Recombinant Expression and Allergenicity Analysis of Arginine Kinase from Scylla paramamosain

To compare the allergenicity of native arginine kinase (nAK) and recombinant AK (rAK) from Scylla paramamosain and to identify the predominant allergenic domain of AK, AK was divided into 4 fragments: AK-E1 (amino acid (AA) 1–92), AK-E2 (AA 87–187), AK-E3 (AA 172–265), and AK-E4 (AA 276–357) based on the distribution of epitopes and the spatial structure of the AK molecule. The four recombinant fragments were expressed in the prokaryotic system Escherichia coli, and then nAK, rAK, and the recombinant fragments were purified. The allergenicity of recombinant proteins were evaluated using BALB/c mice. The results showed that the levels of specific antibodies in the serum and the secretion of Th2 type cytokines by the splenocytes of mice sensitized with rAK significantly increased, but the immunogenicity of rAK was weaker than that of nAK. Among the 4 fragments of AK, AK-E2 had the strongest immunogenicity. Meanwhile, rAK could stimulate RBL-2H3 cells to release β-hexokinase, but it was less effective than nAK. Among the 4 expressed fragments, AK-E2 and AK-E4 had a stronger stimulating effect on effector cells. In conclusion, the rAK expressed in the prokaryotic system showed weaker immunogenicity than nAK, and among the 4 fragments of AK, AA 87–187 has the strongest immunogenicity while AA 276–357 has the strongest immunoreactivity

Snoring, Inflammatory Markers, Adipokines and Metabolic Syndrome in Apparently Healthy Chinese

OBJECTIVE: Chronic low-grade inflammation and adipokines dysregulation are linked to mechanisms underscoring the pathogenesis of obesity-related metabolic disorders. Little is known about roles of these cytokines on the association between snoring and metabolic syndrome (MetS). We aimed to investigate whether a cluster of cytokines are related to snoring frequency and its association with MetS in apparently healthy Chinese. METHODS: Current analyses used a population-based sample including 1059 Shanghai residents aged 35-54 years. Self-reported snoring frequency was classified as never, occasionally and regularly. Fasting plasma glucose, lipid profile, insulin, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, interleukin-18, lipopolysaccharide binding protein, high-molecular-weight adiponectin and leptin were measured. MetS was defined by the updated National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria for Asian-Americans. RESULTS: Overweight/obese subjects had significantly higher prevalence of regular snorers than their normal-weight counterparts (34.8% vs. 11.5%, P<0.001). Regular snoring was associated with unfavorable profile of inflammatory markers and adipokines. However, those associations were abolished after adjustment for body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference. The MetS risk (multivariate-adjusted odds ratio 5.41, 95% confidence interval 3.72-7.88) was substantially higher in regular snorers compared with non-snorers. Controlling for BMI remarkably attenuated the association (2.03, 1.26-3.26), while adjusting for inflammatory markers and adipokines showed little effects. CONCLUSION: Frequent snoring was associated with an elevated MetS risk independent of lifestyle factors, adiposity, inflammatory markers and adipokines in apparently healthy Chinese. Whether snoring pattern is an economic and no-invasive indicator for screening high-risk persons needs to be addressed prospectively

A rare homozygous variant of MC2R gene identified in a Chinese family with familial glucocorticoid deficiency type 1: A case report

BackgroundMelanocortin-2 receptor (MC2R), a member of the G protein-coupled receptor family, is selectively activated by adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). variants in MC2R are associated with family glucocorticoid deficiency 1 (FGD1).Case presentationWe first reported a Chinese family with two affected siblings with a homozygotic variant of c.712C&gt;T/p.H238Y in MC2R, presenting with skin hyperpigmentation, hyperbilirubinemia, and tall stature. These individuals showed novel clinical features, including congenital heart defects, not been found in other FGD1 patients.ConclusionsWe reported a Chinese family with affected siblings having a homozygotic variant of c.712C&gt;T/p.H238Y in MC2R.Our report may expand the genetic and clinical spectrum of FGD1

The Oncogenic Roles of Nuclear Receptor Coactivator 1 in Human Esophageal Carcinoma

