A Slug-dependent mechanism is responsible for tumor suppression of p53-stabilizing compound CP-31398 in p53-mutated endometrial carcinoma.

Mutation in the tumor suppressor gene p53 is the most frequent molecular defect in endometrial carcinoma (EC). Recently, CP-31398, a p53-stabilizing compound, has been indicated to possess the ability to alter the expression of non-p53 target genes in addition to p53 downstream genes in tumor cells. Herein, we explore the alternative mechanisms underlying the restoration of EC tumor suppressor function in mutant p53 by CP-31398. A p53-mutated EC cell was constructed in AN3CA cells with restored or partial loss of Slug using lentiviral vectors, followed by treatment with 25 µM CP-31398. A p53-independent mechanism of CP-31398 was confirmed by the interaction between mouse double minute 2 homolog (MDM2) and Slug AN3CA cells treated with IWR-1 (inhibitor of Wnt response 1). Furthermore, the AN3CA cells were treated with short hairpin RNA against Slug, Wnt-specific activators (LiCl) or inhibitors (XAV-939) followed by CP-31398 treatment. Moreover, AN3CA cell proliferation and apoptosis were examined. A tumorigenicity assay was conducted in nude mice. CP-31398 could promote the apoptosis of p53-mutated EC cells, while Slug reversed this effect. Slug ubiquitination was found to occur via binding of Slug to MDM2 in AN3CA cells. We found that CP-31398 increased the GSK-3ß, p-Slug, Puma, Wtp53, and Bax expressions whereas Wnt, Mtp-53, Slug, Bcl-2, and Ki-67 expressions were decreased. However, these findings were reversed following the activation of the Wnt pathway and overexpression of Slug. Finally, the in vivo experimental evidence confirmed that CP-31398 with depleted Slug suppressed tumor growth by downregulating the Slug. Collectively, CP-31398-regulated Slug downregulation represses the p53-mutated EC via the p53/Wnt/Puma pathway.

Maternal health care management during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel type of highly contagious pneumonia caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Despite the strong efforts taken to control the epidemic, hundreds of thousands of people were infected worldwide by 11 March, and the situation was characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Pregnant women are more susceptible to viral infection due to immune and anatomic alteration, though hospital visits may increase the chance of infection, the lack of medical care during pregnancy may do more harm. Hence, a well-managed system that allows pregnant women to access maternal health care with minimum exposure risk is desired during the outbreak. Here, we present the managing processes of three pregnant women who had fever during hospitalization in the gynecology or obstetrics department, and then, we further summarize and demonstrate our maternal health care management strategies including antenatal care planning, patient triage based on the risk level, admission control, and measures counteracting emergencies and newly discovered high-risk cases at in-patient department. In the meantime, we will explain the alterations we have done throughout different stages of the epidemic and also review relative articles in both Chinese and English to compare our strategies with those of other areas. Although tens of COVID-19 cases were confirmed in our hospital, no nosocomial infection has occurred and none of the pregnant women registered in our hospital was reported to be infected.

Research of the dynamic regulatory mechanism of Compound Danshen Dripping Pills on myocardial infarction based on metabolic trajectory analysis.

