Background The prevalence of hyperuricemia (HUA) among Chinese residents has been increasing annually, with occupational populations facing a higher risk of HUA due to shift work or obesity. Objective To investigate the impact of shift work and obesity on HUA among coal miners, and to provide scientific data for the prevention of HUA in this occupational group. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 25619 workers from a coal mining group in 2023 as the study population, using a questionnaire survey and occupational health check-ups. Workers who were retired or on medical leave, as well as those who provided incomplete responses to the questionnaire or did not complete anthropometric measurements or blood tests, were excluded. A total of 23173 participants were included in the study. An unconditional logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between HUA and selected factors such as shift work status, years of shift work, daily shift work hours, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and visceral adiposity index (VAI), as well as the interaction between obesity and shift work on HUA. Restricted cubic spline functions were used to analyze the dose-response relationship between years of shift work, daily shift work hours, and HUA. Results The average age of the included workers was (42.38 ± 9.82) years. A total of 6735 workers reported positive HUA, with a positive rate of 29.1%, and the prevalence was higher in men compared to women (31.8% vs. 13.9%). After adjusting for confounding factors, the restricted cubic spline model revealed a nonlinear dose-response relationship between years of shift work, daily shift work duration, and HUA: ① When the years of shift work exceeded 3.25 years, the risk of HUA in workers gradually increased with longer work duration. At 20 years of shift work, the risk increase showed a "saturation effect," meaning that the risk of HUA no longer increased with additional years of shift work. ② When daily shift work duration was below 10 h, the risk of HUA increased with the length of shift work, but after exceeding 10 h, the risk stabilized. After adjusting for confounding factors, the logistic regression model showed that, compared to non-shift workers, shift workers, those with 10-20 years and over 20 years of shift work experience, as well as those working less than 8 h and more than 8 h per day, had a higher risk of HUA, with odds ratios (OR) of 1.14 (95%CI: 1.06, 1.22), 2.42 (95%CI: 2.20, 2.67), 2.23 (95%CI: 2.00, 2.48), 1.41 (95%CI: 1.29, 1.54), and 1.90 (95%CI: 1.75, 2.06), respectively. Additionally, compared to individuals with normal obesity indices, those with overweight and obesity based on BMI, high and very high VAI and excessive WHtR had a higher risk of HUA, with ORs of 2.01 (95%CI: 1.85, 2.17), 3.51 (95%CI: 3.20, 3.84), 1.42 (95%CI: 1.32, 1.54), 2.10 (95%CI: 1.91, 2.30), and 1.82 (95%CI: 1.69, 1.97), respectively. The interaction analysis showed no interaction between shift work and obesity index (both P_s < 0.001). Conclusion Shift work, longer shift work years, and longer daily shift work hours increase the risk of HUA among coal miners. Additionally, the role of obesity in the development of HUA cannot be ignored.

ObjectiveTo investigate the diagnostic value of triglyceride (TG) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and their interactions on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), so as to provide a basis for future pregnancy monitoring and clinical decision-making. MethodsData of 100 full-term singleton pregnant women who were examined and delivered in the Second People’s Hospital of Wuhu City from January 2020 to January 2023 were retrospectively collected, and they were divided into GDM group (n=33) and non-GDM group (n=67) according to the results of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The general clinical data of the two groups were compared, and the independent risk factors affecting the occurrence of GDM were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Furthermore, the diagnostic value of the interaction of HbA1c and TG on GDM was analyzed using additive interaction model. A nomogram model to predict the occurrence of GDM was constructed and verified. The effects of HbA1c, TG and their interactions on the occurrence of GDM were analyzed using the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). ResultsHbA1c and TG were significantly higher in the GDM group than those in the non-GDM group (P<0.001). History of GDM, family history of diabetes mellitus, body mass index (BMI) before pregnancy, hypertension, TG, frequent consumption of high-calorie food during pregnancy, and HbA1c were the influencing factors for the occurrence of GDM in pregnant women (P<0.001). The nomogram model was constructed according to the seven factors screened by logistic regression analysis, and the average absolute error between the predicted probability by the nomogram model and actual probability of the occurrence of GDM was 0.039. The ROC results showed that the area under the curve (AUC) value of HbA1c was 0.765, the AUC value of TG was 0.833, and the AUC value of the interaction between TG and HbA1c was 0.894, with a statistically significant difference (P<0.05). ConclusionHbA1c and TG are not only influencing factors for GDM, but also their interactions are positively correlated with the occurrence of GDM. The diagnostic value of the two synergistically interacting on GDM is greater than that of them independently on GDM. The nomogram model constructed in this study has good differentiation, accuracy and clinical practicability for predicting the incidence of GDM.

