Endoscopic polidocanol foam sclerobanding for the treatment of grade II-III internal hemorrhoids: A prospective, multi-center, randomized study.

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic rubber band ligation (ERBL) is a nonsurgical technique for the treatment of symptomatic internal hemorrhoids but is limited by recurrence and post-procedural pain. AIM: To evaluate satisfaction, long-term recurrence, and post-procedural pain in managing internal hemorrhoids using a combination of polidocanol foam sclerotherapy and ERBL. METHODS: This was a prospective, multicenter, randomized study. A total of 195 consecutive patients diagnosed with grade II-III internal hemorrhoids were enrolled from four tertiary hospitals and randomly divided into a cap-assisted endoscopic polidocanol foam sclerobanding (EFSB) or an ERBL group. All patients were followed-up for 12 months. Symptom-based severity and post-procedural pain were assessed using a hemorrhoid severity score (HSS) and a visual analog scale (VAS). Continuous variables were reported as medians and interquartile range. RESULTS: One hundred and ninety-five patients were enrolled, with 98 in the EFSB group. HSS was lower in the EFSB group than in the ERBL group at 8 weeks [4.0 (3.0-5.0) vs 5.0 (4.0-6.0), P = 0.003] and 12-month [2.0 (1.0-3.0) vs 3.0 (2.0-3.0), P < 0.001] of follow-up. The prolapse recurrence rate was lower in the EFSB group at 12 months (11.2% vs 21.6%, P = 0.038). Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that EFSB treatment [B = -0.915, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.301 to -0.530, P = 0.001] and rubber band number (B = 0.843, 95%CI: 0.595-1.092, P < 0.001) were negatively and independently associated with the VAS score 24 hours post-procedure. The median VAS was lower in the EFSB group than in the ERBL [2.0 (1.0-3.0) vs 3.0 (2.0-4.0), P < 0.001]. CONCLUSION: Cap-assisted EFSB provided long-term satisfaction and effective relief from the recurrence of prolapse and pain 24 hours post-procedure.

The Phylogenetic Relationships of Major Lizard Families Using Mitochondrial Genomes and Selection Pressure Analyses in Anguimorpha.

Anguimorpha, within the order Squamata, represents a group with distinct morphological and behavioral characteristics in different ecological niches among lizards. Within Anguimorpha, there is a group characterized by limb loss, occupying lower ecological niches, concentrated within the subfamily Anguinae. Lizards with limbs and those without exhibit distinct locomotor abilities when adapting to their habitats, which in turn necessitate varying degrees of energy expenditure. Mitochondria, known as the metabolic powerhouses of cells, play a crucial role in providing approximately 95% of an organism's energy. Functionally, mitogenomes (mitochondrial genomes) can serve as a valuable tool for investigating potential adaptive evolutionary selection behind limb loss in reptiles. Due to the variation of mitogenome structures among each species, as well as its simple genetic structure, maternal inheritance, and high evolutionary rate, the mitogenome is increasingly utilized to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships of squamate animals. In this study, we sequenced the mitogenomes of two species within Anguimorpha as well as the mitogenomes of two species in Gekkota and four species in Scincoidea. We compared these data with the mitogenome content and evolutionary history of related species. Within Anguimorpha, between the mitogenomes of limbless and limbed lizards, a branch-site model analysis supported the presence of 10 positively selected sites: Cytb protein (at sites 183 and 187), ND2 protein (at sites 90, 155, and 198), ND3 protein (at site 21), ND5 protein (at sites 12 and 267), and ND6 protein (at sites 72 and 119). These findings suggested that positive selection of mitogenome in limbless lizards may be associated with the energy requirements for their locomotion. Additionally, we acquired data from 205 mitogenomes from the NCBI database. Bayesian inference (BI) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) trees were constructed using the 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes (PCGs) and two rRNAs (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA) from 213 mitogenomes. Our phylogenetic tree and the divergence time estimates for Squamata based on mitogenome data are consistent with results from previous studies. Gekkota was placed at the root of Squamata in both BI and ML trees. However, within the Toxicofera clade, due to long-branch attraction, Anguimorpha and (Pleurodonta + (Serpentes + Acrodonta)) were closely related groupings, which might indicate errors and also demonstrate that mitogenome-based phylogenetic trees may not effectively resolve long-branch attraction issues. Additionally, we reviewed the origin and diversification of Squamata throughout the Mesozoic era, suggesting that Squamata originated in the Late Triassic (206.05 Mya), with the diversification of various superfamilies occurring during the Cretaceous period. Future improvements in constructing squamate phylogenetic relationships using mitogenomes will rely on identifying snake and acrodont species with slower evolutionary rates, ensuring comprehensive taxonomic coverage of squamate diversity, and increasing the number of genes analyzed.

