Construction of a panoramic mRNA map of adult noncystic fibrosis bronchiectasis and a preliminary study of the underlying molecular mechanisms.

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of noncystic fibrosis bronchiectasis in adults is complex, and the relevant molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we constructed a panoramic map of bronchiectasis mRNA, explored the potential molecular mechanisms, and identified potential therapeutic targets, thus providing a new clinical perspective for the preventive management of bronchiectasis and its acute exacerbation. METHODS: The mRNA profiles of peripheral blood and bronchiectasis tissues were obtained through transcriptome sequencing and public databases, and bioinformatics methods were used to screen for differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The DEGs were then subjected to biological function and pathway analyses. Some DEGs were validated using a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in peripheral blood. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to analyse the correlation between DEGs and clinical indicators. RESULTS: Based on transcriptome sequencing and public databases, the mRNA profile of bronchiectasis was determined. DEGs were obtained from the peripheral blood sequencing dataset (985 DEGs), tissue sequencing dataset (2919 DEGs), and GSE97258 dataset (1083 DEGs). Bioinformatics analysis showed that upregulated DEGs had enriched neutrophil-related pathways, and downregulated DEGs had enriched ribosome-related pathways. RT-qPCR testing confirmed the upregulated expression of VCAN, SESTD1, SLC12A1, CD177, IFI44L, SIGLEC1, and RSAD2 in bronchiectasis. These genes were related to many clinical parameters, such as neutrophils, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Transcriptomic methods were used to construct a panoramic map of bronchiectasis mRNA expression. The findings showed that neutrophil activation, chronic inflammation, immune regulation, impaired ribosomal function, oxidative phosphorylation, and energy metabolism disorders are important factors in the development of bronchiectasis. VCAN, SESTD1, SLC12A1, CD177, IFI44L, SIGLEC1, and RSAD2 may play important roles in the pathogenesis of bronchiectasis and are potential therapeutic targets.

Explosion of research on psychopathology and social media use after COVID-19: A scientometric study.

BACKGROUND: Despite advances in research on psychopathology and social media use, no comprehensive review has examined published papers on this type of research and considered how it was affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. AIM: To explore the status of research on psychopathology and social media use before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. METHODS: We used Bibliometrix (an R software package) to conduct a scientometric analysis of 4588 relevant studies drawn from the Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed, and Scopus databases. RESULTS: Such research output was scarce before COVID-19, but exploded after the pandemic with the publication of a number of high-impact articles. Key authors and institutions, located primarily in developed countries, maintained their core positions, largely uninfluenced by COVID-19; however, research production and collaboration in developing countries increased significantly after COVID-19. Through the analysis of keywords, we identified commonly used methods in this field, together with specific populations, psychopathological conditions, and clinical treatments. Researchers have devoted increasing attention to gender differences in psychopathological states and linked COVID-19 strongly to depression, with depression detection becoming a new trend. Developments in research on psychopathology and social media use are unbalanced and uncoordinated across countries/regions, and more in-depth clinical studies should be conducted in the future. CONCLUSION: After COVID-19, there was an increased level of concern about mental health issues and a changing emphasis on social media use and the impact of public health emergencies.

The upregulation and transcriptional regulatory mechanisms of Extra spindle pole bodies like 1 in bladder cancer: An immunohistochemistry and high-throughput screening Evaluation.

