Objective:To investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of whole exome sequencing (WES), as a molecular diagnosis technique, for adult patients with genetic diseases.Methods:The present retrospective analysis included 445 adult patients (ages 18-80 years) with suspected genetic diseases who underwent whole exome sequencing (WES) from August 2021 to December 2022. The pathogenicity classification of each variant was assessed in accordance with the recommendations developed by the American Society of Medical Genetics and Genomics.Results:The overall positive rate of WES among adult patients with suspected genetic diseases was 28.08% (125/445). The highest positive rate was observed in the age group of 41-50 years (34.33%, 23/67). Among the diagnosed genetic diseases, those affecting the cardiovascular system (63.16%, 84/133), nervous system (18.05%, 24/133), and endocrine system (13.53%, 18/133) ranked as the top three. The most common genetic diseases identified through WES in adult patients were hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (18.80%, 25/133), dilated cardiomyopathy (16.54%, 22/133), Marfan syndrome (15.04%, 20/133), epilepsy (9.02%, 12/133), and familial hypercholesterolemia (4.51%, 6/133). The main causative genes identified included FBN1 (14.29%, 19/133), MYBPC3 (9.02%, 12/133), MYH7 (9.02%, 12/133), LDLR (3.76%, 5/133), TTN (3.76%, 5/133), and TNNI3 (3.01%, 4/133).Conclusion:Applying the WES technique in clinical practice can improve the diagnostic rate of adult genetic diseases, especially in adult patients with suspected genetic conditions involving the cardiovascular system, nervous system, and endocrine system.

The global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has infected over 109 million people, leading to over 2 million deaths up to date and still lacking of effective drugs for patient treatment. Here, we screened about 1.8 million small molecules against the main protease (M^pro) and papain like protease (PL^pro), two major proteases in severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 genome, and identified 1851M^pro inhibitors and 205 PL^pro inhibitors with low nmol/l activity of the best hits. Among these inhibitors, eight small molecules showed dual inhibition effects on both M^pro and PL^pro, exhibiting potential as better candidates for COVID-19 treatment. The best inhibitors of each protease were tested in antiviral assay, with over 40% of M^pro inhibitors and over 20% of PL^pro inhibitors showing high potency in viral inhibition with low cytotoxicity. The X-ray crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 M^pro in complex with its potent inhibitor 4a was determined at 1.8 Å resolution. Together with docking assays, our results provide a comprehensive resource for future research on anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug development.
Humans ; Antiviral Agents/chemistry* ; COVID-19 ; COVID-19 Drug Treatment ; High-Throughput Screening Assays ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Protease Inhibitors/chemistry* ; SARS-CoV-2/enzymology* ; Viral Nonstructural Proteins

Receptors, Purinergic ; Signal Transduction/physiology*

Objective:To assess the role of Delta-RBC parameters in the automated hematocrit analyzer RET channel for the recognition of cold agglutinins (CA) and to explore the value of RET channel optical method parameters in correcting interference with CA.Methods:This is a retrospective study. The Cas group included 68 samples with Cas interference and the control group included 45 samples without CA interference. All specimens were collected from Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University Outpatient Department from January 2022 to January 2023. Specimens in both the CA and Control group were examined using the CBC+RET channel at room temperature. Recorded and calculated the Impedance method test parameters RBC-I, HGB, HCT-I, MCH-I, MCV-I, MCHC-I and the Optical method test parameters RBC-O, HCT-O, MCH-O, R-MFV, MCHC-O, Delta-RBC. Examined the specimens in the CA group using the CBC channel after prewarmed at 37 ℃ for 2 h, and Impedance method parameters RBC-I 37 ℃ 2 h, HGB 37 ℃ 2 h, HCT-I 37 ℃ 2 h, MCH-I 37 ℃ 2 h, MCV-I 37 ℃ 2 h, MCHC-I 37 ℃ 2 h were recorded. The ROC curves were used to analyze the discrimination efficacy of Delta-RBC in identifying CA interference, and the Bland-Altman method was used to analyze the consistency between the results of the optical method RBC parameters at room temperature and the results of the impedance method after prewarming. The correlation analysis was performed using Pearson and Spearman correlation analysis to analyze the results of the RBC parameters before and after prewarming in the CA group. Result:If Delta-RBC was used as diagnostic indicators for the identification of CA interference, the best cut-off value was 1.065, with AUCs of 0.998. In the CA group, the correlation coefficients between RBC-O, HCT-O, R-MFV, MCH-O, MCHC-O, and RBC-I 37 ℃ 2 h, HCT-I 37 ℃ 2 h, MCV-I 37 ℃ 2 h, MCH-I 37 ℃ 2 h, MCHC-I 37 ℃ 2 h were 0.985, 0.981, 0.729, 0.870, and 0.649, respectively. The percentages within the limits of agreement of the percentage differences between the results of the two methods were 95.6%, 92.6%, 95.6%, 94.1%, and 95.6%, respectively. Conclusions:The RBC parameter Delta-RBC from RET channel optical method can be used as an indicator to effectively assist in the clinical determination of the presence of CA. Reporting results using the optical method RBC parameters of the RET channel can correct the interference of CA without specimen pre-treatment and obtain more correct results of complete blood counts.

