Alkaline semen diluent combined with R848 for separation and enrichment of dairy goat X-sperm.

A large number of female goats are needed for the dairy goat industry; therefore, the development of a method to ensure the birth of more females than males in a single pregnancy will lead to economic benefits. Increasing the number of X-sperm would be an effective way to increase the proportion of female offspring. In this study, goat semen was incubated at pH 7.4 in alkaline diluent combined with resiquimod (R848) and the number of X-sperm was enriched by the swim-up method. The percentage of X-sperm was determined using the double TaqMan qPCR method. Sperm total motility, progressive motility, average path velocity, straight-line velocity, and curvilinear velocity were measured using a computer-aided sperm analysis system, and the functional parameters of the sperm plasma membrane, the acrosome, mitochondrial activity, ATP content, and reactive oxygen species levels were also measured. Lastly, the ratio of female embryos was determined by in vitro fertilization, and the number of female kids and the pregnancy rate of does was assessed by artificial insemination. The results showed that dilution of semen in an alkaline buffer containing R848 could enrich the number of X-sperm to 85.57% ± 3.27%. The progressive motility, average path velocity, straight-line velocity, curvilinear velocity, mitochondrial activity, and ATP level of the collected X-sperm-enriched semen were significantly reduced, but its total motility, plasma membrane, and acrosome were not affected. The in vitro fertilization experiments showed that the rate of female embryo production using X-sperm-rich seminal fluid could reach 83.25% (174/209), which was significantly higher than the proportion of female embryos in the control group, 47.71% ± 1.80% (104/218). As determined by artificial insemination, the number of female kids in the test group increased by 62.79% (243/387), which was significantly higher than that in the control group (47.65%, 193/405). There was no significant difference in pregnancy rate between the test group and the control group (71.71% vs. 78.48%). Therefore, this study demonstrated that use of a pH 7.4 diluent containing R848 is a simple and effective method of X-sperm enrichment for dairy goat production. Its application would allow does to produce more female offspring for herd expansion and milk production.

[Imaging findings of CT pulmonary angiography in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension].

Objective: To investigate the imaging findings of CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Methods: Consecutive CTEPH cases admitted to receive CTPA in China-Japan Friendship Hospital from December 2015 to December 2019 were enrolled with prospective data collected. The medical histories, imaging manifestation and hemodynamic parameters were analyzed. Patients were divided into proximal lesions group and distal lesions group according to the site of thrombus, and imaging findings were compared between these two groups. Results: In 135 cases of CTEPH, CTPA showed thrombus in both lungs in the majority of patients (133 cases, 98.5%) with location of thromboembolic disease in level Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ for most patients, only 8 cases with level Ⅳ(7.3%) and no level 0 patients. The most common signs of chronic thrombus were vessel cutoffs (134 cases, 99.3%), eccentric wall-adherent filling defects (111 cases, 88.2%), web or bands (80 cases, 59.3%), stenosis (41 cases, 30.4%). Compared to patients with distal lesions, eccentric wall-adherent filling defects, irregular vessel wall were more common in patients with proximal lesions, stenosis was more common in distal lesions, all P<0.05. The most common lung parenchymal signs were mosaic attenuation (104 cases, 77.0%), and pulmonary infarction (79 cases, 58.5%). Pulmonary infarction included pleura-based consolidation opacity (35/79, 44.3%), linear opacities (23/79, 29.1%), or both (13/79, 16.5%). Pulmonary artery enlargement (132 cases, 97.8%) and right ventricular hypertrophy (130 cases, 96.3%) were common, other signs included contrast reflux into the inferior vena cava (70 cases, 51.9%), enlargement of bronchial arteries (68 cases, 50.3%). No differences were found for all the secondary signs between patients with proximal lesions and those with distal lesions, all P>0.05. Conclusions: Vessel cutoffs, eccentric wall-adherent filling defects, web or bands are the most common CTPA findings of chronic thrombus in CTEPH. Secondary signs include mosaic attenuation, pulmonary infarction, pulmonary artery enlargement, right ventricular hypertrophy and enlargement of bronchial arteries. Eccentric wall-adherent filling defects are more common in patients with proximal lesions than those with distal lesions.

Intratumoral Polymorphism of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Delta-87 T>C in Colorectal Cancer.

Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor delta (PPARD) is a nuclear receptor transcription factor whose single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), especially PPARD-87 T>C (rs2016520), may play an important role in expression regulation of PPARD. But its expression patterns as well as contribution in colorectal cancer (CRC) are still controversial. In this study, whether the intratumoral heterogeneity of polymorphism of PPARD-87 T>C (rs2016520) existed and its influence in CRC were investigated. Tumor masses from primary CRC patients were collected during the operation of tumorectomy, specimens at the different sites of the same tumor mass were sampled and stored individually. The SNP of PPARD-87 T>C was detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), and the expression of PPARD in vivo was observed by immunohistochemistry. The correlation of PPARD -87 T>C intratumoral polymorphism and the clinicopathological parameters of patients was analyzed statistically. Tumor samples were collected from 106 CRC patients (70 males and 36 females) with an average age of 61.04±13.67 years. A total number of 808 samples (7.60±1.60 per patient) were mainly harvested at peripheral superficial (n=376), central superficial (n=163), invasive front (n=112) and mesenteric cancer foci (n=42) of tumor tissues as well as cancerous adjacent mucosa (n=104). PCR-RFLP analysis showed that T/T (n=460, 56.9%) and T/C (n=334, 41.3%) were the main genotypes of -87 T>C among these samples. Furthermore, intratumoral genotype of -87 T>C was homogeneous in 90 patients and heterogeneous in other 16 patients. The intratumoral heterogeneity was related to patients' age (P=0.016), tumor location (P=0.011) and the grade of differentiation (P=0.022). For patients with intratumoral heterogeneity, immunochemistry showed the expressions of PPARD were not influenced by T/T or T/C genotypes. Intratumoral heterogeneity of PPARD-87 T>C wildly existed in CRC, and associated with patients' age, tumor location and differentiation. However, the immunochemistry assay revealed that there's no significant link between heterogeneity and expression of PPARD.

CLOCK 3111T/C genetic variant influences the daily rhythm of autonomic nervous function: relevance to body weight control.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Humans carrying the genetic risk variant C at the circadian CLOCK (Circadian Locomotor Output Cycles Kaput) 3111T/C have been shown to have more difficulties to achieve desired weight loss than TT carriers. We tested the hypothesis that the daily rhythm of autonomic nervous function differs in CLOCK 3111C carriers, leading to reduced effectiveness in weight control. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We recruited 40 overweight/obese Caucasian women (body mass index>25), 20 carrying CLOCK 3111C (CC and TC) and 20 non-carriers with matched age and body mass index who participated in a dietary obesity treatment program of up to 30 weeks. Following the treatment, ambulatory electrocardiography was continuously monitored for up to 3.5 days when subjects underwent their normal daily activities. To assess autonomic function, heart rate variability analysis (HRV) was performed hourly to obtain mean inter-beat interval between two consecutive R waves (mean RR) and s.d. of normal-to-normal heartbeat intervals (SDNN), and two parasympathetic measures, namely, proportion of differences between adjacent NN intervals that are >50 ms (pNN50), and high-frequency (HF: 0.15-0.4 Hz) power. RESULTS: In the TT carriers, all tested HRV indices showed significant daily rhythms (all P-values <0.0001) with lower mean RR, SDNN, pNN50, and HF during the daytime as compared with the nighttime. The amplitudes of these rhythms except for SDNN were reduced significantly in the C carriers (mean RR: ~19.7%, P=0.001; pNN50: 58.1%, P=0.001; and HF: 41.1%, P=0.001). In addition, subjects with less weight loss during the treatment program had smaller amplitudes in the rhythms of mean RR (P<0.0001), pNN50 (P=0.007) and HF (P=0.003). Furthermore, the rhythmicity-weight loss associations were much stronger in the C carriers as compared to the TT carriers (mean RR: P=0.028, pNN50: P=0.0002; HF: P=0.015). CONCLUSIONS: The daily rhythm of parasympathetic modulation may play a role in the influence of the CLOCK variation on body weight control.

Seropositivity and identification of paramyosin for sparganosis in the Kangwon and Incheon provinces of the Republic of Korea.

