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Luyang Pi,1 Yu Wang,1 Lirong Zou,1 Xinxin Mo,2 Leilei Guo3 1College of Humanities and Law, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Education Science, Guangdong Preschool Normal College in Maoming, Maoming, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Marxism, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Leilei Guo, Email guollei3@mail.sysu.edu.cnPurpose: To explore the potential classification of Problematic Mobile Social Media Usage (PMSMU) in Chinese college students, analyze whether there is group heterogeneity in PMSMU, and discuss the differences in the latent profile of PMSMU in fear of missing out, online positive feedback, and boredom proneness.Methods: A total of 2591 Chinese college students were investigated using the Problematic Mobile Social Media Usage Questionnaire, Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) Scale, Online Positive Feedback Scale and Short-form Boredom Proneness Scale, and heterogeneity was tested by latent profile analysis.Results: The PMSMU of college students can be divided into three latent profiles: no-problem use group (26.44%), mild problem use group (56.66%), and severe problem use group (16.91%). Male students, as compared to female students, showed a significantly lower likelihood of being classified as mild problematic users (OR=0.50, p< 0.001) and severe problematic users (OR=0.29, p< 0.001). Additionally, students with higher levels of FOMO, a stronger craving for online positive feedback, and increased boredom proneness are more likely to belong to the severe problematic use group (OR=2.91, p< 0.001; OR=1.42, p< 0.01; OR=8.72, p< 0.001).Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the factors influencing the heterogeneity of individual PMSMU. Specifically, female college students and those with a higher fear of missing out, greater susceptibility to boredom, and a stronger craving for positive online feedback are more likely to exhibit severe PMSMU. These findings provide valuable empirical evidence for developing preventive strategies to address PMSMU among college students.Keywords: problematic mobile social media usage, latent profile analysis, fear of missing out, online positive feedback, boredom proneness

Zhaojin Lu,1,&ast; Zepeng Zheng,1,&ast; Yufen Xu,1,&ast; Chenlu Wang,1 Yueling Lin,1 Kun Lin,1 LanYan Fu,1 Huazhong Zhou,1 Lei Pi,1 Di Che,1 Xiaoqiong Gu1,2 1Department of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Di Che, Department of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou, 510623, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-20-38076562, Email chedi@gwcmc.org Xiaoqiong Gu, Department of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou, 510623, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-20-38076561, Email guxiaoqiong@gwcmc.orgBackground: Kawasaki disease (KD) was one of the most common primary vasculitis. IVIG resistance was associated with an increased risk of coronary artery aneurysm. Accumulating evidences demonstrated that inflammatory gene polymorphisms might play important roles in IVIG resistance, and zinc finger proteins were closely related to immune inflammation regulation, but the effect of ZNF112/rs8113807 and ZNF180/rs2571051 on IVIG resistance in KD patients has not been reported.Methods: A total of 996 KD patients were recruited, and the assay of TaqMan-real-time polymerase chain reaction was used for ZNF112/rs8113807 and ZNF180/rs2571051 genotyping. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for estimating the relationship between the polymorphisms of the both SNPs (ZNF112/rs8113807 and ZNF180/rs2571051) and the risk of IVIG resistance.Results: Both of the ZNF112/rs8113807 CC/TC genotype and the ZNF180/rs2571051 TT/CT genotype increased the risk of IVIG resistance in KD (rs8113807: CC vs TT: adjusted OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.06– 3.16, p = 0.0293; CC/TC vs TT adjusted: OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.10– 2.02, p = 0.0094. rs2571051: TT vs CC adjusted: OR = 2.64, 95% CI = 1.62– 4.29, p < 0.0001; TT/CT vs CC adjusted: OR = 2.14, 95% CI = 1.37– 3.37, p = 0.0009; TT vs CC/CT adjusted: OR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.22– 2.27, p = 0.0014). Furthermore, the combinative analysis of risk genotypes in ZNF112/rs8113807 and ZNF180/rs2571051 showed that patients with two unfavorable genotypes were more likely to increase risk of IVIG resistance than those who carried with zero or one unfavorable genotypes (adjusted: OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.24– 2.27, p = 0.0008).Conclusion: Our findings enriched the genetic background of IVIG resistance risk in the KD development and suggested that the ZNF112/rs8113807 C-carrier and the ZNF180/rs2571051 T-carrier were associated with increased risk of IVIG resistance in KD patients in Chinese southern population.Keywords: Kawasaki disease, ZNF112/rs8113807, ZNF180/rs2571051, IVIG resistance, inflammatory gene, polymorphism

