Zambia Signal Functions study 2016 dataset

This dataset contains information related to health facilities’ infrastructure, staffing, equipment, supplies, and capacity to perform various clinical functions related to reproductive and maternal health service provision. The study was conducted in Central Province, Zambia and its primary aim was to assess facilities’ capacity to provide termination of pregnancy services. EMBARGOED UNTIL 31st DEC 201

Cyy-287, a novel pyrimidine-2,4-diamine derivative, efficiently mitigates inflammatory responses, fibrosis, and lipid synthesis in obesity-induced cardiac and hepatic dysfunction

Background Inflammation and metabolic disorders are important factors in the occurrence and development of obesity complications. In this study, we investigated the protective effect and underlying mechanism of a novel pyrimidine-2,4-diamine derivative, Cyy-287, on mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Methods The mice were randomly separated into four groups (n ≥ 7): control (regular diet), HFD, HFD with Cyy-287 (5 mg/kg), and HFD with Cyy-287 (20 mg/kg) following HFD feeding for 10 weeks. After a 10-week administration, ALT and AST enzymes, echocardiography, immunohistochemical (IHC), Western blot (WB), Masson and Sirius Red staining were used to evaluate functional and morphological changes to the heart and liver. Microsomes from the mouse liver were extracted to quantify the total amount of CYP450 enzymes after drug treatment. Results Cyy-287 decreased the levels of serum glucose, LDL, TC, ALT, and AST activities in HFD-treated mice. However, Cyy-287 administration increased ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) index of the heart. Cyy-287 inhibited histopathological changes in the heart and liver; decreased inflammatory activity; significantly diminished p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) axis, and sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c); and upregulated the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway in HFD-treated mice. Cyy-287 restored the content of hepatic CYP450 enzymes. Conclusion These findings demonstrated that Cyy-287 protected heart and liver cells from obesity-induced damage by inhibiting inflammation, fibrosis, and lipid synthesis

Bifunctional MXene‐Augmented Retinal Progenitor Cell Transplantation for Retinal Degeneration

Abstract Retinal degeneration, characterized by the progressive loss of retinal neurons, is the leading cause of incurable visual impairment. Retinal progenitor cells (RPCs)‐based transplantation can facilitate sight restoration, but the clinical efficacy of this process is compromised by the imprecise neurogenic differentiation of RPCs and undermining function of transplanted cells surrounded by severely oxidative retinal lesions. Here, it is shown that ultrathin niobium carbide (Nb2C) MXene enables performance enhancement of RPCs for retinal regeneration. Nb2C MXene with moderate photothermal effect markedly improves retinal neuronal differentiation of RPCs by activating intracellular signaling, in addition to the highly effective RPC protection by scavenging free radicals concurrently, which has been solidly evidenced by the comprehensive biomedical assessments and theoretical calculations. A dramatically increased neuronal differentiation is observed upon subretinal transplantation of MXene‐assisted RPCs into the typical retinal degeneration 10 (rd10) mice, thereby contributing to the efficient restoration of retinal architecture and visual function. The dual‐intrinsic function of MXene synergistically aids RPC transplantation, which represents an intriguing paradigm in vision‐restoration research filed, and will broaden the multifunctionality horizon of nanomedicine

A diagnostic prediction model for hypertension in Han and Yugur population from the China National Health Survey (CNHS)

Abstract. Background:. The prevalence of hypertension is high among Chinese adults, thus, identifying non-hypertensive individuals at high risk for intervention will help to improve the efficiency of primary prevention strategies. Methods:. The cross-sectional data on 9699 participants aged 20 to 80 years were collected from the China National Health Survey in Gansu and Hebei provinces in 2016 to 2017, and they were nonrandomly split into the training set and validation set based on location. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to develop the diagnostic prediction model, which was presented as a nomogram and a website with risk classification. Predictive performances of the model were evaluated using discrimination and calibration, and were further compared with a previously published model. Decision curve analysis was used to calculate the standardized net benefit for assessing the clinical usefulness of the model. Results:. The Lasso regression analysis identified the significant predictors of hypertension in the training set, and a diagnostic model was developed using logistic regression. A nomogram with risk classification was constructed to visualize the model, and a website (https://chris-yu.shinyapps.io/hypertension_risk_prediction/) was developed to calculate the exact probabilities of hypertension. The model showed good discrimination and calibration, with the C-index of 0.789 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.768, 0.810) through internal validation and 0.829 (95% CI: 0.816, 0.842) through external validation. Decision curve analysis demonstrated that the model was clinically useful. The model had a higher area under receiver operating characteristic curves in training and validation sets compared with a previously published diagnostic model based on Northern China population. Conclusion:. This study developed and validated a diagnostic model for hypertension prediction in Gansu Province. A nomogram and a website were developed to make the model conveniently used to facilitate the individualized prediction of hypertension in the general population of Han and Yugur

Luciferase reporter assay to validate the miRNA-mRNA relationship of miR-499-5p and DSTN.

<p>The analysis of the relative luciferase activity in PK-15 cells following transfection with candidate miRNA mimics. (A)Wild type 3’UTR dual luciferase report vectors were co-transfected with miRNA mimics, which caused a significant decrease in the relative luciferase activity compared with the negative control. (B) Mutated 3’UTR dual luciferase report vectors were co-transfected with miRNA mimics, which did not cause a decrease of the relative luciferase activity compared with the negative control. (C) Predicted target sites of miRNAs and the 4 bp mutation site (red) of genes’ mut-3’UTR. The error bars indicate the SEM. The significance of the differences was calculated using two-tailed T-test. N = 6. **, P<0.01.</p

KEGG orthology enriched for target genes of breed-DE miRNAs between TC and YK.

<p>KEGG orthology enriched for target genes of breed-DE miRNAs between TC and YK.</p

Comparison of differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs among five data sets.

<p>The number marked in the overlapping areas shows the common breed-DE miRNAs.TC: Tongcheng, YK: Yorkshire. Stages: 40, 55, 63, 70, and 90 days post coitum (dpc).</p

Principal component analysis (PCA) plot of sequencing data in the ten libraries.

<p>Clustering of the ten libraries. The rhombuses represent the Tongcheng and the circles represent the Yorkshire breed. TC: Tongcheng, YK: Yorkshire. Stages: 40, 55, 63, 70, and 90 days post coitum (dpc).</p

Hierarchical clustering based on the expression of miRNAs.

<p>Clustering of the samples was determined by the expression of miRNAs. Red indicates high expression, while green indicates low expression. The expression values were normalized TPM of miRNA using the Z-score. TC: Tongcheng, YK: Yorkshire. Stages: 40, 55, 63, 70, and 90 days post coitum (dpc).</p

STEM clustering based on differentially expressed miRNAs.

<p>Each box corresponds to a kind of expression profile and only colored profiles reach statistical significance. The upper-left number in the box gives information about the order of profile. The bottom-left number gives information about the statistical significance. The right panel displays the patterns of miRNA expression for the “Cluster 0” profile in detail. A: Short time-series expression profiles of miRNAs in TC; B: Short time-series expression profiles of miRNAs in YK. TC: Tongcheng, YK: Yorkshire.</p