Evolutionary Landscape of Tea Circular RNAs and Its Contribution to Chilling Tolerance of Tea Plant.

Chilling stress threatens the yield and distribution pattern of global crops, including the tea plant (Camellia sinensis), one of the most important cash crops around the world. Circular RNA (circRNA) plays roles in regulating plant growth and biotic/abiotic stress responses. Understanding the evolutionary characteristics of circRNA and its feedbacks to chilling stress in the tea plant will help to elucidate the vital roles of circRNAs. In the current report, we systematically identified 2702 high-confidence circRNAs under chilling stress in the tea plant, and interestingly found that the generation of tea plant circRNAs was associated with the length of their flanking introns. Repetitive sequences annotation and DNA methylation analysis revealed that the longer flanking introns of circRNAs present more repetitive sequences and higher methylation levels, which suggested that repeat-elements-mediated DNA methylation might promote the circRNAs biogenesis in the tea plant. We further detected 250 differentially expressed circRNAs under chilling stress, which were functionally enriched in GO terms related to cold/stress responses. Constructing a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA interaction network discovered 139 differentially expressed circRNAs harboring potential miRNA binding sites, which further identified 14 circRNAs that might contribute to tea plant chilling responses. We further characterized a key circRNA, CSS-circFAB1, which was significantly induced under chilling stress. FISH and silencing experiments revealed that CSS-circFAB1 was potentially involved in chilling tolerance of the tea plant. Our study emphasizes the importance of circRNA and its preliminary role against low-temperature stress, providing new insights for tea plant cold tolerance breeding.

Clinical efficacy of Danshen preparation in the treatment of vascular cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Danshen preparations are widely used in the treatment of ischaemic cerebrovascular disease. However, the clinical efficacy of such preparations remains unclear. Consequently, Danshen preparations are used to a lesser extent in vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). Aim of the study: In this study, we aimed to systematically assess the clinical efficacy and safety of Danshen preparations in VCI. To this end, we examined and performed a meta-analysis (MA) of the evidence available from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of Danshen preparations conducted in patients with VCI. Methods: We queried the following sources and collected all articles reporting on RCTs of Danshen preparations published prior to December 2021: PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, Chongqing VIP Database (CQVIP), and China Biology Medicine (CBM) disc databases. The assessment of treatments that were included in references were performed by RevMan 5.2 software based on guidelines from Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Results: We included a total of 12 RCTs that included data on clinical therapeutic effects. The evaluation criteria included the following: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), modified Rankin Scale (mRS), Barthel Index (BI), Mini-Mental State Assessment (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA), Activities of Daily Living Scale (ADL), treatment effect index, and incidence of adverse reaction index. In the included studies, the observation groups included 656 cases and the control groups included 660 cases. The results of the MA were as follows: the mean difference (MD) value after combining the effect size for NIHSS was -2.91, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of -4.22 to -1.59; the combined effect quantity hypothesis test revealed that Z = 4.33 (p < 0.00001), indicating that the score pertaining to the degree of neurological deficit (NIHSS) in the observation group after treatment was significantly lower than that in the control group. This result reveals that treatment with a Danshen preparation can reduce neurological deficit in VCI patients. The MD value after combining the effect size for mRS was -0.73, with a 95% CI of -0.85 to -0.61; the result of the combined effect quantity hypothesis test revealed that Z = 12.29 (p < 0.00001). These results indicate that the degree of disability was significantly reduced after treatment in the observation group. The MD value after combining the effect size for MMSE was 2.09, with a 95% CI of 0.33-3.84; the result of the combined effect quantity hypothesis test showed that Z = 2.33 (p = 0.02). These results indicate that the cognitive function score (MMSE) of the observation group after treatment was significantly higher than that of the control group and suggests that the cognitive function of VCI patients was improved after treatment with Danshen preparations. The MD value after combining the effect size for ADL was 8.79, with a 95% CI of 3.52 to 14.06; the result of the combined effect quantity hypothesis test indicated that Z = 3.27 (p = 0.001). These results showed that the life ability (ADL scale) scores of patients in the observation group after treatment were significantly higher than those in the control group, and reveals that after treatment with Danshen preparations, patients exhibited significant improvement in life ability. The MD value after combining the effect size for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was -3.21, with a 95% CI of -4.21 to -2.22; the result of the combined effect quantity hypothesis test showed that Z = 6.31 (p < 0.00001), indicating that the hs-CRP level in the observation group was significantly decreased after treatment. The MD value after combining the effect size for interleukin (IL)-6 was -2.95, with a 95% CI of -3.86 to -2.04; the result of the combined effect quantity hypothesis test showed that Z = 6.36 (p < 0.00001). These results showed that the IL-6 level in the observation group was significantly decreased after treatment. Conclusion: The existing clinical evidence shows that Danshen preparations exert significant therapeutic effects on VCI patients and can ameliorate inflammatory conditions in these patients. In addition, Danshen preparations are relatively safe.

Treatment of lateral epicondylitis with acupuncture and glucocorticoid: A retrospective cohort study.

Lateral epicondylitis (LE) is a common musculoskeletal disorder for which an effective treatment strategy remains unknown. The goal of this study is to examine whether acupuncture is more effective than injection of glucocorticoid in adults with LE.Adults with LE received either acupuncture or injection of glucocorticoid were followed-up for 6 months. All patients assessed before treatment, 0, 3 months, and 6 months after the therapy. Outcome measures consisted of visual analog scores (VAS) and the Mayo elbow performance score (MEPS).The acupuncture group and the corticosteroid group did not differ on demographic or clinical characteristics (P < .05). VAS and MEPS score was not significantly different between 2 groups at 0 and 3 months. MEPS scores were significantly lower in the corticosteroid group at 6 months, compared with those in the acupuncture group (P < .05). However, the VAS score was not significantly different (P > .05). There were no complications related to the use of acupuncture or corticosteroid injection.We found that both methods were effective for external humeral epicondylitis. However, after 6 months of treatment, patients with chronic LE with acupuncture achieved pain relief and function improve significantly, exceeding the effect of corticosteroid injection.