Prevalence and determinants of constipation in children in Asia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Constipation is prevalent worldwide, significantly increasing healthcare costs and diminishing the quality of life in children affected. Current studies have yielded mixed results regarding the factors associated with constipation, and mainly focusing on patients outside of Asia. Moreover, most of these studies lack focus on the paediatric population. This study aimed to identify the prevalence and associated factors of constipation among children in Asia. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane for cohort and cross-sectional studies published from database inception up to October 12, 2022, and continued with manual searching until September 2, 2023. Eligible studies were those that included children in Asia aged 0-18 years old suffering from idiopathic constipation, with prevalence value provided in the English abstract. The analysis included clinical and general population. Children with organic constipation, who had undergone gastrointestinal surgery, or with congenital defects were excluded, as these factors affect the incidence of constipation. Data included in the analysis were extracted from published reports only. The extracted data were pooled using random-effects model to analyse the prevalence of constipation in children in Asia. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42022367122. Findings: Out of 4410 systematically searched studies and 36 manually searched ones, a total of 50 studies were included in the final analysis, encompassing data from 311,660 children residing in Asia. The pooled prevalence of constipation was 12.0% (95% CI 9.3-14.6%, I2 = 99.8%). There was no significant difference in constipation prevalence observed by sex and geographical location. Nonetheless, adolescents and children aged 1-9 years exhibited a significantly higher prevalence constipation compared to infants (p < 0.0001) Additionally, significant differences in constipation rates were observed across various diagnostic methods, population sources, and mental health conditions. Interpretation: Despite the high heterogeneity resulting from varying diagnostic tools or definitions used among studies, our review adds to the literature on constipation among children in Asia. It reveals a notably high prevalence of constipation in this demographic. Diagnostic methods, age, and compromised mental health emerged as significant influencers of constipation among children in Asia, highlighting potential strategies to mitigate constipation prevalence in children in Asia. Funding: The National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan.

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OBJECTIVES: To explore the molecular characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in children, and to compare the molecular characteristics of different types of strains (infection and colonization strains) so as to reveal pathogenic molecular markers of S. aureus. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used to conduct nasopharyngeal swab sampling from healthy children in the community and clinical samples from infected children in the hospital. Whole genome sequencing was used to detect antibiotic resistance genes and virulence genes. A random forest method to used to screen pathogenic markers. RESULTS: A total of 512 S. aureus strains were detected, including 272 infection strains and 240 colonization strains. For virulence genes, the carrying rates of enterotoxin genes (seb and sep), extracellular enzyme coding genes (splA, splB, splE and edinC), leukocytotoxin genes (lukD, lukE, lukF-PV and lukS-PV) and epidermal exfoliating genes (eta and etb) in infection strains were higher than those in colonization strains. But the carrying rates of enterotoxin genes (sec, sec3, seg, seh, sei, sel, sem, sen, seo and seu) were lower in infection strains than in colonization strains (P<0.05). For antibiotic resistance genes, the carrying rates of lnuA, lnuG, aadD, tetK and dfrG were significantly higher in infection strains than in colonization strains (P<0.05). The accuracy of cross-validation of the random forest model for screening pathogenic markers of S. aureus before and after screening was 69% and 68%, respectively, and the area under the curve was 0.75 and 0.70, respectively. The random forest model finally screened out 16 pathogenic markers (sem, etb, splE, sep, ser, mecA, lnuA, sea, blaZ, cat(pC233), blaTEm-1A, aph(3')-III, ermB, ermA, ant(9)-Ia and ant(6)-Ia). The top five variables in the variable importance ranking were sem (OR=0.40), etb (OR=3.95), splE (OR=1.68), sep (OR=3.97), and ser (OR=1.68). CONCLUSIONS: The random forest model can screen out pathogenic markers of S. aureus and exhibits a superior predictive performance, providing genetic evidence for tracing highly pathogenic S. aureus and conducting precise targeted interventions.

Magnolol as STAT3 inhibitor for treating multiple sclerosis by restricting Th17 cells.

