Mechanism underlying the effects of exercise against type 2 diabetes: A review on research progress.

Exercise has emerged as one of the important and effective non-drug therapies used for management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in certain nations. The present report summarizes the latest findings from the research on the beneficial effect of exercise on T2D. The objectives were to provide references for the theoretical study and the clinical practice of exercise-based management of T2D, in addition to identify the limitations of the existing literature, thereby provide direction for future research in this field.

Tumor microenvironment-regulated drug delivery system combined with sonodynamic therapy for the synergistic treatment of breast cancer.

Co-loading of sonosensitizers and chemotherapeutic drugs into nanocarriers can improve the biocompatibilities, stabilities, and targeting of drugs and reduce the adverse reactions of drugs, providing a robust platform to orchestrate the synergistic interplay between chemotherapy and sonodynamic therapy (SDT) in cancer treatment. In this regard, biodegradable manganese dioxide (MnO2) has attracted widespread attention because of its unique properties in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Accordingly, herein, MnO2 nanoshells with hollow mesoporous structures (H-MnO2) were etched to co-load hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME) and doxorubicin (DOX), and DOX/HMME-HMnO2@bovine serum albumin (BSA) obtained after simple BSA modification of DOX/HMME-HMnO2 exhibited excellent hydrophilicity and dispersibility. H-MnO2 rapidly degraded in the weakly acidic TME, releasing loaded HMME and DOX, and catalysed the decomposition of H2O2 abundantly present in TME, producing oxygen (O2) in situ, significantly increasing O2 concentration and downregulating the hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α). After irradiation of the tumor area with low-frequency ultrasound, the drug delivery efficiency of DOX/HMME-HMnO2@BSA substantially increased, and the excited HMME generated a large amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which caused irreversible damage to tumor cells. Moreover, the cell death rate exceeded 60% after synergistic SDT-chemotherapy. Therefore, the pH-responsive nanoshells designed in this study can realize drug accumulation in tumor regions by responding to TME and augment SDT-chemotherapy potency for breast cancer treatment by improving hypoxia in tumors. Thus, this study provides theoretical support for the development of multifunctional nanocarriers and scientific evidence for further exploration of safer and more efficient breast cancer treatments.

Proteomics and network pharmacology of Ganshu Nuodan capsules in the prevention of alcoholic liver disease.

Introduction: Ganshu Nuodan is a liver-protecting dietary supplement composed of Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum) spore powder, Pueraria montana (Lour.) Merr. (P. montana), Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (S. miltiorrhiza) and Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge. (A. membranaceus). However, its pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanism of action remain unknown. Methods: A mouse model of acute alcohol liver disease (ALD) induced by intragastric administration of 50% alcohol was used to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of Ganshu Nuodan. The chemical constituents of Ganshu Nuodan were comprehensively identified by UPLC-QTOF/MS, and then its pharmacodynamic material basis and potential mechanism of action were explored by proteomics and network pharmacology. Results: Ganshu Nuodan could ameliorate acute ALD, which is mainly manifested in the significant reduction of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in serum and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in liver and the remarkably increase of glutathione (GSH) content and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in liver. Totally 76 chemical constituents were identified from Ganshu Nuodan by UPLC-QTOF/MS, including 21 quinones, 18 flavonoids, 11 organic acids, 7 terpenoids, 5 ketones, 4 sterols, 3 coumarins and 7 others. Three key signaling pathways were identified via proteomics studies, namely Arachidonic acid metabolism, Retinol metabolism, and HIF-1 signaling pathway respectively. Combined with network pharmacology and molecular docking, six key targets were subsequently obtained, including Ephx2, Lta4h, Map2k1, Stat3, Mtor and Dgat1. Finally, these six key targets and their related components were verified by molecular docking, which could explain the material basis of the hepatoprotective effect of Ganshu Nuodan. Conclusion: Ganshu Nuodan can protect acute alcohol-induced liver injury in mice by inhibiting oxidative stress, lipid accumulation and apoptosis. Our study provides a scientific basis for the hepatoprotective effect of Ganshu Nuodan in acute ALD mice and supports its traditional application.

The differences in main components, enzyme activity, and microbial composition between substandard and normal jiuyao.

