Revitalizing myocarditis treatment through gut microbiota modulation: unveiling a promising therapeutic avenue.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that gut microbiota plays an important role in the development and treatment of different cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, and atherosclerosis. Furthermore, evidence from recent studies has shown that gut microbiota contributes to the development of myocarditis. Myocarditis is an inflammatory disease that often results in myocardial damage. Myocarditis is a common cause of sudden cardiac death in young adults. The incidence of myocarditis and its associated dilated cardiomyopathy has been increasing yearly. Myocarditis has gained significant attention on social media due to its association with both COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccinations. However, the current therapeutic options for myocarditis are limited. In addition, little is known about the potential therapeutic targets of myocarditis. In this study, we review (1) the evidence on the gut-heart axis, (2) the crosslink between gut microbiota and the immune system, (3) the association between myocarditis and the immune system, (4) the impact of gut microbiota and its metabolites on myocarditis, (5) current strategies for modulating gut microbiota, (6) challenges and future directions for targeted gut microbiota in the treatment of myocarditis. The approach of targeting the gut microbiota in myocarditis is still in its infancy, and this is the study to explore the gut microbiota-immune system-myocarditis axis. Our findings are expected to pave the way for the use of gut microbiota as a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of myocarditis.

Design of online formative assessment of nursing humanities curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic: A teaching practice research.

BACKGROUND: Under the digital transformation trend nursing education, online formative assessment (OFA) provides a new opportunity. However, the OFA of nursing humanities course lacks design and practice, and faces the challenge of enhancing effective communication between teachers and students, student participation and autonomous learning. OBJECTIVES: To enhance the reliability of OFA in nursing humanities courses and provide practical experience for online teaching in the nursing profession. DESIGN: A quantitative research approach was used. SETTING: This study was conducted in a comprehensive university in China. PARTICIPANTS: We conducted teaching practice on 185 nursing undergraduates, with 89 students in the experimental group, and 96 students in the control group. METHODS: In the 2020-2021 multicultural nursing course, student learning outcomes and questionnaires were analyzed through the online learning tool Superstar Learning, student feedback and satisfaction questionnaires, and descriptive analysis and independent sample t-tests were conducted using SPSS 25.0 software. RESULTS: The OFA of students using Superstar Learning differed in learning performance and time to receive feedback from teachers between the experimental and control groups, and both groups had higher satisfaction levels. The experimental group's instructional design contained a synchronous classroom discussion module with better participation. CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of online learning tools can support the implementation of OFA, build an environment where teachers and students participate together, have a positive impact on the continuous updating of teachers' teaching programs and students' learning outcomes. Simultaneous classroom discussions are expected to be an effective way to improve the reliability of OFA. Our instructional design, provides best practice suggestions for future online teaching and learning.

PRPF19 Limits Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Replication through Targeting and Degrading Viral Capsid Protein.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) indicates the disease of the acute and highly contagious intestinal infection due to porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), with the characteristics of watery diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration. One of the reasons for diarrhea and death of piglets is PEDV, which leads to 100% mortality in neonatal piglets. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the interaction between virus and host to prevent and control PEDV. This study indicated that the host protein, pre-mRNA processing factor 19 (PRPF19), could be controlled by the signal transducer as well as activator of transcription 1 (STAT1). Thus, PEDV replication could be hindered through selective autophagy. Moreover, PRPF19 was found to recruit the E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH8 to the N protein for ubiquitination. For the purpose of degradation, the ubiquitin N protein is acknowledged by the cargo receptor NDP52 and transported to autolysosomes, thus inhibiting virus proliferation. To conclude, a unique antiviral mechanism of PRPF19-mediated virus restriction was shown. Moreover, a view of the innate immune response and protein degradation against PEDV replication was provided in this study. IMPORTANCE The highly virulent porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) emerged in 2010, and causes high mortality rates in newborn pigs. There are no effective and safe vaccines against the highly virulent PEDV. This virus has caused devastating economic losses in the pork industry worldwide. Studying the relationship between virus and host antiviral factors is important to develop the new antiviral strategies. This study identified the pre-mRNA processing factor 19 (PRPF19) as a novel antiviral protein in PEDV replication and revealed its viral restriction mechanisms for the first time. PRPF19 recruited the E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH8 to the PEDV N protein for ubiquitination, and the ubiquitin N protein was acknowledged by the cargo receptor NDP52 and transported to autolysosomes for degradation. Our findings provide new insights in host antiviral factors PRPF19 that regulate the selective autophagy protein degradation pathway to inhibit PEDV replication.

Metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease and coronavirus disease 2019: clinical relationship and current management.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2). At present, the COVID-19 has been prevalent worldwide for more than a year and caused more than four million deaths. Liver injury was frequently observed in patients with COVID-19. Recently, a new definition of metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) was proposed by a panel of international experts, and the relationship between MAFLD and COVID-19 has been actively investigated. Several previous studies indicated that the patients with MAFLD had a higher prevalence of COVID-19 and a tendency to develop severe type of respiratory infection, and others indicated that liver injury would be exacerbated in the patients with MAFLD once infected with COVID-19. The mechanism underlying the relationship between MAFLD and COVID-19 infection has not been thoroughly investigated, and recent studies indicated that multifactorial mechanisms, such as altered host angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor expression, direct viral attack, disruption of cholangiocyte function, systemic inflammatory reaction, drug-induced liver injury, hepatic ischemic and hypoxic injury, and MAFLD-related glucose and lipid metabolic disorders, might jointly contribute to both of the adverse hepatic and respiratory outcomes. In this review, we discussed the relationship between MAFLD and COVID-19 based on current available literature, and summarized the recommendations for clinical management of MAFLD patients during the pandemic of COVID-19.

Improved Prediction of Polar Motions by Piecewise Parameterization

On seanonal timescale, the variation of Earth rotation is mainly regulated by angular momentum exchanges between the solid Earth and the fluidal atmosphere, ocean and hydrosphere. In the 2nd EOP PCC, we developed Dill2019's method for polar motion prediction, using piecewise autoagressive parameters. The maximum prediction errors within 90 days are 36 and 16 mas for polar motion x and y components, respectively. Compared with Bulletin A, the mean absolute error of polar motion y prediction is improved by 20% in all timescale, and with a maximum improvement of 49% on the 5th day. Whereas, for polar motion x, the performance is slightly better (2% - 8%) within 30 days but worse (−7%~ −19%) within 30~90 days. We found that the prediction accuracy is very sensitive to the quality of the angular momentum data. For example, on average, the prediction of polar motion y is around 2 times better than polar motion x. In addition, we found the accuracy of 30-90 days prediction is dramatically decreased in the year 2020. We suspect that such deterioration might be due to the pandemic of coronavirus COVID-19, which suppressed global airline activities by more than 60%, then result in a lose of air-borne meteorological data, which are important for weather forecast.

hnRNP K Degrades Viral Nucleocapsid Protein and Induces Type I IFN Production to Inhibit Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Replication.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a re-emerging enteric coronavirus currently spreading in several nations and inflicting substantial financial damages on the swine industry. The currently available coronavirus vaccines do not provide adequate protection against the newly emerging viral strains. It is essential to study the relationship between host antiviral factors and the virus and to investigate the mechanisms underlying host immune response against PEDV infection. This study shows that heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP K), the host protein determined by the transcription factor KLF15, inhibits the replication of PEDV by degrading the nucleocapsid (N) protein of PEDV in accordance with selective autophagy. hnRNP K was found to be capable of recruiting the E3 ubiquitin ligase, MARCH8, aiming to ubiquitinate N protein. Then, it was found that the ubiquitinated N protein could be delivered into autolysosomes for degradation by the cargo receptor NDP52, thereby inhibiting PEDV proliferation. Moreover, based on the enhanced MyD88 expression, we found that hnRNP K activated the interferon 1 (IFN-1) signaling pathway. Overall, the data obtained revealed a new mechanism of hnRNP K-mediated virus restriction wherein hnRNP K suppressed PEDV replication by degradation of viral N protein using the autophagic degradation pathway and by induction of IFN-1 production based on upregulation of MyD88 expression. IMPORTANCE The spread of the highly virulent PEDV in many countries is still leading to several epidemic and endemic outbreaks. To elucidate effective antiviral mechanisms, it is important to study the relationship between host antiviral factors and the virus and to investigate the mechanisms underlying host immune response against PEDV infection. In the work, we detected hnRNP K as a new host restriction factor which can hinder PEDV replication through degrading the nucleocapsid protein based on E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH8 and the cargo receptor NDP52. In addition, via the upregulation of MyD88 expression, hnRNP K could also activate the interferon (IFN) signaling pathway. This study describes a previously unknown antiviral function of hnRNP K and offers a new vision toward host antiviral factors that regulate innate immune response as well as a protein degradation pathway against PEDV infection.

