Effects of capsaicin on laying performance, follicle development, and ovarian antioxidant capacity in aged laying ducks.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary addition of capsaicin (CAP) on egg production performance, follicular development, and ovarian antioxidant capacity in laying ducks. Three hundred seventy eight 58-wk-old laying ducks were randomly divided into 3 treatments, each treatment consisted 6 replicates, with 12 individually caged laying ducks per replicate. Ducks fed a basal diet served as control, the other 2 groups of ducks were fed the same diet containing 150 mg/kg CAP but in the manner of feed restriction (pair-fed) or ad libitum fed. The experiment lasted for 8 wk. The results showed that the dietary supplementation with CAP under conditions of ad libitum feeding increased feed intake (P < 0.001) and tended (P < 0.1) to increase egg production and egg weight in laying ducks but had no effects on daily egg mass and feed conversion ratio. The relative weight of large yellow follicles from the 2 CAP-supplemented groups at 64 wk of age were significantly higher than that of the controls (P = 0.01). The relative weight of the small yellow follicles in the CAP free-fed group was significantly higher than that of the other 2 groups (P < 0.01). Capsaicin supplementation under ad libitum feding conditions tended to increase the number of dominant follicles in laying ducks (P = 0.06). The ovarian mRNA expression of genes related to calcium signaling (TRPV4, ATP2A2, ITPR1, and CaM) in the CAP ad libitum fed groups were significantly higher than those of the other 2 groups (P < 0.05). The ovarian mRNA expression of CDK1 in CAP free-fed ducks was significantly higher than that of the other 2 groups (P = 0.01). Capsaicin supplementation significantly increased the plasma glutathione peroxidase activity (P < 0.01) in comparison with the control group but reduced the malondialdehyde content in the ovaries of laying ducks (P < 0.01). The results of this study indicates that dietary supplementation of CAP increased feed intake and improved egg production performance probably by activating calcium signaling pathway and improving redox status.

[Efficacy and safety of pylorus-preserving gastrectomy for early gastric cancer located in the middle third of the stomach: a meta-analysis].

Objective: It is yet to be clarified whether pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG) for early gastric cancer will bring the risk of radical tumor resection, whether it will increase the incidence of postoperative complications, and how much is the benefit of the quality of life for patients after surgery, these issues are not clear. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG) for early middle gastric cancer. Methods: The Chinese and English literatures about PPG and distal gastrectomy (DG) for early gastric cancer were searched from PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI net and Wanfang database. Literature inclusion criteria: (1) Prospective or retrospective cohort study of PPG and DG for early middle-third gastric cancer published publicly; (2) Patients with early middle-third gastric cancer; (3) The enrolled literatures include at least one of the following outcome indicators: the efficacy indicators include gallstone, residual gastritis, bile reflux, delayed gastric emptying, dumping syndrome, reflux esophagitis and overall complication; the long-term prognostic indicators include 5-year survival rate and 5-year tumor recurrence. Literature exclusion criteria: (1) Reviews, case reports, conference summaries and other non-control studies; (2) Repeated published studies, incomplete studies and unextractable studies; (3) The depth of tumor invasion exceeding submucosa. The search time ended in July 2020. The basic information and evaluation indicators included in the article were extracted. The retrospective study was evaluated using Newcastle-Ottawa literature quality evaluation scale. The prospective randomized controlled study was evaluated using Jadad modified scale. Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.3. Publication bias was assessed using funnel map. Publication bias was tested using Egger tools. Results: A total of 717 literatures were retrieved, and 17 literatures were enrolled finally, including 2 randomized controlled trials and 15 retrospective studies. A total of 2427 patients were enrolled, including 948 in PPG group and 1479 in DG group. The meta-analysis of the efficacy indicators showed that there were significant differences in gallstones incidence (OR=0.42, 95% CI: 0.28-0.65, P<0.001), residual gastritis incidence (OR=0.50, 95% CI: 0.32-0.77,P=0.002), bile reflux incidence (OR=0.30, 95% CI: 0.20-0.45, P<0.001), delayed gastric emptying incidence (OR=2.40, 95% CI:1.67-3.45, P<0.001), and postoperative dumping syndrome incidence (OR=0.28, 95% CI: 0.15-0.51, P<0.001), while there were no significant differences in postoperative overall complications (OR=0.97, 95% CI: 0.69-1.35, P=0.840), reflux esophagitis incidence (OR=0.79, 95% CI: 0.39-1.61, P=0.520) between the two groups. The meta-analysis of the long-term prognostic indicators showed that no significant differences of 5-year survival (OR=1.02, 95% CI: 0.61-1.71, P=0.940) or 5-year tumor recurrence (OR=0.77, 95% CI: 0.36-1.68, P=0.520) were observed between the two groups. Conclusion: The incidences of gallstone, residual gastritis, dumping syndrome, bile reflux are lower after PPG in early gastric cancer, while the postoperative overall complications and long-term survival are comparable between PPG and DG, indicating that PPG is quite safe and feasible.

