Overexpressed Trophoblast Glycoprotein Contributes to Preeclampsia Development by Inducing Abnormal Trophoblast Migration and Invasion Toward the Uterine Spiral Artery.

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia is a significant pregnancy disorder with an unknown cause, mainly attributed to impaired spiral arterial remodeling. METHODS: Using RNA sequencing, we identified key genes in placental tissues from healthy individuals and preeclampsia patients. Placenta and plasma samples from pregnant women were collected to detect the expression of TPBG (trophoblast glycoprotein). Pregnant rats were injected with TPBG-carrying adenovirus to detect preeclamptic features. HTR-8/SVneo cells transfected with a TPBG overexpression lentiviral vector were used in cell function experiments. The downstream molecular mechanisms of TPBG were explored using RNA sequencing and single-cell RNA sequencing data. TPBG expression was knocked down in the lipopolysaccharide-induced preeclampsia-like rat model to rescue the preeclampsia features. We also assessed TPBG's potential as an early preeclampsia predictor using clinical plasma samples. RESULTS: TPBG emerged as a crucial differentially expressed gene, expressed specifically in syncytiotrophoblasts and extravillous trophoblasts. Subsequently, we established a rat model with preeclampsia-like phenotypes by intravenously injecting TPBG-expressing adenoviruses, observing impaired spiral arterial remodeling, thus indicating a causal correlation between TPBG overexpression and preeclampsia. Studies with HTR-8/SVneo cells, chorionic villous explants, and transwell assays showed TPBG overexpression disrupts trophoblast/extravillous trophoblast migration/invasion and chemotaxis. Notably, TPBG knockdown alleviated the lipopolysaccharide-induced preeclampsia-like rat model. We enhanced preeclampsia risk prediction in early gestation by combining TPBG expression with established clinical predictors. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are the first to show that TPBG overexpression contributes to preeclampsia development by affecting uterine spiral artery remodeling. We propose TPBG levels in maternal blood as a predictor of preeclampsia risk. The proposed mechanism by which TPBG overexpression contributes to the occurrence of preeclampsia via its disruptive effect on trophoblast and extravillous trophoblast migration/invasion on uterine spiral artery remodeling, thereby increasing the risk of preeclampsia.

The value of combined detailed first-trimester ultrasound-biochemical analysis for screening fetal aneuploidy in the era of non-invasive prenatal testing.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the performance, cost-effectiveness and additional findings of combined detailed ultrasound and biochemical screening for risks of major fetal trisomies in the first-trimester. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis study, we estimated the risk of trisomies 21, 18 and 13 based on maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency thickness, nasal bone, ductus venosus pulsatility index velocity, tricuspid regurgitation, fetal heart rate, free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin, and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A in singleton pregnant women, and performed non-invasive prenatal testing for women with risks of trisomy 21 between 1:500 and 1:300. Invasive diagnostic testing was performed for women with positive or failed non-invasive prenatal testing result and in the high-risk group of this screening method. The direct costs were compared between this strategy and the non-invasive prenatal testing which alone used as first-line screening for all pregnant women. RESULTS: Among 25,155 singleton pregnant women who underwent screening, 24,361 were available for analysis, of these, 194 cases underwent non-invasive prenatal testing. Among the 24,361 women, 39, 19, and 7 had trisomies 21, 18 and 13, respectively. The use of this strategy could potentially detect approximately 94.87% of trisomy 21 cases, 100% of trisomy 18 cases, and 100% of trisomy 13 cases, with false-positive rates of 2.49%, 0.41%, and 0.49%, respectively. The overall detection rate and overall false-positive rates were 96.92% and 2.52%, respectively. The detection rate was 100% in the advanced age group and 94.12% in the general age group. Additionally, structural abnormalities were detected in 137 fetuses, and 44 fetuses had other chromosomal abnormalities. The total cost of this strategy was $3,730,843.30, and the cost per person tested was $153.15. The total cost of using non-invasive prenatal testing as the first-line strategy would be $6,813,387.04 and the cost per person tested was $279.68. CONCLUSIONS: Our strategy is an efficient and cost-effective approach for detecting major trisomies and identifying more fetuses with a potential abnormality. Therefore, this strategy is a valuable screening method and highly feasible in the clinical setting.

Association between serum iron and liver transaminases based on a large adult women population.

