CCL2 regulated by the CTBP1-AS2/miR-335-5p axis promotes hemangioma progression and angiogenesis.

CONTEXT: Hemangioma (HA) is a benign vascular neoplasm that can lead to permanent scarring. C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) plays a crucial role in facilitating growth and angiogenesis during HA progression. However, the mechanism regulating CCL2 in HA remains poorly elucidated. OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the mechanism regulating CCL2 in HA. METHODS: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was employed to determine the expression levels of CCL2, long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) CTBP1 divergent transcript (CTBP1-AS2), and microRNAs (miRNAs). Proliferation, migration, invasion, and angiogenic abilities of human HA endothelial cells (HemECs) were assessed using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation, flow cytometry, transwell, and tube formation assays. Bioinformatics analysis, RNA pull-down, and luciferase reporter assays were conducted to investigate whether CCL2 targets miR-335-5p. Additionally, rescue experiments were performed in this study. RESULTS: CCL2 expression was markedly upregulated in HemECs. CCL2 promoted HA cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and angiogenesis while inhibiting apoptosis. CCL2 was directly targeted by miR-335-5p. Additionally, we found that CTBP1-AS2 could function as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to sponge miR-335-5p, thereby upregulating CCL2. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that targeting the CTBP1-AS2/miR-335-5p/CCL2 axis may hold promise as a therapeutic strategy for HA.

Ferroptosis: An important mechanism of disease mediated by the gut-liver-brain axis.

AIMS: As a unique iron-dependent non-apoptotic cell death, Ferroptosis is involved in the pathogenesis and development of many human diseases and has become a research hotspot in recent years. However, the regulatory role of ferroptosis in the gut-liver-brain axis has not been elucidated. This paper summarizes the regulatory role of ferroptosis and provides theoretical basis for related research. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched PubMed, CNKI and Wed of Science databases on ferroptosis mediated gut-liver-brain axis diseases, summarized the regulatory role of ferroptosis on organ axis, and explained the adverse effects of related regulatory effects on various diseases. KEY FINDINGS: According to our summary, the main way in which ferroptosis mediates the gut-liver-brain axis is oxidative stress, and the key cross-talk of ferroptosis affecting signaling pathway network is Nrf2/HO-1. However, there were no specific marker between different organ axes mediate by ferroptosis. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study illustrates the main ways and key cross-talk of ferroptosis mediating the gut-liver-brain axis, providing a basis for future research.

Ortho-silicic Acid Prevents Glucocorticoid-Induced Femoral Head Necrosis by Promoting Akt Phosphorylation to Inhibit Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Mediated Apoptosis and Enhance Angiogenesis and Osteogenesis.

Glucocorticoid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (SONFH) is the most prevalent form of secondary osteonecrosis affecting the femoral head. Glucocorticoids can cause damage to both vascular endothelial cells and osteoblasts. Previous studies have demonstrated that silicon can improve the resistance of vascular endothelial cells to oxidative stress and positively impact bone health. However, the impact of silicon on SONFH has yet to be investigated. We examined the influence of ortho-silicic acid (OSA, Si(OH)4) on the apoptosis and proliferation of vascular endothelial cells after glucocorticoid induction. Additionally, we evaluated the expression of apoptosis-related genes such as cleaved-caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax. The impact of glucocorticoids and OSA on the function of vascular endothelial cells was evaluated through wound healing, transwell and angiogenesis assays. Osteogenic function was subsequently evaluated through alizarin red staining, alkaline phosphatase staining and expression levels of osteogenic genes like RUNX2 and ALP. Moreover, we investigated the potential role of OSA in vivo using the SONFH animal model. At concentrations below 100 µM, OSA exhibits no toxicity on vascular endothelial cells and effectively reverses glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis in these cells. OSA increases the resilience of vascular endothelial cells against oxidative stress and enhances osteoblast differentiation. Our study revealed that glucocorticoids activate endoplasmic reticulum stress, a process that mediates the apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells. OSA ameliorated the endoplasmic reticulum stress associated with glucocorticoids through the increased expression of p-Akt levels. In vivo, OSA treatment effectively improved SONFH by enhancing vascular endothelial cell function and promoting osteogenic differentiation. OSA counteracted the adverse effects of glucocorticoids both in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating a beneficial therapeutic effect on SONFH.

