α-Ketoglutarate-Activated NF-κB Signaling Promotes Compensatory Glucose Uptake and Brain Tumor Development.

The rapid proliferation of cancer cells and dysregulated vasculature within the tumor leads to limited nutrient accessibility. Cancer cells often rewire their metabolic pathways for adaption to nutrient stress, and the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Glutamate dehydrogenase 1 (GDH1) is a key enzyme in glutaminolysis that converts glutamate to α-ketoglutarate (α-KG). Here, we show that, under low glucose, GDH1 is phosphorylated at serine (S) 384 and interacts with RelA and IKKß. GDH1-produced α-KG directly binds to and activates IKKß and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling, which promotes glucose uptake and tumor cell survival by upregulating GLUT1, thereby accelerating gliomagenesis. In addition, GDH1 S384 phosphorylation correlates with the malignancy and prognosis of human glioblastoma. Our finding reveals a unique role of α-KG to directly regulate signal pathway, uncovers a distinct mechanism of metabolite-mediated NF-κB activation, and also establishes the critical role of α-KG-activated NF-κB in brain tumor development.

Macrophage-Associated PGK1 Phosphorylation Promotes Aerobic Glycolysis and Tumorigenesis.

Macrophages are a dominant leukocyte population in the tumor microenvironment and actively promote cancer progression. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the role of macrophages remains poorly understood. Here we show that polarized M2 macrophages enhance 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDPK1)-mediated phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) threonine (T) 243 phosphorylation in tumor cells by secreting interleukin-6 (IL-6). This phosphorylation facilitates a PGK1-catalyzed reaction toward glycolysis by altering substrate affinity. Inhibition of PGK1 T243 phosphorylation or PDPK1 in tumor cells or neutralization of macrophage-derived IL-6 abrogates macrophage-promoted glycolysis, proliferation, and tumorigenesis. In addition, PGK1 T243 phosphorylation correlates with PDPK1 activation, IL-6 expression, and macrophage infiltration in human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Moreover, PGK1 T243 phosphorylation also correlates with malignance and prognosis of human GBM. Our findings demonstrate a novel mechanism of macrophage-promoted tumor growth by regulating tumor cell metabolism, implicating the therapeutic potential to disrupt the connection between macrophages and tumor cells by inhibiting PGK1 phosphorylation.

A new perspective for evaluating the efficacy of tACS and tDCS in improving executive functions: A combined tES and fNIRS study.

BACKGROUND: Executive function enhancement is considered necessary for improving the quality of life of patients with neurological or psychiatric disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and Alzheimer's disease. Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) has been shown to have some beneficial effects on executive functioning, but the quantification of these improvements remains controversial. We aimed to explore the potential beneficial effects on executive functioning induced by the use of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)/transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the accompanying brain function variations in the resting state. METHODS: We recruited 229 healthy adults to participate in Experiments 1 (105 participants) and 2 (124 participants). The participants in each experiment were randomly divided into tACS, tDCS, and sham groups. The participants completed cognitive tasks to assess behavior related to three core components of executive functions. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to monitor the hemodynamic changes in crucial cortical regions in the resting state. RESULTS: Inhibition and cognitive flexibility (excluding working memory) were significantly increased after tACS/tDCS, but there were no significant behavioral differences between the tACS and tDCS groups. fNIRS revealed that tDCS induced decreases in the functional connectivity (increased neural efficiency) of the relevant cortices. CONCLUSIONS: Enhancement of executive function was observed after tES, and the beneficial effects of tACS/tDCS may need to be precisely evaluated via brain imaging indicators at rest. tDCS revealed better neural benefits than tACS during the stimulation phase. These findings might provide new insights for selecting intervention methods in future studies and for evaluating the clinical efficacy of tES.

Squalene epoxidase promotes the chemoresistance of colorectal cancer via (S)-2,3-epoxysqualene-activated NF-κB.

