Chrysene, a four-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, induces hepatotoxicity in mice by activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR).

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of persistent organic global environmental pollutants and cause harmful effects on human health. Here, we evaluated adverse effects of chrysene, which is a four-ring PAH and an important member of 16 priority PAHs, on the liver. Chrysene was detected in some common raw and cooked Chinese food samples. Hepatotoxicity including increased relative liver weight, hepatocyte swelling and degeneration, and elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were observed in chrysene-exposed C57BL/6 mice. Glutamine treatment effectively ameliorated chrysene-induced mice liver injury by decreasing serum ALT levels. Chrysene induced mice hepatic glutathione depletion and oxidative DNA damage with increased 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels. Hepatic expression levels of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), AhR-related target genes including CYP1A1, CYP1A2 and CYP1B1, and AhR nuclear translocator (ARNT) were significantly increased in chrysene-exposed C57BL/6 mice. Chrysene induced mice hepatic mRNA levels of the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and Nrf2-mediated phase II detoxifying and antioxidant enzymes including NQO1, UGT1A1, UGT1A6, SULT1A1, GSTm1, GSTm3, Catalase (CAT), GPx1, and SOD2. We found that chrysene had toxic effects including increased relative liver weight and elevated serum ALT levels on AhR+/+ mice but not AhR-/- mice. Chrysene significantly induced hepatic mRNA levels of CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 in AhR+/+ mice but not AhR-/- mice. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that hepatotoxicity causes by chrysene is dependent on AhR, and Nrf2 plays an important regulation role in protection against oxidative liver injury induced by chrysene.

Schwannoma of stomach: a clinicopathologic study of 12 cases.

We analyzed clinicopathologically 12 gastric schwannomas. Patient ages ranged from 41 to 79 years (mean, 52 years; median, 59 years). They variably presented with gastric discomfort, bleeding, or rarely gastric outlet obstruction and many were incidental findings during other medical procedures. The maximum tumor diameters ranged from 1.0 to 5.4 cm (mean, 3.5 cm; median 3.8 cm). The typical histologic features included spindle cells with micro-trabecular architecture, focal nuclear atypia, and peritumoral lymphoid cuff. Median mitotic count was 1/50 high-power field. No malignant variants were recognized, and follow-up did not reveal recurrences or metastases. Immunohistochemically, all tumors were positive for S100 and SOX10, and most were also GFAP positive, whereas CD34 and NF were rarely positive. All tumors were negative for cytokeratin AE1/3, HMB45, c-kit, DOG1, smooth muscle actin, desmin, and synaptophysin. None of the tumors showed gastrointestinal stromal tumor-specific KIT or PDGFRA mutations. Gastric schwannoma is a distinctive form of peripheral nerve sheath tumor and it should be distinguished from gastrointestinal stromal tumor and other mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, especially clear cell sarcoma and metastatic melanoma.

Combined detection of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7 promoter methylation improves the diagnostic efficacy of AFP in hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma.

This study quantitatively assessed serum insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) promoter methylation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and explored its clinical value. A total of 80 patients with hepatitis B virus-associated HCC, 35 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and 20 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. MethyLight was used to quantitatively assess the methylation levels of serum IGFBP7 promoter. A logistic regression model was established for the combined evaluation of AFP and serum IGFBP7 promoter methylation. The results showed that mean methylation levels of serum IGFBP7 promoter were significantly higher in HCC (5.33%, interquartile range [IQR] 1.14-15.70%) patients than in individuals with CHB (1.54%, IQR 0.64-2.45%; P<0.01) and HC (0.63%, IQR 0.22-0.98%; P<0.01). In HCC subgroups, patients with vascular invasion, tumor size >3cm and advanced tumor node metastasis (TNM) showed higher methylation levels compared with the remaining groups (P<0.05). Compared with AFP alone, combined determination based on logistic regression analysis significantly improved the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) (0.759 vs 0.623, P<0.05). In addition, the Youden index was increased from 5.71%, 11.25% and 15.18%, when considering AFP alone at cut-off values of 20, 200, and 400ng/ml, respectively, to 45.71% with IGFBP7 promoter methylation taken into consideration (all P<0.05). These results suggested that combined quantitative measurement of serum IGFBP7 promoter methylation could enhance the diagnostic ability of AFP in distinguishing hepatitis B virus-associated HCC from CHB.

Infliximab Combined with Enteral Nutrition for Managing Crohn's Disease Complicated with Intestinal Fistulas.

