Epimedii Folium decoction ameliorates osteoporosis in mice through NLRP3/caspase-1/IL-1ß signalling pathway and gut-bone axis.

AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aimed to determine the effect of Epimedium brevicornu Maxim. (EF) on osteoporosis (OP) and its underlying molecular mechanisms, and to explore the existence of the "Gut-Bone Axis". MATERIAL AND METHODS: The impact of EF decoction (EFD) on OP was evaluated using istopathological examination and biochemical assays. Targeted metabolomics was employed to identify key molecules and explore their molecular mechanisms. Alterations in the gut microbiota (GM) were evaluated by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The role of the GM was clarified using an antibiotic cocktail and faecal microbiota transplantation. RESULTS: EFD significantly increased the weight (14.06%), femur length (4.34%), abdominal fat weight (61.14%), uterine weight (69.86%), and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels (59.48%), while reducing serum type I collagen cross-linked carboxy-terminal peptide (CTX-I) levels (15.02%) in osteoporotic mice. The mechanism of action may involve the regulation of the NLRP3/cleaved caspase-1/IL-1ß signalling pathway in improving intestinal tight junction proteins and bone metabolism. Additionally, EFD modulated the abundance of related GM communities, such as Lactobacillus, Coriobacteriaceae, bacteria of family S24-7, Clostridiales, and Prevotella, and increased propionate and butyrate levels. Antibiotic-induced dysbiosis of gut bacteria disrupted OP regulation of bone metabolism, which was restored by the recovery of GM. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first to demonstrate that EFD works in an OP mouse model by utilising GM and butyric acid. Thus, EF shows promise as a potential remedy for OP in the future.

Rodents mediate the relationship between seed rain, seed bank, and plant community with increased grazing disturbance.

Seed rain and the soil seed bank represent the dispersal of seeds in space and time, respectively, and can be important sources of recruitment of new individuals during plant community regeneration. However, the temporal dynamics of seed rain and the mechanisms by which the seed rain and soil seed bank may play a role in plant community regeneration with increased grazing disturbance remain unclear. Seed rain, soil seed bank, aboveground vegetation, and rodent density were sampled along a grazing gradient in an alpine marsh on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. We described the temporal dynamics of seed dispersal using Bayesian generalized mixed models, and nonmetric multidimensional scaling and the structural equation model were used to examine the effects of grazing disturbance on the relative role of seed rain and soil seed bank on aboveground plant community regeneration. The temporal dynamics of seed rain changed from a unimodal to a bimodal pattern with increased grazing disturbance. Both species diversity and seed density of the seed rain and seed bank increased significantly with increased grazing disturbance. Increased grazing disturbance indirectly increased the similarity of composition between seed rain, seed bank, and aboveground plant community by directly increasing species diversity and abundance of aboveground plant community. However, increased grazing disturbance also indirectly decreased the similarity of seed rain, soil seed bank, and aboveground plant community by directly increasing rodent density. The similarity between seed rain and aboveground plant community was greater than that of the soil seed bank and aboveground plant community with increased grazing disturbance. Grazing disturbance spreads the risk of seed germination and seedling establishment by changing the temporal dynamics of seed dispersal. Plants (positive) and rodents (negative) mediated the role of seed rain and soil seed bank in plant community regeneration. The role of seed rain in plant community regeneration is higher than the seed bank in disturbed alpine marshes. Our findings increase our understanding of the regeneration process of the plant community, and they provide valuable information for the conservation and restoration of alpine marsh ecosystems.

