An intriguing cage-like polyhemiketal, nesteretal A (1), was isolated from the coral-derived actinomycete Nesterenkonia halobia. Its structure was established by extensive spectroscopic and ...computational methods. Nesteretal A is a highly oxygenated compound featuring an unprecedented 5/5/5/5 tetracyclic scaffold. A possible biosynthetic pathway of 1 from naturally occurring diacetyl was proposed. Compound 1 showed a weak retinoid X receptor-α (RXRα) transcriptional activation effect.
Purpose
University freshmen are particularly vulnerable as they are undergoing the transition from high school to university with a range of changes. Sleep problems among this group in the ...Qinghai–Tibet Plateau of China were barely studied. This study aimed to explore sleep disturbance, and its association with quality of life (QoL) and demographic and clinical characteristics among university freshmen in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, China.
Methods
A multistage stratified cluster random sampling method was performed to recruit student participants with a structured questionnaire to collect sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and lifestyle behaviors. Sleep disturbance including three aspects of sleep disturbance (i.e., difficulty initiating sleep (DIS), difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS), and early morning awakening (EMA)) was assessed using standardized measurement. Multiple logistic regression models were applied to analyze the data.
Results
Among included 2,769 freshmen, the prevalence of sleep disturbance was 14.8% (95% CI: 14.2–15.5%), and corresponding prevalence of DIS, DMS, and EMA was 8.2% (95% CI: 7.7–8.7%), 8.3% (95% CI: 7.8–8.8%), and 4.2% (95% CI: 3.8–4.6%), respectively. Freshmen with sleeping disturbance had significantly lower QoL in physical
F
(1, 2769)
= 60.23,
p
< 0.001, psychological
F
(1, 2769)
= 46.18,
p
< 0.001, social
F
(1, 2769)
= 23.04,
p
< 0.001, and environment
F
(1, 2769)
= 6.07,
p
= 0.01 domains. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that having breakfast five times a week or less (less than three times, OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.34–2.40; 3–5 times, OR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.09–1.79), self-perceived severe Internet dependence (OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.11–2.65), self-perceived poor health status (OR = 3.44, 95% CI: 2.06–5.74), high academic stress (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.13–1.78), poor relationship with classmates (OR = 3.44, 95% CI: 1.53–7.71), and severe ADHD symptoms (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.05–1.12) were positively associated with sleeping disturbance.
Conclusion
Sleep disturbance was common among freshmen and is associated with poorer QoL. Prevention and intervention strategies should be developed and implemented, especially among the vulnerable university freshman groups.
Background and Objectives: To determine the effect of oral nutritional supplements (ONS) on children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia undergoing remission-induction chemotherapy.
Methods and Study ...Design: We included 127 paediatric patients who were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and undergoing remission- induction chemotherapy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Children from two paediatric wards who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. One ward was randomly chosen as the intervention group and the other ward as the control group. Children in the two groups were matched for age and sex. The ONS group was administered Peptamen (n=60) and the control group was administered a low-fat diet (n=67).
Results: The baseline information before treatment was not significantly different between groups (p > 0.05). In the control group, weight loss at the end of chemotherapy was significantly higher than that of ONS group (p < 0.05). The hemoglobin level and the concentrations of total protein, albumin, and pre-albumin were significantly higher in the ONS group than in the control group (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). The incidences of hypoalbuminaemia, gastrointestinal complications, and infection were lower in the ONS group than in the control group (p < 0.05). The ONS group also used lower amount of albumin infusion, fewer blood-product infusion, and had lower hospital costs than the control group.
Conclusions: During remission-induction chemotherapy, oral nutritional supplements can improve the nutritional status of children, reduce the incidence of complications, and decrease the costs of hospitalization.
Background and Objectives: To determine the effect of oral nutritional supplements (ONS) on children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia undergoing remission-induction chemotherapy. Methods and Study ...Design: We included 127 paediatric patients who were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and undergoing remission–induction chemotherapy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Children from two paediatric wards who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. One ward was randomly chosen as the intervention group and the other ward as the control group. Children in the two groups were matched for age and sex. The ONS group was administered Peptamen^® (n=60) and the control group was administered a low-fat diet (n=67). Results: The baseline information before treatment was not significantly different between groups (p>0.05). In the control group, weight loss at the end of chemotherapy was significantly higher than that of ONS group (p<0.05). The hemoglobin level and the concentrations of total protein, albumin, and pre-albumin were significantly higher in the ONS group than in the control group (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). The incidences of hypoalbuminaemia, gastrointestinal complications, and infection were lower in the ONS group than in the control group (p<0.05). The ONS group also used lower amount of albumin infusion, fewer blood-product infusion, and had lower hospital costs than the control group. Conclusions: During remission-induction chemotherapy, oral nutritional supplements can improve the nutritional status of children, reduce the incidence of complications, and decrease the costs of hospitalization.
A new post-harvest storage disease was observed on sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) in Zhejiang Province, China in November 2014. A species of Boeremia was constantly isolated from diseased tissues ...with typical symptoms of storage tuber rot. The isolates were identified as Boeremia exigua based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and 5.8S ribosomal DNA, the 28S large subunit ribosomal RNA (LSU) gene, the β-tubulin (TUB) gene and the actin (ACT) gene. The pathogenicity of the fungal isolates was confirmed through inoculation experiments. This is the first report of Boeremia tuber rot caused by B. exigua on sweet potato in China.
