Zhaotong University

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We aimed to establish the prevalence, characteristics, and outcomes of intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS) in China by a large, prospective, multicenter study. METHODS: We evaluated 2864 consecutive patients who experienced an acute cerebral ischemia<7 days after symptom onset in 22 Chinese hospitals. All patients underwent magnetic resonance angiography, with measurement of diameter of the main intracranial arteries. ICAS was defined as ≥50% diameter reduction on magnetic resonance angiography. RESULTS: The prevalence of ICAS was 46.6% (1335 patients, including 261 patients with coexisting extracranial carotid stenosis). Patients with ICAS had more severe stroke at admission and stayed longer in hospitals compared with those without intracranial stenosis (median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, 3 versus 5; median length of stay, 14 versus 16 days; both P<0.0001). After 12 months, recurrent stroke occurred in 3.27% of patients with no stenosis, in 3.82% for those with 50% to 69% stenosis, in 5.16% for those with 70% to 99% stenosis, and in 7.27% for those with total occlusion. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed that the degree of arterial stenosis, age, family history of stroke, history of cerebral ischemia or heart disease, complete circle of Willis, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score at admission were independent predictors for recurrent stroke at 1 year. The highest rate of recurrence was observed in patients with occlusion with the presence of ≥3 additional risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: ICAS is the most common vascular lesion in patients with cerebrovascular disease in China. Recurrent stroke rate in our study was lower compared with those of previous clinical trials but remains unacceptably high in a subgroup of patients with severe stenosis.

Mycoviruses are viruses that infect fungi. A growing number of novel mycoviruses have expanded our knowledge of virology, particularly in taxonomy, ecology, and evolution. Recent progress in the study of mycoviruses has comprehensively improved our understanding of the properties of mycoviruses and has strengthened our confidence to explore hypovirulence-associated mycoviruses that control crop diseases. In this review, the advantages of using hypovirulence-associated mycoviruses to control crop diseases are discussed, and, as an example, the potential for Sclerotinia sclerotiorum hypovirulence-associated DNA virus 1 (SsHADV-1) to control the stem rot of rapeseed (Brassica napus) is also introduced. Fungal vegetative incompatibility is likely to be the key factor that limits the wide utilization of mycoviruses to control crop diseases; however, there are suggested strategies for resolving this problem.

Plants face various abiotic stresses in their natural environments that trigger the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to oxidative stress and potential cellular damage. This comprehensive review examines the interplay between plant antioxidant defense systems and ROS under abiotic stress conditions. We discuss the major enzymatic antioxidants, including superoxide dismutase, catalase, reductases, and peroxidases, as well as non-enzymatic antioxidants, such as ascorbic acid, glutathione, polyphenols, and flavonoids, which play crucial roles in ROS detoxification. This review elaborates on different types of ROS, their production sites within plant cells, and their dual role as both damaging oxidants and key signaling molecules. We discuss how various abiotic stresses—including heat, cold, drought, flooding, salinity, and heavy metal toxicity—induce oxidative stress and trigger specific antioxidant responses in plants. Additionally, the mechanisms of ROS generation under these abiotic stress conditions and the corresponding activation of enzymatic and non-enzymatic scavenging systems are discussed in detail. This review also discusses recent advances in understanding ROS signaling networks and their integration with other stress-response pathways. This knowledge provides valuable insights into plant stress-tolerance mechanisms and suggests potential strategies for developing stress-resistant crops by enhancing antioxidant defense systems. Moreover, the strategic ROS modulation through priming, exogenous antioxidants, nanoparticles, or genetic tools can enhance plant resilience. Integrating these methods with agronomic practices (e.g., irrigation management) offers a sustainable path to climate-smart agriculture. Our review reveals that ROS accumulation can be detrimental; however, the coordinated action of various antioxidant systems helps plants maintain redox homeostasis and adapt to environmental stress.

