The evaluation value of intracranial magnetic resonance angiography combined with carotid ultrasound in cerebral infarction.

Objective: To explore the evaluation value of intracranial magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) combined with carotid ultrasound (CU) in patients with cerebral infarction (CI). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 122 patients with CI who underwent intracranial MRA combined with CU examination in Shengzhou People's Hospital from January 2021 to October 2022. Vascular stenosis rate and CU parameters of patients with different degrees of nerve damage (ND) and size of CI lesion were analyzed. Results: The rate of vascular stenosis and ultrasound parameters significantly varied between patients with different degrees of ND and different sizes of CI lesion. Spearman test showed a significant positive correlation between vascular stenosis, pulsatile index (PI), and resistance index (RI) with the degree of ND and the size of CI lesions in patients. There was a significant negative correlation between peak systolic velocity (PSV) and end-diastolic velocity (EDV) and the degree of ND and the size of CI lesions (P<0.05). Conclusions: Intracranial MRA combined with CU can clarify the vascular stenosis and hemodynamic characteristics of patients with CI, and the combined approach closely correlates with the characteristics of CI, which can be used for disease assessment.

High-efficiency flexible organic solar cells with a polymer-incorporated pseudo-planar heterojunction.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are considered as a crucial energy source for flexible and wearable electronics. Pseudo-planar heterojunction (PPHJ) OSCs simplify the solution preparation and morphology control. However, non-halogenated solvent-printed PPHJ often have an undesirable vertical component distribution and insufficient donor/acceptor interfaces. Additionally, the inherent brittleness of non-fullerene small molecule acceptors (NFSMAs) in PPHJ leads to poor flexibility, and the NFSMAs solution shows inadequate viscosity during the printing of acceptor layer. Herein, we propose a novel approach termed polymer-incorporated pseudo-planar heterojunction (PiPPHJ), wherein a small amount of polymer donor is introduced into the NFSMAs layer. Our findings demonstrate that the incorporation of polymer increases the viscosity of acceptor solution, thereby improving the blade-coating processability and overall film quality. Simultaneously, this strategy effectively modulates the vertical component distribution, resulting in more donor/acceptor interfaces and an improved power conversion efficiency of 17.26%. Furthermore, PiPPHJ-based films exhibit superior tensile properties, with a crack onset strain of 12.0%, surpassing PPHJ-based films (9.6%). Consequently, large-area (1 cm2) flexible devices achieve a considerable efficiency of 13.30% and maintain excellent mechanical flexibility with 82% of the initial efficiency after 1000 bending cycles. These findings underscore the significant potential of PiPPHJ-based OSCs in flexible and wearable electronics.

Characterization and Antibacterial Activity of a Polysaccharide Produced From Sugarcane Molasses by Chaetomium globosum CGMCC 6882.

As a by-product of the sugar industry containing many sugars, proteins, nitrogenous materials, and heavy metals, molasses is rarely used for polysaccharide production. In the present work, a Chaetomium globosum CGMCC 6882 polysaccharide was produced from sugarcane molasses (CGP-SM) was successfully produced from sugarcane molasses. The yield of CGP-SM was 5.83 ± 0.09 g/l and its protein content was 2.41 ± 0.12% (w/w). Structural analysis showed that CGP-SM was a crystalline and amorphous polysaccharide containing rhamnose, glucosamine, galactose, glucose, mannose, fructose, and glucuronic acid in the molar ratio of 10.31: 1.14: 2.07: 59.55: 42.65: 1.92: 9.63. Meanwhile, weight-average molecular weight (Mw), number-average molecular weight (Mn), and polydispersity (Mw/Mn) of CGP-SM were 28.37 KDa, 23.66 KDa, and 1.199, respectively. Furthermore, the bacteriostatic assay indicated that CGP-SM inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in a concentration-dependent manner, and its inhibitory effect on S. aureus was higher than that of E. coli. Above all, this work provides a green method for the production of bioactive polysaccharide from sugarcane molasses.

Land-surface processes and summer-cloud-precipitation characteristics in the Tibetan Plateau and their effects on downstream weather: a review and perspective.