Aim. This study was performed to evaluate the additional enteral nutrition (EN) in the efficacy of infliximab (IFX) compared with the conventional therapy in managing Crohn's disease (CD) complicated with intestinal fistulas. Methods. A total of 42 CD with intestinal fistulas were randomly divided into infliximab treatment group (n = 20) and conventional therapy group (n = 22). We evaluated the laboratory indexes, Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI), Crohn's disease simplified endoscopic score (SES-CD), and healing of fistula in the two groups before treatment, at 14 weeks, and at 30 weeks, respectively. Results. In the IFX treatment group, the CDAI score, the SES-CD, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein levels were significantly decreased during treatment compared with those before treatment. The body mass index and albumin levels were increased in both groups. Moreover, in the IFX treatment group, fistula healing was found in 8 at the 14th week and 18 at the 30th week, respectively, which was greater than that in the conventional therapy group. Conclusion. Our study suggested that infliximab combined with EN is an effective treatment for CD patients complicated with intestinal fistulas.

[Effect of Helium on Diamond Films Deposited Using Microwave PCVD].

Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was used to in situ diagnose the CH4-H2-He plasma in order to know the effect of helium on the diamond growth by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD). The spatial distribution of radicals in the plasma as a function of helium addition was studied. The diamond films deposited in different helium volume fraction were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The results show that the spectra intensity of radicals of H(α), H(ß), H(γ), CH and C2 increases with the increasing of helium volume fraction, especially, that of radical H(α) has the most improvement. The spectrum space diagnosis results show that the uniformity of C2, CH radicals in the plasma tends to poor due to the helium addition and resulted in a different thickness along the radial direction The measurement of deposition rate shows that the addition of helium is useful for the improvement of the growth rate of diamond films, due to relative concentration of carbon radicals was increased. The deposition rate increases by 24% when the volume fraction of He was increased from 0 vol. % to 4.7 vol.%. The micrographs of SEM reveal that with the increasing of helium volume fraction, the diamond films' crystallite orientation changes from (111) to disorder and a twins growth becomes obvious. The secondary nucleation density during growth increases because the high relatively concentration of C2 radicals under higher helium volume fraction (4.7 vol. %). In addition, the substrate was etched and sputtered by the plasma, which introduced metallic atoms into the plasma during the deposition of diamond films. Eventually, the existing of secondary nucleation and impurity atoms lead to the appearance of twins and results in the compressive dress.

Effectiveness of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis: a meta-analysis.

AIM: To investigate the effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on the incidence of post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP). METHODS: Two independent reviewers searched PubMed (1966 to October 2013), Embase (1984 to October 2013) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; Issue 4, 2013) for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) studying the effectiveness of prophylactic NSAID administration in the prevention of PEP. Using the Cochrane Collaboration Handbook, meta-analyses were conducted to evaluate the overall effect of NSAIDs in preventing the incidences of PEP and moderate to severe pancreatitis. RESULTS: Eight RCTs were identified from the literature search and included 1883 patients that underwent ERCP, with 971 patients in the NSAID group and 912 patients in the placebo group. Sixty-nine out of 971 (7.11%) patients developed PEP in the NSAID group in comparison to 143 out of 912 (15.68%) patients in the placebo group. The pooled RR of PEP incidence with prophylactic NSAID administration was 0.43 (95%CI: 0.33-0.56), which demonstrates that NSAID administration after ERCP significantly reduced the incidence of PEP when compared to the placebo group (P < 0.0001). Subgroup analysis was performed and revealed that the presence (NSAID group) or absence (placebo group) of NSAIDs had no significant effect on the development of moderate to severe pancreatitis (RR = 0.79, 95%CI: 0.52-1.18). Moreover, the administration of NSAIDs as a rectal suppository (RR = 0.35, 95%CI: 0.26-0.48; P < 0.0001) was more effective than oral administration (RR = 0.97, 95%CI: 0.53-1.80) or through infusion (RR = 0.43, 95%CI: 0.12-1.54). CONCLUSION: NSAIDs effectively reduce the incidence of PEP but not of moderate to severe pancreatitis.

[Optical emission spectroscopy of MPCVD plasma].

The plasma of CH4/H2 was diagnosed with optical emission spectroscopy on a high-pressure microwave plasma apparatus at 2.45 GHz. The existing radicals in the plasma and the influence of the methane concentration on radical concentration and distribution were researched. The results indicate that the radicals of CH, Halpha, Hbeta, Hgamma, C2 and little impurity atom Mo exist in the plasma. The intensity of emission spectrum of the radicals increases with the increase in the methane concentration, especially the intensity of C2 has a notable increase. The ratio of the intensity of the CH to Halpha is unchanging with the increase in methane concentration, while that of C2 to Halpha has a marked increase. The uniformity of the space distribution of the radicals becomes worse with the increase in methane concentration.