[Related factors of negative conversion time of nucleic acid in children with COVID-19]

Objective: To explore the related factors of negative conversion time (NCT) of nucleic acid in children with COVID-19. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted. A total of 225 children who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to Changxing Branch of Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from April 3^rd to May 31^st 2022 were enrolled in the study. The infection age, gender, viral load, basic disease, clinical symptoms and information of accompanying caregivers were retrospectively analyzed. According to age, the children were divided into<3 years of age group and 3-<18 years of age group. According to the viral nucleic acid test results, the children were divided into positive accompanying caregiver group and negative accompanying caregiver group. Comparisons between groups were performed using Mann-Whitney U test or Chi-square test. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the related factors of NCT of nucleic acid in children with COVID-19. Results: Among the 225 patients (120 boys and 105 girls) of age 2.8 (1.3, 6.2) years, 119 children <3 years and 106 children 3-<18 years of age, 19 cases were diagnosed with moderate COVID-19, and the other 206 cases were diagnosed with mild COVID-19. There were 141 patients in the positive accompanying caregiver group and 84 patients in the negative accompanying caregiver group.Patients 3-<18 years of age had a shorter NCT (5 (3, 7) vs.7 (4, 9) d, Z=-4.17, P<0.001) compared with patients <3 years of age. Patients in the negative accompanying caregiver group had a shorter NCT (5 (3, 7) vs.6 (4, 9) d,Z=-2.89,P=0.004) compared with patients in the positive accompanying caregiver group. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that anorexia was associated with NCT of nucleic acid (OR=3.74,95%CI 1.69-8.31, P=0.001). Conclusion: Accompanying caregiver with positive nucleic acid test may prolong NCT of nucleic acid, and decreased appetite may be associated with prolonged NCT of nucleic acid in children with COVID-19.

Dietary Total Antioxidant Capacity and Cognitive Function in Older Adults in the United States: The NHANES 2011-2014

OBJECTIVES

Oxidative stress level takes part in the development of cognitive decline. However, the association between total antioxidant capacity (TAC) from diet and cognitive function is controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between TAC and the cognitive function of older adults in the U.S.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

SETTING

National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys database.

PARTICIPANTS

2712 older adults aged over 60 years.

MEASUREMENTS

TAC was calculated from 8 antioxidative vitamins based on the reference values for vitamin C equivalent antioxidant capacity obtained from individuals' 24 h dietary recall. Four memory-related assessments were employed [Immediate Recall test (IRT), Delayed Recall test (DRT), Animal Fluency test (AFT), and Digit Symbol Substitution test (DSST)].

RESULTS

Among the 2712 participants, the median age was 68 years, and 50.4% were women. Participants in the group with higher TAC levels had relatively higher IRT, AFT and DSST scores (P=0.025, P=0.008, P<0.001, respectively). In adjusted weighted linear regression, log-transformed TAC was positively associated with AFT (β=1.10, 95%CI: 0.51, 1.70) and DSST (β=2.81, 95%CI: 1.16, 4.45). Compared with the first quartile, the participants in the second (Q2 vs. Q1, OR=0.66, 95%CI: 0.43,1.02) and fourth quartile (Q4 vs. Q1, OR=0.47, 95%CI:0.28, 0.78) of log-transformed TAC showed a decreased risk of impaired cognitive function (ICF) after adjusting for confounders. The dose-response analysis indicated a gradual descent in the risk of ICF as TAC increases. Diabetes mellitus (DM) mediated part of the effect of TAC on ICF. The relationship between TAC and ICF was more pronounced in subjects with DM (Q4 vs Q1, OR=0.36, 95%CI:0.17, 0.74).

CONCLUSION

Our findings support that higher dietary antioxidant potential was related to a decreased risk of cognitive dysfunction, particularly in the subjects with DM who may have oxidative injury. DM was one of the factors mediating the effect of TAC on ICF.

Association of metabolic syndrome with cardiovascular outcomes in hypertensive patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE

The association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with hypertension is still controversial. This meta-analysis sought to evaluate the association of MetS with cardiovascular outcomes in hypertensive patients.

METHODS

Two authors comprehensively searched PubMed and Embase databases from their inception to April 18, 2020 for the longitudinal studies that evaluated the association of MetS with cardiovascular outcomes in patients with hypertension. The main outcomes were major adverse cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, revascularization, stroke, hospitalization due to heart failure, etc.) and stroke.

RESULTS

Eight studies consisting of 36,614 hypertensive patients were identified and analyzed. Meta-analysis indicated that MetS was associated with an increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (risk ratio [RR] 1.55; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.28-1.87), cardiovascular mortality (RR 1.44; 95%CI 1.13-1.82), and stroke (RR 1.46; 95%CI 1.22-1.75), respectively. Sensitivity analysis further confirmed the robustness of the prognostic value of MetS.

CONCLUSIONS

MetS is associated with higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, cardiovascular mortality, and stroke in patients with hypertension. Determination of MetS may contribute to improving cardiovascular risk stratification in hypertension.

