Parasitic diseases caused by protozoan and helminth infections are still widespread across the world, notably in tropical and subtropical areas, which threaten the children and adult health. Long-term use of anti-parasitic drugs may result in reduced drug susceptibility and even drug resistance. Antimicrobial peptides have been demonstrated to inhibit parasite growth and development, which has potential antiparasitic values. LL-37, the only human antimicrobial peptide in the cathelicidin family, has been widely investigated. This paper reviews the progress of researches on the antiparasitic activity of LL-37, and discusses the prospects of LL-37 in the research of parasites.

Sheep pox is widespread worldwide and is the most severe animal pox virus infection. This study aimed to identify the key microRNAs (miRNAs) differentially expressed in the exosomes of sheep poxvirus-infected cells and their target genes and related pathways and provide a theoretical basis for an in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms of sheep poxvirus-infected cells. In this study, the differentially expressed miRNAs were verified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and the target genes of miRNAs were predicted and analyzed by bioinformatics. The qPCR results showed that the expression trends of oar-miR-21, oar-miR-10b, oar-let-7f, oar-let-7b, and oar-miR-221 were consistent with the sequencing results. The Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes results showed that differentially expressed miRNAs were mainly involved in the immune system processes of the Arf6 downstream pathway. The target genes Reactome pathways were mainly enriched in the RAC1 GTPase cycle, CDC42 GTPase cycle, RHO GTPase cycle, RHOV GTPase cycle, and post-transcriptional silencing of small RNAs. The transcription factors SP4, NKX6-1, MEF2A, SP1, EGR1, and POU2F1 that may be connected to sheep pox virus (SPPV)-infected cells were discovered by transcription factor annotation screening. In conclusion, this study screened for differentially expressed miRNAs in SPPV-infected cells and performed a series of bioinformatic analyses of their target genes to provide a theoretical basis for the molecular mechanism of sheep pox virus infections of cells. The data can be used as basic information in future studies on the defense mechanisms against poxvirus infections.

Objective To analyze and clarify the concept of intrinsic capacity of the elderly.Methods We searched studies on intrinsic capacity of the elderly from websites and databases,including PubMed,Cochrane Library,Web of Science,Embase,CINAHL,China Biomedical Literature Service System databases,CNKI,WanFang databases and VIP.We selected relevant papers from the inception of databases to July 2023 according to inclusion criteria.Rodgers evolutionary method of concept analysis was used.Results A total of 30 articles were retrieved.4 attributes were identified on intrinsic capacity,including:guided by the goal of achieving healthy aging,inherent physiological reserve capacity of individuals,rich and interactive dimensions,and a dynamic and reversible development trajectory.Its prerequisites include demographic factors,socio-economic factors,health-related charac-teristics,external environment,and other factors;post effects include early identification of declining intrinsic abilities in the elderly and timely adoption of targeted intervention measures,which are of great significance for improving the quality of life of the elderly and promoting healthy aging.The decline in intrinsic capabilities is closely related to various adverse health outcomes,posing a serious threat to the health status of the elderly.Conclusion The concept attributes of intrinsic capacity were identified by concept analysis method.In the future,research and clinical practice should be carried out based on the concept of intrinsic capacity.

Background and objective Both of lung cancer incidence and mortality rank first among all cancers in China.Previous lung cancer screening trials were mostly selective screening for high-risk groups such as smokers.Non-smoking women accounted for a considerable proportion of lung cancer cases in Asia.This study aimed to evaluate the outcome of community-based mass screening in Guangzhou and identify the high-risk factors for lung cancer.Methods Residents aged 40-74 years in Guangzhou were screened with low-dose computed tomography(LDCT)for lung cancer and the pulmonary nodules were classified and managed according to China National Lung Cancer Screening Guideline with Low-dose Computed Tomography(2018 version).The detection rate of positive nodules was calculated.Before the LDCT examination,residents were required to complete a"lung cancer risk factors questionnaire".The risk factors of the questionnaire were analyzed by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator(LASSO)penalized Logistic regression analysis.Results A total of 6256 residents were included in this study.1228 positive nodules(19.63％)and 117 lung cancers were confirmed,including 6 cases of Tis,103 cases of stage Ⅰ(accounting for 88.03％of lung cancer).The results of LASSO penalized Logistic regression analysis indicated that age ≥50 yr(OR=1.07,95％CI:1.06-1.07),history of cancer(OR=3.29,95％CI:3.22-3.37),textile industry(OR=1.10,95％CI:1.08-1.13),use coal for cooking in childhood(OR=1.14,95％CI:1.13-1.16)and food al-lergy(OR=1.10,95％CI:1.07-1.13)were risk factors of lung cancer for female in this district.Conclusion This study highlighted that numerous early stages of lung cancer cases were detected by LDCT,which could be applied to screen-ing of lung cancer in women.Besides,age ≥50 yr,personal history of cancer,textile industry and use coal for cooking in childhood are risk factors for women in this district,which suggested that it's high time to raise the awareness of early lung cancer screening in this group.

