Clustered Distribution of Natural Product Leads of Drugs in the Chemical Space as Influenced by the Privileged Target-Sites

10.1038/srep09325Scientific Reports

Accuracy of triage strategies for human papillomavirus DNA-positive women in low-resource settings: A cross-sectional study in China

CareHPV is a human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA test for low-resource settings (LRS). This study assesses optimum triage strategies for careHPV-positive women in LRS

Seroprevalence of Human Papillomavirus Types 6, 11, 16 and 18 in Chinese Women

Abstract Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) seroprevalence data have not previously been reported for different geographical regions of China. This study investigated the cross-sectional seroprevalence of antibodies to HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18 virus-like particles in Chinese women. Methods Population-based samples of women were enrolled from 2006 to 2007 in 3 rural and 2 urban areas of China. Each consenting woman completed a questionnaire and provided a blood sample. Serum antibodies were detected using a competitive Luminex immunoassay that measures antibodies to type-specific, neutralizing epitopes on the virus-like particles. Results A total of 4,731 women (median age 35, age range 14-54) were included, of which 4,211 were sexually active women (median age 37) and 520 virgins (median age 18). Low risk HPV 6 was the most common serotype detected (7.3%), followed by HPV 16 (5.6%), HPV 11 (2.9%), and HPV 18 (1.9%). Overall HPV seroprevalence to any type was significantly higher among sexually active women (15.8%) than virgins (2.5%) (P = 0.005). Overall seroprevalence among sexually active women gradually increased with age. Women from rural regions had significantly lower overall seroprevalence (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.7; 95% CI: 0.6-0.9, versus metropolitan regions, P  = 4 partners versus 1 partner, P < 0.001). Wives were at higher risk of seropositivity for HPV 16/18/6/11 when reporting having a husband who had an extramarital sexual relationship (OR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.6-2.5, versus those whose husbands having no such relationship, P < 0.001). There was a strong association between HPV 16 seropositivity and presence of high-grade cervical lesions (OR = 6.5; 95% CI: 3.7-11.4, versus normal cervix, P < 0.001). Conclusions HPV seroprevalence differed significantly by age, geography, and sexual behavior within China, which all should be considered when implementing an optimal prophylactic HPV vaccination program in China

CHEMOINFORMATICS ANALYSIS, PREDICTION AND EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF BIOACTIVE SMALL MOLECULES

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Accuracy and Error Sources of the Rietveld Full Pattern Fitting Method in Quantitative Analysis of Illite Ores

BACKGROUND: Illite is an important mineral resource. It is of great theoretical and practical significance to accurately obtain the mineral composition and content of illite ores. The Rietveld full pattern fitting method uses the whole diffraction pattern for analysis and shows high accuracy. However, due to the lack of pure illite samples, the accuracy and error sources of this method for analyzing the content of illite ores are not clearly known at present.OBJECTIVES: To understand the accuracy and error sources of the Rietveld full pattern fitting method in quantitative analysis of illite ores.METHODS: The Rietveld full pattern fitting method was used to quantitatively analyze artificial and natural illite ore samples. The results of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) of natural illite ores were compared with the chemical compositions calculated from the mineral contents by the Rietveld method.RESULTS: The results showed that the maximum absolute error ranges of illite-quartz binary mixtures, illite-quartz-albite ternary mixtures, and illite-quartz-albite-calcite-kaolinite multiple mixtures were -0.9%-0.9%, -1.9%-1.6%, and -2.3%-1.6%, respectively. The chemical compositions of natural illite ores calculated by Rietveld method were in good agreement with the results of XRF. This indicated that the Rietveld method had high accuracy in the quantitative analysis of mineral contents of natural illite ore samples. The error sources were mainly affected by the illite structural model, atomic thermal displacement parameters Uiso, and preferred orientation.CONCLUSIONS: A reasonable structural model of illite should be chosen according to the actual samples. The values of atomic thermal vibration Uiso should be reasonably set according to the references. Preferred orientation should be decreased as much as possible during the sample preparation

Exercise postconditioning reduces ischemic injury via suppression of cerebral gluconeogenesis in rats

