Value of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI for prediction of the pathological grade and early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma / 中国基层医药

Objective:To investigate the value of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI in predicting the pathological grade and early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods:The imaging data, pathological data, and follow-up data of 90 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI examination and surgical treatment in People's Hospital of Baise from January 2016 to October 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. The correlation between the signal intensity of contrast-enhanced MRI and postoperative pathological grade was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to investigate the effects of the signal characteristics of hepatobiliary lesions on the early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.Results:A total of 59 (65.56%) patients showed low-intensity signals and 31 (34.44%) patients showed mixed-intensity signals. High-intensity signal was not found in any patients. The signal intensity of the hepatobiliary phase was significantly correlated with the pathological grade of the tumor ( χ2 = 2.26, P = 0.040) and tumor size ( t = 3.10, P = 0.033). The early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly higher in patients exhibiting mixed-intensity signals than that in patients exhibiting low-intensity signals ( χ2 = 2.25, P = 0.041). Conclusion:Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI in the hepatobiliary phase with different signal intensities has the potential to predict the pathological grade and early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Proteomic analysis of human milk reveals nutritional and immune benefits in the colostrum from mothers with COVID-19

The range of benefits breastfeeding provides neonates and infants include nutrition, improved neonatal survival, and reduced morbidity from certain diseases. It also aids maternal health by speeding postpartum recovery. However, due to concern about the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and the lack of evidence of breastmilks protective effects against the virus, whether mothers with COVID-19 should be encouraged to breastfeed is under debate. Here, we present the results of proteomic and glycoproteomic studies of breast milk (colostrum and mature milk) from mothers with confirmed COVID-19. All colostrum samples exhibited significantly upregulated immune-related proteins, especially whey proteins with antiviral properties against SARS-CoV-2, and increased glycosylation levels and heterogeneity at those proteins. Such adaptive differences in milk from COVID-19 mothers tend to fade in mature milk from the same mothers one month postpartum. These results suggest the immune benefits of colostrum from mothers with COVID-19 and provide molecular-level insights that aid breastmilk feeding decisions in cases of active infection.

Copy number alteration profiling facilitates differential diagnosis between ossifying fibroma and fibrous dysplasia of the jaws / 国际口腔科学杂志·英文版

Ossifying fibroma (OF) and fibrous dysplasia (FD) are two fibro-osseous lesions with overlapping clinicopathological features, making diagnosis challenging. In this study, we applied a whole-genome shallow sequencing approach to facilitate differential diagnosis via precise profiling of copy number alterations (CNAs) using minute amounts of DNA extracted from morphologically correlated microdissected tissue samples. Freshly frozen tissue specimens from OF (n = 29) and FD (n = 28) patients were obtained for analysis. Lesion fibrous tissues and surrounding normal tissues were obtained by laser capture microdissection (LCM), with ~30-50 cells (5 000-10 000 µm

Single-cell transcriptional atlas of the Chinese horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus) provides insight into the cellular mechanisms which enable bats to be viral reservoirs

Bats are a major "viral reservoir" in nature and there is a great interest in not only the cell biology of their innate and adaptive immune systems, but also in the expression patterns of receptors used for cellular entry by viruses with potential cross-species transmission. To address this and other questions, we created a single-cell transcriptomic atlas of the Chinese horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus) which comprises 82,924 cells from 19 organs and tissues. This atlas provides a molecular characterization of numerous cell types from a variety of anatomical sites, and we used it to identify clusters of transcription features that define cell types across all of the surveyed organs. Analysis of viral entry receptor genes for known zoonotic viruses showed cell distribution patterns similar to that of humans, with higher expression levels in bat intestine epithelial cells. In terms of the immune system, CD8+ T cells are in high proportion with tissue-resident memory T cells, and long-lived effector memory nature killer (NK) T-like cells (KLRG1, GZMA and ITGA4 genes) are broadly distributed across the organs. Isolated lung primary bat pulmonary fibroblast (BPF) cells were used to evaluate innate immunity, and they showed a weak response to interferon {beta} and tumor necrosis factor- compared to their human counterparts, consistent with our transcriptional analysis. This compendium of transcriptome data provides a molecular foundation for understanding the cell identities, functions and cellular receptor characteristics for viral reservoirs and zoonotic transmission.