BACKGROUND: Studies are being focused on the potential roles of iron in various diseases, but remain unclear for the association between serum iron and liver injury, especially in adult women. METHODS: Based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we investigated the relationship between serum iron and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) among 19,185 adult women. RESULTS: Using weighted multivariate regression analyses, subgroup analyses, and threshold effect analyses, we found that serum iron was independently and positively correlated with ALT and AST. These associations differed in various age or race. Additionally, we found turning points in the curves of the relationship between serum iron and ALT in all women and the non-pregnant women. Using sensitivity analyses, we further found that the associations between serum iron and the liver transaminases remained positive in the non-pregnant women after adjusting for various covariates, but not in pregnant women. Besides, the positive associations between them kept present after excluding the women with high blood pressure, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. CONCLUSION: The present study indicated a positive association between serum iron and liver transaminases, indicating that serum iron may be a potential biomarker of liver function.

Application of SNPs with low minor allele frequencies in missing person identification (MPI) through kinship analysis of DNA mixtures.

The need to identify a missing person (MP) through kinship analysis of DNA samples found at a crime scene has become increasingly prevalent. DNA samples from MPs can be severely degraded, contain little DNA and mixed with other contributors, which often makes it difficult to apply conventional methods in practice. This study developed a massively parallel sequencing-based panel that contains 1661 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with low minor allele frequencies (MAFs) (averaged at 0.0613) in the Chinese Han population, and the strategy for relationship inference from DNA mixtures comprising different numbers of contributors (NOCs) and of varying allele dropout probabilities. Based on the simulated dataset and genotyping results of 42 artificial DNA mixtures (NOC = 2-4), it was observed that the present SNP panel was sufficient for balanced mixtures when referenced to the closest relatives (parents/offspring and full siblings). When the mixture profiles suffered from dropout, incorrect assignments were markedly associated with relatedness, NOC and the dropout level. We, therefore, indicate that SNPs with low MAFs could be reliably interpreted for MP identification through the kinship analysis of complex DNA mixtures. Further studies should be extended to more possible scenarios to test the feasibility of this present approach.

Identification of complex and cryptic chromosomal rearrangements by optical genome mapping.

BACKGROUND: Optical genome mapping (OGM) has developed into a highly promising method for detecting structural variants (SVs) in human genomes. Complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs) and cryptic translocations are rare events that are considered difficult to detect by routine cytogenetic methods. In this study, OGM was applied to delineate the precise chromosomal rearrangements in three cases with uncertain or unconfirmed CCRs detected by conventional karyotyping and one case with a cryptic translocation suggested by fetal chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA). RESULTS: In the three cases with CCRs, OGM not only confirmed or revised the original karyotyping results but also refined the precise chromosomal structures. In the case with a suspected translocation not detected by karyotyping, OGM efficiently identified the cryptic translocation and defined the genomic breakpoints with relatively high accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirmed OGM as a robust alternative approach to karyotyping for the detection of chromosomal structural rearrangements, including CCRs and cryptic translocations.

Double-to-Single Umbilical Artery With a Low Pulsatility Index Leading to Fetal Death: A Case Report and Review of Literature.

Single umbilical artery (SUA) may be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as fetal death, emergency cesarean section, premature delivery, small-for-gestational-age infants, and admission to neonatal intensive care unit, and some SUAs are transformed from originally double umbilical arteries (UA). The pulsatility index (PI) can reflect the resistance of UA, and clinicians attach importance to high PI but easily overlook low levels of it. We reported one case of a pregnant woman who underwent double to single UA accompanied by low UA-PI and finally had intrauterine fetal death. Additionally, the literature regarding SUA and UA-PI is reviewed. This study aims to alert clinicians to the risk of double-to-single UA with low UA-PI and strengthen fetal monitoring and timely intervention. We look forward to more clinical evidence to investigate it.

Plasma Olink Proteomics Identifies CCL20 as a Novel Predictive and Diagnostic Inflammatory Marker for Preeclampsia.

Inflammation is generally thought to be involved in the occurrence and development of preeclampsia (PE), but its specific effect on PE remains unclear. In the present study, the expression levels of 92 inflammation-related proteins were measured in the late pregnancy maternal plasma from patients with PE (n = 15) and normal pregnant controls (n = 15) using the Olink inflammation panel based on the highly sensitive and specific proximity extension assay technology. A total of 28 inflammation-related markers differed between the PE and control groups. Among them, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF-21) and cysteine-cysteine motif chemokine ligand 20 (CCL20) had the largest fold changes. We further validated the levels of CCL20 in the late (43 with PE and 44 controls) and early (37 with PE and 37 controls) pregnancy maternal plasma using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, CCL20 was found to be upregulated in the late and early pregnancy plasma of patients with PE and had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.753 and 0.668, respectively. In conclusion, patients with PE had increased levels of most inflammatory markers, and CCL20 might be a novel potential predictive and diagnostic biomarker for PE.

