Aberrant cortical morphology patterns are associated with cognitive impairment in patients with chronic heart failure.

A mounting body of evidences suggests that patients with chronic heart failure (HF) frequently experience cognitive impairments, but the neuroanatomical mechanism underlying these impairments remains elusive. In this retrospective study, 49 chronic HF patients and 49 healthy controls (HCs) underwent brain structural MRI scans and cognitive assessments. Cortical morphology index (cortical thickness, complexity, sulcal depth and gyrification) were evaluated. Correlations between cortical morphology and cognitive scores and clinical variables were explored. Logistic regression analysis was employed to identify risk factors for predicting 3-year major adverse cardiovascular events. Compared with HCs, patients with chronic HF exhibited decreased cognitive scores (p < .001) and decreased cortical thickness, sulcal depth and gyrification in brain regions involved cognition, sensorimotor, autonomic nervous system (family-wise error correction, all p values <.05). Notably, HF duration and New York Heart Association (NYHA) demonstrated negative correlations with abnormal cortex morphology, particularly HF duration and thickness in left precentral gyrus (r = -.387, p = .006). Cortical morphology characteristics exhibited positive associations with global cognition, particularly cortical thickness in left pars opercularis (r = .476, p < .001). NYHA class is an independent risk factor for adverse outcome (p = .001). The observed correlation between abnormal cortical morphology and global cognition suggested that cortical morphology may serve as a promising imaging biomarker and provide insights into neuroanatomical underpinnings of cognitive impairment in patients with chronic HF.

Macrod1 suppresses diabetic cardiomyopathy via regulating PARP1-NAD+-SIRT3 pathway.

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM), one of the most serious long-term consequences of diabetes, is closely associated with oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis in the heart. MACRO domain containing 1 (Macrod1) is an ADP-ribosylhydrolase 1 that is highly enriched in mitochondria, participating in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we investigated the role of Macrod1 in DCM. A mice model was established by feeding a high-fat diet (HFD) and intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). We showed that Macrod1 expression levels were significantly downregulated in cardiac tissue of DCM mice. Reduced expression of Macrod1 was also observed in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs) treated with palmitic acid (PA, 400 µM) in vitro. Knockout of Macrod1 in DCM mice not only worsened glycemic control, but also aggravated cardiac remodeling, mitochondrial dysfunction, NAD+ consumption and oxidative stress, whereas cardiac-specific overexpression of Macrod1 partially reversed these pathological processes. In PA-treated NRCMs, overexpression of Macrod1 significantly inhibited PARP1 expression and restored NAD+ levels, activating SIRT3 to resist oxidative stress. Supplementation with the NAD+ precursor Niacin (50 µM) alleviated oxidative stress in PA-stimulated cardiomyocytes. We revealed that Macrod1 reduced NAD+ consumption by inhibiting PARP1 expression, thereby activating SIRT3 and anti-oxidative stress signaling. This study identifies Macrod1 as a novel target for DCM treatment. Targeting the PARP1-NAD+-SIRT3 axis may open a novel avenue to development of new intervention strategies in DCM. Schematic illustration of macrod1 ameliorating diabetic cardiomyopathy oxidative stress via PARP1-NAD+-SIRT3 axis.

Effects of grating stimulation on vision in individuals with amblyopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of Cambridge Stimulator with grating element stimulation on visual acuity (VA), grating acuity (GA), and contrast sensitivity (CS) in patients with amblyopia. METHODS: Three electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library) were searched for studies published from January 1970 to November 2022. The searched studies were reviewed and extracted independently by two authors. The included studies were evaluated by the Cochrane risk of bias. A meta-analysis calculating Hedges' g effect-size metric with 95% confidence intervals using random-effects DerSimonian-Laird model was employed. Heterogeneity was estimated using I2 statistics. Outcomes of interest included VA, GA, and CS. RESULTS: A total of 1221 studies were identified. Twenty-four studies including 900 subjects met the inclusion criteria. The outcome measure of all visual indexes (VA: Hedges' g of - 0.43, 95% CI = - 0.81 to - 0.05, I2 = 86%, p = 0.02; GA: Hedges' g of 3.79, 95% CI = 1.05 to 6.54, I2 = 98%, p = 0.01; CS: Hedges' g of 0.64, 95% CI = 0.19 to 1.09, I2 = 41%, p = 0.00) significantly favored in the grating group. CONCLUSIONS: Grating stimulation may be a positive help for visual functions in patients with amblyopia. The effects of grating stimulation on VA and CS appear to be opposite. This study is registered with www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ (CRD42022366259).

