Objective To predict the potential geographic distribution of Oncomelania hupensis in Yunnan Province using random forest (RF) and maximum entropy (MaxEnt) models, so as to provide insights into O. hupensis surveillance and control in Yunnan Province. Methods The O. hupensis snail survey data in Yunnan Province from 2015 to 2016 were collected and converted into O. hupensis snail distribution site data. Data of 22 environmental variables in Yunnan Province were collected, including twelve climate variables (annual potential evapotranspiration, annual mean ground surface temperature, annual precipitation, annual mean air pressure, annual mean relative humidity, annual sunshine duration, annual mean air temperature, annual mean wind speed, ≥ 0 ℃ annual accumulated temperature, ≥ 10 ℃ annual accumulated temperature, aridity and index of moisture), eight geographical variables (normalized difference vegetation index, landform type, land use type, altitude, soil type, soil textureclay content, soil texture-sand content and soil texture-silt content) and two population and economic variables (gross domestic product and population). Variables were screened with Pearson correlation test and variance inflation factor (VIF) test. The RF and MaxEnt models and the ensemble model were created using the biomod2 package of the software R 4.2.1, and the potential distribution of O. hupensis snails after 2016 was predicted in Yunnan Province. The predictive effects of models were evaluated through cross-validation and independent tests, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), true skill statistics (TSS) and Kappa statistics were used for model evaluation. In addition, the importance of environmental variables was analyzed, the contribution of environmental variables output by the models with AUC values of > 0.950 and TSS values of > 0.850 were selected for normalization processing, and the importance percentage of environmental variables was obtained to analyze the importance of environmental variables. Results Data of 148 O. hupensis snail distribution sites and 15 environmental variables were included in training sets of RF and MaxEnt models, and both RF and MaxEnt models had high predictive performance, with both mean AUC values of > 0.900 and all mean TSS values and Kappa values of > 0.800, and significant differences in the AUC (t = 19.862, P < 0.05), TSS (t = 10.140, P < 0.05) and Kappa values (t = 10.237, P < 0.05) between two models. The AUC, TSS and Kappa values of the ensemble model were 0.996, 0.954 and 0.920, respectively. Independent data verification showed that the AUC, TSS and Kappa values of the RF model and the ensemble model were all 1, which still showed high performance in unknown data modeling, and the MaxEnt model showed poor performance, with TSS and Kappa values of 0 for 24%(24/100) of the modeling results. The modeling results of 79 RF models, 38 MaxEnt models and their ensemble models with AUC values of > 0.950 and TSS values of > 0.850 were included in the evaluation of importance of environmental variables. The importance of annual sunshine duration (SSD) was 32.989%, 37.847% and 46.315% in the RF model, the MaxEnt model and their ensemble model, while the importance of annual mean relative humidity (RHU) was 30.947%, 15.921% and 28.121%, respectively. Important environment variables were concentrated in modeling results of the RF model, dispersed in modeling results of the MaxEnt model, and most concentrated in modeling results of the ensemble model. The potential distribution of O. hupensis snails after 2016 was predicted to be relatively concentrated in Yunnan Province by the RF model and relatively large by the MaxEnt model, and the distribution of O. hupensis snails predicted by the ensemble model was mostly the joint distribution of O. hupensis snails predicted by RF and MaxEnt models. Conclusions Both RF and MaxEnt models are effective to predict the potential distribution of O. hupensis snails in Yunnan Province, which facilitates targeted O. hupensis snail control.

