1.In silico prediction for physicochemical properties and structure of major pollen allergen Lig v 1 in Ligustrum vulgare
Shufen CAO ; Wen LI ; Ying HE ; Zehong ZOU ; Linmei LI ; Yuncan AI
Chinese Journal of Immunology 2016;32(9):1291-1294,1298
Objective:To analyse the physicochemical properties and structure of major privet pollen allergen Lig v 1 using bioinformatics software and provide a reference for choosing suitable recombinant expression system for Lig v 1 and modifying the allergen Lig v 1 experimentally.Methods:The physicochemical properties were analysed by ProtParam,the signal peptide by SignalP 4.1 Server,the transmembrane helix by TMHMM Server v.2.0,the secondary structure by GOR4,MHCⅡepitopes by NetMHCⅡ2.2 Server,B-cell epitopes by ProteanTM 5.01 and the phylogenetic tree by MEGA 6.Results: Privet major pollen allergen Lig v 1 was stable in Escherichia coli and it doesn′t possess any signal peptide and transmembrane helix.Most secondary structures of Lig v 1 were random coils.Potential region of MHCⅡepitope of Lig v 1 was 30-44.Potential B-cell epitopes possess discontinuous and continuous a mino acid sequences.Lig v 1 and its counterparts from Fraxinus excelsior and Olea europaea were clustered into one group.Conclusion:Escherichia coli is the suitable expression system for recombinant Lig v 1.In silico prediction of the epitopes of Lig v 1 provides a reference for modifying the allergen Lig v 1 experimentally.
2.The first organ donation after cardiac death and the first deceased-related renal transplantation in China
Junjie MA ; Zhonghua CHEN ; Ronghua CAO ; Haifeng YANG ; Zehong GUI ; Zhiqiang CHEN
Chinese Journal of Organ Transplantation 2012;33(3):145-148
Objective A new field of organ donation after cardiac death (DCD) has been explored to create additional source to clinic transplantation in China.Methods A 33-years old male patient underwent permanent vegetation state for more than 2 years in ICU after severe head injury.His relatives gave writing consent to donate his organs in order to save his renal failure father and others,if possible,in case of cardiac death.On July 27,2005,the patient's heart arrested.Clinic death was announced.The case was immediately referred to transplant team and Maastricht-V DCD organ procurement was emergently performed and two kidneys were harvested. Estimated warm ischemic time was about 40 min followed by 8 h cold ischemic time.Two adults received the grafts.One of recipients was donor's biological father,namely it was the first case of deceased related renal transplantation (DRRTx) in China.Results Both recipients developed delayed graft function postoperatively and eventually recovered after few weeks.By submission of this article,the DRRTx patient has survived with normal renal function for 77 months (6 years and 5 months).Unfortunately,other patient died from fungus pneumonia after 56 months with normal renal function.Conclusion Non-controlled Maastricht-V DCD could be an additional source to transplantation if prompt reaction could be taken.
3.Functional protection and long-term survival of renal allograft by the combination of ACE inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker
Junjie MA ; Zehong GUI ; Lijun XU ; Lixin YU ; Ronghua CAO ; Guobao WANG ; Haifeng YANG
Chinese Journal of Urology 2008;29(8):547-549
Objective To evaluate the role of the combination of angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB)and angiotensin corwerting enzyme inhibitor(ACEI)in functional protection and long-term survival of renal allograft. Methods Thirty-two renal transplant recipients without diabetes mellitus,whose albuminuria concentration in 24-hours collection was more than 0.5 g/d or serum Cr concentration was higher than 177 mmol/L,were randomly divided into experimental group(n=23,male 9 and female 14 cases,mean age 40 years)and control group(n=9,male 5 and female 4 cases,mean age 35 years).Combination of ARB(Valsartan,80rag Qd)and ACEI(Benazapril,20 mg Bid)theraPy was given to each patient every day for 3 years in experimental group.The recipients in control group never received this administration.The serum Cr concentration,albuminuria in 24-hours collection and survival of renal allograft were compared between the 2 groups after 3 years. Results There was significant difference(P<0.05) of serum Cr concentration between experimental group and control group(252.2±117.9 mmol/L VS 375.3±203.0 mmol/L),especially for chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN)patieats(282.4±147.3 mmol/L vs 528.7±107.8 mmol/L,P<0.01).There was no difference (P>0.05)in terms of the values of alburninuria(1.0±0.6 g/d vs 1.3±0.7 g/d)and survival of renal allograft(76 months VS 71 months)after 3 years between 2 groups.Comclusion The administration of ARB+ACEI could protect function of renal allograft with different pathological changes especially for CAN.
