Experimental and observational studies have elucidated that an amalgamation of biotic (e.g., biodiversity, large trees) and abiotic factors (e.g., climate, soil) jointly determine tree aboveground carbon stock within forest ecosystems. Yet, a pivotal factor potentially influencing these carbon repositories might be the specific tree mycorrhizal associations, especially given that ectomycorrhizal (EM) tree species frequently comprise more large-sized trees, translating to an augmented carbon reserve, as opposed to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) counterpart. However, how biotic and abiotic factors determine forest carbon through regulating AM vs. EM tree carbon stock is still elusive across large regions. Here, we examined a forest inventory data consisting of over 90,000 trees from 631 forest plots (30m × 30m each). Our objective was to explore how biodiversity (i.e., species diversity and ecological uniqueness), large trees (top 1% tree diameters), and environmental factors (e.g., climate and soil nutrients) differently regulate AM and EM, and thus, total tree aboveground carbon stock of temperate forests in northeast China. Our findings illuminated that large trees had consistent enhancement effect on AM and EM tree carbon repositories. However, the effects of biodiversity and environmental factors on carbon stock were opposite between AM and EM trees. Specifically, the two components of biodiversity were positively associated with AM tree carbon stock while negatively associated with EM tree carbon stock. Environment heterogeneity (i.e. mean annual temperature and soil nutrients) also exhibited contrasting impacts on AM and EM tree carbon stock. Consequently, when integrating AM and EM tree carbon stock into total carbon stock, the consistent effect of large trees on AM vs. EM trees was strengthened and most important, while the opposite effect of biodiversity or environment factors was diluted. In summary, this study emphasized a mycorrhizal viewpoint to better understand the determinants of overarching aboveground carbon profile across regional forests.

Do vertical gradients structure temperate forest insect herbivore communities? We tested the hypothesis that the increase in light intensity from understory to forest canopy level drives differences in leaf physical traits and budburst phenology that impact insect herbivores and thus play a role in structuring both herbivore communities and the damage they cause to trees. Twelve sugar maple (Acer saccharum) trees were monitored in southern Quebec, examining herbivore patterns from understory to canopy. Three sampling sessions took place in the summers of 2020, 2021, and 2022, recording temperature, humidity, sun exposure, and leaf physical traits in three strata. In the first two years, we measured herbivory rates, quantifying affected leaf surface percentage by damage type. Overall, herbivory damage decreased from the understory to the shade canopy and sun canopy in 2020, driven by leaf cutters and skeletonizers. Leaf stipplers and blotch miners also followed this pattern in 2020. The 2021 sampling showed a similar, albeit weaker, pattern. Leaf cutters and skeletonizers consistently caused less damage with increasing height in the canopy. The abundance of insect herbivores collected in 2022 matched the observed damage trend. Leaf thickness increased along the vertical gradient, making leaves less accessible to herbivores. Variation in plant traits according to sun exposure thus contributes to explaining vertical stratification of insect herbivore damage. The average annual herbivory rate of 9.1% of leaf surface suggests limited evidence supporting an important contribution of background herbivory to the decline of sugar maple forests

