Corrigendum: Identification of immune-related genes in diagnosing atherosclerosis with rheumatoid arthritis through bioinformatics analysis and machine learning.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1126647.].

Half of the adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients may have lumbar adjacent segment degeneration following spinal fusion: A systemic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the impact of surgical approaches and other factors on the incidence of Adjacent Segment Degeneration (ASD) following Spinal Fusion for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS). METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive search of four electronic databases from their inception until March 30, 2023. Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts, and full texts and evaluated the methodological quality of the studies. A random-effects model was used to calculate the incidence of ASD. RESULTS: Our analysis included 14 studies involving 651 individuals. The overall incidence of ASD was 47% (95%CI: 0.37, 0.56). Subgroup analyses revealed that the prevalence of ASD increased with postoperative time (53% (95%CI: 0.31, 0.75) versus 48% (95%CI: 0.36, 0.60) versus 39% (95%CI: 0.22, 0.56)). For the number of fused segments, a group with more than 10 segments had a higher prevalence (49% (95%CI: 0.38, 0.60) versus 44% (95%CI: 0.21, 0.69)). In terms of regions, East Asia had the highest prevalence, followed by Occident and West Asia (52% (95%CI: 0.41, 0.62) versus 43% (95%CI: 0.20, 0.68) versus 37% (95%CI: 0.17, 0.59)). However, the surgical approach, male ratio, and the position of the lowest instrumented vertebra (LIV) did not show significant differences between groups. Funnel plots and Egger's test did not reveal any significant publication bias (Egger's test: t = 1.62, p-value = .1274). CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis found that nearly half of AIS patients following spinal fusion surgery experienced ASD. Long-term follow-up, regular screening, and timely interventions are essential to reduce the prevalence of ASD.

Identification of immune-related genes in diagnosing atherosclerosis with rheumatoid arthritis through bioinformatics analysis and machine learning.

Background: Increasing evidence has proven that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can aggravate atherosclerosis (AS), and we aimed to explore potential diagnostic genes for patients with AS and RA. Methods: We obtained the data from public databases, including Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and STRING, and obtained the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and module genes with Limma and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and machine learning algorithms [least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and random forest] were performed to explore the immune-related hub genes. We used a nomogram and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to assess the diagnostic efficacy, which has been validated with GSE55235 and GSE73754. Finally, immune infiltration was developed in AS. Results: The AS dataset included 5,322 DEGs, while there were 1,439 DEGs and 206 module genes in RA. The intersection of DEGs for AS and crucial genes for RA was 53, which were involved in immunity. After the PPI network and machine learning construction, six hub genes were used for the construction of a nomogram and for diagnostic efficacy assessment, which showed great diagnostic value (area under the curve from 0.723 to 1). Immune infiltration also revealed the disorder of immunocytes. Conclusion: Six immune-related hub genes (NFIL3, EED, GRK2, MAP3K11, RMI1, and TPST1) were recognized, and the nomogram was developed for AS with RA diagnosis.

Knockdown of NCOA5 suppresses viability, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and induces adhesion of breast cancer cells.

Nuclear receptor coactivator 5 (NCOA5) has been reported to be involved in the regulation of several malignancies; however, to the best of our knowledge, its role in breast cancer is still unknown. The present study aimed to reveal the biological function of NCOA5 in breast cancer cells. NCOA5 expression in breast cancer tissues and cell lines was examined using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) against NCOA5 (siNCOA5) was transfected into MDA-MB-453 and MCF-7 cells to knock down NCOA5. MTT, transwell migration and cell adhesion assays were performed to determine cell viability, migration and adhesion abilities of breast cancer cells, respectively. In addition, the expression levels of N-cadherin, Vimentin and E-cadherin were examined by western blotting. It was revealed that NCOA5 expression was significantly increased in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of NCOA5 suppressed breast cancer cell viability and migration, and induced cell adhesion. Compared with those in cells transfected with non-targeting negative control siRNA, the protein expression levels of N-cadherin and Vimentin were significantly decreased, whereas the protein expression levels of E-cadherin were significantly increased in cells transfected with siNCOA5. The present study demonstrated that knockdown of NCOA5 suppressed cell viability and migration, induced cell adhesion, and inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition of breast cancer cells, indicating that NCOA5 may serve a tumor-promoting role in breast cancer.

