Clopidogrel-Related High Residual Platelet Reactivity Associated with Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

INTRODUCTION

There are few studies on the relationship between the occurrence of clopidogrel-related high residual platelet reactivity (HRPR) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at admission in patients with ischemic stroke. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between the two.

METHODS

Patients who were hospitalized and diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke were recruited from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018, at Shanghai TCM-Integrated Hospital. Renal function was measured within 24 h of enrollment and eGFR was calculated. Patients were tested for platelet reactivity using the VerifyNow system after 7 days of antiplatelet therapy with clopidogrel 75 mg/d alone, and patients with P2Y12 reaction unit values ≥230 were diagnosed with HRPR. The association between HRPR and eGFR was analyzed.

RESULTS

A total of 274 patients were enrolled in the study, of whom 91 (33.21%) had HRPR. Multivariate logistic regression analysis suggested that an increased risk of HRPR was independently associated with female sex and reduced eGFR (female sex: OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 1.26-3.99, p = 0.006; mild chronic kidney disease [CKD]: OR = 2.95, 95% CI: 1.47-5.93, p = 0.002; moderate CKD: OR = 3.07, 95% CI: 1.08-8.75, p = 0.04).

CONCLUSION

Decreased eGFR is an independent risk factor for the occurrence of HRPR in patients with ischemic stroke.

R-(+)-WIN55212-2 protects pericytes from ischemic damage and restores retinal microcirculatory patency after ischemia/reperfusion injury

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Cannabinoids are vasoactive substances that act as key regulators of arterial tone in the blood vessels supplying peripheral tissues and the central nervous system. This study aimed to investigate the potential of R-(+)-WIN55212-2 (WIN), a cannabinoid receptor 1 agonist (CB1), as a treatment for retinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

Male Wistar rats were subjected to retinal I/R injury by increasing intraocular pressure in the anterior chamber. The rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal control, I/R, vehicle (pre-treated with dimethyl sulfoxide [DMSO] via intraperitoneal injection), and experimental (pre-treated with WIN at a dose of 1 ml/kg via intraperitoneal injection). The rats were sacrificed at different time points of reperfusion (1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, and 1 day) after inducing retinal I/R injury, and their retinas were collected for analysis. Oxygen-glucose deprived/reperfusion (OGD/R) was performed by initially perfusing the retinas with oxygenated artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF), then switching to an OGD solution to simulate ischemia, followed by another perfusion with ACSF. Pericyte contraction and the "no-reflow" phenomenon were observed using infrared differential interference contrast (IR-DIC) microscopy and immunohistochemistry. Western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and nitric oxide (NO) detection were used to explore the potential mechanism.

KEY RESULTS

In both the OGD/R and I/R models, retinal pericytes exhibited persistent contraction even after reperfusion. The ability of WIN to regulate the tone of retinal pericytes and capillaries was specifically blocked by the BKCa inhibitor iberiotoxin (100 nM). WIN demonstrated a protective effect against retinal I/R injury by preserving blood flow in vessels containing pericytes. Pretreatment with WIN alleviated the persistent contraction and apoptosis of retinal pericytes in I/R-induced rats, accompanied by a reduction in intracellular calcium ion (Ca2+) concentration. The expression of CB1 decreased in a time-dependent manner in the I/R group. After I/R injury, endothelium-derived nitric oxide (eNOS) levels were reduced at all time points, which was successfully reversed by WIN therapy except for the 1 day group. Additionally, the downregulation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and BKCa expression at 3 hours, 6 hours, and 1 day after I/R injury was restored by pretreatment of WIN.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

WIN exerted its protective effects on retinal I/R injury by inhibiting the contraction and apoptosis of pericytes through the CB1-eNOS-cGMP-BKCa signaling pathway, thus ameliorated the occlusion of retinal capillaries.

Sarcoeleganolides H-K, new anti-thrombotic cembranes from soft coral Sarcophyton elegans

Chemical investigation of soft coral the Sarcophyton elegans collected from the South China Sea led to the identification of four new cembranes, namely sarcoeleganolides H-K (1-4). Their structures and absolute configurations were established by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, quantum chemical calculations of NMR chemical shifts and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data analysis. Moreover, compound 2 exhibited moderate anti-thrombotic activity in zebrafish.

