The auxin/indole-3-acetic acid (Aux/IAA) gene family is an important regulator for plant growth hormone signaling, involved in plant growth, development, as well as response to environmental stresses. In the present study, we identified SmIAA7 which is potentially associated with Salvia miltiorrhiza leaf development through comparatively analyzed the transcriptome data from different pinnate leaves. SmIAA7 was successfully isolated from S. miltiorrhiza using the specific primers. Then subsequent bioinformatic analysis, prokaryotic expression and purification, subcellular localization, and induction expression analysis under auxin and abiotic stress were performed. The full-length of SmIAA7 contained an ORF of 684 bp encoding a protein of 227 amino acid with a molecular weight of 25.3 kD. Conserved domain analysis showed that SmIAA7 contains the conserved Aux_IAA domain (pfam02309). Sequence analysis and phylogenetic tree analysis results indicated SmIAA7 was phylogenetically close to IAA7 and IAA14 from other plants, suggesting SmIAA7 involved in plant growth and development as well as response to environmental stresses. The prokaryotic expression vector pET28a-SmIAA7 was constructed and SmIAA7 recombinant protein was successfully expressed in E. coli Rosetta (DE3) strain. Subcellular localization experiment demonstrated that SmIAA7 localized in the nucleus of plant cells. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR results showed that the expression level of SmIAA7 was upregulated in response to auxin. Drought, low temperature, and salt stress significantly increased the transcript level of SmIAA7 gene. This study lays a foundation for further elucidating the role of SmIAA7 in leaf development, signal transduction, and stress defense in S. miltiorrhiza.

ObjectiveTobacco-related diseases remain one of the leading preventable public health challenges worldwide and are among the primary causes of premature death. In recent years, accumulating evidence has supported the classification of nicotine addiction as a chronic brain disease, profoundly affecting both brain structure and function. Despite the urgency, effective diagnostic methods for smoking addiction remain lacking, posing significant challenges for early intervention and treatment. To address this issue and gain deeper insights into the neural mechanisms underlying nicotine dependence, this study proposes a novel graph neural network framework, termed TI-GNN. This model leverages functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to identify complex and subtle abnormalities in brain connectivity patterns associated with smoking addiction. MethodsThe study utilizes fMRI data to construct functional connectivity matrices that represent interaction patterns among brain regions. These matrices are interpreted as graphs, where brain regions are nodes and the strength of functional connectivity between them serves as edges. The proposed TI-GNN model integrates a Transformer module to effectively capture global interactions across the entire brain network, enabling a comprehensive understanding of high-level connectivity patterns. Additionally, a spatial attention mechanism is employed to selectively focus on informative inter-regional connections while filtering out irrelevant or noisy features. This design enhances the model’s ability to learn meaningful neural representations crucial for classification tasks. A key innovation of TI-GNN lies in its built-in causal interpretation module, which aims to infer directional and potentially causal relationships among brain regions. This not only improves predictive performance but also enhances model interpretability—an essential attribute for clinical applications. The identification of causal links provides valuable insights into the neuropathological basis of addiction and contributes to the development of biologically plausible and trustworthy diagnostic tools. ResultsExperimental results demonstrate that the TI-GNN model achieves superior classification performance on the smoking addiction dataset, outperforming several state-of-the-art baseline models. Specifically, TI-GNN attains an accuracy of 0.91, an F1-score of 0.91, and a Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) of 0.83, indicating strong robustness and reliability. Beyond performance metrics, TI-GNN identifies critical abnormal connectivity patterns in several brain regions implicated in addiction. Notably, it highlights dysregulations in the amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex, consistent with prior clinical and neuroimaging findings. These regions are well known for their roles in emotional regulation, reward processing, and impulse control—functions that are frequently disrupted in nicotine dependence. ConclusionThe TI-GNN framework offers a powerful and interpretable tool for the objective diagnosis of smoking addiction. By integrating advanced graph learning techniques with causal inference capabilities, the model not only achieves high diagnostic accuracy but also elucidates the neurobiological underpinnings of addiction. The identification of specific abnormal brain networks and their causal interactions deepens our understanding of addiction pathophysiology and lays the groundwork for developing targeted intervention strategies and personalized treatment approaches in the future.