Abstract Pre‐stroke exercise conditioning reduces neurovascular injury and improves functional outcomes after stroke. The goal of this study was to explore if post‐stroke exercise conditioning (PostE) reduced brain injury and whether it was associated with the regulation of gluconeogenesis. Adult rats received 2 h of middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion, followed by 24 h of reperfusion. Treadmill activity was then initiated 24 h after reperfusion for PostE. The severity of the brain damage was determined by infarct volume, apoptotic cell death, and neurological deficit at one and three days after reperfusion. We measured gluconeogenesis including oxaloacetate (OAA), phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), pyruvic acid, lactate, ROS, and glucose via ELISA, as well as the location and expression of the key enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK)‐1/2 via immunofluorescence. We also determined upstream pathways including forkhead transcription factor (FoxO1), p‐FoxO1, 3‐kinase (PI3K)/Akt, and p‐PI3K/Akt via Western blot. Additionally, the cytoplasmic expression of p‐FoxO1 was detected by immunofluorescence. Compared to non‐exercise control, PostE (*p < .05) decreased brain infarct volumes, neurological deficits, and cell death at one and three days. PostE groups (*p < .05) saw increases in OAA and decreases in PEP, pyruvic acid, lactate, ROS, glucose levels, and tissue PCKs expression on both days. PCK‐1/2 expressions were also significantly (*p < .05) suppressed by the exercise setting. Additionally, phosphorylated PI3K, AKT, and FoxO1 protein expression were significantly induced by PostE at one and three days (*p < .05). In this study, PostE reduced brain injury after stroke, in association with activated PI3K/AKT/FoxO1 signaling, and inhibited gluconeogenesis. These results suggest the involvement of FoxO1 regulation of gluconeogenesis underlying post‐stroke neuroprotection

Novel TiO2 Nanoparticles/Polysulfone Composite Hollow Microspheres for Photocatalytic Degradation

Nanosized titanium oxide (TiO2) material is a promising photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants, whereas the difficulty of its recycling hinders its practical application. Herein, we reported the preparation of a novel titanium oxide/polysulfone (TiNPs/PSF) composite hollow microspheres by the combination of Pickering emulsification and the solvent evaporation technique and their application for the photodegradation of methyl blue (MB). P25 TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed on the surface of PSF microspheres. The porosity, density and photoactivity of the TiNPs/PSF composite microsphere are influenced by the TiO2 loading amount. The composite microsphere showed good methyl blue (MB) removal ability. Compared with TiO2 P25, and PSF, a much higher MB adsorption speed was observed for TiNPs/PSF microspheres benefited from their porous structure and the electrostatic attractions between the MB+ and the negatively charged PSF materials, and showed good degradation efficiency. For TiNPs/PSF composite microsphere with density close to 1, a 100% MB removal (10 mg L&minus;1) within 120 min at a catalyst loading of 2.5 g L&minus;1 can be obtained under both stirring and static condition, due to well dispersing of TiO2 particles on the microsphere surface and its stable suspending in water. For the non-suspended TiNPs/PSF composite microsphere with density bigger than 1, the 100% MB removal can be only obtained under stirring condition. The removal efficiency of MB for the composite microspheres retained 96.5%, even after 20 cycles. Moreover, this composite microsphere also showed high MB removal ability at acidic condition. The high catalysis efficiency, excellent reusability and good stability make this kind of TiNPs/PSF composite microsphere a promising photocatalyst for the water organic pollution treatment

The Haplotype TGGAG in the ABCA3 Gene Increases the Risk of Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Preterm Infants in Southern China

Rare mutations in the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter A3 (ABCA3) gene are associated with neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). The contribution of common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to preterm RDS differs between ethnicities and remains unclear in Chinese infants. This study evaluated whether common SNPs and consequent haplotypes increase susceptibility to RDS in a population of preterm infants from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. Methods: Using a tagging SNP (tSNP) strategy and real-time polymerase chain reaction, we genotyped four tSNPs (i.e., rs150929, rs4787273, rs11867129, and rs17135889) and one coding SNP (p.F353F) of the ABCA3 gene in preterm infants with RDS (n = 83) and without RDS (n = 83). We predicted the haplotypes. Minor allele frequencies (MAFs) and haplotype distributions were compared between the two groups. We analyzed correlations between the clinical data and the genotypes. Results: Seven haplotypes existed at a frequency of 0.01 or greater. The haplotype TGGAG was significantly more frequent in RDS infants than in non-RDS infants (p = 0.026; odds ratio 3.41; 95% confidence interval 1.088–10.685). The MAF of rs17135889 SNP, a crucial SNP of the haplotype TGGAG located in the transcription factor binding site of ABCA3, was significantly higher in RDS infants (p  0.05). No significant correlation existed between the rs17135889 genotypes (AG/GG) and any clinical characteristic (e.g., oxygen supplementation duration and hospitalization, requirement for ventilation, bronchopulmonary dysplasia complications, and mortality rate). Conclusion: The TGGAG haplotype may be a risk factor for RDS in preterm infants in this Chinese population. Further study is needed with a larger sample size to verify the association between the rs17135889 SNP and increased risk of RDS in preterm infants, and to determine whether rs17135889 can be a reference in further population-based studies of ABCA3

