bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Establishment of a clinical nomogram model to predict the progress to severe COVID-19
Authors: Tu Changli , Wang Guojie , Tan Cuiyan , Chen Meizhu , Peng Hu , Wang Ying , Liang Yingjian , Huang Yiying , Wang Zhenguo , Wu Jian , Wang Kongqiu , Huang Qinhuan , Huang Jin , Zheng Xiaobin , Chen Qiuyue , Geng Yayuan , Guo Na , Zhou Xiaorong , Liu Xinran , Liu Jing , Shan Hong
Published: March 2020

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is the leading cause of a public health emergency in the world, accompanying with high mortality in severe corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19 ), thereby early detection and stopping the progress to severe COVID-19 is important. Our aim is to establish a clinical nomogram model to calculate and predict the progress to severe COVID-19 timely and efficiently.Methods: In this study, 65 patients with COVID-19 had been included retrospectively in the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 17, to February 11, 2020. Patients were randomly assigned to train dataset (n=51 with 15 progressing to severe COVID-19) and test dataset (n=14 with 4 progressing to severe COVID-19). Lasso algorithm was applied to filter the most classification relevant clinical factors. Based on selected factors, logistic regression model was fit to predict the severe from mild/common. Meanwhile in nomogram sensitivity, specificity, AUC (Area under Curve), and calibration curve were depicted and calculated by R language, to evaluate the prediction performance to severe COVID-19.Results:High ratio of sever COVID-19 patients (26.5%) had been found in our retrospective study, and 84% of these cases progress to severe or critical after 5 days from their first clinical examination. In these 65 patients with COVID-19, 77 clinical characteristics in first examination were collected and analyzed, and 37 ones had been found different between non-severe and severe COVID-19. But when all these factors were analyzed in establishment of prediction model, six factors are crucial for predicting progress of severe COVID-19 via Lasso algorithm. Based on these six factors, including increased fibrinogen, hyponatremia, decreased PaO2,multiple lung lobes involved, down-regulated CD3（+）T-lymphocyte and fever, a logistic regression model was fit to discriminate severe and common COVID-19 patients. The sensitivity, specificity and AUC were 0.93, 0.86, 0.96 in the train dataset and 0.9, 1.0, 1.0 in test dataset respectively. Nomogram-predicted probability was more consistent with actual probability by R language.Conclusions:In summary, an efficient and reliable clinical nomogram model had been established, which indicate increased fibrinogen, hyponatremia, decreased PaO2, multiple lung lobes involved, down-regulated CD3（+）T-lymphocyte and fever at the first clinical examination, could predict progress of patients to severe COVID-19.
The effect of conservative oxygen therapy in reducing mortality in critical care patients: A systematic review and meta analysis
Authors: Ni Yue-Nan , Wang Yan-mei , Liang Binmiao , Liang Zong-An
Published: March 2020

Background Conservative oxygen therapy can avoid both the hypoxemia and hyperoxemia, but the effect of it on the prognosis of patients admitted to intensive care unit （ICU） remains controversial.Methods The Pubmed, Embase, Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) as well as the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) Web of Science were searched for all the controlled studies comparing conservative oxygen therapy and conventional oxygen therapy in adult patients admitted to ICU. The primary outcome was the mortality and the secondary outcomes were length of ICU stay (ICU LOS), length of hospital stay(hospital LOS), length of mechanical ventilation(MV) hours, new organ failure during ICU stay, new infection during ICU stay,.Results Six trials with a total of 2250 patients were pooled in our final studies. No statistical heterogeneity was found in all the analysis. Compared with conventional oxygen therapy, conservative oxygen therapy could not reduce overall mortality (Z=0.96, P=0.34), ICU LOS(Z=0.29, P=0.77)，hospital LOS(Z=1.98, P=0.05) and new infection during ICU stay (Z=0.94, P=0.35). However，conservative oxygen therapy was associated with lower MV time(Z=5.03, P<0.001) and new organ failure during ICU stay(Z=2.05, P=0.04).Conclusions Conservative oxygen therapy could not reduce the mortality but did lower the MV time and new organ failure in critically ill patients.
Prevalence and trends of common mental and neurological disorders in Uganda, 2012- 2016: analysis of national surveillance data
Authors: Alitubeera Hilda Phoebe , Kadobera Daniel , Sheila Ndyanabangi , Lukwata Hafsa , Ario Alex Riolexus
Published: March 2020

