Prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients with chronic digestive system diseases: A multicenter epidemiological study.

Aim: To investigate the prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients with chronic digestive system diseases.

Methods: A total of 1736 patients with chronic digestive system diseases were included in this cross-sectional study, including 871 outpatients and 865 in-patients. A self-designed General Information for Patients of the Department of Gastroenterology of General Hospitals questionnaire was used to collect each patient's general information, which included demographic data (including age, sex, marital status, and education) and disease characteristics (including major diseases, disease duration, principal symptoms, chronic pain, sleep disorder, and limited daily activities).

Can hemozoin alone cause host anaemia?

Both schistosomes and malaria parasites produce hemozoin and cause host anaemia. However, the relationship between anaemia and hemozoin is unclear. Although some studies have proposed that hemozoin is related to anaemia in malaria patients, whether hemozoin alone can cause anaemia in patients infected by malaria parasites or schistosomes is uncertain.

[Advances on antitumor effect of parasites].

Immune response induced by parasites could inhibit tumor growth and promote apoptosis of tumor cells. The investigation into this character will provide new insights on the anti-tumor effect of parasites. The mechanism of parasite immune evasion may provide a reference for tumor research.

ATP synthase: an identified target gene of bantam in paired female Schistosoma japonicum.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that function in transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. An increasing number of schistosome miRNAs have been identified and are expected possibly involved in differentiation, development, and metabolism. However, limited information is available concerning the target genes of schistosome miRNAs.

Transcriptome profilings of female Schistosoma japonicum reveal significant differential expression of genes after pairing.

Pairing of Schistosoma japonicum initiates female development, leads to female sexual maturation, and maintains this mature state. To understand the mechanism involved in these processes, we studied parasites isolated from single- and double-sex cercariae-infected mice using deep-sequencing analysis, Solexa, to uncover pair-regulated transcriptional profiles. In this study, we report the results of high-throughput tag-sequencing (Tag-seq) analysis of the transcriptome of female worms 18 and 23 days postsingle- and double-sex infections.

Mutations in hepatitis B virus core regions correlate with hepatocellular injury in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Aim: To elucidate the relationship between the frequency of core mutations and the clinical activity of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver disease and to characterize the amino acid changes in the core region of HBV.

Methods: We studied 17 Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B according to their clinical courses and patterns of the entire core region of HBV.

Results: Amino acid changes often appeared in the HBV core region of the HBV gene in patients with high values of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) or with the seroconversion from HbeAg to anti-HBe.