Jianpi Huayu Prescription Prevents Atherosclerosis by Improving Inflammation and Reshaping the Intestinal Microbiota in ApoE-/- Mice.

This study established an LPS-induced RAW264.7 macrophage inflammatory injury model and an AS mouse vulnerable plaque model to observe the effect of JPHYP on macrophage inflammation, plaque formation, blood lipids, inflammation levels, intestinal flora and the influence of TLR4/MyD88/MAPK pathway, and explore the anti-AS effect and molecular mechanism of JPHYP, and detected 16S rRNA of mice intestinal microbes. The difference of intestinal flora in different groups of mice was compared to further explore the intervention effect of JPHYP and clarify the molecular biological mechanism of JPHYP in preventing and treating AS by regulating TLR4/MyD88/MAPK inflammatory signaling pathway and improving intestinal flora.

Midpoint transverse process to pleura block for postoperative analgesia following laparoscopic renal cyst decortication: Two case reports.

BACKGROUND: The midpoint transverse process to pleura (MTP) block, a novel technique for thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB), was first employed in laparoscopic renal cyst decortication. CASE SUMMARY: Thoracic paravertebral nerve block is frequently employed for perioperative analgesia during laparoscopic cyst decortication. To address safety concerns associated with TPVBs, we administered MTP blocks in two patients prior to administering general anesthesia for laparoscopic cyst decortication. The MTP block was performed at the T9 level under ultrasound guidance, with 20 mL of 0.5% ropivacaine injected. Reduced sensation to cold and pinprick was observed from the T8 to T11 dermatome levels. Immediately postoperative Numeric Pain Rating Scale scores were 0/10 at rest and on movement, with none exceeding a mean 24 h numeric rating scale > 3. CONCLUSION: MTP block was effective technique for providing postoperative analgesia for patients undergoing laparoscopic renal cyst decortication.

Activation of the MEK/ERK Pathway Mediates the Inhibitory Effects of Silvestrol on Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells via RAP1A, HK2, and GADD45A.

BACKGROUND: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Chemoradiotherapy is the mainstream treatment for locally advanced NPC, and chemotherapeutic drugs are an indispensable part of NPC treatment. However, the toxic side-effects of chemotherapy drugs limit their therapeutic value, and new chemotherapy drugs are urgently needed for NPC. Silvestrol, an emerging natural plant anticancer molecule, has shown promising antitumor activity in breast cancer, melanoma, liver cancer, and other tumor types by promoting apoptosis in cancer cells to a greater extent than in normal cells. However, the effects of silvestrol on NPC and its possible molecular mechanisms have yet to be fully explored. METHODS: Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), cell scratch, flow cytometry, 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU), and Western blot (WB) assays were used to evaluate the effects of silvestrol on the cell viability, cell cycle, apoptosis, and migration of NPC cells. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was used to study the effect of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) inhibitors on the cell transcriptome, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to assess protein expression levels in patient specimens. RESULTS: Silvestrol inhibited cell migration and DNA replication of NPC cells, while promoting the expression of cleaved caspase-3, apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, silvestrol altered the level of ERK phosphorylation. The ERK-targeted inhibitor LY3214996 attenuated silvestrol-mediated inhibition of NPC cell proliferation but not migration. Analysis of RNA-Seq data and WB were used to identify and validate the downstream regulatory targets of silvestrol. Expression of GADD45A, RAP1A, and hexokinase-II (HK2) proteins was inhibited by silvestrol and LY3214996. Finally, IHC revealed that GADD45A, RAP1A, and HK2 protein expression was more abundant in cancer tissues than in non-tumor tissues. CONCLUSIONS: Silvestrol inhibits the proliferation of NPC cells by targeting ERK phosphorylation. However, the inhibition of NPC cell migration by silvestrol was independent of the Raf-MEK-ERK pathway. RAP1A, HK2, and GADD45A may be potential targets for the action of silvestrol.

