Understanding the Tail Current Behavior of Electroactive Biofilms Realizes the Rapid Measurement of Biochemical Oxygen Demand.

The use of microbial electrochemical sensors, with electroactive biofilms (EABs) as sensing elements, is a promising strategy to timely measure the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of wastewater. However, accumulation of Coulombic yield over a complete degradation cycle is time-consuming. Therefore, understanding the correlation between current output and EAB metabolism is urgently needed. Here, we recognized a tail stage (TS) on a current-time curve according to current increase rate─a period with the least electron harvesting efficiency. EAB adopted a series of metabolic compensation strategies, including slow metabolism of residual BOD, suspended growth, reduced cell activity, and consumption of carbon storage polymers, to cope with substrate deficiency in TS. The supplementary electrons provided by the decomposition of glycogen and fatty acid polymers increased the Coulombic efficiencies of TS to >100%. The tail current produced by spontaneous metabolic compensation showed a trend of convergent exponential decay, independent of BOD concentration. Therefore, we proposed the TS prediction model (TSPM) to predict Coulombic yield, which shortened BOD measurement time by 96% (to ∼0.5 h) with deviation <4 mg/L when using real domestic wastewater. Our findings on current output in TS give insights into bacterial substrate storage and consumption, as well as regulation in substrate-deficient environment, and provide a basis for developing BOD sensors.

High Selectivity Cofactor NADH Regeneration Organic Iridium Complexes Used for High-Efficiency Chem-Enzyme Cascade Catalytic Hydrogen Transfer.

Our research demonstrated that novel pentamethylcyclopentadienyl (Cp*) iridium pyridine sulfonamide complex PySO2NPh-Ir (7) could highly specifically catalyze nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) into the corresponding reducing cofactor NADH in cell growth media containing various biomolecules. The structures and catalytic mechanism of 7 were studied by single-crystal X-ray, NMR, electrochemical, and kinetic methods, and the formation of iridium hydride species Ir-H was confirmed to be the plausible hydride-transfer intermediate of 7. Moreover, benefiting from its high hydrogen-transfer activity and selectivity for NADH regeneration, 7 was used as an optimal metal catalyst to establish a chem-enzyme cascade catalytic hydrogen-transfer system, which realized the high-efficiency preparation of l-glutamic acid by combining with l-glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH).

Development of a Luminescent Dinuclear Ir(III) Complex for Ultrasensitive Determination of Pesticides.

To improve the G-quadruplex specificity of Ir(III) complexes, a novel dinuclear Ir(III) complex (Din Ir(III)-1) was designed and synthesized through connecting two mononuclear Ir(III) complexes via a diphenyl bridge. Din Ir(III)-1 presents 3.4-4.1-fold enhancements for G-quadruplex relative to ssDNA and 4.3-5.3-fold enhancements relative to dsDNA in luminescence intensity, respectively, demonstrating an excellent G-quadruplex selectivity. Ascribed to its superior specificity to G-quadruplex, Din Ir(III)-1 was employed to construct a highly sensitive luminescent pesticides' detection platform. The detection is based on acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-catalyzed hydrolysis product-induced DNA conformational transformation and subsequent terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) directed G-quadruplex formation. The assay exhibited a linear response between the emission intensity of Din Ir(III)-1 and the pesticide concentration in the range of 0.5-25 µg/L ( R2 = 0.994), and the limit of detection for the pesticide was as low as 0.37 µg/L when using aldicarb as the model pesticide. Moreover, this strategy demonstrates good applicability for the pesticide detection in real samples. It is also versatile for the detection of other organophosphate or carbamate pesticides, which have the inhibition ability toward AChE. Therefore, the proposed approach is scalable for practical application in food safety and environmental monitoring fields and will provide promising solutions for the assay of pesticide residues.

Ultrasensitive Homogeneous Electrochemical Detection of Transcription Factor by Coupled Isothermal Cleavage Reaction and Cycling Amplification Based on Exonuclease III.

