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Cellular senescence is a key mechanism of age-related vascular endothelial dysfunction. Interleukin-17A (IL-17A) is an inflammatory cytokine produced by Th17 cells (a subgroup of helper T cells), which is a key factor in the development of atherosclerosis. However, the effect of IL-17A on the senescence of vascular endothelial cells is still unclear. In this study, we aimed to explore the role of IL-17A on endothelial cell senescence and its signaling pathways associated with senescence. The proportion of Th17 cells in the spleen and the expression levels of IL-17A, IL-6, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in mice of different ages were increased with aging. In vitro experiments showed that proliferation was inhibited, senescent β-galactosidase and senescence-associated proteins (p16, p19, p21, and p53) of mouse aortic endothelial cells (MAECs) were increased with IL-17A treatment. Blocking the NF-κB pathway with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) successfully inhibited IL-17A-induced expression of senescence-associated proteins. In conclusion, our data reveal a previously unsuspected link between IL-17A and endothelial cell senescence, which was mediated by the NF-κB /p53/Rb pathway. Cellular senescence is a key mechanism of age-related vascular endothelial dysfunction. The authors explored the role of IL-17A on endothelial cell senescence and its associated signaling pathways. Their data reveals a previously unsuspected link between IL-17A and endothelial cell senescence, mediated by the NF-κB /p53/Rb signaling pathway.

To evaluate the clinical treatment effects of orthokeratology to slow the progression of myopia. Several well-designed controlled studies have investigated the effects of orthokeratology in school-aged children. We conducted this meta-analysis to better evaluate the existing evidence. Relevant studies were identified in the Medline and Embase database without language limitations. The main outcomes included axial length and vitreous chamber depth reported as the mean ± standard deviation. The results were pooled and assessed with a fixed-effects model analysis. Subgroup analyses were performed according to geographical location and study design. Of the seven eligible studies, all reported axial length changes after 2 years, while two studies reported vitreous chamber depth changes. The pooled estimates indicated that change in axial length in the ortho-k group was 0.27 mm (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.22, 0.32) less than the control group. Myopic progression was reduced by approximately 45%. The combined results revealed that the difference in vitreous chamber depth between the two groups was 0.22 mm (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.14, 0.31). None of the studies reported severe adverse events. The overall findings suggest that ortho-k can slow myopia progression in school-aged children.

Against the backdrop of stricter global carbon emission policies, corporate green transition performance has become a key driver for advancing sustainable development. Based on data from A-share listed companies in China from 2015 to 2022, this study empirically examines the mechanisms by which digital transformation impacts corporate green transformation performance. The findings reveal that (1) Digital transformation significantly promotes corporate green transformation, with supply chain innovation serving as a critical mediating factor; (2) The environmental awareness of senior executives and the strategic proactiveness of enterprises exert a significant moderating effect on this relationship. Enhanced environmental awareness among executives drives enterprises to leverage digital tools for green transformation; conversely, excessive strategic proactiveness exerts a constraining influenc; (3) Heterogeneity analysis indicates that firm-specific characteristics, industry attributes, and regional disparities produce differentiated effects. State-owned enterprises, benefiting from their policy support and resource advantages, are more likely to advance green innovation through enterprise digital transformation. Non-high-tech industries tend to optimize production processes, control pollution, and improve operational efficiency through digitalization. Moreover, in regions with stringent environmental regulations, the positive impact of digitalization on both innovation performance and environmental outcomes becomes particularly pronounced. This study enriches theoretical understanding of the integration between digitalization and greening, and by uncovering the pivotal role of supply chain innovation provides practical guidance and policy insights for enterprises advancing sustainable development.