[Clinical characteristics of 267 children with eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease: a multicenter study]. / 267ä¾‹å„¿ç«¥å—œé ¸ç²’ç»†èƒžæ€§èƒƒè‚ é“ç–¾ç— ä¸´åºŠç‰¹å¾åˆ†æžï¼šä¸€é¡¹å¤šä¸­å¿ƒç ”ç©¶.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the clinical manifestations, endoscopic findings, histopathological changes, treatment, and prognosis of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease (EGID) in children, with the aim of enhancing awareness among pediatricians about this condition. METHODS: Data of 267 children with EGID were prospectively collected from January 2019 to July 2022 at Jiangxi Children's Hospital, Hunan Children's Hospital, and Henan Children's Hospital. The age of onset, symptoms, physical signs, laboratory examination results, endoscopic findings, histopathological changes, and treatment outcomes were observed. RESULTS: Among the 267 children with EGID, the majority had mild (164 cases, 61.4%) or moderate (96 cases, 35.6%) clinical severity. The disease occurred at any age, with a higher prevalence observed in school-age children (178 cases). The main symptoms in infants were vomiting and hematemesis, while in toddlers, vomiting and bloody stools were prominent. Abdominal pain and vomiting were the primary symptoms in preschool and school-age children. Nearly half (49.4%) of the affected children showed elevated platelet counts on hematological examination, but there was no significant difference in platelet counts among children with mild, moderate, and severe EGID (P>0.05). Endoscopic findings in EGID children did not reveal significant specificity, and histopathological examination showed no specific structural damage. Among them, 85.0% (227 cases) received acid suppression therapy, 34.5% (92 cases) practiced dietary avoidance, 20.9% (56 cases) received anti-allergic medication, and a small proportion (24 cases, 9.0%) were treated with prednisone. Clinical symptoms were relieved in all patients after treatment, but three cases with peptic ulcers experienced recurrence after drug discontinuation. CONCLUSIONS: Mild and moderate EGID are more common in children, with no specific endoscopic findings. Dietary avoidance, acid suppression therapy, and anti-allergic medication are the main treatment methods. The prognosis of EGID is generally favorable in children.

[Characteristics and Source Analysis of Carbonaceous Aerosols in PM2.5 in Huaxi District, Guiyang].

Carbonaceous aerosol, as an important component of atmospheric aerosol, has a significant impact on atmospheric environmental quality, human health, and global climate change. To investigate the characteristics and sources of carbonaceous aerosol in atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Huaxi District of Guiyang, an in-situ observational study was conducted during different seasons in 2020, and the carbonaceous components of PM2.5 were measured using a thermal-optical carbon analyzer (DRI Model 2015). The results of the study showed that the average concentrations of PM2.5, total carbonaceous aerosol (TCA), organic carbon (OC), secondary organic carbon (SOC), and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations during the observation period were (39.7±22.3), (14.1±7.2), (7.6±3.9), (4.4±2.6), and (2.0±1.0) µg·m-3, respectively, and the mean value of OC/EC was (3.9±0.8). ρ(PM2.5), ρ(TCA), ρ(OC), ρ(SOC), and ρ(EC) showed a seasonal variation pattern with the highest in winter [(52.6±28.6), (17.0±9.6), (9.1±5.2), (6.1±3.9), and (2.4±1.2) µg·m-3, respectively] and the lowest in summer [(25.1±7.1), (11.6±3.6), (6.3±1.9), (3.7±1.2), and (1.6±0.6) µg·m-3, respectively]. The seasonal variation in OC/EC showed summer (4.2±0.8) > winter (3.8±0.9) > autumn (3.8±0.5) > spring (3.7±0.9), indicating the presence of SOC generation in all seasons in Huaxi District. SOC showed a significant correlation with OC (R2 =0.9), and the SOC concentration tended to increase with the increase in atmospheric oxidation. OC showed a good correlation with EC in all seasons, with the highest in autumn (R2 =0.9) and lower correlations in the other three seasons (R2 ranged from 0.74 to 0.75), indicating a common source. According to OC/EC ratio range, it was preliminarily determined that carbonaceous aerosol came from vehicle exhaust emissions, coal burning emissions, and biomass combustion emissions. In order to further quantify the contribution of major emission sources to carbonaceous aerosol, the results of this study using PMF to analyze the sources of carbonaceous aerosol showed that the main sources of carbonaceous aerosol in Huaxi District of Guiyang were coal combustion sources (29.3%), motor vehicle emission sources (21.5%), and biomass combustion sources (49.2%).

Stains:recent research progress for endometriosis / 中国临床药理学与治疗学

Defined as a common gynecologic en-docrine disease,endometriosis is characterized by the presence of endometrium outside of the uterus cavity,affecting about 10%to 15%of reproductive-aged women worldwide.Moreover,Asian women tend to have a nine-fold increased risk of endome-triosis compared with their white counterparts in Europe and the United States.Endometriosis not only causes chronic pelvic pain,dysmenorrhea,painful sex and other pain symptoms,but also leads to infertility,pushing the patients into a state of fatigue,high sensitivity and anxiety,thus reduc-ing their quality of life.As the aging of Chinese pop-ulation intensifies and the women's childbearing age delays,it is highly urgent to find solutions to those gynecological endocrine diseases such as en-dometriosis,which hamper women's fertility.In re-cent years,studies have shown that patients with endometriosis have abnormal serum lipid metabo-lism and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseas-es.At the same time,as a type of cholesterol-lower-ing drug,statins can inhibit the progression of en-dometriosis at the cellular and animal levels.Also,a few clinical studies have exhibited that statins ex-ert a positive effect on the treatment of endometri-osis.Therefore,this article aims to review the re-searches regarding the relationship between endo-metriosis and the cardiovascular disease,as well as the research progress of statin therapy on endome-triosis based on the level of cells,animals and hu-man beings.

