Objective To investigate the roles and mechanisms of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) in chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) induced gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM).Methods After the immortalized gastric mucosal epithelial cells GES-1 were stimulated with CDCA at different concentration,the changes of HNF4α,caudal-related homeobox 2 (CDX2) and trefoil factor family 3 (TFF3) expressions at mRNA and protein levels in GES-1 cells and gastric cancer cell lines (AGS,SGC7901 and BGC823) were detected by real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting.After GES-1 were transfected with HNF4α short hairpin RNA (shRNA) or control shRNA,and followed by CDCA stimulation,the expressions of HNF4α,CDX2 and TFF3 at protein level were determined by Western blotting.HNF4α was overexpressed in GES-1 cells and SGC7901 cells,and HNF4α was silenced in BGC823 cell line and AGS by lentiviral vector system.The expressions of HNF4α,CDX2 and TFF3 at mRNA and protein levels were tested by RT-PCR and Western blotting.Luciferase reporter assay was used to analyze the regulation role of HNF4α on CDX2.T test was performed for statistical analysis.Results The expressions of HNF4α in GES-1,SGC7901,BGC823 and AGS cells at mRNA level were 1.00 ± 0.12,263.01±10.23,848.01±18.13 and 3 049.86±91.75,respectively.The mRNAlevels of HNF4α in AGS,BGC823 and SGC7901 cells were all higher than that of GES-1 cells,and the differences were statistically significant (t=33.23,46.72 and 25.62,all P＜0.01).The expressions of HNF4α in GES-1,SGC7901,BGC823 and AGS at protein level were consistent with mRNA level.The expressions of CDX2 and TFF3 at protein level of HNF4α shRNA transfected group were lower than those of non-HNF4α shRNA transfected group.In GES-1 cells,the expressions of HNF4α,CDX2 and TFF3 of HNF4α overexpressed group at mRNA level were 16 281.839 ± 1 843.017,6.275 ± 0.137 and 17.310± 1.533,respectively;which were all higher than those of overexpressed control group (1.000 ± 0.048,1.000 ± 0.012 and 1.000±0.108,respectively),and the differences were statistically significant (t =8.83,38.29 and 10.61,all P＜0.01).In AGS cells,the expressions of HNF4α,CDX2 and TFF3 of HNF4α silenced group at mRNA level were 0.021 ± 0.001,0.088 ± 0.007 and 0.074 ± 0.002,respectively,which were lower than those of silenced control group (1.000 ± 0.108,1.000 ± 0.131 and 1.000 ± 0.122),and the differences were statistically significant (t=9.09,6.93 and 7.57,all P＜0.01).In GES-1 overexpressed cells and AGS silenced cells,the expressions of HNF4α,CDX2,TFF3 at protein level were consistent with mRNA level.In double reporter plasmid containing the CDX2 promoter CDX2 1 (-2 000～-1 bp) and CDX2-2 (-1 510～1 bp),after transfected with HNF4α shRNA,the activities were 0.387 ± 0.013 and 0.533 ± 0.040,respectively,which were lower than those of HNF4α shRNA transfected control group (0.605 ± 0.012 and 0.882 ± 0.019),and the differences were statistically significant (t =21.49 and 13.53,both P＜0.01).Conclusion HNF4α may be involved in bile acid induced intestinal metaplasia by upregulating the expression of CDX2.

