Objective: To observe left and right ventricular mechanical sequence in systole and diastole by dual Doppler Echocardiography in healthy subjects. Methods: Dual Doppler echocardiography was performed in 100 normal subjects with dual-outflow-tract-view and apical four chamber view to simultaneously record the spectrum of left/right ventricular outlfow tract (LVOT)/(RVOT) and left/right ventricular inlfow tract (LVIT)/(RVIT) at the same cardiac cycle. The time cycles of blood lfow spectrum from the peak of QRS complex to aorta, pulmonary artery, mitral valve (MV) and tricuspid valve (TV) were measured, the starting time differences for blood lfow spectrum of aorta and pulmonary artery, MV and TV were calculated to assess the mechanical sequence of left and right ventricle in systole and diastole respectively. Results: There were 48/100 (48%) subjects having LV ejection preceded than RV (95% CI 0.38-0.58), 46 (46%) having RV ejection preceded than LV (95% CI 0.36-0.56) and 6 (6%) having LV, RV simultaneous ejection (95% CI 0.01-0.11). There were 96/100 (96%) subjects having RV iflling prior to LV (95% CI 0.90-0.99), 3 (3%) having LV iflling prior to RV (95% CI 0.01-0.08) and 1 (1%) having LV, RV simultaneous iflling (95% CI 0.00-0.05). Conclusion: There is a regular pattern for mechanical sequence of LV and RV in systole and diastole in healthy subject; in systole, the sequence of LV varies from person to person, while in diastole, RV is always preceded. Based on normal ventricular mechanical sequence, optimizing programming parameter of pace maker and choosing cardiac sequence in diastole might be the ifnal criteria for cardiac resynchronization therapy in the future.

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the differences of the cell ultrastucture of normal mouse hatched blastocysts and their dormant ones cultured in vitro after freezing-thawing, and to explore whether the dor-mant embryos have a better anti-freezing shock property than the normal hatched mouse embryos .Methods By transmis-sion electron microscopy , the ultrastructure of these two types of mouse embryos was observed and analyzed .Results By comparative analysis of their ultrastructure , the results showed that the dormant embryos before freezing are being austerity and with lower energy metabolism at a ‘ground state ’ .After freezing-thawing and culture , their cellular structure seemed to be similar to that of the normal embryos cultured in vitro before freezing.However, after freezing-thawing and culture, the number of mitochondria decreased , the nuclei were loose , and their heterochromatin also increased .Conclusions From the ultrastructural observation , compared with the normal mouse hatched embryos , the cellular state of dormant mouse em-bryos after freezing-thawing is more favorable for material storage and energy metabolism , thus, indicating that they have a better anti-freezing property than normal hatched embryos .

In this study, hollow fiber membrane extraction combined with ambient ionization mass spectrometry ( AMS) was developed for the simultaneous determination of 7 perfluorinated compounds ( PFCs) in aqueous solution, including perfluoroheptanoic acid ( PFHpA ) , perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA ) , perfluorooctane sulfonate acid ( PFOS ) , perfluorononanoic acid ( PFNA ) , perfluorodecanoic acid ( PFDA ) , perfluoroundecanoic acid ( PFUdA) , and perfluorododecanoic acid ( PFDoA) . PFCs were detected in negative ion mode using selective reaction monitoring ( SRM) mode. The extraction time and the pH value of extraction solution were optimized. 13 C4-PFOS and 13 C4-PFOA were used as internal standards for quantitative analysis. The method showed good linearity with correlation coefficient values ( r2 ) greater than 0. 991 for the seven target PFCs. With the exception of PFHpA, the limit of detection ( LOD) for other six PFCs was within ranges from 0. 8 to 2. 7 ng/L while the limit of quantitative (LOQ) was from 2. 7 ng/L to 8. 9 ng/L. The enrichment factor of five PFCs was more than two hundred. The developed method was applied to detect the seven PFCs in tap water and Pearl River water, and they were all not detected. The recoveries were within the ranges of 88. 5%-108. 3% and 94. 2%-116. 7% when 40 ng/L and 400 ng/L PFCs were spiked into tap water, respectively. In terms of the Pearl River water, the recoveries were within the ranges of 75. 0%-102. 6% and 81. 2%-97. 6% when 40 ng/L and 400 ng/L PFCs were spiked, respectively.