Objective To screen the influencing factors of hepatitis C cirrhosis patients progressing to hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)using commonly used laboratory testing indicators,establish a prediction model using these indicators and validate them.Methods A total of 231 patients with hepatitis C cirrhosis and 179 patients with hepatitis C HCC hospitalized at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University between June 2020 and May 2023 were enrolled as the training set,and 105 patients with hepatitis C cirrhosis and 86 patients with hepatitis C HCC hospitalized between June 2023 and February 2024 were enrolled as the validation set.The routine laboratory test indexes of the study subjects in the two groups within the training set were compared,and logistic regression analysis was applied to screen the independent predictors of hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to construct the curve model and validate the model.Results The age,male ratio,ALT,AST,AFP,WBC,NEU,MO,PLT,MPV,PDW,Fbg,NLR and PLR levels of the HCC group were higher than those of the cirrhosis group in the training set(H=-9.07～-2.19),while the levels of INR and LMR were lower than those of the cirrhosis group(H=-4.49,-2.65),and the differences were significant(all P＜0.05).The differences in TP,eGFR,LY and AST/ALT values between the two groups of patients were not significant(H=-1.46～-0.15,all P＞0.05).Multifactorial Logistic regression analysis showed that age(OR=1.048,95％CI:1.023～1.074),Male(OR=1.467,95％CI:1.413～1.765),AST(OR=1.010,95％CI:1.002～1.019),NEU(OR=1.186,95％CI:1.018～1.382)and Fbg(OR=2.245,95％CI:1.639～3.076)were independent risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma patients(all P＜0.05),and these five independent risk factors were used to construct the HCC column-line graph prediction model,with the AUC for the training set and the validation set AUC(95％Cl)were 0.813(0.771～0.854)and 0.712(0.639～0.784),respectively,and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed a good fit of the model with P=0.650 for the training set and P=0.310 for the validation set.Conclusion The prediction model of HCC based on age,gender,AST,NEU and Fbg can have good predictive efficacy and clinical application value.

Piglet diarrhea is an intestinal disease caused by Clostridium perfringens(C.perfrin-gens)toxin.This study aims to reveal the damage mechanism of piglet diarrhea to IPEC-J2 cells by studying key genes and pathways related to piglet diarrhea.IPEC-J2 cells were treated with C.per-fringens toxin and transcriptome sequencing was performed.By analyzing GO function,KEGG pathway and protein interaction network of differentially expressed genes,key genes and pathways in cell damage were identified.Compared with the control group,460 genes were detected in the in-jury group,of which 419 genes were up-regulated and 41 genes were down-regulated.KEGG analy-sis further revealed that influenza A and NOD-like receptor signaling pathways were significant.Protein interaction network analysis screened out 8 core gene subnetworks,which were positively correlated with each other.These genes were mainly annotated on influenza A and NF-kappa B sig-naling pathways.qRT-PCR further confirmed the reliability of RNA-seq sequencing results.In con-clusion,influenza A,NOD-like receptor signaling pathway,and NF-kappa B pathway are involved in the damage of porcine IPEC-J2 cells caused by C.perfringens toxin.MX2,MX1,DDX58,IFI44,ISG15 genes may play an important role in the process of resistance to C.perfringens toxin in por-cine small intestine through key signaling pathways.This provides new insights into the mecha-nism of diarrhea induced by C.perfringens toxin.

