[Analysis of clinical and psychological characteristics in 250 patients with fibromyalgia].

To analyze the clinical and psychological characteristics of fibromyalgia (FM), so as to further understand and improve the capability of identifying FM. The clinical data of 250 FM patients diagnosed in the outpatient clinic of the Department of Rheumatology, the First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, from December 2019 to September 2021, were collected and analyzed. The patients aged 40 (31.0, 52.3) years, including 188 female patients (75.2%) and 62 male patients (24.8%). There was a statistically significant difference in age comparison between female [42.5 (33.0,54.0) years] and male patients [32.5 (27.8,43.5) years] (P<0.001). The score of pain degree was 6 (4, 8), and [7 (5, 8)] of female patients was higher than [6 (4, 7)] of the male patients (P=0.040). The widespread pain index (WPI) was 13 (10,15). The regions with high pain incidence were left shoulder girdle (87.2%, 218/250), right shoulder girdle (86.8%, 217/250), upper back (86.4%, 216/250), neck (79.6%, 199/250) and lower back (77.6%, 194/250) and etc. The incidence of chest pain in female patients (55.3%, 104/188) was lower than that in male patients (75.8%, 47/62) (P=0.004). The symptom severity scale (SSS) score was 8 (7-10). 74.6% (185/248) suffered from anxiety and 77.5% (193/249) suffered from depression in 249 patients. Female patients were more common in FM patients than male patients, the median age of female patients was older than that of male patients, and the median score of pain severity of female patients was higher than male patients. Shoulders girdle, upper back, neck and lower back were the most frequently reported pain regions, and the incidence of chest pain in female patients was lower than that in male patients. The incidence of major non-painful symptoms was high and the proportion with anxiety or depression was high. The above clinical features are very helpful for early diagnosis of FM.

[Epidemiological and etiological characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains causing foodborne disease outbreaks in Guangdong Province from 2017 to 2020].

Objective: To study the epidemiological and pathogenic characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from outbreaks cases in Guangdong Province, 2017-2020. Methods: Epidemiological characteristics of 87 outbreak events caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus were analyzed. Strains were serotyped, and then analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Results: The food-borne disease outbreak caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus was found in 16 cities. 44.8% (39/87) and 37.9% (33/87) of the outbreaks occurred in hotels, restaurants and school canteens, respectively. Improper food processing and storage (40.2%, 35/87) and cross contamination caused by indiscriminate raw and cooked food (25.3%, 22/87) were the main causes of food-borne disease outbreaks of Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The main serotypes of patient derived strains were O3:K6 (87.5%) and O4:KUT (22.5%). The similarity value between O3:K6 type isolates was 65.5%-100.0%, and the PFGE pattern similarity value of O4:KUT type isolates was 66.5%-100.0%. Conclusion: Outbreaks caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus are widely distributed in Guangdong province. It is necessary to strengthen the publicity and education on the correct handling of food in hotels, restaurants, schools, and unit canteens. O3:K6 and O4:KUT serotypes are the main serotypes of the outbreak. There is genetic diversity among the epidemic strains.

[Clinicopathological features of congenital hemangioma: a study of 40 cases].

Objective: To investigate the clinical and pathologic features, diagnosis and differential diagnosis of congenital hemangioma (CH). Methods: Forty cases of CH were diagnosed from January 2017 to December 2020 in Henan Provincial People's Hospital. The clinical and pathological and immunohistochemical data were analyzed, with review of literature. Results: There were 24 male and 16 female patients. The lesions were located in the head, neck (11 cases), limbs (14 cases), and trunk (15 cases). The clinical manifestations were congenital painless plaques or masses, the larger ones protruded on the skin surface, mostly dusky purple or bright red, with surrounding white halos. Under low magnification, the tumor was lobular and well demarcated, composed of neo-microvascular lumen of different sizes. The vascular endothelial cells were cuboidal or hobnail in appearance, forming stellar drainage vessels within the lobules. Extra-medullary hematopoiesis was seen in one case of rapidly involuting CH; there were different number of tortuous and dilated vascular lumen between the lobular structures, and some non-involuting CH cases were vascular malformations, which were devoid of lobulated structures. Immunohistochemistry showed that endothelial cells were strongly positive for CD31, CD34 and ERG, while D2-40 and GLUT-1 were negative. Conclusions: CH is a benign congenital vascular tumor with characteristic lobulated growth and abnormal blood vessels in the stroma. Pathological diagnosis often needs to be differentiated from infantile hemangioma, pyogenic granuloma, kaposiform hemangioendothelioma and vascular malformation.

