Psychometric properties of the Malay version of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire among cancer patients in Malaysia.

OBJECTIVE: The Illness Cognition Questionnaire (ICQ) was translated from its original English version to the Malay version for this research, adapted the Malay language version of the ICQ (ICQ-M) for use in cancer patients, and assessed the internal consistency, content, face, construct, convergent, discriminant and concurrent validity of the ICQ-M among a cohort of cancer patients with mixed cancer types in Malaysia. METHOD: Initially, the ICQ was translated into Malay and back-translated, and its content and face validity were evaluated. Then, 346 cancer patients with various cancer types received the ICQ-M, and its internal consistency, convergent, discriminant, construct, and concurrent validity were evaluated. RESULTS: The ICQ-M and its domains had acceptable internal consistency with Cronbach's α ranging from 0.742 to 0.927. Construct validity assessment demonstrated that the ICQ-M consists of 17 items designated in two domains with good convergent and discriminant validity. The ICQ-M and its domains also had moderate correlations with the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II, which denotes that the ICQ-M had acceptable concurrent validity. CONCLUSION: The ICQ-M had good psychometric properties and is now available to measure the illness cognition of cancer patients in Malaysia.

Validation of the Malay version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS-M) among patients with cancer in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: The well-being and adaptive functioning of patients with cancer depend on their perception of social support. To accurately assess and understand the impact of social support in a diverse population, validated measurement tools are essential. This study aimed to adapt and validate the Malay version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS-M) among patients with cancer in Malaysia. METHODS: A total of 346 cancer patients with mixed disease types were recruited and completed the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire and the MSPSS-M. The MSPSS-M was assessed for internal consistency, construct validity, face, content, convergent, discriminant validity, and confirmatory factor analyses. RESULTS: The MSPSS-M and its three domains demonstrated good internal consistency with Cronbach's α ranging from 0.900 to 0.932. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the MSPSS-M supported the three-factor model of the original English version of the MSPSS. The MSPSS-M also exhibited good convergent validity and discriminant validity. CONCLUSION: The MSPSS-M demonstrates favorable psychometric properties among patients with cancer in Malaysia. The validation of the MSPSS-M provides a culturally adapted and linguistically valid instrument to assess perceived social support among Malay-speaking patients with cancer in Malaysia.

Apicidin confers promising therapeutic effect on acute myeloid leukemia cells via increasing QPCT expression.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous hematologic malignancy characterized by abnormal cell proliferation, apoptosis repression and myeloid differentiation blockade of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Developing and identifying novel therapeutic agents to reverse the pathological processes of AML are of great significance. Here in this study, we found that a fungus-derived histone deacetylase inhibitor, Apicidin, presents promising therapeutic effect on AML by inhibiting cell proliferation, facilitating apoptosis and inducing myeloid differentiation of AML cells. Mechanistic investigation revealed that QPCT is identified as a potential downstream target of Apicidin, which exhibits significantly decreased expression in AML samples compared with the normal controls and is remarkably up-regulated in AML cells upon Apicidin management. Functional study and rescue assay demonstrated that QPCT depletion further promotes cell proliferation, inhibits apoptosis and impairs myeloid differentiation of AML cells, alleviating the anti-leukemic effect of Apicidin on AML. Our findings not only provide novel therapeutic target for AML, but also lay theoretical and experimental foundation for the clinical application of Apicidin in AML patients.

Chidamide suppresses adipogenic differentiation of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells via increasing REEP2 expression.

Increased propensity of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) toward adipogenic differentiation at the expense of osteogenesis has been implicated in obesity, diabetes, and age-related osteoporosis as well as various hematopoietic disorders. Defining small molecules with role in rectifying the adipo-osteogenic differentiation imbalance is of great significance. Here, we unexpectedly found that Chidamide, a selective histone deacetylases inhibitor, exhibited remarkably suppressive effect on the in vitro induced adipogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs. Multifaceted alterations in the spectrum of gene expression were observed in Chidamide-managed BM-MSCs during adipogenic induction. Finally, we focused on REEP2, which presented decreased expression in BM-MSCs-mediated adipogenesis and was restored by Chidamide treatment. REEP2 was subsequently demonstrated as a negative regulator of adipogenic differentiation of BM-MSCs and mediated the suppressive effect of Chidamide on adipocyte development. Our findings provide the theoretical and experimental foundation for the clinical application of Chidamide for disorders associated with excessive marrow adipocytes.

