Association of the Aquaporin 3 Gene Polymorphism (rs2231231) with Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated Cancers in China

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Aquaporins are widely expressed in a variety of cancers and were found to play an important role in cell migration, angiogenesis, tumor formation, and tumor development. Thus, they have been proposed as a potential biomarker for some cancers. Accordingly, we analyzed the association between a single-nucleotide polymorphism locus of aquaporin 3 (rs2231231) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (EBVaNPC), lymphoma (EBVaL), and gastric carcinoma in China.

METHODS

Sequenom MassARRAY technique and polymerase chain reaction sequencing were used to test the genotype of 393 cases of patients with cancer and 148 normal control (NC) samples. A χ2 test or correction for continuity or the likelihood ratio was used for statistical analysis, and two-sided p values < 0.05 were considered a statistically significant difference.

RESULTS

We found that the genotype distributions were significantly different between either the EBVaNPC group and the NC group or the EBVaL case group and the NC group. However, no statistical associations between rs2231231 and gastric carcinoma was observed in the current study.

CONCLUSIONS

The AQP3 gene polymorphism is associated with a susceptibility to EBVaNPC and EBVaL, and the homozygous AA genotype is more frequently observed in individuals who develop EBVaNPC and EBVaL.

[Pollution characteristics and health risk assessment of heavy metals in PM(2.5) in Lanzhou]

Objective: To understand the pollution characteristics and assess the pollution health risks of heavy metals in atmospheric PM(2.5) in Lanzhou. Methods: According to the regional characteristics of air pollution and industrial distribution characteristics in Lanzhou, atmospheric PM(2.5) was sampled monthly in Chengguan and Xigu Districts from January, 2015 to December, 2016. Detected the concentration of PM(2.5) and 12 kinds of elements (Sb, Al, As, Be, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Mn, Ni, Se and Tl) by weighing method and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Enrichment factor and geo-accumulation index were used to describe the pollution characteristics, while health risk assessment was conducted using the recommended United States Environmental Protection Agency (USA EPA) model. The health risks of non-carcinogens were evaluated by non-cancer hazard quotient (HQ), the non-carcinogenic risk was considered to be negligible when HQ<1, HQ>1 meant a health risk. With a single contaminant cancer Risk value to evaluate the health risks of carcinogens, when the Risk value between 10(-6) to10(-4) as an acceptable level. Results: The daily average concentrations of PM(2.5) was 83.0 μg/m(3), 77.0 μg/m(3) in Chengguan and Xigu Districts, respectively, during the sampling periods, and the concentration of PM(2.5) in winter/spring was higher than summer/fall in both districts. The concentration of Al in PM(2.5) was the highest and other elements in descending order: Pb, Mn, As, Sb/Cd, Tl in both districts. Enrichment factor results showed that Al and Mn were mainly affected by natural factors, the rest of five elements were all typical man-made pollution elements and according to geo-accumulation index pollution level of Cd was the strongest in the winter. The results of health risk assessment showed that Mn had the highest non-cancer risks (HQ>1) and affected the health of the children seriously. HQ reached up to 2.44 and 1.79 in Chengguan and Xigu Districts, respectively. Pb, As, Sb, Cd had slight health impact (HQ<1), could be negligible. The cancer risks range of As, Cr were 6.33×10(-6) to 6.46×10(-5) between the acceptable level of risk (10(-6) to 10(-4)), which indicated that As and Cd had potential cancer-risks. Conclusions: The pollution level of atmospheric PM(2.5) and the heavy metals in it was still grim;the non-cancer risks caused by multiple metals on children deserved attention. Although the cancer risks of As and Cd were between the acceptable level of risk, the potential cancer risk still shall not be ignored.

