Hyper-Cross-Linked Resin Modified by a Micropore Polymer for Gas Adsorption and Separation.

Polymerization confined to the pore was first adapted for the nanoscale structure adjustment of adsorption resin. The self-cross-linked polymer (P-1) formed in the pore of hyper-cross-linked resin (HR) by the Friedel-Crafts reaction of p-dichloroxylene (p-DCX), occupying the macropore of the HR resin and bringing about an external micropore. Compared with the raw HR resin, the volume of the micropore of HR@P-1 in 0.4 < D < 1 nm increased but the volume of the macropore has obviously decreased. After the loading of P-1 in the nanopore of HR, HR@P-1 has better gas adsorption performance. At 298 and 100 KPa, the adsorption capacity of CO2 is almost 30% higher than that of HR, reaching 35.7 cm3/g, due to the increase in the smaller micropore volume. Moreover, HR@P-1 has also been found to be the first C2H6-selective adsorption resin. The uptake of C2H6 is up to 56 cm3/g, and the IAST selectivity of C2H6/CH4 reaches 15.3. HR@P-1 can also separate syngas efficiently at ambient temperature and be regenerated by simple vacuum operation.

The influence of polycystic ovary syndrome on abortion rate after in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection fresh cycle pregnancy.

There are many reports on clinical pregnancy outcomes in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients receiving vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), but little research about abortion has been done and there is a debate on whether the abortion risk increases in PCOS patients receiving IVF/ICSI. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigated the abortion in PCOS patients. Clinical data of 12055 IVF/ICSI fresh cycles performed in our hospital from January 2015 to December 2020 were collected. Based on the Rotterdam diagnostic criteria of PCOS and after propensity score matching (PSM) for baseline data of clinical pregnancy cycles, matched 599 PCOS (PCOS group) and Non-PCOS (non-PCOS group) cycles were obtained. Abortion and abortion-related outcomes were compared between the two groups. Risk factors for late abortion in twins were analyzed using binary Logistics regression. Post-PSM data showed that the late abortion rate was significantly higher in the PCOS group than in the non-PCOS group only in twin pregnancy (9.50% vs. 3.96%, OR: 2.55, 95%CI 1.10-5.89). There were no statistical differences in other pregnancy outcomes. The etiological distribution for late abortion were not statistically different between the two groups in both singletons and twins. Logistics regression indicated that PCOS and obesity [pregnancy-assisted body mass index (BMI) ≥ 28] were risk factors for late abortion in twin pregnancy. In twin pregnancy, PCOS and obese patients are more likely to have late abortion. In twin pregnancy, the late abortion risk significantly increased in the PCOS patients as compared with non-PCOS patients (OR: 2.59, 95%CI 1.11-6.03, P < 0.05), as well as in the patients with obesity (BMI ≥ 28) as compared with the patients with normal BMI (OR: 4.17, 95%CI 1.59-10.90, P < 0.05). PCOS does not significantly affect early and overall late abortion rates after IVF/ICSI fresh cycle pregnancy.

Effects of Intradermal Botulinum Toxin Injections on Herpes Zoster Related Neuralgia.

Background: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), which represents the most common chronic complication of herpes zoster, is characterized by intense pain and is difficult to treat. In fact, no treatments are currently available that can effectively reduce the pain associated with PHN. Recent evidence has been presented indicating that Botulinum toxin (BoNT-A) can serve as an effective and safe treatment for peripheral neuropathic pain. Objective: The effects of intradermal BoNT-A injections on herpes zoster related neuralgia were investigated in this study. Methods: Patients diagnosed with herpes zoster related acute neuralgia (N=13 - acute group) and those diagnosed with postherpetic neuralgia (N=17 - PHN group) were enrolled in this study. The two groups were treated with intradermal injections of BoNT-A at the site of their affected pain areas and were then assessed at 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 2 months and 3 months after their BoNT-A treatments. Results: When compared with pre-treatment values, Visual Analogue Scores (VAS) in all patients were all significantly decreased at all times tested following BoNT-A injection. Before treatment, PHN patients had significantly higher VAS than those in the acute group. However, after 1 day of treatment, there was no difference in VAS between the two groups. None of the patients in the acute phase treated with BoNT-A developed PHN. Conclusion: BoNT-A injections significantly reduced herpetic-related pain and proved to be a more effective treatment for the PHN versus acute pain group. Moreover, an early application of BoNT-A can alleviate the probability of developing PHN.

