TY  - JOUR
A1  - Xu, QingHai
A1  - Cao, Xianyong
A1  - Tian, Fang
A1  - Zhang, ShengRui
A1  - Li, YueCong
A1  - Li, ManYue
A1  - Li, Jie
A1  - Liu, YaoLiang
A1  - Liang, Jian
T1  - Relative pollen productivities of typical steppe species in northern China and their potential in past vegetation reconstruction
JF  - Science China
N2  - The Relative Pollen Productivities (RPPs) of common steppe species are estimated using Extended R-value (ERV) model based on pollen analysis and vegetation survey of 30 surface soil samples from typical steppe area of northern China. Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, and Asteraceae are the dominant pollen types in pollen assemblages, reflecting the typical steppe communities well. The five dominant pollen types and six common types (Thalictrum, Iridaceae, Potentilla, Ephedra, Brassicaceae, and Ulmus) have strong wind transport abilities; the estimated Relevant Source Area of Pollen (RSAP) is ca. 1000 m when the sediment basin radius is set at 0.5 m. Ulmus, Artemisia, Brassicaceae, Chenopodiaceae, and Thalictrum have relative high RPPs; Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Potentilla, and Ephedra pollen have moderate RPPs; Asteraceae and Iridaceae have low RPPs. The reliability test of RPPs revealed that most of the RPPs are reliable in past vegetation reconstruction. However, the RPPs of Asteraceae and Iridaceae are obviously underestimated, and those of Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, and Ephedra are either slightly underestimated or slightly overestimated, suggesting that those RPPs should be considered with caution. These RPPs were applied to estimating plant abundances for two fossil pollen spectra (from the Lake Bayanchagan and Lake Haoluku) covering the Holocene in typical steppe area, using the "Regional Estimates of Vegetation Abundance from Large Sites" (REVEALS) model. The RPPs-based vegetation reconstruction revealed that meadow-steppe dominated by Poaceae, Cyperaceae, and Artemisia plants flourished in this area before 6500-5600 cal yr BP, and then was replaced by present typical steppe.
KW  - typical steppe
KW  - modern surface pollen
KW  - relative pollen productivity
KW  - relevant pollen source area
KW  - paleovegetation
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-013-4738-7
SN  - 1674-7313
SN  - 1869-1897
VL  - 57
IS  - 6
SP  - 1254
EP  - 1266
PB  - Science China Press
CY  - Beijing
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Liang, Xu-Jing
A1  - Huang, Si-Min
A1  - Li, Jian-Ping
A1  - Zhu, Xian-Nv
A1  - Lu, Yong-Ping
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
A1  - Chen, You-Peng
T1  - Hepatic impairment induced by scrub typhus is associated with new onset of renal dysfunction
JF  - Clinical laboratory : the peer reviewed journal for clinical laboratories and laboratories related to blood transfusion
N2  - Background: Scrub typhus is a potentially fatal infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. There is little attention given to hepatic impairment in the adults with scrub typhus. This study investigated the incidence and the prognostic implications of hepatic impairment in patients with scrub typhus.
 Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a total of 143 adult patients with scrub typhus who were admitted between January 1999 and December 2010 in Guangdong province, China. The patients were divided into three groups, e.g., normal, mild, and moderate to severe groups based on the elevated serum ALT and/or total bilirubin levels. Furthermore, clinical characteristics and prognosis of the patient groups were compared.
 Results: 109 patients (76.2%) had abnormal liver function. Among the patients with hepatic impairment 45 cases (31.4%), 54 cases (37.8%), and 10 cases (7.0%) had mild, moderate, and severe hepatic damage, respectively. The moderate to severe hepatic impairment group had higher levels of serum creatinine compared with that of normal hepatic function. The incidence of new onset of renal dysfunction - defined as peak serum creatinine >= 176 mu mol/L during hospital stay with no evidence of renal disease prior hospitalization - was 0% in the mild hepatic impairment group, 8.9% in the moderate hepatic impairment group, and 21.9% in the severe hepatic impairment group, (p = 0.005 for trend). Additionally, the patients with hepatic impairment (n = 109) had higher incidences of episodes of thrombocytopenia (45.9% vs. 8.82%, p < 0.001), hypoalbuminemia (50.5% vs. 11.8%, p < 0.001), new onset of renal dysfunction (16.5% vs. 0.0%, p = 0.011), and electrocardiogram abnormality (28.4% vs. 8.82%, p = 0.019) than the patients without hepatic impairment.
