Effects of different adding methods of fermentation medium on the quality of cigar.

Background: To investigate the effects of different media and media addition methods on the fermentation of tobacco. Methods: A plant extract and a bacterial agent are used for fermenting cigar tobacco leaves in a different order of addition. The chemical composition, cellulose, and pectin content, as well as changes in the microbial community, were measured. Results: The addition method of the fermentation medium affects the quality of fermented tobacco. The optimal medium formula and addition method involve first adding plant extracts and then microbial agents. The medium formula and addition method can significantly reduce cellulose in tobacco, with a reduction rate of 46%, and significantly increase the content of ß-carotene, thereby enhancing the aroma of cigarettes. There is an increase in aroma components, such as alcohols, alkanes, and olefins, in tobacco. By reducing the proportion of Aspergillus, it can alter the microbial community structure of tobacco. Conclusion: Adding plant extracts before introducing microbial agents can significantly improve the quality and alter the microbial community structure of Dexue No.1 tobacco.

Unexpected response of terrestrial carbon sink to rural depopulation in China.

China is experiencing large-scale rural-urban migration and rapid urbanization, which have had significant impact on terrestrial carbon sink. However, the impact of rural-urban migration and its accompanying urban expansion on the carbon sink is unclear. Based on multisource remote sensing product data for 2000-2020, the soil microbial respiration equation, relative contribution rate, and threshold analysis, we explored the impact of rural depopulation on the carbon sink and its threshold. The results revealed that the proportion of the rural population in China decreased from 63.91 % in 2000 to 36.11 % in 2020. Human pressure decreased by 1.82% in rural depopulation areas, which promoted vegetation restoration in rural areas (+8.45 %) and increased the carbon sink capacity. The net primary productivity (NPP) and net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of the vegetation in the rural areas increased at rates of 2.95 g C m-2 yr-1 and 2.44 g C m-2 yr-1. Strong rural depopulation enhanced the carbon sequestration potential, and the NEP was 1.5 times higher in areas with sharp rural depopulation than in areas with mild rural depopulation. In addition, the rural depopulation was accompanied by urban expansion, and there was a positive correlation between the comprehensive urbanization level (CUL) and NEP in 75.29 % of urban areas. In the urban areas, the vegetation index increased by 88.42 %, and the urban green space partially compensated for the loss of carbon sink caused by urban expansion, with a growth rate of 4.96 g C m-2 yr-1. Changes in rural population have a nonlinear impact on the NEP. When the rural population exceeds 545.686 people/km2, an increase in the rural population will have a positive impact on the NEP. Our research shows that rural depopulation offers a potential opportunity to restore natural ecosystems and thus increase the carbon sequestration capacity.

Recent Progress in Brain Network Models for Medical Applications: A Review.

Importance: Pathological perturbations of the brain often spread via connectome to fundamentally alter functional consequences. By integrating multimodal neuroimaging data with mathematical neural mass modeling, brain network models (BNMs) enable to quantitatively characterize aberrant network dynamics underlying multiple neurological and psychiatric disorders. We delved into the advancements of BNM-based medical applications, discussed the prevalent challenges within this field, and provided possible solutions and future directions. Highlights: This paper reviewed the theoretical foundations and current medical applications of computational BNMs. Composed of neural mass models, the BNM framework allows to investigate large-scale brain dynamics behind brain diseases by linking the simulated functional signals to the empirical neurophysiological data, and has shown promise in exploring neuropathological mechanisms, elucidating therapeutic effects, and predicting disease outcome. Despite that several limitations existed, one promising trend of this research field is to precisely guide clinical neuromodulation treatment based on individual BNM simulation. Conclusion: BNM carries the potential to help understand the mechanism underlying how neuropathology affects brain network dynamics, further contributing to decision-making in clinical diagnosis and treatment. Several constraints must be addressed and surmounted to pave the way for its utilization in the clinic.