OBJECTIVE: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune disease in the central nervous system (CNS) associated with Th17 cells. Moreover, STAT3 initiates Th17 cell differentiation and IL-17A expression through facilitating RORγt in MS. Here, we reported that magnolol, isolated from Magnolia officinalis Rehd. Et Wils, was regarded as a candidate for MS treatment verified by both in vitro and in vivo studies. METHODS: In vivo, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model in mice was employed to evaluate the alleviation of magnolol on myeloencephalitis. In vitro, FACS assay was employed to evaluate the effect of magnolol on Th17 and Treg cell differentiation and IL-17A expression; network pharmacology-based study was applied to probe the involved mechanisms; western blotting, immunocytochemistry, and luciferase reporter assay was used to further confirm the regulation of magnolol on JAK/STATs signaling pathway; surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay and molecular docking were applied to manifest affinity with STAT3 and binding sites; overexpression of STAT3 was employed to verify whether magnolol attenuates IL-17A through STAT3 signaling pathway. RESULTS: In vivo, magnolol alleviated loss of body weight and severity of EAE mice; magnolol improved lesions in spinal cords and attenuated CD45 infiltration, and serum cytokines levels; correspondingly, magnolol focused on inhibiting Th17 differentiation and IL-17A expression in splenocyte of EAE mice; moreover, magnolol selectively inhibited p-STAT3(Y705) and p-STAT4(Y693) of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in splenocyte of EAE mice. In vitro, magnolol selectively inhibited Th17 differentiation and IL-17A expression without impact on Treg cells; network pharmacology-based study revealed that magnolol perhaps diminished Th17 cell differentiation through regulating STAT family members; western blotting further confirmed that magnolol inhibited p-JAK2(Y1007) and selectively antagonized p-STAT3(Y705) and slightly decreased p-STAT4(Y693); magnolol antagonized both STAT3 nucleus location and transcription activity; magnolol had a high affinity with STAT3 and the specific binding site perhaps to be at SH2 domain; overexpression of STAT3 resulted in failed inhibition of magnolol on IL-17A. CONCLUSION: Magnolol selectively inhibited Th17 differentiation and cytokine expression through selectively blocking of STAT3 resulting in decreased the ratio of Th17/Treg cells for treating MS, suggesting that the potential of magnolol for treating MS as novel STAT3 inhibitor.

Efficacy of laparoscopic inguinal hernia in day surgery mode and inpatient surgery mode in China: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: In China, laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair (LIHR) under the day surgery mode (DSM) has developed rapidly as an important surgical method for inguinal hernia repair, and it has unique advantages in many aspects. Compared with inpatient surgery mode (ISM), there are some differences in intraoperative and postoperative related indicators, hospitalization costs, and patient satisfaction. Many studies have shown that LIHR in DSM can significantly shorten hospital stay, effectively reduce hospitalization costs, and improve patient satisfaction. Accordingly, this study aimed to compare the differences in intraoperative and postoperative related indicators, hospitalization costs, and patient satisfaction of LIHR between DSM and ISM in China. METHODS: The PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wan Fang databases were searched for randomized controlled trials, cohort studies from the establishment of the database to July 1, 2022. Odds ratio (OR), mean difference, standardized mean difference (SMD), and 95% confidence interval were selected as the effect scale indices for the evaluation of the difference in hospitalization costs, hospital stay, operation time, recovery time, complications, and patient satisfaction. All of these were compared using RevMan 5.3 Software (The Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark). RESULTS: Nine studies involving 1176 patients, 590 in the DSM group and 586 in the ISM group, were included. The hospital stay (d) (SMD = -7.27, 95% confidence interval, CI: -8.68 to -5.87, P  < .001), hospitalization costs (SMD = -7.89, 95% CI: -10.25 to -5.53, P  < .001) in DSM group were significantly lower than the ISM group. Additionally, the patient dissatisfaction (OR = 0.05, 95% CI: 0.01-0.17, P < .001) in DSM group was significantly lower than the ISM group. Nevertheless, no significant differences were found in the operation time (minute) (mean difference = -0.32, 95% CI: -1.78 to 1.14, P = .67), recovery time (h) (SMD = -3.27, 95% CI: -6.95 to 0.41, P  = .08), and postoperative complications (OR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.47-1.36, P = .41) between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: In China, compared with ISM, LIHR under DSM can significantly shorten hospital stay, greatly reduce hospitalization costs, and significantly improve patient satisfaction. There were no significant differences in operation time, recovery time and postoperative complications.

Saikosaponin D alleviates cancer cachexia by directly inhibiting STAT3.

