Virtual Position Guided Strategy for Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithms on Multimodal Problems.

Premature convergence is a thorny problem for particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms, especially on multimodal problems, where maintaining swarm diversity is crucial. However, most enhancement strategies for PSO, including the existing diversity-guided strategies, have not fully addressed this issue. This paper proposes the virtual position guided (VPG) strategy for PSO algorithms. The VPG strategy calculates diversity values for two different populations and establishes a diversity baseline. It then dynamically guides the algorithm to conduct different search behaviors, through three phases - divergence, normal, and acceleration - in each iteration, based on the relationships among these diversity values and the baseline. Collectively, these phases orchestrate different schemes to balance exploration and exploitation, collaboratively steering the algorithm away from local optima and towards enhanced solution quality. The introduction of 'virtual position' caters to the strategy's adaptability across various PSO algorithms, ensuring the generality and effectiveness of the proposed VPG strategy. With a single hyperparameter and a recommended usual setup, VPG is easy to implement. The experimental results demonstrate that the VPG strategy is superior to several canonical and the state-of-the-art strategies for diversity guidance, and is effective in improving the search performance of most PSO algorithms on multimodal problems of various dimensionalities.

Characteristics of groundwater microbial communities' structure under the impact of elevated nitrate concentrations in north China plain.

In groundwater environments, the interaction between microbial communities and the hydrogeochemical parameters have been investigated extensively in the past years. However, little is known whether the maximum contamination level (MCL) is a threshold value that dictates the microbial composition. In this study, we analyzed 10 groundwater samples for their nitrate, nitrite, COD and sulfate concentrations, and characterized their microbial compositions using 16 S rRNA based high-throughput sequencing methods. All the 10 samples had oxygen demands higher than the corresponding MCL of China (10 mg L-1); moreover, 4 out of 10 samples also had nitrate concentrations higher than the corresponding MCL, which indicated that the groundwater quality was negatively impacted by anthropogenic activities. Comparing the microbial composition of groundwater that had higher-than-MCL nitrate concentrations to those that had lower-than-MCL nitrate concentrations, no significant differences were detected in communities' richness and diversity. However, the non-metric multi-dimensional analysis suggested that the 4 groundwater samples whose nitrate concentration exceed MCL are distinctly different from those of the rest 6 samples, indicating that MCL does have a significant impact on microbial structures. Pearson's correlation analysis suggested that none of the four analyzed hydrochemical parameters had significant impact on microbial communities' richness and diversity; however, at the genus level, the correlation results suggested that JG30-KM-CM45, Sphingomonas and Rhodococcus are closely correlated with nitrate concentration. The findings of this study deepened our understanding with respect to the relationships between the environmental quality indices and the microbial compositions of groundwater.

Microplastics contamination in groundwater of a drinking-water source area, northern China.

Although the contamination of microplastics (MPs) in groundwater has been anticipated, their occurrence, distribution, and composition require further understanding. In this study, the occurrence and distributions of MPs were investigated in shallow groundwater from an important water source district in Tianjin city of northern China. The abundance, the physical morphology, the chemical composition, and the potential correlations of the determined MPs with human activities were thoroughly characterized. MPs were determined from all ten sampling sites with the abundance ranged between 17.0 ± 2.16 to 44.0 ± 1.63 n/L, revealing the ubiquitous existed MPs contamination. Based on the physical categorization, fiber (44.74%) was the most abundant shape, while blue (31.02%) and transparent (26.09%) were the most prevalent colors. The dominant size of MPs was smaller than 200 µm which accounted for 73.10%. A total of seven types of MPs were determined with polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polystyrene as the main types, of which, polypropylene showed strong positive correlations with polystyrene, indicating the possible similar sources of them. Besides, the determined MPs in groundwater were greater in areas with the high population density and strong population activity, indicating their high correlation with human activity. The study highlighted the presence of MPs in groundwater of drinking water source in northern China and provided useful information for evaluating the potential ecological effects on water quality safety and human health brought by MPs.

Influence on denitrifying community performance by the long-term exposure to sulfamethoxazole and chlortetracycline in the continuous-flow EGSB reactors.