The assay and monitoring of transcription factors (TFs) has attracted extensive attention due to their important roles in regulation of gene expressions. Herein, a simple, low cost, rapid, and highly sensitive homogeneous electrochemical method utilizing the coupled isothermal cleavage reaction and cycling amplification based on exonuclease III (Exo III) was explored for the analysis of transcription factor NF-κB p50 in aqueous solution. In the assay, a 3'-methylene blue (MB)-labeled hairpin probe is designed, which can be opened up by the single stranded DNA (ssDNA) protected by NF-κB p50 from the Exo III cleavage, to trigger the subsequent Exo III-assisted digestion, thus a large amount of MB-labeled mononucleotides are liberated to result in the greatly amplified electrochemical signal. By virtue of this Exo III-assisted target recycling, the present assay allows the detection of NF-κB p50 at the picomolar level, which is an exciting level for TFs detection. Furthermore, this detection possesses excellent selectivity, demonstrating high application potential in biological system and convenient TFs' inhibitors screening. Comparing with the other reported strategies for TFs detection, this Exo III-assisted homogeneous electrochemical detection platform was just composed of one kind of enzyme and two DNA probes, offered a really simple and low-cost electrochemical detection for TFs assay.

Construction of a thermo-sensitive pRI857 vector for efficient DNA capturing in Escherichia coli.

OBJECTIVES: To establish a positive cloning system with a zero background for high-throughput DNA cloning purpose. RESULTS: The cloning vector, pRI857, and the genomic-library construction vector, pRI857-BAC, were constructed based on the mechanism of expression of the thermo-sensitive cI857 repressor gene that can stringently repress the PR promoter and kanamycin resistance gene (PR-kan R ) at 30 °C, but have no effect on PR-kan R gene at 37 °C or at higher temperatures. When the pRI857 vectors were transformed into E. coli with or without a target foreign DNA fragment inserted at the BfrBI site of the cI857 gene, only colonies with the foreign DNA fragment survive. We extended this method to construct a pRI857-BAC vector for genomic library cloning which displays an efficiency of ~107 cfu per µg of genomic DNA, with no empty vectors detected. CONCLUSIONS: Cloning by indirect activation of resistance marker gene represents a novel DNA-capturing system, which can be widely applied for high-throughput DNA cloning.

Sus scrofa miR-204 and miR-4331 Negatively Regulate Swine H1N1/2009 Influenza A Virus Replication by Targeting Viral HA and NS, Respectively.

The prevalence of swine pandemic H1N1/2009 influenza A virus (SIV-H1N1/2009) in pigs has the potential to generate novel reassortant viruses, posing a great threat to human health. Cellular microRNAs (miRNAs) have been proven as promising small molecules for regulating influenza A virus replication by directly targeting viral genomic RNA. In this study, we predicted potential Sus scrofa (ssc-, swine) miRNAs targeting the genomic RNA of SIV-H1N1/2009 by RegRNA 2.0, and identified ssc-miR-204 and ssc-miR-4331 to target viral HA and NS respectively through dual-luciferase reporter assays. The messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of viral HA and NS were significantly suppressed when newborn pig trachea (NPTr) cells respectively overexpressed ssc-miR-204 and ssc-miR-4331 and were infected with SIV-H1N1/2009, whereas the suppression effect could be restored when respectively decreasing endogenous ssc-miR-204 and ssc-miR-4331 with inhibitors. Because of the importance of viral HA and NS in the life cycle of influenza A virus, ssc-miR-204 and ssc-miR-4331 exhibited an inhibition effect on SIV-H1N1/2009 replication. The antiviral effect was sequence-specific of SIV-H1N1/2009, for the target sites in HA and NS of H5N1 or H9N2 influenza A virus were not conserved. Furthermore, SIV-H1N1/2009 infection reversely downregulated the expression of ssc-miR-204 and ssc-miR-4331, which might facilitate the virus replication in the host. In summary, this work will provide us some important clues for controlling the prevalence of SIV-H1N1/2009 in pig populations.

Helicobacter pylori antibody responses in association with eradication outcome and recurrence: a population-based intervention trial with 7.3-year follow-up in China.

