In recent years, accumulating evidence has supported the hypothesis that lower vitamin D status is associated with several known risk factors of stroke. However, the relationship between vitamin D and stroke is still uncertain. To explore if there was an association between vitamin D status and the risk of stroke, a systematic review and a meta-analysis were conducted by searching three databases: Pubmed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. Following the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, the relative risk estimates of all the included studies were pooled together to compare the risk of stroke between the lowest and the highest category of vitamin D. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool were used to assess the risk of bias, and the publication bias was detected by using a funnel plot and Egger’s test. Nineteen studies were included and the pooled relative risk was 1.62 (95% CI: 1.34–1.96). Further analysis found that vitamin D status was associated with ischemic stroke (relative risk = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.56–3.86), but not with hemorrhagic stroke (relative risk = 2.50, 95% CI: 0.87–7.15). In conclusion, our meta-analysis supported the hypothesis that lower vitamin D status was associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke. Further studies are required to confirm this association and to explore the association among different subtypes.

Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) have great potential to provide economical and sustainable solutions to current agricultural challenges. The Methylobacteria which are frequently present in the phyllosphere can promote plant growth and development. The Methylobacterium genus is composed mostly of pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophic bacteria, utilizing organic one-carbon compounds as the sole carbon and energy source for growth. Methylobacterium spp. have been isolated from diverse environments, especially from the surface of plants, because they can oxidize and assimilate methanol released by plant leaves as a byproduct of pectin formation during cell wall synthesis. Members of the Methylobacterium genus are good candidates as PGPB due to their positive impact on plant health and growth; they provide nutrients to plants, modulate phytohormone levels, and protect plants against pathogens. In this paper, interactions between Methylobacterium spp. and plants and how the bacteria promote crop growth is reviewed. Moreover, the following examples of how to engineer microbiomes of plants using plant-growth-promoting Methylobacterium are discussed in the present review: introducing external Methylobacterium spp. to plants, introducing functional genes or clusters to resident Methylobacterium spp. of crops, and enhancing the abilities of Methylobacterium spp. to promote plant growth by random mutation, acclimation, and engineering.

This study explores whether the development of democracy can significantly affect CO2 emissions and the energy efficiencies in the countries. Database reference from Freedom House, Polity IV project and World Development Indicator was applied to analyze the relationship between the democracy development, CO2 emissions and the energy efficiency of 26 countries in America from the year 1990 to 2013. Empirical result shows that the deepening democracy has a significant impact on the reduction of national CO2 emissions and brings a positive influence on energy efficiency. The further application of quantile regression also indicates that the influence of democratization on CO2 emissions and countries' energy efficient scores is significant. The empirical results may reflect the reduction of emission or the improvement of energy efficient outcome from the enhancement of democratic institution.

The present study indicates that EA relieves labour pain, at least in part, by regulation of the spinal DYN/KOR system in a rat model.

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) has a high incidence in diabetic surgical patients. Preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis followed by an intraoperative re-dose was a common strategy in diabetic prolonged procedures. However, there were lacking studies on the relative benefits of this strategy on SSI. Our study aimed to clarify the effect of intraoperative re-dose of prophylactic antibiotics on SSI in diabetic patients. Methods: A total of 1,840 diabetic patients with prolonged surgeries were included and Cefazolin was the only type of antibiotic prophylaxis. We assessed the relationship between intraoperative re-dose of cefazolin and 30-day incidence of SSI using a retrospective cohort study method. Results: There were 361 diabetic cases with preoperative antibiotics only and 1,479 cases with pre-plus intraoperative antibiotics, in which 60 subjects suffered from SSI. Pre-plus intraoperative prophylaxis group had a lower rate of SSI in the overall and subgroup analyses when compared with preoperative only group. Operation location, combined with hypertension, poor blood glucose control, high WBC count and ASA score >2 were significantly associated with an increased risk of SSI for diabetic surgical patients (all P<0.05). Intraoperative re-dose of prophylactic antibiotics was statistically related to a lower incidence rate of SSI than preoperative prophylaxis alone (crude RR =0.47; 95% CI, 0.27-0.82; P<0.01), while the association remained significant even after adjusting the potential confounders (adjusted RR =0.51; 95% CI, 0.29-0.90; P=0.02). Conclusions: For diabetic patients, intraoperative re-dose of prophylactic antibiotics may be an independent protective factor for the prevention of SSI. A specific perioperative antibiotics injection strategy should be encouraged for diabetic patients with prolonged surgeries to minimize the possibility of SSI.

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Proteins are like miracle machines, playing important roles in living organisms. They perform vital biofunctions by further combining together and/or with other biomacromolecules to form assemblies or condensates such as membraneless organelles. Therefore, studying the self-assembly of biomacromolecules is of fundamental importance. In addition to their biological activities, protein assemblies also exhibit extra properties that enable them to achieve applications beyond their original functions. Herein, this study showed that in the presence of monosaccharides, ethylene glycols, and amino acids, β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) can form assemblies with specific structures, which were highly reproducible. The mechanism of the assembly process was studied through multi-scale observations and theoretical analysis, and it was found that the assembling all started from the formation of solute-rich liquid droplets via liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS). These droplets then combined together to form condensates with elaborate structures, and the condensates finally evolved to form assemblies with various morphologies. Such a mechanism of the assembly is valuable for studying the assembly processes that frequently occur in living organisms. Detailed studies concerning the properties and applications of the obtained β-LG assemblies showed that the assemblies exhibited significantly better performances than the protein itself in terms of autofluorescence, antioxidant activity, and metal ion absorption, which indicates broad applications of these assemblies in bioimaging, biodetection, biodiagnosis, health maintenance, and pollution treatment. This study revealed that biomacromolecules, especially proteins, can be assembled via LLPS, and some unexpected application potentials could be found beyond their original biological functions.

This study aimed to report the clinical characteristics of penicilliosis marneffei (PSM) in three children negative to HIV. Three children were diagnosed with PSM in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Hunan Children's Hospital between February 2016 to July 2020. The clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, and concomitant diseases were recorded, and the related literatures were reviewed.The clinical characteristics and treatment of PSM were reported according to our experience and literature review. The initial symptom was right lower limb mass in 1 child (first) who developed fever and cough about 1 month later and then was misdiagnosed with tuberculosis. The other child (second) had a fever, reductions in red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenectasis.The third child had fever, jaundice, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenectasis. The first child (Case 1) had STAT1 gene mutation on genetic examination, and the second child (Case 2) had history of onychomycosis and oral ulcer, the third child (Case 3) had STAT3 gene mutation on genetic examination, diagnosed with Hyperimmunoglobulin E syndromes (HIES). PSM was confirmed in all cases by the culture bone marrow. All three cases were diagnosed through medulloculture.Case 1 and Case 2 also had lymph node biopsy. Case 3 had sputum culture and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). The first child was intravenously administered with voriconazole and amphotericin B liposomes, and orally administered with itraconazole for maintenance therapy, which was discontinued 1 year later. The second child was administered with voriconazole intravenously and thereafter orally for a total of 7 months.Recurrence was not observed. The third child was given amphotericin B for 2 days (discontinued due to liver dysfunction), and intravenous voriconazole for 4 days. The patient gave up therapy finally. In conclusion, HIV negative children can also develop PSM, and may be related to the STAT1/STAT3 gene mutation. For children having no response to antibiotic or antiviral therapy, bacterial/fungal culture or biopsy should be performed as soon as possible to confirm the diagnosis, and physicians should actively identify the underlying diseases of PSM patients, which is beneficial for the early diagnosis, early treatment and improvement of