MicroRNA-377-3p exacerbates chronic obstructive pulmonary disease through suppressing ZFP36L1 expression and inducing lung fibroblast senescence.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading aging related cause of global mortality. Small airway narrowing is recognized as an early and significant factor for COPD development. Senescent fibroblasts were observed to accumulate in lung of COPD patients and promote COPD progression through aberrant extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). On the basis of our previous study, we further investigated the the causes for the increased levels of miR-377-3p in the blood of COPD patients, as well as its regulatory function in the pathological progression of COPD. We found that the majority of up-regulated miR-377-3p was localized in lung fibroblasts. Inhibition of miR-377-3p improved chronic smoking-induced COPD in mice. Mechanistically, miR-377-3p promoted senescence of lung fibroblasts, while knockdown of miR-377-3p attenuated bleomycin-induced senescence in lung fibroblasts. We also identified ZFP36L1 as a direct target for miR-377-3p that likely mediated its pro senescence activity in lung fibroblasts. Our data reveal that miR-377-3p is crucial for COPD pathogenesis, and may serve as a potential target for COPD therapy.

Do Human Capital Investment and Technological Innovation Have a Permanent Effect on Population Health? An Asymmetric Analysis of BRICS Economies.

This study examines the asymmetric impact of human capital investment, and technological innovation on population health from the years spanning from 1991 to 2019, by using a panel of the BRICS countries. For this purpose, we have employed the PMG panel NARDL approach, which captures the long-run and short-run dynamics of the concerned variables. The empirical results show that human capital investment and technological innovation indeed happen to exert asymmetric effects on the dynamics of health in BRICS countries. Findings also reveal that increased human capital investment and technological innovation have positive effects on health, while the deceased human capital investment and technological innovation tend to have negative effects on population health in the long run. Based on these revelations, some policy recommendations have been proposed for BRICS economies.

Does Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Affect Workers' Health?

During recent decades, the elevation of workers' health has become the utmost point of concern since it is considered among the primary indicators of economies. The economies, especially the emerging ones, are primarily focusing on every indicator to uplift their businesses. Along with the other aspects, it is also required to assess the impact of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) on workers' health conditions in small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). With this aim, we are presenting a detailed analysis to reveal useful insights regarding the COPD-workers' health nexus. The sample set of 1,008 workers is working in various SMEs in Beijing and Tianjin from September, 2020. The findings infer that a rise in COPD concerning wages will uplift the worker health problems due to COPD affecting worker health. Whereas, the working condition and tools, smoking years, and health safety training have a statistically adverse effect on workers' health concerning wages. The outcomes in terms of insights would be useful for planning future perspectives.

Resistant mutants induced by adefovir dipivoxil in hepatitis B virus isolates.

AIM: To investigate the loci of adefovir dipivoxil (ADV)-induced resistance in hepatitis B virus (HBV) isolates and optimize the management of ADV-treated patients. METHODS: Between June 2008 and August 2010, a cross-sectional control study was conducted comprising 79 patients with chronic HBV infection-related liver disease who had been administered ADV monotherapy. Patients underwent liver imaging. Serum DNA extracts were analyzed for HBV DNA levels, genotypes, and serology markers, and deep sequencing of the HBV P gene was performed. RESULTS: ADV-resistant patients were found either with a single mutated locus, or with coexisting mutated loci. The most prevalent mutations were rtA181T, rtV214A, and rtN236T. Twenty-six patients had more than two mutated loci. The mutants were distributed among the patients without any significant affinity for gender, age, end-stage of liver disease, complications of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or HBV DNA levels. Patients with the rtA181T mutant were primarily infected with genotype C and e-antigen negative HBV, while patients with the rtN236T mutant were primarily infected by genotype B HBV (χ(2) = 6.004, 7.159; P = 0.023, 0.007). The duration of treatment with ADV was shorter in the single mutant group compared with the multi-mutant group (t = 2.426, P = 0.018). CONCLUSION: Drug-resistant HBV mutants are complex and diverse. Patients should receive the standard and first-line antiviral treatment, strictly comply with medication dosage, and avoid short-term withdrawal.

[Comparison of soil heavy metals determined by AAS/AFS and portable X-ray fluorescence analysis].

Total concentrations of Cu, Pb, As, Cr, Ni and Zn were determined for 53 soil samples using portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) system in in-situ and ex-situ (Lab.) conditions. PXRF metal concentrations were statistically compared with analytical results from traditional AAS/AFS analysis. The ability of PXRF instrument to produce comparable analytical results to the reference method was assessed by linear regression. To investgate the effects of soil moisture on PXRF, the in-situ moisture content of all soil samples was quantified and the metal concentrations of selected samples with known moisture contents were measured too. The results showed that the detection limits of PXRF for Cu, Pb, As, Cr, Ni and Zn were 10.6, 8.1, 5.7, 22.5, 21.6 and 10.4 mg kg(-1) respectively. A good degree of linearity was found for Pb, Cr, Ni and Zn in in-situ condition. While in ex-situ condition, quantitative level data were achieved across the entire range of samples tested for Cu, Pb, Cr, Ni and Zn. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry was shown to be an effective tool for quantification and rapid assessment of heavy metals in soils. Soil moisture content did affected the performance of PXRF, the mean percent difference for soil samples in-situ with moisture content less than 15% and higher than 25% was -17% and -31% respectively. In ex-situ condition, as the soil moisture content increased from air dried level to 30%, the mean percent difference decreased from 10% to -24%. The dilution effect of moisture in soils may cause discrepancies with conventional analytical results and induce worse data quality, and it should be controlled within 0-25% in in-situ condition.