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This study aimed to discover the effect of miR-124/STAT3 axis on the inflammation and cell apoptosis in myocardial infarction (MI) rats. Sprague–Dawley (SD) male rats were selected for establishing MI models and divided into Sham, MI, MI + anti-miR-124 and MI + Ad-miR-124 groups. Cardiac function was detected via echocardiography. Hematoxylin & eosin (HE) and triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining were used to observe the pathological changes and infarction area, while transferase (TdT)-mediated D-UTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay was to observe myocardial apoptosis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the serum levels of inflammatory cytokines. Quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blotting were performed to determine the mRNA and protein levels, respectively. Dual luciferase reporter gene assay revealed that STAT3 was a target gene of miR-124. The expression levels of miR-124 were increased and the pSTAT3/STAT3 ratio was reduced in the MI rats. The rats in the MI group showed enhanced LVEDD and LVESD, reduced LVEF and LVFS, as well as larger myocardial infarction area compared with the Sham group, Besides, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and MCP-1 levels were elevated and the expressions of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and cleaved caspase-3 were downregulated in MI group. We further found that silencing miR-124 improved cardiac function, reduced infarction area and the levels of inflammatory cytokines, as well as prevented myocardial apoptosis in MI rats. Silencing miR-124 could inhibit the inflammation and apoptosis of myocardial cells, thereby relieving the MI injury via upregulation of STAT3.

Background Studies on coronary slow flow are receiving increasing attention, but objective evaluations are still lacking. The purpose of this study was to visualize the current status and research hotspots of coronary slow flow through bibliometric analysis. Methods All relevant publications on coronary slow flow from 2003 to 2022 were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection database and analyzed by VOSviewer and CiteSpace visualization software. Year of publication, journal, country/region, institution, and first author of each paper, as well as research hotspots were identified. Results A total of 913 publications were retrieved. The journal with the most publications was Coronary Artery Disease. The country/region with the most publications was Turkey, followed by China and the United States. The institution with the largest publication volume was Turkey Specialized Higher Education Research Hospital. The author with the largest publication volume was Chun-Yan Ma from China. Keyword analysis indicated that “treatment and prognosis”, “pathogenesis and risk factors” and “diagnosis” were the clustering centers of coronary slow flow, and the research hotspots gradually changed with time, from pathogenesis to treatment and prognosis. Conclusion Future research will focus on the search for effective and non-invasive detection indicators and treatments of coronary slow flow. Collaboration needs to be enhanced between different institutions or countries/regions, which would improve clinical outcomes for patients with coronary slow flow.

Few studies focused on predictors of unfavorable outcomes (modified Rankin Scale, 2-6) after reconstructive treatment of the ruptured intracranial spontaneous vertebral artery dissection aneurysms (ris-VADAs), which was evaluated based on 57 reconstructed lesions in this study. Results of 57 consecutive patients (M:F = 29∶28; median age, 48 years; range, 27 to 69 years) harboring 57 ris-VADAs, which were treated with coils combined with single stent(n = 32), double overlapping stents (n = 16), and triple overlapping stents (n = 9) between October 2000 to March 2011, were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. The available (n = 54) mean durations of angiographic and clinical follow-ups were 27 months (range, 12 to 78) and 62 months (range, 12 to 132), respectively. The involvement of PICA (p = 0.004), size of lesions (p = 0.000), quantity of stent (p = 0.001), and coil type (p = 0.002) affected the immediate obliteration grade, which was only risk factor for angiographic recurrences (p = 0.031). Although the post-treatment outcomes did not differ between single stent and multiple stents (p = 0.434), 5 angiographic recurrences, 1 rebleeding and 1 suspected rebleeding, all occurred in partial obliteration after single-stent-assisted coiling. Progressive thrombosis and in-stent obliteration were not detected on follow-up angiograms. Older age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.090; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.004-1.184; p = 0.040) and unfavorable Hunt-Hess scale (OR = 4.289; 95%CI, 1.232-14.933; p = 0.022) were independent predictors of unfavorable outcomes in the reconstructed ris-VADAs. Immediate obliteration grade was only risk factor for angiographic recurrence after reconstructive treatment. Unfavorable Hunt-Hess grade and older age were independent predictors of unfavorable outcomes in ris-VADAs.

