Objective To analyze the current situation of dietary diversity and caregiver self-efficacy for complementary feeding among infants and young children aged 6 to 23 months in rural Nanchong city,Sichuan province,and to explore the relationship between dietary diversity and caregiver self-efficacy.Methods Multi-stage randomized cluster sampling method was used to select infants and young children aged 6 to 23 months and their caregivers in rural areas of Nanchong city,Sichuan province as the subjects.A structured questionnaire was designed to collect the basic information of the subjects,dietary diversity,and caregiver self-efficacy for comple-mentary feeding.Multivariate Logistic regression was adopted to analyze the relationship between the dietary diver-sity and caregiver self-efficacy for complementary feeding of infants and young children.Results A total of 770 pairs of infants and young children and their caregivers were included.The minimum pass rate of dietary diversity was 61.56% (474/770)for all the infants and young children and 45.00% (108/240),69.16% (287/415),and 68.70% (79/115)for the infants and young children aged 6 to 11,12 to 17,and 18 to 23 months,respective-ly.The results of regression analysis showed that the caregiver self-efficacy of complementary feeding was a contributing fac-tor for qualified dietary diversity of infants and young children in the case of other confounders being controlled(OR = 1.42,95% CI=1.17-1.73,P<0.001).Conclusion The dietary diversity for infants and young children in rural Nan-chong city,Sichuan province needs to be improved,and caregivers with higher self-efficacy of complementary feeding are more likely to provide diversified complementary feeding for infants and young children.

BACKGROUND:In recent years,epidemiological studies have shown that sleep patterns are risk factors for osteoarthritis,but the causal relationship between sleep characteristics and osteoarthritis remains unknown. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the causal relationship between seven sleep phenotypes and osteoarthritis,thereby providing a theoretical foundation for clinical prevention and intervention of osteoarthritis. METHODS:Seven sleep-related features,namely sleep duration,wake-up time,daytime napping,morning/evening preference,snoring,insomnia,and hypersomnia,were selected from published genome-wide association studies.Instrumental variables for these sleep-related features were extracted.Instrumental variables for knee osteoarthritis and hip osteoarthritis were obtained from publicly available genome-wide association studies.Causal relationships between sleep characteristics and outcome risks were evaluated using two-sample and multivariable Mendelian randomization analyses.The inverse variance weighted method was employed as the primary Mendelian randomization approach.Various methods,including weighted median,weighted mode,Mendelian randomization-Egger regression,Mendelian randomization pleiotropy-residual sum and outlier,were utilized to detect and correct for the presence of pleiotropy. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The results of the inverse variance-weighted method in the two-sample Mendelian randomization study revealed a detrimental causal association between the duration of sleep and the incidence risk of knee osteoarthritis[odds ratio(OR)=0.621,95%confidence interval(CI):0.470-0.822,P=0.001].Concurrently,insomnia displayed a positive causal connection with hip osteoarthritis risk(OR=2.016,95%CI:1.249-3.254,P=0.005).Sensitivity analysis affirmed the robustness of these causal relationships,and Mendelian randomization-Egger intercept analysis found no evidence of potential horizontal pleiotropy(knee osteoarthritis:P=0.468,hip osteoarthritis:P=0.551).Moreover,the results from the multivariable Mendelian randomization analysis showed that the causal association between insomnia and hip osteoarthritis lacked statistical significance(P=0.715).In contrast,sleep duration exhibited a direct negative causal relationship with the incidence risk of knee osteoarthritis(OR=0.526,95%CI:0.336-0.824,P=0.005).Reverse Mendelian randomization analysis indicated that knee osteoarthritis did not influence sleep duration(P=0.757).These findings indicate a negative correlation between sleep duration and incidence risk of knee osteoarthritis,suggesting that correcting insufficient sleep might mitigate the incidence risk of knee osteoarthritis.

Knee osteoarthritis （KOA） is a common degenerative joint disease characterized primarily by the degeneration and damage of knee joint cartilage， accompanied by osteophyte formation and inflammation. In recent years， the prevalence of KOA has been increasing globally， significantly impacting the quality of life patients. However， the pathogenesis of KOA remains not fully understood， and current treatment methods are limited. Therefore， finding new therapeutic strategies is a research hotspot. Previous studies have found that the onset of KOA is related to abnormal mitochondrial regulation. Mitochondria， functioning as secondary messengers， play crucial roles in cellular respiration， reactive oxygen species （ROS） generation， and adenosine triphosphate （ATP） production through oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondrial quality control is a pivotal mechanism for maintaining the morphology， quantity， and quality of mitochondria. The connection between mitochondrial quality control and the pathogenesis of KOA involves several factors， such as mitochondrial oxidative stress， mitophagy， imbalances in mitochondrial biogenesis， abnormal mitochondrial dynamics （fission and fusion）， and dysregulation of calcium ions. Metabolic abnormalities in the body lead to mitochondrial structural damage， which in turn contributes to the onset and progression of KOA. Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has made some progress in intervening in mitochondrial quality control， employing multi-faceted， multi-pathway， and multi-target strategies to treat KOA. Several studies have shown that mitochondrial quality control may be one of the therapeutic targets of TCM in treating KOA. However， there is currently a lack of comprehensive reviews summarizing the TCM interventions in mitochondrial quality control for treating KOA. This paper systematically reviewed the research progress in TCM treatment of KOA based on five aspects of mitochondrial quality control， aiming to provide a theoretical basis for the clinical prevention and treatment of KOA.

