Shared Genetic Architecture Among Gastrointestinal Diseases, Schizophrenia, and Brain Subcortical Volumes.

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: The gut-brain axis plays important roles in both gastrointestinal diseases (GI diseases) and schizophrenia (SCZ). Moreover, both GI diseases and SCZ exhibit notable abnormalities in brain subcortical volumes. However, the genetic mechanisms underlying the comorbidity of these diseases and the shared alterations in brain subcortical volumes remain unclear. STUDY DESIGN: Using the genome-wide association studies data of SCZ, 14 brain subcortical volumes, and 8 GI diseases, the global polygenic overlap and local genetic correlations were identified, as well as the shared genetic variants among those phenotypes. Furthermore, we conducted multi-trait colocalization analyses to bolster our findings. Functional annotations, cell-type enrichment, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analyses were carried out to reveal the critical etiology and pathology mechanisms. STUDY RESULTS: The global polygenic overlap and local genetic correlations informed the close relationships between SCZ and both GI diseases and brain subcortical volumes. Moreover, 84 unique lead-shared variants were identified. The associated genes were linked to vital biological processes within the immune system. Additionally, significant correlations were observed with key immune cells and the PPI analysis identified several histone-associated hub genes. These findings highlighted the pivotal roles played by the immune system for both SCZ and GI diseases, along with the shared alterations in brain subcortical volumes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings revealed the shared genetic architecture contributing to SCZ and GI diseases, as well as their shared alterations in brain subcortical volumes. These insights have substantial implications for the concurrent development of intervention and therapy targets for these diseases.

The Effect of Perioperative Comprehensive Nursing on Patients Undergoing Ovary Endometriosis Laparoscopic Surgery.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of perioperative nursing interventions in improving outcomes and satisfaction for patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery for ovarian endometriosis. Methods: From July 2021 to September 2022, 80 patients with endometriosis underwent laparoscopic surgery at Shijiazhuang Fourth Hospital and were randomly assigned to the conventional (n=40) and experimental (n=40) groups. During the perioperative period, patients in the conventional group received standard nursing interventions, while patients in the experimental group received comprehensive nursing interventions. The two groups were compared in terms of postoperative clinical indicators, self-rated anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rated depression scale (SDS) scores, nursing compliance, complications, and nursing satisfaction. Results: comprehensive nursing resulted in better postoperative clinical indices (time to get out of bed, hospital stay) versus routine nursing (all P < .001). The comprehensive nursing led to significantly lower SAS and SDS scores versus routine nursing. The nursing compliance of the patients in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the patients in the conventional group (P < .001). Comprehensive nursing was associated with a significantly lower incidence of complications versus routine nursing (P < .001). Comprehensive nursing contributed to significantly higher nursing satisfaction versus routine nursing (P < .001). Conclusion: Comprehensive perioperative nursing interventions for patients with ovarian endometriosis undergoing laparoscopic surgery considerably accelerate patient recovery and enhance nursing compliance, as well as minimize patient negative emotions and improve patient satisfaction with nursing.  The comprehensive approach addresses the specific needs of patients during the recovery period, minimizing postoperative complications, accelerating patient recovery, and improving overall quality of life. By integrating psychological support, tailored strategies for pain management, early mobilization, and prompt intervention for complications, this intervention sets a benchmark for holistic care in gynecological surgery.

Combination treatment of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, intensity-modulated radiotherapy, and sorafenib for hepatocellular carcinoma with macrovascular invasion.

