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The objective of this study was to determine the pharmacokinetics of enrofloxacin and its metabolite, ciprofloxacin, in Nanyang cattle after a single intravenous (IV), and intramuscular (IM) administration of enrofloxacin at 2.5 mg/kg body weight (BW). Blood samples were collected at predetermined time points. Enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin concentrations in plasma were simultaneously determined using a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay method and subjected to a non-compartmental analysis. After IV administration, enrofloxacin had a mean (±SD) volume of distribution at steady state (V SS ) of 1.394 ± 0.349 L/kg, a terminal half-life (t 1/2λz ) of 3.592 ± 1.205 h, and a total body clearance (Cl) of 0.675 ± 0.16 L/h/kg. After IM administration, enrofloxacin was absorbed relatively slowly but completely, with a mean absorption time (MAT) of 6.051 ± 1.107 h and a bioavailability of 99.225 ± 7.389%. Both compounds were detected simultaneously in most plasma samples following both routes of administration, indicating efficient biotransformation of enrofloxacin to ciprofloxacin. After IV injection, the peak concentration (C max ) of ciprofloxacin was 0.315 ± 0.017 μg/mL, observed at 0.958 ± 0.102 h. Following IM injection, the corresponding values were 0.071 ± 0.006 μg/mL and 3 ± 1.095 h, respectively. Following IV and IM administration, the conversion ratio of enrofloxacin to ciprofloxacin was calculated as 59.2 ± 9.6% and 31.2 ± 7.7%, respectively. The present results demonstrated favorable pharmacokinetic profiles for enrofloxacin, characterized by complete absorption with relatively slow kinetics, extensive distribution, efficient biotransformation to ciprofloxacin, and prolonged elimination in Nanyang cattle., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Significant efforts have been devoted to assess the effects of the poly-gamma-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) on crop growth, yield and quality, soil water retention and fertilizer use efficiency. However, few studies have evaluated the effects of γ-PGA on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and grain yield from paddy fields with different rice varieties., Methods: In the present study, a split-plot field experiment was performed to comprehensively evaluate the effects of γ-PGA concentrations (i.e., no application [P0] and 25.0 kg ha -1 of γ-PGA fermentation solution [P1]) and rice varieties (i.e., conventional rice [Huanghuazhan, H], red rice [Gangteyou 8024, R] and black rice [Black indica rice, B]) on the grain yield, GHG emissions, global warming potential (GWP), greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI), net ecosystem economic profit (NEEP) and carbon footprint (CF) during 2022 and 2023 rice-growing seasons in central China., Results: Application of γ-PGA significantly affected the GHGs emissions, NEEP and CF. Compared with P0 treatments, P1 treatments significantly increased the NEEP by 1.2-11.2 %, and decreased the GWP by 12.9-35.4 %, the GHGI by 16.5-35.9 % and the CF by 13.8-26.2 % in 2022-2023. Application of γ-PGA showed a tendency to increase the yield. Under γ-PGA application condition, R treatment exhibited the lowest GWP, GHGI and CF, and the highest yield and NEEP compared with B and H treatments., Conclusion: Our results suggest that γ-PGA application is an ecological agricultural management to increase rice yield, reduce greenhouse gas emission and increase economic benefit, and its advantage is more significant for red rice than for other rice varieties., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no declarations of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as types of proton conductive materials have attracted much attention. Here, an acylamide-functionalized 3D MOF, [Ni 3 (TPBTC) 2 (stp) 2 (H 2 O) 4 ]·2DMA·32H 2 O, has been successfully constructed via combining Ni(NO 3 ) 2 , TPBTC (TPBTC = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid tris-pyridin-4-ylamide) and 2-H 2 stp (2-H 2 stp = 2-sulfoterephthalic acid monosodium salt) under solvothermal conditions. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that there are uncoordinated guest DMA molecules in the pores of the compound. On removal of guest DMA molecules, the proton conductivity of the compound increased to 2.25 × 10 -3 S cm -1 at 80 °C and 98% RH which is about 110 times that of the original material. It is hoped that this work can provide essential insight for designing and obtaining improved crystalline-state proton conducting materials by considering the influences of guest molecules on proton conduction properties of porous materials.