Dissecting the molecular basis of the ultra-large grain formation in rice.

The shape of rice grains not only determines the thousand-grain weight but also correlates closely with the grain quality. Here we identified an ultra-large grain accession (ULG) with a thousand-grain weight exceeding 60 g. The integrated analysis of QTL, BSA, de novo genome assembled, transcription sequencing, and gene editing was conducted to dissect the molecular basis of the ULG formation. The ULG pyramided advantageous alleles from at least four known grain-shaping genes, OsLG3, OsMADS1, GS3, GL3.1, and one novel locus, qULG2-b, which encoded a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase. The collective impacts of OsLG3, OsMADS1, GS3, and GL3.1 on grain size were confirmed in transgenic plants and near-isogenic lines. The transcriptome analysis identified 112 genes cooperatively regulated by these four genes that were prominently involved in photosynthesis and carbon metabolism. By leveraging the pleiotropy of these genes, we enhanced the grain yield, appearance, and stress tolerance of rice var. SN265. Beyond showcasing the pyramiding of multiple grain size regulation genes that can produce ULG, our study provides a theoretical framework and valuable genomic resources for improving rice variety by leveraging the pleiotropy of grain size regulated genes.

Dynamically generated decoherence-free subspaces and subsystems on superconducting qubits.

Decoherence-free subspaces and subsystems (DFS) preserve quantum information by encoding it into symmetry-protected states unaffected by decoherence. An inherent DFS of a given experimental system may not exist; however, through the use of dynamical decoupling (DD), one can induce symmetries that support DFSs. Here, we provide the first experimental demonstration of DD-generated decoherence-free subsystem logical qubits. Utilizing IBM Quantum superconducting processors, we investigate two and three-qubit DFS codes comprising up to six and seven noninteracting logical qubits, respectively. Through a combination of DD and error detection, we show that DFS logical qubits can achieve up to a 23% improvement in state preservation fidelity over physical qubits subject to DD alone. This constitutes a beyond-breakeven fidelity improvement for DFS-encoded qubits. Our results showcase the potential utility of DFS codes as a pathway toward enhanced computational accuracy via logical encoding on quantum processors.

The association between cardiac T2*BOLD and quantitative flow ratio (QFR) in the diagnosis of stenotic coronary arteries in patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND: T2*BOLD is based on myocardial deoxyhemoglobin content to reflect the state of myocardial oxygenation. Quantitative flow ratio is a tool for assessing coronary blood flow based on invasive coronary angiography. PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between T2*BOLD and QFR in the diagnosis of stenotic coronary arteries in patients with multi-vessel coronary artery disease. METHODS: Fifty patients with MVCAD with at least 1 significant coronary artery stenosis (diameter stenosis > 50%) and 21 healthy control subjects underwent coronary angiography combined with QFR measurements and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). QFR ≤ 0.80 was considered to indicate the presence of hemodynamic obstruction. RESULTS: Totally 60 (54%) obstructive vessels had hemodynamic change. Between stenotic coronary arteries (QFR ≤ 0.8) and normal vessels, T2*BOLD showed AUCs of 0.97, 0.69, and 0.91 for left anterior descending (LAD), left circumflex (LCX) and right coronary (RCA) arteries and PI displayed AUCs of 0.89, 0.77 and 0.90 (all p > 0.05, except for LAD). The AUCs of T2*BOLD between stenotic coronary arteries (QFR > 0.8) and normal vessels were 0.86, 0.72, and 0.85 for LAD, LCX and RCA; while, PI showed AUCs of 0.93, 0.86, and 0.88, respectively (p > 0.05). Moreover, T2*BOLD displayed AUCs of 0.96, 0.74, and 0.91 for coronary arteries as before between coronary arteries with stenosis (QFR ≤ 0.8 and > 0.8), but the mean PI of LAD, LCX and RCA showed no significant differences between them. CONCLUSION: T2* BOLD and QFR have good correlation in diagnosing stenotic coronary arteries with hemodynamic changes in patients with stable multi-vessel CAD. T2* BOLD is superior to semi-quantitative perfusion imaging in analyzing myocardial ischemia without stress.

