Sepsis-acquired weakness (SAW) is a common complication in critically ill patients, yet significant gaps remain in both mechanistic understanding and therapeutic interventions for this condition. SAW not only prolongs the duration of mechanical ventilation and hospitalization but is also closely associated with increased mortality. Even if these SAW patients survive, they often experience long-term physical dysfunction after hospital discharge, leading to diminished quality of life. Emerging evidence suggests that sustained mitochondrial dysfunction may constitute a pivotal pathophysiological basis for the development and progression of SAW, primarily encompassing five key aspects: dysregulated mitochondrial quality control (MtQC), impaired oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), exacerbated oxidative stress, disrupted Ca²⁺; homeostasis, and their mediation of diverse myofiber injuries. This article systematically elucidates the central role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of SAW. Furthermore, we explore potential therapeutic strategies targeting mitochondrial function, including mitigating mitochondrial oxidative stress, optimizing nutritional support, and supplementing with muscle-derived mesenchymal stem cells. These insights provide a critical theoretical framework for understanding SAW mechanisms and developing clinical interventions, with particular emphasis on the translational value of mitochondrial-targeted therapies in improving outcomes for septic patients.
Humans ; Sepsis/metabolism* ; Mitochondria/metabolism* ; Muscle Weakness/etiology* ; Oxidative Stress ; Oxidative Phosphorylation

OBJECTIVE: CRISPR-Cas protects bacteria from exogenous DNA invasion and is associated with bacterial biofilm formation and pathogenicity. METHODS: We analyzed the type I-F CRISPR-Cas system of Legionella pneumophila WX48, including Cas1, Cas2-Cas3, Csy1, Csy2, Csy3, and Cas6f, along with downstream CRISPR arrays. We explored the effects of the CRISPR-Cas system on the in vitro growth, biofilm-forming ability, and pathogenicity of L. pneumophila through constructing gene deletion mutants. RESULTS: The type I-F CRISPR-Cas system did not affect the in vitro growth of wild-type or mutant strains. The biofilm formation and intracellular proliferation of the mutant strains were weaker than those of the wild type owing to the regulation of type IV pili and Dot/Icm type IV secretion systems. In particular, Cas6f deletion strongly inhibited these processes. CONCLUSION The type I-F CRISPR-Cas system may reduce biofilm formation and intracellular proliferation in L. pneumophila.
Legionella pneumophila/pathogenicity* ; CRISPR-Cas Systems ; Biofilms/growth & development* ; Phenotype ; Bacterial Proteins/metabolism* ; Gene Deletion

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.

Objective To explore the impact of high intensity focused ultrasound(HIFU)treatment on ovarian reserve capacity in adenomyosis.Methods Clinical data of 106 adenomyosis patients who underwent HIFU treatment from May 2019 to December 2020 at some hospital were analyzed retrospectively.All the patients were treated with HIFU,and color Doppler ultrasonography was performed before and after 6 months of treatment,respectively.The resistance index,pulsatility index,vascularization index,blood flow index,vascularization blood flow index and sinus follicle number were obtained,and serum anti-Mullerian hormone(AMH),follicle-stimulating hormone(FSH)and luteinizing hormone(luteinizing hormone)were measured.The correlation between serum AMH levels and FSH and LH levels was analyzed.SPSS 21.0 statistical software was used for data analysis.Results After 6 months of treatment serum FSH,LH,value of FSH/LH,resistance index and pulsatility index significantly decreased while vascularization index,blood flow index,vascularization blood flow index,number of sinus follicles,and serum AMH level obviously increased when compared with those before treatment,with the differences being statistically significant(P＜0.05).Serum AMH levels were negatively correlated with FSH and LH levels(r=-0.448,-0.527,P＜0.05)after 6 months of treatment.Conclusion HIFU treatment reduces sex hormone levels,elevates serum AMH levels and sinus follicle number,and may improve ovarian reserve capacity in patients with adenomyosis.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(1):67-70]