BACKGROUND: The mechanisms distinguishing metabolically healthy from unhealthy phenotypes within the same BMI categories remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the associations between regional fat distribution and metabolically unhealthy phenotypes in Chinese adults across different BMI categories. METHODS: This cross-sectional study involving 11833 Chinese adults aged 20 years and older. Covariance analysis, adjusted for age, compared the percentage of regional fat (trunk, leg, or arm fat divided by whole-body fat) between metabolically healthy and unhealthy participants. Trends in regional fat percentage with the number of metabolic abnormalities were assessed by the Jonckheere-Terpstra test. Odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by logistic regression models. All analyses were performed separately by sex. RESULTS: In non-obese individuals, metabolically unhealthy participants exhibited higher percent trunk fat and lower percent leg fat compared to healthy participants. Additionally, percent trunk fat increased and percent leg fat decreased with the number of metabolic abnormalities. After adjustment for demographic and lifestyle factors, as well as BMI, higher percent trunk fat was associated with increased odds of being metabolically unhealthy [highest vs. lowest quartile: ORs (95%CI) of 1.64 (1.35, 2.00) for men and 2.00 (1.63, 2.46) for women]. Conversely, compared with the lowest quartile, the ORs (95%CI) of metabolically unhealthy phenotype in the highest quartile for percent arm and leg fat were 0.64 (0.53, 0.78) and 0.60 (0.49, 0.74) for men, and 0.72 (0.56, 0.93) and 0.46 (0.36, 0.59) for women, respectively. Significant interactions between BMI and percentage of trunk and leg fat were observed in both sexes, with stronger associations found in individuals with normal weight and overweight. CONCLUSIONS Trunk fat is associated with a higher risk of metabolically unhealthy phenotype, while leg and arm fat are protective factors. Regional fat distribution assessments are crucial for identifying metabolically unhealthy phenotypes, particularly in non-obese individuals.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult ; Adipose Tissue ; Body Fat Distribution ; Body Mass Index ; China/epidemiology* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Health Surveys ; Phenotype

Objective:To explore the function and mechanism of transcription factor En1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods:The correlations of En1 with prognosis were analyzed using the overall survival data of 9 397 pan-cancer patients and progression-free survival data of 4 349 pan-cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The En1 expression data in 53 and 155 cases of ESCC and their paired adjacent tissues were from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and National Genomics Data Center-Genome Sequence Archive(NGDC-GSA)database. Lentivirus was used to generate En1 stable knockout cell lines KYSE180 and KYSE450. The proliferation ability of the cells was detected by cell counting kit 8 and clone formation assay. The migration ability of the cells was detected by Transwell assay. The effect of En1 on the proliferation of ESCC was detected by xenograft experiment in BALB/c-nu/nu mice. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect the expressions of En1, glioma-associated oncogene family zinc finger 1 (GLI1), glioma-associated oncogene family zinc finger 2 (GLI2) and smoothened (SMO).Results:Pan-cancer data from TCGA showed that patients with low En1 expression had longer overall survival and progression-free survival than patients with high En1 expression ( P< 0.001). Data from GEO and GSA databases also showed a high expression level of En1 in ESCC tissues compared with paired tissues ( P＜0.001). Proliferation was inhibited after knockout of En1 in KYSE180 and KYSE450 cells ( P＜0.001). The colony formation numbers decreased. The colony formation numbers of KYSE180 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 138.33±23.07 and 127.00±19.70, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group 340.67±12.06 ( P<0.001). The colony formation numbers of KYSE450 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 65.33±2.52 and 9.00±3.00, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group 139.00±13.00 ( P<0.001). The migration numbers was inhibited after knockout of En1 [the Transwell numbers of KYSE180 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 66.67±12.66 and 71.33±11.02, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group 334.67±16.56 ( P<0.001). The Transwell numbers of KYSE450 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 112.33±14.57 and 54.33±5.51, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group 253.33±21.03 ( P<0.001)]. Xenograft model showed a slower growth rate of shEn1#1 and shEn1#2 cell lines ( P＜0.001). The tumor weights of KYSE450 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were (0.046±0.026)g and (0.047±0.025)g, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group (0.130±0.038)g ( P＜0.001). After knockdown of En1, the relative expression levels of GLI1 in KYSE180 cells of the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 0.326±0.162 and 0.322±0.133, and the relative expression levels of GLI1 in KYSE450 cells of the shEn1#1 and shEn1#2 groups were 0.131±0.006 and 0.352±0.050, respectively, which were all lower than that in the shNC group ( P＜0.01). After knockdown of En1, overexpression of GLI1 attenuated the inhibitory effect of knockdown of En1 on cell proliferation ( P＜0.001), colony formation[the colony formation numbers of the shEn1#1-GLI1 group were 151.00±9.54, higher than 102.33±10.02 ( P=0.004) of the shEn1#1-vector group] and migration [the migration numbers of the shEn1#1-GLI1 group were 193.67±10.07, higher than 109.33±11.50 ( P<0.001) in the shEn1#1-vector group]. In clinical samples of ESCC, major regulatory factors of the Hedgehog pathway were up-regulated and the pathway was activated. Conclusion:En1 promotes the proliferation and migration of ESCC cells by regulating the Hedgehog pathway and can be used as a new potential target for targeted therapy of ESCC.

