Individuals with congenital absence of the vas deferens (CAVD) may transmit cystic fibrosis (CF)-causing variants of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator ( CFTR ) gene to their offspring through assisted reproductive technology (ART). We aimed to delineate the spectrum and estimate the prevalence of CF-causing variants in Chinese individuals with CAVD through a cohort analysis and meta-analysis. CFTR was sequenced in 145 Chinese individuals with CAVD. CFTR variants were classified as CF-causing or non-CF-causing variants regarding clinical significance. A comprehensive genotype analysis was performed in Chinese individuals with CAVD, incorporating previous studies and our study cohort. The prevalence of CF-causing variants was estimated through meta-analysis. In our cohort, 56 different CFTR variants were identified in 108 (74.5%) patients. Twenty variants were categorized as CF-causing and were detected in 28 (19.3%) patients. A comprehensive genotype analysis of 867 patients identified 174 different CFTR variants. Sixty-four were classified as CF-causing variants, 56.3% of which had not been previously reported in Chinese patients with CF. Meta-analysis showed that 14.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 11.0%-18.9%) CAVD cases harbored one CF-causing variant, and 68.6% (95% CI: 65.1%-72.0%) CAVD cases carried at least one CFTR variant. Our study underscores the urgent need for extensive CFTR screening, including sequencing of whole exons and flanking regions and detection of large rearrangements and deep intronic CF-causing variants, in Chinese individuals with CAVD before undergoing ART. The established CF-causing variants spectrum may aid in the development of genetic counseling strategies and preimplantation diagnosis to prevent the birth of a child with CF.
Adult ; Humans ; Male ; China ; Cohort Studies ; Cystic Fibrosis/genetics* ; Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator/genetics* ; Genotype ; Male Urogenital Diseases/genetics* ; Mutation ; Vas Deferens/abnormalities* ; East Asian People/genetics*

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.jpha.2023.08.006.].

Osteoporosis is a prevalent skeletal condition characterized by reduced bone mass and strength, leading to increased fragility. Buqi-Tongluo (BQTL) decoction, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription, has yet to be fully evaluated for its potential in treating bone diseases such as osteoporosis. To investigate the mechanism by which BQTL decoction inhibits osteoclast differentiation in vitro and validate these findings through in vivo experiments. We employed MTS assays to assess the potential proliferative or toxic effects of BQTL on bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) at various concentrations. TRAcP experiments were conducted to examine BQTL's impact on osteoclast differentiation. RT-PCR and Western blot analyses were utilized to evaluate the relative expression levels of osteoclast-specific genes and proteins under BQTL stimulation. Finally, in vivo experiments were performed using an osteoporosis model to further validate the in vitro findings. This study revealed that BQTL suppressed receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclastogenesis and osteoclast resorption activity in vitro in a dose-dependent manner without observable cytotoxicity. The inhibitory effects of BQTL on osteoclast formation and function were attributed to the downregulation of NFATc1 and c-fos activity, primarily through attenuation of the MAPK, NF-κB, and Calcineurin signaling pathways. BQTL's inhibitory capacity was further examined in vivo using an ovariectomized (OVX) rat model, demonstrating a strong protective effect against bone loss. BQTL may serve as an effective therapeutic TCM for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis and the alleviation of bone loss induced by estrogen deficiency and related conditions.
Animals ; NFATC Transcription Factors/genetics* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Ovariectomy ; Osteoclasts/metabolism* ; Female ; Osteogenesis/drug effects* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rats ; NF-kappa B/genetics* ; Osteoporosis/genetics* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Bone Resorption/genetics* ; Cell Differentiation/drug effects* ; Humans ; RANK Ligand/metabolism* ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/genetics* ; Transcription Factors

Sonogenetics is an emerging synthetic biology technique that uses sound waves to activate mechanosensitive ion channel proteins on the cell surface to regulate cell behavior and function.Due to the widespread presence of mechanically sensitive ion channel systems in cells and the advantages of non-invasion,strong penetrability,high safety and high accuracy of sonogenetics technology,it has great development potential in basic biomedical research and clinical applications,especially in neuronal regulation,tumor mechanism research,sonodynamic therapy and hearing impairment.This review discusses the basic principles of sonogenetics,the development status of sonogenetics and its application in the prevention and treatment of noise-induced hearing loss,summarizes and analyzes the current challenges and future development direction,thus providing a reference for further research and development of sonogenetics in the field of military medicine.

