Influenza A virus can create acute respiratory infection in humans and animals throughout the world, and it is still one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in humans worldwide. Numerous studies have shown that influenza A virus infection induces rapidly host innate immune response. Influenza A virus triggers the activation of signaling pathways that are dependent on host pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) including toll like receptors (TLRs) and RIG-I like receptors (RLRs). Using a variety of regulatory mechanisms, these signaling pathways activate downstream transcript factors that control expression of various interferons and cytokines, such as type I and type III interferons. Thus, these interferons stimulate the transcript of relevant interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) and expression of the antiviral proteins, which are critical components of host innate immunity. In this review, we will highlight the mechanisms by which influenza A virus infection induces the interferon-mediated host innate immunity.
Cytokines ; immunology ; DEAD Box Protein 58 ; DEAD-box RNA Helicases ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunity, Innate ; Influenza A virus ; Influenza, Human ; immunology ; Interferons ; immunology ; Receptors, Pattern Recognition ; immunology ; Signal Transduction ; Toll-Like Receptors ; immunology

Objective To investigate the effect of high mobility group box chromosomal protein 1 (HMGB1) knockdown on improving renal function and decreasing cell proliferation of glomeruli in lupus nephritis (LN) MRL/Faslpr mice.Methods Twenty-four MRL/Faslpr mice were randomly divided into 3 groups:LN model group,shHMGB1 group and empty plasmid group.Besides,eight MRL/MpJ mice,age and mass matched to the MRL/Faslpr mice,were chosen as normal control group (shNC group).Electroporation technology was used for in vivo transfection in treatment group.shHMGB1 group and empty plasmid group were transfected by electroporation technology for shHMGB1 plasmids and empty plasmid,LN model group and normal control group were transfected only with saline.Automatic biochemical analyzer was used to detect serum urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Scr) levels and 24 h urinary protein (UP) was tested.HE staining was used to detect the pathological change of renal tissues; real-time PCR,immunofluorence staining and Western blotting were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression of HMGB1 and PCNA.Results (1) The HMGB1 mRNA and protein expression in LN group increased compared with those in control group,HMGB1 mRNA and protein expression in shHMGB1 group reduced compared with those in LN model group (all P ＜ 0.05).(2) 24 h UP of MRL/Faslpr mice in shHMGB1 group significantly reduced compared with those in LN group (P ＜ 0.05).(3) Immunofluorence and Western blotting showed that positive signal of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was mainly located in nuclei,PCNA mRNA and protein in glomeruli of LN model group increased compared with those of control mice (P ＜ 0.05).Interestingly,PCNA expression in glomeruli of shHMGB1 group remarkably reduced (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions shHMGB1 significantly improves renal function and decreases cell proliferation of glomeruli in LN MRL/Faslpr mice.

Objective To analyze MRI features of different cervical flexion positions in Hirayama disease (HD) and discuss the effects on these features by different cervical flexion angles.Methods The cervical MR images of neutral and different flexion positions (20°, 25°, 30°, 35° ,40°) of 20 patients, who were clinically diagnosed as HD,were studied.At flexion positions, the appearance of anterior shifting of the posterior wall of the cervical dural canal and widening of epidural space was recorded.The maximum sagittal diameters (d) of widened cervical epidural space and the cervical canal sagittal diameters (D) on the same level were measured to calculate d/D value for quantitative evaluation of the two signs.Comparisons of appearance of the signs among different flexion positions were made using F/sher's exact test.Repeated measures analysis of variance (rmANOVA) was used to compare mean d/D values among groups with different positions, and paired comparisons were also performed.Results The appearance of anterior shifting of the posterior wall of the cervical dural canal were different between 20° group (70%, 14/20) and other 4 larger angles groups (100%) (χ2 =5.76, P=0.020).The d/D values were 0.51±0.06,0.54±0.08,0.57±0.09,0.61±0.09,0.59±0.07 respectively at abovementioned 5 flexion positions, which were different among groups( F = 3.450 ,P = 0.013 ).The value was greater at 35° than that at 20° and 25°( P <0.05 ), and it was also greater at 40° than that at 20° ( P < 0.05 ).Conclusion Cervical flexion angle has an effect on anterior shifting of the posterior wall of the cervical dural canal and widening of epidural space.

