IL-36 Regulates Neutrophil Chemotaxis and Bone Loss at the Oral Barrier

Tissue-specific mechanisms regulate neutrophil immunity at the oral barrier, which plays a key role in periodontitis. Although it has been proposed that fibroblasts emit a powerful neutrophil chemotactic signal, how this chemotactic signal is driven has not been clear. The objective of this study was to investigate the site-specific regulatory mechanisms by which fibroblasts drive powerful neutrophil chemotactic signals within the oral barrier, with particular emphasis on the role of the IL-36 family. The present study found that IL-36γ, agonist of IL-36R, could promote neutrophil chemotaxis via fibroblast. Single-cell RNA sequencing data disclosed that IL36G is primarily expressed in human and mouse gingival epithelial cells and mouse neutrophils. Notably, there was a substantial increase in IL-36γ levels during periodontitis. In vitro experiments demonstrated that IL-36γ specifically activates gingival fibroblasts, leading to chemotaxis of neutrophils. In vivo experiments revealed that IL-36Ra inhibited the infiltration of neutrophils and bone resorption, while IL-36γ promoted their progression in the ligature-induced periodontitis mouse model. In summary, these data elucidate the function of the site-enriched IL-36γ in regulating neutrophil immunity and bone resorption at the oral barrier. These findings provide new insights into the tissue-specific pathophysiology of periodontitis and offer a promising avenue for prevention and treatment through targeted intervention of the IL-36 family.

Efficient Self-Assembly Preparation of 3D Carbon-Supported Ti3 C2 Tx Hollow Spheres for High-Performance Potassium Ion Batteries

MXenes are considered a promising negative electrode material for potassium ion batteries (PIBs) in view of their low potassium ion diffusion barrier and excellent electrical conductivity. However, the stacking phenomenon in practical applications severely reduces their active surface and leads to slow K+ diffusion. Herein, a facile composite template method is proposed to construct stacking-resistance 3D carbon-supported Ti3 C2 Tx (3D-C@Ti3 C2 Tx ) hollow spheres. Due to the unique structure, when used as a negative electrode material, as-prepared 3D-C@Ti3 C2 Tx hollow spheres show not only improved rate capability with 160.4 mAh g-1 at 100 mA g-1 and 133.7 mAh g-1 at 500 mA g-1 , but also stable cycling performance with 142.5 mAh g-1 specific capacity remained at 2 A g-1 after 4200 cycles. Furthermore, the full cells with 3D-C@Ti3 C2 Tx anode can operate stably for 1000 cycles at 100 mA g-1 . Moreover, the linear fit analysis demonstrates that 3D-C@Ti3 C2 Tx hollow spheres have a fast and stable capacitive potassium storage mechanism. This method is simple and easy to implement, which provide a feasible path to solve the stacking problem of 2D materials.

Predicting lung cancer survival prognosis based on the conditional survival bayesian network

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths and imposes an enormous economic burden on patients. It is important to develop an accurate risk assessment model to determine the appropriate treatment for patients after an initial lung cancer diagnosis. The Cox proportional hazards model is mainly employed in survival analysis. However, real-world medical data are usually incomplete, posing a great challenge to the application of this model. Commonly used imputation methods cannot achieve sufficient accuracy when data are missing, so we investigated novel methods for the development of clinical prediction models. In this article, we present a novel model for survival prediction in missing scenarios. We collected data from 5,240 patients diagnosed with lung cancer at the Weihai Municipal Hospital, China. Then, we applied a joint model that combined a BN and a Cox model to predict mortality risk in individual patients with lung cancer. The established prognostic model achieved good predictive performance in discrimination and calibration. We showed that combining the BN with the Cox proportional hazards model is highly beneficial and provides a more efficient tool for risk prediction.

Development and Validation of a Bayesian Network-Based Model for Predicting Coronary Heart Disease Risk From Electronic Health Records

BACKGROUND

Traditional risk evaluation models have been applied to guide public health and clinical practice in various studies. However, the application of existing methods to data sets with missing and censored data, as is often the case in electronic health records, requires additional considerations. We aimed to develop and validate a predictive model that exhibits high performance with data sets that contain missing and censored data.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This is a retrospective cohort study of coronary heart disease at Weihai Municipal Hospital on unique patients aged 18 to 96 years between 2013 and 2021. A total of 169 692 participants formed our study population, of which 10 895 participants were diagnosed with coronary heart disease. Models were built for the risk of coronary heart disease based on demographic, laboratory, and medical history variables. All complete samples were assigned to the training set (n=110 325), whereas the remaining samples were assigned to the validation set (n=59 367). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve value was 0.800 (95% CI, 0.794-0.805), and the C statistic was 0.796 (95% CI, 0.791-0.801) in the derivation cohort, and the corresponding values were 0.837 (95% CI, 0.821-0.853) and 0.838 (95% CI, 0.822-0.854) in the validation cohort. The calibration curve demonstrated its good calibration ability, and decision curve analysis showed its clinical usefulness.

CONCLUSIONS

Our proposed risk prediction model has demonstrated significant effectiveness in handling the complexities of electronic health record data, which often involve extensive missing data and censoring. This approach may offer potential assistance in the use of electronic health records to enhance patient outcomes.

Unravelling the imbalanced Th17-like cell differentiation by single-cell RNA sequencing in multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a bone marrow resident hematological malignancy. T helper (Th) cells play an essential role in maladjustment of immune function and promotion of myeloma cell proliferation and survival, which has not been fully elucidated. Here, we compared transcriptome profiles of CD4+ T cells in bone marrow samples of 3 healthy individuals and 10 MM patients before and after treatment using single-cell RNA sequencing. CD4+ T cells were divided into 7 clusters. Imbalanced Th17-like cell differentiation was indicated in MM based on bioinformation analyses, which involved IL2-STAT5 pathways and transcription factors NKFB1, RELA, STAT3, and GTF2A2. Pseudotime trajectory analysis of CD4+ T cell clusters further uncovered the enhanced transition of Th17-like to regulatory T (Treg) cells in MM, which was featured by expression changes of PLAC8, NKFB1, RELA, STAT3, and STAT1 along with the developmental path. Reduced cell-cell interaction between MM cells and CD4+ naïve/recently activated naïve T cells via CD74-APP might lead to imbalanced Th17-like cell differentiation. Checkpoints via TIGIT-NECTIN3 and LGALS9-CD47 in Treg and MM cells were also identified. Our study reveals imbalanced differentiation pattern of Th17-like cells and the immunosuppressive profiles in connection with MM cells, which might help to shed light on CD4+ T cell function in MM.

Pneumonitis After Concurrent Chemoradiation and Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in Patients with Locally Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

AIMS

Pneumonitis is a common and potentially deadly complication of combined chemoradiation and immune checkpoint inhibition (CRT-ICI) in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC). In this study we sought to identify the risk factors for pneumonitis with CRT-ICI therapy in LA-NSCLC cases and determine its impact on survival.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We conducted a retrospective chart review of 140 patients with LA-NSCLC who underwent curative-intent CRT-ICI with durvalumab between 2018 and 2021. Pneumonitis was diagnosed by a multidisciplinary team of clinical experts. We used multivariable cause-specific hazard models to identify risk factors associated with grade ≥2 pneumonitis. We constructed multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to investigate the impact of pneumonitis on all-cause mortality.