Rice glycosyltransferase gene UGT2 functions in salt stress tolerance under the regulation of bZIP23 transcription factor.

KEY MESSAGE: Rice glycosyltransferase gene UGT2 was identified to play a crucial role in salt tolerance. The transcription factor OsbZIP23 was demonstrated to regulate the UGT2 expression under stress conditions. UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) play key roles in modulating plant responses to environmental challenges. In this study, we characterized a novel glycosyltransferase, UGT2, which plays an important role in salt stress responses in rice (Oryza sativa L). We found that seedlings overexpressing UGT2 exhibited better growth than wild type in shoot and root under hydroponic culture with salt stress treatments, while ugt2ko mutant lines suffered much more growth inhibition. When the soil-grown UGT2 transgenic plants were subjected to salt stress, we also found that ugt2ko mutant lines were severely withered and most of them died, while the overexpression lines grew well and had higher survival rate. Compared with wild-type plants, UGT2 overexpression greatly increased the expression levels of the reactive oxygen species scavenging genes and stress-responsive genes. Furthermore, the upstream regulatory mechanism of the UGT2 gene was identified and we found that a bZIP transcription factor, OsbZIP23, can bind to the UGT2 promoter and enhance the UGT2 transcription levels. This work reveals that OsbZIP23-UGT2 module may play a major role in regulating the salt stress tolerance in rice.

Changes of ventricular septal myocardial injury current in left bundle branch area pacing / 中国综合临床

Objective:Explore the characteristics of injury current changes in ventricular septal myocardium during left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) surgery.Methods:Retrospective analysis of clinical data of patients who underwent permanent pacemaker implantation at The Second People's Hospital of Wuxi in Jiangsu Province from January 2020 to November 2022. Among them, 42 patients were treated with LBBAP (LBBAP group) and 56 patients with Right ventricle septum pacing (RVSP group). Compare the conventional parameters such as threshold, perception, impedance during electrode implantation, damage current values at 0, 5, and 10 minutes before and after electrode rotation, and the correlation between damage current and conventional parameters. The measurement data is represented by xˉ± s, analysis of variance is used for comparison between multiple groups, t-test is used for comparison between two groups, and repeated measurement analysis of variance is used for comparison between two groups at multiple time points; Counting data is represented as an example (%), and inter group comparisons are made using χ 2 Inspection; Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the two variables. Results:There was no statistically significant difference in pacing threshold, perception, and impedance between the two groups of electrode implantation surgery (all P>0.05). The damage current values at 0, 5, and 10 minutes before and after electrode rotation in the LBBAP group were higher than those in the RVSP group [(7.19±1.26) mV compared to (5.33±0.79) mV, (22.50±3.06) mV compared to (10.85±1.70) mV, (15.75±2.63) mV compared to (8.01±1.09) mV, (9.24±2.00) mV compared to (5.51±0.98) mV]. The damage current values at 0 minutes after electrode rotation in both groups were higher than before electrode rotation, and gradually decreased thereafter, After 10 minutes of electrode placement, the damage current value of the LBBAP group was still higher than the level before electrode rotation (all P<0.05), while there was no statistically significant difference between the RVSP group and the level before electrode rotation ( P>0.05). The damage current value at 0 minutes after the LBBAP group electrode was in place was positively correlated with ventricular septal thickness and left ventricular posterior wall thickness ( r values 0.45 and 0.46, P values 0.003 and 0.002, respectively), and negatively correlated with conventional pacing parameter impedance ( r=-0.32, P=0.037). There was no correlation with threshold and perception ( r values 0.08 and 0.01, P values 0.604 and 0.968, respectively). The damage current value at 0 minutes after the RVSP group electrode was in place was negatively correlated with the threshold ( r=-0.28, P=0.036). Conclusions:The COI value of LBBAP interventricular septum myocardium increased significantly after the electrode was rotated out. The COI value at 0 min after the electrode put in place was positively correlated with the interventricular septum thickness and left ventricular posterior wall thickness, and negatively correlated with the electrode impedance, but there was no correlation with threshold and perception.