Thiol-functionalized black carbon as effective and economical materials for Cr(VI) removal: Simultaneous sorption and reduction.

Hazardous Cr(VI) continues to pose critical concerns for environmental and public health, demanding the development of effective remediation methods. In this study, thiol-functionalized black carbon (S-BC) was proposed for Cr(VI) removal by mixing thioglycolic acid (TGA) with black carbon (BC) derived from rice straw residue at 80 °C for 8 h. Using a 1:40 (g mL-1) BC-to-TGA ratio, the resulting S-BC40 sample demonstrated significantly enhanced Cr(VI) sorption capacities of 201.23, 145.78, and 106.60 mg g-1 at pH 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5, surpassing its BC counterpart by 2.0, 2.3, and 2.2 times. Additionally, S-BC40 converted all sorbed Cr into Cr(III) species at pH ≥ 5.5, resulting in an equal distribution of Cr(OH)3 and organic Cr(III) complexes. However, approximately 13% of Cr sorbed on BC remained as Cr(VI) at pH 3.5 and 7.5. Both C-centered and S-centered thiyl radicals might contribute to Cr(VI) reduction; however, sufficient C-S groups replenished via thiol-functionalization was the key for the complete Cr(VI) reduction on S-BC samples as pH ≥ 5.5. Thanks to the exceptional Cr(VI) sorption capacity, affordability, and accessibility, thiol-functionalization stands out as a promising modification method for BC. It presents a distinct opportunity to concurrently achieve the objectives of efficient Cr(VI) remediation and waste recycling.

Species selection as a key factor in the afforestation of coastal salt-affected lands: Insights from pot and field experiments.

Soil salinization is a significant global issue that leads to land degradation and loss of ecological function. In coastal areas, salinization hampers vegetation growth, and forestation efforts can accelerate the recovery of ecological functions and enhance resilience to extreme climates. However, the salinity tolerance of tree species varies due to complex biological factors, and results between lab/greenhouse and field studies are often inconsistent. Moreover, in salinized areas affected by extreme climatic and human impacts, afforestation with indigenous species may face adaptability challenges. Therefore, it is crucial to select appropriate cross-species salinity tolerance indicators that have been validated in the field to enhance the success of afforestation and reforestation efforts. This study focuses on five native coastal tree species in Taiwan, conducting afforestation experiments on salt-affected soils mixed with construction and demolition waste. It integrates short-term controlled experiments with potted seedlings and long-term field observations to establish growth performance and physiological and biochemical parameters indicative of salinity tolerance. Results showed that Heritiera littoralis Dryand. exhibited the highest salinity tolerance, accumulating significant leaf proline under increased salinity. Conversely, Melia azedarach Linn. had the lowest tolerance, evidenced by complete defoliation and reduced biomass under salt stress. Generally, the field growth performance of these species aligns with the results of short-term pot experiments. Leaf malondialdehyde content from pot experiments proved to be a reliable cross-species salinity tolerance indicator, correlating negatively with field relative height growth and survival rates. Additionally, parameters related to the photosynthetic system or water status, measured using portable devices, also moderately indicated field survival, aiding in identifying potential salt-tolerant tree species. This study underscores the pivotal role of species selection in afforestation success, demonstrating that small-scale, short-term salinity control experiments coupled with appropriate assessment tools can effectively identify species suitable for highly saline and degraded environments. This approach not only increases the success of afforestation but also conserves resources needed for field replanting and maintenance, supporting sustainable development goals.

