Henoch-Schönlein purpura with joint involvement: Analysis of 71 cases

BACKGROUND: Although joint involvement is the second most common clinical manifestation after skin involvement in patients with Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP), it has not been well characterized. The aim of this study was to profile the clinical characteristics and identify the potential risk factors for kidney damage in HSP patients having joint involvement. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 71 cases of HSP patients with joint involvement who attended our hospital between January 2010 and March 2012 and analyzed their epidemiological profile, clinical characteristics, follow-up findings (up to three years) and overall prognosis. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors associated with renal symptoms in HSP patients with joint involvement. RESULTS: Average age of patients was 8.55 ± 2.13 years with male to female ratio at 1.29:1. The peak age of disease onset was six to 11 years. The most common triggers included upper respiratory infection, vigorous physical activity, and autumn and winter seasons. Forty cases (56.35 %) had gastrointestinal involvement and 37 (52.11 %) had kidney damage; gastrointestinal system, scrotal involvement, and increased D-dimer levels were significantly associated with kidney injury (P < 0.05) by multivariate analysis. Glucocorticoid therapy was effective in alleviating symptoms. CONCLUSION: Gastrointestinal symptoms, scrotal involvement, and increased D-dimer are the potential risk factors for kidney damage in HSP patients having joint involvement. Rational use of corticosteroids was probably responsible for the good clinical outcomes

Habitual intake of flavonoid subclasses and risk of colorectal cancer in two large prospective cohorts

Background: Flavonoids inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells in vitro. In a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial, the Polyp Prevention Trial, a higher intake of one sub-class, flavonols, was significantly associated with reduced risk of recurrent advanced adenoma. Most previous prospective studies on colorectal cancer evaluated only a limited number of flavonoid sub-classes and intake ranges, yielding inconsistent results.  Objective: To examine whether higher habitual dietary intakes of flavonoid subclasses (flavonols, flavones, flavanones, flavan-3-ols and anthocyanins) are associated with lower risk of colorectal cancer.  Design: Using data from validated food frequency questionnaires administered every four years and an updated flavonoid food composition database flavonoid intakes were calculated for 42,478 male participants from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and for 76,364 female participants from the Nurses’ Health Study.  Results: During up to 26 years of follow-up, 2,519 colorectal cancer cases (1,061 in men, 1,458 in women) were documented. Intakes of flavonoid subclasses were not associated with risk of colorectal cancer in either cohort. Pooled multivariable adjusted relative risks (95% confidence interval) comparing the highest with the lowest quintile were 1.04 (0.91, 1.18) for flavonols; 1.01 (0.89, 1.15) for flavones; 0.96 (0.84, 1.10) for flavanones; 1.07 (0.95, 1.21) for flavan-3-ols; and 0.98 (0.81, 1.19) for anthocyanins (all p-values for heterogeneity by sex >0.19). In subsite analyses, flavonoid intake was also not associated with colon or rectal cancer risk.  Conclusion: Our findings do not support the hypothesis that a higher habitual intake of any flavonoid sub-class decreases the risk of colorectal cancer

iDNA-MT: Identification DNA Modification Sites in Multiple Species by Using Multi-Task Learning Based a Neural Network Tool

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2,2′-(Diselane-1,2-di­yl)dinicotinamide N,N′-dimethyl­formamide disolvate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C12H10N4O2Se2·2C3H7NO, contains two solvent mol­ecules and two half mol­ecules of the dinicotinamide, each of which sits on a center of symmetry passing through the middle of the Se—Se bond. In each mol­ecule, the two pyridyl groups and diseleno group are approximately coplanar (r.m.s. deviations from planarity for all non-H atoms = 0.011 and 0.008 Å in the two mol­ecules). Inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds stablilize the crystal packing

A Novel Cloud Removal Method Based on Ihot and the Cloud Trajectories for Landsat Imagery

Cloud removal is significantly needed for enhancing the further utilization of Landsat imagery, since such optical remote sensing satellite images are inevitably contaminated by clouds. Clouds dynamically affect the signal transmission due to their different shapes, heights, and distribution. Generally, pixel replacement is the only and common method used to remove thick opaque clouds, and radiometric correction techniques has been widely adopted to remove the thin clouds. However, no methods can remove both thick and thin clouds at the same time. In this paper, a new method is proposed based on fitting “trajectory” of cloudy pixels with the help of IHOT spatially charactering clouds for pixel correction, which considers signal transmission including not only the additive reflectance from the clouds but also the energy attenuation when solar radiation passes through them. The experimental results show that the proposed approach performs effective removal for thick and thin clouds, and possesses the highest accuracy with the reference image, which can restore land cover information accurately

Risk Factors of Local Control in Adrenal Metastases Treated by Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy – a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE: This study is aimed to explore risk factors affect the therapy outcomes of adrenal metastases (AM) for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and guide clinical dose selection. METHODS AND MATERIALS: PubMed, Embase and Web of Science were searched in September 22, 2022 in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA). Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were used to search for sources of heterogeneity and identify risky outcomes factors. Publication bias test and sensitivity analysis were also conducted. RESULTS: Thirty-three studies with full text from 2009 to 2022 about AM with SBRT on 1483 patients were included. Pooled 1- and 2-year local control (LC) and overall survival(OS) were 81.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 75.6%-86.5%), 62.8% (95% CI, 53.8%-71.8%), 67.4% (95%CI, 61.8%-73.1%) and 46.5% (95%CI, 40.4%-52.6%), respectively. Biological effective dose (BED, CONCLUSION: Increasing the dose per fraction appropriately may help control locally AM lesious. Tracking technology might contribute to improve survival of advanced patients with AM. But these results need prospective studies to verify them

