Severe retinal hemorrhages at various levels with a serous retinal detachment in a pediatric patient with aplastic anemia–A case report

BackgroundAplastic anemia can cause ophthalmic abnormalities in patients. Vision loss in a child with aplastic anemia due to massive retinal hemorrhages at various levels is rare.Case presentationA pediatric patient with aplastic anemia presented with retinal hemorrhages at multiple levels along with a serous retinal detachment in both eyes and subsequent retinal changes after pars plana vitrectomy.ConclusionAnemia and thrombocytopenia in aplastic anemia could cause severe retinal hemorrhages and result in retinal atrophy and retinal edema. Vitrectomy can be performed to remove vitreous hemorrhage, but risk factors for retinal atrophy and edema need further investigation

NF kappaB expression increases and CFTR and MUC1 expression decreases in the endometrium of infertile patients with hydrosalpinx: a comparative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hydrosalpinx are associated with infertility, due to reduced rates of implantation and increased abortion rates. The aims of this study were to investigate the expression of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), nuclear factor kappa B (NF KappaB) and mucin-1 (MUC-1), and analyze the correlation between the expression of CFTR and NF KappaB or MUC1, in the endometrium of infertile women with and without hydrosalpinx.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty-one infertile women with laparoscopy-confirmed unilateral or bilateral hydrosalpinx and 20 infertile women without hydrosalpinx or pelvic inflammatory disease (control group) were recruited. Endometrial biopsy samples were collected and the expression of CFTR, NF KappaB and MUC1 were analyzed using immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CFTR, NF KappaB and MUC1 mRNA and protein expression tended to increase in the secretory phase compared to the proliferative phase in both groups; however, these differences were not significantly different. The endometrium of infertile patients with hydrosalpinx had significantly higher NF KappaB mRNA and protein expression, and significantly lower CFTR and MUC1 mRNA and protein expression, compared to control infertile patients. A positive correlation was observed between <it>CFTR</it> and <it>MUC1</it> mRNA expression (r = 0.65, <it>P</it> < 0.05); a negative correlation was observed between <it>CFTR</it> mRNA and <it>NF KappaB</it> mRNA expression (r = −0.59, <it>P</it> < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Increased NF KappaB expression and decreased CFTR and MUC1 expression in the endometrium of infertile patients with hydrosalpinx reinforce the involvement of a molecular mechanism in the regulation of endometrial receptivity.</p

Remotely Sensed Vegetation Green-Up Onset Date on the Tibetan Plateau: Simulations and Future Predictions

Vegetation green-up onset date (VGD) is a key indicator of ecosystem structure and processes. As the largest and highest alpine ecoregion, the Tibetan plateau (TP) has experienced markable climate warming during the past decades and showed substantial changes in VGD. However, the existing process-based phenology models still cannot simulate interannual variations in satellite-derived VGD. In this study, we developed a data-driven VGD model for the TP based on the Long short-term memory neural network (called VGD-LSTM). VGD-LSTM considers the complicated nonlinear relationship between VGD and multiple climatic and environmental drivers, including the time series of temperature (daytime, daily minimum, and daily mean) and precipitation, as well as nonsequential variables (elevation and geolocation). Compared with the benchmark process-based VGD model for the TP (i.e., the hierarchical model), VGD-LSTM greatly improved the simulation of interannual VGD variations. We calculated the correlation coefficients (R) between satellite-derived VGDs and VGD simulations during 2000&#x2013;2018; the percentages of pixels with R values above 0.5 increased from 15&#x0025; for the hierarchical model to 41&#x0025; for VGD-LSTM. The advanced trend in the satellite-derived VGD on the entire TP during 2000&#x2013;2018 (&#x2212;0.37 day&#x002F;year) was captured well by VGD-LSTM (&#x2212;0.33 day&#x002F;year) but was underestimated by the hierarchical model (&#x2212;0.08 day&#x002F;year). According to VGD-LSTM simulations, VGDs on the TP are projected to advance by 8&#x2013;10 days by 2100 relative to 2015&#x2013;2020 under high shared socioeconomic pathway scenarios. This study suggests the potential of artificial intelligence in phenology modeling for which the physiological processes are difficult to be fully represented

Increased cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulators expression and decreased epithelial sodium channel alpha subunits expression in early abortion: findings from a mouse model and clinical cases of abortion.