Background: Empirical evidence shows Mental, Neurological, and Substance abuse (MNS) disorders disproportionately affect the poor and undermine efforts to achieve sustainable development goals. The Ministry of health has recognized that surveillance of MNS disorders is invaluable for adequate and appropriate service delivery. We determined prevalence and trends of common neuro-psychiatric disorders in Uganda, 2012-2016, using national health surveillance data.Methods: We conducted secondary data analysis on common mental and neurological disorders (CMNDs) from the national health surveillance database between 2012 and 2016. Disorders assessed included anxiety disorders, bipolar, childhood disorders, epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia, HIV psychosis, dementia, and other mental disorders. We performed and present descriptive statistics using prevalence of CMNDs by sex, region, age, and case type. Using population data obtained from the 2014 census, we calculated the prevalence of CMNDs by dividing the number of cases by the total population of the different sub-population groups. We analyzed trends of CMNDs from 2012 to 2016.Results: Prevalence of all CMNDs in 2016 was 160/10,000 persons. Prevalence of all CMNDs was similar between males (150/10,000) and females (160/10,000). People aged 5-59 years were the most affected (860/10,000). Epilepsy was the commonest disorder (76/10,000), followed by bipolar affective disorder (24/10,000). Northern Uganda accounted for the largest prevalence of epilepsy (100/10,000) while central Uganda had the highest prevalence of bipolar (62/10,000), schizophrenia (26/10,000), depression (18/10,000), and HIV-related psychosis (11/10,000). On average, CMNDs increased by 9% annually from 2012-2016.Conclusion: CMNDs are prevalent. Epilepsy accounts for the largest burden with northern Uganda being most affected region. CMNDs increased over the period evaluated. We recommend increased awareness on burden of epilepsy and mental health control measures that target epilepsy nationwide.
Future alcohol-attributable mortality in France using a novel generalizable age-period-cohort projection methodology
Authors: Trias-Llimós Sergi , Bardoutsos Anastasios , Janssen Fanny
Published: March 2020

Background: Alcohol is a major public health issue in Europe. Although future estimates of alcohol-attributable mortality can aid public health policy making, forecasts are scarce. Moreover, previous forecasts did not include the cohort dimension, despite the important role birth cohorts play in determining alcohol-attributable mortality trends. We forecast age- and sex-specific alcohol-attributable mortality in France for the period 2015-2050 using a novel generalizable methodology that includes different scenarios regarding period and cohort change. Within Western Europe, France has one of the highest levels of alcohol-attributable mortality.Methods: For the French national population aged 25-90 years (1979-2014), we estimated alcohol-attributable mortality by mortality from the main causes of death wholly-attributable to alcohol, plus liver cirrhosis mortality. We modelled sex-specific alcohol-attributable mortality by adjusting for age, period, and birth cohort. We forecasted the model parameters to obtain future age- and sex-specific alcohol-attributable mortality up until 2050 using a conventional baseline, scenario I (favourable period change) and scenario II (unfavourable cohort change). Results: Alcohol-attributable mortality is clearly declining in France, with the decline decelerating from 1992 onwards. In 2014, the age-standardized alcohol-attributable mortality rates, in deaths per 100,000, were 34.7 among men and 9.9 among women. In 2050, the estimated rates are between 10.5 (prediction interval: 7.6-14.4; scenario I) and 17.6 (13.1-23.7; scenario II) among men, and between 1.1 (0.7-1.7; scenario I) and 1.8 (1.2-2.9; scenario II) among women; which implies declines of 58% for men and 84% for women (baseline). The peak of the inverse u-shaped age pattern of alcohol-attributable mortality (currently at around age 65) is expected to shift towards older ages, and an additional hump in the age pattern is projected that moves towards higher ages over time, and is more extended in the cohort scenario.Conclusions: Alcohol-attributable mortality in France is expected to further decline in the coming decades, accompanied by age pattern changes. However, France’s levels are not expected to reach the current lower levels in Italy and Spain for 15 years or more. Our results point to the value of implementing preventive policy measures that discourage alcohol consumption among people of all ages, but especially among adolescents.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for preventing recurrence of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Li Yuxi , Li Juan , Zhong Dongling , Shi Lihong , Huang Yijie , Liu Xiaobo , Zhang Huiling , Zhang Jun , Liu Yongguo , Li Qiaoqin , Zhang Yonggang , Jin Rongjiang
Published: March 2020

Background: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has been increasingly applied to clinical management of relapse of depression. However, the uncertainties of MBCT versus active-control conditions (ACCs) in reducing relapse rate in subjects with recurrent depression exist. This systematic review and meta-analysis intend to compare the effects of MBCT versus ACCs in reducing relapse of depressive disorder. Methods: Electronic search of relevant literatures was performed on major medical databases. Randomized controlled trials evaluating MBCT versus ACCs for recurrent depressive disorder among adults were included. Risk of bias evaluation, meta-analysis, trial sequential analysis and evidence rating of all extracted information were conducted by two independent reviewers. Results: Six trials with 1061 participants were deemed eligible for meta-analysis. Low risk of bias was found across the 6 studies and no heterogeneity was found among them. There was no significant difference between MBCT and ACCs in reducing relapse rate in patients with recurrent depressive disorder. The pooled sample size did not meet the inquired information size of trial sequential analysis which indicated that the result may be false negative. A total of 25 adverse events were formally recorded, but none were attributed to intervention. The quality of evidence was moderate due to the inadequate pooled sample size. Conclusions: There was no significant difference between MBCT and ACCs in reducing relapse rate in patients with recurrent depressive disorder based on the available evidence. Future research will be needed to obtain a more explicit conclusion.
Identification of a gene set correlated with immune status in ovarian cancer by transcriptome-wide data mining
Authors: Fan Lili , Lei Han , Lin Ying , Zhou Zhengwei , Shu Guang , Yan Zhipeng , Zhang Tianxiang , Yin Gang
Published: March 2020