Increased Vδ1γδT cells predominantly contributed to IL-17 production in the development of adult human post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome.

BACKGROUND: γδT cells play an important role in the mucosa inflammation and immunity-associated disorders. Our previous study reported that γδ T cells producing IL-17 were involved in the pathogenesis of post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS). However, their subset characteristic profile in this kind of disease remains unclear. Thus the current study's aim is to investigate the functionally predominant subset and its role in PI-IBS. METHODS: The total T cells were collected from the peripheral blood of patients with PI-IBS. The peripheral proportion of Vδ1 and Vδ2 subset was detected by FACS after stained with anti δ1-PE and anti δ2-APC. The local colonic proportion of this two subsets were measured under laser confocal fluorescence microscope. Vδ1 γδ T cells were enriched from the total peripheral T cells by minoantibody-immuno-microbeads (MACS) method and cultured, functionally evaluated by CCK-8 assay (proliferation), CD69/CD62L molecules expression assay (activation) and ELISA (IL-17 production) respectively. RESULTS: 1. Vδ1 γδ T cells significantly increased while Vδ2 γδ T cells remained unchanged in both the peripheral blood and local colonic tissue from PI-IBS patients (p < 0.05). 2. When cultured in vitro, the Vδ1 γδ T cells remarkably proliferated, activated and produced IL-17 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that Vδ1 γδ T cells was the predominant γδ T cells subset in both peripheral and intestinal tissue, and was the major IL-17 producing γδ T cells in PI-IBS.

Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis for pregnancies at risk for ß-thalassaemia: a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical feasibility of noninvasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) for ß-thalassaemia using circulating single molecule amplification and re-sequencing technology (cSMART). DESIGN: Through carrier screening, 102 pregnant Chinese couples carrying pathogenic HBB gene variants were recruited to the study. Pregnancies were managed using traditional invasive prenatal diagnosis (IPD). Retrospectively, we evaluated the archived pregnancy plasma DNA by NIPD to evaluate the performance of our cSMART assay for fetal genotyping. SETTING: Chinese prenatal diagnostic centres specialising in thalassaemia testing. POPULATION: Chinese carrier couples at high genetic risk for ß-thalassaemia. METHODS: Fetal cell sampling was performed by amniocentesis and HBB genotypes were determined by reverse dot blot. NIPD was performed by a newly designed HBB cSMART assay and fetal genotypes were called by measuring the allelic ratios in the maternal cell-free DNA. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Concordance of HBB fetal genotyping between IPD and NIPD and the sensitivity and specificity of NIPD. RESULTS: Invasive prenatal diagnosis identified 29 affected homozygotes or compound heterozygotes, 54 heterozygotes and 19 normal homozygotes. Compared with IPD results, 99 of 102 fetuses (97%) were correctly genotyped by our NIPD assay. Two of three discordant samples were false positives and the other sample involved an incorrect call of a heterozygote carrier as a homozygote normal. Overall, the sensitivity and specificity of our NIPD assay was 100% (95% CI 88.06-100.00%) and 97.26% (95% CI 90.45-99.67%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that our cSMART-based NIPD assay for ß-thalassaemia has potential clinical utility as an alternative to IPD for pregnant HBB carrier couples. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: A new noninvasive test for pregnancies at risk for ß-thalassaemia.

