A bibliometric analysis of liver disease research articles published by Chinese mainland authors in Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals indexed in Science Citation Index Expanded / 临床肝胆病杂志

Objective To investigate the articles on liver diseases published by authors from China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions) in Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals indexed in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) in 2016-2020, to analyze the bibliographic and citation data of these articles, and to understand the contribution and impact of Chinese scholars in the field of liver disease research in recent years. Methods The data for bibliometric analysis came from the SCIE database and Journal Citation Reports (JCR). The SCIE database was searched for the journal articles published in JCR Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals in 2016-2020, with a title or abstract containing "Liver", "Hepatocellular", "Hepatitis", "Cirrhosis", or "Hepatic" and a publication type of Article. Clinical guidelines were excluded, and the records with the corresponding author's affiliation containing institutions in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions) were screened out. R package bibliometrix was used to calculate the frequency of citations of included articles by liver disease studies published by Chinese and global authors in the Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals in 2016-2020, and R package DescTools was used to perform the Cochran-Armitage trend test to observe the change in composition ratio. Results In the Q1 Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals in 2016-2020, liver disease studies published by Chinese authors accounted for 9.5%. In recent years, the proportion of liver disease studies published by Chinese authors in Q1 Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals continues to increase from 6.0% to 12.2% ( P < 0.001). Among the liver disease studies published by Chinese authors in Q1 Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals, 79.7% were funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China, and there was no significant change in the proportion of studies funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China and published by Chinese authors in each partition of Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals in 2016-2020. The frequency of citations of included articles by liver disease studies published by Chinese and global authors in the Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals showed that liver disease studies published by Chinese authors had a high impact in both domestic and international academic communities. Conclusion In recent years, there has been a constant increase in the number of liver disease studies published by Chinese authors in high-impact Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals indexed in SCIE, and most of these studies have been funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China. The liver disease studies published by Chinese authors in Gastroenterology & Hepatology journals have been widely recognized by domestic and international academic communities.

Characteristics of the vaginal microbiomes in prepubertal girls with and without vulvovaginitis.

The present study focused on the characteristics of the vaginal microbiomes in prepubertal girls with and without vulvovaginitis. We collected 24 vaginal samples and 16 fecal samples from 10 girls aged 3-9 years with vulvovaginitis and 16 healthy girls of the same age. The samples were divided into three groups: fecal swabs from healthy controls (HF), vaginal swabs from healthy controls (HVS), and vaginal swabs from girls with vulvovaginitis (VVS). Sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rDNA gene was performed with the NovaSeq PE250 platform to reveal the vaginal microbial community structure in healthy prepubertal girls and vulvovaginitis-associated microbiota. The intestinal microbiomes of healthy children were also analyzed for comparison. This study revealed that the healthy vaginal tract in prepubertal girls was dominated by Prevotella, Porphyromonas, Ezakiella, and Peptoniphilus species, with a high diversity of microbiota. The vulvovaginitis-associated microbiota were dominated by Streptococcus, Prevotella, Haemophilus, and Granulicatella, with lower diversity than that in healthy girls. Furthermore, the compositions of the vaginal and intestinal microbiomes were completely different. ANOSIM, MRPP, Adonis, and AMOVA were used to analyze the beta diversity, and the results showed that there were significant differences in the microbial communities among the three groups. Lactobacillus deficiency and high bacterial diversity were characteristics of the vaginal microbiome in healthy prepubertal girls; this is inconsistent with that in reproductive-age women. The vulvovaginitis-associated vaginal microbiota differed dramatically from normal microbiota, and the main causative agents were not fecal in origin.

Immunodepletion with Hypoxemia: A Potential High Risk Subtype of Coronavirus Disease 2019

