1.Methodological breakthroughs and challenges in research of soil phage microecology.
Xiaofang WANG ; Shuo WANG ; Keming YANG ; Yike TANG ; Yangchun XU ; Qirong SHEN ; Zhong WEI
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2025;41(6):2310-2323
Phages, as obligate bacterial and archaeal parasites, constitute a virus group of paramount ecological significance due to their exceptional abundance and genetic diversity. These biological entities serve as critical regulators in Earth's ecosystems, driving biogeochemical cycles, energy fluxes, and ecosystem services across terrestrial and marine environments. Within soil microbiomes, phages function as microbial "dark matter," maintaining the soil-plant system balance through precise modulation of the microbial community structure and functional dynamics. Despite the growing research interests in soil phages in recent years, the proportion of such studies in environmental virology remains disproportionately low, which is primarily attributed to researchers' limited familiarity with the research methodologies for phage microecology, incomplete technical frameworks, and inherent challenges posed by soil environmental complexity. To address these challenges, this review synthesizes cutting-edge methodologies for soil phage investigation from four aspects: (1) tangential flow filtration (TFF)-based phage enrichment strategies; (2) integrated quantification approaches combining double-layer agar plating, epifluorescence microscopy, and flow cytometry; (3) multi-omics analytical pipelines leveraging metagenomics and viromics datasets; and (4) computational frameworks merging machine learning algorithms with eco-evolutionary theory for deciphering phage-host interaction networks. Through comparative analysis of methodological principles, technical merits, and application scopes, we establish a comprehensive workflow for soil phage research. Future research in this field should prioritize: (1) construction of soil phage resource libraries, (2) exploration of RNA phages based on transcriptomes, (3) functional characterization of unknown genes, and (4) deep integration and interaction validation of multi-omics data. This systematic methodological synthesis provides critical technical references for addressing fundamental challenges in characterizing soil phages regarding the community structure, functional potential, and interaction mechanisms with hosts.
Bacteriophages/physiology*
;
Soil Microbiology
;
Ecosystem
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Microbiota
;
Metagenomics/methods*
2.Chinese expert consensus on the surgical treatment of Ebstein anomaly in children and adults
Hao ZHANG ; Keming YANG ; Jimei CHEN ; Liangwan CHEN ; Shoujun LI
Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2025;32(12):1677-1685
Ebstein anomaly (EA) is a rare type of congenital heart defect. Its incidence ranges from 0.005‰ to 0.025‰ among live-born fetuses. It is characterized by the displacement of the septal and posterior leaflets of the tricuspid valve toward the apex of the right ventricle, along with the atrialization and thinning of the right ventricle. Based on the severity of these anatomical features, EA can be classified into four types. The degree of hemodynamic abnormalities mainly depends on factors such as the volume of the atrialized right ventricle, tricuspid regurgitation, and right ventricular function. The main clinical manifestations include: heart failure, cyanosis, and arrhythmia. Echocardiography is the first-choice examination method for confirming the diagnosis. In addition, cardiac magnetic resonance is recognized as the gold standard for evaluating tricuspid regurgitation index and right ventricular function, and it holds significant value in the preoperative diagnosis of EA, treatment decision-making, and postoperative follow-up. Surgical intervention is the primary treatment approach. Although multiple surgical methods exist, the current Cone reconstruction technique is the preferred surgical procedure for this disease. Based on evidence-based data from literature and expert opinions, this article provides a comprehensive summary and recommendations regarding the clinical classification, diagnostic criteria, surgical treatment strategies, management of complications, and prognosis evaluation of EA.
3.Non-targeted screening and prioritization of emerging pollutants in sewage using direct injection high-resolution mass spectrometry
Chao ZHANG ; Chang WANG ; Xiangru YI ; Jingjing SONG ; Li YANG ; Tao WANG ; ZhiWen WEI ; Keming YUN ; Haiyan CUI ; Fangxing YANG ; Meng HU
Chinese Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;40(3):317-322
Objective To establish a high-throughput non-targeted screening and prioritization method for emerging pollutants(EPs)in sewage using direct injection high-resolution mass spectrometry(HRMS).Methods The sewage samples were filtered by membrane filter and directly subjected to the liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometer based on a method modified from our previous study.A C18 chromatographic column was applied for a gradient elution separation,and accurate mass and mass spectral fragment information were obtained through the MS full scan mode and MS/MS DIA data collection mode.After peak detection and alignment,the features from the raw data through open source software MZmine 3,and then high-throughput screening strategies such as MassBank and PubChem databases were used for compound annotation.Finally,the candidate features were confirmed with chemical standards by compared their retention time and mass spectrum fragmentation ion peaks.Results 13 EPs were identified,including 7 industrial chemicals,4 pharmaceuticals,1 pesticide and 1 metabolite.High detection rates were observed for metformin(86.2%),2-hydroxybenzothiazole(79.3%),1,2-benzisothiazole-3-one(72.4%),and 1,2-benzisothiazole-3-one(72.4%).The quantitative concentration range of EPs was 1.37~19.05 ng/mL,with the high concentrations observed for melamine(19.05 ng/mL)and furosemide(18.49 ng/mL).Ecological risk assessment identified 1,2-benzisothiazol-3-one,4-aminoacetophenone,creatinine,2-hydroxybenzothiazole,and furosemide as key pollutants.Conclusion This direct injection coupled with HRMS workflow enables efficient non-targeted screening and prioritization of emerging EPs in sewage samples,highlighting five ecotoxicologically critical EPs.The methodology enhances environmental monitoring capabilities and provide critical technical support for interdisciplinary research such as environmental forensics and health risk assessment.
