Publications by authors named "Xuefan Cui"

Human activities can cause zinc (Zn) contamination of aquatic environments. Zn is an essential trace metal, but effects of environmentally relevant Zn exposure on the brain-intestine axis in fish are poorly understood. Here, six-month-old female zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed to environmentally relevant Zn concentrations for six weeks.

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Objective: The incidence of cryptococcosis is increasing in non-immunocompromised patients. However, the evidence on proper management is inadequate in this population. We conducted this multi-center real-world study in pulmonary cryptococcosis patients with different immune statuses, so as to provide practical evidence for optimized clinical management of cryptococcosis, especially for mild-to-moderate immunodeficient diseases patients.

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Dragonflies are sensitive to climate change due to their special habitat in aquatic and terrestrial environments, especially , which have extraordinary migratory abilities in response to climate change on spatio-temporal scales. At present, there are major gaps in the documentation of insects and the effects of climatic changes on the habitat and species it supports. In this study, we model the global distribution of a wandering glider dragonfly, , and detected the important environmental factors shaping its range, as well as habitat shifts under historical and future warming scenarios.

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Objectives: Aspergillus-specific IgG antibody (Asp IgG) has been successfully applied in the diagnosis of chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. We explored its value in nonneutropenic invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) by a multicenter, prospective, and controlled study.

Methods: We enrolled 372 clinically suspected nonneutropenic patients with IPA from February 2015 to August 2022.

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Zinc is an essential nutrient for life, but over-accumulation can result in toxicity. Anthropogenic activities can increase zinc concentrations in aquatic environments (e.g.

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Anthropogenic activities discharge zinc into aquatic ecosystems, and the effects of long-term and low-concentration zinc exposure on fish behavior are unclear. We evaluated the behavior and physiology of male zebrafish (Danio rerio) after a 6-week exposure to 1.0 or 1.

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The common carp () accounts for approximately 10% of the annual freshwater aquaculture production and is an ideal model to study cyprinidae reproduction. Female common carp grow faster than the males; therefore, related research presents an opportunity with high application value. Although we have a detailed understanding of common carp's early gonadal differentiation process, information about genome-wide gene expression, regulation, and underlying molecular mechanisms during this process remain limited.

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Background: Current guidelines support different management of cryptococcosis between severely immunodeficient and immunocompetent populations. However, few studies have focused on cryptococcosis patients with mild-to-moderate immunodeficiency. We performed this study to determine the clinical features of pulmonary (PC) and extrapulmonary cryptococcosis (EPC) and compared them among populations with different immune statuses to support appropriate clinical management of this public health threat.

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A previous study suggested that human Coffin-Siris syndrome is related to the mutation of . Since the homozygous mutant mice died soon after birth, no suitable model was available for the study of the pathogenic mechanism of Coffin-Siris syndrome. To solve this problem, we generated two viable homozygous zebrafish mutants, and .

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Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a key neuropeptide of the reproductive system. However, little is known about the role of GnRH in the spotted scat (Scatophagus argus). Here, three GnRH subtypes (cGnRH-II, sGnRH, and sbGnRH) were identified in the spotted scat.

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Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (ERBB2, HER-2) exon 20 insertion (ERBB2ex20ins) remains a refractory oncogenic driver in lung cancer. So far there is limited data showing the co-occurring mutation background of ERBB2ex20ins in Chinese lung cancer and its relationship with response to afatinib. A total of 112 Chinese patients with ERBB2ex20ins identified by next-generation sequencing from 17 hospitals were enrolled.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Gnrh is crucial for reproduction, stimulating hormone release necessary for ovulation and sperm release; researchers discovered a new role for Gnrh3 in zebrafish, revealing a male-biased sex ratio in Gnrh3-null fish created via CRISPR/Cas9.
  • - Gnrh3-null zebrafish showed lower numbers of primordial germ cells (PGCs) compared to wild-type, and while there was no PGC apoptosis detected, their proliferation in wild-type embryos was compromised in Gnrh3-null embryos.
  • - Gnrh3 influences early sex differentiation by regulating PGC proliferation through MAPK signaling, as indicated by changes in specific gene expressions and the impact of a Gnrh analog on
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Scatophagus argus is a new emerging aquaculture fish in East and Southeast Asia. To date, research on reproductive development and regulation in S. argus is lacking.

