Hymenolepis diminuta: Effect of infection on ion transport in colon and blood picture of rats

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of an infection with Hymenolepis diminuta on ion transport in an isolated colon and blood picture of rats. Fifty rats were orally infected with five cysticercoids of H. diminuta. The experimental groups of rats were assigned to four groups: group I - 8 days post-infection (dpi), group II - 16 dpi, group III - 40 dpi and group IV- 60 dpi. The control group comprised non-infected rats. The experiments consisted of measuring the transepithelial electrical potential difference (PD) and the transepithelial electrical resistance (R) of the rat colon under controlled conditions as well as during mechanical stimulation (MS) using a modified Ussing chamber. Ion transport was modified using inhibitors of the epithelial sodium channel (amiloride - AMI) and the epithelial chloride channel (bumetanide - BUME), and also using capsaicin (CAPSA), a substance which activates C-fibres. The experimental data presented in this study indicates that experimental hymenolepidosis inhibits sodium and chloride ion transport in the epithelium of the rat colon, with preserved tight junction continuity (except at 40 dpi) and a decreased mechanical sensitivity. The effect of capsaicin on ion transport in the rat colon was varied. In control rats it increased ionic current, and in H. diminuta-infected rats it did not cause any changes in PD.Blood picture in this study showed a statistically significantly lower red blood cells (RBC) count and haemoglobin (HGB) concentration in infected rats in comparison to non-infected. Red cell distribution width (RDW) values and platelet (PLT) count were negatively correlated with the duration of infection, whereas mean corpuscular volume (MCV) value was positively correlated. We did not observe leukocytosis during infection, and amongst the differential leukocyte counts eosinophils and basophils showed statistically significant lower values in infected rats in comparison to non-infected.Our results indicate that hymenolepidosis is associated with the activation of inflammatory mediators and stimulation of nervous fibres, which significantly affects the function of ion channels in the epithelium of the colon in the host. At the same time, a significant decrease in eosinophil count during infection suggests that such an infection did not trigger a strong immunological reaction in rats.     

Locating QTLs controlling several adult root traits in an elite Chinese hybrid rice

This study aimed to elucidate the genetics of the adult root system in elite Chinese hybrid rice. Several adult root traits in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population of Xieyou 9308 and two backcross F₁ (BCF₁) populations derived from the RILs were phenotyped under hydroponic culture at heading stage for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping and other statistical analysis. There a total of eight QTLs detected for the root traits. Among of them, a pleiotropic QTL was repeatedly flanked by RM180 and RM5436 on the short arm of chromosome 7 for multiple traits across RILs and its BCF₁ populations, accounting for 6.88% to 25.26% of the phenotypic variances. Only additive/dominant QTLs were detected for the root traits. These results can serve as a foundation for facilitating future cloning and molecular breeding.     

红细胞分布宽度和超敏C反应蛋白对射血分数保留心衰的诊断价值分析

目的:探讨红细胞分布宽度(RDW)和超敏C反应蛋白(hsCRP)对射血分数保留心衰(HFpEF)的诊断价值,为临床诊断提供资料。方法:研究共纳入2013年12月至2016年12月上海市第七人民医院收治的368例CHF患者,对其临床资料进行回顾性分析,用Logisitic回归分析确定HFpEF的独立危险因素,用ROC曲线分析确定RDW和hsCRP对于HFpEF诊断的最佳Cut-off值及其预测价值。结果:HFpEF患者的RDW(12.83±1.09)和hsCRP(8.70±17.81)水平显著低于非HFpEF组患者的RDW(13.58±1.20)和hsCRP(14.24±30.90)水平;较低的RDW(OR=1.831)和hsCRP(OR=1.003)是HFpEF的独立危险因素;对RDW和hsCRP进行ROC曲线分析,hsCRP的AUC为0.814[95%CI(0.758~0.871)],最佳鉴别界值为185.6;RDW的AUC为0.694[95%CI(0.624~0.764)],最佳鉴别界值为13.15。结论:HFpEF患者的RDW和hsCRP水平显著低于非HFpEF型心衰患者,RDW和hsCRP对于HFpEF均有较高的诊断价值,可作为临床诊断HFpEF的参考指标。     

Prevalence and genetic analysis of α-thalassemia and β-thalassemia in Chongqing area of China

Background and aims

Thalassemia is one of the most common hereditary disorders. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of thalassemia and the mutation spectrum in Chongqing, the southern area of China.

Methods

A total of 1057 children were recruited from Chongqing. Hematological parameters were examined and globin genes were genetically analyzed.