This study evaluated the therapeutic effects and toxic reactions of combining transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with sorafenib for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with macrovascular invasion (MVI). We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 82 HCC patients with MVI, among whom 35 were treated with TACE plus IMRT alone, and 47 were treated with the combined therapy of TACE, IMRT, and sorafenib. The progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and adverse events were assessed. The baseline characteristics were comparable between the 2 groups (all P > .05). In the TACE plus IMRT plus sorafenib group, the median PFS was 17.2 months (95% confidence interval, 14.1-19.9), significantly longer than the 9.4 months (95% confidence interval, 6.8-11.2) observed in the TACE plus IMRT group (P < .001). Additionally, patients treated with the TACE plus IMRT plus sorafenib showed a longer median OS than those treated with TACE plus IMRT alone (24.1 vs 17.3 months; P < .001). The occurrence rates of grade 1 to 2 hand-foot syndrome, other skin reactions, diarrhea, and hair loss were higher in the TACE plus IMRT plus sorafenib group (all P < .05). There were no grade 4 or higher adverse events in either group. The combination of TACE plus IMRT with sorafenib provided substantial clinical benefits in the treatment of HCC patients with MVI, increasing the tumor response rate and prolonging both PFS and OS. This approach demonstrated a tolerable and manageable safety profile.

Tree species identity and mixing ratio affected the release of several metallic elements from mixed litter in coniferous-broadleaf plantations in subtropical China.

Planting broadleaf trees in coniferous forests has been shown to promote biogeochemical cycling in plantations; however, how species mixing influences litter decomposition and release of metallic elements from mixed coniferous-broadleaf litter remains unclear. An in situ litter decomposition experiment was conducted to examine the effect of 1) a mixture from coniferous litter (Pinus massoniana) with different individual broadleaved litter (Bretschneidera sinensis, Manglietia chingii, Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Michelia maudiae, Camellia oleifera) and 2) their mixing ratio (mass ratios of coniferous and broadleaf litter of 5:5, 6:4 and 7:3) on the release of metallic elements [calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), potassium (K), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn)] during litter decomposition. We found that the identity of the broadleaf tree species in the mixed litter and the mixing ratio affected the release rates of metallic elements (p < 0.05). After one year of decomposition, K, Mg, Mn and Zn were released, while Na, Ca, Fe and Cu accumulated in the mixed litter. Mixing increased the release of K, Ca, Na, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn in more than one-third of the samples, but inhibited the release of K, Fe and Mn in less than 14% of the samples. Increasing the mixing ratio of coniferous to broadleaf litter enhanced the release of Na, Fe, Mn and Zn but decreased the release of Ca and Mg. Overall, these results highlight that mixed litter, particularly tree species identity and mixing ratio, can alter the release and enrichment of metallic elements during litter decomposition, thereby affecting the cycling of metallic elements in plantations with different species compositions.

Image Classification and Recognition of Rice Diseases: A Hybrid DBN and Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm.

Rice blast, rice sheath blight, and rice brown spot have become the most popular diseases in the cold areas of northern China. In order to further improve the accuracy and efficiency of rice disease diagnosis, a framework for automatic classification and recognition of rice diseases is proposed in this study. First, we constructed a training and testing data set including 1,500 images of rice blast, 1,500 images of rice sheath blight, and 1,500 images of rice brown spot, and 1,100 healthy images were collected from the rice experimental field. Second, the deep belief network (DBN) model is designed to include 15 hidden restricted Boltzmann machine layers and a support vector machine (SVM) optimized with switching particle swarm (SPSO). It is noted that the developed DBN and SPSO-SVM can simultaneously learn three proposed features including color, texture, and shape to recognize the disease type from the region of interest obtained by preprocessing the disease images. The proposed model leads to a hit rate of 91.37%, accuracy of 94.03%, and a false measurement rate of 8.63%, with the 10-fold cross-validation strategy. The value of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) is 0.97, whose accuracy is much higher than that of the conventional machine learning model. The simulation results show that the DBN and SPSO-SVM models can effectively extract the image features of rice diseases during recognition, and have good anti-interference and robustness.

PF-PLC micelles ameliorate cholestatic liver injury via regulating TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB and PXR/CAR/UGT1A1 signaling pathways in EE-induced rats.

