Extensive studies have identified potential adverse effects on semen quality of obesity, based on body mass index, but the association between body fat distribution, a more relevant indicator for obesity, and semen quality remains less clear. We conducted a longitudinal study of 4304 sperm donors from the Guangdong Provincial Human Sperm Bank (Guangzhou, China) during 2017-2021. A body composition analyzer was used to measure total and local body fat percentage for each participant. Generalized estimating equations were employed to assess the association between body fat percentage and sperm count, motility, and morphology. We estimated that each 10% increase in total body fat percentage (estimated change [95% confidence interval, 95% CI]) was significantly associated with a 0.18 × 10 6 (0.09 × 10 6 -0.27 × 10 6 ) ml and 12.21 × 10 6 (4.52 × 10 6 -19.91 × 10 6 ) reduction in semen volume and total sperm count, respectively. Categorical analyses and exposure-response curves showed that the association of body fat distribution with semen volume and total sperm count was stronger at higher body fat percentages. In addition, the association still held among normal weight and overweight participants. We observed similar associations for upper limb, trunk, and lower limb body fact distributions. In conclusion, we found that a higher body fat distribution was significantly associated with lower semen quality (especially semen volume) even in men with a normal weight. These findings provide useful clues in exploring body fat as a risk factor for semen quality decline and add to evidence for improving semen quality for those who are expected to conceive.
Humans ; Male ; Adult ; Semen Analysis ; China ; Body Fat Distribution ; Longitudinal Studies ; Sperm Count ; Sperm Motility ; Body Mass Index ; Tissue Donors ; Obesity/complications* ; Spermatozoa ; Young Adult ; Middle Aged ; East Asian People

Despite therapy with potent antiviral agents, chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients remain at high risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). While metabolites have been rediscovered as active drivers of biological processes including carcinogenesis, the specific metabolites modulating HCC risk in CHB patients are largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that baseline plasma from CHB patients who later developed HCC during follow-up exhibits growth-promoting properties in a case-control design nested within a large-scale, prospective cohort. Metabolomics analysis reveals a reduction in long-chain acylcarnitines (LCACs) in the baseline plasma of patients with HCC development. LCACs preferentially inhibit the proliferation of HCC cells in vitro at a physiological concentration and prevent the occurrence of HCC in vivo without hepatorenal toxicity. Uptake and metabolism of circulating LCACs increase the intracellular level of acetyl coenzyme A, which upregulates histone H3 Lys14 acetylation at the promoter region of KLF6 gene and thereby activates KLF6/p21 pathway. Indeed, blocking LCAC metabolism attenuates the difference in KLF6/p21 expression induced by baseline plasma of HCC/non-HCC patients. The deficiency of circulating LCACs represents a driver of HCC in CHB patients with viral control. These insights provide a promising direction for developing therapeutic strategies to reduce HCC risk further in the antiviral era.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate a new noninvasive diagnostic model for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) based on features of tongue images. METHODS: Healthy controls and volunteers confirmed to have NAFLD by liver ultrasound were recruited from China-Japan Friendship Hospital between September 2018 and May 2019, then the anthropometric indexes and sampled tongue images were measured. The tongue images were labeled by features, based on a brief protocol, without knowing any other clinical data, after a series of corrections and data cleaning. The algorithm was trained on images using labels and several anthropometric indexes for inputs, utilizing machine learning technology. Finally, a logistic regression algorithm and a decision tree model were constructed as 2 diagnostic models for NAFLD. RESULTS: A total of 720 subjects were enrolled in this study, including 432 patients with NAFLD and 288 healthy volunteers. Of them, 482 were randomly allocated into the training set and 238 into the validation set. The diagnostic model based on logistic regression exhibited excellent performance: in validation set, it achieved an accuracy of 86.98%, sensitivity of 91.43%, and specificity of 80.61%; with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.93 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.68-0.98]. The decision tree model achieved an accuracy of 81.09%, sensitivity of 91.43%, and specificity of 66.33%; with an AUC of 0.89 (95% CI 0.66-0.92) in validation set. CONCLUSIONS The features of tongue images were associated with NAFLD. Both the 2 diagnostic models, which would be convenient, noninvasive, lightweight, rapid, and inexpensive technical references for early screening, can accurately distinguish NAFLD and are worth further study.
Humans ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/diagnostic imaging* ; Ultrasonography ; Anthropometry ; Algorithms ; China

