Research highlights: By SEM, the parenchyma was covered by the dense irregular connective tissue capsule. Each lobule contained many acini which were connected to each other by a thin, long duct with branched pattern arrangement. By TEM, the pancreatic tissue consisted of glandular lobules comprised of acini, islets and connective tissue between the lobules. Inside the lobules, lot of small blood vessels and blood capillaries were found surrounding the gland which contained few telocytes.

Objectives: Although various studies have been performed on the function of polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSCs) in RA, the results were conflicting. Here we were trying to clarify the role of PMN-MDSCs in the pathogenesis of RA and its specific mechanisms. Methods: We detected the frequencies and counts of PMN-MDSCs, TNF- + B cells, and Ki67 + B cells in spleens and inflamed joints of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice using flow cytometry. The pathological role of PMN-MDSCs was examined by anti-Ly6G neutralizing antibodies against PMN-MDSCs or adoptive transfer of PMN-MDSCs. And the modulation of PMN-MDSCs on B cells was conducted by coculture assays, RNA-Seq, RT-qPCR, etc. The mechanism of BAFF regulating B cells was verified through Western Blot and flow cytometry. Results: PMN-MDSCs accumulated in the spleens and joints of CIA mice. PMN-MDSCs depletion could alleviate the arthritis severity, which was accompanied by decreased TNF- secretion and proliferation of B cells. And its adoptive transfer also facilitated disease progress. Furthermore, PMN-MDSCs from CIA mice had higher expression level of BAFF, which regulated TNF- expression, proliferation and apoptosis of B cells in vitro. What’s more, BAFF promoted phosphorylation of BTK/NF-B signaling pathway. And Ibrutinib (BTK inhibitor) could reverse the effect of BAFF on TNF- expression. Conclusions: Our study suggested that PMN-MDSCs enhanced disease severity of CIA and manipulated TNF- expression, proliferation and apoptosis of B cells via BAFF, furthermore, BAFF promoted TNF- expression through BTK/NF-B signaling pathway, which demonstrated a novel pathogenesis of PMN-MDSC in CIA.

An SLE patient with persistent elevated conjugated bilirubin as the initial symptom: a case reportJun Liu1, Ying Huang1, Tingting Shen1, Xingyi Li2, Fang Zhao3, Xiaoxia Liu4, Shan Zhang4 ,Pengjia Wu4, Na Li4, Long Li4*, and Jiashun Zeng41Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China;ljsy013186vip.@qq.com.1Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The 2nd Hospital Affiliated to Guizhou University of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China;40741698@qq.com.1Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China;286165007@qq.com.2Guizhou Medical University, Guizhou Province, China.3045629556@qq.com.3Guizhou Medical University, Guizhou Province, China. ;626791899@qq.com.4Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China; liuxiaoxiarain@163.com.4Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China; shanzhang_ncu@qq.com.4Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China; 1015066791@qq.com.4Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China; 793875371@qq.com.4*Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China; gzyxyll@medmail.com.cn.4Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China; zengjiashun@sina.com.Written informed consent was obtained from the patient to publish this report in accordance with the journal’s patient consent policy1.Data availability statement: All relevant data are within the paper.2.funding statement: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.3.conflict of interest disclosure: All authors have no conflicts of interest. On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.4.ethics approval statement: The ethics committee approval from the authors’ institution have been obtained for this study.5.patient consent statement: Patients’ informed consent have been obtained for this study.6.permission to reproduce material from other sources: The study allows reproduction of the material from other sources.7.clinical trial registration：The study was retrospective and therefore not registered in clinical trials.

BRONCHOSCOPIC VIEW OF POST-TUBERCULOSIS LUNG CAVITY

In view of the current risks faced by electric power companies in the recovery of special transformer users’ electricity bills, a special transformer users’ electricity bill recovery based on Stacking model fusion is proposed Collect risk identification methods. Carry out feature processing, feature construction and feature screening for special transformer user data, and optimize the model from sample distribution and feature attributesThe generalization performance of; The Stacking model is used to fuse multiple base learners to build a risk identification model for electricity fee recovery of special transformer users. The experimental results show that the phaseCompared with other commonly used classification algorithms, the proposed method has better accuracy, recall, P-R harmonic mean, AUC value and model generalization performance,The recognition rate of users with special transformer risk is also higher.

