The quality of care for patients hospitalized for acute exacerbations of COPD may be improved by increasing the use of systemic corticosteroid and antibiotic therapy, decreasing the use of unnecessary and potentially harmful treatments, and reducing variation in practice across hospitals.

Approximately one-third of Chinese obese children can be classified as MHO. Both genetic predisposition and environment factors and their interaction contribute to the prediction of MHO status. This study provides novel insights into the heterogeneity of obesity and has the potential to impact the optimization of the intervention options and regimens in the management of pediatric obesity.

Soil moisture products acquired from passive satellite missions have been widely applied in environmental processes. A primary challenge for the use of soil moisture products from passive sensors is their reliability. It is crucial to evaluate the reliability of those products before they can be routinely used at a global scale. In this paper, we evaluated the Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR2) radiometer soil moisture products against in situ measurements collected from American networks with four statistics, including the mean difference (MD), the root mean squared difference (RMSD), the unbiased root mean square error (ubRMSE) and the correlation coefficient (R). The evaluation results of SMAP and AMSR2 soil moisture products were compared. Moreover, the triple collocation (TC) error model was used to assess the error among AMSR2, SMAP and in situ data. The monthly average and daily AMSR2 and SMAP soil moisture data were analyzed. Different spatial series, temporal series and combined spatial-temporal analysis were carried out. The results reveal that SMAP soil moisture retrievals are generally better than AMSR2 soil moisture data. The remotely sensed retrievals show the best agreement with in situ measurements over the central Great Plains and cultivated crops throughout the year. In particular, SMAP soil moisture data shows a stable pattern for capturing the spatial distribution of surface soil moisture. Further studies are required for better understanding the SMAP soil moisture product.

Background It has been well established that the TMEM106B gene rs1990622 variant was a frontotemporal dementia (FTD) risk factor. Until recently, growing evidence highlights the role of TMEM106B in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, it remains largely unclear about the role of rs1990622 variant in AD. Methods Here, we conducted comprehensive analyses including genetic association study, gene expression analysis, eQTLs analysis, and colocalization analysis. In stage 1, we conducted a genetic association analysis of rs1990622 using large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets from International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (21,982 AD and 41,944 cognitively normal controls) and UK Biobank (314,278 participants). In stage 2, we performed a gene expression analysis of TMEM106B in 49 different human tissues using the gene expression data in GTEx. In stage 3, we performed an expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) analysis using multiple datasets from UKBEC, GTEx, and Mayo RNAseq Study. In stage 4, we performed a colocalization analysis to provide evidence of the AD GWAS and eQTLs pair influencing both AD and the TMEM106B expression at a particular region. Results We found (1) rs1990622 variant T allele contributed to AD risk. A sex-specific analysis in UK Biobank further indicated that rs1990622 T allele only contributed to increased AD risk in females, but not in males; (2) TMEM106B showed different expression in different human brain tissues especially high expression in cerebellum; (3) rs1990622 variant could regulate the expression of TMEM106B in human brain tissues, which vary considerably in different disease statuses, the mean ages at death, the percents of females, and the different descents of the selected donors; (4) colocalization analysis provided suggestive evidence that the same variant contributed to AD risk and TMEM106B expression in cerebellum. Conclusion Our comprehensive analyses highlighted the role of FTD rs1990622 variant in AD risk. This cross-disease approach may delineate disease-specific and common features, which will be important for both diagnostic and therapeutic development purposes. Meanwhile, these findings highlight the importance to better understand TMEM106B function and dysfunction in the context of normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

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BackgroundIn sub-Saharan Africa, the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are endemic. Although there has been great progress in HIV care, universal HBV vaccination and care is lacking. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of HBV, HBV genotypes, and drug resistance mutations in dual infected cases in a cohort of HIV patients in Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA total of 308 HIV-1 positive patients were enrolled into the study and tested for HBsAg in plasma. In HBsAg positive samples, HBV DNA was analyzed for HBV genotype using in-house nested PCR with HBV-specific pre-core / core or surface primers, and for HBV drug resistance mutations (DRMs) in polymerase region. Odds ratio at 95% confidence interval was calculated.ResultsOf the 308 HIV-positive subjects, 62.7% were female, median age 38 years (range 18–68, IQR: 27–49), and the median CD4 count 405 cells/μl (IQR: 75–734). Overall, 94.2% were on antiretroviral therapy (ART) frequently with combinations of Zidovudine (AZT)- Lamivudine (3TC)—Nevirapine (NVP). HBsAg was detected in 5.5% (95%CI 2.95–8.08%) of the study participants, of which the majority were infected with HBV genotype A (7A, 2E, 2D, 1C, 1 G). All HIV/HBV positive cases were on ART with anti-HBV activity (i.e., 3TC) and 3TC associated HBV DRMs (i.e., rtV173L, rtL180M, and rtM204V) were detected in 7/13 (53.8%) subjects.ConclusionIn this cross-sectional study of HIV-infected individuals, we found 5.5% HBV/HIV co-infected cases. Most were receiving the first generation anti-HBV therapy with a low genetic barrier to resistance, and several carried mutations associated with anti-HBV (3TC) drug resistance. These data underscore the importance of integrating HBV screening to the HIV treatment guidelines for better management and prevention of HBV-related liver disease.

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PurposeLeptin and adiponectin have opposite effects on subclinical inflammation and insulin resistance, both involved in the development of metabolic syndrome (MS). We aimed to investigate whether leptin/adiponectin ratio (L/A), as a marker of these two adipokines imbalance, may improve diagnosis of MS in children and adolescents, and determined its cut-off value in the diagnosis of MS.MethodsA total of 3,428 subjects aged 6–18 years were selected from Beijing Child and Adolescent Metabolic Syndrome study. Adipokine leptin and adiponectin were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Odds ratio of MS per 1 z-score of adipokine was examined using logistic regression. Diagnosis accuracy was assessed using c-statistics (AUC) and net reclassification index.ResultsThe levels of leptin and L/A increased with number of positive MS components, while the levels of adiponectin declined in both boys and girls (all P <0.001). AUCs for diagnosis of MS in girls were 0.793, 0.773, and 0.689 using L/A, leptin and adiponectin, respectively; and AUCs in boys were 0.822, 0.798, and 0.697 for L/A, leptin and adiponectin, respectively. Notably, L/A outperformed individual leptin or adiponectin in discriminating a diagnosis of MS (all P < 0.02 in AUC comparisons). In addition, the optimal cut-offs of L/A by ROC curve differed by genders and pubertal stages, which were 1.63, 1.28, 1.95 and 1.53 ng/ug for total, pre-, mid- and postpubertal boys, respectively and 2.19, 0.87,1.48 and 2.27 ng/ug for total, pre-, mid- and postpubertal girls, respectively, yielding high sensitivity and moderate specificity for a screening test.ConclusionsIn this pediatric population, leptin-adiponectin imbalance, as reflected by an increase in L/A level, was found to be a better diagnostic biomarker for MS than leptin or adiponectin alone. Future longitudinal studies are needed to further validate the gender-specific cutoff values.