BACKGROUND: While de novo cholesterol biosynthesis plays a crucial role in chemotherapy resistance of colorectal cancer (CRC), the underlying molecular mechanism remains poorly understood. METHODS: We conducted cell proliferation assays on CRC cells with or without depletion of squalene epoxidase (SQLE), with or without 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) treatment. Additionally, a xenograft mouse model was utilized to explore the impact of SQLE on the chemosensitivity of CRC to 5-FU. RNA-sequencing analysis and immunoblotting analysis were performed to clarify the mechanism. We further explore the effect of SQLE depletion on the ubiquitin of NF-κB inhibitor alpha (IκBα) and (S)-2,3-epoxysqualene on the binding of IκBα to beta-transducin repeat containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (BTRC) by using immunoprecipitation assay. In addition, a cohort of 272 CRC patients were selected for our clinical analyses. RESULTS: Mechanistically, (S)-2,3-epoxysqualene promotes IκBα degradation and subsequent NF-κB activation by enhancing the interaction between BTRC and IκBα. Activated NF-κB upregulates the expression of baculoviral IAP repeat containing 3 (BIRC3), sustains tumor cell survival after 5-FU treatment and promotes 5-FU resistance of CRC in vivo. Notably, the treatment of terbinafine, an inhibitor of SQLE commonly used as antifungal drug in clinic, enhances the sensitivity of CRC to 5-FU in vivo. Additionally, the expression of SQLE is associated with the prognosis of human CRC patients with 5-FU-based chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, our finding not only demonstrates a new role of SQLE in chemoresistance of CRC, but also reveals a novel mechanism of (S)-2,3-epoxysqualene-dependent NF-κB activation, implicating the combined potential of terbinafine for 5-FU-based CRC treatment.

Review of lipocalin-2-mediated effects in diabetic retinopathy.

BACKGROUND: Studies have uncovered LCN2 as a marker of inflammation strongly related to obesity, insulin resistance, and abnormal glucose metabolism in humans, and is involved in vascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, and neurological diseases. In recent years, studies have shown that elevated levels of LCN2 have a strong association with diabetic retinopathy (DR), but the pathogenesis is unknown. Here, we reviewed the relevant literature and compiled the pathogenesis associated with LCN2-induced DR. METHODS: We searched PubMed and Web of Science electronic databases using "lipocalin-2, diabetic retinopathy, retinal degeneration, diabetic microangiopathies, diabetic neuropathy and inflammation" as subject terms. RESULTS: In diabetic retinal neuropathy, LCN2 causes impaired retinal photoreceptor function and retinal neurons; in retinal microangiopathy, LCN2 induces apoptosis of retinal vascular endothelial cells and promotes angiogenesis; in retinal inflammation, increased secretion of LCN2 recruits inflammatory cells and induces pro-inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, LCN2 has the potential as a biomarker for DR. Recent studies have shown that retinal damage can be attenuated by silencing LCN2, which may be associated with the inhibition of caspase-1-mediated pyroptosis, and LCN2 may be a new target for the treatment of DR. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, LCN2, involved in the development of diabetic retinopathy, is a key factor in diabetic retinal microangiopathy, neurodegeneration, and retinal inflammation. LCN2 is likely to be a novel molecular target leading to DR, and a more in-depth study of the pathogenesis of DR caused by LCN2 may provide considerable benefits for clinical research and potential drug development.

Increased interbrain synchronization and neural efficiency of the frontal cortex to enhance human coordinative behavior: A combined hyper-tES and fNIRS study.

Coordination is crucial for individuals to achieve common goals; however, the causal relationship between coordination behavior and neural activity has not yet been explored. Interbrain synchronization (IBS) and neural efficiency in cortical areas associated with the mirror neuron system (MNS) are considered two potential brain mechanisms. In the present study, we attempted to clarify how the two mechanisms facilitate coordination using hypertranscranial electrical stimulation (hyper-tES). A total of 124 healthy young adults were randomly divided into three groups (the hyper-tACS, hyper-tDCS and sham groups) and underwent modulation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) during functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Increased IBS of the PFC or neural efficiency of the right IFG (related to the MNS) was accompanied by greater coordination behavior; IBS had longer-lasting effects on behavior. Our findings highlight the importance of IBS and neural efficiency of the frontal cortex for coordination and suggest potential interventions to improve coordination in different temporal windows.

