The Relationship between Cerebral Glucose Metabolism and Age: Report of a Large Brain PET Data Set

Cerebral glucose metabolism is a reliable index of neural activity and may provide evidence for brain function in healthy adults. We studied the correlation between cerebral glucose metabolism and age under the resting-state in both sexes with position emission tomography. Statistical test of age effect on cerebral glucose metabolism was performed using the statistical parametric mapping software with a voxel-by-voxel approach ( family wise error corrected, -voxel threshold). The subjects consisted of 108 females (mean S.D. = 4510 years) and 126 males (mean S.D. = 4911 years). We showed here that brain activity in the frontal and temporal lobes in both sexes decreased significantly with normal aging. The glucose metabolism in the caudate bilaterally showed a negative correlation with age in males, but not in females. Few regions in males were shown with an increased glucose metabolism with age. Although the mechanisms of brain aging are still unknown, a map of brain areas susceptible to age was described in this report.     

Loss to Clinic and Five-Year Mortality among HIV-Infected Antiretroviral Therapy Initiators

Missing outcome data due to loss to follow-up occurs frequently in clinical cohort studies of HIV-infected patients. Censoring patients when they become lost can produce inaccurate results if the risk of the outcome among the censored patients differs from the risk of the outcome among patients remaining under observation. We examine whether patients who are considered lost to follow up are at increased risk of mortality compared to those who remain under observation. Patients from the US Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS) who newly initiated combination antiretroviral therapy between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2009 and survived for at least one year were included in the study. Mortality information was available for all participants regardless of continued observation in the CNICS. We compare mortality between patients retained in the cohort and those lost-to-clinic, as commonly defined by a 12-month gap in care. Patients who were considered lost-to-clinic had modestly elevated mortality compared to patients who remained under observation after 5 years (risk ratio (RR): 1.2; 95% CI: 0.9, 1.5). Results were similar after redefining loss-to-clinic as 6 months (RR: 1.0; 95% CI: 0.8, 1.3) or 18 months (RR: 1.2; 95% CI: 0.8, 1.6) without a documented clinic visit. The small increase in mortality associated with becoming lost to clinic suggests that these patients were not lost to care, rather they likely transitioned to care at a facility outside the study. The modestly higher mortality among patients who were lost-to-clinic implies that when we necessarily censor these patients in studies of time-varying exposures, we are likely to incur at most a modest selection bias.     

Lectin receptor kinase OsLecRK‐S.7 is required for pollen development and male fertility

Pollen grains are covered by exine that protects the pollen from stress and facilitates pollination. Here we isolated a male sterile mutant s13283 in rice exhibiting aborted pollen with abnormal exine and defective aperture. The mutant gene encodes a novel plasma membrane‐localized legume‐lectin receptor kinase that we named OsLecRK‐S.7. OsLecRK‐S.7 was expressed at different levels in all tested tissues and throughout anther development. In vitro kinase assay showed OsLecRK‐S.7 capable of autophosporylation. Mutation in s13283 (E560K) and mutation of the conserved ATP binding site (K418E) both knocked out the kinase activity. Mass spectrometry showed Thr₃₇₆, Ser₃₇₈, Thr₃₈₆, Thr₄₀₃, and Thr₆₅₇ to be the autophosphorylation sites. Mutation of individual autophosphorylation site affected the in vitro kinase activity to different degrees, but did not abolish the gene function in fertility complementation. oslecrk‐s.7 mutant plant overexpressing OsLecRK‐S.7 recovered male fertility but showed severe growth retardation with reduced number of tillers, and these phenotypes were abolished by E560K or K418E mutation. The results indicated that OsLecRK‐S.7 was a key regulator of pollen development.     

壳聚糖护创敷料用于烧伤创面的治疗效果和安全性研究

目的:探讨壳聚糖护创敷料用于烧伤创面的治疗效果和安全性。方法:采用回顾性方法分析,选取中国人民解放军空降兵军医院烧伤科(本院)自2014年1月-2018年9月就诊的80例烧伤患者的临床资料,根据治疗方法分为对照组(40例,给予单纯紫草油覆盖创面)与研究组(40例,给予壳聚糖护创敷料覆盖创面),比较两组创面愈合时间、疼痛度、瘢痕生长及不同时期分泌物细菌培养阳性率。结果:研究组的创面愈合时间(18.45±4.64)及瘢痕生长评分(3.23±1.12)均低于对照组(22.45±5.23、5.34±1.23),均有显著差异(P0.05)。治疗后7 d、14 d、21 d研究组的创面疼痛度低于对照组(P0.05)。治疗后3 d、7 d、14 d研究组的细菌培养阳性率低于对照组(P0.05)。两组治疗期间均没有出现不良事件和严重不良事件的发生。结论:壳聚糖护创敷料用于烧伤创面患者治疗中,可缩短创面愈合时间,抑菌,减少创面愈合后的瘢痕增生,从而减轻患者疼痛,安全性高,值得临床推广应用。