Bioluminescence is a widespread phenomenon in nature, and luminescent organisms can be found both on land and in the ocean. Among them, luciferase based bioluminescence systems have been widely studied, inspiring the exploration of genetic and epigenetic aspects and the development of a series of related assays for in vivo and in vitro studies. This paper summarizes the recent developments of luciferase based bioluminescence assays in terms of bioluminescence systems, types of luciferases, and the development and application of luciferase bioluminescence assays.

Gene editing tools with nucleases as the main component have now implemented programmable targeted mutagenesis or insertion or deletion of mammalian genomes.From zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), CRISPR/Cas system to safer and more accurate Cas9 fusion protein gene editing tools and other nuclease gene editing tools, this paper systematically describes the development and evolution of gene editing, with detailed introduction to the development and optimization of next-generation gene editing tools, and a prospect of the clinical application of and challenges for gene editing tools.

The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has spread rapidly around the world,posing a serious threat to the public"s health. As of September 30,2020,the number of infected people in the world has reached 33 million,causing more than 1 million deaths. Normalized nucleic acid detection methods based on lab have long turnaround time and high cost. Therefore,there is an urgent need to develop a convenient method to detect SARS-CoV-2,so as to achieve rapid testing and timely control of the epidemic when resources are limited.This review summarizes the point-of-care testing (POCT) methods developed for SARS-CoV-2 in terms of extraction,amplification and detection,and briefly introduces commercial POCT instruments that integrate these three steps,in order to provide references for emergency response and rapid deployment of COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases.

There are significant individual differences in the antiplatelet effects of aspirin.Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs),rs5918,rs12041331 and rs730012,are reported to significantly correlate with the efficacy and side effects of aspirin.In the present study,the genotyping method of the three SNPs was established based on the combination of polymerase chain reaction and pyrosequencing technology.Amplification and sequencing primers were designed independently;the amplification conditions were optimized to amplify the three SNPs in the same condition.The sensitivity of the method was detected using original genome DNA at different concentrations.In order to testify the accuracy of the method,the proposed method and Sanger sequencing technology were both used to genotype the three SNPs in 20 blood samples.The results demonstrated that the genotyping method of aspirin-related SNPs was successfully established,with the detection limit being as low as 0.4 ng genome DNA.The genotype results of 20 samples by the proposed method were exactly the same as that of Sanger sequencing.It is evident that the proposed method is sensitive and accurate.

Objective The NDRG4 gene methylation in stool is a candidate biomarker for non?invasive diagnosis of colorectal cancer. However, the traditional methods for methylation detection could not be well applied to stool samples due to the low sensitivity and low specificity. The aim of this study was to develop a highly sensitive and specific method for quantifying the methylated NDRG4 gene in stools. Methods Forty one stool samples were collected from 12 colorectal cancer patients, 4 adenoma patients and 25 nor?mal persons. The invasive reaction was combined with real?time PCR and the relative quantification was performed by 2-ΔCT method to develop the highly sensitive and specific methylated DNA detection method, which was used for detecting NDRG4 methylation levels in 41 of stool samples. Results The sensitivity of the method was as low as 10 copies of methylated NDRG4 gene fragments. The specificity was high enough to distinguish 0.01% of methylated fragments from un?methylated fragments and 105 copies of unmethylated NDRG4 fragments gave noamplification signals. The detection results from 41 of stool samples showed that detection rate of the NDRG4 gene in stool from adenoma and colorectal cancer groups had a significant difference comparing to that from the normal group. Conclusion The 2-ΔCT method could accurately quantify the methylation levels of the NDRG4 gene in stool samples, and provide an efficient tool for non?invasive colorectal cancer detection.

Proteins presence and differences of the expression level can clarify the physiological or pathological changes in organisms;so the quantitative detection of proteins is vital for disease mechanism research;diagnosis and prognosis evaluation.Traditional protein quantitation methods at the tissue level reflected the average protein expression in cells;but ignore the differences between individual cells.In contrast;approaches for quantitative detection at single-cell level can better reflect the differences.Recently;a number of approaches for such detec-tion have been proposed;including microfluidics;microwell-based technology;optical fiber nanobiosensor;activity-based probe technology and mass spectrometry.The principles;advantages and drawbacks of these approaches are briefly introduced in this review.

Pyrosequencing is one of the important genetic polymorphism detection methods currently, but the complicated pretreatment procedure limits its application in clinical test. To simplify the whole process of pyrosequencing, on the basis of the linear_after_the_exponential_polymerase chain reaction ( LATE_PCR) , we improved the primer design method of LATE_PCR, increased the length and the concentration of the excess primer, applied direct amplification technology with whole blood, and established a whole blood_imLATE_PCR method based on common rTaq polymerase and “HpH Buffer” ( High pH buffer ) . The amplification system was optimized, and the influences of blood anticoagulant and the amount of whole blood template were investigated. The single stranded template for the pyrosequencing was obtained by PCR amplification using a single tube in one_step process, and the alcohol dehydrogenase gene polymorphisms of 24 clinical blood samples were then detected successfully. The results could be used to guide clinical individualized medication. The genotypes of ADH1B locus of 24 samples were 6 cases of AA homozygote, 14 cases of AG heterozygote, and 4 cases of GG homozygote. The genotypes of ADH1C were 20 cases of GG homozygote, 4 cases of AG heterozygote, and no cases of AA homozygote.