Fused diethynylbenzenes and phenanthrenes via arynes with alkynylsilanes.

A method for the hydroalkynylation and catalytic cyclization reactions of hexadehydro-Diels-Alder-derived benzynes is described. Diethynylbenzene derivatives are generated in a one-step reaction via trimethylsilyl-alkyne groups with benzyne formed by heating the appropriate tetrayne substrate. Trimethyl(phenylethynyl)silane loses TMS and binds to the electron-deficient site on HDDA-derived benzynes, and then phenanthrene was synthesized under mild reaction conditions by transition-metal-free, base promoted intramolecular cyclization.

Influences of microRNA-451 on the expression of HMGB1 in myocardial cells and its mechanism in ischemia-reperfusion injury.

This work aimed to understand the underlying mechanism of micro-ribonucleic acid (MicroRNA) (miR)-451 in ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) and the influences of miR-451 on high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) in myocardial cells, 30 specific pathogen-free (SPF) male rats were selected and randomly rolled into 5 groups, which were a sham operation control (Control), an ischemia-reperfusion (I/R), aI/R+Ad-GFP, amiR-451 up-regulation (I/R+Ad-miR-451), and a miR-451 down-regulation groups (I/R+Ad-asmiR-451). There were 6 cases in each group. Myocardial cell apoptosis, the contents of serum lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), and malondialdehyde (MDA), the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), and the expressions of miR-451 and HMGB1mRNA were detected. Relative to those in I/R and I/R+Ad-GFP groups, the expressions of CD3+, CD4+, and CD4+/ CD8+ in I/R+Ad-miR-451 group reduced (P<0.05). The expressions of serum LDH and CK decreased (P<0.05). In contrast, MDA content and SOD activity enhanced (P<0.05). HMGB1 and Cleaved-caspase3 declined (P<0.05). Besides, miR-451 improved while the expression of HMGB1mRNA significantly reduced (P<0.05). miR-451 can regulate the expressions of HMGB1mRNA and its protein at the transcriptional level. miR-451 up-regulation can inhibit HMGB1 expression, relieve IRI, and protect myocardial cells, which may be achieved by improving oxidative stress injury and inhibiting cell apoptosis.

Comprehensive Analysis of N6-Methyladenosine RNA Methylation Regulators in the Diagnosis and Subtype Classification of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

m6A modification is the most abundant mRNA modifications and plays an integral role in various biological processes in eukaryotes. However, the role of m6A regulators in rheumatoid arthritis remains unknown. To determine the expression of m6A RNA methylation regulators in rheumatoid arthritis and their possible functional and prognostic value. In this study, we performed differential analysis in the comprehensive gene expression database GSE93272 dataset between non-rheumatoid arthritis patients and rheumatoid arthritis patients to obtain 15 important m6A regulators. A random forest model and lasso regression were used to screen the five most important m6A regulators to predict the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. After further validation using in vitro qPCR experiments, a nomogram model was developed based on the four most important m6A regulators (ELAVL1, WTAP, YTHDF1, and ALKBH5). Immuno-infiltration analysis and consensus clustering analysis were then performed. An analysis of the decision curve showed that the nomogram model could be beneficial to patients. According to selected important m6A regulators, patients with rheumatoid arthritis were classified into two m6A models (ClusterA and ClusterB) via consensus approach. Activated B cells, CD56dim natural killer cells, immature B cells, monocytes, natural killer T cells, and T lymphocytes were associated with ClusterA in immune infiltration analysis. Importantly, immune infiltration in patients with high ELAVL1 expression was strikingly similar to ClusterA. m6A regulators play a non-negligible role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis. A study of m6A patterns may provide future therapeutic options for rheumatoid arthritis.

A Method of Evaluating Safe Operating Space: Focus on Geographic Regions, Income Levels and Developing Pathway.

