Nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA), one of the most severe types of male infertility, etiology often remains unclear in most cases. Therefore, this study aimed to detect four biallelic detrimental variants (0.5%) in the minichromosome maintenance domain containing 2 ( MCMDC2 ) genes in 768 NOA patients by whole-exome sequencing (WES). Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) demonstrated that MCMDC2 deleterious variants caused meiotic arrest in three patients (c.1360G>T, c.1956G>T, and c.685C>T) and hypospermatogenesis in one patient (c.94G>T), as further confirmed through immunofluorescence (IF) staining. The single-cell RNA sequencing data indicated that MCMDC2 was substantially expressed during spermatogenesis. The variants were confirmed as deleterious and responsible for patient infertility through bioinformatics and in vitro experimental analyses. The results revealed four MCMDC2 variants related to NOA, which contributes to the current perception of the function of MCMDC2 in male fertility and presents new perspectives on the genetic etiology of NOA.
Humans ; Male ; Azoospermia/genetics* ; Meiosis/genetics* ; Spermatogenesis/genetics* ; Adult ; Exome Sequencing ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins/genetics* ; Alleles ; Infertility, Male/genetics*

Humans ; Mitral Valve/surgery* ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Cardiac Surgical Procedures

Humans ; Mitral Valve/surgery* ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Cardiac Surgical Procedures

Abstract: Objective　To analyze the pathogenic characteristics and epidemiological significance of human plague related strains in Qinghai Province in recent 30 years, so as to provide scientific basis for on-the-spot disposal and prevention and control measures of plague outbreak in Qinghai Province. Methods　A total of 35 strains of Yersinia pestis isolated from 29 typical human plague outbreaks in Qinghai Province from 1980 to 2011 were selected and studied by biochemical fermentation experiments. Virulence factors detection of Fraction 1 antigen (Fra1), virulence antigen (VW), pigmentation (Pgm) and Yersinia pestis Ⅰ (PstⅠ), determinants and genotyping of differential regions (DFRs) were used to study the pathogenic characteristics. At the same time, according to the epidemic situation of human and animal plague in Qinghai Province in recent years, the current situation of plague prevention and control and epidemic characteristics were analyzed. Results　The biotypes of 35 strains of Yersinia pestis were classical, and the biotypes of 29 strains (82.86%) were of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau type, mainly distributed in southern Qinghai and around lake areas, 2 strains (5.71%) belonged to Qilian Mountains type, mainly distributed in Qilian mountains, and 6 genotypes were identified by DFR. Among them, 16 were type 5, 12 were type 8, 2 were type 10, 1 was type 36, 3 were type 30 and 1 was type 1b, the strains of type 5 and 1b were mainly distributed around the lake and the southern foot of Qilian Mountains, while the strains of type 8, 10, 36 and 30 were mainly distributed in the southern part of Qinghai. Conclusions　The pathogen of Yersinia pestis in Qinghai Plateau has complex biochemical types, the epidemic situation among animals is continuous year after year, the situation of prevention and control is serious, the occurrence and prevalence of plague seriously endanger people's health and social development, so it is necessary to do a solid job in the prevention and control of plague to ensure the safety of people's lives.

