[Research of genesis of black bands in Burma jadeite].

A kind of jadeite jade with black bands appeared in the mining area of Burma, which presents a gray-black to black appearance. X-ray powder diffraction analysis shows that the components of the sample are mainly jadeite and a small amount of omphacite. A large number of small, dark mineral inclusions were observed by SEM (scanning electron microscopy), distributed in the mineral grain gaps and tensional fractures of jadeite. These inclusions show specific peak at 1582 cm(-1) , and some of them also show a peak at 1346 cm(-1), indicating that these black inclusions are single crystal graphite and amorphous graphite, based on characteristic Raman spectra. These graphite inclusions forming different types of group lead to great light scattering loss in the range of 3000 nm to visible wavelength resulting in large transparency loss and cause the black band in sample. Two series of zircons were found in the sample by microexamination with high crystallinity and inconspicuous metamictization, as testified by Raman spectroscopy.

100 Hz Electroacupuncture Alleviated Chronic Itch and GRPR Expression Through Activation of Kappa Opioid Receptors in Spinal Dorsal Horn.

BACKGROUND: Clinical studies have shown that electroacupuncture (EA) alleviates chronic itch. Gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) and dynorphin (DYN) in the spinal dorsal horn positively or negatively regulate itch, respectively. However, which frequency of EA is effective on relieving chronic itch and reducing the expression of GRPR, whether DYN-A in the spinal cord is involved in the underlying mechanism of the antipruritus effect of EA remains unknown. METHODS: The mixture of acetone and diethyl ether (1:1) [designated as AEW (acetone/diethyl ether and water) treatment] was used to induce the dry skin model of chronic itch. EA was applied to Quchi (LI11) and Hegu (LI4). Western blot was used to detect the expression of GRPR and DYN-A. Immunofluorescence was used to detect the expression of DYN-A. RESULTS: The AEW administration induced remarkable spontaneous scratching, enhanced the expression of GRPR, and reduced the expression of DYN-A. Compared with the sham EA, 2 Hz EA, or 15 Hz EA group, 100 Hz EA was the most effective frequency for relieving chronic itch, reducing the expression of GRPR, and increasing the expression of DYN-A in the cervical dorsal horn. Furthermore, intraperitoneal injection of kappa opioid receptors (KORs) antagonist nor-Binaltorphimine dihydrochloride (nor-BNI) significantly reversed the effect of 100 Hz EA on the inhibition of both itching behavior and GRPR expression. CONCLUSION: EA at 100 Hz is the most effective frequency that inhibits chronic itch and GRPR expression through activation of KORs in the spinal dorsal horn, which can effectively guide the clinical treatment and improve the antipruritic effect of acupuncture.

Circulating microRNA-21 as a prognostic, biological marker in cholangiocarcinoma.

AIMS: The prognosis of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is generally poor because there is a lack of effective diagnostic tools including laboratory assessments and imageological examination. Therefore, a novel biological marker (biomarker) to effectively diagnose cancer is highly desirable in clinical. Previously, serum microRNAs as biomarkers of cancers have been reported. However, it was still unclear about the clinical significance of serum microRNA-21 (miR-21) expression levels for CCA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The serum samples were separately collected from fifty patients of CCA, 15 patients of hepatolithiasis, and 15 healthy volunteers; quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used for measuring miR-21 expression level in serum. The clinicopathological data were recorded before patients discharged. RESULTS: In the CCA serum, the expression level of miR-21 significantly upregulated (P < 0.05). With the tumor, node, and metastasis stage developed (Stage I vs. III and IV, P < 0.05), the serum miR-21 expression level increased, but there was no statistical difference between Stage I patients and hepatolithiasis patients or healthy control (P > 0.05 for both). Furthermore, the miR-21 level was significant difference between pre- and post-operative serum (P < 0.05) for the high miR-21 expression group. The serum miR-21 expression levels were defective in discriminating patients with CCA from healthy control subjects by receiver-operator curve analysis because the area under the curve (AUC) value was 0.871 which was not better than the conventional CCA markers-carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (AUC value = 0.96). However, in serum, high expression level miR-21 was significantly related to clinical stage, invasion depth, lymph vessel infiltration, metastasis status, differentiation status, whether to resection, and poor survival of CCA patients (P < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that serum miR-21 was a promising biomarker for diagnosing the late stage CCA and would have potential to be a useful prognostic biomarker of CCA.

miR-21 and KLF4 jointly augment epithelial­mesenchymal transition via the Akt/ERK1/2 pathway.

miR-21 induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) cells. However, the mechanism by which this occurs remains unclear. In the present study, high throughput platform was employed to detect the genes that are differential expressed in QBC939 cells transfected with a hsa-miR-21 antagomir or control vectors. The EMT-related Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) gene was downregulated after miR-21 was knocked down. Overexpression of miR-21 upregulated KLF4, Akt, ERK and mesenchymal cell markers (N-cadherin and vimentin), downregulated the expression of epithelial cell marker E-cadherin and reduced cell migration and invasion. Immunohistochemistry showed that KLF4, pAkt and pERK were upregulated in tumor xenografts transfected with miR-21 mimics. Inhibitors of the PI3K-Akt and ERK1/2 pathways, LY294002 and U0126, significantly suppressed the EMT phenotype. The present data demonstrated that overexpression of miR-21, accompanied with KLF4, augmented the EMT via inactivation of Akt and ERK1/2 pathways. In conclusion, we have identified a novel mechanism that may be targeted in an attempt to relieve the malignant biological behavior of CCA cells.

MicroRNA-21 regulates biological behavior by inducing EMT in human cholangiocarcinoma.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been demonstrated to play a crucial role in malignant progression including differentiation, proliferation, metastasis and invasion, MicroRNA-21 (mir-21) also has been reported to have association with tumor invasion and metastasis in some tumors including cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). In this study, we further investigated the association of mir-21 with CCA biological behavior by transfecting miR-21 mimics or mir-21 inhibitor into QBC939 and RBE cells accompanied with the tumor xenografts experiment. Results indicated that over-expression of miR-21 significantly promoted cell migration, invasion and xenografts growth, whereas contrary phenomenon was observed in mir-21 inhibitor group. Furthermore, we explored the expression of EMT related proteins in CCA cells and tumor xenografts. Results showed that E-cadherin was decreased and N-cadherin, Vimentin were up-regulated significantly when miR-21 was over-expressed. In conclusion, microRNA-21 is crucial for CCA carcinogenesis and metastasis, which could induce EMT process, thereby promote the invasion and migration of CCA cells. These findings may provide new strategy for prevention and treatment of CCA in the future.