BACKGROUND: Jiuyao is a critical fermenting agent in traditional huangjiu brewing and it affects the quality of huangjiu. To assess and monitor the quality of jiuyao effectively we determined the differences between two common types of substandard jiuyao and normal jiuyao, with emphasis on the comparison of the main components, enzymatic activity, volatile substances, and microbial community structure. RESULTS: The water and starch content, acid protease activity, and esterification capability of type I substandard jiuyao were significantly lower than those of the normal jiuyao, and the protein contents, liquefaction capability, glycation capability, and neutral protease activity were substantially higher than those of the normal jiuyao. Type II substandard jiuyao had significantly lower indices than the normal group except for the starch and free amino acid content, which were significantly higher than those of the normal jiuyao. Significant differences were observed between substandard and normal jiuyao in the content of 21 volatile compounds. 2-Pentylfuran could be used as a marker of substandard jiuyao. Type I substandard jiuyao contained a higher abundance of aerobic Pediococcus and Marivita in comparison with the normal jiuyao. Type II substandard jiuyao consisted of a greater abundance of anaerobic Mucor and Staphylococcus. CONCLUSION: The quality of jiuyao was significantly affected by the water content. Due to the different abundances of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in jiuyao, oxygen may also be an important parameter affecting the quality of jiuyao. We believe that the present study offers a theoretical basis for the evaluation and control of the quality of jiuyao. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Insights into the Effect of the Adsorption Preference of Additives on the Anisotropic Growth of ZSM-5 Zeolite.

Invited for the cover of this issue are Zaiku Xie, Jiawei Teng, Chuanming Wang, and co-workers at the SINOPEC Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Liaoning Petrochemical University and University of Science and Technology of China. The image depicts the effect of eight organic additives on the anisotropic growth of classical ZSM-5 zeolite at the molecular level. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.202201781.

Tensor based stacked fuzzy neural network for efficient data regression.

Random vector functional link and extreme learning machine have been extended by the type-2 fuzzy sets with vector stacked methods, this extension leads to a new way to use tensor to construct learning structure for the type-2 fuzzy sets-based learning framework. In this paper, type-2 fuzzy sets-based random vector functional link, type-2 fuzzy sets-based extreme learning machine and Tikhonov-regularized extreme learning machine are fused into one network, a tensor way of stacking data is used to incorporate the nonlinear mappings when using type-2 fuzzy sets. In this way, the network could learn the sub-structure by three sub-structures' algorithms, which are merged into one tensor structure via the type-2 fuzzy mapping results. To the stacked single fuzzy neural network, the consequent part parameters learning is implemented by unfolding tensor-based matrix regression. The newly proposed stacked single fuzzy neural network shows a new way to design the hybrid fuzzy neural network with the higher order fuzzy sets and higher order data structure. The effective of the proposed stacked single fuzzy neural network are verified by the classical testing benchmarks and several statistical testing methods.

Insights into the Effect of the Adsorption Preference of Additives on the Anisotropic Growth of ZSM-5 Zeolite.

Zeolite morphology plays a crucial role in affecting catalytic performance, while is persistently challenging to tailor through crystal anisotropic growth. It has been recognized that specific additives can be introduced into the synthesis of zeolites to achieve anisotropic growth, however their role and the underlying mechanism are not well understood. Herein, the effect of eight specific additives on the anisotropic growth of the ZSM-5 zeolite is unveiled within the framework of crystallization engineering. Either an inhibition effect or a promotion effect is revealed for each additive according to the crystallization kinetics. The adsorption preference of typical additives on different surfaces was demonstrated by total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) and transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) together with 3D reconstruction. The calculated adsorption energy difference between MFI [100]/[101] and [010] surfaces was proposed as a key descriptor to estimate the possible morphology induced by additive. ZSM-5 zeolites varying from sphere-like, plate-like to noodle-like morphology could be synthesized by employing specific additives with increasing adsorption strength difference on distinct surfaces.

Source analysis and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in farmland soils around heavy metal industry in Anxin County.

