RNA sequencing steps toward the first line

• DNA is the sequence that codes for proteins.
• Messenger RNA is transcribed from the DNA sequence of genes and translated into protein.
• It can be difficult to predict how a change in the DNA sequence will affect messenger RNA and protein quantity and quality.
• DNA translocation changes can cause the joining of sequences from two different genes or different parts of the same gene.
• DNA sequencing is often used clinically to predict how DNA changes might affect proteins.
• Alternatively, RNA sequencing can be used as a more direct measure of the effect of DNA changes on the protein products.
• This sequencing is important for identifying changes in cancer that may indicate response to targeted therapy, prognosis, or diagnosis.

     

The impact of neighborhoods and friendships on interracial anxiety among medical students and residents: A report from the medical student CHANGES study

Objective

To examine the experience of interracial anxiety among health professionals and how it may affect the quality of their interactions with patients from racially marginalized populations. We explored the influence of prior interracial exposure—specifically through childhood neighborhoods, college student bodies, and friend groups—on interracial anxiety among medical students and residents. We also examined whether levels of interracial anxiety change from medical school through residency.

Data Source

Web-based longitudinal survey data from the Medical Student Cognitive Habits and Growth Evaluation Study.

Study Design

We used a retrospective longitudinal design with four observations for each trainee. The study population consisted of non-Black US medical trainees surveyed in their 1st and 4th years of medical school and 2nd and 3rd years of residency. Mixed effects longitudinal models were used to assess predictors of interracial anxiety and assess changes in interracial anxiety scores over time.

Principal Findings

In total, 3155 non-Black medical trainees were followed for 7 years. Seventy-eight percent grew up in predominantly White neighborhoods. Living in predominantly White neighborhoods and having less racially diverse friends were associated with higher levels of interracial anxiety among medical trainees. Trainees' interracial anxiety scores did not substantially change over time; interracial anxiety was highest in the 1st year of medical school, lowest in the 4th year, and increased slightly during residency.

Conclusions

Neighborhood and friend group composition had independent effects on interracial anxiety, indicating that premedical racial socialization may affect medical trainees' preparedness to interact effectively with diverse patient populations. Additionally, the lack of substantial change in interracial anxiety throughout medical training suggests the importance of providing curricular tools and structure (e.g., instituting interracial cooperative learning activities) to foster the development of healthy interracial relationships.     

Redox active or thiol reactive? Optimization of rapid screens to identify less evident nuisance compounds

Compounds that exhibit assay interference or undesirable mechanisms of bioactivity are routinely encountered in assays at various stages of drug discovery. We observed that assays for the investigation of thiol-reactive and redox-active compounds have not been collected in a comprehensive review. Here, we review these assays and subject them to experimental optimization to improve their reliability. We demonstrate the usefulness of our assay cascade by assaying a library of bioactive compounds, chemical probes, and a set of approved drugs. These high-throughput assays should complement the array of wet-lab and in silico assays during the initial stages of hit discovery campaigns to pursue only hit compounds with tractable mechanisms of action.     

Fluoxetine-induced hepatic lipid accumulation is mediated by prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase 1 and is linked to elevated 15-deoxy-Δ12,14PGJ2

Major depressive disorder and other neuropsychiatric disorders are often managed with long-term use of antidepressant medication. Fluoxetine, an SSRI antidepressant, is widely used as a first-line treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders. However, fluoxetine has also been shown to increase the risk of metabolic diseases such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Fluoxetine has been shown to increase hepatic lipid accumulation in vivo and in vitro. In addition, fluoxetine has been shown to alter the production of prostaglandins which have also been implicated in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The goal of this study was to assess the effect of fluoxetine exposure on the prostaglandin biosynthetic pathway and lipid accumulation in a hepatic cell line (H4-II-E-C3 cells). Fluoxetine treatment increased mRNA expression of prostaglandin biosynthetic enzymes (Ptgs1, Ptgs2, and Ptgds), PPAR gamma (Pparg), and PPAR gamma downstream targets involved in fatty acid uptake (Cd36, Fatp2, and Fatp5) as well as production of 15-deoxy-Δ^12,14PGJ₂ a PPAR gamma ligand. The effects of fluoxetine to induce lipid accumulation were attenuated with a PTGS1 specific inhibitor (SC-560), whereas inhibition of PTGS2 had no effect. Moreover, SC-560 attenuated 15-deoxy-Δ^12,14PGJ₂ production and expression of PPAR gamma downstream target genes. Taken together these results suggest that fluoxetine-induced lipid abnormalities appear to be mediated via PTGS1 and its downstream product 15d-PGJ₂ and suggest a novel therapeutic target to prevent some of the adverse effects of fluoxetine treatment.     