Berenike Lisa Blaser1*, Mathias Weymar1,2 & Julia Wendt11 University of Potsdam, Department of Biological Psychology and Affective Science, Faculty of Human Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht Strasse 24/25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany2 Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany  * Correspondence:Berenike Lisa BlaserUniversity of PotsdamKarl-Liebknecht Strasse 24/2514476 Potsdam, Germany Email: berenike.blaser@uni-potsdam.de Running head: Heart Rate Variability and premenstrual symptoms Keywords: heart rate variability, vagal tone, premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual symptoms, menstrual cycle, ambulatory assessmentAbstractIntroductionPremenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects up to 90% of individuals with an active menstrual cycle. Several studies have observed reduced vagally mediated heart rate variability in a single assessment during the luteal phase compared to an assessment during the follicular phase, especially in participants experiencing strong PMS symptoms. The aim of this investigation was to initially assess the relationship between premenstrual symptoms and vagally mediated heart rate variability throughout the menstrual cycle, as well as to examine the feasibility of conducting a large-scale study to verify this association.MethodsThree participants completed daily ambulatory assessments of resting vagally mediated heart rate variability using mobile electrocardiographs and typical PMS symptoms. We calculated correlations between these measurements for each participant.ResultsPMS symptoms and vagally mediated heart rate variability showed medium to high correlations in each of the participants throughout the cycle. These associations were primarily driven by the relationship between vagally mediated heart rate variability and psychological symptoms rather than physiological symptoms. Visual inspection of the fluctuations confirmed the concurrent occurrence of a phasic reduction in vagally mediated heart rate variability parallel to the increases in PMS symptoms experienced during the mid to late luteal phase in each participant.DiscussionThe results support the notion of an association between PMS symptoms and vagally mediated heart rate variability. An ambulatory daily assessment paradigm proves to be feasible. Studies with larger samples are necessary to provide deeper insights into inter- and intra-individual differences as well as stronger knowledge on the mechanistic pathways of PMS. 1               IntroductionPremenstrual syndrome (PMS) encompasses a heterogeneous collection of symptoms that typically manifest in the week preceding menstruation, during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, and dissipate within a few days after menstruation begins. These symptoms can be of a physiological nature, such as bloating and water retention, or psychological, including feelings of stress, anxiety, or irritability. It is noteworthy that as many as 90% of menstruating individuals regularly experience at least one symptom associated with PMS (Tschudin et al., 2010).The etiology of PMS remains unclear. A common hypothesis is that varying sensitivities to fluctuations in gonadal hormones throughout the menstrual cycle play a role (Rapkin & Akopians, 2012). This differential sensitivity may involve several systems, including the Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) and serotonin systems (Nappi et al., 2022; Rapkin & Akopians, 2012). Vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) serves as a potential physiological marker that could contribute to our understanding of PMS. VmHRV is regarded as a marker for cardiac vagal control (Laborde et al., 2023), and research has linked it to a wide range of psychopathological states (Heiss et al., 2021) and cognitive outcomes (Holzman & Bridgett, 2017; Zahn et al., 2016). The associations are so consistent, that Beauchaine and Thayer (2015) have proposed vmHRV as a transdiagnostic biomarker for psychopathology.In a meta-analysis conducted by Schmalenberger et al. (2019), consistent reductions in vmHRV of medium effect size were identified during the luteal phase when compared to measurements during the follicular phase. A limited number of studies, however, have explored the relationship between this vmHRV reduction and PMS. The fluctuations in vmHRV are found to be moderated by the extend of premenstrual symptomatology (Schmalenberger et al., 2023) . The observed effect indicates that high PMS groups experience more substantial reductions in vmHRV during the luteal phase, whereas control groups show either smaller fluctuations (Zambotti et al., 2013) or no discernible difference (Baker et al., 2008; Matsumoto et al., 2007) in vmHRV between the follicular and luteal phases.The consistent direction of the association between vmHRV and PMS is noteworthy, but it is important to acknowledge that all previous studies on this topic have involved only a single measurement during each cycle phase. Consequently, it is challenging to ascertain whether symptoms and vmHRV fluctuate in parallel throughout the menstrual cycle. In an effort to shed more light on the relationship between vmHRV and PMS and to assess feasibility, we therefore initiated a pilot diary study involving three participants. This study aimed to gather daily assessments of premenstrual symptoms alongside measurements of resting vmHRV to follow the course of their association.2               Methods and Materials2.1         ParticipantsWe tested three participants of different ages (ageparticipant 1 = 44, ageparticipant 2 = 27, ageparticipant 3 = 20) who were recruited within our department. These participants provided informed consent and received either course credit or no compensation for their participation. In line with the guidelines suggested by Laborde et al. (2017), the participants