Geastrum sanglinense, a new species from the Manghe Rhesus Monkey National Nature Reserve, China.

A novel species of earthstar from China, Geastrum sanglinense is described. Phylogenetic analyses based on sequences of the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), large subunit nuclear ribosomal RNA (nrLSU), and subunit 6 of ATP synthase (atp6) regions showed that the species belongs to subsect. Epigaea in sect. Myceliostroma. The sequences of the new taxon formed a sister group to G. yanshanense and G. rubellum. This species was mainly characterized by scattered or clustered basidiomata (1.9-2.2 cm in width × 2.3-2.5 cm in height), small to medium-sized saccate exoperidium (1.9-4.3 cm diam. when expanded), smooth endoperidial bodies (1.2-2.7 cm diam.), and globose to subglobose basidiospores (3.7-4.1 µm diam.), surface with short columnar warts. The species can also be distinguished by ITS, nrLSU, and atp6 sequences. The new species was described in detail and can provide a reference for the investigation of macrofungi resources in Shanxi Province, China.

Auxiliary rehabilitation training after calf contouring with botulinum toxin type A injection reduces adverse reactions and improves satisfaction.

PURPOSE: To analyze the effect of adjuvant rehabilitation training after calf contouring with botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) injection. METHODS: Clinical data of 48 female beauty seekers who underwent calf contouring at the Plastic Surgery Laser Center of Guangdong Second People's Hospital from January 2021 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 24 cases received routine care from January 2021 to December 2021 and were included in a control group, and 24 cases received rehabilitation care with auxiliary rehabilitation training from January 2022 to June 2022 that were in an observation group. The subjects were followed up for 24 weeks to observe the curative effect, and the injection efficacy was compared between the two groups. The maximum calf circumference (MCC) and gastrocnemius muscle thickness (GMT) were comparatively analyzed before and 2, 4, 12, and 24 weeks after treatment. The incidence of adverse reactions and satisfaction rate were also compared. RESULTS: Both groups showed reduced calf circumferences after injection, with soft and uniform calf curves. No inter-group statistical significance was identified in terms of curative effects. Reduced MCC and GMT were observed in both groups at 2, 4, 12, and 24 weeks after treatment, with lower values in the observation group than in the control group at week 2, 4, and 12. The observation group also showed markedly fewer adverse reactions and higher satisfaction rate than the control group. CONCLUSIONS: BTX-A injection is effective in calf contouring and can significantly reduce the MCC and GMT. In addition, post-injection rehabilitation training can significantly reduce the occurrence of adverse reactions and improve patient satisfaction.

Passive source depth estimation using beam intensity striations of a horizontal linear array in deep water.

Source depth estimation is an important yet very difficult task for passive sonars, especially for horizontal linear arrays (HLAs). This paper proposes an efficient two-step depth estimation scheme using narrowband and broadband constructive and deconstructive striation patterns due to interference between the direct (D) and sea surface reflected (SR) arrivals at an HLA on the bottom of deep water. First, the horizontal source-array ranges are derived from triangulation results of solid angle estimates by subarray beamforming. The applicable areas of the method in deep water are investigated through Mento Carlo simulations, assuming different subarray partitioning ways of a given HLA aperture. Second, cost functions are built to match the measured beam intensity striations with modeled ones. To mitigate the spatial smoothing effect of the beam intensity striations during beamforming, a criterion of the largest subarray aperture is established, and a computationally efficient way is presented to model the replicas by the D-SR time delay templates at a single element of the array calculated by ray theory. The performance degradation due to limited source range spans, the distortion of the beam intensity striations, and range estimation errors has been analyzed. Two experimental datasets verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Correlation of Serum Cystatin C with Renal Function in Gout Patients with Renal Injury.

The gout-induced continuous deposition of urate in the kidney tissues is the main cause of renal injury, for which cystatin C (Cys C) is an important indicator. This research analyzed the correlation between general renal injury indicators and serum Cys C level, and further investigated the potential of Cys C in renal injury diagnosis. A total of 140 gout patients with renal injury (GRI) were recruited and grouped by their glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Urea nitrogen, uric acid, creatinine, and Cys C levels in the serum were evaluated. The diagnostic efficacy of serum Cys C was evaluated by the nonparametric receiver operating characteristic analysis. Serum Cys C level was increased with decreased GFR in GRI. Urea nitrogen, uric acid, and creatinine levels in the serum showed positive correlations with Cys C level. The area under the curve for serum Cys C was 0.8589 (P < 0.001). In conclusion, this research demonstrated that the serum Cys C level was a precise diagnostic marker for GFR and renal damage evaluation, and showed a significant diagnostic value for renal injury in patients with gout.

Genetic association of polymorphism rs2230054 in CXCR2 gene with gout in Chinese Han male population.

