Correlation of the TCF7L2 (rs7903146) polymorphism with an enhanced risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis.

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that a transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) polymorphism (rs7903146) is significantly associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); however, limited sample size and variance of ethnicity in the studies investigating this association have led to conflicting reports regarding its role. Therefore, a comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted to quantitatively assess the association between the TCF7L2 polymorphism (rs7903146) and T2DM including published case-control studies in global populations. We searched the PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, and Wanfang databases for publications that studied correlation between TCF7L2 polymorphism (rs7903146) and risk of T2DM. Thirty-six studies from 30 eligible papers were identified. After data extraction and reference quality assessment, summary odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) of the TCF7L2 (rs7903146) polymorphism were calculated and combined using the fixed-effect model. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was evaluated to determine selection bias of the control subjects. Heterogeneity among studies was examined using the Q-test and the I2 test. Publication bias in studies was assessed using Begg's plots and the Egger test. The results showed that the rs7903146 T allele of the TCF7L2 gene was positively correlated with an enhanced risk of T2DM in the allelic, heterozygote, homozygote, dominant, and recessive models, with odds ratios of 1.35 (T vs C, 95%CI = 1.31-1.39), 1.32 (CT vs CC, 95%CI = 1.27-1.38), 1.74 (TT vs CC, 95%CI = 1.63-1.87), 1.40 (TT+CT vs CC, 95%CI = 1.35-1.46), and 1.59 (TT vs CT+CC, 95%CI = 1.49-1.69), respectively. No obvious publication bias was observed using the Egger linear test.

Salvaged single-unit cord blood transplantation for 26 patients with hematologic malignancies not in remission.

Treatments for patients with hematologic malignancies not in remission are limited, but a few clinical studies have investigated the effects of salvaged unrelated cord blood transplantation (CBT). We retrospectively studied 19 patients with acute leukemia, 5 with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS with refractory anemia with excess blasts [RAEB]), and 2 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who received 1 CBT unit ≤ 2 loci human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mismatched after undergoing myeloablative conditioning regimens between July 2005 and July 2014. All of them were in non-remission before transplantation. The infused total nucleated cell (TNC) dose was 4.07 (range 2.76-6.02) × 107/kg and that of CD34⁺ stem cells was 2.08 (range 0.99-8.65) × 105/kg. All patients were engrafted with neutrophils that exceeded 0.5 × 109/L on median day +17 (range 14-37 days) and had platelet counts of >20 × 109/L on median day +35 (range 17-70 days). Sixteen patients (61.5%) experienced pre-engraftment syndrome (PES), and six (23.1%) patients progressed to acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The cumulative incidence rates of II-IV acute GVHD and chronic GVHD were 50% and 26.9%, respectively. After a median follow-up of 27 months (range 5-74), 14 patients survived and 3 relapsed. The estimated 2-year overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and non-relapse mortality (NRM) rates were 50.5%, 40.3%, and 35.2%, respectively. Salvaged CBT might be a promising modality for treating hematologic malignancies, even in patients with a high leukemia burden.

Salvaged single-unit cord blood transplantation for 26 patients with hematologic malignancies not in remission

Treatments for patients with hematologic malignancies not in remission are limited, but a few clinical studies have investigated the effects of salvaged unrelated cord blood transplantation (CBT). We retrospectively studied 19 patients with acute leukemia, 5 with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS with refractory anemia with excess blasts [RAEB]), and 2 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who received 1 CBT unit ≤2 loci human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mismatched after undergoing myeloablative conditioning regimens between July 2005 and July 2014. All of them were in non-remission before transplantation. The infused total nucleated cell (TNC) dose was 4.07 (range 2.76-6.02)×107/kg and that of CD34+ stem cells was 2.08 (range 0.99-8.65)×105/kg. All patients were engrafted with neutrophils that exceeded 0.5×109/L on median day +17 (range 14-37 days) and had platelet counts of >20×109/L on median day +35 (range 17-70 days). Sixteen patients (61.5%) experienced pre-engraftment syndrome (PES), and six (23.1%) patients progressed to acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The cumulative incidence rates of II-IV acute GVHD and chronic GVHD were 50% and 26.9%, respectively. After a median follow-up of 27 months (range 5-74), 14 patients survived and 3 relapsed. The estimated 2-year overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and non-relapse mortality (NRM) rates were 50.5%, 40.3%, and 35.2%, respectively. Salvaged CBT might be a promising modality for treating hematologic malignancies, even in patients with a high leukemia burden.

Development of EST-SSR markers related to disease resistance and their application in genetic diversity and evolution analysis in Gossypium.

Cotton (Gossypium spp) is one of the most economically important crops that provide the world's most widely used natural fiber. Diseases such as Fusarium wilt and particularly Verticillium wilt seriously affect cotton production, and thus breeding for disease resistance is one of the most important goals of cotton breeding programs. Currently, potential exists to improve disease resistance in cultivated cotton. Increasing the understanding of the distribution, structure, and organization of genes or quantitative trait loci for disease resistance will help the breeders improve crop yield even in the event of disease. To facilitate the mapping of disease-resistance quantitative trait loci to achieve disease-resistant molecular breeding in cotton, it is necessary to develop polymorphic molecular markers. The objective of this study was to develop simple sequence repeat markers based on cotton expressed sequence tags for disease resistance. The efficacy of these simple sequence repeat markers, their polymorphisms, and cross-species transferability were evaluated. Their value was further investigated based on genetic diversity and evolution analysis. In this study, the unique sequences used to develop markers were compared with the G. arboretum and G. raimondii genome sequences to investigate their position, homology, and collinearity between G. arboretum and G. raimondii.

Development of EST-SSR markers related to salt tolerance and their application in genetic diversity and evolution analysis in Gossypium.

Salt stress is becoming one of the major problems in global agriculture with the onset of global warming, an increasing scarcity of fresh water, and improper land irrigation and fertilization practices, which leads to reduction of crop output and even causes crop death. To speed up the exploitation of saline land, it is a good choice to grow plants with a high level of salt tolerance and economic benefits. As the leading fiber crop grown commercially worldwide, cotton is placed in the moderately salt-tolerant group of plant species, and there is promising potential to improve salt tolerance in cultivated cotton. To facilitate the mapping of salt-tolerant quantitative trait loci in cotton so as to serve the aims of salt-tolerant molecular breeding in cotton, it is necessary to develop salt-tolerant molecular markers. The objective of this research was to develop simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers based on cotton salt-tolerant expressed sequence tags. To test the efficacy of these SSR markers, their polymorphism and cross-species transferability were evaluated, and their value was further investigated on the basis of genetic diversity and evolution analysis.