This study aims to predict the material basis and mechanism of Dachengqi Decoction in the treatment of sepsis based on network pharmacology. The chemical constituents and targets of Dachengqi Decoction were retrieved from TCMSP, UniPot and DrugBank and the targets for the treatment of sepsis from OMIM and GeneCards. The potential targets of Dachengqi Decoction for the treatment of sepsis were screened by OmicShare. STRING database and Cytoscape 3.7.2 were used to construct the Chinese medicinal-active component-target-disease, active component-key target-key pathway, and protein-protein interaction(PPT) networks. The gene ontology(GO) term enrichment analysis and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed by DAVID(P<0.05). Finally, the animal experiment was conducted to verify some targets and pathways. A total of 40 active components and 157 targets of the Dachengqi Decoction, 2 407 targets for the treatment of sepsis, and 91 common targets of the prescription and the disease were also obtained. The key targets were prostaglandin G/H synthase 2(PTGS2), prostaglandin G/H synthase 1(PTGS1), protein kinase cAMP-dependent catalytic-α(PRKACA), coagulation factor 2 receptor(F2 R), phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic gamma subunit(PIK3 CG), dipeptidyl peptidase 4(DPP4), etc. A total of 533 terms and 125 pathways were obtained for the 91 targets. The main terms were the response to drug, negative regulation of apoptotic process, positive regulation of nitric oxide biosynthetic process and lipopolysaccharide-mediated signaling pathway, and the pathways included pathways in cancer, hepatitis B, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and protein kinase B(PI3 K/Akt) signaling pathway. The animal experiment confirmed that Dachengqi Decoction can down-regulate inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β(IL-1β), IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α)(P<0.01). It could also reduce the wet/dry weight ratio of lung tissue, the level of myeloperoxidase(MPO) and the phosphorylation of PI3 K and Akt(P<0.01). These results indicated that Dchengqi Decoction could act on inflammation-related targets and improve sepsis by inhibiting PI3 K/Akt signaling pathway. The animal experiment supported the predictions of network pharmacology. Dachengqi Decoction intervenes sepsis via multiple components, multiple targets, and multiple pathways. The result lays a foundation for further research on the mechanism of Dachengqi Decoction in the treatment of sepsis.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Gene Ontology ; Plant Extracts ; Sepsis/genetics*

Objective: To detect the enterovirus VP4 and VP1 genes in 510 stool samples collected from hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) cases and analyze the phylogenetic characteristics of the entire VP1 genes of coxsackievirus A6 (CV-A6) strains in six prefectures/cities of Yunnan Province in 2018. Methods: Viral RNA was abstracted from the stool samples. VP4 gene sequences were amplified by RT-PCR and sequenced using the MD91/OL68-1 primer pair to identify viral genotypes. Whole VP1 gene sequences were amplified and sequenced using appropriate primer pairs. The whole VP1 gene sequences of CV-A6 reference strains were downloaded from GenBank. MEGA5.2 software was used to analyze the similarity in nucleotide and amino acid sequences between different strains and phylogenetic tree was constructed for analysis of genetic characteristics and molecular epidemiology. Results: VP4 and VP1 gene sequences were obtained from 57 out of 510 stool samples with a positive rate of 11.17% (57/510). There were 43 CV-A6 (8.43%, 43/510), six CV-A10 (1.17%, 6/510), two enterovirus A71 (EV-A71, 0.39%, 2/510) and two CV-A9 (0.39%, 2/510) strains. The other four strains were CV-A4 (0.19%, 1/510), CV-A5 (0.19%, 1/510), CV-B1 (0.19%, 1/510) and E11 (0.19%, 1/510). The phylogenetic analysis showed that all 43 CV-A6 strains belonged to sub-genotype D3. Conclusions In the 510 HFMD samples, CV-A6 strains were mostly detected with a detection rate of 8.43% and accounted for 75.44% (43/57) of all isolates, followed by CV-A10 (1.17%, 6/510) and EV-A71 (0.39%, 2/510). There was a large HFMD outbreak mainly caused by CV-A6 in Yunnan Province in 2018. The outbreak was caused by CV-A6 of sub-genotype D3, as was the case with pervious outbreaks in China.

