Search

Background: Peritumoral edema is an independent prognostic risk factor for malignant tumors. Therefore, assessment of peritumoral edema in preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may provide better prognostic information in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)., Aim: To determine whether peritumoral edema in preoperative MRI is a prognostic factor for HCC., Methods: A retrospective analysis of 90 patients with HCC confirmed by surgical pathology was performed. All patients' peritumoral edema in preoperative MRI was reviewed by two radiologists. The association of disease recurrence with peritumoral edema and clinicopathological features was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards model. Interobserver agreement for evaluating peritumoral edema was determined using Cohen's κ coefficient., Results: Recurrence and non-recurrence after an average 20.8 month follow-up was 25.6% (23/90) and 74.4% (67/90), respectively. The ratio of peritumoral edema of 90 patients with HCC in preoperative MRI was 35.6% (32/90). In univariate Cox regression analysis, peritumoral edema [hazard ratio (HR) 11.08, P < 0.001], tumor diameter (HR 4.12, P = 0.001), microvascular invasion (HR 2.78, P = 0.020), gender (HR 0.29, P = 0.006), cirrhosis (HR 2.45, P = 0.049), ascites syndrome (HR 2.83, P = 0.022), aspartate aminotransferase(AST)/alanine aminotransferase(ALT) (HR 5.07, P = 0.003) were indicators for HCC recurrence. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, the tumor diameter (HR 2.53, P = 0.032) and peritumoral edema (HR 8.71, P < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors of HCC. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of peritumoral edema and tumor diameter were 82.6%&60.9%, 80.6%&77.6%, 59.4%&48.3%, and 93.1%&85.3%, respectively., Conclusion: Peritumoral edema in preoperative MRI may be considered as a biomarker of prognostic information for patients with HCC., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the feeding of direct fed microbials (DFMs) on fecal shedding of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in naturally infected cattle (experiment I) and on Salmonella in the feces and peripheral lymph nodes (PLNs) of experimentally infected cattle (experiment II). Thirty cattle, 10 per treatment, were used in each experiment. Treatments in experiment I consisted of a control (lactose carrier only); DFM1, a 1:1 ratio of Enterococcus faecium and Lactobacillus animalis ; and DFM2, a 1:1 ratio of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Pediococcus acidilactici . In Experiment II, DFM1 was replaced with DFM3, a 1:2 ratio of Lactobacillus reuteri and other Lactobacillus strains. Additives were mixed in water and applied as a top-dressing to each pen's daily ration for 50 days. Approximately half-way through each experiment, the DFM concentration was doubled for the remainder of the study. Fecal samples were collected throughout experiment I and cultured for E. coli O157:H7. Cattle in experiment II were inoculated intradermally with Salmonella Montevideo on days 32, 37, and 42 and then necropsied on days 49 and 50 (five cattle per treatment on each day). Innate immune function was assessed on days 29, 49, and 50. In experiment I, fecal concentration and prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 were not different ( P > 0.10) nor was there an effect ( P = 0.95) on the percentage of super shedders (cattle shedding ≥3.0 log CFU/g of feces). In experiment II, no treatment differences ( P > 0.05) were observed for Salmonella in the PLNs except for the inguinal nodes, which had a significantly lower Salmonella prevalence in DFM-supplemented cattle than in the controls. Immune function, as measured by monocyte nitric oxide production and neutrophil oxidative burst, was decreased ( P < 0.05) in the DFM treatment groups. Although results of this research indicate little to no effect of these DFMs on E. coli O157:H7 or Salmonella in cattle, an increase in the duration of administration to that similar to what is used for commercial cattle might elicit treatment differences.