Objective To explore the effects of different concentrations of lidocaine infiltration and analgesia in pleural cavity after lung cancer surgery on rehabilitation of patients.Methods A total of 86 patients with lung cancer were selected and divided into the high concentration group(43 cases)and low concentration group(43 cases)by random number table method.Patients in the high concentration group received injection of 2.0%lidocaine hydrochloride in pleural cavity through the epidural catheter 1st day after surgery,and patients in the low concentration group received injection of 1.5%lidocaine hydrochloride in pleural cavity.In addition,patients in the two groups were treated with patient-controlled intravenous analgesia after surgery.The first time of getting out of bed,first time of exhaustion,first time of defecation and hospital stay after surgery of the two groups were compared.The visual analogue scale(VAS)scores 6 hours,12 hours,24 hours and 48 hours after surgery,the occurrence of agitation during the postoperative awakening period,and the number of analgesic pump compressions and the dosage of analgesic drugs within 24 hours after surgery were compared.The incidence of adverse drug reactions 24 hours after surgery were recorded and the quality of recovery of patients 24 hours after surgery was evaluated by 40-item quality of recovery score(QoR-40).Results The first time of getting out of bed,first time of exhaustion,first time of defecation and hospital stay after operation of patients in the high concentration group were shorter than those in the low concentration group(P<0.05).The VAS scores of the two groups 12 hours and 24 hours after surgery were higher than those 6 hours after surgery(P<0.05),the VAS scores 24 hours and 48 hours after surgery were lower than those 12 hours after surgery(P<0.05),and the VAS scores 48 hours after surgery were lower than those 24 hours after surgery(P<0.05).The VAS scores 6 hours,12 hours,24 hours,and 48 hours after surgery of patients in the high concentration group were lower than those in the low concentration group(P<0.05).The occurrence of agitation during the postoperative awakening period,and the number of analgesic pump compressions and the dosage of analgesic drugs within 24 hours after surgery for patients in the high concentration group were lower/less than those in the low concentration group(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in the total incidence of adverse drug reactions between the two groups(P>0.05).The total QoR-40 score of patients in the high concentration group were higher than those in the low concentration group(P<0.05).Conclusion The use of 2.0%lidocaine infiltration and analgesia in pleural cavity for patients after lung cancer surgery can reduce the agitation during the awakening period,alleviate the postoperative pain,improve the quality of postoperative recovery,and promote the postoperative recovery of the patients,with certain safety.

Endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase (ENGase) is widely distributed in various organisms. The first reported ENGase activity was detected in Diplococcus pneumoniae in 1971. The protein (Endo D) was purified and its peptide sequence was determined in 1974. Three ENGases (Endo F1-F3) were discovered in Flavobacterium meningosepticum from 1982 to 1993. After that, the activity was detected from different species of bacteria, yeast, fungal, plant, mice, human, etc. Multiple ENGases were detected in some species, such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Trichoderma atroviride. The first preliminary crystallographic analysis of ENGase was conducted in 1994. But to date, only a few ENGases structures have been obtained, and the structure of human ENGase is still missing. The currently identified ENGases were distributed in the GH18 or GH85 families in Carbohydrate-Active enZyme (CAZy) database. GH18 ENGase only has hydrolytic activity, but GH85 ENGase has both hydrolytic and transglycosylation activity. Although ENGases of the two families have similar (β/α)8-TIM barrel structures, the active sites are slightly different. ENGase is an effective tool for glycan detection andglycan editing. Biochemically, ENGase can specifically hydrolyze β‑1,4 glycosidic bond between the twoN-acetylglucosamines (GlcNAc) on core pentasaccharide presented on glycopeptides and/or glycoproteins. Different ENGases may have different substrate specificity. The hydrolysis products are oligosaccharide chains and a GlcNAc or glycopeptides or glycoproteins with a GlcNAc. Conditionally, it can use the two products to produce a new glycopeptides or glycoprotein. Although ENGase is a common presentation in cell, its biological function remains unclear. Accumulated evidences demonstrated that ENGase is a none essential gene for living and a key regulator for differentiation. No ENGase gene was detected in the genomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and three other yeast species. Its expression was extremely low in lung. As glycoproteins are not produced by prokaryotic cells, a role for nutrition and/or microbial-host interaction was predicted for bacterium produced enzymes. In the embryonic lethality phenotype of the Ngly1-deficient mice can be partially rescued by Engase knockout, suggesting down regulation of Engase might be a solution for stress induced adaptation. Potential impacts of ENGase regulation on health and disease were presented. Rabeprazole, a drug used for stomach pain as a proton inhibitor, was identified as an inhibitor for ENGase. ENGases have been applied in vitro to produce antibodies with a designated glycan. The two step reactions were achieved by a pair of ENGase dominated for hydrolysis of substrate glycoprotein and synthesis of new glycoprotein with a free glycan of designed structure, respectively. In addition, ENGase was also been used in cell surface glycan editing. New application scenarios and new detection methods for glycobiological engineering are quickly opened up by the two functions of ENGase, especially in antibody remodeling and antibody drug conjugates. The discovery, distribution, structure property, enzymatic characteristics and recent researches in topical model organisms of ENGase were reviewed in this paper. Possible biological functions and mechanisms of ENGase, including differentiation, digestion of glycoproteins for nutrition and stress responding were hypothesised. In addition, the role of ENGase in glycan editing and synthetic biology was discussed. We hope this paper may provide insights for ENGase research and lay a solid foundation for applied and translational glycomics.

Protein as the allergens could lead to allergy. In addition, a widespread class of allergens were known as glycans of N-glycoprotein. N-glycoprotein contained oligosaccharide linked by covalent bonds with protein. Recently,studies implicated that allergy was associated with glycans of heterologous N-glycoprotein found in food, inhalants, insect toxins, etc. The N-glycan structure of N-glycoprotein allergen has exerted an influence on the binding between allergens and IgE, while the recognition and presentation of allergens by antigen-presenting cells (APCs) were also affected. Some researches showed thatN-glycan structure of allergen was remodeled by N-glycosidase, such as cFase I, gpcXylase, as binding of allergen and IgE partly decreased. Thus, allergic problems caused by N-glycoproteins could potentially be solved by modifying or altering the structure ofN-glycoprotein allergens, addressing the root of the issue. Mechanism of N-glycans associated allergy could also be elaborated through glycosylation enzymes, alterations of host glycosylation. This article hopes to provide a separate insight for glycoimmunology perspective, and an alternative strategy for clinical prevention or therapy of allergic diseases.

AIM:To investigate the effect of ankyrin repeat domain 49(ANKRD49)on epithelial-mesenchy-mal transition(EMT)in NCI-H1299 cells,and to explore its mechanism.METHODS:The ANKRD49 was over-ex-pressed in NCI-H1299 cells.The morphological changes of ANKRD49-overpressing NCI-H1299 cells were observed under microscope.The mRNA and protein expression levels of EMT-related markers[E-cadherin,transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1),vimentin and α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA)]and EMT-related transcription factors(Snail1,Slug,Twist and ZEB1)were detected by RT-qPCR Western blot.Immunofluorescence staining was performed to observe the localiza-tion and expression of E-cadherin and vimentin in ANKRD49-overexpressing cells or control cells.Immunohistochemical method was performed to examine the levels of E-cadherin,α-SMA,Snail,Slug and ZEB1 in lung tissues of nude mice in-oculated with ANKRD49-overexpressing H1299 cells or control cells.RESULTS:Compared with the control group,the ANKRD49 overexpressing cells showed mesenchymal cell morphology(fusiform and less tight connections).RT-qPCR and Western blot results showed that the mRNA and protein levels of mesenchymal markers vimentin and α-SMA in ANKRD49 overexpressing cells were significantly higher than those in cells of control group,while the mRNA and protein levels of epithelial marker E-cadherin were lower than those in cells of control group.Compared with control group,the im-munofluorescence intensity of E-cadherin of H1299 cells decreased in after ANKRD49 overexpression,while that of vimen-tin increased significantly.Snail,Slug and ZEB1 expression were significantly elevated in ANKRD49 overexpressing cells compared with control group.The levels of E-cadherin in lung tissues of nude mice inoculated with ANKRD49-overexpressing H1299 cells declined,while the levels of α-SMA,Snail,Slug and ZEB1 increased compared with those in control mice.CONCLUSION:ANKRD49 promoted EMT of NCI-H1299 cells by increasing the expression of Snail1,Slug and ZEB1 and consequent downreguation of E-cadherin and upregulation of vimentin and α-SMA.

