Plasma Aß level alterations after sleep deprivation correspond to brain structural remodeling in medical night shift workers.

The relationship between brain structure alteration and metabolic product clearance after night shift work with total sleep deprivation (SD) remains unclear. Twenty-two intensive care unit staff on regularly rotating shift work were implemented with structural and diffusion MRI under both rest wakefulness (RW) and SD conditions. Peripheral blood samples were collected for the measurement of cerebral metabolites. Voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging analysis were used to investigate the alterations in the gray matter density (GMD) and mean diffusivity (MD) within the participants. Furthermore, correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between the neuroimaging metrics and hematological parameters. A significant increase in the GMD values was observed in the anterior and peripheral areas of the brain under SD. In contrast, a decrease in the values was observed in the posterior regions, such as the bilateral cerebellum and thalamus. In addition, a significant reduction in the total cerebrospinal fluid volume was observed under SD. The Aß42/Aß40 levels in participants under SD were significantly lower than those under RW. The mean MD increment values extracted from the region of interest (ROI) of the anterior brain were negatively correlated with the increment of plasma Aß42/Aß40 levels (r = -0.658, P = 0.008). The mean GMD decrement values extracted from the posterior ROI were positively correlated with the increment of plasma Aß-40 levels (r = 0.601, P = 0.023). The findings of this study suggest that one night of shift work under SD induces extensive and direction-specific structural alterations of the brain, which are associated with aberrant brain metabolic waste clearance.

Changes of insulin receptors in high fat and high glucose diet mice with insulin resistance.

This study aimed to observe the expression of insulin-signaling molecules in different organs of mice with insulin resistance (IR). Firstly, mice were fed a high-fat and high-sugar diet (HF group) to establish an IR model, and the controls (NF group) were fed with a normal diet. Next, the weight, fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum insulin and insulin tolerance were detected. Pathological changes of liver tissues were observed by H&E staining. The expressions of INSR, IRS-1 and IRS-2 in the liver, skeletal muscle and ovary were measured by qRT-PCR and western blotting. As a result, compared with the NF group, the HF group mice had increased weight, FBG, insulin and IR index after 6-week of feeding as well as a worse performance in the insulin tolerance test and H&E staining showed fatty liver-like changes after 12-week of feeding, exhibited lower expression of INSR, IRS-1 and IRS-2 in the liver of mice at 6 and 12 weeks. The expression of INSR and IRS-1 in skeletal muscle tissues exhibited the same trend, while those in ovary organs showed the opposite trend. These results suggested that the insulin signaling alters in the liver, skeletal muscle and ovary organs with the progress of IR.

Construction and planning application of blue-green ecological network in Ruzhou City based on morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA).

Land space planning is an important way to realize the construction of ecological civilization. It is important to improve the ecological service capacity of urban blue-green space during land space planning and combine it with planning strategies. With Ruzhou City from Henan Province as the research area, we constructed the current blue-green ecological network by morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA), connectivity analysis and minimum cumulative resistance model, and explored the application of corridor construction in land spatial planning. The results showed that there were seven first-level core patches, which were mainly distributed in the mountain forest space in the southwest and northeast of the city and the belt ecological space formed by Ruhe River in the middle. There were nine second-level core patches. A total of 256 ecological corridors and 135 ecological nodes were screened out. Most of the corridors crossed Ruhe River, so we should focus on protecting Ruhe River and its surrounding environment, providing temporary habitat for biological migration from north to south, improving the stability of overall ecological network, and concerning the restoration of the corridor breakpoints on the west and south sides of the city. It could guide the division of urban development boundaries, and provide scientific basis for the functional orientation and classified management and control of corridors from the perspective of planning.