Background: Keratorefractive Lenticule Extraction (KLEx) is an emerging flap-free surgical technique for the correction of myopic astigmatism. However, postoperative astigmatic accuracy remains variable. This study aimed to identify clinical and surgical factors that influence the outcomes of astigmatic correction following KLEx. Methods: A total of 98 patients with myopic astigmatism underwent KLEx. Manifest refraction was evaluated at three months postoperatively. Astigmatic outcomes were assessed using Alpins vector analysis. Multivariate linear and logistic regression models were used to determine associations between preoperative and intraoperative variables—such as age, eye laterality, tear film quality, sphere-to-cylinder ratio, and preoperative cylinder—and astigmatic correction parameters, including residual cylinder, correction index, magnitude of error, and angle of error. Results: Older age was associated with larger residual cylinder and angle of error. Eye laterality and tear film quality significantly influenced correction accuracy. A higher sphere-to-cylinder ratio and preoperative cylinder were also predictive of astigmatic correction performance. Conclusions: The accuracy of astigmatic correction in KLEx is significantly influenced by multiple clinical and surgical factors. Awareness of these predictors may guide surgical planning and improve refractive outcomes.

PurposeTo analyze the etiology, microbiological isolates, and antibiotic susceptibilities of endophthalmitis in pediatric patients.MethodsPatients aged < 18 years with culture-positive endophthalmitis in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center between January 2010 and December 2018 were included retrospectively.ResultsA total of 127 patients (127 eyes) were included, and 108 (85%) had posttraumatic endophthalmitis. Streptococcus (21.4%), coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (14.5%), Aspergillus (6.9%), and Bacillus cereus (5.3%) were the common organisms. The proportion of Streptococcus decreased with age (40.0% in 0–3 years, 16.3% in 4–12 years, and 6.3% in 13–17 years), while coagulase-negative Staphylococcus increased from 5.7% to 18.8%. Overall, fluoroquinolones achieved the highest antibiotic susceptibility rate (> 95%), while the susceptibility of isolated bacteria to tobramycin and cefazolin was only 60.2% and 59.4%, respectively. The susceptibility rates of Gram-positive cocci to cephalosporins were nearly 90%. For Gram-negative bacilli, susceptibility to neomycin was 91.3%.ConclusionTrauma was the main etiology for pediatric endophthalmitis. Although Streptococcus was the most prevalent organism in general, the dominant pathogen varied with age, which merits clinical attention. Fluoroquinolones showed the highest antibiotic efficacy; however, commonly used antibiotics tobramycin and cefazolin showed relatively low antibiotic susceptibility. Thus, antibiotic resistance in pediatric populations merits clinical attention.

The current study aimed to examine the short-term choroidal response to optical defocus in schoolchildren. Myopic schoolchildren aged 8-16 were randomly allocated to control group (CG), myopic defocus group (MDG) and hyperopic defocus group (HDG) (n = 17 per group). Children in MDG and HDG received additional +3D and -3D lenses, respectively, to their full corrections on the right eyes. Full correction was given to their left eyes, and on both eyes in the CG. Axial length (AXL) and subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFChT) were then measured by spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Children wore their group-specific correction for 2 hours after which any existing optical defocus was removed, and subjects wore full corrections for another 2 hours. Both the AXL and SFChT were recorded hourly for 4 hours. The mean refraction of all subjects was -3.41 ± 0.37D (± SEM). SFChT thinned when exposed to hyperopic defocus for 2 hours but less thinning was observed in response to myopic defocus compared to the control group (p < 0.05, two-way ANOVA). Removal of optical defocus significantly decreased SFChT in the MDG and significantly increased SFChT in the HDG after 1 and 2 hours (mean percentage change at 2-hour; control vs. hyperopic defocus vs. myopic defocus; -0.33 ± 0.59% vs. 3.04 ± 0.60% vs. -1.34 ± 0.74%, p < 0.01). Our results showed short-term exposure to myopic defocus induced relative choroidal thickening while hyperopic defocus led to choroidal thinning in children. This rapid and reversible choroidal response may be an important clinical parameter in gauging retinal response to optical defocus in human myopia.

