[A clinical study of serum protein markers in patients with 1-bromopropane poisoning]

Objective: To investigate the changes in protein expression in patients with 1-bromopropane (1-BP) poisoning using high-throughput proteomic technique and to screen out protein markers. Methods: Serum samples were collected from 3 patients with 1-BP poisoning and 15 controls. The label-free proteomic tech-nique was used for the quantitation and identification of proteins expressed in these samples, and the results were compared between the patients with 1-BP poisoning and the control population. The bioinformatics tools were used to analyze the function of differentially expressed proteins. Results: Compared with the control popula-tion, the patients with 1-BP poisoning had >2-fold upregulation of 38 proteins and >2-fold downregulation of 68 proteins. The differentially expressed proteins were mainly involved in immune response, signal transduction, and stress response. Conclusion: The proteins screened out may be potential protein markers for 1-BP poison-ing, which provides reliable and precise methods and thoughts for the diagnosis of 1-BP poisoning.

Epigenetic mechanism of maternal post-traumatic stress disorder in delayed rat offspring development: dysregulation of methylation and gene expression

Maternal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increases the risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in the child. Epigenetic alternations may play an essential role in the negative effects of PTSD. This study was aimed to investigate the possible epigenetic alterations of maternal PTSD, which underpins the developmental and behavioral impact. 24 pregnant Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly grouped into PTSD and control groups. Open-field tests (OFTs), elevated pull maze (EPM) assays, gene expression profile chip tests, and methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeDIP-Seq) were performed on the offsprings 30 days after birth. The results showed that PTSD offsprings had lower body weights and OFT scores than control offsprings. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays showed that serotonin receptor (5-HT) and dopamine levels were significantly lower in PTSD offsprings than in control offsprings. In contrast, corticosterone levels were higher in the PTSD group than in the control group. In a comparison of the PTSD group versus the control group, 4,160 significantly differentially methylated loci containing 30,657 CpGs were identified; 2,487 genes, including 13 dysmethylated genes, were validated by gene expression profiling, showing a negative correlation between methylation and gene expression (R = -0.617, P = 0.043). In conclusion, maternal PTSD could delay the physical and behavioral development of offsprings, and the underlying mechanism could contribute to changes in neurotransmitters and gene expression, owing to dysregulation of whole-genome methylation. These findings could support further clinical research on appropriate interventions for maternal PTSD to prevent methylation dysregulation and developmental retardation.

Risk factors and clinical outcomes for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae nosocomial infections

This study was aimed to determine the risk factors of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) nosocomial infections and assess the clinical outcomes. A case-case-control design was used to compare two groups of case patients with control patients from March 2010 to November 2014 in China. Risk factors for the acquisition of CRE infections and clinical outcomes were analyzed by univariable and multivariable analysis. A total of 94 patients with CRE infections, 93 patients with Carbapenem-susceptible Enterobacteriaceae (CSE) infections, and 93 patients with organisms other than Enterobacteriaceae infections were enrolled in this study. Fifty-five isolates were detected as the carbapenemase gene. KPC-2 was the most common carbapenemase (65.5 %, 36/55), followed by NDM-1 (16.4 %, 9/55), IMP-4 (14.5 %, 8/55), NDM-5 (1.8 %, 1/55), and NDM-7 (1.8 %, 1/55). Multivariable analysis implicated previous use of third or fourth generation cephalosporins (odds ratio [OR], 4.557; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 1.971-10.539; P < 0.001) and carbapenems (OR, 4.058; 95 % CI, 1.753-9.397; P = 0.001) as independent risk factors associated with CRE infection. The in-hospital mortality of the CRE group was 57.4 %. In the population of CRE infection, presence of central venous catheters (OR, 4.464; 95 % CI, 1.332-14.925; P = 0.015) and receipt of immunosuppressors (OR, 7.246; 95 % CI, 1.217-43.478; P = 0.030) were independent risk factors for mortality. Appropriate definitive treatment (OR, 0.339; 95 % CI, 0.120-0.954; P = 0.040) was a protective factor for in-hospital death of CRE infection. Kaplan-Meier curves of the CRE group had the shortest survival time compared with the other two groups. Survival time of patients infected with Enterobacteriaceae with a high meropenem MIC (≥8 mg/L) was shorter than that of patients with a low meropenem MIC (2,4, and ≤ 1 mg/L). In conclusion, CRE nosocomial infections are associated with prior exposure to third or fourth generation cephalosporins and carbapenems. Patients infected with CRE had poor outcome and high mortality, especially high meropenem MIC (≥8 mg/L). Appropriate definitive treatment to CRE infections in the patient is essential.

