[Evidence and decision of the choice of delivery way in washed microbiota transplantation].

Washed microbiota transplantation (WMT) is a new concept and technique of fecal microbiota transplantation. The delivery routes of WMT include oral capsule, nasogastric tube, nasojejunal tube, gastroscopy, colonic transendoscopic enteral tubing, and anal enema. The research results among different indications or different designs based on the same indication are quite different, partially because of the influence of WMT delivery route. In the process of clinical research design and clinical practice, there are four aspects that affect the decision-making of WMT delivery route: safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and patients' willingness. This article focuses on how to integrate the four aspects mentioned above in the decision-making process of choosing proper delivery of WMT for the final goal of mutual satisfaction between doctors and patients.

[Surgical key points of precision functional sphincter-preserving surgery].

The principle of sphincter-preserving surgery is to preserve the anal sphincter function under the premise of radical resection. Due to low position of rectal tumor, conventional laparoscopic surgery has difficulties in operating in the deep and narrow pelvis, which may lead to inaccurate tissue dissociation, imprecise positioning of tumor edge, excessive stretch of the anal sphincter complex, and excessive removal of distal rectal mucosa. Moreover, pain from abdominal auxiliary incision has an unavoidable side effect for postoperative recovery. With the help of the Liu's transanal microsurgery system, precision functional sphincter-preserving surgery (PPS) can be successfully performed. PPS tries to preserve left colonic artery and pelvic autonomic nerve in the transabdominal operation. In the part of transanal surgery, measurement, localization and resection of the lower edge of the tumor are conducted under a clear and open visual field with the transparent screw anal dilator. After the rectum is cut off, the specimen is taken out through the anus to avoid abdominal incision. Inserting the intestinal supporter to support the bowel stump, full thickness of bowel stump is then sutured with anal canal by vertical mattress suture. Special transanal tube is placed afterwards without routine prophylactic stoma. PPS can achieve precise tumor resection and sphincter preservation simultaneously.

Long non-coding RNA ROR is a novel prognosis factor associated with non-small-cell lung cancer progression.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to determine the expression levels of long intergenic non-protein coding RNA, regulator of reprogramming (linc-ROR) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and to further explore the prognostic value of this lncRNA. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In our investigation, we determined the expression of linc-ROR in human NSCLC tissues and matched normal lung tissues by quantitative Real-time-PCR analysis. Also, correlations between linc-ROR expression and the clinicopathological features were evaluated. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method and differences in survival rates were analyzed using the log-rank test. Cox regression analyses were performed to explore the effect of linc-ROR as an independent predictor of survival. RESULTS: We found that linc-ROR had high expression in NSCLC specimens than that in matched adjacent normal lung tissues (p < 0.01). In addition, higher linc-ROR expression levels were positively correlated with advanced TNM stage (p = 0.007), positive distant metastasis (p = 0.001) and LN metastasis (p = 0.011). Furthermore, significantly shorter 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were observed in patients with higher expression of linc-ROR (both p < 0.001). In a multivariate Cox model, it was found that linc-ROR expression was an independent prognostic factor for both 5-years OS (p = 0.001) and 5-year DFS (p = 0.001) in NSCLC. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that linc-ROR plays an oncogenic role in NSCLC development and may function as a prognostic and predictive biomarker for NSCLC.

Identification and expression analysis of irak1 gene in common carp Cyprinus carpio L.: indications for a role of antibacterial and antiviral immunity.

In this study, the full-length complementary (c)DNA of interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 gene (irak1) was cloned from common carp Cyprinus carpio. The complete open reading frame of irak1 contained 2109 bp encoding a protein of 702 amino acid residues that comprised a death domain, a ProST region, a serine-threonine-specific protein kinase catalytic domain and a C-terminal domain. The amino-acid sequence of C. carpio Irak1 protein shared sequence homology with grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idellus (84.5%). The phylogenetic tree of IRAKs separated the polypeptides into four clades, comprising IRAK1s, IRAK2s, IRAK3s and IRAK4s. Cyprinus carpio Irak1 fell into the cluster with previously reported IRAK1s including teleost Irak1s. The irak1 gene was highly expressed in gills, followed by brain, skin, hindgut, buccal epithelium, spleen, foregut, head kidney and liver, and was expressed at lowest levels in gonad and muscle. The irak1 messenger (m)RNA expression was up-regulated in liver, spleen, head kidney, foregut, hindgut, gills and skin after stimulation with Vibrio anguillarum and poly(I:C), and significantly high up-regulated expression was observed in liver and spleen. These results implied that irak1 might participate in antibacterial and antiviral innate immunity. These findings gave the indications that irak1 may participate in antibacterial and antiviral immunity.

