Association of AGTR1 gene methylation and its genetic variant in Chinese farmer with hypertension: A case-control study

The objective was to determine the potential associations of the angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AGTR1) gene polymorphism, methylation, and lipid metabolism in Chinese farmers with hypertension.A case-control study was conducted in Wuzhi county of Henan province in China in 2013 to 2014. A total of 1034 local residents (35–74 years, 386 hypertensive cases, and 648 normotensive subjects) were enrolled in this study. Triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein were measured using automatic chemistry analyzer. The AGTR1 gene promoter methylation level was measured using quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction method. The single nucleotide polymorphism rs275653 was genotyped with TaqMan probe assay at an applied biosystems platform.The gender, body mass index (BMI), TG, TC, and family history of hypertension in the hypertension group were significantly higher than those in control group (P < .05). No significant difference was observed in the distribution of AGTR1 rs275653 polymorphism in the hypertension and controls (P > .05). The AGTR1 gene methylation in subjects carrying different genotypes was not significantly observed (P > .05). The logistic regression analysis found the AGTR1 gene methylation level was negative correlation with hypertension in the present study (odds ratio, 0.946, 95% confidence interval, 0.896–0.999) through adjusting for age, gender, BMI, education, smoking, alcohol drinking, fruit and vegetable intake, pickles intake, and family history of hypertension.The association of AGTR1 gene hypomethylation and essential hypertension was observed in Chinese farmers; no significant difference was observed in the distribution of AGTR1 rs275653 polymorphism.     

儿童膳食营养知-信-行问卷的编制及信效度评价

目的编制适用于我国儿童的膳食营养知-信-行调查问卷。方法以Pearson相关分析法分析重测信度;采用Cronbach'sα系数评价内部一致性信度;采用单项与总和相关分析评价内容效度;采用因子分析评价结构效度。结果知识、态度、行为各维度和总问卷的重测信度系数分别为0.684、0.792、0.752、0.705,Cronbach'sα系数分别为0.816、0.889、0.981、0.943。内容效度中,除态度2、行为2、行为8、行为10条目外,其他各条目与问卷总分的相关系数均大于0.200;除知识7、行为2、行为8、行为10条目外,其他各条目与所属维度总分的相关系数均大于0.300。因子分析提取了3个公因子,累积方差贡献率为51.21%,56%的条目提取公因子后的共同度超过0.5。结论该问卷具有较好的效度和信度,可为同类研究提供参考。     

纳米氧化锌对大鼠血脂和血清炎症因子水平的影响

目的:探讨纳米氧化锌对动脉粥样硬化发生发展的影响机制。方法:40只雄性Wistar大鼠随机分为对照组和纳米氧化锌低、中、高剂量组,每组10只。纳米氧化锌低、中、高剂量组大鼠分别用1.25、2.50、5.00mg/kg的纳米氧化锌悬浮液气管灌注染毒,对照组大鼠同法灌注PBS溶液(1mL/kg),每周1次,共12周;染毒结束后测定各组大鼠体质量、血清总胆固醇(TC)、低密度脂蛋白(LDL)、高密度脂蛋白(HDL)、肿瘤坏死因子α(TNF-α)和血红素加氧酶-1(HO-1)水平。结果:随染毒时间延长,染毒大鼠逐渐出现毛发蓬松,活动减少,精神状态差,生长缓慢等体征。各组大鼠血清HDL、LDL、TNF-α、HO-1、TC水平比较差异有统计学意义(F=32.410、34.600、23.957、38.519、32.652,P<0.001)。纳米氧化锌中、高剂量组大鼠血清TC、LDL、HO-1、TNF-α水平均高于对照组(P<0.05);纳米氧化锌低、中、高剂量组大鼠血清HDL水平均低于对照组(P<0.05)。结论:纳米氧化锌可引起大鼠血清脂代谢紊乱和炎症因子释放,可能导致动脉粥样硬化的发生发展。     

Relationship between job burnout and occupational stress among doctors in China

The purpose of this study was to explore the status of the job burnout of doctors and the variables associated with this in China. The sample consisted of 543 doctors from three provincial hospitals in China. The Maslach Burnout Inventory‐General Survey (MBI‐GS) was used to measure burnout, and the occupational stress inventory revised edition was used to measure the two dimensions of occupational adjustment (including occupational stress and coping resources). After the statistical testing for validity and reliability of MBI‐GS with nurses in China, the participants' scores were evaluated and analysed. The main results were as follows. The scores of job burnout of the surgeon and physician were significantly higher than the others (p < 0.05). The score of exhaustion (EX) was significantly higher in the 30‐ to 40‐year age group than that in any other groups. The score of professional efficacy (PE) decreased with age, while this increased with educational status. Occupational stress was significantly positively related to all burnout dimensions (p < 0.05), while coping resources correlated negatively to all burnout dimensions. Under multilevel regression, the main significant predictors of EX were role overload, responsibility, physical environment and self‐care. The main significant predictors of cynicism were role insufficiency, role overload and responsibility, and of PE were role insufficiency, social support and rational/cognitive coping (p < 0.05). Organizational efforts aimed at reducing occupational stress and strengthening their coping resources among doctors could help prevent job burnout. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

