Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a partially double-stranded DNA virus that replicates by reverse transcription. We previously demonstrated that the host restriction factor-APOBEC3B (A3B) inhibited HBV replication which was dependent on its deaminase activity during reverse transcription. However, the host factors involved in the process of regulating the anti-HBV function of A3B are less known. In this research, to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the interaction networks of A3B, we conducted coimmunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry...

Scabies remains a significant public health concern globally, affecting people of all ages, races, and socioeconomic groups. The epidemic characteristics of scabies are yet unravelled, especially in high-income countries and elderly population. In this study, we sought to investigate incidence and prevalence and their trends of scabies worldwide from 1990 to 2017 via the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2017. The prevalence and incidence of scabies tend to a moderate increase after age 70....

Scabies remains a significant public health concern globally, affecting people of all ages, races, and socioeconomic groups. The epidemic characteristics of scabies are yet unraveled, especially in high-income countries and elderly population. In this study, we sought to investigate incidence and prevalence and their trends of scabies worldwide from 1990 to 2017 via the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2017. The prevalence and incidence of age-standardized rate (ASR) of scabies tend to a moderate...

We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal Cell Cycle, have retracted the following article: Qicai Han, Jie Yang, Hao Yang, Chao Li, Juan Li & Yuan Cao (2020) KIAA1429 promotes osteosarcoma progression by promoting stem cell properties and is regulated by miR-143-3p, Cell Cycle, 19:10, 1172-1185, DOI: 10.1080/15384101.2020.1749465 Since publication, concerns have been raised about similarity of the data in another published article: Yang J, Han Q, Li C, Yang H, Chen X, Wang...

Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) is primarily associated with common cold in children, elderly and immunocompromised individuals. Outbreaks caused by HCoV-NL63 are rare. Here we report a cluster of HCoV-NL63 cases with severe lower respiratory tract infection that arose in Guangzhou, China, in 2018. Twenty-three hospitalized children were confirmed to be HCoV-NL63 positive, and most of whom were hospitalized with severe pneumonia or acute bronchitis. Whole genomes of HCoV-NL63 were obtained using next-generation sequencing. Phylogenetic and...

Serology is a crucial part of the public health response to the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Here, we describe the development, validation and clinical evaluation of a protein micro-array as a quantitative multiplex immunoassay that can identify S and N-directed SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies with high specificity and sensitivity and distinguish them from all currently circulating human coronaviruses. The method specificity was 100% for SARS-CoV-2 S1 and 96% for N antigen based on extensive syndromic (n=230 cases)...

Supplemental Material, sj-doc-1-ear-10.1177_0145561320974863 for Primary Heterotopic Meningioma of Nasal Cavity: Case Report and Literature Review by Xianwen Hu, Maoyan Jiang, Zelong Feng, Juan Wang, Pan Wang and Jiong Cai in Ear, Nose & Throat Journal

Quantitative real time PCR (RT-PCR) is widely used as the gold standard for clinical detection of SARS-CoV-2. However, due to the low viral load specimens and the limitations of RT-PCR, significant numbers of false negative reports are inevitable, which results in failure to timely diagnose, cut off transmission, and assess discharge criteria. To improve this situation, an optimized droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) was used for detection of SARS-CoV-2, which showed that the limit of detection...

In December 2019, Wuhan, China suffered a serious outbreak of a novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID) caused by novel severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV 2). To quickly identify the pathogen, we designed and screened primer sets, and established a sensitive and specific qRT-PCR assay for SARS-CoV 2; the lower limit of detection (LOD) was 15 (95% CI: 9.8–21) copies per reaction. We combined this qRT-PCR assay with an automatic integration system for nucleic acid...

Background: Novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is prevalent around the world. We aimed to describe epidemiological features and clinical course in Shanghai. Methods: We retrospectively analysed 325 cases admitted at Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, between January 20 and February 29, 2020. Results: 47.4% (154/325) had visited Wuhan within 2 weeks of illness onset. 57.2% occurred in 67 clusters; 40% were situated within 53 family clusters. 83.7% developed fever during the disease course. Median times from...

The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a disaster for human society. A convenient and reliable neutralization assay is very important for the development of vaccines and novel drugs. In this study, a G protein-deficient vesicular stomatitis virus (VSVdG) bearing a truncated spike protein (S with C-terminal 18 amino acid truncation) was compared to that bearing the full-length spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and showed much higher efficiency. A neutralization assay was established based...

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was the result of the rapid transmission of a highly pathogenic coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), for which there is no efficacious vaccine or therapeutic. Toward the development of a vaccine, here we expressed and evaluated as potential candidates four versions of the spike (S) protein using an insect cell expression system: receptor binding domain (RBD), S1 subunit, the wild-type S ectodomain (S-WT), and the...

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was the result of the rapid transmission of a highly pathogenic coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), for which there is no efficacious vaccine or therapeutic. Toward the development of a vaccine, here we expressed and evaluated as potential candidates four versions of the spike (S) protein using an insect cell expression system: receptor binding domain (RBD), S1 subunit, the wild-type S ectodomain (S-WT), and the...

The interferon-inducible myxovirus resistance B (MxB) protein has been reported to inhibit HIV-1 and herpesviruses by blocking the nuclear import of viral DNA. Here, we report a new antiviral mechanism in which MxB restricts the nuclear import of HIV-1 regulatory protein Rev, and as a result, diminishes Rev-dependent expression of HIV-1 Gag protein. Specifically, MxB disrupts the interaction of Rev with the nuclear transport receptor, transportin 1 (TNPO1). Supporting this, the TNPO1-independent Rev variants become...