Halogenated organic solvents are the most commonly detected pollutants in groundwater and are particularly toxic and harmful. How to separate these dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) pollutants efficiently from groundwater has become an important research question. Here, a novel hydrocyclone with annular overflow structure was designed, which eliminated the short-circuit flow of the traditional hydrocyclone and solved the problem of overflow entrainment caused by the enrichment of droplets near the locus of zero vertical velocities (LZVV) into turbulence. The flow field characteristics of this novel hydrocyclone were studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation and compared with the traditional hydrocyclone. It was found that the annular gap structure of the novel hydrocyclone increased the tangential velocity of the outer vortex. Moreover, the radius of the LZVV was expanded outward by 0.17 mm, which reduced the possibility of droplets with small particle sizes in the second phase escaping from the overflow pipe. The collective effect was to eliminate the short-circuit flow. This novel hydrocyclone was able to separate DNAPL pollutants with low consumption and high efficiency, across a range of inlet velocity from 4 to 6 m/s. The maximum separation efficiency was 99.91 %. In addition, with trichloroethylene (TCE) as the target pollutant, the maximum volume fraction of the dispersed phase in the hydrocyclone was located on the side wall of the hydrocyclone. Taken together, we believe that this work will provide a low-cost, efficient separation method for the separation of groundwater- contaminated liquid mixtures. Furthermore, it has broad application prospects in the field of heterotopic remediation of groundwater., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript entitled “A novel hydrocyclone for use in underground DNAPL phase separation”., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate the effects of home-based telerehabilitation based on the Internet-based rehabilitation management system on hip function, activities of daily living and somatic integrative ability of elderly postoperative hip fracture patients., Methods: From June 2020 to November 2020, we recruited 58 elderly postoperative hip fracture patients and randomly assigned them to the telephone group (n = 29) and the telerehabilitation group (n = 29). Both groups received routine discharge instructions, and the former received telephone follow-up after discharge, while the latter received remote rehabilitation based on the Internet-based rehabilitation management system. The Harris hip score (HHS), functional independence measure (FIM), timed up-and-go test (TUG), and short physical performance battery (SPPB) were used to evaluate the patients' hip function, activities of daily living, and overall somatic ability., Results: There was no significant difference between the baseline data of the two groups before the intervention (P > 0.05); no matter after hip replacement or internal fixation, the HHS score and FIM score of both groups increased gradually with the postoperative time, and the scores in the telerehabilitation group were higher than those in the telephone group at 1 and 3 months after the intervention, and the difference was significant (P < 0.05); for patients after hip replacement, the TUG and SPPB scores in the telerehabilitation group were better than those in the telephone group at 3 months after the intervention, and the difference was significant (P < 0.05)., Conclusions: The Internet-based rehabilitation management system applied to postoperative home rehabilitation of elderly hip fracture patients can improve the functional recovery of the hip joint and enhance the ability to perform activities of daily living and somatic integration to a certain extent. This seems to provide an effective option for conducting home rehabilitation., (© 2022 The Authors. Orthopaedic Surgery published by Tianjin Hospital and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

This study explores the role of the long noncoding RNA (LncRNA) CRNDE in cisplatin (CDDP) resistance of gastric cancer (GC) cells. Here, we show that LncRNA CRNDE is upregulated in carcinoma tissues and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) of GC patients. In vitro experiments show that CRNDE is enriched in M2-polarized macrophage-derived exosomes (M2-exo) and is transferred from M2 macrophages to GC cells via exosomes. Silencing CRNDE in M2-exo reverses the promotional effect of M2-exo on cell proliferation in CDDP-treated GC cells and homograft tumor growth in CDDP-treated nude mice. Mechanistically, CRNDE facilitates neural precursor cell expressed developmentally downregulated protein 4-1 (NEDD4-1)-mediated phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) ubiquitination. Silencing CRNDE in M2-exo enhances the CDDP sensitivity of GC cells treated with M2-exo, which is reduced by PTEN knockdown. Collectively, these data reveal a vital role for CRNDE in CDDP resistance of GC cells and suggest that the upregulation of CRNDE in GC