[Preliminary analysis of the effects of individualized sound therapy on chronic subjective tinnitus]

Objective:To explore the effect of individualized multi-compound sound therapy on chronic subjective tinnitus and the relationship between tinnitus frequency," notch " hearing loss and the treatment effect of sound therapy.Method: Seventy-eight cases of chronic subjective tinnitus with the pure tone test threshold (PTA)in normal range (≤25 dB HL)were enrolled in this study. Their hearing threshold were re-evaluated using the precise pure-tone audiogram (P-PTA).Tinnitus was evaluated on pitch and loudness matching, and the effectiveness of tinnitus was measured using Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) before they received the individualized customized multi-compound sound therapy for 3 months. THI were re-evaluated on the 30th day and 90th day after treatment.Result: ①The averaged THI score of these patients before the sound treatment was 24.62±15.65 (n=78). The score dropped significantly to 15.82±13.02 and 13.62 ±10.98 on the 30th day and 90th day after treatment, respectively (P<0.01). ②Patient' s gender, age, and the side of tinnitus has no effect on the sound treatment of tinnitus. ③Of these 78 tinnitus patients, 31 patients who showed "notch " hearing loss and 47 patients without "notch " hearing loss in the P-PTA. The averaged THI score between the patients with and without "notch " showed no statistical difference after the treatment (P>0.05).These data suggested that "notch " hearing loss in P-PTA has no effect on the sound therapy.④Of 31 tinnitus patients with "notch " hearing loss, the tinnitus frequency of 22 cases was at the "notch " hearing loss and that of 9 cases was not at the "notch " hearing loss. Sound treatment showed significant between the former and the latter(P<0.05). After 30 days of treatment, tinnitus frequency of four patients whose tinnitus was not at the notch hearing loss drifted to the "notch " hearing loss frequency. Conclusion: Customized multi-compound sound therapy can reduce the THI score of chronic subjective tinnitus patients.The treatment reduced patient's anxiety and improved their quality of life.Sound treatment showed a better improvement in the patients whose tinnitus frequency was located at their notch hearing loss.

A case report of perineal sparganosis mansoni from an endemic region

Sparganosis mansoni is a parasitic disease caused by the larva of Spirometra mansoni, which occurs worldwide, especially in Asian countries. In recent years, there have been cases of sparganosis reported in Guizhou province in southwest China. In this report, a case of sparganosis mansoni with a painful mass in perineal region is presented. The patient is a 49-year-old Chinese woman, she did not have a history of eating raw frogs or snakes. But she drank unboiled water from rivers and streams. Physical examination showed her vital signs were stable and blood routine examination was also regular. After surgery to remove the mass, a worm was removed from the foreign matter, which measured about 10 cm in length and 2 mm in diameter, that was identified as S. mansoni. One week after the operation, her symptoms changed significantly. To our knowledge, this is the first case of perineal sparganosis mansoni in Guizhou. Surgical removal is effective for the treatment of perineal sparganosis, followed by a course of therapy.

Conservation and polymorphism of EBV RPMS1 gene in EBV-associated tumors and healthy individuals from endemic and non-endemic nasopharyngeal carcinoma areas in China

As a member of the BamHI-A rightward transcripts family of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), RPMS1 expression has been confirmed in all EBV-associated tumors. However, few studies have investigated the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of RPMS1, and only one SNP site (g155391a) has been reported to be associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma occurrence. The objective of this study was to investigate the polymorphism of RPMS1 in EBV-associated tumors (gastric carcinoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and lymphoma). In this research, nested-PCR was performed to analyze DNA sequences of 420 EBV-associated samples. Phylogenetic analysis revealed four RPMS1 genotypes (RPMS1-A, RPMS1-B, RPMS1-C, and RPMS1-D). A significant difference (p < 0.05) among northern and southern China samples was observed. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between EBV-associated tumors and healthy controls for RPMS1 (p < 0.05). These findings demonstrated that RPMS1 variation was not only tumor-specific but also geographically restricted in EBV-associated samples.

