Cardiac fibrosis is characterized by an elevated amount of extracellular matrix (ECM) within the heart. However, the persistence of cardiac fibrosis ultimately diminishes contractility and precipitates cardiac dysfunction. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are emerging as important regulators of cardiac fibrosis. Here, we elucidate the functional role of a specific circular RNA CELF1 in cardiac fibrosis and delineate a novel feedback loop mechanism. Functionally, circ-CELF1 was involved in enhancing fibrosis-related markers' expression and promoting the proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), thereby exacerbating cardiac fibrosis. Mechanistically, circ-CELF1 reduced the ubiquitination-degradation rate of BRPF3, leading to an elevation of BRPF3 protein levels. Additionally, BRPF3 acted as a modular scaffold for the recruitment of histone acetyltransferase KAT7 to facilitate the induction of H3K14 acetylation within the promoters of the Celf1 gene. Thus, the transcription of Celf1 was dramatically activated, thereby inhibiting the subsequent response of their downstream target gene Smad7 expression to promote cardiac fibrosis. Moreover, Celf1 further promoted Celf1 pre-mRNA transcription and back-splicing, thereby establishing a feedback loop for circ-CELF1 production. Consequently, a novel feedback loop involving CELF1/circ-CELF1/BRPF3/KAT7 was established, suggesting that circ-CELF1 may serve as a potential novel therapeutic target for cardiac fibrosis.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization and the prognosis in patients with extensive burns, in order to explore the hemoglobin warning threshold for blood transfusion in patients with extensive burns.Methods:The research was a retrospective observational study. From October 2012 to October 2022, 288 patients with extensive burns who met the inclusion criteria were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University (the Third Military Medical University), including 243 males and 45 females, aged 18 to 65 years. These patients were assigned to the death group ( n=54) and the survival group ( n=234) based on their final prognosis. The clinical data including gender, age, body mass index, total burn area, full-thickness burn area, time of first operation after injury, preoperative prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and hemoglobin level of the first surgery, complication of inhalation injury, number of surgeries, total surgical area, total surgical time, total length of hospital stay, and highest procalcitonin value, lowest platelet count and hemoglobin values, and occurrence of sepsis during hospitalization were compared between the two groups of patients. According to the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization, the patients were assigned to <65 g/L group, ≥65 g/L and <75 g/L group, ≥75 g/L and <85 g/L group, and ≥85 g/L group. The total length of hospital stay, mortality and incidence of sepsis during hospitalization, and mortality within 90 days after injury were compared among the four groups of patients. The relationship between the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization and the mortality risk of patients with extensive burns was analyzed using a restricted cubic spline model before and after adjusting covariates. A logistic regression model was adopted to analyze the relationship between the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization and the mortality risk of patients with extensive burns after adjusting covariates, with the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization as a continuous variable and a categorical variable, separately. Results:Compared with those in survival group, the total burn area, full-thickness burn area, and total surgical area of patients in death group were significantly increased, the preoperative APTT of the first surgery was significantly prolonged, the number of surgeries was significantly reduced, the total length of hospital stay was significantly shortened, the highest procalcitonin value during hospitalization was significantly increased, the lowest platelet count and hemoglobin values during hospitalization were significantly decreased, and the incidence proportion of sepsis during hospitalization was significantly increased (with Z values of -6.72, -5.40, -2.15, -2.99, -2.21, -7.84, -6.23, -7.03, and -3.43, respectively, χ2=161.95, P values all <0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the other clinical data of patients between the two groups ( P>0.05). There were statistically significant differences in mortality and incidence of sepsis during hospitalization, and mortality within 90 days after injury of patients among the four groups divided according to the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization (with χ2 values of 12.12, 15.93, and 10.62, respectively, P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the total length of hospital stay of patients among the four groups ( P>0.05). The restricted cubic spline model analysis revealed an approximately linear relationship between the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization and the mortality risk of patients with extensive burns before and after adjusting covariates (with χ2 values of 0.81 and 0.75, respectively, P>0.05). After adjusting covariates, the logistic regression model analysis showed that the mortality risk of patients with extensive burns increased with decreasing hemoglobin when the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization was analyzed as a continuous variable (with odds ratio of 0.96, with 95% confidence interval of 0.92 to 0.99, P<0.05). When using the median value of 75.5 g/L as the cut-off value for categorizing the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization, there was no statistically significant difference in the mortality risk between patients with hemoglobin <75.5 g/L and those with hemoglobin ≥75.5 g/L ( P>0.05). When the patients were divided into four groups based on the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization as above, using ≥85 g/L group as a reference, only patients in <65 g/L group had a significantly increased mortality risk (with odds ratio of 5.37, with 95% confidence interval of 1.57 to 18.29, P<0.05). Conclusions:There is an approximately linear correlation between the lowest hemoglobin value during hospitalization and the mortality risk of patients with extensive burns. When the hemoglobin level drops to 65 g/L or lower, the mortality risk of patients increases significantly, suggesting that a hemoglobin level of 65 g/L could serve as a warning threshold for blood transfusion in patients with extensive burns.

