ObjectiveTo explore the effect and mechanism of tumor necrosis factor alpha （TNF-α）-regulated circular RNA Williams Beuren syndrome chromosomal region 22 （circWBSCR22） on the malignant behaviors of cervical cancer cells. MethodsHuman cervical cancer HeLa cells were treated with TNF-α. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction （RT-qPCR） was used to detect the expression level of circWBSCR22. Nuclear-cytoplasmic RNA separation experiments were conducted to determine the localization of circWBSCR22 in cells. Cell migration， invasion， viability， and proliferation were assessed through Transwell assay， tetrazolium salt （MTT） assay， and colony formation assay， respectively. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assays were performed to verify the targeting relationship between microRNA-512-5p （miR-512-5p） and circWBSCR22 or family with sequence similarity 60A （FAM60A）. RT-qPCR was used to detect the RNA levels of miR-512-5p and FAM60A. Western blot was used to detect the protein level of FAM60A. ResultsCompared with the Control group， the expression level of circWBSCR22 in HeLa cells treated with TNF-α increased （P<0.05）. About 66% of circWBSCR22 was found in the cytoplasm. Compared with the control group， the migration （P<0.01） and invasion （P<0.01） of HeLa cells transfected with circWBSCR22 were enhanced， but the cell activity and cell proliferation were not significantly affected （P>0.05）. The double luciferase reporter gene assay showed that the relative luciferase activity of the co transfected circWBSCR22-WT and miR-512-5p groups was lower than that of the co transfected circWBSCR22-WT and miR-NC groups （P<0.01）. Compared with the control group， the expression level of miR-512-5p in HeLa cells transfected with circWBSCR22 decreased （P<0.01）. Compared with the control group， the migration （P<0.01） and invasion （P<0.05） ability of HeLa cells transfected with miR-512-5p decreased. Double luciferase reporter gene assay showed that compared with the co transfected FAM60A 3´-UTR-WT and miR-NC groups， the fluorescence activity of the co transfected FAM60A 3´-UTR-WT and miR-512-5p groups decreased （P<0.01）.Compared with the control group， the expression levels of FAM60A mRNA （P<0.05） and protein （P<0.01） in HeLa cells transfected with miR-512-5p decreased. Compared with the control group， the migration （P<0.01） and invasion （P<0.01） of cervical cancer HeLa cells transfected with FAM60A were enhanced. Compared with the control group， the expression levels of FAM60A mRNA （P<0.01） and protein （P<0.05） in the cells transfected with circWBSCR22 increased. The results of rescue experiment showed that compared with the pcDNA+miR-NC group， the expression levels of FAM60A RNA （P<0.01） and protein （P<0.001） in the pcDNA+miR-512-5p group decreased， and the ability of migration （P<0.01） and invasion （P<0.05） decreased； Compared with pcDNA+miR-512-5p group， the expression levels of FAM60A RNA （P<0.01） and protein （P<0.001） in circWBSCR22+miR-512-5p group increased， and the ability of migration （P<0.01） and invasion （P<0.05） was enhanced. ConclusionTNF-α promotes the migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells through the circWBSCR22/miR-512-5p/FAM60A regulatory axis.

Objective The biological characteristics and action mechanisms underlying the excellent performance of skeletal muscles were studied through experiments to provide a scientific basis for the development of flexible actuators with performance comparable to that of skeletal muscles.Methods A frog skeletal muscle sample was contracted by applying electrical stimulation,and then tensile load was applied to it to analyze the relationship between the driving properties(such as contraction length and output force)of skeletal muscle and its structure from three aspects:skeletal muscle dimensions,tendon,and epimysium.Results The contraction lengths of these skeletal muscle samples were approximately 28.92％and 20％under unloaded conditions and under 50％of their maximum output force,respectively.When the load on the skeletal muscles did not exceed 20％of their maximum output force,they also exhibited the property of rapid reduction(approximately 1.25 s).The active tendon increased contraction by approximately 19.68％compared with the inactive tendon,and the integrity of the epimysium protected the force transfer efficiency of skeletal muscles.Conclusions By simulating the structural and biomechanical properties of skeletal muscles,flexible actuators can achieve better driving performance,thus greatly promoting the development of bionic robots.

