Repellency, Toxicity, and Chemical Composition of Plant Essential Oils from Myrtaceae against Asian Citrus Psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera Liviidae).

Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (D. citri) is one of the major pests in the citrus industry, which spreads Citrus Huanglongbing disease. It has developed resistance to chemical insecticides. Therefore, searching for greener solutions for pest management is critically important. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the repellent and insecticidal efficacy of essential oils (EOs) from four species of Myrtaceae plants: Psidium guajava (PG), Eucalyptus robusta (ER), Eucalyptus tereticornis (ET), and Baeckea frutescens (BF) against D. citri and to analyze their chemical compositions. GC-MS analysis was performed, and the results indicated that the EOs of PG, ER, ET, and BF were rich in terpenoids, ketones, esters, and alcohol compounds. The repellent rate of all four EOs showed that it decreased with exposure time but increased with the concentration of EOs from 80.50% to 100.00% after treating D. citri for 6 h with four EOs at 100% concentration and decreased to 67.71% to 85.49% after 24 h of exposure. Among the compounds from the EOs tested, eucalyptol had the strongest repellent activity, with a 24 h repellency rate of 100%. The contact toxicity bioassay results showed that all EOs have insecticidal toxicity to D. citri; the LC50 for nymphs was 36.47-93.15 mL/L, and for adults, it was 60.72-111.00 mL/L. These results show that when PG is used as the reference material, the ER, ET, and BF EOs have strong biological activity against D. citri, which provides a scientific basis for the further development of plant-derived agrochemicals.

Eicosapentaenoic acid activates the P62/KEAP1/NRF2 pathway for the prevention of diabetes-associated cognitive dysfunction.

Diabetes-associated cognitive dysfunction (DCD) is a severe complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), threatening the life quality of the diabetic population. However, there is still a lack of effective approaches for its intervention. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid that was not previously investigated for its effect on DCD. In this study, EPA was found to improve DCD in a mouse model of type 2 DM (T2DM) induced by streptozotocin and a high-fat diet, exhibiting profound protective effects on cognitive dysfunction, neuronal loss, and cerebral oxidative stress and inflammation. While EPA did not attenuate advanced glycation end product-induced neuron injury, we hypothesized that EPA might protect neurons by regulating microglia polarization, the effect of which was confirmed by the co-culture of neurons and lipopolysaccharide-stimulated microglia. RNA sequencing identified nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor 2 (NRF2) antioxidant signaling as a major target of EPA in microglia. Mechanistically, EPA increased sequestosome-1 (SQSTM1 or P62) levels that might structurally inhibit Kelch-like ECH associated protein 1 (KEAP1), leading to nuclear translocation of NRF2. P62 and NRF2 predominantly mediated EPA's effect since the knockdown of P62 or NRF2 abolished EPA's protective effect on microglial oxidative stress and inflammation and sequential neuron injuries. Moreover, the regulation of P62/KEPA1/NRF2 axes by EPA was confirmed in the hippocampi of diabetic mice. The present work presents EPA as an effective nutritional approach and microglial P62/KEAP1/NRF2 as molecular targets for the intervention of DCD.

Efficacy and safety of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in recurrent pancreatitis of pediatric asparaginase-associated pancreatitis.

BACKGROUND: Asparaginase (ASP) is an important drug in combined chemotherapy regimens for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL); ASP-associated pancreatitis (AAP) is the main adverse reaction of ASP. Recurrent pancreatitis is a complication of AAP, for which medication is ineffective. AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in treating recurrent pancreatitis due to AAP. METHODS: From May 2018 to August 2021, ten children (five males and five females; age range: 4-13 years) with AAP were treated using ERCP due to recurrent pancreatitis. Clinical data of the ten children were collected, including their sex, age, weight, ALL risk grading, clinical symptoms at the onset of pancreatitis, time from the first pancreatitis onset to ERCP, ERCP operation status, and postoperative complications. The symptomatic relief, weight change, and number of pancreatitis onsets before and after ERCP were compared. RESULTS: The preoperative symptoms were abdominal pain, vomiting, inability to eat, weight loss of 2-7 kg, and 2-9 pancreatitis onsets. After the operation, nine of ten patients did not develop pancreatitis, had no abdominal pain, could eat normally; the remaining patient developed three pancreatitis onsets due to the continuous administration of ASP, but eating was not affected. The postoperative weight gain was 1.5-8 kg. There was one case of post ERCP pancreatitis and two cases of postoperative infections; all recovered after medication. CONCLUSION: ERCP improved clinical symptoms and reduced the incidence of pancreatitis, and was shown to be a safe and effective method for improving the management of recurrent pancreatitis due to AAP.

