Objective To assess the changes in frequency of peripheral T lymphocytes expressing different cytokines in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) before and after treatment with BCG-PSN and their relationship with disease severity. Methods A randomized, double blinded and placebo cross-over control study was conducted. A total of 8 patients with AD were recruited in this study. Intramuscular BCG-PSN or placebo was given to patients every other day for 36 days. Flow cytometry was performed to measure the frequency of IL4-, IL5-, IFN-γ- and TNFα-expressing peripheral CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells before and after the therapy. Disease severity was evaluated by atopic dermatitis area and severity index score (ADASIS). Results The difference value in IFN-γ+CD8+ T cell frequency before and after therapy was significantly higher in patients treated with BCG-PSN than in those with placebo (8.056 ± 13.962 vs -6.549 ± 10.491, U = 2.26, P< 0.05). There was no statistical difference in the frequency of IL4-, IL5-, TNFa-expressing CD8+ T cells between BCG-PSN- and placebo-treated patients (all P > 0.05). The decrease in ADASIS was 1.56 ± 1.49 in patients treated with BCG-PSN, which was statistically higher than that in placebo-treated patients (-0.05 ± 1.54, U = 2.00, P< 0.05). Conclusion As an immunomodulator, BCG-PSN may control AD by restoring the balance of T-cell subsets.

Objective To establish a new identification method of Ophiopogonis japonicus from different habitats.Methods Using 1H-NMR to get the all component information on O.japonicus,and using pattern recognitions,such as principal component analysis(PCA),partial least squares-discriiminate analysis(PLS-DA),and hierarchical cluster analysis(HCA) to analyze the data from the 1H-NMR spectra.Results The 1H-NMR-pattern recognition(PR) method could identify the samples of O.japonicus from different habitats successively.Conclusion The 1H-NMR-PR is an useful method for identification of O.japonicus from different habitats and could be used for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicinal materials.

With the continuous in-depth research on the mechanism of KRAS G12C mutations in targeted therapy of non-small cell lung cancer, KRAS G12C has evolved from non producible to an important targeted therapy site. The KRAS G12C mutation inhibitor has achieved dual progress in efficiency and survival in targeted therapy of non-small cell lung cancer. Although drug resistance is inevitable with treatment, research on drug resistance mechanisms has found that combination medication is one of the ways to overcome or reduce drug resistance.

In order to improve transformation efficiency of phytosterols into 9α-hydroxylation of 4-androstene-3,17-dione (9α-OH-AD) by Mycobacterium sp. LY-1, we studied the strains breeding using atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) technology and optimized their conversion process. A high production strain named C33 with a good genetic stability was selected and the product molar yield reached to 15.5%, 34.8% higher than that of original strain with 15 g/L phytosterols. Furthermore, the fermentation medium was optimized through the design of orthogonal experiment. Besides, oil-water bidirectional transformation system was set up to improve the 9α-OH-AD molar yield of mutant strain C33. With adding 12 mL soybean oil to each 1 g phytosterols, the molar yield of 9α-OH-AD reached 47.0%, which increased twice than that of control (15.5%).

Taiwanofungus camphoratus is a valuable and rare medicinal mushroom with various bioactivities, such as liver protection and anti-cancer. T. camphoratus can produce many arthroconidia at the end of submerged fermentation, but molecular mechanism underlying this submerged conidiation remains unknown. In this study, we found that Ca²⁺ concentration in culture medium significantly affected the arthroconidium production of T. camphoratus. Then, we identified two proteins (CaM and HSP90) involved in Ca²⁺/calmodulin signaling pathway and one protein (AbaA) involved in FluG-mediated conidiation pathway by two-dimensional electrophoresis analyses. Furthermore, we proposed a Ca²⁺/calmodulin- and FluG-mediated signaling pathway by bioinformatics analysis. By real-time quantitative PCR analyses of 23 key genes in the Ca²⁺/calmodulin- and FluG-mediated conidiation pathway, we found that expression levels of 7 genes (crz1, hsp90, flbB, brlA, abaA, wetA and fadA) showed significant responses to Ca²⁺ concentration in fermentation medium. Our research is beneficial for elucidating the underlying mechanism of submerged fermentation conidiation for T. camphoratus.

Background Preterm birth-related complications are the leading cause of death in newborns and children under the age of 5 years. Maternal heat exposure has been associated with both sleep status during pregnancy and the increased risk of preterm birth. However, whether sleep status could mediate the association between heat exposure and preterm birth remains unclear. Objective To evaluate the association between maternal heat exposure in early pregnancy and preterm birth, and to further explore potential mediation effect of sleep status on the association between heat exposure and preterm birth. Methods A birth cohort was established in Guangzhou Panyu Maternal Child Health Hospital (Guangzhou Panyu District He Xian Memorial Hospital) from 2017 until now. Pregnant women (with gestational age between 8 and 13 weeks) were included in this study when they presented to the hospital for their first prenatal care visit and signed an informed consent. Then they were followed up until delivery. A total of 3 268 pregnant women were included for the final analysis. Questionnaires were distributed to collect the demographic characteristics, lifestyles, and sleep status of pregnant women. Daily meteorological data during the study period were collected from meteorological monitoring stations in Guangzhou and the average ambient mean temperature of four weeks before the survey was calculated and assigned for each pregnancy. The 75th, 80th, 85th, 90th, and 95th percentiles (P₇₅, P₈₀, P₈₅, P₉₀, and P₉₅) of the average ambient temperature of all pregnant women were used as the thresholds to define heat exposure. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the effects of heat exposure in different definitions on preterm birth and sleep status (sleep duration, night sleep timing, and wake up timing). The mediation effects of sleep status on the relationship between heat exposure and preterm birth were also analyzed. Results Among all the included participants, 165 newborns were preterm births with an incidence rate of 5.0%. Heat exposures with thresholds of P₉₀ and P₉₅ increased the risk of preterm birth, with ORs (95%CIs) of 1.66 (1.04-2.57) and 1.90 (1.03-3.33), respectively (P<0.05). Heat exposures with thresholds of P₇₅, P₈₀, P₈₅, P₉₀, and P₉₅ decreased the sleep duration (<9 h vs. ≥9 h, control group: ≥9 h), and the ORs (95%CIs) were 1.51 (1.25-1.83), 1.44 (1.17-1.77), 1.35 (1.08-1.70), 1.43 (1.09-1.87), and 1.45 (1.00-2.13), respectively. Heat exposures with P₇₅ and P₈₀ thresholds resulted in earlier wake up timing (<8: 00 vs. ≥8: 00, control group: <8: 00), with ORs (95%CIs) of 0.77 (0.63-0.93) and 0.76(0.61-0.93), respectively. No significant association was observed between heat exposure and night sleep timing. The mediation analyses showed that under heat exposure with P₉₀ threshold, a statistically significant mediation effect was observed for sleep duration, and the proportion mediated was 6.07% (95%CI: 0.17%-25.00%) (P<0.05). No significant mediation effect was observed for night sleep timing and wake up timing. Conclusion An elevated risk of preterm birth after heat exposure in early pregnancy may be partly mediated through reducing sleep duration.

Humans ; COVID-19/genetics* ; SARS-CoV-2/genetics* ; Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/genetics* ; CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics* ; RNA, Viral/genetics*