Interpretable machine-learning model for Predicting the Convalescent COVID-19 patients with pulmonary diffusing capacity impairment.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 patients in the convalescent stage noticeably have pulmonary diffusing capacity impairment (PDCI). The pulmonary diffusing capacity is a frequently-used indicator of the COVID-19 survivors' prognosis of pulmonary function, but the current studies focusing on prediction of the pulmonary diffusing capacity of these people are limited. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a machine learning (ML) model for predicting PDCI in the COVID-19 patients using routinely available clinical data, thus assisting the clinical diagnosis. METHODS: Collected from a follow-up study from August to September 2021 of 221 hospitalized survivors of COVID-19 18 months after discharge from Wuhan, including the demographic characteristics and clinical examination, the data in this study were randomly separated into a training (80%) data set and a validation (20%) data set. Six popular machine learning models were developed to predict the pulmonary diffusing capacity of patients infected with COVID-19 in the recovery stage. The performance indicators of the model included area under the curve (AUC), Accuracy, Recall, Precision, Positive Predictive Value(PPV), Negative Predictive Value (NPV) and F1. The model with the optimum performance was defined as the optimal model, which was further employed in the interpretability analysis. The MAHAKIL method was utilized to balance the data and optimize the balance of sample distribution, while the RFECV method for feature selection was utilized to select combined features more favorable to machine learning. RESULTS: A total of 221 COVID-19 survivors were recruited in this study after discharge from hospitals in Wuhan. Of these participants, 117 (52.94%) were female, with a median age of 58.2 years (standard deviation (SD) = 12). After feature selection, 31 of the 37 clinical factors were finally selected for use in constructing the model. Among the six tested ML models, the best performance was accomplished in the XGBoost model, with an AUC of 0.755 and an accuracy of 78.01% after experimental verification. The SHAPELY Additive explanations (SHAP) summary analysis exhibited that hemoglobin (Hb), maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV), severity of illness, platelet (PLT), Uric Acid (UA) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were the top six most important factors affecting the XGBoost model decision-making. CONCLUSION: The XGBoost model reported here showed a good prognostic prediction ability for PDCI of COVID-19 survivors during the recovery period. Among the interpretation methods based on the importance of SHAP values, Hb and MVV contributed the most to the prediction of PDCI outcomes of COVID-19 survivors in the recovery period.

Surface electromyogram, kinematic, and kinetic dataset of lower limb walking for movement intent recognition.

Surface electromyogram (sEMG) offers a rich set of motor information for decoding limb motion intention that serves as a control input to Intelligent human-machine synergy systems (IHMSS). Despite growing interest in IHMSS, the current publicly available datasets are limited and can hardly meet the growing demands of researchers. This study presents a novel lower limb motion dataset (designated as SIAT-LLMD), comprising sEMG, kinematic, and kinetic data with corresponding labels acquired from 40 healthy humans during 16 movements. The kinematic and kinetic data were collected using a motion capture system and six-dimensional force platforms and processed using OpenSim software. The sEMG data were recorded using nine wireless sensors placed on the subjects' thigh and calf muscles on the left limb. Besides, SIAT-LLMD provides labels to classify the different movements and different gait phases. Analysis of the dataset verified the synchronization and reproducibility, and codes for effective data processing are provided. The proposed dataset can serve as a new resource for exploring novel algorithms and models for characterizing lower limb movements.

Integration of transcriptomics and proteomics to elucidate inhibitory effect and mechanism of rosmarinic acid from Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt. in treating Trichophyton mentagrophytes.

BACKGROUND: Dermatophyte caused by Trichophyton mentagrophytes is a global disease with a growing prevalence that is difficult to cure. Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt. is an edible and medicinal plant. Ancient books of Traditional Chinese Medicine and modern pharmacological studies have shown that it has potential anti-fungi activity. This is the first study to explore the inhibitory effects of compounds from P. frutescens on Trichophyton mentagrophytes and its mechanism of action coupled with the antifungal activity in vitro from network pharmacology, transcriptomics and proteomics. METHODS: Five most potential inhibitory compounds against fungi in P. frutescens was screened with network pharmacology. The antifungal activity of the candidates was detected by a broth microdilution method. Through in vitro antifungal assays screening the compound with efficacy, transcriptomics and proteomics were performed to investigate the pharmacological mechanisms of the effective compound against Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Furthermore, the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied to verify the expression of genes. RESULTS: The top five potential antifungal compounds in P. frutescens screened by network pharmacology are: progesterone, luteolin, apigenin, ursolic acid and rosmarinic acid. In vitro antifungal assays showed that rosmarinic acid had a favorable inhibitory effect on fungi. The transcriptomic findings exhibited that the differentially expressed genes of fungus after rosmarinic acid intervention were mainly enriched in the carbon metabolism pathway, while the proteomic findings suggested that rosmarinic acid could inhibit the average growth of Trichophyton mentagrophytes by interfering with the expression of enolase in the glycolysis pathway. Comparison of real-time PCR and transcriptomics results showed that the trends of gene expression in glycolytic, carbon metabolism and glutathione metabolic pathways were identical. The binding modes and interactions between rosmarinic acid and enolase were preliminary explored by molecular docking analysis. CONCLUSION: The key findings of the present study manifested that rosmarinic acid, a medicinal compound extracted from P. frutescens, had pharmacological activity in inhibiting the growth of Trichophyton mentagrophytes by affecting its enolase expression to reduce metabolism. Rosmarinic acid is expected to be an efficacious product for prevention and treatment of dermatophytes.

