Metabolic landscape and pathogenic insights: a comprehensive analysis of high ovarian response in infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization.

BACKGROUND: In the realm of assisted reproduction, a subset of infertile patients demonstrates high ovarian response following controlled ovarian stimulation (COS), with approximately 29.7% facing the risk of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). Management of OHSS risk often necessitates embryo transfer cancellation, leading to delayed prospects of successful pregnancy and significant psychological distress. Regrettably, these patients have received limited research attention, particularly regarding their metabolic profile. In this study, we aim to utilize gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to reveal these patients' unique serum metabolic profiles and provide insights into the disease's pathogenesis. METHODS: We categorized 145 infertile women into two main groups: the CON infertility group from tubal infertility patients and the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) infertility group. Within these groups, we further subdivided them into four categories: patients with normal ovarian response (CON-NOR group), patients with high ovarian response and at risk for OHSS (CON-HOR group) within the CON group, as well as patients with normal ovarian response (PCOS-NOR group) and patients with high ovarian response and at risk for OHSS (PCOS-HOR group) within the PCOS group. Serum metabolic profiles were analyzed using GC-MS. The risk criteria for OHSS were: the number of developing follicles > 20, peak Estradiol (E2) > 4000pg/mL, and Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) levels > 4.5ng/mL. RESULTS: The serum metabolomics analysis revealed four different metabolites within the CON group and 14 within the PCOS group. Remarkably, 10-pentadecenoic acid emerged as a discernible risk metabolite for the CON-HOR, also found to be a differential metabolite between CON-NOR and PCOS groups. cysteine and 5-methoxytryptamine were also identified as risk metabolites for the PCOS-HOR. Furthermore, KEGG analysis unveiled significant enrichment of the aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis pathway among the metabolites differing between PCOS-NOR and PCOS-HOR. CONCLUSION: Our study highlights significant metabolite differences between patients with normal ovarian response and those with high ovarian response and at risk for OHSS within both the tubal infertility control group and PCOS infertility group. Importantly, we observe metabolic similarities between patients with PCOS and those with a high ovarian response but without PCOS, suggesting potential parallels in their underlying causes.

Circ_0000144 facilitates the progression of thyroid cancer via the miR-217/AKT3 pathway.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid carcinoma (TC) is the most common malignancy of the endocrine system. Circular RNA (circRNA) is vital in the regulation of tumor progression. Circ_0000144 serves as a novel oncogenic circRNA, and miR-217 is reported to inhibit the malignant phenotypes of cancer cells by targeting AKT3 in TC. The present study aimed to explore the regulatory mechanism of circ_0000144 and miR-217 in the progression of TC. METHODS: Circ_0000144 expression in 32 pairs of TC tissues and different TC cell lines (including BCPAP, K1, H7H83, and TPC-1) was detected by employing a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Circ_0000144 small interfering RNA was used to establish loss-of-function models. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), BrdU (5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine) and transwell assays were utilized to verify the effects of circ_0000144 on TC cell proliferation, migration and invasion, respectively. Bioinformatics, western blotting, a luciferase reporter experiment and qRT-PCR were employed to confirm the relationships among circ_0000144, miR-217 and AKT3. RESULTS: Circ_0000144 expression was remarkably elevated in TC tissues (p < 0.001) and TC cell lines. The elevation of circ_0000144 expression was markedly linked to tumor size (p = 0.015), TNM stage (p = 0.025) and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.017) of the patients. Functional studies showed that knocking down circ_0000144 repressed the malignancy of TC cells. Furthermore, miR-217 was identified as a downstream target of circ_0000144; inhibition of miR-217 could reverse the effects induced by circ_0000144 knockdown. Moreover, circ_0000144 could regulate AKT3 expression by suppressing miR-217 expression. CONCLUSIONS: Circ_0000144 exerts a cancer-promoting effect on TC cells via the miR-217/AKT3 pathway.

Idiopathic adulthood ductopenia with elevated transaminase only: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic adulthood ductopenia (IAD) is a chronic cholestatic liver disease of unknown etiology that usually presents as unexplained jaundice. It is characterized by adult onset, lack of autoantibodies, inflammatory bowel disease and loss of interlobular bile ducts. CASE SUMMARY: This case presents a 27-year-old woman with elevation of transaminases and alkaline phosphatase without clinical symptoms. Five years ago, the patient had abnormal transaminases but no cholestasis. Three months before admission, physical examination revealed an increase in transaminases. Oral hepatoprotective drugs did not show any significant improvement, and she was admitted to hospital for further diagnosis and treatment. Liver biopsy confirmed IAD. After about 2 wk of ursodeoxycholic acid treatment, serological and histological examination showed a significant response. CONCLUSION: IAD is a manifestation of cholestasis, but also may be an abnormal increase in transaminase in the early stage.

[Effects of Different Fertilization Modes on Greenhouse Gas Emission Characteristics of Paddy Fields in Hot Areas].

