Objective To investigate the prevalence of Schistosoma japonicum infections in wild rodents in schistosomiasis-endemic areas of China, so as to provide insights into formulation of technical guidelines for monitoring of and the precise control strategy for S. japonicum infections in wild rodents during the elimination phase. Methods Two administrative villages where schistosomiasis was historically highly prevalent were selected each from Dongzhi County, Anhui Province, and Duchang County, Jiangxi Province as study villages. Wild rodents were captured from study villages with baited traps or cages at night in June and September, 2021. The number of rodents captured was recorded, and the rodent species was characterized based on morphologi-cal characteristics. Liver tissues were sampled from captured rodents for macroscopical observation of the presence of egg granu- lomas, and S. japonicum infection was detected simultaneously using liver tissue homogenate microscopy, examinations of mesenteric tissues for parasites, and modified Kato-Katz thick smear technique (Kato-Katz technique). A positive S. japonicum infection was defined as detection of S. japonicum eggs or adult worms by any of these methods. The rate of wild rodent capture and prevalence of S. japonicum infections in wild rodents were compared in different study villages and at different time periods, and the detection of S. japonicum infections in wild rodents was compared by different assays. Results The overall rate of wild ro- dent capture was 8.28% (237/2 861) in Dongzhi County, and the wild rodent capture rates were 9.24% (133/1 439) and 7.31% (104/1 422) in two study villages (χ² = 3.503, P = 0.061), and were 8.59% (121/1 409) and 7.99% (116/1 452) in June and September, 2021, respectively (χ² = 0.337, P = 0.561). The overall rate of wild rodent capture was 3.72% (77/2 072) in Duchang County, and the wild rodent capture rates were 6.91% (67/970) and 0.91% (10/1 102) in two study villages (χ² = 51.901, P < 0.001), and were 4.13% (39/945) and 3.37% (38/1 127) in June and September, 2021, respectively (χ² = 0.815, P = 0.365). Rattus norvegicus was the predominant rodent species captured in both counties, accounting for 70.04% (166/237) of all captured wild rodents in Dongzhi County and 88.31% (68/77) in Duchang County. No S. japonicum infection was detected in wild rodents captured in Duchang County. Nevertheless, the overall prevalence of S. japonicum infections was 51.05% (121/237) in wild rodents captured in Dongzhi County, with prevalence rates of 50.38% (67/133) and 51.92% (54/104) in two study villages (χ² = 0.098, P = 0.755), and 54.31% (63/116) and 47.93% (58/121) in September and June, 2021, respectively (χ² = 0.964, P = 0.326). Of 237 wild rodents captured in Dongzhi County, there were 140 (59.07%) rodents with visible hepatic egg granulomas, 117 (49.47%) tested positive for S. japonicum eggs by liver tissue homogenate microscopy, 34 (14.35%) tested positive for S. japonicum eggs with Kato-Katz technique; however, no adult S. japonicum worms were detected in mesenteric tissues. In addition, hepatic egg granulomas were found in all wild rodents tested positive for S. japonicum eggs with liver tissue homogenate microscopy. Conclusions The rate of wild rodent capture and prevalence of S. japonicum infection in wild rodents vary greatly in schistosomiasis-endemic areas of China, and the prevalence of S. japonicum infection is slightly higher in wild rodents captured in autumn than in summer. Liver tissue is recommended as the preferred sample for surveillance of S. japonicum infection in wild rodents, and a combination of macroscopical observation of hepatic egg granulomas and liver tissue homogenate microscopy may be a standard method for surveillance of S. japonicum infection in wild rodents.