RESULTS

The median age of the cohort was 67 years; most patients were current or former smokers (86%). The cumulative incidence of grade ≥2 pneumonitis was 23%. Among survivors, 25/28 patients had persistent parenchymal scarring. In multivariable analyses, the mean lung dose (hazard ratio 1.14 per Gy, 95% confidence interval 1.03-1.25) and interstitial lung disease (hazard ratio 3.8, 95% confidence interval 1.3-11.0) increased the risk for pneumonitis. In adjusted models, grade ≥2 pneumonitis (hazard ratio 2.5, 95% confidence interval 1.0-6.2, P = 0.049) and high-grade (≥3) pneumonitis (hazard ratio 8.3, 95% confidence interval 3.0-23.0, P < 0.001) were associated with higher all-cause mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

Risk factors for pneumonitis in LA-NSCLC patients undergoing CRT-ICI include the mean radiation dose to the lung and pre-treatment interstitial lung disease. Although most cases are not fatal, pneumonitis in this setting is associated with markedly increased mortality.

[Expression changes of NaV channel subunits correlate with developmental maturation of electrophysiological characteristics of rat cerebellar Purkinje neurons]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the variations in the expression of voltage-gated sodium (Na_v) channel subunits during development of rat cerebellar Purkinje neurons and their correlation with maturation of electrophysiological characteristics of the neurons.

METHODS

We observed the changes in the expression levels of Na_V1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.6 during the development of Purkinje neurons using immunohistochemistry in neonatal (5-7 days after birth), juvenile (12-14 days), adolescent (21-24 days), and adult (42-60 days) SD rats. Using whole-cell patch-clamp technique, we recorded the spontaneous electrical activity of the neurons in ex vivo brain slices of rats of different ages to analyze the changes of electrophysiological characteristics of these neurons during development.

RESULTS

The expression of Na_V subunits in rat cerebellar Purkinje neurons showed significant variations during development. Na_V1.1 subunit was highly expressed throughout the developmental stages and increased progressively with age (P < 0.05). Na_V1.2 expression was not detected in the neurons in any of the developmental stages (P > 0.05). The expression level of Na_V1.3 decreased with development and became undetectable after adolescence (P < 0.05). Na_V1.6 expression was not detected during infancy, but increased with further development (P < 0.05). Na_V1.1 and Na_V1.3 were mainly expressed in the early stages of development. With the maturation of the rats, Na_V1.3 expression disappeared and Na_V1.6 expression increased in the neurons. Na_V1.1 and Na_V1.6 were mainly expressed after adolescence. The total Na_V protein level increased gradually with development (P < 0.05) and tended to stabilize after adolescence. The spontaneous frequency and excitability of the Purkinje neurons increased gradually with development and reached the mature levels in adolescence. The developmental expression of Na_V subunits was positively correlated with discharge frequency (r=0.9942, P < 0.05) and negatively correlated with the excitatory threshold of the neurons (r=0.9891, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The changes in the expression levels of Na_V subunits are correlated with the maturation of high frequency electrophysiological properties of the neurons, suggesting thatmature Na_V subunit expressions is the basis of maturation of electrophysiological characteristics of the neurons.

Context-aware deep network for coronary artery stenosis classification in coronary CT angiography

Automatic coronary artery stenosis grading plays an important role in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. Due to the difficulty of learning the informative features from varying grades of stenosis, it is still a challenging task to identify coronary artery stenosis from coronary CT angiography (CCTA). In this paper, we propose a context-aware deep network (CADN) for coronary artery stenosis classification. The proposed method integrates 3D CNN with Transformer to improve the feature representation of coronary artery stenosis in CCTA. We evaluate the proposed method on a multicenter dataset (APOLLO study with NCT05509010). Experimental results show that our proposed method can achieve the accuracy of 0.84, 0.83, and 0.86 for stenosis diagnosis on the lesion, artery, and patient levels, respectively.

Cyclocarya paliurus leaves extracts alleviate metabolic phenotypes in Chinese T2DM patients by modulating gut microbiota and metabolites: a clinical randomized controlled trial

Objective

We aimed to investigate the effect of Cyclocarya paliurus leaves extracts (CP) on glucose and blood lipid metabolism and its relationship with intestinal flora in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients.

Methods

In this open-label, 84-day randomized controlled trial, a total of 38 T2DM patients were randomly assigned to the CP group or the Glipizide group (G group) in a 2:1 ratio. T2DM-associated metabolic phenotypes, gut microbiota and metabolites including short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and bile acids (BAs) were detected.

Results

At the end of intervention, CP, like Glipizide, significantly improved HbA1c level and other glucose metabolism parameters (fasting plasma glucose (FBG), 2-hour post-meal blood glucose (2hPBG), the area under curve of oral glucose tolerance test glucose (OGTT glucose AUC)). Moreover, CP also resulted in the significant improvement in the levels of blood lipid and blood pressure. Notably, the improvement in blood lipid(triglycerides (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c)) and blood pressure (diastolic blood pressure (DBP)) was significantly greater in the CP group compared with the G group. Furthermore, the liver and kidney function parameters did not significantly change in both CP group and the G group over the 84-day period. Additionally, the enrichment of potentially beneficial bacteria (Faecalibacterium and Akkermansia), SCFAs and unconjugated BAs and the depletion of potential pathogenic bacteria (Prevotella_9) and conjugated BAs were observed in the CP group, while the abundances of the gut microbial were kept stable in the G group after intervention.

Conclusion

CP displays a more beneficial effect in the alleviation of T2DM-associated metabolic phenotypes than glipizide by regulating gut microbiota and metabolites in T2DM patients, with no significant effects on liver and kidney function.

[Assessment of the diagnostic value and prognosis of different detection markers in endocervical adenocarcinoma]

Objective: To study the diagnostic value of different detection markers in histological categories of endocervical adenocarcinoma (ECA), and their assessment of patient prognosis. Methods: A retrospective study of 54 patients with ECA in the Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from 2005-2010 were performed. The cases of ECA were classified into two categories, namely human papillomavirus-associated adenocarcinoma (HPVA) and non-human papillomavirus-associated adenocarcinoma (NHPVA), based on the 2018 international endocervical adenocarcinoma criteria and classification (IECC). To detect HR-HPV DNA and HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA in all patients, we used whole tissue section PCR (WTS-PCR) and HPV E6/E7 mRNA in situ hybridization (ISH) techniques, respectively. Additionally, we performed Laser microdissection PCR (LCM-PCR) on 15 randomly selected HR-HPV DNA-positive cases to confirm the accuracy of the above two assays in identifying ECA lesions. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to analyze the efficacy of markers to identify HPVA and NHPVA. Univariate and multifactorial Cox proportional risk model regression analyses were performed for factors influencing ECA patients' prognoses. Results: Of the 54 patients with ECA, 30 were HPVA and 24 were NHPVA. A total of 96.7% (29/30) of HPVA patients were positive for HR-HPV DNA and 63.3% (19/30) for HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA, and 33.3% (8/24) of NHPVA patients were positive for HR-HPV DNA and HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA was not detected (0/24), and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.001). LCM-PCR showed that five patients were positive for HR-HPV DNA in the area of glandular epithelial lesions and others were negative, which was in good agreement with the E6/E7 mRNA ISH assay (Kappa=0.842, P=0.001). Analysis of the ROC results showed that the AUC of HR-HPV DNA, HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA, and p16 to identify HPVA and NHPVA were 0.817, 0.817, and 0.692, respectively, with sensitivities of 96.7%, 63.3%, and 80.0% and specificities of 66.7%, 100.0%, and 58.3%, respectively. HR-HPV DNA identified HPVA and NHPVA with higher AUC than p16 (P=0.044). The difference in survival rates between HR-HPV DNA (WTS-PCR assay) positive and negative patients was not statistically significant (P=0.156), while the difference in survival rates between HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA positive and negative patients, and p16 positive and negative patients were statistically significant (both P<0.05). Multifactorial Cox regression analysis showed that International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO) staging (HR=19.875, 95% CI: 1.526-258.833) and parametrial involvement (HR=14.032, 95% CI: 1.281-153.761) were independent factors influencing the prognosis of patients with ECA. Conclusions: HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA is more reflective of HPV infection in ECA tissue. The efficacy of HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA and HR-HPV DNA (WTS-PCR assay) in identifying HPVA and NHPVA is similar, with higher sensitivity of HR-HPV DNA and higher specificity of HR-HPV E6/E7 mRNA. HR-HPV DNA is more effective than p16 in identifying HPVA and NHPVA. HPV E6/E7 mRNA and p16 positive ECA patients have better survival rates than negative.