In vitro assays on the susceptibility of four species of nematophagous fungi to anthelmintics and chemical fungicides/antifungal drug

Using nematophagous fungi for the biological control of animal parasitic nematodes will become one of the most promising strategies in the search for alternative chemical drugs. The purpose of this study was to check the in vitro activity of four anthelmintics, four chemical fungicides and two antifungal drugs on the spore germination of nematophagous fungi: Duddingtonia flagrans (SF170), Arthrobotrys oligospora (447), Arthrobotrys superba (435) and Arthrobotrys sp. (PS011). A modified 24-well cell culture plate assay was conducted to evaluate the susceptibility of nematophagous fungi against drugs tested by calculating the effective middle concentrations (EC₅₀ ) of each tested drug to inhibit the germination of fungal spores. EC₅₀ ranged between 0·7 and 47·2 μg ml^-1 for fenbendazole, thiabendazole and ivermectin, except levamisole (546·5-4057·8 μg ml^-1 ). EC₅₀ of tested fungicides was 0·6-2·3 μg ml^-1 for carbendazim, 55·9-247·4 μg ml^-1 for metalaxyl, 24·4-45·2 μg ml^-1 for difenoconazole, and 555·9-1438·3 μg ml^-1 for pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB). EC₅₀ of two antifungal drugs was 0·03-3·4 μg ml^-1 for amphotericin B and 0·3-10·9 μg ml^-1 for ketoconazole. The results showed that 10 tested drugs, except for levamisole and PCNB, had in vitro inhibitory effects on nematophagous fungi. The chlamydospores of D. flagrans had the highest sensitivity to nine tested drugs, except for ketoconazole.

Long noncoding RNA DLX6-AS1 functions as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-577 to promote malignant development of colorectal cancer

OBJECTIVE

Recent researches have proved that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play essential roles in tumorigenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the exact role of lncRNA DLX6-AS1 in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC), and to explore the possible mechanism.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

DLX6-AS1 expression in CRC tissues was detected by Real Time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR). Function assays were conducted to detect the effect of DLX6-AS1 on the proliferation and metastasis of CRC in vitro. Furthermore, luciferase reporter gene assay and RNA immunoprecipitation assay (RIP) were used to explore the underlying mechanism of DLX6-AS1.

RESULTS

DLX6-AS1 expression in CRC samples was significantly higher than that of adjacent tissues. Loss of DLX6-AS1 markedly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC cells. Furthermore, luciferase reporter gene assay and RIP assay showed that DLX6-AS1 acted as a competing endogenous RNA via sponging miR-577 in CRC.

CONCLUSIONS

DLX6-AS1 could promote the proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC by sponging miR-577, which might offer a potential therapeutic target for CRC.

Long noncoding RNA DLX6-AS1 functions as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-577 to promote malignant development of colorectal cancer

Since this article has been suspected of research misconduct and the corresponding authors did not respond to our request to prove originality of data and figures, "Long noncoding RNA DLX6-AS1 functions as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-577 to promote malignant development of colorectal cancer, by F.-R. Zhou, Z.-P. Pan, F. Shen, L.-Q. Huang, J.-H. Cui, K. Cai, X.-L. Guo, published in Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2019; 23 (9): 3742-3748-DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_201905_17800-PMID: 31115000" has been withdrawn. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. https://www.europeanreview.org/article/17800.

Coronavirus disease 2019: A new severe acute respiratory syndrome from Wuhan in China

An outbreak of new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has emerged during December 2019. The ongoing outbreak in Wuhan City spread rapidly throughout China, where the fatality rate ranged from 2.1 to 4.9%. Due to its high transmissibility, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020. The current outbreak has the potential to become the first pandemic of the new millennium. Most patients who were first diagnosed with COVID-19 worked at or lived in the vicinity of the local Huanan Seafood Wholesale  Market, where live animals were also on sale. The concerted efforts of Chinese scientists led to the independent isolation from patients and identification of a novel coronavirus, SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), on 6 January 2020; this has been an important step in the development of treatment. The purpose of this article is to overview the history, epidemiology, clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID 2019 reported in recently published studies. Based on the results of virus genome sequencing and a model of the interaction between host cells and the virus, we propose several possible targets for antiviral drugs, which may provide new ideas for epidemic control and vaccine development. Keywords: 2019 novel coronavirus; pneumonia; SARS-CoV-2; Coronaviridae; COVID-19.

Multiple-centre clinical evaluation of an ultrafast single-tube assay for SARS-CoV-2 RNA

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the performance of an ultrafast single-tube nucleic acid isothermal amplification detection assay for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA using clinical samples from multiple centres.

METHODS

A reverse transcription recombinase-aided amplification (RT-RAA) assay for SARS-CoV-2 was conducted within 15 minutes at 39°C with portable instruments after addition of extracted RNA. The clinical performance of RT-RAA assay was evaluated using 947 clinical samples from five institutions in four regions of China; approved commercial fluorescence quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) kits were used for parallel detection. The sensitivity and specificity of RT-RAA were compared and analysed.