Background: Metabolic adaptation in cancer cells is important for cancer cell survival. Alternation in cellular metabolism getting more energy to support cell proliferation played a critical role in disease progression. We initially analyzed the public transcriptome of urothelial carcinoma in Gene Expression Omnibus database (GSE31684) with particular focus on genes associated with carbohydrate metabolism, and found that Chitinase 3-like-1 (CHI3L1) was a significantly up-regulated gene associated with advanced disease status. This study was aimed to evaluate the expression and prognostic significance of CHI3L1 in upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) and urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma (UBUC)., Materials and Methods: We performed immunohistochemical study to evaluate CHI3L1 expression in 2 well-defined cohorts of urothelial carcinoma, including UTUC (n = 340) and UBUC (n = 295). CHI3L1 expression level was determined by H-score method. The associations between CHI3L1 expression and clinicopathological features, disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MFS) were analyzed., Results: High expression of CHI3L1 was significantly associated with adverse clinicopathological features in UTUC or UBUC, including advanced tumor status (pT), nodal metastasis, high histological grade, vascular invasion, perineural invasion, and high mitotic activity (all P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that patients with high CHI3L1 expression had shorter DSS and MFS in both UTUC and UBUC (all P < 0.05). In multivariate survival analyses, high expression of CHI3L1 acted as an independent prognostic factor for worse DSS (P < 0.001 in UTUC and P = 0.036 in UBUC) and MFS (P = 0.002 in UTUC and P = 0.003 in UBUC) in both UTUC and UBUC groups., Conclusions: High expression of CHI3L1 was significantly associated with aggressive clinicopathological features and acted as an independent prognostic factor for worse outcome in urothelial carcinoma., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Although thymol is bactericidal against many pathogens in vitro, its in vivo effectiveness against pathogens in the lower gastrointestinal tract is limited because of its rapid absorption in the proximal gut. Thymol-β-D-glucopyranoside (β-thymol), a conjugated form of thymol, can deliver thymol to the lower gastrointestinal tract and has shown antibacterial effects. In the present study, we examined the in vitro effects of β-thymol on Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST) and Escherichia coli K88 (K88). We inoculated one-half strength Mueller-Hinton broth with 5.8 ± 0.09 log CFU/ml novobiocin- and naladixic acid-resistant (NN) ST (NVSL 95-1776) and 5.1 ± 0.09 log CFU ml(-1) NN-resistant K88, with or without porcine feces (0.1% [wt/vol]) (fecal incubations). The resultant bacterial suspensions were distributed under N2 to triplicate sets of tubes to achieve initial concentrations of 0, 3, 6, and 12 mM for ST treatments and 0, 3, 12, and 30 mM for K88 treatments. Samples were incubated at 39°C and then plated onto NN-containing brilliant green agar and NN-containing MacConkey agar; ST and K88 CFU concentrations were determined via 10-fold dilutions, and viable cell counts were performed at 0, 6, and 24 h. No differences in ST CFU counts were observed in β-thymol-treated tubes without the added porcine feces (i.e., pure culture) at 6 or 24 h. However, in tubes that contained fecal incubations, ST CFU counts were reduced (P < 0.05) from controls at 6 h in tubes treated with 6 and 12 mM β-thymol, whereas in tubes treated with 3, 6, and 12 mM β-thymol the CFU counts were reduced (P < 0.05) at 24 h. No differences were observed in K88 CFU counts in pure culture or in fecal incubations at 6 h, but K88 CFU counts were reduced (P < 0.05) in both pure and fecal incubations at 24 h. The results from this study demonstrate that β-thymol, in the presence of fecal suspensions, has anti-Salmonella and anti-E. coli effects, suggesting a role of β-glycoside-hydrolyzing microbes for the release of bactericidal thymol from β-thymol.