cells may be attributed to the transfer of TAM-derived exosomes., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Transcription factors (TFs) play an important role in tumors. We integrated and analyzed 13 GPL570 platform gastric cancer (GC) microarrays, identified 10 independent prognostic TFs, and constructed a GC prognostic model. Using GSE26942 as the verification set, the Kaplan-Meier curve showed that the signature distinguish the survival rate of GC patients (P < 0.01), and the AUC values are 0.746 and 0.630, respectively. Compared with the clinicopathological characteristics, the signature is an independent prognostic factor (P < 0.05). A nomogram was established based on the model, and the five-year calibration curve verified that the prediction of the nomogram was almost consistent with the actual survival rate, C-index of 0.747 indicated a moderate prognostic ability. The analysis of target genes of 10 TFs showed that they are closely related to the progression of GC. External database and rt-PCR showed that the RNA and protein expression of TFs are consistent with our analysis., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a common type of lung cancer with a poor prognosis. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation, which is a reversible ribonucleic acid (RNA) modification, plays an important role in the occurrence and development of NSCLC. However, the potential effect of m6A methylation on immune infiltrates and prognosis remains unclear., Methods: In this study, a weighted gene co-expression network analysis was used to screen out messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that were co-expressed with m6A regulators. Additionally, 2 molecular subtypes (Clusters 1 and 2) were determined via consensus clustering. Subsequently, a prognostic risk model was constructed using both co-expressed mRNAs and ncRNAs. Based on the risk scores calculated by the prognostic model, the patients were divided into the high-risk group or low-risk group. Finally, the altered patterns of the tumor immune microenvironments (TIMEs) between the 2 stratification methods were thoroughly investigated, and a gene set enrichment analysis was conducted to further examine the potential mechanism., Results: Patients in Cluster 1 had lower immunoscores, higher programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, and shorter overall survival (OS) compared to patients in Cluster 2. A further investigation based on the prognostic model revealed that the PD-L1 expression levels of patients in the high-risk group were significantly upregulated, and the immunoscores were lower than those in the low-risk group. The immune cells with a high infiltration in Cluster 1 showed a significant positive correlation with the risk score; those with low infiltration showed a significant negative correlation. The hallmarks of the Myelocytomatosis viral oncogene (MYC) targets, the second Gap/Mitosis (G2/M) checkpoint, E2 transcription Factor (E2F) targets, glycolysis, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair, and unfolded protein response were significantly enriched in Cluster 1, the low-immunoscore group, and the high-risk group., Conclusions: This study revealed that m6A methylation is closely related to the poor prognosis of NSCLC patients via interference with the TIME, which suggests that m6A may play a role in optimizing individualized immunotherapy management and improving prognosis., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-21-4248). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2021 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Background: To avoid the inconvenience of triangulation among various rigid operating instruments in mediastinoscopy-assisted esophagectomy, we invented a new technique: used a flexible endoscope to mobilize thoracic esophagus and dissected mediastinal lymph nodes through the left cervical incision. This technology has not been reported so far. In this study, we introduce our long-term experience and demonstrate this new technique., Methods: Twenty-nine patients with early esophageal cancer underwent mediastinoscopy-assisted esophagectomy in our hospital from June 2018 to September 2020. Among them, 12 patients used flexible mediastinoscopy, and 17 patients used conventional rigid mediastinoscopy and instruments to observe their therapeutic effect., Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups in gender, average age, body mass index, incidence of adverse reactions, bleeding volume, and postoperative hospital stay. The operation time of flexible mediastinoscopy group was significantly shorter than that of rigid mediastinoscopy group (192.9 ± 13.0 vs 246.8 ± 6.9 min, p < 0.01). The number of lymph nodes removed by flexible endoscopy was significantly more than that of rigid endoscopy (8.5 ± 0.6 vs 6.0 ± 0.3, P < 0.01). Postoperative follow-up was completed for all patients, and the average follow-up time was 11.6 ± 7.2 months. During the follow-up period, no recurrence or death was observed., Conclusions: Mediastinoscopy-assisted esophagectomy is an effective way to treat early esophageal cancer. The application of flexible mediastinoscopy provides more convenience and better stability. It can facilitate the operation of the surgeon and lymph node dissection, which proved to be a feasible technology., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

