Differential Expression of KIF18B in Gastric Cancer and Its Role in Chemotherapy Sensitivity.

Gastric cancer (GC) is a main cause of cancer death in the world, and improving the chemotherapy sensitivity can enhance the chemotherapy efficacy of GC. The study objective is to explore the differential KIF18B expression in GC and its effect on GC chemotherapy sensitivity. The KIF18B expression in GC tissues and adjacent normal tissues was analyzed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The relationship between differential KIF18B expression and different clinicopathological features was detected. It was found that KIF18B was highly expressed in GC tissues, and KIF18B expression was differential in patients with different clinicopathological features. The upregulation of KIF18B has a positive correlation with the poor therapeutic effect and high KIF18 was associated with lower 3-year overall survival and disease-free survival. The KIF18B-downregulated NCI-N87 cells were constructed and tested by cell counting kit-8 assay and colony formation. Cell migration and invasion were detected by Transwell assay. The xenograft tumor model was established to observe the effect of KIF18B on the efficacy of chemotherapy. The upregulation of KIF18B reduced the chemotherapy sensitivity of GC cells and enhanced their proliferation, migration, and invasion. Silencing KIF18B inhibited tumor growth and promoted chemotherapy efficacy in vivo. In summary, KIF18B inhibitor may have a potential function for improving the efficacy of chemotherapy in GC.

Potential of MR histogram analyses for prediction of response to chemotherapy in patients with colorectal hepatic metastases.

PURPOSE: To determine if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) histogram analyses can help predict response to chemotherapy in patients with colorectal hepatic metastases by using response evaluation criteria in solid tumours (RECIST1.1) as the reference standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Standard MRI including diffusion-weighted imaging (b=0, 500 s/mm(2)) was performed before chemotherapy in 53 patients with colorectal hepatic metastases. Histograms were performed for apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps, arterial, and portal venous phase images; thereafter, mean, percentiles (1st, 10th, 50th, 90th, 99th), skewness, kurtosis, and variance were generated. Quantitative histogram parameters were compared between responders (partial and complete response, n=15) and non-responders (progressive and stable disease, n=38). Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) analyses were further analyzed for the significant parameters. RESULTS: The mean, 1st percentile, 10th percentile, 50th percentile, 90th percentile, 99th percentile of the ADC maps were significantly lower in responding group than that in non-responding group (p=0.000-0.002) with area under the ROC curve (AUCs) of 0.76-0.82. The histogram parameters of arterial and portal venous phase showed no significant difference (p>0.05) between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Histogram-derived parameters for ADC maps seem to be a promising tool for predicting response to chemotherapy in patients with colorectal hepatic metastases. KEY POINTS: • ADC histogram analyses can potentially predict chemotherapy response in colorectal liver metastases. • Lower histogram-derived parameters (mean, percentiles) for ADC tend to have good response. • MR enhancement histogram analyses are not reliable to predict response.

Circulating Long Noncoding RNA as a Potential Target for Prostate Cancer.

Prostate cancer is considered the second most common visceral malignancy in men in Western countries. Its emergence is largely due to the coordination of a malignant network, and long noncoding RNA has been recently demonstrated to play a critical role in prostate carcinogenesis. The aberrant expression of long noncoding RNA in prostate cancer patients is strongly associated with diagnosis, risk stratification and carcinogenesis, information that provides new insight into the complicated intracellular milieu of prostate cancer. This review focuses mainly on literature evidence for the role of long noncoding RNA in prostate cancer, which may suggest novel strategies for its prognosis, diagnosis and clinical treatment.

A novel hemostatic sealant composed of gelatin, transglutaminase and thrombin effectively controls liver trauma-induced bleeding in dogs.