RESULTS

The RT-RAA test results of 926 samples were consistent with those of qRT-PCR (330 were positive, 596 negative); 21 results were inconsistent. The sensitivity and specificity of RT-RAA was 97.63% (330/338, 95% confidence interval (CI) 95.21 to 98.90) and 97.87% (596/609, 95% CI 96.28 to 98.81) respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 96.21% (330/343, 95% CI 93.45 to 97.88) and 98.68% (596/604, 95% CI 97.30 to 99.38) respectively. The total coincidence rate was 97.78% (926/947, 95% CI 96.80 to 98.70), and the kappa was 0.952 (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

With comparable sensitivity and specificity to the commercial qRT-PCR kits, RT-RAA assay for SARS-CoV-2 exhibited the distinctive advantages of simplicity and rapidity in terms of operation and turnaround time.

Quantitative MRI of Perivascular Spaces at 3T for Early Diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The limitations inherent in the current methods of diagnosing mild cognitive impairment have constrained the use of early therapeutic interventions to delay the progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia. This study evaluated whether quantifying enlarged perivascular spaces observed on MR imaging can help differentiate those with mild cognitive impairment from cognitively healthy controls and, thus, have an application in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We automated the identification of enlarged perivascular spaces in brain MR Images using a custom quantitative program designed with Matlab. We then quantified the densities of enlarged perivascular spaces for patients with mild cognitive impairment (n = 14) and age-matched cognitively healthy controls (n = 15) and compared them to determine whether the density of enlarged perivascular spaces can serve as an imaging surrogate for mild cognitive impairment diagnosis.

RESULTS

Quantified as a percentage of volume fraction (v/v%), densities of enlarged perivascular spaces were calculated to be 2.82 ± 0.40 v/v% for controls and 4.17 ± 0.57 v/v% for the mild cognitive impairment group in the subcortical brain (P < .001), and 2.74 ± 0.57 v/v% for the controls and 3.90 ± 0.62 v/v% for the mild cognitive impairment cohort in the basal ganglia (P < .001). Maximum intensity projections exhibited a visually conspicuous difference in the distributions of enlarged perivascular spaces for a patient with mild cognitive impairment and a control patient. By means of receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, we determined the sensitivity and specificity of using enlarged perivascular spaces as a differentiating biomarker between mild cognitive impairment and controls to be 92.86% and 93.33%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The density of enlarged perivascular spaces was found to be significantly higher in those with mild cognitive impairment compared with age-matched healthy control subjects. The density of enlarged perivascular spaces, therefore, may be a useful imaging biomarker for the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment.

Meat quality traits and proteome profile of woody broiler breast (pectoralis major) meat

Woody breast meat has recently become prevalent in the broiler industry in both the United States and European Union. Recent publications have described the meat quality characteristics of woody breast meat as having hardened areas and pale ridge-like bulges at both the caudal and cranial regions of the breast. The present study investigated the meat quality (pH, color, cooking loss, and shear force) and protein quality characteristics (protein and salt-soluble protein content) in woody breast meat as compared to normal breast meat. In addition, the differences in the muscle proteome profiles of woody and normal breast meat were characterized. Results indicated that woody breast meat had a greater average pH (P < 0.0001) and cooking loss (P = 0.001) than normal breast meat, but woody breast meat did not differ in shear force (P > 0.05) in comparison to normal breast meat samples. The L*, a*, and b* values of woody breast fillets were greater than normal breast fillets (P < 0.0001 to L*; P = 0.002 to a*; P = 0.016 to b*). The woody breast meat had more fat (P < 0.0001) and moisture (P < 0.021) and less protein (P < 0.0001) and salt-soluble protein (P < 0.0001) when compared with normal breast fillets. Whole muscle proteome analysis indicated 8 proteins that were differentially expressed (P < 0.05) between normal and woody breast meat samples. The differences in muscle proteome between normal and woody breast meat indicated an increased oxidative stress in woody breast meat when compared to normal meat. In addition, the abundance of some glycolytic enzymes, which are critical to the regeneration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in postmortem muscles, was lower in woody breast meat than in normal breast meat. Proteomic differences provide additional information on the biochemical pathways and genetic variations that lead to woody breast meat. Further research should be conducted to elucidate the genetic and nutritional contributions to the proliferation of woody breast meat in the United States.

Proteomic approach to characterize biochemistry of meat quality defects

Proteomics can be used to characterize quality defects including pale, soft, and exudative (PSE) meat (pork and poultry), woody broiler breast meat, reddish catfish fillets, meat toughness, and beef myoglobin oxidation. PSE broiler meat was characterized by 15 proteins that differed in abundance in comparison to normal broiler breast meat, and eight proteins were differentially expressed in woody breast meat in comparison to normal breast meat. Hemoglobin was the only protein that was differentially expressed between red and normal catfish fillets. However, inducing low oxygen and/or heat stress conditions to catfish fillets did not lead to the production of red fillets. Proteomic data provided information pertaining to the protein differences that exist in meat quality defects. However, these data need to be evaluated in conjunction with information pertaining to genetics, nutrition, environment of the live animal, muscle to meat conversion, meat quality analyses and sensory attributes to understand causality, protein biomarkers, and ultimately how to prevent quality defects.

