T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a highly aggressive hematologic malignancy with a poor prognosis, despite advancements in treatment. Many patients struggle with relapse or refractory disease. Investigating the role of the super-enhancer (SE) regulated gene ubiquitin-specific protease 20 (USP20) in T-ALL could enhance targeted therapies and improve clinical outcomes. Analysis of histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27ac) chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) data from six T-ALL cell lines and seven pediatric samples identified USP20 as an SE-regulated driver gene. Utilizing the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) and BloodSpot databases, it was found that USP20 is specifically highly expressed in T-ALL. Knocking down USP20 with short hairpin RNA (shRNA) increased apoptosis and inhibited proliferation in T-ALL cells. In vivo studies showed that USP20 knockdown reduced tumor growth and improved survival. The USP20 inhibitor GSK2643943A demonstrated similar anti-tumor effects. Mass spectrometry, RNA-Seq, and immunoprecipitation revealed that USP20 interacted with hypoxia-inducible factor 1 subunit alpha (HIF1A) and stabilized it by deubiquitination. Cleavage under targets and tagmentation (CUT&Tag) results indicated that USP20 co-localized with HIF1A, jointly modulating target genes in T-ALL. This study identifies USP20 as a therapeutic target in T-ALL and suggests GSK2643943A as a potential treatment strategy.

Given the increasing concern regarding antibacterial resistance, the antimicrobial properties of naphthoquinones have recently attracted significant attention. While 1,4-naphthoquinone and its derivatives have been extensively studied, the antibacterial properties of 5,8-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives remain relatively unexplored. This study presents a comprehensive in vitro and in vivo analysis of the antibacterial activity of 35 naturally sourced and chemically synthesized derivatives of 5,8-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone. Kirby-Bauer antibiotic testing identified three compounds with activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), with one compound (PNP-02) demonstrating activity comparable to vancomycin in minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), and time-kill assays. Microscopic and biochemical analyses revealed that PNP-02 adversely affects the cell wall and cell membrane of MRSA. Mechanistic investigations, including proteomic sequencing analyses, Western blotting, and RT-qPCR assays, indicated that PNP-02 compromises cell membrane integrity by inhibiting arginine biosynthesis and pyrimidine metabolism pathways, thereby increasing membrane permeability and inducing bacterial death. In an in vivo mouse model of skin wound healing, PNP-02 exhibited antibacterial efficacy similar to vancomycin. The compound demonstrated low toxicity to cultured human cells and in hemolysis assays and remained stable during serum incubation. These findings suggest that PNP-02 possesses promising bioactivity against MRSA and represents a potential novel antibacterial agent.
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus/genetics* ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/chemistry* ; Naphthoquinones/administration & dosage* ; Animals ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Mice ; Humans ; Staphylococcal Infections/microbiology* ; Molecular Structure

Small for gestational age (SGA) infants are more likely to experience neurocognitive impairments compared to appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants. This paper reviews recent research on the neurocognitive development of SGA children. SGA can lead to a "brain-sparing effect" due to growth restriction, which may affect cerebral blood flow and brain structure. However, this does not guarantee normal brain development. Restrictive blood flow can result in changes in brain structure, such as reduced total white matter and gray matter volume in various brain regions, including the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum, ultimately leading to decreased head circumference. SGA children also exhibit lower scores in all neurocognitive domains, including intelligence, attention, memory, and executive function. This may result in poor academic performance and an increased risk of social, behavioral, and neurological problems, such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, visual and hearing impairments, as well as comorbidities like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD), autism spectrum disorder(ASD), anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. Several risk factors for SGA-related neurocognitive impairments have been identified, including gestational hypertension, abnormal gestational weight, smoking, and catch-up growth. Studies have shown that the best interventions to improve cognitive dysplasia include nutrient supplementation, continued breastfeeding, high-quality education, and appropriate early intervention (responsive parenting) are effective in improving cognitive outcomes for SGA children.