did not take medication that could affect vmHRV, had no chronic diseases, and were not pregnant.2.2         Testing protocolEach participant received an introduction on how to use the mobile electrocardiography (ECG) device and a document with written instructions outlining the procedure. Measurements were taken each day at the same time, between 7 and 8 pm. The participants began by completing an online questionnaire assessing premenstrual symptoms, recording their last menstrual period, and responding to a number of control variables. Following the questionnaire, the ECG measurement was conducted. Participants attached the ECG device to their chest, set a timer for 6 minutes, initiated the ECG recording, and closed their eyes while the resting vmHRV measurement was taken. This measurement was performed with participants in a sitting position.Participants were requested to complete the assessments daily over 1.5 menstrual cycles to ensure the inclusion of one complete cycle. We employed the backward- and forward-counting method to assess the cycle phase (Schmalenberger et al., 2021). We included two weeks before a reported menstruation onset (luteal phase) and two to three weeks (depending on reported average cycle length) after a reported menstruation onset (follicular phase) for the analysis.2.3         Heart rate variabilityVagally mediated heart rate variability was assessed using a mobile 1-channel ECG device, the Bittium Faros 180. The device electrodes were attached to the chest, and data were collected at a sampling rate of 1000 Hz. Data preprocessing was performed using the Faros Software, which generated R-R interval and R peak timestamp series. The first and last 30 seconds of each measurement were removed, resulting in a 5-minute interval, to avoid artifacts caused by participant movement, as participants initiated and concluded the measurement themselves.The root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) was derived from the time series as measurement of vmHRV. The time series were analyzed in R (version 4.2.2) using the RHRV package (https://rhrv.r-forge.r-project.org/), following the package documentation. We chose this measurement over the high-frequency component of power spectral analysis due to its robustness to breathing rate and its clearer indication of parasympathetic activity (Chapleau & Sabharwal, 2011).2.4         Premenstrual symptomsPremenstrual symptoms were assessed with the German version of the shortened Premenstrual Assessment Form (PAF20) (Allen et al., 1991; Blaser et al., 2023). The questionnaire comprises the 20 most endorsed items from the long form PAF, which includes nearly 100 items in total. Each item represents a specific symptom, and participants are asked to rate how strongly they experienced each symptom during the last premenstrual phase using a 6-point Likert scale, ranging from “not at all/no change from normal” to “extreme change from normal”. The German version of this questionnaire has demonstrated good validity and reliability and loads onto two distinct factors, creating psychological and physiological symptom scales. For this study, we adapted the questionnaire to a diary format, where participants reported how strongly they experienced each symptom in the previous 24 hours.2.5         Control variablesThe daily online questionnaire included several control variables that are known to influence vmHRV or PMS. Participants were asked to provide retrospective assessments of these variables for the last 24 hours. The control variables encompassed substance intake (alcohol, caffeine, nicotine), a one-item rating of the level of stress experienced that day on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 9, a one-item rating of sleep quality on a 1-9 Likert scale, and reports of any physical health symptoms related to acute diseases, such as respiratory symptoms. 2.6         AnalysisAll statistical analyses were conducted with R (version 4.2.2). To assess the association between premenstrual symptoms and RMSSD over the menstrual cycle, we conducted Pearson correlations between the two measurements for each participant individually. Furthermore, separate correlations were calculated for the physiological and the psychological subscale of the PAF20 with the RMSSD.To test the association between PAF20 and RMSSD for all three participants, independently of the control variables, we conducted a linear mixed model predicting PAF20 sum scores. Participant intercepts were modeled as random effects to account for nesting of the data. The RMSSD and control variables were introduced as fixed effects.3               ResultsThe RMSSD values were subjected to a log transformation to approximate a normal distribution, aligning with the conventions of other vmHRV research (Laborde et al., 2017). A visual representation of the symptom course and RMSSD for each of the three participants is presented in Figure 1. Pearson correlations between log-transformed RMSSD and daily symptom scores were moderate to high, rparticipant1(25) = -.41, p < .05, rparticipant 2(35) = -.48, p < .01, rparticipant 3(29) = -.43, p < .05. The correlations were consistently higher in the psychological subscale than the physiological subscale (see Table 1). The associations between RMSSD and physiological symptoms were not significant in all three participants.Table 1. Pearson correlations of vagally mediated heart rate variability and premenstrual symptom scores     Psychological symptoms   Physiological symptoms       r df p r df p   Participant 1 -.50 25 .008 -.25 25 .21 log(RMSSD) Participant 2 -.57 35 <.001 -.07 35 .68   Participant 3 -.46 29 .010 -.31 29 .093 Notes. The symptom scores are the sum scores of the psychological and physiological subscale of the daily ratings of the short form of the premenstrual assessment form (PAF20). RMSSD – root mean square of successive differences; df – degrees of freedom.