Cold has been a long-term survival challenge in the evolutionary process of mammals. In response to cold stress, in addition to brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipating energy as heat through glucose and lipid oxidation to maintain body temperature, cold stimulation can strongly activate thermogenesis and energy expenditure in beige fat cells, which are widely distributed in the subcutaneous layer. However, the effects of cold stimulation on other tissues and systemic lipid metabolism remain unclear. Our previous research indicated that, under cold stress, BAT not only produces heat but also secretes numerous exosomes to mediate BAT-liver crosstalk. Whether subcutaneous fat has a similar mechanism is still unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the alterations in lipid metabolism across various tissues under cold exposure and to explore whether subcutaneous fat regulates systemic glucose and lipid metabolism via exosomes, thereby elucidating the regulatory mechanisms of lipid metabolism homeostasis under physiological stress. RT-qPCR, Western blot, and H&E staining methods were used to investigate the physiological changes in lipid metabolism in the serum, liver, epididymal white adipose tissue, and subcutaneous fat of mice under cold stimulation. The results revealed that cold exposure significantly enhanced the thermogenic activity of subcutaneous adipose tissue and markedly increased exosome secretion. These exosomes were efficiently taken up by hepatocytes, where they profoundly influenced hepatic lipid metabolism, as evidenced by alterations in the expression levels of key genes involved in lipid synthesis and catabolism pathways. This study has unveiled a novel mechanism by which subcutaneous fat regulates lipid metabolism through exosome secretion under cold stimulation, providing new insights into the systemic regulatory role of beige adipocytes under cold stress and offering a theoretical basis for the development of new therapeutic strategies for obesity and metabolic diseases.
Animals ; Lipid Metabolism/physiology* ; Mice ; Exosomes/metabolism* ; Cold Temperature ; Subcutaneous Fat/physiology* ; Thermogenesis/physiology* ; Adipose Tissue, Brown/metabolism* ; Male

To determine the optimal cultivation duration and harvest period for cultivated Notopterygium incisum and promote its industrial development, this study established a characteristic chromatographic profile of cultivated N. incisum and employed chemometrics combined with entropy-weighted grey correlation analysis to assess differences in agronomic traits and quality indicators across different cultivation years and harvest periods. By comparing with reference substances, ten common peaks were identified, including chlorogenic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, marmesinin, nodakenin, isochlorogenic acid B, notopterol, phenethyl ferulate, isoimperatorin, and falcarindiol. The similarity between the characteristic chromatographic profiles of N. incisum at different cultivation years and the reference profile was all above 0.932. Principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) revealed that the quality of 1-to 3-year-old cultivated N. incisum was highly dispersed and unstable, whereas the quality of 4-year-old cultivated N. incisum remained relatively stable across different harvest periods. This suggests that the accumulation of relevant compounds in the medicinal material had reached a plateau, confirming that the optimal cultivation period for N. incisum is four years. Entropy-weighted grey correlation analysis indicated that the quality of 4-year-old cultivated N. incisum across different harvest periods ranked from highest to lowest as follows: November, December, October, August, July, and September, demonstrating that November is the optimal harvest time. The findings of this study establish the suitable cultivation duration and optimal harvest period for N. incisum, providing a scientific basis for cultivation guidance and quality standardization.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods* ; Apiaceae/chemistry* ; Entropy ; Chemometrics/methods* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Principal Component Analysis ; Quality Control

