Pyroptosis is the programmed death of cells accompanied by an inflammatory response and is widely involved in the development of a variety of diseases, such as infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegeneration. It has been shown that cellular scorching is involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension ( PAH) in cardiovascular diseases. Patients with PAH have perivascular inflammatory infiltrates in lungs, pulmonary vasculopathy exists in an extremely inflam-matory microenvironment, and pro-inflammatory factors in cellular scorching drive pulmonary vascular remodelling in PAH patients. This article reviews the role of cellular scorch in the pathogenesis of PAH and the related research on drugs for the treatment of PAH, with the aim of providing new ideas for clinical treatment of PAH.

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.

Ginsenoside Rg1 is one of the most important saponins in ginseng. It has a wide range of pharmacological activities. It is considered to be a powerful neuroprotective agent. It has neuroprotective effects such as anti-neuroinflammation, anti-oxidative stress, anti-neuronal apoptosis, and enhancing memory. Rg1 shows a good application prospect in the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke, and mental diseases such as depression. This paper reviews the research on the neuroprotective mechanism of Rg1 at home and abroad in recent years, in order to provide new research ideas for the clinical treatment of nervous system diseases.

BACKGROUND: Weather conditions are a possible contributing factor to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of irreversible loss of vision. The present study evaluated the joint effects of meteorological factors and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) on AMD. METHODS: Data was extracted from a national cross-sectional survey conducted across 10 provinces in rural China. A total of 36,081 participants aged 40 and older were recruited. AMD was diagnosed clinically by slit-lamp ophthalmoscopy, fundus photography, and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT). Meteorological data were calculated by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis and were matched to participants' home addresses by latitude and longitude. Participants' individual PM_2.5 exposure concentrations were calculated by a satellite-based model at a 1-km resolution level. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models paired with interaction analysis were performed to investigate the joint effects of meteorological factors and PM_2.5 on AMD. RESULTS: The prevalence of AMD in the study population was 2.6% (95% CI 2.42-2.76%). The average annual PM_2.5 level during the study period was 63.1 ± 15.3 µg/m³. A significant positive association was detected between AMD and PM_2.5 level, temperature (T), and relative humidity (RH), in both the independent and the combined effect models. For PM_2.5, compared with the lowest quartile, the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) across increasing quartiles were 0.828 (0.674,1.018), 1.105 (0.799,1.528), and 2.602 (1.516,4.468). Positive associations were observed between AMD and temperature, with ORs (95% CI) of 1.625 (1.059,2.494), 1.619 (1.026,2.553), and 3.276 (1.841,5.830), across increasing quartiles. In the interaction analysis, the estimated relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) and the attributable proportion (AP) for combined atmospheric pressure and PM_2.5 was 0.864 (0.586,1.141) and 1.180 (0.768,1.592), respectively, indicating a synergistic effect between PM_2.5 and atmospheric pressure. CONCLUSIONS This study is among the first to characterize the coordinated effects of meteorological factors and PM_2.5 on AMD. The findings warrant further investigation to elucidate the relationship between ambient environment and AMD.
Humans ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Air Pollutants/analysis* ; Particulate Matter/analysis* ; China/epidemiology* ; Macular Degeneration/etiology* ; Meteorological Concepts

Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders with high prevalence, disability and relapse rates, and its etiology and pathogenesis are complex and still not fully understood. Neurotransmitters play a key role in maintaining chemical homeostasis in brain, and many studies have shown a strong link between neurotransmitters and the development and treatment of depression in recent years. Therefore, studying the neurotransmitters associated with depression has the potential to provide research targets and ideas for the pathogenesis and treatment strategies of depression. This paper reviews the recent domestic and foreign research results on neurotransmitter function and the pathogenesis of depression, aiming to analyze the in-depth relationship between neurotransmitter function and the pathogenesis of depression, and provide research ideas for the follow-up ex-ploration of the pathogenesis and diagnosis and treatment strategies of depression.

Dihydromyricetin is a dihydroflavone compound which widely exists in ampelopsis of grapevine family. It has many pharmacological effects, such as anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anti-tumor, antioxidant, regulating blood glucose, reducing blood lipid, liver protection and so on. In recent years, it has been found that dihydromyricetin has a good neuroprotective effect and can play a certain pharmacological role in a variety of neurological diseases, including Alzheimer' s disease, depression, Parkinson's disease and stroke. The purpose of this paper is to review the research on the neuroprotective effect of dihydromyricetin in the past decade.

