Publications by authors named "Zhuang Xue"

Background: Gallstone disease is common, with a prevalence of 5%-22% in Western countries and 6.3%-12.1% in Chinese adults, increasing with age.

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: Serosurveillance of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis (ECM) in healthy individuals is crucial for assessing disease risk and evaluating the effectiveness of vaccinations. However, this practical work is rare in China. : We conducted cross-section serosurveillance in Guangzhou, Zhanjiang, and Heyuan in Guangdong Province, measuring Anti-Nm IgG with serogroups A, C, Y, and W, and analyzed the trends using a generalized additive model (GAM).

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Background: From 2022 to 2023, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused by Omicron variants spread rapidly in Guangdong Province, resulting in over 80% of the population being infected.

Results: To investigate the levels of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) in individuals following the rapid pandemic and to evaluate the cross-protection against currently circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2 in China, neutralization assay and magnetic particle chemiluminescence method were used to test the 117 serum samples from individuals who had recovered 4 weeks post-infection. The results indicated that the levels of NAbs against prototype and Omicron variants BA.

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Article Synopsis
  • The sports products industry faces serious environmental issues like waste, resource depletion, and high carbon emissions, which require a shift towards circular economy (CE) practices for sustainability.
  • The research identifies key enablers, such as regulatory pressures and consumer demand, for adopting CE practices using methods like the Delphi method, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and fuzzy Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS).
  • Findings highlight that standardization, CE roadmaps, and extended producer responsibility are crucial scenarios to improve environmental policies and practices in the sports industry, providing valuable insights for policymakers and industry leaders.
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  • Cinnamaldehyde is a promising feed additive known for its immune-boosting and anti-inflammatory properties, but its specific anti-inflammatory mechanisms in fat greenling fish are not yet fully understood.
  • Researchers identified nine targets of cinnamaldehyde and analyzed over 1,320 proteins related to intestinal inflammation using various databases.
  • The study suggests that cinnamaldehyde may reduce inflammation by regulating specific signaling pathways and proteins, particularly through interactions involving C5aR1 and TLR4, highlighting its potential protective role against intestinal inflammation in fish.
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  • Climate change and human actions are causing low oxygen levels in water, hurting fish like Hexagrammos otakii.
  • Scientists studied how these fish respond to low oxygen by checking their liver for changes over 15 days.
  • They found that the fish's bodies produce a lot of harmful substances when there's low oxygen, which leads to cell damage, and special genes are activated to help the fish handle this stress.
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The occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in aquatic ecosystems and their ability to absorb hydrophobic pollutants, such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), is currently a significant concern. MPs, which are the main breakdown product of plastics, have been frequently detected in the environment, posing serious threats to organisms' health. One particular pollutant, 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47), is a dominant congener of PBDEs and is highly toxic to organisms.

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  • - Hypoxia stress in fisheries leads to significant fish deaths and economic losses, but the mechanisms behind its effects on fish physiology via the pituitary gland are not well understood.
  • - A study on fat greenlings exposed to varying levels of dissolved oxygen revealed that hypoxia triggers immune disorders and inflammation, along with increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to oxidative stress and pituitary damage.
  • - The research shows that hypoxia stress not only harms pituitary function, reducing growth and reproductive hormones, but also impacts overall growth and gonadal development in fat greenlings.
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Isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 mutant (IDH1) tumors respond poorly to immunotherapy, but are more sensitive to chemoradiotherapy and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibition (PARPi). Accordingly, some efforts have aimed to capitalize on the IDH1 mutation rather than reverse it. Moreover, radiotherapy (RT) and PARPi can stimulate antitumor immunity, raising the possibility of reversing the immunosuppression caused by IDH1 mutation while killing the tumor.

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Binary ethosome vesicles have been developed as flexible lipid vesicles for the enhanced physicochemical stability and skin delivery of drugs. This work aimed to prepare phloretin-loaded propylene glycol ethosomes (PHL-PGEs) to improve their stability, skin permeability and antioxidant activity. PHL-PGEs were prepared via the ethanol injection method and optimized using different weight ratios of ethanol to propylene glycol (PG).

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Global COVID-19 vaccination programs effectively contained the fast spread of SARS-CoV-2. Characterizing the immunity status of returned populations will favor understanding the achievement of herd immunity and long-term management of COVID-19 in China. Individuals were recruited from 7 quarantine stations in Guangzhou, China.

