Rho-kinase inhibitor alleviates CD4+T cell mediated corneal graft rejection by modulating its STAT3 and STAT5 activation

Penetrating keratoplasty remains the most common treatment to restore vision for corneal diseases. Immune rejection after corneal transplantation is one of the major causes of graft failure. In recent years, Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitors have been found to be associated with the activation of the STATs pathway and are widely studied in autoimmune diseases. Therefore, it may be possible that the ROCK inhibitors also participate in the local and systemic immune regulation in corneal transplantation through activation of the STATs pathway and affect the CD4+ T cell differentiation. This study aimed to explore the role of ROCK-STATs pathway in the occurrence of immune rejection in corneal transplantation by applying Y27632, a ROCK inhibitor, to the recipient mice and peripheral CD4+ T cells. We found that Y27632 significantly up-regulated the phosphorylation level of STAT5 in both spleen and lymph nodes, down-regulated the phosphorylation level of STAT3 in the CD4+ T cells in the spleen. It also increased the proportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Helios+ Tregs while decreased CD4+IL17A+ -Th17 cells. Moreover, Y27632 also reduced the proportion of dendritic cells in both spleen and lymph nodes, as well as the expression level of CD86 on their surfaces in the spleen, while the proportion of macrophages was not affected. The expression levels of ROCK1, ROCK2, CD11c and IL-17A mRNA were also found to be low in the graft tissue while the expression of Helios was upregulated. Rho-kinase inhibitor can modulate the balance of Tregs/Th17 by regulating the phosphorylation levels of both STAT3 and STAT5, thereby inhibiting the occurrence of immune rejection in allogeneic corneal transplantation.

RALY participates in nerve trauma-induced nociceptive hypersensitivity through triggering Eif4g2 gene expression in primary sensory neurons

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Peripheral nerve trauma-induced dysregulation of pain-associated genes in the primary sensory neurons of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) contributes to neuropathic pain genesis. RNA-binding proteins participate in gene transcription. We hypothesized that RALY, an RNA-binding protein, participated in nerve trauma-induced dysregulation of DRG pain-associated genes and nociceptive hypersensitivity.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Immunohistochemistry staining showed that RALY was expressed exclusively in the nuclei of DRG neurons. Peripheral nerve trauma caused by chronic constriction injury (CCI) of unilateral sciatic nerve produced time-dependent increases in the levels of Raly mRNA and RALY protein in injured DRG. Blocking this increase through DRG microinjection of adeno-associated virus 5 (AAV5)-expressing Raly shRNA reduced the CCI-induced elevation in the amount of eukaryotic initiation factor 4 gamma 2 (Eif4g2) mRNA and Eif4g2 protein in injured DRG and mitigated the development and maintenance of CCI-induced nociceptive hypersensitivity, without altering basal (acute) response to noxious stimuli and locomotor activity. Mimicking DRG increased RALY through DRG microinjection of AAV5 expressing Raly mRNA up-regulated the expression of Eif4g2 mRNA and Eif4g2 protein in the DRG and led to hypersensitive responses to noxious stimuli in the absence of nerve trauma. Mechanistically, CCI promoted the binding of RALY to the promoter of Eif4g2 gene and triggered its transcriptional activity.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Our findings indicate that RALY participates in nerve trauma-induced nociceptive hypersensitivity likely through transcriptionally triggering Eif4g2 expression in the DRG. RALY may be a potential target in neuropathic pain management.

DExH-box helicase 9 modulates hippocampal synapses and regulates neuropathic pain

Experimental studies have shown that neuropathic pain impairs hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Here, we sought to determine the underlying mechanisms responsible for synaptic changes in neuropathic painful mouse hippocampal neurons. Beyond demonstrating proof-of-concept for the location of DExH-box helicase 9 (DHX9) in the nucleus, we found that it did exist in the cytoplasm and DHX9 depletion resulted in structural and functional changes at synapses in the hippocampus. A decrease of DHX9 was observed in the hippocampus after peripheral nerve injury; overexpression of DHX9 in the hippocampus significantly alleviated the nociceptive responses and improved anxiety behaviors. Mimicking DHX9 decrease evoked spontaneous pain behavioral symptoms and anxiety emotion in naïve mice. Mechanistically, we found that DHX9 bound to dendrin (Ddn) mRNA, which may have altered the level of synaptic- and dendritic-associated proteins. The data suggest that DHX9 contributes to synapses in hippocampal neurons and may modulate neuropathic pain and its comorbidity aversive emotion.

Specific inhibition of TET1 in the spinal dorsal horn alleviates inflammatory pain in mice by regulating synaptic plasticity

DNA demethylation mediated by ten-eleven translocation 1 (TET1) is a critical epigenetic mechanism in which gene expression is regulated via catalysis of 5-methylcytosine to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine. Previously, we demonstrated that TET1 is associated with the genesis of chronic inflammatory pain. However, how TET1 participates in enhanced nociceptive responses in chronic pain remains poorly understood. Here, we report that conditional knockout of Tet1 in dorsal horn neurons via intrathecal injection of rAAV-hSyn-Cre in Tet1fl/fl mice not only reversed the inflammation-induced upregulation of synapse-associated proteins (post-synaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) and synaptophysin (SYP)) in the dorsal horn but also ameliorated abnormalities in dendritic spine morphology and alleviated pain hypersensitivities. Pharmacological blockade of TET1 by intrathecal injection of a TET1-specific inhibitor-Bobcat 339-produced similar results, as did knockdown of Tet1 by intrathecal injection of siRNA. Thus, our data strongly suggest that increased TET1 expression during inflammatory pain upregulates the expression of multiple synapse-associated proteins and dysregulates synaptic morphology in dorsal horn neurons, suggesting that Tet1 may be a potential target for analgesic strategies.

Changes in brain susceptibility in Wilson's disease patients: a quantitative susceptibility mapping study

AIM

To assess changes in the susceptibility of the caudate nucleus (CN), putamen, and globus pallidus (GP) in patients with neurological and hepatic Wilson's disease (WD) by quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The brain MRI images of 33 patients diagnosed with WD and 20 age-matched controls were analysed retrospectively. All participants underwent brain T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and QSM imaging using a 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. QSM maps were evaluated with the STISuite toolbox. The quantitative susceptibility levels of the CN, putamen, and GP were analysed using region of interest analysis on QSM maps. Differences among neurological WD patients, hepatic patients, and controls were determined.

RESULTS

Susceptibility levels were significantly higher for all examined structures (CN, putamen and GP) in patients with neurological WD compared with controls (all p<0.05) and hepatic WD patients (all p<0.05). No statistically significant differences were found in susceptibility levels between patients with hepatic WD and controls (all p>0.05).

CONCLUSION

The QSM technique is a valuable tool for detecting changes in brain susceptibility in WD patients, indicating abnormal metal deposition. Notably, the current findings suggest that neurological WD patients exhibit more severe susceptibility changes compared with hepatic WD patients. Therefore, QSM can be utilised as a complementary method to detect brain injury in WD patients.