OBJECTIVE: To identify serum biomarkers that may predict the short or long term outcomes of anti-Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) treatment, a follow-up study was performed based on an intervention trial in Linqu County, China. METHODS: A total of 529 subjects were selected randomly from 1,803 participants to evaluate total anti-H. pylori immunoglobulin G (IgG) and 10 specific antibody levels before and after treatment at 1-, 2- and 7.3-year. The outcomes of anti-H. pylori treatment were also parallelly assessed by13C-urea breath test at 45-d after treatment and 7.3-year at the end of follow-up. RESULTS: We found the medians of anti-H. pylori IgG titers were consistently below cut-off value through 7.3 years in eradicated group, however, the medians declined in recurrence group to 1.2 at 1-year after treatment and slightly increased to 2.0 at 7.3-year. While the medians were significantly higher (>3.0 at 2- and 7.3-year) among subjects who failed the eradication or received placebo. For specific antibody responses, baseline seropositivities of FliD and HpaA were reversely associated with eradication failure [for FliD, odds ratio (OR)=0.44, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.27-0.73; for HpaA, OR=0.32, 95% CI: 0.17-0.60]. The subjects with multiple positive specific antibodies at baseline were more likely to be successfully eradicated in a linear fashion (Ptrend=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggested that total anti-H. pylori IgG level may serve as a potential monitor of long-term impact on anti-H. pylori treatment, and priority forH. pylori treatment may be endowed to the subjects with multiple seropositive antibodies at baseline, especially for FliD and HapA.

Methylation status of COX-2 in blood leukocyte DNA and risk of gastric cancer in a high-risk Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Methylation is a common epigenetic modification which may play a crucial role in cancer development. To investigate the association between methylation of COX-2 in blood leukocyte DNA and risk of gastric cancer (GC), a nested case-control study was conducted in Linqu County, Shandong Province, a high risk area of GC in China. METHODS: Association between blood leukocyte DNA methylation of COX-2 and risk of GC was investigated in 133 GCs and 285 superficial gastritis (SG)/ chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). The temporal trend of COX-2 methylation level during GC development was further explored in 74 pre-GC and 95 post-GC samples (including 31 cases with both pre- and post-GC samples). In addition, the association of DNA methylation and risk of progression to GC was evaluated in 74 pre-GC samples and their relevant intestinal metaplasia (IM)/dysplasia (DYS) controls. Methylation level was determined by quantitative methylation-specific PCR (QMSP). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by unconditional logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The medians of COX-2 methylation levels were 2.3% and 2.2% in GC cases and controls, respectively. No significant association was found between COX-2 methylation and risk of GC (OR, 1.15; 95% CI: 0.70-1.88). However, the temporal trend analysis showed that COX-2 methylation levels were elevated at 1-4 years ahead of clinical GC diagnosis compared with the year of GC diagnosis (3.0% vs. 2.2%, p=0.01). Further validation in 31 GCs with both pre- and post-GC samples indicated that COX-2 methylation levels were significantly decreased at the year of GC diagnosis compared with pre-GC samples (1.5% vs. 2.5%, p=0.02). No significant association between COX-2 methylation and risk of progression to GC was found in subjects with IM (OR, 0.50; 95% CI: 0.18-1.42) or DYS (OR, 0.70; 95% CI: 0.23-2.18). Additionally, we found that elder people had increased risk of COX-2 hypermethylation (OR, 1.55; 95% CI: 1.02-2.36) and subjects who ever infected with H. pylori had decreased risk of COX-2 hypermethylation (OR, 0.54; 95% CI: 0.34-0.88). CONCLUSIONS: COX-2 methylation exists in blood leukocyte DNA but at a low level. COX-2 methylation levels in blood leukocyte DNA may change during GC development.

Highly sensitive standardized toxicity biosensors for rapid water quality warning.

Microbial electrochemical sensor (MES) using electroactive biofilm (EAB) as the sensing element represents a broad-spectrum technology for early warning of biotoxicity of water samples. However, its commercial application is impeded by limited sensitivity and repeatability. Here, we proposed a layered standardized EAB (SEAB) with enriched Geobacter anodireducens SD-1 in the inner layer and self-matched outer layer. The SEAB sensors showed a 2.3 times higher sensitivity than conventional EAB acclimated directly from wastewater (WEAB). A highly repeatable response sensitivity was concentrated at 0.011 ± 0.0006 A/m2/ppm in 4 replicated batches of SEAB sensors (R2 > 0.95), highlighting their potential for reliable toxicity monitoring in practical applications. In contrast, the sensing performance of all WEAB sensors was unpredictable. SEAB also exhibited a better tolerance towards low concentration of formaldehyde, with only a 4 % loss in viability. Our findings improved the sensitivity and reproducibility of standardized MES for toxicity early warning.

