Gga-let-7a-3p inhibits the proliferation and differentiation of chicken intramuscular preadipocytes.

1. Intramuscular fat (IMF) is a key parameter for chicken meat quality. IMF deposition is driven by genetic, nutritional and management factors, with genetics being the determining factor. Previous whole transcriptome sequencing revealed that microRNA gga-let-7a-3p was related to lipid metabolism in breast muscle. This study further investigated the potential role of gga-let-7a-3p in IMF deposition.2. The mimic and inhibitor of gga-let-7a-3p were individually transfected into chicken intramuscular preadipocytes. Subsequently, the proliferation and differentiation states of the cells were detected. Transcriptome sequencing was performed on cells transfected with gga-let-7a-3p mimic.3. The results indicated that gga-let-7a-3p suppressed the mRNA levels of proliferation and differentiation-related genes, as well as the protein levels. EdU and Oil Red O assays revealed that gga-let-7a-3p restrained preadipocyte proliferation and differentiation. In addition, a total of 333 up-regulated genes and 807 down-regulated genes were identified in cells transfected with gga-let-7a-3p mimic. Using Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, differential genes were found to be enriched in processes such as the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR) signalling pathway and oxidative phosphorylation.4. The study demonstrated that gga-let-7a-3p inhibits the proliferation and differentiation of chicken intramuscular preadipocytes, which provides new understanding to further unravel the function of gga-let-7a-3p.

Identification of potential candidate genes for the Huoyan trait in developing Wulong goose embryos by transcriptomic analysis.

1. The Wulong goose is a Chinese breed and a source of high-quality meat and eggs. A characteristic of the Wulong goose is that a proportion of the birds do not have eyelids, known as the Huoyon trait.2. Wulong geese exhibiting the Huoyan trait at embryonic stages of 9 days (E9), 12 days (E12) and 14 days (E14) were selected alongside those with normal eyelids for comprehensive transcriptome sequencing. Differentially expressed gene (DEG) and functional enrichment analyses were performed and finally, eight DEG were chosen to verify the accuracy of qPCR sequencing.3. Overall, 466, 962 and 550 DEG were obtained from the three control groups, D9 vs. N9, D12 vs. N12 and D14 vs. N14, respectively, by differential analysis (p < 0.05). CDKN1C, CRH, CROCC and TYSND1 were significantly expressed in the three groups. Enrichment analysis revealed the enrichment of CROCC and TYSND1 in pathways of cell cycle process, endocytosis, microtubule-based process, microtubule organising centre organisation, protein processing and protein maturation. CDKN1C and CRH were enriched in the cell cycle and cAMP signalling pathway.4. Some collagen family genes were detected among the DEGs, including COL3A1, COL4A5, COL4A2 and COL4A1. FREM1 and FREM2 genes were detected in both Huoyan and normal eyelids. There was a significant difference (p < 0.01) in FREM1 expression between ED9 and ED14 in female embryos, but this difference was not observed in male embryos.

[Related factors and prognosis analysis of esophagorespiratory fistula after esophageal cancer surgery].

Objective: To explore the factors associated with the development of esophagorespiratory fistula (ERF) after esophageal cancer surgery and its relationship with patient survival. Methods: A total of 241 patients with esophageal cancer after surgery, who received postoperative sputum suction through bronchoscope from West China Hospital of Sichuan University between January and December 2021 were included. The clinical data and airway features under bronchoscope of these patients were collected. Of the 241 patients, 203 were males (84.2%) and 38 were females (15.8%), aged (63.63±8.05) years. The related factors of ERF were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis, and Kaplan-meier was used to analyze the relationship between bronchoscopic specific manifestations, treatment modality and patient survival. Results: Of the 241 postoperative patients with esophageal cancer, 21 (8.7%) developed ERF. There were 39 (16.2%) patients with bronchoscopic specific manifestations, including 16 cases (6.6%) of hyperemia, 13 cases (5.4%) of congestion, and 15 cases (6.2%) of erosion. Bronchoscopic specific manifestations of tracheal mucosa (OR=13.734, 95%CI: 3.535-29.074, P<0.001) and thoracotomy (OR=9.121, 95%CI 1.843-44.237, P=0.007) were independent risk factors for the development of ERF, and preoperative chemotherapy (OR=0.128, 95%CI: 0.052-0.607, P=0.006) was a protective factor in the occurrence of ERF. The median survival time was 224 (95%CI: 95-353)d in the stent-treated group (14 patients) after the onset of ERF, and the median survival time of patients in the supportive care group (7 patients) was 29 (95%CI: 8-50)d, and the survival difference was statistically significant (χ2=5.69, P=0.017). Conclusions: Bronchoscopic specific manifestations are independent risk factors for the development of ERF in postoperative patients with esophageal cancer and are useful in assessing the risk of developing ERF. After the occurrence of postoperative ERF, timely intervention by insertion of tracheal stents to seal the fistula may prolong the survival time of the patients.