Cross Domain Correlation Maximization for Enhancing the Target Recognition of SSVEP-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces

The target recognition performance of steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interfaces can be significantly improved with a training-based approach. However, the training procedure is time consuming and often causes fatigue. Consequently, the number of training data should be limited, which may reduce the classification performance. Thus, how to improve classification accuracy without increasing the training time is crucial to SSVEP-based BCI system. This study proposes a transfer-related component analysis (TransRCA) method for addressing the above issue. In this method, the SSVEP-related components are extracted from a small number of training data of the current individual and combined with those extracted from a large number of existing training data of other individuals. The TransRCA method maximizes not only the inter-trial covariances between the source and target subjects, but also the correlation between the reference signals and SSVEP signals from the source and target subjects. The proposed method was validated on the SSVEP public Benchmark and BETA datasets, and the classification accuracy and information transmission rate of the ensemble version of the proposed TransRCA method were compared with those of the state-of-the-art eCCA, eTRCA, ttCCA, LSTeTRCA, and eIISMC methods on both datasets. The comparison results indicate that the proposed method provides a superior performance compared with these state-of-the-art methods, and thus has high potential for the development of a SSVEP-based brain-computer interface system with high classification performance that only uses a small number of training data.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease presenting as Korsakoff syndrome caused by E196A mutation in PRNP gene: A case report

BACKGROUND

Prion diseases are a group of degenerative nerve diseases that are caused by infectious prion proteins or gene mutations. In humans, prion diseases result from mutations in the prion protein gene (PRNP). Only a limited number of cases involving a specific PRNP mutation at codon 196 (E196A) have been reported. The coexistence of Korsakoff syndrome in patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) caused by E196A mutation has not been documented in the existing literature.

CASE SUMMARY

A 61-year-old Chinese man initially presented with Korsakoff syndrome, followed by rapid-onset dementia, visual hallucinations, akinetic mutism, myoclonus, and hyperthermia. The patient had no significant personal or familial medical history. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed extensive hyperintense signals in the cortex, while positron emission tomography/computed tomography showed a diffuse reduction in cerebral cortex metabolism. Routine biochemical and microorganism testing of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) yielded normal results. Tests for thyroid function, human immunodeficiency virus, syphilis, vitamin B1 and B12 levels, and autoimmune rheumatic disorders were normal. Blood and CSF tests for autoimmune encephalitis and autoantibody-associated paraneoplastic syndrome yielded negative results. A test for 14-3-3 protein in the CSF yielded negative results. Whole-genome sequencing revealed a disease-causing mutation in PRNP. The patient succumbed to the illness 11 months after the initial symptom onset.

CONCLUSION

Korsakoff syndrome, typically associated with alcohol intoxication, also manifests in CJD patients. Individuals with CJD along with PRNP E196A mutation may present with Korsakoff syndrome.

Domain Adaptation-Based Automated Detection of Retinal Diseases from Optical Coherence Tomography Images

PURPOSE

To verify the effectiveness of domain adaptation in generalizing a deep learning-based anomaly detection model to unseen optical coherence tomography (OCT) images.

METHODS

Two datasets (source and target, where labelled training data was only available for the source) captured by two different OCT facilities were collected to train the model. We defined the model containing a feature extractor and a classifier as Model One and trained it with only labeled source data. The proposed domain adaptation model was defined as Model Two, which has the same feature extractor and classifier as Model One but has an additional domain critic in the training phase. We trained the Model Two with both the source and target datasets; the feature extractor was trained to extract domain-invariant features while the domain critic learned to capture the domain discrepancy. Finally, a well-trained feature extractor was used to extract domain-invariant features and a classifier was used to detect images with retinal pathologies in the two domains.

RESULTS

The target data consisted of 3,058 OCT B-scans captured from 163 participants. Model One achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.912 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.895-0.962], while Model Two achieved an overall AUC of 0.989 [95% CI, 0.982-0.993] for detecting pathological retinas from healthy samples. Moreover, Model Two achieved an average retinopathies detection accuracy of 94.52%. Heat maps showed that the algorithm focused on the area with pathological changes during processing, similar to manual grading in daily clinical work.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed domain adaptation model showed a strong ability in reducing the domain distance between different OCT datasets.

Unraveling the transcriptome-based network of tfh cells in primary sjogren syndrome: insights from a systems biology approach

Background

Primary Sjogren Syndrome (pSS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by immune cell infiltration. While the presence of follicular T helper (Tfh) cells in the glandular microenvironment has been observed, their biological functions and clinical significance remain poorly understood.