Acetylation stabilizes the signaling protein WISP2 by preventing its degradation to suppress the progression of acute myeloid leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is challenging to treat due to its heterogeneity, prompting a deep understanding of its pathogenesis mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment. Here, we found reduced expression and acetylation levels of WISP2 in bone marrow mononuclear cells from AML patients and that AML patients with lower WISP2 expression tended to have reduced survival. At the functional level, overexpression of WISP2 in leukemia cells (HL-60 and Kasumi-1) suppressed cell proliferation, induced cell apoptosis, and exerted antileukemic effects in an in vivo model of AML. Our mechanistic investigation demonstrated that WISP2 deacetylation was regulated by the deacetylase histone deacetylase (HDAC)3. In addition, we determined that crosstalk between acetylation and ubiquitination was involved in the modulation of WISP2 expression in AML. Deacetylation of WISP2 decreased the stability of the WISP2 protein by boosting its ubiquitination mediated by NEDD4 and proteasomal degradation. Moreover, pan-HDAC inhibitors (valproic acid and trichostatin A) and an HDAC3-specific inhibitor (RGFP966) induced WISP2 acetylation at lysine K6 and prevented WISP2 degradation. This regulation led to inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in AML cells. In summary, our study revealed that WISP2 contributes to tumor suppression in AML, which provided an experimental framework for WISP2 as a candidate for gene therapy of AML.

Sex Differences in the Association between Different Obesity Parameters and Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study in Rural China.

BACKGROUND: Early identification of risk factors for cognition decline may contribute to the interventions for Alzheimer's disease. Obesity is a common modifiable risk factor for chronic diseases. The association between obesity and cognition in older adults is limited, and sex differences in this area have not been well recognized. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to observe the sex differences in the relationship between obesity and cognition in a rural community-dwelling older population of Guizhou, China. METHODS: Data were gathered from the baseline survey of a cohort study of older people in rural areas of Guizhou, China. Demographic and behavioral data (sex, age, education, household income, smoking history, drinking history, history of head injury, diet, and level of physical exercise time) were collected. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to assess cognitive function. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were used as different measures of obesity. Comparisons between the groups were made by the Wilcoxon rank-sum test or Kruskal-Wallis H test. Restricted cubic spline regression was used to examine a dose-response relationship between obesity indicators and cognitive function. Linear relationships were performed by the multivariable linear regression model. RESULTS: A total of 1,654 participants including 964 women and 690 men were enrolled in this study. After adjustment, BMI showed a nonlinear relationship with MMSE scores in women. There was a significant trend toward increasing MMSE scores at the low end of BMI (13.52-20.10 kg/m2, p = 0.014). The multivariable linear regression model showed that MMSE increased by 0.631 (p < 0.001) for every one standard deviation increase in HC in women. No association was found between obesity parameters and cognitive function in men. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that there are significant sex differences in some obesity parameters and cognition in an older Chinese population. BMI and HC are positively associated with cognitive function in women. No association was found between obesity measures and cognitive function in men.

Analysis of Internal and External Microorganism Community of Wild Cicada Flowers and Identification of the Predominant Cordyceps cicadae Fungus.

