Objective: To design the proficiency testing (PT) project (No. NIFDC-PT-183) for assays of bismuth potassium citrate capsules and organize to assess the proficiency of complexometric titration in laboratories, and provide some technical analyses and advices.
Methods: Two groups of samples with different concentration were prepared. The uniformity was evaluated with one-way analysis of variance and the stability was confirmed with t-test, whose results all conformed the requirements. The samples with three combinations were randomly distributed to 279 laboratories. The determination was performed according to the assays of bismuth potassium citrate capsules in Volume Ⅱ of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015. The median value and normalized interquartile range (NIQR) of robust statistical analysis was adopted and Z-scores were used to evaluate the results from each of laboratories.
Results: Among 279 laboratories, 240 laboratories results were satisfactory, 23 were questionable, and the other 16 were unsatisfied. The satisfaction rate was 86.0%.
Conclusion: The overall capacity of national laboratories for assays of bismuth potassium citrate capsules is good while a portion of participants require further improvement.

Objective:To investigate the biological characteristics of Kerstersia gyiorum and to support the rapid and accurate identification of Kerstersia gyiorum on mass spectrometry by using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) for self-built libraries. Methods:From November 2020 to February 2022, thirty-eight strains of Kerstersia gyiorum isolated from clinical patients of the General Hospital of Southern Theatre Command were collected and identified by the fully automated microbial analysis system (Vitek-2 Compact), the automatic microbial mass spectrometry detection system (Vitek-MS) and the 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing. Thirteen strains were randomly selected and mass spectra were obtained by using Vitek-MS. The SARAMIS software was used to construct a Kerstersia gyiorum library, and the remaining 25 strains were used to validate the constructed library. Results:The Vitek-2 Compact and Vitek MS were unable to identify Kerstersia gyiorum; 13 strains were successfully built into a self-built library of Kerstersia gyiorum by SARAMIS software, and 25 validated strains were identified as Kerstersia gyiorum with a confidence level of more than 99.0% and 100% (25/25) accuracy. Conclusion:Kerstersia gyiorum has unique mass spectrometry profile, which can be identified as species quickly and accurately by the establishment of the self-constructed library of profiles.

Single amino acid polymorphisms (SAPs), also known as non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs), are responsible for most of human genetic diseases. Discriminate the deleterious SAPs from neutral ones can help identify the disease genes and understand the mechanism of diseases. In this work, a method of deleterious SAP prediction at system level was established. Unlike most existing methods, our method not only considers the sequence and structure information, but also the network information. The integration of network information can improve the performance of deleterious SAP prediction. To make our method available to the public, we developed SySAP (a System-level predictor of deleterious Single Amino acid Polymorphisms), an easy-to-use and high accurate web server. SySAP is freely available at http://www.biosino.org/ SySAP/ and http://lifecenter.sgst.cn/SySAP/.
Amino Acids ; genetics ; Computational Biology ; methods ; Conserved Sequence ; Databases, Protein ; Humans ; Internet ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; genetics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Software

Objective:To explore the effect of the mucin modulator Talniflumate (Tal) on breast cancer cells and its synergistic effect after combined with the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (PTX).Methods:The breast cancer cells were cultured in vitro. Lymphocyte proliferation activity assay (MTS) was used to detect the effects of different concentrations of Talniflumate alone and paclitaxel on the survival rate of breast cancer cells. The effects of the above drugs on the apoptosis of breast cancer cells were detected by flow cytometry. Western blot was used to detect the expression of glucosamine transferase (GCNT3) (the target of Talniflumate) in breast cancer cells before and after the treatment with Talniflumate. Transcriptome sequencing clarified the changes in related signaling pathways after treatment with Talniflumate. Results:Talniflumate promoted the apoptosis of breast cancer cells MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. The combination of Talniflumate and paclitaxel had a significant synergistic killing effect in MCF7 cells but not MDA-MB-231 cells. Western blot indicated that GCNT3 was highly expressed in MCF7 cells, while almost no expression in MDA-MB-231 cells; Talniflumate could reduce the expression of GCNT3 in MCF7 cells and after combined with paclitaxel, the expression of GCNT3 was downregulated more significantly. Transcriptome sequencing suggested that Talniflumate can regulate the expression of multiple signaling pathways such as TNF, p53, and SNARE.Conclusions:Talniflumate could induce apoptosis of breast cancer cell. Talniflumate combined with paclitaxel has a significant synergistic effect in killing tumor cells in breast cancer cells with high GCNT3 expression such as MCF7. The mechanism of Talniflumate induce apoptosis of breast cancer cells may be related to multiple signaling pathways such as TNF, p53, and SNARE.

