Effect of ticagrelor versus clopidogrel after implantation of drug-eluting stents guided by either intravascular ultrasound or angiography in patients with acute coronary syndrome-propensity score matching analysis.

BACKGROUND: The effect of different dual antiplatelet therapies on thrombotic events on the background of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guidance is unclear. We investigated whether ticagrelor can provide any additional benefit to clopidogrel in reducing thrombotic events in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) treated with drug- eluting stent (DES), when guided by IVUS or not. METHODS: A total of 5,666 ACS patients who underwent DES implantation and who were discharged on dual antiplatelet therapy were enrolled and grouped according to the use of IVUS or not. Each group was subdivided into two subgroups according to the type of P2Y12 inhibitor used after discharge. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used between the IVUS and no-IVUS groups. Covariate adjustment of Cox proportional hazards model was used between the ticagrelor and clopidogrel groups. Thrombotic event at 12 months was compared in groups separately. RESULTS: After PSM, 12-month follow-up data were available for 1,174 patients. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were less frequent in the IVUS-guided group (2.2% vs. 4.3%, P = 0.081) with a trend toward statistical significance. Comparison of antiplatelet regimens revealed significantly fewer major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) with ticagrelor in the entire PSM cohort and angiography-guided subgroup (2.9% vs. 5.7%, P = 0.035; 3.1% vs. 6.4%, P = 0.020, respectively). Among patients in the IVUS-guided group the outcome was comparable (2.5% vs. 4.4%, P = 0.312). Ticagrelor was associated with increasing bleeding incidence in the entire PSM cohort (1.3% vs. 3.3%, P = 0.030), mainly due to Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 2 bleeding (0.7% vs. 2.6%, P = 0.010). The results were consistent after covariate adjustment of Cox proportional hazards model. CONCLUSION: The comparison of ischemic benefit between ticagrelor and clopidogrel was similar in patients receiving IVUS guidance during stent implantation, probably due to the precise implantation of IVUS. Multicenter, randomized studies should be performed to validate this conclusion.

Characteristics and Clinical Prognosis of Septic Patients With Persistent Lymphopenia.

Background: Septic patients with persistent lymphopenia may be in an immunosuppressed state. Therefore, we evaluated and compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of septic patients with persistent lymphopenia (≥2d) and those with nonpersistent lymphopenia. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was designed. A total of 1306 patients with sepsis who were attended to the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University from March 2016 to August 2022 were included. The primary clinical outcome was 90d mortality. The secondary clinical outcomes were the length of stay, hospital mortality, 28d mortality, the incidence of secondary infection, and differences in clinical characteristics. Results: Among 1306 patients with sepsis, 913 (69.9%) patients developed persistent lymphopenia. Compared with patients with nonpersistent lymphopenia, patients with persistent lymphocytopenia were admitted to intensive care unit (75.7% vs 52.7%, P < .05), treated with mechanical ventilation (67.6% vs 39.2%, P < .05), positive rate of microbial culture pathogens (86.7% vs 71.2%, P < .05), SOFA [8.0 (6.0-10.0) vs 6.0 (4.0-8.0), P < .05], length of stay [17.0d (12.0-27.0) vs 13.0d (10.0-21.0), P < .05], hospital mortality (37.7% vs 24.2%, P < .05), 28d mortality (38.0% vs 22.9%, P < .05), and 90d mortality (51.2% vs 31.3%, P < .05) were higher. As the duration of lymphocytopenia increased, so did the mortality rate in hospital. In addition, the onset time of persistent lymphopenia was not associated with SOFA. But we found that the frequency of persistent lymphopenia during hospitalization was positively associated with SOFA. Conclusion: Septic patients with persistent lymphopenia have higher mortality, worse conditions, increased risk of secondary infection, and poor prognosis regardless of shock.

Identification of potential therapeutic targets for skin cutaneous melanoma on the basic of transcriptomics.

