Stress and its impairment of skin barrier function.

BACKGROUND: The principal function of skin is to provide a barrier to water loss and percutaneous penetration of exogenous substances. Any compromise of the skin homeostasis can lead to dryness, itchiness, or even pathogenic conditions. This study aimed to explore the relationship among psychological stress, skin homeostasis, sleep quality, and emotion. METHODS: This prospective observational study was conducted using a random sample of medical students from Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University. A questionnaire including the validated Chinese version of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI) was distributed. The skin barrier function was measured by the transepidermal water loss (TEWL), hydration of skin. Dermoscopic images of the nose and infraorbital skin were obtained. We compared the skin homeostasis, sleep quality, and emotional state of medical students at different time points of the semester and explored the correlation between the variables. RESULTS: As the semester progressed, the sleep quality and severity of anxiety of medical students got significantly worse, and they were closely related to the impaired skin barrier function. Both irregular schedule and stress can aggravate dark circles. CONCLUSIONS: Mental stress can do harm to skin barrier through poor sleep and severe anxiety. The amount of sebum was positively correlated with the severity of anxiety while blackheads are mainly influenced by season change. Dermoscopy has a unique role in assessing blackheads and dark circles.

Transoral robotic resection of advanced recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma involving the internal carotid artery.

BACKGROUND: Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) is a reliable, minimally invasive approach for treating recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (rNPC). However, tumours involving the internal carotid artery (ICA) are considered to be unsuitable for TORS. This paper presents the first case of transoral robotic resection of advanced rNPC involving the ICA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This case is a 55 year-old male patient who received radiotherapy 27 years ago. This patient underwent a standard TORS resection 2 weeks after ipsilateral ICA embolization. RESULTS: Postoperative Magnetic resonance imaging and biopsy results indicated total resection. During the 2 month follow-up, no severe complications were found, and the primary site was tumour-free. CONCLUSION: This study preliminarily presents the feasibility and efficiency of advanced rNPC resection with TORS. TORS can potentially provide better quality of life for patients as a less invasive approach than current endoscopic surgery. Even so, the surgical approach should be selected strictly according to the tumour's location.

Comparative Silk Transcriptomics Illuminates Distinctive Impact of Artificial Selection in Silkworm Modern Breeding.

Early domestication and the following improvement are two important processes in the cocoon silk evolution of silkworms. In contrast to early domestication, understanding of the improvement process is still fuzzy. By systematically comparing the larval silk gland transcriptomes of the wild, early domestic, and improved silkworms, we highlighted a novel landscape of transcriptome in the silk glands of improved ones. We first clarified that silk cocoon protein genes were up-regulated in modern breeding but not in early domestication. Furthermore, we found that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between improved and early domestic silkworms (2711), as well as between improved and wild silkworms (2264), were obviously more than those between the early domestic and wild silkworms (158), with 1671 DEGs specific in the improved silkworm (IS-DEGs). Hierarchical clustering of all the DEGs consistently indicated that improved silkworms were significantly diverged from the early domestic and wild silkworms, suggesting that modern breeding might cause prompt and drastic dynamic changes of gene expression in the silk gland. We further paid attention to these 1671 IS-DEGs and were surprised to find that down-regulated genes were enriched in basic organonitrogen compound biosynthesis, RNA biosynthesis, and ribosome biogenesis processes, which are generally universally expressed, whereas those up-regulated genes were enriched in organonitrogen compound catabolic processes and functions involving in the dynamic regulation of protein post-translation of modification. We finally highlighted one candidate improvement gene among these up-regulated IS-DEGs, i.e., GDAP2, which may play roles in silk behavior and the overall robustness of the improved silkworm. The findings strongly suggest that modern breeding may facilitate effective control of the basic consumption of nitrogen and a stronger switch of nitrogen resources from other tissues to the silk glands, for an efficient supply for silk production, and implies the importance of brain behavior and robustness in silk yield improvement of modern breeding.

