[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.03.002.].

Gene regulation relies on the precise binding of transcription factors (TFs) at regulatory elements, but simultaneously detecting hundreds of TFs on chromatin is challenging. We developed cFOOT-seq, a cytosine deaminase-based TF footprinting assay, for high-resolution, quantitative genome-wide assessment of TF binding in both open and closed chromatin regions, even with small cell numbers. By utilizing the dsDNA deaminase SsdAtox, cFOOT-seq converts accessible cytosines to uracil while preserving genomic integrity, making it compatible with techniques like ATAC-seq for sensitive and cost-effective detection of TF occupancy at the single-molecule and single-cell level. Our approach enables the delineation of TF footprints, quantification of occupancy, and examination of chromatin influences on TF binding. Notably, cFOOT-seq, combined with FootTrack analysis, enables de novo prediction of TF binding sites and tracking of TF occupancy dynamics. We demonstrate its application in capturing cell type-specific TFs, analyzing TF dynamics during reprogramming, and revealing TF dependencies on chromatin remodelers. Overall, cFOOT-seq represents a robust approach for investigating the genome-wide dynamics of TF occupancy and elucidating the cis-regulatory architecture underlying gene regulation.
Transcription Factors/genetics* ; Humans ; Chromatin/genetics* ; Animals ; Binding Sites ; Mice ; DNA Footprinting/methods*

Objective:To assess the association between short-term ambient air pollution exposure and arterial stiffness and whether obesity modifies these associations.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted based on Fangshan family cohort in Beijing. The 24 hours average air pollutant levels on the day cohort participants took baseline survey were calculated as short-term air pollution. A generalized additive model (GAM) with Gaussian links was used to estimate changes in typical carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT), brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (BAPWV), pulse pressure (PP) and ankle-branchial index (ABI) after short-term exposure to each air pollution (PM 2.5, PM 10, SO 2, NO 2, CO). The cross-product terms of each air pollution, body mass index (BMI), and waist-to-hip ratio were included in the GAM model to test the interaction. Further, they conducted a stratified analysis to test their effects on the relationship between short-term exposure to each air pollution and the arterial stiffness indicators. Results:A total of 4 211 individuals were included in the analysis. Individuals' age was (58.9±8.7) years, of which 2 268 (53.9%) were female. Several covariates, including sociodemographic factors, lifestyle behaviors, and history of drugs, were included in the analysis. The results of the GAM analysis showed that an increase in PM 2.5 ( β=2.912×10 -4, 95% CI: 1.424×10 -4-4.400×10 -4, P<0.001), CO ( β=0.027, 95% CI: 0.011-0.043, P<0.001), SO 2 ( β=2.070×10 -3, 95% CI: 7.060×10 -4-3.430×10 -3, P=0.003), and NO 2 ( β=3.650×10 -4, 95% CI: 2.340×10 -5-7.060×10 -4, P=0.036) were associated with an increase in CIMT, while an increase in PM 10 ( β=0.018, 95% CI: 0.002-0.033, P=0.028) was associated with an increase in PP in the study population. Besides, the waist-to-hip ratio had an effect-modification on the correlation of short-term exposure of PM 2.5 (interaction P=0.015), NO 2 (interaction P=0.008), and CO (interaction P=0.044) with CIMT, and the correlation between short-term exposure of PM 2.5 (interaction P=0.002), NO 2 (interaction P=0.010), CO (interaction P=0.029), PM 10 (interaction P<0.001) with PP. The significant association between CIMT, PP, and air pollution concentrations was more visible in people with lower waist-to-hip ratios. Conclusions:Short-term ambient air pollution exposure was associated with arterial stiffness indicators, and there was an effect modification of waist-to-hip ratio on these associations, and lower waist-to-hip ratios may enhance the association between air pollution exposure and indicators.

Due to factors such as an aging population, the Hospital Authority(HA) of Hong Kong is facing a contradiction between limited health resource supply and continuously increasing demand. In order to effectively address challenges, the HA prompted three measures to bridging the demand-supply gap. The HA relied on its management system advantages to continuously increase its capital construction to enhance the service capacity of public health institutions; transformed service delivery mode so as to improve the experience, quality, and efficiency of service delivery; established cooperation with private service providers and communities to shunt population health demand. The practices of HA can provide reference for public hospitals and their sponsors in other regions of China.

Objective:To explore the robust relationship between insomnia and type 2 diabetes mellitus by two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis to overcome confounding factors and reverse causality in observational studies.Methods:We identified strong,independent single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs)of insomnia from the most up to date genome wide association studies(GWAS)within European ancestors and applied them as instrumental variable to GWAS of type 2 diabetes mellitus.After excluding SNPs that were significantly associated with smoking,physical activity,alcohol consumption,educational attainment,obesity,or type 2 diabetes mellitus,we assessed the impact of insomnia on type 2 diabetes mellitus using inverse variance weighting(IVW)method.Weighted median and MR-Egger regression analysis were also conducted to test the robustness of the association.We calculated the F statistic of the selected SNPs to test the applicability of instrumental variable and F statistic over than ten indicated that there was little possibility of bias of weak instrumental variables.We further examined the existence of pleiotropy by testing whether the intercept term in MR-Egger regression was significantly different from ze-ro.In addition,the leave-one-out method was used for sensitivity analysis to verify the stability and relia-bility of the results.Results:We selected 248 SNPs independently associated with insomnia at the genome-wide level(P＜5 ×10-8)as a preliminary candidate set of instrumental variables.After clum-ping based on the reference panel from 1000 Genome Project and removing the potential pleiotropic SNPs,a total of 167 SNPs associated with insomnia were included as final instrumental variables.The F statistic of this study was 39.74,which was in line with the relevance assumption of Mendelian randomi-zation.IVW method showed insomnia was associated with higher risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus that po-pulation with insomnia were 1.14 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus than those without insomnia(95％CI:1.09-1.21,P＜0.001).The weighted median estimator(WME)method and MR-Egger regression showed similar causal effect of insomnia on type 2 diabetes mellitus.And MR-Egger re-gression also showed that the effect was less likely to be triggered by pleiotropy.Sensitivity analyses pro-duced directionally similar estimates.Conclusion:Insomnia is a risk factor of type 2 diabetes mellitus,which has positively effects on type 2 diabetes mellitus.Our study provides further rationale for indivi-duals at risk for diabetes to keep healthy lifestyle.

