Interaction between Extreme Temperature Events and Fine Particulate Matter on Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity: Evidence from Four National Cohort Studies.

Accumulating evidence linked extreme temperature events (ETEs) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) to cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM); however, it remained unknown if and how ETEs and PM2.5 interact to trigger CMM occurrence. Merging four Chinese national cohorts with 64,140 free-CMM adults, we provided strong evidence among ETEs, PM2.5 exposure, and CMM occurrence. Performing Cox hazards regression models along with additive interaction analyses, we found that the hazards ratio (HRs) of CMM occurrence associated with heatwave and cold spell were 1.006-1.019 and 1.063-1.091, respectively. Each 10 µg/m3 increment of PM2.5 concentration was associated with 17.9% (95% confidence interval: 13.9-22.0%) increased risk of CMM. Similar adverse effects were also found among PM2.5 constituents of nitrate, organic matter, sulfate, ammonium, and black carbon. We observed a synergetic interaction of heatwave and PM2.5 pollution on CMM occurrence with relative excess risk due to the interaction of 0.999 (0.663-1.334). Our study provides novel evidence that both ETEs and PM2.5 exposure were positively associated with CMM occurrence, and the heatwave interacts synergistically with PM2.5 to trigger CMM.

Ambient ozone pollution impairs glucose homeostasis and contributes to renal function decline: Population-based evidence.

Particulate matter pollution could increase the risk of kidney disease, while evidence for ozone exposure is less well-established. Here, we aimed to evaluate the effect of ozone pollution on renal function and explore mechanisms. We first conducted a cross-sectional study based on Wuhan Chronic Disease Cohort Study baseline information. We recruited 2699 eligible participants, estimated their residential ozone concentrations, collected fasting peripheral blood samples for biochemical analysis and calculated the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). The linear regression model was applied to evaluate the long-term association between ozone pollution and eGFR. Then, we recruited another 70 volunteers as a panel with 8 rounds follow-up visits. We calculated the eGFR and measured fasting blood glucose and lipid levels. The linear mixed-effect model along with mediation analysis were performed to confirm the short-term association and explore potential mechanisms, respectively. For the long-term association, a 10.95 µg/m3 increment of 3-year ozone exposure was associated with 2.96 mL/min/1.73 m2 decrease in eGFR (95%CI: -4.85, -1.06). Furthermore, the drinkers exhibited a pronounced declination of eGFR (-7.46 mL/min/1.73 m2, 95%CI: -11.84, -3.08) compared to non-drinkers in relation to ozone exposure. Additionally, a 19.02 µg/m3 increase in 3-day ozone concentrations was related to 2.51 mL/min/1.73 m2 decrease in eGFR (95%CI: -3.78, -1.26). Hyperglycemia and insulin resistance mediated 12.2% and 16.5% of the aforementioned association, respectively. Our findings indicated that higher ozone pollution could affect renal function, and the hyperglycemia and insulin resistance linked to ozone might be the underlying mechanisms.

Associations of fine particulate matter and its metal constituents with blood pressure: A panel study during the seventh World Military Games.

Evidence is needed to elucidate the association of blood pressure (BP) changes with metal constituents in fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Therefore, we designed a longitudinal panel study enrolling 70 healthy students from Wuhan University in the context of the seventh World Military Games (the 7th WMG) from September 2019 to January 2020. A total of eight visits were conducted before, during, and after the 7th WMG. During every visit, each participant was asked to carry a personal PM2.5 monitor to measure hourly PM2.5 levels for three consecutive days. Questionnaire investigation and physical examination were completed on the fourth day. We analyzed ten metal constituents of ambient PM2.5 collected from the fixed station, and blood pressure was recorded during each visit. The linear mixed-effects models were performed to evaluate associations of metal constituents and blood pressure measurements. We observed a dramatic variation of PM2.5 concentration ranging from 7.38 to 132.04 µg/m3. A 10 µg/m3 increment of PM2.5 was associated with an increase of 0.64 mmHg (95% CI: 0.44, 0.84) in systolic BP (SBP), 0.40 mmHg (0.26, 0.54) in diastolic BP (DBP), 0.31 mmHg (0.15, 0.47) in pulse pressure (PP) and 0.44 mmHg (0.26, 0.62) in mean artery pressure (MAP), respectively. For metal constituents in PM2.5, robust positive associations were observed between BP and selenium, manganese, arsenic, cadmium, and thallium. For example, for an IQR (0.93 ng/m3) increment of selenium, SBP and MAP elevated by 0.98 mmHg (0.09, 1.87) and 0.71 mmHg (0.03, 1.39), respectively. Aluminum was found to be robustly associated with decreased SBP, DBP, and MAP. The study indicated that exposure to PM2.5 total mass and metal constituents including selenium, manganese, arsenic, cadmium, and thallium were associated with the elevated BP.

