The prevalence and risk factors of anxiety in multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundPatients with multiple sclerosis (MS) suffer from repetitive neurological deterioration, while anxiety may play a significant role in the disease’s progression.ObjectiveTo explore the prevalence of anxiety in MS and to investigate the risk factors related to anxiety in MS patients.MethodsAn analysis of four databases, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library, has been conducted to determine the prevalence or risk factors for anxiety in MS published before May 2021.ResultsIn total, 32 studies were found to be eligible. Anxiety prevalence was estimated to be 36% based on the pooled estimates [the 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.30–0.42], I2 = 98.4%]. Significant risk factors for developing of anxiety were as follows: age at survey [the weighted mean difference (WMD) = 0.96, 95% CI = [0.86–1.06], I2 = 43.8%], female [the odd ratio (OR) = 1.78, 95% CI = [1.38–2.30], I2 = 0%], living together (OR 2.83, 95% CI = [1.74–4.59], I2 = 0%), past psychiatric history (OR 2.42, 95% CI = [1.56–3.75], I2 = 0%), depression (OR 7.89, 95% CI = [3.71–16.81], I2 = 0%), not taking MS medication (OR 2.33, 95% CI = [1.29–4.21], I2 = 77.8%), relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) (OR 1.50, 95% CI = [0.94–2.37], I2 = 53.5%), and baseline Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) (OR 0.84, 95% CI = [0.48–1.21], I2 = 62.2%).ConclusionAn estimated 36% of people with MS suffer from anxiety. And anxiety rates in MS patients are significantly associated with age, gender, living together, prior psychiatric history, depression, drug compliance, RRMS, and baseline EDSS.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=287069, identifier CRD42021287069

Utility of clinical metagenomics in diagnosing malignancies in a cohort of patients with Epstein-Barr virus positivity

BackgroundsDifferentiation between benign and malignant diseases in EBV-positive patients poses a significant challenge due to the lack of efficient diagnostic tools. Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing (mNGS) is commonly used to identify pathogens of patients with fevers of unknown-origin (FUO). Recent studies have extended the application of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) in identifying tumors in body fluids and cerebrospinal fluids. In light of these, we conducted this study to develop and apply metagenomic methods to validate their role in identifying EBV-associated malignant disease.MethodsWe enrolled 29 patients with positive EBV results in the cohort of FUO in the Department of Infectious Diseases of Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University from 2018 to 2019. Upon enrollment, these patients were grouped for benign diseases, CAEBV, and malignant diseases according to their final diagnosis, and CNV analysis was retrospectively performed in 2022 using samples from 2018 to 2019.ResultsAmong the 29 patients. 16 of them were diagnosed with benign diseases, 3 patients were diagnosed with CAEBV and 10 patients were with malignant diseases. 29 blood samples from 29 patients were tested for mNGS. Among all 10 patients with malignant diagnosis, CNV analysis suggested neoplasms in 9 patients. Of all 19 patients with benign or CAEBV diagnosis, 2 patients showed abnormal CNV results. The sensitivity and specificity of CNV analysis for the identification for tumors were 90% and 89.5%, separately.ConclusionsThe application of mNGS could assist in the identification of microbial infection and malignancies in EBV-related diseases. Our results demonstrate that CNV detection through mNGS is faster compared to conventional oncology tests. Moreover, the convenient collection of peripheral blood samples adds to the advantages of this approach

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Multiplatform Analysis of 12 Cancer Types Reveals Molecular Classification within and across Tissues of Origin

Recent genomic analyses of pathologically-defined tumor types identify “within-a-tissue” disease subtypes. However, the extent to which genomic signatures are shared across tissues is still unclear. We performed an integrative analysis using five genome-wide platforms and one proteomic platform on 3,527 specimens from 12 cancer types, revealing a unified classification into 11 major subtypes. Five subtypes were nearly identical to their tissue-of-origin counterparts, but several distinct cancer types were found to converge into common subtypes. Lung squamous, head & neck, and a subset of bladder cancers coalesced into one subtype typified by TP53 alterations, TP63 amplifications, and high expression of immune and proliferation pathway genes. Of note, bladder cancers split into three pan-cancer subtypes. The multi-platform classification, while correlated with tissue-of-origin, provides independent information for predicting clinical outcomes. All datasets are available for data-mining from a unified resource to support further biological discoveries and insights into novel therapeutic strategies

Effects of Vegetation Restoration on the Hydrological Regimes of the Chinese Loess Plateau: A Comparative Analysis of Forested and Less-Forested Catchments