Background: This study aimed to explore the expression level and transcriptional regulation mechanism of Extra Spindle Pole Bodies Like 1 (ESPL1) in bladder cancer (BC). Methods: A multicentre database of samples (n = 1391) was assayed for ESPL1 mRNA expression in BC and validated at the protein level by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of in-house samples (n = 202). Single-cell sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis and enrichment analysis explored ESPL1 distribution and their accompanying molecular mechanisms. ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq and Hi-C data from multiple platforms were used to investigate ESPL1 upstream transcription factors (TFs) and potential epigenetic regulatory mechanisms. Immune-related analysis, drug sensitivity and molecular docking of ESPL1 were also calculated. Furthermore, upstream microRNAs and the binding sites of ESPL1 were predicted. The expression level and early screening efficacy of miR-299-5p in blood (n = 6625) and tissues (n = 537) were examined. Results: ESPL1 was significantly overexpressed at the mRNA level (p < 0.05, SMD = 0.75; 95 % CI = 0.09, 1.40), and IHC staining of in-house samples verified this finding (p < 0.0001). ESPL1 was predominantly distributed in BC epithelial cells. Coexpressed genes of ESPL1 were enriched in cell cycle-related signalling pathways, and ESPL1 might be involved in the communication between epithelial and residual cells in the Hippo, ErbB, PI3K-Akt and Ras signalling pathways. Three TFs (H2AZ, IRF5 and HIF1A) were detected upstream of ESPL1 and presence of promoter-super enhancer and promoter-typical enhancer loops. ESPL1 expression was correlated with various immune cell infiltration levels. ESPL1 expression might promote BC growth and affect the sensitivity and therapeutic efficacy of paclitaxel and gemcitabine in BC patients. As an upstream regulator of ESPL1, miR-299-5p expression was downregulated in both the blood and tissues, possessing great potential for early screening. Conclusions: ESPL1 expression was upregulated in BC and was mainly distributed in epithelial cells. Elevated ESPL1 expression was associated with TFs at the upstream transcription start site (TSS) and distant chromatin loops of regulatory elements. ESPL1 might be an immune-related predictive and diagnostic marker for BC, and the overexpression of ESPL1 played a cancer-promoting role and affected BC patients' sensitivity to drug therapy. miR-299-5p was downregulated in BC blood and tissues and was also expected to be a novel marker for early screening.

Clinical significance and potential pathogenesis of VCAN in adult non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of adult non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis is complex, and the relevant molecular mechanism remains ambiguous. Versican (VCAN) is a key factor in inflammation through interactions with adhesion molecules. This study constructs a stable panoramic map of mRNA, reveals the possible pathogenesis of bronchiectasis, and provides new ideas and methods for bronchiectasis. METHODS: Peripheral blood and tissue gene expression data from patients with bronchiectasis and normal control were selected by bioinformatics analysis. The expression of VCAN in peripheral blood and bronchial tissues of bronchiectasis were obtained by transcriptome sequencing. The protein expression levels of VCAN in serums were verified by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The mRNA expression levels of VCAN in co-culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and bronchial epithelial cells were verified by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). In addition, the biological function of VCAN was detected by the transwell assay. RESULTS: The expression of VCAN was upregulated in the bronchiectasis group by sequencing analysis (P < 0.001). The expression of VCAN in the bronchial epithelial cell line BEAS-2B was increased in P. aeruginosa (P.a), which was co-cultured with BEAS-2B cells (P < 0.05). The concentration of VCAN protein in the serum of patients with bronchiectasis was higher than that in the normal control group (P < 0.05). Transwell experiments showed that exogenous VCAN protein induced the migration of neutrophils (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that VCAN may be involved in the development of bronchiectasis by increasing the migration of neutrophils and play an important role in bronchial pathogenesis.