Effects of 0.2% chloroprocaine combined with ropivacaine on epidural labor analgesia and EC50 of ropivacaine / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of 0.2% chloroprocaine combined with ropivacaine on epidural labor analgesia and median effective concentration （EC50） of ropivacaine. METHODS Totally 67 parturients who scheduled for vaginal delivery and required epidural labor analgesia were collected from our hospital from July to October 2023 and randomly divided into RL group （33 cases） and R group （34 cases）. The concentration of ropivacaine was determined by modified Dixon sequential method. RL group was given 0.2% Chloroprocaine hydrochloride injection+Ropivacaine hydrochloride injection+0.4 μg/mL Sufentanil citrate injection； R group was given Ropivacaine hydrochloride injection+0.4 μg/mL Sufentanil citrate injection. EC50 of ropivacaine， analgesic effect during delivery， total dosage of analgesic drugs， analgesic satisfaction score， the incidence of adverse reactions， delivery status， and Apgar score of newborns were observed in two groups. RESULTS EC50 of ropivacaine， onset time， remedial analgesia rate， the incidence of perineal distension and breakthrough pain and total dosage of analgesic drugs of RL group were significantly lower than R group， and analgesic satisfaction score was significantly higher than R group （P＜0.05）. There was no statistical significance in the incidence of adverse reactions such as numbness， weakness， and chills in the lower limbs， or the duration of labor， amount of bleeding， mode of delivery， and Apgar score of newborns between 2 groups （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS For epidural labor analgesia， 0.2% chloroprocaine combined with ropivacaine can reduce EC50 of ropivacaine， improve analgesia effect and have good safety.

Correlation of RBP7 mRNA Expression in Breast Cancer Tissues with Tumor Immune Cell Infiltration and Prognosis Based on TCGA Database / 现代检验医学杂志

Objective To explore the role of retinol binding protein 7(RBP7)in breast cancer by bioinformatics.Methods R sofrware was used to explore the differential expression of the RBP7 gene in breast cancer by the cancer genome atlas(TCGA)dataset and the human protein atlas(HPA).Relationship between RBP7 and clinical data of breast cancer was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves.Correlation between high and low RBP7 expression groups and different tumor-infiltrating immune cells(TIICs)were analyzed based on the TCGA database.Gene set enrichment analysis(GSEA)was used to assess the distribute trends of RBP7 in gene tables sorted by phenotypic relatedness.Results RBP7 mRNA expression levels were down-regulated in breast cancer compared to paracancerous tissues,which were expressed in the nucleus.ROC curve analysis showed that the area under curve(AUC)of RBP7 for the diagnosis of breast cancer was 0.943(95%CI:0.926～0.960),and the best cut-off value of RBP7 was 6.29,with a sensitivity and specificity of 82.32%and 93.69%,respectively.Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that low expression of RBP7 was associated with overall survival rate in breast cancer patients(HR=0.68,95%CI:0.49～0.93,P=0.017),indicating that RBP7 was an independent risk factor for breast cancer.Spearman correlation showed that RBP7 was positively associated with pDC cells and NK cells(r=0.290,0.253,all P<0.05),and negatively associated with Th2 cells(r=-0.217,P<0.05)in breast cancer.GSEA showed that RBP7 was enriched in pathways such as adipogenesis,ribosome,peptiden ligand binding receptors,and calcium signaling pathway(all P<0.001).Conclusion RBP7 affects the occurrence and development of breast cancer,which may be a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for breast cancer.

Application of knowledge distillation technology for fine segmentation of three-vessel and trachea views in fetal echocardiographic images / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To explore the application value of fetal heart ultrasound image segmentation network model based on knowledge distillation technology in the fine segmentation of fetal heart ultrasound image at three-vessel and trachea (3VT) views.Methods:One thousand and three hundred fetals were retrospectively collected from Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University College of Medicine from January 2016 to December 2021, the two-dimensional grayscale ultrasound images of fetal heart at 3VT views were analyzed and then divided into training, validation, and test sets. The training and validation sets were used to construct the auxiliary diagnostic network models, and the test set was used to test the reliability of different network models (U-Net, DeepLabv3+ ). The 3VT views were collected and annotated by an experienced doctor as the reference standard. The intersection over union (IoU), pixel accuracy (PA) and Dice coefficient (Dice) were used as the 3 indexes to evaluate the segmentation accuracy, and the diagnostic efficiency of the training model was evaluated. The training model and the most commonly used segmentation models were identified, and the results were compared. A total of 101 images were randomly selected and assigned to junior doctors, AI and junior doctors assisted AI interpretation. Bland-Altman images were drawn to evaluate their consistency with the reference standard, and the results were compared.Results:The training model of knowledge distillation algorithm achieved better results than U-Net, DeepLabv3+ models on all evaluation indexes, and the average IoU, PA and Dice were 68.6%, 81.4% and 81.3%, respectively. Compared with the U-Net model and DeepLabv3+ model, more accurate segmentation boundaries were obtained by the knowledge distillation algorithm training model, and the quantitative evaluation indexes were improved. With the aid of the model, the diagnostic accuracy of junior doctors was improved.Conclusions:The knowledge distillation algorithm training model segmentation method can identify the anatomical structure of the fetal heart in the 3VT view of the fetal heart ultrasound image, and the recognition result is obviously better than other related methods, and can improve the accuracy of image recognition for doctors with low experience.