Safe and Just Space (SJS) is a framework for determining the range where the use of natural resources within the Earth's carrying capacity can maintain human well-being. However, there has been no systematic monitoring and evaluation of their sustainability across time and space. Here we developed and applied a model and a sustainable development human safe operation space (SDHSOS) index to assess the sustainability capacity and development path of 149 countries from 2000 to 2018. The results demonstrate that (1) The overall sustainable development capacity of all countries is at the middle or lower level and that it has increased over time. (2) The sustainability of natural and socio-economic dimensions and their degree of change show obvious geographic differences and income differences. (3) The national development path divided by income is characterized by a decline in natural environment dimensions and an increase in socio-economic dimensions, which mainly reflects a traditional development path model that promotes social welfare at the expense of the natural environment. This study suggests that nations can accurately identify development characteristics, expand their comparative advantages is the key to improving sustainable development capabilities.

Association between ambient temperature, PM2.5 and tuberculosis in Northwest China.

Existing evidence suggested that the risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection was associated to the variations in temperature and PM2.5. A total of 9,111 cases of TB were reported in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China from 2013 to 2015 on a daily basis, and 57.2% of them were male. The TB risk was more prominent for a lower temperature in males (RR of 1.724, 95% CI: 1.241, 2.394), the aged over 64 years (RR of 2.241, 95% CI: 1.554, 3.231), and the high mobility occupation subpopulation (RR of 2.758, 95% CI: 1.745, 4.359). High concentration of PM2.5 showed a short-term effect and was only associated with an increased risk in the early stages of exposure for the female, and aged 36-64 years group. There were 15.06% (1370 cases) of cases of TB may be attributable to the temperature, and 2.94% (268 cases) may be attributable to the increase of PM2.5 exposures. Low temperatures may be associated with significantly increase in the risk of TB, and high PM2.5 concentrations have a short-term association on increasing the risk of TB. Strengthening the monitoring and regular prevention and control of high risk groups will provide scientific guidance to reduce the incidence of TB.

Dual attention fusion UNet for COVID-19 lesion segmentation from CT images.

BACKGROUND: Chest CT scan is an effective way to detect and diagnose COVID-19 infection. However, features of COVID-19 infection in chest CT images are very complex and heterogeneous, which make segmentation of COVID-19 lesions from CT images quite challenging. OBJECTIVE: To overcome this challenge, this study proposes and tests an end-to-end deep learning method called dual attention fusion UNet (DAF-UNet). METHODS: The proposed DAF-UNet improves the typical UNet into an advanced architecture. The dense-connected convolution is adopted to replace the convolution operation. The mixture of average-pooling and max-pooling acts as the down-sampling in the encoder. Bridge-connected layers, including convolution, batch normalization, and leaky rectified linear unit (leaky ReLU) activation, serve as the skip connections between the encoder and decoder to bridge the semantic gap differences. A multiscale pyramid pooling module acts as the bottleneck to fit the features of COVID-19 lesion with complexity. Furthermore, dual attention feature (DAF) fusion containing channel and position attentions followed the improved UNet to learn the long-dependency contextual features of COVID-19 and further enhance the capacity of the proposed DAF-UNet. The proposed model is first pre-trained on the pseudo label dataset (generated by Inf-Net) containing many samples, then fine-tuned on the standard annotation dataset (provided by the Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology) with high-quality but limited samples to improve performance of COVID-19 lesion segmentation on chest CT images. RESULTS: The Dice coefficient and Sensitivity are 0.778 and 0.798 respectively. The proposed DAF-UNet has higher scores than the popular models (Att-UNet, Dense-UNet, Inf-Net, COPLE-Net) tested using the same dataset as our model. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrates that the proposed DAF-UNet achieves superior performance for precisely segmenting COVID-19 lesions from chest CT scans compared with the state-of-the-art approaches. Thus, the DAF-UNet has promising potential for assisting COVID-19 disease screening and detection.

Correlation analysis of systemic immune inflammatory index, Serum IL-35 and HMGB-1 with the severity and prognosis of sepsis.

