Clinical Features and Prognostic Factors of Children with Chronic Active Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: A Retrospective Analysis of a Single Center.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics, prognosis factors and risk factors of chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection in children. STUDY DESIGN: Observational analysis of baseline data and follow-up evaluation data of children with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection in our center between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2019; they were followed through June 30, 2020. RESULTS: There were 96 children with chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection (50 male and 46 female children), with the median age of 6.7 years (range from 0.6 to 17.6 years) at diagnosis. The median follow-up time was 16.5 months. The 3 most common clinical manifestations were fever, lymph node enlargement, and hepatomegaly or splenomegaly. Thirty-three patients (36.3%) also had a diagnosis of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Epstein-Barr virus infected only T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, or both T- and natural killer-cell types in 15 (33.3%), 17 (37.8%), and 13 (28.9%), respectively. At the end of follow-up, 26 children had died, 60 survived, and 10 were lost to follow-up. Generally, progression-free survival was 69.8% ± 2.4%. The level of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 and the combination of younger age and lower pathologic grade at diagnosis were independent prognostic factors by Cox regression analysis (P = .009 and .018, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Children with lower levels of IL-6 and IL-10, or with younger age and lower pathologic grades, generally had favorable outcomes at the terminal point of follow-up, indicating better prognostic signs.

Fabrication of a Soybean Bowman-Birk Inhibitor (BBI) Nanodelivery Carrier To Improve Bioavailability of Curcumin.

Curcumin is a poorly water-soluble drug, and its oral bioavailability is very low. Here, a novel self-assembly nanoparticle delivery carrier has been successfully developed by using soybean Bowman-Birk inhibitor (BBI) to improve the solubility, bioaccessibility, and oral absorption of curcumin. BBI is a unique protein, which can be resistant to the pH range and proteolytic enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), bioavailable, and not allergenic. The encapsulation efficiencies (EE) and the loading capacities (LC) of curcumin in the curcumin-loaded BBI nanoparticles (Cur-BBI-NPs, size = 90.09 nm, PDI = 0.103) were 86.17 and 10.31%, respectively. The in vitro bioaccessibility of Cur-BBI-NPs was superior to that of curcumin-loaded sodium caseinate (SC) nanoparticles (Cur-SC-NPs) (as control). Moreover, Cur-BBI-NPs significantly enhanced the bioavailability of curcumin in rats compared with Cur-SC-NPs, and the clathrin-mediated endocytosis pathway probably contributed to the favorable bioavailability of Cur-BBI-NPs, as revealed by the cellular uptake inhibition study.

Inactivation of Soybean Trypsin Inhibitor by Epigallocatechin Gallate: Stopped-Flow/Fluorescence, Thermodynamics, and Docking Studies.

Tea is one of the most widely daily consumed beverages all over the world, and it is usually consumed with milk and/or soy milk. However, very few researches have studied the interactions between tea polyphenols (TPs) and soy milk proteins as compared with milk proteins. Here, we reported that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a major component of TPs, can effectively inhibit the inhibitory activity of Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI, a major antinutrient in soy milk). The mechanism of inactivation of KTI by EGCG was investigated by stopped-flow/fluorescence, thermodynamics, and docking studies. The results indicated that EGCG binds KTI via both hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions with an association constant of 6.62 × 105 M-1 to form a 1:1 complex. Molecular docking showed the participation of amino acids includes three amino acid residues (Asn13, Pro72, and Trp117) near the reactive site of KTI, which may prevent KTI from contacting trypsin and hence inactivate KTI.

The physicochemical properties, in vitro binding capacities and in vivo hypocholesterolemic activity of soluble dietary fiber extracted from soy hulls.

Soluble dietary fibers (SDFs) have earned a healthy reputation due to their distinguished physiological functions. In this study, SDF was efficiently extracted from soy hulls using a phosphate-assisted subcritical water extraction method. The physicochemical properties, in vitro binding capacities and in vivo hypocholesterolemic activity of soy hull soluble dietary fiber (SHSDF) were evaluated. The results indicated that the major component of SHSDF was pectic polysaccharides, and with comparison to commercial oat ß-glucan, SHSDF had favorable solubility, viscosity, water-holding ability (5.26 g water per g sample), and oil holding capacity (4.83 g oil per g sample). It also possessed good in vitro cholesterol-binding capacity (6.18 mg g-1 sample at pH 2 and 7.62 mg g-1 sample at pH 7), bile acid-binding capacity (3.3, 1.73 and 6.65 µM of GCA, GCDCA and GDCA per 100 mg of sample), glucose dialysis retardation index (64.76%), and in vivo hypocholesterolemic activity (16.88% and 35.28% reduction in serum total cholesterol and LDL level in rats, respectively). These data suggest that SHSDF has great potential in food applications, especially in the development of functional food ingredients.

