Correction to "Gut microbiota dysbiosis in Chinese children with type 1 diabetes mellitus: An observational study".

[This corrects the article on p. 2394 in vol. 27, PMID: 34040330.].

Gut microbiota dysbiosis in Chinese children with type 1 diabetes mellitus: An observational study.

BACKGROUND: Gut microbiota dysbiosis is reportedly actively involved in autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). However, the alterations in the gut microbiota and their correlation with fasting blood glucose (FBG) in Chinese children with T1DM remain unclear. AIM: To investigate alterations in the gut microbiota in Chinese children with T1DM and their associations with clinical indicators. METHODS: Samples from 51 children with T1DM and 47 age-matched and gender-matched healthy controls were obtained, to explore the structural and functional alterations in the fecal microbiota. The V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene were sequenced on a MiSeq instrument, and the association with FBG were analyzed. RESULTS: We found that the bacterial diversity was significantly increased in the T1DM-associated fecal microbiota, and changes in the microbial composition were observed at different taxonomic levels. The T1DM-reduced differential taxa, such as Bacteroides vulgatus ATCC8482, Bacteroides ovatus, Bacteroides xylanisolvens, and Flavonifractor plautii, were negatively correlated with FBG, while the T1DM-enriched taxa, such as Blautia, Eubacterium hallii group, Anaerostipes hadrus, and Dorea longicatena, were positively correlated with FBG. Bacteroides vulgatus ATCC8482, Bacteroides ovatus, the Eubacterium hallii group, and Anaerostipes hadrus, either alone or in combination, could be used as noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers to discriminate children with T1DM from healthy controls. In addition, the functional changes in the T1DM-associated fecal microbiota also suggest that these fecal microbes were associated with altered functions and metabolic activities, such as glycan biosynthesis and metabolism and lipid metabolism, which might play vital roles in the pathogenesis and development of T1DM. CONCLUSION: Our present comprehensive investigation of the T1DM-associated fecal microbiota provides novel insights into the pathogenesis of the disease and sheds light on the diagnosis and treatment of T1DM.

Gene Expression Profiles in Chemokine (C-C Motif) Ligand 21-Overexpressing Pancreatic Cancer Cells.

Chemokine (C-C Motif) ligand 21 (CCL21) plays an important role in tumor immunity. However, the molecular mechanisms by which CCL21 regulates tumor immunity remain largely unknown. In this study, we successfully generated a lentiviral vector expressing human CCL21 (Lenti-hCCL21), which was confirmed by biological assays. The Lenti-hCCL21 was transduced into PANC-1 cells, a chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 7 (CCR7)-positive human pancreatic cancer cell line. We used the scratch wound and transwell assays to measure cell migration of the CCL21-overexpressing PANC-1 cells. A DNA microarray assay was performed to determine gene expression profiles. The results showed that CCL21 lentiviral transduction significantly up- or down-regulated a panel of tumor-associated genes, although CCL21 appeared to have no effect on PANC-1 cell migration. Importantly, CCL21 promoted matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) expression in PANC-1 cells. CCL21 regulates pancreatic cancer immunity possibly through governing the expression of a panel of tumor-associated genes, including MMP-9.

Strain histograms used for differential diagnosis of breast masses according to hardness percentage.

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of percentage of hard component (PHC) versus strain ratio (SR) in focal breast lesion diagnosis.Ultrasonography and elastography images of 245 malignant and 255 benign breast lesions were obtained and analyzed according to the Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System of the American College of Radiology. PHC and SR were measured for each lesion and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate and compare the diagnostic performance of conventional ultrasound (CU) only, PHC with CU, and SR with CU.Mean PHC differed significantly between malignant (90.46 ±â€Š13.29) and benign (62.03 ±â€Š25.61) lesions. Mean SR differed significantly between malignant (4.61 ±â€Š1.75) and benign (2.34 ±â€Š1.80) lesions. ROC curve threshold values were 82.45 for PHC and 2.69 for SR. The area under the curve values for CU, SR with CU, and PHC with CU were 0.956, 0.960, and 0.956, respectively, with no significant differences among them (P < .05).PHC was comparable to SR for differentiating malignant from benign breast masses and may be an auxiliary tool for breast lesion stiffness evaluation. ROC data for CU, SR with CU, and PHC with CU were statistically similar.

Factors Affecting the Quality of Breast Quasistatic Ultrasound Elastograms.

OBJECTIVES: To explore factors affecting the quality of quasistatic ultrasound elastograms of the breast and to evaluate their accuracy in distinguishing benign and malignant breast lesions. METHODS: A total of 663 patients with 702 breast lesions were recruited. All patients received both conventional ultrasonography and quasistatic elastography. Patients' breast lesions were divided into A and B groups according to satisfactory and unsatisfactory elastographic examinations. Group A included 590 satisfactory elastograms, whereas Group B included 112 unsatisfactory elastograms. Various factors-maximum depth of the lesion, maximum transverse diameter of the lesion, thickness of the adipose layer, thickness of the glandular layer, thickness of the breast, distance between the nipple and lesion, age, body mass index, and menopausal status-were analyzed and compared between the groups to gauge their effects on the quality of the elastograms. RESULTS: Significantly deeper lesions, higher maximum transverse lesion diameters, thicker adipose layers, thicker glandular layers, and thicker breasts were identified in group B patients compared to group A patients (P < .05). Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that the maximum depth of the lesion, thickness of the adipose layer, and thickness of the breast were independent factors in the quality of elastograms. The area under the curve for the maximum depth of the lesion was 0.986 with the optimal cutoff threshold of 2.5 cm. CONCLUSIONS: Quasistatic elastography can be a supplementary approach to conventional ultrasonography in helping improve the diagnostic accuracy of breast lesions. The depth and size of breast lesions are correlated with the quality of elastograms.