ATG5 attenuates inflammatory signaling in mouse embryonic stem cells to control differentiation.

Attenuated inflammatory response is a property of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). However, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Moreover, whether the attenuated inflammatory status is involved in ESC differentiation is also unknown. Here, we found that autophagy-related protein ATG5 is essential for both attenuated inflammatory response and differentiation of mouse ESCs and that attenuation of inflammatory signaling is required for mouse ESC differentiation. Mechanistically, ATG5 recruits FBXW7 to promote ubiquitination and proteasome-mediated degradation of ß-TrCP1, resulting in the inhibition of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling and inflammatory response. Moreover, differentiation defects observed in ATG5-depleted mouse ESCs are due to ß-TrCP1 accumulation and hyperactivation of NF-κB signaling, as loss of ß-TrCP1 and inhibition of NF-κB signaling rescued the differentiation defects. Therefore, this study reveals a previously uncharacterized mechanism maintaining the attenuated inflammatory response in mouse ESCs and further expands the understanding of the biological roles of ATG5.

Characteristics and emissions of isoprene and other non-methane hydrocarbons in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and responses to atmospheric aerosol deposition.

Field investigations in the Northwest Pacific Ocean were carried out to determine the distributions of marine and atmospheric non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), sources and environmental effects. We also conducted deck incubation experiments to investigate the effects of atmospheric aerosol deposition on NMHCs production. The marine NMHCs displayed an increasing trend from the South Equatorial Current to the Oyashio Current. The enhanced phytoplankton biomass and dissolved organic materials (DOM) content in the Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension contributed significantly to isoprene and NMHCs production compared with those in tropical waters and the North Pacific subtropical gyre. The Northwest Pacific Ocean was a significant source of atmospheric NMHCs, with average sea-to-air fluxes of 28.0 ± 38.9, 65.2 ± 73.3, 21.0 ± 26.7, 48.7 ± 62.6, 12.7 ± 15.9, 14.2 ± 16.8, and 41.7 ± 80.4 nmol m-2 d-1 for ethane, ethylene, propane, propylene, i-butane, n-butane, and isoprene, respectively. Influenced by seawater release and OH radical consumption, the atmospheric NMHCs apart from isoprene displayed upward trends with increasing latitude. The deck incubation showed that the addition of aerosols and acidic aerosols significantly boosted phytoplankton biomass, altered community structure, and accelerated the production of isoprene. However, the other six NMHCs showed no obvious responses to atmospheric aerosol deposition in the incubation experiments. In summary, ocean current movements and atmospheric deposition could influence the production and release of isoprene in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

Analysis of factors for serious early complications after primary debulking surgery in elderly patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the factors for serious complications within 30 days after surgery in elderly patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer(EOC)who undertook primary debulking surgery(PDS).Methods:The clinical data of International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics(FIGO)stage ⅢC/Ⅳ EOC patients aged≥60 years who received PDS in gynecological department of National Cancer Center and National Center of Gerontology between January 2014 and December 2018 were retrospectively analyzed.Clavien-Dindo scoring system was applied to grade the complications within 30 days after surgery.The serious early postoperative complications were those of grade Ⅲ or above occurred within 30 days after surgery.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to screen the independent risk factors of serious complications within 30 days after surgery.Results:A total of 133 patients were included in this study and serious complications rated 11.3%(15/133). The mean age of patients in severe complication group was significantly higher than that in the control group[(69.80±6.56) vs.(65.87±5.14), t=2.699, P=0.008]. The proportion of patients with preoperative ECOG score≥2 was significantly higher in the severe complication group than that in the control group[26.7%(4/15) vs.5.9%(7/118), χ2=4.985, P=0.026], and the proportion of preoperative hypoalbuminemia(<35 g/L)was significantly higher in the severe complication group[20.0%(3/15) vs.3.4%(4/118), χ2=4.897, P=0.027]. However, there was no significant difference in intraoperative bleeding, R0 resection rate as well as surgical complexity( χ2=1.964, 0.330, 4.637, all P>0.05)between the two groups.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the independent factors for serious early postoperative complications were age≥70 years( OR=4.345, P=0.028), ECOG score≥2( OR=25.619, P=0.008)and preoperative albumin <35 g/L( OR=6.733, P=0.040). Conclusions:In the elderly ovarian cancer patients, individualized perioperative management should be strengthened for the patients with factors associated with serious early postoperative complications, in order to reduce severe complications and improve the prognosis.