To evaluate the association of intracranial non-stenotic atherosclerotic plaque with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) imaging markers in a CSVD population using 3.0 T high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HRMRI), which was validated in embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) cohort. We retrospectively recruited consecutive patients who were diagnosed with CSVD or ESUS from January 2015 to December 2019. All patients underwent intracranial HRMRI to assess intracranial non-stenotic atherosclerotic plaques. Baseline and imaging data were collected and were measured among all patients. Among 153 patients with CSVD, there were 59 with intracranial atherosclerotic plaque (IAP) and 94 with non-IAP, including 36 with intracranial atherosclerotic complicated plaque (IACP). Among 227 ESUS patients, there were 155 with IAP and 72 with non-IAP, including 127 with IACP. In the CSVD population, we found that: (1) CSVD burden was associated with IAP ( p  = 0.036) and IACP ( p  = 0.008); (2) IAP was associated with white matter hyperintensity (51% vs. 34%; P  = 0.039), and IACP was associated with lacunes (69% vs. 35%; P  = 0.009) and enlarge perivascular space (69% vs. 39%; P  = 0.022). A similar association of CSVD imaging markers with IAP or IACP was found in the ESUS population. Furthermore, the association of unilateral IAP or IACP with CSVD imaging markers of ipsilateral hemisphere was identified in the two cohorts. This is the first report that intracranial non-stenotic atherosclerotic plaque, especially complicated plaque, is closely associated with CSVD imaging markers, which provide further evidence for the association of large artery atherosclerosis with CSVD.

Age and sex have effect on atherosclerosis. This study aimed to investigate their effect on non-stenotic intracranial atherosclerotic plaque (NIAP) in embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI). We retrospectively recruited consecutive ESUS patients who underwent intracranial HR-MRI to assess the plaque characteristics (remodeling index [RI], plaque burden [PB], fibrous cap [FC], discontinuity of plaque surface [DPS], intraplaque hemorrhage [IPH] and complicated plaque [CP]). We divided patients into three groups (< 60 years, 60–74 years, ≥ 75 years). 155 patients with ipsilateral NIAP were found from 243 ESUS patients, with 106 men (68.39%) and 49 women (31.61%). In total population or age group under 60 years, there were no significant differences in plaque characteristics between men and women (all p > 0.05). In age group of 60–74 years, men were associated with higher PB (66.27 ± 9.17% vs 60.91 ± 8.86%, p = 0.017) and RI (1.174 vs 1.156, p = 0.019), higher prevalence of DPS (82.50% vs 60.00%, p = 0.036) and complicated plaque (85.00% vs 63.33%, p = 0.036). For subjects ≥ 75 years old, PB were significantly higher in twomen vs men (68.85 ± 6.14% vs 62.62 ± 7.36%, p = 0.040). In addition, the probability for PB upper (≥ median PB), RI upper (≥ median RI) and vulnerable plaque increased as age increased, and its predictive power for index ESUS was higher in men than women. This study identified age-dependent sex differences in NIAP characteristics of ESUS patients, which will help us clarify their etiology.

The main purpose of structural health monitoring (SHM) is to detect damage at its earliest possible stage to prevent severe deterioration and reduce subsequent repair costs. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) buckypaper (BP) was embedded into different cross-ply glass fibre composites to monitor the curing process and impact damage as an in situ sensor in this research. BP sensor can capture the four stages of the curing process, the gel point of the resin and residual stresses of the composite structure can be achieved by analysing the change of the resistance curve. Numerical and experimental analyses were performed to predict the damage in composite structures subjected to low-velocity impact. BP sensors\" electrical resistance increases with repeated impact loading; composite structure elastic deformation and damage evolution can be identified from resistance change. Experiment results show that structure monitoring based on the BP sensors cannot only detect small, barely visible impact damage flaws and the damage evaluation of composite structures subjected to impact, but also provide a new method to monitor the curing process through the analysis of results. This work makes some constructive contributions to monitoring the manufacturing process of composites and long-term SHM to evaluate impact resistance and damage prediction of composite structures.