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent malignant tumors.Bone metastasis is a common complication during the entire course of breast cancer.The vicious cycle of"tumor-bone microenvironment"was easily formed,which led to the occurrence of bone-related events such as bone pain,pathological fractures,and hypercalcemia,etc.Studies have found that active ingredients of Tripterygium wilfordii exhibit the effect of anti-breast cancer and regulation of bone microenvironment,including inhibition of tumor cell proliferation and migration,inhibition of tumor angiogenesis,induction of autophagy in tumor cells,regulation of bone formation in osteoblast cell,inhibition of bone resorption in osteoclast cell,promoting the differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into osteoblasts,and regulation of immune microenvironment,which may be helpful to inhibit breast cancer and bone metastasis.This article systematically reviewed the research progress on pharmacological effects of Tripterygium wilfordii in preventing breast cancer and bone metastasis,analyzed the limitations and application prospects of the current research.

Objective:To explore the function and mechanism of transcription factor En1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods:The correlations of En1 with prognosis were analyzed using the overall survival data of 9 397 pan-cancer patients and progression-free survival data of 4 349 pan-cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The En1 expression data in 53 and 155 cases of ESCC and their paired adjacent tissues were from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and National Genomics Data Center-Genome Sequence Archive(NGDC-GSA)database. Lentivirus was used to generate En1 stable knockout cell lines KYSE180 and KYSE450. The proliferation ability of the cells was detected by cell counting kit 8 and clone formation assay. The migration ability of the cells was detected by Transwell assay. The effect of En1 on the proliferation of ESCC was detected by xenograft experiment in BALB/c-nu/nu mice. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect the expressions of En1, glioma-associated oncogene family zinc finger 1 (GLI1), glioma-associated oncogene family zinc finger 2 (GLI2) and smoothened (SMO).Results:Pan-cancer data from TCGA showed that patients with low En1 expression had longer overall survival and progression-free survival than patients with high En1 expression ( P< 0.001). Data from GEO and GSA databases also showed a high expression level of En1 in ESCC tissues compared with paired tissues ( P＜0.001). Proliferation was inhibited after knockout of En1 in KYSE180 and KYSE450 cells ( P＜0.001). The colony formation numbers decreased. The colony formation numbers of KYSE180 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 138.33±23.07 and 127.00±19.70, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group 340.67±12.06 ( P<0.001). The colony formation numbers of KYSE450 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 65.33±2.52 and 9.00±3.00, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group 139.00±13.00 ( P<0.001). The migration numbers was inhibited after knockout of En1 [the Transwell numbers of KYSE180 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 66.67±12.66 and 71.33±11.02, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group 334.67±16.56 ( P<0.001). The Transwell numbers of KYSE450 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 112.33±14.57 and 54.33±5.51, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group 253.33±21.03 ( P<0.001)]. Xenograft model showed a slower growth rate of shEn1#1 and shEn1#2 cell lines ( P＜0.001). The tumor weights of KYSE450 cells in the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were (0.046±0.026)g and (0.047±0.025)g, respectively, significantly lower than that of the shNC group (0.130±0.038)g ( P＜0.001). After knockdown of En1, the relative expression levels of GLI1 in KYSE180 cells of the shEn1#1 group and the shEn1#2 group were 0.326±0.162 and 0.322±0.133, and the relative expression levels of GLI1 in KYSE450 cells of the shEn1#1 and shEn1#2 groups were 0.131±0.006 and 0.352±0.050, respectively, which were all lower than that in the shNC group ( P＜0.01). After knockdown of En1, overexpression of GLI1 attenuated the inhibitory effect of knockdown of En1 on cell proliferation ( P＜0.001), colony formation[the colony formation numbers of the shEn1#1-GLI1 group were 151.00±9.54, higher than 102.33±10.02 ( P=0.004) of the shEn1#1-vector group] and migration [the migration numbers of the shEn1#1-GLI1 group were 193.67±10.07, higher than 109.33±11.50 ( P<0.001) in the shEn1#1-vector group]. In clinical samples of ESCC, major regulatory factors of the Hedgehog pathway were up-regulated and the pathway was activated. Conclusion:En1 promotes the proliferation and migration of ESCC cells by regulating the Hedgehog pathway and can be used as a new potential target for targeted therapy of ESCC.

