Effect of X-ray irradiation on development, flight, and reproduction of Spodoptera litura.

Spodoptera litura is an omnivorous pest that has spread globally. Because irradiation sterilization technology has a great potential for control of S. litura, the effect of 25-150 Gy doses of X-rays on pupal survival, flight and reproductive variables of adult moths were analyzed in this research. The X-ray irradiation with the dose of 25-150 Gy significantly affected the reproductive ability of females. Irradiating male pupae with 25-150 Gy doses of X-rays had no effect on mating, life span, or flight ability of adult moths, but significantly reduced survival and fecundity of their offspring, and the sterility rate of the F1 generation was 52.65%-99.9%. The results of logistic curve fitting showed that the sterility impact was 84% at the most appropriate irradiation dose (71.26 Gy). The sterility control was 91% in an indoor mating competition experiment when the release ratio of irradiated males (75 Gy) to nonirradiated males reached 12.6:1. The effects of X-ray irradiation doses on biological variables of S. litura and the most effective release ratio determined here provide a theoretical foundation for using radiation sterilization technology to control S. litura.

Study on the fecal metabolomics of CUMS-susceptible and CUMS-resilient rats / 药学学报

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) based metabolomics was applied to characterize the fecal metabolic profiles of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS)-depression (CUMS-D) and CUMS-resilience (CUMS-R) rats. The fecal biomarkers and metabolic pathways involved in CUMS-D and CUMS-R were screened and identified, revealing the underlying mechanisms of two different responses of the body to the same stresses. Firstly, the classic depression model, i.e. CUMS, was constructed. According to the fecal metabolomics profiles, the model rats were divided into two groups, i.e. the CUMS-D group and the CUMS-R group. And then, the depression statuses of CUMS-D rats and CUMS-R rats were verified by their sucrose preference rates. Lastly, multivariate data analysis was applied to clarify the fecal biomarkers and corresponding metabolic pathways involving in CUMS-D and CUMS-R. The results show that compared with the control rats, the sucrose preference rates of CUMS-D rats were significantly reduced. By contrast, the sucrose preference rates of CUMS-R rats had no significant difference. At the same time, CUMS-D and CUMS-R showed both unique and shared biomarkers and pathways. Three pathways are significantly related to CUMS-D, including taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, and arginine and proline metabolism. Glycerolipid metabolism and tryptophan metabolism are specific pathways related to CUMS-R. This study explores the mechanisms of the emergence of susceptible and resilience of rats under the same stimulus from a metabolomics perspective. The current findings provide not only a new perspective for studying depression, and personalized and precision treatments in clinic, but also the research and development of antidepressants.

Identification and Validation of Pyroptosis-Related Gene Signature to Predict Prognosis and Reveal Immune Infiltration in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by a poor prognosis and accounts for the fourth common cause of cancer-related deaths. Recently, pyroptosis has been revealed to be involved in the progression of multiple cancers. However, the role of pyroptosis in the HCC prognosis remains elusive. Methods: The clinical information and RNA-seq data of the HCC patients were collected from the TCGA-LIHC datasets, and the differential pyroptosis-related genes (PRG) were firstly explored. The univariate Cox regression and consensus clustering were applied to recognize the HCC subtypes. The prognostic PRGs were then submitted to the LASSO regression analysis to build a prognostic model in the TCGA training cohort. We further evaluated the predictive model in the TCGA test cohort and ICGC validation cohort (LIRI-JP). The accuracy of prediction was validated using the Kaplan-Meier (K-M) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. The single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) was used to determine the differential immune cell infiltrations and related pathways. Finally, the expression of the prognostic genes was validated by qRT-PCR in vivo and in vitro. Results: We identified a total of 26 differential PRGs, among which three PRGs comprising GSDME, GPX4, and SCAF11 were subsequently chosen for constructing a prognostic model. This model significantly distinguished the HCC patients with different survival years in the TCGA training, test, and ICGC validation cohorts. The risk score of this model was confirmed as an independent prognostic factor. A nomogram was generated indicating the survival years for each HCC patient. The ssGSEA demonstrated several tumor-infiltrating immune cells to be remarkably associated with the risk scores. The qRT-PCR results also showed the apparent dysregulation of PRGs in HCC. Finally, the drug sensitivity was analyzed, indicating that Lenvatinib might impact the progression of HCC via targeting GSDME, which was also validated in human Huh7 cells. Conclusion: The PRG signature comprised of GSDME, GPX4, and SCAF11 can serve as an independent prognostic factor for HCC patients, which would provide further evidence for more clinical and functional studies.

