Fasudil exerts a protective effect on down-regulation of IL-6 expression by inhibiting the NOTCH signaling pathway in EAM mice / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

【Objective】 To explore the effect and mechanism of Fasudil in the treatment of experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) in mice so as to provide a theoretical basis for the clinical use of Fasudil in treating myocarditis. 【Methods】 Balb/c male mice were used as the research objects, and the EAM mice model was constructed using MyHC-α614-629 polypeptide. Mononuclear cells were isolated and cultured to detect the number of mononuclear cells in mouse spleen. Inflammation infiltration, fibrosis and IL-6 expression in mouse myocardial tissue were detected by HE staining, Masson staining and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The protein expressions of Notch1 and IL-6 were detected by Western blotting. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expressions of pro-inflammatory factors (IL-1α, IL-1β and IL-6) as well as key genes of TLRs and NOTCH signaling pathway. 【Results】 EAM mice showed increased HW, decreased BW, increased HW/e-BW, and increased inflammatory infiltration and fibrosis in myocardial tissue. The above-mentioned symptoms or pathological features were improved in EAM mice treated with Fasudil. The analysis showed that the pro-inflammatory factors IL-1α, IL-1β and IL-6 in the myocardial tissue of EAM mice were significantly increased, but only the expression of IL-6 was statistically different after Fasudil treatment compared with the control group. In addition, TLRs signaling pathway might also play an important role in the EAM mice treated with Fasudil. The expressions of IL-6 and Notch1 were consistent, and the expressions of the key genes of NOTCH signaling pathway (Notch1, Hes1 and Jag2) were down-regulated after Fasudil treatment. 【Conclusion】 Fasudil exerts a protective effect on down-regulation of IL-6 expression by inhibiting the NOTCH signaling pathway in EAM mice.

Knock-down of ROCK2 gene improves cognitive function and reduces neuronal apoptosis in AD mice by promoting mitochondrial fusion and inhibiting its division / 细胞与分子免疫学杂志

Objective To explore the effect of knocking down Rho-associated coiled-coil kinase (ROCK2) gene on the cognitive function of amyloid precursor protein/presenilin-1 (APP/PS1) double transgenic mice and its mechanism. Methods APP/PS1 double transgenic mice were randomly divided into AD model group (AD group), ROCK2 gene knock-down group (shROCK2 group), ROCK2 gene knock-down control group (shNCgroup), and wild-type C57BL/6 mice of the same age served as the wild-type control (WT group). Morris water maze and Y maze were employed to test the cognitive function of mice. Neuron morphology was detected by Nissl staining. Immunofluorescence histochemical staining was used to detect the expression of phosphorylated dynamin-related protein 1 (p-Drp1) and mitochondrial fusion 1 (Mfn1). Western blot analysis was used to detect the expression ROCK2, cleaved-caspase-3 (c-caspase-3), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2), Bcl2-related protein X (BAX), p-Drp1, mitochondrial fission 1 (Fis1), optic atrophy 1 (OPA1), Mfn1 and Mfn2. Results Compared with AD group mice, the expression of ROCK2 in shROCK2 group mice was significantly reduced; the cognitive function was significantly improved with the number of neurons in the hippocampal CA3 and DG areas increasing, and nissl bodies were deeply stained; the expression of c-caspase-3 and BAX was decreased, while the expression of Bcl2 was increased; the expression of mitochondrial division related proteins p-Drp1 and Fis1 were decreased, while the expression of mitochondrial fusion-related proteins OPA1, Mfn1 and Mfn2 were increased. Conclusion Knock-down of ROCK2 gene can significantly improve the cognitive function and inhibit the apoptosis of nerve cells of APP/PS1 mice. The mechanism may be related to promoting mitochondrial fusion and inhibiting its division.

