Research progress on roles of ultraviolet irradiation in diseases / 环境与职业医学

The electromagnetic spectrum emitted by the sun includes visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet (UV). Among them, UV is one of the hotspots of research. Previous studies have paid more attention to the impact of UV on the skin because UV is one of the causes of skin damage. The physiological effects of UV on the skin are well understood, but its impacts on other organs of the body and other human diseases are unclear yet. This review pointed to the benefits of UV exposure in reducing weight gain, metabolic dysfunction, and cardiovascular disease. In addition, UV exposure may be helpful in reducing the incidence of diseases such as diabetes and colitis. UV may also play a role in inhibiting the development of myopia and depression. These findings provide new ideas for applying UV in the treatment of human diseases in the future. This paper reviewed the impacts of UV exposure on human non-skin diseases and explored the possibility of damage of acute UV exposure to organs, not only at the skin level, clarified the benefits and harms of UV for human body, and provided theoretical reference and research directions for deep UV exploitation and UV dose control.

Kinetics of immune responses to the AZD1222/Covishield vaccine with varying dose intervals in Sri Lankan individuals

BackgroundTo understand the kinetics of immune responses with different dosing gaps of the AZD1222 vaccine, we compared antibody and T cell responses in two cohorts with two different dosing gaps. MethodsAntibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus were assessed in 297 individuals with a dosing gap of 12 weeks, sampled at 12 weeks post second dose (cohort 1) and in 77 individuals with a median dosing gap of 21.4 weeks (cohort 2) sampled 6 weeks post second dose. ACE2 receptor blocking antibodies (ACE2R-Abs), antibodies to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the virus and variants of concern (VOC) and ex vivo T cell responses were assessed in a sub cohort. ResultsAll individuals (100%) had SARS-CoV-2 specific total antibodies and 94.2% of cohort 1 and 97.1% of cohort 2 had ACE2R-blocking Abs. There was no difference in antibody titres or positivity rates in different age groups in both cohorts. The ACE2R-blocking Abs (p<0.0001) and antibodies to the RBD of the VOCs were significantly higher in cohort 2, compared to cohort 1. 41.2% to 65.8% of different age groups gave a positive response by the haemagglutination assay to the RBD of the ancestral virus and VOCs in cohort 1, while 53.6% to 90% gave a positive response in cohort 2. 17/57 (29.8%) of cohort 1 and 17/29 (58.6%) of cohort 2 had ex vivo IFN{gamma} ELISpot responses above the positive threshold. The ACE2R-blocking antibodies and ex vivo IFN{gamma} ELISpot responses at 12 weeks post-first dose, significantly correlated with levels 12 weeks post second dose (Spearmans r=0.46, p=0.008) and (Spearmans r=0.71, p<0.0001) respectively. ConclusionsBoth dosing schedules resulted in high levels of antibody and T cell responses post vaccination, although those with a longer dosing gap had a higher magnitude of responses, possibly as immune responses were measured 6 weeks post second dose compared to 12 weeks post second dose.

In vitro and in vivo antihypertensive and antioxidant activities of fermented roots of Allium hookeri / 中草药·英文版

Objective: To evaluate antihypertensive and antioxidant activities of Allium hookeri root (AHR) fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, and Weissella cibaria. Methods: The novel fermented AHR products using L. plantarum, L. mesenteroides, and W. cibaria were developed and ACE inhibitory activity, DPPH radical scavenging activity, hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, superoxide anion radical scavenging activity, total phenolic content, and total thiosulfinate content were determined. The antihypertensive and antioxidant effects of fermented AHR were further investigated in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). Results: Administration of fermented AHR to SHRs had an attenuating effect on both diastolic and systolic blood pressure. The SHRs treated with fermented AHR showed lower plasma ACE activity and higher plasma NO levels. Furthermore, fermented AHR administration led to parallel improvements in plasma oxidative stress biomarkers in SHRs. Conclusion: Our results highlight the potential usefulness of fermented AHR for the prevention of hypertension.

Effects of rice peptide YGEGSSEEG on improving endothelial cell injury induced by tumor necrosis factor / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the peptides and its protection for vascular endothelial cells, derived from the absorbed components of rice α-globulin,which was shown to be effective in anti-atherosclerosis. Methods The amino acid sequence was purified by gel chro-matography and RP-HPLC, and determined by ESI/MS. Then the peptide was chemically synthesized. Hu-man umbilical vein endothelial cell injury model was induced by tumor necrosis factor-α. The cell viability was measured by cell counting kit to screen the appro-priate peptide intervention concentration. The apoptotic rate was detected by flow cytometry. Bcl-2, Bax, p-p38, vascular cell adhesion molecule and the protein expression level of NF-κB signaling pathway were de-tected by Western blot and immunofluorescent stai-ning. Results Apoptosis of HUVECs induced by TNF-α was significantly increased by YGEGSSEEG, which also regulated expression of Bcl-2/Bax proteins and inhibited phosphorylation of p38 protein. Besides, the peptide suppressed the production of VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and activation of NF-κB pathway. While it did not significantly improve the oxidative stress response in HUVECs. Conclusion Peptide YGEGSSEEG pro-tects vascular endothelial cells through suppressing ap-optosis and expression of adhesion molecules.

Association of polymorphism of DNA repair gene XRCC1 with sporadic late-onset Alzheimer's disease and age of onset in elderly Han Chinese.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the presence of beta-amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and extensive neuronal loss. There is evidence indicating that the increased DNA damages may contribute to neuronal loss in AD. Recently, it has been shown that the capacity of some types of DNA repair is impaired in the neurons of AD patients. A functional polymorphism (Arg194Trp) of X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) gene may be associated with the repair efficiency of DNA damage which may have a role in AD. Therefore, XRCC1 Arg194Trp polymorphism may be a good candidate for genetic risk analysis in AD. A case-control study from Turkey found that XRCC1 194Trp was associated with late-onset AD (LOAD). In order to determine whether the XRCC1 gene Arg194Trp polymorphism contributes to the risk for LOAD in elderly Han Chinese, we have investigated it in 212 sporadic LOAD patients and 203 healthy controls from Chinese. No significantly increased risk of LOAD in the carriers of XRCC1 194Trp allele (OR=1.04, 95% CI 0.70-1.52, P=0.860) was observed. As expected, Apolipoprotein (APOE) epsilon4 allele significantly increased the risk of LOAD (OR=2.95, 95% CI 1.90-4.58, P<0.001), while APOE epsilon2 allele significantly decreased the risk of LOAD (OR=0.13, 95% CI 0.08-0.24, P<0.001). After stratifying by APOE epsilon4 status, no increased LOAD risks associated with the XRCC1 194Trp allele carriers were observed. Our findings suggest that it is unlikely that the XRCC1 Arg194Trp polymorphism plays a major role in the pathogenesis of LOAD in elderly Han Chinese and does not support the previous findings that 194Trp allele confers an increased risk for LOAD.

Early Manifestation of Childhood Autism / 实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To explore the early manifestation of childhood autism.Methods Fifty-one childhood autism were selected as autistic group,and 40 cases of healthy children were selected as healthy control group.All children were investigated retrospectively about social competence,language development,repetitive motor actions and special interests before 18 month-old by questionnaire.All results were analyzed by SPSS 11.5 software.Results Compared with healthy control group,children in autistic group presented a series of abnormal manifestations before 18 month-old,including social competence,language development,repetitive motor actions and special interests(Pa