Chromosome-level genome assembly of the black widow spider Latrodectus elegans illuminates composition and evolution of venom and silk proteins.

BACKGROUND: The black widow spider has both extraordinarily neurotoxic venom and three-dimensional cobwebs composed of diverse types of silk. However, a high-quality reference genome for the black widow spider was still unavailable, which hindered deep understanding and application of the valuable biomass. FINDINGS: We assembled the Latrodectus elegans genome, including a genome size of 1.57 Gb with contig N50 of 4.34 Mb and scaffold N50 of 114.31 Mb. Hi-C scaffolding assigned 98.08% of the genome to 14 pseudo-chromosomes, and with BUSCO, completeness analysis revealed that 98.4% of the core eukaryotic genes were completely present in this genome. Annotation of this genome identified that repetitive sequences account for 506.09 Mb (32.30%) and 20,167 protein-coding genes, and specifically, we identified 55 toxin genes and 26 spidroins and provide preliminary analysis of their composition and evolution. CONCLUSIONS: We present the first chromosome-level genome assembly of a black widow spider and provide substantial toxin and spidroin gene resources. These high-qualified genomic data add valuable resources from a representative spider group and contribute to deep exploration of spider genome evolution, especially in terms of the important issues on the diversification of venom and web-weaving pattern. The sequence data are also firsthand templates for further application of the spider biomass.

Outcome Comparison of Latissimus Dorsi Transfer and Pectoralis Major Transfer for Irreparable Subscapularis Tendon Tear: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Latissimus dorsi transfer (LDT) and pectoralis major transfer (PMT) were developed to treat an irreparable subscapularis tendon tear (ISScT); however, the difference in their outcomes remains unclear. PURPOSE: To systematically review and compare the outcomes of LDT and PMT for ISScT. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4. METHODS: A systematic review was performed through a comprehensive search of Embase, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library. Studies of LDT or PMT were included according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The primary outcome was the Constant-Murley score (CMS) at the final follow-up. Secondary outcomes included the subjective shoulder value (SSV), visual analog scale (VAS) score for pain, active shoulder range of motion, and the belly-press and lift-off tests. Postoperative failure and complication rates were the safety outcome measures. Outcomes were summarized into the LDT and PMT groups, and results were compared statistically (P < .05). RESULTS: Twelve studies were included in this review: 184 shoulders from 9 studies for the PMT group and 85 shoulders from 3 studies for the LDT group. For the PMT and LDT groups, the mean ages were 58.9 and 55.1 years, respectively, and the mean follow-up was 66.9 and 17.4 months, respectively. Overall, the LDT and PMT groups improved in the primary outcome (CMS) and secondary outcomes (SSV, VAS, ROM, and belly-press and lift-off tests), with low rates of failure and complication. When compared with the PMT group, the LDT group showed more significant improvements in CMS (35.2 vs 24.7; P < .001), active forward flexion (44.3° vs 14.7°; P < .001), abduction (35.0° vs 17.6°; P < .002), and positive belly-press test rate (45% vs 27%; P < .001). No statistically significant difference was seen between the groups in postoperative failure rate, complication rate, mean improvement of active internal rotation, VAS, or SSV. CONCLUSION: In general, LDT showed significantly better clinical outcomes postoperatively than did PMT. The available fair-quality evidence suggested that LDT might be a better choice for ISScT. Further evaluations on the relative benefits of the 2 surgical approaches are required, with more high-quality randomized controlled studies.

Long-read transcriptomic analysis of orb-weaving spider Araneus ventricosus indicates transcriptional diversity of spidroins.