Safety and efficacy of hemoperfusion in cardiopulmonary bypass for postoperative inflammatory response in patients with acute Stanford type A aortic dissection: A randomized controlled trial / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#Objective     To explore the clinical effect of hemoperfusion (HP) in cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on postoperative inflammation in patients with acute type A aortic dissection (AAD). Methods    Adult patients with AAD who planned to undergo total aortic arch replacement from July 2020 to November 2021 were continuously enrolled in our heart center. Patients were randomly divided into a HP group and a control (C) group. The HP group was treated with disposable HP device (Model: HA380, Zhuhai Jafron Biomedical, China) in CPB during the operation. Results    Finally,  70 patients were included with 59 males and 11 females at an age range of 21-67 years. There were 35 patients in both groups. In this study, 3 patients died within 3 days after surgery, 2 in the HP group and 1 in the C group, and the remaining 67 patients survived to the follow-up end point (30 days after surgery). There was no statistical difference in preoperative baseline data, operative method, CPB time, block time, or other intraoperative data between the two groups. Blood product dosage, intubation time, hospital stays, and hospitalization expenses were similar between the two groups. Intraoperative hemoglobin (82.70±2.31 g/L vs. 82.50±1.75 g/L, P=0.954] and platelet concentration [(77.87±7.99)×109/L vs.(89.17±9.99)×109/L, P=0.384] were not statistically different between the HP group and C group. In the HP group, postoperative (ICU-12 h) interleukin-6 (IL-6) [338.14 (128.00, 450.70) pg/mL vs. 435.75 (180.50, 537.00) pg/mL, P=0.373], IL-8 [35.04 (18.02, 40.35) pg/mL vs. 43.50 (17.70, 59.95) pg/mL, P=0.383], and IL-10 [21.19 (6.46, 23.50) pg/mL vs. 43.41 (6.34, 50.80) pg/mL, P=0.537] were slightly lower than those in the C group, and the difference was not statistically different. The incidences of pulmonary infection (0.00% vs. 11.76%, P=0.042) and liver injury (2.94% vs. 20.58%, P=0.027) in the HP group were significantly lower than those in the C group, and the incidence of other postoperative complications, such as arrhythmia, nervous system complications and urinary system complications, showed no statistical difference between the two groups. Conclusion     HP therapy in CPB is safe, but its effect on reducing postoperative inflammatory factors, postoperative inflammatory reactions and postoperative complications in the patients with AAD is limited, and it may be of application value to some high-risk patients with lung and liver injury.

Fast Detection of Defective Insulator Based on Improved YOLOv5s.

Defective insulator detection is an essential part of transmission line inspections based on unmanned aerial vehicles. It can timely discover insulator defects and repair them to avoid a power transmission accident. The detection speed of defective insulators based on artificial intelligence directly affects inspection efficiency. To improve the detection speed of defective insulators based on YOLOv5s, an improved detection method with faster detection speed and acceptable precision is proposed. First, a new ResNet unit with three branches is designed based on depthwise separable convolution with kernel three and average pooling. To reduce parameters, the new ResNet unit is used to replace the original ResNet unit used in the CSP1_X module in YOLOv5s. Besides, we also introduce channel shuffle in the CSP1_X module to facilitate the flow of feature information from different channels. Second, a new residual CBL module is designed based on depthwise separable and standard convolution. The new residual CBL module is used to replace the two CBL modules used in the CSP2_X module in YOLOv5s to reduce parameters and extract more useful features. Third, we design a separate, coordinated attention module by introducing location information into channel attention. The new attention module is added to the end of the CSP2_X module to improve the ability to extract insulator location information. Besides, we also use convolution to replace the focus model to reduce computation. Compared with defective insulator detection methods, the proposed method has smaller parameters, floating-point operations per second, and higher frames per second. Although it has lower mean precision, it has a faster detection speed. Besides, the increase in detection speed is greater than the decrease in mean precision.

