Publications by authors named "Pingping Qu"

Article Synopsis
  • Complex structural variations (cxSVs) are often missed in genome studies due to difficulties in detection, but ARC-SV provides a machine-learning method to accurately identify and reconstruct them from standard genetic datasets.
  • * Our research identified cxSVs as key contributors to human genetic diversity, showing that rare cxSVs frequently occur in genes related to neural functions and rapid human evolution.
  • * Through advanced analysis of brain tissue, we found cxSVs are linked to gene expression changes and are associated with psychiatric disorders, suggesting they play a significant role in the development of neuropsychiatric conditions.
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DNA methyltransferase type 1 (DNMT1) is a major enzyme involved in maintaining the methylation pattern after DNA replication. Mutations in DNMT1 have been associated with autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia, deafness and narcolepsy (ADCA-DN). We used fibroblasts, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and induced neurons (iNs) generated from patients with ADCA-DN and controls, to explore the epigenomic and transcriptomic effects of mutations in DNMT1.

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Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) infection in cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized in stages: never (prior to first positive culture) to incident (first positive culture) to chronic. The association of Pa infection stage with lung function trajectory is poorly understood and the impact of age on this association has not been examined. We hypothesized that FEV decline would be slowest prior to Pa infection, intermediate after incident infection and greatest after chronic Pa infection.

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Many QTL have been identified for grain appearance quality by linkage analysis (LA) in bi-parental mapping populations and by genome-wide association study (GWAS) in natural populations in rice. However, few of the well characterized genes/QTL have been successfully applied in molecular rice breeding due to genetic background (GB) and environment effects on QTL expression and deficiency of favorable alleles. In this study, GWAS and LA were performed to identify QTL for five grain appearance quality-related traits using three multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) populations.

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Unlabelled: Approaches to refeeding patients with anorexia nervosa for medical stabilization vary across institutions, and there is no established standard of care. This study assessed the impact of a refeeding pathway on hospital length of stay and transfer to the psychiatry unit.

Methods: This quality improvement intervention sought to standardize care for adolescents with anorexia nervosa at a tertiary care, free-standing children's hospital from Spring 2017 to Fall 2018.

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In the nitrogen-limited subtropical gyres, diazotrophic cyanobacteria, including Crocosphaera, provide an essential ecosystem service by converting dinitrogen (N) gas into ammonia to support primary production in these oligotrophic regimes. Natural gradients of phosphorus (P) and iron (Fe) availability in the low-latitude oceans constrain the biogeography and activity of diazotrophs with important implications for marine biogeochemical cycling. Much remains unknown regarding Crocosphaera's physiological and molecular responses to multiple nutrient limitations.

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Background: Both medical child abuse (MCA) and central sensitization (CS) may present in adolescents with chronic pain, disability, high healthcare utilization, and unremarkable medical evaluations.

Objective: This study aimed to identify themes in the clinical narratives of adolescents with chronic pain that may help differentiate MCA from CS.

Participants And Setting: Participants were 28 adolescents (ages 13-18 years) with chronic pain referred to either the Child Abuse Pediatrics team or the Pediatric Pain Medicine team at a tertiary children's hospital between 2011 and 2019, and diagnosed with MCA or CS, respectively.

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Background: Hospitalized patients and caregivers who use a language other than English have worse health outcomes, including longer length of stay, more frequent readmissions, and increased rates of in-hospital adverse events. Children who experience clinical deterioration (as measured by a Rapid Response Team event) during a hospitalization are at increased risk for adverse events and mortality.

Methods: We describe the results of a retrospective cohort study using hospital records at a free-standing, quaternary children's hospital, to examine the association of language of care with outcomes (transfer to intensive care, adverse event, mortality prior to discharge) following Rapid Response Team event, and whether increased interpreter use among patients who use a language other than English is associated with improved outcomes following Rapid Response Team event.

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Study Objective: Digital nerve blocks (DNBs) provide local anesthesia for minor procedures of the digits. Several DNB techniques have been described, but it is unclear which technique provides adequate anesthesia with the least pain. DNB techniques can be grouped into a dorsal approach, which requires 2 injections, versus 3 different types of volar approaches, which require a single injection.

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The air-fuel mixture preparation in pilot spray-ignited natural gas engines is primarily dominated by piston bowl profiles and fuel injection strategy. Piston bowl geometry is regarded as the crucial point in controlling engine pollutant emissions. In the present work, the SAGE combustion model was applied coupled with a general reaction kinetic mechanism.

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Objectives: There is limited research examining racial/ethnic disparities in antiemetic use for acute gastroenteritis (AGE). We assessed racial/ethnic differences in the care of children with AGE.

Methods: The Pediatric Health Information System was used to conduct a retrospective cohort study of children 6 months to 6 years old with AGE seen in participating emergency departments from 2016 to 2018.