Correct understanding of the land-surface processes and cloud-precipitation processes in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is an important prerequisite for the study and forecast of the downstream activities of weather systems and one of the key points for understanding the global atmospheric movement. In order to show the achievements that have been made, this paper reviews the progress on the observations for the atmospheric boundary layer, land-surface heat fluxes, cloud-precipitation distributions and vertical structures by using ground- and space-based multiplatform, multisensor instruments and the effect of the cloud system in the TP on the downstream weather. The results show that the form drag related to the topography, land-atmosphere momentum and scalar fluxes is an important part of the parameterization process. The sensible heat flux decreased especially in the central and northern TP caused by the decrease in wind speeds and the differences in the ground-air temperatures. Observations show that the cloud and precipitation over the TP have a strong diurnal variation. Studies also show the compressed-air column in the troposphere by the higher-altitude terrain of the TP makes particles inside clouds vary at a shorter distance in the vertical direction than those in the non-plateau area so that precipitation intensity over the TP is usually small with short duration, and the vertical structure of the convective precipitation over the TP is obviously different from that in other regions. In addition, the influence of the TP on severe weather downstream is preliminarily understood from the mechanism. It is necessary to use model simulations and observation techniques to reveal the difference between cloud precipitation in the TP and non-plateau areas in order to understand the cloud microphysical parameters over the TP and the processes of the land boundary layer affecting cloud, precipitation and weather in the downstream regions.

Aircraft measurement campaign on summer cloud microphysical properties over the Tibetan Plateau.

We reported the first aircraft campaign on summer cloud microphysical properties conducted in July of 2014 over the Tibetan Plateau during the third Tibetan Plateau Atmospheric Sciences Experiment (TIPEX-III), and demonstrated that the summer clouds over the Tibetan Plateau were primarily characterized as mixed-phase cumulus clouds induced by strong solar radiation heating. Moreover, the characteristic number concentration of cloud droplets (2~50 µm in diameter) in developing cumuli was around 10 cm-3, which was about 1~2 orders of magnitudes lower than other continent and ocean regions, and that for large drops (>50 µm in diameter) was around 10-3 cm-3, which was also lower than other regions. The droplet spectrum distributions (DSDs) of cloud drops were much wider than other regions, indicating that the cumulus clouds over the plateau could form precipitation easier than that in other regions. Ice microphysics was characterized as very active glaciation and riming processes with high supercooled water content, which caused the formation of high concentration of graupel particles in clouds. The findings of this study suggest that these unique cloud microphysical properties formed by the high topography and clean environment of the Tibetan Plateau could induce higher precipitation efficiency when airflow passed over the plateau, so that the plateau could act as a regional "water tower".

Temporal evolution of condensation and precipitation induced by a 22-TW laser.

Water condensation and precipitation induced by 22-TW 800-nm laser pulses at 1 Hz in an open cloud chamber were investigated in a time-resolved manner. Two parts of precipitation in two independent periods of time were observed directly following each laser shot. One part started around the filament zone at t < 500 µs and ended at t ≅ 1.5 ms after the arrival of the femtosecond laser pulse. The other following the laser-induced energetic air motion (turbulence), started at t ≅ 20 ms and ended at t ≅ 120 ms. Meanwhile, the phase transitions of large-size condensation droplets with diameters of 400-500 µm from liquid to solid (ice) in a cold area (T < -30 °C) were captured at t ≅ 20 ms.

Corrigendum: Novel variation at chr11p13 associated with cystic fibrosis lung disease severity.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/hgv.2016.20.].

Novel variation at chr11p13 associated with cystic fibrosis lung disease severity.

Published genome-wide association studies (GWASs) identified an intergenic region with regulatory features on chr11p13 associated with cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease severity. Targeted resequencing in n=377, followed by imputation to n=6,365 CF subjects, was used to identify unrecognized genetic variants (including indels and microsatellite repeats) associated with phenotype. Highly significant associations were in strong linkage disequilibrium and were seen only in Phe508del homozygous CF subjects, indicating a CFTR genotype-specific mechanism.

Gene expression in transformed lymphocytes reveals variation in endomembrane and HLA pathways modifying cystic fibrosis pulmonary phenotypes.