Atorvastatin inhibits malignant behaviors and induces apoptosis in human glioma cells by up-regulating miR-146a and inhibiting the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the effect of atorvastatin (AVT) on biological behaviors and the miR-146a/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in human glioma cells.@*METHODS@#Human glioma U251 cells were treated with 8.0 μmol/L AVT or transfected with a miR-146a inhibitor or a negative control fragment (miR-146a NC) prior to AVT treatment. RT-PCR was used to detect miR-146a expression in the cells, and the changes in cell proliferation rate, apoptosis, cell invasion and migration were detected using MTT assay, flow cytometry, and Transwell assay. Western blotting was performed to detect the changes in cellular expressions of proteins in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.@*RESULTS@#AVT treatment for 48 h resulted in significantly increased miR-146a expression and cell apoptosis (P < 0.01) and obviously lowered the cell proliferation rate, invasion index, migration index, and expressions of p-PI3K and p-Akt protein in U251 cells (P < 0.01). Compared with AVT treatment alone, transfection with miR-146a inhibitor prior to AVT treatment significantly reduced miR-146a expression and cell apoptosis (P < 0.01), increased the cell proliferation rate, promoted cell invasion and migration, and enhanced the expressions of p-PI3K and p-Akt proteins in the cells (P < 0.01); these effects were not observed following transfection with miR-146a NC group (P>0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#AVT can inhibit the proliferation, invasion and migration and promote apoptosis of human glioma cells possibly by up-regulating miR-146a expression and inhibiting the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Risk factors for one-year mortality in elderly patients with femoral intertrochanteric fracture following multidisciplinary treatment by intramedullary nailing / 中华创伤骨科杂志

Objective:To analyze the risk factors for postoperative one-year mortality in elderly patients with femoral intertrochanteric fracture following multidisciplinary treatment (MDT) by intramedullary nailing.Methods:The clinical data were retrospectively analyzed of the 158 elderly patients with femoral intertrochanteric fracture who had undergone MDT by proximal femoral intramedullary nailing between January 2018 and August 2020 at Department of Orthopedics, Trauma Center, Zhongda Hospital Affiliated to Southeast University. There were 41 males and 117 females with an average age of 82.5 years (from 65 to 95 years). By the modified Evans classification, there were 15 cases of type Ⅰ, 16 cases of type Ⅱ, 35 cases of type Ⅲ, 81 cases of type Ⅳ, and 11 cases of type Ⅴ. The one-year mortality was documented in the patients after surgery. To screen for risk factors, univariate analysis was conducted of gender, age, body mass index (BMI), modified Evans classification of fractures, time from injury to operation, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) and comorbidities, as well as preoperative hemoglobin (Hb), serum albumin (ALB) and total lymphocyte count (TLC). The factors with P<0.05 were included in the multivariate logistic regression model analysis to determine the risk factors. Results:A total of 13 patients died within one year after surgery, yielding a mortality of 8.2% (13/158). Univariate analysis showed significant differences in age, body mass index, modified Evans classification of fractures, CCI and Hb between the surviving and dead patients ( P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age >85 years ( OR=0.122, 95% CI: 0.018 to 0.834, P=0.032), BMI>23.9 kg/m 2 ( OR=0.083, 95% CI: 0.013 to 0.510, P=0.007), CCI≥3 points ( OR=0.051, 95% CI: 0.090 to 0.275, P=0.001) and preoperative Hb<90 g/L ( OR=4.733, 95% CI: 1.036 to 21.624, P=0.045) were the independent risk factors for postoperative one-year mortality in the elderly patients with intertrochanteric fracture following MDT by proximal femoral intramedullary nailing. Conclusions:After MDT by proximal femoral intramedullary nailing of femoral intertrochanteric fractures, the geriatric patients with an age >85 years, BMI>23.9 kg/m 2, CCI≥3 points and Hb<90 g/L are likely to die. Therefore, special care should be taken for them.

