The targeting of DAPK1 with miR-190a-3p promotes autophagy in trophoblast cells.

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a dangerous pathological status that occurs during pregnancy and is a leading reason for both maternal and fetal death. Autophagy is necessary for cellular survival in the face of environmental stress as well as cellular homeostasis and energy management. Aberrant microRNA (miRNA) expression is crucial in the pathophysiology of PE. Although studies have shown that miRNA (miR)-190a-3p function is tissue-specific, the precise involvement of miR-190a-3p in PE has yet to be determined. We discovered that miR-190a-3p was significantly lower and death-associated protein kinase 1 (DAPK1) was significantly higher in PE placental tissues compared to normal tissues, which is consistent with the results in cells. The luciferase analyses demonstrated the target-regulatory relationship between miR-190a-3p and DAPK1. The inhibitory effect of miR-190a-3p on autophagy was reversed by co-transfection of si-DAPK1 and miR-190a-3p inhibitors. Thus, our data indicate that the hypoxia-dependent miR-190a-3p/DAPK1 regulatory pathway is implicated in the development and progression of PE by promoting autophagy in trophoblast cells.

The severity of preoperative bone marrow oedema negatively influences short-term clinical outcomes following arthroscopic bone marrow stimulation for osteochondral lesions of the talus.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to study the effects of the severity of preoperative bone marrow oedema (BME) on the postoperative short-term outcomes following bone marrow stimulation (BMS) for osteochondral lesions of the talus (OLTs) and to propose a new metric that combines volume and signal density to evaluate BME. METHODS: Sixty-five patients with symptomatic OLTs (<100 mm2) and preoperative BME, who received BMS in our institution from April 2017 to July 2021 with follow-ups of 3, 6 and 12 months, were analysed retrospectively. The area, volume and signal value of the BME were collected on preoperative magnetic resonance imaging. The enroled patients were divided into two groups according to the BME index (BMEI), which was defined as the product of oedema relative signal intensity and the relation of oedema volume to total talar volume. Visual analogue scale, American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS), Tegner, Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM)-activities of daily living (ADL) and Sports scores were assessed before surgery and at each follow-up. The relationship between the scores and the volume, relative signal intensity and BMEI was explored. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients with preoperative BME were divided into the mild (n = 33) and severe (n = 32) groups based on the BMEI. A significant difference was found for each score with the general linear model for repeated measures through all follow-up time points (p < 0.001). For the preoperative and 12-month postoperative changes of the enroled patients, 53 patients (81.5%) exceeded the minimal clinically important difference of AOFAS and 26 (40.0%) exceeded that of FAAM-sports in this study. The mild group showed significantly more improvement in AOFAS scores at 12 months (89.6 ± 7.0 vs. 86.2 ± 6.2) and FAAM-ADL scores at 6 months (83.6 ± 7.6 vs. 79.7 ± 7.7) and 12 months (88.5 ± 8.5 vs. 84.4 ± 7.7) than the severe group (p < 0.05). No significant difference of all the scores between the groups was found at 3 months. No significant correlation was found in each group between BMEI and clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION: The severity of the preoperative BME negatively affected short-term clinical outcomes following arthroscopic BMS for OLTs. Worse clinical outcomes were shown at postoperative 6 and 12 months in patients with a high preoperative BMEI, which could be a favourable parameter for assessing the severity of BME and assist in developing personalised rehabilitation plans and determining the approach and timing of surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III.

Three-Component Cycloaddition of Nitriles: Construction of Bicyclic 4-Aminopyrimidines and Their Photophysical Studies.

A base-induced synthesis of bicyclic 4-aminopyrimidines by the cycloaddition of three types of nitriles is reported. The scope of the method is demonstrated with 44 examples. Products are found to have luminescence properties and show potential applications as organic luminescent layer materials.

Phenanthridine Derivative Host Heat Shock Cognate 70 Down-Regulators as Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Inhibitors.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has become increasingly problematic around the world, not only for its hazards to livestock but also due to the possibility that it is a zoonotic disease. Although vaccine therapy has made some progress toward PEDV control, additional effective therapeutic strategies against PEDV are needed, such as the development of chemotherapeutic agents. The aim of this work was to identify novel anti-PEDV agents by designing and synthesizing a series of phenanthridine derivatives. Among them, three compounds (compounds 1, 2, and 4) were identified as potent anti-PEDV agents exhibiting suppression of host cell heat shock cognate 70 (Hsc70) expression. Mechanism studies revealed that host Hsc70 is involved in the replication of PEDV, and its expression can be suppressed by destabilization of the mRNA, resulting in inhibition of PEDV replication. Activity against PEDV in vivo in PEDV-infected piglets suggested that phenanthridine derivatives are the first host-acting potential anti-PEDV agents.

