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Ruofei Chen,1,&ast; Yaqin Zhang,1,&ast; Honggang Xu,2 Huaqing Hu,3 Mingwei Chen,4 Zongwen Shuai1 1Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Sports Injury and Arthroscopic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Health Management Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Mingwei Chen; Zongwen Shuai Email chmw1@163.com; amushuaizw@163.comObjective: To investigate the correlation of the Val109Asp polymorphism of the omentin-1 gene with the risk and severity of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) in a Chinese Han population.Methods: This study enrolled 383 patients with primary KOA and 460 healthy controls. The genotypes were determined by the detection of single nucleotide polymorphism. To explore the interaction between omentin-1 gene polymorphism and obesity and age, the body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 and the age of 55 years old were preset as the cut-off value of stratified analysis. Furthermore, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the levels of omentin-1, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 in peripheral blood and synovial fluid and the contents of IL-1β, IL-6, metalloproteinase (MMP)-13 and collagen (COL)-II in the supernatant of knee joint cartilage tissue.Results: The Val109Asp polymorphism of the omentin-1 gene showed no obvious correlation with KOA. Compared with Asp/Asp genotype carriers with BMI < 25 kg/m2 and age < 55 years old, Val109 allele carriers with BMI≥ 25 kg/m2 and age ≥ 55 years old had obviously increased risk of KOA (adjusted OR = 1.416, p = 0.042; adjusted OR = 1.735, p = 0.038, respectively). In the KOA group, only the omentin-1 levels were significantly lower in the plasma and synovial fluid of Ala/Ala genotype carriers than in those of Asp/Asp genotype carriers. Meanwhile, the proportion of patients with moderate–severe K-L Classification, the levels of IL-1β, IL-6 in synovial fluid and the expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and MMP-13 in cartilage tissue significantly increased (p < 0.05). By contrast, the expression level of COL-II in cartilage tissue significantly decreased (p < 0.05).Conclusions: The Val109Asp polymorphism of the omentin-1 gene may not be the primary pathogenic factor of KOA in Chinese. The Val/Val genotype can be regarded as a potential biomarker for the risk of KOA progression.Keywords: omentin-1, single nucleotide polymorphism, knee osteoarthritis, biomarker, Chinese, obesity

The present study reported clinical characteristics and the results of gene mutation analysis of 3 Chinese patients with Gitelman syndrome (GS). Three patients manifested with normal blood pressure, recurrent hypokalemia, and metabolic alkalosis. Only case 2 had obvious hypomagnesemia. Gene sequencing showed a compound heterozygous mutation in SCL12A3 in case 1 and a homozygous mutation in SCL12A3 in case 2. Heterozygous mutations in SCL12A3 and CLCNKB were found in case 3. Then, the literature was reviewed. The keyword “Gitelman syndrome” was inputted into the PubMed, Wanfang Database, and CNK to search all Chinese patients with GS diagnosed by gene mutations and to extract complete clinical data from December 1998 to 2018. Finally, a total of 124 cases of GS were included. No significant differences in the levels of serum potassium and magnesium were observed among the different gene mutations, and the serum magnesium levels in adults were lower than those of the juvenile. GS with reduced blood magnesium had a serious clinical phenotype. Therefore, GS had a diverse phenotype, and its final diagnosis required genetic profiling. The relationship of gene mutation and clinical phenotype needed further study.

Two-hundred-nanometer-thick 6,13-bis (triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-Pentacene) films were formed on Si substrates by spin coating. The rms roughness of the spun dendrite-type films is ~ 40 nm, determined by atomic force microscopy. Ordered crystalline structures were revealed by x-ray diffraction measurement, and the dominated absorption band from the ordered structures was further confirmed by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The current–voltage characteristics of the junctions formed using TIPS-Pentacene on n-type Si substrates show good rectifying behavior with rectification ratios over 100 at 1 V. In the heterojunctions, barrier heights of ~ 0.8 eV and ideality factors of ~ 2 were determined based on thermionic emission model. It shows that TIPS-Pentacene can work well with n-type Si to form Schottky-type rectifying devices. Capacitance–voltage measurement performed on the metal–insulator–semiconductor structure of TIPS-Pentacene on SiO2 shows obvious effects of accumulation and depletion in TIPS-Pentacene with bias. The maximum width of the depletion layer in TIPS-Pentacene is estimated to be 9.4 nm.

Publication in the conference proceedings of EUSIPCO, Aalborg, Denmark, 2010