Psychological Status and Influencing Factors Among Pregnant Women Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization.

Objective: This retrospective study aimed to observe the psychological status and analyze the influencing factors among pregnant women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). Methods: A total of 456 pregnant women who underwent IVF and were admitted to the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University from June 2021 to January 2022 were included as research subjects. General data of all subjects, including previous miscarriage history, infertility duration, number of IVF treatments, factors contributing to infertility, endometrial thickness, and embryo quality, were collected. Univariate/multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors associated with the psychological status of pregnant women undergoing IVF. Results: In this study, 191 (41.89%) patients were diagnosed with anxiety disorder, and 131 (28.73%) patients were diagnosed with depression. Significant differences were observed between the anxiety group and the non-anxiety group in terms of previous miscarriage history, infertility duration, number of IVF treatments, ovarian factors of infertility, oviduct factors of infertility, uterus factors of infertility, endometrial thickness, and embryo quality (all P < .05). Similarly, significant differences were found between the depression group and the non-depression group in terms of previous miscarriage history, infertility duration, number of IVF treatments, ovarian factors of infertility, oviduct factors of infertility, uterus factors of infertility, endometrial thickness, and embryo quality (all P < .05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the number of IVF treatments was an independent risk factor for both anxiety and depression status (all P < .05). Conclusions: Among pregnant women undergoing IVF, psychological states such as anxiety and depression may be associated with the number of IVF treatments, endometrial thickness, and embryo quality.

ABRE-BINDING FACTORS play a role in the feedback regulation of ABA signaling by mediating rapid ABA induction of ABA co-receptor genes.

Group A protein phosphatase 2Cs (PP2Cs) are abscisic acid (ABA) co-receptors that negatively regulate the ABA signaling pathway by inhibiting the downstream SnRK2 protein kinases. It has long been observed that exogenous ABA treatments dramatically induce the expression of group A PP2C genes, but the underlying molecular mechanisms and the biological significance remain largely unknown. Here, by using GUS reporter transgenic lines in which various lengths of ABI1 and ABI2 promoters were used to drive GUS gene expression, we defined the promoter fragments that confer ABA inducibility to ABI1 and ABI2. We further showed that ABRE-binding factors (ABFs), the bZIP family transcription factors, directly bind to the promoters of group A PP2C genes, and mediate rapid induction of their expression on exogenous ABA treatments. Moreover, our data indicated that ABA dramatically induces the expression of ABF genes and the accumulation of endogenous ABF proteins, and that ABFs themselves are involved in this induction, thus providing another layer of ABA regulation towards ABF proteins in addition to the well-characterized ABA-induced phosphorylation by SnRK2 protein kinases. Together, our data demonstrate that ABFs mediate rapid ABA induction of group A PP2C genes, thus playing a role in the negative feedback regulation of ABA signaling.

Global distributions of foliar nitrogen and phosphorus resorption in forest ecosystems.

Nutrient resorption is an important mechanism for nutrient conservation and can maintain ecosystem stoichiometry. Here, we examined the global-scale variation of nitrogen resorption efficiency (NRE) and phosphorus resorption efficiency (PRE) by analyzing observations from 218 published papers. We used Pagel's λ to test the phylogenetic limitation on NRE and PRE and applied the random forest model to assess biotic and abiotic drivers, which included climate, soil, species characteristics, and topographical factors, and predicted the global NRE and PRE distributions. We found that NRE and PRE had oppositing trends among climatic zones, plant functional groups, and foliar nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) ratios. Nutrient resorption was higher in ectomycorrhizal trees than in arbuscular mycorrhizal trees. Moreover, foliar NRE and PRE were not linked to phylogeny. On average, the random forest overall explained 38 % (21 %-55 %) variation in NRE and 36 % (16 %-55 %) variation in PRE. Both NRE and PRE varied greatly with climate and soil organic carbon (SOC). The spatial variation of NRE and PRE was coupled to N-limitation and P-limitation, respectively. Our evaluation of the factors that influenced NRE and PRE and their global distributions, and our novel approach for evaluating plant utilization of nutrients, advances our understanding of the relative stability of ecosystem randomness in forest ecosystems and the global forest nutrient cycle.