Methods

We enrolled a total of 106 patients with pSS and 46 patients without pSS for this study. Clinical data and labial salivary gland (LSG) biopsies were collected from all participants. Histological staining was performed to assess the distribution of Tfh cells and B cells. Transcriptome analysis using RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) was conducted on 56 patients with pSS and 26 patients without pSS to uncover the underlying molecular mechanisms of Tfh cells. To categorize patients, we employed the single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) algorithm, dividing them into low- and high-Tfh groups. We then utilized gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), and deconvolution tools to explore functional and immune infiltration differences between the low- and high-Tfh groups.

Results

Patients with pSS had a higher positive rate of the antinuclear antibody (ANA), anti-Ro52, anti-SSA, anti-SSB and hypergammaglobulinaemia and higher levels of serum IgG compared to the non-pSS. Histopathologic analyses revealed the presence of Tfh cells (CD4+CXCR5+ICOS+) in germinal centers (GC) within the labial glands of pSS patients. GSEA, WGCNA, and correlation analysis indicated that the high-Tfh group was associated with an immune response related to virus-mediated IFN response and metabolic processes, primarily characterized by hypoxia, elevated glycolysis, and oxidative phosphorylation levels. In pSS, most immune cell types exhibited significantly higher infiltration levels in the high-Tfh group compared to the low-Tfh group. Additionally, patients in the Tfh-high group demonstrated a higher positive rate of the ANA, rheumatoid factor (RF), and hypergammaglobulinaemia, as well as higher serum IgG levels.

Conclusion

Our study suggests that Tfh cells may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of pSS and could serve as potential therapeutic targets in pSS patients.

Secondary in-the-bag Intraocular Lens Implantation in Aphakic Eyes After Vitrectomy and Silicone Oil Tamponade for Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment

PURPOSE

To describe a novel technique for capsular bag reopening and secondary in-the-bag intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in aphakic eyes after vitreoretinal surgery and intraocular tamponade.

METHODS

We enrolled 14 eyes of 14 patients who underwent primary vitreoretinal surgery with silicone oil tamponade for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment between September 2018 and September 2019. The novel technique was used for capsular bag reopening and foldable single-piece IOL implantation. Patients were followed up at least 24 weeks with routine ophthalmic examinations, corneal endothelial cell density, and IOL tilt and decentration measurement.

RESULTS

The procedure was successfully completed in 13 cases; in one case, because of posterior capsular tear, the IOL was implanted with ciliary sulcus fixation. After a mean follow-up of 48.8 ± 14.8 (range, 24.9-65.9) weeks, the best-corrected visual acuity (before 20/76 Snellen, 0.63 ± 0.23 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution equivalent and after 20/35 Snellen, 0.32 ± 0.32 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution equivalent; P = 0.001) and spherical equivalent (before +8.22 ± 4.08, after -2.39 ± 1.77 D; P < 0.001) improved, intraocular pressure (before 15.93 ± 4.40, after 16.25 ± 4.25 mmHg; P = 0.743) remained unchanged. The IOL was well centered with a mean horizontal and vertical tilt of 0.5070 ± 0.3319° and 0.4652 ± 0.3465°, respectively, and decentration of 0.1705 ± 0.1334 mm and 0.1712 ± 0.1576 mm, respectively.

CONCLUSION

With this technique, capsular bag reopening and secondary in-the-bag IOL implantation could be achieved in most cases with satisfactory visual outcome and IOL position.

Efficient and versatile multiplex prime editing in hexaploid wheat

Prime editing is limited by low efficiency in plants. Here, we develop an upgraded engineered plant prime editor in hexaploid wheat, ePPEplus, by introducing a V223A substitution into reverse transcriptase in the ePPEmax* architecture. ePPEplus enhances the efficiency by an average 33.0-fold and 6.4-fold compared to the original PPE and ePPE, respectively. Importantly, a robust multiplex prime editing platform is established for simultaneous editing of four to ten genes in protoplasts and up to eight genes in regenerated wheat plants at frequencies up to 74.5%, thus expanding the applicability of prime editors for stacking of multiple agronomic traits.