BACKGROUND: Myocardial infarction (MI) is a serious cardiovascular disease, which presents different pathophysiological changes with the prolongation of the disease. Compound danshen dripping pills (CDDP) has obvious advantages in MI treatment and widely used in the clinic. However, the current studies were mostly focused on the endpoint of CDDP intervention, lacking the dynamic attention to the disease process. It is of great value to establish a dynamic research strategy focused on the changes in pharmacodynamic substances for guiding clinical medication more precisely. PURPOSE: It is aimed to explore the dynamic regulating pattern of CDDP on MI based on metabolic trajectory analysis, and then clarify the variation characteristic biomarkers and pharmacodynamic substances in the intervention process. METHODS: The MI model was successfully prepared by coronary artery left anterior descending branch ligation, and then CDDP intervention was given for 28 days. Endogenous metabolites and the components of CDDP in serum were measured by LC/MS technique simultaneously to identify dynamic the metabolic trajectory and screen the characteristic pharmacodynamic substances at different points. Finally, network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques were used to simulate the core pharmacodynamic substances and core target binding, then validated at the genetic and protein level by Q-PCR and western blotting technology. RESULTS: CDDP performed typical dynamic regulation features on metabolite distribution, biological processes, and pharmacodynamic substances. During 1-7 days, it mainly regulated lipid metabolism and inflammation, the Phosphatidylcholine (PC(18:1(9Z/18:1(9Z)) and Sphingomyelin (SM(d18:1/23:1(9Z)), SM(d18:1/24:1(15Z)), SM(d18:0/16:1(9Z))) were the main characteristic biomarkers. Lipid metabolism was the mainly regulation pathway during 14-21 days, and the characteristic biomarkers were the Lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LysoPE(0:0/20:0), PE-NMe2(22:1(13Z)/15:0)) and Sphingomyelin (SM(d18:1/23:1(9Z))). At 28 days, in addition to inflammatory response and lipid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism also played the most important role. Correspondingly, Lysophosphatidylcholine (LysoPC(20:0/0:0)), Lysophosphatidylserine (LPS(18:0/0:0)) and Fatty acids (Linoelaidic acid) were the characteristic biomarkers. Based on the results of metabolite distribution and biological process, the characteristic pharmacodynamic substances during the intervention were further identified. The results showed that various kinds of Saponins and Tanshinones as the important active ingredients performed a long-range regulating effect on MI. And the other components, such as Tanshinol and Salvianolic acid B affected Phosphatidylcholine and Sphingomyelin through Relaxin Signaling pathway during the early intervention. Protocatechualdehyde and Rosmarinic acid affected Lysophosphatidylethanolamine and Sphingomyelin through EGFR Tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance during the late intervention. Tanshinone IIB and Isocryptotanshinone via PPAR signaling pathway affected Lysophosphatidylcholine, Lysophosphatidylserine, and Fatty acids. CONCLUSION: The dynamic regulating pattern was taken as the entry point and constructs the dynamic network based on metabolic trajectory analysis, establishes the dynamic correlation between the drug-derived components and the endogenous metabolites, and elucidates the characteristic biomarkers affecting the changes of the pharmacodynamic indexes, systematically and deeply elucidate the pharmacodynamic substance and mechanism of CDDP on MI. It also enriched the understanding of CDDP and provided a methodological reference for the dynamic analysis of complex systems of TCM.

[Simultaneous determination of 36 mycotoxins in fruits by QuEChERS coupled with ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry].

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by toxigenic fungi under specific environmental conditions. Fruits, owing to their high moisture content, rich nutrition, and improper harvest or storage conditions, are highly susceptible to various mycotoxins, such as ochratoxin A (OTA), zearalenone (ZEN), patulin (PAT), Alternaria toxins, etc. These mycotoxins can cause acute and chronic toxic effects (teratogenicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity, etc) in animals and humans. Given the high toxicity and wide prevalence of mycotoxins, establishing an efficient analytical method to detect multiple mycotoxins simultaneously in different types of fruits is of great importance. Conventional mycotoxin detection methods rely on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS). However, fruit sample matrices contain large amounts of pigments, cellulose, and minerals, all of which dramatically impede the detection of trace mycotoxins in fruits. Therefore, the efficient enrichment and purification of multiple mycotoxins in fruit samples is crucial before instrumental analysis. In this study, a reliable method based on a QuEChERs sample preparation approach coupled with ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was established to determine 36 mycotoxins in fruits. In the optimal extraction method, 2.0 g of a sample was extracted with 10 mL of acetic acid-acetonitrile-water (1∶79∶20, v/v/v) in a 50 mL centrifuge tube, vortexed for 30 s, and ultrasonicated for 40 min. The mixture was then salted out with 2.0 g of anhydrous MgSO4 and 0.5 g of NaCl and centrifuged for 5 min. Next, 6 mL of the supernatant was purified using 85 mg of octadecylsilane-bonded silica gel (C18) and 15 mg of N-propylethylenediamine (PSA). After vigorous shaking and centrifugation, the supernatant was collected and dried with nitrogen at 40 ℃. Finally, the residues were redissolved in 1 mL of 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate aqueous solution-acetonitrile (50∶50, v/v) and passed through a 0.22 µm nylon filter before analysis. The mycotoxins were separated on a Waters XBridge BEH C18 column using a binary gradient mixture of ammonium acetate aqueous solution and methanol. The injection volume was 3 µL. The mycotoxins were analyzed in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode under both positive and negative electrospray ionization. Quantitative analysis was performed using an external standard method with matrix-matched calibration curves. Under optimal conditions, good linear relationships were obtained in the respective linear ranges, with correlation coefficients (R2) no less than 0.990. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) were 0.02-5 and 0.1-10 µg/kg, respectively. The recoveries of the 36 mycotoxins in fruits ranged from 77.0% to 118.9% at low, medium, and high spiked levels, with intra- and inter-day precisions in the range of 1.3%-14.9% and 0.2%-17.3%, respectively. The validated approach was employed to investigate mycotoxin contamination in actual fruit samples, including strawberry, grape, pear, and peach (15 samples of each type). Eleven mycotoxins, namely, altenuene (ALT), altenusin (ALS), alternariol-methyl ether (AME), tenuazonic acid (TeA), tentoxin (Ten), OTA, beauvericin (BEA), PAT, zearalanone (ZAN), T-2 toxin (T2), and mycophenolic acid (MPA), were found in the samples; three samples were contaminated with multiple mycotoxins. The incidence rates of mycotoxins in strawberry, grape, pear, and peach were 27%, 40%, 40%, and 33%, respectively. In particular, Alternaria toxins were the most frequently found mycotoxins in these fruits, with an incidence of 15%. The proposed method is simple, rapid, accurate, sensitive, reproducible, and stable; thus, it is suitable for the simultaneous detection of the 36 mycotoxins in different fruits.

