ObjectivePhotoacoustic pump-probe imaging can effectively eliminate the interference of blood background signal in traditional photoacoustic imaging, and realize the imaging of weak phosphorescence molecules and their triplet lifetimes in deep tissues. However, background differential noise in photoacoustic pump-probe imaging often leads to large fitting results of phosphorescent molecule concentration and triplet lifetime. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel triplet lifetime fitting method for photoacoustic pump-probe imaging. By extracting the phase of the triplet differential signal and the background noise, the fitting bias caused by the background noise can be effectively corrected. MethodsThe advantages and feasibility of the proposed algorithm are verified by numerical simulation, phantom and in vivo experiments, respectively. ResultsIn the numerical simulation, under the condition of noise intensity being 10% of the signal amplitude, the new method can optimize the fitting deviation from 48.5% to about 5%, and has a higher exclusion coefficient (0.88>0.79), which greatly improves the fitting accuracy. The high specificity imaging ability of photoacoustic pump imaging for phosphorescent molecules has been demonstrated by phantom experiments. In vivo experiments have verified the feasibility of the new fitting method proposed in this paper for fitting phosphoometric lifetime to monitor oxygen partial pressure content during photodynamic therapy of tumors in nude mice. ConclusionThis work will play an important role in promoting the application of photoacoustic pump-probe imaging in biomedicine.

ObjectiveTo explore the impact of Gegen Qinliantang（GQT） on the fecal short-chain fatty acids（SCFAs） metabolism in antibiotic-associated diarrhea（AAD） through targeted metabolomics. MethodA total of 240 SD rats were randomly divided into six groups（n=40， half male and half female）， including blank group， model group， bifidobiogen group（0.15 g·kg^-1）， and GQT high-， medium-， and low-dose groups（10.08， 5.04， 2.52 g·kg^-1）， except for the blank group， clindamycin（250 mg·kg^-1） was given to all groups by gavage for modeling every day for 7 d. After successful modeling， each administered group was gavaged with the corresponding dose of the drug， and the blank and model groups were gavaged with an equal volume of normal saline solution， 1 time/d， for 14 d. At 0， 3， 7， 14 d after the drug intervention， eight rats were randomly selected from each group， respectively. Gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry（GC-TOF-MS） was used to perform targeted metabolomic analysis of SCFAs in the feces of rats， and partial least squares-discriminant analysis（PLS-DA） was applied to compare the differences in metabolic profiles between groups at different treatment times， and to compare the changes in the contents of SCFAs in rat feces between groups. ResultPLS-DA results showed that the blank group could be clearly distinguishable from the model group， with GQT exhibiting a closer proximity to the blank group after 7 d of treatment. After further analyzing the composition of SCFAs， it was found that the proportion of acetic acid increased and the proportions of butyric acid， valeric acid， hexanoic acid and isovaleric acid decreased in the model group compared with the blank group. After the treatment with GQT， the proportions of butyric acid， isobutyric acid， valeric acid， and isovaleric acid increased， and the proportions of acetic acid， propionic acid and caproic acid decreased. Subsequent differential analysis revealed that GQT could significantly improve the content of butyric acid， and had a certain retrogressive effect on the contents of valeric acid and hexanoic acid. ConclusionThe medium dose group of GQT can improve the contents of SCFAs in AAD feces after 7 days of treatment， which may be related to the improvement of the composition ratio of SCFAs and the contents of butyric acid， valeric acid and caproic acid.