Objective To observe neuropsychological development status in children after surgical treatment of congenital heart diseases(CHDs)and analyze the risk factors. Methods 89 children who received outpatient review in Fuwai Hospital from September 2015 to March 2016 after surgical treatment of CHDs were recruited in this study and 90 normal children were recruited as the control group. The children with CHDs were divided into simple CHDs group(RACHS- 1 score≤2)and com-plex CHDs group(RACHS- 1 score≥3)according to RACHS- 1 classification. Neuropsychological development status was meas-ured according to pediatric-psychological mental test scale developed by Capital institute of pediatrics,Beijing and statistical a-nalysis was compared. Results The measurements of neuropsychological development showed the normal children behaved better than the children with CHDs(P < 0. 05). The simple CHDs group achieved better distribution of development quotient than complex CHDs group(P = 0. 032)and there was no difference between the normal control group and simple CHDs group (P = 0. 420). Multivariate regression analysis indicated that younger age at cardiac surgery,lower preoperative blood urea ni-trogen(BUN),higher preoperative creatinine(Cr)and prolonged duration of cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB)accounted for low-er scores in the test scale(P < 0. 05). Conclusion Distinct neuropsychological difficulties could be present especially in chil-dren with complex CHDs. Younger age at cardiac surgery,preoperative BUN,Cr and CPB duration were perioperative factors that were associated with long-time neuropsychological development.

The specific PCR primer was designed base on ITS2 sequence in GenBank, and we developed a SYBRGreen real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR system for identification of Crocus sativus and Carthamus tinctorius source. Compared with Chinese herbal medicine DNA barcode technique, this method showed characteristics of shorter time, higher specificity and sensitivity. Using this method to detect 15 samples, 4 were C. sativus, 8 were C. tinctorius, and the other 3 samples were none of them. The result was in accordance with Chinese herbal medicine DNA barcode. This study lays the foundation for identification of related Chinese medical materials.
Carthamus tinctorius ; Crocus ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

This work was launched to explore the effect of habitat and growth year on the secondary metabolites contents of cultivated Polygala tenuifolia. The samples of cultivated P. tenuifolia were analyzed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography(UPLC)-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(Q-TOF MS), and the obtained data were analyzed using multiple statistical analysis and cluster analysis. The results showed that compared with growth year, habitat is a main influencing factor which affected the secondary metabolites contents of P. tenuifolia. The contents of sucrose esters and oligosacchride multi-esters are greatly dependent on the habitat (the sample-AG with high levels of components of tenuifoliside B and tenuifoliside C, and the sample-FY with high levels of 3,6'-disinapoyl sucrose, tenuifoliose S, tenuifoliose L, and tenuifoliose V). There is no obvious effect of habitat and growth year on xanthone. The contents of triterpene saponins are greatly dependent on the growth year, and the content of parts of triterpene saponins increased as time goes on.The result indicated that the effect of habitat and growth year on different types of secondary metabolites is not completely equivalent. This study will contribute to the breeding of P. tenuifolia and amendment of current commodity criteria.

Objective To explore the use of CA199,CEA,CA50 and ALP combined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in diagnosis of intrahepatic bile duct stones with early bile duct carcinoma.Methods The clinical diagnosis of 36 cases of patients with hepatolithasis-associated intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (HICC) and 118 cases with intrahepatic duct stone (IHDS) were analyzed retrospectively.Serum CA199,CEA,CA50,ALP and magnetic resonance (MRI,MRCP) were performed and the results were analyzed.Results Abdominal pain discomfort in Hepatolithasis-associated intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma showed multiple symptoms.Three typical Charcot syndromes were rare.On the gender distribution,intrahepatic bile duct stones was frequently found in women,on the contrary,Hepatolithasis-associated intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma was frequently more found in men (P ＜0.05) Abdominal pain and fever in patients of Hepatolithasis-associated intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma was more than that of patients with Intrahepatic bile duct stone (P＜0.05) When alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was more than 169 U/L,significant difference was seen between two groups (P＜ 0.05) According to the diagnosis of HICC,the accuracy of CA199,CEA,CA50 combined with ALP was 88.6％,the accuracy of magnetic resonance examination alone was 90.2％,and the accuracy of multiple serological markers and magnetic resonance was 95.5％.Conclusion MRI combined with serum CA199,CEA,CA50 and ALP can effectively improve the HICC preoperative diagnosis rate.