Purpose To investigate the expression of pro-tein of relevant evolutionary and lymphoid interest domain-con-taining 1(PRELID1)in gastric cancer tissues and to analyze its effect on prognosis,and the mechanism of influencing the prolif-eration and invasion ability of gastric cancer cells.Methods Using TCGA data and clinical data of 111 patients with gastric cancer,we analyzed the relationship between the expression of PRELID1 and clinicopathological parameters and the impact on clinical prognosis.The biological function of PRELID1 was pre-dicted by bioinformatics,and further verified by in vitro and in vivo experiments.Lentivirus was applied to regulate the level of PRELID 1 in gastric cancer cell line(MGC803)in vitro,and its effect on the proliferation,migration,and invasion of gastric cancer cells was observed.The nude mouse subcutaneous tumor-igenesis was used to observe the effect of PRELID1 on the growth of gastric cancer tissue in vivo.Results The expression of PRELID1 was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than that in the adjacent tissues(P＜0.001)and was positively cor-related with the cell proliferation indicator Ki67(P＜0.001).Cox regression model analysis showed that the high expression of PRELID 1 was an independent risk factor affecting the 5-year survival rate after radical gastrectomy(HR=2.336;95％CI=1.354-4.029).Gene enrichment results showed that the func-tion of PRELID1 was related to proliferation and JAK/STAT sig-naling.CCK-8 and Transwell experiments found that up-regula-tion of PRELID1 promoted the proliferation(P=0.016),mi-gration(P=0.016)and invasion(P=0.025)of gastric cancer cells,while down-regulation inhibited the proliferation(P=0.026),migration(P=0.048)and invasion(P=0.029).Subcutaneous tumor formation experiments in nude mice found that up-regulation of PRELID1 promoted the growth of gastric cancer tissue(P=0.047),while down-regulation was the oppo-site(P=0.005).Western blot detecting gastric cancer cells and gastric cancer tissues found that up-regulation of PRELID1 promoted the expression of JAK and STAT proteins(all P＜0.05),while down-regulation inhibited them(all P＜0.05).Conclusion The high expression of PRELID1 associated with poor prognosis may regulate the proliferation,migration and in-vasion of gastric cancer cells by up-regulating JAK/STAT signa-ling in gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVE To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of novel oral anticoagulants （NOAC） in the treatment of cancer-related venous thromboembolism （VTE） patients. METHODS Retrieved from PubMed， Cochrane Library， Embase， Web of Science， CNKI， and Wanfang database from the establishment of each database to August， 2023， randomized controlled trials （RCTs） about the efficacy of low-molecular-weight heparin （LMWH， control group） versus NOAC （trial group） in the treatment of cancer-related VTE patients were collected. After extracting the data from included clinical studies， meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.0 statistical software. RESULTS A total of 7 RCTs were included， with a total of 3 790 patients. Compared with the control group， the recurrence rate of VTE in the trial group was significantly reduced （RR＝0.65， 95%CI 0.51-0.82， P＝0.000 4）， while the incidence of major bleeding was slightly higher than in the control group， but the difference was not statistically significant （RR＝1.13， 95%CI 0.83-1.53， P＝0.45）. The incidence of clinically relevant non-major bleeding （RR＝1.69， 95%CI 1.34-2.13， P＜0.000 01） and gastrointestinal bleeding （RR＝1.96， 95%CI 1.15-3.34， P＝0.01） in the trial group was significantly higher than in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of intracranial hemorrhage， all-cause mortality， and fatal pulmonary embolism between 2 groups （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS For cancer-related VTE patients， NOAC is superior to LMWH in preventing venous thrombosis recurrence， and is not inferior to LMWH in terms of major bleeding， intracranial hemorrhage， all-cause mortality， and fatal pulmonary embolism.

Objective To monitor the antifungal resistance of clinical isolates of Candida spp.in the East China region.Methods MALDI-TOF MS or molecular methods were used to re-identify the strains collected from January 2018 to December 2022.Antifungal susceptibility testing was performed using the broth microdilution method.The susceptibility test results were interpreted according to the breakpoints of 2022 Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)documents M27 M44s-Ed3 and M57s-Ed4.Results A total of 3 026 strains of Candida were collected,65.33％of which were isolated from sterile body sites,mainly from blood(38.86％)and pleural effusion/ascites(10.21％).The predominant species of Candida were Candida albicans(44.51％),followed by Candida parapsilosis complex(19.46％),Candida tropicalis(13.98％),Candida glabrata(10.34％),and other Candida species(0.79％).Candida albicans showed overall high susceptibility rates to the 10 antifungal drugs tested(the lowest rate being 93.62％).Only 2.97％of the strains showed dose-dependent susceptibility(SDD)to fluconazole.Candida parapsilosis complex had a SDD rate of 2.61％and a resistance rate of 9.42％to fluconazole,and susceptibility rates above 90％to other drugs.Candida glabrata had a SDD rate of 92.01％and a resistance rate of 7.99％to fluconazole,resistance rates of 32.27％and 48.24％to posaconazole and voriconazole non-wild-type strains(NWT),respectively,and susceptibility rates above 90％to other drugs.Candida tropicalis had resistance rates of 29.55％and 26.24％to fluconazole and voriconazole,respectively,resistance rates of 76.60％and 21.99％to posaconazole and echinocandins non-wild-type strains(NWT),and a resistance rate of 2.36％to echinocandins.Conclusions The prevalence and species distribution of Candida spp.in the East China region are consistent with previous domestic and international reports.Candida glabrata exhibits certain degree of resistance to fluconazole,while Candida tropicalis demonstrates higher resistance to triazole drugs.Additionally,echinocandins resistance has emerged in Candida albicans,Candida glabrata,Candida tropicalis,and Candida parapsilosis.