Establishment of an immune-related gene prognostic model for head and neck tumors.

This study aimed to screen the key immune-related genes (IRGs) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) and construct the IRGs-related prognostic model to predict the overall survival (OS) of patients with HNSC. The RNA-seq data and clinical data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and IRGs were obtained from the Immunology Database and Analysis Portal. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between HNSC and normal samples were identified, followed by integration with IRGs to screen differentially expressed IRGs. After univariate and multivariate proportional hazard regression analyses, an IRG-based risk model was constructed. Meanwhile, data chip of GSE65858 as the validation set to assess the predicted performance of established model. Next, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify the independent prognostic factor of HNSC, and the Nomogram model was developed to predict patient outcome. Furthermore, the correlation between immune cell infiltration and risk score was analyzed. A total of 65 differently expressed IRGs associated with prognosis of HNSC were screened, and finally a 26-gene IRG signature was identified to construct a prognostic prediction model. The AUC of ROC curve was 0.750. Survival analysis showed that patients in the high-risk group had a worse prognosis. Independent prognostic analysis showed that risk score could be considered as an independent predictor for HNSC prognosis. Nomogram assessment showed that the model had high reliability for predicting the survival of patients with HNSC in 1, 2, 3 years. Ultimately, the abundance of B cells and CD4+ T cell infiltration in HNSC showed negative correlations with risk score. Our IRG-based prognostic risk model may be used to estimate the prognosis of HNSC patients.

IGF-1R/ß-catenin signaling axis is implicated in streptozotocin exacerbating bone impairment in ovariectomized rats.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R)/ß-catenin signaling axis in bone impairment induced by hyperglycemia in ovariectomized rats. METHODS: Rats were divided into four groups. The sham group received sham operation and a single intraperitoneal administration of vehicle. The ovariectomy (OVX) group was subjected to bilateral OVX and vehicle injection. The streptozotocin (STZ) group received sham operation and a single STZ injection to induce hyperglycemia. The OVX + STZ group received bilateral OVX and a single STZ injection. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measurement, bone biomechanics test, micro-computed tomography scan, and hematoxylin-eosin staining were performed to evaluate bone alteration in this model. The expression of relevant signals including IGF-1R, glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK-3ß), and ß-catenin were examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot. RESULTS: The OVX, STZ, and OVX + STZ groups induced bone loss, attenuated bone strength, and impaired microarchitecture compared with the sham group, respectively. Compared with OVX, more serious bone damage was found in the OVX + STZ group, which showed enhanced phosphorylation of IGF-1R, GSK-3ß, and ß-catenin. CONCLUSION: OVX plus STZ induced more serious bone impairment than OVX alone, which involves the IGF-1R/ß-catenin signaling axis in the pathogenesis. This may provide a potential target for treatment of postmenopausal diabetic osteoporosis.

[Clinical characteristics and outcomes of preoperactive short-acting octreotide treatment in patients with thyrotropin-secreting pituitary adenomas].

Objective: To explore the clinical characteristics of patients with pituitary thyrotropin-secreting adenoma and evaluate the effect of preoperative short-acting octreotide treatment on hyperthyroidism. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed in 40 patients with pituitary thyrotropin adenoma diagnosed in Beijing Tiantan Hospital from January 2008 to January 2018. The general data, laboratory examinations and imaging findings were reviewed and analyzed. The clinical effect of preoperative octreotide on hyperthyroidism was evaluated. Results: The age of onset year of the 40 patients (male: female = 24∶16) was (30.5±5.1) years. Among them, 35 patients (87.5%) were with macroadenoma. The most common symptoms were thyroid hypermetabolism syndrome, followed by headache, dizziness, visual field damage and hypogonadism. The thyroid function of 30 patients (75%) recovered to normal within 3-5 days after the octreotide treatment. The total effective rate of the octreotide was 90.0%. The level of free thyroxine (FT4) before treatment in patients with more than 10 times of effective cumulative dose was significantly higher than that in patients with less than 10 doses. Conclusions: Thyroid hypermetabolism syndrome and pituitary occupying effect are the most common clinical manifestations of thyrotropin-secreting adenoma. Preoperative octreotide treatment can effectively control hyperthyroidism. The level of FT4 is a crucial factor affecting the efficacy of octreotide.

