Effect of minoxidil combined with triamcinolone acetonide on alopecia areata by microneedle injection.

OBJECTIVE: Alopecia areata (AA) is often characterized by sudden onset of patchy hair loss. Topical corticosteroid injection is the most common treatment. This study retrospectively observed the clinical efficacy of microneedle minoxidil combined with triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of AA. METHODS: A total of 230 patients with AA were selected. The experimental group (n = 120) received physician training and home microneedle treatment with minoxidil combined with triamcinolone acetonide once a week. Topical minoxidil and triamcinolone acetonide were used twice daily at other times. The control group (n = 110) was treated with minoxidil combined with triamcinolone acetonide, twice a day. Cure rate, response rate, SALT, dermatological Quality of Life Index (DLQI), visual analogue (VAS), and cost were assessed at weeks 4 and 12. RESULTS: Treated group SALT score(Severity of Alopecia Tool) remarkable lower than control group after treated 4 and 12 weeks. After 12 weeks treatment, DLQI score of the treated group (1.8 ± 1.67) were significantly lower than those of the control group (2.45 ± 1.88) (p < 0.05). VAS score and adverse reaction between two group showed no significant different (p = 0.823, p = 0.484 respectively). The total cost was 53.93 ± 15.85 in the treatment group and 53.26 ± 11.51 in the control group. There was no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.72). In the treated group, the complete response rate (CR: 78.33%) and total effective rate (CR+PR: 95%) were significantly higher than those in the control group (CR: 40.91% and CR+PR: 51.82%), with statistically significant differences (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Microneedle introduction of minoxidil and triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of AA is a safe, effective, economical, and convenient method, with few adverse reactions, and has a good application prospect.

Current progress of fluoroquinolones-increased risk of aortic aneurysm and dissection.

Aortic aneurysm (AA) and aortic dissection (AD) are major life-threatening diseases around the world. AA is a localized or diffuse dilation of the aorta, while AD is the separation of the layers creating a false lumen within the aortic wall. Fluoroquinolones (FQ) remain one of the most important kind of antibiotics and have a wider clinical use and broad antibacterial spectrum. FQ were also reported to treat infected AA. The most common adverse events (AEs) of FQ are mild and reversible, like headaches, diarrhea and nausea. Due to FQ-related serious AEs, such as tendonitis and tendon rupture, chondrotoxicity, or retinal detachment, QT-prolongation and dysglycemia, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a black box warning for FQ for systemic use in 2016 and updated warnings for FQ several times since then. Of note, in December 2018, FDA issued several "black box warnings" against FQ with the latest safety announcement warning about an increased risk of ruptures in the aorta blood vessel in certain patients. Recently, many studies have indicated an association between FQ and an increase risk of AA and AD. However, the exact mechanism of FQ-induced AA/AD remains unclear. This review aims to highlight the latest research progress of the alarming association between FQ and AA/AD. Moreover, molecular mechanisms of FQ in increasing risk of AA and AD are explored. Hopefully, this review can provide novel insights into FQ-increased the risk of AA/AD and a starting place for stewardship interventions.

Manipulating the light-matter interaction in a topological photonic crystal heterostructure.

We theoretically and numerically investigate the ligh-matter interaction in a classic topological photonic crystal (PhC) heterostructure, which consists of two opposite-facing 4-period PhCs spaced by a dielectric layer. Due to the excitation of topological edge mode (TEM) at the interface of the two PhCs, the strong coupling between incident light and TEM produces a high quality resonance peak, which can be applied to many optical devices. As a refractive index sensor, it achieves a sensitivity of 254.5 nm/RIU and a high figure of merit (> 250), which is superior to many previously reported sensors. We further study the coupling between photons and excitons by replacing the pure dielectric layer with the J-aggregates doped layer. By tuning the thickness of the doped layer and the angle of incident light, the dispersive TEM can efficiently interact with the molecular excitons to form a hybrid mode with TEM-like or exciton-like components, showing interesting energy transfer characteristics and flexible modulation characteristics. This work may be helpful for a better understanding of light-matter interactions in a topological PhC heterostructure, and achieve potential applications in related optical devices.