Anti-depression-like effect of Mogroside V is related to the inhibition of inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways.

Siraitia grosvenorii (SG) is an edible medicinal plant found mainly in Guangxi, China, and Mogroside V (MGV) is the main component of SG extract. Previous research has shown that SG and MGV exert anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and neuroprotective effects. However, it is not clear whether MGV has anti-depression-like effect. In this study, we evaluated the neuroprotective effects and anti-depression-like effect of MGV both in vitro and in vivo. By performing in vitro tests, we evaluated the protective effects of MGV on PC12 cells with corticosterone-induced injury. In vivo tests, we used the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) depression model. Fluoxetine (10 mg/kg/day) and MGV (10 or 30 mg/kg/day) were administered by gavage for 21 days, and the open field test (OFT), novelty suppressed feeding test (NSFT), Tail suspension test (TST), and forced Swimming test (FST) were used to evaluate the depressive-like behaviors. In addition, we investigated the role of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF-α) and anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-4) in the hippocampal and cortex tissues. The levels of Superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) in hippocampal and cortex tissues were also measured. Pathological changes in the hippocampal dentate gyrus and cortex regions were detected by immunofluorescence and Western blotting was used to measure the protein expression of BDNF, TrkB, TNF-α, and AKT. The results showed that MGV had a protective effect on PC12 cells with corticosterone-induced incurred injury. In addition, MGV treatment relieved the depressive symptoms and significantly reduced inflammatory levels (IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF-α). MGV also significantly reduced oxidative stress damage and reduced the levels of apoptosis in hippocampal nerve cells. These results suggested that the anti-depressive effect of MGV may occur through the inhibition of inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways and the BDNF/TrkB/AKT pathway. These findings provide a new concept for the identification of new anti-depressive strategies.

Basal Ganglia and Brainstem Located Cerebral Microbleeds Contributed to Gait Impairment in Patients with Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.

BACKGROUND: The mechanism of gait disorder in patients with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) remains unclear. Limited studies have compared the effect of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) and lacunes on gait disturbance in CSVD patients in different anatomical locations. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship of quantitative gait parameters with varied anatomically located MRI imaging markers in patients with CSVD. METHODS: Quantitative gait tests were performed on 127 symptomatic CSVD patients all with diffuse distributed white matter hyperintensities (WMHs). CMBs and lacunes in regard to anatomical locations and burdens were measured. The correlation between CSVD imaging markers and gait parameters was evaluated using general linear model analysis. RESULTS: Presence of CMBs was significantly associated with stride length (ß= -0.098, p = 0.0272) and right step length (ß= -0.054, p = 0.0206). Presence of CMBs in basal ganglia (BG) was significantly associated with stride length and step length. Presence of CMBs in brainstem was significantly associated with gait parameters including stride length, step length, step height, and step width. Presence of lacunes in brainstem was significantly associated with gait speed (ß= -0.197, p = 0.0365). However, presence of lacunes in the other areas was not associated with worse gait performances. CONCLUSION: BG and brain stem located CMBs contributed to gait impairment in symptomatic CSVD patients.

First Report of Apple Brown Rot caused by Monilinia polystroma in Jilin Province in China.

