GPR30 selective agonist G-1 induced insulin resistance in ovariectomized mice on high fat diet and its mechanism.

BACKGROUND: Previous in vivo and in vitro studies have demonstrated that estrogen receptor agonist G-1 regulates glucose and lipid metabolism. This study focused on the effects of G-1 on cardiometabolic syndrome and anti-obesity under a high fat diet (HFD). METHODS: Bilateral ovariectomized female mice were fed an HFD for 6 weeks, and treated them with G-1. A cardiomyocyte insulin resistance model was used to simulate the in vivo environment. The main outcome measures were blood glucose, body weight, and serum insulin levels to assess insulin resistance, while cardiac function and degree of fibrosis were assessed by cardiac ultrasound and pathological observations. We also examined the expression of p-AMPK, p-AKT, and GLUT4 in mice hearts and in vitro models to explore the mechanism by which G-1 regulates insulin signaling. RESULTS: G-1 reduced body weight in mice on an HFD, but simultaneously increased blood glucose and promoted insulin resistance, resulting in myocardial damage. This damage included disordered cardiomyocytes, massive accumulation of glycogen, extensive fibrosis of the heart, and thickening of the front and rear walls of the left ventricle. At the molecular level, G-1 enhances gluconeogenesis and promotes glucose production by increasing the activity of pyruvate carboxylase (PC) while inhibiting GLUT4 translocation via the AMPK/TBC1D1 pathway, thereby limiting glucose uptake. CONCLUSION: Despite G-1's the potential efficacy in weight reduction, the concomitant induction of insulin resistance and cardiac impairment in conjunction with an HFD raises significant concerns. Therefore, comprehensive studies of its safety profile and effects under specific conditions are essential prior to clinical use.

Fisetin suppresses atherosclerosis by inhibiting ferroptosis-related oxidative stress in apolipoprotein E knockout mice.

INTRODUCTION: Fisetin has been demonstrated to inhibit the occurrence of atherosclerosis, however, the mechanism of fisetin suppressing atherosclerosis remains elusive. METHODS: The function of fisetin in the inhibition of atherosclerosis was evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin and Oil Red O staining in ApoE-/- mice. Molecular biomarkers of atherosclerosis progression were detected by Western blot and qPCR. Moreover, the inhibition of atherosclerosis on oxidative stress and ferroptosis was evaluated by immunofluorescence staining, qPCR and Western blot assays. RESULTS: The obtained results showed that serum lipid was attenuated and consequentially the formation of atherosclerosis was also suppressed by fisetin in ApoE-/- mice. Exploration of the mechanism revealed that molecular biomarkers of atherosclerosis were decreased under fisetin treatment. The level of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde declined, while the activity of superoxide dismutases and glutathione peroxidase was increased under the fisetin treatment. Additionally, the suppressor of ferroptosis, glutathione peroxidase 4 protein, was elevated. The ferritin was decreased in the aortic tissues treated with fisetin. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, fisetin attenuated the formation of atherosclerosis through the inhibition of oxidative stress and ferroptosis in the aortic tissues of ApoE-/- mice.

Spontaneous Degradation of the "Forever Chemicals" Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) on Water Droplet Surfaces.

Because of their innate chemical stability, the ubiquitous perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been dubbed "forever chemicals" and have attracted considerable attention. However, their stability under environmental conditions has not been widely verified. Herein, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a widely used and detected PFAS, was found to be spontaneously degraded in aqueous microdroplets under room temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions. This unexpected fast degradation occurred via a unique multicycle redox reaction of PFOA with interfacial reactive species on the droplet surface. Similar degradation was observed for other PFASs. This study extends the current understanding of the environmental fate and chemistry of PFASs and provides insight into aid in the development of effective methods for removing PFASs.

Spatial pattern of China's rural digital economy based on subjective-Objective evaluation: Evidence from 2085 counties.