The parasitoid fungus Cordyceps cicadae, whose fruiting bodies are known in China as "chan hua," literally "cicada flower," has been used as a traditional Chinese medicinal ingredient for centuries. However, systematic disclosure of the vital factors responsible for the formation of wild cicada flower is limited. Here, we determined the physicochemical properties of soil and simultaneously analyzed the diversities and the structures of microbial community inhabiting the coremia, sclerotia, and soil around wild cicada flowers through high-throughput sequencing. Our results indicated that cicada flower more preferentially occurred in acidic soil (pH 5.9) with abundant moisture content (MC), total nitrogen (TN), and organic matter (OM). The dominant fungal genera in soil mainly included Isaria, f__Clavariaceae_Unclassified, Umbelopsis, f__Chaetomiaceae_Unclassified, Mortierella, f__Sordariaceae_Unclassified, and Arcopilus. Among them, C. cicadae was the only fungus that was massively detected in both the coremia and sclerotia with abundance of 83.5 and 53.6%, respectively. Based on this, a C. cicadae strain named AH10-4 with excellent adenosine- and N 6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine (HEA)-producing capability was successfully isolated. However, to the aspect of bacteria, Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, Bacillus, Acidibacter, f__Xanthobacteraceae_Unclassified, and Candidatus_Solibacter were the dominant genera in soil. Pedobacter, f__Enterobacteriaceae_Unclassified, Pandoraea, Achromobacter, Stenotrophomonas, Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, and Chitinophaga were the dominant genera in the coremia and sclerotia. Notably, Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia was the shared bacteria among them with high abundance of 3.1, 11.4, and 5.2% in the sclerotia, coremia, and soil, respectively. However, the possible role of these bacteria to the occurrence of cicada flower has been unclear to our knowledge. By analyzing the correlation between physicochemical properties and microbial community of soil, we found that MC, Fe, and Zn were significantly negatively correlated with soil Isaria and that Cu was significantly negatively correlated with most dominant soil bacterial genera. But Mg was significantly positively correlated with most dominant taxa. This study provides new insight into the formation mechanisms of cicada flower and may contribute to the large-scale cultivation of cicada flowers.

IFP35 as a promising biomarker and therapeutic target for the syndromes induced by SARS-CoV-2 or influenza virus.

Previous studies have shown that the high mortality caused by viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and influenza virus primarily results from complications of a cytokine storm. Therefore, it is critical to identify the key factors participating in the cytokine storm. Here we demonstrate that interferon-induced protein 35 (IFP35) plays an important role in the cytokine storm induced by SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus infection. We find that the levels of serum IFP35 in individuals with SARS-CoV-2 correlates with severity of the syndrome. Using mouse model and cell assays, we show that IFP35 is released by lung epithelial cells and macrophages after SARS-CoV-2 or influenza virus infection. In addition, we show that administration of neutralizing antibodies against IFP35 considerably reduces lung injury and, thus, the mortality rate of mice exposed to viral infection. Our findings suggest that IFP35 serves as a biomarker and as a therapeutic target in virus-induced syndromes.

Characterization of an attenuated SARS-CoV-2 variant with a deletion at the S1/S2 junction of the spike protein.

SARS-CoV-2 is of zoonotic origin and contains a PRRA polybasic cleavage motif which is considered critical for efficient infection and transmission in humans. We previously reported on a panel of attenuated SARS-CoV-2 variants with deletions at the S1/S2 junction of the spike protein. Here, we characterize pathogenicity, immunogenicity, and protective ability of a further cell-adapted SARS-CoV-2 variant, Ca-DelMut, in in vitro and in vivo systems. Ca-DelMut replicates more efficiently than wild type or parental virus in Vero E6 cells, but causes no apparent disease in hamsters, despite replicating in respiratory tissues. Unlike wild type virus, Ca-DelMut causes no obvious pathological changes and does not induce elevation of proinflammatory cytokines, but still triggers a strong neutralizing antibody and T cell response in hamsters and mice. Ca-DelMut immunized hamsters challenged with wild type SARS-CoV-2 are fully protected, with little sign of virus replication in the upper or lower respiratory tract, demonstrating sterilizing immunity.

BarH-like homeobox 1 induces the progression of cell malignant phenotype in endometrial carcinoma through the regulation of ERK/MEK signaling pathway.

The aim of this article was to assess whether and how BARX1 affects the progression of malignant phenotype of endometrial carcinoma (EC) cells. BARX1 levels and its prognostic value were evaluated using the EC-related RNA sequence dataset from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Functional experiments were performed to evaluate the biological roles of BARX1 in EC HEC-1-A and KLE cells by silencing BARX1. BARX1 was upregulated in EC tissues according to the public database and in EC cells. High expression of BARX1 led to a poor prognosis and significantly related to clinical stage, pathological grade, death, histological subtypes, and menopause status in patients with EC. Silencing BARX1 notably suppressed the aggressive phenotypes of EC cells, as evidenced by inhibiting cells viability, growth, invasion and migration. Furthermore, depletion of BARX1 decreased the phosphorylation (p) levels of ERK and MEK, also reinforced the suppressive effects of ERK/MEK pathway blocker PD98059 on the p-ERK and p-MEK levels. Together, our results demonstrated that BARX1 functions as a carcinogen by regulating the cell viability, invasion, and migration at least partly through the ERK/MEK pathway.

