Efficacy and safety of Osteoking on fracture healing: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Osteoking (OK) is prescribed in traditional Chinese medicine to accelerate fracture healing. Although some studies suggest the potential efficacy of OK for fracture healing, the evidence remains inconclusive. Aim: To systematically evaluate the safety of OK and its effect on fracture healing. Methods: Relevant authoritative databases were searched until 25 August 2023. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of patients with fractures treated with Osteoking were included. We evaluated the risk of bias using the Cochrane tool and performed a meta-analysis using the Review Manager 5.4 software package. Results: 13 studies involving 1123 participants were included. This meta-analysis showed that compared with observations in the control group, the OK group showed a shortened fracture healing time, increased fracture healing rate, reduced swelling regression time and ecchymosis regression time, and improved bone metabolism. In addition, the included studies did not report any serious side effects associated with the use of OK, and the mild side effects resolved without treatment. Conclusion: OK therapy is beneficial and safe for accelerating fracture healing, reducing swelling, eliminating ecchymosis, and improving bone metabolism. However, the meta-analysis results do not support OK treatment for improving the fracture healing rate at all fracture sites and reducing pain across all fracture sites. Further original, high-quality studies are needed to validate these findings.Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=452430, identifier CRD42023452430.

Theabrownin from Wuniuzao Dark Tea Regulates Hepatic Lipid Metabolism and Gut Microbiota in Mice Fed High-Fat Diet.

The search for functional foods with no side effects that can alleviate obesity has been a common trend. Wuniuzao dark tea could be a safe choice. This study aimed to explore whether theabrownin from Wuniuzao dark tea could regulate hepatic lipid metabolism and gut microbiota in mice fed a high-fat diet. In total, fifty 8-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into five treatment groups, including a normal control group, high-fat diet group, positive control group, low-dose theabrownin group, and high-dose theabrownin group. After a 9-week intervention, these mice were selected from each treatment group for sampling. The results showed that the body weight and epididymis fat weight of obese mice fed with theabrownin were decreased. Serum total triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and activities of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were also decreased. Protein and mRNA expression of fatty acid synthesis and lipid production-related genes of mice fed with theabrownin were downregulated. The gut microbiota composition in the theabrownin group was improved. The study indicated that theabrownin from Wuniuzao dark tea could achieve the liver protection and anti-obesity effects by regulating the Srebp lipid metabolism pathway and bile acid metabolism process, and improving the gut microbiota composition of mice.

Clinical Phenotypes of Patients With Systemic Sclerosis With Distinct Molecular Signatures in Skin.

OBJECTIVE: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients are classified according to degree of skin fibrosis (limited and diffuse cutaneous [lc and dc]) and serum autoantibodies. We undertook the present multicenter study to determine whether intrinsic subset (IS) classification based upon skin gene expression yields additional valuable clinical information. METHODS: SSc patients and healthy participants (HPs) were classified into Normal-like, Limited, Fibroproliferative, and Inflammatory ISs using a previously trained classifier. Clinical data were obtained (serum autoantibodies, pulmonary function testing, modified Rodnan skin thickness scores [mRSS], and high-resolution chest computed tomography [HRCT]). Statistical analyses were performed to compare patients classified by IS, traditional cutaneous classification, and serum autoantibodies. RESULTS: A total of 223 participants (165 SSc [115 dcSSc and 50 lcSSc] and 58 HPs) were classified. Inflammatory IS patients had higher mRSS (22.1 ± 9.9; P < 0.001) than other ISs and dcSSc patients (19.4 ± 9.4; P = 0.05) despite similar disease duration (median [interquartile range] months 14.9 [19.9] vs. 18.4 [31.6]; P = 0.48). In multivariable modeling, no significant association between mRSS and RNA polymerase III (P = 0.07) or anti-topoisomerase I (Scl-70) (P = 0.09) was found. Radiographic interstitial lung disease (ILD) was more prevalent in Fibroproliferative IS compared with other ISs (91%; P = 0.04) with similar prevalence between lcSSc and dcSSc (67% vs. 76%; P = 0.73). Positive Scl-70 antibody was the strongest ILD predictor (P < 0.001). Interestingly, all lcSSc/Fibroproliferative patients demonstrated radiographic ILD. CONCLUSIONS: Classification by IS identifies patients with distinct clinical phenotypes versus traditional cutaneous or autoantibody classification. IS classification identifies subgroups of SSc patients with more radiographic ILD (Fibroproliferative), higher mRSS (Inflammatory), and milder phenotype (Normal-like) and may provide additional clinically useful information to current SSc classification systems.

