provinces in China announced the public health emergency. Psychological distress in the general population has been reported in China during the COVID-19 quarantine [1]. The healthcare system in Wuhan was quickly overwhelmed as tens of thousands of people with flu-like symptoms swarmed the hospitals. Frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) in Wuhan have been under tremendous pressure and risk of contracting COVID-19 since the beginning of the quarantine. As of February 12, 2020, 21,569 HCWs from other cities in China have been deployed to support emergency response efforts in Wuhan [2], while 1716 HCWs have contracted COVID-19 and 5 have died [3]. Two nurses Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

SUMMARY Histone modifications influence higher-order chromatin structures at individual epigenomic states and chromatin environments to regulate gene expression. However, genome-wide higher-order chromatin structures shaped by different histone modifications remain poorly characterized. With stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), we characterized the higher-order chromatin structures at their epigenomic states, categorized into three major types in interphase: histone acetylation marks form spatially segregated nanoclusters, active histone methylation marks form spatially dispersed larger nanodomains, and repressive histone methylation marks form condensed large aggregates. These distinct structural characteristics are also observed in mitotic chromosomes. Furthermore, active histone marks coincide with less compact chromatin and exhibit a higher degree of co-localization with other active marks and RNA polymerase II (RNAP II), while repressive marks coincide with densely packed chromatin and spatially distant from repressive marks and active RNAP II. Taken together, super-resolution imaging reveals three distinct chromatin structures at various epigenomic states, which may be spatially coordinated to impact transcription.

The nuclear lamina is an intermediate filament meshwork adjacent to the inner nuclear membrane (INM) that plays a critical role in maintaining nuclear shape and regulating gene expression through chromatin interactions. Studies have demonstrated that A- and B-type lamins, the filamentous proteins that make up the nuclear lamina, form independent but interacting networks. However, whether these lamin subtypes exhibit a distinct spatial organization or whether their organization has any functional consequences is unknown. Using stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) our studies reveal that lamin B1 and lamin A/C form concentric but overlapping networks, with lamin B1 forming the outer concentric ring located adjacent to the INM. The more peripheral localization of lamin B1 is mediated by its carboxyl-terminal farnesyl group. Lamin B1 localization is also curvature- and strain-dependent, while the localization of lamin A/C is not. We also show that lamin B1’s outer-facing localization stabilizes nuclear shape by restraining outward protrusions of the lamin A/C network. These two findings, that lamin B1 forms an outer concentric ring and that its localization is energy-dependent, are significant as they suggest a distinct model for the nuclear lamina—one that is able to predict its behavior and clarifies the distinct roles of individual nuclear lamin proteins and the consequences of their perturbation.

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Background: Anxiety and depression are common in Parkinson disease and both are important determinants of quality of life in patients. Several risk factors are identified but few research have investigated general and Parkinson's disease (PD)-specific factors comprehensively. The aim of this work was to explore PD-specific and -non-specific risk factors for PD with depression or anxiety. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed in 403 patients with PD. Multivariate logistic analysis was used to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for the depression and anxiety in PD. The data of patients included demographic information, medicine history, disease duration, age at onset (AAO), family history, anti-parkinsonism drug, modified Hoehn and Yahr staging (H-Y) stage, scales of motor and non-motor symptoms and substantia nigra (SN) echogenic areas. Results: 403 PD patients were recruited in the study. Depression and anxiety were present in 11.17% and 25.81% respectively. Marital status, tumor, higher Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) II score, dyskinesia, higher Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) score and lower the Parkinson's disease sleep scale (PDSS) score were associated with depression in PD. female gender, higher rapid eye movement behavior disorder Questionnaire-Hong Kong (RBD-HK) score, higher Hamilton Deprssion Rating Scale (HAMD) score, higher the scale for outcomes in PD for autonomic symptoms (SCOPA-AUT)score and larger SN echogenic areas were associated with anxiety. Neither depression nor anxiety was related to any anti-parkinsonism drugs. Conclusions: The prevalence of depression and anxiety in the current PD patients was 11.17% and 25.81% respectively. Disease of tumor, currently having no partner, severer motor function, dyskinesia, poorer sleep quality and anxiety were risk factors for PD with depression. Female, depression, rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD), autonomic dysfunction and larger SN area were risk factors for PD with anxiety.

