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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant tumor with extremely high mortality. The tumor microenvironment is the "soil" of its occurrence and development, and the inflammatory microenvironment is an important part of the "soil". Bile acid is closely related to the occurrence of HCC. Bile acid metabolism disorder is not only directly involved in the occurrence and development of HCC but also affects the inflammatory microenvironment of HCC. Yinchenhao decoction, a traditional Chinese medicine formula, can regulate bile acid metabolism and may affect the inflammatory microenvironment of HCC. To determine the effect of Yinchenhao decoction on bile acid metabolism in mice with HCC and to explore the possible mechanism by which Yinchenhao decoction improves the inflammatory microenvironment of HCC by regulating bile acid metabolism, we established mice model of orthotopic transplantation of hepatocellular carcinoma. These mice were treated with three doses of Yinchenhao decoction, then liver samples were collected and tested. Yinchenhao decoction can regulate the disorder of bile acid metabolism in liver cancer mice. Besides, it can improve inflammatory reactions, reduce hepatocyte degeneration and necrosis, and even reduce liver weight and the liver index. Taurochenodeoxycholic acid, hyodeoxycholic acid, and taurohyodeoxycholic acid are important molecules in the regulation of the liver inflammatory microenvironment, laying a foundation for the regulation of the liver tumor inflammatory microenvironment based on bile acids. Yinchenhao decoction may improve the inflammatory microenvironment of mice with HCC by ameliorating hepatic bile acid metabolism., (© 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Japanese Society of Pharmacognosy.)

In this article we present the Database of Word-Level Statistics for Mandarin Chinese (DoWLS-MAN). The database addresses the lack of agreement in phonological syllable segmentation specific to Mandarin by offering phonological features for each lexical item according to 16 schematic representations of the syllable (8 with tone and 8 without tone). Those lexical statistics that differ per phonological word and nonword due to changes in syllable segmentation are of the variant category and include subtitle lexical frequency, phonological neighborhood density measures, homophone density, and network science measures. The invariant characteristics consist of each items' lexical tone, phonological transcription, and syllable structure among others. The goal of DoWLS-MAN is to provide researchers both the ability to choose stimuli that are derived from a segmentation schema that supports an existing model of Mandarin speech processing, and the ability to choose stimuli that allow for the testing of hypotheses on phonological segmentation according to multiple schemas. In an exploratory analysis we illustrate how multiple schematic representations of the phonological mental lexicon can aid in hypothesis generation, specifically in terms of phonological processing when reading Chinese orthography. Users of the database can search among over 92,000 words, over 1600 out-of-vocabulary Chinese characters, and 4300 phonological nonwords according to either Chinese orthography, pinyin, or ASCII phonetic script. Users can also generate a list of phonological words and nonwords according to user-defined ranges and categories of lexical characteristics. DoWLS-MAN is available to the public for search or download at https://dowls.site ., (© 2021. The Psychonomic Society, Inc.)

Purpose: According to the guidelines of International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) and National Wilms Tumor Study (NWTS), Wilms tumor with preoperative rupture should be classified as at least stage III. Few clinical reports can be found about preoperative Wilms tumor rupture. The purpose of this study was to investigate our experience on the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of preoperative Wilms tumor rupture., Methods: Patients with Wilms tumor who underwent treatment according to the NWTS or SIOP protocol from January 2008 to September 2017 in Beijing Children's Hospital were reviewed retrospectively. The clinical signs of preoperative tumor rupture were acute abdominal pain, and/or fall of hemoglobin. The radiologic signs of preoperative tumor rupture are as follows: (1) retroperitoneal and/or intraperitoneal effusion; (2) acute hemorrhage located in the sub-capsular and/or perirenal space; (3) tumor fracture communicating with peritoneal effusion; (4) bloody ascites. Patients with clinical and radiologic signs of preoperative tumor rupture were selected. Patients having radiologic signs without clinical symptoms were also selected. The clinical data, treatments and outcomes were analyzed. Meanwhile, patients without preoperative Wilms tumor rupture during the same period were collected and analyzed., Results: 565 Patients with Wilms tumor were registered in our hospital. Of these patients, 45 patients were diagnosed with preoperative ruptured Wilms tumor. All preoperative rupture were confirmed at surgery. Spontaneous tumor rupture occurred in 41 patients, the other 4 patients had traumatic history. Of the 45 patients, 41 were classified as stage III, 3 patients with pulmonary metastases were classified as stage IV, and one patient with bilateral tumors were classified as stage V. Of these patients with preoperative tumor rupture at stage III, 30 patients had clinical and radiologic signs of tumor rupture, the other 11 patients had radiologic signs without clinical symptoms. Among the 41 patients at stage III, 13 patients had immediate surgery without preoperative chemotherapy (immediate group), and 28 patients had delayed surgery after preoperative chemotherapy (delayed group). In immediate group, 12 patients had localized rupture, 1 patient underwent emergency surgery because of continuous bleeding. In delayed group, 4 had inferior vena cava tumor embolus (1 thrombus extended to inferior vena cava behind the liver, three thrombi got to the right atrium), 4 crossed the midline with large tumors, 20 had extensive rupture without localization. In immediate group, tumor recurrence and metastasis developed in 2 patients, and no death occurred. In the delayed group, tumor recurrence and metastasis developed in 8 patients, and 7 patients died. During the same period, 41 patients were classified as stage III without preoperative rupture. In the non-ruptured group, tumor recurrence and metastasis developed in 3 patients, and 4 patients died. The median survival time in the ruptured group (both immediate group and delayed group) and non-ruptured group were (85.1 ± 7.5) and (110.3 ± 5.6) months, and the 3-year cumulative survival rates were 75.1% and 89.6%, respectively. The overall survival rate between the ruptured and non-ruptured groups showed no statistic difference (P = 0.256). However, there was significant difference in recurrence or metastasis rate between the ruptured and non-ruptured groups (24.4% vs 7.3%; P = 0.031)., Conclusion: Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and ultrasonography (US) are of major value in the diagnosis of preoperative tumor rupture, and immediate surgery or delayed surgery are available therapeutic methods. The treatment plan was based on patients' general conditions, tumor size, position and impairment degree of tumor rupture, extent of invasion and experience of a multidisciplinary team (including surgeon and anesthesiologists). In our experience, for ruptured preoperative tumor diagnosed with stage III, the criteria for immediate surgery are as follows: tumor not acrossing the midline, tumor without inferior vena cava thrombus, localized rupture, being capable of complete resection. Selection criteria for delayed surgery after preoperative chemotherapy are as follows: large tumors, long inferior vena cava tumor thrombus, tumors infiltrating to surrounding organs, unlocalized rupture, tumors can not being resected completely. Additionally, patients with preoperative Wilms tumor rupture had an increased risk of postoperative recurrence or metastasis.

