Publications by authors named "Mei Zeng"

Background: Bongkrekic acid is a rare mitochondrial toxin produced by the Burkholderia cocovenenans subsp. Bongkrekic acid poisoning has a case fatality rate of more than 50%, and progresses rapidly to multiple organ failure. However, limited clinical information is available regarding this phenomenon.

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The evolution of insect metamorphosis has profoundly influenced their successful adaptation and diversification. Two key physiological processes during insect metamorphosis are notable: wing maturation and prothoracic gland (PG) histolysis. The ecdysone-induced protein 93 (E93) is a transcription factor indispensable for metamorphosis.

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Background: Pertussis resurgence has been reported worldwide in the past two decades. Pertussis is still endemic and difficult to control though with universal vaccination in children. The resurgence may be related to multiple variables, such as increased disease awareness and laboratory tests, waning of immunity following vaccination, and/or genetic mutations of Bordetella pertussis.

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Background: Abraxane plays a crucial role in the treatment of various types of cancer, despite the considerable attention it has garnered for its adverse drug events (ADEs). Nevertheless, there is currently a significant lack of comprehensive real-world pharmacovigilance studies on the ADEs associated with Abraxane.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of ADEs associated with Abraxane using data mining from the FAERS database, analyzing data from 2005 to 2023.

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Background: Juvenile hormone (JH) is an insect-exclusive hormone involved in regulating diverse aspects of insect physiology, and the evolution of its diverse function is widely interesting. Studying embryogenesis in basal wingless insects is important to understand the functional evolution of JH; however, experimental studies in this regard are scarce. In this study, we conducted CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout (KO) of genes involved in JH biosynthesis and signaling cascades in the ametabolous firebrat, Thermobia domestica.

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Article Synopsis
  • Biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA) is crucial for understanding atmospheric chemistry and climate change, but its behavior under evaporation conditions is not well studied.
  • This research examined the evaporation effects on BBOA proxies created from wood pyrolysis emissions, analyzing changes in volatility and viscosity.
  • Results indicated that evaporation increases particle viscosity, which slows down diffusion and alters particle formation, emphasizing the need for these factors in atmospheric models to predict BBOA's environmental effects.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to analyze RNA sequencing and tissue samples from healthy individuals and those with chronic skin infections to identify genes related to prolonged infections.* -
  • A total of 900 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found, with HIF1A highlighted as a key gene due to its higher expression in infected samples, indicating its significance in the infection process.* -
  • The research revealed that these DEGs are involved in critical biological functions and signaling pathways, such as hypoxia adaptation and angiogenesis, which could inform future studies on chronic skin infections.*
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Sulfasalazine (SULF), a sulfonamide antibiotic, has been utilized in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) since its discovery. However, its poor water solubility causes the high daily doses (1---3 g) for patients, which may lead to the intolerable toxic and side effects for their lifelong treatment for RA and IBD. In this work, two water-soluble natural anti-inflammatory alkaloids, matrine (MAR) and sophoridine (SPD), were employed to construct the co-amorphous systems of SULF for addressing its solubility issue.

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Polysaccharides from diverse origins exhibit notable bioactivities, particularly their capacity to exert antitumor and immune-enhancing effects. Concurrently, ferroptosis emerges as a distinctive form of regulated cell death characterized by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, potentially influencing the demise of specific tumor cells and organismal homeostasis. Recent scholarly attention has increasingly focused on utilizing polysaccharides to modulate tumor cell ferroptosis and manipulate cellular immune responses.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the role of the TWIK2 channel in gout inflammation and the therapeutic potential of the K2P channel modulator ML335 to inhibit the NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
  • ML335 showed the strongest binding to TWIK2 compared to other tested compounds and effectively reduced the release of the inflammatory marker IL-1β from immune cells.
  • The findings indicate that ML335 improves mitochondrial function and reduces inflammation by suppressing MARCH5 expression, which interacts with SIRT3, thereby enhancing potential treatments for gout-related inflammation.
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Introduction: COVID-19 constitutes a pandemic of significant detriment to human health. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Long COVID following SARS-CoV-2 infection, analyze the potential predictors of chest CT for the development of Long COVID in children.

