Mitochondrial genome complexity in Stemona sessilifolia: nanopore sequencing reveals chloroplast gene transfer and DNA rearrangements.

Mitochondria are semi-autonomous organelles in eukaryotic cells with their own genome. Plant mitogenomes differ from animal mitogenomes in size, structure, and repetitive DNA sequences. Despite larger sizes, plant mitogenomes do not have significantly more genes. They exhibit diverse structures due to variations in size, repetitive DNA, recombination frequencies, low gene densities, and reduced nucleotide substitution rates. In this study, we analyzed the mitochondrial genome of Stemona sessilifolia using Nanopore and Illumina sequencing. De-novo assembly and annotation were conducted using Unicycler, Geseq, tRNAscan-SE and BLASTN, followed by codon usage, repeat sequence, RNA-editing, synteny, and phylogenetic analyses. S. sessilifolia's mitogenome consisted of one linear contig and six circular contigs totaling 724,751 bp. It had 39 protein-coding genes, 27 tRNA genes, and 3 rRNA genes. Transfer of chloroplast sequences accounted for 13.14% of the mitogenome. Various analyses provided insights into genetic characteristics, evolutionary dynamics, and phylogenetic placement. Further investigations can explore transferred genes' functions and RNA-editing's role in mitochondrial gene expression in S. sessilifolia.

Analysis of the Effect of Rapid Rehabilitation Nursing in the Perioperative Period of Brucellar Spondylitis.

Objective: To explore the effect of rapid rehabilitation nursing in patients with brucellar spondylitis during the perioperative period. Methods: A total of 68 patients with brucellar spondylitis who underwent surgical treatment in our hospital from August 2019 to May 2022 and met the inclusion criteria were enrolled as study subjects. The patients were divided into a conventional group and a rehabilitation group with 34 cases each according to different nursing methods. The conventional group received routine nursing intervention and the rehabilitation group received perioperative rapid rehabilitation nursing intervention. The clinical data of patients were recorded, and the length of hospital stay, nursing intervention effect, pain perception, kyphotic Cobb angle changes, perioperative complications, and the satisfaction scores of patients were compared between the two groups. Results: The hospitalization time of patients in the rehabilitation group was significantly shorter and the clinical effective rate was significantly higher in the rehabilitation group than that of the conventional group, P < .05. The VAS scores of the rehabilitation group were significantly lower than the conventional group at each time point, P < .05. The total incidence of complications and the kyphotic Cobb angle at 3 days and 2 weeks post-operation of the rehabilitation group was significantly lower than the conventional group, P < .05; while the patient satisfaction was significantly higher in the rehabilitation group, P < .05. Conclusion: Rapid recovery nursing intervention for patients with brucellar spondylitis has a definite effect in the perioperative period, which can effectively reduce the pain experience of patients, improve the treatment effect, shorten the hospitalization time of patients, reduce the occurrence of perioperative complications, improve patient satisfaction, and promote the functional recovery of patients. The findings are significant and warrant the clinical promotion and application of fast recovery nursing intervention in the perioperative period of brucellar spondylitis.

Study on the Coal-Oxygen Intrinsic Reaction at Low Temperature by the Subtraction Method.

Coal oxidation involves complex physical and chemical processes as well as many reaction pathways. The subtraction method was used to investigate the law of the coal-oxygen intrinsic reaction at low temperatures. The subtraction method is to subtract the characteristic curve of the coal reaction in N2 from the characteristic curve of coal oxidation in air, which can remove the influence of pyrolysis reaction, water evaporation, and gas desorption on coal low-temperature oxidation, and ultimately obtain the coal-oxygen intrinsic reaction curve under the pure oxidation pathway. To reveal the internal relationship of the coal-oxygen intrinsic reaction between the release of gas products and the conversion of active functional groups, a temperature-programmed system was used to analyze the law of index gas products. Furthermore, Fourier infrared spectroscopy was used to analyze the conversion of active functional groups in the low-temperature reaction process of coal. The findings revealed that the coal-oxygen intrinsic reaction obtained through subtraction played a significant role in the release of gas and the conversion of aliphatic hydrocarbons in the overall process of the coal low-temperature reaction. However, the alterations in the N2 atmosphere were relatively weak. The gas release of CO and CO2 gradually increased with increasing temperature, as did the concentration of oxygen-containing functional groups, and there was a positive correlation between them.