Cancer cachexia is a metabolic syndrome that is characterized by progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass, and effective therapeutics have yet to be developed. Saikosaponin D (SSD), a major bioactive component of Radix Bupleuri, exhibits antiinflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-oxidant, anti-viral, and hepatoprotective effects. In this study, we demonstrated that SSD is a promising agent for the treatment of cancer cachexia. SSD could alleviate TCM-induced myotube atrophy and inhibit the expression of E3 ubiquitin ligases muscle RING-finger containing protein-1 (MuRF1) and muscle atrophy Fbox protein (Atrogin-1/MAFbx) in vitro. Moreover, SSD suppressed the progression of cancer cachexia, with significant improvements in the loss of body weight, gastrocnemius muscle, and tibialis anterior muscle mass in vivo. Mechanism investigations demonstrated that SSD could directly bind to STAT3 and specifically inhibit its phosphorylation as well as its transcriptional activity. Overexpression of STAT3 partially abolished the inhibitory effect of SSD on myotube atrophy, indicating that the therapeutic effect of SSD was attributed to STAT3 inhibition. These findings provide novel strategies for treatment of cancer cachexia by targeting STAT3, and SSD may be a promising drug candidate for cancer cachexia.

Perspectives of herbs and their natural compounds, and herb formulas on treating diverse diseases through regulating complicated JAK/STAT signaling.

JAK/STAT signaling pathways are closely associated with multiple biological processes involved in cell proliferation, apoptosis, inflammation, differentiation, immune response, and epigenetics. Abnormal activation of the STAT pathway can contribute to disease progressions under various conditions. Moreover, tofacitinib and baricitinib as the JAK/STAT inhibitors have been recently approved by the FDA for rheumatology disease treatment. Therefore, influences on the STAT signaling pathway have potential and perspective approaches for diverse diseases. Chinese herbs in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which are widespread throughout China, are the gold resources of China and have been extensively used for treating multiple diseases for thousands of years. However, Chinese herbs and herb formulas are characterized by complicated components, resulting in various targets and pathways in treating diseases, which limits their approval and applications. With the development of chemistry and pharmacology, active ingredients of TCM and herbs and underlying mechanisms have been further identified and confirmed by pharmacists and chemists, which improved, to some extent, awkward limitations, approval, and applications regarding TCM and herbs. In this review, we summarized various herbs, herb formulas, natural compounds, and phytochemicals isolated from herbs that have the potential for regulating multiple biological processes via modulation of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway based on the published work. Our study will provide support for revealing TCM, their active compounds that treat diseases, and the underlying mechanism, further improving the rapid spread of TCM to the world.

Curative effect of different drainage methods on laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair has developed rapidly as an important surgical method for inguinal hernia repair; however, postoperative complications, especially postoperative seroma, are becoming an important factor hindering its development. Many studies have shown that placing a negative-pressure drainage tube in the preperitoneal space can effectively reduce postoperative seromas. Accordingly, this study aimed to compare differences in postoperative seroma between surgical procedures with drainage tubes (DRG) and those without drainage tubes (nonDRG). METHODS: PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases were searched from the establishment of the database to May 1, 2021. Odds ratio (OR), mean difference (MD), standardized mean difference (SMD), and 95% confidence interval (CI) were selected as the effect scale indices for the evaluation of the difference in seroma, operation time, hospital stay time, blood loss, and recovery time. All of these were compared using RevMan 5.3 Software. RESULTS: Sixteen studies involving 4369 patients, 2856 in the DRG group and 1513 in the nonDRG group, were included. The incidence of seroma in the DRG group was lower than that in the nonDRG group (OR = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.07-0.35, P < .001). Additionally, the operation time (min) in the DRG group was longer than that in the nonDRG group (MD = 3.67, 95% CI: 2.18-5.17, P < .001). Nevertheless, no significant differences were found in hospital stay (days) (SMD = 0.22, 95% CI: -0.10-0.54, P = .17), blood loss (mL) (MD = 0.28, 95% CI: -0.14-0.69, P = .19), and recovery time (h) (SMD = 0.54, 95% CI: -0.60-1.69, P = .35) between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: Despite the slightly prolonged operation time, negative pressure drainage in the preperitoneal space during laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair can significantly reduce the occurrence of postoperative seroma without increasing blood loss, recovery, and hospital stay.

