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During the process of DNA replication, insertions or deletions of repeat sequences easily occur in microsatellites due to DNA polymerase slippage in instances of defective mismatch repair; this phenomenon is known as microsatellite instability. Based on genetic profiling, microsatellite instability gastric cancer is regarded as a separate subtype of gastric cancer that is associated with old age, the female sex, a distal gastric location, and a lower number of lymph node metastases. According to numerous retrospective studies, microsatellite instability is a favourable predictive marker for prognosis. However, during the perioperative period, gastric cancer patients with microsatellite instability after chemotherapy often exhibit a poor and unfavourable prognosis. This result still remains controversial. The efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in microsatellite instability-high tumours ranges from detrimental to beneficial effects. Due to the widespread expression of immune checkpoint molecules (such as programmed death-1 and programmed death-ligand 1) in tumours with microsatellite instability, immune checkpoint inhibitors have been utilized to treat microsatellite instability gastric cancer and tremendously improve the efficacy of treatment and survival of microsatellite instability patients. In this review, we attempt to outline the definitions of microsatellites and microsatellite instability, the methods used to screen for microsatellite instability, the clinical characteristics of microsatellite instability gastric cancer, and its responses to chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment. Overall, determining the status of microsatellites is essential before developing a tailored treatment strategy for patients with microsatellite instability gastric cancer.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in posttranscriptional regulation during the window of implantation. However, which miRNA may play regulatory role during the window of implantation remains to be studied in depth. This paper aimed to explore the miRNAs that played regulatory roles during the process of implantation. Methods: RNA sequencing was performed to analyze mice uterus tissue in gestation day 1 (D1), gestation day 4 (D4) and gestation day5 (D5). The tissues in D5 were divided into embryo implantation sites (D5IMS) and inter-implantation sites (D5IIS). The differentially expressed miRNAs were screened and bioinformatics analyzed. Transfecting miR-183-5p mimics into HEC-1-A cells, genes regulated by miR-183-5p were analyzed by transcriptome sequencing. Result: Eleven differentially expressed miRNAs were identified during the window of implantation. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the most differentially expressed miRNAs mainly related to binding and signaling transduction related pathways. Especially miR-183-5p, miR-182-5p, miR-199b-5p and miR-218-5p play a crucial role in regulating many important pathways. Transcriptome sequencing results showed that there were 19 up-regulated and 31 down-regulated genes in the miR-183-5p mimics group compared with the negative control (NC) group. This work laid a foundation for the study of miRNA in early pregnancy.

Endometrial cancer is one of the most prevalent tumors of the female reproductive system causing serious health effects to women worldwide. Although numerous studies, including analysis of gene expression profile and cellular microenvironment have been reported in this field, pathogenesis of this disease remains unclear. In this study, we performed a system bioinformatics analysis of endometrial cancer using the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets (GSE17025, GSE63678, and GSE115810) to identify the core genes. In addition, exosomes derived from endometrial cancer cells were also isolated and identified. First, we analyzed the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between endometrial cancer tissues and normal tissues in clinic samples. We found that HAND2-AS1, PEG3, OGN, SFRP4, and OSR2 were co-expressed across all 3 datasets. Pathways analysis showed that several pathways associated with endometrial cancer, including “p53 signaling pathway”, “Glutathione metabolism”, “Cell cycle”, and etc. Next, we selected DEGs with highly significant fold change and co-expressed across the 3 datasets and validated them in the TCGA database using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA). Finally, we performed a survival analysis and identified four genes (TOP2A, ASPM, EFEMP1, and FOXL2) that play key roles in endometrial cancer. We found up-regulation of TOP2A and ASPM in endometrial cancer tissues or cells, while EFEMP1 and FOXL2 were down-regulated. Furthermore, we isolated exosomes from the culturing supernatants of endometrial cancer cells (Ishikawa and HEC-1-A) and found that miR-133a, which regulates expression of FOXL2, were present in exosomes and that they could be delivered to normal endometrial cells. The common DEGs, pathways, and exosomal miRNAs identified in this study might play an important role in progression as well as diagnosis of endometrial cancer. In conclusion, our results provide insights into the pathogenesis and risk assessment of endometrial cancer. Even so, further studies are required to elucidate on the precise mechanism of action of these genes in endometrial cancer.

The concentration analyzer with high precision and wide range is the core device for monitoring the fermentation process. In this work, we designed and proposed a lowcost three-electrode glucose analyzer based on a self-made screen-printed enzyme biosensor chip, which has a Prussian blue (PB) nanocubic structure and leads to high sensitivity of 117.31 μAmM-1cm-2. The hardware design of the glucose analyzer can be divided into five critical parts, including digital, signal treatment system, power supply, motor-driven and the host computer. The signal treatment system is used to collect, convert and amplify the weak current signal generated by the biosensor. The digital circuit of the central processing unit of the analyzer is designed using the STM32F407ZET6. Besides, an external analog-to-digital converter is used to achieve high precision A/D conversion. The stability of the potentiostat is ensured by designing the precision power supply, hardware filtering, and algorithm filtering. The experimental results show that the glucose analyzer has a wide linear detection range from 1g/L to 120g/L and the coefficient of variation at 1g/L is 0.038, which exhibits excellent performance in stability and detection accuracy. The analyzer can be applied in the future for in-situ measurement of glucose concentration for its wide-range and high-precision detection capabilities.

Acquired respiratory-digestive tract fistulas occur with abnormal communication between the airways and digestive tract, causing the interflow of gas and liquid. Despite advances in surgical methods and the development of multimodal therapy in recent years, patients with acquired respiratory-digestive tract fistulas continue to exhibit unfavorable clinical outcomes. Therefore, in order to guide clinical practice in China, the Respiratory and Cancer Intervention Alliance of the Beijing Health Promotion Association organized a group of experienced experts in the field to develop this consensus document. Based on a study of clinical application and expert experience in the diagnosis and management of acquired respiratory-digestive tract fistulas at home and abroad, an Expert Consensus was developed. The panelists recruited comprised experts in pulmonology, oncology, thoracic surgery, interventional radiology, and gastroenterology. PubMed, Chinese Biology Abstract, Chinese Academic Journal, and Wanfang databases were used to identify relevant articles. The guidelines address etiology, classification, pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of acquired respiratory-digestive tract fistulas. The statements on treatment focus on the indications for different procedures, technical aspects, and preprocedural, post-procedural and complication management. The proposed guidelines for the diagnosis and management of acquired respiratory-digestive tract fistulas are the first to be published by Chinese experts. These guidelines provide an in-depth review of the current evidence and standard of diagnosis and management.