Non-motor symptoms and quality of life in tremor dominant vs postural instability gait disorder Parkinson's disease patients

OBJECTIVES

To explore the differences in the features and impact on quality of life (QOL) of non-motor symptoms (NMS) of tremor dominant (TD) and postural instability gait disorder (PIGD) phenotypes early Parkinson's disease (PD), as well as the determinants of poor QOL for TD and PIGD phenotypes.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study recruited 301 patients with early PD and 101 healthy controls. Specific assessments used for NMS included NMS scale (NMSS), the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD-24), the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), the Mini-Mental state examination (MMSE), and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Exam-Revised (ACE-R). QOL was evaluated with the PD Quality of Life Questionnaire (PDQ-39).

RESULTS

Tremor dominant phenotype patients were 117 (38.9%), and PIGD were 155 (51.5%). Compared with TD patients, patients with PIGD had higher frequency of NMS (9.0 ± 5.3 vs 6.7 ± 4.6, P < 0.001), NMSS total scores (39.6 ± 34.5 vs 24.4 ± 22.7, P < 0.001) and more poorly for PDQ-39 summary index (19.2 ± 14.0 vs 13.8 ± 11.5, P = 0.001). There was no difference in the impact of NMS measured with NMSS on QOL between PIGD and TD phenotypes. PIGD phenotype had little impact on poor QOL once the effect of depression was taken into account. Depression was a primary negative predictor for QOL in both TD and PIGD patients (Beta: 0.697 and 0.619, respectively, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

PIGD phenotype had a higher prevalence of NMS and worse QOL than TD phenotype. Depression is related to a dramatic decline in QOL in both TD and PIGD phenotype patients with PD.

Dynamic thermal environment and thermal comfort

Research has shown that a stable thermal environment with tight temperature control cannot bring occupants more thermal comfort. Instead, such an environment will incur higher energy costs and produce greater CO2 emissions. Furthermore, this may lead to the degeneration of occupants' inherent ability to combat thermal stress, thereby weakening thermal adaptability. Measured data from many field investigations have shown that the human body has a higher acceptance to the thermal environment in free-running buildings than to that in air-conditioned buildings with similar average parameters. In naturally ventilated environments, occupants have reported superior thermal comfort votes and much greater thermal comfort temperature ranges compared to air-conditioned environments. This phenomenon is an integral part of the adaptive thermal comfort model. In addition, climate chamber experiments have proven that people prefer natural wind to mechanical wind in warm conditions; in other words, dynamic airflow can provide a superior cooling effect. However, these findings also indicate that significant questions related to thermal comfort remain unanswered. For example, what is the cause of these phenomena? How we can build a comfortable and healthy indoor environment for human beings? This article summarizes a series of research achievements in recent decades, tries to address some of these unanswered questions, and attempts to summarize certain problems for future research.

Changes in the corpus callosum in women with late-stage bipolar disorder

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the differences in corpus callosum (CC) volumes between women with early-stage and late-stage bipolar I (BP I) disorder using the criteria previously described in the literature.

METHOD

We compared women with early- and late-stage BP I using criteria described in the Staging Systems Task Force Report of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. We included 20 patients with early stage and 21 patients with late-stage BP I and a group of 25 healthy controls. Patients and controls underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. Information on the clinical features of bipolar disorder was collected using a standardized questionnaire. Anatomical volumes of five regions of CC were compared between the three groups.

RESULTS

Women with late-stage BP I disorder had reduced posterior CC volumes compared with early-stage bipolar I patients and controls (F = 6.05; P = 0.004). The difference was significant after controlling for age, comorbidity with post-traumatic stress disorder, psychotic symptoms during mood episodes, and current use of medication.

CONCLUSION

The posterior CC was significantly decreased in volume in women with late-stage bipolar disorder. These findings suggest that CC may be an anatomical target of neuroprogression in the course of bipolar disorder in women.

Serial high-resolution analysis of blood virome and host cytokines expression profile of a patient with fatal H7N9 infection by massively parallel RNA sequencing

Bloodstream infections and cytokine dysregulation are associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality among patients with influenza virus H7N9 infection. Here, massively parallel RNA sequencing was used to serially analyse plasma viruses and cytokine transcriptomes of a fatal H7N9-related case at successive times throughout the clinical course of infection. The results showed that acute viraemia with H7N9 virus occurred, and the virus was sensitive to antiviral therapy with oseltamivir. In addition, a lot of genome sequences from Acinetobacter baumannii were detected in blood on day 18 after illness onset when the bacteria were cultured. In parallel, longitudinal mRNA expression patterns of host cytokines associated with infection were analysed. This study illustrated the potential of RNA-sequencing to explore the plasma virome and expression profile of the infected host cytokines simultaneously in infectious disease.

Prevalence and influencing factors of depressive symptoms among women of reproductive age in the rural areas of Hubei, China

OBJECTIVES

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders and a major public health problem in the Chinese population, especially among women. The current study aims to understand prevalence of depression symptoms and provide detailed epidemiological factors associated with depression among reproductive women in rural areas which was paid less attention in previous surveys.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

METHODS

Face-to-face household interviews were conducted on 1058 women (age: 15-49 years) in rural areas from July 2012 to August 2012. Questionnaires were used to investigate the influencing factors of depression among women. Pearson's χ(2), logistic regression analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) were applied to analyze the related factors.

RESULTS

The prevalence of depression among women was 30.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 27.9%-33.5%]. Compared with non-depressed individuals, those with depression were more likely to be short of social support [odd ratio (OR): 0.940, P < 0.001) and have no one to talk with (OR: 0.366, P < 0.001), to be dissatisfied with the house (OR: 2.673, P < 0.001) and economy (OR: 2.268, P < 0.01) of their family, and to have great pressure (OR: 2.099, P < 0.01), negative life events (OR: 1.485, P < 0.05) and physical diseases (OR: 1.364, P < 0.05). Pressure status, social support assessment, and socio-economic status were negatively related to depression (correlation coefficient: -0.57, -0.27 and 0.17).

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence of depression among reproductive women in rural areas is of particular concern. Factors associated with depression may assist health care administrations to identify and assess high-risk women and target strategies accordingly.

Ribosomal proteins L11 and L5 activate TAp73 by overcoming MDM2 inhibition

Over the past decade, a number of ribosomal proteins (RPs) have been found to have a role in activating the tumor suppressor p53 by directly binding to MDM2 and impeding its activity toward p53. Herein, we report that RPL5 and RPL11 can also enhance the transcriptional activity of a p53 homolog TAp73, but through a distinct mechanism. Interestingly, even though RPL5 and RPL11 were not shown to bind to p53, they were able to directly associate with the transactivation domain of TAp73 independently of MDM2 in response to RS. This association led to perturbation of the MDM2-TAp73 interaction, consequently preventing MDM2 from its association with TAp73 target gene promoters. Furthermore, ectopic expression of RPL5 or RPL11 markedly induced TAp73 transcriptional activity by antagonizing MDM2 suppression. Conversely, ablation of either of the RPs compromised TAp73 transcriptional activity, as evident by the reduction of p21 and Puma expression, in response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Consistently, overexpression of RPL5 or RPL11 enhanced, but knockdown of either of them hampered, TAp73-mediated apoptosis. Intriguingly, simultaneous knockdown of TAp73 and either of the RPs was required for rescuing the 5-FU-triggered S-phase arrest of p53-null tumor cells. These results demonstrate a novel mechanism underlying the inhibition of tumor cell proliferation and growth by these two RPs via TAp73 activation.

Severe influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 infection induces thymic atrophy through activating innate CD8(+)CD44(hi) T cells by upregulating IFN-γ

Thymic atrophy has been described as a consequence of infection by several pathogens including highly pathogenic avian influenza virus and is induced through diverse mechanisms. However, whether influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 infection induces thymic atrophy and the mechanisms underlying this process have not been completely elucidated. Our results show that severe infection of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 led to progressive thymic atrophy and CD4⁺CD8⁺ double-positive (DP) T-cells depletion due to apoptosis. The viruses were present in thymus, where they activated thymic innate CD8⁺CD44^hi single-positive (SP) thymocytes to secrete a large amount of IFN-γ. Milder thymic atrophy was observed in innate CD8⁺ T-cell-deficient mice (C57BL/6J). Neutralization of IFN-γ could significantly rescue the atrophy, but peramivir treatment did not significantly alleviate thymic atrophy. In this study, we demonstrated that thymic innate CD8⁺CD44^hi SP T-cells have critical roles in influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 infection-induced thymic atrophy through secreting IFN-γ. This exceptional mechanism might serve as a target for the prevention and treatment of thymic atrophy induced by influenza A(H1N1)pdm09.

Real-time experimental demonstrations of software reconfigurable optical OFDM transceivers utilizing DSP-based digital orthogonal filters for SDN PONs

Real-time optical OFDM (OOFDM) transceivers with on-line software-controllable channel reconfigurability and transmission performance adaptability are experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, utilizing Hilbert-pair-based 32-tap digital orthogonal filters implemented in FPGAs. By making use of an 8-bit DAC/ADC operating at 2GS/s, an oversampling factor of 2 and an EML intensity modulator, the demonstrated RF conversion-free transceiver supports end-to-end real-time simultaneous adaptive transmissions, within a 1GHz signal spectrum region, of a 2.03Gb/s in-phase OOFDM channel and a 1.41Gb/s quadrature-phase OOFDM channel over a 25km SSMF IMDD system. In addition, detailed experimental explorations are also undertaken of key physical mechanisms limiting the maximum achievable transmission performance, impacts of transceiver's channel multiplexing/demultiplexing operations on the system BER performance, and the feasibility of utilizing adaptive modulation to combat impairments associated with low-complexity digital filter designs. Furthermore, experimental results indicate that the transceiver incorporating a fixed digital orthogonal filter DSP architecture can be made transparent to various signal modulation formats up to 64-QAM.

Isolation and characterization of Bacillus subtilis strain BY-3, a thermophilic and efficient cellulase-producing bacterium on untreated plant biomass

Bioconversion of biomass, particularly crop wastes, into biofuels is being developed as an alternative approach in meeting the high energy demand. In this study, a thermophilic bacterial strain BY-3 that exhibits cellulolytic potential was isolated from faecal samples of Tibetan pigs; this strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis. The strain can produce cellulase when grown on various substrates, including carboxymethyl cellulose, rice straw, corn stover, soluble starch and wheat bran. The maximum cellulase activity of the strain was up to 4·323 ± 0·065 U ml(-1) when cultivated in the medium containing corn stover (30 g l(-1) ) for 24 h. The results demonstrated that corn stover is the most suitable substrate for cellulase production by the strain BY-3. The crude cellulase of strain BY-3 was most active at pH 5·5 and 60°C, and the enzyme in acetate buffer (50 mmol l(-1) ) demonstrated a good stability at 60°C for at least 1 h. The crude cellulase exhibited a strong antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. The strain can be used in cost-efficient cellulase production for bioconversion of agricultural residual biomass into biofuels.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The increased consumption of fossil fuels has caused serious energy crisis and environmental problem. Thus, an alternative energy source is necessary. Bioconversion of biomass, particularly agricultural residuals, into value-added bioproducts, such as biofuels and chemical solvents, has received considerable attention. In this study, the newly isolated thermophilic Bacillus subtilis strain BY-3 produces cellulase efficiently with the use of untreated corn stover as a sole carbon source. This strain possesses the thermostable cellulase that is active with diverse crop wastes with a broad pH range and is a highly promising candidate for agricultural waste management.