Association between Serum Uric Acid to HDL-Cholesterol Ratio and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Risk among Chinese Adults / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

OBJECTIVE@#The aim of this case-control study was to explore the association between serum uric acid to high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (UHR) and the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Chinese adults.@*METHODS@#A total of 636 patients with NAFLD and 754 controls were enrolled from the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, China, between January and December 2016. All patients completed a comprehensive questionnaire survey and underwent abdominal ultrasound examination and a blood test. NAFLD was diagnosed using ultrasonography after other etiologies were excluded. Logistic regression and restricted cubic spline model were conducted to evaluate the relationship of UHR with NAFLD risk.@*RESULTS@#The multivariable adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval, CI) for NAFLD in the highest versus lowest quartile of UHR was 3.888 (2.324-6.504). In analyses stratified by sex and age, we observed significant and positive associations between UHR and the risk of NAFLD in each subgroup. In analyses stratified by body mass index (BMI), a significant and positive association was found only in individuals with a BMI of ≥ 24 kg/m2. Our dose-response analysis indicated a linear positive correlation between UHR and the risk of NAFLD.@*CONCLUSION@#UHR is positively associated with the risk of NAFLD and may serve as an innovative and noninvasive marker for identifying individuals at risk of NAFLD.

The clinical characteristics and mortal causes analysis of COVID-19 death patients

PurposeCurrently, COVID-19 is causing a large number of deaths globally. However, few researches focused on the clinical features of death patients. This study conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical characteristics and mortal causes in Chinese COVID-19 death patients. Patients and methodsThe clinical characteristics of death patients were collected from publicized by local health authorities in China. Expressions of virus targets in human organs were obtained from GTEx database. Results159 patients from 24 provinces in China were recruited in our study, including 26 young patients under 60 and 133 aged 60 or older. The median age was 71 years, which indicated that most death patients were elderly. More male patients died of COVID-19 than females (1.65 fold). Hypertension was the most common coexisting disorder and respiratory failure was the most common direct cause of death. Fever (71.19%) and cough (55.08%) were the predominant presenting symptoms. There was one asymptomatic patient. In addition, by comparing young and old patients, heart disease was identified as an important risk factor for death in the aged patients. ACE2 and TMPRSS2 were the targets of SARS-CoV-2, we analyzed their expression in different organs. TMPRSS2 and ACE2 had a high expression in the organs which had corresponding clinical features in death patients. ConclusionMale, age and heart disease were the main risk factors of death. Beside, asymptomatic patients with serious coexisting disorders may also die of SARS-CoV-2. Thus, more attention should be paid to the old patients with heart disease and asymptomatic patients in the treatment.

Genetic Profiles in Pharmacogenes Indicate Personalized Drug Therapy for COVID-19

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic currently. Many drugs showed potential for COVID-19 therapy. However, genetic factors which can lead to different drug efficiency and toxicity among populations are still undisclosed in COVID-19 therapy. MethodsWe selected 67 potential drugs for COVID-19 therapy (DCTs) from clinical guideline and clinical trials databases. 313 pharmaco-genes related to these therapeutic drugs were included. Variation information in 125,748 exomes were collected for racial differences analyses. The expression level of pharmaco-genes in single cell resolution was evaluated from single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data of 17 healthy adults. ResultsPharmacogenes, including CYP3A4, ABCB1, SLCO1B1, ALB, CYP3A5, were involved in the process of more than multi DCTs. 224 potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) of DCTs were predicted, while 112 of them have been reported. Racial discrepancy of common nonsynonymous mutations was found in pharmacogenes including: VDR, ITPA, G6PD, CYP3A4 and ABCB1 which related to DCTs including ribavirin, -interferon, chloroquine and lopinavir. Moreover, ACE2, the target of 2019-nCoV, was only found in parts of lung cells, which makes drugs like chloroquine that prevent virus binding to ACE2 more specific than other targeted drugs such as camostat mesylate. ConclusionsAt least 17 drugs for COVID-19 therapy with predictable pharmacogenes should be carefully utilized in risk races which are consisted of more risk allele carriers. At least 29 drugs with potential of DDIs are reported to be affected by other DDIs, they should be replaced by similar drugs without interaction if it is possible. Drugs which specifically targeted to infected cells with ACE2 such as chloroquine are preferred in COVID-19 therapy.

Expression and clinical significance of long non-coding RNA LINC00520 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

To investigate the expression of LINC00520 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma(LSCC),and analyze its relevance and roles in carcinogenesis and development of LSCC.The expression of LINC00520 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma tissue and paired adjacent normal tissue was determined by real-time PCR.The relationship between the expression of LINC00520 and the clinicopathological characteristics including clinical stage,pathological type,histological grade and lymph node metastasis of LSCC was analyzed.(1)The LINC00520 expression level was significantly upregulated in LSCC tissues compared to that of paired adjacent normal tissues(0.05).The LINC00520 expression level had no significant changes in poorly differentiated LSCC compared with that of well and moderately differentiated counterparts(>0.05).Moreover,the expression of LINC00520 had no significant difference between T1+T2 stage and T3+T4 stage LSCC tissues(>0.05).Interestingly,the LINC00520 level in LSCC with lymph node metastasis was significantly higher than that in patients without lymph node metastasis(<0.01).Upregulation of LINC00520 in LSCC may contribute to its metastasis.

Effect of drought stress on growth and physiological-biochemical characteristics of Stellaria dichotoma / 中国中药杂志

A pot experiment was conducted to study effect of drought stress on leaf physiological characteristics and growth of one year old Stellaria dichotoma seedlings. The result showed that plant height and shoot dry weight significantly decreased with decrease in soil water content; however, root length and root dry weight increased at light drought stress and decreased at severe drought stress. The result also showed that with the decrease of soil water content, proline content in S. dichotoma leaves decreased then increase, while solube protein content decreased. Activities of SOD and POD in S. dichotoma leaves significantly decreased as soil water content decreased, while activity of CAT significantly decreased at severe drought stress. Membrane permeability in S. dichotoma leaves increased, while MDA content decreased then increased as soil water decreased. These results suggest that S. dichotoma had osmotic stress resistance ability and reactive oxygen scavenging capacity at light drought stress, which caused S. dichotoma growth was no inhibited at a certain extent drought stress.