As a key region, promoter plays a key role in transcription regulation. A eukaryotic promoter database called EPD has been constructed to store eukaryotic POL II promoters. Although there are some promoter databases for specific prokaryotic species or specific promoter type, such as RegulonDB for Escherichia coli K-12, DBTBS for Bacillus subtilis and Pro54DB for sigma 54 promoter, because of the diversity of prokaryotes and the development of sequencing technology, huge amounts of prokaryotic promoters are scattered in numerous published articles, which is inconvenient for researchers to explore the process of gene regulation in prokaryotes. In this study, we constructed a Prokaryotic Promoter Database (PPD), which records the experimentally validated promoters in prokaryotes, from published articles. Up to now, PPD has stored 129,148 promoters across 63 prokaryotic species manually extracted from published papers. We provided a friendly interface for users to browse, search, blast, visualize, submit and download data. The PPD will provide relatively comprehensive resources of prokaryotic promoter for the study of prokaryotic gene transcription. The PPD is freely available and easy accessed at http://lin-group.cn/database/ppd/., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Catamenial pneumothorax is characterized by spontaneous recurring pneumothorax during menstruation, which is a common clinical manifestation of thoracic endometriosis syndrome. There are still controversies about its pathogenesis., Case Presentation: A 43-year-old woman with a history of endometriosis came to our hospital due to recurring pneumothorax during menstruation. Uniportal Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) exploration was performed on the eve of menstruating. We thoroughly explored the diaphragm, visceral and parietal pleura: The lung surface was scattered with yellowish-brown implants; no bullae were found; multiple diaphragmatic defects were found on the dome. And surprisingly, we caught a fascinating phenomenon: Bubbles were slipping into pleural cavity through diaphragmatic defects. We excised the diaphragmatic lesions and wedge resected the right upper lung lesion; cleared the deposits and flushed the thoracic cavity with pure iodophor. Diaphragmatic lesions confirmed the presence of endometriosis, and interestingly enough, microscopically, endometrial cells were shedding with impending menses. After a series of intraoperative operations and postoperative endocrine therapy, the disease did not recur after a period of follow-up., Conclusion: We have witnessed the typical signs of catamenial pneumothorax at the accurate timing: Not only observed the process of gas migration macroscopically, but also obtained pathological evidence of diaphragmatic periodic perforation microscopically, which is especially precious and confirms the existing theory that retrograde menstruation leads to diaphragmatic endometriosis, and the diaphragmatic fenestration is obtained due to the periodic activities of ectopic endometrium.

Background/aims: Targeted drug delivery vehicles with low immunogenicity and toxicity are needed for cancer therapy. Here, we prepare an active targeting drug carrier of low immunogenicity and toxicity for targeted therapy., Methods: Immature dendritic cells (imDCs) from BALB/c mice were used as donor cells of exosomes (Exos) that were transfected with the plasmids expressing fusion proteins of a tumor-targeting peptide known as internalizing RGD (iRGD) to construct a type of tumor-targeting iRGD-Exos and observe the interaction between these iRGD-Exos. Also, recombinant methioninase (rMETase) was loaded into the iRGD-Exos by electroporation to construct iRGD-Exos-rMETase and to assess the tumor-targeting function of the iRGD-Exos-rMETase. Finally, 30 BALB/c were randomly divided into five groups (n = 6), to observe tumor growth in vivo., Results: The iRGD-Exos-rMETase was 99.58 nm in diameter and presented a unique "goblet" structure under transmission electron microscopy (TEM), with the encapsulation efficiency (EE) of 19.05%. iRGD-Exos-rMETase group has the strongest tumor suppressive effect. Compared to the iRGD-Exos-rMETase group, rMETase group and the blank-Exos-rMETase group were less effective, while the PBS group and the iRGD-Exos group showed no inhibitory effect on tumor growth. After treatment, the iRGD-Exos-rMETase group had gastric tumors significantly smaller and lighter than the other groups (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: The iRGD-Exos-rMETase is an effective antitumor therapy that delivers rMETase to tumor tissue using the iRGD-Exos. With its favorable inhibitory effect and tumor-targeting function, the iRGD-Exos-rMETase shows excellent potential value and exciting prospects in clinical applications.