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The nearshore marine fish known as black rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii) is found in the Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea, and East China Sea. The population structure and genetic diversity of S. schlegelii are vulnerable to the effects of artificial stocking, environmental pollution, overfishing, and climate change, so relevant studies are urgently needed.

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Emerging evidence suggests that artemisinin (ART) can modulate pathogen-induced immune responses and metabolic dysregulation. However, whether this modulation is associated with metabolic pathways related to oxidative stress and inflammation remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on the ART-fed juvenile fat greenling Hexagrammos otakii and the associated metabolic pathways in response to ART administration using an integrated biochemical and metabolomic approach.

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Introduction: Artemisinin (ART) is very common as a diet additive due to its immunoregulatory activities. Nonetheless, the immunoregulatory mechanism of ART in marine fish remains unknown. This study comprehensively examined the effects and explored the potential mechanism of ART ameliorating intestinal immune disease (IID) in fat greenlings .

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluates the impact of Cinnamaldehyde (CNE) as a feed additive on the growth and health of juvenile fat greenling, showing that CNE significantly enhances weight gain, survival rates, and feed efficiency.
  • Fish fed diets with CNE demonstrated better digestion, higher protein levels in muscles, and improved activities of digestive enzymes, indicating enhanced nutrient absorption.
  • CNE supplementation also increased antioxidant enzyme levels in the liver, suggesting a boost in the immune response and overall health of the fish.
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Neoadjuvant long-course concurrent chemoradiation plus surgery, followed by optional adjuvant chemotherapy, is a standard of care for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). However, this traditional approach has several limitations, including low pathological complete response (pCR) (10-25%), high metastasis rate (30-35%), and highly inconsistent compliance with adjuvant chemotherapy (25-75%). Treatment modalities for LARC have dramatically evolved in recent years.

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Aim: To evaluate the effects of exosomes derived from stem cells from the apical papilla (SCAP-Exos) in rats with experimentally induced pulpitis and the effects of SCAP-Exos on the conversion of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and methylation status of the Foxp3 locus in Tregs in vitro.

Methodology: SCAP-Exos were isolated and identified using transmission electron microscopy, western blotting, and nanoparticle tracking analysis. Lipopolysaccharide was used to experimentally induced pulpitis in rats, and the effects of SCAP-Exos on the rats with pulpitis were detected using haematoxylin-eosin staining and immunofluorescence staining.

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Apostichopus japonicus is a useful model for studying organ regeneration, and the gut microbiota is important for host organ regeneration. However, the reconstruction process and the mechanisms of gut microbiota assembly during gut regeneration in sea cucumbers have not been well studied. In the present study, gut regeneration was induced (via evisceration) in A.

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Background: HAdV infection can cause a variety of diseases. Although infections with HAdVs often are mild, life-threatening respiratory disease can occur. Pneumonia is one of the more serious types of HAdV-induced respiratory disease in children.

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Galectins belong to the family of carbohydrate-binding proteins and play major roles in the immune and inflammatory responses of both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the present study, one novel galectin-1 protein named AjGal-1 was identified from Apostichopus japonicas with an open reading frame of 1179 bp encoding a polypeptide of 392 amino acids. The deduced amino acids sequence of AjGal-1 contained three carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs) which shared 34-37% identity with that of other galectin proteins from echinodermata, fishes, and birds.

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We report the use of environmental samples to assess avian influenza virus activity in chickens at live poultry markets in China. Results of environmental and chicken samples correlate moderately well. However, collection of multiple environmental samples from holding, processing, and selling areas is recommended to detect viruses expected to have low prevalence.

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C-type lectins (CTLs) are Ca dependent carbohydrate-binding proteins that share structural homology in their carbohydrate-recognition domains (CRDs). In the present study, a novel CTL was identified from sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (named as AjCTL-2). The deduced amino acid sequence of AjCTL-2 was homologous to CTLs from other animals with the identities ranging from 33% to 40%.

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F-type lectin (also known as fucolectin) is a newly identified family of fucose binding lectins with the sequence characters of a fucose binding motif and a unique lectin fold (the "F-type" fold). In the present study, a fucolectin was identified from sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (designated AjFL-1). The open reading frame (ORF) of AjFL-1 was of 546 bp, encoding a polypeptide of 181 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of about 20 kDa.

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Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) is well known as a key enzyme involved in the metabolic pathway of gluconeogenesis in organisms, but the information about its involvement in immune response is still very limited. In the present study, a novel PEPCK homolog named CgPEPCK was identified from oyster Crassostrea gigas. The deduced amino acid sequence of CgPEPCK shared 52%-74% similarities with those from other known PEPCKs.

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