Identification and Functional Characterization of Oxidosqualene Cyclases from Medicinal Plant Hoodia gordonii

Oxidosqualene cyclases (OSCs) are the key enzymes accountable for the cyclization of 2,3-oxidosqualene to varied triterpenoids and phytosterols. Hoodia gordonii (from the family Apocynaceae), a native of the Kalahari deserts of South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, is being sold as a prevalent herbal supplement for weight loss. The appetite suppressant properties are attributed to P57AS3, an oxypregnane steroidal glycoside. At the molecular level, the enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of triterpenes and phytosterols from H. gordonii have not been previously reported. In the current study, predicted transcripts potentially encoding oxidosqualene cyclases were recognized first by searching publicly available H. gordonii RNA-seq datasets. Two OSC-like sequences were selected for functional analysis. A monofunctional OSC, designated HgOSC1 which encodes lupeol synthase, and HgOSC2, a multifunctional cycloartenol synthase forming cycloartenol and other products, were observed through recombinant enzyme studies. These studies revealed that distinct OSCs exist for triterpene formation in H. gordonii and provided opportunities for the metabolic engineering of specific precursors in producing phytosterols in this plant species.

DNA N6-methyladenine methylase N6AMT1 controls neuropathic pain through epigenetically modifying Kcnj16 in dorsal horn neurons

ABSTRACT

Nerve injury-induced aberrant changes in gene expression in spinal dorsal horn neurons are critical for the genesis of neuropathic pain. N6-methyladenine (m 6 A) modification of DNA represents an additional layer of gene regulation. Here, we report that peripheral nerve injury significantly decreased the level of m 6 A-specific DNA methyltransferase 1 ( N6amt1 ) in dorsal horn neurons. This decrease was attributed, at least partly, to a reduction in transcription factor Nr2f6 . Rescuing the decrease in N6amt1 reversed the loss of m 6 A at the promoter for inwardly rectifying potassium channel subfamily J member 16 ( Kcnj16 ), mitigating the nerve injury-induced upregulation of Kcnj16 expression in the dorsal horn and alleviating neuropathic pain hypersensitivities. Conversely, mimicking the downregulation of N6amt1 in naive mice erased DNA m 6 A at the Kcnj16 promoter, elevated Kcnj16 expression, and led to neuropathic pain-like behaviors. Therefore, decreased N6amt1 caused by NR2F6 is required for neuropathic pain, likely through its regulation of m 6 A-controlled KCNJ16 in dorsal horn neurons, suggesting that DNA m 6 A modification may be a potential new target for analgesic and treatment strategies.

Molecular Targets of Herbicides and Fungicides─Are There Useful Overlaps for Fungicide Discovery?

New fungicide modes of action are needed for fungicide resistance management strategies. Several commercial herbicide targets found in fungi that are not utilized by commercial fungicides are discussed as possible fungicide molecular targets. These are acetyl CoA carboxylase, acetolactate synthase, 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase, glutamine synthase, phytoene desaturase, protoporphyrinogen oxidase, long-chain fatty acid synthase, dihydropteroate synthase, hydroxyphenyl pyruvate dioxygenase, and Ser/Thr protein phosphatase. Some of the inhibitors of these herbicide targets appear to be either good fungicides or good leads for new fungicides. For example, some acetolactate synthase and dihydropteroate inhibitors are excellent fungicides. There is evidence that some herbicides have indirect benefits to certain crops due to their effects on fungal crop pathogens. Using a pesticide with both herbicide and fungicide activities based on the same molecular target could reduce the total amount of pesticide used. The limitations of such a product are discussed.

Relationship between individual differences in pain empathy and task- and resting-state EEG

Pain empathy is a complex form of psychological inference that enables us to understand how others feel in the context of pain. Since pain empathy may be grounded in our own pain experiences, it exhibits huge inter-individual variability. However, the neural mechanisms behind the individual differences in pain empathy and its association with pain perception are still poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to characterize brain mechanisms associated with individual differences in pain empathy in adult participants (n = 24). The 32-channel electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded at rest and during a pain empathy task, and participants viewed static visual stimuli of the limbs submitted to painful and nonpainful stimulation to solicit empathy. The pain sensitivity of each participant was measured using a series of direct current stimulations. In our results, the N2 of Fz and the LPP of P3 and P4 were affected by painful pictures. We found that both delta and alpha bands in the frontal and parietal cortex were involved in the regulation of pain empathy. For the delta band, a close relationship was found between average power, either in the resting or task state, and individual differences in pain empathy. It suggested that the spectral power in Fz's delta band may reflect subjective pain empathy across individuals. For the alpha band, the functional connectivity between Fz and P3 under painful picture stimulation was correlated to individuals' pain sensitivity. It indicated that the alpha band may reflect individual differences in pain sensitivity and be involved in pain empathy processing. Our results suggested the distinct role of the delta and alpha bands of EEG signals in pain empathy processing and may deepen our understanding of the neural mechanisms underpinning pain empathy.

Spinal-Specific Super Enhancer in Neuropathic Pain

Dysfunctional gene expression in nociceptive pathways plays a critical role in the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain. Super enhancers (SEs), composed of a large cluster of transcriptional enhancers, are emerging as new players in the regulation of gene expression. However, whether SEs participate in nociceptive responses remains unknown. Here, we report a spinal-specific SE (SS-SE) that regulates chronic constriction injury (CCI)-induced neuropathic pain by driving Ntmt1 and Prrx2 transcription in dorsal horn neurons. Peripheral nerve injury significantly enhanced the activity of SS-SE and increased the expression of NTMT1 and PRRX2 in the dorsal horn of male mice in a bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4)-dependent manner. Both intrathecal administration of a pharmacological BRD4 inhibitor JQ1 and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated SE deletion abolished the increased NTMT1 and PRRX2 in CCI mice and attenuated their nociceptive hypersensitivities. Furthermore, knocking down Ntmt1 or Prrx2 with siRNA suppressed the injury-induced elevation of phosphorylated extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression in the dorsal horn and alleviated neuropathic pain behaviors. Mimicking the increase in spinal Ntmt1 or Prrx2 in naive mice increased p-ERK and GFAP expression and led to the genesis of neuropathic pain-like behavior. These results redefine our understanding of the regulation of pain-related genes and demonstrate that BRD4-driven increases in SS-SE activity is responsible for the genesis of neuropathic pain through the governance of NTMT1 and PRRX2 expression in dorsal horn neurons. Our findings highlight the therapeutic potential of BRD4 inhibitors for the treatment of neuropathic pain.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT SEs drive gene expression by recruiting master transcription factors, cofactors, and RNA polymerase, but their role in the development of neuropathic pain remains unknown. Here, we report that the activity of an SS-SE, located upstream of the genes Ntmt1 and Prrx2, was elevated in the dorsal horn of mice with neuropathic pain. SS-SE contributes to the genesis of neuropathic pain by driving expression of Ntmt1 and Prrx2 Both inhibition of SS-SE with a pharmacological BRD4 inhibitor and genetic deletion of SS-SE attenuated pain hypersensitivities. This study suggests an effective and novel therapeutic strategy for neuropathic pain.

Nickel/photoredox dual catalyzed arylalkylation of nonactivated alkenes

Alkene dicarbofunctionalization is an efficient strategy and operation-economic fashion for introducing complexity in molecules. A nickel/photoredox dual catalyzed arylalkylation of nonactivated alkenes for the simultaneous construction of one C(sp3)-C(sp3) bond and one C(sp3)-C(sp2) bond has been developed. The mild catalytic method provided valuable indanethylamine derivatives with wide substrate scope and good functional group compatibility. An enantioselective dicarbofunctionalization was also achieved with pyridine-oxazoline as a ligand. The efficiency of metallaphotoredox dicarbofunctionalization was demonstrated for the concise synthesis of pharmaceutically active compounds.