Results

The total frequency of thalassemia carriers was 7.76% in this group of children. Among these, α-thalassemia was 5.20%, β-thalassemia was 1.99% and abnormal hemoglobin variant was 0.57%. Furthermore, 24 cases of α-triplication were detected, frequency of which was 2.55%. The true prevalence of silent α-thalassemia was first reported in this study. In addition, six novel mutations that give rise to α-thalassemia and two rare abnormal hemoglobin variants were first identified in Chinese population.

Conclusions

Our data suggested that the population in Chongqing are at high risk of α- and β-thalassemia. The findings will be useful for genetic counseling and the prevention of severe thalassemias in this area.     

NLR、RDW和PCT评估老年社区获得性肺炎患者病情严重程度及预后的临床价值

摘要 目的：探讨中性粒细胞/淋巴细胞比值（NLR）、红细胞分布宽度（RDW）及降钙素原（PCT）在老年社区获得性肺炎（CAP）患者病情严重程度及预后评估中的临床价值。方法：回顾性分析2018年1月～2020年11月期间我院收治的127例老年CAP患者的临床资料,根据英国胸科协会改良肺炎评分(CURB-65)分为低危组（CURB-65评分＜3分,n=69例）和高危组（CURB-65评分≥3分,n=58例）;根据患者转归分为存活组（n=114例）和死亡组（n=13例）,比较各组患者的基线资料、NLR、RDW、PCT及其他实验室检查指标,并分析NLR、RDW、PCT与CURB-65评分的相关性以及预后的影响因素。结果：高危组NLR、RDW和 PCT水平均显著高于低危组,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。经Pearson相关性分析可得：NLR、RDW、PCT与CURB-65评分均呈正相关关系（P＜0.05）。生存组患者白细胞计数（WBC）、中性粒细胞（NEU）、NLR、RDW、PCT和D-二聚体（D-Dimer）水平均低于死亡组,差异具有统计学意义（P＜0.05）,经多因素Logistic回归分析可得：NLR、RDW、PCT均是老年CAP患者预后的影响因素（均OR＞1,P＜0.05）。结论：NLR、RDW和PCT与CURB-65评分相关,且均是老年CAP患者预后的影响因素,NLR、RDW和PCT对老年CAP患者病情严重程度及预后具有一定的评估价值。     

Erythroid differentiation is augmented in Reelin-deficient K562 cells and homozygous reeler mice

Reelin is an extracellular glycoprotein that is highly conserved in mammals. In addition to its expression in the nervous system, Reelin is present in erythroid cells but its function there is unknown. We report in this study that Reelin is up-regulated during erythroid differentiation of human erythroleukemic K562 cells and is expressed in the erythroid progenitors of murine bone marrow. Reelin deficiency promotes erythroid differentiation of K562 cells and augments erythroid production in murine bone marrow. In accordance with these findings, Reelin deficiency attenuates AKT phosphorylation of the Ter119⁺CD71⁺ erythroid progenitors and alters the cell number and frequency of the progenitors at different erythroid differentiation stages. A regulatory role of Reelin in erythroid differentiation is thus defined.     

外周血红细胞分布宽度与肝硬化和肝癌的相关性分析

目的:分析红细胞分布宽度(Red blood cell distribution width,RDW)与肝硬化和肝癌的相关性。方法:回顾性分析2017年5月到2018年4月就诊于无锡市人民医院的169例肝硬化患者、195例肝癌患者和177例健康受试者RDW、血清丙氨酸氨基转移酶(Alanine aminotransferase, ALT)和总胆红素(Total bilirubin, TBil)水平,分析肝癌患者RDW与ALT和TBil水平的相关性。结果:肝癌组RDW、ALT和TBil水平均高于健康对照组(P0.05)。肝硬化组ALT和TBil水平均高于健康对照组(P0.05),RDW与健康对照组比较无显著差异(P0.05)。肝癌患者RDW水平与ALT(R2=0.8971,P0.001)、TBil(R2=0.8971,P0.001)水平均呈显著正相关。结论:肝癌患者的RDW水平增加,利于肝癌诊断。     