Objectives:Microvascular obstruction (MVO) is a specific cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging feature in patients with acute myocardial infarction. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the predictive value of MVO in left ventricular adverse remodeling after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).Methods:A total of 167 patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI in the Chinese PLA General Hospital from 2016 to 2020 were enrolled in this prospective cohort study, the average age of study patients was 57±10 years old, with 151 males (90.4%) and 16 females (9.6%). The patients were divided into the MVO group ( n=81) and non-MVO group ( n=86) according to the presence or absence of MVO on CMR imaging, respectively. The primary endpoint of the study was the occurrence of left ventricular adverse remodeling, which was defined as an increase in left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV) by >20% at 6 months after primary PCI compared with the baseline. Patients who completed follow-up were diagnosed as left ventricular adverse remodeling or no left ventricular adverse remodeling according to CMR. The baseline data, perioperative data, and related data of end points were compared between the MVO group and non-MVO group. Finally, the predictive value of MVO in left ventricular adverse remodeling was calculated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Results:In the baseline data, preoperative thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow ( χ2=13.74, P=0.003) and postoperative TIMI flow ( χ2=14.87, P=0.001) were both obviously decreased in the MVO group. After 6 months of follow-up, the incidence of left ventricular adverse remodeling in the MVO group was significantly higher than that in the non-MVO group [37.0%(27/73) vs. 18.9%(14/74), χ2=5.96, P=0.015]. The left ventricular end systolic volume at 6 months post infarction in the MVO group was significantly larger than that in the non-MVO group [(94±32) vs. (68±20) ml, t=-5.98, P<0.001], as well as the LVEDV [(169±38) vs. (143±29) ml, t=-4.74, P<0.001]. Receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the area under the curve of MVO size for predicting left ventricular adverse remodeling was 0.637. Conclusion:The risk of left ventricular adverse remodeling is significantly increased in patients with MVO after primary PCI for acute STEMI.

Anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody (Sc7301)-paclitaxel (TAX) immunoconjugate was prepared and its specific binding to tumor cells was investigated in this study.Sc7301 was conjugated to　TAX by the active ester method and then the TAX-Sc7301 immunoconjugate was obtained.After purification and labeling by Cyano-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC),the specific binding of TAX-Sc7301to HER2-positive tumor cells (SKOV3) and HER2-negative tumor cells (HepG2) was evaluated respectively.TAX-Sc7301 (20 nmol/L) showed distinct specific binding to SKOV3 cells rather than HepG2cells.And the uptake of the immunoconjugate by SKOV3 cells was increased with the TAX-Sc7301concentration (3-48 nmol/L) and the incubation time (P＜0.05).It was concluded that the TAX-Sc7301immunoconjugate is potentially applicable as a targeted agent against HER2-positive tumor cells.

Anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody (Sc7301)-paclitaxel (TAX) immunoconjugate was prepared and its specific binding to tumor cells was investigated in this study. Sc7301 was conjugated to TAX by the active ester method and then the TAX-Sc7301 immunoconjugate was obtained. After purification and labeling by Cyano-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), the specific binding of TAX-Sc7301 to HER2-positive tumor cells (SKOV3) and HER2-negative tumor cells (HepG2) was evaluated respectively. TAX-Sc7301 (20 nmol/L) showed distinct specific binding to SKOV3 cells rather than HepG2 cells. And the uptake of the immunoconjugate by SKOV3 cells was increased with the TAX-Sc7301 concentration (3-48 nmol/L) and the incubation time (P<0.05). It was concluded that the TAX-Sc7301 immunoconjugate is potentially applicable as a targeted agent against HER2-positive tumor cells.

A xylosidase gene, labeled as BH1068 in genome of Bacillus halodurans C-125, was successfully cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli JM109. The purified enzyme was thoroughly characterized and its xylosidase function was unambiguously confirmed. It has maximum activities in neutral condition and is stable over a wide range of pH (4.5-9.0). The enzyme has a broad temperature optimal (35 degrees C-45 degrees C) and is quite stable at temperature up to 45 degrees C. The unique pH and temperature profiles of the enzyme should allow a wide range of xylanolytic operational conditions. With high specific activity of 174 mU/mg protein for its artificial substrate (p-nitrophenyl-beta-xylose) and low xylose inhibition (inhibitor constant Ki = 300 mmol/L), this enzyme is among the most active and high tolerant bacterial xylosidase to xylose inhibition. Its high synergy with commercial xylanase has been demonstrated with beechwood xylan hydrolysis, achieving a hydrolysis yield of 40%. Its neutral pH optimal and high tolerance to product inhibition complements well with its fungal counterparts that are only optimal at acidic pH and susceptible to xylose inhibition. In conclusion, this enzyme has high potential in the saccharification of xylan and xylan-containing polysaccharides.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Bacillus ; classification ; enzymology ; genetics ; Cloning, Molecular ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Hydrolysis ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Recombinant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Substrate Specificity ; Xylose ; metabolism ; Xylosidases ; genetics ; metabolism