Cell Cycle Checkpoints/genetics* ; Checkpoint Kinase 1/metabolism* ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Mitosis/genetics* ; Mutation ; Zygote/metabolism*

Objective:To establish autoverification rules for coagulation tests in multicenter cooperative units, in order to reduce workload for manual review of suspected results and shorten turnaround time (TAT) of test reports, while ensure the accuracy of results.Methods:A total of 14 394 blood samples were collected from fourteen hospitals during December 2019 to March 2020. These samples included: Rules Establishment Group 11 230 cases, including 1 182 cases for Delta check rules; Rules Validation Group 3 164 cases, including 487cases for Delta check; Clinical Application Trial Group 77 269 cases. Samples were analyzed for coagulation tests using Sysmex CS series automatic coagulation analyzers, and the clinical information, instrument parameters, test results, clinical diagnosis, medication history of anticoagulant and other relative results such as HCT, TG, TBIL, DBIL were summarized; on the basis of historical data, the 2.5 and 97.5 percentile of all data arranged from low to high were initially accumulated; on the basis of clinical suggestions, critical values and specific drug use as well as relative guidelines, autoverification rules and limits were established.The rules were then input into middleware, in which Stage I/Stage II validation was done. Positive coincidence, negative coincidence, false negative, false positive, autoverification pass rate, passing accuracy (coincidence of autoverification and manual verification) were calculated. Autoverification rules underwent trial application in coagulation results reports.Results:(1) The autoverification algorisms involve 33 rules regarding PT/INR, APTT, FBG, D-dimer, FDP,Delta check, reaction curve and sample abnormalities; (2)Autoverification Establishment Group showed autoverification pass rate was 68.42% (7 684/11 230), the false negative rate was 0%(0/11230), coincidence of autoverification and manual verification was 98.51%(11 063/11 230), in which positive coincidence and negative coincidence were respectively 30.09% (3 379/11 230) and 68.42%(7 684/11 230); Autoverification Validation Group showed autoverification pass rate was 60.37%(1 910/3 164), the false negative rate was 0%(0/11 230), coincidence of autoverification and manual verification was 97.79%(3 094/3 164), in which positive coincidence and negative coincidence were respectively 37.42%(1 184/3 164) and 60.37%(1 910/3 164); (3) Trialed implementation of these autoverification rules on 77 269 coagulation samples showed that the average TAT shortened by 8.5 min-83.1 min.Conclusions:This study established 33 autoverification rules in coagulation tests. Validation showedthese rules could ensure test quality while shortening TAT and lighten manual workload.