The effect of exposure to COVID-19 on life satisfaction: The mediating role of hyperarousal and moderating/mediating role of affective forecasting.

BACKGROUND: As a global trauma event, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) hugely impacts people's mental health and well-being. The purpose of our study is threefold: first, investigate the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 and life satisfaction among a large sample in China; second, test the mediating role of hyperarousal in the association between exposure to COVID-19 and life satisfaction; third, explore the moderating/mediating role of affective forecasting in the association between hyperarousal and life satisfaction. METHOD: The current study recruited 5546 participants to complete a set of self-report questionnaires online from April 22, 2020 to April 24, 2020. The moderated mediation and chain mediation model analyses were conducted using the SPSS software and PROCESS macro program. RESULTS: Exposure to COVID-19 negatively predicted life satisfaction (Effect = -0.058, p < 0.001). This relationship was partially mediated by the hyperarousal level (Effect = -0.018, CI = [-0.024, -0.013]). The moderating role of forecasted positive affect (PA)/forecasted negative affect (NA) between hyperarousal and life satisfaction was significant (ß = 0.058, CI = [0.035, 0.081]; ß = 0.037, CI = [0.014, 0.06]). The chain mediating effect of hyperarousal and forecasted PA/forecasted NA on the relationship between exposure to COVID-19 and life satisfaction was also significant (Effect = -0.003, CI = [-0.004, -0.002]; Effect = -0.006, CI = [-0.008, -0.004]). LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference. CONCLUSION: Greater exposure to COVID-19 was associated with more severe hyperarousal symptoms, decreased life satisfaction. Forecasted PA and forecasted NA could moderate and mediate the negative impact of hyperarousal on life satisfaction. The moderating/mediating role of forecasted PA/NA implied that future interventions targeting at improving affective forecasting and reducing hyperarousal might be helpful to improve life satisfaction during the post-COVID-19 era.

PBX1-promoted SFRP4 transcription inhibits cell proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in endometrial carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects and mechanisms of action of the PBX1/secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4) axis in endometrial carcinoma (EC). METHODS: The expression of PBX1 and SFRP4 was analyzed using bioinformatics prediction, followed by validation in EC cells using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. After transduction with overexpression vectors for PBX1 and SFRP4, migration, proliferation, and invasion of EC cells were measured, accompanied by the detection of E-cadherin, Snail, N-cadherin, Vimentin, ß-catenin, GSK-3ß, and C-myc expression. The association between PBX1 and SFRP4 was validated using dual luciferase reporter gene and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. RESULTS: PBX1 and SFRP4 were downregulated in EC cells. Overexpression of PBX1 or SFRP4 resulted in weakened cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as decreased expression of Snail, N-cadherin, Vimentin, ß-catenin, GSK-3ß, and C-myc and increased expression of E-cadherin. PBX1 bound to the SFRP4 promoter and promoted its transcription. Knockdown of SFRP4 reversed the repression of overexpressed PBX1 in the malignant phenotypes and EMT of EC cells, and PBX1 repressed Wnt/ß-catenin pathway activation by upregulating SFRP4 transcription. CONCLUSION: PBX1 inhibited activation of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway by promoting SFRP4 transcription, thereby suppressing malignant phenotypes in EC cells and the EMT process.

Linguistic Analysis for Identifying Depression and Subsequent Suicidal Ideation on Weibo: Machine Learning Approaches.

