American Twitter Users Revealed Social Determinants-related Oral Health Disparities amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objectives: To assess self-reported population oral health conditions amid COVID-19 pandemic using user reports on Twitter. Method and Material: We collected oral health-related tweets during the COVID-19 pandemic from 9,104 Twitter users across 26 states (with sufficient samples) in the United States between November 12, 2020 and June 14, 2021. We inferred user demographics by leveraging the visual information from the user profile images. Other characteristics including income, population density, poverty rate, health insurance coverage rate, community water fluoridation rate, and relative change in the number of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases were acquired or inferred based on retrieved information from user profiles. We performed logistic regression to examine whether discussions vary across user characteristics. Results: Overall, 26.70% of the Twitter users discuss wisdom tooth pain/jaw hurt, 23.86% tweet about dental service/cavity, 18.97% discuss chipped tooth/tooth break, 16.23% talk about dental pain, and the rest are about tooth decay/gum bleeding. Women and younger adults (19-29) are more likely to talk about oral health problems. Health insurance coverage rate is the most significant predictor in logistic regression for topic prediction. Conclusion: Tweets inform social disparities in oral health during the pandemic. For instance, people from counties at a higher risk of COVID-19 talk more about tooth decay/gum bleeding and chipped tooth/tooth break. Older adults, who are vulnerable to COVID-19, are more likely to discuss dental pain. Topics of interest vary across user characteristics. Through the lens of social media, our findings may provide insights for oral health practitioners and policy makers.Comment: Accepted for publication in Quintessence Internationa

Therapeutic effects and mechanism of Atractylodis rhizoma in acute lung injury: Investigation based on an Integrated approach

Acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by an excessive inflammatory response. Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. is a traditional chinese medicine with good anti-inflammatory activity that is commonly used clinically for the treatment of lung diseases in China; however, its mechanism of against ALI is unclear. We clarified the therapeutic effects of ethanol extract of Atractylodis rhizoma (EEAR) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI by evaluation of hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stained sections, the lung wet/dry (W/D) ratio, and levels of inflammatory factors as indicators. We then characterized the chemical composition of EEAR by ultra-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) and screened the components and targets by network pharmacology to clarify the signaling pathways involved in the therapeutic effects of EEAR on ALI, and the results were validated by molecular docking simulation and Western blot (WB) analysis. Finally, we examined the metabolites in rat lung tissues by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that EEAR significantly reduced the W/D ratio, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in the lungs of ALI model rats. Nineteen components of EEAR were identified and shown to act synergetically by regulating shared pathways such as the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathways. Ferulic acid, 4-methylumbelliferone, acetylatractylodinol, atractylenolide I, and atractylenolide III were predicted to bind well to PI3K, AKT and MAPK1, respectively, with binding energies < -5 kcal/mol, although only atractylenolide II bound with high affinity to MAPK1. EEAR significantly inhibited the phosphorylation of PI3K, AKT, p38, and ERK1/2, thus reducing protein expression. EEAR significantly modulated the expression of metabolites such as D-Galactose, D-Glucose, serine and D-Mannose. These metabolites were mainly concentrated in the galactose and amino acid metabolism pathways. In conclusion, EEAR alleviates ALI by inhibiting activation of the PI3K-AKT and MAPK signaling pathways and regulating galactose metabolism, providing a new direction for the development of drugs to treat ALI

Hyperglycemic Myocardial Damage Is Mediated by Proinflammatory Cytokine: Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor

Diabetes has been regarded as an inflammatory condition which is associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). The purpose of this study was to examine the expression levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) in patients with early diabetic cardiomyopathy, and to investigate the mechanisms involved in MIF expression and GRK2 activation.83 patients in the age range of 30-64 years with type 2 diabetes and 30 matched healthy men were recruited. Left ventricular diastolic function was evaluated by cardiac Doppler echocardiography. Plasma MIF levels were determined by ELISA. To confirm the clinical observation, we also studied MIF expression in prediabetic rats with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and relationship between MIF and GRK2 expression in H9C2 cardiomyoblasts exposed to high glucose.Compared with healthy subjects, patients with diabetes have significantly increased levels of plasma MIF which was further increased in diabetic patients with Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). The increased plasma MIF levels in diabetic patients correlated with plasma glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin and urine albumin levels. We observed a significant number of TUNEL-positive cells in the myocardium of IGT-rats but not in the control rats. Moreover, we found higher MIF expression in the heart of IGT with cardiac dysfunction compared to that of the controls. In H9C2 cardiomyoblast cells, MIF and GRK2 expression was significantly increased in a glucose concentration-dependant manner. Furthermore, GRK2 expression was abolished by siRNA knockdown of MIF and by the inhibition of CXCR4 in H9C2 cells.Our findings indicate that hyperglycemia is a causal factor for increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine MIF which plays a role in the development of cardiomyopathy occurring in patients with type 2 diabetes. The elevated levels of MIF are associated with cardiac dysfunction in diabetic patients, and the MIF effects are mediated by GRK2