Candida albicans is a common fungal pathogen in humans that colonizes the skin and mucosal surfaces of the majority healthy individuals. How C. albicans disseminates into the bloodstream and causes life-threatening systemic infections in immunocompromised patients remains unclear. Plasminogen system activation can degrade a variety of structural proteins in vivo and is involved in several homeostatic processes. Here, for the first time, we characterized that C. albicans could capture and “subvert” host plasminogen to invade...

Supplemental material, sj-xlsx-2-tam-10.1177_1758835920977117 for Low intratumor heterogeneity correlates with increased response to PD-1 blockade in renal cell carcinoma by Xia Ran, Jinyuan Xiao, Yi Zhang, Huajing Teng, Fang Cheng, Huiqian Chen, Kaifan Zhang and Zhongsheng Sun in Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology

Background:Intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) has been shown to be inversely associated with immune infiltration in several cancers including clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), but it remains unclear whether ITH is associated with response to immunotherapy (e.g. PD-1 blockade) in ccRCC.Methods:We quantified ITH using mutant-allele tumor heterogeneity, investigated the association of ITH with immune parameters in patients with ccRCC (n = 336) as well as those with papillary RCC (pRCC, n = 280) from The Cancer...

Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) can cause a wide range of symptoms from asymptomatic carriage, mild diarrhea to bloody diarrhea (BD) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Intimin, encoded by the eae gene, also plays a critical role in STEC pathogenesis. Herein, we investigated the prevalence and genetic diversity of eae among clinical STEC isolates from patients with diarrhea, BD, HUS as well as from asymptomatic STEC-positive individuals in Sweden with whole-genome sequencing. We found...

An enclosed air-lift photobioreactor (ALPBR) is considered an efficient lab-scale bioreactor for microalgae cell growth and lipid biosynthesis. However, fluid-induced shear stress and mixing are two main factors that affect physiological metabolism in microalgal cell cultures. Herein, a 50-L ALPBR after being designed and manufactured was evaluated for microalgal suspension culture. Moreover, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was used to characterize the hydrodynamics of ALPBR. Specifically, two model microalgae species Chlorella vulgaris and Chlorella protothecoides...

The efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents for colon cancer treatment is limited by multidrug resistance (MDR) and insufficient intracellular release of the administered nanomedicine. To overcome these limitations, we constructed a pH/ROS cascade-responsive and self-accelerating drug release nanoparticle system (PLP-NPs) for the treatment of multidrug-resistant colon cancer. The PLP-NPs comprised a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-sensitive polymeric paclitaxel (PTX) prodrug (DEX-TK-PTX), a pH-sensitive poly(l-histidine) (PHis), and beta-lapachone (Lapa), a ROS-generating agent. We found that PLP-NPs could accumulate...

The efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents for colon cancer treatment is limited by multidrug resistance (MDR) and insufficient intracellular release of the administered nanomedicine. To overcome these limitations, we constructed a pH/ROS cascade-responsive and self-accelerating drug release nanoparticle system (PLP-NPs) for the treatment of multidrug-resistant colon cancer. The PLP-NPs comprised a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-sensitive polymeric paclitaxel (PTX) prodrug (DEX-TK-PTX), a pH-sensitive poly(l-histidine) (PHis), and beta-lapachone (Lapa), a ROS-generating agent. We found that PLP-NPs could accumulate...

In order to devise more effective penetration enhancers, 4-O-acylterpineol derivatives which were expected to be hydrolyzed into nontoxic metabolites by esterase in the living epidermis, were synthesized from 4-terpineol (4-TER) enantiomers and straight chain fatty acids. Their promoting activities on the SR-flurbiprofen and its enantiomers were tested across full-thickness rabbit skin, as well as to correlate under in vitro and in vivo conditions. The permeation studies indicated that both d-4-O-acylterpineol and l-4-O-acylterpineol had significant enhancing...

Chitosan hydrolysis by chitosanase is one of the most effective methods to produce chitosan oligosaccharides. One of the prerequisites of enzyme fermentation production is to select and breed enzyme-producing cells with good performance. So in the process of fermentation production, the low yield of chitosanase cannot meet the current requirement. In this paper, a strain producing chitosanase was screened and identified, and a novel mutagenesis system (Atmospheric and Room Temperature Plasma (ARTP)) was selected to...

A QuEChERS method was developed to simultaneously quantify isoprothiolane and tebuconazole in paddy field samples by using UPLC-MS/MS. The method has been successfully applied in determining isoprothiolane and tebuconazole in brown rice, polished rice, rice husk and straw. The dissipation behaviour of isoprothiolane and tebuconazole in rice followed first-order kinetics, with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.8283 to 0.9877. The degradation half-life of isoprothiolane in rice grain was 6.5–25.7 days, whereas that of tebuconazole was...

Matrine is one of the major alkaloids extracted from Sophora flavescens Ait of the traditional Chinese medicine, was the main chemical ingredient of compounds of Kushen injection. The Matrine is considered as a promising therapeutic agent for curing nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), used either alone or combined with chemotherapeutic agents. In the present study, we focused on the possible roles of Matrine exerted on the self-renewal ability of stem-like cells of the NSCLC group,...