Indoor Volatile Organic Compounds: Concentration Characteristics and Health Risk Analysis on a University Campus

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are major indoor air pollutants that contain several toxic substances. However, there are few studies on health risk assessments of indoor VOCs in China. This study aimed to determine the concentration characteristics of VOCs on college campuses by collecting VOC samples from different locations on campus during different seasons combined with the exposure times of college students in each location obtained from a questionnaire survey to assess the possible health risks. The highest total VOC concentration (254 ± 101 µg/m³) was in the dormitory. The seasonal variation of TVOC concentrations was related to the variation of emission sources in addition to temperature. Health risk assessments of VOCs were evaluated using non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk values, represented by hazard quotient (HQ) and lifetime cancer risk (LCR), respectively. The non-carcinogenic risks at all sampling sites were within the safe range (HQ < 1). Dormitories had the highest carcinogenic risk, whereas the carcinogenic risk in the other three places was low (with LCR < 1.0 × 10^-6). Moreover, 1,2-dichloroethane was identified as a possible carcinogenic risk substance in the dormitory due to its high LCR (1.95 × 10^-6). This study provides basic data on health risks in different locations on campus and a basis for formulating measures to improve people's living environments.

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals XBP1-SLC38A2 axis as a metabolic regulator in cytotoxic T lymphocytes in multiple myeloma

The mechanisms underlying the functional impairment and metabolic reprogramming of T lymphocytes in multiple myeloma (MM) have not been fully elucidated. In this study, single-cell RNA sequencing was used to compare gene expression profiles in T cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood of 10 newly diagnosed MM patients versus 3 healthy donors. Unbiased bioinformatics analysis revealed 9 cytotoxic T cell clusters. All 9 clusters in MM had higher expression of senescence markers (e.g., KLRG1 and CTSW) than the healthy control; some had higher expression of exhaustion-related markers (e.g., LAG3 and TNFRSF14). Pathway enrichment analyses showed downregulated amino acid metabolism and upregulated unfolded protein response (UPR) pathways, along with absent expression of glutamine transporter SLC38A2 and increased expression of UPR hallmark XBP1 in cytotoxic T cells in MM. In vitro studies revealed that XBP1 inhibited SLC38A2 by directly binding to its promoter, and silencing SLC38A2 resulted in decreased glutamine uptake and immune dysfunction of T cells. This study provided a landscape description of the immunosuppressive and metabolic features in T lymphocytes in MM, and suggested an important role of XBP1-SLC38A2 axis in T cell function.

Distinct mechanisms of dysfunctional antigen‐presenting DCs and monocytes by single‐cell sequencing in multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable plasma cell malignancy with the hallmark of immunodeficiency, including dysfunction of T cells, NK cells, and APCs. Dysfunctional APCs have been reported to play a key role in promoting MM progression. However, the molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here, single-cell transcriptome analysis of dendritic cells (DC) and monocytes from 10 MM patients and three healthy volunteers was performed. Both DCs and monocytes were divided into five distinct clusters, respectively. Among them, monocyte-derived DCs (mono-DC) were shown to develop from intermediate monocytes (IM) via trajectory analysis. Functional analysis showed that, compared with healthy controls, conventional DC2 (cDC2), mono-DC, and IM of MM patients exhibited impaired antigen processing and presentation capacity. Moreover, reduced regulon activity of interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) was found in cDC2, mono-DC and IM of MM patients according to single-cell regulatory network inference and clustering (SCENIC) analysis, while the downstream mechanisms were distinct. Specifically in MM patients, cathepsin S (CTSS) was markedly downregulated in cDC2, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II transactivator (CIITA) was significantly decreased in IM, in addition both CTSS and CIITA were downregulated in mono-DC based on differentially expressed genes analysis. In vitro study validated that knockdown of Irf1 downregulated Ctss and Ciita respectively in mouse DC cell line DC2.4 and mouse monocyte/macrophage cell line RAW264.7, which ultimately inhibited proliferation of CD4⁺ T cells after being cocultured with DC2.4 or RAW264.7 cells. This current study unveils the distinct mechanisms of cDC2, IM, and mono-DC function impairment in MM, offering new insight into the pathogenesis of immunodeficiency.

Fish consumption in multiple health outcomes: an umbrella review of meta-analyses of observational and clinical studies

Background

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are known to be associated with numbers of health benefits, and which can be uptake from fish. The aim of this study was to evaluate the current evidence of associations between consumption of fish and diverse health outcomes. Here, we performed an umbrella review to summarize the breadth, strength, and validity of the evidence derived from meta-analyses and systematic reviews of fish consumption on all health outcomes.

Methods

The methodological quality of the included meta-analyses and the quality of the evidence were assessed by the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and the grading of recommendations, assessment, development, and evaluation (GRADE) tools, respectively. The umbrella review identified 91 meta-analyses with 66 unique health outcomes, of which 32 outcomes were beneficial, 34 showed nonsignificant associations and only one was harmful (myeloid leukemia).

Results

A total of 17 beneficial associations [all-cause mortality, prostate cancer mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), glioma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), oral cancer, acute coronary syndrome (ACS), cerebrovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn's disease (CD), triglycerides, vitamin D, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, and multiple sclerosis (MS)], and eight nonsignificant associations [colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality, esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), prostate cancer, renal cancer, ovarian cancer, hypertension, ulcerative colitis (UC), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA)] were evaluated as moderate/high quality of evidence. According to dose-response analyses, consumption of fish, especially fatty types, seems generally safe at one-two servings per week and could exert protective effects.

Conclusions

Fish consumption is often associated with a variety of health outcomes, both beneficial and harmless, but only about 34% of the associations were graded as based on a moderate/high quality of evidence, and additional multicenter high quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a large sample size are needed to verify these findings in the future.

A comparison of panitumumab and cetuximab in the treatment of KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM

Cetuximab and panitumumab are common antibodies against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) that can be used in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Although these two drugs are considered to be very similar, differences in the efficacy and safety of cetuximab and panitumumab are still unclear. We conducted this meta-analysis to explore the effects and adverse reactions of cetuximab and panitumumab in the treatment of mCRC.