Hypermethylation of TMEM240 predicts poor hormone therapy response and disease progression in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Approximately 25% of patients with early-stage breast cancer experience cancer progression throughout the disease course. Alterations in TMEM240 in breast cancer were identified and investigated to monitor treatment response and disease progression. METHODS: Circulating methylated TMEM240 in the plasma of breast cancer patients was used to monitor treatment response and disease progression. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data in Western countries and Illumina methylation arrays in Taiwanese breast cancer patients were used to identify novel hypermethylated CpG sites and genes related to poor hormone therapy response. Quantitative methylation-specific PCR (QMSP), real-time reverse transcription PCR, and immunohistochemical analyses were performed to measure DNA methylation and mRNA and protein expression levels in 394 samples from Taiwanese and Korean breast cancer patients. TMEM240 gene manipulation, viability, migration assays, RNA-seq, and MetaCore were performed to determine its biological functions and relationship to hormone drug treatment response in breast cancer cells. RESULTS: Aberrant methylated TMEM240 was identified in breast cancer patients with poor hormone therapy response using genome-wide methylation analysis in the Taiwan and TCGA breast cancer cohorts. A cell model showed that TMEM240, which is localized to the cell membrane and cytoplasm, represses breast cancer cell proliferation and migration and regulates the expression levels of enzymes involved in estrone and estradiol metabolism. TMEM240 protein expression was observed in normal breast tissues but was not detected in 88.2% (67/76) of breast tumors and in 90.0% (9/10) of metastatic tumors from breast cancer patients. QMSP revealed that in 54.5% (55/101) of Taiwanese breast cancer patients, the methylation level of TMEM240 was at least twofold higher in tumor tissues than in matched normal breast tissues. Patients with hypermethylation of TMEM240 had poor 10-year overall survival (p = 0.003) and poor treatment response, especially hormone therapy response (p < 0.001). Circulating methylated TMEM240 dramatically and gradually decreased and then diminished in patients without disease progression, whereas it returned and its levels in plasma rose again in patients with disease progression. Prediction of disease progression based on circulating methylated TMEM240 was found to have 87.5% sensitivity, 93.1% specificity, and 90.2% accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Hypermethylation of TMEM240 is a potential biomarker for treatment response and disease progression monitoring in breast cancer.

Importance of Gedunin in Antagonizing Rheumatoid Arthritis via Activating the Nrf2/ARE Signaling.

Objective: This study assessed the anti-arthritic effect and protection of Gedunin (GDN) on joint tissues and revealed the possible mechanism in suppressing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: LPS-induced macrophages and TNF-α-stimulated synovial fibroblasts (MH7A) or IL-1ß-stimulated primary rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts (RASFs) were used to evaluate the antiinflammatory effect of GDN. In addition, CIA-induced arthritis was employed here to evaluate the anti-arthritic effect. MTT and BRDU assays were utilized to evaluate the cell viability and proliferation, Q-PCR was conducted to detect the mRNA expression of cytokines, FACS was adopted to monitor ROS production, while western blotting (WB) and siRNA interference were applied in confirming the anti-arthritic effects of GDN via the Nrf2 signaling. Results. In vitro, cell viability was inhibited in macrophages and MH7A cells, but not in RASFs; but the proliferation of RASFs was significantly suppressed in time- and dose-dependent manners. GDN suppressed cytokine levels in LPS-stimulated macrophages and TNF-α-stimulated MH7A cells or RASFs. GDN suppressed ROS expression. Furthermore, GDN treatment notably dose-dependently decreased the mRNA and protein expression of iNOS in LPS-induced macrophages. sip62 interference results showed that GDN cause the less expression of HO-1 and Keap1 and also fail to inhibit cytokines after sip62 interference. In vivo, GDN effectively inhibited paw swelling, arthritis score, and arthritis incidence and cytokines. Conclusions: Our study suggested that GDN exhibited strong antagonistic effect on arthritis both in vitro and in vivo via activation of Nrf2 signaling. Our work will provide a promising therapeutic strategy for RA.

Will climate warming of terrestrial ecosystem contribute to increase soil greenhouse gas fluxes in plot experiment? A global meta-analysis.

