Blocking Effect of an Immuno-Suppressive Agent, Cynarin, on CD28 of T-Cell Receptor

Purpose: Cynarin, a potential immunosuppressant that blocks the interaction between the CD28 of T-cell receptor and CD80 of antigen presenting cells, was found in Echinacea purpurea by a new pharmaceutical screening method: After Flowing Through Immobilized Receptor (AFTIR; Dong et al., J Med Chem, 49:1845-1854, 2006). This Echinacea component is the first small molecule that is able to specifically block "signal 2" of T-cell activation. Methods: In this study, we used the AFTIR method to further confirm that cynarin effectively blocked the binding between CD80 of B-cells and CD28 of T-cells, and provide details of its mechanism of action. Results: The experimental results showed that cynarin blocked about 87% of the CD28-dependent "signal 2" pathway of T-cell activation under the condition of one to one ratio of T-cell and B-cell in vitro. Theoretical structure modeling showed that cynarin binds to the "G-pocket" of CD28 (Evans et al., Nat Immunol, 6:271-279, 2005), and thus interrupts the site of interaction between CD28 and CD80. Conclusions: These results confirm both that AFTIR is a promising method for screening selective active compounds from herbal medicine and that cynarin has great potential as an immuno-suppressive agent

Influence of health education on clinical parameters in type 2 diabetic subjects with and without hypertension: a longitudinal, comparative analysis in routine primary care settings

Aim: To assess the influence of health education for type 2 diabetic patients with and without coexisting hypertension in routine primary care where intensive educational consultations were absent. Methods: A longitudinal cohort was constructed from 342 diabetic subjects who previously had regular exposure to face-to-face health education delivered quarterly during 2016–2017 under the national basic public health (BPH) service provision in an urbanised township in China. Clinical parameters were retrieved electronically from computerised BPH data platform at prior check-ups (2016–2017) and at the most recent check-up (2019). Results: The satisfactory clinical improvements upon health education were not sustained during subsequent observational years among study subjects. A significant increase in total cholesterol (0.28 mmol/L for between-group net changes, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.01–0.55 mmol/L, p = 0.039) were observed in diabetic subjects with coexisting hypertension. Older patients (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.87, 95%CI = 0.83–0.91, p less than 0.001), males (aOR = 0.50, 95%CI = 0.26–0.98, p = 0.043), and subjects with lower education level (aOR = 0.34, 95%CI = 0.17–0.67, p = 0.002) were less likely to maintain improvement of biomedical parameters. Conclusion: The influence of face-to-face health education may not be prolonged in routine primary care where intensive provisions of educational consultations were less common. Diabetic patients with coexisting hypertension tend to have more difficulties in maintaining optimal lipid profiles

Association between systolic blood pressure and diabetic retinopathy in both hypertensive and normotensive patients with type 2 diabetes: risk factors and healthcare implications

A common diabetes-related microvascular complication is diabetic retinopathy (DR), yet associations between blood pressure (BP) and risks for DR in diabetic patients with normal BP received inadequate attention. This may lead to ‘clinical inertia’ in early DR prevention. We aimed to assess whether the extent to which systolic BP levels were associated with DR in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and normal BP were similar to that in those with concurrent hypertension. Data were collected from patients with T2DM attending ophthalmic check-up with primary care referral (n = 2510). BP measurements, clinical laboratory tests, and dilated fundus examination were conducted according to gold standard of diagnosis and routine clinical procedure. Of all subjects, over 40% were normotensive and one fifth were clinically diagnosed with DR. Systolic BP levels increased across DR categories of escalated severity irrespective of the coexistence of hypertension. Ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that an increased systolic BP was independently and significantly associated with DR (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.020, p < 0.001 for hypertensives; aOR = 1.019, p = 0.018 for normotensives), after adjusting for diabetes duration, sex, lifestyles, and haemoglobin A1c levels. Regular monitoring of systolic BP should not be neglected in routine diabetes management even when BP falls within the normal range

State transfer in dissipative and dephasing environments

By diagonalization of a generalized superoperator for solving the master equation, we investigated effects of dissipative and dephasing environments on quantum state transfer, as well as entanglement distribution and creation in spin networks. Our results revealed that under the condition of the same decoherence rate $\gamma$, the detrimental effects of the dissipative environment are more severe than that of the dephasing environment. Beside this, the critical time $t_c$ at which the transfer fidelity and the concurrence attain their maxima arrives at the asymptotic value $t_0=\pi/2\lambda$ quickly as the spin chain length $N$ increases. The transfer fidelity of an excitation at time $t_0$ is independent of $N$ when the system subjects to dissipative environment, while it decreases as $N$ increases when the system subjects to dephasing environment. The average fidelity displays three different patterns corresponding to $N=4r+1$, $N=4r-1$ and $N=2r$. For each pattern, the average fidelity at time $t_0$ is independent of $r$ when the system subjects to dissipative environment, and decreases as $r$ increases when the system subjects to dephasing environment. The maximum concurrence also decreases as $N$ increases, and when $N\rightarrow\infty$, it arrives at an asymptotic value determined by the decoherence rate $\gamma$ and the structure of the spin network.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Associations between maternal complications during pregnancy and childhood asthma: a retrospective cohort study

