Construction of phytoplanktonic index of biotic integrity and evaluation of water ecological health in Dianshan Lake， China

A total of four time surveys on water quality and its phytoplankton of Dianshan Lake in Shanghai, China were carried out in January, April, July and October 2019. Phytoplanktonic index of biotic integrity(P-IBI)was constructed to assess the water health condition of Dianshan Lake. The comprehensive nutritional status index(TSI)is used to determine the reference sites and the impaired sites, 19 biological indexes with widely application and high selection rates were used as candidate biological indexes, and the candidate indexes were tested for the distribution, discriminant analysis, correlation analysis. Finally,five parameters composing the P-IBI of Dianshan Lake were obtained:number of diatom species, phytoplankton richness index, percentage of Chlorophyta density,percentage of Cryptophyta density,and total phytoplankton biomass. P-IBI was used to evaluate the ecosystem health of the lake. On the whole, Dianshan Lake is in the state of sub-healthy. Among them, there are one, eight and three points in the healthy, sub-healthy and good state respectively. It is sub-healthy when in spring and winter, and good when in summer and autumn. P-IBI has a very significant positive correlation with water transparency(SD),and a very significant negative correlation with Chlorophyll a(Chl a)and total phosphorus(TP)

Altered functional connectivity of the nucleus accumbens subdivisions in amphetamine-type stimulant abusers: a resting-state fMRI study

Background The growing abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants leads to new challenges to human health. A possible addiction mechanism has been proposed by altered functional architecture of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) during resting state. NAc contains different subdivisions and they may play different roles in addiction. The aim of the present study was to examine whether there are common or distinct patterns of functional connectivity of the NAc subdivisions in amphetamine-type stimulant abusers (ATSAs). Methods The present study recruited 17 male ATSAs and 22 healthy male controls. All the subjects underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with their eyes closed. The NAc was divided into core-like and shell-like subdivisions. We used seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analyses to identify differences in brain functional architecture between ATSAs and healthy controls (HCs). Results ATSAs had lower positive RSFCs with all of the NAc subdivisions over the left orbital part of superior frontal gyrus and higher positive RSFCs with the NAc subdivisions over the left opercular part of inferior frontal gyrus than HCs, which indicates common abnormalities across the NAc subdivisions in ATSAs. In addition, the RSFCs between the NAc subdivisions and the left orbital part of superior frontal gyrus were negatively correlated with the addiction severity in ATSAs. Conclusion These results provide evidence that there are common RSFC patterns of the NAc subdivisions in ATSAs. The abnormality indicated by disrupted functional connectivity between the NAc subdivisions and prefrontal cortex suggests abnormal interaction between the rewarding process and cognitive control in ATSAs. Our results shed insight on the neurobiological mechanisms of ATSA and suggest potential novel therapeutic targets for treatment and intervention of ATSAs

Evaluation of Diagnostic Value in Using a Panel of Multiple Tumor-Associated Antigens for Immunodiagnosis of Cancer

To determine whether a panel of multiple tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) would enhance antibody detection, the diagnostic value of autoantibodies to a panel of multiple TAAs in cancer has been evaluated. The TAAs used in this study was composed of eight TAAs including Imp1, p62, Koc, p53, C-myc, Cyclin B1, Survivin, and p16 full-length recombinant proteins. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblotting were used to detect antibodies in 304 cancer sera and also 58 sera from normal individuals. The antibody frequency to any individual TAA in cancer was variable but rarely exceeded 20%. With the successive addition of TAAs to a final combination of total of eight antigens, there was a stepwise increase of positive antibody reactions reaching a sensitivity of 63.5% and a specificity of 86.2% in the combined cancer group. In different types of cancer, the ranges of positive and negative likelihood ratio were 4.07–4.76 and 0.39–0.51, respectively, and the ranges of positive and negative predictive values were 74.2–88.7% and 58.8–75.8%, respectively. Agreement rate and Kappa value were 67.1% and 0.51, respectively. These results further support our previous hypothesis that detection of anti-TAAs autoantibodies for diagnosis of certain type of cancer can be enhanced by using a miniarray of several TAAs

MXene-Based Porous Monoliths

In the past decade, a thriving family of 2D nanomaterials, transition-metal carbides/nitrides (MXenes), have garnered tremendous interest due to its intriguing physical/chemical properties, structural features, and versatile functionality. Integrating these 2D nanosheets into 3D monoliths offers an exciting and powerful platform for translating their fundamental advantages into practical applications. Introducing internal pores, such as isotropic pores and aligned channels, within the monoliths can not only address the restacking of MXenes, but also afford a series of novel and, in some cases, unique structural merits to advance the utility of the MXene-based materials. Here, a brief overview of the development of MXene-based porous monoliths, in terms of the types of microstructures, is provided, focusing on the pore design and how the porous microstructure affects the application performance

Associations of physical activity types and intensity with cardiovascular diseases by age and gender among 18,730 Chinese adults

