Abstract To determine the biodiversity of arenaviruses in China, we captured and screened rodents and shrews in Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province, a locality where hemorrhagic fever diseases are ...endemic in humans. Accordingly, arenaviruses were detected in 42 of 351 rodents from eight species, and in 12 of 272 Asian house shrews ( Suncus murinus ), by RT-PCR targeting the L segment. From these, a single arenavirus was successfully isolated in cell culture. The virion particles exhibited a typical arenavirus morphology under transmission electron microscopy. Comparison of the S and L segment sequences revealed high levels of nucleotide (>32.2% and >39.6%) and amino acid (>28.8% and >43.8%) sequence differences from known arenaviruses, suggesting that it represents a novel arenavirus, which we designated Wenzhou virus (WENV). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all WENV strains harbored by both rodents and Asian house shrews formed a distinct lineage most closely related to Old World arenaviruses.
Objectives
To determine the accuracy of two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) for noninvasive staging of hepatic fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B (CHB).
Methods
Patients with CHB infection ...who underwent liver biopsy were consecutively included. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to assess the overall accuracy and identify optimal cutoff values.
Results
Three hundred three patients were analysed. The diagnostic performance characteristics were determined for the first 202 patients (the index cohort) and were validated on the next 101 patients (validation cohort). The areas under the ROC curves for significant fibrosis, severe fibrosis and cirrhosis were all greater than 0.90 and did not differ significantly between the index and validation cohorts. Using the cutoff values generated from the index cohort, the validation cohort 2D-SWE had negative predictive values of 82.6 % (95 % confidence interval CI: 68.4 % − 92.3 %) for significant fibrosis, 95.1 % (95 % CI: 86.3 % − 99.0 %) for severe fibrosis and 97.4 % (95 % CI: 90.8 % − 99.7 %) for cirrhosis. The positive predictive values were 83.6 % (95 % CI: 71.2 % − 92.2 %), 65.0 % (95 % CI: 48.1 − 79.5 %) and 60.0 % (95 % CI: 38.7 % − 78.9 %), respectively.
Conclusion
The 2D-SWE showed good diagnostic accuracy in staging liver fibrosis in patients with CHB infection and assisted in excluding liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.
Key Points
• Two-dimensional shear wave elastography showed good diagnostic accuracy in assessing liver fibrosis.
• Diagnostic performance did not differ significantly between the index and validation cohorts.
• Two-dimensional shear wave elastography assisted in excluding liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.
Cordia subcordata trees or shrubs, belonging to the Boraginaceae family, have strong resistance and have adapted to their habitat on a tropical coral island in China, but the lack of genome ...information regarding its genetic background is unclear. In this study, the genome was assembled using both short/long whole genome sequencing reads and Hi–C reads. The assembled genome was 475.3 Mb, with 468.7 Mb (99.22%) of the sequences assembled into 16 chromosomes. Repeat sequences accounted for 54.41% of the assembled genome. A total of 26,615 genes were predicted, and 25,730 genes were functionally annotated using different annotation databases. Based on its genome and the other 17 species, phylogenetic analysis using 336 single-copy genes obtained from ortholog analysis showed that C. subcordata was a sister to Coffea eugenioides, and the divergence time was estimated to be 77 MYA between the two species. Gene family evolution analysis indicated that the significantly expanded gene families were functionally related to chemical defenses against diseases. These results can provide a reference to a deeper understanding of the genetic background of C. subcordata and can be helpful in exploring its adaptation mechanism on tropical coral islands in the future.
A novel Gram-stain-variable, endospore-forming, motile, rod-shaped, facultative aerobic bacterium, designated 7197
, was isolated from rhizosphere soil of wheat (
L.) collected from Yakeshi County, ...Inner Mongolia, PR China. This isolate was found to have the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to
T27
(98.0 %), followed by
S27
(97.9 %) and
T98
(97.7 %). To ascertain the genomic relatedness of this strain to its phylogenetic neighbours, its genome sequence was determined. The average nucleotide identity values of genome sequences between the novel isolate and the type strains of related species
T27
,
S27
and
T98
were 87.9 %, 85.8 and 83.9 %, respectively. The polar lipids contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, four unidentified aminophospholipids and one unidentified aminolipid. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C
(56.3 %), C
(15.7 %) and iso-C
(14.1 %).The genome size of strain 7197
was 5.21 Mb, comprising 4879 predicted genes with a DNA G+C content of 51.9 mol%. Menaquinone-7 was reported as the major respiratory quinone. The diamino acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan was found to be
-diaminopimelic acid. Based on phylogenetic, genomic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic characteristics, strain 7197
was classified as a novel species within the genus
, for which the name
sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of
is 7197
(=DSM 103168
=CGMCC 1.15699
).
Tumor cells tend to utilize glycolysis rather than aerobic respiration even under aerobic conditions. OVOL2, an inhibitory C2H2 zinc finger transcription factor, is a potential tumor suppressor in ...cancers. However, the association between OVOL2 and tumor energy metabolism is unknown.
Western blotting was used to determine the expression of OVOL2 in different non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and mouse models. The metabolic parameters in NSCLC cells following overexpression or knockdown OVOL2 were examined. To define the mechanism by which OVOL2 regulates aerobic glycolysis, interacting protein of OVOl2 and downstream molecular events were identified by luciferase assay and co-immunoprecipitation. We documented the regulatory mechanism in mouse xenograft models. Finally, clinical relevance of OVOL2, NF-κB signaling and GLUT1 was measured by immunostaining.
