α-Lipoic acid alleviates dextran sulfate sodium salt-induced ulcerative colitis via modulating the Keap1-Nrf2 signaling pathway and inhibiting ferroptosis.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronically relapsing inflammatory disease with severe diarrhea, fatigue and weight loss. α-Lipoic acid (LA), a well-known antioxidant, is able to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) and maintain a healthy cellular redox state. However, the role of LA in protecting IBD is still unclear. Hence the aim of this research was to investigate the protective effect of LA on dextran sulfate sodium salt-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) and its underlying mechanism. RESULTS: Here, our findings showed that LA significantly alleviated UC symptoms and the overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines in UC mice. In addition, LA treatment inhibited intestinal cell apoptosis by regulating the expression levels of p53/caspase-3 pathway-related protein in UC mice. Meanwhile, the inhibitory effects of LA on colonic oxidative stress and ferroptosis were revealed. Our study further demonstrated that LA treatment could regulate the Kelch-like ECH-associating protein 1 (Keap1)-nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling pathway. Interestingly, we confirmed that LA inhibited ferroptosis by attenuating endoplasmic reticulum stress and suppressing apoptosis in erastin-induced ferroptosis model in vitro. CONCLUSION: Taken together, this study's findings suggest that LA could be considered as a therapeutic agent protecting against IBD. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Quantum Phase Transitions in a Generalized Dicke Model.

We investigate a generalized Dicke model by introducing two interacting spin ensembles coupled with a single-mode bosonic field. Apart from the normal to superradiant phase transition induced by the strong spin-boson coupling, interactions between the two spin ensembles enrich the phase diagram by introducing ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases. The mean-field approach reveals a phase diagram comprising three phases: paramagnetic-normal phase, ferromagnetic-superradiant phase, and antiferromagnetic-normal phase. Ferromagnetic spin-spin interaction can significantly reduce the required spin-boson coupling strength to observe the superradiant phase, where the macroscopic excitation of the bosonic field occurs. Conversely, antiferromagnetic spin-spin interaction can strongly suppress the superradiant phase. To examine higher-order quantum effects beyond the mean-field contribution, we utilize the Holstein-Primakoff transformation, which converts the generalized Dicke model into three coupled harmonic oscillators in the thermodynamic limit. Near the critical point, we observe the close of the energy gap between the ground and the first excited states, the divergence of entanglement entropy and quantum fluctuation in certain quadrature. These observations further confirm the quantum phase transition and offer additional insights into critical behaviors.

Respiratory Variations in Peak Peripheral Artery Velocities and Waveforms for Rapid Assessment of Fluid Responsiveness in Traumatic Shock Patients.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to assess the correlation between the variability of the end-inspiratory and end-expiratory blood flow waveform and fluid responsiveness (FR) in traumatic shock patients who underwent mechanical ventilation by evaluating peripheral arterial blood flow parameters. MATERIAL AND METHODS A cohort of 60 patients with traumatic shock requiring mechanical ventilation-controlled breathing received ultrasound examinations to assess the velocity of carotid artery (CA), femoral artery (FA) and brachial artery (BA). A rehydration test was performed in which of 250 mL of 0.9% saline was administered within 30 min between the first and second measurement of cardiac output by echocardiography. Then, all patients were divided into 2 groups, a responsive group (FR+) and a non-responsive group (FR-). The velocity of end-inspiratory and end-expiratory peripheral arterial blood flow of all patients was ultrasonically measured, and the variability were measured between end-inspiratory and end-expiratory. RESULTS The changes in the end-inspiratory and end-expiratory carotid artery blood flow velocity waveforms of the FR+ groups were significantly different from those of the FR- group (P<0.001). A statistically significant difference in ΔVmax (CA), ΔVmax (BA), and ΔVmax (FA) between these 2 groups was found (all P<0.001). The ROC curve showed that DVmax (CA) and ΔVmax (BA) were more sensitive values to predict FR compared to ΔVmax (FA). The sensitivity of ΔVmax (CA), ΔVmax (FA), and ΔVmax (BA) was 70.0%, 86.7%, and 93.3%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The study showed that periodic velocity waveform changes in the end-inspiratory and end-expiratory peripheral arterial blood flow can be used for quick assessment of fluid responsiveness.

A modified procedure of single-level transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion reduces immediate post-operative symptoms: a prospective case-controlled study based on two hundred and four cases.

