In tropical regions, numerous tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) play a crucial role as causative agents of infectious diseases in humans and animals. Recently, the population of companion and pet dogs has significantly increased in Vietnam; however, information on the occurrence of TBPs is still limited. The objectives of this investigation were to determine the occurrence rate, risk factors, and phylogenetic characteristics of TBPs in dogs from northern Vietnam. Of 341 blood samples tested by PCR, the total infection of TBPs was 73.9% (252/341). Babesia vogeli (18SrRNA gene – 30.5%) was detected most frequently in studied dogs followed by Rickettsia spp. (OmpA gene – 27%), Anaplasma platys (groEL gene – 22%), Bartonella spp. (16SrRNA – 18.8%), Mycoplasma haemocanis (16SrRNA – 9.4%) and Hepatozoon canis (18SrRNA gene – 1.2%), respectively. All samples were negative for Ehrlichia canis and Anaplasma phagocytophylum. Co-infection was detected in 31.4% of the samples (107/341) of which, A. platys/Bartonella spp. (34/94,10%), Rickettsia spp./B. vogeli (19/94, 5.6%), and M. haemocanis/B. vogeli (19/94, 5.6%) were recorded as the three most frequent two species of co-infection types. Statistical analysis revealed a significant correlation between TBP infection and several host variables regarding age, breed, and living area in the current study. The recent findings reported herein, for the first time in Vietnam, are essential for local veterinarians when considering the appropriate approaches for diagnosing these diseases. Furthermore, this data can be used to establish control measures for future surveillance and prevention strategies against canine TBPs in Vietnam.

Objective:To explore the mechanism of Shuerjing Capsule in treating primary dysmenorrhea based on molecular docking of network pharmacology and in vivo experiment.Methods:By using TCMSP to screen the active components and targets of Shuerjing Capsule; by using GeneCards and DrungBank databases to retrieve targeted proteins of primary dysmenorrhea, and the intersection targets of drugs and diseases were obtained through Weishengxin online platform; by using Cytoscape 3.9.1 software to produce component-target network of Shuerjing Capsule for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea; by STRING databases to construct drug-disease target PPI network; by DAVID database to perform GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis.The key active components of the drug and the core targets of the disease were obtained with molecular docking. The rats were randomly divided into control group, model group, the low-dose group, medium-dose group and high-dose group of Shujing Capsule (0.15, 0.21, 0.42 g/kg), and ibuprofen group (20 mg/kg), with 10 rats in each group. The animal model of primary dysmenorrhea was established by subcutaneous injection of estradiol benzoate and intervented by drugs. The number of writhing reaction, uterine contractile inhibition rate and uterine index of rats were observed. The expressions of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1 in serum and the levels of PTGS2 and VEGFA in uterine tissue were detected by ELISA.Results:A total of 188 active ingredients of Shuerjing Capsule were screened, and 51 targets of Shuerjing Capsule and primary dysmenorrhea were identified. TNF, IL-6, AKT1 and TP53 may be the key targets of Shuerjing Capsule in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea. A total of 519 GO biological processes and 119 related signaling pathways were obtained, among which estrogen, IL-17, HIF-1 and other signaling pathways were closely related to the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea. The results of molecular docking were good, among which stigmasterol had the strongest binding ability to TP53. The experimental results showed that compared with the model group, the uterine index and the number of torsion were decreased in the low -, medium - and high-dose Shuojing Capsule groups ( P<0.05), the uterine contraction inhibition rate increased ( P<0.05); Serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1 of medium and high dose group decreased ( P<0.05), the levels of PTGS2 and VEGFA in uterine tissues decreased ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Shuerjing Capsule has the effect of anti-inflammatation and improveing hypoxia, which may be related to the inhibition of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1 inflammatory factors in serum and the expression of PTGS2 and VEGFA proteins in uterine tissues.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the pharmacologically active ingredients in granules (TJQW) for treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in light of systemic pharmacology. METHODS: We performed database search, literature mining and drug-like index screening to identify the bioactive components in TJQW, the positive drugs for disease treatment and their therapeutic targets. The core disease target was investigated based on the cross-linking interaction of the bioactive components, positive drug and potential disease target, and the target proteins at the key nodes were analyzed by GO and KEGG analyses. Based on the therapeutic targets for COVID-19, virtual screening was conducted to screen the compounds in TJQW and construct the network cross-linking the key bioactive molecules in TJQW, key node targets of the disease, and the related biological pathways. RESULTS: We identified 159 compounds in TJQW and obtained 18 core proteins based on the cross-linking of the bioactive components, positive drugs and disease targets. The key node targets consisted of 22 targets including the latest 4 COVID-19 proteins. Virtual screening results showed that at least 14 compounds could bind with the core disease target proteins. The material basis of TJQW for COVID-19 treatment was explained in multi-pathway, multi-component and multi-target perspectives. In terms of the structural characteristics of the compounds, we screened the top 30 molecules with strong binding with the target proteins, among which flavonoids were the predominant components. CONCLUSIONS This investigation reveals the therapeutic mechanism of TJQW for COVID-19 involving multiple components, targets and pathways from the perspective of key bioactive molecules, disease key node targets and related biological pathways. We screened 30 active precursors from TJQW, which provides reference for the clinical application and further development of TJQW.
Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; drug therapy

PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to explore the effects of hsa-let-7g on cell proliferation and apoptosis, and elucidate its role in lung cancer development.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression levels of has-let-7g and HOXB1 in tissues and cells were measured by qRT-PCR. An inhibitor of hsa-let-7g or one targeting a control messenger RNA were transfected into A549 and H1944 lung cancer cells, and the effects of hsa-let-7g dysregulation on cell viability and apoptosis were analyzed using CCK-8 and apoptosis detection assays. HOXB1 was confirmed as the target gene of hsa-let-7g, based on luciferase reporter assay results. The relationship between hsa-let-7g and HOXB1 was confirmed by co-transfection of inhibitors of hsa-let-7g and HOXB1 followed by Western blot, CCK-8, and apoptosis detection assays.RESULTS: We observed high expression of hsa-let-7g in lung cancer tissues compared to the corresponding normal tissues, and generally higher expression of hsa-let-7g in patients with advanced tumor classification. The results of CCK-8 and apoptosis detection experiments showed that the inhibition of hsa-let-7g significantly inhibited proliferation of A549 and H1944 cells, but also promoted apoptosis. HOXB1 is a specific target of hsa-let-7g, and downregulation of HOXB1 in lung cancer cells reversed the suppressive effects caused by knocking down hsa-let-7g.CONCLUSION: These data collectively suggest that the expression of hsa-let-7g inhibits lung cancer cells apoptosis and promotes proliferation by down-regulating HOXB1. The results from this study demonstrate the potential of hsa-let-7g/HOXB1 axis as a therapeutic target for the treatment of lung cancer.
Apoptosis ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Survival ; Classification ; Down-Regulation ; Humans ; Luciferases ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung ; MicroRNAs ; RNA, Messenger ; Sincalide

Objective: To investigate the current status and real performance of the detection of RUNX1-RUNX1T1 fusion transcript levels and WT1 transcript levels in China through interlaboratory comparison. Methods: Peking University People’s Hospital (PKUPH) prepared the samples for comparison. That is, the fresh RUNX1-RUNX1T1 positive (+) bone morrow nucleated cells were serially diluted with RUNX1-RUNX1T1 negative (-) nucleated cells from different patients. Totally 23 sets with 14 different samples per set were prepared. TRIzol reagent was added in each tube and thoroughly mixed with cells for homogenization. Each laboratory simultaneously tested RUNX1-RUNX1T1 and WT1 transcript levels of one set of samples by real-time quantitative PCR method. All transcript levels were reported as the percentage of RUNX1-RUNX1T1 or WT1 transcript copies/ABL copies. Spearman correlation coefficient between the reported transcript levels of each participated laboratory and those of PKUPH was calculated. Results: ①RUNX1-RUNX1T1 comparison: 9 samples were (+) and 5 were (-) , the false negative and positive rates of the 20 participated laboratories were 0 (0/180) and 5% (5/100) , respectively. The reported transcript levels of all 9 positive samples were different among laboratories. The median reported transcript levels of 9 positive samples were from 0.060% to 176.7%, which covered 3.5-log. The ratios of each sample’s highest to the lowest reported transcript levels were from 5.5 to 12.3 (one result which obviously deviated from other laboratories’ results was not included) , 85% (17/20) of the laboratories had correlation coefficient ≥0.98. ②WT1 comparison: The median reported transcript levels of all 14 samples were from 0.17% to 67.6%, which covered 2.6-log. The ratios of each sample’s highest to the lowest reported transcript levels were from 5.3-13.7, 62% (13/21) of the laboratories had correlation coefficient ≥0.98. ③ The relative relationship of the reported RUNX1-RUNX1T1 transcript levels between the participants and PKUPH was not always consistent with that of WT1 transcript levels. Both RUNX1-RUNX1T1 and WT1 transcript levels from 2 and 7 laboratories were individually lower than and higher than those of PKUPH, whereas for the rest 11 laboratories, one transcript level was higher than and the other was lower than that of PKUPH. Conclusion The reported RUNX1-RUNX1T1 and WT1 transcript levels were different among laboratories for the same sample. Most of the participated laboratories reported highly consistent result with that of PKUPH. The relationship between laboratories of the different transcript levels may not be the same.