Diabetic cardiomyopathy is a distinct form of cardiomyopathy that can lead to heart failure, arrhythmias, cardiogenic shock, and sudden death. It has become a major cause of mortality in diabetic patients. The pathogenesis of diabetic cardiomyopathy is complex, involving increased oxidative stress, activation of inflammatory responses, disturbances in glucose and lipid metabolism, accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), abnormal autophagy and apoptosis, insulin resistance, and impaired intracellular Ca²⁺ homeostasis. Recent studies have shown that adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) plays a crucial protective role by lowering blood glucose levels, promoting lipolysis, inhibiting lipid synthesis, and exerting antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and anti-ferroptotic effects. It also enhances autophagy, thereby alleviating myocardial injury under hyperglycemic conditions. Consequently, AMPK is considered a key protective factor in diabetic cardiomyopathy. As part of diabetes prevention and treatment strategies, both pharmacological and exercise interventions have been shown to mitigate diabetic cardiomyopathy by modulating the AMPK signaling pathway. However, the precise regulatory mechanisms, optimal intervention strategies, and clinical translation require further investigation. This review summarizes the role of AMPK in the prevention and treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy through drug and/or exercise interventions, aiming to provide a reference for the development and application of AMPK-targeted therapies. First, several classical AMPK activators (e.g., AICAR, A-769662, O-304, and metformin) have been shown to enhance autophagy and glucose uptake while inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammatory responses by increasing the phosphorylation of AMPK and its downstream target, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and/or by upregulating the gene expression of glucose transporters GLUT1 and GLUT4. Second, many antidiabetic agents (e.g., teneligliptin, liraglutide, exenatide, semaglutide, canagliflozin, dapagliflozin, and empagliflozin) can promote autophagy, reverse excessive apoptosis and autophagy, and alleviate oxidative stress and inflammation by enhancing AMPK phosphorylation and its downstream targets, such as mTOR, or by increasing the expression of silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor‑α (PPAR‑α). Third, certain anti-anginal (e.g., trimetazidine, nicorandil), anti-asthmatic (e.g., farrerol), antibacterial (e.g., sodium houttuyfonate), and antibiotic (e.g., minocycline) agents have been shown to promote autophagy/mitophagy, mitochondrial biogenesis, and inhibit oxidative stress and lipid accumulation via AMPK phosphorylation and its downstream targets such as protein kinase B (PKB/AKT) and/or PPAR‑α. Fourth, natural compounds (e.g., dihydromyricetin, quercetin, resveratrol, berberine, platycodin D, asiaticoside, cinnamaldehyde, and icariin) can upregulate AMPK phosphorylation and downstream targets such as AKT, mTOR, and/or the expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), thereby exerting anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, anti-pyroptotic, antioxidant, and pro-autophagic effects. Fifth, moderate exercise (e.g., continuous or intermittent aerobic exercise, aerobic combined with resistance training, or high-intensity interval training) can activate AMPK and its downstream targets (e.g., acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), GLUT4, PPARγ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), PPAR-α, and forkhead box protein O3 (FOXO3)) to promote fatty acid oxidation and glucose uptake, and to inhibit oxidative stress and excessive mitochondrial fission. Finally, the combination of liraglutide and aerobic interval training has been shown to activate the AMPK/FOXO1 pathway, thereby reducing excessive myocardial fatty acid uptake and oxidation. This combination therapy offers superior improvement in cardiac dysfunction, myocardial hypertrophy, and fibrosis in diabetic conditions compared to liraglutide or exercise alone.