One case of mitochondrial 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase deficiency and literature review / 中国基层医药

Objective:To summarize the clinical phenotype and genetic characteristics of one child patient with mitochondrial 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase deficiency (mHS) caused by HMGCS2 gene mutation. Methods:One child patient with mHS who received treatment in Chongqing University Three Gorges Hospital on April 10, 2020 was included in this patient. The child was hospitalized due to cough, shortness of breath and deep coma. After admission, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of the blood and urine samples and high-throughput whole genome sequencing were performed. The pedigree of the child with gene mutation was analyzed. The child was diagnosed with mHS. Related publications published by June, 2020 were searched in Wanfang database, Chinese Journal Full Text Database, PubMed and HGMD databases using search terms "mitochondrial 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase deficiency", "HMGCS2" "mHS deficiency". Forty-three papers addressing mHS deficiency were retrieved. The clinical phenotype and genotypes of the child with HMGCS2 mutation were summarized. Results:As of June 2020, there were 44 children with mHS deficiency, including the child reported in this study. These children consisted of 15 males, 11 females and 18 unknown genders. Among these children, 29 were aged 0-24 months, 4 were aged > 24 months, 6 had no symptoms, and 5 were of unknown age of disease onset. The first symptoms of most children were fever, cough, acute gastroenteritis, and coma. Twenty-seven children had hypoglycemia, 21 children had metabolic acidosis, 15 children developed hepatomegaly, 16 children had increased FFA/D-3-HB, and 10 children were tested 4-hydroxy-6-methyl-2-pyrone positive. The child included in this study had hepatomegaly, elevated alanine aminotransferase and metabolic acidosis. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry results showed that a variety of metabolites were increased. Tandem mass spectrometry results showed that C40 level was elevated, and long-chain carnitine contents were increased. High-throughput whole genome sequencing results revealed that there were two heterozygous mutations in HMGCS2 gene, (NM_0055) c.559+1G > A; c. 758 T > C heterozygous mutation. Sanger sequencing and parental origin analysis showed that the mutations in this child were from parents. The two gene mutations in this child were new mutations, which have not been reported in China and countries outside China. According to the criteria and guidelines for interpretation of ACMG sequence variation, the variation was determined to be pathogenic. Conclusion:When a child has hypoketotic hypoglycemia and/or metabolic acidosis, increased FFA/D-3-HB and acetylcarnitine levels, mHS deficiency should be considered. HMGCS2 gene examination can help diagnose mHS deficiency.

[Research progress of Phyllanthi Fructus and prediction of its Q-markers].

Phyllanthi Fructus, a unique Chinese and Tibetan medicinal plant with both edible and medical values, has high potential of cultivation and development. The resources of Phyllanthi Fructus in China are rich, mainly distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, etc. Phyllanthi Fructus is widely used in the clinical practice of Chinese medicine and plays an important role in Tibetan medicine, Uyghur medicine, Yi medicine, and Mongolian medicine. Phyllanthi Fructus mainly contains phenolic acids,tannins, terpenes, sterols, fatty acids, flavonoids, amino acids and other compounds. Modern pharmacological studies show that Phyllanthi Fructus has antioxidant, anticancer, blood lipid-lowering, liver protective, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and immune regulatory activities. In this paper, the research status of Phyllanthi Fructus was reviewed from the aspects of herbal textual research,chemical composition, and pharmacological action. The quality markers(Q-markers) of Phyllanthi Fructus were predicted and analyzed from the aspects of biogenic pathway, specificity and measurability of chemical components, efficacy, properties, new clinical uses, drug-food homology, and transformation of polyphenols. The results will provide a scientific basis for the quality control, quality evaluation, and standard formulation of Phyllanthi Fructus.

[Preventive and therapeutic effects and mechanism of Xiaoer Feike Granules on chronic bronchitis induced by lipopolysaccharide in rats].