STUDY DESIGN: This is a prospective case-controlled study. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a modified transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) on the immediate post-operative symptoms in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH) accompanied with stenosis. METHODS: A total of 204 LDH patients with single-level TLIF were enrolled. According to the sequence of the placement of rods and cage, patients were divided into group R (rod-prior-to-cage) and group C (cage-prior-to-rod). Neurological function was evaluated by the Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score. Radiological assessment includes height of intervertebral space (HIS), foraminal height (FH), foraminal area (FA), and segmental lordosis (SL). Change of original symptoms (pain/numb) and new-onset symptoms (pain/numb) after surgery were also recorded. RESULTS: Patients in group R had less change of HIS at L3/4, L4/5, and L5/S1 levels compared with pre-operation (all p > 0.05), whereas group C had larger change (all p < 0.05). No statistical difference was found in FH between the two groups before and after surgery at L3/4, L4/5, and L5/S1, respectively (all p > 0.05). In terms of FA, patients in group R had better improvement after surgery than those in group C at L3/4 and L4/5 (both p < 0.05). Patients in both groups acquired good improvement of neurological function. However, there were fewer patients in group R who experienced post-operative leg pain or numb compared with those in group C (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The modified open TLIF can significantly reduce the incidence of immediate post-operative symptoms for patients with single-level lumbar disc herniation via installation of rods prior to insertion of cage and the "neural standard" should serve as the goal of decompression for spine surgeons to restore disc/foraminal height and to minimize nerve distraction.

Efficacy of High Specific Volume Polysaccharide - A New Type of Dietary Fiber - On Molecular Mechanism of Intestinal Water Metabolism in Rats With Constipation.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a new type of dietary fiber - high specific volume polysaccharide (HSVP) - on fecal properties, serum vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) concentration, intestinal flora count, and expression of the VIP-cAMP-PKA-AQP3 signaling pathway. MATERIAL AND METHODS Compound diphenoxylate was used in 48 healthy Wistar rats to establish a constipation model. Rats were divided into a normal control group, a constipation model group, an HSVP low-dose group, an HSVP medium-dose group, an HSVP high-dose group, and a fructose control group. We used colony count method, ELISA, WB, and RT-PCR to determine fecal moisture content, fecal hardness, fecal passage time, serum VIP concentration, number of intestinal bacteria, and VIP-cAMP-PKA-AQP3 signal pathway protein expression. RESULTS The constipation model was established successfully. HSVP (the medium dose was 10% and the high dose was 15%) improved fecal moisture content, reduced hardness, shortened fecal emptying time, increased intestinal bacteria, reduced serum VIP concentration, downregulated cAMP and PKAm RNA transcription, reduced protein expression, and reduced intestinal AQP3 expression. CONCLUSIONS HSVP improved constipation, increased the number of intestinal bacteria, and elevated expression of the VIP-cAMP-PKA-AQP3 signaling pathway. The mechanism of HSVP in regulating intestinal water metabolism in constipated rats may occur through the VIP-cAMP-PKA-AQP3 signaling pathway, and be closely related to changes in intestinal bacteria. The important role of the brain-gut-microbiome axis in the pathogenesis of constipation has been confirmed in this study.

Interleukin-32: its role in asthma and potential as a therapeutic agent.

Interleukin (IL)-32, also named natural killer cell transcript 4 (NK4), has increasingly been described as an immunoregulator that controls cell differentiation and cell death and is involved in the stimulation of anti-/pro-inflammatory cytokines. Abnormal presence of IL-32 has been repeatedly noticed during the pathogenesis of allergic, infectious, cancerous, and inflammatory diseases. Of particular note was the observation of the anti-inflammatory property of IL-32 in a murine ovalbumin model of allergic asthma. Compared to wild-type mice, IL-32γ transgenic mice show decreased levels of inflammatory cells, recruited eosinophils, and lymphocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in a mouse model of acute asthma. To date, the molecular mechanism underlying the role of IL-32 in asthma remains to be elucidated. This review aims to summarize recent advances in the pathophysiology of asthma and describe the links to IL-32. The possibilities of using IL-32 as an airway inflammation biomarker and an asthma therapeutic agent are also evaluated.

Delocalized Davydov D1 Ansatz for the Holstein polaron.