Greenhouse gas emissions studies commonly focus on temperate and subtropical regions. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils in tropical areas are often neglected. Therefore, greenhouse gas fluxes in a Hainan paddy field under different fertilization regimes were studied. This research provides an accurate assessment of CH4 and N2O emissions from paddy fields in China and sound mitigation measures. Through static chamber/gas chromatography techniques, CH4 and N2O emissions, global warming potential (GWP), and greenhouse gas emissions intensity (GHGI) in late rice season under five fertilizer treatments were measured. The treatments included:control (CK), conventional treatment (CON), optimized fertilization treatment (YH), optimized fertilization combined with controlled slow-release fertilizer treatment (ZHY1), optimized fertilization combined with controlled slow-release fertilizer and organic fertilizer treatment (ZHY2). The results showed that the cumulative CH4 emissions in the CK, CON, YH1, ZYH1, and ZYH2 treatments were 175.70, 60.30, 63.00, 62.80, and 56.60kg·hm-2, and the cumulative N2O emissions were 0.78, 3.40, 1.03, 1.44, and 0.44kg·hm-2, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that soil temperature and Eh were the main factors driving CH4 emission. Compared with CK, CON, YH, and ZYH1, the yield of rice in ZYH2 treatment increased by 29.69%, 11.81%, 6.74%, and 10.36%, respectively. While GWP of ZYH2 decreased by 64.80%, 43.23%, 12.93%, and 15.15%, and GHGI decreased by 76.49%, 52.52%, 20.54%, and 23.87%, respectively. Therefore, in terms of yield and greenhouse gas emissions, optimal fertilization combined with sheep manure and slow release fertilizer treatment (ZYH2) is feasible in this region.

Reduction of CAII Expression in Gastric Cancer: Correlation with Invasion and Metastasis.

OBJECTIVE: Human carbonic anhydrases II (CAII) gene plays an important role in different cancer. However, its relevance to gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the expression of CAII in GC and explore its correlation with some clinicopathologic characteristics of GC. METHODS: The expression of CAII in 20 specimens of normal gastric mucosa, 38 specimens of intraepithelial neoplasia and 112 specimens of gastric carcinoma were detected by immunohistochemical techniques. Survival in GC with CAII expression was studied. RESULTS: The positive rate of CAII protein in normal gastric mucosa was significantly higher than that in intraepithelial neoplasia and gastric carcinoma (100% vs. 63.16% and 28.57%, P<0.001). The positive rate of CAII protein was significantly higher in gastric carcinoma at early stages than that at advanced stages (70.0% vs. 19.57%, P<0.001). The positive rate of CAII protein was significantly lower in gastric carcinoma with lymph node metastases than that without lymph node metastases (10.81% vs. 37.33%, P<0.05). Furthermore, the positive rate of CAII protein was significantly lower in poorly-differentiated gastric carcinoma than in moderately- or well-differentiated gastric carcinoma (15.94% vs. 31.03% or 60.00%, P<0.05). Moreover, CAII expression was not related with sex, age and tumor size. The patients with CAII-positive tumors showed a better survival rate than those with CAII-negative tumors (P=0.024, log-rank test). CONCLUSION: CAII expression was related with stages and lymph node metastases in gastric carcinoma. The reduction of CAII expression in GC might promote tumor cell motility and contribute to tumor growth and metastasis.

Enhanced anti-tumor efficacy by co-delivery of doxorubicin and paclitaxel with amphiphilic methoxy PEG-PLGA copolymer nanoparticles.

The use of single chemotherapeutic drug has shown some limitations in anti-tumor treatment, such as development of drug resistance, high toxicity and limited regime of clinical uses. The combination of two or more therapeutic drugs is feasible means to overcome the limitations. Co-delivery strategy has been proposed to minimize the amount of each drug and to achieve the synergistic effect for cancer therapies. Attempts have been made to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs simultaneously using drug carriers, such as micelles, liposomes, and inorganic nanoparticles (NPs). Here we reported core-shell NPs that were doubly emulsified from an amphiphilic copolymer methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (mPEG-PLGA). These NPs offered advantages over other nanocarriers, as they were easy to fabricate by improved double emulsion method, biocompatible, and showed high loading efficacy. More importantly, these NPs could co-deliver hydrophilic doxorubicin (DOX) and hydrophobic paclitaxel (TAX). The drug-loaded NPs possessed a better polydispersity, indicating that they are more readily subject to controlled size distribution. Studies on drug release and cellular uptake of the co-delivery system demonstrated that both drugs were effectively taken up by the cells and released simultaneously. Furthermore, the co-delivery nanocarrier suppressed tumor cells growth more efficiently than the delivery of either DOX or TAX at the same concentrations, indicating a synergistic effect. Moreover, the NPs loading drugs with a DOX/TAX concentration ratio of 2:1 showed the highest anti-tumor activity to three different types of tumor cells. This nanocarrier might have important potential in clinical implications for co-delivery of multiple anti-tumor drugs with different properties.

Plastified poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)-toner microfluidic chip by direct-printing integrated with electrochemical detection for pharmaceutical analysis.

Rapid separation and determination of acetaminophen and its hydrolysate with end-channel electrochemical (EC) detection integrated on a plastified poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)-toner microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) system was investigated. In this separation and detection system, a Pt ultramicroelectrode integrated on a three-dimensional adjustor was used as working electrode. Factors influencing the separation and detection were investigated and optimized. Results show that acetaminophen and p-aminophenol can be well separated within 84s with R.S.D.<1% for migration time and R.S.D.<3.6% for detection current for both analytes. Detection limits for both analytes are determined to be 5.0muM (S/N=3). This method has been successfully applied to the detection of trace p-aminophenol in paracetamol tablets. The results demonstrate that the PET-toner microchips can obtain better performance than PDMS microfluidic devices but at much lower cost.