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Transcriptome analysis in the skin of Carassius auratus challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila

Wang R, Hu X, Lü A, Liu R, Sun J, Sung YY, et al.

Fish Shellfish Immunol, 2019 Nov;94:510-516.
PMID: 31541778 DOI: 10.1016/j.fsi.2019.09.039

Skin plays an important role in the innate immune responses of fish, particularly towards bacterial infection. To understand the molecular mechanism of mucosal immunity of fish during bacterial challenge, a de novo transcriptome assembly of crucian carp Carassius auratus skin upon Aeromonas hydrophila infection was performed, the latter with Illumina Hiseq 2000 platform. A total of 118111 unigenes were generated and of these, 9693 and 8580 genes were differentially expressed at 6 and 12 h post-infection, respectively. The validity of the transcriptome results of eleven representative genes was verified by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis. A comparison with the transcriptome profiling of zebrafish skin to A. hydrophila with regards to the mucosal immune responses revealed similarities in the complement system, chemokines, heat shock proteins and the acute-phase response. GO and KEGG enrichment pathway analyses displayed the significant immune responses included TLR, MAPK, JAK-STAT, phagosome and three infection-related pathways (ie., Salmonella, Vibrio cholerae and pathogenic Escherichia coli) in skin. To our knowledge, this study is the first to describe the transcriptome analysis of C. auratus skin during A. hydrophila infection. The outcome of this study contributed to the understanding of the mucosal defense mechanisms in cyprinid species.
Proteomic Profiling of Zebrafish Challenged by Spring Viremia of Carp Virus Provides Insight into Skin Antiviral Response

Liu R, Hu X, Lü A, Song Y, Lian Z, Sun J, et al.

Zebrafish, 2020 04;17(2):91-103.
PMID: 32176570 DOI: 10.1089/zeb.2019.1843

Spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) causes the skin hemorrhagic disease in cyprinid species, but its molecular mechanism of skin immune response remains unclear at the protein level. In the present study, the differential proteomics of the zebrafish (Danio rerio) skin in response to SVCV infection were examined by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays. A total of 3999 proteins were identified, of which 320 and 181 proteins were differentially expressed at 24 and 96 h postinfection, respectively. The expression levels of 16 selected immune-related differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were confirmed by qPCR analysis. Furthermore, Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses revealed that DEPs were significantly associated with complement, inflammation, and antiviral response. The protein-protein interaction network of cytoskeleton-associated proteins, ATPase-related proteins, and parvalbumins from DEPs was shown to be involved in skin immune response. This is first report on the skin proteome profiling of zebrafish against SVCV infection, which will contribute to understand the molecular mechanism of local mucosal immunity in fish.
Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel aspartyl aminopeptidase from Trichinella spiralis

Sun XY, Ma KN, Bai Y, Liu RD, Long SR, Zhang X, et al.

Trop Biomed, 2021 Sep 01;38(3):420-434.
PMID: 34608116 DOI: 10.47665/tb.38.3.085

Trichinellosis is an important zoonotic parasitic disease worldwide and is principally caused by ingesting animal meat containing Trichinella infective larvae. Aspartyl aminopeptidase is an intracytoplasmic metalloproteinase that specifically hydrolyzes the N-terminus of polypeptides free of acidic amino acids (aspartic acid and glutamate), and plays an important role in the metabolism, growth and development of organisms. In this study, a novel T. spiralis aspartyl aminopeptidase (TsAAP) was cloned and expressed, and its biological properties and roles in worm growth and development were investigated. The results revealed that TsAAP transcription and expression in diverse T. spiralis stages were detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting, and primarily localized at cuticle, stichosome and intrauterine embryos of this nematode by immunofluorescence test. rTsAAP has the enzymatic activity of native AAP to hydrolyze the substrate H-Glu-pNA. There was a specific binding between rTsAAP and murine erythrocyte, and the binding site was localized in erythrocyte membrane proteins. Silencing of TsAAP gene by specific dsRNA significantly reduced the TsAAP expression, enzymatic activity, intestinal worm burdens and female fecundity. The results demonstrated that TsAAP participates in the growth, development and fecundity of T. spiralis and it might be a potential target molecule for anti-Trichinella vaccines.
Adducts of triangular silver(i) 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)pyrazolate with thiophene derivatives: a weak interaction model of desulfurization

