血前降钙素在儿童细菌性脑膜炎诊断中的应用价值探讨

目的　证实血前降钙素在小儿急性细菌性脑膜炎及病毒性脑炎鉴别诊断中的作用。方法　应用双位点夹心化学免疫荧光法对 6 7例中枢神经系统感染患儿的血浆前降钙素水平进行测定 ,并比较血清C反应蛋白 ,脑脊液白细胞数、蛋白含量对感染病因辅助诊断的价值。结果　 4 5例急性细菌性脑膜炎患儿血浆前降钙素水平明显升高 (4 6 4～ 74 5 0 μg/L) ,2 2例病毒性脑炎的血前降钙素水平仅有轻度升高 (0 10～ 1 2 2 μg/L) ,P <0 0 0 0 1。而血清C反应蛋白 ,脑脊液白细胞数及蛋白含量在急性细菌性脑膜炎及病毒性脑炎中有重叠。结论　血前降钙素是鉴别儿童急性细菌性脑膜炎及病毒性脑炎的有效指标     

Genic and nongenic contributions to natural variation of quantitative traits in maize

The complex genomes of many economically important crops present tremendous challenges to understand the genetic control of many quantitative traits with great importance in crop production, adaptation, and evolution. Advances in genomic technology need to be integrated with strategic genetic design and novel perspectives to break new ground. Complementary to individual-gene–targeted research, which remains challenging, a global assessment of the genomic distribution of trait-associated SNPs (TASs) discovered from genome scans of quantitative traits can provide insights into the genetic architecture and contribute to the design of future studies. Here we report the first systematic tabulation of the relative contribution of different genomic regions to quantitative trait variation in maize. We found that TASs were enriched in the nongenic regions, particularly within a 5-kb window upstream of genes, which highlights the importance of polymorphisms regulating gene expression in shaping the natural variation. Consistent with these findings, TASs collectively explained 44%–59% of the total phenotypic variation across maize quantitative traits, and on average, 79% of the explained variation could be attributed to TASs located in genes or within 5 kb upstream of genes, which together comprise only 13% of the genome. Our findings suggest that efficient, cost-effective genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in species with complex genomes can focus on genic and promoter regions.Cloning of individual large-effect genes underlying qualitative and quantitative traits has provided some insights into the genetic control of trait variation. These studies have most frequently implicated nucleotide polymorphisms in genic regions as being causative (Doebley et al. 2006; Miura et al. 2011); however, generalizing from these results may not be appropriate because of ascertainment bias, e.g., preference given to genic regions during the efforts in gene cloning. In addition, it remains challenging to identify, validate, and characterize genes underlying modest-to-small-effect quantitative trait loci (QTLs), which are common contributors to quantitative traits in crops with complex genomes. With these challenges, a different approach is to identify what part of a complex genome can be prioritized. Intuitively, this is known from mutational dissection of “qualitative phenotypes,” but a global assessment for “quantitative traits” is lacking and the relative importance of genic and nongenic portions of the genome has significant bearings on further biological research and crop improvement.By identifying trait-associated SNPs (TASs), genome-wide association studies (GWASs) can enhance our understanding of the genetic architecture (Meyer et al. 2008; Chang et al. 2009; Teslovich et al. 2010). For example, a survey of 531 human TASs found that most are located in noncoding regions (43% from nongenic regions and 45% from introns), suggesting that the search for functional polymorphisms should extend beyond coding regions (Hindorff et al. 2009). Indeed, some recent individual-gene studies have suggested that functional nongenic polymorphisms can also contribute to the variation associated with quantitative traits in plants (Frary et al. 2000; Stam et al. 2002; Ashikari et al. 2005; Clark et al. 2006; Salvi et al. 2007). However, previous GWASs in plants focused on single SNP testing or multiple regression (Atwell et al. 2010; Huang et al. 2010; Tian et al. 2011) and did not address this critical issue. Hence, a systematic evaluation of TASs in plants can help to answer several important questions: (1) What are the overall contributions of genetic polymorphisms (i.e., SNPs) in explaining the phenotypic variation of quantitative traits; (2) what are the relative contributions of genic and nongenic polymorphisms; and (3) what is the distribution of maize TASs across different genomic annotation sets (e.g., promoter, intron, or coding region)?Here we report genome scans of five quantitative traits with SNPs identified by two complementary next-generation sequencing strategies to identify the underlying TASs, the genomic distribution of these TASs, and the relative contributions of genic and nongenic TASs to the phenotypic variation. We found that genic and nongenic TASs contribute approximately equally to the phenotypic variation of maize quantitative traits. But the distributions of maize TASs in specific annotation sets differed. Specifically, nonsynonymous SNPs are underrepresented among TASs for maize quantitative traits, suggesting that regulatory variation plays an important role in phenotypic variation. Our results suggest that genotyping methods designed to discover SNPs in genes and their upstream regions can be an economical approach for detecting genome-wide association signals in future GWAS scans of quantitative traits in crops with complex genomes.     