One-Step Construction of 1,3,4-Oxadiazoles with Anticancer Activity from Tertiary Amines via a Sequential Copper(I)-Catalyzed Oxidative Ugi/aza-Wittig Reaction.

An unparalleled copper(I)-catalyzed synthesis of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles from tertiary amines in one step has been described. The one-pot reactions involving (N-isocyanimine)triphenylphosphorane, tertiary amines, and carboxylic acids resulted in the formation of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles in moderate to good yields through a consecutive oxidative Ugi/aza-Wittig reaction, enabling the direct functionalization of sp3 C-H bonds adjacent to the nitrogen atom. This method offered several notable advantages, including ligands-free, exceptional productivity and a high functional group tolerance. The preliminary biological evaluation demonstrated that compound 4f inhibited hepatoma cells efficiently, suggesting potentially broad applications of the approach for synthesis and medicinal chemistry.

All-Orders Quadratic-Logarithmic Behavior for Amplitudes.

We classify origin limits of maximally helicity violating multigluon scattering amplitudes in planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, where a large number of cross ratios approach zero, with the help of cluster algebras. By analyzing existing perturbative data and bootstrapping new data, we provide evidence that the amplitudes become the exponential of a quadratic polynomial in the large logarithms. With additional input from the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz at strong coupling, we conjecture exact expressions for amplitudes with up to eight gluons in all origin limits. Our expressions are governed by the tilted cusp anomalous dimension evaluated at various values of the tilt angle.

Antipodal Self-Duality for a Four-Particle Form Factor.

We bootstrap the symbol of the maximal-helicity-violating four-particle form factor for the chiral part of the stress-tensor supermultiplet in planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory at two loops. When minimally normalized, this symbol involves only 34 letters and obeys the extended Steinmann relations in all partially overlapping three-particle momentum channels. In addition, the remainder function for this form factor exhibits an antipodal self-duality: It is invariant under the combined operation of the antipodal map defined on multiple polylogarithms-which reverses the order of the symbol letters-and a simple kinematic map. This self-duality holds on a four-dimensional parity-preserving kinematic hypersurface. It implies the antipodal duality recently noticed between the three-particle form factor and the six-particle amplitude in this theory.

Discovery of structural diverse reversible BTK inhibitors utilized to develop a novel in vivo CD69 and CD86 PK/PD mouse model.

For the past two decades, BTK a tyrosine kinase and member of the Tec family has been a drug target of significant interest due to its potential to selectively treat various B cell-mediated diseases such as CLL, MCL, RA, and MS. Owning to the challenges encountered in identifying drug candidates exhibiting the potency block B cell activation via BTK inhibition, the pharmaceutical industry has relied on the use of covalent/irreversible inhibitors to address this unmet medical need. Herein, we describe a medicinal chemistry campaign to identify structurally diverse reversible BTK inhibitors originating from HITS identified using a fragment base screen. The leads were optimized to improve the potency and in vivo ADME properties resulting in a structurally distinct chemical series used to develop and validate a novel in vivo CD69 and CD86 PD assay in rodents.

Dimension-Dependent Phase Transitions, Ferroelasticity, and Photoluminescence in Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Materials.

[(CH3)3P(CH2)2OH]2Cd3(SCN)8 (1) and [(CH3)3P(CH2)2OH]Cd(SCN)3 (2) were obtained with completely different structures and properties under the same synthesis conditions. Compound 1, showing green fluorescence, has a rare three-dimensional 4,6-connected fsh topology having (43.63)2(46.66.83) Schläfli notation, while compound 2 with blue-violet phosphorescence displays a one-dimensional perovskite structure with an infinite {[Cd(SCN)3]-}∞ chain and exhibits both ferroelastic and dielectric switching characteristics.

Inhibition of continuous cropping obstacle of celery by chemically modified biochar: An efficient approach to decrease bioavailability of phenolic allelochemicals.

