Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus seropositivity is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A case–control study in Xinjiang, China

Objective: To assess the potential relationship between Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) infection and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM-2) in Xinjiang, China. Methods: A case–control study of consecutively included DM-2 patients and normal controls was conducted among the Uygur and Han populations in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Blood samples were collected and KSHV seroprevalence, antibody titers, and viral load were investigated. Logistic regression analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were applied to explore determinants of the main outcome measures. Results: A total of 324 patients with DM-2 and 376 normal controls were included. The seroprevalence of KSHV was 49.1% (95% confidence interval (CI) 43.6–54.5%) for diabetic patients and 23.7% (95% CI 19.4– 28.0%) for the control group. After adjusting for variables of ethnicity, sex, body mass index, occupation, educational level, marital status, age, and smoking and alcohol consumption habits, the association between DM-2 and KSHV infection still existed (odds ratio (OR) 2.94, 95% CI 2.05–4.22), and the risk of KSHV infection increased with glucose concentration (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.21–1.51). KSHV was more likely to express both the latent and lytic antigens in diabetic patients (latent: OR 3.27, 95% CI 2.25–4.75; lytic: OR 3.99, 95% CI 2.68–5.93). Antibody titers and viral load increased in patients with higher blood glucose levels (p \u3c 0.001). Conclusions: Patients with DM-2 have an elevated risk of KSHV infection. Both antibody titers and viral load increased with blood glucose levels

Study on traditional Chinese medicine medication for acne of wind-heat type in lung meridian based on data mining and network pharmacology

Acne vulgaris of wind-heat in lung meridian is a common skin disease, and there are many traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, but the mechanism is still not clear. In this paper, the literature on the treatment of acne due to wind-heat in lung meridian and the prescriptions in the patents were collected and sorted out in the past twenty years. Excel 2019 was used for medication frequency statistics, and IBM SPSS 25.0 was used for clustering analysis to obtain the core formula. Network pharmacology was used to collect the related targets of drugs and diseases, to construct the action network, and to conduct enrichment analysis. A total of 137 prescriptions and 167 drugs were obtained. The core prescriptions were Cortex mori, Folium eriobotryae, Scutellariae radix, Glycyrrhrizae radix, Fructus gardeniae, Radix rehmanniae, and Cortex moutan. The treatment of acne due to wind-heat in lung meridian should begin with clearing heat, purging the lung, cooling blood and detoxicating. The core prescriptions mainly played a role through AKT1, IL6, TP53, TNF, VEGFA, EGF targets and Kaposi's sarcoma-related herpes virus infection, measles, toxoplasmosis, EB virus infection, IL-17, MAPK and other signaling pathways, so as to provide reference for further clinical research

Absolute frequency measurements with a robust, transportable ^{40}Ca^{+} optical clock

We constructed a transportable 40Ca+ optical clock (with an estimated minimum systematic shift uncertainty of 1.3*10^(-17) and a stability of 5*10^(-15)/sqrt{tau} ) that can operate outside the laboratory. We transported it from the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan to the National Institute of Metrology, Beijing. The absolute frequency of the 729 nm clock transition was measured for up to 35 days by tracing its frequency to the second of International System of Units. Some improvements were implemented in the measurement process, such as the increased effective up-time of 91.3 % of the 40Ca+ optical clock over a 35-day-period, the reduced statistical uncertainty of the comparison between the optical clock and hydrogen maser, and the use of longer measurement times to reduce the uncertainty of the frequency traceability link. The absolute frequency measurement of the 40Ca+ optical clock yielded a value of 411042129776400.26 (13) Hz with an uncertainty of 3.2*10^(-16), which is reduced by a factor of 1.7 compared with our previous results. As a result of the increase in the operating rate of the optical clock, the accuracy of 35 days of absolute frequency measurement can be comparable to the best results of different institutions in the world based on different optical frequency measurements.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Near-infrared photoactivatable control of Ca2+ signaling and optogenetic immunomodulation

The application of current channelrhodopsin-based optogenetic tools is limited by the lack of strict ion selectivity and the inability to extend the spectra sensitivity into the near-infrared (NIR) tissue transmissible range. Here we present an NIR-stimulable optogenetic platform (termed 'Opto-CRAC') that selectively and remotely controls Ca(2+) oscillations and Ca(2+)-responsive gene expression to regulate the function of non-excitable cells, including T lymphocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. When coupled to upconversion nanoparticles, the optogenetic operation window is shifted from the visible range to NIR wavelengths to enable wireless photoactivation of Ca(2+)-dependent signaling and optogenetic modulation of immunoinflammatory responses. In a mouse model of melanoma by using ovalbumin as surrogate tumor antigen, Opto-CRAC has been shown to act as a genetically-encoded 'photoactivatable adjuvant' to improve antigen-specific immune responses to specifically destruct tumor cells. Our study represents a solid step forward towards the goal of achieving remote and wireless control of Ca(2+)-modulated activities with tailored function. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10024.00