A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study on White Matter Abnormalities in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus have considerably higher risk of developing cognitive impairment and dementia. WM changes in these patients have been reported. Our aim was to demonstrate that gradual and continuous WM change and the associated cognitive decline in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus can be captured by DTI parameters, which can be used to complement neuropsychological test scores in identifying patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with and without mild cognitive impairment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Forty-two patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, divided into a group with mild cognitive impairment (n = 20) and a group with normal cognition (n = 22), were enrolled with age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls (n = 26). 3T DTI followed by Tract-Based Spatial Statistics analysis was used to investigate the differences in fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, axial diffusivity (λ1), and radial diffusivity (λ23) among the groups. A receiver operating characteristic analysis assessed the performance of DTI parameters for separating the 2 groups with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

RESULTS

The whole-brain Tract-Based Spatial Statistics analysis revealed that 7.3% and 24.9% of the WM exhibited decreased fractional anisotropy and increased mean diffusivity (P < .05), respectively, between the diabetes mellitus with mild cognitive impairment and the diabetes mellitus with normal cognition groups, while considerably larger WM regions showed fractional anisotropy (36.6%) and mean diffusivity (58.8%) changes between the diabetes mellitus with mild cognitive impairment and the healthy control groups. These changes were caused primarily by an elevated radial diffusivity observed in the patients with diabetes mellitus with mild cognitive impairment. Radial diffusivity also exhibited subtle but statistically significant changes between the diabetes mellitus with normal cognition and the healthy control groups. Analyses on individual fiber tracts showed pronounced fractional anisotropy reduction and mean diffusivity elevation in regions related to cognitive functions. The receiver operating characteristic analysis on the right cingulum (hippocampus) showed that fractional anisotropy produced a larger area under the curve (0.832) than mean diffusivity (0.753) for separating mild cognitive impairment from normal cognition among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. When fractional anisotropy was combined with mean diffusivity, the area under the curve was further improved to 0.857.

CONCLUSIONS

DTI parameters can show a substantial difference between patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with and without mild cognitive impairment, suggesting their potential use as an imaging marker for detecting cognitive decline in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. More important, DTI parameters may capture gradual and continuous WM changes that can be associated with early stages of cognitive decline in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus before they can be diagnosed clinically by using conventional neuropsychological tests.

Sudden stoppage of rotor in a thermally driven rotary motor made from double-walled carbon nanotubes

In a thermally driven rotary motor made from double-walled carbon nanotubes, the rotor (inner tube) can be actuated to rotate within the stator (outer tube) when the environmental temperature is high enough. A sudden stoppage of the rotor can occur when the inner tube has been actuated to rotate at a stable high speed. To find the mechanisms of such sudden stoppages, eight motor models with the same rotor but different stators are built and simulated in the canonical NVT ensembles. Numerical results demonstrate that the sudden stoppage of the rotor occurs when the difference between radii is near 0.34 nm at a high environmental temperature. A smaller difference between radii does not imply easier activation of the sudden rotor stoppage. During rotation, the positions and electron density distribution of atoms at the ends of the motor show that a sp(1) bonded atom on the rotor is attracted by the sp(1) atom with the biggest deviation of radial position on the stator, after which they become two sp(2) atoms. The strong bond interaction between the two atoms leads to the loss of rotational speed of the rotor within 1 ps. Hence, the sudden stoppage is attributed to two factors: the deviation of radial position of atoms at the stator's ends and the drastic thermal vibration of atoms on the rotor in rotation. For a stable motor, sudden stoppage could be avoided by reducing deviation of the radial position of atoms at the stator's ends. A nanobrake can be, thus, achieved by adjusting a sp1 atom at the ends of stator to stop the rotation of rotor quickly.

Induction of apoptosis by capsaicin in hepatocellular cancer cell line SMMC-7721 is mediated through ROS generation and activation of JNK and p38 MAPK pathways

Capsaicin, one of the major pungent ingredients found in red peppers, has been shown to have anti-carcinogenic effect on various cancer cells through multiple mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the apoptotic effect of capsaicin on human hepatocellular cancer cell line SMMC-7721, as well as the possible mechanisms involved. Treatment of SMMC-7721 cells with capsaicin resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of cell-viability and induction of apoptosis which was associated with the generation of ROS and persistent disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential. These effects were significantly blocked when cells were pretreated with a general antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). We also found that capsaicin induced JNK and p38 MAPK phosphorylation. JNK and p38 MAPK inhibitor effectively blocked capsaicin-induced SMMC-7721 cell apoptosis. In addition, NAC completely blocked phosphorylation of JNK and p38 MAPK induced by capsaicin. Our results indicate that capsaicin induced in SMMC-7721 cell apoptosis through generation of intracellular ROS and activation of JNK and p38 MAPK pathways.

Gradientless temperature-driven rotating motor from a double-walled carbon nanotube

Rotation of the inner tube in a double-walled carbon nanotube (DWCNT) system with a fixed outer tube is investigated and found to be inducible by a relatively high uniform temperature (say, 300 K). We also found the mechanism of a gradientless temperature-driven rotating motor lies in the inner tube losing its geometric symmetry in a high-temperature field. This mechanism can be taken as a guide for designing a motor from such a bi-tube system. Using a computational molecular dynamics (CMD) approach and the adaptive intermolecular reactive empirical bond order (AIREBO) potential, the dynamic behavior of a bi-tube system subjected to uniformly distributed temperature is studied. In particular, the effects of environmental temperature, boundary conditions of the outer tube, and intertube gap on the dynamic behavior of the bi-tube system are investigated. Numerical examples show that a bi-tube system with the inner tube having 0.335 nm of interlayer gap produces the highest rotational speed.