Development of a prediction model on preeclampsia using machine learning-based method: a retrospective cohort study in China.

Objective: The aim of this study was to use machine learning methods to analyze all available clinical and laboratory data obtained during prenatal screening in early pregnancy to develop predictive models in preeclampsia (PE). Material and Methods: Data were collected by retrospective medical records review. This study used 5 machine learning algorithms to predict the PE: deep neural network (DNN), logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), and random forest (RF). Our model incorporated 18 variables including maternal characteristics, medical history, prenatal laboratory results, and ultrasound results. The area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC), calibration and discrimination were evaluated by cross-validation. Results: Compared with other prediction algorithms, the RF model showed the highest accuracy rate. The AUROC of RF model was 0.86 (95% CI 0.80-0.92), the accuracy was 0.74 (95% CI 0.74-0.75), the precision was 0.82 (95% CI 0.79-0.84), the recall rate was 0.42 (95% CI 0.41-0.44), and Brier score was 0.17 (95% CI 0.17-0.17). Conclusion: The machine learning method in our study automatically identified a set of important predictive features, and produced high predictive performance on the risk of PE from the early pregnancy information.

Machine learning-based prediction of postpartum hemorrhage after vaginal delivery: combining bleeding high risk factors and uterine contraction curve.

PURPOSE: This work used a machine learning model to improve the accuracy of predicting postpartum hemorrhage in vaginal delivery. METHODS: Among the 25,098 deliveries in the obstetrics department of the First Hospital of Jinan University recorded from 2016 to 2020, 10,520 were vaginal deliveries with complete study data. Further review selected 850 cases of postpartum hemorrhage (amount of bleeding > 500 mL) and 54 cases of severe postpartum hemorrhage (amount of bleeding > 1000 mL). Indicators of clinical risk factors for postpartum hemorrhage were retrieved from electronic medical records. Features of the uterine contraction curve were extracted 2 h prior to vaginal delivery and modeled using a 49-variable machine learning with 90% of study cases used in the training set and 10% of study cases used in the test set. Accuracy was compared among the assessment table, classical statistical models, and machine learning models used to predict postpartum hemorrhage to assess their clinical use. The assessment table contained 16 high-risk factor scores to predict postpartum hemorrhage. The classical statistical model used was Logistic Regression (LR). The machine learning models were Random Forest (RF), K Nearest Neighbor (KNN), and the one integrated with Lightgbm (LGB) and LR. The effect of model prediction was evaluated by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), namely, C-static, calibration curve Brier score, decision curve, F-measure, sensitivity (SE), and specificity (SP). RESULTS: 1: Among the tested tools, the machine learning model LGB + LR has the best performance in predicting postpartum hemorrhage. Its Brier, AUC, and F-measure scores are better than those of other models in each group, and its SE and SP reach 0.694 and 0.800, respectively. The predictive performance of the classical statistical model LR is AUC: 0.729, 95%CI [0.702-0.756]). 2: Verification on the testing set reveals that the features of uterine contraction contribute to the improved accuracy of the model prediction. 3: LGB + LR model suggested that among the 49 indicators for predicting severe postpartum hemorrhage, the importance of the first 10 characteristics in descending order is as follows: hematocrit (%), shock index, frequency of contractions (min-1), white blood cell count, gestational hypertension, neonatal weight (kg), time of second labor (min), mean area of contractions (mmHg s), total amniotic fluid (mL), and body mass index (BMI). The prediction effect is close to that of the model after training with all 49 features. The predictive effect was close to that of the model after training using all 49 features. 4: Contraction frequency and intensity Mean_Area (representing effective contractions) have a high predictive value for severe postpartum hemorrhage. 5: Blood loss amount within 2 h has a high warning effect on postpartum hemorrhage, and the increase in AUC to 0.95 indicates that postpartum bleeding mostly occurs within 2 h after delivery. CONCLUSION: Machine learning models incorporated with uterine contraction features can further improve the accuracy of postpartum hemorrhage prediction in vaginal delivery and provide a reference for clinicians to intervene early and reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Selenium as a pleiotropic agent for medical discovery and drug delivery.

