Search

Clonorchiasis is caused by ingestion of raw freshwater fish containing infective larvae of Clonorchis sinensis. China harbours the largest number of people with C. sinensis infection. During the past three decades, the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, affiliated to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NIPD) conducted many studies to facilitate the control on clonorchiasis. Three national surveys have shown the updated epidemiology of clonorchiasis in China. Recently, a national surveillance system has also been established, which will enable the production of high-resolution map. The evaluation of the disease burden has enhanced the awareness on clonorchiasis. Diverse diagnosis techniques including rapid screening by questionnaire, serological tests, faecal examination and a molecular method have been developed or evaluated. The NIPD also participated in the early evaluation of praziquantel against clonorchiasis, which enhanced its application in China. Also, the NIPD has verified the efficacy of tribendimidine against clonorchiasis. A new sustainable strategy is also being explored. However, more research is expected to further facilitate control of clonorchiasis in China, as well as international cooperation in fighting human liver fluke infections in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil-transmitted helminthiases (STHs) have been widely transmitted in China and the control of STHs was initiated by NIPD-CTDR since its foundation. Three national surveys on STHs have been carried out in China, and the infection rate has dropped from 53.58% in the first national survey (1988-92) to 4.49% in the third national survey (2014-16) due to strong interventions including mass drug administration, health education and environment improvement. National surveillance of STHs started in 2006 and has been implemented successively until now, which allows to understand the endemic status and trends of STHs prevalence in China. Surveillance has been expanded to 30 provinces of China since 2016. Integrated pilot programmes have been implemented between 2006 and 2009, in which an integrated strategy, with health education and control of infection sources as key components, was adopted. Since 2019, new control pilots have been started, which will be continued for five successive years to further explore appropriate control strategies in the current "new era". With the decline of infection rate of STHs, China is approaching the elimination stage for STHs. In order to achieve this final target, poverty alleviation programmes should be integrated with precise control measures, according to real situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Wilson disease (WD) is an autosomal recessive disorder of copper metabolism, which is caused by mutation in copper-transporting ATPase (ATP7B). In the present study, we report a molecular diagnosis method to screen the WD chromosome in patients or in heterozygotic carriers in Taiwan. Exons 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, and 18 of ATP7B are selected for the screening of mutations. The most common mutation, Arg778Leu or Arg778Gln, was first screened by PCR-RFLP then we combined single-stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis followed by direct DNA sequencing on the DNA fragments with mobility shift on SSCP analysis. The diagnostic rate was compared with standard ATP7B whole gene sequencing analysis. Ten different mutations were identified among 29 WD patients; among them four were novel (Ala1168Pro, Thr1178Ala, Ala1193Pro, and Pro1273Gln). The false positive rates were tested against 100 normal individuals and listed as follows: exon 8: 5%; exon 11: 4%; exon 12: 6%; exon 13: 5%; exon 16: 5%; exon 17: 3%; exon 18: 4%. The Arg778Leu mutation exhibited the highest allelic frequency (43.1%). The detection rate of WD chromosomes is 65.52%, which is as sensitive as whole gene sequencing scanning. According to our results, WD chromosomes in Taiwan are predominantely located at exons 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, and 18. The standard sequencing analysis on the entire gene is time consuming. We recommend screening these 7 exons first on those individuals who have a higher risk in having WD, before whole gene and promoter sequencing analysis in Taiwan. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Carboxylesterases are mainly involved in the mediation of metabolic resistance of many insects to organophosphate (OP) insecticides. Carboxylesterases underwent two divergent evolutionary events: (1) quantitative mechanism characterized by the overproduction of carboxylesterase protein; and (2) qualitative mechanism caused by changes in enzymatic properties because of mutation from glycine/alanine to aspartate at the 151 site (G/A151D) or from tryptophan to leucine at the 271 site (W271L), following the numbering of Drosophila melanogaster AChE. Qualitative mechanism has been observed in few species. However, whether this carboxylesterase mutation mechanism is prevalent in insects remains unclear. In this