Objective To study the interaction of streptococcal collagen-like protein 1 (Scl1) of M41-type group A streptococcus (GAS) ATCC12373 with low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Methods We cloned, expressed and purified the recombinant proteins rScl1 and its V region rScl1-V, designated as C176 and C176V, derived from Scl1. 41 of M41-type GAS. The binding of rScl1 to LDL was detected with affinity chromatography-binding assay, Western blot analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and whole cell binding assays were used to detect the interactions of whole GAS cells with LDL. Results The results demonstrated that C176 and C176V could specifically bind purified LDL, and M41-type GAS cells expressing native Sell could bind LDL whereas M6-type GAS could not. Conclusion The Sell of M41-type GAS specifically binds LDL.
Background/Aim: To assess the association between air pollution (NO2 and PM2.5) and all-cause mortality for participants who resided in the Sydney Metropolitan region of the 45 and Up Study. Methods: We used data from the '45 and Up' cohort study, which is based on 267,153 older residents of New South Wales (NSW), Australia and restricted participants to those who resided in metropolitan Sydney, Australia and who were less than 80 years of age at enrolment . Mortality data was extracted from a deaths register and linked to the baseline questionnaire. Pollutant concentrations at each residential address were estimated using satellite based land use regression models and chemical transport models for NO2 for 2007 and PM2.5 for 2010/11, respectively. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to assess the associations between air pollution exposure and all-cause mortality, while adjusting for demographic and lifestyle factors and area-level factors. Results: For 77,468 participants who satisfied the inclusion criteria, adjusted models resulted in a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.035 (95% CI: 0.967-1.107) per 1 µg.m-3 increase in PM2.5, and corresponding HR of 1.001 (95% CI: 0.985-1.017) per 1 ppb increase in NO2. However unadjusted models indicated significant associations with both pollutants with HRs of 1.063 (95% CI: 1.008-1.121) for PM2.5 and 1.013 (95% CI: 1.000-1.025) for NO2. This finding differs from European studies performed in more polluted settings and using comparable models, where PM2.5 was significantly associated with natural cause mortality after a 14 year average follow-up with HR 1.014 (95% CI: 1.004-1.26). We did, however, observe similar results for NO2. Conclusions: For the medium term follow-up period of the study (7.3 years), increases in air pollution had a detrimental impact on mortality for both pollutants, although these were not statistically significant.
This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of serum microRNA-219-5p (miR-219-5p) in patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) caused by acute paraquat (PQ) poisoning, and its correlation with Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4). Luciferase reporter assay was used to investigate in vitro the correlation of miR-219-5p with TLR4. Serum miR-219-5p levels were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Serum levels of TLR4, IL-1β, and TNF-α were measured by Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). ROC analysis was performed to assess the diagnostic significance, Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox regression analysis were used to evaluate the prognostic value of miR-219-5p in MODS patients. TLR4 was a target gene of miR-219-5p and was increased in MODS patients. Serum miR-219-5p level was decreased and negatively correlated with TLR4 level in MODS patients ( r = −0.660, P < 0.001), which had important diagnostic value and negatively correlated with APACHE II score in MODS patients. The miR-219-5p expression was markedly associated with the WBC, ALT, AST, PaCO 2 , Lac, and APACHE II score. Non-survivals had more patients with low miR-219-5p expression. Patients with low miR-219-5p expression had shorter survival time. MiR-219-5p and APACHE II score were two independently prognostic factors for 28-day survival. MiR-219-5p was negatively correlated with, while TLR4 was positively correlated with the levels of IL-1β and TNF-α. The serum miR-219-5p level may be a potential biomarker for acute PQ-induced MODS diagnosis and prognosis. Furthermore, miR-219-5p may be associated with the progression of MODS by regulating TLR4-related inflammatory response.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been investigated in various cardiovascular diseases. As a fatal disease, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a serious global health burden. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of miR-32-5p in AMI patients and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to explore novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for AMI.A target prediction tool miRanda and the luciferase activity assay were used to confirm the interaction of miR-32-5p with Kruppel-like factor 2 (KLF2). Effect of miR-32-5p on HUVECs viability was examined using CCK-8 assay. Serum miR-32-5p expression was measured using quantitative Real-Time PCR, and its correlation with myocardial damage and endothelial injury markers and pro-inflammatory cytokines was assessed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic value of miR-32-5p in AMI patients.miR-32-5p, as a direct regulator of KLF2, could suppress the cell proliferation of HUVECs. Serum miR-32-5p expression was elevated in AMI patients and positively correlated with the biomarker levels of myocardial damage and endothelial injury and pro-inflammatory cytokines. The area under the ROC curve for miR-32-5p was 0.949, indicating the relatively high diagnostic accuracy of miR-32-5p in AMI patients.The data of this study revealed that the increased serum miR-32-5p expression serves as a candidate diagnostic biomarker of AMI, and that miR-32-5p may be involved in the myocardial damage, endothelial injury and inflammatory responses of AMI by targeting KLF2, indicating the potential of miR-32-5p as a diagnostic biomarker and molecular target to improve the treatment of AMI.
Objective
To conduct an epidemiological investigation on a case of familial arsenic poisoning in Yunnan Province, to find arsenic poisoning source and create a archive of typical cases, in order to raise awareness of endemic arsenicosis and provide scientific materials for prevention and treatment of the disease.
Methods
In Xiaxiaoying Village of Yunnan Province, all members of a family with arsenic poisoning patients were investigated in 2013, their health examination and epidemiological survey of arsenic poisoning were carried out, and arsenic poisoning family profiles and personal files were established. Drinking water, hair and urine samples were collected for arsenic content determination, blood samples were collected for biochemical detection, excessively keratose skin was collected for pathological biopsy.
