Association of Complement C5 Gene Polymorphisms with Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy of Type 2 Diabetes in a Chinese Han Population

<div><p>Purpose</p><p>To investigate the association of C5 SNPs with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) of type 2 diabetes (T2D).</p><p>Methods</p><p>A total of four C5 SNPs including rs2269067, rs7040033, rs1017119 and rs7027797 were genotyped in 400 PDR patients with T2D (cases) and 600 non- proliferative diabetic retinopathy PDR (NPDR) with T2D patients (controls) by using PCR-RFLP method. mRNA expression was examined by real-time PCR. Cytokine production was detected by ELISA.</p><p>Results</p><p>The frequency of GG genotype of C5 rs2269067 was significantly increased in cases compared with controls (Pc = 3.4×10⁻⁵, OR = 1.87). And C5 mRNA expression was significantly increased in rs2269067 GG cases as compared with CG or CC cases (P = 0.003, P = 0.001, respectively). Moreover, the production of IL-6 was significantly increased in rs2269067 GG cases compared to CG cases or CC cases (P = 0.002, P = 0.001, respectively).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>C5 rs2269067 GG genotype confers risk for PDR of T2D in Chinese han population and is associated with an elevated C5 mRNA expression and an increased IL-6 production.</p></div

Frequencies of genotypes and alleles of C5 polymorphisms in PDR patients with T2D and NPDR patients with T2D.

<p>Frequencies of genotypes and alleles of C5 polymorphisms in PDR patients with T2D and NPDR patients with T2D.</p

The mRNA expression of C5 in different genotype cases.

<p>mRNA expression of C5 in PBMCs from PDR patients with T2D carrying different genotypes of rs2269067 (GG: n = 10, CG: n = 9, CC: n = 8). Significance was analyzed by SPSS one-way ANOVA. Data are shown as mean±SD (Standard deviation).</p

The influence of C5 rs2269067 on cytokine production.

<p>Cytokine production by anti CD3/CD28 or LPS stimulated PBMCs from PDR patients with T2D carrying different genotypes of rs2269067 (GG: n = 10–12, CG: n = 9–10, CC: n = 8). Significance was was analyzed by SPSS one-way ANOVA. Data are shown as mean±SD (Standard deviation).</p

Supplemental Material - Relationship between dust allergen sensitization and cardiac autonomic function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Supplemental Material for Relationship between dust allergen sensitization and cardiac autonomic function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by Meie Zeng, Shuifen Ye, Wanling Huang, Weiwei Deng, Simin Zou, Chunmei Huang and Hanzhong Qiu in Chronic Respiratory Disease</p

Electrospinning of Biodegradable, Monolithic Membrane with Distinct Bimodal Micron-Sized Fibers and Nanofibers for High Efficiency PMs Removal

Atmospheric particulate matter (PMs) pollution has raised increasing public concerns, especially with the outbreak of COVID-19. The preparation of high-performance membranes for air filtration is of great significance. Herein, the biosynthetic polymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) was adopted to create a hierarchical structure and biodegradable nonwoven membrane for PMs filtration through a facile directly electrospinning method. The as-prepared membranes with hierarchical structure contain abundant nanowires (5–100 nm) and microfibers (2–5 μm) with different diameter (1000–5000 nm). We have achieved realization of formation mechanisms of such bimodal micro- and nanofibers, which stem from the branching of microfiber at early stage of electrospinning. The PHBV membranes exhibit a very high PM0.3 removal efficiency of 99.999% and PM2.5 removal efficiency of 100% with 0.077% standard atmospheric pressure in the air flow speed of 5.3 cm/s. More importantly, the PHBV membranes can be completely disintegrated within 1 week under composted conditions, indicating the great biodegradability of PHBV membranes. Our work provides insights for the development of biodegradable, high performance air filters for pollutants, molds, bacteria, and viruses

Initiation of circadian oscillations following single light pulses of different durations.