Objective: To investigate the correlation between systemic immune inflammatory (SII) index, serum interleukin-35 (IL-35) and high mobility Group-Box one (HMGB-1) with the severity and prognosis of sepsis. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 209 patients with sepsis admitted to Ganzhou City People's Hospital from October 2019 to October 2021. One hundred eighteen patients in Group-A had common sepsis, and 91 patients in Group-B had septic shock, which were subdivided into the survival Group-And the mortality Group-According to the 28d prognosis. The levels of SII, IL-35 and HMGB-1 in different groups were compared, and their correlation with the severity and prognosis of sepsis was analyzed. Result: The levels of SII, IL-35 and HMGB-1 in Group-A were significantly lower than those in Group-B (p<0.05). The levels of SII, IL-35 and HMGB-1 in the survival group were significantly lower than those in the death group (p<0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed that the levels of SII, IL-35, and HMGB-1 were significantly positively correlated with the severity of sepsis (p<0.05), and significantly positively correlated with the prognosis of patients with sepsis (p<0.05). Conclusion: SII, IL-35 and HMGB-1 are remarkably correlated with the severity and prognosis of patients with sepsis. With the increasing in SII, IL-35 and HMGB-1 levels, patients will suffer from severe disease progression and poor prognosis, which require more clinical attention.

Dopamine depletion and subcortical dysfunction disrupt cortical synchronization and metastability affecting cognitive function in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is primarily characterized by the loss of dopaminergic cells and atrophy in subcortical regions. However, the impact of these pathological changes on large-scale dynamic integration and segregation of the cortex are not well understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of subcortical dysfunction on cortical dynamics and cognition in PD. Spatiotemporal dynamics of the phase interactions of resting-state blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals in 159 PD patients and 152 normal control (NC) individuals were estimated. The relationships between subcortical atrophy, subcortical-cortical fiber connectivity impairment, cortical synchronization/metastability, and cognitive performance were then assessed. We found that cortical synchronization and metastability in PD patients were significantly decreased. To examine whether this is an effect of dopamine depletion, we investigated 45 PD patients both ON and OFF dopamine replacement therapy, and found that cortical synchronization and metastability are significantly increased in the ON state. The extent of cortical synchronization and metastability in the OFF state reflected cognitive performance and mediates the difference in cognitive performance between the PD and NC groups. Furthermore, both the thalamic volume and thalamocortical fiber connectivity had positive relationships with cortical synchronization and metastability in the dopaminergic OFF state, and mediate the difference in cortical synchronization between the PD and NC groups. In addition, thalamic volume also reflected cognitive performance, and cortical synchronization/metastability mediated the relationship between thalamic volume and cognitive performance in PD patients. Together, these results highlight that subcortical dysfunction and reduced dopamine levels are responsible for decreased cortical synchronization and metastability, further affecting cognitive performance in PD. This might lead to biomarkers being identified that can predict if a patient is at risk of developing dementia.

