SNHG12/NFYC-AS1 Acted as the Sponge for hsa-miR-199a-5p to Promote the Expression of S100A8/S100A7/XDH and was Involved in the Progression of Diabetic Foot Ulcers.

Traditional Chinese medicine has been used to treat diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) for a long time. However, the underlying mechanism of Radix arnebiae seu lithospermi ointment (RAS-ointment) has not been revealed. Effects of RAS-ointment treatment were observed in DFU patients. The endogenous competitive RNA mechanism was constructed based on micro-array sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. RT-PCR was used to detected the expression of genes in DFU ulcerated skins and non-ulcerated skins. Dual luciferase and RT-PCR experiments were used to investigate the endogenous competitive RNA mechanism. Based on micro-array sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, we found that SNHG12/NFYC-AS1, hsa-miR-199a-5p and S100A8/S100A7/XDH might form an endogenous competitive RNA mechanism. RT-PCR assay shown that SNHG12, NFYC-AS1, S100A8, S100A7 and XDH were significantly up-regulated, while hsa-miR-199a-5p was significantly down-regulated in DFU ulcerated skins (N = 10) compared with non-ulcerated skins (N = 10). Dual luciferase and RT-PCR experiments showed that SNHG12 or NFYC-AS1 up-regulated the expression of S100A8, S100A7 and XDH by inhibiting hsa-miR-199a-5p in a direct binding way. After 35 days of RAS-ointment treatment, the wound healing of DFU patients was substantially improved and the expression of S100A7 and XDH were reduced expression in DFU patients. In addition, the monomer composition of RAS-ointment, 49070_FLUKA or auraptenol inhibited the expression of S100A7 and XDH in Te317.sk cells. In conclusion, RAS-ointment may be used as an adjunctive therapy for DFU patients.

Age differences in clinical features and outcomes in patients with COVID-19, Jiangsu, China: a retrospective, multi-center cohort study

ObjectivesTo determine the age-specific clinical presentations and incidence of adverse outcomes among patients with COVID-19 in Jiangsu, China. Design and settingThis is a retrospective, multi-center cohort study performed at twenty-four hospitals in Jiangsu, China. ParticipantsFrom January 10 to March 15, 2020, 625 patients with COVID-19 were involved. ResultsOf the 625 patients (median age, 46 years; 329 [52.6%] males), 37 (5.9%) were children (18 years or less), 261 (40%) young adults (19-44 years), 248 (39.7%) middle-aged adults (45-64 years), and 79 (12.6%) elderly (65 years or more). The incidence of hypertension, coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes comorbidities increased with age (trend test, P <.0001, P = 0.0003, P <.0001, and P <.0001 respectively). Fever, cough, and shortness of breath occurred more commonly among older patients, especially the elderly, compared to children (Chi-square test, P = 0.0008, 0.0146, and 0.0282, respectively). The quadrant score and pulmonary opacity score increased with age (trend test, both P <.0001). Older patients had significantly more abnormal values in many laboratory parameters than younger patients. Elderly patients contributed the highest proportion of severe or critically-ill cases (33.0%, Chi-square test P < 0.001), intensive care unit (ICU) (35.4%, Chi-square test P < 0.001), and respiratory failure (31.6%, Chi-square test P = 0.0266), and longest hospital stay (21 days, ANOVA-test P < 0.001). ConclusionsElderly ([≥]65) patients with COVID-19 had the highest risk of severe or critical illness, intensive care use, respiratory failure, and the longest hospital stay, which may be due partly to that they had higher incidence of comorbidities and poor immune responses to COVID-19. Strengths and limitations of this studyThe cohort consists of almost all COVID-19 patients in Jiangsu province with a population over 80 million and its results should be representative of the patient population in the whole province and with a wide range of disease severity, therefore the results are subject to less selection bias. The study includes imported and local cases and could study patients with different types of exposures. The relative short follow-up time and a very small proportion of patients who remained in hospital after the 14-day follow-up period yield incomplete estimates for disease severity and clinical outcomes.

Machine learning-based CT radiomics model for predicting hospital stay in patients with pneumonia associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection: A multicenter study

ObjectivesTo develop and test machine learning-based CT radiomics models for predicting hospital stay in patients with pneumonia associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. DesignCross-sectional SettingMulticenter ParticipantsA total of 52 patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and their initial CT images were enrolled from 5 designated hospitals in Ankang, Lishui, Zhenjiang, Lanzhou, and Linxia between January 23, 2020 and February 8, 2020. As of February 20, patients remained in hospital or with non-findings in CT were excluded. Therefore, 31 patients with 72 lesion segments were included in the final analysis. InterventionCT radiomics models based on logistic regression (LR) and random forest (RF) were developed on features extracted from pneumonia lesions in training and inter-validation datasets. The predictive performance was further evaluated in test dataset on lung lobe- and patients-level. Main outcomesShort-term hospital stay ([≤]10 days) and long-term hospital stay (>10 days). ResultsThe CT radiomics models based on 6 second-order features were effective in discriminating short- and long-term hospital stay in patients with pneumonia associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, with areas under the curves of 0.97 (95%CI 0.83-1.0) and 0.92 (95%CI 0.67-1.0) by LR and RF, respectively, in the test dataset. The LR model showed a sensitivity and specificity of 1.0 and 0.89, and the RF model showed similar performance with sensitivity and specificity of 0.75 and 1.0 in test dataset. ConclusionsThe machine learning-based CT radiomics models showed feasibility and accuracy for predicting hospital stay in patients with pneumonia associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Quantification of Organ Fat Deposits in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by Magnetic Resonance Imaging / 中国医学影像学杂志

