Correlation Between IL-8 Gene Polymorphisms and Pathogenesis of Crohn's Disease.

Context: The risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is substantially heightened if patients' first-degree relatives have it. The genetic and immune factors related to the disease have attracted great attention, including patients innate genetic polymorphisms. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) plays a vital role in digestive-system diseases, especially in gastrointestinal diseases. Objective: The study intended to explore the expression of interleukin-8 (IL-8) in the colon tissues of patients with Crohn's disease and the correlation between its polymorphisms and the disease's occurrence. Design: The research team performed a prospective study. Setting: The study took place in the Department of Gastroenterology at Zhuji People's Hospital of Zhejiang Province in Zhuji, China. Participants: Participants were 100 patients with Crohn's disease at the hospital between November 2016 and June 2018 and 100 healthy individuals. The research team assigned participants with Crohn's disease to the Crohn's disease group and the healthy participants to the control group. Outcome Measures: The research team: (1) determined differences in the protein expression of the IL-8 between the groups; (2) examined the conformity of the data to that of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium; (3) analyzed the differences in the genotypes and alleles for the IL-8 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs102039, rs103284 and rs105432 between the groups; and (4) for the Crohn's disease group, examined the differences in the disease's location and behavior for the participants with different genotypes. Results: The protein expression level of IL-8 in the colon tissues in Crohn's disease group was significantly higher than that in control group (P < .05). The genetic association analysis showed significant correlations between the polymorphisms rs103284 and rs105432 and alleles of the IL-8 gene and the occurrence of Crohn's disease (P < .05), but no associations existed between the gene polymorphism rs102039 and alleles and Crohn's disease (P > .05). Significant correlations existed between the IL-8 gene polymorphisms rs103284 and rs105432 and the disease's location and behavior (P < .05). Conclusions: IL-8 had a significantly increased expression in the colon tissues of the participants with Crohn's disease, and some genotypes and alleles for the gene polymorphisms rs103284 and rs105432 were significantly higher in the Crohn's disease group than in the control group. In addition, the disease's location and behavior were significantly different for participants in the Crohn's disease group with different genotypes.

Multicenter Analysis of Clinical Follow-Ups in Patients with a Star GK Cardiac Valve Replacement for More than One Year.

BACKGROUND: Star GK valves were widely used in China, and we studied the clinical follow-up results of patients with Star GK valve implants for more than one year.  METHODS: Clinical data were collected from those patients who had Star GK valve implants for over one year. Patients were divided into three groups: (1) AVR group: received aortic valve replacement surgery. Based on the valve model this group was further sub-divided into two groups: 21A group, and 23A group; (2) MVR group: received mitral valve replacement surgery. Based on the valve model this group was further sub-divided into three groups: 25M group, 27M group, and 29M group; (3) DVR group: received combined replacement surgeries including AVR + MVR. According to postoperative follow-up time these patients were divided into two groups: 1-year group and 3-year group. Follow-up data were collected by telephone, outpatient visits, or correspondence. Clinical data were aggregated by professional data scientists to conduct independent analyses.  RESULTS: 959 patients were included in the study following Star GK valve implant. Follow-up after 1 year found that thrombosis occurred in 4 cases, hemorrhage in 15 cases, left heart failure in 13 cases, paravalvular leakage in 5 cases, and death due to cardiac causes in 2 cases.  CONCLUSION: The long-term efficacy of Star GK valve implants was satisfactory with low incidence of valve-related complications, and following Star GK valve implant, valve and blood were highly compatible and blood component damage was minor. Very low incidence rate of thrombosis was observed following Star GK valve implant, however, attention should be paid to adjust the anticoagulation intensity.

Comparison of reperfusion- and central repair-first strategies for acute type a dissection with mesenteric malperfusion: a single-center retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: We seek to compare the early and late outcomes of reperfusion-first versus central repair-first strategies in patients with acute type A dissection (ATAAD) complicated by mesenteric malperfusion. METHODS: Among 68 patients, reperfusion-first strategy with superior mesenteric artery (SMA) stenting was adopted in 31 and central repair-first in 37, based on rupture risk and circulatory compromise, severity, time and mechanisms of mesenteric ischemia. Early and late outcomes were compared between two strategies. Follow-up was 100% at 3.3±1.4 years. RESULTS: Mean age was 50.6±11.4 years (59 males, 86.8%). The reperfusion-first group had more celiac artery involvement (74.2% vs. 48.6%) and peritoneal irritation signs (19.4% vs. 2.7%), while central repair-first group had more tamponade (27% vs. 3.2%). Early mortality was 48.6% (18/37) with central repair-first strategy versus 19.4% (6/31) in reperfusion-first group (P=0.012). Reperfusion-first patients had fewer gastrointestinal complications (12.9% vs. 54.1%, P<0.001) and respiratory failure (3.2% vs. 24.3%, P=0.017). At 5 years, SMA stent patency was 84%, and survival was significantly higher in reperfusion-first patients (80.6% vs. 45.9%, P=0.009), with similar freedom from adverse events between two groups (74.9% vs. 76.0%, P=0.812). Tamponade (hazard ratio [HR], 3.093; P=0.023), peritoneal irritation signs (HR, 8.559; P=0.006), and lactate (mmol/L) (HR, 1.279; P<0.001) were predictors for all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: In this series of ATAAD patients with mesenteric malperfusion, the reperfusion-first strategy with SMA stenting could significantly reduce the mortality risk and achieved favorable late survival and freedom from adverse events. These results argue favorably for the use of the reperfusion-first strategy in such patients.