Objective To explore the relationship between WT1 and prognosis of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and to evaluate the possibility of WT1 as a potential marker for monitoring the minimal residual disease (MRD). Methods Bone marrow mononuclear cells from 58 patients with primary AML, 32 patients with primary ALL, 40 patients with AML-complete remission (CR), 28 patients with ALL-CR and 31 patients with trilineage hyperplasia (control group) were collected. Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR method was used to detect the expression of WT1 in all patients. The expression threshold of WT1 in each group was established. WT1 copy number/ABL copy number ratio×100%denotes the relative expression level of WT1 gene. Results Median relative expression level of WT1 in the control patients was much lower than that in primary AML patients [0.026%(0-0.240%) vs. 20.880 % (3.550 %-48.500 %), Z=-7.74, P<0.000 1]. Relative expression level of WT1 between AML-CR patients [0.102%(0-5.380%)] and primary AML patients had significant difference (Z=-8.34, P<0.000 1). Moreover, the relative expression level rate of the first course in AML patients with higher WT1 expression level (>20.880 %) was 60.7 % (17/28), while the CR rate was 76.7 % (23/30) in those with lower WT1 expression. WT1 expression was increased dramatically in recurrent AML patients. Relative expression level of WT1 was significantly higher in primary ALL patients [0.350 % (0.021 %-10.780 %)] compared with that in the control group Z=-2.58, P<0.05. There was no significant difference in relative expression level of WT1 between ALL and ALL-CR patients [0.038 % (0-2.800 %), P=0.065]. Conclusion WT1 expression level in AML patients is relatively high, which could be used as an effective index of prognosis evaluation and MRD monitoring for AML patients, but not for ALL patients.

Objective To explore the role and mechanism of keratin 19 (KRT19) in breast cancer.Methods Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay was used to determine KRT19 levles in 35 cases of breast cancer tissues and normal tissues.The correlation between KRT19 levels and clinical property of breast cancer was analyzed.Meanwhile,the expression levels of KRT19 in several breast cancer cells and mammary epithelial cell Michigan cancer foundation (MCF)-10A were evaluated by qRT-PCR assay.Over-expressed and knocked-down KRT19 in breast cancer ceils,3-(4,5-dimenthylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay was performed to detect the proliferation and chemosensitivity of these cells.The ability of forming colon of these breast cancer cells with treated KRT19 was studied via colony-forming unit assays.Western blot assay was performed to determine expression levels of ceil cycler related proteins.Results KRT19 was upregulated in breast cancer tissues comparing to normal tissues.KRT19 was positively related to tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage and distant metastasis of breast cancer.Similarly,KRT19 was highly expressed in breast cancer cells compared to mammary epithelial cell MCF-10A.The proliferation and colony-forming ability was significantly enhanced in MCF-7 cell with o,verexpressed KRT19.MTS assay showed that chemosensitivity of MCF-7 cells with overexpression of KRT19 was much more remarkably reduced than the control group.However,knocking down KRT19 in breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 got the opposite results.Western blot assay suggested that KRT19 could obviously upregulated cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) but not p27 expression levels.Conclusions KRT19 was upregulated in breast cancer tissues and was positively related to TNM stage and distant metastasis of breast cancer.KRT19 can significantly enhance proliferation and chemoresistance of breast cancer cells via upregulating CDK1.