Electrochemical non-enzymatic biosensors based on metal oxide and metal composites remain an area of challenge and great potential. Herein, hierarchical trimetal oxide hybrid nanocomposites were ...fabricated by the hydrothermal and after calcination processes. Most importantly, such hybrid nanocomposites such as Fe
6
Co
2
Ni
2
(FCN-2)-modified glassy carbon electrode (FCN-2/GCE) exhibit excellent performances for enzyme-free glucose detection. The main results of such biosensors were presented as follows: the linear detection range is 1–739 μM (
R
= 0.9552), the sensitivity is 250.4 μA mM
−1
cm
−2
, and the LOD is 9.16 μM (S/N = 3), and the device has long-term stability of as long as 21 days. The compositional and structural advantages of the hybrid nanocomposites are beneficial to the sensing performances, especially the abundant target molecules that can be chemi-absorbed by active sites existing on the surface of hierarchical FCN-2. Additionally, the synergistic effect of Ni
1.25
Fe
1.85
O
4
, Fe
3
O
4
, and CoFe
2
O
4
is the key design element of the hierarchical trimetal oxide hybrid nanocomposites.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) is an important pathogen for community-acquired pneumonia in children. MP infection was considered to be self-limited, but many severe refractory MP pneumonia cases have ...been reported in recent years. The reason for variation in severity of MP pneumonia remains unclear. MP virulence including drug-resistance and host immunologic function are important influencing factors. The present study aimed to clarify relationship between local MP load and severity of MP pneumonia.
MP DNA was quantitatively detected by fluorescent real-time PCR in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from 77 children with MP pneumonia. They were classified into groups of low MP load ( < 10(3)/ml, n = 14) , moderate MP load (10(3)-10(6)/ml, n = 22) and high MP load ( > 10(6)/ml, n = 41) . Clinical symptoms, main laboratory and imaging results of children among the three groups were compared.
When compared with low load group and moderate load group, high load group had longer fever duration (7 d, 10 d vs. 12 d) ,
To investigate the incidence and clinical features of mixed infections in children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) pneumonia.
A total of 201 cases diagnosed as MP pneumonia were investigated for ...mixed infections by sputum bacterial culture, respiratory virus antigen detection and serum Chlamydia pneumoniae antibody test. For those with the indications for bronchoscopy, we also did bronchoalveolar lavage and lavage bacterial culture.
A high incidence (103/201, 51.2%) of mixed infections in children with MP pneumonia was revealed. The most frequent co-infected pathogen was Chlamydia pneumoniae (52, 25.9%), followed by viruses (29, 14.4%), and bacteria (22, 10.9%). Among viruses, respiratory syncytial virus was the most common (17, 8.5%), followed by adenovirus (6, 3.0%), parainfluenza virus type III (4, 2.0%) and influenza virus type B (2, 1.0%). Sputum bacterial culture was positive in 14/201 (7.0%) cases, Streptococcus pneumonia being most common (6, 3.0%). BALF culture yielded positive results in 11.6% (8/69
Objective. circ_SFMBT2 was reported to facilitate malignant progression in various cancers, but its function in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been fully uncovered. This study aimed to ...investigate the effects of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation of circ_SFMBT2 (circ_0017628) on non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its underlying mechanisms. Methods. Paired tumor and noncancerous tissues from NSCLC patients were surgically collected from January 2020 to March 2021 in our hospital. The levels of circ_SFMBT2 and LATS2 in NSCLC and human bronchial epithelial cells were assayed with qRT-PCR. Overexpression or silencing of circ_SFMBT2, LATS2, or YTHDF2 was performed in the NSCLC cells. CCK-8, colony-forming, and transwell assays were performed to analyze cell proliferation, viability, and migration, respectively. Meanwhile, the expression of MMP-9, E-cadherin, vimentin, and the Hippo/YAP pathway components was examined by western blotting. The m6A enrichment in circ_SFMBT2 was verified using methylated RNA immunoprecipitation, and interaction between circ_SFMBT2 and YTHDF2 was assessed by RNA pull-down and immunoprecipitation assays. Results. Both circ_SFMBT2 and LATS2 were lowly expressed in NSCLC cells and tissues. A positive correlation of circ_SFMBT2 with LATS2 was identified, and circ_SFMBT2 was localized predominantly in the cytoplasm. circ_SFMBT2 overexpression negatively regulated cell proliferation, viability, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition while promoting the Hippo/YAP pathway activation. Notably, knockdown of LATS2 effectively abrogated the inhibitory effects of circ_SFMBT2 overexpression on NSCLC cell malignancies. Besides, m6A was specifically enriched in circ_SFMBT2, and circ_SFMBT2 could bind to YTHDF2. Silencing of YTHDF2 led to an increase in circ_SFMBT2 expression while inhibiting the malignancy of cancer cells. Conclusion. Our results showed that YTHDF2 could facilitate NSCLC cell proliferation and metastasis via the Hippo/YAP pathway activation by mediating circ_SFMBT2 degradation.