PPARγ as a Potential Target to Treat Airway Mucus Hypersecretion in Chronic Airway Inflammatory Diseases

Airway mucus hypersecretion (AMH) is a key pathophysiological feature of chronic airway inflammatory diseases such as bronchial asthma, cystic fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. AMH contributes to the pathogenesis of chronic airway inflammatory diseases, and it is associated with reduced lung function and high rates of hospitalization and mortality. It has been suggested that AMH should be a target in the treatment of chronic airway inflammatory diseases. Recent evidence suggests that a key regulator of airway inflammation, hyperresponsiveness, and remodeling is peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), a ligand-activated transcription factor that regulates adipocyte differentiation and lipid metabolism. PPARγ is expressed in structural, immune, and inflammatory cells in the lung. PPARγ is involved in mucin production, and PPARγ agonists can inhibit mucin synthesis both in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that PPARγ is a novel target in the treatment of AMH and that further work on this transcription factor may lead to new therapies for chronic airway inflammatory diseases

Detection of hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis B core antigen, and hepatitis B virus DNA in parotid tissues

SummaryObjectiveTo examine the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg), and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in parotid tissues from patients with positive serum HBV markers.MethodsHBsAg and HBcAg were examined in parotid biopsy tissues from patients with suspected parotid tumor and positive serum HBV markers by immunocytochemistry, and HBV DNA was detected in parotid tissues by PCR.ResultsAmong the 22 patients with a parotid tumor, only one was pathologically confirmed as a neoplasm; all others were benign. HBsAg and HBcAg were present in parotid cells with positive rates of 45.5% (10/22) and 40.9% (9/22), respectively, with an overall positive rate of 54.5% (12/22). Of the 22 cases with serum markers of HBV infection, seven (31.8%) had both HBsAg and HBcAg in the parotid cells. HBV DNA was present in seven of the 12 samples in which hepatitis B antigen was detected (58.3%).ConclusionsHBV in saliva might originate from the infected salivary glands and the infectious saliva could transmit HBV

The G285S mutation in nsP1 is sufficient to render Sindbis virus as a stable vector for gene delivery

Neuroscience, gene therapy, and vaccine have all benefited from the increased use of viral vectors. Sindbis virus (SINV) is a notable candidate among these vectors. However, viral vectors commonly suffer from a loss of expression of the transgene, especially RNA viral vectors. In this study, we used a directed evolution approach by continuous passage of selection to identify adaptive mutations that help SINV to stably express exogenous genes. As a result, we found two adaptive mutations that are located at aa 285 (G to S) of nsP1 and aa 422 (D to G) of nsP2, respectively. Further study showed that G285S was sufficient for SINV to stabilize the expression of the inserted gene, while D422G was not. Combined with AlphaFold2 and sequence alignment with the genus Alphavirus, we found that G285S is conserved. Based on this mutation, we constructed a new vector for the applications in neural circuits mapping. Our results indicated that the mutant SINV maintained its anterograde transsynaptic transmission property. In addition, when the transgene was replaced by another gene, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), the vector still showed stable expression of the inserted gene. Hence, using SINV as an example, we have demonstrated an efficient approach to greatly augment the gene delivery capacity of viral vectors, which will be useful to neuroscience and oncolytic therapy

Investigation of robust visual reaction and functional connectivity in the rat brain induced by rocuronium bromide with functional MRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used extensively to understand the brain function of a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. When applied to animal studies, anesthesia is always used to reduce the movement of the animal and also reduce the impacts on the results of fMRI. Several awake models have been proposed by applying physical animal movement restrictions. However, restraining devices were designed for individual subject which limits the promotion of fMRI in awake animals. Here, a clinical muscle relaxant rocuronium bromide (RB) was introduced to restrain the animal in fMRI scanning time. The fMRI reactions of the animal induced with RB and the other two commonly used anesthesia protocols were investigated. The results of the fMRI showed that there were increased functional connectivity and well-round visual responses in the RB induced state. Furthermore, significant BOLD signal changes were found in the cortex and thalamus regions when the animal revived from isoflurane, which should be essential to further understand the effects of anesthesia on the brain. Keywords: Rocuronium bromide, isoflurane, animal anesthesia, fMRI, visual stimulation, resting stat

Whole-Brain Mapping of the Inputs and Outputs of the Medial Part of the Olfactory Tubercle

The medial part of the olfactory tubercle (OT) is a brain structure located at the interface of the reward and olfactory system. It is closely related to pheromone-rewards, natural reinforcement, addiction and many other behaviors. However, the structure of the anatomic circuitry of the medial part of the OT is still unclear. In the present study, the medial part of the OT was found to be highly connected with a wide range of brain areas with the help of the pseudorabies virus tracing tool. In order to further investigate the detailed connections for specific neurons, another tracing tool – rabies virus was utilized for D1R-cre and D2R-cre mice. The D1R and D2R neurons in the medial part of the OT were both preferentially innervated by the olfactory areas, especially the piriform cortex, and both had similar direct input patterns. With the help of the adeno-associated virus labeling, it was found that the two subpopulations of neurons primarily innervate with the reward related brain regions, with slightly less axons projecting to the olfactory areas. Thus, the whole-brain input and output circuitry structures for specific types of neurons in the medial part of the OT were systematically investigated, and the results revealed many unique connecting features. This work could provide new insights for further study into the physiological functions of the medial part of the OT