The aim of this paper was to investigate the preventive and therapeutic effects of Xiaoer Feike Granules(XEFK) on chronic bronchitis in rats and its mechanism. Except for 10 rats in the blank group, the remaining 50 of the 60 SD rats were used to establish a model of chronic bronchitis induced by LPS. On the 22 nd day, the model rats were randomly divided into 5 groups according to their body weight, and administrated with purified water, Keteling Capsules 0.11 g·kg~(-1), XEFK 3.2, 1.6 and 0.8 g·kg~(-1)(the dosing concentrations were 0.32, 0.16, 0.08 g·mL~(-1), respectively). These rats took the corresponding drug orally once a day, for consecutive 21 days. The rats were anesthetized 1 hour after the last administration, and the lavage bronchus and alveoli were collected. Then, after the fixation of the smear, neutrophils were counted microscopically, and the contents of glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase(SOD) and malondialdehyde(MDA) in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF) were detected by colorimetric method. Flow cytometry was used to detect the content changes of T cell subsets CD4~+, CD8~+, CD4~+/CD8~(+ )in serum. Hemorheology related indexes were detected by automatic hemorheology. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to detect the contents of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-1ß(IL-1ß), IL-2, IL-6 and IL-10 in serum. The expression of TNF-α and IL-10 mRNA in lung was detected by Real-time quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR). HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes in the bronchitis tissues. Compared with the model group, XEFK high and medium dose groups could significantly reduce the contents of neutrophils and MDA in bronchial lavage fluid, and increase the activities of GSH-Px and SOD in BALF, and repair the chronic inflammatory cell infiltration and lymphoid tissue hyperplasia in the bronchial mucosal layer and submucosal layer. The high-dose group could reduce the plasma viscosity of rats, but there was no statistical difference in other hemorheological indexes. CD4~+, CD8~+, CD4~+/CD8~+, IL-2 and IL-10 contents in each dose group were significantly increased, and TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-6 contents were significantly decreased in serum. Each dose group could significantly down-regulate the expression level of TNF-α mRNA in the lung and increase the expression of IL-10 mRNA. XEFK could reduce lipid peroxidation, increase the content of peripheral blood T cell subsets, regulate the release and secretion of inflammatory factors, and repair the morphological and pathological changes of bronchial tissue. Its mechanism might be related to the improvement of inflammatory response and the enhancement of immune function.

Preventive and therapeutic effects and mechanism of Xiaoer Feike Granules on chronic bronchitis induced by lipopolysaccharide in rats / 中国中药杂志

The aim of this paper was to investigate the preventive and therapeutic effects of Xiaoer Feike Granules(XEFK) on chronic bronchitis in rats and its mechanism. Except for 10 rats in the blank group, the remaining 50 of the 60 SD rats were used to establish a model of chronic bronchitis induced by LPS. On the 22 nd day, the model rats were randomly divided into 5 groups according to their body weight, and administrated with purified water, Keteling Capsules 0.11 g·kg~(-1), XEFK 3.2, 1.6 and 0.8 g·kg~(-1)(the dosing concentrations were 0.32, 0.16, 0.08 g·mL~(-1), respectively). These rats took the corresponding drug orally once a day, for consecutive 21 days. The rats were anesthetized 1 hour after the last administration, and the lavage bronchus and alveoli were collected. Then, after the fixation of the smear, neutrophils were counted microscopically, and the contents of glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase(SOD) and malondialdehyde(MDA) in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF) were detected by colorimetric method. Flow cytometry was used to detect the content changes of T cell subsets CD4~+, CD8~+, CD4~+/CD8~(+ )in serum. Hemorheology related indexes were detected by automatic hemorheology. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to detect the contents of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-1β(IL-1β), IL-2, IL-6 and IL-10 in serum. The expression of TNF-α and IL-10 mRNA in lung was detected by Real-time quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR). HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes in the bronchitis tissues. Compared with the model group, XEFK high and medium dose groups could significantly reduce the contents of neutrophils and MDA in bronchial lavage fluid, and increase the activities of GSH-Px and SOD in BALF, and repair the chronic inflammatory cell infiltration and lymphoid tissue hyperplasia in the bronchial mucosal layer and submucosal layer. The high-dose group could reduce the plasma viscosity of rats, but there was no statistical difference in other hemorheological indexes. CD4~+, CD8~+, CD4~+/CD8~+, IL-2 and IL-10 contents in each dose group were significantly increased, and TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 contents were significantly decreased in serum. Each dose group could significantly down-regulate the expression level of TNF-α mRNA in the lung and increase the expression of IL-10 mRNA. XEFK could reduce lipid peroxidation, increase the content of peripheral blood T cell subsets, regulate the release and secretion of inflammatory factors, and repair the morphological and pathological changes of bronchial tissue. Its mechanism might be related to the improvement of inflammatory response and the enhancement of immune function.

Genome-Wide Analysis of Peptidoglycan Recognition Protein Genes in Fig Wasps (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea).

