Interpretation of the international expert consensus guideline on exercise management for older adults / 中华老年医学杂志

Ageing and a sedentary lifestyle are associated with declines in muscle function and cardiopulmonary fitness in older adults and may eventually lead to reduced capabilities to conduct daily activities and independent living.Exercise plays an important role in maintaining physical function and mental health, preventing and treating chronic diseases, reducing mortality, and improving the quality of life in older people.In 2021, the International Conference of Frailty and Sarcopenia Research(ICFSR)proposed international expert consensus guidelines on exercise recommendations for older people.It mainly introduces two aging phenotypes and six recommended exercise modalities and discusses the effects of exercise on maintaining physical health and preventing common chronic diseases and geriatric syndromes.It aims to provide suggestions for older adults to maintain physical fitness and prevent disease progression and disability via exercise.We intend to interpret the important contents of the guidelines to provide a reference for exercise research and practical applications in the elderly in China.

Research progress on factors influencing immobility in the elderly / 中华老年医学杂志

Immobility in older people refers to the loss of mobility, including walking, driving and using public or other forms of transport, and reflects the declining ability of older people to carry out their daily lives.The physical and psychological problems caused by immobility, such as high morbidity rates, worse quality of life and even social isolation, will present serious challenges to the health of older people.Research has shown that disease, exercise & muscle, diet & nutrition, society and other factors all contribute to the onset of immobility in older people.This review focuses on the influencing factors of immobility in older adults.

Research progress on intrinsic capacity in older adults / 中华老年医学杂志

In order to cope with increasingly severe global population aging, WHO defines "healthy ageing" as the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability required for healthy living of the elderly.Functional ability is related to the interaction between intrinsic capacity(IC)and the environment.IC refers to the sum of all the physical and mental abilities of the individual.Unlike frailty and disability, IC focuses on the functional aspects of the elderly, longitudinally tracking a person's life, rather than on health conditions of the individual at a certain time.Evaluation of IC, including cognitive function, psychological status, sensory function, vitality and locomotor function, is expected to become crucial to predict outcomes and risks of care dependence in the elderly.Starting from screening for IC declines of the elderly in the community, integrated care is formulated taking older people and their caregivers into consideration to improve the quality of life of the elderly to the greatest extent and reduce the social burden.

Comparison of efficacy and safety of TACE and DEB-TACE in treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Objective:To compare the clinical efficacy and safety of conventional transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) with drug-eluting bead transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) in treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods:The data of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent hepatic artery chemoembolization at General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University from July 2019 to April 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Of 282 patients who were enrolled, there were 233 males and 49 females, aged (55.9±10.0) years. The groups were divided into the conventional TACE group ( n=179) and the DEB-TACE group ( n=103) based on the treatments. The efficacy of the two groups was compared according to the modified response evaluation criteria in solid tumors. Postoperative adverse effects and liver function between the two groups were compared. Results:The differences in comparing the preoperative and postoperative liver function indexes between the two groups were not statistically significant. Patients who died and were lost to follow-up at 6 months after surgery were excluded and 240 patients were excluded in the efficacy analysis, with 148 patients in the conventional TACE group and 92 patients in the DEB-TACE group. At 6 months after treatment in the conventional TACE group, there were 64 patients (43.2%) with complete remission, 18 patients (12.2%) with partial remission, 27 patients (18.2%) with stable disease, and 39 patients (26.4%) with disease progression. In the DEB-TACE group, the corresponding figures were 38 patients (41.3%), 17 patients (18.5%), 26 patients (28.3%), and 11 patients (12.0%), respectively. The efficacy of DEB-TACE was better than conventional TACE with statistically significant differences between the 2 groups (χ 2=8.96, P=0.030). The incidence of postoperative embolic syndrome was 53.1% (95/179) in the conventional TACE group, which was significantly higher than the 34.0% (35/103) in the DEB-TACE group (χ 2=7.34, P=0.007). Conclusion:The efficacy and safety of DEB-TACE for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma were superior to those of the conventional TACE group.