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses but remains underdiagnosed. Suicide, as a core symptom of depression, urgently needs to be monitored at an early stage, i.e., the suicidal ideation (SI) stage. Depression and subsequent suicidal ideation should be supervised on social media. In this research, we investigated depression and concomitant suicidal ideation by identifying individuals' linguistic characteristics through machine learning approaches. On Weibo, we sampled 487,251 posts from 3196 users from the depression super topic community (DSTC) as the depression group and 357,939 posts from 5167 active users on Weibo as the control group. The results of the logistic regression model showed that the SCLIWC (simplified Chinese version of LIWC) features such as affection, positive emotion, negative emotion, sadness, health, and death significantly predicted depression (Nagelkerke's R2 = 0.64). For model performance: F-measure = 0.78, area under the curve (AUC) = 0.82. The independent samples' t-test showed that SI was significantly different between the depression (0.28 ± 0.5) and control groups (-0.29 ± 0.72) (t = 24.71, p < 0.001). The results of the linear regression model showed that the SCLIWC features, such as social, family, affection, positive emotion, negative emotion, sadness, health, work, achieve, and death, significantly predicted suicidal ideation. The adjusted R2 was 0.42. For model performance, the correlation between the actual SI and predicted SI on the test set was significant (r = 0.65, p < 0.001). The topic modeling results were in accordance with the machine learning results. This study systematically investigated depression and subsequent SI-related linguistic characteristics based on a large-scale Weibo dataset. The findings suggest that analyzing the linguistic characteristics on online depression communities serves as an efficient approach to identify depression and subsequent suicidal ideation, assisting further prevention and intervention.

Chinese expert consensus on transradial access in percutaneous peripheral interventions.

Transradial access (TRA) is a safe and comfortable approach and the preferred access for percutaneous coronary intervention. However, TRA is not widely used for peripheral interventions. Currently, there is a lack of data on patient selection, appropriate medical devices, complication prevention, and TRA adoption. Therefore, the Chinese Society of Interventional Oncology of the China Anti-Cancer Association organized nationwide experts to establish a Working Group of China Expert Consensus on TRA in percutaneous peripheral interventions in 2022, and jointly formulated this consensus to better promote the application of TRA in peripheral interventions to guide clinicians on patient selection, technical recommendations, and physician training. This consensus mainly focuses on the current situation, advantages and limitations of TRA in peripheral interventions, anatomical characteristics of the radial artery, patient selection, technical aspects, prevention and management of complications, radiation dose, and learning curve. A consensus was reached through a literature evaluation and by referring to the opinions of the expert group.

Investigation of Competitive Adsorption Properties of CO/CO2/O2 onto the Kailuan Coals by Molecular Simulation.

To reveal the CO, CO2, and O2 adsorption properties of two bituminous coals at different pressures and temperatures, the molecular unit-cell structures of two types of bituminous coal are constructed (C1180H960O120N20 and C1160H860O80N20) by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The bituminous coal molecular FTIR spectroscopic curve is calculated by quantum chemistry, and the results are consistent with the experimental curve. The isothermal adsorption curves of the single-component gases CO, CO2, and O2 conform to the Langmuir equation from 20 to 60 °C. The adsorption simulations are mainly performed using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) methods. The amount of adsorption decreases with increasing temperature at the same pressure, and CO2 can be the first to reach adsorption saturation at the same temperature. The CO2/CO adsorption selectivity for binary gas mixtures has apparent advantages in low-pressure or shallow buried coal seams. The adsorption selectivity of O2/CO varying under different pressures is not obvious. The high amount of CO inhibits the adsorption capacity of CO2 and O2. In other words, the effect of injecting CO2 to control fire extinguishing in bituminous coal seams with high abnormal CO concentrations is not significant.

Establishment, characterization, and transfection potential of a new continuous fish cell line (CAM) derived from the muscle tissue of grass goldfish (Carassius auratus).

A new continuous fish cell line (CAM) has been successfully derived from the muscle tissues of grass goldfish, Carassius auratus. The primary cell cultures were initiated by incomplete trypsinization first and then explant culture in a Leibovitz-15 medium supplemented with 15% fetal bovine serum and 10% fish muscle extract. It was found that the CAM cells were very sensitive to trypsinization and needed to be sub-cultured at a low trypsin concentration of 0.0625% to be able to go through the crisis of spontaneous immortalization transformation, and afterward a total of five derivative cell strains were isolated from the original CAM cell line. This spontaneous immortalization transformation event was recorded successively at passages 44-47, beginning with a large-scale apoptosis and senescence and followed by mitosis arrest and re-activation, thus designated as cell strain CAM-44A, 44B, 45A, 44B, and 47A. Now both the CAM cell line and strains had been sub-cultured for more than 89 times and could be well cryopreserved in the growth medium containing 5% dimethylsulfoxide. Chromosome analysis and COI gene analysis had confirmed the grass goldfish origin of these CAM cells. Transfection potential analysis indicated that Lipofectamine LTX and Xfect were two suitable transfection reagents to be used in the gene delivery of CAM cells with a transfection efficiencies up to 11±6% and 8±3% in the CAM cell lines, respectively. Among the five cell strains, CAM-47A showed the highest transfection potential with a transfection efficiency up to 28 ± 5%. This work will provide a useful cell source for works on the cell-based artificial fish meat production and functional studies of fish myogenesis-related genes.