BACKGROUND: Advanced skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) is responsible for the majority of skin cancer-related deaths. Apart from the rare BRAF V600F mutation, which can be targeted with specific drugs, there are currently no other novel effective therapeutic targets. METHODS: We used SMR analysis with cis-expressed quantitative trait locus (cis-eQTL) as the exposure variable and SKCM as the outcome variable to identify potential therapeutic targets for SKCM. Colocalization assays and HEIDI tests are used to test whether SKCM risk and gene expression are driven by common SNPs. Replication analysis further validated the findings, and we also constructed protein-protein interaction networks to explore the relationship between the identified genes and known SKCM targets. Drug prediction and molecular docking further validated the medicinal value of drug targets. Transcriptome differential analysis further validated that there were differences between normal tissues and SKCM for the selected targets. RESULTS: We identified 13 genes significantly associated with the risk of SKCM, including five protective genes and eight harmful genes. The HEIDI test and co-localization analysis further indicates a causal association between genes (SOX4, MAFF) and SKCM, categorized as Class 1 evidence targets. The remaining 11 genes, except for HELZ2 show a moderately causal association with SKCM, categorized as Class 2 evidence targets. Target druggability predictions from DGIdb suggest that SOX4, MAFF, ACSF3, CDK10, SPG7, and TCF25 are likely to be future drug targets. CONCLUSION: The study provides genetic evidence for targeting available drug genes for the treatment of SKCM.

Discovery of a novel lipid metabolism-related gene signature to predict outcomes and the tumor immune microenvironment in gastric cancer by integrated analysis of single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing.

Gastric cancer (GC) is a pressing global clinical issue, with few treatment options and a poor prognosis. The onset and spread of stomach cancer are significantly influenced by changes in lipid metabolism-related pathways. This study aimed to discover a predictive signature for GC using lipid metabolism-related genes (LMRGs) and examine its correlation with the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). Transcriptome data and clinical information from patients with GC were collected from the TCGA and GEO databases. Data from GC samples were analyzed using both bulk RNA-seq and single-cell sequencing of RNA (scRNA-seq). To identify survival-related differentially expressed LMRGs (DE-LMRGs), differential expression and prognosis studies were carried out. We built a predictive signature using LASSO regression and tested it on the TCGA and GSE84437 datasets. In addition, the correlation of the prognostic signature with the TIME was comprehensively analyzed. In this study, we identified 258 DE-LMRGs in GC and further screened seven survival-related DE-LMRGs. The results of scRNA-seq identified 688 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the three branches. Two critical genes (GPX3 and NNMT) were identified using the above two gene groups. In addition, a predictive risk score that relies on GPX3 and NNMT was developed. Survival studies in both the TCGA and GEO datasets revealed that patients categorized to be at low danger had a significantly greater prognosis than those identified to be at high danger. Additionally, by employing calibration plots based on TCGA data, the study demonstrated the substantial predictive capacity of a prognostic nomogram, which incorporated a risk score along with various clinical factors. Within the high-risk group, there was a noticeable abundance of active natural killer (NK) cells, quiescent monocytes, macrophages, mast cells, and activated CD4 + T cells. In summary, a two-gene signature and a predictive nomogram have been developed, offering accurate prognostic predictions for general survival in GC patients. These findings have the potential to assist healthcare professionals in making informed medical decisions and providing personalized treatment approaches.

Sediment pollutant exposures caused hepatotoxicity and disturbed glycogenesis.

Liver metabolic syndrome, which involves impaired hepatic glycogen synthesis, is persistently increased by exposure to environmental pollutants. Most studies have investigated the pathogenesis of liver damage caused by single metal species or pure organics. However, under normal circumstances, the pollutants that we are exposed to are usually chemical mixtures that accumulate over time. Sediments are long-term repositories for environmental pollutants due to their environmental cycles, which make them good samples for evaluating the effect of environmental pollutants on the liver via bioaccumulation. This study aimed to clarify the effects of sediment pollutants on liver damage. Our results indicate that industrial wastewater sediment (downstream) is more cytotoxic than sediments from other zones. Downstream sediment extract (DSE) causes hepatotoxicity, stimulates reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, triggers mitochondrial dysfunction, induces cell apoptosis, and results in the release of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) proteins. Additionally, to elucidate the underlying mechanism by which sediment pollutants disturb hepatic glycogen synthesis, we investigated the effects of different sediment samples from different pollution situations on glycogen synthesis in liver cell lines. It was found that DSE induced multiple severe impairments in liver cells, and disturbed glycogen synthesis more than under other conditions. These impairments include decreased hepatic glycogen synthesis via inhibition and insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) /AKT /glycogen synthase kinase3ß (GSK3ß)-mediated glycogen synthase (GYS) inactivation. To our knowledge, this study provides the first detailed evidence of in vitro sediment-accumulated toxicity that interferes with liver glycogen synthesis, leading to hepatic cell damage through apoptosis.