Effects of ursolic acid on iron death in endometrial stromal cells via JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway / 中华内分泌外科杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects of ursolic acid (UA) on proliferation, migration and iron death of ectopic endometrial stromal cells (EESCs) and its mechanism.Methods:Mouse model of endometriosis was established and the primary EESCs were isolated. The cells were treated with UA at different concentrations (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 50, 80, 100, 200 μmol/L). The cells were divided into Control group (normal culture), 2.5 μmol/L UA group (2.5 μmol/L UA treatment), 5.0 μmol/L UA group (5.0 μmol/L UA treatment), 10.0 μmol/L UA group (10 μmol/L UA treatment), and UA+DUSP19 group (10 μmol/L UA+50 μmol/L JAK2/STAT3 signal pathway activator DUSP19 treatment). Cell survival rate was detected by CCK-8 method. Cell proliferation was detected by plate cloning method. Transwell chamber assay was used to detect cell migration. The levels of Fe 2+ and the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were detected by kit. Protein expression levels of Ki67, PCNA, CyclinD1, p-JAK2, p-STAT3, JAK2 and STAT3 were detected by western blot. Results:The number of clones in Control, 2.5 μmol/L UA, 5.0 μmol/L UA and 10.0 μmol/L UA groups were as follows: 152.22±15.47, 121.22±11.54, 92.00±5.54, 66.44±6.88; Ki67 protein expression was 1.08±0.10, 0.73±0.07, 0.61±0.06, 0.45±0.02, respectively; The expression of PCNA protein was 0.85±0.07, 0.64±0.05, 0.41±0.03, 0.31±0.05, respectively; CyclinD1 protein expression levels were 0.98±0.11, 0.65±0.06, 0.51±0.05, 0.42±0.07, respectively. The migration numbers were 92.78±6.27, 62.22±2.20, 50.22±4.59 and 39.11±4.33, respectively; Fe 2+ levels were (1.06±0.07) μmol/g, (1.21±0.11) μmol/g, (1.33±0.08) μmol/g, (1.47±0.09) μmol/g, respectively; MDA content was (0.48±0.06) μmol/g, (0.65±0.07) μmol/g, (0.85±0.08) μmol/g, (1.03±0.11) μmol/g, respectively; ROS contents were (19.85±1.21) %, (24.83±2.79) %, (29.04±1.86) %, (33.87±2.45) %, respectively; SOD content were (36.41±3.56) U/mg, (31.03±2.81) U/mg, (25.63±2.84) U/mg, (19.62±1.67) U/mg, respectively; p-JAK2 protein expression was 0.85±0.10, 0.75±0.06, 0.53±0.05, 0.31±0.03, respectively; p-STAT3 protein expression was 1.08±0.11, 0.79±0.06, 0.63±0.07, 0.42±0.03, respectively. The p-JAK2 protein content in UA group and UA+DUSP19 group was 0.38±0.05 and 0.75±0.08, respectively; p-STAT3 protein expression was 0.46±0.04 and 0.80±0.03, respectively; The cell survival rates were (52.55±2.44) % and (82.18±4.72) %, respectively; Fe 2+ levels were (1.57±0.06) μmol/g and (1.21±0.13) μmol/g, respectively. The differences in the above indicators between the Control group and the 2.5 μmol/L UA group, 5.0 μmol/L UA group and 10.0 μmol/L UA group were statistically significant ( P<0.05). There were statistically significant differences among 2.5 μmol/L UA group, 5.0 μmol/L UA group and 10.0 μmol/L UA group ( P<0.05). There were statistically significant differences in p-JAK2, p-STAT3, cell survival rate and Fe 2+ levels between UA group and UA+DUSP19 group ( P<0.05) . Conclusion:Ursolic acid can inhibit the proliferation and migration of EESCs cells and induce iron death by regulating JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway, thus playing a protective role in endometriosis.

