Glyphosate-based herbicide causes spermatogenesis disorder and spermatozoa damage of the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) by affecting testes characteristic enzymes, antioxidant capacities and inducing apoptosis.

Glyphosate-based herbicide (GBH) is a popular herbicide, which may contaminate the water environment and affect aquatic animals. In this study, testes morphology, physiology function, apoptosis pathway, and spermatozoa quality of Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) were evaluated after 7 days of GBH exposure (48.945 mg/l,1/2 of the 96 h LC50 value of GBH). Results showed that GBH induced spermatogenesis disorder by H.E. staining. The obvious vacuolar degenerations and fewer spermatids of the testes accompanied by decreased primary spermatocytes-type seminiferous tubules (PSc-STs) were observed. The extensive apoptosis of spermatids by TUNEL staining was visible. Meanwhile, testes'' characteristic enzyme activities associated with spermatogenesis, including lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and acid phosphatase (ACP) were significantly decreased. Testes suffered oxidative damage as reflected by the significant decrease in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, the significant increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, and heat shock proteins (HSP-70) mRNA expression. Further studies demonstrated that GBH induced apoptosis of testes through the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway by upregulating the relative mRNA expression of cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 3 (Caspase-3), Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), and downregulating B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2). Oxidative damage may be one of the causes of GBH-induced apoptosis in testes. After GBH exposure, the morphology of spermatophores was changed. The survival and the acrosome reaction (AR) ratio of spermatozoa was significantly decreased. Altogether, these results demonstrated that GBH affects spermatogenesis, spermatophore and spermatozoa quality of E.sinensis, which provides novel knowledge about the toxic effects of GBH on the reproductive system of crustaceans.

Fabrication of Ultra-Fine-Grained W-TiC Alloys by a Simple Ball-Milling and Hydrogen Reduction Method.

In this paper, a simple method to fulfill the ideal microstructural design of particle reinforced tungsten (W) alloys with promising mechanical properties is presented. W-0.5 wt.% TiC powders with core-shell (TiC/W) structure are prepared by ball-milling and controlled hydrogen reduction processes. TEM observation demonstrates that the nano TiC particles are well coated by tungsten. The W-TiC powders are sintered by spark plasma sintering (SPS) under 1600 °C. The sintered microstructures are characterized by FESEM and TEM. It is found that the W-0.5TiC alloys obtain an ultra-fine-sized tungsten grain of approximately 0.7 µm. The TiC particles with the original nano sizes are uniformly distributed both in tungsten grain interiors and at tungsten grain boundaries with a high number density. No large agglomerates of TiC particles are detected in the microstructure. The average diameter of the TiC particles in the tungsten matrix is approximately 47.1 nm. The mechanical tests of W-0.5 TiC alloy show a significantly high microhardness and bending fracture strength of 785 Hv0.2 and 1132.7 MPa, respectively, which are higher than the values obtained in previous works. These results indicate that the methods used in our work are very promising to fabricate particle-dispersion-strengthened tungsten-based alloys with high performances.

Photo-induced self-catalysis of nano-Bi2MoO6 for solar energy harvesting and charge storage.

Efficient, sustainable, and integrated energy systems require the development of novel multifunctional materials to simultaneously achieve solar energy harvesting and charge storage. Bi-based oxysalt aurivillius phase materials are potential candidates due to their typical photovoltaic effect and their pseudo-capacitance charge storage behavior. Herein, we synthesized nano-Bi2MoO6 as a material for both solar energy harvesting and charge storage due to its suitable band gap for absorption of visible light and its well-defined faradaic redox reaction from Bi metal to Bi3+. The irradiation of visible light significantly affected the electrochemical processes and the dynamics of the Bi2MoO6 electrode. The photo-induced self-catalytic redox mechanism was carefully explored by adding sacrificial agents in photocatalysis reaction. In accordance with the rule of energy matching, the photo-generated holes oxidized the Bi metal to Bi3+, and the corresponding peak current increased by 79.5% at a scanning rate of 50 mV s-1. More importantly, the peak current retention rate remained higher than 92.5% during the entire 200 cycles. The photo-generated electrons facilitated a decrease of 184 mV in the overpotential of the reduction process. Furthermore, the irradiation of visible light also accelerated the ionic diffusion of the electrolyte. These investigations provide a unique perspective for the design and development of new multifunctional materials to synergistically realize solar energy harvesting and charge storage.

Inhibitory effect of dexamethasone on residual Lewis lung cancer cells in mice following palliative surgery.