Studying the pollution status, spatial distribution characteristics, and sources of heavy metals in farmland soil in Anxin County will provide a method basis for the next step of soil remediation. This study investigates the contents of Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, and Ni in wheat grains and soil samples. Moreover, different methods are used to evaluate soil heavy metal pollution. The results show that the soil in the study area is weakly alkaline. Cu, Zn, and Ni contents in the ground are lower than the risk screening values for soil contamination of agricultural land. In comparison, Cd and Pb contents are higher than the screening value of soil pollution risk of agricultural land, and the proportion of points lower than the control value of soil pollution risk of agricultural land are 64.58% and 16.67%, respectively. The farmland with high Cd and Pb content is mainly distributed near roads and factories and concentrated primarily on 0-20 cm topsoil. The Cd content in wheat grains meets the standard, but 4.17% of the samples are close to 0.1 mg kg-1 (more than 0.09 mg kg-1). The Pb content of 50% of the wheat grain samples exceeds the lead limit in the standard. The evaluation results of the single factor pollution index and geoaccumulation index show that the pollution degree of heavy metals in the soil is Cd > Pb > Cu > Zn > Ni. The potential ecological risk index in the study area is 288.83, and the soil heavy metal pollution is at a moderate-considerable ecological risk level. The average value of Cd's single-factor environmental risk index is 233.51, which belongs to the high environmental risk and is the main influencing factor. Cd and Pb in soil are significantly disturbed by the production activities of heavy metal processing enterprises around the farmland. It is speculated that there are two primary sources of soil heavy metal pollution in the study area. Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu are mainly industrial and mobile sources, and Ni is primarily agricultural and natural sources.

Research on Online Rapid Sorting Method of Waste Textiles Based on Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Generative Adversity Network.

In this paper, aiming at the application of online rapid sorting of waste textiles, a large number of effective high-content blending data are generated by using generative adversity network to deeply mine the combination relationship of blending spectra, and A BEGAN-RBF-SVM classification model is constructed by compensating the imbalance of negative samples in the data set. Various experiments show that the model can effectively extract the spectrum of pure textile samples. The classification model has high robustness and high speed, reaches the performance of similar products in the world, and has a broad application market.

Multibody dynamic modeling and controlling for unmanned bicycle system.

The accurate mathematical model of the dynamic multi-rigid-body mechanical system of unmanned bicycle is established by using the Kane method, and the derivation is presented in detail. And then, the stability of the unmanned bicycle system is analyzed based on the obtained model. In addition, the influence factors to the stability which is caused by changing of the structure parameters of wheelbase, centroid of the bicycle, head fork angle, fork trail and the velocity of the bicycle are analyzed. The balance mechanism of unmanned bicycle is revealed based on the analysis, and the reasonability of the key structure revolution in the development history of bicycle is explained. The model of unmanned bicycle provided solid theory evidences for the optimization of the bicycle structure parameters. Four universal laws for balancing the bicycle are summarized by system analyzing, and the full state feedback control which combines the correcting function of velocity with optimum control is presented. The results of simulation and physical experiment show that the correctness of the dynamic model of the unmanned bicycle and the validity of the control strategy.

MXene-Derived Nanocomposites as Earth-Abundant Efficient Electrocatalyst for Nitrogen Reduction Reaction under Ambient Conditions.

NH3, as one of the most massively used chemical products in the world, not only serves as the main nitrogen source of chemical fertilizers but also is considered as a promising renewable energy source. Most ammonia in industry is produced by the Haber-Bosch process under extremely high temperature and pressure conditions, which is intensively energy consuming and environmentally unfriendly. Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) has been regarded as a promising way to produce NH3 under ambient conditions in recent years, but the research for efficient earth-abundant electrocatalysts is still highly limited. In this work, different TiO2 phases (anatase and rutile)/carbon nanocomposites with a sandwich architecture are produced by annealing MXene at different temperatures, which shows excellent electrocatalytic NRR performance. In 0.1 M Na2SO4, anatase TiO2/C composites show better NRR performance than the rutile ones, which achieve a large NH3 yield of 14.0 µg h-1 cm-2, a high Faradaic efficiency of 13.3% at -0.2 V vs a reversible hydrogen electrode, and a high electrochemical stability. The sandwich architecture of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles well-dispersed on the surface of carbon layers could increase the conductivity of TiO2 and the exposure of active sites, which could explain the improved NRR activity of anatase TiO2/C composites compared with previous work. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the energy barrier of most steps for the surface of anatase TiO2 is relatively lower than that of rutile TiO2, which could explain the better electrocatalytic NRR performance for anatase TiO2/C composites compared with the rutile ones.