Nuclear accumulation of KPNA2 impacts radioresistance through positive regulation of the PLSCR1-STAT1 loop in lung adenocarcinoma.

Lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) is the predominant histological type of lung cancer, and radiotherapy is one of the current therapeutic strategies for lung cancer treatment. Unfortunately, biological complexity and cancer heterogeneity contribute to radioresistance development. Karyopherin α2 (KPNA2) is a member of the importin α family that mediates the nucleocytoplasmic transport of cargo proteins. KPNA2 overexpression is observed across cancer tissues of diverse origins. However, the role of KPNA2 in lung cancer radioresistance is unclear. Herein, we demonstrated that high expression of KPNA2 is positively correlated with radioresistance and cancer stem cell (CSC) properties in lung ADC cells. Radioresistant cells exhibited nuclear accumulation of KPNA2 and its cargos (OCT4 and c-MYC). Additionally, KPNA2 knockdown regulated CSC-related gene expression in radioresistant cells. Next-generation sequencing and bioinformatic analysis revealed that STAT1 activation and nuclear phospholipid scramblase 1 (PLSCR1) are involved in KPNA2-mediated radioresistance. Endogenous PLSCR1 interacting with KPNA2 and PLSCR1 knockdown suppressed the radioresistance induced by KPNA2 expression. Both STAT1 and PLSCR1 were found to be positively correlated with dysregulated KPNA2 in radioresistant cells and ADC tissues. We further demonstrated a potential positive feedback loop between PLSCR1 and STAT1 in radioresistant cells, and this PLSCR1-STAT1 loop modulates CSC characteristics. In addition, AKT1 knockdown attenuated the nuclear accumulation of KPNA2 in radioresistant lung cancer cells. Our results collectively support a mechanistic understanding of a novel role for KPNA2 in promoting radioresistance in lung ADC cells.

Age in combination with gender is a valuable parameter in differential diagnosis of solid pseudopapillary tumors and pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm.

BACKGROUND: The clinicopathological characteristics of solid pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) and pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm (pNEN) are different. We, therefore, systematically investigated the performance of the clinicopathological characteristics in distinguishing SPT from pNEN. METHODS: We collected the cases from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. The International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third edition (ICD-O-3) for tumors was used to identify patients with pNEN or patients with SPT. To determine the performance of age in combination with gender in distinguishing SPT from pNEN, a nomogram was developed and the performance of this nomogram was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic curve and the area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: In the training cohort, 563 patients with pNENs and 30 patients with SPTs were recruited. The logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curves suggest that age, gender, T-stage, N-stage, and M-stage could discriminate SPT and pNEN. The AUC of age, gender, T-stage, N-stage, and M-stage was 0.82, 0.75, 0.65, 0.69, and 0.70, respectively. Based on the nomogram, we observed that the AUC of age and gender is significantly high than that of the T-stage, N-stage, and M-stage. CONCLUSIONS: The present study proposes a non-invasive nomogram that could aid in the differential diagnosis of pNEN and SPT. This might help the clinicians to distinguish SPT from pNEN and choose the appropriate treatments for the patients.

Proteomic and microbial assessments on the effect of Antrodia cinnamomea in C57BL/6 mice.

Antrodia cinnamomea (AC) is a nutraceutical fungus and studies have suggested that AC has the potential to prevent or alleviate diseases. However, little is known about the AC-induced phenotypes on the intestine-liver axis and gut microbial alterations. Here, we performed two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and MALDI-Biotyper to elaborate the AC-induced phenotypes on the intestine-liver axis and gut microbial distribution of C57BL/6 mice. The experimental outcomes showed that the hepatic density may increase by elevating hepatic redox regulation, lipid degradation and glycolysis-related proteins and alleviating cholesterol biosynthesis and transport-related proteins in C57BL/6 mice with AC treatment. Moreover, AC facilitates intestinal glycolysis, TCA cycle, redox and cytoskeleton regulation-related proteins, but also reduces intestinal vesicle transport-related proteins in C57BL/6 mice. However, the body weight, GTT, daily food/water intake, and fecal/urine weight were unaffected by AC supplementation in C57BL/6 mice. Notably, the C57BL/6-AC mice had a higher gut microbial abundance of Alistipes shahii (AS) than C57BL/6-Ctrl mice. In summary, the AC treatment affects intestinal permeability by regulating redox and cytoskeleton-related proteins and elevates the gut microbial abundance of AS in C57BL/6 mice that might be associated with increasing hepatic density and metabolism-related proteins of the liver in C57BL/6 mice. Our study provides an insight into the mechanisms of AC-induced phenotypes and a comprehensive assessment of AC's nutraceutical effect in C57BL/6 mice.