Soil incubation studies with Cry1Ac protein indicate no adverse effect of Bt crops on soil microbial communities.

Bt crops that are transgenic crops engineered to produce Bt toxins which occur naturally with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been widely planted and its environmental risk assessment has been heavily debated. The effects of Bt crops on soil microbial communities are possible through changing the quantity and quality of C inputs and potential toxic activity of Bt protein on soil organisms. To date, the direct effects of Bt protein on soil microorganisms is unclear. Here we added Cry1Ac, one of the most commonly used Bt protein in Bt crops, to the soil and monitored changes in soil bacterial, fungal and archaeal diversities and community structures using ribosomal DNA-fingerprinting method, as well as their population sizes by real-time PCR over a 100-day period. Despite the fact that variations were observed in the indices of evenness, diversity and population sizes of bacteria, fungi and archaea with different Cry1Ac addition rates up to 100ngg-1 soil, the indices of soil microbial diversities and evennesses did not significantly shift with Cry1Ac protein addition, nor did population sizes change over time. The diversities of the dominant bacteria, fungi and archaea were not significantly changed, given Cry1Ac protein addition rates over a period of 100 days. These results suggested that Bt protein derived by cultivations of transgenic Bt crops is unlikely to cause transient or even persisting significant changes in soil microorganisms in field.

Treatment of polycystic liver disease: a hypothesis, patient characteristics, short and long-term results.

BACKGROUND: Non-total liver resecting invasive treatment of polycystic liver disease has different recurrence rates. The aim of this study is to illustrate why the recurrence rates are different. We established a hypothesis that the cyst number is a constant in polycystic liver disease in a patient's lifetime. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We selected 287 patients with polycystic liver, in which 35 patients had the record of liver volume, while other 252 patients had the record of length of right liver. Data were divided into 5 groups in terms of age. The intergroup comparison with different ages and clinical files of patients were analyzed. RESULTS: The mean difference was statistically insignificant when compared amongst groups in the lengths of right liver respectively. Symptom recurrence rates (q) were 19.05 and 17.65% respectively after cyst aspiration-sclerotherapy and non-cyst aspiration-sclerotherapy. CONCLUSION: The cyst number is a constant in patients with non-massive or massive polycystic liver disease in their lifetime.

Effects of proprioceptive training on gait and plantar pressure after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: People who have undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction have an increased risk of osteoarthritis. Abnormality of lower limb kinematics will occur after the operation. This may be related to lower limb muscle strength, the co-excitation of hamstrings and quadriceps femoris, and the weakness of proprioception. Proprioceptive training can improve the proprioception of lower limbs and promote the recovery of lower limb kinematics. Our research objective is to observe whether proprioceptive training can improve the proprioception of lower limbs within 3 months after surgery and whether the recovery of proprioception can correct the abnormal lower limb kinematics. The secondary objective is to explore the underlying mechanism of postoperative lower limb gait abnormalities. METHODS/DESIGN: This study is a prospective single-center randomized clinical trial to be conducted in the Sports Medicine and Orthopedics of Zhongda Hospital Southeast University. Forty participants aged 18-50, preparing to undergo anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, and initial anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using hamstring tendons as grafts will be randomly assigned to the intervention or comparator group. People in the intervention group will add proprioceptive training three times a week, 20 min each time. The intervention will be conducted on the first day after surgery. The researcher mainly collects the data of joint of sense, gait, and plantar pressure. The assessment will be divided into three stages: after signing the informed consent form (within 2 weeks before surgery), 6 weeks after surgery, and 12 weeks after surgery. DISCUSSION: The main purpose of our study is to explore whether the proprioception of patients after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is weakened, whether the lower limb kinematics is abnormal and whether the lower limb kinematics can be corrected through proprioceptive training. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2200065808. Registered on 15 November 2022; Version 1.

