Objective:To assess the prognostic potential of post systolic shortening (PSS) on cardiac injury in the breast cancer patients after chemotherapy.Methods:This was a prospective cohort study in breast cancer patients after chemotherapy who were followed up to observe the risk of cardiac injury. A total of 69 female patients with HER-2 negative breast cancer were selected in the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from February to August 2019. The post-systolic strain index (PSI) of each segment of left ventricular myocardium after chemotherapy was obtained by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography. PSI (%) was defined as follows: [(peak strain in cardiac cycle-peak strain in systole)/peak strain in cardiac cycle]×100%. PSS was regarded as meaningful if PSI >20%. End point was cardiac injury, which could be manifested as cardiotoxicity, cardiogenic death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina pectoris, and severe arrhythmias. Occurence of any above mentioned cardiac injuries was considered as end point event. According to the number of myocardial walls with PSS, the patients were divided into three groups: group A (no walls), group B (1 wall), and group C (≥2 walls). Additionally, the patients were also stratified according to tertiles of PSI: layer A (the first tertile), layer B (the second tertile), and layer C (the third tertile).Results:During a median follow-up of 18 months (Q 1=17 months, Q 3=18 months), 17 patients (24.64%) were diagnosed as having end point events. The risk of end point increased with the increase in the number of myocardial walls with PSS and the increase in PSI stratification.After adjusting for age, hypertension, systolic blood pressure, global longitudinal strain, and E peak of mitral early diastolic inflow velocity/average peak early diastolic mitral annular velocity e′ (E/e′), the association remained significant, (Per 1 increase in number of walls with PSS, hazard ratio, 1.96, P=0.007. Per 1% increase in PSI, hazard ratio, 1.44, P<0.001). In terms of predictive ability, the Harrell′s C index of PSS and of PSI was 0.70 and 0.73, respectively, both P<0.01, which indicated moderate accuracy. Conclusions:The presence of PSS in breast cancer patients after chemotherapy can provide independent prognostic information for the future occurrence of cardiac injury.

Objective:To explore the relative concentration changes of oxygenated hemoglobin (Oxy Hb) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and brain region activation during emotional face recognition tasks in women with perimenopausal depression.Methods:From February to April 2023, forty perimenopausal women were recruited, including 20 women with perimenopausal depression (experimental group) and 20 women with non-perimenopausal depression (control group). All participants were evaluated by the modified Kupperman score, 24-item Hamilton depression scale (HAMD-24), and patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) equipment was used to measure the relative concentration of Oxy-Hb in the PFC in two groups under the emotional face recognition task. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS 26.0 software. Data were analyzed by a t-test, rank sum test, and Pearson correlation. Results:There were statistically significant differences in the results of the modified Kupperman score((23.20±3.66), (18.10±1.28)), HAMD-24((15.95±5.47), (3.35±1.84)), and PHQ-9(7.00(5.00, 10.75), 1.50(1.00, 3.00)) scales between the the experimental group and control group ( P<0.05). There was a positive correlation between the modified Kupperman score and the HAMD-24 score in the experimental group ( r=0.685, P=0.01). The reaction time of the experimental group in identifying negative and neutral emotional faces was statistically significant compared to the control group( t=4.01, 4.80, both P<0.05). Compared with identifying neutral emotions, PFC activation was stronger in the experimental group and control group when identifying negative emotions ( P<0.05). The PFC activation in the experimental group was stronger than that in the control group when identifying negative emotions ( P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the activation level between the two groups when identifying neutral emotions ( P>0.05). Conclusion:Women with perimenopausal depression exhibit specificity in emotional processing, with increased PFC activation when identifying negative emotions, impaired emotional processing function of PFC, and dysfunction of aerobic metabolism.