Aim To study the effect of Guben Yanling pills on liver aging in aging mice and the related mech-anism.Methods The mice were randomly divided in-to blank control group,model group,vitamin E group(0.1 g·kg-1)and low,medium and high dose groups(0.59,1.17,2.34 g·kg-1)of Guben Yan-ling pills.The aging mouse model was established by subcutaneous injection of D-galactose(150 mg·kg-1)into the back of neck.At the same time of mod-eling,the corresponding drugs were given by gavage once a day for six weeks.The main organ indexes were calculated.HE staining was used to observe the mor-phology of liver tissue.Colorimetry was used to detect the activity of β-galactosidase in liver.ELISA was used to detect the content of TNF-α,IL-1 β,IL-6,IL-4,IL-10.Western blot was used to detect the protein relative expression level of IKKβ,Iκ Bα,NF-κB p65.Immunofluorescence was used to detect the expression level of NF-κB p65.Results Compared with the blank control group,the organ index of the brain,liv-er,kidney,spleen,and thymus in the model group decreased(P＜0.05,P＜0.01),the activity of β-galactosidase increased(P＜0.01),liver tissue mor-phology and structure were significantly damaged,the content of TNF-α,IL-1 β and IL-6 increased(P＜0.01),the content of IL-4 and IL-10 decreased(P＜0.01),the levels of IKKβ,NF-κB p65 in-creased(P＜0.01),the levels of IKBα decreased(P＜0.01),and the levels of NF-κB p65 in nucleus increased(P＜0.01).Compared with the model group,the organ indexes of brain,liver,kidney,spleen,and thymus in each dose group of Guben Yan-ling pills increased(P＜0.05,P＜0.01),the activity of β-galactosidase decreased(P＜0.01),the morpho-logical and structural damage of liver tissue was signifi-cantly improved,the content of TNF-α,IL-1 β and IL-6 decreased(P＜0.01),the content of IL-4 and IL-10 increased(P＜0.01),the levels of IKKβ,NF-κB p65 decreased(P＜0.01),the levels of IκBα in-creased(P＜0.01),and the levels of NF-κB p65 in nucleus decreased(P＜0.01).Conclusions Guben Yanling pills can antagonize liver aging in mice,and its mechanism may be related to inhibiting the activa-tion of NF-κB signaling pathway in liver,downregulat-ing downstream pro-inflammatory factor levels,upregu-lating anti-inflammatory factor levels,and alleviating inflammation in liver.

Aim To investigate the expression level of CBX4 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)and the effect of CBX4 on ESCC proliferation and un-derlying molecular mechanisms.Methods The ex-pression of CBX4 in different cancers was analyzed in Pan-cancers.The expression level of CBX4 in ESCC was analyzed by t-test based on Gene Expression Omni-bus(GEO)data.The viability of CBX4-overex-pressed/knockdown ESCC cells was detected by MTT assay,colony formation assay and flow cytometry assay.Furthermore,the tumor volumn,tumor weight and Ki67 expression were measured by mouse xenograft assay and immunohistochemistry.The mRNA and protein ex-pression levels of apoptosis-related genes PARP、Bcl-2、Bax were determined by qRT-PCR and Western blot,respectively.In addition,the underlying molecular mechanism of CBX4 in ESCC was revealed by qRT-PCR and Western blot.Results CBX4 was upregulat-ed in various cancers.The expression level of CBX4 in ESCC was higher than that in normal tissues(P＜0.05)based on Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO)da-ta.Compared with the normal group,the proliferation of CBX4 knockdown ESCC cells was significantly in-hibited and the apoptosis was promoted(P＜0.05).Meanwhile,the mRNA and protein expression levels of cleaved PARP and Bax were upregulated while that of Bcl-2 was downregulated.In CBX4 overexpression group,tumor volume in vivo increased(P＜0.05).Immunohistochemical results also showed an increase in Ki67 expression.Furthermore,the results of RNA-seq,bioinformatics analysis and qRT-PCR experiments indicated that CBX4 probably regulated the prolifera-tion and apoptosis of ESCC through p38 MAPK signa-ling pathway.Conclusion CBX4 is highly expressed in ESCC and plays as an oncogene role,which might regulate cell proliferation through the p38 MAPK signa-ling pathway.