[Analysis for the breast cancer screening among urban population in Hebei province, 2018-2019].

From 2018 to 2019, 3 453 cases of high-risk population were screened by the Cancer Screening Program in Urban China (CanSPUC) in Hebei Province, with the age of (53.94±8.00). 147 and 686 cases of breast cancer positive and suspicious positive patients were found, with the positive rate and suspicious positive rate of 4.26% and 19.87% respectively. The suspicious positive rate of 45-49 years old age group was the highest (28.32%), and the positive rate of over 70 years old age group was the highest (7.32%). The positive detection rate of mammography combined with ultrasound was 5.16%, which was higher than that of ultrasound alone (2.46%) (χ²=30.28,P<0.001) or mammography alone (3.06%) (χ²=14.56,P<0.001).

[Clinicopathological features of verrucous hemangioma].

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological features, and differential diagnosis of verrucous hemangioma (VH). Methods: Twenty-eight VH cases diagnosed from 2005 to 2020 in Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China were analyzed retrospectively. Immunohistochemical studies were used to detect diagnostic markers. The mutation status of PIK3CA (exons 9 and 20) was detected using fluorescence PCR. Results: There were 13 males and 15 females in 28 cases, with the male to female ratio of 1.0∶1.2. There were 25 patients under the age of 18 years. The age range was from 10 months to 56 years (mean, 9.7 years; median, 4.5 years). There were 17 cases occurred in the lower extremities, 7 in the upper extremities and 4 in the trunk. All 28 cases were irregular red patches on the skin, which grew slowly. Some of them were thickened with uneven surface, which was light pink or red-white. Skin lesions of the 7 cases ranged from dark red and reddish brown, with a rough and hard surface. Satellite foci were present. Microscopically, 28 cases had a wide range of pathological features. Dilated, malformed vessels were observed from dermal papilla to deep soft tissue. Among them, the dermal papillary layer was mainly composed of many proliferating and expanding thin-walled capillaries and cavernous blood vessels. Thin-walled small vessels were found in the dermal reticular layer and subcutaneous fascia layer, with no obvious endothelial cell proliferation, occasional papillary hyperplasia, and lobular distribution of the malformed vessels in the fascia layer mixed with the fibroadipose tissue. There was epidermal papillary hyperplasia with hyperkeratosis and parakeratosis, lengthening and mutual fusion of epithelial horns. Immunohistochemistry showed that CD31, CD34, ERG and WT-1 were diffusely and strongly positive. The expression of GLUT-1 was present in superficial dermal vascular endothelial cells, but undetectable in the deep layer. The PIK3CA tests of 13 cases showed that no somatic mutations were found in exons 9 and 20. Twenty-five patients were followed up for 5 months to 10 years. Seven patients underwent multiple surgical resections and plastic surgeries due to the large size, and 8 patients had recurrence. Conclusions: VH is a rare congenital vascular malformation and more commonly occurs in infants and children. It tends to appear in limbs, especially lower limbs and distal limbs. Its morphology and immunophenotype are characteristic and should be distinguished from other vascular malformations and the resolution phase of infant hemangiomas. In about one third of the cases, postoperative recurrence may occur and long-term follow-up is often required.

The Oxylipin Signaling Pathway Is Required for Increased Aphid Attraction and Retention on Virus-Infected Plants.