Effects of levocarnitine on cardiac function, urinary albumin, hs-CRP, BNP, and troponin in patients with coronary heart disease and heart failure.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of levocarnitine on cardiac function, urinary albumin (ALB), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), and troponin in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and heart failure (HF). METHODS: In total, 246 patients with CHD-caused HF were selected and randomly divided into Group A and Group B. A fully automatic biochemical analyzer was used to measure the levels of ALB, hs-CRP, BNP, and troponin in both groups of patients, and the expression levels of LVDD and LVEF were detected by cardiac color ultrasonography. Patients in Group B were intravenously injected with 3.0 g of levocarnitine, once per day. After 14 days, changes in levels of ALB, hs-CRP, BNP, troponin, LVDD, and LVEF in Group A patients were detected. RESULTS: The effective cure rates of patients in both groups were 65.8% and 81.3%, respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p < 0.05). After administration of levocarnitine, all indicators showed decreasing trends, but the LVEF level increased. Among them, patients treated with levocarnitine showed the most evident decrease in LVEF. Decrease in BNP was the largest (p < 0.05). Additionally, there was no statistical difference in incidence rate between the two groups (5.8% vs. 2.5%, p = 0.222). CONCLUSION: Levocarnitine can effectively improve ALB, hs-CRP, BNP, troponin, and LVDD levels to improve cardiac function rating and thus improve cardiac function.

Oral Chinese Herbal Medicine for Depressive Disorder in Patients after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of oral Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) on post-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients with depressive disorder in coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: A literature search was conducted through databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Databases (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (SinoMed), Chongqing VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP) and Wanfang Database up to August 2018. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing CHMs with placebo or no additional treatments on the basis of standard conventional pharmacological therapies were included. Data extraction, analyses and quality assessment were performed according to the Cochrane standards. RevMan 5.3 software was used to synthesize the results. RESULTS: A total of 16 RCTs enrolling 1,443 participants were included in this systematic review. When compared with antidepressants alone, CHMs showed similar benefits with less side effects [risk ratio=0.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.43 to 0.69, 582 patients]; meanwhile, the combination therapy may have more advantages than antidepressants alone [mean difference (MD)=-1.03, 95%CI-1.81 to-0.25, 267 patients). When identified with placebo, CHMs seem to have more advantages in relieving depressive symptoms (MD=-19.00, 95%CI-20.02 to-17.98, 189 patients). However, when compared with basic treatment of post- PCI, CHMs showed different results in two trials. In terms of post-PCI related clinical symptoms, CHMs seem to have more advantages in relieving chest pain and other general clinical symptoms. However, the heterogeneity in this review was generally high, it may be caused by different interventions used in each trial and the low quality of the trials. CONCLUSIONS: In total, CHMs showed potentially beneficial effects on depressive symptoms and post-PCI related clinical symptoms. However, because of small sample size and potential bias of most trials, this result should be interpreted with caution. More rigorous trials with larger sample size and higher quality are warranted to give high quality of evidence to support the use of CHMs for CHD complicated with depression.

Effect of humic acid on Se and Fe transformations in soil during waterlogged incubation.

Humic acid (HA) serves as electron donor and acceptor in the biogeochemical cycle of Fe and Se in soil. In anoxic condition, a series of redox reactions occur, including reductive dissolution of Fe oxides, decomposition of organic matters, and transformation of trace elements. Thus, this study demonstrates the effect of HA on Se and Fe transformations in soil during waterlogged incubation. Soils were incubated under anoxic condition for 56 days, and pH, redox potential (Eh), and Fe and Se concentrations were measured at specific reaction times (days 2, 4, 8, 15, 28, and 56 of incubation). Moreover, sequential extraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to obtain Se and Fe transformations, respectively. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) was used to observe the morphology properties of soil. Results indicated that 4% HA addition decreased the pH and inhibited Eh decline continuously, and HA addition inhibited the Fe and Se release from soil. The Se concentration in soil solution without and with 4% HA addition at the day 15 of incubation were 1.05 mg L-1 and 0.30 mg L-1, respectively. Moreover, the residual Se fraction in soil with HA addition was evidently more than that in soil without HA addition. XPS of Se3d and Fe2p revealed that the binding energy of the main peak shifted to low values and the peak shape varied with the increase in HA addition. XPS2p3/2 and HR-TEM data indicated that the surface structure of Fe oxides in soil varied with the variations in anoxic incubation time and HA addition amount. HA addition would negatively influence Se and Fe release in soil solution and then reduce their bioavailability. This study aids in understanding the environmental behavior changes of Se and Fe when high HA concentrations enter the soils, especially wetland or paddy soil.