Risk factors of uterine contraction after ureteroscopy in pregnant women with renal colic.

BACKGROUND: Ureteroscopy is widely applied in pregnant women with renal colic, but such patients are easy to experience uterine contraction after surgery. There are many factors which may affect uterine contraction, this study aims to explore the risk factors of uterine contraction triggered by ureteroscopy in pregnant women with renal colic. METHODS: One hundred and one pregnant women were retrospectively analyzed, the patients were hospitalized because of severe renal colic. All patients received ureteroscopy during which double J catheters were inserted into ureters for drainage. Patients received other medical treatments individually according to their condition and uterine contractions were detected by EHG within 12 h after operation. Patients were classified as group A (uterine contraction) and group B (no uterine contraction) according to the presence or absence of continuously regular uterine contraction. Clinical characteristics were collected for further analysis, including history of childbirth, anesthesia method, application of phloroglucinol or not, operation time, Oxygen inhalation or not, pain relief or not after surgery, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) occurred or not. A binary logistic regression analysis model was established to explore whether such clinical characteristics were relevant to uterine contraction after ureteroscopy. RESULTS: Continuously regular uterine contraction presented in 46 pregnant women within 12 h after ureteroscopy, making the incidence of uterine contraction as high as 45.54%. The presence of uterine contraction was related to the following factors(P < 0.05): history of childbirth (primipara versus multipara)(OR 6.593, 95% CI 2.231-19.490), operation time (each quarter additional) (OR 2.385, 95% CI 1.342-4.238), application of phloroglucinol (yes versus not) (OR 6.959, 95% CI 1.416-34.194), pain relief after surgery(yes versus not)(OR 6.707, 95% CI 1.978-22.738), SIRS occurred after surgery (yes versus not) (OR 0.099, 95% CI 0.014-0.713). CONCLUSION: Continuously regular uterine contraction is easy to occur within 12 h after ureteroscopy in pregnant women. SIRS occurred after surgery is a risk factor for uterine contraction; on the contrary, no history of childbirth, shorter operation time, application of phloroglucinol, pain relief after surgery are protective factors.

Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting in Breast Cancer Patients: A Multicenter Prospective Observational Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the occurrence of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in acute phase (24 h after chemotherapy) and delayed phase (2-5 days after chemotherapy) after standard antiemetic therapy and to explore the risk factors of CINV in the acute and delayed phases. METHODS: This prospective and observational study analyzed the data of 400 breast cancer patients scheduled for chemotherapy in two hospitals. The self-report survey was developed to assess the occurrence of CINV and their associated factors. On day 2 and day 6 of chemotherapy, CINV was evaluated by the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer Antiemetic Tool (MAT). The incidence of acute and delayed CINV was expressed as frequency and percentage. RESULTS: Among 400 patients, 29.8% and 23.5% experienced acute and delayed CINV, respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors associated with acute CINV included pain/insomnia, history of CINV, and highly emetogenic chemotherapy. The history of motion sickness (MS), history of CINV, number of chemotherapy cycles completed, and the incidence of acute CINV were significant risk factors for delayed CINV (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are helpful for nurses to identify high-risk patients with CINV, formulate effective treatment plans, and reduce the incidence of CINV.

Study on the Spontaneous Combustion Tendency of Coal Based on Grey Relational and Multiple Regression Analysis.