Myeloid Fbxw7 Prevents Pulmonary Fibrosis by Suppressing TGF-ß Production.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a group of chronic interstitial pulmonary diseases characterized by an inexorable decline in lung function with limited treatment options. The abnormal expression of transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) in profibrotic macrophages is linked to severe pulmonary fibrosis, but the regulation mechanisms of TGF-ß expression are incompletely understood. We found that decreased expression of E3 ubiquitin ligase Fbxw7 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was significantly related to the severity of pulmonary fibrosis in IPF patients. Fbxw7 is identified to be a crucial suppressing factor for pulmonary fibrosis development and progression in a mouse model induced by intratracheal bleomycin treatment. Myeloid cell-specific Fbxw7 deletion increases pulmonary monocyte-macrophages accumulation in lung tissue, and eventually promotes bleomycin-induced collagen deposition and progressive pulmonary fibrosis. Notably, the expression of TGF-ß in profibrotic macrophages was significantly upregulated in myeloid cell-specific Fbxw7 deletion mice after bleomycin treatment. C-Jun has long been regarded as a critical transcription factor of Tgfb1, we clarified that Fbxw7 inhibits the expression of TGF-ß in profibrotic macrophages by interacting with c-Jun and mediating its K48-linked ubiquitination and degradation. These findings provide insight into the role of Fbxw7 in the regulation of macrophages during the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis.

New Insights Into the Biosynthesis of Typical Bioactive Components in the Traditional Chinese Medicinal Fungus Cordyceps militaris.

Cordyceps militaris, a traditional medicinal ingredient with a long history of application in China, is regarded as a high-value fungus due to its production of various bioactive ingredients with a wide range of pharmacological effects in clinical treatment. Several typical bioactive ingredients, such as cordycepin, D-mannitol, cordyceps polysaccharides, and N6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine (HEA), have received increasing attention due to their antitumor, antioxidant, antidiabetic, radioprotective, antiviral and immunomodulatory activities. Here, we systematically sorted out the latest research progress on the chemical characteristics, biosynthetic gene clusters and pathways of these four typical bioactive ingredients. This summary will lay a foundation for obtaining low-cost and high-quality bioactive ingredients in large amounts using microbial cell factories in the future.

Pterodontic acid isolated from Laggera pterodonta suppressed RIG-I/NF-KB/STAT1/Type I interferon and programmed death-ligand 1/2 activation induced by influenza A virus in vitro.

Influenza viruses can bring about acute respiratory diseases and are a potential hazard to human health. Antiviral drugs are the main ways to control the influenza virus infection except the vaccine. In this study, the immune regulation activity of pterodontic acid isolated from Laggera pterodonta induced by influenza A virus in vitro was evaluated. In studies on anti-influenza activity, our results showed that it maybe target the influenza protein of polymerase basic 1 (PB1), polymerase basic 2 (PB2), polymerase acid (PA), nuclear protein (NP), non-structural protein (NS), and matrix protein (M) but not hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). In studies on immune regulation, our results demonstrated that pterodontic acid can inhibit the Retinoic acid inducible gene-I (RIG-I) expression in mRNA and protein level at 100 µg/ml, then further to clarify its action on the signalling pathway, The results indicated that pterodontic acid can inhibit the Tumor Necrosis Factor-related Apoptosis-inducing Ligand/Fas Ligand (TRAIL/Fasl) expression in mRNA level at 100 µg/ml; the cleaved caspase 3/7, p-NF-KB, and p-ERK were all suppressed in protein level by pterodontic acid at 100 µg/ml. This confirmed its mechanism that restrained the nuclear export of viral RNPs. The interferon system was also affected, the STAT1, IFN-α, IFN-ß expression were also inhibited by pterodontic acid at 25-100 µg/ml and also, the important programmed death-ligand of PD-L1 and PD-L2 was inhibited at 50-100 µg/ml. The mechanisms of pterodontic acid against influenza virus infection may be a cascade inhibition and it has the anti-inflammatory activity, which has no side effect, and can be as a supplement drug in clinical influenza virus infection.