Intracellular metabolic profiling of drug resistant cells by surface enhanced Raman scattering.

BACKGROUND: Intracellular metabolic profiling reveals real-time metabolic information useful for the study of underlying mechanisms of cells in particular conditions such as drug resistance. However, mass spectrometry (MS), one of the leading metabolomics technologies, usually requires a large number of cells and complex pretreatments. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has an ultrahigh detection sensitivity and specificity, favorable for metabolomics analysis. However, some targeted SERS methods focus on very limited metabolite without global bioprofiling, and some label-free approaches try to fingerprint the metabolic response based on whole SERS spectral classification, but comprehensive interpretation of biological mechanisms was lacking. (95) RESULTS: We proposed a label-free SERS technique for intracellular metabolic profiling in complex cellular lysates within 3 min. We first compared three kinds of cellular lysis methods and sonication lysis shows the highest extraction efficiency of metabolites. To obtain comprehensive metabolic information, we collected a spectral set for each sample and further qualified them by the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) to calculate how many spectra should be acquired at least to gain the adequate information from a statistical and global view. In addition, according to our measurements with 10 pure metabolites, we can understand the spectra acquired from complex cellular lysates of different cell lines more precisely. Finally, we further disclosed the variations of 22 SERS bands in enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer cells and some are associated with the androgen receptor signaling activity and the methionine salvage pathway in the drug resistance process, which shows the same metabolic trends as MS. (149) SIGNIFICANCE: Our technique has the capability to capture the intracellular metabolic fingerprinting with the optimized lysis approach and spectral set collection, showing high potential in rapid, sensitive and global metabolic profiling in complex biosamples and clinical liquid biopsy. This gives a new perspective to the study of SERS in insightful understanding of relevant biological mechanisms. (54).

Triggering pyroptosis enhances the antitumor efficacy of PARP inhibitors in prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: PARP inhibitors have revolutionized the treatment landscape for advanced prostate cancer (PCa) patients who harboring mutations in homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying PARP inhibitors function beyond DNA damage repair pathways remain elusive, and identifying novel predictive targets that favorably respond to PARP inhibitors in PCa is an active area of research. METHODS: The expression of GSDME in PCa cell lines and human PCa samples was determined by western blotting. Targeted bisulfite sequencing, gene enrichment analysis (GSEA), clone formation, construction of the stably transfected cell lines, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay, western blotting as well as a mouse model of subcutaneous xenografts were used to investigate the role of GSDME in PCa. The combinational therapeutic effect of olaparib and decitabine was determined using both in vitro and in vivo experiments. RESULTS: We have found low expression of GSDME in PCa. Interestingly, we demonstrated that GSDME activity is robustly induced in olaparib-treated cells undergoing pyroptosis, and that high methylation of the GSDME promoter dampens its activity in PCa cells. Intriguingly, genetically overexpressing GSDME does not inhibit tumor cell proliferation but instead confers sensitivity to olaparib. Furthermore, pharmacological treatment with the combination of olaparib and decitabine synergistically induces GSDME expression and cleavage through caspase-3 activation, thus promoting pyroptosis and enhancing anti-tumor response, ultimately resulting in tumor remission. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight a novel therapeutic strategy for enhancing the long-term response to olaparib beyond HRR-deficient tumors in PCa, underscoring the critical role of GSDME in regulating tumorigenesis.

