Comprehensive Analyses of Four PhNF-YC Genes from Petunia hybrida and Impacts on Flowering Time.

Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) is a class of heterotrimeric transcription factors composed of three subunits: NF-A, NF-YB, and NF-YC. NF-YC family members play crucial roles in various developmental processes, particularly in the regulation of flowering time. However, their functions in petunia remain poorly understood. In this study, we isolated four PhNF-YC genes from petunia and confirmed their subcellular localization in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. We analyzed the transcript abundance of all four PhNF-YC genes and found that PhNF-YC2 and PhNF-YC4 were highly expressed in apical buds and leaves, with their transcript levels decreasing before flower bud differentiation. Silencing PhNF-YC2 using VIGS resulted in a delayed flowering time and reduced chlorophyll content, while PhNF-YC4-silenced plants only exhibited a delayed flowering time. Furthermore, we detected the transcript abundance of flowering-related genes involved in different signaling pathways and found that PhCO, PhGI, PhFBP21, PhGA20ox4, and PhSPL9b were regulated by both PhNF-YC2 and PhNF-YC4. Additionally, the transcript abundance of PhSPL2, PhSPL3, and PhSPL4 increased only in PhNF-YC2-silenced plants. Overall, these results provide evidence that PhNF-YC2 and PhNF-YC4 negatively regulate flowering time in petunia by modulating a series of flowering-related genes.

Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR), Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), Monocyte-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (MLR), and Eosinophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (ELR) as Biomarkers in Patients with Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (AECOPD).

Purpose: The study comprehensively evaluated the prognostic roles of the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), basophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (BLR), and eosinophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (ELR) in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Patients and Methods: Six hundred and nineteen patients with AECOPD and 300 healthy volunteers were retrospectively included into the study. The clinical characteristics of the patients with AECOPD and the complete blood counts (CBCs) of the healthy volunteers were collected. The associations of PLR, NLR, MLR, BLR, and ELR with airflow limitation, hospital length of stay (LOS), C-reactive protein (CRP), and in-hospital mortality in patients with AECOPD were analyzed. Results: Compared with the healthy volunteers, PLR, NLR, MLR, BLR, and ELR were all elevated in COPD patients under stable condition. PLR, NLR, MLR, and BLR were further elevated while ELR was lowered during exacerbation. In the patients with AECOPD, PLR, NLR, and MLR were positively correlated with hospital LOS as well as CRP. In contrast, ELR was negatively correlated with hospital LOS as well as CRP. Elevated PLR, NLR, and MLR were all associated with more severe airflow limitation in AECOPD. Elevated PLR, NLR, and MLR were all associated with increased in-hospital mortality while elevated ELR was associated with decreased in-hospital mortality. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that smoking history, FEV1% predicted, pneumonia, pulmonary heart disease (PHD), uric acid (UA), albumin, and MLR were significant independent predictors ofin-hospital mortality. These predictors along with ELR were used to construct a nomogram for predicting in-hospital mortality in AECOPD. The nomogram had a C-index of 0.850 (95% CI: 0.799-0.901), and the calibration curve, decision curve analysis (DCA), and clinical impact curve (CIC) further demonstrated its good predictive value and clinical applicability. Conclusion: In summary, PLR, NLR, MLR, and ELR served as useful biomarkers in patients with AECOPD.

Probing bundle-wise abnormalities in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus using fixel-based analysis: new insights into neurocognitive impairments / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Changes in white matter (WM) underlie the neurocognitive damages induced by a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This study aimed to examine using a bundle-associated fixel-based analysis (FBA) pipeline for investigating the microstructural and macrostructural alterations in the WM of the brain of HIV patients.@*METHODS@#This study collected 93 HIV infected patients and 45 age/education/handedness matched healthy controls (HCs) at the Beijing Youan Hospital between January 1, 2016 and December 30, 2016.All HIV patients underwent neurocognitive evaluation and laboratory testing followed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning. In order to detect the bundle-wise WM abnormalities accurately, a specific WM bundle template with 56 tracts of interest was firstly generated by an automated fiber clustering method using a subset of subjects. Fixel-based analysis was used to investigate bundle-wise differences between HIV patients and HCs in three perspectives: fiber density (FD), fiber cross-section (FC), and fiber density and cross-section (FDC). The between-group differences were detected by a two-sample t -test with the false discovery rate (FDR) correction ( P <0.05). Furthermore, the covarying relationship in FD, FC and FDC between any pair of bundles was also accessed by the constructed covariance networks, which was subsequently compared between HIV and HCs via permutation t -tests. The correlations between abnormal WM metrics and the cognitive functions of HIV patients were explored via partial correlation analysis after controlling age and gender.@*RESULTS@#Among FD, FC and FDC, FD was the only metric that showed significant bundle-wise alterations in HIV patients compared to HCs. Increased FD values were observed in the bilateral fronto pontine tract, corona radiata frontal, left arcuate fasciculus, left corona radiata parietal, left superior longitudinal fasciculus III, and right superficial frontal parietal (SFP) (all FDR P <0.05). In bundle-wise covariance network, HIV patients displayed decreased FD and increased FC covarying patterns in comparison to HC ( P <0.05) , especially between associated pathways. Finally, the FCs of several tracts exhibited a significant correlation with language and attention-related functions.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Our study demonstrated the utility of FBA on detecting the WM alterations related to HIV infection. The bundle-wise FBA method provides a new perspective for investigating HIV-induced microstructural and macrostructural WM-related changes, which may help to understand cognitive dysfunction in HIV patients thoroughly.

