Efficacy of multi-slice spiral computed tomography in evaluating gastric cancer recurrence after endoscopic submucosal dissection.

BACKGROUND: Recurrence is the major challenge facing endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD)-based treatment therapies for early gastric cancer (EGC). Urgent development of simple and easy surveillance approaches will enhance clinical treatment of the disease. AIM: To explore the role of computed tomography (CT) recurrence in evaluating EGC after ESD treatment. METHODS: We retrospectively recruited patients from our endoscopy department, between January 2002 and December 2015, and analyzed their basic characteristics, including symptoms, CT results, and results of endoscopy with biopsy, among others. RESULTS: Among a total of 2150 patients EGC patients surveyed, 1362 met our inclusion and exclusion criteria and were therefore enrolled in our study. The cohort's sensitivity of CT for recurrent GC and specificity were 44.22% and 43.86%, respectively, with negative and positive predictive values of 40.15% (275/685) and 48.01% (325/677), respectively. The area under the curve of arterial and venous CT values for recurrent EGC were 0.545, and 0.604, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curve revealed no statistically significant differences between arterial and venous CT values for recurrent EGC. CONCLUSION: Enhanced CT has superior diagnostic efficacy, but less accuracy, compared to gold standard techniques in patients with recurrent EGC.

Associations of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio with intracranial artery stenosis and ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has emerged as an inflammatory marker. However, the associations of NLR with intracranial artery stenosis (ICAS) and ischemic stroke remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the associations of NLR with ICAS and ischemic stroke among a large and high-risk population. METHODS: Participants with records of clinical characteristics were prospectively recruited from the Neurology Department and Health & Physical Examination Center of Qingdao Municipal Hospital. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations of NLR with ICAS and ischemic stroke. Moreover, we also conducted parametric mediation analysis to estimate the effect of NLR on the risk of ischemic stroke mediated through ICAS. RESULTS: A total of 2989 participants were enrolled in this study. After adjusting for covariates, NLR (OR = 1.125, 95%CI 1.070-1.183) and ICAS (OR = 1.638, 95%CI 1.364-1.967) were significantly associated with ischemic stroke. Compared with the first quartile NLR, the second, third and fourth quartiles NLR were independent risk predictors for ischemic stroke (P for trend < 0.001); the third and fourth quartiles were independent predictors for ICAS (P for trend < 0.001). The mediation analysis showed that ICAS partially mediated the association between NLR and ischemic stroke, accounting for 14.4% of the total effect (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: NLR was significantly associated with ICAS and ischemic stroke. Besides, ICAS partially mediated the association between NLR and ischemic stroke.

Sleep Characteristics and Cerebrospinal Fluid Progranulin in Older Adults: The CABLE Study.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) progranulin (PGRN) is related to various neurodegeneration diseases. And sleep problems can cause abnormality in protein metabolism in vivo. We aim to explore the potential associations between the self-reported sleep characteristics and CSF PGRN in cognitively intact older adults. Our study recruited 747 participants (mean (standard deviation (SD)) age, 61.99 (10.52) years, 329 (42.89%) females) who had normal cognition from the Chinese Alzheimer's Biomarker and LifestylE (CABLE) study with CSF PGRN and sleep characteristics measured. The multiple linear regression and nonlinear regression adjusted for age, gender, education, and apolipoprotein E-epsilon 4 gene (APOE4) status were used to assess the associations between sleep characteristics and PGRN. Interaction effects were explored between APOE4 status and sleep characteristics on CSF PGRN level. Sleep disturbances indicated lower CSF PGRN (ß = - 0.0186, p = 0.0160). For detailed items in sleep disturbances, lower CSF PGRN was found in males who woke up during sleep (ß = - 0.0121, p = 0.0062) and in females who had breathing difficulties (ß = - 0.0258, p = 0.0271). Meanwhile, sleep efficiency was associated with CSF PGRN (ß = - 0.0512, p = 0.0497). No significant interaction effects between sleep characteristics and APOE4 status were found. Meanwhile, we did not find a nonlinear relationship between nocturnal sleep duration and CSF PGRN. Sleep problems may influence the metabolism of PGRN, thus attenuating the protective effects of PGRN on neurodegeneration diseases.