The response of the denitrification community to long-term antibiotic exposure requires further investigation. Here, the significantly altered denitrifying community structure and function were observed by continuous exposure to 1 mg/L sulfamethoxazole (SMZ) or chlortetracycline (CTC) for 180 d in the expanded granular sludge bed reactors. Thaurea, positively correlated with SMZ and NO3- removal efficiency (NrE), was highly enriched in the SMZ-added reactor, while, Comamons and Acinetobacter were largely inhibited. The acute inhibited and then gradual-recovered NrE (87.17-90.38 %) was observed with highly expressed narG, indicating the adaptability of Thaurea to SMZ. However, the abundance of Thaurea and Comamonas greatly decreased, while Melioribacter and Acinetobacter were largely enriched in the CTC-added reactor. CTC created more serious and continuous inhibition of NO3- reduction (NrE of 64.53-66.95 %), with lowly expressed narG. Improved NO2- reduction capacity was observed in both reactors (70.16-95.42 %) with highly expressed nirS and nosZ, revealing the adaptability of NO2- reduction populations to antibiotics.

MOV10 inhibits replication of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus by retaining viral nucleocapsid protein in the cytoplasm of Marc-145 cells.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) has been a major threat to global industrial pig farming ever since its emergence in the late 1980s. Identification of sustainable and effective control measures against PRRSV transmission is a pressing problem. The nucleocapsid (N) protein of PRRSV is specifically localized in the cytoplasm and nucleus of virus-infected cells which is important for PRRSV replication. In the current study, a new host restricted factor, Moloney leukemia virus 10-like protein (MOV10), was identified as an inhibitor of PRRSV replication. N protein levels and viral replication were significantly reduced in Marc-145 cells stably overexpressing MOV10 compared with those in wild-type Marc-145 cells. Adsorption experiments revealed that MOV10 did not affect the attachment and internalization of PRRSV. Co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence co-localization analyses showed that MOV10 interacted and co-localized with the PRRSV N protein in the cytoplasm. Notably, MOV10 affected the distribution of N protein in the cytoplasm and nucleus, leading to the retention of N protein in the former. Taken together, these findings demonstrate for the first time that MOV10 inhibits PRRSV replication by restricting the nuclear import of N protein. These observations have great implications for the development of anti-PRRSV drugs and provide new insight into the role of N protein in PRRSV biology.

Using the entrapment sequence method as a standard to evaluate key steps of proteomics data analysis process.

BACKGROUND: The mass spectrometry based technical pipeline has provided a high-throughput, high-sensitivity and high-resolution platform for post-genomic biology. Varied models and algorithms are implemented by different tools to improve proteomics data analysis. The target-decoy searching strategy has become the most popular strategy to control false identification in peptide and protein identifications. While this strategy can estimate the false discovery rate (FDR) within a dataset, it cannot directly evaluate the false positive matches in target identifications. RESULTS: As a supplement to target-decoy strategy, the entrapment sequence method was introduced to assess the key steps of mass spectrometry data analysis process, database search engines and quality control methods. Using the entrapment sequences as the standard, we evaluated five database search engines for both the origanal scores and reprocessed scores, as well as four quality control methods in term of quantity and quality aspects. Our results showed that the latest developed search engine MS-GF+ and percolator-embeded quality control method PepDistiller performed best in all tools respectively. Combined with efficient quality control methods, the search engines can improve the low sensitivity of their original scores. Moreover, based on the entrapment sequence method, we proved that filtering the identifications separately could increase the number of identified peptides while improving the confidence level. CONCLUSION: In this study, we have proved that the entrapment sequence method could be an useful strategy to assess the key steps of the mass spectrometry data analysis process. Its applications can be extended to all steps of the common workflow, such as the protein assembling methods and data integration methods.

The Wnt/ß-catenin and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways promote EMT in gastric cancer by epigenetic regulation via H3 lysine 27 acetylation.

In this study, we investigated the underlying mechanism of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt- and Wnt/ß-catenin-mediated promotion of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition by epigenetic regulation of histone acetylation in gastric cancer. First, we used immunohistochemistry to detect the expression of phosphorylated Akt, phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta, and ß-catenin in gastric cancer tissues and adjacent tissues. In addition, we confirmed that the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt and Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathways were correlated with tumorigenesis, progression, and maintenance of gastric cancer using the phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 and an inhibitor of the ß-catenin/TCF4 complex, FH535. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition-related gene expression was measured by western blotting and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assays. Furthermore, we detected the acetylation of histone H3 lysine 4 and lysine 27 using the FH535 and LY294002 inhibitors at different concentrations for 24 and 48 h. Finally, chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to detect the specific binding of H3K27ac to the promoter of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition-related factor, Twist. Taken together, abnormal activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt and Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway was correlated with the gastric cancer progression and contributed to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition regulation by controlling histone acetylation.