As artificial intelligence technology rapidly advances, its deployment within the medical sector presents substantial ethical challenges. Consequently, it becomes crucial to create a standardized, transparent, and secure framework for processing medical data. This includes setting the ethical boundaries for medical artificial intelligence and safeguarding both patient rights and data integrity. This consensus governs every facet of medical data handling through artificial intelligence, encompassing data gathering, processing, storage, transmission, utilization, and sharing. Its purpose is to ensure the management of medical data adheres to ethical standards and legal requirements, while safeguarding patient privacy and data security. Concurrently, the principles of compliance with the law, patient privacy respect, patient interest protection, and safety and reliability are underscored. Key issues such as informed consent, data usage, intellectual property protection, conflict of interest, and benefit sharing are examined in depth. The enactment of this expert consensus is intended to foster the profound integration and sustainable advancement of artificial intelligence within the medical domain, while simultaneously ensuring that artificial intelligence adheres strictly to the relevant ethical norms and legal frameworks during the processing of medical data.
Artificial Intelligence/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Humans ; Consensus ; Computer Security/standards* ; Confidentiality/ethics* ; Informed Consent/ethics*

Aim To investigate the effects of total flavonoids from Rosa rugosa (TFR) on cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (CIRI) in rats, and to investigate whether TFR inhibited neuronal apoptosis by regulating phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) pathways. Methods SD rats were randomly divided into sham operation group, model group, low-dose group (50 mg · kg

Objective:To summarize the construction and practice of the compulsory postgraduate course "reproductive genetics in gynecology and obstetrics" in Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Peking University, and to evaluate the teaching effect of this course.Methods:A total of 139 postgraduates who studied in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University, from 2019 to 2021 were enrolled as subjects, and a syllabus was constructed through a top-level design based on the "biological-psychological-social medicine pattern", with the teaching objectives of reproductive genetics theory, clinical translation, genetic counseling methods, and research advances. The teaching effect was evaluated by analyzing teaching assessment results, teaching evaluation feedback, and teaching achievements. SPSS 26.0 software was used to perform the t-test and the chi-square test. Results:The written test score, usual performance score, and total score of the postgraduate students in 2021 were higher than those in 2019 and 2020 [(73.50±8.19) vs. (70.94±14.90); (68.60±2.82) vs. (68.22±4.58); (90.58±4.18) vs. (89.49±7.60)], with significant differences in written test score and total score ( P<0.05). There was a high degree of satisfaction with the feedback of teaching, and 85.61% (119/139) of the students selected "great satisfaction"; in particular, there were increases in the degree of satisfaction with expanding research ideas and reflecting the advances in this discipline, but with no significant difference. There was a significant increase in the number of published articles. Conclusion:For the active implementation of the course of "Reproductive Genetics in Obstetrics and Gynecology", improving the teaching process in a planned and step-by-step way through a top-level design in advance can help to expand research ideas for future research work among postgraduates in obstetrics and gynecology and promote the sustainable development and improvement of the teaching of the emerging interdisciplinary discipline of reproductive genetics in obstetrics and gynecology.