OBJECTIVE: To screen the genetic risk factors related to severe hematology adverse effects (AEs) in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) treated with imatinib (IM), and explore the correlation of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IM drug metabolism and transport pathway gene polymorphism with the risk of severe hematology AEs. METHODS: 172 newly diagnosed Chinese Han patients in CML chronic phase (CML-CP) treated with IM were included and divided into severe hematology AEs group and non-severe hematology AEs group. The demographic characteristics and laboratory test results were compared between the two groups. 11 gene SNP sites in the included subjects were genotyped using SNaPshot multiplex SNPs technique. RESULTS: Compared with non-severe hematology AEs group, the severe hematology AEs group had higher white blood cell (WBC) and EOS% (both P < 0.05), but lower hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (HCT) (both P < 0.01). For rs1045642 of ABCB1 gene, there were significant differences in the distribution of allele frequency and genotype frequency of this loci between severe hematology AEs group and non-severe hematology AEs group (both P < 0.05). Carriers of rs1045642 mutation allele A had an increased risk of severe hematology AEs (OR =2.09, 95% CI : 1.24-3.55, P =0.005). There was a significant difference in the distribution of NR1I2 gene rs3814055 genotype between severe hematology AEs group and non-severe hematology AEs group (P < 0.05). The additive model and recessive model of ABCB1 gene rs1045642 and the recessive model of NR1I2 gene rs3814055 were associated with the increased risk of severe hematology AEs (OR =2.14, 3.28, 5.54, all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Peripheral blood WBC, EOS%, Hb and HCT in patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP are all related to the risk of severe hematology AEs. ABCB1 gene rs1045642 and NR1I2 gene rs3814055 related to the metabolism and transport pathway of IM are associated with severe hematology AEs after IM treatment in CML-CP patients, and they may be potential molecular markers to predict the risk of severe hematology AEs of CML patients treated by IM.
Humans ; Imatinib Mesylate ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive/genetics* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Genotype ; ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B ; Gene Frequency ; Female ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Asian People

The organization of the brain follows a topological hierarchy that changes dynamically during development. However, it remains unknown whether and how cognitive training administered over multiple years during development can modify this hierarchical topology. By measuring the brain and behavior of school children who had carried out abacus-based mental calculation (AMC) training for five years (starting from 7 years to 12 years old) in pre-training and post-training, we revealed the reshaping effect of long-term AMC intervention during development on the brain hierarchical topology. We observed the development-induced emergence of the default network, AMC training-promoted shifting, and regional changes in cortical gradients. Moreover, the training-induced gradient changes were located in visual and somatomotor areas in association with the visuospatial/motor-imagery strategy. We found that gradient-based features can predict the math ability within groups. Our findings provide novel insights into the dynamic nature of network recruitment impacted by long-term cognitive training during development.
Child ; Humans ; Cognitive Training ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Brain ; Brain Mapping ; Motor Cortex

Objective To investigate the therapeutic mechanism of Gandou Bushen Decoction(GDBSD)for improving reproductive disorders in male mouse models of Wilson disease(WD).Methods Sixty male homozygous TX mice were randomized equally into 4 groups and treated with daily gavage of saline(WD model group),penicillamine(0.09 g/kg),or GDBSD(0.2 mL/10 g),or with intraperitoneal injection of U0126(20 mg/kg)in addition to GDBSD gavage,with 15 male DL mice as control.After 4 weeks of treatment,copper content in testicular tissue of the mice was detected,and histopathology of the testes and epididymis was examined using HE staining and electron microscopy.TUNEL staining was used to identify apoptotic cells in the testes.The protein expressions of Bcl-2,Cytc,caspase-3,ERK,and p-ERK in the testicular tissue were evaluated with Western blotting,and BrdU-positive cells were detected with immunohistochemical labeling.Sperm density,viability,malformation rate and fertility levels of male mice were studied.Results Treatment with penicillamine and GDBSD obviously improved pathological changes of the testis,increased sperm density and motility,lowered sperm abnormality rate,fertility levels and increased testicular JOHNSEN score of TK mice,but the therapeutic effect of GDBSD was blocked by U0126.GDBSD treatment significantly lowered Cytc and caspase-3 expressions and increased Bcl-2 expression in the testicular tissue of TX mice(P<0.05),while U0126 treatment significantly lowered testicular Bcl-2 expression level.No significant differences were found in total protein expression levels of ERK1/2 among the 5 groups,but p-ERK protein expression was significantly reduced in WD and U0126 groups and increased in penicillamine and GDBSD groups.Conclusion GDBSD can improve spermatogenesis and enhance fertility of male TX mice with WD possibly by activating the ERK signaling pathway to enhance proliferation and reduce apoptosis of the spermatogenic cells.