Nuclear receptor coactivator 1 (NCOA1) plays crucial roles in the regulation of gene expression mediated by a wide spectrum of steroid receptors such as androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor α (ER α), and estrogen receptor β (ER β). Therefore, dysregulations of NCOA1 have been found in a variety of cancer types. However, the clinical relevance and the functional roles of NCOA1 in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) are less known. We found in this study that elevated levels of NCOA1 protein and/or mRNA as well as amplification of the NCOA1 gene occur in human ESCC. Elevated levels of NCOA1 due to these dysregulations were not only associated with more aggressive clinic-pathologic parameters but also poorer survival. Results from multiple cohorts of ESCC patients strongly suggest that the levels of NCOA1 could serve as an independent predictor of overall survival. In addition, silencing NCOA1 in ESCC cells remarkably decreased proliferation, migration, and invasion. These findings not only indicate that NCOA1 plays important roles in human ESCC but the levels of NCOA1 also could serve as a potential prognostic biomarker of ESCC and targeting NCOA1 could be an efficacious strategy in ESCC treatment

Lean Body Mass, Interleukin 18, and Metabolic Syndrome in Apparently Healthy Chinese

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate how lean body mass is related to circulating Interleukin 18 (IL-18) and its association with metabolic syndrome (MetS) among apparently healthy Chinese. METHODS: A population-based sample of 1059 Chinese men and women aged 35-54 years was used to measure plasma IL-18, glucose, insulin, lipid profile, inflammatory markers and high-molecular-weight (HMW)-adiponectin. Fat mass index (FMI) and lean mass index (LMI) were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. MetS was defined by the updated National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria for Asian-Americans. RESULTS: Circulating IL-18 was positively correlated with LMI after adjustment for FMI (correlation coefficient = 0.11, P<0.001). The association with the MetS (odds ratio 3.43, 95% confidence interval 2.01-5.85) was substantially higher in the highest than the lowest quartile of IL-18 after multiple adjustments including body mass index. In the stratified multivariable regression analyses, the positive association between IL-18 and MetS was independent of tertiles of FMI, inflammatory markers and HMW-adiponectin, but significantly interacted with tertile of LMI (P for interaction = 0.010). CONCLUSION: Elevated plasma IL-18 was associated with higher MetS prevalence in apparently healthy Chinese, independent of traditional risk factors, FMI, inflammatory markers and HMW-adiponectin. More studies are needed to clarify the role of lean mass in IL-18 secretion and its associated cardio-metabolic disorders

Effects of Body Fat on the Associations of High-Molecular-Weight Adiponectin, Leptin and Soluble Leptin Receptor with Metabolic Syndrome in Chinese

BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding the associations between high-molecular-weight (HMW-) adiponectin, leptin and soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Chinese. Also few studies elucidate the effects of inflammation and body fat mass on the relations. METHODS: Plasma HMW-adiponectin, leptin and sOB-R were measured among 1055 Chinese men and women (35∼54 yrs). Whole body and trunk fat mass were determined by Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. MetS was defined by the updated NCEP/ATPIII criterion for Asian-Americans. RESULTS: HMW-adiponectin was inversely associated with MetS in multivariate model including fat mass index (FMI), inflammatory markers, leptin and sOB-R (OR in the highest quartile= 0.30, 95%CI 0.18∼0.50, P<.0001). Plasma sOB-R was also inversely associated with MetS independent of body fatness and inflammatory markers, whereas the association was somewhat attenuated after adjusting HMW-adiponectin (OR for the highest quartile = 0.78, 95%CI 0.47∼1.32, P = 0.15). In contrast, leptin was associated with increased odds of MetS independent of inflammatory markers, HMW-adiponectin, and sOB-R (OR for the highest quartile= 2.64, 95%CI 1.35∼5.18, P = 0.006), although further adjustment for FMI abolished this association. CONCLUSIONS: HMW-adiponectin exhibited strong inverse associations with MetS independent of body composition, inflammation, leptin and sOB-R; while the associations of leptin and sOB-R were largely explained by fat mass or HMW-adiponectin, respectively

Hg tolerance and biouptake of an isolated pigmentation yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa.

