Seroprevalence of immunoglobulin M and G antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in China.

Detection of asymptomatic or subclinical novel human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection is critical for understanding the overall prevalence and infection potential of COVID-19. To estimate the cumulative prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in China, we evaluated the host serologic response, measured by the levels of immunoglobulins M and G in 17,368 individuals, in the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, and geographic regions in the country, during the period from 9 March 2020 to 10 April 2020. In our cohorts, the seropositivity in Wuhan varied between 3.

Upregulation of miRNA-9-5p Promotes Angiogenesis after Traumatic Brain Injury by Inhibiting Ptch-1.

MicroRNA-9-5p (miRNA-9-5p) is an important regulator of angiogenesis in many pathological states. However, the effect of miRNA-9-5p on angiogenesis after traumatic brain injury (TBI) has not been elucidated. In this study, a controlled cortical impact (CCI) model was used to induce TBI in Sprague-Dawley rats, and an oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) model was used to mimic the pathological state in vitro.

Machine learning uncovers cell identity regulator by histone code.

Conversion between cell types, e.g., by induced expression of master transcription factors, holds great promise for cellular therapy.

Clinically Applicable AI System for Accurate Diagnosis, Quantitative Measurements, and Prognosis of COVID-19 Pneumonia Using Computed Tomography.

Many COVID-19 patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 virus develop pneumonia (called novel coronavirus pneumonia, NCP) and rapidly progress to respiratory failure. However, rapid diagnosis and identification of high-risk patients for early intervention are challenging. Using a large computed tomography (CT) database from 3,777 patients, we developed an AI system that can diagnose NCP and differentiate it from other common pneumonia and normal controls.

Texture analysis of early cerebral tissue damage in magnetic resonance imaging of patients with lung cancer.

Primary tumors can secrete many cytokines, inducing tissue damage or microstructural changes in distant organs. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in texture features in the cerebral tissue of patients with lung cancer without brain metastasis. In this study, 50 patients with lung cancers underwent 3.

TADsplimer reveals splits and mergers of topologically associating domains for epigenetic regulation of transcription.

We present TADsplimer, the first computational tool to systematically detect topologically associating domain (TAD) splits and mergers across the genome between Hi-C samples. TADsplimer recaptures splits and mergers of TADs with high accuracy in simulation analyses and defines hundreds of TAD splits and mergers between pairs of different cell types, such as endothelial cells and fibroblasts. Our work reveals a key role for TAD remodeling in epigenetic regulation of transcription and delivers the first tool for the community to perform dynamic analysis of TAD splits and mergers in numerous biological and disease models.

Impaired lipid metabolism by age-dependent DNA methylation alterations accelerates aging.

Epigenetic alterations and metabolic dysfunction are two hallmarks of aging. However, the mechanism of how their interaction regulates aging, particularly in mammals, remains largely unknown. Here we show ELOVL fatty acid elongase 2 (Elovl2), a gene whose epigenetic alterations are most highly correlated with age prediction, contributes to aging by regulating lipid metabolism.

Distribution Of Brain Metastasis From Lung Cancer.

Purpose: The prognosis of lung cancer with brain metastasis is poor. The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of brain metastasis and explore its relationship with pathology and genetic mutations.

Patients And Methods: Between June 2015 and July 2018, 335 patients from Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong University who had been firstly diagnosed with brain metastasis from lung cancer were retrospectively reviewed.

An Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor Mobile Health System for Early Warning for Stroke Risk: Longitudinal Observational Study.

Background: Stroke, as a leading cause of death around the globe, has become a heavy burden on our society. Studies show that stroke can be predicted and prevented if a person's blood pressure (BP) status is appropriately monitored via an ambulatory blood pressure monitor (ABPM) system. However, currently there exists no efficient and user-friendly ABPM system to provide early warning for stroke risk in real-time.

Multimodal Memory Components and Their Long-Term Dynamics Identified in Cortical Layers II/III but Not Layer V.