[Purification and characterization of S-adenosyl-L-methionine:uroporphyrinogen â ¢ methyltransferase from Rhodobacter capsulatus SB1003].

Biosynthesis of vitamin B12 (VB12) requires the methylation at positions C-2 and C-7 of the precursor uroporphyrinogen Ⅲ (urogen Ⅲ) to precorrin-2 by S-adenosyl-L-methionine uroporphyrinogen Ⅲ methyltransferase (SUMT), which is a potential bottleneck step. Most of SUMTs are inhibited by urogen Ⅲ and by-product S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine (SAH). In order to mine an SUMT that lacks such an inhibitory property to drive greater flux through the VB12 biosynthetic pathway, we cloned two SUMT genes (RCcobA1, RCcobA2) from Rhodobacter capsulatus SB1003 and expressed them in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Thereafter, the two enzymes were purified and their specific activity of 27.3 U/mg, 68.9 U/mg were determined respectively. The latter was 2.4 times higher than PDcobA (27.9 U/mg) from Pseudomonas denitrifican. Additionally, RCcobA2 could tolerate over 70 µmol/L urogen Ⅲ, which has never been reported before. Hence, RCcobA2 can be used as an efficient enzyme to regulate the VB12 metabolic pathway and enhance VB12 production in industrial strains.

Intracellular DNA and microRNA sensing based on metal-organic framework nanosheets with enzyme-free signal amplification.

A new fluorescent sensing platform based on ultrathin metal-organic framework (MOF) nanosheets (MnDMS) was prepared from the flexible ligand 2,2-dimethylsuccinate and Mn ions. The MnDMS nanoparticles can be obtained by simply ultrasonication of the MnDMS crystal, and then can be exfoliated into nanosheets by Li-intercalation method. The MnDMS nanosheets can be easily assembled with biological probes, leading to efficient fluorescence quenching of the fluorophore tagged ssDNA and microRNA (miRNA). By using a hybridization chain reaction (HCR) strategy, the fluorescence signal can be obviously amplified. A good linearity was obtained from 1 pM to 200 pM of target ssDNA, with a detection limit of 0.2 pM. The HCR/MnDMS system provides an effective way to monitor miRNA in living cells. Therefore, the MnDMS nanosheets can be used as a new kind of platform in biomedical sensing applications.

Watsonianone A from Rhodomyrtus tomentosa Fruit Attenuates Respiratory-Syncytial-Virus-Induced Inflammation In Vitro.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most common respiratory pathogens. Immoderate inflammation plays a great role in causing RSV-induced diseases. In the present study, watsonianone A, isolated from the fruit of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Ait.) Hassk, was found to show a good inhibitory effect on RSV-induced NO production, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration of 37.2 ± 1.6 µM. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses indicated that watsonianone A markedly reduced both mRNA and protein levels of tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin 6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 in RSV-infected RAW264.7 cells. Mechanistically, watsonianone A inhibited nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation by suppressing IκBα phosphorylation. Further analysis revealed that watsonianone A activated the thioredoxin system and decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, which are closely associated with NF-κB activation in RSV-infected cells. These results reveal that watsonianone A can attenuate RSV-induced inflammation via the suppression of ROS-sensitive inflammatory signaling.

Macular edema after cataract surgery in diabetic eyes evaluated by optical coherence tomography.