Objective: To isolate a bacteriophage against pan-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a burn patient, and to study its biological characteristics, genomic information, and effects on bacterial biofilm. Methods: (1) In 2018, pan-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae UA168 (hereinafter referred to as the host bacteria) solution isolated from the blood of a burn patient in Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (hereinafter referred to as Ruijin Hospital) was used to isolate and purify the bacteriophage against pan-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae from the sewage of Ruijin Hospital with sewage co-culture method, drip plate method, and double-agar plate method. The bacteriophage was named as phage KP168 and the plaque morphology was observed. (2) The phage KP168 solution was taken for cesium chloride density gradient centrifugation and dialysis, and then the morphology of phage KP168 was observed through transmission electron microscope after phosphotungstic acid negative staining. (3) The phage KP168 solution was taken to determine the lytic ability of the phage KP168 against 20 strains of pan-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from the burned patients′ blood in Ruijin Hospital by the drip plate method, and then the lysis rate was calculated. (4) The phage KP168 solution at a initial titer of 9.3×10¹¹ plaque-forming unit (PFU)/mL (400 μL per tube) and the host bacteria solution at a concentration of 1×10⁹ colony-forming unit (CFU)/mL (4 mL per tube) were conventionally shaking cultured together for 4 hours at multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 10.000, 1.000, 0.100, 0.010, or 0.001, respectively (1 tube per MOI). The titer of phage KP168 was measured by the double-agar plate method (the measurement method was the same below) to select the optimal MOI. The experiment was repeated three times. (5) The host bacteria solution at a concentration of 1×10⁹ CFU/mL (4 mL per tube) and the phage KP168 solution at an adjusted titer of 5×10⁷ PFU/mL (400 μL per tube) were mixed at the MOI of 0.005. The plaques were counted 0 (immediately), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 15, and 30 minutes (1 tube at each time point) after mixing by the double-agar plate method (the counting method was the same below), and the percentage of adsorbed phages was calculated to screen for the optimal adsorption time. The experiment was repeated three times. (6) The host bacteria solution at a concentration of 1×10⁹ CFU/mL (300 μL per tube) and the phage KP168 solution at a titer of 5×10⁸ PFU/mL (60 μL per tube) were mixed at MOI of 0.005 and conventionally shaking cultured after standing for the optimal adsorption time. The phage KP168 titer was measured 0 (immediately), 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 minutes after culture, and a one-step growth curve was drawn. The experiment was repeated three times. (7) The phage KP168 solution at a titer of 2.5×10¹⁰ PFU/mL was left to stand for 1 hour at 37, 40, 50, 60, or 70 ℃ (3 tubes at each time point, 1 mL per tube) for counting the plaques, and then the thermal stability curve was drawn. SM buffer at a pH values of 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 7.4, 8.0, 9.0, or 10.0 were added to the phage KP168 solution at a titer of 3.0×10¹⁰ PFU/mL, respectively. The mixed solution was left to stand for 1 hour at 37 ℃ (3 tubes of each pH, each tube containing 100 μL phage KP168 solution and 900 μL SM buffer), and then the plaques were counted, and an acid-base stability curve was drawn. (8) The phage KP168 solution was taken for DNA extraction and sequencing after dialysis as in experiment (2). The whole genome was annotated with Prokka to obtain the coding sequence of phage KP168. Nucleotide′s BLAST function was used to proceed nucleic acid sequence alignment for finding a known phage with the highest similarity to the phage KP168 nucleic acid sequence, and Blastx function was used to translate the coding sequence into protein for its function prediction. The comparison with Antibiotic Resistance Genes Database and Virulence Factors Database was proceeded. (9) In a 96-well plate, at a MOI of 1.000, 0.100, 0.010 or 0.001 (3 wells per MOI), 20 μL phage KP168 solution at a initial titer of 5.8×10¹⁰ PFU/mL was added to 200 μL host bacteria solution at a concentration of 1.5×10⁸ CFU/mL (the same concentration below) for co-cultivation for 48 hours. After 200 μL host bacteria solution was left to stand for 48 hours, 20 μL phage KP168 solution at a titer of 1×10^6, 1×10^7, 1×10^8, 1×10^9, or 1×10¹⁰ PFU/mL (3 wells per titer) was added respectively for action for 4 hours. In both experiments, 200 μL host bacteria solution added with 20 μL SM buffer (3 wells) acted as a negative control, and 220 μL LB culture medium (3 wells) acted as a blank control. Absorbance values were measured by a microplate reader, and inhibition/destruction rates of biofilm were calculated. The experiments were both repeated three times. Results: (1) The plaques of phage KP168 successfully isolated and purified were transparent and round, and its diameter was approximately 1.5 mm. (2) The phage KP168 has a regular polyhedron structure with a diameter of about 50 nm and without a tail. (3) The phage KP168 could lyse 13 of 20 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae from burned patients, with a lysis rate of 65.0%. (4) When MOI was 1.000, the titer was the highest after co-culturing the phage KP168 with the host bacteria for 4 hours, which was the optimal MOI. (5) After the mixing of the phage KP168 with the host bacteria for 4 minutes, the percentage of the adsorbed phage reached the highest, which was the optimal adsorption time. (6) The one-step growth curve showed that during the lysis of the host bacteria by phage KP168, the incubation period was about 10 minutes, and the lysis period was about 40 minutes. (7) With the condition of 40 ℃ or pH 7.4, the number of plaques and the activity of phage KP168 reached the highest. (8) The genome of phage KP168 was a linear double-stranded DNA with a length of 40 114 bp. There were 48 possible coding sequences. It had the highest similarity to Klebsiella phage_vB_Kp1. The most similar known proteins corresponding to the translated proteins of coding sequences contained 23 hypothetical proteins and 25 proteins with known functions. No resistance genes or virulence factor genes were found. The GeneBank accession number was KT367885. (9) After 48 hours of co-cultivation of the phage KP168 and the host bacteria at each MOI, the inhibition rates of biofilm were similar, with an average of about 45%. After the phage KP168 with a titer of 1×10⁹ PFU/mL acted on the biofilm formed by the host bacteria for 4 h, the destruction rate of biofilm was the highest, reaching an average of 42%. Conclusions In this study, a bacteriophage against pan-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae from a burn patient, phage KP168, is isolated from sewage, which belongs to the tailless phage. It has a wide host spectrum, short adsorption time, and short incubation period, with certain thermal and acid-base stability. Its genomic information is clear, and it does not contain resistance genes or virulence factor genes. It also has an inhibitory effect on the formation of bacterial biofilm and a destructive effect on the formed bacterial biofilm.

