Factors affecting the scientific research ability and the corresponding countermeasures in clinical postgraduates.

Background: Scientific research ability (SRA) is very important for clinical postgraduates. However, the factors affecting students' SRA are constantly changing with the development of medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the current situation of SRA in clinical postgraduates and exploring the potential factors and the corresponding countermeasures under the background of new medical science.

Antibacterial Properties and Potential Mechanism of Serum from Chinese Alligator.

The Chinese alligator () is an ancient reptile with strong immunity that lives in wetland environments. This study tested the antibacterial ability of Chinese alligator serum (CAS) against , , , and and analyzed the potential underlying mechanisms. Results showed that the CAS had a marked antibacterial effect on , , and , while was only mildly affected.

Incubation determines favorable microbial communities in Chinese alligator nests.

Nest materials are a major heat source due to rotting promoted by microbial activity. Additionally, they are a potential microbial source given their direct contact with eggshells. Microbial dynamics during incubation have been studied in wild birds; however, similar studies in reptiles remain elusive.

Sexual Dimorphism of the Gut Microbiota in the Chinese Alligator and Its Convergence in the Wild Environment.

The gut microbiota forms a complex microecosystem in vertebrates and is affected by various factors. As a key intrinsic factor, sex has a persistent impact on the formation and development of gut microbiota. Few studies have analyzed sexual dimorphism of gut microbiota, particularly in wild animals.

Sex-Biased miRNAs in the Gonads of Adult Chinese Alligator () and Their Potential Roles in Sex Maintenance.

MicroRNA (miRNA) is a category of single-stranded non-coding small RNA (sRNA) that regulates gene expression by targeting mRNA. It plays a key role in the temperature-dependent sex determination of Chinese alligator (), a reptile whose sex is determined solely by the temperature during the incubation period and remains stable thereafter. However, the potential function of miRNAs in the gonads of adult Chinese alligators is still unclear.

Chromosome-scale genomes provide new insights into subspecies divergence and evolutionary characteristics of the giant panda.

Extant giant pandas are divided into Sichuan and Qinling subspecies. The giant panda has many species-specific characteristics, including comparatively small organs for body size, small genitalia of male individuals, and low reproduction. Here, we report the most contiguous, high-quality chromosome-level genomes of two extant giant panda subspecies to date, with the first genome assembly of the Qinling subspecies.

Exhausting T Cells During HIV Infection May Improve the Prognosis of Patients with COVID-19.

T-cell reduction is an important characteristic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and its immunopathology is a subject of debate. It may be due to the direct effect of the virus on T-cell exhaustion or indirectly due to T cells redistributing to the lungs. HIV/AIDS naturally served as a T-cell exhaustion disease model for recognizing how the immune system works in the course of COVID-19.

Sex-Biased Gene Expression and Evolution in the Cerebrum and Syrinx of Chinese Hwamei ().

It is common that males and females display sexual dimorphisms, which usually result from sex-biased gene expression. Chinese hwamei () is a good model for studying sex-biased gene expression because the song between the sexes is quite different. In this study, we analyze cerebrum and syrinx sex-biased gene expression and evolution using the assembled Chinese hwamei transcriptome.

Genome-Wide DNA Methylation and Transcriptome Analyses Reveal Epigenetic and Genetic Mechanisms Underlying Sex Maintenance of Adult Chinese Alligator.

The sexes of Chinese alligators are determined during embryonic development and remain fixed thereafter. In this study, we investigated the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying sex maintenance in Chinese alligators through RNA sequencing and bisulfite sequencing data analyses of the adult gonads. We identified the genes and pathways (e.

HflX is a GTPase that controls hypoxia-induced replication arrest in slow-growing mycobacteria.

GTPase high requency of ysogenization X (HflX) is highly conserved in prokaryotes and acts as a ribosome-splitting factor as part of the heat shock response in Here we report that HflX produced by slow-growing bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a GTPase that plays a critical role in the pathogen's transition to a nonreplicating, drug-tolerant state in response to hypoxia. Indeed, HflX-deficient BCG (KO) replicated markedly faster in the microaerophilic phase of a hypoxia model that resulted in premature entry into dormancy. The KO mutant displayed hallmarks of nonreplicating mycobacteria, including phenotypic drug resistance, altered morphology, low intracellular ATP levels, and overexpression of Dormancy (Dos) regulon proteins.

Multi-omics analysis reveals that natural hibernation is crucial for oocyte maturation in the female Chinese alligator.

Background: Hibernation in an appropriate environment not only is important for the survival of hibernators in winter, but also is crucial for breeding in the following season for many hibernating species. However, the genetic and epigenetic mechanism underlying this process remain unclear. In the current study, we performed an integrative multi-omics analysis of gonads collected from Chinese alligators that overwintered in wild cave and artificial warmroom to explore transcriptomic and epigenomic alternations in these organs.

A Unique Energy-Saving Strategy during Hibernation Revealed by Multi-Omics Analysis in the Chinese Alligator.