Objective To investigate the therapeutic mechanism of Gandou Bushen Decoction(GDBSD)for improving reproductive disorders in male mouse models of Wilson disease(WD).Methods Sixty male homozygous TX mice were randomized equally into 4 groups and treated with daily gavage of saline(WD model group),penicillamine(0.09 g/kg),or GDBSD(0.2 mL/10 g),or with intraperitoneal injection of U0126(20 mg/kg)in addition to GDBSD gavage,with 15 male DL mice as control.After 4 weeks of treatment,copper content in testicular tissue of the mice was detected,and histopathology of the testes and epididymis was examined using HE staining and electron microscopy.TUNEL staining was used to identify apoptotic cells in the testes.The protein expressions of Bcl-2,Cytc,caspase-3,ERK,and p-ERK in the testicular tissue were evaluated with Western blotting,and BrdU-positive cells were detected with immunohistochemical labeling.Sperm density,viability,malformation rate and fertility levels of male mice were studied.Results Treatment with penicillamine and GDBSD obviously improved pathological changes of the testis,increased sperm density and motility,lowered sperm abnormality rate,fertility levels and increased testicular JOHNSEN score of TK mice,but the therapeutic effect of GDBSD was blocked by U0126.GDBSD treatment significantly lowered Cytc and caspase-3 expressions and increased Bcl-2 expression in the testicular tissue of TX mice(P<0.05),while U0126 treatment significantly lowered testicular Bcl-2 expression level.No significant differences were found in total protein expression levels of ERK1/2 among the 5 groups,but p-ERK protein expression was significantly reduced in WD and U0126 groups and increased in penicillamine and GDBSD groups.Conclusion GDBSD can improve spermatogenesis and enhance fertility of male TX mice with WD possibly by activating the ERK signaling pathway to enhance proliferation and reduce apoptosis of the spermatogenic cells.

Abstract: Objective　To evaluate the free thalassaemia screening programme for preconception and pregnancy in Hainan Province, and to provide a theoretical basis for optimizing the screening process for thalassaemia. Methods From November 2020 to July 2021, a survey was conducted on 10 396 adults with Hainan household registration who participated in the Epidemiological Survey of Thalassemia in Hainan Residents in 19 cities and counties of Hainan Province. All of them underwent routine blood tests, haemoglobin electrophoresis tests and genetic tests for thalassaemia. The optimal diagnostic cut-off values for mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), and haemoglobin adult type 2 (HbA2) were determined using screening test indexes such as receiver operating characteristic curve and sensitivity. The diagnostic effectiveness of different primary screening programs for thalassemia gene carriers was evaluated. Results Using the existing MCV single-indicator thalassemia primary screening protocol in Hainan Province, where individuals with MCV<82 fL undergo thalassemia gene testing, resulted in a high missed diagnosis rate (34.06%) and low sensitivity (65.94%). The optimal cut-off values for MCV screening for alpha-and beta-thalassaemia were 84.45 fL and 79.05 fL, respectively; the optimal cut-off values for MCH screening for alpha-and beta-thalassaemia were 27.95 pg and 25.15 pg, respectively. The optimal cut-off value for HbA2 screening for alpha-thalassaemia was less than 2.55% and greater than 3.35% for beta-thalassaemia. The "combined HbA2 or MCH or MCV screening protocol" with the cut-off values recommended in this study had a better performance in primary screening for thalassemia, with the highest sensitivity (92.96%) and negative predictive value (92.67%) and the lowest underdiagnosis rate (7.04%), statistically significant differences compared with the existing protocol (P<0.05). Conclusions The current process of screening for thalassemia in Hainan Province may lead to missed diagnoses. The combined use of MCV, MCH and HbA2 for thalassemia screening, adopting locally suitable cutoff values for primary screening indicators, can improve the incidence of missed reporting of thalassemia and enhance diagnostic effectiveness.

