A Prognostic Model to Predict Recovery of COVID-19 Patients Based on Longitudinal Laboratory Findings

Virologica Sinica - The temporal change patterns of laboratory data may provide insightful clues into the whole course of COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate longitudinal change patterns of key...     

Evidence of compliance with and effectiveness of guidelines for noninvasive prenatal testing in China: a retrospective study of 189,809 cases

In China,the medical guidelines recommend performing noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) with caution for pregnant women aged 35 years or older.However,the Mother and Child Health Care Law suggests that all primiparous women whose age is older than 35 years undergo prenatal diagnosis.These two inconsistent suggestions/recommendations have made obstetricians confused about whether to offer NIPT to these older pregnant women.To face this issue and find out the solution we performed a retrospective study of 189,809 NIPT samples collected from 28 provincial-leveled administrative units in China.Of 1,564women with high-risk pregnancies who underwent NIPT,459 (29.3%) did not participate in follow-up.The compound sensitivity and specificity of NIPT for trisomies 21,18 and 13 detection was 99.1%(95%CI,98.0%-99.6%) and 99.9%(95%CI,98.8%-99.9%),respectively.In secundiparous women,NIPT showed high sensitivity and specificity similar to that in primiparous women.The observed risk for trisomies 21 and 18 significantly increased when the maternal age was 39 and older.After the publication of the current NIPT policy,the follow-up rate at our center was 97.9%;however,a large number of women are not in maternal and infant care networks nationwide,and that makes the follow-up rate outside our center relatively low.Our study shows that to balance the prevention of major aneuploidies and the limited resources for prenatal diagnosis,the cut-off age of 35for invasive prenatal diagnosis might be unnecessary.Although the NIPT guidelines are well written,how to practice it effectively,especially in less industrialized areas,is worth discussing.     

抑瘤素M受体对慢性自身免疫性荨麻疹发病机制的影响

本研究旨在探讨抑瘤素M受体(OSMR)在慢性自身免疫性荨麻疹(CAU)发病机制中的作用。本研究分别检测30例CAU患者及30名健康受试者的皮肤组织中OSMR、JAK和STAT3的表达,研究显示OSMR、JAK和STAT3在CAU患者皮肤组织中高表达(p<0.05)。转染OSMR-siRNA可显著降低CAU模型小鼠血清炎症因子IL-1、IL-6和IFN-γ水平,而转染JAK/STAT3信号通路激动剂Tyr705则可显著升高炎症因子水平(p<0.05)。转染OSMR-siRNA可显著降低CAU小鼠瘙痒次数、瘙痒时间和嗜酸性粒细胞计数,而转染Tyr705则可显著升高CAU小鼠瘙痒次数、瘙痒时间和嗜酸性粒细胞计数(p<0.05)。转染OSMR-siRNA促进了CAU小鼠上皮细胞的增殖能力,并抑制了细胞凋亡(p<0.05)。而转染Tyr705则抑制了CAU小鼠上皮细胞的增殖能力,并促进了细胞凋亡(p<0.05)。转染OSMR-siRNA下调了上皮细胞中OSMR、JAK和STAT3的表达,而转染Tyr705则上调了OSMR、JAK和STAT3的表达(p<0.05)。总之,本研究表明OSMR基因在CAU患者皮肤组织中高表达。OSMR基因沉默可通过抑制JAK/STAT3信号通路来抑制炎症因子表达及嗜酸性粒细胞数量,促进上皮细胞增殖并抑制细胞凋亡。     

Finite element analysis of trans-lamina cribrosa pressure difference on optic nerve head biomechanics: the Beijing Intracranial and Intraocular Pressure Study

Science China Life Sciences - The present study aims to assess the potential difference of biomechanical response of the optic nerve head to the same level of trans-lamina cribrosa pressure...     

Could urinary ACE2 protein level help identify individuals susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and complication?