Coupling calculation and analysis of three-dimensional temperature and fluid field for high-power high-speed permanent magnet machine

© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019. In order to accurately estimate the temperature rise for high-power high-speed permanent magnet machines (HSPMMs), a novel temperature calculation method considering the non-linear variation of material properties with temperature is proposed based on multi-physics co-simulation analysis. According to the theory of computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer, the computation model of fluid-solid-heat coupling heat transfer is established, and the coupled field is calculated using finite volume method with fundamental assumptions and corresponding boundary conditions. With the influences from temperature gradient and water flow rate considered, the heat transfer coefficients of water pipe surfaces are obtained by the application of the inverse iteration method. Thus, HSPMM temperature and fluid field can be simulated numerically by the finite volume methods, while the spatial temperature distributions for the machine main components are analysed in this study. The 1.12â€.MW, 18,000â€.rpm HSPMM is prototyped with experiments conducted on it, while the test data are then compared with the calculated results, which validate the correctness of the solution method of the coupled field

Diagnostic Value of Autoantibodies in Lung Cancer: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background/Aims: Recently, many studies have demonstrated that various tumor-associated autoantibodies have been detected in early stages of lung cancer. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to comprehensively evaluate available evidence on the diagnostic value of autoantibodies against tumor-associated antigens in lung cancer. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and other databases through 23 March 2018. Study quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2. We used the bivariate mixed-effect models to calculate pooled values of sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratios, negative likelihood ratios, diagnostic odds ratios and associated 95% confidence intervals. Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves were used to summarize overall test performance. Deek’s funnel plot was used to detect publication bias. Results: Review of 468 candidate articles identified fifty-three articles with a total of 11,515 patients for qualitative review and meta-analysis. Pooled sensitivity, specificity and area under the SROC curve were as follows for tumor-associated autoantibodies against the following proteins: p53, 0.19, 0.98, 0.82; NY-ESO-1, 0.17, 0.98, 0.90; Survivin, 0.19, 0.99, 0.96; c-myc, 0.14, 0.98, 0.45; Cyclin B1, 0.18, 0.98, 0.91; GBU4-5, 0.07, 0.98, 0.91; CAGE, 0.14, 0.98, 0.90; p16, 0.08, 0.97, 0.91; SOX2, 0.14, 0.99, 0.93; and HuD, 0.17, 0.99, 0.82. Conclusion: Each tumor-associated autoantibody on its own showed excellent diagnostic specificity for lung cancer but inadequate sensitivity. Our results suggest that combinations or panels of tumor-associated autoantibodies may provide better sensitivity for diagnosing lung cancer, and the diagnostic accuracy of tumor-associated autoantibodies should be validated in more studies

Microbial antigen mimics activate diabetogenic CD8 T cells in NOD mice

Both animal model and human studies indicate that commensal bacteria may modify type 1 diabetes (T1D) development. However, the underlying mechanisms by which gut microbes could trigger or protect from diabetes are not fully understood, especially the interaction of commensal bacteria with pathogenic CD8 T cells. In this study, using islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit–related protein (IGRP)–reactive CD8 T cell receptor NY8.3 transgenic nonobese diabetic mice, we demonstrated that MyD88 strongly modulates CD8+ T cell–mediated T1D development via the gut microbiota. Some microbial protein peptides share significant homology with IGRP. Both the microbial peptide mimic of Fusobacteria and the bacteria directly activate IGRP-specific NY8.3 T cells and promote diabetes development. Thus, we provide evidence of molecular mimicry between microbial antigens and an islet autoantigen and a novel mechanism by which the diabetogenicity of CD8+ T cells can be regulated by innate immunity and the gut microbiota

Elevated plasma levels of pigment epithelium-derived factor correlated with inflammation and lung function in COPD patients

Rationale: Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is a 50 kD small secreting glycoprotein that participates in multiple physiological and pathological processes. Recent studies have reported that PEDF plays an important role in inflammatory responses in several diseases. However, the role of PEDF in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains unclear. Objective: The aim of the present study is to explore the potential relationship between PEDF and COPD. Methods: We used differential proteomics – stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture – to investigate protein expression profile changes in cigarette smoke extract-treated pulmonary cells and found that the neurotrophic and antiangiogenic protein PEDF was abnormally expressed. Furthermore, Western blotting was used to detect the expression of PEDF in the lung tissue of rats that were exposed to cigarette smoke. Eighty subjects between the ages of 40–90 years, including 20 healthy nonsmokers, ten smoking volunteers, and 50 COPD patients, were recruited from September 2012 until August 2013 in Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China. We measured the plasma PEDF concentration and classic proinflammatory cytokines by multiplex enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, we performed a spirometry examination to diagnose COPD patients and we also analyzed the correlation between PEDF and lung function. Results: First, we found that the expression of PEDF in cigarette smoke extract-treated cells increased 16.2-fold when compared with the control group. Next, we confirmed that 4 weeks’ exposure to cigarette smoke can upregulate PEDF levels in rat lung tissues. We also discovered that plasma PEDF in COPD patients was significantly increased when compared with either healthy nonsmoking or smoking subjects. Furthermore, circulating PEDF was correlated with inflammatory cytokine and blood neutrophil numbers, but it was reversely associated with a decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 second percent predicted. Conclusion: Our findings provide a novel link between PEDF and COPD. Elevated PEDF levels may be involved in promoting the development of COPD by performing proinflamma-tory functions