This study aimed to provide scientific evidence for predicting quality markers(Q-markers) of Elephantopus scaber by establishing UPLC fingerprint of E. scaber from different geographical origins and determining the content of 13 major components, as well as conducting in vitro anti-cancer activity investigation of the main components. The chromatographic column used was Waters CORTECS UPLC C_(18)(2.1 mm×150 mm, 1.6 μm), and the mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid solution(gradient elution). The column temperature was set at 30 ℃, and the flow rate was 0.2 mL·min~(-1). The injection volume was 1 μL, and the detection wavelength was 240 nm. The UPLC fingerprint of E. scaber was fitted using the Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of Traditional Chinese Medicine(2012 edition) to determine common peaks, evaluate similarity, identify and determine the content of major components. The CCK-8 assay was used to explore the inhibitory effect of the main components on the proliferation of lung cancer cells. The results showed that in the established UPLC fingerprint of E. scaber, 35 common peaks were identified. Thirteen major components, including neochlorogenic acid(peak 1), chlorogenic acid(peak 2), cryptochlorogenic acid(peak 3), caffeic acid(peak 4), schaftoside(peak 6), galuteolin(peak 9), isochlorogenic acid B(peak 10), isochlorogenic acid A(peak 12), isochlorogenic acid C(peak 18), deoxyelephantopin(peak 28), isodeoxyelephantopin(peak 29), isoscabertopin(peak 31), and scabertopin(peak 32) were identified and quantified, and a quantitative analysis method was established. The results of the in vitro anti-cancer activity study showed that deoxyelephantopin, isodeoxyelephantopin, isoscabertopin, and scabertopin in E. scaber exhibited inhibition rates of lung cancer cell proliferation exceeding 80% at a concentration of 10 μmol·L~(-1), higher than the positive drug paclitaxel. These results indicate that the fingerprint of E. scaber is highly characteristic, and the quantitative analysis method is accurate and stable, providing references for the research on quality standards of E. scaber. Four sesquiterpene lactones in E. scaber show significant anti-cancer activity and can serve as Q-markers for E. scaber.
Humans ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Asteraceae/chemistry* ; Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy*

Objective: To evaluate the effect of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine on the clinical outcomes of patients infected with the Omicron variant. Methods: A total of 1 403 Omicron-infected patients admitted to 20 designated hospitals in Guangdong Province from January 1 to May 31, 2022, were selected as subjects in this study. A case-control study was conducted to collect the demographic data, underlying disease, vaccination status, last exposure date, gene sequencing of infected strains and clinical outcomes from the China Disease Prevention and Control Information System and Guangdong telemedicine platform. Pneumonia (common, severe and critical) and non-pneumonia (asymptomatic and mild) were selected as the case group and control group. The effect of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine on the clinical outcomes of patients infected with the Omicron variant was analyzed. Results: The median age [M (Q₁, Q₃)] of the subjects was 36 (27-47) years old, with males accounting for 52.25% (733 cases). The main outcome of the infection was non-pneumonia, accounting for 92.09% (1 292 cases), and the duration [M (Q₁, Q₃)] of the disease was 18 (14-22) days. There were 134 (9.55%), 39 (2.78%), 403 (28.72%), 437 (31.15%) and 390 (27.80%) cases with no or partial vaccination, within 90 days of primary vaccination, over 90 days of primary vaccination, within 90 days of booster vaccination and over 90 days of booster vaccination, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that after adjusting for gender, age, underlying disease, and location of the report, compared with those with no or partial vaccination, the risk of developing pneumonia was lower in those with over 90 days of primary vaccination, within 90 days of booster vaccination and over 90 days of booster vaccination [OR (95%CI) values were 0.52 (0.28-0.98), 0.39 (0.21-0.73) and 0.40 (0.21-0.77), respectively]. Cox proportional hazard regression model analysis showed that after adjusting for gender, age, underlying disease and location of the report, the duration of the disease was shorter in those who received booster vaccinated for more than 90 days compared with that in those who had no or partial vaccination [HR (95%CI): 1.26 (1.03-1.55)]. Conclusion: The inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine affects the clinical outcomes of patients infected with the Omicron variant.
Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; China/epidemiology* ; COVID-19/prevention & control* ; COVID-19 Vaccines ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Female

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical phenotype and genetic variant of a child with Snijders Blok-Campeau syndrome (SBCS). METHODS: A child who was diagnosed with SBCS in June 2017 at Henan Children's Hospital was selected as the study subject. Clinical data of the child was collected. Peripheral blood samples of the child and his parents were collected and the extraction of genomic DNA, which was subjected to trio-whole exome sequencing (trio-WES) and genome copy number variation (CNV) analysis. Candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing of his pedigree members. RESULTS: The main clinical manifestations of the child have included language delay, intellectual impairment and motor development delay, which were accompanied with facial dysmorphisms (broad forehead, inverted triangular face, sparse eyebrows, widely spaced eyes, narrow palpebral fissures, broad nose bridge, midface hypoplasia, thin upper lip, pointed jaw, low-set ears and posteriorly rotated ears). Trio-WES and Sanger sequencing revealed that the child has harbored a heterozygous splicing variant of the CHD3 gene, namely c.4073-2A>G, for which both of his parents were of wild-type. No pathogenic variant was identified by CNV testing. CONCLUSION The c.4073-2A>G splicing variant of the CHD3 gene probably underlay the SBCS in this patient.
DNA Copy Number Variations ; Heterozygote ; Pedigree ; Phenotype ; RNA Splicing ; Mutation