Targeting UDP-glucose dehydrogenase inhibits ovarian cancer growth and metastasis.

More than 70% of patients with ovarian cancer are diagnosed in advanced stages. Therefore, it is urgent to identify a promising prognostic marker and understand the mechanism of ovarian cancer metastasis development. By using proteomics approaches, we found that UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UGDH) was up-regulated in highly metastatic ovarian cancer TOV21G cells, characterized by high invasiveness (TOV21GHI ), in comparison to its parental control. Previous reports demonstrated that UGDH is involved in cell migration, but its specific role in cancer metastasis remains unclear. By performing immunohistochemical staining with tissue microarray, we found overexpression of UGDH in ovarian cancer tissue, but not in normal adjacent tissue. Silencing using RNA interference (RNAi) was utilized to knockdown UGDH, which resulted in a significant decrease in metastatic ability in transwell migration, transwell invasion and wound healing assays. The knockdown of UGDH caused cell cycle arrest in the G0 /G1 phase and induced a massive decrease of tumour formation rate in vivo. Our data showed that UGDH-depletion led to the down-regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related markers as well as MMP2, and inactivation of the ERK/MAPK pathway. In conclusion, we found that the up-regulation of UGDH is related to ovarian cancer metastasis and the deficiency of UGDH leads to the decrease of cell migration, cell invasion, wound healing and cell proliferation ability. Our findings reveal that UGDH can serve as a prognostic marker and that the inhibition of UGDH is a promising strategy for ovarian cancer treatment.

Progesterone receptor membrane component 1 is involved in oral cancer cell metastasis.

Cancer metastasis is a common cause of failure in cancer therapy. However, over 60% of oral cancer patients present with advanced stage disease, and the five-year survival rates of these patients decrease from 72.6% to 20% as the stage becomes more advanced. In order to manage oral cancer, identification of metastasis biomarker and mechanism is critical. In this study, we use a pair of oral squamous cell carcinoma lines, OC3, and invasive OC3-I5 as a model system to examine invasive mechanism and to identify potential therapeutic targets. We used two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/TOF MS) to examine the global protein expression changes between OC3 and invasive OC3-I5. A proteomic study reveals that invasive properties alter the expression of 101 proteins in OC3-I5 cells comparing to OC3 cells. Further studies have used RNA interference technique to monitor the influence of progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) protein in invasion and evaluate their potency in regulating invasion and the mechanism it involved. The results demonstrated that expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers including Twist, p-Src, Snail1, SIP1, JAM-A, vimentin and vinculin was increased in OC3-I5 compared to OC3 cells, whereas E-cadherin expression was decreased in the OC3-I5 cells. Moreover, in mouse model, PGRMC1 is shown to affect not only migration and invasion but also metastasis in vivo. Taken together, the proteomic approach allows us to identify numerous proteins, including PGRMC1, involved in invasion mechanism. Our results provide useful diagnostic markers and therapeutic candidates for the treatment of oral cancer invasion.

Identification of hyperglycemia-associated microbiota alterations in saliva and gingival sulcus.

Oral microbes are a contributing factor to hyperglycemia by inducing an increase in insulin resistance resulting in uncontrolled blood glucose levels. However, the relationship between the distribution of oral flora and hyperglycemia is still controversial. Combining the power of MALDI-Biotyper with anaerobic bacterial culture, this study explores the correlation between anaerobic bacteria in the oral cavity and blood glucose levels. The results demonstrated that altered blood glucose levels contributed to a varied bacterial distribution in the oral cavity. Specifically, Veillonella spp. and Prevotella spp. were identified in a higher proportion in people with elevated blood glucose levels. Six bacterial species identified in this study (Prevotella melaninogenica, Campylobacter rectus, Streptococcus gordonii, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus salivarius, and Veillonella parvula) not only demonstrated a positive association with higher blood glucose levels, but also likely contribute to the development of the condition. The data demonstrated MALDI-TOF MS to be a simpler, faster, and more economical clinical identification tool that provides clarity and depth to the research on blood glucose and oral microbiota.