Sparganosis is one of the top three tissue-dwelling heterologous helminthic diseases, along with cysticercosis and paragonimiasis, in Korea. Due to a lack of effective early diagnosis and treatment methods, this parasitic disease is regarded as a public health threat. This study evaluated reactivity, against sparganum extracts, of sera from inhabitants of Cheorwon-gun, Goseong-gun and Ongjin-gun in Korea. The sera from 836 subjects were subjected to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblot analysis. The sera from 18 (5.8%) and 15 (5.1%) inhabitants in Cheorwon-gun (n = 312) and Goseong-gun (n = 294), respectively, exhibited highly positive reactions to the sparganum antigen, whereas only two (0.9%) inhabitants in Ongjin-gun (n = 230) showed positivity. We sought antigenic proteins for serodiagnosis of positive sera by immunoproteomic approaches. Total sparganum lysates were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis and then subjected to immunoblot analysis with mixed sparganosis-positive sera. We found seven antigenic spots and identified paramyosin as an antigenic protein by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. By two-dimensional (2D)-based mass analysis and immunoblotting against sparganosis-positive sera, paramyosin was identified as a candidate antigen for serodiagnosis of sparganosis.

[Magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of encephalopathy of prematurity].

Objective: To explore the MRI manifestation of encephalopathy of prematurity (EOP), so as to find an access to the early prevention, early diagnosis, effective treatment and prognosis. Methods: A total of 2 718 premature infants were collected, MRI and clinical data were analyzed who were admitted to NICU of Children's Hospital of Fudan University between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2014. The manifestation and lesions distribution in MRI were analyzed. Results: All the 2 718 preterm infants underwent MRI. 58.8% (1 599/2 718) of which had normal MRI apperance, whereas 24.9% (678/2 718) showed manifestations of EOP.78.8% (534/678) EOP were non-cystic EOP. 21.2% (144/678) EOP were cystic EOP. Periventricular and cerebral lobe white matter were primary distributions of these lesions. Cystic lesions were primarily distributed in the body of periventricular whiter matter (49.3%). However, more non-cystic EOP were found in cerebral parietal lobe whiter matter (25.1%). Non-cystic EOP were also distributed in the body of periventricular whiter matter, frontal lobe and basal ganglia(20.8%, 20.2% and 18.9%, respectively ). Conclusions: The morbidity rate of EOP in preterm infants was 24.9%. 21.2% (144/678) EOP were cystic EOP. 78.8% (534/678) EOP were non-cystic EOP. Cystic lesions were primarily distributed in the body of periventricular whiter matter. Non-cystic EOP were also distributed in the body of periventricular whiter matter, frontal lobe and basal ganglia.

[Poorly-differentiated chordoma with INI1 loss: a clinicopathologic study].

Objective: To analyze the clinicopathologic characteristics of poorly-differentiated chordoma with INI1 loss in children and to discuss the differential diagnosis. Methods: The clinical, radiological, histopathological profiles and molecular pathologic characteristics of two pediatric poorly differentiated chordoma cases with INI1 loss were reviewed. Results: The patients were a girl and a boy. Both lesions involved the slope. Both patients were presented with progressive muscle weakness or neck pain. Radiological examination showed clivus bone destruction and compression of the brain stem and cervical spinal cord. Histologically, the tumor cells lacked typical organization and were associated with inflammatory cells infiltration. On high power field, the tumor cells were ovoid or fusiform with prominent atypia, vacuolated nuclei and prominent nucleoli. By immunohistochemistry, the tumor cells expressed cytokeratin, epithelial membrane antigen, brachyury and were negative for INI1. In both cases, INI1 gene deletion was detected by FISH. Conclusions: Poorly-differentiated chordoma with INI1 loss mainly occurs in children. The morphology is different from classical chordoma.INI1 gene deletion is detectable by FISH. It can be distinguished from atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors and other neoplasms by the identification of nuclear brachyury expression. The loss of INI1 expression in poorly-differentiated chordoma might be associated with a poorly-differentiated morphology and an adverse prognosis.

SKLB-287, a novel oral multikinase inhibitor of EGFR and VEGFR2, exhibits potent antitumor activity in LoVo colorectal tumor model.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third common cancer and most of the chemotherapies of CRC currently used often suffer limited efficacy and large side effects. Targeted small-molecule by anti-tumor drugs are thought a promising strategy for improving the efficacy and reducing the side effects. In this investigation, we report a novel multikinase inhibitor, termed SKLB-287, which was discovered by us recently. SKLB-287 could efficiently inhibit the activation of endothelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2). It displayed very good anti-proliferative activity against LoVo CRC cells and considerable antiangiogenic potency in transgenic zebrafish embryos. Oral administration of SKLB-287 resulted in dose-dependent suppression of tumor growth in LoVo xenograft mouse model. Immunohistochemistry was adopted to examine the in vivo anti-tumor mechanism of action of SKLB-287.

