Niche and interspecific association of dominant tree species in karst forest of Junzi Mountain, Eastern Yunnan, China.

To understand the interspecific relationships of tree species in the karst forest of Junzi Mountain in Eas-tern Yunnan, we evaluated the niche and interspecific association of dominant tree species based on field survey plot data with the combining approaches of niche determination, χ2 test, association coefficient (AC), and Spearman rank correlation test. The results showed that the niche breadth of Quercus glaucoides was the largest and that of Juglans mandshurica was the smallest. The ranking of niche breadth was more consistent with the ranking of frequency than with that of importance values. The degree of niche overlap was generally low, with a mean value of 0.21, suggesting a low similarity in resource utilization among tree species. The overall association of dominant tree species was significantly positive, and the ratio of positive and negative association was 1.07, indicating that the communities were at a relatively stable and the late succession stage. The χ2 test and Spearman rank correlation test for tree dominant species showed that 65.3% species pairs were not significantly associated with each other, indicating a weak interspecific association. Both association coefficient (AC) and Spearman rank correlation coefficient showed significantly positive correlations with the corresponding niche overlap index. The species pairs of Q. glaucoides-Rhamnella martini, Viburnum propinquum-Zanthoxylum myriacanthum, Cladrastis delavayi-Carrierea calycina, Z. myriacanthum-C. delavayi had strong interspecific associations and wide ecological niches, thus may have potential application value in ecological restoration of karst region in eastern Yunnan and the vicinity areas.

Influence of umbilical cord milking versus delayed cord clamping on the early prognosis of preterm infants with a gestational age of <34 weeks: a Meta analysis / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To study the influence of umbilical cord milking versus delayed cord clamping on the early prognosis of preterm infants with a gestational age of <34 weeks.@*METHODS@#PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, Weipu Database, and SinoMed were searched for randomized controlled trials on umbilical cord milking versus delayed cord clamping in preterm infants with a gestational age of <34 weeks published up to November 2021. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two researchers independently performed literature screening, quality evaluation, and data extraction. Review Manger 5.4 was used for Meta analysis.@*RESULTS@#A total of 11 articles were included in the analysis, with 1 621 preterm infants in total, among whom there were 809 infants in the umbilical cord milking group and 812 in the delayed cord clamping group. The Meta analysis showed that compared with delayed cord clamping, umbilical cord milking increased the mean blood pressure after birth (weighted mean difference=3.61, 95%CI: 0.73-6.50, P=0.01), but it also increased the incidence rate of severe intraventricular hemorrhage (RR=1.83, 95%CI: 1.08-3.09, P=0.02). There were no significant differences between the two groups in hemoglobin, hematocrit, blood transfusion rate, proportion of infants undergoing phototherapy, bilirubin peak, and incidence rates of complications such as periventricular leukomalacia and necrotizing enterocolitis (P>0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#Compared with delayed cord clamping, umbilical cord milking may increase the risk of severe intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm infants with a gestational age of <34 weeks; however, more high-quality large-sample randomized controlled trials are needed for further confirmation.

Novel role of SF1 in alleviating thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy through the AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by an increased volume of adipose/connective tissue. This study aims to explore whether steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1) is implicated in development of TAO through the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. METHODS: Initially, we extracted orbital preadipocytes from 10 TAO patients for culture and identification. After differentiation, cells were inoculated with plasmids with overexpressed SF1, and plasmids with siRNA against SF1, respectively. Then fat content and PGE2 secretion were measured by using ELISA. The levels of SF1, Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase3, Pref-1, PPARγ, Leptin, Adiponectin, p-AMPKαThr172, p-mTORSer2448, and p-S6KThr389 were detected by RT-qPCR and western blot analysis. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were measured by EdU and flow cytometry. RESULTS: TAO patients showed reduced SF1 expression in orbital preadipocytes. Overexpression of SF1 led to inhibited expression of Bcl-2, PPARγ, Leptin, Adiponectin and p-AMPKαThr172, fat content, cell proliferation and differentiation, but increased levels of Bax, Caspase3, Pref-1, p-mTORSer2448 and p-S6KThr389, PGE2 secretion and apoptosis rate. CONCLUSION: Our result showed up-regulated SF1 may relieve TAO through suppressing cell proliferation and differentiation, but accelerating cell apoptosis by inhibiting the activation of the AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway.

A2 DS2 score predicts stroke-associated pneumonia in patients with anterior and posterior circulation ischemic stroke / 国际脑血管病杂志

Objective To investigate the value of A2DS2 score in predicting stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) in patients with anterior and posterior circulation ischemic stroke. Methods The clinical data of patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted to the Department of Neurology, Heze Municipal Hospital from June 2011 to March 2016 were analyzed retrospectively. The independent risk factors for SAP were determined by binary multivariate logistic regression analysis. The value of A2DS2 score in predicting SAP in patients with anterior and posterior circulation ischemic stroke was evaluated by the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve. Results A total of 530 patients with acute ischemic stroke were enrolled, 90 of them (16. 98％) had SAP. There was no significant difference in SAP incidence between the patients with anterior circulation stroke (n = 430) and posterior circulation stroke (n = 100)(17. 2％ vs. 16. 0％; χ2 = 0. 084, P = 0. 772). Binary multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the A2DS2 score was an independent risk factor for SAP in patients with ischemic stroke (odds ratio [OR] 1. 644, 95％ confidence interval [CI] 1. 097-2. 426), anterior circulation stroke (OR 1. 593, 95％ CI 1. 086- 2. 387), and posterior circulation stroke (OR 1. 463, 95％ CI 1. 064-2. 174). The ROC curve showed that the area under the curve of the A2DS2 score predicting SAP in patients with ischemic stroke, anterior circulation and posterior circulation stroke were 0. 826 (95％ CI 0. 792-0. 869), 0. 821 (95％ CI 0. 783-0. 858), and 0. 832 (95％ CI 0. 781-0. 923), respectively. The best cut-off value was 5. There was no significant difference in the area under SAP curve of the A2DS2 score for predicting SAP between patients with acute anterior circulation and posterior circulation ischemic stroke (Z = 0. 259, P = 0. 394). Conclusion A2DS2 score could predict SAP in patients with anterior circulation and posterior circulation stroke without difference, both of the cut-off value was 5.