Gastrointestinal mucositis (GIM) continues to be a significant issue in the management of abdominal cancer radiation treatments and chemotherapy, causing significant patient discomfort and therapy interruption or even cessation. This review will first focus on radiotherapy induced GIM, providing an understanding of its clinical landscape. Subsequently, the etiology of GIM will be reviewed, highlighting diverse contributing factors. The cellular and tissue damages and associated molecular responses in GIM will be summarised in the context of the underlying complex biological processes. Finally, available drugs and pharmaceutical therapies will be evaluated, underscoring their insufficiency, and highlighting the need for further research and innovation. This review will emphasize the urgent need for improved pharmacologic therapeutics for GIM, which is a key research priority in oncology.

1. Prey metabarcoding has become a popular tool in molecular ecology for resolving trophic interactions at high resolution, from various sample types and animals. To date, most predator-prey studies of small-sized animals (<1 mm) have met the problem of overabundant predator DNA in dietary samples by adding blocking primers/peptide nucleic acids. These primers aim to limit the PCR amplification and detection of the predator DNA but may introduce bias to the prey composition identified by interacting with sequences that are similar to those of the predator. 2. Here we demonstrate the use of an alternative method to explore the prey of small marine copepods using whole-body DNA extracts and deep, brute force metabarcoding of an 18S rDNA fragment. 3. After processing and curating raw data from two sequencing runs of varying depth (0.4 and 5.4 billion raw reads), we isolated 1.3 and 52.2 million prey reads, with average depths of ~15 900 and ~120 000 prey reads per copepod individual, respectively. While data from both sequencing runs were sufficient to distinguish dietary compositions from disparate seasons, locations and copepod species, greater sequencing depth led to better separation of clusters. 4. As computation and sequencing are becoming ever more powerful and affordable, we expect the brute force approach to become a general standard for prey metabarcoding, as it offers a simple and affordable solution to consumers that are impractical to dissect or unknown to science.

A document by negin rahimi. Click on the document to view its contents.

Objectives: To investigate psychological correlates in women referred with suspected ovarian cancer via the fast-track pathway, explore how anxiety and distress levels change 12 months post-testing and report cancer conversion rates by age and referral pathway. Design: Single arm prospective cohort study Setting: Multicentre. Secondary care including outpatient clinics and emergency admissions. Participants: 2596 newly presenting symptomatic women with a raised CA125 level, abnormal imaging or both. Methods: Women completed anxiety and distress questionnaires at recruitment and at 12 months for those who had not undergone surgery or a biopsy within 3 months of recruitment. Main outcome measures: Anxiety and distress levels measured using STAI-6 and IES-r questionnaires. OC conversion rates by age, menopausal status and referral pathway. Results: 1355/2596 (52.1%) and 1781/2596 (68.6%) experienced moderate-to-severe distress and anxiety at recruitment. Younger age and emergency presentations had higher distress levels. Clinical category for anxiety and distress remained unchanged/worsened in 76% at 12 months despite a non-cancer diagnosis. OC rates by age were 1.6% (95% CI 0.5 to 5.9) under 40 and 10.9 % (95% CI 8.7 to 13.6) over 40 years. In women referred through fast-track pathways, 3.3% (95% CI 1.9 to 5.7) of pre- and 18.5% (95% CI 16.1 to 21.0) of postmenopausal women were diagnosed with OC. Conclusions: Women undergoing diagnostic testing display severe anxiety and distress. Younger women are especially vulnerable and should be targeted for support. Women under 40 have low conversion rates and we advocate reducing testing in this group to reduce harms of testing.

Abstract Background: Maternal mental health influences the metabolism and growth of fetal brain structures affecting their skills up to adulthood. Objective: Main objective is whether music interventions improve modifiable maternal health outcomes. Search Strategy: Up to July 2023, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating music during pregnancy were identified using MEDLINE, CENTRAL, WEB OF SCIENCE. Selection Criteria: Using COVIDENCE reviewers screened for RCTs with >3 interventions applying the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), or blood pressure (BP) as outcome measures. Data Collection and Analysis: The revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (RoB2) and the reversed Cohen’s d were applied to investigate the impact of target groups, frequency, type and selection of music programs. The review was registered via PROSPERO CRD42022299950. Main Results: From 251 records, 14 RCTs (16 intervention arms) and 2375 pregnancies were included. Music interventions varied from 3 to 84 active or passive music sessions per pregnancy or 10 to 60 minutes per day and significantly decreased PSS in 2/4, STAI in 8/9, EPDS in 3/4 and BP in 3/4 RCTs. RoB2 was high in 5/14, or “with concerns” in 9/14 studies. Stratifying the Cohen’s d in 14 interventions arms suggested a big effect in 234/469 mothers on BP, and in 244/489 mothers on maternal anxiety. Conclusion: The findings show the dretailed potential of music interventions on maternal BP, stress resilience or anxiety complementing our research on complex music interventions throughout pregnancy in times of pandemics, violent conflicts, or natural catastrophes. Funding: Clara Angela Foundation. Key words: Music in pregnancy, systematic review, maternal stress, anxiety, and depression.