[Changes and clinical significance of serum NSE and MBP levels in children with cerebral palsy at high altitude during comprehensive rehabilitation].

Objective: To explore the changes of serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and myelin basic protein (MBP) in children with cerebral palsy at high altitude during comprehensive rehabilitation and their clinical significance. Methods: A clinical randomized controlled study design was used to select 144 children with cerebral palsy who were diagnosed and treated in the Rehabilitation Center of Xining Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Qinghai Province from June 2018 to October 2019, including 83 males and 61 females, aged 3-5 years old. According to the order of admission, the random number table was used to divide into a conventional treatment group (n=72, 40 males and 32 females) and a comprehensive treatment group (n=72, 43 males and 29 females). The conventional treatment group was treated with conventional rehabilitation. The comprehensive treatment group was treated with monosialotetrahexose ganglioside sodium on the basis of conventional rehabilitation. In addition, 30 healthy children aged 3-5 years, 16 males and 14 females, were selected as the control group during the physical examination of the Pediatrics Department of Xining Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qinghai Province. The serum levels of NSE and MBP in each group were detected, and the children's GMFM-88 scores were evaluated before and after treatment. The SPSS19.0 software was used for statistical analysis, the count data was tested by χ2. Results: The serum NSE and MBP levels of the control group were (5.96±0.80), (0.71±0.15) µg/L. Before treatment, the serum NSE and MBP levels of children with severe, moderate, and mild cerebral palsy were [(21.63±1.92), (3.63±0.49) µg/L], [(17.86±1.43) µg/L, (2.21±0.07) µg/L] and [(15.14±0.95), (1.76±0.30) µg/L], respectively. After treatment, the serum NSE and MBP levels of the conventional treatment group and the comprehensive treatment group were [(13.54±2.41), (2.07±0.85) µg/L] and [(12.09±2.37), (1.81±0.69) µg/L], respectively, and the GMFM-88 score was (116.75±27.41) points and (125.94±24.93) points. The levels of NSE and MBP in the serum of children with cerebral palsy were significantly higher than those of normal children in the control group, and their levels increased with the degree of disease, and the corresponding gross motor function scores were lower. After treatment, the GMFM-88 scale assessment scores of the two groups of children were significantly improved (t values were 310.97 and 70.86, P values were both<0.05), and serum NSE and MBP levels decreased to varying degrees compared with before treatment. The decline in the comprehensive treatment group was greater than that in the conventional treatment group. Conclusions: Serum NSE and MBP levels in children with cerebral palsy at high altitude are significantly higher than those in healthy children, and their levels are closely related to the degree of impairment and GMFM-88 scores in children with cerebral palsy. Dynamic monitoring of changes in NSE and MBP levels may be responsible for the condition and treatment effects of children with cerebral palsy judgments based.

[Comparison and application of postprandial and fasting blood lipid levels in 839 physical examinees in Beijing].

