Clinicopathological characteristics of rectal multiple neuroendocrine neoplasms and literature review.

BACKGROUND: There are only a few epidemiological reports available for reference. The clinicopathological features are not clear, so there is no consensus on treating rectal multiple neuroendocrine neoplasms. This study aims to summarize the clinicopathological characteristics and preliminarily discuss the clinical diagnosis and treatment of rectal multiple neuroendocrine neoplasms. METHODS: This study retrospectively analyzed rectal neuroendocrine neoplasm patients diagnosed and treated at the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from February 2007 to May 2021. The clinicopathological characteristics of rectal multiple neuroendocrine neoplasms were summarized and analyzed in combination with 14 studies on rectal multiple neuroendocrine neoplasms. RESULTS: The incidence of RM-NENs accounted for 3.8% of all R-NENs in this study. The number of tumors varied to some extent, the size of tumors was basically no more than 10 mm, and there were more G1 grade tumors. In the analysis of 46 cases with known lymph node metastasis, the difference in lymph node metastasis rate between the number of tumors < 8 and ≥ 8 was statistically significant (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of rectal multiple neuroendocrine neoplasms accounted for 3.8% of all rectal neuroendocrine neoplasms. For rectal multiple neuroendocrine neoplasms, the lymph node metastasis rate was higher when the number of tumors was ≥ 8. The influence of the number of tumors on lymph node metastasis should be considered in the selection of treatment.

Fluorescent nanocellulose-based hydrogel incorporating titanate nanofibers for sorption and detection of Cr(VI).

Chromium pollution is a major environmental concern; thus, effective and multifunctional adsorbents for removing the Cr(VI) ion are urgently needed. A fluorescent nanocellulose-based hydrogel (FNH) incorporating titanate nanofibers (TNs) was developed for the sorption and detection of Cr(VI) ion. The chemical and physical structures of the hydrogels, as well as their sorption and detection properties, were studied. The predicted maximum adsorption capacity and the lowest detection limit of FNH were 648.4 mg/g and 0.039 µg/L, respectively. Furthermore, the sorption and detection mechanisms of FNH were discussed in detail. These results showed that the excellent sorption and detection might be mainly attributed to the three-dimensional (3D) porous structure constructed by TNs and cellulose nanocrystals modified with carbon dots, which improved the sorption ability and provided the rapid visual response to Cr(VI). Furthermore, cost analysis showed that FNH was cheaper than activated carbon in removing the Cr(VI) ion. This work established a facile technique in developing low-cost and multifunctional adsorbents.

Influence of Alanine Transaminase Levels on Alpha-Fetoprotein for Predicting Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients with Hepatitis B Infection.

PURPOSE: To investigate the influence of alanine transaminase (ALT) on the accuracy of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: This retrospective study recruited 799 patients with HCC, cirrhosis, and chronic hepatitis due to hepatitis B infection and healthy adults between July 2017 and January 2019. Comparisons of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) for detecting HCC in different ALT levels were calculated. RESULTS: Serum ALT and gamma-glutamyl transferase levels were significantly associated with elevated AFP in patients without HCC. The AUC of AFP was higher in patients with ALT ≤ 2 upper limit of normal (ULN) than in patients with ALT > 2 ULN (0.806 vs. 0.611, P < 0.001). Nevertheless, there were no significant differences in the AUCs of AFP/(ALT × aspartate aminotransferase (AST)) in patients with ALT ≤ 2 ULN and with ALT > 2 ULN (0.745 vs. 0.769, P = 0.68). AFP/(ALT × AST) was better than AFP in patients with ALT > 2 ULN for detecting HCC (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Higher ALT levels might impair the accuracy of AFP for diagnosing HCC. AFP tests showed better accuracy in patients with ALT ≤ 2 ULN whereas the AFP/(ALT × AST) ratio was recommended in patients with elevated ALT levels.

[Hydrophilic Surface Modification of Polydimethylsiloxane with UV/Ozone Treatment].

The UV/ozone surface treatment was a simple and low cost hydrophilic modification method. In this paper，UV/ozone treatment is utilized to hydrophilize the surface of PDMS and the results are compared. Contact angle is applied to estimate the effect and stability of the modified surfaces. The results show that the contact angle is around 60° on the PDMS surface with UV/ozone treatment after 12 hours, and it can maintain the surface hydrophilicity in two weeks under ambient atmosphere. The results of FTIR spectroscopy indicate that many chemical functional groups of PDMS surface have been changed with UV/ozone modification, ­CH3 hydrophobic group gradually decrease over time, ­OH and Si­OH hydrophilic groups increase obviously, and the characteristic peaks of SiO2 gradually appear. Through SEM/EDS analysis, it has been found that the major constituent of the surface of PDMS is SiO2 after the surface modification. These results demonstrate that the more hydrophilic groups and the glass-like SiOx layer are formed on the PDMS surface modified with UV/ozone, which enhance the surface hydrophilic and minimize the hydrophobic recovery.

γ-Secretase inhibitor inhibits bladder cancer cell drug resistance and invasion by reducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

A previous study by our group demonstrated that the expression levels of Notch 1 and Jagged 1 in bladder cancer cells was significantly lower compared with those in normal bladder mucosa, while the expression levels of Notch 1 and Jagged 1 in invasive bladder cancer were higher compared with those in superficial bladder cancer. The present study investigated the effect of the Notch signaling pathway on the drug resistance and invasiveness of bladder cancer cells. It was demonstrated that complete inhibition of the Notch signaling pathway induced significant morphological changes and inhibited cell proliferation and migration (P<0.05). Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses revealed that the mRNA and protein expression levels of E-cadherin were upregulated (P<0.05) and the mRNA and protein expression levels of N-cadherin, vimentin and α-smooth muscle actin were downregulated (P<0.05). The present study concluded that complete inhibition of the Notch signaling pathway inhibited cell proliferation and invasion, and reduced drug resistance in bladder cancer cells, a phenomenon which may be associated with the inhibition of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Light-emitting-diode-induced fluorescence detection of fluorescent dyes for capillary electrophoresis microchip with cross-polarization method.

A cross-polarization scheme is presented to filter out the excitation light from the emission spectrum of fluorescent dyes using green light emitting diodes as a light source and a linear charge coupled device as an intensity detector. The excitation light was linearly polarized and was then used to illuminate the fluorescent dyes in the microchannels of a capillary electrophoresis microchip. The detector was shielded by the second polarizer, oriented perpendicular to the excitation light. The fluorescent signals from Rhodamine B dyes were measured in a dilution series with resulting emission signals and four different concentrations of fluorescent dyes were detected simultaneously with the same excitation source and detector. A limit-of-detection of 1 µM was demonstrated for Rhodamine B dye under the optimal conditions.