The correlation between the spontaneous combustion tendency of coal and its properties are of great importance for safety issues, environmental concerns, and economic problems. In this study, the relationship between multiple parameters, different from the previous single parameter, and the spontaneous combustion tendency was analyzed. The comprehensive judgment index (CJI), which indicates the tendency of coal spontaneous combustion, was obtained for samples collected from different mines. The CJI was measured by the cross-point temperature and had a negative correlation with the spontaneous combustion tendency. Physical pore structures and chemical functional groups were characterized based on cryogenic nitrogen adsorption and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements, respectively. For analyzing the effect of coal properties on the spontaneous combustion tendency, the grey relational grade was determined by the grey relational analysis between the CJI and the pore structures and functional groups of coal. The grey relational grade of the benzene substituent with CJI had a maximum of 0.8642, and the macropores had the minimum, 0.4169. The higher the gray relational grade was, the more relevant the spontaneous combustion tendency was, indicating that the benzene substituent was the most relevant. To better predict the spontaneous combustion tendency, the average pore diameter, hydroxyl, methyl, methylene, and benzene substituent with a high grey relational grade were selected. Finally, the multiple regression prediction model of CJI was established. The R squared coefficient, significance level, F-distribution, t-distribution, collinearity diagnosis, and residual distribution of the model met the requirements. In addition, two coal samples were selected to verify the spontaneous combustion tendency model. The relative errors between the predicted CJI value and the experimental CJI value were 1.42 and 4.25%, respectively. These small relative errors verified the reasonableness and validity of the prediction model.

Atorvastatin potentiates the chemosensitivity of human liver cancer cells to cisplatin via downregulating YAP1.

Atorvastatin is a competitive inhibitor of ß-hydroxy ß-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, which is involved in anticancer effects in numerous types of cancer, including in human liver cancer. However, its functions and underlying mechanisms of chemosensitivity in liver cancer remain to be elucidated. The present study investigated the effect of atorvastatin on cisplatin chemosensitivity and its molecular mechanisms, with a focus on the Yes1-associated transcriptional regulator (YAP1) protein. The present study demonstrated that atorvastatin significantly potentiated chemosensitivity to cisplatin in the liver cancer HepG2 and Huh-7 cell lines. Furthermore, cell survival and apoptosis in liver cancer cell lines were analyzed using MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Atorvastatin suppressed HepG2 and Huh-7 cell viability in a dose-dependent manner, similar to cisplatin and paclitaxel. Subtoxic levels of atorvastatin significantly increased cisplatin-induced apoptosis in Huh-7 cells. Atorvastatin-promoted chemosensitivity was predominantly mediated by caspase 3, caspase 9 and poly-(ADP ribose)-polymerase activation, and YAP1 downregulation. Finally, YAP1 overexpression significantly reversed the susceptibility of Huh-7 cells to cisplatin. Overall, the results of the present study suggested the underlying mechanisms of atorvastatin chemosensitivity in inducing liver cancer cell apoptosis via downregulating YAP1 and implicated the potential application of atorvastatin-potentiated chemosensitivity in liver cancer therapy.

Targeting Yes1 Associated Transcriptional Regulator Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression and Improves Sensitivity to Sorafenib: An in vitro and in vivo Study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Yes1 associated transcriptional regulator (YAP1) in the pathology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its potential as a therapeutic target. METHODS: YAP1 expression in HCC and adjacent tissues was determined via immunohistochemistry; in HCC and human normal liver cell lines, expression was examined via Western blotting. The effects of YAP1 knockdown and overexpression were detected following transfection of HCC cells with siRNA-YAP1 recombinants or pcDNA3.1-YAP1 plasmids. A tumor xenograft model was constructed by implanting YAP1-knockdown lentivirus-infected Hep-3B cells into nude mice, and the animals were treated with sorafenib. RESULTS: In patients with HCC, YAP1 was upregulated in tumor tissue compared with adjacent tissue, and its high expression in the tumor was associated with increased Edmonson grade. In vitro, YAP1 expression was increased in Hep-3B, SK-HEP-1 and Huh7 cells, while it was similar in SMMC-7721 cells and LO2 cells. Meanwhile, YAP1 increased cell proliferation and invasion, promoted the progression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and inhibited cell apoptosis in HCC cells; furthermore, YAP1 knockdown combined with the administration of sorafenib decreased cell viability and increased cell apoptosis compared with YAP1 knockdown or treatment with sorafenib alone. In vivo, YAP1 knockdown inhibited tumor growth and metastasis, whereas it promoted apoptosis; meanwhile, YAP1 knockdown synergized with sorafenib to suppress tumor progression in HCC mice. CONCLUSION: YAP1 is upregulated in both HCC tumor tissues and cell lines. Moreover, it promotes cell proliferation and invasion and promoted the progression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in vitro. Furthermore, targeting YAP1 inhibits HCC progression and improves sensitivity to sorafenib in vitro and in vivo.