The innate immunity is the most important defense against pathogen of insects, and the peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) play an important role in the processes of immune recognition and initiation of Toll, IMD and other signal pathways. In fig wasps, pollinators and non-pollinators present different evolutionary histories and lifestyles, even though both are closely associated with fig syconia, which may indicate their different patterns in the evolution of PGRPs. By manual annotation, we got all the PGRP genes of 12 fig wasp species, containing seven pollinators and five non-pollinators, and investigated their putative different evolutionary patterns. We found that the number of PGRP genes in pollinators was significantly lower than in non-pollinators, and the number of catalytic PGRP presented a declining trend in pollinators. More importantly, PGRP-SA is associated with initiating the Toll pathway, as well as gram-negative bacteria-binding proteins (GNBPs), which were completely lost in pollinators, which led us to speculate that the initiation of Toll pathway was simpler in pollinators than in non-pollinators. We concluded that fig pollinators owned a more streamlined innate immune recognition system than non-pollinators. Our results provide molecular evidence for the adaptive evolution of innate immunity in insects of host specificity.

Transcriptome analysis of the male polymorphisms of fig wasp species Philotrypesis tridentata.

Intraspecific male polymorphism exhibiting extreme differences in morphology, behavior and life history presents good opportunities to explore adaptation mechanisms to different environments. In this study, we examined the transcriptomic differences between wingless and winged morphs of a fig wasp species Philotrypesis tridentata to investigate molecular basis to maintain polymorphisms. The winged male adults fly outside fig syconia to mate, while the wingless only stay and mate inside fig syconia where they have developed. We identified 2,391 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with 1,396 highly expressed in winged morphs and 995 in wingless morphs. We performed Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses on the DEGs and differential alternative splicing genes and analyzed the top ten DEGs with the highest differential expression in each morph. The results showed that genes related to biosynthesis processes, lipid metabolism, energy production, flight and defense of the complex environments outside fig syconia were up-regulated in winged morphs. Genes involved in substance and energy metabolism and chemical reception were up-regulated in wingless morphs which might relate to their living inside fig syconia. The differences in highly expressed genes between two morphs prove adaptation of P. tridentata male polymorphism to different living environments.

Impact of income inequality on CO2 emissions in G20 countries.

Over the past three decades, the G20 countries have experienced rapid economic growth but also a widening income disparity and deteriorating environment. We examined whether and how income distribution affects CO2 emissions during economic growth under the extended EKC framework. Using simultaneous quantile regression analysis, we show that, for developing countries, a more equal income distribution favors reductions to the CO2 emissions per capita, whereas, in most developed countries, income inequality hardly affects CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, the EKC hypothesis is valid in G20. Based on the empirical results, we particularly emphasize the importance of reducing income inequality in developing countries and that the entire G20 takes the path of sustainable development.

Clinical characteristics of gastrointestinal symptoms and liver function injury in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 / 中华消化杂志