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of microRNA(miR)-146a and miR-181a in urine exosome of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE).Methods A total of 40 pa-tients diagnosed with SLE at West China Hospital,Sichuan University from January 2023 to October 2023 were selected as the SLE group,and another 20 healthy individuals who underwent physical examinations dur-ing the same period were selected as the control group.According to SLE disease activity index(SLEDAI),SLE patients were divided into low activity group(19 cases,SLEDAI≤9 scores)and high activity group(21 cases,SLEDAI>9 scores).Real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-146a and miR-181a in u-rine exosome,enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)was used to detect serum interleukin(IL)-1β,IL-6,tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α,complement C3,IgG and anti-cardiolipin antibody(ACA)levels,and re-ceiver operating characteristics(ROC)curve was used to analyze the diagnostic value of miR-146a and miR-181a expression in urine exosome for SLE and SLE accompanied renal injury.Results The relative expression level of miR-146a and miR-181a in urine exosome in the SLE group was significantly higher than in the control group(P<0.05),and the relative expression level of miR-146a and miR-181a in urine exosome in the high ac-tivity group was significantly higher than in the low activity group(P<0.05).The relative expression level of miR-146a and miR-181a in urine exosome in SLE with renal injury was higher than in SLE without renal inju-ry(P<0.05).The serum levels of IL-1β,IL-6,TNF-α,IgG and ACA in the high activity group were signifi-cantly higher than those in the low activity group,and the serum C3 level in the high activity group was signif-icantly lower than that in the low activity group(P<0.05).miR-146a in urine exosome of SLE patients were significantly positively correlated with serum IL-1β,IL-6,TNF-α,IgG and ACA levels(r=0.443,0.493,0.410,0.381,0.340,P<0.05),and negatively correlated with serum C3 levels(r=-0.340,P<0.05).miR-181a in urine exosome of SLE patients were significantly positively correlated with serum IL-1β,IL-6,TNF-α,IgG and ACA levels(r=0.342,0.470,0.373,0.371,0.334,P<0.05),and negatively correlated with serum C3 levels(r=-0.368,P<0.05).The area under the curve of miR-146a and miR-181a in urine exosome for diagnosing SLE were 0.907 and 0.897,and the area under the curve of miR-146a and miR-181a in urine exo-some for diagnosing SLE complicated with kidney damage were 0.859 and 0.815.Conclusion The expression levels of miR-146a and miR-181a in urine exosome have a good evaluation value for the disease activity of SLE,and have a potential application value for the prediction and diagnosis of SLE.

Objective To investigate the relationship between serum solute carrier family 7 member 11(SLC7A11)and Janus kinase 2(JAK2)levels and the severity and prognosis of acute non-variceal upper gas-trointestinal bleeding(ANVUGIB).Methods A total of 108 patients with ANVUGIB who were treated in the hospital from April 2019 to April 2023 were selected and divided into severe group(31 cases),moderate group(44 cases)and mild group(33 cases)according to the severity of ANVUGIB.The patients were divided into poor prognosis group(41 cases)and good prognosis group(67 cases)according to their prognosis.An-other 50 healthy volunteers who underwent physical examination in the hospital during the same period were selected as the control group.Serum SLC7A11 and JAK2 levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosor-bent assay.Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between serum SLC7A11 and JAK2 levels and Framingham risk score(FRS)and Glasweg-Blatchford bleeding score(GBS).Multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of poor prognosis in patients with ANVUGIB.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to analyze the predictive value of serum SLC7A11 and JAK2 for poor prognosis in patients with ANVUGIB.Results The serum SLC7A11 level was significantly lower and the serum JAK2 level was significantly higher in the three groups of ANVUGIB patients than in the control group(all P＜0.05).As the severity of the disease increased,the serum SLC7A11 level gradually de-creased,and the serum JAK2 level,FRS and GBS scores gradually increased(all P＜0.05).In ANVUGIB pa-tients,serum SLC7A11 level was negatively correlated with FRS and GBS scores,and serum JAK2 level was positively correlated with FRS and GBS scores(all P＜0.05).Compared with the good prognosis group,the poor prognosis group had significantly higher proportion of patients with bleeding volume＞400 mL,red blood cell distribution width,FRS score,GBS score,and JAK2 level,and significantly lower levels of hemoglo-bin and SLC7A11(P＜0.05).Bleeding volume＞400 mL and elevated JAK2 level were risk factors for poor prognosis in ANVUGIB patients,while elevated SLC7A11 level was a protective factor(all P＜0.05).The ar-ea under the curve of combined SLC7A11 and JAK2 in predicting poor prognosis of ANVUGIB patients was better than that of each index alone(Zcombination-SLC7A11=3.086,Zcombination JAK2=2.330,P=0.020,0.030).Conclu-sion The decrease of SLC7A11 level and increase of JAK2 level in patients with ANVUGIB can effectively e-valuate the severity and prognosis of patients,and the combination of the two can predict the prognosis of pa-tients with ANVUGIB.