Selenium as a biologically active element lends much support to health maintenance and disease prevention. It is now presenting pleiotropic effects on therapy and drug delivery. In this study, a profiling on the physiological functions, therapeutic significances, clinical/preclinical performances, and biomedical and drug delivery applications of selenium in different modalities was carried out. Major interests focused on selenium-based nanomedicines in confronting various diseases pertaining to selenium or not, especially in antitumor and antidiabetes. Furthermore, the article exclusively discusses selenium nanoparticles featured by ameliorative functions with emphasis on their applications in medical practice and drug delivery. The state-of-the-art in medical discovery as well as research and development on selenium and nano-selenium is discussed in this review.

Activation of G protein coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) promotes the migration of renal cell carcinoma via the PI3K/AKT/MMP-9 signals.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the third most frequent malignancy within urological oncology. However, the mechanisms responsible for RCC metastasis are still needed further illustration. Our present study revealed that a seven-transmembrane receptor G-protein coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) was highly detected in various RCC cell lines such as ACHN, OS-RC-2 and SW839. The activation of GPER by its specific agonist G-1 significantly promoted the in vitro migration and invasion of ACHN and OS-RC-2 cells. G-1 also up regulated the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9. The inhibitor of MMP-9 (Cat-444278), but not MMP-2 (Sc-204092), abolished G-1 induced cell migration, which suggested that MMP-9 is the key molecule mediating G-1 induced RCC progression. Further, G-1 treatment resulted in phosphorylation of AKT and ERK in RCC cells. PI3K/AKT inhibitor (LY294002), while not ERK inhibitor (PD98059), significantly abolished G-1 induced up regulation of MMP-9 in both AHCN and OS-RC-2 cells. Generally, our data revealed that activation of GPER by its specific agonist G-1 promoted the metastasis of RCC cells through PI3K/AKT/MMP-9 signals, which might be a promising new target for drug discovery of RCC patients.

The clinical and prognostic value of CXCL8 in cervical carcinoma patients: immunohistochemical analysis.

Cysteine-X-cysteine ligand 8 (CXCL8) was originally discovered as a proinflammatory chemokine. Recently, CXCL8 has been shown to act as an oncogene in several types of human cancers. However, the clinical and prognostic significance of CXCL8 in cervical cancer is poorly understood. In our study, we found that CXCL8 was highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues compared with normal cervical tissues in microarray datasets (GSE9750 and GSE7803). CXCL8 mRNA and protein expressions were increased in cervical cancer tissues and cell lines compared with normal cervical tissues and cervical epithelial cell lines. CXCL8 protein expression was significantly correlated with clinical stage, distant metastasis, histological type, and histological grade. CXCL8 high expression was a poor independent prognostic parameter for cervical cancer patients. In conclusion, CXCL8 is highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues and cell lines, and correlated with malignant status and prognosis in cervical cancer patients.

[Improved identification for 5p deletion syndrome and partial trisomy 11q presented in a fetus by SNP array].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prenatal application of single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP array) in the identification of 5p deletion syndrome with partial trisomy 11q. METHODS: G-banded karyotyping and SNP array were performed using amniocytes on a fetus with multiple malformations for the identification of chromosome abnormality. Furthermore, karyotyping was carried out on the parental peripheral blood specimens to ascertain the origin of chromosome abnormalities and then fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was also utilized to confirm the results. RESULTS: Karyotype of amniocyte showed 46, XY, der(5) (?::p15 → qter). SNP array revealed a 13.907 Mb deletion at 5p15.33p15.2 (chr5: 113576-14020561), overlapping the region of 5p deletion syndrome, and a 18.254 Mb duplication at 11q23.3 q25 (chr11: 116684627-134938470), overlapping no known syndrome. Karyotype of the parents showed a normal 46,XX in mother and 46,XY,t(5;11)(p15;q23) in father. Three-color metaphase FISH analysis on paternal peripheral blood specimens also confirmed the paternal karyotyping result. CONCLUSION: SNP array could uncover 5p deletion syndrome with partial trisomy 11q unidentified by G-banded karyotyping and accurately locate the genomic breakpoints, facilitating the mapping of pathogenic critical regions and the identification of candidate genes, also accumulating research data for genotype-phenotype study.

Using semi-quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging parameters to evaluate tumor hypoxia: a preclinical feasibility study in a maxillofacial VX2 rabbit model.