Background : Ovarian cancer (OC) is a serious tumor disease in gynecology. Many papers have reported that high tumor mutational burden (TMB) can generate many neoantigens to result in a higher degree of tumor immune infiltration, so our study aims to predict the key molecules in OC immunotherapy by combined TMB with immunoactivity-related gene. Method: We divided OC cases into two groups: the low & high TMB group hinged on the somatic mutation data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We also used single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) scores of immune cell types to conduct unsupervised clustering of OC patients in the TCGA cohort and some of them were defined as the low & high immunity group. Besides, to further understand the function of these genes, we conducted Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway, protein-protein interaction network, survival prognosis analysis and immune infiltration analysis. Finally, the effects on prognosis and immunotherapy in OC patients were explored by the Group on Earth Observations verification the patients' responses to immunotherapy. Results: We found that the higher the TMB was associated with the higher OC grades. Moreover, both high TMB and high immunity were significantly correlated with a good prognosis of OC. Then, 14 up-regulated differential expression genes (Up-DEGs) that were closely related to the prognosis of OC patients were screened according to the high TMB group and the high immunity group. Next, pathway analysis revealed that Up-DGEs were mainly involved in immune response and T cell proliferation. Finally, four genes had a good prognosis and were validated in the GEO dataset which included CXCL13, FCRLA, PLA2G2D, and MS4A1. We also identified that four genes had a good prognosis in melanoma patients treated with anti-PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 in the TIDE database. Conclusion: High TMB can promote immune cell infiltration and increases immune activity. And our analysis also demonstrated that the higher the TMB, the higher the immune activity, the better the prognosis of OC. Altogether, we found that CXCL13, FCRLA, PLA2G2D, and MS4A1 may be biomarkers for OC immunotherapy. Keywords: ovarian cancer, TMB, immune cells infiltration, survival prognosis.
Detection of Pulmonary Embolism with Gallium-68 Macroaggregated Albumin Perfusion PET/CT: An Experimental Study in Rabbits
Authors: Gültekin Aziz , Çayır Mustafa Çağdaş , Uğur Ayşe , Bir Ferda , Yüksel Doğangün
Published: March 2020

Purpose To evaluate the use of gallium-68 ( 68 Ga) macroaggregated albumin (MAA) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) perfusion imaging combined with Technegas single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) ventilation imaging in rabbits with experimental pulmonary emboli (PE). Methods Technegas SPECT/CT ventilation and a 68 Ga-MAA PET/CT perfusion scan (V/Q scan) were performed in 12 rabbits before and one hour after artificial induction of PE. Technegas SPECT/CT and 68 Ga-MAA PET/CT images were evaluated by a nuclear medicine physician who recorded the presence, number, and location of PE on a per-lobe basis. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of Technegas SPECT/CT and 68 Ga-MAA PET/CT for detecting PE were calculated using a histopathological evaluation as a reference standard. Results A total of 60 lung lobes were evaluated in 12 rabbits, and PE was detected in 20 lobes in V/Q scans and histopathological analysis. The overall sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 100%, 100%, and 100%, respectively, for both the Technegas SPECT/CT and 68 Ga-MAA PET/CT V/Q scans. Conclusion Technegas/ 68 Ga-MAA V/Q scans have good sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in the detection of PE in this animal model study.
Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of in situ nano Ta4HfC5 reinforced SiBCN composite ceramics
Authors: Wang Bingzhu , Daxin Li , Yang Zhihua , Jia Dechang , Guan Jingyi , Peng Hao , Cai Delong , He Peigang , Duan Xiaoming , Zhou Yu
Published: March 2020

In this paper, the in situ nano Ta 4 HfC 5 reinforced SiBCN-Ta 4 HfC 5 composite ceramics were prepared by a combination of two-step mechanical alloying and reactive hot-pressing sintering. The microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the SiBCN-Ha 4 HfC 5 were studied. After the first-step milling of 30 h, the raw materials of TaC and HfC undergone crushing, cold sintering and short-range interdiffusion to finally obtain the high pure nano Ta 4 HfC 5 . A hybrid structure of amorphous SiBCN and nano Ta 4 HfC 5 was obtained by adopting a second-step ball-milling. After reactive hot-pressing sintering, amorphous SiBCN has crystallized to nano SiC and turbostratic BN(C) phases while Ta 4 HfC 5 retained the form of nano structure. With the in situ generation of 2.5 wt% Ta 4 HfC 5 , Ta 4 HfC 5 is preferentially distributed within the turbostratic BN(C); however, as Ta 4 HfC 5 content further raised to 10 wt%, it mainly distributed in the grain-boundary of BN(C) and SiC. The introduction of Ta 4 HfC 5 nanocrystals can effectively improve the flexural strength and fracture toughness of SiBCN ceramics, reaching to 344.1 MPa and 4.52 MPa•m 1/2 , respectively.
Segmentation of Brain Gliomas Based on a Multi-modal Multi-scale Double-pathway 3D Residual CNN
Authors: Pan Mingyuan , Shi Yonghong , Song Zhijian
Published: March 2020