One of the main manifestations of global climate change is its profound impact on the emission of greenhouse gases from terrestrial soil. Numerous field warming experiments have explored the effects of different temperature rise intensities and durations on soil greenhouse gas fluxes in the growing season of different terrestrial ecosystems. However, the results were inconsistent due to the variations in vegetation, soil, and climatic conditions in different ecosystems. In the present work, we carried meta-analysis to synthesize 99 datasets from 52 field warming experiments in growing seasons of terrestrial ecosystems to evaluate the response of soil greenhouse gas fluxes to global warming. The results showed that warming greatly stimulated soil CO2 in temperate forest and farmland by 12.64% and 25.57%, respectively, significantly increased soil N2O emissions in grassland (27.23%), farmland (44.33%), and shrubland (223.36%), and increased soil CH4 uptake by 57.81% in grasslands. However, no significant impact on the greenhouse gas fluxes in other ecosystems was observed. Generally, short-and medium-term (≤ 3 years) warming can promote soil greenhouse gas fluxes. Also, low temperature and low-medium temperature (≤ 2 °C) significantly promoted N2O emission and CH4 absorption, and medium temperature (2-4 °C) considerably assisted CO2 flux, but high temperature (> 4 °C) had no significant effect on greenhouse gas flux. Our results demonstrated that soil greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems during the growing season do not increase linearly with the increasing climate warming, and it is still uncertain whether there is acclimatization to long-term climate warming.

Creatine Supplementation for Muscle Growth: A Scoping Review of Randomized Clinical Trials from 2012 to 2021.

Creatine supplementation is the most popular ergonomic aid for athletes in recent years and is used for improving sport performance and muscle growth. However, creatine supplementation is not always effective in all populations. To address these discrepancies, numerous studies have examined the use of creatine supplementation for muscle growth. This scoping review aimed to investigate the effects of creatine supplementation for muscle growth in various populations, in which Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review framework is used to present the findings. For this study, we performed a systematic search of the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases for theses and articles published between 2012 and 2021. A manual search of the reference lists of the uncovered studies was conducted and an expert panel was consulted. Two reviewers screened the articles for eligibility according to the inclusion criteria. Methodological quality was assessed using the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's (NHLBI's) quality assessment tool. A total of 16 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were finally included. All the authors extracted key data and descriptively analyzed the data. Thematic analysis was used to categorize the results into themes. Three major themes related to muscle growth were generated: (i) subjects of creatine supplementation-muscle growth is more effective in healthy young subjects than others; (ii) training of subjects-sufficient training is important in all populations; (iii) future direction and recommendation of creatine supplementation for muscle growth-injury prevention and utilization in medical practice. Overall, creatine is an efficient form of supplementation for muscle growth in the healthy young population with adequate training in a variety of dosage strategies and athletic activities. However, more well-designed, long-term RCTs with larger sample sizes are needed in older and muscular disease-related populations to definitively determine the effects of creatine supplementation on muscle growth in these other populations.

Neobaicalein Inhibits Th17 Cell Differentiation Resulting in Recovery of Th17/Treg Ratio through Blocking STAT3 Signaling Activation.

Huangqin is the dried root of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, which has been widely utilized for heat-clearing (Qingre) and dewetting (Zaoshi), heat-killed (Xiehuo) and detoxifying (Jiedu) in the concept of Traditional Chinese Medicine and is used for treating inflammation and cancer in clinical formulas. Neobaicalein (NEO) is of flavonoid isolated from Huangqin and has been reported to possess prominent anti-inflammatory effects in published work. Th17/Treg balance shift to Th17 cells is an essential reason for autoimmune inflammatory diseases. However, the role NEO plays in Th17 and Treg and the underlying mechanism has not been elucidated yet. Network pharmacology-based study revealed that NEO predominantly regulated IL-17 signaling pathway. Moreover, our result shown that NEO (3-30 µmol/L) down-regulated Th17 differentiation and cellular supernatant and intracellular IL-17A level and tumor necrosis factor α production in a concentration-dependent manner. The further mechanism research revealed that NEO also specifically inhibited phosphorylation of STAT3(Tyr725) and STAT4 (Y693) without influence on activation of STAT5 and STAT6 in splenocytes. Immunofluorescence results illuminated that NEO effectively blocked STAT3 translocated into nucleus. Interestingly, NEO at appreciated dose could only inhibit Th17 cell differentiation and have no effect on Treg differentiation. The present study revealed that NEO effectively inhibited Th17 cell differentiation through specifically blocking the activation of STAT3 signaling without inactivation of STAT5 and STAT6. Additional inhibitory effect on activation of STAT4 by NEO also suggested the potential for antagonism against Th1 differentiation. All work suggested that NEO may be a potential candidate for immunoregulation and treating autoimmune inflammatory diseases through inhibiting immune cell viability and T cell differentiation.