Zhiyuan Wu,1,&ast; Yufeng Liang,1,&ast; Yunlong Zuo,1,&ast; Yufen Xu,2 Hanran Mai,2 Lei Pi,2 Di Che,2 Xiaoqiong Gu2 1Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaoqiong Gu; Di CheDepartment of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510623, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86-20-38076561; +86-20-38076562Email guxiaoqiong@gwcmc.org; chedi@gwcmc.orgPurpose: Accumulating evidence demonstrates that genetic susceptibility genes can be used as biomarkers to assess sepsis susceptibility, and genetic variation is associated with susceptibility and clinical outcomes in patients with sepsis and inflammatory disease. Although studies have shown that the lncRNA CCAT2 is involved in inflammatory diseases, it remains unclear whether CCAT2 gene polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to inflammatory diseases, such as sepsis, in children.Methods: We genotyped the rs6983267 CCAT2 polymorphism in 474 cases (pediatric sepsis) and 678 controls using TaqMan methods, and odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the strength of associations.Results: Our results indicate that the rs6983267 T > G polymorphism is significantly associated with an increased risk of sepsis in children (TG and TT: adjusted OR = 1.311, 95% CI = 1.016– 1.743, GG and TT: adjusted OR = 1.444, 95% CI = 1.025– 2.034 dominant model: GG/TG vs TT adjusted OR = 1.362, 95% CI = 1.055– 1.756). Furthermore, the risk effect was more pronounced in children younger than 60 months who were male and who had sepsis.Conclusion: We found that the CCAT2 gene polymorphism rs6983267 T > G may be associated with an increased risk of pediatric sepsis in southern China. A larger multicenter study should be performed to confirm these results.Keywords: lncRNA CCAT2, sepsis, susceptibility, polymorphism

Di Che,1,&ast; Zhenzhen Fang,2,&ast; Hanran Mai,1,&ast; Yufen Xu,1 LanYan Fu,1 Huazhong Zhou,1 Linyuan Zhang,1 Lei Pi,1 Xiaoqiong Gu1 1Department of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Program of Molecular Medicine, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Hospital, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaoqiong GuDepartment of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou, 510623, Guangdong, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86-20-38076561Email guxiaoqiong@gwcmc.orgBackground: Genetic factors may play an important role in susceptibility to recurrent miscarriage. Some cardiovascular disease-related candidate genes have been shown to be associated with recurrent miscarriage. Long noncoding RNA ANRIL has been confirmed to be associated with susceptibility to various diseases, such as cardiovascular disease. However, it remains unclear whether the ANRIL gene polymorphism is related to recurrent miscarriage susceptibility.Methods: Three ANRIL gene polymorphisms (rs2151280, rs1063192 and rs564398) were genotyped in 819 controls and 610 recurrent miscarriage patients through TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction. The odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of each association.Results: Our results showed that the ANRIL rs2151280 GG genotype was associated with increased susceptibility to recurrent miscarriage (GG vs AA: adjusted OR=1.527, 95% CI=1.051– 2.218, p=0.0262; GG vs AG/AA adjusted OR=1.460, 95% CI=1.021– 2.089, p=0.0381). By combining the analysis of the risk genotypes in the three SNPs, we found that individuals with 2– 3 risk genotypes had a significantly increased risk of recurrent miscarriage compared with those with a 0– 1 risk genotype (adjusted OR=1.728, 95% CI=1.112– 2.683, p=0.0149). This risk was more significant in subgroups of women less than 35– 40 years of age and women with 2– 3 miscarriages.Conclusion: These results suggested that a specific SNP in the ANRIL gene may be associated with increased susceptibility to recurrent miscarriage in a southern Chinese population.Keywords: recurrent miscarriage, lncRNA ANRIL, genetic susceptibility, polymorphism