OBJECTIVETo explore the genetic basis and phenotypic correlation with disease severity in a large cohort of Chinese patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

METHODSA total of 179 unrelated Chinese HCM patients admitted to our department from 2002 to 2011 were enrolled in this study. Direct gene sequencing of β-myosin heavy chain (MYH7), myosin binding protein-C ( MYBPC3), and cardiac troponin T (TNNT2) were performed and clinical data were obtained in these patients.

RESULTSA total of 34 mutations were identified in 40 patients (22.3%), 79.4% (27/34) mutations occurred only once and a possible hot spot, A26 in MYH7, was found. Distribution of mutations was 52.9% (18/34) (MYBPC3), 35.3% (12/34) ( MYH7) and 11.8% (4/34) (TNNT2) respectively. Double mutations were identified in 2.2% (4/179) patients. Genotype-positive patients were associated with an earlier symptom onset, severer left ventricular hypertrophy, a higher incidence of syncope, and were more likely to have positive family history of HCM or sudden cardiac death (SCD) , and were more likely to progress into heart failure (24.2% vs. 5.0%, P = 0.002) and at a higher risk of SCD (9.1% vs. 0, P = 0.009) during the 6.5-year follow-up. No statistical difference in any clinical parameters and outcomes was found between patients carrying MYBPC3 and MYH7 mutations. Double mutations were associated with malignant clinical progression in this cohort. Different phenotype severity could be seen in HCM patients with same genotype (e. g. MYH7-1736T, TNNT2-R92W).

CONCLUSIONMYBPC3 is the most predominant gene mutation in this HCM cohort. The presence of a sarcomere mutation in patients with HCM is associated with poor clinical outcome, although no specific genes or mutations can exactly predict the severity of clinical phenotypes.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; Carrier Proteins ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Disease Progression ; Genotype ; Humans ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; Mutation ; Phenotype ; Sarcomeres ; Troponin T ; Ventricular Myosins

Objective To investigate the value of two-dimensional and three-dimensional ultrasonography in differential diagnosing cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) and lower uterine cavity non-scar pregnancy.Methods Totally 67 patients with CSP (CSP group)and 29 patients with lower uterine cavity non-scar pregnancy (lower uterine cavity non-scar pregnancy group) were enrolled.Two-dimensional and three-dimensional ultrasonography were performed to observe the gestational sac implantation site,the relationship between gestational sac and cesarean section scar and the main source of blood flow,and the residual muscle thickness of cesarean section scar was measured as well.Logistic regression model was established,and the diagnostic efficacy was evaluated with ROC curve.Results Statistical differences of relationship between gestational sac and scar,the main source of blood flow and residual muscle thickness were found between CSP group and lower uterine cavity non-scar pregnancy group (all P＜0.001).The area under the ROC curve of the Logistic regression model was 0.878 (P＜0.001).Taking prediction accuracy of 0.680 as a cut-off value,the accuracy of this model in predicting was 86.46％,the sensitivity was 89.55％ and the specificity was 79.31％.Taking gestational sac implanted scars and nourish the blood flow from the lower anterior wall of the uterus as the diagnostic criteria for CSP,the Kappa value of two-dimensional and three-dimensional ultrasonograpby in diagnosis CSP and non-scar pregnancy was 0.699 and 0.711,respectively.Conclusion Comprehensive analysis of the relationship between gestational sac and scars,the main source of blood flow and residual muscle thickness with Logistic regression model can improve differential diagnostic efficacy of CSP with lower uterine cavity non-scar pregnancy.