Objective:To explore the optimization of the standardized assessment tool for clinical diagnosis of Chinese developmental dyslexia (DD).Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted from May to December 2023, in which 130 primary school children in grades 1 to 3 with clinical signs of literacy lag and positive screening results on the screening scales were recruited from the outpatient clinic of Child Health Care Medical Division, Shanghai Children′s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Chinese dyslexia screening behavior checklist for primary students (CDSBC) was used as the screening scales, and supplemented by dyslexia checklist for Chinese children. Referring to the standard procedure of the"expert advice on diagnosis and intervention of Chinese developmental dyslexia", the developmental dyslexia scale for standard mandarin (DDSSM) was used to evaluate the children′s literacy-related cognitive abilities and conduct the diagnostic assessment, and divided the children into learning backward group and the DD group. The t-test and χ2 test were used to compare the differences in the distribution of intelligence, literacy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder between the two groups. Spearman′s correlation was used to analyze the correlation between the scores for each cognitive ability in the DDSSM and the CDSBC. Results:Of the 130 children, 90 were male, aged (8.3±1.0) years; 40 were female, aged (8.1±0.9) years. A final diagnosis of DD was made in 59 cases, of which 41 were males. There was no statistically significant difference in operational intelligence quotient (101±15 vs.100±15, t=0.53, P>0.05) and statistically significant difference in literacy of DDSSM (32±5 vs.21±4, t=11.56, P<0.001) between the learning backward group and the DD group. Eighteen cases (25.4%) of the learning backward group were children with attention deficit subtype attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD-I), and 16 cases (27.1%) in DD group, the difference in incidence between the two groups was not statistically significant ( χ2=0.05, P>0.05). There were correlations between the DDSSM (for oral vocabulary, morphological awareness and orthographic awareness) and the CDSBC total score ( r=-0.42, -0.32, -0.35, all P<0.01), but the correlations for visuospatial perception and rapid automatized naming with CDSBC total score were not statistically significant ( r=-0.09 and -0.20,both P>0.05). Conclusion:For literacy-related cognitive abilities, screening scales CDSBC are not sufficiently useful for assessment, so the introduction of standardized assessment tools DDSSM is an optimization of the clinical diagnosis of Chinese DD, which is crucial for achieving accurate diagnosis and intervention.

As medical advances and surgical techniques have improved the survival rates of children with congenital heart disease (CHD), more and more studies have begun to focus on the quality of survival and long-term development of children with CHD. Cognitive and psychological developmental deficits in children with CHD have been well documented. With the development of brain function assessment and neuroimaging techniques in recent years, it has become possible to elucidate the mechanisms of neurocognitive impairment in patients with CHD from a brain science perspective. Providing targeted early follow-up interventions for the population with CHD and promoting their social adaptation have a great clinical significance. This review summarized recent research findings on neurocognitive developmental outcomes in children with CHD from the perspective of behavioral medicine and brain science. This paper focuses on reviewing the mechanisms of brain microstructure damage and brain network dysfunction which may explain neurocognitive impairment in children with CHD, and further explores the early monitoring and intervention programs suitable for clinical development, aiming to suggest possible directions for improving long-term neurocognitive developmental outcomes for CHD population.

Objective To characterize the distribution and assess the exposure to phthalic acid esters （PAEs） in the indoor dust of Shanghai City. Methods Samples were collected from 33 sampling sites， including homes， hotels， offices and public places， in Shanghai in 2018， 2019， and 2020. The samples were pretreated by 100 sieves， extracted and concentrated， and then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in selected ion mode （SIM）. Results Results on the characteristics of PAEs in indoor dust in different places showed that concentrations of PAEs were in a range of <0.01-2 464 mg·kg^-1.The average concentration of 16 PAEs was 613 mg·kg^-1. Bis（2-ethylhexyl） phthalate （DEHP）， di-iso-butyl phthalate （DiBP）， di-n-butyl phthalate （DBP） and di-n-octyl phthalate （DnOP） were the main components of PAEs in indoor dust， accounting for approximately 99.5% of 16 PAEs. The intake of DEHP， DBP， DEP and BBP was lower than the tolerable daily intake （TDI） and reference doses （RfD） set by EU CSTEE and U.S. EPA. Conclusion Average daily dose （ADD） via indoor dust is estimated， and the order of intake through different pathways is hand-oral intake>skin contact>respiratory inhalation. Exposure risk of PAEs in children is greater than that in adults.

Objective:To investigate the germline mutation status in multi-pathway in Chinese female breast cancer patients and explore their correlation with clinicopathological characteristics. Aim to enrich the database of breast cancer germline gene mutations in Chinese population and provide laboratory evidence for the application of breast cancer targeted drugs.Methods:From January 2017 to July 2019, whole blood samples were collected from 148 women (age of onset concentrated in the 24~80 years old) diagnosed pathologically with breast cancer in the Department of breast surgery, Peking University People′s Hospital. Germline mutations in HR, MMR, BER, and KDR pathway related genes were detected by next-generation sequencing. The pathogenicity interpretation was performed, and pathogenic, likely pathogenic, and mutations of uncertain significance were screened. The clinicopathological characteristics including age at the onset, luminal typing, tumor size, metastasis, and family history were analyzed, and the correlation between mutations in different pathway genes and clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed by the Chi-squared test and Fisher′s exact probability test.Results:Among the 148 patients, there were 69 cases of HR mutations (including three types of mutations, including pathogenic, likely pathogenic and uncertain significance), 16 cases of MMR mutations, 6 cases of BER mutations and 8 cases of KDR mutation. ATM mutations in the HR pathway were associated with luminal typing ( P=0.054), and patients with HER2+breast cancer were more likely to carry ATM mutations. PMS2 mutations in the MMR pathway were correlated with tumor size ( P=0.060), and patients with tumor size>50 mm were more likely to carry PMS2 mutations. KDR mutations was significantly correlated with luminal typing and family history. ( P=0.021, P=0.024). Conclusion:The mutation frequency in BER, KDR, MMR and HR pathways in Chinese breast cancer patients increased successively. Germline mutations in ATM, PMS2 and KDR genes may be involved in the development of breast cancer in the Chinese population. Multi-pathway gene detection of breast cancer can provide laboratory evidence for the use of PARP inhibitors, trastuzumab and other targeted drugs.