Straw returning usually gives rise to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the soil, and thus negatively affects carbon footprint (CF) of crop production. Numerous studies reported the effects of straw returning on the CF from single crop production. However, little is known about the integrated effects of different levels of straw returning on the CF and net ecosystem economic benefits (NEEB) from rice-wheat rotation. Here, we investigated the effects of different amounts of straw returning on soil CH 4 and N 2 O emissions, GHG emissions from agricultural inputs (AIGHG), CF, and NEEB from a 2-year cycle of rice-wheat rotation. The CF was determined based on the total GHG emissions associated with crop production inputs and services. Overall, straw returning significantly increased annual CH 4 emissions by 5.4-72.2% and reduced annual N 2 O emissions by 3.3-31.4% compared with straw removal. Straw returning remarkably increased rice grain yields by 8.1-9.9% and wheat grain yields by 10.2-21.1% compared with straw removal. The average annual AIGHG from rice-wheat rotation ranged from 3579 to 4987 kg CO 2 -eq ha -1 . Diesel consumption played a dominant role in the AIGHG. The annual CF ranged from 0.96 to 1.31 kg CO 2 -eq kg -1 and increased with increasing straw returning amounts. The NEEB, which ranged from 14161 to 17413 CNY ha -1 , was significantly affected by the levels of straw returning. The treatment with returning of 1/3 of preceding crop straw to the field (2.19-2.47 kg ha -1 year -1 of rice straw in the wheat season and 1.38-1.68 kg ha -1 year -1 of wheat straw in the rice season) resulted in relatively higher grain yield, the lowest CF, and the highest NEEB among all treatments, and thus can reduce CF, and increase grain yields and NEEB, and thus can be recommended as a sustainable approach to mitigate GHG emissions and increase economic benefits from rice-wheat rotation.

Coke powders in the coking wastewater generated by petroleum refining industry needs to be removed to achieve water reuse for lack of water resources. This study developed a decoking hydrocyclone in the closed coking wastewater circulation treatment system to remove coke powders, which was highly efficient and environmentally friendly. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method was carried out to study the tangential velocity distribution index n-value to guide design of decoking hydrocyclone and experiment was conducted to verify the coke powders removal effect. It was found that the increase of n-value is conducive to the improvement of coke powders separation efficiency. A decoking hydrocyclone with a cone angle of 15° and an inlet size of 4 × 6 mm is the optimum hydrocyclone and the recovery efficiency of coke powders is stable at more than 90%. It is the first time for hydrocyclone successfully applied to the removal of coke powders in coking wastewater in the decoking process of petroleum refining industry, in which the separation efficiency of coke powders is considerably improved., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript entitled “Removal of coke powders in coking wastewater using a hydrocyclone optimized by n-value”., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study focused on the role of methionine (MET) in the autophagy of gastric cancer stem cells (GCSCs) and aims to elaborate its regulatory mechanism. In the present study, the GCSCs were isolated from human gastric cancer cell lines using an anti-CD44 antibody, and then cultured in MET + homocysteine (HCY) - or MET - HCY + medium. In MET + HCY - treated GCSCs, autophagy was suppressed, the methylation and phosphorylation of RAB37 were elevated, and miR-200b expression was down-regulated. Lentiviral vector (LV-) carrying methionine-γ lyase (an enzyme that could specifically lyse MET; Metase) promoted autophagy, reduced the methylation and phosphorylation of RAB37, and up-regulated miR-200b expression in MET + HCY - -treated GCSCs. Then, we found that miR-200b suppressed the expression of protein kinase C α (PKCα), a protein that could inactivate RAB37 through promoting its phosphorylation. LV-Metase down-regulated RAB37 phosphorylation via miR-200b/PKCα, thus promoting the RAB37-mediated autophagy and suppressing cell viability in MET + HCY - treated GCSCs. Finally, the in vivo study proved that LV-Metase treatment inhibited tumor growth through up-regulating RAB37 expression. In conclusion, MET suppressed RAB37 expression via enhancing its methylation and suppressed RAB37 activity via miR-200b/PKCα axis, thus repressing RAB37-mediated autophagy in GCSCs. The supplementation of Metase lysed MET, thus inducing the autophagy of GCSCs and inhibiting tumor growth.

Background: Gastric cancer is a common malignancy and had poor response to treatment due to its strong heterogeneity. This study aimed to identify essential genes associated with diffuse type gastric cancer and construct a powerful prognostic model., Results: We conducted a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCN) using transcripts per million (TPM) expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to find out the module related with diffuse type gastric cancer. Combining Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) with multi-cox regression, the 10 specific genes risk score model of diffuse type gastric cancer was established. The concordance index (0.97), the area under the respective ROC curves (AUCs) (1-years: 0.98; 3-years: 1; 5-years: 1) and survival difference of high- and low risk groups (p=2.84e-10) of this model in TCGA dataset were obtained. The moderate predicting performance was observed in the independent cohort of GSE15459 and GSE62254. The results of the gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) using high-and low risk group as phenotype indicated differential expression of tumor-related pathways., Conclusion: Thus, we constructed a reliable prognostic model for diffuse type gastric cancer, which should be beneficial for clinical therapeutic decision-making.