Genes associated with protein folding have been found to have certain prognostic significance in a subset of cancers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical impact of DNAJC12 expression in patients with rectal cancers receiving neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) followed by surgery. Through data mining from a public transcriptomic dataset of rectal cancer focusing on genes associated with protein folding, we found that DNAJC12, a member of the HSP40/DNAJ family, was the most significant such gene correlated with the CCRT response. We further evaluated the expression of DNAJC12 by immunohistochemistry in the pre-treatment tumor specimens from 172 patients with rectal cancers. From this set, we statistically analyzed the association of DNAJC12 expression with various clinicopathological factors, tumor regression grade, overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and local recurrence-free survival (LRFS). High expression of DNAJC12 was significantly associated with advanced pre- and post-treatment tumor status (P<0.001), advanced pre- and post-treatment nodal status (P<0.001), increased vascular invasion (P=0.015), increased perineural invasion (P=0.023) and lower tumor regression grade (P=0.009). More importantly, high expression of DNAJC12 was found to be correlated with poor prognosis for OS (P=0.0012), DFS (P<0.0001) and LRFS (P=0.0001). In multivariate analysis, DNAJC12 overexpression still emerged as an independent prognosticator for shorter OS (P=0.040), DFS (P<0.001) and LRFS (P=0.016). The data indicate that DNAJC12 overexpression acts as a negative predictive factor for the response to neoadjuvant CCRT and was significantly associated with shorter survival in patients with rectal cancers receiving neoadjuvant CCRT followed by surgery., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Both 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) and acrylamide are contaminants found in heat-processed foods and their related products. A quantitative method was developed for the simultaneous determination of both contaminants in food by gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The analytes were purified and extracted by the matrix solid-phase dispersion extraction (MSPDE) technique with Extrelut NT. A coupled column (a 3 m Innowax combined with a 30 m DB-5 ms) was developed to separate both compounds efficiently without derivatization. Triple quadrupole mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM) was applied to suppress matrix interference and obtain good sensitivity in the determination of both analytes. The limit of detection (LOD) in the sample matrix was 5 μg kg(-1) for 3-MCPD or acrylamide. The average recoveries for 3-MCPD and acrylamide in different food matrices were 90.5-107% and 81.9-95.7%, respectively, with the intraday relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 5.6-13.5% and 5.3-13.4%, respectively. The interday RSDs were 6.1-12.6% for 3-MCPD and were 5.0-12.8% for acrylamide. Both contaminants were found in samples of bread, fried chips, fried instant noodles, soy sauce, and instant noodle flavoring. Neither 3-MCPD nor acrylamide was detected in the samples of dairy products (solid or liquid samples) and non-fried instant noodles., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The clearance of propofol is very rapid, and its transformation takes place mainly in the liver. Some reports indicated extrahepatic clearance of the drug and that the lungs are the likely place where the process occurs. This study was undertaken to compare the plasma concentrations of propofol both in the pulmonary and radial arteries after constant infusion during the dissection, anhepatic and reperfusion phases of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) without veno-venous bypass, attempting to investigate extrahepatic clearance and to determine whether the human lungs take part in the elimination of propofol., Methods: Fifteen patients undergoing OLT without veno-venous bypass were enrolled in the study, and propofol was infused via a forearm vein at a rate of 2 mg x kg-1 x h-1. Blood samples were simultaneously collected from pulmonary and radial arteries at the end of the first hepatic portal dissection (T0), at the clamping of the portal vein (T1), 30, and 60 minutes after the beginning of the anhepatic phase (T2, T3), and 30, 60, and 120 minutes after the unclamping of the new liver (T4, T5, T6). Plasma propofol concentrations were measured using a reversed-phase, high-performance liquid chromatographic method with fluorescence detection., Results: The concentrations of plasma propofol in the pulmonary and radial arteries at T2 and T3 rose significantly compared with T0 and T1 (P<0.01) respectively. After reperfusion, the drug concentrations at T4, T5 and T6 decreased significantly compared with T2, T3 (P<0.01) respectively. There were no significant differences in plasma propofol concentrations between the pulmonary and radial arteries at any time points., Conclusions: Propofol is eliminated mainly by the liver, and also by extrahepatic organs. The lungs seem to be not a major site contributing to the extrahepatic metabolism of propofol in humans.