Effects of L1-ORF2 fragments on green fluorescent protein gene expression

The retrotransposon known as long interspersed nuclear element-1 (L1) is 6 kb long, although most L1s in mammalian and other eukaryotic cells are truncated. L1 contains two open reading frames, ORF1 and ORF2, that code for an RNA-binding protein and a protein with endonuclease and reverse transcriptase activities, respectively. In this work, we examined the effects of full length L1-ORF2 and ORF2 fragments on green fluorescent protein gene (GFP) expression when inserted into the pEGFP-C1 vector downstream of GFP. All of the ORF2 fragments in sense orientation inhibited GFP expression more than when in antisense orientation, which suggests that small ORF2 fragments contribute to the distinct inhibitory effects of this ORF on gene expression. These results provide the first evidence that different 280-bp fragments have distinct effects on the termination of gene transcription, and that when inserted in the antisense direction, fragment 280-9 (the 3' end fragment of ORF2) induces premature termination of transcription that is consistent with the effect of ORF2

Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus seropositivity is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A case–control study in Xinjiang, China

Objective: To assess the potential relationship between Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) infection and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM-2) in Xinjiang, China. Methods: A case–control study of consecutively included DM-2 patients and normal controls was conducted among the Uygur and Han populations in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Blood samples were collected and KSHV seroprevalence, antibody titers, and viral load were investigated. Logistic regression analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were applied to explore determinants of the main outcome measures. Results: A total of 324 patients with DM-2 and 376 normal controls were included. The seroprevalence of KSHV was 49.1% (95% confidence interval (CI) 43.6–54.5%) for diabetic patients and 23.7% (95% CI 19.4– 28.0%) for the control group. After adjusting for variables of ethnicity, sex, body mass index, occupation, educational level, marital status, age, and smoking and alcohol consumption habits, the association between DM-2 and KSHV infection still existed (odds ratio (OR) 2.94, 95% CI 2.05–4.22), and the risk of KSHV infection increased with glucose concentration (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.21–1.51). KSHV was more likely to express both the latent and lytic antigens in diabetic patients (latent: OR 3.27, 95% CI 2.25–4.75; lytic: OR 3.99, 95% CI 2.68–5.93). Antibody titers and viral load increased in patients with higher blood glucose levels (p \u3c 0.001). Conclusions: Patients with DM-2 have an elevated risk of KSHV infection. Both antibody titers and viral load increased with blood glucose levels

Comparison of combustion kinetics of the biomass hydrolysis residue with raw biomass materials

The biomass hydrolysis residue (BHR) is the residue consisting of mainly lignin after the biomass-to-ethanol process. A combustion kinetic comparison of the biomass material (BM), BHR, and three main components (lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose) is studied by thermogravimetry (TG) using the Kissinger method and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO) method under five different heating rates. The results show that the ignition temperature (Ti) and burnout temperature (Tb) of BHR are both higher than those of BM. BM burns more sufficient than BHR because it contains more fixed carbon content. The results show that the activation energy calculated by the Kissinger method for the corn cob hydrolysis residue (CCHR), corn straw hydrolysis residue (CSHR) and corn cob (CC) is 188.08, 192.76 and 205.76 kJ/mol, respectively. The results calculated by the FWO method show that, when the mass conversion (α) is small, EBHR > EBM, as α increases, E of BM gradually exceeds that of BHR. This could explain the phenomenon why BHR ignites earlier than BM but burns out later than BM. The power law (P4 and P2) reaction models are proper to describe the experimental behavior of BHR and BM, respectively. This paper also verifies that, on the premise of an accurate measurement of the three main components in BM and BHR, the TG curves and kinetic parameters of BM and BHR can be predicted

Comparison of combustion kinetics of the biomass hydrolysis residue with raw biomass materials

The biomass hydrolysis residue (BHR) is the residue consisting of mainly lignin after the biomass-to-ethanol process. A combustion kinetic comparison of the biomass material (BM), BHR, and three main components (lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose) is studied by thermogravimetry (TG) using the Kissinger method and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO) method under five different heating rates. The results show that the ignition temperature (Ti) and burnout temperature (Tb) of BHR are both higher than those of BM. BM burns more sufficient than BHR because it contains more fixed carbon content. The results show that the activation energy calculated by the Kissinger method for the corn cob hydrolysis residue (CCHR), corn straw hydrolysis residue (CSHR) and corn cob (CC) is 188.08, 192.76 and 205.76 kJ/mol, respectively. The results calculated by the FWO method show that, when the mass conversion (α) is small, EBHR > EBM, as α increases, E of BM gradually exceeds that of BHR. This could explain the phenomenon why BHR ignites earlier than BM but burns out later than BM. The power law (P4 and P2) reaction models are proper to describe the experimental behavior of BHR and BM, respectively. This paper also verifies that, on the premise of an accurate measurement of the three main components in BM and BHR, the TG curves and kinetic parameters of BM and BHR can be predicted