Comparison of a One- versus Two-Week Treatment with Famciclovir Upon Reductions in Pain and Occurrence of Postherpetic Neuralgia in Herpes Zoster: A Randomized Open-Label Trial.

Background: Herpes zoster (HZ) is an acute herpetic skin disease resulting from the varicella-zoster virus. Typically, this condition is treated with a one-week administration of antiviral drugs, including famciclovir, which can effectively control the symptoms during the acute phase and prevent the occurrence of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Objective: To investigate whether a longer, two-week, regimen would enhance the capacity for famciclovir to reduce pain and prevent the occurrence of postherpetic neuralgia. Methods: HZ patients were randomly divided into two groups who were treated with famciclovir for either a one- or two-week period. Following their respective famciclovir treatments, patients were assessed for potential differences in pain intensity as evaluated at 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks post-treatment. In addition, the occurrence of postherpetic neuralgia at three months after treatment was compared between the two groups. Results: Of the 86 patients initially enrolled, 80 completed the study with N=40 randomly assigned to each of the two groups. Pain scores decreased significantly at 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks after famciclovir treatments. There were no significant differences in pain scores, and the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia occurrence between the two groups. There were no statistically significant differences in reducing pain intensity or frequency of postherpetic neuralgia between the one-week and two-week treatment protocols. Conclusion: It suggests that longer administration of famciclovir has no further benefit in the treatment of herpes zoster in our study.

Calcitonin gene-related peptide upregulates IL-17A and IL-22 in γδ-T cells through the paracrine effect of langerhans cells on LC/γδ-T co-culture model.

Intense mental stimulation and stress often directly induce or exacerbate psoriasis. On the contrary, patients with nerve injury and nervous system dysfunction have psoriasis remission. The nervous system plays an important role in the inflammatory process of psoriasis, and neuropeptides are considered as local mediators of disease maintenance. To examine the molecular mechanism involved in this, first we analyzed calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-treated langerhans Cells and γδ-T cells separately. CGRP induced IL-23 mRNA and protein expression via PDK1-Rsk signaling pathway. However, CGRP had no effect on secretion of IL-17A and IL-22 in γδ-T cells. Then we treated LCs/γδ-T cells Co-culture Model with CGRP. CGRP upregulated IL-17A and IL-22 expression in co-culture model through the paracrine effect of LCs. IL-17A and IL-22 are key cytokines of psoriasis. These findings provide a potential mechanism by which nerve factors affect the development of psoriasis.

[Influencing Factors of Pregnancy Outcome of in vitro Fertilization-Embryo Transfer].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effect of factors relevant to blastocyst transfer on the pregnancy outcome of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET). METHODS: The clinical data of 790 pregnant women who underwent IVF-ET in our hospital from July 2015 to July 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The pregnancy outcome of blastocysts transferred on day 5 (D5, n=705) and those transferred on day 6 (D6, n=85) were compared. According to the pregnancy outcome, the cases were divided into a live birth group ( n=322) and a non-live birth group ( n=468), and multivariate logistic regression was conducted to study the effect of factors relevant to blastocyst transfer on the live birth outcome of IVF-ET. RESULTS: In the D5 group, the biochemical pregnancy rate, clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate of blastocyst transfer were 69.93%, 64.96%, and 41.84%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of the D6 group at 50.59%, 45.88%, and 30.59%, respectively. The difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the miscarriage rate between the D5 group and the D6 group ( P>0.05). Multivariate logistic analysis revealed that age>35 years, years of infertility>5 years, endometrium thickness<9 mm on the day of blastocyst transfer, trophoblast cell rating of C, blastocyst transfer performed on D6, and multiparity were all risk factors for non-live birth outcome of IVF-ET ( P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The adverse pregnancy outcomes of IVF-ET were found to be associated with age, duration of infertility, endometrial thickness on the day of to blastocyst transfer, trophoblast cell rating, and blastocyst transfer performed after how many days of embryo development, and multiparity, which should be closely monitored, and effective measures should be adopted accordingly to prevent adverse outcomes of pregnancy.

Hypomagnesemia Is a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease- and Noncardiovascular Disease-Related Mortality in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients.

PURPOSE: Recent research has shown that hypomagnesemia is associated with increased all-cause mortality in hemodialysis patients. However, the relationship between the long-term prognosis of peritoneal dialysis (PD) and the study is not yet clear. This study will analyze the effects of hypomagnesemia on all-cause, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and non-CVD mortality in PD patients. METHOD: In a retrospective cohort study, 1,004 samples were selected from 7 PD centers in China. Based on the baseline blood magnesium level at the beginning of stable dialysis, all patients were classified into blood magnesium <0.7 mmol/L group, 0.7-1.2 mmol/L group, and >1.2 mmol/L group (the end event was death). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the difference in cumulative survival rate; the Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze the risk factors of all-cause, CVD, and non-CVD death causes. RESULTS: Cox multiple regression analysis results (reference comparison of 0.7-1.2 mmol/L group): patients with serum magnesium <0.7 mmol/L have a higher risk ratio of all-cause mortality (HR = 1.580, 95% CI: 1.222-2.042, p = 0.001), and it is also obvious after correction by multiple models (HR = 1.578, 95% CI: 1.196-2.083, p = 0.001). Subgroup analysis of the causes of death was as follows: CVD risk (HR = 1.628, 95% CI: 1.114-2.379, p = 0.012) and non-CVD risk (HR = 1.521, 95% CI: 1.011-2.288, p = 0.044). Further analysis of the causes of infection-related death in non-CVD is also significant (HR = 1.919, 95% CI: 1.131-3.1257, p = 0.016). On the other hand, the serum magnesium>1.2 mmol/L group had lower all-cause mortality after correction (HR = 0.687, 95% CI: 0.480-0.985, p = 0.041), and subgroup analysis of the cause of death had no statistical significance (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Hypomagnesemia (serum magnesium <0.7 mmol/L) during stable dialysis in PD patients is a risk factor for CVD- and non-CVD-related mortality, especially infection-related death causes.

Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes and Elucidation of Pathophysiological Relevance of ABCA1 in HaCaT Cells Induced by PM2.5.

OBJECTIVE: In order to investigate the effects of PM2.5 on proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, and potential mechanism of human keratinocyte cell line HaCaT. METHODS: HaCaT cells were treated with different concentrations of PM2.5 suspension for 24 hours. Cell viability was detected by the CCK-8 method. Cell cycle distribution and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry. Microarray analyses were used to find out the microarray gene expression profiling; data processing included gene enrichment and pathway analysis. Western blot was conducted to validate the key pathways and regulators in the microarray analysis. RESULTS: The cell activity decreased, and the cell cycle was significantly inhibited with the increase in PM2.5 concentration. Also, by conducting the gene expression microarray assay, we identified 541 upregulated genes and 935 downregulated genes in PM2.5-treated HaCaT cells. Real-time qPCR and western blot confirmed that PM2.5 treatment could induce the expression of ABCA1 while inhibiting that of END1 and CLDN1. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that PM2.5 could potentially regulate cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest via ABCA1-, END1-, ID1-, and CLDN1-mediated pathways in human HaCaT cells, which laid a good foundation for follow-up drug intervention and drug development against skin damage caused by PM2.5 exposure.

COVID-19: The experience from Beijing, China.

The epidemiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Beijing, China, is summarized. This presentation highlights its main clinical manifestations, including the skin findings in Beijing and sums up the cutaneous damage to the medical staff in their epidemic preventative work. Although there had been few COVID-19 patients who reported skin lesions in Beijing and even in China, dermatologists still needed to pay attention to self-protection in their daily work. Skin damage caused by protective equipment is very common in the majority of the medical staff in Beijing.

COVID-19-associated meningoencephalitis: A care report and literature review.

Infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may target the central nervous system and several neurological symptoms have been reported in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In the present study, a case of a SARS-CoV-2 complicated with meningoencephalitis was reported. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analyses indicated hyperproteinorrachia but the specimen was negative for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Furthermore, 10 published articles reporting on patients with COVID-19-associated meningitis/encephalitis were reviewed. Patients diagnosed with COVID-19-associated meningitis/encephalitis had diverse clinical neurological manifestations, including consciousness disturbance, epileptic attacks, psychotic syndrome and meningeal irritation signs. CSF tests revealed elevated protein, lymphocytes and cytokines. SARS-CoV-2 may be detected in the CSF of certain cases. Neuroimaging findings included hyperintense signal changes in the white matter and enhancement of meninges on brain MRI. Certain patients responded well to corticosteroid therapy and had a favorable prognosis, while elderly patients tended to have poor outcomes due to multiple organ dysfunction.

Downregulation of DNA ligases in trophoblasts contributes to recurrent pregnancy loss through inducing DNA damages.

INTRODUCTION: As key components of DNA repair pathways, DNA ligases catalyze the formation of phosphodiester bonds between DNA single strands, which function as a "glue" to seal the DNA breaks. DNA ligases play important roles in almost all the normal physiological processes for maintaining the stability of genomic DNA, but their functions in recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) are still unclear. METHODS: Immunoblotting was used to determine protein level. DNA damages were examined by comet assay and cell viability was quantified by MTT assay. The cell apoptosis and cell cycle were examined by flow cytometry. The LIG4 mRNA degradation was quantified by qRT-PCR after actinomycin D treatment. The interactions between miRNAs and LIG4 were predicted by TargetScan and confirmed by dual luciferase assay. RESULTS: LIG1 and LIG4 were downregulated in RPL patients, while γH2AX level was upregulated. Knockdown LIG1 and LIG4 increased DNA damages in trophoblasts, which further induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 1(SRSF1) was reduced in RPL patients and positively correlated with LIG1. Knockdown SRSF1 increased the degradation of LIG1 mRNA which further repressed LIG1 expression. MiR-383 was upregulated in RPL patients and repressed LIG4 expression through interacting with 3'UTR of LIG4 mRNA. The level of miR-383 was found negatively correlated with LIG4 protein level in trophoblasts from RPL patients. DISCUSSION: LIG1 and LIG4 are downregulated in patients with RPL owing to abnormal RNA degradation and dysregulated miRNA expression. LIG1 and LIG4 downregulation might contribute to the pathophysiological processes of RPL by increasing DNA damages.

Hyperlipidemia and mortality associated with diabetes mellitus co-existence in Chinese peritoneal dialysis patients.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate associations between diabetes mellitus (DM) coexisting with hyperlipidemia and mortality in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study with 2939 incident PD patients in China from January 2005 to December 2018. Associations between the DM coexisting with hyperlipidemia and mortality were evaluated using the Cox regression. RESULTS: Of 2939 patients, with a median age of 50.0 years, 519 (17.7%) died during the median of 35.1 months. DM coexisting with hyperlipidemia, DM, and hyperlipidemia were associated with 1.93 (95% CI 1.45 to 2.56), 1.86 (95% CI 1.49 to 2.32), and 0.90 (95% CI 0.66 to 1.24)-time higher risk of all-cause mortality, compared with without DM and hyperlipidemia, respectively (P for trend < 0.001). Subgroup analyses showed a similar pattern. Among DM patients, hyperlipidemia was as a high risk of mortality as non-hyperlipidemia (hazard ratio 1.02, 95%CI 0.73 to 1.43) during the overall follow-up period, but from 48-month follow-up onwards, hyperlipidemia patients had 3.60 (95%CI 1.62 to 8.01)-fold higher risk of all-cause mortality than those non-hyperlipidemia (P interaction = 1.000). CONCLUSIONS: PD patients with DM coexisting with hyperlipidemia were at the highest risk of all-cause mortality, followed by DM patients and hyperlipidemia patients, and hyperlipidemia may have an adverse effect on long-term survival in DM patients.