Integrated understanding of the Critical Zone processes in a subtropical karst watershed (Qingmuguan, Southwestern China): Hydrochemical and isotopic constraints.

Improving the management and protection of karst groundwater resources and addressing karst-related environmental and ecological problems still face challenges raised from the limited knowledge on the entire karstic Critical Zone (K-CZ), including soil, epikarst, the vadose and saturated zones. Particularly, there is still a lack of integrated understanding of K-CZ properties and major CZ processes across space and time. In this study, we measured and analyzed the hydrochemical and multiple stable isotopic compositions of soil water, surface- and groundwaters from various compartments of the K-CZ in a typical subtropical karst watershed - Qingmuguan (QKW), Southwestern China, in order to explore the source and spatiotemporal variations of water and solutes (C, N, S) within the K-CZ; thereby elucidating the hydrological and biogeochemical processes and their affecting factors. The results show that (i) the K-CZ of QKW is characterized by high heterogeneity and permeability, with fast and strong hydrologic variations in response to rainfall variability; (ii) water-CO2­carbonate interactions (i.e. carbonate weathering) are remarkably active in different zones and are significantly modulated by hydrologic dynamics and seasonal change in biological activities; (iii) efficient migration of nitrate and sulfate occurs across the surface toward the saturated aquifer zone, which is affected by the source availability, elemental transformation and flow transport processes; (iv) human activities have clearly influenced groundwater quality and the natural K-CZ processes, for example, exogenic acids of anthropogenic origin (e.g. acid precipitation and nitrogenous fertilizers from crop lands) have been proven to be involved in the carbonate weathering, with a contribution of ~20%-30%. Our study highlights the strong coupling of hydrological and various biogeochemical processes and the interactive connection among various layers of K-CZ. Thus, systematical monitoring along the CZ profile and a process-based dynamic approach to elucidating climatic and anthropogenic forcing are necessary to better understand the K-CZ properties and functions.

Identification of a New Uncompetitive Inhibitor of Adenosine Deaminase from Endophyte Aspergillus niger sp.

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is an enzyme widely distributed from bacteria to humans. ADA is known as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of lymphoproliferative disorders and cancer. Endophytes are endosymbionts, often bacteria or fungi, which live within plant tissues and internal organs or intercellular space. Endophytes have a broad variety of bioactive metabolites that are used for the identification of novel natural compounds. Here, 54 morphologically distinct endophyte strains were isolated from six plants such as Peganum harmala Linn., Rheum officinale Baill., Gentiana macrophylla Pall., Radix stephaniae tetrandrae, Myrrha, and Equisetum hyemale Linn. The isolated strains were used for the search of ADA inhibitors that resulted in the identification of the strain with the highest inhibition activity, Aspergillus niger sp. Four compounds were isolated from this strain using three-step chromatography procedure, and compound 2 was determined as the compound with the highest inhibition activity of ADA. Based on the results of 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopies, compound 2 was identified as 3-(4-nitrophenyl)-5-phenyl isoxazole. We showed that compound 2 was a new uncompetitive inhibitor of ADA with high cytotoxic effect on HepG2 and SMCC-7721 cells (the IC50 values were 0.347 and 0.380 mM, respectively). These results suggest that endophyte strains serve as promising sources for the identification of ADA inhibitors, and compound 2 could be an effective drug in the cancer treatment.

Upregulation of (C-X-C motif) Ligand 13 (CXCL13) Attenuates Morphine Analgesia in Rats with Cancer-Induced Bone Pain.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the role of chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 13 (CXCL13) in morphine tolerance in rats with cancer-induced bone pain (CIBP). MATERIAL AND METHODS We established a rat CIBP model and a rat CIBP-morphine tolerance (BM) model. BM rats were intrathecally administered rmCXCL13, neutralizing anti-CXCL13, and normal saline, while the control group rats underwent a sham operation and were injected with normal saline. The morphine analgesia was assessed by measuring mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and mechanical withdrawal duration (MWD) at various time points. The co-expressions of CXCL13 and NeuN were measured by immunofluorescence double-staining. CXCL13 protein and mRNA expressions were detected by Western blot and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), respectively. RESULTS Compared to the sham-operation (S) group, the BM group showed obviously decreased MWT and increased MWD on Day 9 after CIBP, but obviously increased MWT and decreased MWD on Day 3 after morphine administration; subsequently, the MWT was decreased and MWD was increased (all P<0.05). In comparison with the S+saline group, increased MWT and decreased MWD were observed in BM rats on Day 3 after anti-CXCL13 administration, and obviously decreased MWT and increased MWD were found in BM rats on Day 3 after rmCXCL13 administration (all P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Up-regulated CXCL13 has a negative role in morphine analgesia in relief of CIBP, which may provide a new target for the management of CIBP.

