DNM3OS Enhances the Apoptosis and Senescence of Spermatogonia Associated with Nonobstructive Azoospermia by Providing miR-214-5p and Decreasing E2F2 Expression.

Background: Nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA) is a complex disease characterized by the spermatogenic dysfunction of testicular tissues. The roles played by long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in NOA pathogenesis have not been extensively studied. Methods: Microarray assays were performed on samples of testicular biopsy tissue obtained from patients with NOA for the purpose of identifying differentially expressed lncRNAs and messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts, and the results were verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Mouse-derived GC-1 spermatogonia (spg) cells undergoing treatment with Adriamycin (ADR) were used to investigate the biological functions of the selected lncRNAs in vitro. The target microRNAs (miRNAs) of lncRNAs and the target mRNAs of miRNAs were predicted by a bioinformatics analysis. Functional studies performed using the CCK-8 assay, EdU incorporation assay, apoptosis detection, and senescence-associated ß-galactosidase (SA-ß-Gal) staining were conducted using GC-1 spg cells. Results: Totals of 2,652 lncRNAs and 2,625 mRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in the testicular tissue of NOA patients when compared with patients in a control group. Dynamin 3 opposite strand (DNM3OS) was a provider of pe-miR-214-5p that positively regulates miR-214-5p expression in GC-1 spg cells. The E2 factor (E2F) family of transcription factor 2 (E2F2) was initially predicted and subsequently verified to be a downstream gene of miR-214-5p. E2F2 expression was upregulated after DNM3OS knockdown in ADR-treated GC-1 spg cells. Moreover, knockdown of either DNM3OS or miR-214-5p significantly alleviated ADR-induced decreases in cellular activity and proliferation, as well as increases in apoptosis and senescence of mouse spermatogonial GC-1 spg cells. Conclusions: DNM3OS was found to regulate the apoptosis and senescence of spermatogonia by providing miR-214-5p and decreasing E2F2 expression, suggesting it as a novel target for gene therapy of male infertility.

Blastocyst culture of non-top-quality cleavage embryos may increase the risk of anembryonic pregnancy following in vitro fertilization: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Anembryonic pregnancy (AP) is the most severe dysmorphogenesis of human embryo development and a frequent presentation of early pregnancy loss (EPL). Studies have analyzed the association between assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and EPL. However, the specific relationship between ART and AP has not been fully elucidated. Several studies suggested that non-genomic anomalies might be related to AP and ART might increase the risk of epigenetic changes, thus possibly detecting some associations between ART and AP. Our study aims to find out any possible risk factors of AP in ART treatments, and translate the results into clinical practice. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in Nanfang Hospital. Data from 1,765 singleton pregnancies following fresh or frozen-thawed embryo transfer from January 2014 to December 2017 were collated with the inclusion of EPLs and normal live births (NLB). Participants were divided into three groups: NLB (full-term birth with normal body weight infants), EPL (spontaneous pregnancy loss prior to 13 weeks gestation) with embryos (EE), and APs (embryonic pole was invisible in two consecutive ultrasound examinations). The basic characteristics of the patients and the association between ART-related variables and AP were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariable logistic regression model, respectively. Products of conception (POC) from AP and EE patients received karyotype analysis using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). Results: Blastocyst culture of non-top-quality cleavage stage embryos almost doubled the percentage of AP in EPL (45.9% vs. 24.4%, P=0.037), and the normal euploid rate was significantly higher in the AP group (50.5% vs. 32.3%, P=0.003). Using multivariable logistic regression model, we found that blastocyst transfer and advanced maternal age might be risk factors for AP (OR >1, P<0.05). Deceased ß-HCG level might indicate its occurrence (OR <1, P<0.001) while CoQ10 supplementation might be a protective factor (OR <1, P<0.001). Conclusions: The occurrence of AP may be due to epigenetic abnormalities associated with advanced maternal age and extended in vitro embryo culture, while CoQ10 supplementation may be a potential method in preventing AP. Future multi-center prospective cohort studies should be conducted to verify these results.

Hub-collision avoidance and leaf-node options algorithm for fractal dimension and renormalization of complex networks.

