Search

Background: The inflammatory response is a pivotal factor in accelerating the progression of atherosclerosis. The high-sensitivity C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR) has emerged as a novel marker of systemic inflammation. However, few studies have shown the CAR to be a promising prognostic marker for carotid atherosclerotic disease. This study aimed to analyse the predictive role of the CAR in carotid atherosclerotic disease. Methods: This community-based cohort study recruited 2003 participants from the Rose asymptomatic IntraCranial Artery Stenosis (RICAS) study who were free of stroke or transient ischemic attack. Carotid atherosclerotic plaques and their stability were identified via carotid ultrasound. Logistic regression models were utilized to investigate the association between CAR and the presence of carotid atherosclerotic plaques. Results: The prevalence of carotid atherosclerotic plaques was 38.79% in this study. After adjusting for clinical risk factors, including sex, age, dyslipidemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), and smoking and drinking habits, a high CAR-level was independently associated with carotid plaque (odds ratio [OR] of upper: 1.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13– 1.90, P = 0.004; P for trend = 0.011). The highest CAR tertile was still significantly associated with carotid plaques among middle-aged (40– 64 years) or female participants. Notably, an elevated CAR may be an independent risk factor for vulnerable carotid plaques (OR of upper: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.42– 2.98, P < 0.001; P for trend < 0.001). Conclusion: A high CAR may be correlated with a high risk of carotid plaques, particularly among mildly aged adults (40– 64 years) or females. Importantly, the CAR may be associated with vulnerable carotid plaques, suggesting that the CAR may be a new indicator for stroke prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane is one of the main greenhouse trace gases and seriously affects the radiation balance of Earth systems due to its strong heat absorption capacity and long atmospheric retention time. Based on the methane stratification data simulated by the community atmospheric model with chemistry (CAM-chem), near-surface methane concentrations were estimated by utilizing the Gaussian function, and the spatiotemporal variation in the near-surface methane concentration in China from 2001 to 2019 was discussed in this research. The results show that (1) based on the methane stratification concentration data simulated by the atmospheric chemical model, the near-surface CH4 concentration estimated by Gaussian function model is reliable, which provides a new method to estimate the near-surface CH4 concentration over China; (2) from 2001 to 2019, the near-surface methane concentration in China showed an increasing trend with an annual growth rate of 7.20±0.23 ppb·a−1. The annual maximum near-surface methane concentration was measured in winter, and the minimum was measured in summer; (3) the spatial distribution differences are obvious: the methane concentration in the east was higher than that in the west, and the methane concentration in the north was higher than that in the south. Moreover, the distributions of methane in the east and west are consistent with the division of Hu Huanyong population line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Mitochondrial proteomic alterations of nasopharyngeal carcinoma metastasis remain unknown. Our purpose is to screen mitochondrial proteins for the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma metastasis and the discovery of metastasis-related biomarkers. Methods Mitochondria were isolated from nasopharyngeal carcinoma metastatic (5-8F) and nonmetastatic (6-10B) cell lines, respectively. After characterization of isolated mitochondria, mitochondrial differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were quantified by two-dimensional difference in-gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE), and identified by peptide mass fingerprint (PMF) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). A functional enrichment analysis and a protein-protein interaction sub-network analysis for DEPs were carried out with bioinformatics. Furthermore, siRNAs transient transfections were used to suppress expressions of some up-regulated DEPs in metastatic cells (5-8F), followed by Transwell Migration assay. Results Sixteen mitochondrial DEPs including PRDX3 and SOD2 were identified. Those 5-8F cells with suppression of PRDX3 showed an increased mobility potential. The functional enrichment analyses of DEPs discovered five significant biological processes including cellular response to reactive oxygen species, hydrogen peroxide metabolic process, regulation of mitochondrial membrane potential, cell redox homeostasis and oxidation reduction, and five significant molecular functions including oxidoreductase activity, caspase inhibitor activity, peroxiredoxin activity, porin activity and antioxidant activity. A protein-protein interaction sub-network of DEPs was generated with literature data. Ten mitochondrial DEPs including PRDX3, PRDX6, SOD2, ECH1, SERPINB5, COX5A, PDIA5, EIF5A, IDH3B, and PSMC4 were rationalized in the tumor-stroma co-evolution model that mitochondrial oxidative stress directly contributes to tumor metastasis. Conclusions Sixteen mitochondrial DEPs were identified with mass spectrometry and ten of them were rationalized in the tumor-stroma co-evolution model. Those 5-8F cells with suppression of PRDX3 showed an increased mobility potential. These data suggest that those mitochondrial DEPs are potential biomarkers for NPC metastasis, and their dysregulation would play important roles in mitochondria oxidative stress-mediated NPC metastatic process.

Abstract Background Many proteomics initiatives require integration of all information with uniformcriteria from collection of samples and data display to publication of experimental results. The integration and exchanging of these data of different formats and structure imposes a great challenge to us. The XML technology presents a promise in handling this task due to its simplicity and flexibility. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the most common cancers in southern China and Southeast Asia, which has marked geographic and racial differences in incidence. Although there are some cancer proteome databases now, there is still no NPC proteome database. Results The raw NPC proteome experiment data were captured into one XML document with Human Proteome Markup Language (HUP-ML) editor and imported into native XML database Xindice. The 2D/MS repository of NPC proteome was constructed with Apache, PHP and Xindice to provide access to the database via Internet. On our website, two methods, keyword query and click query, were provided at the same time to access the entries of the NPC proteome database. Conclusion Our 2D/MS repository can be used to share the raw NPC proteomics data that are generated from gel-based proteomics experiments. The database, as well as the PHP source codes for constructing users' own proteome repository, can be accessed at http://www.xyproteomics.org/.