Leaky gut, circulating immune complexes, arthralgia, and arthritis in IBD: coincidence or inevitability?

Most host-microbiota interactions occur within the intestinal barrier, which is essential for separating the intestinal epithelium from toxins, microorganisms, and antigens in the gut lumen. Gut inflammation allows pathogenic bacteria to enter the blood stream, forming immune complexes which may deposit on organs. Despite increased circulating immune complexes (CICs) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and discussions among IBD experts regarding their potential pathogenic role in extra-intestinal manifestations, this phenomenon is overlooked because definitive evidence demonstrating CIC-induced extra-intestinal manifestations in IBD animal models is lacking. However, clinical observations of elevated CICs in newly diagnosed, untreated patients with IBD have reignited research into their potential pathogenic implications. Musculoskeletal symptoms are the most prevalent extra-intestinal IBD manifestations. CICs are pivotal in various arthritis forms, including reactive, rheumatoid, and Lyme arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Research indicates that intestinal barrier restoration during the pre-phase of arthritis could inhibit arthritis development. In the absence of animal models supporting extra-intestinal IBD manifestations, this paper aims to comprehensively explore the relationship between CICs and arthritis onset via a multifaceted analysis to offer a fresh perspective for further investigation and provide novel insights into the interplay between CICs and arthritis development in IBD.

Identification of Potential Core Genes in Parkinson's Disease Using Bioinformatics Analysis.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore new core genes related to the occurrence of Parkinson's disease (PD) and core genes that can lead to the progression of PD. METHODS: The expression profile data of GSE42966, which contained six substantia nigra tissues isolated from normal individuals and nine substantia nigra tissues isolated from patients with PD, were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, followed by functional enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction. We then identified 10 hub genes and analyzed their expression in different Braak stages. RESULTS: A total of 773 DEGs were identified that were significantly enriched in metabolic pathways. Ten hub genes were identified through the PPI network, namely, GNG3, MAPK1, FPR1, ATP5B, GNG2, PRKACA, HRAS, HSPA8, PSAP, and GABBR2. The expression of HRAS was different in patients with PD with Braak stages 3 and 4. CONCLUSION: These 10 hub genes and the metabolic pathways they are enriched in may be involved in the pathogenesis of PD. HRAS may have potential value in predicting the progression of PD.

Bio-inspired multimodal 3D endoscope for image-guided and robotic surgery.

Image-guided and robotic surgery based on endoscopic imaging technologies can enhance cancer treatment by ideally removing all cancerous tissue and avoiding iatrogenic damage to healthy tissue. Surgeons evaluate the tumor margins at the cost of impeding surgical workflow or working with dimmed surgical illumination, since current endoscopic imaging systems cannot simultaneous and real-time color and near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging under normal surgical illumination. To overcome this problem, a bio-inspired multimodal 3D endoscope combining the excellent characteristics of human eyes and compound eyes of mantis shrimp is proposed. This 3D endoscope, which achieves simultaneous and real-time imaging of three-dimensional stereoscopic, color, and NIR fluorescence, consists of three parts: a broad-band binocular optical system like as human eye, an optical relay system, and a multiband sensor inspired by the mantis shrimp's compound eye. By introducing an optical relay system, the two sub-images after the broad-band binocular optical system can be projected onto one and the same multiband sensor. A series of experiments demonstrate that this bio-inspired multimodal 3D endoscope not only provides surgeons with real-time feedback on the location of tumor tissue and lymph nodes but also creates an immersive experience for surgeons without impeding surgical workflow. Its excellent characteristics and good scalability can promote the further development and application of image-guided and robotic surgery.

Transcriptome Analysis of lncRNA-mRNA Interactions in Chronic Atrophic Gastritis.