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of application of non-fasting dyslipidemia cutoff values in community population. Methods: Self-control study was used. 839 physical examinees (292 males and 547 females) were recruited in clinical laboratory of Guang'an men Hospital from January to October 2018. The median (interquartile range) of age was 60 (54, 66) years. Blood samples were collected before and at 4 h after a standard breakfast. Comparison of fasting and postprandial lipoprotein levels was performed using Paired-Samples T Test or Two-Related-Samples Wilcoxon. The changes of 4-hour postprandial blood lipid levels and the percentages of postprandial dyslipidemia according to different stratification of fasting dyslipidemia were performed using one-way ANOVA and χ2 test, respectively. Results: Compared with fasting, 4-hour postprandial total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C), apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1) and apolipoprotein B (ApoB) decreased slightly, postprandial triglyceride (TG) increased by 0.72 mmol/L, and postprandial remnant-like lipoprotein cholesterol (RLP-C) increased by 0.27 mmol/L (t or Z values = 10.26,22.94,24.22,4.71,16.61,26.92,-23.58,-19.35, P<0.05, respectively). According to the non-fasting dyslipidemia cut-off values recommended by the European consensus, there were 10%, 16.6%, 10.1%, 12.3%, 30% and 34.9% of the population in the appropriate levels of fasting TC, LDL-C, HDL-C, non-HDL-C, TG and RLP-C distributed in elevated levels of postprandial, respectively. The changes of 4-hour postprandial TC, LDL-C, non-HDL-C and HDL-C increased with the elevation of fasting level (F=9.50,6.18,8.07,3.86,P<0.01), and the maximum changes of TC≤3.5%, LDL-C≤6.8%, non-HDL-C≤2.9%, HDL-C≤6.3%; the change of 4-hour postprandial TG increased slightly first and then decreased significantly (51.3% vs. 57.9% vs. 39.2%, F=19.05, P<0.01); the change of 4-hour postprandial RLP-C decreased (50.8% vs. 33.2%, F=10.40, P<0.01). The cut-off values of 4-hour postprandial dyslipidemia were TC ≥5.1 mmol/L, LDL-C ≥3.2 mmol/L, HDL-C ≤0.9 mmol/L, non-HDL-C ≥4.0 mmol/L and RLP-C ≥1.0 mmol/L. The cut-off values of borderline elevated and elevated TG levels were ≥2.2 mmol/L and ≥3.4 mmol/L, respectively. Conclusions: The cut-off values of postprandial dyslipidemia including TC, LDL-C, HDL-C, non-HDL-C and RLP-C were preliminarily established in community population, which could be applied to the routine lipid profile evaluation in the physical examination population. And it might be needed that postprandial TG was managed hierarchically according to different cut-off values.

MiR-203a functions as a tumor suppressor in bladder cancer by targeting SIX4.

Increasing evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) have essential roles in various biological processes, including proliferation, migration, invasion, cell cycle progression and apoptosis. It is considered that miRNA de-regulation contributes to tumor progression and metastasis in various cancers, and MiR-203a has been identified as a tumor suppressor in cancers, such as glioma, gastric cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. Herein, we established that miR-203a expression is significantly lower in bladder cancer tissues than in adjacent normal tissues, and that low miR-203a expression is associated with poor patient outcome. The over-expression of miR-203a inhibited bladder cancer cell proliferation, invasion, migration and EMT in vitro, and its up-regulation led to bladder cancer cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. This over-expression also inhibited the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Bioinformatics prediction software and luciferase reporter assay then confirmed that SIX4 is a direct target of miR-203a. We established negative correlation between SIX4 expression and miR-203a expression in bladder cancer tissues, and SIX4 silencing caused effects similar to miR-203a up-regulation Furthermore, SIX4 over-expression diminished the effects of miR-203a on bladder cancer cells in vitro. In summary, our study determined that miR-203a down-regulation is closely related to tumorigenesis in bladder cancer; thus suggesting that miR-203a is a potential prognostic marker and a potential target in bladder cancer treatment.

[Early diagnosis of subtype in early clinical stage lung adenocarcinoma by using an autoantibody panel and computed tomography].