Threat of soil formation rate to health of karst ecosystem.

Karst ecosystems are important to several billion people, so it is necessary to accurately diagnose and evaluate the health of these ecosystems for socioeconomic development; however, the existing evaluation methods have many limitations, so they cannot accurately evaluate the ecosystem health in karst areas. In particular, they ignore the influence and restriction of the soil formation rate on the ecosystem health. To this end, we established a new index to represent the actual health status of karst ecosystems. The soil formation rate was found to pose a threat to the health of 28 % of the world's karst ecosystems, covering an area of 594 km2. In addition, a dataset of global karst ecosystem health index values with a spatial resolution of about 8 km × 8 km from 2000 to 2014 was created, and the proportion of unhealthy areas was found to be as high as 75.91 %. This study highlights the contribution of the soil formation rate to karst ecosystem health and provides a new method and deeper scientific understanding for further accurate evaluation of karst ecosystem health, which can improve future ecosystem health research and social management.

Nitidine chloride induces cardiac hypertrophy in mice by targeting autophagy-related 4B cysteine peptidase.

Nitidine chloride (NC) is a standard active component from the traditional Chinese medicine Zanthoxylum nitidum (Roxb.) DC. (ZN). NC has shown a variety of pharmacological activities including anti-tumor activity. As a number of anti-tumor drugs cause cardiotoxicity, herein we investigated whether NC exerted a cardiotoxic effect and the underlying mechanism. Aqueous extract of ZN (ZNE) was intraperitoneally injected into rats, while NC was injected into beagles and mice once daily for 4 weeks. Cardiac function was assessed using echocardiography. We showed that both ZNE administered in rats and NC administered in mice induced dose-dependent cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction, whereas administration of NC at the middle and high dose caused death in Beagles. Consistently, we observed a reduction of cardiac autophagy levels in NC-treated mice and neonatal mouse cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, we demonstrated that autophagy-related 4B cysteine peptidase (ATG4B) may be a potential target of NC, since overexpression of ATG4B reversed the cardiac hypertrophy and reduced autophagy levels observed in NC-treated mice. We conclude that NC induces cardiac hypertrophy via ATG4B-mediated downregulation of autophagy in mice. Thus, this study provides guidance for the safe clinical application of ZN and the use of NC as an anti-tumor drug.

Genomic and Transcriptomic Characterization Revealed the High Sensitivity of Targeted Therapy and Immunotherapy in a Subset of Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

Purpose@#The unique chromosomal rearrangements of endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS) make it possible to distinguish high-grade ESS (HGESS) and low-grade ESS (LGESS) from the molecular perspective. Analysis of ESS at the genomic and transcriptomic levels can help us achieve accurate diagnosis of ESS and provide potential therapy options for ESS patients. @*Materials and Methods@#A total of 36 ESS patients who conducted DNA- and/or RNA-based next-generation sequencing were retrospectively enrolled in this study. The molecular characteristics of ESS at genomic and transcriptomic levels, including mutational spectrum, fusion profiles, gene expression and pathway enrichment analysis and features about immune microenvironment were comprehensively explored. @*Results@#TP53 and DNMT3A mutations were the most frequent mutations. The classical fusions frequently found in HGESS (ZC3H7B-BCOR and NUTM2B-YWHAE) and LGESS (JAZF1-SUZ12) were detected in our cohort. CCND1 was significantly up-regulated in HGESS, while the expression of GPER1 and PGR encoding estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) did not differ significantly between HGESS and LGESS. Actionable mutations enriched in homologous recombination repair, cell cycle, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin pathways were detected in 60% of HGESS patients. Genes with up-regulated expression in HGESS were significantly enriched in five immune-related pathways. Most HGESS patients (85.7%) had positive predictors of immunotherapy efficacy. Moreover, immune microenvironment analysis showed that HGESS had relatively high immune infiltration. The degree of immune infiltration in HGESS patients with ZC3H7B-BCOR fusion was relatively higher than that of those with NUTM2B-YWHAE fusion. @*Conclusion@#This study investigated the molecular characteristics of ESS patients at the genomic and transcriptomic levels and revealed the potentially high sensitivity of targeted therapy and immunotherapy in a subset of HGESS with specific molecular features, providing a basis for guiding decision-making of treatment and the design of future clinical trials on precision therapy.