AIM: novel hemostatic sealant based on the in situ gel formation of gelatin catalyzed by thrombin and crosslinked by transglutaminase was designed. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of the hemostatic sealant in control of bleeding caused by liver trauma in dogs. METHODS: Hepatic trauma that mimicked the grade III-IV rupture of liver was made in 20 dogs. The traumatic lesion was topically administered the hemostatic sealant (treatment group, n=10), or a thrombin solution (control group, n=10). The time to achieve hemostasis and the blood loss were measured. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) examination was performed in each animal on d 3, d 7, and d 10 d postoperatively to study the healing of the lesions. RESULTS: The mean time to achieve hemostasis in the treatment group was significantly shorter than that in the control group (1.20±0.33 vs 6.70±0.64 min, P<0.05). The mean blood loss in the treatment group was significantly less than that in the control group (47.22±8.61 vs 79.29±11.97 mL, P<0.05). In CEUS examination, the traumatic lesions in the treatment group became significantly smaller on d 3, and disappeared on d 7, whereas the lesions in the control group still existed on d 10. Ascites were never found during 10 d follow-up in the treatment group but were observed on d 3 and d 7 in the control group. CONCLUSION: Compared with thrombin, the novel hemostatic sealant shows much better efficacy in hemostasis and may promote wound healing in dog liver trauma.

Serum basic fibroblast growth factor and interleukin-1ß predict the effect of first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: The incidence and mortality rates of gastric cancer in China are the second-highest in the world, and most patients with gastric cancer lose their chance of surgery by the time of their diagnosis. AIM: To explore the predictive potential of serum basic fibroblast growth factor and interleukin-1ß levels for the effect of first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer. METHODS: From the gastric cancer patients admitted to our hospital from May 2019 to April 2023, 84 patients were selected and randomly and equally assigned to the experimental or control group. The FLOT group received the FLOT chemotherapy regimen (composed of oxaliplatin + calcium folinate + fluorouracil + paclitaxel), while the SOX group received the SOX chemotherapy regimen (composed of oxaliplatin + tiga capsules). The clinical efficacy, tumor marker levels, adverse reactions, and survival rates of the two groups were compared 7 days after the end of the relevant treatments. RESULTS: The target effective rate of the FLOT group was 54.76%, which was much higher than that of the SOX group (33.33%; P < 0.05). After treatment, both the groups demonstrated lower levels of cancer antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199), and peptide tissue antigen (TPS). For several patients before treatment (P < 0.05). Third and fourth grades. In terms of adverse reactions, the level of white blood cells in both the groups was lower. Moreover, the incidence of hand-foot skin reactions in these two study groups was lower (P < 0.05), while those of peripheral neuritis, vomiting, diarrhea, and abnormal liver function were significant (P < 0.05). No statistically significant difference was noted between the two groups (P < 0.05). The 1-year survival rate was higher in the FLOT group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The FLOT regimen was effective in reducing the serum CEA, CA199, and TPS levels as well as in improving the 1-year survival rate of patients with good tolerability, making it worthy of clinical promotion and application.

A new eyeless species of Nereis (Annelida, Nereididae) from deep-sea sediments of the northern South China Sea.

A variety of nereidid species have been reported from the South China Sea, although little is known about the deep-sea species in this area. Recently, two specimens belonging to a novel nereidid polychaete were collected from a sedimentary habitat during an environmental survey to a deep-sea basin where cold seeps occur. This new species, Nereistricirrata sp. nov., is described herein, based on morphological and molecular analyses. The most noteworthy feature is the absence of eyes on the prostomium; it can be distinguished from other eyeless Nereis species by the arrangement of conical paragnaths on the pharynx, the nature of homogomph falcigers and the shape of notopodial lobes in posterior chaetigers. The reconstructed phylogenetic tree, using concatenated sequences of mtCOI, 16S, and 18S rRNA, showed that all Nereis species included in this study form a monophyletic clade with full support. The mtCOI-based interspecific comparisons revealed a high genetic divergence (23.1%-37.3% K2P) from four-eyed Nereis species with the available sequences. This is the first record of an eyeless Nereis species in the South China Sea.

PSD-95 in the anterior cingulate cortex contributes to neuropathic pain by interdependent activation with NR2B.