Transformation of boehmite into 2:1 type layered aluminosilicates with different layer charges under hydrothermal conditions

In this study, beidellite, paragonite and other 2:1 type layered aluminosilicates with high layer charges (2:1 type LA-HLC) were synthesized under hydrothermal conditions by using boehmite as a precursor. The concentrations of dissolved Al from boehmite precursor had important effects on the mineral components of the hydrothermal products and the layer charge density of the resultant minerals. A combination of 2:1 type LA-HLC, paragonite, and minor beidellite formed at a relatively high concentration of dissolved Al, while beidellite with a small amount of 2:1 type LA-HLC was produced at a low concentration of dissolved Al. The resultant 2:1 type LA-HLC exhibited poor swelling ability when treated with ethylene glycol. A solid-state transformation mechanism was proposed for the transformation based on the HRTEM images and EDS analyses, which showed that lattice fringes representing (001) faces of 2:1 type layered aluminosilicates (2:1 type LA) were parallel to the (020) direction of boehmite. The successful transformation of boehmite into 2:1 type LA provides insights to well understand the formation of 2:1 type LA in geological processes and offer a facile preparation approach for the synthesis of 2:1 type LA with different layer charges

Conversion of serpentine to smectite under hydrothermal condition: Implication for solid-state transformation

Understanding clay mineral transformation is of fundamental importance to grasping phyllosilicate crystal chemistry and unraveling geochemical processes. In this study, hydrothermal experiments were conducted on lizardite and antigorite, to investigate the possibility of the transformation from serpentine to smectite, the effect of precursor minerals' structure on the transformation and the transformation mechanism involved. The reaction products were characterized using XRD, TG, HRTEM, and Al-27 MAS NMR. The results show that both lizardite and antigorite can be converted to smectite, but such conversion is much more difficult than that of kaolinite group minerals. The successful transformation is mainly evidenced by the occurrence of the characteristic (001) reflection of smectite at 1.2-1.3 nm in the XRD patterns and smectite layers with a thickness of 1.2-1.3 nm in HRTEM images of hydrothermal products as well as the dehydroxylation of the newly formed smectite at a higher temperature in comparison to that of the starting minerals. The difficulty for the transformation of serpentine to smectite may be due to the lack of enough available Al in the reaction system, in which the substitution of Al3+ for Si4+ in the neo-formed tetrahedral sheet is critical to control the size matching between the neo-formed tetrahedral sheet and octahedral sheet in starting minerals. Since the neighboring layers in antigorite are linked by the strong Si-O covalent bonds, the transformation only takes place at the edges of an antigorite layer rather than the whole layer, and the neo-formed smectite is non-swelling due to the inheritance of such Si-O covalent bonds. The conversion of lizardite to smectite is more feasible than that of antigorite, accompanied by exfoliation. This leads to a prominent decrease of the particle size in the hydrothermal products and the number of phyllosilicate layers contained therein. Two dominant pathways were observed for the transformation of lizardite and antigorite into smectite, i.e., conversion of one serpentine layer to one smectite layer via attachment of Si-O tetrahedra onto the octahedral sheet surface of the starting minerals and two adjacent serpentine layers merging into one smectite layer. In the case of the latter, dissolution of octahedra and inversion of tetrahedral sheets took place during the transformation. Besides these two dominant pathways, precipitation and epitaxial growth of smectite were also observed in the cases of lizardite and antigorite, respectively. The present study suggests that solid-state transformation is the main mechanism for conversion of serpentine minerals to smectite, similar to the transformation of kaolinite group minerals to beidellite