Association study of MUS81 gene polymorphisms and EBV-associated tumors in China

Aim: Single nucleotide polymorphisms of MUS81 have been reported to be associated with several human tumors, but not with EBV infection. This study focused on identifying the relationship between MUS81 polymorphisms and EBV-associated tumors in China. Materials & methods: Three single nucleotide polymorphism loci of MUS81 were detected using the Sequenom MassARRAY technology. Results: The rs13817 genotype AA and allele A, rs648732 genotype TT and allele T were both significantly increased in EBV-associated gastric carcinoma (EBVaGC) than controls. Heterozygous TC of rs659857 was remarkably reduced in EBVaGC and EBV-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Furthermore, significant differences were found between lymphoma and controls without an EBV association. Conclusion: Our findings indicated a strong relationship between MUS81 polymorphisms and the susceptibility to EBVaGC, EBV-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma and lymphoma.

Characterization of transcriptional complexity during pre-implantation development of the yak (Bos grunniens) using RNA-Seq

The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanism that regulates pre-implantation development of the yak (Bos grunniens). We determined the transcriptomes of in vitro-produced yak embryos at two-cell, four-cell, eight-cell stages, and morula and blastocyst using the Illumina RNA-seq for the first time. We obtained 47.36-50.86 million clean reads for each stage, of which, 85.65%-90.02% reads were covered in the reference genome. A total of 17,368 genes were expressed during the two-cell stage to blastocyst of the yak, of which 7,236 genes were co-expressed at all stages, whereas 10,132 genes were stage-specific expression. Transcripts from 9,827 to 14,893 different genes were detected in various developmental stages. When |log₂ ratio| ≥ 1 and q-value <0.05 were set as thresholds for identifying differentially expressed genes (DEGs), we detected a total of 6,922-10,555 DEGs between any two consecutive stages. The GO distributions of these DEGs were classified into three categories: biological processes (23 terms), cellular components (22 terms) and molecular functions (22 terms). Pathway analysis revealed 310 pathways of the DEGs that were operative in early pre-implantation yak development, of which 32 were the significantly enriched pathways. In conclusion, this is the first report to investigate the mechanism that regulates yak embryonic development using high-throughput sequencing, which provides a comprehensive framework of transcriptome landscapes of yak pre-implantation embryos.

A multiple-fan active control wind tunnel for outdoor wind speed and direction simulation

This article presents a new type of active controlled multiple-fan wind tunnel. The wind tunnel consists of swivel plates and arrays of direct current fans, and the rotation speed of each fan and the shaft angle of each swivel plate can be controlled independently for simulating different kinds of outdoor wind fields. To measure the similarity between the simulated wind field and the outdoor wind field, wind speed and direction time series of two kinds of wind fields are recorded by nine two-dimensional ultrasonic anemometers, and then statistical properties of the wind signals in different time scales are analyzed based on the empirical mode decomposition. In addition, the complexity of wind speed and direction time series is also investigated using multiscale entropy and multivariate multiscale entropy. Results suggest that the simulated wind field in the multiple-fan wind tunnel has a high degree of similarity with the outdoor wind field.

TM2D3 rs675436 or FGFR2 rs755793 polymorphisms and susceptibility to Epstein-Barr virus-associated tumors in Chinese Han population

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is etiologically linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma, lymphoma, and gastric carcinoma. The aim of this study was to assess the association of TM2 domain containing 3 (TM2D3) and fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) SNPs rs675436 and rs755793 with susceptibility to EBV-associated tumors in Chinese Han population. Genomic DNA of 415 patients with cancer and 99 healthy controls was assessed using a MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer, and was genotyped in EBV-associated/-negative gastric cancer (EBVa/nGC), EBV-associated/-negative nasopharyngeal carcinoma (EBVa/nNPC), EBV-associated/-negative lymphoma (EBVa/nL), and normal controls (NC). The chi-squared (χ² ) test or Fisher's exact test was used to compare all results and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results showed that the G-allele of rs675436 was less prevalent in EBVaGC as than in the other groups, while the T-allele was more prevalent in EBVaGC (EBVaGC vs EBVnGC: P = 0.005, OR = 10.522, 95%CI = 1.377-80.376; EBVaGC vs NC: P = 0.005, OR = 10.637, 95%CI = 1.392-81.263). Interestingly, the distribution of the genotype and allele frequencies of rs675436 was significantly different between EBVaGC and EBVaNPC. Neither the genotype nor allele frequency of rs755793 was statistically different between any two groups (P > 0.05). These findings indicated that the TT genotype and T allele frequencies of rs675436 were associated with an increased risk of EBVaGC, while allele A or G of rs755793 had no effect on the occurrence of EBV-associated tumors in Chinese Han population.