Prognostic Value of Pre-Treatment Prognostic Nutritional Index in Esophageal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Prognostic nutritional index (PNI), combining albumin and lymphocyte counts, which represent the nutritional and immune status, was considered as an effective predictor for the patient's prognosis after surgery. To comprehensively analyze the relative effectiveness of prognostic performance of pretreatment PNI in esophageal cancer (EC), we performed this meta-analysis. Methods: We performed a systematic search in PubMed, Embase, CNKI, and Web of Science. The hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (ORs) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted to explore the correlation between PNI and the post-operative survival of patients with EC, including overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and post-operative complications. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was applied to estimate the quality of the included studies. The Begg's test was applied to assess the publication bias. Results: A total of 13 articles with 3,543 patients, were included in our meta-analysis, and nine studies reported OS in 2,731 EC patients. The pooled results of the nine studies suggested that EC patients with a low PNI would have a worse overall survival (HR = 1.14, 95% CI 0.99-1.31, p < 0.05). The integrated results also indicated that the PNI was a negative predictor for RFS. Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicated a high correlation between PNI and post-operative survival of EC. EC patients with low PNI values tend to have worse OS and may be at a higher risk of EC recurrence. However, more relevant researches are needed to confirm the association between PNI and post-operative complications of EC.

Vγ1+γδT, early cardiac infiltrated innate population dominantly producing IL-4, protect mice against CVB3 myocarditis by modulating IFNγ+ T response.

Viral myocarditis (VMC) is an inflammation of the myocardium closely associated with Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) infection. Vγ1+γδT cells, one of early cardiac infiltrated innate population, were reported to protect CVB3 myocarditis while the precise mechanism not fully addressed. To explore cytokine profiles and kinetics of Vγ1+γδT and mechanism of protection against VMC, flow cytometry was conducted on cardiac Vγ1 cells in C57BL/6 mice following CVB3 infection. The level of cardiac inflammation, transthoracic echocardiography and viral replication were evaluated after monoclonal antibody depletion of Vγ1γδT. We found that Vγ1+γδT cells infiltration peaked in the heart at day3 post CVB3 infection and constituted a minor source of IFN-γ but major producers for early IL-4. Vγ1γδT cells were activated earlier holding a higher IL-4-producing efficiency than CD4+Th cells in the heart. Depletion of Vγ1+γδT resulted in a significantly exacerbated cardiac infiltration, increased T, macrophage and neutrophil population in heart homogenates and worse cardiomyopathy; which was accompanied by a significant expansion of peripheral IFNγ+CD4+ and CD8+T cells. Neutralization of IL-4 in mice resulted in an exacerbated acute myocarditis confirming the IL-4-mediated protective mechanism of Vγ1. Our findings identify a unique property of Vγ1+γδT cells as one dominant early producers of IL-4 upon CVB3 acute infection which is a key mediator to protect mice against acute myocarditis by modulating IFNγ-secreting T response.

Organ histopathological changes and its function damage in mice following long-term exposure to lanthanides chloride.

Due to increasing applications of lanthanides (Ln) in industry and daily life, numerous studies confirmed that Ln exposure may result in organ damages in mice and rats, while very few studies focused on several organs damages simultaneously. In order to compare the toxicity of Ln on organs, mice were exposed to LaCl(3), CeCl(3), and NdCl(3) of a dose of 20 mg/kg body weight for consecutive 60 days, respectively, then histopathological changes of liver, kidney, and heart, and their function were investigated. The results showed that long-term exposure to Ln caused cell necrosis and basophilia of liver, ambiguity of renal tubule architecture, congestion of blood vessel and capillary of kidney, and heart hemorrhage. The histopathological changes of liver, kidney, and heart in mice caused by Ce(3+) was most severe; the effect by Nd(3+) was slighter than Ce(3+) but more severe than La(3+). The assay of serum biochemical parameters suggested that Ln exposure severely impaired the functions of liver, kidney, and myocardium in mice. These findings suggested that long-term exposure to Ln resulted in histopathological changes of liver, kidney, and heart, and their function damages. Therefore, we thought that long-term application of the products containing Ln on human should be cautious.