The 'whole landscape' of research on systemic sclerosis over the past 73 years.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to analyse existing research on systemic sclerosis (SSc) conducted over the past 73 years to develop an essential reference for a comprehensive and objective understanding of this field of inquiry. METHODS: Using the Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed, and Scopus databases as data sources for the bibliometric analysis, we searched for published literature related to SSc over the past 73 years. The Bibliometrix package was used to analyse key bibliometric indicators, such as annual publication volume, countries, journals, author contributions, and research hotspots. RESULTS: From 1970 to 2022, the number of SSc articles steadily increased, reaching its peak in 2020-2022, with approximately 1200 papers published in each of these three years. Matucci-Cerinic et al.'s team published the most articles (425). The United States (11,282), Italy (7027), and France (5226) were the most predominant contexts. The most influential scholars in the field were Denton, Leroy, Steen, and Khanna, with H-indices of 86, 84, and 83, respectively. Arthritis and Rheumatism was the most influential journal in this field (H-index 142). High-frequency keywords in the SSc field included fibrosis (738), inflammation (242), vasculopathy (145), fibroblasts (120), and autoantibodies (118) with respect to pathogenesis, and interstitial lung disease (ILD, 708), pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH, 696), and Raynaud's phenomenon (326) with regards to clinical manifestations. CONCLUSION: In the past three years, SSc research has entered a period of rapid development, mainly driven by research institutions in Europe and the United States. The most influential journal has been Arthritis and Rheumatism, and autoimmune aspects, vasculopathy, fibrogenesis, PAH, and ILD remain the focus of current research and indicate trends in future research.

A novel prognostic signature of coagulation-related genes leveraged by machine learning algorithms for lung squamous cell carcinoma.

Coagulation-related genes (CRGs) have been demonstrated to be essential for the development of certain tumors; however, little is known about CRGs in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC). In this study, we adopted CRGs to construct a coagulation-related gene prognostic signature (CRGPS) using machine learning algorithms. Using a set of 92 machine learning integrated algorithms, the CRGPS was determined to be the optimal prognostic signature (median C-index = 0.600) for predicting the prognosis of an LUSC patient. The CRGPS was not only superior to traditional clinical parameters (e.g., T stage, age, and gender) and its commutative genes but also outperformed 19 preexisting prognostic signatures for LUSC on predictive accuracy. The CRGPS score was positively correlated with poor prognoses in patients with LUSC (hazard ratio > 1, p < 0.05), indicating its suitability as a prognostic marker for this disease. The CRGPS was observed to be inversely correlated with the degree of infiltration of natural killer cells. For some tumors, patients with lower CRGPS scores are more likely to experience enhanced immunotherapy effects (area under the curve = 0.70), which implies that the CRGPS can potentially predict immunotherapy efficacy. A high CRGPS score is predictive of an LUSC patient being sensitive to several drugs. Collectively, these findings indicate that the CRGPS may be a reliable indicator of the prognoses of patients with LUSC and may be useful for the clinical management of such patients.

Clinical significance and prospective mechanism of increased CDKN2A expression in small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Although it has been shown that cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A) plays a significant role in a number of malignancies, its clinicopathological value and function in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is unclear and warrants additional research. METHODS: The clinical significance of CDKN2A expression in SCLC was examined by multiple methods, including comprehensive integration of mRNA level by high throughput data, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis for prognostic value, and validation of its protein expression using in-house immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The expression of CDKN2A mRNA in 357 cases of SCLC was evidently higher than that in the control group (n = 525) combing the data from 20 research centers worldwide. The standardized mean difference (SMD) was 3.07, and the area under the curve (AUC) of summary receiver operating characteristic curve (sROC) was 0.97 for the overexpression of CDKN2A. ACC, COAD, KICH, KIRC, PCPG, PRAD, UCEC, UVM patients with higher CDKN2A expression had considerably worse overall survival rates than those with lower CDKN2A expression with the hazard ratio (HR) > 1. CONCLUSION: CDKN2A upregulation extensively enhances the carcinogenesis and progression of SCLC.