Objective To explore the difference in the effectiveness between proximal femoral nail anti-rotation(PFNA)and proximal femoral locking compression plate(PFLCP)of intertrochanteric fracture in the elderly patients combined with knee osteoarthritis.Methods The clinical data of 65 intertrochanteric femoral fractures combined with knee osteoarthritis be-tween June 2015 and February 2021 were retrospectively analyze.They were divided into two groups according to the different surgical methods.PFNA group was composed of 36 patients,12 males and 24 females,aged from 61to 88 years old with an av-erage of(77.0±6.4)years old.There were 17 cases of left injury and 19 cases of right injury.According to modified Evans clas-sification,there were 3 cases of type Ⅱ,19 cases of type Ⅲ,10 cases of type Ⅳ,and 4 cases of type Ⅴ.PFLCP group was com-posed of 29 patients,11 males and 18 females,aged from 60 to 92 years old with an average of(78.8±6.5)years old.There were 14 cases of left injury and 15 cases of right injury.According to modified Evans classification,there were 2 cases of typeⅡ,18 cases of type Ⅲ,7 cases of type Ⅳ,and 2 cases of type Ⅴ.Comparison of operation time,intraoperation blood loss,postoperative bed time,incidence of postoperative complications,Harris score at 6 months and 1 year postoperation.Results All 65 patients were followed up ranging from 12 to 24 months with an average of(16.9±3.6)months.In the PFNA and PFLCP groups,the operation time was respectively(57.6±6.8)min and(77.4±6.5)min,the intraoperative blood loss was(128.3±50.3)ml and(156.3±23.9)ml,postoperative bed time was(4.0±2.5)days and(8.1±2.0)days,Harris score at 6 months post-operative was(45.3±8.6)points and(36.3±7.0)points.There were significant differences between two groups(P＜0.05).Inci-dence of postoperative complications was 19.4％(7/36)and 34.5％(10/29),Harris score at 1 year postoperative was(60.8±6.7)points and(59.0±8.1)points.There was no significant difference between the two groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion Compared with PFLCP,PFNA treatment of elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis between the femoral intertrochanteric fractures shorter surgical time,less intraoperative blood loss,bed rest after surgery,short-term hip function recovery better,when the affected knee joint can tolerate traction,can be used as a priority.

Objective To evaluate the clinical effect of a new three-phase Chinese medicine(CM)external treatment for acute lateral ankle ligament injuries.Methods From July to December 2023,64 patients with acute lateral ankle ligament in-juries were randomly assigned to receive either the new three-phase CM external treatment combined with the POLICE(pro-tect,optimal loading,ice,compression,elevation)treatment(observation group)or the POLICE treatment(control group),with 32 cases in each group.The observation group consisted of 17 males and 15 females,with an average age of(30.59±3.10)years old ranging from 25 to 36 years old,while the control group included 14 males and 18 females,with an average age of(30.03±3.19)years old ranging from 24 to 37 years old.Visual analogue scale(VAS)evaluation and Figure of 8 measurement were used to evaluate the degree of ankle joint pain and swelling of the subjects at the initial enrollment and after 1 week and sixth weeks of treatment.At the same time,the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society(AOFAS)and Karlsson Ankle Function Score System were used to evaluate the improvement of ankle joint function in patients at all stages.MRI imaging was employed to observe the degree of biological healing of the anterior talofibular ligament,with the signal to noise ratio(SNR)in-dicating the level of healing.A lower SNR suggests better ligament healing,as it represents lower water content in the ligament.Results All patients completed a 6-week follow-up.There was no significant difference in VAS,AOFAS score and Karlsson score between the two groups before treatment(P＞0.05).After 1 week and 6 weeks of treatment,the VAS,AOFAS score and Karlsson score of the two groups were significantly improved(P＜0.05).After 1 week of treatment,the VAS score of the obser-vation group(3.21±0.87)was lower than that of the control group(4.21±1.50),and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).After 1 weeks of treatment,the AOFAS and Karlsson scores[(50.84±4.70)points,(49.97±4.00)points]of the ob-servation group were higher than those[(46.91±5.56)points,(46.66±5.36)points]of the control group(P＜0.05).MRI images showed that after 6 weeks of treatment,the SNR value of the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group,and the difference was statistically significant(SNR of the observation group was 75.25±16.59,the contral gruop was 85.81±15.55),(P＜0.05).Conclusion Compared with the control group,the new three-phase CM external treatment is signifi-cantly effective in reducing pain and swelling,enhancing ligament repair quality,and promoting functional recovery of the an-kle joint in patients with acute lateral malleolar ligament injuries.