The rural digital economy plays an essential role in China's industrial upgrading, transformation, and urban-rural integration. To determine the state of China's rural digital economy, we constructed a county-level evaluation system using the subjective-objective evaluation method and calculated the digital economic levels of 2085 counties. Then, we analyzed the spatial distribution characteristics, spatial autocorrelation pattern, spatial disequilibrium degree, and spatial driving force of the rural digital economy at the county level using spatial analysis technology and a self-organizing feature mapping model. The results are as follows: 1) Compared with the real economy, the agglomeration effect of the digital economy was more obvious, and the economic gradient was more significant. Specifically, the dense high-value regions formed a continuous belt on the eastern coast from the Beijing-Tianjin area to the Pearl River Delta, opposite the dense low-value regions in the west. 2) There were significant differences in the rural digital economy within cities or provinces. Intraregional differences were not necessarily linked to the overall digital economy level because central and northeastern China presented a more balanced rural digital economy. 3) Digital network performance, e-commerce level, and economic vitality were identified as the core factors influencing the rural digital economy.

Prospective observational study on biomarkers of response in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Adjuvant chemotherapy benefits patients with resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), but the compromised physical state of post-operative patients can hinder compliance. Biomarkers that identify candidates for prompt adjuvant therapy are needed. In this prospective observational study, 1,171 patients with PDAC who underwent pancreatectomy were enrolled and extensively followed-up. Proteomic profiling of 191 patient samples unveiled clinically relevant functional protein modules. A proteomics-level prognostic risk model was established for PDAC, with its utility further validated using a publicly available external cohort. More importantly, through an interaction effect regression analysis leveraging both clinical and proteomic datasets, we discovered two biomarkers (NDUFB8 and CEMIP2), indicative of the overall sensitivity of patients with PDAC to adjuvant chemotherapy. The biomarkers were validated through immunohistochemistry on an internal cohort of 386 patients. Rigorous validation extended to two external multicentic cohorts-a French multicentric cohort (230 patients) and a cohort from two grade-A tertiary hospitals in China (466 patients)-enhancing the robustness and generalizability of our findings. Moreover, experimental validation through functional assays was conducted on PDAC cell lines and patient-derived organoids. In summary, our cohort-scale integration of clinical and proteomic data demonstrates the potential of proteomics-guided prognosis and biomarker-aided adjuvant chemotherapy for PDAC.

The stimulus-driven and representation-driven cross-modal attentional spreading are both modulated by audiovisual temporal synchrony.

Multisensory integration and attention can interact in a way that attention to the visual constituent of a multisensory object results in an attentional spreading to its ignored auditory constituent, which can be either stimulus-driven or representation-driven depending on whether the object's visual constituent receives extra representation-based selective attention. Previous research using simple unrelated audiovisual combinations has shown that the stimulus-driven attentional spreading is contingent on audiovisual temporal simultaneity. However, little is known about whether this temporal constraint applies also to the representation-driven attentional spreading, and whether it holds for the stimulus-driven process elicited by real-life multisensory objects. The current event-related potential study investigated these questions by systematically manipulating the visual-to-auditory stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA: 0/100/300 ms) in an object-selective visual recognition task wherein the representation-driven and stimulus-driven spreading processes, measured as two distinct auditory negative difference (Nd) components, could be isolated independently. Our results showed that both the representation-driven and stimulus-driven Nds decreased as the SOA increased. Interestingly, the representation-driven Nd was completely absent, whereas the stimulus-driven Nd was still robust, when the auditory constituents were delayed by 300 ms. These findings not only indicate that the role of audiovisual simultaneity in the representation-driven attentional spreading has been underestimated, but also suggest that learned associations between the unisensory constituents of real-life objects render the stimulus-driven attentional spreading more tolerant of audiovisual asynchrony.

Opposing effects of warming on the stability of above- and belowground productivity in facing an extreme drought event.