Research of arginylglycylaspartic to promote osteogenesis of bone marrow mesenchymal cells on chitosan/hydroxyapatite scaffolds.

A high degree of cell adhesion to a scaffold at the initial stage of cell inoculation is essential to bone tissue engineering. In realising high cell adhesion rate on a scaffold within a few hours, a chitosan/hydroxyapatite (CS/HA) scaffold with a channel/sphere pore was prepared via in situ hybridisation in combination with lyophilisation, in which the HA nanoparticles were dispersed in the CS uniformly. The size of the channel pore and the sphere pore of the CS/HA scaffold was 150 µm to 650 µm and 3 µm to 15 µm, respectively. The compression strength and porosity of the CS/HA scaffold were 3.54 ± 0.32 MPa and 88.4%, respectively. The nitrogen content increased by 7.5% compared with the CS/HA scaffold without Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) modification. More than 67% of the RGD in the PBS solution diffused into the CS/HA scaffold spontaneously. The effect of the RGD peptide on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on the CS/HA scaffold was investigated through cell adhesion rate, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and mineralised calcium nodules. The cell adhesion rates of the CS/HA scaffold with different RGD concentrations (50, 100 mg/L) were 71.6% and 80.7%, respectively, after 4 hours of culture; the rates were 30.9% and 47.5% higher than that of the CS/HA group (54.7%), respectively. The expressed ALP content of the CS/HA scaffold with RGD (191 ± 6 U/g protein) was 107.7% higher than that (92 ± 9U/g protein) of CS/HA (p<0.01). Furthermore, a higher amount of mineralised calcium nodules with red brown appeared in the CS/HA scaffold with RGD as opposed to that in the CS/HA group. The RGD peptide in the CS/HA scaffold not only achieved high cell adhesion in a short period of time, but also enhanced cell adhesion ability and promoted the MSCs to differentiate from osteoblasts.

Formation of (FexMn(2-x))O3 solid solution and high sulfur capacity properties of Mn-based/M41 sorbents for hot coal gas desulfurization.

Several MCM-41 materials were synthesized at different conditions by hydrothermal procedure using cheap and easily available industrial water glass as silica source. Fe doped manganese-based oxide/MCM-41 sorbents were prepared by a sol-gel method. The effects of loadings of metal oxide, Fe/Mn molar ratios over MCM-41 and reaction temperature on the performance of sorbent for hot coal gas desulfurization were investigated. Various techniques such as BET, XRD, XPS, LRS and HRTEM were used to characterize the sorbents. The result indicated Fe(3+) ions could occupy a position of Mn(3+) in cubic lattice of Mn2O3 and the (FexMn2-x)O3 solid solution is mainly active phase of sorbent. Moreover, the result of nine successive sulfurization-regeneration cycles of sorbent showed high sulfur adsorption capacity and endurable stability of FeMn4Ox/MCM-41 for H2S removal.

Screening and identification of peritoneal metastasis-related genes of gastric adenocarcinoma using a cDNA microarray.

With the aim of identifying peritoneal metastasis-related genes in gastric cancer, we performed a broad analysis of differential gene expression between the parental cell line GC9811 and its highly metastatic peritoneal counterpart, cell line GC9811-P. Two fluorescent cDNA probes, labeled with Cy3 and Cy5 dyes, were prepared from GC9811 and GC9811-P mRNA samples by the reverse transcription method. The two color probes were then mixed and hybridized to a cDNA chip constructed with double-dots from 11,901 human genes; this was scanned at two wavelengths. The experiment was repeated twice. In GC9811-P cells, 218 genes were upregulated and 30 genes were downregulated compared with the parental cell lines. Some selected genes were confirmed by RT-PCR and Western blot; we found that S100A4 and CTNNB1 were upregulated and PTEN was downregulated in GC9811-P cells. Identification of these differentially expressed genes could contribute to disclose the molecular mechanisms involved and provide new targets for therapeutic intervention to avoid peritoneal dissemination of gastric adenocarcinoma.

