05), respectively. In the interaction analysis, an interactive effect between endotoxin and UA (P  less then  0.05), or endotoxin and LAC (P  less then  0.05), but not UA and LAC, was observed that contributed to an increased risk of T2DM. CONCLUSION The interaction between levels of endotoxin and UA, or levels of endotoxin and LAC was related to an increased risk of T2DM in the Chinese population. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.BACKGROUND The androgen receptor (AR) is a nuclear receptor, encoded by the AR gene on the X chromosome. Within the first exon of the AR gene, two short tandem repeats (STR), CAG and GGC, are a source of polymorphism in the population. BMS-986020 chemical structure Therefore, high-throughput methods for screening AR, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS), are sought after; however, data generated by NGS are limited by the availability of bioinformatics tools. Here, we evaluated the accuracy of the bioinformatics tool HipSTR in detecting and quantify CAG repeats within the AR gene. METHOD The AR gene of 228 infertile men was sequenced using NGSgene panel. Data generated were analyzed with HipSTR to detect CAG repeats. The accuracy was compared with the results obtained with Sanger. RESULTS We found that HipSTR was more accurate than Sanger in genotyping normal karyotype men (46,XY), however, it was more likely to misidentify homozygote genotypes in men with Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY). CONCLUSION Our findings show that the bioinformatics tool HipSTR is 100% accurate in detecting and assessing AR CAG repeats in infertile men (46,XY) as well as in men with low-level mosaicism. © 2020 The Authors. Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.meso-Free BIII 5,10-bis(p-dimethylaminophenyl)subporphyrins were synthesized. They display red-shifted absorption and fluorescence spectra, bathochromic behaviors in polar solvents, a high fluorescence quantum yield (ΦF = 0.57), and a small HOMO-LUMO gap mainly due to destabilized HOMO as compared with meso-free BIII 5,10-diphenylsubporphyrin. This subporphyrin serves as a nice precursor of various meso-substituted BIII subporphyrins such as BIIImeso-nitrosubporphyrin, BIIImeso-aminosubporphyrin, and meso-meso’ linked BIII azosubporphyrin dimer. Reactions of meso-free BIII subporphyrins with NBS or bis(2,4,6-trimethylpyridine)bromonium hexafluorophosphate gave meso-meso’ linked subporphyrin dimers often as a major product along with meso-bromosubporphyrins. © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Exposure to fungi in patients with asthma leads to the release of various fungal antigens, which can increase the severity of asthma. Regarding this, the present study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between the colonisation of Aspergillus species and spirometry results in allergic asthma. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two hundred sixteen patients with mild to severe asthma and 30 healthy controls were included. All participants underwent pulmonary function tests. Furthermore, sputum samples were collected from each subject. Each sputum sample was subjected to direct microscopic examination and fungal culture. All cultured Aspergillus colonies were identified at species level by molecular methods. Finally, all available data from sputum culture and spirometry test were analysed. RESULTS Out of 216 sputum samples, 145 (67.1%) were positive for fungal growth. Furthermore, out of 264 grown fungal colonies, 137 (51.9%) were Aspergillus species. Among the Aspergillus isolates, A. flavus (29.2%) was the most prevalent species, followed by A. fumigatus (27.7%). The mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) in the mild, moderate and severe asthmatic patients with a positive sputum culture for fungi were obtained as 90.0 ± 11.1, 71.1 ± 15.9 and 54.9 ± 16.4, respectively. In general, Aspergillus species colonisation had no statistically significant effect on spirometry results of study patients. CONCLUSION Our results showed that there is no difference in the FEV1 and forced vital capacity between Aspergillus positive and negative patients in any asthma severity group. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.BACKGROUND The association between long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and spontaneous regression of neuroblastoma (NB) has rarely been investigated and remains unknown. OBJECTIVE To identify prognostic lncRNAs involved in the spontaneous regression of NB. METHODS Differential expression analyses were performed between those samples with an outcome of death in stage 4 NB group and those samples with an outcome of survival in stage 4S NB group in two independent public datasets, respectively. Univariate Cox proportional hazard regression survival analysis was performed in each of the entire cohort to identify those lncRNAs significantly associated with overall survival (OS). Those lncRNAs independently associated with OS were then identified by multivariate Cox survival analysis and used to construct an lncRNA risk score. RESULTS A total of 20 differentially expressed and survival-related lncRNAs were identified sharing between the two independent cohorts. The expression of each of these 20 lncRNAs was significantlyatients. © 2020 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.INTRODUCTION The development of new pharmacological treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has improved health-related quality of life of patients. However, suboptimal adherence may limit its potential. OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to assess the adherence to free triple inhaled therapy and to investigate poor adherence determinants among primary care patients. METHODS Data were derived from a primary care database in Italy. Patients aged 40+ affected by COPD and prescribed with inhaled corticosteroids, long-acting beta agonists, and long-acting muscarinic antagonists (N = 3177) were enrolled. Low adherence was defined as a proportion of days covered (PDC) by medications prescription lower than 80%. Predictors of low adherence were tested using logistic regression models. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The 85% of enrolled patients showed poor adherence to free triple inhaled therapy. Co-morbidities, such as heart failure (OR 1.78, 95%CI 1.19-2.75), depression (OR 1.41, 95%CI 1.06-1.