Background: The transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is complex and multifactorial. We aimed to identify the risk factors for infection among the household contacts of index patients and to determine the incubation period, serial interval, and estimates of secondary infection rate. Methods: We conducted a study in three districts of Kerala among the inhabitants of households of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-positive coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients between January and July 2021. COVID-19-positive patients and corresponding contacts were enrolled and followed up for 28 days to determine RT-PCR positivity and the presence of total antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 on days 1, 7, 14, and 28 from the date of enrolment. Results: The mean incubation period, serial interval, and generation time were 1.6, 3, and 3.9 days, respectively. The secondary infection rate was 43.0%. Individuals who worked outside the home were protected, whereas those who had kissed the COVID-19-positive patients during illness were more than twice at risk of infection than those who had not kissed the COVID-19-positive patients. Similarly, the contacts who had shared a toilet with the COVID-19-positive patients were more at risk than those who had not shared a toilet. However, the contacts who reported using masks were at a higher risk of infection in household settings. Conclusions Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in household settings is important, considering its high secondary infection rate. Close physical contact and toilet sharing increase the risk of infection. This study demonstrates shorter incubation period and serial interval.

Manuscript prepared for submission to Clinical Case Reports

The process of antiviral response is a complex and vast process involving the interplay of multiple signaling pathways, leading to the production of cytokines that coordinate the immune response. Recently, O-GlcNAcylation has been found to play a role in antiviral responses, especially against RNA viruses. Increased glucose uptake or the regulation of key proteins in its pathway following infection happen to induce O-GlcNAcylation. In humoral immunity, O-GlcNAcylation is responsible for the maturity and migration of immune cells to infected sites. Interestingly, these functions are context-dependent and may pose “friend” and/or “foe” effects to the virus as well as the cell/body. In this study, I examine existing knowledge of O-GlcNAcylation and its signaling in relation to glucose metabolism and the coordination of antiviral innate and adaptive immunity for and against viral infection.

Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) is an essential enabling technology that is expected to help future broadband wireless networks meet their higher system throughput requirements. However, in addition, NOMA should also aim to provide a desired trade-off between system throughput and user fairness, as fairness is an equally important aspect that should go hand in hand with system throughput. In order to achieve such a desired trade-off, in this paper, we derive optimal power allocation (PA) coefficients at the NOMA transmitter, by formulating and solving a joint sum rate and fairness optimization problem. To the best of our knowledge, such a work is missing in the literature. Additionally, along with the usual transmitter power budget and Quality of Service (QoS) constraints, we also consider the minimum transmit power gap between users, that is required for successful signal decoding of a user in a SIC receiver, a constraint ignored at large in the literature. The weighted sum method is used to convert the joint objective optimization problem into a single-objective optimization problem to make it analytically solvable and also provide the desired trade-off between the conflicting objectives. As part of the validation process, we present simulation results and also compare the performance of the derived system with a system that considers only the sum rate objective.

Frequent listening to unfamiliar music excerpts converges functional connectivity in the brain as music becomes familiar and memorable. Nonetheless, previous neuroimaging and electroencephalography (EEG) studies have yet to determine where and when these connections arise in the brain during familiarization. This study investigates electrophysiological changes in functional connectivity recorded by EEG from twenty participants’ brains during self-assessment familiarization with initially unknown classical music excerpts via three times passive listening. Connectivity between all pairwise combinations of EEG electrodes is evaluated across all repetitions via repeated measures ANOVA and between every two repetitions of listening to unknown music with the weighted phase lag index (WPLI) method in different frequency bins and bands. The results of the WPLI method indicate an increased coupling during gradual familiarization between the frontal and parietal areas in the theta band, especially at 7 Hz. In addition, the increased functional coupling is discovered during music familiarization between the frontal and temporal areas at the low-alpha band. Moreover, during listening to music, whether familiar or unfamiliar, robust functional connectivity between the frontal and parietal areas occurs in the alpha band compared to other bands, regardless of the number of repetitions and familiarization. Overall, this study revealed that repeated listening to music activates specific functional connectivity in the brain: familiarization increases bi-spectral functional connections between the frontal and parietal areas at the theta band and between the frontal and temporal areas at the low-alpha band.

