Guanylate-binding protein 1 participates in cellular antiviral response to dengue virus

BACKGROUND: Dengue virus (DENV), the causative agent of human Dengue hemorrhagic fever, is a mosquito-borne virus found in tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world. Vaccines against DENV are currently unavailable. Guanylate-binding protein 1 (GBP1) is one of the Interferon (IFN) stimulated genes (ISGs) and has been shown important for host immune defense against various pathogens. However, the role of GBP1 during DENV infection remains unclarified. In this study, we evaluated the relevance of GBP1 to DENV infection in in vitro model. FINDINGS: Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot showed that the expression of mouse Gbp1 was dramatically upregulated in DENV-infected RAW264.7 cells. The intracellular DENV loads were significantly higher in Gbp1 silenced cells compared with controls. The expression levels of selective anti-viral cytokines were decreased in Gbp1 siRNA treated cells, while the transcription factor activity of NF-κB was impaired upon GBP1 silencing during infection. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggested that GBP1 plays an antiviral role during DENV infection

The pattern of late gadolinium enhancement by cardiac MRI in fulminant myocarditis and its prognostic implication: a two-year follow-up study

BackgroundMyocardial fibrosis, as quantified by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), provides valuable prognostic information for patients with myocarditis. However, due to the low incidence rate of fulminant myocarditis (FM) and accordingly small sample size, the knowledge about the role of LGE to patients with FM is limited.Methods and resultsA total of 44 adults with viral-FM receiving the Chinese treating regimen were included in this retrospective study. They were divided into the low LGE group and the high LGE group according to the ratio of LGE to left ventricular mass (LGE mass%). CMR exams and LGE were performed after hemodynamic assistance at discharge in all patients with FM. Routine echocardiography parameters and global longitudinal strain (GLS) at discharge and at 2-year follow-up were obtained and then compared. Both left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and GLS showed no significant difference in both groups at discharge, whereas significant differences were observed at 2-year follow-up between two groups. Moreover, there were significant improvements of LVEF and GLS in the low LGE group, but not in the high LGE group during the 2-year period. Furthermore, LGE mass% was negatively correlated with GLS and LVEF.ConclusionsThere were two distinct forms of LGE presentation in patients with FM. Moreover, the cardiac function of patients with low LGE was significantly better than those with high LGE at 2-year follow-up. LGE mass% at discharge provided significant prognosis information about cardiac function of patients with FM

Brain structural and functional changes in patients with major depressive disorder: a literature review

Depression is a mental disorder characterized by low mood and anhedonia that involves abnormalities in multiple brain regions and networks. Epidemiological studies demonstrated that depression has become one of the most important diseases affecting human health and longevity. The pathogenesis of the disease has not been fully elucidated. The clinical effect of treatment is not satisfactory in many cases. Neuroimaging studies have provided rich and valuable evidence that psychological symptoms and behavioral deficits in patients with depression are closely related to structural and functional abnormalities in specific areas of the brain. There were morphological differences in several brain regions, including the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and limbic system, in people with depression compared to healthy people. In addition, people with depression also had abnormal functional connectivity to the default mode network, the central executive network, and the salience network. These findings provide an opportunity to re-understand the biological mechanisms of depression. In the future, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may serve as an important auxiliary tool for psychiatrists in the process of early and accurate diagnosis of depression and finding the appropriate treatment target for each patient to optimize clinical response

Experimental Research on C60 Concrete Strength Evolution under Different Curing Conditions

An experimental study on the C60 concrete was carried out under five different curing conditions based on the maturity theory. The influence patterns of the curing conditions on the increase of the C60 concrete strength were discussed. The experimental data were fitted using different strength-maturity models, the accuracies of which were then analyzed. The results show that the mapping relation between the compressive strength and maturity of the C60 concrete could be well characterized by the logarithmic functional relation

Common PTP4A1-PHF3-EYS Variants Are Specific for Alcohol Dependence

Background and Objectives We previously reported a risk genomic region (ie, PTP4A1-PHF3-EYS) for alcohol dependence in a genome-wide association study (GWAS). We also reported a rare variant constellation across this region that was significantly associated with alcohol dependence. In the present study, we significantly increased the marker density within this region and examined the specificity of the associations of common variants for alcohol dependence. Methods One African-American discovery sample (681 cases with alcohol dependence and 508 controls), one European-American replication sample (1,409 alcohol dependent cases and 1,518 controls), and one European-Australian replication sample (a total of 6,438 family subjects with 1,645 alcohol dependent probands) underwent association analysis. A total of 38,714 subjects from 18 other cohorts with 10 different neuropsychiatric disorders served as contrast groups. Results We found 289 SNPs that were nominally associated with alcohol dependence in the discovery sample (p-\u3c-.05). Fifty-six associations of them were significant after correction (1.9-×-10-6-≤-p-≤-1.6-×-10 -5). No markers were significantly associated with other neuropsychiatric disorders after experiment-wide correction. Conclusions and Scientific Significance We confirmed with our previous findings that PTP4A1-PHF3-EYS variants were significantly associated with alcohol dependence, which were replicable across multiple independent populations and were specific for alcohol dependence. These findings suggested that this region might harbor a causal variant(s) for alcohol dependence. (Am J Addict 2014;23:411-414