Mimengosides J and K: two new neuroprotective triterpenoids from the fruits of Buddleja lindleyana.

Two new 11-methoxyl substituted triterpenoids, named as mimengosides J (1) and K (2), along with seven known compounds, were isolated from the fruits of Buddleja lindleyana. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. In addition, the new ones were evaluated for protective effects against damage of SH-SY5Y cells induced by 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP+) and the results indicated that those may be one of the candidate compositions of Buddleja lindleyana for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease.

Nationwide distribution of varicella-zoster virus clades in China.

BACKGROUND: In 2010, a universal nomenclature for varicella-zoster virus (VZV) clades was established, which is very useful in the monitoring of viral evolution, recombination, spread and genetic diversity. Currently, information about VZV clades has been disclosed worldwide, however, there are limited data regarding the characterization of circulating VZV clades in China, even where varicella remains widely epidemic. METHODS: From 2008 to 2012, clinical samples with varicella or zoster were collected in General Hospital in eight provinces and analyzed by PCR, restriction endonuclease digestion and sequencing. The viral clades were determined by analysis of five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the 447-bp fragment of open reading frame (ORF) 22, and the restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of ORF 38 (PstI), ORF 54 (BglI) and ORF 62 (SmaI) were evaluated to understand genetic diversity of VZV and determinate varicella vaccine adverse event (VVAE). RESULTS: Seventy-seven varicella and 11 zoster samples were identified as being positive for VZV. The five SNPs profile showed that the majority of VZV strains belonged to clade 2, but clade 5 and clade 4 strains were also found in Guangdong. The RFLPs analysis of the DNA fragments of ORF 38, 54 and 62 showed that 85 of these samples were characterized as PstI + BglI + SamI-, and the remaining three VZV strains from varicella patients were characterized as PstI-BglI + SamI+ which is the genetic profile of VVAEs. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggested that the predominant clade 2 VZVs had been continually circulating since at least the 1950s in China. Nearly all VZV strains except VVAEs possessed the genetic profile of PstI + BglI + Sam-. However, the other clades were also found to be co-circulating with clade 2, especially in the border regions. These results highlighted the need for the constant and broad use of virologic surveillance to provide an important genetic baseline for varicella control and vaccination programs in China.

[Analysis of the effect of risk factors at gestational diabetes mellitus].

OBJECTIVE: To assesment the effect of risk factors at gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: We collected 427 pregnant women who had done 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) between September 1(st), 2012 and April 19(th), 2013 in Peking University First Hospital, including 74 pregnant women diagnosed as GDM (GDM group) and 353 pregnant women undiagnosed (non-GDM group). Then we conducted a multiple logistic regression to analyze the clinical datas collected from two groups, which included age, pre-pregnancy body weight and body mass index (BMI), body weight during 11-12 weeks pregnancy, body weight during 23-24 weeks pregnancy; and fasting plasma glucose (FPG), triglyceride (TG) , total cholesterol (TCH) , high density lipoprotein (HDL) , low density lipoprotein (LDL), fasting insulin (FINS), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) during early pregnancy; and family history of diabetes mellitus. RESULTS: (1) There were significant difference in age, pre-pregnancy BMI, and FPG, TG, FINS, HOMA-IR during early pregnancy, and family history of diabetes mellitus between two groups (P < 0.05). (2) The risk factors of GDM that have statistical significance included FPG during early pregnancy (OR:4.03, 95%CI:1.62-10.02), family history of diabetes mellitus (OR:3.15, 95%CI:1.66-5.99), TG during early pregnancy (OR:2.13, 95%CI:1.17-3.87),BMI before pregnancy (OR:1.36, 95%CI:1.08-1.70), age ≥ 35 years (OR:1.15, 95%CI:1.05-1.26), early pregnancy weight gain (OR:1.20, 95%CI:1.06-1.35), mid pregnancy weight gain (OR:1.28, 95%CI:1.12-1.47), FINS during early pregnancy (OR:1.09, 95%CI:1.01-1.17). CONCLUSIONS: FPG, TG and FINS during early pregnancy, BMI before pregnancy, early and mid pregnancy weight gain, family history of diabetes mellitus and age ≥ 35 years are the indepadent risk factors for GDM. We should pay more attention to FPG and TG during early pregnancy, and put weight management into practise since early pregnancy and try to control pregnancy weight gain within reasonable limits.