Objective To investigate the effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i)canagliflozin and epithelial sodium channel inhibitor amiloride or benzamil in combination on the bone metabolism in the rats with the nephrotic syndrome (NS) induced by doxorubicin. Methods In the 49 male SD rats selected, 7 were randomly selected as control group (NG), and 42 were built as adriamycin-induced nephropathy model by injecting adriamycin through the tail vein, and were randomly divided into model group (MG group), canagliflozin group (KG group), benzamil group (BH group), amiloride group (AL group), canagliflozin+benzamil group (KB group) and canagliflozin+amiloride group (KA group), with 7 cases in each group. Each medication group was given intragastric administration according to the body weight of rats regularly every day, NG group and MG group were given equal amount of normal saline, the course of treatment was 6 weeks. The 24-hour urinary protein (24 h-UTP) of each group was detected one day before treatment to verify the successful preparation of the model. At 6 weeks after treatment, the 24 h-UTP, urine sodium (UNa), urinary potassium (UK) levels in urine and the albumin (ALB), triglyceride (TG), cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL), serum calcium (SCa), sodium (SNa), potassium (SK), 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), parathyroid hormone (PTH), procollagen type Ⅰ N-terminal propeptide (PINP) and beta C-terminal cross-linked telopeptides of typeⅠ collagen (β-CTX) levels in serum were measured, respectively. Results After successful modeling, the levels of 24 h-UTP, TG, TC, LDL and SCa in the MG group were significantly increased, while the levels of ALB, 25-OH-D, ALP, PINP and PTH were significantly decreased (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). After 6 weeks of drug intervention, the body mass of rats treated with KG alone decreased significantly (P < 0.05). Compared with the MG group, the levels of 24 h-UTP, TC, TG, LDL and SCa were significantly decreased, and the level of ALB was significantly increased in all drug groups when compared to the MG (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Compared with the MG group, the levels of 25-OH-D, ALP, PINP and β-CTX in the KA group were significantly increased when compared to the MG (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Molding and drug therapy had no impact on levels of UNa, UK, SK and SNa (P>0.05). Conclusion Calaglizin alone, benzamil alone, amiloride alone and calaglizin combined with benzamil or amiloride can improve the mass proteinuria, hypoproteinemia and hyperlipidemia in adriamycin-induced NS model rats. The combination of caraglipzin and amiloride has a significant osteogenic or osteoclastic effect, which may play a role in reducing the risk of fracture in NS rats by forming a new osteogenic/osteoclastic balance.

Objective: To investigate the expression of CD24 gene in human malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) cells and tissues, and evaluate its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics and clinical prognosis of MPM patients. Methods: In February 2021, UALCAN database was used to analyze the correlation between CD24 gene expression and clinicopathological characteristics in 87 cases of MPM patients. The TIMER 2.0 platform was used to explore the relationship between the expression of CD24 in MPM and tumor immune infiltrating cells. cBioportal online tool was used to analyze the correlation between CD24 and MPM tumor marker gene expression. RT-qPCR was used to analyze the expressions of CD24 gene in human normal pleural mesothelial cell lines LP9 and MPM cell lines NCI-H28 (epithelial type), NCI-H2052 (sarcoma type), and NCI-H2452 (biphasic mixed type). RT-qPCR was performed to detect the expressions of CD24 gene in 18 cases of MPM tissues and matched normal pleural tissues. The expression difference of CD24 protein in normal mesothelial tissue and MPM tissue was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. A Kaplan-Meier model was constructed to explore the influence of CD24 gene expression on the prognosis of MPM patients, and Cox regression analysis of prognostic factors in MPM patients was performed. Results: The CD24 gene expression without TP53 mutation MPM patients was significantly higher than that of patients in TP53 mutation (P<0.05). The expression of CD24 gene in MPM was positively correlated with B cells (r(s)=0.37, P<0.001). The expression of CD24 gene had a positive correlation with the expressions of thrombospondin 2 (THBS2) (r(s)=0.26, P<0.05), and had a negative correlation with the expression of epidermal growth factor containing fibulin like extracellular matrix protein 1 (EFEMP1), mesothelin (MSLN) and calbindin 2 (CALB2) (r(s)=-0.31, -0.52, -0.43, P<0.05). RT-qPCR showed that the expression level of CD24 gene in MPM cells (NCI-H28, NCI-H2052 and NCI-H2452) was significantly higher than that in normal pleural mesothelial LP9 cells. The expression level of CD24 gene in MPM tissues was significantly higher than that in matched normal pleural tissues (P<0.05). Immunohistochemistry showed that the expressions of CD24 protein in epithelial and sarcoma MPM tissues were higher than those of matched normal pleural tissues. Compared with low expression of CD24 gene, MPM patients with high expression of CD24 gene had lower overall survival (HR=2.100, 95%CI: 1.336-3.424, P<0.05) and disease-free survival (HR=1.800, 95%CI: 1.026-2.625, P<0.05). Cox multivariate analysis showed that compared with the biphasic mixed type, the epithelial type was a protective factor for the prognosis of MPM patients (HR=0.321, 95%CI: 0.172-0.623, P<0.001). Compared with low expression of CD24 gene, high expression of CD24 gene was an independent risk factor for the prognosis of MPM patients (HR=2.412, 95%CI: 1.291-4.492, P=0.006) . Conclusion: CD24 gene and protein are highly expressed in MPM tissues, and the high expression of CD24 gene suggests poor prognosis in MPM patients.
Humans ; Mesothelioma, Malignant ; Mesothelioma/diagnosis* ; Lung Neoplasms/genetics* ; Pleural Neoplasms/diagnosis* ; Prognosis ; Biomarkers, Tumor/analysis* ; Extracellular Matrix Proteins ; CD24 Antigen/genetics*