An efficient, yet very accurate trial wave function, constructed from projecting the well-known Davydov D1 Ansatz onto momentum eigenstates, is employed to study the ground state properties of the generalized Holstein Hamiltonian with simultaneous diagonal and off-diagonal coupling. Ground-state energies have been obtained with a precision matching that of the computationally much more demanding density-matrix renormalization group method. The delocalized D1 Ansatz lowers the ground-state energies at the Brillouin zone boundary significantly compared with the Toyozawa and Global-Local Ansätze in the weak coupling regime, while considerable improvement is demonstrated to have been achieved over the entire Brillouin zone in the strong coupling regime. Unique solutions are obtained with the delocalized D1 for different initial conditions when the transfer integral is 20 times the phonon frequency at the zone center, implying the absence of any self-trapping discontinuity. The scaled correlation variance is found to fit satisfactorily well with the predictions of the perturbation theories.

Dynamics of the sub-Ohmic spin-boson model: a time-dependent variational study.

The Dirac-Frenkel time-dependent variation is employed to probe the dynamics of the zero temperature sub-Ohmic spin-boson model with strong friction utilizing the Davydov D1 ansatz. It is shown that initial conditions of the phonon bath have considerable influence on the dynamics. Counterintuitively, even in the very strong coupling regime, quantum coherence features still manage to survive under the polarized bath initial condition, while such features are absent under the factorized bath initial condition. In addition, a coherent-incoherent transition is found at a critical coupling strength α ≈ 0.1 for s = 0.25 under the factorized bath initial condition. We quantify how faithfully our ansatz follows the Schrödinger equation, finding that the time-dependent variational approach is robust for strong dissipation and deep sub-Ohmic baths (s ≪ 1).

Entanglement dynamics of two qubits coupled individually to Ohmic baths.

Developed originally for the Holstein polaron, the Davydov D1 ansatz is an efficient, yet extremely accurate trial state for time-dependent variation of the spin-boson model [N. Wu, L. Duan, X. Li, and Y. Zhao, J. Chem. Phys. 138, 084111 (2013)]. In this work, the Dirac-Frenkel time-dependent variational procedure utilizing the Davydov D1 ansatz is implemented to study entanglement dynamics of two qubits under the influence of two independent baths. The Ohmic spectral density is used without the Born-Markov approximation or the rotating-wave approximation. In the strong coupling regime finite-time disentanglement is always found to exist, while at the intermediate coupling regime, the entanglement dynamics calculated by Davydov D1 ansatz displays oscillatory behavior in addition to entanglement disappearance and revival.

Sub-Ohmic spin-boson model with off-diagonal coupling: ground state properties.

We have carried out analytical and numerical studies of the spin-boson model in the sub-ohmic regime with the influence of both the diagonal and the off-diagonal coupling accounted for, via the Davydov D1 variational ansatz. While a second-order phase transition is known to be exhibited by this model in the presence of diagonal coupling only, we demonstrate the emergence of a discontinuous first order phase transition upon incorporation of the off-diagonal coupling. A plot of the ground state energy versus magnetization highlights the discontinuous nature of the transition between the isotropic (zero magnetization) state and nematic (finite magnetization) phases. We have also calculated the entanglement entropy and a discontinuity found at a critical coupling strength further supports the discontinuous crossover in the spin-boson model in the presence of off-diagonal coupling. It is further revealed via a canonical transformation approach that for the special case of identical exponents for the spectral densities of the diagonal and the off-diagonal coupling, there exists a continuous crossover from a single localized phase to doubly degenerate localized phase with differing magnetizations.

Current knowledge of the immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in Whipple disease: a review.

Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) is characterized by exaggerated and dysregulated inflammatory responses that occur as a result of reconstitution of adaptive or innate immunity. A wide range of microorganisms have been found to be associated with IRIS, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Mycobacterium and actinobacteria. Whipple disease (WD) is an infectious disorder caused by the Gram-positive bacterium Tropheryma whipplei (T. whipplei) and IRIS also serves as a complication during its treament. Although many of these pathological mechanisms are shared with related inflammatory disorders, IRIS in WD exhibits distinct features and is poorly described in the medical literature. Novel investigations of the intestinal mucosal immune system have provided new insights into the pathogenesis of IRIS, elucidating the interplay between systemic and local immune responses. These insights may be used to identify monitoring tools for disease prevention and to develop treatment strategies. Therefore, this review synthesizes these new concepts in WD IRIS to approach the feasibility of manipulating host immunity and immune reconstitution of inflammatory syndromes from a newer, more comprehensive perspective and study hypothetical options for the management of WD IRIS.

