Comparative analysis of two digestive tract reconstruction methods in total laparoscopic radical total gastrectomy.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of gastric cancer has significantly increased in recent years. Surgical resection is the main treatment, but the method of digestive tract reconstruction after gastric cancer surgery remains controversial. In the current study, we sought to explore a reasonable method of digestive tract reconstruction and improve the quality of life and nutritional status of patients after surgery. To this end, we statistically analyzed the clinical results of patients with gastric cancer who underwent jejunal interposition double-tract reconstruction (DTR) and esophageal jejunum Roux-en-Y reconstruction (RY). AIM: To explore the application effect of DTR in total laparoscopic radical total gastrectomy (TLTG) and evaluate its safety and efficacy. METHODS: We collected the relevant data of 77 patients who underwent TLTG at the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from October 2021 to January 2023. Among them, 35 cases were treated with DTR, and the remaining 42 cases were treated with traditional RY. After 1:1 propensity score matching, the cases were grouped into 31 cases per group, with evenly distributed data. The clinical characteristics and short- and long-term clinical outcomes of the two groups were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The two groups showed no significant differences in basic data, intraoperative blood loss, number of lymph node dissections, first defecation time after operation, postoperative hospital stay, postoperative complications, and laboratory examination results on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th days after operation. The operation time of the DTR group was longer than that of the RY group [(307.58 ± 65.14) min vs (272.45 ± 62.09) min, P = 0.016], but the first intake of liquid food in the DTR group was shorter than that in the RY group [(4.45 ± 1.18) d vs (6.0 ± 5.18) d, P = 0.028]. The incidence of reflux heartburn (Visick grade) and postoperative gallbladder disease in the DTR group was lower than that in the RY group (P = 0.033 and P = 0.038). Although there was no significant difference in body weight, hemoglobin, prealbumin, and albumin between the two groups at 1,3 and 6 months after surgery, the diet of patients in the DTR group was better than that in the RY group (P = 0.031). CONCLUSION: The clinical effect of DTR in TLTG is better than that of RY, indicating that it is a more valuable digestive tract reconstruction method in laparoscopic gastric cancer surgery.

Characteristics of tunable aluminum-doped Ga2O3thin films and photodetectors.

Aluminum-doped Ga2O3(AGO) thin films were prepared by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD). The growth mechanism, surface morphology, chemical composition, and optical properties of AGO films were systematically investigated. The bandgap of AGO films can be theoretically set between 4.65 and 6.8 eV. Based on typical AGO films, metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors (PDs) were created, and their photoelectric response was examined. The preliminary results show that PE-ALD grown AGO films have high quality and tunable bandgap, and AGO PDs possess superior characterizations to undoped films. The AGO realized using PE-ALD is expected to be an important route for the development of a new generation of gallium oxide-based photodetectors into the deep-ultraviolet.

[Sc©[3]CPP]+: A Viable Metal-Centered [3]Cycloparaphenylene.

[n]Cycloparaphenylenes ([n]CPPs, n denotes the number of phenyl groups) are difficult to synthesize because of the strain related to their bent phenyl rings. In particular, the strain in [3]CPP is high enough to destroy the π electron delocalization, leading to the spontaneous structural transition to an energetically more stable "bond-shift" (BS) isomer ([3]BS). In this contribution, we propose to achieve [3]CPP by enhancing the π electron delocalization through hosting a guest metal atom. Our computations revealed that Sc could stabilize [3]CPP by forming the [Sc©[3]CPP]+ complex through the favorable π-Sc donation-backdonation interactions. Thermodynamically, the binding energy between the Sc atom and [3]CPP was -205.7 kcal/mol, which could well compensate not only the energy difference of 44.2 kcal/mol between [3]CPP and [3]BS but also the extremely high strain energy of 170.3 kcal/mol in [3]CPP. Simultaneously, the [Sc©[3]CPP]+ complex is stable up to 1500 K in dynamic simulations, suggesting its high viability in the synthesis.