To express recombinant carboxypeptidase from Thermus aquaticus (Cpase Taq) in Pichia pastosis, the open reading frame coding thermostable Cpase Taq was optimized based on the preference of P. pastoris codon usage and synthesized in vitro. The novel gene was cloned into P. pastoris expression vector pHBM905A and the sequence coding 6xHis tag was fused with the ORF of Cpase Taq gene. The recombinant plasmid was named pHBM905A-Cpase Taq and transformed into P. pastoris GS 115. Transformants were induced with 1% methanol for 72 h until the enzyme yield reached 0.1 mg/ml. The enzyme was purified and its enzymatic properties were analyzed. The results showed that the specific enzyme activity reached maximum at 75 °C and pH 7.5, which was about 80 U/mg. It was the first report about the secretory expression of Cpase Taq in P. pastoris GS115. Because of its large-scale preparation, this enzyme may be applied in industrial hydrolysis of peptides into amino acids in the future.
Bacterial Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Carboxypeptidases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Cloning, Molecular ; Codon ; Hydrolysis ; Open Reading Frames ; Pichia ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Thermus ; enzymology

The evaluation of undergraduate course teaching by the Ministry of Education is a challenge to all our teachers,but it is also a chance for us to improve the teaching quality of infectious disease class.In this article we summarized the experience of the infectious disease education reform of many years,and discussed the approach and means of improving the teaching quality of infectious disease class.

BACKGROUND:Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels are crucial for bone and cartilage development and regeneration at a celular level. Insufficient quantity and functional impairment of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels is widely considered to be one of osteoarthritis causes. OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between the functional status of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels and disease progression in osteoarthritis patients.METHODS: Thirty patients with osteoarthritis were enroled from July 2013 to October 2014, and divided into control, mild osteoarthritis, and severe osteoarthritis groups, with 10 cases in each group. 5 mL bone marrow from the femur or tibia was extracted from each patient to isolate and culture bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels. Proliferation ability of cels at passage 3 was detected using cel counting kit-8; toluidine blue staining was performed at 14 days after chondrogenic induction; real-time PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of Aggrecan and Col2A1 in the control group after chondrogenic induction. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Afterin vitro culture, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels grew adherently in polygonal and fusiform shape with multiple processes at uniform size. The cytoplasm contained larger particles and the nuclei were ovoid. Most of cels were in cel division phase. The proliferation ability was strongest in the control group and weakest in the severe osteoarthritis group. Cels from the three groups were al at plateau phase after 1 week culture. At 14 days after chondrogenic induction, the cels were polygonal and quasi-circular, and purple metachromatic granules distributed outside of the cytoplasm. The expression of Aggrecan and Col2A1 in the control group displayed an overexpression trend. These findings indicate that the functional status of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels from osteoarthritis patients is negatively correlated with the severity of disease, which can influence the disease progression in osteoarthritis patients.

Autophagy is a highly conserved catabolic process that degrades cytosolic proteins and organelles via formation of autophagosomes that fuse with lysosomes to form autolysosomes, whereby autophagic cargos are degraded. Numerous studies have demonstrated that autophagy plays a critical role in the regulation of liver physiology and homeostasis, and impaired autophagy leads to the pathogenesis of various liver diseases such as viral hepatitis, alcohol associated liver diseases (AALD), non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD), and liver cancer. Recent evidence indicates that autophagy may play a dual role in liver cancer: inhibiting early tumor initiation while promoting progression and malignancy of already formed liver tumors. In this review, we summarized the progress of current understanding of how hepatic viral infection, alcohol consumption and diet-induced fatty liver diseases impair hepatic autophagy. We also discussed how impaired autophagy promotes liver tumorigenesis, and paradoxically how autophagy is required to promote the malignancy and progression of liver cancer. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying how autophagy differentially affects liver cancer development and progression may help to design better therapeutic strategies for prevention and treatment of liver cancer.

