Objective Although aspirin resistance has been recognized to occur in patients with diabetes mellitus, the prevalence and related risk factors for aspirin resistance in elderly patients with diabetes mellitus have not been reported yet. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence and potential risk factors for aspirin resistance in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.Methods The 140 elderly patients [aged from 60 to 92 years, mean age (73.8±8. 0) years] with type 2 diabetes receiving daily aspirin therapy (≥ 75 mg) over one month were recruited. Platelet aggregation was measured by light transmittance aggregometry (LTA) and thrombelastograph (TEG)platelet mapping assay. Results By LTA, 6 patients (4.3%) of the diabetic patients were found to be resistant to aspirin therapy, 44 patients (31.4 %) were semi-responders. By TEG, 31 patients (22. 1%) were aspirin resistant. Among the 31 patients who were aspirin resistant by TEG, 3 were aspirin resistant by LTA. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, female gender (OR= 5. 54,95%CI: 1.17-27.47, P=0.036) and homocysteine level (OR=1.15, 95%CI: 1.00-1.35, P=0. 043) were statistically significant risk factors for aspirin resistance by TEG. Conclusions The prevalence of aspirin resistance in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes is considerably higher in elderly female patients and in elderly patients with higher serum homocysteine level.

Objective To investigate the changes of sex hormone and androgen receptor levels and evaluate the relationship of the sex hormones and androgen receptor with coronary heart disease (CHD) in elderly men. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed in 539 elderly men, including 400 healthy people aged 62-92 years and 139 CHD patients aged 60-88 years. The plasma concentrations of total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), estradiol (E2), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured. The androgen receptor (AR) level was tested by flow cytometry. Results The fluorescence intensity of DHEAS, TT, SHBG, FT and AR were significantly lower in CHD group than in healthy group (P<0.01);however, FSH and E2 in CHD group were higher(P(0.01). Age was negatively correlated with TT(r=-0.28,P<0.01) and FT (r=-0.17,P<0.05), and positively correlated with SHBG(r=0.14,P<0.05) and E2 (r=0.33, P<0.01). AR fluorescence intensity was negatively correlated with systolic blood pressure (r=-0.12,P<0.01). Logistic regression analysis indicated that TT (OR=1.065,9% CI: 1.012～1.121,P<0.05), SHBG(OR=0.994,95% CI:0.990～0.998,P<0.01) and AR (OR=0.971,95%CI:0.956～0.986, P<0.01)were significantly associated with CHD in elderly male patients. Conclusions The levels of DHEAS, TT, SHBG, FT and AR are lower in elderly men with CHD than in elderly healthy men;however, the FSH and E2 concentrations are higher. Low levels of TT, SHBG and AR may be the independent risk factors for CHD in elderly men.

The accelerating growth of the public microbial genomic data imposes substantial bur-den on the research community that uses such resources. Building databases for non-redundant ref-erence sequences from massive microbial genomic data based on clustering analysis is essential. However, existing clustering algorithms perform poorly on long genomic sequences. In this article, we present Gclust, a parallel program for clustering complete or draft genomic sequences, where clustering is accelerated with a novel parallelization strategy and a fast sequence comparison algo-rithm using sparse suffix arrays (SSAs). Moreover, genome identity measures between two sequences are calculated based on their maximal exact matches (MEMs). In this paper, we demon-strate the high speed and clustering quality of Gclust by examining four genome sequence datasets. Gclust is freely available for non-commercial use at https://github.com/niu-lab/gclust. We also introduce a web server for clustering user-uploaded genomes at http://niulab.scgrid.cn/gclust.