Genome-Wide Characterization of Chrysanthemum indicum Nuclear Factor Y, Subunit C Gene Family Reveals the Roles of CiNF-YCs in Flowering Regulation.

Nuclear Factor Y, Subunit C (NF-YC) transcription factors are conserved in most plants, and play essential roles in plant growth and development, especially in flowering regulation. Chrysanthemums are important commercial plants, and their market value is strongly impacted by flowering time. Until now, no details regarding the NF-YC family in the Chrysanthemum genus have been available. In this study, five NF-YC genes were cloned from Chrysanthemum indicum. Multiple alignments showed that CiNF-YCs had the highly conserved characteristic regions. Phylogenetic analyses identified a pair of paralogue NF-YC proteins in chrysanthemums. Gene structure and conserved motifs were also analyzed for functional understanding. According to the results of the expression experiments, CiNF-YC1 and CiNF-YC5 were mainly expressed in leaves or flowers, and their expression levels varied greatly from the seedling to flower bud differentiation stage. Arabidopsis overexpressing CiNF-YC1 and CiNF-YC3 showed significantly delayed flowering, accompanied by other morphological alterations. RT-qPCR analysis revealed that genes associated with photoperiod, vernalization, aging, and gibberellin pathways were downregulated in CiNF-YC1-OX lines, relative to the wild type, whereas in CiNF-YC3-OX lines, only SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (AtSVP), the key factor in the ambient temperature pathway, was upregulated. Taken together, these findings suggest that CiNF-YC1 and CiNF-YC3 negatively regulate flowering in Arabidopsis via different flowering pathways.

Towards fully ab initio simulation of atmospheric aerosol nucleation.

Atmospheric aerosol nucleation contributes to approximately half of the worldwide cloud condensation nuclei. Despite the importance of climate, detailed nucleation mechanisms are still poorly understood. Understanding aerosol nucleation dynamics is hindered by the nonreactivity of force fields (FFs) and high computational costs due to the rare event nature of aerosol nucleation. Developing reactive FFs for nucleation systems is even more challenging than developing covalently bonded materials because of the wide size range and high dimensional characteristics of noncovalent hydrogen bonding bridging clusters. Here, we propose a general workflow that is also applicable to other systems to train an accurate reactive FF based on a deep neural network (DNN) and further bridge DNN-FF-based molecular dynamics (MD) with a cluster kinetics model based on Poisson distributions of reactive events to overcome the high computational costs of direct MD. We found that previously reported acid-base formation rates tend to be significantly underestimated, especially in polluted environments, emphasizing that acid-base nucleation observed in multiple environments should be revisited.

Insights into the trihelix transcription factor responses to salt and other stresses in Osmanthus fragrans.