Single-cell or low-input multi-omics techniques have revolutionized the study of pre-implantation embryo development.However,the single-cell or low-input proteomic research in this field is rela-tively underdeveloped because of the higher threshold of the starting material for mammalian embryo samples and the lack of hypersensitive proteome technology.In this study,a comprehensive solution of ultrasensitive proteome technology(CS-UPT)was developed for single-cell or low-input mouse oocyte/embryo samples.The deep coverage and high-throughput routes significantly reduced the starting material and were selected by investigators based on their demands.Using the deep coverage route,we provided the first large-scale snapshot of the very early stage of mouse maternal-to-zygotic transition,including almost 5,500 protein groups from 20 mouse oocytes or zygotes for each sample.Moreover,significant protein regulatory networks centered on transcription factors and kinases between the MII oocyte and 1-cell embryo provided rich insights into minor zygotic genome activation.

Objective: To explore the association between cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) and quality of life, the association between CMD and perceived stress, and the mediation effect of perceived stress on the association between CMD and quality of life, and to provide evidence for the prevention and treatment of CMD and the improvement of quality of life in these patients. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Data were collected by the employees' physical examination of a company in Xi'an in 2021. Multiple linear regression models were used to analyze the association between the status of CMD (divided into three categories: no CMD, presence of one kind of CMD, and with≥2 kinds of CMD (≥2 kinds of CMD were defined as cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM)), quality of life, and perceived stress. Mediation analysis with a multi-categorical independent variable was conducted to determine the mediation effect of perceived stress on the association between CMD and quality of life. Results: Among all 4 272 participants, 1 457 (34.1%) participants had one kind of CMD and 677 (15.8%) participants had CMM. The average scores for quality of life and perceived stress were (57.5±15.7) and (16.9±7.9), respectively. Compared with participants without CMD, after adjusting for demographic and lifestyle factors, no statistically significant associations were observed between one kind of CMD and perceived stress or quality of life (both P>0.05). Perceived stress did not mediate the association between one kind of CMD and quality of life. However, participants with CMM had lower quality of life and higher perceived stress than participants without CMD. The relative total effect coefficient c (95%CI) and the relative direct effect coefficient c' (95%CI) between CMM and quality of life were -3.71 (-5.04--2.37) and -2.52 (-3.81--1.24) (both P<0.05), respectively. The relative indirect effect coefficient a₂b (95%CI) of perceived stress on the association between CMM and quality of life was -1.18 (-1.62--0.77) (P<0.05). The mediation effect size was 31.8%. Conclusions: CMM is negatively associated with quality of life and positively associated with perceived stress. Perceived stress partially mediates the association between CMM and quality of life. Our results suggest that, in addition to preventing and treating CMM actively, efforts should be taken to relieve the perceived stress of people with CMM to improve their quality of life.
Humans ; Quality of Life ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Cardiovascular Diseases/complications* ; Stress, Psychological

【Objective】 To estimate the prevalence, associated factors and patterns of multimorbidity of non-communicable diseases among adults in Shaanxi Province so as to provide evidence for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. 【Methods】 We used the data of adults aged 18 years and older collected in the baseline survey of Shaanxi Project in the Regional Ethnic Cohort Study in Northwest China. Multinomial logistic regression was used to explore the associated factors for multimorbidity. Exploratory factor analysis was used to extract patterns of multimorbidity. 【Results】 The prevalence of multimorbidity was 10.7% among the 44 442 participants. Age increase, being males, urban residence, and being overweight or obesity were positively associated with multimorbidity. Compared with women, men had a higher risk of multimorbidity. The OR and 95% CI was 1.25 (1.12-1.39). The risk of multimorbidity increased with age among adults. Compared with participants aged 18.0-34.9 years, the ORs and 95% CIs of those aged 35.0-44.9, 45.0-54.9, 55.0-64.9, and ≥65.0 years were 4.73 (3.47-6.46), 15.61 (11.60-21.00), 41.39 (30.76-55.70) and 90.04 (66.58-121.77), respectively. The primary multimorbidity patterns among adults in Shaanxi were cardiovascular-metabolic multimorbidity (5.4%), viscero-articular multimorbidity (1.0%), and respiratory multimorbidity (0.3%). 【Conclusion】 More than one in ten adults in Shaanxi Province had multimorbidity, and the predominant pattern of multimorbidity was cardiovascular-metabolic multimorbidity. The prevention and control of non-communicable diseases should be reinforced in middle-aged and older people, males, people living in the urban, and overweight or obese people. More attention should be paid to the prevention and control of cardiovascular-metabolic diseases.