Objective:To develop and validate an artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic model for coronary artery disease based on facial photos.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study. Patients who were scheduled to undergo coronary angiography (CAG) at Beijing Anzhen Hospital and Beijing Daxing Hospital from August 2022 to November 2023 were included consecutively. Before CAG, facial photos were collected (including four angles: frontal view, left and right 60° profile, and top of the head). Photo datasets were randomly divided into a training set, a validation set (70%), and a testing set (30%). The model was constructed using Masked Autoencoder (MAE) and Vision Transformer (ViT) architectures. Firstly, the model base was pre-training using 2 million facial photos obtained from the publicly available VGGFace dataset, and fine-tuned by the training and validation sets; the model was validated in the test set. In addition, the ResNet architecture was used to process the dataset, and its outputs were compared with those of the models based on MAE and ViT. In the test set, the area under the operating characteristic curve ( AUC) of the AI model was calculated using CAG results as the gold standard. Results:A total of 5 974 participants aged 61 (54, 67) years were included, including 4 179 males (70.0%), with a total of 84 964 facial photos. There were 79 140 facial photos in the training and validation sets, with 3 822 patients with coronary artery disease; there were 5 824 facial photos in the test set, with 239 patients with coronary artery disease. The AUC value of the MAE and ViT model initialized with pre-training model weights was 0.841 and 0.824, respectively. The AUC of the ResNet model initialized with random weights was 0.810, while the AUC of the ResNet model initialized with pre-training model weights was 0.816. Conclusion:The AI model based on facial photos showes good diagnostic performance for coronary artery disease and holds promise for further application in early diagnosis.

Programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) is an important immunosuppressive molecule, which inhibits the function of T cells and other immune cells by binding to the receptor programmed cell death-1. The PD-L1 expression disorder plays an important role in the occurrence, development, and treatment of sepsis or other inflammatory diseases, and has become an important target for the treatment of these diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a kind of pluripotent stem cells with multiple differentiation potential. In recent years, MSCs have been found to have a strong immunosuppressive ability and are used to treat various inflammatory insults caused by hyperimmune diseases. Moreover, PD-L1 is deeply involved in the immunosuppressive events of MSCs and plays an important role in the treatment of various diseases. In this review, we will summarize the main regulatory mechanism of PD-L1 expression, and discuss various biological functions of PD-L1 in the immune regulation of MSCs.