Vitamin D supplementation improves testicular function in aging rats induced by D-galactose / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects and potential mechanism of vitamin D supplementation on testicular function in aging rats induced by D-galactose.Methods:The aging rats were induced by D-galactose with subcutaneous injection. The animals were randomly divided into 6 groups: aging rats (DG), aging rats with low-dose vitamin D supplementation (LD), aging rats with high-dose vitamin D supplementation (HD), normal control rats(NC), normal rats with low-dose vitamin D supplementation(LN), normal rats with high-dose vitamin D supplementation (HN). The body weight, testicular weight, serum testosterone concentrations and sperm quality of the rats in each group were measured. The testis morphological changes were detected using light microscopy. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and level of malondialdehyde(MDA) were determined with spectrophotometer. The expression levels of Nrf2, GCLC, SOD2 and VDR in testis were detected by western blot.Results:At baseline, compared with NC group, testicular weight, serum testosterone level, SOD activity, Nrf2, GCLC and SOD2 expression levels were significantly decreased in DG group, while MDA level was significantly increased. After vitamin D supplementation, testicular weight, testosterone levels and SOD activity in both of HD and LD groups were significantly increased, while the MDA level was significantly decreased. The expression levels of Nrf2, GCLC, SOD2 and VDR were significantly increased.Conclusion:Vitamin D supplementation may enhance the testicular antioxidant capacity through activating Nrf2-ARE signaling pathway, and improve the testicular function in D-galactose-induced aging rats.

Emissions and potential controls of light alkenes from the marginal seas of China.

Marine-derived reactive gases constitute a substantial fraction of volatile organic compounds and directly impact atmospheric chemistry and the global climate. Light alkene emissions from marginal seas are limited, and their contribution to atmospheric concentrations is likely underestimated. We surveyed oceanic emissions of ethylene, propylene, and isoprene, as well as their potential controlling factors in the marginal seas of China during the cruises in 2014-2015. Significant temporal-spatial variations in ethylene, propylene, and isoprene concentrations were observed, with the highest occurring in summer near the coastal regions. Isoprene concentrations were primarily controlled by phytoplankton biomass (i.e., Chl-a) in coastal regions, while the elevated concentrations of ethylene and propylene were attributed to photochemical reactions with the high levels of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Additionally, the vertical distributions of ethylene and propylene mirrored light penetration, with exponential decrease in concentrations with depth. However, there were high values of ethylene and propylene observed at deep chlorophyll maximum, suggesting the existence of non-photochemical production pathways, most likely biological origin. Emissions of ethylene, propylene, and isoprene from the marginal seas of China were estimated to be 0.022, 0.024, and 0.011 Tg C yr-1, respectively, indicating they are important contributors to global non-methane hydrocarbons. Due to the scarcity of alkene emission data for marginal seas, current global emissions have been underestimated to some extent. It is essential to incorporate the contributions from marginal seas to accurately estimate alkene budgets on global scales.

Occurance, emission and environmental effects of non-methane hydrocarbons in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.

The spatial distributions, fluxes, and environmental effects of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) were investigated in the Yellow Sea (YS) and the East China Sea (ECS) in spring. The average concentrations of ethane, propane, i-/n-butane, ethylene, propylene and isoprene in the seawater were 18.1 ± 6.4, 15.4 ± 4.7, 6.8 ± 2.9, 6.4 ± 3.2, 67.1 ± 26.7, 20.5 ± 8.7 and 17.1 ± 11.1 pmol L-1, respectively. The alkenes in the surface seawater were more abundant than their saturated homologs and NMHCs concentrations (with the exception of isoprene) decreased with carbon number. The spatial variations of isoprene were consistent with the distributions of chlorophyll a (Chl-a) and Chaetoceros, Skeletonema, Nitzschia mainly contributed to the production of isoprene, while the others' distributions might be related to their photochemical production. Observations in atmospheric NMHCs indicated alkanes in the marine atmosphere decreased from inshore to offshore due to influence of the continental emissions, while alkenes were largely derived from the oceanic source. In addition, no apparent diurnal discrepancy of atmospheric NMHCs (except for isoprene) were found between daytime and night. As the main sink of NMHCs in seawater, the average sea-to-air fluxes of ethane, propane, i-/n-butane, ethylene and propylene were 31.70, 29.75, 18.49, 15.89, 239.6, 67.94 and 52.41 nmol m-2 d-1, respectively. The average annual emissions of isoprene accounted for 0.1-1.3% of the global ocean emissions, which indicated that the coastal and shelf areas might be significant sources of isoprene. Furthermore, this study represents the first effort to estimate the environmental effects caused by NMHCs over the YS and the ECS and the results demonstrated contributions of alkanes to ozone and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation were lower than those of the alkenes and the largest contributor was isoprene.