A major impedance to neuronal regeneration after peripheral nerve injury(PNI)is the activation of various programmed cell death mechanisms in the dorsal root ganglion.Ferroptosis is a form of pro-grammed cell death distinguished by imbalance in iron and thiol metabolism,leading to lethal lipid peroxidation.However,the molecular mechanisms of ferroptosis in the context of PNI and nerve regeneration remain unclear.Ferroportin(Fpn),the only known mammalian nonheme iron export protein,plays a pivotal part in inhibiting ferroptosis by maintaining intracellular iron homeostasis.Here,we explored in vitro and in vivo the involvement of Fpn in neuronal ferroptosis.We first delineated that reactive oxygen species at the injury site induces neuronal ferroptosis by increasing intracellular iron via accelerated UBA52-driven ubiquitination and degradation of Fpn,and stimulation of lipid peroxidation.Early administration of the potent arterial vasodilator,hydralazine(HYD),decreases the ubiquitination of Fpn after PNI by binding to UBA52,leading to suppression of neuronal cell death and significant ac-celeration of axon regeneration and motor function recovery.HYD targeting of ferroptosis is a promising strategy for clinical management of PNI.

Cerebrocardiac syndrome refers to secondary cardiac damage caused by various craniocere-bral injury lesions,which can exacerbate existing heart disease.In the practice of forensic pathology,cerebral-cardiac interaction is often ignored in cases of death with a short time after craniocerebral in-jury,especially those with underlying heart disease.This article reviews the pathogenesis of cerebrocar-diac syndrome by summarizing recent research results of cerebrocardiac syndrome at home and abroad and discusses its significance in the field of forensic medicine.The aim is to provide assistance for fo-rensic medicine practice of cerebrocardiac syndrome.

Objective:To study the effect of a modified behavioral treatment(MBT)on functional anejaculation and analyze the factors influencing the therapeutic efficacy.Methods:We enrolled in this study 59 men aged 24-45 years visiting the Andrology Clinic of Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital from August 2019 to May 2021 and complaining of aejaculation in sexual inter-course but normally ejaculating during masturbation.Thirty-nine of the patients underwent conventional behavioral treatment(the CBT group)and the other 20 received MBT,namely,changing the masturbation method combined with audiovisual stimulation during sexual intercourse(the MBT group).We compared the therapeutic effects between the two groups of patients,and analyzed the correlation of the outcomes of MBT with age,abstinence duration,use of audiovisual stimulation,change of the sexual position,mean bilateral testis volume and sex hormone levels.Results:After treatment,22(37.29％)of the patients achieved successful ejaculation at least once in sexual intercourse,11(55.00％)in the MBT group,and the other 11(28.21)in the CBT group,with a significantly higher effec-tiveness rate in the former than in the latter(P＜0.05).The effectiveness rate was significantly correlated to the method of standing-position masturbation plus sexual intercourse and reduction in the frequency of masturbation among various strategies of behavioral treat-ment(P＜0.05).Conclusion:MBT has a certain effect on functional anejaculation,and targeting the previous events of the patient is the key to the therapeutic efficacy.Further exploration of more effective strategies of behavioral treatment will become the trend of de-velopment in the management of functional anejaculation.

AIM To evaluate the quality of Yanyangke Mixture.METHODS The HPLC fingerprints were established,after which cluster analysis,principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis were performed.The contents of liquiritin,rosmarinic acid,sheganoside,irisgenin,honokiol,monoammonium glycyrrhizinate,irisflorentin,isoliquiritin and magnolol were determined,the analysis was performed on a 35 ℃ thermostatic Agilent ZORBAX SB-C18 column(5 μm,250 mmx4.6 mm),with the mobile phase comprising of 0.1％phosphoric acid-acetonitrile flowing at 1 mL/min in a gradient elution manner,and multi-wavelength detection was adopted.RESULTS There were ten common peaks in the fingerprints for twelve batches of samples with the similarities of more than 0.9.Various batches of samples were clustered into three types,three principal components displayed the acumulative variance contribution rate of 87.448％,peaks 5、14(honokiol),3(liquiritin),11(monoammonium glycyrrhizinate)and 15(asarinin)were quality markers.Nine constituents showed good linear relationships within their own ranges(r＞0.999 0),whose average recoveries were 98.5％-103.6％with the RSDs of 0.92％-1.7％.CONCLUSION This stable and reliable method can provide a basis for the quality control of Yanyangke Mixture.