Objective To investigate the relationship between serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-related protein 5(CTRP5),fibronectin-3(Ficolin-3),and CXC chemokine ligand 12(CXCL12)and microvascular lesions in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Methods A total of 75 patients with T2DM microangiopathy admitted to the Seventh People's Hos-pital of Zhengzhou from January 2023 to June 2024 were selected as the observation group.At the same time,150 T2DM pa-tients without microangiopathy were included as the control group according to the principle of 1∶2 matching of age,gender and body mass index(BMI).The general information,blood glucose indicators,Homa-insulin resistance(HOMA-IR),and serum CTRP5,Ficolin-3,and CXCL12 levels of the two groups were statistically analyzed by hospital medical staff.The Logistic re-gression equation was used to analyze the influencing factors of the onset of microvascular lesions in T2DM.The relationship be-tween the levels of serum CTRP5,Ficolin-3,and CXCL12 and microvascular lesions in T2DM was analyzed using smooth curve fitting method.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve and area under the curve(AUC)were used to analyze the pre-dictive value of serum CTRP5,Ficolin-3,and CXCL12 for T2DM microvascular lesions.Results There were no significant differences in gender,age,BMI,duration of T2DM,abdominal circumference,DBP,SBP,TC,HDL-C,TG,LDL-C,smoking his-tory and drinking history between the two groups(all P＞0.05).FPG,2hPG,HbA1c and HOMA-IR in the observation group were significantly higher than in the control group(all P＜0.05).The serum levels of CTRP5,Ficolin-3 and CXCL12 in the ob-servation group were significantly higher than in the control group(all P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that FPG,2hPG,HbA1c,HOMA-IR,CTRP5,Ficolin-3 and CXCL12 were the influencing factors of T2DM microangiopathy(all P＜0.05).After adjusting for FPG,2hPG,HbA1c,HOMA-IR and other confounding factors,the relationship between serum Fico-lin-3,CTRP5,CXCL12 and T2DM microangiopathy was analyzed by curve fitting,the results showed that serum Ficolin-3,CTRP5,CXCL12 were linearly positively correlated with T2DM microangiopathy,with the increase of their levels,the risk of T2DM microangiopathy increased.The ROC curve showed that the AUC of serum Ficolin-3,CTRP5 and CXCL12 levels in pre-dicting T2DM microvascular lesions was 0.756,0.761 and 0.791,respectively.The AUC of combined prediction was 0.931,and the sensitivity and specificity were 90.67％and 80.00％,respectively.Delong test showed that the AUC of combined prediction was significantly greater than that of single prediction(Z=32.123,P＜0.01).Conclusion The changes in serum levels of CTRP5,Ficolin-3,and CXCL12 are closely related to microvascular lesions in patients with T2DM,providing a reference for ear-ly clinical prediction and evaluation of microvascular lesions in patients with T2DM,as well as for the development of corre-sponding intervention strategies.

To verify whether chaperones can promote the soluble expression of PlpE in Escherichia coli and whether the expressed protein is active,prokaryotic expression and Western blot detection were performed.The results showed that:The PlpE prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a(+)-plpE was expressed as inclusion body,and the expression form was not changed by changing the concentration of inducer,induction time and temperature.The companion proteins pG-KJE8,pGro7,pKJE7 and pG-Tf2 were co-expressed with pET-32a(+)-plpE in Eschierichia coli expres-sion system,respectively.When the final concentration of IPTG of 0.5 mmol/L,L-arabinose of 0.5 g/L or tetracycline of 5.0 μg/L were added as inducers and induced at 37 ℃ for 8 h,the results showed that the molecular companion pGro7 could change the expression of rp-PlpE from inclu-sion body to soluble expression.pG-KJE8,pKJE7 and pG-Tf2 had no effect on the expression of rp-PlpE.The soluble rp-PlpE can react specifically with the positive serum of Mannheimia haemolyti-ca.Therefore,the study showed that the co-expression of the chaperone protein pGro7 can make the rp-PlpE protein express in a soluble form,and the purified protein exhibits reactogenicity.These findings lay the foundation for the establishment of a subunit vaccine and serological diagno-sis methods for Mannheimia haemolytica.