[Treatment of Day type pelvic crescent fracture by using percutaneous cannulated screw fixation technique]

Objective

To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of percutaneous cannulated screw fixation for the treatment of Day type Ⅱ pelvic crescent fracture.

Methods

The clinical data of 14 patients with Day type Ⅱ pelvic crescent fractures underwent closed reduction and percutaneous cannulated screw fixation between January 2009 and July 2016 were retrospectively analysed. There were 9 males and 5 females, aged 17-65 years (mean, 38 years). The causes of injury included traffic accident in 8 cases, falling from height in 3 cases, bruise injury in 3 cases; all were closed fractures. According to Tile classification, there were 8 cases of type B, 6 cases of type C. There were 13 cases combined with fracture of the anterior pelvic ring, including 8 cases of superior and inferior ramus of pubis fracture, 1 case of superior ramus of pubis fracture with symphysis separation, and 4 cases of symphysis separation. The interval of injury and admission was 1- 72 hours (mean, 16 hours), and the interval of injury and operation was 3-8 days (mean, 5 days). After operation, the reduction of fracture was evaluated by the Matta evaluation criteria, the clinical function was assessed by Majeed function assessment.

Results

The operation time was 35-95 minutes (mean, 55 minutes), cumulative C-arm fluoroscopy time was 3-8 minutes (mean, 5 minutes), no iatrogenic vascular injury and pelvic organ damage occurred. Postoperative X-ray films at 2 days indicated that 2 cases of vertical shift and 2 cases of mild rotation were not completely corrected. Postoperative CT examination at 3 days indicated that 2 pubic joint screws broke through the obturator bone cortex. None of the pubic ramus screws entered into the acetabulum, but a screw of superior pubic branch broke through the posterior cortical of superior pubic branch, a screw of posterior ilium column broke through the medial bone cortex of the ilium, and no clinical symptom was observed. One patient suffered from wound infection in the pubic symphysis, then healed after 2 weeks of wound drainage, the other wounds healed by first intention. According to Matta criterion for fracture reduction, the results were excellent in 9 cases, good in 4 cases, and fair in 1 case with an excellent and good rate of 92.9%. All patients were followed up 8-24 months (mean, 14 months). All fractures healed at 4 months and restored to the normal walking at 6 months after operation, 3 patients suffered from slight pain in the sacroiliac joints and slight claudication when they were tired or walked for a long time and unnecessary for special treatment. One patient felt pain in the back of the iliac spine when he was lying down. During the follow-up, no screw loosening or other internal fixation failure occurred. At last follow-up, according to Majeed functional evaluation criteria, the results were excellent in 7 cases, good in 5 cases, and fair in 2 cases with an excellent and good rate of 85.7%.

Conclusion

The percutaneous cannulated screw fixation is a safe treatment for Day type Ⅱ pelvic crescent fracture, which has a reliable fixation and good effectiveness.

Ultra-high speed RF filtering switch based on stimulated Brillouin scattering

Radio frequency (RF) filtering switch is highly desired for signal routing or manipulation in the RF system. Based on the stimulated Brillouin scattering effect and the electro-optics Pockels effect, we propose a novel RF filtering switch with a high-frequency filtering precision and a fast switching speed. We have experimentally demonstrated the RF filtering with a high precision of ∼34  MHz, a wide operation bandwidth of ∼18  GHz, and the RF switching at a speed of <100  ps, which is hundreds of times faster than the traditional RF switch.

[Correlation between Genetic Variants and Polymorphism of Caveolin and Sudden Unexplained Death]

OBJECTIVES

To explore the genetic variation sites of caveolin （CAV） and their correlation with sudden unexplained death （SUD）.