In 2011, the United Nations set key targets to reach by 2025 to reduce the risk of premature noncommunicable disease death by 25% by 2025. With cardiovascular disease being the largest contributor to global mortality, accounting for nearly half of the 36 million annual noncommunicable disease deaths, achieving the 2025 goal requires that cardiovascular disease and its risk factors be aggressively addressed. The Global Cardiovascular Disease Taskforce, comprising the World Heart Federation, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology Foundation, European Heart Network, and European Society of Cardiology, with expanded representation from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, along with global cardiovascular disease experts, disseminates information and approaches to reach the United Nations 2025 targets. The writing committee, which reflects Global Cardiovascular Disease Taskforce membership, engaged the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, to develop region-specific estimates of premature cardiovascular mortality in 2025 based on various scenarios. Results show that >5 million premature CVD deaths among men and 2.8 million among women are projected worldwide by 2025, which can be reduced to 3.5 million and 2.2 million, respectively, if risk factor targets for blood pressure, tobacco use, diabetes mellitus, and obesity are achieved. However, global risk factor targets have various effects, depending on region. For most regions, United Nations targets for reducing systolic blood pressure and tobacco use have more substantial effects on future scenarios compared with maintaining current levels of body mass index and fasting plasma glucose. However, preventing increases in body mass index has the largest effect in some high-income countries. An approach achieving reductions in multiple risk factors has the largest impact for almost all regions. Achieving these goals can be accomplished only if countries set priorities, implement cost-effective population wide strategies, and collaborate in public-private partnerships across multiple sectors.

This article considers the CUSUM-based (cumulative sum) test for a change point in a time series. In the case of testing for a mean shift, the traditional Kolmogorov–Smirnov test statistic involves a consistent long-run variance estimator, which is needed to make the limiting null distribution free of nuisance parameters. The commonly used lag-window type long-run variance estimator requires to choose a bandwidth parameter and its selection is a difficult task in practice. The bandwidth that is a fixed function of the sample size (e.g., n1/3, where n is sample size) is not adaptive to the magnitude of the dependence in the series, whereas the data-dependent bandwidth could lead to nonmonotonic power as shown in previous studies. In this article, we propose a self-normalization (SN) based Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, where the formation of the self-normalizer takes the change point alternative into account. The resulting test statistic is asymptotically distribution free and its power is monotonic. Furthermore, we extend the SN-based test to test for a change in other parameters associated with a time series, such as marginal median, autocorrelation at lag one, and spectrum at certain frequency bands. The use of the SN idea thus allows a unified treatment and offers a new perspective to the large literature of change point detection in the time series setting. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to compare the finite sample performance of the new SN-based test with the traditional Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. Illustrations using real data examples are presented.

A cross-sectional study design was applied amongst a random sample (n = 10158) of Chinese adolescents. Self-completed questionnaires, including demographic characteristics, Internet use situation, Youth Internet Addiction Test, Youth Social Support Rating Scale and Zung Self-rating Depression Scale were utilized to examine the study objectives. Among the study population, the prevalence rate of Internet addiction was 10.4%, with 1038 (10.2%) moderately and 21 (0.2%) severely addicted to the Internet. Results from the multivariate logistic regression analyses suggested that a variety of related factors have significant effects on Internet addiction (parental control, per capita annual household income, academic performance, the access to Internet, online activities). The correlation coefficients showed that Internet addiction was negatively correlated with social support and positively associated with depression. Social support had a significant negative predictive effect on Internet addiction. The mediating effect of depression between social support and Internet addiction was remarkable.

Purpose It is clinically challenging to integrate genomic-classifier results that report a numeric risk of recurrence into treatment recommendations for localized prostate cancer, which are founded in the framework of risk groups. We aimed to develop a novel clinical-genomic risk grouping system that can readily be incorporated into treatment guidelines for localized prostate cancer. Materials and Methods Two multicenter cohorts (n = 991) were used for training and validation of the clinical-genomic risk groups, and two additional cohorts (n = 5,937) were used for reclassification analyses. Competing risks analysis was used to estimate the risk of distant metastasis. Time-dependent c-indices were constructed to compare clinicopathologic risk models with the clinical-genomic risk groups. Results With a median follow-up of 8 years for patients in the training cohort, 10-year distant metastasis rates for National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) low, favorable-intermediate, unfavorable-intermediate, and high-risk were 7.3%, 9.2%, 38.0%, and 39.5%, respectively. In contrast, the three-tier clinical-genomic risk groups had 10-year distant metastasis rates of 3.5%, 29.4%, and 54.6%, for low-, intermediate-, and high-risk, respectively, which were consistent in the validation cohort (0%, 25.9%, and 55.2%, respectively). C-indices for the clinical-genomic risk grouping system (0.84; 95% CI, 0.61 to 0.93) were improved over NCCN (0.73; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.86) and Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (0.74; 95% CI, 0.65 to 0.84), and 30% of patients using NCCN low/intermediate/high would be reclassified by the new three-tier system and 67% of patients would be reclassified from NCCN six-tier (very-low- to very-high-risk) by the new six-tier system. Conclusion A commercially available genomic classifier in combination with standard clinicopathologic variables can generate a simple-to-use clinical-genomic risk grouping that more accurately identifies patients at low, intermediate, and high risk for metastasis and can be easily incorporated into current guidelines to better risk-stratify patients.

