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Ripertamab has been used in an off-label manner for treating primary membranous nephropathy (PMN) in real-world settings in China, despite limited evidence supporting the efficacy of this drug. This multicenter, retrospective study is the first to assess the effectiveness and safety of ripertamab for treating PMN in a real-world Chinese clinical setting. Adult patients with PMN who were treated with at least one course of ripertamab alone were included in this study. Patients were categorized into two groups based on their prior treatment of PMN: the initial therapy group and the non-initial therapy group. The primary outcome was the occurrence of complete remission (CR) or partial remission (PR) at 6 and 12 months. The secondary outcomes included the time to achieve remission, relapse rate and the incidence of adverse events (AEs). Fifty-two patients were ultimately included for analysis. Among these patients, 39 received ripertamab as initial therapy, while 13 were in the non-initial therapy group. The median follow-up duration was 8.7 (4.7, 11.3) months. At 6 months, 24/40 (60.0%) patients achieved clinical remission, with 2/40 (5.0%) achieving CR and 22/40 (55.0%) achieving PR. At 12 months, 22 patients completed follow-up: 2 (9.1%) achieved CR, and 15 (68.2%) achieved PR. The median time to remission for the entire cohort was 90.5 (32, 165) days and four of the 52 patients (7.7%) relapsed. The initial therapy group had a higher remission rate at 12 months than the non-initial therapy group [13/15 (86.7%) vs. 4/7 (57.1%)]. Additionally, the initial therapy group achieved remission more quickly than the non-initial therapy group [79.0 (36, 112) vs. 165.0 (30, 313) days]. Ripertamab was well tolerated, with 9.6% (5/52) of patients experiencing AEs; none of the AEs were severe. Ripertamab demonstrated efficacy and good tolerability for the treatment of PMN in a Chinese real-world setting. These findings support the use of ripertamab as a therapeutic option for PMN patients and suggest the need for further investigation into its long-term safety and efficacy.

Bt maize is being increasingly cultivated worldwide as the effects of climate change are increasing globally. Bt maize IE09S034 and its near-isogenic non-Bt maize Zong 31 were used to investigate whether climate change alters the effects of Bt maize on soil Collembola. Warming and drought conditions were simulated using open-top chambers (OTC), and their effects on soil Collembola were evaluated. We found that the maize type had no significant effect on Collembola; however, the abundance and diversity of Collembola were significantly higher in the OTC than outside at the seedling stage; they were significantly lower in the OTC at the heading and mature stages. The interactions of the maize type with the OTC had no effect on these parameters. Therefore, Bt maize had no significant effect on soil Collembola, and the effects of climate warming and drought on soil Collembola depended on the ambient climatic conditions. When the temperature was low, collembolan abundance and diversity were promoted by warming; however, when the temperature was high and the humidity was low, collembolan abundance and diversity were inhibited by warming and drought. The climate changes simulated by the OTC did not alter the effects of Bt maize on soil Collembola.

The spatial patterns of field arthropod communities are an essential part of ecology and can provide fundamental data regarding field ecological processes and reveal the mechanism of ecosystem biodiversity maintenance. This study investigated the spatial distribution pattern of field insect communities to detect the spatial relationships between insect communities in farmland. The study site was located at the Dehui Agro-ecological Experimental Station of Black Soil, Jilin, China. Insect communities and environmental factors were sampled at 121 uniformly distributed points in a 400 × 400 m plot in August, September, and October 2015. The analysis revealed that insect communities from June to October demonstrated significant spatial correlation, and 6085 samples of 47 species and 47 families in 11 orders were collected from the insect community in the farmland. The farmland insect community structure changes and dynamic changes of nutritional function groups occur with time. According to the 400 x 400 m plot, the diversity of farmland insect communities and functional groups is maintained at a relatively high and stable level. In this study, a total of 6085 samples of corn farmland insects were obtained using the fluke method and direct observation method, including 11 orders, 26 families and 47 species, 4 absolute dominant populations, 6 main dominant populations, and 37 other populations. These studies can provide help for pest control in the spring corn area of Northeast China.

To explore the risk factors of proteinuria in Omicron variant patients and to construct and verify the risk predictive model. 1091 Omicron patients who were hospitalized from August 2022 to November 2022 at Tianjin First Central Hospital were defined as the derivation cohort. 306 Omicron patients who were hospitalized from January 2022 to March 2022 at the same hospital were defined as the validation cohort. The risk factors of proteinuria in derivation cohort were screened by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis, and proteinuria predicting scoring system was constructed and the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was drawn to test the prediction ability. The proteinuria risk model was externally validated in validation cohort. 7 factors including comorbidities, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum sodium (Na), uric acid (UA), C reactive protein (CRP) and vaccine dosages were included to construct a risk predictive model. The score ranged from -5 to 16. The area under the ROC curve(AUC) of the model was 0.8326(95% CI 0.7816 to 0.8835,  < 0.0001). Similarly to that observed in derivation cohort, the AUC is 0.833(95% CI 0.7808 to 0.9002,  < 0.0001), which verified good prediction ability and diagnostic accuracy in validation cohort. The risk model of proteinuria after Omicron infection had better assessing efficiency which could provide reference for clinical prediction of the risk of proteinuria in Omicron patients.

The potential effects of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) maize on non-target organisms must be conducted before the Bt maize is commercially planted. Folsomia candida is one of the non-target organisms of Bt maize, also as an important indicator of soil quality and environmental pollution. In this study, a 90-day F. candida feeding test were conducted to evaluate the potential effects of two Bt maize lines IE09S034 and BT799 and their non-Bt conventional isolines Zong 31 and Zheng 58. The results show that Bt maize lines had no significant effects on the survival rate, reproduction, adult body length, larval body length, and the activities of acetyl cholinesterase, catalase and superoxide dismutase on the F. candida. Namely, Bt maize had no toxic effects on the F. candida.

