6-Phosphogluconolactonase (6PGL) is one of the key enzymes in the ubiquitous pathways of central carbon metabolism, but bacterial 6PGL had been long known as a missing enzyme even after complete bacterial genome sequence information became available. Although recent experimental characterization suggests that there are two types of 6PGLs (DevB and YbhE), their phylogenetic distribution is severely biased. Here we present that proteins in COG group previously described as 3-carboxymuconate cyclase (COG2706) are actually the YbhE-type 6PGLs, which are widely distributed in Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. This case exemplifies how erroneous functional description of a member in the reference database commonly used in transitive genome annotation cause systematic problem in the prediction of genes even with universal cellular functions.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Carbon ; Computer Simulation* ; Genome ; Genome, Bacterial* ; Metabolism ; Pentose Phosphate Pathway ; Proteobacteria

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the dietary quality of food consumed away from home among Korean children and adolescents. METHODS: Data were obtained from the 2010~2012 KNHANES (Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) and included 3,583 subjects aged 7 to 18 years old. The frequency of food consumed away from home was dichotomized into more than once or less than once per day. RESULTS: Thirty percent of subjects were shown to consume food away from home more than once per day, and older children from higher income households showed a higher frequency of food consumed away from home compared to other children. The percentage of children and adolescents cited as regularly skipping breakfast was 19%. Individuals who ate out more than once per day showed higher consumption of energy and sodium than those who ate out less than once per day. CONCLUSION: Excessive intakes of energy and sodium are associated with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity-related diseases. Thus, there is a need for nutritional intervention and educational efforts to improve child nutrition and prevent obesity.
Adolescent* ; Breakfast ; Child* ; Family Characteristics ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Korea* ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Obesity ; Sodium

Petite integration frequency 1 (PIF1) helicases are ubiquitous enzymes which play vital roles in nearly all DNA metabolic processes. In recent years, the biochemical activity and three-dimensional structure of several PIF1 helicases have been reported, but there are few reports on the PIF1 helicase of bacteria living in extreme environments. In this paper, a series of biochemical and biophysical techniques were used to study the Thermodesulfovibrio yellowstonii PIF1 (Ty.PIF1) helicase in many aspects. Ty. PIF1 was obtained with a purity of over 90% and good uniformity using the prokaryotic expression and purification system. Ty.PIF1 is a monomer with a calculated molecular weight of 60 kD in solution. Ty. PIF1 has high thermal stability. The secondary structure remains stable when the temperature is below 65 ℃, and the secondary structure changes only when the temperature is above 70 ℃. The optimal unwinding temperature of Ty.PIF1 in vitro is 45 ℃, which is not the optimal temperature for the survival of thermodesulfovibrio yellowstonii. It indicates that when Ty.PIF1 exerts its enzymatic activity in vivo, it may require the participation of other cofactors. Ty.PIF1 can exert unwinding activity in a wide temperature range (20-55 ℃), and the presence of enzyme activity at 55 ℃ indicates that Ty.PIF1 has heat-resistant properties. Ty.PIF1 prefers to bind to substrates containing ssDNA, but there is certain requirement for the length of the ssDNA, which is at least 4 nt in length. Ty.PIF1 can also bind to the G

A combination of positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-labeled fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (18F-FDG) and computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT) has increasingly become a widely used imaging modality for the diagnosis and management of head and neck cancer. On the basis of both recent literature and our professional experience, we present a set of principles with pictorial illustrations and clinical applications of FDG-PET/CT in the evaluation and management planning of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx. We feel that this paper will be of interest and will aid the learning of oral and maxillofacial radiology trainees and practitioners.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Diagnosis ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; Learning ; Mouth ; Oropharynx ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

The incidence of vertigo increases with both aging and changing lifestyles among Chinese. Apart from well established medical and surgical treatment, a number of non-surgical treatment modalities have been available recently.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Meniere Disease ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Vertigo ; drug therapy ; therapy

Tumours consisting of a glandular component, either an adenoma or adenocarcinoma, and a carcinoid component are uncommon. These tumours can be differentiated into collision, composite or amphicrine tumours. Most cases reported in the literature were mixed adenocarcinoma-carcinoid tumours. To date, only four cases of mixed adenoma carcinoid tumours have been reported in the literature. This case report describes a unique case of collision adenoma-carcinoid tumour in the colon complicated by carcinoid syndrome in a 45-year-old woman who presented with a one-month history of diarrhoea and weight loss. She developed recurrence of the carcinoid component of the tumour four months after endoscopic resection. We conclude that carcinoid syndrome can occur in an adenoma-carcinoid tumour; however, the prognosis of this condition is uncertain.
Adenoma ; pathology ; Carcinoid Tumor ; pathology ; Colonic Neoplasms ; pathology ; Colonoscopy ; Diarrhea ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Malignant Carcinoid Syndrome ; pathology ; Middle Aged ; Weight Loss

INTRODUCTIONErythroderma is a generalised inflammatory reaction of the skin secondary to a variety of causes. This retrospective study aims to characterise the features of erythroderma and identify the associated causes of this condition in our population.

MATERIALS AND METHODSWe reviewed the clinical, laboratory, histological and other disease-specific investigations of 225 inpatients and outpatients with erythroderma over a 7.5-year period between January 2005 and June 2012.

RESULTSThe most common causative factors were underlying dermatoses (68.9%), idiopathic causes (14.2%), drug reactions (10.7%), and malignancies (4.0%). When drugs and underlying dermatoses were excluded, malignancy-associated cases constituted 19.6% of the cases. Fifty-five percent of malignancies were solid-organ malignancies, which is much higher than those previously reported (0.0% to 25%). Endogenous eczema was the most common dermatoses (69.0%), while traditional medications (20.8%) and anti-tuberculous medications (16.7%) were commonly implicated drugs. In patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), skin biopsy was suggestive or diagnostic in all cases. A total of 52.4% of patients with drug-related erythroderma had eosinophilia on skin biopsy. Electrolyte abnormalities and renal impairment were seen in 26.2% and 16.9% of patients respectively. Relapse rate at 1-year was 17.8%, with no associated mortality.