Interleukin-7 expression in tears and orbital tissues of patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy

The aim of this study was to explore whether IL-7 participates in the pathogenesis of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO). This was a prospective study. 20 GO patients (40 eyes) and 20 healthy volunteers (40 eyes) were recruited. The tear concentration of IL-7 was measured using ELISA assay. IL-7 expression in orbital tissues was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Patients with inactive GO had the highest IL-7 concentrations in the tears, followed by healthy controls and patients with active GO per ELISA. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that IL-7 expression in orbital tissues of the inactive GO samples was higher than that of the volunteers. Changes of IL-7 expression in different phases of GO suggested that IL-7 may play an important role in the pathogenesis of GO.

TNF-α acutely upregulates amylin expression in murine pancreatic beta cells

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS

Amylin, a secretory protein mainly produced by pancreatic beta cells, is elevated in the circulation of patients with diseases related to acute and chronic inflammation, including acute pancreatitis, pancreas graft rejection, obesity and insulin resistance. TNF-α is involved in these disorders. We investigated the effect of TNF-α on amylin levels and the underlying mechanisms, using murine pancreatic beta cell line MIN6 and pancreatic islets.

METHODS

Amylin, proinsulin and prohormone convertase 1/3, 2 (Pc1/3, Pc2 [also known as Pcsk1/3 and Pcsk2, respectively]) mRNA levels, and amylin promoter and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation were examined by real-time PCR and luciferase reporter assay, respectively. Amylin protein level and mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation were detected by western blot. Activator protein 1 (AP1) activation was examined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA).

RESULTS

TNF-α acutely induced amylin expression at the transcriptional level and increased proamylin and the intermediate form of amylin in MIN6 cells and islets. However, it had no effect on proinsulin, Pc1/3 and Pc2 expression. Studies with (1) MIN6 cells treated with inhibitors of MEK1/2, c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) or protein kinase Cζ (PKC(ζ)), (2) MIN6 cells expressing a c-Jun-dominant negative construct and (3) islets from Fos knockout mice demonstrated that TNF-α induced amylin expression through the PKC(ζ)-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/JNK pathways. EMSA showed that (PKC(ζ)), JNK and ERK1/2 were involved in TNF-α-induced AP1 activation, suggesting that TNF-α induces murine amylin expression through the (PKC(ζ)) - ERK1/2 - AP and PKC(ζ) - JNK - AP1 pathways. Further studies showed that TNF-α also induced murine amylin expression through the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase-NF-κB signalling pathway and enhanced human amylin promoter activation through NF-κB and AP1.

CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION

TNF-α acutely induces amylin gene expression in beta cells through multiple signalling pathways, possibly contributing to amylin elevation in acute inflammation-related pancreatic disorders.

Lentivirus-mediated expression of MxA in chicken spermatogonial stem cells

The aim of this study was to construct a lentivirus vector that carries the human myxovirus-resistant A (MxA) anti-virus gene for efficiently infecting rooster spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). A lentiviral vector carrying the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and MxA fusion gene (EGFP-MxA) was constructed using TOPO technology in this study. Enhanced green fluorescent protein-MxA was inserted in the right orientation as determined by restriction enzyme digest. No gene recombination in the vector occurred. After infecting 293FT cells, EGFP-MxA fusion protein was expressed as granular green fluorescence characteristic of EGFP-MxA expression, suggesting that the TOPO expression vector was properly constructed and the fusion protein expressed correctly. The EGFP-MxA recombinant lentivirus was packaged by cotransfecting 293FT cells with EGFP-MxA and the packaging plasmids. We also purified SSCs from testicle tissues from 25-day-old roosters for infection with the EGFP-MxA recombinant virus. After infecting rooster SSCs with the recombinant virus for 72 h, EGFP-MxA expression was detected by EGFP expression. Enhanced green fluorescent protein-MxA expression in SSCs was further confirmed at the transcription level by RT-PCR and at the protein level by immunocytochemistry. Staining with Hoechst 33342 showed that infected SSCs differed from the sertoli cells. Similar to stem cells, SSCs were positive for alkaline phosphoric acid enzyme and for stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 stem cell factor. The results demonstrated that the recombinant virus made in our study can infect rooster SSCs efficiently to express the anti-virus protein MxA, establishing the basis of transferring MxA into SSCs to obtain virus-resistant, genetically-modified roosters.