Sinoscopy consists on direct visualization of the paranasal sinuses and was first conceived for diagnostic purposes using an endoscope through a skull trephination. Since then, the use and approaches to perform it have evolved thanks to current advancements in knowledge (sinus anatomy and pathology) and technology. The aim of this study is to review the techniques reported to perform traditional and minimally invasive sinoscopy and to review the current use of sinoscopy to treat paranasal sinus disease. The history of sinoscopy, as we know it today, is relatively recent but its use among clinicians is not necessarily widespread due to the invasiveness of the traditional technique when compared to imaging techniques. This limitation could be bypassed using the newer intranasal or extranasal minimally invasive sinoscopic approaches. These techniques allowed sinoscopic visualization through natural orifices or minimally invasively created openings. Despite the potential of these techniques, case selection is still crucial as visualization can be limited in selected pathologies (i.e: sinus cyst), some sinuses (i.e: rostral maxillary with intranasal approaches) and if haemorraghe or severe exudate accumulation is found. Nevertheless, sinoscopy offers a diagnostic rate superior to traditional imaging and it is an alternative diagnostic tool when advanced imaging techniques, such as CT, are not available. In recent years, sinoscopic treatment is progressively replacing the use of sinusotomies to treat most sinus pathologies. Sinoscopic treatment yields a high resolution rate while complications are kept low. Familiarization with sinoscopic techniques and in-depth anatomic sinus knowledge will likely make sinoscopy the gold standard technique to treat sinus disease in the short future.

Background Post-cardiac injury syndrome (PCIS) is a clinical entity caused by immune reactions against antigens released after primary or secondary cardiac damage. This condition, which has been reported to occur generally after cardiac perforation, may also occur after epicardial ablation of ventricular arrhythmias. Case summary We report a case of a 33-year-old Male who developed chest pain accompanied by electrocardiogram (ECG) changes—extensive ST segment elevation in V1–V6 leads after an initially uncomplicated ventricular tachycardia CA procedure by epicardial approach. After examination and investigations, including transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), invasive coronary angiography (ICA), he was diagnosed with regional pericarditis, which occurred even though the ablation was uneventful. Furthermore, the diagnosis was difficult due to the absence of pericardial effusion on TTE and the unique ECG with changes that can be confused with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), findings that are not characteristic of pericarditis. The most important factor that made our case interesting was the improvement of the complaints and ECG findings after the removal of the epicardial catheter. The patient was discharged after a certain period of TTE and ECG follow-up. Discussion Regional pericarditis after ablation is a relatively rare PCIS. Coronary events should definitely be considered in the differential diagnosis. It is important to confirm the diagnosis with non-invasive and, if necessary, invasive imaging methods and to perform treatments and interventions for the underlying cause.

Brain-specific angiogenesis inhibitor 1 (BAI1) belongs to the adhesion G-protein-coupled receptors, which exhibit large multi-domain extracellular N-termini that mediate cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. To explore the existence of BAI1 isoforms, we queried genomic datasets for markers of active chromatin and new transcript variants in the ADGRB1 gene. Two major types of mRNAs were identified in human and mouse brain, those with a start codon in exon 2 encoding a full-length protein of a predicted size of 173.5 kDa and shorter transcripts starting from alternative exons at the intron 17/exon 18 boundary with new or exon 19 start codons, predicting shorter isoforms of 76.9 and 70.8 kDa, respectively. Immunoblots on wild-type and Adgrb1 exon 2-deleted mice, reverse transcription PCR and promoter-luciferase reporters confirmed that the shorter isoforms originate from an alternative promoter in intron 17. The shorter BAI1 isoforms lack most of the N-terminus and are very close in structure to the truncated BAI1 isoform generated through GPS processing from the full-length receptor, except that the latter exhibits a 19 amino acid extracellular stalk that can serve as a receptor agonist. Further studies are warranted to compare the functions of these isoforms and examine the distinct roles they play in different tissues and cell types.

This work presents an investigation on the numerical simulation of a layered piezoelectric system using the complex finite element method (ZFEM). This approach allows the standard FEM solution to provide information about the design sensitivity of the mechanical displacement and voltage potential fields with respect to small variations in the material properties of the system. The layered body is formed by PZT-4 and PZT-5 stacked together. Results show that the design sensitivities of the soft grounded piezoelectric are larger compared to those of PZT-4 for the specific configuration analyzed. For solution verification purposes. The standard steady state solution was compared against a commercial FEM package and the error obtained was less than 4%.

A document by Kentaro Shirakura. Click on the document to view its contents.