Distance-Aware Learning for Inductive Link Prediction on Temporal Networks

Inductive link prediction on temporal networks aims to predict the future links associated with node(s) unseen in the historical timestamps. Existing methods generate the predictions mainly by learning node representation from the node/edge attributes as well as the network dynamics or by measuring the distance between nodes on the temporal network structure. However, the attribute information is unavailable in many realistic applications and the structure-aware methods highly rely on nodes' common neighbors, which are difficult to accurately detect, especially in sparse temporal networks. Thus, we propose a distance-aware learning (DEAL) approach for inductive link prediction on temporal networks. Specifically, we first design an adaptive sampling method to extract temporal adaptive walks for nodes, increasing the probability of including the common neighbors between nodes. Then, we design a dual-channel distance measuring component, which simultaneously measures the distance between nodes in the embedding space and on the dynamic graph structure for predicting future inductive edges. Extensive experiments are conducted on three public temporal network datasets, i.e., MathOverflow, AskUbuntu, and StackOverflow. The experimental results validate the superiority of DEAL over the state-of-the-art baselines in terms of accuracy, area under the ROC curve (AUC), and average precision (AP), where the improvements are especially obvious in scenarios with only limited data.

Deep Learning for Automated Contouring of Primary Gross Tumor Volumes by MRI for Radiation Therapy of Brain Metastasis

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Radiotherapy is one of the most effective methods for the treatment of brain metastases (BMs). Traditional manual delineation of primary gross tumor volumes (GTV) of multiple BMs (especially small metastases) in radiotherapy practice is extremely labor intensive and highly dependent on oncologists' experience, achieving the precise and efficient automatic delineation of BMs is of great significance for efficient and homogeneous one-stop adaptive radiotherapy.

MATERIALS/METHODS

We retrospectively collected 62 MRI (non-enhanced T1-weighted sequences) sequences of 50 patients with BMs from January 2020 to July 2021. An automatic model (BUC-Net) for automatic delineation BMs was proposed in this work, which was based on deep learning by combining 3D bottler layer module and the cascade architecture to improve the accuracy and efficient of BMs' automatic delineation, especially for small metastases with tiny size and relatively low contrast. The prosed method was compared with the existing 3D U-Net (U-Net) and 3D U-Net Cascade (U-Net Cascade). The performance of our proposed method was evaluated by Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), 95% Hausdorff distance (HD95) and average surface distance (ASD) with human experts.

RESULTS

The automatic segmentation results of BUC-Net evaluated with 310 BMs in 13 test patients was summarized in Table 1. These BMs in each test patient were automatically delineated by two types of contours: as a whole tumor contour (Whole-delineation) and the multiple tumor contours (Multiple-delineation). BUC-Net performed the best mean DSC and HD95, which is significantly outperformed U-Net (Whole-delineation: 0.911 & 0.894 of DSC, Multiple-delineation: 0.794 & 0.754 of DSC, P < 0.05 for both) and U-Net cascade (Whole-delineation: 0.947 & 7.141 of HD95, Multiple-delineation: 0.902 & 1.171 of HD95, P < 0.05 for both); Additionally, BUC-Net achieved the best mean ASD for Whole-delineation and comparable ASD (0.290 & 0.277, P > 0) for Multiple-delineation with U-Net Cascade.

CONCLUSION

Our results showed that the proposed approach is promising for the automatic delineation of BMs in MRI, which can be integrated into a radiotherapy workflow to significantly shorten segmentation time.

Downregulation of ciRNA-Kat6b in dorsal spinal horn is required for neuropathic pain by regulating Kcnk1 in miRNA-26a-dependent manner

AIMS

Nerve injury-induced maladaptive changes in gene expression in the spinal neurons are essential for neuropathic pain genesis. Circular RNAs (ciRNA) are emerging as key regulators of gene expression. Here, we identified a nervous-system-tissues-specific ciRNA-Kat6 with conservation in humans and mice. We aimed to investigate whether and how spinal dorsal horn ciRNA-Kat6b participates in neuropathic pain.

METHODS

Unilateral sciatic nerve chronic constrictive injury (CCI) surgery was used to prepare the neuropathic pain model. The differentially expressed ciRNAs were obtained by RNA-Sequencing. The identification of nervous-system-tissues specificity of ciRNA-Kat6b and the measurement of ciRNA-Kat6b and microRNA-26a (miRNA-26a) expression level were carried out by quantitative RT-PCR. The ciRNA-Kat6b that targets miRNA-26a and miRNA-26a that targets Kcnk1 were predicted by bioinformatics analysis and verified by in vitro luciferase reports test and in vivo experiments including Western-blot, immunofluorescence, and RNA-RNA immunoprecipitation. The correlation between neuropathic pain and ciRNA-Kat6b, miRNA-26a, or Kcnk1 was examined by the hypersensitivity response to heat and mechanical stimulus.

RESULTS

Peripheral nerve injury downregulated ciRNA-Kat6b in the dorsal spinal horn of male mice. Rescuing this downregulation blocked nerve injury-induced increase of miRNA-26a, reversed the miRNA-26a-triggered decrease of potassium channel Kcnk1, a key neuropathic pain player, in the dorsal horn, and alleviates CCI-induced pain hypersensitivities. On the contrary, mimicking this downregulation increased the miRNA-26a level and decreased Kcnk1 in the spinal cord, resulting in neuropathic pain-like syndrome in naïve mice. Mechanistically, the downregulation of ciRNA-Kat6b reduced the accounts of miRNA-26a binding to ciRNA-Kat6b, and elevated the binding accounts of miRNA-26a to the 3' untranslated region of Kcnk1 mRNA and degeneration of Kcnk1 mRNA, triggering in the reduction of KCNK1 protein in the dorsal horn of neuropathic pain mice.

CONCLUSION

The ciRNA-Kat6b/miRNA-26a/Kcnk1 pathway in dorsal horn neurons regulates the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain, ciRNA-Kat6b may be a potential new target for analgesic and treatment strategies.

[Experimental study on the molluscicidal activity of surfactin against Oncomelania hupensis]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the molluscicidal activity of surfactin against Oncomelania hupensis, so as to provide the experimental basis for use of Bacillus for killing O. hupensis.

METHODS

O. hupensis snails were collected from schistosomiasisendemic foci of Wuhu City on September 2022, and Schistosoma japonicum-infected snails were removed. Then, 60 snails were immersed in surfactin at concentrations of 2, 1, 0.5, 0.25, 0.125 mg/mL and 0.062 5 mg/mL for 24, 48, 72 hours at 26 °C, while ultrapure water-treated snails served as controls. The median lethal concentration (LC50) of surfactin against O. hupensis snails was estimated. O. hupensis snails were immersed in surfactin at a concentration of 24 h LC50 and ultrapure water, and then stained with propidium iodide (PI). The PI uptake in haemocyte was observed in O. hupensis snails using fluorescence microscopy.

