Research progress on POMT1 gene variation in α-dystroglycanopathy

Protein O-mannosyl-transferase 1 （POMT1） gene-encoded protein participates in the initial step of protein O-mannosylation modification and plays an important role in various physiological processes，such as cell connection and neuronal migration，etc. α-dystroglycanopathy （α-DGP） is a group of muscular dystrophy-related diseases caused by defects in α-dystroglycan （α-DG） O-glycosylation. As one of the causative genes of α-DGP，POMT1 gene is usually closely correlated with clinical phenotype of α-DGP with severe symptoms and poor prognosis. In this article，clinical diagnosis and treatment，genotype-phenotype relationship，and possible pathogenesis of α-DGP associated with POMT1 gene variation were reviewed，aiming to further explore the pathogenic mechanism of POMT1 variation and provide new ideas for the molecular biology-level treatment of POMT1 gene variation-related α-DGP

PO-085 Investigation and assessment of nutritional status among Chinese elite artistic swimming athletes: There is no full text article associated with this abstract

Objective The sport of artistic swimming is unique which requires a mixture of endurance, power, acrobatics, flexibility, and eurhythmics to produce an artistic performance. Optimal nutrition plays an important role in attaining high level of achievements for artistic swimming athletes, a poor nutritional status will significantly affect their health, athletic performance and post-exercise recovery. However, the assessment of nutritional status among artistic swimming athletes is very lack. The purpose of present study was to assess the nutritional status of Chinese elite artistic swimming athletes and provide suggestions for them to modify their dietary structures. Methods During the summer training season before the 17th FINA World Championships, 17 Chinese elite artistic swimming female athletes participated in this study. After an overnight fast, the anthropometric data including height, weight, BMI, body fat percentage (BF%), and waist/hip ratio were collected in the early morning around 7 a.m. before breakfast. The 24 hours dietary recall was used to collect dietary intake data of individuals, the athletes were required to record their daily dietary intake in the structured questionnaire for 2 work days and 1 weekend day. During data processing, the cooked foods were converted into raw amounts of each food material by standardized recipe method, and the nutritive value was calculated by using a dietary nutrients analysis software. Results The athletes were 19.6±1.7 years old and their training age was 10-12 years. The athletes’ BMI was 18.3±1.4 kg/m2, their BF% and waist/hip ratio was 16.6±2.6% and 0.85±0.02 respectively. Even the athletes’ body composition level was in the normal range, the BMI and BF% were lower than Russia and Spain artistic swimming athletes. The daily energy intake was 1528±276 kcal which was composed of 435±50 kcal breakfast, 477±62 kcal lunch, 402±49 kcal supper, and 214±22 kcal snacks. However, the energy intake was much lower than the recommendation of 3500 kcal/day. Carbohydrates provided approximately 51% of total energy which was lower than the practical demands, but both fats and proteins provided more energy (31.3% and 17% respectively) than the recommendations. In addition, the supplementation of many important vitamins and minerals, except vitamin E and sodium, were not reached the recommended level, for example, the consumption of vitamin C and calcium was only 46±12 mg and 430±72 mg per day. Conclusions The data showed that the nutritional status was unsatisfactory among Chinese elite artistic swimming female athletes, the dietary energy intake and many important vitamins and minerals were much lower than the recommendations. In order to keep healthy and increase the exercise performance, it was suggested that the artistic swimming athletes should modify their dietary structures to supply more energies, vitamins and minerals according to their physical conditions and training arrangements

Inhibition of TRPA1 Attenuates Doxorubicin-Induced Acute Cardiotoxicity by Suppressing Oxidative Stress, the Inflammatory Response, and Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

The transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channel is expressed in cardiomyocytes and involved in many cardiovascular diseases. However, the expression and function of TRPA1 in doxorubicin- (Dox-) induced acute cardiotoxicity have not been elucidated. This study aimed at investigating whether blocking the TRPA1 channel with the specific inhibitor HC-030031 (HC) attenuates Dox-induced cardiac injury. The animals were randomly divided into four groups: control, HC, Dox, and Dox + HC. Echocardiography was used to evaluate cardiac function, and the heart was removed for molecular experiments. The results showed that the expression of TRPA1 was increased in the heart after Dox treatment. Cardiac dysfunction and increased serum CK-MB and LDH levels were induced by Dox, but these effects were attenuated by HC treatment. In addition, HC mitigated Dox-induced oxidative stress, as evidenced by the decreased MDA level and increased GSH level and SOD activity in the Dox + HC group. Meanwhile, HC treatment lowered the levels of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17, and TNF-α induced by Dox. Furthermore, HC treatment mitigated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by Dox. These results indicated that inhibition of TRPA1 could prevent Dox-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis in mice by inhibiting oxidative stress, inflammation, and ER stress