OBJECTIVETo revalidate the conversion factor（CF）for the conversion of BCR-ABL （P210）transcript levels to the international scale（BCR- ABLIS）in chronic myeloid leukemia（CML） which validated before.

METHODSPeking University People's Hospital（PKUPH）prepared the exchange samples for revalidation of CFs of 15 laboratories which validated nine or eighteen months ago. The fresh BCR-ABL（P210）（+）bone morrow or peripheral blood nucleated cells were diluted with BCR-ABL （P210）（-）cells to achieve different BCR- ABL levels, totally 16 sets and 24 samples per set were prepared. TRIzol reagent was added in each tube. Each laboratory tested BCR-ABL transcript levels of one set of samples. Agreement between BCR-ABLIS of each laboratory and PKUPH was assessed by the Bland- Altman method. For laboratories which did not meet the criteria of revalidation, linear regression equation was derived after the samples with maximum BCR-ABL deviation were removed until R²>0.98, then new CF was calculated.

RESULTS10 laboratories met the revalidation criteria with both bias within ±1.4 fold and 95% limits of agreement within ±6 folds, and their CFs still could be used for accurately conversion of BCR-ABLIS. New CFs were recalculated as of 1.8-6.3 folds of their previous CFs in 5 laboratories not met the criteria.

CONCLUSIONRevalidation of CF by sample exchange among laboratories was necessary for accurate and continuous application of BCR-ABLIS, which not only tested the validity of CF acquired before but also calculated new available CFs for those with invalid CFs.

Objective To investigate the changes of traditional Chinese medical constitution types with menstrual cycle of sub-health state women, thus to explore the affectability of diseases during menstrual cycle. Methods Sub-health State Questionnaire and Menstruation State Questionnaire established in our previous study were used for the epidemiological survey of 330 women outpatients aged 20-45 years admitted by the disease-preventive department of Tianhe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Results In 330 cases, the cases of sub-health state accounted for 64.5%, in which 21.5%had pure sub-health state without any chronic diseases, and 43.0% had sub-health state together with some diseases. The diseases of hyperplasia of mammary glands, vaginitis, cervical spondylosis, hyperlipemia, chronic appendagitis, and uterus myoma had higher morbidity rate in order. At premenstrual phase, constitution types of Qi stagnation, damp heat, and blood stasis had the higher incidences; at menstruation phase, Qi stagnation, blood stasis, and damp heat had the higher incidences; at postmenstrual phase, yang deficiency, Qi deficiency, and damp heat had the higher incidences. Most of the sub-health state women had the complex constitution types, accounting for 93%. Conclusion Traditional Chinese medical constitution types are correlated with menstral cycle of sub-health state women, and show some effects on the affectability and progress of diseases. The investigation results of dynamic changes and the distribution of traditional Chinese medical constitution types during menstrual cycle will supply some evidence for the prevention and treatment of irregular menstruation and sub-health state of the women with Chinese medine.

Objective Estahlished the method to detect different transcripts of EVI1 gene expression with quantitative PCR and study the expression patterns of EVI1 gene in different leukemia groups to investigate the association between EVI1 gene expression and the incidence and prognosis of leukemia.Methods 60 cases acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 9 cases normal control were detected in the study,37 cases were male and 32 cases were female,age 10-70 years,median age 42 years,M3 36 cases,M2 16 cases and M4 8 cases according to FAB classification criteria,control samples of nine cases were normal healthy people.Using the quantitative PCR (Taq Man probe) to detect the expression of different transcripts of EVI1 gene.The t test was used to detect the expression difference among different leukemia groups.Results ABL gene was used as internal reference,relative changes of EVI1 gene expression level were detected by EVI1/ABL.In all the control patients,EVI1 gene of different transcription of this expression were detected,expression level of EVI1 gene different transcription was significant with the difference (P ＜ 0.05),transcription 2 and 5 (the same primers) were the lowest,followed for transcription 1 and 6,expression of transcription 3 was the highest.The expression levels of transcripts 2 and 5,1,6,3 were nagative,0.005,0.050 and 0.512 respectively in healthy control samples.In addition,the EVI1 gene expression was negatively correlated with expression of the fusion gene AML-ETO and CBFB-MYH11 in AML.Conclusion The study established a stable,fast and accurate method to detect the expression of EVI1 gene.