The health-promoting anthocyanin petanin in Lycium ruthenicum fruit: a promising natural colorant

Acylated anthocyanins derived from dietary sources have gained significant attention due to their health-promoting properties and potential as natural colorants with high stability. However, exploration of the functional food products using acylated anthocyanins enriched in fruits and vegetables remains largely delayed in food industries. The black goji (Lycium ruthencium) fruit (LRF) is a functional food that is extensively used due to its exceptionally high levels of acylated anthocyanins, including petanin. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the functional properties and anthocyanin components of LRF. The stability, bioaccessibility, bioavailability, and bioactivities of petanin, the major anthocyanin component, are compared with those of LRF anthocyanin extracts and other food sources. Furthermore, the biosynthetic pathway and regulatory network of petanin in LRF are proposed and constructed, respectively. The key genes that could be potentially used for metabolic engineering to produce petanin are predicted. Finally, the potential application of petanin derivatives in the food industry is also discussed. This review presents comprehensive and systematic information about the dual-function of petanin as a bioactive component and a promising natural colorant for future food industrial applications.

Comparison of sutureless intrascleral fixation and sutured scleral fixation for the treatment of dislocated intraocular lenses

BACKGROUND

To compare the outcomes of sutured transscleral fixation and sutureless intrascleral fixation for the treatment of a dislocated intraocular lens (IOL).

METHODS

Thirty-five eyes of 35 patients who required IOL repositioning surgery due to IOL dislocation were included in this retrospective study. Sixteen eyes underwent two-point sutured transscleral fixation, eight eyes underwent one-point sutured transscleral fixation, and 11 eyes underwent sutureless intrascleral IOL fixation. The patients were followed for ≥ 12 months after repositioning surgery, and their postoperative outcomes were recorded and analyzed.

RESULTS

The major cause of IOL dislocation was ocular blunt trauma (19/35, 54.3%). The mean corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) improved significantly after IOL repositioning (P = 0.022). The mean postoperative change in endothelial cell density (ECD) was - 4.5%. There were no significant differences in the changes in CDVA or ECD among the three groups with different repositioning techniques (both P > 0.1). The mean vertical tilt of the IOLs in all enrolled patients was significantly greater than the horizontal value (P = 0.001). The vertical tilt was greater in the two-point scleral fixation group than that in the sutureless intrascleral fixation group (P = 0.048). The mean decentration values in the one-point scleral fixation group in the horizontal and vertical directions were greater than those in the other two groups (all P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

All three IOL repositioning techniques resulted in favorable ocular prognosis.

Immunogenic cell death-related classifications guide prognosis and immunotherapy in osteosarcoma

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a form of cell death that stimulates the immune system to produce an immune response by releasing tumour-associated antigens and tumour-specific antigens and is considered to play an important role in tumour immunotherapy. In the present study, we identified two ICD-related subtypes in osteosarcoma (OS) by consensus clustering. The ICD-low subtype was associated with favourable clinical outcomes, abundant immune cell infiltration, and high activity of immune response signalling. We also established and validated an ICD-related prognostic model, which could not only be used to predict the overall survival of OS patients but was also found to be closely related to the tumour immune microenvironment of OS patients. Overall, we established a new classification system for OS based on ICD-related genes, which can be used to predict the prognosis of OS patients and to select appropriate immunotherapy drugs.

Modified Intrascleral Fixation for Repositioning the Dislocated Single-Piece, Rigid PMMA Intraocular Lens

PURPOSE

To describe a modified intrascleral fixation technique for repositioning single-piece rigid polymethyl methacrylate intraocular lenses (IOLs).

METHODS

Four patients with dislocated IOLs were enrolled. Surgical modifications included using ≤1-mm scleral incision for haptic externalization, placing the IOL haptic placement in scleral tunnels, and using 8-0 absorbable sutures. Patients were followed up for 6 months with routine ophthalmic examinations, corneal endothelial cell counts, and ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM).

RESULTS

The mean follow-up time was 13.5 ± 5.45 months. The IOL was well centered and the spherical refraction improved (+10.25 ± 2.21 vs. -0.81 ± 1.59 D, P < 0.05), whereas the best-corrected visual acuity (pre 20/43 Snellen, 0.42 ± 0.33 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution equivalent and post 20/36 Snellen, 0.31 ± 0.22 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution equivalent; P = 0.235), intraocular pressure (pre 13.8 ± 3.21, post 13.55 ± 5.14 mmHg), corneal endothelium density (pre 2,423.8 ± 279.6/mm 2 , post 2,280.25 ± 350.7/mm 2 ), and total astigmatism (pre -1.94 ± 0.43, post -1.69 ± 0.59 D) remained unchanged. The average horizontal and vertical IOL tilt was 0.33 ± 0.22° and 0.81 ± 0.38°, respectively. Intraocular lens decentration was 0.10 ± 0.03 mm horizontally and 0.13 ± 0.06 mm vertically.