Objective: To analyze CYP2C9 and VKORC1 gene polymorphisms in Chinese Han population and their correlation with the maintenance dosage of warfarin. Methods: From October 2017 to April 2018, 458 Chinese Han patients (213 males and 245 females, aged from 26 to 94 years old) who underwent coagulation analysis in Peking University People′s Hospital were included in this retrospective study. PCR-Fluorescent probe method was applied to detect CYP2C9*3 and VKORC1-1639A>G gene polymorphisms in 458 patients, and among them, 130 patients who took warfarin for anticoagulant therapy and reached the international standard ratio of prothrombin time (INR) within the range of 2.0-3.0 were recorded. The basic information, dosage of warfarin and INR were also recorded. The statistical analysis data were compared with the reference table of recommended dosage of warfarin for different genotypes of patients recommended by FDA and the formula of predicted dosage of warfarin was simply verified by SPSS. Results: Among the 458 patients who took anticoagulant therapy, the genotype frequencies of CYP2C9*1/*1(AA), CYP2C9*1/*3(AC) and CYP2C9*3/*3(CC) were 90.8%, 8.5%, and 0.7%; the genotype frequencies of VKORC1-1639GG and VKORC1-1639AG were 0.9% and 14.2%; the genotype frequencies of VKORC1-1639AA was 84.9%. After INR was reached, the results showed that the variant CYP2C9*1/*3 and CYP2C9*3/*3 required lower daily maintain dosage [(2.92±1.29) mg] than wild-type CYP2C9*1/*1 patients did [(3.91±1.63) mg], with statistically significant difference (P=0.018). And variant VKORC1-AA required lower daily maintain dosage [(3.68±1.64) mg] than variant VKORC1-AG patients did [(4.54±1.29) mg], with statistically significant difference (P=0.001). The application dosage of warfarin in patients with different VKORC1+CYP2C9 genotypes was consistent with the recommended dosage of the FDA reference table. The prediction accuracy of miao 2007 formula was lower than that of IWPC formula, and 94.1% of patients′ dosages of warfarin were underestimated. Conclusion Patients with CYP2C9*3 or VKORC1-AA genotype required lower warfarin dosage. The CYP2C9 and VKORC1 gene polymorphisms had a certain correlation with maintenance dosage of warfarin.