Effect of urinary catheter removal on different time after hysterectomy: a network meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The optimal timing for removing urinary catheters is controversial for patients undergoing total hysterectomy. This study aimed to evaluate the optimal time for removing urinary catheters post-hysterectomy. METHODS: We searched multiple databases from inception till December 31, 2020, for all randomized trials evaluating the timing of catheter removal following hysterectomy. All studies were evaluated by two investigators independently depending on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted on the data using Stata 14.0 software. RESULTS: A total of 12 articles involving 1814 patients were ultimately included. This study showed removing urinary catheters 12.1 to 24 h (pooled OR = 2.67; 95% CI, 1.53­4.67) and 36.1 to 48 h (pooled OR = 8.11;95% CI, 3.78­17.36) post-hysterectomy increased the risk of urinary tract infection (UTI) compared with immediate catheter removal. Timing of catheter removal in other groups following hysterectomy accompanied a reduced risk of urinary retention (UR) versus immediate catheter removal (P < 0.05). Removal of the urinary catheter from 36.1 to 48 h was most likely to lead to UTI. The maximum SUCRA value of immediate catheter removal after hysterectomy was 99.3% for UR. Catheter removal 24.1 to 36 h after hysterectomy was the best time for preventing UR. CONCLUSION: Removal of the catheter immediately after hysterectomy may be the optimal time for preventing UTI with increased risk of UR, whereas removal time of the urinary catheters within 6 h post-hysterectomy combined with postoperative urination monitoring might be more beneficial than other removal times following hysterectomy.

The price of political polarization: Evidence from municipal issuers during the coronavirus pandemic.

This study estimates the financial costs imposed by political polarization among citizens on U.S. local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic. We measure local political polarization by using citizens' voting results in the presidential elections. We find local political polarization leads to higher offering yield of the bonds issued by the U.S. municipalities. The impact on borrowing costs is exaggerated by the number of pandemic cases in the local area, suggesting political polarization hinders the making and enforcement of government measures for the pandemic. This study highlights the mechanisms through which financial markets and local political ideology jointly affect social welfare.

Acute effect of fine particulate matter on blood pressure, heart rate and related inflammation biomarkers: A panel study in healthy adults.

Epidemiological evidence of short-term fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure on blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and related inflammation biomarkers has been inconsistent. We aimed to explore the acute effect of PM2.5 on BP, HR and the mediation effect of related inflammation biomarkers. A total of 32 healthy college students were recruited to perform 4 h of exposure at two sites with different PM2.5 concentrations in Wuhan between May 2019 and June 2019. The individual levels of PM2.5 concentration, BP and HR were measured hourly for each participant. Blood was drawn from each participant after each visit and we measured the levels of inflammation markers, including serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and plasma fibrinogen. Linear mixed-effect models were to explore the acute effect of PM2.5 exposure on BP, HR, and related inflammation biomarkers. In addition, we evaluated related inflammation biomarkers as the mediator in the association of PM2.5 and cardiovascular health indicators. The results showed that a 10 µg/m3 increment in PM2.5 concentration was associated with an increase of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.54, 1.15) beats/min (bpm) in HR and a 3.52% (95% CI: 1.60%, 5.48%) increase in fibrinogen. The lag effect model showed that the strongest effect on HR was observed at lag 3 h of PM2.5 exposure [1.96 bpm (95% CI: 1.19, 2.75)], but for fibrinogen, delayed exposure attenuated the association. Increased fibrinogen levels may account for 39.07% (P = 0.44) of the elevated HR by PM2.5. Null association was observed when it comes to short-term PM2.5 exposure and BP. Short-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with elevated HR and increased fibrinogen levels. But our finding was not enough to suggest that exposure to PM2.5 might induce adverse cardiovascular effects by the pathway of inflammation.

