Nematode parasites infecting the starry batfish Halieutaea stellata (Vahl) (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae) from the East and South China Sea.

The starry batfish Halieutaea stellata (Vahl) is a small, benthic fish found in Indo-West Pacific Oceans. However, our present knowledge of the helminth parasites of this fish is still fragmentary. In this study, a total of 29 fish collected from the East and South China Sea were examined to determine the prevalence, intensity and species composition of helminth parasites in H. stellata. Using morphological and molecular approaches, four species of nematodes were found parasitic in this fish host, including the adults and fourth-stage larvae of Raphidascaroides nipponensis Yamaguti 1941; adults and third-stage larvae of Raphidascaris lophii (Wu 1949), third- and fourth-stage larvae of Hysterothylacium larval type IV-A of Shamsi, Gasser & Beveridge 2013 and third-stage larvae of Hysterothylacium amoyense (Hsü 1993). Halieutaea stellata represents a new host record for the three last-named nematodes. Raphidascaroides nipponensis with the highest prevalence (82.5%) and intensity (mean = 13.5) of infection was considered as the dominant parasite species in H. stellata. The detailed morphology of the different developmental stages of the four nematode species was studied using light and scanning electron microscopy. All nematode species were also genetically characterized by sequencing and analysing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the ribosomal DNA. This study provides further data on the occurrence of nematode parasites in H. stellata and also contributes to facilitate an accurate and rapid diagnosis of the infection by these little-known nematodes.

HS N-sulfation and iduronic acids play an important role in the infection of respiratory syncytial virus in vitro.

BACKGROUND: As a member of Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), heparan sulfate (HS) are sulfated to varying extents and used by a large number of viruses to initiate infection, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Heparinases I, II, III can remove N-sulfation and iduronic acids units of HS, and low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) has a very similar structure to that of HS. AIM: The tropism of RSV for different cell lines and the efficiency of Heparinases and LMWH in inhibiting RSV infection were estimated in this study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hela, Hep-2, HEK293 and Lo2 cell lines were pretreated with heparinases I, II, III and LMWH, and the cells were infected by RSV in vitro. RSV infectivity was determined by flow cytometry and western-blot. RESULTS: All cells were susceptible to RSV except Lo2. Heparinases I, II, III and LMWH treatments reduced the susceptibility of Hep-2 cells to RSV infection. For HEK-293 heparinase II and III treatment could reduce RSV infection. All enzymes could not change the susceptibility of Hela cells to RSV infection. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the heterogeneity of HS especially for rich N-sulfation and iduronic acids may play an important role in RSV infection in some mammalian cells.

Analysis of maternal and fetal outcomes and establishment of prediction model of vaginal delivery in pregnant women with pre-eclampsia complicated with fetal growth restriction.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyze the maternal and fetal outcomes of pregnant women with pre-eclampsia (PE), complicated with fetal growth restriction (FGR), and establish a prediction model of vaginal delivery to guide the selection of the delivery mode. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study included 208 pregnant women with PE complicated with FGR. Of them, 49 patients were in the vaginal delivery group, and 159 patients were in the cesarean section group. The relevant maternal and fetal outcomes were analyzed. Patients were randomly divided into the training sample group and the test group with a ratio of 2:1. The three-layer neural network was used to select 24 maternal and infant outcome factors as the input nodes of the neural network to build a vaginal delivery prediction model. RESULTS: Results showed that the gestational age, the highest systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body weight, body length, and placental weight of the newborns in the vaginal delivery group were significantly higher than those in the cesarean section group. Incidence of preterm birth, amniotic fluid grade III, oligohydramnios, and severe small-for-gestational-age (sSGA) neonates were significantly lower in the vaginal delivery group compared to the cesarean section group (p < 0.05). A three-layer neural network delivery prediction model was constructed, and the accuracy rate of fitting with test samples was 91.80%. CONCLUSIONS: There is no significant difference in the incidence of maternal and fetal complications in PE complicated with FGR in different delivery methods. The three-layer neural network prediction model has good prediction ability for vaginal delivery of PE complicated with FGR and may be applied in clinical practice.