As a versatile earth-abundant transition metal, Cu has long been widely applied in the C-C and C-X bond forming reactions. As for now, low-valent Cu(I) is known to reduce the redox active electrophiles via an SET pathway to give the corresponding radical and Cu(II) spe-cies. The resulting Cu(II) species can interact with the radical via the out-sphere pathway, affording the coupling product. Alternatively, Cu(II) can trap the radical through the inner-sphere process to generate Cu(III) species and then realize challenging bond formations due to the facile reductive elimination of Cu(III) intermediate. Although copper catalysis has been widely applied in arylations of various nucleophiles, copper-catalyzed enantioconvergent nucleophilic substitutions of racemic alkyl electrophiles have been less explored, likely due to the difficulties in overcoming the reduction potential of alkyl electrophiles, elimination side reactions, and enantiomeric control. In order to overcome the high reduction potential of alkyl electrophiles, the photo-induced strategy has been developed under mild conditions. An alternative strategy with new anionic tridentate ligands has also been reported in this regard. This review summa-rizes recent developments in copper-catalyzed enantioconvergent nucleophilic substitutions of alkyl electrophiles by various nucleo-philes to realize C-N, C-C, C-B, C-P and C-O bond formations and their brief mechanistic studies.

Valbenazine (Ingrezza), a potent and highly selective inhibitor of vesicular monoamine transporter type 2 (VMAT2) through the active metabolite hydrotetrabenazine (HTBZ), has been approved for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia and, very recently, for chorea, which is associated with Huntington’s disease. Despite numerous synthetic efforts dedicated to the synthesis of HTBZ, the industrial preparation of valbenazine uses dihydroisoquinoline as a starting material and the chiral resolution of racemic HTBZ derived from ketone reduction. Herein, we present a practical synthesis of HTBZ and valbenazine featuring a highly stereoselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition and enzymatic kinetic resolution. The cascade process includes cycloaddition, N˗O bond cleavage, and lactamization, which proved to be operationally facile. The allure of the enzymatic resolution developed in this work offers a rapid access toward affording tetrahydroi-soquinoline (THIQ)-fused piperidine to access key frameworks in the production of medically significant compounds, such as yohimbine and reserpine.

The Vestibular Rehabilitation Triage Program (VERT) is a multidisciplinary collaboration created to expedite and improve the care management of individuals experiencing dizziness. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe VERT and demonstrate the ability of using a call center algorithm and specially trained physical therapists to appropriately triage individuals with dizziness. The Departments of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Neurology, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the XXXX have created a multidisciplinary call center algorithm that advantages specially trained physical therapists to initiate care and refer to physician specialists when appropriate. The goal of this partnership is to mitigate the common hardships of living with a vestibular disorder that include increased fall risk, inefficient diagnostic testing, prolonged wait time, and excessive health service utilization. Increased access to specialists, reducing the likelihood of misdiagnosis and starting appropriate treatment sooner, may facilitate improved symptoms and reduced disability 1. Two case examples exhibit how the standardized algorithm and follow through in such management effectively reduced the more common and fragmented medical care. Initial cases within the VERT pathway demonstrate effective management for patients with dizziness and balance impairment, though additional assessment is needed to more completely understand the effectiveness of this novel clinical model.

Key clinical message:In the differential diagnosis of testicular transilluminating masses in babies, testicular teratoma should be considered even in cases when ultrasonography reveals a completely cystic lesion.

Single-cell transcriptomics reveals the alteration of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in AR patient challenge by allergen

