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IL‐38 is a newly identified cytokine that belongs to the IL‐1 family. In our previous study, we found elevated plasma levels of IL‐38 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, the clear relationship of IL‐38 expression in plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and clinical and laboratory features needs elucidation. Additionally, we evaluated the possible role of IL‐38 in regulating production of inflammatory cytokines in PBMCs in vitro. A pristane‐induced murine lupus model was used to further demonstrate the effects of IL‐38 on cytokines in vivo and discuss the significance of IL‐38 in lupus development. The results showed that mRNA expression of IL‐38 in PBMCs of patients with SLE was elevated compared with volunteers, and expression of IL‐38 in both plasma and PBMCs was strongly related to clinical features, such as haematuria and proteinuria, and correlated with a SLEDAI score. Plasma levels of TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6 and IL‐23 were elevated in patients with SLE and were related to plasma levels of IL‐38. In vitro, PBMCs of patients with SLE stimulated with IL‐38 showed a decreased expression of the four inflammatory cytokines compared with PBMCs of patients without treatment. Interestingly, IL‐38 administration in lupus mice significantly reduced the development of lupus, such as reduced proteinuria, improved histological examinations of the kidneys and down‐regulated inflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, IL‐38 may suppress synthesis of pro‐inflammatory cytokines and therefore regulate lupus pathogenesis.

Interleukin-37 (IL-37) is an anti-inflammatory cytokine. In our former study, we found increased plasma IL-37 levels in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. However, relationship between IL-37 levels and clinical laboratory characteristics of SLE patients has not been elucidated. In addition, association of

Correlation between soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (sVEGFR-1) concentration, VEGFR1 gene polymorphisms and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) risk remains unclear. The present case–control study comprised 254 SLE patients, 385 other rheumatic diseases patients and 390 healthy controls. Serum levels of sVEGFR-1 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Seven VEGFR1 genetic variants (rs2296188, rs9943922, rs2296283, rs7324510, rs9554322, rs9582036, rs9554320) were genotyped by KASP. Serum levels of sVEGFR-1 were up-regulated in SLE and positively correlated with disease activity. Furthermore, serum sVEGFR-1 presented a distinctive elevation in SLE in comparison with other rheumatic diseases. Frequencies of allele T of rs2296283 and allele G of rs9554322 were significant lower in SLE patients (P = 0.003, P = 0.004). Frequencies of genotypes TT of rs2296188 and rs2296283 were declined in patients compared with healthy controls (P = 0.039, P = 0.033). CC genotype of rs7324510 and rs9582036 was negatively correlated with SLE risk (OR = 0.538, OR = 0.508). Distribution of GG, GC, GG + GC genotypes of rs9554322 were different between SLE patients and healthy controls (P = 0.027, P = 0.036, P = 0.010). Moreover, frequency of TC genotype of rs7324510 was higher in SLE patients with lupus headache (χ2 = 9.924, P = 0.039) and frequency of TC genotype of rs9943922 was lower in patients with cylindruriain (χ2 = 7.589, P = 0.026). Frequencies of allele C of rs7324510 and allele T of rs9943922 were decreased in SLE patients with cylindruria and hypocomplementemia, respectively (χ2 = 4.195, P = 0.041, χ2 = 3.971, P = 0.046). However, frequency of allele C of rs9554322 was increased in SLE patients with pyuria (χ2 = 11.702, P = 0.001). In addition, SLE patients carrying GG, GC, CC genotypes for rs9554322 had higher levels of serum sVEGFR-1. In conclusion, serum sVEGFR-1 was elevated in SLE patients and may be a disease marker. VEGFR1 gene polymorphisms related to risk of SLE in a Chinese Han population.

This study aimed to discuss association between serum Angiopoietin2 (Ang2) levels, Ang2 gene polymorphisms and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) susceptibility. It was carried out by 235 SLE, 342 other inflammatory autoimmune diseases patients and 380 healthy individuals. Serum Ang2 levels was examinated by ELISA, and Ang2 rs12674822, rs1823375, rs1868554, rs2442598, rs3739390 and rs734701 polymorphisms were genotyped using KASP. Increased Ang2 concentrations in SLE patients were observed compared with healthy controls and patients with other inflammatory autoimmune diseases. For allelic contrast, except for rs1823375 (P = 0.058) and rs2442598 (P = 0.523), frequencies of alleles for other polymorphisms were significantly different between SLE patients and controls. Genotypes for rs12674822 (TT), rs1868554 (TT, TA and TT+TA), rs734701 (TT) were negatively correlated with SLE susceptibility (OR = 0.564 for rs12674822; OR = 0.572, OR = 0.625, OR = 0.607 for rs1868554; OR = 0.580 for rs734701). Patients carrying rs1868554 T allele and rs3739390 G allele were more likely to develop hematuria (P = 0.039; P = 0.003). The G allele frequencies of rs12674822 and rs2442598 were higher in SLE patients with proteinuria (P = 0.043; P = 0.043). GC genotype frequency of rs3739390 was higher in patients with ds-DNA (+) (P = 0.024). In summary, SLE had increased serum Ang2, which may be a potential biomarker, and the polymorphisms correlated with SLE.