Fractal analysis of left ventricular trabeculae in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction patients with multivessel coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVES: Endocardial trabeculae undergo varicose changes and hyperplasia in response to hemodynamic influences and are a variable phenotype reflecting changes in disease. Fractal analysis has been used to analyze the complexity of endocardial trabeculae in a variety of cardiomyopathies. The aim of this paper was to quantify the myocardial trabecular complexity through fractal analysis and to investigate its predictive value for the diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: The retrospective study population consisted of 97 patients with multivessel CAD, 39 of them were diagnosed with HFpEF, while 46 healthy volunteers were recruited as controls. Fractal dimension (FD) was obtained through fractal analysis of endocardial trabeculae on LV short-axis cine images. Logistic regression analyses were used to confirm the predictors and compare different prediction models. RESULTS: Mean basal FD was significantly higher in patients with HFpEF than in patients without HFpEF or in the healthy group (median: 1.289; IQR: 0.078; p < 0.05). Mean basal FD was also a significant independent predictor in univariate and multivariate logistic regression (OR: 1.107 and 1.043, p < 0.05). Furthermore, adding FD to the prediction model improved the calibration and accuracy of the model (c-index: 0.806). CONCLUSION: The left ventricular FD obtained with fractal analysis can reflect the complexity of myocardial trabeculae and has an independent predictive value for the diagnosis of HFpEF in patients with multivessel CAD. Including FD into the diagnostic model can help improve the diagnosis. CRITICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: Differences show in the complexity of endocardial trabeculae in multivessel coronary artery disease patients, and obtaining fractal dimensions (FD) by fractal analysis can help identify heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) patients. KEY POINTS: The complexity of myocardial trabeculae differs among patients with multivessel coronary artery disease. Left ventricular fractal dimensions can reflect the complexity of the myocardial trabecular. Fractal dimensions have predictive value for the diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Coronary artery wall contrast enhancement imaging impact on disease activity assessment in IgG4-RD: a direct marker of coronary involvement.

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery wall contrast enhancement (CE) has been applied to non-invasive visualization of changes to the coronary artery wall in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study investigated the feasibility of quantifying CE to detect coronary involvement in IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD), as well as the influence on disease activity assessment. METHODS: A total of 93 subjects (31 IgG4-RD; 29 SLE; 33 controls) were recruited in the study. Coronary artery wall imaging was performed in a 3.0 T MRI scanner. Serological markers and IgG4-RD Responder Index (IgG4-RD-RI) scores were collected for correlation analysis. RESULTS: Coronary wall CE was observed in 29 (94 %) IgG4-RD patients and 22 (76 %) SLE patients. Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and total CE area were significantly higher in patient groups compared to controls (CNR: 6.1 ± 2.7 [IgG4-RD] v. 4.2 ± 2.3 [SLE] v. 1.9 ± 1.5 [control], P < 0.001; Total CE area: 3.0 [3.0-6.6] v. 1.7 [1.5-2.6] v. 0.3 [0.3-0.9], P < 0.001). In the IgG4-RD group, CNR and total CE area were correlated with the RI (CNR: r = 0.55, P = 0.002; total CE area: r = 0.39, P = 0.031). RI´ scored considering coronary involvement by CE, differed significantly from RI scored without consideration of CE (RI v. RI´: 15 ± 6 v. 16 ± 6, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Visualization and quantification of CMR coronary CE by CNR and total CE area could be utilized to detect subclinical and clinical coronary wall involvement, which is prevalent in IgG4-RD. The potential inclusion of small and medium-sized vessel involvements in the assessment of disease activity in IgG4-RD is worthy of further investigation.

SMS2, a Novel Allele of OsINV3, Regulates Grain Size in Rice.

Grain size has an important effect on rice yield. Although several key genes that regulate seed size have been reported in rice, their molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, a rice small grain size 2 (sms2) mutant was identified, and MutMap resequencing analysis results showed that a 2 bp insertion in the second exon of the LOC_Os02g01590 gene resulted in a grain length and width lower than those of the wild-type Teqing (TQ). We found that SMS2 encoded vacuolar acid invertase, a novel allele of OsINV3, which regulates grain size. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses showed that SMS2 was involved in endoplasmic reticulum protein synthesis, cysteine and methionine metabolism, and propionic acid metabolism, thereby regulating grain size. An analysis of sugar content in young panicles showed that SMS2 reduced sucrose, fructose, and starch contents, thus regulating grain size. A haplotype analysis showed that Hap2 of SMS2 had a longer grain and was widely present in indica rice varieties. Our results provide a new theoretical basis for the molecular and physiological mechanisms by which SMS2 regulates grain size.

