OBJECTIVETo evaluate four candidate variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) loci for genotyping Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains.

METHODSGenomic sequences for two M. tuberculosis strains (CCDC5079 and CCDC5180) were generated, and using published sequence data, four candidate VNTR loci were identified. The VNTRs were used to genotype 225 Chinese clinical M. tuberculosis complex strains. The discriminatory power of the VNTRs was evaluated using BioNumerics 5.0 software.

RESULTSThe Hunter-Gaston Index (HGI) for BJ1, BJ2, BJ3, and BJ4 loci was 0.634, 0.917, 0.697, and 0.910, respectively. Combining all four loci gave an HGI value of 0.995, thus confirming that the genotyping had good discriminatory power. The HGI values for BJ1, BJ2, BJ3, and BJ4, obtained from Beijing family strain genotyping, were 0.447, 0.878, 0.315, and 0.850, respectively. Combining all four loci produced an HGI value of 0.988 for genotyping the Beijing family strains. We observed unique patterns for M. bovis and M. africanum strains from the four loci.

CONCLUSIONWe have shown that the four VNTR loci can be successfully used for genotyping M. tuberculosis complex strains. Notably, these new loci may provide additional information about Chinese M. tuberculosis isolates than that currently afforded by established VNTR loci typing.

Cluster Analysis ; Genotyping Techniques ; Humans ; Minisatellite Repeats ; Mycobacterium bovis ; genetics ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; genetics

OBJECTIVEThis study was designed to establish the two-dimensional electrophoresis profiles with high resolution and reproducibility from human lung squamous cell carcinoma tissue and paired tumor-adjacent normal bronchial epithelial tissue, and to identify differential expression of tumor-associated proteins by using proteome analysis.

METHODSComparative proteome analysis of human lung squamous carcinoma and paired normal bronchial mucosa adjacent to tumors from 20 cases were carried out. Total proteins of the carcinoma tissue and normal bronchial mucosa were separated by means of immobilized pH gradient-based two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). The differentially expressed proteins were analyzed and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS).

RESULTS(1) Seventy-six differentially expressed proteins were screened by analyzing the electrophoretic maps of the 20 carcinoma and control mucosa tissues. (2) Sixty-eight differential proteins were identified by peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF). Some proteins were products of oncogenes and others were involved in the regulation of cell cycle and signal transduction. (3) The expression of three proteins mdm2, c-Jun and EGFR, correlated with lung squamous carcinoma, were detected by immunohistochemical staining and Western blot analysis. The results showed that the expression of mdm2, c-Jun and EGFR were up-regulated in lung squamous carcinomas, whereas down-regulated in control normal mucosa. It was consistent with our proteome analysis results. Those results suggested that those proteins may play roles in the carcinogenesis of lung squamous carcinoma.

CONCLUSIONsixty-eight differentially expressed proteins were successfully characterized by comparative proteome analysis. Those results may provide scientific foundation for screening the molecular biomarkers which can be used in diagnosis and treatment of lung squamous carcinoma, as well as to improve patients' prognosis and provide a new clue for carcinogenesis research of lung squamous cell carcinoma.

Adult ; Aged ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proteome ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2 ; metabolism ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; metabolism ; Respiratory Mucosa ; metabolism ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization ; Up-Regulation

We examined the attributed fractions of all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality that were attributed to extreme and moderate cold and heat during 2010-2016 in Nanjing. Our results showed that 12.81%, 19.78%, and 25.33% of all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortalities, respectively, were attributed to temperature. The highest attributed fractions for three types of mortality were at 4 ℃ and the attributed fractions were high around 4 ℃, which falls within the moderate cold temperatures. Although moderate cold has lower RR than extreme cold, it occurred on more days than did extreme cold. Therefore, health burden caused by moderate cold requires further attention in the future.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; mortality ; China ; epidemiology ; Cities ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Mortality ; Respiratory Tract Diseases ; mortality ; Risk Factors ; Temperature

