Two new HLA alleles, HLA-A*23:20 and HLA-A*02:127 identified in Chinese individuals

Two new HLA-A alleles, A*23:20 and A*02:127, differ from their closely related alleles by nucleotide mutations.

A novel HLA-B allele, B*40:01:06, identified by sequence-based typing in a Chinese individual

The sequence of HLA-B*40:01:06 differs in exon 3 from the sequence of B*40:01:01 by one nucleotide 435 (codon121) G to A.

A novel HLA-B allele, B*07:55, identified by sequence-based typing

The novel allele differs from HLA-B*07:02:01 by a single nucleotide substitution at position 538 in exon 3.

Optimum analysis of a Brownian refrigerator

A Brownian refrigerator with the cold and hot reservoirs alternating along a space coordinate is established. The heat flux couples with the movement of the Brownian particles due to an external force in the spatially asymmetric but periodic potential. After using the Arrhenius factor to describe the behaviors of the forward and backward jumps of the particles, the expressions for coefficient of performance (COP) and cooling rate are derived analytically. Then, through maximizing the product of conversion efficiency and heat flux flowing out, a new upper bound only depending on the temperature ratio of the cold and hot reservoirs is found numerically in the reversible situation, and it is a little larger than the so-called Curzon and Ahlborn COP ε(CA)=(1/√[1-τ])-1. After considering the irreversible factor owing to the kinetic energy change of the moving particles, we find the optimized COP is smaller than ε(CA) and the external force even does negative work on the Brownian particles when they jump from a cold to hot reservoir.

Population-based home care services in breast cancer: utilization and costs

OBJECTIVE

To determine utilization and costs of home care services (hcs) for individuals with a diagnosis of breast cancer (bc).

METHODS

Incident cases of invasive bc in women were extracted from the Ontario Cancer Registry (2005-2009) and linked with other Ontario health care administrative databases. Control patients were selected from the population of women never diagnosed with any type of cancer. The types and proportions of hcs used were determined and stratified by disease stage. Attributable home care utilization and costs for bc patients were determined. Factors associated with hcs costs were assessed using regression analysis.

RESULTS

Among the 39,656 bc and 198,280 control patients identified (median age: 61.6 years for both), 75.4% of bc patients used hcs (62.1% stage i; 85.7% stage ii; 94.6% stage iii; 79.1% stage iv) compared with 14.6% of control patients. The number of hcs used per patient-year were significantly higher for the bc patients than for the control patients (14.97 vs. 6.13, p < 0.01), resulting in higher costs per patient-year ($1,210 vs. $325; $885 attributable cost to bc, p < 0.01). The number of hcs utilized and the associated costs increased as the bc stage increased. In contrast, hcs costs decreased as income increased and as previous health care exposure decreased.

INTERPRETATION

Patients with bc used twice as many hcs, resulting in costs that were almost 4 times those observed in a matched control group. Less than an additional $1000 per bc patient per year were spent on hcs utilization in the study population.

A novel HLA-A allele, A*24:02:17, identified by sequence-based typing

The A*24:02:17 allele differs from the most close matching allele A*24:02:01:01 by one nucleotide substitution in exon 2, at position 264.

A novel HLA-B allele, B*13:18, identified by sequence-based typing

The B*13:18 allele differs from the most closely matching allele B*13:02:01 by one nucleotide substitution in exon 3, at position 539.

Urinary mannose-binding lectin is a biomarker for predicting the progression of immunoglobulin (Ig)A nephropathy

Complement system activation is associated with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) activity and progression. The aim of the present study was to investigate the importance of urinary mannose-binding lectin (MBL), at the time of renal biopsy, for evaluating disease severity and predicting the progression of IgAN. A total of 162 patients with biopsy-proven IgAN were enrolled and 50 healthy individuals were selected as normal controls. Urinary MBL was measured by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and normalized for urinary creatinine concentration. Urinary MBL was significantly higher in IgAN patients than that in normal controls, and elevated as histopathological phenotypes upgraded. Urinary MBL was correlated significantly with the well-known clinical predictors for the prognosis of IgAN; that is, renal function (represented by serum creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate), proteinuria and arterial hypertension. Urinary MBL was demonstrated to be correlated with the histopathological parameters which have independent value in predicting renal outcome of IgAN according to the Oxford classification; that is, mesangial hypercellularity, segmental glomerulosclerosis, endocapillary hypercellularity and tubular atrophy/interstitial fibrosis. More importantly, non-remission patients at the end of follow-up had significantly higher levels of urinary MBL compared with patients in remission. In conclusion, urinary MBL can be a reliable non-invasive biomarker for evaluating disease severity and predicting the prognosis of IgAN. This is the first report on this issue. However, our conclusions should be verified further in large-scale studies with long-term follow-up.