METHODS

The blood samples were collected from SUD group （71 cases）, coronary artery disease （CAD） group （62 cases） and control group （60 cases）, respectively. The genome DNA were extracted and sequencing was performed directly by amplifying gene coding region and exon-intron splicing region of CAV1 and CAV3 using PCR. The type of heritable variation of CVA was confirmed and statistical analysis was performed.

RESULTS

A total of 4 variation sites that maybe significative were identified in SUD group, and two were newfound which were CAV1： c.45C>T （T15T） and CAV1：c.512G>A （R171H）, and two were SNP loci which were CAV1：c.246C>T （rs35242077） and CAV3：c.99C>T （rs1008642） and had significant difference （P<0.05） in allele and genotype frequencies between SUD and control groups. Forementioned variation sites were not found in CAD group.

CONCLUSIONS

The variants of CAV1 and CAV3 may be correlated with a part of SUD group.

Genome-wide analysis of Epstein-Barr virus identifies variants and genes associated with gastric carcinoma and population structure

Epstein-Barr virus is a ubiquitous virus and is associated with several human malignances, including the significant subset of gastric carcinoma, Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric carcinoma. Some Epstein-Barr virus-associated diseases are uniquely prevalent in populations with different geographic origins. However, the features of the disease and geographically associated Epstein-Barr virus genetic variation as well as the roles that the variation plays in carcinogenesis and evolution remain unclear. Therefore, in this study, we sequenced 95 geographically distinct Epstein-Barr virus isolates from Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric carcinoma biopsies and saliva of healthy donors to detect variants and genes associated with gastric carcinoma and population structure from a genome-wide spectrum. We demonstrated that Epstein-Barr virus revealed the population structure between North China and South China. In addition, we observed population stratification between Epstein-Barr virus strains from gastric carcinoma and healthy controls, indicating that certain Epstein-Barr virus subtypes are associated with different gastric carcinoma risks. We identified that the BRLF1, BBRF3, and BBLF2/BBLF3 genes had significant associations with gastric carcinoma. LMP1 and BNLF2a genes were strongly geographically associated genes in Epstein-Barr virus. Our study provides insights into the genetic basis of oncogenic Epstein-Barr virus for gastric carcinoma, and the genetic variants associated with gastric carcinoma can serve as biomarkers for oncogenic Epstein-Barr virus.

Epidemiology and molecular characterization of Porcine teschovirus in Hunan, China

Porcine teschoviruses (PTVs) have been shown to be widely distributed in pig populations. In this study, 261 faecal and 91 intestinal content samples collected from pigs at 29 farms in Hunan, China, were tested for the presence of PTV by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). An overall PTV-positivity rate of 19.03% was detected by RT-PCR, and a high PTV infection rate was circulating in asymptomatic fattening and nursery pigs. In total, 40 PTV isolates (PTV-HuNs) were obtained. Alignment of their coding sequences with those of other known PTVs revealed that the genomic sequence of the polyprotein contains 6,606-6,621 nucleotides, encoding a 2,202-2,207-amino acid sequence. Phylogenetic analyses based on the VP1 gene and capsid protein gene exhibited 13 main lineages corresponding to PTV serotypes 1-13, and seven PTV serotypes (PTV 2-6, 9, and 11) were identified in the isolates obtained in our study; this is the first report of PTV 5, 9 and 11 in China. Recombination analysis among the PTV-HuNs indicated that nine recombination events have occurred, including both inter- and intraserotype events. In addition, results demonstrated that only limited positive selection is acting on the global population of PTV isolates, and purifying selection is predominant. In conclusion, this study revealed a high infection rate of PTVs circulating in asymptomatic fattening and nursery pigs. The 40 PTV-HuNs showed high genetic diversity, and genetic analysis of all available PTV sequences revealed that strong purifying selection and recombination play important roles in the genetic diversity and evolution of the virus.