RESULTS

The mortality of O. hupensis was 5.0% following immersion in surfactin at a concentration of 0.062 5 mg/mL for 24 h, and the mortality was 100.0% following immersion in surfactin at a concentration of 2 mg/mL for 72 h, while no snail mortality was observed in the control group. There were significant differences in the mortality of O. hupensis in each surfactin treatment groups at 24 (χ2 = 180.150, P < 0.05), 48 h (χ2 = 176.786, P < 0.05) and 72 h (χ2 = 216.487, P < 0.05), respectively. The average mortality rates of O. hupensis were 38.9% (140/360), 62.2% (224/360) and 83.3% (300/360) 24, 48 h and 72 h post-immersion in surfactin, respectively (χ2 = 150.264, P < 0.05), and the 24, 48 h and 72 h LC50 values of surfactin were 0.591, 0.191 mg/mL and 0.054 mg/mL against O. hupensis snails. Fluorescence microscopy showed more numbers of haemocytes with PI uptake in 0.5 mg/mL surfactintreated O. hupensis snails than in ultrapure water-treated snails for 24 h, and there was a significant difference in the proportion of PI uptake in haemocytes between surfactin-and ultrapure water-treated snails (χ2 = 6.690, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Surfactin is active against O. hupensis snails, which may be associated with the alteration in the integrity of haemocyte membrane.

A versatile control program for positioning and shooting targets in laser-plasma experiments

We introduce a LabVIEW-based control program that significantly improves the efficiency and flexibility in positioning and shooting solid targets in laser-plasma experiments. The hardware driven by this program incorporates a target positioning subsystem and an imaging subsystem, which enables us to install up to 400 targets for one experimental campaign and precisely adjust them in six freedom degrees. The overall architecture and the working modes of the control program are demonstrated in detail. In addition, we characterized the distributions of target positions of every target holder and simultaneously saved the target images, resulting in a large dataset that can be used to train machine learning models and develop image recognition algorithms. This versatile control system has become an indispensable platform when preparing and conducting laser-plasma experiments.

A binary pulsar in a 53-minute orbit

Spider pulsars are neutron stars that have a companion star in a close orbit. The companion star sheds material to the neutron star, spinning it up to millisecond rotation periods, while the orbit shortens to hours. The companion is eventually ablated and destroyed by the pulsar wind and radiation1,2. Spider pulsars are key for studying the evolutionary link between accreting X-ray pulsars and isolated millisecond pulsars, pulsar irradiation effects and the birth of massive neutron stars3-6. Black widow pulsars in extremely compact orbits (as short as 62 minutes7) have companions with masses much smaller than 0.1 M⊙. They may have evolved from redback pulsars with companion masses of about 0.1-0.4 M⊙ and orbital periods of less than 1 day8. If this is true, then there should be a population of millisecond pulsars with moderate-mass companions and very short orbital periods9, but, hitherto, no such system was known. Here we report radio observations of the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J1953+1844 (M71E) that show it to have an orbital period of 53.3 minutes and a companion with a mass of around 0.07 M⊙. It is a faint X-ray source and located 2.5 arcminutes from the centre of the globular cluster M71.

[Tumor cell lysate with low content of HMGB1 enhances immune response of dendritic cells against lung cancer in mice]

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effect of tumor cell lysate (TCL) with low high-mobility group B1 (HMGB1) content for enhancing immune responses of dendritic cells (DCs) against lung cancer.

METHODS

TCLs with low HMGB1 content (LH-TCL) and normal HMGB1 content (NH-TCL) were prepared using Lewis lung cancer (LLC) cells in which HMGB1 was inhibited with 30 nmol/L glycyrrhizic acid (GA) and using LLC cells without GA treatment, respectively. Cultured mouse DCs were exposed to different doses of NH-TCL and LH-TCL, using PBS as the control. Flow cytometry was used to detect the expressions of CD11b, CD11c and CD86 and apoptosis of the stimulated DCs, and IL-12 levels in the cell cultures were detected by ELISA. Mouse spleen cells were co-cultured with the stimulated DCs, and the activation of the spleen cells was assessed by detecting CD69 expression using flow cytometry; TNF-β production in the spleen cells was detected with ELISA. The spleen cells were then co-cultured with LLC cells at the effector: target ratios of 5:1, 10:1 and 20:1 to observe the tumor cell killing. In the animal experiment, C57/BL6 mouse models bearing subcutaneous LLC xenograft received multiple injections with the stimulated DCs, and the tumor growth was observed.

RESULTS

The content of HMGB1 in the TCL prepared using GA-treated LLC cells was significantly reduced (P < 0.01). Compared with NH-TCL, LH-TCL showed a stronger ability to reduce apoptosis (P < 0.001) and promote activation and IL- 12 production in the DCs. Compared with those with NH-TCL stimulation, the DCs stimulated with LH-TCL more effectively induced activation of splenic lymphocytes and enhanced their anti-tumor immunity (P < 0.05). In the cell co-cultures, the spleen lymphocytes activated by LH-TCL-stimulated DCs showed significantly enhanced LLC cell killing activity (P < 0.01). In the tumor-bearing mice, injections of LH-TCL-stimulated DCs effectively activated host anti-tumor immunity and inhibited the growth of the tumor xenografts (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Stimulation of the DCs with LH-TCL enhances the anti-tumor immune activity of the DCs and improve the efficacy of DCbased immunotherapy for LLC in mice.

3% diquafosol sodium eye drops in Chinese patients with dry eye: a phase IV study

Introduction

The efficacy and safety of 3% diquafosol sodium eye drops in Chinese patients with dry eye in the real-world setting remains unclear.

Methods

3099 patients with dry eye symptoms were screened according to Asia Dry Eye Society latest recommendation. Among them, 3000 patients were enrolled for a phase IV study. We followed up with multiple clinical characteristics including corneal fluorescein staining, tear break up time, Schirmer's tests, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, and others. The follow ups were performed at baseline, 2 weeks and 4 weeks after treatment.

Results

Based on the results of corneal fluorescein staining and tear break up time, all age and gender subgroups exhibited obvious alleviation of the symptoms among the patients with dry eye, and the data in elderly group showed the most significant alleviation. All the adverse drug reactions (ADRs, 6.17%) were recorded, among which 6% local ocular ADRs were included. Meanwhile, mild ADRs (91.8%) accounted for the most. Most of the ADRs (89.75%) got a quick and full recovery, with an average time at 15.6 days. 1.37% of patients dropped out of the study due to ADRs.

Discussion

The use of 3% diquafosol sodium eye drop is effective and safe in the treatment of dry eye, with a low incidence of ADRs showing mild symptoms. This trial was registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ID: ChiCTR1900021999 (Registration Date: 19/03/2019).

Clinical Analysis of Repeat Penetrating Keratoplasty in Children

(1) Background: To analyze the indications, graft survival, and graft failure-related risk factors of repeat penetrating keratoplasty (RPK) in children. (2) Methods: In this case series, children younger than 12 years who received RPK at Beijing Tongren Hospital were reviewed. The indications for RPK, postoperative complications, and graft survival were analyzed. The analysis of the potential variables associated with graft survival was performed using Cox proportional hazards regression. (3) Results: A total of 30 RPK eyes of 29 children were included in this study. The mean follow-up time was 26.98 ± 18.75 months. The most common indication for RPK was a vascularized corneal scar (86.67%). Postoperative complications occurred in 27 eyes (90%), including immune rejection (46.67%), epithelial defects (36.67%), and glaucoma (26.67%). About 60% of the regrafts remained clear one year after RPK, while the overall graft survival rate was 30% at the last visit. The most common cause of regraft failure was irreversible immune rejection (8/21). The significant risks of graft failure included an age of less than 60 months at surgery (p = 0.009), corneal vascularization (p = 0.018), and a postoperative epithelial defect (p = 0.037). (4) Conclusions: A vascularized corneal scar is the most common indication of RPK in children. Immune rejection is the most prevalent complication, and irreversible immune rejection always causes regraft failure.