Isolation, mapping, SNP detection and association with backfat traits of the porcine CTNNBL1 and DGAT2 genes.

Both the CTNNBL1 (catenin, ß-like1) and DGAT2 (diacylglycerol acyltransferase2) genes play important roles in adipose metabolism. In this study, we cloned these two genes in pigs. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR results showed that both genes were extensively expressed, and CTNNBL1 was at a high level in the heart and spleen, while DGAT2 was most abundant in the liver. In CTNNBL1, one synonymous mutation c.555C>T was identified in the coding region, and association analysis showed that different genotypes of CTNNBL1 were significantly associated with backfat at the shoulder and backfat at the rump (P < 0.05). In 3'-UTR of DGAT2, an A/G variation was detected by the Bcn I PCR-RFLP method, and different genotypes were significantly associated with backfat between the 6th and 7th ribs (P < 0.05). The allele frequency was tested among 188 unrelated pigs from six breeds. The results showed that for CTNNBL1, the Chinese indigenous breeds had higher frequencies of the C allele whereas the western breed had higher frequency of the T allele; and for DGAT2, allele A or G were distributed with no obvious difference in allele frequency. IMpRH was employed to localize these two genes, and CTNNBL1 was assigned to SSC17q21-23 and DGAT2 was assigned to SSC9p23-p24. The results suggest that the porcine CTNNBL1 and DGAT2 genes affect porcine fat deposition and further investigation will be necessary to illustrate the underlying mechanisms.

Seasonal variability of ocean circulation near the Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica.

Recent rapid thinning of West Antarctic ice shelves are believed to be caused by intrusions of warm deep water that induce basal melting and seaward meltwater export. This study uses data from three bottom-mounted mooring arrays to show seasonal variability and local forcing for the currents moving into and out of the Dotson ice shelf cavity. A southward flow of warm, salty water had maximum current velocities along the eastern channel slope, while northward outflows of freshened ice shelf meltwater spread at intermediate depth above the western slope. The inflow correlated with the local ocean surface stress curl. At the western slope, meltwater outflows followed the warm influx along the eastern slope with a ~2-3 month delay. Ocean circulation near Dotson Ice Shelf, affected by sea ice distribution and wind, appears to significantly control the inflow of warm water and subsequent ice shelf melting on seasonal time-scales.

A novel allergen Tab y 1 with inhibitory activity of platelet aggregation from salivary glands of horseflies.

BACKGROUND: Horsefly sting causes allergic reactions in human body. However, our knowledge on horsefly allergens remains poor. OBJECTIVES: To identify the novel horsefly allergens and characterize their properties. METHODS: A native allergen protein Tab y 1 (apyrase) was purified from the salivary glands of the horsefly Tabanus yao Macquart by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography. Its sequence was determined by Edman degradation and cDNA cloning. Its allergenicity was assessed by immunoblotting for specific IgE, basophil activation test, skin prick test (SPT), and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: Tab y 1 showed a single diffusion band of 70 kDa on SDS-PAGE. Seventy percent (7/10) of patients with horsefly allergy tested positive to Tab y 1 in SPT; sera from 81% (30/37) of patients reacted to Tab y 1 on western blots. Purified Tab y 1 reduced approximately 42% sera IgE reactivity to horsefly salivary gland extract on a competitive ELISA. Tab y 1 upregulated the expression of CD63 and CCR3 on passively sensitized basophils by up to approximately 4.9-fold. Tab y 1 also showed enzymatic activity to hydrolyze ATP and ADP, and potent antiplatelet aggregation and antithrombotic activities. CONCLUSION: The current work identified a novel major allergen of horsefly, Tab y 1, with antiplatelet aggregation and antithrombotic activities, which implicates Tab y 1 in helping horseflies suck host blood, meanwhile causing allergy in their human hosts.

[A phenotypic and genetic study on ß-propeller protein-associated neurodegeneration].