Evolution of long-term hybrid immunity in healthcare workers after different COVID-19 vaccination regimens: a longitudinal observational cohort study

Both infection and vaccination, alone or in combination, generate antibody and T cell responses against SARSCoV2. However, the maintenance of such responses, and hence protection from disease, requires careful characterisation. In a large prospective study of UK healthcare workers (Protective immunity from T cells in Healthcare workers (PITCH), within the larger SARSCoV2 immunity and reinfection evaluation (SIREN) study) we previously observed that prior infection impacted strongly on subsequent cellular and humoral immunity induced after long and short dosing intervals of BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) vaccination. Here, we report longer follow up of 684 HCWs in this cohort over 6-9 months following two doses of BNT162b2 or AZD1222 (Oxford/AstraZeneca) vaccination and up to 6 months following a subsequent mRNA booster vaccination. We make three observations: Firstly, the dynamics of humoral and cellular responses differ; binding and neutralising antibodies declined whereas T and memory B cell responses were maintained after the second vaccine dose. Secondly, vaccine boosting restored IgG levels, broadened neutralising activity against variants of concern including omicron BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5, and boosted T cell responses above the 6 month level post dose 2. Thirdly, prior infection maintained its impact driving larger as well as broader T cell responses compared with never-infected people, a feature maintained until 6 months after the third dose. In conclusion, broadly cross-reactive T cell responses are well maintained over time, especially in those with combined vaccine and infection-induced immunity (hybrid immunity), and may contribute to continued protection against severe disease.

Kindlin-2 loss in condylar chondrocytes causes spontaneous osteoarthritic lesions in the temporomandibular joint in mice / 国际口腔科学杂志·英文版

The progressive destruction of condylar cartilage is a hallmark of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) osteoarthritis (OA); however, its mechanism is incompletely understood. Here, we show that Kindlin-2, a key focal adhesion protein, is strongly detected in cells of mandibular condylar cartilage in mice. We find that genetic ablation of Kindlin-2 in aggrecan-expressing condylar chondrocytes induces multiple spontaneous osteoarthritic lesions, including progressive cartilage loss and deformation, surface fissures, and ectopic cartilage and bone formation in TMJ. Kindlin-2 loss significantly downregulates the expression of aggrecan, Col2a1 and Proteoglycan 4 (Prg4), all anabolic extracellular matrix proteins, and promotes catabolic metabolism in TMJ cartilage by inducing expression of Runx2 and Mmp13 in condylar chondrocytes. Kindlin-2 loss decreases TMJ chondrocyte proliferation in condylar cartilages. Furthermore, Kindlin-2 loss promotes the release of cytochrome c as well as caspase 3 activation, and accelerates chondrocyte apoptosis in vitro and TMJ. Collectively, these findings reveal a crucial role of Kindlin-2 in condylar chondrocytes to maintain TMJ homeostasis.

Characterising within-hospital SARS-CoV-2 transmission events: a retrospective analysis integrating epidemiological and viral genomic data from a UK tertiary care setting across two pandemic waves

Structured abstractO_ST_ABSObjectivesC_ST_ABSTo characterise within-hospital SARS-CoV-2 transmission across two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. DesignA retrospective Bayesian modelling study to reconstruct transmission chains amongst 2181 patients and healthcare workers using combined viral genomic and epidemiological data. SettingA large UK NHS Trust with over 1400 beds and employing approximately 17,000 staff. Participants780 patients and 522 staff testing SARS-CoV-2 positive between 1st March 2020 and 25th July 2020 (Wave 1); and 580 patients and 299 staff testing SARS-CoV-2 positive between 30th November 2020 and 24th January 2021 (Wave 2). Main outcome measuresTransmission pairs including who-infected-whom; location of transmission events in hospital; number of secondary cases from each individual, including differences in onward transmission from community and hospital onset patient cases. ResultsStaff-to-staff transmission was estimated to be the most frequent transmission type during Wave 1 (31.6% of observed hospital-acquired infections; 95% CI 26.9 to 35.8%), decreasing to 12.9% (95% CI 9.5 to 15.9%) in Wave 2. Patient-to-patient transmissions increased from 27.1% in Wave 1 (95% CI 23.3 to 31.4%) to 52.1% (95% CI 48.0 to 57.1%) in Wave 2, to become the predominant transmission type. Over 50% of hospital-acquired infections were concentrated in 8/120 locations in Wave 1 and 10/93 locations in Wave 2. Approximately 40% to 50% of hospital-onset patient cases resulted in onward transmission compared to less than 4% of definite community-acquired cases. ConclusionsPrevention and control measures that evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic may have had a significant impact on reducing infections between healthcare workers, but were insufficient during the second wave to prevent a high number of patient-to-patient transmissions. As hospital-acquired cases appeared to drive most onward transmissions, more frequent and rapid identification and isolation of these cases will be required to break hospital transmission chains in subsequent pandemic waves.