5-Methylcytosine (m5C) plays an extremely important role in the basic biochemical process. With the great increase of identified m5C sites in a wide variety of organisms, their epigenetic roles become largely unknown. Hence, accurate identification of m5C site is a key step in understanding its biological functions. Over the past several years, more attentions have been paid on the identification of m5C sites in multiple species. In this work, we firstly summarized the current progresses in computational prediction of m5C sites and then constructed a more powerful and reliable model for identifying m5C sites. To train the model, we collected experimentally confirmed m5C data from Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis thaliana, and compared the performances of different feature extraction methods and classification algorithms for optimizing prediction model. Based on the optimal model, a novel predictor called iRNA-m5C was developed for the recognition of m5C sites. Finally, we critically evaluated the performance of iRNA-m5C and compared it with existing methods. The result showed that iRNA-m5C could produce the best prediction performance. We hope that this paper could provide a guide on the computational identification of m5C site and also anticipate that the proposed iRNA-m5C will become a powerful tool for large scale identification of m5C sites., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Cancer stem cells are undifferentiated cancer cells that have self-renewal ability, a high tumorigenic activity, and a multilineage differentiation potential. MicroRNAs play a critical role in regulating gene expression during carcinogenesis. Here, we investigated the role of miR-7 and the mechanism by which it is dysregulated in gastric cancer stem cells (GCSCs). The stem cell marker, CD44, was used to sort GCSCs by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. We found that CD44 (+) cells have higher invasiveness and form more number of sphere colonies than CD44 (-) cells. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) revealed that the miR-7-5p expression was remarkably downregulated in GCSCs but was significantly increased in the methionine-deprived medium. The downregulation of miR-7-5p results from the increased DNA methylation in the promoter region using the methylation-specific PCR. Overexpression of miR-7-5p reduced the formation of colony and decreased the invasion of GCSCs through targeting Smo and Hes1 and subsequent repressing Notch and Hedgehog signaling pathways in vitro. Notably, upregulating miR-7-5p inhibited the growth of tumor in the xenograft model. Hence, these data demonstrated that miR-7-5p represses GCSC invasion through inhibition of Smo and Hes1, which provides a potential therapeutic target of gastric cancer treatment., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Accumulating pre-clinical and clinical studies suggested that the renin-angiotensin system blockers (RASBs) possess anti-carcinogenic properties, and their use is associated with favorable outcomes in many types of cancers., Methods: A systematic literature search of relevant databases through January 2019 was conducted to identify studies assessing the RASBs on prognostic outcomes in digestive system malignancies patients on the basis of predetermined selection criteria for pooled hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 13 studies were included in the meta-analysis., Results: The meta-analysis showed that the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) resulted in a significant improvement in overall survival (HR 0.79; 95%CI 0.70-0.89; P < .000), cancer-specific survival (HR 0.81; 95%CI 0.73-0.90; P < .000) and recurrence-free survival (HR 0.68; 95%CI 0.54-0.85; P = .001), but not progression-free survival (HR 0.88; 95%CI 0.73-1.07; P = .183) and disease-free survival (HR 0.50; 95%CI 0.11-2.39; P = .103). Subgroup analysis indicated that the use of RASBs has a significant improvement of overall survival (OS) in pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, and gastric cancer. Two studies evaluated the dose-response relationship between ACEIs/ARBs therapy and survival and showed higher doses and better survival [(1-364 defined daily doses: odds ratio (OR) 0.89, 95%CI 0.78-1.01, P = .076), (≥365 defined daily doses: OR 0.54, 95%CI: 0.24-1.24, P = .148]., Conclusions: Meta-analysis of studies supports a beneficial association between use of RASBs and survival of digestive system malignancies.

MicroRNAs, a group of short non-coding RNA molecules, could regulate gene expression. Many diseases are associated with abnormal expression of miRNAs. Therefore, accurate identification of miRNA precursors is necessary. In the past 10 years, experimental methods, comparative genomics methods, and artificial intelligence methods have been used to identify pre-miRNAs. However, experimental methods and comparative genomics methods have their disadvantages, such as time-consuming. In contrast, machine learning-based method is a better choice. Therefore, the review summarizes the current advances in pre-miRNA recognition based on computational methods, including the construction of benchmark datasets, feature extraction methods, prediction algorithms, and the results of the models. And we also provide valid information about the predictors currently available. Finally, we give the future perspectives on the identification of pre-miRNAs. The review provides scholars with a whole background of pre-miRNA identification by using machine learning methods, which can help researchers have a clear understanding of progress of the research in this field., (© 2020 Bentham Science Publishers.)