Background: The automated segmentation of brain gliomas regions in magnetic resonance (MR) images plays an important role in the early diagnosis, intraoperative navigation, radiotherapy planning and prognosis of brain tumors. It is very challenging to segment gliomas and intratumoral structures since the location, size, shape, edema range and boundary of gliomas are heterogeneous, and multimodal brain gliomas images (such as T1, T2, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), and T1c images) are collected from multiple radiation centers. Methods: This paper presents a multimodal, multi-scale, double-pathway, 3D residual convolution neural network (CNN) for automatic gliomas segmentation. First, a robust gray-level normalization method is proposed to solve the multicenter problem, such as very different intensity ranges due to different imaging protocols. Second, a multi-scale, double-pathway network based on DeepMedic toolkit is trained with different combinations of multimodal MR images for gliomas segmentation. Finally, a fully connected conditional random field (CRF) is used as a post-processing strategy to optimize the segmentation results for addressing the isolated segmentations and holes. Results: Experiments on the Multimodal Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS) 2017 and 2019 challenge data show that our methods achieve a good performance in delineating the whole tumor with a Dice coefficient, a sensitivity and a positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.88, 0.89 and 0.88, respectively. Regarding the segmentation of the tumor core and the enhancing area, the sensitivity reached 0.80. Conclusions: Experiments show that our method can accurately segment gliomas and intratumoral structures from multimodal MR images, and it is of great significance to clinical neurosurgery.
Upregulation of long non-coding RNA LOC284454 may serve as a new serum biomarker for head and neck cancers
Authors: Fan Chunmei , Wang Jinpeng , Tang Yanyan , Zhang Shanshan , Xiong Fang , Guo Can , Zhou Yanhong , Li Zheng , Li Xiaoling , Li Yong , Li Guiyuan , Zeng Zhaoyang , Xiong Wei
Published: March 2020

Purpose: Identification of effective diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of cancer is necessary for improving precision medicine. Long non-coding RNAs(lncRNAs) play an important regulatory role in tumorinitiation and progression. The lncRNA LOC284454 is distinctly expressed in various head and neck cancers(HNCs), as demonstrated by our previous bioinformatics analysis. However, the expression levels and functions of LOC284454 in cancer are still unclear.Methods: We investigated the dysregulation of lncRNAs in HNCs using the GEO database and found that LOC284454 was highly expressed in HNCs. Serum samples from 212 patients with HNCs and 121 normal controls were included in this biomarker study. We measured the expression of LOC284454 in the sera of HNC patients and normal controls using RT-qPCR. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis is an important statistical method that is widely used in clinical diagnosis and population screening. ROC was used to analyze the clinical value of LOC284454 in the early diagnosis of HNCs.Results: LOC284454 was significantly upregulated in the sera of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, oral cancer, and thyroid cancer. LOC284454 upregulation had good clinical diagnostic value in these cancers, as evaluated by area under the ROC curve values of 0.931, 0.698, and 0.834,respectively.Conclusions: LOC284454 may be a valuable serum biomarker forHNCsfacilitating the early diagnosis of malignant cancers.Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the involvement of LOC284454 in HNCs.This study provides the first evidence that LOC284454 may be a serum biomarker for HNCs.
miR-200a/b relieves IL-1β-induced cell injury in knee articular chondrocytes ex-vivo by targeting fucosyltransferase 4 (FUT4)
Authors: Li Yintai , Wei Suizhuan , Zhang Zhongping
Published: March 2020

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common subtype of arthritis with prevalence increase with age, and is characterized by the degeneration of articular cartilage. Chondrocytes play curial role in the formation of the articular cartilage. This work aimed to figure out the effect of miR-200a/b in chondrocytes of OA, as well as the underlying molecular mechanism. Methods: Cell viability, apoptosis, pro-inflammatory factors secretion, and matrix degradation were detected with cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), flow cytometry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and western blotting, separately. Expression of miR-200a/b and fucosyltransferase 4 (FUT4) was measured by RT-qPCR (RNA level) and western blot (protein level). The relationship between miR-200a/b and FUT4 was verified by dual-luciferase assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay. Results: Interleukin 1β (IL-1β) induced OA cell model in primary chondrocytes ex-vivo, as evidenced by cell viability inhibition, apoptosis rate promotion, and IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) resection enhancement, as well as Collegen 2a1 (Col2a1) and Aggrecan expression inhibition. Expression of miR-200a/b was downregulated in knee articular cartilage of OA patients and IL-1β-induced primary chondrocytes. miR-200a/b overexpression decreased IL-1β-induced cell injuries, which was further blocked by FUT4 upregulation. Mechanically, FUT4 was negatively regulated by miR-200a/b via target binding. Conclusion: miR-200a/b could alleviate IL-1β-induced chondrocyte injuries via targeting its downstream gene FUT4, suggesting that miR-200a/b-FUT4 axis might be a potential candidate to the treatment of OA.
Functional outcome after surgical treatment of cavernous malformation involving ocular motor cranial nerves: A systematic review
Authors: Sung Kyoung Su , Lim Jaejoon , Hwang So Jung , Chun Duk-Hee , CHO KYUNGGI
Published: March 2020