Our previous study demonstrated that phosphodiesterase 8 (PDE8) could work as a potential target for vascular dementia (VaD) using a chemical probe 3a. However, compound 3a is a chiral compound which was obtained by chiral resolution on HPLC, restricting its usage in clinic. Herein, a series of non-chiral 9-benzyl-2-chloro-adenine derivatives were discovered as novel PDE8 inhibitors. Lead 15 exhibited potent inhibitory activity against PDE8A (IC₅₀ = 11 nmol/L), high selectivity over other PDEs, and remarkable drug-like properties (worthy to mention is that its bioavailability was up to 100%). Oral administration of 15 significantly improved the cAMP level of the right brain and exhibited dose-dependent effects on cognitive improvement in a VaD mouse model. Notably, the X-ray crystal structure of the PDE8A-15 complex showed that the potent affinity and high selectivity of 15 might come from the distinctive interactions with H-pocket including T-shaped π-π interactions with Phe785 as well as a unique H-bond network, which have never been observed in other PDE-inhibitor complex before, providing new strategies for the further rational design of novel selective inhibitors against PDE8.

N ⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) modification is critical for mRNA splicing, nuclear export, stability and translation. Fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO), the first identified m⁶A demethylase, is critical for cancer progression. Herein, we developed small-molecule inhibitors of FTO by virtual screening, structural optimization, and bioassay. As a result, two FTO inhibitors namely 18077 and 18097 were identified, which can selectively inhibit demethylase activity of FTO. Specifically, 18097 bound to the active site of FTO and then inhibited cell cycle process and migration of cancer cells. In addition, 18097 reprogrammed the epi-transcriptome of breast cancer cells, particularly for genes related to P53 pathway. 18097 increased the abundance of m⁶A modification of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) mRNA, which recruited IGF2BP1 to increase mRNA stability of SOCS1 and subsequently activated the P53 signaling pathway. Further, 18097 suppressed cellular lipogenesis via downregulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (C/EBPα), and C/EBPβ. Animal studies confirmed that 18097 can significantly suppress in vivo growth and lung colonization of breast cancer cells. Collectively, we identified that FTO can work as a potential drug target and the small-molecule inhibitor 18097 can serve as a potential agent against breast cancer.

Scaffold hopping refers to computer-aided screening for active compounds with different structures against the same receptor to enrich privileged scaffolds, which is a topic of high interest in organic and medicinal chemistry. However, most approaches cannot efficiently predict the potency level of candidates after scaffold hopping. Herein, we identified potent PDE5 inhibitors with a novel scaffold via a free energy perturbation (FEP)-guided scaffold-hopping strategy, and FEP shows great advantages to precisely predict the theoretical binding potencies ΔG _FEP between ligands and their target, which were more consistent with the experimental binding potencies ΔG _EXP (the mean absolute deviations | Δ G FEP - Δ G EXP |  < 2 kcal/mol) than those ΔG _MM-PBSA or ΔG _MM-GBSA predicted by the MM-PBSA or MM-GBSA method. Lead L12 had an IC₅₀ of 8.7 nmol/L and exhibited a different binding pattern in its crystal structure with PDE5 from the famous starting drug tadalafil. Our work provides the first report via the FEP-guided scaffold hopping strategy for potent inhibitor discovery with a novel scaffold, implying that it will have a variety of future applications in rational molecular design and drug discovery.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the characteristics of sudden death associated with sexual activity to provide recommendations for forensic identification. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on autopsy cases accepted by Forensic Identification Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from 1998 to 2018, and a total of 15 cases of sudden death associated with sexual activity were screened out. The general information, case data and pathological changes of 15 cases were collected to find the relationship between sexual activity and sudden death. RESULTS: The ratio of male to female was 1.5∶1. The average age of males was 50.1 years and that of females was 35.0 years. Coronary artery diseases and brain diseases accounted for most of the cases (12/15). Sexual partners were associated with locations of deaths and body dumping behaviors. CONCLUSIONS Sudden death associated with sexual activity, although rare, may occur in people over 30 years old with pre-existing heart or brain diseases, which should be paid attention to in forensic practice.
Adult ; Cause of Death ; Death, Sudden/pathology* ; Female ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Sexual Behavior

Autopsy ; Eye Injuries ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans