Objective To observe the value of electron density map(EDM)from spectral CT combined with CT features in differentiating acute and chronic osteoporotic vertebral fractures(OVF).Methods Thoracic and/or lumbar spectral CT data of 48 patients with acute complicated chronic OVF were retrospectively analyzed.Totally 110 fractured vertebrae were enrolled,including 53 vertebrae with acute fractures(acute group)and 57 with chronic fractures(chronic group).The quantitative parameters of spectral CT,including CT values of conventional 120 kVp polyenergetic image(PI,i.e.routine CT images)and 40,70,100 keV virtual monoenergetic images(VMI),effective atomic number(Z-eff)and electron density(ED),as well as routine CT finding were compared between groups,and those being significantly different were included in multivariate logistic regression to screen the independent risk factors for acute OVF and construct a combined model.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were drawn to evaluate the efficacy of each single independent risk factor and the combination for differentiating acute and chronic OVF.Results Significant differences of all spectral CT quantitative parameters,also of routine CT findings including interruption of vertebral endplate,cortical folds,increased vertebral density,gas within vertebral body and vertebral compression degree were found between groups(all P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that CTPI(OR=0.855,P=0.005),ED(OR=16.432,P=0.005),cortical folds(OR=0.038,P=0.034)and increased vertebral density(OR=0.025,P=0.013)were all independent risk factors for acute OVF.The area under the curve(AUC)of the above single parameters for identifying acute and chronic OVF was 0.870,0.889,0.879 and 0.866,respectively,all lower than that of the combined model(0.977)(Z=3.47,3.73,2.95,2.71,all P＜0.05).Conclusion Spectral CT EDM combined with CT findings could effectively differentiate acute and chronic OVF.

Objective:To investigate the occupational noise hazards in five machinery manufacturing enterprises, and to evaluate the individual noise reduction values and influencing factors of workers wearing hearing protection device (HPD) by individual fit testing.Methods:From November 2021 to January 2022, 5 machinery manufacturing enterprises in Bao'an District of Shenzhen were selected to conduct an occupational health survey to understand the noise exposure level of workers. The 3MTM E-A-RfitTM fitness test system was used to test the baseline individual sound attenuation value level (PAR) of the daily wear of the ear protecters for 485 workers in typical noise working positions. Workers whose PAR values could not meet the requirements of noise reduction at work were instructed to wear and repeated tests were conducted. PAR results of the workers before and after the intervention were collected and analyzed.Results:The noise workers who received the suitability test were mainly distributed in 24 types of work, the job noise exposure level was 80.2 dB (A) ~ 95.0 dB (A), and the job noise excess rate was 52.5% (138/263). The median baseline PAR [ M ( Q1, Q3) ] for 485 workers was 6.0 (0.0, 14.0) dB. The baseline PAR of male workers, those with more than 15 years of working experience, those with more than 15 years of using ear guards, those who considered ear guards comfortable to wear, those with college degree or above, and those exposed to noise level 90 dB (A) were higher, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). A total of 275 workers (56.7%) did not pass the baseline PAR test, and there was no statistically significant difference in the intervention rate of workers in different noise groups ( P>0.05). PAR in subjects who did not pass baseline after intervention increased from 0.0 (0.0, 3.0) dB to 15.0 (12.0, 18.2) dB. Conclusion:The workplace noise hazard of machinery manufacturing enterprises is serious, and there is a great difference between the baseline PAR and the nominal value of the hearing guard worn by the noise exposed workers. The intervention measures can effectively improve the protective effect of wearing ear protectors.

Objective:To investigate the occupational noise hazards in five machinery manufacturing enterprises, and to evaluate the individual noise reduction values and influencing factors of workers wearing hearing protection device (HPD) by individual fit testing.Methods:From November 2021 to January 2022, 5 machinery manufacturing enterprises in Bao'an District of Shenzhen were selected to conduct an occupational health survey to understand the noise exposure level of workers. The 3MTM E-A-RfitTM fitness test system was used to test the baseline individual sound attenuation value level (PAR) of the daily wear of the ear protecters for 485 workers in typical noise working positions. Workers whose PAR values could not meet the requirements of noise reduction at work were instructed to wear and repeated tests were conducted. PAR results of the workers before and after the intervention were collected and analyzed.Results:The noise workers who received the suitability test were mainly distributed in 24 types of work, the job noise exposure level was 80.2 dB (A) ~ 95.0 dB (A), and the job noise excess rate was 52.5% (138/263). The median baseline PAR [ M ( Q1, Q3) ] for 485 workers was 6.0 (0.0, 14.0) dB. The baseline PAR of male workers, those with more than 15 years of working experience, those with more than 15 years of using ear guards, those who considered ear guards comfortable to wear, those with college degree or above, and those exposed to noise level 90 dB (A) were higher, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). A total of 275 workers (56.7%) did not pass the baseline PAR test, and there was no statistically significant difference in the intervention rate of workers in different noise groups ( P>0.05). PAR in subjects who did not pass baseline after intervention increased from 0.0 (0.0, 3.0) dB to 15.0 (12.0, 18.2) dB. Conclusion:The workplace noise hazard of machinery manufacturing enterprises is serious, and there is a great difference between the baseline PAR and the nominal value of the hearing guard worn by the noise exposed workers. The intervention measures can effectively improve the protective effect of wearing ear protectors.

