Evolution and health risk of indicator microorganisms in landscape water replenished by reclaimed water.

As an important means to solve water shortage, reclaimed water has been widely used for landscape water supply. However, with the emergence of large-scale epidemic diseases such as SARS, avian influenza and COVID-19 in recent years, people are increasingly concerned about the public health safety of reclaimed water discharged into landscape water, especially the pathogenic microorganisms in it. In this study, the water quality and microorganisms of the Old Summer Palace, a landscape water body with reclaimed water as the only replenishment water source, were tracked through long-term dynamic monitoring. And the health risks of indicator microorganisms were analyzed using Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA). It was found that the concentration of indicator microorganisms Enterococcus (ENT), Escherichia coli (EC) and Fecal coliform (FC) generally showed an upward trend along the direction of water flow and increased by more than 0.6 log at the end of the flow. The concentrations of indicator microorganisms were higher in summer and autumn than those in spring. And there was a positive correlation between the concentration of indicator microorganisms and COD. Further research suggested that increased concentration of indicator microorganisms also led to increased health risks, which were more than 30% higher in other areas of the park than the water inlet area and required special attention. In addition, (water) surface operation exposure pathway had much higher health risks than other pathways and people in related occupations were advised to take precautions to reduce the risks.

The feedstock anatomical properties determine biochar adsorption capacities: A study using woody bamboos (Bambuseae) and methylene blue as a model molecule.

Feedstock characteristics impact biochar physicochemical properties, and reproducible biochar properties are essential for any potential application. However, in most articles, feedstock aspects (i.e., taxonomic name of the species, part of the plant, and phenological phase) are scarcely reported. This research aimed at studying the effect of species and phenological stage of the feedstock on the properties of the derived biochars and, thus, adsorption capacities in water treatment. In this study, we analysed the anatomical characteristics of three different woody bamboo species [Guadua chacoensis (GC), Phyllostachys aurea (PA), and Bambusa tuldoides (BT)] in culms harvested at two different phenological phases (young and mature), and statistically correlated them with the characteristics of the six derived biochars, including their adsorption performance in aqueous media. Sclerenchyma fibres and parenchyma cells diameter and cell-wall width significantly differed among species. Additionally, sclerenchyma fibres and parenchyma cell-wall width as well as sclerenchyma fibre cell diameters are dependent on the phenological phase of the culms. Consequently, differences in biochar characteristics (i.e., yield and average pore diameter) were also observed, leading to differential methylene blue (MB) adsorption capacities between individuals at different phenological phases. MB adsorption capacities were higher for biochar produced from young culms compared to those obtained from matures ones (i.e., GC: 628.66 vs. 507.79; BT: 537.45 vs. 477.53; PA: 477.52 vs. 462.82 mg/g), which had smaller cell wall widths leading to a lower percentage of biochar yield. The feedstock anatomical properties determined biochar characteristics which modulated adsorption capacities.

Rheological properties of indica rice determined by starch structure related enzymatic activities during after-ripening.

The processing quality of indica rice must undergo ripening after harvest to achieve stability and improvement. However, the mechanism underlying this process remains incompletely elucidated. Starch, the predominant component in indica rice, plays a crucial role in determining its properties. This study focused on analyzing the rheological properties and starch fine structure, as well as the related biosynthetic enzymes of indica rice during the after-ripening process. The results showed that after-ripened rice exhibited increased elastic modulus (G') and viscous modulus (G″), accompanied by a decrease in the loss tangent (Tan δ), indicating an enhancement in viscoelasticity and the gel network structure. Moreover, the proportions of amylopectin super long chains (DP 37-60) decreased, while those of medium chains (DP 13-24 and DP 25-36) or short chains (DP 6-12) of amylopectin increased. Additionally, the activities of starch branching enzyme (SBE) and starch debranching enzyme (DBE) declined over the after-ripening period. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that the rheological properties of after-ripened rice were correlated with the chain length distribution (CLD) of starch, which, in turn, was associated with its related endogenous enzymes. These findings provied new insights into understanding the quality changes of after-ripened indica rice.

Effect of Lactobacillus helveticus IMAUJBH1 on fat and volatile flavor substances in fermented mutton sausages.

