Brimonidine as a possible treatment for myopia.

BACKGROUND: Myopia is becoming a huge burden on the world's public health systems. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of brimonidine in the treatment of form-deprivation myopia (FDM) and the relationship between intraocular pressure (IOP) and myopia development. METHODS: Monocular form deprivation myopia (FDM) was induced in three-week-old pigmented male guinea pigs. They were treated with 3 different methods of brimonidine administration (eye drops, and subconjunctival or intravitreal injections). Four different concentrations of brimonidine were tested for each method (2µg/µL, 4µg/µL, 20µg/µL, and 40µg/µL). All treatments continued for a period of 21 days. Tonometry, retinoscopy, and A-scan ultrasonography were used to monitor intraocular pressure, refractive error and axial length (AL), respectively. RESULTS: Treatment with subconjunctival brimonidine at 40µg/µL, and intravitreal brimonidine at 2µg/µL and 4µg/µL, inhibited the development of FDM. The myopic refraction, excessive axial length, and elevation of IOP were significantly decreased. Brimonidine in eye drops was ineffective. CONCLUSION: Brimonidine at appropriate doses significantly reduced the development of FD myopia in guinea pigs. The IOP may change with FD myopia.

Efficacy of Rituximab in the Treatment of Pemphigus Vulgaris: A Meta-analysis.

Background: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) accounts for about 80% of all patients with pemphigus, and is the type with the most serious condition and the worst prognosis among autoimmune bullous diseases. Glucocorticoid and immunosuppressor are the main treatment method for PV. Methods: The computer retrieves four databases obtain controlled trials on the effects of Rituximab in patients with pemphigus vulgaris. After a rigorous literature quality evaluation, data analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results: 7 studies were ultimately included in this meta-analysis. 6 studies reported the Remission rate of the test group and the control group, which was significantly higher (OR:2.26; 95% Cl: 1.80,2.82; P < .01) than the control group. Meta-analysis showed that the improvement of the Recurrence rate was significantly lower than the control group (OR:0.36; 95% Cl: 0.20,0.67; P < .01). Meta-analysis showed that the Adverse reactions was no significant statistical significance than the control group (OR:0.82; 95% Cl: 0.53,1.28; P = .383). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that Rituximab may be effective in patients with pemphigus vulgaris, which will bring light for patients and doctors. And the above conclusions need to be verified by more high-quality studies.

Predicting Six-Month Re-Admission Risk in Heart Failure Patients Using Multiple Machine Learning Methods: A Study Based on the Chinese Heart Failure Population Database.

Since most patients with heart failure are re-admitted to the hospital, accurately identifying the risk of re-admission of patients with heart failure is important for clinical decision making and management. This study plans to develop an interpretable predictive model based on a Chinese population for predicting six-month re-admission rates in heart failure patients. Research data were obtained from the PhysioNet portal. To ensure robustness, we used three approaches for variable selection. Six different machine learning models were estimated based on selected variables. The ROC curve, prediction accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were used to evaluate the performance of the established models. In addition, we visualized the optimized model with a nomogram. In all, 2002 patients with heart failure were included in this study. Of these, 773 patients experienced re-admission and a six-month re-admission incidence of 38.61%. Based on evaluation metrics, the logistic regression model performed best in the validation cohort, with an AUC of 0.634 (95%CI: 0.599-0.646) and an accuracy of 0.652. A nomogram was also generated. The established prediction model has good discrimination ability in predicting. Our findings are helpful and could provide useful information for the allocation of healthcare resources and for improving the quality of survival of heart failure patients.

The long-term trend of Parkinson's disease incidence and mortality in China and a Bayesian projection from 2020 to 2030.