Paeoniflorin (PF) has a certain therapeutic effect on cholestasis liver injury. To further improve the bioavailability of PF and play its pharmacological role in liver protection, PF-phospholipid complex micelles (PF-PLC micelles) were prepared based on our previous research on PF-PLC. The protective effects of PF and PF-PLC micelles on cholestasis liver injury induced by 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE) were compared, and the possible mechanisms were further explored. Herein, we showed that PF-PLC micelles effectively improved liver function, alleviated liver pathological damage, and localized infiltration of inflammatory cells. Mechanism studies indicated that PF-PLC micelles treatment could suppress the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway, and further reduce the levels of pro-inflammatory factors. Meanwhile, our experimental results demonstrated that the beneficial effect of PF-PLC micelles on EE-induced cholestasis may be achieved by the upregulation of nuclear receptors and metabolic enzymes (PXR/CAR/UGT1A1). All these results indicate that PF-PLC micelles have great potential in the treatment of cholestatic liver disease.

Vanadium coordination compounds loaded on graphene quantum dots (GQDs) exhibit improved pharmaceutical properties and enhanced anti-diabetic effects.

Vanadium compounds are promising anti-diabetic agents, and graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are emerging as potential drug delivery systems to improve drug solubility in water and membrane transport. Using highly dispersible and water-soluble GQDs, we herein prepared a novel GQD-VO (p-dmada) complex, in which vanadium coordination compounds [VO(p-dmada)] were packed closely on one side of the GQD sheets possibly via the π-π stacking mechanism. The in vitro tests showed that GQD-VO(p-dmada) exhibited membrane permeability (Papp) as good as that of GQDs with reduced cytotoxicity. In vivo tests on type 2 diabetic mice demonstrated that GQD-VO(p-dmada) exhibited a delayed glucose lowering profile but more profound effects on insulin enhancement and ß-cell protection after three-week treatment compared to VO(p-dmada) alone. In addition, GQD alone was observed for the first time to effectively lower the blood lipid levels of the db/db mice. Overall, GQD-VO(p-dmada) showed improved pharmacokinetic performance and hypoglycemic effects, and using GQD as a nanoplatform for drug delivery may provide vast opportunities for the further design of metal-based pharmaceutical agents.

Population viability analysis of small population: a case study for Asian elephant in China.

Small populations are at risk of extinction from deterministic and stochastic factors. Less than 250 Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) remain in China, and are distributed in a few isolated areas; yet, population viability analyses of this endangered population have not been conducted. Here, the current genetic status of the Pu'Er-Mengyang Asian elephant populations in China was analyzed, and the risk of extinction was predicted over the next 500 years. Factors affecting the viability of this population were determined through simulations. The genetic diversity of the population was very low (mean allele number: 3.1; expected heterozygosity: 0.463), even though a recent population bottleneck was not detected. The effective population size was approximately 24.1 adult elephants. Enough adult breeding individuals exist to maintain population viability. VORTEX simulation model showed that this population would not go extinct in the next 500 years. However, illegal poaching and harvesting could negatively affect population size. A sensitivity analysis showed that the mean stochastic growth rate of the study population is sensitive to sex ratio, number of breeding females, mortality of females of different age classes, carrying capacity, and lethal equivalents. Based on our results, we suggest that action should be taken to alleviate inbreeding and any further loss of genetic diversity, by connecting fragmented elephant habitat or by translocating individual elephants. In addition, human-elephant conflict should be mitigated using various modern approaches, including crop guarding techniques, and by encouraging farmers to switch to crops and income sources not vulnerable to elephant raids.