The Role of Transforming Growth Factor-Beta in Retinal Ganglion Cells with Hyperglycemia and Oxidative Stress.

A characteristic of diabetes mellitus is hyperglycemia, which is considered with an emphasis on the diabetic retinopathy of progressive neurodegenerative disease. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are believed to be important cells affected in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-ß) is a neuroprotective protein that helps to withstand various neuronal injuries. To investigate the potential roles and regulatory mechanisms of TGF-ß in hyperglycemia-triggered damage of RGCs in vitro, we established RGCs in 5.5, 25, 50, and 100 mM D-glucose supplemented media and focused on the TGF-ß-related oxidative stress pathway in combination with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Functional experiments showed that TGF-ß1/2 protein expression was upregulated in RGCs with hyperglycemia. The knockdown of TGF-ß enhanced the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), inhibited the cell proliferation rate, and reduced glutathione content in hyperglycemia. Furthermore, the results showed that the TGF-ß-mediated enhancement of antioxidant signaling was correlated with the activation of stress response proteins and the antioxidant pathway, such as aldehyde dehydrogenase 3A1 (ALDH3A1), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2), and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α). Summarizing, our results demonstrated that TGF-ß keeps RGCs from hyperglycemia-triggered harm by promoting the activation of the antioxidant pathway, suggesting a potential anti-diabetic therapy for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy.

Proteomic investigating the cooperative lethal effect of EGFR and MDM2 inhibitors on ovarian carcinoma.

With the concept of precision medicine, combining multiple molecular-targeting therapies has brought new approaches to current cancer treatments. Malfunction of the tumor suppressor protein, p53 is a universal hallmark in human cancers. Under normal conditions, p53 is degraded through an ubiquitin-proteosome pathway regulated by its negative regulator, MDM2. In contrast, cellular stress such as DNA damage will activate p53 to carry out DNA repair, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis. In this study, we focused on ovarian carcinoma with high EGFR and MDM2 overexpression rate. We assessed the effects of combined inhibition by MDM2 (JNJ-26854165) and EGFR (gefitinib) inhibitors on various ovarian cell lines to determine the importance of these two molecular targets on cell proliferation. We then used a proteomic strategy to investigate the relationship between MDM2 and EGFR inhibition to explore the underlying mechanisms of how their combined signaling blockades work together to exert cooperative inhibition. Our results demonstrated that all four cell lines were sensitive to both individual and combined, MDM2 and EGFR inhibition. The proteomic analysis also showed that gefitinib/JNJ-treated CAOV3 cells exhibited downregulation of proteins involved in nucleotide biosynthesis such as nucleoside diphosphate kinase B (NME2). In conclusion, our study showed that the combined treatment with JNJ and gefitinib exerted synergistic inhibition on cell proliferation, thereby suggesting the potential application of combining MDM2 inhibitors with EGFR inhibitors for enhancing efficacy in ovarian cancer treatment.

A modified M-stage classification based on the metastatic patterns of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: The present study aims to improve the M-stage classification of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (pNENs). METHODS: Two thousand six hundred sixty six pNENs were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database to explore the metastatic patterns of pNENs. Metastatic patterns were categorized as single, two, or multiple (three or more) distant organ metastasis. The mean overall survival and hazard rate of different metastatic patterns were calculated by Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models, respectively. The discriminatory capability of the modified M-stage classification was evaluated by Harrell's concordance index. RESULTS: The overall survival time significantly decreased with an increasing number of metastatic organs. In addition, pNENs with only liver metastasis had better prognosis when compared to other metastatic patterns. Thus, we modified the M-stage classification (mM-stage) as follows: mM0-stage, tumor without metastasis; mM1-stage, tumor only metastasized to liver; mM2-stage, tumor metastasized to other single distant organ (lung, bone, or brain) or two distant organs; mM3-stage, tumor metastasized to three or more distant organs. Harrell's concordance index showed that the modified M-stage classification had superior discriminatory capability than both the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS) M-stage classifications. CONCLUSIONS: The modified M-stage classification is superior to both AJCC and ENETS M-stage classifications in the prognosis of pNENs. In the future, individualized treatment and follow-up programs should be explored for patients with distinct metastatic patterns.