ObjectiveTo investigate the correlation of polymorphism and loci interaction of nucleic acid binding oligomeric domain-like receptor heat protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) gene and susceptibility to coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) in Xinjiang Region. Methods A total of 109 CWP were selected as the case group, and 69 coal miners with similar age, years of dust exposure and work types were selected as the control group by convenient sampling method. Blood samples of individuals in workers in these two groups were collected, and the genotypes of single nucleotide polymorphism loci, rs1539019, rs4612666, rs4925650 and rs7525979, in the NLRP3 gene were detected using an improved multiplex ligation detection reaction. The optimal genetic model was selected based on the Akaike information criterion. Results The results of unconditional logistic regression analysis showed that individuals with the C allele of rs1539019 or rs4612666 had a higher risk of CWP than those with the A or T allele (all P<0.05), and individuals with the AA genotype of rs1539019 or the TT genotype of rs4612666 had a lower risk of CWP than those with the CC genotype (all P<0.05), after adjusting for age, years of work, alcohol, and smoking. The optimal genetic models for rs1539019 and rs4612666 were the recessive model and the additive model, respectively, and these differences were associated with the susceptibility to CWP at the Bonferroni-corrected level (all P<0.05). No correlation was found between rs4925650 and rs7525979 and the susceptibility to CWP (all P>0.05). In the smoking population, the rs1539019 co-dominant model, recessive model, and additive model were associated with a decreased risk of CWP (all P<0.05). The rs4612666 co-dominant model, dominant model and additive model were associated with an increased risk of CWP (all P<0.05), with the optimal genetic models being the recessive model and the additive model among smokers. The rs1539019 and rs4612666 were not found to be associated with the increased risk of CWP in non-smokers (all P>0.05). The rs4612666 dominant model and additive model were associated with an increased risk of CWP (all P<0.05), and the rs4925650 recessive model and over-dominant model were associated with a decreased and increased risk of developing CWP (all P<0.05), with the optimal genetic models being the dominant model and the over-dominant model in drinkers. The rs1539019 co-dominant model, dominant model, recessive model, and additive model were associated with a decreased risk of developing CWP (all P<0.05), and the rs4612666 co-dominant model, recessive model, and additive model were associated with an increased risk of developing CWP (all P<0.05), with the optimal genetic models being the additive model and the recessive model in non-drinkers. The result of haplotype analysis showed that the ACAC and ACGC haplotypes were associated with a reduced risk of CWP (all P<0.05). Conclusion The rs1539019 and rs4612666 loci of the NLRP3 gene are associated with susceptibility to CWP. This study provides clues for further research on the risk of CWP in coal workers.

Objective:To explore if miR-133a is involved in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)via regulating G6PD.Methods:Bioinformatics analysis predicted the binding sites of miR-133a and G6PD;RT-PCR or western blot was used to assess the expres-sion of miR-133a and G6PD in HCC tissues and the adjacent normal tissues;CCK-8 and flow cy-tometry assays were performed to evaluate the effects of miR-133a/G6PD on cell proliferation,apop-tosis;Fluorescent reporter gene and western blot assays were used to assess the effect of miR-133a on G6PD expression.Results:miR-133a expression was decreased in HCC tissues while G6PD was increased(P0.01);Up-regulation of miR-133a significantly reduced G6PD expression(P＜0.01);up-reg-ulation of miR-133a inhibited cell growth and promoted cell apoptosis(P＜0.05),whereas these effects induced by miR-133a over-expression were all abolished when G6PD was up-regulated(P＜0.01).Conclusion:miR-133a represses the occurrence and development of HCC via targeting G6PD.

As a new strategy for the application of sacubitril/valsartan (LCZ696) in patients with CKD, much evidence showed that it improved the prognosis of patients with CKD. This review summarizes the efficacy and safety of sacubitril/valsartan in physiology, pathology, pharmacology and clinical application by searching Wanfang, CNKI, PubMed and other databases for related articles on the application of sacubitril/valsartan in CKD patients. Although LBQ657, the active product of sacubitril, has a high drug accumulation in patients with moderate, severe renal injury, and ESRD, it is not cleared in hemodialysis, and has very little eliminated in peritoneal dialysis, which does not affect its safety. Compared with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker drugs, LCZ696 could increase the blood pressure control rate, improve cardiac function, slow down the decline of glomerular filtration rate, and significantly improve cardiovascular outcomes without more adverse events. Sacubitril/valsartan can be used in all levels of CKD patients complicated with hypertension and/or heart failure, with reliable safety and tolerance.

