Association between plasma IgG N-glycan profiling and suboptimal health status among undergraduates in a college in Shandong Province / 中华健康管理学杂志

Objective:To explore the association between suboptimal health status (SHS) and plasma IgG N-glycans levels among undergraduates in a college in Shandong Province.Methods:A case-control study was conducted from September to November 2017, 100 college students who underwent physical examinations at Weifang University in Shandong, were selected as study participants based on the inclasion and exclusion criteria of the study. According to the criteria of SHS, the participants were divided into an SHS group ( n=50) and a health control group ( n=50). Plasma IgG N-glycosylaton levels were analyzed by means of ultra-high liquid chromatography (UPLC), and 24 glycan peaks were obtained. The Mann-Whitney U-test and binary logistic regression analysis were performed to investigate the association between IgG N-glycans and SHS. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to evaluate the possibility of plasma IgG N-glycans being a biomarker of SHS. Results:The results of univariate and multivariate analysis showed that GP17 was associated with SHS ( P<0.05), and the relative abundance of initial glycan peaks (GP17) was higher in the SHS group compared with the control group. ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of the baseline model was 0.826 (95% confidence interval [ CI]: 0.747-0.905, P<0.001); the AUC of the glycan-based model was 0.631 (95% CI: 0.519-0.744, P=0.002), and the AUC of the combined model was 0.848 (95% CI: 0.763-0.912, P<0.001). Compared with the baseline model, the diagnostic efficiency of the combined model revealed a trend of improvement. Conclusions:The SHS of the students in a college in Shandong Province was associated with an IgG N-glycan level of GP17, which was significantly higher than that of the control group.

Causal associations between COVID-19 and Atrial Fibrillation: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study

BackgroundObservational studies showed that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) attacks universally and its most menacing progression uniquely endangers the elderly with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Whether COVID-19 is causally related to increasing susceptibility and severity of atrial fibrillation (AF), the main form of CVD, remains still unknown. MethodsThe study aims to investigate the bidirectional causal relations of COVID-19 with AF using two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. ResultsMR evidence suggested genetically predicted severe COVID-19 was significantly associated with higher risk of AF (odds ratio [OR], 1.041; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.007-1.076; P = 0.017), while genetically predicted AF was not causally associated with severe COVID-19 (OR, 0.831; 95% CI, 1.619-1.115; P=0.217). There was limited evidence to support association of genetically proxied COVID-19 with risk of AF (OR, 1.051; 95% CI, 0.991-1.114; P=0.097), and vice versa (OR, 0.163; 95% CI, 0.004-6.790; P=0.341). MR-Egger indicated no evidence of pleiotropic bias. ConclusionOverall, severe COVID-19 may causally affect AF through independent biological pathway. Survivors from severe COVID-19 might be of high risk of AF in the future.

Association between Alzheimer's disease and COVID-19: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization

BackgroundIn observational studies, Alzheimers disease (AD) has been associated with an increased risk of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the prognosis of COVID-19 can affect nervous systems. However, the causality between these conditions remains to be determined. MethodsThis study sought to investigate the bidirectional causal relations of AD with COVID-19 using two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. ResultsWe found that genetically predicted AD was significantly associated with higher risk of severe COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR], 3.329; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.139-9.725; P=0.028). Its interesting that genetically predicted severe COVID-19 was also significantly associated with higher risk of AD (OR, 1.004; 95% CI, 1.001-1.007; P=0.018). In addition, the two strong genetic variants associated with severe COVID-19 was associated with higher AD risk (OR, 1.018; 95% CI, 1.003-1.034; P=0.018). There is no evidence to support that genetically predicted AD was significantly associated with COVID-19 susceptibility, and vice versa. No obvious pleiotropy bias and heterogeneity were observed. ConclusionOverall, AD may causally affect severe COVID-19, and vice versa, performing bidirectional regulation through independent biological pathways.

Advances in genomics for ischaemic stroke / 国际脑血管病杂志

Ischemic stroke is one of the major diseases of causing adult disability and death.Age,sex,smoking,hypertension,and diabetes,etc.are the risk factors for ischemic stroke,but they can only partially explain the reasons of stroke onset.Twins,families,and single-gene genetic stroke studies have shown that ischemic stroke has obvious genetic predisposition.In recent years,genomics has made remarkable progress in ischemic stroke study and has shown that many new single nucleotide polymorphisms or genes are associated with ischemic stroke and its risk factors.However,the contribution of these genetic genes for ischemic stroke is still too small and the repetitive studies are needed for further confirmation.

Guiding the medical postgraduate education via translational medicine concept / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Nowadays,the disconnection between pre-clinical medicine and clinical medicine exists in the medical postgraduate education.Application of the concept of translational medicine to the postgraduate education will play an important role in the training of medical personnel.This article gives a discussion on the means of training postgraduates by building a platform for translational medicine,reforming the curriculum,improving the research evaluation system and building cooperation among universities,hospitals and enterprises.

Screening of target genes in esophageal squamous cell cancer in Kazakh by oligonucleotide microarray / 中华消化外科杂志

Objective To screen the differentially expressed genes in esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) and normal tissue of esophageal mucosa in Kazakh. Methods RNA was extracted from the ESCC sections in Kazakh patients, and was amplified to obtain cRNA. The gene expression profiles in ESCC and normal tissue of esophageal mucosa were detected by HG-U133 Plus 2.0 gene chip. The results were analyzed by bioinfor-matics. Results One hundred and seventy differentially expressed genes in ESCC and normal tissue of esophageal mucosa were found, with a difference of more than 10 times in expression levels. Of the 170 genes, 39 were up-regulated (signal log ratio > 3 ) and 131 down-regulated (signal log ratio < - 3). These factors such as cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, cytoskeleton; extracellular matrix, intracellular signal transduction, protein translation and synthesis, and immunological functions were correlated with the genes with abnormal expression. Conclusion The use of oligonucleotide microarray accurately and efficiently screen the 170 target genes in ESCC in Kazakh. It is suggested that these genes may be related to the carcinogenesis and development of ESCC in Kazakh.