Combined moxibustion/adalimumabin treatment of ankylosing spondylitis, and its influence on related functional indicators

Purpose: To study the clinical efficacy of the combination of du-moxibustion and adalimumab in the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis, as well as its influence on related functional indicators.Methods: From 2019 to 2020, 90 ankylosing spondylitis patients treated in Shandong Traditional Chinese Medicine University Hospital were assessed for eligibility and recruited. They were assigned, based on the order of admission, to receive either conventional treatment (control group) or dumoxibustion plus adalimumab (study group). Clinical treatment efficacy, levels of inflammatory indices, and spinal mobility in the two groups were determined and compared. Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) was employed for pain assessment, while Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) was used for disease status evaluation. Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) was used for assessing functional limitation.Results: Du-moxibustion plus adalimumab was associated with significantly higher treatment efficacy and lower levels of inflammatory factors when compared to conventional treatment (p < 0.05). Comparable NRS scores before treatment and 2 weeks after treatment were observed in the two groups (p > 0.05). The eligible patients given du-moxibustion plus adalimumab showed lower NRS scores, higher BASDAI scores, and lower BASFI scores versus those receiving conventional treatment (p < 0.001).Conclusion: Treatment of ankylosing spondylitis patients with the combination of du-moxibustion and adalimumab mitigates symptoms and clinical indicators of the disease and relieves pain in the patients. Therefore, the combined treatment should be subjected to further clinical trials prior to its use in clinical practice

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals a Comprehensive Insect Resistance Response Mechanism in Cotton to Infestation by the Phloem Feeding Insect Bemisia Tabaci (Whitefly)

The whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) causes tremendous damage to cotton production worldwide. However, very limited information is available about how plants perceive and defend themselves from this destructive pest. In this study, the transcriptomic differences between two cotton cultivars that exhibit either strong resistance (HR) or sensitivity (ZS) to whitefly were compared at different time points (0, 12, 24 and 48 h after infection) using RNA‐Seq. Approximately one billion paired‐end reads were obtained by Illumina sequencing technology. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analysis indicated that the cotton transcriptional response to whitefly infestation involves genes encoding protein kinases, transcription factors, metabolite synthesis, and phytohormone signalling. Furthermore, a weighted gene co‐expression network constructed from RNA‐Seq datasets showed that WRKY40 and copper transport protein are hub genes that may regulate cotton defenses to whitefly infestation. Silencing GhMPK3 by virus‐induced gene silencing (VIGS) resulted in suppression of the MPK‐WRKY‐JA and ET pathways and lead to enhanced whitefly susceptibility, suggesting that the candidate insect resistant genes identified in this RNA‐Seq analysis are credible and offer significant utility. Taken together, this study provides comprehensive insights into the cotton defense system to whitefly infestation and has identified several candidate genes for control of phloem‐feeding pests

Identification of a diagnostic model and molecular subtypes of major depressive disorder based on endoplasmic reticulum stress-related genes

SubjectMajor depressive disorder (MDD) negatively affects patients’ behaviours and daily lives. Due to the high heterogeneity and complex pathological features of MDD, its diagnosis remains challenging. Evidence suggests that endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) is involved in the pathogenesis of MDD; however, relevant diagnostic markers have not been well studied. This study aimed to screen for ERS genes with potential diagnostic value in MDD.MethodsGene expression data on MDD samples were downloaded from the GEO database, and ERS-related genes were obtained from the GeneCards and MSigDB databases. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in MDD patients and healthy subjects were identified and then integrated with ERS genes. ERS diagnostic model and nomogram were developed based on biomarkers screened using the LASSO method. The diagnostic performance of this model was evaluated. ERS-associated subtypes were identified. CIBERSORT and GSEA were used to explore the differences between the different subtypes. Finally, WGCNA was performed to identify hub genes related to the subtypes.ResultsA diagnostic model was developed based on seven ERS genes: KCNE1, PDIA4, STAU1, TMED4, MGST1, RCN1, and SHC1. The validation analysis showed that this model had a good diagnostic performance. KCNE1 expression was positively correlated with M0 macrophages and negatively correlated with resting CD4+ memory T cells. Two subtypes (SubA and SubB) were identified, and these two subtypes showed different ER score. The SubB group showed higher immune infiltration than the SubA group. Finally, NCF4, NCF2, CSF3R, and FPR2 were identified as hub genes associated with ERS molecular subtypes.ConclusionOur current study provides novel diagnostic biomarkers for MDD from an ERS perspective, and these findings further facilitate the use of precision medicine in MDD

