Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis Correlates With Long COVID-19 at One-Year After Discharge

Zhang Dongmei,Zhou Yaya,Ma Yanling,Chen Ping,Tang Jian,Yang Bohan,Li Hui,Liang Mengyuan,Xue YuE,Liu Yao,Zhang Jianchu,Wang Xiaorong 대한의학회 2023 Journal of Korean medical science Vol.38 No.15

Background: Long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in recovered patients (RPs) is gradually recognized by more people. However, how long it will last and the underlining mechanism remains unclear. Methods: We conducted a prospective follow-up study to evaluate the long-term symptoms and clinical indices of RPs at one-year after discharge from Union Hospital, Wuhan, China between December 2020 to May 2021. We also performed the 16S rRNA sequencing of stool samples from RPs and healthy controls (HCs) and analyzed the correlation between the gut microbiota and long COVID-19. Results: In total, 187 RPs were enrolled, among them, 84 (44.9%) RPs reported long COVID-19 symptoms at one-year after discharge. The most common long-term symptoms were cardiopulmonary symptoms, including chest tightness after activity (39/187, 20.9%), palpitations on exercise (27/187, 14.4%), sputum (21/187, 11.2%), cough (15/187, 8.0%) and chest pain (13/187, 7.0%), followed by systemic symptoms including fatigue (34/187, 18.2%) and myalgia (20/187, 10.7%), and digestive symptoms including constipation (14/187, 7.5%), anorexia (13/187, 7.0%), and diarrhea (8/187, 4.3%). Sixty-six (35.9%) RPs presented either anxiety or depression (42/187 [22.8%] and 53/187 [28.8%] respectively), and the proportion of anxiety or depression in the long symptomatic group was significantly higher than that in the asymptomatic group (41/187 [50.6%] vs. 25/187 [24.3%]). Compared with the asymptomatic group, scores of all nine 36-Item Short Form General Health Survey domains were lower in the symptomatic group (all P < 0.05). One hundred thirty RPs and 32 HCs (non-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infected subjects) performed fecal sample sequencing. Compared with HCs, symptomatic RPs had obvious gut microbiota dysbiosis including significantly reduced bacterial diversities and lower relative abundance of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producing salutary symbionts such as Eubacterium_hallii_group, Subdoligranulum, Ruminococcus, Dorea, Coprococcus, and Eubacterium_ventriosum_group. Meanwhile, the relative abundance of Eubacterium_hallii_group, Subdoligranulum, and Ruminococcus showed decreasing tendencies between HCs, the asymptomatic group, and the symptomatic group. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the presence of long COVID-19 which correlates with gut microbiota dysbiosis in RPs at one-year after discharge, indicating gut microbiota may play an important role in long COVID-19.

Portal pressure gradient and serum albumin: A simple combined parameter associated with the appearance of ascites in decompensated cirrhosis treated with transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt

Dongmei Zhao,Guobing Zhang,Mingquan Wang,Chaoxue Zhang,Jiabin Li 대한간학회 2019 Clinical and Molecular Hepatology(대한간학회지) Vol.25 No.2

Background/Aims: In recent years, greater assessment accuracy after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) to ascertain prognosis has become important in decompensated cirrhosis due to portal hypertension. The aim of this study was to assess the ratio of the portal pressure gradient (PPG) pre-TIPS (pre-PPG) to albumin (PPA), which influence ascites formation in cirrhotic patients in the 6-months after TIPS placement, and is a metric introduced in our study. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of 58 patients with decompensated cirrhosis admitted to an academic hospital for the purpose of TIPS placement. We collected the following data: demographics, laboratory measures, and PPG during the TIPS procedure. Then we analyzed the association between the above data and ascites formation post- TIPS in cirrhosis patients. Results: Twenty-two patients with ascites and 28 without ascites were evaluated. Univariate and binary logistic regression analysis were adjusted for the following variables: to determine prognosis; Child-Pugh scores, lymphocyte count, platelet count, hemoglobin level, albumin level and pre-PPG or PPA. The outcome showed that PPA was better than pre-PPG and albumin for predicting ascites according to area under receiver operating characteristic curves and a statistical model that also showed PPA’s influence 6-months post-TIPS. Conclusions: The combined measurement of pre-PPG and albumin, defined as PPA, may provide a better way to predict post-TIPS ascites in decompensated cirrhosis, which underlines the need for a large clinical trial in the future.

