Abstract Calcium and phosphorus metabolism involves in patients with chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD). Sclerostin and bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) are closely related to bone formation. This study aims to assess sclerostin and BMP-7’s role in renal function, blood calcium and phosphorus in CKD-MBD. 86 CKD-MBD patients were collected as the case group and 86 healthy subjects were selected as control group. ELISA was used to detect Sclerostin and BMP-7 serum level. The automatic biochemical analyzer was used to detect liver and kidney function. Blood calcium and phosphorus level, and iPHT level was detected by immunoradiation. No differences were found regarding age, gender, and BMI between case group and control group (P > 0.05). Compared to controls, CKD-MBD patients had significantly reduced blood calcium and eGFR level, and increased Scr, BUN, blood phosphorus and iPTH level (P < 0.05) with increased Sclerostin (t = 33.86, P < 0.001), and reduced BMP-7 level (t = 329.38, P < 0.001). Scr, BUN, blood phosphorus levels and iPTH were correlated with Sclerostin positively (P < 0.05) and BMP-7 negatively (P < 0.05). eGFR and blood calcium were correlated with Sclerostin negatively (P < 0.05) and BMP-7 positively (P < 0.05). Scr, eGFR, blood calcium levels, blood phosphorus levels, and iPTH are independent risk factors for serum Sclerostin and BMP-7 level. Sclerostin and BMP-7 changes may be important factors affecting the occurrence of CKD-MBD. Renal function, blood calcium and blood phosphorus are independent risk factors for serum Sclerostin and BMP-7 level.

ABSTRACT Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread worldwide. The aim this study was to investigate the association of diabetes with severity and mortality among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Subjects and methods: This retrospective, single-center case study enrolled a total of 564 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 at the Seventh Hospital of Wuhan City, between January 20 and March 15, 2020. Results: Among the 564 patients with confirmed COVID-19, 509 (85.1%) were discharged and 55 (9.8%) died. The median age was 59 years (range, 10-93 years). A total of 85 (15.1%) patients were diagnosed with diabetes on admission (median age, 65.0 [range, 34-91] years). Patients with diabetes had significantly higher proportions of critical cases (24 [28.2%] vs. 66 [13.8%]) and in-hospital mortality (17 [20%] vs. 38 [7.9%]). Moreover, patients with diabetes presented abnormal levels of multiple indicators concerning lymphopenia, inflammation, heart, liver, kidney, and lung function on admission, while diabetic patient group still display higher troponin T (TnT) levels when approaching discharge. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve indicated a trend toward poorer survival in diabetic patients compared to non-diabetic patients, also evidenced by abnormal laboratory biomarker changes regarding multiple system impairments among COVID-19 patients with diabetes with in-hospital death. Conclusion: The detailed clinical investigation of 564 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 indicated a considerable association between diabetes and COVID-19 severity or mortality. Thus, more intensive treatment may be considered for COVID-19 patients with diabetes, especially regarding to cardiac injury.

Abstract Background: Pollen development is an energy-consuming process that particularly occurs during meiosis. Low levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) may cause cell death, resulting in CMS (cytoplasmic male sterility). DNA sequence differences in ATP synthase genes have been revealed between the N- and S-cytoplasms in the cotton CMS system. However, very few data are available at the RNA level. In this study, we compared five ATP synthase genes in the H276A, H276B and fertile F1 (H276A/H268) lines using RNA editing, RNA blotting and quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR) to explore their contribution to CMS. A molecular marker for identifying male sterile cytoplasm (MSC) was also developed. Results: RNA blotting revealed the absence of any novel orf for the ATP synthase gene sequence in the three lines. Forty-one RNA editing sites were identified in the coding sequences. RNA editing showed that proteins had 32.43% higher hydrophobicity and that 39.02% of RNA editing sites had proline converted to leucine. Two new stop codons were detected in atp6 and atp9 by RNA editing. Real-time qRT-PCR data showed that the atp1, atp6, atp8, and atp9 genes had substantially lower expression levels in H276A compared with those in H276B. By contrast, the expression levels of all five genes were increased in F1 (H276A/H268). Moreover, a molecular marker based on a 6-bp deletion upstream of atp8 in H276A was developed to identify male sterile cytoplasm (MSC) in cotton. Conclusions: Our data substantially contributes to the understanding of the function of ATP synthase genes in cotton CMS. Therefore, we suggest that ATP synthase genes might be an indirect cause of cotton CMS. Further research is needed to investigate the relationship among ATP synthase genes in cotton CMS.

In this paper, Co3O4-ZnO nanomaterials with Co3O4 doping mass fractions of 0%, 2.13%, 4.13%, and 6.13% were prepared by sol-gel method. In order to explain and confirm the influence of the incorporation of Co3O4 on the surface morphology and gas sensitivity of ZnO at a relatively low gas concentration, additional studies such as XRD, XPS, SEM, EDS and UV-vis spectroscopy were performed. And its photoelectric response to 100 ppm acetone at near room temperature and visible light irradiation was studied. Due to the formation of P-N heterojunctions, the Co3O4-ZnO heterostructural nanoparticles has a highe response to low concentrations of acetone gas than undoped ZnO nanoparticles even at operating temperatures as low as 30ºC. The addition of Co3O4 improves the sensitivity and selectivity of ZnO thick films. The sensitivity of the 4.13wt% Co3O4-ZnO sample to 100 ppm acetone at a working temperature of 30ºC was 24.36. The light excitation effect was significantly enhanced. Under visible light irradiation, the sensitivity can reach 37.21. In addition, the Co3O4-ZnO P-N heterojunction model was combined with visible light excitation theory to further explore the mechanism of gas sensing reaction.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence and prevalence of thromboangiitis obliterans in Taiwan in the period spanning from 2002 to 2011. METHODS: We identified all incident and prevalent cases with a diagnosis of thromboangiitis obliterans (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code 443.1) in the period spanning from 2002 to 2011 using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database. We calculated the age- and sex-specific incidence and prevalence rates of thromboangiitis obliterans during the study period. RESULTS: From 2002 to 2011, 158 patients were diagnosed with thromboangiitis obliterans; of these, 76% were men. Most (63%) of the patients were <50 years old when they were first diagnosed. After reaching 20 years of age, the incidence rate increased with age and peaked among those aged ≥60 years. The average incidence rate of thromboangiitis obliterans during the 2002–2011 period was 0.068 per 105 years. The incidence of thromboangiitis obliterans decreased with time, from 0.10 per 105 years in 2002 to 0.04 per 105 years in 2011. The prevalence increased from 0.26 × 10−5 in 2002 to 0.65 × 10−5 in 2011. CONCLUSION: This is the first epidemiologic study of thromboangiitis obliterans using claims data from a general population in Taiwan. This nationwide, population-based study found that the incidence and prevalence of thromboangiitis obliterans in Taiwan in the 2002–2011 period were lower than those in other countries before 2000. This study also revealed a trend of decreasing incidence with simultaneous increasing prevalence of thromboangiitis obliterans in Taiwan from 2002 to 2011.