Effect of Remimazolam on Postoperative Delirium in Older Adult Patients Undergoing Orthopedic Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

Background: Postoperative delirium is common in older adult patients and associated with a poor prognosis. The use of benzodiazepine was identified as an independent risk factor for delirium, but there is no randomized controlled trial regarding the relationship between remimazolam, a new ultra-short acting benzodiazepine, and postoperative delirium. We designed a randomized controlled trial to evaluate if remimazolam increases the incidence of postoperative delirium compared with propofol in older adult patients undergoing orthopedic surgery with general anesthesia. Patients and Methods: We enrolled 320 patients aged more than 60 with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-III who underwent orthopedic surgery. Patients were randomized to two groups to receive intraoperative remimazolam or propofol, respectively. Our primary outcome was the incidence of delirium within 3 days after surgery. Secondary outcome was emergence quality including the incidence of emergence agitation, extubation time, and length of post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) stay. Adverse events were also recorded. Results: The incidence of postoperative delirium was 15.6% in the remimazolam group and 12.4% in the propofol group (Risk ratio, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.72 to 2.21; Risk difference, 3.2%; 95% CI, -4.7% to 11.2%; P = 0.42). No significant differences were observed for time of delirium onset, duration of delirium, and delirium subtype between the two groups. Patients in remimazolam group had a lower incidence of hypotension after induction and consumed less vasoactive drugs intraoperatively, but had a longer postoperative extubation time and PACU stay. Conclusion: General anesthesia with remimazolam was not associated with an increased incidence of postoperative delirium compared with propofol in older adult patients undergoing orthopedic surgery.

Downregulation of Fat Mass and Obesity-Related Protein in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Participates in Anxiety- and Depression-Like Behaviors Induced by Neuropathic Pain.

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant methylation modification on mRNA in mammals. Fat mass and obesity-related protein (FTO) is the main RNA m6A demethylase. FTO is involved in the occurrence and maintenance of neuropathic pain (NP). NP often induces mental disorders. We found that NP downregulated the expression of FTO in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), inhibited the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in the ACC, maladjusted the brain-derived neurotrophic factor precursor (proBDNF) and mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor (mBDNF) levels in the ACC, and induced anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in mice. Blocking the downregulation of FTO in the ACC induced by peripheral nerve injury could reverse the anxiety- and depression-like behaviors of mice. Contrarily, downregulation of simulated FTO induced anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in mice. After peripheral nerve injury, the binding of FTO to MMP-9 mRNA decreased and the enrichment of m6A on MMP-9 mRNA increased. In conclusion, downregulation of FTO in ACC by regulating MMP-9 mRNA methylation level contributes to the occurrence of anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in NP mice.

Hypoxia-induced ROS promotes mitochondrial fission and cisplatin chemosensitivity via HIF-1α/Mff regulation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Chemotherapy based on cisplatin (CDDP) has been established as the treatment of choice for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Malignant tumors respond to microenvironmental alterations through a dynamic balance between mitochondrial fission and fusion. HNSCCs are known to exhibit hypoxic conditions, yet the respective effects and underlying mechanisms of hypoxia on chemosensitivity and mitochondrial dynamics remain to be resolved. METHODS: The effect of hypoxia on the chemosensitivity of HNCC cells was determined by flow cytometry. Mitochondrial fission factor (Mff) expression was assessed by RT-PCR and Western blotting in hypoxic HNSCC cells, and further verified in primary CDDP-sensitive and CDDP-resistant HSNCC samples. The biological function of Mff was evaluated by loss of function and gain of function analyses, both in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: We found that hypoxia promoted mitochondrial fission and CDDP sensitivity in HNSCC cells. Importantly, Mff was found to be correlated with chemosensitivity in primary clinical samples under hypoxic conditions. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) was found to markedly increase Mff transcription and to directly bind to Mff. Hypoxia enhanced the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and upregulated the expression of Mff via HIF-1α in HNSCC cells. ROS depletion in HNSCC cells attenuated HIF-1α expression, Mff expression and mitochondrial fission. Moreover, Mff knockdown led to suppression of hypoxia-induced mitochondrial fission and to decreased CDDP chemosensitivity in vivo and in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that hypoxia-induced release of ROS can promote mitochondrial fission and CDDP chemosensitivity via HIF1α/Mff regulation in HNSCC cells, indicating that Mff may serve as a biomarker to predict neoadjuvant chemosensitivity in HNSCC patients and as a target for overcoming chemoresistance.