Brown rot caused by Monilinia spp. is an important postharvest disease. It affects fruit quality and can cause serious economic losses. In October 2021, typical brown rot symptoms on fruit were observed at an apple orchard in Xiaobaishan Township, Jilin Province, China (E126°39'10″, N43°44'21″). Over 1200 plants were surveyed in the orchard, and nearly 25% of the plants were infected. In this research, samples from ten different trees showing typical symptoms were isolated and identified. Freshly diseased fruits were surface sterilized with 75% ethanol for 15s, then fungal colonies were isolated from 3 mm diameter diseased tissue samples. The purified colonies were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA), oatmeal agar (OA) and water agar (WA + Sterilized apple pulp) and incubated at 25 ℃ in a 12 h/12 h light-dark photoperiod for 5 days. The colonies became light to dark brown; they grew faster on PDA with a growth rate of 5.53 mm/d, most densely on OA and slowest on SA + sterilized apple pulp with thin mycelia. After 20 days, some transparent, oval, smooth conidia were observed on the SA + sterile apple culture medium. Conidia sizes were 8.27-16.54 (avg. 11.97) x 2.92-7.09 (avg. 4.52) um (n=50) (Hilber-Bodmer et al. 2012). Pure cultures of eight samples were isolated from single spores, and DNA was extracted with a commercial nucleic acid extraction kit (Omega, cat#D3390-01). Then, fragments of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), translation elongation factor 1 alpha (EF1-alpha), beta-tubulin (Bt), and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase genes(G3pdh) were PCR amplified using primes ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), EF1-728F/EF1-986R (Carbone and Kohn 1999), BT-2a/BT-2b (Glass and Donaldson 1995), and G3pdhF/G3pdhR (Hu et al. 2011) respectively. The amplicons were sequenced by Takara Bio Inc. Sequences of all isolates were identical, thus one set of sequences were run with BLASTn against the NCBI GenBank nr database. The homology analysis showed that ITS (OQ170786), Bt (OQ179019), EF (OQ834046) and G3pdh (OQ834047) gene fragments were 100% (0/540 nt) , 100% (0/462 nt), 99.01% (3/304nt) and 99.61% (3/767 nt) similar to M. polystroma （NR154198.1, MT038414.1, LT632542.1, MT038415.1）respectively. Based on morphological characteristics and sequence analysis, the fungal isolate was identified as M. polystroma. Koch's postulates were conducted using ten healthy apple fruits that were surface disinfected with 0.2% sodium hypochlorite and repeatedly rinsed with sterile water. The test apples were wounded with a sterile needle, inoculated with mycelial agar plugs (3 mm diameter) on the wounds, and incubated at 25℃, 50% room humidity. The equivalent sterile PDA plugs were used as control and the experiment was repeated three times. After 5 days, brown rot symptoms appeared on the inoculated apples. 10 days later, nearly 1/3 of the inoculated apple surface appeared rotted, but the controls were symptomless. Subsequently, the same strain was re-isolated from the inoculated apples by pure culture and molecular identification. Therefore, M. polystroma (named JL-1) was confirmed as the causal agent of brown rot in Jilin Provincen China. M. polystroma is a typical pathogen of brown rot in the north of China, and only reported on apples in Shandong, apricots in Heilongjiang and pears in Hebei in China (Zhu et al. 2016) but never in Jilin. In addition, it was reported that the contribution of M. polystroma species to brown rot disease on apple and pear in China is 20% out of all the Monilinia spp. species that cause the disease, but M. polystroma virulence is not significantly different from other Monilinia species more widely distributed (Zhu et al, 2016). This is the first report of M. polystroma causing apple brown rot in Jilin Province of China. This finding will provide useful information for future diagnosis and management.

Continuous grip force estimation from surface electromyography using generalized regression neural network.

BACKGROUND: Grip force estimation is highly required in realizing flexible and accurate prosthetic control. OBJECTIVE: This study presents a method to accurately estimate continuous grip force from surface electromyography (sEMG) under three forearm postures for unilateral amputees. METHODS: Ten able-bodied subjects and a transradial amputee were recruited. sEMG signals were recorded from six forearm muscles on the dominant side of each able-bodied subject and the stump of amputee. Meanwhile, grip force was synchronously measured from the ipsilateral hands of able-bodied subjects and contralateral hand of amputee. Three force profiles (triangle, trapezoid, and fast triangle) were tested under three forearm postures (supination, neutral and pronation). Two algorithms (Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN) and Multilinear Regression Model (MLR)) were compared using several EMG features. The estimation performance was evaluated by coefficient of determination (R2) and mean absolute error (MAE). RESULTS: The optimal regressor combining TD and GRNN achieved R2= 96.33 ± 1.13% and MAE= 2.11 ± 0.52% for the intact subjects, and R2= 86.86% and MAE= 2.13% for the amputee. The results indicated that multiple grip force curves under three forearm postures could be accurately estimated for unilateral amputees using mirrored bilateral training. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method has the potential for precise force control of prosthetic hands.

