An initial study of core muscles using ultrasound in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

Background: Osteoporosis is a systemic bone disease, resulting in bone pain and fragility fractures. This study sought to explore the ultrasonic characteristics of core muscles in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

Methods: A total of 91 participants underwent ultrasound examinations of the lumbar and abdominal core muscles.

Corrigendum: Phylogeny and Taxonomy on Cryptic Species of Forked Ferns of Asia.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.

Molecular Changes in Prepubertal Left Ventricular Development Under Experimental Volume Overload.

Background: Left ventricular (LV) volume overload (VO), commonly found in patients with chronic aortic regurgitation (AR), leads to a series of left ventricular (LV) pathological responses and eventually irreversible LV dysfunction. Recently, questions about the applicability of the guideline for the optimal timing of valvular surgery to correct chronic AR have been raised in regard to both adult and pediatric patients. Understanding how VO regulates postnatal LV development may shed light on the best timing of surgical or drug intervention.

Identifying Long- and Short-Term Processes in Perceptual Learning.

Practice makes perfect in almost all perceptual tasks, but how perceptual improvements accumulate remains unknown. Here, we developed a multicomponent theoretical framework to model contributions of both long- and short-term processes in perceptual learning. Applications of the framework to the block-by-block learning curves of 49 adult participants in seven perceptual tasks identified ubiquitous long-term general learning and within-session relearning in most tasks.

Automatic Detection of Secundum Atrial Septal Defect in Children Based on Color Doppler Echocardiographic Images Using Convolutional Neural Networks.

Secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) is one of the most common congenital heart diseases (CHDs). This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of automatic detection of ASD in children based on color Doppler echocardiographic images using convolutional neural networks. In this study, we propose a fully automatic detection system for ASD, which includes three stages.

The Association Between Cyclooxygenase-2 -1195G/A (rs689466) Gene Polymorphism and the Clinicopathology of Lung Cancer in the Japanese Population: A Case-Controlled Study.

The single nucleotide polymorphisms of COX-2 gene, also known as , which encodes a pro-inflammatory factor cyclooxygenase-2, alter the risk of developing multiple tumors, but these findings are not consistent for lung cancer. We previously reported that the homozygous COX-2 -1195A genotype is associated with an increased risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Japanese individuals. COPD is a significant risk factor for lung cancer due to genetic susceptibility to cigarette smoke.

Three urban areas of China: a cohort study of maternal-infant factors and HM protein components.

This work studies the concentrations of proteins in human milk (HM) at different lactation periods and explores the influence of maternal-infant factors on the dynamics of HM proteins in a Chinese cohort. The cohort contained 153 mother-infant pairs, and 12 main proteins of 376 HM samples were analyzed. The result showed that physiological factors (age and pre-pregnancy BMI), demographic factors (education and occupation), endogenous factors (cesarean section), and exogenous factors (lactation period and area) could explain the dynamics of HM proteins, including the total protein, true protein, whey protein, β-casein, lactoferrin, IgA, and IgM ( > 0.

Abnormal global alternative RNA splicing in COVID-19 patients.

Viral infections can alter host transcriptomes by manipulating host splicing machinery. Despite intensive transcriptomic studies on SARS-CoV-2, a systematic analysis of alternative splicing (AS) in severe COVID-19 patients remains largely elusive. Here we integrated proteomic and transcriptomic sequencing data to study AS changes in COVID-19 patients.

Distribution and Influencing Factors of the Sialic Acid Content in the Breast Milk of Preterm Mothers at Different Stages.

Background And Aims: This study aimed to detect breast milk sialic acid (SA) content and the changing pattern, to understand the various stages of breastfeeding SA secretion, and the influence factors of the human milk SA content.

Methods: We recruited mothers and their infants as our subjects. At days 7, 14, 30, 120, and 365 after delivery, the contents of SA in breast milk were collected and detected through Fluorescence Detector-High Performance Liquid Chromatography.

[Methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) inhibits the activity of methylated IL-6 promoter of HEK293 cells and its molecular mechanism].

Objective To investigate the underlying molecular mechanism of methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) inhibiting interleukin 6 (IL-6) transcriptional activity by observing the sequence of methylated IL-6 promoter, overexpression of MeCP2, and transcription factor P300 in HEK293 cells. Methods The binding site of P300 in the IL-6 promoter region was confirmed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA); the IL-6 promoter sequence was ligated into luciferase reporter plasmid and transfected into HEK293 cells. The methylation of the promoter was mediated by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-deactivated Cas9 (CRISPR-dCas9)-mediated DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A) transfection, and then MeCP2 and P300 overexpression plasmids were transfected.

Quantitative Proteomics Reveals Metabolic Reprogramming in Host Cells Induced by Trophozoites and Intermediate Subunit of Gal/GalNAc Lectins from Entamoeba histolytica.

Entamoeba histolytica is an intestinal protozoan parasite with remarkable ability to kill and phagocytose host cells, causing amoebic colitis and extraintestinal abscesses. The intermediate subunit (Igl) of galactose (Gal)- and -acetyl-d-galactosamine (GalNAc)-specific lectins is considered an important surface antigen involved in the pathogenesis of E. histolytica.

