Background/Aims: We aimed to determine the association between blood urea level and incident cirrhosis, hepatic decompensation, and hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic liver disease (CLD) patients. Methods: The association between blood urea level and liver fibrosis/liver-related events were evaluated on continuous scale with restricted cubic spline curves based on generalized additive model or Cox proportional hazards models. Then, the above associations were evaluated by urea level within intervals. Results: Among 4,282 patients who had undergone liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by transient elastography, baseline urea level had a U-shaped association with LSM and hepatic decompensation development after a median follow-up of 5.5 years. Compared to patients with urea of 3.6–9.9 mmol/L, those with urea ≤3.5 mmol/L (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 4.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.68–10.24) and ≥10 mmol/L (aHR, 5.22; 95% CI, 1.86–14.67) had higher risk of hepatic decompensation. Patients with urea ≤3.5 mmol/L also had higher risk of incident cirrhosis (aHR, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.50–6.98). The association between low urea level and incident cirrhosis and hepatic decompensation was consistently observed in subgroups by age, gender, albumin level, and comorbidities. The U-shaped relationship between urea level and LSM was validated in another population screening study (n=917). Likewise, urea ≤3.5 mmol/L was associated with a higher risk of incident cirrhosis in a territory-wide cohort of 12,476 patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease at a median follow-up of 9.9 years (aHR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.03–1.57). Conclusions We identified a U-shaped relationship between the urea level and liver fibrosis/incident cirrhosis/hepatic decompensation in patients with CLD.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) and the Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) have become essential technologies to effectively measure protein–DNA interactions and chromatin accessibility. However, there is a need for a scalable and reproducible pipeline that incorporates proper normalization between samples, correction of copy number variations, and integration of new downstream analysis tools. Here we present Containerized Bioinformatics workflow for Reproducible ChIP/ATAC-seq Analysis (CoBRA), a modularized computational workflow which quantifies ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq peak regions and performs unsupervised and supervised analyses. CoBRA provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq analysis pipeline that can be used by scientists with limited computational experience. This enables researchers to gain rapid insight into protein–DNA interactions and chromatin accessibility through sample clustering, differential peak calling, motif enrichment, comparison of sites to a reference database, and pathway analysis. CoBRA is publicly available online at https://bitbucket. org/cfce/cobra.

The mammalian epididymis not only plays a fundamental role in the maturation of spermatozoa, but also provides protection against various stressors. The foremost among these is the threat posed by oxidative stress, which arises from an imbalance in reactive oxygen species and can elicit damage to cellular lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. In mice, the risk of oxidative damage to spermatozoa is mitigated through the expression and secretion of glutathione peroxidase 5 (GPX5) as a major luminal scavenger in the proximal caput epididymidal segment. Accordingly, the loss of GPX5-mediated protection leads to impaired DNA integrity in the spermatozoa of aged Gpx5

To address the increasing need for detecting and validating protein biomarkers in clinical specimens, mass spectrometry (MS)-based targeted proteomic techniques, including the selected reaction monitoring (SRM), parallel reaction monitoring (PRM), and massively parallel data-independent acquisition (DIA), have been developed. For optimal performance, they require the fragment ion spectra of targeted peptides as prior knowledge. In this report, we describe a MS pipe-line and spectral resource to support targeted proteomics studies for human tissue samples. To build the spectral resource, we integrated common open-source MS computational tools to assemble a freely accessible computational workflow based on Docker. We then applied the workflow to gen-erate DPHL, a comprehensive DIA pan-human library, from 1096 data-dependent acquisition (DDA) MS raw files for 16 types of cancer samples. This extensive spectral resource was then applied to a proteomic study of 17 prostate cancer (PCa) patients. Thereafter, PRM validation was applied to a larger study of 57 PCa patients and the differential expression of three proteins in prostate tumor was validated. As a second application, the DPHL spectral resource was applied to a study consisting of plasma samples from 19 diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients and 18 healthy control subjects. Differentially expressed proteins between DLBCL patients and healthy control subjects were detected by DIA-MS and confirmed by PRM. These data demonstrate that the DPHL supports DIA and PRM MS pipelines for robust protein biomarker discovery. DPHL is freely accessible at https://www.iprox.org/page/project.html?id=IPX0001400000.