Laparoscopic transcystic common bile duct exploration in patients with a nondilated common bile duct.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic transcystic common bile duct exploration (LTCBDE) is the minimally traumatic surgical method for the treatment of choledocholithiasis secondary to cholecystolithiasis with dilated common bile duct (CBD). However, no report exists concerning LTCBDE in patients with nondilated CBD. The purpose of this study was thus to explore the safety, efficacy, and feasibility of LTCBDE in patients with choledocholithiasis secondary to cholecystolithiasis with nondilatation of the CBD. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 47 patients with choledocholithiasis secondary to cholecystolithiasis who were treated with LTCBDE at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from January 2017 to August 2021 (all the patients had undergone endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography treatment, but this failed due to various reasons). Clinical data on disease characteristics, methods for cystic duct incision and CBD stone extraction, and surgical outcomes were collected and reviewed. Each patient was followed up for more than 3 months. RESULTS: There were 47 patients in this study, including 21 females and 26 males, with their ages ranging from 15 to 82 years (51±15 years). All patients were treated with surgery, and the CBD stones were removed successfully. Among these patients, 45 underwent LTCBDE for the removal of stones in the CBD, with failure occurring in 2 patients who then accepted laparoscopic common bile duct stone removal (LCBDE) + T tube drainage. The diameter of the cystic duct was 0.30-0.73 cm (0.60±0.07 cm), the diameter of the CBD was 0.60-0.80 cm (0.73±0.05 cm), the operation time was 75-220 minutes (159±33 minutes), and the postoperative hospital stay was 2-13 days (6±2 days). None of the patients experience any serious postoperative complications, and all were discharged safely. During the follow-up, no postoperative biliary stenosis, bile leakage, or other complications occurred. CONCLUSIONS: LTCBDE is feasible to treat patients with choledocholithiasis secondary to cholecystolithiasis with nondilatation of the CBD. This choice of treatment plan reduces the length of hospital stay and the occurrence of postoperative complications. However, it is recommended that this be attempted on the basis of the experience of LTCBDE with dilated CBD.

Mechanism of Xiaoyao San in treatment of depression,breast hyperplasia,and functional dyspepsia based on network pharmacology / 中国中药杂志

This study aimed to explore the mechanism of Xiaoyao San(XYS) in the treatment of three diseases of liver depression and spleen deficiency, ie, depression, breast hyperplasia, and functional dyspepsia, and to provide a theoretical basis for the interpretation of the scientific connotation of "treating different diseases with the same method" of traditional Chinese medicines. Traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform(TCMSP) was used to screen the active components of XYS which underwent principal component analysis(PCA) with the available drugs for these three diseases to determine the corresponding biological activities. The targets of XYS on depression, breast hyperplasia, and functional dyspepsia were obtained from GeneCards, TTD, CTD, and DrugBank databases. Cytoscape was used to plot the "individual herbal medicine-active components-potential targets" network. The resulting key targets were subjected to Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG) pathway analysis and gene ontology(GO) enrichment analysis. A total of 121 active components of XYS and 38 common targets in the treatment of depression, breast hyperplasia, and functional dyspepsia were collected. The key biological pathways were identified, including advanced glycation and products(AGEs)-receptor for advanced glycation and products(RAGE) signaling pathway in diabetic complications, HIF-1 signaling pathway, and cancer-related pathways. The key targets of XYS in the treatment of depression, breast hyperplasia, and functional dyspepsia included IL6, IL4, and TNF, and the key components were kaempferol, quercetin, aloe-emodin, etc. As revealed by the molecular docking, a strong affinity was observed between the key components and the key targets, which confirmed the results. The therapeutic efficacy of XYS in the treatment of diseases of liver depression and spleen deficiency was presumedly achieved by reducing the inflammatory reactions. The current findings are expected to provide novel research ideas and approaches to classify the scientific connotation of "treating different diseases with the same method" of Chinese medicines, as well as a theoretical basis for understanding the mechanism of XYS and exploring its clinical applications.