Comparative Analysis of Mitogenomes among Five Species of Filchnerella (Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Pamphagidae) and Their Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Implications.

Mitogenomes have been widely used for exploring phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic diagnosis. In this study, the complete mitogenomes of five species of Filchnerella were sequenced, annotated and analyzed. Then, combined with other seven mitogenomes of Filchnerella and four of Pamphagidae, the phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed by maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian (BI) methods based on PCGs+rRNAs. The sizes of the five complete mitogenomes are Filchnerella sunanensis 15,656 bp, Filchnerella amplivertica 15,657 bp, Filchnerella nigritibia 15,661 bp, Filchnerella pamphagoides 15,661 bp and Filchnerella dingxiensis 15,666 bp. The nucleotide composition of mitogenomes is biased toward A+T. All tRNAs could be folded into the typical clover-leaf structure, except that tRNA Ser (AGN) lacked a dihydrouridine (DHU) arm. The phylogenetic relationships of Filchnerella species based on mitogenome data revealed a general pattern of wing evolution from long wing to increasingly shortened wing.

Therapeutic cancer vaccine therapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Antitumor function of the immune system has been harnessed to eradicate tumor cells as cancer therapy. Therapeutic cancer vaccines aim to help immune cells recognize tumor cells, which are difficult to target owing to immune escape. Many attempts at vaccine designs have been conducted throughout the last decades. In addition, as the advanced understanding of immunosuppressive mechanisms mediated by tumor cells, combining cancer vaccines with other immune therapies seems to be more efficient for cancer treatment. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common acute leukemia in adults with poor prognosis. Evidence has shown T-cell-mediated immune responses in AML, which encourages the utility of immune therapies in AML. This review discusses cancer vaccines in AML from vaccine design as well as recent progress in vaccination combination with other immune therapies.

Lay abstract Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common acute leukemia in adults with poor prognosis. Evidence has shown that the immune system can recognize and eradicate AML cells. Immunotherapy, which aims at enhancing this antitumor function, emerges as a powerful cancer therapy. Cancer vaccine, one of the immunotherapies, helps the immune system recognize tumor cells. The treatment strategy has been explored in AML patients throughout the last decades. This review was a brief introduction of the development and design principle of cancer vaccine in AML. Moreover, we also demonstrated recent progress in vaccination combination with other immune therapies.

Short-Term Effect of Lumbar Traction on Intervertebral Discs in Patients with Low Back Pain: Correlation between the T2 Value and ODI/VAS Score.

OBJECTIVE: The effect of lumbar traction on low back pain (LBP) patients is controversial. Our study aims to assess changes in the intervertebral disc water content after lumbar traction using T2 mapping and explore the correlation between changes in the T2 value and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI)/visual analogue scale (VAS) score. DESIGN: Lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging was performed, and the ODI/VAS scores were recorded in all 48 patients. Midsagittal T2-weighted imaging and T2 mapping were performed to determine the Pfirrmann grade and T2 value. Then, the T2 values were compared between pre- and posttraction, and the correlation between changes in the T2 value and ODI/VAS scores were examined. RESULTS: In the traction group, the changes in the nucleus pulposus (NP) T2 values for Pfirrmann grades II-IV and the annulus fibrosus (AF) T2 values for Pfirrmann grade II were statistically significant after traction (P < 0.05). Changes in the mean NP T2 value of 5 discs in each patient and in the ODI/VAS score showed a strong correlation (r = 0.822, r = 0.793). CONCLUSION: T2 mapping can be used to evaluate changes in the intervertebral disc water content. Ten sessions of traction resulted in a significant increase in quantitative T2 measurements of the NP in discs for Pfirrmann grade II-IV degeneration and remission of the patients' clinical symptoms in the following 6 months. Changes in the mean NP T2 value of 5 discs in each patient were strongly correlated with changes in the ODI/VAS score.