CONCLUSION

The modified intrascleral fixation technique shows encouraging midterm results in patients with dislocated single-piece, rigid polymethyl methacrylate IOLs. Larger samples and longer follow-up are required to confirm the outcomes of this technique.

Effect of different titration methods on right heart function and prognosis in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome

BACKGROUND

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a common disease in intensive critical care(ICU), and the use of positive end-expiratory pressure(PEEP) during mechanical ventilation can increase the right heart afterload and eventually cause right heart dysfunction. For these factors causing acute cor pulmonale(ACP), especially inappropriate mechanical ventilation settings, it is important to explore the effect of PEEP on right heart function.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effects of three titration methods on right heart function and prognosis in patients with ARDS.

METHODS

Observational, prospective study in which ARDS patients were enrolled into three distinct PEEP-titration strategies groups: guide, transpulmonary pressure-oriented and driving pressure-oriented. Prognostic indicators, right heart systolic and diastolic echocardiographic function indices, ventilatory parameters, blood gas analysis results, and respiratory mechanics Monitoring indices were collated and analyzed statistically by STATA 15 software.

RESULTS

A total of 62 ARDS patients were enrolled into guide (G) group (n=40) for whom titrated PEEP values were 9±2cm H₂O, driving pressure-oriented (DPO) group (n=12) with titrated PEEP values of 10±2cm H₂O and transpulmonary pressure-oriented (TPO) group (n=10) with titrated PEEP values of 12±3cm H₂O. Values were significantly higher for TPO than for G (p=0.616) or DPO (p=0.011). Compliance was significantly increased after 72 h in the TPO and DPO groups compared with the G group (p<0.001). Mean airway pressure at end-inspiratory obstruction (p=0.047), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE, p<0.001) and right ventricular area change fraction (RVFAC, p=0.049) were all higher in the TPO and DPO groups than in the G group. E/A indices were significantly better in the TPO group than in the G or DPO groups (p=0.046). No significant differences in 28 day mortality were found among the three groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that lung compliance and transpulmonary pressure-oriented PEEP titration method was negatively correlated to the increase in right ventricular systolic dysfunction.

CONCLUSION

Transpulmonary pressure-oriented PEEP titration improves oxygenation and pulmonary function and causes less right heart strain when compared to other PEEP-titration methods during mechanical ventilation of ARDS patients.

Electron-transfer pathways insights into contaminants oxidized by Cu-OOSO3- intermediate: Effects of oxidation states of Cu and solution pH values

The copper-peroxy complex (Cu-OOSO₃^-) metastable intermediate has been confirmed to oxidize contaminants via a single-electron-transfer pathway or an oxygen-atom-transfer pathway. And the effects of Cu oxidation states and reaction pH conditions on the intermediate properties have not been explored in depth. Here, copper oxide (CuO_x) catalysts with different Cu oxidation states were synthesized by a simple precipitation method by controlling the reaction temperature from 0 to 45 °C. CuO_x displayed a strong catalytic dependence on the Cu oxidation state, and CuO_x-30 with Cu average valence on the catalyst surface of 1.61 was more reactive for catalytic degradation of bisphenol A with peroxymonosulfate (PMS). Notably, CuO_x-30, with the best electron-accepting ability, was easier to bonding with PMS to form the Cu-OOSO₃^- reactive complex, and the generated intermediate exhibited the strongest capacity to obtain electrons from contaminants. Moreover, the electron-transfer pathways were closely related to the average valence of Cu, and the contribution of the oxygen-atom-transfer pathway changed volcanic with increasing Cu valence. Meanwhile, the reaction predominantly involved the oxygen-atom-transfer pathway under acidic conditions (pH=3), while the contribution of the single-electron-transfer pathway raised with increasing pH values. Hence, this work was devoted to providing new insights into the CuO_x-inducing PMS activation and vital supplementary to the properties of the Cu-OOSO₃^- intermediate.