Advances in Surface Water and Ocean Topography for Fine-Scale Eddy Identification from Altimeter Sea Surface Height Merging Maps

The recently launched Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission has reduced the noise levels and increased resolution, thereby improving the ability to detect previously unobserved fine-scale signals. We employed a method to utilize the unique and advanced capabilities of SWOT to validate the accuracy of identified eddies in merged maps of a widely used Archiving, Validation, and Interpretation of Satellite Oceanographic (AVISO) data product and a newly implemented two-dimensional variational method (2DVAR), which uses a 1/12° grid and reduces decorrelation of spatial length scales. The findings indicate that SWOT provides an enhanced capability in resolving fine-scale and mesoscale eddies in the South China Sea compared with conventional in-situ data, such as drifting buoys. The validation results demonstrated that compared with AVISO, the 2DVAR method exhibited greater consistency with the SWOT observations, especially at small scales, confirming the accuracy and capability of the 2DVAR method in the reconstruction and resolution of fine-scale oceanic dynamical structures

Gene expression profiling of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells during adipogenesis

Introduction. Adipogenesis comprises multiple processes by which mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into adipocytes. To increase our knowledge of the mechanism underlying adipogenic differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), we performed full-genome gene expression microarray and gene ontology analyses of induced differentiation of hMSCs. Material and methods. Adipogenic differentiation of hMSCs was induced by an adipogenic medium, and total RNA was extracted from undifferentiated hMSCs (day 0) and differentiated adipocytes (day 14). Then microarray hybridization of RNA samples was performed. The GeneChip Operating Software was used to analyze the hybridization data to identify differentially expressed genes, which were performed Gene Ontology categorization and pathway analysis. Pathway-act-network and genes-act-network were built according to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database. Some differentially expressed genes were subjected to qRT-PCR to verify the microarray data. Results. We detected a total of 3,821 differentially expressed genes, of which 753 were upregulated and 3,068 downregulated. These genes were well represented in a variety of functional categories, including collagen fibril organization, brown fat cell differentiation, cell division, and S phase of mitotic cell cycle. Subsequently, pathway analysis was conducted, and significant pathways (from top 50) were selected for pathway-act-network analysis, which indicated that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and cell cycle were of high degrees (> 10). Gene-act-network analysis showed that insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R), histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1), HDAC2, MAPK13, MAPK8, phosphoinositide-3-kinase regulatory subunit 1 (PI3KR1), and PI3KR2 also had high degrees (> 18). Conclusions. Collectively, these data provide novel information and could serve as a basis for future study to clarify the mechanisms underlying adipocyte differentiation of hMSCs

Molecular Basis of the Differentiation and Function of Virus Specific Follicular Helper CD4+ T Cells

During viral infection, virus-specific follicular helper T cells provide important help to cognate B cells for their survival, consecutive proliferation and mutation and eventual differentiation into memory B cells and antibody-secreting plasma cells. Similar to Tfh cells generated in other conditions, the differentiation of virus-specific Tfh cells can also be characterized as a process involved multiple factors and stages, however, which also exhibits distinct features. Here, we mainly focus on the current understanding of Tfh fate commitment, functional maturation, lineage maintenance and memory transition and formation in the context of viral infection

Improving the ORR Performance by Enhancing the Pt Oxidation Resistance

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells require oxygen reduction catalysts with high activity and stability. Pt based alloy materials are most widely applied ORR catalyst due to its high intrinsic activity, but usually suffer from rapid deactivation as a result of particle agglomeration, detachment, Ostwald ripening and/or Pt dissolution. Here we investigate the degradation of the PdPt alloys via in situ X-ray absorption fine structure, Δμ analysis, identical location-electron microscopy and DFT calculations. We conclude that the origin of high activity and stability of the PdPt catalyst stems from the oxidation resistance of metallic Pt, forming mainly surface adsorbed O species at high potentials. Two stage degradation process are observed, showing an evolution of dynamic surface dependent ORR performance along with the deactivation process. The careful design of Pt alloy structure leads to controlled surface oxygen behaviours. This opens a new way to increase the lifespan of fuel cells and improve the Pt utilization efficiency