OBJECTIVE To optimize the preparation technology of the volatile oil microcapsules of Cinnamomi Ramulus and Angelicae Sinensis Radix, characterize the microcapsules prepared after the formulation optimization and study pharmacokinetics characteristics in rats. METHODS Spray drying was used to prepare the volatile oil microcapsules of Cinnamomi Ramulus and Angelicae Sinensis Radix. The preparation process was optimized by Box-Behnken response surface method with the drug loading and encapsulation efficiency as indexes. The microcapsules were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). Blood samples were collected after gastric administration at a dose of 100 mg·kg-1. HPLC method was adopted in the plasma concentration determination, and pharmacokinetics behavior in vivo was also compared. RESULTS The optimal formulation: core material-capsules material ratio was 1∶1.7, capsules material concentration was 10.25%, sodium starch octenyl succinate∶maltodextrin was 3.8∶1, high pressure homogenization pressure was 20 MPa and the inlet temperature of spray drying was 185 ℃. Under the optimized conditions, the drug loading was (18.94±1.09)% and the encapsulation rate was (96.03±2.91)%, respectively. The results of FT-IR and SEM showed that the essential oils had been successfully coated in the capsule wall material. The microcapsules were basically spherical in shape, with concave surface but no obvious cracks. The main pharmacokinetic parameters such as tmax, t1/2, CL, AUC0-t, k10,k12, and k21 of microcapsules had significant difference of the volatile oil(P<0.05 or P<0.01). Microcapsules effectively prolonged the circulation time of volatile oil in the body, promoted the absorption of drugs in the body and the oral bioavailability was enhanced to 2.62 times. CONCLUSION The model established by the Box-Behnken design-response surface method can be used to optimize the formulation of volatile oil microcapsules of Cinnamomi Ramulus and Angelicae Sinensis Radix with great prediction effect. The microcapsules prepared by the optimized process has good drug loading properties and the bioavailability of volatile oil is increased.

OBJECTIVE: To construct cytarabine-resistant acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines, and explore the correlation between Sirt1, PGC-1α expression levels and drug resistance. METHODS: Human acute promyelocytic leukemia Kasumi-1 cells were induced by the method of gradually increasing the concentration of Ara-C drug. The IC₅₀ value of Kasumi-1 cells before and after drug addition was detected by CCK-8 method, so as to construct Ara-C resistant cell lines. The expression levels of Sirt1 and PGC-1α mRNA in Kasumi-1 drug-resistant cell lines and their parental cell lines were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, and the expression levels of Sirt1 and PGC-1α protein in kasumi-1 drug-resistant cell lines and their parental cell lines were detected by Western blot. RESULTS: The constructed Kasumi-1 cell line had common morphological characteristics of drug-resistant cell lines under microscope, and the drug resistance index was greater than 5, indicating that Kasumi-1 drug-resistant cells had good drug resistance after the construction. The RT-qPCR and Western blot assays showed that the expression levels of Sirt1 and PGC-1α mRNA and protein in the drug-resistant cell lines were higher than those of the parental cell lines (P<0.001). CONCLUSION AML cell lines resistant to Ara-C can be successfully induced by the method of gradually increasing the concentration, and the co-high expression of Sirt1 and PGC-1α may mediate the drug resistance of AML cells.
Cell Line ; Cytarabine/pharmacology* ; Drug Resistance ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/genetics* ; RNA, Messenger/genetics* ; Sirtuin 1