Objective To study the clinical manifestations and antibiotic sensitivity features of early-and late-onset invasive infections caused by group B Streptococcus (GBS). Methods A total of 96 infants with invasive GBS infections were enrolled prospectively from seven tertiary hospitals of GBS Infection Research Cooperative Group in southwest Fujian, such as Xiamen Maternal and Child Care Hospital, etc., from January 2016 to June 2018. According to the onset time of infection after birth, they were divided into early-onset GBS disease (GBS-EOD) group (<7 d, n=67) and the late-onset GBS disease (GBS-LOD) group (7-89 d, n=29). Clinical manifestations, disease spectrum, complications and outcomes of the two groups were compared. Drug sensitivity test was carried out using disk diffusion test. Chi-square or Fisher's exact test, two independent sample t-test or Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis. Results (1) The average ages at onset in GBS-EOD and GBS-LOD groups were (15.8±6.7) h (0.5-142.0 h) and (25.0±8.1) d (9-89 d), respectively. The incidence of tachypnea, pallor, fever and convulsion were noted in 68.7% (46/67) vs 44.8% (13/29), 52.2% (35/67) vs 17.2% (5/29), 23.9% (16/67) vs 65.5% (19/29) and 7.5% (5/67) vs 48.3% (14/29) of GBS-EOD and GBS-LOD groups with χ2 values of 6.282, 10.199, 15.146 and 21.237 (all P<0.05). The main clinical manifestations of GBS-EOD were tachypnea and pallor, while most of the patients in the GBS-LOD group developed fever and convulsions. (2) The incidence of pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, sepsis complicated by septic joints, pneumonia complicated by sepsis, sepsis complicated by meningitis and pneumonia complicated by sepsis and meningitis were noted in 43.3% (29/67) vs 20.7% (6/29), 9.0% (6/67) vs 17.2% (5/29), 0.0% (0/67) vs 3.4% (1/29), 0.0% (0/67) vs 6.9% (2/29), 31.3% (21/67) vs 13.8% (4/29), 6.0% (4/67) vs 31.0% (9/29) and 10.4% (7/67) vs 6.9% (2/29) of GBS-EOD and GBS-LOD groups. There was a statistically significant difference in the disease spectrum between the two groups (Fisher's exact test, all P<0.001). Compared with the GBS-LOD group, the GBS-EOD group had a higher incidence of pneumonia [85.1% (57/67) vs 41.4% (12/29), χ2=19.116, P<0.001] and a lower incidence of meningitis [16.4% (11/67) vs 41.4% (12/29), χ2=6.922, P=0.009]. Complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pulmonary hemorrhage, shock and persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) occurred much more in the GBS-EOD group than the GBS-LOD group [28.4% (19/67) vs 6.9% (2/29), 13.4% (9/67) vs 0.0% (0/29), 11.9% (8/67) vs 10.3% (3/29), 4.5% (3/67) vs 0.0% (0/29), χ2=13.683, P<0.001]. (3) Among the 96 patients, 23 (24.0%) had meningitis and 73 (76.0%) developed pneumonia and sepsis. Meningitis resulted in a higher fatality rate [17.4% (4/23) vs 4.1% (3/73), χ2=4.564, P=0.035] and longer average hospital stay [(37.2±12.6) vs (14.1±5.3) d, t=7.831, P<0.001] than pneumonia and sepsis. Seven out of the 19 meningitis survivors developed intracranial complications. (4) The overall fatality rate in this study was 7.3% (7/96) and no significant difference was found between GBS-EOD and GBS-LOD group [7.5% (5/67) vs 6.9% (2/29), χ2=0.010, P=0.982]. Among the 67 GBS-EOD infants, 58 (86.6%) occurred within 24 h and five of them died, but no death was reported in the other nine cases occurred after 24 h. (5) Totally 96 strains of GBS were isolated with 100% sensitivity to penicillin, ampicillin, cefazolin and meropenem, and 97% to vancomycin. Around 79.3%-91.0% of GBS isolates were resistant to clindamycin and erythromycin. Conclusions Clinial features vary greatly in GBS-LOD and GBS-EOD cases. Infants with meningitis have poor prognosis. The drug resistance rate of GBS to erythromycin and clindamycin are relatively high.

Objective To investigate germline mutation of breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1/2,TP53 and PTEN in Chinese breast cancer patients. Methods All of128 female breast cancer patients in Peking University People′s Hospital from January 2016 to August 2018 were selected as objects. Among them,44 cases were sporadic breast cancer and 84 werebreast cancer patients with genetic high risks. Germline mutations of BRCA1,BRCA2,TP53 and PTENwere detected by NGS.χ2 test was used to analyze the difference of pathogenic mutation rates between sporadic breast cancer group and breast cancer with high genetic risks.Groups were divided according to the clinical features of the patients(family history, triple-negative breast cancer,age and bilateral breast cancer).Among them,there were 42 cases with family history of breast cancer,34 cases of triple-negative breast cancer,33 cases of early-onset breast cancer and 7 cases of bilateral breast cancer. Fisher′s exact probability test compared the relationship between pathogenic mutations of BRCA1/2 gene and clinical characteristics of breast cancer patients with hereditary risk factors. Results In 128 cases of breast cancer,30 germline mutations of BRCA1/2 were detected, including 13 pathogenic mutations and 3 newly discovered mutations(BRCA1:c. 4760C>G,BRCA2:c. 44134414del and BRCA2:c. 64826485del). The new mutations may be unique mutations of Chinese population. There were 3 cases of TP53 mutations,including 1 pathogenic mutation. All of the 3 mutations were found in early-onset breast cancer. Germline mutation of T53 has important detection significance for early-onset hereditary breast cancer. There were 5 cases of PTEN mutations,including 3 pathogenic mutations. Among 84 breast cancer patients with genetic high risks,the carry mutation rate was 40.5％(34/84)and the pathogenic mutation rate was 15.4(13/84). Among 44 sporadic cases,the carry mutation rate was 9％(4/44). The pathogenic mutation rate was 6.8％(3/44). Breast cancer susceptibility genes were carried at a higher rate in breast cancer patients with genetic high risks(P<0.001). BRCA1/2 mutations did not show statistical differences among groups of breast cancer patients with hereditary high risk factors . Conclusion Germline mutation detection of breast cancer susceptibility genes by next-generation sequencing is of great significance in breast cancer risk prediction and prognosis evaluation.