The 2-(2-phenylethyl)chromones were separated from agarwood of Aquilaria agallocha Roxb. and their anti-KRAS mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) activities were evaluated. 2-(2-Phenyethyl)chromones in agarwood were separated and purified by silica gel, RP-18 reverse phase silica gel, MCI gel CH20P, Diol, and semi preparative HPLC chromatography techniques, while the structures of the compounds were identified by extensive spectroscopic analysis, such as 1D and 2D NMR and ESI-MS. The cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8) assay was used to screen the anti-tumor activity of the isolated monomeric compounds on three KRAS-mutant NSCLC cells. The cell proliferation, cloning formation, adhesion ability, and cell cycle arrest activity of compound 8 were analyzed. Molecular docking and Western blot experiments were used to study the mechanism of compound 8. The in vivo anti-tumor activity of the compound 8 was evaluated by zebrafish cell derived xenograft (CDX) model. Nineteen known 2-(2-phenylethyl)chromones were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of agarwood. On A549 (KRAS G12S) cells, compounds 8, 10, and 19 showed good inhibitory activity, on H23 (KRAS G12C) cells, compounds 7, 8, and 19 showed good inhibitory activity, and on H358 (KRAS G12C) cells, compounds 8, 10, and 16 showed good inhibitory activity. Compound 8 had the best inhibitory activity in all three cell lines. It effectively inhibited cell proliferation, clone formation, adhesion ability, and arrested the H23 cell cycle at G2/M phase. Compound 8 could also inhibit the expression of c-Met and its downstream signaling pathways, effectively inhibiting tumor growth in zebrafish CDX model. In conclusion, among the nineteen known 2-(2-phenylethyl)chromones, compound 8 had the best activity and significantly inhibited the proliferation of KRAS-mutant NSCLC cells by arresting the cells in the G2/M phase.

Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) is an active chalcone compound isolated from licorice. It possesses anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative activities. In our previous study, we uncovered a great potential of ISL in treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Therefore, this study aims to reveal the mechanism underlying the alleviatory effects of ISL on T2DM-induced glycolipid metabolism disorder. High-fat-high-sugar diet (HFD) combined with intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) were used to establish T2DM mice model. All animal experiments were carried out with approval of the Committee of Ethics at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. HepG2 cells were used in in vitro experiments, and sodium palmitate (SP) was applied to establish insulin resistance (IR) model cells. The effects of ISL on body weight, fasting blood glucose levels, and pathological changes in the livers of mice were examined. Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) were applied to detect the regulatory effects of ISL on key targets involved in glucolipid metabolism. Additionally, molecular docking and analytical dynamics simulation methods were used to analyze the interaction between ISL and key target protein. The results indicate that ISL significantly downregulates the transcriptional levels and inhibits the activities of key enzymes involved in gluconeogenesis, including pyruvate carboxylase (PC), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), and fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatase (FBP). It also downregulates the transcriptional and protein levels of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) and cAMP response element binding protein (CREB), the two transcriptional factors involved in gluconeogenesis. Thus, ISL inhibits hepatic gluconeogenesis in T2DM mice. In addition, ISL reduces total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) levels in the livers of T2DM mice. Moreover, ISL downregulates the mRNA levels of lipogenesis genes and upregulates those of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation, lipid uptake, and lipid export. In conclusion, ISL suppresses hepatic gluconeogenesis, promotes lipolysis, and restrains lipogenesis in T2DM mice, thereby improving the abnormal glycolipid metabolism caused by T2DM.

Objective:To explore the risk factors of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, reveal the molecular mechanism of pyroptosis in peripheral blood of coal workers' pneumoconiosis patients, and provide new strategies and potential diagnostic biomarkers for the treatment of the disease.Methods:From January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022, workers with suspected occupational diseases who were diagnosed with coal workers' pneumoconiosis in the Third People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were included in the study, including 77 patients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis stage Ⅰ, 10 patients with stage Ⅱ, 6 patients with stage Ⅲ, and 49 workers with dust-free lung disease as the control group. General information of the subjects was collected, blood samples were collected for routine blood and blood biochemical results, and plasma levels of interleukin (IL) -1β and IL-18 were measured. Combined with the results of clinical examination, multi-factor ordered logistic regression analysis was carried out to evaluate the influencing factors of coal workers' pneumoconiosis. At the same time, the expression of pyroptosis related proteins in blood cells was detected to reveal the molecular mechanism of coal workers' pneumoconiosis.Results:All 142 subjects were male, with an average age of (51.65±6.31) years old and an average working age of (15.94±9.38) years. There were significant differences in smoking age ( F=4.95, P=0.003) and lunch break distribution ( H=8.84, P=0.031) among all groups. The hemoglobin content of stage Ⅰ patients was higher than that of stage Ⅱ patients, and the neutrophil percentage of stage Ⅲ patients was higher than that of the other 3 groups ( P<0.05). The levels of total bilirubin and indirect bilirubin in stage Ⅰ patients were higher than those in control group, while the erythrocyte sedimentation rate in stage Ⅱ patients was higher than that in the other 3 groups ( P<0.05). The levels of IL-18 and IL-1β in stage Ⅲ of coal workers' pneumoconiosis were higher than those in the other 3 groups ( P<0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that smoking age ( OR=1.03, 95% CI: 1.00-1.06) and IL-1β level ( OR=4.61, 95% CI: 1.59-13.32) were independent risk factors for coal workers' pneumoconiosis ( P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the expression levels of nucleotide-binding of oligomeric domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), Caspase-1, GSDMD, Caspase-4 and other proteins in stage Ⅲ of coal workers' pneumoconiosis were significantly increased ( P<0.05) . Conclusion:Smoking age is a risk factor for coal workers' pneumoconiosis, IL-1β may be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, and pyroptosis may play a role in the development of peripheral inflammation of coal workers' pneumoconiosis.