Kun Lin,1,2,* Linyuan Zhang,1,2,* Yishuai Wang,1– 3,* Jinqing Li,1 Yufen Xu,1 Di Che,1 Hanran Mai,4 Hongyan Yu,1 Lanyan Fu,1 Bing Wei,2 Zhiyong Jiang,2 Lei Pi,1 Xiaoqiong Gu1,2 1Department of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510623, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Blood Transfusion and Clinical Lab, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510623, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Andrology, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center. Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510623, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaoqiong Gu; Lei Pi Email guxiaoqiong@gwcmc.org; pilei@gwcmc.orgBackground: A large number of studies demonstrated that the key to the occurrence and development of Kawasaki disease (KD) is the over-activation of immune cells and the generation of various inflammatory factors, leading to the imbalance of the immune system. Recently, mutations in the FNDC1 gene have been shown to be associated with inflammatory responses. However, there have been no reports on the relationship between FNDC1 gene and KD so far.Methods: We enrolled 1611 controls and 1459 patients with KD, including 372 patients with coronary artery aneurysm (CAA) and 179 patients with coronary artery lesion (CAL). The relationship between FNDC1 rs3003174 polymorphism and KD with CAA or without CAA was investigated.Results: This study showed no evidence that the association between FNDC1 rs3003174 C>T polymorphism and KD susceptibility was statistically significant (CT versus CC: adjusted odds ratio (OR) =0.897, 95% confidence interval (CI) =0.769– 1.045, P=0.162; TT versus CC: adjusted OR=0.995, 95% CI=0.786– 1.260, P=0.968; dominant model: adjusted OR=0.916, 95% CI=0.792– 1.059, P=0.235; and recessive model: adjusted OR=1.055, 95% CI=0.845– 1.316, P=0.638). However, our further stratified analysis in the control and KD group bore out that the incidence of TT genotype of FNDC1 rs3003174 C > T polymorphism was higher than that of CC/CT genotype in KD patients stratified by CAA (adjusted OR=1.437, 95% CI=1.034– 1.996, P=0.031). Moreover, a stratified analysis of age and gender in KD patients indicated that the rs3003174 TT genotype increased the risk of CAA formation in aged ≦60 months (CC/CT vs TT: adjusted OR=1.580, 95% CI=1.106– 2.259, P=0.012) and male (CC/CT vs TT: adjusted OR=1.653, 95% CI=1.101– 2.481, P=0.015) KD patients.Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that the FNDC1 rs3003174 C>T polymorphism may be a hazard factor in the formation of CAA in KD patients that was not disclosed before.Keywords: coronary artery aneurysm, Kawasaki disease, fibronectin type III domain containing 1, polymorphisms

Di Che,1,* Zhenzhen Fang,2,* Lei Pi,1 Yufen Xu,1 LanYan Fu,1 Huazhong Zhou,1 Xiaoqiong Gu1,3,4 1Department of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Program of Molecular Medicine, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Hospital, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Clinical Lab, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Blood Transfusion, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaoqiong GuDepartment of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86-20-38076561Email guxiaoqiong@gwcmc.orgBackground: Many inflammation-related gene polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to recurrent miscarriage. SERPINA4 is involved in inflammation and is associated with susceptibility to a variety of diseases, but its relevance in recurrent miscarriage is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between SERPINA4 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to recurrent spontaneous abortion.Methods: Two SERPINA4 polymorphisms were genotyped in 631 patients with recurrent miscarriage and 771 controls by TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction, and the strength of each association was evaluated through 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and odds ratios (ORs).Results: The results showed that SERPINA4 rs2070777 AA genotypes were associated with an increased risk of recurrent miscarriage (AA vs AT/TT adjusted OR=1.409, 95% CI=1.032– 1.924, P=0.0309), and we also found a significant association between the rs910352 T allele in the SERPINA4 gene and susceptibility to recurrent miscarriage (CT vs CC adjusted OR=1.579, 95% CI=1.252– 1.992, P=0.0001; TT vs CC adjusted OR=1.524, 95% CI=1.134– 2.049, P=0.0052). The combined analysis of two SNPs of the SERPINA4 gene revealed that carriers with one to two unfavorable genotypes were associated with a higher risk for recurrent miscarriage compared with individuals with no unfavorable genotypes (adjusted OR=1.257, 95% CI=1.019-1.550). Moreover, our study indicates that having one to two unfavorable genotypes is associated with an increased risk of recurrent miscarriage in women 35– 40 years of age.Conclusion: Our study suggests that SERPINA4 rs2070777AA genotypes might contribute to an increased risk of recurrent miscarriage in a southern Chinese population.Keywords: recurrent miscarriage, SERPINA4, genetic susceptibility, polymorphism