Machine-learning classification identifies patients with early systemic sclerosis as abatacept responders via CD28 pathway modulation.

Here, the efficacy of abatacept in patients with early diffuse systemic sclerosis (dcSSc) was analyzed to test the hypothesis that patients in the inflammatory intrinsic subset would show the most significant clinical improvement. Eighty-four participants with dcSSc were randomized to receive abatacept or placebo for 12 months. RNA-Seq was performed on 233 skin paired biopsies at baseline and at 3 and 6 months. Improvement was defined as a 5-point or more than 20% change in modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) between baseline and 12 months. Samples were assigned to intrinsic gene expression subsets (inflammatory, fibroproliferative, or normal-like subsets). In the abatacept arm, change in mRSS was most pronounced for the inflammatory and normal-like subsets relative to the placebo subset. Gene expression for participants on placebo remained in the original molecular subset, whereas inflammatory participants treated with abatacept had gene expression that moved toward the normal-like subset. The Costimulation of the CD28 Family Reactome Pathway decreased in patients who improved on abatacept and was specific to the inflammatory subset. Patients in the inflammatory subset had elevation of the Costimulation of the CD28 Family pathway at baseline relative to that of participants in the fibroproliferative and normal-like subsets. There was a correlation between improved ΔmRSS and baseline expression of the Costimulation of the CD28 Family pathway. This study provides an example of precision medicine in systemic sclerosis clinical trials.

What Makes Employees Green Advocates? Exploring the Effects of Green Human Resource Management.

Green advocacy has been the focus of both practitioners and theorists for decades. However, little attention has been paid to employee green advocacy despite its significance to employee green behaviors and the environmental sustainability of organizations. In an effort to contribute to this nascent field, this study investigates what promotes employee green advocacy and its psychological mechanisms. Based on cognitive consistency theory, we propose that green human resource management (GHRM) can influence employees' organization-based self-esteem, which motivates them to engage in employee green advocacy to sustain their positive self-image and avoid possible cognitive disorders. Perceived organizational support moderates the relationship between GHRM and employee organization-based self-esteem. Data from a sample of 135 employees and their chief human resource officer (CHO) supported our hypotheses. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Comparative Study of Chinese and American Media Reports on the COVID-19 and Expressions of Social Responsibility: A Critical Discourse Analysis.

Critical discourse analysis aims to explore the dialectical relationship between discourse and ideology. Based on psycholinguistic research, this paper analyzes the Chinese and American media's news reports and comments on the COVID-19. It aims to expose the hidden psychological messages and ideologies behind the words. The corpus in this paper is mainly from the official media of China Daily and Time from December 2019 to January 2021 in China and the United States. This paper uses Wang Zhenhua's Appraisal Theory and Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar as tools to make a comparative analysis of the corpus. At the textual level, languages are classified and lexical choices are analyzed followed by the analysis of the reporter's ideology after reviewing the motivation of the reporters of two countries. On the level of social responsibility expression and discourse, the paper analyzes the news reports, which are characterized by the combination of the reporter's views on the news. In the aspect of social practice, the social and cultural factors and background of news reports are analyzed. China calls for strengthening cooperation and exchanges with other countries to jointly fight the epidemic. The Chinese government has actively shared its experience and made corresponding contributions to international economic recovery. However, the US government shirks its responsibility by claiming that the effective implementation of Chinese methods and experience in China does not mean that it can achieve corresponding results in Europe and the US. At the same time, the United States provides medical supplies to other countries. This study hopes to help awaken readers' critical thinking and increase their awareness of the anti-control of mass discourse. At the same time, it is hoped that readers can view the epidemic from a more scientific perspective, understand the facts and reject the unwarranted panic. It will also help reshape Chinese and American discourse.

