耳穴埋豆联合针刺对脑梗死患者睡眠质量及吞咽功能的影响

摘要 目的：探讨耳穴埋豆联合针刺对脑梗死患者睡眠质量及吞咽功能的影响。方法：选取2016年3月2日至2021年3月2日于我院进行脑梗死治疗的80例患者,将其随机分为观察组（n=40）和对照组（n=40）,观察组采用耳穴埋豆联合针刺治疗干预,对照组采用常规治疗,对比两组患者匹兹堡睡眠质量指数问卷（Pitsburgh sleep quality index,PSQI）评分和睡眠状况自评量表（Self-Rating Scale of Sleep,SRSS）评分、渗透-误吸量表（Penetration-aspiration scale,PAS）评分、吞咽功能治疗有效率、治疗满意度。结果：治疗干预后,观察组患者的PSQI评分及SRSS评分明显优于对照组,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;治疗前,比较两组患者3种食团PAS评分,差异均无统计学意义（P>0.05）。治疗后,比较两组患者3种食团PAS评分,均较治疗前明显下降,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。观察组5 mL水、10 mL水PAS评分明显低于对照组（P<0.05）,而比较两组患者5 mL布丁样食物PSA评分,差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）;观察组患者吞咽障碍经治疗后总有效率为90 %;对照组患者吞咽障碍经治疗后总有效率为70 %。差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;观察组满意度明显高于对照组（P<0.05）。结论：耳穴埋豆联合针刺治疗方法应用于脑梗死患者,可有效改善睡眠质量,提升患者吞咽功能,提高吞咽障碍治疗率,患者满意度提高,可应用于临床。     

Improvement of glycine biosynthesis from one-carbon compounds and ammonia catalyzed by the glycine cleavage system in vitro

Glycine cleavage system (GCS) plays a central role in one-carbon (C1) metabolism and receives increasing interest as a core part of the recently proposed reductive glycine pathway (rGlyP) for assimilation of CO₂ and formate. Despite decades of research, GCS has not yet been well understood and kinetic data are barely available. This is to a large degree because of the complexity of GCS, which is composed of four proteins (H, T, P, and L) and catalyzes reactions involving different substrates and cofactors. In vitro kinetics of reconstructed microbial multi-enzyme glycine cleavage/synthase system is desired to better implement rGlyP in microorganisms like Escherichia coli for the use of C1 resources. Here, we examined in vitro several factors that may affect the rate of glycine synthesis via the reverse GCS reaction. We found that the ratio of GCS component proteins has a direct influence on the rate of glycine synthesis, namely higher ratios of P protein and especially H protein to T and L proteins are favorable, and the carboxylation reaction catalyzed by P protein is a key step determining the glycine synthesis rate, whereas increasing the ratio of L protein to other GCS proteins does not have significant effect and the ratio of T protein to other GCS proteins should be kept low. The effect of substrate concentrations on glycine synthesis is quite complex, showing interdependence with the ratios of GCS component proteins. Furthermore, adding the reducing agent dithiothreitol to the reaction mixture not only results in great tolerance to high concentration of formaldehyde, but also increases the rate of glycine synthesis, probably due to its functions in activating P protein and taking up the role of L protein in the non-enzymatic reduction of H_ox to H_red. Moreover, the presence of some monovalent and divalent metal ions can have either positive or negative effect on the rate of glycine synthesis, depending on their type and their concentration.     

Current capacity,bottlenecks, and future projections for offsetting habitat loss using Mitigation and Conservation banking in the United States

Habitat banking in its many iterations is an established and popular mechanism to deliver environmental offsets. The United States can look back at over 30 years of banking experience with the underlying framework and policies being consistently updated and improved. Given the increased demand in habitat banking, we provide insights into how bank area capacity is distributed across the United States for four different bank targets (wetlands, streams, multiple ecosystems, species) based on information extracted from the Regulatory In-lieu Fee and Bank Information Tracking System, as well as, estimating future capacities and area reserves through a predictive modeling approach based on data from the past 26 years. Future predictions indicate a decrease in available reserves for banks targeting wetlands or multiple ecosystems, with potential bottlenecks relating to large reserves being limited to the southeast and release schedules not catching up to the current and anticipated demand. Banks targeting species or streams are predicted to meet future demand, with species banks (conservation banks) following a different legislative and operational approach based on the listing of endangered species and pro-active approaches with anticipated future demand. Most current reserves for all four bank types are restricted to very few service areas with around one-third of all bank areas still awaiting release, limiting their availability on a broader scale. Strategic planning networks are necessary to meet future demand on a national scale and to identify areas suitable for banking or likely to experience future environmental or developmental stress.     