Analysis for Key Points of Registration Applications and Difficulties of Process Control of 3D Printed Customized Dentures / 中国医疗器械杂志

With the highlighted advantages of 3D printing technology in the field of dental prosthodontics, there is increasing in the numbers of registration applications for additive manufacturing customized dentures. However, there is still a lack of unified analysis in the core elements of process control, the key points of registration and the safety production quality control. Based on the current research status of the industry, the study is intended to clarify confusion and difficulties, deeply analyse the mechanism of the product defects, sort the core elements of process control, then try to establish a systematic evaluation system from product performance research, key process verification, production quality control and the description of registration files, so that it can provide help for practitioners to clarify research direction, establishing quality management system, improving the efficiency of registration and ensuring product quality.

Supervillin Isoform 4 (SV4) Regulates Mitosis by Enhancing Aurora A Activity / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

Mitosis is important for cell proliferation in eukaryotes, and chromosome replication and accurate separation are essential for cell division. Supervillin is a membrane and microfilament actin binding protein. Previous studies have found that it regulates the dynamic changes of the cortical distribution of F-actin and myosin II in cytokinesis, thus ensuring the correct distribution of the contraction ring and participating in the final completion of cytoplasm divisions. But it is not clear whether it functions during metaphase. Supervillin has several splicing isomers, among which supervillin isoform 4 (SV4) is the largest splicing isomer. In this study, the expression of SV4 in cells was reduced by the RNA interference method, and the dynamic process of mitosis and the morphology of astral spindles were detected and observed by real-time microscopy and immunofluorescence staining, and the potential molecular mechanism of SV4 in mitosis was analyzed. The results showed abnormal cell divisions after SV4 reduction: delayed transition from metaphase to anaphase (P<0.001), abnormal assembly of microtubules, a twofold-increase of the number of cells with multipolar spindles, and decreased γ-tubulin signaling in the centrosome (P<0.001). Through GST pull-down and mass spectrometry experiments, we found that SV4 and Aurora A bind to each other, and SV4 regulates the localization and activation of Aurora A in the centrosome during mitosis. In summary, supervillin plays an important role in mitosis. The isomer SV4 regulates spindle integrity and γ-tubulin recruitment by interacting with Aurora A and recruiting it for proper localization and activation in the centrosome during the metaphase, thus promoting the correct assembly of bipolar spindles and ensuring the accurate separation of chromosomes and the smooth progress of mitosis.