Self-Assembled Sandwich-like MXene-Derived Nanocomposites for Enhanced Electromagnetic Wave Absorption.

Sandwich-like MXene/Fe3O4 and C/TiO2/α-Fe two-dimensional (2D) nanocomposites were fabricated via in situ hydrothermal assembly of Fe3O4 nanoparticles on MXene nanosheets and postannealing. The as-prepared sandwich-like MXene/Fe3O4 nanocomposites contain uniformly distributed Fe3O4 nanoparticles between the interlayers of the 2D MXene Ti3C2T x nanoflakes. The redox reaction, Ti3C2T x + Fe3O4 → 3TiO2 + 2C + 3Fe, has also been reported for the first time to transform the binary MXene/Fe3O4 nanocomposites into ternary C/TiO2/α-Fe nanocomposites with the 2D structure maintained intact. Such a transition during postannealing gives rise to further enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption compared with that of the MXene/Fe3O4 nanocomposites on top of the already improved performance of the MXene/Fe3O4 compared with that of pristine MXene. The 2D C/TiO2/α-Fe nanocomposites exhibit effective absorption bandwidths of 3.3 and 3.5 GHz at thicknesses of 1 and 1.5 mm, respectively. This work offers a new route for fabricating novel electromagnetic wave absorbers, and the fine balance among lightweight, broad band, and small thickness of the C/TiO2/α-Fe nanocomposites makes them promising in the field of electromagnetic wave absorption.

Coordinative control of G2/M phase of the cell cycle by non-coding RNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the interaction of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in hepatocellular carcinoma. METHODS: We compared the ncRNAs and mRNAs expression profiles of hepatocellular carcinoma and adjacent tissue by microarray and RT-PCR. The relationship between different ncRNAs and mRNA was analyzed using bioinformatics tools. A regulatory model of ncRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma cells was developed. RESULTS: A total of 1,704 differentially expressed lncRNAs, 57 miRNAs, and 2,093 mRNAs were identified by microarray analyses. There is a co-expression relationship between two ncRNAs (miRNA-125b-2-3p and lncRNA P26302). Bioinformatics analysis demonstrated cyclin-dependent kinases 1 and CyclinA2 as potential targets of miR-125b-2-3p and Polo-like kinase 1 as potential target of lncRNAP26302. All three gene are important components in the G2/M phase of cell cycle. Subsequently real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) studies confirmed these microarray results. CONCLUSION: MiR-125b-2-3p and lncRNAP26302 may affect the G2/M phase of the cell cycle through the regulation of their respective target genes. This study shows a role of ncRNAs in pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma at molecular level, providing a basis for the future investigation aiming at early diagnosis and novel treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Curative effects of GM1 in the treatment of severe ischemic brain injury and its effects on serum TNF-α and NDS.

The curative effects of monosialotetrahexosyl ganglioside (GM1) in the treatment of severe ischemic brain injury and its effects on tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and neuropathy disability score (NDS). Sixty patients with severe ischemic brain injury admitted to The First People's Hospital of Jining (Jining, China) from June 2014 to March 2016 were selected. They were randomly divided into the control group (n=30) and the experimental group (n=30). The patients in the control group were treated with routine therapy while those in the experimental group were treated with GM1. The level of TNF-α in the serum was measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The NDS was used to grade the two groups; Pearson's correlation coefficient was applied to analyze the correlation between the content of TNF-α and NDS; the content of superoxide dismutase (SOD) was detected using xanthine oxidase assay, and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) was detected by thiobarbituric acid method. The clinical recovery time of two groups of patients was recorded. At 14 days after GM1 treatment, the serum TNF-α content and the NDS in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). The content of TNF-α in the patients was positively correlated with the NDS. After treatment, the serum MDA content of patients in the experimental group was lower, while the SOD content was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). After GM1 treatment, hemodynamic parameters of patients in the experimental group were significantly improved compared with those in the control group. The total effective rate of GM1 treatment in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). GM1 has a good clinical significance in the treatment of patients with severe ischemic brain injury and is worthy of clinical promotion and application.