Molecular Biomarkers of Columnar Cell Lesions Identified by Proteomic Approaches

The widespread increase in the use of screening mammography has led to a significant rise in the detection and diagnosis of benign breast disease (BBD), which encompasses a wide variety of non-cancerous changes including columnar cell lesions (CCL). Epidemiologic studies provide evidence for a relationship between BBD and subsequent risk of developing breast cancer. Observational studies have reported CCL are found adjacent to areas of tubular carcinoma and ductal and lobular carcinomas in situ and recently published molecular data state that genetic abnormalities frequently found in low grade ductal carcinoma in situ are also found in CCL. All these data support the hypothesis that CCL are the earliest morphologically distinguishable precursor lesions to low grade ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma. However, BBD is heterogeneous and there is limited understanding of the biological importance associated with the spectrum of lesions. The lack of accurate molecular-based risk categories, therefore, hinders the ability of assigning prognostic significance to benign biopsy findings. The purpose of our study was to identify putative molecular markers of cancer progression from epithelial cells of BBD lesions. Regions of ductal hyperplasia (DH) and normal breast epithelium were isolated from mastectomy specimens using laser capture microdissection and extracted proteins were analyzed through proteomic approaches. Of the 1,500 total protein spots resolved by 2-dimensional electrophoresis, 98 were differentially expressed between DH and normal breast epithelial proteomes. Twenty-two proteins or related isoforms were identified using mass spectrometry. Two proteins of particular interest, NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and galectin-3, were further investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on cases diagnosed with BBD lesions. NQO1 was expressed sporadically in overtly normal epithelial cells lining breast ducts, but was overexpressed in BBD and tumor tissues. Notably, we found that a subpopulation of DH tissues with CCL stained positively for NQO1 and negatively for galectin-3. This finding has significance because CCL can only be diagnosed morphologically and the presence of CCL in biopsy specimens may indicate a precancerous lesion. However, sectioning artifacts associated with core biopsies can hinder morphological diagnosis of CCL, thus a means to additionally identify these lesions using IHC has tremendous value. Together, immunohistochemical staining of NQO1 and galectin-3 may prove to be clinically relevant in the identification of CCL in biopsy samples.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 2142.

Mild hypoxic-ischemic injury in the neonatal rat brain: longitudinal evaluation of white matter using diffusion tensor MR imaging

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Selective white matter (WM) damage is a known sequela of mild hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injury in the neonatal rat model. The aim of this study was to evaluate longitudinally mild HI-induced WM damage (represented by the external capsule [EC]) by diffusion tensor MR imaging (DTI) and to correlate the findings with histology.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Seven-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 19) underwent unilateral ligation of the left common carotid artery followed by hypoxia for 50 minutes to create mild HI injury. DTI was performed longitudinally at 5 time points from day 1 to day 90 postinjury (n = 19, 16, 13, 11, 9, respectively), and fractional anisotropy (FA), trace, radial diffusivity (lambda( perpendicular)), and axial diffusivity (lambda(//)) of the injury and control contralateral ECs were quantified. Rats were randomly sacrificed (n = 15, in total), and the corresponding ECs were stained with hematoxylin-eosin, Luxol fast blue (LFB), and neurofilament (NF) to evaluate morphologic changes, amount of myelin, and axonal count at every time point. A paired t test was applied to evaluate statistical differences between both ECs, and the Pearson correlation test was used to evaluate the relationships between DTI indices and histologic evaluations. In addition, longitudinal changes in DTI indices and histologic evaluations were analyzed by a linear mixed model and an analysis of variance test, respectively.

RESULTS

We demonstrated significantly decreased FA, increased lambda( perpendicular), and similar lambda(//) in the injury compared with the control EC, which was persistent through all time points. Histologic evaluation by LFB and NF staining showed reduced myelin stain intensity in the injury EC and similar axonal counts in both ECs. Longitudinally, there was an increase in FA, a decrease in lambda( perpendicular) and trace, and stability in lambda(//) in both ECs. Also, there was progressive reduction in the differences in FA, trace, and lambda( perpendicular) between the injury and control EC, especially between day 1 and day 7 postinjury and in tandem with changes in myelin stain. FA was significantly correlated with myelin stain (r = 0.681, P < .01) and axonal count (r = 0.673, P < .01), whereas lambda( perpendicular) was significantly correlated with myelin stain only (r = -0.528, P < .01), and lambda(//), with axonal count only (r = 0.372, P = .043).

CONCLUSIONS

Diffusion indices can reflect dysmyelination in mild HI injury, continual myelination of both injury and control ECs with growth, and the partial recovery of myelin postinjury. We propose that diffusion indices may be used as biomarkers to monitor noninvasively the longitudinal changes of mild HI-induced WM damage.

SINGLE UV EXCITATION OF HOECHST 33342 AND PROPIDIUM IODIDE FOR VIABILITY ASSESSMENT OF RHESUS MONKEY SPERMATOZOA USING FLOW CYTOMETRY

Many fluorescent probes excited by visible light have been used to assess sperm quality by flow cytometry. Developing a viability evaluation method using UV excited stains would be useful for multiparameter analysis of sperm function. This investigation was conducted to determine the efficacy of Hoechst 33342 (H342) and propidium iodide (PI) dual staining for evaluating rhesus monkey sperm viability through use of flow cytometry and excited by a single UV laser. The results showed that the live cells stained only with H342 strongly correlated with expected sperm viability, and flow cytometric analyses were highly correlated with fluorescence microscopic observation. Using H342/PI/SYBR-14 triple staining method, it was found that the live/dead sperm distributions were completely concordant in both H342/PI and SYBR-14/PI assays. In addition, this dual staining was extended with fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated peanut agglutinin (FITC-PNA) to simultaneously analyze viability and acrosome integrity of sperm cryopreserved using two different extenders, TTE and TEST, and indicated that TTE offered better preservation of plasma and acrosome integrity than TEST. Therefore, the H342/PI dual staining provides an accurate technique for evaluating viability of rhesus monkey sperm and should be valuable for multiparameter flow cytometric analysis of sperm function.