Objective: To summarize the clinical and genetic features of ß-propeller protein-associated neurodegeneration (BPAN). Methods: The clinical data of 17 patients with BPAN with WDR45 gene variants were retrospectively collected at Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Peking University First Hospital, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University and Shanghai Children's Hospital from June 2016 to December 2018, and their clinical manifestations, electroencephalogram, neuroimaging and genetics were analyzed. Results: Seventeen cases (13 females, 4 males), aged 1.1-8.8 years, were included. The median age of seizure onset was 14.5 months, from 3 months to 24 months of age, manifested with epileptic spasm in 6 cases and focal seizures in 5 cases. Eight patients had only one seizure type and 8 patients had two or more seizure types. Nine patients had complete remission of seizures. All 16 patients with seizures had developmental delay before the seizure onset, of whom 13 patients had moderate to severe seizures. The brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was abnormal in 13 patients, including cerebral atrophy (10 cases) and thinning of the corpus callosum (9 cases). The brain magnetic susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in preschool stage showed prominent T2 hypointense signals in bilateral globus pallidus and brainstem ventral in two cases. Five seizure types (spasm, focal, absence, myodonic and generalized tonic clonic seizures)were found on ictal electroencephalogram(EEG) recordings. Compared to female patients(17(6-24) months of ege), male cases had earlier seizure onset (3, 4, 5, 18 months of age) . All patients had de novo variations in WDR45(6 nonsense, 4 frameshift, 3 missense and 4 splicing variations), with hemizygous variants in 3 males, mosaic variants in a male and heterozygous variants in 13 females, within which 5 variations had not been reported (c.977-1C>T,c.976+1G>C,c.10C>T,c.806del and c.110T>C). Conclusions: The patients with BPAN have profound developmental delay and are vulnerable to seizures. The male patients with BPAN tend to have more severer clinical phenotype than females. Early brain SWI could facilitate the timely diagnosis of this disease.

Physiological and morphological properties of, and effect of substance P on, neurons in the A7 catecholamine cell group in rats.

The A7 catecholamine cell group consists of noradrenergic (NAergic) neurons that project to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Here, we characterized their morphology and physiology properties and tested the effect of substance P (Sub-P) on them, since the results of many morphological studies suggest that A7 neurons are densely innervated by Sub-P-releasing terminals from nuclei involved in the descending inhibitory system, such as the lateral hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray area. Whole cell recordings were made from neurons located approximately 200 microm rostral to the trigeminal motor nucleus (the presumed A7 area) in sagittal brainstem slices from rats aged 7-10 days. After recording, the neurons were injected with biocytin and immunostained with antibody against dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH). DBH-immunoreactive (ir) cells were presumed to be NAergic neurons. They had a large somata diameter ( approximately 20 microm) and relatively simple dendritic branching patterns. They fired action potentials (AP) spontaneously with or without blockade of synaptic inputs, and had similar properties to those of NAergic neurons in other areas, including the existence of calcium channel-mediated APs and a voltage-dependent delay in initiation of the AP (an indicator of the existence of A-type potassium currents) and an ability to be hyperpolarized by norepinephrine. Furthermore, in all DBH-ir neurons tested, Sub-P caused depolarization of the membrane potential and an increase in neuronal firing rate by acting on neurokinin-1 receptors. Non-DBH-ir neurons with a smaller somata size were also found in the A7 area. These showed great diversity in firing patterns and about half were depolarized by Sub-P. Morphological examination suggested that the non-DBH-ir neurons form contacts with DBH-ir neurons. These results provide the first description of the intrinsic regulation of membrane properties of, and the excitatory effect of Sub-P on, A7 area neurons, which play an important role in pain regulation.

Clinical and metabolic correction of pompe disease by enzyme therapy in acid maltase-deficient quail.

Pompe disease is a fatal genetic muscle disorder caused by a deficiency of acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA), a glycogen degrading lysosomal enzyme. GAA-deficient (AMD) Japanese quails exhibit progressive myopathy and cannot lift their wings, fly, or right themselves from the supine position (flip test). Six 4-wk-old acid maltase-deficient quails, with the clinical symptoms listed, were intravenously injected with 14 or 4.2 mg/kg of precursor form of recombinant human GAA or buffer alone every 2-3 d for 18 d (seven injections). On day 18, both high dose-treated birds (14 mg/kg) scored positive flip tests and flapped their wings, and one bird flew up more than 100 cm. GAA activity increased in most of the tissues examined. In heart and liver, glycogen levels dropped to normal and histopathology was normal. In pectoralis muscle, morphology was essentially normal, except for increased glycogen granules. In sharp contrast, sham-treated quail muscle had markedly increased glycogen granules, multi-vesicular autophagosomes, and inter- and intrafascicular fatty infiltrations. Low dose-treated birds (4.2 mg/kg) improved less biochemically and histopathologically than high dose birds, indicating a dose-dependent response. Additional experiment with intermediate doses and extended treatment (four birds, 5.7-9 mg/kg for 45 d) halted the progression of the disease. Our data is the first to show that an exogenous protein can target to muscle and produce muscle improvement. These data also suggest enzyme replacement with recombinant human GAA is a promising therapy for human Pompe disease.