Objective To compare the efficacy of renal proximal renal artery denervation(pRDN)and full-length renal artery denervation(fRDN)for treatment of hypertension.Methods Fifty-six hypertensive patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to full-length renal artery denervation group(n=25)and proximal renal artery denervation group(n=31).After the procedure,24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring(24 h-ABPM)at 6 months and office blood pressure at 12 months was recorded for statistical analysis.Results The blood pressure at follow-up reduced significantly in both groups,while there was no significant difference between groups.The baseline office blood pressure in fRDN group and pRDN group was(180±15)/(104±10)mmHg and(180±12)/(103±8)mmHg,respectively,which decreased to(142±9)/(82±7)mmHg and(143±10)/(83±6)mmHg at 12 months postoperatively(P＜0.001 within groups and P＞0.05 between groups).The baseline 24 h-ABPM in the two groups was(162±13)/(95±8)mmHg and(160±12)/(94±8)mmHg,respectively,which decreased to(142±11)/(83±7)mmHg and(141±8)/(81±7)mmHg at 6 months postoperatively(P＜0.001 within groups and P＞0.05 between groups).However,there was no significant difference in the reduction of office blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure between the two groups.No treatment-related adverse events were observed.Conclusions pRDN has similar antihypertensive effect to fRDN.

Objective To verify the safety and efficacy of a new portable extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(ECMO)system(Xijing Advanced Life Support System JC-Ⅲ)in large animals.Methods A total of 10 healthy small fat-tail sheep underwent veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(VA-ECMO)support by carotid arterial-jugular catheterization to evaluate the performance of the JC-Ⅲ ECMO system.Systemic anticoagulation was achieved by continuous infusion of heparin.Active coagulation time(ACT)was recorded every 2 hours during the experiment,and the ACT was maintained between 200-250 s.Centrifugal pump speed is set at 3 000-3 500 r/min.The changes of hemoglobin,blood cell counts,hematocrit,liver and kidney function were monitored before and 24 h after ECMO initiation,respectively.After the experiment,the pump and oxygenator were dissected to probe the thrombosis.Results The success rate of VA-ECMO operation was 100％,and there was no hemolysis,pump thrombosis and oxygenator thrombosis after 24 h of ECMO.Before and after the operation,there were no significant changes in indicators such as hemoglobin content,white blood cell counts,platelet counts,alanine aminotransferase concentration,aspartate aminotransferase concentration,urea,creatinine,high-sensitivity troponin Ⅰ,and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide(all P＞0.05).Conclusions This in vivo study confirms that Xijing Advanced Life support System JC-Ⅲ is safe and effective.

Objective To explore the risk factors related to afterload mismatch(AM)after transcatheter mitral valve repair(MitraClip).Methods This was a retrospective cohort study.48 patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine,the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from December 2021 to December 2023,who underwent MitraClip due to severe mitral regurgitation(MR)were included.Preoperative clinical data,laboratory tests,and preoperative and postoperative color Doppler echocardiographic examination results of surgical patients were collected.AM was defined as the left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF)decreased by 15％or more after surgery compared with the one before(dLVEF≤-15％).Patients were divided into AM group and non-AM group according to whether afterload mismatch occurred.Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the risk factors of postoperative AM.Results Among 48 patients who underwent MitraClip,14 of them(29.2％)developed afterload-mismatched.For those without AM,their overall LVEF was improved after the operation;for patients in both AM group and non-AM group,their overall left ventricular end-diastolic diameter(LVEDd),left ventricular end-diastolic diameter volume index(LVEDVi)was reduced compared with the preoperative ones.Univariate regression analysis showed that C-reactive protein levels(OR 1.98,95％CI 1.02-3.83),platelets(OR 2.22,95％CI 1.08-4.53),systemic immune inflammation index(OR 1.96,95％CI 1.03-3.71)were associated with an increased risk of AM in patients undergoing MitraClip(all P＜0.05),while those with larger right atrial diameter(OR 0.35,95％CI 0.13-0.93)or moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation(OR 0.19,95％CI 0.05-0.81)were less likely to develop into AM(both P＜0.05),which is still satisfied after adjustment.Conclusions For patients who underwent MitraClip,C-reactive protein levels,platelets and systemic immune inflammation index(SII)are associated with an increased risk of afterload mismatched,while those with larger right atrial diameter or moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation were less likely to develop into AM.