Comparison and analysis on the serum-binding characteristics of aspirin-zinc complex and aspirin.

This study was designed to compare the protein-binding characteristics of aspirin-zinc complex (AZN) with those of aspirin itself. AZN was synthesized and interacted with a model transport protein, human serum albumin (HSA). Three-dimensional fluorescence, ultraviolet-visible and circular dichroism (CD) spectra were used to characterize the interaction of AZN with HSA under physiological conditions. The interaction mechanism was explored using a fluorescence quenching method and thermodynamic calculation. The binding site and binding locality of AZN on HSA were demonstrated using a fluorescence probe technique and Förster non-radiation energy transfer theory. Synchronous fluorescence and CD spectra were employed to reveal the effect of AZN on the native conformation of the protein. The HSA-binding results for AZN were compared with those for aspirin under consistent experimental conditions, and indicated that aspirin acts as a guide in AZN when binding to Sudlow's site I, in subdomain IIA of the HSA molecule. Moreover, compared with aspirin, AZN showed greater observed binding constants with, but smaller changes in the α-helicity of, HSA, which proved that AZN might be easier to transport and have less toxicity in vivo.

Site-directed topical lidocaine spray attenuates perioperative respiratory adverse events in children undergoing elective surgery.

BACKGROUND: Perioperative respiratory adverse events (PRAEs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality associated with pediatric anesthesia. Topical lidocaine administration reduces risk of PRAE in children undergoing elective endotracheal intubation. However, definitive evidence of its efficacy remains elusive, due, in part, to the wide variability in the methodology for spraying topical lidocaine. In this randomized controlled double-blind clinical trial, we sought to evaluate the effect of site-directed topical airway lidocaine, sprayed directly onto supraglottic, glottis, and subglottic areas, on the incidence of PRAE. METHODS: The study population consisted of 322 children (age range, 6 mo-12 y), who were scheduled for an elective surgical procedure under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation. Patients were randomly assigned to receive topical spray of lidocaine (group L) or saline (group S) over the supraglottic, glottis and subglottic areas under direct vision before tracheal intubation. Incidence of PRAE and time to extubation was recorded. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant intergroup differences with regard to baseline demographics, patient characteristics, and surgical parameters. Group L was associated with a significantly lower incidence of PRAE as compared with group S (12.80% versus 38.13%, respectively; P < 0.001). Similarly, the incidence of laryngospasm (1.7% versus 8.1%; P = 0.01), excessive coughing (4.3% versus 13.2%; P = 0.005), and oxygen desaturation <95% (6.8% versus 16.9%; P = 0.005), respectively, was significantly lower in group L. However, time to extubation was longer in group L as compared with that in group S (18.6 ± 7.7 min versus 21.3 ± 8.9 min; P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Site-directed topical spray of lidocaine over supraglottic, glottis, and subglottic areas before tracheal intubation significantly reduced the incidence of PRAE and a prolongation of extubation time in children.

Effect of glutamate on the vestibulo-solitary projection after sodium nitroprusside-induced hypotension in conscious rats.

Orthostatic hypotension is most common in elderly people, and its prevalence increases with age. Attenuation of the vestibulo-sympathetic reflex (VSR) is commonly associated with orthostatic hypotension. In this study, we investigated the role of glutamate on the vestibulo-solitary projection of the VSR pathway to clarify the pathophysiology of orthostatic hypotension. Blood pressure and expression of both pERK and c-Fos protein were evaluated in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) after microinjection of glutamate into the medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) in conscious rats with sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-induced hypotension that received baroreceptor unloading via sinoaortic denervation (SAD). SNP-induced hypotension increased the expression of both pERK and c-Fos protein in the NTS, which was abolished by pretreatment with glutamate receptor antagonists (MK801 or CNQX) in the MVN. Microinjection of glutamate receptor agonists (NMDA or AMPA) into the MVN increased the expression of both pERK and c-Fos protein in the NTS without causing changes in blood pressure. These results indicate that both NMDA and AMPA receptors play a significant role in the vestibulo-solitary projection of the VSR pathway for maintaining blood pressure, and that glutamatergic transmission in this projection might play a key role in the pathophysiology of orthostatic hypotension.

