Superior Energy Storage Capability and Fluorescence Negative Thermal Expansion of NaNbO3-Based Transparent Ceramics by Synergistic Optimization.

Transparent dielectric ceramics are splendid candidates for transparent pulse capacitors (TPCs) due to splendid cycle stability and large power density. However, the performance and service life of TPCs at present are threatened by overheating damage caused by dielectric loss. Here, a cooperative optimization strategy of microstructure control and superparaelectric regional regulation is proposed to simultaneously achieve excellent energy storage performance and real-time temperature monitoring function in NaNbO3-based ceramics. By introducing aliovalent ions and oxides with large bandgap energy, the size of polar nanoregions is continuously reduced. Due to the combined effect of increased relaxor behavior and fine grains, excellent comprehensive performances are obtained through doping appropriate amounts of Bi, Yb, Tm, and Zr, Ta, Hf in A- and B-sites of the NaNbO3 matrix, including recoverable energy storage density (5.39 J cm-3), extremely high energy storage efficiency (91.97%), ultra-fast discharge time (29 ns), and superior optical transmittance (≈47.5% at 736 nm). Additionally, the phenomenon of abnormal fluorescent negative thermal expansion is realized due to activation mechanism of surface phonon at high temperatures that can promote the formation of [Yb···O]-Tm3+ pairs, showing great potential in real-time temperature monitoring of TPCs. This research provides ideas for developing electronic devices with multiple functionalities.

Unraveling the importance of functionally extreme tadpole types to functional diversity: a case study in temperate montane streams.

BACKGROUND: Functional diversity is important to maintain ecosystem functioning. Species with different ecomorphological traits may display distinct functional roles in ecosystems. Accordingly, functionally extreme species are more important as they can exhibit specific strategies. However, little is known about the distribution patterns of functionally extreme species at a local scale and whether the prior extinction of extreme species can cause significant effects on functional diversity. In addition, no empirical studies have been conducted on the microhabitat determinants of extreme species to maintain the functional diversity. RESULTS: This study collected 1470 tadpoles belonging to 6 families and 20 anuran species. These species were subsequently divided into 65 functional entities based on their developmental stages to incorporate intraspecific traits variability. As a result, we detected seven extreme functional entities, accounting for 10.7% of the total number of entities. Moreover, the prior extinction of extreme entities can lead to a significant decrease in functional diversity compared with the random extinction of entities. Microhabitat variables such as conductivity, water depth, and current velocity determined the distribution of extreme entities. CONCLUSION: Although the functionally extreme entities only represented a small proportion of the total number of tadpoles, they played irreplaceable roles in maintaining functional diversity. Their extinction may induce high functional vulnerability in tadpole communities. Therefore, anuran species with extreme tadpole traits need to be projected for amphibian conservation.

[Postoperative Sleep Disturbance in Patients Undergoing Arthroplasty: Risk Prediction Modeling Based on Logistic Regression].

Objective: To construct a risk predictive model for postoperative sleep disturbance (PSD) in patients undergoing arthroplasty by using logistic regression. Methods: We retrospectively collected the data of 4286 patients who underwent joint replacement surgeries at a tertiary-care hospital in Chengdu, China between January 1, 2017 and September 30, 2021. With 3001 cases in the training set and 1285 cases in the test set, we constructed the model by using a logistic regression algorithm to screen for predictors in Matlab, displaying the predicted risks of postoperative sleep disturbance with nomographs. The performance of the model was assessed by the area under the curve ( AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve, accuracy, precision, recall, F1 value, and calibration curve. Results: A total of 9 predictors, including post-admission preoperative sleep disturbance, ward type, body mass index, smoking status, range of diseases, joint mobility (flexion), joint mobility (extension), preoperative last hemoglobin, and type of surgery, were eventually included in the study for predictive modeling . The performance assessment findings of the predictive model were as follows, AUC value, 0.708 (95% confidence interval: 0.677-0.740), accuracy, 75.20%, precision, 65.80%, recall, 43.70%, and F1 value, 0.525. The calibration curve showed good agreement between the predicted probabilities and the actual data. Conclusion: The model constructed in the study has good predictive efficacy and the nomographs are simple and easy to use. With this model, health workers can make preoperative prediction of the risk of PSD in arthroplasty patients based on the predictors, which facilitates early prevention and reduces the risk of postoperative sleep disturbance in patients.

[Deep Learning-Based Identification of Common Complication Features of Surgical Incisions].