EEG-based major depressive disorder recognition by selecting discriminative features via stochastic search

Objective. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent psychiatric disorder whose diagnosis relies on experienced psychiatrists, resulting in a low diagnosis rate. As a typical physiological signal, electroencephalography (EEG) has indicated a strong association with human beings' mental activities and can be served as an objective biomarker for diagnosing MDD.Approach. The basic idea of the proposed method fully considers all the channel information in EEG-based MDD recognition and designs a stochastic search algorithm to select the best discriminative features for describing the individual channels.Main results. To evaluate the proposed method, we conducted extensive experiments on the MODMA dataset (including dot-probe tasks and resting state), a 128-electrode public EEG-based MDD dataset including 24 patients with depressive disorder and 29 healthy controls. Under the leave-one-subject-out cross-validation protocol, the proposed method achieved an average accuracy of 99.53% in the fear-neutral face pairs cued experiment and 99.32% in the resting state, outperforming state-of-the-art MDD recognition methods. Moreover, our experimental results also indicated that negative emotional stimuli could induce depressive states, and high-frequency EEG features contributed significantly to distinguishing between normal and depressive patients, which can be served as a marker for MDD recognition.Significance. The proposed method provided a possible solution to an intelligent diagnosis of MDD and can be used to develop a computer-aided diagnostic tool to aid clinicians in early diagnosis for clinical purposes.

Mpox (Monkeypox) and the Eye: Ocular Manifestation, Diagnosis, Treatment and Vaccination

At present, the world is at the tipping point of the outbreak of mpox. The World Health Organization has declared the current mpox outbreak a ‘public health emergency of international concern’. Mpox has been shown to be associated with several ocular manifestations. Given the current state of the mpox outbreak, healthcare providers, particularly ophthalmologists, need to be aware of these ophthalmic symptoms and how to manage them. In this review, we highlight current knowledge on the ocular symptoms of mpox virus (MPXV) infections and how to detect them. In addition, we summarize the treatment strategies for these ocular manifestations of MPXV infections and outline the relationship between vaccination and the ocular symptoms of mpox.

Depression in Chinese Patients with Cleft Lip and/or Palate: A Preliminary Study

(1) Objectives: To investigate the difference in prevalence of depression between patients with CL/P (cleft lip and/or palate) and analyze the possible demographic factors that affect the prevalence of depression in Chinese patients with CL/P. (2) Methods: Patients with CL (cleft lip only), CP (cleft palate), and CLP (cleft lip and palate) were included in the study group. Non-CL/P individuals were included in the control group. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to screen the depression of Chinese patients with CL/P. The different proportions of different depression groups between the CL/P group and the control groups were tested by the Fisher-Freeman-Halton test and Bonferroni correction. The scores between the study groups and the control group were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. In the study groups, demographic and clinical data of the patients, including diagnosis (CL, CP, CLP), gender, age, the only child or not, and region were collected to analyze whether they were the possible factors affecting depression through one-way independent-samples t-test. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between monthly family income and depression. (3) Results: 111 and 80 valid questionnaires were collected from the study and control groups, respectively. The mean PHQ-9 score of the study group (5.459 ± 6.082) was relatively higher than the control group (4.362 ± 3.384), and the difference in proportions of depression groups was statistically significant between the CL/P group and the control group (p = 0.01), especially in the mild depression (p < 0.05) and moderately severe depression groups (p < 0.05). Statistically significant differences in PHQ-9 scores were observed between the individuals of different genders (p = 0.036) and ages (p = 0.007) in patients with CL/P, the individuals who were the only child or not in patients with CL (p = 0.007), and the individuals of different ages in patients with CP (p = 0.016). (4) Conclusions: The prevalence of depression in Chinese patients with CL/P was different compared with those without CL/P, while gender, age, the only child or not, and region played significant roles in affecting depression psychology.

Safety of intraocular anti-VEGF antibody treatment under in vitro HTLV-1 infection

Introduction

HTLV-1 (human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1) is a retrovirus that infects approximately 20 million people worldwide. Many diseases are caused by this virus, including HTLV-1-associated myelopathy, adult T-cell leukemia, and HTLV-1 uveitis. Intraocular anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibody injection has been widely used in ophthalmology, and it is reportedly effective against age-related macular degeneration, complications of diabetic retinopathy, and retinal vein occlusions. HTLV-1 mimics VEGF₁₆₅, the predominant isoform of VEGF, to recruit neuropilin-1 and heparan sulfate proteoglycans. VEGF₁₆₅ is also a selective competitor of HTLV-1 entry. Here, we investigated the effects of an anti-VEGF antibody on ocular status under conditions of HTLV-1 infection in vitro.

