Serum MicroRNA Expression Profile Distinguishes Enterovirus 71 and Coxsackievirus 16 Infections in Patients with Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Altered circulating microRNA (miRNA) profiles have been noted in patients with microbial infections. We compared host serum miRNA levels in patients with hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) caused by enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus 16 (CVA16) as well as in other microbial infections and in healthy individuals. Among 664 different miRNAs analyzed using a miRNA array, 102 were up-regulated and 26 were down-regulated in sera of patients with enteroviral infections. Expression levels of ten candidate miRNAs were further evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR assays. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that six miRNAs (miR-148a, miR-143, miR-324-3p, miR-628-3p, miR-140-5p, and miR-362-3p) were able to discriminate patients with enterovirus infections from healthy controls with area under curve (AUC) values ranged from 0.828 to 0.934. The combined six miRNA using multiple logistic regression analysis provided not only a sensitivity of 97.1% and a specificity of 92.7% but also a unique profile that differentiated enterovirial infections from other microbial infections. Expression levels of five miRNAs (miR-148a, miR-143, miR-324-3p, miR-545, and miR-140-5p) were significantly increased in patients with CVA16 versus those with EV71 (p<0.05). Combination of miR-545, miR-324-3p, and miR-143 possessed a moderate ability to discrimination between CVA16 and EV71 with an AUC value of 0.761. These data indicate that sera from patients with different subtypes of enteroviral infection express unique miRNA profiles. Serum miRNA expression profiles may provide supplemental biomarkers for diagnosing and subtyping enteroviral HFMD infections

The Characteristics of Blood Glucose and WBC Counts in Peripheral Blood of Cases of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease in China: A Systematic Review

Background: Outbreaks of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) have occurred in many parts of the world especially in China. We aimed to summarize the characteristics of the levels of blood glucose and white blood cell (WBC) counts in cases of HFMD in Mainland China and Taiwan, using meta-analysis based on systematic review of published articles. Methods: We systematically reviewed published studies, from the MEDLINE and WANFANG Data, about the levels of blood glucose and WBC counts in cases of HFMD until 15 th June 2011, and quantitatively summarized the characteristics of them using meta-analysis. Results: In total, 37 studies were included in this review. In Mainland China and Taiwan, generally, the average level of blood glucose, the prevalence of hyperglycemia, WBC counts and the prevalence of leukocytosis increased with the severity of the illness. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of leukocytosis between ANS (autonomic nervous system dysregulation)/PE (pulmonary edema) group and CNS (central nervous system) group, and in the average level of blood glucose between healthy controls and mild cases of HFMD. WBC counts in cases infected by EV71 were less than those in cases infected by CA16. Conclusions: our analyses indicated that blood glucose and WBC counts increased with the severity of HFMD disease, which would help doctors to manage patients efficiently

Defining Global Gene Expression Changes of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal Axis in Female sGnRH-Antisense Transgenic Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio)

BACKGROUND: The hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis is critical in the development and regulation of reproduction in fish. The inhibition of neuropeptide gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) expression may diminish or severely hamper gonadal development due to it being the key regulator of the axis, and then provide a model for the comprehensive study of the expression patterns of genes with respect to the fish reproductive system. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In a previous study we injected 342 fertilized eggs from the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) with a gene construct that expressed antisense sGnRH. Four years later, we found a total of 38 transgenic fish with abnormal or missing gonads. From this group we selected the 12 sterile females with abnormal ovaries in which we combined suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) and cDNA microarray analysis to define changes in gene expression of the HPG axis in the present study. As a result, nine, 28, and 212 genes were separately identified as being differentially expressed in hypothalamus, pituitary, and ovary, of which 87 genes were novel. The number of down- and up-regulated genes was five and four (hypothalamus), 16 and 12 (pituitary), 119 and 93 (ovary), respectively. Functional analyses showed that these genes involved in several biological processes, such as biosynthesis, organogenesis, metabolism pathways, immune systems, transport links, and apoptosis. Within these categories, significant genes for neuropeptides, gonadotropins, metabolic, oogenesis and inflammatory factors were identified. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study indicated the progressive scaling-up effect of hypothalamic sGnRH antisense on the pituitary and ovary receptors of female carp and provided comprehensive data with respect to global changes in gene expression throughout the HPG signaling pathway, contributing towards improving our understanding of the molecular mechanisms and regulative pathways in the reproductive system of teleost fish