Due to its prolific growth, oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) can be grown successfully for phytoremediation of cadmium (Cd)-contaminated soils. Nowadays, use of plant growth regulators against heavy metals stress is one of the major objectives of researchers. The present study evaluates the ameliorate effects of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA, 0, 0.4, 2, and 10 mg/l) on the growth of oilseed rape (B. napus L. cv. ZS 758) seedlings under Cd stress (0, 100, and 500 μM). Results have shown that Cd stress hampered the seedling growth by decreasing the radical and hypocotyls length, shoot and root biomass, chlorophyll content, and antioxidants enzymes. On the other hand, Cd stress increased the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and production of H2O2 and accumulation of Cd in the shoots. The microscopic study of leaf mesophyll cells showed that toxicity of Cd totally destroyed the whole cell structure, and accumulation of Cd also appeared in micrographs. Application of ALA at lower dosage (2 mg/l) enhanced the seedling growth and biomass. The results showed that 2 mg/l ALA significantly improved chlorophyll content under Cd stress and decreased the level of Cd contents in shoots. Application of ALA reduced the MDA and H2O2 levels in the cotyledons. The antioxidants enzymes (ascorbate peroxidase, peroxidase, catalase, glutathione reductase, and superoxide dismutase) enhanced their activities significantly with the application of 2 mg/l ALA under Cd stress. This study also indicated that higher dosage of ALA (10 mg/l) imposed the negative effect on the growth of oilseed rape. Microscopic study showed that application of ALA alleviated the toxic effects of Cd in the mesophyll cell and improved the cell structure. Use of 2 mg/l ALA under 500 μM Cd was found to be more effective, and under this dosage, cell structure was clear, with obvious cell wall and cell membrane as well as a big nucleus, which was found with well-developed two or more nucleoli. Chloroplast was almost round in shape and contained thylakoids membranes and grana, but starch grains were not found in chloroplast comparatively to other treatments. On the basis of our results, we can conclude that ALA has a promotive effect which could improve plant survival under Cd stress.

Background: To analyze the clinical features, causative pathogens and therapeutic outcomes of bacterial meningitis in hemodialyzed patients., Patients and Methods: Two hundred and sixty-seven patients, > or = 16 yrs, were identified with culture-proven bacterial meningitis. In addition, the causative pathogens and therapeutic outcomes between uremic and non-uremic patients with adult bacterial meningitis were analyzed., Results: Nine uremic patients with bacterial meningitis, accounting for 3% (9/267) of our adult patients with culture-proven bacterial meningitis had fever, disturbed consciousness and seizures. These were the three most common manifestations in our patients. The interval between the onset of symptoms and therapy start was 5-11 days (mean: 9 days). No patients were initially diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, two patients were initially suspected of having infection of unknown origin. In the non-uremic patient group, klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae were the most frequently detected pathogens, while pseudomonas aeruginosa and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus were the most prevalent in the uremic patients group. The overall mortality rates for the non-uremic and uremic patient groups were 33 and 78% respectively., Conclusion: The mortality rate for bacterial meningitis in the uremic patients group remained high. Due to non-specific manifestations and slow evolution, bacterial meningitis was commonly misdiagnosed as uremic encephalopathy. Therefore, effective treatment was usually delayed. To avoid treatment failure, early diagnosis, careful monitoring of clinical condition and appropriate antibiotic choices are necessary.

In order to determine the species responsible for viridans-group streptococcal meningitis in adults in Taiwan, seven cases of culture-proven meningitis due to these organisms were studied. The cases were all identified at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung over a period of 3 years, and they accounted for 9% (7/78) of all cases of culture-proven bacterial meningitis occurring in adults during this period. Of the seven viridans streptococci isolates recovered, Streptococcus constellatus accounted for four, Streptococcus anginosus for two, and Streptococcus oralis for one. Thus, it appears that streptococci of the milleri group are the most common species causing bacterial meningitis in adults in Taiwan. The tendency for these organisms to cause invasive central nervous system infections in adults should not be overlooked when these species are recovered from cerebrospinal fluid specimens.