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Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently rampant worldwide, resulting in unpredictable harm to humans. High blood levels of cytokines and chemokines have been marked in patients with COVID-19 infection, leading to cytokine storm syndrome. Cytokine storms are violent inflammatory immune responses that reveal the devastating effect of immune dysregulation and the critical role of an effective host immune response. Methods: Scientometric analysis summarizes the literature on cytokine storms in recent decades and provides a valuable and timely approach to tracking the development of new trends. This re-view summarizes the pathogenesis and treatment of diseases associated with cytokine storms com-prehensively based on scientometric analysis. Results: Field distribution, knowledge structure, and research topic evolution correlated with cyto-kine storms are revealed, and the occurrence, development, and treatment of disease relevant to cy-tokine storms are illustrated. Conclusion: Cytokine storms can be induced by pathogens and iatrogenic causes and can also occur in the context of autoimmune diseases and monogenic diseases as well. These reveal the multidisci-plinary nature of cytokine storms and remind the complexity of the pathophysiological features, clinical presentation, and management. Overall, this scientometric study provides a macroscopic presentation and further direction for researchers who focus on cytokine storms.

Multiple studies on the pathomechanisms of depressive disorder and antidepressants have been reported. However, literature involving scientometric analysis of depressive disorder is sparse. Here, we use scientometric analysis and a historical review to highlight recent research on depression. We use the former to examine research on depressive disorders from 1998 to 2018. The latter is used to identify the most frequent keywords in keyword analysis, as well as explore hotspots and depression trends. Scientometric analysis uncovered field distribution, knowledge structure, research topic evolution, and topics emergence as main explorations in depressive disorder. Induction factor, comorbidity, pathogenesis, therapy and animal models of depression help illustrate occurrence, development and treatment of depressive disorder. Scientometric analysis found 231,270 research papers on depression, a 4-fold increase over the last 20 years. These findings offer a vigorous roadmap for further studies in this field.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory intestinal disease caused by an abnormal response of the intestinal mucosal immune system, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. IBD is also accompanied by extraintestinal complications, such as joint, skin, and eye diseases. In recent years, phytomedicine has played an important role in the treatment of IBD because of its strong anti-inflammatory activities and minor side effects. Due to the lack of a review of the literature examining the extent to which phytomedicine can be used to treat IBD, this paper summarizes the experimental research on IBD from the perspective of phytomedicine according to the structural classification of phytomedicine and provides a reference for the further development of new IBD therapies.

Background Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common, life-threatening genetic disease in Caucasians but rarely reported in Chinese population. The prevalence and population-specific genetic spectrum of CF in China needs to be systematically estimated and compared with Caucasians. Materials and methods We reviewed 30,951 exome-sequencing samples, including 20,909 pediatric patient samples and 10,042 parent samples, from Chinese Children's Rare Disease Genetic Testing Clinical Collaboration System (CCGT). After the in-lab filtration process, 477 candidate variants of CFTR gene were left and 53 variants were manually curated as pathogenic/likely-pathogenic (P/LP). These P/LP variants were adopted to estimate CF prevalence in three methods: the carrier frequency method, the permutation-combinations method and the Bayesian framework method. Allele frequencies of the 477 CFTR variants were compared with non-Finland European (NFE) and East Asian (EAS) from gnomAD database. To investigate the haplotype structure difference of CFTR, another 2067 whole-genome-sequencing samples from CCGT and 195 NFE from 1000 genome project were analyzed by Shapeit4 software. Result With the 53 manually curated P/LP variants in CFTR gene, we excluded individuals identified or suspected with CF and their parents in our cohorts and estimated the Chinese CF prevalence is approximately 1/128,434. Only 21 (39.6%) of the 53 variants were included in Caucasian specific CF screening panels, resulting in significantly under-estimation of CF prevalence in our children cohort (1/143,171 vs. 1/1,387,395, P = 5e−24) and parent’s cohort (1/110,127 vs. 1/872,437, P = 7e−10). The allele frequencies of six pathogenic variants (G970D, D979A, M469V, G622D, L88X, 1898+5G->T) were significantly higher in our cohorts compared with gnomAD-NFE population (all P-value Conclusions Chinese population showed significantly different genetic spectrum pattern in CFTR gene compared with Caucasian population, and thus a Chinese-specific CF screening panel is needed.