Synthesis, Characterization, DNA/HSA Interactions, and Anticancer Activity of Two Novel Copper(II) Complexes with 4-Chloro-3-Nitrobenzoic Acid Ligand.

The purpose of this study was to identify new metal-based anticancer drugs; to this end, we synthesized two new copper(II) complexes, namely [Cu(ncba)4(phen)] (1) and [Cu(ncba)4(bpy)] (2), comprised 4-chloro-3-nitrobenzoic acid as the main ligand. The single-crystal XRD approach was employed to determine the copper(II) complex structures. Binding between these complexes and calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) and human serum albumin (HSA) was explored by electronic absorption, fluorescence spectroscopy, and viscometry. Both complexes intercalatively bound CT-DNA and statically and spontaneously quenched DNA/HSA fluorescence. A CCK-8 assay revealed that complex 1 and complex 2 had substantial antiproliferative influences against human cancer cell lines. Moreover, complex 1 had greater antitumor efficacy than the positive control cisplatin. Flow cytometry assessment of the cell cycle demonstrated that these complexes arrested the HepG2 cell cycle and caused the accumulation of G0/G1-phase cells. The mechanism of cell death was elucidated by flow cytometry-based apoptosis assays. Western blotting revealed that both copper(II) complexes induced apoptosis by regulating the expression of the Bcl-2(Bcl-2, B cell lymphoma 2) protein family.

Comprehensive Understanding of Polyester Stereocomplexation.

We report a comprehensive understanding of the stereoselective interaction between two opposite enantiomeric polyesters prepared from the regioselective copolymerization of chiral terminal epoxides and cyclic anhydrides. For many of the resultant polyesters, the interactions between polymer chains of opposite chirality are stronger than those of polymer chains with the same chirality, resulting in the formation of a stereocomplex with an enhanced melting point (Tm) and crystallinity. The backbone, tacticity, steric hindrance of the pendant group, and molecular weight of the polyesters have significant effects on stereocomplex formation. Bulky substituent groups favor stereocomplexation, resulting in a greater rise in Tm in comparison to the component enantiomeric polymers. The stereocomplex assembly of discrete (R)- and (S)-poly(phenyl glycidyl ether-alt-phthalic anhydride)s oligomers revealed that the minimum degree of polymerization required for stereocomplex formation is five. Raman spectroscopy and solid-state NMR studies indicate that stereocomplex formation significantly restricts the local mobilities of C═O and C-H groups along the backbone of chains. The reduced mobility results in the enhanced spin-lattice relaxation time and both 1H and 13C downfield shifts due to the strong intermolecular interactions between R- and S-chains.

Study of Zero-Inflated Regression Models in a Large-Scale Population Survey of Sub-Health Status and Its Influencing Factors.

Objective Sub-health status has progressively gained more attention from both medical professionals and the publics. Treating the number of sub-health symptoms as count data rather than dichotomous data helps to completely and accurately analyze findings in sub-healthy population. This study aims to compare the goodness of fit for count outcome models to identify the optimum model for sub-health study. Methods The sample of the study derived from a large-scale population survey on physiological and psychological constants from 2007 to 2011 in 4 provinces and 2 autonomous regions in China. We constructed four count outcome models using SAS: Poisson model, negative binomial (NB) model, zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) model and zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) model. The number of sub-health symptoms was used as the main outcome measure. The alpha dispersion parameter and O test were used to identify over-dispersed data, and Vuong test was used to evaluate the excessive zero count. The goodness of fit of regression models were determined by predictive probability curves and statistics of likelihood ratio test. Results Of all 78 307 respondents, 38.53% reported no sub-health symptoms. The mean number of sub-health symptoms was 2.98, and the standard deviation was 3.72. The statistic O in over-dispersion test was 720.995 (P<0.001); the estimated alpha was 0.618 (95% CI: 0.600-0.636) comparing ZINB model and ZIP model; Vuong test statistic Z was 45.487. These results indicated over-dispersion of the data and excessive zero counts in this sub-health study. ZINB model had the largest log likelihood (-167 519), the smallest Akaike's Information Criterion coefficient (335 112) and the smallest Bayesian information criterion coefficient (335455), indicating its best goodness of fit. The predictive probabilities for most counts in ZINB model fitted the observed counts best. The logit section of ZINB model analysis showed that age, sex, occupation, smoking, alcohol drinking, ethnicity and obesity were determinants for presence of sub-health symptoms; the binomial negative section of ZINB model analysis showed that sex, occupation, smoking, alcohol drinking, ethnicity, marital status and obesity had significant effect on the severity of sub-health. Conclusions All tests for goodness of fit and the predictive probability curve produced the same finding that ZINB model was the optimum model for exploring the influencing factors of sub-health symptoms.