Association between aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio and cardiovascular disease mortality in patients on peritoneal dialysis: a multi-center retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Elevated aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) ratio is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among the general population. However, an association between AST/ALT ratio and CVD mortality in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) has received little attention. METHODS: A total of 2224 incident PD patients from multi-centers were enrolled from November 1, 2005, to June 30, 2017, in this retrospective cohort study. The primary endpoint was CVD mortality. Eligible patients were divided into high and normal groups according to the AST/ALT ratio cut-off for CVD mortality with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The associations between the AST/ALT ratio and CVD mortality were evaluated by the Cox regression model. RESULTS: Of eligible 1579 patients with a mean age of 49.3 ± 14.6 years, 55.4% of patients were male, 18.1% of patients had diabetes, and 64.2% of patients had hypertension. The prevalence of a high AST/ALT ratio was 76.6% in the cohort population. During a follow-up period with 4659.6 patient-years, 316 patients died, of which 193 (61.1%) deaths were caused by CVD episodes. The incidence of CVD mortality in the high group was significantly higher than that in the normal group (13.1% versus 9.2%, P = 0.024). Cumulative CVD mortality rates were significantly different between the two groups by Kaplan-Meier analysis [hazards ratio (HR) = 1.50, 95% confidence index (CI) 1.09-2.07, P = 0.014]. After adjusting for confounding factors, a higher AST/ALT ratio was independently associated with an increased risk of CVD mortality compared with their counterparts (HR = 1.43, 95%CI 1.08-2.41, P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: PD patients with high baseline AST/ALT ratio levels may be at a significant risk of CVD mortality.

Efforts in reducing air pollution exposure risk in China: State versus individuals.

China has made great efforts towards air pollutant concentration control during the past five years, which has led to positive outcomes. However, air pollutant concentration focused efforts were considered separately from human exposure risk. And this might result in a misunderstanding that reducing exposure risk can only rely on the national level measures of air pollutant control. This study integrates the first Chinese survey of human activity patterns and the spatially continuous high-resolution PM2.5 concentration maps to reveal the spatial and temporal variations of China's air pollution exposure risk from 2013 to 2017. More importantly, the effects on risk reduction from multi-scale and multi-object perspectives (reductions of ambient PM2.5 concentrations by national or provincial measures and changes of individual behavior patterns by personal efforts) are deeply investigated. Results show that the reductions of PM2.5 concentration and associated reductions of exposure risk from 2013 to 2017 were 40% and 35.7%, respectively. They also showed that both the reduction of PM2.5 concentrations and change of personal behavior patterns were effective for risk reduction when China's total PM2.5 exposure risk was higher than 1.58. However, only individual behavior changes contributed to risk reduction for scenarios with state-level risk value below 1.58. For regional strategies, threshold values for PM2.5 exposure risk control differentiating national measures or personal efforts were spatially and temporally dependent. The role of personal behavior changes on PM2.5 exposure risk reduction was growing in these five years with concentration rapidly decreasing regions. The findings suggest that people-centered air pollution exposure risk prevention not only depends on government management for air pollution control, but also on individual changes of activity patterns. Efforts from the state and individuals are both essential for reducing air pollution exposure risk in China, especially growing individual efforts are needed in regions with the decreasing air pollutant concentrations in the coming future. Moreover, this study mainly discussed the PM2.5 exposure risk from the macroscopic perspective, the research at the microcosmic perspective is also needed in the further study.

Population based Air Pollution Exposure and its influence factors by Integrating Air Dispersion Modeling with GIS Spatial Analysis.