Background::Gastric cancer (GC), a malignant tumor with poor prognosis, is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide; consequently, identifying novel therapeutic targets is crucial for its corresponding treatment. NUF2, a component of the NDC80 kinetochore complex, promotes cancer progression in multiple malignancies. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the potential of NUF2 as a therapeutic target to inhibit GC progression. Methods::Clinical samples were obtained from patients who underwent radical resection of GC at Lanzhou University Second Hospital from 2016 to 2021. Cell count assays, colony formation assays, and cell-derived xenotransplantation (CDX) models were used to determine the effects of NUF2 on GC progression. Flow cytometry was used to detect the effect of NUF2 or quercetin on cell cycle progression and apoptosis. A live-cell time-lapse imaging assay was performed to determine the effect of NUF2 on the regulation of mitotic progression. Transcriptomics was used to investigate the NUF2-associated molecular mechanisms. Virtual docking and microscale thermophoresis were used to identify NUF2 inhibitors. Finally, CDX, organoid, and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models were used to examine the efficacy of the NUF2 inhibitor in GC. Results::NUF2 expression was significantly increased in GC and was negatively correlated with prognosis. The deletion of NUF2 suppressed GC progression both in vivo and in vitro. NUF2 significantly regulated the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, promoted G2/M phase transition, and inhibited apoptosis in GC cells. Additionally, quercetin was identified as a selective NUF2 inhibitor with low toxicity that significantly suppressed tumor growth in GC cells, organoids, CDX, and PDX models. Conclusions::Collectively, NUF2-mediated G2/M phase transition and apoptosis inhibition promoted GC progression; additionally, NUF2 inhibitors exhibited potent anti-GC activity. This study provides a new strategy for targeting NUF2 to suppress GC progression in clinical settings.

Sheep pox is widespread worldwide and is the most severe animal pox virus infection. This study aimed to identify the key microRNAs (miRNAs) differentially expressed in the exosomes of sheep poxvirus-infected cells and their target genes and related pathways and provide a theoretical basis for an in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms of sheep poxvirus-infected cells. In this study, the differentially expressed miRNAs were verified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and the target genes of miRNAs were predicted and analyzed by bioinformatics. The qPCR results showed that the expression trends of oar-miR-21, oar-miR-10b, oar-let-7f, oar-let-7b, and oar-miR-221 were consistent with the sequencing results. The Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes results showed that differentially expressed miRNAs were mainly involved in the immune system processes of the Arf6 downstream pathway. The target genes Reactome pathways were mainly enriched in the RAC1 GTPase cycle, CDC42 GTPase cycle, RHO GTPase cycle, RHOV GTPase cycle, and post-transcriptional silencing of small RNAs. The transcription factors SP4, NKX6-1, MEF2A, SP1, EGR1, and POU2F1 that may be connected to sheep pox virus (SPPV)-infected cells were discovered by transcription factor annotation screening. In conclusion, this study screened for differentially expressed miRNAs in SPPV-infected cells and performed a series of bioinformatic analyses of their target genes to provide a theoretical basis for the molecular mechanism of sheep pox virus infections of cells. The data can be used as basic information in future studies on the defense mechanisms against poxvirus infections.