The decomposition and oxidation of fat is essential for the formation and quality of the unique flavor of sausage. To explore the effect of lactic acid bacteria on fat decomposition and oxidation in fermented sausage, free fatty acids and volatile flavor compounds were determined by gas chromatography (GC) and headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME)-GC-MS, respectively. The results showed that the addition of Lactobacillus helveticus IMAUJBH1 inhibited fat peroxidation and relatively increased the proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids. A total of 47 volatile flavor compounds were detected, including aldehydes, esters, alcohols, and ketones. The content of substances such as hexanal, heptanal, nonanal and 1-octene-3-ol related to lipid oxidation was significantly reduced. The results obtained in this study show that the strain can further affect the flavor of the product by inhibiting the formation of lipid oxidation or peroxide flavor substances to a certain extent.

Multi-scale response relationship between water quality of rivers entering lakes from different pollution source areas and land use intensity: a case study of the three lakes in central Yunnan.

As the main supply source of lakes, the water quality of the rivers entering the lakes directly determines the water safety and sustainable development of the lakes. Human activities are the direct cause of changes in the water quality of rivers entering lakes, and land use intensity is the direct manifestation of human activities on the land surface. Although significant progress has been made in studying the relationship between land use changes and water quality in lakes, there is still a lack of research on exploring the relationship between land use intensity and water quality at multiple scales, especially in comparative studies of different pollution source areas. To address this problem, this study used Pearson's correlation analysis and land use intensity index method to explore the response relationship between river water quality and land use intensity at different spatial and temporal scales and different pollution source areas using three lakes in central Yunnan as examples. The results showed that land use intensity was generally positively correlated with water quality, but the response relationship between land use intensity and different water quality indicators was significantly different at different scales and for different pollution source areas. Compared to non-urban areas, the impact of land use intensity on water quality is more significant in urban areas. Compared to the rainy season, the correlation between CODNa, TP, and NH3-N values and land use intensity is stronger during the dry season, while the correlation between COD, TN, and land use intensity is weaker during the dry season. When viewed at different scales, different water quality indicators have different scale effects, but overall, the larger the scale, the stronger the correlation. Therefore, in the work of lake water environmental governance, it is necessary to consider comprehensively from multiple scales and perspectives and adopt measures that are more suitable for regional water pollution prevention and control.

Multi-model exploration of groundwater quality and potential health risk assessment in Jajpur district, Eastern India.

The presence of fluoride and nitrate is a serious groundwater quality issue in India impacting human health. In the present study, 14 different hydrochemical parameters for 76 groundwater samples collected from the Jajpur district of Odisha, India, were evaluated. Entropy-weighted water quality index (EWQI), fixed-weight groundwater quality index (GWQI), principal component analysis (PCA), and rotated factor loading-based water quality index (PCWQI) were employed to assess groundwater quality. About 65.79 ± 4.68%, 33.55 ± 3.95%, and 0.66 ± 0.76% of the samples were rated as "excellent," "good," or "medium" quality, respectively, across the four different water quality indices, with a nominal rating discrepancy of 13.15%. Though 86% of samples consistently received excellent or good ratings across all WQI frameworks, concentrations of F- and NO3- in 36.8% and 11.84% of the samples exceeded the WHO permissible limit. In health risk assessment, about 38.15% of samples surpassed the F- hazard quotient (HQ > 1) posing non-carcinogenic health risks for children. The non-carcinogenic health risks due to NO3- were evident in 55.26% and 11.84% of samples for children and adults, respectively. The higher concentration of NO3- in some of the water samples, together with its positive correlation with HCO3-, may worsen groundwater pollution. The moderate correlation between Ca2+ and HCO3- (r = 0.410) and the insignificant correlation between Mg2+ and HCO3- (r = 0.234) suggests calcite dissolution is far more common than dolomite.