Clinical implications of micro lymph node metastasis for patients with gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Lymph node size is considered as a criterion for possible lymph node metastasis in imageology. Micro lymph nodes are easily overlooked by surgeons and pathologists. This study investigated the influencing factors and prognosis of micro lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer. METHODS: 191 eligible gastric cancer patients who underwent D2 lymphadenectomy from June 2016 to June 2017 in the Third Surgery Department at the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University were retrospectively analyzed. Specimens were resected en bloc and the postoperative retrieval of micro lymph nodes was carried out by the operating surgeon for each lymph node station. Micro lymph nodes were submitted for pathological examination separately. According to the results of pathological results, patients were divided into the "micro-LNM (micro lymph node metastasis)" group (N = 85) and the "non micro-LNM" group (N = 106). RESULTS: The total number of lymph nodes retrieved was 10,954, of which 2998 (27.37%) were micro lymph nodes. A total of 85 (44.50%) gastric cancer patients had been proven to have micro lymph node metastasis. The mean number of micro lymph nodes retrieved was 15.7. The rate of micro lymph node metastasis was 8.1% (242/2998). Undifferentiated carcinoma (90.6% vs. 56.6%, P = 0.034) and more advanced Pathological N category (P < 0.001) were significantly related to micro lymph node metastasis. The patients with micro lymph node metastasis had a poor prognosis (HR for OS of 2.199, 95% CI = 1.335-3.622, P = 0.002). For the stage III patients, micro lymph node metastasis was associated with shorter 5-year OS (15.6% vs. 43.6%, P = 0.0004). CONCLUSIONS: Micro lymph node metastasis is an independent risk factor for poor prognosis in gastric cancer patients. Micro lymph node metastasis appears to be a supplement to N category in order to obtain more accurate pathological staging.

Study of an Ultrasensitive Label-Free Electrochemiluminescent Immunosensor Fabricated with a Composite Electrode for Detecting the Glutamate Decarboxylase Antibody.

Antibody testing for the glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 antibody (GADA) is widely used as a golden standard for autoimmune diabetes diagnosis, while current methods for antibody testing are not sensitive enough for clinical usage. Here, a label-free electrochemiluminescent (ECL) immunosensor for detecting GADA in autoimmune diabetes is fabricated and investigated. In the designed immunosensor, a composite film including the multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), zinc oxide (ZnO), and Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) was prepared through nanofabrication processes to improve the performance of sensor. The MWCNTs, which can provide a larger specific surface area, ZnO as a good photocatalytic material, and AuNPs that can enhance the ECL signal of luminol and immobilize the GAD65 antigen were applied to prefunctionalize indium tin oxide (ITO) glass based on a nanofabrication process. The GADA concentration was detected using the ECL immunosensor after incubating with GAD65 antigen-coated prefunctionalized ITO glass. After a direct immunoreaction, it is found that the degree of decreased ECL intensity has a good linear regression toward the logarithm of the GADA concentration in the range of 0.01 to 50 ng mL-1 with a detection limit down to 10 pg mL-1. Human serum samples positive or negative for GADA all nicely fell in the expected area. The fabricated immunosensor with excellent sensitivity, specificity, and stability has potential capability for clinical usage in GADA detection.

Sappanone A Aggrandises Ionising Radiation-induced Damage in Oral Epithelial Cells.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the role played by Sappanone A, a bioactive ingredient isolated from the heartwood of Caesalpinia sappan, in the regulation of oral epithelial cell viability under radiation. METHODS: Cell viability of human oral keratinocytes (HOKs) and mouse salivary gland cells under ionising radiation was analysed. Expression of Ki67 was measured by immunohistochemical staining. Fragmentation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was measured by comet assay. Cell death was analysed using trypan blue exclusion assay. Cell viability was measured using a Cell Counting Kit 8 (CCK8; Abcam, Cambridge, UK) assay. RESULTS: Sappanone A decreased cell viability of HOK cells and mouse salivary gland cells under ionising radiation. In addition, Sappanone A enhanced radiation-induced genomic DNA fragmentation, accompanied by impaired homologous recombination and non-homologous end joining DNA repair. Mechanistic evaluation revealed that Sappanone A counteracted radiation-induced inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase 2 (IMPDH2) activation, and that this effect could be abolished by reconstituted expression of a Sappanone A-binding defective IMPDH2 mutant. CONCLUSION: The present study highlights a novel role played by Sappanone A in the modulation of radiosensitivity of oral epithelial cells.

Recent advances in the development of transplanted colorectal cancer mouse models.

