[Effect of Exogenous Chitosan on Physiological Properties, Antioxidant Activity, and Cadmium Uptake of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Seedlings Under Cadmium Stress].

This research aimed to clarify the effects of exogenously applied chitosan on the physiological characteristics, antioxidant activities, and Cd accumulation of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings under cadmium (Cd) stress and to identify the key indicators based on the partial least squares model. The wheat variety studied was Bainong207 (BN207), and Cd-stress was achieved by growing seedlings in a hydroponic culture experiment with 10 and 25 µmol·L-1 Cd2+ added to the culture solution. It was found that both Cd-stress at 10 and 25 µmol·L-1 significantly inhibited the chlorophyll content, photosynthesis, and biomass accumulation of wheat seedlings. Seedling roots became shorter and thicker, and the lateral roots decreased under Cd-stress. The Cd-stress also increased H2O2 and MDA accumulation and the degree of cell membrane lipid peroxidation and affected the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD). Under Cd stress, exogenous chitosan decreased the Cd content in the aboveground and underground parts of wheat by 13.22 %-21.63 % and 7.92 %-28.32 % and reduced Cd accumulation in the aboveground and underground parts by 5.37 %-6.71 % and 1.91 %-4.09 %, respectively. Whereas exogenous chitosan application significantly reduced the content of H2O2 in roots and aboveground parts of wheat by 38.21 %-47.46 % and 45.81 %-55.73 % and MDA content by 37.65 %-48.12 % and 29.87 %-32.51 %, it increased the activities of SOD and POD in roots by 2.78 %-5.61 % and 13.81 %-18.33 %, respectively. In summary, exogenous chitosan can improve the photosynthetic characteristics and antioxidant enzyme activities of wheat seedlings under Cd stress, reduce the content and accumulation of Cd in the root and aboveground parts of wheat, and alleviate the damage of lipid peroxidation to the cell membrane. All of these results provide the basal data for the application of exogenous chitosan to alleviate Cd toxicity to wheat seedlings.

Single-cell analysis reveals landscape of endometrial cancer response to estrogen and identification of early diagnostic markers.

BACKGROUND: The development of endometrial cancer (EC) is closely related to the abnormal activation of the estrogen signaling pathway. Effective diagnostic markers are important for the early detection and treatment of EC. METHOD: We downloaded single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and spatial transcriptome (ST) data of EC from public databases. Enrichment scores were calculated for EC cell subpopulations using the "AddModuleScore" function and the AUCell package, respectively. Six predictive models were constructed, including logistic regression (LR), Gaussian naive Bayes (GaussianNB), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), extreme gradient boosting (XGB), and neural network (NK). Subsequently, receiver-operating characteristics with areas under the curves (AUCs) were used to assess the robustness of the predictive model. RESULT: We classified EC cell coaggregation into six cell clusters, of which the epithelial, fibroblast and endothelial cell clusters had higher estrogen signaling pathway activity. We founded the epithelial cell subtype Epi cluster1, the fibroblast cell subtype Fib cluster3, and the endothelial cell subtype Endo cluster3 all showed early activation levels of estrogen response. Based on EC cell subtypes, estrogen-responsive early genes, and genes encoding Stage I and para-cancer differentially expressed proteins in EC patients, a total of 24 early diagnostic markers were identified. The AUCs values of all six classifiers were higher than 0.95, which indicates that the early diagnostic markers we screened have superior robustness across different classification algorithms. CONCLUSION: Our study elucidates the potential biological mechanism of EC response to estrogen at single-cell resolution, which provides a new direction for early diagnosis of EC.

Systematic Analysis of Tumor Microenvironment Patterns and Oxidative Stress Characteristics of Endometrial Carcinoma Mediated by 5-Methylcytosine Regulators.

