Neurotransmitter system gene variants as biomarkers for the therapeutic efficacy of rTMS and SSRIs in obsessive-compulsive disorder

PurposeThis study aims to examine the potential influence of RS4680 (COMT), RS16965628 (SLC6A4), and RS1019385 (GRIN2B) polymorphisms on the therapeutic response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).Patients and methodsThirty-six untreated outpatients diagnosed with OCD were recruited and allocated to active or sham rTMS groups for two weeks. The mean age of the participants was 31.61, with 17 males (47.22%) and 19 females (52.78%). Peripheral blood samples (5 mL) were collected from each participant using ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) vacuum tubes for genotyping purposes, clinical evaluation was taken place at baseline and second week.ResultsThe A allele of RS4680, C allele of RS16965628, and GG allele of RS1019385 were identified as potential bio-markers for predicting treatment response to OCD treatments (rTMS & SSRIs).ConclusionThose genes may serve as bio-markers for the combined treatment of rTMS and SSRIs in OCD. The finding hold promise for further research and the potential implementation of precision treatment of OCD.Clinical trial registrationhttps://www.chictr.org.cn, identifier ChiCTR1900023641

A Culturally Sensitive Social Support Intervention for Chinese American Breast Cancer Survivors (Joy Luck Academy): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

© Qian Lu, Krystal Warmoth, Lingjun Chen, Christine S Wu, Qiao Chu, Yisheng Li, Matthew W Gallagher, Annette L Stanton, Marjorie Kagawa Singer, Lucy Young, Alice Loh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer among Asian American women. Chinese American immigrant breast cancer survivors face unique challenges because of cultural and socioecological factors. They report emotional distress and the need for social, emotional, and spiritual support. However, culturally and linguistically appropriate information for managing survivorship health care is often unavailable. OBJECTIVE: To improve the health outcomes for this underserved and understudied population, we developed, designed, and launched a randomized controlled trial to test the health benefits of a culturally sensitive social support intervention (Joy Luck Academy). In this paper, we describe the research protocol. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial will enroll Chinese-speaking, stage 0 to 3 breast cancer survivors who have completed treatment within the previous 36 months using a community-based participatory research approach. We will randomly assign 168 participants to the intervention or control group. The intervention arm will attend 7 weekly 3.5-hour peer mentor and educational sessions. The control group will receive the educational information. We will assess health outcomes at baseline, immediately after the Joy Luck Academy, and at 1- and 4-month follow-ups. The primary outcome is quality of life, as measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy scale. Secondary outcomes include depressive symptoms, positive affect, fatigue, and perceived stress. We will also explore how the intervention influences cortisol levels. To identify how and to whom the program is effective, we will measure social and personal resources and theorized mechanisms and perform qualitative interviews with a subsample of participants to enhance the interpretation of quantitative data. RESULTS: Recruitment began in February 2015, and data collection was completed in February 2019. We expect to complete data management by August 2021 and publish results in 2022. CONCLUSIONS: If the Joy Luck Academy is demonstrated to be effective, it may be easily disseminated as an intervention for other groups of Asian American immigrant breast cancer survivors. Furthermore, similar programs could be integrated into other diverse communities.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Air Pollution Characteristics during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Using air pollution monitoring data from 31 January to 31 March 2022, we evaluated air quality trends in Beijing and Zhangjiakou before and after the 2022 Winter Olympics and compared them with the conditions during the same period in 2021. The objective was to define the air quality during the 2022 Winter Olympics. The results indicated that: (1) the average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, CO, and SO2 in Zhangjiakou during the 2022 Winter Olympics were 28.15, 29.16, 34.96, 9.06, and 16.41%, respectively, lower than those before the 2022 Winter Olympics; (2) the five pollutant concentrations in Beijing showed the following pattern: during the 2022 Winter Olympics (DWO) < before the 2022 Winter Olympics < after 2022 Winter Paralympics < during 2022 Winter Paralympics; (3) on the opening day (4 February), the concentrations of the five pollutants in both cities were low. PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations varied widely without substantial peaks and the daily average maximum values were 15.17 and 8.67 µg/m3, respectively, which were 65.56 and 69.79% lower than those of DWO, respectively; (4) the PM2.5 clean days in Beijing and Zhangjiakou DWO accounted for 94.12 and 76.47% of the total days, respectively, which were 11.76 and 41.18% higher than those during the same period in 2021; (5) during each phase of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, the NO2/SO2 and PM2.5/SO2 trends exhibited a decrease followed by an increase. The PM2.5/PM10 ratios in Beijing and Zhangjiakou were 0.65 and 0.67, respectively, indicating that fine particulate matter was the main contributor to air pollution DWO