Many studies have shown that virus infection alters phytohormone signaling and insect vector contact with hosts. Increased vector contact and movement among plants should increase virus survival and host range. In this study we examine the role of virus-induced changes in phytohormone signaling in plant-aphid interactions, using Pea enation mosaic virus (PEMV), pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum), and pea (Pisum sativum) as a model. We observed that feeding by aphids carrying PEMV increases salicylic acid and jasmonic acid accumulation in pea plants compared to feeding by virus-free aphids. To determine if induction of the oxylipin jasmonic acid is critical for aphid settling, attraction, and retention on PEMV-infected plants, we conducted insect bioassays using virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), an oxylipin signaling inducer, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and a chemical inhibitor of oxylipin signaling, phenidone. Surprisingly, there was no impact of phenidone treatment on jasmonic acid or salicylic acid levels in virus-infected plants, though aphid attraction and retention were altered. These results suggest that the observed impacts of phenidone on aphid attraction to and retention on PEMV-infected plants are independent of the jasmonic acid and salicylic acid pathway but may be mediated by another component of the oxylipin signaling pathway. These results shed light on the complexity of viral manipulation of phytohormone signaling and vector-plant interactions.

Development of a linear programming model for the optimal allocation of nutritional resources in a dairy herd.

A linear programming model that selects the optimal cropping plan and feeds allocation for diets to minimize the whole dairy farm feed costs was developed. The model was virtually applied on 29 high-yielding Holstein-Friesian herds, confined, total mixed ration dairy farms. The average herd size was 313.2 ± 144.1 lactating cows and the average land size was 152.2 ± 92.5 ha. Farm characteristics such as herd structure, nutritional grouping strategies, feed consumption, cropping plan, intrinsic farm limitations (e.g., silage and hay storage availability, water for irrigation, manure storage) and on farm produced forage costs of production were collected from each farm for the year 2017. Actual feeding strategies, land availability, herd structure, crop production costs and yields, and milk and feed market prices for the year 2017 were used as model inputs. Through optimization, the feeding system was kept equal to the actual farm practice. The linear program formulated diets for each animal group to respect actual herd dry matter intake and fulfill actual consumption of crude protein, rumen-degradable and rumen-undegradable fractions of crude protein, net energy for lactation, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, forage neutral detergent fiber, and nonfiber carbohydrate. Production levels and herd composition were considered to remain constant as the nutritional requirement would remain unchanged. The objective function was set to minimize the whole-farm feed costs including cash crop sales as income, and crop production costs and purchased feed costs as expenses. Optimization improved income over feed costs by reducing herd feed costs by 7.8 ± 6.4%, from baseline to optimized scenario, the improved was explained by lower feed costs per kilogram of milk produced due to a higher feed self-sufficiency and higher income from cash crop. In particular, the model suggested to maximize, starting from baseline to optimized scenario, the net energy for lactation (+8.5 ± 6.3%) and crude protein (+3.6 ± 3.1%) produced on farm, whereas total feed cost (€/100 kg of milk) was greater in the baseline (20.4 ± 2.3) than the optimized scenario (19.0 ± 1.9), resulting in a 6.7% feed cost reduction with a range between 0.49% and 21.6%. This meant €109 ± 96.9 greater net return per cow per year. The implementation of the proposed linear programming model for the optimal allocation of the nutritional resources and crops in a dairy herd has the potential to reduce feed cost of diets and improve the farm feed self-sufficiency.