Since current grading of plant diseases is mainly based on eyeballing, a new method is developed based on computer image processing. All influencing factors existed in the process of image segmentation was analyzed and leaf region was segmented by using Otsu method. In the HSI color system, H component was chosen to segment disease spot to reduce the disturbance of illumination changes and the vein. Then, disease spot regions were segmented by using Sobel operator to examine disease spot edges. Finally, plant diseases are graded by calculating the quotient of disease spot and leaf areas. Researches indicate that this method to grade plant leaf spot diseases is fast and accurate.

Coherent beam combining of 107 beams has been demonstrated for the first time to the best of our knowledge. When the system was in closed loop, the pattern in far-field was stable and the fringe contrast was <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" id="m1"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo form="prefix">&gt;</mml:mo> <mml:mn>96</mml:mn> <mml:mi>%</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . The impact of the dynamic tilt error, the piston error, and power inconsistency was theoretically analyzed. Meanwhile, the distribution law of dynamic tilt error was estimated and the correlation of the tilt dithering of different axis was analyzed statistically. The ratio of power in the central lobe was <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" id="m2"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo form="prefix">∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>22.5</mml:mn> <mml:mi>%</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . The phase residue error in the closed loop was <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" id="m3"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo form="prefix">∼</mml:mo> <mml:mi>λ</mml:mi> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:mn>22</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , which was evaluated by the root-mean-square error of the signal generated from the photoelectric detector.

Based on intraday data for a large cross section of individual stocks and newly developed econometric procedures, we decompose the realized variation for each of the stocks into separate so-called realized up and down semi-variance measures, or “good” and “bad” volatilities, associated with positive and negative high-frequency price increments, respectively. Sorting the individual stocks into portfolios based on their normalized good minus bad volatilities results in economically large and highly statistically significant differences in the subsequent portfolio returns. These differences remain significant after controlling for other firm characteristics and explanatory variables previously associated with the cross section of expected stock returns.

Abstract The photocatalytic transformation of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into carbon‐based fuels or chemicals using sustainable solar energy is considered an ideal strategy for simultaneously alleviating the energy shortage and environmental crises. However, owing to the low energy utilization of sunlight and inferior catalytic activity, the conversion efficiency of CO 2 photoreduction is far from satisfactory. In this study, a MOF‐derived hollow bimetallic oxide nanomaterial is prepared for the efficient photoreduction of CO 2 . First, a unique ZIF‐67‐on‐InOF‐1 heterostructure is successfully obtained by growing a secondary Co‐based ZIF‐67 onto the initial InOF‐1 nanorods. The corresponding hollow counterpart has a larger specific surface area after acid etching, and the oxidized bimetallic H‐Co 3 O 4 /In 2 O 3 material exhibits abundant heterogeneous interfaces that expose more active sites. The energy band structure of H‐Co 3 O 4 /In 2 O 3 corresponds well with the photosensitizer of [Ru(bpy) 3 ]Cl 2 , which results in a high CO yield of 4828 ± 570 µmol h −1 g −1 and stable activity over a consecutive of six runs, demonstrating adequate photocatalytic performance. This study demonstrates that the rational design of MOF‐on‐MOF heterostructures can completely exploit the synergistic effects between different components, which may be extended to other MOF‐derived nanomaterials as promising catalysts for practical energy conversion and storage.