The status of the maternal endometrium is vital in regulating humoral homeostasis and for ensuring embryo implantation. Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulators (CFTR) and epithelial sodium channel alpha subunits (ENaC-α) play an important role in female reproduction by maintaining humoral and cell homeostasis. However, it is not clear whether the expression levels of CFTR and ENaC-α in the decidual component during early pregnancy are related with early miscarriage. CBA×DBA/2 mouse mating has been widely accepted as a classical model of early miscarriage. The abortion rate associated with this mating was 33.33% in our study. The decidua of abortion-prone CBA female mice (DBA/2 mated) had higher CFTR mRNA and protein expression and lower ENaC-α mRNA and protein expression, compared to normal pregnant CBA mice (BLAB/C mated). Furthermore, increased CFTR expression and decreased ENaC-α expression were observed in the uterine tissue from women with early miscarriage, as compared to those with successful pregnancy. In conclusion, increased CFTR expression and decreased ENaC-α expression in the decidua of early abortion may relate with failure of early pregnancy

Effects of Pyrolysis Temperature on the Release Characteristics of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons during Pyrolysis of Corn Stover Pellet

The release characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during the pyrolysis of biomass remain poorly understood. This study investigated the effects of pyrolysis temperature on the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon release characteristics by analyzing both the transient vapor products and the physicochemical properties of corresponding biochar from the pyrolysis of corn stover pellets. The results revealed that the transient volatile compounds mainly included phenols, ketones, acids, furans, aldehydes, substances containing benzene ring, polycyclic aromatic compounds, and gaseous products. A range of 2 to 4 ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were generated at 400 to 700 °C with the peak at 560 °C, and the sum of relative content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ranged from 0.23% to 40.36%. For the biochar, the carbonization stage (400 to 700 °C) of corn stover pellets was further divided into three evolutionary stages, including the preliminary carbonization stage (380 to 480 °C), amorphous carbon structure stage (480 to 600 °C), and the stage of dehydrogenation and growth of aromatic rings (600 to 700 °C).The relationship between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon release in volatile compounds and H/C ratio of the biochar could be described by a power function

Characterizing Spatiotemporal Patterns of Winter Wheat Phenology from 1981 to 2016 in North China by Improving Phenology Estimation

Phenology provides important information for wheat growth management and the estimation of wheat yield and quality. The relative threshold method has been widely used to retrieve phenological metrics from remotely sensed data owing to its simplicity. However, the thresholds vary substantially among phenological metrics and locations, hampering us from effectively detecting spatial and temporal variations in winter wheat phenology. In this study, we developed a calibrated relative threshold method based on ground phenological observations. Compared with the traditional relative threshold method, our method can minimize the bias and uncertainty caused by unreasonable thresholds in determining phenological dates. On this basis, seven key phenological dates and three growth periods of winter wheat were estimated from long-term series (1981–2016) of the remotely sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index for North China (106°18′–122°41′E, 28°59′–39°57′N). Results show that the pre-wintering phenological dates of winter wheat (i.e., emergence and tillering) occurred in December in the south and in mid- to late- October in the north, while the post-wintering phenological dates (i.e., green-up onset, jointing, heading, milky stage, and maturity) exhibited the opposite pattern, that is, January to May in the south and February to June in the north. Consequently, the vegetative growth period increased from 49 days in the south to 77 in the north, and the reproductive growth period decreased from 51 days to 29 days. At the regional scale, all winter wheat phenological dates predominantly advanced, with the most pronounced advancement being for green-up onset (–0.10 days/year, p > 0.1), emergence (–0.09 days/year, p > 0.1), and jointing (–0.08 days/year, p > 0.1). The vegetative growth period and reproductive growth period at the regional scale predominantly extended by 0.03 (p > 0.1) and 0.09 (p < 0.001) days/year, respectively. In general, the later phenological events (i.e., heading, milky stage, and maturity) tended to advance with higher temperature, while the earlier phenological events (i.e., emergence, tillering, green-up onset, and jointing) showed a weak correlation with temperature, suggesting that the earlier events might be mainly affected by management while later ones were more responsive to warming. These findings provide a critical reference for improving winter wheat management under the ongoing climate warming

Sequences of the primers used for qRT-PCR analysis.

<p>Sequences of the primers used for qRT-PCR analysis.</p

CFTR and ENaC-α protein detection by western blot analysis.

<p>The expression of CFTR protein was stronger and the expression of ENaC-α protein was weaker in the decidua of CBA×DBA/2 mice compared to CBA×BALB/C mice (A). Moreover, the expression of CFTR protein was stronger and the expression of ENaC-α protein was weaker in the decidua of women who underwent a miscarriage than normal pregnant women (B). β-tubulin was used as the internal control (approximately 43 kD). Representative images are shown. Densitometry analysis data for CFTR and ENaC-α expression are normalized to the control (100%) for comparison. *P<0.05.</p