Effect of single nucleotide variation of OPG gene on osteoporosis in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus / 中华内分泌外科杂志

Objective:To investigate the effect of single nucleotide variation of osteoprotegerin (OPG) gene on the occurrence of osteoporosis (OP) in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) .Methods:From Apr. 2018 to Apr. 2022, 276 pregnant women with GDM who underwent prenatal examination and gave birth in Linyi People’s Hospital were collected for analysis, general data were collected and bone mineral density was tested. According to the bone mineral density test results, they were divided into normal group and OP group. The OPG genotype was tested, and the general information, OPG genotype and allele frequency of the two groups were compared. The differences in bone mineral density among different genotypes of OPG were compared, and the genotypes affecting the risk of OP in GDM patients were analyzed.Results:There was no significant difference in the general data of the two groups of patients (all P>0.05). The allelic distribution of the rs3134069 and rs2073618 loci of the OPG gene in the two groups of patients conformed to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium law (all P>0.05). There was a statistically significant difference in the frequency of the AC genotype at rs3134069 between the two groups ( χ2=7.75, P=0.005). Taking patients with the AA genotype as a reference, patients with the AC genotype had a lower risk of developing OP ( OR=0.15, 95% CI: 0.03-0.59). There was a statistically significant difference in the frequency of CC genotype at rs2073618 between the two groups ( χ2=11.30, P=0.001). Taking patients with GG genotype as a reference, patients with CC genotype had a higher risk of developing OP ( OR=7.42, 95% CI: 2.19-27.18). Comparing rs3134069 and rs2073618 loci, there was no significant difference in bone mineral density at each part of the three genotypes (all P>0.05). The multivariate Logistic regression model showed that the AC genotype of rs3134069 ( OR=0.18, 95% CI: 0.03-0.70, P=0.029) was a protective factor for the induction of OP, while GC genotype of rs2073618 ( OR=6.86, 95% CI: 1.57-27.15, P=0.007) were the risk factors for OP in GDM patients. Conclusion:The CC genotype of rs2073618 is significantly positively correlated with the susceptibility to OP in GDM patients.

Establishment and evaluation of a risk prediction model for severe obstructive sleep apnea / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

【Objective】 To construct a prediction model of severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) risk in the general population by using nomogram in order to explore the independent risk factors of severe OSA and guide the early diagnosis and treatment. 【Methods】 We retrospectively enrolled patients who had been diagnosed by polysomnography and divided them into training and validation sets at the ratio of 7∶3. Patients were divided into severe OSA group and non-severe OSA group according to apnea hypopnea index (AHI)>30. Variables entering the model were identified by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression model (Lasso), and logistic regression (LR) method. Then, multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to establish the nomogram, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the discriminative properties of the nomogram model. Finally, we conducted decision curve analysis (DCA) of nomogram model, STOP-Bang questionnaire and Berlin questionnaire to assess clinical utility. 【Results】 Through single factor and multiple factor logistic regression analyses, the independent risk factors for severe OSA were screened out, including moderate and severe sleepiness, family history of hypertension, history of smoking, drinking, snoring, history of suffocation, sedentary lifestyle, male, age, body mass index (BMI), waist and neck circumference. Lasso logistic regression identified smoke, suffocation time, snoring time, waistline, Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) and BMI as predictive factors for inclusion in the nomogram. The AUC of the model was 0.795 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.769-0.820] . Hosmer-Lemeshow test indicated that the model was well calibrated (χ2=3.942, P=0.862). The DCA results on the visual basis confirmed that the nomogram had superior overall net benefits within a wide, practical threshold probability range which displayed the nomogram was higher than that of STOP-Bang questionnaire and Berlin questionnaire, which is clinically useful. The Clinical Impact Curve (CIC) analysis showed the clinical effectiveness of the prediction model when the threshold probability was greater than 82% of the predicted score probability value. The prediction model determined that the high-risk population with severe OSA was highly matched with the actual population with severe OSA, which confirmed the high clinical effectiveness of the prediction model. 【Conclusion】 The model performed better than STOP-Bang questionnaire and Berlin questionnaire in predicting severe OSA and can be applied to screening. And it can be helpful to the early diagnosis and treatment of OSA in order to reduce social burden.

