Association Between Diet-Related Inflammation and COPD: Findings From NHANES III.

Background and Aims: Little is known about diet-related inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this study, we aimed to explore the association between COPD and dietary inflammatory index (DII) scores in adults over 40 years old. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2013 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In the present study, 9,929 participants were included and analyzed. The DII score was calculated and divided into tertiles. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the odds ratios of DII tertiles. Results: Participants were categorized into COPD (565, 5.69%) and non-COPD groups (9,364, 94.31%) according to interview information. COPD individuals had higher DII scores than non-COPD individuals (0.429 ± 1.809 vs. -0.191 ± 1.791, p < 0.001). The highest DII score tertile included 46.55% of COPD individuals was associated with lower family incomes and education and a higher smoking rate (p < 0.01). The odds ratios (95% CIs) of COPD according to logistic regression were 0.709 (0.512-0.982) for T1 and 0.645 (0.475-0.877) for T2 of the DII score (p = 0.011). Conclusion: Higher DII scores were positively correlated with COPD in participants over 40 years old. These results further support that diet can be used as an intervention strategy for COPD management.

Role of rgsA in Oxidative Stress Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common opportunistic pathogen that causes infections in vulnerable patients including those with metabolic disorders, hematologic diseases, and malignancies, and in those who have undergone surgery. In addition, P. aeruginosa exhibits high intrinsic resistance to numerous antibiotics and tends to form biofilms rendering it even more refractory to treatment. Among the mechanisms used by P. aeruginosa to adapt to environmental stresses are those involving small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs), which are 40-500 nucleotides long and are ubiquitous in bacteria. sRNAs play important regulatory roles in various vital processes in diverse bacteria, with their quantity and diversity of regulatory functions exceeding those of proteins. In this study, we show that deletion of the sRNA, rgsA, decreased the growth rate of P. aeruginosa. Furthermore, ΔrgsA P. aeruginosa exhibited decreased ability to resist the stress induced by exposure to different concentrations and durations of peroxides in both planktonic and biofilm growth modes compared with the wild-type strain. These results highlight the role of rgsA in the defense of P. aeruginosa against oxidative stress.

[Retracted] MicroRNA­21 increases cell viability and suppresses cellular apoptosis in non­small cell lung cancer by regulating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Following the publication of this paper, the authors have contacted the Editorial Office to request that their article be retracted. The reason for this retraction is an inability to be able to replicate certain of their previous results, and also disagreements among the authors as to the interpretation of some of the data. Following further discussion, all authors and the Editor of Molecular Medicine Reports are in agreement that the paper should be retracted; moreover, the authors apologize to the readership for any inconvenience caused. [the original article was published in Molecular Medicine Reports 16: 6506­6511, 2017; DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2017.7440].

MicroRNA­21 increases cell viability and suppresses cellular apoptosis in non­small cell lung cancer by regulating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

MicroRNA (miRNA/miR), a type of non­coding RNA molecule, is able to inhibit the expression of target genes at multiple stagess. There are 800­1,000 known miRNAs in the human genome, which serve important roles in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and migration. Previous studies have demonstrated that the expression of miR­21 is upregulated in numerous types of malignant tumor, and that miR­21 participates in the occurrence and development of tumors via complex regulatory mechanisms. The present study aimed to investigate the association between miR­21 expression, cell viability and apoptosis in a lung cancer cell line, and to elucidate the potential mechanisms. miR­21 or small interfering RNA against miR­21 were transfected into A549 non­small cell lung cancer cells. The mRNA expression of miR­21 was confirmed. Cell viability and apoptosis were examined using MTT and flow cytometric assays, respectively. The expression of certain apoptosis­associated proteins was detected by western blotting. The results of the present study demonstrated that miR­21 was able to increase the proliferation of A549 cells by inhibiting cellular apoptosis. miR­21 inhibited apoptosis by modulating the activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3­kinase/Rac­α serine/threonine protein kinase (Akt) pathway in A549 cells. Correspondingly, inhibition of Akt decreased the apoptosis of A549 cells in miR­21 siRNA­treated cells. Therefore, the results of the present study demonstrated that miR­21 increased cell viability by inhibiting apoptosis, through regulation of Akt activation. The present study demonstrated that miR­21 may be involved in the progression of lung cancer and may be a novel therapeutic target for the disease.

Heptaplex PCR melting curve analysis for rapid detection of plasmid-mediated AmpC ß-lactamase genes.

Antimicrobial resistance mediated by plasmid-borne AmpC ß-lactamase in Gram-negative bacteria is an emerging event of significant clinical importance. Rapid and reliable detection of ampC is in urgent need for appropriate infection control. We described the development and evaluation of a heptaplex PCR melting curve analysis that could identify six groups of ampC, i.e., CIT, EBC, DHA, ACC, MOX and FOX, through predefined melting temperatures. The entire analysis could be finished within 2h for 96 samples after template DNA was prepared. We first evaluated the assay with 176 AmpC-producing isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and the results showed that 36 isolates were positive for ampC, including 18 positive for DHA, 12 for CIT, 5 for EBC, and one for both DHA and EBC. These results were fully concordant with sequencing analysis whereas the comparison method, an electrophoresis-based singleplex PCR assay, missed four isolates. The assay was also used to analyze 429 randomly selected clinically relevant Gram-negative isolates involving 22 different species, and 34 isolates were found to be ampC-positive. The results again fully agreed with the sequencing analysis. We conclude that the established assay could be used for rapid and reliable detection of ampC.