Modulation of protein-ligand interactions in the presence of ZIF-8: Spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulation

In this paper, we investigated the protein-ligand interactions in the presence of ZIF-8 using multi-spectroscopic approaches and molecular dynamics simulation. Fluorescence experiments and molecular docking results showed that ZIF-8 did not change the type of quenching and interaction force between ciprofloxacin (CIP) and human serum albumin (HSA), but made the binding constant of HSA-CIP to be smaller, suggesting that ZIF-8 maybe accelerate the dissociation of CIP from HSA-CIP complex. Moreover, the effect of ZIF-8 on the physiological function of HSA was explored. Multi-spectroscopic methods revealed that ZIF-8 did not significantly alter the microenvironment of amino acid groups, but cause a slight decrease in the content of α-helical conformation, and a sparse and flexible structure of the protein backbone. These peculiarities might lead to the diminution of HSA's ability to control drugs. In short, ZIF-8 might enhance drug effect due to affecting the binding of drugs to proteins. However, the present study is only a preliminary investigation of the suitability of ZIF-8 as a drug carrier in vitro, and subsequent in vivo experimental studies will be required to further confirm the idea.

Fluorine-18 prostate-specific membrane antigen-1007-avid indeterminate bone lesions in prostate cancer: clinical and PET/CT features to predict outcomes and prognosis

AIM

To determine clinical and fluorine-18 prostate-specific membrane antigen-1007 (18F-PSMA-1007) integrated positron-emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) features that could be used to interpret indeterminate bone lesions (IBLs) and assess the prognosis of prostate cancer (PCa) in patients with IBLs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Consecutive patients who underwent PSMA PET/CT were analysed retrospectively. IBLs were identified as benign or malignant based on follow-up imaging and clinical management. Lesion- and patient-based assessments were performed to define features predictive of bone lesion results and determine clinical risk. Patients' prognosis was analysed based on clinical characteristics, including prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), respectively.

RESULTS

A total of 105 patients (mean age ± SD, 72.1 ± 8 years) were evaluated and 158 IBLs were identified. Fifty-three (33.5%), 36 (22.8%), and 69 (43.7%) IBLs were benign, malignant, and equivocal, respectively. Variables including location, maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax), and lymph node metastases (LNM) were related to the benignancy or malignancy of IBLs (p=0.046, p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). Regression analysis indicated that LNM, SUVmax, and location of IBLs could be predictors of lesion interpretation (p<0.001, p=0.002 and p=0.035). Patients with benign IBLs experienced the most considerable decreases in PSA and ALP levels.

CONCLUSIONS

LNM, SUVmax, and location may contribute to IBL interpretation. A rapid decrease in PSA and ALP levels might suggest a better prognosis for patients with benign IBLs.

[Small tidal volume hyperventilation relieves intraocular and intracranial pressure elevation in prone spinal surgery: a randomized controlled trial]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effects of different ventilation strategies on intraocular pressure (IOP) and intracranial pressure in patients undergoing spinal surgery in the prone position under general anesthesia.

METHODS

Seventy-two patients undergoing prone spinal surgery under general anesthesia between November, 2022 and June, 2023 were equally randomized into two groups to receive routine ventilation (with Vt of 8mL/kg, Fr of 12-15/min, and etCO2 maintained at 35-40 mmHg) or small tidal volume hyperventilation (Vt of 6 mL/kg, Fr of18-20/min, and etCO2 maintained at 30-35 mmHg) during the surgery. IOP of both eyes (measured with a handheld tonometer), optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD; measured at 3 mm behind the eyeball with bedside real-time ultrasound), circulatory and respiratory parameters of the patients were recorded before anesthesia (T0), immediately after anesthesia induction (T1), immediately after prone positioning (T2), at 2 h during operation (T3), immediately after supine positioning after surgery (T4) and 30 min after the operation (T5).

RESULTS

Compared with those at T1, IOP and ONSD in both groups increased significantly at T3 and T4(P < 0.05). IOP was significantly lower in hyperventilation group than in routine ventilation group at T3 and T4(P < 0.05), and ONSD was significantly lower in hyperventilation group at T4(P < 0.05). IOP was positively correlated with the length of operative time (r=0.779, P < 0.001) and inversely with intraoperative etCO2 at T3(r=-0.248, P < 0.001) and T4(r=-0.251, P < 0.001).ONSD was correlated only with operation time (r=0.561, P < 0.05) and not with IOP (r=0.178, P>0.05 at T3; r=0.165, P>0.05 at T4).

CONCLUSION

Small tidal volume hyperventilation can relieve the increase of IOP and ONSD during prone spinal surgery under general anesthesia.

The value of T2-weighted MRI contrast ratio combined with DWI in evaluating the pathological grade of solid lung adenocarcinoma

AIM

To assess the predictive value of T2-weighted (T2W) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in combination with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for determining the pathological grading of solid lung adenocarcinoma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The clinical and imaging data from 153 cases of solid lung adenocarcinoma (82 men, 71 women, mean age 63.2 years) confirmed at histopathology in The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from January 2017 to May 2022 were analysed retrospectively. Adenocarcinomas were classified into low-grade (G1 and G2) and high-grade (G3) groups following the 2020 pathological grading system proposed by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. The T2-weighted contrast ratio (T2CR), calculated as the T2 signal intensity of the lung mass/nodule divided by the T2 signal intensity of the right rhomboid muscle was utilised. Two experienced radiologists reviewed the MRI images independently, measured the T2CR, and obtained apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare general characteristics (sex, age, maximum diameter), T2CR, and ADC values between the low-grade and high-grade groups. The non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test determined differences in T2CR and ADC values among the five adenocarcinoma subtypes. Receiver characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, along with area under the curve (AUC) calculation, assessed the effectiveness of each parameter in distinguishing the pathological grade of lung adenocarcinoma. A Z-test was used to compare the AUC values.

RESULTS

Among the 153 patients with adenocarcinoma, 103 had low-grade adenocarcinoma, and 50 had high-grade adenocarcinoma. The agreement between T2CR and ADC observers was good (0.948 and 0.929, respectively). None of the parameters followed a normal distribution (p<0.05). The ADC value was lower in the high-grade adenocarcinoma group compared to the low-grade adenocarcinoma group (p=0.004), while the T2CR value was higher in the high-grade group (p=0.011). Statistically significant differences were observed in maximum diameter and gender between the two groups (p<0.001 and p=0.005, respectively), while no significant differences were noted in age (p=0.980). Among the five adenocarcinoma subtypes, only the lepidic and micropapillary subtypes displayed statistical differences in ADC values (p=0.047), with the remaining subtypes showing no statistical differences (p>0.05). The AUC values for distinguishing high-grade adenocarcinoma from low-grade adenocarcinoma were 0.645 for ADC and 0.627 for T2CR. Combining T2CR, ADC, sex, and maximum diameter resulted in an AUC of 0.778, sensitivity of 70%, and specificity of 75%. This combination significantly improved diagnostic efficiency compared to T2CR and ADC alone (p=0.008, z = 2.624; p=0.007, z = 2.679).

CONCLUSION

The MRI quantitative parameters are useful for distinguishing the pathological grades of solid lung adenocarcinoma, offering valuable insights for precise lung cancer treatment.

Linker Histone H1.4 Inhibits the Growth, Migration and EMT Process of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer by Regulating ERK1/2 Expression

H1.4 is one of the 11 variants of linker histone H1, and is associated with tumorigenesis and development of various cancers. However, it is unclear for the role of histone H1.4 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we found that overexpression of H1.4 significantly inhibited the cell viability, migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes, whereas silencing H1.4 by shRNA knockdown promoted these processes in NSCLC cell lines A549 and H1299. We further showed that H1.4 overexpression reduced ERK1/2 expression or its phosphorylation levels, while H1.4 knockdown increased ERK1/2 expression or phosphorylation levels in NSCLC. Furthermore, we demonstrated that H1.4 bound to the promoter of ERK1/2, and acted as a transcriptional suppressor to inhibit ERK1/2 expression in A549 or H1299 cells. Importantly, we found that ERK ecto-expression can largely recovered the inhibitory effects of H1.4 on cell viability, migration, invasion and EMT processes. In summary, our study reveals that the H1.4-ERK pathway is crucial for cell viability, migration, invasion and EMT of NSCLC and could be a therapeutic target for NSCLC.