PURPOSE: To compare the corneal biomechanical properties before and after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and femtosecond laser-assisted LASIK in different levels of myopia with the Ocular Response Analyzer (Reichert Ophthalmic Instruments, Depew, NY). METHODS: A total of 187 and 79 eyes that received SMILE or LASIK, respectively, between January and June 2013 at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center were enrolled in this study. Patients were grouped according to surgery type (SMILE or LASIK) and −6.00 diopters (D) or less (⩽ −6.00 D) or myopia greater than −6.00 D (>−6.00 D). Corneal hysteresis, corneal resistance factor, and 37 waveform parameters were recorded and compared preoperatively and at 1 week and 1 and 3 months postoperatively. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease of corneal hysteresis, corneal resistance factor, p1area, and p2area, and an increase of path1 and path2 in both SMILE and LASIK. In myopia −6.00 D or less, the differences between SMILE and LASIK were not significant (There was a significant decrease of corneal hysteresis, corneal resistance factor, p1area, and p2area, and an increase of path1 and path2 in both SMILE and LASIK. In myopia −6.00 D or less, the differences between SMILE and LASIK were not significant ( P > .05), but in myopia greater than −6.00 D, the corneal hysteresis, corneal resistance factor, p1area, and p2area decreased significantly more in LASIK than in SMILE ( P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: When comparing SMILE with LASIK, myopia was greater than −6.00 D, and the corneal hysteresis, corneal resistance factor, p1area, and p2area decrease was less after SMILE. [[ J Refract Surg . 2014;30(10):702–707.]

Two new napyradiomycins derivatives, napyradiomycin A4 (1) and A80915 H (2), along with five known ones, were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of fermentation culture of Streptomyces kebangsaanensis WS-68302. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis, including HR-MS, 1D and 2D NMR, CD spectrum, as well as comparison with literature data. Compound 1 exhibited significant antiviral activity against PRV (Pseudorabies virus) with an IC50 value of 2.056 μM and therapeutic ratio at 14.98, suggesting that it might have potential for development of an antiviral agent. Moreover, compound 1 displayed the strongest inhibition against PRV protein among the tested napyradiomycins in the indirect immunofuorescence assay. Compounds 3 and 4 showed higher activities against swine pathogenic Streptococcus suis than the positive control penicillin G sodium salt, with MIC values of 3.125 and 6.25 μg/mL, respectively. Compounds 1 and 3–6 exhibited moderate antibacterial activity against the swine pathogenic Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, with MIC values ranging from 25 to 50 μg/mL.

Two series of novel steroidal[17,16-d]pyrimidines derived from natural epiandrosterone and androsterone were designed and synthesized, and these compounds were screened for their potential anticancer activities. The preliminary bioassay indicated that some of these prepared compounds exhibited significantly good cytotoxic activities against human gastric cancer (SGC-7901), lung cancer (A549), and hepatocellular liver carcinoma (HepG2) cell lines compared with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), epiandrosterone, and androsterone. Especially the respective pairs from epiandrosterone and androsterone showed significantly different inhibitory activities, and the possible configuration-activity relationships have also been summarized and discussed based on kinase assay and molecular docking, which indicated that the inhibition activities of these steroidal[17,16-d]pyrimidines might obviously be affected by the configuration of the hydroxyl group in the part of the steroidal scaffold.

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) is a pathogen that causes Aujeszky’s disease (AD) in animals, leading to huge economic losses to swine farms. In order to discover anti-PRV compounds, we studied the extracts of the strain Streptomyces jiujiangensis NBERC-24992, which showed significant anti-PRV activity. Eight benzoheterocyclic secondary metabolites, including three new compounds (1–3, virantmycins D–G) and five known compounds (4–8, virantmycin, A-503451 D, A-503451 D acetylate, A-503451 A, and A-503451 B), were isolated from the broth of NBERC-24992. The structures of the new compounds were identified by using extensive spectroscopic data, including mass spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and electronic circular dichroism (ECD). Compound 1 was found to be a novel heterocyclic compound with a tricyclic skeleton from natural product. All compounds were tested for antiviral activity, and 4 (virantmycin) showed an excellent effect against PRV and was better than ribavirin and acyclovir. Our study revealed that chlorine atom and tetrahydroquinoline skeleton were important active moiety for antiviral activity. Virantmycin could be a suitable leading compound for an antiviral drug against PRV.