Objective To investigate the correlation between skeletal muscle mass index(ASMI)and islet β cell reserve function in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Methods A total of 100 patients with newly diagnosed T2DM were included in this study.All the patients were admitted to the Department of Endocrinology in the First People's Hospital of Yinchuan between June 2022 and November 2023.They were divided into two groups according to their skeletal muscle mass index(ASMI):patients with T2DM accompanied by sarcopenia(Sar,n=50)group,and patients with simple T2DM(T2DM,n=50)group.Additionally,a control(NC)group consisting of 50 healthy participants was selected.Fasting C-peptide levels,liver and kidney function,blood lipid profiles,and other indicators were assessed in all the individuals.The correlation between ASMI and other indicators was analyzed,and the influencing factors for ASMI and T2DM combined with sarcopenia were analyzed respectively.Results The levels of HbA1c,FPG,and TG were higher,while FC-P and Scr levels were lower in the T2DM group and Sar group compared with the NC group(P<0.05).FPG was higher,while ASMI,FC-P,BMI were lower in the Sar group than in the T2DM group(P<0.05).Spearman correlation analysis revealed a negative correlation between ASMI and FPG and HbA1c(P<0.05),whereas a positive correlation was observed with BMI,ALT,Scr,SUA and FC-P(P<0.05).Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that BMI,HbA1c and FC-P were influencing factors for ASMI(P<0.05).Furthermore,logistic regression analysis demonstrated that BMI,HbA1c,FC-P were influencing factors for T2DM with sarcopenia(P<0.05).Conclusions The level of ASMI may be related to the reserve function of islet β cells.

Objective Network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques were used to predict the potential mechanisms by which the active components of Piper nigrum(PN)regulate depressive-like behaviors in chronic restraint stress(CRS)mice.Methods The major chemical components and targets of PN were screened using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology database.Targets related to ferroptosis and depression were obtained from the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man,GeneCards,and FerrDB databases.The intersecting targets were then subjected to Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Gnomes(KEGG)pathway enrichment analyses,and molecular docking was performed to validate the binding capacities between the core targets and their corresponding active components.Finally,we established a CRS mouse model.Mice were treated with PN 75,150,and 300 mg/kg for 4 weeks,followed by behavioral assessments and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR)to verify the expression of core genes.Results Nine active components were screened from PN,corresponding to 27 targets,and 8377 targets related to depression and 547 targets associated with ferroptosis were screened from the databases.The intersection of these three sets resulted in 25 target genes.KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that these core targets were predominantly enriched in signaling pathways,including cholinergic synapses,serotonergic synapses,and neuroactive ligand-receptor interactions.Molecular docking result showed that the main active components of PN had strong binding affinities for the targets CHRM2,SLC6A4,PTGS2,and SLC6A2.Behavioral assessments demonstrated that PN significantly increased the sucrose preference index(P＜0.01,P＜0.001),reduced immobility time in the tail suspension and forced swimming tests(P＜0.01,P＜0.001),and enhanced exploratory behavior in the open field test(P＜0.05.P＜0.01,P＜0.001).PN significantly reduced the serum levels of inflammation markers(P＜0.05.P＜0.01,P＜0.001),as shown by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay,and neurotransmitter analysis revealed that PN significantly increased the levels of serotonin and acetylcholine in the mouse hippocampus(P＜0.05).RT-qPCR showed that PN demonstrated the mRNA expression of SLC6A4(P＜0.05.P＜0.01,P＜0.001).Conclusions PN may improve depressive-like behavior in mice by modulating serotonin and acetylcholine levels,inhibiting inflammatory responses,participating in immune regulation,and exerting neuroprotective effects.

Objective To evaluate the effects of transcatheter aortic valve replacement(TAVR)on left ventricular reverse remodeling(LVRR)and outcomes in patients with mixed aortic valve disease(MAVD)and predominant aortic stenosis(AS).Methods Patients undergoing TAVR at our center between January 2020 and December 2022 were enrolled consecutively.Propensity score matching(PSM)(1∶1 ratio)was used to reduce selection bias.Transthoracic echocardiography(TTE)was used to monitor left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF)and other structural parameters over time.The study outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death and rehospitalization due to cardiovascular causes.Linear mixed-effects models and logistic regression were utilized for comparing echocardiographic changes across groups and identifying independent risk factors for no-LVRR,respectively.Results After PSM,126 patients were included.MAVD group exhibited larger structural parameters(left ventricular end-systolic/end-diastolic diameter and volume,left ventricular mass index)and a lower left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF)(all P＜0.05).However,more pronounced improvements in left ventricular structure and hemodynamics were observed during follow-up.Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the left ventricular mass index(LVMI)was an independent predictor of left ventricular reverse remodeling(LVRR)after TAVR,whereas persistent moderate or greater mitral regurgitation(MR)and paravalvular leak(PVL)significantly reduced the incidence of LVRR.During a median follow-up period of 23 months,a total of 31 endpoint events occurred,and there was no statistically significant difference in long-term prognosis between the two groups(Log-rank P=0.330).Conclusions Compared to patients in the AS group,those in the MAVD group exhibited more severe left ventricular remodeling before TAVR.However,more significant LVRR was observed during postoperative follow-up.Additionally,the long-term prognosis was comparable between the two groups.