METHODS

We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI) and WanFang databases to identify records related to the efficacy and safety of cetuximab and panitumumab in the treatment of mCRC. The search terms were "cetuximab," "panitumumab," and "colorectal cancer." The deadline of searching was April 2022. Review manager 5.4 software was used to perform the statistical analysis for this meta-analysis. Pooled hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to evaluate the overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) of cetuximab and panitumumab in the treatment of mCRC.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in OS, PFS, and response rate (RR) between cetuximab arm and panitumumab arm (OS: HR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.81-1.03, p = .14; PFS: HR = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.83-1.02, p = .11; RR: OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 0.96-1.61, p = .14). We also did not observe any statistical difference between both arms in incidence of acneiform rash, severe acneiform rash, diarrhea, and severe diarrhea (acneiform rash: OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 0.84-1.42, p = .51; severe acneiform rash: OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 0.80-2.81, p = .21; diarrhea: OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 0.82-1.42, p = .58; severe diarrhea: OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.44-1.84, p = .77). The incidence of paronychia was decreased in the panitumumab arm, but that of hypomagnesemia and severe hypomagnesemia were decreased in the cetuximab arm. (paronychia: OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.55-1.00, p = .05; hypomagnesemia: OR = 1.85, 95% CI =1.41-2.41, p < .00001; severe hypomagnesemia: OR = 2.66, 95% CI = 1.52-4.67, p = .0006).

CONCLUSION

There was no significant difference in OS, PFS and RR between the cetuximab arm and panitumumab arm in the treatment of mCRC. For adverse reactions, the incidence of paronychia was decreased in the panitumumab arm, and the incidence of hypomagnesemia was deceased in the cetuximab arm.

Dynamic single-cell RNA-seq analysis reveals distinct tumor program associated with microenvironmental remodeling and drug sensitivity in multiple myeloma

BACKGROUND

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematological malignancy characterized by clonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells. Despite extensive research, molecular mechanisms in MM that drive drug sensitivity and clinic outcome remain elusive.

RESULTS

Single-cell RNA sequencing was applied to study tumor heterogeneity and molecular dynamics in 10 MM individuals before and after 2 cycles of bortezomib-cyclophosphamide-dexamethasone (VCD) treatment, with 3 healthy volunteers as controls. We identified that unfolded protein response and metabolic-related program were decreased, whereas stress-associated and immune reactive programs were increased after 2 cycles of VCD treatment. Interestingly, low expression of the immune reactive program by tumor cells was associated with unfavorable drug response and poor survival in MM, which probably due to downregulation of MHC class I mediated antigen presentation and immune surveillance, and upregulation of markers related to immune escape. Furthermore, combined with immune cells profiling, we uncovered a link between tumor intrinsic immune reactive program and immunosuppressive phenotype in microenvironment, evidenced by exhausted states and expression of checkpoint molecules and suppressive genes in T cells, NK cells and monocytes. Notably, expression of YBX1 was associated with downregulation of immune activation signaling in myeloma and reduced immune cells infiltration, thereby contributed to poor prognosis.

CONCLUSIONS

We dissected the tumor and immune reprogramming in MM during targeted therapy at the single-cell resolution, and identified a tumor program that integrated tumoral signaling and changes in immune microenvironment, which provided insights into understanding drug sensitivity in MM.

Machine learning accurately quantifies epicardial adipose tissue from non-contrast CT images in coronary artery disease

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Other. Main funding source(s): Industry Alignment Fund – Pre-positioning Programme

Background

Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is the visceral fat deposit within the pericardium that surrounds the heart and the coronary arteries. EAT volume measured from non-contrast CT (NCCT) has been demonstrated to be significantly associated with adverse cardiovascular risk,1 particularly in patients with coronary artery disease.2 However, routine measurement of EAT volume is still challenging in clinical practice, as it is a tedious manual process and prone to human error.

Purpose

We aimed to develop a fully automated AI toolkit (i.e., AI EAT) for the quantification of EAT from routine NCCT scans and assess its performance in reference to clinical ground truth.

Methods

This is a multicenter study which performs CT scans in 5000 Asian Admixture patients (APOLLO study NCT05509010). In the current stage of this study, NCCT data analysis were conducted in 551 patients with 26,037 images. AI EAT was developed via a novel deep learning framework using an ensemble region-based UNet. The region-based UNet uses 2 component UNet models to perform segmentation of pericardium at the apex region and non-apex region (middle and basal). EAT volume was obtained by automated thresholding of the voxels (-190 to -30 Hounsfield Unit) within the pericardium (Figure 1). The network was trained in 501 patients with 23,712 NCCT images and tested in 50 patients with 2,325 NCCT images. The performance of AI EAT was evaluated with respect to clinical ground truth using Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), Pearson correlation, and Bland-Altman analysis.

Results

The AI EAT quantification process took less than 10 seconds per subject, compared with 20-30 minutes for expert readers. Compared to clinical ground truth, our AI EAT achieved a DSC of 0.96±0.01 and 0.91±0.02 for pericardium and EAT segmentations, respectively. There was strong agreement between the AI EAT and clinical ground truth in deriving the EAT volume (r=0.99, P&lt;0.001) with minimal error of 7±5%.

Conclusion

End-to-end deep learning system accurately quantifies epicardial adipose tissue in standard NCCT images without manual segmentation.

An immediate analysis of the interaction topic approach to promoting group performance, knowledge convergence, cognitive engagement, and coregulation in online collaborative learning

Online collaborative learning (OCL) has been a mainstream pedagogy in the field of higher education. However, learners often produce off-topic information and engage less during online collaborative learning compared to other approaches. In addition, learners often cannot converge in knowledge, and they often do not know how to coregulate with peers. To cope with these problems, this study proposed an immediate analysis of interaction topics (IAIT) approach through deep learning technologies. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the IAIT approach on group performance, knowledge convergence, coregulation, and cognitive engagement in online collaborative learning. In total, 60 undergraduate students participated in this quasi-experimental study. They were assigned to either the experimental or the control groups. The students in the experimental groups conducted online collaborative learning with the IAIT approach, and the students in the control groups conducted online collaborative learning only without any particular approach. The whole study lasted for three months. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted to analyze data. The results indicated that the IAIT approach significantly promoted group performance, knowledge convergence, coregulated behaviors, and cognitive engagement. The IAIT approach did not increase learners' cognitive load. The results, together with the implications for teachers, practitioners and researchers, are also discussed in depth.

An automated group learning engagement analysis and feedback approach to promoting collaborative knowledge building, group performance, and socially shared regulation in CSCL

Learning engagement has gained increasing attention in the field of education. Previous studies have adopted conventional methods to analyze learning engagement, but these methods cannot provide timely feedback for learners. This study analyzed automated group learning engagement via deep neural network models in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) context. A quasi-experimental research design was implemented to examine the effects of the automated group learning engagement analysis and feedback approach on collaborative knowledge building, group performance, socially shared regulation, and cognitive load. In total, 120 college students participated in this study; they were assigned to 20 experimental groups and 20 control groups of three students each. The students in the experimental groups adopted the automated group learning engagement analysis and feedback approach, whereas those in the control groups used the traditional online collaborative learning approach. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed in depth. The results indicated significant differences in group learning engagement, group performance, collaborative knowledge building, and socially shared regulation between the experimental and control groups. The proposed approach did not increase the cognitive load for the experimental groups. The implications of the findings can potentially contribute to improving group learning engagement and group performance in CSCL.