Background: Parkinson's disease is a disabling degenerative disease of the central nervous system that occurs mainly in elderly people. The changes in the incidence and mortality of Parkinson's disease at the national level in China over the past three decades have not been fully explored. Methods: Research data were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study. The trends of crude and age-standardized incidence and mortality rates by gender of Parkinson's disease in China were analyzed with the age-period-cohort model and the Joinpoint regression analysis. The effects of age, time period, and birth cohort on the incidence and mortality of Parkinson's disease were estimated. The gender- and age-specific incidence and mortality rates of Parkinson's disease from 2020 to 2030 were projected using the Bayesian age-period-cohort model with integrated nested Laplace approximations. Results: From 1990 to 2019, the annual percentage change of the age-standardized incidence rate was 0.8% (95% CI: 0.7%-0.8%) for males and 0.2% (95% CI, 0.2-0.2%) for females. And the age-standardized mortality rate for males was 2.9% (95% CI: 2.6%-3.2%) and 1.8% (95% CI: 1.5%-2.1%) for females. The results of the age-period-cohort analysis suggested that the risk and burden of Parkinson's disease continued to increase for the last several decades. Projection analysis suggested that the overall Parkinson's disease incidence will continue to increase for the next decades. It was projected that China would have 4.787 million Parkinson's patients by the year 2030, however, the mortality of Parkinson's disease for both genders in China may keep decreasing. Conclusion: Though the mortality risk may decrease, Parkinson's disease continues to become more common for both genders in China, especially in the senior-aged population. The burden associated with Parkinson's disease would continue to grow. Urgent interventions should be implemented to reduce the burden of Parkinson's disease in China.

Long-Time Trend of Colorectal Cancer Mortality Attributable to High Processed Meat Intake in China and a Bayesian Projection from 2020 to 2030: A Model-Based Study.

Colorectal cancer is among the leading causes of cancer worldwide. Processed meat was known to be positively associated with a higher risk of gastrointestinal cancer. This study focused on the long-time trends of colorectal cancer mortality attributable to high processed meat intake in China from 1990 to 2019 and the projection for the next decade based on data obtained from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study. We used an age-period-cohort model to fit the long-time trend. The joinpoint model was conducted to estimate the average and annual change of the attributable mortality. The Bayesian age-period-cohort model was used to project the crude attributable mortality from 2020 to 2030. An upward trend in colorectal cancer mortality attributable to high processed meat intake was observed for both sexes in China from 1990 to 2019, with an overall net drift of 4.009% for males and 2.491% for females per year. Projection analysis suggested that the burden of colorectal cancer incidence and mortality would still be high. Our findings suggested that colorectal cancer death attributable to high processed meat intake is still high in China, and elderly males were at higher risk. Gradually decreasing the intake of processed meat could be an effective way to reduce colorectal cancer mortality.

Comparative transcriptome analysis of the gills of Procambarus clarkii provide novel insights into the response mechanism of ammonia stress tolerance.

Procambarus clarkii is an important model crustacean organism in many researches. Ammonia nitrogen is one of common contaminants in aquatic environment, influencing the health of aquatic organisms. The primary objective of this study was to investigate molecular mechanisms on ammonia stress in gills of P. clarkii to provide new insights into the strategies of aquatic animals in responding to high concentration of ammonia in the environment. Procambarus clarkii were randomly assigned into two groups (ammonia stress group, AG; control group, CG), and gill samples were dependently excised from AG and CG. Then response mechanisms on ammonia stress were investigated based on transcriptome data of P. clarkii. 9237 differentially expressed genes were identified in ammonia stress group. The genes of ion transport enzymes (NKA and SLC6A5S) were significantly up-regulated. Whereas the immune-related genes (e.g. MAP3K7, HSP70, HSP90A, CTSF, CTSL1, CHI and CTL4) and pathways were significantly up-regulated, which played an important role in reacting to ammonia stress. Procambarus clarkii may enhance immune defense to counteract ammonia toxicity by the up-regulation of immune-related genes and signaling pathways. The activities of ion transport enzymes are changed to mobilise signal transduction and ion channel regulation for adapting to ammonia environment. These previous key genes play an important role in resistance to ammonia stress to better prepare for survival in high concentration of ammonia.

Identification of putative ingestion-related olfactory receptor genes in the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir japonica sinensis).

