Objective To investigate the characteristics of bone marrow megakaryocytes in patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) complicated with positive for antinuclear antibody (ANA) but cannot be diagnosed as rheumatic immune diseases. Methods Newly diagnosed ITP patients in the First Hospital Affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University were retrospectively selected and divided into ITP1 group (ITP patients with positive ANA) and ITP2 group (ITP patients with negative rheumatic indicators). Degree of thrombocytopenia, the total number of bone marrow megakaryocytes, and the ratios of various types of megakaryocytes at the initial diagnosis were compared between the two groups. Results A total of 42 newly diagnosed ITP patients were included, with 20 cases in the ITP1 group and 22 cases in the ITP2 group. There were no significant differences in general information such as gender and age between the two groups (P>0.05). The platelet (PLT) count was (7.55±0.96)×10⁹/L in the ITP1 group, which was lower than (10.23±1.21)×10⁹/L in the ITP2 group, but there was no significant between-group difference (t=1.697, P=0.097). Compared with the ITP2 group, the total number of megakaryocytes in the ITP1 group was significantly decreased (t=3.071, P < 0.01), and the ratio of granular megakaryocytes was significantly increased while the ratio of naked nuclear megakaryocytes was significantly decreased (P < 0.05); there were no significant differences in the ratios of immature and platelet-producing megakaryocytes between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Patients with ITP and positive ANA have a tendency of decreased PLT, and a more significant maturation disorder of bone marrow megakaryocytes, with a lower degree of megakaryocyte proliferation compared to patients without positive ANA. ANA may exacerbate the severity of ITP by aggravating the developmental disorder of bone marrow megakaryocytes.

Objective:To synthesize new bakuchiol aminoguanidine derivatives and test their effect on viability and apoptosis of human triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC)cells.Methods:Two bakuchiol derivatives 1 and 2 were obtained by formylation and Shiff base reaction of bakuchol.The structures of derivatives 1 and 2 were identified by 1H-NMR,13C-NMR,and high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry(HR-ESI-MS)analysis.Human TNBC MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with bakuchiol and its derivatives and cell viability was measured by MTT assay.Apoptosis was detected by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry with Annexin V-FITC/PI staining.The expressions of apoptosis-related proteins were analyzed with Western blotting.The JC-1 and reactive oxygen species(ROS)assay kits were used to determine the effect of new bakuchiol derivatives on mitochondrial function.Results:Based on spectroscopic analysis,a new bakuchiol schiff base derivative was elucidated as 2-{(E)-5-[(S,E)-3,7-dimethyl-3-vinylocta-1,6-dien-1-yl]-2-hydroxylbenzylidene}hydrazine-1-carboximidamide(derivative 2).Bakuchiol and its derivatives 1 and 2 all showed cytotoxic activity against the MDA-MB-231 cells.Derivative 2 exhibited the most potent cytotoxic activity to MDA-MB-231 cell with IC50 of(13.11±1.09),(6.91±1.78),and(2.23±1.32)μmol/L after 24,48,and 72 h.It had low toxicity to normal mouse liver(AML-12)cells with IC50 of(31.23±1.58)μmol/L at 72 h.Fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry demonstrated apoptosis in breast cancer cells after treating with derivative 2 in a concentration dependent manner.Western blotting showed that after derivative 2 treatment,the expression of apoptosis-related proteins cytochrome C,cleaving caspase-3 and Bax/Bcl-2 radio in MDA-MB-231 cells increased;in addition,apoptosis was associated with the decreased mitochondrial membrane potential and increased reactive oxygen species accumulation.Conclusion:The novel bakuchiol aminoguanidine derivative(derivative 2)is capable of inducing apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells,but has low toxicity to normal liver cells,suggesting that it may be used as a lead compound for an anti-TNBC agent.