Estimate the population size of transgender women based on the capture-recapture method in Tianjin / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To investigate the population size of transgender women (TGW) in Tianjin and analyze the characteristics of their sexual behaviors to provide a basis for AIDS prevention and control. Methods: To estimate the population size of TGW in Tianjin using the capture-recapture method. At the same time, an anonymous questionnaire was collected to conduct a multi-factor logistic analysis of the TGW population's sexual behavior. Results: A total of 213 TGW were investigated. Tianjin's estimated TGW population size was 599 (95%CI: 407-792). Multivariate logistic analysis of the use of condoms consistently showed that compared with TGW without regular sex partners, those with regular sex partners had a lower proportion of consistent condom use (aOR=0.44, 95%CI: 0.23-0.82) and had received HIV tests in the last year were more likely to adhere to condom use than those who had not been tested (aOR=2.73, 95%CI: 1.06-6.99). Conclusion: It is necessary to strengthen HIV mobilization testing among the TGW population and their regular sexual partners to improve condom use.

Recurrent headache and visual symptoms in a young man: a rare neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease case report.

BACKGROUND: Neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Patients with NIID may present with heterogeneous clinical symptoms, including episodic encephalopathy, dementia, limb weakness, cerebellar ataxia, and autonomic dysfunction. Among the NIID cases reported in China, patients often have complicated and severe manifestations. Therefore, many clinicians do not consider the disease when the patient presents with relatively minor complaints. CASE PRESENTATION: We present the case of a 39-year-old man showing migraine-aura-like symptoms for the past 3 years. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed hyperintense signals in the splenium of the corpus callosum and corticomedullary junction on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) over time. In addition, brain atrophy that was not concomitant with the patient's age was detected while retrospectively reviewing the patient's imaging results. Genetic analysis and skin biopsy confirmed a diagnosis of NIID. The patient was treated with sibelium, and the symptoms did not recur. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Migraine-aura-like symptoms may be the predominant clinical presentation in young patients with NIID. Persistent high-intensity signals on DWI in the brain and early-onset brain atrophy might be clues for the diagnosis of NIID.

Anatomical variations in the Circle of Willis and the formation and rupture of intracranial aneurysms: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The anterior (AcomA) and posterior communicating arteries (PcomA) are two of the most frequent sites for intracranial aneurysms. Anatomical variations in the Circle of Willis (COW) are frequently observed in patients with AcomA and PcomA aneurysms. Strong evidence is needed to determine the pooled estimate of the effect of COW variations on the formation and rupture of these aneurysms. Aim: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to establish the effect of COW variations on the formation and rupture of AcomA and PcomA aneurysms using available studies. Summary of review: PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched for studies published in English before September 21, 2022. Studies investigating AcomA aneurysms and the hypoplastic/aplastic A1 segment of the anterior cerebral artery and PcomA aneurysms and hypoplastic/aplastic PcomA or fetal-type posterior cerebral artery (FTP) were included. The heterogeneity of the studies was assessed using Cochran Q-test and I2 statistic. Pooled estimate was assessed using either a random- or fixed-effects model based on the heterogeneity of the studies. Among the 4,932 studies, 21 were eligible and included in the analysis. The presence of hypoplastic/aplastic A1 was significantly correlated with the formation [OR (95% confidence interval [CI]) = 7.97 (5.58, 11.39), P < 0.001] and rupture [OR (95%CI) = 1.87 (1.29, 2.72), P < 0.001] of AcomA aneurysms. Significant associations between FTP and both the formation [OR (95%CI) = 2.15 (1.41, 3.30), P < 0.001] and rupture [OR (95%CI) = 1.72 (1.26, 2.36), P < 0.001] of PcomA aneurysms were observed. Conclusions: Significant associations were observed between COW variations and both the formation and rupture of AcomA and PcomA aneurysms. This can help in determining interventions for patients with aneurysms. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=225149, identifier: CRD42021225149.