PLAU1 Facilitated Proliferation, Invasion, and Metastasis via Interaction With MMP1 in Head and Neck Squamous Carcinoma.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common malignant neoplasm; it is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Thus, understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying its initiation and progression is critical for establishing the most appropriate treatment strategies. We found that urokinase-type plasminogen activator (PLAU1) was upregulated and associated with poor prognosis in HNSCC. Silencing of PLAU1 inhibited the proliferation, colony-formation, migration, and invasion abilities of HNSCC cells in vitro and reduced the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP1), whereas PLAU1 overexpression significantly enhanced the growth, the colony-formation, migration, and invasion abilities, and the xenograft tumor growth of HNSCC cells in vivo and increased the expression of MMP1. The Co-IP assay verified that PLAU1 interacted with MMP1. A positive correlation between PLAU1 and MMP1 expression was observed in HNSCC samples. si-RNAs against MMP1 reversed the aggressive effects of PLAU1 overexpression in HNSCC. Taken together, our data revealed that PLAU1 facilitated HNSCC cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis via interaction with MMP1.

Upregulation of Myeloid Zinc Finger 1 in Dorsal Root Ganglion via Regulating Matrix Metalloproteinase-2/9 and Voltage-gated Potassium 1.2 Expression Contributes to Complete Freund's Adjuvant-induced Inflammatory Pain.

Myeloid zinc finger 1 (MZF1) belongs to the Kruppel family of zinc-finger transcription factors. Recent studies have demonstrated that in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, MZF1 is involved in the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain. However, the role of MZF1 in inflammatory pain still remains unknown. In the present study, the mechanism of MZF1 in chronic inflammatory pain was investigated in rats received an intraplantar injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Subsequently, a series of assays including Western blotting, qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) were performed. We found that CFA led to MZF1 upregulation in ipsilateral L4/5 DRGs. Pre- and post-microinjection of MZF1 siRNA into the ipsi-L5 DRG blocked the development of CFA-induced chronic inflammatory pain and alleviated the mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia in the maintenance phase. CFA also increased MMP-2/9 and Nav1.8 expression but reduced voltage-gated potassium 1.2 (Kv1.2) and Cav1.2 expression in L4/L5 DRGs. Microinjection of MZF1 siRNA into DRG diminished the CFA-induced changes in MMP-2/9 and Kv1.2 expression. However, the expressions of Nav1.8 and Cav1.2 were not changed by the treatment. Double immunofluorescence staining showed that MMP-2/9 and Kv1.2 were co-localized with MZF1 in DRGs. The ChIP-PCR results revealed that MZF1 binds directly to the promoter region of MMP-2/9 gene. Together, the above results imply that upregulation of MZF1 in DRGs might contribute to the development and maintenance of CFA-induced chronic inflammatory pain by regulating MMP-2/9 and Kv1.2 expression. Targeting DRG-localized MZF1 might be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of chronic inflammatory pain in the clinic.

What's the variation in anammox reactor performance after single and joint temperature based shocks?

A laboratory-scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor was used to investigate the effects of temperature-based (single and combined with loading) shocks on the performance of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) reactor. The reactor was tolerant to 15 °C and 25 °C shocks; however, temperature shock of 55 °C led to severe accumulation of effluent NO2--N (>100 mg L-1), which induced substrate inhibition. Although the shock experiments achieved a maximum effluent NO2--N concentration of 205.4 mg L-1 after a hydraulic retention time-substrate concentration shock at 25 °C, the inhibition was still reversible. During the experiments, the content of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) increased significantly after each shock to protect the anammox bacteria, and the value decreased correspondingly at the end of the recovery phase. The specific anammox activity showed the opposite tendency compared with that of the EPS. The performance of anammox reactor under a series of short-term temperature shocks was investigated, and the results can provide new ideas for future research.

Prediction of Flap Compromise by Preoperative Coagulation Parameters in Head and Neck Cancer Patients.