FOXS1 promotes prostate cancer progression through the Hedgehog/Gli1 pathway.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) remains the most common malignant tumor in men, and the clinical treatment still faces many challenges. Several molecular biomarkers of PCa progression have been reported, however, whether FOXS1 can serve as a new biomarker in PCa remains unknown. METHODS: FOXS1 and Gli1 expression was assessed by RT-qPCR and western blot. The binding and regulation roles between FOXS1 and Gli1 were confirmed by Co-IP and ubiquitination assays. Cell viability, proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion and EMT progress were assessed through CCK-8, colony formation, flow cytometry, wound-healing, transwell and western blot assays, respectively. In vivo nude mice tumorigenesis model was also conducted to verify PCa growth. RESULTS: FOXS1 was upregulated in the PCa TCGA dataset and cells. High FOXS1 level was correlated with PCa patients' worse tumor stage and shorter survival. FOXS1 knockdown inhibited PCa cell proliferation, invasion, migration, EMT and tumor growth while increased cell apoptosis. Furthermore, FOXS1 knockdown decreased the inactivation of Hedgehog (Hh) pathway. FOXS1 bind to Gli1 and decreased the ubiquitination of Gli1, which resulted in the upregulation of Gli1. Besides, both Gil1 overexpression and Hh signal activation reversed the suppression function of FOXS1 silencing on PCa growth and metastasis. CONCLUSION: FOXS1 bind and stabilized Gli1 by blocking Gli1 ubiquitination, thereby activating Hh signaling to promote PCa cell growth and metastasis.

Catalases mediate tobacco resistance to virus infection through crosstalk between salicylic acid and auxin signaling pathways.

Catalases (CATs) play important roles in plant growth, development and defense responses. Previous studies have shown that CATs exhibit different or even opposite effects on plant immunity in different plant-pathogen interactions, but little is known about the mechanisms. In this study, Nicotiana tabacum plants with overexpression or knockout of CAT genes, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) were employed to investigate the role of CAT in compatible plant-virus interactions. The results showed that there were dynamic changes in the effect of CAT on N. tabacum defense responses. Overexpression of catalase 1 (CAT1) and catalase 3 (CAT3) improved N. tabacum resistance in the early stage of virus infection but depressed it during the late stages of pathogenesis, especially in CAT3 overexpressing plants. The lower level of electrolyte leakage, lower contents of malonaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ), higher activities of antioxidant enzymes and improved functions of photosystem II corresponded to the milder symptoms and higher resistance of infected tobacco plants. In addition, the infection of TMV and CMV resulted in expression changes of CATs in tobacco plants, and pretreatment with H2 O2 facilitated TMV and CMV infection. Further experiments showed that the content of salicylic acid (SA) and the expression of genes related to SA signaling pathway were positively correlated with plant resistance, whereas auxin and its related signaling pathway were related to the viral susceptibility of plants. Taken together, our results demonstrated that CAT1 and CAT3 mediated tobacco resistance to virus infection through crosstalk between SA and auxin signaling pathways.

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of XPO1 in solid tumors: meta-analysis and TCGA analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Exportin 1 (XPO1) is overexpressed in several solid tumors, and is associated with poor prognosis. Here, we aimed to evaluate the implication of XPO1 expression in solid tumors through a meta-analysis. METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases were searched for articles published until February 2023. Statistical data of the patients, odds ratios and hazard ratios (HRs), together with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled to assess clinicopathological features and survival outcomes. Besides, the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was used to explore the prognostic significance of XPO1 in solid tumors. RESULTS: A total of 22 works, comprising 2595 patients were included in this study. The results suggested that increased XPO1 expression was associated with a higher tumor grade, more lymph node metastasis, advanced tumor stage, and progressively worse total clinical stage. Additionally, high XPO1 expression was associated with worse overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.12-1.81, P = 0.004) and shorter progression-free survival (HR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.07-1.84, P = 0.01). An analysis using the TCGA dataset showed that high XPO1 expression was associated with poor OS and disease-free survival. CONCLUSIONS: XPO1 is a promising prognostic biomarker and may constitute a therapeutic target for solid tumors.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023399159.

CEP55: an immune-related predictive and prognostic molecular biomarker for multiple cancers.

