Artificial Synthesis of Conserved Segment S Gene Fragment of Rift Valley Fever Virus and Preliminary Study of Its Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Detection Method

Purpose: To develop a rapid detection method for Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) diagnosis.Methods: According to the reference sequences of RVFV published in GenBank, nine overlapping polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers and four specific reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) primers were designed using DNAStar and LAMP primer design software, respectively. Based on the synthesis of a conserved part of the RVFV S segment gene sequence using overlapping PCR, RT-LAMP assay was first established and evaluated after a series of tests, including, optimization of reaction conditions, and sensitivity and specificity tests.Result: A target RVFV S segment gene fragment of 288 bp was synthesised. The optimal reaction conditions for RT-LAMP assay were 63 °C for 45 min: the assay has a specific ladder-like pattern of amplification bands from about 120 bp. The lowest target gene copy number of RT-LAMP for RVFV detection was 70 copies. The assay showed good specificity as only the synthesised target RVFV gene was amplified with no amplification for the detection of Peste des petits ruminants virus, Epidemic encephalitis B virus, E. coli, Pasteurella multocida, or Salmonella.Conclusion: This study provides a rapid, sensitive, specific RT-LAMP method for RVFV detection.Keywords: Rift valley fever virus, Overlapping polymerase chain reaction, Reverse transcription loopmediated isothermal amplification, Rapid diagnosis tes

Extra-Cerebellar Signs and Non-motor Features in Chinese Patients With Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3

Objectives: Our study attempted to systematically explore the prevalence of extra-cerebellar signs and non-motor symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and sleep disturbances in a cohort of Chinese patients with spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), and further investigated the correlations between non-motor symptoms and clinical characteristics in SCA3 patients.Methods: This study included 68 molecular-proven SCA3 patients. Extra-cerebellar signs were evaluated with the Inventory of Non-Ataxia Symptoms (INAS). The INAS count indicated the number of non-ataxia signs in each patient. The severity of ataxia, fatigue, EDS, sleep quality, anxiety, and depression were assessed using the Scale for the assessment and rating of ataxia (SARA), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) (24 items), respectively.Results: Extra-cerebellar signs were detected in 91.2% of all SCA3 patients and the mean total INAS count was 2.72 ± 1.88. Rigidity was the most frequent extra-cerebellar sign (47.1%, N = 32). Sensory symptoms (2.9%, N = 2) and chorea (5.9%, N = 4) were rare, and myoclonus (0%) was not found in this cohort. High frequencies of sleep disturbances (64.7%), fatigue (52.9%), depression (48.5%), and anxiety (42.6%) were detected in SCA3 patients. The Spearman correlation indicated that the HAMD score was associated with the CAG repeat length and HAMA score, while the PSQI score was correlated with the SARA and FSS score. In addition, multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the CAG repeat length, age of onset, sleep disturbances and depression were significant predictors of fatigue in SCA3 patients.Conclusions: Our study indicates that the vast majority of SCA3 patients display extra-cerebellar signs. Except for EDS, anxiety, depression, fatigue and impaired sleep quality are present in SCA3 patients. The CAG repeat length, age of onset, sleep disturbances and depression are predictors of fatigue in SCA3 patients

Clinical Staging of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Chinese Patients

Objective: It is important to explore the utility of clinical staging systems in the management of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Our aim was to assess the validity of King's College in a Chinese ALS cohort, by evaluating the duration and informativeness of each stage and examining the association between stage and prognosis.Methods: From May 2008 to December 2016, patients with a likely diagnosis of ALS were registered. We prospectively assessed the progression of the patients through the stages and calculated the duration of each stage.Results: The median duration in Stage 1 was 12.00 months, Stage 2 7.50 months, Stage 3 6.50 months, and Stage 4 4.10 months. Subset analysis revealed that the spinal-onset and early-onset patients had a longer median time in Stage 1 compared to bulbar-onset and late-onset patients, respectively. Riluzole treatment extended the durations of Stages 1 and 2, and the effect was maintained in patients with long-term use of riluzole (>6 months). Patients who initiated long-term riluzole therapy early, in Stage 1 or 2, had a longer Stage 2. Patients who received percutaneous gastrostomy endoscopy (PEG) or non-invasive positive-pressure ventilation (NIPPV) showed longer durations of Stage 4. The differences in survival time measured from each stage to death or censor date were significant.Conclusions: We validated the King's College staging system in a Chinese population, and showed this system to be useful in clinical practice. Patients with bulbar-onset or an age of onset>45 years tended to have rapidly progressing ALS. Riluzole may be more effective when initiated in an early disease stage and continued long-term. PEG and NIPPV treatments can extend disease duration of Stage 4

Freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease with glucocerebrosidase mutations: prevalence, clinical correlates and effect on quality of life

ObjectivesMutations in glucocerebrosidase (GBA1) can change the clinical phenotype of Parkinson’s disease (PD). This study aimed to explore the clinical characteristics of freezing of gait (FOG) in PD patients with GBA1 mutations.MethodsA whole-exome sequencing analysis was used to identify the GBA1 mutations (pathogenic or likely pathogenic) and exclude other PD-related gene mutations. A forward binary logistic regression model was conducted to identify the associated factors of FOG. The stepwise multiple linear regression analysis models were used to explore the effect of FOG on quality of life.ResultsThe prevalence of FOG in patients with GBA1 mutations (30/95, 31.6%) was significantly higher than those in patients without GBA1 mutations (152/760, 20%) (p = 0.009). A higher (i.e., worse) Unified PD Rating Scale part III score (OR = 1.126, 95%CI = 1.061–1.194, p < 0.001) and a lower (i.e., worse) Montreal Cognitive Assessment score (OR = 0.830, 95%CI = 0.713–0.967, p = 0.017) were significantly associated with FOG in PD patients with GBA1 mutations. The presence of FOG was significantly associated with the decreased (i.e., worse) score of PD Questionnaire 39 after adjustment for sex, age, disease duration, motor score, and non-motor score (B = 14.981, p = 0.001).ConclusionFOG is a relatively common disabling symptom in PD patients with GBA1 mutations, which is affected by motor disability and cognitive decline. Quality of life is reduced in patients with FOG and GBA1 mutations

Zhang et al. 2018 GST reconstrcution for past four centuries

Reconstructed summer ground surface temperature for the northeast China from 1587 to 2008 (430 years)

Data from: Reconstruction of the regional summer ground surface temperature in the permafrost region of Northeast China from 1587 to 2008

To extend the historical temperature record in the permafrost region of northeast China, we reconstructed the regional ground surface temperature (GST) for the past four centuries based on a network of Dahurian larch (Larix gmelinii Rupr.) tree ring width chronologies. Seven standard tree ring chronologies, which correlated well with each other, were averaged to create a regional mean chronology. The GST was the major limiting factor for tree growth in this region. The optimum range of GSTs was from 30 May to 26 August (summer GST), identified by combining the days on which tree growth was strongly influenced by the daily GST data. The summer GST was significantly correlated with the regional mean chronology (r=0.704, p<0.001) over the common period 1971–2008 and was reconstructed for the period 1587–2008. The reconstructed GST accounted for 49.4% of the actual variance in the GST over the period 1971–2008 and captured four warm periods (1597–1603, 1716–1723, 1781–1788, and 1925–1929) and three cold periods (1639–1647, 1686–1711, and 1799–1805). The reconstructed GST was consistent with the northern hemisphere temperature in the Little Ice Age, and the warming rate from 1857 to 2008 was similar to a previously reported temperature reconstruction in the Xiao Xing’an Mountains. The low frequency of the reconstructed GST was well matched with that of the permafrost thawing depth. The reconstructed GST represents the longest temperature record in this study region and may be used as a reference for the permafrost thawing depth

Organic covalent modification to improve thermoelectric properties of TaS2.

Organic semiconductors are attracting considerable attention as a new thermoelectric material because of their molecular diversity, non-toxicity and easy processing. The side chains which are introduced into two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) by covalent modification lead to a significant decrease in their thermal conductivity. Here, we describe a simple approach to preparing the side chains covalent modification TaS2 (SCCM-TaS2) organic/inorganic hybrid structures, which is a homogeneous and non-destructive technique that does not depend on defects and boundaries. Electrical conductivity of 3,401 S cm-1 and a power factor of 0.34 mW m-1 K-2 are obtained for a hybrid material of SCCM-TaS2, with an in-plane thermal conductivity of 4.0 W m-1 K-1, which is 7 times smaller than the thermal conductivity of the pristine TaS2 crystal. The power factor and low thermal conductivity contribute to a thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of ~0.04 at 443 K