Up-regulated ONECUT2 and down-regulated SST promote gastric cell migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and tumor growth in gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Gastric cancer is a common malignancy, with high metastasis and poor prognosis. Our purpose was to explore potential molecular mechanisms of gastric cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 10 pairs of gastric cancer tissues and adjacent normal gastric tissues were collected for RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), followed by differential expression analysis. Combining qRT-PCR results, two novel genes were selected for in-depth analysis, including up-regulated ONECUT and down-regulated SST. To investigate the effects of ONECUT and SST on the biological behaviors of gastric cancer cells, gastric cancer cell lines were transfected by ONECUT2 knockdown and SST overexpression. Afterwards, cell migration and invasion were examined using transwell assays, and the expressions of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins were measured by Western blot analysis. Furthermore, cell viability was detected by CCK-8 assay. Finally, tumorigenicity in nude mice was performed. RESULTS: Gastric cancer cell migration and invasion were inhibited in BGC823 cells transfected by shONECUT2. Similar results were observed in SST overexpression in MGC803 cells. Silencing ONECUT2 or overexpressing SST reduced the expressions of mesenchymal markers (N-cadherin and vimentin), STAT3, fibronectin, Wnt2, ß-catenin and increased epithelial marker (E-cadherin), p-STAT3, smad2/3, α-catenin protein levels. In addition, inhibiting ONECUT2 or elevated SST suppressed tumor cell viability in vitro. Moreover, ONECUT2 silencing or elevated SST significantly inhibited tumor growth in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Up-regulated ONECUT2 and down-regulated SST promote gastric cell migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and tumor growth in gastric cancer.

[Risk factor analysis of perioperative complications in patients with radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer].

Objective: To identify the risk factors of perioperative complications after radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods: A retrospective case-control study was performed. Case inclusion criteria: (1) patients undergoing radical gastrectomy (D2); (2) primary gastric cancer without distant organ metastasis confirmed by postoperative pathology; (3) no neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery. Patients with peritoneal tumor dissemination found during operation, undergoing palliative operation due to distant metastasis, and undergoing combined organ resection and those without complete clinicopathological data were excluded. According to the above criteria, 426 patients with gastric cancer at our department from January 2015 to June 2017 were included in this study. Of 426 patients, 285 were male and 141 were female with a mean age of (55.4±9.7) years. According to the "Japan Clinical Cancer Research Group (JCOG) classification criteria for postoperative complications of gastric cancer", patients with grade II and higher complications were classified as complication group, and patients with no complication or grade I complication were classified as non-complication group. Baseline data were compared between two groups. Associations of perioperative complication with gender, age, body mass index, preoperative routine laboratory test, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification, activities of daily living (ADL) assessment, past medical history as well as preoperative conditions (hypertension and/or diabetes), surgical resection procedure, incision type, operation time, intraoperative blood loss/body mass ratio were examined. Univariate analysis was performed using χ(2) test and the Wilcoxon rank sum test to screen the statistically significant variables associated with perioperative complications. The significant variables were included in multivariate logistic regression analysis to identify risk factors of perioperative complication. Results: Grade II or higher complications after surgery were developed in 97 patients (22.8%), which included anastomotic leakage in 18 cases (4.2%), postoperative bleeding in 9 cases (2.1%), abdominal abscess in 5 cases (1.2%), intestinal obstruction in 5 cases (1.2%), pancreatic leakage in 1 case (0.2%), and other adverse events in 59 cases (13.8%). Univariate analysis suggested that the gender, age, ADL, incision type, intraoperative blood loss/body mass ratio, and operation time were associated with perioperative complication (all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that elder age (OR=1.033, 95% CI:1.013-1.053, P=0.013), incision type of laparotomy (OR=2.091, 95% CI:1.247-3.508, P=0.004), longer operation time (OR=1.004, 95% CI:1.001-1.007, P=0.001) and higher ratio of intraoperative blood loss/body mass (OR=1.100, 95% CI: 1.039-1.163, P=0.031) were risk factors for postoperative complications. Conclusion: Attention should be paid to those cases with elder age, laparotomy incision, longer operation time and higher ratio of intraoperative blood loss/body mass, and perioperative management after gastrectomy should be improved.

Ferrous chelator 2,2'-dipyridyl attenuates cerebral vasospasm after experimental subarachnoid haemorrhage in rabbits.