Despite progress in prevention and treatment, colorectal cancer (CRC) remains the third most common malignancy worldwide and the second most common cause of cancer death in 2020. To evaluate various characteristics of human CRC, a variety of mouse models have been established. Transplant mouse models have distinct advantages in studying the clinical behavior and therapeutic progress of CRC. Host, xenograft, and transplantation routes are the basis of transplant mouse models. As the effects of the tumor microenvironment and the systemic environment on cancer cells are gradually revealed, 3 key elements of transplanted CRC mouse models have been revolutionized. This has led to the development of humanized mice, patient-derived xenografts, and orthotopic transplants that reflect the human systemic environment, patient's tumor of origin, and tumor growth microenvironments in immunodeficient mice, respectively. These milestone events have allowed for great progress in tumor biology and the treatment of CRC. This article reviews the evolution of these events and points out their strengths and weaknesses as innovative and useful preclinical tools to study CRC progression and metastasis and to exploit novel treatment schedules by establishing a testing platform. This review article depicts the optimal transplanted CRC mouse models and emphasizes the significance of surgical models in the study of CRC behavior and treatment response.

A Heterostructured Graphene Quantum Dots/ß-Ga2O3 Solar-Blind Photodetector with Enhanced Photoresponsivity.

The superior optical and electronic characteristics of quasi-two-dimensional ß-Ga2O3 make it suitable for solar-blind (200-280 nm) photodetectors (PDs). The metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) PDs commonly suffer from low photoresponsivity, slow response speed, and a narrow detection wavelength range despite their simple fabrication process. Herein, we report a high-performance MSM PD by integrating exfoliated ß-Ga2O3 flakes with zero-dimensional graphene quantum dots (GQDs), which exhibits the advantages of enhancing the photoresponsivity, shortening the photoresponse time, and stimulating a broad range of photon detection. The hybrid GQDs/ß-Ga2O3 heterostructure PD is sensitive to deep-ultraviolet (DUV) light (250 nm) with an ultrahigh responsivity (R of ∼2.4 × 105 A/W), a large detectivity (D* of ∼4.3 × 1013 Jones), an excellent external quantum efficiency (EQE of ∼1.2 × 108%), and a fast photoresponse (150 ms), which is superior to the bare ß-Ga2O3 PD. These improvements result from effective charge transfer due to the introduction of GQDs, which enhance the light absorption and the generation of electron-hole pairs. In addition, the hybrid GQDs/ß-Ga2O3 PD also exhibits better photoelectric performance than the bare ß-Ga2O3 PD at a 1000 nm wavelength. As a conclusion, the hybrid GQDs/ß-Ga2O3 DUV photodetector shows potential applications in commercial optoelectronic products and provides an alternative solution for the design and preparation of high-performance photodetectors.

Expression profile and prognostic significance of HOXB13 in rectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the expression pattern and prognostic significance of HOXB13 in rectal cancer. METHODS: HOXB13 expression in rectal cancer and normal adjacent tissues was detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry, and its clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis were statistically tested. Furthermore, we evaluated the association between tumor immune infiltrating cells and HOXB13 using the tumor immune estimation resource (TIMER) database. The potential biological mechanism associated with HOXB13 overexpression was investigated by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). RESULTS: The expression of HOXB13 messenger RNA and protein in human rectal cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in the normal adjacent tissues (P < 0.05). HOXB13 expression was significantly correlated with depth of invasion, lymphatic invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and pathological tumor node metastasis stage (P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival curves confirmed that HOXB13 overexpression was correlated negatively with overall survival and disease-free survival in rectal cancer (P < 0.05). Also, multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that HOXB13 expression, age, and lymphatic invasion were independent prognostic factors in rectal cancer (P < 0.05). Plus, the results from the TIMER database indicated that HOXB13 expression has a significant association with several immune cell infiltrates. Finally, the GSEA results indicated that HOXB13 participated in the various immune-associated processes, including natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity and the T-cell receptor signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: Our study showed an essential role of HOXB13 in rectal cancer immunity and prognosis. Significantly, the overexpression of HOXB13 leads to the worse prognosis for patients with rectal cancer, which will contribute to understanding molecular mechanisms associated with tumor pathogenesis and prognosis in this disease.

Investigation of stretchable strain sensor based on CNT/AgNW applied in smart wearable devices.