[Meta analysis of acupuncture and moxibustion for anxiety and depression in irritable bowel syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of anxiety and depression in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by meta-analysis. METHODS: China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, China Scientific Journal Database (VIP), China Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed), PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of IBS anxiety and depression from database inception to June 30, 2021. RevMan5.3 and Stata16.0 were used to conduct Meta-analysis of relevant outcome indicators. RESULTS: A total of 11 RCTs were included in this study, involving 774 IBS patients (431 in the intervention group and 343 in the control group). Eight of them used manual acupuncture (MA) intervention, and the other three used electroacupuncture (EA) intervention. Meta-analysis showed that compared with the western medicine, MA improved the sedation-agitation scale (SAS) scores (MD=5.24, 95%CI=ï¼»3.49, 7.00ï¼½, P<0.000 01) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) scores (MD=8.50, 95%CI=ï¼»4.68, 12.32ï¼½, P<0.000 1) in IBS patients, and there was no significant difference between MA or EA and western medicine in the improvement of Hamilton anxiety rating scale (HAMA) scores (MD=1.10, 95%CI=ï¼»0.36, 2.56ï¼½, P=0.14) and Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD) scores (MD=0.53, 95%CI=ï¼»0.89, 1.94ï¼½, P=0.47). In terms of total effective rates (RR=1.21, 95%CI=ï¼»1.12, 1.31ï¼½, P<0.000 01) and the irritable bowel syndrome severity scoring system (IBS-SSS) scores (MD=42.16, 95%CI=ï¼»27.40, 56.91ï¼½, P<0.000 01), both MA and EA therapy was superior to western medicine in alleviating gastrointestinal symptoms of IBS patients. CONCLUSION: MA and EA can improve the anxiety and depression of IBS patients, while the influence of other acupuncture and moxibustion interventions needs to be deeply explored with more high-quality RCTs.

A specific selenium-chelating peptide isolated from the protein hydrolysate of Grifola frondosa.

Background: Grifola frondosa is a type of edible medicinal mushroom with abundant proteins. Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient for human. Many animal experiments and clinical studies had indicated that Se plays an important role in diverse physiologic actions. Most inorganic selenium compounds are toxic, and the lowest lethal dose is relatively small. Peptide-Se chelate can probably be dietary supplements in functional foods for humans with Se deficiency. Methods: In this study, a specific tripeptide Arg-Leu-Ala (RLA) with strong Se-chelating capacity was purified from Grifola frondosa through ultrafiltration, reversed-phase HPLC and gel filtration chromatography. The UV, SEM, XRD, 1H NMR spectra are shown to provide more information about characterization of RLA-Se chelates. The bioavailability of RLA-Se chelate in Caco-2 cell line was investigated by using human colon cancer Caco-2 cells as model. iTRAQ comparative proteomics approach were used to identify the differentially expressed proteins. Results: The Se binding capacity of RLA was 84.47 ± 1.21 mg g-1. The results of UV, X-ray diffraction (XRD), 1H NMR and SEM structure analysis showed that the binding of selenium in the hydrolysate of Grifola frondosa protein was successful, and the amino and carboxyl groups of RLA were involved in the coordination of Se, which was the main site of chelation. The results of absorption of RLA-Se chelate in Caco-2 cells showed that RLA-Se chelate could be used as selenium supplement source. Using iTRAQ comparative proteomics approach, 40 proteins found significant. RLA-Se treatment had been demonstrated to present a higher accumulation of Se compared with control treatment and show an effective absorption by Caco-2 with the result that E3 protein performed up regulation. RLA-Se may play roles in cell cycle and apoptosis as an essential micronutrient. To sum up, our research results show that Grifola polypeptide-Se chelate is a promising multifunctional organic selenium product, which can be used as a new functional supplement for selenium deficiency.