Previous studies found that glucocorticoids were closely associated with the oncogenesis and development of numerous types of tumors. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of dexamethasone on the growth and angiogenesis of Lewis lung cancer cells in mice who received palliative surgery. Lewis lung carcinoma cells were inoculated subcutaneously into the right axilla of C57BL/6 mice. When tumor diameter reached 0.5 cm, 2 weeks later, palliative surgery was performed, and the mice were randomly divided into 3 groups with 6 animals in each group (control group, cisplatin group and dexamethasone group). From the first postoperative day, all the mice were administered with saline, cisplatin or dexamethasone for 10 days, and changes in xenograft tumor volumes were monitored. Cisplatin and dexamethasone were dissolved in normal saline (0.9%). All mice were sacrificed on postoperative day 11, and the whole body and the local tumors were weighed immediately. The expression levels of hypoxia inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), proliferating cell nuclear antigen and the microvessel density (MVD) in the tumor mass, were measured by immunohistochemistry, western blotting and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In the present study, tumor growth was inhibited in the cisplatin group and dexamethasone group, and the weights of tumors were significantly decreased in the cisplatin group and dexamethasone group compared with the control group (P<0.001). The expression levels of HIF-1α and VEGF and the MVD were significantly lower in the cisplatin group and dexamethasone group than in the control group (P<0.01). In conclusion, dexamethasone can inhibit the growth and angiogenesis of residual Lewis lung carcinoma subsequent to palliative surgery partially through downregulation of HIF-1α and VEGF signaling pathways.

Expression and Clinicopathological Significance of Mel-18 and Bmi-1 in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

The Polycomb group genes are a general class of regulators that are responsible for maintaining homeotic gene expression throughout cell division. Polycomb group expression plays an important role in oncogenesis of several types of human cancer. Melanoma nuclear protein 18 and B-cell-specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 are key Polycomb group proteins. Studies have shown that melanoma nuclear protein 18 is a potential tumor suppression, and B-cell-specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 is overexpressed in several human malignancies. However, the roles of melanoma nuclear protein 18 and B-cell-specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma are still unclear. In this study, we analyzed the expression levels of melanoma nuclear protein 18 and B-cell-specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 in 89 esophageal cancer tissues and paired normal mucosal tissues using immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses. We found that the expression of melanoma nuclear protein 18 in the carcinoma tissues was significantly lower than that in the noncancerous mucosal tissues (P < .05), and B-cell-specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 expression in the carcinoma tissues was significantly higher than that in the noncancerous mucosal tissues (P < .05). In addition, the expression of melanoma nuclear protein 18 was correlated with clinical stage, depth of invasion, and lymph node metastasis (P < .05) but was not correlated with gender, age, degree of differentiation, or disease-free survival (P > .05). B-cell-specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 expression was strongly correlated with the degree of differentiation, clinical stage, and lymph node metastasis (P <.05) but was not correlated with the gender, age, depth of invasion or disease-free survival (P > .05). Moreover, there was a negative correlation between melanoma nuclear protein 18 and B-cell-specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 expressions in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (P < .05). Our study suggests that melanoma nuclear protein 18 and B-cell-specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 may play a crucial role in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Melanoma nuclear protein 18 or B-cell-specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 may be a potential biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

B-cell specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 and peptidyl arginine deiminase IV positively regulate carcinogenesis and progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

High expression of B-cell specific Moloney leukemia virus insert site 1 (Bmi-1) and peptidyl arginine deiminase IV (PADI4) is associated with esophageal carcinoma. However, few studies have investigated the association between the Bmi-1 and PADI4 genes. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of Bmi-1 and PADI4 and identify the association between the Bmi-1 and PADI4 genes in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissues. Bmi-1 and PADI4 gene expression levels were measured using immunohistochemistry, western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction in ESCC tissues from 86 patients who had not received pre-operative chemoradiation. The results revealed that the Bmi-1 and PADI4 genes had increased expression in carcinoma tissues compared with pericarcinous tissue (P<0.05). Bmi-1 gene expression was revealed to be associated with differentiation degree, clinical stage and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05), but had no association with gender, age or depth of invasion (P>0.05). The expression of PADI4 was associated with clinical stage, depth of invasion and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05), but was not associated with gender, age or differentiation degree (P>0.05). In addition, there was a positive association between Bmi-1 and PADI4 gene expression in ESCC (P<0.05). These results indicated that Bmi-1 and PADI4 positively regulate carcinogenesis and progression of ESCC.

α-fetoprotein-producing gastric carcinoma: A case report of a rare subtype and literature review.