Objective: In recent years, due to the development of accelerated recovery after surgery and day surgery in the field of surgery, the average length-of-stay of patients has been shortened and patients stay at home for post-surgical recovery and healing of the surgical incisions. In order to identify, in a timely manner, the problems that may appear at the incision site and help patients prevent or reduce the anxiety they may experience after discharge, we used deep learning method in this study to classify the features of common complications of surgical incisions, hoping to realize patient-directed early identification of complications common to surgical incisions. Methods: A total of 1 224 postoperative photographs of patients' surgical incisions were taken and collected at a tertiary-care hospital between June 2021 and March 2022. The photographs were collated and categorized according to different features of complications of the surgical incisions. Then, the photographs were divided into training, validation, and test sets at the ratio of 8∶1∶1 and 4 types of convolutional neural networks were applied in the training and testing of the models. Results: Through the training of multiple convolutional neural networks and the testing of the model performance on the basis of a test set of 300 surgical incision images, the average accuracy of the four ResNet classification network models, SE-ResNet101, ResNet50, ResNet101, and SE-ResNet50, for surgical incision classification was 0.941, 0.903, 0.896, and 0.918, respectively, the precision was 0.939, 0.898, 0.868, and 0.903, respectively, and the recall rate was 0.930, 0.880, 0.850, and 0.894, respectively, with the SE-Resnet101 network model showing the highest average accuracy of 0.941 for incision feature classification. Conclusion: Through the combined use of deep learning technology and images of surgical incisions, problematic features of surgical incisions can be effectively identified by examining surgical incision images. It is expected that patients will eventually be able to perform self-examination of surgical incisions on smart terminals.

Rising floor and dropping ceiling: organ heterogeneity in response to cold acclimation of the largest extant amphibian.

Low temperature imposes strong selective pressure on ectotherms. To maximize their overall fitness under cold conditions, the ectotherms may either try to maintain their physiological activities through metabolic compensation or enter into metabolic depression; however, some species adopt both strategies to cope with different degrees of cold. Nevertheless, how these two seemingly opposite strategies are coordinated has rarely been elucidated. Here, we investigated the molecular strategy underlying the cold acclimation of Andrias davidianus, the largest extant amphibian, using multi-organ metabolomics and transcriptomics. The results showed remarkable organ heterogeneity in response to cold. While most organs showed transcriptional upregulation of metabolic processes, the heart exhibited downregulation. This heterogeneity explained the adaptive reorganization in resource allocation, which compensates for metabolic maintenance by compromising growth. Importantly, the cardiac function might constitute a 'ceiling' to constrain the space for compensation, especially under colder conditions. Additionally, the opposite transcriptional regulation of oxidative phosphorylation and other pathways might also shape the overall metabolic capacity under cold conditions. The heterogeneity in cold responses may have directed a shift in cold adaptive strategy from compensation to depression with a drop in temperature. These results provide a novel insight into the regulatory mechanisms underlying cold survival strategies of ectotherms.

CITEMOXMBD: A flexible single-cell multimodal omics analysis framework to reveal the heterogeneity of immune cells.

Simultaneous measurement of multiple modalities in single-cell analysis, represented by CITE-seq, is a promising approach to link transcriptional changes to cellular phenotype and function, requiring new computational methods to define cellular subtypes and states based on multiple data types. Here, we design a flexible single-cell multimodal analysis framework, called CITEMO, to integrate the transcriptome and antibody-derived tags (ADT) data to capture cell heterogeneity from the multi omics perspective. CITEMO uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to obtain a low-dimensional representation of the transcriptome and ADT, respectively, and then employs PCA again to integrate these low-dimensional multimodal data for downstream analysis. To investigate the effectiveness of the CITEMO framework, we apply CITEMO to analyse the cell subtypes of Cord Blood Mononuclear Cells (CBMC) samples. Results show that the CITEMO framework can comprehensively analyse single-cell multimodal samples and accurately identify cell subtypes. Besides, we find some specific immune cells that co-express multiple ADT markers. To better describe the co-expression phenomenon, we introduce the co-expression entropy to measure the heterogeneous distribution of the ADT combinations. To further validate the robustness of the CITEMO framework, we analyse Human Bone Marrow Cell (HBMC) samples and identify different states of the same cell type. CITEMO has an excellent performance in identifying cell subtypes and states for multimodal omics data. We suggest that the flexible design idea of CITEMO can be an inspiration for other single-cell multimodal tasks. The complete source code and dataset of the CITEMO framework can be obtained from https://github.com/studentiz/CITEMO.