A Retrospective Case-Control Study on the Diagnostic Values of Hemostatic Markers in Hypertensive Disorder of Pregnancy

Objective

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the following hemostatic markers in hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (HDP): tissue-type plasminogen activator and inhibitor-1 complex (tPAI-C), thrombomodulin, thrombin-antithrombin complex, plasmin inhibitor-plasmin complex, D-dimer, and fibrinogen degradation products.

Methods

A total of 311 individuals diagnosed with HDP and 187 healthy controls (HC) of matched gestational age were admitted, including 175 subjects with gestational hypertension, 94 with mild preeclampsia, and 42 with severe preeclampsia.

Results

Compared with those of the HC group, the plasma concentrations of all the hemostatic markers continuously increased with the clinical severity of the hypertensive disorder, regardless of their statistical significance. In the receiver operating characteristic analysis, tPAI-C displayed the best discrimination performance.

Conclusion

The tPAI-C level was consistently and significantly elevated across the different HDP groups when compared with the HC group, suggesting aggravated fibrinolysis disorder increasing with the severity of the HDP.

Single-cell transcriptome profiling reveals the key role of ZNF683 in natural killer cell exhaustion in multiple myeloma

BACKGROUNDS

Decreased cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cells has been shown in multiple myeloma (MM). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Here, by using single-cell RNA sequencing analysis and in vitro experiments, we aim to uncover and validate molecularly distinctive insights into identifying regulators for NK cell exhaustion and provide potential targets for novel immune therapies in MM.

METHODS

Single-cell RNA sequencing was conducted in the bone marrow and peripheral blood samples from 10 newly diagnosed MM patients and three healthy volunteers. Based on the cluster-defining differentially expressed genes, we named and estimated functional states of each cluster via bioinformatics analyses. Functional significance of key findings obtained from sequencing analysis was examined in a series of in vitro experiments, including luciferase reporter assay, lentiviral expression vector construction, NK cell transfection, RT-qPCR, flow cytometry, and cytotoxicity assay.

RESULTS

We classified NK cells into seven distinct clusters and confirmed that a subset of ZNF683⁺ NK cells were enriched in MM patients with 'exhausted' transcriptomic profile, featuring as decreased expression of activating receptors and cytolytic molecules, as well as increased expression of inhibitory receptors. Next, we found a significant downregulation of SH2D1B gene that encodes EAT-2, an adaptor protein of activating receptor SLAMF7, in ZNF683⁺ NK cells from MM patients versus healthy volunteers. We further proved that ZNF683 transfection in NK cells significantly downregulated SH2D1B expression via directly binding to the promoter of SH2D1B, leading to NK cell cytotoxic activity impairment and exhausted phenotypes acquisition. In contrast, ZNF683 knockout in NK cells from MM patients increased cytotoxic activity and reversed NK cell exhaustion.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, our findings uncover an important mechanism of ZNF683⁺ NK cell exhaustion and suggest that transcriptional suppressor ZNF683 as a potential useful therapeutic target in immunotherapy of MM.

[Effect of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation on minimal residual disease in patients with multiple myeloma]

Objective: To evaluate the effect of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) on minimal residual disease (MRD) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Method: From August 2018 to August 2021, 92 patients newly diagnosed with MM who had received either the bortezomib combined with cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone (VCD) or the bortezomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone (VRD) induction regimens followed by sequential ASCT were assessed for overall survival (OS) and the MRD negative rate. The differences in efficacy at 100 days after transplantation were assessed according to factors, including age, risk stratification, target organ damage, and pre-transplant regimen, etc. Results: Among the 92 patients, there were 45 males and 47 females, with a median age of 57.3 (35-67) years. Fifty-seven patients received the VCD regimen, and 35 received VRD as induction regimen. Forty-three patients received busulphan combined with cyclophosphamide and etoposide (BCV), and 49 patients received high-dose melphan (HDM) regimen as pre-transplantation treatment. After transplantation, the total complete remission (CR) rate of 92 patients increased from 23.9% (22/92) to 58.7% (54/92), and the MRD negative rate increased from 4.4% (4/92) to 33.7% (31/92), and the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). After transplantation, the MRD negative rates of patients with PR, VGPR and ≥CR before transplantation were 17.6% (6/34), 33.3% (12/36) and 59.1% (13/22), respectively (P=0.006). The CR rates of patients with or without plasmacytoma at initial diagnosis were 36.4% (4/11) and 65.4% (53/81), respectively (P=0.029), and the MRD negative rates were 18.2% (2/11) and 39.5% (32/81), respectively (P=0.037), and the differences were statistically significant. The MRD negative rates in high-risk patients and standard-risk group were 30.5% (12/28) and 42.9% (18/59), respectively (P=0.258). For patients who achieved efficacy above VGPR before transplantation, the MRD negative rates after transplantation in VCD-induced group and VRD group were 29% (9/31) and 59.3% (16/27), respectively (P=0.033), and in BCV group and HDM group were 24% (6/25) and 57.6% (19/33), respectively (P=0.016), the differences between the groups were both statistically significant. Conclusion: ASCT can overcome the adverse factors such as high-risk cytogenetic abnormalities, and significantly improve the CR rate and MRD negative rate of MM patients. However, the benefit for patients with plasmacytoma at initial diagnosis is not as good as that of patients without.

A Study on Curcumol Influencing Proliferation and Apoptosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells through DJ-1/PTEN/PI3K/AKT Pathway

Objective

To study the mechanism of curcumol affecting the proliferation and apoptosis of liver cancer cells through the DJ-1/PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway.

Method

HepG2 cells were cultured in vitro, treated with curcumol at concentrations of 10, 30, and 100 μg/mL, and DMSO was used as a control. The levels of cell proliferation and apoptosis were measured by CCK-8 and flow cytometry, respectively. RT-PCR and western blot were used to detect PTEN, p-AKT, DJ-1, and PI3K gene and protein expression changes.

Result

(1) Compared with the DMSO blank control group, the proliferation level of liver cancer cells in the 10 μg/mL curcumol group decreased, and the proportion of apoptosis increased (p <0.05). (2) Compared with the blank control group and the 10 and 30 μg/mL concentration groups, the proliferation level of liver cancer cells in the 100 μg/mL curcumol group was significantly reduced, and the proportion of cell apoptosis was significantly increased (p < 0.05). (3) Curcumol can significantly increase the expression of PTEN gene and protein in liver cancer cells and reduce the expression of DJ-1 and PI3K genes and protein in liver cancer cells (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Curcumol can regulate DJ-1, PTEN, PI3K, and AKT signal transduction pathways, inhibit cell proliferation, and cause a significant increase in the proportion of cell apoptosis, and the pharmacodynamic effect of curcumol is dependent on the time and dose of action.

Identifying the shifting sources to predict the dynamics of COVID-19 in the U.S

Mobility restriction is a crucial measure to control the transmission of the COVID-19. Research has shown that effective distance measured by the number of travelers instead of physical distance can capture and predict the transmission of the deadly virus. However, these efforts have been limited mainly to a single source of disease. Also, they have not been tested on finer spatial scales. Based on prior work of effective distances on the country level, we propose the multiple-source effective distance, a metric that captures the distance for the virus to propagate through the mobility network on the county level in the U.S. Then, we estimate how the change in the number of sources impacts the global mobility rate. Based on the findings, a new method is proposed to locate sources and estimate the arrival time of the virus. The new metric outperforms the original single-source effective distance in predicting the arrival time. Last, we select two potential sources and quantify the arrival time delay caused by the national emergency declaration. In doing so, we provide quantitative answers on the effectiveness of the national emergency declaration.