Independent prognostic value of the congestion and renal index in patients with acute heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Clinical outcomes are poor if patients with acute heart failure (AHF) are discharged with residual congestion in the presence of renal dysfunction. However, there is no single indication to reflect the combined effects of the two related pathophysiological processes. We, therefore, proposed an indicator, congestion and renal index (CRI), and examined the associations between the CRI and one-year outcomes and the incremental prognostic value of CRI compared with the established scoring systems in a multicenter prospective cohort of AHF. METHODS: We enrolled AHF patients and calculated the ratio of thoracic fluid content index divided by estimated glomerular filtration rate before discharge, as CRI. Then we examined the associations between CRI and one-year outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 944 patients were included in the analysis (mean age 63.3 ± 13.8 years, 39.3% women). Compared with patients with CRI ≤ 0.59 mL/min per kΩ, those with CRI > 0.59 mL/min per kΩ had higher risks of cardiovascular death or HF hospitalization (HR = 1.56 [1.13-2.15]) and all-cause death or all-cause hospitalization (HR = 1.33 [1.01-1.74]). CRI had an incremental prognostic value compared with the established scoring system. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with AHF, CRI is independently associated with the risk of death or hospitalization within one year, and improves the risk stratification of the established risk models.

Domain adaptive Sim-to-Real segmentation of oropharyngeal organs.

Video-assisted transoral tracheal intubation (TI) necessitates using an endoscope that helps the physician insert a tracheal tube into the glottis instead of the esophagus. The growing trend of robotic-assisted TI would require a medical robot to distinguish anatomical features like an experienced physician which can be imitated by utilizing supervised deep-learning techniques. However, the real datasets of oropharyngeal organs are often inaccessible due to limited open-source data and patient privacy. In this work, we propose a domain adaptive Sim-to-Real framework called IoU-Ranking Blend-ArtFlow (IRB-AF) for image segmentation of oropharyngeal organs. The framework includes an image blending strategy called IoU-Ranking Blend (IRB) and style-transfer method ArtFlow. Here, IRB alleviates the problem of poor segmentation performance caused by significant datasets domain differences, while ArtFlow is introduced to reduce the discrepancies between datasets further. A virtual oropharynx image dataset generated by the SOFA framework is used as the learning subject for semantic segmentation to deal with the limited availability of actual endoscopic images. We adapted IRB-AF with the state-of-the-art domain adaptive segmentation models. The results demonstrate the superior performance of our approach in further improving the segmentation accuracy and training stability.

The crosslink between the hyaluronic acid and drugs treated by reactive oxygen species produced in plasma based on the molecular dynamics simulation.

Hyaluronic Acid (HA)-based pre-drugs can enable targeted drug delivery to cancer cells with CD44-high expressing, thus, it is essential to design an efficient, target specific drug delivery system based on HA. Plasma, as a simple and clean tool, has been widely used in the modification and crosslinking of biological materials in recent years. In this paper, we used the Reactive Molecular Dynamic (RMD) to explore the reaction between reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plasma and HA with drugs (PTX, SN-38, and DOX), in order to examine possible drug-coupled systems. The simulation results indicated the acetylamino groups in HA could be oxidized to unsaturated acyl groups, which offers the possibility of crosslinking. Three drugs also exposed the unsaturated atoms under the impact of ROS, which can cross-link directly to HA through CO and CN bonds, forming a drug coupling system with better release. This study revealed the exposure of active sites on HA and drugs by ROS impact in plasma, allowing us to study the crosslinking mechanism between HA and drugs at molecular level deeply, and also provided a new light for establishment of HA-based targeted drug delivery system.