Layered Design of a Highly Repeatable Electroactive Biofilm for a Standardized Biochemical Oxygen Demand Sensor.

Microbial electrochemical sensors are promising to monitor bioavailable organics in real environments, but their application is restricted by the unpredictable performance of the electroactive biofilm (EAB), which is randomly acclimated from environmental microflora. With a long-term stable EAB as a template, we successfully designed EAB (DEAB) by the sequential growth of Geobacter anodireducens and automatched microbes, achieving a reproducible high current than those naturally acclimated from wastewater (NEAB). Pre-inoculation of planktonic aerobes as oxygen bioscavengers was necessary to ensure the colonization of Geobacter in the inner layer, and the abundant Geobacter (50%) in DEAB guaranteed 4 times higher current density with a 15-fold smaller variation among 20 replicates than those of NEAB. The sensor constructed with DEAB exhibited a shorter measuring time and a precise biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) measurement with acetate, real domestic wastewater, and supernatant of anaerobic digestion. Here, we for the first time proposed an applicable strategy to standardize EABs for BOD sensors, which is also crucial to ensure a stable performance of all bioelectrochemical technologies.

Degradation of pefloxacin by hybrid hydrodynamic cavitation with H2O2 and O3.

The degradation of toxic chemicals, antibiotics and other residues in organic wastewater has attracted much attention. Among various degradation technologies, hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) reactors have the advantage of being simple to operate. Through the combination of HC and other oxidants, the removal efficiency and energy efficiency of organic matter can be greatly improved, and the consumption of chemicals and the processing costs can be reduced. In this work, HC technology combined with oxidants was used to degrade pefloxacin (PEF), and the effect of different operating conditions on PEF degradation was investigated. The results indicated that the removal efficiency of PEF treated with HC alone was 84.9% under the optimal HC conditions of pH 3.3 and 120 min, which is much higher than that (35.5%) of pH 5.3. When co-treating the PEF solution with HC and H2O2 at 0.3 MPa and pH 5.3, the optimal molar ratio of PEF to H2O2 was 1:5, the highest PEF removal efficiency was 69.7%, and the synergy index (SI) was 4.4. When combining HC with O3, the PEF removal efficiency gradually elevated with increasing ozone addition. When the addition amount of ozone was 0.675 g/h, the removal efficiency of PEF was the highest, which was 91.5% after treatment of 20 min. The intermediate products in the reaction process were analyzed based on UV-Vis spectroscopy and LC-MS, and the mechanism and reaction pathways of PEF were proposed.

Praseodymia-titania mixed oxide supported gold as efficient water gas shift catalyst: modulated by the mixing ratio of oxides.

Modulating the active sites for controllable tuning of the catalytic activity has been the goal of much research, however, this remains challenging. The O vacancy is well known as an active site in reducible oxides. To modify the activity of O vacancies in praseodymia, we synthesized a series of praseodymia-titania mixed oxides. Varying the Pr : Ti mole ratio (2 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 1, 1 : 4) allows us to control the electronic interactions between Au, Pr and Ti cations and the local chemical environment of the O vacancies. These effects have been studied study by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), CO diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (CO-DRIFTS) and temperature-programmed reduction (CO-TPR, H2-TPR). The water gas shift reaction (WGSR) was used as a benchmark reaction to test the catalytic performance of different praseodymia-titania supported Au. Among them, Au/Pr1Ti2O x was identified to exhibit the highest activity, with a CO conversion of 75% at 300 °C, which is about 3.7 times that of Au/TiO2 and Au/PrO x . The Au/Pr1Ti2O x also exhibited excellent stability, with the conversion after 40 h time-on-stream at 300 °C still being 67%. An optimal ratio of Pr content (Pr : Ti 1 : 2) is necessary for improving the surface oxygen mobility and oxygen exchange capability, a higher Pr content leads to more O vacancies, however with lower activity. This study presents a new route for modulating the active defect sites in mixed oxides which could also be extended to other heterogeneous catalysis systems.

