Correction: FoQDE2-dependent milRNA promotes Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense virulence by silencing a glycosyl hydrolase coding gene expression.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010157.].

Clinical Application of Quantitative CT Technique in Assessing Liver Fat Content in Patients with Schizophrenia.

This paper investigates the clinical application value of quantitative CT (QCT) technique in evaluating liver fat content in patients with schizophrenia. 457 patients with schizophrenia underwent abdominal CT and QCT scans. QCT postprocessing software (QCT Pro version 6.1) measures the percentage of liver fat content in all patients and calculates the average value. Then, the CT workstation displays the corresponding liver/spleen CT value ratio. SPSS 25.0 software is used for statistical analysis of data, and the correlation coefficient between the mean liver fat content. The ratio of liver/spleen CT values is calculated and the consistency between the results is compared. The ROC curve is used to define the cutoff value of the target and evaluate its diagnostic efficiency. There is a high negative correlation between the mean liver fat content and the ratio of liver/spleen CT value in all schizophrenia patients (r = -0.935, P < 0.05). The identification rate of patients with mild fatty liver by QCT technology is 4 times higher than that of the liver and spleen CT value ratio (50.98% Vs 12.47%). Taking the ratio of the liver to the spleen as the standard, the ROC curve of the liver fat content in QCT is drawn, the cutoff values of the mean liver fat content of the normal liver and mild fatty liver and mild and moderate fatty liver were 9.35% and 19.4%, respectively. Comparing this result with the results obtained by the existing QCT for the fatty liver diagnosis and grading standard value (American standard) shows that there is a difference of about 5% between the two. Compared with the semiquantitative liver/spleen ratio, QCT technology can quantify the liver fat content. Given the particularity of patients with schizophrenia, QCT can be used as an important test for identifying early fatty liver and assessing the severity of fatty liver.

FoQDE2-dependent milRNA promotes Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense virulence by silencing a glycosyl hydrolase coding gene expression.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate protein-coding gene expression primarily found in plants and animals. Fungi produce microRNA-like RNAs (milRNAs) that are structurally similar to miRNAs and functionally important in various biological processes. The fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) is the causal agent of Banana Fusarium vascular wilt that threatens global banana production. It remains uncharacterized about the biosynthesis and functions of milRNAs in Foc. In this study, we investigated the biological function of milRNAs contributing to Foc pathogenesis. Within 24 hours post infecting the host, the Argonaute coding gene FoQDE2, and two Dicer coding genes FoDCL1 and FoDCL2, all of which are involved in milRNA biosynthesis, were significantly induced. FoQDE2 deletion mutant exhibited decreased virulence, suggesting the involvement of milRNA biosynthesis in the Foc pathogenesis. By small RNA sequencing, we identified 364 small RNA-producing loci in the Foc genome, 25 of which were significantly down-regulated in the FoQDE2 deletion mutant, from which milR-87 was verified as a FoQDE2-depedent milRNA based on qRT-PCR and Northern blot analysis. Compared to the wild-type, the deletion mutant of milR-87 was significantly reduced in virulence, while overexpression of milR-87 enhanced disease severity, confirming that milR-87 is crucial for Foc virulence in the infection process. We furthermore identified FOIG_15013 (a glycosyl hydrolase-coding gene) as the direct target of milR-87 based on the expression of FOIG_15013-GFP fusion protein. The FOIG_15013 deletion mutant displayed similar phenotypes as the overexpression of milR-87, with a dramatic increase in the growth, conidiation and virulence. Transient expression of FOIG_15013 in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves activates the host defense responses. Collectively, this study documents the involvement of milRNAs in the manifestation of the devastating fungal disease in banana, and demonstrates the importance of milRNAs in the pathogenesis and other biological processes. Further analyses of the biosynthesis and expression regulation of fungal milRNAs may offer a novel strategy to combat devastating fungal diseases.

A narrative review of primary research endpoints of neoadjuvant therapy for lung cancer: past, present and future.

OBJECTIVE: This review summarizes the current status of neoadjuvant therapy and discusses the choice of new clinical research endpoints for non-small cell lung cancer. BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a recognized practice in patients with resectable and locally advanced lung cancer. With the introduction of molecular targeted drugs and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), the overall survival (OS) of patients with lung cancer has been significantly improved, and the original traditional clinical research endpoints are no longer suitable for existing clinical research. In order to accelerate the process of clinical trials and the development and approval of drugs, it is necessary to find suitable alternative indicators as the main indicators of clinical research. METHODS: Therefore, this article focuses on clinical trials using disease-free survival (DFS), progression free survival, and pathological evaluation indicators, pathologic complete response and major pathologic response, as surrogate endpoints. We search related literature through PubMed database and clinical trials through clinicaltrials.gov. CONCLUSIONS: Pathologic complete response and major pathologic response are recommended as surrogate endpoints in the era of neoadjuvant immunotherapy, and secondary endpoints are listed for the prediction of pathological results. In addition, the definitions of major pathological response (MPR) and PCR should be standardized, and a new pathological evaluation standard should be developed, which is applicable to all current treatment methods. KEYWORDS: Neoadjuvant therapy; resectable lung cancer; clinical research endpoint; pathological response.