Olanzapine (5 mg) plus standard triple antiemetic therapy for the prevention of multiple-day cisplatin hemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: a prospective randomized controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare 5 mg olanzapine plus standard triple antiemetic therapy for the prevention of nausea and vomiting induced by multiple-day cisplatin chemotherapy. METHODS: Patients who received a 3-day cisplatin-based chemotherapy (25 mg/m2/d) were given either 5 mg olanzapine plus triple therapy with aprepitant, tropisetron, and dexamethasone (quadruple group) or 5 mg olanzapine plus tropisetron and dexamethasone, omitting aprepitant (triplet group). The primary endpoint was the complete response (CR) in the overall phase (OP) (0-120 h) between quadruple group and triplet group. The secondary endpoints were the CR in the acute phase (AP) (0-24 h) and delayed phase (DP) (25-120 h) between two groups. The first time of vomiting was also compared by Kaplan-Meier curves. The impact of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) on the quality of life was assessed by the Functional Living Index-Emesis (FLIE). Aprepitant-related adverse effects (AEs) were also recorded. RESULTS: (1) The primary endpoint CR during OP was 76.0% (45/59) vs 67.0% (41/61) between the quadruple group and triplet group (P = 0.271). The secondary endpoint CR during the AP was significantly higher in the quadruple group than in the triplet group, which was 100.0% (59/59) vs 93.0% (57/61) (P = 0.045). The difference of CR during delayed phase between the groups was especially higher in the quadruple group compared to the triplet group (76.0% (45/59) vs 67.0% (41/61) (P = 0.271)). The rate of patients who achieved total protection in the overall phase was also higher in the quadruple group than the triplet group (28.8% (17/59) vs 23.0% (14/61) (P = 0.463)). During the OP, the incidence of no vomiting in the quadruple group and the triplet group was 93.2% (55/59) vs 80.3% (49/61) (P = 0.038), respectively. (2) Kaplan-Meier curves of time to first emesis were obviously longer in the quadruple group compared with the triplet group (P = 0.031). According to FLIE, no impact of CINV on daily life was defined as total score of questionnaire > 108; this study exhibited identical life quality between two groups. (3) The most common aprepitant- or olanzapine-related AEs included sedation, fatigue, and constipation. The occurrences between two groups were identical. CONCLUSION: It may been recommended that 5 mg olanzapine plus tropisetron and dexamethasone, omitting aprepitant triplet regimen as an alternative therapy in prevention CINV induced by multiple-day cisplatin chemotherapy due to the excellent CINV control rate and safety.

Transthyretin and retinol-binding protein as discriminators of diabetic retinopathy in type 1 diabetes mellitus.

PURPOSE: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), which is still a major reason for blindness. Transthyretin (TTR) and retinol-binding protein (RBP) are thought to be related to the pathogenesis both in T2DM and T1DM. We aimed to investigate the association between serum levels of TTR, RBP, RBP/TTR ratio, and DR. METHODS: This retrospective study involved 188 T1DM inpatients divided into two groups: patients with DR (n = 95) and patients without DR (n = 93). Data of serum levels on lipids and inflammation were collected. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to research the association between TTR, RBP, RBP/TTR, and diabetic retinopathy in T1DM. RESULTS: Compared with patients without DR, those with DR have a higher level of TTR (207 versus 195 mg/L, p = 0.034) and RBP4 (36.85 versus 25.68 mg/L, p < 0.001). Significant differences were also observed between two groups with respect to body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), homocysteine, apolipoprotein B (APOB), leucocyte, monocyte, neutrophil, and uric acid (p < 0.05 for all). TTR, RBP, and RBP/TTR were positively correlated with BP, BMI, TG, LDL, homocysteine, APOB, and uric acid. A multivariate logistic regression model revealed individuals with RBP4 level in the highest quartile had 58.95 times higher risk of developing diabetic retinopathy than those in the lowest quartile. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, TTR, RBP, and RBP/TTR ratio are risk factors of DR in T1DM. They are potential markers and targets for diagnosis and treatment of DR.

Phosphoglucomutase 1 inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma progression by regulating glucose trafficking.

Glycogen metabolism commonly altered in cancer is just beginning to be understood. Phosphoglucomutase 1 (PGM1), the first enzyme in glycogenesis that catalyzes the reversible conversion between glucose 1-phosphate (G-1-P) and glucose 6-phosphate (G-6-P), participates in both the breakdown and synthesis of glycogen. Here, we show that PGM1 is down-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is associated with the malignancy and poor prognosis of HCC. Decreased PGM1 expression obstructed glycogenesis pathway, which leads to the increased flow of glucose into glycolysis, thereby promoting tumor cell proliferation and HCC development. The loss of forkhead box protein J2 (FOXJ2), at least partly due to low genomic copy number in HCC, releases cellular nucleic acid-binding protein (CNBP), a nucleic acid chaperon, to bind to and promote G-quadruplex formation in PGM1 promoter and therefore decreases PGM1 expression. In addition, integrated analyses of PGM1 and FOXJ2 expression provide a better prediction for the malignance and prognosis of HCC. This study establishes a tumor-suppressive role of PGM1 by regulating glucose trafficking and uncovers a novel regulatory mechanism of PGM1 expression.

Could the ambient higher temperature decrease the transmissibility of COVID-19 in China?