 Conclusions: The degree of hepatic impairment induced by scrub typhus is associated with new onset of renal dysfunction.
KW  - hepatic impairment
KW  - renal dysfunction
KW  - complication
KW  - outcome
KW  - scrub typhus
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.7754/Clin.Lab.2013.121203
SN  - 1433-6510
VL  - 60
IS  - 1
SP  - 63
EP  - 68
PB  - Clin Lab Publ., Verl. Klinisches Labor
CY  - Heidelberg
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Chen, You-Peng
A1  - Lu, Yong-Ping
A1  - Li, Jian
A1  - Liu, Zhi-Wei
A1  - Chen, Wen-Jing
A1  - Liang, Xu-Jing
A1  - Chen, Xin
A1  - Wen, Wang-Rong
A1  - Xiao, Xiao-Min
A1  - Reichetzeder, Christoph
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
T1  - Fetal and maternal angiotensin (1-7) are associated with preterm birth
JF  - Journal of hypertension
N2  - Background: Recent studies show that preterm birth is associated with hypertension in later life. The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) during pregnancy influences fetal growth and development. In the current study, we investigated the impact of fetal as well as maternal angiotensin (1-7) [Ang (1-7)] and angiotensin II (Ang II) plasma concentrations on the risk of preterm birth.
 Methods: Three hundred and nine pregnant women were prospectively included into the study. The pregnant women were divided into two groups, for example, preterm birth of lower than 37 gestational weeks (n = 17) and full-term birth of 37 gestational weeks or more (n = 292). Maternal and neonatal plasma Ang (1-7) and Ang II concentrations were analyzed at birth from maternal venous blood and umbilical cord blood, respectively. Risk factors for premature birth were determined by multiple logistic regression analysis.
 Results: Fetal and maternal plasma Ang (1-7) concentrations in the preterm group were lower than those of the term group fetal Ang (1-7) preterm birth: 486.15 +/- 337.34 ng/l and fetal Ang (1-7) term birth: 833.84 +/- 698.12 ng/l and maternal Ang (1-7) preterm birth: 399.86 +/- 218.93 ng/l; maternal Ang (1-7) term birth: 710.34 +/- 598.22 ng/l. Multiple logistic regression analysis considering confounding factors revealed that preeclampsia (P < 0.001), premature rupture of membranes (P = 0.001), lower concentration of maternal Ang (1-7) (P = 0.013) and fetal plasma Ang (1-7) (P = 0.032) were independently associated with preterm birth. We could furthermore demonstrate that the maternal Ang (1-7)/Ang II ratio is independently associated with gestational hypertension or preeclampsia, factors causing preterm birth.
 Conclusions: Lower concentrations of maternal and fetal Ang (1-7) are independently associated with preterm birth - a risk factor of hypertension in later life.
KW  - angiotensin (1-7)
KW  - angiotensin II
KW  - cardiovascular disease
KW  - fetal programming
KW  - intrauterine fetal growth
KW  - pregnancy
KW  - preterm delivery
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000000251
SN  - 0263-6352
SN  - 1473-5598
VL  - 32
IS  - 9
SP  - 1833
EP  - 1841
PB  - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
CY  - Philadelphia
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
A1  - Lu, Yong-Ping
A1  - Reichetzeder, Christoph
A1  - Zhang, Xiaoli
A1  - Tsuprykov, Oleg
A1  - Rahnenführer, Jan
A1  - Xie, Li
A1  - Li, Jian
A1  - Hu, Liang
A1  - Krämer, Bernhard K.
A1  - Hasan, Ahmed A.
