Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the association of red meat usual intake with metabolic syndrome (MetS), and explore the contribution of red meat usual intake to serum ferritin. Methods: Based on the data from the longitudinal China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), 2,797 healthy adults aged 18-75 years without hypertension, diabetes, and MetS were selected in 2009 as subjects and follow-up studies were carried out till 2015. We used the National Cancer Institute (NCI) method to estimate the usual intake of foods. Multivariable logistic regressions were performed to evaluate the association between red meat usual intake and the risk of MetS. Quantile regression analysis was used to study the relationship between red meat consumption and serum ferritin levels. Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, red meat, and fresh red meat were positively associated with the risk of MetS ( = 1.41, 95% : 1.05-1.90 and = 1.37, 95% : 1.02-1.85, respectively). These relationships showed increasing trend ( < 0.05). The level of serum ferritin increased significantly with the number of MetS components ( < 0.05). The quantile regression analysis showed that red meat and fresh red meat usual intake had a significant positive association with serum ferritin levels across the entire conditional serum ferritin distribution ( < 0.05). Processed red meat did not exhibit a similar association. Conclusion Higher red meat usual intake was associated with an increased risk of MetS and elevated serum ferritin levels.

Cerebral malaria (CM) is the deadliest complication of Plasmodium falciparum infection and even with effective anti-malarial treatment the mortality of children can be as high as 18%; up to one-third of CM survivors are left with neurological and cognitive deficits. The pathophysiology of CM is not completely understood, but mechanical obstruction and immunopathology are its mainstream theories. Adjuvant therapy aims to improve clinical outcomes and/or reduce mortality, as well as preventing long-term neurocognitive deficits. Improving survival and reducing neurological damage to survivors are new goals for new antimalarials and adjuvant therapies. Herein, we discussed what is known about the disease mechanism of CM and systematically summarize the progress of adjuvant therapy research in protecting the vascular endothelium, reducing adhesion formation, regulating immune balance, interfering with malarial metabolism, protecting nerves, improving nitric oxide bioavailability, improving energy metabolism and alleviating inflammation, with the aim of exploiting this understanding to reduce the neurological damage to children with CM. This work also highlights some preclinical studies which may be candidate strategies in future clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: The patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma should select targeted drugs based on the type of tumor epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation. However, it is difficult to collect tumor tissue of advanced lung adenocarcinoma, and some experts agree that peripheral blood can be used as a substitute for tumor tissue as a test specimen. This paper aimed to investigate the clinical value of ddPCR and super-amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) in detecting EGFR gene mutation in peripheral blood of patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. METHODS: A total of 119 patients diagnosed in Beijing Chest Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University from February 2016 to February 2019 were collected, and the sensitivity and specificity of plasma ctDNA EGFR gene mutation detected by ddPCR and super-arms were compared. Some patients with positive EGFR gene mutations received oral treatment with first-line EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKI). The patients were divided into subgroups according to the test results. In group 1, both ddPCR and super-arms showed positive EGFR gene mutation results, with 21 cases. In group 2, ddPCR and super-arms detection of EGFR gene mutation were all negative, with 16 cases. In group 3, the ddPCR test was positive and the super-arms test was negative, with 5 cases. In group 4, the ddPCR test result was negative while the super-arms test result was positive. Since the number of patients in group 4 was 0, no statistics were included. Objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were used to evaluate the short-term outcome, and progression-free survival (PFS) was compared with survival analysis to evaluate the long-term outcome. RESULTS: EGFR mutations were detected in 58 (48.7%) of 119 patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. The coincidence rate between ddPCR and EGFR gene mutation in tumor tissues was 82.4% (Kappa=0.647, P<0.001), the sensitivity was 74.1%, and the specificity was 90.2%. However, the coincidence degree of super-arms test and tissue test was 71.4%, the sensitivity was only 58.6%, and the specificity was 83.6%. The ORR and DCR values in group 3 were lower than those in group 1 and 2, but there was no significant difference in ORR between groups (P>0.05). Survival analysis showed that the PFS of the three groups was compared. The difference was not statistically significant (χ²=2.221, P=0.329). CONCLUSIONS ddPCR, as a high sensitivity and specificity liquid gene detection method, can be used as a reliable method to detect the mutation of plasma ctDNA EGFR gene in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. The results of plasma genetic testing can also be used as the basis for predicting the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs in patients.