Fine mapping of chromosome 5p15.33 based on a targeted deep sequencing and high density genotyping identifies novel lung cancer susceptibility loci

Chromosome 5p15.33 has been identified as a lung cancer susceptibility locus, however the underlying causal mechanisms were not fully elucidated. Previous fine-mapping studies of this locus have relied on imputation or investigated a small number of known, common variants. This study represents a significant advance over previous research by investigating a large number of novel, rare variants, as well as their underlying mechanisms through telomere length. Variants for this fine-mapping study were identified through a targeted deep sequencing (average depth of coverage greater than 4000×) of 576 individuals. Subsequently, 4652 SNPs, including 1108 novel SNPs, were genotyped in 5164 cases and 5716 controls of European ancestry. After adjusting for known risk loci, rs2736100 and rs401681, we identified a new, independent lung cancer susceptibility variant in LPCAT1: rs139852726 (OR = 0.46, P = 4.73×10(–9)), and three new adenocarcinoma risk variants in TERT: rs61748181 (OR = 0.53, P = 2.64×10(–6)), rs112290073 (OR = 1.85, P = 1.27×10(–5)), rs138895564 (OR = 2.16, P = 2.06×10(–5); among young cases, OR = 3.77, P = 8.41×10(–4)). In addition, we found that rs139852726 (P = 1.44×10(–3)) was associated with telomere length in a sample of 922 healthy individuals. The gene-based SKAT-O analysis implicated TERT as the most relevant gene in the 5p15.33 region for adenocarcinoma (P = 7.84×10(–7)) and lung cancer (P = 2.37×10(–5)) risk. In this largest fine-mapping study to investigate a large number of rare and novel variants within 5p15.33, we identified novel lung and adenocarcinoma susceptibility loci with large effects and provided support for the role of telomere length as the potential underlying mechanism

Analysis on the similarity and difference of the mechanism of Guizhi decoction and formula granules alleviating blood stasis syndrome via metabolomics

Objective To analyze the similarity and difference of the mechanism for Guizhi decoction and its formula granules alleviating blood stasis syndrome (BSS) in rats using proton neclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR) metabolomics. Methods Firstly, the chemical constituents of Guizhi decoction and its formula granules were analyzed based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technology. Secondly, 28 SD female mice were randomly divided into control group, model group, decoction group and granule group. The model was constructed with ice water bath and subcutaneous injection of adrenaline. After the modeling was completed, 24 h urine of rats was collected and metabolomic analysis was performed to reveal the metabolic profile regulation mechanism of BSS rats improved by Guizhi decoction and formula granules from the metabolomic level. Results A total of 19 and 20 chemical constituents were identified in decoction and formula granules respectively, and 15 chemical constituents were identified together, 4 chemical constituents were identified in decoction but not in formula granules, and 5 chemical constituents were identified in formula granules but not in decoction. Compared with the model group, the index of whole blood viscosity was significantly regressed after drug intervention in the decoction group and the granule group, and the index of red blood cell aggregation was significantly regressed in the decoction group. The metabolomics results showed that 15 differential metabolites were screened in the decoction group compared with the model group, and that it could improve BSS by modulating four pathways: glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, histidine metabolism, and taurine and hypotaurine metabolism. Thirteen differential metabolites were screened in the granule group compared with the model group. Guizhi formula granules could alleviate BSS by regulating three pathways: glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism and histidine metabolism. Conclusion Both Guizhi decoction and formula granules can improve BSS by regressing disordered differential metabolites and metabolic pathways, which indicates that Guizhi formula granules have similar efficacy to the decoction

Winter greening on the Tibetan Plateau induced by climate warming over 2000-2021

Climate warming is expected to increase growth and expansion of evergreen vegetation in many cold regions, with substantial influences on ecological and atmospheric processes. Nevertheless, the direction and magnitude of changes in productivity (greenness) of evergreen vegetation, as well as their potential drivers, remain unclear in many parts of the world. The woody evergreen vegetation on the Tibetan Plateau influences ecosystems and land surface processes, affecting regional and continental weather and climate through regulating land-air interactions. Here, we show that the remotely-sensed winter greenness of evergreen vegetation increased by 9.8% over 2000–2021 on the Tibetan Plateau, with significant (P < 0.05) greening across 55.8% of the areas with evergreen vegetation, which is more widespread than the increase of summer peak greenness, suggesting upslope shifts in treelines and shrublines and encroachment by evergreen woody plants. While our results show that warming was the principal climate driver of greening, the spatial pattern of greening was more related to the temperature sensitivity of greenness rather than temperature trends. Positive impacts of increasing precipitation on greenness were observed in a few areas classified as grasslands. Moreover, the magnitude of winter greening on the plateau was larger than that of the greening in the Arctic, where warming was faster, which indicates higher level of sensitivity of greenness to temperature of evergreen vegetation on the Tibetan Plateau. Our results highlight the high sensitivity of evergreen vegetation to climate warming and provide a new foundation for improving the understanding the responses and feedbacks of the Tibetan Plateau ecosystem to climate change.This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2022YFF0801901), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (Grant No. 23K18517), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Top-Notch Young Talents Program of China (to M Shen). JP was supported by the Grant TED2021-132627B-I00 funded by MCIN, AEI/10.13039/501100011033, the European Union Next GenerationEU/PRTR, and by the Spanish Government grant PID2019-110521 GB-I00, the Fundación Ramón Areces grant CIVP20A6621, and the Catalan Government grant SGR2017-1005. We would like to thank Prof. Jonathan Chase at German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research for his assistance with English language and grammatical editing of the manuscript.Peer reviewe