Objective: To explore the value of CT and autoantibody panel to diagnosis the subtype in early clinical stage lung cancer,especially lepidic predominant adenocarcinoma (LPA),and to provide the correct information for the clinical and the prognosis evaluation. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted of 60 patients (total 63 subsolid nodules,which included 39 PSN and 24 pGGN) who underwent surgical resection or needle biopsy for stage Ⅰa or Ⅰb lung adenocarcinoma at Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Zhengzhou University between June 2017 and April 2018,age from 28 to 82 years old,and the average age was (52±7) years. All patients underwent a pretreatment chest LDCT and the peripheral blood of all patients were used to detect the tumor related antibody (including p53, GAGE7, PGP9.5, CAGE, MAGEA1, SOX2, GBU4-5) through enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. All the patients were divided into LPA group (43 subsolid nodules, which included AIS 10 subsolid nodules, MIA 11 subsolid nodules, LPA 22 subsolid nodules) and invasive predominant adenocarcinoma (IPA) group (20 subsolid nodules). The information of CT scanning was measured and assessed in lung and mediastinal windows with double blind method. The mean computed tomography (m-CT) value and the solid component/tumor ratio in three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) planes were measured and analyzed using computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system. Results: There were 20 partial solid nodules in IPA group, 19 partial solid nodules in LPA group and 24 ground-glass nodules (χ(2)=19.278,P=0.000). There were 4 circular nodules, 16 irregular nodules in the IPA group, 21 circular nodules, 5 oval nodules and 7 irregular nodules in the LPA group χ(2)=8.587,P=0.003). The incidence of burr, vascular aggregation and bronchial truncation in IPA group was higher than that in LPA group (40.0% vs 16.3%, 70.0% vs 18.6%, 30.0% vs 2.3%, χ(2)=4.234,15.860,10.580, P=0.040,0.000, 0.001). The incidence of clear tumor lung interface in patients in LPA group was significantly higher than that in patients in IPA group (97.7% vs 65.0%, χ(2)=13.146,P=0.00). Of all the quantitative analysis of nodules,the m-CT value, the solid component/tumor ratios in three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) planes in IPA group were higher than those of LPA group ((-180±156) vs (-410±213) HU, 0.44±0.32 vs 0.14±0.26, 0.54±0.26 vs 0.18±0.26, t=-4.208, -3.951、-5.166, P=0.000, 0.000, 0.000). Among the 60 patients with lung cancer, there were 33 cases with positive antibody in peripheral blood, with a positive rate of 55.0%. The positive rate of 7-AABs was 70.0% in IPA group and 44.2% in LPA group, which had no statistical difference (χ(2)=3.647, P=0.056), the positive expression of tumor-associated antibodies was independent of the patient's age, CT value and nodular solid components and lung nodular volume ratio and area ratio, P>0.05, only in correlation with pleural traction (χ(2)=3.866, P=0.049). Conclusion: Compared with IPA, the imaging features of LDCT about the mGGN and PGGN appearance, clear tumor-lung interface, low m-CT and the solid component/tumor ratio in two-dimensional or three-dimensional (3D) planes are benefit for the diagnosis of the LPA; the expression of tumor-associated antibody group is independent of the age of the patient and the number of nodular solid components, and is only related to pleural depression, which is not conducive to the identification of LPA and IPA.

Assessment of serum Golgi protein 73 as a biomarker for the diagnosis of significant fibrosis in patients with chronic HBV infection.

Transient elastography (TE) is accurate in staging fibrosis noninvasively. However, a reliable serum biomarker with comparable accuracy is also important, especially when TE is unreliable/unavailable. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of serum Golgi protein 73 (GP73) for significant fibrosis in patients with chronic HBV infection. A total of 801 patients with chronic liver disease (CLD; 492 chronic HBV infection and 309 non-HBV liver disease) with liver biopsy performance were enrolled. Healthy controls (n = 180) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients (n = 85) were included for comparisons. Liver biopsy was used as the reference method for fibrosis staging. Serum GP73 level was measured in duplicate in double-blind fashion. Serum GP73 was highest in HCC but also significantly higher in chronic hepatitis B than in healthy controls. The elevation of serum GP73 in non-HCC patients was significantly associated with the presence of significant fibrosis independently of ALT level, liver stiffness (LS) value, inflammation grade and other confounding factors. The diagnostic performance of serum GP73 was accurate in antiviral-naïve HBV patients (area under the receiver operating curve [AUROC], 0.76 95% CI: 0.72-0.81) but not in patients with ongoing antiviral treatment (AUROC, 0.60). The utility of serum GP73 was also confirmed in non-HBV CLD (AUROC, 0.80 95% CI: 0.75-0.85). Serum GP73 was comparable to LS (AUROC, 0.78 95% CI: 0.73-0.82) and significantly better than AST to platelet ratio index (APRI) (AUROC, 0.67 95% CI: 0.62-0.72) and FIB-4 (AUROC, 0.68 95% CI: 0.63-0.73). In conclusion, serum GP73 is an accurate serum marker for significant fibrosis in chronic HBV infection, with higher accuracy than APRI and FIB-4. Serum GP73 is potentially a complementary tool for TE when evaluating the necessity of antiviral treatment, particularly in patients without definite antiviral indication.

Mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width and platelet count in erectile dysfunction: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), platelet count (PC) and erectile dysfunction (ED). We searched for observational studies from PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and CNKI up to 31 March 2016. Two reviewers independently selected the studies and extracted the data. MPV, PDW, and PC and mean differences in these platelet indices between healthy subjects and ED patients were explored using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software package. Seven studies including 795 patients and 524 healthy subjects met the inclusion criteria. The MPV was significantly larger in patients with ED than controls with the standardised mean difference of 0.596 fL (95% CI: 0.378, 0.815, p < 0.001). In ED patients, the pooled mean difference in MPV between vasculogenic ED patients and nonvasculogenic ED patients was 0.706 fL in case-control studies (95% CI: 0.410, 1.002, p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in PDW and PC between healthy subjects and ED patients. The available data suggest that larger MPV was associated with ED. Patients with vasculogenic ED tend to have higher MPV than nonvasculogenic ED patients. Further studies are needed to assess whether increased MPV in ED patients is associated with increased cardiovascular disease.