Tracking Idea Flows between Social Groups

In many applications, ideas that are described by a set of words often flow between different groups. To facilitate users in analyzing the flow, we present a method to model the flow behaviors that aims at identifying the lead-lag relationships between word clusters of different user groups. In particular, an improved Bayesian conditional cointegration based on dynamic time warping is employed to learn links between words in different groups. A tensor-based technique is developed to cluster these linked words into different clusters (ideas) and track the flow of ideas. The main feature of the tensor representation is that we introduce two additional dimensions to represent both time and lead-lag relationships. Experiments on both synthetic and real datasets show that our method is more effective than methods based on traditional clustering techniques and achieves better accuracy. A case study was conducted to demonstrate the usefulness of our method in helping users understand the flow of ideas between different user groups on social media

Orientated growth the 3D diamond/graphene hybrid arrays and the application in thermal interface materials

Diamond and graphene are considered to be one of the most promising thermal interface materials (TIMs) for electronic devices benefited from their highest thermal conductivity in the natural world. However, orientated fabrication of high thermal conductivity diamond and graphene hybrid arrays with three dimensions (3 D) thermal conductive networks are still problematic. Here, we used a unique one-step microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition, n-butylamine, as the liquid source to prepare a novel high thermal conductivity 3 D vertical diamond/graphene (VDG) hybrid arrays films. The orientated 3 D thermal conduction path of the VDG is regulated by the growth temperature, and the through-plane thermal conductivity value of the VDG700 films up to 97 W m−1 K−1. In the actual TIM performance measurement, the system cooling efficiency with our VDG as TIM is higher than the state-of-the-art commercial TIM, demonstrating the superior ability to solve the inter-facial heat transfer issues in electronic systems

Protective Effects of <i>Atractylodis lancea</i> Rhizoma on Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Acute Lung Injury via TLR4/NF-κB and Keap1/Nrf2 Signaling Pathways In Vitro and In Vivo

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a syndrome caused by an excessive inflammatory response characterized by intractable hypoxemia both inside and outside the lung, for which effective therapeutic drugs are lacking. Atractylodis rhizoma, a traditional Chinese medicine, has excellent anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties in addition to protecting the integrity of the cellular barrier. However, few studies of Atractylodis rhizoma for the treatment of ALI have been published, and its mechanism of action remains unclear. In the present study, the chemical composition of the ethanolic extract of Atractylodis rhizoma (EEAR) was initially clarified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), after which it was studied in vivo using a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI rat model. Treatment with EEAR significantly reduced the lung wet/dry (W/D) ratio, neutrophil infiltration, and malondialdehyde (MDA) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) formation, and enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) depletion in rats with ALI, thereby improving lung barrier function and effectively reducing lung injury. In addition, EEAR significantly reduced histopathological changes, decreased the expression of inflammatory factors (such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), inducible nitric oxide synthase (INOS), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)), and inhibited the activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway, thus reducing inflammation. In addition, EEAR was found to also reduce oxidative stress in ALI by upregulating the expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and its downstream proteins heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NADPH quinone acceptor oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1). EEAR also reduced LPS-induced inflammatory factor expression in THP-1 cells in vitro by inhibition of the NF-κB signaling pathway, and reduced damage from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced oxidative stress in THP-1 cells by promoting the expression of Nrf2 and its downstream targets HO-1 and NQO-1, the molecular mechanism of which was consistent with in vivo observations. Therefore, we conclude that EEAR attenuates oxidative stress and inflammatory responses via TLR4/NF-κB and Keap1/Nrf2 signaling pathways to alleviate LPS-induced ALI, suggesting that Atractylodis rhizoma is a potential drug candidate for the treatment of ALI

Image1_Ganfule capsule alleviates bile duct ligation-induced liver fibrosis in mice by inhibiting glutamine metabolism.pdf