Comparison of contribution to phase boundary from A-site aliovalent dopants in high-performance KNN-based ceramics.

Environmentally friendly potassium sodium niobate (KNN)-based ceramics are potential electronic functional materials due to multiphase coexistence. Aliovalent doping on the A-site with different ions plays a key role in phase boundary engineering. However, the difference of contribution to the phase boundary from various A-site dopants is not clear in multielement high performance KNN-based ceramics. Herein, the individual contribution to phase structure and comparison of typical aliovalent ions (Bi3+ and Ca2+) on the A-site, are considered in terms of influence on electrical properties. Within a maintained rhombohedral-orthorhombic-tetragonal (R-O-T) phase boundary at room temperature, both phase transition temperatures for rhombohedral-orthorhombic (TR-O) and orthorhombic-tetragonal (TO-T) gradually enhance with increasing Ca2+ and decreasing Bi3+, resulting in elevating R phase and reducing T phase. This phenomenon indicates that the contribution of Ca2+ to increase TR-O is stronger than that from Bi3+, while the effect on decreasing TO-T from Ca2+ is weaker with respect to Bi3+ during phase boundary formation. The enhancement of TR-O and TO-T is due to the lower electronegativity of Ca2+ than Bi3+ which benefits an R phase with high ionicity. There is only a small change in TC and diffusion degree when Bi3+ is replaced by Ca2+, because of the similar substitution of Bi3+ and Ca2+ on the A-site. Meanwhile, enhanced O vacancies are due to the lower valence of Ca2+ than that of Bi3+. Then, electrical properties including ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity and strain, retain high values originating from the maintained R-O-T phase boundary. Moreover, improved stability of piezoelectricity and strain under changing temperature, are achieved based on enhanced TO-T. Thus, this work provides an effective method to further optimize multiphase structures via appropriate doping in KNN-based ceramics.

Enhanced piezo-photocatalysis in Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3@Ag composite to efficiently degrade multiple organic pollutants.

The synergistic piezo-photocatalysis with enhanced efficiency for degrading obstinate pollutants in wastewater is considered as an advanced way to ameliorate the global water contamination. In this work, we report a facile route to construct the Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3@Ag composite by photoreduction of AgNO3 to obtain Ag on Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 nanoparticles. And the composite was used to degrade three representative pollutants, i.e. ciprofloxacin, methyl orange and mitoxantrone hydrochloride. Remarkably, for methyl orange solution with the initial concentration of 10 mg/L, the degradation rate constant of the composite reached 0.051 min-1. H+ and •O2- play a major role in this degradation process, verified by the radical quenching experiments. The absorption platform of Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 was located in the UV region, after introducing Ag in the composite, the absorption region broadened to both UV and visible light, greatly promoting the response to light. Simultaneously, the induced piezo-potential by mechanical energy in Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 hindered the carrier recombination, resulting in high-efficiency synergistic piezo-photocatalytic process. This work provides a paradigm to innovate both material and catalytic way for degrading multiple organic pollutants.

Comparison of total endoscopic thyroidectomy with conventional open thyroidectomy for treatment of papillary thyroid cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that thyroid surgery has evolved towards minimal incisions and endoscopic approaches, the role of total endoscopic thyroidectomy (TET) in thyroid cancer has been highly disputed. We performed a systematic review and meta-analyses of peer reviewed studies in order to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of TET compared with conventional open thyroidectomy (COT) in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). METHOD: Medical literature databases such as PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of science were systematically searched for articles that compared TET and COT in PTC treatment from database inception until March 2019. The quality of the studies included in the review was evaluated using the Downs and Black scale using Review Manager software Stata V.13.0 for the meta-analysis. RESULTS: The systematic review and meta-analysis were based on 5664 cases selected from twenty publications. Criteria used to determine surgical completeness included postoperative thyroglobulin (TG) levels, recurrence of the tumor after long-term follow-up. Adverse event and complication rate scores included transient recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palsy, permanent RLN palsy, transient hypocalcaemia, permanent hypocalcaemia, operative time, number of removed lymph nodes, length of hospital stay and patient cosmetic satisfaction. TET was found to be generally equivalent to COT in terms of surgical completeness and adverse event rate, although TET resulted in lower levels of transient hypocalcemia (OR 1.66; p < 0.05), a smaller number of the retrieved lymph nodes (WMD 0.46; p < 0.05), and better cosmetic satisfaction (WMD 1.73; p < 0.05). COT was associated with a shorter operation time (WMD - 50.28; p < 0.05) and lower rates of transient RLN palsy (OR 0.41; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results show that in terms of safety and efficacy, TET was similar to COT for the treatment of thyroid cancer. Indeed, the tumor recurrence rates and the level of surgical completeness in TET are similar to those obtained for COT. TET was associated with significantly lower levels of transient hypocalcemia and better cosmetic satisfaction, and thus is the better option for patients with cosmetic concerns. Overall, randomized clinical trials and studies with larger patient cohorts and long-term follow-up data are required to further demonstrate the value of the TET.

