Qingdao University

About: Qingdao University is a education organization based out in Qingdao, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Cancer & Apoptosis. The organization has 35675 authors who have published 27275 publications receiving 374908 citations. The organization is also known as: Qīngdǎo Dàxué.

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

Abstract: In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation, it is imperative to target by gene knockout or RNA interference more than one autophagy-related protein. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways implying that not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.

Breakthrough: Chloroquine phosphate has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of COVID-19 associated pneumonia in clinical studies.

Abstract: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus is spreading rapidly, and scientists are endeavoring to discover drugs for its efficacious treatment in China. Chloroquine phosphate, an old drug for treatment of malaria, is shown to have apparent efficacy and acceptable safety against COVID-19 associated pneumonia in multicenter clinical trials conducted in China. The drug is recommended to be included in the next version of the Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Pneumonia Caused by COVID-19 issued by the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China for treatment of COVID-19 infection in larger populations in the future.

CT Imaging Features of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Abstract: In this retrospective case series, chest CT scans of 21 symptomatic patients from China infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) were reviewed, with emphasis on identifying and characterizing the most common findings. Typical CT findings included bilateral pulmonary parenchymal ground-glass and consolidative pulmonary opacities, sometimes with a rounded morphology and a peripheral lung distribution. Notably, lung cavitation, discrete pulmonary nodules, pleural effusions, and lymphadenopathy were absent. Follow-up imaging in a subset of patients during the study time window often demonstrated mild or moderate progression of disease, as manifested by increasing extent and density of lung opacities.

A Survey on Internet of Things: Architecture, Enabling Technologies, Security and Privacy, and Applications

Abstract: Fog/edge computing has been proposed to be integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) to enable computing services devices deployed at network edge, aiming to improve the user’s experience and resilience of the services in case of failures. With the advantage of distributed architecture and close to end-users, fog/edge computing can provide faster response and greater quality of service for IoT applications. Thus, fog/edge computing-based IoT becomes future infrastructure on IoT development. To develop fog/edge computing-based IoT infrastructure, the architecture, enabling techniques, and issues related to IoT should be investigated first, and then the integration of fog/edge computing and IoT should be explored. To this end, this paper conducts a comprehensive overview of IoT with respect to system architecture, enabling technologies, security and privacy issues, and present the integration of fog/edge computing and IoT, and applications. Particularly, this paper first explores the relationship between cyber-physical systems and IoT, both of which play important roles in realizing an intelligent cyber-physical world. Then, existing architectures, enabling technologies, and security and privacy issues in IoT are presented to enhance the understanding of the state of the art IoT development. To investigate the fog/edge computing-based IoT, this paper also investigate the relationship between IoT and fog/edge computing, and discuss issues in fog/edge computing-based IoT. Finally, several applications, including the smart grid, smart transportation, and smart cities, are presented to demonstrate how fog/edge computing-based IoT to be implemented in real-world applications.

The oral and gut microbiomes are perturbed in rheumatoid arthritis and partly normalized after treatment

Abstract: We carried out metagenomic shotgun sequencing and a metagenome-wide association study (MGWAS) of fecal, dental and salivary samples from a cohort of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy controls. Concordance was observed between the gut and oral microbiomes, suggesting overlap in the abundance and function of species at different body sites. Dysbiosis was detected in the gut and oral microbiomes of RA patients, but it was partially resolved after RA treatment. Alterations in the gut, dental or saliva microbiome distinguished individuals with RA from healthy controls, were correlated with clinical measures and could be used to stratify individuals on the basis of their response to therapy. In particular, Haemophilus spp. were depleted in individuals with RA at all three sites and negatively correlated with levels of serum autoantibodies, whereas Lactobacillus salivarius was over-represented in individuals with RA at all three sites and was present in increased amounts in cases of very active RA. Functionally, the redox environment, transport and metabolism of iron, sulfur, zinc and arginine were altered in the microbiota of individuals with RA. Molecular mimicry of human antigens related to RA was also detectable. Our results establish specific alterations in the gut and oral microbiomes in individuals with RA and suggest potential ways of using microbiome composition for prognosis and diagnosis.