4.A study of the value of three-dimensional T 1WI using different acceleration methods in the application of brain region segmentation
Gang YAO ; Zhuqing ZHOU ; Feng SHI ; Zehong CAO ; Xiaopeng SONG ; Weijun ZHANG ; Wenwen SHEN
Chinese Journal of Radiology 2024;58(10):1006-1014
Objective:To investigate the value of three-dimensional (3D) T 1WI structural images using different acceleration methods including parallel acquisition technique, joint compressed sensing (uCS) technique, and artificial intelligence-assisted compressed sensing (ACS) technique for brain region segmentation. Methods:In this cross-sectional study, fifty patients (female: n=25, age range: 13 to 87 years old) at Corning Hospital of Ningbo University from July to September 2023 were prospectively and consecutively collected. All the subjects underwent brain MRI. Six groups of 3D T 1WI structural images were obtained using different acceleration technique and parameters, including 3D T 1WI without acceleration factor (3D-T 1WI group), 3D T 1WI with parallel acquisition technique with acceleration factor 3 (3D-T 1WI-PI-3 group), 3D T 1WI with uCS technique with acceleration factor 4.5 and 6.9 (3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5 group, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-6.9 group), 3D T 1WI by ACS technique with acceleration factors of 3 and 5 (3D-T 1WI-ACS-3 group, 3D-T 1WI-ACS-5 group). T 2WI fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images were also acquired. Subjective scores (cerebral grey matter and white matter clarity scores, clarity scores of cerebral white matter degeneration lesions in relation to the surrounding white matter, and Gibbs artifact scores) and objective metrics [signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), cerebrospinal fluid signal homogeneity, peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity index (SSIM), and natural image quality evaluator (NIQE)] were used to evaluate image quality in different groups. Totally 109 brain regions were segmented and volumes were measured using the uAI Research Portal image analysis tool. Kappa or intraclass correlation coefficient ( ICC) was used to evaluate the agreement of subjective and objective evaluation indexes between the 3D-T 1WI-PI-3 group, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5 group, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-6.9 group, 3D-T 1WI-ACS-3 group, 3D-T 1WI-ACS-5 group, and 3D-T 1WI group. Kappa or ICC value>0.70 was considered as good agreement. Results:The acquisition time for the 3D-T 1WI group, 3D-T 1WI-PI-3 group, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5 group, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-6.9 group, 3D-T 1WI-ACS-3 group, and 3D-T 1WI-ACS-5 group were 527, 204, 169, 95, 133, 90 s, respectively. Subjective evaluation showed that the 3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5, 3D-T 1WI-ACS-3, and 3D-T 1WI-ACS-5 groups had excellent agreement with the 3D-T 1WI group in terms of the distribution of cases of cerebral grey matter and white matter clarity scores, respectively (all Kappa value=1.000); The distribution of cases of clarity score of cerebral white matter lesions and surrounding white matter in the 3D-T 1WI-PI-3 group, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5 group, and 3D-T 1WI-ACS-3 group were in good agreement with that of the 3D-T 1WI group ( Kappa values of 0.775, 0.701, and 0.777, respectively); the distribution of the number of cases of the Gibbs artifact score of the 3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5, 3D-T 1WI-ACS-3, and 3D-T 1WI-ACS-5 groups was in good agreement with the 3D-T 1WI group (all Kappa value=1.000). Objective evaluation showed the CNR of the images in the 3D-T 1WI-PI-3, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5, and 3D-T 1WI-uCS-6.9 groups were in good agreement with those of the 3D-T 1WI group ( ICC of 0.720, 0.759, and 0.752, respectively); PSNR and SSIM were in good agreement among the 3D-T 1WI-PI-3 group, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5 group, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-6.9 group, 3D-T 1WI-ACS-3 group, and 3D-T 1WI-ACS-5 group (PSNR: ICC=0.854; SSIM: ICC=0.851). NIQE of 3D-T 1WI-PI-3 group, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5 group, and 3D-T 1WI-ACS-3 group images were in good agreement with the 3D-T 1WI group ( ICC value of 0.866, 0.727, 0.753, respectively). The ICC values of the volume of each segmented brain region among the 3D-T 1WI-PI-3, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-4.5, 3D-T 1WI-uCS-6.9, 3D-T 1WI-ACS-3, 3D-T 1WI-ACS-5 group and the 3D-T 1WI group images showed decreased in order (all ICC≥0.62). Conclusions:The uCS and ACS techniques used in 3D-T 1WI show high agreement with 3D-T 1WI in terms of brain segmentation. The application of these accelerating techniques can significantly shorten the acquisition time with obtaining images with good image quality, displaying great value.