Allele frequency polymorphism of Duffy, Kidd, Diego blood group system: a study in Dongxiang ethnic group in Gansu Province / 中国输血杂志

【Objective】 To investigate the allele frequencies polymorphic distribution of Duffy, Kidd and Diego blood group systems in Dongxiang ethnic group in Gansu Province. 【Methods】 Blood samples of 100 unrelated blood donors were randomly selected from Dongxiang ethnic group in Gansu from January to December 2017. Allelic typing of Duffy, Kidd and Diego blood groups was performed by fluorescence PCR. 【Results】 The allele frequencies of Duffy, Kidd, and Diego blood group systems of Dongxiang ethnic group were 0.835 for Fy*01, 0.165 for Fy*02, 0.570 for Jk*01, 0.430 for Jk*02, 0.020 for DI*01, 0.980 for DI*02, respectively. No Fy(a-b-), Jk(a-b-), Di(a+b-) rare phenotypes were found. The antigen incompatibility rates of Fya/Fyb, Jka/Jkb, Dia/Dib of Duffy, Kidd, and Diego blood group systems were 23.76%, 37.01% and 3.84%, respectively. 【Conclusion】 The allele frequencies distribution of Duffy, Kidd and Diego blood group systems in Dongxiang ethnic group in Gansu were polymorphic and has unique ethnic distribution characteristics.

Research progress on the role of NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway in the occurrence and development of retinal diseases / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

The nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3(NLRP3)inflammasome is an inflammatory protein complex, and can participate into the inflammatory response. Upon activation, these inflammasomes can lead to Caspase-1 activation, thereby inducing a cascade of inflammatory factor activation and further cell pyroptosis. Excessive activation of inflammasomes will induce the overexpression of inflammatory factors, persistently triggering immune dysregulation and inflammatory chain reactions, even causing severe damage. The recent studies have confirmed a close association between retinal diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy(DR), retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury(RIRI), and proliferative vitreoretinopathy(PVR)with immune dysregulation and inflammatory responses, which is serving as crucial factors in the progression of retinal diseases. This article reviews the NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway and its role in the occurrence and development of retinal diseases, in order to provide new ideas for the pathogenesis and prevention of retinal diseases.

Multichannel direct transmissions of near-field information.

A digital-coding programmable metasurface (DCPM) is a type of functional system that is composed of subwavelength-scale digital coding elements with opposite phase responses. By configuring the digital coding elements, a DCPM can construct dynamic near-field image patterns in which the intensity of each pixel of the image can be dynamically and independently modulated. Thus, a DCPM can perform both spatial and temporal modulations. Here, this advantage is used to realize multichannel direct transmissions of near-field information. Three points are selected in the near-field region to form three independent channels. By applying various digital phase codes on the DCPM, independent binary digital symbols defined by amplitude codes (namely, weak and strong amplitudes) are transmitted through the three channels. The measured near-field distributions and temporal transmissions of the system agree with numerical calculations. Compared with the conventional multichannel transmission, the proposed mechanism achieves simultaneous spatial and temporal modulations by treating DCPM as an energy radiator and information modulator, thereby enduing DCPM with high potential in near-field information processing and communications.

Long-term outcomes of lateral femoral notch after early anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction / 中国骨伤

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the outcome of lateral femoral notch (LFN) after early anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction and evaluate the recovery of knee joint function after the operation.@*METHODS@#The clinical data of 32 patients who underwent early ACL reconstruction from December 2015 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The study included 18 males and 14 females, aged 16 to 54 years old, with an average age of (25.39±2.82) years. The body mass index (BMI) of the patients ranged from 20 to 30 kg/cm2, with an average of (26.15±3.09) kg/cm2. Among them, 6 cases were caused by traffic accidents, 19 by exercise, and 7 by the crush of heavy objects. MRI of all patients showed LFN depth was more than 1.5 mm after injury, and no intervention for LFN was performed during surgery. Preoperative and postoperative depth, area, and volume of LFN defects were observed by MRI data. International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) score, Lysholm score, Tegner activity levels, and knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS) were analyzed before and after the operation.@*RESULTS@#All patients were followed up from 2 to 6 years with an average of (3.28±1.12) years. There was no significant difference in the defect depth of LFN from (2.31±0.67) mm before the operation to (2.53±0.50) mm at follow-up (P=0.136). The defect area of LFN was decreased from (207.55±81.01)mm2 to (171.36±52.69)mm2 (P=0.038), and the defect volume of LFN was decreased from (426.32±176.54) mm3 to (340.86±151.54)mm3 (P=0.042). The ICRS score increased from (1.51±0.34) to (2.92±0.33) (P<0.001), the Lysholm score increased from (35.37±10.54) to (94.46±8.45) (P<0.001), and the Tegner motor score increased from (3.45±0.94) to (7.56±1.28), which was significantly higher than that of the preoperative data (P<0.001). The KOOS score of the final follow-up was 90.42±16.35.@*CONCLUSION@#With the increase of recovery time after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, the defect area and volume of LFN decreased gradually, but the defect depth remained unchanged. The knee joint function of the patients significantly improved. The cartilage of the LFN defect improved, but the repair effect was not good.