Highly stable and regenerable Mn-based/SBA-15 sorbents for desulfurization of hot coal gas.

A series of mesoporous xCuyMn/SBA-15 sorbents with different Cu/Mn atomic ratios were prepared by wet impregnation method and their desulfurization performance in hot coal gas was investigated in a fixed-bed quartz reactor in the range of 700-850°C. The successive nine desulfurization-regeneration cycles at 800°C revealed that 1Cu9Mn/SBA-15 presented high performance with durable regeneration ability due to the high dispersion of Mn(2)O(3) particles incorporated with a certain amount of copper oxides. The breakthrough sulfur capacity of 1Cu9Mn/SBA-15 observed 800°C is 13.8 g S/100g sorbents, which is remarkably higher than these of 40 wt%LaFeO(3)/SBA-15 (4.8 g S/100g sorbents) and 50 wt%LaFe(2)O(x)/MCM-41 (5.58 g S/100g sorbents) used only at 500-550°C. This suggested that the loading of Mn(2)O(3) active species with high thermal stability to SBA-15 support significantly increased sulfur capacity at relatively higher sulfidation temperature. The fresh and used xCuyMn/SBA-15 sorbents were characterized by means of BET, XRD, XPS, XAES, TG/DSC and HRTEM techniques, confirmed that the structure of the sorbents remained intact before and after hot coal gas desulfurization.

Serum soluble CD44v6 levels in patients with oral and maxillofacial malignancy.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the levels of serum sCD44v6 in patients with oral cancer and evaluate the value of serum sCD44v6 in adjuvant diagnosis, staging and monitoring treatment response in these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 112 hospitalized patients with oral and maxillofacial malignancy and 28 healthy individuals were examined for serum sCD44v6 levels. Venous blood was collected from these patients and the healthy individuals. One week after treatment, venous blood was collected once again in 60 patients with oral and maxillofacial squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). RESULTS: The sCD44v6 concentration was not significantly different between patients with oral and maxillofacial malignancy and control group (P > 0.05). The levels of serum sCD44v6 in patients with OSCC and salivary carcinoma showed no difference with those in control group (P > 0.05). The sCD44v6 level in patients with stage III and IV disease was higher than that of patients with stage I and II and that of the control group, but the difference was not significant (P > 0.05). Serum sCD44v6 levels in patients with OSCC after treatment became lower than that prevailed during pretreatment (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The possible roles of CD44v6 in the diagnosis of oral and maxillofacial malignancy deserve further elucidation and evaluation. Serum sCD44v6 may be a valuable marker in monitoring treatment response in patients with OSCC.

Experimental study of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells combined with hepatocyte growth factor transplantation via noninfarct-relative artery in acute myocardial infarction.