The Protective Effect of Dexmedetomidine Against Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury after Hepatectomy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: Hepatic inflow occlusion proceeded to reduce blood loss during hepatectomy induces ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury in the remnant liver. Dexmedetomidine, a selective α2-adrenoceptor agonist used as an anesthetic adjuvant, has been shown to attenuate IR injury in preclinical and clinical studies. However, a meta-analysis is needed to systematically evaluate the protective effect of perioperative dexmedetomidine use on IR injury induced by hepatectomy. Methods: A prospectively registered meta-analysis following Cochrane and PRISMA guidelines concerning perioperative dexmedetomidine use on IR injury after hepatectomy was performed via searching Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang, and Sinomed for eligible randomized controlled trials up to 2021.3.31. The main outcome is postoperative liver function. Risk of bias was assessed by the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Review Manager 5.3 and Stata12.0 were applied to perform data analyses. Results: Eight RCTs enrolling 468 participants were included. Compared with 0.9% sodium chloride, dexmedetomidine decreased serum concentration of ALT (WMD = -66.54, 95% CI: -92.10--40.98), AST (WMD= -82.96, 95% CI: -106.74--59.17), TBIL (WMD = -4.51, 95% CI: -7.32--1.71), MDA (WMD = -3.09, 95% CI: -5.17--1.01), TNF-α (WMD = -36.54, 95% CI: -61.33--11.95) and IL-6 (WMD = -165.05, 95% CI: -225.76--104.34), increased SOD activity (WMD = 24.70, 95% CI: 18.09-31.30) within postoperative one day. There was no significant difference in intraoperative or postoperative recovery parameters between groups. Conclusions: Perioperative administration of dexmedetomidine can exert a protective effect on liver IR injury after hepatectomy. Additional studies are needed to further evaluate postoperative recovery outcomes of dexmedetomidine with different dosing regimens.

LRP1B mutation is associated with tumor HPV status and promotes poor disease outcomes with a higher mutation count in HPV-related cervical carcinoma and head & neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and gene mutations were reputed as key factors in cervical carcinoma (CC) and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). However, the associations of HPV status and gene mutations remain to be determined. This study aims to identify molecular patterns of LRP1B mutation and HPV status via rewiring tumor samples of HNSCC (n=1478) and CC (n=178) from the TCGA dataset. Here, we found that LRP1B mutation was associated with HPV status in CC (P=0.040) and HNSCC (P=0.044), especially in HPV 16 integrated CC (P=0.036). Cancer survival analysis demonstrated that samples with LRP1B mutation showed poor disease outcomes in CC (P=0.013) and HNSCC (P=0.0124). In addition, the expression status of LPR1B was more favorable for prediction than TP53 or RB1 in CC and HNSCC. Mutation clustering analysis showed that samples with LRP1B mutation showed higher mutation count in CC (P=1.76e-67) and HNSCC (P<10e-10). Further analysis identified 289 co-occurrence genes in these two cancer types, which were enriched in PI3K signaling, cell division process, and chromosome segregation process, et al. The 289-co-occurrence gene signature identified a cluster of patients with a higher portion of copy number variation (CNV) lost in the genome, different tumor HPV status (P<10e-10), higher mutation count (P<10e-10), higher fraction genome altered value (P=2.078e-4), higher aneuploidy score (P=3.362e-4), and earlier started the smoking year (P=2.572e-4), which were associated with shorter overall survival (P=0.0103) in CC and HNSCC samples. Overall, LRP1B mutation was associated with tumor HPV status and was an unfavorable prognostic biomarker for CC and HNSCC.

Anesthetic agent etiomidate induces apoptosis in N2a brain tumor cell line.