Coronary artery disease as an independent predictor of short-term and long-term outcomes in patients with type-B aortic dissection undergoing thoracic endovascular repair

Background and aimsPrevious studies reported a high prevalence of concomitant coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with Type B aortic dissection (TBAD). However, there is too limited data on the impact of CAD on prognosis in patients with TBAD. The present study aimed to assess the short-term and long-term impact of CAD on patients with acute or subacute TBAD undergoing thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR).MethodsWe retrospectively evaluated 463 patients with acute or subacute TBAD undergoing TEVAR from a prospectively maintained database from 2010 to 2017. CAD was defined before TEVAR by coronary angiography. Multivariable logistic and cox regression analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between CAD and the short-term as well as long-term outcomes.ResultsAccording to the results of coronary angiography, the 463 patients were divided into the following two groups: CAD group (N = 148), non-CAD group (N = 315). In total, 12 (2.6%) in-hospital deaths and 54 (12%) all-cause deaths following a median follow-up of 48.1 months were recorded. Multivariable analysis revealed that CAD was an independent predictor of in-hospital major adverse clinical events (MACE) (odd ratio [OR], 2.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07–5.08; p = 0.033), long-term mortality [hazard ratio (HR), 2.11, 95% CI, 1.19–3.74, P = 0.011] and long-term MACE (HR, 1.95, 95% CI, 1.26–3.02, P = 0.003). To further clarify the relationship between the severity of CAD and long-term outcomes, we categorized patients into three groups: zero-vessel disease, single-vessel disease and multi-vessel disease. The long-term mortality (9.7 vs. 14.4 vs. 21.2%, P = 0.045), and long-term MACE (16.8 vs. 22.2 vs. 40.4%, P = 0.001) increased with the number of identified stenosed coronary vessels. Multivariable analysis indicated that, multi-vessel disease was independently associated with long-term mortality (HR, 2.38, 95% CI, 1.16–4.89, P = 0.018) and long-term MACE (HR, 2.79, 95% CI, 1.65–4.73, P = 0.001), compared with zero-vessel disease.ConclusionsCAD was associated with short-term and long-term worse outcomes in patients with acute or subacute TBAD undergoing TEVAR. Furthermore, the severity of CAD was also associated with worse long-term prognosis. Therefore, CAD could be considered as a useful independent predictor for pre-TEVAR risk stratification in patients with TBAD

Response of nutrients and the surface phytoplankton community to ice melting in the central Arctic Ocean

During the fourth Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition cruise in summer 2010, a time-series observation was carried out to examine the response of nutrients and phytoplankton community in the ice-water interface to the ice melting ice in the central Arctic Ocean. Phosphate and silicate in the ice-water interface were rich relative to dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), based on the Redfield ratio (16N:1P:16Si), suggesting that DIN was the potential limiting nutrient. DIN concentrations in the sea ice were about 3-4 times that in the surface seawater, indicating that melting ice delivered DIN to the surface water. Pigment analysis showed that fucoxanthin and chlorophyll a contribute to carotenoids and chlorophylls in particles. The mean concentrations of chlorophyll c, diatoxanthin, diadinoxanthin and fucoxanthin from 15 August to 18 August were 6 μg * m(-3), 22 μg * m(-3), 73 μg * m(-3) and 922 μg * m(-3), respectively, suggesting that diatoms dominated in the phytoplankton community composition. Furthermore, a notable enhancement in fucoxanthin and chlorophyll a during a large-scale ice melting was likely attributed to senescent diatoms released from the bottom sea-ice as well as phytoplankton diatoms growth in the water column due to the input of nutrients (i.e., DIN) and reducing light limitation from melting ice. Temporal distribution patterns of prasinoxanthin and lutein differed from fucoxanthin, indicating that the response of green algae and diatoms to ice melting were different