IGF1R stimulates autophagy, enhances viability, and promotes insulin secretion in pancreatic ß cells in gestational diabetes mellitus by upregulating ATG7.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a prevalent metabolic disturbance in pregnancy. This article investigated the correlations between serum IGF1R and ATG7 with insulin resistance (IR) in GDM patients. Firstly, 100 GDM patients and 100 healthy pregnant women were selected as study subjects. The levels of serum IGF1, IGF1R, and ATG7 and their correlations with the insulin resistance index homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were measured and analyzed by ELISA and Pearson. Additionally, in mouse pancreatic ß cells, IGF1R, ATG7, Beclin-1, and LC3-II/LC3-I levels, cell viability/apoptosis, and insulin level were assessed by western blot, CCK-8, flow cytometry, and ELISA. The GDM group exhibited obviously raised serum IGF1 level and diminished serum IGF1R/ATG7 levels. The IGF1 level was positively correlated with HOMA-IR, while IGF1R/ATG7 levels were negatively correlated with HOMA-IR in GDM patients. Collectively, IGF1R stimulated cell viability, suppressed apoptosis, amplified insulin secretion, and increased ATG7 expression to induce cell autophagy, which could be partially averted by ATG7 silencing.

Analysis of the correlations between the extracranial internal carotid artery and extracranial vertebral artery and mild cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND: Vascular tortuosity is a prevalent morphological change that frequently occurs in arteries across different parts of the body. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between the tortuosities of the extracranial internal carotid artery (EICA) and extracranial vertebral artery (EVA) with mild cognitive impairment. METHODS: The tortuosity index (TI), vascular deviation degree, tortuosity degree, and angle number of the EICA and EVA were retrospectively analyzed and calculated in 160 patients who underwent computed tomography angiography (CTA) in this study's department, and the Montreal cognitive assessment was adopted to evaluate the cognitive function of the patients. RESULTS: The differences in age, gender, arterial hypertension (AH), and diabetes mellitus (DM) between the normal group and the mild cognitive impairment group were statistically significant (p< 0.01). The TI was negatively correlated with the score of cognitive function. The tortuosities of the EICA and EVA were correlated with mild cognitive impairment (p< 0.05). The reduction in visual-spatial ability was correlated with the right EICA tortuosity, and the reduction in memory was correlated with the EVA tortuosity. Age, gender, HP, DM, and coronary heart disease (CHD) were potential risk factors for carotid tortuosity (p< 0.05). CONCLUSION: There was a significant correlation observed between the TIs of both the EICA and EVA and the presence of mild cognitive impairment. Advanced age, female, HP, DM, and CHD were independent risk factors for EICA and EVA tortuosities.

Analysis of Carotenoids and Gene Expression in Apple Germplasm Resources Reveals the Role of MdCRTISO and MdLCYE in the Accumulation of Carotenoids.

Carotenoids play an important role in the coloring and nutritional value of apple (Malus spp.) fruits. Here, six carotenoids, including lutein, zeaxanthin, ß-carotene, ß-cryptoxanthin, violaxanthin, and neoxanthin, were detected in 105 fruits of apple germplasm resources, which showed a skewed distribution in both the peel and pulp. There were more carotenoids in the peel than in the pulp, and lutein and ß-carotene were the primary carotenoids that were present. The expression levels of most carotenoid pathway genes in germplasm fruits during fruit development were higher in the fruits that had an abundance of carotenoids. A linear relationship analysis showed that the expression levels of MdCRTISO and MdLCYE were highly correlated with the content of carotenoids. The leaves accumulated the greatest number of carotenoids, while the roots had the lowest amount. MdCRTISO and MdLCYE were highly expressed in the fruits compared to other tissues. Transgenic calli and transiently transformed fruits confirmed that MdCRTISO and MdLCYE affected the biosynthesis of carotenoids owing to their effects on the expression of other genes for enzymes in the carotenoid pathway. Our findings will extend the understanding of carotenoid biosynthesis in apple and excavate apple germplasm resources with rich carotenoids to breed high-quality apples.

Integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses reveal the key genes regulating differential metabolites of longissimus dorsi muscle in castrated South Sichuan black goats (Capra hircus).