BACKGROUND: Existing literatures demonstrated that meteorological factors could be of importance in affecting the spread patterns of the respiratory infectious diseases. However, how ambient temperature may influence the transmissibility of COVID-19 remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: We explore the association between ambient temperature and transmissibility of COVID-19 in different regions across China. METHODS: The surveillance data on COVID-19 and meteorological factors were collected from 28 provincial level regions in China, and estimated the instantaneous reproductive number (Rt). The generalized additive model was used to assess the relationship between mean temperature and Rt. RESULTS: There were 12,745 COVID-19 cases collected in the study areas. We report the associated effect of temperature on Rt is likely to be negative but not of statistical significance, which holds for most Chinese regions. CONCLUSIONS: We found little statistical evidence for that the higher temperature may reduce the transmissibility of COVID-19. Since intensive control measures against the COVID-19 epidemics were implemented in China, we acknowledge this may impact the underlying effect size estimation, and thus cautiousness should be taken when interpreting our findings.

Effects of foliar selenium application on growth and rhizospheric soil micro-ecological environment of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz.

Atractylodes macrocephala (A. macrocephala), a famous medicinal herb in China, is widely cultivated and consumed in China with various beneficial effects. Numerous studies have shown that selenium (Se) plays an important role in promoting plant growth, although Se has not been considered an essential element for higher plants. The objectives of this research were to determine the effects of foliar Se application (0, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0 and 20.0 mg m-2 Se in sodium selenite, sprayed monthly from May to August) on the growth and rhizospheric soil micro-ecological environment of A. macrocephala, and explore the possible mechanisms underlying plant response to foliar Se application through a field experiment. The results were: The foliar application of 5.0 mg m-2 Se significantly increased the survival rate of A. macrocephala compared to the control. The yield of A. macrocephala was increased when the Se level maintained belowed 10.0 mg m-2 but decreased when Se level reached 20.0 mg m-2. The Se content in the rhizome of A. macrocephala showed a significant positive correlation with the Se level, while the insect attack rate was significantly negatively correlated with the Se level. However, foliar Se application hardly affected the concentration of bioactive compound atractylenolide in the rhizome of A. macrocephala. Notably, the application of foliar Se changed the content of partial soil nutrients, microbial diversity and composition in the rhizosphere soil of A. macrocephala. Bacterial diversity was positively correlated with A. macrocephala growth whereas fungal diversity was negatively correlated, suggesting that microbial diversity in the rhizosphere soils is closely related to plant growth. Moreover, correlation analysis showed that available potassium, Burkholderia and Cupriavidus in rhizospheric soil might be critical factors for promoting the growth of A. macrocephala. Overall, the foliar application of Se at moderate concentration was beneficial for the growth of A. macrocephala, and 5.0-10.0 mg m-2 Se level was the optimum. Our findings revealed novel insights into the response of A. macrocephala to foliar Se application from plant growth, rhizospheric soil nutrient and microbial community composition .

[Parkinson's disease diagnosis based on local statistics of speech signal in time-frequency domain].

For speech detection in Parkinson's patients, we proposed a method based on time-frequency domain gradient statistics to analyze speech disorders of Parkinson's patients. In this method, speech signal was first converted to time-frequency domain (time-frequency representation). In the process, the speech signal was divided into frames. Through calculation, each frame was Fourier transformed to obtain the energy spectrum, which was mapped to the image space for visualization. Secondly, deviations values of each energy data on time axis and frequency axis was counted. According to deviations values, the gradient statistical features were used to show the abrupt changes of energy value in different time-domains and frequency-domains. Finally, KNN classifier was applied to classify the extracted gradient statistical features. In this paper, experiments on different speech datasets of Parkinson's patients showed that the gradient statistical features extracted in this paper had stronger clustering in classification. Compared with the classification results based on traditional features and deep learning features, the gradient statistical features extracted in this paper were better in classification accuracy, specificity and sensitivity. The experimental results show that the gradient statistical features proposed in this paper are feasible in speech classification diagnosis of Parkinson's patients.