Objective:To explore the relationship between rumination and depression and suicide attempts, and the mediating effect of rumination between depression and suicide attempts in adolescents with depressive disorder.Methods:Clinical interviews and questionnaires were conducted on 331 adolescents aged 11-18 with depressive disorders.Depressive symptoms were assessed with patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Rumination was assessed with ruminative responses scale-10 (RRS-10), and Chinese version of the sociality module of MINI5.0 was used to assess suicide.SPSS 23.0 software was applied to descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, t-test, Spearman correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis, and the SPSS macro program PROCESS V 3.4 was used for Bootstrap mediating effect. Results:The incidence of suicide attempts in adolescents with depressive disorder was 53.78%, which was significantly higher in girls (59.48%) than that in boys (40.40%), and the difference was significant ( χ2=10.16, P<0.01). In contrast to the non-suicide attempt group, suicide attempt group had higher scores on PHQ-9((11.08±9.26) vs (14.43±7.49), t=-3.634, P<0.01), brooding ((10.76±3.89) vs (12.44±3.87), t=-3.926, P<0.01), reflection ((10.05±3.54) vs (11.20±3.33), t=-3.044, P<0.01) and rumination total score ((20.81±6.78) vs (23.64±6.42), t=-3.898, P<0.01). Regression analysis revealed that girl ( β=0.175, t=3.228, P=0.001), depressive symptoms ( β=0.168, t=3.082, P=0.002), rumination ( β=0.138, t=2.364, P=0.019) were risk factors for suicide attempts.Rumination played a complete mediating effect between depressive symptoms and suicide attempts (effect value=0.013, 95% CI=0.003-0.027). Depression symptoms significantly and positively predicted rumination ( P<0.01), and rumination significantly and positively predicted suicide attempts ( P<0.05). Conclusion:The incidence of suicide attempts was high in adolescents with depressive disorders.Depressive symptoms affect suicide attempts mainly through rumination.Clinicians should assess the rumination of adolescents with depressive disorders.In addition, clinicians should implement concurrent psychotherapy to adjust the cognitive response and reduce rumination, in order to improve the mental health and reduce suicide attempts.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic basis for a Chinese pedigree with suspected mitochondrial functional defects through combined next-generation sequencing (NGS), copy number variation sequencing (CNV-seq), and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing. METHODS: Clinical data of the proband and his family members were collected. The patient and his parents were subjected to family-trio whole-exome sequencing (WES), CNV-seq and mtDNA variant detection. Candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: Trio-WES revealed that the proband has carried compound heterozygous variants of the NDUFS1 gene, including a paternally derived c.64C>T (p.R22X) nonsense variant and a maternally derived c.845A>G (p.N282S) missense variant. Both variants may cause loss of protein function. No variant that may cause the phenotype was identified by CNV-seq and mtDNA variant analysis. CONCLUSION Children with suspected mitochondrial disorders may have no specific syndromes or laboratory findings. A comprehensive strategy including mtDNA testing may facilitate the diagnosis and early clinical interventions.
Child ; China ; DNA Copy Number Variations ; Electron Transport ; Humans ; Mutation ; NADH Dehydrogenase/genetics* ; Pedigree

Objective: To investigate the relationship between classroom lighting and poor vision of primary and middle school students of poor vision with classroom natural light selecting and artificial lighting, so as to provide reference and basis for the prevention and control of eyesight of primary and middle school students. Methods: A total of 1 734 students from 45 classrooms in 7 primary and secondary schools (2 in primary school, 2 in junior high school, and 1 in vocational school) in Baiyun District, Guangzhou were selected by stratified cluster sampling method for research. The classroom lighting environment was monitored by the illuminometer, the naked eye vision of students was detected by 5 m standard logarithmic vision light box, and the basic information and myopia-related behaviors of students were investigated by questionnaire. And the correlation between poor vision of primary and middle school students and classroom lighting was analyzed. Results: The poor vision rate of primary and middle school students in Baiyun District of Guangzhou was 74.2%(1 286), the girls’ rate(79.7%) was higher than boys’(69.4%), the rate of senior high school students(63.4%) was higher than that of middle school students(81.1%), the rate of vocational school students(82.8%) was higher that of primary school students(60.2%), the rate of resident students(78.5%) was higher than that of non-resident students(69.6%). The results of multivariate analysis after controlling for confangulation factors showed that average illumination on the blackboard, and uneven illumination on the desk were associated with higher risk of poor vision[OR(OR95%CI)=1.51(1.01-2.25), 1.42(1.02-1.98),P<0.05)]. Conclusion Poor eyesight of primary and middle school students in Baiyun District of Guangzhou city is serious, especially that of female students, senior high school students and resident students. There is a significant correlation between classroom lighting and poor vision in primary and middle school students. The blackboard and desk lighting are associated with higher risk of poor vision in primary and middle school students.

One major strategy to generate genetically modified mouse models is gene targeting in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, which is used to produce gene-targeted mice for wide applications in biomedicine. However, a major bottleneck in this approach is that the robustness of germline transmission of gene-targeted ES cells can be significantly reduced by their genetic and epigenetic instability after long-term culturing, which impairs the efficiency and robustness of mouse model generation. Recently, we have established a new type of pluripotent cells termed extended pluripotent stem (EPS) cells, which have superior developmental potency and robust germline competence compared to conventional mouse ES cells. In this study, we demonstrate that mouse EPS cells well maintain developmental potency and genetic stability after long-term passage. Based on gene targeting in mouse EPS cells, we established a new approach to directly and rapidly generate gene-targeted mouse models through tetraploid complementation, which could be accomplished in approximately 2 months. Importantly, using this approach, we successfully constructed mouse models in which the human interleukin 3 (IL3) or interleukin 6 (IL6) gene was knocked into its corresponding locus in the mouse genome. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of using mouse EPS cells to rapidly generate mouse models by gene targeting, which have great application potential in biomedical research.