An experimental study on the biological characteristics of SDF-1/CS/β-GP composite bio-membrane in vitro / 口腔医学

Objective@#To prepare a composite membrane by chitosan/β-sodium glycerophosphate(CS/β-GP) thermosensitive hydrogel combined with stromal cell derived factor-1(SDF-1) and observe its biological characteristics in vitro.@*Methods@#Different doses of SDF-1 were added into CS/β-GP solution and then the thermosensitive gel time was measured. The SDF-1/CS/β-GP solution was membrane paved and dried to prepare composite membranes. The morphological characteristics were observed by scanning electron microscope(SEM). Composite membranes were placed into cell culture medium, and the supernatant(n=3) was extracted after standing at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 h, respectively. The concentration of SDF-1 in the solution was measured. Bone mesenchymal stem cells(BMSCs) were cultured in the Transwell room, and the composite membranes containing different concentrations of SDF-1 were placed in the lower chamber. There were four groups(n=3): Group M0 used CS/β-GP membrane(control group), Group M1, M2, M3 used SDF-1/CS/β-GP membrane(SDF-1 was 100, 200, 400 ng/mL respectively). After culture for 6, 12 and 24 h, the cells under the membrane were preserved and Giemsa stained and counted. The absorbance(OD) value was measured by MTT method to calculate the cell proliferation rate. SPSS 19.0 was used for multi-factor analysis of variance.@*Results @#After adding a certain amount of SDF-1 into CS/β-GP solution, the gel time did not change significantly(P>0.05). The SDF-1/CS/β-GP membrane was translucent and porous at 37 ℃. In this experiment, the volumic mass of SDF-1 released by SDF-1/CS/β-GP composite membrane increased gradually with the experimental time(P<0.01). Transwell cell chemotaxis test showed that the number of BMSCs cells with directional migration increased with the prolongation of observation time(P<0.01) and the increase of SDF-1 volumic mass(P<0.01). In MTT test, the OD value of migration cell solution increased with the prolongation of time(P<0.01) and the increase of SDF-1 volumic mass(P<0.01). @*Conclusion@# The SDF-1/CS/β-GP composite membrane has a porous structure and biological activity of chemotactic BMSCs directional migration. It is a potential membrane for guided tissue regeneration.

Negative reflection and negative surface wave conversion from obliquely incident electromagnetic waves.

Complete control of spatially propagating waves (PWs) and surface waves (SWs) is an ultimate goal that scientists and engineers seek for, in which negative reflection of PW and negative surface wave are two exotic phenomena. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an anisotropic digital coding metasurface capable of controlling both PWs and SWs with a single coding pattern. On the basis of the digital description of coding metasurfaces, a simple coding method is proposed to allow dual functionalities (either PW or SW manipulations) under two orthogonal polarizations at arbitrarily oblique incidences, thus improving the adaptability of digital coding metasurfaces in more practical circumstances. With elaborately designed ellipse-shaped coding particles, we experimentally demonstrate various functions under oblique incidences, including the negative reflection of PW, negative SW, anomalous reflection and their arbitrary combinations, all having good agreements with theoretical and numerical predictions. We believe that the proposed method may enable the digital coding metasurfaces to have broad applications in radar detections, wireless communications and imaging.

