Genome Sequencing Technology used to Explore the 6mA Methylation Level of Silent Alpha-Thalassemia in Postmenopausal Women.

BACKGROUND: Based on whole-genome sequencing technology our aim is to explore the expression of the alpha-thalassemia trait during menopause period at the 6mA methylation site and evaluate the significance in clinical diagnosis. METHODS: In this study, we collected peripheral blood from the women in the postmenopausal period in our hospital and used the method of (ChIP-seq) immunoprecipitation assay combined with next genome sequencing technology to select the 6mA site and differentially expressed genes and KEGG pathways and thereby investigate the clinical significance of the 6mA methylation site in women with thalassemia. RESULTS: A total of 38,879 methylation sites were selected, covering a wide range of CpG island and reference sequence genes. Methylation sites are located in different regions of the gene. PKA, PIK3C, CREB1, HSP90A, ITPR1, HSPA, and SOS were significantly enriched at the 6mA radicalization site and KEGG pathways, p < 0.01. CONCLUSIONS: The 6mA methylation site of alpha-thalassemia trait in menopause was less distributed than that of healthy controls and mainly distributed in introns. Estrogen signaling pathways may affect alpha-thalassemia in menopause through the 6mA methylation of differentially expressed genes.

Seed-Mediated Growth of Silver Nanocubes in Aqueous Solution with Tunable Size and Their Conversion to Au Nanocages with Efficient Photothermal Property.

Two seed-mediated approaches for the growth of silver nanocubes in aqueous solution have been developed. Addition of a silver-seed solution to a mixture of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC), silver trifluoroacetate, and ascorbic acid and heating the solution at 60 °C for 1.5 h produces uniform Ag nanocubes with tunable sizes from 23 to 60 nm by simply adjusting the volume of silver-seed solution introduced. Alternatively, the silver-seed solution can be injected into a mixture of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), silver nitrate, copper sulfate, and ascorbic acid and heated to 80 °C for 2 h to generate 46 nm silver nanocubes. Plate-like Ag nanocrystals exposing {111} surfaces can be synthesized by reducing Ag(NH3 )2 (+) with ascorbic acid in a CTAC solution. Relatively large Ag nanocubes were converted to cuboctahedral Au/Ag and Au nanocages and nanoframes with empty {111} faces through a galvanic replacement reaction. The nanocages showed a progressive plasmonic band red-shift with increasing Au content. The nanocages exhibited high and stable photothermal efficiency with solution temperatures quickly reaching beyond 100 °C when irradiated with an 808 nm laser for large heat and water vapor generation.

Highly Facet-Dependent Photocatalytic Properties of Cu2 O Crystals Established through the Formation of Au-Decorated Cu2 O Heterostructures.

This work confirms the presence of a large facet-dependent photocatalytic activity of Cu2 O crystals through sparse deposition of gold particles on Cu2 O cubes, octahedra, and rhombic dodecahedra. Au-decorated Cu2 O rhombic dodecahedra and octahedra showed greatly enhanced photodegradation rates of methyl orange resulting from a better separation of the photogenerated electrons and holes, with the rhombic dodecahedra giving the best efficiency. Au-Cu2 O core-shell rhombic dodecahedra also displayed a better photocatalytic activity than pristine rhombic dodecahedra. However, Au-deposited Cu2 O cubes, pristine cubes, and Au-deposited small nanocubes bound by entirely {100} facets are all photocatalytically inactive. X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) showed identical copper peak positions for these Au-decorated crystals. Remarkably, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements indicated a higher production of hydroxyl radicals for the photoirradiated Cu2 O rhombic dodecahedra than for the octahedra, but no radicals were produced from photoirradiated Cu2 O cubes. The Cu2 O {100} face may present a high energy barrier through its large band edge bending and/or electrostatic repulsion, preventing charge carriers from reaching to this surface. The conventional photocatalysis model fails in this case. The facet-dependent photocatalytic differences should be observable in other semiconductor systems whenever a photoinduced charge-transfer process occurs across an interface.

An in-vitro animal experiment on metal implants' thermal effect on radiofrequency ablation.

BACKGROUND: To explore metal implants' thermal effect on radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and ascertain distance-thermal relationship between the metal implants and radiofrequency (RF) electrode. METHODS: Metal implants models were established in seven in-vitro porcine livers using silver clips or 125I seeds. RFA were conducted centering the RF electrode axis1 cm away from them, with one side containing a metal implants model the test group and the other side the control group. The thermometric needles were used to measure multi-point temperatures in order to compare the time-distance-temperature difference between the two groups. The gross scopes of the ablation of the two groups were measured and the tissues were analyzed for microscopic histology. RESULTS: At the ablation times of 8, 12, and 15 min, the average multi-point temperatures of the test group and the control group were 48.2±18.07°C, 51.5±19.57°C, 54.6±19.75°C, and 48.6±17.69°C, 52.2±19.73°C, 54.9±19.24°C, respectively, and the differences were not statistically significant (n=126, P>0.05). At the ablation times of 12 and 15 min, the ablation scopes of the test group and the control group were (horizontal/longitudinal diameter) 1.55/3.48 cm, 1.89/3.72 cm, and 1.56/3.48 cm, 1.89/3.72 cm, respectively, and the differences were not statistically significant (n=14, P>0.05). The two groups had the same manifestations in microscopy. CONCLUSIONS: Metal implants do not cause significant thermal effect on RFA.