Background: Liver fibrosis is a pathological outcome of a variety of liver diseases, and it can also progress into liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Specific liver antifibrotic drugs have not been clinically approved yet. Studies have demonstrated the protective effects of Ganfule capsule (GFL) on the liver and its therapeutic potential in hepatic cancer. However, the mechanism of GFL is not clear in the treatment of liver fibrosis.Objective: This article aims to study the protective effect of GFL on liver fibrosis and its possible mechanism.Methods: The cholestatic liver fibrosis model was prepared by subjecting C57BL/6 mice to bile duct ligation (BDL). The GFL groups were treated with different concentrations of GFL for 14 days. Pathological analysis, serum biochemical index detection, metabonomic analysis, immunohistochemistry, Western blot, and real-time PCR were carried out.Results: GFL could alleviate liver injury and liver fibrosis caused by BDL in mice. Metabonomic analysis of mice serum showed postoperative metabolic disorder, which could be alleviated by GFL through glutamine metabolism; valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis; aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis; and other metabolic pathways. GFL affected glutamine metabolism by inhibiting the activity of glutaminase 1 (GLS1). The activation of GLS1 is regulated by the NF-κB pathway, and experiments showed that GFL could inhibit IκB-α and NF-κB p65 phosphorylation.Conclusion: This study confirms the protective effect of GFL on liver injury and shows that GFL inhibits glutamine metabolism, which was correlated with the NF-κB pathway, and eventually alleviates liver fibrosis. These results are conducive to the development of new therapeutic drugs for liver fibrosis.</p

Usefulness of B‐Type Natriuretic Peptide for Predicting the Risk of Stroke in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction

Background B‐type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a well‐known biomarker for prognosis in heart failure with patients with preserved ejection fraction. However, the clinical predictive ability of BNP for the risk of stroke in HFpEF is not clear. Methods and Results A total of 799 patients with HFpEF from the TOPCAT (Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure With an Aldosterone Antagonist) trial were included. Association of baseline BNP with risk of stroke was assessed using the Cox proportional hazard model. The discriminatory ability of BNP was expressed using the C index. The improvement in 5‐year stroke prediction was assessed by C statistic, categorical net reclassification improvement index, and relative integrated discrimination improvement. A total of 34 (4.3%) patients among the 799 patients with HFpEF experienced stroke events over a median of 2.85 years of follow‐up. The stroke group showed a higher BNP level than the nonstroke group (375 pg/mL versus 241 pg/mL, respectively; P=0.006). Higher BNP levels were associated with increased risk of stroke after multivariable adjustment (hazard ratio, 3.29 [95% CI, 1.51–7.16]) and had a moderate performance for stroke prediction (C index, 0.67). Adding BNP to CHADS2/CHA2DS2‐VASc/R2CHADS2 scores improved their predictive value for stroke (CHADS2: C index, 0.67; BNP+CHADS2: C index, 0.77; net reclassification improvement, 40.9%; integrated discrimination improvement, 3.0%; CHA2DS2‐VASc: C index, 0.64; BNP+CHA2DS2‐VASc: C index, 0.74; net reclassification improvement, 41.4%; integrated discrimination improvement, 2.2%; R2CHADS2: C index, 0.70; BNP+R2CHADS2: C index, 0.78; net reclassification improvement, 40.9%; integrated discrimination improvement, 3.2%). Conclusions BNP is associated with an increased risk of stroke in patients with HFpEF and may be a valuable biomarker for stroke prediction in HFpEF

Table1_Ganfule capsule alleviates bile duct ligation-induced liver fibrosis in mice by inhibiting glutamine metabolism.docx

Background: Liver fibrosis is a pathological outcome of a variety of liver diseases, and it can also progress into liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Specific liver antifibrotic drugs have not been clinically approved yet. Studies have demonstrated the protective effects of Ganfule capsule (GFL) on the liver and its therapeutic potential in hepatic cancer. However, the mechanism of GFL is not clear in the treatment of liver fibrosis.Objective: This article aims to study the protective effect of GFL on liver fibrosis and its possible mechanism.Methods: The cholestatic liver fibrosis model was prepared by subjecting C57BL/6 mice to bile duct ligation (BDL). The GFL groups were treated with different concentrations of GFL for 14 days. Pathological analysis, serum biochemical index detection, metabonomic analysis, immunohistochemistry, Western blot, and real-time PCR were carried out.Results: GFL could alleviate liver injury and liver fibrosis caused by BDL in mice. Metabonomic analysis of mice serum showed postoperative metabolic disorder, which could be alleviated by GFL through glutamine metabolism; valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis; aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis; and other metabolic pathways. GFL affected glutamine metabolism by inhibiting the activity of glutaminase 1 (GLS1). The activation of GLS1 is regulated by the NF-κB pathway, and experiments showed that GFL could inhibit IκB-α and NF-κB p65 phosphorylation.Conclusion: This study confirms the protective effect of GFL on liver injury and shows that GFL inhibits glutamine metabolism, which was correlated with the NF-κB pathway, and eventually alleviates liver fibrosis. These results are conducive to the development of new therapeutic drugs for liver fibrosis.</p