Critical factors influencing prion inactivation by sodium hydroxide

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by aberrantly folded cellular proteins (PrP(Sc); prions) that are generally resistant to conventional pathogen-inactivation techniques. To ensure effective decontamination and inactivation of prions that could be present in source material, we investigated critical factors that influence prion inactivation by NaOH.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A decrease in prion infectivity correlates with the disappearance of the protease-resistant core of PrPSc (PrPRES) observed in biochemical assays. To model prion inactivation, hamster scrapie (strain 263K) brain homogenate (SBH) was incubated for specific periods of time in 0.1 m NaOH at 4 or 18 degrees C, with or without detergent. Neutralized samples were subjected to limited digestion with proteinase K (PK) and then analysed using an endpoint dilution western blot assay and antibody 3F4. Structural changes in prions exposed to NaOH were examined using differential immunoprecipitation.

RESULTS

Treatment of SBH with 0.1 m NaOH for 15 min, in the absence of detergent, at 4 and 18 degrees C caused a reduction in the PrP(RES) signal of 3.5 and 4.0 log10 units, respectively, with some residual signal remaining. The presence of the detergent sarkosyl during a 60-min incubation in NaOH further enhanced PrPRES reduction to > or = 4.5 log10 units (i.e. below the limit of detection). NaOH treatment induced conformational changes in PrP that resulted in the exposure of a hidden epitope and enabled prion immunoprecipitation by antibody 3F4.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of NaOH can effectively reduce prion levels in an in vitro inactivation assay. After pretreatment of SBH with detergent, NaOH completely eliminates the PrPRES signal. Detergent may liberate lipid membrane-protected PrPSc to improve access to NaOH, which can then inactivate PrPSc by altering its structure. In cases of unidentified exposure to PrPSc during manufacturing, sanitizing procedures combining the use of detergent and NaOH may help to ensure minimal levels of contamination carryover in products.

Rat osteoblast functions on the o-carboxymethyl chitosan-modified poly(D,L-lactic acid) surface

In this study, the functions of rat osteoblasts on o-carboxymethyl chitosan-modified poly(D,L-lactic acid) (PDLLA) films were investigated in vitro. The surface characterization was measured by contact angle and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). Cell adhesion and proliferation were used to assess cell behavior on the modified surface and control. The MTT assay was used to determined cell viability and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was performed to evaluate differentiated cell function. Compared to the control films, cell adhesion of osteoblasts on o-carboxymethyl chitosan-modified PDLLA films was significantly higher (p < 0.05) after 6 and 8 h culture, and osteoblast proliferation was also significantly higher (p < 0.01) between 4 and 7 days. The MTT assay suggested cell viability of osteoblasts cultured on o-carboxymethyl chitosan modified PDLLA films was significantly greater (p < 0.05) than that seeded on control one, and the ALP activity of cells cultured on modified PDLLA films was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than that found on control. These results give the first evidence that o-carboxymethyl chitosan could be used to modify PDLLA surface for improving biocompatibility.

The influence of phorbol ester on the effect of tamoxifen in breast cancer cells

To investigate the correlation between the activity of kinases in the growth factor signal transduction pathway and the development of resistance of breast cancer to tamoxifen, reporter gene regulated by the regulating fragment of CCD1 was transfected into the MCF-7 cells, and the influence of tamoxifen on the reporter gene expression was examined under different conditions of TPA treatment. Our results showed that the reporter gene expression was inhibited by tamoxifen and promoted by TPA. Furthermore, tamoxifen exerts an agonist effect on the reporter gene expression when the cells was treated by TPA previously for 12 h. It is concluded that TPA could induce estrogen-like effect of tamoxifen on estrogen receptor positive breast cancer cells and it may be one of the mechanisms responsible for the development of tamoxifen resistance.

Structure and function in rhodopsin: mapping light-dependent changes in distance between residue 65 in helix TM1 and residues in the sequence 306-319 at the cytoplasmic end of helix TM7 and in helix H8

Spin-labeled double mutants of rhodopsin were produced containing a reference nitroxide at position 65, at the cytoplasmic termination of helix TM1, and a second nitroxide in the sequence of residues 306-319, which includes the cytoplasmic termination of helix TM7 and nearly the entire surface helix H8. Magnetic dipole-dipole interactions between the spins are analyzed to provide interspin distance distributions in both the dark and photoactivated states of rhodopsin. The distributions, apparently resulting from the conformational flexibility of the side chains, are found to be consistent with the structural model of rhodopsin in the dark state derived from crystallography. Photoactivation of the receptor triggers an increase in distance between residues in TM7, but not those in H8, relative to the reference at position 65 in TM1. The simplest interpretation of the result is a movement of the cytoplasmic portion of TM7 away from TM1 by 2-4 A.