Factors associated with early failure of the femoral neck system (FNS) in patients with femoral neck fractures

BACKGROUND

Femoral neck system (FNS) is a new type of internal fixation system which has been widely used for treating femoral neck fractures (FNFs).Compared with other internal fixation methods, FNS is minimally invasive and stable, and often achieves satisfactory short-term efficacy.Early failure of FNS (EFFNS) is not uncommon, however, there are few literatures and reports on factors associated with EFFNS.This study aimed to survey the prevalence and risk factors of EFFNS.

METHODS

We retrospectively analysed 62 patients with FNFs and underwent FNS fixation between 2019 and 2021. Demographic data, clinical characteristics, radiographic features and treatment process were described. Multifactor logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the different influencing factors.

RESULTS

Out of the 62 FNFs patients, 10 patients (16.1%) developed EFFNS, including 6 cases of severe femoral neck shortening, 2 cases of screw-out, 1 case of avascular necrosis of the femoral head and 1 case of nonunion. In the failure group, all patients were younger than 65 years old, which was significantly higher than 59.6% in the healing group (P = 0.012). There were no significant differences in sex(P = 0.490), BMI (P = 0.709), injured side (P = 0.312), injury mechanism (P = 0.617), reduction method(P = 0.570),femoral neck-shaft angle(P = 0.545), Pauwels classification (P = 0.564) and Garden classification (P = 0.195). Moreover, we not found that Garden classification (P = 0.464) and age (P = 0.128) were statistically significant risk factors for EFFNS at multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSION

In this study, sex, BMI, injury side, injury mechanism, reduction method, Pauwels angle, femoral neck-shift angle, Pauwels classification and Garden classification were excluded as EFFNS risk factors. Moreover, our study demonstrated that age and Garden classification were not significant risk factors at multivariate analysis.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ChiCTR, ChiCTR2100051360. Registered on 21 September, 2021. https://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx .

Improving the visualisation of perforator arteries for anterolateral thigh flaps harvest in CT angiography via sublingual glyceryl trinitrate

AIM

To investigate the improvement of image quality and visualisation of the anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap perforators on computed tomography angiography (CTA) after administration of sublingual glyceryl trinitrate (GTN).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sixty patients with oral lesions received thigh CTA examinations were divided randomly into two groups after administration of sublingual GTN (GTN group) or without administration of sublingual GTN (non-GTN group). Two radiologists calculated the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and assessed the image quality of each vessel. Besides, the grade of thigh artery, the lumen diameter of deep femoral artery, lateral circumflex femoral artery (LCFA), the descending branch of LCFA and its proximal and distal perforators, and the number and type of visible perforators were evaluated quantitatively.

RESULTS

The SNR and CNR were not significantly different between the two groups (p>0.05). The image quality of CTA in the GTN group was significantly better than that in the non-GTN group (p<0.01). The lumen diameters of the deep femoral artery, LCFA, the descending branch of LCFA and its perforators were significantly larger in the GTN group than those in the non-GTN group (p<0.01). Compared with the non-GTN group, the number of visible perforators and the number of visible septocutaneous perforators were significantly more in the GTN group, and the qualitative grade of visible perforators was significantly higher (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The administration of sublingual GTN in preoperative thigh CTA can improve the image quality and visualisation of perforator vessels, thus could help surgeons to select the optimum ALT flaps.

Biomaterials / bioinks and extrusion bioprinting

Bioinks are formulations of biomaterials and living cells, sometimes with growth factors or other biomolecules, while extrusion bioprinting is an emerging technique to apply or deposit these bioinks or biomaterial solutions to create three-dimensional (3D) constructs with architectures and mechanical/biological properties that mimic those of native human tissue or organs. Printed constructs have found wide applications in tissue engineering for repairing or treating tissue/organ injuries, as well as in vitro tissue modelling for testing or validating newly developed therapeutics and vaccines prior to their use in humans. Successful printing of constructs and their subsequent applications rely on the properties of the formulated bioinks, including the rheological, mechanical, and biological properties, as well as the printing process. This article critically reviews the latest developments in bioinks and biomaterial solutions for extrusion bioprinting, focusing on bioink synthesis and characterization, as well as the influence of bioink properties on the printing process. Key issues and challenges are also discussed along with recommendations for future research.