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) can cause the terrible tuberculosis (TB), which is reported as one of the most dreadful epidemics. Although many biochemical molecular drugs have been developed to cope with this disease, the drug resistance-especially the multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistance (XDR)-poses a huge threat to the treatment. However, traditional biochemical experimental method to tackle TB is time-consuming and costly. Benefited by the appearance of the enormous genomic and proteomic sequence data, TB can be treated via sequence-based biological computational approach-bioinformatics. Studies on predicting subcellular localization of mycobacterial protein (MBP) with high precision and efficiency may help figure out the biological function of these proteins and then provide useful insights for protein function annotation as well as drug design. In this review, we reported the progress that has been made in computational prediction of subcellular localization of MBP including the following aspects: 1) Construction of benchmark datasets. 2) Methods of feature extraction. 3) Techniques of feature selection. 4) Application of several published prediction algorithms. 5) The published results. 6) The further study on prediction of subcellular localization of MBP., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Endoscopic techniques have been applied to oral and maxillofacial surgeries. Previous studies have proved their practicability in the treatment of osteomyelitis of the mandible and displaced residual roots in the maxillary sinus. In this report, two patients with dentigerous cysts in the maxillary sinus underwent endoscope-assisted curettage. Both patients were successfully cured without recurrent lesions or any complications. The follow-up found that the bone cavities had shrunk. An endoscope-assisted Caldwell-Luc operation provided clear visibility of the surgical field and preserved the mucosa of the maxillary sinus.

Background: Autophagy plays an important role in regulating cisplatin (CDDP) resistance in gastric cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanism of methioninase (METase) in the regulation of autophagy and CDDP resistance of gastric cancer cells is still not clear., Materials and Methods: Western blot was used to detect the levels of autophagy-related proteins, multidrug-resistant 1 (MDR-1), and FoxM1 protein. LncRNA HULC was detected by qRT-PCR. Cell viability was detected using CCK-8 assay. The interaction between lncRNA HULC and FoxM1 was confirmed by RNA pull-down and RIP assay., Results: Lentiviral vector carrying METase (LV-METase) suppressed autophagy and CDDP resistance of drug-resistant gastric cancer cells. LncRNA HULC was significantly downregulated in drug-resistant gastric cancer cells transfected with LV-METase. Besides, we found that lncRNA HULC interacted with FoxM1. In addition, METase suppressed autophagy to reduce CDDP resistance of drug-resistant gastric cancer cells through regulating HULC/FoxM1, and interfering HULC suppressed autophagy to reduce CDDP resistance of drug-resistant gastric cancer cells through regulating FoxM1. Finally, interfering HULC inhibited tumor growth in vivo., Conclusion: METase suppressed autophagy to reduce CDDP resistance of drug-resistant gastric cancer cells through regulating HULC/FoxM1 pathway.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of a smartphone-compatible thermal imaging camera in the mapping of the peroneal artery perforators., Methods: Twelve consecutive patients scheduled for fibular flap reconstruction were enrolled. The lower limbs were first studied using smartphone-based dynamic infrared thermography (DIRT). During the rewarming, the hotspots were marked, small rubber markers were taped to the registered sites, and then the patients were sent for a CT scan. The diagnostic performance of smartphone-based DIRT was evaluated by comparing the DIRT findings with CT angiography and intraoperative findings., Results: DIRT detected 42 of the 57 dominant perforators in 24 limbs and resulted in a sensitivity of 73.7% and a positive predictive value of 65.6%., Conclusions: The sensitivity and positive predictive value of the smartphone-based DIRT are low. Currently, it should be used as an adjunctive tool together with the established imaging techniques., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Helium (He) bubbles are typical radiation defects in structural materials in nuclear reactors after high dose energetic particle irradiation. In the past decades, extensive studies have been conducted to explore the dynamic evolution of He bubbles under various conditions and to investigate He-induced hardening and embrittlement. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the behavior of He bubbles in metals; overview the mechanisms of He bubble nucleation, growth, and coarsening; introduce the latest methods of He control by using interfaces in nanocrystalline metals and metallic multilayers; analyze the effects of He bubbles on strength and ductility of metals; and point out some remaining questions related to He bubbles that are crucial for design of advanced radiation-tolerant materials., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The soluble carrier hormone binding protein (HBP) plays an important role in the growth of human and other animals. HBP can also selectively and non-covalently interact with hormone. Therefore, accurate identification of HBP is an important prerequisite for understanding its biological functions and molecular mechanisms. Since experimental methods are still labor intensive and cost ineffective to identify HBP, it's necessary to develop computational methods to accurately and efficiently identify HBP. In this paper, a machine learning-based method was proposed to identify HBP, in which the samples were encoded by using the optimal tripeptide composition obtained based on the binomial distribution method. In the 5-fold cross-validation test, the proposed method yielded an overall accuracy of 97.15%. For the convenience of scientific community, a user-friendly webserver called HBPred2.0 was built, which could be freely accessed at http://lin-group.cn/server/HBPred2.0/.