The Cytidine N-Acetyltransferase NAT10 Participates in Peripheral Nerve Injury-Induced Neuropathic Pain by Stabilizing SYT9 Expression in Primary Sensory Neurons

RNA N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) modification is increasingly recognized as an important layer of gene regulation; however, the involvement of ac4C in pain regulation has not been studied. Here, we report that N-acetyltransferase 10 protein (NAT10; the only known ac4C "writer") contributes to the induction and development of neuropathic pain in an ac4C-dependent manner. Peripheral nerve injury increases the levels of NAT10 expression and overall ac4C in injured dorsal root ganglia (DRGs). This upregulation is triggered by the activation of upstream transcription factor 1 (USF1), a transcription factor that binds to the Nat10 promoter. Knock-down or genetic deletion of NAT10 in the DRG abolishes the gain of ac4C sites in Syt9 mRNA and the augmentation of SYT9 protein, resulting in a marked antinociceptive effect in nerve-injured male mice. Conversely, mimicking NAT10 upregulation in the absence of injury evokes the elevation of Syt9 ac4C and SYT9 protein and induces the genesis of neuropathic-pain-like behaviors. These findings demonstrate that USF1-governed NAT10 regulates neuropathic pain by targeting Syt9 ac4C in peripheral nociceptive sensory neurons. Our findings establish NAT10 as a critical endogenous initiator of nociceptive behavior and a promising new target for treating neuropathic pain.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The cytidine N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C), a new epigenetic RNA modification, is crucial for the translation and stability of mRNA, but its role for chronic pain remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that N-acetyltransferase 10 (NAT10) acts as ac4C N-acetyltransferase and plays an important role in the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain. NAT10 was upregulated via the activation of the transcription factor upstream transcription factor 1 (USF1) in the injured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) after peripheral nerve injury. Since pharmacological or genetic deleting NAT10 in the DRG attenuated the nerve injury-induced nociceptive hypersensitivities partially through suppressing Syt9 mRNA ac4C and stabilizing SYT9 protein level, NAT10 may serve as an effective and novel therapeutic target for neuropathic pain.

Redox-Neutral Intramolecular Dearomative Spirocyclization of Phenols Induced by Visible Light

Described herein is a redox-neutral intramolecular dearomative spirocyclization induced by visible light. The photochemical cyclization was catalyzed by a phenolate anion-derived photocatalyst and delivered the spirocyclohexadienone. Mechanistic experiments revealed that the aryl halide was reduced to aryl radical via the single-electron transfer (SET) process under visible light irradiation. The electrophilic addition of an aryl radical with the phenolate anion moiety gave a radical anion intermediate, which recycled the photocatalyst by a second SET process.

Epidemiologic characteristics and the change of surgical methods of pterygium and pseudopterygium from 2013 to 2019 in China: A retrospective analysis

Introduction

Pterygium is a common multifactorial external eye disease, which causes various ocular symptoms and negatively affects appearance. The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiological characteristics and the change of surgical methods of pterygium and pseudopterygium in China from 2013 to 2019.

Materials and methods

This study was a hospital-based nationwide retrospective study to estimate the epidemiologic characteristics and the change of surgical methods of pterygium and pseudopteygium in China from 2013 to 2019. The data was extracted from the Hospital Quality Monitoring System (HQMS) database. The diagnosis was based on the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) code.

Results

Our study included 1,007,800 pterygium and 2,681 pseudopteygium inpatients. From 2013 to 2019, the proportion of pterygium and pseudopterygium patients who underwent surgery, among all ophthalmology inpatients, increased from 3.3% in 2013 to 7.84% in 2019. The male-female ratio of surgically treated pterygium and pseudopterygium is 1:1.8 and 1.6:1 respectively. Among all age groups, the hospitalized pterygium patients who received surgery were mainly 60-69 years old, accounting for 36.53%. The pseudopterygium patients who received surgery were mostly 50-59 years old, accounting for 24.02%. Among the 31 provinces of mainland China, Yunnan Province has the highest proportion of pterygium patients treated surgically (6.40%), while Shanghai has the highest proportion of pseudopterygium patients treated surgically (12.98%). The most common occupation of participants in the study was farmer, accounting for 47.62% and 28.53%, respectively. During the study period, the application of autologous stem cell transplantation increased year by year, and became the first choice for pterygium and pseudopterygium surgery.

Discussion

This study was the first to describe the epidemiological characteristics and surgical methods of hospitalized pterygium and pseudopterygium patients in China. This study provides important information for better diagnosis, treatment and prevention of pterygium and pseudopterygium.

Molecular targets of insecticides and herbicides - Are there useful overlaps?

New insecticide modes of action are needed for insecticide resistance management strategies. The number of molecular targets of commercial herbicides and insecticides are fewer than 35 for both. Few commercial insecticide targets are found in plants, but ten targets of commercial herbicides are found in insects. For several of these commonly held targets, some compounds kill both plants and insects. For example, herbicidal inhibitors of p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase are effective insecticides on blood-fed insects. The glutamine synthetase-inhibiting herbicide glufosinate is insecticidal by the same mechanism of action, inhibition of glutamine synthetase. These and other examples of shared activities of commercial herbicides with insecticides through the same target site are discussed. Compounds with novel herbicide targets shared by insects that are not commercialized as pesticides (such as statins) are also discussed. Compounds that are both herbicidal and insecticidal can be used for insect pests not associated with crops or with crops made resistant to the compounds.

Spliceostatin C, a component of a microbial bioherbicide, is a potent phytotoxin that inhibits the spliceosome

Spliceostatin C (SPC) is a component of a bioherbicide isolated from the soil bacterium Burkholderia rinojensis. The chemical structure of SPC closely resembles spliceostatin A (SPA) which was characterized as an anticancer agent and splicing inhibitor. SPC inhibited the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings with an IC50 value of 2.2 µM. The seedlings exposed to SPC displayed a significant response with decreased root length and number and inhibition of gravitropism. Reverse transcriptase semi-quantitative PCR (RT-sqPCR) analyses of 19 selected genes demonstrated the active impact of SPC on the quality and quantity of transcripts that underwent intron rearrangements as well as up or down expression upon exposure to SPC. Qualitative and quantitative proteomic profiles identified 66 proteins that were significantly affected by SPC treatment. Further proteomics data analysis revealed that spliceostatin C induces hormone-related responses in Arabidopsis seedlings. In silico binding studies showed that SPC binds to a pocket between the SF3B3 and PF5A of the spliceosome.

Transcription factor ETS proto-oncogene 1 contributes to neuropathic pain by regulating histone deacetylase 1 in primary afferent neurons

Nerve injury can induce aberrant changes in ion channels, enzymes, and cytokines/chemokines in the dorsal root ganglia (DRGs); these changes are due to or at least partly governed by transcription factors that contribute to the genesis of neuropathic pain. However, the involvement of transcription factors in neuropathic pain is poorly understood. In this study, we report that transcription factor (TF) ETS proto-oncogene 1 (ETS1) is required for the initiation and development of neuropathic pain. Sciatic nerve chronic constrictive injury (CCI, a clinical neuropathic pain model) increases ETS1 expression in the injured male mouse DRG. Blocking this upregulation alleviated CCI-induced mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia, with no apparent effect on locomotor function. Mimicking this upregulation results in the genesis of nociception hypersensitivity; mechanistically, nerve injury-induced ETS1 upregulation promotes the expression of histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1, a key initiator of pain) via enhancing its binding activity to the HDAC1 promotor, leading to the elevation of spinal central sensitization, as evidenced by increased expression of p-ERK1/2 and GFAP in the dorsal spinal horn. It appears that the ETS1/HDAC1 axis in DRG may have a critical role in the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain, and ETS1 is a potential therapeutic target in neuropathic pain.

TRIM59 promotes steatosis and ferroptosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease via enhancing GPX4 ubiquitination

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease around the world. However, no specific medicine has been approved for NAFLD treatment. Our study was conducted to explore the role and mechanism of TRIM59 in NAFLD, aiming to provide a novel target for NAFLD treatment. Here, the expression of TRIM family members was detected in 10 mild and severe NAFLD tissues as well as 10 normal tissues. TRIM59 expression was verified in 10 normal tissues and 25 mild and severe NAFLD tissues. Palmitic acid and high-fatty diet were used for the construction of NAFLD models. Oil Red O staining was used to detect the level of steatosis. The content of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8 was measured to reflect the level of inflammation. Lipid reactive oxygen species was estimated by flow cytometry. We found that TRIM59 was highly expressed in NAFLD tissues compared with normal liver tissues. The inhibition of TRIM59 could inhibit the steatosis and inflammation in NAFLD, whereas its overexpression exhibited reversed effects. The application of ferroptosis inhibitor, deferoxamine, could markedly ameliorate steatosis and inflammation, which was mediated by overexpressed TRIM59. Besides, TRIM59 was demonstrated to interact with GPX4 and promoted its ubiquitination. The overexpression of GPX4 could significantly reverse the pathogenic effects of TRIM59 in NAFLD. Additionally, the inhibition of TRIM59 appeared to be a promising strategy to ameliorate NAFLD in mice model. In summary, our study revealed that TRIM59 could promote steatosis and ferroptosis in NAFLD via enhancing GPX4 ubiquitination. TRIM59 could be a potential target for NAFLD treatment.

Vascular age acquired from the pulse signal: A new index to screen early vascular aging

BACKGROUND

Chronological age (CA) has been adopted as an important independent risk factor in cardiovascular risk assessment. However, different individuals with same CA may have distinct actual vascular aging due to various lifestyles. Therefore, it is difficult to fully describe the difference of actual vascular aging by CA.

OBJECTIVE

This study proposes a new index vascular age (VA) to avoid the limitations of CA.

METHOD

In this work, VA refers to the sum of CA and lifestyle impact (Age_LI). Firstly, we take the pulse signal features and CA as independent variables and dependent variable respectively, and adopt cross validation to train Support Vector Regression model. Then we acquire the predicted chronological age (PA) of all subjects with the model. Secondly, we obtain the function model between CA and PA, and calculate the expectation of PA (ePA) for each subject. Simultaneously, we take the difference between PA and ePA as the estimated value of Age_LI to further calculate VA. Finally, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of VA, we compare the correlations between CA, PA, VA and 8 objective indices such as augmentation index, pulse transit time, diastolic augmentation index, etc. RESULTS: In general, VA and PA are closer to these 8 objective indices than CA. Moreover, VA is also superior to PA in vascular aging evaluation.

CONCLUSION

The VA suggested in this study emphasizes the difference of vascular aging in same CA group, which can better reflect the actual vascular aging than CA and PA.

Graph Co-Attentive Session-based Recommendation

Session-based recommendation aims to generate recommendations merely based on the ongoing session, which is a challenging task. Previous methods mainly focus on modeling the sequential signals or the transition relations between items in the current session using RNNs or GNNs to identify user’s intent for recommendation. Such models generally ignore the dynamic connections between the local and global item transition patterns, although the global information is taken into consideration by exploiting the global-level pair-wise item transitions. Moreover, existing methods that mainly adopt the cross-entropy loss with softmax generally face a serious over-fitting problem, harming the recommendation accuracy. Thus, in this article, we propose a Graph Co-Attentive Recommendation Machine (GCARM) for session-based recommendation. In detail, we first design a Graph Co-Attention Network (GCAT) to consider the dynamic correlations between the local and global neighbors of each node during the information propagation. Then, the item-level dynamic connections between the output of the local and global graphs are modeled to generate the final item representations. After that, we produce the prediction scores and design a Max Cross-Entropy (MCE) loss to prevent over-fitting. Extensive experiments are conducted on three benchmark datasets, i.e., Diginetica, Gowalla, and Yoochoose. The experimental results show that GCARM can achieve the state-of-the-art performance in terms of Recall and MRR, especially on boosting the ranking of the target item.

Collaborative Graph Learning for Session-based Recommendation

Session-based recommendation (SBR) , which mainly relies on a user’s limited interactions with items to generate recommendations, is a widely investigated task. Existing methods often apply RNNs or GNNs to model user’s sequential behavior or transition relationship between items to capture her current preference. For training such models, the supervision signals are merely generated from the sequential interactions inside a session, neglecting the correlations of different sessions, which we argue can provide additional supervisions for learning the item representations. Moreover, previous methods mainly adopt the cross-entropy loss for training, where the user’s ground truth preference distribution towards items is regarded as a one-hot vector of the target item, easily making the network over-confident and leading to a serious overfitting problem. Thus, in this article, we propose a Collaborative Graph Learning (CGL) approach for session-based recommendation. CGL first applies the Gated Graph Neural Networks (GGNNs) to learn item embeddings and then is trained by considering both the main supervision as well as the self-supervision signals simultaneously. The main supervisions are produced by the sequential order while the self-supervisions are derived from the global graph constructed by all sessions. In addition, to prevent overfitting, we propose a Target-aware Label Confusion (TLC) learning method in the main supervised component. Extensive experiments are conducted on three publicly available datasets, i.e., Retailrocket, Diginetica, and Gowalla. The experimental results show that CGL can outperform the state-of-the-art baselines in terms of Recall and MRR.