Binding versus Conventional Pancreaticojejunostomy in Preventing Postoperative Pancreatic Fistula: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy of a new technology, binding pancreaticojejunostomy (BPJ), with conventional pancreaticojejunostomy (CPJ) after pancreaticoduodenectomy in preventing postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF). METHODS: Randomized controlled trials and observational studies were retrieved from literature searches. Pooled OR with 95% CI for dichotomous variables and weighted mean difference with 95% CI for continuous variables were calculated. Fixed-effect and random-effect models as well as subgroup analysis were used for sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found in the incidence of POPF, delayed gastric emptying, postpancreatectomy hemorrhage, reoperation, morbidity, mortality, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, blood transfusion, and hospital stay between 2 groups. However, the total costs of hospitalization and ordinary stay were higher in BPJ group (€10,513 ± €6,536 vs. €8,238 ± €4,687, p = 0.002; €7,946 ± €5,023 vs. €5,700 ± €2,902, p = 0.015, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed BPJ was as safe as CPJ. However, no significant superiority was found in BPJ group regarding the incidence of POPF. The total costs of hospital stay were higher for patients undergoing BPJ. Surgeons can prefer to perform the digestive tract reconstruction of their choice.

Proteomic Analysis of Various Rat Ocular Tissues after Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury and Possible Relevance to Acute Glaucoma.

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and optical nerve damage. To investigate the protein expression alterations in various intraocular tissues (i.e., the cornea, conjunctiva, uvea, retina, and sclera) during ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury, this study performed a proteomic analysis to qualitatively investigate such alterations resulting from acute glaucoma. The IR injury model combined with the proteomic analysis approach of two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was used to monitor the protein expression alterations in two groups of specimens (an IR injury group and a control group). The analysis results revealed 221 unique differentially expressed proteins of a total of 1481 proteins in the cornea between the two groups. In addition, 97 of 1206 conjunctival proteins, 90 of 1354 uveal proteins, 61 of 1180 scleral proteins, and 37 of 1204 retinal proteins were differentially expressed. These findings imply that different ocular tissues have different tolerances against IR injury. To sum up, this study utilized the acute glaucoma model combined with 2D-DIGE and MALDI-TOF MS to investigate the IR injury affected protein expression on various ocular tissues, and based on the ratio of protein expression alterations, the alterations in the ocular tissues were in the following order: the cornea, conjunctiva, uvea, sclera, and retina.

Identification of Up- and Down-Regulated Proteins in Pemetrexed-Resistant Human Lung Adenocarcinoma: Flavin Reductase and Calreticulin Play Key Roles in the Development of Pemetrexed-Associated Resistance.

Drug resistance is one of the major causes of cancer chemotherapy failure. In the current study, we used a pair of lung adenocarcinoma cell lines, A549 and the pemetrexed-resistant A549/PEM cells, as a model to monitor resistance-dependent cellular responses and identify potential therapeutic targets. By means of 2D differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), we investigated the global protein expression alterations induced by pemetrexed treatment and resistance. The proteomic result revealed that pemetrexed exposure obviously altered the expression of 81 proteins in the A549 cells, whereas no significant response was observed in the similarly treated A549/PEM cells, hence implying an association between these proteins and the drug-specific response. Moreover, 72 proteins including flavin reductase and calreticulin demonstrated differential expression between the A549 and A549/PEM cells, indicating baseline resistance. Additional tests employed siRNA silencing, protein overexpression, cell viability analysis, and analysis of apoptosis to examine and confirm the potency of flavin reductase and calreticulin proteins in the development of pemetrexed resistance. In summary, by using a proteomic approach, we identified numerous proteins, including flavin reductase and calreticulin, involved in pemetrexed drug resistance-developing mechanisms. Our results provide useful diagnostic markers and therapeutic candidates for pemetrexed-resistant lung cancer treatment.