Death-associated protein kinase 1 phosphorylates MDM2 and inhibits its protein stability and function

Mi Zhang,Xindong Shui,Xiaoqing Zheng,Jong Eun Lee,Yingxue Mei,Ruomeng Li,Yuan Tian,Xiuzhi Zheng,Quling Wang,Long Wang,Dongmei Chen,Tao Zhang,Byeong Mo Kim,Jungho Kim,Tae Ho Lee 대한약학회 2023 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.46 No.11

Breast cancer is one of the major malignancies in women, and most related deaths are due to recurrence, drug resistance, and metastasis. The expression of the mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) oncogene is upregulated in breast cancer; however, its regulatory mechanism has yet to be fully elucidated. Herein, we identified the tumor suppressor death-associated protein kinase 1 (DAPK1) as a novel MDM2 regulator by unbiased peptide library screening. DAPK1 is directly bound to MDM2 and phosphorylates it at Thr419. DAPK1-mediated MDM2 phosphorylation promoted its protein degradation via the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway, resulting in upregulated p53 expression. DAPK1 overexpression, but not its kinase activity-deficient form, decreased colony formation and increased doxorubicin-induced cell death; however, DAPK1 knockdown produced the opposite effects in human breast cancer cells. In a xenograft tumorigenesis assay, DAPK1 overexpression significantly reduced tumor formation, whereas inhibition of DAPK1 kinase activity reduced its antitumorigenic effect. Finally, DAPK1 expression was negatively correlated with MDM2 levels in human breast cancer tissues. Thus, these results suggest that DAPK1-mediated MDM2 phosphorylation and its protein degradation may contribute to its antitumorigenic function in breast cancer.

Computer Game System Modeling and Searching Algorithm for Occupancy of Niujiu Card

Chuanxi Zhang,Dongmei Li,Cong Dai 보안공학연구지원센터 2016 International Journal of Hybrid Information Techno Vol.9 No.3

As a carrier of artificial intelligence research, computer game can establish a sound theoretical foundation for the research of non-zero-sum card games with imperfect information. In this paper, we first propose a game model based on the finite Moore automaton, which illustrates the implementation of the model for Niujiu card. At the same time, a novel search strategy combining IMP-minimax and Monte Carlo algorithm is presented in this model. Through the given algorithm, this paper accomplishes the simulation, including not only the process of minimal and optimal occupancy for the first player, but the available frequency of special card type. Experiments show that our model and algorithm are feasible and effective.

Effect of laser beam incidence angle on cladding morphology in laser cladding process

Guan Zhang,Wenlei Sun,Dongmei Zhao,Pengfei Fan,Feng Guo,Yong Huang,Pengfei Li 대한기계학회 2020 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.34 No.4

The change of angle θ between laser cladding powder plane and substrate plane will lead to changes in cladding layer's geometric morphology. Therefore, we established a quantitative numerical prediction model for cladding layer geometry. In this model, we consider the variation of θ, the laser energy attenuation rate and the temperature rise of the powder particles. At the same time, the simulation results were verified by experiments. The results show that when θ is in the range of 50°~90°, the initial temperature is 298 K, the scanning speed is 3.75 mm/s, and the laser spot diameter is 4.5 mm, the Fe#1 powder cladding can achieve better forming effect on Q235. In general, with the decrease of θ, the height of the cladding layer decreases and the width of the layer increases. However, when θ is less than 50°, the quality of the formed morphology significantly deteriorated. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results, which verifies the validity and reliability of the model. This work provides a theoretical reference for further understanding the relationship between the laser cladding morphology and the incident angle.

Complete genome sequence and pathogenic genes analysis of Pectobacterium atroseptica JG10-08

Dai Zhang,Yuan Zhou,Dongmei Zhao,Zhihui Yang,Mingming Zhu,Jiehua Zhu 한국유전학회 2017 Genes & Genomics Vol.39 No.9

Pectobacterium atroseptica is known as a rod-shaped gram-negative bacterial pathogen associated with the blackleg of potato. P. atroseptica has been widely identified as the predominant agent causing tuber rot in temperate regions, a disease that leads to severe economic losses to potato industry. In this study, we provide the complete genome sequence of P. atroseptica JG10-08, which revealed that P. atroseptica strain JG10-08 carries a single 5,004,926 bp chromosome with 51.15% G+C content and harbors 4252 predicted coding genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on the genome sequences showed a close evolutionary relationship between P. atroseptica and Pectobacterium wasabiae. We discovered total 168 genes were potentially related to pathogenesis including 9 strainspecific genes encoding toxins on the genome of JG10-08. Further comparison with other species in Pectobacterium revealed a better understanding of pathogenic factors, especially secretion systems in P. atroseptica JG10-08. Collectively, the results of this research provide a solid foundation for discovering the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of P. atroseptica and offer the information to develop more effective strategies against blackleg of potatoes.

