Clinical manifestations and outcomes of HSK following corneal transplantation.

Purpose: To investigate the clinical manifestations and outcomes of herpes simplex keratitis (HSK) infection following corneal transplantation.

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed medical records of patients who underwent corneal transplantation at the People's Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region between January 2018 and March 2024, with a minimum follow-up period of 1 year. The study examined post-transplantation herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections, including the timing of HSV infection, HSK classification, clinical manifestations, and outcomes.

Clostridial-dominated gut microbiota promotes 7α-dehydroxylation of obeticholic acid to lithocholic acid in cholestasis treatment.

Obeticholic acid (OCA) is a potent farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonist used in the treatment of liver diseases associated with cholestasis, such as primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). However, its clinical utility is limited by dose-dependent hepatotoxicity, and the precise mechanism underlying OCA toxicity remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the mechanistic link between cholestasis-induced gut dysbiosis and OCA-associated hepatotoxicity.

Comprehensive pan-cancer analysis reveals ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 2T as a potential biomarker for prognosis and cancer immunity.

Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 2T (UBE2T) constitutes a critical component of the ubiquitin-proteasome system and is involved in tumorigenesis. The gene has been extensively characterized. In the present study, comprehensive analyses using various databases and R-based tools revealed elevated expression across multiple tumor types, where its upregulation was shown to be associated with poor clinical outcomes and prognosis.

Development of a novel targeted LC-MS/MS methods for the typing of cardiac amyloidosis.

Background: The treatment and prognosis of cardiac amyloidosis (CA) depend heavily on the accurate identification of amyloid protein types. Histopathological methods are the most commonly used approach, but often produce inconclusive results. The application of mass spectrometry with laser microdissection mass spectrometry based on non-targeted proteomics in CA diagnosis is gradually being recognized, but it is expensive, time-consuming, and still in the early stages of scientific research applications.

Development of autoimmune antibodies against human phospholipase A2 receptor and the application as diagnostic criteria for primary membranous nephropathy.

Introduction: Membranous nephropathy (MN) is a severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) with ~ 30% of patients progressing to end-stage renal disease within 10 years. Phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) is one of the major target antigens of MN. Despite the importance of PLA2R antibodies in the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and prognosis of MN, anti-human PLA2R monoclonal antibodies have not been obtained.

Case Report: CD34-Negative, S100-Positive Spindle Cell Tumor With a Fusion.

With the application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in soft tissue tumors, gene rearrangement is becoming known to pathologists as a molecular hallmark of spindle cell tumors, and other spindle cell tumors with related kinases are being reported. However, cases of rearranged spindle cell tumors not associated with rearrangements are rarely reported. Here, we describe a case of rearranged spindle cell tumor in a 3-year-old girl who presented with swelling and pain in the arm.

An innovative immunoassay for accurate aldosterone quantification: overcoming low-level inaccuracy and renal dysfunction-associated interference.

Objectives: Accurate quantification of aldosterone is critical for screening and diagnosing primary aldosteronism (PA). Current competitive chemiluminescence immunoassays (cCLIA) overestimate plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) compared to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). However, LC-MS/MS is technically demanding and time-consuming, limiting its widespread clinical utility.

Long-term vestibular and audiometric results in meniere's patients following endolymphatic duct blockage, sac drainage or sac decompression.

Purpose: To explore the long-term vestibular and audiometric results of the patients with Meniere's disease (MD) who underwent endolymphatic duct blockage (EDB), endolymphatic sac drainage (EDD) and endolymphatic sac decompression (ESD).

Methods: A total of 51 MD patients receiving EDB (n = 24), EDD (n = 15) and ESD (n = 12) were enrolled for evaluation of their vertigo control, hearing threshold, caloric test, and video head impulse test (vHIT) results with 4-year follow-up.

Results: The recurrence rate of vertigo attacks ratio was significantly higher in ESD compared to the EDB (P = 0.

Innovative Development of Low Carbon Cementitious Materials Based on Magnesium Smelting Slag by the Response Surface Method: Chemical Activation, Hydration Characteristics and Application.

The swift expansion of the worldwide magnesium industry has resulted in substantial accumulation of magnesium slag (MS) as a byproduct of the magnesium metal smelting process, presenting a growing environmental hazard. To effectively address the issue of MS resource usage, the synergistic activation impact among MS, fly ash (FA), and desulfurized gypsum (DG) was examined utilizing response surface methodology (RSM). This study calculated the appropriate ratio of cementitious materials and investigated the hydration characteristics of magnesium-slag-based low-carbon cementitious materials (MSLCM).

Analytical and clinical evaluation of an automated high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I assay for whole blood.

Objectives: To evaluate the performance of the iStar high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) assay, focusing on its sensitivity, precision, linearity, and consistency with plasma samples, and to establish sex-specific 99th percentile upper reference limits.

Methods: The iStar hs-cTnI assay was assessed using the Drawray iStar 500 analyzer. Key performance metrics such as the limits of blank (LoB), detection (LoD) and quantitation (LoQ), precision, linearity, and agreement between sample types were evaluated according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines.

Alternative illumination system for extreme ultraviolet mask inspection based on Fourier synthesis technology.

This study proposes an alternative illuminator based on the Fourier synthesis technology that provides a powerful and flexible way of controlling the coherent properties of illumination for extreme ultraviolet mask inspection. The illuminator achieves coherence control by programming the incident beam scanning a Fresnel zone plate and thus can provide free pupil-fill patterns. In this work, a visible laser-based laboratory microscopic imaging platform has been developed using the illuminator.

Two-dimensional negative refraction steering of hybrid polaritons in graphene/twisted bilayer -MoO heterostructures.

