Characteristics and physical mechanisms of a rainstorm in Hotan, Xinjiang, China

Owing to global warming, extreme precipitation events in the arid regions of Central Asia have increased, resulting in significant consequences for water resources and ecosystems. Hence, to address the features and corresponding physical mechanisms of these rainstorms, we examined the rainstorm that occurred in Hotan, Xinjiang in June 2021 as a case study. We employed multiple datasets, including meteorological stations, sounding observations, satellite precipitation data, and reanalysis datasets. The results indicate that the Global Precipitation Measurement satellite precipitation product accurately captured the temporal and spatial variations in this rainstorm, as verified against hourly in situ observation data. Some meteorological stations recorded values greater than twice their historical records, such as Luopu, Pishan, Moyu, and Hotan. Moreover, the duration of the precipitation was longer than 2 days. For the physical mechanisms of this rainstorm, the water vapor in this rainstorm is sourced from the 45°–65°N region of the North Atlantic Ocean crosses the Ural Mountains and the West Siberian Plain to southern Xinjiang. The low-pressure levels (e.g., 700 hPa and 850 hPa) have the more water vapor flux and specific humidity than the high-pressure levels. Our findings can aid the understanding of extreme precipitation events in Central Asia and provide a reference for dealing with meteorological disasters, including extreme precipitation, in the context of global climate change

Integrative single-cell RNA sequencing and metabolomics decipher the imbalanced lipid-metabolism in maladaptive immune responses during sepsis

BackgroundTo identify differentially expressed lipid metabolism-related genes (DE-LMRGs) responsible for immune dysfunction in sepsis.MethodsThe lipid metabolism-related hub genes were screened using machine learning algorithms, and the immune cell infiltration of these hub genes were assessed by CIBERSORT and Single-sample GSEA. Next, the immune function of these hub genes at the single-cell level were validated by comparing multiregional immune landscapes between septic patients (SP) and healthy control (HC). Then, the support vector machine-recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) algorithm was conducted to compare the significantly altered metabolites critical to hub genes between SP and HC. Furthermore, the role of the key hub gene was verified in sepsis rats and LPS-induced cardiomyocytes, respectively.ResultsA total of 508 DE-LMRGs were identified between SP and HC, and 5 hub genes relevant to lipid metabolism (MAPK14, EPHX2, BMX, FCER1A, and PAFAH2) were screened. Then, we found an immunosuppressive microenvironment in sepsis. The role of hub genes in immune cells was further confirmed by the single-cell RNA landscape. Moreover, significantly altered metabolites were mainly enriched in lipid metabolism-related signaling pathways and were associated with MAPK14. Finally, inhibiting MAPK14 decreased the levels of inflammatory cytokines and improved the survival and myocardial injury of sepsis.ConclusionThe lipid metabolism-related hub genes may have great potential in prognosis prediction and precise treatment for sepsis patients

Ultrasound probe tilt impedes the needle-beam alignment during the ultrasound-guided procedures

Abstract The objective of this study was to identify the factors that complicate the needle visualization in ultrasound-guided in-plane needling procedures. Forty-nine residents were recruited and randomized to insert the simulated blood vessel with four different views including Neutral (the long axis of the probe along the visual axis and the ultrasonic beam vertical to the surface of gel phantom), 45°-rotation (45° angle between the long axis of probe and the operator’s visual axis), 45°-tilt (45° angle between the ultrasonic beam and the surface of gel phantom) and 45°-rotation plus 45°-tilt of probe. Number of needle redirections, insertion time, and needle visibility were documented and compared for each procedure. When the residents faced with 45°-tilt view, the needle redirections (2 vs 0) and insertion time increased significantly (39 vs 16) compared with that of the Neutral view. When faced with 45°-rotation plus 45°-tilt view, the residents’ performance decreased further as compared with that of the 45°-tilt view and the Neutral view. However, there was no performance difference between the Neutral view and 45°-rotation view. In conclusion, during ultrasound-guided in-plane procedures, tilting the ultrasound probe may increase the difficulty of needle-beam alignment

Association Between Low Serum Albumin and Preoperative Deep Vein Thrombosis in Patients Undergoing Total Joint Arthroplasty: A Retrospective Study

To investigate the association between albumin and preoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty (TJA). This study enrolled 2133 patients. We created the receiver operator characteristic curve to determine the cut-off values for preoperative albumin (bromocresol green method) and DVT in TJA patients. We divided the patients into groups based on the albumin cut-off value and then assessed the risk factors in a multivariate logistic regression analysis. DVT occurred in 110 cases. The cut-off value for albumin was 37.2 g/L and the area under the curve was 0.611. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the risk for DVT before TJA in patients with albumin <37.2 g/L was increased by 1.99 times ( P  = .001, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.34-2.97]); albumin of 30 to 37.2 g/L group and the albumin < 30 g/L group increased by 1.9 times ( P  = .002, 95% CI [1.28-2.88]) and 3.25 times ( P  = .015, 95% CI [1.26-8.4]), respectively. The patients in the albumin of 30 to 37.2 g/L and the albumin < 30 g/L group had 1.6 times ( P  < .001, 95% CI [1.3-1.99] and 6.1 times ( P  < .001, 95% CI [3.46-10.75]), respectively, higher risk of perioperative transfusion. Patients older than 69.5 years had a 3.8-fold increased risk of preoperative DVT ( P  = .005, 95% CI [2.47-5.78]). Corticosteroid use had a 3 times higher risk of preoperative DVT ( P  = .013, 95% CI [1.26-7.2]). We found that albumin < 37.2 g/L, patients older than 69.5 years, and corticosteroid use were independent risk factors for preoperative DVT in TJA patients. Additionally, the lower the preoperative albumin level, the greater the odds of preoperative DVT formation, and the higher the risk of perioperative transfusion