Preliminary study of cardiac morphology and function in fetuses with tetralogy of Fallot using fetal heart quantification / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To evaluate the fetal heart shape and function in tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) by fetal heart quantitative analysis (fetal HQ).Methods:A total of 52 fetuses with TOF diagnosed by fetal echocardiography and 200 normal fetuses matched with their gestational weeks from March 2020 to March 2022 at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University were retrospectively evaluated. The basic parameters of fetal cardiac blood vessels in the two groups were measured by fetal HQ technology and conventional M-mode ultrasound technology: aortic valve diameter(AV), pulmonary artery valve diameter(PV), main pulmonary artery diameter (MPA) and Z-score. The overall morphometric measurements including end-diastolic length diameter, transverse diameter, area, and global spherical index (GSI) of the fetal heart in the 4-chamber view(4CV), area and length of the right and left ventricles and their ratios. Measurements of left and right ventricular function included ejection fraction (EF), fraction area change rate (FAC), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), left and right ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS), and left and right ventricular end-diastolic diameter (ED), spherical index (SI), and fractional shortening rate (FS) of 24-segments. The differences of above parameters between TOF group and control group were compared. In addition, the relationships between the absolute value of left and right ventricular GLS of TOF fetus and PV/AV, PV Z-score and MPA Z-score were analyzed. The optimal critical values of GSI, left ventricular EF and left ventricular FAC of TOF fetus were determined by ROC curve, and their corresponding sensitivity and specificity were obtained.Results:Compared with control group, there were significant differences in 4CV end-diastolic length, area, GSI, left ventricular area, left ventricular length, left ventricular EF, left ventricular FAC and left ventricular GLS in TOF group (all P<0.05). There were significant differences in ED between left ventricular 15-24 segments and right ventricular 1-21 segments (all P<0.05). There were significant differences in SI between left ventricular 1-16 segments, 21-24 segments and all segments of right ventricle (all P<0.05). The differences in FS were statistically significant (all P<0.05) when comparing all segments of the left ventricle and 1-2 segments of the right ventricular, and the remaining parameters were not statistically significant (all P>0.05). The left ventricular GLS absolute value of TOF fetuses was positively correlated with PV/AV, PV Z-score and MPA Z-score( rs=0.338, 0.441 and 0.458, all P<0.05), the right ventricular GLS absolute value of TOF fetuses was positively correlated with PV AV, PV Z-score and MPA Z-score( rs=0.418, 0.368 and 0.338, all P<0.05). The optimal critical values of GSI, left ventricular EF, and left ventricular FAC in the diagnosis of fetal TOF were 1.19, 59.05%, and 44.4%, respectively. At this time, the sensitivities of diagnosis of TOF were 0.78, 0.75, and 0.80, respectively. The specificities were 0.88, 0.88 and 0.83, respectively. The areas under ROC curve were 0.89, 0.88 and 0.89, respectively. Conclusions:Fetal HQ technology can provide a simple and reliable quantitative evaluation of fetal heart shape and function, and provide certain theoretical parameters for the study of fetal heart shape and function.

Quantitative evaluation of right atrial function in fetuses with moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To explore the application value of two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE) in measuring the global longitudinal peak strain of the right atrium (PRAGLS) in normal fetuses and evaluating PRAGLS in assessing right atrial function in fetuses with moderate and severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR).Methods:A total of 25 fetuses diagnosed with moderate and severe TR, who underwent fetal echocardiography at Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University College of Medicine between October 2020 and May 2022, were selected as the case group. Their gestational age ranged from 25.00(24.00, 30.00)weeks. Additionally, 100 normal singleton fetuses were chosen as the control group, with a gestational age of 25.83(23.00, 28.75)weeks. Standard basal or apical four-chamber clips were acquired and inputted into TOMTEC-ARENA offline cardiac analysis software for analysis. The fetal PRAGLS values of the two groups were obtained, as well as the routine obstetric ultrasound measurements and fetal echocardiographic parameters of both groups: fetal heart rate (FHR), biparietal diameter (BPD), femur length (FL), aortic annulus inner diameter (AO), pulmonary annulus inner diameter (PA), PA/AO ratio, right atrial end-systolic length (RAESL), right atrial end-systolic diameter (RAESD), right atrial end-systolic area (RAESA), right ventricular end-diastolic diameter (RVEDD), and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE). The peak TR velocity and pressure gradient were simultaneously measured in the case group.The differences in fetal PRAGLS and other parameters between the two groups were compared and analyzed. The correlation between fetal PRAGLS and gestational age (GA) and routine measurements was assessed for both groups. Intra- and inter-observer repeatability tests were conducted using the intragroup correlation coefficient (ICC).Results:A significant difference in PRAGLS was observed between the two groups ( t=11.55, P<0.01). The TAPSE difference between the two groups was also statistically significant ( Z=3.45, P=0.01). Notable differences were found in AO, PA, PA/AO, RAESL, RAESD, and RAESA between the two groups (all P<0.05), but no significant differences were identified in age, GA, FHR, BPD, FL, and RVEDD between the two groups (all P>0.05). PRAGLS in the control group exhibited a moderate negative correlation with GA ( r=-0.47, P<0.01) and were correlated with BPD, FL, AO, PA, RAESL, RAESD, RAESA, and RVEDD ( r=-0.50, -0.46, -0.39, -0.43, -0.45, -0.36, -0.43, -0.32, all P<0.05). No significant correlation was observed with maternal age, FHR, PA/AO, and TAPSE (all P>0.05). No significant correlation between PRAGLS and GA or other conventional parameters was found in the case group (all P>0.05). The inter-measurer and intra-measurer ICC of PRAGLS in the control group were 0.87 and 0.79, respectively, while the inter-measurer and intra-measurer ICC of PRAGLS in the case group were 0.94 and 0.97, respectively, demonstrating good consistency. Conclusions:2D-STE exhibits strong feasibility and reproducibility in assessing fetal atrial function.Fetuses with moderate and severe TR display decreased PRAGLS, suggesting impaired right atrial reservoir function. Right atrial strain introduces a novel method for evaluating fetal cardiac function.