Large-scale vegetation restoration can significantly affect catchment hydrology. Assessing the impact of vegetation restoration on hydrological regimes is important for water resource management. We chose three less-forested catchments (LFCs, forested area 77%) that have had secondary forests for more than 150 years, i.e., Zhangcunyi and Huangling, of the Beiluo River basin located in the Loess Plateau (LP) to compare and analyze the stationary and variation characteristics of streamflow and its components from 1958 to 2019. Results show that the mean annual streamflows were 25.07~34.21 and 21.62~48.02 mm in the LFCs and FCs, respectively. The mean streamflow in the LFCs decreased by 50% on average from before the year 2000 to after. The decreasing trend of high flows and increasing trend of low flows is represented in the daily flow duration curves of the LFCs. The result of baseflow separation shows that the average percentages of baseflow in the streamflow were 31.89~43.36% in the LFCs and 58.23~60.14% in the FCs. The Mann–Kendall tests showed significant decreasing trends in annual streamflow (−0.27~−0.70 mm/a) and stormflow (−0.29~−0.64 mm/a) in the LFCs from 1958 to 2019, while the baseflow exhibited increasing trends except for in the Zhidan catchment. The seasonal streamflow and stormflow showed significant decreasing trends in the summer and non-flood season, while the winter and non-flood season’s baseflow increased in LFCs. In FCs, however, the streamflow and its components showed only slight fluctuations over the study period in annual trends, decadal variability, and seasonal trends over the study period, suggesting that FCs have stable hydrological regimes. These results indicate that 20 years of large-scale vegetation restoration greatly influenced hydrological regimes by reducing stormflow and increasing baseflow, and played an important role in streamflow regulation. Conversely, areas with well-preserved vegetation can effectively mitigate the effects of weather and other factors on runoff with stable hydrological regimes. This study can help vegetation restoration and water resource management on the LP

Meso-Experimental Study on Tensile Characteristics of Clay

This paper presents an experimental study on the meso-structure change of clay using an innovative testing system. It aims to evaluate the tensile characteristics of clay. The testing system designed in this paper includes a tensile loading device, an image acquisition device, and an image processing program, which can collect and process the meso-structural images of the soil sample and predict the location of tensile fracture zone with a small preloading. The tests were conducted with three different observation zones, including the tensile fracture zone (Zone 1), the adjacent area of tensile fracture zone (Zone 2), and the areas away from the tensile fracture zone (Zone 3). The results show that the development of cracks is continuous but not linear until tensile failure in Zone 1, and the cracks emerge but stop developing in Zone 2 with the penetration of the cracks in Zone 1, while there is only an overall deviation without any cracks in Zone 3. The variety of mesostructural quantitative parameters in Zone 1 can be divided into three stages: stable stage, rapid change stage, and failure stage. The changes of parameters in Zone 2 show a similar law with those in Zone 1, but the variation is smaller due to the cessation of cracks. The parameters in Zone 3 essentially remain unchanged throughout the whole procedure. According to the test results, the whole stretching process of clay can be divided into the sprouting, the development, and the penetration of cracks

A Modified Theoretical Model to Accurately Account for Interfacial Roughness in Predicting the Interfacial Thermal Conductance

The acoustic mismatch model and the diffuse mismatch model (DMM) have been widely used to predict the thermal interface conductance. However, the acoustic mismatch model and the DMM are based on the hypothesis of a perfectly smooth interface and a completely disordered interface respectively. Here, we present a new modified model, named as the mixed mismatch model, which considers the roughness/bonding at the interface. By taking partially specular and partially diffuse transmission into account, the mixed mismatch model (MMM) can predict the thermal interface conductance with arbitrary roughness. The proportions of specular and diffuse transmission are determined by the interface roughness which is described by the interfacial density of states. We show that the predicted results of the MMM match well with the values of molecular dynamics simulation and experimental data

Preparation of magnetic poly(vinylimidazole-co-divinylbenzene) nanoparticles and their application in the trace analysis of fluoroquinolones in environmental water samples

National Natural Science Foundation of China [21077085]; New Century Excellent Talents in Fujian Province University; Fundamental Innovation Research Funds for Undergraduates in Xiamen UniversityNanosized spherical magnetic poly(vinylimidazole-co-divinylbenzene) particles were synthesized and used as a sorbent for the enrichment of trace fluoroquinolones (FQs) from environmental water samples. A suspension polymerization procedure was used to prepare the sorbent. The magnetic sorbent was characterized by SEM, transmission electron microscopy, elemental analysis, and FTIR spectroscopy. Analysis of enrofloxacin, marbofloxacin, fleroxacin, lomefloxacin, and sparfloxacin in environmental water samples by the combination of the magnetic sorbent and HPLC with diode array detection was selected as a paradigm for the practical application of the new adsorbent. Several extraction conditions, including desorption solvent, extraction and desorption time, pH value, and ionic strength in sample matrix, were optimized. Results showed that the new sorbent had high affinity for FQs and could be used to extract them effectively. Under the optimum conditions, low detection (S/N = 3) and quantification (S/N = 10) limits were achieved for the target analytes, within the ranges of 0.20-1.46 and 0.68-4.84 g/L, respectively. Method repeatability was achieved in terms of intra- and interday precisions, indicated by the RSDs, which were both <10.0%. The method also showed good linearity, simplicity, practicality, and environmental friendliness for the extraction of FQs. Finally, the developed method was successfully applied to the determination of FQs in lake water, surface water, and reservoir water samples. Acceptable recoveries of spiked target compounds in these water samples were in the range of 52.1-104.5%