Analysis of the Baroreceptor and Vestibular Receptor Inputs in the Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla following Hypotension in Conscious Rats.

Input signals originating from baroreceptors and vestibular receptors are integrated in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) to maintain blood pressure during postural movement. The contribution of baroreceptors and vestibular receptors in the maintenance of blood pressure following hypotension were quantitatively analyzed by measuring phosphorylated extracellular regulated protein kinase (pERK) expression and glutamate release in the RVLM. The expression of pERK and glutamate release in the RVLM were measured in conscious rats that had undergone bilateral labyrinthectomy (BL) and/or sinoaortic denervation (SAD) following hypotension induced by a sodium nitroprusside (SNP) infusion. The expression of pERK was significantly increased in the RVLM in the control group following SNP infusion, and expression peaked 10 min after SNP infusion. The number of pERK positive neurons increased following SNP infusion in BL, SAD, and BL+SAD groups, although the increase was smaller than seen in the control group. The SAD group showed a relatively higher reduction in pERK expression when compared with the BL group. The level of glutamate release was significantly increased in the RVLM in control, BL, SAD groups following SNP infusion, and this peaked 10 min after SNP infusion. The SAD group showed a relatively higher reduction in glutamate release when compared with the BL group. These results suggest that the baroreceptors are more powerful in pERK expression and glutamate release in the RVLM following hypotension than the vestibular receptors, but the vestibular receptors still have an important role in the RVLM.

Synthesis and characterization of impurities of barnidipine hydrochloride, an antihypertensive drug substance.

Barnidipine hydrochloride is a long term dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker used for the treatment of hypertension. During the process development of barnidipine hydrochloride, four barnidipine impurities were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with an ordinary column (Agilent ZORBAX Eclipse XDB-C18, 150 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µm). All these impurities were identified, synthesized, and subsequently characterized by their respective spectral data (MS, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR). The identification of these impurities should be useful for quality control in the manufacture of barnidipine.

Additive role of the vestibular end organ and baroreceptors on the regulation of blood pressure in rats.

Contribution of the vestibular end organ to regulation of arterial pressure was quantitatively compared with the role of baroreceptors in terms of baroreflex sensitivity and c-Fos protein expression in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM). Baroreflex sensitivity and c-Fos protein expression in the RVLM were measured in conscious rats that had undergone bilateral labyrinthectomy (BL) and/or baroreceptor unloading. BL attenuated baroreflex sensitivity during intravenous infusion of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), but did not significantly affect the sensitivity following infusion of phenylephrine (PE). Baroreflex sensitivity became positive following sinoaortic denervation (SAD) during infusion of PE and attenuated sensitivity during infusion of SNP. Baroreflex sensitivity also became positive following double ablation (BL+SAD) during infusion of PE, and attenuated sensitivity during infusion of SNP. c-Fos protein expression increased significantly in the RVLM in the sham group after SNP administration. However, the BL, SAD, and SAD+BL groups showed significant decreases in c-Fos protein expression compared with that in the sham group. The SAD group showed more reduced c-Fos protein expression than that in the BL group, and the SAD+BL group showed less expression than that in the SAD group. These results suggest that the vestibular system cooperates with baroreceptors to maintain arterial pressure during hypotension but that baroreceptors regulate arterial pressure during both hypotension and hypertension. Additionally, afferent signals for maintaining blood pressure from the vestibular end organs and the baroreceptors may be integrated in the RVLM.