Liu R, Zhang W, Wei D, Chen JH, Ng SW, Yang G

Dalton Trans, 2019 Nov 21;48(43):16162-16166.
PMID: 31651001 DOI: 10.1039/c9dt03344k

π-Acidic triangular silver(i) 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)pyrazolate (Ag3pz3) can form 1 : 1 adducts with dibenzothiophene (DBT), 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (DMDBT), benzothiophene (BT), and 2,5-dimethylthiophene (DMT), which are stabilized by weak AgS and AgC contacts and sometimes by π-π stacking and, therefore, may represent a weak interaction model for some adsorptive desulfurization processes.
Functional analysis of Trichinella spiralis serine protease 1.2 by siRNA mediated RNA interference

Yang F, Guo KX, Yang DQ, Liu RD, Long SR, Zhang X, et al.

Trop Biomed, 2020 Jun 01;37(2):458-470.
PMID: 33612815

A T. spiralis serine protease 1.2 (TsSP1.2) was identified in the muscle larvae (ML) and intestinal larvae surface/excretory-secretory (ES) proteins by immunoproteomics. The aim of this study was to determine the TsSP1.2 function in the process of T. spiralis intrusion, growth and reproduction by using RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi was used to silence the expression of TsSP1.2 mRNA and protein in the nematode. On 2 days after the ML were electroporated with 2 µM of TsSP1.2-specific siRNA 534, TsSP1.2 mRNA and protein expression declined in 56.44 and 84.48%, respectively, compared with untreated ML. Although TsSP1.2 silencing did not impair worm viability, larval intrusion of intestinal epithelium cells (IEC) was suppressed by 57.18% (P < 0.01) and the suppression was siRNA-dose dependent (r = 0.976). Infection of mice with siRNA 534 transfected ML produced a 57.16% reduction of enteral adult burden and 71.46% reduction of muscle larva burden (P < 0.05). Moreover, silencing of TsSP1.2 gene in ML resulted in worm development impediment and reduction of female fertility. The results showed that silencing of TsSP1.2 by RNAi inhibited larval intrusion and development, and reduced female fecundity. TsSP1.2 plays a crucial role for worm invasion and development in T. spiralis life cycle, and is a potential vaccine/drug target against Trichinella infection.
Trichinella spiralis: RNAi-mediated silencing of serine protease results in reduction of intrusion, development and fecundity

Yang DQ, Zeng Y, Sun XY, Yue X, Hu CX, Jiang P, et al.

Trop Biomed, 2020 Dec 01;37(4):932-946.
PMID: 33612747 DOI: 10.47665/tb.37.4.932

In previous studies, a Trichinella spiralis serine protease (TsSP) was identified in excretion/secretion (ES) products from intestinal infective L1 larvae (IIL1) using immunoproteomics. The complete cDNA sequence of TsSP gene was 1372 bp, which encoded 429 amino acids with 47.55 kDa. The TsSP was transcribed and expressed at all T. spiralis life cycle phases, as well as mainly located at the cuticle and stichosome of the parasitic nematode. Recombinant TsSP bind to intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) and promoted larva invasion, however, its exact function in invasion, development and reproduction are still unknown. The aim of this study was to confirm the biological function of TsSP during T. spiralis invasion and growth using RNA interference (RNAi) technology. The results showed that on 1 day after electroporation using 2.5 µM siRNA156, TsSP mRNA and protein expression of muscle larvae (ML) was suppressed by 48.35 and 59.98%, respectively. Meanwhile, silencing of TsSP gene by RNAi resulted in a 61.38% decrease of serine protease activity of ML ES proteins, and a significant reduction of the in vitro and in vivo invasive capacity of IIL1 to intrude into the IEC monolayer and intestinal mucosa. When mice were infected with siRNA 156-transfected larvae, adult worm and muscle larva burdens were decreased by 58.85 and 60.48%, respectively. Moreover, intestinal worm growth and female fecundity were evidently inhibited after TsSP gene was knockdown, it was demonstrated that intestinal adults became smaller and the in vitro newborn larval yield of females obviously declined compared with the control siRNA group. The results indicated that knockdown of TsSP gene by RNAi significantly reduced the TsSP expression and enzymatic activity, impaired larvae intrusion and growth, and lowered the female reproductive capacity, further verified that TsSP might participate in diverse processes of T. spiralis life cycle, it will be a new prospective candidate molecular target of anti-Trichinella vaccines.
Interethnic differences of PEPT2 (SLC15A2) polymorphism distribution and associations with cephalexin pharmacokinetics in healthy Asian subjects