Associations between abnormal electroencephalogram microstates and childhood emotional abuse in adolescent depression / 中南大学学报(医学版)

Objective:Childhood traumatic experiences greatly influenced the brain network activities of patients with depression,and there is an urgent need to explore the temporal dynamics for these changes.This study aims to investigate the abnormalities of resting-state electroencephalogram(EEG)microstates in eye-open state of depressed adolescents and to explore the correlations between their EEG microstates and the childhood traumatic experience. Methods:Using resting-state EEG microstate analysis,we explored the temporal dynamics of brain activity in patients with adolescent depression.This study selected 66 adolescents with depression as a patient group,and 27 healthy adolescents as a healthy control group.A modified k-means clustering algorithm was used to classify the 64-channel resting-state EEG data into different microstates.Independent sample t-tests were used to compare the microstate parameters between the 2 groups and further assciations between these parameters and childhood traumatic experience in patients were explored via using Spearman correlation. Results:In this study,significant differences were observed in the occurrence and transition probabilities of EEG microstates between the healthy control and the patient group.Notably,there was a statistically significant difference(P＜0.05)in the occurrence of microstate A across 2 groups,exhibiting a negative correlation with the emotional abuse component within the childhood trauma scores(Spearman's rho=-0.31,P=0.013).Furthermore,patient-specific,non-random transitions from microstate B to A(Spearman's rho=-0.30,P=0.015)and C to A(Spearman's rho=-0.31,P=0.013)were inversely associated with the scores of emotional abuse factors from childhood trauma in the patient group,showing statistically significant differences when comparing to the healthy controls(P＜0.05).Upon stratification into quartiles based on the emotional abuse factor scores,the occurrence of microstate A,as well as the transition rates from microstates B to A and C to A,retained statistical significance following adjustment for multiple comparisons(all P＜0.05). Conclusion:The abnormal temporal dynamics in brain networks of adolescents with depression are linked to childhood emotional abuse.Those who have suffered severe emotional abuse may show greater impairments in the brain's visual and central executive networks.EEG microstate analysis could be a potential tool for detecting adolescent depression with severe childhood trauma.

Quantitative study of atrial diameter and Z-score of normal fetuses in middle and late trimester by echocardiography / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To analyze the correlation between left and right atrial diameters and fetal biological growth parameters of normal fetuses in middle and late trimester, and to establish normal reference and Z-score model for left and right atria.Methods:Three hundred and ninety-two fetuses in middle and late trimester were prospectively selected from July 2022 to October 2022 in Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital.Non-cardiac biometric parameters included biparietal diameter (BPD), femoral length (FL), and gestational age (GA) based on menstrual age were assessed.Left and right atrial widths (LAW, RAW) and atrial lengths (LAL, RAL) at end-systole, left and right atrial areas (LAA, RAA) at end-systole and the heart area (HA) at end-diastole were measured in standard apical four-chamber or basal four-chamber view. The ratio of RA and LA transverse diameters (RAW/LAW), the ratio of RA and LA length diameters (RAL/LAL), ratio of RA and LA area (RAA/LAA), spherical index of the ratio of RA and LA length to transverse diameter (RASI, LASI), ratio of LA and RA area to heart area (LAA/HA, RAA/HA) were calculated. The best regression equation was established using GA, BPD and FL as independent variables and LAL, LAW, LAA, RAL, RAW, RAA as dependent variable. The correlation between the standard deviation (SD) and the independent variables GA, BPD and FL was analyzed, and then the above statistics were used to calculate the corresponding Z-score for each variable of RA and LA using the regression equation.Results:①Significant positive correlations were found between LAW, RAW, LAL, RAL, LAA and RAA with the increase of GA, BPD and FL, and the highest degree of correlation between RAA, LAA and GA was denoted ( r=0.927, 0.920, all P<0.001). ②Taking GA as an example, there was no significant correlation between RAL/LAL, RAW/LAW and GA ( r=-0.064, 0.077; all P>0.05). RAA/LAA showed a very weak positive correlation with GA ( r=0.106, P=0.037), with normal reference values of 1.002±0.091, 1.091±0.093, 1.059±0.090, respectively. Interestingly RAL/LAL was found close to 1, while RAW/LAW and RAA/LAA were always >1. No significant correlations were found between LAA/HA, RAA/HA and GA ( r=0.003, 0.056; all P>0.05), with normal reference values of 0.155±0.026, 0.163±0.026, respectively, and RAA/HA was found larger than LAA/HA. LASI showed a very weak positive correlation with GA ( r=0.112, P=0.027), while there was no significant correlation between RASI and GA ( r=0.003, P>0.05), the normal reference values were 1.068±0.113, 0.980±0.105, respectively. ③The SD of LAL, LAW, etc.showed a simple linear relationship with the independent variables. Taking RAA and GA as examples, the linear regression equation for RAA was Y=-1.690+ 0.107 0GA ( r=0.927, P<0.001) and the linear regression equation for RAA-SD was Y=-0.107+ 0.010 4GA ( r=0.320, P<0.001). The Z-scores for LAL, LAW, LAA, RAL, RAW and RAA were relatively constant with the growth of GA, BPD and FL, with the corresponding Z-scores for GA were -1.817~3.631( r=0.000 3), -1.605~2.995( r<-0.000 1), -1.700~3.107( r<0.000 1), -1.617~3.466( r=0.000 1), -1.491~3.025( r<-0.000 1), -1.566~3.104( r=0.000 2), respectively. Conclusions:This study preliminarily establish the reference value ranges and Z-score of atrial diameters in normal fetuses during middle and late trimester, providing a reference basis for accurate quantitative evaluation of fetal atrial development and analysis of fetal congenital heart abnormalities, and contributing to the early detection of pathological conditions leading to abnormal atrial size.

