Sodium Butyrate Reduces Organ Injuries in Mice with Severe Acute Pancreatitis Through Inhibiting HMGB1 Expression.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of sodium butyrate on pancreas damage and to investigate the role of high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in the development of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in a mouse model. METHODS: The SAP model was established by intraperitoneal injection of two doses of 20 % L-2 arginine (200 mg/g). Female Sprague-Dawley mice were randomly allocated into three groups (n = 48/group): the control, untreated SAP, and sodium butyrate-treated SAP groups. The animals were euthanized at 0, 12, 24, and 48 h after the establishment of the SAP. Histopathology of the pancreas was performed, and the NF-κB levels were determined by immunohistochemistry. The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNFα), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and HMGB1 were measured by ELISA. The HMGB1 mRNA levels were determined by qRT-PCR. RESULTS: The sodium butyrate-treated SAP animals showed significantly improved pancreas histopathology and lower serum amylase levels than the untreated SAP animals. In the SAP group, the mRNA levels of HMGB1 were remarkably increased at the 12 h, peaked at 24 h, and remained at a high level up to 48 h after L-2 arginine injection. The levels of TNFα and IL-6 were decreased at 48 h. Treatment with sodium butyrate reduced the pathological lesions, the serum levels of HMGB1, TNFα, and IL-6, the HMGB1 mRNA levels, and NF-κB activity. CONCLUSION: Sodium butyrate inhibits the NF-κB activation and reduces pancreas injury in SAP through the modulation of HMGB1 and other inflammatory cytokine responses.

Formin protein FMNL1 is a biomarker for tumor-infiltrating immune cells and associated with well immunotherapeutic response.

Background: Increased studies on the basis of bulk RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data of cancer identify numbers of immune-related genes which may play potential regulatory roles in the tumor microenvironment (TME) without in-depth validation. Methods: In the current study, the immunological correlation and cell subpopulation expression pattern of FMNL1 were analyzed using public data. In addition, the cell subpopulation expression pattern of FMNL1 was also deeply validated using single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) and multiplexed quantitative immunofluorescence (mQIF). Results: Bulk FMNL1 mRNA was related to better prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and was able to identify immuno-hot tumor in not only HCC but also multiple cancer types. Bulk FMNL1 mRNA also predicted the response to immunotherapy in multiple cancers. Further validation using scRNA-seq and mQIF revealed that FMNL1 was a biomarker for immune cells. Conclusions: FMNL1 is a biomarker for immune cells in not only hepatocellular carcinoma, but also multiple cancer types. Moreover, immune infiltration analysis using the bulk RNA-seq data would be further validated using scRNA-seq and/or mQIF to describe the cell subpopulation expression pattern in tumor tissues for more in-depth and appropriate understanding.

Biodegradation of crude oil by Chelatococcus daeguensis HB-4 and its potential for microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) in heavy oil reservoirs.

Biodegradation of crude heavy oil was investigated with Chelatococcus daeguensis HB-4 that was isolated from the produced fluid of Baolige Oilfield in China. Batch growth characterization and crude oil degradation tests confirmed HB-4 to be facultative anaerobic and able to degrade heavy oil. The oil degradation was found to occur through degrading long hydrocarbons chains to shorter ones, resulting in oil viscosity reduction. By mixing crude oil with glucose, or using sole crude oil as carbon source, the content of light fractions (C8-C22) increased by 4.97% while heavy fractions (C23-C37) decreased by 7.98%. It was also found that bioemulsifiers were produced rather than commonly observed biosurfactants in the fermentation process, which was attributed to the extracellular degradation of hydrocarbons. Core flooding tests demonstrated 20.5% oil recovery by microbial enhancement, and 59.8% viscosity reduction, showing potential of strain HB-4 for application in the oil industry, especially in enhanced heavy oil recovery.

High efficiency and fast separation of active proteins by HIC chromatographic pie with sub-2 µm polymer packings.

This paper reports the development of hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) by synthesizing sub-2 µm polymer packings which was packed into a chromatographic pie for fast separation of native proteins at low pressures demonstrating high efficiency. Using styrene as monomer and ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA)as swelling agent, the polystyrene seeds with an average particle size of 0.8 µm and monodisperse polymeric microspheres with a particle size of 1.5-5.0 µm were synthesized through dispersion polymerization and one-step swelling method, respectively. In order to separate active proteins, the microspheres were modified to hydrophobic chromatographic packings through covalent bonding with benzene methanol. Compared with the traditional column chromatography, the sub-2 µm polymer packings in chromatographic pie exhibited higher column efficiency for protein separation at lower column pressures, even at higher flow rates. The van Deemter curve showed that the flow rate had insignificant effect on column efficiency of chromatographic pie. Seven example proteins were clearly separated within 3 min at a flow rate of 10 mL/min. The applicability of this method was further demonstrated by the separation of human serum samples. The results indicated that this chromatographic mode can be potentially applied for the fast separation of complex active proteins, such as protein drugs from natural products.

Risk factors for depth of infiltration in the differentiated depressed early gastric carcinoma: a preliminary analysis.

BACKGROUND: To analyze the clinicopathologic factors associated with mucosal and submucosal infiltration in differentiated depressed early gastric cancer, and screening factors that can predict depth of infiltration before endoscopic treatment. METHODS: The study included 35 cases of mucosal carcinomas and 66 cases of submucosal carcinomas according to the pathological diagnosis. The relevant clinicopathologic factors were investigated by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The average depth of the depressed lesions for the submucosal group was significantly more than that for the mucosal group. The proportion of the lesions with rough bottom surface and abnormal surrounding folds was significantly higher in the submucosal group compared to that in the mucosal group. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the above-mentioned three factors were independent risk factors that could be used to predict mucosal and submucosal infiltration. Area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of the ordinal above-mentioned three factors for predicting submucosal infiltration was 0.716, 0.663, 0.704, respectively. Stratified analysis showed that the 100% cases with lesion depth ≥ 2.5 mm and rough bottom surface developed submucosal infiltration regardless of the morphological changes of the folds. CONCLUSION: The study identified independent risk factors for predicting mucosal and submucosal infiltration in depressed differentiated early gastric cancer, which may evaluate the degree of penetration before endoscopic treatment. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/13000_2014_206.

Evaluation of the BISAP score in predicting severity and prognoses of acute pancreatitis in Chinese patients.

The present study was to evaluate the accuracy of bedside index for severity in acute pancreatitis (BISAP) in predicting the severity and prognoses of acute pancreatitis (AP) in Chinese patients. Clinical data for 497 patients with AP were analyzed retrospectively to compare BISAP with acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II, Ranson, and computed tomography severity index scores in predicting the severity of AP and the occurrence of pancreatic necrosis, mortality, and organ failure in patients with severe AP (SAP) using the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve. Of the 497 patients, 396 had mild AP and 101 had SAP. There were significant correlations between the scores of any two systems. BISAP performed similarly to other scoring systems in predicting SAP, as well as pancreatic necrosis, mortality, and organ failure in SAP patients, in terms of the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve. BISAP score is valuable in predicting the severity of AP and prognoses of SAP in Chinese patients.