Adsorptive removal of phenol from aqueous solution with zeolitic imidazolate framework-67.

ZIF-67(zinc-methylimidazolate framework-67), one of the zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), was used for the removal of phenol from aqueous solutions via adsorption and shows high adsorption capacity for phenol. The thermodynamic and kinetic adsorption behavior of ZIF-67 for phenol in water with concentration ranging from 50 to 300 ppm were investigated in a batch reactor and a ZIF-67 packed column, respectively. The effects of pH, contact time, zeta potential of the adsorbent and temperature on the adsorption behavior were evaluated, and the results demonstrated that the adsorption is primarily brought about by a specific favorable interaction (electrostatic interaction) between phenol and ZIF-67 surface. The suitability of the Langmuir adsorption model to the equilibrium data was investigated for each phenol-adsorbent system, which the results showed that the equilibrium data for all the phenol-sorbent systems fitted the Langmuir model. Thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy are calculated from the experimental data at different temperatures. The adsorbent could be perfectly regenerated at 120 °C with little loss in the adsorption ability.

[The Research and Application of Transient Temperature Test Based on Apodized-Chirped FBG].

In order to quickly and accurately obtain the transient temperature field information of the barrel when the gun is firing, the transient temperature measurement system was designed with apodized-chirped fiber Bragg grating (FBG) probe. In the system, chirped fiber grating was used to modulate the bandwidth of echo light. The bandwidth of echo light had been greatly improved. So the number of apodized-chirped FBGs in one fiber could be greatly increased, and the energy of echo light was increased too. The performances of five common apodization functions were analyzed, and the super-Gaussian function was used to process the echo signals in the system. This function effectively suppressed sidelobe increases and spectral dispersion caused by chirp modulation, which indicated that it could meet the design requirements of the transient temperature measurement. 50 apodized-chirped FBGs, which evenly wound on the barrel, were used in the experiments, and they modulation range was from 1 532.0 to 1 548.0 nm. Transient temperature of a certain type of gun barrel was tested when it fired, and test data from the system were compared to WRP-130S high-speed temperature detector. Experimental results show that the two methods are similar ones with average error of less than 2%, and better than 1% in the region of temperature steady drop. 1 ℃ can cause 0.041 3 nm wavelength shift in temperature-wavelength data. Transient temperatures of 50 independent positions can be obtained in an acquisition, so the efficiency of the barrel temperature field reconstruction is greatly improving.

[Effect of L-alanyl-L-glutamine on expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 in intestinal tissues of low-birth-weight newborn rats with hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced intestinal injury].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of L-alanyl-L-glutamine (Ala-Gln) on the levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) in the intestinal tissues of low-birth-weight (LBW) newborn rats with hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced intestinal injury. METHODS: Pregnant rats were fed with or without smoking. The rats born by those fed without smoking were included in group A; for the rats born by those fed with smoking, normal-birth-weight rats were included in group B, and LBW rats were randomly divided into control group (group C), hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) group (group D), and Ala-Gln group (group E). Each group consisted of 24 newborn rats. The rats in groups D and E received H/R treatment twice a day for three consecutive days to establish an intestinal injury model; the rats in group E were intraperitoneally injected with Ala-Gln (10 ml/kg) before daily H/R treatment, while those in groups C and D were given an equal dose of normal saline by intraperitoneal injections. On days 4, 7, and 10 after birth, 8 rats were sacrificed in each group to collect intestinal tissues. The IGF-1 levels in intestinal tissues were measured using ELISA, and IGF-1R levels were measured by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in IGF-1 and IGF-1R levels between groups A and B at all time points. The levels of IGF-1 and IGF-1R in group C kept increasing, were higher than those in other groups on day 7 (P<0.05), and reached a normal level on day 10, without significant differences compared with those in groups A and B. Group D had significantly lower IGF-1 and IGF-1R levels than group C at all time points (P<0.05). The levels of IGF-1 and IGF-1R in group E were lower than those in group C on days 4 and 7 (P<0.05), but they increased to approximately the levels in group C and were significantly higher than those in group D on day 10. CONCLUSIONS: Intrauterine and postnatal hypoxia may induce intestinal injury in LBW newborn rats, and parenteral administration of high-dose Ala-Gln can reduce hypoxia-induced intestinal injury. Therefore, Ala-Gln has a protective effect against hypoxia-induced intestinal injury.