Cases of acute pancreatitis induced by organophosphate intoxication are encountered occasionally in clinics, but very few of them develop into severe pancreas necrosis and irreversible pancreatic function impairment. Here, we report a 47-year-old female organophosphate poisoning case after ingestion of massive insecticides; she was considered to have total necrosis and function failure of the pancreas via serum amylase test, glucose level test, and CT imaging. The patient exhibited no relief under the regular medicine treatment, which included sandostatin, antibiotics, intravenous atropine, and pralidoxime methiodide. She received percutaneous catheterization and drainage of pancreatic zone to expel hazardous necrotic waste, also by which the pathogenic evidence was obtained and the antibiotics were adjusted subsequently. The patient recovered gradually, was discharged after 2 weeks, and was prescribed with oral pancreatin capsules before meals and hypodermic insulin at meals and bedtime to compensate the impaired pancreatic function.
Acute Disease ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Catheterization ; Female ; Humans ; Insecticides ; poisoning ; Middle Aged ; Organophosphate Poisoning ; Pancreas ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Pancreatin ; therapeutic use ; Pancreatitis ; chemically induced ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

Studies showed that the use of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) substitutes or intracellular cAMP activators increased intracellular cAMP level,causing anti-inflammatory effects.This study was to investigate the effects of pretreatment with meglumine cyclic adenylate (MCA),a compound of meglumine and cAMP,on systemic inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in rats.Eighteen adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=6 each):control group (NS group),LPS group (LPS group) and LPS with MCA pretreatment group (MCA group).Systemic inflammation was induced with LPS 10 mg/kg injected via the femoral vein in LPS and MCA groups.In MCA group,MCA 2 mg/kg was injected via the femoral vein 20 min before LPS injection,and the equal volume of normal saline was given in NS and LPS groups at the same time.Three hours after LPS injection,the blood samples were taken from the abdominal aorta for determination of plasma concentrations of TNF-α,IL-1,IL-6,IL-10,cAMP by ELISA and NF-r Bp65 expression by Western blotting.The experimental results showed that inflammatory and antiinflammatory indices were increased in LPS group compared to NS group;inflammatory indices were declined and anti-inflammatory indices were increased in MCA group relative to LPS group.Our study suggested that MCA pretreatment may attenuate LPS-induced systemic inflammation.

BACKGROUNDAlcohol dependence (AD) is a complex disorder characterized by impaired control over drinking. It is determined by both genetic and environmental factors. The recent approach of genome-wide association study (GWAS) is a powerful tool for identifying complex disease-associated susceptibility alleles, however, a few GWASs have been conducted for AD, and their results are largely inconsistent. The present study aimed to screen the loci associated with alcohol-related phenotypes using GWAS technology.

METHODSA genome-wide association study with the behavior of regular alcohol drinking and alcohol consumption was performed to identify susceptibility genes associated with AD, using the Affymetrix 500K SNP array in an initial sample consisting of 904 unrelated Caucasian subjects. Then, the initial results in GWAS were replicated in three independent samples: 1972 Caucasians in 593 nuclear families, 761 unrelated Caucasian subjects, and 2955 unrelated Chinese Hans.

RESULTSSeveral genes were associated with the alcohol-related phenotypes at the genome-wide significance level, with the ankyrin repeat domain 7 gene (ANKRD7) showing the strongest statistical evidence for regular alcohol drinking and suggestive statistical evidence for alcohol consumption. In addition, certain haplotypes within the ANKRD7 and cytokine-like1 (CYTL1) genes were significantly associated with regular drinking behavior, such as one ANKRD7 block composed of the SNPs rs6466686-rs4295599-rs12531086 (P = 6.51 × 10(-8)). The association of alcohol consumption was successfully replicated with rs4295599 in ANKRD7 gene in independent Caucasian nuclear families and independent unrelated Chinese Hans, and with rs16836497 in CYTL1 gene in independent unrelated Caucasians. Meta-analyses based on both the GWAS and replication samples further supported the observed significant associations between the ANKRD7 or CYTL1 gene and alcohol consumption.

CONCLUSIONThe evidence suggests that ANKRD7 and CYTL1 genes may play an important role in the variance in AD risk.