Objective To explore the effects of oxidative damage and selenium on the apoptosis of articular chondrocytes and the expression of selenoprotein genes.Methods C28/I2 chondrocytes were preincubated for 24 h,using sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) or t-butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP) for 24 h.The experiment was divided into six groups,including control group (C,0.00 mg/L Na2,SeO3 + 0.00 μmol/L tBHP),selenium beforehand protection group (S2,0.10 mg/L Na2SeO3),oxidative damage group (O,150.00 μmol/L tBHP),low dose selenium protection group (OS 1,0.05mg/L Na2SeO3 + 150.00 μmol/L tBHP),medium dose selenium protection group (OS2,0.10 mg/L Na2SeO3 + 150.00 μmol/L tBHP),and high dose selenium protection group (OS3,0.15 mg/L Na2SeO3 + 150.00 μmol/L tBHP).After 24 h,Hoechst 33342 staining method was used to observe apoptosis,mRNA expression of glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1),GPX4,deiodinase 2 (DIO2),DIO3,selenoprotein P (SEPP1),thioredoxin reductase 1 (TrxR-1) and selenoprotein W(Sel W) was detected by Real-time PCR,both experiments were done three times.Results Apoptotic rates of C,S2,O,OS1,OS2,OS3 groups [(0.78 ± 0.06)％,(13.61 ± 7.11)％,(92.27 ± 3.44)％,(71.38 ± 5.22)％,(44.31 ± 9.16)％,(72.46 ± 4.69)％] were compared between groups,the differences were statistically significant (F =120.10,P ＜ 0.01).The apoptotic rates of O group was significantly higher than that of C group (P ＜ 0.05);compared to O group,the apoptotic rates of OS1,OS2,OS3 groups decreased significantly (P＜ 0.05),OS2 group was the most obvious.DIO2,SEPP1,GPX1,GPX4,TrxR-1,Sel W mRNA levels were compared in the six groups,the differences were statistically significant (F =24.60,14.53,127.60,30.60,637.10,59.64,P ＜ 0.01).Compared to C group (1.00 ± 0.00),the mRNA levels of GPX1 (0.10 ± 0.05),GPX4 (0.43 ± 0.09),TrxR-1 (0.11 ± 0.05) and Sel W (0.72 ± 0.15) in O groups were decreased significantly (P ＜ 0.05);compared to 0 group,the mRNA levels of GPX1 in OS1 (0.20 ± 0.03),OS2 (0.74 ± 0.10),and OS3 (0.30 ± 0.07) were increased significantly (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Down-regulated expression of selenoprotein genes are involved in the regulation process of articular cartilage apoptosis caused by oxidative stress,selenium also has a regulatory role in selenoprotein gene expression in articular chondrocytes.

Objective:To analyze the incidence and epidemiological characteristics of traumatic spinal cord injury in China in 2018.Methods:Multi-stage stratified cluster sampling was used to randomly select hospitals capable of treating patients with spinal cord injury from 3 regions，9 provinces and 27 cities in China to retrospectively investigate eligible patients with traumatic spinal cord injury admitted in 2018. National and regional incidence rates were calculated. The data of cause of injury，injury level，severity of injury，segment and type of fracture，complications，death and other data were collected by medical record questionnaire，and analyzed according to geographical region，age and gender.Results:Medical records of 4，134 patients were included in this study，with a male-to-female ratio of 2.99∶1. The incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury in China in 2018 was 50.484 / 1 million （95% CI 50.122-50.846）. The highest incidence in the Eastern region was 53.791 / 1 million （95% CI 53.217-54.365）. In the whole country，the main causes of injury were high falls （29.58%），as well as in the Western region （40.68%），while the main causes of injury in the Eastern and Central regions were traffic injuries （31.22%，30.10%）. The main injury level was cervical spinal cord in the whole country （64.49%），and the proportion of cervical spinal cord injury in the Central region was the highest （74.68%），and the proportion of lumbosacral spinal cord injury in the Western region was the highest （32.30%）. The highest proportion of degree of injury was incomplete quadriplegia （55.20%），and the distribution pattern was the same in each region. A total of 65.87% of the patients were complicated with fracture or dislocation，77.95% in the Western region and only 54.77% in the Central region. In the whole country，the head was the main combined injury （37.87%），as well as in the Eastern and Central regions，while the proportion of chest combined injury in the Western region was the highest （38.57%）. A total of 32.90% of the patients were complicated with respiratory complications. There were 23 patients （0.56%） died in hospital，of which 17（73.91%） died of respiratory dysfunction. Conclusions:The Eastern region of China has a high incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury. Other epidemiological features include high fall as the main cause of injury cervical spinal cord injury as the main injury level，incomplete quadriplegia as the main degree of injury，head as the main combined injury，and respiratory complications as the main complication.