Feasibility study on identifying the source of cigarette ash based on infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics.

Crime scene investigation is a key step in collecting and identifying physical evidence that may be closely related to the crime. The size of physical evidence can range from macro to micro. Cigarettes are a type of popular consumables, and their burned ashes are valuable resources of physical evidence since they contain important information such as brand preferences. This work explores the feasibility of using attenuated total reflection mid-infrared (ATR-MIR) spectroscopy and chemometrics to achieve cigarette brand recognition from burned ash. A total of 600 cigarette samples from ten brands were collected for experiments, and the samples were divided into a training set and a testing set in a 2:1 ratio. The Relief-F algorithm was used to sort variables and the forward search was used to further optimize variables to obtain the optimal subset of variables. Based on this, a partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model was established, achieving a total accuracy of 97% on the test set. As a reference, the maximum correlation coefficient method was also used for classification, with an accuracy of only 73%. It seems that using the variable selection and modeling scheme proposed in this article is feasible for identifying cigarette brands from burned ash.

Identification of the Level of Exosomal Protein by Parallel Reaction Monitoring Technology in HCC Patients.

Purpose: Reliable biomarkers for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of various stages of liver cancer are lacking. In this study, we aim to detect the levels of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in serum exosomes of patients with different liver diseases using a sensitive method. Patients and Methods: Exosomes were purified and validated. The expression of DEPs in exosomes from patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was validated by parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) technology and Western blotting, and the biological functions were analyzed by bioinformatics analysis. Results: A total of 11 DEPs were identified by PRM technology. Significantly higher level of haptoglobin (Hp) was detected in HCC patients as compared to LC and CHB patients. HCC patients had a significantly lower level of transthyretin (TTR) in the patients with CHB. Among the patients with HCC who undertaken surgery, the postoperative levels of CRP, SERPINA3 and Heparin cofactor 2 (SERPIND1) were significantly reduced compared to their respective preoperative levels. Conclusion: Hp and TTR may be potential markers for early diagnosis of HCC. CRP, SERPINA3 and SERPIND1 may serve as potential prognostic indicators for HCC patients undertaken surgery.

Research on Mfn2 Gene Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and its Antitumor Mechanism.

Objective: To detect the expression level of the Mfn2 gene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and adjacent normal liver tissues and further analyze its anticancer effects. Methods: The expression levels of Mfn2, GLS1 and the autophagy-related proteins lc3b and Beclin1 in liver cancer and adjacent tissues in patients with liver cancer were detected by real-time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The HepG2 human HCC cell line was cultured in vitro, and the Mfn2 protein was stably expressed through transfection of a high Mfn2 expression plasmid. The Cell-Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) method was used to observe the effect of Mfn2 overexpression on the activity of HepG2 cells. Furthermore, RT-qPCR and Western blotting were performed to detect the effects of Mfn2 overexpression on the protein expression of GLS1, Beclin1 and lc3b. Results: Compared with tissues adjacent to cancer tissues, the mRNA levels of Mfn2, GLS1, Beclin1 and lc3b in liver cancer tissues were lower. Compared with normal hepatocytes, the expression of Mfn2, Beclin1 and lc3b in HCC cells was decreased, but the expression of GLS1 was increased. Compared with the control group (NC) transfected with empty plasmid, Mfn2 overexpression led to significant time-dependent inhibition of HepG2 cell activity and GLS1 protein expression (P < .05). In addition, Mfn2 overexpression induced autophagy by triggering the expression of autophagy-related proteins Beclin-1 and lc3b in HCC cells (all P < .05). The effect of transfection with a high-dose Mfn2 plasmid was more obvious than that of transfection with a low-dose Mfn2 plasmid (all P < .05). Conclusions: The expression of Mfn2, GLS1, Beclin1 and lc3b in HCC was lower than in normal liver tissue. The expression of Mfn2, Beclin1 and lc3b in HCC cells was decreased, but the expression of GLS1 was increased. Overexpression of Mfn2 inhibited GLS1 gene expression by inhibiting the activity of HCC cells and promoted the expression of Beclin1 and lc3b to induce autophagy, thereby exerting an anticancer effect. Further research is needed to clarify the mechanism of Mfn2 activity.

The clinicopathological characteristics of gastric polyps and the relationship between fundic gland polyps, Helicobacter pylori infection, and proton pump inhibitors.

BACKGROUND: To explore the clinical characteristics of different types of gastric polyps and the relationship between fundic gland polyps, Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection, and proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use. METHODS: The clinical data of 186 patients diagnosed with gastric polyps under endoscopy were selected for retrospective analysis, and the clinical data, gastroscopy, polyp histopathology, HP infection, and PPI usage of all subjects were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 186 patients with gastric polyps, there were significantly more women (131 cases) than men (55 cases), with a ratio of 2.38:1. PPIs were used in 78% of cases for more than 5 years. The pathological types of patients with gastric polyps in this study were fundic gland polyps, hyperplastic polyps, inflammatory fibrous polyps, and adenomatous polyps. Fundic gland polyps were mainly located in the fundus and gastric body, while hyperplastic polyps were mostly located in the gastric body (P<0.05). The positive rate of HP infection in patients with fundic gland polyps was significantly lower than that in patients with other types of polyps (P<0.05). In patients with long-term use of PPIs, the incidence of fundic gland polyps increased significantly (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There were significant differences among the different types of gastric polyps in terms of polyp position, shape, and size. The positive rate of HP infection in patients with fundic gland polyps was low. Long-term use of PPIs (>5 years) increased the incidence of fundic gland polyps to some extent. The mechanisms underlying the relationship between gastric polyps, HP infection, and the use of PPIs remain to be further studied.

Flt3/Flt3L Participates in the Process of Regulating Dendritic Cells and Regulatory T Cells in DSS-Induced Colitis.

The immunoregulation between dendritic cells (DCs) and regulatory T cells (T-regs) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC). Recent research showed that Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (Flt3) and Flt3 ligand (Flt3L) were involved in the process of DCs regulating T-regs. The DSS-induced colitis model is widely used because of its simplicity and many similarities with human UC. In this study, we observe the disease activity index (DAI) and histological scoring, detect the amounts of DCs and T-regs and expression of Flt3/Flt3L, and investigate Flt3/Flt3L participating in the process of DCs regulating T-regs in DSS-induced colitis. Our findings suggest that the reduction of Flt3 and Flt3L expression may possibly induce colonic immunoregulatory imbalance between CD103(+)MHCII(+)DCs and CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+)T-regs in DSS-induced colitis. Flt3/Flt3L participates in the process of regulating DCS and T-regs in the pathogenesis of UC, at least, in the acute stage of this disease.