Few mental health assessment tools are available for people with hearing loss (HL) in China. The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-Adult Hearing Loss (AAQ-AHL) has been specifically designed to assess psychological inflexibility in adults with HL and may help assess mental health status promptly for targeted psychological interventions. The study aimed to investigate the cross-cultural validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the AAQ-AHL to assess its applicability to teenagers and adults with HL in...

Probit and Logit models are the most popular for binary disease statusing in genetic association studies. They are equally used and nearly exchangeable in the analysis of prospectively collected data. However, no strong inferences were made based on Probit models for the retrospectively collected case–control data, especially in the presence of random effects. This paper systematically investigates the performance of Probit mixed-effects models for case–control data. We find that the retrospective likelihood has a closed-form,...

This work studied the physical properties of three deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and their catalytic activity in the esterification of palmitic acid and ethanol. Three types of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were successfully prepared using p-toluene sulfonic acid monohydrate (PTSA) as hydrogen bond donor (HBD) with dodecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (DTAC), tetradecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (TTAC) and octadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (OTAC) as hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA). The freezing points of DESs were measured in...

This paper considers a single-machine scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup times and energy-generation and storage systems. Each job requires a sequence-dependent setup to be processed on the machine, and both setup and processing of the job require job-dependent amounts of energy. The energy consumed by the machine can be bought from an Electric Power Company (EPC) or generated by own Distributed Energy Resource (DER), such as solar photovoltaic or wind, and the energy can be...

Four new resorcinol derivatives, namely (−)/(+)-xylarinig A (1), as well as xylarinigs B (2) and C (3), were isolated from the ethyl acetate extracts of the solid fermentation of Xylaria nigripes. Their structures were established by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis combined with electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Compound 1 is an optical mixture, and was resoluted into optical pure enatiomers (+)-1 and (−)-1 by chiral HPLC. The neuroprotective effects of 1–3 against the damage of PC12...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes mellitus increase atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD) risk. However, the association between renal outcome of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and ASCVD risk is unclear. This retrospective study enrolled 218 type 2 diabetic patients with biopsy-proven DKD, and without known cardiovascular diseases. Baseline characteristics were obtained and the 10-year ASCVD risk score was calculated using the Pooled Cohort Equation (PCE). Renal outcome was defined as progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD)....

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common tumors, ranking second in the global cause of death from cancer. The prognosis of advanced patients is still very poor. In this study, hub modules with the highest association with tumor-infiltrating immune cells were identified by weighted gene co-expression network analysis based on CRC expression data from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Next, three hub genes (ADAM8, IL-1A, VAV3) related to infiltrating immune cells were identified...

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the predictive value of diabetic retinopathy (DR) on further diabetic nephropathy (DN) risk in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) based on the prospective cohort studies. PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched for eligible prospective cohort studies through March 2020. The predictive value of DR was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR) and negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and...

Naoxintong (NXT), a prescribed traditional Chinese medicine, widely used in cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, could be effective in diabetic wounds. This study evaluates the wound healing activity of NXT by employing an excisional wound splinting model. NXT was dissolved in saline and given daily by gavage. Wounds were induced at the dorsum of non-diabetic (db/+) and diabetic (db/db) mice and treated with saline or 700 mg/kg/d NXT for 16 days. Wound closure was measured every...

LncRNAs belong to the type of noncoding RNA transcripts, which exceed 200 nucleotides in size. MALAT1 as one of the earlier identified lncRNAs in cancer is investigated by more and more scientific researchers. Expression, clinical significance and function of MALAT1 in pan-cancer exist as big difference. To detect the expression and clinical significance of MALAT1 gene precisely and comprehensively among different kinds of cancers, some classical databases such as GEPIA, TIMER, KM Plotter, and PrognoScan...

In clinical practice, we found that microRNA (miR)-146a-5p is significantly up-regulated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of primary sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) patients. In vitro experiments confirmed that miR-146a-5p promotes T helper 17 (Th17) cell differentiation, but the specific mechanism is still unknown. To solve this problem, 20 pSS patients and 20 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study and PBMCs were isolated from their blood. The expression of the membrane IL-23 R (mIL-23 R)...

Preeclampsia (PE) is a huge threat to pregnant women. Our previous study demonstrated that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) NR_002794 was highly expressed in placentas of PE patients and could regulate the phenotypes of trophoblast cells. However, the downstream regulatory mechanisms of NR_002794 remain unknown. In this text, some potential downstream targets or signaling pathways of NR_002794 were identified through RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and bioinformatics analysis in SWAN71 trophoblast cells. Western blot assay demonstrated that NR_002794...

The high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) at Glu-D1 have a larger contribution to the processing property of wheat flours than those at the Glu-A1 and Glu-B1 loci and are always expressed in nature. Wheat lines missing one subunit at Glu-D1, either x or y, attract great interest for their potential quality value. Major quality parameters including SDS-sedimentation value, gluten-related indices, and other dough strength parameters such as development time, stability time, degree of softening, and farinograph...