Liu R, Tang AM, Tan YL, Limenta LM, Lee EJ

Eur J Clin Pharmacol, 2009 Jan;65(1):65-70.
PMID: 18766334 DOI: 10.1007/s00228-008-0488-4

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to characterize the population frequency of PEPT2 (SLC15A2) polymorphic variants in three Asian ethnic populations, namely Chinese, Malay and Asian Indian, and to investigate the associations of ethnicity (Chinese vs. Asian Indian), PEPT2 haplotype and cephalexin pharmacokinetics in healthy Asian subjects.
METHODS: PEPT2 polymorphisms were screened from a cohort of 96 Chinese, 96 Malay and 96 Asian Indian subjects. Cephalexin (1000 mg, orally) pharmacokinetics was characterized in an additional 15 Chinese and 15 Asian Indian healthy subjects. These 30 subjects were subsequently genotyped for their PEPT2 polymorphisms.
RESULTS: In total, ten common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected in the three populations, forming two PEPT2 haplotypes. There were significant ethnic differences in PEPT2 haplotype distribution: the frequencies of the *1 and *2 alleles were 0.307 and 0.693 in the Chinese population, 0.495 and 0.505 in the Malay population and 0.729 and 0.271 in Asian Indian population, respectively. The C (max) of cephalexin was significantly lower in the Chinese (29.80 +/- 4.09 microg ml(-1)) population than in the Asian Indian one (33.29 +/- 4.97 microg ml(-1); P = 0.045). This difference could be explained by the higher average body weight of the Chinese population. There was no other significant difference in cephalexin pharmacokinetics between either ethnic or PEPT2 genotype groups.
CONCLUSION: PEPT2 polymorphism distributions differ significantly between Chinese, Malay and Asian Indian populations. However, cephalexin pharmacokinetics is not meaningfully different between Chinese and Asian Indians. The association between the PEPT2 haplotype and cephalexin pharmacokinetics could not be confirmed, and future studies under better controlled conditions are needed.
Spinal Cord Injury: From MicroRNAs to Exosomal MicroRNAs

Xu X, Liu R, Li Y, Zhang C, Guo C, Zhu J, et al.

Mol Neurobiol, 2024 Aug;61(8):5974-5991.
PMID: 38261255 DOI: 10.1007/s12035-024-03954-7

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is an unfortunate experience that may generate extensive sensory and motor disabilities due to the destruction and passing of nerve cells. MicroRNAs are small RNA molecules that do not code for proteins but instead serve to regulate protein synthesis by targeting messenger RNA's expression. After SCI, secondary damage like apoptosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, and autophagy occurs, and differentially expressed microRNAs show a function in these procedures. Almost all animal and plant cells release exosomes, which are sophisticated formations of lipid membranes. These exosomes have the capacity to deliver significant materials, such as proteins, RNAs and lipids, to cells in need, regulating their functions and serving as a way of communication. This new method offers a fresh approach to treating spinal cord injury. Obviously, the exosome has the benefit of conveying the transported material across performing regulatory activities and the blood-brain barrier. Among the exosome cargoes, microRNAs, which modulate their mRNA targets, show considerable promise in the pathogenic diagnosis, process, and therapy of SCI. Herein, we describe the roles of microRNAs in SCI. Furthermore, we emphasize the importance of exosomal microRNAs in this disease.
Penicillin binding proteins-based immunoassay for the selective and quantitative determination of beta-lactam antibiotics

Liu R, Lan H, Yan S, Huang L, Pan D, Wu Y

Enzyme Microb Technol, 2024 Sep 04;181:110507.
PMID: 39241682 DOI: 10.1016/j.enzmictec.2024.110507

