to adapt to environmental pressures by increasing their phenotypic plasticity, a factor important for scleractinian corals to adapt to future global warming. However, the extent to which corals develop similar adaptive mechanisms and their specific adaptation processes remain unclear. Here, to reveal the regulatory mechanism by which DNA methylation improves thermal tolerance in Pocillopora damicornis under fluctuating environments, we analyzed genome-wide DNA methylation signatures in P. damicornis and compared the differences in the methylation and transcriptional responses of P. damicornis from fluctuating and stable environments using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing and nanopore-based RNA sequencingtranscriptome sequencing. We discovered low methylation levels in P. damicornis (average methylation 4.14%), with CpG accounting for 74.88%, CHH for 13.27%, and CHG for 11.85% of this methylation. However, methylation levels did not change between coral samples from the fluctuating and stable environments. The varied methylation levels in different regions of the gene revealed that the overall methylation level of the gene body was relatively high and showed a bimodal methylation pattern. Methylation occurs primarily in exons rather than introns within the gene body In P. damicornis, there was only a weak correlation between methylation and transcriptional changes at the individual gene level, and the methylation and gene expression levels generally exhibited a bell-shaped relationship, which we speculate may be due to the specificity of cnidarian species. Correlation analysis between methylation levels and the transcriptome revealed that the highest proportion of the top 20 enriched KEGG pathways was related to immunity. Additionally, P. damicornis collected from a high-temperature pool had a lower metabolic rate than those collected from a low-temperature pool. We hypothesize that the dynamic balance of energy-expenditure costs between immunity and metabolism is an important strategy for increasing P. damicornis tolerance. The fluctuating environment of high-temperature pools may increase the heat tolerance in corals by increasing their immunity and thus lowering their metabolism.

Erythrocyte Membrane-Camouflaged Aggregation-Induced Emission Nanoparticles for Fetal Intestinal Maturation Assessment.

Assessment of fetal maturity is essential for timely termination of pregnancy, especially in pregnant women with pregnancy complications. However, there is a lack of methods to assess the maturity of fetal intestinal function. Here, we constructed erythrocyte membrane-camouflaged aggregation-induced emission (AIE) nanoparticles. Nanocore is formed using a hollow mesoporous silicon nanobox (HMSN) of different particle sizes loaded with AIE luminogens -PyTPA (P), which are then co-extruded with erythrocyte membranes (M) to construct M@HMSN@P. The 100 nm M@HMSN@P has a more effective cellular uptake efficiency in vitro and in vivo. Swallowing and intestinal function in fetal mice mature with the increase in gestational age. After intrauterine injection of M@HMSN@P, they were swallowed and absorbed by fetal mice, and their swallowed and absorbed amount was positively correlated with the gestational age with a correlation coefficient of 0.9625. Using the M@HMSN@P (fluorescence intensity) in fetal mice, the gestational age can be imputed, and the difference between this imputed gestational age and the actual gestational age is less than 1 day. Importantly, M@HMSN@P has no side effect on the health status of pregnant and fetal mice, showing good biocompatibility. In conclusion, we constructed M@HMSN@P nanoparticles with different particle sizes and confirmed that the smaller size M@HMSN@P has more efficient absorption efficiency and it can assess fetal intestinal maturity by the intensity of the fluorescence signal.

Assessment of the correlation between residual hearing and audiologic outcomes after cochlear implantation in patients with cochlear nerve deficiency.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the correlation between residual hearing and audiologic outcomes after cochlear implant (CI) surgery in patients with cochlear nerve deficiency (CND). Methods: This retrospective study included 57 patients with CND who underwent CI surgery. Patients were divided into four groups according to hearing level (80-95, 95-110, 110-120, and >120 dB) and three groups according to residual hearing (entire spectrum hearing, partial spectrum hearing, and no spectrum hearing) based on the measured response at each frequency. Auditory performance (categorical auditory performance [CAP], Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale [IT-MAIS]) and speech perception (speech intelligibility rating [SIR] and meaningful use of speech scale [MUSS]) were assessed before and 2 years after the surgery. Results: Forty-seven (82.5%) patients had complete or total hearing loss (≥95 dB) and 17 (29.8%) had no spectrum hearing before CI surgery. Twenty-nine (50.9%) patients did not exhibit residual hearing at 4 kHz. All patients demonstrated an improvement in auditory performance and speech perception: the CAP score in the 80-95 dB group was significantly higher than that in the 110-120 and >120 dB groups, and the entire spectrum hearing group showed significantly higher CAP, SIR, and IT-MAIS scores than the partial spectrum hearing group and significantly higher CAP, SIR, IT-MAIS, and MUSS scores than the no spectrum hearing group. Conclusion: For patients with CND, residual hearing, especially high-frequency residual hearing, was poor and postoperative audiologic outcomes were significantly associated with the range of residual hearing. Level of Evidence: 4.