BACKGROUND: Centrosomal protein 55 (CEP55) plays a significant role in specific cancers. However, comprehensive research on CEP55 is lacking in pan-cancer. METHODS: In-house and multi-center samples (n = 15,823) were used to analyze CEP55 in 33 cancers. The variance of CEP55 expression levels among tumor and control groups was evaluated by the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and standardized mean difference (SMD). The clinical value of CEP55 in cancers was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, Cox regression analysis, and Kaplan-Meier curves. The correlations between CEP55 expression and the immune microenvironment were explored using Spearman's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The data of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats confirmed that CEP55 was essential for the survival of cancer cells in multiple cancer types. Elevated CEP55 mRNA expression was observed in 20 cancers, including glioblastoma multiforme (p < 0.05). CEP55 mRNA expression made it feasible to distinguish 21 cancer types between cancer specimens and their control samples (AUC = 0.97), indicating the potential of CEP55 for predicting cancer status. Overexpression of CEP55 was correlated with the prognosis of cancer individuals for 18 cancer types, exhibiting its prognostic value. CEP55 expression was relevant to tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability, neoantigen counts, and the immune microenvironment in various cancers (p < 0.05). The expression level and clinical relevance of CEP55 in cancers were verified in lung squamous cell carcinoma using in-house and multi-center samples (SMD = 4.07; AUC > 0.95; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: CEP55 may be an immune-related predictive and prognostic marker for multiple cancers, including lung squamous cell carcinoma.

The clinical significance and mechanism of microRNA-22-3p targeting TP53 in lung adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: At present, studies on MircoRNA-22-3p (miR-22-3p) in lung adenocarcinoma use a single method, lack multi-center validation and multi-method validation, and there is no big data concept to predict and validate target genes. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression, potential targets and clinicopathological significance of miR-22-3p in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) tissues. METHODS: LUAD formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumors and adjacent normal lung tissues were collected for real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Collect miR-22-3p in LUAD and non-cancer lung tissue from high-throughput datasets, standardized mean difference (SMD) and area under the curve (AUC) of the comprehensive receiver operating curve (summary receiver operating characteristic cure, sROC curve) were calculated. Cell function experiments on A549 cells transfected with LV-hsa-miR-22-3p. Target genes were predicted by the miRwalk2.0 website and the resulting target genes were subjected to Gene Ontology (GO) pathway enrichment analysis and constructed to protein-protein interaction network. Finally, the protein expression level of the key gene TP53 was validated by searching The Human Protein Atlas (THPA) database to incorporate TP53 immunohistochemical results in LUAD. RESULTS: RT-qPCR result from 41 pairs of LUAD and adjacent lung tissues showed that miR-22-3p was downregulated in LUAD (AUC = 0.6597, p= 0.0128). Globally, a total of 838 LUADs and 494 non-cancerous lung tissues were included, and were finally combined into 14 platforms. Compared with noncancerous tissue, miR-22-3p expression level was significantly reduced in LUAD tissue (SMD =-0.32, AUC = 0.72l); cell function experiments showed that miR-22-3p has inhibitory effects on cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and has promotion effect on apoptosis. Moreover, target genes prediction, GO pathway enrichment analysis and PPI network exhibited TP53 as a key gene of target gene of miR-22-3p; at last, a total of 114 high-throughput datasets were included, including 3897 LUADs and 2993 non-cancerous lung tissues, and were finally combined into 37 platforms. Compared with noncancerous tissue, TP53 expression level was significantly increased in LUAD (SMD = 0.39, p< 0.01) and it was verified by the protein expression data from THPA. CONCLUSION: Overexpression of miR-22-3p may inhibit LUAD cell proliferation, migration and invasion through TP53, and promote cell apoptosis.

Molecular Dynamics Study of the Curvature-Driven Interactions between Carbon-Based Nanoparticles and Amino Acids.