External use of mirabilite to prevent post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis in children: A multicenter randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Acute pancreatitis is the most common complication of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Currently, there is no suitable treatment for post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) prophylaxis. Few studies have prospectively evaluated interventions to prevent PEP in children. AIM: To assess the efficacy and safety of the external use of mirabilite to prevent PEP in children. METHODS: This multicenter, randomized controlled clinical trial enrolled patients with chronic pancreatitis scheduled for ERCP according to eligibility criteria. Patients were randomly divided into the external use of mirabilite group (external use of mirabilite in a bag on the projected abdominal area within 30 min before ERCP) and blank group. The primary outcome was the incidence of PEP. The secondary outcomes included the severity of PEP, abdominal pain scores, levels of serum inflammatory markers [tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and serum interleukin-10 (IL-10)], and intestinal barrier function markers [diamine oxidase (DAO), D-lactic acid, and endotoxin]. Additionally, the side effects of topical mirabilite were investigated. RESULTS: A total of 234 patients were enrolled, including 117 in the external use of mirabilite group and the other 117 in the blank group. The pre-procedure and procedure-related factors were not significantly different between the two groups. The incidence of PEP in the external use of mirabilite group was significantly lower than that in the blank group (7.7% vs 26.5%, P < 0.001). The severity of PEP decreased in the mirabilite group (P = 0.023). At 24 h after the procedure, the visual analog scale score in the external use of mirabilite group was lower than that in the blank group (P = 0.001). Compared with those in the blank group, the TNF-α expressions were significantly lower and the IL-10 expressions were significantly higher at 24 h after the procedure in the external use of mirabilite group (P = 0.032 and P = 0.011, respectively). There were no significant differences in serum DAO, D-lactic acid, and endotoxin levels before and after ERCP between the two groups. No adverse effects of mirabilite were observed. CONCLUSION: External use of mirabilite reduced the PEP occurrence. It significantly alleviated post-procedural pain and reduced inflammatory response. Our results favor the external use of mirabilite to prevent PEP in children.

Long-term exposure to low-dose Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate aggravated high fat diet-induced obesity in female mice.

The potential obesogenic roles of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) have attracted great attention. The current study aimed to evaluate the combined effects of chronic low-dose DEHP (0.05 mg/kg BW) and a high-fat diet (HFD) on obesity in female mice and explore the underlying mechanisms. We found that low-dose DEHP challenge for 29 weeks increased fat accumulation both in CD- and HFD-fed mice and significantly accelerated the weight gain without affecting food intake in HFD-fed mice. DEHP exposure reduced the energy metabolism, down-regulated the uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and total oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) proteins expression in the brown adipose tissue, and up-regulated the PPARγ expression and its phosphorylation at Ser273 in white adipose tissue (WAT). Besides, the combination of DEHP and HFD drove the remodeling of gut microbiota of mice, characterized by the reduced richness and diversity and the elevated Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) analysis revealed that DEHP and HFD cotreatment led to a decrease in levels of acetic acid, butyric acid, and pentanoic acid. Interestingly, sodium butyrate (NaB) significantly inhibited the adipogenesis and lipid accumulation of NIH/3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts (PPARγ2 overexpression) and the PPARγ phosphorylation at Ser273 induced by DEHP or MEHP. These findings demonstrate that chronic low-dose DEHP challenge could prompt fat accumulation by increasing PPARγ phosphorylation at Ser273 and decreasing thermogenesis in BAT, which might be associated with the SCFAs reduction.

Evaluation of RT-LAMP Assay for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy of the reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay for rapid detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in community or primary-care settings. METHOD: We systematically searched the Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases. We conducted quality evaluation using ReviewManager software (version 5.0). We then used MetaDisc software (version 1.4) and Stata software (version 12.0) to build forest plots, along with a Deeks funnel plot and a bivariate boxplot for analysis. RESULT: Overall, the sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio were 0.79, 0.97, and 328.18, respectively. The sensitivity for the subgroup with RNA extraction appeared to be higher, at 0.88 (0.86-0.90), compared to the subgroup without RNA extraction, at 0.50 (0.45-0.55), with no significant difference in specificity. CONCLUSION: RT-LAMP assay exhibited high specificity regarding current SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, its overall sensitivity was relatively moderate. Extracting RNA was found to be beneficial in improving sensitivity.

Evaluation of CRISPR-Based Assays for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PURPOSE: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the pathogen of coronavirus disease 2019. Diagnostic methods based on the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) have been developed to detect SARS-CoV-2 rapidly. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of CRISPR for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Studies published before August 2021 were retrieved from four databases, using the keywords "SARS-CoV-2" and "CRISPR." Data were collected from these publications, and the sensitivity, specificity, negative likelihood ratio (NLR), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were calculated. The summary receiver operating characteristic curve was plotted for analysis with MetaDiSc 1.4. The Stata 15.0 software was used to draw Deeks' funnel plots to evaluate publication bias. RESULTS: We performed a pooled analysis of 38 independent studies shown in 30 publications. The reference standard was reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. The results indicated that the sensitivity of CRISPR-based methods for diagnosis was 0.94 (95% CI 0.93-0.95), the specificity was 0.98 (95% CI 0.97-0.99), the PLR was 34.03 (95% CI 20.81-55.66), the NLR was 0.08 (95% CI 0.06-0.10), and the DOR was 575.74 (95% CI 382.36-866.95). The area under the curve was 0.9894. CONCLUSION: Studies indicate that a diagnostic method based on CRISPR has high sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, this would be a potential diagnostic tool to improve the accuracy of SARS-CoV-2 detection.