Synergistic Viral Replication of Marek's Disease Virus and Avian Leukosis Virus Subgroup J is Responsible for the Enhanced Pathogenicity in the Superinfection of Chickens.

Superinfection of Marek's disease virus (MDV) and avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) causes lethal neoplasia and death in chickens. However, whether there is synergism between the two viruses in viral replication and pathogenicity has remained elusive. In this study, we found that the superinfection of MDV and ALV-J increased the viral replication of the two viruses in RNA and protein level, and synergistically promoted the expression of IL-10, IL-6, and TGF-ß in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF). Moreover, MDV and ALV-J protein expression in dual-infected cells detected by confocal laser scanning microscope appeared earlier in the cytoplasm and the nucleus, and caused more severe cytopathy than single infection, suggesting that synergistically increased MDV and ALV-J viral-protein biosynthesis is responsible for the severe cytopathy. In vivo, compared to the single virus infected chickens, the mortality and tumor formation rates increased significantly in MDV and ALV-J dual-infected chickens. Viral loads of MDV and ALV-J in tissues of dual-infected chickens were significantly higher than those of single-infected chickens. Histopathology observation showed that more severe inflammation and tumor cells metastases were present in dual-infected chickens. In the present study, we concluded that synergistic viral replication of MDV and ALV-J is responsible for the enhanced pathogenicity in superinfection of chickens.

Increased expression of microRNA-31-5p inhibits cell proliferation, migration, and invasion via regulating Sp1 transcription factor in HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cell line.

Accumulating evidence has suggested that microRNA-31-5p (miR-31-5p) is dysfunctional in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the molecular mechanism of HCC remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of miR-31-5p in tumor formation and development of HCC. The expression of miR-31-5p was detected in HCC tissues, corresponding adjacent tissues, normal liver tissues, and HCC cell lines. miR-31-5p mimics and an inhibitor were transfected into HepG2 cells to assess the effects of miR-31-5p on cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, migration, and invasion assays. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of Sp1 transcription factor (SP1), cyclin D1, and survivin in transfected HCC cells and control cells. The expression of miR-31-5p was significantly decreased in HCC cells and HCC tissues. Overexpression of miR-31-5p inhibited HCC cell growth, migration, and invasion. Overexpression of miR-31-5p reduced the expression of SP1 and cyclin D1, and knockdown of SP1 decreased cyclin D1 expression. The dual luciferase assay showed that miR-31-5p directly targeted SP1 in HepG2. Together, the results suggested that miR-31-5p acted as a tumor suppressor to regulate SP1, and that miR-31-5p could be used as a therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC.

Continuous postoperative infusion of remifentanil inhibits the stress responses to tracheal extubation of patients under general anesthesia.

PURPOSE: The study aimed to assess the combined effects of parecoxib with three different doses of remifentanil and its effect on the stress and cough responses following tracheal extubation under general anesthesia. METHODS: A total of 120 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) scores of I or II, undergoing selective thyroidectomy with total intravenous anesthesia (propofol-remifentanil) and tracheal intubation, were randomly allocated to be treated with an intravenous injection of parecoxib and a continuous infusion of remifentanil at 0.1 µg/kg/min (R1), 0.2 µg/kg/min (R2), 0.3 µg/kg/min (R3), or an isotonic saline injection (the control group). Hemodynamic vital signs, emergence time, extubation time, sedation-agitation scale (SAS) score, pain visual analog scale (VAS) score, occurrence of coughing, and side effects were recorded before surgery and during the peri-extubation period. The vital signs included blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (R), and peripheral arterial oxygen saturation (SPO2). RESULTS: BP, HR, the occurrence rate of coughing, and extubation awareness decreased with the dose of remifentanil, and the differences among the groups were significant (P < 0.05). Emergence and extubation time increased with the dose of remifentanil, and the differences among the groups were significant (P < 0.05). The occurrence rates of respiratory depression and bradycardia in group R3 were significantly higher than those in other groups (P < 0.05). SAS and VAS were lowest in group R3, and the differences among the groups were significant (P < 0.05). BP, HR, SAS, and VAS increased with time in the remifentanil groups. CONCLUSION: The combined use of parecoxib and a moderate dose of remifentanil can effectively suppress the stress and coughing responses during the peri-extubation period. The appropriate quantity of remifentanil was found to be 0.2 µg/kg/min, as this dosage caused no side effects.