Aim: To identify the key risk factors of intrauterine hepatitis B virus transmission (HBV) and its effect on the placenta and fetus. Methods: 425 infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive pregnant women who received combined immunization with hepatitis B immunoglobulin and hepatitis B vaccine between 2009 to 2015 were prospectively enrolled in this study. The intrauterine transmission situation was assessed by dynamic monitoring of infants HBV DNA load and quantitative HBsAg. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the high risk factors for intrauterine transmission. Stratified analysis was used to determine the relationship between maternal HBV DNA load and fetal distress. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe HBV Effects on placental tissue. Results: HBV intrauterine infection rate was 2.6% (11/425). Multivariate analysis result showed that the maternal HBV DNA load was an independent risk factor for intrauterine infection among infants (P=0.011). Intrauterine infection and distress rate was significantly higher in infants with with maternal HBV DNA>10⁶ IU/ml than those with HBV DNA <10⁶ IU/ml (12.2% vs. 1.8%; χ²=11.275, P=0.006), and (24.4% vs. 16.0%, χ²=3.993, P=0.046). Transmission electron microscopy showed that mitochondrial edema, endoplasmic reticulum expansion and thicker basement membrane were apparent when the maternal HBV DNA>10⁶ IU/ml than that of maternal HBV DNA<10⁶ IU/ml (960 nm vs. 214 nm, Z=-2.782, P=0.005) in the placental tissue. Conclusion: Maternal HBV DNA>10⁶ IU/ml is associated not only with intrauterine infection, but also with increased incidence of intrauterine distress and placental sub-microstructural changes, providing strong clinical and histological evidence for pregnancy avoidance and treatment in this population.
DNA, Viral ; Female ; Fetal Distress/drug therapy* ; Hepatitis B/prevention & control* ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B Vaccines/therapeutic use* ; Hepatitis B virus/genetics* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins/therapeutic use* ; Infant ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical/prevention & control* ; Placenta ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious

Aim To investigate the effeet of Eehinaeo- side ( ECH ) regulating the expression of prohibitin (PHB) on MPP+ -induced apoptosis of SH-SY5Y eells and the underlying mechanism.Methods SH-SY5Y eells were seleeted and divided into control group, MPP+ group, MPP+ + ECH group, NC + MPP + group, NC + MPP+ + ECH group, PHB-RNAi + MPP + + ECH group.Cell survival rate was determined by CCK-8 assay.Cell morphology was observed using an inverted phase contrast mieroscope; the apoptotie eells were observed by Hoechst33342 fluorescence staining, whereas apoptotie rate, reactive oxygen speeies eon- tent, and mitochondrial membrane potential were ana¬lyzed by flow eytometry.The relative protein expres¬sions of PHB, Akt, p-Akt, Bel-2, Bax, and cleaved- easpase3 were determined by Western blot.Results Compared with eontrol group, the eell survival rate of MPP+ group signifieantly deereased.The growth state of the eells beeame significantly worse.Intracellular ROS content inereased, mitoehondrial membrane po tential decreased, apoptosis-related protein expression increased and the apoptotic rate increased.Compared with MPP+ group, MPP+ + ECH group significantly increased cell viability.The growth status of cells was significantly improved.Intracellular ROS content de¬creased, mitochondrial membrane potential increased, apoptosis-related protein expression decreased, and the apoptotic rate decreased significantly.The expression levels of PHB and p-Akt significantly increased.Com¬pared with NC + MPP+ + ECH group, p-Akt level de¬creased and the cell apoptotic rate increased in PHB- RNAi +MPP+ + ECH group.Conclusions Echino- side can reduce MPP + - induced apoptosis of SH-SY5Y cells, which may be realized by upregulating PHB ex¬pression and phosphorylation of Akt to protect mito¬chondrial function.

Polysaccharide from traditional Chinese herb, Saposhnikovia divaricata (Turcz.) Schischk. (SD) was extracted, fractionated and characterized in this work. Four fractions were prepared. Their molecular weight, monosaccharide compositions, linkage modes and structural properties were characterized with SEC-MALS-RI, HPAEC-PAD, GC-MS and NMR. SDP1 was assigned as a 1, 4-α-glucan with small amount of O-6 linked branches. SDP2 contained a big amount of the 1, 4-α-glucan and a small amount of arabinogalactan, while SDP3 possessed relatively lower amount of the 1, 4-α-glucan and a big amount of the arabinogalactan. SDP4 was defined as a pectic arabinogalactan. Four fractions showed antioxidant activities in both molecular and cellular levels and their activity was ranked as SDP4 ≈ SDP3>SDP2>SDP1. The 1, 4-α-glucan in SDP1 had the weakest, while SDP3 and SDP4 showed similar and the highest antioxidant activity. The arabinogalactan was the major component of both SDP3 and SDP4, which significantly contributed to the antioxidant activity of SDP.

Objective:Stems,petioles,stem sections with axillary and leaves of Scrophularia ningpoensis were taken as the material in vitro to screen out the suitable plantlet regeneration system and optimal exercising seedling conditions. Method:Different explants,hormones and concentrations on the induction and proliferation of cluster bud were studied by L₁₆(4⁵) orthogonal test. One factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was made on the induction of adventitious buds rooted with different concentrations of hormones. At the same time,different substrates,watering cycles and transition modes were selected to optimize key technologies of exercising seedlings of S. ningpoensis. Result:Stem sections with axillary was the best explant,which was followed by stems,leaves and petioles. The suitable media for the induction of adventitious buds was MS+6-BA 0.5 mg·L^-1+NAA 0.2 mg·L^-1,with the induction rate of 100.0% and the proliferation multiple of 9.84.The suitable media for root induction was 1/2 MS+IBA 0.2 mg·L^-1,with the rooting rate of 100.0% and the number of roots of 39.45.For matrix,they were transplanted with nutrient soil,vermiculite and perlite (5:2:1) as the media,to keep proper matching of fertility,permeability and water retention. The container seedlings can grow well,and the survival rate was more than 95% when they were watered every 2 days,the acclimatization of plantlets took 20 days indoor and 10 days in shaded greenhouses. Conclusion:The clonal propagation system of S. ningpoensis was established to provide an effective way for the efficient,rapid and steady plantlet regeneration,the breeding of high-quality seedlings and the suitable exercising seedling conditions of S. ningpoensis.