Preparation of degradable chemically cross-linked polylactic acid films and its application on disposable straws.

The semi-rigidity of the polylactic acid (PLA) molecular chain makes it brittle, poor impact resistance and barrier properties, which severely limits its practical applications. In this paper, a bio-based reactive plasticizer epoxy soybean oil (ESO) was used to improve the mechanical and barrier properties of maleic anhydride grafted polylactic acid (MAPLA) by the chemical reaction between the epoxy and anhydride group. Firstly, the optimum curing conditions were 93.5 °C, 100 °C, and 110.8 °C for 2 h. The effects of different mass fractions of ESO on the properties of MAPLA-ESO (ME) films were systematically investigated. It was found that when the content of ESO was 10 wt%, the tensile properties of the resulting ME films were the best, with a tensile strength of 35.2 MPa. And it had an elongation at break of 20.0 % and toughness of 5.4 MJ/m3, which increased to 690 % and 675 %, respectively, compared with pure MAPLA films. The chemically crosslinked ME films also displayed excellent water resistance, well degradation, low migration properties, and better performance than that of commercial paper straws and PLA straws, exhibiting great application potential as degradable disposable straws. Therefore, this work provides an effective way to develop high-performance, green, and degradable PLA films and products.

Serum levels of laminin and von Willebrand factor in COVID-19 survivors 6 months after discharge.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics, pulmonary diffusion function, chest computed tomography (CT), and serum lung cell damage indicators of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) survivors 6 months after discharge. METHODS: Data of COVID-19 survivors discharged from hospital between January 21, 2020 and January 11, 2021 and healthy controls were collected. Serum levels of surfactant protein D (SP-D)1, the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE)2, laminin, and von Willebrand factor (vWF) were measured in the healthy controls and COVID-19 survivors 6 months after discharge. The relationships between serum lung cell damage indicator levels and various parameters were explored. RESULTS: Fifty-two COVID-19 survivors (31 with non-severe disease and 21 with severe disease) and 30 controls were included. Serum levels of laminin in COVID-19 survivors 6 months after discharge were significantly higher than those in the controls. The increase was more significant in elderly and female patients. Serum levels of RAGE and vWF were not statistically different from those of the controls. However, 6 months after discharge, COVID-19 survivors with abnormal chest CT and those in the severe group had higher vWF levels. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 patients had abnormal lung injury indicators 6 months after discharge. The recovery time after infection is currently unknown, and long-term observation is required.

Detection and predictors of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels in COVID-19 patients at 8 months after symptom onset.

Aim: To determine SARS-CoV-2 specific IgM and IgG levels of patients with COVID-19 at 8 months after symptom onset and to explore the predictors of antibody levels. Materials & methods: The magnetic chemiluminescence method was used to measure the antibody levels. Clinical data were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Results: A total of 54 patients were enrolled in this study, of whom 59.3% were IgM positive and 96.4% were IgG positive. The multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the duration of RNA shedding, C-reactive protein level and disease severity were independent predictors of IgG levels. Conclusion: COVID-19 patients retained long-term viral-specific protective immunity. Disease severity, C-reactive protein level and duration of RNA shedding were related to antibody levels 8 months after symptom onset.

A follow-up study of respiratory and physical function after discharge in patients with redetectable positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid results following recovery from COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the respiratory and physical function of patients who retested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA during post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rehabilitation. METHODS: A total of 302 discharged COVID-19 patients were included. Discharged patients were followed up for 14 days to 6 months. The modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea scale, Borg rating of perceived exertion, and manual muscle testing (MMT) scores on day 14 and at 6 months after discharge were compared between the redetectable positive (RP) and non-RP (NRP) groups. Prognoses of respiratory and physical function were compared between patients who recovered from moderate and severe COVID-19. RESULTS: Of the study patients, 7.6% were RP. The proportion of patients who used antiviral drugs was significantly lower in the RP group than in the NRP group. There were no differences in mMRC, Borg, or MMT scores within the RP and NRP groups. The mMRC, Borg, and MMT scores were worse for patients with severe disease when compared to those with moderate disease at both follow-up time points. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 patients who did not take antiviral drugs were more likely to be RP after discharge. The recovery of respiratory and physical function was not related to re-positivity during rehabilitation, but was related to disease severity during hospitalization.