Prevention of disuse osteoporosis in rats by Cordyceps sinensis extract

Cordyceps sinensis has been known as a traditional medicine in China, and C. sinensis plus strontium could prevent osteoporosis in ovariectomized rats. The present study shows that daily oral administration of C. sinensis at higher doses in adult hind limb suspension rats can prevent disuse-induced bone loss and deterioration of trabecular microarchitecture.

INTRODUCTION

Cordyceps sinensis induces estradiol production and prevents osteoporosis in ovariectomized rats. This study was to examine whether C. sinensis can prevent disuse-induced osteoporosis.

METHODS

Rats were randomly divided into six groups, and five groups were treated with hind limb suspension (HLS). One HLS group received alendronate (2.0 mg/kg/day) orally, and to the three other HLS groups to each group, a different amount of C. sinensis (100, 300, and 500 mg/kg/day) was orally administered for 8 weeks before and after HLS. The remaining HLS group was set as a control without treatment. Each group consisted of 10 males and females. The body weights, biochemical parameters in serum and urine, bone mineral density (BMD), bone mineral content (BMC), mechanical testing, and bone microarchitecture were examined.

RESULTS

Treatments with higher C. sinensis dosage (300 and 500 mg/kg/day) or alendronate had a positive effect on body weights, mechanical strength, BMD, and BMC compared to the other HLS groups. C. sinensis decreased markers of bone turnover dose dependently and increased the osteocalcin levels in HLS rats. The result of micro-CT analysis from the L4 vertebra showed that C. sinensis (500 mg/kg) significantly prevented the reduction of the bone volume fraction, connectivity density, trabeculae number, and thickness as well as improved the trabeculae separation and structure model index in HLS rats.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study demonstrates that administration of C. sinensis at higher doses over an 8-week period can prevent the disuse osteoporosis in rats. It implies that C. sinensis might be an alternative therapy for prevention of disuse-induced osteoporosis also in humans.

CURB-65 score predicted mortality in community-acquired pneumonia better than IDSA/ATS minor criteria in a low-mortality-rate setting

The CURB-65 scoring system performs well at identifying patients with pneumonia who have a low risk of death. Whether it predicts mortality in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) better than the 2007 Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA)/American Thoracic Society (ATS) minor criteria in low-mortality-rate settings is not clear. The purpose of this study was to determine the hypothesis.A total of 1,230 adult inpatients admitted to our hospital from 2005 to 2009 for CAP were reviewed retrospectively.The hospital mortality was 1.3 %. Percentage mortality increased significantly with CURB-65 score and the increasing number of IDSA/ATS minor criteria present. The number of CURB-65 criteria or IDSA/ATS minor criteria present had significant increased odds ratios for mortality of 7.547 and 2.711, respectively. The sensitivities of a CURB-65 score of ≥ 3 and the presence of ≥ 3 minor criteria in predicting mortality was 25 % and 37.5 %, which increased to 75 % and 62.5 %, while the cut-off values reduced to ≥ 2 criteria, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for CURB-65 was greater than the corresponding area for IDSA/ATS minor criteria in predicting hospital mortality (0.915 vs. 0.805, p = 0.0091).CURB-65 score predicted hospital mortality better than IDSA/ATS minor criteria, and a CURB-65 score of ≥ 2 or the presence of ≥ 2 minor criteria might be more valuable cut-off values for "severe" CAP in a low-mortality-rate setting.

Effect of disorder with long-range correlation on transport in graphene nanoribbon

Transport in disordered armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGR) with long-range correlation between quantum wire contacts is investigated by a transfer matrix combined with Landauer's formula. The metal-insulator transition is induced by disorder in neutral AGR. Therein, the conductance is one conductance quantum for the metallic phase and exponentially decays otherwise, when the length of AGR approaches infinity and far longer than its width. Similar to the case of long-range disorder, the conductance of neutral AGR first increases and then decreases while the conductance of doped AGR monotonically decreases, as the disorder strength increases. In the presence of strong disorder, the conductivity depends monotonically and non-monotonically on the aspect ratio for heavily doped and slightly doped AGR, respectively. For edge disordered graphene nanoribbon, the conductance increases with the disorder strength of long-range correlated disordered while no delocalization exists, since the edge disorder induces localization.