PURPOSE: Studies on coagulation parameters (including activated partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time, thrombin time, fibrinogen [FIB], platelet count, and D-dimer) in flap compromise are limited. The aim of the present study was to compare coagulation parameter variables in patients with and without flap compromise. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, patients were recruited from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Second Xiangya Hospital (Changsha, Hunan, China) from July 2016 through July 2017. The primary predictor variable was a set of coagulation parameters. The primary outcome variable was flap compromise. The other variables were age, gender, tumor stage, smoking, and prior radiotherapy. Descriptive, bivariate, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and regression statistics were computed. Statistical significance was set at less than .05 with 95% reliability. RESULTS: A total of 503 patients with 42 compromised flaps were identified in this study. Venous thrombosis, arterial thrombosis, or no confirmed reason for compromise was observed in 28, 5, or 9 compromised flaps, respectively. Only FIB was associated with flap compromise or venous thrombosis at adjusted analyses, although the predictive values were low at ROC analysis. For patients with D-dimer lower than 0.4 µg/mL, the likelihood of venous thrombosis was greater than that for patients with D-dimer of at least 0.4 µg/mL (P = .0414). For patients with FIB lower than 3.5 g/L, the likelihood of venous thrombosis was greater than that for patients with FIB of at least 3.5 g/L (P = .0336). CONCLUSION: Decreased FIB was associated with a higher rate of flap compromise. In patients with D-dimer lower than 0.4 µg/mL or FIB lower than 3.5 g/L, the risk of venous thrombosis was higher.

Sealing of the cystic and appendix arteries with monopolar electrocautery during laparoscopic combined cholecystectomy and appendectomy.

The best method to ligate the arteries during laparoscopic cholecystectomy or appendectomy remains controversy. The aim of this study is to introduce a new approach during laparoscopic combined cholecystectomy and appendectomy using a monopolar electrocautery to seal the cystic and appendix arteries. We retrospectively reviewed data from 57 patients who underwent laparoscopic combined cholecystectomy and appendectomy between December 2006 and June 2016. Each laparoscopic combined cholecystectomy and appendectomy was performed by coagulating and sealing the cystic and appendix arteries. Absorbable clip or coils were then used to ligate the proximal of cystic duct and the stump of appendix. The other side of the cystic duct and appendix which subsequently were to be removed from abdomen were used titanium clips or silk ligature. Of the 57 patients, 3 patients (5.3%) were converted to open surgery due to severe abdominal adhesions or gallbladder perforation. The mean operative time was 56 minutes (range, 40-80 minutes). Mean blood loss was 12 mL (range, 5-120 mL), and the mean postoperative hospital stay was 3.0 days (range, 2-5 days). No postoperative bleeding, biliary leakage, infection, or mortality occurred. Monopolar electrocautery to seal the cystic and appendix arteries is a safe, effective, and economical surgical procedure during laparoscopic combined cholecystectomy and appendectomy. Further randomized controlled clinical trials are required to validate our findings.

Bcl-2 inhibitors reduce steroid-insensitive airway inflammation.

BACKGROUND: Asthmatic inflammation is dominated by accumulation of either eosinophils, neutrophils, or both in the airways. Disposal of these inflammatory cells is the key to disease control. Eosinophilic airway inflammation is responsive to corticosteroid treatment, whereas neutrophilic inflammation is resistant and increases the burden of global health care. Corticosteroid-resistant neutrophilic asthma remains mechanistically poorly understood and requires novel effective therapeutic strategies. OBJECTIVE: We sought to explore the underlying mechanisms of airway inflammation persistence, as well as corticosteroid resistance, and to investigate a new strategy of effective treatment against corticosteroid-insensitive neutrophilic asthma. METHODS: Mouse models of either eosinophil-dominated or neutrophil-dominated airway inflammation were used in this study to test corticosteroid sensitivity in vivo and in vitro. We also used vav-Bcl-2 transgenic mice to confirm the importance of granulocytes apoptosis in the clearance of airway inflammation. Finally, the Bcl-2 inhibitors ABT-737 or ABT-199 were tested for their therapeutic effects against eosinophilic or neutrophilic airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness. RESULTS: Overexpression of Bcl-2 protein was found to be responsible for persistence of granulocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid after allergic challenge. This was important because allergen-induced airway inflammation aggravated and persisted in vav-Bcl-2 transgenic mice, in which nucleated hematopoietic cells were overexpressed with Bcl-2 and resistant to apoptosis. The Bcl-2 inhibitors ABT-737 or ABT-199 play efficient roles in alleviation of either eosinophilic or corticosteroid-resistant neutrophilic airway inflammation by inducing apoptosis of immune cells, such as eosinophils, neutrophils, TH2 cells, TH17 cells, and dendritic cells. Moreover, these inhibitors were found to be more efficient than steroids to induce granulocyte apoptosis ex vivo from patients with severe asthma. CONCLUSION: Apoptosis of inflammatory cells is essential for clearance of allergen-induced airway inflammation. The Bcl-2 inhibitors ABT-737 or ABT-199 might be promising drugs for the treatment of airway inflammation, especially for corticosteroid-insensitive neutrophilic airway inflammation.