N-terminal domain truncation yielded a unique dimer of polysaccharide hydrolase with enhanced enzymatic activity, stability and calcium ion independence.

Domain engineering, including domain truncation, fusion, or swapping, has become a common strategy to improve properties of enzymes, especially glycosyl hydrolases. However, there are few reports explaining the mechanism of increased activity from a protein structure perspective. Amy703 is an alkaline amylase with a unique N-terminal domain. Prior studies have shown that N-Amy, a mutant without an N-terminal domain, exhibits improved activity, stability, and calcium ion independence. In this study, we have used X-ray crystallography to determine the crystal structure of N-Amy and used AlphaFold2 to model the Amy703 structure, respectively. We further used size exclusion chromatography to show that Amy703 existed as a monomer, whereas N-Amy formed a unique dimer. It was found that the N-terminus of one monomer of N-Amy was inserted into the catalytic domain of its symmetrical subunit, resulting in the expansion of the catalytic pocket. This also significantly increased the pKa of the hydrogen donor Glu350, thereby enhancing substrate binding affinity and contributing to increased N-Amy activity. Meanwhile, two calcium ions were found to bind to N-Amy at different binding sites, which also contributed to the stability of protein. Therefore, this study provided new structural insights into the mechanisms of various glycosyl hydrolases.

Nicotine improves DSS-induced colitis by inhibiting NLRP3 and altering gut microbiota.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic recurrent inflammatory disease affecting the rectum and colon. Numerous epidemiological studies have identified smoking as a protective factor for UC. Dysbiosis of intestinal microbiota and release of inflammatory factors are well-established characteristics associated with UC. Therefore, we have observed that nicotine exhibits the potential to ameliorate colitis symptoms in UC mice. Additionally, it exerts a regulatory effect on colonic microbiota dysbiosis by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria while suppressing harmful bacteria. Combined in vivo and in vitro investigations demonstrate that nicotine primarily impedes the assembly of NLRP3, subsequently inhibiting downstream IL-1ß secretion.

Epicardial adipose tissue in obesity with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance biomarker study.

BACKGROUND: Obesity has become a serious public health issue, significantly elevating the risk of various complications. It is a well-established contributor to Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Evaluating HFpEF in obesity is crucial. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has emerged as a valuable tool for validating prognostic biomarkers and guiding treatment targets. Hence, assessing EAT is of paramount importance. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is acknowledged as the gold standard for analyzing cardiac function and morphology. We hope to use CMR to assess EAT as a bioimaging marker to evaluate HFpEF in obese patients. AIM: To assess the diagnostic utility of CMR for evaluating heart failure with preserved ejection fraction [HFpEF; left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction ≥ 50%] by measuring the epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) volumes and EAT mass in obese patients. METHODS: Sixty-two obese patients were divided into two groups for a case-control study based on whether or not they had heart failure with HFpEF. The two groups were defined as HFpEF+ and HFpEF-. LV geometry, global systolic function, EAT volumes and EAT mass of all subjects were obtained using cine magnetic resonance sequences. RESULTS: Forty-five patients of HFpEF- group and seventeen patients of HFpEF+ group were included. LV mass index (g/m2) of HFpEF+ group was higher than HFpEF- group (P < 0.05). In HFpEF+ group, EAT volumes, EAT volume index, EAT mass, EAT mass index and the ratio of EAT/[left atrial (LA) left-right (LR) diameter] were higher compared to HFpEF- group (P < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, Higher EAT/LA LR diameter ratio was associated with higher odds ratio of HFpEF. CONCLUSION: EAT/LA LR diameter ratio is highly associated with HFpEF in obese patients. It is plausible that there may be utility in CMR for assessing obese patients for HFpEF using EAT/LA LR diameter ratio as a diagnostic biomarker. Further prospective studies, are needed to validate these proof-of-concept findings.

One case of complicated crown root fracture of upper anterior teeth managed by multidisciplinary joint approaches.