Agricultural Production Networks and Upgrading from a Global-Local Perspective: A Review

The COVID-19 pandemic, extreme temperatures and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have exposed deficiencies in global agricultural production capacity and governance systems, which left low-income countries and regions to face more severe food insecurity. Thus, there is an urgent need for agricultural upgrading and the establishment of a more sustainable agricultural system. Although there is a large body of literature with rich theoretical and empirical case studies, there is still a lack of systematic analysis of these studies, and the summary of global agricultural production networks and the agricultural upgrading process is not sufficient. This article will first set up an organisational framework of global agricultural production networks and explore the implications of governance and agricultural upgrading within this framework. It will then summarise the local agricultural upgrading processes on global, national and local scales based on a review of the existing literature. The article argues that agricultural upgrading in the context of global linkages is mainly driven by private-sector standards while the state also plays multiple roles. Moreover, in the embedding process of global agricultural production networks into local areas, local actors can promote agricultural upgrading through capacity building and organisational innovation. This review has implications for the economic, social and environmental sustainability of agriculture in developing countries, and provides a reference for future research.

ATG4B hinders porcine epidemic diarrhea virus replication through interacting with TRAF3 and activating type-I IFN signaling.

Autophagy-related 4B (ATG4B) is found to exert a vital function in viral replication, although the mechanism through which ATG4B activates type-I IFN signaling to hinder viral replication remains to be explained, so far. The current work revealed that ATG4B was downregulated in porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV)-infected LLC-PK1 cells. In addition, ATG4B overexpression inhibited PEDV replication in both Vero cells and LLC-PK1 cells. On the contrary, ATG4B knockdown facilitated PEDV replication. Moreover, ATG4B was observed to hinder PEDV replication by activating type-I IFN signaling. Further detailed analysis revealed that the ATG4B protein targeted and upregulated the TRAF3 protein to induce IFN expression via the TRAF3-pTBK1-pIRF3 pathway. The above data revealed a novel mechanism underlying the ATG4B-mediated viral restriction, thereby providing novel possibilities for preventing and controlling PEDV.

Nuclear ribonucleoprotein RALY targets virus nucleocapsid protein and induces autophagy to restrict porcine epidemic diarrhea virus replication.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes diarrhea and dehydration in pigs and leads to great economic losses in the commercial swine industry. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of host response to viral infection remain unclear. In the present study, we investigated a novel mechanism by which RALY, a member of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein family, significantly promotes the degradation of the PEDV nucleocapsid (N) protein to inhibit viral replication. Furthermore, we identified an interaction between RALY and the E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH8 (membrane-associated RING-CH 8), as well as the cargo receptor NDP52 (nuclear dot protein 52 kDa), suggesting that RALY could suppress PEDV replication by degrading the viral N protein through a RALY-MARCH8-NDP52-autophagosome pathway. Collectively, these results suggest a preventive role of RALY against PEDV infection via the autophagy pathway and open up the possibility of inducing RALY in vivo as an effective prophylactic and preventive treatment for PEDV infection.

COVID-19 vaccination for patients with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes.