[A method for sensitivity analysis of deviation factor for geometric correction of cone-beam CT system]

OBJECTIVE

To propose a sensitivity test method for geometric correction position deviation of cone-beam CT systems.

METHODS

We proposed the definition of center deviation and its derivation. We analyzed the influence of the variation of the three-dimensional spatial center of the steel ball point, the projection center and the size of the steel ball point on the deviation of geometric parameters and the reconstructed image results by calculating the geometric correction parameters based on the Noo analytical method using the FDK reconstruction algorithm for image reconstruction.

RESULTS

The radius of the steel ball point was within 3 mm. The deviation of the center of the calibration parameter was within the order of magnitude and negligible. A 10% Gaussian perturbation of a single pixel in the 3D spatial coordinates of the steel ball point produced a deviation of about 3 pixel sizes, while the same Gaussian perturbation of the 2D projection coordinates of the steel ball point produced a deviation of about 2 pixel sizes.

CONCLUSION

The geometric correction is more sensitive to the deviation generated by the three-dimensional spatial coordinates of the steel ball point with limited sensitivity to the deviation generated by the two-dimensional projection coordinates of the steel ball point. The deviation sensitivity of a small diameter steel ball point can be ignored.

Synthesis and Sonodynamic Antibacterial Activity Evaluation of Three Novel Fluoroquinolone Compounds

OBJECTIVE

Three ciprofloxacin derivatives (CPDs) were synthesized. Also, their sonodynamic antibacterial activities and possible mechanism under ultrasound (US) irradiation were preliminarily investigated.

METHODS

Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were selected as the research objects. The sonodynamic antibacterial effects of three CPDs and their structure-effective relationship were explored by the inhibition rate. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced under US irradiation were detected by oxidative extraction spectrophotometry and used to analyze the sonodynamic antibacterial mechanism of three CPDs.

RESULTS

Research indicated that three CPDs, named compound 1 (C1), compound 2 (C2) and compound 3 (C3), separately all had strong sonodynamic antibacterial activities. In addition, C3 had the strongest effect relative to the other CPDs. The study also found that CPDs' concentration, US irradiation time, US solution temperature and US medium could disturb their sonodynamic antimicrobial effects. Moreover, ¹O₂ and ·OH were the main types of ROS produced by C1 and C3; the ROS produced by C2 included ¹O₂, among other types.

CONCLUSION

Results showed that all three CPDs could be activated to produce ROS after US irradiation. Among them, C3 displayed the highest ROS production and the utmost activity, which may be related to the introduction of the electron-giving group at the C-3 position of the quinoline backbone.

Risk factors analysis and establishment of predictive nomogram of extranodal B-cell lymphoma of mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue

PURPOSE

The role of radiation therapy in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is poorly defined. The objective of this study was to explore the factors associated with the performance of radiotherapy and to assess its prognostic impact in patients with MALT lymphoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Patients with MALT lymphoma diagnosed between 1992 and 2017 were identified in the US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (SEER). Factors associated with the delivery of radiotherapy were assessed by chi-square test. Overall survival (OS) and lymphoma-specific survival (LSS) were compared between patients with and without radiotherapy, using Cox proportional hazard regression models, in patients with early stage as well as those with advanced stage.

RESULTS

Of the 10,344 patients identified with a diagnosis of MALT lymphoma, 33.6% had received radiotherapy; this rate was 38.9% for stage I/II patients and 12.0% for stage III/IV patients, respectively. Older patients and those who already received primary surgery or chemotherapy had a significantly lower rate of receiving radiotherapy, regardless of lymphoma stage. After univariate and multivariate analysis, radiotherapy was associated with improved OS and LSS in patients with stage I/II (HR=0.71 [0.65-0.78]) and (HR=0.66 [0.59-0.74]), respectively, but not in patients with stage III/IV (HR=1.01 [0.80-1.26]) and (HR=0.93 [0.67-1.29]). The nomogram built from the significant prognostic factors associated with overall survival of stage I/II patients had a good concordance (C-index=0.749±0.002).