4.HPLC-MS/MS screening method and application for 40 piperazine-type substances in urine
Jinting LIU ; Wanting XIE ; Liying ZHOU ; Shuo YANG ; Keming YUN ; Yan SHI
Chinese Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;40(4):451-458
Objective Piperazine derivatives are a group of emerging psychoactive substances with excitatory and hallucinogenic effects on the central nervous system.This study established a high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(HPLC-MS/MS)screening method for the detection of 40 piperazine compounds in urine.Methods A 200 μL urine sample(spiked with an internal standard at 1 ng/mL)was subjected to liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate.After nitrogen evaporation,the residue was redissolved in 200 μL methanol and injected for analysis.Separation was performed on a Waters Acquity UPLC? HSS T3 column(100 mm × 2.1 mm,1.8 μm).The mobile phase consisted of(A)20 mmol/L ammonium acetate buffer containing 0.1%formic acid and 5%acetonitrile,and(B)acetonitrile.Gradient elution was applied,and detection was carried out in multiple reaction monitoring(MRM)mode.Quantification was achieved using an internal standard calibration curve.Results The 40 piperazine substances demonstrated good linearity within the range of 1-50 ng/mL,with correlation coefficients of 0.995-0.998.The extraction recovery ranged from 51.51%to 104.1%.Intra-day precision was below 5%,while inter-day precision ranged from 1.61%to 10.17%.Accuracy was between-7.84%and 8.77%.The limits of detection were 0.2-1 ng/mL,and the limit of quantification was 1 ng/mL.Conclusion The proposed method requires only a small sample volume,exhibits high sensitivity,selectivity,and stability,and offers short run times.It is suitable for the qualitative and quantitative determination of piperazine derivatives in urine in forensic toxicology practice.
5.Non-targeted screening and prioritization of emerging pollutants in sewage using direct injection high-resolution mass spectrometry
Chao ZHANG ; Chang WANG ; Xiangru YI ; Jingjing SONG ; Li YANG ; Tao WANG ; ZhiWen WEI ; Keming YUN ; Haiyan CUI ; Fangxing YANG ; Meng HU
Chinese Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;40(3):317-322
Objective To establish a high-throughput non-targeted screening and prioritization method for emerging pollutants(EPs)in sewage using direct injection high-resolution mass spectrometry(HRMS).Methods The sewage samples were filtered by membrane filter and directly subjected to the liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometer based on a method modified from our previous study.A C18 chromatographic column was applied for a gradient elution separation,and accurate mass and mass spectral fragment information were obtained through the MS full scan mode and MS/MS DIA data collection mode.After peak detection and alignment,the features from the raw data through open source software MZmine 3,and then high-throughput screening strategies such as MassBank and PubChem databases were used for compound annotation.Finally,the candidate features were confirmed with chemical standards by compared their retention time and mass spectrum fragmentation ion peaks.Results 13 EPs were identified,including 7 industrial chemicals,4 pharmaceuticals,1 pesticide and 1 metabolite.High detection rates were observed for metformin(86.2%),2-hydroxybenzothiazole(79.3%),1,2-benzisothiazole-3-one(72.4%),and 1,2-benzisothiazole-3-one(72.4%).The quantitative concentration range of EPs was 1.37~19.05 ng/mL,with the high concentrations observed for melamine(19.05 ng/mL)and furosemide(18.49 ng/mL).Ecological risk assessment identified 1,2-benzisothiazol-3-one,4-aminoacetophenone,creatinine,2-hydroxybenzothiazole,and furosemide as key pollutants.Conclusion This direct injection coupled with HRMS workflow enables efficient non-targeted screening and prioritization of emerging EPs in sewage samples,highlighting five ecotoxicologically critical EPs.The methodology enhances environmental monitoring capabilities and provide critical technical support for interdisciplinary research such as environmental forensics and health risk assessment.
