LncRNA ZFAS1 contributes to osteosarcoma progression via miR-520b and miR-520e-mediated inhibition of RHOC signaling

ABSTRACT Objectives: We examined the expression of Lnc-ZFAS1 in osteosarcoma and comprehensively evaluated its effects on osteosarcoma in vitro and vivo. Moreover, we revealed the regulatory mechanism between Lnc-ZFAS1 and miR-520b/miR-520e-mediated RHOC and provided a novel clue for ameliorating osteosarcoma. Method: The expression of Long non-coding RNA Zinc Finger Antisense 1 (LncRNA ZFAS1) osteosarcoma tissues and normal tissues in the TCGA database was analyzed. Then, LncRNA ZFAS1 expression was further verified in clinical samples and osteosarcoma cell lines (U2OS and KHOS), as well as the human osteoblast cell line hFOB1.19 by qRT-PCR. Thereafter, LncRNA ZFAS1 was overexpressed or silenced to explore its effects on cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion, and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). The fundamental mechanism through which Lnc-ZFAS1 affects osteosarcoma progression was further investigated and verified. Results: We found that LncRNA ZFAS1 was upregulated in osteosarcoma, and Lnc-ZFAS1 overexpression facilitated osteosarcoma cells proliferation, migration, invasion and EMT, while Lnc-ZFAS1 silence exerted reverse influence. Mechanistically, Lnc-ZFAS1 functionally acted as a sponger of microRNA-520b (miR-520b) and micro-RNA-520e (miR-520e) to up-regulate Ras Homologue C (RHOC). In addition, depleted Lnc-ZFAS1 restrained osteosarcoma cells proliferation, migration, and invasion, which could be rescued by RHOC overexpression. Lnc-ZFAS1 was upregulated in osteosarcoma and Lnc-ZFAS1 could exert promoted impact upon osteosarcoma cells proliferation, migration, invasion, and EMT in vitro. Conclusions: Lnc-ZFAS1 acted sponger of miR-520b and miR-520e to promote RHOC, indicating that Lnc-ZFAS1/miR-520b/RHOC and Lnc-ZFAS1/miR-520e/RHOC axes might serve as potential therapeutic strategies against osteosarcoma.

Research progress on the association between screen exposure and autism spectrum disorder in preschool children / 中国学校卫生

Abstract@#Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder. Early life social experience assessment before symptoms of ASD might be helpful for determining the causal link between social experiences and early childhood ASD. Younger children are exposed to excessive screen time in recent years. This paper summarizes the association between screen exposure with ASD in preschool children, and proposes future research directions and provides evidencebased guidance to optimize and support children s early media experiences.

Suicide attitude and related factors of college students with mental disorders in Shaoxing City / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the suicide attitude and influencing factors of college students with mental disorders in Shaoxing City, and to provide a basis for improving the attitude of college students with mentaldisorders towards suicide. @*Methods@#From January 2018 to December 2021, 1 100 college students, among which 110 were previously confirmed by medical institutions to have mental disorders, were selected from two schools in Shaoxing, including Shaoxing University and Yuexiu Foreign Languages College, to participate in a questionnaire survey. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to identify the main factors affecting the suicide attitude of college students with mental disorders.@*Results@#Univariate analysis showed that the influence of different nature of college students with mental disorders on suicide attitude was related to age, gender, origin, suicide ideation, whether suicidal thoughts can be controlled, impulsive personality type, problem solving style, the differences were statistically significant ( χ 2/t=9.01, 15.05, 5.90, 5.86, 6.47, 4.92, 13.48, P <0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that age, gender, origin, suicidal ideation, uncontrolled suicidal thoughts, impulsive personality type, problem solving style were the main factors influencing the suicidal attitude of college students with mental disorders ( OR=3.13, 3.06, 2.89, 3.22, 3.25, 3.13 , 3.16, P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#problem solving and other factors. The selection of targeted treatment plan can improve the mental disorder condition of college students and promote the recovery of the disease.