Comprehensive evaluation and analysis of laboratory resource allocation in 14 blood stations based on entropy weight -TOPSIS method / 中国输血杂志

【Objective】 To investigate the resource allocation status of blood testing laboratories in 14 blood stations in Gansu Province, explore the impact of differences in basic conditions on the comprehensive testing ability of laboratories, so as to promote the homogenization and standardization of blood screening capacity in blood stations in Gansu and improve blood safety and effectivenes. 【Methods】 An evaluation index system of laboratory resource allocation was constructed and a question-naire was designed. The data of human resources, infrastructure and key equipment of 14 blood stations were collected. The entropy weight -TOPSIS method was used to evaluate and rank the resource allocation of 14 blood stations. 【Results】 In the comprehensive evaluation of blood testing laboratory resource allocation in 14 blood stations in Gansu, the top three were laboratories A, B and I, and the last three were laboratories G, M and J. On the whole, the main issue was unreasonable structure of human resources: most laboratories had unreasonable age structure; except for Laboratory A, there was no personnel with bachelor's degree or above in laboratories; most laboratories had not established a team with intermediate professional titles. In terms of infrastructure, the size of seven laboratories could not meet the needs of modern laboratory testing, and all eight blood stations had no spare nucleic acid laboratories nor a mutual spare laboratory with other blood stations As for the key equipment, 5 laboratories had no automatic blood grouping diagnostic instrument, 5 laboratories only had one set of enzyme immunoassay detection system, 3 laboratories had no spare equipment for the key equipment, which means if the equipment failure could not be repaired in time, the release of results would be affected. 【Conclusion】 There were significant differences in human resources, infrastructure and key equipment of blood testing laboratories in 14 blood stations in Gansu, which had a great impact on laboratory testing capacity and subsequent development. It is suggested that governments at all levels and health administrative departments optimize the input of laboratory resource allocation according to the blood collection volume of blood stations to gradually narrow the differences in resource distribution between different regions, improve the degree of laboratory automation and optimize the personnel structure, so as to build high-quality and efficient blood testing laboratories and ensure the safety of clinical blood use.

Effect of health management service for hypertension patients under framework of Basic Public Health Service Project: a regression discontinuity design / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To evaluate the effect of health management service on hypertension patients (HMSFHP) under the framework of the Basic Public Health Service Project by using regression discontinuity design. Methods: The participants were enrolled from an observational cohort survey in 2015 and followed up was conducted in 2019. The participants with SBP 130-150 mmHg and/or DBP 80-100 mmHg in the baseline survey of the cohort in 2015 were included in the present study. Additionally, we obtained the dates of participants receiving HMSFHP and their blood pressure data from follow-up records, physical examination records and telephone interview. The participants were divided into intervention group and control group based on the cutoff points, i.e. SBP ≥140 mmHg and/or DBP ≥90 mmHg. The local linear regression model were used to estimate the effect of HMSFHP on reducing blood pressure of the participants. Results: After adjusting for age, sex and time length of receiving HMSFHP, the results of the model including participants with 80-100 mmHg for DBP in 2015 indicated that, for the participants who received HMSFHP, the DBP decreased by 6.66 mmHg from 2015 to 2019. For the participants with SBP 130-150 mmHg in 2015, the reduction estimate of the model was -6.17 mmHg, the difference was not significant (P=0.178), suggesting that receiving HMSFHP did not cause change in SBP for the participants who received HMSFHP. Conclusion: Receiving HMSFHP had effect to reduce DBP, and HMSFHP had a positive effect on the control of blood pressure in patients with hypertension.