AIM: There is a high demand for information on COVID-19 vaccination for patients with childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS). Patients with this condition need a stable, daily life; unfortunately, the decision of vaccination is not easy for their parents. We evaluated patients with BECTS for symptoms and seizure control after COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS: We asked the caregivers of all patients who visited our hospital to report their vaccination status, and if vaccinated, their experience in terms of adverse effects and seizure control after the second dose of the four Chinese-approved COVID-19 vaccines. RESULTS: Seventy-seven children had received their second COVID-19 vaccine dose: 58 of 77 (75.3%) received Sinopharm (Beijing): BBIBP-CorV (Vero cells) and 16 (20.8%) received CanSino: Ad5-nCoV. Twenty of seventy-seven (25.97%) patients with BECTS reported having side effects; all effects were mild that could be relieved themselves. For Sinopharm (Beijing): BBIBP-CorV (Vero cells), the most frequent local side effect reported by the parents was pain at the site of injection (17.24%) and systematic side effect was fatigue (15.52%). For CanSino: Ad5-nCoV, the most reported local side effect was pain at the site of injection (6.25%). All parents reported that their child's side effects could be relieved by themselves. No patient reported status epilepticus or exacerbation of a pre-existing condition. If non-vaccinated, the cause of hesitation was explored: 40% of parents worried about inducing seizures, 19% of parents worried about vaccine side effects, 32% of parents worried about the vaccine-antiepileptic drug interactions, and 9% of parents feared for their child's physical condition. More than 34.1% of parents accepted that the decision to get the vaccine for their child was difficult. Over 90% of parents believe that research on the safety and tolerability of vaccination would help them to make the decision. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that COVID-19 vaccination is well tolerated and safe in patients below 18 years of age having BECTS, thereby supporting the recommendation of vaccination.

FUBP3 Degrades the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Nucleocapsid Protein and Induces the Production of Type I Interferon.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is the globally distributed alphacoronavirus that can cause lethal watery diarrhea in piglets, causing substantial economic damage. However, the current commercial vaccines cannot effectively the existing diseases. Thus, it is of great necessity to identify the host antiviral factors and the mechanism by which the host immune system responds against PEDV infection required to be explored. The current work demonstrated that the host protein, the far upstream element-binding protein 3 (FUBP3), could be controlled by the transcription factor TCFL5, which could suppress PEDV replication through targeting and degrading the nucleocapsid (N) protein of the virus based on selective autophagy. For the ubiquitination of the N protein, FUBP3 was found to recruit the E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH8/MARCHF8, which was then identified, transported to, and degraded in autolysosomes via NDP52/CALCOCO2 (cargo receptors), resulting in impaired viral proliferation. Additionally, FUBP3 was found to positively regulate type-I interferon (IFN-I) signaling and activate the IFN-I signaling pathway by interacting and increasing the expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor 3 (TRAF3). Collectively, this study showed a novel mechanism of FUBP3-mediated virus restriction, where FUBP3 was found to degrade the viral N protein and induce IFN-I production, aiming to hinder the replication of PEDV. IMPORTANCE PEDV refers to the alphacoronavirus that is found globally and has re-emerged recently, causing severe financial losses. In PEDV infection, the host activates various host restriction factors to maintain innate antiviral responses to suppress virus replication. Here, FUBP3 was detected as a new host restriction factor. FUBP3 was found to suppress PEDV replication via the degradation of the PEDV-encoded nucleocapsid (N) protein via E3 ubiquitin ligase MARCH8 as well as the cargo receptor NDP52/CALCOCO2. Additionally, FUBP3 upregulated the IFN-I signaling pathway by interacting with and increasing tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor 3 (TRAF3) expression. This study further demonstrated that another layer of complexity could be added to the selective autophagy and innate immune response against PEDV infection are complicated.

TARDBP Inhibits Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Replication through Degrading Viral Nucleocapsid Protein and Activating Type I Interferon Signaling.