Electromagnetic diagnostic system for the Keda Torus eXperiment

A system for electromagnetic measurements was designed and installed on the Keda Torus eXperiment (KTX) reversed field pinch device last year. Although the unique double-C structure of the KTX, which allows the machine to be opened easily without disassembling the poloidal field windings, makes the convenient replacement and modification of the internal inductive coils possible, it can present difficulties in the design of flux coils and magnetic probes at the two vertical gaps. Moreover, the KTX has a composite shell consisting of a 6 mm stainless steel vacuum chamber and a 1.5 mm copper shell, which results in limited space for the installation of saddle sensors. Therefore, the double-C structure and composite shell should be considered, especially during the design and installation of the electromagnetic diagnostic system (EDS). The inner surface of the vacuum vessel includes two types of probes. One type is for the measurement of the global plasma parameters, and the other type is for studying the local behavior of the plasma and operating the new saddle coils. In addition, the probes on the outer surface of the composite shell are used for measurements of eddy currents. Finally, saddle sensors for radial field measurements for feedback control were installed between the conducting shell and the vacuum vessel. The entire system includes approximately 1100 magnetic probes, 14 flux coils, 4×26×2 saddle sensors, and 16 Rogowski coils. Considering the large number of probes and limited space available in the vacuum vessel, the miniaturization of the probes and optimization of the probe distribution are necessary. In addition, accurate calibration and careful mounting of the probes are also required. The frequency response of the designed magnetic probes is up to 200 kHz, and the resolution is 1 G. The EDS, being spherical and of high precision, is one of the most basic and effective diagnostic tools of the KTX and meets the demands imposed by requirements on basic machine operating information and future studies.

Weakly Supervised Part Proposal Segmentation From Multiple Images

Weakly supervised local part segmentation is challenging, due to the difficulty of modeling multiple local parts from image level prior. In this paper, we propose a new weakly supervised local part proposal segmentation method based on the observation that local parts will keep fixed along the object pose variations. Hence, the local part can be segmented by capturing object pose variations. Based on such observation, a new local part proposal segmentation model is proposed. Three aspects, such as shape similarity-based cosegmentation, shape matching-based part detection and segmentation, and graph matching-based part assignment are considered. A part segmentation energy function is first proposed. Four terms, such as MRF-based single image segmentation term, shape feature-based foreground consistency term, NCuts-based part segmentation term, and two-order graphs matching based part consistency term, are contained. Then, a three sub-minimization-based energy minimization method is proposed to accomplish approximation solution. Finally, we verify our method based on three image data sets (PASCAL VOC 2008 Part data set, UCB Bird data set, and Cat-Dog data set), and one video data set (UCF Sports) data set. The experimental results demonstrate a better segmentation performance compared with the existing object cosegmentation and part proposal generation methods.

The effect of EBV on WIF1, NLK, and APC gene methylation and expression in gastric carcinoma and nasopharyngeal cancer

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an important DNA tumor virus that is associated with approximately 10% of gastric carcinomas and 99% of nasopharyngeal cancers (NPC). DNA methylation and microRNAs (miRNAs) are the most studied epigenetic mechanisms that can prompt disease susceptibility. This study aimed to detect the effect of EBV on Wnt inhibitory factor 1 (WIF1), Nemo-like kinase (NLK), and adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene methylation, and expression in gastric carcinoma and NPC. The WIF1, NLK, and APC gene mRNA expression levels were measured by real-time quantitative RT-PCR in four EBV-positive cell lines and four EBV-negative cell lines. Bisulfite genomic sequencing or methylation-specific PCR was used to detect the methylation status of the WIF1, NLK, and APC promoters. All cell lines were treated with 5-azacytidine (5-aza-dC), miR-BART19-3p mimics or an inhibitor, and analyzed by flow cytometry and MTT cell proliferation assays. The WIF1, NLK, and APC promoters were hypermethylated in all eight cell lines. 5-Aza-dC displayed a growth inhibitory effect on cells . After transfection with miR-BART19-3p mimics, the expression of WIF1, and APC decreased, and the cellular proliferation rate increased. After transfection with the miR-BART19-3p inhibitor, the expression levels were higher, and the cell growth was inhibited. In the NPC and GC cell lines, the promoters of WIF1, NLK, and APC are highly methylated, and the expression of these three genes is regulated by miR-BART19-3p. The activity of the Wnt pathway in EBV-associated tumors may be enhanced by miR-BART19-3p.