AIM To study the expression, purification and activity assay of recombinant mouse protein kinase CK2? subunit from Escherichia coli. METHEDS The recombinant plasmid containing mouse protein kinase CK2? subunit cDNA constructed successfully was transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) and specifically induced by IPTG. The recombinant mouse CK2? subunit was sequentially purified by DE 52, P11 phosphocellulose and Heparin Sepharose chromatography. The purified recombinant protein was analysed by SDS PAGE. RESULTS One protein with molecular mass of 42 ku was overexpressed by inducing ITPG. The recombinant protein was composed of approximately 30 6% of the total bacterial proteins. From 278 mg soluble proteins, the yield of the CK2? protein was 4 7 mg. SDS PAGE analysis of the purified recombinant protein showed only one band in agreement with native mouse CK2? subunit. The recombinant mouse CK2? and ? subunits were mixed at the same molar ratio. The produced CK2 holoenzyme displayed full activity. The characteristics and functions of reconstituted CK2 holoenzyme were consistent with those of the given native CK2. CONCLUSION The recombinant protein is mouse protein kinase CK2? subunit.

Objective To analyze the characteristics of genotyping and gene polymorphism of Neisseria gonorrhoeae(N.go) with azithromycin(AZM)-resistance(AZM-R) and decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone(CROD).Methods The minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC) of AZM and CRO were determined.AZM-R isolates were detected for mutations in 23S rRNA,mtrR and penA genes.Genotypes were analyzed by using N.go multi-antigen sequence typing(NG-MAST).Results All total of 485 isolates of N.go were detected.77(15.9%) strains were AZM-R(MIC≥1 mg/L),including 33(6.8%) isolates of AZM low-level resistant(AZM-LLR,MIC=1 mg/L) strains and 44(9.1%) isolates of AZM middle-level resistant(AZM-MLR,MIC≥2 mg/L) strains.There were more CROD(MIC≥0.125 mg/L) strains in AZM-MLR isolates(43.2%),compared with those in AZM-LLR isolates(18.2%,P<0.05).The detected rates of 23S rRNA,mtrR,penA single or combined mutations were without significant differences between AZM-LLR isolates and AZM-MLR isolates(P>0.05).Similar results were found between combined AZM-LLR/CROD isolates and combined AZM-MLR/CROD isolates(P>0.05).No mutation of A2059G and AZM high-level resistant(AZM-HLR,MIC≥256 mg/L) isolate were found.Among 77 AZM-R isolates,67 sequence types(ST) were identified by NG-MAST,of which 30 types were novel.Most ST were represented by a single isolate.Conclusion AZM-R and CROD isolates,presented in this area,might be deserved continuous surveillance to identify the mechanism of concurrent resistance.

Objective To investigate genetic characteristics of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N.gonorrhoeae) isolates from Guangzhou city in 2014,and to analyze the relationship of N.gonorrhoeae multi-antigen sequence typing (NGMAST) sequence types (STs) with ciprofloxacin resistance.Methods An agar dilution method was used to determine the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of ciprofloxacin in 97 N.gonorrhoeae isolates from Guangzhou city.PCR was performed to amplify the gyrA,parC,porB and tbpB genes from these isolates,followed by gene sequencing and determination of NG-MAST STs.Results Of the 97 N.gonorrhoeae isolates,95 (97.9％) were resistant to ciprofloxacin,including 41 high-level (MIC ≥ 16 mg/L) and 54 low-level (1 mg/L ≤ MIC ＜ 16 mg/L) resistant strains.Mutations were detected at codons 91 and 95 encoding serine in the gyrA gene of all the 95 ciprofloxacin-resistant strains,and in the parC gene of 93 resistant strains.The frequency of the mutation at codon 87 in the parC gene was 85.4％ (35/41) in high-level resistant strains,significantly higher than that in low-level resistant strains (59.3％[32/54],x2 =7.64,P ＜ 0.05).MAST STs were successfully determined for all the 97 N.gonorrhoeae isolates except 1 isolate with incorrect PCR amplicons.Of the 96 genotyped isolates,50 were assigned to 35 known STs by using the NG-MAST website (www.ngmast.net),among which,10 STs each contained 2 to 4 isolates.The most common ST was ST5309.Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that the 96 genotyped N.gonorrhoeae isolates could be classified into 2 groups,and the proportion of isolates with MIC ≥ 16 mg/L is 46.4％ (39/84) in group 1,but only 1/12 in group 2 (x2 =6.27,P=0.012).Conclusions High-level resistance of N.gonorrhoeae to ciprofloxacin may be mainly associated with the mutation at codon 87 in the parC gene.NG-MAST STs may be related to the degree of ciprofloxacin resistance.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression after transcription and participate in various pathophysiological processes in the skin. In recent years, it has been reported that changes in miRNA expression profiles are related to some inflammatory skin diseases. For example, miR-203, miR-146a and miR-21 are upregulated in psoriatic lesions, miR-155 and miR-146a are upregulated in atopic dermatitis lesions, miR-21, miR-223, miR-142-3p and miR142-5p are upregulated in allergic contact dermatitis lesions; however, miR-146a and miR-155 are downregulated in peripheral blood of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, and miR-223 is downregulated in dermatomyositis lesions. This review summarizes relationships of miRNAs with the occurrence and development of some inflammatory skin diseases.