BACKGROUND: The nutrition status of coronavirus disease 2019 patients is unknown. This study evaluates clinical and nutrition characteristics of severely and critically ill patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and investigates the relationship between nutrition risk and clinical outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective, observational study was conducted at West Campus of Union Hospital in Wuhan. Patients confirmed with SARS-CoV-2 infection by a nucleic acid-positive test and identified as severely or critically ill were enrolled in this study. Clinical data and outcomes information were collected and nutrition risk was assessed using Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS). RESULTS: In total, 413 patients were enrolled in this study, including 346 severely and 67 critically ill patients. Most patients, especially critically ill patients, had significant changes in nutrition-related parameters and inflammatory markers. As for nutrition risk, the critically ill patients had significantly higher proportion of high NRS scores (P < .001), which were correlated with inflammatory and nutrition-related markers. Among 342 patients with NRS score ≥3, only 84 (of 342, 25%) received nutrition support. Critically ill patients and those with higher NRS score had a higher risk of mortality and longer stay in hospital. In logistic regression models, 1-unit increase in NRS score was associated with the risk of mortality increasing by 1.23 times (adjusted odds ratio, 2.23; 95% CI, 1.10-4.51; P = .026). CONCLUSIONS: Most severely and critically ill patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 are at nutrition risk. The patients with higher nutrition risk have worse outcome and require nutrition therapy.

A retrospective study to evaluate the effectiveness of 3-dimensional rapid prototyping (3DRP) technology in corrective surgery for Lenke 1 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients. 3DRP technology has been widely used in medical field; however, no study has been performed on the effectiveness of 3DRP technology in corrective surgery for Lenke 1 AIS patients. Lenke 1 AIS patients who were preparing to undergo posterior corrective surgery from a single center between January 2010 and January 2012 were included in this analysis. Patients were divided into 2 groups. In group A, 3-dimensional (3D) printing technology was used to create subject-specific spine models in the preoperative planning process. Group B underwent posterior corrective surgery as usual (by free hand without image guidance). Perioperative and postoperative clinical outcomes were compared between 2 groups, including operation time, perioperative blood loss, transfusion volume, postoperative hemoglobin (Hb), postoperative complications, and length of hospital stay. Radiological outcomes were also compared, including the assessment of screw placement, postoperative Cobb angle, coronal balance, sagittal vertical axis, thoracic kyphosis, and lumbar lordosis. Subgroup was also performed according to the preoperative Cobb angle: mean Cobb angle <50° and mean Cobb angle >50°. Besides, economic evaluation was also compared between 2 groups. A total of 126 patients were included in this study (group A, 50 and group B, 76). Group A had significantly shorter operation time, significantly less blood loss and transfusion volume, and higher postoperative Hb (all, P < 0.001). However, no significant differences were observed in complication rate, length of hospital stay, and postoperative radiological outcomes between 2 groups (all, P>0.05). There was also no significant difference in misplacement of screws in total populations (16.90% vs 18.82%, P = 0.305), whereas a low misplacement rate of pedicle screws was observed in patients whose mean Cobb angle was >50° (9.15% vs 13.03%, P = 0.02). Besides, using 3DRP increased the economic burden of patients (157,000 ± 9948.85 Ren Min Bi (RMB) vs 152,500 ± 11,445.52 RMB, P = 0.03). Using the 3D printing technology before posterior corrective surgery might reduce the operation time, perioperative blood loss, and transfusion volume. There did not appear to be a benefit to using this technology with respect to complication rate and postoperative radiological outcomes; however, 3D technology could reduce the misplacement rate in patients whose preoperative mean Cobb angle was >50°. Besides, it also increased the patients' hospital cost. Therefore, future prospective studies are needed to elucidate the efficacy of this emerging technology.

The authors studied the vascular anatomy of the buccinator muscle by dissecting fresh cadavers. The anatomy of the buccal branches of the facial artery consistently confirmed the existence of a posterior buccal branch, a few inferior buccal branches, and anterior buccal branches to the posterior, inferior, and anterior portions of the buccinator. The buccal artery and posterior buccal branch anastomose to each other and ramify over the muscle. Several veins originate from the lateral aspect of the muscle, converge into the buccal venous plexus, and drain into the facial vein (from two to four tributaries) or into the pterygoid plexus and the internal maxillary vein (from the buccal vein). These vessels and nerves enter the posterior half of the buccinator posterolaterally. The facial artery and vein are located at variable distances from each other around the oral commissure and the nasal base. Two patterns of buccinator musculomucosal island flaps supplied by these buccal arterial branches are proposed in this article. The buccal musculomucosal neurovascular island flap (posteriorly based), supplied by the buccal artery, its posterior buccal branch, and the long buccal nerve, can be passed through a tunnel under the pterygomandibular ligament for closure of mucosal defects in the palate, pharyngeal sites, the alveolus, and the floor of the mouth. The buccal musculomucosal reversedflow arterial island flap (superiorly based), supplied by the distal portion of the facial artery through the anterior buccal branches, can be used to close mucosal defects in the anterior hard palate, alveolus, maxillary antrum, nasal floor and septum, lip, and orbit. The authors have used the flaps in 12 patients. There has been no flap necrosis, and results have been satisfactory, both aesthetically and functionally. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 104: 55, 1999.)