BACKGROUND: Olfaction plays a central role in mating, spawning, obtaining food and escaping predators, which is essential for survival and reproduction of animals. The nature of the olfactory perception in crabs, which is a major group of crustaceans, has remained elusive. OBJECTIVE: This project aims to explore the molecular mechanism of olfaction in crabs and further improve our understanding of olfactory perception in crustaceans. METHODS: The olfactory receptors and ingestion-related gene expression in Eriocheir japonica sinensis were studied by transcriptomic techniques. The de novo assembly, annotation and functional evaluation were performed with bioinformatics tools. RESULTS: A series of chemosensory receptors associated with olfaction were identified including 33 EsIRs, 24 EsIGluRs, 58 EsVIGluRs, 1 EsOR and 1 EsGC-D. We found IRs were key odorant receptors demonstrating a specific species evolutionary trend in crustaceans. Furthermore, we identified ORs in E. j. sinensis and Litopenaeus vannamei. The incomplete EsOR and LvOR1 structures implied that ORs exist in crustaceans, and may have been degenerated or even lost in the olfactory evolutionary process. In addition, comparative transcriptome analysises demonstrated two possible olfactory transduction pathways of E. j. sinensis: the cGMP-mediated olfactory pathway related to vegetable odor molecules and the cAMP-mediated olfactory pathway related to meat odor molecules. The above results were consistent with its omnivorous ingestion of E. j. sinensis. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed the unique olfactory molecular mechanism of omnivorous crabs and provided valuable information for further functional research on the chemoreception mechanisms in crustaceans.

Evolution of digestive enzyme genes associated with dietary diversity of crabs.

Crabs feed on a wide range of items and display diverse feeding strategies. The primary objective of this study was to investigate 10 digestive enzyme genes in representative crabs to provide insights into the genetic basis of feeding habits among crab functional groups. Crabs were classified into three groups based on their feeding habits: herbivores (HV), omnivores (OV), and carnivores (CV). To test whether crabs' feeding adaptations matched adaptive evolution of digestive enzyme genes, we examined the 10 digestive enzyme genes of 12 crab species based on hepatopancreas transcriptome data. Each of the digestive enzyme genes was compared to orthologous sequences using both nucleotide- (i.e., PAML and Datamonkey) and protein-level (i.e., TreeSAAP) approaches. Positive selection genes were detected in HV crabs (AMYA, APN, and MGAM) and CV crabs (APN, CPB, PNLIP, RISC, TRY, and XPD). Additionally, a series of positive selection sites were localized in important functional regions of these digestive enzyme genes. This is the first study to characterize the molecular basis of crabs' digestive enzyme genes based on functional feeding group. Our data suggest that HV crabs have evolved an enhanced digestion capacity for carbohydrates, and CV crabs have acquired digestion capacity for proteins and lipids.

A new low-cost hydroxyapatite for efficient immobilization of lead.

Distiller waste (DW), a common by-product of soda ash plants, was used as the unique calcium source to produce low-cost hydroxyapatites (HAPs) for the first time. The DW-derived HAPs were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD and BET methods and investigated as amendments for soil Pb immobilization. The DW-derived HAPs displayed relatively smaller particle size (30-80 nm) and larger BET specific surface areas (60.00-64.06 m2/g) compared with two selected commercial HAPs (technical grade HAP and biological reagent HAP designated as HAP-TG and HAP-BR, respectively). The maximum sorption capacity of Pb on the DW-derived HAPs predicted from Langmuir sorption isotherm model was 726-734 mg/g higher than the commercial HAPs and even other well-designed sorbents. TCLP leaching experiments and BCR sequential extraction experiments were conducted to determine the effectiveness of HAP additions on Pb immobilization in soil. A lower addition ratio is required for the DW-derived HAPs than commercial HAPs to reduce Pb leachability to below the harmless level. Meanwhile, the DW-derived HAPs were found to be superior to commercial HAPs in transformation of readily bioavailable forms of Pb to stable speciation in soil, with residual fraction of Pb increased from 6.7% in non-amended soil to 60.7-61.4% in DW-derived HAPs amended soils, 58.3% in HAP-TG amended soil and 42.6% in HAP-BR amended soil, respectively. This study strongly demonstrated the feasibility and low-cost of HAPs derived from the distiller waste for reducing the environmental risks and bioavailability of Pb in soil.