The Effect of a Supplier's Eco-Design on the Economic Benefits of a Supply Chain and Associated Coordination.

The eco-design of upstream suppliers can reduce the environmental impact from the production process for downstream customers. To analyze the effect of suppliers' eco-design on the economic benefits of up-downstream supply chain and the mechanisms, this study constructed a master-slave game theory model for a supplier and a manufacturer. Based on this game theory model, this study comparatively analyzes the effects on raw material/part prices, retail product prices, sale volume, revenue, and eco-design effort level under three conditions (no eco-design, decentralized decision-making with eco-design, centralized decision-making with eco-design). And to further analyze the effect of eco-design costs on the optimal solution, this article takes the supply chain of tire production as an example. This analysis could provide suggestions for the suppliers and manufacturers to develop and improve their eco-design. The main results are as follows: the supplier eco-design is beneficial to improving the overall economic benefits for suppliers and manufacturers under certain conditions, and the range in which a supplier is willing to implement eco-design in a decentralized decision-making situation is wider than that in a centralized decision-making situation; when a supplier implements an eco-design, it will transfer part of the cost to the manufacturer by raising the unit raw material/parts prices. Meanwhile, the manufacturer can reduce the production cost when the benefit of eco-design is more than the increased purchasing price, and they can decrease the retail price to expand the sales volume. Hence, consumers will benefit from lower prices. Thus, it is a multi-win situation among the suppliers, manufacturers, and consumers.

Application of Multiplanar Volume Reconstruction Technique for the Assessment of Electrode Location and Analysis of the Correlation to Cochlear Programming and Performance in Common Cavity Deformity.

Purpose: Owing to the characteristic anatomy, cochlear implantation (CI) for common cavity deformity (CCD) has resulted in varied outcomes and frequent facial and vestibular nerve stimulation. The current study analyzed the correlation among the distance between each electrode and cavity wall (abbreviation, D), programming parameters, and performances outcomes. Materials and Methods: The current, retrospective study included 25 patients (27 ears) with CCD underwent CI. The multiplanar volume reconstruction (MPVR) techniques were employed to reconstruct and evaluate the postoperative temporal bone CT. The D and maximum comfortable level (MCL) 6 months after CI, facial and vestibular nerve stimulation, and outcomes 1, 2, and 3 years after CI pertaining to the questionnaires were documented and analyzed. Results: The patients were divided into symptomatic (10, 37%) and asymptomatic (17, 63%) groups according to with or without facial and vestibular nerve stimulation. The MCL pertaining to the symptomatic group was significantly lower than asymptomatic group, but Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP) scores 1 year after surgery was better (p < 0.05). The subjects were divided into flat (12, 44.4%) and curved (15, 55.6%) groups based on the contour of MCL map. The MCL and D were lower and shorter in the curved group than the flat group, and CAP score 1 year after surgery and Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR) 3 years after surgery were better (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Although abnormal reactions such as facial and vestibular nerve stimulation were observed to be more frequent, lower MCL and better outcomes were observed in relation to the shorter D.

[A field assessment on the risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the usability of quick exposure check (Quick Exposure Check, QEC) for the field assessment of occupational musculoskeletal disorder risk factors. METHOD: In the shipyard and automobile manufacturing plants, QEC was used to observe the operations among workers with different jobs and to assess the work loads of workers. On the basis of results, the reliability of QEC was evaluated, and the correlation between QEC scores and morbidities of musculoskeletal disorders in workers was analyzed. RESULTS: The inter-observer reliability (ICC) was in the range from 0.737 to 1.000, and intra-observer reliability (Spearman coefficient) was from 0.605 to 1.000. The order of exposure levels to risk factors of workers engaged in different jobs (QEC scores) in the shipyard factory was plumbers > assemblers > welders; The order of exposure levels to risk factors of workers engaged in different jobs (QEC scores) in the automobile factory was welders > punching workers > machinists > casters > assemblers. In different body parts, the exposure level at back and neck parts was the highest and the exposure level at the shoulder and wrist parts was the second. The regression analysis between QEC scores of body parts and the morbidities of musculoskeletal disorders showed that there was a good correlation between exposure levels and morbidities, the coefficients (r(2)) at the shoulder, wrist, and back (static work) were 0.670, 0.740 and 0.958, respectively (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The QEC method is suitable and reliable as demonstrated by the field assessment on the exposure to risk factors in shipyard and automobile workers, and its results is correlated closely to the disease prevalence.