The Lianhua Qingwen (LHQW) capsule is a popular traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of viral respiratory diseases.In particular,it has been recently prescribed to treat infections caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).However,due to its complex composi-tion,little attention has been directed toward the analysis of chemical constituents present in the LHQW capsule.This study presents a reliable and comprehensive approach to characterizing the chemical constituents present in LHQW by high-performance liquid chromatography-Q Exactive-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q Exactive-Orbitrap-MS) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS).An automated library alignment method with a high mass accuracy (within 5 ppm) was used for the rapid identification of compounds.A total of 104 compounds,consisting of alkaloids,flavonoids,phenols,phenolic acids,phenylpropanoids,quinones,terpenoids,and other phytochemicals,were suc-cessfully characterized.In addition,the fragmentation pathways and characteristic fragments of some representative compounds were elucidated.GC-MS analysis was conducted to characterize the volatile compounds present in LHQW.In total,17 compounds were putatively characterized by comparing the acquired data with that from the NIST library.The major constituent was menthol,and all the other compounds were terpenoids.This is the first comprehensive report on the identification of the major chemical constituents present in the LHQW capsule by HPLC-Q Exactive-Orbitrap-MS,coupled with GC-MS,and the results of this study can be used for the quality control and standardization of LHQW capsules.

Proinsulin (Pins) is the precursor of insulin. The expression of proinsulin in Escherichia coli forms inclusion body, so that the recombinant protein should be processed with multiple steps to form active insulin. With the development in biotechnology, cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) system is becoming a valuable tool in protein expression by decoupling the cell growth with protein production, which allows it to express proteins that would interfere with cell physiology. In this study, we synthesized soluble proinsulin in CFPS system in order to establish a new approach for both insulin expression and delivery. The soluble proinsulin was successfully expressed in CFPS system by fusing proinsulin with two types of fluorescent protein. The expression of Pins-mCherry was confirmed by Western blotting analysis, and the Pins-eGFP titer was (12.28±3.45) μg/mL in CFPS system. These results implicated that the proinsulin was expressed partially in soluble form. Here, for the first time, we successfully expressed soluble proinsulin in CFPS system by fluorescent protein fusion. These results provide useful information in developing new insulin expression and delivery method.

During natural viewing, we often recognize multiple objects, detect their motion, and select one object as the target to track. It remains to be determined how such behavior is guided by the integration of visual form and motion perception. To address this, we studied how monkeys made a choice to track moving targets with different forms by smooth pursuit eye movements in a two-target task. We found that pursuit responses were biased toward the motion direction of a target with a hole. By computing the relative weighting, we found that the target with a hole exhibited a larger weight for vector computation. The global hole feature dominated other form properties. This dominance failed to account for changes in pursuit responses to a target with different forms moving singly. These findings suggest that the integration of visual form and motion perception can reshape the competition in sensorimotor networks to guide behavioral selection.
Animals ; Pursuit, Smooth ; Macaca mulatta ; Motion Perception/physiology* ; Photic Stimulation

Objective: To investigate the positive rate for 2019-nCoV tests and co-infections in Wuhan district. Methods: A total of 8 274 cases in Wuhan were enrolled in this cross-sectional study during January 20 to February 9, 2020, and were tested for 2019-nCoV using fluorescence quantitative PCR. Both respiratory tract samples (nasopharynx, oropharynx, sputum and alveolar lavage fluid) and non-respiratory tract samples (urine, feces, anal swabs, blood and conjunctival sac swabs) were collected. If both orf1ab and N genes are positive, they are classified as nucleic acid test positive group; if both orf1ab and N genes are negative, they are classified as negative group; if single gene target is positive, they are classified as suspicious group. Individuals were divided into male group and female group according to sex. At the same time, 316 patients were tested for 13 respiratory pathogens by multiplex PCR. Results: Among the 8 274 subjects, 2 745 (33.2%) were 2019-nCoV infected; 5 277 (63.8%) subjects showed negative results in the 2019-nCoV nucleic acid test; and 252 cases (3.05%) was not definitive (inconclusive result). The age of cases with COVID-19 patients and inconclusive cases was significantly higher than that of cases without 2019-nCoV infection (40 vs 56, t=27.569, P<0.001; 52 vs 56, t=6.774, P<0.001). The positive rate of 13 respiratory pathogens multiple tests was significantly lower in 104 subjects who were positive for 2019-nCoV compared with those in subjects who were negative for 2019-nCoV test (5.77% vs 18.39%, χ²=24.105, P=0.003). Four types of respiratory tract samples and five types of non-respiratory tract samples were found to be positive for 2019-nCoV nucleic acid test. Conclusion The 2019-nCoV nucleic acid positive rate in male is higher than in female. Co-infections should be pay close attention in COVID-19 patients. 2019-nCoV nucleic acid can be detected in non-respiratory tract samples.