A pilot study on the impacts of lung-strengthening Qigong on wellbeing.

BACKGROUND: Qigong embraces a range of self-care exercises originating from China. Lung-Strengthening Qigong (LSQ) is a specific technique for maintaining and improving physical and mental wellbeing. METHODS: We recruited 170 practitioners and 42 non-practitioner/control samples to investigate the impacts of LSQ practice on body, mind, thoughts, and feelings. This is a pilot study pursued to plan for an adequately powered, non-clinical randomized controlled trials (RCT) on overall wellbeing and health and to evaluate the adequacy of delivering the physical activity intervention with fidelity. Self-evaluation-based data collection schemes were developed by regularly requesting completion of a questionnaire from both practitioner and control group, and an online diary and end of study survey (EOS) completion only from the practitioners. Diverse types of analyses were conducted, including statistical tests, machine learning, and qualitative thematic models. RESULTS: We evaluated all different data resources together and observed that (a)the impacts are diverse, including improvements in physical (e.g., elevated sleep quality, physical energy, reduced fatigue), mental (e.g., increased positivity, reduced stress), and relational (e.g., enhanced connections to self and nature) wellbeing, which were not observed in control group; (b)measured by the level-of-effectiveness, four distinct clusters were identified, from no-effect to a high-level of effect; (c)a majority (84 %) of the LSQ practitioners experienced an improvement in wellbeing; (d)qualitative and quantitative analyses of the diary entries, questionnaires, and EOS were all found to be consistent, (e)majority of the positively impacted practitioners had no or some little prior experience with LSQ. CONCLUSIONS: Novel features of this study include (i)an increased sample size vis-à-vis other related studies; (ii)provision of weekly live-streamed LSQ sessions; (iii)integration of quantitative and qualitative type of analyses. The pilot study indicated that the proportion of practitioners who continued to engage in completing the regular-interval questionnaires over time was higher for practitioners compared to the control group. The engagement of practitioners may have been sustained by participation in the regular live LSQ sessions. To fully understand the impacts of LSQ on clinical/physiological outcomes, especially for specific patient groups, more objective biomarkers (e.g. respiratory rate, heart rate variation) could be tracked in future studies.

circMTO1 sponges microRNA-219a-5p to enhance gallbladder cancer progression via the TGF-ß/Smad and EGFR pathways.

Circular mitochondrial translation optimization 1 homologue (circMTO1) has been reported to regulate the tumorigenesis of different types of cancer; however, the role of circMTO1 in gallbladder cancer (GBC) remains unknown. The present study aimed to identify the potential miRNAs and target genes of circMTO1 during GBC progression, and clarify the regulatory mechanism between circMTO1 and miRNAs or target genes. The present study performed MTT and Transwell assays, and Annexin V staining to assess cell viability, migration and apoptosis, respectively. In addition, a lymphatic vessel formation assay was performed to assess tube formation of human dermal lymphatic endothelial cells (HDLECs), and GBC-SD and NOZ cells. The results demonstrated that circMTO1 knockdown significantly attenuated the viability and migration of GBC cells and tube formation of HDLECs, and promoted apoptosis, indicating a tumor-promoting role of circMTO1. In addition, transfection with microRNA (miRNA/miR)-219a-5p inhibitor rescued short hairpin RNA-circMTO1-inhibited tumorigenesis of GBC cells, suggesting that miR-219a-5p acts as a downstream effector for circMTO1. Mechanistically, transfection with miR-219a-5p mimic suppressed the expression levels of Smad2/4 and epidermal growth factor receptor. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas datasets revealed that circMTO1 expression was associated with overall survival and the stage of patients with GBC. Taken together, the results of the present study provide novel insight for the role of circMTO1-induced GBC tumorigenesis via regulation of miR-219a-5p expression.

MicroRNA-2 suppresses Lewis lung cancer cells proliferation, invasion, and migration in tumor-bearing mice.

We sought to find the biological effects of MicroRNA-2 in suppressing Lewis lung cancer cells proliferation, invasion, and migration in tumor-bearing mice. MicroRNA-2 was transfected into Lewis lung cancer cells of tumor-bearing mice by gene transient transfection technique and these Lewis-microRNA-2 cells were taken as MicroRNA transfection group. At the same time, Lewis cells were taken as control group and Lewis-EGFP cells as empty plasmid group. The growth curves of cells in the three groups were drawn by manual counting method, while the invasiveness of cells in the three groups was compared by transmembrane cell invasion assay. The three kinds of cells were seeded into BALB/Nude SPF level nude mice to detect the formation of tumors and the number of metastases by Xenograft experiments. The result showed that the MicroRNA transfection group has the lowest vitality of cells proliferation, fewest cells passed through matrigel matrix protein layer, and lowest cells invasive rate. Mice with Lewis-microRNA-2 cells apparently had a longer time of tumor formation. The average tumor mass and the number of metastases were significantly lower than the other two groups. MicroRNA-2 significantly inhibited Lewis lung cancer cell proliferation, invasion and migration in tumor-bearing mice, which may be associated with the regulation of target genes PLK1 and TGF-ß.