Complicated crown root fracture is a serious combined fracture of the enamel, dentin, and cementum in dental trauma. The treatment method is complicated. During the procedure, the condition of pulp, periodontal, and tooth body should be thoroughly evaluated, and a multidisciplinary approach combined with sequential treatment is recommended. This case reported the different treatment and repair processes of one case of two affected teeth after complicated crown root fracture of upper anterior teeth, including regrafting of broken crown after flap surgery at the first visit, direct resin repair to remove broken fragments, and pulp treatment and post-crown repair at the second visit. After 18 months of follow-up, the preservation treatment of the affected teeth with complicated crown root fracture was achieved. Therefore, fragment reattachment and post-crown restoration are feasible treatment options for children with complicated crown root fracture.

Toward Accurate Cardiac MRI Segmentation With Variational Autoencoder-Based Unsupervised Domain Adaptation.

Accurate myocardial segmentation is crucial in the diagnosis and treatment of myocardial infarction (MI), especially in Late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) images, where the infarcted myocardium exhibits a greater brightness. However, segmentation annotations for LGE images are usually not available. Although knowledge gained from CMR images of other modalities with ample annotations, such as balanced-Steady State Free Precession (bSSFP), can be transferred to the LGE images, the difference in image distribution between the two modalities (i.e., domain shift) usually results in a significant degradation in model performance. To alleviate this, an end-to-end Variational autoencoder based feature Alignment Module Combining Explicit and Implicit features (VAMCEI) is proposed. We first re-derive the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence between the posterior distributions of the two domains as a measure of the global distribution distance. Second, we calculate the prototype contrastive loss between the two domains, bringing closer the prototypes of the same category across domains and pushing away the prototypes of different categories within or across domains. Finally, a domain discriminator is added to the output space, which indirectly aligns the feature distribution and forces the extracted features to be more favorable for segmentation. In addition, by combining CycleGAN and VAMCEI, we propose a more refined multi-stage unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) framework for myocardial structure segmentation. We conduct extensive experiments on the MSCMRSeg 2019, MyoPS 2020 and MM-WHS 2017 datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that our framework achieves superior performances than state-of-the-art methods.

Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of the DA1 Gene Family in Sweet Potato and Its Two Diploid Relatives.

The DA1-like gene family plays a crucial role in regulating seed and organ size in plants. The DA1 gene family has been identified in several species but has not yet been reported in sweet potatoes. In this study, nine, eleven, and seven DA1s were identified in cultivated sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas, 2n = 6x = 90) and its two diploid wild relatives, I. trifida (2n = 2x = 30) and I. triloba (2n = 2x = 30), respectively. The DA1 genes were classified into three subgroups based on their phylogenetic relationships with Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa (rice). Their protein physiological properties, chromosomal localization, phylogenetic relationships, gene structure, promoter cis-elements, and expression patterns were systematically analyzed. The qRT-PCR results showed that the expression levels of four genes, IbDA1-1, IbDA1-3, IbDA1-6, and IbDA1-7, were higher in the sweet potato leaves than in the roots, fiber roots, and stems. In our study, we provide a comprehensive comparison and further the knowledge of DA1-like genes in sweet potatoes, and provide a theoretical basis for functional studies.

Fractal analysis of left ventricular trabeculae in post-STEMI: from acute to chronic phase.

PURPOSE: The temporal evolution of ventricular trabecular complexity and its correlation with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) remain indeterminate in patients presenting with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS: This retrospective analysis enrolled patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) for acute STEMI, possessing cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) data in the acute (within 7 days), subacute (1 month after pPCI), and chronic phases (6 months after pPCI) from January 2015 to January 2020 at the three participating sites. Fractal dimensions (FD) were measured for the global, infarct, and remote regions of left ventricular trabeculae during each phase. The potential association of FD with MACE was analyzed using multivariate Cox regression. RESULTS: Among the 200 analyzed patients (182 men; median age, 61 years; age range, 50-66 years), 37 (18.5%) encountered MACE during a median follow-up of 31.2 months. FD exhibited a gradual decrement (global FD at acute, subacute, and chronic phases: 1.253 ± 0.049, 1.239 ± 0.046, 1.230 ± 0.045, p < 0.0001), with a more pronounced decrease observed in patients subsequently experiencing MACE (p < 0.001). The global FD at the subacute phase correlated with MACE (hazard ratio 0.89 (0.82, 0.97), p = 0.01), and a global FD value below 1.26 was associated with a heightened risk. CONCLUSION: In patients post-STEMI, the global FD, serving as an indicator of left ventricular trabeculae complexity, independently demonstrated an association with subsequent major adverse cardiovascular events, beyond factors encompassing left ventricular ejection fraction, indexed left ventricular end-diastolic volume, infarct size, heart rate, NYHA class, and post-pPCI TIMI flow. CRITICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: In patients who have had an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, global fractal dimension, as a measure of left ventricular trabeculae complexity, provided independent association with subsequent major adverse cardiovascular event. KEY POINTS: • Global and regional FD decreased after STEMI, and more so in patients with subsequent MACE. • Lower global FD at the subacute phase and Δglobal FD from acute to subacute phase were associated with subsequent MACE besides clinical and CMR factors. • Global FD at the subacute phase independently correlated with MACE and global FD value below 1.26 was associated with higher risk.

