The impact of meteorological parameters on the scrub typhus incidence in Baoshan City, western Yunnan, China.

Background: Scrub typhus has become widespread across various regions in China in recent decades, causing a considerable burden on residents. While meteorological variables significantly impact the spread of scrub typhus, there is insufficient quantitative evidence illustrating this association in known high-endemic areas. Methods: A distributed lag non-linear model was applied to explore the relationship between meteorological parameters and scrub typhus incidence from 2010 to 2019 in Baoshan City, western Yunnan Province, China. Results: High monthly mean (20°C) and maximum (30°C) temperatures were associated with a peak risk of scrub typhus in the current month. Higher minimum temperatures and higher relative humidity were followed by increasing cumulative risks over the ensuing 3 months. Higher precipitation was followed by increasing cumulative risk over the ensuing 2-month period, peaking at around 30 cm. Conclusion: The non-linear lag associations between meteorological parameters and scrub typhus incidence suggest that higher monthly minimum temperature and relative humidity could be associated with an increased risk of scrub typhus in the subsequent several months, while warm temperature is more likely to impact the occurrence of scrub typhus in the current month.

Overexpression of GPX2 gene regulates the development of porcine preadipocytes and skeletal muscle cells through MAPK signaling pathway.

Glutathione peroxidase 2 (GPX2) is a selenium-dependent enzyme and protects cells against oxidative damage. Recently, GPX2 has been identified as a candidate gene for backfat and feed efficiency in pigs. However, it is unclear whether GPX2 regulates the development of porcine preadipocytes and skeletal muscle cells. In this study, adenoviral gene transfer was used to overexpress GPX2. Our findings suggest that overexpression of GPX2 gene inhibited proliferation of porcine preadipocytes. And the process is accompanied by the reduction of the p-p38. GPX2 inhibited adipogenic differentiation and promoted lipid degradation, while ERK1/2 was reduced and p-p38 was increased. Proliferation of porcine skeletal muscle cells was induced after GPX2 overexpression, was accompanied by activation in JNK, ERK1/2, and p-p38. Overexpression methods confirmed that GPX2 has a promoting function in myoblastic differentiation. ERK1/2 pathway was activated and p38 was suppressed during the process. This study lays a foundation for the functional study of GPX2 and provides theoretical support for promoting subcutaneous fat reduction and muscle growth.

A comprehensive whole genome database of ethnic minority populations.

China, is characterized by its remarkable ethnical diversity, which necessitates whole genome variation data from multiple populations as crucial tools for advancing population genetics and precision medical research. However, there has been a scarcity of research concentrating on the whole genome of ethnic minority groups. To fill this gap, we developed the Guizhou Multi-ethnic Genome Database (GMGD). It comprises whole genome sequencing data from 476 healthy unrelated individuals spanning 11 ethnic minorities groups in Guizhou Province, Southwest China, including Bouyei, Dong, Miao, Yi, Bai, Gelo, Zhuang, Tujia, Yao, Hui, and Sui. The GMGD database comprises more than 16.33 million variants in GRCh38 and 16.20 million variants in GRCh37. Among these, approximately 11.9% (1,956,322) of the variants in GRCh38 and 18.5% (3,009,431) of the variants in GRCh37 are entirely new and do not exist in the dbSNP database. These novel variants shed light on the genetic diversity landscape across these populations, providing valuable insights with an average coverage of 5.5 ×. This makes GMGD the largest genome-wide database encompassing the most diverse ethnic groups to date. The GMGD interactive interface facilitates researchers with multi-dimensional mutation search methods and displays population frequency differences among global populations. Furthermore, GMGD is equipped with a genotype-imputation function, enabling enhanced capabilities for low-depth genomic research or targeted region capture studies. GMGD offers unique insights into the genomic variation landscape of different ethnic groups, which are freely accessible at https://db.cngb.org/pop/gmgd/ .

Effect of varying hypoxia reoxygenation times on autophagy of cardiomyocytes

Abstract Purpose: To investigate the impact of different hypoxia reoxygenation (HR) times on autophagy of rat cardiomyocytes (H9C2). Methods: Rat cardiomyocytes were randomly divided into normal control group (group A), hypoxia group (group B), 2 h HR group (group C), 12 h HR group (group D), and 24 h HR group (group E). LC3 II/LC3 I was determined via western blotting, and cell viabilities of cardiomyocytes were measured using methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. Results: Cell viabilities in HR model groups were significantly lower than those of group A (P<0.05). LC3 II/LC3 I levels in groups B to D were significantly higher than those of group A (P<0.05), and group D showed the highest LC3 II/LC3 I levels. Cell viabilities in groups B to D were significantly lower than those of group A (P<0.05), with group D showing the lowest cell viabilities (P<0.05). Conclusions: Hypoxia can induce autophagy in rat cardiomyocytes, which can be further activated by reoxygenation; most notable after 12 h. Hypoxia-induced cell injury can be aggravated by reoxygenation. The lowest cell viability was observed at 12 h after reoxygenation; however, cell viability can be recovered after 24 h.