Methods: A cohort of children who visited the respiratory outpatient clinics at Shanghai Children's Medical Center or Linyi Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital from December 2022 to February 2023 and underwent chest CT scans within 1 week was followed up.

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Objective: To explore and evaluate the value of chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) in prenatal diagnosis of fetuses with ultrasound abnormalities.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 370 fetuses with ultrasound abnormalities received invasive prenatal diagnosis at Meizhou People's Hospital from October 2022 to December 2023. Fetal specimens were analyzed by CMA, and the detection rates of aneuploidy and pathogenic (P)/likely pathogenic (LP) copy number variations (CNVs) in ultrasound structural abnormalities (malformations of fetal anatomy) and non-structural abnormalities (abnormalities of fetal nonanatomical structure) were analyzed.

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Introduction: The immunological characteristics that could protect children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from severe or fatal illnesses have not been fully understood yet.

Methods: Here, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis on peripheral blood samples of 15 children (8 with COVID-19) and compared them to 18 adults (13 with COVID-19).

Results: The child-adult integrated single cell data indicated that children with the disease presented a restrained response to type I interferon in most of the major immune cell types, along with suppression of upstream interferon regulatory factor and toll-like receptor expression in monocytes, which was confirmed by interferon stimulation assays.

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Accidental oral imidacloprid poisoning occurred in a family in Shandong, China, in May 2023. This study aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of this imidacloprid poisoning event and investigated the detection of toxicants. Clinical data of four patients with oral imidacloprid poisoning were collected and retrospectively analyzed.

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The presence of nitrite in food products has generated significant public concern. A simple and rapid dual-mode surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)/colorimetric detection of nitrite is proposed based on a diazo reaction and multifunctional gold nanoparticle-doped covalent organic framework (Au@COF) composite. Under acidic conditions, the reaction between toluidine blue and nitrite yielded a colorless diazo salt, simultaneously attenuating its characteristic absorption peak and Raman signal.

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Chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) is part of the mammalian cellular proteostasis network that ensures protein quality control, maintenance of proteome homeostasis, and proteome changes required for the adaptation to stress. Loss of proteostasis is one of the hallmarks of aging. CMA decreases with age in multiple rodent tissues and human cell types.

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Ecdysone-induced protein 93 (E93), known as the 'adult-specifier' transcription factor in insects, triggers metamorphosis in both hemimetabolous and holometabolous insects. Although E93 is conserved in ametabolous insects, its spatiotemporal expression and physiological function remain poorly understood. In this study, we first discover that, in the ametabolous firebrat Thermobia domestica, the previtellogenic ovary exhibits cyclically high E93 expression, and E93 mRNA is broadly distributed in previtellogenic ovarioles.

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Introduction: An unprecedented surge of Omicron infections appeared nationwide in China in December 2022 after the adjustment of the COVID-19 response policy. Here, we report the clinical and genomic characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infections among children in Shanghai during this outbreak.

Methods: A total of 64 children with symptomatic COVID-19 were enrolled.

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Non-invasive image-guided precise photothermal/photodynamic therapy (PTT/PDT) has been proven to be an effective local treatment modality but incompetent against metastases. Hence, the combination of local PTT/PDT and systemic immunotherapy would be a promising strategy for tumor eradication. Herein, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-visualized PTT/PDT agent (SIDP NMs) was constructed, and the efficacy of its multimodal combination with a programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor in the treatment of melanoma and metastases was studied.

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Article Synopsis
  • The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) focuses on prioritizing medicines that are crucial for global public health, particularly in the context of antibiotic use and resistance.
  • In response to the rise of antimicrobial resistance, the EML introduced a new classification system called AWaRe, which categorizes antibiotics into Access, Watch, and Reserve groups to guide appropriate usage.
  • The 2023 AWaRe classification includes 41 essential antibiotics and aims to enhance global antibiotic prescribing practices, promoting the use of Access antibiotics to optimize treatment and reduce misuse to prolong the effectiveness of these medications.
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Vaccine hesitancy is a common issue for children with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in China. The objective of this paper is to assess the immunization statuses of children with ITP, analyze the possible relationship between immunization and thrombocytopenia, and evaluate the safety of immunization after ITP remission. We included 186 children with an ITP history and followed up with them for two years after receiving re-immunization recommendations.

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