This study aimed to examine the association between famine exposure in different stages of life and the risk of overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity in laterlife. A total of 12,458 participants were categorized into non-exposure and four direct exposures, including fetal, childhood, adolescence, and adult exposure. Only risk of being overweight or obesity in adolescence exposure [odds ratio ( ), 1.45; 95% confidence interval ( ), 1.08-1.94] was significantly higher than in non-exposure. Childhood ( , 1.27; 95% , 1.05-1.54) and adolescence ( , 1.53; 95% , 1.15-2.05) exposures had significantly an increased risk of abdominal obesity compared with non-exposure. Additionally, different famine severity exposures had different influences on the development of overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity. Famine exposure in adolescence, which was a behavior formative period, can increase the risk of overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity in adulthood, specifically in famine severely affect area.

PURPOSE: To report a case of bilateral posterior subcapsular cataract after taking oxcarbazepine (Trileptal®, Novartis, Basel, Swiss). CASE SUMMARY: A 19-year-old female visited our clinic with decreased vision in both eyes. Her best-corrected visual acuity was 0.3 in the right eye and 0.5 in the left eye, and slit-lamp examination revealed a bilateral cortical opacity and subcapsular cataract. She had been taking oxcarbazepine for epilepsy for 10 years, which was discontinued 3 years ago. Her mother had undergone cataract surgeries when she was approximately 46 years of age. No other risk factors for cataract were present. CONCLUSIONS: In the present case, bilateral cortical opacity and subcapsular cataract were assumed to be associated with the use of oxcarbazepine. We suggest that oxcarbazepine could induce a cataract and recommend a regular follow-up by a qualified ophthalmologist.
Cataract ; Epilepsy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mothers ; Risk Factors ; Visual Acuity ; Young Adult

Purpose To explore the expression,significance and relationship of apoptosis related gene Apollon and Caspase 9 in gastric carcinoma. Methods The SP immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of Apollon and Caspase 9 in 105 cases of gastric carcinoma,38 adjacent tissues and 29 normal tissues,and the expression of Apollon and Caspase 9 was analyzed with relation to clinicopathologic factors. Results The numbers of positive expression of Apollon gene in gastric carcinoma tissues,adjacent tissues and normal tissues were 82(78. 10％) ,8(21. 05％) and 2(6. 90％) respectively, there was significant difference between gastric carcinoma tissues, adjacent tissues and normal tissues (P < 0. 01) . The expression of Apollon in gastric carcinoma was positively correlated with degree of tumor differentiation,TNM staging and lymph node metastasis (P < 0. 05) ,but not with other clinicopathologic factors (P > 0. 05) . The numbers of positive expression of Caspase 9 gene in gastric carcinoma tissues,adjacent tissues and normal tissues were 21 (20. 00％) ,23 (60. 53％) and 21 (72. 41％) ,respectively,and there was significant difference between gastric carcinoma tissues,adjacent tissues and normal tissues (P < 0. 01) . The expression of Caspase 9 in gastric carcinoma was positively correlated with degree of tumor differentiation, TNM staging and lymph node metastasis (P < 0. 01) ,but not with other clinicopathologic factors (P > 0. 05) . The expression of Apollon was negatively correlated to Caspase 9 in gastric carcinoma with statistical significance (r = - 0. 541 1,P < 0. 01) . Conclusions The interaction of Apollon and Caspase 9 may be involved in the gastric carcinogenesis and progression. Apollon is closely related with invasion and metastasis of gastric carcinoma,and it may be a potential treatment target.