Objective To evaluate the effect of curcumin on phagocytic function of macrophages after the stimulation with exosomes from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods From February 2016 to November 2017,18 patients with active SLE and 18 healthy controls were enrolled from Guangzhou Institute of Dermatology and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital,Sun Yat-sen University,and serum exosomes were extracted from these subjects.The exosomes from the healthy controls (CON-exo) and SLE patients (SLE-exo) as well as different concentrations (1,5,20 μmol/L) of curcumin were used alone or in combination to stimulate the acute monocytic leukemia cell line THP-1-derived macrophages.After coincubation of the stimulated macrophages with pHrodo TM Red indicator,flow cytometry was performed to determine the average fluorescence intensity,immunofluorescence staining to calculate the proportion of pHrodo TM Red-positive macrophages,and then the phagocytic activity of macrophages was assessed.Western blot analysis was conducted to determine the protein expression of CD 14 in the stimulated macrophages.Statistical analysis was carried out by Student-t test for comparison between two groups,oneway analysis of variance for comparison among several groups,and least significant difference (LSD)-t test for multiple comparisons.Results Flow cytometry showed that there were significant differences in the relative fluorescence intensity of macrophages among the CON-exo group,CON-exo + 20 μmol/L curcumin group,SLE-exo group and SLE-exo + 20 μmol/L curcumin group (101.3％ ± 14.05％,94.27％ ± 14.13％,41.02％ ± 9.54％ and 87.33％ ± 15.01％,respectively;F =10.81,P ＜ 0.01),and immunofluorescence staining revealed that the proportion of pHrodo Red-positive macrophages significantly differed among the above 4 groups (82.16％ ± 5.20％,81.33％ ± 4.51％,54.20％ ± 9.31％ and 71.23％ ± 5.43％ respectively;F =12.42,P ＜ 0.01).The fluorescence intensity of macrophages and proportion of pHrodo-positive macrophages were both significantly lower in the SLE-exo group than in the CON-exo group (t =5.26,5.35 respectively,both P ＜ 0.01) and SLE-exo + 20 μmol/L curcumin group (t =3.97,3.26 respectively,both P ＜ 0.05).Western blot analysis showed that there were significant differences in the protein expression ofCD14 among the CON-exo group,SLE-exo group,SLE-exo + 1 μmol/L curcumin group,SLE-exo + 5 μmol/L curcumin group and SLE-exo + 20 μmol/L curcumin group (96.33％ ± 13.65％,30.67％ ± 5.86％,45.24％ ± 8.89％,72.81％ ± 6.62％ and 90.67％ ± 12.66％ respectively;F =24.57,P ＜ 0.01).The protein expression of CD14 was significantly lower in the SLE-exo group than in the CON-exo group(t =8.06,P ＜ 0.001),SLEexo + 5 μmol/L curcumin group and SLE-exo + 20 μmol/L curcumin group(t =5.08,7.38,both P ＜ 0.001),and the CD14 level showed an increasing trend along with the increase in the concentration of curcumin.Conclusion Exosomes from SLE patients markedly inhibit the phagocytosis of macrophages,while curcumin can reverse this inhibitory effect.