T1  - Paternal eNOS deficiency in mice affects glucose homeostasis and liver glycogen in male offspring without inheritance of eNOS deficiency itself
JF  - Diabetologia
N2  - Aims/hypothesis It was shown that maternal endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) deficiency causes fatty liver disease and numerically lower fasting glucose in female wild-type offspring, suggesting that parental genetic variants may influence the offspring's phenotype via epigenetic modifications in the offspring despite the absence of a primary genetic defect. The aim of the current study was to analyse whether paternal eNOS deficiency may cause the same phenotype as seen with maternal eNOS deficiency. Methods Heterozygous (+/-) male eNOS (Nos3) knockout mice or wild-type male mice were bred with female wild-type mice. The phenotype of wild-type offspring of heterozygous male eNOS knockout mice was compared with offspring from wild-type parents. Results Global sperm DNA methylation decreased and sperm microRNA pattern altered substantially. Fasting glucose and liver glycogen storage were increased when analysing wild-type male and female offspring of +/- eNOS fathers. Wild-type male but not female offspring of +/- eNOS fathers had increased fasting insulin and increased insulin after glucose load. Analysing candidate genes for liver fat and carbohydrate metabolism revealed that the expression of genes encoding glucocorticoid receptor (Gr; also known as Nr3c1) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (Pgc1a; also known as Ppargc1a) was increased while DNA methylation of Gr exon 1A and Pgc1a promoter was decreased in the liver of male wild-type offspring of +/- eNOS fathers. The endocrine pancreas in wild-type offspring was not affected. <br /> Conclusions/interpretation Our study suggests that paternal genetic defects such as eNOS deficiency may alter the epigenome of the sperm without transmission of the paternal genetic defect itself. In later life wild-type male offspring of +/- eNOS fathers developed increased fasting insulin and increased insulin after glucose load. These effects are associated with increased Gr and Pgc1a gene expression due to altered methylation of these genes.
KW  - eNOS
KW  - Glucocorticoid receptor
KW  - Insulin resistance
KW  - Paternal programming;
KW  - PGC1a
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-022-05700-x
SN  - 0012-186X
SN  - 1432-0428
VL  - 65
IS  - 7
SP  - 1222
EP  - 1236
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Li, Jian
A1  - Shen, Jinhua
A1  - Zhang, Xiaoli
A1  - Peng, Yangqin
A1  - Zhang, Qin
A1  - Hu, Liang
A1  - Reichetzeder, Christoph
A1  - Zeng, Suimin
A1  - Li, Jing
A1  - Tian, Mei
A1  - Gong, Fei
A1  - Lin, Ge
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
T1  - Risk factors associated with preterm birth after IVF/ICSI
JF  - Scientific reports
N2  - In vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) is associated with an increased risk of preterm (33rd-37th gestational week) and early preterm birth (20th-32nd gestational week). The underlying general and procedure related risk factors are not well understood so far. 4328 infertile women undergoing IVF/ICSI were entered into this study. The study population was divided into three groups: (a) early preterm birth group (n = 66), (b) preterm birth group (n = 675) and (c) full-term birth group (n = 3653). Odds for preterm birth were calculated by stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis. We identified seven independent risk factors for preterm birth and four independent risk factors for early preterm birth. Older (> 39) or younger (< 25) maternal age (OR: 1.504, 95% CI 1.108-2.042, P = 0.009; OR: 2.125, 95% CI 1.049-4.304, P = 0.036, respectively), multiple pregnancy (OR: 9.780, 95% CI 8.014-11.935, P < 0.001; OR: 8.588, 95% CI 4.866-15.157, P < 0.001, respectively), placenta previa (OR: 14.954, 95% CI 8.053-27.767, P < 0.001; OR: 16.479, 95% CI 4.381-61.976, P < 0.001, respectively), and embryo reduction (OR: 3.547, 95% CI 1.736-7.249, P = 0.001; OR: 7.145, 95% CI 1.990-25.663, P = 0.003, respectively) were associated with preterm birth and early preterm birth, whereas gestational hypertension (OR: 2.494, 95% CI 1.770-3.514, P < 0.001), elevated triglycerides (OR: 1.120, 95% CI 1.011-1.240, P = 0.030) and shorter activated partial thromboplastin time (OR: 0.967, 95% CI 0.949-0.985, P < 0.001) were associated only with preterm birth. In conclusion, preterm and early preterm birth risk factors in patients undergoing assisted IVF/ICSI are in general similar to those in natural pregnancy. The lack of some associations in the early preterm group was most likely due to the lower number of early preterm birth cases. Only embryo reduction represents an IVF/ICSI specific risk factor.
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12149-w
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
PB  - Nature Research
CY  - Berlin
ER  -