Inhibitory Effect of PPARδ Agonist GW501516 on Proliferation of Hypoxia-induced Pulmonary Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells by Regulating the mTOR Pathway.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the effects of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ (PPARδ) agonist GW501516 on the proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) induced by hypoxia, in order to search for new drugs for the treatment and prevention of pulmonary vascular remodeling. METHODS: PASMCs were incubated with different concentrations of GW501516 (10, 30, 100 nmol/L) under the hypoxic condition. The proliferation was determined by a CCK-8 assay. The cell cycle progression was analyzed by flow cytometry. The expression of PPARδ, S phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2), and cell cycle-dependent kinase inhibitor p27 was detected by Western blotting. Then PASMCs were treated with 100 nmol/ L GW501516, 100 nmol/L mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor rapamycin and/or 2 µmol/L mTOR activator MHY1485 to explore the molecular mechanisms by which GW501516 reduces the proliferation of PASMCs. RESULTS: The presented data demonstrated that hypoxia reduced the expression of PPARδ in an oxygen concentration- and time-dependent manner, and GW501516 decreased the proliferation of PASMCs induced by hypoxia by blocking the progression through the G0/G1 to S phase of the cell cycle. In accordance with these findings, GW501516 downregulated Skp2 and upregulated p27 in hypoxia-exposed PASMCs. Further experiments showed that rapamycin had similar effects as GW501516 in inhibiting cell proliferation, arresting the cell cycle, regulating the expression of Skp2 and p27, and inactivating mTOR in hypoxia-exposed PASMCs. Moreover, MHY1485 reversed all the beneficial effects of GW501516 on hypoxia-stimulated PASMCs. CONCLUSION: GW501516 inhibited the proliferation of PASMCs induced by hypoxia through blocking the mTOR/Skp2/p27 signaling pathway.

[Pollution Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in PM2.5 of Different Air Masses During Heating Season in Tianjin].

In order to explore the pollution characteristics and health risks of heavy metals in PM2.5 in Tianjin, heavy metal samples (Pb, Cd, Cr, As, Zn, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, and V) in PM2.5 were analyzed from November 2020 to March 2021 using the Xact-625 heavy metal online analyzer. The spatial and temporal distribution characteristics were analyzed using the HYSPLIT model, and the health risks of heavy metals were analyzed using the US EPA risk assessment model. The results indicated that the average total concentration of the 10 heavy metal elements was (261.56±241.74) ng·m-3, among which the concentrations of Cr ï¼»converted Cr(Ⅵ)ï¼½ and As were higher than the annual average limit of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (GB 3095-2012). According to the back trajectory results, the medium-distance transmissions from northwest areas (NO.1), the long-distance transmissions from northwest areas (NO.2), the transmissions from southwest areas (NO.3), and the transmissions from northeast areas (NO.4) were the major sources in Tianjin City. The heavy metals of different air masses presented different pollution characteristics and health risks; the concentration of PM2.5, the total concentration of the 10 heavy metal elements, and the total carcinogenic risk of the five heavy metal elements of the NO.3 air mass were the highest, whereas the total non-carcinogenic risk of the 10 heavy metal elements of the NO.2 air mass was higher than that of the other two air mass. The health risk assessment showed that Mn posed non-carcinogenic risks to children, and Cr and As presented carcinogenic risk. Meanwhile, Cd of the NO.3 air masses also presented carcinogenic risk.

An Effective Swarm Intelligence Optimization Algorithm for Flexible Ligand Docking.

In general, flexible ligand docking is used for docking simulations under the premise that the position of the binding site is already known, and meanwhile it can also be used without prior knowledge of the binding site. However, most of the optimization search algorithms used in popular docking software are far from being ideal in the first case, and they can hardly be directly utilized for the latter case due to the relatively large search area. In order to design an algorithm that can flexibly adapt to different sizes of the search area, we propose an effective swarm intelligence optimization algorithm in this paper, called diversity-controlled Lamarckian quantum particle swarm optimization (DCL-QPSO). The highlights of the algorithm are a diversity-controlled strategy and a modified local search method. Integrated with the docking environment of Autodock, the DCL-QPSO is compared with Autodock Vina, Glide and other two Autodock-based search algorithms for flexible ligand docking. Experimental results revealed that the proposed algorithm has a performance comparable to those of Autodock Vina and Glide for dockings within a certain area around the binding sites, and is a more effective solver than all the compared methods for dockings without prior knowledge of the binding sites.

Neural network-based event-triggered data-driven control of disturbed nonlinear systems with quantized input.

This paper is devoted to design an event-triggered data-driven control for a class of disturbed nonlinear systems with quantized input. A uniform quantizer reconstructed with decreasing quantization intervals is employed to reduce the quantization error. A neural network-based estimation strategy is proposed to estimate both the pseudo partial derivative and disturbances. Consequently, an input triggering rule for single-input single-output systems is provided by incorporating the estimated disturbances, the quantization error bound and tracking errors. Resorting to the Lyapunov method, sufficient conditions for synthesized error systems to be uniformly ultimately bounded are presented. The validity of the proposed scheme is demonstrated via a simulation example.