Background: Cavernous malformations (CMs) of cranial nerves (CN) III, IV, and VI are extremely rare, and limited studies have assessed the functional outcomes after treatment. This systematic review investigated the clinical features of CMs in ocular motor CNs, including treatment results, and compared different surgical methods for functional preservation of ocular motor CNs. Methods: ‘PubMed’, ‘SCOPUS’, ‘Web of Science’, and ‘Google Scholar’ databases were searched to identify case reports and studies published between January 1980 and December 2018. This systematic review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Results: Twenty-seven patients were identified (median age, 46 years; range, 3 months-71 years). CN III was involved in 17 patients (63.0%), CN IV in 8 (29.6%), and CN VI in 2 (7.4%). Treatments included gross total resection (GTR) and nerve transection in 6 patients (22.2%), GTR and nerve continuity preservation in 7 (25.9%), subtotal resection (STR) and nerve continuity preservation in 4 (14.8%), GTR and end-to-end anastomosis in 5 (18.5%), and conservative care in 3 (11.1%), while the treatment method for 2 (7.4%) patients was not described in the literature. In 22 patients who underwent surgical treatment, functional changes included improvement in 9 patients (40.9%), no change in 10 (45.5%), and worsening symptoms in 3 (13.6%). Functional preservation was achieved in 12 (54.5%) of the 22 patients; the nerve continuity preservation method conferred significant advantage for functional preservation compared with other surgical methods ( p =0.004). Conclusion: Functional preservation of ocular motor CNs can be achieved by nerve continuity preservation. Key Words: cavernous malformation; cranial nerve; treatment outcome
Hypertrophic adipocyte-derived exosomal miR-802-5p contributes to insulin resistance in cardiac myocytes through targeting HSP60
Authors: Wen Zhongyuan , Li Junfeng , Fu Yalin , Zheng Yuyang , Ma Mingke , Wang Changhua
Published: March 2020

Background : Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is implicated in insulin resistance, which has been recognized as a strongest predictor of the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy and subsequent heart failure. However, the underlying mechanism remains incompletely understood. Herein, we investigated the effect of hypertrophic adipocytes on cardiac insulin resistance. Methods : Palmitate was used to induce hypertrophic 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Exosomes were purified from normal control or hypertrophic 3T3-L1 adipocyte-associated conditioned medium. Exosome-exposed neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) were treated with insulin to investigate the effects of exosomes on insulin signaling. Insulin sensitivity was evaluated by measuring insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation and glucose uptake. SiRNA techniques were used to downregulate protein levels and its efficiency was evaluated by western blot.Results : Hypertrophic adipocyte-derived exosomes (h-Exo) induced insulin resistance in NRVMs. Furthermore, h-Exo high-expressed miR-802-5p. Insulin sensitivity of NRVMs was impaired by miR-802-5p mimic but improved by its inhibitor. TargetScan and luciferase reporter assays revealed that heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) was a direct target of miR-802-5p. Both h-Exo and miR-802-5p mimic could downregulate HSP60 protein levels. In addition, HSP60 silencing induced insulin resistance and mitigated the insulin-sensitizing effects of adiponectin. HSP60 depletion also significantly increased the expression levels of CHOP, a marker of the unfolded protein response (UPR), and enhanced oxidative stress, accompanied by the increased phosphorylation of JNK and IRS-1 Ser307. Inhibition of both miR-802-5p and endocytosis abolished the impacts of HSP60 knockdown on the UPR and oxidative stress. Conclusion : Hypertrophic adipocyte-derived exosomal miR-802-5p caused cardiac insulin resistance in NRVMs through downregulating HSP60. These findings provide a novel mechanism by which EAT impairs cardiac function.
Mutations in Reelin pathway are associated with abnormal expression of microglial IgG FC receptors in the cerebellar cortex
Authors: Marzban Hassan , Rahimi-Balaei Maryam , Jiao Xiaodan , Dalvand Azadeh , Shabanipour Shahin , Amiri Shayan , Chung Seung H , Kong Jiming
Published: March 2020

Introduction: Microglia are the immune cells of the central nervous system that are involved in a variety of developmental processes such as regulation of cell death and survival, spatial patterning, and contribute to the development of Purkinje cells during migration. Microglia express immunoglobulin G Fc receptors (FcgRs). Hypothesis: In this report, we describe microglial FcgR expression in the cerebellum during development related to abnormal Purkinje cell migration. Method: To detect microglial FcgR, the direct anti-IgG (secondary antisera) and high concentrations of Triton X-100 were applied as a method for labeling microglial cells without the use of any specific primary antiserum. By using the Acp2 -/- mice, which show an excessive Purkinje cell migration into the molecular layer combined with the different knockout mice altering the Reelin pathway (Reeler, Scrambler, and Apoer2 -/- mice), that Purkinje cells are ectopically located in white matter. Result: We show the expression of microglial FcgRs in the cerebellum of these mice is absent, but not in the Acp2 -/- mice . Discussion: These results suggest a role for FcgRs in reelin signaling pathway, not related to Purkinje cell migration, but may be an adaptation to the environment with the large number of ectopic Purkinje cells. Conclusion: However, the exact correlation between the ectopic Purkinje cells presence and FcgRs absence in reeler, Scrambler, Apoer -/- mice and the presence of FcgRs in Acp2 -/- mutant are yet to be determined.
A Survey on Data Analysis on Large-Scale Wireless Networks: Online Stream Processing, Trends, and Challenges
Authors: de Medeiros Dianne Scherly Varela , Neto Helio do Nascimento Cunha , Lopez Martin Andreoni , Magalhães Luiz Claudio Schara , Fernandes Natalia Castro , Vieira Alex Borges , Silva Edelberto Franco , Mattos Diogo Mezenes Ferrazani
Published: March 2020

In this paper we focus on knowledge extraction from large-scale wireless networks through stream processing. We present the primary methods for sampling, data collection, and monitoring of wireless networks and we characterize knowledge extraction as a machine learning problem on big data stream processing. We show the main trends in big data stream processing frameworks. Additionally, we explore the data preprocessing, feature engineering, and the machine learning algorithms applied to the scenario of wireless network analytics. We address challenges and present research projects in wireless network monitoring and stream processing. Finally, future perspectives, such as deep learning and reinforcement learning in stream processing, are anticipated.
Association between telomere length in the DNA of peripheral blood leukocytes and the propofol dose in anesthesia induction
Authors: Zhang JunLong , Xu Yan , Xie Chuangbo , Yang Jing , Xing YongJi , Xi WenBin , Li ZhaoJu , tu weifeng
Published: March 2020