The accumulation of allelochemicals released by plants is commonly found in continuous monocropping systems. These chemicals, such as phenolic acids, were shown to be the major sources of autotoxin or pathogen accumulation in soils, leading to a direct or indirect continuous cropping obstacle. In this study, three types of agricultural residuals, i.e., rice husk, tea waste, and wood meal, were chosen as feedstocks. Biochar samples were prepared from these feedstocks to examine their abilities to remove gallic acid, a representative phenolic acid. Biochar, which was prepared from wood meal soaked with H3PO4 (1:1.5, w/w) and pyrolyzed at 400 °C (symbolized as WP400), exhibited the highest adsorption capacities of gallic acids and other phenolic acids. The mechanisms of phenolic acid removal by WP400 were evaluated via experimental and spectroscopic investigations to elucidate the notable adsorption capacity of WP400. The adsorption of gallic acids was pH-dependent and followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The combination of high surface area, the existence of O-containing groups, and the enhancement of H bonds between CC groups and phenolic acids may contribute to the high adsorption capacity of WP400. In a pot experiment, we found that celery growth was promoted with the addition of 0.3% (w/w) WP400 to soils that were continuously monocropped with celery. A large decrease in the water-soluble phenolic compound by more than 40% may be responsible for the results. However, WP400 scavenged nitrate, and this study showed that the synergistic actions of WP400 and nutrients exhibited the greatest efficiencies in mitigating the continuous cropping obstacles of celery.

Effects of sous vide cooking combined with ultrasound pretreatment on physicochemical properties and microbial communities of Russian sturgeon meat (Acipenser gueldenstaedti).

BACKGROUND: The production of Russian sturgeon is expanding rapidly in China but it is necessary to adopt measures to extend the shelf life of sturgeon meat. Previous studies found that sous vide cooking (SVC) at 60 °C increased the protein and lipid oxidation. The addition of antioxidant substances reduced the acceptance of the product. The effect of combination SVC and ultrasound pretreatment was therefore investigated. RESULTS: Results showed that SVC at 50 °C combined with ultrasound effectively restrained the growth of total viable counts (TVC) in samples. Meanwhile, the main dominant genera changed from Pseudomonas to Carnobacterium and the number of microbial species decreased. The odor profile of Russian sturgeon meat was more stable and the lipoxygenase (LOX) activity decreased more rapidly after treating with SVC and ultrasound. Importantly, more stable protein aggregates were formed in samples treated by SVC 50 °C together with ultrasound pretreatment, so the protein and lipid oxidation were slowed during storage. Higher springiness values were obtained and the color of sturgeon meat was lighter under these conditions. CONCLUSION: The combination of SVC 50 °C and ultrasound pretreatment effectively inhibited the microbial growth of Russian sturgeon meat at lower oxidation levels. These findings theoretically support the preservation and development of sturgeon meat, and the application of SVC technology. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Genome-wide identification of associations between enhancer and alternative splicing in human and mouse.

BACKGROUND: Alternative splicing (AS) increases the diversity of transcriptome and could fine-tune the function of genes, so that understanding the regulation of AS is vital. AS could be regulated by many different cis-regulatory elements, such as enhancer. Enhancer has been experimentally proved to regulate AS in some genes. However, there is a lack of genome-wide studies on the association between enhancer and AS (enhancer-AS association). To bridge the gap, here we developed an integrative analysis on a genome-wide scale to identify enhancer-AS associations in human and mouse. RESULT: We collected enhancer datasets which include 28 human and 24 mouse tissues and cell lines, and RNA-seq datasets which are paired with the selected tissues. Combining with data integration and statistical analysis, we identified 3,242 human and 7,716 mouse genes which have significant enhancer-AS associations in at least one tissue. On average, for each gene, about 6% of enhancers in human (5% in mouse) are associated to AS change and for each enhancer, approximately one gene is identified to have enhancer-AS association in both human and mouse. We found that 52% of the human significant (34% in mouse) enhancer-AS associations are the co-existence of homologous genes and homologous enhancers. We further constructed a user-friendly platform, named Visualization of Enhancer-associated Alternative Splicing (VEnAS, http://venas.iis.sinica.edu.tw/ ), to provide genomic architecture, intuitive association plot, and contingency table of the significant enhancer-AS associations. CONCLUSION: This study provides the first genome-wide identification of enhancer-AS associations in human and mouse. The results suggest that a notable portion of enhancers are playing roles in AS regulations. The analyzed results and the proposed platform VEnAS would provide a further understanding of enhancers on regulating alternative splicing.

