Research advance on the important role of selenoprotein in human health

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element for animal and human health. Se deficiency and Se excessive intake can lead to severe symptoms and are related to diseases. Se is mainly combined with protein in the form of selenocysteine (Sec) and selenomethionine (Se-Met) in the human body. Generally, proteins formed by incorporating Sec into them are called selenoproteins, while proteins bound in other forms are called Se-containing proteins. Selenoprotein is the main form of Se to exert its biological functions in the human body, and Se deficiency could reduce the content and activity of selenoproteins and disturb the normal physiological function. Researches on the relationship between selenoproteins and human health have received increasing attention, and a comprehensive understanding of the function of selenoproteins is helpful to explain the effects of Se on human health. Although the functions of selenoproteins are not yet fully understood, the critical role of many selenoproteins in human health has been revealed increasingly. So far, 25 kinds of selenoproteins have been found in the human body, and this review focuses on the structure and biological function of glutathione peroxidase (GPX), thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) and iodothyronine deiodinase (ID) families and their relationship with diseases. It shows that selenoproteins such as GPX, TrxR and ID families have biological functions of regulating cell oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress, antioxidant defense, immune response and inflammatory response. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and DNA methylation in the promoter region of selenoprotein are related to the risk of diseases. Selenoproteins play a vital role in the pathogenesis and prevention of diseases such as tumors, cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthritis (OA), Keshan disease (KSD), Kashin-Beck disease (KBD), and corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) through their genetic and epigenetic forms. This research will provide clues and basis for further revealing the role of Se and selenoprotein in human health and screening to prevent disease targets. However, due to the complexity and unknown biological functions of selenoproteins, the mechanism of selenoproteins in resisting diseases and promoting human health is still worthy of further exploration and research.

Research on ARS-CNN algorithm in the identification of COVID-19

With the spread of new coronary pneumonia, in order to accurately diagnose COVID-19, this article proposes an improved new coronary pneumonia recognition algorithm based on convolutional neural network, namely the ARS-CNN algorithm. Based on the CNN network structure, this algorithm adds new functional modules. Firstly, in order to capture the multi-scale feature information of different receptive fields and strengthen the network's use of image features, a jump connection RFB structure is proposed. Secondly, the problem of local information loss caused by the reduction of image resolution during the feature extraction process of the network is improved by short-connecting the aspp module. Finally, the attention mechanism GC module and the sSE module are merged to achieve the screening of feature information and the interaction between feature information, thereby improving the accuracy of new coronary pneumonia recognition. Experiments on the public COVID-19 Chest X-ray Database data set show that the weighted average accuracy, precision, recall, FI score, and specificity of the algorithm proposed in this article are 98.22%, 97.91%, 97.95%, 97.92%, 98.33%, respectively. Compared with other classification algorithms, the algorithm proposed in this paper can efficiently recognize lung diseases and has higher recognition performance.

[Epidemiological investigation of a family clustering of COVID-19].

Objective: To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of a family clustering of COVID-19. Methods: Field epidemiological survey was conducted. Results: Case 1 of the long-term residents from Hubei province was the source of infection of this family clustering. There were 6 cases (from case 2 to case 7) infected in the whole incubation period. The incubation period was more than 14 days for 3 of the second-generation cases. Routes of transmission included respiratory droplets (from case 1 transmitted to case 6, from case 1 to her family members) and close contact (from case 1 to other cases in her family). All the age groups were generally susceptible, while elderly were easier to progress to critically ill. Besides respiratory symptoms, there were also gastrointestinal symptoms, of which diarrhea was the most common one. Conclusions: Family clustering had been an important part for COVID-19 cases.

Exploring potential effect of Shengjiang San on SARS-CoV-2 based on network pharmacology and molecular docking

Objective: To explore the potential effect of Shengjiang San for inhibiting SARS-CoV-2. Methods: The target genes of Beauveria bassiana, Cryptotympana pustulata, Curcuma longa, Rheum officinale in Shengjiang San were screened out through the database analysis of Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ETCM), and traditional Chinese medicine system pharmacology platform (TCMSP), Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine (BATMAN-TCM) and Collective Molecular Activities of Useful Plants (CMAUP). GeneCards database was used to obtain target genes of antivirus. The intersection method was used to obtain the target genes related to the antiviral effect of Shengjiang San. Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was applied for the construction of prescription-CMM-targets (genes) networks. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis and gene ontology (GO) functional enrichment analysis were performed by R language to predict the potential mechanism of Shengjiang San against the virus. TCMSP, CNKI and PubChem databases were used to retrieve the chemical components of B. bassiana, C. pustulata, C. longa and R. officinale in Shengjiang San. AutoDock Vina 1.1.2 was used for molecular docking to study the interactions of each chemical component with SARS-CoV-2 3CL hydrolase or angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2). Results: Shengjiang San could play an antiviral role through the corresponding 663 target genes. Top ten pathways were related to antivirus (P < 0.01) in the KEGG pathway enrichment screening, including influenza A, etc. The affinity values of a total of 133 compounds in Shengjiang San were < -29.3 kJ/mol for molecular docking with SARS-CoV-2 3CL hydrolase. The affinity values of 145 compounds for molecular docking with ACE2 were < -29.3 kJ/mol. Conclusion: Shengjiang San could regulate multiple signaling pathways to inhibit virus, and have a potential inhibiting effect on SARS-Cov-2.