Chinese yam yield is affected by soil nutrient levels and interactions among N, P, and K fertilizers / 中草药·英文版

OBJECTIVE@#The current fertilization methods for Chinese yam are uneconomic and unfriend to environment. A rational one is very important to achieve desired balance of high yield of Chinese yam, economic and friend to environment. Here, we studied the effects of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) fertilizers on the yield of 'Qinfeng' Chinese yam in shallow-groove directional cultivation.@*METHODS@#The experiments were conducted in Dehua County, Fujian Province, China using a "3414" optimal design. Overall, three fertilizer factors (N, P, and K) were evaluated at the following four levels: 0, no fertilizer; 1, 0.5-fold the typical rate; 2, typical fertilization rate; and 3, 1.5-fold the typical rate. There were 14 different fertilization treatments.@*RESULTS@#Treatment 6 (N2P2K2) produced the longest (75.6 cm) and thickest tubers (4.9 cm) with the highest tuber fresh weight (1311.9 g) and yield (41 015.9 kg/hm2), whereas, treatment 1 produced the shortest (65.6 cm) and thinnest tubers (3.9 cm) with the lowest fresh weight (953.4 g) and yield (28 532.8 kg/hm2) among the 14 fertilizer combinations. The experimental data could be fitted to single-variable quadratic and binary quadratic models but not to a ternary quadratic polynomial model. Appropriate N, P, and K fertilizer application rates increased Chinese yam yield. However, excessive fertilization lowered the yield. Chinese yam yield was significantly and strongly correlated with the amounts of N, P, and K fertilizer applied.@*CONCLUSION@#Based on the single variable quadratic and binary quadratic models, we propose that the quantities of N, P, and K fertilizer used to grow 1 hm2 'Qinfeng' Chinese yam should be 360-388.3, 90-100.95, and 416.3-675 kg, respectively.

Interpretation of "Decade of Healthy Ageing: Baseline Report" / 中华老年医学杂志

The global population aging problem is increasingly serious.For this reason, WHO proposed the goal of "Healthy Ageing" in 2015, that is to maintain and develop the functional ability of the individuals in order to achieve happiness in old age.At the same time, WHO introduced the relationship between functional ability, intrinsic capacity and the surrounding environment in which older adults live and acquire assistance, providing a new way for solving population aging. "Decade of Healthy Ageing: Baseline Report" was published by WHO in January 2021.It took advantage of existing national studies on ageing in 42 countries to assess the global status of healthy ageing at the start of the decade.And then it outlooks ten years ahead, to 2030, what level we can achieve, and what needs to improve ten years from now.

Clinical phenotypic characteristics of 97 adult patients with epidemic encephalitis B / 中华地方病学杂志

Objective:To analyze the clinical phenotype of adult patients with epidemic encephalitis B (encephalitis B) in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and to explore the influence of related factors of the development of encephalitis B.Methods:The medical records of confirmed patients with encephalitis B admitted to the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University from August to November 2018 were collected, and the general data of patients and the results of laboratory indexes such as blood routine examination and cerebrospinal fluid routine examination were analyzed. Logistic regression analysis and survival curve were used to evaluate the risk factors of the development of encephalitis B.Results:Totally 97 patients with encephalitis B were included, 32 of them died, with a case fatality rate of 32.99%. There were 63 males and 34 females, and the age of onset was (59.13 ± 14.70) years old. There were statistically significant differences in case distribution rate between different sexes and ages (χ 2 = 97.00, 291.00, P < 0.001). The most common clinical type was extremely severe (43 cases), followed by mild (27 cases), severe (15 cases) and ordinary (12 cases). The results of laboratory tests showed that the number of neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes in the blood of patients increased; and the white blood cells number in cerebrospinal fluid increased significantly, while neutrophils ratio increased slightly. There were significant differences in cerebrospinal fluid glucose level and neutrophil ratio among patients with different clinical types of encephalitis B ( H = 4.21, 2.74, P < 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in death, hypertension, cerebrovascular diseases, and pulmonary infection among patients with different clinical types of encephalitis B (χ 2 = 34.22, 16.97, 9.91, 15.59, P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that hypertension [ OR (95% CI) = 5.544 (1.450-21.191)] and pulmonary infection [ OR (95% CI) = 6.490 (1.887-22.325)] were risk factors for the development of encephalitis B patients ( P = 0.012, 0.003). Pulmonary infection was the influencing factor for the death of encephalitis B patients (χ 2 = 18.88, P < 0.001). The survival curve showed that the survival status of encephalitis B patients with cerebrovascular disease and pulmonary infection was significantly worse than that of patients without comorbidity or complications (χ 2 = 6.45, 20.33 , P < 0.05). Conclusions:The majority of encephalitis B patients in this outbreak are the elderly people, and the patient's nervous system has inflammatory reaction. Complicated pulmonary infection is an important factor for the aggravation and death of encephalitis B patients.