An immunoassay method based on penicillin-binding protein (PBP) was developed for the quantitative determination of 10 kinds of beta-lactam antibiotics (BLAs). First, two kinds of PBPs, which are named PBP1a and PBP2x, were expressed and purified, and they were characterized by SDS-PAGE and western blotting analysis. Then, the binding activity of PBP1a and PBP2x to template BLAs, cefquinome (CEFQ) and ampicillin (AMP), was determined. The effect of the buffer solution system, e.g., pH, ion concentration, and organic solvent, on the immune interaction efficiency between PBPs and BLAs was also evaluated. In the end, the PBP-based immunoassay method was developed and validated for the detection of 10 kinds of BLAs. Under optimal conditions, PBPs exhibited high binding affinity to BLAs. In addition, this method showed a high sensitivity for the detection of 10 kinds of BLAs with the limits of detection from 0.21 to 9.12 ng/mL, which are much lower than their corresponding maximum residual limit of European Union (4-100 ng/mL). Moreover, the developed PBP-immunoassay was employed for BLA detection from milk samples, and satisfactory recoveries (68.9-101.3 %) were obtained.
Primary assessment of a T. spiralis putative serine protease for early serological detection of experimental trichinellosis

Sun GG, Lei JJ, Guo KX, Liu RD, Long SR, Zhang X, et al.

Trop Biomed, 2019 Sep 01;36(3):792-802.
PMID: 33597500

A putative serine protease of T. spiralis (TsSP) was expressed in Escherichia coli and its potential as a diagnostic antigen was primarily assessed in this study. Anti-Trichinella IgG in serum samples from T. spiralis different animal hosts (mice, rats, pigs and rabbits) were detected on Western blot analysis with rTsSP. Anti-Trichinella antibodies were detected in 100% (30/30) of experimentally infected mice by rTsSP-ELISA. Cross-reactions of rTsSPELISA were not found with sera from mice infected with other parasites (S. erinaceieuropaei, S. japonicum, C. sinensis, A. cantonensis and T. gondii) and sera from normal mice. There was no statistical difference in antibody detection rate among mice infected with the encapsulated Trichinella species (T. spiralis, T. nativa, T. britovi, and T. nelsoni) (P>0.05). The results of rTsSP-ELISA showed that serum specific antibody IgG in mice infected with 100 or 500 T. spiralis muscle larvae (ML) were detectable early at 7-8 dpi, but not detected by ML ES antigen-ELISA prior to 10-12 dpi. Specific anti-Trichinella IgG was detected in 100% (18/18) of infected pigs by rTsSP-ELISA and ES-ELISA, but no specific antibodies was not detected in 20 conventionally raised normal pigs by two antigens. The results showed the rTsSP had the potential for early serodiagnosis of animal Trichinella infection, however it requires to be assayed with early infection sera of swine infected with Trichinella and other parasites.
Fulltext Biophysical properties of intrinsically disordered p130Cas substrate domain--implication in mechanosensing

Hotta K, Ranganathan S, Liu R, Wu F, Machiyama H, Gao R, et al.

PLoS Comput Biol, 2014 Apr;10(4):e1003532.
PMID: 24722239 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003532

Mechanical stretch-induced tyrosine phosphorylation in the proline-rich 306-residue substrate domain (CasSD) of p130Cas (or BCAR1) has eluded an experimentally validated structural understanding. Cellular p130Cas tyrosine phosphorylation is shown to function in areas without internal actomyosin contractility, sensing force at the leading edge of cell migration. Circular dichroism shows CasSD is intrinsically disordered with dominant polyproline type II conformations. Strongly conserved in placental mammals, the proline-rich sequence exhibits a pseudo-repeat unit with variation hotspots 2-9 residues before substrate tyrosine residues. Atomic-force microscopy pulling experiments show CasSD requires minimal extension force and exhibits infrequent, random regions of weak stability. Proteolysis, light scattering and ultracentrifugation results show that a monomeric intrinsically disordered form persists for CasSD in solution with an expanded hydrodynamic radius. All-atom 3D conformer sampling with the TraDES package yields ensembles in agreement with experiment when coil-biased sampling is used, matching the experimental radius of gyration. Increasing β-sampling propensities increases the number of prolate conformers. Combining the results, we conclude that CasSD has no stable compact structure and is unlikely to efficiently autoinhibit phosphorylation. Taking into consideration the structural propensity of CasSD and the fact that it is known to bind to LIM domains, we propose a model of how CasSD and LIM domain family of transcription factor proteins may function together to regulate phosphorylation of CasSD and effect machanosensing.
A review of dietary phytochemicals and their relation to oxidative stress and human diseases

Guan R, Van Le Q, Yang H, Zhang D, Gu H, Yang Y, et al.