BACKGROUND: Osmanthus fragrans is an evergreen plant with high ornamental and economic values. However, they are easily injured by salt stress, which severely limits their use in high salinity areas. The trihelix transcription factor (TF) family, as one of the earliest discovered TF families in plants, plays an essential part in responses to different abiotic stresses, and it has potential functions in improving the salt-tolerance capability of O. fragrans. RESULTS: In this study, 56 trihelix genes (OfGTs) were first identified in O. fragrans and then divided into five subfamilies in accordance with a phylogenetic tree analysis. The OfGTs were found to be located randomly on the 20 O. fragrans chromosomes, and an analysis of gene replication events indicated that the OfGT gene family underwent strong purification selection during the evolutionary process. The analysis of conserved motifs and gene structures implied that the OfGT members in the same subfamily have similar conserved motifs and gene structures. A promoter cis-elements analysis showed that all the OfGT genes contained multiple abiotic and hormonal stress-related cis-elements. The RNA-seq data suggested that the OfGTs have specific expression patterns in different tissues, and some were induced by salt stress. The qRT-PCR analysis of 12 selected OfGTs confirmed that OfGT1/3/21/33/42/45/46/52 were induced, with OfGT3/42/46 being the most highly expressed. In addition, OfGT42/OfGT46 had a co-expression pattern under salt-stress conditions. OfGT3/42/46 were mainly localized in the nuclei and exhibited no transcriptional activities based on the analysis of the subcellular localization and transcriptional activity assay. Furthermore, the expression levels of most of the selected OfGTs were induced by multiple abiotic and hormonal stresses, and the expression patterns of some OfGTs were also highly correlated with gibberellic acid and methyl jasmonate levels. Remarkably, the transient transformation results showed lower MDA content and increased expression of ROS-related genes NbAPX in transgenic plants, which implying OfGT3/42/46 may improve the salt tolerance of tobacco. CONCLUSIONS: The results implied that the OfGT genes were related to abiotic and hormonal stress responses in O. fragrans, and that the OfGT3/42/46 genes in particular might play crucial roles in responses to salt stress. This study made a comprehensive summary of the OfGT gene family, including functions and co-expression patterns in response to salt and other stresses, as well as an evolutionary perspective. Consequently, it lays a foundation for further functional characterizations of these genes.

Meta-analysis of the effects of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery on corneal endothelial cells / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM: To systematically evaluate the effects of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery and conventional ultrasound cataract surgery(CUCS)on corneal endothelial cells.METHODS: Databases such as PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, CNKI, CBM, VIP and WanFang Data were searched for randomized controlled trials(RCT)from the establishment of the database to November 2021 on the effects of femtosecond laser cataract surgery and conventional ultrasound cataract surgery on corneal endothelial cells. Language is limited to Chinese or English. The literatures were evaluated by the Manual of Systematic Evaluation of Cochrane Interventions and the modified Jadad Scale. Stata 15.0 software was used for statistical analysis.RESULTS: A total of 13 RCT were included, including 1 446 eyes in the FLACS group and 1 472 eyes in the CUCS group. The Meta-analysis results showed that the cumulative dissipated energy(CDE)in FLACS group was obviously lower than that in CUCS group [WMD=-3.84, 95%CI (-6.30, -1.38), P=0.002]. The effective phacoemulsification time(EPT)in the FLACS group was obviously lower than that in the CUCS group [WMD=-3.03, 95%CI(-4.00, -2.05), P&#x003C;0.001]. The density of corneal endothelial cells in both the FLACS group after surgery at 1 and 3mo was higher than that in CUCS group [WMD=121.76, 95%CI(79.31, 164.20), P&#x003C;0.001; WMD=76.04, 95%CI(19.25, 132.82), P=0.009]; The thickness of the central cornea in the CUCS group was significantly thicker than that in the FLACS group at 1wk after the surgery [WMD=-9.89, 95%CI (-18.60, -1.18), P=0.026]; The incidence of postoperative corneal edema in the FLACS group was less than that in the CUCS group [RR=0.46, 95%CI(0.32, 0.66), P&#x003C;0.001]. There were no differences in the percentage of hexagonal cells and coefficient of variation of corneal endothelial cells between the two groups.CONCLUSION: Compared with conventional ultrasound cataract surgery, femtosecond assisted cataract surgery can significantly reduce the phacoemulsification energy and the duration of the phacoemulsification energy, and significantly reduce the loss of corneal endothelial cells in the early postoperative period, while reducing the occurrence of postoperative corneal edema.