The box-covering method plays a fundamental role in the fractal property recognition and renormalization analysis of complex networks. This study proposes the hub-collision avoidance and leaf-node options (HALO) algorithm. In the box sampling process, a forward sampling rule (for avoiding hub collisions) and a reverse sampling rule (for preferentially selecting leaf nodes) are determined for bidirectional network traversal to reduce the randomness of sampling. In the box selection process, the larger necessary boxes are preferentially selected to join the solution by continuously removing small boxes. The compact-box-burning (CBB) algorithm, the maximum-excluded-mass-burning (MEMB) algorithm, the overlapping-box-covering (OBCA) algorithm, and the algorithm for combining small-box-removal strategy and maximum box sampling with a sampling density of 30 (SM30) are compared with HALO in experiments. Results on nine real networks show that HALO achieves the highest performance score and obtains 11.40%, 7.67%, 2.18%, and 8.19% fewer boxes than the compared algorithms, respectively. The algorithm determinism is significantly improved. The fractal dimensions estimated by covering four standard networks are more accurate. Moreover, different from MEMB or OBCA, HALO is not affected by the tightness of the hubs and exhibits a stable performance in different networks. Finally, the time complexities of HALO and the compared algorithms are all O(N2), which is reasonable and acceptable.

Body mass index and all-cause mortality in patients with cardiogenic shock: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The association between body mass index (BMI) and all-cause mortality of patients with Cardiogenic Shock (CS) is still controversial. The objective of this analysis is to summarize the available evidence of this association and perform meta-analysis using adjusted estimates. METHODS: PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases were systematically searched for eligible studies up to July 2020. Studies were considered eligible if they described the association between BMI and all-cause mortality of patients with CS, and those reporting adjusted estimates were included in the meta-analysis. RESULTS: Three studies were identified and included total 345,281 participants. The pooled hazard ratio of all-cause mortality was 0.88(95% confidence interval (CI): 0.71-1.08, P = 0.23) when compared obesity with non-obese. In subgroup analysis, A subgroup analysis based on geographic region showed that obese patients had lower mortality compared with non-obese patients (OR = 0.71,95% CI 0.65-0.77, P < 0.00001) in USA, developed country and the retrospective study. Heterogeneity was not explained in pre-specified subgroups analysis. CONCLUSION: Obesity was associated with increased adjusted all-cause mortality of patients with Cardiogenic Shock when compared to non-obese. Unexplained heterogeneity and suboptimal quality of studies limit the strength of the results. This seemingly paradoxical finding needs to be confirmed with further research.

Phenylpropanoid Glycosides from the Leaves of Ananas comosus.

Two new phenylpropanoid glycosides, named ß-D-(1-O-acetyl-3,6-O-diferuloyl) fructofuranosyl ß-D-6'-O-acetylglucopyranoside (1) and ß-D-(1-O-acetyl-3,6-O-diferuloyl) fructofuranosyl α-D-glucopyranoside (2), along with two known analogues (3-4) and four glycerides (5-8), were isolated from the EtOAc extract of the leaves of Ananas comosus. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of 1D- and 2D-NMR analyses, as well as HR-ESI-MS experiments. Compounds 1-4 showed significant antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.

[Study on the preparation process of inclusion complex of volatile oil of Dalbergia odorifera-beta-cyclodextrin].

OBJECTIVE: To study the optimum preparation process of the volatile oil of Dalbergia odorifera-beta-cyclodextrin. METHODS: The saturated water solution mixing method was compared with microwave method and ultrasonic method by determining the ultilization ratio of the volatile oil in Dalbergia odorifera. The optimum preparation conditions were investigated by the orthogonal design. The quality of the volatile oil before and after included were analyzed by TLC. RESULTS: The optimum preparation conditions for inclusion were as follows: m(volatile oil of Dalbergia odorifera): m (beta-CD) = 1:10 (g/g), ultrasonic time was 1h, the temperature was 70 degrees C. The ultilization ratio of the volatile oil was 82.02%. CONCLUSION: Ultrasonic method is the best method.