AIM: To assess quantitative changes of the macula in diabetic eyes after cataract surgery using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to estimate the incidence of development or worsening of macular edema (ME) in diabetic eyes with or without pre-existing ME. METHODS: In this prospective, observational study, 92 eyes of 60 diabetic patients who underwent cataract surgery were evaluated before surgery and 1, 3mo after surgery using OCT. Macular thickness was measured with OCT at nine macular subfields defined by the 9 zones early treatment of diabetic retinopathy study (ETDRS), as well as total macular volume obtained by OCT at 1, 3mo after surgery were compared with baseline features obtained before surgery. In addition, the incidence of development or worsening of ME was analyzed in diabetic eyes with or without pre-existing ME. RESULTS: The central subfield mean thickness increased 21.0 µm and 25.5 µm at 1, 3mo follow-up, respectively (P<0.01). The average thickness of inner ring and outer ring increased 14.2 µm and 9.5 µm at 1mo, 18.2 µm and 12.9 µm at 3mo. Central-involved ME developed in 12 eyes at 3mo, including 4 eyes with pre-existing central-involved and 8 eyes with pre-existing non-central involved ME. Pre-existing diabetic macular edema (DME) was significantly associated with central-involved ME development (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: A statistically significant increase could be detected in the central subfield as well as perifoveal and parafoveal sectors though the increase was mild. And eyes with pre-operative DME prior to cataract surgery are at higher risk for developing central-involved ME.

Synthesis of magnetic framework composites for the discrimination of Escherichia coli at the strain level.

Rapid and efficient characterization and identification of pathogens at the strain level is of key importance for epidemiologic investigations, which still remains a challenge. In this work, solvothermically Fe3O4-COOH@MIL-101 composites were fabricated by in situ crystallization approach. The composites combine the excellent properties of both chromium (III) terephthalate (MIL-101) and carboxylic-functionalized magnetite (Fe3O4-COOH) particles and possess the efficient peptides/proteins enrichment properties and magnetic responsiveness. Fe3O4-COOH@MIL-101 composites as magnetic solid phase extraction materials were used to increase the discriminatory power of MALDI-TOF MS profiles. BSA tryptic peptides at a low concentration of 0.25 fmol µL(-1) could be detected by MALDI-TOF MS. In addition, Fe3O4-COOH@MIL-101 composites were successfully applied in the selective enrichment of the protein biomarkers from bacterial cell lysates and discrimination of Escherichia coli at the strain level. This work provides the possibility for wide applications of magnetic MOFs to discriminate pathogens below the species level.

Effect of steep meridian clear corneal incisions in phacoemulsification.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the torque and flattening effect of steep meridian clear corneal incisions on cornea in phacoemulsification when posterior cornea surface measurements were considered. METHODS: Thirty-six eyes underwent cataract surgery with steep meridian clear corneal incisions. Before surgery and at 1 month and 3 months after surgery, corneal topography was measured with a rotating Scheimpflug camera. Both preoperative and postoperative corneal astigmatism were calculated in 2 ways: total corneal astigmatism and keratometric astigmatism. Polar analysis was used to evaluate the flattening and torque effect of steep meridian incisions on corneal astigmatism. RESULTS: Total corneal astigmatism changed significantly after 3 months (p = 0.005) and univariate analysis revealed a significant change 0.25D ± 0.36 D in astigmatic polar value AKP(+45) of total corneal astigmatism (p = 0.047). A decrease in AKP(+0) was observed in both keratometric and total astigmatism at 1 and 3 months, although the decreases were not statistically significant (p = 0.394, p = 0.442, p = 0.602, p = 0.503, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Steep meridian incision performed on the preoperative steeper meridian of keratometric astigmatism may cause a significant torsional effect on total corneal astigmatism as well as reducing the astigmatism along the meridian.

Proteomics study of N-acetylcysteine response in H1N1-infected cells by using mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE: The pathology of A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (H1N1) infection associated with the interaction of virus and its host cells is not clear. N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) is an antioxidant as well as a premier antitoxin and immune support substance. A high dose of NAC was recently reported for a therapy of H1N1 (2009) influenza pneumonia. METHODS: NAC was used as a small-molecule organic probe to investigate the protein expression of human lung carcinoma cell line (A549) infected by influenza virus A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (H1N1). Differential proteins were identified from MALDI-TOF MS and Q-TOF MS/MS analyses. RESULTS: The obtained results showed that NAC kept cells away from apoptosis. Virus-infected cells were arrested in G0/G1 phase. The lowest cell population of G0/G1 phase was detected when the cells were treated by 10 mM NAC for one day. Application of MS-based proteomics allowed the identification of the differential proteins. Software analysis showed that four proteins had close relationship. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that NAC as a small-molecule probe might effect the protein expression of A549 cells infected by the H1N1 virus.