Development of an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assay based on a recombinant truncated VP2 (tVP2) protein for the detection of canine parvovirus antibodies

By removing the N-terminal hydrophobic sequence, truncated VP2 (tVP2) genes were cloned into the pET-32a (+) plasmid and subsequently expressed as His fusion proteins. The purified recombinant tVP2 proteins were specific to canine parvovirus (CPV), and one of them was used in an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of CPV antibodies. The minimum detection limit of this method was 1:1280. There was good agreement between tVP2-based indirect ELISA and the commercially available diagnostic kit. The results suggest that the recombinant tVP2 protein-based ELISA could be used to detect CPV antibodies.Key words: Canine parvovirus, recombinant truncated VP2 (tVP2), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), antibody detection

Robust prognostic model based on immune infiltration-related genes and clinical information in ovarian cancer

Immune infiltration of ovarian cancer (OV) is a critical factor in determining patient's prognosis. Using data from TCGA and GTEx database combined with WGCNA and ESTIMATE methods, 46 genes related to OV occurrence and immune infiltration were identified. Lasso and multivariate Cox regression were applied to define a prognostic score (IGCI score) based on 3 immune genes and 3 types of clinical information. The IGCI score has been verified by K-M curves, ROC curves and C-index on test set. In test set, IGCI score (C-index = 0.630) is significantly better than AJCC stage (C-index = 0.541, p < 0.05) and CIN25 (C-index = 0.571, p < 0.05). In addition, we identified key mutations to analyse prognosis of patients and the process related to immunity. Chi-squared tests revealed that 6 mutations are significantly (p < 0.05) related to immune infiltration: BRCA1, ZNF462, VWF, RBAK, RB1 and ADGRV1. According to mutation survival analysis, we found 5 key mutations significantly related to patient prognosis (p < 0.05): CSMD3, FLG2, HMCN1, TOP2A and TRRAP. RB1 and CSMD3 mutations had small p-value (p < 0.1) in both chi-squared tests and survival analysis. The drug sensitivity analysis of key mutation showed when RB1 mutation occurs, the efficacy of six anti-tumour drugs has changed significantly (p < 0.05).Peer reviewe

Controllable sliding transfer of wafer‐size graphene

The innovative design of sliding transfer based on a liquid substrate can succinctly transfer high‐quality, wafer‐size, and contamination‐free graphene within a few seconds. Moreover, it can be extended to transfer other 2D materials. The efficient sliding transfer approach can obtain high‐quality and large‐area graphene for fundamental research and industrial applications

Integrated glycomic analysis of ovarian cancer side population cells

Additional file 2. The category of representative lectins for glycan profiling

Gab2 Ablation Reverses the Stemness of HER2-Overexpressing Breast Cancer Cells

Background/Aims: HER2 has been implicated in mammary tumorigenesis as well as aggressive tumor growth and metastasis. Its overexpression is related to a poor prognosis and chemoresistance in breast cancer patients. Although Grb2-associated binding protein 2 (Gab2) is important in the development and progression of human cancer, its effects and mechanisms in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer are unclear. Methods: Clone formation and MTT assays were used to examine cell proliferation. To detect the effect of Gab2 on the stemness of breast cancer cells, we used flow cytometry, a sphere formation assay, real-time PCR, and western blot. An animal model was created to validate the effect of Gab2 on tumor growth in vivo. Tissue slides were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Results: Knockdown of Gab2 suppressed PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK pathway activity. Gab2 ablation also reduced the stemness of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. In vivo, knockdown of Gab2 inhibited tumor growth. Conclusion: This study unveils a potential function of Gab2 in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Gab2 might be a potential target in the clinical therapy of HER2-overexpressing breast carcinoma

Tailoring the electrocaloric effect of Pb0.78Ba0.2La0.02ZrO3 relaxor thin film by GaN substrates

The electrocaloric (EC) effect in ferroelectric/antiferroelectric thin films has been widely investigated due to its potential applications in solid state cooling devices. It is demonstrated that the EC effect of the Pb0.78Ba0.2La0.02ZrO3 (PBLZ) relaxor thin films prepared by using a sol–gel method strongly depends on the substrates. The maximum ΔT of PBLZ thin films deposited on Pt(111)/TiOx/SiO2/Si(100) (Pt), LaNiO3/Pt(111)/TiOx/SiO2/Si(100) (LaNiO3/Pt), LaNiO3/n-type GaN (LaNiO3/n-GaN) and LaNiO3/p-type GaN (LaNiO3/p-GaN) substrates is ∼13.08 K, 16.46 K, 18.70 K, and 14.64 K, respectively. Moreover, negative EC effects in a broad temperature range (∼340 K to 440 K) could be obtained in the thin films deposited on LaNiO3/n-GaN and LaNiO3/p-GaN substrates, which is ascribed to higher proportions of orthorhombic antiferroelectric phase to rhombohedral ferroelectric phase induced by the GaN substrates. These results indicate that tailoring the EC effects by changing the substrates could provide a new strategy in designing an EC cooling device with high cooling efficiency

Development and validation of machine learning-augmented algorithm for insulin sensitivity assessment in the community and primary care settings: a population-based study in China