Cross-redox and simultaneous removal of Cr(VI) and As(III): Influences of Fe(II), Fe(III), oxalic acid, and dissolved organic carbon.

Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] and arsenite [As(III)] are hazardous to both human and ecosystem. While their cross-redox reaction decreases both their toxicities, the interferences from ubiquitous substances like Fe (Fe(II) and Fe(III)) and organic compounds (oxalic acid and soil-extracted dissolved organic carbon (DOC)) on such interaction are rarely reported; thence, inspires the investigation in this study. Results showed that the cross-redox, in the absence of interfering substances, only occurred at pH≤2.0, with reaction orders of 0.676 and 0.783 in respect to the concentration of Cr(VI) and As(III). The pseudo-reaction constant, k', of such reaction was recorded at 0.087 m1.377/(mmol0.459 min). With the addition of Fe(II), the rate of Cr(VI) reduction is promoted in conjunction with suppressed As(III) oxidation. Upon neutralizing to pH 6.0, such reduced Cr can be entirely removed via Fe(II)-assisted adsorption and/or co-precipitation. Meanwhile, the elimination of aqueous As is relatively inferior (36 %), attributed to the largely preserved As(III), which is less susceptible to adsorptive/co-precipitative removal. Unlike Fe(II), Fe(III) did not alter Cr(VI)-As(III) cross-redox path, but triggered high adsorptive and/or co-precipitative removals of Cr and As (90 %). In contrast, both organically-altered systems exhibits plummeted As(III) oxidation, under distinctive mechanisms: oxalic acid competes with As(III) in the redox interactions while DOC reduces As(V) into As(III). Also, DOC would undergo complexion with metals and/or blocked the adsorption or co-precipitation sites, leading to even lower Cr and As precipitation. This study unravelled the interference from ubiquitous species in the co-removal of Cr(VI) and As(III), which provides insightful remediation for heavy metal contaminations.

Root Rot Disease of Torreya grandis Caused by Fusarium fujikuroi in China.