Radiomic Analysis Based on Gd-EOB-DTPA Enhanced MRI for the Preoperative Prediction of Ki-67 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To develop and validate a random forest model based on radiomic features in Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI for predicting the Ki-67 expression in solitary HCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed 258 patients with solitary HCC. Significant clinicoradiological factors were identified through univariate and multivariate analyses for distinguishing HCC with high (>20%) and low (≤20%) Ki-67 expression. Radiomic features were extracted at Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI. The recursive feature elimination (RFE) strategy was employed to screen robust radiomic features, and the Random Forest (RF) algorithm was utilized to rank radiomic features and construct prediction models. The AUC, accuracy, precision, recall, and f1-score were used to evaluate the performance of RF models. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis identified serum AFP level, tumor size, growth type, and peritumoral enhancement as independent predictors for HCC with high Ki-67 expression. The clinicoradiological-radiomic model that incorporated the clinicoradiological predictors and the top ten radiomic features outperformed the clinicoradiological model in the training set (AUCs 0.876 vs. 0.780; p < 0.001), though the test set did not have a statistical significance (AUCs 0.809 vs. 0.723; p = 0.123). The addition of clinicoradiological predictors did not yield a significant improvement in the performance of radiomic features in both sets (training, p = 0.692; test, p = 0.229). Decision curve analysis further confirmed the clinical utility of the RF models. CONCLUSION: The RF models based on radiomic features of Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI achieved satisfactory performance in preoperatively predicting Ki-67 expression in HCC.

International students' collective resilience in crisis: Sense of community reduced anxiety via social contact and social support during lockdown.

Objectives: The role of community in individuals' well-being has been extensively examined in the Western context. However, little is known about how the host community is related to sojourners' well-being in a crisis in an Asian context. The current study aims at exploring international students' sense of community in the Chinese context under the direct threat of a global health crisis. Methods: Using a cross-sectional sample of 102 international students staying in Wuhan during the 76-day lockdown at the earliest stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the current study explored the relationship between international students' sense of community and anxiety, and the mediating role of social contact, social support from three key sources in the host community (host university, international students, and Chinese friends). Results: Results showed that participants' stronger sense of community indirectly reduced anxiety via the role of sources of contact and support from the host community. Conclusions: This study provided further evidence to support the nurturance of the sense of community in community resilience and provided implications on how the host community can help to enhance sojourners' psychological well-being in a global crisis.

LMP1 antagonizes WNT/ß-catenin signalling through inhibition of WTX and promotes nasopharyngeal dysplasia but not tumourigenesis in LMP1(B95-8) transgenic mice.

Latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) can induce cell transformation and tumourigenesis, but the mechanism is not understood. Previous studies have suggested that LMP1 acts through up-regulation of cellular proliferation pathways including the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway, in which ß-catenin is the central effector. Increased levels of ß-catenin coupled with a decrease in E-cadherin lead to reduced cell adhesion. This pathway is antagonized by WTX (Wilms' tumour gene on the X chromosome), which can promote the ubiquitination and degradation of ß-catenin. In the present study, we established L2/LMP1B(95 - 8) /EGFP transgenic mice to investigate the in vivo role of LMP1. Down-regulation of WTX and E-cadherin was accompanied by increased expression of ß-catenin in these mice. Even though invasive tumours did not develop, dysplasia was seen in the nasopharynx and oropharynx epithelium of these transgenic mice. Analysis of LMP1(+) , WTX(+) , and LMP1 siRNA silenced HNE-1 cell lines demonstrated that WTX could exert a dominant role in LMP1-mediated WNT/ß-catenin pathway regulation. This study indicates that LMP1 antagonizes the WNT/ß-catenin pathway by inhibiting WTX, and this reduction in WTX is associated with epithelial dysplasia via regulation of the WNT/ß-catenin pathway molecules E-cadherin and ß-catenin. Further studies are required for a better understanding of the relationship between LMP1-mediated antagonization of the WNT/ß-catenin pathway and tumourigenesis.

Experimental study on engineering properties of fiber-stabilized carbide-slag-solidified soil.

Carbide slag has been used to prepare solidified soil to effectively reduce the stacking and disposal of carbide slag and achieve efficient resource utilization. Because of the significant brittleness and low strength of carbide-slag-stabilized soil, fibers were added to carbide-slag-stabilized soil in this experimental study. The effects of fiber length and fiber content on the unconfined compressive and indirect tensile strengths of carbide-slag-stabilized soil were investigated. The concepts of the density of fibers in solidified soil and the number of fibers in a unit volume solidified soil were proposed, and the effects of fiber distribution density on the mechanical properties of the solidified soil were evaluated. The fibers increased the indirect tensile strength of the carbide-slag-solidified soil, which was significantly higher than the unconfined compressive strength of the solidified soil. The fibers had no significant effect on the unconfined compressive and indirect tensile strengths of the 7 d carbide-slag-solidified soil but increased those of the 28 d carbide-slag-solidified soil. The enhancement effect was the most significant when a 0.3% content of 19 mm long fibers was incorporated into the carbide-slag-solidified soil.

Efficient and Secure WiFi Signal Booster via Unmanned Aerial Vehicles WiFi Repeater Based on Intelligence Based Localization Swarm and Blockchain.