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the association between biological aging markers (phenotypic age and phenotypic age acceleration) and valvular heart diseases. METHODS: Research subjects who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected from the UK Biobank from 2006 to 2010. The phenotypic age and phenotypic age acceleration were calculated. Cox multivariate analysis was used to examine the relationship between the aging markers and valvular heart diseases. Sensitivity analysis was conducted by removing missing values and subgroup analysis. The predictive accuracy of phenotypic age and phenotypic age acceleration for valvular heart diseases was analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and a clinical decision curve was generated based on logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 411 687 subjects were included in the study, among whom there were 14 258 patients with valvular heart diseases. The overall median follow-up time was 12.80 years, the median follow-up time for patients with non-rheumatic aortic valve diseases (n=5238), non-rheumatic mitral valve diseases (n=4558), and non-rheumatic tricuspid valve diseases (n=411) were 12.82 years, 12.83 years and 12.84 years, respectively. After adjusting for demographic factors (gender, race, education, Townsend deprivation index), anthropometric factors (body mass index), lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension score), hypertension and hyperlipidemia, Cox multivariate analysis showed phenotypic age and phenotypic age acceleration were independent risk factors for valvular heart diseases, including non-rheumatic aortic valve diseases, non-rheumatic mitral valve diseases, and non-rheumatic tricuspid valve diseases (phenotypic age: corrected HR=1.04, P<0.01; phenotypic age acceleration: corrected HR=1.03, P<0.01), which was also confirmed by sensitivity analysis. ROC curves and clinical decision curves demonstrated that compared with the phenotypic age acceleration, phenotypic age had higher accuracy (the areas and the curves were 0.721 and 0.599) and higher net benefit in predicting valvular heart diseases. Moreover, compared with a single indicator, the combination of the two indicators had higher accuracy (the area under the curve was 0.725) and higher net benefit. CONCLUSIONS Phenotypic age and phenotypic age acceleration,as markers of biological aging, are independent risk factors for valvular heart diseases. Compared with phenotypic age acceleration, phenotypic age has a greater advantage in predicting valvular heart diseases. Overall, the combination of the two indicators offers a more effective approach for predicting valvular heart diseases.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Heart Valve Diseases/epidemiology* ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Aging ; Adult ; Biomarkers ; Phenotype ; Risk Factors ; Aged, 80 and over

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the whole-genome differential methylation profile of patients with high-altitude polycythemia (HAPC). METHODS: In this study, a total of 20 adult male patients with HAPC were included, including 10 Tibetan and 10 Han patients. The control group consisted of 20 healthy adult males, including 10 Tibetan and 10 Han patients. Peripheral blood was collected from each group for DNA extraction and quality inspection, and DNA libraries were constructed. The differential methylation regions (DMRs) between groups were detected using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing, with enriched regions compared to those of the control group. The differential enrichment regions were selected, and the intersection of the enriched regions was associated with genes. The methylation enrichment regions that differed significantly between groups were filtered based on the number of enriched samples in the enriched regions between the groups. GO, KEGG functional, and pathway analysis were performed on the differentially associated gene sets to reveal significant differences between the patients and control groups at the functional and pathway levels. RESULTS: In comparison with the control group, 17 152 sites with more than 25% difference and 15 558 sites with less than -25% difference were identified in Tibetan patients. The top 5 genes with the largest methylation differences between the two groups were MCCC2, RP3-399L15.3, ZNF621, RP11-394A14.2 and SLC39A10. The top significantly different pathways annotated in the differentially expressed genes pathway was serotonergic synapse. In comparison with the control group, 2 687 CpG sites with a greater than 25% difference and 2 602 CpG sites with a less than -25% difference were identified in Han patients. The top 5 genes with the largest methylation differences between the two groups were NAA25, CORO2B, PDC, ZNF853, and MLLT10. The top significantly different pathways annotated in the differentially expressed genes pathway were glutamatergic synapse, retrograde endocannabinoid signaling, Rap1 signaling pathway and cholinergic synapse. In comparison with the control group, 3 895 CpG sites with a greater than 25% difference and 3 969 CpG sites with a less than -25% difference were identified in HAPC patients. The maximum methylation difference between the two groups could reach 78.1%, while the minimum was -42.6%. The top 5 genes with the largest methylation differences between the two groups were MCCC2, ARSJ, CTNNA3, SLC39A10, and SWAP70. The top significantly different pathways annotated in the differentially expressed genes pathway was signaling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells. CONCLUSION The occurrence of HAPC may be related to abnormal changes in DNA methylation, and methylation sites may be helpful for the early diagnosis of HAPC.
Humans ; DNA Methylation ; Altitude ; Polycythemia/genetics* ; Male ; Adult ; CpG Islands