Hypermethylation and decreased expression of TMEM240 are potential early-onset biomarkers for colorectal cancer detection, poor prognosis, and early recurrence prediction.

BACKGROUND: Gene silencing by aberrant DNA methylation of promoter regions remains the most dominant phenomenon occurring during tumorigenesis. Improving the early diagnosis, prognosis, and recurrence prediction of colorectal cancer using noninvasive aberrant DNA methylation biomarkers has encouraging potential. The aim of this study is to characterize the DNA methylation of the promoter region of TMEM240, as well as gene expression and its effect on cell biological functions and its applications in early detection and outcome prediction. RESULTS: Highly methylated CpG sites were identified in the TMEM240 gene by Illumina methylation 450K arrays in 26 Taiwanese patient paired samples and 38 paired samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) colorectal cancer dataset. Transient transfection and knockdown of TMEM240 were performed to demonstrate the role of TMEM240 in colorectal cancer cells. The data showed that TMEM240 could lead to G1 cell cycle arrest, repress cancer cell proliferation, and inhibit cancer cell migration. The quantitative methylation-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results revealed that 87.8% (480 of 547) of the colorectal cancer tumors had hypermethylated TMEM240, and this was also found in benign tubular adenomas (55.6%). Circulating cell-free methylated TMEM240 was detected in 13 of 25 (52.0%) Taiwanese colorectal cancer patients but in fewer (28.6%) healthy controls. In 72.0% (85/118) of tissue samples, TMEM240 mRNA expression was lower in Taiwanese CRC tumor tissues than in normal colorectal tissues according to real-time reverse transcription PCR results, and this was also found in benign tubular adenomas (44.4%). The TMEM240 protein was analyzed in South Korean and Chinese CRC patient samples using immunohistochemistry. The results exhibited low protein expression in 91.7% (100/109) of tumors and 75.0% (24/32) of metastatic tumors but exhibited high expression in 75.0% (6/8) of normal colon tissues. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis found that mRNA expression of TMEM240 was significantly associated with overall, cancer-specific, and recurrence-free survival (p = 0.012, 0.007, and 0.022, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Alterations in TMEM240 are commonly found in Western and Asian populations and can potentially be used for early prediction and as poor prognosis and early-recurrence biomarkers in colorectal cancer.

A Cataluminescence Sensor Based on NiO Nanoparticles for Sensitive Detection of Acetaldehyde.

Sensitive and selective detection of harmful gas is an important task in environmental monitoring. In this work, a gas sensor based on cataluminescence (CTL) for detection of acetaldehyde was designed by using nano-NiO as the sensing material. The sensor shows sensitive response to acetaldehyde at a relatively low working temperature of 200 °C. The linear range of CTL intensity versus acetaldehyde concentration is 0.02-2.5 mg/L, with a limit of detection of 0.006 mg/L at a signal-to-noise ratio of three. Mechanism study shows that electronically excited CO2 is the excited intermediate for CTL emission during the catalytic oxidation of acetaldehyde on the NiO surface. The proposed sensor has promising application in monitoring acetaldehyde in residential buildings and in the workplace.

lncRNA MEG3 inhibits the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by sponging miR-9-5p to upregulate SOX11.

The long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3), a tumor suppressor, is critical for the carcinogenesis and progression of different cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To date, the roles of lncRNA MEG3 in HCC are not well illustrated. Therefore, this study used western blot and qRT-PCR to evaluate the expression of MEG3, miR-9-5p, and Sex determining Region Y-related HMG-box 11 (SOX11) in HCC tissues and cell lines. RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assay were used to evaluate these molecular interactions. 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and flow cytometry detected the viability and apoptosis of HCC cells, respectively. The results showed that MEG3 and SOX11 were poorly expressed but miR-9-5p was highly expressed in HCC. The expression levels of these molecules suggested a negative correlation between MEG3 and miR-9-5p and a positive correlation with SOX11, confirmed by Pearson's correlation analysis and biology experiments. Furthermore, MEG3 could combine with miR-9-5p, and SOX11 was a direct target of miR-9-5p. Moreover, MEG3 over-expression promoted cell apoptosis and growth inhibition in HCC cells through sponging miR-9-5p to up-regulate SOX11. Therefore, the interactions among MEG3, miR-9-5p, and SOX11 might offer a novel insight for understanding HCC pathogeny and provide potential diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for HCC.