Ultrahigh Performance in Lead-Free Piezoceramics Utilizing a Relaxor Slush Polar State with Multiphase Coexistence.

Owing to growing environmental concerns, the development of lead-free piezoelectrics with comparable performance to the benchmark Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) becomes of great urgency. However, a further enhancement of lead-free piezoelectrics based on existing strategies has reached a bottleneck. Here we achieve a slush polar state with multiphase coexistence in lead-free potassium-sodium niobate (KNN) piezoceramics, which shows a novel relaxor behavior, i.e., frequency dispersion at the transition between different ferroelectric phases. It is very different from the conventional relaxor behavior which occurs at the paraelectric-ferroelectric phase transition. We obtain an ultrahigh piezoelectric coefficient (d33) of 650 ± 20 pC/N, the largest value of nontextured KNN-based ceramics, outperforming that of the commercialized PZT-5H. Atomic-resolution polarization mapping by Z-contrast imaging from different orientations reveals the entire material to comprise polar nanoregions with multiphase coexistence, which is again very different from conventional ferroelectric relaxors which have polar domains within a nonpolar matrix. Theoretical simulations validate the significantly decreased energy barrier and polarization anisotropy, which is facilitated by the high-density domain boundaries with easy polarization rotation bridging the multiphase-coexisting nanodomains. This work demonstrates a new strategy for designing lead-free piezoelectrics with further enhanced performance, which should also be applicable to other functional materials requiring a slush (flexible) state with respect to external stimulus.

SAV1, regulated by microRNA-21, suppresses tumor growth in colorectal cancer.

This study investigated the role and action of the Salvador 1 protein (SAV1, also called WW45) in colorectal cancer (CRC). For this, CRC SW480 and HCT116 cells were infected with lentiviruses of SAV1 overexpression vector (lenti-SAV1) and SAV1 short hairpin RNA (sh-SAV1) to overexpress and silence SAV1 respectively, or transfected with microRNA-21 (miR-21) mimic to overexpress miR-21. Relative mRNA levels of SAV1 and relative miR-21 levels in CRC tissues or cells were detected. The effects of SAV1 and miR-21 on cell proliferation and apoptosis were evaluated using the MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay and annexin V - fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) - propidium iodide (PI) flow cytometry, respectively. Our results revealed that SAV1 was downregulated in CRC tissues compared with the adjacent noncancerous tissues. Furthermore, SAV1 overexpression inhibited proliferation and promoted apoptosis in SW480 and HCT116 cells, whereas knockdown of SAV1 exerted the opposite effect. Additionally, the tumorigenesis of SW480 cells in xenografted mice was significantly inhibited by SAV1 overexpression but promoted by SAV1 knockdown. MiR-21 levels significantly and negatively correlated with SAV1 expression in CRC tissues. More importantly, miR-21 overexpression significantly abolished the SAV1-mediated inhibition of proliferation and stimulation of apoptosis of SW480. In conclusion, SAV1 suppresses tumor growth in CRC and is regulated by miR-21.

Practical High Piezoelectricity in Barium Titanate Ceramics Utilizing Multiphase Convergence with Broad Structural Flexibility.

