Gap junction(GJ),also known as gap junction,is widely found between neurons and glial cells,and can connect neighboring cells and mediate the transmission of electrical sig-nals between neighboring cells.The GJ channel,which exists between neurons and mediates intercellular electrical signaling,is also known as an electrical synapse.Connexins(Cxs)are the molecular basis of GJ,and are expressed to different degrees in different neurons and glial cells.The presence of GJ mediates different functions among neurons and glial cells,which further influences the establishment of various mature neural circuits,re-flecting the importance of GJ in the maintenance of neural cir-cuits.This review summarizes the relationship between GJ and neural circuits in relation to the effects of GJ and different Cxs on neurons and glial cells,providing new research ideas for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Aim To investigate the mechanism of py-roptosis mediated by the NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD signaling pathway and the intervention effect of Radix Angelica Sinensis and Radix Astragalus ultrafiltration extract(RAS-RA)in radiation-induced pulmonary fi-brosis.Methods Fifty Wistar rats were randomly di-vided into five groups,with ten rats in each group.Ex-cept for the blank control group,all other groups of rats were anesthetized and received a single dose of 40 Gy X-ray local chest radiation to establish a radiation-in-duced pulmonary fibrosis rat model.After radiation,the rats in the RAS-RA intervention groups were orally administered doses of 0.12,0.24 and 0.48 g·kg-1 once a day for 30 days.The average weight and lung index of the rats were observed after 30 days of contin-uous administration.Hydroxyproline(HYP)content in lung tissue was determined by hydrolysis method.The levels of IL-18 and IL-1 β in serum were detected by ELISA.Lung tissue pathological changes were ob-served by HE and Masson staining.Ultrastructural changes in lung tissue were observed by transmission e-lectron microscopy.The expression levels of NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD pyroptosis pathway-related proteins and fibrosis-related proteins in lung tissue were detec-ted by Western blot.Results Compared with the blank group,the HYP content in lung tissue and the levels of IL-18 and IL-1 β in serum significantly in-creased in the model group(P＜0.01).HE and Mas-son staining showed inflammatory cell infiltration and collagen fiber deposition.Transmission electron mi-croscopy revealed increased damaged mitochondria,disordered arrangement,irregular morphology,shallow matrix,outer membrane rupture,mostly fractured and shortened cristae,mild expansion,increased electron density of individual mitochondrial matrix,mild sparse structure of lamellar bodies,partial disorder,unclear organelles,and characteristic changes of pyroptosis.Western blot analysis showed increased expression of caspase-1,GSDMD,NLRP3,CoL-Ⅰ,α-SMA,and CoL-Ⅲ proteins(P＜0.01).Compared with the model group,the RAS-RA intervention group showed signifi-cant improvement in body mass index and lung index of rats,decreased levels of IL-18 and IL-1 β inflammatory factors(P＜0.01),improved mitochondrial structure,reduced degree of fibrosis,and decreased expression of caspase-1,GSDMD,NLRP3,COL-Ⅰ,COL-Ⅲ,and α-SMA proteins in lung tissue(P＜0.01).Conclusion RAS-RA has an inhibitory effect on radiation-in-duced pulmonary fibrosis,and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of pyroptosis through the regu-lation of the NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD signaling pathway.

Lassa virus(LASV),a member of Arenaviridae family,is the cause of severe acute hemorrhagic fever,known as Lassa fever,which has an overall fatality rate of 1％,but up to 15％in hospitalized patients.LASV is mainly endemic in West Africa.At present,there is no approved drug or vaccine for LASV,and treatment is limited to ribavirin in the early dis-ease stage.Although some drugs have entered the clinical stage,most have been studied in cellular and animal models.Accord-ing to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,LASV is a Class A pathogen due to a high mortality rate and limited treatment options.The World Health Organization has identified Lassa fever as a top priority for research and development.This article reviews recent progress in the development of LASV inhibitors.