6.HPLC-MS/MS screening method and application for 40 piperazine-type substances in urine
Jinting LIU ; Wanting XIE ; Liying ZHOU ; Shuo YANG ; Keming YUN ; Yan SHI
Chinese Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;40(4):451-458
Objective Piperazine derivatives are a group of emerging psychoactive substances with excitatory and hallucinogenic effects on the central nervous system.This study established a high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(HPLC-MS/MS)screening method for the detection of 40 piperazine compounds in urine.Methods A 200 μL urine sample(spiked with an internal standard at 1 ng/mL)was subjected to liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate.After nitrogen evaporation,the residue was redissolved in 200 μL methanol and injected for analysis.Separation was performed on a Waters Acquity UPLC? HSS T3 column(100 mm × 2.1 mm,1.8 μm).The mobile phase consisted of(A)20 mmol/L ammonium acetate buffer containing 0.1%formic acid and 5%acetonitrile,and(B)acetonitrile.Gradient elution was applied,and detection was carried out in multiple reaction monitoring(MRM)mode.Quantification was achieved using an internal standard calibration curve.Results The 40 piperazine substances demonstrated good linearity within the range of 1-50 ng/mL,with correlation coefficients of 0.995-0.998.The extraction recovery ranged from 51.51%to 104.1%.Intra-day precision was below 5%,while inter-day precision ranged from 1.61%to 10.17%.Accuracy was between-7.84%and 8.77%.The limits of detection were 0.2-1 ng/mL,and the limit of quantification was 1 ng/mL.Conclusion The proposed method requires only a small sample volume,exhibits high sensitivity,selectivity,and stability,and offers short run times.It is suitable for the qualitative and quantitative determination of piperazine derivatives in urine in forensic toxicology practice.
7.Study on the protective effects of resveratrol on the liver of hindlimb-unloaded rats.
Yingying XUAN ; Yutian YANG ; Hanqin TANG ; Zhihui MA ; Liang LI ; Dongshuai SHEN ; Mei ZHANG ; Keming CHEN
Journal of Biomedical Engineering 2024;41(6):1250-1256
This study aims to investigate the protective effect of resveratrol against liver injury in hindlimb unloading rats. Thirty 2-month-old male SD rats were randomly divided into normal group (Control), hindlimb unloading model group (Model), and hindlimb unloading+resveratrol administration group (Model+Res). The Model + Res group was injected intraperitoneally with 30 mg/kg of resveratrol, and the Control and Model groups were injected intraperitoneally with an equal volume of 0.9% NaCl. Liver tissues were collected after 28 days and analyzed for oxidative stress, inflammatory factors, energy metabolism indices, Na +-K +-ATPase and Ca 2+-Mg 2+-ATPase activity, and morphological changes were observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining. The protein expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, p-PI3K, PI3K, p-AKT, and AKT were detected by Western blotting. Compared with the Control group, hepatocytes in the Model group showed swelling, abnormal morphology, nuclear consolidation, and cell membrane disruption. Oxidative stress, inflammatory factor levels, hepatic glycogen accumulation, and energy metabolism were increased in the liver tissues of the Model group, while resveratrol treatment significantly reversed these changes. The results of Western blotting showed that resveratrol significantly reduced the expression of Bax and increased the expression levels of Bcl-2, and the proteins of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-AKT/AKT expression levels. It is suggested that 28 days of hindlimb unloading treatment could lead to liver tissue injury in rats, which is manifested as oxidative stress, inflammatory response, energy metabolism disorder and increased apoptosis level, and resveratrol has a certain mitigating effect on this.
Animals
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Resveratrol
;
Male
;
Liver/pathology*
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Rats, Sprague-Dawley
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Rats
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Hindlimb Suspension
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Oxidative Stress/drug effects*
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Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/metabolism*
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism*
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Stilbenes/pharmacology*
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bcl-2-Associated X Protein/metabolism*
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/metabolism*
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Apoptosis/drug effects*
8.Metabolomics-based screening of biomarkers for fenpropathrin-exposed rats
Qian YANG ; Tao WANG ; Fang GUO ; Yudie NING ; Keming YUN ; Zhiwen WEI
Chinese Journal of Forensic Medicine 2024;39(3):308-314
Objective Metabolomics was used to analyze the changes of metabolites in the plasma of Fenpropathrin-contaminated rats to find potential biomarkers for forensic identification of Fenpropathrin poisoning.Methods SD rats in the two experimental groups were given 20.5 mg/kg and 41 mg/kg doses of fenpropathrin respectively by gavage.The rats in the control group were given equivalent volume of normal saline.The angular vein blood of rats was collected 24 hours after gavage,and endogenous small molecule metabolites in plasma were investigated by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-TOF-MS).The data was processed by SIMCA14.1.The differential metabolites in plasma of fenpropathrin-infected rats were screened out according to the Variable Importance in Projection(VIP)and p<0.05 in the OPLS-DA model.Finally,the pathways were analyzed.Results There were significant differences in plasma metabolite levels between the control group and the experimental group,and 17 biomarkers were selected to identify whether the rats had received fenpropathrin,which mainly affected purine metabolism,Alanine,aspartate and glutamate metabolism,arginine biosynthesis,biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids and pyrimidine metabolism.Conclusion Fenpropathrin can change the composition of metabolites in rats,and the differential markers screened can provide supportive forensic evidence for cases related to deltamethrin poisoning.