TMDB: a literature-curated database for small molecular compounds found from tea.

BACKGROUND: Tea is one of the most consumed beverages worldwide. The healthy effects of tea are attributed to a wealthy of different chemical components from tea. Thousands of studies on the chemical constituents of tea had been reported. However, data from these individual reports have not been collected into a single database. The lack of a curated database of related information limits research in this field, and thus a cohesive database system should necessarily be constructed for data deposit and further application. DESCRIPTION: The Tea Metabolome database (TMDB), a manually curated and web-accessible database, was developed to provide detailed, searchable descriptions of small molecular compounds found in Camellia spp. esp. in the plant Camellia sinensis and compounds in its manufactured products (different kinds of tea infusion). TMDB is currently the most complete and comprehensive curated collection of tea compounds data in the world. It contains records for more than 1393 constituents found in tea with information gathered from 364 published books, journal articles, and electronic databases. It also contains experimental 1H NMR and 13C NMR data collected from the purified reference compounds or collected from other database resources such as HMDB. TMDB interface allows users to retrieve tea compounds entries by keyword search using compound name, formula, occurrence, and CAS register number. Each entry in the TMDB contains an average of 24 separate data fields including its original plant species, compound structure, formula, molecular weight, name, CAS registry number, compound types, compound uses including healthy benefits, reference literatures, NMR, MS data, and the corresponding ID from databases such as HMDB and Pubmed. Users can also contribute novel regulatory entries by using a web-based submission page. The TMDB database is freely accessible from the URL of http://pcsb.ahau.edu.cn:8080/TCDB/index.jsp. The TMDB is designed to address the broad needs of tea biochemists, natural products chemists, nutritionists, and members of tea related research community. CONCLUSION: The TMDB database provides a solid platform for collection, standardization, and searching of compounds information found in tea. As such this database will be a comprehensive repository for tea biochemistry and tea health research community.

[Association of Ureaplasma urealyticum infection with bronchopulmonary dysplasia in very low birth weight infants with respiratory distress syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) infection in the lower respiratory tract and the incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). METHODS: Seventy-three VLBW infants diagnosed with neonatal RDS, who had received at least one dose of pulmonary surfactant, as well as mechanical ventilation, and were hospitalized for over 28 days, were recruited. Endotracheal aspirates were obtained from the lower respiratory tract and examined by real-time PCR to detect UU DNA. The infants were divided into UU infection and non-UU infection groups according to examination results. Clinical characteristics and the incidence of BPD were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with the non-UU infection group, the UU infection group had a higher rate of maternal vaginal delivery, higher incidence of recurrent nosocomial pulmonary infection and premature rupture of membranes (PROM), and longer durations of PROM, oxygen supplementation, and hospital stay; in addition, the UU infection group had higher plasma IgM level, leukocyte count, and neutrophil count within 3 hours after birth. Among 73 VLBW infants, 45 developed BPD; the incidence of BPD in the UU infection group was 90% (19/21), versus 50% (26/52) in the non-UU infection group (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: UU infection in the lower respiratory tract increases the incidence of BPD in VLBW infants with RDS.

[Dynamic changes of intestinal 16S rDNA metagenome in 5 infants].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the dynamic changes of intestinal 16S rDNA metagenome in healthy infants. METHODS: Seventeen fecal samples were collected at ages of 3 days, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year in 5 infants. Total bacterial DNAs were extracted and submitted high throughout sequencing on the V6 viable region of 16S rDNA. Tags and Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU) were then obtained and analysis of taxonomy, abundance and alpha diversity were performed. RESULTS: In total 2,190.66 Mbp raw data in 17 samples were produced. The OTU numbers ranged from 36 to 308. The dominate phylum included Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. The bacterial families>1% increased from only 2-4 per sample on day 3 to 7 at 1 or 6 months, 10 at 12 months. The average npShannon and Simpson index on day 3, at 1 month, 6 months and 1 year were 1.117, 1.460, 2.088, 2.50 and 0.443, 0.408, 0.229, 0.143 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Infants' intestines harbor abounding bacterial genomes. Distinct individual differences exist in infants in terms of intestinal bacterial abundance and composition. The abundance and diversity of gut bacteria increase over time.