Construction of a Prognostic Model of Multiple Myeloma Based on Metabolism-Related Genes / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To screen the prognostic biomarkers of metabolic genes in patients with multiple myeloma (MM), and construct a prognostic model of metabolic genes.@*METHODS@#The histological database related to MM patients was searched. Data from MM patients and healthy controls with complete clinical information were selected for analysis.The second generation sequencing data and clinical information of bone marrow tissue of MM patients and healthy controls were collected from human protein atlas (HPA) and multiple myeloma research foundation (MMRF) databases. The gene set of metabolism-related pathways was extracted from Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB) by Perl language. The biomarkers related to MM metabolism were screened by difference analysis, univariate Cox risk regression analysis and LASSO regression analysis, and the risk prognostic model and Nomogram were constructed. Risk curve and survival curve were used to verify the grouping effect of the model. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to study the difference of biological pathway enrichment between high risk group and low risk group. Multivariate Cox risk regression analysis was used to verify the independent prognostic ability of risk score.@*RESULTS@#A total of 8 mRNAs which were significantly related to the survival and prognosis of MM patients were obtained (P<0.01). As molecular markers, MM patients could be divided into high-risk group and low-risk group. Survival curve and risk curve showed that the overall survival time of patients in the low-risk group was significantly better than that in the high risk group (P<0.001). GSEA results showed that signal pathways related to basic metabolism, cell differentiation and cell cycle were significantly enriched in the high-risk group, while ribosome and N polysaccharide biosynthesis signaling pathway were more enriched in the low-risk group. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the risk score composed of the eight metabolism-related genes could be used as an independent risk factor for the prognosis of MM patients, and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) showed that the molecular signatures of metabolism-related genes had the best predictive effect.@*CONCLUSION@#Metabolism-related pathways play an important role in the pathogenesis and prognosis of patients with MM. The clinical significance of the risk assessment model for patients with MM constructed based on eight metabolism-related core genes needs to be confirmed by further clinical studies.