Infertility with diminished ovarian reserve(DOR) is a major problem in the field of reproductive health and it has attracted great attention worldwidely.Function deficiency of the kidney is one of the fundamental pathogenesis for DOR.Traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs) have a long history with rich experience for the treatment of infertility.Some TCMs are very effective in the treatment of kidney deficiency for infertility with DOR.The integrated TCMs and western medicine,and combination of disease differentiation and syndrome differentiation may help for diagnosis and treatment of infertility with DOR.We adopt the concept of unified treatment for special disease,and the methods and principle of treatment can be used.Therefore,we adopt the TCM concept of kidney-tonifying,blood-nourishing,liver-dispersing and spleen-invigorating.The TCMs kidney-tonifying formulae are added and subtracted.TCMs can regulate the reproductive function via multiple systems for simultaneous conditioning of follicular development and ovulation.At the same time,a hypothesis of " simultaneous conditioning of follicular development and ovulation" was proposed.Two-stage therapy with integrated TCMs and western medicine has been used,mainly for increasing the number of eggs,and improving follicle quality.The goal is to achieve simultaneous conditioning of follicular development and ovulation and ultimately for effective treatment of infertility with DOR.

Studies have explored the assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes of Y-chromosome azoospermia factor c (AZFc) microdeletions, but the effect of sperm source on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) remains unknown. To determine the ART results of ICSI using testicular sperm and ejaculated sperm from males with AZFc microdeletions, we searched Embase, Web of Science, and PubMed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis. The first meta-analysis results for 106 cycles in five studies showed no significant differences in the live birth rate between the testicular sperm group and the ejaculated sperm group (risk ratio: 0.97, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.73-1.28, P = 0.82). The second meta-analysis of 106 cycles in five studies showed no difference in the abortion rate between the testicular sperm group and ejaculated sperm group (risk ratio: 1.06, 95% CI: 0.54-2.06, P = 0.87). The third meta-analysis of 386 cycles in seven studies showed no significant difference in clinical pregnancy rates between the testicular sperm group and the ejaculated sperm group (risk ratio: 1.24, 95% CI: 0.66-2.34, P = 0.50). Inevitable heterogeneity weakened our results. However, our results indicated that testicular sperm and ejaculated sperm yield similar ART outcomes, representing a meaningful result for clinical treatment. More properly designed studies are needed to further confirm our conclusions.

With the growth of number of Chinese patent medicines and clinical use, the rational use of Chinese medicine is becoming more and more serious. Due to the complexity of Chinese medicine theory and the uncertainty of clinical application, the prescription review of Chinese patent medicine always relied on experience in their respective, leading to the uncontrolled of clinical rational use. According to the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory and characteristics of the unique clinical therapeutics, based on the practice experience and expertise comments, our paper formed the expert consensus on the prescription review of Chinese traditional patent medicine for promoting the rational use of drugs in Beijing. The objective, methods and key points of prescription review of Chinese patent medicine, were included in this expert consensus, in order to regulate the behavior of prescription and promote rational drug use.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid dysfunction is associated with cardiovascular diseases. However, the role of thyroid function in lipid metabolism remains partly unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the causal association between thyroid function and serum lipid metabolism via a genetic analysis termed Mendelian randomization (MR). METHODS: The MR approach uses a genetic variant as the instrumental variable in epidemiological studies to mimic a randomized controlled trial. A two-sample MR was performed to assess the causal association, using summary statistics from the Atrial Fibrillation Genetics Consortium (n = 537,409) and the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium (n = 188,577). The clinical measures of thyroid function include thyrotropin (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels, FT3:FT4 ratio and concentration of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb). The serum lipid metabolism traits include total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels. The MR estimate and MR inverse variance-weighted method were used to assess the association between thyroid function and serum lipid metabolism. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that increased TSH levels were significantly associated with higher TC (β = 0.052, P = 0.002) and LDL (β = 0.041, P = 0.018) levels. In addition, the FT3:FT4 ratio was significantly associated with TC (β = 0.240, P = 0.033) and LDL (β = 0.025, P = 0.027) levels. However, no significant differences were observed between genetically predicted FT4 and TPOAb and serum lipids. CONCLUSION Taken together, the results of the present study suggest an association between thyroid function and serum lipid metabolism, highlighting the importance of the pituitary-thyroid-cardiac axis in dyslipidemia susceptibility.
Lipid Metabolism/genetics* ; Mendelian Randomization Analysis ; Thyroid Function Tests ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyrotropin ; Thyroxine ; Triiodothyronine