[Application evaluation of failure mode and effect analysis in optimization of vascular recanalization process].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical application and effect evaluation of failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) in the optimization of vascular recanalization in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS: A total of 389 STEMI patients admitted to the emergency department of the Fifth Central Hospital in Tianjin from January 2014 to January 2015 were served as the control group, and 398 STEMI patients admitted to the chest pain center of the Fifth Central Hospital in Tianjin from January 2016 to October 2017 were served as the experimental group. In the control group, routine emergency treatment was used. At the same time, the intervention room was 24-hour prepared for emergency vascular recanalization. The experimental group used FMEA. Through the usage of FMEA, the main factors those caused the delay in revascularization treatment were determined, and the revascularization process was optimized for these influencing factors, thereby shortening the "criminal" blood vessel opening time of patients. The door-to-balloon dilatation time (D-to-B time), troponin testing time, placement time of the catheterization room, initiation of the catheterization room to balloon dilatation time, and preoperative and 1 week postoperative N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels, heart function parameters [left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular short axis shortening rate (FS), left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESD), and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD)] within 1 week, 3 months and 6 months after intervention, and the incidence of main cardiovascular adverse events within 1 month after intervention, hospital mortality, the length of hospital stay, and readmission within 1 year in the patients of two groups were recorded. RESULTS: D-to-B time (minutes: 70.6±3.6 vs. 79.4±8.7), troponin testing time (minutes: 17.1±2.3 vs. 65.2±6.5), placement time of the catheterization room (minutes: 28.9±9.8 vs. 52.3±12.2) and activation of the catheterization room to balloon expansion time (minutes: 47.3±9.3 vs. 65.1±7.2) in the experimental group were significantly shorter than those in the control group (all P < 0.01). The NT-proBNP levels at 1 week after intervention in the two groups were lower than the preoperative levels, slightly lower in the experimental group, but the difference was not statistically significant. There was no significant difference in cardiac function at 1 week and 3 months after intervention between the two groups. The LVEF and FS at 6 months after intervention in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group [LVEF: 0.622±0.054 vs. 0.584±0.076, FS: (38.1±4.3)% vs. (35.4±6.2)%, both P < 0.01], and LVESD and LVEDD were decreased significantly [LVESD (mm): 31.2±3.8 vs. 34.7±4.2, LVEDD (mm): 49.2±5.3 vs. 52.4±5.6, all P < 0.01]. The length of hospital stay in the experimental group was significantly shorter than that in the control group (days: 8.3±3.2 vs. 13.2±6.8, P < 0.01), the incidence of major cardiovascular adverse events within 1 month after intervention [13.6% (54/398) vs. 19.8% (77/389)], hospital mortality [1.8% (7/398) vs. 4.9% (19/389)], and readmission rate within 1 year [9.5% (38/398) vs. 14.5% (56/389)] in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The usage of FMEA to optimize the vascular recanalization procedure can shorten the emergency treatment time of STEMI patients, reduce the occurrence of adverse events, and improve the prognosis.

Simulation and Experimental on the Solvation Interaction between the GAP Matrix and Insensitive Energetic Plasticizers in Solid Propellants.

Multimethods of simulation and experiment have been performed to investigate the interaction between glycidyl azide polymer (GAP) matrix and insensitive energetic plasticizers N-butyl-N-(2-nitroxy-ethyl)nitramine (Bu-NENA) and bis(2,2-dinitropropyl)formal/acetal (BDNPF/A). To start with, the blending energy distribution and Huggins parameters have been calculated, indicating fine miscibility between the GAP matrix and both plasticizers. The solubility parameter and binding energies show better compatibility between Bu-NENA and the GAP matrix than BDNPF/A, owing to stronger interactions. The interaction mechanism includes both hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces. The low field NMR physical cross-link density and dynamic rheological behaviors imply larger disentanglement effect of Bu-NENA in the GAP matrix. The dynamic mechanical performance of elastomers show lower glass transition temperature of GAP/Bu-NENA blends, as supportive proof of stronger interactions between the GAP matrix and Bu-NENA in comparison with BDNPF/A.

Structure and properties of Co-doped ZnO films prepared by thermal oxidization under a high magnetic field.