A Follow-Up Study of Lung Function and Chest Computed Tomography at 6 Months after Discharge in Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019.

We aimed to investigate changes in pulmonary function and computed tomography (CT) findings in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the recovery period. COVID-19 patients underwent symptom assessment, pulmonary function tests, and high-resolution chest CT 6 months after discharge from the hospital. Of the 54 patients enrolled, 31 and 23 were in the moderate and severe group, respectively. The main symptoms 6 months after discharge were fatigue and exertional dyspnea, experienced by 24.1% and 18.5% of patients, respectively, followed by smell and taste dysfunction (9.3%) and cough (5.6%). One patient dropped out of the pulmonary function tests. Of the remaining 54 patients, 41.5% had pulmonary dysfunction. Specifically, 7.5% presented with restrictive ventilatory dysfunction (forced vital capacity <80% of the predicted value), 18.9% presented with small airway dysfunction, and 32.1% presented with pulmonary diffusion impairment (diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide <80% of the predicted value). Of the 54 patients enrolled, six patients dropped out of the chest CT tests. Eleven of the remaining 48 patients presented with abnormal lung CT findings 6 months after discharge. Patients with residual lung lesions were more common in the severe group (52.6%) than in the moderate group (3.4%); a higher proportion of patients had involvement of both lungs (42.1% vs. 3.4%) in the severe group. The residual lung lesions were mainly ground-glass opacities (20.8%) and linear opacities (14.6%). Semiquantitative visual scoring of the CT findings revealed significantly higher scores in the left, right, and both lungs in the severe group than in the moderate group. COVID-19 patients 6 months after discharge mostly presented with fatigue and exertional dyspnea, and their pulmonary dysfunction was mostly characterized by pulmonary diffusion impairment. As revealed by chest CT, the severe group had a higher prevalence of residual lesions than the moderate group, and the residual lesions mostly manifested as ground-glass opacities and linear opacities.

FAM129A promotes invasion and proliferation by activating FAK signaling pathway in non-small cell lung cancer.

Family with sequence similarity 129, member A (FAM129A), also called Niban or C1orf24, was initially identified from a rat model of hereditary renal carcinoma. FAM129A inhibited apoptosis and promoted migration and proliferation in human cancers. However, little is known about the downstream signaling during tumor progression. Our data showed that FAM129A played an oncogenic role in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), which upregulated the protein levels of MMP2 and Cyclin D1 through activating the FAK signaling pathway. Treatment by FAK inhibitor counteracted the increase of MMP2 and Cyclin D1 expression following by FAM129A transfection through attenuating the phosphorylation of FAK. Results of immunohistochemistry revealed that the expression of FAM129A was significantly associated with larger tumor size (P=0.036), advanced TNM stage (P<0.001), and lymph node metastasis (P=0.001). Subsequent Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients with FAM129A expression presented with poorer clinical outcome (P=0.001). Taken together, our results suggested that FAM129A may promote tumor proliferation and invasion of NSCLC through facilitating the phosphorylation of FAK and upregulated MMP2 and Cyclin D1. Overexpression of FAM129A may be a prognostic predictor in NSCLC patients.

