Myocardial involvement in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: a multi-center cross-sectional study in the CRDC-MYO Registry

Clinical Rheumatology - This study aimed to investigate the associated factors of myocardial involvements (MIs) in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs). In this multi-center...     

神经型布鲁氏菌病发病机制的研究进展

布鲁氏菌病是由布鲁氏菌侵入机体引起的一种人兽共患的自然疫源性传染病,在全世界范围内广泛分布,可累及全身各个系统,临床表现复杂多样、轻重不等。当布鲁氏菌侵入神经系统引起的炎症性疾病称作神经型布鲁氏菌病,神经炎是这种疾病的重要特征,主要表现为脑膜炎、脑膜脑炎、脑脊髓膜炎、脊髓炎、急性脑血管病、周围神经病、多发性神经根神经炎等。神经型布鲁氏菌病的发病机制至今尚不明确,目前也没有确切的诊断标准,其临床症状、脑脊液检验及影像学表现不典型,常与其他神经系统疾病混淆,容易漏诊及误诊。为了提高临床工作者对神经型布鲁氏菌病的认识及重视,本文将对神经型布鲁氏菌病的临床特点及可能的发病机制进行综述,以期为神经型布鲁氏菌病的研究及治疗提供新的思路和方向。     

川芎抗动脉粥样硬化作用机制的网络药理学与分子对接技术研究

目的使用网络药理学与分子对接技术探究川芎抗动脉粥样硬化的作用机制。方法运用中药系统药理(TCMSP)数据库筛选川芎的活性成分及质控成分,通过Swiss Target Prediction预测药物靶点。在DrugBank和DisGeNET数据库筛选出动脉粥样硬化的相关靶点。通过STRING构建靶点蛋白互作网络,运用Cytoscape绘制网络并进行拓扑学分析。使用Omicshare对相关靶点进行GO富集分析与KEGG富集分析。运用DockThor进行分子对接。结果获得川芎抗动脉粥样硬化的167个相关治疗靶点,通过网络拓扑分析发现钙敏感受体、丝裂原活化蛋白激酶3等46个靶点为核心靶点。GO富集分析发现川芎在生物过程、分子功能、细胞组成多方面影响动脉粥样硬化的发生发展。KEGG通路富集分析发现,川芎可能通过调节神经活性配体-受体相互作用、钙信号通路等多条代谢通路来发挥抗动脉粥样硬化的作用。结论运用网络药理学的方法证实了川芎抗动脉粥样硬化具有多途径、多靶点作用的特点。预测了川芎抗动脉粥样硬化的可能机制,为其后续基础研究提供了参考和理论依据。     

Laparoscopic versus open pancreatoduodenectomy: an individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BackgroundRandomized trials have compared laparoscopic pancreatoduodenectomy (LPD) to open pancreatoduodenectomy (OPD) with conflicting results. An IPDMA may give more insight into the differences between LPD and OPD, and could identify high-risk subgroups.MethodsA systematic literature search was performed in the Pubmed, Embase, and the Cochrane library databases (October 2019). Out of 1410 studies, three randomized trials were identified. Primary outcome was major complications (Clavien-Dindo grade ≥ III). Subgroup analyses were performed for high-risk subgroups including patients with BMI of ≥25 kg/m2, pancreatic duct <3 mm, age ≥70 years, and malignancy.ResultsData from 224 patients were collected. After LPD, major complications occurred in 33/114 (29%) patients compared to 34/110 (31%) patients after OPD (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.62; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.3–1.4, P = 0.257). No differences were seen for major complications and 90-day mortality LPD 8 (7%) vs OPD 4 (4%) (adjusted OR 0.2; 95% CI 0.02–1.3, P = 0.080). With LPD, operative time was longer (420 vs 318 min, p < 0.001) and hospital stay was shorter (mean difference ?6.97 days). Outcomes remained stable in the high-risk subgroups.ConclusionLPD did not reduce the rate of major postoperative complications as compared to OPD. LPD increased operative time and shortened hospital stay with 7 days.     

Quantification of MDMB-4en-PINACA and ADB-BUTINACA in human hair by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Forensic Toxicology - To test synthetic cannabinoid (SCs) in parent forms from living human, the hairs seems to be one of the best samples, because of the non-invasiveness upon their collection....     