A pigmented yeast R1 with strong tolerance to Hg2+ was isolated. Phylogenetic identification based on the analysis of 26S rDNA and ITS revealed R1 is a Rhodotorula mucilaginosa species. R1 was able to grow in the presence of 80 mg/L Hg2+, but the lag phase was much prolonged compared to its growth in the absence of Hg2+. The maximum Hg2+ binding capacity of R1 was 69.9 mg/g, and dead cells could bind 15% more Hg2+ than living cells. Presence of organic substances drastically reduced bioavailability of Hg2+ and subsequently decreased Hg2+ removal ratio from aqueous solution, but this adverse effect could be remarkably alleviated by the simultaneous process of cell propagation and Hg2+ biouptake with actively growing R1. Furthermore, among the functional groups involved in Hg2+ binding, carboxyl group contributed the most, followed by amino & hydroxyl group and phosphate group. XPS analysis disclosed the mercury species bound on yeast cells was HgCl2 rather than HgO or Hg0

Neural Network Enhanced Sound Source Localization Model for Mobile Terminal

Abstract. Video mobile terminal technology has been mature and came into people’s daily life. Face to face conversation and group meeting through video mobile phone become standard usage of video mobile service. People will put the mobile phone in front of his/her face when they use this kind of service. But users in noisy places will be interfered by surrounded noise. Former researchers have tried to use microphone array to solve this problem. And sound source localization model (SSLM) is the first approach. In this paper, we used feed forward neural network (FFNN) to simulate the hyperplane to map the detected time intervals to space coordinates. Thus the SSLM computation complexity is reduced and automatic adaptability is achieved. Experiments have been done to show the feasibility and high accuracy of this method. Furthermore, Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm has been proposed to be our training algorithm. 1

Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Graphene Growth on Ni(111) and the Origin of Triangular Shaped Graphene Islands

To understand the origin of the triangular shaped graphene, we systematically investigated the thermodynamics and kinetics of graphene growth on Ni(111) surface. It was found that the fcc staking of graphene on the substrate is more energetically favorable than other stacking sequences. Under the near thermoequilibrium condition, a graphene island will present a truncated triangular shape with alternative zigzag (ZZ) and ZZKlein edges; its growth is either on the top of the terrace (on-top mode) or embedded into the metal lattice (inlay mode). If the growth process is controlled by kinetics of carbon atom incorporation, the shape of a graphene island will be triangular because of the significant growth rate difference between the ZZ and ZZ-Klein edges. This study reveals the atomic details of graphene growth on Ni(111) surface, and the deep insights into the mechanism of graphene CVD growth may lead to the rational design of experiments for the growth of desired graphene and other 2D materials

Irreversible Electroporation in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer: How Important Is the New Weapon?

Background. Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a deadly disease with poor prognosis in the general population. We aimed to quantitate overall survival of patients with PC after irreversible electroporation (IRE) and the incidence of relevant complications. Methods. We performed a literature search via five electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases) up to August 2017. The primary outcomes were overall survival and prognosis. Secondary outcomes included the response of post-IRE complications. Fixed-effects or random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to pool these data. Results. A total of 15 eligible articles involving 535 patients were included. The primary outcomes showed that the pooled prevalence estimates of overall survival were 94.1% (95% CI: 90.7–97.5), 80.9% (95% CI: 72.5–89.4), 54.5% (95% CI: 38.3–70.6), and 33.8% (95% CI: 14.2–53.5) at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months, and the pooled prevalence data of complete response (CR) at 2 months, partial response (PR) at 3 months, and progression at 3 months were 12.5% (95% CI: 2.9–22.2), 48.5% (95% CI: 39.4–57.6), and 19.7% (95% CI: 7.3–32.2), respectively. The secondary outcomes showed that the pooled prevalence values of post-IRE complications were abscess 6.6% (95% CI: 0.2–13), fistula 10.6% (95% CI: 2.5–18.7), pain 33.5% (95% CI: 14.5–52.5), infection 16.1% (95% CI: 3.9–28.4), thrombosis 4.9% (95% CI: 1.2–8.5), pancreatitis 7.2% (95% CI: 3.1–11.2), bleeding 4.2% (95% CI: −0.5–8.9), cholangitis 4.2% (95% CI: −0.5–8.9), nausea 9.6% (95% CI: 4.4–14.8), biliary obstruction 13.8% (95% CI: 4.2–23.3), chest tightness 7.6% (95% CI: 0.5–14.6), and hypoglycemia 5.9% (95% CI: −0.4–12.2). Conclusions. This meta-analysis indicated a clear survival benefit for PC patients who received irreversible electroporation therapy, although future safety and effectivity monitoring from more large-scale studies will be needed