Structure-Function Relationship of a Novel PR-5 Protein with Antimicrobial Activity from Soy Hulls.

An alkaline isoform of the PR-5 protein (designated GmOLPc) has been purified from soybean hulls and identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS. GmOLPc effectively inhibited in vitro the growth of Phytophthora soja spore and Pseudomonas syringae pv glycinea. The antimicrobial activity of GmOLPc should be mainly ascribed to its high binding affinity with vesicles composed of DPPG, (1,3)-ß-D-glucans, and weak endo-(1,3)-ß-D-glucanase activity. From the 3D models, predicted by the homology modeling, GmOLPc contains an extended negatively charged cleft. The cleft was proved to be a prerequisite for endo-(1,3)-ß-D-glucanase activity. Molecular docking revealed that the positioning of linear (1,3)-ß-D-glucans in the cleft of GmOLPc allowed an interaction with Glu83 and Asp101 that were responsible for the hydrolytic cleavage of glucans. Interactions of GmOLPc with model membranes indicated that GmOLPc possesses good surface activity which could contribute to its antimicrobial activity, as proved by the behavior of perturbing the integrity of membranes through surface hydrophobic amino acid residues (Phe89 and Phe94).

Fluorescent immunosorbent assay for the detection of alpha lactalbumin in dairy products with monoclonal antibody bioconjugated with CdSe/ZnS quantum dots.

In this work, a new method termed competitive fluorescence-linked immunosorbent assay (FLISA) was developed for specifically quantification of bovine α-lactalbumin (α-La) in dairy products. The monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against α-La were produced through hybridoma technology, and the mAbs were covalently conjugated with the CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) using the crossing-linking reagents. Moreover, a competitive FLISA based on QD-mAb conjugates was established to detect α-La in dairy products. It was shown that there was a good linear relationship between inhibition efficiency, and logarithm of α-La concentration after the detection parameters were optimised in which the concentration of α-La varied from 0.1 to 1000ng/mL. The value of IC50 was 0.03µg/mL, and the FLISA method exhibited high sensitivity with the LOD at 0.1ng/mL. The developed FLISA has been successfully applied to determine α-La in commercial dairy products, providing more sensitive analysis compared with the ELISA method.

Thymic carcinoma: involvement of great vessels indicates poor prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Thymic carcinoma is a rare, indolent, and invasive cancer. This study investigated the treatment results of thymic carcinoma and clinical prognostic factors. METHODS: From June 1988 to January 2002, 38 patients were enrolled in this study with the diagnosis of thymic carcinoma in the Cheng-Kung University Hospital based on Rosai's and Muller-Hermelink's classification. Clinical and pathologic data were retrospectively reviewed. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier, log rank, and Wilcoxon tests. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. RESULTS: Pathology revealed 14 poorly differentiated, 6 moderately differentiated, and 8 well-differentiated squamous cell carcinomas; 8 lymphoepithelioma-like carcinomas; and 2 other carcinomas. Pathologic staging using the Masaoka system included 6 stage II, 23 stage III, and 9 stage IV patients. Six biopsies, five debulkings, and 27 complete resections were performed. All patients were followed from 15 months to 10 years 9 months, with an average of 53.8 months. Median survival time was 81 months, and median recurrence time was 52 months. Eighteen patients are still alive, and 7 are alive with disease. Well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma had better prognosis than other carcinomas (p = 0.022). Complete resection significantly increased survival rate (p < 0.001). Tumor invasion of the superior vena cava, pulmonary vessels, or aorta were significant predictors for poor prognosis (p = 0.016, 0.002, and 0.002, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Only patients with thymic carcinoma who underwent complete resection had long-term survival. Prognosis of thymic carcinoma seemed mainly dependent on tumor invasion of the great vessels.