Chemosphere, 2021 May;271:129499.
PMID: 33445014 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.129499

Phytochemicals refer to active substances in plant-based diets. Phytochemicals found in for example fruits, vegetables, grains and seed oils are considered relatively safe for consumption due to mammal-plant co-evolution and adaptation. A number of human diseases are related to oxidative stress caused by for example chemical environmental contaminants in air, water and food; while also lifestyle including smoking and lack of exercise and dietary preferences are important factors for disease development in humans. Here we explore the dietary sources of antioxidant phytochemicals that have beneficial effects on oxidative stress, cardiovascular and neurological diseases as well as cancer. Plant-based diets usually contain phenolic acids, flavonoids and carotenoids, which have strong antioxidant properties, and therefore remove the excess of active oxygen in the body, and protect cells from damage, reducing the risk of cardiovascular and Alzheimer's disease. In most cases, obesity is related to diet and inactivity and plant-based diets change lipid composition and metabolism, which reduce obesity related hazards. Cruciferous and Allium vegetables are rich in organic sulphides that can act on the metabolism of carcinogens and therefore used as anti-cancer and suppressing agents while dietary fibres and plant sterols may improve intestinal health and prevent intestinal diseases. Thus, we recommend a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and grains as its content of phytochemicals may have the potential to prevent or improve a broad sweep of various diseases.
Rational synthesis of novel "giant" CuInTeSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots for optoelectronics

Xu JY, Tong X, Besteiro LV, Li X, Hu C, Liu R, et al.

Nanoscale, 2021 Sep 23;13(36):15301-15310.
PMID: 34490860 DOI: 10.1039/d1nr04199a

"Giant" core/shell quantum dots (g-QDs) are promising candidates for emerging optoelectronic technologies thanks to their facile structure/composition-tunable optoelectronic properties and outstanding photo-physical/chemical stability. Here, we synthesized a new type of CuInTeSe (CITS)/CdS g-QDs and regulated their optoelectronic properties by controlling the shell thickness. Through increasing the shell thickness, as-prepared g-QDs exhibited tunable red-shifted emission (from 900 to 1200 nm) and prolonged photoluminescence (PL) lifetimes (up to ∼14.0 μs), indicating a formed band structure showing efficient charge separation and transfer, which is further testified by theoretical calculations and ultrafast time-resolved transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy. These CITS/CdS g-QDs with various shell thicknesses can be employed to fabricate photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells, exhibiting improved photoresponse and stability as compared to the bare CITS QD-based devices. The results indicate that the rational design and engineering of g-QDs is very promising for future QD-based optoelectronic technologies.
Boosted Scavenger-Free Overall Nitrogen Photofixation with Molybdenum Incorporated Bismuth-Rich Oxychlorides

Kok SHW, Chong WK, Khor J, Liu R, Tan LS, Low J, et al.

Small, 2025 Mar 12.
PMID: 40072339 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202501119

The design of highly efficient photocatalysts to photoreduce nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) under mild conditions is extremely challenging. In this work, various molar ratio of molybdenum (Mo) is incorporated into Bi12O17Cl2 via a hydrothermal process. The resulting Mo-doped Bi12O17Cl2 exhibits remarkable solar-driven activity for N2 photo fixation without any scavengers or sacrificial agents. The optimal sample with 5% Mo dopants displays an NH3 yield of 39.83 µmol g-1 h-1, a 1.6-fold improvement over undoped pristine Bi12O17Cl2. The impressive performance is attributed to the synergistic effects of oxygen vacancies (OVs) and Mo-loading, enhancing light absorption and extending photo-response through band gap reduction. Additional contributions arise from the enriched active sites, facilitating N2 adsorption and electron transport to the reactants. Density functional theory calculations reveal that Mo integration induces significant charge redistribution around the active sites, thereby reducing the energy barrier associated with N2 activation and protonation. In-depth investigation into the reaction pathway unravels the step-by-step reaction process which further elucidates the beneficial role of Mo loading in the overall N2 photoconversion process. As a whole, this work promotes a simple and effective engineering approach based on heteroatom doping as an efficacious strategy to design highly active photocatalysts toward N2 photo fixation.
Hypoglycaemia in sulphonylurea-treated subjects with type 2 diabetes undergoing Ramadan fasting: a five-country observational study

