To study the clinical features of children with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.
A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 115 children ...who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Wuhan Children's Hospital, including general information, history of close contact with individuals of SARS-CoV-2 infection, early clinical symptoms, laboratory examination results, and lung CT results.
Among the 115 children, there were 73 boys (63.5%) and 42 girls (36.5%), with a male/female ratio of 1:0.58. Of the 115 children, 105 (91.3%) had a definite history of close contact with individuals of SARS-CoV-2-infection. An increase in alanine aminotransferase was observed in 11 children (9.6%) and an increase in CK-MB was found in 34 children (29.6%). As for clinical symptoms, 29 children (25.2%) had fever, 47 (40.9%) had respiratory symptoms (including cough, rhinorrhea, and nasal congestion), and 61 (53.0%) were asymptomatic. Lung CT findings showed ground gla
Background Cardiac hypertrophy (CH) is a physiological response that compensates for blood pressure overload. Under pathological conditions, hypertrophy can progress to heart failure as a consequence ...of the disorganized growth of cardiomyocytes and cardiac tissue. USP10 (ubiquitin-specific protease 10) is a member of the ubiquitin-specific protease family of cysteine proteases, which are involved in viral infection, oxidative stress, lipid drop formation, and heat shock. However, the role of USP10 in CH remains largely unclear. Here, we investigated the roles of USP10 in CH. Methods and Results Cardiac-specific USP10 knockout (USP10-CKO) mice and USP10-transgenic (USP10-TG) mice were used to examined the role of USP10 in CH following aortic banding. The specific functions of USP10 were further examined in isolated cardiomyocytes. USP10 expression was increased in murine hypertrophic hearts following aortic banding and in isolated cardiomyocytes in response to hypertrophic agonist. Mice deficient in USP10 in the heart exhibited exaggerated cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis following pressure overload stress, which resulted in worsening of cardiac contractile function. In contrast, cardiac overexpression of USP10 protected against pressure overload-induced maladaptive CH. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that USP10 activation and interaction with Sirt6 in response to angiotensin II led to a marked increase in the ubiquitination of Sirt6 and resulted in Akt signaling downregulation and attenuation of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Accordingly, inactivation of USP10 reduced Sirt6 abundance and stability and diminished Sirt6-induced downstream signaling in cardiomyocytes. Conclusions USP10 functions as a Sirt6 deubiquitinase that induces cardiac myocyte hypertrophy and triggers maladaptive CH.
Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) often have osteoporosis or osteopenia. However, their direct link and relationship remain largely unclear. Previous studies have detected osteoporotic deficits ...in young adult Tg2576 and TgAPP
mice, which express APP
(Swedish mutant) ubiquitously and selectively in osteoblast (OB)-lineage cells. This raises the question, whether osteoblastic APP
contributes to AD development. Here, we provide evidence that TgAPP
mice also exhibit AD-relevant brain pathologies and behavior phenotypes. Some brain pathologies include age-dependent and regional-selective increases in glial activation and pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are accompanied by behavioral phenotypes such as anxiety, depression, and altered learning and memory. Further cellular studies suggest that APP
, but not APP
or APP
(London mutant), in OB-lineage cells induces endoplasmic reticulum-stress driven senescence, driving systemic and cortex inflammation as well as behavioral changes in 6-month-old TgAPP
mice. These results therefore reveal an unrecognized function of osteoblastic APP
to brain axis in AD development.
