[Evolution of Research Related to Macrophage Polarization in Atherosclerosis:A Visualization Analysis].

Objective To explore the research status,hotspots,and development tendency of macrophage polarization (MP) in atherosclerosis (AS) by systematically reviewing and visually analyzing the articles published recently in this field,so as to provide new ideas for the basic research and translational research on MP in the prevention and treatment of AS.Methods SCI-Expanded was used as the data source for the retrieval of the articles involving MP in AS from 2012 to 2022.CiteSpace 6.1.R3 was employed to visualize the node information of the publishing country/region,institutions,authors,keywords,and citations.Results A total of 381 papers were included.The number of publications in the world showed an increasing trend year by year.China and the United States were leading this field in the number and centrality of publications,and Shandong University in China contributed the largest number of publications.The analysis of the key words and citations showed that the hotspots and frontiers in this field mainly included the pathogenesis of AS,MP markers,macrophage plasticity regulation,and potential therapeutic targets for AS.Conclusions The research on MP in AS was booming during 2012-2022.The differential gene expression and the molecular mechanism of targeted therapy of MP in AS are the research trends in this field,which will provide new measures for the prevention and treatment of AS.

Rapid remission of refractory synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis syndrome in response to the Janus kinase inhibitor tofacitinib: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome is a rare autoinflammatory disease for which clinical treatment has not been standardized. Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors represent a novel therapeutic option for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and some other autoinflammatory diseases. However, the clinical utility of JAK inhibitors in treating SAPHO syndrome has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we describe a patient with SAPHO syndrome who failed to respond to conventional treatment but demonstrated a remarkable and rapid response to the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib. CASE SUMMARY: A 62-year-old female patient presented with swelling and pain at the sternoclavicular joints, back pain that limited her activities, arthralgia in the right knee, and cutaneous lesions. Her symptoms were unresponsive to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, Tripterygium wilfordii hook f, and bisphosphonates. SAPHO syndrome was diagnosed in accordance with dermatological and osteoarticular manifestations and abnormal inflammatory factors. Multiple image studies have illustrated bone lesions and pathological fractures of vertebral bodies. Oral treatment with tofacitinib at 5 mg twice daily with methotrexate and bisphosphonates was initiated. The patient reported that her pain symptoms were relieved after 3 d and her cutaneous lesions were reduced after 4 wk of treatment. Vertebral lesions were improved after 6 mo on tofacitinib. No serious adverse effects were noted. CONCLUSION: JAK inhibitor therapy may be a promising strategy to treat SAPHO syndrome.

Unmasking the heterogeneity of carbohydrates in heartwood, sapwood, and bark of Eucalyptus.

In this study, the cellulose and hemicelluloses in heartwood, sapwood, and bark of E. urophylla × E. grandis were comprehensively investigated. The ultrastructural topochemistry of carbohydrates in cell walls was examined in situ by confocal Raman microscopy. Cellulose and alkali-extractable hemicelluloses samples were isolated from different tissues and comparatively characterized by compositional carbohydrate analyses, determination of molecular weights, FT-IR spectroscopy, and XRD and NMR techniques. It was found that among all of the samples, heartwood cellulose had the highest molecular weight as well as the lowest degree of crystallinity. Meanwhile the hemicelluloses in heartwood had higher xylose content, lower degree of branching, slightly lower molecular weights but narrower polydispersity than those in sapwood. The eucalyptus hemicelluloses mainly consisted of (1→4)-ß-D-xylan backbone with glucuronic acid side chains. Furthermore, the hemicelluloses isolated from sapwood had a higher degree of substitution with terminal galactose than those isolated from heartwood and bark.

A conidiation-related gene is highly expressed at the resting urediospore stage in Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici.

The production and germination of asexual spores in a diverse group of fungi play a crucial role in their infection cycles. These processes are regulated by a set of genes, namely, conidiation-related genes, involved in the production, morphological characteristics, and differentiation of conidia. In this study, we identified and characterized the PsCon1 gene, which is the first conidiation-related gene identified in Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst). Sequence analysis revealed that PsCON1 has two conserved conidiation-specific protein 6 domains. Single nucleotide polymorphisms and insertion/deletion variations were detected in the coding region of PsCon1 among five Pst races. Quantitative RT-PCR assays revealed that PsCon1 was expressed at the highest level in resting urediospores of Pst, and gradually decreased after germination and infection. However, at 312 hpi, at the stage of forming large amounts of urediospores on leaves, the amount of PsCon1 mRNA was sharply increased but only 0.1-fold that of resting urediospores. Subcellular localization assays indicated PsCon1 heterologously expressed in Fusarium graminearum was located in the cytoplasm of conidia. The results suggest that PsCon1 may play a role in formation or survival of Pst urediospores.

