Abstract Background Insulin resistance is an important cause of cardiovascular events and cerebral infarction development. We aimed to investigate the association of the triglyceride glucose (TyG) index with atherosclerotic burden and plaques in coronary, intra- and extracranial arteries in participants with non-diabetes, and compared the results with that of the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Methods Participants without diabetes in the PolyvasculaR Evaluation for Cognitive Impairment and vaScular Events (PRECISE) study were included....

Abstract Background Early metastasis is a key factor contributing to poor breast cancer (BC) prognosis. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are regarded as the precursor cells of metastasis, which are ultimately responsible for the main cause of death in BC. However, to date molecular mechanisms underlying CTC formation in BC have been insufficiently defined. Methods RNA-seq was carried out in primary tissues from early-stage BC patients (with CTCs≥5 and CTCs = 0, respectively) and the validation...

Abstract Background Linalool is a monoterpenoid, also a vital silvichemical with commercial applications in cosmetics, flavoring ingredients, and medicines. Regulation of mevalonate (MVA) pathway metabolic flux is a common strategy to engineer Saccharomyces cerevisiae for efficient linalool production. However, metabolic regulation of the MVA pathway is complex and involves competition for central carbon metabolism, resulting in limited contents of target metabolites. Results In this study, first, a truncated linalool synthase (t26AaLS1) from Actinidia arguta was...

Abstract Plant PR10/Bet v1-like proteins are involved in defense against microbial pathogens, however, whether they participate in host defense against plant-parasitic animals including nematodes remains unknown. Here, according to the phylogeny, sequence-similarity, and secondary structure analyses, we found that the rice OsBet v1 protein and its homologs constitute a new subfamily of PR10/Bet v1-like protein. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR assay showed that OsBet v1 was highly expressed in rice roots and induced by Meloidogyne graminicola infection....

Introduction: Although there have been significant advances in research and treatments over the past decades, cancer remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, mostly due to resistance to standard therapies. Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF), a newly emerged therapeutic strategy, has been highly regarded as less invasive and almost safe to patients, is now a clinically accepted form to treat diseases including cancer. Breast and lung cancer are the most prevalent forms of human cancers,...

Mid-infrared (MIR) single-photon detection is emerging as an important technology for various applications. Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) fabricated with superconducting films with energy gaps of a few meV are natural broadband single-photon detectors. Recently, extending SNSPDs’ operation wavelengths into the MIR region is highly attractive. γ-Nb₄N₃ has a reduced N content and lower energy gap than the commonly used δ-NbN, making SNSPDs based on γ-Nb₄N₃ film more sensitive to low energy photons. We...

Abstract Background This study aimed to investigate whether the combination of Macleaya cordata extract (MCE) and Bacillus could improve the laying performance and health of laying hens better. Methods A total of 360 29-week-old Jingbai laying hens were randomly divided into 4 treatments: control group (basal diet), MCE group (basal diet + MCE), Probiotics Bacillus Compound (PBC) group (basal diet + compound Bacillus), MCE + PBC group (basal diet + MCE + compound Bacillus). The...

Abstract Background Giant intracranial aneurysms (GIAs) are challenges for surgical treatment. Risk factors of postoperative stroke remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the predictors of postoperative stroke in GIAs and the impact of stroke on outcomes. Methods We performed a retrospective medical record review of patients with GIAs who received microsurgery at our institution between 2011 and 2018. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out to identify risk factors for postoperative stroke. The clinical...

Abstract Background An outbreak of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), caused by a Hantavirus, affected nine adult males in the southwest area of Xi’an in November 2020 was analyzed in this study. Methods Clinical and epidemiological data of HFRS patients in this outbreak were retrospectively analyzed. The whole genome of a hantavirus named 201120HV03xa (hv03xa for short) isolated from Apodemus agrarius captured in the construction site was sequenced and analyzed. In addition, nine HFRS...

Abstract Background DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) exerts imperative functions in neuropathic pain (NP). This study explored the action of RNA interference-mediated DNMT1 silencing in NP by regulating microglial M2 polarization. Methods NP rat models were established using chronic constriction injury (CCI) and highly aggressive proliferating immortalized (HAPI) microglia were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce microglia M1 polarization, followed by treatment of DNMT1 siRNA or si-DNMT1/oe-DNMT1, respectively. The pain threshold of CCI rats was assessed...

Abstract Background The widely accepted explanation of preeclampsia (PE) pathogenesis is insufficient trophoblast invasion and impaired uterine spiral artery remodeling. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Methods We performed transcriptome sequencing on placentas of normal and PE patients and identified 976 differentially expressed long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). TCF21 antisense RNA inducing demethylation (TARID) was one of the most significantly differentially expressed lncRNAs and was negatively correlated with the systolic and diastolic blood pressure in...

Abstract Background The tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) generated by cancer-infiltrating immune cells has a crucial role in promoting or suppressing breast cancer progression. However, whether the steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3) modulates TIME to progress breast cancer is unclear. Therefore, the present study evaluates whether SRC-3 generates a tumor-promoting TIME in breast tumors using a syngeneic immune-intact mouse model of breast cancer. Methods We employed E0771 and 4T1 breast cancer in immune-intact syngeneic female C57BL/6 and...