Agrobacterium‐mediated T‐DNA integration into plant genomes represents a cornerstone for transgenic expression in plant basic research and synthetic biology. However, random T‐DNA integration can disrupt essential endogenous genes or compromise transgene expression, stressing the need for targeted integration strategies. Here we explored CRISPR‐aided targeted T‐DNA integration (CRISTTIN) in Arabidopsis, leveraging CRISPR‐induced double‐strand breaks (DSBs) to facilitate precise T‐DNA insertion. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, conventional Cas9 outperformed a designed Cas9‐adaptor fusion nuclease that may recruit Agrobacterium VirD2/T‐DNA complexes to DSB sites via the adaptor‐VirD2 interaction. Using Cas9‐based CRISTTIN, we streamlined the parallel generation of FERONIA null alleles and in‐locus complementation alleles expressing a wild‐type or mutated gene. This enabled phenotypic comparisons under identical genomic contexts and significantly accelerated gene characterisation and critical residue identification. Additionally, CRISTTIN was employed to simultaneously knockout AGAMOUS and in‐locus integrate a RUBY reporter, yielding plants with pink double‐petaled flowers. CRISTTIN also enabled site‐specific insertion of 35S enhancers for transcriptional upregulation of adjacent genes or reporter constructs for promoter activity monitoring. CRISTTIN's effectiveness was further validated in rice. These results demonstrated CRISTTIN as a versatile tool for gene functional studies and precise control of transgene expression in plants.

Background The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between quantitative epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) based on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and coronary slow flow (CSF). Methods A total of 85 patients with < 40% coronary stenosis on diagnostic coronary angiography were included in this retrospective study between January 2020 and December 2021. A semi-automatic method was developed for EAT quantification on CCTA images. According to the thrombolysis in myocardial infarction flow grade, the patients were divided into CSF group (n = 39) and normal coronary flow group (n = 46). Multivariate logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between EAT and CSF. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to evaluate the diagnostic value of EAT in CSF. Results EAT volume in the CSF group was significantly higher than that of the normal coronary flow group (128.83± 21.59 mL vs. 101.87± 18.56 mL, P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in epicardial fat attenuation index between the two groups (P > 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that EAT volume was independently related to CSF [odds ratio (OR) = 4.82, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.06–7.27, P < 0.001]. The area under ROC curve for EAT volume in identifying CSF was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.77–0.95). The optimal cutoff value of 118.46 mL yielded a sensitivity of 0.80 and a specificity of 0.94. Conclusions Increased EAT volume based on CCTA is strongly associated with CSF. This preliminary finding paves the way for future and larger studies aimed to definitively recognize the diagnostic value of EAT in CSF.

Artificial microRNA (amiRNA) technology offers reversible and flexible gene inactivation and complements genome-editing technologies. However, obtaining transgenic plants with maximal gene silencing remains a major technical challenge in current amiRNA applications. Here, we incorporated an empirically determined feature of effective amiRNAs to the amiRNA design and in silico generated a database containing 533,429 gene-specific amiRNAs for silencing 27,136 genes in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), with a genome coverage of 98.87%. In both single-gene and multiple-gene silencing, we observed an overall improvement in performance by amiRNAs designed using our strategy in Arabidopsis protoplasts and transgenic plants. In addition, the endogenous tRNA-processing system was used to generate multiple amiRNAs from tRNA-pre-amiRNA tandem repeats for multiplex gene silencing. An intronic amiRNA-producing fluorescent reporter was explored as a visual screening strategy for transgenic Arabidopsis and rice (Oryza sativa) plants with maximal whole-plant or cell type-specific gene silencing. These improvements enable the amiRNA technology to be a functional gene knockout tool for basic and applied plant research.

High-entropy alloy (HEA) coatings on the surface of low-alloy steel by laser cladding can improve the corrosion and wear resistance, and the performance can be further improved by adding the Cr element. However, the effect of Cr content on the microstructure, hardness, wear and corrosion resistance of the coatings on the welded joint has not been completely understood in the literature. This paper aims at revealing the influence of Cr content on the microstructure and properties of laser-cladded FeCoCrxNiAl HEA on different regions of Q345 welded structure. The results indicate that FeCoCrxNiAl HEA coating has good metallurgical bonding with the Q345 welded surface. The increase of Cr element content in the powder plays an important role in energy absorption of powder and substrate, affecting the dilution rate and diffusion of Fe from the substrate to HEA coating. The HEA coating is mainly composed of the face-centered cubic phase (FCC) and body-centered cubic phase (BCC). When x = 1.5, the actual Cr element content of coating is the highest, which promotes the formation of hard brittle phase BCC, and subsequently affects the hardness and wear resistance of the sample. Meanwhile, the corrosion resistance increases and then decreases, and reaches the highest when x = 1.5. Due to the existence of Cr and other elements with good corrosion resistance in the HEA coating, a dense oxide film can be formed in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution and neutral salt spray environment to prevent the corrosion from continuing, which can effectively improve the corrosion resistance of each region of the welded joint, and the protective efficiencies on the weld bead (WB), heat-affected zone (HAZ) and base metal (BM) are 99.1, 98.4 and 96.6%, respectively.