Discovery of Niphimycin C from Streptomyces yongxingensis sp. nov. as a Promising Agrochemical Fungicide for Controlling Banana Fusarium Wilt by Destroying the Mitochondrial Structure and Function

Banana Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) is the most destructive soil-borne fungal disease. Tropical race 4 (Foc TR4), one of the strains of Foc, can infect many commercial cultivars, which represents a threat to global banana production. Currently, there are hardly any effective chemical fungicides to control the disease. To search for natural product-based fungicides for controlling banana Fusarium wilt, we identified a novel strain Streptomyces yongxingensis sp. nov. (JCM 34965) from a marine soft coral, from which a bioactive compound, niphimycin C, was isolated using an activity-guided method. Niphimycin C exhibited a strong antifungal activity against Foc TR4 with a value of 1.20 μg/mL for EC₅₀ and obviously inhibited the mycelial growth and spore germination of Foc TR4. It caused the functional loss of mitochondria and the disorder of metabolism of Foc TR4 cells. Further study showed that niphimycin C reduced key enzyme activities of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and the electron transport chain (ETC). It displayed broad-spectrum antifungal activities against the selected 12 phytopathogenic fungi. In pot experiments, niphimycin C reduced the disease indexes in banana plantlets and inhibited the infection of Foc TR4 in roots. Hence, niphimycin C could be a promising agrochemical fungicide for the management of fungal diseases.

Boosting the Oxygen Evolution Reaction by Controllably Constructing FeNi3/C Nanorods

Transition bimetallic alloy-based catalysts are regarded as attractive alternatives for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), attributed to their competitive economics, high conductivity and intrinsic properties. Herein, we prepared FeNi3/C nanorods with largely improved catalytic OER activity by combining hydrothermal reaction and thermal annealing treatment. The temperature effect on the crystal structure and chemical composition of the FeNi3/C nanorods was revealed, and the enhanced catalytic performance of FeNi3/C with an annealing temperature of 400 °C was confirmed by several electrochemical tests. The outstanding catalytic performance was assigned to the formation of bimetallic alloys/carbon composites. The FeNi3/C nanorods showed an overpotential of 250 mV to afford a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 84.9 mV dec−1, which were both smaller than the other control samples and commercial IrO2 catalysts. The fast kinetics and high catalytic stability were also verified by electrochemical impendence spectroscopy and chronoamperometry for 15 h. This study is favorable for the design and construction of bimetallic alloy-based materials as efficient catalysts for the OER.

Case Report: Tachycardia, Hypoxemia and Shock in a Severely Burned Pediatric Patient

Background

Severely burned children are at high risk of secondary intraabdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS). ACS is a life-threatening condition with high mortality and requires an effective, minimally invasive treatment to improve the prognosis when the condition is refractory to conventional therapy.

Case presentation

A 4.5-year-old girl was admitted to our hospital 30 h after a severe burn injury. Her symptoms of burn shock were relieved after fluid resuscitation. However, her bloating was aggravated, and ACS developed on Day 5, manifesting as tachycardia, hypoxemia, shock, and oliguria. Invasive mechanical ventilation, vasopressors, and percutaneous catheter drainage were applied in addition to medical treatments (such as gastrointestinal decompression, diuresis, sedation, and neuromuscular blockade). These treatments did not improve the patient's condition until she received continuous renal replacement therapy. Subsequently, her vital signs and laboratory data improved, which were accompanied by decreased intra-abdominal pressure, and she was discharged after nutrition support, antibiotic therapy, and skin grafting.

Conclusion

ACS can occur in severely burned children, leading to rapid deterioration of cardiopulmonary function. Patients who fail to respond to conventional medical management should be considered for continuous renal replacement therapy.

TET1 overexpression attenuates paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain through rescuing K2p1.1 expression in primary sensory neurons of male rats

AIMS

Paclitaxel-induced downregulation of two-pore domain K+ channel 1.1 (K_2p1.1) caused by increasing DNA methylation within its gene promoter in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) contributes to neuropathic pain. Given that ten-eleven translocation methylcytosine dioxygenase 1 (TET1) promotes DNA demethylation and gene transcription, the present study investigated whether DRG overexpression of TET1 produces an antinociceptive effect on the paclitaxel-induced nociceptive hypersensitivity.

MAIN METHODS

TET1 was overexpressed in the DRG through unilateral microinjection of the herpes simplex virus expressing full-length Tet1 mRNA into the fourth and fifth lumbar DRGs of male rats. Behavioral tests were carried out to examine the effect of this overexpression on the paclitaxel-induced nociceptive hypersensitivity. Western blot analysis, chromatin immunoprecipitation assay and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine detection assay were performed to assess the levels of TET1/K_2p1.1, 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, respectively.

KEY FINDINGS

DRG overexpression of TET1 mitigated the paclitaxel-induced mechanical allodynia, heat hyperalgesia and cold hyperalgesia on the ipsilateral side during the development and maintenance periods. Locomotor function or basal (acute) responses to mechanical, heat or cold stimuli were not affected. Mechanistically, DRG overexpression of TET1 rescued the expression of K_2p1.1 by blocking the paclitaxel-induced increase in the level of 5-methylcytosine and correspondingly reversing the paclitaxel-induced decreases in the amount of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine within the K_2p1.1 promoter region in the microinjected DRGs of male rats.

SIGNIFICANCE

Our findings suggest that DRG overexpression of TET1 alleviated chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain likely through rescuing DRG K_2p1.1 expression. Our findings may provide a potential avenue for the management of this disorder.

The Protective Effects of KAT5 Inhibition on Ocular Inflammation by Mediating the PI3K/AKT Pathway in a Murine Model of Allergic Conjunctivitis

Purpose

We aimed to explore the effect of lysine acetyltransferase KAT5 on allergic conjunctivitis (AC).

Methods

The effect of KAT5 on inflammatory response during AC progression was analyzed in the experimental allergic conjunctivitis (EAC) mouse model.

Results

The clinical score, permeability, total IgE, ovalbumin (OVA)-specific IgE, and IgG1/IgG2a were induced in the EAC mice, in which the overexpression of KAT5 could further enhance but KAT5 inhibitor NU9056 reduce the phenotypes. The eosinophilic infiltration was induced in EAC mice, in which the overexpression of KAT5 was able to further promote but NU9056 attenuate the phenotype. The expression of Eotaxin and RANTES and the inflammatory factors were upregulated in EAC mice and KAT5 overexpression increased, but NU9056 decreased the expression in the model. Significantly, the CD11c+ dendritic cells and CD4+ T cells infiltration in the conjunctiva was enhanced in EAC mice, whereas KAT5 overexpression induced but NU9056 suppressed the effect in the model. Mechanically, the phosphorylation of PI3K and Akt and the levels of histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27ac) were enhanced in EAC mice, whereas the overexpression of KAT5 promoted and NU9056 repressed the phenotype in the mice. The enrichment of KAT5 and H3K27ac on PI3K promoter was increased in EAC mice, and the overexpression of KAT5 further enhanced the enrichment in the mice. Significantly, we observed similar results in the KAT5 knockout mice as well. Moreover, PI3K/AKT signaling inhibitor LY294002 reversed KAT5 overexpression-mediated phenotypes and inflammatory response after induction AC in vivo.

Conclusions

Therefore we concluded that KAT5 inhibition protected against ocular inflammation by mediating the PI3K/AKT pathway in EAC mouse model.

Germinal peptide eye drop promotes corneal epithelial and stromal defect healing in rabbit model

OBJECTIVE

Corneal defect is a common disease in ophthalmology caused by trauma, inflammation, drug toxicity, or surgery. To investigate the effect of germinal peptide eye drop on corneal epithelial and stromal defects after lamellar keratectomy in rabbit model.