Di Che,1,* Jiawen Li,2,* Lanyan Fu,1,* Lei Pi,1 Xing Rong,2 Yanfei Wang,3 Yufen Xu,1 Ping Huang,3 Maoping Chu,2 Xiaoqiong Gu1,4 1Department of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China; 2Children’s Heart Center, the Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital, Institute of Cardiovascular Development and Translational Medicine, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China; 3Department of Cardiology, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China; 4Department of Clinical Lab, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) mainly manifests as excessive inflammation and vascular endothelial cell injury. This disease generally occurs in children younger than 5 years of age and is more severe in children younger than 12 months. KD affects males and females at a ratio of 1.5:1. Polymorphisms of the rs1625579 locus in the miR-137 gene are associated with schizophrenia susceptibility, and high glucose-induced upregulation of miR-137 in vascular endothelial cells promotes monocyte chemotaxis and inflammatory cytokine secretion in gestational diabetes mellitus. However, researchers have not reported whether rs1625579 is associated with KD susceptibility or onset. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between the miRNA-137 rs1625579 T>G polymorphism and KD susceptibility. Methods: TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction was applied to determine the genotypes of 532 patients with KD (365 males and 167 females) and 623 control subjects (402 males and 221 females). Results: Comparison of all cases with all controls revealed that the rs1625579 T>G polymorphism was not associated with KD susceptibility. However, a subgroup analysis revealed that subjects with the rs1625579 TG/GG genotypes exhibited a significantly higher onset risk for KD before 12 months of age than carriers of the TT genotype (adjusted age and gender odds ratio=1.99, 95% CI=1.04–3.83; P=0.039). Conclusion: Our results indicate that the rs1625579 T>G polymorphism confers a risk of early-onset KD in southern Chinese children. Keywords: Kawasaki disease, miRNA-137, rs1625579, susceptibility, early onset

Lei Pi,1,* Di Che,1,* Haifeng Long,2,3,* Zhenzhen Fang,4 Jiawen Li,1 Shuyi Lin,2 Yunfeng Liu,2 Meiai Li,2 Lijuan Bao,2 Wenli Li,2 Yuan Zhang,2 Qiulian Deng,2 Techang Liu,5 Li Zhang,5 Xiaoqiong Gu1,2 1Department of Clinical Biological Resource Bank, Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China; 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China; 4Program of Molecular Medicine, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Hospital, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China; 5Department of Cardiology, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Introduction: Kawasaki disease is a kind of systemic vasculitis that mainly damages moderate and small-sized blood vessels, and is a leading cause of coronary artery lesions (CAL). Antiplatelet therapy is a routine component of Kawasaki disease treatment strategies. So it is important to evaluate the antiplatelet effect of aspirin because of the individual biological variability of antiplatelet effect of aspirin. The immature platelet fraction (IPF) has attracted particular attention as it may influence the antiplatelet effect of aspirin. This study investigated the prognostic factors for evaluating the degree of vasculitis and the effect of antiplatelet therapy in children with Kawasaki disease. Materials and methods: Blood samples were collected from 44 patients with Kawasaki disease before aspirin treatment and 7 to 10 days after treatment. The IPF counts, percentage of the IPF, and highly fluorescent IPF were detected by a Sysmex XE-5000 instrument. The levels of 11-dehydrothromboxane B2 (11-DH-TXB2), soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L), and soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin) were measured by ELISA. The correlation between the measured factors and the degree of coronary artery damage in Kawasaki disease was analyzed. Results: We found that 11-DH-TXB2, sP-selectin, and sCD40L levels were much more elevated in the CAL group than in the non-coronary artery lesions (NCAL) group before aspirin treatment. The concentrations of 11-DH-TXB2, sCD40L, sP-selectin, and IPF were reduced after aspirin treatment in the NCAL group but not the CAL group. This is related to the degree of coronary artery damage in Kawasaki disease patients. Additionally, 11-DH-TXB2, sCD40L, sP-selectin, and IPF were positively correlated with the degree of coronary artery damage in Kawasaki disease patients. Conclusion: The current study suggests that the presence of high plasma concentrations of 11-DH-TXB2, sCD40L, sP-selectin, and IPF can be considered a risk factor and experimental biomarker for CAL in Kawasaki disease patients. Keywords: Kawasaki disease, coronary artery lesions, aspirin, immature platelet fraction