The production of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH), a peptide hormone composed of 13 amino acids, is attempted by recombinant expression using E. coli as the host. To achieve this aim, a ...synthetic gene containing eight tandem repeats of msh gene (8msh) was designed for ribosomal synthesis of 8 α-MSH. The merit of the strategy is to diminish the peptide toxicity against the host cell and to achieve a higher production yield. Pepsin cleavage sites are introduced between the peptides for enzymatic proteolysis to obtain the monomeric peptide of α-MSH. The constructed plasmid was transformed into different strains of E. coli hosts, and E. coli XL1-Blue with gene 8msh revealed the highest yield of 8 α-MSH. Although 8 α-MSH was fractionalized in the insoluble pellets after cell lysis, pepsin cleavage was able to produce soluble α-MSH peptide, as analyzed and confirmed by mass spectrometry and peptide activity assays. The production of α-MSH was quantified using HPLC with a yield of 42.9 mg/L of LB culture. This study demonstrates the feasibility of producing α-MSH using recombinant expression of tandem repeat gene. The production procedure involves minimal post-treatment and processing and can be scaled up for industrial application.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is still a public issue in the world. Hepatitis B vaccination is widely used as an effective measure to prevent HBV infection. This large-sample study aimed to ...evaluate the positive rates of hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) in youth after booster vaccination.
A total of 37788 participants were divided into two groups according to the baseline levels of anti-HBs before booster vaccination: the negative group (anti-HBs(-)) and the positive group (anti-HBs(+)). Participants were tested for anti-HBs levels after receiving a booster vaccine at 1 and 4 years.
The positive rates of anti-HBs were 34.50%, 73.80% and 67.32% before booster vaccination at 1 and 4 years after vaccination, respectively. At 4 years after the booster vaccination, the positive rates of 13-18 years were 47.54%, which was the lowest level among all youth age groups. In the anti-HBs(-) group, the positive conversion rates of anti-HBs were 74.62% at 1 year after receiving a booster vaccine, and 67.66% at 4 years after vaccination. In the anti-HBs(+) group, the positive maintenance rates of anti-HBs were 70.16% after 1 year, and 66.66% after 4 years. Compared with the baseline anti-HBs (+) group, the positive rates of the baseline anti-HBs(-) group were higher at 1 and 4 years after receiving the booster vaccine.
The positive rates of anti-HBs declined over time, especially the positive maintenance rates were the lowest at age of 13-18 years.
Abstract Background Ovarian carcinoma (OC) is a fatal malignancy, with most patients experiencing recurrence and resistance to chemotherapy. In contrast to hematogenous metastasizing tumors, ovarian ...cancer cells disseminate within the peritoneal cavity, especially the omentum. Previously, we reported omental crown-like structure (CLS) number is associated with poor prognosis of advanced-stage OC. CLS that have pathologic features of a dead or dying adipocyte was surrounded by several macrophages is well known a histologic hallmark for inflammatory adipose tissue. In this study, we attempted to clarify the interaction between metastatic ovarian cancer cells and omental CLS, and to formulate a therapeutic strategy for advanced-stage ovarian cancer. Methods A three-cell (including OC cells, adipocytes and macrophages) coculture model was established to mimic the omental tumor microenvironment (TME) of ovarian cancer. Caspase-1 activity, ATP and free fatty acids (FFA) levels were detected by commercial kits. An adipocyte organoid model was established to assess macrophages migration and infiltration. In vitro and in vivo experiments were performed for functional assays and therapeutic effect evaluations. Clinical OC tissue samples were collected for immunochemistry stain and statistics analysis. Results In three-cell coculture model, OC cells-derived IL-6 and IL-8 could induce the occurrence of pyroptosis in omental adipocytes. The pyroptotic adipocytes release ATP to increase macrophage infiltration, release FFA into TME, uptake by OC cells to increase chemoresistance. From OC tumor samples study, we demonstrated patients with high gasdermin D (GSDMD) expression in omental adipocytes is highly correlated with chemoresistance and poor outcome in advanced-stage OC. In animal model, by pyroptosis inhibitor, DSF, effectively retarded tumor growth and prolonged mice survival. Conclusions Omental adipocyte pyroptosis may contribute the chemoresistance in advanced stage OC. Omental adipocytes could release FFA and ATP through the GSDMD-mediate pyroptosis to induce chemoresistance and macrophages infiltration resulting the poor prognosis in advanced-stage OC. Inhibition of adipocyte pyroptosis may be a potential therapeutic modality in advanced-stage OC with omentum metastasis.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually affects older individuals. Owing to the higher incidence of root caries and missing teeth in elderly individuals, the bacteria ...involved in these dental concerns might potentially deteriorate their cognitive function. Altered microbiota in the oral cavity may induce neuroinflammation through migration from the oral cavity to the brain. However, the correlation between the composition of the oral microbiota and neurodegenerative disease remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated sequence to determine the relative abundance and diversity of bacterial taxa in the dental plaque of elderly patients with AD and controls. Oral samples; the DMFT index; and other clinical examination data were collected from 17 patients with AD and 18 normal elderly individuals as the control group. Patients with AD had significantly more missing teeth and higher dental plaque weight but lower microbial diversity than controls. Significantly increased numbers of
,
, and
/
and a significantly decreased number of
were observed in patients with AD. In conclusion, using the PacBio single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing platform to survey the microbiota dysbiosis biomarkers in the oral cavity of elderly individuals could serve as a tool to identify patients with AD.
