Severe asthma is the main reason for death and disability caused by asthma. However, effective biomarkers for severe asthma have not been identified. Here, we aimed to identify potential biomarkers in severe asthma. We identified 202 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between severe asthma and mild-moderate asthma after integrating the results from GSE69683 and GSE27011 datasets. The enrichment analysis indicated that 202 DEGs were associated with metabolism- and immune-related processes. 10 hub genes were identified by Cytoscape and five of these genes’ AUC (area under the curve) values were greater than 0.6 in GSE69683. The AUC value reached to 0.701 when combined SEC61A1 and ALDH18A1 expression. The expression of the five hub genes was verified in an external dataset. The network analysis revealed that transcription factor (TF) WT1, ZEB1, RERE, FOSL1, and miR-20a may be involved in the development of asthma. In addition, we found cyclosporine and acetaminophen could interact with these hub genes and may be negatively associated with most of the five hub genes according to previous reports. Overall, key genes were identified between mild-moderate and severe asthmatics, which contributed to the understanding of the development of asthma.

NYGGF4, an obesity-related gene, is proposed to be involved in the development of insulin resistance; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In the present analysis, NimbleGen tiling arrays were used to determine the patterns of genomic DNA methylation at CpG islands and promoters in NYGGF4-overexpression adipocytes. A total of 2352 CpG dinucleotides in 2018 genes and 3490 CpG dinucleotides in 3064 genes were found to be hypermethylated or hypomethylated, respectively, in NYGGF4-overexpression adipocytes. Furthermore, gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway analysis revealed enrichment of biological processes associated with energy metabolism and signal transduction events, including the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) signaling pathway, and mitogen-activated protein kinases(MAPK) and Ras homolog gene family, member A (RhoA) signaling. These data demonstrate that differentially methylated genes are significantly overrepresented in NYGGF4-overexpression adipocytes, providing valuable clues for further exploration of the role of NYGGF4 in insulin sensitivity regulation.

Background: To date, there have been several reports about long-term changes in physical growth in children of different races around the world. However, limited studies on this change have been reported in Nanjing, China. We decided to assess long-term changes in body weight, length/height and head circumference in children (0-7 years old) in Nanjing over the past two decades from 1995 to 2015 and the relationship between socioeconomic development and the change of physical growth.Methods: The results for body weight, length/height and head circumference in 0-to 7-year-old children were obtained from three repeated cross-sectional surveys that were performed by using the same methods in the same urban and suburban areas of Nanjing in 1995, 2005 and 2015. The differences in mean values between urban and suburban boys and girls and the increases per decade were compared. Socioeconomic indicators were collected and analysed.Results: There was positive long-term growth in height and weight of children in Nanjing from 1995 to 2015, measurements increased 0.3-3.00 kg in weight and 1.0-3.8 cm in height for boys, 0.23-2.18 kg in weight and 1.3-3.6 cm in height for girls in urban areas (except children under 15 months), as well as 0.32-4.15 kg in weight and 1.1-7.4 cm in height for boys, 0.26-2.95 kg in weight and 1.2-6.3 cm in height for girls in suburban areas (except children under 8 months). Compared with the first decade, the changes of mean values in height and weight of urban children in the second decade were smaller. In contrast, the long-term change of suburban children still kept fast growth rate. Before 2.5 years old, negative increases in weight and height in urban children were observed in second decade. Urban-suburban difference of weight and height became smaller in 2015. The growth of head circumference from 1995 to 2015 underwent a small long-term change, especially of urban children. Conclusion: The increased long-term physical growth due to rapid social and economic development would disappear, and genetic potential might have been seen.