Molecular characterization, expression, and functional analysis of chicken TRAF6.

Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) is a crucial adaptor molecule of the interleukin-1 receptor/Toll-like receptor (IL-1/TLR) superfamily, which can trigger downstream signaling cascades involved in innate immunity. The function of TRAF6 has been clarified in mammals but is poorly understood in chicken. In our study, we investigated TRAF6 function in birds, particularly in chicken innate immune responses, by cloning and characterizing chicken TRAF6 (chTRAF6). The full-length coding sequence of chTRAF6 comprised 1638 bp and encoded a 545-amino acid protein, which shares high sequence similarity with TRAF6 of other species and consists of four structurally conserved domains. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that chTRAF6 was widely expressed in all tested tissues and its expression was induced in chicken embryo fibroblast cells treated with poly(I:C) and poly(dA:dT). Increased expression of chTRAF6 was observed both in vitro and in vivo following infection with Newcastle disease virus in chickens. Taken together, these results suggest that chTRAF6 plays a vital role in host defense against viral infection in chicken.

[Comparison of the prognostic value of the seventh and eighth edition of The AJCC Esophageal Cancer Staging System for the patients with stage â ¡ and â ¢esophageal squamous cell carcinoma].

Objective: To compare and evaluate the prognostic value of the 7(th) and 8(th) edition of The AJCC Esophageal Cancer Staging System for patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: The clinical data of 328 esophageal cancer patients who received operation at Department of Esophageal Cancer, Tianjin Tumour Hospital from January 2006 to December 2010 were restrospectively analyzed. There were 63 female and 265 male patients. The mean age was 65 (range: 33 to 87) years. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to identify the prognosis factors. Results: The five years overall survival rates among patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ were both significantly different (χ(2)=87.035, 84.730, all P=0.000) according to the 7(th) and 8(th) editions of the TNM staging systems. The five years overall survival rate among patients with stage ⅡB and ⅢA were significantly different (39.6% vs 23.4%, P=0.001) according to the 7(th) edition of the esophageal cancer staging systems.According to the 8(th) edition of the esophageal cancer staging system, the 5 years survival rate of patients with stage ⅡA and ⅡB, ⅢB and Ⅳ was statistically significant (58.5% vs. 35.5%, P=0.040; 18.9% vs. 0, P=0.000). In multivariate analysis, tumor size, T staging, N staging and tumor differentiation (HR=1.592, 95%CI: 1.185 to 2.139, P=0.002; HR=1.519, 95% CI: 1.236 to 1.867, P=0.000; HR=1.647, 95% CI: 1.448 to 1.874, P=0.000; HR=1.404, 95% CI: 1.059 to 1.861, P=0.018) were the main independent prognosis factors affecting the prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients. Conclusions: Both the 7(th) and the 8(th) editions of TNM staging systems are able to reflect the clinical prognosis of patients receiving radical resection of esophageal cancer, and the factors of tumor size, differentiaton, invasion depth and lymph node metastases are the independent predictors of prognosis. The 8(th) edition provides a more detailed and more reasonable for the staging of stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ for esophageal cancer patients than the 7(th) edition, and it is more accurate for the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer after surgery.

[Influence of occupational aluminum exposure on cognitive function and glutamate receptor protein expression in workers].