Global research landscape of Peutz-Jeghers syndrome and successful endoscopic management of intestinal intussusception in patients with recurrent laparotomies.

BACKGROUND: Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) has brought significant physical, psychological and economic burdens on the patients and their families due to its early onset, diagnostic and therapeutic challenges and increased recurrence risk. AIM: To explore the current research status and emerging hotspots of PJS. METHODS: Studies on PJS published during 1994-2023 were gathered based on Web of Science Core Collection. Additionally, a case of PJS-induced intestinal intussusception, successfully treated with endoscopic methods despite three laparotomies, was highlighted. Comprehensive bibliometric and visual analysis were conducted with VOSviewer, R and CiteSpace. RESULTS: Altogether 1760 studies were identified, indicating a steady increase in the publication number. The United States had the highest influence, whereas the University of Helsinki emerged as the leading institution, and Aaltonen LA from the University of Helsinki was the most prolific author. Cancer Research, Oncogene and Endoscopy were the top three journals based on H-index. Keyword burst direction analysis revealed that "cancer risk", "management", "surveillance" and "familial pancreatic cancer" were the potential hotspots for investigation. Additionally, "early detection", "capsule endoscopy", "clinical management", "double-balloon endoscopy", "familial pancreatic cancer" and "molecular genetic basis" were identified as the key clusters of co-cited references. Endoscopic polypectomy remained effective on resolving intestinal intussusception in patients who underwent three previous laparotomies. CONCLUSION: In the last three decades, global publications related to PJS show a steadily increasing trend in number. Endoscopic management is currently a research hotspot.

Osteocyte ferroptosis induced by ATF3/TFR1 contributes to cortical bone loss during ageing.

Cortical bone loss is intricately associated with ageing and coincides with iron accumulation. The precise role of ferroptosis, characterized by iron overload and lipid peroxidation, in senescent osteocytes remains elusive. We found that ferroptosis was a crucial mode of osteocyte death in cortical bone during ageing. Using a single-cell transcriptome analysis, we identified activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) as a critical driver of osteocyte ferroptosis. Elevated ATF3 expression in senescent osteocytes promotes iron uptake by upregulating transferrin receptor 1 while simultaneously inhibiting solute carrier family 7-member 11-mediated cystine import. This process leads to an iron overload and lipid peroxidation, culminating in ferroptosis. Importantly, ATF3 inhibition in aged mice effectively alleviated ferroptosis in the cortical bone and mitigated cortical bone mass loss. Taken together, our findings establish a pivotal role of ferroptosis in cortical bone loss in older adults, providing promising prevention and treatment strategies for osteoporosis and fractures.

Quartz crystal microbalance technique for analysis of cooling crystallization.

A quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique is developed for the in situ analysis of the cooling crystallization processes of crystal nucleation and growth. In contrast to conventional techniques based on property changes in the solid or solution phase, the proposed QCM technique simultaneously exploits property changes in both the solid and solution phases, such as the solid mass and liquid viscosity, to analyze the crystallization processes. When initially cooling the solution, an increase in the solution viscosity is reflected in the QCM responses for the resonant frequency and resonant resistance. With further cooling, the resonant frequency and resonant resistance sharply change at the induction point of crystal nucleation, as the viscous liquid film on the sensor suddenly shifts to an elastic solid phase. Thereafter, the QCM responses are mainly controlled by the suspension viscosity due to simultaneous crystal nucleation and growth with further cooling. As a result, the QCM responses allow accurate measurement of the induction point and metastable zone width during the cooling crystallization. Additional mechanistic information on the crystallization, including molecular cluster formation, crystal nucleation, and crystal growth, is also extracted from a resonant frequency-resistance plot (F-R plot) of the QCM responses when varying the cooling conditions.

Serum γ-glutamyltransferase and uric acid levels are associated with impaired fasting glucose in adults from Inner Mongolia, China.