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The nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome has developed as an important bridge between innate immune and infection recently, and has the ability to drive proteolytic procaspase-1 into bioactive caspase-1, then responsible for proteolytic processing of inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18. Fungal β-glucan, a major component of fungal cell wall, triggers inflammatory response in multiple immune cells, but rarely described in epithelial cells. Also, the relationship between fungal β-glucan and NLRP3 inflammasome is not clear yet.

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Estrogen receptors (Er) play a critical role in vitellogenesis. Three ers (erα, erβ1 and erβ2) and vitellogenins (vtg-A, vtg-B and vtg-C) subtypes were isolated in various fish species, while the contribution of each Er to the regulation of vtgs expression was not analyzed in detail. Here, erα, erβ1 and erβ2 were cloned and all were found to be expressed in female liver in Scatophagus argus.

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An 80-year-old female with a history of hypertension and atrial fibrillation had been receiving warfarin anticoagulant therapy and had stably maintained an international normalized ratio (INR) within the 2.0-3.0 range.

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ILF2 (NF45) is a sequence-specific DNA binding protein that is involved in mitosis control, transcriptional regulation, DNA breaks repair, microRNA processing and viral replication. In the present study, we aim to investigate the potential role of ILF2 in the progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Western blot analysis indicated that ILF2 was up-regulated in NSCLC tissues, compared with adjacent non-tumorous ones.

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Objective: To determine the effectiveness of empiric antibiotic regimens covering atypical pathogens with respect to detailed clinical and economic outcomes in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Methods: A population-based, multicenter, retrospective cohort study was conducted from June 2010 to May 2011. Patients with a diagnosis of CAP were enrolled and categorized into two groups according to the initial antibiotic strategy used - covering or not covering atypical pathogens.

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Objective: To explore the clinical features of rapidly progressive crytogenic organizing pneumonia (COP).

Methods: Nine cases of rapidly progressive COP with acute respiratory failure confirmed by lung biopsy at First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University from October 2003 to March 2014 were retrospectively reviewed.

Results: There were 5 males and 4 females with an age range of (52.

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Human β-defensin-2(HBD-2) is one of the two major vertebrate antimicrobial peptide families (α and β), which is highly expressed by proinflammatory induction in the lung and exhibit broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. We observed that IL-22 receptors high expressed on the membrane of A549 cells; HBD-2 mRNA was expressed in a time- and concentration-dependent manners in A549 cells when treated with IL-22; further studies demonstrated that HBD-2 expression was attenuated by AG490, but to JSH-23, inhibitors of p-STAT3 DNA binding and NF-κB/p65 subunit nuclear translocation, respectively. These results support that IL-22-mediated signalling pathway of HBD-2 gene expression involved STAT3 but not NF-κB in human alveolar epithelium.

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p29, also known as SYF2/fSAP29/NTC31, is a protein associated with chromatin and involved in DNA damage response, cell cycle arrest and pre-mRNA splicing. In p29-depleted cells, DNA replication was reduced and cell population in G1 phase increased. In this study, we investigated the potential role of p29 in the regulation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) progression.

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Transformer 2β (Tra2β), a member of the serine/arginine-rich-like protein family, is an important RNA-binding protein involved in alternative splice. Deregulation of Tra2β has been observed in several cancers. However, the detailed role of Tra2β in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been elucidated.

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Paeoniflorin (PF) is one of the principal components of peony, a plant widely used in traditional Chinese medicine for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. Human β-defensin-2 (hBD-2) is an antimicrobial peptide that acts as the first line of defense against bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. This study aims to determine whether or not PF can regulate the expression of hBD-2 and its possible molecular mechanism in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs).

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Much evidence suggests that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection prolongs airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and exacerbates asthma by enhancing airway inflammation. However, the characteristic of airway inflammation and kinetics of airway dysfunction occurred in the central and peripheral airways were not fully delineated. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of RSV on the allergic airway inflammation in different size airways and to elucidate its possible mechanism.

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Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) is a rare non-neoplastic histioproliferative disorder characterised by painless lymphadenopathy, low fever, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate, leucocytosis and hypergammaglobulinaemia. Overactivity of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) is linked with inflammatory, cancerous and autoimmune diseases. The first case is described of an unusual life-threatening RDD of the trachea with no lymphadenopathy at risk of suffocation in a 39-year-old Chinese woman.

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