Background Propofol is a widely used anesthetic and its dose is closely related to aging. Telomere length (TL) is a unique heritable trait, and emerging as a biomarker of aging, health and disease. We proposed a hypothesis that propofol dose can be determined by telomere length, which greatly reduced the risk of anesthesia, especially the elderly.Methods/design To evaluate the association between the propofol dose in anesthesia induction and: TL in the DNA of peripheral blood leukocytes; body weight;sex;difference of the Bispectral Index (BIS) before and after anesthesia induction in patients. To detect deletion at the 5′end or 3′end of telomerase RNA component (TERC). 100 patients scheduled for elective surgery. Multivariable linear regression analyses were undertaken.Results We found that propofol dose in anesthesia induction was clearly correlated significantly with TL (r = 0.78, p <0.001), sex (r = 0.83, p <0.001), body weight (r = 0.84, p = 0.004), and difference of BIS before and after anesthesia induction (r = 0.85, p = 0.029). By comparing the absolute values of standardized regression coefficients (0.58, 0.19, 0.21, and 0.12) of the four variables, it can be seen that TL contributes the most to the propofol dose in anesthesia induction. However, detection of deletion at the 5′ end or 3′ end of TERC was not found, which showed that telomerase in these patients was relatively stable.Discussion These findings provide preliminary evidence that the propofol dose in anesthesia induction was clearly correlated with genetically determined TL. TL may be a promising predictor of the propofol dose, which is beneficial to improve the safety of anesthesia and reduce perioperative complications.
Altered local and distant functional connectivity density relate to headache frequency in migraine without aura
Authors: Ke Jun , Yu Yang , Zhang Xiaodong , Su Yunyan , Wang Ximing , Hu Su , Dai Hui , Hu Chunhong , Zhao Hongru , Dai Lingling
Published: March 2020

Background Episodic migraine (EM) is associated with alterations in functional connectivity of several regions or resting-state networks, but it is not well known how large-scale functional connectivity pattern of the whole brain is affected in chronic migraine (CM). Methods Fifty-six migraineurs without aura (39 with EM, 17 with CM) and 35 healthy controls (HC) underwent clinical assessment and resting-state functional MRI. Functional connectivity density (FCD) was calculated in a voxel-wise way to examine large-scale brain network property over the whole brain. Results Compared with HC, both migraine groups showed increased local FCD in the left orbital frontal gyrus (OFG), right hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus (HP/PHG), cerebellum, and decreased local FCD in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Local FCD of the left OFG increased in CM compared to EM. In comparison with HC, EM showed increased local FCD in the left middle temporal gyrus, and CM exhibited decreased local FCD in the left sensorimotor cortex and bilateral precuneus. Furthermore, relative to HC, EM showed increased distant FCD in the right PHG while CM showed increased distant FCD in the right HP and OFG. Importantly, majority of the observed local and distant FCD alterations were associated with migraine frequency across all migraineurs. Conclusion Patients with higher migraine frequency present more extensive and pronounced functional connectivity dysfunctions in regions involved in pain processing and modulation. FCD, especially local FCD may be a sensitive biomarker for examining the neural mechanism of migraine.
Echocardiographic Reference Intervals with Allometric Scaling of 823 Clinically Healthy Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta)
Authors: Ueda Yu , Duler Laetitia MM , Elliot Kami J , Sosa Paul-Michael D , Roberts Jeffrey A , Stern Joshua A.
Published: March 2020

Background: Echocardiography is commonly used for assessing cardiac structure and function in various species including non-human primates. A few previous studies reported normal echocardiographic reference intervals of clinically healthy rhesus macaques under sedation. However, these studies were under-powered, and the techniques were not standardized. In addition, body weight, age, and sex matched reference intervals should be established as echocardiographic measurements are commonly influenced by these variables. The purpose of this study was to establish reference intervals for complete echocardiographic parameters based on a large cohort of clinically healthy rhesus macaques with wide ranges of weight and age distributions using allometric scaling. Results: A total of 823 rhesus macaques (ages 6 months to 31 years old; body weights 1.4 to 22.6 kg) were enrolled. Of these rhesus macaques, 421 were males and 402 were females. They were assessed with a complete echocardiographic examination including structural and functional evaluation under sedation with ketamine hydrochloride. The reference intervals of the key echocardiographic parameters were indexed to weight, age, and sex by calculating the coefficients of the allometric equation Y = aMb. On correlation matrix, body weight, age, sex, and heart rate were significantly correlated with various echocardiographic parameters and some of the parameters were strongly correlated with body weight and age. Multiple regression analysis was also performed to predict various echocardiographic parameters from heart rate, body weight, age and sex. Heart rate and body weight statistically significantly predicted various echocardiographic parameters. Valve regurgitation including tricuspid, aortic, pulmonic, and mitral regurgitations without other cardiac structural and functional abnormalities are common in clinically healthy rhesus macaques under ketamine sedation. Conclusions: In this study, the reference intervals of echocardiographic parameters were established by performing complete echocardiographic examinations on a large number of clinical healthy rhesus macaques. In addition, allometric scaling was performed based on their weight, and further indexed to age and sex. These allometrically scaled reference intervals can be used to accurately evaluate echocardiographic data in rhesus macaques and diagnose structural and functional evidence of cardiac disease.
The diagnostic and prognostic value of H2AFY in hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: ma xuyang , Ding Ying , Zeng Li
Published: March 2020