SpliceNet: recovering splicing isoform-specific differential gene networks from RNA-Seq data of normal and diseased samples.

Conventionally, overall gene expressions from microarrays are used to infer gene networks, but it is challenging to account splicing isoforms. High-throughput RNA Sequencing has made splice variant profiling practical. However, its true merit in quantifying splicing isoforms and isoform-specific exon expressions is not well explored in inferring gene networks. This study demonstrates SpliceNet, a method to infer isoform-specific co-expression networks from exon-level RNA-Seq data, using large dimensional trace. It goes beyond differentially expressed genes and infers splicing isoform network changes between normal and diseased samples. It eases the sample size bottleneck; evaluations on simulated data and lung cancer-specific ERBB2 and MAPK signaling pathways, with varying number of samples, evince the merit in handling high exon to sample size ratio datasets. Inferred network rewiring of well established Bcl-x and EGFR centered networks from lung adenocarcinoma expression data is in good agreement with literature. Gene level evaluations demonstrate a substantial performance of SpliceNet over canonical correlation analysis, a method that is currently applied to exon level RNA-Seq data. SpliceNet can also be applied to exon array data. SpliceNet is distributed as an R package available at http://www.jjwanglab.org/SpliceNet.

miR-22 is down-regulated in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and inhibits cell migration and invasion.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common and deadly forms of cancer. Despite advances in the diagnosis and treatment of this cancer, the survival rate at five years is poor. Lately, miR-22 is identified as a tumor-suppressing microRNA in many human cancers. However, the specific function of miR-22 in ESCC is unclear at this point. METHODS: We first measured miR-22 expression level in 30 paired of ESCC and matched normal tissues, ESCC cell lines by real-time quantitative RT-PCR. Invasion assay, MTT proliferation assay and wound-healing assay were performed to test the invasion and proliferation of ESCC cell after overexpression of miR-22. RESULTS: We found that the expression of miR-22 in ESCC tissues and cell lines were much lower than that in normal control, respectively. The expression of miR-22 was inversely correlated with ESCC metastatic ability. Furthermore, transfection of miR-22 expression plasmid could significantly inhibit the cell proliferation, migration and invasion in Eca109 and Kyse410 ESCC cell lines. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that miR-22 act as tumor suppressor and inhibiting ESCC cell migration and invasion. The findings of this study contribute to the current understanding of the functions of miR-22 in ESCC.

Associations between cold spells of different time types and coronary heart disease severity.

Limited evidence showed the association between cold spells and the severity of coronary heart disease (CHD). This study was to investigate the association between cold spells with their different time types and CHD severity. We collected data on CHD patients admitted to the Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan, China from 2016 to 2021. CHD severity was quantified using the SYNTAX score and transformed into a binomial variable. Daily mean, maximum and minimum temperature were collected during the study period. We first used daily mean temperature to find the optimum definition among multiple thresholds and durations. The daily maximum and minimum temperatures were used to define different types of cold spells (daytime, nighttime and compound) based on the optimum definition. Annual cold spell days were included to assess individual exposure to cold spells. Logistic regression models were performed to fit the association between cold spell days and CHD severity stratified by different tertiles of PM2.5 and NDVI. In this study, 1937 CHD patients were included. The cold spell defined as at least four consecutive days with daily mean temperature below the 5th percentile exhibited the optimum model. We found that a 4-day increase in cold spell days was associated with more severe CHD (OR = 1.170, 95% CI: 1.074, 1.282). Such an association was more pronounced under higher levels of PM2.5 by OR = 1.270 (1.086, 1.494) and lower levels of greenness by OR = 1.240 (1.044, 1.476). Compared with daytime and compound cold spells, nighttime cold spells showed the strongest association with CHD severity by OR = 1.141 (1.026, 1.269). This study showed that exposure to cold spells was positively associated with CHD severity, especially the nighttime cold spells. The association between cold spells and CHD severity was more significant in high levels of PM2.5 and low levels of greenness.

