Prenatal exposure to airborne particulate matter of 1 μm or less and fetal growth: A birth cohort study in Beijing, China.

Background: The association of airborne particulate matter of 1 μm or less (PM) with fetal growth hasn't been studied. We aimed to investigate the association of PM with fetal growth parameters measured via ultrasonography and birth weight.

Methods: The birth cohort included 18,669 pregnant women who were pregnant between 2014 and 2017 in Tongzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Beijing, China.

Melatonin alleviates d-galactose-decreased hyaluronic acid production in synovial membrane cells via Sirt1 signalling.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) exerts a critical role in the lubricating and buffering properties of synovial fluid in joints. The production of HA is regulated by growth factors, hormones, inflammatory cytokines and mechanical load. The reduction of HA contributes to the progression of osteoarthritis.

Total cholesterol concentration predicts the effect of plasmapheresis on hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis: a retrospective case-control study.

Background: What kind of patients with hypertriglyceridemic acute pancreatitis (HLAP) might benefit from plasmapheresis (PP) remains unknown. The objective of this study is to determine the predict function of total cholesterol (TC) on the Triglyceride (TG)-lowing effect in patients on either non-PP or PP therapy.

Methods: Patients were categorized into high total cholesterol (HTC)/low total cholesterol (LTC) groups based on TC level of 12.

[A new quantitative 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing method].

In recent years, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing technology has been widely used to study human gut microbiota and to detect unknown pathogens in clinical samples. However, its resolution to bacterial population can only reach the relative abundance of genus level, and different factors affect the final bacterial profile, such as sample concentrations, PCR cycle numbers and amplification primers. In order to solve these problems, we developed a quantitative 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing method by combining random tag and internal marker method.

Association between sleep duration in early pregnancy and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study.

Aims: As cohort studies of the impact of sleep duration during early pregnancy on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are lacking, our study aimed to explore the association between sleep duration in the first trimester and GDM in one region of mainland China.

Methods: For this prospective cohort study, sleep duration data were collected from 3692 pregnant women at the first prenatal care appointment before 14 weeks of gestation. Multivariable log-binomial regression models were used to analyze the association of sleep duration with GDM after adjusting for demographic characteristics, health status (such as family history of diabetes, history of GDM, prepregnancy body mass index, gestational weight gain) and lifestyle habits (such as physical activity, dietary intakes).

Comparative viromes of Culicoides and mosquitoes reveal their consistency and diversity in viral profiles.

The genus Culicoides includes biting midges, some of which are vectors for viruses that cause diseases in humans and animals. Knowledge of the roles of Culicoides in viral ecology is inadequate. We collected ~300 000 samples of Culicoides and mosquitoes in 15 representative regions within Yunnan, China.

Social Media Use, Unhealthy Lifestyles, and the Risk of Miscarriage Among Pregnant Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prospective Observational Study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in changes to normal life and disrupted social and economic function worldwide. However, little is known about the impact of social media use, unhealthy lifestyles, and the risk of miscarriage among pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: This study aims to assess the association between social media use, unhealthy lifestyles, and the risk of miscarriage among pregnant women in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Alloyed Palladium-Silver Nanowires Enabling Ultrastable Carbon Dioxide Reduction to Formate.

Palladium can enable the electrochemical CO reduction to formate with nearly zero overpotential and good selectivity. However, it usually has very limited stability owing to CO poisoning from the side reaction intermediate. Herein, it is demonstrated that alloying palladium with silver is a viable strategy to significantly enhance the electrocatalytic stability.

Identification of four differentially expressed genes associated with acute and chronic spinal cord injury based on bioinformatics data.

Complex pathological changes occur during the development of spinal cord injury (SCI), and determining the underlying molecular events that occur during SCI is necessary for the development of promising molecular targets and therapeutic strategies. This study was designed to explore differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with the acute and chronic stages of SCI using bioinformatics analysis. Gene expression profiles (GSE45006, GSE93249, and GSE45550) were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database.

Experimental study of superheating of tin powders.

An unstable energy-unbalanced state such as superheating or supercooling is often unexpectedly observed because a factor of energy depends not only on the temperature but is a product of temperature (T) and entropy (S). Thus, at the same temperature, if the entropy is different, the total energy of the system can be different. In such cases, the temperature-change-rate cannot match the entropy-change-rate, which results in a hysteresis curve for the temperature/entropy relationship.

miR-375-3p contributes to hypoxia-induced apoptosis by targeting forkhead box P1 (FOXP1) and Bcl2 like protein 2 (Bcl2l2) in rat cardiomyocyte h9c2 cells.

miRNAs have been pointed to play critical role in the development of congenital heart disease (CHD). miRNA-375-3p (miR-375-3p) was involved in cardiac dysfunction and cardiogenesis. However, no prior study had established a therapeutic role of miR-375-3p in CHD.

Compositional diversity and evolutionary pattern of coronavirus accessory proteins.