Methods

We used MT2 and TL-Om1 cells as HTLV-1-infected cells and Jurkat cells as controls. Primary human retinal pigment epithelial cells (HRPEpiCs) and ARPE19 HRPEpiCs were used as ocular cells; MT2/TL-Om1/Jurkat cells and HRPEpiCs/ARPE19 cells were co-cultured to simulate the intraocular environment of HTLV-1-infected patients. Aflibercept was administered as an anti-VEGF antibody. To avoid possible T-cell adhesion, we lethally irradiated MT2/TL-Om1/Jurkat cells prior to the experiments.

Results

Anti-VEGF antibody treatment had no effect on activated NF-κB production, inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, HTLV-1 proviral load (PVL), or cell counts in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) under MT2 co-culture conditions. Under TL-Om1 co-culture conditions, anti-VEGF antibody treatment did not affect the production of activated NF-κB, chemokines, PVL, or cell counts, but production of the inflammatory cytokine IL-6 was increased. In addition, anti-VEGF treatment did not affect PVL in HTLV-1-infected T cells.

Conclusion

This preliminary in vitro assessment indicates that intraocular anti-VEGF antibody treatment for HTLV-1 infection does not exacerbate HTLV-1-related inflammation and thus may be safe for use.

Cytomegalovirus Anterior Uveitis: Clinical Manifestations, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Immunological Mechanisms

Little is known regarding anterior uveitis (AU), the most common ocular disease associated with cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in immunocompetent populations. CMV AU is highly prevalent in Asia, with a higher incidence in men. Clinically, it manifests mainly as anterior chamber inflammation and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). Acute CMV AU may resemble Posner-Schlossman syndrome with its recurrent hypertensive iritis, while chronic CMV AU may resemble Fuchs uveitis because of its elevated IOP. Without prompt treatment, it may progress to glaucoma; therefore, early diagnosis is critical to prognosis. Knowledge regarding clinical features and aqueous humor analyses can facilitate accurate diagnoses; so, we compared and summarized these aspects. Early antiviral treatment reduces the risk of a glaucoma surgery requirement, and therapeutic effects vary based on drug delivery. Both oral valganciclovir and topical ganciclovir can produce positive clinical outcomes, and higher concentration and frequency are beneficial in chronic CMV retinitis. An extended antiviral course could prevent relapses, but should be limited to 6 months to prevent drug resistance and side effects. In this review, we have systematically summarized the pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects, and immunological mechanisms of CMV AU with the goal of providing a theoretical foundation for early clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Assessment of Silicone Oil Emulsification: A Comparison of Currently Applied Methods

Purpose

To compare ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM), Coulter counter, and B-scan ultrasonography in the evaluation of silicone oil (SO) emulsification.

Methods

Patients who underwent primary pars plana vitrectomy with SO tamponade for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and SO removal were included. UBM images were acquired before the SO removal, and B-scan images were taken after removal. The number of droplets in the first and last 2 mL of washout fluid was analyzed using a Coulter counter. The correlations between these measurements were analyzed.

Results

Thirty-four eyes received both UBM and Coulter counter analysis for the first 2 mL of washout fluid, and 34 underwent B-scan and Coulter counter analysis of the last 2 mL washout fluid. The mean UBM grading was 26.41 ± 9.71 (range: 1-36); the mean SO index obtained with B-scan was 5.25 ± 5.00% (range: 0.10-16.49%), and the mean number of SO droplets was 1.26 ± 2.45 × 10⁷/mL and 3.34 ± 4.22 × 10⁶/mL in the first and last 2 mL of washout fluid, respectively. There were significant correlations between UBM grading and SO droplets in the first 2 mL and between B-scan grading and SO droplets in the last 2 mL (all P < 0.05).

Conclusions

UBM, Coulter counter, and B-scan ultrasonography could all be used in the evaluation of SO emulsification, and their findings were comparable.