Objective To investigate the risk factors and prognosis of acute kidney injury (AKI) after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).Methods The retrospective case-control study was conducted.The clinical data of 127 patients who underwent OLT in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from January 2013 to December 2015 were collected.Of 127 patients,24 were complicated with postoperative AKI,including 17 in grade 1,5 in grade 2 and 2 in grade 3,and 103 were not complicated with AKI.AKI after OLT was treated according to the diagnostic criteria of AKI from 2012 guidelines of Kidney Disease:Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO).Observation indicators:(1) risk factors analysis affecting AKI after OLT;(2) comparison of postoperative recovery in patients with different AKI grade;(3) follow-up and survival situations.Follow-up using outpatient examination and telephone interview was performed up to July 2017.Measurement data with nornal distribution were represented as x±-s,and measurement data with skewed distribution were described as M (range).Univariate analysis was done using the t test and rank sum test.Comparisons of count data and univariate analysis were done using chi-square test or Fisher exact probability.Multivariate analysis was done using the logistic regression model.The survival rate and curve were respectively calculated and drawn by the KaplanMeier method,and Log-rank test was used for survival analysis.Results (1) Risk factors analysis affecting AKI after OLT:results of univariate analysis showed that age,combined hypertension,preoperative Child-Pugh score,preoperative model for end-stage liver disease score (MELD),preoperative hemoglobin,preoperative serum albumin,preoperative blood urea nitrogen,preoperative glomerular filtration rate,preoperative prothrombin time,operation time,inferior vena cava occlusion time,duration of anhepatic phase,volume of intraoperative blood loss,total volume of intraoperative blood transfusion,volumes of intraoperative plasma and red blood cells transfusion,duration of postoperative ICU stay,use time of postoperative vasoactive drugs,time of postoperative mechanical ventilation,cases with postoperative infection,body mass index of donor and donor liver cold-ischemia time were related factors affecting occurrence of AKI after OLT (t =4.154,x2 =8.482,t =5.129,3.694,1.294,9.223,5.418,Z=4.287,t=2.105,5.168,8.182,10.042,Z=1.074,0.664,6.274,3.712,1.289,t=1.056,x2 =10.617,t=2.447,3.371,1.476,P＜0.05).Results of multivariate analysis showed that age,preoperative MELD score,preoperative serum albumin,volume of intraoperative blood loss and donor liver cold-ischemia time were independent factors affecting occurrence of AKI after OLT [odds ratio (OR) =0.812,0.866,1.392,1.001,0.516,95％ confidence interval:0.717-0.919,0.751-0.997,1.104-1.755,1.000-1.001,0.282-0.944,P＜0.05].(2) Comparison of postoperative recovery in patients with different AKI grade:cases with complete recovery,partial recovery and chronic renal failure were respectively 14,3,0 in 17 patients with grade 1 of AKI and 3,2,0 in 5 patients with grade 2 of AKI and 0,1,1 in 2 patients with grade 3 of AKI,with a statistically significant difference (x2=14.140,P＜0.05).(3) Follow-up and survival situations:127 patients were followed up for 9-44 months,with a median of 23 months.The 1-year overall survival rate of 127 patients was 95.3％.During the follow-up,22 patients died,including 9 with multiple organ failure,8 with primary disease recurrence and 5 with respiratory complication.The median overall survival time after OLT was 36 months in 24 patients with AKI and 40 months in 103 patients without AKI,with no statistically significant difference (x2=3.033,P＞0.05).Conclusion Age,preoperative MELD score,preoperative serum albumin,volume of intraoperative blood loss and donor liver cold-ischemia time are independent factors affecting occurrence of AKI after OLT,and there is better recovery in patients with grade 1 of AKI.

Objective: To identify differentially expressed genes in the transcriptome of the lesional versus nonlesional skin tissues of patients with moderate and severe atopic dermatitis (AD) , and to elucidate their roles in the pathogenesis of AD. Methods: From July to October in 2016, lesional and nonlesional skin tissues were obtained from 5 outpatients of Han nationality with AD in Guangzhou Institute of Dermatology, Institute of Dermatology, Guangzhou Medical University. The next-generation high-throughput transcriptome-wide RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed to identify differentially expressed genes, which were subjected to GO function annotation and KEGG pathway analysis. Real-time fluorescence-based quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was conducted to verify differences in candidate gene expression between lesional and nonlesional skin tissues. Results: An average of 10.96 GBs sequence reads were acquired among 10 samples. A total of 21 729 genes were detected, including 19 268 known genes and 2 545 predicted novel genes. A total of 23 153 new transcripts were detected, of which 18 889 were new alternative splicing subtypes of known protein-coding genes, 2 545 were transcripts belonging to new protein-coding genes, and the remaining 1 719 belonged to long-stranded non-coding RNA. Totally, 78 differentially expressed genes were identified between the lesional and nonlesional skin tissues, including 69 upregulated and 11 downregulated genes in the lesional skin tissues. Among them, there were several genes known to be associated with AD inflammation (CXCL1/2/8, IL6/IL1β, MMP1, SERPINB4, S100A2, GZMB, OASL, OSM) and barrier (KRT16, FABP5, CYP1A1) and keratinocyte differentiation (IL-20) . GO analysis revealed that functions of 72 differentially expressed genes could be annotated. KEGG pathway analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes were grouped into 132 signaling pathways, of which 13 were significantly enriched, including the interleukin (IL) -17 pathway, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, etc. qRT-PCR showed that the mRNA expression levels of candidate genes CXCL1, KRT6A, IL36A, SERPINB4 and PSAPL1 was consistent with the transcriptome sequencing results. Conclusions Differentially expressed genes and related important regulatory signaling pathways were identified between the lesional and nonlesional skin tissues of patients with AD at the transcriptional level, and the IL-17 pathway was found to be mostly enriched in AD lesions in patients of Han nationality. These findings provide an important basis for further study on the pathogenesis of AD..