Altered Sub-Genomic RNA Expression in SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 Infections

SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 viruses are more transmissible, may lead to greater clinical severity, and result in modest reductions in antibody neutralization. subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) is produced by discontinuous transcription of the SARS-CoV-2 genome and is a crucial step in the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle. Applying our tool (periscope) to ARTIC Network Oxford Nanopore genomic sequencing data from 4400 SARS-CoV-2 positive clinical samples, we show that normalised sgRNA expression profiles are significantly increased in B.1.1.7 infections (n=879). This increase is seen over the previous dominant circulating lineage in the UK, B.1.177 (n=943), which is independent of genomic reads, E gene cycle threshold and days since symptom onset at sampling. A noncanonical sgRNA which could represent ORF9b is found in 98.4% of B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 infections compared with only 13.8% of other lineages, with a 16-fold increase in median expression. We hypothesise that this is a direct consequence of a triple nucleotide mutation in nucleocapsid (28280:GAT>CAT, D3L) creating a transcription regulatory-like sequence complementary to a region 3 of the genomic leader. These findings provide a unique insight into the biology of B.1.1.7 and support monitoring of sgRNA profiles in sequence data to evaluate emerging potential variants of concern. One Sentence SummaryThe recently emerged and more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 shows greater subgenomic RNA expression in clinical infections and enhanced expression of a noncanonical subgenomic RNA near ORF9b.

Native-like SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein expressed by ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/AZD1222 vaccine

Vaccine development against the SARS-CoV-2 virus focuses on the principal target of the neutralizing immune response, the spike (S) glycoprotein. Adenovirus-vectored vaccines offer an effective platform for the delivery of viral antigen, but it is important for the generation of neutralizing antibodies that they produce appropriately processed and assembled viral antigen that mimics that observed on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Here, we describe the structure, conformation and glycosylation of the S protein derived from the adenovirus-vectored ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/AZD1222 vaccine. We demonstrate native-like post-translational processing and assembly, and reveal the expression of S proteins on the surface of cells adopting the trimeric prefusion conformation. The data presented here confirms the use of ChAdOx1 adenovirus vectors as a leading platform technology for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

SARS-CoV-2 Assembly and Egress Pathway Revealed by Correlative Multi-modal Multi-scale Cryo-imaging

Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, there have been intense structural studies on purified recombinant viral components and inactivated viruses. However, investigation of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in the native cellular context is scarce, and there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 replicative cycle. Understanding the genome replication, assembly and egress of SARS-CoV-2, a multistage process that involves different cellular compartments and the activity of many viral and cellular proteins, is critically important as it bears the means of medical intervention to stop infection. Here, we investigated SARS-CoV-2 replication in Vero cells under the near-native frozen-hydrated condition using a unique correlative multi-modal, multi-scale cryo-imaging approach combining soft X-ray cryo-tomography and serial cryoFIB/SEM volume imaging of the entire SARS-CoV-2 infected cell with cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) of cellular lamellae and cell periphery, as well as structure determination of viral components by subtomogram averaging. Our results reveal at the whole cell level profound cytopathic effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection, exemplified by a large amount of heterogeneous vesicles in the cytoplasm for RNA synthesis and virus assembly, formation of membrane tunnels through which viruses exit, and drastic cytoplasm invasion into nucleus. Furthermore, cryoET of cell lamellae reveals how viral RNAs are transported from double-membrane vesicles where they are synthesized to viral assembly sites; how viral spikes and RNPs assist in virus assembly and budding; and how fully assembled virus particles exit the cell, thus stablishing a model of SARS-CoV-2 genome replication, virus assembly and egress pathways.

Molecular guidance cues in the development of visual pathway

70%-80% of our sensory input comes from vision. Light hit the retina at the back of our eyes and the visual information is relayed into the dorsal lateral geniculate nuclei (dLGN) and primary visual cortex (V1) thereafter, constituting the image-forming visual circuit. Molecular cues are one of the key factors to guide the wiring and refinement of the image-forming visual circuit during pre- and post-embryonic stages. Distinct molecular cues are involved in different developmental stages and nucleus, suggesting diverse guidance mechanisms. In this review, we summarize molecular guidance cues throughout the image-forming visual circuit, including chiasm determination, eye-specific segregation and refinement in the dLGN, and at last the reciprocal connections between the dLGN and V1.