Non-Stacked γ-Fe2O3/C@TiO2 Double-Layer Hollow Nanoparticles for Enhanced Photocatalytic Applications under Visible Light.

Herein, a non-stacked γ-Fe2O3/C@TiO2 double-layer hollow nano photocatalyst has been developed with ultrathin nanosheets-assembled double shells for photodegradation phenol. High catalytic performance was found that the phenol could be completely degraded in 135 min under visible light, due to the moderate band edge position (VB at 0.59 eV and CB at -0.66 eV) of the non-stacked γ-Fe2O3/C@TiO2, which can expand the excitation wavelength range into the visible light region and produce a high concentration of free radicals (such as ·OH, ·O2-, holes). Furthermore, the interior of the hollow composite γ-Fe2O3 is responsible for charge generation, and the carbon matrix facilitates charge transfer to the external TiO2 shell. This overlap improved the selection/utilization efficiency, while the unique non-stacked double-layered structure inhibited initial charge recombination over the photocatalysts. This work provides new approaches for photocatalytic applications with γ-Fe2O3/C-based materials.

[The correlation between polymorphisms of Toll-like receptor 2 and Toll-like receptor 9 and susceptibility to gastric cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between the polymorphisms of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and TLR9 and the susceptibility to gastric cancer. METHODS: A population-based case-control study was conducted at Linqu county, Shandong province, China, including a total of 248 cases of gastric cancer. Another total of 496 age and sex-matched controls were randomly selected from the same cohorts. TLR2 rs3804099 and TLR9 rs187084 were detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were computed from logistic regression models after adjusting for age, sex, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and smoking status. RESULTS: The frequencies of TT, TC and CC genotype on TLR2 rs3804099 in control group were 43.5% (216/496), 46.6% (231/496) and 9.9% (49/496), respectively; whereas those in case group were 53.2% (132/248), 39.9% (99/248) and 6.9% (17/248), respectively. Significant differences in the frequencies of TLR2 rs3804099 were found between case and control groups (χ(2) = 6.665, P = 0.036). It was found that compared with the TT genotype, TC + CC genotype carriers obviously less susceptible to gastric cancer (OR = 0.68, 95%CI: 0.50 - 0.93). Joint effects analysis indicated that the TLR2 rs3804099 TT genotype carriers and H.pylori infectors had higher susceptibility to gastric cancer(OR = 3.42, 95%CI: 2.16 - 5.42), compared with TC + CC genotype carriers and non-H.pylori infection group. The frequencies of TT, TC and CC genotype on TLR9 rs187084 in control group were 33.3% (165/496), 49.0% (243/496) and 17.7% (88/496), respectively; whereas those in case group were 35.9% (89/248), 50.0% (124/248) and 14.1% (35/248), respectively. No significant association with gastric cancer was observed for TLR9 rs187084 polymorphism (χ(2) = 1.684, P = 0.431). CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that TLR2 rs3804099 is closely associated with susceptibility to gastric cancer.

[Simultaneous determination of 4 major components in semen cassiae obtusifoline by HPLC].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of 4 major components in semen cassiae obtusifoline and provide valuable data for quality control of semen cassiae obtusifoline. METHOD: Kromasil 100-5 C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm). Eluted with water: acetonitrile: tetramethylene oxide: glacial acetic acid (100: 23: 5:1). Detecte at 278 nm. The flow rate was 1.0 mL x min(-1). RESULT: Four compositions were separated well. Good linearies were obtained within the range of 0.274-1.37 microg, 0.153-0.765 microg, 0.302-1.51 microg and 0.052-0.26 microg for rubrofusarin gentiobioside, casside, aurantio-obtusin-6-O-beta-D- glucopyranoside, casside B respectively. The average recoveries were 100.9% (RSD 1.8%),101.2% (RSD 1.2%), 99.40% (RSD 2.2%), 100.5% (RSD 1.6%). CONCLUSION: The method is accurate, reliable and convenient. It can be used to control the quality of semen cassiae obtusifoline and its products.

A split G-quadruplex-specific dinuclear Ir(III) complex for label-free luminescent detection of transcription factor.