ß-Sitosterol attenuates liver injury in a rat model of chronic alcohol intake.

Liver disease associated with long-term drinking is one of the leading causes of death. There is an urgent need for more effective drugs to reduce alcoholic liver damage. Yin Chen Hao, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, is widely used for liver diseases. Here, we aimed to explore the protective effect of ß-sitosterol (the active ingredient of Artemisia spp.) on alcoholic liver injuries. We treated the rats with alcohol and different dosages of ß-sitosterol to detect the expression levels of liver function indicators in serum. The functions of ß-sitosterol were evaluated based on variations in histology, liver function indicators and DNA oxidative damages. The underlying mechanism was investigated by measuring lipid peroxidation, the antioxidant, the expression of cytochrome P450 2E1 and the expression of apoptosis related genes. The results showed that ß-sitosterol could improve liver histology and suppress biochemical indicators caused by alcohol in serum. In addition, ß-sitosterol alleviates alcohol-induced oxidative stress, such as restoring erythrocyte membrane fluidity, reducing glutathione depletion, restoring antioxidant enzyme activity and reducing malondialdehyde overproduction. Furthermore, ß-sitosterol downregulated the expression of apoptosis-related genes through the PI3K/Akt pathway. In conclusion, ß-sitosterol has a protective effect on chronic alcoholism and has broad clinical application prospects in the treatment of alcohol-induced liver damage.

Risk factors for early postoperative recurrence in single and small hepatitis B virus-associated primary hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk factors of early postoperative recurrence in patients with single and small (≤3 cm) hepatitis B virus-associated primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC). METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed patients with single and small HBV-HCC. All patients were followed up for 1 year after surgery. RESULTS: Among 182 patients, 54 patients had early recurrence within 1 year. The recurrence group had higher proportions of men, drinking history, Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class C, patients who underwent transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), and serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) >10 ng/mL as well as higher gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) levels and lower total protein (TP) and CD8+ T lymphocyte levels than the no recurrence group. Cox multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that drinking history (HR, 1.312; 95% CI, 1.042-1.652), CTP class C (HR, 1.236; 95% CI, 1.037-1.473), TACE treatment (HR, 1.241; 95% CI, 1.026-1.501), GGT (HR, 1.138; 95% CI, 1.042-1.243), TP (HR, 0.729; 95% CI, 0.555-0.957), and AFP (HR, 2.519; 95% CI, 1.343-4.726) were independently associated with early postoperative recurrence. CONCLUSION: Drinking history, CTP class C, TACE, serum AFP, GGT, and TP levels were independently associated with early postoperative recurrence in patients with single and small HBV-HCC.

[Purity measurement of hybrid rice seed Yixiang 725 with visible-near infrared reflectance spectra].

A rapid and non-invasive method was put forward to measure the purity of hybrid rice seed by visible-near infrared reflectance spectra. Ninety hybrid rice seed samples (Yixiang 725) with the purity of 90%-99% were collected using a FieldSpec 3 visible-near infrared spectometer. All samples were divided randomly into two groups, one group with 75 samples used as calibrated set, and the other with 15 samples used as validated set. Based on the spectra in the range of 380-2 400 nm, the regression model was established using the PLS (partial least square), and different spectra pretreatment methods were compared. The study showed that spectra information can be extracted thoroughly by the pretreatment method of first derivative combined with standard normal variate, with the SEC (standard error of calibration) of 0.002 5, SEP (standard error of prediction) of 0.006 6, and determination coefficients of 0.988 4 (calibration set) and 0.922 7 (validation set) respectively. The spectra, which were pretreated with the method of first derivative combined standard normal variate, were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA). The top 20 principal components, which were computed by PCA and accounted for 86.09% variation of the original spectral information, were used to build BP-ANN model for measuring the purity of hybrid rice seed as the new variables. The study showed that the SEC and SEP of BP-ANN model were 0.001 7 and 0.006 1, and the determination coefficients of that were 0.995 2 (calibration set) and 0.936 9 (validation set) respectively. Therefore, the predictive power of BP-ANN model was better than that of PLS model. Results indicated that it was feasible to measure the purity of the hybrid rice seed by visible-near reflectance spectra as a rapid and non-contact way, and PCA combined with BP-ANN was a preferred method.