Background Sphingolipids metabolism regulated by ceramide synthase (CerS) enzyme is closely related to asthma development, but the underlying biological mechanism remains unclear. Since epigenetics plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of asthma, we thus studied the DNA methylation of CerS1-6, genes coding CerS in asthma patients. Methods We enrolled 26 asthma patients and 6 healthy controls. After collecting demographic and clinical information, peripheral blood was collected to analyze the serum phospholipid profile and DNA methylation assay. Illumina Human Methylation EPIC BeadChip (Illumina, USA) was used to perform DNA methylation profiling. Linear mixed-effect models were applied to estimate the associations between asthma patients and healthy controls. Subgroup analyses by different asthma phenotypes, frequent acute exacerbation, levels of asthma control, overweight, allergic, early onset, and different genders were further conducted. Results Among 127 CpG sites mapped on CerS1-6, we found that four sites including cg18956199, cg21465008, cg03236449 and cg15455300 located on Cers6 genes were significantly differentiated in asthma patients. Particularly, the locus cg15455300 had significantly lower methylation levels in asthma patients compared to controls. After controlling for potential covariates, compared to healthy control, the DNA methylation level of cg15455300 decreased 0.0202 (Standard error = 0.0055) robustly. This site further associated with patients with frequent acute exacerbation and poorly controlled asthma. A negative correlation between cg15455300 and ceramide metabolites was further observed. Conclusion Changes in CerS6 gene methylation in blood have the potential to serve as a surrogate biomarker for asthma and frequent acute exacerbation phenotypes.

Subperiosteal abscess -an unusual presentation of Griesinger’s signAbstract:Griesinger’s sign, an edematous swelling at the exit of the emissary vein results from thrombosis of the lateral sinus. It may rarely manifest as subperiosteal abscess in an unusual location because of direct spread of infection through venous channel. Hence high clinical suspicion of the condition may necessitate the process of the treatment of the abscess. MRI with MRV may help to delineate the condition.Key words: Griesinger’s sign, lateral sinus thrombosis, subperiosteal abscess, cholesteatomaIntroduction:The tender and edematous swelling at the exit of the emissary vein known as Griesinger’s sign is a pathognomonic sign for lateral sinus thrombosis [1]. Subperiosteal abscesses usually present at Mac Ewen’s triangle as possible sequele of a complicated mastoiditis either due to direct erosion of the cortical bone or transmastoid spread of infection through the cribriform vessel.Here we report a case of the subperiosteal abscess as an unusual presentation of Griesinger’s sign behind the mastoid process at the exit of the mastoid emissary vein as a complication of chronic otitis media with cholesteatoma.Case Presentation:A 14 -year- old female presented to a tertiary care centre after being referred from a regional medical center, with headache, right ear ache, fever, vertigo, vomiting, and altered mental status, all features are consistent with meningitis from an otologic source. Of note, she had a four-year history of foul-smelling discharge from the right ear and one-year history of hearing loss on that side. An otorhinolaryngological examination revealed epitympanic cholesteatoma with active pulsatile purulent discharge in the right ear and dry crust in the left epitympanum. A painful swelling was noticed in her right post-auricular region behind the mastoid process, and needle aspiration of it confirmed the abscess formation (Figure 1).Contrast-enhanced T-1 weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a filling defect (thrombus) at the right lateral sinus. There was a strongly enhancing soft tissue lesion with a necrotic area within it at the right post-auricular region, overlying the exit of the mastoid emissary vein, which was suggestive of a subperiosteal abscess (Figure 2 A). A mildly dilated (compared to contralateral side) contrast-filled mastoid emissary vein connected the thrombosed lateral sinus to the subperiosteal abscess. No thrombus (filling defect) was seen within the lumen of the dilated emissary vein (Figure 2 A, B). A 3D magnetic resonance venography (MRV) demonstrated non-visualized right lateral sinus and upper part of the right internal jugular vein, suggestive of thrombosis, and the presence of prominent venous collaterals was also in suggestive of venous sinus thrombosis (Figure 2 C, D).

Influenza constitutes a critical respiratory infection that imposes significant public health burdens. The precise influence of these pollutants on influenza activity remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of different air pollutants on the incidence of influenza-like illness (ILI), influenza A (Flu A), and influenza B (Flu B) in China based on nationwide data on air pollution and the influenza data from 554 sentinel hospitals across 30 provinces and municipalities from 2014 to 2017. Distributed Lag Nonlinear Model (DLNM) was employed to discern the lagged effects amid the concentrations of six distinct air pollutants, namely PM2.5, PM10, O 3, CO, SO 2, and NO 2, and the incidence of ILI, Flu A, as well as Flu B. Our analysis indicated that there was generally no distinction in the effects of air pollutants on the incidence of ILI, Flu A, and Flu B, although variations existed in terms of the specific level of risk associated with each of these categories. Specifically, elevated levels of PM2.5, PM10, CO, SO 2, and NO 2 were predominantly associated with an increased risk of influenza. In contrast, the effect of O 3 concentration on influenza was bidirectional whereby it promoted influenza outbreaks at low and high levels.