The present study identified the cytotoxic effects of etomidate on the N2a neuroblastoma cell line. Etomidate induced apoptosis in N2a cells in a concentration­dependent manner, which was confirmed by western blotting and flow cytometry. Phase contrast microscopy was used to analyze the effect of etomidate on morphological characteristics. The number of the apoptotic cells was increased and confirmed by DAPI and PI staining, which served as a characteristic hallmark of apoptosis. Additionally, etomidate led to loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and resulted in the generation of reactive oxygen species in N2a cells. The western blot analysis revealed that N2a cells treated with etomidate had a significant modulation of pro­apoptotic proteins, includingpoly ADP­ribose polymerase (PARP), cleaved PARP, caspase­9 and procaspase­3. In conclusion, the present study determined that etomidate induced cytotoxic and apoptotic effects in N2a brain tumor cells in vitro.

Segmentation of Uterus Using Laparoscopic Ultrasound by an Image-Based Active Contour Approach for Guiding Gynecological Diagnosis and Surgery.

In laparoscopic gynecologic surgery, ultrasound has been typically implemented to diagnose urological and gynecological conditions. We applied laparoscopic ultrasonography (using Esaote 7.5~10MHz laparoscopic transducer) on the retrospective analyses of 42 women subjects during laparoscopic extirpation and excision of gynecological tumors in our hospital from August 2011 to August 2013. The objective of our research is to develop robust segmentation technique for isolation and identification of the uterus from the ultrasound images, so as to assess, locate and guide in removing the lesions during laparoscopic operations. Our method enables segmentation of the uterus by the active contour algorithm. We evaluated 42 in-vivo laparoscopic images acquired from the 42 patients (age 39.1 ± 7.2 years old) and selected images pertaining to 4 cases of congenital uterine malformations and 2 cases of pelvic adhesions masses. These cases (n = 6) were used for our uterus segmentation experiments. Based on them, the active contour method was compared with the manual segmentation method by a medical expert using linear regression and the Bland-Altman analysis (used to measure the correlation and the agreement). Then, the Dice and Jaccard indices are computed for measuring the similarity of uterus segmented between computational and manual methods. Good correlation was achieved whereby 84%-92% results fall within the 95% confidence interval in the Student t-test) and we demonstrate that the proposed segmentation method of uterus using laparoscopic images is effective.

A novel ultrasound based approach for lesion segmentation and its applications in gynecological laparoscopic surgery.

Laparoscopic ultrasound (LUS) has been widely utilized as a surgical aide in general, urological, and gynecological applications. Our study summarizes the clinical applications of laparoscopic ultrasonography in laparoscopic gynecologic surgery. Retrospective analyses were performed on 42 women subjects using laparoscopic surgery during laparoscopic extirpation and excision of gynecological tumors in our hospital from August 2011 to August 2013. Specifically, the Esaote 7.5 × 10 MHz laparoscopic transducer was used to detect small residual lesions, as well as to assess, locate and guide in removing the lesions during laparoscopic operations. The findings of LUS were compared with those of preoperative trans-vaginal ultrasound, postoperative, and pathohistological examinations. In addition, a novel method for lesion segmentation was proposed in order to facilitate the laparoscopic gynecologic surgery. In our experiment, laparoscopic operation was performed using a higher frequency and more close to pelvic organs via laparoscopic access. LUS facilitates the ability of gynaecologists to find small residual lesions under laparoscopic visualization and their accurate diagnosis. LUS also helps to locate residual lesions precisely and provides guidance for the removal of residual tumor and eliminate its recurrence effectively. Our experiment provides a safer and more valuable assistance for clinical applications in laparoscopic gynecological surgery that are superior to trans-abdominal ultrasound and trans-vaginal ultrasound.

[Clinical research on auricular point therapy for 1477 cases of biased constitution].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy of biased constitution patients treated by auricular point therapy on the basis of "preventive treatment" theory. METHODS: By means of self-control, 1477 cases of biased constitution were regulated by auricular point sticking therapy or acupuncture, and follow-up and statistical analysis were conducted to observe the efficacy. RESULTS: There were 322 markedly effective patients, 914 effective patients, 241 failed patients and the total effective rate was 83.7% (1236/1477). CONCLUSION: The comprehensive auricular treatment which is easy to operate and acceptable for patients has obvious effect in biased constitution patients. As a new direction of the "preventive treatment" theory, it can be promoted to be a new intervention way of health care.