Changes in molecular chaperone-mediated autophagy expression of developmental rats after recurrent-status seizures / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

Objective:To observe the expression of molecular chaperone-mediated autophagy in hippocampal neurons and its relationship with brain injury after recurrent-status seizures.Methods:Seven-day-old SD rats were divided into two groups according to simple randomization: the control group (NS group, 6 rats) and the recurrent-seizure group (RS group, 39 rats). Rats in the RS group were subjected to recurrent seizures after repeated inhalation of flurothyl, with 30 minutes once each day for consecutive 7 days.A total of 30 convulsive models were successfully established (9 rats that failed to establish models were discarded), and they were further divided into 0 h, 1.5 h, 3 h, 12 h and 24 h after the last seizure according to simple randomization, with 6 rats in each group.Western blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were adopted for the observation of the expression of molecular chaperone-mediated autophagy markers [heat shock cognate protein 70 (Hsc70), lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2a (LAMP-2a), heat shock protein 40(HSP40) and heat shock protein 90(HSP90)] in hip-pocampal neurons, and apoptosis was detected by TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL).Results:(1) RT-PCR and Western blot showed that, compared with the NS group, the expression of Hsc70, as a molecular chape-rone, started to increase at 1.5 h and continued until 24 h after the last seizure in the RS group ( P<0.05). HSP90 increased immediately after the last seizure and lasted until 24 h after the seizure ( P<0.01); the expression of HSP40 and LAMP-2a also showed high expression after the last seizure episode ( P<0.05). (2) The TUNEL method showed that the number of apoptotic cells in the hippocampal CA1 region increased significantly at 3 h (36.33±5.16)/40 field, 12 h (44.83±4.83)/40 field and 24 h (54.83±7.16)/40 field after the last seizure compared with NS group(15.16±2.48)/40 field ( P<0.01). (3) Pearson correlation analysis showed that the level of apoptosis in hippocampal CA1 region of rats after recurrent seizures was positively correlated with the expression of molecular chaperone marker molecules (Hsc70: r=0.734, P=0.001; LAMP2a: r=0.790, P<0.001). Conclusions:After recurrent seizures in developmental rats, the presence of increased expression of multiple molecular chaperone-mediated autophagy, which may positively correlate with apoptosis, may be involved in the process of brain injury.

Comparison of methods for enriching urine proteins / 生物工程学报

The abundance of proteins in human urine is low and easily to be masked by high-abundance proteins during mass spectrometry analysis. Development of efficient and highly selective enrichment methods is therefore a prerequisite for achieving deep coverage of urine protein markers. Notably, different experimental methods would affect the urine protein enrichment efficacy and the coverage of urine proteome. In this study, ultrafiltration, nitrocellulose membrane enrichment and saturated ammonium sulfate precipitation were used to process 10 mL urine samples from five healthy volunteers and five bladder cancer patients. The urine proteins were enriched and separate by SDS-PAGE to compare the purification efficiency of different methods. Moreover, the peptide identification effects of different purification methods were analyzed by mass spectrometry to determine the best method for enriching urine protein histones. Saturated ammonium sulfate precipitation method outperformed the ultrafiltration and the nitrocellulose membrane enrichment methods in terms of the protein enrichment efficacy and quality. The interference of highly abundant albumin was reduced, whereas the amount of low-abundance protein was increased, and the sensitivity of mass spectrometry identification was increased. The saturated ammonium sulfate precipitation method may be applied for large-scale urine processing for screening clinical diagnostic markers through proteomics.

Value of abnormal circadian rhythm of heart rate predicting the all-cause mortality in stage 5 chronic kidney disease patients / 中华肾脏病杂志