Trauma has been predicted to be the leading cause of mortality among individuals under 45 years old, thus posing profound societal consequences. China′s trauma center system was established rather late and faces multiple challenges, including insufficient provincial-level trauma centers, constrained patient mobility with most critical cases limited to intra-provincial treatment and referrals, unsustainable "small-yet-comprehensive" county-level models, significant disparities in regional trauma care capacity, absence of consolidated provincial trauma centers, and inadequate specialist training programs. These factors collectively compromise the regional trauma care outcomes. To this end, integrating China′s trauma center development situation with Tongji Hospital′s 30-year institutional experience, the authors proposed establishing provincial high-capacity trauma centers for critical injuries, aiming to enhance the regional trauma care performance.

Aim To investigate the effect of oroxylin A(OA)on apoptosis in Ishikawa cell line of endometrial cancer and the underlying mechanism through the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/protein kinase B(PI3K/AKT)signaling pathway.Methods Ishikawa cells were treated with different concentrations of OA(0,4,8,10,12,and 20 μmol·L-1)for 24 h-72 h,the cell viability was detected by CCK-8 assay,apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry,and the protein ex-pression levels of B-cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2),Bcl-2-associated X protein(Bax),PI3K/AKT,recombinant cytochrome P450 1B1(CYP1B1),and catechol-O-methyltransferase(COMT)were detected by Western blot technique.Results OA inhibited the prolifera-tion of Ishikawa cells in a concentration-and time-de-pendent manner.Compared with the blank control group,the expression of Bax protein increased signifi-cantly,while the expression of Bcl-2 protein decreased significantly with the increase of OA concentration.The expression of COMT protein increased significant-ly,while the expression of CYP1B1 protein decreased significantly.PI3K/AKT:IGF-1(PI3 K agonist)sup-plementation reversed the effect,the expression of COMT protein significantly decreased,and the expres-sion of CYP1B1 protein significantly increased.Con-clusions OA exerts anti-tumor effects in Ishikawa cells of endometrial cancer,which may be related to cell apoptosis mediated by the inhibition of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Objective:To anatomically and phenotypically characterize the insular cortex(IC)-nucleus tractus soli-tarii(NTS)neural pathway.Methods:Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three experimental cohorts for neural circuit tracing.Anterograde labeling was achieved by injecting anterograde self-complementary adeno-associated viruses(scAAVs)into the IC.Retrograde tracing involved NTS injections of either retrograde scAAVs or FluoroGold(FG),combined with immunofluorescence histochemical staining to identify IC-originating projection neurons.For postsynaptic neurochemical phenotype characterization,IC was injected with AAV2/1-CaMKII-Cre,while a mixture of AAV2/9-Syn-DIO-mCherry and AAV2/9-VGAT1-EGFP was injected into the NTS.The rats were allowed to survive for one week following scAAVs or FG injection or four weeks after recombinase-dependent systems injection.Then the rats were sacrificed,and serial brain sections were prepared for immunofluorescence histochemical staining(brain section containing FG)and subsequent fluorescence/confocal microscopic analysis.Results:(1)Anterograde viral tracing re-vealed dense axonal terminals from the IC projecting to the medial subnucleus of the NTS,while retrograde tracing re-vealed that IC neurons projecting to the NTS were predominantly localized within the dysgranular layer;(2)IC-NTS projection neurons were exclusive glutamatergic(100%,n=3);(3)NTS neurons receiving IC inputs were mainly lo-calized in the medial subnucleus,and were predominantly GABAergic(79.8±3.2%,n=3).Conclusion:The pres-ent results indicate that a descending pathway from excitatory neurons of the IC terminates onto inhibitory neurons of the NTS,which might represent a potential neuromodulatory target for visceral pain disorders.