CONCLUSIONOur study highlights the significant proportion of malignancy-related erythroderma in those whom common underlying causes such as dermatoses and drugs have been excluded. In cases of drug-related erythroderma, traditional medications and antituberculous medications are common causes in our population. Renal impairment and electrolyte abnormalities are commonly seen and should be monitored in patients with erythroderma.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Dermatitis, Exfoliative ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

In order to investigate the effects of germplasm and host tree trunk on endophytic fungal communities in epiphytic Dendrobium catenatum, a total of 3 835 isolates were recovered from roots, stems and leaves of four D. catenatum germplasms attached to one kind of host tree trunk and one germplasm attached to four kinds of epiphyte-host tree trunks. A total of 152 taxa were identified and classified based on the fungal cultural characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of ITS sequences. The taxa were assigned to 60 genera, 35 families, 21 orders and 5 classes of 2 phyla. The results indicated that D. catenatum cultivated in stereo cultivation harbor variety of fungi. The dominant fungal groups were different between Lin'an and Yiwu. Moreover, several groups showed geographical specificity, such as Arthrinium, Coniochaeta, Fusarium, Neofusicoccum and Zopfiella only dominating in Panshan of Lin'an, while Alternaria, Bjerkandera, Cercophora, Nigrospora and Trichoderma only dominating in Shangxi of Yiwu. There was no significant difference in diversity or species richness of endophytic fungi neither among germplasm nor host tree trunk. However, the richness and diversity indices exhibited a strong dependence on tissue type (<0.05). The germplasm and host tree trunk impact the distribution patterns of endophytic fungi less than tissue type. Nevertheless, the relative frequencies of the dominant fungal groups were different among germplasms or host tree trunk types. Furthermore, there were some fungal species specific to certain germplasm or host tree trunk. This might be due to the distinctions in growth traits and chemical compositions of D. catenatum owning to the differences in D. catenatumgenetic background and microenvironment of host tree. Most of fungal taxa exhibit tissue specificity or preference. These results provide the basis for the study on the relationship between endophytic fungi and D. catenatum in stereo cultivation mode.

Glucomannan is the key active ingredient of Dendrobium catenatum, and CSLA family is responsible for glucomannan biosynthesis. In order to systematically evaluate the CSLA family members of D. catenatum, the bioinformatics methods were performed for genome-wide identification of DcCSLA gene family members through the genomic data of D. catenatum downloaded from the NCBI database, and further analyses of their phylogenetic relationship, gene structure, protein conserved domains and motifs, promoter cis-elements and gene expression profiles in response to stresses. The results showed that D. catenatum contains 13 CSLA members, all of which contain 9-10 exons. In the evolutionary relationship, CSLA genes were clustered into 5 groups, DcCSLA genes were distributed in all branches. Among which the ancestral genes of groupI existed before the monocot-dicot divergence, and groupⅡ-Ⅴ only existed in the monocot plants, indicating that group Ⅰ represents the earliest origin group. CSLA proteins are characteristic of the signature CESA_CaSu_A2 domain. Their promoter regions contain cis elements related to stresses and hormones. Under different stress treatments, low temperature induces the expression of DcCSLA5 and inhibits the expression of DcCSLA3. Infection of Sclerotium delphinii inhibits DcCSLA3/4/6/8/9/10 expression. Under the treatment of jasmonic acid, DcCSLA11 expression was significantly up-regulated, and DcCSLA2/5/7/12/13 were significantly down-regulated. These results laid a foundation for further study on the function of DcCSLA genes in glucomannan biosynthesis and accumulation.
Basidiomycota ; Cold Temperature ; Dendrobium ; genetics ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Genome, Plant ; Multigene Family ; Phylogeny ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; Stress, Physiological ; Transcriptome

BACKGROUNDSotos syndrome is an overgrowth syndrome with characteristic facial gestalt and mental retardation of variable severity. Haploinsufficiency of the NSD1 gene has been implicated as the major cause of Sotos syndrome, with a predominance of microdeletions reported in Japanese patients. This study was conducted to investigate into the spectrum of NSD1 gene mutations in southern Chinese patients with Sotos syndrome.

METHODSThirty-six Chinese patients with Sotos syndrome and two patients with Weaver syndrome were subject to molecular testing.

RESULTSNSD1 gene mutations were detected in 26 (72%) Sotos patients. Microdeletion was found in only 3 patients, while the other 23 had point mutations (6 frameshift, 8 nonsense, 2 spice site, and 7 missense). Of these, 19 mutations were never reported. NSD1 gene mutations were not found in the two patients with Weaver syndrome.

CONCLUSIONSMost cases of Sotos syndrome are caused by NSD1 gene defects, but the spectrum of mutations is different from that of Japanese patients. Genotype-phenotype correlation showed that patients with microdeletions might be more prone to congenital heart disease but less likely to have somatic overgrowth. The two patients with Weaver syndrome were not found to have NSD1 gene mutations, but the number was too small for any conclusion to be drawn.

Abnormalities, Multiple ; genetics ; Brain ; abnormalities ; Child, Preschool ; Craniofacial Abnormalities ; genetics ; Developmental Disabilities ; genetics ; Gene Deletion ; Growth Disorders ; genetics ; Humans ; Infant ; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; genetics ; Mutation ; Nuclear Proteins ; genetics ; Syndrome