Defined as a common gynecologic en-docrine disease,endometriosis is characterized by the presence of endometrium outside of the uterus cavity,affecting about 10%to 15%of reproductive-aged women worldwide.Moreover,Asian women tend to have a nine-fold increased risk of endome-triosis compared with their white counterparts in Europe and the United States.Endometriosis not only causes chronic pelvic pain,dysmenorrhea,painful sex and other pain symptoms,but also leads to infertility,pushing the patients into a state of fatigue,high sensitivity and anxiety,thus reduc-ing their quality of life.As the aging of Chinese pop-ulation intensifies and the women's childbearing age delays,it is highly urgent to find solutions to those gynecological endocrine diseases such as en-dometriosis,which hamper women's fertility.In re-cent years,studies have shown that patients with endometriosis have abnormal serum lipid metabo-lism and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseas-es.At the same time,as a type of cholesterol-lower-ing drug,statins can inhibit the progression of en-dometriosis at the cellular and animal levels.Also,a few clinical studies have exhibited that statins ex-ert a positive effect on the treatment of endometri-osis.Therefore,this article aims to review the re-searches regarding the relationship between endo-metriosis and the cardiovascular disease,as well as the research progress of statin therapy on endome-triosis based on the level of cells,animals and hu-man beings.

Objective:To explore the clinical application value of pre-breathing mode in double-low imaging of 320-slices computed tomography(CT)for pulmonary artery.Methods:A total of 100 patients who underwent CT pulmonary angiography(CTPA)for suspected pulmonary embolism(PE)in Liuzhou People's Hospital from July 2021 to September 2022 were prospectively selected as the research subjects and they were randomly divided into observation group and control group,with 50 cases in each group.The patients of the control group adopted conventional breathing mode(the breathing password was activated after reaching the threshold,and the scan was triggered after 6 s),while the patients of the observation group adopted the pre-breathing mode(the breathing password was activated after 1 or 2 seconds,and the scan was triggered after reaching the threshold).Both two groups adopted double low-technique scan of 320 slices CT.The differences in delay time,radiation dose,the points of subjective and objective image quality,and other indicators were compared between the two groups.Results:The volume CT dose index(CTDIvol),dose length product(DLP),effective dose(ED)and delay time of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group(t=76.230,30.225,12.282,7.088,P<0.05),respectively.The comparison of the subjective points of image qualities between the two groups indicated that there were 25 cases with 5 points,23 cases with 4 points and 2 cases with 3 points in the observation group,and there were 21 cases with 5 points,26 cases with 4 points and 3 cases with 3 points in the control group.There was no significant difference in the averagely subjective points of image qualities between two groups(P>0.05).The signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)and signal to noise ratio(CNR)of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group,and the noise level(SD)of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group(t=25.441,23.886、11.426,P<0.05),respectively.The CT values of the artery trunk of right pulmonary,artery branch of right pulmonary,artery trunk of left pulmonary and artery branch of left pulmonary in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group(t=2.256,2.225,2.042,2.277,P<0.05),respectively.Conclusion:The pre-breathing mode can effectively improve CTPA image quality,and reduce radiation dose and the dosage of contrast agent,which clinical application effect is significant.It is worth learning.

Objective:To analyze the efficacy and influencing factors of cyclosporine(CsA)alone in the treatment of children with acquired aplastic anemia(AA).Methods:The clinical data of children diagnosed with AA and treated with CsA alone from January 1,2016 to December 31,2020 in the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University were collected,and the efficacy and influencing factors of CsA treatment were evaluated.Results:Among the 119 patients,there were 62 male and 57 female,with a median age of 7 years and 1 month.There were 45 cases of very severe AA(VSAA),47 cases of severe AA(SAA),and 27 cases of non-severe AA(NSAA).At 6 months after treatment,the efficacy of VSAA was lower than that of SAA and NSAA,and there was a statistical difference(P＜0.01).6 cases died early,16 cases relapsed,2 cases progressed to AML and ALL.The results of univariate analysis showed that the high proportion of lymphocyte in the bone marrow at 6 months was an adverse factor for the efficacy of CsA,while high PLT count was a protective factor(P=0.008,P=0.002).The ROC curve showed that the cut-off values of PLT count and the proportion of bone marrow lymphocyte at 6 months were 16.5 × 109/L,68.5％,respectively.Multivariate analysis showed that the high proportion of lymphocyte in bone marrow at 6 months was an independent adverse factor for IST(P=0.020,OR=0.062),and high PLT count was a protective factor(P=0.044,OR=1.038).At 3 months of treatment,CsA response and NSAA were the risk factor for recurrence(P=0.001,0.031).Conclusion:The efficacy of NSAA was higher than that of SAA and VSAA after 6 months of treatment with CsA alone.A high PLT count at the initial diagnosis was a good factor for the effectiveness of CsA,and a high proportion of bone marrow lymphocyte was an unfavorable factor.CsA response at 3 months and NSAA were risk factors for recurrence.