Objective To explore the role and mechanism of tumor necrosis factor ligand -related molecule 1A (TL1A) in chronic experimental colitis associated intestinal fibrosis .Methods The model of chronic experimental colitis-associated intestinal fibrosis was induced by dextran sodium sulfate (DSS).The mice with high TL1A (L-Tg) expression in lymphoid cells and wild -type mice with the same genetic background were divided into wild type control group, wild type DSS group, transgenic control group and transgenic DSS group.The changes of body mass, length of colon, disease activity index (DAI) and colonic pathological score were compared among different groups .The degree of colonic inflammation was evaluated by Hematoxylin -Eosin (H-E) staining.The degree of intestinal fibrosis was assessed by Masson staining and Sirius red staining .The expression of vimentin, αsmooth muscle actin ( α-SMA), type Ⅰ collagen, Ⅲ collagen and transforming growth factor-β1 ( TGF-β1 ) /Smad3 in colon tissue was examined by immunohistochemistry .T test was performed for statistical analysis.Results The body mass of the transgenic DSS group decreased by (9.6 ± 1.8)％, which was more than wild-type DSS group (6.2 ±1.3)％, the difference was statistically significant (t =3.751, P <0.01).The DAI score and colonic pathological score of transgenic DSS group were both higher than those of wild-type DSS group (7.33 ±0.58 vs.6.00 ±1.00, and 14.00 ±1.05 vs.11.75 ±0.50, respectively), and the differences were statistically significant (t =2.818 and 4.739, both P <0.05).The results of Masson staining and Sirius red staining showed aggravation of intestinal fibrosis .The results of immunohistochemical staining showed that the cumulative positive absorbance values of vimentin , α-SMA, TGF-β1 and Smad3 of wild-type DSS group were lower than those of transgenic DSS group (0.650 ±0.050 vs. 0.800 ±0.020, 0.390 ±0.040 vs.0.600 ±0.040, 0.550 ±0.040 vs.0.730 ±0.040, 0.590 ±0.020 vs. 0.830 ±0.040), and the differences were statistically significant (t =6.823, 9.093, 7.794 and 10.390, all P <0.01).Conclusion TL1A may promote the proliferation and activation of fibroblasts through TGF -β1 /Smad3 pathway, leading to the genesis and development of experimental colitis associated intestinal fibrosis .

AIM: To study the composition of ocular surface microflora in patients with pterygium and to explore the correlation between ocular surface microflora and pterygium.

METHODS: Primary pterygium patients were collected from September 2018 to January 2019 in our hospital. The pterygium group consisted of 26 eyes with pterygium and the control group consisted of 9 normal eyes. We used Miseq PE301+8+8+301 platform to measure the sequences of the both ends of bacterial 16S rDNA V3-V4 region. Analyze and compare the structure and composition of microbial flora on normal ocular surface and pterygium ocular surface. WILCOX test(rank sum test)was used for statistical methods.

RESULTS: A total of 1 837 OUTs were obtained from the two groups. Alpha diversity analysis showed that the species diversity of the normal control group was higher than that of the pterygium group. At the same time, the dominant flora of the two groups were similar. Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Propionibacterium and other Gram-positive bacteria were the main constituents, followed by Gram-negative bacteria. Corynebacterium increased in pterygium group.

CONCLUSION: The diversity of ocular surface species decreased in pterygium group, and the abundance of Corynebacterium in ocular surface flora increased significantly in pterygium patients. Corynebacterium may participate in the regulation of ocular surface immune status, and affect the occurrence and development of pterygium.

Primitive mammalian heart transforms from a single tube to a four-chambered muscular organ during a short developmental window. We found that knocking out global microRNA by deleting Dgcr8 microprocessor in Mesp1 cardiovascular progenitor cells lead to the formation of extremely dilated and enlarged heart due to defective cardiomyocyte (CM) differentiation. Transcriptome analysis revealed unusual upregulation of vascular gene expression in Dgcr8 cKO hearts. Single cell RNA sequencing study further confirmed the increase of angiogenesis genes in single Dgcr8 cKO CM. We also performed global microRNA profiling of E9.5 heart for the first time, and identified that miR-541 was transiently highly expressed in E9.5 hearts. Interestingly, introducing miR-541 back into microRNA-free CMs partially rescued their defects, downregulated angiogenesis genes and significantly upregulated cardiac genes. Moreover, miR-541 can target Ctgf and inhibit endothelial function. Our results suggest that microRNAs are required to suppress abnormal angiogenesis gene program to maintain CM differentiation.

The authors note that on page 637 (Author Name), author affiliation of Tao Liu “Tao Liu⁶” should instead appear as “Tao Liu⁵.”