Polygonum cuspidatum polyketide synthase 1 (PcPKS1) has the catalytic activity of chalcone synthase (CHS) and benzylidene acetone synthase (BAS), which can catalyze the production of polyketides naringenin chalcone and benzylidene acetone, and then catalyze the synthesis of flavonoids or benzylidene acetone. In this study, three amino acid sites (Thr133, Ser134, Ser33) that may affect the function of PcPKS1 were identified by analyzing the sequences of PcPKS1, the BAS from Rheum palmatum and the CHS from Arabidopsis thaliana, as well as the conformation of the catalytic site of the enzyme. Molecular modification of PcPKS1 was carried out by site-directed mutagenesis, and two mutants were successfully obtained. The in vitro enzymatic reactions were carried out, and the differences in activity were detected by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Finally, mutants T133LS134A and S339V with bifunctional activity were obtained. In addition to bifunctional activities of BAS and CHS, the modified PcPKS1 had much higher BAS activity than that of the wild type PcPKS1 under the conditions of pH 7.0 and pH 9.0, respectively. It provides a theoretical basis for future use of PcPKS1 in genetic engineering to regulate the biosynthesis of flavonoids and raspberry ketones.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Fallopia japonica/metabolism* ; Polyketide Synthases/chemistry* ; Acetone ; Mutagenesis, Site-Directed ; Flavonoids/metabolism* ; Acyltransferases/metabolism*

{L-End}Objective To analyze the correlation between occupational burnout and sleep quality among steelworkers. {L-End}Methods A total of 11 491 steelworkers from a large steel enterprise in Gansu Province were selected as the research subjects using convenient sampling method. The Burnout Questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Scale were used to investigate their occupational burnout and sleep quality. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyze the effects of occupational burnout on the sleep quality. {L-End}Results The detection rate of occupational burnout and sleep disorder were 50.4% and 39.0%, respectively. There was a positive correlation between the level of occupational burnout and the total score of sleep quality (Spearman correlation coefficient=0.454, P<0.05). The results of hierarchical regression analysis, adjusting for confounding factors such as gender, age, marital status, education level, alcohol consumption, exercise, weekly working hours, seniority, work shift, noise exposure, dust exposure, and high-temperature work, showed that the score of occupational burnout was positively related to the score of sleep quality(P<0.01), explaining 16.0% of the variance in the score of sleep quality among these steelworkers. {L-End}Conclusion The detection rate of occupational burnout and sleep disorders are relatively high among the steelworkers in this enterprise. Higher levels of occupational burnout are associated with poorer sleep quality. Alleviating occupational burnout among steelworkers may contribute to improving their sleep quality.

Objective:To study the value of shear wave elastography (SWE) combined with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in diagnosing the invasiveness of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC), and analyze its risk factors.Methods:This study included 200 patients with pathologically confirmed PTMC who underwent surgery in Fenyang Hospital from January 2019 and June 2021. All were diagnosed with SWE and CEUS before surgery. The value of the two methods in diagnosing the invasiveness of PTMC was explored. The patients′ data were collected to screen the risk factors for the invasiveness of PTMC.Results:It was pathologically confirmed that among the 200 patients with PTMC, there were 112 cases with malignant nodules, 88 cases with benign nodules, 75 cases with cervical lymph node metastasis (including 71 cases with capsular invasion) and 125 cases without lymph node metastasis. CEUS parameters of malignant nodules were significantly higher than those of benign nodules ( P<0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of SWE combined with CEUS to diagnose capsular invasion were 94.66%, 85.60%, 89.00%, 79.77% and 96.39%, with high consistency with the pathological results ( Kappa>0.75). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that multiple foci, irregular shape, breakthrough capsule and small calcification were independent risk factors for the invasiveness of PTMC (VIF<3). The ROC curve results showed that the AUC of SWE combined with CEUS to diagnose capsular invasion was 0.772, and the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 73.91% and 80.56%. Conclusions:SWE combined with CEUS can significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy for the invasiveness of PTMC.

Reynoutria japonica Houtt., belonging to Polygoneae of Polygonaceae, is a Chinese medicinal herb with the functions of draining dampness and relieving jaundice, clearing heat and detoxifying, dispersing blood stasis and relieving pain, and relieving cough and resolving phlegm. In this study, we carried out high-throughput sequencing for the chloroplast genome sequences of five cultivars of R. japonica and analyzed the genome structure and variations. The chloroplast genomes of the five R. japonica cultivars had two sizes (163 376 bp and 163 371 bp) and a typical circular tetrad structure composed of a large single-copy (LSC) region of 85 784 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 18 616 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions (IRa/IRb) which are spaced apart. A total of 161 genes were obtained by annotation, which consisted of 106 protein-coding genes, 10 rRNA-coding genes, and 45 tRNA-coding genes. The total GC content was 36.7%. Specifically, the GC content in the LSC, SSC, and IR regions were 34.8%, 30.7%, and 42.7%, respectively. Comparison of the whole chloroplast genome among the five cultivars showed that trnk-UUU, rpoC1, petD, rpl16, ndhA, and rpl12 in coding regions had sequence variations. In the phylogenetic tree constructed for the 11 samples of Polygoneae, the five cultivars of R. japonica clustered into one clade near the root and was a sister group of Fallopia multiflora (Thunb.).
Base Composition ; Genome, Chloroplast/genetics* ; Open Reading Frames ; Phylogeny ; Reynoutria