CONCLUSION

This cohort study shows that radiotherapy is significantly associated with a better prognosis in patients with early but not advanced MALT lymphoma. Prospective studies are needed to confirm the prognostic impact of radiotherapy in patients with MALT lymphoma.

Deep learning for predicting the risk of immune checkpoint inhibitor-related pneumonitis in lung cancer

AIM

To develop and validate a nomogram model that combines computed tomography (CT)-based radiological factors extracted from deep-learning and clinical factors for the early predictions of immune checkpoint inhibitor-related pneumonitis (ICI-P).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Forty ICI-P patients and 101 patients without ICI-P were divided randomly into the training (n=113) and test (n=28) sets. The convolution neural network (CNN) algorithm was used to extract the CT-based radiological features of predictable ICI-P and calculated the CT score of each patient. A nomogram model to predict the risk of ICI-P was developed by logistic regression.

RESULTS

CT score was calculated from five radiological features extracted by the residual neural network-50-V2 with feature pyramid networks. Four predictors of ICI-P in the nomogram model included a clinical feature (pre-existing lung diseases), two serum markers (absolute lymphocyte count and lactate dehydrogenase), and a CT score. The area under curve of the nomogram model in the training (0.910 versus 0.871 versus 0.778) and test (0.900 versus 0.856 versus 0.869) sets was better than the radiological and clinical models. The nomogram model showed good consistency and better clinical practicability.

CONCLUSION

The nomogram model that combined CT-based radiological factors and clinical factors can be used as a new non-invasive tool for the early prediction of ICI-P in lung cancer patients after immunotherapy with low cost and low manual input.

The influence of several nutritional supplements on the rational use of cabozantinib

To promote the rational use of cabozantinib (CBZ), this paper studied the influence of several nutritional supplements on the interaction between CBZ and bovine serum albumin (BSA), an appropriate alternative model for human serum albumin (HSA) that is one of the important transporter proteins in plasma, by fluorescence spectroscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy. The results showed that CBZ could quench the fluorescence of BSA via a dynamic-static quenching process, and the six nutritional supplements did not change the quenching mode of BSA by CBZ. However, all of them could reduce the binding constant of the CBZ-BSA system at 293 K and increase the polarity around tryptophan residues. Among them, nicotinamide and vitamin B₁₂ (VB₁₂ ) had a greater effect on the binding constants of the CBZ-BSA system. In the meantime, the thermodynamic parameters of the CBZ-BSA system were examined, indicating that the interaction of CBZ with BSA was spontaneous and dominated by hydrophobic forces. Further research discovered that the combining of CBZ with BSA was primarily located within Site I of BSA, and the binding distance r was 2.48 nm. Consequently, while taking CBZ, patients should use VB₁₂ and nicotinamide carefully, which may interfere with the transport of drugs.

Wall Effects for Spheroidal Particle in Confined Bingham Plastic Fluids

The wall effects on the sedimentation motion of a single spheroidal particle in cylindrical tubes filled with Bingham plastic fluid are investigated with the fixed computational domain using the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model in steady-state mode. The CFD model is validated with literature in both bounded and unbounded mediums. The rheological model of the Bingham plastic fluid is regularized with a smoothly varying viscosity. The retardation effects of the tube wall are presented in functions of Reynolds number Re, radius ratio λ (the radius of the tube to the semiaxis of the particle normal to the flow λ = R/r), aspect ratio E (the ratio of the semiaxis of the particle along the flow to r, E = b/r), and Bingham number Bn. The simulation results demonstrate that the drag coefficient C _D declines with the rise in Reynolds number. The relative contribution to drag coefficient from the pressure force increases with larger Bingham number comparing with that from the friction force. The formation and size of the recirculation wake is suppressed by the yield stress. While Bn is approaching infinity, the limiting behavior is observed in the location of yield surface and the value of yield-gravity parameter. The values of critical yield-gravity parameter are explicitly given at different values of E, showing independence with Re and λ. For the flow with Bn ≥ 100, the influence of wall can be even ignored while λ is larger than 5.