Detection and widespread distribution of sodium channel alleles characteristic of insecticide resistance in Culex pipiens complex mosquitoes in China

Culex pipiens complex mosquitoes are widely distributed throughout China and are known to be important disease vectors. Two pyrethroid resistance associated mutations have been identified in Cx. pipiens complex (Diptera: Culicidae), but there is little information on the diversity and distribution of kdr alleles in pyrethroid resistance in Cx. pipiens complex mosquitoes in China. In the present study, we report on a modified three tube allele-specific (AS)-PCR method for detecting the 1014F and 1014S alleles. The new technique was applied to identify the distribution of the two alleles in natural Cx. pipiens complex populations in China. The results confirmed that the new method is both sensitive and specific. The 1014F allele was found in all 14 of the field populations tested (frequency ranged from 6.8 to 76.2%) and the 1014S allele was found in almost two-thirds (frequency from 2.4 to 28.6%), indicating that the genotypes known to be associated with pyrethroid resistance are widespread in China. The resistance-associated alleles were more common in southern Chinese sampling sites than in northern sites. The coexistence of the two resistant mutations in individual mosquitoes was also observed in five of the field populations. Two alternative mutations within the L1014 codon were identified in Culex pipiens molestus Forskal, 1775, including a non-synonymous mutation resulting in a 1014C substitution.

Mitochondrial distribution of neuroglobin and its response to oxygen-glucose deprivation in primary-cultured mouse cortical neurons

Neuroglobin (Ngb) is a new member of the globin family and a novel endogenous neuroprotective molecule, but its neuroprotective mechanisms remain largely undefined. Previous studies suggest Ngb is both physically and functionally related to mitochondria, however without direct evidence. Our recent discovery has shown that Ngb can physically interact with a number of mitochondrial proteins. In this study we aimed to define the physical interaction between Ngb and mitochondria by determining whether there is a mitochondrial distribution of Ngb under both physiological-resting and pathological oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) conditions. Western blot for the first time revealed a small portion of Ngb was physically localized in mitochondria, and the relative mitochondrial Ngb level was significantly increased after OGD in primary-cultured mouse cortical neurons, indicating a translocation of Ngb into mitochondria. Complementary approaches including confocal imaging and immuno-electron microscopy confirmed Ngb distribution in mitochondria under both basal-resting condition and OGD. Inhibitors of mitochondria permeability transition pore (mPTP) and Voltage-Dependent Anion Channel (VDAC) blocked OGD-induced increase of mitochondrial Ngb level, demonstrating a possible role of mPTP in Ngb's mitochondrial translocation. We further found that Ngb overexpression-conferred neuroprotection was correlated with increased mitochondrial Ngb level, suggesting the mitochondria distribution of Ngb is clearly associated with and may contribute to Ngb's neuroprotection.

Utilization of lightflecks by seedlings of five dominant tree species of different subtropical forest successional stages under low-light growth conditions

We selected five typical tree species, including one early-successional species (ES) Pinus massoniana Lamb., two mid-successional species (MS) Schima superba Gardn. et Champ. and Castanopsis fissa (Champ. ex Benth.) Rehd. et Wils. and two late-successional species (LS) Cryptocarya concinna Hance. and Acmena acuminatissima (BI.) Merr et Perry., which represent the plants at three successional periods in Dinghushan subtropical forest succession of southern China. Potted seedlings of the five species were grown under 12% of full sunlight for 36 months. The ES and MS showed the slowest and fastest responses to lightflecks, respectively, which correlated with the rate of stomatal opening. In contrast to P. massoniana and C. concinna, the other three species exhibited a high induction loss. Early-successional species showed the lowest specific leaf area and chlorophyll content, the highest photosynthetic capacity (A(max)) and respiratory carbon losses (R(d)). Compared with ES and MS, LS showed lower A(max) and R(d). The five tree species showed a similar chlorophyll a/b ratio after long-term low-light adaptations. On the other hand, LS had a relatively higher de-epoxidation state to protect themselves from excess light during lightflecks. Our results indicated that (i) slower responses to lightflecks could partially explain why ES species could not achieve seedling regeneration in low-light conditions; (ii) fast responses to lightflecks could partially explain why MS species could achieve seedling regeneration in low-light conditions; and (iii) smaller respiratory carbon losses might confer on the LS species a competitive advantage in low-light conditions.