[Clinical significance and distribution of BRCA genes mutation in sporadic high grade serous ovarian cancer].

Objective: To investigate the mutations of BRCA genes in sporadic high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) and study its clinical significance. Methods: Sixty-eight patients between January 2015 and January 2016 from the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University were collected who were based on pathological diagnosis of ovarian cancer and had no reported family history, and all patients firstly hospitalized were untreated in other hospitals before. (1) The BRCA genes were detected by next-generation sequencing (NGS) method. (2) The serum tumor markers included carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA(125), CA(199), and human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) were detected by the chemiluminescence methods, and their correlation was analyzed by Pearson linear correlation. Descriptive statistics and comparisons were performed using two-tailed t-tests, Pearson's chi square test, Fisher's exact tests or logistic regression analysis as appropriate to research the clinicopathologic features associated with BRCA mutations, including age, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, platinum-based chemotherapy sensitivity, distant metastases, serum tumor markers (STM) . Results: (1) Fifteen cases (22%, 15/68) BRCA mutations were identified (BRCA1: 11 cases; BRCA2: 4 cases), and four novel mutations were observed. (2) The levels of CEA, CA(199), and HE4 were lower in BRCA mutations compared to that in control group, while no significant differences were found (P>0.05), but the level of CA(125) was much higher in BRCA mutation group than that in controls (t=-3.536, P=0.003). Further linear regression analysis found that there was a significant linear correlation between CA(125) and HE4 group (r=0.494, P<0.01), and the same correlation as CEA and CA(199) group (r=0.897, P<0.01). (3) Single factor analysis showed that no significant differences were observed in onset age, FIGO stage, distant metastasis, and STM between BRCA(+) and BRCA(-) group (P>0.05), while significant differences were found in CA(125) and sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy between the patients with BRCA mutation and wild type (P<0.05). The multiple factors analysis showed that the high level of CA(125) was a independent risk factor of BRCA mutations in sporadic HGSOC (P=0.007). Conclusion: The combination of CA(125) with BRCA have great clinical significance, the mutation of BRCA gene could guild the clinical chemotherapy regiments.

Novel approach to the study of the chiral discrimination mechanism in a series of dansyl amino acids.

With poly(octadecylsiloxane) as the liquid chromatographic stationary phase, phosphate buffer as the mobile phase, a series of D- and L-dansyl amino acids as solutes, and beta-cyclodextrin as the chiral selector, a study was conducted of the hydrophobic effect on both the solute complexation with the chiral selector and chiral discrimination mechanisms by varying the sucrose concentration in the mobile phase and the column temperature. The number of sucrose molecules excluded during the solute complexation with the chiral selector proved to be a good marker of the solute inclusion in the cavity. Gibbs Helmotz parameters delta(deltaH) and delta(deltaS) between D- and L-enantiomers were determined from plots of the logarithm of the intrinsic selectivity versus the reciprocal of the temperature. The results obtained predicted that the enantioselectivity was related to the bulkiness of the solute. This numerical approach is a valuable tool in the exploration of the steric effects implied in the formation of the host-guest complex.

Phenol-degrading denitrifying bacteria in wastewater sediments.

An attempt was made to isolate denitrifying bacteria capable of degrading phenol from anoxic wastewater sediments and compost (vegetable soil). The greatest phenol-degrading activity was shown by autochthonous microflora from petroleum wastewater sediments (PWS) and by denitrifying microflora from nitrogenous wastewater reservoir sediment (NWRS). Eight strains of denitrifying bacteria able to degrade phenolic compounds were isolated, six of which were from the petroleum wastewater sediments. The highest activity of phenol degradation (23.5 and 23 mg/L/day) in denitrifying conditions was shown by strains 54/1 and 83/2, both from petroleum wastewater sediments, which were classified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Alcaligenes faecalis, respectively.