Omics Analysis of Ferroptosis and Establishment of Prognostic Model for multiple myeloma Patients / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the role of ferroptosis-related genes in multiple myeloma(MM) through TCGA database and FerrDb, and build a prognostic model of ferroptosis-related genes for MM patients.@*METHODS@#Using the TCGA database containing clinical information and gene expression profile data of 764 patients with MM and the FerrDb database including ferroptosis-related genes, the differentially expressed ferroptosis-related genes were screened by wilcox.test function. The prognostic model of ferroptosis-related genes was established by Lasso regression, and the Kaplan-Meier survival curve was drawn. Then COX regression analysis was used to screen independent prognostic factors. Finally, the differential genes between high-risk and low-risk patients were screened, and enrichment analysis was used to explore the mechanism of the relationship between ferroptosis and prognosis in MM.@*RESULTS@#36 differential genes related to ferroptosis were screened out from bone marrow samples of 764 MM patients and 4 normal people, including 12 up-regulated genes and 24 down-regulated genes. Six prognosis-related genes (GCLM, GLS2, SLC7A11, AIFM2, ACO1, G6PD) were screened out by Lasso regression and the prognostic model with ferroptosis-related genes of MM was established. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the survival rate between high risk group and low risk group was significantly different(P<0.01). Univariate COX regression analysis showed that age, sex, ISS stage and risk score were significantly correlated with overall survival of MM patients(P<0.05), while multivariate COX regression analysis showed that age, ISS stage and risk score were independent prognostic indicators for MM patients (P<0.05). GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the ferroptosis-related genes was mainly related to neutrophil degranulation and migration, cytokine activity and regulation, cell component, antigen processing and presentation, complement and coagulation cascades, haematopoietic cell lineage and so on, which may affect the prognosis of patients.@*CONCLUSION@#Ferroptosis-related genes change significantly during the pathogenesis of MM. The prognostic model of ferroptosis-related genes can be used to predict the survival of MM patients, but the mechanism of the potential function of ferroptosis-related genes needs to be confirmed by further clinical studies.

Accelerating the Improvement of Human Well-Being in China through Economic Growth and Policy Adjustment.

Human well-being in many countries lags behind the gross domestic product (GDP) due to the rapid changes in the socio-economic environment that have occurred for decades. However, the mechanisms behind this complex phenomenon are still unclear. This study revealed the changes in human well-being in China from 1995 to 2017 by revising the genuine progress indicator (GPI) at the national level and further quantified the contribution of interfering factors that have driven the increase in the GPI. The results indicated that: (1) The per capita GPI of China showed an increasing trend with an annual growth rate of 12.43%. The changes in the GPI followed the same pattern as economic development, rather than presenting the phenomenon of economic growth combined with a decline in welfare that has been recorded in some countries and regions. (2) The increase in human well-being was mainly driven by economic growth, but it was most sensitive to social factors. (3) Increasing income inequality and the cost of lost leisure time contributed obvious negative impacts (24.69% and 23.35%, respectively) to the per capita GPI. However, the increase in personal consumption expenditures, the value of domestic labor, ecosystem service value, and net capital growth accelerated the rise in the GPI, with positive contribution rates of 30.69%, 23%, 20.54%, and 20.02%, respectively. (4) The continuous increase in economic investment and the strengthening of social management due to policy adjustments completely counteracted the negative impacts on human well-being, thus leading to a great increase in the per capita GPI. Such insights could provide theoretical support for decision making and policy implementation to improve global human well-being.

Brain age vector: A measure of brain aging with enhanced neurodegenerative disorder specificity.

Neuroimaging-driven brain age estimation has become popular in measuring brain aging and identifying neurodegenerations. However, the single estimated brain age (gap) compromises regional variations of brain aging, losing spatial specificity across diseases which is valuable for early screening. In this study, we combined brain age modeling with Shapley Additive Explanations to measure brain aging as a feature contribution vector underlying spatial pathological aging mechanism. Specifically, we regressed age with volumetric brain features using machine learning to construct the brain age model, and model-agnostic Shapley values were calculated to attribute regional brain aging for each subject's age estimation, forming the brain age vector. Spatial specificity of the brain age vector was evaluated among groups of normal aging, prodromal Parkinson disease (PD), stable mild cognitive impairment (sMCI), and progressive mild cognitive impairment (pMCI). Machine learning methods were adopted to examine the discriminability of the brain age vector in early disease screening, compared with the other two brain aging metrics (single brain age gap, regional brain age gaps) and brain volumes. Results showed that the proposed brain age vector accurately reflected disorder-specific abnormal aging patterns related to the medial temporal and the striatum for prodromal AD (sMCI vs. pMCI) and PD (healthy controls [HC] vs. prodromal PD), respectively, and demonstrated outstanding performance in early disease screening, with area under the curves of 83.39% and 72.28% in detecting pMCI and prodromal PD, respectively. In conclusion, the proposed brain age vector effectively improves spatial specificity of brain aging measurement and enables individual screening of neurodegenerative diseases.