Research progress of biomaterials and innovative technologies in urinary tissue engineering.

Substantial interests have been attracted to multiple bioactive and biomimetic biomaterials in recent decades because of their ability in presenting a structural and functional reconstruction of urinary tissues. Some innovative technologies have also been surging in urinary tissue engineering and urological regeneration by providing insights into the physiological behavior of the urinary system. As such, the hierarchical structure and tissue function of the bladder, urethra, and ureter can be reproduced similarly to the native urinary tissues. This review aims to summarize recent advances in functional biomaterials and biomimetic technologies toward urological reconstruction. Various nanofirous biomaterials derived from decellularized natural tissues, synthetic biopolymers, and hybrid scaffolds were developed with desired microstructure, surface chemistry, and mechanical properties. Some growth factors, drugs, as well as inorganic nanomaterials were also utilized to enhance the biological activity and functionality of scaffolds. Notably, it is emphasized that advanced approaches, such as 3D (bio) printing and organoids, have also been developed to facilitate structural and functional regeneration of the urological system. So in this review, we discussed the fabrication strategies, physiochemical properties, and biofunctional modification of regenerative biomaterials and their potential clinical application of fast-evolving technologies. In addition, future prospective and commercial products are further proposed and discussed.

Third-order square-root topological insulators on decorated diamond sonic crystals.

The square-root operation can generate novel topological phases, whose nontrivial topological properties are inherited from the parent Hamiltonian. Here we report the acoustic realization of third-order square-root topological insulators by adding additional resonators between the site resonators of original diamond lattice. Due to the square-root operation, multiple acoustic localized modes appear in doubled bulk gaps. The bulk polarizations of the tight-binding models are employed to reveal the topological feature of the higher-order topological states. By tuning the coupling strength, we find the emergence of third-order topological corner states in doubled bulk gaps on tetrahedron-like and rhombohedron-like sonic crystals, respectively. The shape dependence of square-root corner states provides an extra degree of freedom for flexible manipulation on the sound localization. Furthermore, the robustness of the corner states in three-dimensional (3D) square-root topological insulator is well elucidated by introducing random disorders into the irrelevant bulk region of the proposed 3D lattices. This work extends square-root higher-order topological states into 3D system, and may find possible applications in selective acoustic sensors.

Polaronic discontinuities induced by off-diagonal coupling.

In this paper, we study a form of the Holstein molecular crystal model in which the influence of lattice vibrations on the transfers of electronic excitations between neighboring sites (off-diagonal coupling) is taken into account. Using the Toyozawa Ansatz and the Lanczos algorithm, the Holstein Hamiltonian with two types of off-diagonal coupling is studied focusing on a number of analyticity issues in the ground state. For finite-sized lattices and antisymmetric coupling, a sequence of discontinuities are found in the polaron energy dispersion, the size of the ground-state phonon cloud, and the linearized von Neumann entropy used to quantify the quantum entanglement between the exciton and the phonons in the ground state. Such behavior is accompanied by a shift of the ground-state crystal momentum from zero to nonzero values as the coupling strength is increased. In the thermodynamic limit, all discontinuities associated with antisymmetric coupling vanish except the one corresponding to the initial departure of the ground-state wavevector from the Brillouin zone center. For the case of symmetric off-diagonal coupling, a smooth crossover is found to exist in all parameters regimes.

[Research progress on healthcare-associated infection in patients with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation].

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), as an effecitive life support technique, is widely used in patients with respiratory and/or cardiac failure. Infection, with a prevalence of approximately 21% in adult patients with ECMO, is one of the most common complications and has a significant impact on mortality. Early identification of infections, and accurate prevention and anti-infective therapies for ECMO patients can improve their survival, but there is a lack of standardized protocols for recognition, diagnosis, management, prevention and treatment of the infections. By analyzing a series of literatures on healthcare-associated infections in patients with ECMO, the epidemiology, pathogens, risk factors, diagnosis, prevention and treatment were summarized to provide a theoretical background for the early identification, diagnosis and patient management of nosocomial infections.