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Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is associated with poor short-term and long-term outcomes. Greater awareness of long-term AKI-associated outcomes is needed to optimally plan follow-up and management after ICU discharge. We used propensity score methods to study associations between pediatric AKI and major adverse kidney outcomes, including mortality.

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The globally dominant N -fixing cyanobacteria Trichodesmium and Crocosphaera provide vital nitrogen supplies to subtropical and tropical oceans, but little is known about how they will be affected by long-term ocean warming. We tested their thermal responses using experimental evolution methods during 2 years of selection at optimal (28°C), supra-optimal (32°C) and suboptimal (22°C) temperatures. After several hundred generations under thermal selection, changes in growth parameters, as well as N and C fixation rates, suggested that Trichodesmium did not adapt to the three selection temperature regimes during the 2-year evolution experiment, but could instead rapidly and reversibly acclimate to temperature shifts from 20°C to 34°C.

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Objectives: Describe what costs and benefits parents across the socioeconomic spectrum weight most heavily when making decisions about sport participation for their children.

Method: Cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative online panel of parents of children between the ages of 5 and 18 (n = 1025, 52% response rate). Parents rated the importance of a series of potential costs and benefits of youth sport and these responses were compared across tertiles of per capita family income.

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Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive and irreversible respiratory disease, becomes the third leading cause of death and results in enormous economic burden on healthcare costs and productivity loss worldwide by 2020. Thus, it is urgent to develop effective anti-COPD drugs.

Materials And Methods: In the present study, two published GEO profiles were used to re-analyze and ascertain the relationships between circulating miRNAs and bronchial epithelial cells (BECs) mRNAs in COPD.

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In response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic many vaccines have been developed and evaluated in human clinical trials. The humoral immune response magnitude, composition and efficacy of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 are essential endpoints for these trials. Robust assays that are reproducibly precise, linear, and specific for SARS-CoV-2 antigens would be beneficial for the vaccine pipeline.

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The aim of this study was to examine the frequency with which child abuse pediatricians (CAPs) assess consultations as low versus high likelihood of abuse. In this retrospective secondary analysis of data from the Examining Siblings to Recognize Abuse (ExSTRA) study, the likelihood of abuse score for 2890 consultations at 20 medical centers was collected. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the percentage of cases representing low versus high likelihood of abuse (i.

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Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops worldwide. A consensus map combines genetic information from multiple populations, providing an effective alternative to improve the genome coverage and marker density. In this study, we constructed a consensus map from three populations of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of wheat using a 90K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluates the Performance of the BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) using observational data from 17 global stations over 20 days, focusing on its precise point positioning (PPP) capabilities.
  • The results indicate that BDS-3 shows improved accuracy in both static and kinematic PPP, with root mean square (RMS) values of 6.9 mm, 4.7 mm, and 26.6 mm for static positioning in the north, east, and upward directions, respectively.
  • Additionally, combining BDS with GPS enhances coordinate accuracy and reduces convergence time, highlighting that kinematic PPP is more sensitive to satellite availability compared to static PPP.
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In response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic many vaccines have been developed and evaluated in human clinical trials. The humoral immune response magnitude, composition and efficacy of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 are essential endpoints for these trials. Robust assays that are reproducibly precise, linear, and specific for SARS-CoV-2 antigens would be beneficial for the vaccine pipeline.

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Access to opportunities for physical activity and sports, and therefore potential benefits of participation, are distributed inequitably. The aims of this study were to describe and compare youth experiences related to sport and physical activity by socioeconomic factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted of students in 5-12th grades in King County, Washington, USA.

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Heterozygous deletions constitute the most prevalent currently known single-gene mutation associated with schizophrenia, and additionally predispose to multiple other neurodevelopmental disorders. Engineered heterozygous deletions impaired neurotransmitter release in human neurons, suggesting a synaptic pathophysiological mechanism. Utilizing this observation for drug discovery, however, requires confidence in its robustness and validity.

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Epigenetic deregulation is increasingly recognized as a contributing pathological factor in multiple myeloma (MM). In particular tri-methylation of H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3), which is catalyzed by PHD finger protein 19 (PHF19), a subunit of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), has recently shown to be a crucial mediator of MM tumorigenicity. Overexpression of PHF19 in MM has been associated with worse clinical outcome.

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We investigated whether countries with higher coverage of childhood live vaccines [BCG or measles-containing-vaccine (MCV)] have reduced risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related mortality, while accounting for known systems differences between countries. In this ecological study of 140 countries using publicly available national-level data, higher vaccine coverage, representing estimated proportion of people vaccinated during the last 14 years, was associated with lower COVID-19 deaths. The associations attenuated for both vaccine variables, and MCV coverage became no longer significant once adjusted for published estimates of the Healthcare access and quality index (HAQI), a validated summary score of healthcare quality indicators.

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