Variation in cystic fibrosis (CF) phenotypes, including lung disease severity, age of onset of persistent Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) lung infection, and presence of meconium ileus (MI), has been partially explained by genome-wide association studies (GWASs). It is not expected that GWASs alone are sufficiently powered to uncover all heritable traits associated with CF phenotypic diversity. Therefore, we utilized gene expression association from lymphoblastoid cells lines from 754 p.Phe508del CF-affected homozygous individuals to identify genes and pathways. LPAR6, a G protein coupled receptor, associated with lung disease severity (false discovery rate q value = 0.0006). Additional pathway analyses, utilizing a stringent permutation-based approach, identified unique signals for all three phenotypes. Pathways associated with lung disease severity were annotated in three broad categories: (1) endomembrane function, containing p.Phe508del processing genes, providing evidence of the importance of p.Phe508del processing to explain lung phenotype variation; (2) HLA class I genes, extending previous GWAS findings in the HLA region; and (3) endoplasmic reticulum stress response genes. Expression pathways associated with lung disease were concordant for some endosome and HLA pathways, with pathways identified using GWAS associations from 1,978 CF-affected individuals. Pathways associated with age of onset of persistent P. aeruginosa infection were enriched for HLA class II genes, and those associated with MI were related to oxidative phosphorylation. Formal testing demonstrated that genes showing differential expression associated with lung disease severity were enriched for heritable genetic variation and expression quantitative traits. Gene expression provided a powerful tool to identify unrecognized heritable variation, complementing ongoing GWASs in this rare disease.

MUC5AC upstream complex repetitive region length polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility and clinical stage of gastric cancer.

MUC5AC was deemed to be involved in gastric carcinogenesis since aberrant MUC5AC expression has been repeatedly detected in patients with gastric cancer (GC). In this study, length polymorphisms in a complicated repetitive region adjacent to MUC5AC promoter were assessed in 230 patients with GC and 328 cancer-free controls. Alleles of 1.4 and 1.8 kb were significantly more prevalent in GC group than in controls. In contrast, 2.3 and 2.8 kb alleles occurred at significantly lower frequencies in patients than in controls. Alleles were then classified into susceptible (S; 1.4 and 1.8 kb), protective (P; 2.3 and 2.8 kb) and null (N; all other alleles) categories with respect to their linkage with the susceptibility to GC. Individuals with genotype SS had a 2.7-fold increased risk of GC occurrence, but PN genotype was associated with a significantly reduced risk of this cancer. Moreover, homozygous or heterozygous individuals with one or two copies of 1.4 kb allele showed an earlier age of onset and more advanced metastasis stage compared with patients without this allele (Bonferroni corrected p = 1.35×10(-4) and 6.60×10(-4) accordingly), whereas homozygous patients with two copies of 1.8 kb allele were linked to less advanced GC TNM stage. Our results suggest that certain genetic variations in MUC5AC upstream repetitive region are associated with the susceptibility and progression of GC.

Meconium ileus in cystic fibrosis is not linked to central repetitive region length variation in MUC1, MUC2, and MUC5AC.

BACKGROUND: Mucins are excellent candidates for contributing to the presence of meconium ileus (MI) in cystic fibrosis (CF) due to their extensive genetic variation and known function in intestinal physiology. The length of variants in mucin central repetitive regions has not been explored as "risk" factors for MI in CF. METHODS: We investigated the length polymorphisms in the central repetitive regions of MUC1, MUC2, and MUC5AC by Southern blot and tested for association with MI in CF subjects. RESULTS: No significant associations were found for the allele sizes of any of the genes with respect to the prevalence of MI (p values=0.33, 0.16, and 0.71 for MUC1, MUC2, and MUC5AC, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The genetic length variants in the central repetitive region of three MUC genes studied are not associated with MI in subjects with CF.

Genome reference and sequence variation in the large repetitive central exon of human MUC5AC.

Despite modern sequencing efforts, the difficulty in assembly of highly repetitive sequences has prevented resolution of human genome gaps, including some in the coding regions of genes with important biological functions. One such gene, MUC5AC, encodes a large, secreted mucin, which is one of the two major secreted mucins in human airways. The MUC5AC region contains a gap in the human genome reference (hg19) across the large, highly repetitive, and complex central exon. This exon is predicted to contain imperfect tandem repeat sequences and multiple conserved cysteine-rich (CysD) domains. To resolve the MUC5AC genomic gap, we used high-fidelity long PCR followed by single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing. This technology yielded long sequence reads and robust coverage that allowed for de novo sequence assembly spanning the entire repetitive region. Furthermore, we used SMRT sequencing of PCR amplicons covering the central exon to identify genetic variation in four individuals. The results demonstrated the presence of segmental duplications of CysD domains, insertions/deletions (indels) of tandem repeats, and single nucleotide variants. Additional studies demonstrated that one of the identified tandem repeat insertions is tagged by nonexonic single nucleotide polymorphisms. Taken together, these data illustrate the successful utility of SMRT sequencing long reads for de novo assembly of large repetitive sequences to fill the gaps in the human genome. Characterization of the MUC5AC gene and the sequence variation in the central exon will facilitate genetic and functional studies for this critical airway mucin.