Objective: To investigate the influence of occupational aluminum exposure on cognitive function and glutamate receptor protein expression in peripheral blood lymphocytes in workers and the possibility of glutamate receptor being used as a biomarker for cognitive impairment in aluminum workers. Methods: From October to December, 2014, cluster sampling was performed to select 121 workers in aluminum electrolysis workshop as exposure group and 231 workers in thermoelectric workshop and logistics department as control group. Mini-Mental State Examination, clock drawing test, digit span test (DST) , verbal fluency test (VFT) , and Fuld Object-Memory (FOM) Evaluation were used to analyze cognitive function. Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry was used to measure plasma aluminum level as an exposure indicator. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the content of glutamate receptor proteins in peripheral blood lymphocytes, including the subunits of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor NR1, NR2A, and NR2B and metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGluR1) . The correlation between cognitive function indices and the content of glutamate receptor proteins was analyzed. Results: There was no significant difference in plasma aluminum level between the control group and the exposure group (132.52±80.40 µg/L vs 182.88±72.32 µg/L, P>0.05) . According to the plasma aluminum level, the study subjects were divided into control group and low-, medium-, and high-level plasma aluminum groups, and there were significant differences in plasma aluminum level between these groups (all P<0.01) . The high-level plasma aluminum group had a significantly lower memory ability score than the control group and the low- and medium-level plasma aluminum groups (all P<0.05) . The high-level plasma aluminum group had lower DST and digital span forward (DSF) scores than the control group and the low-and medium-level plasma aluminum groups. The low-, medium-, and high-level plasma aluminum groups had lower digital span backward (DSB) scores than the control group. The medium-and high-level plasma aluminum groups had lower VFT scores than the control group and the low-level plasma aluminum group. The high-level plasma aluminum group had significantly lower expression of NR1 and NR2A proteins than the control group and the low-and medium-level plasma aluminum groups, and the medium- and high-level plasma aluminum groups had significantly higher expression of mGluR1 protein than the control group and the low-level plasma aluminum group (all P<0.05) . The expression of NR1 and NR2A proteins was negatively correlated with plasma aluminum level (r=-0.475 and -0.692, both P<0.05) , andthe expression of mGluR1 protein was positively correlated with plasma aluminum level (r=0.756, P<0.05) . The expression of NR1 protein was positively correlated with DSF, DSB, DST, and VFT scores (r(s)=0.213, 0.249, 0.271, and 0.228, all P<0.05) , and the expression of NR2A protein was positively correlated with VFT score (r(s)=0.206, P<0.05) . Conclusion: Occupational aluminum exposure may affect workers' memory function, and the expression of NR1 and NR2A in peripheral blood lymphocytes is correlated with cognitive function indices and can be used as biomarkers for cognitive impairment in aluminum workers.

[Association between H3K4me3/BDNF and the cognitive function of workers occupationally exposed to aluminum].

Objective: To investigate the influence of occupational aluminum exposure on cognitive function and its relationship with tri-methyl histone H3 lysine residues 4 points (H3K4me3) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. Methods: By cluster random sampling method, a total of 235 cases of male workers selected from a Shanxi aluminum factory were recruited in the study in September 2015. Used the occupational epidemiological investigation questionnaire, which included Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) , Clock Drawing Test (CDT) , Digit Span Test (DST, including forward test DSFT and backward test DSBT) , Fuild Object Memory Evaluation (FOME) and Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) , to collect workers' basic information and assess their cognitive function score. Detected the concentration of aluminum in plasma by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Workers were divided into three groups by the 25 percentile and 75 percentile of the aluminum content, such as low, middle and high aluminum concentration groups. The concentrations of H3K4me3 in lymphocyte and BDNF in plasma were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The levels of aluminum in plasma was 134.36 (100.14, 178.96) µg/L. The scores of MMSE, DSFT, DSBT, DST of high aluminum concentration group were lower than low aluminum group (27.98±1.25 vs 28.83±1.54, 9.19±2.00 vs 10.64±2.87, 6.08±1.63 vs 7.19±3.07, 15.27±3.11 vs 17.81±4.72, all P<0.05) , the scores of CDT, FOME, VFT among three groups had no statistical significance (all P>0.05) . The expression levels of H3K4me3 and BDNF of high aluminum concentration group were lower than the low group [ (18.45±9.81) ng/µg Pro vs (23.76±9.89) ng/µg Pro, (26.07±10.18) ng/ml vs (31.66±9.24) ng/ml, all P<0.05]. Multiple correlation analysis showed that aluminum concentration were negatively correlated toH3K4me3, BDNF, MMSE, DSFT, DST, respectively (r(s)=-0.307、-0.214、-0.252、-0.197, -0.181, all P<0.01) . Conclusion: Exposure to occupational aluminum for a long time may change cognitive function, which go along with the decreasing of H3K4me3 level in lymphocyte and BDNF protein expression in plasma.

Primary esophageal adenosquamous carcinoma: a retrospective analysis of 24 cases.