Elucidating the material basis and potential mechanisms of Ershiwuwei Lvxue Pill acting on rheumatoid arthritis by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS and network pharmacology

Ershiwuwei Lvxue Pill (ELP, མགྲིན་མཚལ་ཉེར་ལྔ།), a traditional Tibetan medicine preparation, has been used hundreds of years for the clinical treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the highland region of Tibet, China. Nevertheless, its chemical composition and therapeutic mechanism are unclear. This study aimed to uncover the potentially effective components of ELP and the pharmacological mechanisms against RA by combing UPLC-Q-TOF/MS and network pharmacology. In this study, 96 compounds of ELP were identified or tentatively characterized based on UPLC-Q-TOF/MS analysis. Then, a total of 22 potential bioactive compounds were screened by TCMSP with oral bioavailability and drug-likeness. Preliminarily, 10 crucial targets may be associated with RA through protein-protein interaction network analysis. The functional enrichment analysis indicated that ELP exerted anti-RA effects probably by synergistically regulating many biological pathways, such as PI3K-Akt, Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, JAK-STAT, MAPK, TNF, and Toll-like receptor signaling pathway. In addition, good molecular docking scores were highlighted between five promising bioactive compounds (ellagic acid, quercetin, kaempferol, galangin, coptisine) and five core targets (PTGS2, STAT3, VEGFA, MAPK3, TNF). Overall, ELP can exert its anti-RA activity via multicomponent, multitarget, and multichannel mechanisms of action. However, further studies are needed to validate the biological processes and effect pathways of ELP.

Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Receptor Drives Hepatocellular Carcinoma Growth and Invasion by Activating Stat3-Midkine-Stat3 Loop

BACKGROUND

Activation of the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R)-mediated Janus kinase (JAK)1/2-Stat3 pathway contributes to hepatocarcinogenesis. Specifically, a previous study showed that IGF-1R inhibition downregulated Midkine expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

AIMS

The present study investigated the role of IGF-1R-JAK1/2-Stat3 and Midkine signaling in HCC, in addition to the molecular link between the IGF-1R-Stat3 pathway and Midkine.

METHODS

The expression levels of IGF-1R, Stat3, and Midkine were measured using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, following which the association of IGF-1R with Stat3 and Midkine expression was evaluated in HCC. The molecular link between the IGF-1R-Stat3 pathway and Midkine was then investigated in vitro before the effect of IGF-1R-Stat3 and Midkine signaling on HCC growth and invasion was studied in vitro and in vivo.

RESULTS

IGF-1R, Stat3, and Midkine mRNA overexpressions were all found in HCC, where the levels of Stat3 and Midkine mRNA correlated positively with those of IGF-1R. In addition, Midkine mRNA level also correlated positively with Stat3 mRNA expression in HCC tissues. IGF-1R promoted Stat3 activation, which in turn led to the upregulation of Midkine expression in Huh7 cells. Similarly, Midkine also promoted Stat3 activation through potentiating JAK1/2 phosphorylation. Persistent activation of this Stat3-Midkine-Stat3 positive feedback signal loop promoted HCC growth and invasion, the inhibition of which resulted in significant antitumor activities both in vitro and in vivo.

CONCLUSIONS

Constitutive activation of the IGF-1R-mediated Stat3-Midkine-Stat3 positive feedback loop is present in HCC, the inhibition of which can serve as a potential therapeutic intervention strategy for HCC.

An exploratory study on fade-in versus fade-out scaffolding for novice programmers in online collaborative programming settings

Programming skills have gained increasing attention in recent years because digital technologies have become an indispensable part of life. However, little is known about the roles of fade-in and fade-out scaffolding in online collaborative programming settings. To close this research gap, the present study aims to examine the roles of fade-in and fade-out scaffolding for novice programmers in online collaborative programming. A total of 90 undergraduate students participated in the exploratory study and were assigned to 15 fade-in groups and 15 fade-out groups. All of the participants completed the same programming task. The findings reveal that fade-in scaffolding can significantly improve collaborative knowledge building, programming skills, metacognitive behaviors, emotions, and collective efficacy. Goal setting, planning, monitoring and control, enacting strategies, and evaluation and reflection are identified as the crucial metacognitive behaviors. The main contribution of this exploratory study is to shed light on how to design and implement scaffolding for novice programmers.

Effects of Atomoxetine Hydrochloride on Regulation of Lifespan in Drosophila Model

Nootropics (smart drugs) are used by students to enhance cognitive performance which have been reported times in recent years. However, some of the nootropics are central nervous system stimulants which are very likely to lead to addiction or complications such as vomiting and dizziness. Are there nootropics that can improve learning behavior while having potential positive effect on health? Here, we reported that Atomoxetine (ATX) has sex-specific effect on prolonging the life span of female Drosophila melanogaster. Further study indicated that ATX enhanced female resistance to heat stress and their vertical climbing ability, but it did decrease the number of eggs laid. ATX increased food-intake and sleep time both of females and males, and significantly reduced the 24h spontaneous activity of females and males. Our results present the sex dimorphic effect of ATX on life span regulation in Drosophila, and support further research on the beneficial role of ATX and the mechanisms in other animal models.

Repulsive Guidance Molecule b Deficiency Induces Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis and Increases the Susceptibility to Intestinal Inflammation in Mice

Imbalance of gut microbiota can induce or aggravate intestinal inflammation. To enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of gut microbiota and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), we studied the role of repulsive guidance molecule b (RGMb) in gut microbiota and colitis in mice. We generated Rgmb knockout mice and inducible Rgmb knockout mice and induced colitis using dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in these mice. 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) high-throughput sequencing was performed to acquire the gut microbiota composition and abundance. We found that Rgmb deficiency significantly altered the diversity of gut microbiota and also induced dysbiosis. In sharp contrast to the balanced distribution of various bacteria in control mice, Prevotellaceae was almost exhausted in Rgmb-deficient mice under both basal and inflammatory conditions. Correlation analysis indicated that Prevotellaceae was negatively associated with inflammation in Rgmb-deficient mice with colitis. Similar results were obtained at the early inflammatory stage of colitis associated colon cancer (CAC). Taken together, our results reveal that Rgmb deficiency leads to dysbiosis of predominant gut microbiota under basal and inflammatory conditions. Rgmb-deficiency-mediated Prevotellaceae loss may render mice more susceptible to intestinal inflammation. Therefore, RGMb may be a novel potential target for reconstruction of the gut microbiota for the treatment of IBD.

Tibetan medicine Ershiwuwei Lvxue Pill attenuates collagen-induced arthritis via inhibition of JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Ershiwuwei Lvxue Pill (ELP, མགྲིན་མཚལ་ཉེར་ལྔ།), a traditional Tibetan medicine preparation, has been used hundreds of years for the clinical treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the highland region of Tibet, China. However, the underlying mechanism of its therapeutic effect remains unclear.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The present study aimed to investigate the potential pharmacological mechanisms of anti-arthritic effect of ELP.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The main chemical constituents of ELP were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole-time-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS). Forty-eight male Wistar rats (220 ± 20 g) were randomly divided into six groups: normal group, collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) group, methotrexate group (1.05 mg/kg), ELP groups (115, 230 and 460 mg/kg). CIA rat models were assigned to evaluate the anti-RA activity of ELP by determining the paws swelling, arthritis score, organ coefficients of spleen and thymus, and histopathological analysis of knee joints of synovial tissues. The levels of TNF-α, IL-10, IL-6 and IL-17 in serum were measured by ELISA. In addition, mRNA and protein expression levels associated with JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway in synovial tissues of CIA rats were detected by qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and Western blot analyses.