Multi-mode SAR Interferometry Processing Research and Implementation

Current operation mode of SAR can be roughly divided into two types: strip-map mode and burst mode. The most conventional mode is strip-map mode, in which the swath width is quite limited. The other type is burst mode, which is an active option to overcome this limitation by cyclically scanning several subswaths, known as ScanSAR. In addition, Envisat ASAR has another type of burst mode, that is, Alternating Polarization mode. ALOS PALSAR and Radarsat-1 also have their own ScanSAR operation modes, but each of them is distinctive from the others in implementation. Numerous theoretical results and applications of interferometry using strip-map data have been published before. Interferometry with burst mode data, however, is much rarer and different from the case of the traditional strip-map mode from raw data focusing to interferogram generation because of its burst nature of data acquisition pattern. In our study, we put our emphasis on each kind of burst mode interferometry and mixed mode interferometry. Until now, our successful research work includes Envisat ASAR WS-WS, IM-WS and ALOS PALSAR WB1-WB1 Interferometry. Other development activities including Envisat AP-AP and Radarsat-1 SNA-SNA interferometry are still on going. In the following paper, we will present our results and give an overview of multi-mode SAR. interferometry for the present spaceborne SAR sensors.Engineering, Electrical & ElectronicPhysics, AppliedEICPCI-S(ISTP)

Maliciously Secure Circuit-PSI via SPDZ-Compatible Oblivious PRF

Circuit Private Set Intersection (Circuit-PSI) allows two parties to compute any functionality $f$ on items in the intersection of their input sets without revealing any information about the intersection set. It is a well-known variant of PSI and has numerous practical applications. However, existing circuit-PSI protocols only provide security against \textit{semi-honest} adversaries. One straightforward solution is to extend a pure garbled-circuit-based PSI (NDSS\u2712) to a maliciously secure circuit-PSI, but it will result in non-concrete complexity. Another is converting state-of-the-art semi-honest circuit-PSI protocols (EUROCRYPT\u2721; PoPETS\u2722) to be secure in the malicious setting. However, it will come across \textit{the consistency issue} since parties can not guarantee the inputs of functionality $f$ stay unchanged as obtained from the last step. This paper addresses the aforementioned issue by introducing the first maliciously secure circuit-PSI protocol. The central building block named Distributed Dual-key Oblivious PRF (DDOPRF), provides an oblivious evaluation of secret-shared inputs with dual keys. Additionally, we ensure the compatibility of DDOPRF with SPDZ, enhancing the versatility of our circuit-PSI protocol. Notably, our construction allows us to guarantee fairness within circuit-PSI effortlessly. Importantly, our circuit-PSI protocol also achieves online linear computation and communication complexities

Clinical spectrum and gene mutations in a Chinese cohort with anoctaminopathy

Recessive mutations in anoctamin-5 (ANO5) are causative for limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) 2L and non-dysferlin Miyoshi-like distal myopathy (MMD3). ANDS mutations are highly prevalent in European countries; however it is not common in patients of Asian origin, and there is no data regarding the Chinese population. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical manifestations and gene mutations of Chinese patients with anoctaminopathy. A total of five ANDS mutations including four novel mutations and one reported mutation were found in four patients from three families. No hotspot mutation was found. Three patients presented with presymptomatic hyperCKemia and one patient had limb muscle weakness. Muscle imaging of lower limbs showed preferential adductor magnus and medial gastrocnemius involvement. No hotspot mutation has been identified in Chinese patients to date. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Enhancing the outcoupling efficiency of quantum dot LEDs with internal nano-scattering pattern

We report an effective method to extract light from quantum-dot light emitting diodes (QLEDs) by embedding an internal nano-scattering pattern structure. We use finite-difference time-domain method to analyze the light extraction efficiency of red QLEDs with periodic, quasi-random, and random internal nano-scattering pattern structures. Our simulation results indicate that random internal nano-scattering pattern can greatly enhance the outcoupling efficiency while keeping wide viewing angle for the red QLED. Similar results are obtained by extending this approach to green and blue QLEDs. With the proposed red, green, and blue QLEDs combination, we achieve 105.1% Rec. 2020 color gamut in CIE 1976 color space. We demonstrate that internal nano-scattering pattern structures are attractive for display applications, especially for enhancing the outcoupling efficiency of blue QLEDs