Objective: To establish a dynamic syndromic surveillance system in the border areas of Yunnan Province based on information technology, evaluate its effectiveness and timeliness in the response to common communicable disease epidemics and improve the communicable disease prevention and control in border areas. Methods: Three border counties were selected for full coverage as study areas, and dynamic surveillance for 14 symptoms and 6 syndromes were conducted in medical institutions, the daily collection of information about students' school absence in primary schools and febrile illness in inbound people at border ports were conducted in these counties from January 2016 to February 2018 to establish an early warning system based on mobile phone and computer platform for a field experimental study. Results: With syndromes of rash, influenza-like illness and the numbers of primary school absence, the most common communicable disease events, such as hand foot and mouth disease, influenza and chickenpox, can be identified 1-5 days in advance by using EARS-3C and Kulldorff time-space scanning models with high sensitivity and specificity. The system is easy to use with strong security and feasibility. All the information and the warning alerts are released in the form of interactive charts and visual maps, which can facilitate the timely response. Conclusions: This system is highly effective and easy to operate in the detection of possible outbreaks of common communicable diseases in border areas in real time, so the timely and effective intervention can be conducted to reduce the risk of local and cross-border communicable disease outbreaks. It has practical application value.
Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Sentinel Surveillance ; Syndrome ; China ; Cell Phone

OBJECTIVE: To explore the proliferation inhibitory effect of quinones from Blaps rynchopetera defense secretion on colorectal tumor cell lines. METHODS: Human colorectal cancer cell HT-29, human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell Caco-2 and normal human colon epithelial cell CCD841 were chosen for the evaluation of inhibitory activity of the main quinones of B. rynchopetera defense secretion, including methyl p-benzoquinone (MBQ), ethyl p-benzoquinone (EBQ), and methyl hydroquinone (MHQ), through methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay. The tumor-related factors, cell cycles, related gene expressions and protein levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assy, flow cytometry, RT-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot, respectively. RESULTS: MBQ, EBQ, and MHQ could significantly inhibit the proliferation of Caco-2, with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values of 7.04 ± 0.88, 10.92 ± 0.32, 9.35 ± 0.83, HT-29, with IC₅₀ values of 14.90 ± 2.71, 20.50 ± 6.37, 13.90 ± 1.30, and CCD841, with IC₅₀ values of 11.40 ± 0.68, 7.02 ± 0.44 and 7.83 ± 0.05 µg/mL, respectively. Tested quinones can reduce the expression of tumor-related factors tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin (IL)-10, and IL-6 in HT-29 cells, selectively promote apoptosis, and regulate the cell cycle which can reduce the proportion of cells in the G₁ phase and increase the proportion of the S phase. Meanwhile, tested quinones could up-regulate mRNA and protein expression of GSK-3β and APC, while down-regulate that of β-catenin, Frizzled1, c-Myc, and CyclinD1 in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway of HT-29 cells. CONCLUSION Quinones from B. rynchopetera defense secretion could inhibit the proliferation of colorectal tumor cells and reduce the expression of related factors, which would be functioned by regulating cell cycle, selectively promoting apoptosis, and affecting Wnt/β-catenin pathway-related mRNA and protein expressions.
Humans ; beta Catenin/metabolism* ; Caco-2 Cells ; Quinones/pharmacology* ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta/metabolism* ; Cell Proliferation ; Colorectal Neoplasms/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Apoptosis ; Benzoquinones/pharmacology* ; RNA, Messenger ; Wnt Signaling Pathway