Association Between Antibiotic Overexposure and Adverse Outcomes in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants Without Culture-Proven Sepsis or Necrotizing Enterocolitis: A Multicenter Prospective Study

Objectives To explore the associations between higher antibiotic use rates (AURs) and adverse outcomes in very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants without culture-proven sepsis or necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in a multicenter of China. Methods A prospective cohort study was performed on VLBW infants admitted to 24 neonatal intensive care units from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2018. AUR was calculated as calendar days of antibiotic therapy divided by total hospital days. The composite primary outcome was defned as mortality or severe morbidity, including any of the following: severe neurologic injury, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), and stage 3 or higher retinopathy of prematurity. Results A total of 1,034 VLBW infants who received antibiotics without culture-proven sepsis or NEC were included in this study. The overall AUR of eligible VLBW infants was 55%, and the AUR of each eligible VLBW infant ranged from 3 to 100%, with a median of 56% (IQR 33%, 86%). After generalized propensity score and logistic regression analysis of 4 groups of VLBW infants with diferent AUR range, infants in the higher quartile AUR, (Q3, 0.57~0.86) and (Q4, 0.87~1.00), had higher odds of composite primary outcome (adjusted OR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.23–2.67; adjusted OR 2.37; 95% CI: 1.59–3.54, respectively) and BPD (adjusted OR: 3.09; 95% CI: 1.52–6.57; adjusted OR 3.17; 95% CI: 1.56–6.57, respectively) than those in the lowest AUR (Q1). Conclusions Antibiotic overexposure in VLBW infants without culture-proven sepsis or NEC was associated with increased risk of composite primary outcome and BPD. Rational empirical antibiotic use in VLBW infants is urgently needed in China.

Ambient air pollutants relate to hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Ganzhou, China

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between ambient air pollutants and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in relatively low-polluted areas in China. METHODS Atmospheric pollutants levels and meteorological data were obtained from January 2016 to December 2020. The medical database including daily hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (ICD10: J44) was derived from the First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University. The generalized additive model was used to analyze the percentage change with 95% confidence interval in daily hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease associated with a 10 µg/m3 increase in atmospheric pollutants levels. RESULTS In total, occurred 4,980 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospital admissions (not including emergency department visits) during 2016-2020. The mean concentrations of daily PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, O3, and CO were 37.5 μg/m3, 60.1 μg/m3, 18.7 μg/m3, 23.5 μg/m3, 70.0 μg/m3, and 1.2 mg/m3 in Ganzhou. Each 10 µg/m3 increment of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3 were significantly associated with 2.8% (95%CI: 1.0-4.7), 1.3% (95%CI: 0.3-2.4), 2.8% (95%CI: 0.4-5.4), and 1.5% (95%CI: 0.2-2.7) elevation in daily chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospital admissions. The estimates of delayed effects of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3 were observed at lag6, lag6, lag8, lag1, respectively. The health effects of particulate pollutants (PM2.5 and PM10) may be independent of other pollutants. The adverse effects of air pollutants were more evident in the warm season (May-Oct) than in the cold season (Nov-Apr). CONCLUSION Our study demonstrated that elevated concentrations of atmospheric pollutant (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and O3), especially particulate pollutants, can be associated with increased daily count of hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , which may promote further understanding of the potential hazards of relatively low levels of air pollution on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other respiratory disorders.

Effects of parental feeding practices on children s anemia in plateau area / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the effects of parental feeding practices on anemia in children aged 0-6 years in the minority area of the plateau, and to provide evidence for anemia intervention.@*Methods@#A total of 1 726 children aged 0-6 years in 4 counties of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture were selected by stratified random cluster sampling to measure hemoglobin level. Parental feeding practices were evaluated.@*Results@#The anemia prevalence rate among children aged 0-6 years was 50.3%. The prevalence of anemia was higher in those with younger age, Tibetan ethnic, rural residence, low parents education level and family income(χ2=156.95，899.51，148.17，8.18，16.36，11.03，P<0.05). Parentl awareness rates on feeding knowledge were 10.0%-53.7%. The report rates of distraction and force-feeding were 51.4% and 36.1%, respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed that parents incorrect feeding knowledge and compulsive feeding behaviors were positively associated with anemia in children(P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Improvement of parents health literacy and feeding behavior is an important intervention to reduce anemia in children aged 0-6 years.