MINERVA: A facile strategy for SARS-CoV-2 whole genome deep sequencing of clinical samples

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses a serious public health risk. Analyzing the genome of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from clinical samples is crucial for the understanding of viral spread and viral evolution, as well as for vaccine development. Existing sample preparation methods for viral genome sequencing are demanding on user technique and time, and thus not ideal for time-sensitive clinical samples; these methods are also not optimized for high performance on viral genomes. We have developed MetagenomIc RNA EnRichment VirAl sequencing (MINERVA), a facile, practical, and robust approach for metagenomic and deep viral sequencing from clinical samples. This approach uses direct tagmentation of RNA/DNA hybrids using Tn5 transposase to greatly simplify the sequencing library construction process, while subsequent targeted enrichment can generate viral genomes with high sensitivity, coverage, and depth. We demonstrate the utility of MINERVA on pharyngeal, sputum and stool samples collected from COVID-19 patients, successfully obtaining both whole metatranscriptomes and complete high-depth high-coverage SARS-CoV-2 genomes from these clinical samples, with high yield and robustness. MINERVA is compatible with clinical nucleic extracts containing carrier RNA. With a shortened hands-on time from sample to virus-enriched sequencing-ready library, this rapid, versatile, and clinic-friendly approach will facilitate monitoring of viral genetic variations during outbreaks, both current and future.

Relationship between changes of endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor and hydrolase and initiation of pre-eclampsia / 中华妇产科杂志

Objective To investigate the role of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase-2 (DDAH-2)/asymmetric dimethylarginine(ADMA)in pathophiology of preeclampsia by detecting expression of DDAH-2 in placenta and serum plasma ADMA.Methods From Jan.2004 to Jan.2005,30 preeclampsia patients(PE group)were chosen in the Third Affiliated Hospital.Guangzhou Medical College matched with 10 normal third trimester women as control(control group).The placental DDAH-2 mRNA expression was detected by fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction(FQ-PCR)and the plasma concentration of ADMA WSB determined by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC).Results(1)The level of ADMA in PE group was significantly higher that than of control group[(18.0±7.2)mg/L vs.(10.3±1.7)mg/L,P<0.01].The expression level of ADMA in preeclampsia occurring before 34 gestatinal weeks WaS significantly higher than that of preeclampsia occurring after 34 gestational weeks[(22.0±7.0)ms/L vs.(12.7±2.8)mg/L,P<0.01].(2)The Placental DDAH-2 mRNA expression in preeclampsia patients was remarkably lower than that of control group[1×10(5.23±0.45)copy/μlvs.1×10(5.65±0.08)copy/μl,P<0.01].The Placental DDAH-2 mRNA in preeclampsia occurring before 34 gestatinal weeks was significantly lower than that of preeclampsia occurring after 34 gestational weeks [1×10(5.02±0.46)copy/μl vs.1×10(5.61±0.19)copy/μl,P<0.01].Conclusion Our results suggested that low expression of DDAH-2 in placenta and increased serum ADMA level might confer the susceptibility to preeclampsia.

Quantitative analysis of fetal DNA in maternal plasma / 中华围产医学杂志

Objective To develop real-time quantitative PCR method for measuring the amount of fetal DNA in maternal plasma and the changing patterns of fetal and maternal DNA with the pregnant progress. Methods Fifty-eight women were recruited at 7～42 weeks of gestation with singleton pregnancy determined by ultrasound scan. QIAGEN DNA kits was used to extract fetal DNA from maternal plasma. Fluorescent quantitative PCR(FQ-PCR) were applied to determine the concentration of ?-actin and SRY gene in extracted DNA. Results Thirty-seven male fetus were all identified among the 58 pregnant women (100%) and no Y signal was detected in the other 21 pregnancies with female foetus. The median level of fetal DNA in those pregnancies with male foetus was 9.08 copies/ml (3.5～12.8) in early pregnancy,45.41 copies/ml (14.38～76.5) in mid-pregnancy and 300.95 copies/ml (84～840) in late pregnancy. Conclusions The concentration of fetal DNA increases with the progress of pregnancy. Maternal plasma may be valuable in noninvasive prenatal diagnosis.