Climate warming, often accompanied by extreme drought events, could have profound effects on both plant community structure and ecosystem functioning. However, how warming interacts with extreme drought to affect community- and ecosystem-level stability remains a largely open question. Using data from a manipulative experiment with three warming treatments in an alpine meadow that experienced one extreme drought event, we investigated how warming modulates resistance and recovery of community structural and ecosystem functional stability in facing with extreme drought. We found warming decreased resistance and recovery of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and structural resistance but increased resistance and recovery of belowground net primary productivity (BNPP), overall net primary productivity (NPP), and structural recovery. The findings highlight the importance of jointly considering above- and belowground processes when evaluating ecosystem stability under global warming and extreme climate events. The stability of dominant species, rather than species richness and species asynchrony, was identified as a key predictor of ecosystem functional resistance and recovery, except for BNPP recovery. In addition, structural resistance of common species contributed strongly to the resistance changes in BNPP and NPP. Importantly, community structural resistance and recovery dominated the resistance and recovery of BNPP and NPP, but not for ANPP, suggesting the different mechanisms underlie the maintenance of stability of above- versus belowground productivity. This study is among the first to explain that warming modulates ecosystem stability in the face of extreme drought and lay stress on the need to investigate ecological stability at the community level for a more mechanistic understanding of ecosystem stability in response to climate extremes.

HIO3-HIO2-Driven Three-Component Nucleation: Screening Model and Cluster Formation Mechanism.

Iodine oxoacids (HIO3 and HIO2)-driven nucleation has been suggested to efficiently contribute to new particle formation (NPF) in marine atmospheres. Abundant atmospheric nucleation precursors may further enhance HIO3-HIO2-driven nucleation through various multicomponent nucleation mechanisms. However, the specific enhancing potential (EP) of different precursors remains largely unknown. Herein, the EP-based screening model of precursors and enhancing mechanism of the precursor with the highest EP on HIO3-HIO2 nucleation were investigated. The formation free energies (ΔG), as critical parameters for evaluating EP, were calculated for the dimers of 63 selected precursors with HIO2. Based on the ΔG values, (1) a quantitative structure-activity relationship model was developed for evaluating ΔG of other precursors and (2) atmospheric concentrations of 63 (precursor)1(HIO2)1 dimer clusters were assessed to identify the precursors with the highest EP for HIO3-HIO2-driven nucleation by combining with earlier results for the nucleation with HIO3 as the partner. Methanesulfonic acid (MSA) was found to be one of the precursors with the highest EP. Finally, we found that MSA can effectively enhance HIO3-HIO2 nucleation at atmospheric conditions by studying larger MSA-HIO3-HIO2 clusters. These results augment our current understanding of HIO3-HIO2 and MSA-driven nucleation and may suggest a larger impact of HIO2 in atmospheric aerosol nucleation.

Iodine oxoacids enhance nucleation of sulfuric acid particles in the atmosphere.

The main nucleating vapor in the atmosphere is thought to be sulfuric acid (H2SO4), stabilized by ammonia (NH3). However, in marine and polar regions, NH3 is generally low, and H2SO4 is frequently found together with iodine oxoacids [HIOx, i.e., iodic acid (HIO3) and iodous acid (HIO2)]. In experiments performed with the CERN CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) chamber, we investigated the interplay of H2SO4 and HIOx during atmospheric particle nucleation. We found that HIOx greatly enhances H2SO4(-NH3) nucleation through two different interactions. First, HIO3 strongly binds with H2SO4 in charged clusters so they drive particle nucleation synergistically. Second, HIO2 substitutes for NH3, forming strongly bound H2SO4-HIO2 acid-base pairs in molecular clusters. Global observations imply that HIOx is enhancing H2SO4(-NH3) nucleation rates 10- to 10,000-fold in marine and polar regions.

An overlooked oxidation mechanism of toluene: computational predictions and experimental validations.

Secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) influence the Earth's climate and threaten human health. Aromatic hydrocarbons (AHs) are major precursors for SOA formation in the urban atmosphere. However, the revealed oxidation mechanism dramatically underestimates the contribution of AHs to SOA formation, strongly suggesting the importance of seeking additional oxidation pathways for SOA formation. Using toluene, the most abundant AHs, as a model system and the combination of quantum chemical method and field observations based on advanced mass spectrometry, we herein demonstrate that the second-generation oxidation of AHs can form novel epoxides (TEPOX) with high yield. Such TEPOX can further react with H2SO4 or HNO3 in the aerosol phase to form less-volatile compounds including novel non-aromatic and ring-retaining organosulfates or organonitrates through reactive uptakes, providing new candidates of AH-derived organosulfates or organonitrates for future ambient observation. With the newly revealed mechanism, the chemistry-aerosol box modeling revealed that the SOA yield of toluene oxidation can reach up to 0.35, much higher than 0.088 based on the original mechanism under the conditions of pH = 2 and 0.1 ppbv NO. This study opens a route for the formation of reactive uptake SOA precursors from AHs and significantly fills the current knowledge gap for SOA formation in the urban atmosphere.

[Spatial and Temporal Variations in PM1 Concentration and its Correlation with AOD in China from 2014 to 2017].

Based on the PM1 mass concentration data from all the air quality monitoring stations in China from 2014 to 2017, the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of PM1 concentration were studied using the time series statistical and spatial hierarchical clustering methods, and the PM1 spatiotemporal evolution characteristics were revealed. Combined with AOD data of the MODIS remote-sensing satellite, the temporal and spatial variation in PM1-AOD correlation was analyzed on a fine scale. The results showed that, from 2014 to 2017, the annual average PM1 concentration in China decreased yearly, the seasonal PM1 concentration showed the characteristics of "high in winter and low in summer," and the monthly average PM1 concentration showed a "U"-shaped variation. An "M"-shaped PM1 variation pattern was presented before and after the holidays. Weekly variation showed that high PM1 values occurred on Mondays and Fridays, and low ones occurred on Sundays. Based on the spatial clustering method, the national average annual PM1 concentration in China was divided into seven categories, and the overall spatial distribution pattern was "high in the east and low in the west and high in the north and low in the south." The highest and the lowest values of average PM1 concentration occurred in central China(54.59 µg·m-3) and in Xinjiang-Qinghai-Xizang(11.37 µg·m-3), respectively. The PM1-AOD relationship was positively correlated as a whole, the highest correlation coefficient was 0.55 in central China, and the lowest value was 0.36 in central and southern China.

The histone deacetylase inhibitor SAHA exerts a protective effect against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury by inhibiting sodium-calcium exchanger.

Calcium overload performs a crucial function in the pathogenesis of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) damage, which contributes to mitochondrial impairment and apoptosis of cardiomyocytes. Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), a small molecule histone deacetylases inhibitor with modulatory capacity on Na+-Ca2+ exchanger (NCX), is proven to have protective potential towards cardiac remodeling and injury, but the mechanism remains unclear. Hence, Hence, our present research explored the modulation of NCX-Ca2+-CaMKII by SAHA in myocardial I/R damage. Our outcomes indicate that in vitro hypoxia and reoxygenation models of myocardial cells, SAHA treatment inhibited the increase in expression of NCX1, intracellular Ca2+ concentration, expression of CaMKII and self-phosphorylated CaMKII, and cell apoptosis. In addition, SAHA treatment improved myocardial cell mitochondrial swelling inhibited mitochondrial membrane potential diminution and the openness of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore, and protected against mitochondrial dysfunction following I/R injury. In vivo, SAHA treatment alleviated the decrease in FS% and EF%, the increase in the myocardial infarct area, and myocardial enzyme levels caused by I/R injury, while also reducing myocardial cell apoptosis, and inhibiting mitochondrial fission and mitochondrial membrane rupture. These results indicated that SAHA treatment alleviated myocardial cell apoptosis as well as mitochondrial dysfunction resulting from myocardial I/R impairment, and contributed to myocardial function recovery by inhibiting the NCX-Ca2+-CaMKII pathway. These findings offered additional theoretical support to explore the mechanism of SAHA as a therapeutic agent in cardiac I/R damage and develop new treatment strategies.