[Analysis of follow-up information and pregnancy outcomes of cell free DNA prenatal screening].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of cell free DNA (cf-DNA) screening in prenatal care by analyzing the follow-up information and pregnancy outcomes. Methods: All cf-DNA cases conducted in Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from August 2011 to December 2017 were enrolled. The general information of the pregnancies, cf-DNA results, confirmatory testing results, and the follow-up results were collected. The pregnancy outcomes were analyzed in cases with low risk cf-DNA results as well as with high risk results for common trisomies, which were trisomy 21 (T21), trisomy 18 (T18), and trisomy 13 (T13). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of cf-DNA screening were calculated. Results: (1) A total of 43 615 cf-DNA cases were involved, with 44 cases (0.10%, 44/43 615) test failure results, 314 cases (0.72%, 314/43 571) high risk results for common trisomies and 43 257 cases (99.27%, 43 257/43 571) low risk results. (2) Among 277 cases (88.21%, 277/314) high risk cases were successfully followed up, and 228 cases (82.31%, 228/277) underwent invasive confirmatory prenatal diagnosis. In the low risk results, 36 826 cases (85.13%, 36 826/43 257) were successfully followed up, and 572 (1.55%, 572/36 826) cases were found to have adverse pregnancy outcomes, among which 4 false negative cf-DNA results were confirmed. (3) In the 37 103 successfully followed up cf-DNA cases, the sensitivity for T21, T18, T13 were calculated as 97.96%, 96.67% and 100.00%, respectively; the specificity for T21, T18, T13 were calculated as 99.96%, 99.95% and 99.95%, respectively. The positive predictive value for T21, T18, T13 were calculated as 90.57%, 63.04% and 17.39%, respectively. The negative predictive value for T21, T18, T13 were calculated as 99.99%, 99.98% and 100.00%. Conclusions: Cf-DNA is effective in detecting common trisomies, with a high sensitivity and specificity. However, the follow-up information revealed several potential limitations in current clinical practice, such as a number of cases with high risk results rejected invasive confirmatory testing, as well as the genetic diagnostic results for most low risk cases with an adverse pregnancy outcome aren't obtained. Genetic counseling and the follow-up for all the cf-DNA cases should be emphasized in the future.

Risk factors and score for recollapse of the augmented vertebrae after percutaneous vertebroplasty in osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.

Our study demonstrated a high incidence of recollapse of the augmented vertebrae after PVP treatment for OVCFs. A risk score based on all significant factors can predict the rate of recollapse and gain clinical benefits to prevent recollapse in patients at high risk. BACKGROUND: Recollapse of the augmented vertebrae after percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) treatment for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) has obtained much attention. However, little is known about risk factors and score for recollapse of the augmented vertebrae. OBJECTIVE: To determine risk factors and furthermore develop a risk score related to recollapse of the augmented vertebrae after PVP treatment for OVCFs. METHODS: Patients who were treated with PVP for single OVCFs and met this study's inclusion criteria were retrospectively reviewed. The follow-up period was at least 2 years. Associations of recollapse with co-variates (age, gender, bone mass density [BMD] with a T-score, fracture level, intravertebral cleft [IVC], fracture type, cement volume, cement leakage, leakage into a disc, cement distribution pattern, Non-PMMA-endplate-contact [NPEC], preoperative fracture severity, reduction rate [RR], reduction angle [RA]) were analyzed and a risk score for recollapse was further developed to predict recollapse. RESULTS: A total of 152 patients were included. Recollapse group was found in 42 (27.6%) patients. Preoperative IVC, solid lump cement distribution pattern, more RR (a cutoff value of 7%) and larger RA (a cutoff value of 3°) was significantly associated with increased risk for recollapse of the augmented vertebrae. A risk score was developed based on the number of risk factors present in each patient. Patients with a score of 4 had an approximately ninefold increased risk of developing recollapse over patients with a score of 0. The receiver operating characteristic curve of the risk score generated an area under the curve of 0.899 (95% CI 0.642-0.836, P = 0.000). CONCLUSION: A risk score based on preoperative IVC, cement distribution pattern, reduction rate, and reduction angle predicts the rate of recollapse. Additional studies should aim to validate this score and inspect clinical benefits of recollapse prophylaxis in patients at high risk.

Differences in clinico-pathological characteristics and outcomes between proteinase 3-ANCA positivity and myeloperoxidase-ANCA positivity in lupus nephritis.