During next generation sequencing (NGS) data interpretation in critically ill newborns, there is a potential for recognizing and reporting secondary findings (SFs). Early awareness of SFs may provide clues for disease prevention. In this study, we assessed the frequency of SFs in the China Neonatal Genomes Project (CNGP) participants.A total of 2020 clinical exome sequencing (CES) datasets were screened for variants from a list of 59 genes recommended by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) for secondary findings reporting v2.0 (ACMG SF v2.0). Identified variants were classified according to the evidence-based guidelines reached by a joint consensus of the ACMG and the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP).Among the 2020 CES datasets, we identified 23 ACMG-reportable genes in 61 individuals, resulting in an overall frequency of SFs at 3.02%. A total of 53 unique variants were identified, including 35 pathogenic and 18 likely pathogenic variants. The common disease categories of SFs associated were cardiovascular and cancer disease. The SF results affected the medical management and follow-up strategy in 49 (80.3%) patients.We presented the frequency of SFs and their impact on clinical management strategies in CNGP participants. Our study demonstrated that SFs have important practical value in disease prevention and intervention at an early stage.

Transition-metal-centered monocyclic boron wheel clusters (M©Bnq) represent a family of interesting borometallic compounds with double aromaticity. A variety of early and late transition metal atom...

Infantile hydrocephalus (IHC) is commonly related to other central nervous system diseases, which may have adverse effects on prognosis. The causes of IHC are heterogeneous, and the genetic etiologies are not fully understood. This study aimed to analyze the genetic etiologies of an IHC cohort.The data for 110 IHC patients who had received exome sequencing at the Clinical Genetic Center of the Children's Hospital of Fudan University between 2016 and 2019 were reviewed and analyzed retrospectively. An exome-wide association analysis (EWAS) was performed within this cohort using IHC as the study phenotype.Of the 110 IHC patients, a pathogenic or likely pathogenic variant was identified in 16 (15%) patients, spanning 13 genes. The genes were mainly associated with metabolic disorders, brain abnormalities, and genetic syndromes. IHC patients who had unclear clinical etiology were more likely to possess a genetic etiology. Based on previous studies and on our EWAS results, ZEB1, SBF2, and GNAI2 were over-represented among IHC patients and might affect the signaling pathways involved in IHC formation.Our study showed heterogeneous genetic etiologies in an IHC cohort. It is essential to perform genetic testing on IHC patients who have unclear clinical etiology, and genes associated with metabolic disorders, brain abnormalities, and genetic syndromes should be noted. In addition, when aiming to discover IHC susceptibility genes, genes that might influence the signaling pathways involved in IHC formation should be prioritized.

The discovery of borospherenes unveiled the capacity of boron to form fullerene-like cage structures. While fullerenes are known to entrap metal atoms to form endohedral metallofullerenes, few metal atoms have been observed to be part of the fullerene cages. Here we report the observation of a class of remarkable metallo-borospherenes, where metal atoms are integral parts of the cage surface. We have produced La3B18– and Tb3B18– and probed their structures and bonding using photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. Global minimum searches revealed that the most stable structures of Ln3B18– are hollow cages with D3h symmetry. The B18-framework in the Ln3B18– cages can be viewed as consisting of two triangular B6 motifs connected by three B2 units, forming three shared B10 rings which are coordinated to the three Ln atoms on the cage surface. These metallo-borospherenes represent a new class of unusual geometry that has not been observed in chemistry heretofore., Borospherenes are the boron-based analogs of fullerene cages. Here, the authors report a class of Ln3B18– metallo-borospherenes with unusual spherical trihedron geometry, in which the lanthanide atoms surprisingly form a part of the cage surface.

