ABSTRACT
Background Paraquat (PQ) is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world and a risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD), but the mechanisms underlying PD are poorly understood. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology can study cellular heterogeneity at genetic level, providing insights into the pathogenesis of PQ-induced PD. Objective To analyze the brain cell grouping of PQ-infected mice and the biological processes involved in the subpopulation of PD-like changes cells by scRNA-seq, and to provide clues for revealing potential mechanisms of PQ-induced PD-like changes in mouse brains. Methods Six male 6-week-old C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into a control group and an experimental group, three mice in each group, and were intraperitoneally injected with 0 (saline) and 10.0 mg·kg−1 PD respectively, once every two days, for 10 consecutive injections for modeling. After infection, mouse brains were taken and scRNA-seq was performed. Cell segmentation was performed according to gene expression characteristics of different cell types, PD-related cell subsets were screened by bioinformatics tools, and gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), protein interaction network analysis, and transcription factor prediction were performed on their characteristic genes. Finally, GO and KEGG analyses were performed on the differential genes of PD-associated cell subsets between the PQ-treated group and the control group, and the biological processes in which these genes may participate were analyzed. Results The sequencing data met quality control standards, a total of 55779 cells were obtained, and all cell dimensionality reduction analysis results showed that they could be further divided into 37 clusters, including 5 major cell types. Based on the KEGG analysis of the top 20 characteristic genes of each subpopulation, the specifically expressed Cluster 33 subpopulation (dopaminergic neurons) was screened and found to be significantly associated with PD. The results of GO analysis showed that the biological function of this subpopulation mainly enriched neurotransmitter transport and regulation. The results of GSEA analysis showed that the tyrosine metabolic pathway and the ligand-receptor interaction pathway of neural activity in brain tissues were significantly enriched. The analysis of transcriptional regulatory networks showed that 39 transcription factors were expressed differently. The metabolic pathway of the dopamine neuronal subset, endocytosis, Ras-associated protein 1 (Rap1) signaling pathway, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway were all affected by PQ exposure, according to further analysis of its effects on this subpopulation. The GO analysis showed that differential genes were involved in biological processes such as ion transport and synaptic assembly regulation, and were involved in the cellular component formation of cytoplasm and synapses. Conclusion This study has initially mapped the transcriptome of single cells in the mouse brain after PQ exposure, and screened out the specific expression of Cluster 33 subgroup (dopaminergic neurons), which is significantly correlated with PD, and its biological function changes may be one of the mechanisms of PD-like changes in the mouse brain induced by PQ.
ABSTRACT
Objective@#To design the self-rating scale on basic ability in graduates of preventive medicine major, and test its reliability and validity, providing a reliable tool for evaluating the basic ability of graduates.@*Methods@#On the basis of constructing the Evaluation Index System on Basic Ability in Graduates of Preventive Medicine Major, the three-level indexes were converted to specific questions. Self-evaluation scale including 58 items, 22 sub-dimensions and 8 main dimensions were finally designed after pre-survey and expert argumentation. A total of 205 graduates of preventive medicine major from a medical college and 9 experts in the field of public health were selected to completed the questionnaire. Scale's reliability was tested by applying internal consistency reliability and composite reliability; it's validity was tested by applying content validity and confirmatory factor analysis.@*Results@#Scale's α coefficient of internal consistency reliability was 0.976; α coefficient and combination reliability of eight main dimensions were both higher than 0.8; the content validity index S-CVI of the scale was 0.94, the content validity index I-CVI of the item level was 0.78 to 1.00; the average variance extraction amount (AVE) of the eight main dimensions was higher than 0.50. Fitting of the structural model with the item used as observation indexes was reasonable (χ2/df=1.749, RMR=0.036, RMSEA=0.061, NFI=0.801, IFI=0.904, TLI=0.904, CFI=0.903), and the sub-dimension as used observation indexes was good(χ2/df=1.876, RMR=0.032, RMSEA=0.066, NFI=0.913, IFI=0.958, TLI=0.945, CFI=0.957).@*Conclusion@#This scale is the first self-rating scale on the basic ability in graduates of preventive medicine major on the basis of the National Standards of Teaching Quality on Public Health and Preventive Medicine, with good reliability and validityl. It is able to achieve quantitative evaluation on graduates' basic abilities.
ABSTRACT
Objective To design the self-rating scale on basic ability in graduates of preventive medicine major, and test its reliability and validity, providing a reliable tool for evaluating the basic ability of graduates. Methods On the basis of constructing the Evaluation Index System on Basic Ability in Graduates of Preventive Medicine Major, the three-level indexes were converted to specific questions. Self-evaluation scale including 58 items, 22 sub-dimensions and 8 main dimensions were finally designed after pre-survey and expert argumentation. A total of 205 graduates of preventive medicine major from a medical college and 9 experts in the field of public health were selected to completed the questionnaire. Scale's reliability was tested by applying internal consistency reliability and composite reliability; it's validity was tested by applying content validity and confirmatory factor analysis. Results Scale's αcoefficient of internal consistency reliability was 0.976; α coefficient and combination reliability of eight main dimensions were both higher than 0.8; the content validity index S-CVI of the scale was 0.94, the content validity index I-CVI of the item level was 0.78 to 1.00;the average variance extraction amount (AVE) of the eight main dimensions was higher than 0.50. Fitting of the structural model with the item used as observation indexes was reasonable ( x2/df=1.749, RMR=0.036, RMSEA=0.061, NFI=0.801, IFI=0.904, TLI=0.904, CFI=0.903), and the sub-dimension as used observation indexes was good(x2/df=1.876, RMR=0.032, RMSEA=0.066, NFI=0.913, IFI=0.958, TLI=0.945, CFI=0.957). Conclusion This scale is the first self-rating scale on the basic ability in graduates of preventive medicine major on the basis of the National Standards of Teaching Quality on Public Health and Preventive Medicine, with good reliability and validityl. It is able to achieve quantitative evaluation on graduates' basic abilities.
ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effect of animation in the course of medical statistics.Methods By convenience cluster sampling,271 undergraduates in two classes were recruited from the specialty of medical image,medical anesthesia and medical laboratory.The experimental group (n =139) and control group (n =132) were set up randomly.The animation design is only used in the teaching process among the experimental group,while traditional teaching method without animation was used in the control group.All participants were surveyed by questionnaire for the effectiveness after one week of the curriculum closure.SPSS 15.0 software was used to do data entry and statistical analysis and two-sample t-test was used to compare the differences in text scores between two groups.Evaluation was made on the courseware of animation in experimental group.P ＜ 0.05 signifies that the differences have statistical significances.Results The test scores in experimental group (79.62 ± 9.34)were significantly higher than those in control group (77.10 ± 9.18; P ＜ 0.05).More than 85 ％ of the experimental students think animation can stimulate their enthusiasm in studying medical statistics; and help them better understand the key points and main difficulties of the statistical knowledge.Conclusion It suggests that animation can enable students to study better the course of medical statistics.