Bioluminescent Proteins (BLPs) are widely distributed in many living organisms that act as a key role of light emission in bioluminescence. Bioluminescence serves various functions in finding food and protecting the organisms from predators. With the routine biotechnological application of bioluminescence, it is recognized to be essential for many medical, commercial and other general technological advances. Therefore, the prediction and characterization of BLPs are significant and can help to explore more secrets about bioluminescence and promote the development of application of bioluminescence. Since the experimental methods are money and time-consuming for BLPs identification, bioinformatics tools have played important role in fast and accurate prediction of BLPs by combining their sequences information with machine learning methods. In this review, we summarized and compared the application of machine learning methods in the prediction of BLPs from different aspects. We wish that this review will provide insights and inspirations for researches on BLPs., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Objectives: Osteoradionecrosis of the mandible is a late radiation-induced complication, which is a major concern in survivors of head and neck cancer., Study Design: In this study, we present a case of a patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who developed extensive bilateral osteoradionecrosis of the ascending ramus of the mandible. After preoperative virtual surgical planning, the obtained data were used to fabricate patient-specific cutting templates. The bilateral mandibular defects were reconstructed using 2 separate flaps prepared from a single fibula., Results: Both defects were successfully reconstructed, and satisfactory aesthetic and functional results were achieved., Conclusions: Bilateral mandibular osteoradionecrosis can be managed with virtual surgical planning, and the defects can be reconstructed using 2 separate flaps prepared from a single fibula., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This paper presents a novel hand-held photometer, termed "Photopette", for on-spot absorbance measurements of biochemical analytes. The Photopette is a multicomponent, highly portable device with an overall weight of 160 g, which fits within 202 mm × 47 mm × 42 mm. Designed in the form factor of a micropipette, Photopette integrates a photodiode detector with light emitting diodes (LEDs) to form a highly customizable photometer which supports a wide variety of applications within the wavelengths between 260 and 1050 nm. A dual-purpose disposable reflective tip was designed to act as a sample holder and a light-reflecting system, which is in stark contrast to the operation of mainstream spectrophotometers and photometers. Small volume analytes may be measured with low sample loss using this proprietary CuveTip. A user-friendly software application running on smart devices was developed to control and read the values from Photopette via a low-energy Bluetooth link. This one-step strategy allows measurements on-spot without sample transfer, minimizing cross-contamination and human error. The results reported in this paper demonstrate Photopette's great potential to quantify DNA, direct protein, and cell density directly within the laminar flow hood. Results are compared with a Nanodrop 2000c spectrophotometer, a mainstream spectrophotometer for small-volume measurements.

Objective: To study the changes in liver function in patients with epidemic hemorrhagic fever (EHF)., Method: A retrospective analysis of the laboratory tests of liver function in 103 patients with EHF and control subjects was carried out., Results: The alanine aminotransferase (ALT), serum bilirubin (SB) and albumin levels in patients with severe and critical liver damages significantly differed from those in milder cases, and more sever liver damages were found in the death cases of EHF than in survived patients in terms of ALT and SB increment (P=0.000). The liver damage was related to the clinical type, age and the levels of blood platelet , albumin, lactic dehydrogenase and creatinine in EHF cases (P=0.000, 0.000, 0.030, 0.010, 0.000 and 0.013, respectively)., Conclusions: Liver damage is common in patients with EHF and exacerbates with the severity of the disease. Monitoring of ALT, SB and albumin is helpful for evaluating the progression and prognosis of EHF.