新型蚕丝产道微生态转移体的制备

  目的  优化新型蚕丝“产道微生态转移体（birth-canal microecology transporter, BMT）”制备参数,高效转移产道共生菌。  方法  纳入正常足月待产孕妇30例为研究对象。收集研究对象入院时产道微生物样本,作为对照组（NC,n=30）;其中18例最终选择剖宫产终止妊娠者纳入试验组（M）,将其随机分成6个亚组（每组3例）,进行“产道微生态转移”试验。于剖宫产术前准备时将新型蚕丝“BMT”以不同浸润度分别浸入不同渗透压的无菌液体中处理后,置入并贴附于孕妇阴道壁,保留1 h后取出封存。所有样本经DNA提取、扩增16S rDNA V3~V4区,应用 Illumina Hiseq2500进行测序。利用Mothur、QIIME、Lefse和Metastats等软件进行微生物多样性分析,采用Welch’s t检验及Anosim非参数检验等方法进行差异性分析。  结果  70%浸润度的蚕丝“BMT”在浸润瞬间可达溶液全覆盖,且保液性优,贴附效果佳,受试者无异物感,体验度好。新型“BMT”负载的微生物与正常妊娠末期阴道的微生物物种组成在属水平均以乳杆菌属为优势主导菌,且在0.45%无菌NaCl溶液、70%浸润度条件下,蚕丝“BMT”负载微生物的菌群构成、多样性信息与对照组最为接近,组间差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。  结论  新型蚕丝“BMT”可高效转移产道共生菌,以0.45%低渗盐溶液、70%浸润度条件为转移体制备最优参数。     

The roles of CRISPR–Cas systems in adaptive immunity and beyond

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Pro-inflammatory and (Epi-)genetic markers in saliva for disease risk in childhood obesity

Background and aimChildhood obesity is an emerging problem often leading to earlier onset of non-communicable diseases in later life. Biomarkers to identify individual risk scores are insufficient in routine clinical practice, which is related to the need for easily sampled, non-invasive survey methods in children. We aimed to investigate and strengthen possible pro-inflammatory markers and epigenetic risk factors in saliva of obese children compared to lean controls.Methods and results19 overweight/obese (OC, 10.1 ± 1.9 years, BMI 27.7 ± 3.2 kg/m²) and 19 lean control children (CC, 9.7 ± 2.5 years, BMI 16.4 ± 1.8 kg/m²) participated in this explorative pilot study. Anthropometric measures, saliva and cheek swab samples were taken. Saliva profiles were examined for acute phase proteins (CRP and neopterin) and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-17a/IL-1β/IL-6). Cheek swabs were analyzed to investigate DNA methylation differences with subsequent hierarchical cluster and principal component analyses (PCA). Saliva analysis showed significant increased CRP concentrations in OC compared to CC (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences, but high intra-individual values in neopterin, IL-17a, IL-1β and IL-6. An unsupervised PCA of CpG loci with high variance (σ/σ_max > 0.2) clearly separated OC and CC according to their methylation pattern. Furthermore, a supervised approach revealed 7125 significantly differentially methylated loci, whose corresponding genes were significantly enriched for genes playing roles in e.g., cellular signalling, cytoskeleton organization and cell motility.ConclusionsCRP and methylation status determinations in saliva are suitable as non-invasive methods for early detection of risks for non-communicable diseases in children/adolescents and might be a useful supplementary approach in the routine clinical practice/monitoring.     

Association between Oral vitamin C supplementation and serum uric acid: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

IntroductionResults from recent trials assessing the effect of oral vitamin C supplementation on serum uric acid (SUA) have been inconsistent.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to explore the association between oral vitamin C supplementation and serum uric acid.MethodsPUBMED, EMBASE, CNKI, Web of Science, and CENTRAL of Cochrane library databases were searched to identify relevant articles published up to February 2020. Heterogeneity was evaluated using I-square (I²) statistics. Random-effects model was used to pool weighted mean differences (WMD) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) as summary effect sizes.ResultsThe total sixteen eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) containing 1,013 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled findings showed that vitamin C supplementation had a significant effect of lowering SUA. The subgroup analyses showed that the effect of vitamin C supplementation on SUA has positive association with mean age of participants <65 years old, the use of placebo or blank control, duration of trials <1 month and high-quality studies. In addition, sensitivity analysis showed that the results of this study were stable. Both Egger’s test and Begg’s test demonstrated that no evidence of significant publication bias.ConclusionsThe results of present meta-analysis have demonstrated that vitamin C supplementation could make a reduction of SUA. The use of placebo, duration of intervention, age of the subjects and study quality have an impact on the effect of oral vitamin C, but the baseline of SUA not.