study, wild-type, G/A151D and W271L mutant carboxylesterases from Culex pipiens and Aphis gossypii were subjected to germline transformation and then transferred to D. melanogaster . These germlines were ubiquitously expressed as induced by tub -Gal4. In carboxylesterase activity assay, the introduced mutant carboxylesterase did not enhance the overall carboxylesterase activity of flies. This result indicated that G/A151D or W271L mutation disrupted the original activities of the enzyme. Less than 1.5-fold OP resistance was only observed in flies expressing A. gossypii mutant carboxylesterases compared with those expressing A. gossypii wild-type carboxylesterase. However, transgenic flies universally showed low resistance to OP insecticides compared with non-transgenic flies. The flies expressing A. gossypii W271L mutant esterase exhibited 1.5-fold resistance to deltamethrin, a pyrethroid insecticide compared with non-transgenic flies. The present transgenic Drosophila system potentially showed that a quantitative increase in carboxylesterases induced broader resistance of insects to insecticides than a qualitative change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Gaucher disease, the most prevalent lysosomal storage disease characterized by a remarkable degree of clinical variability, results from deleterious mutations in the β-glucosidase gene. Although >200 mutations in the gene for human β-glucosidase have been described, most genotype/phenotype studies have focused on screening for a few common mutations. In the present study, whole gene sequencing analysis was performed. We sequenced eight patients with type 1, five patients with type 2, and six patients with type 3 Gaucher disease in Taiwan. A total of 37 Gaucher chromosome were identified. The detection rate is 97%. For types 1 and 3 Gaucher disease, 1448 T > C (L444P) account for 53.5% Gaucher chromosome and the recombinant allele [1448 T > C, 1483 T > G, 1497 G > C] (RecNciI) has 25% prevalence rate among those patients. For type 2 Gaucher disease, all five patients carry L444P mutation, and RecNciI is found in two of the six patients. Because L444P is also present in the RecNciI mutation, all the patients in this study have a L444P mutation in their Gaucher chromosomes. The third most common mutation of type 1 Gaucher disease is 475 C > T (R120W). L444P homozygote and R120W/RecNciI genotypes are associated with non-neuronopathic Gaucher disease. RecNciI is related to neuronopathic disease, while R120W is represented as a mild mutation in Taiwan. The mutation profile of Gaucher disease in Taiwan is limited. Only four different alleles were identified in types 1 and 3 as well as in type 2 Gaucher disease. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Walnut oil (WNO) is a high-quality vegetable oil with high nutritional value, but it may be the target for adulteration and mislabeling. Therefore, this work proposes the use of excitation–emission matrix fluorescence (EEMF) spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics and ensemble learning to identify and semi-quantify the adulterated WNO. Herein, a total of 711 vegetable oil samples were analyzed. A five-component alternating trilinear decomposition (ATLD) completed the EEMF spectra characterization of 426 pure oil samples and provided chemically meaningful information. Five authenticity identification methods, including eXtreme gradient boosting (XGB), gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT), random forest (RF), multi-way partial least squares discriminant analysis (N -PLS-DA), and k -nearest neighbor (k -NN), were used for the discrimination of WNO and counterfeited WNO. Besides, PLS regression (PLSR) models were established to semi-quantify the adulterated levels of WNO concentration in edible blended oils. The results showed that ensemble methods obtained better performance, with the correct classification rate (CCR) of cross-validation being ranged 82.7–100 %, and the value of RMSEP is less than 12.8 %. These results suggest that EEMF combined with chemometrics and ensemble methods can be used as a promising tool for rapid authenticity identification in commercial edible vegetable oils. [Display omitted] • A fluorescence method was developed for the identification of walnut oil. • ATLD completed the spectral characterization of 426 pure vegetable oils. • The classification models were established by chemometrics and ensemble methods. • Ensemble methods achieved better classification performance. • PLS regression was applied to semi-quantify the adulteration levels of walnut oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may lead to a series of changes in the central nervous system, including impaired synaptic plasticity, neuronal dendritic spine loss, enhanced apoptosis and increased inflammation. However, the specific mechanism of PTSD has not been studied clearly. In the present study, we found that the level of miR-153-3p in the hippocampus of rats exposed tosingle-prolonged stresss (SPS) was upregulated, but its downstream target σ-1R showed a significant decrease. The downregulation of miR-153 