Association of seizures with COVID-19 infection in underage during the pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has caused worldwide transmission. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the morbidity and characteristics of seizures after SARS-CoV-2 infection in underage (≤18 y) and to provide valuable reference material for subsequent clinical treatment. METHODS: PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane, and EMBASE databases were searched up to 10th May 2023. We utilized the search strategy of medical subject headings combined with entry terms to search all related literatures. RESULTS: The meta-analysis was performed according to PRISMA reporting guidelines. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). A total of 12 articles were selected, including 4153 subjects and 333 seizure-prone minor patients with COVID-19. The morbidity of seizures after SARS-CoV-2 infection in immature patients was approximately 8.2 (95 % CI, 4.7%-12.4 %). By subgroup analysis, we know that the morbidity of male, Americas, with fever and first occurrence of seizures were 4.2% (95 % CI, 0.4-10.5 %), 4.6 % (95 % CI, 0.4 %-11.7 %), 5.4 % (95 % CI, 2.6 %-9.1 %) and 3.7 % (95 % CI, 0.7 %-8.2 %), respectively. Generalized seizures are the main type of seizures (80.6 %). CONCLUSIONS: Seizures can be caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection in underage groups, with a pooled morbidity of 8.2% and a higher morbidity in females, in African regions, in febrile groups and during 2022-2023. In addition, generalized seizures being the predominant seizure type.

Composite modeling of leaf shape along shoots discriminates Vitis species better than individual leaves.

PREMISE: Leaf morphology is dynamic, continuously deforming during leaf expansion and among leaves within a shoot. Here, we measured the leaf morphology of more than 200 grapevines (Vitis spp.) over four years and modeled changes in leaf shape along the shoot to determine whether a composite leaf shape comprising all the leaves from a single shoot can better capture the variation and predict species identity compared with individual leaves. METHODS: Using homologous universal landmarks found in grapevine leaves, we modeled various morphological features as polynomial functions of leaf nodes. The resulting functions were used to reconstruct modeled leaf shapes across the shoots, generating composite leaves that comprehensively capture the spectrum of leaf morphologies present. RESULTS: We found that composite leaves are better predictors of species identity than individual leaves from the same plant. We were able to use composite leaves to predict the species identity of previously unassigned grapevines, which were verified with genotyping. DISCUSSION: Observations of individual leaf shape fail to capture the true diversity between species. Composite leaf shape-an assemblage of modeled leaf snapshots across the shoot-is a better representation of the dynamic and essential shapes of leaves, in addition to serving as a better predictor of species identity than individual leaves.

Natural variation and genomic prediction of growth, physiological traits, and nitrogen-use efficiency in perennial ryegrass under low-nitrogen stress.

Genomic prediction of nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) has not previously been studied in perennial grass species exposed to low-N stress. Here, we conducted a genomic prediction of physiological traits and NUE in 184 global accessions of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) in response to a normal (7.5 mM) and low (0.75 mM) supply of N. After 21 d of treatment under greenhouse conditions, significant variations in plant height increment (ΔHT), leaf fresh weight (LFW), leaf dry weight (LDW), chlorophyll index (Chl), chlorophyll fluorescence, leaf N and carbon (C) contents, C/N ratio, and NUE were observed in accessions , but to a greater extent under low-N stress. Six genomic prediction models were applied to the data, namely the Bayesian method Bayes C, Bayesian LASSO, Bayesian Ridge Regression, Ridge Regression-Best Linear Unbiased Prediction, Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces, and randomForest. These models produced similar prediction accuracy of traits within the normal or low-N treatments, but the accuracy differed between the two treatments. ΔHT, LFW, LDW, and C were predicted slightly better under normal N with a mean Pearson r-value of 0.26, compared with r=0.22 under low N, while the prediction accuracies for Chl, N, C/N, and NUE were significantly improved under low-N stress with a mean r=0.45, compared with r=0.26 under normal N. The population panel contained three population structures, which generally had no effect on prediction accuracy. The moderate prediction accuracies obtained for N, C, and NUE under low-N stress are promising, and suggest a feasible means by which germplasm might be initially assessed for further detailed studies in breeding programs.

Enriching Genomic Resources and Transcriptional Profile Analysis of Miscanthus sinensis under Drought Stress Based on RNA Sequencing.

Miscanthus × giganteus is wildly cultivated as a potential biofuel feedstock around the world; however, the narrow genetic basis and sterile characteristics have become a limitation for its utilization. As a progenitor of M. × giganteus, M. sinensis is widely distributed around East Asia providing well abiotic stress tolerance. To enrich the M. sinensis genomic databases and resources, we sequenced and annotated the transcriptome of M. sinensis by using an Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform. Approximately 316 million high-quality trimmed reads were generated from 349 million raw reads, and a total of 114,747 unigenes were obtained after de novo assembly. Furthermore, 95,897 (83.57%) unigenes were annotated to at least one database including NR, Swiss-Prot, KEGG, COG, GO, and NT, supporting that the sequences obtained were annotated properly. Differentially expressed gene analysis indicates that drought stress 15 days could be a critical period for M. sinensis response to drought stress. The high-throughput transcriptome sequencing of M. sinensis under drought stress has greatly enriched the current genomic available resources. The comparison of DEGs under different periods of drought stress identified a wealth of candidate genes involved in drought tolerance regulatory networks, which will facilitate further genetic improvement and molecular studies of the M. sinensis.