[Kaiqiao Jieyin acupuncture combined with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for post-stroke aphasia: a randomized controlled trial].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of Kaiqiao Jieyin acupuncture (acupuncture for opening orifices and relieving aphasia) combined with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on language ability and daily life communication ability in patients with post-stroke aphasia (PSA). METHODS: Fifty-six patients with PSA were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 28 cases in each group. Both groups received routine symptomatic treatment. The control group was treated with speech rehabilitation training and rTMS. On the basis of the treatment in the control group, the observation group was treated with Kaiqiao Jieyin acupuncture at the speech area Ⅰ, Fengchi (GB 20), Tongli (HT 5), Lianquan (CV 23), Panglianquan (Extra), etc. Panglianquan (Extra) on both sides were connected to electroacupuncture, with intermittent wave, 2 Hz in frequency. The above treatment was performed once a day for 5 consecutive days, followed by 2 days of rest for 2 weeks. The scores of western aphasia battery (WAB, including scores of spontaneous speech, auditory comprehension, repetition, naming and score of aphasia quotient [AQ]) and communication abilities in daily living (CADL) in the two groups were compared before and after treatment. RESULTS: After treatment, the spontaneous speech, auditory comprehension, repetition, naming scores and AQ scores in both groups were higher than those before treatment (P<0.05), and the increase in the observation group was greater than the control group (P<0.05). The CADL scores of the two groups were higher than those before treatment (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Kaiqiao Jieyin acupuncture combined with rTMS can improve the language ability and daily life communication ability of PSA patients.

The assessment of interhemispheric imbalance using functional near-infrared spectroscopic and transcranial magnetic stimulation for predicting motor outcome after stroke.

Objective: To investigate changes in interhemispheric imbalance of cortical excitability during motor recovery after stroke and to clarify the relationship between motor function recovery and alterations in interhemispheric imbalance, with the aim to establish more effective neuromodulation strategies. Methods: Thirty-one patients underwent assessments of resting motor threshold (RMT) using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); the cortical activity of the primary motor cortex (M1), premotor cortex (PMC), and supplementary motor area (SMA) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS); as well as motor function using upper extremity Fugl-Meyer (FMA-UE). The laterality index (LI) of RMT and fNIRS were also calculated. All indicators were measured at baseline(T1) and 1 month later(T2). Correlations between motor function outcome and TMS and fNIRS metrics at baseline were analyzed using bivariate correlation. Results: All the motor function (FMA-UE1, FMA-UE2, FMA-d2) and LI-RMT (LI-RMT1 and LI-RMT2) had a moderate negative correlation. The higher the corticospinal excitability of the affected hemisphere, the better the motor outcome of the upper extremity, especially in the distal upper extremity (r = -0.366, p = 0.043; r = -0.393, p = 0.029). The greater the activation of the SMA of the unaffected hemisphere, the better the motor outcome, especially in the distal upper extremity (r = -0.356, p = 0.049; r = -0.367, p = 0.042). There was a significant moderate positive correlation observed between LI-RMT2 and LI-SMA1 (r = 0.422, p = 0.018). The improvement in motor function was most significant when both LI-RMT1 and LI-SMA1 were lower. Besides, in patients dominated by unaffected hemisphere corticospinal excitability during motor recovery, LI-(M1 + SMA + PMC)2 exhibited a significant moderate positive association with the proximal upper extremity function 1 month later (r = 0.642, p = 0.007). Conclusion: The combination of both TMS and fNIRS can infer the prognosis of motor function to some extent. Which can infer the role of both hemispheres in recovery and may contribute to the development of effective individualized neuromodulation strategies.