Results
A total of 33 family members were investigated. Among them 15 were exposed to arsenic and 18 were not exposed to arsenic. Fifteen people exposed to arsenic were found to be have skin lesions, and two eldest males died of skin cancer and cerebral hemorrhage in 1994 and 2009, respectively. The survey found out that 15 patients born in 1935-1983 had been drinking arsenic pesticides polluted well water for 5 to 16 years from 1973 to 1989. As of 2013, the arsenic exposure had been stopped for 24 years, the content of arsenic in the polluted wells was 0.624 mg/L, which was 62.4 times the recommended maximum limit (0.01 mg/L) of the World Health Organization. The median of hair and urinary arsenic in arsenic exposed population and non-arsenic exposed population was 4.2, 3.7 mg/kg and 60.9, 41.0 μg/L, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in hair arsenic(Z=-1.905, P > 0.05), but the difference of urinary arsenic was statistically significant (Z=-3.002, P < 0.05). The median of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT) and 24 hours urinary creatinine (Cr) in arsenic exposed population and non-arsenic exposed population was 37.5, 31.0 U/L, 25.5, 12.0 U/L, 13 834.0, and 6 843.0 μmol/L, respectively. The differences between the two groups were statistically significant (Z=-2.776,-2.311,-2.502, P < 0.05). Twelve cases of arsenic poisoned patients who were conducted health examination and epidemiological investigation showed typical triad of skin, among them 2 cases were moderate and 10 cases were severe. Pathological biopsy results showed 8 cases had basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma.
Conclusions
Drinking arsenical pesticide contaminated water can induce chronic arsenic poisoning, even after the cessation of arsenic exposure. We should pay close attention to its long-term serious harmful effect.
Key words:
Arsenic poisoning; Pesticides; Drinking water; Epidemiology
Objective To investigate the effect of Liuwei Nengxiao capsules,a Tibetan traditional medicine,on loosening bowel and relieving constipation in mice.Method Using normal models and water-losing constipation models or diphenoxylate model,we observed alvine pushing rate in norma1 models and the time of first dark stools,the granule number and weight of stools in constipation models.Result By orally administrating different dosages,Liuwei Nengxiao capsules could increase alvine pushing rate of normal mice and the granule number and weight of stools in constipation groups,the dosage of 1.8 g/kg shortened the time of first dark stools and significantly increased granule number and weight.The dosage of 0.9 g/kg shortened the time of first dark stools.Conclusion Liuwei Nengxiao capsules have the effect of loosening bowel to relieve constipation in mice.
Background: Integrating comprehensive information on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is essential to improve its early detection. We aimed to develop a model with multi-modal features (MMF) using artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to enhance the performance of HCC detection. Materials and methods: A total of 1,092 participants were enrolled from 16 centers. These participants were allocated into the training, internal validation, and external validation cohorts. Peripheral blood specimens were collected prospectively and subjected to mass cytometry analysis. Clinical and radiological data were obtained from electrical medical records. Various AI methods were employed to identify pertinent features and construct single-modal models with optimal performance. The XGBoost algorithm was utilized to amalgamate these models, integrating multi-modal information and facilitating the development of a fusion model. Model evaluation and interpretability were demonstrated using the SHapley Additive exPlanations method. Results: We constructed the electronic health record, BioScore, RadiomicScore, and DLScore models based on clinical, radiological, and peripheral immunological features, respectively. Subsequently, these single-modal models were amalgamated to develop an all-in-one MMF model. The MMF model exhibited enhanced performance compared to models comprising only single-modal features in detecting HCC. This superiority in performance was confirmed through the internal and external validation cohorts, yielding area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.985 and 0.915, respectively. Additionally, the MMF model improved the detection ability in subpopulations of HCCs that were negative for alpha-fetoprotein and those with small size, with AUC values of 0.974 and 0.996, respectively. Conclusions: Integrating multi-modal features improved the performance of the model for HCC detection.
By using DTI image segmentation algorithm investigate the effect of large plants Rhodiola injection on myocardial injury in patients with acute severe CO poisoning (ACOP), and to explore the clinical and CT delayed encephalopathy after ACOP.Seventy-two ACOP patients were randomly divided into control and observation group, 36 cases in each group from December 2015 - December 2017. The control group received hyperbaric oxygen, mannitol, dexamethasone, citicoline injection, gangliosides, dracone; observation group were large strain Rhodiola injection treatment group based on the once daily for two weeks of continuous treatment. The head CT, head MRI results were analyzed retrospectively.(1) hsCRP and ET-1 in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group, and VEGF was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.01). No, NOS, and iNOS were significantly lower than those of the control group (P<0.01); (2) CT images of 16 cases showed bilateral symmetrical fusion lesions with blurred edges, low density, and oval center around the ventricle; (3) MRI showed that the lesion was located in the cerebral cortex, white matter lateral ventricle and/or basal ganglia in 12 cases.Rhodiola can reduce myocardial vascular endothelial cell injury, improve cardiac function, and protect the damaged myocardium. Meanwhile, after acute CO poisoning delayed encephalopathy early for CT and MRI examination facilitate analysis and prognosis of the disease.
Objective:To investigate the effect of the total alkaloids of herba aconiti on COX-2,IL-1,TNF and PGE2 of arthritis-model rats.Methods:The arthritis-model rats were established by freund's complete adjuvant,and were divided into control group,model group,aspirin group,total alkaloids high-dose group and low-dose group.The COX-2,IL-1,TNF and PGE2 were determined by radio-immunity.Result:The total alkaloids on herba aconiti inhibited COX-2,IL-1,TNF and PGE2 in arthritis-model rats and showed dose-effect relationship.Conclusion:The total alkaloids on herba aconiti have identified anti-inflammatory effect.
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