RESULTS

Fourteen main chemical constituents of ELP were quantitatively determined by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS analysis. Treatment with ELP reduced the paw swelling, arthritis score and organ coefficients of spleen and thymus. Histopathological examination revealed the protective effects of ELP on CIA rats with knee joint injury. The levels of serum pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-17) were markedly reduced while the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was significantly increased with the treatment of ELP. Further investigations showed ELP down-regulated the mRNA and protein expression levels of Bcl-2, whereas up-regulated Bax, SOCS1 and SOCS3. Meanwhile, the ratios of p-JAK2/JAK2 and p-STAT3/STAT3 proteins from synovial tissues were dramatically decreased with the treatment of ELP, whereas no changes of the mRNA and protein expression levels of JAK2 and STAT3 were observed.

CONCLUSION

These results indicated that ELP reduced the severity of arthritis and joint swelling, suggesting an antirheumatic effect on CIA rats. The possible mechanism is related to inhibiting inflammatory response and inducing apoptosis in synovial tissues by regulating JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. However, further in vivo and in vitro investigations are still needed to clarify the underlying mechanism of ELP in treating RA.

Evaluation of phacoemulsification (ultrasound) cataract surgery on the dynamics of the anterior segment of primary angle closure by AS-OCT

OBJECTIVE

To explore the changes of anatomical biological parameters and dynamic parameters of the anterior segment (AS) before and after primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) surgery.

METHODS

The clinical data of 82 patients (82 eyes) who underwent phacoemulsification in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed and divided into group A (angle closure, n = 38) and group B (normal open angle, n = 44). The anatomical biological parameters and dynamic parameters were compared between the two groups before and after surgery.

RESULTS

Compared with group B, group A had smaller anterior chamber depth, higher vaulting, greater iris curvature, and smaller TISA500. Compared with group B, group A had smaller ΔTISA500 and ΔI-area. Compared with group B, the TISA500 was smaller in group A preoperatively, at 1 week, and 1 month after surgery (P < 0.05). The iris curvature was larger in group A (P < 0.05). The ΔI-area was significantly reduced in group B at 1 week and 1 month after surgery. Group B exhibited smaller ΔI-curv than group A at 1 week and 1 month after surgery (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) can effectively monitor the dynamic changes (DC) of the AS caused by phacoemulsification in patients with primary angle closure (PAC). Phacoemulsification can open the primary of PAC patients. However, their iris area does not change significantly. The biological characteristics of the iris itself may be a risk factor leading to PAC.

ORAOV1-B Promotes OSCC Metastasis via the NF-κB-TNFα Loop

Metastasis, a powerful prognostic indicator of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), is chiefly responsible for poor cancer outcomes. Despite an increasing number of studies examining the mechanisms underlying poor outcomes, the development of potent strategies is hindered by insufficient characterization of the crucial regulators. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently been gaining interest as significant modulators of OSCC metastasis; however, the detailed mechanisms underlying lncRNA-mediated OSCC metastasis remain relatively uncharacterized. Here, we identified a novel alternative splice variant of oral cancer overexpressed 1 (ORAOV1), named as ORAOV1-B, which was subsequently validated as an lncRNA and correlated with OSCC lymph node metastasis; significantly increased invasion and migration were observed in ORAOV1-B-overexpressing OSCC cells. RNA pulldown and mass spectrometry identified Hsp90 as a direct target of ORAOV1-B, and cDNA microarrays suggested TNFα as a potential downstream target of ORAOV1-B. ORAOV1-B was shown to directly bind to and stabilize Hsp90, which maintains the function of client proteins, receptor-interaction protein, and IκB kinase beta, thus activating the NF-κB pathway and inducing TNFα. Additionally, TNFα reciprocally enhanced p-NF-κB-p65 and the downstream epithelial-mesenchymal transition. ORAOV1-B effects were reversed by a TNFα inhibitor, demonstrating that TNFα is essential for ORAOV1-B-regulated metastatic ability. Consistent epithelial-mesenchymal transition in the ORAOV1-B group was demonstrated via an orthotopic model. In the metastatic model, ORAOV1-B significantly contributed to OSCC-related lung metastasis. In summary, the novel splice variant ORAOV1-B is an lncRNA, which significantly potentiates OSCC invasion and metastasis by binding to Hsp90 and activating the NF-κB-TNFα loop. These findings demonstrate the versatile role of ORAOV1 family members and the significance of genes located within 11q13 in promoting OSCC. ORAOV1-B might serve as an attractive OSCC metastasis intervention target.

Adverse cardiovascular ageing among older women and cardiometabolic ageing

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Public hospital(s). Main funding source(s): National Medical Research Council (NMRC)

Background

Despite longer life expectancies, women may experience reduced ‘health-span’ (period of life spent in good health) due to accumulation of risks over their longer life spans. Metabolic factors present in diet and lifestyle may provide modifiable solutions to tackle burdens of cardiovascular (CV) ageing in women.

Objective

We aim to study gender differences in CV structure and function among community older adults without clinical CV disease, as well as metabolic perturbations in their study samples.

Methods

We examined a prospective cohort study of older adults, obtaining their medical history, serum sampling, echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging on a single day visit. Echo E/A ratio was computed as a ratio of peak velocity flow in early diastole E (m/s) to peak velocity flow in late diastole by atrial contraction A (m/s) mitral inflow velocities. Longitudinal strain (ε) at any time point (t) in the cardiac cycle from end-diastole (time 0) was calculated as: ε(t)=(L(t)-L0)/L0, obtaining left atrial (LA) reservoir strain (εs), conduit strain (εe) and booster strain (εa) by CMR. Metabolomics profiling was performed by standard mass spectrometry techniques.

Results

Among n = 492 (49.6%, n = 244 women, mean age 73 ± 4 years) participants, women had lower prevalence of hypertension (52% vs 58%, p &lt; 0.0001), smoking (4% vs 35%, p &lt; 0.0001), but higher prevalence of dyslipidemia (52% vs 50%, p = 0.001) compared to men. Women had lower left ventricular mass index (69 vs 71 g/m2, p &lt; 0.0001) compared to men. However, women had more adverse CV function, such as lower E/A ratio (0.78 vs 0.85, p &lt; 0.0001), lower LA booster (εa) (16.5 vs 17.8, p = 0.027) and lower LA reservoir (εs) strain rate (1.5 vs 1.6, p = 0.012), compared to men. Amino acids such as alanine, arginine, aspartate, citrulline, glycine, phenylalanine and valine were similar between gender. However, women had higher levels of tyrosine (76 vs 68 μM, p = 0.015). On multivariate adjustment, apart from age, tyrosine was independently associated with E/A ratio (β=0.002, 95%CI 0.00-0.004, p = 0.044) and εs (β=0.004, 95%CI 0.00-0.009, p = 0.048) among women. 

Conclusion

Utilizing conventional and sensitive CV imaging, women appeared to have more adverse CV functions with ageing. As a branched chain amino acid linked to future risk of CV disease, tyrosine may be linked to adverse CV function. Factors that contribute to these cardiometabolic profiles, such as menopause, diet or lifestyle warrant further research.