Objective To explore the correlation between sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in community elderly population.Methods In 2014,1916 elderly people (796 males,and 1 120 females) were selected from Baoshan District Friendship Community,Shanghai.We collected basic epidemiological data and fasting venous blood samples to carry out the detection of biomarkers,and then calculated their ten-year Framingham risk score.In this study,obesity,systolic blood pressure,fasting blood glucose,lipid concentration,and high-sensitive C-reactive protein were considered as CVD risk factors;Framingham risk score was considered as a CVD event prediction risk score.We analyzed the correlations of these factors with SHBG.Results SHBG mean values in the population with a history of CVD were lower than those without a history of CVD (P＜0.001).The correlation coefficient between male SHBG and waist circumference,hip circumference,BMI,systolic pressure,cholesterol,triglycerides,high density lipoprotein cholesterol,apolipoprotein A,high sensitive C-reactive protein were-0.312,-0.307,-0.266,-0.113,0.155,-0.277,0.510,0.394 and-0.130,respectively (P＜0.01).The correlation coefficient between female SHBG and waist circumference,hip circumference,BMI,fasting glucose,cholesterol,triglycerides,high density lipoprotein cholesterol,apolipoprotein A,high-sensitive C-reactive protein were-0.236,-0.248,-0.168,-0.183,0.135,-0.264,0.445,0.358 and-0.295,respectively (P＜0.001).The decrease of SHBG level was consistent with the increase of Framingham score (κ =0.062,P＜0.001).Elevated level of SHBG would reduce the risk of CVD in ten years (P＜0.01).Conclusions There was a negative correlation between baseline SHBG level and CVD risk factors,positive correlation between baseline SHBG level and CVD protection factors in community elderly population;lower SHBG level indicated higher risk of developing CVD events.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of quality intima-media thicknes (QIMT),quality arterial stiffness(QAS) and XStrain in assessing the ventricular-arterial coupling (VAC) in patients with uremia.Methods Sixty-five patients with uremia and 30 normal subjects were enrolled in this study as the uremic group and control group respectively.Ultrasound examination for the cardiac and carotid artery was performed and some parameters were obtained,such as left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF),E/e,Tei index,stiffness (β),compliance coefficinet (CC),pulse wave velocity (PWV),intima-media thicknes (IMT),strain,and so on.The sum of left ventricular systolic radial strain and carotid arterial diastolic radial strain was used as a new parameter (VACs) for assessing VAC.The correlation between VACs and VACv,a traditional method to evaluate VAC,was analyzed.The parameters obtained by ultrasonic techniques were compared between two groups.The intra-and inter-observer reliability of XStrain was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient.The multiple linear regression and ROC curve were used to analyze the independent factor of cardiovascular dysfunction.Results ①The pulse pressure,E/e,Tei index,as well as β,PWV and IMT were larger in uremic group than control group significantly (P ＜0.05).②The function of VAC was decreased in uremic group,and the VACv and VACs were lower than control group significantly (P ＜0.05).③There was strong positive relation between VACs and VACv (r =0.908,P =0.000).The reproducibility of XStrain technique was well.④VACs,β,VACv and PWV could be considered as independent factor of cardiovascular dysfunction and performance of VACs was the largest (standardized coefficient was-0.582).A cutoff value of VACs for assessing cardiovascular dysfunction was less than 23.60,which had both higher sensitivity and specificity (96.4％,81.1％).Conclusions The QIMT,QAS and XStrain can be used to assess cardiovascular structure,function and VAC accurately and globally,which can be consider as an effective method for detecting cardiovascular complication and improving prognosis of uremic patients.

Gene mutation (e.g. substitution, insertion and deletion) and related phenotype information are important biomedical knowledge. Many biomedical databases (e.g. OMIM) incorporate such data. However, few studies have examined the quality of this data. In the current study, we examined the quality of protein single-point mutations in the OMIM and identified whether the corresponding reference sequences align with the mutation positions. Our results show that close to 20% of mutation data cannot be mapped to a single reference sequence. The failed mappings are caused by position conflict, site shifting (peptide, N-terminal methionine) and other types of data error. We propose a preliminary model to resolve such inconsistency in the OMIM database.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Consensus Sequence ; Databases, Genetic ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Point Mutation ; Sequence Alignment

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of short-term restriction of dietary protein intake (DPI) supplemented with α-keto acids on chronic hepatitis B patients complicated with chronic kidney diseases (CKD). Methods A prospective randomized controlled trial was carried out.Seventeen chronic hepatitis B patients with CKD were randomized to either low DPI with α-keto acid-supplemented (sLP) or low DPI (LP) group for 3 months.Low-protein diet (LPD) was individualized with total energy intake 125.52-146.44 kJ·kg-1 ·d-1,and protein intake of 0.6-0.8 g·kg-1·d-1.α-keto acid was supplied in a dosage of 0.1 g·kg-1·d-1.Nutritional indexes were recorded and other clinical indexes were measured to evaluate the efficacy and safety respectively. Results The urine protein excretion level and microalbuminuria were significantly decreased at the end of the observation period in the sLP group compared to the basal value and the LP group [24 h urine protein:baseline (4.52±1.74) g,the 1st month (3.19±1.52) g,the 2nd month (2.19±1.1) g,the 3rd month (1.64±0.77) g,P＜0.05; microalbuminyria:baseline (2855.43±248.03) mg/L,the 1st month (2157.14±218.15) mg/L,the 2nd month (1681.57±146.18) mg/L,the 3rd month (924.29±83.33) mg/L,P＜0.05].No significant difference was found in Scr and eGFR.Nutritional indexes (SGA,serume albumin) were significantly higher at the end of 3 months in the sLP group (P＜0.05).No obvious side-effect occurred. Conclusions Short-term restriction of DPI is safe,and when combined with α-keto acids,can increase serum protein and decrease urine protein excretion in chronic hepatitis B patients complicated with CKD without significant sideeffect.