Characteristics of subtype III-A CRISPR-Cas system in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: An overview.

CRISPR-Cas systems are the only RNA- guided adaptive immunity pathways that trigger the detection and destruction of invasive phages and plasmids in bacteria and archaea. Due to its prevalence and mystery, the Class 1 CRISPR-Cas system has lately been the subject of several studies. This review highlights the specificity of CRISPR-Cas system III-A in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the tuberculosis-causing pathogen, for over twenty years. We discuss the difference between the several subtypes of Type III and their defence mechanisms. The anti-CRISPRs (Acrs) recently described, the critical role of Reverse transcriptase (RT) and housekeeping nuclease for type III CRISPR-Cas systems, and the use of this cutting-edge technology, its impact on the search for novel anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Research progress on the relationship between the Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B gene mutation and lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma / 生物医学工程学杂志

In recent years, with the improvement of the sensitivity of examination equipment and the change of people's living environment and diet, the rate of thyroid cancer has risen rapidly, which has increased nearly five folds in 10 years. The pathogenesis, clinical manifestation, biological behavior, treatment and prognosis of thyroid carcinoma of different pathological types are obviously different. Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) can develop at any age, which accounts for about 90% of thyroid cancer. It progresses slowly and has favourable prognosis, but lymph node metastasis appears easily. Whether PTC is accompanied by lymph node metastasis has an important impact on its prognosis and outcome. The Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B(BRAF)gene mutation plays a crucial role in PTC lymph node metastasis. Having an in-depth understanding of the specific role and mechanism of BRAF gene mutation in PTC is expected to provide new ideas for diagnosis and treatment of PTC.

Estimation of fatality rate in Africa through the behavior of COVID-19 in Italy relevance to age profiles

The emergence and pandemic of COVID-19 has rapidly become a global concern. In Italy, on 27 March 2020, there were 8165 deaths and 80539 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Demographic situations, like age profiles is reported to be the cause of high case fatality rate (CFR) in Italy. In Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet grasped epic proportion, but the estimation of CFR is still needed. We compared the CFR observed in Italy with the age profiles in 46 Africa countries and 2 territories which are already confirmed COVID-19 case. The estimation of the CFR in Africa ranges between (1.0%-5.4%) while in Italy is 10.1%. The five highest CFR countries and territories in Africa are Reunion (5.4%), Mauritius (5.1%), Tunisia (3.9%), Seychelles (3.8%) and Morocco (3.3%). The last three countries with low CFR are Uganda (1.0%), Zambia (1.1%) and Angola (1.1%). The observed difference is related to the age profiles.

Clinical analysis of 35 cases of drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome / 中国医师杂志

Objective:To investigate the clinical features of drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DiHS) and enhance the recognition of its diagnosis and treatment.Methods:Drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome diagnosed in the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in recent 6 years were retrospectively analyzed and summarized.Results:Of 35 cases of drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome there were ten types of suspected drugs. Antibiotics were the most common allergy-inducing drug, followed by allopurinol, antiepileptics, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The expected clinical findings of DiHS were characterized by skin rash, fever, enlarged lymph nodes, which may be accompanied by eosinophilia, liver function damaged. The lesions of DiHS were variable and the majority of cases 65.71%(23/35) were characterized by eruptive papules.The main therapeutic approach of DiHS was systemic application of glucocorticoids and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). When necessary its combination with immunosuppressant or hemoperfusion (HP).Conclusions:DiHS should be on the high alert when a patient with medication history, rash, high fever and lymph nodes large, accompanied by eosinophilia, liver function damaged. Predictors of good prognosis are early diagnosis and treatment.

Clinical analysis for 108 cases of dermatomyositis / 中南大学学报(医学版)