could alleviate the PTSD-like behaviors in the rats exposed to SPS, and this effect might be related to the upregulation of σ-1R and PSD95. Furthermore, anti-miR-153 could also increase the dendritic spine density and reduce cell apoptosis in the hippocampus of SPS rats. In addition, we showed that the mTOR signaling pathway might be involved in the regulation of σ-1R in the hippocampus of rats exposed to SPS. The results of this study indicated that miR-153 might alleviate PTSD-like behaviors by regulating cell morphology and reducing cell apoptosis in the hippocampus of rats exposed to SPS by targeting σ-1R, which might be related to the mTOR signaling pathway. • The level of miR-153 was upregulated in the hippocampus of rats exposed to SPS procedure, while the level of sigma-1R was downregulated. • Anti-miR-153 injection alleviated PTSD-like behaviors and this effect might be related to the upregulation of PSD95, the decreased level of apoptosis, and the increased density of dendritic spines in hippocampal neurons. • The effect of anti-miR-153 on neurons might be related to its target gene sigma-1R, which activates mTOR signal pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Rho kinase (ROCK) is important in fundamental processes of cell proliferation and survival. Blockade of ROCK promotes stem cell survival in vitro and axonal regeneration in vivo, exhibiting therapeutic potential such as spinal cord injuries and stroke. Here, we used the model of hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury to explore the possibility whether Fasudil, a ROCK inhibitor in clinical application for subarachnoid hemorrhage and stroke, mobilizes adult neural stem cells in vivo. Most interestingly, Fasudil triggers neurogenesis especially in the subventricular zone after H/R. The increase of Brdu+ cholinergic neurons was observed in striatum and forebrain cortex of Fasudil-treated mice after 30 days. Further observation demonstrates that both levels of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and astrocytes expressing G-CSF were elevated in mice treated with Fasudil, as compared to mice injected with saline. In vitro H/R model of cultured astrocytes, Fasudil promoted astrocytes to produce G-CSF in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, antibody neutralization and receptor blocking of the G-CSF pathway clearly demonstrate that Fasudil-induced neurogenesis was mediated partially through astrocyte-derived G-CSF. Our results indicate that Fasudil might represent a promising therapeutic perspective by mobilizating endogenous adult neural stem cells in the CNS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Interleukin-2 (IL-2), one of the crucial immunoregulatory cytokines required for T lymphocyte activation, plays an important role in autoimmune diseases. An IL-2 genetic G/T polymorphism (rs2069763) has been linked with multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. We tested a hypothesis that this polymorphism confers systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) susceptibility. Study participants were Han Chinese SLE patients and a healthy control group in Taiwan. Our results indicate (a) a significantly higher G allele frequency in SLE patients (P =1.91×10−14; OR=3.94; 95% CI=2.74–5.66), (b) a significantly higher G allele frequency in SLE patients with antinuclear antibodies (ANA) (P =0.033; OR=4.21; 95% CI=1.01–17.51) and (c) a significantly lower G allele frequency in SLE patients with discoid rash (P =0.019; OR=0.41; 95% CI=0.19–0.88). Our results suggest that this polymorphism may be involved in the genetic background of Taiwanese SLE. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The title compound [NiII(phen)3]2[Cu10H2I16] 1 (phen=1,10-phenanthroline, C12H8N2) was hydrothermally synthesized from a simple reaction of CuI–NiCl2·6H2O–phen·H2O–H2O. X-ray analysis revealed that it consists of NiN62+ core cation and decanuclear iodocuprate(I) anion together with two dissociative H+ ions. In anionic unit, the discrete decanuclear iodocuprate(I) is formed by crystallographically independent five monovalent copper atoms and eight iodine atoms via an inversion center. There exist two types of Cu(I) coordination sites; only one copper(I) atom is in a highly distorted triangular planar site, and the other four copper(I) atoms display the tetrahedral geometries. It deserves to be noted that four types of bridging modes of I− ions in which two are ordinary μ2- and μ3-bonding modes can be found. But the other two are the rectangle planar geometry and the novel μ4-bridge like an “umbrella”, and both of them are rather rare in the halocuprates(I). Compound 1 was crystallized in triclinic space group P1¯ with a=11.6861(17), b=14.590(2), c=14.649(2) A˚, α=76.370(2), β=70.830(2), γ=81.320(3)o, R=0.075, and was characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectrum and UV-VIS spectrum. The third-order non-linear optical property of 1 was also investigated and the compound exhibits the reverse saturable absorption and self-defocusing performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]