METHODS

Eighty-five male New Zealand white rabbits were divided into five groups: Germinal Peptide eye drop at three different concentration groups, normal saline (negative control group), recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rh-EGF) eye drop (positive control group). Corneal epithelial and stromal defects of around 150-200 μm in depth were created with an 8 mm diameter trephine in the center of the right eyes of all animals.

RESULTS

Germinal peptide eye drop with the concentration of 0.001%, 0.002%, and 0.004% and rh-EGF eye drop were more effective in promoting healing, reducing opacity, and edema during the process of corneal epithelial and stromal defect regeneration compared with 0.9% normal saline. No significant difference was observed among the three different doses of germinal peptide eye drop. Compared with the saline control group, the structures of the regenerated corneas were more orderly and less inflammatory cell infiltration was observed in the germinal peptide eye drop groups and the rh-EGF eye drop group.

CONCLUSION

Germinal peptide eye drop (0.001%, 0.002%, and 0.004%) can significantly stimulate the regeneration of corneal epithelia and stroma and reduce corneal opacity and edema. Dose dependency was not observed in the current study.

The protective effect of mangiferin on osteoarthritis: An in vitro and in vivo study

Mangiferin is a kind of polyphenol chemical compound separated from these herbal medicines of Mangifera indica L., Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge. and Belamcanda chinensis L., which has anti-inflammatory, anti-virus, and other physiological activities without toxic effects. Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic disease that is also a kind of arthritis disease in which articular cartilage or bones under the joint is damaged. In addition, artificial replacements are required in severe cases. At present, there are not too much researches on the potential biological activities of mangiferin that plays a protective role in the treatment of OA. In this study, we evaluated the protective effect of mangiferin on osteoarthritis (OA) in vitro and in vivo. First, the effect of different concentrations of mangiferin on rat chondrocytes was determined by MTT assay. Second, the effects of mangiferin on the expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-13, TNF alpha, Collagen II, Caspase-3, and cystatin-C in interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta)-induced rat chondrocytes were examined by the real-time polymerase chain reaction in vitro, meanwhile the effects of mangiferin on the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kappaB) signaling pathway were also investigated by Western Blot. Finally, the anti-osteoarthritic protective effect of mangiferin was evaluated in the rat model by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) combined with bilateral ovariectomy-induced OA in vivo. The results showed that the mangiferin was found to inhibit the expression of MMP-13, TNF-alpha, and Caspase-3 which also increased the expression of Collagen II and cystatin-C in IL 1beta induced rat chondrocytes. In addition, IL-1beta-induced activation of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kappaB) and the degradation of inhibitor of kappaB (IkappaB)-alpha were suppressed by mangiferin. For the in vivo study in a rat model of OA, 100 microl of mangiferin was administered by intra-articular injections for rats, the results showed that the cartilage degradation was suppressed by mangiferin through Micro CT and Histological Examination. According to both in vitro and in vivo results, mangiferin has a protective effect in the treatment of OA which may be a promising therapeutic agent for OA.

miRNA-22 Upregulates Mtf1 in Dorsal Horn Neurons and Is Essential for Inflammatory Pain

Chronic inflammatory pain seriously affects patients' quality of life because of a paucity of effective clinical treatments caused, at least in part, by lack of full understanding of the underlying mechanisms. miRNAs are known to be involved in inflammatory pain via silencing or degrading of target mRNA in the cytoplasm. The present study provides a novel mechanism by which miRNA-22 positively regulates metal-regulatory transcription factor 1 (Mtf1) in the nuclei of neurons in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. We found that miRNA-22 was significantly increased in the dorsal horn of mice with either inflammatory pain induced by plantar injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) or neuropathic pain induced by unilateral sciatic nerve chronic constrictive injury (CCI). Knocking down or blocking miRNA-22 alleviated CFA-induced mechanical allodynia and heat hyperalgesia, whereas overexpressing miRNA-22 produced pain-like behaviors. Mechanistically, the increased miRNA-22 binds directly to the Mtf1 promoter to recruit RNA polymerase II and elevate Mtf1 expression. The increased Mtf1 subsequently enhances spinal central sensitization, as evidenced by increased expression of p-ERK1/2, GFAP, and c-Fos in the dorsal horn. Our findings suggest that the miRNA-22-Mtf1 signaling axis in the dorsal horn plays a critical role in the induction and maintenance of inflammatory pain. This signaling pathway may be a promising therapeutic target in inflammatory pain.

Possible association between viral infection and poor survival of the corneal graft after penetrating keratoplasty in patients with congenital corneal opacity: a cohort study

BACKGROUND

Congenital corneal opacity (CCO) is a rare disorder. Penetrating keratoplasty (PK) is the main surgical option for CCO, but many factors affect graft survival. Therefore, this study aimed to perform a virological examination of CCO specimens after PK to explore the relationship between virological factors and graft survival after PK.

METHODS

This prospective study included consecutive patients (<6 months of age) diagnosed with CCO and treated with PK at Beijing Tongren Hospital from August 2017 to January 2018. Next-generation sequencing was used to detect viral DNA in the CCO specimens. The survival of the primary graft was analysed using the Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTS

Overall, 24 eyes of 24 infants were treated with PK during the study period. The mean age at surgery was 4.8±1.1 months. Epstein-Barr virus DNA was detected in two specimens, varicella-zoster virus DNA in one specimen, herpes simplex virus DNA in three specimens and cytomegalovirus DNA in one specimen. In the virus-positive group, only one (14.3%) graft remained clear during follow-up. In contrast, in the virus-negative group (n=17), 13 (76.5%) grafts were still clear at the last follow-up. The mean survival of the grafts in the virus-positive group was significantly shorter than in the virus-negative group (11.0±9.8 months vs 27.1±7.7, p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

The presence of viral DNA in CCO specimens might be associated with poor graft survival after PK.

Nitrogen-centered radical-mediated α-sulfonimidation of ketones

A nitrogen-centered radical mediated α-sulfonimidation of carbonyl compounds that was initiated by a benzenesulfonimide radical generated from NFSI under the catalytic reduction of TEMPO is established.

Local immunosuppression in WZS-pig to rhesus monkey Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty: An innovative method to promote the survival of xeno-grafts

Corneal xenotransplantation is an effective solution for the shortage of human corneas. We investigated the feasibility and efficacy of different postoperative protocols on xeno-Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) grafts. Thirty rhesus monkeys were randomly divided into three groups: control group (C), only Descemet's membrane (DM) stripping; DSAEK 1 (D1) and DSAEK 2 (D2) groups, DM stripping followed by endothelial keratoplasty. Betamethasone 3.5 mg was subconjunctival injected in groups control and D1 postoperatively, while animals in group D2 were treated with topical 0.1% tacrolimus and topical steroids. All groups were evaluated by slit-lamp microscopy, anterior segment OCT and LSCM for at least nine months. A total of 24 monkeys (24 eyes) met the inclusion criteria. Nine months after DSAEK surgery, all xenografts showed good attachment, and most corneas were transparent. Graft rejection occurred in 25% of the cases in group D1 and 28.57% of those in group D2 (P > 0.05). The corneal endothelium density in the DSAEK groups was 2715.83±516.20/mm² (D1) and 2220.00 ± 565.13/mm² (D2) (P > 0.05). Xenogeneic corneal endothelial grafts can survive and function in rhesus monkey eyes for a long time with subconjunctival steroid or topical tacrolimus and steroid treatment.