Accuracy of cytokeratin 19 fragment in the diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Aim: CYFRA21-1 is a biomarker of cancer and has a promising future in the diagnosis of bladder cancer. The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of CYFRA21-1 for bladder cancer. Methods: We included articles from the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed and Embase. Meta-DiSc 1.4 and Stata 12.0 were used for data analysis. Results: Twenty-eight articles were analyzed, and the results are as follows: sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, DOR and AUC were 0.69 (95% CI [0.67, 0.71]), 0.81 (95% CI [0.80, 0.83]), 5.99 (95% CI [4.42, 8.11]), 0.31 (95% CI [0.25, 0.38]), 24.58 (95% CI [15.15, 39.89]) and 0.8917, respectively. Conclusion: CYFRA21-1 has a high diagnostic efficiency for bladder cancer.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Xpert Xpress Flu/RSV for the Detection of Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Viruses.

Xpert Xpress Flu/RSV is a fast and automated real-time nucleic acid amplification tool for detecting influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The aim of this study was to verify the accuracy of Xpert Xpress Flu/RSV for detecting influenza virus and RSV. PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched up to October 2020. The quality of the original research was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 guidelines. Meta-DiSc 1.4 software was used to analyze the sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and summary receiver operating characteristic curve. Deek's funnel plot asymmetry test was used to evaluate the publication bias using the Stata 12.0 software. Ten studies with 25 fourfold tables were included in the analysis. The sensitivity of Xpert Xpress Flu/RSV for detecting influenza A, influenza B, and RSV were 0.97, 0.98, and 0.96, respectively, and the specificities were 0.97, 1.00, and 1.00, respectively. Compared with other common clinical real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Xpert Xpress Flu/RSV is a valuable tool for diagnosing influenza virus and RSV with high sensitivity and specificity.

Identification of Key Pathways and Genes in SARS-CoV-2 Infecting Human Intestines by Bioinformatics Analysis.

COVID-19 is a serious infectious disease that has recently swept the world, and research on its causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, remains insufficient. Therefore, this study uses bioinformatics analysis techniques to explore the human digestive tract diseases that may be caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. The gene expression profile data set, numbered GSE149312, is from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and is divided into a 24-h group and a 60-h group. R software is used to analyze and screen out differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and then gene ontology (GO) term and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses are performed. In KEGG, the pathway of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease exists in both the 24-h group and 60-h group. STRING is used to establish a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and Cytoscape is then used to visualize the PPI and define the top 12 genes of the node as the hub genes. Through verification, nine statistically significant hub genes are identified: AKT1, TIMP1, NOTCH, CCNA2, RRM2, TTK, BUB1B, KIF20A, and PLK1. In conclusion, the results of this study can provide a certain direction and basis for follow-up studies of SARS-CoV-2 infection of the human digestive tract and provide new insights for the prevention and treatment of diseases caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Meta-Analysis of the Diagnostic Efficacy of the Luminex xTAG Respiratory Viral Panel FAST v2 Assay for Respiratory Viral Infections.