Aravind SR, Al Tayeb K, Ismail SB, Shehadeh N, Kaddaha G, Liu R, et al.

Curr Med Res Opin, 2011 Jun;27(6):1237-42.
PMID: 21506631 DOI: 10.1185/03007995.2011.578245

To determine the incidence of hypoglycaemia during Ramadan in Muslim subjects with type 2 diabetes treated with a sulphonylurea.
Robotic Level IV Inferior Vena Cava Thrombectomy Using an Intrapericardial Control Technique: Is It Safe Without Cardiopulmonary Bypass?

Huang Q, Zhao G, Chen Y, Wu P, Li S, Peng C, et al.

J Urol, 2023 Jan;209(1):99-110.
PMID: 36194169 DOI: 10.1097/JU.0000000000002952

PURPOSE: We introduce an intrapericardial control technique using a robotic approach in the surgical treatment of renal tumor with level IV inferior vena cava thrombus to decrease the severe complications associated with cardiopulmonary bypass and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight patients with level IV inferior vena cava thrombi not extending into the atrium underwent transabdominal-transdiaphragmatic robot-assisted inferior vena cava thrombectomy obviating cardiopulmonary bypass/deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (cardiopulmonary bypass-free group) by an expert team comprising urological, hepatobiliary, and cardiovascular surgeons. The central diaphragm tendon and pericardium were transabdominally dissected until the intrapericardial inferior vena cava were exposed and looped proximal to the cranial end of the thrombi under intraoperative ultrasound guidance. As controls, 14 patients who underwent robot-assisted inferior vena cava thrombectomy with cardiopulmonary bypass (cardiopulmonary bypass group) and 25 patients who underwent open thrombectomy with cardiopulmonary bypass/deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (cardiopulmonary bypass/deep hypothermic circulatory arrest group) were included. Clinicopathological, operative, and survival outcomes were retrospectively analyzed.
RESULTS: Eight robot-assisted inferior vena cava thrombectomies were successfully performed without cardiopulmonary bypass, with 1 open conversion. The median operation time and first porta hepatis occlusion time were shorter, and estimated blood loss was lower in the cardiopulmonary bypass-free group as compared to the cardiopulmonary bypass group (540 vs 586.5 minutes, 16.5 vs 38.5. minutes, and 2,050 vs 3,500 mL, respectively). Severe complications (level IV-V) were also lower in the cardiopulmonary bypass-free group than in cardiopulmonary bypass and cardiopulmonary bypass/deep hypothermic circulatory arrest groups (25% vs 50% vs 40%). Oncologic outcomes were comparable among the 3 groups in short-term follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS: Pure transabdominal-transdiaphragmatic robot-assisted inferior vena cava thrombectomy without cardiopulmonary bypass/deep hypothermic circulatory arrest represents as an alternative minimally invasive approach for selected level IV inferior vena cava thrombi.
Large language models for diabetes care: Potentials and prospects

Sheng B, Guan Z, Lim LL, Jiang Z, Mathioudakis N, Li J, et al.

Sci Bull (Beijing), 2024 Jan 04.
PMID: 38220476 DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2024.01.004
Combining camera trap surveys and IUCN range maps to improve knowledge of species distributions

Chen C, Granados A, Brodie JF, Kays R, Davies TJ, Liu R, et al.