Objective To explore the clinical manifestations,endoscopic findings,histopathological changes,treatment,and prognosis of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease(EGID)in children,with the aim of enhancing awareness among pediatricians about this condition.Methods Data of 267 children with EGID were prospectively collected from January 2019 to July 2022 at Jiangxi Children's Hospital,Hunan Children's Hospital,and Henan Children's Hospital.The age of onset,symptoms,physical signs,laboratory examination results,endoscopic findings,histopathological changes,and treatment outcomes were observed.Results Among the 267 children with EGID,the majority had mild(164 cases,61.4% )or moderate(96 cases,35.6% )clinical severity.The disease occurred at any age,with a higher prevalence observed in school-age children(178 cases).The main symptoms in infants were vomiting and hematemesis,while in toddlers,vomiting and bloody stools were prominent.Abdominal pain and vomiting were the primary symptoms in preschool and school-age children.Nearly half(49.4% )of the affected children showed elevated platelet counts on hematological examination,but there was no significant difference in platelet counts among children with mild,moderate,and severe EGID(P>0.05).Endoscopic findings in EGID children did not reveal significant specificity,and histopathological examination showed no specific structural damage.Among them,85.0% (227 cases)received acid suppression therapy,34.5% (92 cases)practiced dietary avoidance,20.9% (56 cases)received anti-allergic medication,and a small proportion(24 cases,9.0% )were treated with prednisone.Clinical symptoms were relieved in all patients after treatment,but three cases with peptic ulcers experienced recurrence after drug discontinuation.Conclusions Mild and moderate EGID are more common in children,with no specific endoscopic findings.Dietary avoidance,acid suppression therapy,and anti-allergic medication are the main treatment methods.The prognosis of EGID is generally favorable in children.[Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics,2024,26(2):139-144]

Objective To investigate the risk factors for bronchopulmonary dysplasia(BPD)in twin preterm infants with a gestational age of<34 weeks,and to provide a basis for early identification of BPD in twin preterm infants in clinical practice.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the twin preterm infants with a gestational age of<34 weeks who were admitted to 22 hospitals nationwide from January 2018 to December 2020.According to their conditions,they were divided into group A(both twins had BPD),group B(only one twin had BPD),and group C(neither twin had BPD).The risk factors for BPD in twin preterm infants were analyzed.Further analysis was conducted on group B to investigate the postnatal risk factors for BPD within twins.Results A total of 904 pairs of twins with a gestational age of<34 weeks were included in this study.The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that compared with group C,birth weight discordance of>25%between the twins was an independent risk factor for BPD in one of the twins(OR=3.370,95%CI:1.500-7.568,P<0.05),and high gestational age at birth was a protective factor against BPD(P<0.05).The conditional logistic regression analysis of group B showed that small-for-gestational-age(SGA)birth was an independent risk factor for BPD in individual twins(OR=5.017,95%CI:1.040-24.190,P<0.05).Conclusions The development of BPD in twin preterm infants is associated with gestational age,birth weight discordance between the twins,and SGA birth.

Objective To investigate the cumulative incidence of recurrence(CIR)in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL)after treatment with the Chinese Children's Cancer Group ALL-2015(CCCG-ALL-2015)protocol and the risk factors for recurrence.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 852 children who were treated with the CCCG-ALL-2015 protocol from January 2015 to December 2019.CIR was calculated,and the risk factors for the recurrence of B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia(B-ALL)were analyzed.Results Among the 852 children with ALL,146(17.1%)experienced recurrence,with an 8-year CIR of 19.8%±1.6%.There was no significant difference in 8-year CIR between the B-ALL group and the acute T lymphocyte leukemia group(P>0.05).For the 146 children with recurrence,recurrence was mainly observed in the very early stage(n=62,42.5%)and the early stage(n=46,31.5%),and there were 42 children with bone marrow recurrence alone(28.8%)in the very early stage and 27 children with bone marrow recurrence alone(18.5%)in the early stage.The Cox proportional-hazards regression model analysis showed that positive MLLr fusion gene(HR=4.177,95%CI:2.086-8.364,P<0.001)and minimal residual disease≥0.01%on day 46(HR=2.013,95%CI:1.163-3.483,P=0.012)were independent risk factors for recurrence in children with B-ALL after treatment with the CCCG-ALL-2015 protocol.Conclusions There is still a relatively high recurrence rate in children with ALL after treatment with the CCCG-ALL-2015 protocol,mainly bone marrow recurrence alone in the very early stage and the early stage,and minimal residual disease≥0.01%on day 46 and positive MLLr fusion gene are closely associated with the recurrence of B-ALL.