The effect of a high magnetic field applied during oxidation on the structure, optical transmittance, resistivity, and magnetism of cobalt (Co)-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films prepared by oxidizing evaporated Zn/Co bilayer thin films in open air was studied. The relationship between the structure and properties of films oxidized with and without an applied magnetic field was analyzed. The results show that the high magnetic field obviously changed the structure and properties of the Co-doped ZnO films. The Lorentz force of the high magnetic field suppressed the oxidation growth on nanowhiskers. As a result, ZnO nanowires were formed without a magnetic field, whereas polyhedral particles formed under a 6 T magnetic field. This morphology variation from dendrite to polyhedron caused the transmittance below 1,200 nm of the film oxidized under a magnetic field of 6 T to be much lower than that of the film oxidized without a magnetic field. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy indicated that the high magnetic field suppressed Co substitution in the ZnO lattice, increased the concentration of oxygen vacancies, and changed the chemical state of Co. The increased concentration of oxygen vacancies affected the temperature dependence of the resistivity of the film oxidized under a magnetic field of 6 T compared with that of the film oxidized without a magnetic field. The changes of oxygen vacancy concentration and Co state caused by the application of the high magnetic field also increase the ferromagnetism of the film at room temperature. All of these results indicate that a high magnetic field is an effective tool to modify the structure and properties of ZnO thin films.

Selective extraction of dimethoate from cucumber samples by use of molecularly imprinted microspheres.

Molecularly imprinted polymers for dimethoate recognition were synthesized by the precipitation polymerization technique using methyl methacrylate (MMA) as the functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linker. The morphology, adsorption and recognition properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), static adsorption test, and competitive adsorption test. To obtain the best selectivity and binding performance, the synthesis and adsorption conditions of MIPs were optimized through single factor experiments. Under the optimized conditions, the resultant polymers exhibited uniform size, satisfactory binding capacity and significant selectivity. Furthermore, the imprinted polymers were successfully applied as a specific solid-phase extractants combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for determination of dimethoate residues in the cucumber samples. The average recoveries of three spiked samples ranged from 78.5% to 87.9% with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 4.4% and the limit of detection (LOD) obtained for dimethoate as low as 2.3 µg/mL.

Host-guest chemistry of cyclodextrin carbamates and cellulose derivatives in aqueous solution.

Supramolecular polymer micelles were prepared on basis of the inclusion complexation between cyclodextrin carbamates and cellulose derivatives in aqueous media. Cyclodextrin carbamates were synthesized by microwave-assisted method from cyclodextrin and urea. The urea modified cyclodextrin shows the higher yield than the physical mixture of urea/cyclodextrin in the micellization with cellulose derivatives. The supramolecular structure of the core-shell micelles was demonstrated by (1)H NMR spectra, TEM images, and fluorescence spectra. The drug release behavior of the supramolecular polymer micelles was evaluated using prednisone acetate as a model drug. The drug loaded micelles showed steady and long time drug release behavior. With these properties, the supramolecular polymer micelles are attractive as drug carriers for pharmaceutical applications.

Biopolymer-based supramolecular micelles from ß-cyclodextrin and methylcellulose.

Supramolecular polymer micelles (SMPMs) were constructed from natural and natural-derived polymers: ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD)/maleic anhydride modified ß-cyclodextrin (MAh-ß-CD) and methylcellulose (MC) in aqueous solution by one-pot self-assembly procedure, in which, ß-CD and MAh-ß-CD inclusion complexes were used as the hydrophilic shell and the free MC as the core. The shapes of the SMPMs were regular spheres with diameters of 25±5 nm. The critical micelle concentrations, calculated from steady-state fluorescence emission spectra, were around 15.13 and 20.89 mg/L for MC/ß-CD and MC/MAh-ß-CD SMPMs, respectively. The in vitro drug release behaviors of the micelles were studied using prednisone acetate as a model drug, and the results showed that the MC/MAh-ß-CD micelle had a drug-enrichment core and excellent drug released behaviors with a sustaining release time of 700 h.