Publications by authors named "Qin Zhen"

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spread rapidly, leading to an Omicron outbreak in Shanghai in mid-December after adjustments to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) control strategy. To investigate the impact of COVID-19 infection among hypothyroid patients, we gathered data on the hypothyroid outpatients with COVID-19 infection during this time at the Thyroid Disease Center (TDC) of Shanghai Central Hospital. Patients were divided into two groups based on whether their hypothyroidism was caused by Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (HT): the HT and the non-HT group.

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Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a form of non-ischaemic myocardial disease, is characterised by structural and functional cardiac abnormalities. As defined by the World Health Organisation, DCM constitutes a significant cardiac pathology, leading to increased morbidity and mortality due to complications such as heart failure and arrhythmias. The diagnostic process for DCM predominantly employs echocardiography and MRI, with biomarkers like NT-pro BNP and troponin providing supportive, yet non-specific, evidence.

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Although adeno-to-squamous transition (AST) has been observed in association with resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) in clinic, its causality, molecular mechanism and overcoming strategies remain largely unclear. We here demonstrate that squamous transition occurs concomitantly with TKI resistance in PC9-derived xenograft tumors. Perturbation of squamous transition via DNp63 overexpression or knockdown leads to significant changes in TKI responses, indicative of a direct causal link between squamous transition and TKI resistance.

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Cancer, a global health threat, demands effective diagnostic solutions to combat its impact on public health, particularly for breast, colon, and lung cancers. Early and accurate diagnosis is essential for successful treatment, prompting the rise of Computer-Aided Diagnosis Systems as reliable and cost-effective tools. Histopathology, renowned for its precision in cancer imaging, has become pivotal in the diagnostic landscape of breast, colon, and lung cancers.

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β-1,3-Glucanases have prospective applications in areas such as functional oligosaccharide preparation, plant protection, and breweries. In this study, a glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 17 β-1,3-glucanase (BbGlc17A) from bacterium from a microbial mat metagenome from the Great Salt Lake was identified. BbGlc17A catalyzed the hydrolytic conversion of laminarin into β-glucooligosaccharides with polymerization degrees of 3-8.

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Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of a novel contact lens sensor system (CLS) in detecting continuous intraocular pressure (IOP) variations following positional transitions, and to explore these IOP variation patterns among normal subjects, untreated glaucoma patients, and untreated ocular hypertension (OHT) subjects.

Methods: This prospective comparative study included 20 normal subjects, 14 high tension glaucoma (HTG) patients, 16 normal tension glaucoma (NTG) patients, and 14 OHT subjects. Participants wore the CLS for continuous IOP monitoring while undergoing sequential body position changes: from sitting to supine to a 10° head-down tilt (HDT), with each position maintained for ten minutes.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on a broadleaf species used in afforestation, which struggles with transplantation due to its slow above-ground growth and rapid taproot development, leading to lower survival rates.
  • Researchers conducted root pruning by removing one-third of the roots, which was found to enhance lateral root growth compared to unpruned seedlings.
  • Through extensive analysis, including transcriptome sequencing, they identified thousands of differentially expressed genes related to plant hormone signaling, and pinpointed 20 key genes that promote root development, contributing to improved scientific understanding of seedling production for forestry and vegetation restoration.
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Microbial xylanase has a wide range of applications, and many researchers favoring its utilization as an alternative to improve flour products. Wheat flour is the main raw material of flour products, although the content of arabinoxylan is not high in flour products, but it has a great influence on the quality of flour products, microbial xylanase can act on wheat arabinoxylan, so as to play the role of flour product improvement. This review carries out a description of the research progress on the application of xylanases in flour products in terms of xylanase properties, different families of xylanases and improvement mechanisms of xylanases in flour products.

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Background: Although goal-directed perfusion (GDP) during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has been discussed extensively in adult studies, no pediatric indexed oxygen delivery (Doi) thresholds are universally accepted, and no pediatric randomized controlled trial has been reported. This study aimed to determine whether the GDP initiative (maintaining Doi ≥360 mL/min/m during CPB) could reduce the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) after pediatric cardiac operation and improve clinical outcomes.

Methods: This single-center randomized controlled trial enrolled 312 pediatric patients, who were randomized to receive either the GDP strategy or a conventional perfusion strategy during CPB.

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Metamorphosis control is pivotal in preventing the outbreak of jellyfish, and it is often studied using common model organisms. The widespread use of the ultraviolet blocking agent homosalate in cosmetics poses a threat to marine ecosystems. Although the impact of homosalate on marine organisms has been extensively examined, there is a notable absence of research on its effects on jellyfish metamorphosis and the underlying mechanisms, warranting further investigation.