Objective By using CiteSpace-based visualization analysis to investigate the main research contents,research frontiers,author cooperation network and institutional cooperation network of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)treatment for patients after receiving percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI)so as to provide reference for the TCM diagnosis,treatment and research of patients after receiving PCI.Methods A computerized retrieval of academic papers concerning TCM treatment of patients after receiving PCI from CNKI,VIP and Wanfang databases was conducted.The retrieved literature materials were input into NoteExpress software to make the literature screening and the data cleaning.CiteSpace software was used to analyze the key words,authors,institutions,etc.Results A total of 1 708 articles were obtained;the number of published articles in 2020 was the largest,which was up to 137 articles.The core authors accounted for 4.37％of the total number of authors who had written articles,but no core author group had been formed yet.Liaoning province of China was the region where the number of published articles was the largest,and there was no effective collaboration network between different areas.The cluster analysis yielded 25 clusters,448 key nodes and 1 266 lines.The main cluster results were coronary heart disease,acute coronary syndrome,acute myocardial infarction,restenosis,etc.The analysis of emergent words(i.e.the suddenly increased frequency of a certain key word in a certain period)yielded 24 emergent words,including syndrome differentiation of TCM,ginseng peony oral liquid,cardiac rehabilitation,etc.Conclusion The main research contents of TCM treatment for patients after PCI include syndrome differentiation of TCM,etiology and pathogenesis,clinical trials,etc.Postoperative pathological phenomena such as restenosis are the research difficulties in this field,and anxiety,dual-mind TCM,and cardiac rehabilitation are the current research hotspots.TCM has definite efficacy in promoting the recovery of cardiac function after PCI,in reducing the incidence of postoperative events such as restenosis,and in improving anxiety and depression.

Objective: To study the infection rate of secondary close contacts of COVID-19 patients, and assess the infection risk in the contacts. Methods: COVID-19 patients' close contacts (with a clear exposure time to index case) with negative nucleic acid test results and secondary close contacts were surveyed in continuous isolation and medical observation in this prospective study. The dynamic nucleic acid test results of the close contacts and secondary contacts of COVID-19 patients were collected to assess their risk of infection. Results: A total of 4 533 close contacts were surveyed, in whom 14 were confirmed as COVID-19 patients with overall secondary attack rate of 0.31%, and 4 201 secondary contacts were tracked, in whom no subsequent infections occurred. Conclusion: Close contacts of COVID-19 patients entered in centralized isolation for medical observation with negative nucleic acid tese results,the secondary close contacts of COVID-19 patients have no risk of infection.
COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Contact Tracing ; Humans ; Incidence ; Nucleic Acids ; Prospective Studies ; SARS-CoV-2

Metabolic regulation has been proven to play a critical role in T cell antitumor immunity. However, cholesterol metabolism as a key component of this regulation remains largely unexplored. Herein, we found that the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), which has been previously identified as a transporter for cholesterol, plays a pivotal role in regulating CD8

Background Formaldehyde is a common air pollutant in residential buildings, and the health risks caused by formaldehyde in residential buildings can not be ignored. Objective This study aims to evaluate the air concentration of formaldehyde in non-newly decorated houses in Ningbo and its possible health risks. Methods A total of 72 houses without any decoration in the past one year in Ningbo were selected by multi-stage random sampling method. From July 2018 to January 2019, the air samples of living rooms and bedrooms were collected and their temperature and humidity were also measured. The concentrations of formaldehyde were detected by AHMT method according to Standred method for hygienic examination of formaldehyde in air of residential areas — Spectrophotometric method (GB/T 16129—1995) , the health risk assessment model of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was used to evaluate the non-carcinogenic risk and carcinogenic risk of formaldehyde, and Monte Carlo simulation was used for sensitivity analysis. Results The median (P₂₅, P₇₅) of formaldehyde concentration in the 72 houses was 0.019 (0.012,0.026) mg·m⁻³. Only one house showed a formaldehyde concentration that exceeded the national standard in the living room, and the total qualified rate of formaldehyde concentration was 98.61%. The median (P₂₅, P₇₅) of formaldehyde concentration in the bedroom was 0.019 (0.011, 0.031) mg·m⁻³, which was higher than that in the living room, 0.015 (0.010, 0.024) mg·m⁻³, and the difference was statistically significant. The median and 90th percentile of non-cancer risk (hazard quotient, HQ) of the 72 houses were 1.35 and 2.80, respectively, and the proportion of the houses with HQ>1 was 62.50%. The median and 90th percentile of cancer risk (CR) of the 72 houses were 1.12×10⁻⁴ and 2.32×10⁻⁴, respectively, and the proportions of the houses with CR>1×10⁻⁶, CR>1×10⁻⁵, and CR>1×10⁻⁴ were 100.00%, 100.00%, and 54.20%, respectively. After using Monte Carlo simulation, the median (90th percentile) of non-carcinogenic risk was reduced to 0.91 (1.94), where the median was lower than the national limit, and the proportion of samples with HQ>1 was 44.73%; the carcinogenic risk was reduced to 7.52×10⁻⁵ (1.79×10⁻⁴), and the proportions of samples with CR>1×10⁻⁶, CR>1×10⁻⁵, and CR>1×10⁻⁴ were 100.00%, 98.96%, and 34.37%, respectively. Conclusion The concentration of formaldehyde in non-newly decorated houses in Ningbo basically meets the national requirements, but it is still necessary to pay attention to the non-carcinogenic risk and carcinogenic risk caused by indoor formaldehyde, among which the carcinogenic risk is more important. Residents should prevent the harm of formaldehyde from its source by considering clean decoration materials and environmentally friendly furniture.

Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cardiovascular System ; Circadian Clocks/genetics* ; Circadian Rhythm ; Humans

Identification of genetic variants via high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies has been essential for both fundamental and clinical studies. However, to what extent the genome sequence composition affects variant calling remains unclear. In this study, we identified 63,897 multi-copy sequences (MCSs) with a minimum length of 300 bp, each of which occurs at least twice in the human genome. The 151,749 genomic loci (multi-copy regions, or MCRs) harboring these MCSs account for 1.98％of the genome and are distributed unevenly across chromosomes. MCRs containing the same MCS tend to be located on the same chromosome. Gene Ontology (GO) anal-yses revealed that 3800 genes whose UTRs or exons overlap with MCRs are enriched for Golgi-related cellular component terms and various enzymatic activities in the GO biological function cat-egory. MCRs are also enriched for loci that are sensitive to neocarzinostatin-induced double-strand breaks. Moreover, genetic variants discovered by genome-wide association studies and recorded indbSNP are significantly underrepresented in MCRs. Using simulated HTS datasets, we show that false variant discovery rates are significantly higher in MCRs than in other genomic regions. These results suggest that extra caution must be taken when identifying genetic variants in the MCRs via HTS technologies.

Objective:To evaluate the value of plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC)/renin concentration (PRC) ratio (ARR) combined with aldosterone, renin, and sodium/potassium ratio in the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism (PA).Methods:From January 2017 to October 2019, 105 patients were admitted to our hospital and diagnosed as PA and essential hypertension (EH) by clinical manifestations, laboratory examination and surgical pathological biopsy.The optimum cut-off point of ARR, PRC, PAC, plasma sodium-potassium ratio were determined by the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC). The sensitivity, specificity and Youden index at the optimum cut-off point were calculated in a separate test. By means of diagnostic test, the best cut-off points of ARR were tested in series with the best cut-off points of PRC, PAC and serum sodium/potassium ratio, respectively, and their specificity were calculated.Results:The area under the AUC of supine ARR was greater than that of vertical ARR (0.966 vs 0.946, Z= 1.380, P= 0.168), but there was no statistical difference. The optimum cut-off point of supine ARR was 28.64(pg/ml)/(pg/ml), with a sensitivity of 92.4% and specificity of 90.5%. The sensitivity of the combined PRC test was 79.0% and the specificity was 94.3%. The sensitivity of the combined PAC test was 65.7% and the specificity was 95.2%. The sensitivity of the combined serum sodium/potassium ratio was 50.5% and the specificity was 96.2%. The optimal cut-off of vertical ARR was 22.10 (pg/ml)/(pg/ml), with 91.4% specificity and 85.7% specificity. The sensitivity of vertical ARR combined with PRC was 78.1%, specificity was 89.5%. The sensitivity of combined PAC was 74.3%, specificity was 92.4%, and the sensitivity of combined sodium/potassium ratio was 50.5%, specificity was 95.2%. Conclusions:There was little difference in the diagnostic performance of PA between vertical and supine ARR values. The specificity of PA screening by ARR alone was high, and the specificity and accuracy of PA diagnosis could be improved by combining PRC, PAC and sodium/potassium ratio.