Activity patterns of cerebral cortical regions represent the current environment in which animals receive multi-modal inputs. These patterns are also shaped by the history of activity that reflects learned information on past multimodal exposures. We studied the long-term dynamics of cortical activity patterns during the formation of multimodal memories by analyzing high-resolution 2-photon mouse brain imaging data of Immediate Early Gene (IEG) expression, resolved by cortical layers.

Phylogenetic Analysis and Screening of Antimicrobial and Antiproliferative Activities of Culturable Bacteria Associated with the Ascidian from the Yellow Sea, China.

Over 1,000 compounds, including ecteinascidin-743 and didemnin B, have been isolated from ascidians, with most having bioactive properties such as antimicrobial, antitumor, and enzyme-inhibiting activities. In recent years, direct and indirect evidence has shown that some bioactive compounds isolated from ascidians are not produced by ascidians themselves but by their symbiotic microorganisms. Isolated culturable bacteria associated with ascidians and investigating their potential bioactivity are an important approach for discovering novel compounds.

Reactive versus Constitutive: Reconcile the Controversial Results about the Prognostic Value of PD-L1 Expression in cancer.

The prognostic value of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) has been controversial in recent studies. PD-L1 is known to play a major role in suppressing the immune response, yet increasing studies have reported that PD-L1 expression has a favorable prognostic value for cancer patients. This raises the concern about how to understand PD-L1 expression: merely an immune inhibitory signal, or more likely a reactive process to T-cell response that indicates cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) level in a tumor? To solve this dilemma, an integrative investigation is required.

BMI1 is directly regulated by androgen receptor to promote castration-resistance in prostate cancer.

B lymphoma Mo-MLV insertion region 1 (BMI1) has been reported to be an oncoprotein. BMI1 represses tumor suppressors to promote cell proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and cancer progression. Although it is known that the expression of BMI1 is increased in many cancer types, the mechanism of BMI1 upregulation is not yet clear.

Ultrastretchable Wearable Strain and Pressure Sensors Based on Adhesive, Tough, and Self-healing Hydrogels for Human Motion Monitoring.

Currently, flexible wearable hydrogel-based sensors have attracted considerable attention due to their promising applications in a variety of fields. However, concurrently integrating toughness, adhesiveness, self-healing ability, and conductivity into the hydrogel is still a great challenge. Here, casein sodium salt from bovine milk (sodium casein, SC) and polydopamine (PDA, inspired by mussels) were successfully introduced into the polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogel system to fabricate a tough and adhesive SC-PDA hydrogel.

miR-211 facilitates platinum chemosensitivity by blocking the DNA damage response (DDR) in ovarian cancer.

The DNA damage response (DDR) is one of the most important mechanisms of platinum resistance in ovarian cancer. Some miRNAs have been identified to be involved in the regulatory network of DDR, thus the abnormal expression of miRNAs might affect platinum chemosensitivity in ovarian cancer. In this study, by assessing miRNAs simultaneously targeting a set of DDR genes that exhibited response to platinum, we found that miR-211 inhibited most of those genes, and proposed that miR-211 might affect the sensitivity of ovarian cancer cells to platinum by targeting multiple DDR genes and thereby determine the prognosis of ovarian cancer.

HNF1 Controls Liver Lipid Metabolism and Insulin Resistance via Negatively Regulating the SOCS-3-STAT3 Signaling Pathway.

This study is aimed at evaluating the effects, functions, and mechanism of HNF1 on hepatic glycolipid metabolism. In this study, free fatty acid- (FFA-) induced steatosis of hepatocyte liver cell LO2 was used as an model. The methods of Oil Red O staining, RT-qPCR, western blot, and immunofluorescence staining were used to detect LO2-regulated HNF1 expression and its effects on FFA-induced LO2 cell steatosis, the insulin signaling and SOCS-3-STAT3 signaling pathways, the expression of lipid metabolism-related regulators, and phosphorylation.

Effects of soil erosion and reforestation on soil respiration, organic carbon and nitrogen stocks in an eroded area of Southern China.