To investigate the clinical characteristics of dermatomyositis, to investigate the types and clinical features of dermatomyositis complicated with malignant tumor, and to provide evidence for clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognostic evaluation.
 Methods: The clinical manifestations and laboratory test results for 108 cases of dermatomyositis with complications in the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University were analyzed.
 Results: Patients aged from 14 to 60 years accounted for 62.96%. The first symptom was single skin rash (54.63%), and the most characteristic cutaneous features were asymmetrical proximal myositis with various degrees (97.22%). The visceral involvement was as follows: the digestive tract (31.48%), the heart (19.44%), the lung (26.85%), and the thyroid damage (12.96%). Twelve (11.11%) patients were combined with malignant tumor. The positive rates for albumin (ALB), glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (AST), glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (ALT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), anti Jo-1 antibody, anti ribonucleoprotein (RNP) antibody, and anti-topoisomerasel (Scl) antibody were 25.93%, 46.30%, 28.70%, 87.04%%, 51.85%, 26.85%, 55.56%, 2.27%, 8.99%, and 2.27%, respectively. The patients were divided into a tumor group and a non-tumor group. The chi-square test results from clinical symptoms and laboratory tests suggested that increase of ESR was a risk factor for dermatomyositis combining tumor. The main strategy of therapy was corticosteroids.
 Conclusion: Dermatomyositis possesses typical skin lesions and dermatitis is the most common initial symptom of dermatomyositis. In clinic, diagnosis of dermatomyositis should be timely combined with muscle enzymes test, electromyography and muscle biopsy. Dermatomyositis can easily involve many organs. Thus relevant examinations (such as chest X-ray and CT) should be done preventively. Rapid ESR is a risk factor for dermatomyositis complicated with malignant tumor and it can be used as an index to guide clinical diagnosis.

Exploration and practice of"5+3"integrated training model / 中华医学教育探索杂志

"5+3" integrated training program is a new training model to cultivate doctors under the background of preclinical teaching and clinical training integration. Based on practice in Shantou University Medical College, the program design current progress and solution to the problem were elaborated. It adheres to principles of overall optimization and orienting to clinic, and to ensure the smooth implementation of the training model. Which will provide important reference for the reform of long-term medical training program in higher medical colleges and universities.

Molecular mechanisms underlying daptomycin resistance / 生物工程学报

Due to potent bactericidal activity and low rate of drug-resistance, daptomycin is recognized as first line antibiotic to treat serious infections caused by drug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens. However, the incidence of daptomycin resistance is increasing due to its widespread application. Alteration of cell wall homeostasis and membrane phospholipid metabolism is involved in daptomycin resistance. The unique mode of action underlying daptomycin resistance in important pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococci, is presented in this paper.

Post-translational modification and regulatory network of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antibiotic resistance / 生物工程学报

Currently, there are many studies on the mechanism of antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), but there are few studies on its regulatory mechanism. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) have been recognized for their important role in controlling cellular dynamics such as metabolism and stress response, but the relationship between PTMs and antibiotic resistance gradually attracted the attention of researchers. Here, we summarize the definition of PTMs, and the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in M. tuberculosis and discuss how PTMs are involved in antibiotic resistance, in order to provide a new breakthrough for the development of new anti-Ttb drugs.

Development of new anti-tuberculosis drugs: the strategy of unconventional microbial culture and silencing gene activation / 生物工程学报

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has become a major human infectious disease. The existing first-line and second-line TB drugs have poor treatment outcomes in patients with MDR-TB and XDR-TB. There is an urgent need for new and better drugs to treat tuberculosis due to lengthy and complex treatment regimens and a rising problem of drug resistance. Microbial-derived natural products have revealed enormous reservoirs of as yet untapped lead compounds. In this review, we discuss the strategies that have been developed in bacteria and fungi to isolation of non-culturable microorganisms and activation of silent biosynthetic gene clusters involved in the study of microbial-derived natural products. This review also highlights recent advances in microbial-derived natural products with anti-tuberculosis activity using these methods.

Progress in role of novel anti-tuberculosis drug targets and their inhibitors / 生物工程学报