The main aim of the current work was to explore the differential metabolites and differentially expressed genes of longissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) between castrated and uncastrated fattening male South Sichuan black goats (Capra hircus). Then, the key genes regulating important differential metabolites (DMs) in castrated male goats were observed by integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses. In addition, we evaluated the effects of castration on blood constituents, dressing percentage, and water holding capacity of LDM in male black goats. The results showed that the concentrations of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly increased and testosterone was significantly decreased in castrated male goats compared with the uncastrated male goats, while dressing percentage of black goats and water holding capacity of longissimus dorsi muscle were not significant differences. Through metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses, 23 important KEGG pathways, 13 important DMs, 32 important differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and 13 key genes related to the "Metabolism" and "Organismal systems" pathways were screened. Lipid accumulation may be elevated in the blood of fattening South Sichuan black goats after castration. Castration might play a positive role in energy provision, intercellular signaling, muscle function, softening of meat, disease reduction, and anti-oxidation of LDM. P4HA2, AKR1B1, GPT2, L2HGDH, ENSCHIG00000021660, ENSCHIG00000023861, DGAT2, ULK1, SLC38A3, PLA2G4A, SLC6A1, ENSCHIG00000026624, and ND2 might be the key genes regulating important DMs in the KEGG pathways related to "Metabolism" and "Organismal systems" of castrated male goats compared with the uncastrated male goats.

The Diagnostic Value of miR-124a Expression in Peripheral Blood and Synovial Fluid of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

INTRODUCTION: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic autoimmune disorder, is currently a severe health threat. Previous studies have documented the altered expression of various miRNAs in RA patients. This study determined the expression of miR-124a in RA patients and estimated its diagnostic value for RA. METHODS: A total of 80 RA patients were enrolled as the study subjects, and 36 patients with osteoarthritis were included, with another 36 healthy people as the controls. miR-124a expression levels in peripheral blood plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and synovial fluid were measured using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction, followed by Pearson correlation analysis. Additionally, the association between miR-124a and major clinical indicators was assessed, such as rheumatoid factor (RF), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and disease activity score of 28 joints (DAS28). The diagnostic efficacy of miR-124a expression in plasma, PBMCs, and synovial fluid for RA was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic curve, and the difference in the area under the curve (AUC) was analyzed. RESULTS: miR-124a was downregulated in RA patients, and the expression levels of miR-124a in plasma, PBMCs, and synovial fluid showed a certain degree of positive correlation. miR-124a was inversely linked with RF, ESR, and DAS28. For the diagnosis of RA patients, the AUC of plasma miR-124a was 0.899 and the cut-off value was 0.800, with 68.75% sensitivity and 94.44% specificity; the AUC of miR-124a in PBMCs was 0.937 and the cut-off value was 0.805, with 82.50% sensitivity and 91.67% specificity; the AUC of miR-124a in plasma combined with PBMCs was 0.961, with a higher diagnostic value than independent plasma or PBMCs; the AUC of miR-124a in synovial fluid was 0.929 and the cut-off value was 0.835, with 80.00% sensitivity and 88.89% specificity. CONCLUSION: miR-124a expression is downregulated in the plasma, PBMCs, and synovial fluid of RA patients and has a high diagnostic value for RA.

Association between myopia and anxiety: a cross-sectional study based on Chinese university freshmen.

Background: At least 1 billion people are affected by blindness or vision impairment worldwide, and in China, the proportion of myopia among college students is even higher. Anxiety and self-harm are becoming more and more common among college students, which indicates the importance of paying attention to their mental health. Previous studies have demonstrated that vision impairment has a negative impact on the mental health of adults. However, few studies have focused on the effects of myopia on college freshmen's mental health, and the association between the two factors in college students remained elusive. Methods: This is a large cross-sectional study. A total of 5,519 college freshman would be assessed for the eligibility of the present study, and the inclusion criteria of this study were as follows: (I) first-year college student; (II) diagnosed as myopia and emmetropia through vision test; (III) gave informed consent. Five questionnaires were utilized to collect anxiety data, which include the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI-VFQ-25), the Self Esteem Scale (SES), the Self Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Self Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SAD), for data collection. In addition, a socio-demographic questionnaire was designed and utilized to collect corresponding information. All enrollees were required to complete the all the above questionnaires. Results: In total 4,984 college students were enrolled. The proportion of males is 60.43%, and the mean age was 19.8 years old. Both right and left vision had a statistically significant association with NEI-VFQ-25 score (P=0.006, r=0.070; and P=0.021, r=0.060, respectively; Pearson correlation analysis) and SAS score (P=0.003, r=0.075 and P=0.004, r=0.075, respectively; Pearson correlation analysis). However, the correlation coefficient was very low (all less than 0.1). No significant correlation was observed between eye vision and other questionnaire scores. Conclusions: Our data suggested that there is week correlation between myopia and anxiety. However, since this is a single-center study, the observed weak correlation may be caused by selection bias. Therefore, our results still need to be validated in further studies with a larger sample size.