Science China Life Sciences -     

The fungal community and its interaction with the concentration of short-chain fatty acids in the faeces of Chenghua,Yorkshire and Tibetan pigs

Despite their important roles in host nutrition and metabolism, and potential to cause disease, our knowledge of the fungal community in the mammalian gut is quite limited. To date, diversity and composition of fungi in swine gut still remains unknown. Therefore, the first internal transcribed spacer of fungi in faecal samples from three breeds of pigs (10 pigs for each breed) was sequenced based on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform, and the relationship between the fungal community and the concentrations of main short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) was also analysed. Results indicated that Chenghua (local, higher body fat rate), Yorkshire (foreign, higher lean meat and growth rate) and Tibetan (plateau, stronger disease resistance) pigs harboured distinct fungal community. The Basidiomycota and Ascomycota presented as the two predominant phyla, with Loreleia, Russula and Candida as the top three genera in all samples. Network analysis revealed a total of 35 correlations among different fungal genera, with 27 (77.14%) positive and 8 (22.86%) negative pairwise interactions. Canonical correspondence analysis suggested that fungi in the faeces of pigs were more correlated to the concentration of acetate and butyrate rather than propionate. Spearman’s correlation further showed that Tomentella was positively correlated to both acetate and butyrate, and Loreleia was positively correlated to propionate (P < 0.05), while Nephroma and Taiwanofungus were negatively correlated to acetate and propionate (P < 0.05). These findings expanded our knowledge on the intestinal fungi in pigs with different genotypes and phenotypes, indicating that fungi may play an indispensable role during the metabolism of host and the maintenance of intestinal health. The cross-feeding between fungi and other microorganisms may be crucial during the digestion of dietary carbohydrates and the associated physiological processes, which is worthy to be further studied.     

Enhanced regional terrestrial carbon uptake over Korea revealed by atmospheric CO2 measurements from 1999 to 2017

Understanding changes in terrestrial carbon balance is important to improve our knowledge of the regional carbon cycle and climate change. However, evaluating regional changes in the terrestrial carbon balance is challenging due to the lack of surface flux measurements. This study reveals that the terrestrial carbon uptake over the Republic of Korea has been enhanced from 1999 to 2017 by analyzing long‐term atmospheric CO₂ concentration measurements at the Anmyeondo Station (36.53°N, 126.32°E) located in the western coast. The influence of terrestrial carbon flux on atmospheric CO₂ concentrations (ΔCO₂) is estimated from the difference of CO₂ concentrations that were influenced by the land sector (through easterly winds) and the Yellow Sea sector (through westerly winds). We find a significant trend in ΔCO₂ of ?4.75 ppm per decade (p < .05) during the vegetation growing season (May through October), suggesting that the regional terrestrial carbon uptake has increased relative to the surrounding ocean areas. Combined analysis with satellite measured normalized difference vegetation index and gross primary production shows that the enhanced carbon uptake is associated with significant nationwide increases in vegetation and its production. Process‐based terrestrial model and inverse model simulations estimate that regional terrestrial carbon uptake increases by up to 18.9 and 8.0 Tg C for the study period, accounting for 13.4% and 5.7% of the average annual domestic carbon emissions, respectively. Atmospheric chemical transport model simulations indicate that the enhanced terrestrial carbon sink is the primary reason for the observed ΔCO₂ trend rather than anthropogenic emissions and atmospheric circulation changes. Our results highlight the fact that atmospheric CO₂ measurements could open up the possibility of detecting regional changes in the terrestrial carbon cycle even where anthropogenic emissions are not negligible.     

NbALY916 is involved in potato virus X P25-triggered cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana

Systemic necrosis often occurs during viral infection of plants and is thought mainly to be the result of long-term stress induced by viral infection. Potato virus X (PVX) encodes the P25 pathogenicity factor that triggers a necrotic reaction during PVX-potato virus Ysynergistic coinfection. In this study, we discovered that NbALY916, a multifunctional nuclear protein, could interact with P25. When NbALY916 expression was reduced by tobacco rattle virus (TRV)-based virus-induced gene silencing, the accumulation of P25 was increased, which would be expected to cause more severe necrosis. However, silencing of NbALY916 reduced the extent of cell death caused by P25. Furthermore, we found that overexpression of NbALY916 increased the accumulation of H₂O₂ and triggered more extensive cell death when coexpressed with P25, even though accumulation of P25 was itself reduced by the increased expression of NbALY916. Furthermore, transient expression of P25 specifically induced the expression of NbALY916 mRNA, but not the mRNAs of three other ALYs in Nicotiana benthamiana. In addition, we showed that silencing of NbALY916 or transient overexpression of NbALY916 affected the infection of PVX in N. benthamiana. Our results reveal that NbALY916 has an antiviral role that, in the case of PVX, operates by inducing the accumulation of H₂O₂ and mediating the degradation of P25.