α-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing gastric carcinoma is a rare type of gastric cancer, and the characteristics have not yet been fully elucidated. The present study reports the case of a patient with this type of gastric cancer. A 66-year-old male was referred to the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University (Jinan, China) with a 20-day history of retrosternal pain. A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a thickening of the wall of the cardia and massive lymph node swelling in the region of the lesser curvature of the stomach. A laboratory investigation revealed that the serum AFP levels of the patient were elevated to 46.49 ng/ml (normal level, <12.00 ng/ml), and the serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels were 382.22 ng/ml (normal range, <5.00 ng/ml). An endoscopy revealed an elevated tumor and AFP-producing gastric cancer was diagnosed. As the tumor was surgically unresectable, the patient received systemic adjuvant chemotherapy [consisting of 1 cycle of oxaliplatin (150 mg; day 1)-fluorouracil(1.0 g; days 2-6)-calcium folinate (0.3 g; days 2-6), 4 cycles of paclitaxel (80 mg; day 1 and 8, repeated day 21) and capecitabine (1,000 g/m2, twice daily; days 1-14, repeated day 21), and 2 cycles of oxaliplatin (130 mg/m2; day 1, repeated day 21) and S-1 (100 mg/d; day 1- day 14; repeated day 21)]. During the chemotherapy intermission, the patient experienced partial remission; the serum AFP levels remained between 44.5 and 32.7 ng/ml, and serum CEA levels decreased to a normal level. The CT scan revealed that the enlarged lymph nodes of the patient had decreased in size. During the preoperative examinations, an abdominal CT scan revealed no metastasis to the liver. A radical gastrectomy was performed on October 20, 2014. Additionally, the tumor did not demonstrate the diffusion of AFP. The histopathological examination revealed a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, with local and neuroendocrine differentiation and no hepatoid features. According to these histopathological findings, the tumor was diagnosed as AFP-producing non-hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach. The patient was treated with systemic immunity-enhancing therapy and has been free of recurrence for 2 months. The present study describes a rare case of AFP-producing non-hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach, with a review of the literature and an investigation of the clinical features.

Misdiagnosis of an α-fetoprotein-producing esophageal carcinoma: A case report and literature review.

α-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing esophageal carcinoma is a rare type of esophageal cancer, with its characteristics not yet fully clarified. In the present study, a case of esophageal carcinoma was misdiagnosed as an AFP-producing esophageal carcinoma. The patient was a 50-year-old woman who was referred to Qianfoshan Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University in November 2014 with a 3-month history of progressive dysphagia. A chest computed tomography (CT) scan showed thickening of the wall of the esophagus, corresponding regions of luminal stenosis and massive lymph node swelling around the lesser curvature of the esophagus. A laboratory investigation showed that the serum AFP levels of the patient were elevated to 18.97 ng/ml (normal range <12 ng/ml). These laboratory investigation findings combined with the aforementioned pathological diagnosis supported a diagnosis of AFP-producing esophageal carcinoma. An abdominal ultrasound was performed and a cystic low-density measuring 5×4 mm was identified. No metastases were revealed in the liver. The boundary of the focal low density was clear, which indicated a clinical diagnosis of liver cyst. A radical esophagectomy was performed on December 5, 2014. Microscopically, the tumor was a moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma invading the serous layer, with no hepatoid features. Immunohistochemistry showed that the cells were diffusely negative for AFP expression. Histopathological examination revealed the absence of hepatoid features. According to these findings, the tumor was diagnosed as a moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. In the present study, the case of a patient with squamous cell carcinoma that was misdiagnosed as an α-fetoprotein-producing esophageal carcinoma was reported, with a review of the literature.

Clinical Application of Recombinant Human Endostatin in Postoperative Early Complementary Therapy on Patients with Non-small Cell Lung Cancer in Chinese Mainland.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical application of recombinant human endostatin (Endostar) in the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Chinese mainland. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 75 patients diagnosed as NSCLC were randomly divided into control group (37 cases) and treatment group (38 cases). Control group was treated with postoperative complementary chemotherapy containing two-agent platinum protocol on postoperative d21, 3 weeks as a cycle, for totally 4~6 cycles. On this basis, treatment group was added with Endostar 7.5 mg/m2 on postoperative d8~9, 3~4 h/time, qd, 14 weeks as a cycle, for totally 4 cycles. The interval between every two cycles was 7 d. The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS), 5-year survival time and complications in both groups were observed. RESULTS: Compared with control group, the average PFS increased evidently in treatment group by 9.8 months (41.6 months vs. 31.8 months), and there was significant difference (P<0.05). And the median PFS was 42.5 months in treatment group, obviously longer than that in control group (33.7 months) by 8.8 months (P<0.05). Additionally, the 5-year overall survival rate (OS), average survival time and median survival time (MST) were 47.4%, 50.1 months and 59.3 months in treatment group, significantly higher than the 29.7%, 42.1 months and 43.5 months in control group (P<0.05). Only 1 patient showed poor healing of surgical wound in treatment group, but no surgery-associated complication was found in control group. Moreover, the postoperative complementary therapy-connected complication rates were 63.2% (24/38) and 59.5% (22/37) in treatment group and control group respectively, but there was no significant difference (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The application of Endostar combined with sensitive platinum-contained chemotherapeutic agents in the postoperative complementary chemotherapy can be widely used in clinic because it can significantly prolong the long-term survival time of patients with NSCLC.