Conserv Biol, 2023 Nov 08.
PMID: 37937455 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14221

Reliable maps of species distributions are fundamental for biodiversity research and conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) range maps are widely recognized as authoritative representations of species' geographic limits, yet they might not always align with actual occurrence data. In recent area of habitat (AOH) maps, areas that are not habitat have been removed from IUCN ranges to reduce commission errors, but their concordance with actual species occurrence also remains untested. We tested concordance between occurrences recorded in camera trap surveys and predicted occurrences from the IUCN and AOH maps for 510 medium- to large-bodied mammalian species in 80 camera trap sampling areas. Across all areas, cameras detected only 39% of species expected to occur based on IUCN ranges and AOH maps; 85% of the IUCN only mismatches occurred within 200 km of range edges. Only 4% of species occurrences were detected by cameras outside IUCN ranges. The probability of mismatches between cameras and the IUCN range was significantly higher for smaller-bodied mammals and habitat specialists in the Neotropics and Indomalaya and in areas with shorter canopy forests. Our findings suggest that range and AOH maps rarely underrepresent areas where species occur, but they may more often overrepresent ranges by including areas where a species may be absent, particularly at range edges. We suggest that combining range maps with data from ground-based biodiversity sensors, such as camera traps, provides a richer knowledge base for conservation mapping and planning.
Fulltext Large language models for diabetes training: a prospective study

Li H, Jiang Z, Guan Z, Bao Y, Liu Y, Hu T, et al.

Sci Bull (Beijing), 2025 Mar 30;70(6):934-942.
PMID: 39947986 DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.01.034

Diabetes poses a considerable global health challenge, with varying levels of diabetes knowledge among healthcare professionals, highlighting the importance of diabetes training. Large Language Models (LLMs) provide new insights into diabetes training, but their performance in diabetes-related queries remains uncertain, especially outside the English language like Chinese. We first evaluated the performance of ten LLMs: ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4.0, Google Bard, LlaMA-7B, LlaMA2-7B, Baidu ERNIE Bot, Ali Tongyi Qianwen, MedGPT, HuatuoGPT, and Chinese LlaMA2-7B on diabetes-related queries, based on the Chinese National Certificate Examination for Primary Diabetes Care in China (NCE-CPDC) and the English Specialty Certificate Examination in Endocrinology and Diabetes of Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom. Second, we assessed the training of primary care physicians (PCPs) without and with the assistance of ChatGPT-4.0 in the NCE-CPDC examination to ascertain the reliability of LLMs as medical assistants. We found that ChatGPT-4.0 outperformed other LLMs in the English examination, achieving a passing accuracy of 62.50%, which was significantly higher than that of Google Bard, LlaMA-7B, and LlaMA2-7B. For the NCE-CPFC examination, ChatGPT-4.0, Ali Tongyi Qianwen, Baidu ERNIE Bot, Google Bard, MedGPT, and ChatGPT-3.5 successfully passed, whereas LlaMA2-7B, HuatuoGPT, Chinese LLaMA2-7B, and LlaMA-7B failed. ChatGPT-4.0 (84.82%) surpassed all PCPs and assisted most PCPs in the NCE-CPDC examination (improving by 1 %-6.13%). In summary, LLMs demonstrated outstanding competence for diabetes-related questions in both the Chinese and English language, and hold great potential to assist future diabetes training for physicians globally.
Fulltext Multi-organ point-of-care ultrasound for COVID-19 (PoCUS4COVID): international expert consensus

Hussain A, Via G, Melniker L, Goffi A, Tavazzi G, Neri L, et al.

Crit Care, 2020 12 24;24(1):702.
PMID: 33357240 DOI: 10.1186/s13054-020-03369-5

COVID-19 has caused great devastation in the past year. Multi-organ point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) including lung ultrasound (LUS) and focused cardiac ultrasound (FoCUS) as a clinical adjunct has played a significant role in triaging, diagnosis and medical management of COVID-19 patients. The expert panel from 27 countries and 6 continents with considerable experience of direct application of PoCUS on COVID-19 patients presents evidence-based consensus using GRADE methodology for the quality of evidence and an expedited, modified-Delphi process for the strength of expert consensus. The use of ultrasound is suggested in many clinical situations related to respiratory, cardiovascular and thromboembolic aspects of COVID-19, comparing well with other imaging modalities. The limitations due to insufficient data are highlighted as opportunities for future research.

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