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Status and Trends of Physical Activity Surveillance, Policy, and Research in 164 Countries: Findings From the Global Observatory for Physical Activity—GoPA! 2015 and 2020 Surveys

Background: Physical activity (PA) surveillance, policy, and research efforts need to be periodically appraised to gain insight into national and global capacities for PA promotion. The aim of this paper was to assess the status and trends in PA surveillance, policy, and research in 164 countries. Methods: We used data from the Global Observatory for Physical Activity (GoPA!) 2015 and 2020 surveys. Comprehensive searches were performed for each country to determine the level of development of their PA surveillance, policy, and research, and the findings were verified by the GoPA! Country Contacts. Trends were analyzed based on the data available for both survey years. Results: The global 5-year progress in all 3 indicators was modest, with most countries either improving or staying at the same level. PA surveillance, policy, and research improved or remained at a high level in 48.1%, 40.6%, and 42.1% of the countries, respectively. PA surveillance, policy, and research scores decreased or remained at a low level in 8.3%, 15.8%, and 28.6% of the countries, respectively. The highest capacity for PA promotion was found in Europe, the lowest in Africa and low- and lower-middle-income countries. Although a large percentage of the world’s population benefit from at least some PA policy, surveillance, and research efforts in their countries, 49.6 million people are without PA surveillance, 629.4 million people are without PA policy, and 108.7 million live in countries without any PA research output. A total of 6.3 billion people or 88.2% of the world’s population live in countries where PA promotion capacity should be significantly improved. Conclusion: Despite PA is essential for health, there are large inequalities between countries and world regions in their capacity to promote PA. Coordinated efforts are needed to reduce the inequalities and improve the global capacity for PA promotion

Raman scattering from In1-x-yGaxAlyAs quaternary alloys

Raman scattering studies were reported of In1-x-yGaxAlyAs/InP lattice matched quaternary alloys. The quaternary alloys a.ere grown on (100) oriented InP substrates by MBE method. The composition and intensity dependence of optical phonon mode frequencies show that the quaternary alloys exhibit three-mode behavior, i.e. InAs-like, GaAs-like and AlAs-like modes. Polarization analysis of the Raman spectra shows that the LO phonon modes are Raman active in the depolarized configuration and Raman inactive in the polarized configuration. TO phonon modes were also observed due to disorder effects, resulting in the asymmetrical shapes of the Raman peaks of the optical phonons

Photoluminescence from ZnS1-xTex alloys under hydrostatic pressure

ZnS1-xTex (0.02less than or equal toxless than or equal to0.3) alloys are studied by photoluminescence under hydrostatic pressure at room temperature. Only a wide emission band is observed for each sample. Its peak energy is much lower than the corresponding band gap of alloys. These bands are ascribed to the radiative annihilation of excitons bound at Te-n(ngreater than or equal to2) isoelectronic centers. The pressure coefficients of the emission bands are smaller than those of alloy band gaps from 48% to 7%. The difference of the pressure coefficient of the emission band and the band gap increases when the binding energy of Te-n centers decreases. It seems contrary to our expectation and needs further analysis. The integrated intensities of emission bands decrease with increasing pressure due to the decreasing of the absorption coefficient associated with the Te-n centers under pressure. According to this model the Stokes shifts between the emission and absorption bands of the Te-n centers are calculated, which decrease with the increasing Te composition in alloys