Single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) has become a powerful imaging tool for biomedical research, but it is mostly available in imaging facilities and a small number of laboratories due to its high cost. Here, we evaluate the possibility of replacing high-cost components on standard SMLM with appropriate low-cost alternatives and build a simple but high-performance super-resolution SMLM setup. Through numerical simulation and biological experiments, we demonstrate that our low-cost SMLM setup can yield similar localization precision and spatial resolution compared to the standard SMLM equipped with state-of-the-art components, but at a small fraction of their cost. Our low-cost SMLM setup can potentially serve as a routine laboratory microscope with high-performance superresolution imaging capability.In the past few decades, fluorescence microscopy has significantly expanded our ability to study biological processes at the cellular and subcellular level. However, due to the diffraction-limited spatial resolution, conventional fluorescence microscopy cannot visualize biological structures smaller than ~200 nm. Until the recent decade, a number of super-resolution imaging techniques have been developed to break the diffraction barrier. These super-resolution techniques can generally be divided into two categories: the technique based on the nonlinear effects of the fluorescence that sharpens the point spread function (PSF) using modulated light, including stimulated emission depletion (STED) 1 and structured-illumination microscopy (SIM) . These super-resolution techniques have improved the spatial resolution by approximately an order of magnitude. In particular, single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), which provides impressive spatial resolution down to 20 nm with relatively simple hardware compared to SIM and STED, has a great potential as a common laboratory tool for biomedical research. However, despite that SMLM has been commercialized for almost a decade, it remains a high-end microscopy instrument only available in the imaging facilities at major academic institutions and a small number of laboratories. Its high cost limits its widespread use as a routine microscopy system as conventional fluorescence microscope.2The key technical requirement for SMLM includes (1) a powerful laser to photo-bleach most fluorophores and activate only a small portion of sparsely distributed single fluorophores; (2) high numerical aperture (NA) objective lens to efficiently collect the limited number of photons emitted by single molecule; and (3) scientific cameras with high quantum efficiency and low noise to record the image from individual fluorescent emitters at a high signal to noise ratio (SNR). To meet these technical requirements and achieve the best performance, it is a common belief that the high-end optical and optoelectronic components have to be used, including high-power single-mode laser, high-end objectives, nano-positioning mechanical system and highly sensitive cameras, which easily drive the ...

In contemporary practice, hospitalization for MALE occurs in 1 in 10 patients within 1 year after peripheral revascularization and is associated with patient and procedural factors. These data may inform efforts to improve post-procedure outcomes and limb-related clinical trial design.

Background Lung cancer has the highest fatality rate of all cancer types. To improve patients’ survival and life quality, it is therefore very important to screen for and detect it at an early stage. Methods A negative enrichment–fluorescence in situ hybridization (NE‐FISH) approach was used to detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in lung cancer patients, and levels of lung cancer‐associated serum markers were also measured in the peripheral blood of these same patients. The correlation between CTCs, serum cancer markers (carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA], CA 125, CYFRA 21‐1, and SCC), and clinicopathological characteristics was then investigated. Moreover, the potential clinical use of the combination of CTCs and tumor markers for the diagnosis of lung cancer, especially at early stages, was also explored. Results CTC frequencies in lung cancer patients were significantly higher than in healthy control volunteers or patients with benign lung disease, and the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve for the control group was 0.846 (95% CI 0.796‐0.887, P < 0.001). The rate of CTC positivity in lung cancer patients was 68.29% when the CTC cutoff value was 2, and the sensitivity of this means of lung cancer detection rose to 82.93% by combining CTC‐based detection with measurements of serum tumor markers. Similarly, the diagnostic sensitivity of this approach in early‐stage lung cancer patients (I‐II) was improved from 63.93% to 78.69%. Detection of CTCs can thus assist with the identification of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules. Conclusions It is potentially helpful and effective to employ a combination of CTCs and serum tumor markers for the clinical diagnosis of lung cancer.