OVOL2 is downregulated in NSCLC and overexpression of OVOL2 inhibits the survival of cancer cells. Moreover, OVOL2 directly binds to P65 and inhibits the recruitment of P300 but facilitates the binding of HDAC1 to P65, which in turn negatively regulates NF-κB signaling to suppress GLUT1 translocation and glucose import. In contrast, OVOL2 expression is negatively regulated by NF-κB signaling in NSCLC cells via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Re-expression of OVOL2 significantly compromise NF-κB signaling-induced GLUT1 translocation, aerobic glycolysis in NSCLC cells and mouse models. Immunostaining revealed inverse correlations between the OVOL2 and phosphorylated P65 levels and between the OVOL2 and membrane GLUT1 levels, and a strong correlation between the phosphorylated P65 and membrane GLUT1 levels.
These results suggest a regulatory circuit linking NF-κB and OVOL2, which highlights the role of NF-κB signaling and OVOL2 in the modulation of glucose metabolism in NSCLC. Video Abstract.
•JMJD2A is overexpressed in human gastric cancer.•High JMJD2A level predicts poor overall and disease-free survival.•JMJD2A regulates gastric cancer growth and transformation.•JMJD2A regulates ...apoptosis of gastric cancer cells.
A number of JmjC domain-containing histone demethylases have been identified and biochemically characterized in mammalian. JMJD2A is a transcriptional cofactor and enzyme that catalyzes demethylation of histone H3 lysines 9 and 36. Here in this study, we aim to explore the role of JMJD2A in human gastric cancer. Quantitative real-time PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry analyses reveal higher expression of JMJD2A in clinical gastric cancer tissues than that in normal gastric mucosa. JMJD2A expression is associated with tumor stage and nodal status, and high level of JMJD2A predicts poor overall and disease-free survival. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses demonstrate that JMJD2A could serve as an independent prognostic factor. Furthermore, we show that inhibition the expression of JMJD2A attenuates the growth and transformation of three lines of gastric cancer cells. Mechanically, JMJD2A knockdown induces apoptosis of gastric cancer cells by up-regulating the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins and by down-regulating anti-apoptotic protein. Finally, we show that JMJD2A level is correlated with the level of the pro-apoptotic microRNA miR-34a in gastric cancer tissues and JMJD2A represses the expression of miR-34a by decreasing its promoter activity. Those findings demonstrate that JMJD2A regulates gastric cancer growth and serves as an independent prognostic factor, and implicate that JMJD2A may be a promising target for intervention.
We report a turn-on tetravalent sialic acid-coated tetraphenylethene luminogen (TPE4S) with excellent hydrophilicity, good stability, high sensitivity and unique selectivity towards sialidases, and ...the maximum fluorescence enhancement was ∼40 fold. More importantly, TPE4S was successfully utilized for the screening of sialidase inhibitors and diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis.
The development of micro-cracks during damage to rocks affects the propagation of macroscopic cracks on the surface. To explore the crack evolution among pre-existing flaws in rocks, based on the ...acoustic emission (AE) source location results, the paper analysed the influences of micro-crack development on failure mode. By analyzing AE characteristic parameters, the main controlling factors affecting the development of micro-fractures are determined. The results show that: (1) the development of micro-cracks in rock samples presents a trend of having a high-energy fracture point, the low-energy and small fracture region, the extensive fracture region, and a macroscopic fracture zone. (2) The difference in rock failure mode arises from the influence of rock bridge on the number, location, and extension direction of high-energy fractures, which results in the difference in the formation of main damage zone in rock samples. (3) The total number of micro-cracks, the proportion of shear cracks, and mixed-mode cracks gradually increase with the increase of the rock bridge inclination angle, leading to the gradual evolution of rock samples from simple tensile failure mode to complex crack penetration mode. The variation of the rock bridge inclination angle affects the stress direction of the rock particles at a microscopic level, while it affects the direction of macroscopic crack propagation at a macroscopic level.
Currently, some advanced treatments such as Levodopa-Carbidopa intestinal gel infusion (LCIG), deep-brain stimulation (DBS), and subcutaneous apomorphine infusion have become alternative strategies ...for advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). However, which treatment is better for individual patients remains unclear. This review aims to compare therapeutic effects of motor and/or non-motor symptoms of advanced PD patients between LCIG and DBS.
We manually searched electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library) and reference lists of included articles published until April 04, 2019 using related terms, without language restriction. We included case-controlled cohort studies and randomized-controlled trials, which directly compared differences between LCIG and DBS. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS), proposed by the Cochrane Collaboration, was utilized to assess the quality of the included studies. Two investigators independently extracted data from each trial. Pooled standard-mean differences (SMDs) and relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by meta-analysis. Outcomes were grouped according to the part III and part IV of the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and adverse events. We also descriptively reviewed some data, which were unavailable for statistical analysis.
This review included five cohort trials of 257 patients for meta-analysis. There were no significant differences between LCIG and subthalamic nucleus deep-brain stimulation (STN-DBS) on UPDRS-III and adverse events comparisons: UPDRS-III (pooled SMDs = 0.200, 95% CI: -0.126-0.527,
= 0.230), total adverse events (pooled RRs = 1.279, 95% CI: 0.983-1.664,
= 0.067), serious adverse events (pooled RRs = 1.539, 95% CI: 0.664-3.566,
= 0.315). Notably, the improvement of UPDRS-IV was more significant in STN-DBS groups: pooled SMDs = 0.857, 95% CI: 0.130-1.584,
= 0.021. However, the heterogeneity was moderate for UPDRS-IV (
= 73.8%).
LCIG has comparable effects to STN-DBS on motor function for advanced PD, with acceptable tolerability. More large, well-designed trials are needed to assess the comparability of LCIG and STN-DBS in the future.
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