We researched the interaction between six representative carbon-based nanoparticles (CBNs) and 20 standard amino acids through all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. The six carbon-based nanoparticles are fullerene(C60), CNT55L3, CNT1010L3, CNT1515L3, CNT2020L3, and two-dimensional graphene (graphene33). Their curvatures decrease sequentially, and all of the CNTs are single-walled carbon nanotubes. We observed that as the curvature of CBNs decreases, the adsorption effect of the 20 amino acids with them has an increasing trend. In addition, we also used multi-dimensional clustering to analyze the adsorption effects of 20 amino acids on six carbon-based nanoparticles. We observed that the π-π interaction still plays an extremely important role in the adsorption of amino acids on carbon-based nanoparticles. Individual long-chain amino acids and "Benzene-like" Pro also have a strong adsorption effect on carbon-based nanoparticles.

Inverse Boltzmann Iterative Multi-Scale Molecular Dynamics Study between Carbon Nanotubes and Amino Acids.

Our work uses Iterative Boltzmann Inversion (IBI) to study the coarse-grained interaction between 20 amino acids and the representative carbon nanotube CNT55L3. IBI is a multi-scale simulation method that has attracted the attention of many researchers in recent years. It can effectively modify the coarse-grained model derived from the Potential of Mean Force (PMF). IBI is based on the distribution result obtained by All-Atom molecular dynamics simulation; that is, the target distribution function and the PMF potential energy are extracted, and then, the initial potential energy extracted by the PMF is used to perform simulation iterations using IBI. Our research results have been through more than 100 iterations, and finally, the distribution obtained by coarse-grained molecular simulation (CGMD) can effectively overlap with the results of all-atom molecular dynamics simulation (AAMD). In addition, our work lays the foundation for the study of force fields for the simulation of the coarse-graining of super-large proteins and other important nanoparticles.

Neurothekeoma located in the hallux and axilla: Two case reports.

BACKGROUND: Neurothekeomas (NTKs) are rare benign soft tissue tumours that typically occur in the head, trunk, and upper limbs and are rare in other parts of the body. CASE SUMMARY: Herein, we present two rare cases in which primary NTKs were located in the hallux and axilla. A 47-year-old woman complained of a verrucous bulge on the plantar side of the left hallux. The surface skin of the tumour was abraded due to poor wound healing. A 6-year-old boy complained of a gradually growing subcutaneous mass in the axilla. The tumours of both patients were completely resected, and the diagnosis of NTK was confirmed by histopathology. At the one-year follow-up, both patients had a good prognosis without local recurrence. CONCLUSION: To date, NTKs located in the hallux and axilla have rarely been reported in the literature. We describe NTKs that occurred in unconventional areas and summarize the challenges in their diagnosis and differential diagnosis.

Circular RNA Cwc27 contributes to Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis by repressing Pur-α activity.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have gained growing attention in participating in various biological processes and referring to multiply kinds of diseases. Although differentially expressed circRNA profiling in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been established, little is known about the precise characteristic and functions of key circRNAs with direct relevance to AD in gene expression and disease-related cognition. Herein, we screened and identified circCwc27 as a novel circRNA implicated in AD. CircCwc27 was a neuronal-enriched circRNA that abundantly expressed in the brain and significantly upregulated in AD mice and patients. Knockdown of circCwc27 markedly improved AD-related pathological traits and ameliorated cognitive dysfunctions. Mechanistically, we excluded the miRNA decoy mechanism and focused on the important function of circRNA-RNA-binding protein (RBP) interaction in AD. CircCwc27 directly bound to purine-rich element-binding protein A (Pur-α), increased retention of cytoplasmic Pur-α, and suppressed Pur-α recruitment to the promoters of a cluster of AD genes, including amyloid precursor protein (APP), dopamine receptor D1 (Drd1), protein phosphatase 1, regulatory inhibitor subunit1B (Ppp1r1b), neurotrophic tyrosine kinase, receptor, type 1 (Ntrk1), and LIM homeobox 8 (Lhx8). Downregulation of circCwc27 enhanced the affinity of Pur-α binding to these promoters, leading to altered transcription of Pur-α targets. Moreover, Pur-α overexpression largely phenocopied circCwc27 knockdown in preventing Aß deposition and cognitive decline. Together, our findings suggest significant functional consequences of a circRNA-protein interaction, that circCwc27, by associating with the regulatory protein Pur-α, may act as a crucial player in AD pathogenesis and represent a promising AD therapeutic target with clinical translational potential.