Studies suggest that the scaffolding protein, postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95), is involved in multiple neurological dysfunctions. However, the role of PSD-95 in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in neuropathic pain (NP) has not been investigated. The current study addressed the role of PSD-95 in the ACC in NP and its modulating profile with NMDA receptor subunit 2B (NR2B). The NP model was established by chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve, and mechanical and thermal tests were used to evaluate behavioral hyperalgesia. Protein expression and distribution were evaluated using immunohistochemistry and western blotting. The results showed that PSD-95 and NR2B were co-localized in neurons in the ACC. After CCI, both PSD-95 and NR2B were upregulated in the ACC. Inhibiting NR2B with Ro 25-6981 attenuated pain hypersensitivity and decreased the over-expression of PSD-95 induced by CCI. Furthermore, intra-ACC administration of PSD-95 antisense oligonucleotide not only attenuated pain hypersensitivity but also downregulated the NR2B level and the phosphorylation of cyclic AMP response element-binding protein. These results demonstrated that PSD-95 in the ACC contributes to NP by interdependent activation of NR2B.

Establishment of a risk assessment system for peptic ulcer recurrence and its value in individualized intervention.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the establishment of a risk assessment system for peptic ulcer (PU) recurrence and implement an individualized intervention for PU patients with a moderate to high recurrence risk to reduce the recurrence of PU in patients with a moderate to high recurrence risk. METHODS: The factors for PU recurrence were collected through consulting the literature, and a risk prediction model for PU recurrence was established using the univariate binary and multivariate multinomial Logistic stepwise regression analysis. According to the model, a total of 235 PU patients were divided into patients with high, moderate and low recurrence risks. A total of 71 PU patients with moderate to high recurrence risks were selected as the study subjects, and further divided into the control group (n=35) and the experimental group (n=36). The control group was not treated with intervention, while the experimental group was treated with individualized intervention. The PU recurrence, adverse emotions and changes of pain degree were assessed in the two groups at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after intervention. RESULTS: The univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that drinking alcohol, smoking, chronic diseases, oral NSAIDS and depression were associated with the recurrence of PU. Individualized intervention improved the recurrence rate, anxiety, depression, pain degree and quality of life of patients with moderate to high PU recurrence risk. CONCLUSION: Drinking alcohol, smoking, chronic diseases, oral NSAIDS and depression were associated with the recurrence of PU. Individualized intervention can improve the quality of prognosis and the recurrence risk of PU in patients, which has positive clinical significance.

Additive analgesic effect of dexmedetomidine and dezocine administered intrathecally in a mouse pain model.

BACKGROUND: It is known that dexmedetomidine can reduce opioid requirements and that there is a synergistic effect when dexmedetomidine and morphine (a full mu opioid receptor agonist) are administered together. However, it was unclear whether a synergistic or additive effect would be observed when dexmedetomidine was co-administered with a partial mu opioid receptor agonist. The present study was designed to elucidate such effects by intrathecally co-administering dexmedetomidine and dezocine, a partial mu receptor agonist, in a mouse pain model. METHODS: C57 mice (N = 165) were randomly divided into 19 groups. The tail flick test was adopted to measure the antinociceptive effects of the tested agents. The mice were divided into saline and drug groups to investigate the dose-dependent analgesic effects. Each drug was administered at fixed doses alone and in combination with one of three doses of a second drug. RESULTS: Dezocine (0.3125 - 1.25 µg) and dexmedetomidine (0.04 - 1 µg) both enhanced the tail withdrawal latency in dose-dependent fashions. Dexmedetomidine (0.04 - 1 µg) enhanced the analgesic effect of dezocine. Dezocine (0.3125 - 1.25 µg) enhanced the analgesic effect of dexmedetomidine. Compared with the individual drug effects, the combined effects of dezocine (0.625 µg) and dexmedetomidine (0.04 µg) were more potent 15 - 60 min after injection, but they remained similar to the sum of the effects of the two individual drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Dexmedetomidine and dezocine produce an additive analgesic effect on acute nociception when administered simultaneously.

Dezocine Antagonizes Morphine Analgesia upon Simultaneous Administration in Rodent Models of Acute Nociception.