Due to growing environmental concerns on the toxicity of lead-based piezoelectric materials, lead-free alternatives are urgently required but so far have not been able to reach competitive performance. Here we employ a novel phase-boundary engineering strategy utilizing the multiphase convergence, which induces a broad structural flexibility in a wide phase-boundary zone with contiguous polymorphic phase transitions. We achieve an ultrahigh piezoelectric constant ( d33) of 700 ± 30 pC/N in BaTiO3-based ceramics, maintaining >600 pC/N over a wide composition range. Atomic resolution polarization mapping by Z-contrast imaging reveals the coexistence of three ferroelectric phases (T + O + R) at the nanoscale with nanoscale polarization rotation between them. Theoretical simulations confirm greatly reduced energy barriers facilitating polarization rotation. Our lead-free material exceeds the performance of the majority of lead-based systems (including the benchmark PZT-5H) in the temperature range of 10-40 °C, making it suitable as a lead-free replacement in practical applications. This work offers a new paradigm for designing lead-free functional materials with superior electromechanical properties.

Reduced dielectric loss in new colossal permittivity (Pr, Nb)TiO2 ceramics by suppressing adverse effects of secondary phases.

Here, we develop new colossal permittivity (CP) (Pr0.5Nb0.5)xTi1-xO2 ceramics by controlling the secondary phases, and then both colossal permittivity (εr = 6-8 × 104, 1 kHz) and low dielectric loss (tan δ = 3.7-7.5%, 1 kHz) can be realized in a composition range (x = 0.5-2.5%). The ceramics with x = 1% possess a high dielectric constant (εr = 74 533), and importantly a low dielectric loss (tan δ = 3.7%) can be found, which is lower than most of the typical CP materials and chemically modified TiO2 ceramics. In addition, the εr changing rates of 143 per degree Celsius and 35 per kiloHertz indicate an excellent temperature and frequency stability of the dielectric behaviors. XRD, FE-SEM and element mapping are conducted to probe the secondary phases, and element line scanning is used to explore the elemental composition of the secondary phases. The test results indicate that optimized dopants can enhance the dielectric properties, while secondary phases induced by x > 5% dopants can cause adverse effects on the dielectric properties. XPS results further demonstrate that the defect-dipole theory may be suitable to explain the significant improvement of dielectric properties. We believe that (Pr, Nb)TiO2 ceramics are one of the most competitive candidates in the field of electronic and energy-storage devices.

AWRK6, a Novel GLP-1 Receptor Agonist, Attenuates Diabetes by Stimulating Insulin Secretion.

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder leading to many complications. The treatment of diabetes mainly depends on hypoglycemic drugs, often with side effects, which drive us to develop novel agents. AWRK6 was a peptide developed from the antimicrobial peptide Dybowskin-2CDYa in our previous study, and the availability of AWRK6 on diabetes intervention was unknown. Here, in vivo and in vitro experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of AWRK6 against diabetes. In diabetic mice, induced by high-fat diet followed by streptozocin (STZ) administration, the daily administration of AWRK6 presented acute and sustained hypoglycemic effects. The plasma insulin was significantly elevated by AWRK6 during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The relative ß cell mass in diabetic mice was increased by AWRK6 treatment. The body weight and food intake were remarkably reduced by AWRK6 administration. In the mouse pancreatic ß cell line Min6 cells, the intracellular calcium concentration was found to be enhanced under the treatment with AWRK6, and protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor H-89 and Epac2 inhibitor HJC0350 represented inhibitory effects of the insulinotropic function of AWRK6. By FITC-AWRK6 incubation and GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) knockdown, AWRK6 proved to be a novel GLP-1R agonist. In addition, AWRK6 showed no toxicity in cell viability and membrane integrity in Min6 cells, and no hypoglycemia risk and no lethal toxicity in mice. In summary, AWRK6 was found as a novel agonist of GLP-1R, which could stimulate insulin secretion to regulate blood glucose and energy metabolism, via cAMP-calcium signaling pathway, without significant toxicity. The peptide AWRK6 might become a novel candidate for diabetes treatment.