Analysis on psychoactive substances use in men who have sex with men in Tianjin / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To understand the use of psychoactive substances and its related factors in men who have sex with men (MSM) in Tianjin. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in MSM recruited in Tianjin by snowball sampling from September 2017 to December 2020, the information about their social demographic information, use of psychoactive substances and behavioral characteristics were collected, meanwhile the blood samples were taken from them for HIV/syphilis detections. Multivariate logistic regression was used to explore related factors about psychoactive substances use. Results: A total of 9 218 MSM were included in the study, in whom 43.5% (4 013/9 218) had ever used psychoactive substances, including 92.6% (3 718/4 013)who used Rush and 17.2% (692/4 013) who used multi substances. Multivariate analysis showed that, the OR of psychoactive substances use in MSM who were in Han ethnic group was 0.68 (95%CI:0.51-0.91) compared with those who were in minor ethnic group; the OR of psychoactive substances use in MSM who were married or cohabited, divorced or widowed were 0.65 (95%CI: 0.57-0.71), 0.80 (95%CI: 0.65-0.97) respectively compared with those who were unmarried; the OR of psychoactive substances use in MSM who had the first homosexual sex at age of ≥30 years was 0.57 (95%CI: 0.44-0.74) compared with those who had the first homosexual sex at age of <30 years; the OR of psychoactive substances use in local MSM in Tianjin was 1.12 (95%CI: 1.03-1.23) compared with those who were not local residents in Tianjin; the OR of psychoactive substances use in MSM with education level of college or above was 1.29 (95%CI: 1.12-1.49) compared with those with education level of junior middle school or below; the OR of psychoactive substances use in MSM who had anal sex in the past six months was 1.93 (95%CI: 1.34-2.77) compared with those who had no anal sex; the OR of psychoactive substances use in MSM who had >2 homosexual partners in the last week was 1.62 (95%CI: 1.41-1.87) compared with those who had ≤2 homosexual partners; the OR of psychoactive substances use in MSM who had homosexual commercial sex in the past six months was 1.99 (95%CI: 1.62-2.45) compared with those who had no homosexual commercial sex; the OR of psychoactive substances use in MSM who had sexually transmitted diseases in the last year was 2.39 (95%CI: 1.82-3.12) compared with those who had no sexually transmitted diseases and the OR of psychoactive substances use in MSM who received peer education services in the last year was 1.63 (95%CI: 1.50-1.78) compared with those who received no peer education services. Conclusion: The prevalence of psychoactive substances use is high in MSM in Tianjin, and there are many influencing factors. It is necessary to conduct targeted interventions according to the influencing factors.

HIV infection status in male outpatients in sexually transmitted disease clinics in Tianjin, 2016-2020 / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To understand the HIV infection status in male outpatients in sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics in Tianjin from 2016 to 2020. Methods: According to the sentinel surveillance protocol, continuous cross-sectional studies were conducted between April and June during 2016-2020 to collect the information about the awareness of AIDS related knowledge, related sex behaviors, HIV infection, syphilis prevalence and HCV infection of male STD outpatients in Tianjin with a sample seize of 400 in each sentinel clinic. Results: From 2016 to 2020, a total of 4 000 male STD outpatients were surveyed. The HIV positive rate increased from 1.13% (9/800) to 2.25% (18/800) (trend χ2=14.22, P<0.001), the positive rate of syphilis increased from 9.38% (75/800) to 13.00% (104/800) (trend χ2=7.30, P=0.007) in this population during this period. The overall HCV positive rate was 0.45% (18/4 000). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that compared with those who were unmarried, had registered residence in Tianjin, had no temporary sexual behavior in the past 3 months, had no anal sex and had negative syphilis test result, the risk factors of HIV infection in the male STD outpatients included cohabitation (aOR=7.53, 95%CI:2.13-26.62), being from other provinces (aOR=3.64,95%CI:1.58-8.38), having temporary sexual behavior in the past 3 months (aOR=2.24,95%CI:1.03-4.89), having homosexual anal sex (aOR=85.99,95%CI:38.76-190.74) and suffering from syphilis (aOR=6.06,95%CI:3.18-11.56). Conclusion: The detection rates of HIV infection and syphilis in male STD outpatients in Tianjin showed upward trends from 2016 to 2020. Having temporary sexual behavior and anal sex, and suffering from syphilis were the main risk factors of HIV infection in male STD outpatients.