Objective: To explore the association between parental education level and time spent outdoors among children, so as to provide the scientific evidence for formulating policies of myopia prevention and control among children. Methods: The study was based on secondary analysis of data from outdoor intervention studies in Shanghai. The follow up period was from March to December 2018. It included control group children ( n =1 117) with complete questionnaire surveys, ocular examinations, and time spent outdoors. Generalized linear regression models and trend tests were used to analyze the effect of parental education level on time spent outdoors among children. Results: The median time spent outdoors was 76.4(59.7, 94.6) minutes. After adjusting for covariates including children s sex and age, generalized linear regression model suggested that there was no statistical significance between father s education level and outdoor activity time ( P >0.05). Compared with children whose mothers had a junior high school education or below, children whose mothers had high school/vocational high school education, college or above had shorter time spent outdoors ( β=-6.64, -8.84 , P <0.05). Trend tests revealed that time spent outdoors among children decreased with the increase of parental education level ( P trend <0.01). Conclusions The higher the education level of fathers or mothers, the shorter time spent outdoors of children. In addition to highlight outdoor activities at school, myopia prevention and control efforts should be focused on the role of parents in increasing children s outdoor activities.

Toxoplasma gondii is a worldwide parasite that can infect almost all kinds of mammals and cause fatal toxoplasmosis in immunocompromised patients. Apoptosis is one of the principal strategies of host cells to clear pathogens and maintain organismal homeostasis, but the mechanism of cell apoptosis induced by T. gondii remains obscure. To explore the apoptosis influenced by T. gondii, Vero cells infected or uninfected with the parasite were subjected to apoptosis detection and subsequent dual RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Using high-throughput Illumina sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, we found that pro-apoptosis genes such as DNA damage-inducible transcript 3 (DDIT3), growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible α (GADD45A), caspase-3 (CASP3), and high-temperature requirement protease A2 (HtrA2) were upregulated, and anti-apoptosis genes such as poly(adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribose) polymerase family member 3 (PARP3), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), and baculoviral inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) repeat containing 5 (BIRC5) were downregulated. Besides, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor 1 (TRAF1), TRAF2, TNF receptor superfamily member 10b (TNFRSF10b), disabled homolog 2 (DAB2)-interacting protein (DAB2IP), and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 3 (ITPR3) were enriched in the upstream of TNF, TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathways, and TRAIL-receptor 2 (TRAIL-R2) was regarded as an important membrane receptor influenced by T. gondii that had not been previously considered. In conclusion, the T. gondii RH strain could promote and mediate apoptosis through multiple pathways mentioned above in Vero cells. Our findings improve the understanding of the T. gondii infection process through providing new insights into the related cellular apoptosis mechanisms.

Toxoplasma gondii is a worldwide parasite that can infect almost all kinds of mammals and cause fatal toxoplasmosis in immunocompromised patients. Apoptosis is one of the principal strategies of host cells to clear pathogens and maintain organismal homeostasis, but the mechanism of cell apoptosis induced by T. gondii remains obscure. To explore the apoptosis influenced by T. gondii, Vero cells infected or uninfected with the parasite were subjected to apoptosis detection and subsequent dual RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Using high-throughput Illumina sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, we found that pro-apoptosis genes such as DNA damage-inducible transcript 3 (DDIT3), growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible α (GADD45A), caspase-3 (CASP3), and high-temperature requirement protease A2 (HtrA2) were upregulated, and anti-apoptosis genes such as poly(adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribose) polymerase family member 3 (PARP3), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), and baculoviral inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) repeat containing 5 (BIRC5) were downregulated. Besides, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor 1 (TRAF1), TRAF2, TNF receptor superfamily member 10b (TNFRSF10b), disabled homolog 2 (DAB2)‍-interacting protein (DAB2IP), and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 3 (ITPR3) were enriched in the upstream of TNF, TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathways, and TRAIL-receptor 2 (TRAIL-R2) was regarded as an important membrane receptor influenced by T. gondii that had not been previously considered. In conclusion, the T. gondii RH strain could promote and mediate apoptosis through multiple pathways mentioned above in Vero cells. Our findings improve the understanding of the T. gondii infection process through providing new insights into the related cellular apoptosis mechanisms.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Chlorocebus aethiops ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Humans ; Mammals/genetics* ; Toxoplasma/genetics* ; Toxoplasmosis/pathology* ; Vero Cells ; ras GTPase-Activating Proteins/genetics*