PURPOSE: To test the feasibility of semi-quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) parameters for evaluating tumor hypoxia in a maxillofacial VX2 rabbit model. METHODS: Eight New Zealand rabbits were inoculated with VX2 cell solution to establish a maxillofacial VX2 rabbit model. DCE-MRI were carried out using a 1.5 Tesla scanner. Semi-quantitative DCE-MRI parameters, maximal enhancement ratio (MER) and slope of enhancement (SLE), were calculated and analyzed. The tumor samples from rabbits underwent hematoxylin-eosin (HE), pimonidazole (PIMO) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining, and the PIMO area fraction and VEGF IHC score were calculated. Spearman's rank correlation analysis was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The MER values of eight VX2 tumors ranged from 1.132 to 1.773 (1.406 ± 0.258) and these values were negatively correlated with the corresponding PIMO area fraction (p = 0.0000002), but there was no significant correlation with the matched VEGF IHC score (p = 0.578). The SLE values of the eight VX2 tumors ranged from 0.0198 to 0.0532 s(-1) (0.030 ± 0.011 s(-1)). Correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between SLE and the corresponding VEGF IHC score (p = 0.0149). However, no correlation was found between SLE and the matched PIMO area fraction (p = 0.662). The VEGF positive staining distribution predominantly overlapped with the PIMO adducts area, except for the area adjacent to the tumor blood vessel. CONCLUSIONS: The semi-quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI, MER and SLE allowed for reliable measurements of the tumor hypoxia, and could be used to noninvasively evaluate hypoxia during tumor treatment.

IKKß/NF-κB mediated the low doses of bisphenol A induced migration of cervical cancer cells.

Cervical cancer is considered as the second most common female malignant disease. There is an urgent need to illustrate risk factors which can trigger the motility of cervical cancer cells. Our present study revealed that nanomolar concentration of bisphenol A (BPA) significantly promoted the in vitro migration and invasion of cervical cancer HeLa, SiHa, and C-33A cells. Further, BPA treatment increased the expression of metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and fibronectin (FN) in both HeLa and SiHa cells, while did not obviously change the expression of MMP-2, vimentin (Vim) or N-Cadherin (N-Cad). BAY 11-7082, the inhibitor of NF-κB, significantly abolished BPA induced up regulation of FN and MMP-9 in cervical cancer cells. While the inhibitors of PKA (H89), ERK1/2 (PD 98059), EGFR (AG1478), or PI3K/Akt (LY294002) had no effect on the expression of either FN or MMP-9. BPA treatment rapidly increased the phosphorylation of both IκBα and p65, stimulated nuclear translocation, and up regulated the promoter activities of NF-κB. The BPA induced up regulation of MMP-9 and FN and activation of NF-κB were mediated by phosphorylation of IKKß via PKC signals. Collectively, our study found for the first time that BPA stimulated the cervical cancer migration via IKK-ß/NF-κB signals.

Clinical Significance of First-Trimester Screening of the Retronasal Triangle for Identification of Primary Cleft Palate.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the use of the retronasal triangle (RNT) for identification of orofacial cleft (OC) in the first trimester and the clinical application of three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound techniques for confirming the diagnosis of OC. METHODS: A total of 5,054 women with singleton pregnancies underwent first-trimester screening for Down syndrome at 11-13(+6) weeks. The RNT was scanned in each fetus, and 3D volumetric images of cases with abnormal or indeterminate RNT were obtained. RESULTS: Satisfactory images were obtained from all cases. Seven cases (1.4‰) of abnormal RNT were diagnosed as OC in the first trimester, which were confirmed at a 16 weeks scan or at a postmortem examination. One case that was considered a normal RNT was diagnosed with OC at 22(+2) weeks and after term delivery. Six cases of indeterminate RNT were diagnosed as normal by 3D ultrasound. Identification of OC by visualization of the RNT in the first trimester had a sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 99.9%. CONCLUSION: The RNT is an important sonographic landmark that has a high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of OC in the first trimester. 3D ultrasound is an important tool that aids in confirming diagnosis of OC in the first and second trimesters.

Analysis of feasibility of in vitro nuclear magnetic resonance tracking human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells by Gd-DTPA labeled.