Air pollution is a major environmental health problem. The study of interaction between air pollution and human will benefit to the human health and well-being of community. Both a model for assessing population relative risk of air pollution exposure (MAPRRAPE) and air pollution concentration methods were applied in a case study to determine the optimal method in evaluating risk of population exposure to Sulfur Dioxide (SO2). The framework for building the MAPRRAPE was described in detail. Then, the spatial patterns of population by demographic characteristics exposed to SO2 from industrial, vehicle, and the mixture of industrial and vehicle pollution sources, as well as an in-depth quantitative investigation using correlation analysis were studied for further source appointment. The results showed that the MAPRRAPE was more reliable than air pollution concentration model in determining population exposure risks by demographic characteristics. The high risk areas of whites exposed to SO2 were larger than blacks and the other races due to a large number of whites, and other age groups exposed to SO2 were larger than children and the old people. In addition, the correlation analyses showed that the relative risks of population by demographic characteristics exposed to SO2 had a more significant correlation with vehicle pollution source than industrial pollution source. The results of source appointment thus demonstrated that vehicle pollution source was the main pollution source. This study suggests that there is a clear need for the implementation of programs and services that will reduce population exposed to air pollution with focusing on densely populated areas for an ultimate improvement of community health status and the environmental conditions.

Catestatin in defense of oxidative-stress-induced apoptosis: A novel mechanism by activating the beta2 adrenergic receptor and PKB/Akt pathway in ischemic-reperfused myocardium.

Apoptosis induced by oxidative stress is one of the most important cardiomyocytes losses during ischemia-reperfusion (I/R). Catestatin (CST) has been demonstrated to have the anti-oxidative capacity in vitro. We hypothesized that CST intervention could reduce apoptosis of cardiomyocytes induced by oxidative stress in I/R. In Langendorff-perfused rat heart global I/R model, CST was introduced at the reperfusion stage. In comparison to the control group, CST led to preservation on activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, improvement of hemodynamics, and reduced infarction area in reperfused myocardium. The protection of CST was also shown by less apoptotic cardiomyocytes in TUNEL staining, less caspase-3 activation, and increased phosphorylation of protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) in Western blot. To further demonstrate the benefits of CST and explore the possible underlying mechanism, H2O2-challenged primary-cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were used to simulate the oxidative-stressed scenario. CST incubation with the H2O2-challenged cardiomyocytes led to reduction of apoptosis, which was demonstrated by less Hoechst 33342 positive staining of nuclei, less caspase-3 activation, and DNA fragmentation. The effect of CST was abrogated by pretreatment of the cardiomyocytes with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002. Furthermore, Akt activation and the anti-apoptosis effect of CST were abolished by pretreatment of the cardiomyocytes with ß2 receptor inhibitor ICI118551. Thus, the salvage of oxidative-stress-induced apoptotic cardiomyocytes in I/R by CST might involve activation ß2 receptor and regulation of PI3K/Akt signaling in reperfusion injury salvage kinase (RISK) pathway.

Genome-wide identification of DNA methylation QTLs in whole blood highlights pathways for cardiovascular disease.

Identifying methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs) and integrating them with disease-associated variants from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) may illuminate functional mechanisms underlying genetic variant-disease associations. Here, we perform GWAS of >415 thousand CpG methylation sites in whole blood from 4170 individuals and map 4.7 million cis- and 630 thousand trans-meQTL variants targeting >120 thousand CpGs. Independent replication is performed in 1347 participants from two studies. By linking cis-meQTL variants with GWAS results for cardiovascular disease (CVD) traits, we identify 92 putatively causal CpGs for CVD traits by Mendelian randomization analysis. Further integrating gene expression data reveals evidence of cis CpG-transcript pairs causally linked to CVD. In addition, we identify 22 trans-meQTL hotspots each targeting more than 30 CpGs and find that trans-meQTL hotspots appear to act in cis on expression of nearby transcriptional regulatory genes. Our findings provide a powerful meQTL resource and shed light on DNA methylation involvement in human diseases.