Effects of visual standard channel combined with visual superfine precision puncture channel or super-mini channel percutaneous nephrolithotomy on multiple renal calculi.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the therapeutic effects of visual standard channel combined with visual superfine precision puncture channel or super-mini percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) on multiple renal calculi. METHODS: A total of 86 patients with multiple renal calculi were retrospectively analyzed. According to different working channels, they were divided into a visual puncture channel group (visual puncture standard channel combined with visual superfine precision puncture channel, n=38) and a conventional puncture channel group (standard channel combined with super-mini channel, n=48). The two groups were compared in terms of time of channel establishment, surgical time, reduction of hemoglobin, phase I clearance rate of calculi, and surgical complications. RESULTS: The time of establishing visual/conventional standard channel was (4.5±1.5) min vs. (6.8±1.8) minutes (t=6.326, P=0.000), and the time of establishing visible superfine/super-mini channel was (4.52±0.97) minutes vs. (7.76±1.35) minutes (t=2.017, P=0.000). The surgical time was (92±15) minutes vs. (115±13) minutes (t=26.640, P=0.000). The Phase-I clearance rate was 86.7% (33/38) vs. 87.5% (42/48) (χ2=0.008, P=0.928), the reduction of hemoglobin was (12.21±2.5) g/L vs. (13.22±3.5) g/L (t=2.017, P=0.137), the blood transfusion rate was 13.16 (5/38) vs. 8.33% (4/48) (χ2=0.006, P=0.941), the postoperative fever rate was 7.89% (3/38) vs. 14.58 (7/48) (χ2=0.006, P=0.941), and the hospitalization stay length was (6.5±1.0) vs. (6.6±1.2) (t=0.413, P=0.681). There were no significant differences between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Both surgical approaches had high clearance rates of multiple renal calculi, safety, reliability and few complications. However, compared with the conventional puncture channel, the visual one was easy to operate and dramatically shortened the time of establishment, thus being safer and more accurate.

High and Temperature-Insensitive Piezoelectric Strain in Alkali Niobate Lead-free Perovskite.

With growing concern over world environmental problems and increasing legislative restriction on using lead and lead-containing materials, a feasible replacement for lead-based piezoceramics is desperately needed. Herein, we report a large piezoelectric strain (d33*) of 470 pm/V and a high Curie temperature (Tc) of 243 °C in (Na0.5K0.5)NbO3-(Bi0.5Li0.5)TiO3-BaZrO3 lead-free ceramics by doping MnO2. Moreover, excellent temperature stability is also observed from room temperature to 170 °C (430 pm/V at 100 °C and 370 pm/V at 170 °C). Thermally stimulated depolarization currents (TSDC) analysis reveals the reduced defects and improved ferroelectricity in MnO2-doped piezoceramics from a macroscopic view. Local poling experiments and local switching spectroscopy piezoresponse force microscopy (SS-PFM) demonstrates the enhanced ferroelectricity and domain mobility from a microscopic view. Distinct grain growth and improvement in phase angle may also account for the enhancement of piezoelectric properties.

The long non-coding RNA TUG1 indicates a poor prognosis for colorectal cancer and promotes metastasis by affecting epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

BACKGROUND: Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that are involved in gene expression regulation. Taurine up-regulated gene 1 (TUG1) is a cancer progression related lncRNA in some tumor oncogenesis; however, its role in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear. In this study, we determined the expression patterns of TUG1 in CRC patients and explored its effect on CRC cell metastasis using cultured representative CRC cell lines. METHODS: The expression levels of TUG1 in 120 CRC patients and CRC cells were determined using quantitative real-time PCR. HDACs and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related gene expression were determined using western blot. CRC cell metastasis was assessed by colony formation, migration assay and invasion assay. RESULTS: Our data showed that the levels of TUG1 were upregulated in both CRC cell lines and primary CRC clinical samples. TUG1 upregulation was closely correlated with the survival time of CRC patients. Overexpression of TUG1 in CRC cells increased their colony formation, migration, and invasion in vitro and promoted their metastatic potential in vivo, whereas knockdown of TUG1 inhibited the colony formation, migration, and invasion of CRC cells in vitro. It is also worth pointing out that TUG1 activated EMT-related gene expression. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that tumor expression of lncRNA TUG1 plays a critical role in CRC metastasis. TUG1 may have potential roles as a biomarker and/or a therapeutic target in colorectal cancer.

Silencing of FGFR4 could influence the biological features of gastric cancer cells and its therapeutic value in gastric cancer.