We investigated the impact of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) alone or in combination with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) transplantation via noninfarct-relative artery in a swine myocardial infarction (MI) model. Donor BM-MSCs were derived in vitro from swine auto-bone marrow cultures labeled by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation. Host MI swine model was created by ligating the distal left anterior descending artery. After 4 weeks, age-matched male MI swines were used for the transplantation. Male MI swines were transfused via noninfarct-relative artery with vehicle (control, n=6) or BrdU-labeled BM-MSCs (5 x 10(6)) alone (MSCs, n=6) or BrdU-labeled BM-MSCs (5 x 10(6)) combined with HGF (4 x 10(9) PFU) (MSCs+HGF, n=6). To evaluate the collateral artery growth (Rentrop) and cardiac perfusion in these animals, gate cardiac perfusion imaging and coronary angiography were performed before and 4 weeks after transplantation, respectively. To assess the contribution of donor-originated cells in stimulation of cardiomyocyte regeneration and angiogenesis, immunohistochemistry for BrdU and alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and quantitative image analysis were performed at 4 weeks after transplantation. The results are as follows: (1) BrdU-positive cells were detected in host myocardium in both MSCs and MSCs+HGF groups, but not in the vehicle group. Most BrdU-positive cells expressed myosin heavy chain beta. (2) alpha-SMA(-)positive arteriole densities in the infarcted border area and infarcted area were increased significantly in both transplantation groups compared with the vehicle group. (3) Gate cardiac perfusion imaging demonstrated that the cardiac perfusion was significantly improved in transplantation groups compared with the vehicle group. (4) Ejection fraction and alpha-SMA-positive arteriole densities were increased significantly in both transplantation groups compared with the vehicle group. However, there was no difference in ejection fraction and alpha-SMA-positive arteriole densities between the MSCs group and the MSCs+HGF group. Growth of collateral arteries was not detected by coronary angiography in all three groups. In conclusion, the current study indicates that BM-MSCs transplantation via noninfarct-relative artery stimulates cardiomyocyte regeneration and angiogenesis and improves cardiac function, but does not stimulate collateral artery growth. BM-MSCs transplantation combined with HGF therapy is not superior to BM-MSCs alone transplantation. BM-MSCs transplantation via noninfarct-relative artery may be an alternative for those patients who cannot be transplanted via infarct-relative artery in clinical practice.

Exposure to radon progeny, tobacco use and lung cancer in a case-control study in southern China.

A case-control study of lung cancer in underground tin miners in southern China was conducted to examine the interplay between exposure to radon progeny and tobacco use. A total of 460 incident cases and 1,043 controls were evaluated. Among the exposed, mean radon progeny exposures were 600 and 427 working level months (WLM) for cases and controls, respectively. The excess relative risk per WLM (ERR/WLM) was 0.28% overall, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.1-0.6%, similar to the estimate from a cohort study in a related population of underground miners. The established patterns of lung cancer associated with radon were seen; the ERR/WLM decreased with attained age and time since last exposure. Conditional on total exposure, risk was highest for exposures delivered at a low rate. The ERR/WLM did not differ significantly among current and former smokers or within categories of time since last exposure. The relative risk relationship between exposure to radon progeny and tobacco use was consistent with a multiplicative model, but the best-fitting model was intermediate between additive and multiplicative; an additive association was rejected. Adjustment for exposure to inorganic arsenic, a known lung carcinogen, reduced the estimate of the ERR/WLM from 0.86% to 0.28%. The ERR/WLM estimate was homogeneous across subgroups defined by workers not exposed to arsenic and quartiles of cumulative arsenic exposure. Although squamous cell carcinoma was the predominant cell type, small cell and adenocarcinoma histologies appeared more strongly associated with exposure to radon progeny. The finding of a stronger trend with exposure with small cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas, compared to squamous cell carcinomas, occurred primarily at younger ages at diagnosis. Finally, the risk of lung cancer was higher if exposure to radon progeny and tobacco use occurred together than if the exposure to radon progeny entirely preceded tobacco use.

Structure of D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Palinurus versicolor carrying the fluorescent NAD derivatives at 2.7 A resolution.

Ultraviolet irradiation of carboxymethylated D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase leads to the formation of a fluorescent NAD derivative. The structure of the enzyme from Palinurus versicolor carrying this derivative has been determined by molecular replacement and refined using the restrained least-squares method to 2.7 A with a final crystallographic R-factor of 0.205. The polypeptide chain folding and subunit arrangement closely resemble the known structure of Homarus americanus GAPDH. The structure at the modified active site confirms that the photochemical reaction is a half-of-the-sites reaction and occurs in the red and yellow subunit pair. The stereochemical relationship between the Trp residues at the active site shows that Trp 310 is most probably involved in a radiationless energy transfer to the fluorophore. A large solvent channel connecting the catalytic and NAD(+)-binding sites was found parallel to the crystallographic axis alpha from packing analysis, suggesting that this crystal form may be suitable for a kinetic crystallographic study of the apoenzyme.