FAM129B promoted tumor invasion and proliferation via facilitating the phosphorylation of FAK signaling and associated with adverse clinical outcome of non-small cell lung cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Family with sequence similarity 129, member B (FAM129B), also called MINERVA, is upregulated and promotes tumor invasion in multiple types of cancer. However, the mechanism and clinicopathological significance of FAM129B remains unclear. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Online KM-plotter tool and immunohistochemistry were used to predict the prognostic value of FAM129B expression in lung cancer tissues. Western blotting analysis, MTT, colony formation assay and matrigel invasion assay were performed after overexpressing or depleting FAM129B. RESULTS: In this study, using the online KM-plotter tool, we found FAM129B was correlated with adverse outcome in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients (P<0.001). Immunohistochemistry results revealed that FAM129B showed negative or dim expression in normal lung tissues while presented positive cytoplasmic expression in both squamous cell lung carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma. The positive ratio of FAM129B in clinical NSCLC tissue samples (77/187, 41.2%) was significantly higher than that in normal lung tissue samples (8/68, 11.8%; P<0.001). FAM129B expression associated with advanced TNM staging (P<0.001) and positive regional lymph node metastasis (P<0.001). The results of Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested that the survival time of patients with positive FAM129B expression was significantly shorter than those with negatively FAM129B expression (P<0.001). Proliferation and invasion assay revealed that FAM129B prominently facilitated tumor proliferation and invasion in NSCLC cells. Western blotting results revealed that FAM129B upregulated the expression of MMP2 and Cyclin D1 by enhancing the phosphorylation of FAK at Tyr 397 and Tyr 925. Incorporation of FAK inhibitor in the medium significantly downregulated the phosphorylation of FAK and subsequently attenuated increasing expression of MMP2 and Cyclin D1 induced by FAM129B overexpression. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that FAM129B may be a new prognosis predictor of NSCLC patients and impact tumor invasion and proliferation of NSCLC cells through promoting the activation of FAK signaling.

TRIM22 confers poor prognosis and promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition through regulation of AKT/GSK3ß/ß-catenin signaling in non-small cell lung cancer.

Expression pattern and biological roles of TRIM22 remains unknown in most human cancers. The present study aims to discover its clinical significance and function in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Immunohistochemistry was used to examine TRIM22 expression in 126 cases of NSCLC specimens. TRIM22 protein was upregulated in 70/126 (55.6%) non-small cell lung cancer tissues compared with normal lung tissue. TRIM22 overexpression was associated with advanced TNM stage, positive nodal metastasis and poor prognosis. Plasmid and siRNA transfection were performed in lung cancer cell lines. TRIM22 overexpression promoted proliferation, colony formation and invasion in A549 cells. While its depletion exhibited the opposite effects in H1299 cell line. TRIM22 overexpression promoted cell cycle progression through regulation of cyclin D1, cyclin E and p27. TRIM22 also changed the expression of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers including E-cadherin N-cadherin, Vimentin and Snail. Furthermore, TRIM22 activated PI3K/AKT/GSK3ß/ß-catenin oncogenic signaling pathways. Treatment with PI3K inhibitor LY294002 and ß-catenin siRNA blocked the effects of TRIM22 on EMT in TRIM22-overexpressing cells. In conclusion,TRIM22 serves as an important oncoprotein and a promoter of cell proliferation and invasion through AKT/ GSK3ß/ß-catenin induced EMT in NSCLC.

Primary tracheobronchial non-Hodgkin lymphoma causing life-threatening airway obstruction: a case report.

Primary tracheobronchial non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is a rare tracheobronchial tumor that typically presents as an endobronchial mass and/or mucosal infiltration together with lymphadenopathy. Here we report a case of primary tracheobronchial NHL which was confirmed by histopathological analysis of the endobronchial biopsy specimens. We initially could not treat with chemotherapy because the life-threatening obstruction of the bilateral main bronchi caused by NHL. After interventional bronchoscopy involving cryotherapy, electrocautery and argon plasma coagulation to successfully alleviate airway obstruction, we were able to administer chemotherapy, which elicited a good response. This case illustrates that NHL should be considered in the differential diagnosis of central airway obstruction. Interventional bronchoscopy is an effective method to alleviate airway obstruction in primary tracheobronchial NHL and prepare the patient to receive tumor-specific chemotherapy and other treatments.