Purpose Lipotoxicity plays an important role in the progression of diabetes and its complications,and the gold standards for organs' lipid quantification are biopsy or histochemical staining,which are invasive and have their own limitations.Thus,our research was to identify the difference in organ lipid deposition between type 2 diabetic patients and healthy volunteers by using noninvasive three-point T2* corrected Dixon imaging.Materials and Methods Sixty-five type 2 diabetic patients and 34 healthy volunteers were included in this study.All participants underwent three-echo Dixon with 3.0T MR imager.Dixon imaging parameters [hepatic fat fraction (HFF),splenic fat fraction (SFF),pancreatic fat fraction (PFF)] were collected.All of the MRI parameters were compared.The relationship between HFF,SFF,PFF and BMI,age were analyzed.Results The hepatic and splenic lipid percentage in diabetic group [HFF=(5.4±4.3)％;SFF=(3.7± 1.4)％] was significantly higher than healthy volunteers group [HFF=(2.9± 1.3)％;SFF=(3.0± 0.9)％;P＜0.05,respectively].However,there was no significant difference in pancreatic fat fraction between diabetic and healthy groups (P＞0.05).There were positive correlations between HFF,SFF,PFF and BMI (r=0.379,0.305 and 0.306,P＜0.05).Moreover,only the positive correlation between pancreatic fat fraction and age were observed (r=0.261,P＜0.05).Conclusion The three-point T2* corrected Dixon revealed the abnormalities of hepar and spleen lipid accumulation in diabetic patients.Thus,the three-point Dixon imaging may potentially aid in evaluating the lipid deposition of abdominal organs.

α-Tocopherol Inhibits Activator Protein-1 Binding and TGF-β1 Expression Induced by High Glucose in Rat Mesangial Cells / 复旦学报（医学版）

Purpose　To study the effects of α-tocopherol on activator protein-1(AP-1)binding and TGF-β1 expression induced by high glucose in rat mesangial cells and further to clarify the molecular mechanism of antioxidant in treating diabetic nephropathy.　Methods　AP-1 binding of the rat mesangial cells exposed to high glucose was detected by gel shift assay.The Jun,Fos compositions of AP-1 dimer were determined by supershift assay.Protein expression of TGF-β1 was detected by Western blot.Additionally,the effects of α-tocopherol on AP-1 binding and TGF-β1 expression induced by glucose in rat mesangial cells were also studied.　Results　High glucose stimulated AP-1 binding of mesangial cells in time-and-dose-dependent manners .This AP-1 binding increase involved JunD and Fos as shown by gel supershift.Glucose also increased protein expression of TGF-β1 at same time.The increased AP-1 binding and TGF-β1 were inhibited with pretreatment with α-tocopherol in glucose-treated mesangial cells.　Conclusions　This study suggests that α-tocopherol can significantly inhibit AP-1 activity and TGF-β1 expression by glucose in rat mesangial cells,which may be one of its antioxidation mechanisms to retard diabetic nephropathy.

Signal pathways involve in the stimulation of AP-1 binding activity induced by ox-LDL in mcsangial cells / 中华肾脏病杂志

Objective To investigate the possible role of protein kinase(PK) activity in the induction of AP-1 by ox-LDL in mesangial cells and to elucidate the upstream signal pathways involved in the ox-LDL-induced AP-1 binding. Methods Rat mesangial cells were randomly divided into the normal cells, ox-LDL-treated cells and PK inhibitor + ox-LDL-treated cells. Treatments with the PKC inhibitor bisindolylmaleimide I, the PKA inhibitor H89, the PTK inhibitor genistein (GEN), the MEKi inhibitor PD98059, or the p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 were applied prior to a 24-hour incubation of ox-LDL in mesangial cells. The phosphorylation of MAPK families was detected by Weatern blot analysis. AP-1 binding was determined by gel shift assay. Results Ox-LDL stimulated the phosphorylation of JNKi/SAPK and p38 MAPK( P 0. 05) . Bisindolylmaleimide I at 50, 100, 200 nmol/L appreciably reduced the ox-LDL-induced AP-1 binding. H89 at 0. 5, 5 umol/L significantly inhibited AP-1 binding by ox-LDL. GEN at 25, 50 umol/L did not reduce the AP-1 binding by ox-LDL, but when GEN rose up to 100 umol/L, the ox-LDL-induced AP-1 binding significantly decreased in mesangial cells. However, SB203580 and PD98059 did not reduce the ox-LDL-induced AP-1 binding in the present study. Conclusion Multiple protein kinases may involve in the stimulation of AP-1 by ox-LDL in mesangial cells.

THE STUDY OF COMPARISON BETWEEN ELISA AND DOT-ELISA TO DETECT TBB-MLO TSWV AND PSEUDOMON AS SOLAN ACEARUM / 微生物学通报

Tomato big bud mycoplasma-like organism (TBB-MLO) Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and P. solanacearum was detected by using ELISA and Dot-ELISA methods. The risults showed that to detect TBB-MLO and P. solanacearum Dot-ELISA was about 50—100 times sensitive than ELISA method, but to detect TSWV it gave same results of both methods.

Relationship between the state of oxidation-reduction and protein degradation in the scalded soleus muscle of rats / 第三军医大学学报

One hind leg(7 %TBSA)of the rat was scalded and the changes of the reduction-oxidation state and protein degradation in the soleus muscle were observed 72 hours postinjury both in vitro and in vivo.It was found that the lactate/pyruvate (L/P) and malate/pyruvate(M/P)ratios of the soleus muscle were significantly lower and the protein degradation rate much higher in the scalded leg than in the unscalded legs and the control.After the addition of insulin to the medium significant elevation of L/P and M/P ratios and reduction of the protein degradation rate in the soleus muscle could be observed.There findings suggest that there is a good correlation between the changes of the reduction-oxidation state and the protein degradation rate in the cytosol of the soleus muscle after scalding in the rat.