BACKGROUND: Dezocine is a powerful analgesic that can be less addictive than morphine, yet how the two drugs interact in vivo is poorly understood. Here we administered dezocine alone or in combination with morphine to different acute nociception paradigms to explore the interactions of the 2 drugs upon co-administration. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how dezocine interacts with morphine in different acute nociception paradigms. STUDY DESIGN: Laboratory animal study. SETTING: Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China. METHODS: Healthy mice were treated with saline, dezocine (0.625 - 2.5 µg), or a combination of dezocine with morphine (2.5 µg). Tail withdrawal latency (TWL) was analyzed prior to and 30 minutes after drug administration. Rats were treated with saline, morphine (3 mg/kg), dezocine (3 mg/kg), or a combination of both drugs. The animals were then left uninjured, subjected to plantar incision, or underwent formaldehyde-induced acute inflammation. Nociception was then analyzed in terms of mechanical threshold (MT) to von Frey stimulation and paw withdrawal latency (PWL) to thermal stimulation. Formaldehyde-induced pain score was calculated based on the duration of biting and elevating of the animal's legs. Phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK) was also measured after plantar incision as a molecular index of nociception. RESULTS: Dezocine enhanced TWL but inhibited morphine analgesia in a dose-dependent fashion in mice. Usage of morphine or dezocine alone in uninjured rats increased MT, but co-administering both drugs did not further increase MT. Usage of one drug alone, and both drugs together increased MT and PWL relative to saline at 30 minutes after incision. Usage of one drug alone, but not both drugs together, increased MT and PWL at 120 minutes after incision. Dezocine reduced formaldehyde-induced nociception but co-administering both drugs did not further reduce pain behavior. LIMITATIONS: The results were obtained from animal study; clinical investigations will be needed to clarify their interaction. CONCLUSION: Dezocine antagonizes morphine analgesia on acute nociception upon simultaneous administration.Key words: Dezocine, morphine, acute nociception, analgesia.

Value of MR histogram analyses for prediction of microvascular invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma.

The objective is to explore the value of preoperative magnetic resonance (MR) histogram analyses in predicting microvascular invasion (MVI) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Fifty-one patients with histologically confirmed HCC who underwent diffusion-weighted and contrast-enhanced MR imaging were included. Histogram analyses were performed and mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis, 1th, 10th, 50th, 90th, and 99th percentiles were derived. Quantitative histogram parameters were compared between HCCs with and without MVI. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analyses were generated to compare the diagnostic performance of tumor size, histogram analyses of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps, and MR enhancement.The mean, 1th, 10th, and 50th percentiles of ADC maps, and the mean, variance. 1th, 10th, 50th, 90th, and 99th percentiles of the portal venous phase (PVP) images were significantly different between the groups with and without MVI (P <0.05), with area under the ROC curves (AUCs) of 0.66 to 0.74 for ADC and 0.76 to 0.88 for PVP. The largest AUC of PVP (1th percentile) showed significantly higher accuracy compared with that of arterial phase (AP) or tumor size (P <0.001).MR histogram analyses-in particular for 1th percentile for PVP images-held promise for prediction of MVI of HCC.

Feasibility of histogram analysis of susceptibility-weighted MRI for staging of liver fibrosis.

PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate whether histogram analysis of susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) could quantify liver fibrosis grade in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). METHODS: Fifty-three patients with CLD who underwent multi-echo SWI (TEs of 2.5, 5, and 10 ms) were included. Histogram analysis of SWI images were performed and mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis, and the 1st, 10th, 50th, 90th, and 99th percentiles were derived. Quantitative histogram parameters were compared. For significant parameters, further receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to evaluate the potential diagnostic performance for differentiating liver fibrosis stages. RESULTS: The number of patients in each pathologic fibrosis grade was 7, 3, 5, 5, and 33 for F0, F1, F2, F3, and F4, respectively. The results of variance (TE: 10 ms), 90th percentile (TE: 10 ms), and 99th percentile (TE: 10 and 5 ms) in F0-F3 group were significantly lower than in F4 group, with areas under the ROC curves (AUCs) of 0.84 for variance and 0.70-0.73 for the 90th and 99th percentiles, respectively. The results of variance (TE: 10 and 5 ms), 99th percentile (TE: 10 ms), and skewness (TE: 2.5 and 5 ms) in F0-F2 group were smaller than those of F3/F4 group, with AUCs of 0.88 and 0.69 for variance (TE: 10 and 5 ms, respectively), 0.68 for 99th percentile (TE: 10 ms), and 0.73 and 0.68 for skewness (TE: 2.5 and 5 ms, respectively). CONCLUSION: Magnetic resonance histogram analysis of SWI, particularly the variance, is promising for predicting advanced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.