As a widely distributed RNA methylation modification, m5C is involved in the regulation of tumorigenesis. Nevertheless, its fundamental process is not clear. This research sought to examine the genetic properties of the 5-methylcytosine (m5C) regulator in endometrial carcinoma, as well as the prognostic significance and impact of m5C regulators on oxidative stress. Therefore, the TCGA-UCEC data set was used to explore the characteristics of 17 RNAm5C-related genes in the transcriptome, genome, and regulatory network. The subtypes of RNAm5C in UCEC were identified based on the expression levels of 17 RNAm5C-related genes. The prognosis of RNAm5C-2 was significantly better than that of RNAm5C-1. Then, we examined the differences (variations) across various subtypes in terms of immune cell infiltration (ICI) as well as the expression of immune-related signal markers. The findings demonstrated that there were distinct variations in the infiltration level of immune cells in each subtype, which may be the reason for the differences in the prognosis of each subtype. In addition, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) among RNAm5C subtypes of different UCEC tumors were identified, and the DEGs significant for survival were screened. After obtaining 34 prognostic genes, the dimensionality was reduced to construct an RNA methylation score (RS). As per the findings, RS is a more accurate marker for determining the prognosis for patients with endometrial cancer. The RS was used to categorize UCEC tumor samples, and these results led to the formation of high-score and low-score groups. The patients in the group with a high-RNA methylation score exhibited a survival time that was considerably longer in contrast with those in the group with a low-RNA methylation score. The capacity of RS to predict whether or not immunotherapy would be beneficial was explored further. In the group with a high-RNA methylation score, the objective response rate to the anti-PD-L1 therapy was substantially greater compared to that observed in the subgroup with a low-RNA methylation score. Additionally, there were variations across various RS groups in terms of clinical features, tumor mutation burden, and the infiltration level of immune cells. After binary tree analysis and PCR verification of 34 prognostic genes, it is finally found that the six genes of MAGOH3P, TRBJ2_3, YTHDF1P1, RP11_323D18.5, RP11_405M12.2, and ADAM30 are significantly overexpressed in cancer tissues. These genes can be used as potential biomarkers of endometrial cancer and provide data support for precise immunotherapy in UCEC tumors.

Application Value of MRI Combined with MSCT in Diagnosis and Staging of Colon Carcinoma.

Objective: To clarify the application value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) in the diagnosis and staging of colon carcinoma (CC). Methods: A total of 103 patients with histopathologically diagnosed CC were enrolled. Patient clinical and imaging data were collected, and MRI and MSCT images were analyzed to assess the accuracy of MRI, MSCT, and their combination in diagnosing tumor (T) staging of CC. Results: Among the 103 cases of histopathologically diagnosed CC, 26 cases (25.24) were in stage T1-2, 72 cases (69.90) were in stage T3, and 5 cases (4.85) were in stage T4. The accuracy of MRI in diagnosing stage T1-2, T3, and T4 was 80.77%, 88.89%, and 60.00%, respectively, with an average of 76.55%. The accuracy rates of MSCT in diagnosing T1-2, T3, and T4 stages were 73.08%, 90.27%, and 60.00%, respectively, with an average of 74.45%. The accuracy rates of MRI+MSCT in diagnosing T1-2, T3, and T4 were 88.46%, 95.83%, and 80.00%, respectively, with an average of 88.10%. Conclusions: Compared with single use of MRI or MSCT, MRI+MSCT provides accurate imaging data with higher accuracy, which is more helpful for the T-staging evaluation of CC.

Prognostic value of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase in human cancers: Evidence from a meta-analysis and database validation.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies indicated that dysregulated expression of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) contributed to the tumor progression and predicted poor prognosis in various cancers. However, there was no exact conclusion on account of the contradictory results across studies. METHODS: The relevant studies up to December 7, 2020 were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase. The association between NNMT expression and prognostic outcomes was explored, including overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and clinicopathological features. The bioinformatics database was used to validate the findings. RESULTS: Thirteen retrospective studies containing 2,591 patients with cancers were included in this analysis. High NNMT expression was significantly associated with shorter OS (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.01, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.42-2.86, and P < 0.01) and DFS (HR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.23-2.05, and P < 0.01) compared to low NNMT expression in cancers. Compared to patients with low NNMT expression, patients with high NNMT expression tended to have worse tumor differentiation (P = 0.03), earlier lymph node metastasis (P = 0.01), earlier distant metastasis (P = 0.02), and more advanced clinical stage (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: High NNMT expression is an unfavorable factor of various cancers. NNMT is a promising indicator to predict the prognosis of various cancers and can serve as a potential therapeutic target in various cancers.

Short-Term and Quality of Life Outcomes of Patients Using Linear or Circular Stapling in Esophagojejunostomy after Laparoscopic Total Gastrectomy.