A group of luminescent dinuclear Ir(III) complexes were synthesized to study the application possibility as luminescent G-quadruplex (G4) sensors. According to the results, the dinuclear Ir(III) complexes 1-5 were assessed as selective G4 sensors. Among them, complex 5 not only demonstrates the highest specificity towards G4, but also shows linearly enhanced luminescent intensity with the increase of split G4 concentration. Complex 5 was thus utilized to establish a label-free split G4-based detection platform for luminescent detection of transcription factor (TF). This luminescent assay is simple and sensitive with the detection limit of 0.027 nM for NF-κB p50 in aqueous solution. The split G4-based TF sensing platform also worked well in diluted human serum, demonstrating high application potential for biological sample analysis.

Monitoring matrix metalloproteases based on the selective interaction between an Ir(iii) solvent complex and a histidine-rich polypeptide.

A luminescent biosensor has been developed for matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) assays based on the selective interaction between an Ir(iii) solvent complex and a histidine-rich peptide, which avoids the complicated double labeling of substrate polypeptides commonly-used in FRET MMP detections and provides a promising strategy for MMP detection in clinical applications.

Methylation status of blood leukocyte DNA and risk of gastric cancer in a high-risk Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the relationship between methylation status of blood leukocyte DNA and risk of gastric cancer, a population-based study was conducted in Linqu County. METHODS: Methylation levels of IGFII and N33 were determined by quantitative methylation-specific PCR. The temporal trend of methylation levels during gastric cancer development was investigated in 133 gastric cancer cases from two cohorts with pre- and/or post-gastric cancer samples. As the references of pre-GCs, 204 intestinal metaplasia (IM) or dysplasia (DYS) subjects who did not progress to gastric cancer during the follow-up period were selected. Meanwhile, 285 subjects with superficial gastritis/chronic atrophic gastritis (SG/CAG) were also selected as controls. RESULTS: IGFII median methylation level was significantly higher in gastric cancer cases than those with SG/CAG (61.47% vs. 49.73%; P < 0.001). IGFII and N33 methylation levels were elevated at least 5 years ahead of clinical gastric cancer diagnosis comparing with SG/CAG (63.38% vs. 49.73% for IGFII, 9.12% vs. 5.70% for N33; all P < 0.001). Furthermore, the frequency of hypermethylated IGFII was markedly increased in IM or DYS subjects who progressed to gastric cancer in contrast to those who remained with IM and DYS, and adjusted ORs were 12.52 [95% confidence interval (CI), 3.81-41.15] for IM and 10.12 (95% CI, 2.68-38.22) for DYS. Similar results were also found for N33 in subjects with IM (OR, 3.77; 95% CI, 1.20-11.86). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that hypermethylated IGFII and N33 in blood leukocyte DNA were associated with risk of gastric cancer in a Chinese population. IMPACT: IGFII and N33 methylation status may be related to gastric carcinogenesis.

Genetic polymorphisms of miR-146a and miR-27a, H. pylori infection, and risk of gastric lesions in a Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in various human diseases. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in inflammation-related miRNA may play an important role in Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-induced gastric lesions. To evaluate the associations between miRNA SNPs, H. pylori and gastric lesions, a population-based study was conducted in Linqu County, China. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Based on serum miRNA array conducted in this population, two SNP loci (miR-146a rs2910164: G>C and miR-27a rs895819: T>C) were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in 2,380 participants with diverse gastric lesions. Using participants with superficial gastritis and mild chronic atrophic gastritis as the reference group, we found that rs2910164 CC carriers had a significantly increased risk of intestinal metaplasia [adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.42; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.03-1.97] and dysplasia (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.05-2.25) compared to GG carriers, whereas no significant association was observed for rs895819. Stratified analysis by H. pylori infection indicated that rs2910164 C allele was associated with an increased risk of intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia only among individuals infected with H. pylori (CC vs. GG: OR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.12-2.08, P for trend = 0.004). Participants who simultaneously carried variant alleles and H. pylori infection were more likely to develop intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia, although the interaction between genetic variants and H. pylori infection was not significant (P for interaction = 0.35 for rs2910164 and 0.92 for rs895819). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that miR-146a rs2910164 polymorphism may contribute to the evolution of H. pylori-associated gastric lesions in this high-risk population.