Hengli Chinese Botulinum Toxin Type A for Treatment of Patients With Overactive Bladder: A Multicenter, Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Hengli Chinese botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A; 100 U) in Chinese patients with overactive bladder. This study was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in Chinese patients who were inadequately managed with anticholinergic medications. Eligible patients were randomized 2:1 to receive intradetrusor injections of Hengli BTX-A ( = 144) or placebo ( = 72).

MYOCD is Required for Cardiomyocyte-like Cells Induction from Human Urine Cells and Fibroblasts Through Remodeling Chromatin.

Despite direct reprogramming of human cardiac fibroblasts into induced cardiomyocytes (iCM) holds great potential for heart regeneration, the mechanisms are poorly understood. Whether other human somatic cells could be reprogrammed into cardiomyocytes is also unknown. Here, we report human urine cells (hUCs) could be converted into CM-like cells from different donors and the related chromatin accessibility dynamics (CAD) by assay for transposase accessible chromatin(ATAC)-seq.

Predicting potential distribution of (Bunge) H.H. Hu ex F.H. Chen in China under climate change scenarios.

(Bunge) H.H. Hu ex F.

Organoplatinum Compounds as Anion-Tuneable Uphill Hydroxide Transporters.

Active transport of ions uphill, creating a concentration gradient across a cell membrane, is essential for life. It remains a significant challenge to develop synthetic systems that allow active uphill transport. Here, a transport process fuelled by organometallic compounds is reported that creates a pH gradient.

Mesenchymal stem cell-based treatments for COVID-19: status and future perspectives for clinical applications.

As a result of cross-species transmission in December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a serious endangerment to human health and the causal agent of a global pandemic. Although the number of infected people has decreased due to effective management, novel methods to treat critical COVID-19 patients are still urgently required. This review describes the origins, pathogenesis, and clinical features of COVID-19 and the potential uses of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in therapeutic treatments for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected patients.

Enantioselective Peroxidation of -alkynyl imines enabled by chiral BINOL calcium phosphate.

Herein, we report a catalytic enantioselective addition of -alkynyl imines with hydroperoxides catalyzed by chiral BINOL calcium phosphate, affording a broad range of enantioenriched α-peroxy propargylamines in good yields (80-99%) with high enantioselectivities (up to 94% ee). The protocol is characterized by mild conditions, easy accessibility and good practicability.

A Traditional Chinese Medicine for the Treatment of Endometrial Hyperplasia via Regulating the HPO Axis in Rats.

Dysfunctional uterine bleeding, accompanied by endometrial hyperplasia (EH), is a common gynecological disease that seriously affects female physical and mental health. Some drugs have been prompted to cure the disease, but most medications have certain side effects and limitations. In the present study, we demonstrated an unexploited Chinese traditional medicine, a combination of , , and (SCS), which could be used for the treatment of EH and associated complications in rats.

Standard Echocardiographic View Recognition in Diagnosis of Congenital Heart Defects in Children Using Deep Learning Based on Knowledge Distillation.

Standard echocardiographic view recognition is a prerequisite for automatic diagnosis of congenital heart defects (CHDs). This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of standard echocardiographic view recognition in the diagnosis of CHDs in children using convolutional neural networks (CNNs). A new deep learning-based neural network method was proposed to automatically and efficiently identify commonly used standard echocardiographic views.

Combination of Estrogen Receptor Alpha and Histological Type Helps to Predict Lymph Node Metastasis in Patients with Stage IA2 to IIA2 Cervical Cancer.

Objective: This study aimed to identify a subset of patients with stage IA2 to IIA2 cervical cancer who are at low risk of lymph node metastasis (LNM) using pathological parameters including estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and progesterone receptor (PR).

Methods: The clinical data of patients with stage IA2 to IIA2 cervical cancer who underwent radical surgery between 2014 and 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Immunohistochemical staining was used to determine the expression of ERα and PR.

Microarray profiling and functional analysis reveal the regulatory role of differentially expressed plasma circular RNAs in Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been revealed as being abundantly expressed in a variety of tissues and have been found to contribute to the regulation of many autoimmune diseases. Although previous studies demonstrated that the pathogenesis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is related with epigenetic dysregulation, the exact mechanism remains unclear. The important role of thyroid-specific circRNAs in HT attracted much attention but without any report revealed their expression profile and function in plasma of HT.

Yogurt Enriched with Inulin Ameliorated Reproductive Functions and Regulated Gut Microbiota in Dehydroepiandrosterone-Induced Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Mice.

The effects of synbiotic yogurt supplemented with inulin on the pathological manifestations and gut microbiota-bile acid axis were investigated using a dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)-induced polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) mice model. Female C57BL/6J mice were injected subcutaneously with DHEA at a dose of 6 mg/100 g BW for 20 days to establish a PCOS mouse model. Then, the PCOS mice were treated with yogurt containing inulin (6% /) at 15 mL/kg BW for 24 days.

Phylogenetic incongruence in orchids.

, which includes approximately 80 species, is one of the most ornamental and cultivated orchid genera. However, a lack of markers and sparse sampling have posed great challenges to resolving the phylogenetic relationships within the genus. In the present study, we reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships by utilizing one nuclear DNA (nrITS) and seven plastid genes (, , , , , , and ) from 70 species (varieties) in .