Integrated omic profiling of the medicinal mushroom Inonotus obliquus under submerged conditions

Abstract Background The Inonotus obliquus mushroom, a wondrous fungus boasting edible and medicinal qualities, has been widely used as a folk medicine and shown to have many potential pharmacological secondary metabolites. The purpose of this study was to supply a global landscape of genome-based integrated omic analysis of the fungus under lab-growth conditions. Results This study presented a genome with high accuracy and completeness using the Pacbio Sequel II third-generation sequencing method. The de novo assembled fungal genome was 36.13 Mb, and contained 8352 predicted protein-coding genes, of which 365 carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZyme)-coding genes and 19 biosynthetic gene clusters (BCGs) for secondary metabolites were identified. Comparative transcriptomic and proteomic analysis revealed a global view of differential metabolic change between seed and fermentation culture, and demonstrated positive correlations between transcription and expression levels of 157 differentially expressed genes involved in the metabolism of amino acids, fatty acids, secondary metabolites, antioxidant and immune responses. Facilitated by the widely targeted metabolomic approach, a total of 307 secondary substances were identified and quantified, with a significant increase in the production of antioxidant polyphenols. Conclusion This study provided the comprehensive analysis of the fungus Inonotus obliquus, and supplied fundamental information for further screening of promising target metabolites and exploring the link between the genome and metabolites

Genotype and allelic frequencies of rs7758229 among cases and controls and associations with risk of colorectal cancer.

a<p>Adjusted for age and sex in logistic regression model.</p>b<p>Additive model.</p

Integrated multi-omics approach to distinct molecular characterization and classification of early-onset colorectal cancer

Incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC), defined by a diagnosed age under 50 years, is increasing, but its heterogeneous etiologies that differ from general CRC remain undetermined. We initially characterize the genome, epigenome, transcriptome, and proteome of tumors from 79 patients in a Chinese CRC cohort. Data for an additional 126 EOCRC subjects are obtained from the International Cancer Genome Consortium Chinese cohort and The Cancer Genome Atlas European cohort. We observe that early-onset tumors have a high tumor mutation burden; increased DNA repair features by mutational signature 3 and multi-layer pathway enrichments; strong perturbations at effects of DNA methylation and somatic copy-number alteration on gene expression; and upregulated immune infiltration as hot tumors underlying immunophenotypes. Notably, LMTK3 exhibits ancestral mutation disparity, potentially being a functional modulator and biomarker that drives molecular alterations in EOCRC development and immunotherapies. This integrative omics study provides valuable knowledge for precision oncology of CRC

Characteristics of colorectal cancer cases and controls.

<p>Characteristics of colorectal cancer cases and controls.</p

Data from: Common genetic variation in ETV6 is associated with colorectal cancer susceptibility

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified multiple susceptibility loci for colorectal cancer, but much of heritability remains unexplained. To identify additional susceptibility loci for colorectal cancer, here we perform a GWAS in 1,023 cases and 1,306 controls and replicate the findings in seven independent samples from China, comprising 5,317 cases and 6,887 controls. We find a variant at 12p13.2 associated with colorectal cancer risk (rs2238126 in ETV6, P = 2.67 × 10-10). We replicate this association in an additional 1,046 cases and 1,076 controls of European ancestry (P = 0.034). The G allele of rs2238126 confers earlier age at onset of colorectal cancer (P = 1.98 × 10-6) and reduces the binding affinity of transcriptional enhancer MAX. The mRNA level of ETV6 is significantly lower in colorectal tumors than in paired normal tissues. Our findings highlight the potential importance of genetic variation in ETV6 conferring susceptibility to colorectal cancer