[The Near Infrared Spectral Bands Optimal Selection in the Application of Liquor Fermented Grains Composition Analysis].

In order to improve the technical level of the rapid detection of liquor fermented grains, in this paper, use near infrared spectroscopy technology to quantitative analysis moisture, starch, acidity and alcohol of liquor fermented grains. Using CARS, iPLS and no information variable elimination method (UVE), realize the characteristics of spectral band selection. And use the multiple scattering correction (MSC), derivative and standard normal variable transformation (SNV) pretreatment method to optimize the models. Establish models of quantitative analysis of fermented grains by PLS, and in order to select the best modeling method, using R2, RMSEP and optimal number of main factors to evaluate models. The results showed that the band selection is vital to optimize the model and CARS is the best optimization of the most significant effect. The calculation results showed that R2 of moisture, starch, acidity and alcohol were 0.885, 0.915, 0.951, 0.885 respectively and RMSEP of moisture, starch, acidity and alcohol were 0.630, 0.519, 0.228, 0.234 respectively. After optimization, the model prediction effect is good, the models can satisfy the requirement of the rapid detection of liquor fermented grains, which has certain reference value in the practical.

[Research on the sensitivity of geochemical of underground river in Chongqing Xueyu Cave].

Quoted geochemical susceptivity index and isosensitive line on geochemical susceptivity, analyzed the data of underground rivers of Xueyu Cave in Chongqing from September 2010 to August 2011, we found that the chemical composition of the underground river was controlled by the bedrock, due to the composition of high concentration of Ca2+ and low concentration of Mg2+. Owing to the effects of the monsoon, water chemistry was different between drought season and rainy season: the value of [Mg2+]/[Ca2+] was 0.018-0.051 in the rainy season, but in dry season the value was 0.038-0.064. The value of [HCO3(-)]/[SO4(2-)] was 4.86-36.62 in the rainy season, and 6.23-46.67 in the dry season. The seasonal change of Karstification made Ca2+ and HCO3(-) become the most sensitive ion. As a result of the special hydrogeological structure in Karat area, rain, surface water and groundwater transformed rapidly, which caused the underground river was sensitive to agricultural activities, especially for Cl- and NO3(-), and their sensitive indices were 0.286 and 0.022 respectively. The influence of tourism activities on the underground river was less than the management. The management work of ecological system should be strengthen in the recharge area, thus the largest economic and environmental benefits in the Karst area could be achieved.

[A study on the clinical efficacy of a combination regimen with levofloxacin and capreomycin in the treatment of multi-drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis].

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical efficacy of a combination therapy with levofloxacin (LVFX), capreomycin (CPM) and other second-line antituberculosis drugs in the treatment of multi-drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis (MDR-TB). METHODS: 177 patients with MDR-TB were assigned to a study group (88 cases), treated with LVFX, CPM, pyrazinamide (PZA), rifapentine (RFT) and pasiniazid (PSZ); or a control group, treated with streptomycin (SM), ethambutol (EMB), PZA, RFT and PSZ. The course of treatment was 21 months. RESULTS: 82 cases in the study group and 79 cases in the control group completed the treatment. The sputum negative conversion rate in the study group (83%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (58%) (P < 0.01). The radiographic improvement rate was 50% in the study group, significantly higher than that in the control group (28%) (P < 0.01). The closure rate of the lung cavities in the study group (63%) was higher than that in the control group (42%) (P < 0.05). No significant difference was found in side-effects between the two groups (31% in the study group, and 35% in the control group respectively) (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The regimen including LEVX, CPM and other second-line anti-TB drugs was effective and safe for patients with MDR-TB.