BACKGROUND: Owing to the low prevalence of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) in lupus nephritis (LN), there is no study about the differences between proteinase 3 (PR3)-ANCA positivity and myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANCA positivity in LN until now. METHODS: Here we perform a retrospective study to determine whether there are differences in clinic-pathological characteristics and renal outcomes between PR3-ANCA-positive LN patients and MPO-ANCA-positive LN patients. RESULTS: A total of 26 (27.4%) PR3-ANCA-positive LN patients and 69 (72.6%) MPO-ANCA-positive LN patients (p < 0.001) were eligible for this study. Compared with PR3-ANCA-positive LN patients, MPO-ANCA-positive LN patients had significantly higher levels of serum creatinine (109.6 µmol/l vs. 74.3 µmol/l, p = 0.02), lower titers of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) (128 vs. 256, p = 0.01), and higher serum concentrations of C3 and C4 (0.54 g/l vs. 0.36 g/l, p = 0.002; 0.12 g/l vs. 0.06 g/l, p < 0.001; respectively). Furthermore, the MPO-ANCA-positive group had higher scores for chronicity index (p = 0.007), including interstitial fibrosis (p = 0.001) and tubular atrophy (p = 0.03) on biopsy specimens. The renal survival rates for MPO-ANCA-positive LN patients were 94.1% at 1 year, 83.2% at 5 years and 79.6% at 10 years; these values were worse when compared with those of the PR3-ANCA-positive group, which were 100%, 100% and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSION: MPO-ANCA-positive LN patients had more severely impaired baseline renal function and less active lupus serology. More severely chronic pathological changes, including interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy on renal specimens, occurred in MPO-ANCA-positive LN patients. We found that MPO-ANCA-positive LN patients had worse renal outcomes.

Noninvasive fetal genotyping in pregnancies at risk for PKU using a comprehensive quantitative cSMART assay for PAH gene mutations: a clinical feasibility study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic performance of a novel circulating single molecule amplification and re-sequencing technology (cSMART) method for noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) of Phenylketonuria (PKU). DESIGN: Blinded NIPT analysis of pregnancies at high risk for PKU. SETTING: Shanghai Xinhua Hospital and Hunan Jiahui Genetics Hospital, China. POPULATION: Couples (n = 33) with a child diagnosed with PKU. METHODS: Trio testing for pathogenic PAH mutations was performed by Sanger sequencing. In second pregnancies, invasive prenatal diagnosis (IPD) was used to determine fetal genotypes. NIPT was performed using a PAH gene-specific cSMART assay. Based on the plasma DNA mutation ratio relative to the fetal DNA fraction, fetal genotypes were assigned using a maximum-likelihood algorithm. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Concordance of fetal genotyping results between IPD and NIPT, and the sensitivity and specificity of the NIPT assay. RESULTS: Compared with gold standard IPD results, 32 of 33 fetuses (96.97%) were accurately genotyped by NIPT. The sensitivity and specificity of the NIPT assay was 100.00% (95% CI 59.04-100.00%) and 96.15% (95% CI 80.36-99.90%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The novel cSMART assay demonstrated high accuracy for correctly calling fetal genotypes. We propose that this test has useful clinical utility for the rapid screening of high-risk and low-risk pregnancies with a known history of PKU on one or both sides of the family. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: NIPT of couples at high risk for PKU using a full-coverage cSMART PAH gene test.

Dual-rod pumping concept for TEM00-mode solar lasers.

We propose here a novel concept to a large improvement in TEM00-mode side-pumped solar laser collection, conversion efficiencies, and brightness figure of merit by pumping two thin laser rods simultaneously, each rod being pumped by half of the solar collector area instead of today's one thick rod scheme pumped by the full solar collector area. A semicylindrical fused silica lens allows an efficient focusing of the concentrated solar power from the focal zone of the parabolic mirror into the two thin laser rods mounted within two compound parabolic concentrator-semicylindrical pump cavities within the same laser head. 17.2 W continuous-wave TEM00-mode solar laser power was numerically calculated, corresponding to 11.0 W/m2 solar laser collection efficiency, 1.31% incoming solar power-to-TEM00-mode laser power conversion efficiency, and 14.3 W brightness figure of merit, being 1.39, 1.23, and 2.21 times, respectively, higher than the previous state-of-the-art experimental records.