Cloning, chromosomal localization and expression patterns of porcine Kruppel-like factors 4, -5, -7 and the early growth response factor 2.

Kruppel-like factors (KLF) and the early growth response factor 2 (EGR2) are important zinc finger transcription factors in vertebrates. We have cloned the full length coding sequence (CDS) of porcine KLF5, KLF7 and EGR2, which are 1374, 909 and 1416 bp, respectively. KLF4, KLF5 and EGR2 were then chromosomally mapped to porcine 1q28-29, 11q13-14 and 14q23-25, respectively. Moreover, the tissue expression patterns of KLF4, KLF5, KLF7 and EGR2 imply their probable roles in specific tissues. This is the first report of the basic study of these zinc finger transcription factors in pigs; this information will be helpful for future functional studies.

Correlations of TNF-α gene promoter polymorphisms with the risk of thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis in a northern Chinese Han population.

This study was performed with the aim to investigate the correlations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) gene promoter polymorphisms with the risk of thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis (T-MG) in a northern Chinese Han population. Between June 2005 and June 2015, 305 MG patients (150 males and 155 females, MG group) and 293 healthy volunteers (negative control (NC) group) were enrolled in this study. Among the MG patients, there were 121 patients with thymoma-associated MG (T-MG group) and 184 without T-MG (NT-MG group). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used for the serum TNF-α level. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was conducted to determine genotype and allele frequencies of TNF-α gene promoter -1031T/C, -857C/T and -863C/A. The haplotype was analyzed with the SHEsis software. Logistic regression analysis was performed for correlations between TNF-α gene promoter polymorphisms and the risk of T-MG. The T-MG group had higher frequencies of the CT/TT genotype and T allele of -857C/T than the NT-MG and NC groups. The frequencies of the CC genotype and C allele of -1031T/C were higher in the T-MG group than in the NT-MG and NC groups, and higher in male patients in the T-MG group than in male patients in the NC group. TTA and TTC haplotypes exhibited lower frequencies in the T-MG group than in the NT-MG group. The ocular MG patients exhibited lower frequencies of the TT genotype and T allele of -857C/T than the generalized MG patients did. The TNF-α level was elevated in the T-MG group compared with that in the NC and NT-MG groups, indicating that the TC+CC and CT+TT genotypes were increased compared with the TT and CC genotypes in the -1031T/C and -857C/T, respectively. Logistic regression analysis suggested that expressions of anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies, Osserman's classification, -1031T/C and -857C/T polymorphisms and the TTA haplotype were the independent risk factors for T-MG. These findings reveal that TNF-α -1031T/C and -857C/T polymorphisms and the TTA haplotype may be correlated with the occurrence of T-MG in a Northern Chinese Han population.

[Novel compound heterozygous TBC1D24 mutations in a boy with infantile focal myoclonic epilepsy and literature review].

Objective: To investigate the clinical features and genetic characteristics of patients with TBC1D24 gene mutations. Method: The clinical data of a patient with novel TBC1D24 compound heterozygous mutations from Children's Hospital of Fudan University were collected, the related literature was searched from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, National Center from Biotechnology Information and Pubmed (up to April 2016) by using search terms "TBC1D24" "epilepsy" . The clinical features, electroencephalogram (EEG) and prognosis of the patients with TBC1D24 gene mutations were studied. Result: The patient was a boy with non-consanguineous healthy parents.He had an acute episode of focal continuous myoclonus lasting a few hours with consciousness preserved at the age of 3 months.Myoclonic jerks alternatively affected the eyelids, either the right or left limbs, sometimes triggered by fever or fatigue.The frequency was once 3-7 days.At the age of 6 months he was found to have myoclonus seizures with onset from a unilateral eyes lid and limb lasting 10 more minutes and subsequently affected four extremities or the trunk.They occurred once 3-4 months with perserved consciousness and lasted from several hours to up to ten more hours.They mostly disappeared during sleep.He had ataxia and mild mental retarding.Paroxysmal anomalies were not found on ictal traces.A novel compound heterozygous mutation of TBC1D24 gene, c. 730G>A, p.A244T and c. 1571G>C, p.R524P were found in the patient.Further study showed that c. 730G>A mutation was inherited from his father and c. 1571G>C from his mother. These two were not reported in public databases and predicted deleterious by Mutation Taster and polyphen-2.Literature relevant to TBC1D24 published all around the world was reviewed, no Chinese cases with TBC1D24 gene mutations had been reported. The total of 24 cases including the present case with TBC1D24 gene mutation were reported.Among them, 11 cases had compound heterozygous mutations and 13 cases had homozygous mutations.Ten mutations were identified, including 1 termination mutation, 1 frameshift mutation and 8 missense mutations. Conclusion: TBC1D24 gene mutational analysis should be performed on patients with early-onset focal continuous myoclonus, if the etiology was unclear.