MRI-based radiomics analysis in differentiating solid non-small-cell from small-cell lung carcinoma: a pilot study

AIM

To investigate the ability of a T2-weighted (W) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based radiomics signature to differentiate solid non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) from small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The present retrospective study enrolled 152 eligible patients (NSCLC = 125, SCLC = 27). All patients underwent MRI using a 3 T scanner and radiomics features were extracted from T2W MRI. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) logistic regression model was used to identify the optimal radiomics features for the construction of a radiomics model to differentiate solid NSCLC from SCLC. Threefold cross validation repeated 10 times was used for model training and evaluation. The conventional MRI morphology features of the lesions were also evaluated. The performance of the conventional MRI morphological features, and the radiomics signature model and nomogram model (combining radiomics signature with conventional MRI morphological features) was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

RESULTS

Five optimal features were chosen to build a radiomics signature. There was no significant difference in age, gender, and the largest diameter. The radiomics signature and conventional MRI morphological features (only pleural indentation and lymph node enlargement) were independent predictive factors for differentiating solid NSCLC from SCLC. The area under the ROC curves (AUCs) for MRI morphological features, and the radiomics model, and nomogram model was 0.69, 0.85, and 0.90 (ROC), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The T2W MRI-based radiomics signature is a potential non-invasive approach for distinguishing solid NSCLC from SCLC.

[Dynamic changes and influencing factors of HIV-1 DNA load in HIV-1 infected individuals under antiretroviral therapy]

Objective: To analyze the dynamic changes and influencing factors of HIV-1 DNA load in HIV-1 infected individuals under antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province, and provide information support for the clinical use of HIV-1 DNA quantitative detection. Methods: The HIV infection cases in recent infection cohort from Dehong Center for Disease Control and Prevention during 2009-2018 were selected as study subjects. The dynamic curve of HIV-1 DNA load varrying with time was generated and logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the risk factors for HIV-1 load in the recent follow up after ART and statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS 17.0. Results: Among the 113 HIV infection cases detected from the recent infection cohort, the recent HIV infection rate were 49.6%(56/113) males, sexual transmission cases and drug injection transmission cases accounted for 53.1% (60/113), 80.5% (91/113) and 19.5% (22/113), respectively. The dynamic changes curve showed that HIV-1 DNA load was relatively high (>800 copies /10⁶ PBMCs) before ART, and droped rapidly (<400 copies /10⁶ PBMCs) after ART for 1 year. However, HIV-1 DNA load decreased insignificantly from the second year of ART, and remained to be 269 copies/10⁶ PBMCs after ART for 6 years. Univariable logistic regression analysis indicated that OR (95%CI) of CD8, CD4/CD8 and HIV-1 DNA load were 1.00 (1.00-1.00), 0.30 (0.09-1.05) and 1.01 (1.00-1.01), respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that OR value of HIV-1 DNA load base was 1.00 (1.00-1.01). Conclusions: HIV-1 DNA load decreased significantly in the first year of ART, then remained stable for years. HIV-1 DNA load base was the key factor associated with the decrease of HIV-1 DNA load, the lower the HIV-1 DNA load base, the lower HIV-1 DNA load. Therefore, earlier ART can contribute to the decrease of HIV-1 DNA load.

Diet preference of zebrafish (Danio rerio) for bio-based polylactic acid microplastics and induced intestinal damage and microbiota dysbiosis

The ingestion of petroleum-based microplastics (MPs) by aquatic animals and their toxicological effects are of wide concern. However, the ecological risks of bio-based MPs to aquatic animals remain largely unknown. In the present study, zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed to MPs of polylactic acid (PLA), the most widely used bio-based plastic, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a high-production volume petroleum-based plastic. PLA MPs were more actively ingested by fish than PET MPs. The abundance of PLA MPs in fish intestines was approximately 170 times greater than that of PET MPs after one day of exposure. The ingestion of PLA MPs caused gastrointestinal damage in zebrafish. In addition, the ingestion of PLA MPs induced specific changes in the diversity of intestinal microbiota and promoted species closely linked with energy metabolism, cellular processes, and fish diseases. This might have been related to the depolymerization of PLA in the digestive tract, which decreased the intestinal pH and changed the carbon source structure. Overall, bio-based MPs may have different ecological effects on aquatic animals than traditional petroleum-based MPs.