Reprogrammed CRISPR-Cas13a targeting the HPV16/18 E6 gene inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in E6-transformed keratinocytes.

The long-lasting infection of high-risk type (type 16 or type 18) human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of gynecological and urinary malignancies. Given the high mortality rate after surgery, the development of a new molecular therapy would be of value to clinicians. The aim of the present study was to achieve targeted inactivation of the viral E6 gene in keratinocytes using the reprogrammed CRISPR-Cas13a system. To accomplish this, a reprogrammed CRISPR-Cas13a system, targeting both the HPV16/18 E6 genes was constructed using a guide RNA expressing vector. The expression levels of E6 protein were measured using western blot analysis after transfection of the vector into E6-transformed keratin oocytes. Cell proliferation was analyzed using CCK-8 assays and cell apoptosis was evaluated using Hoechst 33258 staining and ELISAs examining caspase-3 levels. The results indicated that both the HPV16/18 E6 genes can be inactivated using the CRISPR-Cas13a system. Furthermore, silencing E6 inhibited cell proliferation (14±1.8% on average) and induced apoptosis (80.2±3.2% on average) in E6-transformed keratinocytes but not in normal keratinocytes. In conclusion, results of the present study demonstrate that the reprogrammed CRISPR-Cas13a system has the potential for inactivating HPV E6 gene functions.

Electromagnetic navigation to assist with computed tomography-guided thermal ablation of liver tumors.

Purpose: To evaluate the advantages and primary technical efficacy of an electromagnetic (EM) navigation system for computed tomography (CT)-guided thermal ablation of liver tumors.Material and methods: From August 2016 to January 2018, 40 patients scheduled for CT- guided thermal ablation were prospectively enrolled and divided into two groups. Twenty patients underwent CT-guided thermal ablation with an EM navigation system (navigation group), while the other 20 patients underwent conventional CT-guided thermal ablation (control group). Data on skin punctures, instrument adjustments, puncture time to target, CT scans, CT fluoroscopy time and dose-length-product (DLP) were compared between the two groups. Any postoperative complications were recorded and the primary technical efficacy was evaluated four to six weeks after the procedure.Results: All 20 patients in the navigation group successfully underwent EM navigation. Compared to the control group, there were fewer instrument adjustments (mean 2.40 vs. 4.95; p = .003), fewer CT scans (mean 7.10 vs. 10.30; p = .006), less CT fluoroscopy time (mean 40.47 vs. 59.98 s, p = .046), and less DLP (mean 807.39 vs. 1578.67 mGy × cm; p = .001). Although not statistically significant, EM navigation resulted in fewer skin punctures (mean 1.20 vs. 1.25; p = .803) and slightly longer puncture time to target (mean 16.50 vs. 15.20 min; p = .725). No patients experienced major complications and the primary efficacy rate was 90% and 84.21% in the navigation and control groups, respectively (p = .661).Conclusions: EM navigation system optimizes the thermal ablation process and reduces radiation exposure in patients. However, further studies are warranted to determine whether an EM navigation system can improve procedure time, complication rates, and primary technical efficiacy of thermal ablation.

Evaluation of Percutaneous Mechanical Thrombectomy via the AngioJet System Combined with Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis for the Treatment of Symptomatic Lower Extremity Deep Venous Thrombosis.

BACKGROUND: Current methods of treating lower extremity deep venous thrombosis (LEDVT), such as catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) alone, or percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy (PMT) alone, are accompanied by unacceptably high risks of complications. This preliminary retrospective study evaluated the efficacy of CDT combined with PMT (via the AngioJet system), relative to CDT alone, in treating LEDVT. METHODS: Forty-two patients (43 limbs) with symptomatic deep venous thrombosis received either CDT alone (n = 12) or PMT combined with CDT (PMT + CDT) from May 2012 to December 2016. The groups were compared for clinical outcomes and demographics, LEDVT risk factors, and dosages of urokinase. Thrombus removal, by venographic evidence, was classified as grades I (<50%), II (50 to 99%), or III (>99%). RESULTS: In the CDT (PMT + CDT) cohorts, grades I, II, and III thrombus removal was achieved by 8% (3%), 17% (10%), and 75% (87%) of patients, respectively. The urokinase dosage and hospitalization required by the CDT group (5.29 ± 0.45 million IU, 20.4 ± 4.6 days) were significantly greater than those required by the PMT + CDT group (4.08 ± 1.15 million IU, 16.0 ± 6.0 days; P = 0.001, 0.039). The clinical outcomes of the 2 groups were similar. CONCLUSION: Combined PMT and CDT was effective and safe for LEDVT clinical therapy, and hospital stay, urokinase dosage, and complications were less compared with patients who received CDT only.