Analysis of serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D levels in children aged 0-6 years in Gansu Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the status of serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D[25 (OH)D] in children aged 0-6 years in Gansu Province, and to analyze the relationships between 25 (OH)D and age, seasonal characteristics and physical development, so as to provide a scientific reference for supplementing vitamin D for children in due time.@*Methods@#Stratified random cluster sampling method was used to select a total of 9 790 children aged 0-6 years from 6 cities and prefectures maternity and child health institutions in Gansu Province for health examination from January 2019 to December 2020. Serum 25 (OH)D concentration from 1 mL peripheral blood was tested by enzyme linked immunoassay. Subjects were classified into overweight and normal figure groups based on weight for height.@*Results@#the serum 25 (OH)D level M(P 25 ,P 75 ) of the children aged 0-6 was 81.31(63.14, 95.86)nmol/L. The detection rate of 25 (OH)D deficiency and insufficiency was 45.11%. The serum 25 (OH)D level of children 4- 6 years old was significantly lower than that of infants <1 year old and children 1-<4 years old, and the detection rate of 25 (OH)D deficiency and insufficiency was highest among 4-6 years old( χ 2=83.67, P <0.05). In winter the proportion of 25 (OH)D insufficiency and deficiency was highest (55.82%) ( χ 2=194.12, P <0.01). For overweight children, the abnormal rate of 25 (OH)D (19.83%) was significantly higher in autumn ( P <0.01).@*Conclusion@#Children s vitamin D levels were associated with age, season and physical development. Vitamin D surveillance should be focused on ages less than 1 year old and above 4 years old, winter should be an important season. For overweight children, autumn should be the focus period for vitamin D deficiency prevention.

Twin-arginine signal peptide of Bacillus licheniformis GlmU efficiently mediated secretory expression of protein glutaminase

Background: Protein glutaminase specifically deamidates glutamine residue in protein and therefore significantly improves protein solubility and colloidal stability of protein solution. In order to improve its preparation efficiency, we exploited the possibility for its secretory expression mediated by twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathway in Bacillus licheniformis. Results: The B. licheniformis genome-wide twin-arginine signal peptides were analyzed. Of which, eleven candidates were cloned for construction of expression vectors to mediate the expression of Chryseobacterium proteolyticum protein glutaminase (PGA). The signal peptide of GlmU was confirmed that it significantly mediated PGA secretion into media with the maximum activity of 0.16 U/ml in Bacillus subtilis WB600. A mutant GlmU-R, being replaced the third residue aspartic acid of GlmU twin-arginine signal peptide with arginine by site-directed mutagenesis, mediated the improved secretion of PGA with about 40% increased (0.23 U/ml). In B. licheniformis CBBD302, GlmU-R mediated PGA expression in active form with the maximum yield of 6.8 U/ml in a 25-l bioreactor. Conclusions: PGA can be produced and secreted efficiently in active form via Tat pathway of B. licheniformis, an alternative expression system for the industrial-scale production of PGA.

Epidemiology and relevant factors of iron-deficiency anemia among children in plateau areas / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the epidemiology of iron-deficiency anemia among children aged 0-6 years in plateau area,and to provide a basis for the formulation of prevention and treatment measures for anemia.@*Methods@#A total of 1 512 children aged 0-6 years were randomly selected from 4 counties in plateau area by stratified and cluster sampling. Blood hemoglobin level was tested. Child dietary behaviors were collected from their parents.@*Results@#There were significant differences in the prevalence of children with different age, family location, education level of main dependants, occupation of main dependants and per capita income of family(χ2=12.83,39.48,27.05,44.26,32.45, P<0.05).No significant difference for anemia prevalence in gender and nationality was found. The prevalence of anemia among children aged 0-6 years was 67.0%, and the prevalence was highest among children aged 1 years while decreased with age.Univariate analysis of variance showed that the prevalence anemia was 74.0% in rural children, which was significantly higher than children in urban area 58.6%(χ2=39.48,P<0.05). Low education and income level of caregiver, husbandry in the family, no exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months, and picky eaters positively associated with high prevalence of anemia. The prevalence rate of anemia in 0-6 months old infants fed with mixed feeding and artificial feeding (73.1%, 75.0%) was higher than that of breast feeding (48.9%) (χ2=6.78, P<0.05). Picky eating can lead to a high incidence of anemia in children.@*Conclusion@#Promoting healthy diets and correcting unhealthy dietary pattern through nutrition education to parents might be effective ways to lower the prevalence of anemia among children in plateau areas.