Objective·To identify the functional motifs of mucin 1(MUC1)involved in regulating tumor cell proliferation,migration,and stemness maintenance.Methods·Mutational characteristics of the MUC1 gene across different cancers were identified from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)database.Various MUC1 mutation sites were analyzed and localized,followed by ranking based on mutation frequency.Western blotting was used to screen high-frequency MUC1 mutants with stable protein expression.BT549 cell line with MUC1 knocked out and MCF-10A cell line were used to stably overexpress MUC1 wild-type(MUC1-WT)and mutants by using lentiviral technology.Immunofluorescence was used to detect the cellular localization of MUC1 mutants.Using MUC1-WT as a positive control and MUC1-AQA,a loss-of-function mutant,as a negative control,the biological functions of different MUC1 mutant cells were analyzed:cell proliferation ability was assessed by cell counting kit-8(CCK-8)assay and colony formation assay;cell migration ability was evaluated by wound-healing and Transwell assays;cell stemness was examined by sphere formation assay.Structural localization of MUC1 mutants was analyzed by using PyMOL software,and molecular docking analysis was performed by using a protein docking software(ZDOCK Server).Results·A total of 102 mutations located in the MUC1 coding region were identified in the TCGA database,among which five missense mutations(P418S,S251R,V359I,N271S,and N465H)exhibited higher frequencies and were located in the non-variable number of tandem repeats(non-VNTR)region.Further examination revealed that the MUC1-S251R,N271S,and V359I mutants could be stably expressed.The cellular localization assay indicated that these three mutants predominantly localized in the cytoplasm,but were also presented in the nucleus.The nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio showed minimal differences between MUC1-WT and the mutants.Analysis of the tumorigenic biological functions of the cells expressing different MUC1 mutants revealed that:① High expression of MUC1-WT significantly enhanced the proliferation ability of both BT549 and MCF-10A cells;the proliferation of MUC1-AQA,S251R,and N271S mutant cells was decreased compared to MUC1-WT cells,while MUC1-V359I mutant cells exhibited a similar proliferative profile to MUC1-WT cells.② The migration ability of MUC1-WT high-expressing cells was significantly enhanced,whereas MUC1-AQA cells demonstrated attenuated migration.In the BT549 cells,the migration ability of MUC1-S251R and V359I cells was similar to that of MUC1-WT cells,whereas MUC1-N271S cells showed reduced migration.In the MCF-10A cells,the migration ability of MUC1-N271S and MUC1-V359I cells was similar to that of MUC1-WT cells,whereas MUC1-S251R cells exhibited significantly decreased migration.③ Stemness was enhanced in both cell types with high MUC1-WT expression,while MUC1-AQA cells lost stemness;the cells with MUC1-N271S,V359I and MUC1-WT showed comparable maintenance of stemness,whereas MUC1-S251R cells demonstrated compromised stemness.PyMOL software analysis unveiled that MUC1-N271S and V359I were located in or around the sperm protein-enterokinase-agarin(SEA)region,specifically in the loop region and the β-sheet,respectively.The molecular docking analysis revealed that the stability of the complex formed by MUC1-WT or V359I with the extracellular domain of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)surpassed that of MUC1-N271S or S251R,indicating a stability hierarchy of V359I>WT>N271S>S251R.Conclusion·MUC1 mutants exhibit diverse impacts on the biological functions of tumor cells,with their effects on proliferation correlating with the EGFR signaling pathway.MUC1-V359I is similar to MUC1-WT,indicating a negligible effect on tumor cell proliferation,migration,and stemness maintenance.Conversely,MUC1-S251 and N271 sites may be involved in the regulation of signaling pathways governing cell proliferation and migration and the MUC1-S251 site plays a critical role in maintaining cell stemness.

Objective:To learn about the genotyping of human Brucella isolated from Sichuan Province. Methods:BCSP31-PCR and AMOS-PCR were used to identify the genus and biotype of the 66 strains isolated from confirmed human brucellosis cases in Sichuan Province from 2014 to 2020, respectively. The isolated strains were genotyped by multi-locus sequence typing (MLST)-9. The sequence type (ST) was compared trough the online MLST database. A minimum spanning tree (MST) was constructed to cluster the newly discovered and known ST using the BioNumerics software version 7.6.Results:The 66 strains isolated from human cases of brucellosis in Sichuan Province from 2014 to 2020 were Brucella, and 65 of them were Brucella melitensis while one strain was Brucella abortus. The MLST method identified three known STs (ST-8, ST-39 and ST-2) and one newly type (ST-101). Among them, ST-8 was the main ST in Sichuan Province (90.91%, 60/66), another 4 strains of Brucella melitensis were ST-39, and 1 strain of Brucella abortus was ST-2. The newly type ST-101 was isolated from Leshan City in 2019, belonging to the Brucella melitensis and closely related to the evolution of ST-8. Conclusion:Brucella melitensis is the main epidemic Brucella strain in Sichuan Province, ST-8 is predominant genotype, with a small amount of ST-39, ST-101 and ST-2.