125I suppressed the Warburg effect viaregulating miR-338/PFKL axis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: Iodine-125 (125I) irradiation has been widely applied in the treatment of advanced multiple malignant tumors. However, the underlying mechanism of 125I exerted an anti-tumor effect on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was largely unknown. METHODS: In both HCCLM3 and SMMC-7721 cells, the effect of 125I irradiation on the glycolysis was detected. The mRNA in HCC tissues and cell lines were detected by RT-qPCR. Cell proliferation, invasion and migration, and apoptosis were examined by CCK-8, Transwell, wound healing assay and flow cytometry assay, respectively. The interaction between miR-338 and PFKL (6-phosphofructokinase) were verified by dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of glycolysis-related proteins. We also evaluated the effect of 125I seed implantation on the tumor growth and Warburg effect in vivo. RESULTS: 125I irradiation significantly decreased the Warburg effect, cell proliferation, invasion and migration, and induced apoptosis of HCCLM3 and SMMC-7721 cells. miR-338 was upregulated in HCC cells treated with 125I irradiation, which was a negative correlation with tumor size, tumor metastasis, and tumor development. Moreover, miR-338 directly interacted with PFKL and suppressed its expression. Mechanistically, 125I irradiation significantly decreased the Warburg effect and exhibited anti-tumorigenesis function through upregulating the inhibitory effect of miR-338 on PFKL expression. CONCLUSION: 125I irradiation upregulated the suppression of miR-338 on PFKL to downregulate the Warburg effect and anti-tumorigenesis in HCC and provided a new potential strategy for HCC clinical treatment.

YAP1 overexpression is associated with poor prognosis of breast cancer patients and induces breast cancer cell growth by inhibiting PTEN.

YES-associated protein 1 (YAP1) plays a key role as a transcriptional coactivator in the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway. YAP1 is overexpressed in a variety of cancers and is considered to be encoded by a proto-oncogene. However, the role of YAP1 remains debatable, because both gain and loss of YAP1 expression have both been reported in breast cancer (BC). Here, we found that elevated expression of YAP1 mRNA in BC was negatively correlated with relapse-free, distant metastases-free and overall survival rates. We then knocked down or overexpressed YAP1 in human BC cells, and examined cell proliferation, apoptosis, and tumorigenic ability in vivo. We identified that YAP1 promotes cell growth and inhibits cell apoptosis of BC through the phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10-AKT signaling pathway, and thus suggest that YAP1 might serve as a new target for inhibiting BC progression.

Direct Identification of Active Surface Species for the Water-Gas Shift Reaction on a Gold-Ceria Catalyst.

The crucial role of the metal-oxide interface in the catalysts of the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction has been recognized, while the precise illustration of the intrinsic reaction at the interfacial site has scarcely been presented. Here, two kinds of gold-ceria catalysts with totally distinct gold species, <2 nm clusters and 3 to 4 nm particles, were synthesized as catalysts for the WGS reaction. We found that the gold cluster catalyst exhibited a superiority in reactivity compared to gold nanoparticles. With the aid of comprehensive in situ characterization techniques, the bridged -OH groups that formed on the surface oxygen vacancies of the ceria support are directly determined to be the sole active configuration among various surface hydroxyls in the gold-ceria catalysts. The isotopic tracing results further proved that the reaction between bridged surface -OH groups and CO molecules adsorbed on interfacial Au atoms contributes dominantly to the WGS reactivity. Thus, the abundant interfacial sites in gold clusters on the ceria surface induced superior reactivity compared to that of supported gold nanoparticles in catalyzing the WGS reaction. On the basis of direct and solid experimental evidence, we have obtained a very clear image of the surface reaction for the WGS reaction catalyzed by the gold-ceria catalyst.