<p>(A) Heat map of clock gene expression, assayed by qRT-PCR, in 5 day old barley seedlings (cv. Sonja) germinated and grown in constant darkness then exposed to a single light pulse of 6, 12 or 18 hours. Expression is presented ranged from 0 (black) to 2-fold increase (red) in transcript levels, relative to median expression of that gene across all timepoints in the specific experiment. Light treatments are represented by yellow and black bars beneath each heatmap. (B) Transcript levels of <i>HvCCA1</i> and <i>HvPRR73</i> in the same experiment with single light pulses of 6 (blue line), 12 (black line) or 18 hours (red line), plotted from the start of the light pulse treatments. (C) Transcript levels of <i>HvCCA1</i> and <i>HvPRR73</i> from the end of the light pulses (dusk). RNA was extracted from 3 biological repeats. Average expression is shown relative to <i>ACTIN</i> (Rel. exp.), error bars show standard error. Relative transcript levels varied between treatments so two y-axes were used to allow easy comparison of overall rhythms; the 18 hour treatment is shown on the secondary axis (right-hand side). Horizontal axis labels indicate the time (hours) relative to when the first sample was harvested.</p

DataSheet_1_Utility of dual-layer spectral-detector CT imaging for predicting pathological tumor stages and histologic grades of colorectal adenocarcinoma.docx

ObjectivesTo assess the utility of Dual-layer spectral-detector CT (DLCT) in predicting the pT stage and histologic grade for colorectal adenocarcinoma (CRAC).MethodsA total of 131 patients (mean 62.7 ± 12.9 years; 72 female, 59 male) with pathologically confirmed CRAC (35 pT1-2, 61 pT3, and 35 pT4; 32 high grade and 99 low grade), who received dual-phase DLCT were enrolled in this retrospective study. Normalized iodine concentration (NIC), slope of the spectral HU curve (λHU), and effective atomic number (Eff-Z) were measured for each lesion by two radiologists independently. Intraobserver reliability and interobserver agreement were assessed. The above values were compared between three pT-stage and two histologic-grade groups. The correlation between the pT stages and above values were assessed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy.ResultsIntra-class correlation coefficients were ranged from 0.856 to 0.983 for all measurements. Eff-Z [7.21(0.09) vs 7.31 (0.10) vs 7.35 (0.19)], NICAP [0.11 (0.05) vs 0.15 (0.08) vs 0.15 (0.08)], NICVP [0.27 (0.06) vs 0.34 (0.11) vs 0.35 (0.12)], λHUAP [1.20 (0.45) vs 1.93 (1.18) vs 2.37 (0.91)], and λHUVP [2.07 (0.68) vs 2.35 (0.62) vs 3.09 (1.07)] were significantly different among pT stage groups (all PAP[0.20 (0.10) vs 0.13 (0.08)], NICVP[0.35 (0.07) vs 0.31 (0.11)], and λHUAP [2.59 (1.11) vs 1.63 (0.75)] in the high-grade group were markedly higher than those in the low-grade group (all PAP, NICVP, λHUAP, and λHUVP were 0.83, 0.80, 0.79, 0.86, and 0.68, respectively (all PAP, NICVP, and λHUAP were 0.81, 0.81, 0.64, and 0.81, respectively (all PConclusionsThe quantitative parameters derived from DLCT may provide new markers for assessing pT stages and histologic differentiation in patients with CRAC.</p

Expression of clock genes assayed in barley seedlings grown in different light regimes.

<p>Clock gene expression assayed by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR) in 5 day old barley seedlings (cv. Sonja) germinated and grown in constant temperature conditions (20°C) with (A) 12 hour day-night cycles with light from hours 0 to 12, (B) constant darkness or (C) constant light. Average expression in RNA extracted from individual seedlings (3 biological repeats) is shown relative to <i>ACTIN</i> (Rel. exp.), error bars show standard error. Horizontal axis labels indicate the time (hours) relative to when the first sample was harvested. Samples were harvested directly from the described conditions (i.e. without free running conditions for the day-night cycle samples).</p

Dynamic response of circadian oscillations to daylength shifts.

<p>Barley seedlings (cv. Sonja) were germinated and grown in 8 hour or 16 hour days, for 14 days (second leaf stage), with dawn synchronous in the two daylengths. On the 14^th day plants were shifted from 8 to 16 hour days and <i>vice versa</i>. Shifts occurred 8 hours after dawn shortly before the onset of darkness in the short-day condition. Gene expression was then assayed by qRT-PCR, normalized to <i>ACTIN</i> with 3 biological repeats, in the plants shifted to different daylengths and in control plants maintained in the same daylength. The 8 hour day treatment (blue line) is compared to 16 hours (red line) at the left hand side. The 16 hour day treatment is compared to plants shifted from 16 to 8 hour daylength (long to short days, orange line), centre panel. The 8 hour daylength is compared to seedlings shifted to 16 hours (short to long days, purple line) on the right hand side. Error bars show standard error. * indicates Student’s T-test P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 between treatments for the relevant timepoint.</p