ABCC1 is a predictive biomarker for prognosis and therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: Liver neoplasm is one of the most fatal malignancies worldwide, among which hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (MIM #114550, https://omim.org/) is the most prevalent type. ABCC1 (MIM *158343) is a membrane-bound protein that relies on ATP hydrolysis to transport substrates and is associated with tumour drug resistance and malignant potential. However, the relationship between ABCC1, HCC prognosis, and immune infiltration remains elusive. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analysed the mRNA expression of ABCC1 using data from public databases. Immunohistochemistry staining was performed to identify ABCC1 expression in tumour samples. We further investigated the correlation between ABCC1 and clinicopathological features. We investigated the connection between ABCC1 and HCC prognosis using survival and Cox regression analyses. We investigated the underlying pathways of ABCC1 in HCC using functional enrichment analysis and GSEA. We determine the relationship between ABCC1 and immune cell infiltration via an integrated immune landscape analysis. RESULTS: Our investigation revealed the upregulation of ABCC1 expression in HCC (p < 0.01), which was verified in clinical samples (p < 0.01). In addition, ABCC1 is adversely associated with HCC clinical features and prognosis (p < 0.05). GO/KEGG analysis and GSEA identified that ABCC1 participates in multiple immune- and tumour-related pathways (p < 0.05). Immune cell infiltration analysis indicated that ABCC1 was positively correlated with various immune cells, among which, the strongest correlation was with macrophages (p < 0.001). Furthermore, we observed significant variations in immune checkpoints between the ABCC1-low and ABCC1-high groups (p < 0.01). This indicated that patients with a high expression of ABCC1 might respond poorly to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy (p = 9.2e-07). CONCLUSIONS: Our study identified ABCC1 as a predictor of HCC prognosis and response to therapy.

LncRNA SNHG20 promotes the development of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma by regulating miR-140.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the expression level of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) SNHG20 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), and to explore further whether it can promote the development of LSCC by regulating microRNA-140 (miR-140). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Expression levels of SNHG20 in 56 pairs of LSCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were measured by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). The relationship between SNHG20 expression with pathological parameters and the prognosis of LSCC was analyzed. Besides, the SNHG20 expression in LSCC cells was also analyzed by qRT-PCR. The SNHG20 knockdown and overexpression model were constructed by lentivirus transfection in AMC-HN-8 and Hep-2 cells. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and 5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay were used to analyze the effect of SNHG20 on the biological function of LSCC cells. Finally, the dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was performed to explore the potentials of SNHG20 and miR-140 in LSCC. RESULTS: The SNHG20 expression in LSCC tissues or cells remarkably increased than controls, and the difference was statistically significant. The LSCC patients with the high expression level of SNHG20 were more likely to develop advanced tumor compared with patients with low expression of SNHG20. Moreover, the LSCC patients with the high expression level of SNHG20 had a shorter overall survival than those with low level. The cell proliferation ability significantly decreased in the SNHG20 knockdown group, while notably increased in SNHG20 overexpression group. MiR-140 was negatively correlated with SNHG20 in LSCC tissues and cells. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay showed that SNHG20 could be targeted by miR-140 through a certain binding site. The cell rescue experiment also indicated that there was a mutual regulation between SNHG20 and miR-140, which could together affect the malignant progression of LSCC. CONCLUSIONS: We showed that the expression levels of SNHG20 in LSCC tissues or cell lines significantly increased and was associated with advanced tumor staging and undesirable prognosis of LSCC. In addition, SNHG20 could promote the malignant progression of LSCC.

Diagnostic performance of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration in pancreatic lesions.

OBJECTIVE: This aim of this study is to investigate the diagnostic performance of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) in pancreatic lesions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with pancreatic lesions after CT (or MRI) and EUS-FNA examination were retrospectively enrolled. Cytopathological diagnosis of pancreas tissue were obtained by surgery or EUS-FNA. Clinical follow-up results were used as golden standard for diagnosis of pancreatic lesions. Statistical analysis was performed by Student's t-test for continuous data and Fischer exact test for categorical data. RESULTS: A total of 18 patients with pancreatic lesions were included in this study, 7 of which were diagnosed as benign lesions and 11 were diagnosed as malignant lesions. Endoscopic ultrasonography (ESU) showed that most of the lesions were in pancreatic body (42.9%), followed by pancreatic head, pancreatic tail, and pancreatic neck. The maximum diameter of malignant lesions was larger compared with that of benign and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of EUS-FNA for differentiating diagnosis of malignant and benign pancreatic lesions was 83.3%, 80%, 83.3%, 90.9%, and 71.4%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: EUS-FNA cytological diagnosis is safe and effective for differentiating diagnosis of malignant and benign pancreatic lesions.