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of gastrointestinal symptoms and liver function injury in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Methods:From January 23, 2020 to February 29, 2020, the medical records of 251 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the West Campus of the Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, were collected. The proportion of the patients with gastrointestinal symptoms including anorexia, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain were analyzed respectively. The patients were divided into common type (76 cases), severe type (65 cases) and critical type (110 cases). The incidence of liver function injury and the changes of liver function parameters such as total bilirubin (TBil), direct bilirubin (DBil), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), albumin and globulin of the patients with different clinical types and with or without gastrointestinal symptoms were analyzed. Mann-Whitney U test, Chi square test and Fisher′s exact test were used for statistical analysis. Results:The main gastrointestinal symptoms of patients with COVID-19 were anorexia (33.9%, 85/251), diarrhea (12.0%, 30/251), nausea and vomiting (7.6%, 19/251) and abdominal pain (1.2%, 3/251). 143 patients (57.0%) had liver function injury, the rate of liver function injury in critical type patients was 75.5% (83/110), which was higher than that of common type patients (40.8%, 31/76) and severe type patients (44.6%, 29/65), and the differences were statistically significant ( χ2=22.765 and 16.865, both P<0.01). There was no significant difference in the proportion of patients with liver function injury between common type and severe type patients ( P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of liver function injury between patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and those without gastrointestinal symptoms (57.8%(67/116) vs. 56.3%(76/135), P>0.05). The median values of TBil, DBil, ALT, AST, ALP, GGT, LDH and globulin level of critical type patients were 13.5 μmol/L, 4.9 μmol/L, 44.5 U/L, 50.0 U/L, 64.0 U/L, 41.0 U/L, 527.0 U/L and 33.6 g/L respectively. The proportions of critical type patients with TBil level >34.2 μmol/L, DBil level>13.6 μmol/L, ALT level>80 U/L and AST level>80 U/L were 7.3% (8/110), 7.3% (8/110), 17.3% (19/110) and 17.3% (19/110), respectively. These results were all higher than those of common type patients (9.5 μmol/L, 2.9 μmol/L, 28.5 U/L, 28.5 U/L, 54.0 U/L, 25.5 U/L, 225.5 U/L, 30.1 g/L, 0, 0, 6.6% (5/76) and 2.6% (2/76) ) and severe type patients (10.4 μmol/L, 3.4 μmol/L, 30.0 U/L, 31.0 U/L, 49.0 U/L, 25.0 U/L, 284.0 U/L, 30.7 g/L, 0, 0, 6.2% (4/65) and 1.5% (1/65)), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-4.264, -5.507, -4.000, -6.558, -3.112, -4.333, -4.858, -3.873, Fisher′s exact test, Fisher′s exact test, χ2=4.574, 9.620; Z=-3.060, -3.850, -3.923, -5.005, -9.495, -7.651, -3.853, -2.725, Fisher′s exact test, Fisher′s exact test, χ2=4.425, 10.169; all P<0.01). The median values of pre-albumin level, albumin level and the albumin to globulin ratio of critical type patients were 85.3 g/L, 28.2 g/L and 0.8, which were all lower than those of common type patients (157.3 g/L, 32.3 g/L and 1.1, respectively) and severe type patients (133.6 g/L, 31.6 g/L and 1.1, respectively), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-6.631, -3.647, -4.924, -4.503, -5.283 and -3.903, all P<0.01). The median albumin level of patients with diarrhea was lower than that of patients without diarrhea (28.2 g/L vs. 30.5 g/L), the proportion of diarrhea patients whose TBil level >20.0 to 34.2 μmol/L was higher than that of patients without diarrhea (70.0%, 21/30 vs. 10.9%, 24/221), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-2.182, χ2 =62.788; both P<0.05). Conclusions:Anorexia is the most common digestive symptom in COVID-19 patients, and the incidences of abdominal pain is low. The incidence of liver function injury of critical type patients is high. There is no significant correlation between gastrointestinal symptoms and liver function injury, and patients with diarrhea have lower albumin levels.

[Effect of "Tongdu Tiaoshen" needling combined with swallowing training on dysphagia, cerebral blood flow and serum BDNF and NGF levels in ischemic stroke patients].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy of Tongdu Tiaoshen (dredging Governor Vessel and regulating mind) needling combined with swallowing training in the treatment of ischemic stroke (IS) with dysphagia, and to investigate its effect on cerebral blood flow and serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF). METHODS: A total of 100 IS inpatients with dysphagia were enrolled in the present study, and randomly and equally divided into control group and treatment group by using a random number table. The patients of the control group received routine swallowing training including tongue extending and retracting, cheek-muscle training, breathing exercise, and laryngopharyngeal exercise, beginning from the 2nd day after hospitalization. The patients of the treatment group received manual acupuncture stimulation of Dazhui (GV14), Fengfu (GV16), Shenting (GV24), Shendao (GV11), Baihui (GV20), Shuigou (GV26), etc., on the basic treatment as those mentioned in the control group. The treatment was conducted once daily, 5 times per week and for 4 successive weeks. The swallowing ability was tested by using video fluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), Kubota water swallowing test, and the standard swallowing function assessment (SSA) scale, separately, and patients' daily life quality was assessed by using swallowing related quality of life questionnaire (SWAL-QOL). The cerebral hemodynamics including mean blood flow velocity (Vm), maximum peak flow speed (Vs), and vascular resistance index (RI) of the bilateral cerebral arteries was detected by transcranial color Doppler ultrasound tests, and serum BDNF and NGF contents were assayed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The therapeutic effect of swallowing ability was evaluated after the treatment. RESULTS: After 4 weeks' treatment, the scores of Kubata water swallowing test, SSA, and SWAL-QOL and RI were considerably decreased (P<0.01), and the VFSS scores, Vs and Vm levels as well as serum BDNF and NGF contents were significantly increased (P<0.01) in both groups compared with their own pre-treatment. Of the 48 and 49 cases in the control and treatment groups, 4 (8.33%) and 8(16.33%) were cured, 26 (54.17%) and 33 (67.35%) effective, 18 (37.50%) and 8 (16.33%) failed, with the effective rate being 62.50% and 83.67%, respectively. The therapeutic effect of the treatment group was significantly superior to that of the control group in the effective rate (P<0.05), and in lowering the scores of Kubota water swallowing test, SWAL-QOL, SSA, RI, and in up-regulating the scores of VFSS, Vs and Vm, and serum BDNF and NGF levels (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Tongdu Tiaoshen needling combined with swallowing training is effective in improving swallowing ability, promoting cerebral blood flow and in up-regulating serum neurotrophic factor levels in patients with dysphagia after ischemic stroke.