Primary adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) of the esophagus is a rare kind of malignancy characterized by mixed glandular and squamous differentiation as well as a propensity for aggressive clinical behavior. Data on the evaluation of the clinicopathological features and the prognosis of patients suffering from this malignancy are few because of the rarity of this disease. We conducted a retrospective review of 24 patients with primary esophageal ASC among 6546 esophageal cancer patients who underwent transthoracic esophagectomy in our hospital. The clinicopathological presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and prognostic factors of the patients were respectively investigated. The Kaplan-Meier method and the log rank test were used to calculate and compare overall survival (OS). The Cox proportional hazards model was employed to identify independent prognostic factors. There were 18 males and 6 females with a median age of 60 years (range: 40-78 years). The clinical symptoms, macroscopic type, as well as the radiological and endoscopic features of esophageal ASC were similar to those of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Sixteen (88.9%) of the 18 cases who underwent preoperative esophagoscopic biopsy were misdiagnosed as adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma. The overall median follow-up period was 36 months, and the median survival time was 32 months. The 1, 3, 5-year OS rates were 75.0%, 48.5%, and 19.4%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that gender (P=0.047), lymph node metastasis (P=0.007), and TNM stage (P=0.037) were important factors associated with OS of the 22 patients who underwent radical resection. Multivariate analysis showed that the pathological N stage was the only independent prognostic factor (P=0.031, hazard ratio [HR], 5.369, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.167-24.700). These results suggest that esophageal ASC is an uncommon disease prone to be misdiagnosed by endoscopic biopsy. Surgical resection is the primary treatment, but the prognosis of ASC is usually poorer than conventional squamous cell carcinoma. Lymph node metastasis is an independent prognostic factor after radical resection.

A multi-omics analysis reveals vitamin D supplementation since childhood modulates molecules for signal transductions in the mouse striatum.

Vitamin D is a critical fat-soluble vitamin for the nervous system. Research suggests a potential link between vitamin D deficiency and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), particularly in children and adolescents. The core symptoms of ADHD are associated with deficits in striatal functions, and maintaining sufficient levels of vitamin D may help prevent or alleviate ADHD symptoms. However, the molecular changes in the striatum caused by vitamin D supplementation that may contribute to the brain processes linked to ADHD symptoms remain unclear. In this study, we established a mouse model fed diets with three different dose gradients of vitamin D3 (0, 500, and 2000 IU/kg·day) from postnatal day 21 (P21) to 14 weeks of age. Striatal tissues from mice with gradient vitamin D3 intake were subjected to reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS), RNA-sequencing, and neurotransmitter profiling by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Our findings indicate that vitamin D supplementation since childhood influenced the overall landscape of DNA methylations and the expression of many genes involved in critical neurological functions in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, our data demonstrate how vitamin D modulated neuropeptide signaling pathways, as well as cholinergic and dopaminergic synapses in the striatum, through an orchestrated mechanism involving epigenetic and transcriptional regulations. Furthermore, we observed a synergistic effect of vitamin D on dopamine release following acute methylphenidate injection into our mouse model. In summary, this study provides mechanistic insights into how dietary vitamin D supplementation since childhood can modulate specific signal transductions among striatal cells, underscoring the importance of vitamin D supplementation for ADHD management.

Clinical significance of phospholipase A2 group IIA (PLA2G2A) expression in primary resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

AIM: The aim of this study was to clarify the clinico-pathological outcome and prognostic significance of phospholipase A2 group IIA (PLA2G2A) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining for PLA2G2A was performed on surgical specimens obtained from 132 patients with ESCC, and 43 from matched adjacent non-malignant sites. Differences in PLA2G2A expression and clinical characteristics were compared by χ2 test. Correlations between prognostic outcomes and with PLA2G2A expression were investigated using Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: Immunoreactivity of PLA2G2A was observed in 32% (42 of 132) of ESCC tissues compared with negative staining in matched adjacent non-malignant sites. In addition, PLA2G2A expression inversely correlated with pathological classification (p < 0.05 for T, N, and M classifications) and clinical staging (p = 0.03). Furthermore, patients with positive PLA2G2A had prolonged overall survival (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Reduced PLA2G2A expression may be a risk factor for advanced clinicopathological classification and poor patient survival. These findings suggest that PLA2G2A may serve as a useful marker for the prognostic evaluation of ESCC patients.

Tumor purity-associated genes influence hepatocellular carcinoma prognosis and tumor microenvironment.