Objective To investigate the role and mechanism of suramin(Sur)in acetaminophen(APAP)-induced acute liver injury in mice.Methods 8-10 weeks old C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into the APAP group and APAP+Sur group(20 mg/kg suramin was injected 1 h before).After 18 hrs of fasting,400 mg/kg APAP was injected intraperitoneally to establish a mouse model of acute liver failure and the survival rate was recorded.An acute liver injury model of mice was established via intraperitoneal injection of 300 mg/kg APAP(other conditions remained unchanged).A control group was also established,with liver tissues and serum collected at 0,2,and 12 hours post-APAP treatment.ELISA and CBA techniques were adopted to detect the release of alanine aminotransferase(ALT)and aspartate aminotransferase(AST)in serum and the secretion of inflammatory factors.H&E staining and immunohistochemistry were used to detect liver tissue necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration.DCFA-DH and ELISA techniques were used to detect the levels of reactive oxygen species(ROS),malondialdehyde(MDA)and glutathione(GSH)in liver tissues.Western blotting was employed to assess the activation of the JNK signaling pathway in liver tissues.Results Suramin treatment improved the survival rate of APAP-induced mice,reduced the release of transaminases and inflammatory factors in serum,and alleviated APAP-induced liver cell necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration in the liver.Suramin treatment delayed APAP-induced GSH depletion in the liver,reduced MDA and ROS levels,and inhibited JNK pathway activation.Conclusion This study has confirmed the protective effect of suramin against acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury in mice.The mechanism is potentially related to oxidative stress and inflammation.

Objective:To investigate the expression of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK), and recombinant C-Ros oncogene 1, receptor tyrosine kinase (ROS1) in Spitz tumors, and to analyze their associations with clinical and histopathological features of Spitz tumors.Methods:Clinical and histopathological characteristics, as well as follow-up data, were collected from patients with Spitz tumors at Department of Pathology, Hospital of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 2017 to August 2023, and retrospectively analyzed. Immunohistochemical staining for ALK, pan-TRK, and ROS1 was performed on skin tissues, and associations between the expression of these kinase proteins and clinicopathological features were analyzed.Results:A total of 57 patients with Spitz tumors were collected, including 36 females and 21 males. Immunohistochemical staining showed that 30 (52.6%) patients were positive for ALK, 4 (7.0%) were positive for ROS1, only 2 (3.5%) were positive for TRK, and 21 (36.8%) were negative for the three kinase proteins. Among the 30 ALK-positive patients, the median age was 9.5 years, 21 (70.0%) were females, and 15 (50.0%) presented with lesions on the face, which mainly manifested as papules or nodules; histologically, 29 (96.7%) patients had hypopigmented tumors with an exophytic growth pattern, and the tumor cells were mainly large and long spindle cells arranged in long cord-like, plexiform or fascicular patterns. Among the 4 ROS1-positive patients, there were 3 females and 1 male, presenting with exophytic papules or polyps; histologically, tumor cells were mostly arranged in small nests, without obvious clefts around cell nests. Two TRK-positive patients were both males aged 20 and 50 years respectively, and presented with brown and skin-colored flat papules, respectively; histologically, the tumors were located superficially with a flat base, and tumor cells spread in a pagetoid pattern in the epidermis, with some epithelioid cells and small cell nests. Among the 21 patients negative for the 3 kinase proteins, 9 were males and 12 were females, and they clinically presented with macules, papules and polypoid lesions; histologically, most tumors were located superficially, consisting of a mixture of epithelioid cells and spindle cells, with rare cytological atypia and mitotic figures, and 2 cases showed mild tissue structural and cellular atypia. Fifty-seven patients were followed up for 2 - 83.3 months, with a median follow-up of 19.2 months. Only 1 ALK-positive child experienced a recurrence, and no recurrence or lymph node metastasis was observed in the other cases.Conclusions:Among the three kinase proteins, ALK showed the highest positive rate in Spitz tumors in this study, while TRK- and ROS1-positive cases were sporadic. Histopathologically, ALK-positive Spitz tumor cells were mainly long spindle cells arranged in long cord-like or plexiform patterns, while TRK- and ROS1-positive Spitz tumors tended to have small cell nests. Both the kinase protein-positive and -negative Spitz tumors mostly had a good prognosis.