Abstract The associations of physical activity (PA) intensity and types with CVD (cardiovascular diseases) in different population are inconsistent and remains not very clear. A total of 7854 males and 10,876 females over 15 years were selected by multistage random sampling methods. In males, moderate-intensity physical activity (MPA) had no effect, while vigorous-intensity physical activity (VPA) played a significant protective role (OR = 1.319 and 0.615). However, in females, both MPA and VPA had significant protective effects (OR = 0.593 and 0.537). VPA presented as a significant protective factor in stroke patients and combined CVDs for males in all age groups; however, in females, the results suggested that, for those aged over 60–74 years, MPA was a protective factor. Furthermore, for the middle-aged or younger participants, the area under the curves (AUCs) of work, housework, and leisure activity were generally higher than that of other types, while for patients aged over 60 years, the AUCs of sedentary time and sleep activity seemed much higher. VPA had a better protective effect for preventing cardiovascular events, while the young and female population could benefit from MPA as well. Regardless of the types of PA, leisure activities were strongly recommended, and young people were much more likely to benefit from exercise than older people

Associations of Functional MicroRNA Binding Site Polymorphisms in IL23/Th17 Inflammatory Pathway Genes with Gastric Cancer Risk

IL23/Th17 axis acts as an inflammatory pathway in gastric carcinogenesis. MicroRNA- (miRNA-) binding site single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of inflammatory genes may alter gastric cancer (GC) susceptibility. In this study, four miRNA binding site SNPs (rs3748067 of IL17A, rs887796, rs1468488 of IL17RA, and rs10889677 of IL23R) were genotyped from 500 patients and 500 controls. Unconditional logistic regression analyses and multifactor dimensionality reduction software were used to evaluate the relationships of SNPs with GC and gene-environment interactions, respectively. Quantitative real-time PCR, Western blot analysis, and luciferase report gene assay were applied for function verification. We found that CT (ORadj = 0.59; 95% CI: 0.44–0.79), CT + TT (ORadj = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.43–0.77) genotypes, and T allele (ORadj = 0.77; 95% CI: 0.47–0.80) of rs3748067 reduced GC risk; the rs10889677 CC genotype (ORadj = 2.22; 95% CI: 1.27–3.87) and C allele (ORadj = 1.24; 95% CI: 1.02–1.52) increased GC risk. A meaningful interaction among ever smoked, family history of GC, and rs3748068 could intensify GC risk by 2.25-fold. Functional tests demonstrated the inhibitory effect of miR-10a-3p on IL17A expression in SGC-7901 cells. These results suggested that miRNA binding site SNPs within IL23/Th17 inflammatory pathway genes and their interactions with environmental factors could be associated with GC risk

Genetic risk and gastric cancer: polygenic risk scores in population-based case-control study

This study aimed to screen and identify common variants and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with gastric cancer risk, and construct prediction models based on polygenic risk score (PRS). The risk factors associated with gastric cancer were screened following meta-analysis and bioinformatics, verified by population-based case-control study. We constructed PRS and weighted genetic risk scores (wGRS) derived from the validation data set. Net reclassification improvement (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) were used to evaluate model. The PRS was divided into 10 quantiles, with the 40–60% quantile as a reference. A risk gradient was revealed across quantile of the PRS, the risk of gastric cancer in the highest 10 quantile of PRS was 3.24-fold higher than that in control population (OR = 3.24, 95%CI: 2.07, 5.06). For NRI and IDI, PRS combinations were significantly improved compared to wGRS model combinations (P  The model based on PRS combined with lncRNA SNPs, H. pylori infection, smoking, and drinking had the optimal predictive ability for gastric cancer risk, which was helpful to distinguish high-risk groups.</p

Humoral immune response to tumor-associated antigen Ubiquilin 1 (UBQLN1) and its tumor-promoting potential in lung cancer

Abstract Background This study aims to investigate the expression of UBQLN1 in lung cancer (LC) tissue and the diagnostic capability of autoantibody to UBQLN1 (anti-UBQLN1) in the detection of LC and the discrimination of pulmonary nodules (PNs). Methods Sera from 798 participants were used to discover and validate the level of autoantibodies via HuProt microarray and Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Logistic regression analysis was applied to establish model. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic potential. Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect UBQLN1 expression in 88 LC tissues and 88 para-tumor tissues. qRT-PCR and western blotting were performed to detect the expression of UBQLN1 at the mRNA and protein levels, respectively. Trans-well assay and cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to investigate the function of UBQLN1. Results Anti-UBQLN1 was identified with the highest fold change by protein microarray. The level of anti-UBQLN1 in LC patients was obviously higher than that in NC or patients with benign lung disease of validation cohort 1 (P<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of anti-UBQLN1 was 0.610 (95%CI: 0.508-0.713) while reached at 0.822 (95%CI: 0.784-0.897) when combining anti-UBQLN1 with CEA, CYFRA21-1, CA125 and three CT indicators (vascular notch sign, lobulation sign and mediastinal lymph node enlargement) in the discrimination of PNs. UBQLN1 protein was overexpressed in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) tissues compared to para-tumor tissues. UBQLN1 knockdown remarkably inhibited the migration, invasion and proliferation of LUAD cell lines. Conclusions Anti-UBQLN1 might be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of LC and the discrimination of PNs