The Concentrations, Sources, Ecological, and Human Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Roadside Soils of Six Cities in Shanxi Province, China.

Roadside soils are regarded as a reservoir for heavy metal pollution, which potentially leads to ecosystem deterioration as well as serious hazard to human health. A comprehensive investigation was conducted for the levels, relationship with soil properties, and potential sources of heavy metals (Hg, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, and Cr) in roadside soils in six cities (Changzhi, Jincheng, Yuncheng, Linfen, Xinzhou, Datong) of Shanxi Province; and the corresponding ecological risk and human health risk associated with the concentrations of heavy metals were addressed. Heavy metal concentrations of 112 roadside soil samples in the surveyed cities were, in decreasing order, Zn, Cu, Cr, Pb, Cd, and Hg, which were higher than corresponding background values. The highest concentrations were in Changzhi. The results of Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated that positive correlations in varying degrees existed between soil properties such as electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total organic carbon with specific heavy metals and that negative correlations were observed for clay and electrical conductivity. Anthropogenic sources related to traffic emissions and industrialization were the main sources of heavy metals in roadside soils according to principal component analysis. The ecological risk assessments were achieved by pollution index and potential risk index, indicating that contamination with Hg was the most serious, which posed the highest risk to the ecosystems in the surveyed cities; and the ecological risk in Changzhi ranked at the top compared with other cities. For the human health risk assessment, the results demonstrated that the noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were in the acceptable range in the surveyed cities. However, there was a higher health risk from heavy metal exposure for children than adults, and the main exposure pathway was soil ingestion. In addition, Changzhi was the city with the highest noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, and the main human health risks were posed by Cr contamination in roadside soil, which was different from the results of ecological risks. Both results of ecological and health risk assessment demonstrated that the higher risk exhibited in southern and southeastern cities than northern cities in Shanxi Province. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;42:1485-1500. © 2023 SETAC.

Unraveling the Variability of Essential Oil Composition in Different Accessions of Bunium persicum Collected from Different Temperate Micro-Climates.

The present investigation was performed to evaluate the variability of the essential oil composition present in the seed extract of Kala zeera (Bunium persicum Bioss.) obtained from different geographical zones of Northwestern-Himalayan using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrum (GC-MS). The results of the GC-MS analysis revealed significant differences in the essential oil content. Significant variability was observed in the chemical constituents of the essential oils mainly for p-cymene, D-limonene, Gamma-terpinene, Cumic aldehyde and 1, 4-p-menthadien-7-al. Among these compounds, the highest average percentage across the locations was observed for gamma-terpinene (32.08%) which was followed by cumic aldehyde (25.07%), and 1, 4-p-menthadien-7-al (15.45%). Principal component analysis (PCA) also grouped the 4 highly significant compounds i.e., p-Cymene, Gamma-Terpinene, Cumic aldehyde, and 1,4-p-Menthadien-7-al into same cluster which are mainly distributed in Shalimar Kalazeera-1, and Atholi Kishtwar zones. The highest value of gamma-terpinene was recorded in Atholi accession (40.66%). However, among climatic zones Zabarwan Srinagar and Shalimar Kalazeera-1 was found to have highly positive significant correlation (0.99). The cophenetic correlation coefficient (c) was found to be 0.8334 during hierarchical clustering for 12 essential oil compounds showing that our results are highly correlated. Network analysis also showed the overlapping pattern and similar interaction between the 12 compounds as shown by hierarchical clustering analysis. From the results, it could be concluded that existence of variability among the various bioactive compounds of B. persicum which are probably to be incorporated to the potential list of drugs and may serve as good genetic source for various modern breeding programs.