Effect of Propofol Target-controlled Infusion on Extubation Time of Patients with ENT Surgery under the Narcotrend Classification Guidance / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To explore the effect of propofol target-controlled infusion on extubation time in patients with ENT surgery under Narcotrend classification guidance. METHODS:52 patients with endotracheal intubation intravenous anesthesia and minimally invasive ENT surgery received target-controlled infusion for anesthesia induction and anesthesia. NI value, plasma concentration of propofol(cm),mean arterial pressure(MAP),pulse oxygen saturation(SpO2)before anesthesia and different time points in recovery period,the correlation of NI with propofol cm of all patients were recorded,and NI with propofol cm and time when extubation was omalysed. RESULTS:There were no significant differences in SpO2 before anesthesia and different time points in recovery period(P>0.05);MAP was significantly higher than before anesthesia at T3,MAP was significantly lower than before anesthesia at T0-T1,propofol cm was T0>T1>T2>T3>T4>T5,NI was significantly lower than before anesthesia at T0-T3, and T00.05). NI when extubation was(86.17±5.29),propofol cm was(0.96±0.31)μg/ml,and average extubation time was (8.26 ± 2.93) min. When extubation,NI showed negative correlation with propofol cm(r=-0.812);and decreased with the prolong of extubation time (r=-0.792);the predictive rates of NI and propofol cm's prediction awareness change in recovery period were 0.93 and 0.86. There were no obvious adverse reactions during treatment. CONCLUSIONS:Propofol target-controlled infusion under Narcotrend classification guidance can accurately predict the awareness change from no response to stimuli to shouting and opening eyes,has a high reference value on extubation time.

Two cases of neck region Kimura's disease / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Kimura's disease is a rare, benign, slow-growing chronic inflammatory swelling with a predilection for the head and neck region and is almost always with peripheral blood eosinophilia and elevated serum IgE levels. It is endemic in Asian males and rare in Western people. Surgical excision of the lesion is the first line therapy. Drug and radiation therapy have to be considered for the refractory lesions.

Liver resection for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and portal hypertension / 中国癌症杂志

Background and purpose: The proportion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension (PHT) is high. PHT may increase the risk of hemorrhage and liver failure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efifcacy of liver resection (LR) for patients with HCC and PHT. Methods:From 2006 to 2010, a total of 564 HCC patients with Child-Pugh A liver function and with (78) or without PHT (486) were retrospective analyzed. Complications after surgry, 30 and 90-day mortality, overall survival (OS), and recurrence rates were compared between the two groups. Propensity score analysis was also conducted to reduce confounding bias between the groups. Moreover, subgroup analysis based on tumor stage and the range of resection was carried out. Results:The complications after surgry, 30 and 90-day mortality of patients with PHT were signiifcantly higher than those without PHT, before and after propensity analysis (P0.05). Conclusion: PHT is not the contraindication of LR for patients with HCC. Those with early stage HCC and who underwent minor hepatectomy are the best candidates to LR therapy.

Expression, Purification of Recombinant Flounder MRF4 Protein in Escherichia coli and Analysis of Its Polyclonal Antibodies / 生物化学与生物物理进展

MRF4 is one of muscle regulatory factors and plays critical roles during skeletal muscle development. The muscle development is important for the fish growth which is an important economic factor for the fish culture. To analyze the function of MRF4 in fish, the founder MRF4 antibody was prepared. The flounder MRF4 was cloned, ligated into prokaryotic expression vector pET-30b and expressed in strain E. coli BL21 (DE3). The recombinant flounder MRF4 fusion protein was soluble and purified with cobalt IMAC resins. To prepare MRF4 polyclonal antibodies, rabbits were immunized with the soluble protein and the increasing level of antibodies was determined by Western blot. Also, the endogenous flounder MRF4 was recognized by the anti-serum. The result further proved the existence of the anti-MRF4 antibody in the anti-serum, which will be useful for studies on the function of flounder MRF4.