OBJECTIVE The inhibitory effect of active ingredients of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook.F.(TWHF)(celastrol,triptolide,triptonide,wilforlide A,wilforgine and wilforine)on human carboxylester-ase 1(CES1)and CES2 was detected to investigate the herb-drug interactions(HDIs)of TWHF.METHODS Human liver microsomes catalysed hydrolysis of 2-(2-benzoyl-3-methoxyphenyl)benzothi-azole(BMBT)and fluorescein diacetate(FD)were used as the probe reaction to phenotype the activity of CES1 and CES2,respectively.The residual activities of CES1 and CES2 were detected by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography(UPLC)after intervention with celastrol,triptolide,triptonide,wilforlide A,wilforgine and wilforine(100 μmol·L-1).Kinetics analysis,involving half inhibitory concentra-tion(IC50),inhibition type and kinetic parameter(Ki),and in vitro-in vivo extrapolation(IVIVE),was carried out to predict the HDIs between these compounds and CES-metabolizing drugs.Molecular docking was performed to analyze the ligand-enzyme interaction.RESULTS Out of the six main con-stituents of TWHF,only celastrol exhibited strong inhibition towards both CES1 and CES2,with the inhibitory rates of 97.45%(P<0.05)and 95.62%(P<0.05),respectively.The IC50 was 9.95 and 4.02 mol·L-1,respectively,and the types of inhibition were all non-competitive inhibition.Based on the kinetics analysis,the Ki values were calculated to be 5.10 and 10.55 μmol·L-1 for the inhibition of celastrol on CES1 and CES2,respectively.IVIVE indicated that celastrol might disturb the metabolic hydrolysis of clinical drugs in vivo by inhibiting CES1.Molecular docking results showed that hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic contacts contributed to the interaction of celastrol and CESs.CONCLUSION The inhibitory effect of celastrol on CES1 and CES2 might cause HDIs with clinical drugs hydrolysed by CESs.

Objective:To analyze the hot topics related to emergency emergency science popularization in China from 2001 to 2023, present the research trends, current situation, and hotspots in this field, and provide reference for emergency science popularization research.Methods:Using China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, and VIP Journal as Chinese data sources, and WOS and PubMed as English data sources, relevant literature from January 2001 to December 2023 was searched. EndNote software was used as the literature management and deduplication tool, and Citespace software was used as the analysis tool to visually analyze the publication volume, authors, institutions, journals, and keywords of the included literature.Results:A total of 498 articles were included, all of which were journal articles; The annual publication volume continues to increase, with a slight decrease in 2023; The 19 core authors calculated by Price′s law accounted for 10.04%(50/498) of the total number of publications, which did not meet the half standard; The magazine with the highest number of publications is the Chinese Journal of Emergency Recovery and Disaster Medicine; The institution with the highest number of publications is the First Affiliated Hospital of the General Hospital of the People′s Liberation Army; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Emergency knowledge, Self rescue and Mutual aid, College students, and Science popularization bases are currently the five major research hotspots in this field.Conclusions:The popularization of emergency science in China focuses on " emergency knowledge" and " dissemination", showing a good development trend. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between authors and institutions, improve academic influence, and continue to increase the efforts of science popularization.

BACKGROUND: Patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and major depressive disorder (MDD) share significant clinical overlap, although it remains unknown to what extent this overlap reflects shared neural profiles. To identify the shared and specific abnormalities in SCZ and MDD, we performed a whole-brain voxel-based meta-analysis using magnetization transfer imaging, a technique that characterizes the macromolecular structural integrity of brain tissue in terms of the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR). METHODS: A systematic search based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, International Scientific Index (ISI) Web of Science, and MEDLINE for relevant studies up to March 2022. Two researchers independently screened the articles. Rigorous scrutiny and data extraction were performed for the studies that met the inclusion criteria. Voxel-wise meta-analyses were conducted using anisotropic effect size-signed differential mapping with a unified template. Meta-regression was used to explore the potential effects of demographic and clinical characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 15 studies with 17 datasets describing 365 SCZ patients, 224 MDD patients, and 550 healthy controls (HCs) were identified. The conjunction analysis showed that both disorders shared higher MTR than HC in the left cerebellum ( P =0.0006) and left fusiform gyrus ( P =0.0004). Additionally, SCZ patients showed disorder-specific lower MTR in the anterior cingulate/paracingulate gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, and right superior frontal gyrus, and higher MTR in the left thalamus, precuneus/cuneus, posterior cingulate gyrus, and paracentral lobule; and MDD patients showed higher MTR in the left middle occipital region. Meta-regression showed no statistical significance in either group. CONCLUSIONS The results revealed a structural neural basis shared between SCZ and MDD patients, emphasizing the importance of shared neural substrates across psychopathology. Meanwhile, distinct disease-specific characteristics could have implications for future differential diagnosis and targeted treatment.
Humans ; Depressive Disorder, Major/drug therapy* ; Schizophrenia/pathology* ; Brain/pathology* ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Frontal Lobe ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods*