Jiaze Tang,1 Ning Huang,1 Xiang Zhang,1,2 Tao Zhou,3 Ying Tan,1,4 Jiangli Pi,5 Li Pi,1 Si Cheng,6 Huzhi Zheng,5 Yuan Cheng1 1Department of Neurosurgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 2Chongqing Key Laboratory of Ultrasound Molecular Imaging, Institute of Ultrasound Imaging, 3Chongqing Key Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, 4Institute of Life Sciences, Chongqing Medical University, 5Key Laboratory on Luminescent and Real-Time Analytical Chemistry, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest University, 6Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China Abstract: The extent of resection is a significant prognostic factor in glioma patients. However, the maximum safe resection level is difficult to determine due to the inherent infiltrative character of tumors. Recently, fluorescence-guided surgery has emerged as a new technique that allows safe resection of glioma. In this study, we constructed a new kind of quantum dot (QD)-labeled aptamer (QD-Apt) nanoprobe by conjugating aptamer 32 (A32) to the QDs surface, which can specially bind to the tumors. A32 is a single-stranded DNA capable of binding to the epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) specially distributed on the surface of glioma cells. To detect the expression of EGFRvIII in human brain tissues, 120 specimens, including 110 glioma tissues and 10 normal brain tissues, were examined by immunohistochemistry, and the results showed that the rate of positive expression of EGFRvIII in the glioma tissues was 41.82%, and 0.00% in normal brain tissues. Besides, the physiochemical properties of QD-Apt nanoparticles (NPs) were thoroughly characterized. Biocompatibility of the NPs was evaluated, and the results suggested that the QD-Apt was nontoxic in vivo and vitro. Furthermore, the use of the QD-Apt in labeling glioma cell lines and human brain glioma tissues, and target gliomas in situ was also investigated. We found that not only could QD-Apt specially bind to the U87-EGFRvIII glioma cells but also bind to human glioma tissues in vitro. Fluorescence imaging in vivo with orthotopic glioma model mice bearing U87-EGFRvIII showed that QD-Apt could penetrate the blood–brain barrier and then selectively accumulate in the tumors through binding to EGFRvIII, and consequently, generate a strong fluorescence, which contributed to the margins of gliomas that were visualized clearly, and thus, help the surgeons realize the maximum safe resection of glioma. In addition, QD-Apt can also be applied in preoperative diagnosis and postoperative examination of glioma. Therefore, these achievements facilitate the use of tumor-targeted fluorescence imaging in the diagnosis, surgical resection, and postoperative examination of glioma. Keywords: quantum dot, aptamer, EGFRvIII, brain glioma, tumor-targeted imaging, extent of resection

The rice disease resistance gene Xa21, which encodes a receptor-like kinase, is a member of a multigene family. Based on comparisons of genomic sequences of seven family members, seventeen transposon-like elements were identified in the 5' and 3' flanking regions and introns of these genes. Sequence characterization revealed that these elements are diverse, showing similarity to maize Ds, CACTA and miniature inverted repeat-like elements, as well as novel elements. Only two elements were located in presumed coding regions, indicating that integration of transposable elements at the Xa21 disease resistance locus occurred preferentially in noncoding regions.

The rice Xa21 gene confers resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae in a race-specific manner. Analysis of the inheritance patterns and resistance spectra of transgenic plants carrying six Xa21 gene family members indicated that one member, designated Xa21D, displayed a resistance spectrum identical to that observed for Xa21 but conferred only partial resistance. Xa21D encodes a receptor-like protein carrying leucine-rich repeat (LRR) motifs in the presumed extracellular domain. The Xa21D transcript terminates shortly after the stop codon introduced by the retrotransposon Retrofit. Comparison of nucleotide substitutions in the LRR coding regions of Xa21 and Xa21D provided evidence of adaptive selection. Both functional and evolutionary evidence indicates that the Xa21D LRR domain controls race-specific pathogen recognition.

The rice disease resistance gene Xa21, encoding a receptor-like kinase, is a member of a multigene family. Sequence analysis of seven family members revealed two distinct classes of genes. One member from each class encodes a receptor kinase-like open reading frame. The other five members encode truncated open reading frames of the predicted receptor kinase. A highly conserved 233-bp sequence (HC) was also identified among the seven family members. Recombination at the HC region between family members apparently resulted in the precise swapping of promoter regions. Large sequence duplications were generated by a presumed unequal crossover event in intergenic regions. Insertions of transposon-like sequences truncated two of the predicted open reading frames. A model for amplification and diversification of the Xa21 gene family is presented.

The rice Xa21 gene, which confers resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae race 6, was isolated by positional cloning. Fifty transgenic rice plants carrying the cloned Xa21 gene display high levels of resistance to the pathogen. The sequence of the predicted protein, which carries both a leucine-rich repeat motif and a serine-threonine kinase-like domain, suggests a role in cell surface recognition of a pathogen ligand and subsequent activation of an intracellular defense response. Characterization of Xa21 should facilitate understanding of plant disease resistance and lead to engineered resistance in rice.