Adult ; Aged ; Alcohol Drinking ; genetics ; Blood Proteins ; Cytokines ; Female ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Proteins ; genetics ; Receptors, Cytokine ; genetics

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the interaction effects of In-Chen-How (Artemisia capillaries Thunb.) on the pharmacokinetics of acetaminophen and on liver microsomal cytochrome P450 enzyme activity in rats. The rats were divided into control group (n = 8) without In-Chen-How and the pretreated group (n = 8) administered with In-Chen-How (approximately 1.0 mL x kg(-1), according to weight) for 5 consecutive days. Rats in the control group received water simultaneously. Each rat was then given acetaminophen. The pharmacokinetic parameters of acetaminophen of the two groups were significantly different. In the In-Chen-How pretreated group, the maximum concentration of acetaminophen and the area under the plasma concentration-time curve were reduced about 58.4%, 56.7% and 55.4%. To further explain the results, liver microsomal suspensions were obtained from rats that were randomly divided into control and In-Chen-How pretreated group. The levels of CYP1A2 and CYP2E1 in hepatic microsomal protein from pretreated group were increased as compared to that from the control group. It indicated that In-Chen-How can stimulate the activity of CYP isozymes. The changes in the pharmacokinetics of acetaminophen resulting from the administration of In-Chen-How are related to an increase in metabolic activity of CYP1A2 and CYP2E1.
Acetaminophen ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Administration, Oral ; Analgesics, Non-Narcotic ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Animals ; Area Under Curve ; Artemisia ; chemistry ; Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases ; metabolism ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2 ; metabolism ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2E1 ; metabolism ; Drug Interactions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Immunoblotting ; Male ; Metabolic Clearance Rate ; drug effects ; Microsomes, Liver ; drug effects ; enzymology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

OBJECTIVETo observe two-year natural progression of chronic periodontitis in mild, moderate and advanced periodontitis patients.

METHODSThe periodontal status of 169 untreated chronic periodontitis patients aged from 22 to 64, were examined for two years. Periodontal measurements were performed on all teeth except the third molars and 6 sites examined for each tooth. Probing depth (PD), attachment loss (AL), and bleeding on probing (BOP) were measured at baseline, one year, and two year by a same experienced periodontist. Forty-five patients were diagnosed as having mild periodontitis, 87 with moderate, and 37 with advanced periodontitis. The changes of attachment level in these three group patients were analyzed. The site with change of AL greater than 3 mm (DeltaAL > or = 3 mm) were defined as periodontal disease activity (PDA) sites. The occurrence of PDA in three groups was compared.

RESULTS(1) The average AL levels at 1 year and at 2 year were greater than that at baseline in mild, moderate and advanced periodontitis. (2) The percentage of sites with AL > or = 1 mm in three groups all increased from baseline to 1 year and to 2 year. (3) The occurrence of periodontal disease activity increased significantly from mild (0.14% at site level, 15.56% at subject level), moderate (0.39%, 29.89%) to advanced (0.73%, 43.24%) periodontitis patients. (4) The mean baseline AL and PD levels in active sites were greater than that in inactive sites (PD: 3.03 +/- 0.45 vs. 2.87 +/- 0.38, P < 0.05; AL: 2.25 +/- 0.93 vs. 1.77 +/- 0.90, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONUntreated advanced periodontitis patients were the risk population for further periodontal breakdown.

Adult ; Chronic Disease ; Disease Progression ; Female ; Humans ; Longitudinal Studies ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Periodontal Attachment Loss ; diagnosis ; Periodontal Index ; Periodontitis ; diagnosis ; Prospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between the methylenetetrahy drofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T missense mutation and schizophrenia by linkage disequilibrium study.

METHODSLinkage disequilibrium analys is was conducted bet ween MTHFR C677T and schizophrenia in 115 affected-sib-pair (105) and trios (10) families by XDT and MAPMAKER/SIBS soft system. The analyses were performed in different diagnostic categories and combined with the age of onset as well.

RESULTSNo positive results were found in the analysis in all the family in all the four diagnostic categories. Significant P values, which were P<0.05, P<0.01 respectively, were observed in the families with the affected individual's onset age less than 25 years in all the four diagnostic categories.

CONCLUSIONThe missense mutation of MTHFR C677T or other gene structure around this mutation may be one of the susceptibility gene of schizophrenia.

DNA ; genetics ; Family Health ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Linkage Disequilibrium ; Male ; Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (NADPH2) ; Mutation, Missense ; Nuclear Family ; Oxidoreductases Acting on CH-NH Group Donors ; genetics ; Schizophrenia ; genetics