Migraine is a primary headache characterized by moderate or severe headache attacks, accompanied with reversible neurological and systemic symptoms. There are rare biomarkers for the disease. While emerging evidence has indicated the connection between gut microbiota and migraine, the relation between oral microbiota and migraine is barely known. Thus, the objective of the current study was to explore a possible correlation between oral microbiota and migraine. We compared the oral microbiota communities of migraine patients...

β-galactosidase catalyzes lactose hydrolysis and transfers reactions to produce prebiotics such as galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) with potential applications in the food industry and pharmaceuticals. However, there is still a need for improved transgalactosylation activity of β-galactosidases and reaction conditions of GOS production in order to maximize GOS output and reduce production costs. In this study, a β-galactosidase gene, galA, from Bacillus circulans was expressed in Pichia pastoris, which not only hydrolyzed lactose but also had strong...

Steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (SONFH) is a progressive disease that leads to an increased disability rate. This study aimed to ascertain biomarkers, infiltrating immune cells, and therapeutic drugs for SONFH. The gene expression profile of the GSE123568 dataset was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using the NetworkAnalyst platform. Functional enrichment, protein-protein interaction network (PPI), and module analyses were performed using Metascape tools. An...

Hepatoblastoma is a kind of extreme malignancy frequently diagnosed in children. Although surgical resection is considered as the first-line treatment for hepatoblastoma, a relatively large population of patients have lost the preferred opportunity for surgery. Administration of locoregional ablation enables local tumor control but with the deficiency of insufficient ablation, residual tumor, and rapid progression. In this study, we integrated 219 hepatoblastoma and 121 non-cancer liver tissues to evaluate the expression of NR2F6, from which...

Osteosarcoma (OS) is an aggressive malignant tumor with a high rate of lung metastasis and a lack of therapeutic targets. Although the anomalous expression of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) has been extensively documented in human cancer, its contribution to OS metastasis remains poorly understood. In this study, we found that MIR205 host gene (MIR205HG) was significantly elevated in human OS tissues, especially in metastatic OS tissues. Stable knockdown of MIR205HG inhibited OS cell invasion and...

In this study, we applied a composite index of neutrophil-lymphocyte * platelet ratio (NLPR), and explore the significance of the dynamics of perioperative NLPR in predicting cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI). During July 1st and December 31th 2019, participants were prospectively derived from the ‘Zhongshan Cardiovascular Surgery Cohort’. NLPR was determined using neutrophil counts, lymphocyte and platelet count at the two-time points. Dose-response relationship analyses were applied to delineate the non-linear odds ratio (OR)...

Macrophage differentiation is associated with tumorigenesis, including the tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Herein, we explored the value of macrophage differentiation-associated genes (MDGs) in the prognosis of HCC using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) databases. We performed multivariate Cox regression analyses to identify the hub genes affecting HCC patient prognoses. The correlations between hub genes and macrophage differentiation and immune checkpoint inhibitors (PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA4)...

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...

Bladder cancer (BLCA), originating from the epithelium of the urinary bladder, was the second most common malignancy in the urinary system with a high metastasis rate and poor post-metastasis prognosis. Alternative splicing events (ASEs) were regarded as important markers of tumor progression and prognosis, however, their roles in bladder cancer bone metastasis have not been recognized. In this study, we constructed a predictive model based on ASEs and explored the molecular mechanism of ASEs in...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a very important role in the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This study focuses on the effects of miR-9 on the regulation of AML cells and their related signaling pathways. We found that the expression of miR-9 was significantly decreased in four AML cell lines (THP-1, HL-60, TF-1 and KG-1) compared with the human normal bone marrow cells (HS-5). Moreover, miR-9 overexpression inhibited HL-60 cell proliferation ability, and promoted apoptosis. However,...

Cervical cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer deaths in women due to poor prognosis and high mortality rates. A novel mRNA-miRNA-lncRNA signature linked to prognosis of cervical cancer is needed to help clinicians judge the prognosis of individual patients more accurately. On the basis of GEO datasets, a total of 161 upregulated and 242 downregulated DE-mRNAs were identified firstly. Among them, eight potential biomarkers were found to have prognostic values with...

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...

The emergence of Omicron/BA.1 has brought new challenges to fight against SARS-CoV-2. A large number of mutations in the Spike protein suggest that its susceptibility to immune protection elicited by the existing COVID-19 infection and vaccines may be altered. In this study, we constructed the pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron. The sensitivity of 28 serum samples from COVID-19 convalescent patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 original strain was tested against pseudotyped Omicron as well as the other variants...