OBJECTIVE: Acute liver failure (ALF) is characterized by severe liver dysfunction, rapid progression and high mortality and is difficult to treat. Studies have found that sulforaphane (SFN), a nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (NRF2) agonist, has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer effects, and has certain protective effects on neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and liver fibrosis. This paper aimed to explore the protective effect of SFN in ALF and it possible mechanisms of action. METHODS: Lipopolysaccharide and D-galactosamine were used to induce liver injury in vitro and in vivo. NRF2 agonist SFN and histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) inhibitor ACY1215 were used to observe the protective effect and possible mechanisms of SFN in ALF, respectively. Cell viability, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Fe²⁺, glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were detected. The expression of HDAC6, NRF2, glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 4 (ACSL4) and solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11) were detected by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. RESULTS: Our results show that NRF2 was activated by SFN. LDH, Fe²⁺, MDA and ACSL4 were downregulated, while GSH, GPX4 and SLC7A11 were upregulated by SFN in vitro and in vivo, indicating the inhibitory effect of SFN on ferroptosis. Additionally, HDAC6 expression was decreased in the SFN group, indicating that SFN could downregulate the expression of HDAC6 in ALF. After using the HDAC6 inhibitor, ACY1215, SFN further reduced HDAC6 expression and inhibited ferroptosis, indicating that SFN may inhibit ferroptosis by regulating HDAC6 activity. CONCLUSION SFN has a protective effect on ALF, and the mechanism may include reduction of ferroptosis through the regulation of HDAC6. Please cite this article as: Zhang YQ, Shi CX, Zhang DM, Zhang LY, Wang LW, Gong ZJ. Sulforaphane, an NRF2 agonist, alleviates ferroptosis in acute liver failure by regulating HDAC6 activity. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(5): 464-473.
Humans ; Ferroptosis ; NF-E2-Related Factor 2/genetics* ; Liver Failure, Acute/drug therapy* ; Isothiocyanates/pharmacology* ; Glutathione ; Histone Deacetylase 6

Objective:To develop an automated landmark location system applicable to the case of landmark missing.Methods:Four and eighty-one lateral cephalograms, which contained 240 males and 241 females, with an average age of (24.5±5.6) years, taken from January 2015 to January 2021 in the Department of Orthodontics, Capital Medical University School of Stomatology, and met the inclusion criteria were collected. Five postgraduate orthodontic students were the annotators to manually locate 61 possible landmarks in 481 lateral cephalograms. Two assistant professors in the department as reviewers performed calibration. Two professors as arbitrators, made final decision. Data sets were established (341 were used as training set, 40 as validation set, and 100 as test set). In this paper, an automatic landmarks identification and location model based on convolutional neural networks (CNN), CephaNET, was developed. The model was trained by feeding the original image into the feature extraction module and convolutional pose machine (CPM) module to locate landmarks with high accuracy using deep supervision. Training set was enhanced to 1 684 images by histogram equalization, cropping, and adjustment of brightness. The model was trained to compare the Gaussian heat maps output from the network with the set threshold to identify landmark missing cases. Test set of 100 lateral cephalograms was used to test the accuracy of the model. The evaluation criteria used were success detection rate of missing landmark, mean radial error (MRE) and success detection rate (SDR) in the range of 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 mm.Results:The model identified and located 61 commonly used landmarks in 0.13 seconds on average. It had an average accuracy of 93.5% in identifying missing landmarks. The MRE of our testing set was (1.19±0.91) mm. SDR of 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 mm were 85.4%, 90.2%, 93.5%, 95.4%, 97.0% respectively.Conclusions:The model proposed in this paper could adapt to the absence of landmark in lateral cephalograms and locate 61 commonly used landmarks with high accuracy to meet the requirements of different cephalometric analysis methods.