OBJECTIVES: Mannose binding lectin (MBL) gene single nucleotide polymorphisms have been associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) risk with inconsistent results. This study aimed to explore whether MBL2 A\B, A\C, A\D, A\O, L\H and Y\X polymorphisms affected SLE susceptibility. METHODS: A meta-analysis was performed on 20 studies, containing allelic contrast, additive, dominant and recessive models. Odds ratio (OR) was calculated to reflect the effect of association. RESULTS: A total of 64 pooled comparisons were conducted, including 7194 SLE patients and 7401 healthy controls. The meta-analysis inducted a significant association between allele B and SLE (OR = 0.766, 95% CI = 0.681-0.862, P

Interleukin (IL)-36 is a member of the IL-1 superfamily and includes three agonists (IL-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ) and an antagonist (IL-36Ra). IL-36 agonists bind to heterodimeric receptor complexes. Then, the heterotrimer complexes signal via intracellular functional domains, binding to downstream signaling proteins and inducing inflammatory responses. In this review, we summarized the current knowledge about the biological role of IL-36 and its correlation with systemic inflammatory diseases. The information collected will help to increase the understanding of the potential of IL-36 and may give clues for developing novel therapeutic strategies.

An innovative method is proposed for constructing isoparametric boundary elements to simulate closed surfaces. These elements are named “isoparametric closure elements” and can not only accurately simulate spherical, elliptical, and other closed surface geometries, but also interpolate physical quantities defined over these surfaces. As a result of using the proposed closure elements, each of these surfaces can be discretized into only one element along the circumferential direction. A number of closure elements having 4–26 nodes are investigated to examine the computational error, and three are recommended to be used in the boundary element method (BEM) analysis. These closure elements are applied to BEM analysis of heat conduction and solid mechanics problems. A technique for eliminating singularities involved in boundary integrals over closure elements is also presented. A number of numerical examples will be given to demonstrate the computational accuracy and efficiency of the proposed closure elements.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to discuss the relationship between interferon regulatory factor (IRF)5 gene rs2004640 T/G polymorphism and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) susceptibility. METHODS A meta-analysis was calculated on the association between rs2004640 polymorphism and SLE by allelic contrast (T vs G), additive model (TT vs GG), recessive model (TT vs TG + GG) and dominant model (TT + TG vs GG). RESULTS A total of 28 comparisons were identified, including 11 228 SLE cases and 14 374 controls. Meta-analysis revealed a significant association between allele T and SLE in overall populations (odds ratio [OR] = 1.393, 95% CI: 1.276-1.522, P

AIM This study aims to discuss plasma and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of interleukin (IL)-37 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and evaluate the potential of plasma IL-37 as a biomarker for RA. METHOD Plasma IL-37 levels and IL-37 mRNA relative concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We discussed the association of IL-37 levels and clinical, laboratory parameters in RA patients in a training cohort. Plasma IL-37 levels were tested for discriminatory capacity by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. We then validated plasma IL-37 expression in a cohort of 598 patients (230 RA, 107 systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE], 100 osteoarthritis [OA], 62 gout, 51 primary Sjogren's syndrome [pSS], 48 ankylosing spondylitis [AS]). RESULTS Both plasma levels of IL-37 and mRNA levels of IL-37 were elevated in RA patients compared to those in healthy controls in the training cohort, and there was a good diagnostic ability to predict RA (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.97). Plasma IL-37 levels were significantly related to Disease Activity Score of 28 joints - erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) (rs = 0.459, P

The traditional template matching algorithm which has a high time complexity, is susceptible to noise. This paper proposed a algorithm which based on the features of continuous orthogonal wavelet Daubechies, decomposed images to be identified to multiple layers using wavelet tranformation. In order to get matching position, we select matching template in low-frequency images. Then get matched position in higher layers after doing inverse transformation to low-frequency image. Finally, accurate position of matching template will get in original images. The algorithm not only can reduce the searching time when images are matched, but also can filter out a certain amount of noise, and so reduce the noise interference.

In three-dimensional space, by using the method of a priori estimation, we have studied the complex-valued GL equation, which has the 2 -th power of the nonlinear term. We have proved that the existence of the global attractor of this equation with the problem of period and border value, and we have studied the dimensionality of Hausdorff and fractal of the global attractor.

In this paper, we introduce a novel fast image reconstruction method for super-resolution (SR) base on sparse coding. This method combine online dictionary learning and a fast sparse coding way, both of which can improve the efficiency of the reconstruction process and ensure the image visual quality. The new online optimization algorithm for dictionary learning based on stochastic approximations, which can drastically advance the learning speed, especially on millions of training samples. Meanwhile, we trained a neural network to speed up the reconstruction process, which based on iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (ISTA), we called learned iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (LISTA). It would produce best approximation sparse code with some fixed depth. We demonstrate that our approach can simultaneously improve the image fidelity and cost less computation.