The aim of this study was to identify prognosis-related differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs in chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). By analysis of high-throughput whole-transcriptome sequencing data, the levels of lncRNAs and mRNAs between CAG and chronic non-atrophic gastritis were compared pairwisely. In total, 97,282 lncRNA transcripts and 20,307 mRNA transcripts were acquired, including 50 upregulated and 66 downregulated lncRNAs and 377 upregulated and 763 downregulated mRNAs in CAG (p < 0.05, fold change ≥ 2). Moreover, the interactions of the differentially expressed genes in CAG were investigated by gene ontology enrichment analysis, showing that the enriched genes are involved in many biological processes, such as MAP kinase activity, heat generation, and protein modification processes. Through the construction of co-expression networks of the differentially expressed genes in CAG, three critical lncRNAs nodes were identified as potential key factors in CAG. Eight mRNAs common in both the co-expression network and the protein-protein interaction network were selected via Venn analysis, including DGKA, EIF6, HKDC1, DHRS11, 1, KRT15, TESPA1, and CDHR2. Finally, the expression levels of five differentially expressed lncRNAs in CAG were confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. In conclusion, this study presents novel promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of CAG.

Use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction in the last 10 years: A Scopus-based literature analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To identify global research trends in the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction. DATA RETRIEVAL: We performed a bibliometric analysis of studies on the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction published during 2002-2011, retrieved from Scopus, using the key words of acupuncture and cerebral infarction or ischemic stroke. INCLUSION CRITERIA: peer-reviewed articles on the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction indexed in Scopus and published between 2002 and 2011; types of publications were original research articles, reviews, meeting abstracts, proceedings papers, book chapters, editorial material, and news items. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: articles that required manual searching or telephone access; documents that were not published in the public domain; and corrected papers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (a) Annual publication output; (b) language of publication; (c) type of publication; (d) key words of publication; (e) publication by research field; (f) publication by journal; (g) publication by country and institution; (h) publication by author; (i) most-cited papers between 2002 and 2006; and (j) most-cited papers between 2007 and 2011. RESULTS: A total of 160 publications on the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction from 2002-2011 were retrieved from Scopus. The number of publications increased gradually over the 10-year study period; most were written in Chinese or English. Articles and reviews constituted the major types. The most frequent key word used was acupuncture. The most prolific journals in this area were Zhongguo Zhen Jiu and the Chinese Journal of Clinical Rehabilitation. Of the 160 publications retrieved, half came from Chinese authors and institutions. Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine was the most prolific research institute. Two papers were cited 30 times; they were published in 2002 and 2009, respectively. CONCLUSION: In the field of neuroscience, there is little literature on acupuncture for cerebral infarction. The most-cited papers were cited 30 times in the past 3 years. We believe that, with advances in the study of mechanisms in neurobiology, research on acupuncture will also advance and will become the concern of more scholars.

[Analysis on the clinical characteristics and related risk factors of patients with hemorrhagic transformation after cerebral infarction].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze and summarize the clinical characteristics and risk factors for patients with hemorrhagic transformation (HT) after cerebral infarction to provide guidance for its clinical treatment and prevention. METHODS: In this study, data from 49 hospitalized patients with HT in the First Department of Neurology, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University from October 2009 to March 2012, were reviewed retrospectively and 106 cases with acute cerebral infarction only during the same period, were chosen randomly as controls. Gender and age of the patients were comparable. Relevant information was collected. SPSS 17.0 statistical package was applied for data processing. Qualitative data were processed with χ(2) test, and measurable data was processed with t-test. Each index was analyzed with uni-variate analysis while statistically significant risk factors were included in the logistic review model to conduct the multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: (1) Clinical symptoms deteriorating after hemorrhage in 21 cases accounted for 42.9% of the HT group, among which the cases on degree of disturbance to consciousness had an aggravation in 8 cases and hemiplegia increase in another 7 cases. Headaches and dizziness were found in 5 cases. (2) Number of infarction within 15 days after the occurrence of HT accounted for 87.0%. (3) HT-related factors increased the risk of HT in cerebral infarction such as cortical infarction, large area of infarction, atrial fibrillation, cerebral embolism, diabetes and high level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P < 0.05). The most important factors were atrial fibrillation and cerebral embolism. (4) PH-2 seemed more unlikely to link with clinical symptoms than other subtypes of HT. CONCLUSION: Cerebral infarction after occlusion of the main artery trunk was prone to HT, especially when it appeared within 15 days. Short-term prognosis seemed to be related to the subtypes of HT, with risk factors as cortical infarct, massive cerebral infarction, atrial fibrillation, cerebral embolism, diabetes, high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol etc. on HT.