Distribution of metals in coastal sediment from northwest sabah, Malaysia.

The type of minerals in sediments control the geochemical distribution of metals which serve as an indicator of the pollution status to the marine environment. The type of minerals was determined from X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) which shows the dominance of carbonate (calcite, aragonite, dolomite), silicate (quartz) and minor clay (illite, kaolinite) minerals. The elemental concentrations were also determined using the Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-OES) analysis that shows the major elements Ca > Fe > Mg > Al > Mn for all locations, whereas the heavy metals differ as Ni > Cr > Zn > Co > Pb, Cr > Ni > Zn > Pb > Co and Zn > Pb > Cr > Ni, respectively. The correlation between the major elements and heavy metals were also performed using the Pearson Correlation analysis via IBM SPSS which showed the positive Al-Fe-Mn correlation with the heavy metals but negative correlation with Ca. The correlations between the elements were influenced by the adsorption and precipitation of the major minerals in the sediment. The objective of this study is to determine the geochemical distribution of metals due to the influence of minerals in the coastal sediment of Kota Belud, Kudat and Mantanani Island. Therefore, this study could serve as a geochemical baseline data to understand the abundance of metals from the coastal region of northwest Sabah, Malaysia.

Distribution pattern, removal effect, transfer behavior of ten pesticides and one metabolite during the processing of grapes.

Grapes' growth and processing conditions have various effects on pesticides with different physicochemical properties. Therefore, it is important for the healthy human diet to investigate pesticide residue behavior. To explore the relationship between pesticide residue behavior and physicochemical properties, the distribution of ten pesticides and one metabolite on grape peel and pulp was examined and the results showed that pesticides with low octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow) were more likely to be transferred to the pulp as the harvest interval increases. The removal methods were ranked according to pesticide removal effectiveness as follows: peeling > ozone water washing > tap water washing. Furthermore, the logKow played a key role in pesticide transfer rates during the juicing and winemaking. Notably, drying was the process of increasing pesticide residues. Additionally, the prediction models for the PFs of the pesticides in the juicing and winemaking processes were constructed as PFj = 0.952-0.116logKow (r = 0.886) and PFw = 0.736-0.143logKow (r = 0.959) by stepwise regression analysis. The prediction models recommended that Kow could be used to predict pesticide residues in grape juice and wine, which can predict the effect of pesticide physicochemical properties on PFs.

Improved prediction of chlorophyll-a concentrations in reservoirs by GRU neural network based on particle swarm algorithm optimized variational modal decomposition.

The accurate and reliable prediction of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration is of great significance in reservoir environment management and pollution control. To improve the accuracy of Chl-a index prediction, a novel hybrid water quality prediction method was proposed for gated recurrent unit (GRU) neural network based on particle swarm algorithm optimized variational modal decomposition (PV-GRU). The results showed that the variational mode decomposition (VMD) optimized by particle swarm optimization (PSO) in this study effectively reduced the non-smooth of water quality data. In addition, the GRU neural network reduced the risk of overfitting the deep-learning model with small sample data. Overall, the PV-GRU prediction model exhibited significant superiority in predicting non-smooth and non-linear Chl-a sequences with a relatively small sample size. The prediction errors of PV-GRU model were all less than those of other comparative models, and the fitting determination coefficient R2 was 94.21%. These results indicated that the proposed PV-GRU model can effectively predict the content of Chl-a in reservoirs, which provides an alternative new method for water quality prediction to prevent and control eutrophication in reservoirs.

The correlation of Th22 and regulatory T cells with Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with chronic gastritis.