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of abnormal heart rate circadian rhythm for all-cause mortality in stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD 5) patients.Methods:The retrospective study was performed in CKD 5 patients enrolled from the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University (Jiangsu Province Hospital) and the Affiliated BenQ Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from February, 2011 to December, 2019. A total of 159 healthy volunteers were enrolled as the healthy control group during the same period. The circadian rhythm of heart rate was monitored by 24-hour Holter. Related indices (including 24-hour, daytime and nighttime mean heart rate, night/day heart rate ratio, 24-hour maximum heart rate, 24-hour minimum heart rate and difference between maximum and minimum of 24-hour heart rate) were calculated. Non-dipping heart rate was defined as night/day heart rate ratio greater than 0.9. Cox regression model was used to analyze the risk factors of all-cause mortality in CKD 5 patients. Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Log-rank test were used to compare the differences of cumulative mortality between high ratio group (night/day heart rate ratio>0.91) and low ratio group (night/day heart rate ratio≤0.91). The nonlinear relationship between night/day heart rate ratio and all-cause mortality was analyzed by restricted cubic spline plot. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the predictive value of night/day heart rate ratio for all-cause mortality in CKD 5 patients.Results:A total of 159 healthy volunteers and 221 CKD 5 patients were included in this study. There were 123 males (55.66%) and the age was (52.72±13.13) years old in CKD 5 patients. The total median follow-up time was 50.0 months. Compared with controls, 24-hour, nighttime mean heart rate, 24-hour minimum heart rate in CKD 5 patients were increased (all P<0.05), furthermore, the night/day heart rate ratio was higher [(0.91±0.09) vs (0.81±0.08), P<0.001], showing "non-dipping heart rate". However, the 24-hour maximum heart rate and the difference between maximum and minimum of 24-hour heart rate in CKD 5 patients were lower than controls (both P<0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the increased night/day heart rate ratio (per 0.1 increase, HR=1.557, 95% CI 1.073-2.258, P=0.020) was an independent influencing factor for all-cause mortality in CKD 5 patients. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the cumulative mortality of the high ratio group was significantly increased than that of the low ratio group (Log-rank test χ 2=7.232, P=0.007). From the restricted cubic spline plot, there was a linear effect between night/day heart rate ratio and all-cause mortality ( P=0.141), and when night/day heart rate ratio was above 0.91, the risk of all-cause mortality was significantly increased in CKD 5 patients. According to time-dependent ROC curve, the accuracy of night/day heart rate ratio in predicting all-cause mortality was 70.90% even when the survival time was up to 70.0 months. Conclusions:The circadian rhythm of heart rate in CKD 5 patients displays "non-dipping" state. High night/day heart rate ratio is an independent influencing factor for all-cause mortality in CKD 5 patients.

Effects of parathyroidectomy on heart rate circadian rhythm in patients with stage 5 chronic kidney disease combined with severe secondary hyperparathyroidism / 中华肾脏病杂志

Objective:To observe heart rate circadian rhythm in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5 and to analyze the effects of parathyroidectomy (PTX) on heart rate circadian rhythm in severe secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) patients.Methods:A cross-sectional observation was performed in 213 patients with CKD stage 5 and 96 controls, and the patients were divided into those with severe SHPT (PTX group, n=70) and without severe SHPT (non-PTX group, n=143). Forty-six PTX patients were followed up prospectively. The baseline data were compared among these groups. Holter electrocardiogram was performed for each participant. Non-dipping heart rate was defined as night/day heart rate ratio greater than 0.9. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the related factors of heart rate circadian rhythm in patients with CKD stage 5. Results:The 24-hour, daytime and nighttime mean heart rate in patients with CKD stage 5 were all higher than those in controls, especially in PTX group (all P<0.05). The night/day heart rate ratios of controls and CKD stage 5 patients were (0.81±0.08) and (0.91±0.08) respectively ( P<0.01). Correlation analysis showed 24-hour and daytime or nighttime mean heart rate in patients with CKD stage 5 were positively correlated with serum levels of phosphorus and ln(alkaline phosphatase), while nighttime mean heart rate and night/day heart rate ratio were positively related with serum intact parathyroid hormone level. After adjusting with postoperative follow-up period (median time: 10.9 months), 24-hour and nighttime mean heart rate, and night/day heart rate ratio in PTX patients all decreased significantly (all P<0.01). Conclusions:Heart rate is increased and circadian rhythm is abnormal in patients with CKD stage 5, which are related with mineral and bone disorder. PTX significantly decreases 24-hour and nighttime mean heart rate in severe SHPT patients, and improves the heart rate circadian rhythm.

