Publications by authors named "Lingfang Shi"

Purpose: This study explored the association between self-reported diabetes mellitus, glycaemic control, measured by glycohaemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, and untreated root caries among U.S. adults, exploring the impact of diabetes status and glycaemic control levels on root caries risk.

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Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the link between depression and untreated dental caries among adults in the United States.

Methods: Data were collected from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (2015-2018); respondents aged 20 years or older who completed a patient health questionnaire and underwent a comprehensive oral examination were included. Participants were categorized into three groups according to depressive symptoms as follows: those with no, mild, or moderate to severe depression.

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Rhizoctonia solani endornavirus 8 (RsEV8) was isolated from strain XY175 of Rhizoctonia solani AG-1 IA. The full-length genome of RsEV8 is 16,147 nucleotides (nt) in length and contains a single open reading frame that encodes a large polyprotein of 5227 amino acids. The polyprotein contains four conserved domains: viral methyltransferase, putative DEAH box helicase, viral helicase, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp).

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Electroreception through ampullae of Lorenzini in the little skate, , involves functional coupling between voltage-activated calcium channels (CaV1.3, ) and calcium-activated big-conductance potassium (BK) channels (BK, ). Whole-mount confocal microscopy was used to characterize the pleiotropic expression of BK and CaV1.

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Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the association between interdental cleaning and untreated root caries amongst middle-aged and older adults in the US.

Materials And Methods: Data were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (2015-2016 and 2017-2018). Adults aged ≥40 years who underwent full mouth examination and root caries assessment were included.

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Objective: The link between inflammation and cancer survival has been the subject of substantial research. The goal of this review is to summarize the evidence on the prognostic value of systemic inflammation score (SIS) in esophageal cancer patients undergoing surgical intervention.

Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science were searched for relevant articles published until 30 June 2022.

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Biochar, a cost-effective amendment, has been reported to play pivotal roles in improving soil fertility and immobilizing soil pollutants due to its well-developed porous structure and tunable functionality. However, the properties of biochar and soils can vary inconsistently after field application. This may affect the remediation of biochar on heavy metal (HM)-contaminated soil being altered.

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Midpalatal corticotomy-assisted rapid maxillary expansion (MCRME) is a minimally invasive treatment of maxillary transverse deficiency (MTD) in young adults. However, the effect of MCRME on respiratory function still needs to be determined. In this study, we evaluated the changes in maxillary morphology and the upper airway following MCRME using computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

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Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease and its mortality rate ranks first. Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) means that a patient is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but has no relative clinical symptoms. It has been estimated that approximately 10% of patients with LTBI would develop into active tuberculosis.

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Our comparative studies seek to understand the structure and function of ion channels in cartilaginous fish that can detect very low voltage gradients in seawater. The principal channels of the electroreceptor include a calcium activated K channel whose α subunit is Kcnma1, and a voltage-dependent calcium channel, Cacna1d. It has also been suggested based on physiological and pharmacological evidence that a voltage-gated K channel is present in the basal membranes of the receptor cells which modulates synaptic transmitter release.

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Immediate early gene (IEG) transcription is rapidly activated by diverse stimuli. This transcriptional regulation is assumed to involve constitutively expressed nuclear factors that are targets of signaling cascades initiated at the cell membrane. NF45 (encoded by ILF2) and its heterodimeric partner NF90/NF110 (encoded by ILF3) are chromatin-interacting proteins that are constitutively expressed and localized predominantly in the nucleus.

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NF90 and splice variant NF110 are DNA- and RNA-binding proteins encoded by the Interleukin enhancer-binding factor 3 (ILF3) gene that have been established to regulate RNA splicing, stabilization and export. The roles of NF90 and NF110 in regulating transcription as chromatin-interacting proteins have not been comprehensively characterized. Here, chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (ChIP-seq) identified 9,081 genomic sites specifically occupied by NF90/NF110 in K562 cells.

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Background: Pulmonary endothelial injury triggers a reparative program, which in susceptible individuals is characterized by neointima formation, vascular narrowing, and the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension. The neointimal cells in human pathological plexiform lesions frequently coexpress smooth muscle α-actin and the endothelial von Willebrand antigen, creating a question about their cellular lineage of origin.

Methods And Results: Experimental pulmonary hypertension with neointima formation develops in C57Bl/6 mice subjected to left pneumonectomy followed 1 week later by jugular vein injection of monocrotaline pyrrole (20 μg/μL and 1 μL/g; group P/MCTP).

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Expression of the cytokine interleukin-13 (IL13) is critical for Th2 immune responses and Th2-mediated allergic diseases. Activation of human IL13 expression involves chromatin remodeling and formation of multiple DNase I-hypersensitive sites throughout the locus. Among these, HS4 is detected in the distal IL13 promoter in both naive and polarized CD4(+) T cells.

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Activation of T cells induces the production of T cell growth and survival factor interleukin (IL) 2. Regulatory T cells intrinsically fail to induce IL-2 expression upon activation and can suppress IL-2 production in conventional T cells. Thus, the control of IL-2 expression is critically important to T cell immune responses, yet the mechanisms remain incompletely understood.

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IL-2 gene expression in activated T-cells is initiated by chromatin remodeling at the IL-2 proximal promoter and conversion of a transcriptional repressor into a potent transcriptional activator. A purine-box regulator complex was purified from activated Jurkat T-cell nuclei based on sequence-specific DNA binding to the antigen receptor response element (ARRE)/nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NF-AT) target DNA sequence in the proximal IL-2 promoter. ARRE DNA-binding subunits were identified as NF90, NF45 and systemic lupus erythematosis autoantigens, Ku80 and Ku70.

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Statins confer therapeutic benefits in systemic and pulmonary vascular diseases. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) receptors serve essential signaling functions in cardiovascular development and skeletal morphogenesis. Mutations in BMP receptor type II (BMPR2) are associated with human familial and idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, and pathologic neointimal proliferation of vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells within small pulmonary arteries.

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NF45/ILF2 associates with NF90/ILF3 in the nucleus and regulates IL-2 gene transcription at the antigen receptor response element (ARRE)/NF-AT DNA target sequence (P.N. Kao, L.

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NF90 and splice variant NF110/ILF3/NFAR are double-stranded RNA-binding proteins that regulate gene expression. Mice with targeted disruption of NF90 were engineered. NF90(-/-) mice were born small and weak and succumbed to perinatal death within 12 h because of neuromuscular respiratory failure.

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Background: Pulmonary vascular injury by toxins can induce neointimal formation, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), right ventricular failure, and death. We showed previously that simvastatin attenuates smooth muscle neointimal proliferation and pulmonary hypertension in pneumonectomized rats injected with the alkaloid toxin monocrotaline. The present study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of simvastatin and its mechanism of reversing established neointimal vascular occlusion and pulmonary hypertension.

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