9.Xinjia Congrong Tusizi Decoction Regulates Ferroptosis of Granulosa Cells in Rat Model of Premature Ovarian Insufficiency via p53/Nrf2 Signaling Pathway
Min LIU ; Wei SHI ; Jing YANG ; Keming WU
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2024;30(7):104-111
ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of Xinjia Congrong Tusizi decoction (XJCTD) on ovarian functions in the rat model of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and decipher the mechanism of regulating the tumor suppressor protein (p53)/nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway to attenuate granulosa cell ferroptosis. MethodForty-eight SPF-grade female SD rats were randomized into control, model, low-, medium-, and high-dose (1.1, 2.2, 4.4 g·kg-1) XJCTD, and Western medicine (coenzyme Q10, 0.002 7 g·kg-1) groups, with eight rats in each group. The rat model of POI was established by gavage of triptolide (TP), and after successful modeling, each group was administrated with the corresponding drugs by gavage for 14 d. The body weight and ovarian weight of each rat were weighed and the ovarian index was calculated. The morphology of the ovarian tissue was observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining, and the proportions of growing follicles and atretic follicles were calculated. The serum levels of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMM), estradiol (E2), and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The DCFH-DA fluorescent probe was used to measure the reactive oxygen species (ROS) content in granulosa cells. The content of cellular Ferrous ion (Fe2+), lipid peroxide (LPO), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) was detected by colorimetry. The expression of the tumor suppressor protein p53,Nrf2, solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11), and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) was determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. ResultCompared with the control group, the model group showed decreased ovarian weight, body weight, and ovarian index (P<0.01), reduced ovarian tissue volume and proportion of growing follicles (P<0.01), increased proportion of atretic follicles (P<0.01), lowered AMH and E2 levels and elevated FSH level in the serum (P<0.01), and elevated levels of Fe2+, ROS, LPO, and MDA (P<0.01) and lowered levels of GSH and SOD in granulosa cells (P<0.01). Moreover, the modeling up-regulated the expression of p53 (P<0.01) and down-regulated the expression of Nrf2, SLC7A11, and GPX4 (P<0.05, P<0.01) in the ovarian tissue. Compared with the model group, XJCTD increased the body weight, ovarian weight, and ovarian index (P<0.01), alleviated the pathological changes in the ovarian tissue, increased the proportion of growing follicles (P<0.01), decreased the proportion of atretic follicles (P<0.01), and reduced the content of ROS in granulosa cells (P<0.05, P<0.01). In addition, medium- and high-dose XJCTD lowered the FSH level (P<0.01) and raised E2 and AMH levels (P<0.01) in the serum, reduced the Fe2+ content (P<0.05, P<0.01), and increased the SOD content (P<0.01) in granulosa cells. High-dose XJCTD reduced the LPO and MDA content (P<0.01) and increased the SOD content (P<0.01) in the granulosa cells, down-regulated the expression of p53 (P<0.05), and up-regulated the expression of Nrf2, SLC7A11, and GPX4 in the ovarian tissue (P<0.05, P<0.01). ConclusionXJCTD may protect the ovarian function in the rat model of POI by regulating the p53/Nrf2 signaling pathway to attenuate the ferroptosis of ovarian granulosa cells.
10.Chinese expert consensus on surgical treatment of aortic valve disease in children
Hao ZHANG ; Keming YANG ; Xinxin CHEN ; Nianguo DONG ; Shoujun LI
Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2024;31(11):1560-1566
The consensus was authored by National Society of Congenital Heart Diseases. After employing the Delphi process and incorporating literature reviews and expert discussions, seven recommendations were ultimately formulated. The consensus provides a detailed elaboration on the pathoanatomy, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic methods, and surgical treatment approaches for aortic valve diseases in children. It emphasizes that the treatment of aortic valve diseases in children should take into account the needs of growth and development, and recommends surgical strategies for different age groups and types of lesions, including valve plasty, Ross procedure, valve replacement, and balloon dilation. Specifically, aortic valve plasty is recommended for neonates and infants, while surgical options for older children are more diversified. The consensus only discusses isolated aortic valve disease and does not cover cases complicated with other heart malformations

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