Objective:To translate the health literate healthcare organization 10 item questionnaire(HLHO-10) into Chinese and examine its reliability and validity.Methods:The Chinese version of HLHO-10 questionnaire(HLHO-10-C) was developed by following the Brislin translation model of translation, back translation, cultural adaptation and questionnaire epistemological survey.Five experts and 1 071 medical staff from 24 healthcare organizations in Zhejiang province were selected to conduct the validity and reliability test of the HLHO-10-C.Results:The content validity indices at the item level and total questionnaire level of HLHO-10-C were from 0.8 to 1.0 and 0.96 respectively, and the results of the exploratory factor analysis showed good structural validity.Conclusions:HLHO-10-C proves adequate reliability and validity to serve as a tool for healthcare organizations in evaluating and becoming HLHO. It can also help the implementation of the Healthy China Initiative(2019—2030), which is a performance assessment mechanism for health education and promotion of healthcare providers and health care organizations.

The novel oleanolic acid derivatives 2a-2e were synthesized by introducing an α, β-unsaturated ketone moiety to C-ring of oleanolic acid(OA)via a nine-step reaction sequence, yielding an active CDDO-Me analogue(1), followed by coupling of C3-OH of 1 with various aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids, respectively. Derivatives 3a-3e were synthesized by substituting C-1 of compounds 2a-2e with bromine. The target compounds were characterized by IR, MS and 1H NMR spectra. All the target compounds showed strong inhibitory effects against two tumor cell lines(HepG2 and A549)to a varying extent. The anti-proliferative activities of active compounds 3b and 3c(IC50=6. 13±1. 16 μmol/L and IC50=5. 49±1. 03 μmol/L, respectively)against HepG2 and A549 were more potent than compound 1 and comparable to the positive control CDDO-Me. In addition, all the target compounds displayed much weaker anti-proliferative activity against the two tumor cell lines than that against normal BEAS-2B cells. Compound 3c showed ten-fold selective inhibition against HepG2 relative to BEAS-2B cells, and is thus worthy of further study.

Objective:APOBEC3B (A3B) is an important member of the apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide (APOBEC) family. The study aims to investigate the relationship between A3B expression and prognosis as well as resistance to cisplatin in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods:Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to analysis the A3B mRNA expression in 40 NSCLC tissues; Kaplan Meier plotter was used to analyse the correlation between A3B expression and clinical prognosis; in addition, the knock-down A3B expression cell line in human lung adenocarcinoma cell A549 was constructed; MTS and plate cloning experiment were performed to observe the changes in cell cisplatin sensitivity, and γ-H2AX immunofluorescence was used to quantitate the DNA damage.Results:Compared with adjacent tissues, A3B was highly expressed in NSCLC tissues (27/40). Kaplan Meier plotter analysis showed that A3B expression was positively correlated with NSCLC overall survival (OS) [adenocarcinoma: HR=0.64(0.47-0.86), P=0.002 6; squamous cell carcinoma: HR=0.77(0.59-1.01), P=0.006]. Cell-based studies showed that the knock-down A3B expression contributed to sensitivity to cisplatin in A549 cells. Conclusions:A3B mediates the sensitivity of lung cancer to cisplatin. This effect may partly explain why NSCLC patients with high A3B expression have a better prognosis.

Inflammation, abnormal cholesterol metabolism, and macrophage infiltration are involved in the destruction of the extracellular matrix of the nucleus pulposus (NP), culminating in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Whether nimbolide (Nim), a natural extract, can alleviate IDD is unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that Nim promotes cholesterol efflux and inhibits the activation of the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways by activating sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) during inflammation. Thus, Nim balanced matrix anabolism and catabolism of NPCs. However, the inhibition of SIRT1 significantly attenuated the effects of Nim. We also found that Nim promoted the expression of SIRT1 in RAW 264.7, which enhanced the proportion of M2 macrophages by facilitating cholesterol homeostasis reprogramming and impeded M1-like macrophages polarization by blocking the activation of inflammatory signaling. Based on these results, Nim can improve the microenvironment and facilitate matrix metabolism equilibrium in NPCs. Furthermore, in vivo treatment with Nim delayed IDD progression by boosting SIRT1 expression, modulating macrophage polarization and preserving the extracellular matrix. In conclusion, Nim may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for treating IDD.