Deubiquitinating Enzyme USP29 Regulates the Protein Stability of CBX6 / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are transcriptional repressors that control cell fate and the development of embryo, and they elicit function mainly in the form of polycomb repressive complex (PRC). Chromobox protein homolog 6 (CBX6) is one of the core protein subunits of PRC1, which plays an important role in gene expression regulation, cell renewal and differentiation, tumorigenesis and development, and stem cell maintenance. In this study, CBX6 was found to be degraded through a ubiquitin-proteasome dependent pathway. Then the gene expression library containing 92 deubiquitinating enzymes (DUB) was used to screen DUB targeting CBX6 and results found that ubiquitin-specific protease 29 (USP29) could obviously stabilize CBX6 protein level and extend its half-life (P < 0.05). Immunoprecipitation experiments found that CBX6 interacted with USP29 through its C-terminal domains; Further studies found that USP29 regulated the protein stability of CBX6 by deubiquitination in an enzymatic-activity dependent manner. Cell proliferation assay also found that USP29 inhibited the proliferation of MCF7 cells (P<0.0001). Taken together, through screening, this study found that USP29 could stabilize CBX6 protein level through deubiquitinating CBX6 and inhibit the cell proliferation of MCF7.

Influencing factors of unprotected anal intercourse among Tianjin male homosexuals who used recreational drugs / 上海预防医学

Objective:To explore the demographic characteristics and sexual behavior of men who have sex with men （MSM） in Tianjin， and to compare these aspects between recreational drug users and non-users. Methods:This research was conducted by Tianjin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From July to September 2015， various methods such as simple random sampling and snowball sampling were used to recruit MSM. Information was collected through on-site questionnaire surveys， and laboratory tests were conducted to detect human immunodeficiency virus （HIV） infection status in the research subjects. Statistical description and frequency distribution tests on demographic information and behavioral variables were performed. Results:A total of 410 qualified participants， ranged from 17 to 70 years old， were included. A total of 297 （72.4%） MSM were unmarried， 194 （47.3%） had monthly income over 3 000 yuan， 182 （44.4%） MSM had high school education， and 366 （89.3%） were working full-time. Among all 410 participants， 208 MSM self-reported using recreational drugs. Among them， 140 MSM had used Rush Popper. Influencing factors of unprotected anal intercourse （UAI） among Rush Popper users include： more than 30 years old， average monthly income less than 5 000 yuan， and sex with temporary partners （all P<0.05）. Conclusion:Among MSM in Tianjin， the use of recreational drugs is quite common， and Rush Popper is the most commonly used recreational drug. Therefore， it is necessary to establish and strengthen the relevant laws and regulations for the reduction of Rush Popper circulation among the MSM population.

Immunomodulatory Effects of N-Acetyl Chitooligosaccharides on RAW264.7 Macrophages.

The ongoing development of new production methods may lead to the commercialization of N-acetyl chitooligosaccharides (NACOS), such as chitosan oligosaccharides (COS). The bioactivity of NACOS, although not well detailed, differs from that of COS, as they have more acetyl groups than COS. We used two enzymatically produced NACOS with different molecular compositions and six NACOS (NACOS1-6) with a single degree of polymerization to verify their immunomodulatory effects on the RAW264.7 macrophage cell line. We aimed to identify any differences between COS and various NACOS with a single degree of polymerization. The results showed that NACOS had similar immune enhancement effects on RAW264.7 cells as COS, including the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), phagocytotic activity, and the production of pro-inflammation cytokines (IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF-α). However, unlike COS and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), NACOS1 and NACOS6 significantly inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production. Besides their immune enhancement effects, NACOS also significantly inhibited the LPS-induced RAW264.7 inflammatory response with some differences between various polymerization degrees. We confirmed that the NF-κB pathway is associated with the immunomodulatory effects of NACOS on RAW264.7 cells. This study could inform the application of NACOS with varying different degrees of polymerization in human health.

Heterologous expression and characterization of an antifungal chitinase (Chit46) from Trichoderma harzianum GIM 3.442 and its application in colloidal chitin conversion.

In this study, a chitinase gene, Chit46 from a mycoparasitic fungus Trichoderma harzianum was successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris with a high heterologous chitinase production of 31.4 U/mL, much higher than the previous reports. The active center and substrate binding pocket of the recombinant Chit46 (rChit46) were analyzed and the effects of pH, temperature, metal ions and glycosylation on its activity were tested. rChit46 effectively hydrolyzed colloidal chitin with a high conversion rate of 80.5% in 3 h and the chitin hydrolysates were mainly composed of (GlcNAc)2 (94.8%), which make it a good candidate for the green recycling of chitinous waste. rChit46 could also significantly inhibit growth of the phytopathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea, which endowed it with the potential as a biocontrol agent.