Contextualized response of carbon-use efficiency to warming at the plant and ecosystem levels.

Carbon-use efficiency (CUE) has been widely used as a constant value in many earth system models to simulate how assimilated C is partitioned in ecosystems, to estimate ecosystem C budgets, and investigate C feedbacks to climate warming. Although correlative relationships from previous studies indicated that CUE could vary with temperature, and relying on a fixed CUE value could cause large uncertainty in model projections, however, due to the lack of manipulative experiment, it remains unclear how CUE at the plant (CUEp) and ecosystem (CUEe) levels respond to warming. Based on a 7-year manipulative warming experiment in an alpine meadow ecosystem on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, we quantitatively distinguished various C flux components of CUE, including gross ecosystem productivity, net primary productivity, net ecosystem productivity, ecosystem respiration, plant autotrophic respiration, and microbial heterotrophic respiration and explored how CUE at different levels responded to climate warming. We found large variations in both CUEp (0.60 to 0.77) and CUEe (from 0.38 to 0.59). The warming effect on CUEp was positively correlated with ambient soil water content (SWC) and the warming effect on CUEe was negatively correlated with ambient soil temperature (ST), but was positively correlated with warming-induced changes in ST. We also found that the direction and magnitude of the warming effects on different CUE components scaled differently with changes in the background environment, which explained the variation in CUE's warming response under environmental changes. Our new insights have important implications for reducing modelling uncertainty of ecosystem C budgets and improving our ability to predict ecosystem C-climate feedbacks under climate warming.

Nitrogen enrichment differentially regulates the response of ecosystem stability to extreme dry versus wet events.

Extreme climate events, such as severe droughts and heavy rainfall, have profound impacts on the sustainable provision of ecosystem functions and services. However, how N enrichment interacts with discrete extreme climate events to affect ecosystem functions is largely unknown. Here, we investigated the responses of the temporal stability (i.e., resistance, recovery, and resilience) of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) in an alpine meadow to extreme dry and wet events under six N addition treatments (0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 g N m-2 year-1). We found that N addition had contrasting effects on the responses of ANPP to the extreme dry versus wet events, which resulted in no overall significant effects on ANPP stability across 2015-2019. Specifically, high N addition rates reduced the stability, resistance, and resilience of ANPP in response to extreme drought, whereas medium N addition rates increased ANPP stability and recovery in response to the extreme wet event. The main mechanisms underlying the response of ANPP to extreme drought and wet events were discrepant. Species richness, asynchrony, and dominant species resistance contributed most to the reduction of ANPP resistance to extreme drought, while species asynchrony and dominant and common species resilience contributed most to the decrease of ANPP resilience from extreme drought with N enrichment. The ANPP recovery from the extreme wet event was mainly explained by dominant and common species recovery. Our results provide strong evidence that N deposition mediates ecosystem stability in response to extreme dry and wet events in different ways and modulates the provisioning of grassland ecosystem functions under increasing extreme climate events.

Enhancement of Atmospheric Nucleation Precursors on Iodic Acid-Induced Nucleation: Predictive Model and Mechanism.

Iodic acid (IA) has recently been recognized as a key driver for new particle formation (NPF) in marine atmospheres. However, the knowledge of which atmospheric vapors can enhance IA-induced NPF remains limited. The unique halogen bond (XB)-forming capacity of IA makes it difficult to evaluate the enhancing potential (EP) of target compounds on IA-induced NPF based on widely studied sulfuric acid systems. Herein, we employed a three-step procedure to evaluate the EP of potential atmospheric nucleation precursors on IA-induced NPF. First, we evaluated the EP of 63 precursors by simulating the formation free energies (ΔG) of the IA-containing dimer clusters. Among all dimer clusters, 44 contained XBs, demonstrating that XBs are frequently formed. Based on the calculated ΔG values, a quantitative structure-activity relationship model was developed for evaluating the EP of other precursors. Second, amines and O/S-atom-containing acids were found to have high EP, with diethylamine (DEA) yielding the highest potential to enhance IA-induced nucleation by combining both the calculated ΔG and atmospheric concentration of considered 63 precursors. Finally, by studying larger (IA)1-3(DEA)1-3 clusters, we found that the IA-DEA system with merely 0.1 ppt (2.5×106 cm-3) DEA yields comparable nucleation rates to that of the IA-iodous acid system.