Soil erosion and reforestation greatly affects the functionality of many terrestrial ecosystems. However, the effects of soil erosion and reforestation on soil respiration (SR), and soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) stocks remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated the changes in SR, and SOC and TN stocks at four different soil erosion levels (severely, moderately, lightly, and non-eroded) and two different aged Pinus massoniana plantations (8- and 36-year-old) in the hilly red soil regions of Southern China.

Long-term survival of an elderly patient with advanced gastric cancer after combination therapy: a case report and literature review.

Background: Gastric cancer ranks the fifth most common cancer, and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Gastric cancer with liver metastasis (GCLM) has devastating prognosis, however, optimal treatment of GCLM, especially in elderly patients, has yet to be clarified.

Case Presentation: A 75-year-old man was diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer (GC), presenting with acute gastrointestinal bleeding and synchronous metastatic lesion in liver.

Discrimination of the hierarchical structure of cortical layers in 2-photon microscopy data by combined unsupervised and supervised machine learning.

The laminar organization of the cerebral cortex is a fundamental characteristic of the brain, with essential implications for cortical function. Due to the rapidly growing amount of high-resolution brain imaging data, a great demand arises for automated and flexible methods for discriminating the laminar texture of the cortex. Here, we propose a combined approach of unsupervised and supervised machine learning to discriminate the hierarchical cortical laminar organization in high-resolution 2-photon microscopic neural image data of mouse brain without observer bias, that is, without the prerequisite of manually labeled training data.

Multidisciplinary approach to scheduling surgery for diabetic foot: a case report.

Background: The treatment of diabetic foot ulcers in this case is complex and multidisciplinary, and an interdisciplinary team is extremely beneficial.

Case Presentation: We performed the intervention on an old type 2 diabetes patient with poor health, whose left toes were severely necrotic. Surgery, including debridement and patella truncation, had positive effects on lower extremity circulation, infection control, cavity treatment, bone destruction, surgical debridement, recovery of foot function, and nursing.

Switching From Fear to No Fear by Different Neural Ensembles in Mouse Retrosplenial Cortex.

Fear extinction is generally considered a form of new learning that inhibits previously acquired fear memories. Here, by tracking immediate early gene expression in vivo, we found that contextual fear extinction training evoked distinct neural ensembles in mouse retrosplenial cortex (RSC). The optogenetic reactivation of these extinction-activated neurons in the RSC was sufficient to suppress a fear response, while the reactivation of conditioning-activated neurons in the same area promoted a fear response.

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of truncated deguelin derivatives as Hsp90 inhibitors.

A series of novel B and C-rings truncated deguelin derivatives have been designed and synthesized in the present study as heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitors. The synthesized compounds exhibited micromolar antiproliferative potency toward a panel of human cancer cell lines. Their structure-activity relationships (SARs) were investigated in a systematic manner.

Marinilabilia rubra sp. nov., isolated from a marine solar saltern.

A novel cherry-red-pigmented, Gram-stain-negative, gliding, facultatively anaerobic and rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain WTE16, was isolated from a sediment sample taken from a marine solar saltern of Wendeng, China (36° 59' 56.49'' N 122° 1' 38.84'' E).

Roles of the HOXA10 gene during castrate-resistant prostate cancer progression.

Homeobox A10 (HOXA10) is an important transcription factor that regulates the development of the prostate gland. However, it remains unknown whether it modulates prostate cancer (PCa) progression into castrate-resistant stages. In this study, we have applied RNA in situ hybridization assays to demonstrate that downregulation of HOXA10 expression is associated with castrate-resistant PCa.

Characterization and identification of long non-coding RNAs based on feature relationship.

Motivation: The significance of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in many biological processes and diseases has gained intense interests over the past several years. However, computational identification of lncRNAs in a wide range of species remains challenging; it requires prior knowledge of well-established sequences and annotations or species-specific training data, but the reality is that only a limited number of species have high-quality sequences and annotations.

Results: Here we first characterize lncRNAs in contrast to protein-coding RNAs based on feature relationship and find that the feature relationship between open reading frame length and guanine-cytosine (GC) content presents universally substantial divergence in lncRNAs and protein-coding RNAs, as observed in a broad variety of species.