Evaluation of the CLSI cefoxitin 30-microg disk-diffusion method for detecting methicillin resistance in staphylococci.

Methicillin susceptibility of 415 staphylococcal isolates from Chinese hospitals was assessed using the CLSI disk-diffusion method with a cefoxitin 30-microg disk in comparison with an oxacillin 1-microg disk. PCR-based detection of mecA was the reference standard. The cefoxitin 30-microg disk performed with almost the same high level of accuracy as the oxacillin 1-microg disk in detecting methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. For coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), the sensitivity of the cefoxitin 30-microg disk was 90.5%, compared with 83.4% for the oxacillin 1-microg disk. Confirmatory testing of isolates with borderline susceptibility and revision of the cefoxitin breakpoint are proposed in order to categorise CoNS more accurately.

The transformation of aluminium species in the processes of coagulation, sedimentation and filtration.

The aluminium toxicity is closely related to aluminium species. In this work aluminium was fractionated into seven forms: Al(T), Al(Sus), Al(C + S), Al(S), Al(C), Al(O) and Al(I). Four Al-based coagulants and simulated raw water were used in the laboratory to investigate the aluminium transformation in coagulation, sedimentation and filtration processes. It is the use of Al-based coagulants that contributes more to the increase of the residual aluminium for the low-turbidity raw water, while the Al-based coagulants, especially the polymeric aluminium coagulants, work to remove the aluminium from the high-turbidity raw water. In the case of traditional coagulants, the increase of the turbidity or the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration in the raw water results in a high concentration of Al(C + S). The removal rate of aluminium species in the filtration process is not only related to its size: RAl(Sus) > RAl(C+S), RAl(C) > RAl(S), but also to the physicochemical properties of aluminium species and filter. For the kaolin-polyaluminium chloride system, a lower removal rate of aluminium species results is due to the complexation of humic acid and aluminium species.

Genomic structure and mutational analysis of the human KIF1B gene which is homozygously deleted in neuroblastoma at chromosome 1p36.2.

In order to clone candidate tumor suppressor genes whose loss contributes to the pathogenesis of neuroblastoma (NB), we performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening using a high-density sequence tagged site-content map within a commonly deleted region (chromosome band 1p36) in 24 NB cell lines. We found a approximately 480 kb homozygously deleted region at chromosome band 1p36.2 in one of the 24 NB cell lines, NB-1, and cloned the human homologue (KIF1B-beta) of the mouseKif1B-beta gene in this region. The KIF1B-beta gene had at least 47 exons, all of which had a classic exon-intron boundary structure. Mouse Kif1B is a microtubule-based putative anterograde motor protein for the transport of mitochondria in neural cells. We performed mutational analysis of the KIF1B-beta gene in 23 cell lines using 46 sets of primers and also an allelic imbalance (AI) analysis of KIF1B-beta in 50 fresh NB samples. A missense mutation at codon 1554, GTG (Gly) to ATG (Met), silent mutations at codon 409 (ACG to ACA) and codon 1721 (ACC to ACT), and polymorphisms at codon 170, GAT (Asp) to GAA (Glu), and at codon 1087, TAT (Tyr), to TGT (Cys), were all identified, although their functional significances remain to be determined. The AI for KIF1B-beta was slightly higher (38%) than those for the other two markers (D1S244, D1S1350) (35 and 32%) within the commonly deleted region (1p36). Reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis of the KIF1B-beta gene revealed obvious expression in all NB cell lines except NB-1, although decreased expression of the KIF1B-beta gene was found in a subset of early- and advanced-stage NBs. These results suggest that the KIF1B-beta gene may not be a candidate for tumor suppressor gene of NB.