Spider silk, which is composed of diverse silk proteins (spidroin), is a kind of natural high-mass biomaterial with great potential. However, due to the complexity of both the structure and the composition of the spidroins in natural spider silk, application of this valuable biomass is still limited to date. There are diverse kinds of spider silk in the orb-weaving spider with different mechanical and structural characteristics. In order to systematically illustrate the landscape of all the different spidrons, here we chose Araneus ventricosus, an orb-weaving spider with superior silk mechanical features and genome information, to generate a long-read whole body transcriptome. We deciphered the repeat arrangements of each kind of spidroin, based on which we found that there are substantially transcriptional diversity of each spidroin gene. Some repeat motifs are not documented before. Specifically, we discovered novel full-lengh MaSp transcript as well as a relatively small full-length AcSp isoforms, which are potential promising materials for bioengineering of recombinant spidroin. Our study provided a batch of new spidron resources with detail sequential information. The finding of transcriptional diversity may provide cues in understanding of within-species variation of the mechanical properties of the natural spider silk and further molecular designing of recombinant spidroin.

Comparative genomic analysis of C-type lectin-domain genes in seven holometabolous insect species.

C-type lectins (CTLs) recognize various glycoconjugates through carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs) and they play important roles in immune responses. In this study, comparative genomic analysis of CTLs were performed in 7 holometabolous species. CTL-S1 to S8 and CTL-X1 to X4 orthologous groups existed in the 7 species, while CTL-X5 group with dual-CRD, CTL-S11 group with triple-CRD, CTL-S9 group with a long C-terminus and Lepidopteran specific CTL-S10 group were not conserved. SliCTL-S12 to S14 cluster was only present in Spodoptera litura, and CTL-S genes were expanded on chromosomes 2 L and 2 R in Drosophila melanogaster. Most IMLs were clustered into three groups and the numbers of IMLs vary among species due to gene duplications. D. melanogaster specific CTLs and Lepidopteran IMLs within each of the three groups evolved more rapidly with higher dN/dS ratios. Two CRDs in IMLs clustered into two clades, with conserved Cys4-Cys5 and Cys1-Cys2 bonds in the first and second CRDs, respectively. The CTL-S and CTL-X family members in S. litura were mainly expressed in the fat body of 5th but not 6th instar larvae, and responded differently to S. litura nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpltNPV) and Nomuraea rileyi infection. The transcription levels of SliCTLs that expressed in fat body but not highly expressed in hemocytes were decreased at the middle and late stages of SpltNPV infection, and the mRNA levels of SliCTLs highly or specifically expressed in hemocytes were mainly decreased by SpltlNPV, N. rileyi and Bacillus thuringiensis infection. These results provide valuable information for further exploration of CTL functions in host-pathogen interaction.

Identification and molecular characterization of a novel duck Tembusu virus isolate from Southwest China.

Tembusu virus (TMUV) has caused significant economic losses in the Chinese duck industry and may have been overlooked regarding its zoonotic transmission potential. A novel TMUV isolate (named CQW1) was separated from the liver tissue of a young duck in Southwest China. The CQW1 isolate proliferated in embryonated duck eggs and led to death within 3-4 days post-inoculation. Furthermore, CQW1 replicated in duck embryo fibroblast (DEF) cells and caused a cytopathic effect (CPE). The disease emerged on a duck farm in Southwest China and was reproduced by animal experiment. We found that CQW1 was detectable by RT-PCR in brain and liver tissues of dead ducklings within 5 days after inoculation. Most importantly, concentrated nuclei, neuronophagia and microglial nodules were observed in the brain tissue of the inoculated ducklings, and additionally, the liver tissue was affected, mainly by disordered lobular architecture, degeneration, necrosis and regenerated hepatocytes. Analysis of the complete genome sequence showed that CQW1 was 10,992 nt in length with two nucleotide insertions and shared 96.8% to 99.1% and 98.4% to 99.6% identity at nucleotide and amino acid level, respectively, with Chinese isolates. Phylogenetic analysis of the nucleotide sequences demonstrated that the CQW1 isolate was closely related to other members of the genus Flavivirus and formed a new clade together with the GX2013H isolate. Also, the CQW1 isolate demonstrated the highest average pairwise distance value among the Chinese isolates. In the present study, we obtained evidence that TMUV is present in Southwest China. Extensive pathological and epidemiological studies are urgently needed.