© 2023 The Authors. Published by the European Respiratory Society. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://openres.ersjournals.com/content/9/2/00548-2022Background Studies on the associations between maternal complications during pregnancy and childhood asthma are exclusively conducted in Western countries. The findings are mixed and may not be translated to other populations. We aimed to investigate the associations among the Chinese population and to determine whether the associations were mediated through pre-term birth, caesarean delivery, low birthweight and not breastfeeding in the first 6 months. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 166 772 children in Guangzhou, China. Information on maternal gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes and gestational anaemia during pregnancy was extracted from medical records. Ever-diagnosis of asthma in children aged 6–12 years was obtained by questionnaire. Logistic regression models and mediation analyses were used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals for childhood asthma. Results Gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes and gestational anaemia during pregnancy were associated with an increased risk of ever-diagnosed childhood asthma: aOR 1.48 (95% CI 1.37–1.60), 1.71 (95% CI 1.65–1.78) and 1.34 (95% CI 1.26–1.45), respectively. A stronger association was observed for two or three gestational complications (aOR 2.02 (95% CI 1.93–2.16)) than one gestational complication (aOR 1.64 (95% CI 1.52–1.77)). The aOR for the three gestational complications was 1.35 (95% CI 1.26–1.45), 1.63 (95% CI 1.58–1.70) and 1.32 (95% CI 1.24–1.43), respectively, after controlling for the mediators, including pre-term birth, caesarean delivery, low birthweight and not breastfeeding in the first 6 months. Conclusions Gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes and gestational anaemia were associated with childhood asthma, and the associations were partially explained by the mediation effects.This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (82073571 and 81773457 to J. Tang).Published versio

Search for the Rare Decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e, J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e, and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e-

We report on a search for the decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c., J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c., and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e- + c.c. in a sample of 5.8 * 10^7 J/Psi events collected with the BESII detector at the BEPC. No excess of signal above background is observed, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions are set: B(J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c.)<4.8*10^-5, B(J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c.) D0bar e+ e- + c.c.)<1.1*10^-5Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Measurements of J/psi Decays into 2(pi+pi-)eta and 3(pi+pi-)eta

Based on a sample of 5.8X 10^7 J/psi events taken with the BESII detector, the branching fractions of J/psi--> 2(pi+pi-)eta and J/psi-->3(pi+pi-)eta are measured for the first time to be (2.26+-0.08+-0.27)X10^{-3} and (7.24+-0.96+-1.11)X10^{-4}, respectively.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Study of J/ψ→ωK+K−J/\psi \to \omega K^+K^-

New data are presented on $J/\psi \to \omega K^+K^-$ from a sample of 58M $J/\psi$ events in the upgraded BES II detector at the BEPC. There is a conspicuous signal for $f_0(1710) \to K^+K^-$ and a peak at higher mass which may be fitted with $f_2(2150) \to K\bar K$. From a combined analysis with $\omega \pi ^+ \pi ^-$ data, the branching ratio $BR(f_0(1710)\to\pi\pi)/BR(f_0(1710) \to K\bar K)$ is $< 0.11$ at the 95% confidence level.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Phys. Lett.

BESII Detector Simulation

A Monte Carlo program based on Geant3 has been developed for BESII detector simulation. The organization of the program is outlined, and the digitization procedure for simulating the response of various sub-detectors is described. Comparisons with data show that the performance of the program is generally satisfactory.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, uses elsart.cls, to be submitted to NIM

Measurement of branching fractions for the inclusive Cabibbo-favored ~K*0(892) and Cabibbo-suppressed K*0(892) decays of neutral and charged D mesons

The branching fractions for the inclusive Cabibbo-favored ~K*0 and Cabibbo-suppressed K*0 decays of D mesons are measured based on a data sample of 33 pb-1 collected at and around the center-of-mass energy of 3.773 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC collider. The branching fractions for the decays D+(0) -> ~K*0(892)X and D0 -> K*0(892)X are determined to be BF(D0 -> \~K*0X) = (8.7 +/- 4.0 +/- 1.2)%, BF(D+ -> ~K*0X) = (23.2 +/- 4.5 +/- 3.0)% and BF(D0 -> K*0X) = (2.8 +/- 1.2 +/- 0.4)%. An upper limit on the branching fraction at 90% C.L. for the decay D+ -> K*0(892)X is set to be BF(D+ -> K*0X) < 6.6%