高寒区大豆关键生育期低温冷害指标构建

构建高寒区大豆低温冷害指标对系统分析高寒区大豆适应气候变化对策、防灾减灾及其他胁迫的协同适应技术具有参考意义。本研究利用1980—2020年黑龙江省大豆低温冷害灾情史料、生育期资料及研究区78个气象站逐日气温资料,采用GIS技术匹配生育期与气象数据,考虑不同生育阶段积温距平、日平均气温低于生育下限温度的持续日数,构建高寒区大豆综合性冷害指数。利用K-S分布拟合检验及置信区间下限值确定阈值方法,构建高寒区大豆关键生育阶段低温冷害等级指标。结果表明: 大豆播种-出苗期,研究区大豆轻度、中度、重度冷害低温指数下限值分别为0.061、0.115、0.237;出苗-开花期分别为0.072、0.152、0.312;开花-成熟期分别为0.133、0.245、0.412。由低温指数反演的黑龙江省大豆低温冷害时间分布与历史灾情记载吻合度很高;空间上表现出较明显的纬度特征,冷害发生频率呈自南向北逐渐增加的趋势。     

几种椎间盘退变动物模型的建立和应用

椎间盘退变是一种年龄相关的退行性疾病,是引起下腰痛的主要因素,严重影响病人的生活质量,并显著增加家庭的经济负担。目前,缺少椎间盘退变的有效干预和治疗手段,部分原因是其发病机制尚未阐明。椎间盘退变动物模型的构建对于阐明该疾病的病理机制至关重要。椎间盘退变是一个复杂的过程,受机械应力、结构损伤、生物化学与基因表达等多种因素的影响。本文总结了应用异常机械应力、结构损伤、生物化学或化学诱导和基因敲除等方式构建的椎间盘退变动物模型。生物力学是维持椎间盘稳态的重要因素,异常的机械应力会导致椎间盘退变。同时,椎间盘退变常伴随结构性损伤,椎间盘结构破坏也会导致椎间盘发生退变。此外,生物化学或化学诱导和关键基因敲除也会导致椎间盘退变。本文按照造成异常机械应力的因素将机械应力模型分为加压模型和失稳模型;按照椎间盘结构将结构损伤模型分为髓核与纤维环损伤模型和软骨终板损伤模型。总结了生物化学或化学诱导模型以及新型的基因敲除模型。讨论了不同类型椎间盘退变动物模型的可能应用和局限性。     

The mutational dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in serial passages in vitro

Since its outbreak in 2019, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) keeps surprising the medical community by evolving diverse immune escape mutations in a rapid and effective manner. To gain deeper insight into mutation frequency and dynamics, we isolated ten ancestral strains of SARS-CoV-2 and performed consecutive serial incubation in ten replications in a suitable and common cell line and subsequently analysed them using RT-qPCR and whole genome sequencing. Along those lines we hoped to gain fundamental insights into the evolutionary capacity of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. Our results identified a series of adaptive genetic changes, ranging from unique convergent substitutional mutations and hitherto undescribed insertions. The region coding for spike proved to be a mutational hotspot, evolving a number of mutational changes including the already known substitutions at positions S:484 and S:501. We discussed the evolution of all specific adaptations as well as possible reasons for the seemingly inhomogeneous potential of SARS-CoV-2 in the adaptation to cell culture. The combination of serial passage in vitro with whole genome sequencing uncovers the immense mutational potential of some SARS-CoV-2 strains. The observed genetic changes of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro could not be explained solely by selectively neutral mutations but possibly resulted from the action of directional selection accumulating favourable genetic changes in the evolving variants, along the path of increasing potency of the strain. Competition among a high number of quasi-species in the SARS-CoV-2 in vitro population gene pool may reinforce directional selection and boost the speed of evolutionary change.     

CircRNA: a rising star in plant biology

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed single-stranded RNA molecules, which are widespread in eukaryotic cells. As regulatory molecules, circRNAs have various functions, such as regulating gene expression, binding miRNAs or proteins, and being translated into proteins, which are important for cell proliferation and cell differentiation, individual growth and development, as well as many other biological processes. However, compared with that in animal models, studies of circRNAs in plants lags behind and, particularly, the regulatory mechanisms of biogenesis and molecular functions of plant circRNAs remain elusive. Recent studies have shown that circRNAs are wide spread in plants with tissue- or development-specific expression patterns and are responsive to a variety of environmental stresses. In this review, we summarize these advances, focusing on the regulatory mechanisms of biogenesis, molecular and biological functions of circRNAs, and the methods for investigating circRNAs. We also discuss the challenges and the prospects of plant circRNA studies.     

Development of a novel MATLAB-based framework for implementing mechanical joint stability constraints within OpenSim musculoskeletal models

The Static Optimization (SO) solver in OpenSim estimates muscle activations and forces that only equilibrate applied moments. In this study, SO was enhanced through an open-access MATLAB interface, where calculated muscle activations can additionally satisfy crucial mechanical stability requirements. This Stability-Constrained SO (SCSO) is applicable to many OpenSim models and can potentially produce more biofidelic results than SO alone, especially when antagonistic muscle co-contraction is required to stabilize body joints. This hypothesis was tested using existing models and experimental data in the literature. Muscle activations were calculated by SO and SCSO for a spine model during two series of static trials (i.e. simulation 1 and 2), and also for a lower limb model (supplementary material 2). In simulation 1, symmetric and asymmetric flexion postures were compared, while in simulation 2, various external load heights were compared, where increases in load height did not change the external lumbar flexion moment, but necessitated higher EMG activations. During the tasks in simulation 1, the predicted muscle activations by SCSO demonstrated less average deviation from the EMG data (6.8% −7.5%) compared to those from SO (10.2%). In simulation 2, SO predicts constant muscle activations and forces, while SCSO predicts increases in the average activations of back and abdominal muscles that better match experimental data. Although the SCSO results are sensitive to some parameters (e.g. musculotendon stiffness), when considering the strategy of the central nervous system in distributing muscle forces and in activating antagonistic muscles, the assigned activations by SCSO are more biofidelic than SO.