卫生应急实战演练教学法在应急型公共卫生人才培养中的应用

在对卫生应急实战演练教学法进行内涵界定的基础上,设计卫生应急实战演练教学法的流程,分析该教学法对培养应急型公共卫生人才的作用。     

云克对骨质疏松症患者成骨功能影响的研究

目的 观察云克对骨质疏松症患者成骨功能的影响.方法 取骨质疏松症患者骨组织,酶消化法培养成骨细胞,给予不同浓度云克予以干预,CCK-8法检测细胞增殖功能、流式细胞仪检测细胞周期、对硝基苯磷酸盐法检测碱性磷酸酶(ALP)活性、茜素红染色计数矿化结节的变化、Real-time RT-PCR检测骨钙素和骨形成蛋白(BMP)-...     

The risk of leukemia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Clinical Rheumatology - The relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the risk of leukemia was still controversial. This study aimed to assess the risk of leukemia in patients with...     

Mice deficient in the ALS2 gene exhibit lymphopenia and abnormal hematopietic function

One form of juvenile onset autosomal recessive amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS2) has been linked to the dysfunction of the ALS2 gene. The ALS2 gene is expressed in lymphoblasts, however, whether ALS2-deficiency affects periphery blood is unclear. Here we report that ALS2 knockout (ALS2(-/-)) mice developed peripheral lymphopenia but had higher proportions of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in which the stem cell factor-induced cell proliferation was up-regulated. Our findings reveal a novel function of the ALS2 gene in the lymphopoiesis and hematopoiesis, suggesting that the immune system is involved in the pathogenesis of ALS2.     

制药工程专业虚拟现实仿真平台的特点及对学生进行实践教学的优势

生产实习是制药工程专业实习教学的重要组成部分,制药工程专业由于自身特点,实习一直存在各种问题.安徽理工大学制药工程专业引入了仿真实训软件,极大的提高了学生的实习兴趣,加强了学生实际操作的能力,收到了良好的教学效果.笔者基于教育认证的要求和理念,探讨制药工程专业虚拟现实仿真平台的特点及对学生进行实践教学的优势.     

Self-reactive antibodies associated with bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome subtype of chronic lung allograft dysfunction

BackgroundChronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction (CLAD) remains the major limitation in long term survival after lung transplantation. Our objective is to evaluate for the presence of autoantibodies to self-antigens, which is a pathway along with complex interplay with immune as well as non-immune mechanisms that leads to a fibroproliferative process resulting in CLAD.MethodsSerum profiles of IgG autoantibodies were evaluated using customized proteomic microarray with 124 antigens. Output from microarray analyzed as antibody scores is correlated with bronchiolitis obliterans (BOS) subtype of CLAD using Mann-Whitney U test or Fisher exact test. Autoantibodies were evaluated for their predictive value for progressive BOS using a Cox proportional hazard model. BOS free survival and overall survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.ResultsForty- two patients included in the study are grouped into “stable BOS” and “progressive BOS” for comparisons. Pulmonary fibrosis is the major indication for lung transplantation in our cohort. Progressive BOS group had significantly worse survival (p < 0.005). Sixteen IgG autoantibodies are significantly elevated at baseline in progressive BOS group. Six among them correlated with worse BOS free survival (p < 0.05). In addition, these six IgG autoantibodies remain elevated at three months and one year after lung transplantation.ConclusionPre-existing IgG autoantibodies correlate with progressive BOS and survival in a single center, small cohort of lung transplant recipients. Further validation with larger sample size, external cohort and confirmation with additional tissue, bronchoalveolar lavage samples are necessary to confirm the preliminary findings in our study.     

Protection against amyloid beta peptide and iron/hydrogen peroxide toxicity by alpha lipoic acid

Current evidence supports the role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of neuron degeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD). alpha-Lipoic acid (LA), an essential cofactor in mitochondrial dehydrogenase reactions, functions as an antioxidant and reduces oxidative stress in aged animals. Here, we describe the effects of LA and its reduced form, dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA), in neuron cultures treated with amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta 25-35) and iron/hydrogen peroxide (Fe/H2O2). Pretreatment of dissociated primary hippocampal cultures with LA significantly protected against Abeta and Fe/H2O2 toxicity. In contrast, concomitant treatment of cultures with LA and Fe/H2O2 significantly potentiated the toxicity. Decreased cell survival in cultures treated concomitantly with LA and Fe/H2O2 correlated with increased free radical production measured by dichlorofluorescein fluorescence. Treatment of cortical neurons with DHLA significantly protected glucose-transport against Fe/H2O2 or beta-mediated decreases although treatment with LA did not provide protection. These data suggest that DHLA, the reduced form of LA, significantly protects against both Abeta and Fe/H2O2 mediated toxicity. The data also suggest that concomitant exposure to LA and Fe/H2O2 significantly potentiates the oxidative stress. Overall, these data suggest that the oxidation state of LA is critical to its function and that in the absence of studies of LA/DHLA equilibria in human brain the use of LA as an antioxidant in disorders where there is increased Fe such as AD is of questionable efficacy.