Introduction: Tumor purity takes on critical significance to the progression of solid tumors. The aim of this study was at exploring potential prognostic genes correlated with tumor purity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by bioinformatics analysis. Methods: The ESTIMATE algorithm was applied for determining the tumor purity of HCC samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The tumor purity-associated genes with differential expression (DEGs) were identified based on overlap analysis, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), and differential expression analysis. The prognostic genes were identified in terms of the prognostic model construction based on the Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival analysis and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression analyses. The expression of the above-described genes was further validated by the GSE105130 dataset from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. We also characterized the clinical and immunophenotypes of prognostic genes. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was carried out for exploring the biological signaling pathway. Results: A total of 26 tumor purity-associated DEGs were identified, which were involved in biological processes such as immune/inflammatory responses and fatty acid elongation. Ultimately, we identified ADCK3, HK3, and PPT1 as the prognostic genes for HCC. Moreover, HCC patients exhibiting higher ADCK3 expression and lower HK3 and PPT1 expressions had a better prognosis. Furthermore, high HK3 and PPT1 expressions and low ADCK3 expression resulted in high tumor purity, high immune score, high stromal score, and high ESTIMATE score. GSEA showed that the abovementioned prognostic genes showed a significant correlation with immune-inflammatory response, tumor growth, and fatty acid production/degradation. Discussion: In conclusion, this study identified novel predictive biomarkers (ADCK3, HK3, and PPT1) and studied the underlying molecular mechanisms of HCC pathology initially.

[Preliminary report on the use of total lumpectomyconical remnant gastric - esophagus side overlap anastomosis in radical resection of Siewert type II proximal gastric cancer].

Objective: There is no standard method for esophageal remnant gastric reconstruction for proximal gastrectomy. Reflux esophagitis caused by esophagogastrostomy remains a difficult surgical problem. To report the preliminary surgical results of novel esophagus-conical remnant gastric side overlap anastomosis (CGEO) , with particular emphasis on postoperative esophageal reflux. Methods: In June 2022, we developed a novel CGEO for laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy on two patients with Siewert type II esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma. Surgical procedures for CGEO: (1) Laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy and preparation of conically shaped gastric remnant; (2) Determining anastomotic site of residual stomach and esophagus; (3) Side-to-side anastomosis of right esophageal wall to anterior of conical gastric remnant; (4) Valvuloplasty of esophageal stump. Results: Case 1 was a 71-year-old man with an operation time of 305 minutes and was successfully discharged from the hospital on the 9th day after surgery, and the postoperative pathology was T3N0M0. Case 2 was an 82-year-old man with an operation time of 325 minutes. He was discharged on the 10th day after surgery. In both cases, only mild esophageal mucosal changes were seen in gastroscopy, there were no obvious symptoms of esophageal reflux. There was also no significant weight change at half a year after operation. Conclusion: CGEO is moderately safe in radical surgery for proximal gastric cancer, and may have a preventive effect on the occurrence of postoperative esophageal reflux, but long-term results need to be confirmed by further studies with follow-up.

Prediction of digestible and metabolizable energy content and standardized ileal amino Acid digestibility in wheat shorts and red dog for growing pigs.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of chemical composition of wheat shorts and red dog on energy and amino acid digestibility in growing pigs and to establish prediction models to estimate their digestible (DE) and metabolizable (ME) energy content and as well as their standardized ileal digestible (SID) amino acid content. For Exp. 1, sixteen diets were fed to thirty-two growing pigs according to a completely randomized design during three successive periods. The basal diet was based on corn and soybean meal while the other fifteen diets contained 28.8% wheat shorts (N = 7) or red dog (N = 8), added at the expense of corn and soybean meal. Over the three periods, each diet was fed to six pigs with each diet being fed to two pigs during each period. The apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of energy in wheat shorts and red dog averaged 75.1 and 87.9%. The DE values of wheat shorts and red dog averaged 13.8 MJ/kg (range 13.1 to 15.0 MJ/kg) and 15.1 MJ/kg (range 13.3 to 16.6 MJ/kg) of dry matter, respectively. For Exp. 2, twelve growing pigs were allotted to two 6×6 Latin Square Designs with six periods. Ten of the diets were formulated based on 60% wheat shorts or red dog and the remaining two diets were nitrogen-free diets based on cornstarch and sucrose. Chromic oxide (0.3%) was used as an indigestible marker in all diets. There were no differences (p>0.05) in SID values for the amino acids in wheat shorts and red dog except for lysine and methionine. Apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and SID values for lysine in different sources of wheat shorts or red dog, which averaged 78.1 and 87.8%, showed more variation than either methionine or tryptophan. A stepwise regression was performed to establish DE, ME and amino acid digestibility prediction models. Data indicated that fiber content and amino acid concentrations were good indicators to predict energy values and amino acid digestibility, respectively. The present study confirms the large variation in the energy content and amino acid digestibility in wheat shorts and red dog, and describes the factors that influence this variation and presents equations based on chemical composition that could probably be used to predict the DE and ME values as well as the amino acid digestibility of wheat shorts and red dog.