Clinical analysis of parathyroid gland transplantation in subcutaneous tissue of upper abdomen for secondary hyperparathyroidism / 中华器官移植杂志

Objective:To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of parathyroid autotransplantation in subcutaneous tissue of upper abdomen after total parathyroidectomy in patients with severe secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT).Methods:From January 2018 to January 2020, retrospective reviews were conducted for clinical data of 29 patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism undergoing epigastric parathyroid autotransplantation after total parathyroidectomy.Clinical and biochemical characteristics were recorded.Serum levels of calcium, phosphorus, parathyroid hormone and alkaline phosphatase before and after operation were analyzed by paired sample t-test and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.01). The follow-up period was 1, 3, 6 and 12 months post-operation and yearly after 12 months. Results:All operations were successful.The postoperative levels of calcium[(2.25±0.32) vs.(2.49±0.24) mmol/L], phosphorus[(1.72±0.65) vs. (2.09±0.75) mmol/L], alkaline phosphatase[(199.02±77.68) vs.(384.21±154.5) U/L]and parathyroid hormone (PTH)[(8.01±7.00) vs.(1 930.64±620.51) pg/ml]were significantly lower than the preoperative levels ( P<0.01). And the differences were statistically significant.And 17/18 hypertensive patients improved post-operation; postoperative improvement was not obvious for 21 anemic patients, 17 patients improved within 1 year.Among 26 cases with bone pain, 16 cases disappeared immediately postoperatively, 5 disappeared within 1 month and 5 within 3 months.Among 13 cases with skin itch, 10 cases disappeared immediately and 3 cases at 1 month post-operation.The level of PTH recovered at different follow-up timepoints with an average recovery time of (4.45±2.31) months. Conclusions:Autologous transplantation of parathyroid gland in epigastric subcutaneous tissue after parathyroidectomy is both safe and effective for secondary hyperparathyroidism.

Research progress on rodent frailty models / 中华老年医学杂志

Frailty is a geriatric syndrome characterized by declines in multisystem functions, decreased functional reserve, and increased vulnerability to adverse health events, and affects the quality of life in older adults.However, the underlying mechanisms of frailty are still unclear.Rodents share homology with humans and are commonly used as animal models to study human diseases.Rodent frailty models can promote frailty research and intervention in humans.We reviewed research progress on rodent frailty models in this article.

Patterns of multimorbidity in hospitalized older adults based on factor analysis / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:To explore the multimorbidity patterns in older inpatients adults, and their differences between Northern and Southern China.Methods:A total of 4 348 elderly patients aged 60 and above from the geriatrics departments of 12 grade A tertiary hospitals in 7 cities in China were investigated.Factor analysis was used to explore the comorbidity patterns and analyze the differences in comorbidity patterns between Southern and Northern China.Results:The study population consisted of 4 348 patients over the age of 60, with an average age of(74.15±8.01)years.The total sample had a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin(KMO)sampling adequacy index of 0.657 and a cumulative variance percentage of 43.97%.Factor analysis revealed there were five major multimorbidity patterns in the patients.These were: the metabolic pattern; the liver-kidney pattern; the degenerative pattern; the neuropsychiatric pattern; dementia.Further factor analysis for the South and the North was conducted.Older inpatients in Southern regions had a KMO sampling adequacy index of 0.654 and a cumulative variance percentage of 43.50%.In Southern China, the multimorbidity patterns were similar to the overall patterns.In Northern regions, older inpatients had a KMO sampling adequacy index of 0.648 and a cumulative variance percentage of 45.16%.The liver-kidney pattern, metabolic disease pattern, lung-dementia pattern, degenerative disease pattern, and neuropsychiatric pattern were the main multimorbidity patterns in Northern China.Conclusions:Multimorbidity patterns were different between Northern and Southern China and should be differentiated in their management.In the North, older adults should pay more attention to the prevention and management of respiratory system diseases and dementia, while in the South, older adults should pay more attention to the prevention and management of degenerative disease.Early disease prevention based on multimorbidity patterns is one of the approaches to the reduction of chronic diseases in older adults.