There is an urgent need to discover new anti-tuberculosis compounds with novel mechanisms of action in order to deal with tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis. In this article, the feature of several promising novel compounds with potential anti-tuberculosis activities is summarized, focusing on the drug targets of these compounds. These summaries will contribute to the further development of anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Using Mind Maps to Improve Medical Student Performance in a Pharmacology Course at Kunming Medical University.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether students using mind maps would improve their performance in a final examination at the end of lecture-based pharmacology course. STUDY DESIGN: Aquasi-experimental study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Kunming Medical University, from September 2014 to January 2015. METHODOLOGY: One hundred and twenty-two (122) third year undergraduate medical students, starting a 48-hour lecturebased pharmacology course, volunteered to use mind maps as one of their study strategies (intervention group), while the remaining 100 students in the class continued to use their usual study strategies (control group) over the duration of the course. The performance of both groups in the final course examination was compared. Students in the intervention group also completed a questionnaire on the usefulness of mind maps during the course and in preparation for the final examination. RESULTS: The students' performance of intervention group was superior to performance of the control group in all parts of a multi-modal final examination. For the multiple choice questions and comprehensive scores, average marks of 45.97 ±7.22 and 68.07 ±12.77, respectively were acquired by the control group, and 51.77 ±4.95 (p<0.01) and 80.05 ±7.54 (p<0.01), respectively by the intervention group. The median IQR scores for "filling in the blanks" questions, short answers questions and case analyses, were 6.00 (6.00), 8.00 (3.50), 8.75 (5.88), respectively for the control group, and were all significantly higher at 8.00 (4.00) (p=0.024), 10.00 (2.00) (p<0.001), and 11.00 (3.25) (p=0.002), respectively for the interventiongroup. Questionnaire responses showed that 95.45% thought that mind maps helped them to prepare more efficiently for the final exam; 90.91% believed that mind maps helped them to better understand all of pharmacology. Ninety-one percent also thought that mind maps would help them to better understand other disciplines, and 86.36% students would like the lecturers to utilize mind mapping as an alternative to conventional teaching formats, such as the use of Power Point. CONCLUSION: The addition of mind maps to students' study of pharmacology at Kunming Medical University improved their performance in all aspects of a multi-modal final examination.

Teaching reform of diagnostics based on clinical skill competition / 中华医学教育探索杂志

In view of the current situation of the teaching of diagnostics, this paper analyzes the ex-isting problems and deficiencies , and puts forward the teaching reform of the National Medical College Students' clinical skills competition. Through the construction of experimental teaching demonstration center of clinical skills, we set up theclinical skills associationamong the students, boldly try innovative training, strengthen humanistic education and take other measures to improve the quality of clinical practice teaching of diagnostics, so as to achieve the purpose of the competition focusing on promote teaching, learning and using by competition.

Efficacy and safety of tigecycline on patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections / 中国生化药物杂志

Objective To investigate the clinical effect and safety of tigecycline on in patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections. Methods 52 cases of patients with complicated intra-abdominal infection were selected and randomly divided into 2 groups.26 cases in the control group were given routine anti-infection treatment, and 26 cases in the treatment group were treated with conventional anti-infection combined with tigecycline.The CD molecules and NK cell level, serum lactate and procalcitonin levels, and the clinical efficacy and safety were compared after the treatment between two groups.Results The effective rate of control group ( 69.23%) was lower than the treatment group ( 92.31%) with statistical significance (P<0.05), the levels of CD3 +, CD4 +/CD8 +, CD4 +and NK cells of the treatment group after treatment were higher than the control group, the level of CD8 +was lower than the control group after treatment, procalcitonin and serum lactate levels were lower than the control group, with statistical significance ( P<0.05 ) , there was no difference in adverse reactions between the two groups.Conclusion Tigecycline could improve the therapeutic effect of complicated intra-abdominal infections, reduce the lactate and procalcitonin levels with high safety.

Fuzheng Huayu recipe promotes the fenestration of capillarization in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the effect of Fuzheng Huayu (FZHY) recipe on the fenestration of capillarization in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs).
@*METHODS@#Ten Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were fed with 0.46 g/kg FZHY powder by intragastric administration. Two hours later, a second gavage were given to the rats. The serum from rat heart at 1 hour after second gavage was collected (FZHY group, n=10). Another ten SD rats was administrated with distilled water through the same process and served as the control (control group, n=10). The serum from both groups were separately diluted with Dulbecco minimum essential medium (DMEM) for 10% and served as the culture medium for LSECs. At the different conditions, the vWF and CD31 expressions were detected by immunocytochemistry and Western blot, while the changes of LSECs fenestrae structure were observed under scanning electron microscopy.
@*RESULTS@#1) Immunocytochemistry and Western blot showed that the vWF and CD31 protein levels were lower in LSECs in the FZHY group than those in the control group. The gray levels of vWF and CD31 protein were 0.548±0.020 and 0.262±0.010 in the FZHY group, and 0.845±0.090 and 0.383±0.010 in the control group respectively, with statistical significant difference (t=5.18, 9.61, both P<0.05). 2) The results from scanning electron microscopy showed that the fenestration of LSECs was closed and almost lost in the control group, but many fenestra appeared in the LSECs in the FZHY group.
@*CONCLUSION@#FZHY recipe can suppress the expression of vWF and CD31, increase the fenestrae on the LSECs surface and reverse the capillarization of LSECs.