Neutrophils are crucial in the process of gout flare and remission. The signal transduction pathway of chemokine plays a vital role in the chemotaxis and activation of neutrophils. CXCR2 gene knocked out can avoid the acute neutrophilic inflammation stimulated by monosodium urate (MSU) crystals in mice. To investigate the relationship among CXCR1 rs2234671, CXCR2 rs1126579, and rs2230054 polymorphisms with gout arthritis flare in the Chinese Han male population, a case-control study was carried out in 412 gout patients and 508 gout-free individuals. TaqMan probes fluorescence real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to genotype CXCR1 rs2234671, CXCR2 rs1126579, and rs2230054 SNPs. There was a clear link between CXCR2 rs2230054 T included genotypic and T allelic frequencies and gout cases (c2 = 9.286, p = 0.002 by genotype, c2 = 8.639, p = 0.003 by allele), while no significant differences were observed between the gouty arthritis group and the control group in CXCR1 rs2234671 and CXCR2 rs1126579 genotypic and allelic frequencies. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the T genotype included in rs2230054 can decrease the risk of gouty arthritis (adjusted OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.31-0.74) compared with the CC genotype. Our study might suggest that rs2230054 in CXCR2 is associated with susceptibility to gout in Chinese males.

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Prevents the Development of Preeclampsia Through Suppression of Oxidative Stress.

Preeclampsia (PE) and its complications have become the leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality in the world. And the development of PE is still barely predictable and thus challenging to prevent and manage clinically. Oxidative stress contributes to the development of the disease. Our previous study demonstrated that exogenous Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) played a cytoprotective role in vascular endothelial cell by suppressing oxidative stress. In this study, we aim to investigate whether AAT contributes to the development of PE, and to identify the mechanism behind these effects. We found that AAT levels were significantly decreased in placenta tissues from women with PE compared that of healthy women. Notably, we demonstrate that AAT injection is able to relieve the high blood pressure and reduce urine protein levels in a dose-dependent manner in PE mice. In addition, our results showed that AAT injection exhibited an anti-oxidative stress role by significantly reducing PE mediated-upregulation of ROS, MMP9 and MDA, and increasing the levels of SOD, eNOS, and GPx with increased dosage of AAT. Furthermore, we found that AAT injection inactivated PE mediated activation of PAK/STAT1/p38 signaling. These findings were confirmed in human samples. In conclusion, our study suggests that exogenous AAT injection increases the antioxidants and suppresses oxidative stress, and subsequent prevention of PE development through inactivation of STAT1/p38 signaling. Thus, AAT would become a potential strategy for PE therapy.

[Combined treatment with areola approach for capsular contracture after breast augmentation with implants].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the combined treatment with areola approach for capsular contracture after breast augmentation with implants. METHODS: From Feb. 2005 to Jun. 2011, 94 cases (168 sides) with Baker III and IV capsular contracture after breast augmentation with implants were treated with areola approach. The implants cavity was recreated, with or without removal of capsule. The implants were reimplanted behind pectoralis major or breast at the second stage in some patients. RESULTS: 46 cases were followed up by clinic visit and the others were followed up by telephone for 6-37 months, with an average of 9.9 months. The capsular contracture was relapsed in 2 cases as Baker III and 1 case as Baker IV. All the other breasts got a good appearance with good soft texture and feeling. No hematoma, infection, implants rupture, breast ptosis or implant displacement happened. CONCLUSIONS: Combined treatment with areola approach has a good therapeutic effect for capsular contracture after breast augmentation with implants. The breast appearance is satisfactory with low occurrence of capsular contracture.

Dynamic ionic clusters with flowing electron bubbles from warm to hot dense iron along the Hugoniot curve.

Complex structures of warm and hot dense matter are essential to understanding the behavior of materials in high energy density processes and provide new features of matter constitutions. Here, around a new unified first-principles determined Hugoniot curve of iron from the normal condensed condition up to 1 Gbar, the novel structures characterized by the ionic clusters with electron bubbles are found using quantum Langevin molecular dynamics. Subsistence of complex clusters can persist in the time scale of 50 fs dynamically with quantum flowing bubbles, which are produced by the interplay of Fermi electron degeneracy, the ionic coupling, and the dynamical nature. With the inclusion of those complicated features in quantum Langevin molecular dynamics, the present equation of states could serve as a first-principles based database in a wide range of temperatures and densities.

Induced multilineage differentiation of chicken embryonic germ cells via embryoid body formation.