PURPOSE: Acute respiratory viral infections pose significant morbidity and mortality, making it essential to diagnose respiratory viral infections rapidly. In this study, the diagnostic efficacy of the Luminex xTAG Respiratory Virus Panel (RVP) FAST v2 test was evaluated on respiratory viral infections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Information was retrieved from electronic databases, including Embase, Web of Science, PubMed, and Cochrane Library, for systematic review. Studies that fulfilled predefined inclusion criteria were included. After the extraction of information, statistical software was utilized for quality evaluation, data analysis, and assessment of publication bias. RESULTS: Eighty groups in fourfold tables from nine articles were included to perform statistical analyses. Therein, the mean specificity and mean sensitivity of Luminex xTAG RVP FAST v2 test for the detection of respiratory viral infections were 0.99 (0.98-0.99) and 0.88 (0.87-0.90), respectively. Additionally, the negative and positive likelihood ratios were 0.14 (0.11-0.19) and 87.42 (61.88-123.50), respectively. Moreover, the diagnostic odds ratio and area under the curve of summary receiver operating characteristic were 714.80 and 0.9886, respectively. CONCLUSION: The Luminex xTAG RVP FAST v2 test could be a reliable and rapid diagnostic method for multiple respiratory viral infections.

Meta-Analysis of the Diagnostic Efficacy of the Luminex xTAG Respiratory Viral Panel FAST v2Assay for Respiratory Viral Infections

Purpose@#Acute respiratory viral infections pose significant morbidity and mortality, making it essential to diagnose respiratory viral infections rapidly. In this study, the diagnostic efficacy of the Luminex xTAG Respiratory Virus Panel (RVP) FAST v2 test was evaluated on respiratory viral infections. @*Materials and Methods@#Information was retrieved from electronic databases, including Embase, Web of Science, PubMed, and Cochrane Library, for systematic review. Studies that fulfilled predefined inclusion criteria were included. After the extraction of information, statistical software was utilized for quality evaluation, data analysis, and assessment of publication bias. @*Results@#Eighty groups in fourfold tables from nine articles were included to perform statistical analyses. Therein, the mean specificity and mean sensitivity of Luminex xTAG RVP FAST v2 test for the detection of respiratory viral infections were 0.99 (0.98–0.99) and 0.88 (0.87–0.90), respectively. Additionally, the negative and positive likelihood ratios were 0.14 (0.11–0.19) and 87.42 (61.88– 123.50), respectively. Moreover, the diagnostic odds ratio and area under the curve of summary receiver operating characteristic were 714.80 and 0.9886, respectively. @*Conclusion@#The Luminex xTAG RVP FAST v2 test could be a reliable and rapid diagnostic method for multiple respiratory viral infections.

Epidemiological trends and major risk attribution analysis of pancreatic cancer in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019 / 中华消化外科杂志