OBJECTIVE To sy stematically evaluate the relations hip between immune-related adverse events （irAEs） and efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors （ICIs） in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer （NSCLC），and to provide evidence-based reference for clinical application of ICIs and safety evaluation. METHODS PubMed，Embase，Cochrane Library ， Web of Science ，CNKI，Wanfang database ，VIP and CBM were searched to collect prospective or retrospective cohort studies on the correlation between irAEs and efficacy of ICIs in the treatment of NSCLC. The retrieval time was from the inception to June 30th，2021. After literature screening and data extraction ，Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to evaluate the quality of included literatures. Meta-analysis and publication bias analysis were performed by using RevMan 5.3 software；Stata 15.0 software was used for sensitivity analysis. RESULTS A total of 7 957 patients were included in 31 studies. Meta-analysis showed that the objective response rate （ORR）[RR＝2.34，95％CI（1.98，2.76），P＜0.000 01]，progression-free survival （PFS）[HR＝0.49，95％CI （0.44，0.55），P＜0.000 01] and overall survival （OS）[HR＝0.45，95％CI（0.39，0.53），P＜0.000 01] of irAEs group as well as ORR[RR＝1.88，95％CI（1.57，2.25），P＜0.000 01]，PFS [HR ＝0.59，95％CI（0.50，0.69），P＜0.000 01] and OS [HR ＝0.58，95％CI （0.48，0.70），P＜0.000 01] of this group at 6th week were all significantly higher or longer than non irAEs group. According to organ specificity ，severity and quantity of irAEs，subgroup analysis showed that skin ，gastrointestinal and endocrine system ，mild irAEs（grade 1-2）and one or more than 2 kinds of irAEs were significantly correlated with the improvement of PFS and OS （P＜ 0.05），while liver and lung ，severe irAEs（≥ grade 3）were not significantly correlated with the improvement of PFS and com OS （P＞0.05）. Sensitivity analysis results showed that the results of the above-mentione d meta-analysis were relatively robust. The results of publication bias showed that there was may be some possibility of publication bias in this study. CONCLUSIONS For NSCLC patients treated with ICIS ，the occurrence of irAEs may be related to their good prognosis. The irAEs may be a predictor of the efficacy of ICIs.

Objective:To explore a fast and accurate method to diagnose children's pneumonia according to respiratory signals, so as to avoid the cancer induction caused by traditional X-ray examination.Methods:A Mach Zehnder optical fiber sensor was used to build a respiratory signals(RSPs) detection system, and the RSPs of the monitored children were extracted according to the vibration signal generated by the children's lung rales. Preprocessing methods such as the discrete cosine transform(DCT) were used to compress and denoise the RSPs. Multi-feature extraction of RSPs was conducted through signal processing methods such as the Hilbert transform and autoregressive (AR) model spectrum estimation. A support vector machine (SVM) classification model was constructed to classify the collected RSPs.Results:The accuracy rate of the proposed RSP classification of children with or without pneumonia was 94.41%, which was higher than the previous methods.Conclusions:The children's pneumonia diagnosis system based on an optical fiber sensor has a higher detection accuracy, and is expected to be widely used in clinical practice.