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Electronic skin (e-skin) inspired by the sensory function of the skin demonstrates broad application prospects in health, medicine, and human-machine interaction. Herein, we developed a self-powered all-fiber bio-inspired e-skin (AFBI E-skin) that integrated functions of antifouling, antibacterial, biocompatibility and breathability. AFBI E-skin was composed of three layers of electrospun nanofibrous films.

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The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is widely employed as a model organism to study basic biological mechanisms. However, transgenic C. elegans are generated by manual injection, which remains low-throughput and labor-intensive, limiting the scope of approaches benefitting from large-scale transgenesis.

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Liver disease diagnosis is pivotal for effective patient management, and machine learning techniques have shown promise in this domain. In this study, we investigate the impact of Polynomial-SHapley Additive exPlanations analysis on enhancing the performance and interpretability of machine learning models for liver disease classification. Our results demonstrate significant improvements in accuracy, precision, recall, F1_score, and Matthews correlation coefficient across various algorithms when polynomial- SHapley Additive exPlanations analysis is applied.

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Background: Ferritin, a key indicator of body iron levels, has been reported to associate with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and the onset of Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, limited research explores the association between mid-pregnancy ferritin levels and the risk of postpartum abnormal glucose metabolism (AGM) in patients with GDM.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in 1514 women with GDM recruited from January 2016 to January 2021, and 916 women were included.

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This study uses numerical methods (ANSYS-Fluent) to investigate the viscous fingering of the displaced phase as a shear-thinning fluid in the classic three-dimensional Hele-Shaw cell. Comparing the behavior of fingerings with different properties on the upper and lower surfaces of a three-dimensional model, it was found that when the upper and lower surfaces are walls, under the combined action of moving contact lines and Saffman-Taylor instability, fingering splitting occurs at the tip, resulting in the appearance of two fingers at the interface. In addition, we have found that interfacial tension has a suppressive effect on short waves.

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Tumor-associatedmacrophages (TAMs) exhibit remarkable heterogeneity in glioblastoma. Spatially resolved single-cell transcriptomic studies identified a monocyte-derived TAM subset localized in the peri-necrotic niche, driven by hypoxic cues to acquire ahypoxia response signature. These hypoxia-TAMs destabilize endothelial adherens junctions through adrenomedullin paracrine signaling, promoting the formation of hyperpermeable neovasculature that impedes drug delivery.

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Public safety is a critical concern, typically addressed through security checks at entrances of public places, involving trained officers or X-ray scanning machines to detect prohibited items. However, many places like hospitals, schools, and event centres lack such resources, risking security breaches. Even with X-ray scanners or manual checks, gaps can be exploited by individuals with malicious intent, posing significant security risks.

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Article Synopsis
  • Light and nitrogen are essential for photosynthesis, and changes in these factors can lead to different physiological adaptations in phytoplankton cells.
  • A study found that two diatom species responded differently to changes in light and nitrogen availability, revealing distinct cellular mechanisms behind their responses.
  • Under high light with low nitrate conditions, one species suffered photodamage and down-regulated key genes, while the other managed to adapt by sacrificing amino acid metabolism, highlighting their contrasting strategies in coping with stress.
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Article Synopsis
  • - Three different photoactive coordination polymers (CPs) with similar structures were studied for their unique responses to UV light and mechanical motion, driven by a solid-state reaction.
  • - The mechanical movement in these materials was influenced by the specific arrangement of their photoactive components, leading to variations in their photosalient behaviors.
  • - A practical application was developed by combining one of these coordination polymers with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to create a simple photoactuating device that can repeat its motion multiple times through heating and exposure to light.
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Cancer cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome characterized by loss of body weight secondary to skeletal muscle atrophy and adipose tissue wasting. It not only has a significant impact on patients' quality of life but also reduces the effectiveness and tolerability of anticancer therapy, leading to poor clinical outcomes. Lung cancer is a prominent global health concern, and the prevalence of cachexia is high among patients with lung cancer.

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Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized clinical microbiology, particularly in diagnosing respiratory infectious diseases and conducting epidemiological investigations. This narrative review summarizes conventional methods for routine respiratory infection diagnosis, including culture, smear microscopy, immunological assays, image techniques as well as polymerase chain reaction(PCR). In contrast to conventional methods, there is a new detection technology, sequencing technology, and here we mainly focus on the next-generation sequencing NGS, especially metagenomic NGS(mNGS).

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