张氏头针治疗儿童多发性抽动症的随机对照临床研究＊

目的 观察张氏头针治疗儿童多发性抽动症的临床疗效。方法 2019年3月至2020年12月共招募多发性抽动症儿童60例，随机分为头针组和硫必利组，每组各30例。头针组采用毫针针刺双侧运动区、舞蹈震颤控制区及百会、印堂，每周治疗3次，1个月为1个疗程，共治疗4个疗程；硫必利组给予盐酸硫必利片50-100 mg/次，2次/天，1个月为1个疗程，共治疗4个疗程。比较两组患者治疗前后耶鲁综合抽动严重程度量表（Yale global Tic severity scale，YGTSS）、中医证候积分、SF-36健康调查简表（the MOS item short from health survey，SF-36）及临床疗效评价结果。结果 头针组合硫必利组组内比较：二组的YGTSS评分、中医证候积分与治疗前相比具有显著统计学差异（P<0.05），SF-36评分中头针组在生理功能、生理职能、总体健康、情感职能、心理健康等5个维度的评分高于治疗前，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）；硫必利组在生理功能、生理职能、总体健康、心理健康等5个维度的评分高于治疗前，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）；头针组合硫必利组组间比较：头针组治疗后YGTSS评分、中医证候积分均低于硫必利组，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05），头针组在SF-36量表中总体健康和心理健康2个维度照优于硫必利组，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）；治疗结束3个月随访，头针组YGTSS评分、中医证候积分均低于硫必利组，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。结论 张氏头针能够很好的改善多发性抽动症的临床症状，提高其生活质量。     

基于CNKI的中医药治疗癫痫的知识图谱分析＊

目的 运用科学知识图谱的手段，分析中医药治疗癫痫的研究进程并提炼重点。方法 设置检索时间为1990年至2020年，检索对象为中国知网（CNKI）该领域的相关文献，运用CiteSpace软件科学、准确地分析这些文献的作者信息、研究（发文）机构、关键词情况。结果 共计纳入文献793篇，马融-张喜莲、刘金民、谢炜、王洪图-张丽萍等领导核心作者团队，北京、广州以及广西中医药大学、天津中医药大学第一附属医院、南方医科大学等单位为主要进行相关研究的机构，高频关键词包括大鼠、难治性癫痫、小儿癫痫、海马、脑电图等，作用机制、网络药理学、肠道菌群、氧化应激、分子生物学等为近年来的热点与前沿。结论 通过借用知识图谱的分析能帮助提炼国内中医药治疗癫痫研究领域的重点，全面分析并科学判断近年来该领域的热点及前沿，为未来的研究夯实基础并把握方向。     

细胞因子在分化型甲状腺癌诊疗中的应用进展北大核心

甲状腺癌是内分泌系统常见的恶性肿瘤之一,其发病率呈逐年上升趋势。甲状腺癌以分化型甲状腺癌(differentiated thyroid carcinoma, DTC)为主,尽管多数DTC患者经规范化治疗后预后良好,但由于部分肿瘤的病理类型侵袭性较高或肿瘤组织分化程度较低,病情进展迅速导致患者总生存时间显著缩短。近年来,有关炎症与肿瘤之间相关性的研究越来越多,炎性微环境的改变在肿瘤发病机制中的作用逐渐被证实,更多的证据表明细胞因子可作为肿瘤的良恶性鉴别、预后判断提示及诊疗方案选择等的重要参考依据。本文就部分细胞因子在DTC诊疗中的应用进展进行论述,旨在为DTC的诊疗与预后判断等提供参考依据。     

A familiar species of Crank: Anti-Vaccinationists in medical history

Vaccination, health psychology and mental health make for three well-established and prestigious topoi in medical history. An in-depth look at their historical intersections remains forthcoming, however. Vaccinology’s psychological turns merit historians’ attention, all the more in the light of more recent, post-psychological and infodemiological, perspectives in vaccine acceptance research. Historiography at this point may help appreciating the present, and future, standing of psychological profiling in terms of its explanatory merits and policy uses. Of specific, critical interest is the motif of mental illness historically shared by vaccine advocates and contrarians. Mock-psychiatric nosology was a favored framing device for vaccination polemicists early on, indeed before vaccines were called vaccines and before psychiatry came to be called psychiatry. Though long anticipated, substantive historical-sociological and empirical approaches to vaccine non-acceptance were seen only from the 1920s and 1930s, respectively. Today, spirited animosity over vaccination continues to invite both professional and public debate about the founding concepts, the basic tenets, and the defining boundaries, of the mental health sciences.     

糖尿病前期中医证型及证素特点分析＊

目的 探讨糖尿病前期的中医证型及证素分布特点。方法 检索中国知网、万方及维普三大数据库中收录的自建库以来有关糖尿病前期证型的临床研究文献，对中医证型进行规范整理，建立数据库，提取证素，运用数据挖掘技术中的关联分析、聚类分析探究证素分布规律。结果 共纳入10篇文献，总有效病例1620例，证型经规范处理后整理为18个，主要证型为脾虚痰湿证。共提取证素13个，主要病位证素为脾，主要病性证素为气虚、湿和痰，关联分析显示脾—湿支持度和置信度最高，聚类分析结果可得到3个聚类组。结论 糖尿病前期病位在脾，气虚、脾、痰、湿是常见证素，临床诊治糖尿病前期应注重从脾论治，需辨证施治。