OBJECTIVE: To study incident and clinical characteristics of the coronary microcirculation dysfunction (CMD) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) by myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) and to explore the predictive value of CMD for in-hospital acute heart failure event. METHODS: One hundred and forty five patients with AMI who had received PCI and completed MCE during hospitalization in Peking University People' s Hospital from November 2015 to July 2021 were enrolled in our study. The patients were divided into CMD group and normal group according to the coronary microcirculation status detected by MCE. Clinical data and MCE data of the two groups were collected and analyzed. The acute heart failure event during hospitalization was described. A multivariate Logistic regression model was built to analyze the risk of acute heart failure in patients with CMD. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the value of CMD in predicting acute heart failure event. RESULTS: CMD detected by MCE occurred in 87 patients (60%). Compared with normal group, patients with CMD had higher troponin I (TnI) peak level [52.8 (8.1, 84.0) μg/L vs. 18.9 (5.7, 56.1) μg/L, P=0.005], poorer Killip grade on admission (P=0.030), different culprit vessel (P < 0.001) and more patients had thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow pre-PCI less than grade 3 in culprit vessel (65.1% vs. 43.1%, P=0.025). Meanwhile, patients with CMD had poorer left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) [52% (43%, 58%) vs. 61% (54%, 66%)], poorer global longitudinal strain (GLS) [-11.2% (-8.7%, -14.0%) vs.-13.9% (-10.8%, -17.0%)] and worse wall motion score index (WMSI) (1.58±0.36 vs. 1.25± 0.24) (P all < 0.001). Acute left heart failure happened in 13.8% of the CMD patients, which were significant higher than that in the patients with normal coronary microcirculation perfusion (1.7%, P=0.013). After correcting for the culprit vessel, the TIMI flow pre-PCI in the culprit vessel and the peak TnI value, the risk of acute left heart failure in the patients with CMD was still high (OR=9.120, 95%CI: 1.152-72.192, P=0.036). The area under ROC curve (AUC) was 0.677 (95%CI: 0.551-0.804, P=0.035). CONCLUSION The incidence of CMD detected by MCE in patients with AMI post-PCI was 60%. Patients with CMD have a higher risk of acute left heart failure during hospitalization.
Humans ; Heart Failure/physiopathology* ; Microcirculation ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention/adverse effects* ; Myocardial Infarction/complications* ; Male ; Female ; Hospitalization ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Echocardiography ; Coronary Circulation ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Troponin I/blood*

Somatostatin receptor 1 (SSTR1) is a crucial therapeutic target for various neuroendocrine and oncological disorders. Current SSTR1-targeted treatments, including the first-generation somatostatin analog lanreotide (Lan) and the second-generation analog pasireotide (Pas), show promise but encounter challenges related to selectivity and efficacy. This study presents high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structures of SSTR1 complexed with Lan or Pas, revealing the distinct mechanisms of ligand-binding and activation. These structures illustrate unique conformational changes in the SSTR1 orthosteric pocket induced by each ligand, which are critical for receptor activation and ligand selectivity. Combined with the biochemical assays and molecular dynamics simulations, our results provide a comparative analysis of binding characteristics within the SSTR family, highlighting subtle differences in SSTR1 activation by Lan and Pas. These insights pave the way for designing next-generation therapies with enhanced efficacy and reduced side effects through improved receptor subtype selectivity.

Cemental tear is a rare and indetectable condition unless obvious clinical signs present with the involvement of surrounding periodontal and periapical tissues. Due to its clinical manifestations similar to common dental issues, such as vertical root fracture, primary endodontic diseases, and periodontal diseases, as well as the low awareness of cemental tear for clinicians, misdiagnosis often occurs. The critical principle for cemental tear treatment is to remove torn fragments, and overlooking fragments leads to futile therapy, which could deteriorate the conditions of the affected teeth. Therefore, accurate diagnosis and subsequent appropriate interventions are vital for managing cemental tear. Novel diagnostic tools, including cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), microscopes, and enamel matrix derivatives, have improved early detection and management, enhancing tooth retention. The implementation of standardized diagnostic criteria and treatment protocols, combined with improved clinical awareness among dental professionals, serves to mitigate risks of diagnostic errors and suboptimal therapeutic interventions. This expert consensus reviewed the epidemiology, pathogenesis, potential predisposing factors, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of cemental tear, aiming to provide a clinical guideline and facilitate clinicians to have a better understanding of cemental tear.
Humans ; Dental Cementum/injuries* ; Consensus ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Tooth Fractures/therapy*