Accessory proteins play important roles in the interaction between coronaviruses and their hosts. Accordingly, a comprehensive study of the compositional diversity and evolutionary patterns of accessory proteins is critical to understanding the host adaptation and epidemic variation of coronaviruses. Here, we developed a standardized genome annotation tool for coronavirus (CoroAnnoter) by combining open reading frame prediction, transcription regulatory sequence recognition and homologous alignment.

MDACP: A Pathogen Genome and Metagenome Analysis Cloud Platform.

Pathogenic microorganism analysis based on next-generation sequencing technology is an important tool for clinical diagnosis, public health surveillance, and outbreak investigation. However, scientific researchers without the relevant background lack the time, training, or infrastructure to use large data sets or install and use command line tools. Therefore, the bioinformatic team at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention developed the Microbial Data Analysis Cloud Platform (MDACP) as a safe, professional, and efficient pathogen genetic data analysis platform for rapid microbial data mining, such as for candidate pathogen detection, genome typing, and traceability.

Two new species of the genus Notacanthurus from China (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae, Ecdyonurinae).

Previously, only three of seven species in the Asian genus Notacanthurus were reported both nymphs and imagoes, and no Chinese species was found. Here two new species collected from China, which are named as Notacanthurus maculatus sp. n.

Neutrophil peptide-1 promotes the repair of sciatic nerve injury through the expression of proteins related to nerve regeneration.

Small-molecule polypeptide neutrophil peptide 1 (NP-1) was reported to promote the regeneration of the sciatic nerve after denervation, but the mechanisms underlying this effect of NP-1 are unclear. Here, we established a Sprague-Dawley rat model of crush injury to study the effect of a single intermuscular injection of NP-1 on the repair of injured peripheral nerves and elucidate the possible underlying mechanism. 39 rats were randomly selected to join this study and divided into the blank control group (normal group, n=9), experimental group (NP-1 group, n=15), and negative control group (NS group, n=15).

Increasing SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing capacity during the COVID-19 epidemic in Beijing: experience from a general hospital.

Under the ongoing COVID-19 prevention and control measures in China, increasing the laboratory severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleic acid testing capacity has become the top priority. Since the COVID-19 outbreak in Xinfadi market in Beijing in June 2020, large-scale screening of key populations has been carried out, challenging the nucleic acid testing capabilities of hospital laboratories. Therefore, within 48 hours, Peking University People's Hospital (PKUPH) transformed a non-nucleic acid testing laboratory into a SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing laboratory.

The individual and joint effects of maternal 25(OH)D deficiency and gestational diabetes on infant birth size.

Background And Aims: To examine the independent effect of maternal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] deficiency and its joint effect with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) on infant birth size.

Methods And Results: This retrospective cohort study was conducted in 15,724 mother-offspring dyads in Beijing, China between 2016 and 2017. Outcomes included infant birth weight Z-score (adjusted for gestational age and sex) and large for gestational age (LGA).

Correction: Long-term bone and lung consequences associated with hospital-acquired severe acute respiratory syndrome: a 15-year follow-up from a prospective cohort study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/s41413-020-0084-5.].

Projective Double Reconstructions Based Dictionary Learning Algorithm for Cross-Domain Recognition.

Dictionary learning plays a significant role in the field of machine learning. Existing works mainly focus on learning dictionary from a single domain. In this paper, we propose a novel projective double reconstructions (PDR) based dictionary learning algorithm for cross-domain recognition.

How Should We Assign Large Infiltrative Hepatocellular Carcinomas for Staging?

Infiltrative gross morphology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is known to be associated with poor prognosis, but this is not considered for staging. A total of 774 HCC patients who underwent curative liver resection were retrospectively reviewed and the prognostic significance of infiltrative type HCC was assessed using the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging systems. Seventy-four patients (9.

Effects of NP-1 on proliferation, migration, and apoptosis of Schwann cell line RSC96 through the NF-κB signaling pathway.

Peripheral nerve injury is a common refractory disease in the clinic that often leads to dysfunction of movement and sensation. Different from other tissue injuries, peripheral nerve injury needs a longer time for regeneration. Therefore, effective drug therapy is needed to promote nerve regeneration in the treatment of peripheral nerve injury.

The association between maternal fat-soluble vitamin concentrations during pregnancy and infant birth weight in China.

Fat-soluble vitamins during pregnancy are important for fetal growth and development. The present study aimed at exploring the association between vitamin A, E and D status during pregnancy and birth weight. A total of 19 640 women with singleton deliveries from a retrospective study were included.

Toward Highly Selective Electrochemical CO Reduction using Metal-Free Heteroatom-Doped Carbon.

There are growing interests in metal-free heteroatom-doped carbons for electrochemical CO reduction. Previous studies extensively focus on the effect of N-doping, and their products severely suffer from low current density (mostly <2 mA cm) and limited selectivity (<90%). Here, it is reported that heteroatom codoping offers a promising solution to the above challenge.