The influence of scout scanning parameters on image quality and radiation dose of chest CT: a phantom study / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective:To explore the effects of scout scanning parameters (projection angle and tube potential) on image quality and radiation dose in chest CT and to provide guidance for the selection of scanning parameters in clinical practice.Methods:Different parameter combinations were selected to acquire the scout view of the anthropomorphic adult chest phantom. Fifteen scout views were obtained under parameter combinations of the projection angle (0/90/180 degrees), tube potential (70/80/100/120/140 kV) and tube current (25 mA). And then, chest spiral scans were performed according to the scout views. The other parameters were Assist kV, smart mA (maximum range), 80 mm detector width, 0.992∶1 pitch, 0.5 s rotation time, 330 mm scanning length, 5 mm thickness, NI (noise index) 10. The radiation dose modulation index (ASiR-V) was 30%, and the iterative level was 50%. Volume CT dose index (CTDI vol) and tube current at 4 body levels (pulmonary apex, trachea bifurcation, mammary level and diaphragmatic dome) were recorded. The thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) were used to measure the organ dose of the breast glandular. Regions of interest (ROIs)were selected at the trachea bifurcation and diaphragmatic dome to calculate the contrast noise ratio (CNR). Results:The tube potential of the spiral scanning was automatically selected as 80 kV when the projection angle was 0 degree. The changing of the tube potential for the scout had little influence on the tube current at the four body levels, and the variation range was 0-2% (5/230). The tube potential in the spiral scanning was automatically selected as 100 kV when the projection angles were 90 and 180 degrees. The changing of the tube potential for the scout had a great influence on the tube current at the slice of trachea bifurcation and the variation range was from 14%(29/210)to 44%(93/210). According to the angle projection, there were statistical differences in CTDI vol( P< 0.017), organ dose of the breast glandular, and CNR at the slices of trachea bifurcation and at diaphragmatic dome ( F=13.027, 24.727, 10.630, P< 0.05). According to the tube potential in the scout scanning, there were no significant differences in CTDI vol, organ dose of the breast glandular and CNR at both levels ( P> 0.05). Conclusions:In chest CT, the influence of the projection angle in scout scanning on the image quality and radiation dose was more significant than that of the tube potential.

Application of overall nursing intervention in PET/MR imaging in children with epilepsy / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective:To explore the application value of overall nursing intervention in PET/MR imaging in children with epilepsy.Methods:A total of 48 pediatric epilepsy patients who underwent PET/MR imaging in the Nuclear Medicine Department of the First Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital from July 2018 to October 2019 were enrolled. Among them, 24 patients with overall nursing intervention were used as the experimental group, and 24 patients were routine nursing intervention patients, who were served as the normal control group, and the examination time, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) scores and patient satisfaction scores (filled in by the patient′s guardian) of the experimental group and the control group were collected and compared.Results:The inspection time of the experimental group was (15.1±0.5) min, significantly lower than (24.8±1.3) min of the control group ( tvalue was 32.940, P<0.01); the SAS score of the experimental group was (35.7±4.2) points, lower than(43.8±3.3) points of the control group ( tvalue was 7.357, P<0.01), and the patient satisfaction score was (92.8±5.5) points, higher than (69.8±11.1) points of the control group ( tvalue was 9.088, P<0.01 or 0.05). Conclusion:Overall nursing intervention in PET/MR imaging of pediatric patients with epilepsy can significantly cut down the examination time, reduce the anxiety of patients′ family members and improve the satisfaction of nursing care. It lays the foundation for clinicians to further accurately diagnose epilepsy foci and has important application value.

Impact of regional differences in stroke symptom awareness and low-income status on seeking emergency medical service in China / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Unawareness of stroke symptoms and low income are two barriers that affect the seeking of emergency medical service (EMS). This study aimed to assess the effect of unawareness and low income on seeking EMS and to investigate the regional distribution of the unawareness and low-income status and their associations with failing to call EMS in China.@*METHODS@#A total of 187,723 samples from the China National Stroke Screening Survey was interviewed cross-sectionally. Four status of awareness and annual income were identified: unaware and low-income, unaware-only, low-income-only, and aware and regular income. The outcomes were whether they intended to call EMS or not. The regional distribution of each status and their associations with not calling EMS were presented.@*RESULTS@#The status of unaware and low-income, unaware-only, and low-income-only accounted for 6.3% (11,806/187,673), 11.9% (22,241/187,673), and 21.5% (40,289/187,673) of the total sample, respectively. Not calling EMS was significantly associated with the status of unaware and low-income (odds ratio [OR]: 3.21, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.07-3.35), unaware-only (OR: 2.38, 95% CI: 2.31-2.46), and low-income-only (OR: 1.67, 95% CI: 1.63-1.71), compared with the aware and regular income status. The Midwest regions had higher percentages of people in the unaware and low-income status; the East, South, and Central had higher percentages of unaware-only status; the North and Northeast regions had a higher percentage of low-income-only status, compared with other regions.@*CONCLUSION@#The existence of the regional difference in unawareness and low income justifies the specific stroke education strategies for the targeted regions and population.