BACKGROUND: Studies comparing the incidence of reflux esophagitis (RE) and patients' quality of life (QoL) when using circular stapler (CS) and linear stapler (LS) in esophagojejunostomy (EJS) after laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) are rare, and certainly there are not enough to make a definitive decision on best practice. Presented herein is a study on the comparison of the short-term outcomes, QoL of the patients with the focus on the incidence of RE after both linear and circular stapling in LTG. METHODS: From January 2014 to October 2018, 120 patients were analyzed; of these, 42 patients underwent laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy (LATG) with CS (CS group) and 78 patients who underwent totally laparoscopic total gastrectomy (TLTG) with LS (LS group). We examined the results obtained in terms of perioperative outcomes, reflux-related assessments (GerdQ questionnaire and endoscopy findings with all cases; 24-h pH monitoring with limited cases), and EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-STO22. In addition, questionnaires were also supplied to patients and the results were recorded. RESULTS: The incidence of anastomotic stenosis (7.1% vs. 0; P < 0.05) and the median intraoperative blood loss (180.0 vs. 100.0 mL; P < 0.05) of the CS group were higher than the LS group. The factor aside, no significant differences were observed between the two groups with regard to the incidence of RE assessed by the QLQ-STO22 reflux scale, the GerdQ scores, endoscopy (in all cases), or the percent time of pH > 7 (in limited cases) (P > 0.05). In the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-STO22, it was noted that the score of constipation [0 (0, 0) vs. 0 (0, 33.3); P = 0.028] and postoperative dysphagia [0 (0, 0) vs. 0 (0, 22.2); P = 0.046] of the LS group in a 1-year follow-up were lower than the CS group. CONCLUSIONS: TLTG with LS generated better results than LATG with CS in terms of the incidence of anastomotic stenosis, intraoperative blood loss, and postoperative constipation and dysphagia. Furthermore, when compared with circular stapling, linear stapling in EJS did not increase the incidence of RE assessed by the QLQ-STO22 reflux scale, the GerdQ scores, endoscopy (in all cases), or the percent time of pH > 7 (in limited cases).

[Effects of Different Amendments on Fractions and Uptake by Winter Wheat in Slightly Alkaline Soil Contaminated by Cadmium and Nickel].

The effects of a single application of three amendments (biochar, lignite, and chicken manure) on the fraction transformations of soil Cd and Ni and uptake by winter wheat are reported to provide reference for passivation and the remediation of heavy metals in soil. Field experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of different passivators on the forms of Cd and Ni in soils at different growth stages of winter wheat, and to analyze the contents of Cd and Ni in different organs of wheat. The results showed that biochar increased soil pH and that lignite reduced soil pH, but not significantly. Chicken manure significantly reduced soil pH at booting and mature stages, and decreased by 0.23 and 0.20 pH units, respectively. The single application of biochar, chicken manure, or lignite did not reduce the exchangeable Ni content significantly, whereas the effect on the exchangeable Cd was significant. Lignite 2% treatment had the greatest decrease in exchangeable Cd at different growth stages of wheat, which were 30.50%, 43.34%, and 31.20%, respectively. The contents of Cd and Ni in the shoots and underground parts of wheat decreased to some extent, and the extent of these decreases increased with the increase of passivator dosage. The decrease of Cd content in wheat roots was the largest under the treatment of lignite 2% at different growth stages, reaching 38.35%, 58.00%, and 50.20% respectively. The greatest decline of Ni content in wheat roots occurred in the lignite 2% treatment at the booting (41.33% decline) and mature stages (51.35%). All the three amendments reduced the availability of Cd and Ni in slightly alkaline soil, and the passivation effect on Cd was better than that of Ni. All three amendments also effectively reduced the content of Cd and Ni in different organs of wheat plants in different growth period. The order of decreasing effect of Cd in wheat organs was lignite > biochar > chicken manure at the same dose of these three passivators.

Effects of HMG on revascularization and follicular survival in heterotopic autotransplants of mouse ovarian tissue.

Ovarian tissue transplantation is now considered as a procedure to preserve the fertility of young women patients undergoing cancer therapy. The present study investigated the effects and mechanism of human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG) intervention on vascular remoulding in ovarian heterotopic autotransplantation. Ovaries of 8-week-old mice were cultured in vitro with different concentrations of HMG for 3h for measuring the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The cultured ovaries were implanted under the kidney capsule and removed 24, 36, 48 h or 1 month after transplantation. Revascularization, fluid exudation and the number of surviving ovarian follicles were observed. The results showed that VEGF was increased 1.6-6.5 times in the HMG intervention groups. Revascularization appeared 24-36 h after transplantation and was earlier than that of the control. Fluid exudation increased incrementally with increasing HMG concentrations. The total number of surviving ovarian follicles was increased by 1.2-1.5 times in the HMG 0.15 IU/ml group as compared with the other groups 1 month after transplantation. It is concluded that intervention with HMG in vitro before transplantation could improve the blood supply reconstruction and survival of the autotransplanted ovarian follicles, which might be associated with increased VEGF expression.