BACKGROUND: Serum γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and uric acid (UA) levels are elevated in patients with diabetes or cardiovascular disease. Prediabetes, characterized by impaired glucose tolerance, is an important risk factor for overt diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the relationship between GGT, UA and prediabetes in a Chinese population, and provide a scientific basis for the early prevention and treatment of diabetes. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional population-based study in a cohort of 2694 subjects (1211 men and 1483 women, aged 35-86 years). Questionnaires and physical examinations were performed using standardized procedures. Fasting blood was collected to measure glucose and other biochemical parameters. The subjects were divided into two groups with either normal fasting glucose (NFG) or impaired fasting glucose (IFG), according to international diagnostic criteria. Logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Compared with the NFG group, the IFG group had significantly higher blood pressure but lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol in women. Body mass index, waist circumference, triglyceride, glucose, GGT, and UA levels were significantly higher in males and females in the IFG group than those in the NFG group. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the OR for prediabetes increased with increasing serum GGT quartiles and UA quartiles. GGT and UA were positively associated with prediabetes in men and women, independent of age, ethnicity, smoking, alcohol consumption, blood pressure, physical labor, and other confounders. CONCLUSIONS: We found that serum GGT and UA levels were positively associated with prediabetes in men and women living in areas inhabited by Chinese ethnic minorities. As elevated GGT and UA levels were associated with significantly increased risk of prediabetes, they may be used as sensitive biological markers of prediabetes.

Prevalence of hyperuricemia and its related risk factors in healthy adults from Northern and Northeastern Chinese provinces.

BACKGROUND: Hyperuricemia (HUA) is a potential risk factor for developing insulin resistance, hypertension, dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, we studied the prevalence of HUA and associated risk factors in the population of two provinces in northern China. METHODS: Based on the research of Chinese Physiological Constant and Health Conditions conducted in 2008-2010, we enrolled 29,639 subjects in a randomized, stratified study in four sampling areas in Heilongjiang Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. We collected 13,140 serum samples to determine biochemical indicators including uric acid(UA), glucose, blood lipids, liver function, and renal function, and finally a representative sample of 8439 aged 18 years and older was determined. We also defined and stratified HUA, hypertension, diabetes, obesity and lipid abnormalities according to international guidelines. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the UA levels between different genders and regions. The total prevalence of HUA is 13.7%. Men had a higher prevalence of HUA than women (21% vs. 7.9%; P < 0.0001). As age increased, HUA prevalence decreased in men but rose in women. The suburbs of big cities had the highest HUA prevalence (18.7%), and in high-prevalence areas the proportion of women with HUA also increased. A stepwise logistic regression model was used to filter out twelve HUA risk factors, including age, gender, residence, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, impaired fasting glucose, hypertension, obesity, abdominal obesity, CKD, drinking and sleeping. After adjusting for these factors, the odds ratio of HUA was 1.92 times higher in men than in women. Compared with agricultural and pastoral areas, the odds ratio of having HUA was 2.14 for participants in the suburbs of big cities and 1.57 in the center of big cities. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HUA is high in northern China. The differences in HUA prevalence by geographic region suggested that unbalanced economic development and health education, therefore HUA prevention measures should be strengthened to improve quality of life and reduce health care costs.

[Bacterial profiles in conjunctival sac of dry eyes and normal eyes in middle- and old-aged Yi populations].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the bacterial profiles in conjunctival sac of dry eyes and normal eyes in Yi people aged 40 years or old. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with standardized training and protocol. A total of 140 dry eyes of 70 individuals from Yi people in Jiulong county underwent ophthalmological examinations. The secretions of the inferior palpebral conjunctival sac were embrocated and inoculated on blood plates for 48 hours. The bacteria were separated and identified. Another 132 normal eyes from 66 Yi individuals were examined as controls. RESULTS: Bacterial positive cultivations were found in 72.1% (101/140) of dry eyes and 67.4% (89/132) of normal eyes, respectively. The difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.397). No gender difference in the bacterial positive rates was found either. Gram-positive bacteria were the main bacteria in both dry eyes (95.2%, 98/103) and normal eyes (91.1%, 82/90), predominantly staphylococcus epidemids and corynebacterium. There were no statistical differences in the constituents of bacteria in Gram classification and numbers of bacteria between dry eyes and normal eyes (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The bacterial profile in conjunctival sac of dry eyes is similar to that of normal eyes in Yi people aged 40 years or over. Gram-positive bacteria are the main bacteria.

Synthesis of N,O-bidentate organic difluoroboron complexes and their photophysical studies.

We disclose a novel boron trifluoride induced C-H activation and difluoroboronation at room temperature, thus providing a straightforward gateway to a series of N,O-bidentate organic BF2 complexes. The scope of the method is demonstrated with 24 examples. All the synthesized compounds exhibit fluorescence and some of them have large Stokes shifts.