Evaluation of efficacy and safety of Reteplase and Alteplase in the treatment of hyper-acute cerebral infarction.

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of Reteplase (rPA) and Alteplase (rt-PA) in the treatment of hyper-acute cerebral infarction (CI).Methods: Six hundred and eleven patients with hyper-acute CI selected from September 2014 to September 2016 were assigned into the aspirin, rt-PA, rPA, rt-PA + aspirin, and rPA + aspirin groups based on their willingness. The difference of efficacy in five groups were evaluated with National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), modified rankin scale (mRS), and Barthel Index (BI). Coagulation function, blood lipid, and hemodynamics were analyzed. The safety differences were compared by observing the adverse reactions.Results: Compared with the rt-PA, rPA, and aspirin groups, NIHSS score, mRS score, the incidence of non- and symptomatic cerebral hemorrhage as well as the rate of adverse reactions were decreased, while BI were increased in the rt-PA + aspirin and rPA + aspirin groups after treatment. Compared with the rt-PA and rPA groups, total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were lower, whereas the hematocrit, whole blood high shear viscosity, whole blood low shear viscosity, plasma viscosity, erythrocyte electrophoresis time, fibrinogen, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), K value in blood sedimentation equation, and the comprehensive abnormality degree of blood rheology were higher in the rt-PA + aspirin and rPA + aspirin groups.Conclusion: The efficacy and safety of rt-PA or rPA combined with aspirin in the treatment of hyper-acute CI were better than those of rPA or rt-PA monotherapy.

Evaluation of the suitability of six host genes as internal control in real-time RT-PCR assays in chicken embryo cell cultures infected with infectious bursal disease virus.

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) can cause disease in chickens characterized by immunosuppression and high mortality. Currently, real-time RT-PCR has been used to quantitate virus-specific RNA and to better understand host response to infection. However, normalization of quantitative real-time RT-PCR is needed to a suitable internal control. We thus investigated the expression pattern of six chicken genes, including beta-actin, 28S rRNA, 18S rRNA, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), TATA box-binding protein (TBP) and beta-2-microglobulin, in chicken embryo (CE) cell cultures following a 7-day IBDV infection. The CE cells were inoculated with various multiplicity of infection (MOI) of IBDV vaccine strain Bursine-2, the expression of genes was measured by quantitative real-time PCR-based on cDNA synthesized from either normalized (100 ng) or non-normalized (10 microl) total RNA. The results showed that beta-actin, 28S rRNA, 18S rRNA and GAPDH were the most constantly expressed genes, while TBP and beta-2-microglobulin were markedly induced during the infection course. Of these constant expressed genes, 28S rRNA and 18S rRNA are highly expressed; beta-actin intermediately expressed and GAPDH had a lower expression level in CE cell cultures. Also, beta-actin showed no significant variation in both normalized and non-normalized assays and virus dose-independent of inoculation, while other genes did. beta-Actin was further successfully used as an internal control to quantitate Bursine-2 virus-specific RNA load in CE cell cultures. Thus, beta-actin was suggested as a suitable internal control in studying gene expression as well as virus-specific RNA load in CE cell after IBDV infection.

Differential effects of acrylamide on the degeneration and regeneration of myelinated fibers between C57BL/Ola and C57BL/6J mice after crush injury.

To investigate differences in the pathologic processes between mutant C57BL/Ola (Ola) and normal C57BL/6J (6J) mice, the effect of acrylamide (ACR) on the degeneration and regeneration of myelinated fibers after crushing the sciatic nerve was morphometrically evaluated. Both Ola and 6J mice were treated with either ACR (subcutaneous injection of 50 mg/kg every other day for 13 days, n = 6) or physiological saline (n = 6). Morphometric evaluation of myelinated fibers of the sciatic nerve 5 mm distal to the proximal end of the crush site was performed systematically on day 14 of the crushing for each mouse. In Ola mice treated with either saline or ACR, large and small myelinated fibers remained without obvious progression of Wallerian degeneration, and degeneration of myelinated fibers was slower than in 6J mice. On the other hand, in 6J mice treated with either saline or ACR, many small myelinated fibers regenerated after degeneration and loss of both large and small myelinated fibers. In Ola mice, no statistically significant difference in the morphometric parameters was found between saline-treated and ACR-treated groups. Therefore, ACR did not have a significant effect on Wallerian degeneration of myelinated fibers in Ola mice. However, in 6J mice regenerated myelinated fibers were fewer in those receiving ACR than in those receiving saline. Therefore, ACR suppresses regeneration of myelinated fibers after crushing in 6J mice. A delay or partial failure of axonal sprouting and elongation may be responsible for the lower numbers of regenerated myelinated fibers. This study demonstrates the importance of the substrain differences in the degeneration and regeneration of myelinated fibers which may have implications for understanding the different susceptibilities to various neuropathies in man.