Long noncoding RNA ZFAS1 suppresses chondrocytes apoptosis via miR-302d-3p/SMAD2 in osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) seriously affects people's quality of life due to joint pain, stiffness, disability, and dyskinesia worldwide. Long noncoding RNA zinc finger antisense 1 (ZFAS1) is downregulated and tightly associated with proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and matrix synthesis of chondrocyte in OA. However, the molecular mechanisms of ZFAS1 in OA remain unknown. The expression correlation between ZFAS1, miR-302d-3p, and SMAD2 in OA tissues was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. ZFAS1 was a lower expression, and expedited proliferation and repressed apoptosis of chondrocytes. MiR-302d-3p was a direct target of ZFAS1. MiR-302d-3p hindered proliferation and facilitated apoptosis of chondrocytes. MiR-302d-3p partially reversed the effect of ZFAS1 on proliferation and apoptosis of chondrocytes. SMAD2 was positively regulated by the ZFAS1/miR-302d-3p. MiR-302d-3p-mediated proliferation and apoptosis were partly abrogated by targeting SMAD2. ZFAS1 promoted chondrocytes proliferation and repressed apoptosis possibly by regulating miR-302d-3p/SMAD2 axis, providing a potential target for OA treatment.

Acceptance and associated factors of HIV testing among college students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Although HIV testing is helpful for early detection and treatment of HIV, its utilization rate is low among college students in China. Understanding the acceptance and associated factors of HIV testing is the key to improve the detection rate. The purpose of the systematic review was to examine the acceptance and associated factors of HIV testing (including HIV self-testing and HIV counseling and testing services) among college students in China. METHODS: This systematic review was reported following PRISMA guidelines 2020. Electronic sources such as PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM, Wanfang Database and VIP Database were searched for relevant studies published before September 2022. The tool by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was used to assess quality for cross-sectional studies. The random-effects and fixed-effect model were employed to estimate the pooled proportions and associated factor of HIV testing acceptance. The Cochrane's Q statistic and I2 test were used to examine heterogeneity. All the quantitative meta analyses were conducted using STATA version 12 software. RESULTS: A total of 21 eligible studies with 100, 821 participants were included in the systematic review. The pooled acceptance rate of HIV testing was 68% (95% CI = 60, 76), and varies between regions in China. Male, heterosexual and urban college students had higher HIV testing acceptance. Gender, medical specialty, sexual education, sexual behavior, HIV/AIDS knowledge, perception HIV risk, and previous HIV testing were the factors associated with HIV testing acceptance. CONCLUSION: The review revealed that most of the college students intend to accept HIV detection, and the proportion of acceptance influenced by different factors. Therefore, the government and universities should implement targeted measures, improve HIV testing services, and promote HIV testing behavior. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42022367976.

MFDNN: multi-channel feature deep neural network algorithm to identify COVID19 chest X-ray images.

The use of chest X-ray images (CXI) to detect Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) caused by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID19) is life-saving important for both patients and doctors. This research proposes a multi-channel feature deep neural network (MFDNN) algorithm to screen people infected with COVID19. The algorithm integrates data over-sampling technology and MFDNN model to carry out the training. The oversampling technique reduces the deviation of the prior probability of the MFDNN algorithm on unbalanced data. Multi-channel feature fusion technology improves the efficiency of feature extraction and the accuracy of model diagnosis. In the experiment, Compared with traditional deep learning models (VGG19, GoogLeNet, Resnet50, Desnet201), the MFDNN model obtains an average test accuracy of 93.19% in all data. Furthermore, in each type of screening, the precision, recall, and F1 Score of the MFDNN model are also better than traditional deep learning networks. Furthermore, through ablation experiments, we proved that a multi-channel convolutional neural network (CNN) is superior to single-channel CNN, additional layer and PSN module, and indirectly proved the sufficiency and necessity of each step of the MFDNN classification method. Finally, our experimental code will be placed at https://github.com/panliangrui/covid19.

[Study on genetic diversity of natural and cultivated Cistanche tubulosa].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the genetic diversity of natural and cultivated Cistanche tubulosa. METHOD: 123 individuals of six populations of C. tubulosa, including four natural populations and two cultivated ones, were analyzed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers to determine the genetic variations among the populations. RESULT: A total of 87 loci (including 24 polymorphic loci) were amplified using 10 random primers. The average percentage of polymorphic loci (PPL) was 27.59 in the natural populations. The PPL between natural populations are 19.54 to 25.29. Of the four natural populations, Andi' er population had highest PPL (25.29). The two cultivated populations had low PPL (13.79 and 11.49). Cluster analysis using UPGMA revealed that populations of natural and cultivated were separated into two groups, the four natural populations clustered as one group and the two cultivated populations clustered as another group, indicating that the natural and cultivated populations had obvious differentiation. CONCLUSION: In view of the low genetic diversity of the cultivated C. tubulosa, we strongly suggested that the natural populations should be conserved in particular.

[The determination of echinacoside and acteoside in herbs of Cistanche tubulosa].

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the echinacoside and acteoside content of Cistanche tubulosa, collected from different hosts and different size of the cultivated, which is compared to the wilding by RP-HPLC method. METHOD: An Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18(4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) column was used and a mixture of methanol-acetonitrile-1% acetic acid (15:10:75) was used as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.6 mL x min(-1). The column temperature was 30 degrees C and the UV detection wavelength was 334 nm. RESULT: The calibration curves of echinacoside and acteoside were in good linearity over the range of 0.904-9.04 microg (r = 0.999 9), and 1.27-12.7 microg (r = 0.999 9) respectively and the average recoveries of echinacoside (and acteoside) were 98.9% (n = 5, RSD 1.9%), and 97.0% (n = 5, RSD 0.97%). CONCLUSION: The method is simple, quick, acurate. In all of the samples, the contents of echinacoside is markedly more than that of acteoside, the content of the two active component in the wilding is higher than that in the planting. The content of sample in the different sizes gradually increase from the big to the small, and the contents of samples collected from the different hosts vary markedly. These results are useful for the quality evaluation of medicinal materials of C. tubulosa.