Review of possible psychological impacts of COVID-19 on frontline medical staff and reduction strategies.

Like soldiers, frontline medical staff provide a first line of defense and have played a critical role in responses to the outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 in December 2019. It is important to acknowledge the considerable pressure placed on frontline medical staff in the face of a new type of coronavirus that is highly infectious and for which no specific treatment is available. Here, we review the various kinds of psychological problems afflicting frontline medical staff who are combatting the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic. These include anxiety, insomnia, depression, interpersonal difficulties, and post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome. We further present a summary of countermeasures for alleviating these problems based on our findings. These countermeasures include ensuring the provision of adequate protective gear for frontline medical staff, developing timely and clear guidelines, strengthening social support, and providing clear criteria and additional training, focusing on the choice of frontline medical staff. An understanding of the psychological impacts of an epidemic situation and of relevant countermeasures will contribute to reducing the psychological pressures on frontline medical staff. Consequently, they will be able to cope better with outbreaks of infectious diseases in the future, to reduce the psychological pressure of the front-line medical staff, and to improve the treatment level.

Research progress in combination applications of antidepressant drugs / 中国中药杂志

Depression is a common affective disorder. The application of antidepressants can significantly alleviate the symptoms of depression, which is the most important way to treat depression in clinical practice. Due to the complex etiology, wide variety, as well as diversity and severity of serious concomitant symptoms, rational addition of other drugs into antidepressants can significantly improve the cure rates of depression, reduce adverse reactions, and improve patient compliances. Therefore, the combined applications of differential drugs have been commonly used in clinic. In this paper, more than 600 literatures about depression from 2010 to 2019 were collected based on the key words of antidepressant, depression, combined medication, synergism and increase efficiency. Based on this, by summarizing and classifying the existing combinations of antidepressant drugs, this paper systematically expounds the current combined applications of antidepressant drugs in three categories, i.e. western medicines combined with western medicines, western medicines combined with traditional Chinese medicines, and traditional Chinese medicines combined with traditional Chinese medicines, in the expectation of providing the direction and basis for the selection of rational combinations of antidepressant drugs in clinic.

4-Octyl itaconate inhibits aerobic glycolysis by targeting GAPDH to exert anti-inflammatory effects.

Activated macrophages switch from oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis, similar to the Warburg effect, presenting a potential therapeutic target in inflammatory disease. The endogenous metabolite itaconate has been reported to regulate macrophage function, but its precise mechanism is not clear. Here, we show that 4-octyl itaconate (4-OI, a cell-permeable itaconate derivative) directly alkylates cysteine residue 22 on the glycolytic enzyme GAPDH and decreases its enzyme activity. Glycolytic flux analysis by U13C glucose tracing provides evidence that 4-OI blocks glycolytic flux at GAPDH. 4-OI thereby downregulates aerobic glycolysis in activated macrophages, which is required for its anti-inflammatory effects. The anti-inflammatory effects of 4-OI are replicated by heptelidic acid, 2-DG and reversed by increasing wild-type (but not C22A mutant) GAPDH expression. 4-OI protects against lipopolysaccharide-induced lethality in vivo and inhibits cytokine release. These findings show that 4-OI has anti-inflammatory effects by targeting GAPDH to decrease aerobic glycolysis in macrophages.

Molecular Characterization and Expression Profiles of Cryptochrome Genes in a Long-Distance Migrant, Agrotis segetum (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

Cryptochromes act as photoreceptors or integral components of the circadian clock that involved in the regulation of circadian clock and regulation of migratory activity in many animals, and they may also act as magnetoreceptors that sensed the direction of the Earth's magnetic field for the purpose of navigation during animals' migration. Light is a major environmental signal for insect circadian rhythms, and it is also necessary for magnetic orientation. We identified the full-length cDNA encoding As-CRY1 and As-CRY2 in Agrotis segetum Denis and Schiffermaller (turnip moth (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)). The DNA photolyase domain and flavin adenine dinucleotide-binding domain were found in both cry genes, and multiple alignments showed that those domains that are important for the circadian clock and magnetosensing were highly conserved among different animals. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that cry genes were expressed in all examined body parts, with higher expression in adults during the developmental stages of the moths. Under a 14:10 (L:D) h cycle, the expression of cry genes showed a daily biological rhythm, and light can affect the expression levels of As-cry genes. The expression levels of cry genes were higher in the migratory population than in the reared population and higher in the emigration population than in the immigration population. These findings suggest that the two cryptochrome genes characterized in the turnip moth might be associated with the circadian clock and magnetosensing. Their functions deserve further study, especially for potential control of the turnip moth.