Lysyl oxidase like 4 (LOXL4) is one member of the LOX protein family and is a secreted copper-dependent amine oxidase involved in the assembly and maintenance of extracellular matrix (ECM). LOXL4 is up-regulated in human liver cancer, gastric cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, esophageal carcinoma and colorectal cancer, but down-regulated in human bladder and lung cancer. It also inhibits tumor growth in bladder and lung cancer, suggesting that L0XL4 has a dual role of promoting or inhibiting tumors in different types of human malignant tumors. L0XL4 in tumor cell exosomes promotes cell matrix adhesion and cell migration by activating the FAK/Src pathway, which is dependent on its amine oxidase activity through a hydrogen peroxide-mediated mechanism. Exosome-mediated L0XL4 can also promote tumor cell proliferation and immune escape by activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. L0XL4 can be transported to macrophages via exosomes in tumor cells, where it further activates the immunosuppression function of cells and the expression of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) via STAT1- and STAT3-mediated signaling pathways. It then will trigger the immunosuppressive function of macrophages and promote the immune escape of tumor cells. In addition, LOXL4 can also exert the tumor suppressive function by activating p53 and inhibiting the Ras/ERK pathway. This paper mainly reviews the structure and the function of LOXL4, and the relationship between LOXL4 and the pathogenesis and development of human malignant tumors. We then further explore the application of LOXL4 in the study of malignant tumors, laying a theoretical foundation for its future utilization in the clinical diagnosis and treatment, and screening of prognostic markers of human malignant tumors.

Objective : To study the effect of EFHD2 protein deletion in Sertoli cells on Occludin，a component of tight junction protein and the localization and expression of EF-hand domain family member D2 (EFHD2) in mouse testis． Methods : Total RNA and protein were extracted from adult mice's heart ，liver ，spleen ，lung ，kidney， brain and testis tissues．The mRNA and protein levels of EFHD2 in each organ tissue were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot．Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry detected the localization and expression of EF- HD2 in testicular tissues．SiRNA interference was used to reduce EFHD2 in Sertoli cells to detect Occludin protein expression. Results : qRT-PCR showed that the expression of EFHD2 was the highest in the testis．Western blot results showed that the expression level increased in testis tissue．Indirect immunofluorescence and immunohisto- chemistry results showed that the protein was mainly distributed in Sertoli cells and co-localized with cytoskeletal Vimentin，indicating that the protein was expressed in Sertoli cells．After the decrease of EFHD2 protein expres- sion，Occludin protein expression also decreased． Conclusion The expression of EFHD2 protein in the testis is relatively high，mainly distributed in Sertoli cells of the testis，co-localized with Vimentin，and can affect the nor- mal expression of tight junction protein Occludin．It is suggested that EFHD2 can promote and maintain the junction structure of Sertoli cells and provide a stable microenvironment for spermatogenesis.

Chigger mites is a group of arthropods and some of them are vectors of scrub typhus. As a common synanthropic rodent species, the Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) often harbors lots of ectoparasites including chigger mites. According to some “data mining” strategies, the present study took the advantage of the abundant original data from a long-term field ecological investigation between 2001 and 2015 to make a detailed analysis of chigger mites on R. norvegicus in Yunnan Province, Southwest of China. From 18 of 33 investigated counties, only 1414 chigger mites were collected from 1113 Brown rats with relatively low infestations. The 1414 individual chigger mites were identified as comprising 61 species, 11 genera and 2 subfamilies of the family Trombiculidae with a high species diversity (S=61, H’=3.13). Of 61 mite species, there were four main species, Walchia ewingi, Ascoschoengastia indica, W. koi and A. rattinorvegici, which accounted for 44.41% of the total mites. All the chigger mites were of aggregated distribution among different individuals of R. norvegicus. The Brown rats in the outdoor habitats harbored much more individuals and species of chigger mites with a higher mean abundance (MA=1.46) and mean intensity (MI=12.53) than in the indoor habitats (P<0.05). The overall infestation of the rats was significantly higher in the mountainous landscapes than in the flatland landscapes (P<0.001). The species similarity (Css) of the mites on the male and female rats reached 64.44% with sex biased infestations. The male rats harbored more species and individuals of the mites than the female rats. The adult rats harbored more species and individuals of the mites than the juvenile rats. The species abundance distribution of the mites was successfully fitted by Preston’s lognormal model with S ^ (R)=15e–[0.31(R–1)]2 (α=0.31, R2=0.95). On the basis of fitting the theoretical curve by Preston’s model, the total mite species on R. norvegicus was estimated to be 86 species, and 25 rare mite species were missed in the sampling field investigation. The curve tendency of the species-plot relationship indicates that R. norvegicus have a great potential to harbor many species of chigger mites, and more species of the mites would be collected if more rats are sampled.