Torreya grandis is an evergreen plant endemic of China and widely grown in Southern China. Its fruit is a precious nut in China, rich in vitamins and minerals, can be directly eaten, can also be used as medicinal plants with functions of lowering blood lipids and softening blood vessels (Wang 2022). From 2018 to 2020, typical root rot symptoms of Torreya grandis was found in plantations in Huangshan and surrounding areas of Huangshan, Anhui province, China. About 15 to 32% of root rot disease incidence was recorded at the plantation. Diseased plants were observed with symptoms such as yellow to brownish leaves without lesions and later drying, and rotten roots looked dark brown while the roots of heathy plants showed white, and eventually leading to the death of the diseased plant. The root rot symptomatic plants were collected in June of 2020. Tissues were cut to the length of 0.3 to 0.5 cm, then surface sterilized by 2% sodium hypochlorite for 2 min and 75% alcohol for 1 min, rinsed three times in sterile distilled water, and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25℃ for 5 to 9 days. Eight isolates with similar morphology were isolated from single spores. On PDA, the isolates produced abundant aerial white mycelia with septation and turned violet to dark pink on the reverse side of the culture. Morphological characteristic was determined using a pure culture grown on synthetic low nutrient agar (SNA). Two types of conidia, microconidia and macroconidia, were observed on SNA. Macroconidia were long and slender, usually 3 to 5 septate, measuring 2.7 to 4.3 × 22.3 to 49.6 µm (n=30), and narrowed at the both ends. Microconidia were abundant, oval, clavate or ovate, zero to one septate and measured 1.6 to 3.9 × 4.4 to 13.0 µm (n=50). According to the culture and conidial characteristics, the isolates were tentatively identified as Fusarium species (Leslie and Summerell 2006). Four isolates were random selected for molecular identification. The general primers ITS1/ITS4 for internal transcribed spacer (ITS) (White et al. 1990), EF1/EF2 for translation elongation factor (TEF1) (O'Donnell et al. 1998), 5F2/7cR for the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase Ⅱ(RPB2) (O'Donnell et al., 2007), H3-1a/H3-1b for Histone H3 (Jacobs et al., 2010), F5/R8 for subunits 1 of DNA-directed RNA polymerase Ⅱ (RPB1) (O'Donnell et al. 2010) and MS3F/MS3R for mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) (Stenglein et al. 2010) were amplified, respectively. The products were sequenced and deposited in GenBank with accession numbers of MW350689, MW029444, ON077156, ON077158, ON077157, ON054432, respectively. Blast analysis showed 99.40 to 100% sequence homology with known F. fujikuroi isolates. A phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated sequences clustered from the combined datasets (TEF1, RPB2, Histone H3, RPB1 and mtSSU) revealed the isolate most closely related to the F. fujikuroi (100% bootstrap). Fifteen 2-year-old healthy plants of Torreya grandis were selected for the pathogenicity test. A conidial suspension (1×106 conidia/ml) was prepared by collecting spores from 10-day-old cultures on PDA. The root of each plants inoculated with 200 ml of a 106 conidia/ml suspension, and the five control plants inoculated with sterilized water. The plants were incubated in green house with 25℃ (14 h light)/22℃ (10 h dark) at 85% humidity. Two weeks later, 100% of artificially inoculated plants showed the same symptoms similar to those observed in the plantation, like yellow leaves, dark brown and rotten roots, meanwhile, the roots of control plants displayed healthy. From symptomatic roots, the pathogen was reisolated which satisfying Koch's postulates. F. fujikuroi causes root rot of soybean and Reineckia carnea (Detranaltes et al. 2021, Sun et al. 2018).To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of F. fujikuroi causing root rot of Torreya grandis in China.

Electrochemically Promoted Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation of 2,2,2-Trifluoroacetophenone.

The study reported an electrochemically promoted asymmetric hydrogen transfer reaction of 2,2,2-trifluoroacetophenone with a chiral Ru complex. (R)-α-(Trifluoromethyl) benzyl alcohol with a 96% yield and 94% ee could be obtained with only a 0.5 F mol-1 charge amount at room temperature and normal pressure.

A novel tricyclic BTK inhibitor suppresses B cell responses and osteoclastic bone erosion in rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by joint leukocyte infiltration, synovial inflammation and bone damage result from osteoclastogenesis. Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a key regulator of B cell receptor (BCR) and Fc gamma receptor (FcγR) signaling involved in the pathobiology of RA and other autoimmune disorders. SOMCL-17-016 is a potent and selective tricyclic BTK inhibitor, structurally distinct from other known BTK inhibitors. In present study we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of SOMCL-17-016 in a mouse collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model and underlying mechanisms. CIA mice were administered SOMCL-17-016 (6.25, 12.5, 25 mg·kg-1·d-1, ig), or ibrutinib (25 mg·kg-1·d-1, ig) or acalabrutinib (25 mg·kg-1·d-1, ig) for 15 days. We showed that oral administration of SOMCL-17-016 dose-dependently ameliorated arthritis severity and bone damage in CIA mice; it displayed a higher in vivo efficacy than ibrutinib and acalabrutinib at the corresponding dosage. We found that SOMCL-17-016 administration dose-dependently inhibited anti-IgM-induced proliferation and activation of B cells from CIA mice, and significantly decreased anti-IgM/anti-CD40-stimulated RANKL expression in memory B cells from RA patients. In RANKL/M-CSF-stimulated RAW264.7 cells, SOMCL-17-016 prevented osteoclast differentiation and abolished RANK-BTK-PLCγ2-NFATc1 signaling. In summary, this study demonstrates that SOMCL-17-016 presents distinguished therapeutic effects in the CIA model. SOMCL-17-016 exerts a dual inhibition of B cell function and osteoclastogenesis, suggesting that it to be a promising drug candidate for RA treatment.