BackgroundThe outbreak of COVID-2019 is becoming a global public health emergency. Although its basic clinical features have been reported, the dynamic characteristics of immune system in COVID-2019 patients, especially those critical patients with refractory hypoxemia, are not yet well understood. We aim to describe the dynamic characteristics of immune system in 3 critical patients with refractory hypoxemia, and discuss the relationship between hypoxemia severity and immune cell levels, and the changes of gut microbes of COVID-2019 patient. MethodsThis is a retrospective study from 3 patients with 2019-nCoV infection admitted to Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, a COVID-2019 designated hospital in Wuhan, from January 31 to February 6, 2020. All patients were diagnosed and classified based on the Diagnosis and Treatment of New Coronavirus Pneumonia (6th edition) published by the National Health Commission of China4. We recorded the epidemiological history, demographic features, clinical characteristics, symptoms and signs, treatment and clinical outcome in detail. Blood samples were collected and we determined the expression levels of immune cells (CD3+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, CD19+ B cells, and CD16+56+ NK cells) in different time points. Nanopore Targeted Sequencing was used to determine the alterations of gut microbiota homeostasis. ResultsApart from the clinical features described previously4, we found that four patients had decreased immune cells and refractory hypoxemia during the hospitalization, and the severity of hypoxemia was strongly correlated to the expression levels of immune cells. Additionally, we found that the proportion of probiotics was significantly reduced, such as Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Eubacterium, and the proportion of conditioned pathogenic bacteria was significantly increased, such as Corynebacterium of Actinobacteria and Ruthenibacterium of Firmicutes. Notably, all patients died. ConclusionsWe discussed the dynamic characteristics of host immune system and the imbalance of gut microbiota in 3 critical patients with COVID-2019. Hypoxemia severity was closely related with host immune cell levels, and the vicious circle between immune disorder and gut microbiota imbalance may be a high risk of fatal pneumonia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study which revealing that immunodepletion with refractory hypoxemia is a potential high risk subtype of COVID-2019 and the vicious circle between immune disorder and gut dysbiosis may be a high risk of fatal pneumonia.

Cyclin-dependent Kinase 18 Promotes Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cell Differentiation through Activating the Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Signaling Pathway / 神经科学通报·英文版

The correct differentiation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) is essential for the myelination and remyelination processes in the central nervous system. Determining the regulatory mechanism is fundamental to the treatment of demyelinating diseases. By analyzing the RNA sequencing data of different neural cells, we found that cyclin-dependent kinase 18 (CDK18) is exclusively expressed in oligodendrocytes. In vivo studies showed that the expression level of CDK18 gradually increased along with myelin formation during development and in the remyelination phase in a lysophosphatidylcholine-induced demyelination model, and was distinctively highly expressed in oligodendrocytes. In vitro overexpression and interference experiments revealed that CDK18 directly promotes the differentiation of OPCs, without affecting their proliferation or apoptosis. Mechanistically, CDK18 activated the RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1/extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway, thus promoting OPC differentiation. The results of the present study suggest that CDK18 is a promising cell-type specific target to treat demyelinating disease.

Organ donation after cardiac death donor lungs assessment standards and maintenance experience / 中华器官移植杂志

Objective To summarize the assessment standards of organ donation after cardiac death (DCD) donor lungs application and donor lung function maintenance experience.Method From Jan.2013 to June 2015,139 cases of DCD donors were subjected to rigorous assessment and effective donor lung function maintenance,and 11 donor lungs for lung transplantation were obtained.The donor lung cold ischemia time was (526.8-± 12.6) min (312 to 675 min).Double lung transplantation was performed on 9 cases,and 2 cases received single lung transplantation.Result Perioperatively,1 lung transplant recipient died of pulmonary infection.The survived 10 recipients had no rejection after operation,and obtained good quality of life during discharge to the final follow-up.Condusion The effect of donor lung transplantation using organ donation is satisfactory.The assessment standards and functional maintenance of donor lung are important factors to guarantee the success of lung transplantation.

Evaluation criteria and maintenance experience of cardiac death organ donor heart from Chinese first category / 中华器官移植杂志

Objective To summarize the evaluation standard of cardiac death organ donation from Chinese first category donor heart application and experience of donor heart function maintenance.Method From Jan.2013 to Jan.2015,donor hearts for heart transplantation were obtained in 18 cases of Chinese first category cardiac death organ donors from 109 cases of organ donation donors through rigorous assessment and effective donor heart function maintenance.The diagnosis of brain death was based on the diagnosis of brain death criteria (adult) by the neurological department of internal medicine,department of neurosurgery,and intensive care unit with brain death qualification.Organ donation work followed the basic principles of voluntary,free,fair,equitable and technical access.Result Eighteen case of heart transplantations were all operated with double lumen venous anastornosis.The cold ischemia time was (125.5+ 18.7) min (61-60 min),and cardiopulmonary bypass time was (130.4+ 12.5) min (99-193 min).In 18 heart transplantations,16 cases survived,and 2 eases died of acute right heart failure.During the follow-u period,the quality of life in the survival recipients was satisfactory.Conclusion Using cardiac death organ donation from Chinese first category donor heart transplantation has achieved good results.The accurate assessment of donor hearts and effective donor heart function maintenance are the key factors to guarantee the success of heart transplantation.