Objective To evaluate the clinical effect and safety of regional citrate anticoagulation (RCA) in continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) for acute kidney injury (AKI) after hepatectomy.Methods A retrospective analysis of the clinical data of all patients with AKI after hepatectomy for CRRT admitted to surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from January 19th, 2013 to January 19th, 2018 was performed. According to the different anticoagulants, the patients were divided into no anticoagulant group (NA group), low molecular heparin anticoagulation (LMHA) group and RCA group. The general data of patients during the perioperative period; renal function, the internal environment, electrolyte and blood coagulation function before and after CRRT; the filter time, the number of filters and adverse events (bleeding, frequent filter blood coagulation, metabolic alkalosis, metabolic acidosis, hypocalcemia, citrate accumulation, etc.) during CRRT were collected. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze the life span of the first filter during different anticoagulation. Results A total of 67 cases were included in this study, including 11 in the NA group, 25 in the LMHA group and 31 in the RCA group. There was no significant difference in gender, age, underlying disease, etiology (tumor), Child-Pugh stage (A or B), CT angiography (CTA), basic renal function [serum creatinine (SCr), cystatin C (Cys C)], the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) stage; surgical approach; intraoperative bleeding volume, blood transfusion, blood pressure, time of duration of low blood pressure; and postoperative circulatory failure, hepatic insufficiency and sepsis among three groups. However, the length of ICU stay in RCA group was significantly less than the LMHA group and NA group (days: 8.16±2.24 vs. 10.48±5.11, 13.29±6.64, bothP< 0.05). Compared with before CRRT, the levels of SCr, Cys C and Lac were significantly decreased in RCA group and LMHA group after CRRT [SCr (μmol/L): 89.02±21.90 vs. 248.30±55.32, 105.10±49.00 vs. 270.10±156.00; Cys C (mg/L): 2.18±0.95 vs. 2.94±1.26, 2.26±0.76 vs. 3.07± 0.90; Lac (mmol/L): 2.21±1.46 vs. 3.62±1.73, 2.37±1.24 vs. 4.03±1.69, allP < 0.05]; in addition, LMHA group and NA group had significant effects on hemoglobin (Hb), platelet count (PLT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) after CRRT [Hb (g/L): 85.4±5.1 vs. 99.6±23.6, 80.0±7.6 vs. 101.4±7.8; PLT (×109/L): 27.60±8.22 vs. 62.04±16.49, 21.36±3.91 vs. 61.45±17.69; APTT (s): 63.07±10.25 vs. 41.52±3.65, 49.56±5.77 vs. 41.09± 3.45, allP < 0.05]; at the same time, Cys C level and prothrombin time (PT) in the NA group after CRRT treatment were significantly increased compared with the others [Cys C (mg/L): 3.59±0.64 vs. 2.29±0.51, PT (s): 26.41±2.43 vs. 23.64±1.92 , bothP < 0.05]. Finally, the time of filters (hours: 60.52±8.82, 31.04±7.03, 13.73±6.26,F = 183.412, P < 0.001) and the number of filter during treatment (number: 2.03±0.60, 3.12±0.73, 4.64±1.29,F = 45.933,P <0.001) in the RCA group, LMHA group and NA group had statistically significant difference. Meanwhile, the incidence of adverse events such as bleeding (0 vs. 4, 7,χ2 = 23.961,P < 0.001) and frequent filter coagulation (1 vs. 10, 11,χ2 =35.413,P < 0.001) in RCA group was significantly lower than that in LMHA group and NA group. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the life time of the first filter in RCA group was significantly longer than that in LMHA group and NA group (χ2 = 139.45,P < 0.05).Conclusion The application of RCA in patients with AKI after hepatectomy during CRRT is safe and effective, which can significantly prolong the life of the filter and reduce the risk of bleeding.