The process and mechanism of biomineralization and relevant physicochemical properties of mineral crystals are remarkably sophisticated multidisciplinary fields that include biology, chemistry, physics, and materials science. The components of the organic matter, structural construction of minerals, and related mechanical interaction, etc., could help to reveal the unique nature of the special mineralization process. Herein, the paper provides an overview of the biomineralization process from the perspective of molecular vibrational spectroscopy, including the physicochemical properties of biomineralized tissues, from physiological to applied mineralization. These physicochemical characteristics closely to the hierarchical mineralization process include biological crystal defects, chemical bonding, atomic doping, structural changes, and content changes in organic matter, along with the interface between biocrystals and organic matter as well as the specific mechanical effects for hardness and toughness. Based on those observations, the special physiological properties of mineralization for enamel and bone, as well as the possible mechanism of pathological mineralization and calcification such as atherosclerosis, tumor micro mineralization, and urolithiasis are also reviewed and discussed. Indeed, the clearly defined physicochemical properties of mineral crystals could pave the way for studies on the mechanisms and applications.

Insect declines have been reported widely and are expected to alter ecosystem functions and processes. Land-use change is recognised as a major cause of decline in insect biodiversity and abundance. Variation in local environmental drivers and the scale of available monitoring data have left large knowledge gaps in which taxa are declining and where declines are the greatest, and how these declines will impact ecosystems. We used 11 years (2006-2016) of monitoring data on 40 farms distributed over ~10,000 km2 in southern Québec, Canada, to quantify the impact of agricultural intensity on temporal trends in abundance and biomass of Diptera (true flies). There was a large difference in temporal trends between farms, which we found to be driven by agricultural landcover. Contrary to expectation, increases in abundance over time were greater in areas with higher agricultural intensity, especially with an increase in cereal crops. In contrast, declines in dipteran biomass were steeper in areas of higher agricultural intensity, although only with greater maize and soy production rather than cereals such as wheat. Variation in forest cover around farms had the least effect on trends. We found steeper declines in biomass per total number of Diptera with increasing agricultural cover, suggesting the presence of community turnover toward smaller-bodied flies with lower individual biomass. Our results reveal further complexities in insect trends driven by changes in land-use and show the importance of long-term monitoring and the use of multiple indicators for understanding biodiversity change.

The biogeography research of orchids through species distribution models (SDMs), a vital tool in the biogeography field, is critical to understanding the fundamental geographic distribution patterns and identifying conservation priorities. The correspondence between species occurrence and environmental information is crucial to the model’s performance. However, ecological preferences unique to different orchid species, such as their life forms, are often overlooked during the modeling process. This oversight can introduce bias and increase model uncertainty. Additionally, human activities, as an important potential predictor, have not been quantified in any orchid SDMs. Taking the Hengduan Mountains as an example, we preprocessed all orchid species’ occurrences based on physiological characteristics. Choosing five spatial factors related to human activities to quantify the interference and enter into models as HI factor. Using different modeling methods (GLM, MaxEnt, and RF) and evaluation indices (AUC, TSS, and Kappa), diverse modeling strategies have been constructed in the study. A double-ranking method has been adopted to select the critical orchid distribution regions. The results showed that classification models based on physiological characteristics significantly improved the model’s accuracy while adding the HI factor had the same effect but the absence of enough significance. Suitability maps indicated that highly heterogeneous mountainous areas were vital for the distribution of orchids in the Hengduan Mountains. Different distribution patterns and critical regions existed between various orchid life forms geographically - terrestrial orchids were dominant in the mountain, and mycoherterophical orchids were primarily located in the north, more influenced by vegetation and temperature. Critical regions of epiphytic orchids were in the south due to a greater dependence on precipitation and temperature. These studies are informative for understanding the orchids’ geographic distribution patterns in the Hengduan Mountains, promoting conservation, and providing references for similar research beyond orchids.

Background: Respiratory birch pollen allergy and associated oral allergy syndrome affect more than 150 million people. IgE cross-sensitization to major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 and pathogenesis-related (PR10) plant food allergens is responsible for the pollen-food allergy syndrome. Methods: We designed a recombinant protein, AB-PreS, consisting of non-allergenic peptides derived from the IgE binding sites of Bet v 1 and the cross-reactive apple allergen, Mal d 1, fused to the PreS domain of HBV surface protein as immunological carrier. AB-PreS was expressed in E. coli and purified by chromatography. The allergenic activity of AB-PreS was tested using sera and basophils from birch pollen patients allergic. The protective effect of AB-PreS was assessed by inhibition ELISA test using sera allergic patients and from immunized rabbits. Results: IgE-binding experiments and basophil activation test revealed the hypoallergenic nature of AB-PreS. IgG antibodies induced by 5 injections with AB-PreS inhibited allergic patients’ IgE binding to Bet v 1 and Mal d 1 better than did IgG induced by up to 30 injections of six licensed birch pollen allergen extract-based vaccines. Additionally, immunization with AB-PreS induced HBV-specific antibodies potentially protecting the infection. Conclusion: The recombinant AB-PreS-based vaccine is hypoallergenic, safe and superior to currently registered allergen extract-based vaccines for the treatment of the birch pollen food allergy syndrome.