The artemisinin analog SM934 alleviates dry eye disease in rodent models by regulating TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling.

Dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial disorder of the tears and ocular surface characterized by manifestations of dryness and irritation. Although the pathogenesis is not fully illuminated, it is recognized that inflammation has a prominent role in the development and deterioration of DED. ß-aminoarteether maleate (SM934) is a water-soluble artemisinin derivative with anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive activities. In this study, we established scopolamine hydrobromide (SCOP)-induced rodent model as well as benzalkonium chloride (BAC)-induced rat model to investigate the therapeutic potential of SM934 for DED. We showed that topical application of SM934 (0.1%, 0.5%) significantly increased tear secretion, maintained the number of conjunctival goblet cells, reduced corneal damage, and decreased the levels of inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, or IL-1ß) in conjunctiva in SCOP-induced and BAC-induced DED models. Moreover, SM934 treatment reduced the accumulation of TLR4-expressing macrophages in conjunctiva, and suppressed the expression of inflammasome components, i.e., myeloid differentiation factor88 (MyD88), Nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing CARD (ASC), and cleaved caspase 1. In LPS-treated RAW 264.7 cells, we demonstrated that pretreatment with SM934 (10 µM) impeded the upregulation of TLR4 and downstream NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling proteins. Collectively, artemisinin analog SM934 exerts therapeutic benefits on DED by simultaneously reserving the structural integrity of ocular surface and preventing the corneal and conjunctival inflammation, suggested a further application of SM934 in ophthalmic therapy, especially for DED.

Caring perceptions and experiences of fathers of children with congenital heart disease: A systematic review of qualitative evidence.

AIM: To identify fathers' perceptions and experiences of caring for their children with congenital heart disease. DESIGN: A qualitative systematic review. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Clinical Key, the Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-based practice database, CINAHL Complete, Embase and PsycINFO were searched for all journal articles published before May 2020. REVIEW METHODS: After applying the selection criteria, five studies were identified reporting on fathers with children between 1 month and 12 years. The quality of the articles was evaluated. RESULTS: Six main themes regarding fathers' perceptions and experiences of caring for their children with congenital heart disease were identified: (1) lack of disease knowledge, (2) responsibility to the family and emotional suppression, (3) gratitude for the sustained life of their children, (4) acceptance of being different from others, (5) regrouping and planning for the future and (6) the struggles of father-child relationships. CONCLUSION: In caring for their children with congenital heart disease, fathers are akin to a suffering warrior, full of hardship. With a self-imposed sense of responsibility and suppressed emotions, fathers may feel lonely and hurt, but they must fight for their families and children.

Aging Process of Lateral Facial Fat Compartments: A Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: Since 2007, when the anatomy of facial fat compartment was described, an increasing number of studies on the aging process of the compartment of cadavers has emerged. OBJECTIVES: The authors evaluated the aging changes of lateral facial fat compartments on the same person. METHODS: Sixty-three patients were included in this retrospective study. All patients had magnetic resonance imaging scans with at least 4 years apart. The authors targeted the fat compartments of the superficial temporal, subcutaneous temporal, and buccal fat pad, comparing the data on different time points. RESULTS: The thickness of the subcutaneous temporal fat did not change significantly. The 3 diameters of the superficial temporal fat compartment all became thinner on the axial view (P < 0.05). On the sagittal view, the superficial temporal fat elongated from 38.89 mm to 43.74 mm (P < 0.05). The buccal fat compartment also lengthened from 68.73 mm to 74.39 mm (P < 0.05) and had a positive correlation with follow-up duration only. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed the fat compartment change on the same person with time. The temporal hollow mainly originates from the thinner part of the superficial temporal fat. The descending of the buccal fat pad aggravates the labiomandibular fold. By understanding the aging process more fully, we can rejuvenate our patients more naturally.