A major impediment in the development of nanoplatform-based ovarian cancer therapy is endo/lysosome entrapment. To solve this dilemma, a hollow mesoporous organosilica-based nanoplatform (HMON@CuS/Gd2O3) with a mild-temperature photothermal therapeutic effect and multimodal imaging abilities was successfully synthesized. HMON@CuS/Gd2O3 exhibited an appropriate size distribution, L-glutathione (GSH)-responsive degradable properties, and high singlet oxygen generation characteristics. In this study, the nanoplatform specifically entered SKOV-3 cells and was entrapped in endo/lysosomes. With a mild near infrared (NIR) power density...

Platelets regulate multiple aspects of CD4+ T cell immunity, and may exert distinct regulations among different T cell subsets. Our aim was to investigate how platelets regulate CD4+ central memory T cell (Tcm) responses. αCD3/αCD28-stimulated human CD4+ Tcm cells were cultured without or with platelets or platelet-derived mediators. Polyclonal stimulation induced cell proliferation and Th1 and Treg cell activation of Tcm cells. Platelet factor 4/PF4 neutralization abolished platelet-enhanced Tcm effector responses, whilst TGFβ neutralization only...

Polyamines are small, polycationic molecules with a hydrocarbon backbone and multiple amino groups required for optimal cell growth. The potD gene, belonging to the ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transport system potABCD, encodes the bacterial substrate-binding subunit of the polyamine transport system, playing a pivotal role in bacterial metabolism and growth. The swine pathogen Glaesserella parasuis possesses an intact pot operon, and the studies presented here mainly examined the involvement of PotD in Glaesserella pathogenesis. A potD-deficient...

Overdose with paracetamol modified-release (MR) formulation, a bilayer tablet containing 69% slow-release component, has been increasing since its introduction to the market. However, little evidence exists for the management of MR paracetamol overdose. We aimed to develop a population pharmacokinetic (PK) model for immediate-release (IR) and MR paracetamol and its major metabolism, and quantitatively understand the formulation difference in toxicity assessment based on the nomogram line. Data from a cross-over study design in nine healthy...

Overdose with paracetamol modified-release (MR) formulation, a bilayer tablet containing 69% slow-release component, has been increasing since its introduction to the market. However, little evidence exists for the management of MR paracetamol overdose. We aimed to develop a population pharmacokinetic (PK) model for immediate-release (IR) and MR paracetamol and its major metabolism, and quantitatively understand the formulation difference in toxicity assessment based on the nomogram line. Data from a cross-over study design in nine healthy...

The quinolone resistance crpP genes can mediate decreased susceptibility to quinolones. However, diversification and prevalence of crpP genes and crpP-carrying integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) still need to be elucidated. In this study, genome sequencing was conducted for 200 Chinese Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates, 16 of which were fully sequenced. All the 37 available CrpP variants were collected for phylogenetic analysis, 10 CrpP enzymes were chosen to conduct cloning and antimicrobial susceptibility test, and 22 crpP-carrying...

Soluble pyridine nucleotide transhydrogenase (STH), catalyzes a reversible hydrogen transfer between NADH and NADPH, is widely utilized in cofactor engineering. In the present study, we expanded the distribution range of STH to more unreported bacteria. Meanwhile, STH was mainly found in α, γ, δ-proteobacteria, acidobacteria, actinobacteria and planctomycetes. The enzymological properties of two novel STHs from Acidobacteria bacterium KBS 146 (AbSTH) and Nocardia jiangxiensis (NjSTH) were characterized. The optimum temperature and pH of AbSTH and...

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a pregnancy-specific liver disease associated with a significant risk of fetal complications including pre-term delivery and fetal death. Typically, it was diagnosed in the third trimester of pregnancy. This study utilized characteristics from routine maternal examinations in the first 20 weeks’ gestation to predict ICP in pregnant women. This is a retrospective case-control study. 13,329 medical records were collected on pregnant women presenting to the West China Second University...

Capsule of alkaloids from the leaf of Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.Br. (Apocynaceae) (CALAS) is a new investigational botanical drug (No. 2011L01436) for bronchitis, post-infectious cough and asthma. To observe the clinical safety and tolerability of CALAS. Subjects were assigned to eight cohorts, and each received randomly CALAS or placebo in one of single ascending dose (SAD) of 8, 40, 120, 240, 360, 480, or in one of multiple ascending dose (MAD) of 40 or 120...

MicroRNAs are crucial regulators in the phenotype switch of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Nonetheless, the role of miR-146b-3p in VSMCs remains unclear. In the present study, platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) at different concentrations was employed to stimulate VSMCs for different times, to establish the model of VSMC dysfunction. The relative expression of miR-146b-3p was quantified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The proliferation of VSMCs was measured by BrdU assay. Flow cytometry analysis...

The biological modulatory roles of many circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been validated in glioma. The current study was designed to research the functional mechanism of circ_0001162 in glioma progression. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used for assaying the levels of circ_0001162 and microRNA-936 (miR-936). Cell proliferation and colony formation abilities were evaluated via 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-y1)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and colony formation assay, respectively. Transwell assay was applied to assess cell migration...

The biological modulatory roles of many circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been validated in glioma. The current study was designed to research the functional mechanism of circ_0001162 in glioma progression. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used for assaying the levels of circ_0001162 and microRNA-936 (miR-936). Cell proliferation and colony formation abilities were evaluated via 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-y1)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and colony formation assay, respectively. Transwell assay was applied to assess cell migration...