Restricted intravenous fluid regimen reduces fluid redistribution of patients operated for abdominal malignancy.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Recent studies indicate that perioperative fluid restriction leads to better preserved clinical data as well as reduced complication rates. This study aimed to determine the probable mechanism of fluid restriction influence on the complication rate of patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery for malignancy. METHODOLOGY: Patients (n = 174) undergoing restricted fluid regimen (R group) or standard fluid regimen (S group) were included in this prospective, randomized trial over 16 months. Fluid distribution was determined by Bioelectrical Impedance Analyzer (BIA) and the difference between two groups was compared regarding complications and the relationship between complications and fluid distribution changes. RESULTS: The restricted intravenous fluid regimen significantly reduced perioperative intravenous fluid volume. Weight gained in S group and was not significantly changed in R group after surgery, especially in POD2 (media; R vs. S; 61.17 vs. 65.40 kg, p = 0.017). The number of patients with postoperative complications was reduced in R group compared with in S group (34.5% vs. 47.8%, p = 0.076). Systemic complications were significantly reduced in R group (t = -5.895, p = 0.000). Patients with complications had an average of 1.6 complications in R group vs. 2.0 in S group (t = -1.345, p = 0.183). The multivariate analysis suggested that perioperative fluid distribution changes were associated with the development of postoperative complications. CONCLUSIONS: Perioperative fluid restriction could effect on fluid distribution and reduce tissue and cellular edema, and further, could reduce postoperative complication rates.

[Geographic patterns and ecological factors correlates of snake species richness in China].

Understanding large-scale geographic patterns of species richness as well its underlying mechanisms are among the most significant objectives of macroecology and biogeography. The ecological hypothesis is one of the most accepted explanations of this mechanism. Here, we studied the geographic patterns of snakes and investigated the relationships between species richness and ecological factors in China at a spatial resolution of 100 km×100 km. We obtained the eigenvector-based spatial filters by Principal Coordinates Neighbor Matrices, and then analyzed ecological factors by multiple regression analysis. The results indicated several things: (1) species richness of snakes showed multi-peak patterns along both the latitudinal and longitudinal gradient. The areas of highest richness of snake are tropics and subtropical areas of Oriental realm in China while the areas of lowest richness are Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the grasslands and deserts in northern China, Yangtze-Huai Plain, Two-lake Plain, and the Poyang-lake Plain; (2) results of multiple regression analysis explained a total of 56.5% variance in snake richness. Among ecological factors used to explore the species richness patterns, we found the best factors were the normalized difference vegetation index, precipitation in the coldest quarter and temperature annual range ; (3) our results indicated that the model based on the significant variables that (P<0.05) uses a combination of precipitation of coldest quarter, normalized difference vegetation index and temperature annual range is the most parsimonious model for explaining the mechanism of snake richness in China. This finding demonstrates that different ecological factors work together to affect the geographic distribution of snakes in China. Studying the mechanisms that underlie these geographic patterns are complex, so we must carefully consider the choice of impact-factors and the influence of human activities.

Characterization of a wheat HSP70 gene and its expression in response to stripe rust infection and abiotic stresses.

Members of the family of 70-kD heat shock proteins (HSP70 s) play various stress-protective roles in plants. In this study, a wheat HSP70 gene was isolated from a suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) cDNA library of wheat leaves infected by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici. The gene, that was designated as TaHSC70, was predicted to encode a protein of 690 amino acids, with a molecular mass of 73.54 KDa and a pI of 5.01. Further analysis revealed the presence of a conserved signature that is characteristic for HSP70s and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that TaHSC70 is a homolog of chloroplast HSP70s. TaHSC70 mRNA was present in leaves of both green and etiolated wheat seedlings and in stems and roots. The transcript level in roots was approximately threefold less than in leaves but light-dark treatment did not charge TaHSC70 expression. Following heat shock of wheat seedlings at 40°C, TaHSC70 expression increased in leaves of etiolated seedlings but remained stable at the same level in green seedlings. In addition, TaHSC70 was differentially expressed during an incompatible and compatible interaction with wheat-stripe rust, and there was a transient increase in expression upon treatment with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment. Salicylic acid (SA), ethylene (ET) and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments had no influence on TaHSC70 expression. These results suggest that TaHSC70 plays a role in stress-related responses, and in defense responses elicited by infection with stripe rust fungus and does so via a JA-dependent signal transduction pathway.

Quantification of the severity of an outbreak in human infection control.

BACKGROUND: The severity of an outbreak is a priority in decision-making for human infection control. However, there have been no reports on how to quantify the severity of an outbreak. METHODS: We propose a simple method to measure the severity of an infectious disease outbreak. It involves scoring the severity of clinical signs, the transmission of the infection, the number of cases, and the infection source. RESULTS: The method was evaluated using the data available at the early stage of some recent outbreaks of infectious diseases, including the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in 2009, and the evaluation supports the design idea. CONCLUSION: The method is practical for rating the severity of an infectious disease outbreak, though it should be optimized. It could also be used to judge whether an event constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) or not.