Role of a mixed probiotic product, VSL#3, in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a multifactorial disease. The incidence of this type of cancer in younger patients has increased in recent years, and more strategies are needed to prevent and delay the progression of CRC. Probiotics play an adjunctive role in the prevention and treatment of CRC and can not only prevent the onset and delay the progression of disease but also reduce the side effects after the application of anti-cancer drugs. The anti-cancer effect of individual probiotics has been extensively studied, and the exact curative effect of various probiotics has been found, but the anti-cancer effect of mixed probiotics is still not well summarized. In this review, we discuss the positive effects of mixed probiotics on CRC and the related mechanisms of action, especially VSL#3 (VSL Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD, USA), thus providing new ideas for the treatment of CRC. Moreover, we suggest the need to search for more therapeutic possibilities, especially via the research and application of synbiotics and postbiotics.

Mapping theme trends and recognizing hot spots in viral pneumonia: a bibliometric analysis of global research.

BACKGROUND: The challenges that viral pneumonia poses to the global public health system remain daunting. In this study, an analysis of publications on viral pneumonia over the past two decades was conducted. Through this work, we hope to provide inspiration for future research on viral pneumonia. METHODS: We extracted all of the English publications relevant to viral pneumonia published during 1999-2019 from Web of Science. GraphPad Prism, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer were used to collect and analyze the publication trends in related fields. RESULTS: We identified 2,006 publications with 62,155 citations as of February 16, 2021. The United States accounted for the largest number of publications (34.2%), with the highest number of citations (27,616) and the highest h-index (78). China ranked second in the number of publications. Ctr Dis Control & Prevent proved to be the center of research cooperation. Clinical Infectious Diseases included the most papers published relating to the topic of viral pneumonia. Chan KH published the most papers in this field (25), while an article from Fouchier RAM presented the highest citation frequency (1,275). CONCLUSIONS: According to the bibliometric analysis database and related software results, the United States dominates the field of viral pneumonia research. The key term extracted by VOSviewer has shifted to "Diagnosis and management", indicating a new trend for viral pneumonia research.

Rapidly progressive Guillain-Barré syndrome following amitriptyline overdose and severe Klebsiella pneumoniae infection: A case report and literature review.

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a potentially life-threatening post-infectious autoimmune disease characterized by rapidly progressive symmetrical weakness of the extremities. Herein, we report a case of GBS associated with drug poisoning complicated by Klebsiella pneumoniae infection. A 38-year-old woman was admitted to the intensive care unit after taking an overdose of amitriptyline and was later diagnosed with coma, Klebsiella pneumoniae infection, and septic shock. Thirteen days after admission, she was diagnosed with GBS based on acute muscle pain, flaccid paralysis, hyporeflexia, reduced amplitude of compound muscle action potential, and albuminocytologic dissociation in the cerebrospinal fluid. GBS rarely occurs after a drug overdose and septic shock, and this is the first report of a rapidly progressive GBS following amitriptyline overdose and severe Klebsiella pneumoniae infection.

Corrigendum: Potential clinical impact of metagenomic next-generation sequencing of plasma for cervical spine injury with sepsis in ICU: A retrospective study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.948602.].

Potential clinical impact of metagenomic next-generation sequencing of plasma for cervical spine injury with sepsis in intensive care unit: A retrospective study.

Cervical spine injury (CSI) accounts for significant mortality in the intensive care unit (ICU), whereas sepsis remains one of the major causes of death in patients with CSI. However, there is no effective method to diagnose sepsis timely. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) on the pathogen features and the prognostic prediction of CSI patients with sepsis. A total of 27 blood samples from 17 included patients were tested by mNGS. Data of mNGS were compared with the conventional culture method. The Kaplan-Meier plots were used to visualize survival curves. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify independent prognostic factors for survival. Results showed that mNGS detected a wide spectrum of pathogens in CSI patients with sepsis, including 129 bacterial species, 8 viral species, and 51 fungal species. mNGS indicated 85.2% positive results, while the conventional culture method only showed 11.1% positive results in the blood samples. Further analyses revealed that mNGS had no prognostic effect on the septic CSI patients in ICU, whereas positive results of blood culture were closely correlated with an increased hazard ratio (HR) (HR 77.7067, 95%CI 2.860-2641.4595, p = 0.0155). Our results suggested that the mNGS application may provide evidence for clinicians to use antibiotics when a CSI case is diagnosed with sepsis.