Comparison of the cachexia index based on hand-grip strength (H-CXI) with the original CXI for the prediction of cancer cachexia and prognosis in patients who underwent radical colectomy for colorectal cancer.

Background and aims: The cachexia index (CXI) is a novel biomarker for estimating cancer cachexia. The cachexia index based on hand-grip strength (H-CXI) has been recently developed as a simple proxy for CXI. The present study aims to compare both the H-CXI and CXI for the prediction of cancer cachexia and postoperative outcomes in patients who underwent radical colectomy for colorectal cancer. Methods: Patients who underwent radical operations for colorectal cancer were included in this study. Cancer cachexia was diagnosed according to the international consensus outlined by Fearon et al. The cachexia index (CXI) was calculated as [skeletal muscle index (SMI) × serum albumin/neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)]. The H-CXI was calculated as [hand-grip strength (HGS)/height2 × serum albumin/NLR]. The SMI was measured based on the preoperative CT images at the third lumbar vertebra (L3) level. HGS was measured before surgery. Results: From July 2014 to May 2021, a total of 1,411 patients were included in the present study, of whom 361 (25.6%) were identified as having cancer cachexia. Patients with cachexia had a lower CXI (p < 0.001) and lower H-CXI (p < 0.001) than those without cachexia. A low CXI but not low H-CXI independently predicted cancer cachexia in the multivariate analysis (OR 1.448, p = 0.024). Both a low CXI (HR 1.476, p < 0.001 for OS; HR 1.611, p < 0.001 for DFS) and low H-CXI (HR 1.369, p = 0.007 for OS; HR 1.642, p < 0.001 for DFS) were independent predictors for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) after adjusting for the same covariates. A low H-CXI but not low CXI was an independent risk factor for postoperative complications (OR 1.337, p = 0.044). No significant association was found between cancer cachexia and postoperative complications. Conclusion: The CXI and H-CXI exhibited better prognostic value than cancer cachexia for the prediction of postoperative outcomes in patients who underwent radical colectomy for colorectal cancer. The H-CXI was a superior index over the CXI in predicting short-term clinical outcomes, whereas the CXI demonstrated a closer correlation with Fearon's criteria for cancer cachexia. Ideal tools for the assessment of cancer cachexia should incorporate not only weight loss but also muscle mass, physical function, and inflammatory state.

PHB2 inhibits WSSV replication by promoting the nuclear translocation of STAT.

Prohibitins (PHBs) are ubiquitously expressed conserved proteins in eukaryotes that are associated with apoptosis, cancer formation, aging, stress responses and cell proliferation. However, the function of the PHBs in immune regulation has largely not been determined. In the present study, we identified PHB2 in the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii. PHB2 was found to be widely distributed in several tissues, and its expression was significantly upregulated by white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) challenge. PHB2 significantly reduced the amount of WSSV in crayfish and the mortality of WSSV-infected crayfish. Here, we observed that PHB2 promotes the nuclear translocation of STAT by binding to STAT. After blocking PHB2 or STAT with antibodies or interfering with PHB2 or STAT, the expression levels of the antiviral genes ß-thymosin (PcThy-4) and crustin2 (Cru2) decreased. The gene sequence of PHB2 was analyzed and found to contain a nuclear introgression sequence (NIS). After in vivo injection of PHB2 with deletion of NIS (rΔNIS-PHB2), the nuclear translocation of STAT did not change significantly compared to that in the control group. These results suggest that PHB2 promoted the nuclear translocation of STAT through NIS and mediated the expression of antiviral proteins to inhibit WSSV infection.