The effect of 2,2'-dipyridyl (DP) on cerebral vasospasm was investigated in a double-injection rabbit model of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Thirty-six animals were divided between four groups: control (sham-operated), SAH (model alone), SAH + DP (the SAH model in which DP dissolved in dimethyl sulphoxide [DMSO] was injected once daily for 5 days into the cisterna magna), and SAH + DMSO (the SAH model in which DMSO [vehicle] was injected daily for 5 days). There were significant differences in the basilar artery luminal area, wall thickness, neurological deficit score and vasospasm index between the SAH + DP and SAH groups. There was a significant negative correlation between arterial luminal area and arterial wall thickness, and also between the neurological deficit score and vasospasm index. Cells that were positive for terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end-labelling (TUNEL) and p53 expression were significantly increased in the SAH + DMSO and SAH groups, but not in the SAH + DP group, versus controls. Thus, DP may attenuate cerebral vasospasm after SAH by suppressing p53-induced apoptosis in the cerebral vessels.

Structure of a new neurotoxin from the scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch at 1.76 A.

A new neurotoxin BmK M2, toxic to both mammals and insects, with the strongest toxicity in the BmK toxin series, has been purified from the Chinese scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch and crystallized with MPD at pH 7.5. The crystals are orthorhombic, belonging to space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 36.64, b = 36.95, c = 37.23 A. The structure was solved by molecular replacement and refined to R = 0.186 for all reflections to a resolution of 1.76 A. The whole sequence (64 residues) of BmK M2 was determined by crystallographic analysis based on high-resolution data and the homologous model of BmK M8. The refined BmK M2 structure shows a non-proline cis peptide bond between Pro9 and His10 which enables the C-terminal segment to adopt a conformation different to that of the weak toxin BmK M8. Recently, a mutation analysis had suggested that both the tenth residue and the C-terminus play key roles in receptor binding. Therefore, these features may be related to the binding selectivity of the group III alpha-like toxins. The charge changes of residues 8, 10, 18, 28, 55 and 59 from neutral or negative to positive or neutral, which leads to a positive electrostatic potential surface, may be responsible for the high toxicity of BmK M2.

[Elimination effect of ethyl alcohol on the DCCD-induced inhibition of hydrolytic activity of H+-ATPase complex].

12.5% ethyl alcohol was added into the reaction system containing mitochondrial H(+)-ATPase complex of pig heart, which was preincubated with 0.5 microgram/ml DCCD dicyclohexylcarbodiimide) at 30 degrees C. Or the DCCD and ethyl alcohol were simultaneously incubated with H(+)-ATPase at 30 degrees C. In either case, the inhibition of the hydrolytic activity of H(+)-ATPase caused by DCCD could be completely eliminated in the presence of ethyl alcohol. If methyl alcohol was instead of ethyl alcohol, the DCCD inhibition could only be partly eliminated. In the replacement of ethyl alcohol by dimethyl sulfoxide, no elimination could be observed. After preincubation of 2 micrograms/ml oligomycin with H(+)-ATPase complex instead of DCCD, the same concentration of ethyl alcohol could not caused elimination effect, which indicates no un-coupling effect happened by ethyl alcohol. The kinetic experimental result showed that ethyl alcohol exhibits non-competitive inhibition to the hydrolytic activity of H(+)-ATPase complex. It was deduced that ethyl alcohol could result in conformational change of F1 of the complex, such as to affect the activity of the enzyme. The measurement of DPH (diphenylhexatriene) fluorescence polarization, the fluorescence labelled with N-(1-pyrenyl) maleimide and intrinsic fluorescence of H(+)-ATPase complex compared with control show that the three cases, i.e. only treated with DCCD, only treated with ethyl alcohol or treated with DCCD and ethyl alcohol, appear different conformations of H(+)-ATPase complex. But the conformation caused by DCCD and ethyl alcohol was more like that by ethyl alcohol. This is consistent with results obtained from activity of DCCD plus ethyl alcohol and only ethyl alcohol. These results mentioned above indicate that the mechanism of ethyl alcohol eliminating the DCCD-induced inhibition of H(+)-ATPase is a conformational interaction caused by DCCD and ethyl alcohol.

[Effects of dynorphin A (1-8) on cell cycle and total cellular protein during neuronal aging in vitro].

Serum-free culture of mouse neuroblastoma cells was used as the experimental model for the study of neuronal aging, with flow cytometry of cell cycle, DNA and total cellular protein as the indices of neuronal aging. After addition of dynorphin A (1-8) 10(-7) mol.L-1 into the culture medium, the following general tendencies were obtained: (1) The number of S and G2 + M phase cells was increased and the number of G1 phase cells decreased. (2) The total cellular protein in aged experimental neural cells decreased. The results implies that Dyn A (1-8) Produced effects on cell cycle, DNA and total cellular protein in the direction of delaying neuronal aging. The relation between Dyn A (1-8) and neuronal aging merits further investigation.