Serum ferritin is correlated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in middle-aged and older patients with type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown the correlations between serum ferritin and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or diabetes. However, this relationship remains unclear in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) with NAFLD. Therefore, this study aimed to elaborate the relationship between serum ferritin levels and NAFLD in middle-aged and older patients with T2DM and further explored the biomarkers for NAFLD in T2DM. METHODS: A total of 805 middle-aged and older patients with T2DM were divided into NAFLD and non-NAFLD groups, and their serum ferritin levels were compared. Next, NAFLD group were divided into five subgroups according to the quintile levels of serum ferritin, and the differences in the constituent ratios of NAFLD were analyzed. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the risk factors for NAFLD in patients with T2DM. RESULTS: The serum ferritin levels were significantly higher in T2DM patients with NAFLD (168.47 (103.78, 248.00) ng/mL) than in the non-NAFLD patients (121.19 (76.97, 208.39) ng/mL). The constituent ratios of NAFLD were significantly higher in the F5 and F4 groups than in the F2 or F1 groups (22.70 and 22.70% vs. 15.90 and 16.90%, respectively; P < 0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that serum ferritin (P = 0.001) was an independent risk factor for NAFLD in patients with T2DM. CONCLUSIONS: Serum ferritin levels were significantly increased in T2DM with NAFLD, and the constituent ratios of NAFLD increased gradually along with the increased levels of serum ferritin. Thus, serum ferritin is an independent risk factor for NAFLD in patients with T2DM.

Study of resting-state fMRI on brain function connection in smokers / 中国医学影像技术

Objective To analyze the function connection of the brain in smokers with resting-state fMRI.Methods Resting-state fMRI data of 53 smokers (smoking group) and 53 non-smokers (control group) were observed.The subjects in smoking group were divided into small or large amount smoking subgroup,as well as mild or severe addiction subgroup.The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) values of all subjects were calculated,and the differences of fALFF values and whole brain functional connectivity were observed.Results Compared with control group,fALFF significantly increased in the left limbic lobe,and decreased in the right superior temporal gyrus in smoking group.Compared to small amount smoking subgroup,fALFF significantly increased in the right superior temporal gyrus,and decreased in the bilateral limbic lobe in large amount smoking subgroup.Compared with mild addiction subgroup,fALFF significantly increased in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus,and decreased in the left limbic lobe in severe addiction subgroup.There are many increased and decreased functional connectivity brain areas in smoking group compared with control group.Conclusion There are many activity changes in addiction related brain areas and less in emotion control areas in smokers,and some brain areas activation changes are related to smoking amount and addiction level.

Correlation study between cerebral microbleeds and white matter lesions in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To explore distribution characteristics and risk factors of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs),and the correlation between CMBs and white matter lesions (WML) in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease(ICVD).Methods 180 patients with ICVD in neurology department of Hebei General Hospital from February 2015 to January 2017 were recruited.Those patients were underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),and magnetic susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI).Recorded the baseline data and risk factors of high blood pressure,diabetes,hyperlipidemia,and high homocysteine were recorded.Patients with CMBs were counted and graded to understand the characteristics of CMBs distribution.Logisitic regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors.ICVD patients were divided into CMBs group and non CMBs group.CMBs group was further divided into 4 groups according to the severity,which was divided into level 1-3.The correlation between CMBs influencing factors and classification was further studied.Then patients with ICVD were divided into WML group and non WML group.WML group scored each region with age-related white matter changes rating scale (ARWMCrs).The correlation between WML and CMBs classification was further studied.Results (1) The overall prevalence of CMBs in patients with ICVD was 61.7％ (111/180).The most common location of CMBs in patients with ICVD was the cortical and subcortical regions (80/111,72.1％),followed by the basal ganglia and thalamus regions (61/111,55.0％),and the infratentorial regions(38/111,34.2％).The difference between them were significant (x2 =32.061,P=0.000).In cortical and subcortical regions of CMBs,temporal lobe was the most common (61.3％).(2) Age(B=0.046,Or=1.047,95％CI =1.017～ 1.077,P=0.002) and the high homocysteine (B =1.458,Or=4.299,95％ CI =2.114 ～ 8.744,P＜0.001) were the risk factors for CMBs.(3) Four classification of CMBs was positively correlated with and WML total score (r=0.393,P=0.393).Conclusion The temporal lobe was the most common region for CMBs in patients with ICVD.Age and high homocysteine were risk factors for CMBs.With the increase of WML total score,severity of CMBs was also increased.

Reformation and exploration of selective courses optimization in computer class for medical colleges based on Java language / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Computer selective courses in medical colleges based on C language are facing many problems. First, C language lacks continuity with follow-up courses and well combines with professional courses, which result in loss of interest of students and few students would like choose this selective course. Second, the computer selective courses are miscellaneous and discontinuous, which occupies much time and therefore necessitate integration and optimization. The reformations and implementation schemes are proposed to optimize computer selective courses based on Java language. On the one land, different computer selective courses are optimized, credit hours are compressed, and selective interests of the students are improved. In addition, the practicability and scalability of computer selective courses are enhanced combining the characteristics of medical science specialty.

