The present study aimed to determine the differences in gut microbiota between patients with chronic kidney disease ( CKD ) and healthy controls ( HC ) and search for better microbial biomarkers associated with CKD . The 16S rRNA gene sequencing approach was used to investigate the differences in gut microbiota between the CKD and HC groups. The study found that 12 phylotypes were overrepresented in the CKD group and 19 in the HC group at the genus level. Furthermore, genera Lachnospira and Ruminococcus_gnavus performed the best in differentiating between HC and CKD populations. In addition, this novel study found that the genera Holdemanella , Megamonas , Prevotella 2 , Dielma , and Scardovia were associated with the progression of CKD and hemodialysis. In conclusion, the composition of gut microbiota was different in CKD populations compared with healthy populations, and Lachnospira and R._gnavus were better microbial biomarkers. In addition, five phylotypes, including Holdemanella , Megamonas , Prevotella 2, Dielma , and Scardovia , served as an indicator of the progression of CKD and hemodialysis. However, large‐scale prospective studies should be performed to identify the reliability of the set of these phylotypes as biomarkers.

Immune inhibitory receptors play an important role in organ transplantation, autoimmune diseases and cancers. Immunoglobulin-like transcript (ILT)2 and ILT3 belong to the inhibitory receptors of the ILT family, which have been reported to regulate a broad range of cellular functions involved in the immune response. They contain immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs (ITIMs), which are related to immune regulation. Although ILT receptors have been studied in dendritic cells (DCs), T cells, NK cells and other cell types, the expression and clinical significance of ILT2 and ILT3 in gastric cancer have yet to be elucidated. Here, the expression of ILT2 and ILT3 in gastric cancer cell lines and pathologic tissues, as well as their effects on the cytotoxicity of NK92MI against the gastric cancer cell lines MKNI with ILT2lowILT3low and HGC-27 with ILT2highILT3high were detected. The results suggest that ILT2 and ILT3 are expressed with diverse degrees in gastric cancer cells and tissues, and the expression of ILT2 is related with differentiation and size of tumors. Furthermore, the cytotoxic activity of NK92MI against the MKNI cell line was stronger than that against HGC-27. This study indicates that ILT2 and ILT3 play a key role in gastric cancer immune escape, and ILT2 may be a new target in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer.

The global outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 spread rapidly throughout the world which transmitted among humans through various routes. Asymptomatic (carriers) and possible fecal-oral transmission, resulted into a large-scale spread. These issues pose great challenges to disease diagnosis and epidemic control. We obtained data on 29 cases of COVID-19 patients in Jinan, China, and reported the clinical data of asymptomatic patients confirmed with stool samples positive. Some patients with gastrointestinal infections are secondary to pulmonary infections, and during the patients' recovery period, the virus may still existin the patient's gastrointestinal tract over 7 days. We combined with epidemiological and clinical data of asymptomatic patients to analyze the possible routes of viral transmission and infection, including eyes-nose, hands-eyes, fecal-oral, and eyes-oral, et al., thus first presented the two-way transmission through eyes-oral. Through associating infection symptoms with the transmission routes of virus and the patient course of the disease, we expect to provide guidelines for clinical diagnosis and the basis for suppressing the spread of the virus and antiviral treatment.

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently emerged life-threatening disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. Real-time fluorescent PCR (RT-PCR) is the clinical standard for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid detection. To detect SARS-CoV-2 early and control the disease spreading on time, a faster and more convenient method for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid detecting, RT-LAMP method (reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification) was developed. RNA reverse transcription and nucleic acid amplification were performed in one step at 63 °C isothermal conditions, and the results can be obtained within 30 minutes. ORF1ab gene, E gene and N gene were detected at the same time. ORF1ab gene was very specific and N gene was very sensitivity, so they can guarantee both sensitivity and specificity for SARS-CoV-2. The sensitivity of RT-LAMP assay is similar to RT-PCR, and specificity was 99% as detecting 208 clinical specimens. The RT-LAMP assay reported here has the advantages of rapid amplification, simple operation, and easy detection, which is useful for the rapid and reliable clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2.

The early detection and differential diagnosis of respiratory infections increase the chances for successful control of COVID-19 disease. The nucleic acid RT-PCR test is regarded as the current standard for molecular diagnosis. However, the maximal specificity confirmation target ORF1ab gene is considered to be less sensitive than other targets in clinical application. In addition, recent evidence indicated that the initial missed diagnosis of asymptomatic patients with SARS-CoV-2 and discharged patients with “re-examination positive” might be due to low viral load, and the ability of rapid mutation of SARS-CoV-2 also increases the rate of false-negative results. Moreover, the mixed sample nucleic acid detection is helpful in seeking out the early community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 rapidly, but the detection kit needs ultra-high detection sensitivity. Herein, the lowest detection concentration of different nucleic acid detection kits was evaluated and compared to provide direct evidence for the selection of kits for mixed sample detection or make recommendations for the selection of validation kit, which is of great significance for the prevention and control of the current epidemic and the discharge criteria of low viral load patients.

The phenomenon of phase separation is quite common in cells, and it is involved in multiple processes of life activities. However, the current research on the correlation between protein modifications and phase separation and the interference with the tendency of phase separation has some limitations. Here we focus on several post-translational modifications of proteins, including protein phosphorylation modification at multiple sites, methylation modification, acetylation modification, ubiquitination modification, SUMOylation modification, etc., which regulate the formation of phase separation and the stability of phase separation structure through multivalent interactions. This regulatory role is closely related to the development of neurodegenerative diseases, tumors, viral infections, and other diseases, and also plays essential functions in environmental stress, DNA damage repair, transcriptional regulation, signal transduction, and cell homeostasis of living organisms, which provides an idea to explore the interaction between novel protein post-translational modifications and phase separation.