In global infection and serious morbidity and mortality, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has been regarded as a dreadful porcine pathogen, but the existing commercial vaccines are not enough to fully protect against the epidemic strains. Therefore, it is of great necessity to feature the PEDV-host interaction and develop efficient countermeasures against viral infection. As an RNA/DNA protein, the trans-active response DNA binding protein (TARDBP) plays a variety of functions in generating and processing RNA, including transcription, splicing, transport, and mRNA stability, which have been reported to regulate viral replication. The current work aimed to detect whether and how TARDBP influences PEDV replication. Our data demonstrated that PEDV replication was significantly suppressed by TARDBP, regulated by KLF16, which targeted its promoter. We observed that through the proteasomal and autophagic degradation pathway, TARDBP inhibited PEDV replication via the binding as well as degradation of PEDV-encoded nucleocapsid (N) protein. Moreover, we found that TARDBP promoted autophagic degradation of N protein via interacting with MARCHF8, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, as well as NDP52, a cargo receptor. We also showed that TARDBP promoted host antiviral innate immune response by inducing interferon (IFN) expression through the MyD88-TRAF3-IRF3 pathway during PEDV infection. In conclusion, these data revealed a new antiviral role of TARDBP, effectively suppressing PEDV replication through degrading virus N protein via the proteasomal and autophagic degradation pathway and activating type I IFN signaling via upregulating the expression of MyD88. IMPORTANCE PEDV refers to the highly contagious enteric coronavirus that has quickly spread globally and generated substantial financial damage to the global swine industry. During virus infection, the host regulates the innate immunity and autophagy process to inhibit virus infection. However, the virus has evolved plenty of strategies with the purpose of limiting IFN-I production and autophagy processes. Here, we identified that TARDBP expression was downregulated via the transcription factor KLF16 during PEDV infection. TARDBP could inhibit PEDV replication through the combination as well as degradation of PEDV-encoded nucleocapsid (N) protein via proteasomal and autophagic degradation pathways and promoted host antiviral innate immune response by inducing IFN expression through the MyD88-TRAF3-IRF3 pathway. In sum, our data identify a novel antiviral function of TARDBP and provide a better grasp of the innate immune response and protein degradation pathway against PEDV infection.

Treatment of COVID-19 anxiety by auricular points: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: In December 2019, a series of acute, atypical respiratory diseases was identified in Wuhan, China. The source of the illnesses was attributed to a novel coronavirus, named the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the subsequent disease it causes was named the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Evidence from previous coronavirus outbreaks has shown that infected patients are at risk for developing psychiatric and mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. METHODS: According to the retrieval strategies, randomized controlled trials on auricular points for anxiety in patients with coronavirus 2019 will be obtained from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang Data, Chinese Scientific Journals Database, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library, regardless of publication date or language. Studies will be screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the Cochrane risk bias assessment tool will be used to evaluate the quality of the literature. The network meta-analysis will be performed with the Markov chain Monte Carlo method and carried out with Stata 14.2 and WinBUGS 1.4.3 software. Ultimately, the quality of the evidence obtained from the results will be evaluated. RESULTS: This study will evaluate whether auricular points can effectively treat anxiety in patients with COVID-19. CONCLUSION: This study will provide evidence for whether auricular points is beneficial to the treatment of anxiety in patients with COVID-19. INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42022302649.

Impact of a long-term air pollution exposure on the case fatality rate of COVID-19 patients-A multicity study.

Evidence in the literature suggests that air pollution exposure affects outcomes of patients with COVID-19. However, the extent of this effect requires further investigation. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between long-term exposure to air pollution and the case fatality rate (CFR) of patients with COVID-19. The data on air quality index (AQI), PM2.5, PM10, SO2 , NO2 , and O3 from 14 major cities in China in the past 5 years (2015-2020) were collected, and the CRF of COVID-19 patients in these cities was calculated. First, we investigated the correlation between CFR and long-term air quality indicators. Second, we examined the air pollutants affecting CFR and evaluated their predictive values. We found a positive correlation between the CFR and AQI (1, 3, and 5 years), PM2.5 (1, 3, and 5 years), and PM10 (1, 3, and 5 years). Further analysis indicated the more significant correlation for both AQI (3 and 5 years) and PM2.5 (1, 3, and 5 years) with CFR, and moderate predictive values for air pollution indicators such as AQI (1, 3, and 5 years) and PM2.5 (1, 3, and 5 years) for CFR. Our results indicate that long-term exposure to severe air pollution is associated with higher CFR of COVID-19 patients. Air pollutants such as PM2.5 may assist with the prediction of CFR for COVID-19 patients.