From the cradle to the end of human life, it is the process of a series of social comparison and self-evaluation which generally exists in daily life and deeply affects social interaction process. ...For this reason, the topic presents the meaning and importance for the cultivation. Medical industry, as an emerging service industry, is considered as the internationally new wellness revolution after IT industry. Taking biotechnology and life science as the precursors, medical industry, covering health service functions of medical health, nutrition and health care, as well as fitness and leisure, would become the primary industry leading global economic development and social progress in the 21st century. Taking employees of Fujian Health Industrial Park as the research objects, total 360 copies of questionnaire are distributed. After removing invalid and incomplete copies, 241 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 67%. The research results show significantly positive correlations between 1.social comparison and self-efficacy, 2.self-efficacy and subjective well-being, and 3.social comparison and subjective well-being. According to the results, suggestions are proposed as the important reference for guiding the work and life adjustment of employees in medical industry as well as promoting the self-efficacy.
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5 (ERA5) is a state-of-the-art reanalysis dataset and has been widely used in climate change analysis and land surface process ...simulations. However, few assessments have been conducted across the entire ocean for this dataset till now. The motivation of this study is to utilize the in-situ observations and remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST) products to propose a new approach to evaluate the precision of ERA5 air temperature over the whole ocean. First, a stacked multilayer perceptron regressor model was employed to map global marine air temperature (MAT) by incorporating in-situ records into moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) SST products. Second, a monthly MAT dataset with a spatial resolution of 0.05° × 0.05° was developed and validated for the assessment of ERA5 air temperature particularly in the regions where only satellite observations are available. It demonstrates that the quality of estimated MAT (RMSE = 1.62 °C, Bias = 0.03 °C) is evidently high in 80.3% of the observation stations, which is much better than that of averaged SST (RMSE = 2.29 °C, Bias = 1.14 °C). Thus, the estimated MAT is credible enough to be employed to assess ERA5 air temperature both at the grid and regional scale. Finally, the ERA5 air temperature was compared and validated with the estimated MAT temporally and spatially. The further study suggested that estimated MAT and ERA5 air temperature basically maintain consistency in expressing persistent warming, particularly in the western Pacific, western Atlantic, and northern Indian Ocean. In addition, the trend of ERA5 air temperature during 50°S-50°N reaches 0.016 ± 0.003°C/yr, which is similar to that of estimated MAT (0.017 ± 0.002 °C/yr) during 2003-2021.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in tumor metastasis. In this study, we identified a set of 32 miRNAs involved in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis. Among them, miR-612 was shown for ...the first time to have inhibitory effects on HCC proliferation, migration, invasion, and metastasis. AKT2 was verified to be one of the direct targets of miR-612, through which the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis were inhibited. The level of miR-612 in HCC patients was inversely associated with tumor size, stage, EMT, and metastasis. Of particular importance, miR-612 is involved in both the initial and final steps of the metastatic cascade, by suppressing local invasion and distant colonization. The pleiotropic roles of miR-612 in the HCC metastatic cascade suggest that it could be an effective target for both early and advanced HCC.
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