The implementation of amplicon sequencing and metagenomic sequencing methods in the whole-genome sequen-cing for MPXV testing was compared,to provide a technical reference for sequencing,tracing,and epidemic prevention and control of MPXV.For amplicon sequencing,targeted amplification of the viral whole genome was performed on MPXV DNA,and was followed by next-generation sequencing of the amplification products.For metagenomic sequencing,next-generation sequencing was performed directly on MPXV DNA.After the sequences were obtained,software such as CLC and IGV were used to analyze the effective data percentage,sequencing depth,and whole-genome sequencing coverage under different sequen-cing depths for both sequencing methods,to evaluate sequencing quality.Nextclade was used to analyze virus typing,muta-tions,and deletions.Subsequently,the similarity and completeness of sequences obtained through both sequencing methods were further compared.On the basis of mapping to the refer-ence sequence of strain MPXV-M5312_HM12_Rivers(Gen-Bank number NC_063383.1),the percentage effective data obtained from amplicon sequencing and metagenomic sequen-cing was 99.72％and 7.54％,respectively,with a sequencing depth range of 0× to 334 839 ×,and 44 × to 1 000 ×.On the basis of a sequencing depth of 10 ×,the site coverage of the above was 90.3％and 100％,respectively.IGV was used to validate the whole-genome coverage under different sequencing depths.The depth coverage of whole-genome sites for metagenomic sequencing was uniform,whereas that of the whole-genome sites for amplicon sequencing was uneven and significantly differed.Virus typing and sequence similarity analysis indicated that the viral sequences obtained with the two sequencing methods all belonged to the Ⅱb B.1 lineage of MPXV.Comparison with the reference sequence indicated that metagenomic sequencing identified 73 nucleotide mutation sites,whereas amplicon sequen-cing identified 68 mutation sites.Further analysis demonstrated that seven common mutation sites of Ⅱb B.1 were not detected in the amplicon sequencing,and two false positive private mutation sites were identified.Amplicon or metagenomic sequencing methods thus can be flexibly used in MPXV virus whole-genome sequencing.Amplicon sequencing yields more effective data,whereas metagenomic sequencing provides better uniformity of coverage and sequence accuracy.This study provides a prelimi-nary understanding of the efficacy of each method and may serve as a technical reference for improving the success rate of whole-genome sequencing of MPXV.

Objective:To investigate the safety and efficacy of mitoxantrone liposome in the treatment of children with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia(AML).Methods:The children with high-risk AML who received the mitoxantrone liposome regimen at Wuhan Children's Hospital from January 2022 to February 2023 were collected as the observation group,and the children with high-risk AML who received idarubicin regimen were enrolled as controls,and their clinical data were analyzed.Time to bone marrow recovery,the complete remission rate of bone marrow cytology,the clearance rate of minimal residual disease,and treatment-related adverse reactions were compared between the two groups.Results:The patients treated with mitoxantrone liposome showed shorter time to recovery of leukocytes(17 vs 21 day),granulocytes(18 vs 24 day),platelets(17 vs 24 day),and hemoglobin(20 vs 26 day)compared with those treated with idarubicin,there were statistical differences(P＜0.05).The effective rate and MRD turning negative rate in the observation group were 90.9％and 72.7％,respectively,while those in the control group were 94.1％and 76.4％,with no statistical difference(P＞0.05).The overall response rate of the two groups of patients was similar.Conclusion:The efficacy of mitoxantrone liposome is not inferior to that of idarubicin in children with high-risk AML,but mitoxantrone liposome allows a significantly shorter duration of bone marrow suppression and the safety is better.

Objective:To summarize the clinical features of reversible posterior encephalopathy syndrome(PRES)after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(allo-HSCT)in children.Methods:The clinical data of six children who developed PRES after undergoing allo-HSCT in the Department of Hematology of Wuhan Children's Hospital from June 2016 to December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed,and their clinical characteristics,imaging examination,laboratory examination,and treatment regression were summarized.Results:Among 281 children underwent allo-HSCT,6 cases(2.14％)developed PRES,with a median age of 5.1(1.5-9.7)years old.4 cases underwent related haploidentical donor transplantation,and 2 cases underwent sibling allografting and unrelated donor allografting donor transplantation,respectively.All six children had an acute onset of illness,with clinical manifestations of nausea and vomiting,seizures,psychiatric disorders,visual disturbances.The five cases elevated blood pressure.All children with PRES were treated with oral immunosuppressive drugs during seizures,and 3 cases were combined with different degrees of graft-versus-host disease.Most of the children showed effective improvement in clinical symptoms and imaging after adjusting/discontinuing suspected medications(cyclosporine,etc.)and symptomatic supportive treatments(oral antihypertensive,diazepam for antispasmodic,mannitol to lower cranial blood pressure),and one of them relapsed more than 8 months after the first seizure.Conclusion:PRES is rare after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children,and its onset may be related to hypertension,cytotoxic drugs,graft-versus-host disease,etc.Most of them can be recovered after active treatment,but not completely reversible,and the prognosis of those who combined with TMA is poor.

Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) is a natural product commonly used in food preservation and pharmaceutical applications. Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan pathogen Toxoplasma gondii, is prevalent globally while the impact of AITC on toxoplasmosis is unclear. We explored the effect of AITC on acute toxoplasmosis. We infected C57BL/6 mice with T. gondii type I RH strain following AITC administration. On the 4th day after infection, which corresponds to the initial stage of infection, we collected serum for the determination of inflammatory cytokine levels. The mice serum of the AITC-administered group contained significantly lower levels of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, interferon-gamma, interleukin (IL)-23 subunit p19, IL-4, IL-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1. The lifespan of the mice in the AITC-administered group was significantly reduced. In vitro experiments showed that AITC promoted the proliferation of intracellular T. gondii accompanied by the inhibition of IL-4, IL-1β, and IL-6 production in RAW264.7 macrophages. Our results showed that AITC facilitated T. gondii infection in the early stage by inhibiting the production of several inflammatory cytokines.

Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) is a natural product commonly used in food preservation and pharmaceutical applications. Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan pathogen Toxoplasma gondii, is prevalent globally while the impact of AITC on toxoplasmosis is unclear. We explored the effect of AITC on acute toxoplasmosis. We infected C57BL/6 mice with T. gondii type I RH strain following AITC administration. On the 4th day after infection, which corresponds to the initial stage of infection, we collected serum for the determination of inflammatory cytokine levels. The mice serum of the AITC-administered group contained significantly lower levels of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, interferon-gamma, interleukin (IL)-23 subunit p19, IL-4, IL-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1. The lifespan of the mice in the AITC-administered group was significantly reduced. In vitro experiments showed that AITC promoted the proliferation of intracellular T. gondii accompanied by the inhibition of IL-4, IL-1β, and IL-6 production in RAW264.7 macrophages. Our results showed that AITC facilitated T. gondii infection in the early stage by inhibiting the production of several inflammatory cytokines.

Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) is a natural product commonly used in food preservation and pharmaceutical applications. Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan pathogen Toxoplasma gondii, is prevalent globally while the impact of AITC on toxoplasmosis is unclear. We explored the effect of AITC on acute toxoplasmosis. We infected C57BL/6 mice with T. gondii type I RH strain following AITC administration. On the 4th day after infection, which corresponds to the initial stage of infection, we collected serum for the determination of inflammatory cytokine levels. The mice serum of the AITC-administered group contained significantly lower levels of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, interferon-gamma, interleukin (IL)-23 subunit p19, IL-4, IL-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1. The lifespan of the mice in the AITC-administered group was significantly reduced. In vitro experiments showed that AITC promoted the proliferation of intracellular T. gondii accompanied by the inhibition of IL-4, IL-1β, and IL-6 production in RAW264.7 macrophages. Our results showed that AITC facilitated T. gondii infection in the early stage by inhibiting the production of several inflammatory cytokines.

Objective To investigate the incidence rate,clinical characteristics,and prognosis of neonatal stroke in Shenzhen,China.Methods Led by Shenzhen Children's Hospital,the Shenzhen Neonatal Data Collaboration Network organized 21 institutions to collect 36 cases of neonatal stroke from January 2020 to December 2022.The incidence,clinical characteristics,treatment,and prognosis of neonatal stroke in Shenzhen were analyzed.Results The incidence rate of neonatal stroke in 21 hospitals from 2020 to 2022 was 1/15 137,1/6 060,and 1/7 704,respectively.Ischemic stroke accounted for 75％(27/36);boys accounted for 64％(23/36).Among the 36 neonates,31(86％)had disease onset within 3 days after birth,and 19(53％)had convulsion as the initial presentation.Cerebral MRI showed that 22 neonates(61％)had left cerebral infarction and 13(36％)had basal ganglia infarction.Magnetic resonance angiography was performed for 12 neonates,among whom 9(75％)had involvement of the middle cerebral artery.Electroencephalography was performed for 29 neonates,with sharp waves in 21 neonates(72％)and seizures in 10 neonates(34％).Symptomatic/supportive treatment varied across different hospitals.Neonatal Behavioral Neurological Assessment was performed for 12 neonates(33％,12/36),with a mean score of(32±4)points.The prognosis of 27 neonates was followed up to around 12 months of age,with 44％(12/27)of the neonates having a good prognosis.Conclusions Ischemic stroke is the main type of neonatal stroke,often with convulsions as the initial presentation,involvement of the middle cerebral artery,sharp waves on electroencephalography,and a relatively low neurodevelopment score.Symptomatic/supportive treatment is the main treatment method,and some neonates tend to have a poor prognosis.