Tocilizumab has been reported to attenuate the "cytokine storm" in COVID-19 patients. We attempted to verify the effectiveness and safety of tocilizumab therapy in COVID-19 and identify patients most likely to benefit from this treatment. We conducted a randomized, controlled, open-label multicenter trial among COVID-19 patients. The patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either tocilizumab in addition to standard care or standard care alone. The cure rate, changes of oxygen saturation and interference, and inflammation biomarkers were observed. Thirty-three patients were randomized to the tocilizumab group, and 32 patients to the control group. The cure rate in the tocilizumab group was higher than that in the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant (94.12% vs. 87.10%, rate difference 95% CI-7.19%-21.23%, P = 0.4133). The improvement in hypoxia for the tocilizumab group was higher from day 4 onward and statistically significant from day 12 (P = 0.0359). In moderate disease patients with bilateral pulmonary lesions, the hypoxia ameliorated earlier after tocilizumab treatment, and less patients (1/12, 8.33%) needed an increase of inhaled oxygen concentration compared with the controls (4/6, 66.67%; rate difference 95% CI-99.17% to-17.50%, P = 0.0217). No severe adverse events occurred. More mild temporary adverse events were recorded in tocilizumab recipients (20/34, 58.82%) than the controls (4/31, 12.90%). Tocilizumab can improve hypoxia without unacceptable side effect profile and significant influences on the time virus load becomes negative. For patients with bilateral pulmonary lesions and elevated IL-6 levels, tocilizumab could be recommended to improve outcome.
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized ; COVID-19/drug therapy* ; Humans ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of critical patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), build an early warning model for severe/critical type, and aim at providing reference for the prediction of severe/critical COVID-19.Methods:The clinical data of COVID-19 patients treated in the Second People' Hospital of Fuyang City from January 20th to February 18th in 2020 were retrospective analyzed, including the demographic and epidemiological date, vital signs and hematology indexes, etc. on admission. Patients were divided into the normal type (set as normal group) and severe/critical type (set as severe group) according to the COVID-19 treatment plan classification standard published by National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. The differences between two groups were compared, and the variables with statistical significance were incorporated in the multivariate binary unconditional Logistic regression analysis to screen the risk factors of severe/critical type. Risk factors were summarized to establish an early warning model, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was carried out to evaluate the significance of the early warning model in the screening of critically COVID-19.Results:A total of 155 patients with COVID-19 were admitted, including 125 patients of normal type and 30 patients of severe/critical type. ① Compared with normal group, patients in severe group were older, and with higher proportion of basic diseases, higher body mass index (BMI), higher incidence of tachypnea, persistent high fever, peripheral blood oxygen saturation (SpO 2) < 0.95, while the white blood cell count (WBC), CD4 + T lymphocyte, CD8 + T lymphocyte, lymphocyte count (LYM) were decreased obviously, the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid a protein (SAA), and CT showed higher incidence of multi-pulmonary lobe lesions. There were no significant differences of gender, travel history from Wuhan, smoking history, shock index (SI) and CD4 +/CD8 + ratio between the two groups. ② Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that age ≥60 years old [odds ratio ( OR) = 1.620, P = 0.031], combined with underlying diseases ( OR = 1.521, P = 0.044), persistent high fever ( OR = 2.469, P = 0.014), WBC < 2.0×10 9/L and/or LYM < 0.4×10 9/L ( OR = 3.079, P = 0.006), pulmonary multilobar lesions ( OR = 1.367, P = 0.047), and IL-6 ≥ 30 ng/L ( OR = 2.426, P = 0.010) were the risk factors of severe/critical COVID-19. ③ The OR value corresponding to each risk factors were scored by rounding. Two points were scored for age≥60 years old, with underlying diseases, persistent high fever and IL-6 ≥ 30 ng/L, 3 points for WBC < 2.0×10 9/L and/or LYM < 0.4×10 9/L, 1 point for pulmonary multilobar lesions, and totally calculated as early warning model scores. The early warning model score of the severe group was significantly higher than that of the normal group (9.33±2.79 vs. 5.04±2.38, t = 9.010, P = 0.001). ④ The ROC curve analysis showed the area under ROC curve (AUC) of early warning model on the early screening of severe/critical patients in COVID-19 was 0.944, and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was 0.903-0.985; and the sensitivity and specificity were 93.3% and 72.0% respectively while the cut-off was 6.5. Conclusions:There are many differences between severe/critical and mild COVID-19 patients. The establishment of early warning model could help to screen severe/critical patients at an early stage, with certain significance for guiding treatment.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and potential value of comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) in elderly (≥60 years) patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in China. Methods: The CGA results of 83 newly diagnosed AML (non-APL) patients from 16 hospitals in Beijing and Tianjin between March 2016 and December 2017 were prospectively collected and analyzed. The clinical data, treatment and follow-up information were also collected. Results: Of 83 newly diagnosed elderly AML patients, 81 patients (97.6%) completed all designated CGA assessment. The median number of impaired scales of the CGA assessment in the studied population was 2(0-6). Sixteen patients (19.3%) showed no impairments according to the geriatric assessment scales implem ented by this study. The distributions of impaired scales were as follows: impairment in ADL, 55.4%; IADL impairment, 42.2%; MNA-SF impairment, 48.2%; cognitive impairment, 15.7%; GDS impairment, 31.7%; HCT-CI impairment, 19.5%, respectively. In patients with "good" ECOG (n=46), the proportion of impairment for each CGA scale ranged from 6.5% to 37.0% and 32 patients (68.9%) had at least one impaired CGA scale. Survival analysis showed that the number of impaired scales of the CGA was significantly correlated with median overall survival (P=0.050). Conclusions CGA was a tool with feasibility for the comprehensive evaluation in elderly AML patients in China. Combined with age and ECOG, CGA may be more comprehensive in assessing patients’ physical condition.