AECOPD合并呼吸机相关性肺炎患者病原菌分布及EOS、RDW联合CPIS对预后的评估价值

摘要 目的：分析慢性阻塞性肺疾病急性加重期（AECOPD）合并呼吸机相关性肺炎（VAP）患者病原菌分布情况,并探讨嗜酸性粒细胞（EOS）、红细胞分布宽度（RDW）联合临床肺部感染评分（CPIS）对预后的评估价值。方法：选取2019年1月～2022年1月我院收治的82例AECOPD合并VAP患者（VAP组）,另选取同期55例未合并VAP的AECOPD患者（非VAP组）;根据VAP组患者治疗后28 d生存情况,将其分为死亡亚组33例和存活亚组49例。检测所有患者外周血EOS、RDW水平并计算CPIS评分,分析AECOPD合并VAP患者病原菌分布情况。采用单因素、多因素Logistic回归分析AECOPD合并VAP患者预后不良的影响因素,采用受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线分析外周血EOS、RDW联合CPIS评分对AECOPD合并VAP患者预后的评估价值。结果： 82例AECOPD合并VAP患者共检测出89株病原菌,革兰氏阴性菌、革兰氏阳性菌、真菌分别占比55.06％、42.70％、2.25％。与非VAP组比较,VAP组外周血EOS、RDW水平及CPIS评分更高（均P＜0.05）。与存活亚组比较,死亡亚组外周血EOS、RDW水平及CPIS评分更高（均P＜0.05）。多因素Logistic回归分析显示,年龄增加和降钙素原、外周血EOS、RDW水平及CPIS评分升高为AECOPD合并VAP患者预后不良的独立危险因素,第1秒用力呼气容积占预计值百分比（FEV₁％）升高为其独立保护因素（均P＜0.05）。ROC曲线分析显示,外周血EOS、RDW联合CPIS评分评估AECOPD合并VAP患者预后的曲线下面积（AUC）大于外周血EOS、RDW及CPIS评分单独评估。结论：AECOPD合并VAP患者病原菌以革兰氏阴性菌为主,外周血EOS、RDW水平及CPIS评分升高与患者预后不良密切相关,三者联合对AECOPD合并VAP患者预后的评估价值较高。     

The association between RDW and survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. Simple,cheap and convenient?

AimThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic impact of red-cell distribution width (RDW) on the overall survival (OS) of patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue.BackgroundDevelopment of cancer is connected with an ongoing inflammatory process which is reflected by laboratory indices, such as RDW that can be used as prognostic tools.Material and methodsThe study group consists of 74 consecutive patients treated with radical radiotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy for SSC of the tongue at one institution between 2005−2014. RDW was assessed based on routine blood tests done before the start of the treatment. ROC curve was applied to assess value of RDW in prediction of OS, and a cut-off value for further tests was obtained using the Younden index. The survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank testing and Cox regression model.ResultsThe AUC for RDW in ROC analysis was 0.703, and the optimal cut-off value was 13.5%. 5-year OS was significantly lower in patients with RDW ≥ 13.5% compared with patients with RDW < 13.5% (67% vs. 26%, p-value = 0.0005). Additionally, high RDW was associated with a greater odds ratio for 5-year OS in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis (3.43, 1.62–7.25; p = 0.001).ConclusionOur study demonstrated that pre-treatment RDW ≥ 13,5% is an indicator of poor overall survival in patients with SCC of the tongue. Since RDW is a cheap and convenient marker, usually routinely assessed during complete blood count tests, it could be further used as an additional prognostic tool in patients with tongue cancers.     

Dietary carotenoid-rich oil supplementation improves exercise-induced anisocytosis in runners: influences of haptoglobin, MnSOD (Val9Ala), CAT (21A/T) and GPX1 (Pro198Leu) gene polymorphisms in dilutional pseudoanemia (sports anemia)

Physical training induces beneficial adaptation, whereas exhaustive exercises increase reactive oxygen-species generation, thereby causing oxidative damage in plasma and erythrocytes, fractions susceptible to lipid peroxidation. Pequi (Caryocar brasiliense Camb.) is a Brazilian Cerrado fruit containing a carotenoid-rich oil. The aim was to investigate the effects of pequi-oil on exercise-induced oxidative damage in plasma and erythrocytes, after running in the same environment and undergoing weekly training under the same conditions as to type, intensity and length. Evaluations were accomplished after outdoor running on flat land before and after ingestion of 400 mg pequi-oil capsules for 14 days. Blood samples were taken after running and submitted to TBARS assay and erythrogram analysis. Haptoglobin, MnSOD (Val9Ala), CAT (21A/T) and GPX1 (Pro198Leu) gene polymorphisms were priorly investigated, so as to estimate genetic influence The reduction in erythrocytes, hemoglobin and hematocrit after pequi-oil treatment was notably associated with higher plasma expansion. Except for MCHC (mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration) and RDW (red cell distribution width), the results were influenced by the polymorphisms studied. The best response to pequi-oil was presented by MnSOD Val/Val, CAT AA or AT genotypes and the GPX1 Pro allele. The significantly lower RDW and higher MHCH values were related to pequi-oil protective effects. Pequi oil, besides possessing other nutritional properties, showed protective blood effects.