Artemisia annua sublingual immunotherapy in children with seasonal allergic rhinitis To the Editor,Artemisia pollen is the main aeroallergen of seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) in summer and autumn.1,2Artemisia annua Allergens Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) Drops (Zhejiang Wolwo Bio-Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Zhejiang, China, National Drug Approval No.: S20210001) is the only standardized SLIT preparation approved in China for treatingArtemisia-induced allergic rhinitis with or without conjunctivitis (AC).3 In this study, we aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of A. annua- SLIT in children with SARs.Pediatric patients with at least a two-year clinical history ofArtemisia pollen-induced SAR with or without AC from Inner Mongolia were included in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-center clinical trial and randomized to receive A. annua -SLIT or placebo at a 2:1 ratio for approximately 28 weeks. The combined score of medication and rhinitis symptoms (CSMS; primary endpoint) and combined score of medication and rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms (CSMRS; secondary endpoint) were recorded to evaluate efficacy; adverse events (AEs) were reported to assess safety.Fifty-seven eligible patients aged 4–18 years were randomized into the SLIT (n=38) and placebo (n=19) groups (Figure 1). Finally, 54 patients (SLIT group: n=36; placebo group: n=18) completed the study with 3 patients withdrew by themselves. No significant differences were observed between the groups in terms of sex, age, atopic status, comorbidity of other allergic diseases, and CSMS and CSMRS scores in the previous pollen season (P >0.05, Table S1).The 2019 pollen season in Inner Mongolia was from 20th July to 7th September (50 days; Figure 2A). The temporal variation of daily CSMRS in both groups showed a similar trend of positive correlation with pollen concentration throughout the pollen season (SLIT group: r=0.66, 95% CI: 0.53–0.76; placebo group: r=0.68, 95% CI: 0.56–0.77). The SLIT group showed significant improvements in CSMS (1.55±0.81 vs. 1.97±0.73) and CSMRS (1.46±0.75 vs. 1.88±0.75) compared with the placebo group (P <0.05, Figure 2B–C). Fifty-three (98.1%) patients experienced AEs [35, SLIT group; 18, placebo group] (Table S2). All AEs were mild or moderate and resolved without any action or by adjusting the dose of the study drug. There were no significant differences in the incidence and severity of AEs between the groups (P >0.05). Epinephrine use was not reported, and no patients withdrew from the trial because of AEs. Furthermore, 94.4% and 100% of patients in the SLIT and placebo groups, respectively, experienced treatment-related AEs (TRAEs), which frequently occurred in the nose, eyes, throat, and tongue in both groups (P >0.05, Figure 2D). The common TRAEs in children with SLIT are shown in Figure 2E. Most TRAEs in the SLIT group were mild, similar to those in the placebo group.To our knowledge, this is the first study to report the efficacy and safety of A. annua -SLIT in a Chinese pediatric population. Our results showed a consistent trend of clinical efficacy improvements withA. annua -SLIT in children similar to those in adults.4 Recently, a cumulative AE incidence of 93.0% was reported with ragweed SLIT in children and adolescents, with no serious AEs.5 The incidence of AEs in our study were comparable to those in the previous study. Lou et al. found that the most common TRAEs in adults with A. annua -SLIT were mild or moderate.4,6 Our results showed a safety profile similar to that in adults. No new safety signals emerged, and no throat irritation was observed in adults.In conclusion, 28-week A. annua -SLIT treatment was effective and safe for children with SAR, with no major safety concerns. Investigating the benefits of A. annua -SLIT in children will not only expand its application for treatment but also provide the basis for intervention in the early phase of SAR.

Array-InSAR tomography has become a field of intensive research to reconstruct urban 3D point clouds. However, multipath interference is very obvious in the reconstructed 3D point clouds, seriously affecting the recognition, extraction, and modeling of the building. In this letter, the authors proposed a novel multipath suppression method to improve the quality of point clouds, which mainly utilizes the characteristics of secondary and tertiary scattering. The performance of the method is verified through airborne array-InSAR data. Experimental results show that the proposed method can automatically obtain large scene urban 3D point clouds without multipath interference.