Salidroside, as one of the main active ingredients of Rhodiala plant, has the effects of anti-hypoxia, anti-radiation, anti-fatigue, anti-tumor, hypoglycemia and improving immunity. With the increasing demand for salidroside and the decreasing of plant resources, microbial production of salidroside has attracted much attention due to its advantages of short period and easy controlling. At present, microbial production of salidroside is still at the basic research stage. In order to make it easier for researchers to understand the advances of microbial synthesis of salidroside, the biosynthesis pathways, uridine diphosphate glucosyltransferases, wild strain/natural enzymes and engineered strain/recombinant enzymes were reviewed.
Biosynthetic Pathways ; Glucosides ; metabolism ; Phenols ; metabolism

The paper analyzes the deficiencies of the traditional Hospital Information System (HIS),establishes the hospital data mining and analysis platform,introduces the platform architecture,builds the data mining models themed by analysis of hospital leaders,supervision and management of antibacterial drugs,analysis of hospital quality,analysis of single disease,expenditure control by medical insurance,etc.,and puts forward the smart solutions to improve the service tevel of hospitals on the basis of above.

Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy and outcome determinants in cardiac arrest patients secondary to acute myocardial infarction treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: The clinical data of 27 patients hospitalized from January 2014 to March 2017 in 3 hospitals were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical data of the surviving group (12 cases) and the death group (15 cases) were compared and the outcome determinants were explored. Results: Twenty seven patients were successfully treated with coronary angiography and emergency PCI under ECMO assistance, and the successful procedure rate was 100%. The survival rate was 44.4% (12/27). There was no significant difference in gender, age, body weight, myocardial infarct location, past disease history and smoking status between the two groups (all P>0.05). Traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation time was significantly longer, the CCU hospitalization time was significantly shorter, the number of diseased vessels was significantly higher, and the prevalence of distribution of blood vessels in left main stem was significantly higher and mean artery pressure at 24 and 48 hours post ECMO was significantly lower in the death group than in survival group (all P<0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that left anterior descending artery lesion, higher number of lesion vessels, longer traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation time, longer time interval between cardiac arrest and ECMO placement were related increased risk of death post ECMO and emergency PCI in this patient cohort(OR=1.316, 95%CI 1.217-5.792, P=0.002; OR=1.238, 95%CI 1.107-4.961, P=0.000; OR=1.712, 95%CI 1.136-3.973, P=0.001; OR=1.629, 95%CI 1.132-4.521, P=0.000, respectively), while higher mean artery pressure at 48 hours post ECMO was related with reduced risk of death post ECMO and emergency PCI in this patient cohort(OR=0.672, 95%CI 0.326-0.693, P=0.001). Conclusions ECMO combined with emergency PCI can improve the success rate of traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation in patients with cardiac arrest secondary to acute myocardial infarction. Left anterior descending artery lesion, number of lesion vessels, traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation time, time interval between cardiac arrest and ECMO placement and mean artery pressure at 48 hours post ECMO are outcome determinants post ECMO and emergency PCI in this patient cohort.