[Effect of acupoint massage dominant early comprehensive intervention on the prognosis of premature infants with brain injury].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of acupoint massage dominant early comprehensive intervention on the prognosis of premature infants with brain injury. METHODS: Totally 210 premature infants with brain injury were assigned to the intervention group (112 cases) and the control group (98 cases). All patients received routine therapy (medicinal + routine care instructions). Patients in the intervention group additionally received acupoint massage. Those with abnormal early motion received physical sports treatment. Those with upper limbs dysfunction or with fine movement disorders received occupational therapy. Premature infants' development quotient (DQ) was performed at corrected age of 6 and 12 months by using neuropsychological development examination table for 0 - 6 years old children. The incidence of cerebral palsy was statistically calculated. RESULTS: At corrected age of 6 months, DQ of gross motor, fine motor, language three functional areas was higher in the intervention group than in the control group with significant difference (P < 0.05). At corrected age of 12 months, DQ of gross motor, fine motor, language, social and adaptive capacities was higher in the intervention group than in the control groupwith significant difference (P < 0.05). The incidence of cerebral palsy was 4.46% (5/112) in the intervention group and 12.24% (12/98) in the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupoint massage dominant early comprehensive intervention could obviously improve the intelligence development level and lower the incidence of cerebral palsy in premature infants with brain injury.

"Needle" hidden in silk floss: Inactivation effect and mechanism of melamine sponge loaded bismuth oxide composite copper-metal organic framework (MS/Bi2O3@Cu-MOF) as floating photocatalyst on Microcystis aeruginosa.

Photocatalytic technology showed significant potential for addressing the issue of cyanobacterial blooms resulting from eutrophication in bodies of water. However, the traditional powder materials were easy to agglomerate and settle, which led to the decrease of photocatalytic activity. The emergence of floating photocatalyst was important for the practical application of controlling harmful algal blooms. This study was based on the efficient powder photocatalyst bismuth oxide composite copper-metal organic framework (Bi2O3 @Cu-MOF), which was successfully loaded onto melamine sponge (MS) by sodium alginate immobilization to prepare a floating photocatalyst MS/Bi2O3 @Cu-MOF for the inactivation of Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa) under visible light. When the capacity was 0.4 g (CA0.4), MS/Bi2O3 @Cu-MOF showed good photocatalytic activity, and the inactivation rate of M. aeruginosa reached 74.462% after 120 h. MS/Bi2O3 @Cu-MOF-CA0.4 showed a large specific surface area of 30.490 m2/g and an average pore size of 22.862 nm, belonging to mesoporous materials. After 120 h of treatment, the content of soluble protein in the MS/Bi2O3 @Cu-MOF-CA0.4 treatment group decreased to 0.365 mg/L, the content of chlorophyll a (chla) was 0.023 mg/L, the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) increased to 3.168 nmol/mgprot, and the contents of various antioxidant enzymes experienced drastic changes, first increasing and then decreasing. The photocatalytic process generated·OH and·O2-, which played key role in inactivating the algae cells. Additionally, the release of Cu2+ and adsorption of the material also contributed to the process.

Research status and prospects of organic photocatalysts in algal inhibition and sterilization: a review.

An increasing amount of sewage has been discharged into water bodies in the progression of industrialization and urbanization, causing serious water pollution. Meanwhile, the increase of nutrients in the water induces water eutrophication and rapid growth of algae. Photocatalysis is a common technique for algal inhibition and sterilization. To improve the utilization of visible light and the conversion efficiency of solar energy, more organic photocatalytic materials have been gradually developed. In addition to ultraviolet light, partial infrared light and visible light could also be used by organic photocatalysts compared with inorganic photocatalysts. Simultaneously, organic photocatalysts also exhibit favorable stability. Most organic photocatalysts can maintain a high degradation rate for algae and bacteria after several cycles. There are various organic semiconductors, mainly including small organic molecules, such as perylene diimide (PDI), porphyrin (TCPP), and new carbon materials (fullerene (C60), graphene (GO), and carbon nanotubes (CNT)), and large organic polymers, such as graphite phase carbon nitride (g-C3N4), polypyrrole (PPy), polythiophene (PTH), polyaniline (PANI), and polyimide (PI). In this review, the classification and synthesis methods of organic photocatalytic materials were elucidated. It was demonstrated that the full visible spectral response (400-750 nm) could be stimulated by modifying organic photocatalysts. Moreover, some problems were summarized based on the research status related to algae and bacteria, and corresponding suggestions were also provided for the development of organic photocatalytic materials.