OBJECTIVE: Three different kinds of transfection reagents were used to mediate the transfection of gadolinium-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid (Gd-DTPA) into human umbilical-cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs). The efficacy of different transfection reagents and the feasibility of NMR tracer in vitro of magnetized stem cells were estimated. METHODS: After purification by tissue explants adherent method, the biological characteristics of hUCMSCs in vitro were identified by subculture and amplification. Calcium phosphate, Effectene and liposome2000 were used to transfect Gd-DTPA-labeled hUCMSCs respectively, and cell counting was used to mediate the transfection of Gd-DTPA into hUCMSCs, which were then induced to lipoblast and osteoblast in vitro. The determination of the transfection activities of the transfection reagents was conducted by measuring the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal intensity of the Gd-DTPA-labeled cells and the concentration of gadolinium ion in the cells. Furthermore, the relationship between the signal intensity of Gd-DTPA-labeled hUCMSCsMRI, cell subculture and generations was studied. RESULTS: Primary cells were obtained by tissue explants adherent for two weeks. The cells displayed a long spindle form and grew in swirl. After two passage generations, the cellular morphology became more homogeneous. The result detected by the flow cytometer showed that CD29C, D44, CD90, and CD105 were highly expressed, while no CD45, CD40, and HLA-DR expression was detected in the third generation cells. Directional induction in vitro caused the differentiation into lipoblast and osteoblast. After transfected by calcium phosphate, Effectene and liposome 2000, the signal intensity of stem cells was 2281.2±118.8, 2031.9±59.7 and 1887.4±40.8 measured by MRI. Differences between these three groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). The concentrations of gadolinium ion in three groups of stem cells were 0.178±0.009mg/L, 0.158±0.003mg/L and 0.120±0.002mg/L respectively, examined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. No significant differences were found among these three groups (P<0.05). The proliferation and differentiation abilities of the Gd-DTPA-labeled stem cells were not affected. A minimum 5×10(4) Gd-DTPA-labeled stem cells could be traced with MRI in vitro and presented in high signal. The trace duration time in vitro was about 12days. CONCLUSIONS: Tissue explants adherent method can be availably applied to purify hUCMSCs. The Effectene method was proved to have the best transfection effect. The proliferation ability and differentiation potency of Gd-DTPA-labeled hUCMSCs were not affected, and the NMR of labeled stem cells in vitro was proved to be feasible.

XRCC1 polymorphisms are associated with cervical cancer risk and response to chemotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Functional single nucleotide polymorphisms of x-ray repair cross-complementing protein 1 (XRCC1) have been suspected to contribute to uterine cervical cancer risk for a long time; however, most previous case-control studies were small sized and biased. Additionally, recent studies suggested that XRCC1 polymorphisms could be a biomarker of response to platinum-based chemotherapy. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted to retrieve eligible studies and odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to measure association strength. RESULTS: A total of 13 studies were identified and analyzed. We found that the Arg194Trp polymorphism (Trp vs. Arg, OR=1.342, 95% CI: 1.176) was associated with increased risk of cervical cancer, while no significant association was found with Arg280His (His vs. Arg, OR=1.059, 95% CI: 0.863, 1.299) or Arg399Gln (Gln vs. Arg, OR=1.144, 95% CI: 0.938, 1.394). As for response to platinum- based chemotherapy, the variant XRCC1 399Gln allele (Gln vs. Arg, OR=0.345, 95% CI: 0.163, 0.729) was linked with a poor response; however, the Arg194Trp polymorphism (TrpArg vs. ArgArg, OR=6.421, 95% CI: 1.573, 26.205) predicted a good response. CONCLUSION: The Arg194Trp polymorphism of XRCC1 increases risk of cervical cancer; the variant 399Gln allele predicts poor response to platinum-based chemotherapy, while the Arg194Trp polymorphism indicates a good response.

Biliary cystadenocarcinoma diagnosed with real-time contrast-enhanced ultrasonography: report of a case with diagnostic features.

Biliary cystadenocarcinoma is a very rare malignant cystic tumor of the liver, which is often misdiagnosed due to a poor recognition of it. We report a case of a 60-year-old man with biliary cystadenocarcinoma with his real time contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) characteristics compared to those of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which were correlated with the surgical and pathologic findings. Cystic wall enhancement, internal septations and intra-cystic solid portions in the arterial phase were observed on CEUS after contrast agent injection. The enhancement was washed out progressively and depicted as hypo-enhancement in the portal and late phases. CT revealed a large irregular cystic lesion in the left liver lobe with no clear septations and solid components. MRI showed an irregular cystic occupying lesion with septations.