Objective: To estimate the influenza infection rate among severe acute respiratory infection(SARI) cases and the hospitalization rates of SARI attributable to influenza, based on two sentinel hospital surveillance databases in Beijing, 2015. Methods: Surveillance was conducted at two sentinel hospitals in Beijing in 2015. A total of 1 842 patients who admitted to the sentinel hospitals and met the definition of SARI were enrolled in the study. The respiratory tract specimens of SARI cases were collected, and sent to laboratories within 48 hours for influenza RNA detection. The catchment area of sentinel hospitals was defined by reviewing the home address of inpatients; A total of 1 491 patients were sampled and tested for influenza. The population size of catchment areas was obtained from demographic year book. We investigated the number of pneumonia patients admitted to the sentinel hospitals and other hospitals in catchment areas in 2015, and calculated the proportions of pneumonia patients that were admitted to sentinel hospitals in catchment areas. The catchment population size was calculated using the number of total population of catchment areas multiply by the proportions of pneumonia patients that were admitted at sentinel hospitals. Results: Among 1 491 patients, 13.7% (205 cases) was test positive for influenza viruses, 2 (0.9%) cases positive for influenza A (H1N1), 91 (44.6%) cases influenza A (H3N2), 1 (0.5%) case influenza B/Victoria, 111 (54.0%) cases influenza B/Yamagata. Influenza was associated with an estimated 30 (95%CI:9-51) SARI hospitalizations per 100 000 during 2015. The hospitalization rate was 243 (95%CI: 232-255), 86 (95%CI: 59-112),1(95%CI: 0-5), 8 (95%CI: 0-23) and 92 (95%CI: 16-168) SARI hospitalizations per 100 000 population for<5 years children, 5-14 years children, 15-24 years adult, 25-59 years adult and ≥60 years population, respectively. The hospitalization rate of SARI attributed to influenza A and B was 14 (95%CI:4-17) and 16 (95%CI:0-23) per 100 000 population, respectively. Conclusion The influenza positive rate among SARI cases was relatively high. The hospitalization burden of SARI attributed to influenza was the greatest in children under 5 year-old.

Objective:To summarize the clinical and prognostic features of children with opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome (OMAS).Methods:A total of 46 patients who met the diagnostic criteria of OMAS in the Department of Neurology, Beijing Children′s Hospital from June 2015 to June 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Centralized online consultations or telephone visits were conducted between June and August 2023. The data of the children during hospitalization and follow-up were collected, including clinical manifestations, assistant examination, treatment and prognosis. According to the presence or absence of tumor, the patients were divided into two groups. The chi-square test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the differences between the two groups. Univariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the factors related to OMAS recurrence and prognosis. Results:There were 46 patients, with 25 males and the onset age of 1.5 (1.2, 2.4) years. Twenty-six (57%) patients were diagnosed with neuroblastoma during the course of the disease, and no patients were categorized into the high-risk group. A total of 36 patients (78%) were followed up for≥6 months, and all of them were treated with first-line therapy with glucocorticoids, gammaglobulin and (or) adrenocorticotrophic hormone. Among the 36 patients, 9 patients (25%) were treated with second-line therapy for ≥3 months, including rituximab or cyclophosphamide, and 17 patients (47%) received chemotherapy related to neuroblastoma. At the follow-up time of 4.2 (2.2, 5.5) years, 10 patients (28%) had relapsed of OMAS. The Mitchell and Pike OMS rating scale score at the final follow-up was 0.5 (0, 2.0). Seven patients (19%) were mildly cognitively behind their peers and 6 patients (17%) were severely behind. Only 1 patient had tumor recurrence during follow-up. The history of vaccination or infection before onset was more common in the non-tumor group than in the tumor group (55%(11/20) vs. 23%(6/26), χ2=4.95, P=0.026). Myoclonus occurred more frequently in the non-tumor group (40%(8/20) vs. 4%(1/26), χ2=7.23, P=0.007) as the onset symptom. Univariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the tumor group had less recurrence ( OR=0.19 (0.04-0.93), P=0.041). The use of second-line therapy or chemotherapy within 6 months of the disease course had a better prognosis ( OR=11.64 (1.27-106.72), P=0.030). Conclusions:OMAS in children mostly starts in early childhood, and about half are combined with neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma in combination with OMAS usually has a low risk classification and good prognosis. When comparing patients with OMAS with and without tumors, the latter have a more common infection or vaccination triggers, and myoclonus, as the onset symptom, is more common. Early addition of second-line therapy is associated with better prognosis in OMAS.

Objective To introduces drug treatment and individualized pharmaceutical care for a patient with dilated cardiomyopathy digoxin poisoning and provides ideas for pharmaceutical care.Methods The pharmacist used therapeutic drug management to analyze the course of drug treatment before and after hospitalization,combined with therapeutic drug monitoring and drug-gene detection,to analyze the causes of poisoning in digoxin from the perspectives of underlying diseases,polymor-phism,drug dosage,combination of drugs,physiological and other pathological factors,and to assist in clinical drug reformula-tion and optimization of drug treatment regimens.Results The clinician accepted the clinical pharmacist's suggestion.The pa-tient had a good prognosis,and digoxin poisoning did not occur in the later period.Conclusion This case provides a feasible treatment for dilated cardiomyopathy and other patients with digoxin intoxication;it can be used as a reference for the prevention and treatment of digoxin poisoning and provide a new direction for the development of hospital pharmaceutical care and pharma-ceutical professionals.