Structure and function in rhodopsin: mapping light-dependent changes in distance between residue 316 in helix 8 and residues in the sequence 60-75, covering the cytoplasmic end of helices TM1 and TM2 and their connection loop CL1

Double-spin-labeled mutants of rhodopsin were prepared containing a nitroxide side chain at position 316 in the cytoplasmic surface helix H8, and a second nitroxide in the sequence of residues 60-75, which includes the cytoplasmic loop CL1 and cytoplasmic ends of helices TM1 and TM2. Magnetic dipole-dipole interactions between the spins were analyzed to provide interspin distance distributions in both the dark and photoactivated states of rhodopsin. In the dark state in solutions of dodecyl maltoside, the interspin distances are found to be consistent with structural models of the nitroxide side chain and rhodopsin, both derived from crystallography. Photoactivation of rhodopsin shows a pattern of increases in internitroxide distance between the reference, position 316 in H8, and residues in CL1 and TM2 that suggests an outward displacement of TM2 relative to H8 by approximately 3 A.

Probing the dark state tertiary structure in the cytoplasmic domain of rhodopsin: proximities between amino acids deduced from spontaneous disulfide bond formation between Cys316 and engineered cysteines in cytoplasmic loop 1

A dark state tertiary structure in the cytoplasmic domain of rhodopsin is presumed to be the key to the restriction of binding of transducin and rhodopsin kinase to rhodopsin. Upon light-activation, this tertiary structure undergoes a conformational change to form a new structure, which is recognized by the above proteins and signal transduction is initiated. In this and the following paper in this issue [Cai, K., Klein-Seetharaman, J., Altenbach, C., Hubbell, W. L., and Khorana, H. G. (2001) Biochemistry 40, 12479-12485], we probe the dark state cytoplasmic domain structure in rhodopsin by investigating proximity between amino acids in different regions of the cytoplasmic face. The approach uses engineered pairs of cysteines at predetermined positions, which are tested for spontaneous formation of disulfide bonds between them, indicative of proximity between the original amino acids. Focusing here on proximity between the native cysteine at position 316 and engineered cysteines at amino acid positions 55-75 in the cytoplasmic sequence connecting helices I-II, disulfide bond formation was studied under strictly defined conditions and plotted as a function of the position of the variable cysteines. An absolute maximum was observed for position 65 with two additional relative maxima for cysteines at positions 61 and 68. The observed disulfide bond formation rates correlate well with proximity of these residues found in the crystal structure of rhodopsin in the dark. Modeling of the engineered cysteines in the crystal structure indicates that small but significant motions are required for productive disulfide bond formation. During these motions, secondary structure elements are retained as indicated by the lack of disulfide bond formation in cysteines that do not face toward Cys316 in the crystal structure model. Such motions may be important in light-induced conformational changes.

Probing the dark state tertiary structure in the cytoplasmic domain of rhodopsin: proximities between amino acids deduced from spontaneous disulfide bond formation between cysteine pairs engineered in cytoplasmic loops 1, 3, and 4

To probe proximities between amino acids in the cytoplasmic domain by using mutants containing engineered cysteine pairs, three sets of rhodopsin mutants have been prepared. In the first two sets, a cysteine was placed, one at a time, at positions 311-314 in helix VIII, while the second cysteine was fixed at position 246 (set I) and at position 250 (set II) at the cytoplasmic end of helix VI. In the third set, one cysteine was fixed at position 65 while the second cysteine was varied between amino acid positions 306 and 321 located at the cytoplasmic end of helix VII and throughout in helix VIII. Rapid disulfide bond formation in the dark was found between the cysteine pairs in mutants A246C/Q312C,A246C/K311C and in mutants H65C/C316, H65C/315C and H65C/312C. Disulfide bond formation at much lower rates was found in mutants A246C/F313C, V250C/Q312C, H65C/N310C, H65C/K311C, H65C/F313C, and H65C/R314C; the remaining mutants showed no significant disulfide bond formation. Comparisons of the results from disulfide bond formation in solution with the distances observed in the rhodopsin crystal structure showed that the rates of disulfide bond formation in most cases were consistent with the amino acid proximities as revealed in crystal structure. However, deviations were also found, in particular, in the set containing fixed cysteine at position Cys246 and cysteines at positions 311-314. The results implicate significant effects of structural dynamics on disulfide bond formation in solution.

[Development and application of software in EDXRF spectrometer]

The present paper describes application softwares on file management system, multicomponent linear regression, rapid semi-quantitative analysis, analysis of coating thickness and multifunctional Lucas-tooth intensity correction, developed in EDXRF. Utilization of these software improves the analytical quality, management efficiency and development ability of scientific research.

[Mitochondrial mechanisms of CPT-induced apoptosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells]

OBJECTIVE

To understand whether CPT-induced apoptosis is related to the alteration of mitochondrial transmembrane potentials (delta psi m).

METHOD

A low differentiation human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell line of CNE-2Z cells were used as in vitro model. After treatment with 2 mumol/L CPT for 24 h, the delta psi m was detected by the staining of rhodamine 123 (Rh123), while apoptosis was confirmed by sub-G1 cell content and the double staining of hoechst33258 and propidium iodide (PI).

RESULT

CPT induced delta psi m collapse and apoptosis. With 2 mumol/L CPT treatment for 24 h, delta psi mlow cell was increased to (19.0 +/- 3.0)%, while in the DMSO control, delta psi mlow was (7.0 +/- 1.4)% P < 0.05.

CONCLUSION

The disruption of the delta psi m may be one of the mechanisms of CPT-induced apoptosis in CNE-2Z cells.