Surgery for 29 cases of extraperitoneal pelvic neoplasms / 国际外科学杂志

Objective To investigate the experience of surgical treatment of primary extraperitoneal pelvic neoplasms,in order to improve tumor resection rate and safety.Methods The clinical data of 29 cases of primary extraperitoneal pelvic neoplasms were retrospectively analyzed from 1995 to 2013.To evaluate tumor resection preoperatively by CT,MRI and three dimensional reconstruction (3 d) medical technology,5 cases of preoperative interventional vascular embolization,intraoperative 2 cases in the iliac artery ligation,2 cases of intraoperative temporary blocking abdominal aorta.Intraoperative combined a variety of surgical approach to remove the tumor.Results Twenty-nine cases of patients,11 underwent tumor resection,5 underwent tumor resection and rectum resection plus sigmoid colostomy,the structure of 4 underwent tumor resection and repair damaged + sigmoid colon rectum temporary colostomy,3 underwent tumor resection and bladder partial nephrectomy,4 underwent tumor resection and uterine ovarian resection,2 underwent tumor resection + tail sacral tumor resection.25 patients recover well after the surgery,complications of 4 cases:intestinal obstruction in 2 cases respectively,pelvic abscess in 1 case,lower limb venous thrombosis in 1 case,cured by conservative and interventional therapy.No operative mortality and incidence of complications was 13.8％ (4/29).Conclusion Pelvic tumor preoperative imaging evaluation,combined incision and multi-visceral resection,fractional resection and recurrence after resection is the effective examination and treatment.

Antibiotic drugs targeting bacterial RNAs

RNAs have diverse structures that include bulges and internal loops able to form tertiary contacts or serve as ligand binding sites. The recent increase in structural and functional information related to RNAs has put them in the limelight as a drug target for small molecule therapy. In addition, the recognition of the marked difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic rRNA has led to the development of antibiotics that specifically target bacterial rRNA, reduce protein translation and thereby inhibit bacterial growth. To facilitate the development of new antibiotics targeting RNA, we here review the literature concerning such antibiotics, mRNA, riboswitch and tRNA and the key methodologies used for their screening.

Prevalence and risk factors of thyroid carcinoma / 国际肿瘤学杂志

The incidence of thyroid carcinoma is associated with a variety of factors.Radiation is the clear risk factor,the relationship between iodine intake and thyroid carcinoma remains controversial.Researches show that the genetic and epigenetic changes of many signaling pathways are the key of molecular pathogenetic mechanism of thyroid carcinoma.In addition,thyroid stimulating hormone,body mass index and chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis are also associated with thyroid carcinoma.

Function and evolution of ubiquitous bacterial signaling adapter phosphopeptide recognition domain FHA.

Forkhead-associated domain (FHA) is a phosphopeptide recognition domain embedded in some regulatory proteins. With similar fold type to important eukaryotic signaling molecules such as Smad2 and IRF3, the role of bacterial FHA domain is intensively pursued. Reported bacterial FHA domain roles include: regulation of glutamate and lipids production, regulation of cell shape, type III secretion, ethambutol resistance, sporulation, signal transduction, carbohydrate storage and transport, and pathogenic and symbiotic host-bacterium interactions. To provide basis for the studies of other bacterial FHA domain containing proteins, the status of bacterial FHA functionality and evolution were summarized.

Regulatory mechanism underlying pathogen biofilm formation and potential drug targets / 药学学报

Bacterial communities usually develop biofilms abound in nature niche. The development of biofilm is a highly dynamic and complex process coordinated by multiple mechanisms, of which two-component system and quorum sensing are two well-defined systems. Biofilm is involved in the virulence of many pathogens. Therefore, targeting the key factors involved in the biofilm formation represents a novel and promising avenue for developing better antibiotics.

The progress of nanomedicine inspired by bacteriophage / 药学学报

Nanomedicine offers great promise for early diagnosis and treatment of formidable diseases. The unique morphology and biology characteristics of bacteriophage provide unprecedented opportunity for such endeavor. The paper summarizes the application of bacteriophage in nanobiomaterials, nanomedicine, nanomedicine delivery and nanodiagnosis, especially the nano-imaging reagents and future direction concerning nanomedicine based on bacteriophage.