Hyperbolic materials have emerged as a powerful medium for manipulating polaritons at deeply subwavelength scales. In the realm of polaritonic applications, -MoO/graphene heterostructures have shown great promise, featuring low-loss, electrically tunable negative refraction, and enhanced focusing and steering capabilities. However, a significant challenge has been the manipulation of the focusing position of hybrid polaritons, which is limited to a line perpendicular to the interface or unable to be manipulated while steering.

Global, regional, and national burden of aortic aneurysm disease and its attributable risk factor, 1990-2021: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2021.

This study aimed to evaluate the global, regional, and national burden of aortic aneurysms and their attributable risk factors from 1990 to 2021. Data from the global burden of disease 2021 study were used to analyze aortic aneurysm death numbers, age-standardized death rates (ASDR), and attributable risk factors across age, sex, region, and the Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Temporal trends were assessed by estimated annual percentage change (EAPC).

Autonomic nervous system development-related signature as a novel predictive biomarker for immunotherapy in pan-cancers.

Background: Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment. However, its clinical application remains limited. There is an urgent need for new predictive and prognostic biomarkers that can identify more patients with objective and durable responses and thus, improve the accuracy of prognosis.

Instruments for measuring fatigue in patients with brain tumours: protocol for a COSMIN--based systematic review.

Introduction: Cancer-related fatigue occurs at high rates and can harm patients' quality of life and even reduce survival, especially in patients with brain tumours. Many measures have been developed to assess this condition, but there have been no systematic reviews evaluating the metrological properties of these tools, and it is difficult to determine the measures with optimal properties and the conditions under which they should be applied. Therefore, we need to collect existing evidence and choose the most reasonable instrument.

A latent profile and network analysis of social isolation in colorectal cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Objective: This study aims to identify distinct subgroups of social isolation among colorectal cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, explore the cut-off value and core dimensions within these subgroups, and investigate the potential mechanisms influencing their experiences.

Methods: The present study employed a cross-sectional survey design involving 256 colorectal cancer patients in Wuxi, conducted between June 2023 and March 2024. Latent profile analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were performed to identify subgroups of social isolation and to determine cut-off values.

Anti-citrullinated histone H3 immunoglobulin G: new antibodies highly correlate with anti-neutrophil extracellular traps antibodies and thrombosis in antiphospholipid syndrome.

Background: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are involved in the development of thrombosis. Discovering anti-NETs antibodies has provided new understanding of how NETs and thrombotic processes are connected. However, these antibodies are currently only recognized as a diverse group, with their exact makeup still unknown.

Robust regulatory interplay of enhancers, facilitators, and promoters in a native chromatin context.

Enhancers are gene-distal -regulatory elements that drive cell type-specific gene expression. While significant progress has been made in identifying enhancers and characterizing their epigenomic features, much less effort has been devoted to elucidating mechanistic interactions among clusters of functionally linked regulatory elements within their endogenous chromatin contexts. Here, we developed a novel recombinase-mediated genome rewriting platform and applied our divergent transcription architectural model to understand how a long-range human enhancer confers a remarkable 10,000-fold activation to its target gene, at its native locus.

Development of an ELISPOT assay for numerating IFN-γ-secreting T cells in chicken using novel monoclonal antibodies.

Cellular immune responses play critical roles in the control of pathogenic infection. The measurement of antigen-specific IFN-γ-secreting T cells via an enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT) is a valuable method for the evaluation of cellular immune responses. However, in chicken, few of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against chicken IFN-γ (chIFN-γ) are suitable for this application.

Dietary iron attenuates infection via modulation of intestinal immune response and gut microbiota.

() is one of the majors causes of antibiotic-associated diarrhea globally. Host vulnerability to infection (CDI) is largely affected by gut microbiota, which in turn is influenced by diet. However, the mechanism underlying the interplay between diet and the gut microbiota that regulates host susceptibility to CDI remains unclear.

Pharmacology and metabolomic reveal Polysaccharides from polygonatum sibiricum ameliorate the diabetic osteoporosis in zebrafish.

Background: Previous studies found that polysaccharide (PSP) exhibited anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects on type 2 diabetes (T2DM). However, the roles and detailed mechanisms of PSP on the anti-diabetic osteoporosis are still poorly defined. The purpose of this study was to identify the detailed mechanisms of PSP-induced anti-diabetic osteoporosis.

Enhanced autotrophic denitrification under salinity stress by bioaugmentation of Sulfurimonas: performance evaluation, microbial community and response mechanisms.

Sulfur autotrophic denitrification (SADN) is a promising nitrogen removal process for industrial wastewater treatment, but elevated salinity is a common inhibitory factor that affects SADN performance. In this study, the sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) was enhanced with isolated salt-tolerant Sulfurimonas strains. Results showed that bioaugmentation improved the reactor's denitrification efficiency from 70.

tRNA-Derived Small RNA Accelerates Tumorigenesis through Crosstalk with Tumor-Associated Macrophages, and Downregulation with Cell Membrane-Modified Polymer Nanoparticles Enables Treatment Response.

Accumulating evidence has shown that tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) play pivotal roles in the progression of the majority of malignancies. The tumor microenvironment (TME) is important for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. However, how tsRNAs exert their effects through the TME to drive hepatocarcinogenesis is unclear.

Derlin-1 modulated endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis in Acipenser schrenckii hepatocytes under titanium dioxide nanoparticle exposure.

The wide use of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiONPs) has raised environmental concerns, particularly regarding their impact on aquatic organisms and association with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) dysfunction. This study investigates the role of Derlin-1, a key ER-related factor, in mediating ER stress responses under TiONP exposure. We cloned the Derlin-1 coding sequence of Acipenser schrenckii and constructed overexpression and interference recombinant lentiviral vectors targeting Derlin-1.