[Retracted] Study of miR-143 expression in stomach cancer.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.3892/ol.2018.9173.].

Aggregation of pre-implantation embryos improves establishment of parthenogenetic stem cells and expression of imprinted genes.

Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells (PgES) might advance cell replacement therapies and provide a valuable in vitro model system to study the genomic imprinting. However, the differential potential of PgES cells was limited. It could result from relative low heterology of PgES cells compared with ES cells from fertilization (fES), which produce different expression of most imprinted genes. Here, we described the establishment of PgES cells by aggregating parthenogenetic embryos at the 8-cell stage (aPgES cells), which may increase heterozygy. We found that derivation of aPgES cells in association with an increased number of inner cell mass cells by aggregating was more efficient than that of PgES cells from a single parthenogenetic blastocyst. The aPgES cells have normal karyotype, stain positive for alkaline phosphatase, express high levels of ES cell markers and can differentiate into teratomas composed of the three germ layers. Moreover, compared with PgES cells, the more highly upregulated paternally expressed imprinted genes were observed in aPgES cells, the same change was not shown in aPg blastocysts. This suggested that the aggregation induced effect could modify the expression of paternally expressed imprinted genes. Our studies showed that aPgES cells, the expression of imprinted genes in which more closely resemble fES cells than PgES cells, would contribute to all organs and avoiding immuno-rejection, which may provide invaluable material for regeneration medicine.

Association of Short-Term Exposure to PM2.5 with Blood Lipids and the Modification Effects of Insulin Resistance: A Panel Study in Wuhan.

Results of previous studies about the acute effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on blood lipids were inconsistent. This study aimed to quantify the short-term effects of PM2.5 on blood lipids and estimate the modifying role of insulin resistance, reflected by the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). From September 2019 to January 2020, the study recruited 70 healthy adults from Wuhan University for a total of eight repeated data collections. At each visit, three consecutive days were monitored for personal exposure to PM2.5, and then a physical examination was carried out on the fourth day. The linear mixed-effect models were operated to investigate the impact of PM2.5 over diverse exposure windows on blood lipids. With the median of the HOMA-IR 1.820 as the cut-off point, participants were assigned to two groups for the interaction analyses. We found the overall mean level (standard deviation, SD) of PM2.5 was 38.34 (18.33) µg/m3. Additionally, with a 10 µg/m3 rise in PM2.5, the corresponding largest responses in triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), as well as high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), were −0.91% (95% confidence interval (CI): −1.63%, −0.18%), −0.33% (95% CI: −0.64%, −0.01%,), −0.94% (95% CI: −1.53%, −0.35%), and 0.67% (95% CI: 0.32%, 1.02%), respectively. The interaction analyses revealed that a significantly greater reduction in the four lipids corresponded to PM2.5 exposure when in the group with the lower HOMA-IR (<1.820). In conclusion, short-term PM2.5 exposure over specific time windows among healthy adults was associated with reduced TG, TC, as well as LDL-C levels, and elevated HDL-C. Additionally, the association of PM2.5−lipids may be modulated by insulin resistance.

Short-term exposure to fine particulate matter and its constituents may affect renal function via oxidative stress: A longitudinal panel study.

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been reported to increase the risks of chronic kidney disease. However, limited research has assessed the effect of PM2.5 and its constituents on renal function, and the underlying mechanism has not been well characterized. We aimed to evaluate the association of PM2.5 and its constituents with kidney indicators and to explore the roles of systematic oxidative stress and inflammation in the association. We conducted a longitudinal panel study among 35 healthy adults before-, intra- and after-the 2019 Wuhan Military World Games. We repeatedly measured 6 renal function parameters and 5 circulating biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation at 6 rounds of follow-ups. We monitored hourly personal PM2.5 concentrations with 3 consecutive days and measured 10 metals (metalloids) and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) components. The linear mixed-effect models were applied to examine the association between PM2.5 and renal function parameters, and the mediation analysis was performed to explore potential bio-pathways. PM2.5 concentrations across Wuhan showed a slight decrease during the Military Games. We observed significant associations between elevated blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels and PM2.5 and its several metals and PAHs components. For an interquartile range (IQR) increase of PM2.5, BUN increased 0.42 mmol/L (95% CI: 0.14 to 0.69). On average, an IQR higher of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), selenium (Se), thallium (Tl) and Indeno (1,2,3-cd) pyrene (IPY) were associated with 0.90, 0.65, 0.29, 0.27, 0.26 and 0.90 mmol/L increment of BUN, respectively. Moreover, superoxide dismutase was positively associated with PM2.5 and mediated 18.24% association. Our research indicated that exposure to PM2.5 might affect renal function by activating oxidative stress pathways, in which the constituents of Pb, Cd, As, Se, Tl and IPY might contribute to the associations.