Yinlai Decoction Protects Microstructure of Colon and Regulates Serum Level of D-Lactic Acid in Pneumonia Mice Fed with High-Calorie and High-Protein Diet / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the effect of Yinlai Decoction (YD) on the microstructure of colon, and activity of D-lactic acid (DLA) and diamine oxidase (DAO) in serum of pneumonia mice model fed with high-calorie and high-protein diet (HCD).@*METHODS@#Sixty male Kunming mice were randomly divided into 6 groups by the random number table method: normal control, pneumonia, HCD, HCD with pneumonia (HCD-P), YD (229.2 mg/mL), and dexamethasone (15.63 mg/mL) groups, with 10 in each group. HCD mice were fed with 52% milk solution by gavage. Pneumonia mice was modeled with lipopolysaccharide inhalation and was fed by gavage with either the corresponding therapeutic drugs or saline water, twice daily, for 3 days. After hematoxylin-eosin staining, the changes in the colon structure were observed under light microscopy and transmission electron microscope, respectively. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the protein levels of DLA and DAO in the serum of mice.@*RESULTS@#The colonic mucosal structure and ultrastructure of mice in the normal control group were clear and intact. The colonic mucosal goblet cells in the pneumonia group tended to increase, and the size of the microvilli varied. In the HCD-P group, the mucosal goblet cells showed a marked increase in size with increased secretory activity. Loose mucosal epithelial connections were also observed, as shown by widened intercellular gaps with short sparse microvilli. These pathological changes of intestinal mucosa were significantly reduced in mouse models with YD treatment, while there was no significant improvement after dexamethasone treatment. The serum DLA level was significantly higher in the pneumonia, HCD, and HCD-P groups as compared with the normal control group (P<0.05). Serum DLA was significantly lower in the YD group than HCD-P group (P<0.05). Moreover, serum DLA level significantly increased in the dexamethasone group as compared with the YD group (P<0.01). There was no statistical significance in the serum level of DAO among groups (P>0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#YD can protect function of intestinal mucosa by improving the tissue morphology of intestinal mucosa and maintaining integrity of cell connections and microvilli structure, thereby reducing permeability of intestinal mucosa to regulate the serum levels of DLA in mice.

Shaping electromagnetic waves using software-automatically-designed metasurfaces.

We present a fully digital procedure of designing reflective coding metasurfaces to shape reflected electromagnetic waves. The design procedure is completely automatic, controlled by a personal computer. In details, the macro coding units of metasurface are automatically divided into several types (e.g. two types for 1-bit coding, four types for 2-bit coding, etc.), and each type of the macro coding units is formed by discretely random arrangement of micro coding units. By combining an optimization algorithm and commercial electromagnetic software, the digital patterns of the macro coding units are optimized to possess constant phase difference for the reflected waves. The apertures of the designed reflective metasurfaces are formed by arranging the macro coding units with certain coding sequence. To experimentally verify the performance, a coding metasurface is fabricated by automatically designing two digital 1-bit unit cells, which are arranged in array to constitute a periodic coding metasurface to generate the required four-beam radiations with specific directions. Two complicated functional metasurfaces with circularly- and elliptically-shaped radiation beams are realized by automatically designing 4-bit macro coding units, showing excellent performance of the automatic designs by software. The proposed method provides a smart tool to realize various functional devices and systems automatically.

Effects of long-term cultivation of transgenic Bt rice (Kefeng-6) on soil microbial functioning and C cycling.

Understanding how soil ecosystem responds to transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) rice is necessary for environmental risk assessment. While the influences of short-term cultivation of Bt rice on soil properties have been reported previously, little is known about the long-term effects of Bt rice on soil ecosystems. In this study, soil samples were taken from a long-term rice cultivation site in Fujian Province, China, where transgenic Bt rice (Kefeng-6) and its non-Bt parent breed (Minghui-86) had been continuously cultivated for 8 years. Soil Bt protein concentration and a total of 16 variables were analyzed to assess potential risks of soil health under Bt rice cultivation. The results revealed that soil Bt protein is unlikely to accumulate after Bt rice cultivated in the field, and no consistently significant changes were observed in soil enzymatic activities (catalase, dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase, and urease), microbial biomass (microbial carbon and nitrogen), total organic carbon, decomposition (soil respiration, Q 10, and qCO2), soil nitrogen and phosphorus contents. Due to a local tradition that aboveground biomass was removed after harvest, the increased net primary productivity by Bt rice cultivation did not significantly change soil C cycling. Results of this study suggested that on the aspects of soil microbial functioning and C cycling, long-term cultivation of Bt rice is unlikely to result in significant effects on soil health.