To clarify the role of fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) in gastric cancer (GC) and explore the therapeutic value of BGJ398 targeted to FGFR4. We constructed lentivirus vectors to stably knockdown FGFR4 expression in GC cells. Function assays in vitro and in vivo, treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) and BGJ398, were performed to study the change of biological behaviors of GC cells and related mechanism. The proliferation and invasive ability of HGC27 and MKN45 significantly decreased while the apoptosis rate of GC cells obviously increased in shRNA group (P < 0.05). The expressions of Bcl-xl, FLIP, PCNA, vimentin, p-erk, and p-STAT3 significantly reduced while the expressions of caspase-3 and E-cadherin markly enhanced in shRNA group. The proliferation abilities of GC cells were more significantly inhibited by the combination of BGJ398 and 5-Fu in shRNA group (P < 0.05). Compared to negative control (NC), the single and combination of 5-Fu and BGJ398 all significantly increased the apoptosis rate of GC cells, especially in the combination group (P < 0.01). The single and combination of 5-Fu and BGJ398 decreased the expressions of PCNA, Bcl-xl, and FLIP while increased the expression of caspase-3 in GC cells, especially in shRNA groups. Furthermore, knockdown of FGFR4 expression might prevent the growth of GC in vivo. Silencing of FGFR4 expression could weaken the invasive ability, increase the apoptosis rate, and decrease the proliferation ability of GC cells in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the combination of 5-Fu and BGJ398 had synergy in inhibiting the proliferation ability and increasing apoptosis rate of GC cells, directing a new target drug in GC.

The over-expression of FGFR4 could influence the features of gastric cancer cells and inhibit the efficacy of PD173074 and 5-fluorouracil towards gastric cancer.

The aim was to investigate the function of fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) in gastric cancer (GC) and explore the treatment value of agent targeted to FGFR4. Function assays in vitro and in vivo were performed to investigate the discrepancy of biological features among the GC cells with different expression of FGFR4. GC cells were treated with the single and combination of PD173074 (PD, an inhibitor of FGFR4) and 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu). The invasion ability were stronger, and the apoptosis rates were lower in MGC803 and BGC823 cells treated with FGFR4-LV5 (over-expression of FGFR4 protein) (P < 0.05). The proliferation ability of GC cells is reduced when treated by the single and combination of 5-Fu and PD while that of the FGFR4-LV5 group was less inhibited compared with control group (P < 0.05). The apoptosis rates are remarkably increased in GC cells treated with the single and combination of 5-Fu and PD (P < 0.05). However, the apoptosis rate obviously is reduced in GC cells treated with FGFR4-LV5 compared with control group (P < 0.05). The expression of PCNA and Bcl-XL is remarkably decreased, and the expression of Caspase-3 and cleaved Caspase-3 is obviously increased in GC cells treated with the single and combination of 5-Fu and PD. The tumor volumes of nude mice in FGFR4-LV5 group were much more increased (P < 0.05). The over-expression of FGFR4 enhanced the proliferation ability of GC in vitro and in vivo. The combination of 5-Fu and PD exerted synergetic effect in weakening the proliferation ability and promoting apoptosis in GC cells, while the over-expression of FGFR4 might inhibit the efficacy of two drugs.

To drain or not to drain in colorectal anastomosis: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Currently, many surgeons place a prophylactic drain in the abdominal or pelvic cavity after colorectal anastomosis as a conventional treatment. However, some trials have demonstrated that this procedure may not be beneficial to the patients. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether prophylactic placement of a drain in colorectal anastomosis can reduce postoperative complications. METHODS: We systematically searched all the electronic databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared routine use of drainage to non-drainage regimes after colorectal anastomosis, using the terms "colorectal" or "colon/colonic" or "rectum/rectal" and "anastomo*" and "drain or drainage." Reference lists of relevant articles, conference proceedings, and ongoing trial databases were also screened. Primary outcome measures were clinical and radiological anastomotic leakage. Secondary outcome measures included mortality, wound infection, re-operation, and respiratory complications. We assessed the eligible studies for risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Two authors independently extracted data. RESULTS: Eleven RCTs were included (1803 patients in total, 939 patients in the drain group and 864 patients in the no drain group). Meta-analysis showed that there was no statistically significant differences between the drain group and the no drain group in (1) overall anastomotic leakage (relative risk (RR) = 1.14, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.80-1.62, P = 0.47), (2) clinical anastomotic leakage (RR = 1.39, 95 % CI 0.80-2.39, P = 0.24), (3) radiologic anastomotic leakage (RR = 0.92, 95 % CI 0.56-1.51, P = 0.74), (4) mortality (RR = 0.94, 95 % CI 0.57-1.55, P = 0.81), (5) wound infection (RR = 1.19, 95 % CI 0.84-1.69, P = 0.34), (6) re-operation (RR = 1.18, 95 % CI 0.75-1.85, P = 0.47), and (7) respiratory complications (RR = 0.82, 95 % CI 0.55-1.23, P = 0.34). CONCLUSIONS: Routine use of prophylactic drainage in colorectal anastomosis does not benefit in decreasing postoperative complications.