Stretchable strain sensor, an important paradigm of wearable sensor which can be attached onto clothing or even human skin, is widely used in healthcare, human motion monitoring and human-machine interaction. Pattern-available and facile manufacturing process for strain sensor is pursued all the time. A carbon nanotube (CNT)/silver nanowire (AgNW)-based stretchable strain sensor fabricated by a facile process is reported here. The strain sensor exhibits a considerable Gauge factor of 6.7, long-term durability (>1000 stretching cycles), fast response and recovery (420 ms and 600 ms, respectively), hence the sensor can fulfill the measurement of finger movement. Accordingly, a smart glove comprising a sensor array and a flexible printed circuit board is assembled to detect the bending movement of five fingers simultaneously. Moreover, the glove is wireless and basically fully flexible, it can detect the finger bending of wearer and display the responses distinctly on an APP of a smart phone or a host computer. Our strain senor and smart glove will broaden the materials and applications of wearable sensors.

A Fully Flexible Intelligent Thermal Touch Panel Based on Intrinsically Plastic Ag2 S Semiconductor.

Wearable touch panels, a typical flexible electronic device, can recognize and feed back the information of finger touch and movement. Excellent wearable touch panels are required to accurately and quickly monitor the signals of finger movement as well as the capacity of bearing various types of deformation. High-performance thermistor materials are one of the key functional components, but to date, a long-standing bottleneck is that inorganic semiconductors are typically brittle while the electrical properties of organic semiconductors are quite low. Herein, a high-performance flexible temperature sensor is reported by using plastic Ag2 S with ultrahigh temperature coefficient of resistance of -4.7% K-1 and resolution of 0.05 K, and rapid response/recovery time of 0.11/0.11 s. Moreover, the temperature sensor shows excellent durability without performance damage or loss during force stimuli tests. In addition, a fully flexible intelligent touch panel composed of a 16 × 10 Ag2 S-film-based temperature sensor array, as well as a flexible printed circuit board and a deep-learning algorithm is designed for perceiving finger touch signals in real-time, and intelligent feedback of Chinese characters and letters on an app. These results strongly show that high-performance flexible inorganic semiconductors can be widely used in flexible electronics.

TMPRSS4 overexpression promotes the metastasis of colorectal cancer and predicts poor prognosis of stage III-IV colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: To study in detail the expression pattern and prognostic significance of TMPRSS4 in colorectal cancer. METHODS: The expression of TMPRSS4 protein was determined using Western blot in the colorectal cancer tissues and normal tissues. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the TMPRSS4 expression in colorectal cancer tissues, and the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognostic significance were analyzed. RESULTS: TMPRSS4 overexpression was associated with tumor budding, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, cancerous emboli, infiltration depth, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and tumor node metastasis stage (P < 0.05 for all). Interestingly, TMPRSS4 expression in the tumor budding, tumor emboli, lymph node, and liver metastatic tumor samples was higher than in the paired primary tumors. In contrast, TMPRSS4 overexpression is inversely correlated with both the overall survival and the disease-free survival of the patients with colorectal cancer (P < 0.05 for both). Also, we found that TMPRSS4 is only of significance in predicting the prognosis of stage III and IV colorectal cancer, not stage I and II. CONCLUSIONS: TMPRSS4 was shown to be involved in the whole process of metastasis from tumor budding to lymph node and/or distant metastasis in colorectal cancer and predicted the unfavorable prognosis of stage III-IV, indicating that it is a novel target for the precise treatment of colorectal cancer with lymph node or distant organ metastasis.

Hollow MXene Sphere-Based Flexible E-Skin for Multiplex Tactile Detection.

Skin-like electronics that can provide comprehensively tactile sensing is required for applications such as soft robotics, health monitoring, medical treatment, and human-machine interfaces. In particular, the capacity to monitor the contact parameters such as the magnitude, direction, and contact location of external forces is crucial for skin-like tactile sensing devices. Herein, a flexible electronic skin which can measure and discriminate the contact parameters in real time is designed. It is fabricated by integrating the three-dimensional (3D) hollow MXene spheres/Ag NW hybrid nanocomposite-based embedded stretchable electrodes and T-ZnOw/PDMS film-based capacitive pressure sensors. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first stretchable electrode to utilize the 3D hollow MXene spheres with the essential characteristic, which can effectively avoid the drawbacks of stress concentration and shedding of the conductive layer. The strain-resistance module and the pressure-capacitance module show the excellent sensing performance in stability and response time, respectively. Moreover, a 6 × 6 sensor array is used as a demonstration to prove that it can realize the multiplex detection of random external force stimuli without mutual interference, illustrating its potential applications in biomimetic soft wearable devices, object recognition, and robotic manipulation.