Background: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is increasingly diagnosed in patients with dysphagia and upper gastroenteric symptoms. Elimination diets and/or pharmacologic agents may accomplish temporary remission, but long-term control is challenging. Type-2 immunity to ingested antigens can induce EoE histopathology via non-IgE-dependent mechanisms, possibly involving IgG4 and IL-10 production. To elucidate the contribution of IgG4- and IL-10-producing cells to EoE pathogenesis, we examined their frequencies and association with clinical and histologic endpoints in adult EoE patients given a two-food elimination diet (TFED). Methods: Sixteen patients with EoE were prescribed a TFED. Biopsies collected at baseline and follow-up were used for immunofluorescent detection of IgG4- and IL-10-expressing cells and serum food-specific IgG4 were measured. All variables were correlated with established histologic measures of disease activity. Results: Patients exhibited significant clinical improvement and significant reduction in esophageal eosinophilia and overall histology. A significant decrease in the frequencies of IL-10-expressing cells was also observed, which correlated with histologic changes. In contrast, a concomitant decline in serum and esophageal IgG4, while substantial, did not correlate with IL-10 +-cell frequencies or any histologic parameter of EoE activity. Conclusions: The close association of esophageal IL-10 expression with histologic features and their changes after a TFED suggests a critical role of this cytokine in EoE pathogenesis. Conversely, IgG4 serum and mucosal expression, while reflecting the level of exposure to relevant food antigens, is not obviously related to EoE histopathology or IL-10 expression. Studies are needed to characterize IL-10 cellular sources and their functions in EoE progression and treatment response.

The field of medicine is witnessing an exponential growth of interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI), which enables new research questions and the analysis of larger and new types of data. Nevertheless, applications that go beyond proof of concepts and deliver clinical value remain rare, especially in the field of allergy and immunology. This narrative review provides a fundamental understanding of the core concepts of AI and critically discusses its limitations and open challenges, such as data availability and bias, along with potential directions to surmount them. We provide a conceptual framework to structure AI applications within this field and discuss forefront case examples. Most of these applications of AI and machine learning in allergy concern supervised learning and unsupervised clustering, with a strong emphasis on diagnosis and subtyping. A perspective is shared on guidelines for good AI practice to guide readers in applying it effectively and safely, along with prospects of field advancement and initiatives to increase clinical impact. We anticipate that AI can further deepen our knowledge of disease mechanisms and contribute to precision medicine in allergy.

Huge pseudoaneurysms are rare and can potentially be life-threatening bleeding due to rupture. We report a patient presenting a huge pseudoaneurysm who underwent distal pancreatectomy with Warshaw's technique.

Cold seeps are unique ecosystem deep in the ocean, driven by the chemosynthetic based benthic communities. One of the unique organisms found in this ecosystem is the polychaete annelid tubeworm belonging to the Siboglinidae family. This organism depends on sulfur oxidising endosymbionts that are housed in the bacteriocytes for its nutrition. However, little information is available on the complete microbiota present in the trophosome. The detailed investigation was carried out by employing a 16S rDNA based metagenomic analysis of the trophosome from the tubeworm collected from the Mannar basin pockmark area in the Indian Ocean. Despite being dominated by sulfur oxidizing bacteria, there was a high percentage of OTUs belonging to Pseudomonales and Bacteroidales. These bacteria may be involved in the metabolism of methane and complex polymers which aids in the nutrition of the tubeworm and requires further investigation with regards to their role. The sulfur oxidizing bacteria showed more than 99% identity with symbiont sequences of Escarpia sp and other Lamellibrachia sp from the Western Mediterranean Sea and Gulf of Mexico respectively. This data constitutes the first report on the bacterial community present in the trophosome of the cold seep tubeworm Lamellibrachia sp from the pockmark of Mannar basin.

A new electrophilic monofluoromethylthiolating reagent N-fluoromethylthiophthalimide PhthSCH2F 1 was developed. Reagent 1 could be readily synthesized from easily available starting materials benzyl mercaptan and CH2FCl in three steps. N-fluoromethylthiophthalimide 1 is a powerful electrophilic monofluoromethylthiolating reagent that allows the monofluorome-thylthiolation of a wide range of nucleophiles including alkynes, aryl/vinyl boronic acids, electron-rich heteroarenes,-ketoesters and oxindoles, as well as thiols under mild conditions.