Mucin variable number tandem repeat polymorphisms and severity of cystic fibrosis lung disease: significant association with MUC5AC.

Variability in cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease is partially due to non-CFTR genetic modifiers. Mucin genes are very polymorphic, and mucins play a key role in the pathogenesis of CF lung disease; therefore, mucin genes are strong candidates as genetic modifiers. DNA from CF patients recruited for extremes of lung phenotype was analyzed by Southern blot or PCR to define variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) length polymorphisms for MUC1, MUC2, MUC5AC, and MUC7. VNTR length polymorphisms were tested for association with lung disease severity and for linkage disequilibrium (LD) with flanking single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). No strong associations were found for MUC1, MUC2, or MUC7. A significant association was found between the overall distribution of MUC5AC VNTR length and CF lung disease severity (p = 0.025; n = 468 patients); plus, there was robust association of the specific 6.4 kb HinfI VNTR fragment with severity of lung disease (p = 6.2×10(-4) after Bonferroni correction). There was strong LD between MUC5AC VNTR length modes and flanking SNPs. The severity-associated 6.4 kb VNTR allele of MUC5AC was confirmed to be genetically distinct from the 6.3 kb allele, as it showed significantly stronger association with nearby SNPs. These data provide detailed respiratory mucin gene VNTR allele distributions in CF patients. Our data also show a novel link between the MUC5AC 6.4 kb VNTR allele and severity of CF lung disease. The LD pattern with surrounding SNPs suggests that the 6.4 kb allele contains, or is linked to, important functional genetic variation.

Epidemiology and evolutionary characteristics of the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in China between 2006 and 2010.

In 2006, an emerging highly pathogenic strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), which causes continuous high fever and a high proportion of deaths in vaccinated pigs of all ages, broke out in mainland China and spread rapidly to neighboring countries. To examine the epidemiology and evolutionary characteristics of Chinese PRRSV after the 2006 outbreak, we tested 2,981 clinical samples collected from 2006 to 2010 in China, determined 153 Nsp2 sequences and 249 ORF5 sequences, and analyzed the epidemiology and genetic diversity of Chinese PRRSV. Our results showed that the percentage of PRRSV-positive specimens collected from sick pigs averaged 60.85% in the past 5 years and that the highly pathogenic PRRSV has become the dominant strain in China. Furthermore, a reemerging strain which apparently evolved from the highly pathogenic PRRSV strain in 2006 appeared to be widely prevalent in China from 2009 onwards. Sequence analyses revealed that the hypervariable region of Nsp2 in most of the isolates contained a discontinuous deletion equivalent to 30 amino acids, along with other types of deletions. Extensive amino acid substitutions in the GP5 sequence translated from ORF5 were found, particularly in the potential neutralization epitope and the N-glycosylation sites. Our results suggest that Chinese PRRSV has undergone rapid evolution and can circumvent immune responses induced by currently used vaccines. Information from this study will help in understanding the evolutionary characteristics of Chinese PRRSV and assist ongoing efforts to develop and use PRRSV vaccines in the future.

Inhibitory effects of docetaxel on expression of VEGF, bFGF and MMPs of LS174T cell.

AIM: To study the effects of non-cytotoxic concentrations of docetaxel on some important angiogenic factors of LS174T Cells. METHODS: The non-cytotoxic concentration of docetaxel and the activity of gelatinase were determined with MTT and gelatin zymography respectively, the expression of VEGF(vascular endothelial growth factor), bFGF (basic fibroblast growth factor), MMP (matrix metalloproteinase) 2 and MMP 9 was investigated with RT-PCR and Western blot. RESULTS: The maximum non-cytotoxic concentration of docetaxel on LS174T Cells was 1.0 ng/ml. Compared with the solvent control group, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 ng/ml of docetaxel could downregulate the expression of VEGF, bFGF, MMP 2 and MMP 9 and suppress the activity of gelatinase. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that the non-cytotoxic concentrations of docetaxel have strong antiangiogenic activity on LS174T Cells, which suggests docetaxel may be a promising antiangiogenic agent.