2-Methoxyqualone,a new recreational drug,discovered from a package seized by the police: a preliminary report

Forensic Toxicology -     

Ion Torrent ™ Genexus ™ Integrated Sequencer and ForeNGS Analysis Software—An automatic NGS-STR workflow from DNA to profile for forensic science

The Ion Torrent ™ Genexus ™ Sequencer (Genexus) is a highly integrated instrument that can automate library construction, templating, and sequencing in a single-instrument run. By programing the ForeNGS Analysis Software (FNAS), we bridged the gap between sequencing and genotyping without manual intervention. FNAS can automatically transfer sequencing output files from Genexus, analyze the repeat and flanking regions aligned to the GRCh38 assembly, name the alleles according to the ISFG guidelines, and generate user-friendly interactive profiles. Genexus and FNAS can accomplish the fully automatic DNA-to-Profile workflow in forensics. Based on our experiences, the optimal assay parameters on Genexus were validated as follows: 24 cycles of target amplification for library construction; 40 μL of library and 400 bp of template size for templating; 852 flows of dNTPs by order of Ion samba HID2 for sequencing; and 750,000 reads per sample at minimum for 16 samples multiplexed on a lane. By developmental validations of the Precision ID Globalfiler ™ NGS STR Panel v2, Genexus presented competitive performance at the optimal assay parameters qualified to detect commonly used forensic STR markers. It could produce repeatable and reproducible results, and human profiles could be easily separated from nonhuman profiles. Additionally, Genexus was sensitive enough to detect samples with 100 pg of input DNA, and it was suitable for various types of case samples, especially for low copy number samples and degraded samples. Moreover, minor contributors could be detected between the 4:1 and 1:4 mixtures with an analysis threshold of 50 × . The Genexus workflow is a robust and labor-effective solution enabling forensic scientists to obtain NGS-STR profiles within a single day and with only the need to prepare DNA extracts, then set up Genexus, and finally interpret profiles on FNAS.     

Optimized variant calling for estimating kinship

One of the fundamental goals of forensic genetics is sample attribution, i.e., whether an item of evidence can be associated with some person or persons. The most common scenario involves a direct comparison, e.g., between DNA profiles from an evidentiary item and a sample collected from a person of interest. Less common is an indirect comparison in which kinship is used to potentially identify the source of the evidence. Because of the sheer amount of information lost in the hereditary process for comparison purposes, sampling a limited set of loci may not provide enough resolution to accurately resolve a relationship. Instead, whole genome techniques can sample the entirety of the genome or a sufficiently large portion of the genome and as such they may effect better relationship determinations. While relatively common in other areas of study, whole genome techniques have only begun to be explored in the forensic sciences. As such, bioinformatic pipelines are introduced for estimating kinship by massively parallel sequencing of whole genomes using approaches adapted from the medical and population genomic literature. The pipelines are designed to characterize a person’s entire genome, not just some set of targeted markers. Two different variant callers are considered, contrasting a classical variant calling algorithm (BCFtools) to a more modern deep convolution neural network (DeepVariant). Two different bioinformatic pipelines specific to each variant caller are introduced and evaluated in a titration series. Filters and thresholds are then optimized specifically for the purposes of estimating kinship as determined by the KING-robust algorithm. With the appropriate filtering and thresholds in place both tools perform similarly, with DeepVariant tending to produce more accurate genotypes, though the resultant types of inaccuracies tended to produce slightly less accurate overall estimates of relatedness     

Development and validation of a custom panel including 256 Y-SNPs for Chinese Y-chromosomal haplogroups dissection

Y-chromosomal haplogroups determined by Y-chromosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (Y-SNPs) allow paternal lineage identification and paternal biogeographic ancestry inference, which has attracted a lot of interest in the forensic community. Recently, a comprehensive Y-SNP tool with dominant markers targeting haplogroups in R, E and I branches has been reported, which allows the inference of 640 Y haplogroups. It had a very good performance and could provide a high level of Y haplogroup resolution in most populations. However, the predominant haplogroups in the Chinese populations are O, C and N, suggesting that more Y-SNPs under these clades are needed to achieve the population-specific high resolution. Herein, aiming at the Chinese population, we presented a largely improved custom Y-SNP MPS panel that contains 256 carefully ascertained Y-SNPs based on our previous studies, and evaluated this panel via a series of tests, including the tests for concordance, repeatability, sensitivity, specificity, and stability, as well as the mixture, degraded and case-type sample analysis. The preliminary developmental validation demonstrated that this panel was highly reliable, sensitive, specific, and robust. In the sensitivity test, even when the DNA input was reduced to as low as 0.5 ng, the sample could still be assigned to the correct Y haplogroup. For mixture analysis, even the 1:99 (Male: Female) mixtures had no effects on the assignation of the Y haplogroup of the male contributor. In summary, this assay has provided a high-resolution Y-chromosomal haplogrouping workflow to determine a male’s paternal lineage and/or paternal biogeographic ancestry and could be widely used for Chinese Y-chromosomal haplogroups dissection.