Background The potential correlation between H2AFY (also known as MacroH2A1) and the clinical characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients was analysed through gene expression profiles and clinical data in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, and the diagnostic and prognostic value of H2AFY in HCC was discussed. Methods The gene expression data of HCC and the corresponding clinical characteristics of HCC patients were downloaded from the TCGA database. The differences in H2AFY in normal liver tissues and HCC were analysed. The relationship between H2AFY and clinical characteristics was analysed by Wilcoxon signed-rank test, logistic regression and Kruskal-Wallis test. The Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox regression method were used to analyse the relationship between overall survival and clinical characteristics of the patients. An ROC curve was used to predict the diagnostic value of H2AFY in HCC. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to analyse the pathway enrichment of H2AFY. Result Compared with normal liver tissues, H2AFY was significantly highly expressed in HCC. H2AFY was positively correlated with the age, clinical stage, G stage and T stage of liver cancer patients. Higher H2AFY expression predicted a poor prognosis in HCC patients. Cox regression analysis suggested that H2AFY was an independent risk factor for the prognosis of HCC patients. The ROC curve suggested that H2AFY had certain diagnostic value in HCC. GSEA suggested that H2AFY was correlated with lipid metabolism and a variety of tumour pathways. Conclusion Our study showed that H2AFY was significantly overexpressed in HCC. H2AFY may be a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker for HCC, and high expression of H2AFY predicts a poor prognosis in patients with HCC.
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Chronic Kidney Disease among Palestinian Diabetic Patients: a Cross Sectional Study
Authors: Nazzal Zaher , Hamdan Zakaria , Masri Donia , Abu-Kaf Oday , Hamad Mohammad
Published: March 2020

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide public health problem and diabetes is one of major risk factor for its development and progression. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of chronic kidney disease in a cross-sectional population of patients with type 2 diabetes treated in primary health care centers in North West Bank. Methods Patients’ data including patient characteristics, creatinine level, blood pressure, HbA1c, and hypertension and diabetes duration was collected from primary health care centers. eGFR was calculated using the CKD-EPI equation. CKD was staged according to the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes System (KDIGO) 2012 guidelines. Both univariate and multivariate statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS. Results The prevalence of chronic kidney disease among diabetic adults in North West Bank was found to be 23.6% (95% CI: 19.4%-28.1%) distributed as follows: 19.7% had stage 3 CKD, 2.6% had stage 4 CKD and 1.3% had stage 5 CKD. In multivariate logistic regression, CKD was significantly associated with hypertension [adjusted OR= 4.43, P value=0.005], smoking [adjusted OR= 2.1, P value=0.01], and age [adjusted OR= 1.1, P value <0.001] Conclusions CKD is highly prevalent among Palestinian diabetic adults. Co-morbid hypertension, smoking and older age were found to increase the probability of developing this condition. Intensive screening for diabetic patients to detect CKD at earlier stages and implementation of more aggressive treatment modalities for diabetes as well as other important risk factors, especially hypertension and smoking are recommended.
Feasibility and impact of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy after renal transplantation on comorbidities, graft function and quality of life.
Authors: Alenazi Naif , Ahmad Khaled S , Elsamahy Ilham A , Essa Mohamed S
Published: March 2020

Background The aim of this study is to clarify the feasibility and effect of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) on comorbidities, graft function and quality of life in patients under went renal transplantation (RT) Methods This is a retrospective review of 5 patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) after kidney transplantation. Patients demographic data, anthropometric parameters, effect on comorbidities, postoperative course, immunosuppressive medications, cause of renal transplantation (RT), renal function, survival of graft, and post-sleeve gastrectomy quality of life in obese patients with history of renal transplantation (RT) were assessed using BAROS–Moorhead–Ardelt survey Results From September 2015 to September, 2019, 5 renal transplant patients underwent underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG); 60% were female and 40 were male with an average body mass index (BMI) before surgery of 41.28 ± 5.8 kg/m2 (range 36–55). Associated comorbidities: 100% of the patients had hypertension (HTN) and dyslipidemia (DSL), Whereas 3 patients (60%) had type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and 1 patient had gout (20%). The average time between renal transplantation (RT) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) was 5.6 ± 5 years (range 3–9). Average operative duration was 61 ± 16.5 min (range 50–70), and there were neither postoperative morbidity nor mortality. At 17.9 ± 13.6 months (range 7–48) of follow-up period, body mass index (BMI) was 28.8 ± 6.3 kg/m2 (range 25–42). Regarding patients with hypertension (HTN) and dyslipidemia (DSL), improvement in blood pressure, triglyceride and cholesterol levels was observed and all cases were able to decrease their medications. Regarding diabetic patients, insulin was stopped in all patients and replaced with oral hypoglycemic medication only (linagliptin). Renal graft function and proteinuria level decreased in all cases (100%). All patients claimed to have excellent quality of life. Conclusion LSG showed excellent outcomes regarding weight reduction, improvement and resolution of comorbidities, kidney function and quality of life in this high risk group of patients.
Biochemical and molecular resistance mechanisms to DDT and some pyrethroid insecticides in vector of West Nile virus, Culex pipiens
Authors: Salim-Abadi Yaser , Vatandoost Hassan , Oshaghi Mohammad Ali , Abai Mohamad Reza , Enayati Ahmad Ali , Gorouhi Mohammad Amin
Published: March 2020