Although the pluripotent and proliferative capacity of embryonic germ (EG) cells is thought to be equivalent to that of embryonic stem (ES) cells, there has been far less attention focused on the potential use of EG cells for applications in developing novel strategies of tissue transplantation in the treatment of degenerative diseases. In this study, EG cells were derived from primordial germ cells (PGCs) of genital ridges of 4-day-old chicken embryos. These cells satisfied the criteria previously used for defining chicken EG cells by using the expression of markers characteristic to ES cells. When injected subcutaneously, chicken EG cells could form teratomas that enable differentiation into a wide range of tissue types of all three primary cell lineages including neural cells, cartilage, forming bone, adipocytes, blood vessels, smooth muscle, and secretory epithelia in the recipients. Furthermore, cells in embryoid bodies (EBs) expressed lineage-specific markers of three germ layers and could be induced to differentiate into more advanced stages of various committed cell types, including dopamine and cholinergic neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, adipocytes, and hepatocytes, which were demonstrated by immunocytochemical staining or RT-PCR analysis. These findings support the multilineage differentiation capability of chicken pluripotent EG cells, thus confirming the presumption that chicken embryos may be used as a potential model for better understanding the mechanisms of tissue-specific differentiation and regeneration that will help to devise strategies based on the transplantation of stem cell-derived tissues for restoring function to damaged or diseased tissues.

Ginsenosides promote proliferation of chicken primordial germ cells via PKC-involved activation of NF-kappaB.

The effect of ginsenosides on proliferation of chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs) was evaluated and involvement of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB in the signaling pathway was investigated. PGCs were isolated from the genital ridge of 3.5-4 day embryos and cultured in Medium 199 supplemented with 5% FCS and 10 ng/ml LIF. PGCs subcultured on chicken embryonic fibroblast feeder were challenged with ginsenosides alone or in combination with PKC inhibitor H(7) or activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) for 24h. Moreover, the translocation of NF-kappaB and degradation level of IkappaBalpha were investigated by Western blot analysis. Results show that PGCs were identified by periodic acid-Schiff, alkaline phosphatase histochemistry as well as c-kit, SSEA-1 and Oct-4 immunocytochemistry. Treatment with ginsenosides at 1-100 microg/ml significantly increased the number and area of PGC colonies in a dose-dependent manner. However, this proliferating effect was obviously attenuated by combined treatment of H(7) (10(-7)-10(-5)M). Similarly, PKC staining of PGC colonies was more intensive after ginsenosides treatment compared with the control group. In addition, treatment with ginsenosides at 1-10 microg/ml stimulated the translocation of NF-kappaB (p65). However, the NF-kappaB translocation and the degradation of IkappaBalpha were significantly blocked by combined treatment with 10(-6)M H(7). These results indicated that ginsenosides promote proliferation of chicken PGCs through activation of PKC-involved NF-kappaB signaling pathway.

Pro-proliferating effect of homologous somatic cells on chicken primordial germ cells.

Many studies demonstrated that chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs) could maintain undifferentiated state on mouse embryonic fibroblast feeders supplemented with growth factors and cytokines. However, the xenosupport systems may run risk of cross-transfer of animal pathogens from the other animal feeder, matrix to the PGCs, then influencing later transgenic technology. In this study, chicken PGCs were identified by alkaline phosphatase, stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 and Oct-4 immunocytochemical stainings. Three different homologous somatic cell feeder layers (chicken embryonic fibroblast feeder layer, CEF; embryonic skeletal myoblast feeder layer; follicular granulosa cell feeder layer) were used to support growth and proliferation of PGCs to find a better supporting culture system. In addition, the effects of fetal calf serum (FCS), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and the combination of insulin, transferring and selenite (ITS) on PGC proliferation were compared. Results showed that CEF was the best supporter for PGC growth and proliferation, which was verified by 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation stain. FCS alone or in combination with LIF could significantly promote PGC proliferation in the presence of CEF in ITS medium. This study will contribute to providing a safer supporting system for chicken PGC amplification in vitro, and may be applied in transgenic chicken production and transplantation therapy.

[Correlation between porcine CAST gene polymorphism with muscle fiber histological traits and carcass characteristics].

Three polymorphisms were identified in the sixth intron of the CAST gene by PCR-RFLP using enzymes Msp I, Hinf I and Rsa I in 45 Jinpi F2 pigs. However, only three genotypes AACCEE, BBDDFF, and ABCDEF were detected in those pigs and the genotype frequencies were 0.1778, 0.2222 and 0.6000, respectively. Longissimus dorsi muscles were moved for paraffin serial sections and stained with hematoxylin-eosin or myosin heavy chain (MHC) by immunohistochemistry respectively. Fiber cross-sectional area, fiber density, fiber diameter, the rate of MHC type I fiber and the carcass characteristics were recorded. Correlation analysis showed that the skeletal muscle fiber area and the eye muscle area of the BBDDFF individual were significantly higher than those of the ABCDEF individual (P < 0.05).