Activation of MTOR in pulmonary epithelium promotes LPS-induced acute lung injury.

MTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin [serine/threonine kinase]) plays a crucial role in many major cellular processes including metabolism, proliferation and macroautophagy/autophagy induction, and is also implicated in a growing number of proliferative and metabolic diseases. Both MTOR and autophagy have been suggested to be involved in lung disorders, however, little is known about the role of MTOR and autophagy in pulmonary epithelium in the context of acute lung injury (ALI). In the present study, we observed that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation induced MTOR phosphorylation and decreased the expression of MAP1LC3B/LC3B (microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 ß)-II, a hallmark of autophagy, in mouse lung epithelium and in human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells. The activation of MTOR in HBE cells was mediated by TLR4 (toll-like receptor 4) signaling. Genetic knockdown of MTOR or overexpression of autophagy-related proteins significantly attenuated, whereas inhibition of autophagy further augmented, LPS-induced expression of IL6 (interleukin 6) and IL8, through NFKB signaling in HBE cells. Mice with specific knockdown of Mtor in bronchial or alveolar epithelial cells exhibited significantly attenuated airway inflammation, barrier disruption, and lung edema, and displayed prolonged survival in response to LPS exposure. Taken together, our results demonstrate that activation of MTOR in the epithelium promotes LPS-induced ALI, likely through downregulation of autophagy and the subsequent activation of NFKB. Thus, inhibition of MTOR in pulmonary epithelial cells may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for preventing ALI induced by certain bacteria.

Effect of ABCB1 rs12720464 and rs1055302 polymorphisms in Chinese patients on the time course of action of rocuronium administered as a single dose.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether ABCB1 gene polymorphisms affect the time course of action of rocuronium in Chinese patients. METHODS: This study included 105 unrelated Chinese patients undergoing general anesthesia with propofol, fentanyl, and rocuronium. Neuromuscular monitoring was performed with calibrated acceleromyography. Patients were allowed to recover spontaneously from the neuromuscular block. The time interval between the first maximum depression of the train of four (TOF) and spontaneous recovery TOF ratio of 0.25/0.7/0.8/0.9 was recorded. The Sequenom MassArray® single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection technology was used to detect the genotypes of the ABCB1 rs12720464, rs1055302. Demographic and non-genetic clinical data were also collected. RESULTS: In the present study, the mean time to spontaneous recovery of TOF ratio 0.8/0.9 in ABCB1 rs12720464 GG genotype was longer compared to that observed in ABCB1 rs12720464 AG genotype (56.77 ± 14.23 minutes vs. 49.50 ± 10.49 minutes, and 62.58 ± 18.16 minutes vs. 53.20 ± 12.56 minutes, respectively, p < 0.05). Further, the time to spontaneous recovery of TOF 0.7/0.8/0.9 in ABCB1 rs1055302 GG genotype was longer than that in ABCB1 rs1055302 AG genotype (52.00 ± 12.10 minutes vs. 44.83 ± 7.38 minutes, 55.96 ± 13.92 minutes vs. 46.83 ± 7.67 minutes, 61.66 ± 17.70 minutes vs. 49.50 ± 8.44 minutes, respectively, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In Chinese patients who were administered a single dose of rocuronium, the genetic variants ABCB1 rs12720464, and rs1055302 contribute to the individual< variability of time course of action.