The emergence of Omicron/BA.1 has brought new challenges to fight against SARS-CoV-2. A large number of mutations in the Spike protein suggest that its susceptibility to immune protection elicited by the existing COVID-19 infection and vaccines may be altered. In this study, we constructed the pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron. The sensitivity of 28 serum samples from COVID-19 convalescent patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 original strain was tested against pseudotyped Omicron as well as the other variants...

Methylation signatures in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) have shown great sensitivity and specificity in the characterization of tumour status and classification of tumour types, as well as the response to therapy and recurrence. Currently, most cfDNA methylation studies are based on bisulphite conversion, especially targeted bisulphite sequencing, while enrichment-based methods such as cfMeDIP-seq are beginning to show potential. Here, we report an enrichment-based ultra-low input cfDNA methylation profiling method using methyl-CpG binding proteins capture, termed cfMBD-seq....

The Sulu ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) belt has been proven to form by deep northward subduction of the Yangtze Block (YB) beneath the North China Block (NCB) in the Triassic. The basement rocks originated from the YB and experienced Triassic UHP metamorphism. In this contribution, we identify for the first time tens of non-UHP metasedimentary blocks enclosed in the regional UHP granitic gneiss in the Weihai terrane in the northeastern Sulu UHP belt. They are mainly composed...

Large areas of intermediate-acid intrusive rocks are widely exposed in the Eastern Kunlun Orogenic Belt (EKOB), which is an ideal place to study crustal reworking and growth and the tectonic setting and evolution of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. Petrographic research shows that intermediate-acid intrusive rocks are mainly composed of diorite, diorite porphyry, granodiorite, and monzogranite, and their zircon U-Pb ages are 260.8 ± 1.5 Ma, 250.7 ± 1.8 Ma, 242.6 ± 0.7 Ma, 239.8 ± 1.2...

The Sulu ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) belt has been proven to form by deep northward subduction of the Yangtze Block (YB) beneath the North China Block (NCB) in the Triassic. The basement rocks originated from the YB and experienced Triassic UHP metamorphism. In this contribution, we identify for the first time tens of non-UHP metasedimentary blocks enclosed in the regional UHP granitic gneiss in the Weihai terrane in the northeastern Sulu UHP belt. They are mainly composed...

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...

Prenatal stress is a pressing issue. However, there is a lack of robust evidence for psychosocial interventions to manage this problem. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention on reducing prenatal stress compared to participation in health education groups. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in a prenatal clinic of comprehensive tertiary care from April to October 2017. A total of 108 pregnant women were randomly assigned to an intervention or...

Insulin resistance (IR) is a complex pathological condition resulting from the dysregulation of cellular response to insulin hormone in insulin-dependent cells and is recognized as a pathogenic hallmark and strong risk factor for metabolic syndrome. The present study aims to elucidate the molecular mechanism of the pathogenesis of IR. Here, we used human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to establish the IR cell model induced by 1 × 10−6 mmol/L insulin. After 48 h, reactive...

In this work, a PAMAM@SiO2 demulsifier was synthesized by the reaction of a hyperbranched poly (amido amine) (PAMAM) and KH570 modified SiO2. The structure, morphology and composition of PAMAM@SiO2 were characterized by FT-IR, SEM and EDS. The effect of the concentration of PAMAM@SiO2, salinity and temperature on the demulsification performance was systematically studied. The results showed that the transmittance of aqueous phase after demulsification could reach as high as 92.1% at optimal conditions, and corresponding...

Chimeric RNAs are gaining more and more attention as they have broad implications in both cancer and normal physiology. To date, over 40 chimeric RNA prediction methods have been developed to facilitate their identification from RNA sequencing data. However, a limited number of studies have been conducted to compare the performance of these tools; additionally, previous studies have become outdated as more software tools have been developed within the last three years. In this study,...

The IRON-REGULATED TRANSPORTER1 (IRT1) is critical for iron uptake in roots, and its exocytosis to the plasma membrane (PM) is regulated by detergent-resistant membranes. However, studies on IRT1 exocytosis and function in response to iron status are limited. Presently, we found that the histidine-rich motif (HRM) of MxIRT1 could bind to iron directly and HRM determined the delivery of MxIRT1 to the PM, after which the cholesterol recognition amino acid consensus (CRAC) motif-regulated MxIRT1 mediated...

The IRON-REGULATED TRANSPORTER1 (IRT1) is critical for iron uptake in roots, and its exocytosis to the plasma membrane (PM) is regulated by detergent-resistant membranes. However, studies on IRT1 exocytosis and function in response to iron status are limited. Presently, we found that the histidine-rich motif (HRM) of MxIRT1 could bind to iron directly and HRM determined the delivery of MxIRT1 to the PM, after which the cholesterol recognition amino acid consensus (CRAC) motif-regulated MxIRT1 mediated...