[Genotypes distribution among hepatitis B virus infected patients with different immune statuses in Guangxi north region].

In order to find out the distribution of Genotype of those people infected with HBV (hepatitis B virus) from north Guangxi and the relationship between different immune status of HBV infected people and their genotypes, the HBV infected people are classified into three types according to immune tolerance, immune clearance ( response) and immune incompetence (residues). 150 cases from each type, a total of 450 cases are chosen to be tested with real time fluorescence quantitative PCR assay for detection of HBV infection in three kinds of different immune state of the HBV genotype. In the 450 cases, 323 cases belong to type B, 94 cases belong to type B, 23 cases belong to mixed type B+C and 10 cases belong to none B and none C type. Type B are the majority in all the three HBV immune status, made up to 70%, 78%, 67.33% of each type. The different immune state genotype proportion difference don't have statistical significance; immune state and genotypic correlation isn't statistically significant; type B HBV-DNA load is higher than that of type C, groups of persons aged 30 years or older with type C are significantly higher than that of < 30 years of age, the difference was statistically significant; among the genotypes of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBil) positive rate showed no significant difference between male and female; there was no significant difference in genotype distribution. The results show that, in North Guangxi HBV genotypes B, C accounts for the proportion, a small amount of B+C hybrid, occasionally fails to type HBV infection; among immune tolerance, immune clearance (response) and immune incompetence (residues) type B are in majority in these three kinds of immune state, chronic HBV infection immunity with the HBV genotype correlations were not statistically significant.

Haemostatic agents of the gelatin matrix for a large liver wound by percutaneous injection without pressure under the guidance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

BACKGROUND: The non-operation treatment of intra-abdominal trauma guided contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is one of the hottest research topic. Gelatin/thrombin/calcium (GTC) was developed as a novel haemostatic agent for non-operable intra-abdominal trauma. We hypothesized that GTC can achieve haemostasis (without the use of pressure) within a short time in a large wound model by percutaneous injection under CEUS guidance. METHODS: Forty Wister rats received large liver injuries by haemostatic clamp and were randomly divided into four groups, according to the haemostatic agent used. These included normal saline (NS) group A, lyophilising thrombin powder (LTP) group B, GTC group C, and absorbable α-cyanoacrylate (ACNA) group D. Each injury site was treated with one of the above materials and total bleeding time was recorded. All liver wounds were evaluated using CEUS at three periods: pre-injury, injury and post-treatment. The liver wounds were also evaluated by histology 3, 6, and 9 days after injury and the extents of abdominal adhesions were recorded. RESULTS: The sensitivity of CEUS (100%) in detecting blunt traumatic liver lesions was significantly higher than conventional ultrasound (42.5%). Bleeding times at the injury site in the GTC group C ((129.3 ± 14.0) seconds) and ACNA group D ((5.2 ± 1.0) seconds) were significantly shorter than those in the NS group A ((369.5 ± 48.8) seconds, P < 0.01) and LTP group B ((324.7 ± 52.22) seconds, P < 0.01). The LTP group B showed no significant difference compared with the NS group A. Gross examination of liver tissue revealed that there were fewer intra-abdominal adhesions in the GTC group C (10%) than in the ACNA group D (100%). Histopathologic examination showed that GTC was completely absorbed after nine days. CONCLUSIONS: GTC, delivered by percutaneous injection under CEUS, may achieve haemostasis (without the use of pressure) within a short time in a large wound model. GTC is absorbable and may prevent intra-abdominal adhesions. Therefore, it may be the optimal choice for first aid treatment of large abdominal wounds in the setting of blunt trauma.