Early albumin level and mortality in hemodialysis patients: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Hypoalbuminemia is a significant risk factor of cardiovascular disease and all-cause death in patients undergoing conventional hemodialysis (HD). However, the albumin (ALB) level of these dialysis patients runs through the whole process of dialysis, and the prognostic value of serum ALB in the early stage of HD and the relationship between the early ALB value and death in HD patients has not been reported. METHODS: The data of 447 patients with HD were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were stratified into three ALB (g/L) groups: low, ALB ≤34.2; moderate, 34.3< ALB <40.1; high, ALB ≥40.2. Survival trends of the three groups were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Comparison of the clinical data among the three groups showed a positive correlation between Hb, RBC, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and PHOS (P<0.05), but a negative correlation between age and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) (P<0.05). The ALB level in early HD patients was an independent predictor of death [hazard ratio (HR) =0.945; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.916-0.976; P=0.000], while age and hsCRP were protective factors (HR =1.048, 95% CI: 1.028-1.067, P=0.000; HR =1.049, 95% CI: 1.024-1.075, P=0.000). The estimated median overall survival (OS) at early HD was 56.00 months in the low ALB group, 83.00 months in the moderate ABL group, and 95.00 months in the high ALB group. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of survival showed a significant difference in OS among the three groups (log-rank P=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: The early ALB level not only reflects the nutritional and chronic inflammation status of HD patients, but can also predict the prognosis, which has guiding significance for the management of HD patients.

Approaching disorder-tolerant semiconducting polymers.

Doping has been widely used to control the charge carrier concentration in organic semiconductors. However, in conjugated polymers, n-doping is often limited by the tradeoff between doping efficiency and charge carrier mobilities, since dopants often randomly distribute within polymers, leading to significant structural and energetic disorder. Here, we screen a large number of polymer building block combinations and explore the possibility of designing n-type conjugated polymers with good tolerance to dopant-induced disorder. We show that a carefully designed conjugated polymer with a single dominant planar backbone conformation, high torsional barrier at each dihedral angle, and zigzag backbone curvature is highly dopable and can tolerate dopant-induced disorder. With these features, the designed diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based polymer can be efficiently n-doped and exhibit high n-type electrical conductivities over 120 S cm-1, much higher than the reference polymers with similar chemical structures. This work provides a polymer design concept for highly dopable and highly conductive polymeric semiconductors.

The Indication of Poor Prognosis by High Expression of ENO1 in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lung.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the significance of alpha-enolase (ENO1) expression in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung (LUSC), its prognostic value, and prospective molecular mechanism. Using multiplatforms data, including in-house immunohistochemistry, in-house real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), in-house microarray, and public high-throughput data, the expression significance and prognostic role of ENO1 in LUSC tissues were analyzed comprehensively. With the combination of all eligible cases, compared with 941 non-LUSC lung tissues, ENO1 was significantly overexpressed in 1163 cases of LUSC (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 1.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.76-1.70, P < 0.001). ENO1 also displayed a great ability to differentiate LUSC tissues from non-LUSC lung tissues (AUC = 0.8705) with the comprehensive sensitivity being 0.88 [0.83-0.92], and comprehensive specificity being 0.89 [0.84-0.94]). Moreover, in 1860 cases of LUSC with survival information, patients with higher expression of ENO1 had poorer prognosis (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.01-1.43, P = 0.043). ENO1 and its related genes mainly participated in the pathways of cell division and proliferation. In conclusion, the upregulation of ENO1 could affect the carcinogenesis and unfavorable outcome of LUSC.