Objective:To investigate changes in skin microecological structures and functions between acute and remission phases in adult patients with severe atopic dermatitis (AD) .Methods:From October 2019 to November 2020, skin scale specimens were collected from 5 body sites (cheeks, cubital fossa, back of the hand, abdomen, lower limbs) of 4 adult patients with severe AD in the acute and remission phases, who visited the outpatient clinic of Guangzhou Institute of Dermatology. The next-generation high-throughput sequencing was performed for metagenomic sequencing to construct the microbial gene catalogue of these specimens, followed by gene annotation and bioinformatics analysis for each sample.Results:A total of 18 phyla, 37 classes, 73 orders, 142 families, 237 genera, and 331 species were identified in the skin specimens from the 4 patients with severe AD. The patients with AD in the remission phase showed significantly increased diversity of skin microbiota and markedly different relative abundance of skin microorganisms compared with those in the acute phase (both P < 0.05). At the microbial species level, Staphylococcus aureus showed the highest impact on the acute phase of AD, while Staphylococcus epidermidis, Moraxella osloensis, Francisella sp., Staphylococcus cohnii, Staphylococcus warneri, Malassezia globosa and Malassezia restricta were enriched in the remission phase of AD with the absolute value of the common logarithm of the linear discriminant analysis score > 2 (Kruksal-Wallis test, all P < 0.05). As KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed, the differentially abundant genes were annotated into a total of 355 functional pathways, of which 38 pathways were significantly enriched (all P < 0.05), mainly involving Staphylococcus aureus infection, tryptophan metabolism, histidine metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, metabolism of arginine and proline, biosynthesis and degradation of valine, leucine and isoleucine, fatty acid degradation, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor signaling pathway, etc. Conclusion:The skin microecological structure significantly differed between the acute and remission phases among the patients with severe AD, which may be related to multiple functional pathways, such as Staphylococcus aureus infection, tryptophan metabolism, histidine metabolism and nitrogen metabolism.

Objective To investigate the seasonal Aedes population fluctuation and the resistance of Aedes populations to common insecticides in Jiangsu Province in 2020, so as to provide insights into vector-borne infectious diseases control.. Methods One village was randomly sampled from each of Xinbei District of Changzhou City and Zhangjiagang County of Suzhou City in southern Jiangsu Province, Hai’an County of Nantong City and Yandu District of Yancheng City in Central Jiangsu Province, and Suining County of Xuzhou City and Sihong County of Suqian City in northern Jiangsu Province during the period between May and October, 2020. A small ponding container was sampled, and larval Aedes mosquitoes were collected using straws once each in early and late stages of each month. All larvae were bred in laboratory to adults for population identification. In addition, larval breeding were observed in all small ponding containers in and out of 30 households that were randomly sampled from six surveillance sites, and the larval mosquito density was estimated using Breteau index. Larval A. albopictus mosquitoes were sampled around Cuiyuan New Village in Jintan District of Changzhou City, and bred in laboratory to the first offspring generation, and the susceptibility of adult female mosquitoes to deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, malathion, and propoxur was tested using the filter-paper bioassay recommended by WHO. Results A total of 1 165 larval Aedes mosquitoes were captured from small ponding containers in six surveillance sites of Jiangsu Province in 2020, and all were identified as A. albopictus following eclosion. The largest number of Aedes larvae captured was found in July. A total of 1 152 households were investigated in six surveillance sites, and the mean Breteau indexes were 9.58, 13.20, 13.71, 13.20, 12.18 and 5.58 from May to October, respectively, while a high Aedes transmission risk was seen in Xinbei District of Changzhou City, with a higher Breteau index than in Suining (H = 23.667, P_adjusted = 0.001) and Sihong (H = 22.500, P_adjusted = 0.003) counties. The field-captured A. albopictus from Cuiyuan New Village in Jintan District of Changzhou City remained sensitive to malathion, but was resistant to propoxur, and developed high-level resistance to deltamethrin and lambda-cyhalothrin. Conclusions A. albopictus was present in southern, central and northern Jiangsu Province in 2020, and the larval density peaked in July. A. albopictus captured from Cuiyuan New Village in Jintan District of Changzhou City has developed high-level resistance to pyrethroid pesticides.