Autophagy is essential for ultrafine particle-induced inflammation and mucus hyperproduction in airway epithelium.

Environmental ultrafine particulate matter (PM) is capable of inducing airway injury, while the detailed molecular mechanisms remain largely unclear. Here, we demonstrate pivotal roles of autophagy in regulation of inflammation and mucus hyperproduction induced by PM containing environmentally persistent free radicals in human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells and in mouse airways. PM was endocytosed by HBE cells and simultaneously triggered autophagosomes, which then engulfed the invading particles to form amphisomes and subsequent autolysosomes. Genetic blockage of autophagy markedly reduced PM-induced expression of inflammatory cytokines, e.g. IL8 and IL6, and MUC5AC in HBE cells. Mice with impaired autophagy due to knockdown of autophagy-related gene Becn1 or Lc3b displayed significantly reduced airway inflammation and mucus hyperproduction in response to PM exposure in vivo. Interference of the autophagic flux by lysosomal inhibition resulted in accumulated autophagosomes/amphisomes, and intriguingly, this process significantly aggravated the IL8 production through NFKB1, and markedly attenuated MUC5AC expression via activator protein 1. These data indicate that autophagy is required for PM-induced airway epithelial injury, and that inhibition of autophagy exerts therapeutic benefits for PM-induced airway inflammation and mucus hyperproduction, although they are differentially orchestrated by the autophagic flux.

Prenatal care in combination with maternal educational level has a synergetic effect on the risk of neonatal low birth weight: new findings in a retrospective cohort study in Kunshan City, China.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the dose-response relationship and synergetic effect of the maternal educational level and two measures of prenatal care on neonatal low birth weight (LBW) risk. METHODS: Data were derived from the Perinatal Health Care Surveillance System (PHCSS) from January 2001 to September 2009 in Kunshan City, Jiangsu province, eastern China, which included data on 31412 women with a normal birth weight delivery and 640 women with a LBW delivery. Logistic modelling was performed to estimate the association including the joint effects with odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) between the prenatal care measures and LBW risk after adjusting for the potential confounders. The dose-response relationship between the number of prenatal care visits and the risk of LBW was investigated by modeling the quantitative exposure with restricted cubic splines (RCS). RESULTS: There was a significant synergetic effect on the LBW risk between maternal educational attainment and the number of prenatal care visits (χ(2) = 4.98, P = 0.0257), whereas no significant maternal educational attainment interaction was found with the week of initiation of prenatal care after adjusting for relevant confounding factors (χ(2) = 2.04, P = 0.1530), and the LBW risk displayed a 'U-shape' curve tendency among the different number of prenatal care visits (P for nonlinearity = 0.0002) using RCS. In particular, the ORs were approaching the curve's bottom when the women had 9 or 10 prenatal care visits. Comparing with 5 prenatal care visits, the ORs and 95%CI of LBW risk for 7, 9, 11 and ≥ 13 visits were 0.92 (0.82-1.03), 0.50 (0.38-0.66), 0.62 (0.47-0.82), and 0.99 (0.61-1.60), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that appropriate prenatal care, in combination with a higher maternal educational level, can produce a protective interaction effect on LBW risk. Reasonable health resource assignment for different social statuses should be taken into account by policy-makers in developing countries.

mTOR and autophagy in regulation of acute lung injury: a review and perspective.

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a central regulator of many major cellular processes including protein and lipid synthesis and autophagy, and is also implicated in an increasing number of pathological conditions. Emerging evidence suggests that both mTOR and autophagy are critically involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary diseases including acute lung injury (ALI). However, the detailed mechanisms of these pathways in disease pathogenesis require further investigations. In certain cases within the same disease, the functions of mTOR and autophagy may vary from different cell types and pathogens. Here we review recent advances about the basic machinery of mTOR and autophagy, and their roles in ALI. We further discuss and propose the likelihood of cell type- and pathogen-dependent functions of these pathways in ALI pathogenesis.