The discovery of hydroxylases in the anticancer drug taxol biosynthesis pathway is a hotspot and difficulty in current research. In this study, a new hydroxylase gene TcCYP725A22 (GenBank accession number: MF448646.1) was used to construct a sub-cellular localization vector pCAMIBA1303-TcCYP725A22-EGFP to get the transient expression in onion epidermal cells. Laser confocal microscopy revealed that the protein encoded by this gene was localized in the cell membrane. Furthermore, the recombinant plant expression plasmid pBI121-TcCYP725A22 was constructed. After transient transformation to the Taxus chinensis mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404, qRT-PCR and LC-MS were utilized to analyze the effects of TcCYP725A22 overexpression on the synthesis of taxol. The results showed that, in the TcCYP725A22 overexpressed cell line, expression levels of most defined hydroxylase genes for taxol biosynthesis were increased, and the yield of taxanes were also increased. It was concluded that the hydroxylase gene TcCYP725A22 is likely involved in the biosynthetic pathway of taxol.
Biosynthetic Pathways ; Mixed Function Oxygenases ; Paclitaxel ; Taxoids ; Taxus

OBJECTIVETo study a case with weak D59 phenotype identified among ethnic Han Chinese population.

METHODSRoutine serological tests were used to analyze the reaction patterns, and the RhD epitopes were verified with 12 monoclonal antibodies. Sequence-specific primer PCR was applied for typing the weak RhD and RhD zygosity in the proband and his family members.

RESULTSA c.1148T>C variant was identified in the proband, for which serological test indicated a weak D phenotype. RHD zygosity testing confirmed that the proband had a RHD+ /RHD- genotype.

CONCLUSIONA weak D59 phenotype was firstly identified in a Chinese individual.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; China ; ethnology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phenotype ; Rh-Hr Blood-Group System ; genetics

Objective To evaluate the value of DTI in mild articular cartilage injury in patellofemoral joint.Methods The DTI and arthroscopy data of 82 patients wih routine MRI diagnosed as mild articular cartilage injury were analyzed retrospectively.According to the results of arthroscopy,40 cases of mild articular cartilage injury with Outerbridge classification Ⅰ or Ⅱ were divided into experimental group,and 33 cases with normal patellofemoral articular cartilage were divided into control group.There were 8 articular cartilage injury patients with Outerbridge classification Ⅲ or Ⅳ in patello-femoral join were excluded.The DTI data were analyzed compared with arthroscopy.Results Arthroscopy detected 62 lesions of cartilage injury in experimental group.Totally 49 lesions (49/62,79.03 ％) were detected by ADC pseudocolor image and 51 lesions (51/62,82.25 ％) were detected by FA pseudocolor image.The DTI pseudocolor images of articular cartilage injury showed uneven levels.The red or pink levels can been observed.Compared with the control group,ADC value increased and FA value decreased significantly in experimental group (both P＜0.05).Conclusion DTI can clearly display and detect mild articular cartilage injury in patellofemoral joint,which provide valuable information for early cartilaginous injury.

Taxol is a secondary metabolite with prominent anti-tumor activity, but the yield cannot meet the growing clinical demand due to lower content in yew. Now, most enzyme genes involved in taxol biosynthesis have been cloned and identified, so that obtaining this drug by using synthetic biology method has become a hotspot in recent years. However, most hydroxylases involved in taxol biosynthetic pathway have not been explored. Here, we reviewed the progress on the biosynthesis pathway of taxol, especially concerning hydroxylase. The future research areas of taxol biosynthesis through synthetic biology were also discussed to provide basis for the discovery of uncharacterized hydroxylase genes and the mass taxol production by synthetic biology technology.
Biosynthetic Pathways ; Mixed Function Oxygenases ; metabolism ; Paclitaxel ; biosynthesis ; Synthetic Biology ; Taxus ; enzymology

A rapid method was developed for the determination of 5 common fatty acids, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid in industrial oleic acid based on ultra_performance convergence chromatography_mass spectrometry ( UPC_MS) . The sample was dissolved by n_hexane, followed by clean_up of extract using 0. 22 μm organic phase filter. The fatty acids were separated in 3 min on the column of Acquity UPC2 BEH 2_EP by gradient elution with carbon dioxide and methanol/acetonitrile (1∶1, V/V) system, and finally detected by MS detector in ESI- mode. Through the optimization of UPC2_MS condition, the reasonable linearity was achieved for all the analytes over the range of 0. 5-100 mg/L with the correlation coefficients ( R2 ) greater than 0. 9985. The recoveries for five fatty acids at three spiked levels were in the range from 89 . 3% to 106 . 67% with relative standard deviations of 0 . 8%-3 . 0%. The limits of detection for target compounds in the method ranged from 0. 07 mg/L to 0. 26 mg/L. The real sample analysis showed that this method was simple,fast and had a good separation effect. There was no need of derivatization for fatty acid samples. This work would provide a fast and effective detection method for UPC2 technology in oil related research field.