Abstract Background The pathophysiology of hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis (HBV-LC) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the disease mechanisms using topological analysis of the miRNA/mRNA network. Methods Paired miRNA/mRNA sequencing was performed with thirty-three peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples (LC, n = 9; chronic hepatitis B, n = 12; normal controls, n = 12) collected from a prospective cohort to identify the miRNA/mRNA network. Topological features and functional implications of the network were analyzed...

Abstract Background Diarrhea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in young calves, resulting in considerable economic loss for dairy farms. To determine if some gut microbes might have resistance to dysbiotic process with calf diarrhea by dictating the microbial co-occurrence patterns from birth to post-weaning, we examined the dynamic development of the gut microbiota and diarrhea status using two animal trials, with the first trial having 14 Holstein dairy calves whose fecal samples...

Abstract Background The associations between blood lipids and DNA methylation have been investigated in epigenome-wide association studies mainly among European ancestry populations. Several studies have explored the direction of the association using cross-sectional data, while evidence of longitudinal data is still lacking. Results We tested the associations between peripheral blood leukocytes DNA methylation and four lipid measures from Illumina 450 K or EPIC arrays in 1084 participants from the Chinese National Twin Registry and replicated...

Abstract Background Understanding resident physicians’ perceptions of competency-based medical education(CBME) may help improve approaches for implementing such education in standardized resident training (SRT). We conducted surveys of residents in China to identify their perceptions of CBME and determine the degree to which such education impacts their career plans. Methods Questionnaire contained a total of 24 questions, which were answered using multiple choice or yes/no, was distributed to residents who were undergoing SRT, regardless of specialty,...

Three-Dimensional (3D) light-field displays can provide an immersive visual experience, which has attracted significant attention. However, the generating of high-quality 3D light-field content in the real world is still a challenge because it is difficult to capture dense high-resolution viewpoints of the real world with the camera array. Novel view synthesis based on CNN can generate dense high-resolution viewpoints from sparse inputs but suffer from high-computational resource consumption, low rendering speed, and limited camera baseline....

Light propagation in gradient media and curved spaces induce intriguing phenomena, such as focusing and self-imaging, thus deriving a wide range of applications. However, these systems are limited to excitations without orbital angular momentum, which may obliterate unforeseen results. Here, we demonstrate the reconstructions (or called imaging to some extent) of optical vortices in two dimensional (2D) gradient media and three-dimensional (3D) curved spaces. We present the evolution of optical vortices in two types of...

Quantum correlation, as an intrinsic property of quantum mechanics, has been widely employed to test the fundamental physical principles and explore the quantum-enhanced technologies. However, such correlation would be drowned and even destroyed in the conditions of high levels of loss and noise, which drops into the classical realm and renders quantum advantage ineffective. Especially in low light conditions, conventional linear classifiers are unable to extract and distinguish quantum and classical correlations with high accuracy....

Light propagation in gradient media and curved spaces induce intriguing phenomena, such as focusing and self-imaging, thus deriving a wide range of applications. However, these systems are limited to excitations without orbital angular momentum, which may obliterate unforeseen results. Here, we demonstrate the reconstructions (or called imaging to some extent) of optical vortices in two dimensional (2D) gradient media and three-dimensional (3D) curved spaces. We present the evolution of optical vortices in two types of...

In this paper, 2D and 3D Plasma Photonic Crystals (PPCs) were constructed using argon-mercury glow discharge tubes. Firstly, the collisional radiative model (CRM) was established for the glow discharge process, the average electron density of plasma in the discharge tube was calculated, and the average electron density was experimentally diagnosed by microwave diagnosis. By comparing the calculated and experimental results, the variation range of the average electron density in the tube was given. Secondly, according...

Abstract Background Previously identified phenotypes of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have been limited by a disregard for temporal dynamics. We aimed to identify longitudinal phenotypes in ARDS to test the prognostic and predictive enrichment of longitudinal phenotypes, and to develop simplified models for phenotype identification. Methods We conducted a multi-database study based on the Chinese Database in Intensive Care (CDIC) and four ARDS randomized clinical trials (RCTs). We employed latent class analysis (LCA) to...

Abstract Background Prostate cancer (PCa) is currently the major malignancy in men. It is becoming increasingly clear that competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulation networks are important in a wide variety of cancers. Nevertheless, there is still much to learn about the biological functions of the ceRNA network in prostate cancer. Methods The ceRNA network was constructed using the "GDCRNATools" package. Based on survival analysis, we obtained AC005154.6/hsa-miR-29c-3p/CCNL2 for further analysis. The prognostic model based on...

We propose a new method to overcome quantum back-action in a measurement process using oscillators. An optical oscillator is used as a meter to measure the parameters of another open oscillator. The optical oscillator is synthesized such that the optical restoring force counters any perturbations induced by the quantum back-action phenomena. As a result, it is shown that the quantum back-action in continuous measurement is suppressed in the low frequency regime i.e., for frequencies much...

Abstract Background Cardiac arrest (CA) represents the third leading cause of death worldwide. Among patients resuscitated and admitted to hospital, death and severe neurological sequelae are frequent but difficult to predict. Blood biomarkers offer clinicians the potential to improve prognostication. Previous studies suggest that circulating non-coding RNAs constitute a reservoir of novel biomarkers. Therefore, this study aims to identify circulating circular RNAs (circRNAs) associated with clinical outcome after CA. Results Whole blood samples obtained 48...