Application of a deep generative model produces novel and diverse functional peptides against microbial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance could threaten millions of lives in the immediate future. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are an alternative to conventional antibiotics practice against infectious diseases. Despite the potential contribution of AMPs to the antibiotic’s world, their development and optimization have encountered serious challenges. Cutting-edge methods with novel and improved selectivity toward resistant targets must be established to create AMPs-driven treatments. Here, we present AMPTrans-lstm, a deep generative network-based approach for the rational design of AMPs. The AMPTrans-lstm pipeline involves pre-training, transfer learning, and module identification. The AMPTrans-lstm model has two sub-models, namely, (long short-term memory) LSTM sampler and Transformer converter, which can be connected in series to make full use of the stability of LSTM and the novelty of Transformer model. These elements could generate AMPs candidates, which can then be tailored for specific applications. By analyzing the generated sequence and trained AMPs, we prove that AMPTrans-lstm can expand the design space of the trained AMPs and produce reasonable and brand-new AMPs sequences. AMPTrans-lstm can generate functional peptides for antimicrobial resistance with good novelty and diversity, so it is an efficient AMPs design tool

Spinal apolipoprotein E is involved in inflammatory pain via regulating lipid metabolism and glial activation in the spinal dorsal horn

Abstract Introduction Inflammation and nerve injury promote astrocyte activation, which regulates the development and resolution of pain, in the spinal dorsal horn. APOE regulates lipid metabolism and is predominantly expressed in the astrocytes. However, the effect of astrocytic APOE and lipid metabolism on spinal cellular function is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of spinal Apoe on spinal cellular functions using the complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced inflammatory pain mouse model. Methods After intraplantar injection of CFA, we assessed pain behaviors in C57BL6 and Apoe knockout (Apoe −/− ) mice using von Frey and Hargreaves’ tests and analyzed dorsal horn samples (L4-5) using western blotting, immunofluorescence, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and RNA sequencing. Results The Apoe levels were markedly upregulated at 2 h and on days 1 and 3 post-CFA treatment. Apoe was exclusively expressed in the astrocytes. Apoe −/− mice exhibited decreased pain on day 1, but not at 2 h, post-CFA treatment. Apoe −/− mice also showed decreased spinal neuron excitability and paw edema on day 1 post-CFA treatment. Global transcriptomic analysis of the dorsal horn on day 1 post-CFA treatment revealed that the differentially expressed mRNAs in Apoe −/− mice were associated with lipid metabolism and the immune system. Astrocyte activation was impaired in Apoe −/− mice on day 1 post-CFA treatment. The intrathecal injection of Apoe antisense oligonucleotide mitigated CFA-induced pain hypersensitivity. Conclusions Apoe deficiency altered lipid metabolism in astrocytes, exerting regulatory effects on immune response, astrocyte activation, and neuronal activity and consequently disrupting the maintenance of inflammatory pain after peripheral inflammation. Targeting APOE is a potential anti-nociception and anti-inflammatory strategy

The glycolysis/HIF-1α axis defines the inflammatory role of IL-4-primed macrophages

Summary: T helper type 2 (Th2) cytokine-activated M2 macrophages contribute to inflammation resolution and wound healing. This study shows that IL-4-primed macrophages exhibit a stronger response to lipopolysaccharide stimulation while maintaining M2 signature gene expression. Metabolic divergence between canonical M2 and non-canonical proinflammatory-prone M2 (M2INF) macrophages occurs after the IL-4Rα/Stat6 axis. Glycolysis supports Hif-1α stabilization and proinflammatory phenotype of M2INF macrophages. Inhibiting glycolysis blunts Hif-1α accumulation and M2INF phenotype. Wdr5-dependent H3K4me3 mediates the long-lasting effect of IL-4, with Wdr5 knockdown inhibiting M2INF macrophages. Our results also show that the induction of M2INF macrophages by IL-4 intraperitoneal injection and transferring of M2INF macrophages confer a survival advantage against bacterial infection in vivo. In conclusion, our findings highlight the previously neglected non-canonical role of M2INF macrophages and broaden our understanding of IL-4-mediated physiological changes. These results have immediate implications for how Th2-skewed infections could redirect disease progression in response to pathogen infection