Objective:To analyze the epidemiological trends and major risk attribution of pancreatic cancer in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019.Methods:The descriptive epidemiological method was conducted. The overall incidence rate, mortality rate, age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) and age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of pancreatic cancer in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019 were collected from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Database. Age-standardized rates were calculated based on the worldwide standardized population structure provided by GBD Database 2019. Observation indicators: (1) incidence and motality of pancreatic cancer in China, Japan and South Korea in 2019; (2) age-period-cohort model analysis of incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019; (3) trends of ASIR and ASMR of pancreatic cancer in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019; (4) trends of major risk attribution of pancreatic cancer related death in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019. Count data were represented as absolute numbers, percentages and ratios. Joinpoint V.4.7.0.0 software was used to calculate the annual percentage change (APC), the average annual percentage change (AAPC) of incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer in different time periods and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The age-period-cohort model in STATA V.15.0 software was used to analyze the influence of different ages, periods and birth cohorts on the risk of onset and death of pancreatic cancer after controlling the other two variables, with the risk effect size described as relative risk (95% CI). Results:(1) Incidence and motality of pancreatic cancer in China, Japan and South Korea in 2019. In 2019, the incidence rate of pancreatic cancer in China increased from 0.07/100,000 among 15-19 years old to 64.01/100,000 among 85-89 years old, with increasing from 0.09/100,000 to 94.71/100,000 in males and from 0.04/100,000 to 47.47/100,000 in females. The mortality rate of pancreatic cancer in China increased from 0.04/100,000 among 15-19 years old to 79.58/100,000 among 85-89 years old, with increasing from 0.05/100,000 to 116.50/100,000 in males and from 0.03/100,000 to 59.69/100,000 in females. The incidence rate of pancreatic cancer in Japan increased from 0.03/100,000 among 15-19 years old to 162.26/100,000 among 85-89 years old, with increasing from 0.03/100,000 to 177.67/100,000 in males and from 0.04/100,000 to 153.67/100,000 in females. The mortality rate of pancreatic cancer in Japan increased from 0.02/100,000 among 15-19 years old to 154.88/100,000 among 85-89 years old, with increasing from 0.02/100,000 to 170.93/100,000 in males and from 0.02/100,000 to 145.94/100,000 in females. The incidence rate of pancreatic cancer in South Korea increased from 0.04/100,000 among 15-19 years old to 136.78/100,000 among 85-89 years old, with increasing from 0.03/100,000 to 153.78/100,000 in males and from 0.04/100,000 to 129.73/100,000 in females. The mortality rate of pancreatic cancer in South Korea increased from 0.02/100,000 among 15-19 years old to 135.98/100,000 among 85-89 years old, with increasing from 0.02/100,000 to 156.21/100,000 in males and from 0.02/100,000 to 127.59/100,000 in females. The peak incidence and mortality of pancreatic cancer in China were found in males aged 65-69 years, and the overall incidence and mortality of males in different age groups were higher than those of females in the same age group. In Japan, the peak incidence of pancreatic cancer occurred in females aged 80-84 years and the peak mortality occurred in males aged 75-79 years. The morbidity and mortality of males aged <80 years were higher than those of females in the same age group, while the morbidity and mortality of males aged ≥80 years were lower than those of females in the same age group. In South Korea, the peak incidence of pancreatic cancer occurred in females aged 80-84 years, and the peak mortality occurred in males aged 70-74 years. The morbidity and mortality of males aged <75 years were higher than those of females in the same age group, while the morbidity and mortality of males aged ≥75 years were lower than those of females in the same age group. (2) Age-period-cohort model analysis of incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019. Age effect: after adjustment for the period and cohort effects, the risk of incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer in both males and females of China, Japan and South Korea increased with age, which is more obvious in females than males, and more obvious in Japanese than Chinese and Korean populations. Period effect: after adjustment for age and cohort effects, the risk of incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer in both males and females of China, Japan and South Korea increased from 1990 to 2019, with the period effect more significant in the Chinese population. Cohort effect: after adjustment for age and period effects, the risk of morbidity and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer decreased with the passage of birth cohort in China, Japan and South Korea. (3) Trends of ASIR and ASMR of pancreatic cancer in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019. The ASIR and ASMR of pancreatic cancer in China increased yearly from 1990 to 2019, and the ASIR and ASMR in 2019 were 1.82 times and 1.79 times those in 1990, respectively. The ASIR and ASMR of pancreatic cancer in Japan showed a slowly increasing trend, and the ASIR and ASMR in 2019 were 1.09 times and 1.05 times those in 1990, respectively. The ASIR and ASMR of pancreatic cancer in South Korea increased firstly, then decreased, and slowly increased. From 1990 to 2019, the AAPC of ASIR of pancreatic cancer in China was 2.08% (95% CI as 1.91% to 2.24%, P<0.05) and AAPC of ASMR was 2.02% (95% CI as 1.86% to 2.19%, P<0.05). The AAPC of ASIR of pancreatic cancer in Japan was 0.28% (95% CI as 0.15% to 0.42%, P<0.05) and AAPC of ASMR was 0.13% (95% CI as 0.03% to 0.24%, P<0.05). The AAPC of ASIR of pancreatic cancer in South Korea was 0.50% (95% CI as 0.21% to 0.80%, P<0.05) and AAPC of ASMR was 0.15% (95% CI as -0.10% to 0.40%, P>0.05). (4) Trends of major risk attribution of pancreatic cancer related death in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019. The main risk factors for pancreatic cancer related death in China, Japan and South Korea from 1990 to 2019 were smoking, high fasting glucose and high body mass index (BMI). The trend of pancreatic cancer related death, mainly attributed to smoking, showed that the proportion of Chinese males increased from 31.4% in 1990 to 34.1% in 2000, then decreased to 31.1% in 2015, and then showed a slow increase to 31.7% in 2019. The proportion of Chinese females increased from 6.7% in 1990 to 10.4% in 2005 and then dropped to 8.7% in 2019. The proportion of Japanese males decreased from 38.8% in 1990 to 26.9% in 2019 and the proportion of Japanese females decreased from 20.9% in 1990 to 14.8% in 2019. The proportion of South Korean males decreased from 37.5% in 1990 to 30.3% in 2019 and the proportion of South Korean females decreased from 12.6% in 1990 to 10.0% in 2019. The trend of pancreatic cancer related death proportion, mainly attributed to high fasting blood glucose, showed that the proportion of Chinese males increased from 5.9% in 1990 to 7.1% in 2019 and the propor-tion of Chinese females increased from 6.2% in 1990 to 6.8% in 2019. The proportion of Japanese males increased from 7.0% in 1990 to 7.7% in 2019 and the proportion of females increased from 5.0% in 1990 to 5.5% in 2019. The proportion of South Korean males increased from 6.8% in 1990 to 9.7% in 2019 and the proportion of females increased from 6.1% in 1990 to 8.2% in 2019. The trend of pancreatic cancer related deaths proportion, attributed mainly to high BMI, showed that the proportion of Chinese males increased from 1.3% in 1990 to 3.0% in 2019 and the proportion of females increased from 2.1% in 1990 to 4.3% in 2019. The proportion of Japanese males increased from 2.0% in 1990 to 2.4% in 2019 and the proportion of females increased from 3.1% in 1990 to 3.4% in 2019. The proportion of South Korean males increased from 1.9% in 1990 to 3.1% in 2019 and the proportion of females increased from 3.4% in 1990 to 4.3% in 2019. Conclusions:The incidence of pancreatic cancer in China may continue to rise but to be stable in Japan and South Korea. The incidence of pancreatic cancer in females, especially elderly women, needs more attention. Smoking remains the most critical risk factor for pancreatic cancer. More attention should also be paid to the increased risk of pancreatic cancer associated with high BMI and high fasting plasma glucose.