Effects of clinical application of free anterolateral thigh perforator lobulated flap in repair of electrical burn wounds on head based on the concept of donor site protection / 中华烧伤杂志

Objective: To explore the effects of clinical application of free anterolateral thigh perforator lobulated flap in repair of electrical burn wounds on head based on the concept of donor site protection. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted. Eight patients with electrical burns with huge scalp defects and exposed skulls were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, from May 2017 to December 2019, who were all males, aged 21-57 (39±13) years, sustaining multiple deep partial thickness to full-thickness electrical burns to 5%-14% total body surface area. Among the scalp burn sites of the patients, 1 case was posterior occipital, 2 cases were parietal occipital, 4 cases were parietal temporal, and 1 case was frontotemporal. After debridement, the defect area was 10 cm×9 cm-16 cm×14 cm. The incision area of the free anterolateral thigh perforator lobulated flap was 22 cm×6 cm-30 cm×9 cm. The artery and vein of flap were anastomosed with superficial temporal artery and vein or facial artery and vein, and the other vein of skin flap was anastomosed with superficial vein of recipient area. The donor site of skin flap was closed by layer interrupted tension-reducing suture. After the operation, the survival of flop, donor site wound healing and complications were observed. The flap appearance, wound healing of donor sites, long-term complications and functional recovery of donor sites were observed on follow-up. Results: After the operation, the flaps of 8 patients survived completely without vascular crisis. The donor sites of flaps in all the patients healed well with no osteofascial compartment syndrome. Seven patients were followed up for 3 to 12 months, and 1 case was lost to follow up. During follow-up, the flaps of the patients' heads were in good appearance but with alopecia. The donor sites showed linear scars, which were well hidden. There were no significant differences in sensory and motor functions between the two sides, and no complications were found such as muscle hernia. Conclusions: Free anterolateral thigh perforator lobulated flap has a good clinical effect in the early repair of electrical burn wounds with huge scalp defect and skull exposure on head, and the donor wounds can be directly closed and sutured, greatly reducing the damage to the donor area.

Electromagnetic reprogrammable coding-metasurface holograms.

Metasurfaces have enabled a plethora of emerging functions within an ultrathin dimension, paving way towards flat and highly integrated photonic devices. Despite the rapid progress in this area, simultaneous realization of reconfigurability, high efficiency, and full control over the phase and amplitude of scattered light is posing a great challenge. Here, we try to tackle this challenge by introducing the concept of a reprogrammable hologram based on 1-bit coding metasurfaces. The state of each unit cell of the coding metasurface can be switched between '1' and '0' by electrically controlling the loaded diodes. Our proof-of-concept experiments show that multiple desired holographic images can be realized in real time with only a single coding metasurface. The proposed reprogrammable hologram may be a key in enabling future intelligent devices with reconfigurable and programmable functionalities that may lead to advances in a variety of applications such as microscopy, display, security, data storage, and information processing.Realizing metasurfaces with reconfigurability, high efficiency, and control over phase and amplitude is a challenge. Here, Li et al. introduce a reprogrammable hologram based on a 1-bit coding metasurface, where the state of each unit cell of the coding metasurface can be switched electrically.

cGAS guards against chromosome end-to-end fusions during mitosis and facilitates replicative senescence

As a sensor of cytosolic DNA, the role of cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) in innate immune response is well established, yet how its functions in different biological conditions remain to be elucidated. Here, we identify cGAS as an essential regulator in inhibiting mitotic DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair and protecting short telomeres from end-to-end fusion independent of the canonical cGAS-STING pathway. cGAS associates with telomeric/subtelomeric DNA during mitosis when TRF1/TRF2/POT1 are deficient on telomeres. Depletion of cGAS leads to mitotic chromosome end-to-end fusions predominantly occurring between short telomeres. Mechanistically, cGAS interacts with CDK1 and positions them to chromosome ends. Thus, CDK1 inhibits mitotic non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) by blocking the recruitment of RNF8. cGAS-deficient human primary cells are defective in entering replicative senescence and display chromosome end-to-end fusions, genome instability and prolonged growth arrest. Altogether, cGAS safeguards genome stability by controlling mitotic DSB repair to inhibit mitotic chromosome end-to-end fusions, thus facilitating replicative senescence.