Background and Purpose: The benefit of endovascular treatment (EVT) for large vessel occlusion in clinical practice in developing countries like China needs to be confirmed. The aim of the study was to determine whether the benefit of EVT for acute ischemic stroke in randomized trials could be generalized to clinical practice in Chinese population. Methods: We conducted a prospective registry of EVT at 111 centers in China. Patients with acute ischemic stroke caused by imaging-confirmed intracranial large vessel occlusion and receiving EVT were included. The primary outcome was functional independence at 90 days defined as a modified Rankin Scale score of 0 to 2. Outcomes of specific subgroups in the anterior circulation were reported and logistic regression was performed to predict the primary outcome. Results: Among the 1793 enrolled patients, 1396 (77.9%) had anterior circulation large vessel occlusion (median age, 66 [56–73] years) and 397 (22.1%) had posterior circulation large vessel occlusion (median age, 64 [55–72] years). Functional independence at 90 days was reached in 45% and 44% in anterior and posterior circulation groups, respectively. For anterior circulation population, underlying intracranial atherosclerotic disease was identified in 29% of patients, with higher functional independence at 90 days (52% versus 44%; P =0.0122) than patients without intracranial atherosclerotic disease. In the anterior circulation population, after adjusting for baseline characteristics, procedure details, and early outcomes, the independent predictors for functional independence at 90 days were age &lt;66 years (odds ratio [OR], 1.733 [95% CI, 1.213–2.476]), time from onset to puncture &gt;6 hours (OR, 1.536 [95% CI, 1.065–2.216]), local anesthesia (OR, 2.194 [95% CI, 1.325–3.633]), final modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction 2b/3 (OR, 2.052 [95% CI, 1.085–3.878]), puncture-to-reperfusion time ≤1.5 hours (OR, 1.628 [95% CI, 1.098–2.413]), and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score 24 hours after the procedure &lt;11 (OR, 9.126 [95% CI, 6.222–13.385]). Conclusions: Despite distinct characteristics in the Chinese population, favorable outcome of EVT can be achieved in clinical practice in China. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT03370939.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative atrial fibrillation is a frequent complication in cardiac surgery. The aberrant activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) contributes to the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) promotes atrial fibrosis. Recent studies support the existence of reciprocal regulation between STAT3 and miR-21. Here, we test the hypothesis that these 2 molecules might form a feedback loop that contributes to postoperative atrial fibrillation by promoting atrial fibrosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: A sterile pericarditis model was created using atrial surfaces dusted with sterile talcum powder in rats. The inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, transforming growth factor-β, and tumor necrosis factor-α, along with STAT3 and miR-21, were highly upregulated in sterile pericarditis rats. The inhibition of STAT3 by S3I-201 resulted in miR-21 downregulation, which ameliorated atrial fibrosis and decreased the expression of the fibrosis-related genes, α-smooth muscle actin, collagen-1, and collagen-3; reduced the inhomogeneity of atrial conduction; and attenuated atrial fibrillation vulnerability. Meanwhile, treatment with antagomir-21 decreased STAT3 phosphorylation, alleviated atrial remodeling, abrogated sterile pericarditis-induced inhomogeneous conduction, and prevented atrial fibrillation promotion. The culturing of cardiac fibroblasts with IL-6 resulted in progressively augmented STAT3 phosphorylation and miR-21 levels. S3I-201 blocked IL-6 induced the expression of miR-21 and fibrosis-related genes in addition to cardiac fibroblast proliferation. Transfected antagomir-21 decreased the IL-6-induced cardiac fibroblast activation and STAT3 phosphorylation. The overexpression of miR-21 in cardiac fibroblasts caused the upregulation of STAT3 phosphorylation, enhanced fibrosis-related genes, and increased cell numbers. CONCLUSIONS: Our results have uncovered a novel reciprocal loop between STAT3 and miR-21 that is activated after heart surgery and can contribute to atrial fibrillation.

Cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) deficiency is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by epileptic seizures, severe intellectual disability, and autistic features. Mice lacking CDKL5 display multiple behavioral abnormalities reminiscent of the disorder, but the cellular origins of these phenotypes remain unclear. Here, we find that ablating CDKL5 expression specifically from forebrain glutamatergic neurons impairs hippocampal-dependent memory in male conditional knock-out mice. Hippocampal pyramidal neurons lacking CDKL5 show decreased dendritic complexity but a trend toward increased spine density. This morphological change is accompanied by an increase in the frequency of spontaneous miniature EPSCs and interestingly, miniature IPSCs. Using voltage-sensitive dye imaging to interrogate the evoked response of the CA1 microcircuit, we find that CA1 pyramidal neurons lacking CDKL5 show hyperexcitability in their dendritic domain that is constrained by elevated inhibition in a spatially and temporally distinct manner. These results suggest a novel role for CDKL5 in the regulation of synaptic function and uncover an intriguing microcircuit mechanism underlying impaired learning and memory.

Background: Metabolic alterations provide substrates that influence chromatin structure to regulate gene expression that determines cell function in health and disease. Heightened proliferation of smooth muscle cells (SMC) leading to the formation of a neointima is a feature of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and systemic vascular disease. Increased glycolysis is linked to the proliferative phenotype of these SMC. Methods: RNA sequencing was applied to pulmonary arterial SMC (PASMC) from PAH patients with and without a BMPR2 (bone morphogenetic receptor 2) mutation versus control PASMC to uncover genes required for their heightened proliferation and glycolytic metabolism. Assessment of differentially expressed genes established metabolism as a major pathway, and the most highly upregulated metabolic gene in PAH PASMC was aldehyde dehydrogenase family 1 member 3 ( ALDH1A3) , an enzyme previously linked to glycolysis and proliferation in cancer cells and systemic vascular SMC. We determined if these functions are ALDH1A3-dependent in PAH PASMC, and if ALDH1A3 is required for the development of pulmonary hypertension in a transgenic mouse. Nuclear localization of ALDH1A3 in PAH PASMC led us to determine whether and how this enzyme coordinately regulates gene expression and metabolism in PAH PASMC. Results: ALDH1A3 mRNA and protein were increased in PAH versus control PASMC, and ALDH1A3 was required for their highly proliferative and glycolytic properties. Mice with Aldh1a3 deleted in SMC did not develop hypoxia-induced pulmonary arterial muscularization or pulmonary hypertension. Nuclear ALDH1A3 converted acetaldehyde to acetate to produce acetyl coenzyme A to acetylate H3K27, marking active enhancers. This allowed for chromatin modification at NFYA (nuclear transcription factor Y subunit α) binding sites via the acetyltransferase KAT2B (lysine acetyltransferase 2B) and permitted NFY-mediated transcription of cell cycle and metabolic genes that is required for ALDH1A3-dependent proliferation and glycolysis. Loss of BMPR2 in PAH SMC with or without a mutation upregulated ALDH1A3, and transcription of NFYA and ALDH1A3 in PAH PASMC was β-catenin dependent. Conclusions: Our studies have uncovered a metabolic-transcriptional axis explaining how dividing cells use ALDH1A3 to coordinate their energy needs with the epigenetic and transcriptional regulation of genes required for SMC proliferation. They suggest that selectively disrupting the pivotal role of ALDH1A3 in PAH SMC, but not endothelial cells, is an important therapeutic consideration.

ABSTRACT: Xanthan gum coating was used to carry 5% Gluconal Cal, a mixture of calcium lactate and gluconate, and 0.2%α‐tocopheral acetate (vitamin E) by weight, respectively. Peeled baby carrots were dipped in the coating solutions, dried, and then stored at 2 °C and 85% relative humidity for up to 3 wk. Calcium and vitamin E contents of the coated samples, per serving (85g), increased from 2.6% to 6.6%, and from 0 to about 67% of the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) values respectively. Edible coatings (p &lt; 0.05) improved the desirable surface color of carrots without effects (p &lt; 0.05) on the taste, texture, and fresh aroma and flavor except for a slightly slippery surface. The β‐carotene level in the baby carrots (p &lt; 0.05) was not affected by edible coating.

This paper investigates the process capability index and gives the rule of actual process capability index,avoiding the intuitionistic absurdity which presents in the theory of actual process capability index.In terms of the rule,a new process capability index is proposed.The results show that the actual process capability index is the ideal index when the process center and the tolerance center are superposition.When the process center and the specification level are superposition,the actual process capability index is not only nonzero,but also is equal to the ideal capability index with qualified product rate 50%.