Objectives : Culex pipiens complex act as an important vector of several vector-borne diseases such as filariasis, West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis and bird malaria. This study was designed in order to clarify the molecular and biochemical resistance mechanisms in Cx. pipiens to DDT and some pyrethroid insecticides from Tehran, capital of Iran.Materials and methods Profile activities of α- and ß-esterases, Mixed Function Oxidase (MFO), Glutathione-S Transferase (GST), were tested for Cx .pipiens strain with resistance ratio of 85.75 to Lambdacyhalothrin and also about DDT resistant strain in comparison with Lab strain. In the present research a molecular study also performed on both lambdacyhalothrin and DDT. Resistant strains for detection of the mutation in the sodium channel gene which is associated with kdr insecticide resistance to pyrethroid and DDT were used . For comparison of average between two groups T test were used.Results Our finding showed that there are significant different (p<0.05) between the mean activity of α-, ß-esterases and (MFO), in both lambacyhalothrin and DDT resistant strain in comparison with Lab-Strain, but there are no significant difference (p>0.05) about (GST) in the both strain in comparison with Lab-Strain. Molecular study for detection of L1014F or L1014S mutation in sodium channel gene showed lack of the mutation responsible for insecticide resistance to pyrethroid and DDT.Discussion This study showed that the resistance to pyrethroids and DDT in the Cx pipiens is enzymatic, but not targets site insensitivity of sodium channel gene.Conclusion Findings of this research could provide a clue for logical operations of future chemical control program.
Effect of homeownership on the utilization of local public health services among rural migrants in China: a nationwide cross-sectional study
Authors: Wang Zicheng , Liu Jiachun , Ming Juan
Published: March 2020

Background: Rural-urban migrants often suffer overrepresented health risks but have less access to public health services，while the homeownership status in China may play a vital role in the attainment of local welfare. However, the effect of homeownership on the public health services utilization is still understood. This study aims to address the causal effect of homeownership on the utilization of local public health services among rural migrants in China. Three issues are addressed to discuss: Whether the homeownership produces a significant effect on the utilization of local public health services or not? Are there any interaction effect between homeownership and location of household/ healthcare center? Does the homeownership effect vary by employment status, migration duration and migration patterns?Methods: The dataset from the 2017 National Migrants Population Dynamic Monitoring Survey (NMPDMS-2017) is applied to explore the direct effect of homeownership on the utilization of local public health services. The Logit regression is conducted to discuss the associations, while the IV estimation developed by Lewbel (2012) is employed to correct the endogeneity of homeownership. Additionally, the Logit regressions are also performed to explore the interaction effect and heterogeneous effect.Results: The Logit estimations reveal that the homeownership is positive with the establishment of health record (OR=1.1926; 95% CI=1.154,1.2325) and the attendance of health education (OR=1.1883; 95% CI=1.1506,1.2271) ,while IV estimations also confirms that the homeownership has a positive effect on the establishment of health record (Coefficient=0.0222; 95% CI=0.0121, 0.0323) and the health education access (Coefficient=0.0241; 95% CI=0.0139, 0.0343).The interaction term of homeownership and household location (Coefficient=1.4141; 95% CI= 1.2453, 1.6057) as well as the interaction between homeownership and healthcare center location (Coefficient=1.1476; 95% CI= 1.0491, 1.2554) are related with the increased establishment of health record establishment, whereas only the interaction of homeownership and household location shows significant correlations in the health education model(Coefficient=1.2186; 95% CI=1.0734, 1.3794).Conclusion: The homeownership produces a positive effect on the utilization of local public health services among rural migrants in China. Moreover, the homeownership may play a greater role along with the geographical accessibility.
Description of Seinura italiensis n. sp. (Tylenchomorpha: Aphelenchoididae) found in the medium soil imported from Italy
Authors: Gu Jianfeng , Maria Munawar , Liu Lele , Pedram Majid
Published: March 2020

Seinura italiensis n. sp. isolated from the medium soil imported from Italy is described and illustrated using morphological and molecular data. The new species is characterized by having short body (477 (407-565) µm and 522 (469-590) µm for males and females, respectively), three lateral lines, stylet lacking swellings at the base, and excretory pore at the base or slightly anterior to base of metacorpus; females have 58.8 (51.1-69.3) µm long post-uterine sac (PUS), elongate conical tail with its anterior half conoid, dorsally convex, and ventrally slightly concave and the posterior half elongated, narrower, with finely rounded to pointed tip and males having seven caudal papillae and 14.1 (12.6-15.0) µm long spicules. Morphologically, the new species is similar to S. caverna, S. chertkovi, S. christiei, S. hyrcania, S. longicaudata, S. persica, S. steineri, and S. tenuicaudata. The differences of the new species with aforementioned species are discussed. In molecular phylogenetic analyses using near full-length small and large subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU and LSU rDNA D2-D3 expansion segments) sequences, the new species fell into a clade including three previously described/sequenced species of the genus in both SSU and LSU Bayesian phylogenetic trees.