An income over feed cost nutritional grouping strategy.

This study introduces a new nutritional grouping method, OptiGroup, which maximizes milk income over feed cost (IOFC) using a mixed-integer nonlinear programming optimization algorithm. Analyses compared the OptiGroup with the cluster method, the current state-of-the-art nutritional grouping technique. Analyses were performed using cow-level data from 7 Wisconsin dairy farms. Consistently, the OptiGroup and the cluster were constrained to group cows simultaneously into 2 (low and high nutrient requirements) and 3 (low, medium, and high nutrient requirements) same-size groups. Each diet satisfied the net energy (NEL) and crude protein (CP) requirements of approximately 83% of the cows in each group by using lead factors based on nutrient density. A control treatment (1-group scenario) was used as a baseline for comparisons. The IOFC, dietary nutrient densities (NEL and CP), and dry matter intake with both methods were computed and compared. The percentage of cows grouped differently and the percentages of primiparous cows and late-lactation (>200 d in milk) cows in each group were also analyzed. Results were as follows: (1) average extra IOFC of $8/cow per yr (2-group) and $12/cow per yr (3-group) by switching from cluster to OptiGroup method; (2) difference between dietary nutrient densities of the groups were reduced under OptiGroup method compared with cluster (i.e., NEL differences in 2 groups were 0.20 Mcal/kg for the cluster vs. 0.11 Mcal/kg for OptiGroup); (3) dry matter intake decreased with increasing group numbers within a grouping method, and decreased from cluster to OptiGroup method with constant group numbers; (4) percentage of primiparous cows was greater in the low group of cluster and in the high group of OptiGroup; and (5) proportion of late-lactation cows tended to be greater in the low group in both grouping strategies. Results indicated that the OptiGroup performed economically better than the cluster because of nutrient savings, even with high feed cost conditions. This study offers a new nutritional grouping paradigm, which could improve herd management on dairy farms. However, animal trials are needed to validate this new nutritional grouping method under farm conditions.

[Inducible Expression of Ran1 and Its GDP- and GTP-Bound Mimetic Mutants Leads to Defects in Amitosis and Cytokinesis with Abnormal Cytoplasmic Microtubule Assembly].

Ran is an evolutionarily conserved GTPase crucial in regulating various cell divisions, including mitosis and meiosis. A previous study showed that the knockdown of RAN1 inhibited macronuclear amitosis with the abnormal organization of intramacronuclear microtubules in Tetrahymena thermophila. This study aimed to further investigate the effects of the inducible expression of wild-type Ran1 (Ran1WT), GTP-bound Ran1-mimetic (Ran1Q70L), and GDP-bound Ran1-mimetic (Ran1T25N) on cytoplasmic microtubule assembly during amitosis of T. thermophila, based on previous studies about their effects on intramacronuclear microtubule. The mutant strains of T. thermophila for inducible expression of Ran1WT/T25N/Q70L by Cd^(2+) were constructed. The inducibly expressed HA-Ran1Q70L/T25N distributed asymmetrically across the macronuclear envelope during amitosis. At the lower level of inducible expression, only Ran1T25N showed a significant decreasing effect on T. thermophila reproduction, macronuclear amitosis and cytokinesis. At the higher level of inducible expression, Ran1WT/Q70L/T25N inhibited T. thermophila reproduction, macronuclear amitosis and cytokinesis, and the inhibitive effect of Ran1T25N was the most significant. The inducible expression of Ran1WT/Q70L/T25N led to defects in amitosis and cytokinesis with abnormal cytoplasmic microtubule assembly. These results further confirmed the regulatory function of Ran1 on amitosis and suggested a novel role of Ran1 in cytokinesis and the alignment of cytoplasmic microtubules in T. thermophila.