Microbial transformation of asiatic acid (AA) by an endophytic fungus, Pestalotiopsis microspora, yielded six metabolites: 2-oxo-3β,15α,23-trihydroxyurs-12-ene-28-oic acid (1); 2-oxo-3β,15α,22α,23-tetrahydroxyurs-12-ene-28-oic acid (2); 2-oxo-3β,15α,23,30-tetrahydroxyurs-12-ene-28-oic acid (3); 2α,3β,15α,23,30-pentahydroxyurs-12-ene-28-oic acid methyl ester (4); 2α,3α,15α,23-tetrahydroxyurs-12-ene-28-oic acid (5); 2α,3α,15α,23,30-pentahydroxyurs-12-ene-28-oic acid (6). The structure elucidation of these products was confirmed based on the spectroscopic data. Compounds 2–6 were new. A possible biotransformation pathway is proposed. The anti-HCV activity of compounds 1–6 was also evaluated.

Transition-metal-centered monocyclic boron wheel clusters (M©B

Pseudoprotodioscin ( 1 ) is a steroidal saponin from plants with diverse biological activities. In order to obtain new and useful derivatives for further study, Chaetomium olivaceum was used to transform pseudoprotodioscin. Five new ( 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 , and 9 ) and three known ( 2 , 3 and 7 ) steroidal saponins were obtained in this study. These reactions were hard to be achieved through chemical modification. The structures of these metabolites were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. The possible biotransformation pathway of 1 by Chaetomium olivaceum was also proposed. Protective effects against H 2 O 2 -induced H9c2 cardiomyocyte injury of compounds 1 – 9 were evaluated. Compounds 1 , 4 and 6 showed some cell-protection activity.

Three new (6, 9, and 12) and nine known steroidal saponins were obtained from the fermentation broth of pseudoprotodioscin (PPD) incubated with a fungus Gibberella fujikuroi CGMCC 3.4663. Structures of the metabolites were elucidated by 1-D (1H, 13C), 2-D (HMBC, HSQC, NOESY) NMR, and HR-MS analyses. The biotransformation pathway of pseudoprotodioscin by Gibberella fujikuroi CGMCC 3.4663 was proposed. Compounds 1–11 were tested in vitro for their cytotoxic activities against two human cancer cell lines (HepG2 and Hela). Compounds 1, 6, 9, and 10 exhibited cytotoxic activity against HepG2 cells. Compound 10 exhibited cytotoxicity to Hela cells.

Asiatic acid (1) is a natural triterpenoid isolated from Centella asiatica. This paper reports the microbial transformation of asiatic acid by an endophytic fungus Umbelopsis isabellina to obtain derivatives potentially useful for further studies. Incubation of asiatic acid with U. isabellina afforded two derivatives 2α,3β,7β, 23-tetrahydroxyurs-12-ene-28-oic acid (2) and 2α,3β,7β,23-tetrahydroxyurs-11-ene-28,13-lactone (3). The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectral data. Compound 3 has formed an unusual lactone. These two products are new compounds. The possible transformation passway was also discussed.

Background Halophilic bacteria have shown their significance in industrial production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and are gaining more attention for genetic engineering modification. Yet, little information on the genomics and PHA related genes from halophilic bacteria have been disclosed so far. Results The draft genome of moderately halophilic bacterium, Halomonas sp. TD01, a strain of great potential for industrial production of short-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), was analyzed through computational methods to reveal the osmoregulation mechanism and the evolutionary relationship of the enzymes relevant to PHA and ectoine syntheses. Genes involved in the metabolism of PHA and osmolytes were annotated and studied in silico. Although PHA synthase, depolymerase, regulator/repressor and phasin were all involved in PHA metabolic pathways, they demonstrated different horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events between the genomes of different strains. In contrast, co-occurrence of ectoine genes in the same genome was more frequently observed, and ectoine genes were more likely under coincidental horizontal gene transfer than PHA related genes. In addition, the adjacent organization of the homologues of PHA synthase phaC1 and PHA granule binding protein phaP was conserved in the strain TD01, which was also observed in some halophiles and non-halophiles exclusively from γ-proteobacteria. In contrast to haloarchaea, the proteome of Halomonas sp. TD01 did not show obvious inclination towards acidity relative to non-halophilic Escherichia coli MG1655, which signified that Halomonas sp. TD01 preferred the accumulation of organic osmolytes to ions in order to balance the intracellular osmotic pressure with the environment. Conclusions The accessibility of genome information would facilitate research on the genetic engineering of halophilic bacteria including Halomonas sp. TD01.