Air pollution and blood pressure in the elderly: evidence from a panel study in Nanjing, China.

Background: Air pollution is known to have notable negative effects on human health. Recently, the effect of air pollution on blood pressure among the elderly has attracted researchers' attention. However, the existing evidence is not consistent, given that positive, null, and negative outcomes are presented in the literature. In this study, we investigated the relationship between blood pressure (BP) and indices of air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, and air quality index) in a specific elderly population through a panel study to address this knowledge gap. Methods: We obtained repeated BP measurements from January 2017 to May 2019 in a panel of 619 elderly with a total of 5106 records in Nanjing, China. Data on daily indices of ambient air pollutants, including fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤ 2.5 µ m (PM2.5), ≤ 10 µ m (PM10), and air quality index (AQI) of the same period were obtained. We evaluated the association between BP and average concentrations of air pollutants in the past one-week, two-week, and four-week lags before measuring the BP. The non-linear panel regression models were used with fixed- and mixed-effects to control age, gender, and temperature. Results: In the non-linear panel fixed-effects model, the average concentration of PM2.5 is significantly associated with systolic BP (SBP) at all lags but is only significantly correlated with diastolic BP (DBP) at a one-week lag. An interquartile range (IQR) increase of one-week average moving PM2.5 (38.86 µg/m3) of our sample increases the SBP and DBP by 7.68% and 6.9%, respectively. PM10 shows the same pattern of effect on BP as PM2.5. AQI shows less significant associations with BP. In the non-linear mixed-effects model, the average concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 are significantly associated with SBP at all lags but have no significant effect on DBP at one- and two-week lags. AQI is only significantly associated with DBP at a one-week lag. Conclusions: Exposures to ambient particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) were associated with increased BP among older people, indicating a potential link between air pollution and the high prevalence of hypertension. Air pollution is a well-recognized risk factor for future cardiovascular diseases and should be reduced to prevent hypertension among the elderly.

Knockdown of miR-572 suppresses cell proliferation and promotes apoptosis in renal cell carcinoma cells by targeting the NF2/Hippo signaling pathway.

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most common types of cancer. miR-572 has been proposed to be implicated in a number of human cancers, including RCC. Nevertheless, the detailed functions and molecular mechanisms of miR-572 in RCC have not been well illustrated. Methods: qRT-PCR assay was used to assess the expression of miR-572 in RCC specimens and cell lines. Loss-of-function experiments were carried out to explore the effect of miR-572 on proliferation and apoptosis in 786-O cells. Predicted by TargetScan, the interaction between miR-572 and neurofibromin 2 (NF2) was explored by dual-luciferase reporter assay and western blot analysis. To investigate whether the regulatory effect of miR-572 was mediated by NF2, 786-O cells were transfected with anti-miR-572 alone, or together with si-NF2. After that, western blot assay was used to validate whethermiR-572 regulated proliferation and apoptosis of the RCC cell line through NF2/Hippo signaling. Results: miR-572 expression was upregulated in RCC specimens and cell lines, and miR-572 knockdown suppressed proliferation and enhanced apoptosis in 786-O cells. miR-572 repressed NF2 expression by binding to NF2 mRNA 3'-UTR. Moreover, the anti-miR-572-mediated regulatory effect on proliferation and apoptosis was abated by the restoration of NF2 expression in RCC cells. Furthermore, miR-572 knockdown activated NF2/Hippo signaling pathway in RCC cells. Conclusions: The regulatory effect of miR-572 on proliferation and apoptosis is mediated through modulating NF2/Hippo signaling in RCC cell lines, providing a novel potential strategy for RCC.