Oral toxicity to high level sodium fluoride causes impairment of autophagy

Autophagy is a highly conserved intracellular digestion process that degrades damaged proteins and organelles but the biological roles of autophagy in pathological aspects of oral tissues remain largely unknown. We sought to elucidate the function of autophagy, especially its interplay with apoptosis and oxidative stress, in the oral toxicity induced by exposure to 5 mM sodium fluoride (NaF). Human cementoblasts (HCEM-2) in culture were exposed to 5 mM NaF for 5 min, after which cell viability and cell apoptosis were assessed using the MTS assay and an Annexin V-FITC/PI apoptosis detection kit, respectively. Quantitative RT-PCR and Western blotting were performed to characterize the expression levels of markers for autophagy, apoptosis, and oxidative stress. Senescence-resistant (SAMR1) mice were exposed to 5 mM NaF in their drinking water from 12 to 58 weeks. Micro-computed tomography was used to measure changes in their alveolar bone while immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining was used to evaluate protein expression levels. HCEM-2 cells exposed to 5 mM NaF had decreased levels of autophagy, as shown by reduced expression levels of ATG5, Beclin-1 and LC3-II, elicited apoptosis, which in turn induced oxidative stress and inflammation, as manifested by elevated levels of Bax, cleaved caspase-3, SOD1 and phospho NF-κB. Treatment of mice with 5 mM NaF resulted in histological abnormalities in periodontal tissues, induced excessive oxidative stress and apoptosis, and reduced autophagy. Micro-computed tomography analysis demonstrated that 5 mM NaF caused a decrease in bone areas of mice compared with controls. Exposure to 5 mM NaF induced RANKL (receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand) and cathepsin K expression in periodontal tissues, while ATG5 and Beclin-1 expression was abrogated by 5 mM NaF. Taken together, our findings suggest that 5 mM NaF elicits oral toxicity that contributes to excessive apoptosis, oxidative stress, and defective autophagy, which aggravates periodontal tissue damage.

Do distribution and expansion of exotic invasive Asteraceae plants relate to leaf construction cost in a man-made wetland?

Exotic species especially Asteraceae plants severely invade wetlands in Shenzhen Bay, an important part of the coast wetland in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Bay Area, China. However, the reasons causing their expansion are unclear. The leaf traits and expansion indices of six invasive Asteraceae plants from the Overseas Chinese Town (OCT) wetland were studied and the results showed that nearly 45% of the total plant species (31 out of 69 species) in the OCT wetland, belonging to 15 families and 27 genera, were exotic invasive species. The expansion indices of six Asteraceae species negatively correlated with their leaf construction cost based on mass (CCM), caloric values and carbon concentration, but their relations with ash content were positive. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that CCM was the most important factor affecting the expansion of an exotic species, indicating CCM may be an important reason causing the expansion of exotic species in coastal wetlands.

The impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the prevention and control of COVID-19 in New York City

The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has infected more than 62 million people worldwide. Control responses varied across countries with different outcomes in terms of epidemic size and social disruption. This study presents an age-specific susceptible-exposed-infected-recovery-death model that considers the unique characteristics of COVID-19 to examine the effectiveness of various non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in New York City (NYC). Numerical experiments from our model show that the control policies implemented in NYC reduced the number of infections by 72% [interquartile range (IQR) 53-95] and the number of deceased cases by 76% (IQR 58-96) by the end of 2020. Among all the NPIs, social distancing for the entire population and protection for the elderly in public facilities is the most effective control measure in reducing severe infections and deceased cases. School closure policy may not work as effectively as one might expect in terms of reducing the number of deceased cases. Our simulation results provide novel insights into the city-specific implementation of NPIs with minimal social disruption considering the locations and population characteristics.

Mechanical stimuli for left ventricular growth during pressure overload

BACKGROUND

The mechanical stimulus (i.e. stress or stretch) for growth occurring in the pressure-overloaded left ventricle (LV) is not exactly known.

OBJECTIVE

To address this issue, we investigate the correlation between local ventricular growth (indexed by local wall thickness) and the local acute changes in mechanical stimuli after aortic banding.

METHODS

LV geometric data were extracted from 3D echo measurements at baseline and 2 weeks in the aortic banding swine model (n = 4). We developed and calibrated animal-specific finite element (FE) model of LV mechanics against pressure and volume waveforms measured at baseline. After the simulation of the acute effects of pressure-overload, the local changes of maximum, mean and minimum myocardial stretches and stresses in three orthogonal material directions (i.e., fiber, sheet and sheet-normal) over a cardiac cycle were quantified. Correlation between mechanical quantities and the corresponding measured local changes in wall thickness was quantified using the Pearson correlation number (PCN) and Spearman rank correlation number (SCN).

RESULTS

At 2 weeks after banding, the average septum thickness decreased from 10.6 ± 2.92mm to 9.49 ± 2.02mm, whereas the LV free-wall thickness increased from 8.69 ± 1.64mm to 9.4 ± 1.22mm. The FE results show strong correlation of growth with the changes in maximum fiber stress (PCN = 0.5471, SCN = 0.5111) and changes in the mean sheet-normal stress (PCN= 0.5266, SCN = 0.5256). Myocardial stretches, however, do not have good correlation with growth.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that fiber stress is the mechanical stimuli for LV growth in pressure-overload.

[Study on the state of macrophage infiltration in the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease induced by high-fat diet in mice]

Objective: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common chronic liver disease. Macrophages are an important cell-mediated immune response in the pathogenesis of NAFLD. However, the dynamic changes of intrahepatic infiltration during the pathogenesis of NAFLD remains unclear. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the changes and their correlations with morphological indicators, hepatic histopathological index, and intrahepatic macrophage infiltration in the progression of NAFLD induced by high-fat diet in mice. Methods: C57BL/6J mice were fed with 42% high-fat diet, and the morphological data and liver tissue were obtained at 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 months, respectively. Hepatic histopathological characteristics were evaluated by HE stain. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the number of F4/80 positive cells in liver tissue at different stages to evaluate the degree of intrahepatic macrophage infiltration. Results: (1) The body weight, liver weight, and liver weight/body weight of mice fed with high-fat diet had gradually increased. (2) HE staining results showed that mice fed with high-fat diet had mainly developed simple steatosis within 1 to 2 months. In addition, a balloon-like hepatocyte degeneration and intralobular inflammation had begun to appear at 4 months, indicating that non-alcoholic steatohepatitis had started, and can be seen very clearly at 8 to 12 months. (3) Immunohistochemical staining results suggested that in the simple steatosis stage of NAFLD, the intrahepatic macrophage infiltration was not significant. However, after NAFLD activity score > 3, a large amount of infiltration had appeared and cluster-like changes in the later stage. (4) Correlation analysis results indicated that the degree of macrophage infiltration was not related to the mice morphological indicators (body weight, liver weight and liver weight/body weight) and pathological indicators (percentage of hepatic steatotic change, and degree of hepatocyte ballooning and intralobular inflammation), but was significantly related to the NAFLD activity score. Conclusion: High-fat diet can successfully induce NAFLD in mice and progress to the stage of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. At the same time, high-fat diet can induce macrophage infiltration in liver tissue of mice and the changing trend of infiltration is related to NAFLD activity score.