Evaluation of CRISPR-Based Assays for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose@#Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the pathogen of coronavirus disease 2019. Diagnostic methods based on the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) have been developed to detect SARSCoV-2 rapidly. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of CRISPR for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection. @*Materials and Methods@#Studies published before August 2021 were retrieved from four databases, using the keywords “SARS-CoV-2” and “CRISPR.” Data were collected from these publications, and the sensitivity, specificity, negative likelihood ratio (NLR), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were calculated. The summary receiver operating characteristic curve was plotted for analysis with MetaDiSc 1.4. The Stata 15.0 software was used to draw Deeks’ funnel plots to evaluate publication bias. @*Results@#We performed a pooled analysis of 38 independent studies shown in 30 publications. The reference standard was reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. The results indicated that the sensitivity of CRISPR-based methods for diagnosis was 0.94 (95% CI 0.93–0.95), the specificity was 0.98 (95% CI 0.97–0.99), the PLR was 34.03 (95% CI 20.81–55.66), the NLR was 0.08 (95% CI 0.06– 0.10), and the DOR was 575.74 (95% CI 382.36–866.95). The area under the curve was 0.9894. @*Conclusion@#Studies indicate that a diagnostic method based on CRISPR has high sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, this would be a potential diagnostic tool to improve the accuracy of SARS-CoV-2 detection.

An integrative bioinformatics analysis for identifying hub genes associated with infection of lung samples in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

BACKGROUND: At the end of 2019, the world witnessed the emergence and ravages of a viral infection induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Also known as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it has been identified as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization (WHO) because of its severity. METHODS: The gene data of 51 samples were extracted from the GSE150316 and GSE147507 data set and then processed by means of the programming language R, through which the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that meet the standards were screened. The Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were performed on the selected DEGs to understand the functions and approaches of DEGs. The online tool STRING was employed to construct a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of DEGs and, in turn, to identify hub genes. RESULTS: A total of 52 intersection genes were obtained through DEG identification. Through the GO analysis, we realized that the biological processes (BPs) that have the deepest impact on the human body after SARS-CoV-2 infection are various immune responses. By using STRING to construct a PPI network, 10 hub genes were identified, including IFIH1, DDX58, ISG15, EGR1, OASL, SAMD9, SAMD9L, XAF1, IFITM1, and TNFSF10. CONCLUSION: The results of this study will hopefully provide guidance for future studies on the pathophysiological mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 infection.