Identification and functional characterization of AcMYB113 in anthocyanin metabolism of Aesculus chinensis Bunge var. chinensis leaves.

Anthocyanins can be induced by environmental factors such as low-temperature and play essential roles in plant color formation. In this study, leaves of Aesculus chinensis Bunge var. chinensis with different colors under natural low-temperature in autumn were collected and grouped into green leaf (GL) and red leaf (RL). To reveal the underlying mechanism of color formation in RL, a combined analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome was conducted with GL and RL. Metabolic analyses revealed that total anthocyanin content and primary anthocyanin components were increased RL relative to GL and cyanidin was the main anthocyanin compound in RL. Transcriptome analysis provided a total of 18720 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 9150 DEGs were upregulated and 9570 DEGs were downregulated in RL relative to GL. KEGG analysis showed that DEGs were mainly enriched in flavonoid biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism, and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Furthermore, co-expression network analysis indicated that 56 AcMYB transcription factors were highly expressed in RL compared with GL, among which AcMYB113 (an R2R3-MYB TF) had a strong correlation with anthocyanins. Overexpression of AcMYB113 in apple resulted in dark-purple transgenic calluses. In addition, the transient expression experiment showed that AcMYB113 enhanced anthocyanin synthesis by activating pathways of anthocyanin biosynthesis in leaves of Aesculus chinensis Bunge var. chinensis. Taken together, our findings reveal new insights into the molecular mechanism of anthocyanin accumulation in RL and provide candidate genes for the breeding of anthocyanin-rich cultivars.

Volatile secondary metabolome and transcriptome analysis reveals distinct regulation mechanism of aroma biosynthesis in Syringa oblata and S. vulgaris.

Lilacs have high ornamental value due to their strong aroma. However, the molecular regulatory mechanisms of aroma biosynthesis and metabolism in lilac were largely unclear. In this study, two varieties with distinct aroma, Syringa oblata 'Zi Kui' (faint aroma) and Syringa vulgaris 'Li Fei' (strong aroma), were used for exploring the regulation mechanism of aroma difference. Via GC-MS analysis, a total of 43 volatile components were identified. Terpene volatiles was the most abundant volatiles constituting the aroma of two varieties. Notably, 3 volatile secondary metabolites were unique in 'Zi Kui' and 30 volatile secondary metabolites were unique in 'Li Fei'. Then, a transcriptome analysis was performed to clarify the regulation mechanism of aroma metabolism difference between these two varieties, and identified 6411 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Interestingly, ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis genes were significantly enriched in DEGs. We further conducted a correlation analysis between the volatile metabolome and transcriptome and found that TPS, GGPPS, and HMGS genes might be the key contributors to the differences in floral fragrance composition between the two lilac varieties. Our study improves the understanding in the regulation mechanism of Lilac aroma and would help improve the aroma of ornamental crops by metabolic engineering.

Expression of malic enzyme reveals subcellular carbon partitioning for storage reserve production in soybeans.

Central metabolism produces amino and fatty acids for protein and lipids that establish seed value. Biosynthesis of storage reserves occurs in multiple organelles that exchange central intermediates including two essential metabolites, malate, and pyruvate that are linked by malic enzyme. Malic enzyme can be active in multiple subcellular compartments, partitioning carbon and reducing equivalents for anabolic and catabolic requirements. Prior studies based on isotopic labeling and steady-state metabolic flux analyses indicated malic enzyme provides carbon for fatty acid biosynthesis in plants, though genetic evidence confirming this role is lacking. We hypothesized that increasing malic enzyme flux would alter carbon partitioning and result in increased lipid levels in soybeans. Homozygous transgenic soybean plants expressing Arabidopsis malic enzyme alleles, targeting the translational products to plastid or outside the plastid during seed development, were verified by transcript and enzyme activity analyses, organelle proteomics, and transient expression assays. Protein, oil, central metabolites, cofactors, and acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACPs) levels were quantified overdevelopment. Amino and fatty acid levels were altered resulting in an increase in lipids by 0.5-2% of seed biomass (i.e. 2-9% change in oil). Subcellular targeting of a single gene product in central metabolism impacts carbon and reducing equivalent partitioning for seed storage reserves in soybeans.

The Effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Postviral Olfactory Dysfunction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for postviral olfactory dysfunction (PVOD). Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China Network Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP), Chinese Biomedical and Medical (CBM) Database, and Wanfang Database were electronically searched from their inception to July 25, 2022. Two authors independently performed study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment to ensure systematic quality evaluation. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing TCM with olfactory training and/or drug therapy (OTDT) were included. The outcomes were the effective rate, QOD-P, TDI score, UPSIT score, and adverse effects. Cochrane RoB was the guideline used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included trials. RevMan 5.3 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 6 RCTs involving 467 patients with PVOD were selected. Compared with OTDT, TCM plus OTDT decreased QOD-P (MD = -1.73, 95% CI (-2.40, -1.06), P < 0.0001) but did not increase the effective rate (T&T) (RR = 1.28, 95% CI (0.86, 1.90), P=0.22, I 2 = 61%). Compared with no treatment, TCM seemed to increase the treatment success rate (UPSIT) (RR = 3.17, 95% CI (1.78, 5.65), P < 0.0001, I 2 = 0%), but there was no statistically significant difference in improving the UPSIT score (MD = 3.44, 95% CI (-1.36, 8.24), P=0.16). Compared with drug therapy, TCM plus drug therapy appeared to increase the effective rate (ΔVAS) (RR = 2.36, 95% CI (1.41, 3.94), I 2 = 0%), but there was no statistically significant difference in improving the TDI score (MD = 2.10, 95% CI (-1.99, 6.19), P=0.31). No significant differences in adverse reactions were reported between TCM and OTDT. Conclusion: TCM may be an effective treatment for PVOD. With a lack of high-quality RCTs, further large-scale and high-quality RCTs are still warranted.

The dissociation of semantically congruent and incongruent cross-modal effects on the visual attentional blink.

Introduction: Recent studies have found that the sound-induced alleviation of visual attentional blink, a well-known phenomenon exemplifying the beneficial influence of multisensory integration on time-based attention, was larger when that sound was semantically congruent relative to incongruent with the second visual target (T2). Although such an audiovisual congruency effect has been attributed mainly to the semantic conflict carried by the incongruent sound restraining that sound from facilitating T2 processing, it is still unclear whether the integrated semantic information carried by the congruent sound benefits T2 processing. Methods: To dissociate the congruence-induced benefit and incongruence-induced reduction in the alleviation of visual attentional blink at the behavioral and neural levels, the present study combined behavioral measures and event-related potential (ERP) recordings in a visual attentional blink task wherein the T2-accompanying sound, when delivered, could be semantically neutral in addition to congruent or incongruent with respect to T2. Results: The behavioral data clearly showed that compared to the neutral sound, the congruent sound improved T2 discrimination during the blink to a higher degree while the incongruent sound improved it to a lesser degree. The T2-locked ERP data revealed that the early occipital cross-modal N195 component (192-228 ms after T2 onset) was uniquely larger in the congruent-sound condition than in the neutral-sound and incongruent-sound conditions, whereas the late parietal cross-modal N440 component (400-500 ms) was prominent only in the incongruent-sound condition. Discussion: These findings provide strong evidence that the modulating effect of audiovisual semantic congruency on the sound-induced alleviation of visual attentional blink contains not only a late incongruence-induced cost but also an early congruence-induced benefit, thereby demonstrating for the first time an unequivocal congruent-sound-induced benefit in alleviating the limitation of time-based visual attention.