Computational STAT3 activity inference reveals its roles in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment.

Transcription factor (TF) STAT3 contributes to pancreatic cancer progression through its regulatory roles in both tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME). In this study, we performed a systematic analysis of all TFs in patient-derived gene expression datasets and confirmed STAT3 as a critical regulator in the pancreatic TME. Importantly, we developed a novel framework that is based on TF target gene expression to distinguish between environmental- and tumor-specific STAT3 activities in gene expression studies. Using this framework, our results novelly showed that compartment-specific STAT3 activities, but not STAT3 mRNA, have prognostications towards clinical values within pancreatic cancer datasets. In addition, high TME-derived STAT3 activity correlates with an immunosuppressive TME in pancreatic cancer, characterized by CD4 T cell and monocyte infiltration and high copy number variation burden. Where environmental-STAT3 seemed to play a dominant role at primary pancreatic sites, tumor-specific STAT3 seemed dominant at metastatic sites where its high activity persisted. In conclusion, by combining compartment-specific inference with other tumor characteristics, including copy number variation and immune-related gene expression, we demonstrate our method's utility as a tool to generate novel hypotheses about TFs in tumor biology.

[Stable green fluorescent protein expression in Toxoplasma gondii mutant].

OBJECTIVE: To construct a Toxoplasma gondii mutant for stably expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP), and establish method to determine the rate of mutant-infected HeLa cells. METHODS: Freshly lysed-out tachyzoites of T. gondii RH strain were transfected with plasmid ptubP30-GFP/sag-CAT. Stable transformants were selected with chloramphenicol and limited dilution. The expression of GFP in mutant tachyzoite was determined by RT-PCR and fluorescence microscopy. When infected with 1 x 10(4)-1 x 10(7) mutant tachyzoites respectively for 24 h, the total number of HeLa cells with green fluorescence was determined by fluorescent microscope in 10 high-power fields, and the rate of HeLa cells with parasitophorous vacuole was determined by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Untransfected tachy-zoites were killed by chloramphenicol, while the stable transformants showed resistance to chloramphenicol. The expression of GFP gene was detected by RT-PCR. The P30-GFP transfectants displayed fluorescence outside the parasite. The rate of mutant-infected HeLa cells increased with the rise of the number of mutant for infection. When infected with 1 x 10(4)-1 x 10(7) tachyzoites, the numbers of HeLa cells with fluorescence were (14 +/- 6), (133 +/- 45), (332 +/- 93) and (443 +/- 90), and the rates of infected cells were (0.49 +/- 0.09)%, (8.76 +/- 0.50)%, (21.0 +/- 21.49)%, and (39.00 +/- 3.47)% by flow cytometry, respectively. CONCLUSION: T. gondii mutant with GFP tag is constructed, which provides a new method to determine the proliferation when cultured in host cells.

Construction of a Coix BAC library and isolation of the 22 kDa α-coixin gene cluster.

Coix lacryma-jobi L. (Coix) is a close relative of maize and is considered a valuable genetic resource for crop improvement. Here we report the construction of the first Coix bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library using accession PI 324059. This BAC library contains about 230 400 clones with an average insert size of 113 kb, has low organellar DNA contamination, and provides 16.3-fold coverage of the genome. The library was stored in 12 × 96 pools that could be screened with a PCR protocol. Library screening was performed for the 22 kDa α-coixin gene family. A total of 57 positive pools were identified, and single clones were isolated from 19 of these pools. Based on DNA fingerprinting and Southern blot analysis, these 19 BAC clones form a single contig of about 340 kb in length, indicating that the 22 kDa α-coixin genes occur in a cluster. These results demonstrated the suitability of this BAC library for gene isolation and comparative genomics studies of the Coix genome.