Up-regulation of KLF17 expression increases the sensitivity of gastric cancer to 5-fluorouracil.

It has been reported that the expression of Krüppel-like factor 17 (KLF17) was associated with the occurrence, development, invasion, metastasis and chemotherapy resistance of various tumors. However, the detailed mechanisms by which KLF17 promotes chemotherapy resistance in gastric cancer (GC) have not been fully investigated. In the present study, we collected the GC tissues and non-tumor tissues (matched adjacent normal tissues with corresponding GC tissues) of 60 GC patients, used qRT-PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry assay to analyze the relationship between the expression of KLF17 and the clinical pathological data of the patients. The effect of KLF17 on the sensitivity of GC cell lines to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and the potential mechanism were detected by MTS assay, Flow cytometry assay, and Western blot. Compared with non-tumor tissues, the expression level of KLF17 in GC tissue was significantly down-regulated, and the expression level of KLF17 in GES-1 cell line and GC cell lines also had a similar trend. Down-regulated expression of KLF17 is related to tumor size, invasion, regional lymph node metastasis, and TNM staging. Furthermore, through upregulating the expression of KLF17, the sensitivity of BGC-823 and SGC-7901 cell lines to 5-FU was obviously increased. Mechanistically, upregulation the expression of KLF17 can inhibit the expressions of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1), and B-Cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2), which have been reported to be associated with drug resistance and cell proliferation. Collectively, these data implied that KLF17 has the biological effect of inhibiting chemotherapy resistance of GC, and it could be a potential strategy for the GC chemotherapy resistance.

Spider Web-like Flexible Tactile Sensor for Pressure-Strain Simultaneous Detection.

Multiparameter integrated sensors are required for the next generation of flexible wearable electronics. However, mutual interference between detected signals is a technical bottleneck for a flexible tactile sensor to realize pressure-strain monitoring simultaneously and sensitively. Herein, a flexible dual-parameter pressure-strain sensor based on the three-dimensional (3D) tubular graphene sponge (TGS) and spider web-like stretchable electrodes is designed and fabricated. As the pressure-sensitive module, the unique 3D-TGS with an uninterrupted network of tubular graphene and high graphitic degree demonstrates great robust compressibility, supporting compression to ∼20% without shape collapse. The spider web-like stretchable electrodes as the strain-sensitive module are fabricated by a spray-embedded process based on the hierarchical multiscale hybrid nanocomposite of Ag nanowires (NWs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with an optimal mass ratio. By comparing the output signals of spider web-like flexible electrodes, the magnitude and direction of the applied force can be effectively monitored simultaneously. Moreover, the potential applications of the flexible dual-parameter pressure-strain device in human-machine interaction are also explored, showing great promise in artificial intelligence and wearable systems.

Sophocarpine can enhance the inhibiting effect of oxaliplatin on colon cancer liver metastasis-in vitro and in vivo.

To determine whether sophocarpine (SC) can enhance the inhibiting effect of oxaliplatin on colorectal cancer (CRC) liver metastasis (CRCLM)-in vitro and in vivo. The inhibitory effect of SC and/or oxaliplatin on the proliferation, invasion, and migration of CRC cells was determined by CCK-8, MTT, wound healing migration, and transwell assay. Western blot and immunohistochemistry were used to evaluate the inhibitory effect of SC and/or oxaliplatin on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. Nude mouse models of human CRCLM were established to test the anti-metastasis effect of SC and oxaliplatin in the single or combined form. SC exerted an inhibitory effect on the proliferation, invasion, and migration of CRC cells both in vitro and in vivo. The combination index of SC and oxaliplatin was 0.58. In addition, the inhibitory effect of SC in combination with oxaliplatin was found to be significantly stronger compared with that mediated by either SC or oxaliplatin alone, suggesting that SC can effectively enhance the inhibitory effect of oxaliplatin on CRCLM both in vitro and in vivo. SC was also revealed to reverse EMT process in cell lines and tissues, as reflected by the observed downregulation of N-cadherin and vimentin expression and the upregulation of E-cadherin expression. Taken together, data from the present study suggest that SC administration can inhibit CRC cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and EMT, while enhancing the inhibitory effects of oxaliplatin both in vitro and in vivo. These findings indicate (that) SC to be a promising anti-metastasis agent for CRCLM.