Treatments of oropharyngeal anterior wall cancer by transhyoid surgery radiotherapy / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the transhyoid resection of oropharyngeal anterior wall cancer and oncological outcomes of the surgery combined with radiotherapy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 24 cases with carcinoma located in the anterior wall of oropharynx was reviewed. The TNM stages were as follows: T2 in 7 cases, T3 in 2 cases, T4 in 15 cases; NO in 7 cases, N1 in 4 cases, N2 in 12 cases and N3 in 1 case. Tumor resection was performed via transhyoid approach, including 9 cases with partial glossectomy + partial laryngectomy, 7 cases with partial glossectomy + total laryngectomy, 7 cases with total glossectomy + partial laryngectomy and 1 case with partial glossectomy alone pectoralis major myocutaneous flaps were applied to repair synchronously the defects of tongue and lateral pharyngeal wall in 16 cases and the defect of cervical skin in 1 case. Radial forearm free flap and sternohyoid myocutaneous flap were used to repair the defect of tongue and lateral and posterior pharyngeal wall in 1 case. Sternohyoid myocutaneous flap was applied to reconstruct the tongue base in 2 cases. Bilateral and unilateral neck dissections were performed in 20 cases and 4 cases respectively. Five cases received preoperative radiotherapy and 16 cases received postoperative radiotherapy.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All cases had negative surgical margin. Pathological examination showed neck lymph metastasis in 17 cases (70.8%). Three patients had postoperative pharyngocutaneous fistula. Two of them who underwent partial glossectomy + total laryngectomy and pectoralis major myocutaneous flaps synchronously reconstruction suffered from pharyngocutaneous fistula 4 days after operation. The fistula was closed by re-suturation following debridement and 2 weeks dressing change. The other one who underwent partial glossectomy + partial laryngectomy suffered from pharyngocutaneous fistula during postoperation radiotherapy and healed by the pectoralis major myocutaneous repair. Tracheostomy tubes were removed within 1-6 months, with good voice and swallowing functions, in 16 of 17 cases who underwent partial laryngectomy. Another one failed to pull out tracheotomy tube because of dyspnea. Twenty one cases were followed up over 3 years and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed the 3-year overall survival rate was 72.6%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The transhyoid tumor resection is an effective surgical approach for oropharyngeal anterior wall cancer. The defect following tumor resection is commonly need repair synchronously with various flaps. Acceptable outcome could be received by surgery combined with radiotherapy.</p>

[Application of damage control surgery for severe abdominal trauma].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the value of damage control surgery(DCS) for severe abdominal trauma. METHODS: Forty-six patients with severe abdominal trauma were treated according to DCS principles and 58 patients were not. Clinical data of the two groups were analyzed retrospectively. DCS included simple surgery, resuscitation, and definitive operation. RESULTS: Perioperative morality was 15.2%(7/46) in the DCS group and 34.5%(20/58) in the non-DCS group, and the difference was statistically significant(χ²=4.954, P=0.026). The perioperative complication rate was 37.0%(17/46) in the DCS group and 67.2%(39/58) in the non-DCS group, and the difference was statistically significant(χ²=9.468, P=0.002). CONCLUSION: Damage control surgery can reduce perioperative morbidity and mortality in patients with severe abdominal trauma, and its efficacy is satisfactory.

Application of damage control surgery for severe abdominal trauma / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the value of damage control surgery(DCS) for severe abdominal trauma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-six patients with severe abdominal trauma were treated according to DCS principles and 58 patients were not. Clinical data of the two groups were analyzed retrospectively. DCS included simple surgery, resuscitation, and definitive operation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Perioperative morality was 15.2%(7/46) in the DCS group and 34.5%(20/58) in the non-DCS group, and the difference was statistically significant(χ²=4.954, P=0.026). The perioperative complication rate was 37.0%(17/46) in the DCS group and 67.2%(39/58) in the non-DCS group, and the difference was statistically significant(χ²=9.468, P=0.002).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Damage control surgery can reduce perioperative morbidity and mortality in patients with severe abdominal trauma, and its efficacy is satisfactory.</p>

Dependablited analysis of clinical characteristic of acute pancreatitis with hyperlipemia / 中国基层医药

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristic of acute pancreatitis with hyperlipemia.Methods 276 patients with acute pancreatitis were divided into two groups:hyperlipemia group and normal group under the diagnostic code.The etiological factor and clinical characteristic were compared between the two groups,also the scores of APACHEⅡ,Ranson and CT after control lipid were compared.Results The factor of food and drink and the rate of SAP in group HL compared with those in group normal were significantly different (P