[Study advance in biosynthesis of flavone from Scutellaria].

Flavones are widely distributed in terrestrial plants and act as important bioactive compounds in medicinal plants. Baicalein, wogonin and their glycosides baicalin and wogonoside are major active components found in medicinal plant Scutellaria baicalensis. These flavones can induce apoptosis in various cancer cell lines, with such pharmacological activities as anti-oxidation, antivirus and liver protection. In recent years, the biosynthesis pathways of flavones in Scutellaria have been studied thoroughly. In particular, the biosynthesis pathways of baicalein and wogonin in S. baicalensis were interpreted completely. In this review, the biosynthesis of flavones in Scutellaria, the regulation of environmental factors and elicitors on their biosynthesis, and the metabolic engineering of the flavones were discussed.

Coronavirus GenBrowser for monitoring adaptive evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Genomic epidemiology is important to study the COVID-19 pandemic and more than two million SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences were deposited into public databases. However, the exponential increase of sequences invokes unprecedented bioinformatic challenges. Here, we present the Coronavirus GenBrowser (CGB) based on a highly efficient analysis framework and a movie maker strategy. In total, 1,002,739 high quality genomic sequences with the transmission-related metadata were analyzed and visualized. The size of the core data file is only 12.20 MB, efficient for clean data sharing. Quick visualization modules and rich interactive operations are provided to explore the annotated SARS-CoV-2 evolutionary tree. CGB binary nomenclature is proposed to name each internal lineage. The pre-analyzed data can be filtered out according to the user-defined criteria to explore the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Different evolutionary analyses can also be easily performed, such as the detection of accelerated evolution and on-going positive selection. Moreover, the 75 genomic spots conserved in SARS-CoV-2 but non-conserved in other coronaviruses were identified, which may indicate the functional elements specifically important for SARS-CoV-2. The CGB not only enables users who have no programming skills to analyze millions of genomic sequences, but also offers a panoramic vision of the transmission and evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

CircHivep2 contributes to microglia activation and inflammation via miR-181a-5p/SOCS2 signalling in mice with kainic acid-induced epileptic seizures.

Epilepsy is a chronic brain disease characterized by recurrent seizures. Circular RNA (circRNA) is a novel family of endogenous non-coding RNAs that have been proposed to regulate gene expression. However, there is a lack of data on the role of circRNA in epilepsy. In this study, the circRNA profiles were evaluated by microarray analysis. In total, 627 circRNAs were up-regulated, whereas 892 were down-regulated in the hippocampus in mice with kainic acid (KA)-induced epileptic seizures compared with control. The expression of circHivep2 was significantly down-regulated in hippocampus tissues of mice with KA-induced epileptic seizures and BV-2 microglia cells upon KA treatment. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that circHivep2 interacts with miR-181a-5p to regulate SOCS2 expression, which was validated using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, overexpression of circHivep2 significantly inhibited KA-induced microglial activation and the expression of inflammatory factors in vitro, which was blocked by miR-181a-5p, whereas circHivep2 knockdown further induced microglia cell activation and the release of pro-inflammatory proteins in BV-2 microglia cells after KA treatment. The application of circHivep2+ exosomes derived from adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) exerted significant beneficial effects on the behavioural seizure scores of mice with KA-induced epilepsy compared to control exosomes. The circHivep2+ exosomes also inhibited microglial activation, the expression of inflammatory factors, and the miR-181a-5p/SOCS2 axis in vivo. Our results suggest that circHivep2 regulates microglia activation in the progression of epilepsy by interfering with miR-181a-5p to promote SOCS2 expression, indicating that circHivep2 may serve as a therapeutic tool to prevent the development of epilepsy.