ObjectiveInsulin plays a central role in the regulation of energy and glucose homeostasis, and insulin resistance (IR) is widely considered as the “common soil” of a cluster of cardiometabolic disorders. Assessment of insulin sensitivity is very important in preventing and treating IR-related disease. This study aims to develop and validate machine learning (ML)-augmented algorithms for insulin sensitivity assessment in the community and primary care settings.MethodsWe analyzed the data of 9358 participants over 40 years old who participated in the population-based cohort of the Hubei center of the REACTION study (Risk Evaluation of Cancers in Chinese Diabetic Individuals). Three non-ensemble algorithms and four ensemble algorithms were used to develop the models with 70 non-laboratory variables for the community and 87 (70 non-laboratory and 17 laboratory) variables for the primary care settings to screen the classifier of the state-of-the-art. The models with the best performance were further streamlined using top-ranked 5, 8, 10, 13, 15, and 20 features. Performances of these ML models were evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), the area under the precision-recall curve (AUPR), and the Brier score. The Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) analysis was employed to evaluate the importance of features and interpret the models.ResultsThe LightGBM models developed for the community (AUROC 0.794, AUPR 0.575, Brier score 0.145) and primary care settings (AUROC 0.867, AUPR 0.705, Brier score 0.119) achieved higher performance than the models constructed by the other six algorithms. The streamlined LightGBM models for the community (AUROC 0.791, AUPR 0.563, Brier score 0.146) and primary care settings (AUROC 0.863, AUPR 0.692, Brier score 0.124) using the 20 top-ranked variables also showed excellent performance. SHAP analysis indicated that the top-ranked features included fasting plasma glucose (FPG), waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), triglycerides (TG), gender, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), the number of daughters born, resting pulse rate (RPR), etc.ConclusionThe ML models using the LightGBM algorithm are efficient to predict insulin sensitivity in the community and primary care settings accurately and might potentially become an efficient and practical tool for insulin sensitivity assessment in these settings

TNFAIP1 contributes to the neurotoxicity induced by Aβ25–35 in Neuro2a cells

Background: Amyloid-beta (Aβ) accumulation is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that can lead to neuronal dysfunction and apoptosis. Tumor necrosis factor, alpha-induced protein 1 (TNFAIP1) is an apoptotic protein that was robustly induced in the transgenic C. elegans AD brains. However, the roles of TNFAIP1 in AD have not been investigated. Results: We found TNFAIP1 protein and mRNA levels were dramatically elevated in primary mouse cortical neurons and Neuro2a (N2a) cells exposed to Aβ25–35. Knockdown and overexpression of TNFAIP1 significantly attenuated and exacerbated Aβ25–35-induced neurotoxicity in N2a cells, respectively. Further studies showed that TNFAIP1 knockdown significantly blocked Aβ25–35-induced cleaved caspase 3, whereas TNFAIP1 overexpression enhanced Aβ25–35-induced cleaved caspase 3, suggesting that TNFAIP1 plays an important role in Aβ25–35-induced neuronal apoptosis. Moreover, we observed that TNFAIP1 was capable of inhibiting the levels of phosphorylated Akt and CREB, and also anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. TNFAIP1 overexpression enhanced the inhibitory effect of Aβ25–35 on the levels of p-CREB and Bcl-2, while TNFAIP1 knockdown reversed Aβ25–35-induced attenuation in the levels of p-CREB and Bcl-2. Conclusion: These results suggested that TNFAIP1 contributes to Aβ25–35-induced neurotoxicity by attenuating Akt/CREB signaling pathway, and Bcl-2 expression

Not performing an OGTT results in underdiagnosis, inadequate risk assessment and probable cost increases of (pre)diabetes in Han Chinese over 40 years: a population-based prospective cohort study

Objective: To explore the influence by not performing an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in Han Chinese over 40 years. Design: Overall, 6682 participants were included in the prospective cohort study and were followed up for 3 years. Methods: Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2-h post-load plasma glucose (2h-PG), FPG and 2h-PG (OGTT), and HbA1c testing using World Health Organization (WHO) or American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria were employed for strategy analysis. Results: The prevalence of diabetes is 12.4% (95% CI: 11.6–13.3), while the prevalence of prediabetes is 34.1% (95% CI: 32.9–35.3) and 56.5% (95% CI: 55.2–57.8) using WHO and ADA criteria, respectively. 2h-PG determined more diabetes individuals than FPG and HbA1c. The testing cost per true positive case of OGTT is close to FPG and less than 2h-PG or HbA1c. FPG, 2h-PG and HbA1c strategies would increase costs from complications for false-positive (FP) or false-negative (FN) results compared with OGTT. Moreover, the least individuals identified as normal by OGTT at baseline developed (pre)diabetes, and the most prediabetes individuals identified by HbA1c or FPG using ADA criteria developed diabetes. Conclusions: The prevalence of isolated impaired glucose tolerance and isolated 2-h post-load diabetes were high, and the majority of individuals with (pre)diabetes were undetected in Chinese Han population. Not performing an OGTT results in underdiagnosis, inadequate developing risk assessment and probable cost increases of (pre)diabetes in Han Chinese over 40 years and great consideration should be given to OGTT in detecting (pre)diabetes in this population. Further population-based prospective cohort study of longer-term effects is necessary to investigate the risk assessment and cost of (pre)diabetes