Many ectotherms hibernate in face of the harsh winter conditions to improve their survival rate. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this process remains unclear. Here, we explored the hibernation mechanism of Chinese alligator using integrative multi-omics analysis.

Metabolic reprogramming-associated genes predict overall survival for rectal cancer.

Metabolic reprogramming has become a hot topic recently in the regulation of tumour biology. Although hundreds of altered metabolic genes have been reported to be associated with tumour development and progression, the important prognostic role of these metabolic genes remains unknown. We downloaded messenger RNA expression profiles and clinicopathological data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Gene Expression Omnibus database to uncover the prognostic role of these metabolic genes.

IDSSR: An Efficient Pipeline for Identifying Polymorphic Microsatellites from a Single Genome Sequence.

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are known as microsatellites, and consist of tandem 1-6-base motifs. They have become one of the most popular molecular markers, and are widely used in molecular ecology, conservation biology, molecular breeding, and many other fields. Previously reported methods identify monomorphic and polymorphic SSRs and determine the polymorphic SSRs via experimental validation, which is potentially time-consuming and costly.

Characteristics and health risk assessment of heavy metals exposure via household dust from urban area in Chengdu, China.

To investigate the characteristics of heavy metals (Cr, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu and Ni) in household dust in urban household environment of Chengdu, China, 90 household dust samples were collected from 6 districts of the city. The information of houses and residents were also recorded during dust sampling to identify the correlations between heavy metals in household dust and the house attributes. And also the principal component analysis and cluster analysis for sources and impactor factors.

Pollution characteristics and risk assessment of human exposure to oral bioaccessibility of heavy metals via urban street dusts from different functional areas in Chengdu, China.

Urban street dusts were collected in commercial area (CA), traffic area (TA), educational area (EA), residential area (RA) and parks area (PA) of Chengdu, China, to investigate the concentrations of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cd and Cr), and analyzed to evaluated possible sources and health risk assessment. The average concentrations (mg/kg) of Pb (82.3), Zn (296), Cu (100), Cd (1.

Differential diagnosis of pancreatic cancer by single-shot echo-planar imaging diffusion-weighted imaging.

Aim: To investigate the diagnostic ability of single-shot echo-planar imaging (EPI) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to differentiate between malignant and benign pancreatic lesions.

Methods: A computerized search was performed on PubMed, MEDLINE and EMBASE up to August 2014. Nine studies (10 sets of data) with a total of 304 malignant pancreatic lesions and 188 benign pancreatic lesions were included.

Sodium hydrosulfide relieves neuropathic pain in chronic constriction injured rats.

Aberrant neuronal activity in injured peripheral nerves is believed to be an important factor in the development of neuropathic pain (NPP). Channel protein pCREB of that activity has been shown to mitigate the onset of associated molecular events in the nervous system, and sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) could inhibit the expression of pCREB. However, whether NaHS could relieve the pain, it needs further experimental research.

Relationship between EEG beta power abnormality and early diagnosis of cognitive impairment post cerebral hemorrhage.

Cerebral hemorrhage is a common disease of older adults, which could increase the risk of cognitive impairment. Electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics can be analyzed to investigate the applied value in the assessment of cognitive impairment of the patients with cerebral hemorrhage. One hundred eighty-two patients (including patients with cognitive impairment [CHCI] and patients with cognitive normality [CHNC] with cerebral hemorrhage, and 120 normal healthy persons [control; CN]) were recruited between July 2008 to March 2012 at the department of neurology.

Transcriptomic profiling of Aspergillus flavus in response to 5-azacytidine.

Aspergillus flavus is a common saprophyte and opportunistic pathogen producing aflatoxin (AF) and many other secondary metabolites. 5-Azacytidine (5-AC), a derivative of the nucleoside cytidine, is widely used for studies in epigenetics and cancer biology as an inactivator of DNA methyltransferase and is also used for studying secondary metabolism in fungi. Our previous studies showed that 5-AC affects development and inhibits AF production in A.

Construction of a bicistronic recombinant adenoviral vector for human interleukin-10 and enhanced green fluorescent protein expression in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.

Background: Human interleukin-10 (hIL-10) is a cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor, which is involved in various immune responses. The purpose of this study was to construct an adenoviral vector carrying the hIL-10 gene for expression of biologically active hIL-10 in rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs).

Methods: A pSNAV2.

Bisulfite sequencing reveals that Aspergillus flavus holds a hollow in DNA methylation.

Aspergillus flavus first gained scientific attention for its production of aflatoxin. The underlying regulation of aflatoxin biosynthesis has been serving as a theoretical model for biosynthesis of other microbial secondary metabolites. Nevertheless, for several decades, the DNA methylation status, one of the important epigenomic modifications involved in gene regulation, in A.

[Effect of four different solutions on the accuracy of electronic apex locators].

Purpose: To investigate four different solutions on the accuracy of two electronic apex locators (EAL) in vitro.

Methods: 1% agar and extracted single-canaled tooth were used to mimic the situation in vivo. Forty-seven teeth were used.