Increased complement activation is a distinctive feature of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Complement activation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, it remains to be determined whether increased complement activation is a broad indicator of critical illness (and thus, no different in COVID-19). It is also unclear which pathways are contributing to complement activation in COVID-19, and, if complement activation is associated with certain features of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as endothelial injury and hypercoagulability. To address these questions, we investigated complement activation in the plasma from patients with COVID-19 prospectively enrolled at two tertiary care centers. We compared our patients to two non-COVID cohorts: (a) patients hospitalized with influenza, and (b) patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with acute respiratory failure requiring invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). We demonstrate that circulating markers of complement activation (i.e., sC5b-9) are elevated in patients with COVID-19 compared to those with influenza and to patients with non-COVID-19 respiratory failure. Further, the results facilitate distinguishing those who are at higher risk of worse outcomes such as requiring ICU admission, or IMV. Moreover, the results indicate enhanced activation of the alternative complement pathway is most prevalent in patients with severe COVID-19 and is associated with markers of endothelial injury (i.e., Ang2) as well as hypercoagulability (i.e., thrombomodulin and von Willebrand factor). Our findings identify complement activation to be a distinctive feature of COVID-19, and provide specific targets that may be utilized for risk prognostication, drug discovery and personalized clinical trials. SUMMMARYComplement has been implicated in COVID-19. However, whether this is distinctive of COVID-19 remains unanswered. Ma et al report increased complement activation in COVID-19 compared to influenza and non-COVID respiratory failure, and demonstrate alternative pathway activation as a key marker of multiorgan failure and death.

Clinical and Immunological Factors Associated with Postpartum Hepatic Flares in Immune-Tolerant Pregnant Women with Hepatitis B Virus Infection Treated with Telbivudine

Background/Aims@#To investigate postpartum hepatic flares and associated factors in highly viremic pregnant patients in the immune tolerance phase who adopted telbivudine (LdT) treatment in the last trimester to reduce vertical transmission of hepatitis B virus. @*Methods@#Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive, highly viremic pregnant women were recruited for this prospective study. Treatment with LdT was started from 28 weeks of gestation. Virological and biochemical markers were examined before LdT treatment, antepartum and postpartum. Serial blood samples at the same time were collected to detect cytokines and cortisol (COR). @*Results@#Fifty-six of 153 patients (36.6%) had postpartum hepatic flares, defined as a 2-fold increase in alanine aminotransferase 6 weeks after delivery. Age and the antepartum alanine aminotransferase and postpartum HBeAg levels were independent influencing factors of postpartum hepatic flares. Cytokines showed no regularity during or after pregnancy. Compared with the patients with no postpartum flares, the patients with flares had lower baseline interferon γ and COR levels (p=0.022 and p=0.028) and higher postpartum interferon γ levels (p=0.026). @*Conclusions@#A high proportion of highly viremic and immune-tolerant pregnant patients treated with LdT in the last trimester had postpartum hepatic flares, which implied that these patients entered the immune clearance phase after delivery. Thus, this may create an appropriate opportunity for re-antiviral therapy.

Frailty syndrome-related biomarkers for the elderly: the latest research progress / 中华老年医学杂志

Frailty syndrome is an age-related clinical state of the physiological homeostasis imbalance and the declines in physiological functions.However, the mechanism of frailty is still not clear, and it can only be diagnosed by assessment tools in the clinical research setting without stable and reliable biomarkers.As a new tool, omics platform has made a lot of progress in the field of frailty biomarkers.In this paper, we will review the research status of frailty biomarkers from four aspects including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics.