Recently, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) under the umbrella of the Internet of Things (IoT) in smart cities and emerging communities have become the focus of the academic and industrial science community. On this basis, UAVs have been used in many military and commercial systems as emergency transport and air support during natural disasters and epidemics. In such previous scenarios, boosting wireless signals in remote or isolated areas would need a mobile signal booster placed on UAVs, and, at the same time, the data would be secured by a secure decentralized database. This paper contributes to investigating the possibility of using a wireless repeater placed on a UAV as a mobile booster for weak wireless signals in isolated or rural areas in emergency situations and that the transmitted information is protected from external interference and manipulation. The working mechanism is as follows: one of the UAVs detect a human presence in a predetermined area with the thermal camera and then directs the UAVs to the location to enhance the weak signal and protect the transmitted data. The methodology of localization and clusterization of the UAVs is represented by a swarm intelligence localization (SIL) optimization algorithm. At the same time, the information sent by UAV is protected by blockchain technology as a decentralization database. According to realistic studies and analyses of UAVs localization and clusterization, the proposed idea can improve the amplitude of the wireless signals in far regions. In comparison, this database technique is difficult to attack. The research ultimately supports emergency transport networks, blockchain, and IoT services.

Effects of matrine on HepG2 cell proliferation and expression of tumor relevant proteins in vitro.

Matrine, one of the main active components extracted from dry roots of Sophora flavescens Ait (Leguminosae), has been reported to have anticancer effects on a number of cancer cell lines, but the anticancer mechanism of matrine remains elusive. This study shows that matrine also displays anticancer activity on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells. In this work, the optimal cultivation condition for HepG2 cells was determined using the combinatorial orthogonal test design [L18 (21 x 37)]. Exposure of HepG2 cells to matrine resulted in inhibition of proliferation in both a time- and dose-dependent manner, as measured by morphology observation, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, and MTT assay (p<0.05). Further immunohistochemical analyses revealed that the expression of alpha fetal protein (AFP), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), C-myc and Bcl-2 was down-regulated significantly, but the expression of Bax was up-regulated higher than untreated cells. The results demonstrated that matrine inhibited HepG2 cells proliferation primarily via up-regulating or down-regulating expression of the tumor relevant proteins.

[Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy complicated with epilepsy].

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the clinical features of those Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD and BMD) patients who are complicated with epilepsy, and try to analyze the genotype- phenotype correlation. METHOD: By a retrospective analysis of 307 patients with DMD and BMD who attended Peking University First Hospital from February 2006 to September 2014,7 patients complicated with epilepsy were identified and their clinical data were collected. The possible mechanism of epilepsy in DMD and BMD patients was proposed after analyzing the genotype-phenotype correlation. RESULT: (1) Among 307 DMD and BMD patients, 7 cases had epilepsy, the prevalence was 2. 28%. (2) The age of onset of epilepsy ranged from 8 months to 11 years. Focal seizure was the most common seizure type (6 cases) , while other seizure types were also involved, such as generalized tonic-clonic seizure. As to epilepsy syndromes, 1 boy was diagnosed as benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECT). Six patients were treated with 1 or 2 types of antiepileptic drugs and seizures were controlled well. On follow-up, 6 of the 7 children had normal mental development, while the remaining 1 patient was diagnosed as mild mental retardation. (3) DMD gene mutations of all 7 patients were analyzed. Exons deletions were found in 6 cases while point mutation was found in 1 case. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of epilepsy in DMD and BMD patients was higher than the prevalence in normal population. The age of onset of epilepsy varies, and focal seizure may be the most common seizure type. Some patients may also present as some kind of epilepsy syndrome, such as BECT. In most patients, seizures can be controlled well by 1 or 2 types of antiepiletic drugs. No clear correlation was found between genotype and phenotype in DMD and BMD patients who were complicated with epilepsy, probably due to limited number of cases.

Calcium overloading in traumatic axonal injury by lateral head rotation: a morphological evidence in rat model.

The study investigated morphologically axonal calcium overloading and its relationship with axonal structural changes. Twelve SD rats were divided into an injury and a sham group. The rat model of traumatic axonal injury (TAI) by lateral head rotation was produced. The oxalate-pyroantimonate technique for calcium localization was used to process the rat's medulla oblongata tissues with thin sections observed electron-microscopically for axonal structure and calcium precipitates on it. The axonal damage in medulla oblongata appeared at 2 h post-injury, gradually became diffuse and severe, and continued to exist at 24 hours. At 2 hours, calcium precipitates were deposited on separated lamellae and axolemma, but were rarely distributed in the axoplasm. At 6 hours, calcium precipitates occurred on separated lamellae and axolemma in much higher density, but on axoplasm in extremely small amounts. Some axons, though lacking structural changes of the myelin sheath, sequestered plenty of calcium deposits on their swollen mitochondria. At 24 hours, damaged axons presented with much more severe lamellae separation and calcium deposits. Axonal calcium overloading developed in rat TAI model using lateral head rotation. This was significantly related to structural damage in the axons. These findings suggest the feasibility of using calcium antagonists in cope the management of human DAI in its very early stage.