Linking the gut microbiota to persistent symptoms in survivors of COVID-19 after discharge

Zhou Yaya,Zhang Jianchu,Zhang Dongmei,Ma Wan-Li,Wang Xiaorong 한국미생물학회 2021 The journal of microbiology Vol.59 No.10

Several follow-up studies have found that COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) patients had persistent symptoms after discharge. Gut microbiota play an important role in human health and immune responses. Therefore, this study investigated the gut microbiota of recovered COVID-19 patients and the correlations between gut microbiota and persistent symptoms after discharge. Stool samples were collected from 15 recovered healthcare workers (HCWs) with COVID-19 at three months after discharge, in addition, stool samples were collected from 14 healthy controls (HCs) to perform 16S rRNA gene sequencing between May and July 2020. Compared with HCs, recovered HCWs had reduced bacterial diversity at three months after discharge, with a significantly higher relative abundance of opportunistic pathogens, and a significantly lower relative abundance of beneficial bacteria. In addition, Escherichia unclassified was positively correlated with persistent symptoms at three months after discharge, including fatigue (r = 0.567, p = 0.028), chest tightness after activity (r = 0.687, p = 0.005), and myalgia (r = 0.523, p = 0.045). Intestinibacter bartlettii was positively correlated with anorexia (r = 0.629, p = 0.012) and fatigue (r = 0.545, p = 0.036). However, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii was negatively correlated with chest tightness after activity (r = -0.591, p = 0.02), and Intestinimonas butyriciproducens was negatively correlated with cough (r = -0.635, p = 0.011). In conclusion, the gut microbiota of recovered HCWs with COVID-19 at three months after discharge was different from that of HCs, and altered gut microbiota was correlated with persistent symptoms after discharge, highlighting that gut microbiota may play an important role in the recovery of patients with COVID-19.

A Comparative Study on Interference-Limited Two-Way Transmission Protocols

Xiaochen Xia,Dongmei Zhang,Kui Xu,Youyun Xu 한국통신학회 2016 Journal of communications and networks Vol.18 No.3

This paper investigates the performance of interferencelimitedtwo-way transmission protocols in the Rayleigh fadingchannels. New lower bound of outage probability and approximateexpression of bit error rate (BER) for three-phase two-way relaying(3P-TWR) protocol are derived in closed-form. These expressionsare valid for arbitrary signal-to-noise ratio values, numbersof co-channel interferers and amajority ofmodulation formats employedin the practical system. Then a comparative study is developedfor the performance of three two-way transmission protocols,i.e., direct transmission (DT) protocol, two-phase two-way relaying(2P-TWR) protocol and 3P-TWR protocol based on the asymptoticexpressions of outage probability and BER. On the basis of the theoreticalresults, the thresholds on the strength (variance) of directchannel and target rate for the relative performance of differentprotocols are obtained and the effect of interferences at the terminaland relay on the relative performance is analyzed. The resultspresent key insights on how to choose proper two-way transmissionprotocol with the knowledge of fading channels, required daterate and modulation format to optimize the system performance inthe practical interference-limited scenarios. Simulation results arepresented to validate the theoretical analysis.

Application of Three-phase Hollow Fiber LPME using an Ionic Liquid as Supported Phase for Preconcentration of Malachite Green from Water Samples with HPLC Detection

Zou, Yanmin,Zhang, Zhen,Shao, Xiaoling,Chen, Yao,Wu, Xiangyang,Yang, Liuqing,Zhu, Jingjing,Zhang, Dongmei Korean Chemical Society 2014 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.35 No.2

A novel three-phase hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction was developed for the determination of malachite green (MG) in environmental waters, which selected [BMIM][$PF_6$] mixed with 1% trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) as supported phase. Several parameters (accepter phase pH, sample pH, supported phase membrane, volume of accepter phase, salinity, extraction time) that could affect extraction performance were investigated. Under the optimal extraction conditions, the established approach showed excellent characters as: high enrichment factor (212), wide linear range ($0.20-100{\mu}gL^{-1}$), low detection limit ($0.01{\mu}gL^{-1}$), good reproducibility (RSD, 8.9%, n=5) and satisfactory recovery (84.0-106.2%). The method was applied to detect MG at Yangtze River and pond waters in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, and 4 sites among 15 sampling sites were found MG with the concentration of $1.73-11.06{\mu}gL^{-1}$, which confirmed that the proposed environmentally friendly method was simple and effective for monitoring MG in aquatic system.

The Spatial Variability of Soil Heavy Metals in Xinji County, North China Plain

Renzhao Mao,Yuanzhong Wang,Dongmei Li,Guijie Zhang,Feifei Zhang 한국토양비료학회 2014 한국토양비료학회 학술발표회 초록집 Vol.2014 No.6