Global placement roughly decides the location of units in the very large-scale integrated (VLSI) and fundamentally determines the quality of physical design. Thus, it’s desirable to find an efficient method to solve the global placement problem. Global placement solves the problem by minimizing the total half-perimeter wirelength (HPWL) under density constraints. However, the non-differentiability of HPWL prevents advanced gradient-based methods from being applied to global placement. Therefore, smooth wirelength models have been proposed to approximate HPWL. Among all the models, weighted-average wirelength (WAWL) performs the best. In this letter, we propose an improved self-adaptive weighted-average wirelength (SaWAWL) model to further fit the HPWL. Instead of setting a generic γ for all nets in the design, the new model enables each net to adaptively adjust their respective γ according to their real length, thus can better approximate HPWL to achieve higher-quality placement results. Based on the SaWAWL and the framework of DREAMPlace, a global placer is implemented. Experimental results show that HPWL on open-source benchmarks is reduced by up to 6.56% with an average of 3.74%, which proves that our model can achieve better performance than the current state-of-the-art WAWL.

Constructing multi-dimensional hydrogen bond (H-bond) regulated single-molecule systems with multi-emission remains a challenge. Herein, we report an excited-excited intramolecular transfer (ESIPT) featured chromophore (HBT-DPI) that shows flexible emission tunability via the multi-dimensional regulation of intra- and intermolecular H-bonds. The feature of switchable intramolecular H-bonds is induced via incorporating two hydrogen bond acceptors into a single-molecule system, HBT-DPI, allowing the “turn on/off” of ESIPT process by forming isomers with distinct intramolecular H-bonds. In response to different solvent environments, the obtained four types of crystal/cocrystals vary in the contents of isomers and the molecular packing modes, which are mainly guided by the intermolecular H-bonds, exhibiting non-emissive features or emissions ranging from green to orange. Moreover, we demonstrate the practical utility of this fluorescent material for visualizing hydrophobic/hydrophilic areas on large-scale heterogeneous surfaces of modified PVDF membranes and quantitatively estimate the surface hydrophobicity, providing a new approach for hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity monitoring and measurement.

Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy in women and has devastating effects on both their physical and emotional wellbeing. More cases of it are expected to surface in the future. Mounting data shows that microRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in carcinogenesis and development. This study highlights the contrasting roles of miR-9 in breast cancer, which is important since miR-9 plays a crucial role in both the development and the progression of the disease. The major focus of this article is a brief summary of miR-9's functions in the development of breast cancer.

The prognosis of breast cancer (BC) patients is greatly improved by preemptive diagnosis. Researchers are exploring the possibility of liquid biopsy based on circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) due to the absence of accurate biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and, therapy follow up in BC. These c-miRNAs, which may be cell-free or coupled with extracellular vesicles (EVs), offer several benefits over conventional methods (core-biopsy and surgery), including stability in biofluids, noninvasive accessibility, and expression in response to pathogenic circumstances. Because of their precise vesicle sorting, EV-derived microRNAs (EV-miRNAs) have recently emerged as a potential new sector to use as cancer diagnostics. We summarize recent research on c-miRNA and their potential as biomarkers for breast cancer (BC) diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. We also discuss how the lack of consensus on how best to analyze the data collected from these biomarkers can hinder their use in clinical practice. BACKGROUND

Tofacitinib, an oral Janus kinase inhibitor, has demonstrated teratogenic effects in animal models. However, there is a lack of data on its effects during human pregnancy, especially in the context of synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome, a rare disease. We report a case of a 31-year-old female patient with SAPHO syndrome who became pregnant unexpectedly after 5 weeks of continuous tofacitinib treatment during the first trimester. Tofacitinib was immediately discontinued upon discovering the pregnancy. The patient successfully delivered a healthy full-term male infant under vigilant monitoring, and her SAPHO syndrome symptoms ameliorated during gestation but exacerbated 40 days postpartum. Given the limited clinical data available, further monitoring of pregnancy outcomes in patients treated with tofacitinib is still warranted.

This study presents technology to detect and quantify microRNAs (miRNAs) as possible cancer biomarkers, using breast cancer as an example. The majority of breast cancer cases are identified at more advanced stages, reducing the likelihood of survival for the patient. Several microRNAs (miRNAs) have been demonstrated to have high preliminary clinical sensitivity and specificity for early cancer diagnosis or staging, and they are up-or down-regulated in breast cancer patients at different stages. Methods based on the analysis of nucleic acids, such as reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), microarrays, and next-generation sequencing (NGS), may be used to estimate the relative abundance of specific miRNAs of interest. For miRNA biomarker identification, NGS is the most effective technology, whereas RT-qPCR has the greatest potential for future clinical diagnostic applications.