Efficacy and safety of retention enema with traditional Chinese medicine for ulcerative colitis: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of retention enema with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for ulcerative colitis (UC) through a meta-analysis of published studies. METHODS: Literatures were retrieved from five electronic databases. Quality evaluation and meta-analysis were respectively conducted using the Cochrane collaboration and RevMan5.3. Overall quality of evidence was evaluated using GRADE system. Effect sizes were pooled using random effect models. RESULTS: Seventeen RCTs were included. Compared with routine pharmacotherapies (RPs), TCM enema exhibited a statistically significant difference in clinical efficacy and reduction of the recurrence rate. The results of qualitative description for other endpoints, such as improvements in anabrosis, ulcer, diarrhea, and hematochezia, suggested that TCM enema had better efficacy than RPs. Furthermore, the incidence of side effects in TCM was lower than that in RPs. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis confirmed the efficacy and safety of TCM enema for improving UC symptoms. However, further well-designed researches are needed.

Efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine for chronic gastritis: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: To systematically evaluate efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating chronic gastritis (CG). METHODS: Data sources from PubMed, Embase, Springer Link, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journals Database, Chinese Biomedicine Database, and Wan-fang database were searched up to July 5, 2018. Review Manager software version 5.3, the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation profiler software were conducted for this meta-analysis. RESULTS: Sixteen studies involving 1673 participants (906 vs 767) were included in this study. Pooled data showed significant statistical differences between TCM groups and current routine pharmacotherapy (RP) groups in overall clinical efficacy (odds ratio [OR] 4.65; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.29, 6.56; P < .00001), efficacy under endoscopy (OR 2.46; 95% CI 1.12, 5.43; P = .03), stomach distension (mean difference [MD] -0.37; 95% CI -0.56, -0.19; P < .0001), stomachache (standardized MD [SMD] -0.80; 95% CI -1.45, -0.14; P = .02), and belching (SMD -2.00; 95% CI -3.80, -0.20; P = .03). However, acid regurgitation (SMD -0.71; 95% CI -1.69, 0.28; P = .16) and anorexia (SMD -0.75; 95% CI -2.30, 0.80; P = .35) showed no significant statistical differences between 2 groups. In addition, incidence of adverse reactions of TCM groups was lower than that of RP groups. CONCLUSION: Evidence from this meta-analysis suggests that TCM could be more efficacious than current RP in treating CG. But further standardized research of rigorous design should be needed to further validate its efficacy.

[Long-term results of surgical treatment of stomach cancer: clinical experience of forty years from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the approaches to improve therapeutic effect of stomach cancer by analysis of the long-term results of surgical treatment of this disease. METHODS: Prognostic factors of stomach cancer were analyzed by Cox multivariate regression model based on clinical data of 2561 stomach cancer cases who underwent surgical treatment from 1964 to 2004 at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center. Survival rates were calculated by life table method. RESULTS: Gastrectomy was performed for 1950 cases with resectability of 76.1%, among which there were 1192 cases of curative resection (46.5%) and 758 cases of non-curative resection (29.6%). The other 611 cases of palliative operation included bypass procedures and laparotomy. Operative mortality of all cases was 0.8% and morbidity was 5.1%. For all cases the 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rate was 52.4%, 38.6% and 35.5%, respectively. The stage-specific 5-year survival rate was 86.8% (Stage I), 58.7% (Stage II), 28.4% (Stage III) and 7.6% (Stage IV), respectively. The 5-year survival after curative resection in the period of 40 years was 45.5%, and increased to 52.7% in the last two decades and 61.8% in recent decade. Stage-specific case proportion during the earlier two decades was 1.4% (Stage I), 10.6% (Stage II), 23.1% (Stage III) and 64.9% (Stage IV), respectively, and that during the recent two decades was 9.3%, 18.5%, 35.3% and 36.8%, respectively. The 5-year survival rate of cases during the earlier two decades was 18.0% and increased to 37.5% during the recent two decades. Multivariate analysis indicated that main prognostic factors of stomach cancer included TNM staging, curative resection and multidisciplinary treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Early detection and curative resection were the most important measures to improve therapeutic effect of stomach cancer. A surgery-predominant multidisciplinary treatment individualizing biological characteristics of tumor, staging of disease and tumor site will contribute to improvement of therapeutic effect of stomach cancer.