Several epidemiological studies have investigated the relationship between height and risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but the results were inconsistent. Thus, a meta-analysis of observational studies was carried out to clarify this association. A literature search was performed in PubMed and Web of Science databases for all relevant studies up to 25 May 2016. The random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled relative risks (RRs) and restricted cubic spline model was adopted for the dose–response analysis. A total of 31 studies involving 13 077 848 participants with 93 818 cases were included. The pooled RR (95% confidence interval) of CRC for the highest versus the lowest category of height was 1.25 (1.18–1.32); the pooled RR was 1.32 (1.22–1.43) for colon cancer and 1.12 (1.05–1.19) for rectal cancer for the highest versus the lowest category of height. A nonlinear relationship was found between height and the risk of CRC in the dose–response analysis ( P nonlinearity =0.0024). This meta-analysis indicates that height is associated with an increased risk of CRC.

The potential effects of Bt ( Bacillus thuringiensis ) maize on non-target organisms should be evaluated before such maize is commercially planted. Earthworms play an indispensable role in the soil ecosystem; act as important bio-indicators of soil quality and environmental pollution. Therefore, earthworms are often used as the object to evaluate the non-target effect of Bt maize. To accelerate the commercialization of transgenic maize in China, a 90-day Eisenia fetida feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential effects of Bt maize line, BT799—which was developed by China Agricultural University and contains the Cry1Ac gene—and its non-Bt conventional isoline—Zheng 58—on E . fetida . Our results showed that the Bt maize line had no significant effects on the growth, reproduction, or enzymatic activities of these earthworms. In summary, Bt maize had no toxic effects on E . fetida .

Migraine is a highly prevalent neurological disorder that significantly impairs quality of life. Understanding the comparative effectiveness and safety of oral preventive medications is essential to guide treatment decisions in adult patients. This study aims to evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety of oral pharmacological therapies for migraine prevention in adults using Network Meta-Analysis. A comprehensive search was conducted across The Cochrane Library, PubMed, SCOPUS, and Embase databases until 15 December 2024 to find relevant studies on preventing migraine among adult populations. Clinical trials involving adult individuals with migraine who received oral pharmacological interventions were included. Per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, data extraction was independently conducted by five researchers in duplicate. Model choice was based on heterogeneity with random-effects used for I ≥ 50% and fixed-effects for I < 50%. The main endpoint was the monthly frequency of migraine attacks. Secondary endpoints encompassed the response rate of ≥50%, migraine duration, pain intensity, and quality of life (QoL). Adverse events were assessed. From the 17,443 identified citations, we included 44 trials (4,612 participants) in our analysis. Topiramate, valproate, and propranolol demonstrated significant efficacy in the prevention of migraines. Memantine, melatonin, and vitamin D3 also showed potential preventive effects. Combination therapies, such as flunarizine plus topiramate, valproate plus magnesium, or folic plus pyridoxine, were associated with greater efficacy in migraine prevention compared to monotherapy and with a lower incidence of adverse events. Topiramate, flunarizine, propranolol, valproate, amitriptyline, cinnarizine, and nortriptyline were associated with improvements in quality of life (QoL), but these findings were based on limited evidence. Valsartan and a-dihydroergocryptine were linked to reduced migraine frequency, but these results were largely derived from single studies and require confirmation through larger, high-quality trials. This network meta-analysis confirmed the significant efficacy of topiramate, valproate, and propranolol in migraine prevention and identified potential benefits of memantine, melatonin, vitamin D3, and combination therapies. These findings provide evidence-based treatment options for migraine prevention and suggest promising directions for future research. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?ID=CRD42024621316, Identifier: PROSPERO, CRD42024621316.

The insecticidal crystalline proteins (Crys) are a family of insect endotoxin functioning in crop protection. As insects keep evolving into tolerance to the existing Crys, it is necessary to discover new Cry proteins to overcome potential threatens. Crys possess three functional domains at their N-termini, and the most active region throughout evolution was found at the domain-III. We swapped domain-IIIs from various Cry proteins and generated seven chimeric proteins. All recombinants were expressed in Escherichia coli and their toxicity was assessed by dietary exposure assays. Three of the seven Crys exhibited a high toxicity to Asian corn borer over the controls. One of them, Cry1Ab-Gc, a chimeric Cry1Ab being replaced with the domain-III of Cry1Gc, showed the highest toxicity to rice stem borer when it was over-expressed in Oryza sativa . Furthermore, it was also transformed into maize, backcrossed into commercial maize inbred lines and then produced hybrid to evaluate their commercial value. Transgenic maize performed significant resistance to the Asian corn borer without affecting the yield. We further showed that this new protein did not have adverse effects on the environment. Our results indicated that domain III swapped of Crys could be used as an efficient method for developing new engineered insecticidal protein.

The use of transgenic plants in agriculture provides many economic benefits, but it also raises concerns over the potential impact of transgenic plants on the environment. We here examined the impact of transgenic high-methionine soybean ZD91 on the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal community structure in rhizosphere soil. Our investigations based on clone libraries were conducted in field trials at four growth stages of the crops each year from 2012 to 2013. A total of 155 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of AM fungi were identified based on the sequences of small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) genes. There were no significant differences found in AM fungal diversity in rhizosphere soil during the same growth stage between transgenic soybean ZD91 and its non-transgenic parental soybean ZD. In addition, plant growth stage and year had the strongest effect on the AM fungal community structure while the genetically modified (GM) trait studied was the least explanatory factor. In conclusion, we found no indication that transgenic soybean ZD91 cultivation poses a risk for AM fungal communities in agricultural soils.