Background::Hypertension and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) share several pathophysiologic risk factors, and the exact relationship between the two remains unclear. Our study aims to provide evidence concerning the relationship between hypertension and NAFLD by analyzing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017-2018 and Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses.Methods::Weighted multivariable-adjusted logistic regression was applied to assess the relationship between hypertension and NAFLD risk by using data from the NHANES 2017-2018. Subsequently, a two-sample MR study was performed using the genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics to identify the causal association between hypertension, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and NAFLD. The primary inverse variance weighted (IVW) and other supplementary MR approaches were conducted to verify the causal association between hypertension and NAFLD. Sensitivity analyses were adopted to confirm the robustness of the results.Results::A total of 3144 participants were enrolled for our observational study in NHANES. Weighted multivariable-adjusted logistic regression analysis suggested that hypertension was positively related to NAFLD risk (odds ratio [OR] = 1.677; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.159-2.423). SBP ≥130 mmHg and DBP ≥80 mmHg were also significantly positively correlated with NAFLD. Moreover, hypertension was independently connected with liver steatosis ( β = 7.836 [95% CI, 2.334-13.338]). The results of MR analysis also supported a causal association between hypertension (OR = 7.203 [95% CI, 2.297-22.587]) and NAFLD. Similar results were observed for the causal exploration between SBP (OR = 1.024 [95% CI, 1.003-1.046]), DBP (OR = 1.047 [95% CI, 1.005-1.090]), and NAFLD. The sensitive analysis further confirmed the robustness and reliability of these findings (all P >0.05). Conclusion::Hypertension was associated with an increased risk of NAFLD.

Objective To investigate the effect of microglial derived extracellular vesicles on neuronal damage in the context of heat stress.Methods After BV2 microglial cells were exposed to heat stress,the supernatant was collected and subjected to ultracentrifugation at different speeds to obtain large and small vesicles,respectively.Nano Particle Tracking and Zeta Potential Distribution Analyzer was used to measure and analyze the size distribution of the large vesicles and small vesicles.Western blotting was used to detect the expression of specific vesicle surface markers,TSG101,CD63 and flotillin-1.Microglial extracellular vesicles were labeled with PKH67 dye and then co-cultured with N2a cells to examine the uptake by capacity the neurons.After large and small vesicles derived from microglia after heat stress stimulation were co-cultured with N2a cells,respectively,CCK-8 assay,lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)assay,Trypan blue staining and TUNEL assay were employed to evaluate heat stress induced neuronal damage.Results The small vesicles were in a particle size of 30～120 nm,and highly expressed TSG101 and CD63,whereas the large vesicles,in a size of 90～1000 nm,highly expressed flotillin-1.The BV2-derived extracellular vesicles could be taken up by N2a cells and were proved to be involved in the modulation of N2a cell injury caused by heat stress.CCK-8 assay showed that both large and small vesicles of microglial cells inhibited the viability of N2a cells after heat exposure (P<0.05).The results of LDH assay,Trypan blue staining and TUNEL assay showed that both large (P<0.05)and small vesicles (P<0.01)significantly enhanced the LDH release,blue stain intensity and apoptosis of N2a cells after heat exposure,and the release,intensity and apoptosis were stronger in the cells treated with small vesicles than those group of large vesicles.Conclusion Microglia aggravate heat stress-induced neuronal damage through releasing extracellular vesicles.