Large-Scale Person Re-Identification Based on Deep Hash Learning.

Person re-identification in the image processing domain has been a challenging research topic due to the influence of pedestrian posture, background, lighting, and other factors. In this paper, the method of harsh learning is applied in person re-identification, and we propose a person re-identification method based on deep hash learning. By improving the conventional method, the method proposed in this paper uses an easy-to-optimize shallow convolutional neural network to learn the inherent implicit relationship of the image and then extracts the deep features of the image. Then, a hash layer with three-step calculation is incorporated in the fully connected layer of the network. The hash function is learned and mapped into a hash code through the connection between the network layers. The generation of the hash code satisfies the requirements that minimize the error of the sum of quantization loss and Softmax regression cross-entropy loss, which achieve the end-to-end generation of hash code in the network. After obtaining the hash code through the network, the distance between the pedestrian image hash code to be retrieved and the pedestrian image hash code library is calculated to implement the person re-identification. Experiments conducted on multiple standard datasets show that our deep hashing network achieves the comparable performances and outperforms other hashing methods with large margins on Rank-1 and mAP value identification rates in pedestrian re-identification. Besides, our method is predominant in the efficiency of training and retrieval in contrast to other pedestrian re-identification algorithms.

Effect of Puerarin Combined with Tanshinone ⅡA on t-PA, PAI-1 and Oxidative Stress in DM Rats with Vascular Lesions / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To observe the protective effect and mechanism of combination of puerarin combined with tanshinone ⅡA on diabetes mellitus (DM) rats with vascular lesions. Method:The SD rats (fed with high-fat diet) were administrated with streptozotocin(STZ) through intravenous injection to make the model of diabetic vascular lesions. The successfully modeled rats were randomly divided into the model control group, the high-dose group (0.5 g·kg-1+1.0 g·kg-1), the middle-dose group (0.25 g·kg-1+0.5 g·kg-1), the low-dose group (0.05 g·kg-1+0.1 g·kg-1), the puerarin group (0.25 g·kg-1), the tanshinone ⅡA group (0.5 g·kg-1) and the positive control group (Metformin, 0.09 g·kg-1). Each group was administrated with drugs respectively by gavage for 70 days. After intervention in each group, the general conditions and body weight of the rats were observed. The contents of blood grucose and blood lipids were determined by automatic biochemical analyzer. The contents of insulin, advanced glycation end products (AGEs), superoxide dismutase(SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in serum, the contents of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and thromboxane B2 (TXB2) in plasma, as well as the contents of AGEs and oxidized low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL) in aorta homogenate were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). The content of malondialdehyde(MDA) in serum was determined by chemical colorimetry. Pathological changes of coronary tissue were observed by htoxylin eosin(HE) staining. The expression of PAI-1 protein of aorta was observed by immunohistochemistry. Result:Compared with the normal control group, in the model group, the levels of blood grucose and blood lipids (PPPP2 in plasma (PPPPPPPPP2 in plasma (PPPPPPPConclusion:Puerarin combined with Tanshinone ⅡA could relieve vascular lesions of DM rats. The mechanisms may be related to the reduction of oxidative stress and the regulation of coagulation-fibrinolysis system.

S100 calcium-binding protein A12 as a diagnostic index for subclinical mastitis in cows.

Diagnosis of subclinical mastitis is very important in management of the dairy industry and improvement of dairy cow productivity. S100A12, that is found in related tissues of mammals, is considered as an index for diagnosing inflammatory reaction. To evaluate whether S100A12 is involved in subclinical mastitis, milk somatic cell mRNA from 276 dairy cows was used to detect the transcriptional level of S100A12 by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. A predictive analysis for mastitis was performed, and the correlation between S100A12 and other subclinical mastitis indicators was also assessed. The transcriptional levels of S100A12 in the milk of cows with mastitis were significantly higher than those in the milk of healthy cows (p < 0.05). The correlation analysis showed that S100A12 was positively associated with the somatic cell count and the sodium and chloride concentrations of milk. In contrast, a negative correlation was found between S100A12 and the potassium concentration and pH of milk. However, no significant correlation was detected between S100A12 and the other parameters, such as protein, lactose, ash, fat, density, Ca2+ and SNF. These results suggested that the S100A12 level in milk may serve as a diagnostic tool for subclinical mastitis in cows without obvious clinical signs.