Expression, purification and characterization of anti-α2δ1/NanoLuc fusion protein / 生物工程学报

The existence of cancer stem cells is regarded as the major cause for therapeutic resistance and relapse of a variety of cancer types including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the tracing of such a subpopulation in vivo has been challenging. We have previously demonstrated that the isoform 5 of the voltage-gated calcium channel α2δ1 subunit, which can be recognized specifically by a monoclonal antibody 1B50-1, is a bona fide surface marker for HCC stem cells. Here we developed a strategy for optical imaging of α2δ1-positive cells by using a fusion protein containing the single chain variable fragment (scFv) of Mab1B50-1 and the luciferase NanoLuc which was tagged with Flag in the C-terminal. The scFv of Mab1B50-1 was fused to the N-terminal of NanoLucFlag using overlap PCR, and the recombinant fragment, which was named as 1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag, was subsequently cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector. The resulting construct was transfected into FreeStyle 293F cells in suspension using PEI reagent. The expression of the fusion protein was identified as a protein with molecular weight about 50 kDa by Western blotting. After purification by ANTI-FLAG® M2 affinity chromatography, 1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag was demonstrated to bind to α2δ1 positive cells specifically with a Kd value of (18.62±1.84) nmol/L. Furthermore, a strong luciferase activity of 1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag was detected in α2δ1 positive cells following incubation with the fusion protein, indicating that the presence of α2δ1 could be quantified using this fusion protein. Hence, 1B50-1scFv-NanoLucFlag provides a potential tool for optical imaging of α2δ1 positive cancer stem cells both in vitro and in vivo.

The pathogenesis of frailty syndrome / 中华老年医学杂志

Frailty is a geriatric syndrome characterized by increased vulnerability to degenerative changes and various chronic diseases, and is associated with a series of negative clinical events.The pathogenesis of frailty is unclear, and population cohort and observational research has made progress in understanding the biological characteristics of frailty, especially about the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and neuroendocrine dysfunction, chronic inflammation and immune system ageing, cell senescence, energy metabolism dysfunction, social environmental psychological factors and chronic diseases, among others.This article reviews the pathogenesis of frailty in the elderly.

Coronavirus GenBrowser for monitoring adaptive evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Genomic epidemiology is important to study the COVID-19 pandemic and more than two million SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences were deposited into public databases. However, the exponential increase of sequences invokes unprecedented bioinformatic challenges. Here, we present the Coronavirus GenBrowser (CGB) based on a highly efficient analysis framework and a movie maker strategy. In total, 1,002,739 high quality genomic sequences with the transmission-related metadata were analyzed and visualized. The size of the core data file is only 12.20 MB, efficient for clean data sharing. Quick visualization modules and rich interactive operations are provided to explore the annotated SARS-CoV-2 evolutionary tree. CGB binary nomenclature is proposed to name each internal lineage. The pre-analyzed data can be filtered out according to the user-defined criteria to explore the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Different evolutionary analyses can also be easily performed, such as the detection of accelerated evolution and on-going positive selection. Moreover, the 75 genomic spots conserved in SARS-CoV-2 but non-conserved in other coronaviruses were identified, which may indicate the functional elements specifically important for SARS-CoV-2. The CGB not only enables users who have no programming skills to analyze millions of genomic sequences, but also offers a panoramic vision of the transmission and evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

The global landscape of SARS-CoV-2 genomes, variants, and haplotypes in 2019nCoVR

On 22 January 2020, the National Genomics Data Center (NGDC), part of the China National Center for Bioinformation (CNCB), created the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Resource (2019nCoVR), an open-access SARS-CoV-2 information resource. 2019nCoVR features a comprehensive integration of sequence and clinical information for all publicly available SARS-CoV-2 isolates, which are manually curated with value-added annotations and quality evaluated by our in-house automated pipeline. Of particular note, 2019nCoVR performs systematic analyses to generate a dynamic landscape of SARS-CoV-2 genomic variations at a global scale. It provides all identified variants and detailed statistics for each virus isolate, and congregates the quality score, functional annotation, and population frequency for each variant. It also generates visualization of the spatiotemporal change for each variant and yields historical viral haplotype network maps for the course of the outbreak from all complete and high-quality genomes. Moreover, 2019nCoVR provides a full collection of SARS-CoV-2 relevant literature on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019), including published papers from PubMed as well as preprints from services such as bioRxiv and medRxiv through Europe PMC. Furthermore, by linking with relevant databases in CNCB-NGDC, 2019nCoVR offers data submission services for raw sequence reads and assembled genomes, and data sharing with National Center for Biotechnology Information. Collectively, all SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences, variants, haplotypes and literature are updated daily to provide timely information, making 2019nCoVR a valuable resource for the global research community. 2019nCoVR is accessible at https://bigd.big.ac.cn/ncov/.