Seasonal Migration of Pantala flavescens Across the Bohai Strait in Northern China.

Pantala flavescens (Fabricius 1798) (Odonata: Libellulidae) is one of the most common species of migratory dragonflies. P. flavescens adults were captured by a searchlight trap on Beihuang Island (BH Island; 38°24'N, 120°55'E) from 2003 to 2016, where there is no freshwater. This inspired our research to analyze the pattern of seasonal migration and population dynamics. Stable hydrogen isotope measurement and the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) were used to simulate the migration pathway of P. flavescens between different breeding habitats. The results showed that there was no significant difference among population numbers of this overseas migration across years (F13, 2161 = 0.85, P = 0.604); however, the numbers were significantly different across months (F5, 2161 = 3.91, P = 0.003). Our geospatial natal assignment model suggested that P. flavescens trapped on BH were originated in different geographical regions and might have three movement strategies: wandering around northern China and north-bound (positive) and south-bound (negative) movements. Among them, the majority were engaged in wandering around northern China. Model simulations suggested that P. flavescens toured around BH. The results contribute to the knowledge of P. flavescens population ecology in a large-scale geographic region and will aid in the prediction and interpretation of insect migration patterns in response to climate change.

Synchronous vitellogenin expression and sexual maturation during migration are negatively correlated with juvenile hormone levels in Mythimna separata.

Annual migration of pests between different seasonal habitats can lead to serious crop damage. Reproductive immaturity is generally associated with the migratory process (oogenesis-flight syndrome), but the mechanism of reproductive development during migration varies unpredictably. Here, the vitellogenin gene (MsVg) and three key regulatory enzyme genes (MsJhamt, MsJheh and MsJhe) related to juvenile hormone (JH) synthesis and degradation were identified and characterized in Mythimna separata. The relative expression of MsVg varied significantly in response to seasonal changes and was significantly correlated with stages of ovarian development. The relatively low levels of JH titer did not differ significantly in male moths but slightly increased in female adults during the migratory season, which was consistent with changes in mRNA levels for MsJhamt, MsJheh and MsJhe. JH titer was negatively associated with relative seasonal levels of vitellogenin mRNA transcripts and with ovarian development in migrating M. separata. The synchrony of MsVg expression with sexual maturation highlighted the potential of MsVg transcript levels to serve as an index to monitor the adult reproductive status. In addition, the level of JH and sexual maturity were correlated with the extent of JH in regulating the MsVg expression and reproduction during seasonal northern and southern migration.

Development of nano-sized hydroxyapatite reinforced composites for tissue engineering scaffolds.

Nano-sized hydroxyapatite (nanoHA) reinforced composites, mimicking natural bone, were produced. Examination by transmission electron microscopy revealed that the nanoHA particles had a rod-like morphology, 20-30 nm in width and 50-80 nm in length. The phase composition of hydroxyapatite was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The nanoHA particles were incorporated into poly-2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (PHEMA)/polycaprolactone (PCL) matrix to make new nanocomposites: nanoHA-PHEMA/PCL. Porous nanocomposite scaffolds were then produced using a porogen leaching method. The interconnectivity of the porous structure of the scaffolds was revealed by non-destructive X-ray microtomography. Porosity of 84% was achieved and pore sizes were approximately around 300-400 microm. An in vitro study found that the nanocomposites were bioactive as indicated by the formation of a bone-like apatite layer after immersion in simulated body fluid. Furthermore, the nanocomposites were able to support the growth and proliferation of primary human osteoblast (HOB) cells. HOB cells developed a well organized actin cytoskeletal protein on the nanocomposite surface. The results demonstrate the potential of the nanocomposite scaffolds for tissue engineering applications for bone repair.