Study of miR-143 expression in stomach cancer.

The present study was planned to investigate miR-143 expression during stomach cancer. The study explored the relationship between miR-143 expression and clinicopathological characteristics including proliferation, migration and apoptosis of stomach cancer cells. Sixty-three samples from each of stomach cancer tissue and surrounding tissue were obtained. Total RNA was extracted. The expression levels of miR-143 from stomach cancer tissue as well as from surrounding tissue were measured by semi-quantitative PCR. The effects of miR-143 overexpression on the migration of stomach cancer cells were examined by Transwell assay. The effects of miR-143 overexpression on the apoptosis of stomach cancer cells were examined by flow cytometer. The expression level of miR-143 was significantly decreased in stomach cancer tissues in comparison to surrounding tissues (P<0.01). Moreover, the expression of miR-143 related well with the tumor size, TNM stage, lymphatic metastasis and relapse (P<0.01). On the other hand, stomach cancer cell line with overexpression of miR-143, showed significant decline in proliferation rate and migration rate comparison to control cells (P<0.01). However, it showed significant higher in apoptosis rate (P<0.01). The present study concluded that expression of miR-143 is low during stomach cancer. Further, higher expression levels of miR-143 have the ability to decline proliferation and migration of stomach cancer cells. In this manner, the expression level of miR-143 could be used as an important factor to determine the severity of stomach cancer.

Synthesis and characterization of Tamoxifen citrate modified reduced graphene oxide nano sheets for breast cancer therapy.

Theranostic agents are of immense consideration in the current generation nanomedicine. In this study, we have developed a facile approach for the fabrication of Tamoxifen citrate modified nanosized reduced graphene oxide (nano-rGO) with more stability and low cytotoxicity. The prepared nano-rGO sheets were characterized using HR-TEM and AFM imaging techniques. Further, the cytotoxicity was assessed using MTT assay on female BALB/c nude mice MCF-7 cell lines. In addition, by means of continuous-wave near-infrared laser, cancer cells in vivo were significantly ablated because of the photothermal effect stimulated by tamoxifen modified nano-rGO. These results indicated that the prepared tamoxifen modified nano-rGO has the ability to apply in the photothermal therapy of breast cancers. Consequently, further exploration of photothermal therapeutics is desirable for the synthesis of novel nano materials with additional functionalities.

Evaluation of the efficacy of paclitaxel with curcumin combination in ovarian cancer cells.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of paclitaxel combined with curcumin (CUR) against drug resistance in ovarian cancer cells. PLGA-phospholipid-PEG nanoparticles were prepared using the nano precipitation method. The size and morphology of the nanoparticles were determined using a transmission electron microscope and particle size analyzer. The encapsulation efficiency of nanoparticles was determined using the ultrafiltration centrifugation method. The dialysis method was used to study the release of PLGA-phospholipid-PEG nanoparticles. ADM was used to induce the A2780 cell line (human ovarian cancer cell line) to establish the model of the multidrug-resistant (MDR) cell line, and the protein activity of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in the A2780 cell line and A2780/ADM resistant cell line was determined using western blot analysis. The results showed that, the prepared nanoparticles were uniform in size, with a size of approximately 100 nm, and round in shape. Additionally, the nanoparticles had a more gentle and slow release than the free drug release. The results of the protein trace printing experiment showed that the P-gp content of the drug-resistant cell line was significantly reduced by the CUR nanoparticles. In conclusion, PLGA-phospholipid nanoparticles containing taxol and CUR have improved solubility and stability together with a slow release effect. In addition, CUR was able to overcome the MDR of tumor cells by elevating the paclitaxel concentration in the tumor cells to improve the antitumor activity of this combination.