Novel Hina alleles created by genome editing increase grain hardness and reduce grain width in barley

The hordoindolina genes (Hina and Hinb) are believed to play critical roles in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grain texture. In this study, we created novel alleles of the Hina gene using CRISPR/Cas9 (Clustered regularly inter spaced short palindromic repeat-associated protein, CRISPR-Cas) genome editing. Mutagenesis of single bases in these novel alleles led to loss of Hina protein function in edited lines. The grain hardness index of hina mutants was 95.5 on average, while that of the wild type was only 53.7, indicating successful conversion of soft barley into hard barley. Observation of cross-sectional grain structure using scanning electron microscopy revealed different adhesion levels between starch granules and protein matrix. Starch granules were loose and separated from the protein matrix in the wild type, but deeply trapped and tightly integrated with the protein matrix in hina02 mutants. In addition, the grain width and thousand-grain weight of the hina02 mutant were significantly lower than those of the wild type.

Immune mechanism of low bone mineral density caused by ankylosing spondylitis based on bioinformatics and machine learning

Background and Objective: This study aims to find the key immune genes and mechanisms of low bone mineral density (LBMD) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients.

Methods: AS and LBMD datasets were downloaded from the GEO database, and differential expression gene analysis was performed to obtain DEGs. Immune-related genes (IRGs) were obtained from ImmPort. Overlapping DEGs and IRGs got I-DEGs. Pearson coefficients were used to calculate DEGs and IRGs correlations in the AS and LBMD datasets. Louvain community discovery was used to cluster the co-expression network to get gene modules. The module most related to the immune module was defined as the key module. Metascape was used for enrichment analysis of key modules. Further, I-DEGs with the same trend in AS and LBMD were considered key I-DEGs. Multiple machine learning methods were used to construct diagnostic models based on key I-DEGs. IID database was used to find the context of I-DEGs, especially in the skeletal system. Gene–biological process and gene-pathway networks were constructed based on key I-DEGs. In addition, immune infiltration was analyzed on the AS dataset using the CIBERSORT algorithm.

Results: A total of 19 genes were identified I-DEGs, of which IFNAR1, PIK3CG, PTGER2, TNF, and CCL3 were considered the key I-DEGs. These key I-DEGs had a good relationship with the hub genes of key modules. Multiple machine learning showed that key I-DEGs, as a signature, had an excellent diagnostic performance in both AS and LBMD, and the SVM model had the highest AUC value. Key I-DEGs were closely linked through bridge genes, especially in the skeletal system. Pathway analysis showed that PIK3CG, IFNAR1, CCL3, and TNF participated in NETs formation through pathways such as the MAPK signaling pathway. Immune infiltration analysis showed neutrophils had the most significant differences between case and control groups and a good correlation with key I-DEG.

Conclusion: The key I-DEGs, TNF, CCL3, PIK3CG, PTGER2, and IFNAR1, can be utilized as biomarkers to determine the risk of LBMD in AS patients. They may affect neutrophil infiltration and NETs formation to influence the bone remodeling process in AS.

[Risk factors and chemoprophylaxis of ulcerative colitis-colorectal cancer]

Ulcerative colitis-colorectal cancer (UC-CRC) is one of the most serious complications in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), with worse prognosis and higher mortality than sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC). Since most UC-CRC developed through the "inflammation-dysplasia-carcinoma" approach, early detection of dysplasia through identification of high-risk groups reasonable monitoring and active prevention are extremely important. However, there is no consensus on the risk factors of UC carcinogenesis and the drugs that can be used for chemoprevention currently. This article combined with relevant literature at home and abroad, reviewed the current risk factors and chemopreventive drugs for UC carcinogenesis, in order to provide reference for early prevention, early detection and early diagnosis of UC-CRC.

Ferroptosis in AS progression: role of miRNA

We review the relationship between miRNAs associated with ferroptosis and the evolution of AS. Even though, more evidence is asked to determine the role of miRNAs associated with ferroptosis in the AS, this review will help us understand the role of miRNAs in ferroptosis and AS and may provide new insights for probing new biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of AS for the time to come. This is a narrative essay. Using PubMed as the main source, a literature search strategy was randomly implemented to index Scopus articles. No specific terminology is used. Studies have shown that ferroptosis plays a crucial role in the development of AS, and a large amount of ferroptosis in cells can lead to the progression of AS. MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) have been proved to be taken part in the biological course of ferroptosis and thus the process of AS is affected. The exact regulatory mechanism behind this appearance remains unclear. In order to clarify this, a growing number of studies have concentrated the regulatory role of miRNAs in the process of generation and development of ferroptosis, as well as the function of ferroptosis in the progression of AS. MiRNAs play a significant role in the process of ferroptosis and are incredibly significant in the occurrence, development, clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognosis evaluation of AS.