OBJECTIVE: Helicobacter pylori is planted in the human stomach and is the most common cause of chronic gastritis, which produced specific local and systemic humoral immunity, while the associations of these immune responses and H. pylori in the development of chronic gastritis remain unclear. METHODS: This study analyzed histology, the number of Th22 and regulatory T (Treg) cells, and the levels of inflammation- and gastritis-related indicators between 22 H. pylori-infected and 24 non-H. pylori-infected chronic gastritis patients by hematoxylin-eosin staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, quantitative reverse transcription PCR, and flow cytometry analysis. RESULTS: This study found that the pathological damage degree of gastric mucosa in H. pylori infection patients was more serious. In the H. pylori-infected patient serum, the gastrin, G-17, interleukins (IL)-22, transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-4, and IL-17A levels were notably raised, while the interferon (IFN)-γ level was inhibited, and in gastric mucosa, and except IFN-γ, the IL-22, forkhead box P3 (Foxp3), TNF-α, IL-4, and IL-17A mRNA levels were raised too. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicates serum IL-22, TGF-ß, TNF-α, IL-4, and IL-17A are suitable for differential diagnosis of H. pylori infection. In addition, in the peripheral blood, the percentages of the IL-22+ CD4+ and Foxp3+ CD4+ T cells were raised with H. pylori infection. The positive correlation between IL-22 and Foxp3 mRNA levels and the degree of H. pylori colonization and gastric mucositis by Pearson's correlation analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Treg and Th22 cells were positively associated with the degree of H. pylori infection and the severity of gastritis. In summary, this study provides an experimental basis for the study of the eradication of H. pylori and the biological mechanism of chronic gastritis.

Clinical significance of serum Th1/Th2 cytokines in patients with endometriosis.

Endometriosis (EMS) is a challenging gynecological disorder prevalent in reproductive-aged women, and Th1/Th2 cytokines are implicated in EMS progression. This study probed the serum levels and clinical values of Th1/Th2 cytokines in EMS patients. Firstly, the clinic characteristics of EMS and control patients were recorded. The levels of interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, and IL-10 in the serum of EMS and control patients were identified, respectively. The correlations between Th1 and Th2 cytokines and the diagnostic values of these cytokines in EMS were analyzed. We observed that EMS patients had obvious differences from the controls in dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, pelvic pain, nulliparous, and CA125 levels. Serum IFN-γ and IL-2 were lower while IL-4 and IL-10 were higher in EMS patients. Serum IFN-γ, IL-4 were negatively correlated with serum IL-2, and IL-10 in EMS patients. Th1/Th2 cytokines may help the diagnosis of EMS. Serum IFN-γ and IL-2 were independent protective factors for EMS while dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, nulliparous, and serum IL-4 and IL-10 were independent risk factors for EMS. Collectively, serum Th1/Th2 cytokine levels helped the diagnosis of EMS, with IFN-γ and IL-2 serving as independent protective factors whilst IL-4 and IL-10 serving as independent risk factors.

A Non-Invasive Hemoglobin Detection Device Based on Multispectral Photoplethysmography.

The measurement of hemoglobin is a vital index for diagnosing and monitoring diseases in clinical practice. At present, solutions need to be found for the soreness, high risk of infection, and inconvenient operation associated with invasive detection methods. This paper proposes a method for non-invasively detecting hemoglobin levels based on multi-wavelength photoplethysmography (PPG) signals. AFE4490 and TMUX1109 were used to implement the low-cost collection of an eight-LED transmissive PPG signal. We used seven regular LEDs and one broadband LED (Osram SFH4737) as light sources. Additionally, a finger clip integrating multiple sensors was designed and manufactured via 3D printing to simultaneously monitor the LED-sensor distance and the pressure from the tester's finger during PPG signal acquisition. We used a method to extract features from PPG signals using a sliding-window's variance and an evaluation metric for PPG signals based on the AdaCost classification. Data were gathered from 56 participants from the Nephrology department, including 16 anemic patients. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted on the collected data to remove any data with a weak correlation. The advantage of using a broadband LED as a light source was also demonstrated. Several non-invasive hemoglobin regression models were created by applying AdaBoost, BPNN, and Random Forest models. The study's results indicate that the AdaBoost model produced the best performance, with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.67 g/L and a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.91 The study results show that the device we designed and manufactured can achieve effective non-invasive hemoglobin detection and represents a new methodological approach to obtaining measurements that can be applied in a clinical setting.