Laparoscopic versus Conventional Open Surgery Approach of Tunica Vaginalis for Palpable Cryptorchidism.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the advantages of the laparoscopic approach of tunica vaginalis in the treatment of palpable cryptorchidism. STUDY DESIGN: Randomised clinical comparative study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Urology Surgery, Baoding Children's Hospital, Baoding, Hebei, China, from July 2019 to June 2020. METHODOLOGY: A total of 80 children admitted with palpable cryptorchidism were selected and randomly divided into two groups i.e. the experimental group and the control group, with 40 cases in each group. The experimental group were treated with a laparoscopic approach of tunica vaginalis, and the control group were treated with conventional open surgery. The perioperative indicators, proportion with testicular external fixation, surgical effect, testicular development (6 months postoperative), and incidence of complications were compared. RESULTS: The postoperative ambulation and discharge time of the experimental group were significantly shorter than the control group (p<0.001). The external fixation rate of the control group was higher than the experimental group (p=0.02). The effective rate of the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group (p=0.03). The re-examination performed, 6 months postoperatively, showed that the testicular volume in the experimental group was significantly higher than in the control group (p=0.03). The incidence of the surgical complications in the experimental group was significantly lower than in the control group (p=0.04). CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic approach of tunica vaginalis is effective in the treatment of palpable cryptorchidism and more conducive to testicular development. It has the advantages of less injury, less complications, quick postoperative recovery, more adequate spermatic cord dissociation, and well-preserved testicular blood supply. KEY WORDS: Laparoscopic approach of tunica vaginalis, Palpable cryptorchidism, Treatment.

cGAS Restricts PRRSV Replication by Sensing the mtDNA to Increase the cGAMP Activity.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an RNA virus that causes great economic losses globally to the swine industry. Innate immune RNA receptors mainly sense it during infection. As a DNA sensor, cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) plays an important role in sensing cytosolic DNA and activating innate immunity to induce IFN-I and establish an antiviral cellular state. In contrast, the role of innate immune DNA sensors during PRRSV infection has not been elucidated. In this study, we found that cGAS facilitates the production of IFN-ß during PRRSV infection. Western blot and virus titer assays suggested that cGAS overexpression suppressed the replication of multiple PRRSV strains, while knockout of cGAS increased viral titer and nucleocapsid protein expression. Besides, our results indicated that the mitochondria were damaged during PRRSV infection and leaked mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) into the cytoplasm. The mtDNA in the cytoplasm co-localizes with the cGAS, and the cGAMP activity was increased when the cGAS was overexpressed during PRRSV infection. Furthermore, the cGAMP also possesses an anti-PRRSV effect. These results indicate for the first time that cGAS restricts PRRSV replication by sensing the mtDNA in the cytoplasm to increase cGAMP activity, which not only explains the molecular mechanism by which cGAS inhibits PRRSV replication but also provides research ideas for studying the role of the cGAS-STING signaling pathway in the process of RNA virus infection.

Cavernous hemangioma of the ileum in a young man: A case report and review of literature.

BACKGROUND: Small intestinal cavernous hemangioma is a rare disease, especially in the ileum. It is difficult to accurately diagnose due to its hidden location and nonspecific clinical symptoms. Here, we reported a case of ileal cavernous hemangioma with chronic hemorrhage in a 20-year-old man and review the literature to gain a better understanding of this disease. CASE SUMMARY: The patient complained of intermittent melena and hematochezia for > 3 mo. The lowest hemoglobin level revealed by laboratory testing was 3.4 g/dL (normal range: 12-16 g/dL). However, the gastroscopy, colonoscopy and peroral double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) showed no signs of bleeding. The transanal DBE detected a lesion at about 340 cm proximal to the ileocecal valve. Thus, we performed an exploratory laparoscopy and the lesion was resected. After the operation, the patient had no melena. Finally, the pathological examination identified the neoplasm as an ileal cavernous hemangioma, thereby resulting in gastrointestinal hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: This report might improve the diagnosis and treatment of ileal cavernous hemangioma.