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Abstract Background The impact of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection on postoperative recovery of patients who underwent liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains uncertain given the lack of sufficient evidence. Aim To investigate the impact of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection on postoperative recovery of patients who underwent liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Patients who were pathologically diagnosed with HCC and underwent elective partial hepatectomy in Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital between January 2022 and April 2023 were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. The patients were divided into two groups based on their history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Rehabilitation parameters, including postoperative liver function, incidence of complications, and hospitalization expenses, were compared between the two groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to reduce confounding bias. Results We included 172 patients (58 with and 114 without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection) who underwent liver resection for HCC. No significant differences in the rehabilitation parameters were observed between the two groups. After PSM, 58 patients were selected from each group to form the new comparative groups. Similar results were obtained within the population after PSM. Conclusion Prior SARS-CoV-2 infection does not appear to affect postoperative rehabilitation, including liver function, postoperative complications, or hospitalization expenses among patients with HCC after elective partial hepatectomy.

ObjectivePheochromocytoma is a rare catecholamine-producing neuroendocrine tumour originating from the chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla or extra-adrenal paraganglia. However, there are few bibliometric studies on Pheochromocytoma. Therefore, this study was employed to summarize the global trends and current status in pheochromocytoma by bibliometric analysis.Materials and methodsThe Web of Science (WOS) core collection database was searched for publications relating to pheochromocytoma from 2001 to 2021. Bibliometric analysis was used to examine the data, and Microsoft Excel was utilized to create bar graphs. In addition, VOSviewer was used to carry out co-authorship analysis, co-citation analysis and co-occurrence analysis. CiteSpace was used to analyze the keywords citation bursts.ResultsA total of 8,653 publications published in 1,806 journals by 38,590 authors in 6,117 organizations from 100 countries/regions were included in our study. Among them, USA was the leading countries in terms of total publications and sum of time cited, whereas Eunice Kennedy Shriver Natl Inst Child Hlth & Hum was the leading institutions. The main publications for pheochromocytoma-related articles were Journal of clinical endocrinology &metabolism. Pacak karel and Eisenhofer Graeme were the main contributing authors. The studies on pheochromocytoma could be grouped into five clusters: Treatment, Mechanism, Etiology, Radiology and Hormones study. Moreover, the radiology study, etiology study and some specific keywords such germlines mutation, mesenchymal stem-cells, autophagy, neuroinflammation, neurotoxicity, and hemodynamic instability, may become the hot spots of future.ConclusionAlthough the number of articles on pheochromocytoma has fluctuated slightly over the past 20 years, there has been an overall upward trend. In general, precision medicine research on pheochromocytoma, especially metastatic pheochromocytoma, in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and etiology will be a hot research topic in the future. This study helps to understand the research perspectives, hot spots and trends of pheochromocytoma and provide new insight and a basis for future pheochromocytoma research quickly.

Malignant melanoma is a highly malignant tumor that originates from melanocytes. It has a poor prognosis and rarely occurs on the foot. Diabetic foot ulcer is one of the most serious chronic complications of diabetes. This paper reports two cases of type 2 diabetes patients with malignant melanoma on the foot. Clinicians should improve their understanding of patients with diabetes with acral malignant melanoma. When diabetic foot ulcers occur repeatedly and continue not to heal, the clinical features of the cutaneous lesions are similar to malignant melanoma, and a pathological biopsy of the lesions should be performed promptly to obtain a clear diagnosis, avoid a missed diagnosis and improve the survival rate.

When Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis responds to heat-shock, protein arginine kinase McsB phosphorylates Arg62 (R) in the clpC operon binding region of transcription factor CtsR, leading to dissociation of CtsR and clpC operon and initiation of stress-genes transcription for the ensuing expression of heat-shock proteins. This work investigated the clpC operon binding region (KRGGGG) of CtsR with NMR spectra (i.e., 1H NMR, 1H-1H COSY, 1H-1H TOCSY, 1H-15N HSQC and 1H-13C HSQC). The 1H, 13C and 15N chemical shifts of the protein segment were assigned. The interaction between CtsR and clpC operon and the regulatory mechanism of arginine phosphorylation were analyzed.

The objective of our study was to survey Babesia infection rates by PCR and tick species on stray dogs to correlate the distribution of Babesia with the distribution of ticks infesting dogs in Taiwan. Three hundred eighty-eight blood samples and 3037 ticks were collected from 388 roaming, and free-ranging owned dogs at residential sites in Taiwan between January 2015 and December 2017. The prevalence of B. gibsoni and B. vogeli was 15.7% (61/388) and 9.5% (37/388), respectively. Most positive B. gibsoni dogs were found in the northern part of the country 56/61 (91.8%), whereas a few were found in the middle 5/61 (8.2%). Babesia vogeli infection rates were 10%, 3.6%, and 18.2% in the northern, central, and southern regions, respectively. Five species of ticks were found: Rhipicephalus sanguineus (throughout Taiwan), Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides (in the north), Haemaphysalis hystricis (in the north and middle of Taiwan), and Amblyomma testidunarium and Ixodes ovatus (both in the north). None of the dogs in the south were infected with B gibsoni, which correlated with the absence of H. hystricis, a tick recently identified as the local vector for B gibsoni. Babesia vogeli was more equally distributed, coinciding with R. sanguineus, a tick that is present throughout Taiwan. Anaemia was detected in 86.9% of infected dogs; among these dogs, approximately 19.7% showed severe anaemia (HCT < 20). These findings provide useful advice for owners regarding outdoor activities with their dogs and local veterinarians with a regional differential diagnosis of babesiosis in Taiwan.

Abstract Background Cancer stem cells are capable of undergoing cell division after surviving cancer therapies, leading to tumor progression and recurrence. Inhibitory agents against cancer stem cells may be therapeutically used for efficiently eradicating tumors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the relevant driver genes that maintain cancer stemness in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-positive colorectal cancer (CRC) cells and to discover effective therapeutic agents against these genes. Methods In this study, EGFR-positive cancer stem-like cells (CSLCs) derived from HCT116 and HT29 cells were used as study models for in vitro inductions. To identify the differential genes that maintain CSLCs, RNAseq analysis was conducted followed by bioinformatics analysis. Moreover, a panel containing 172 therapeutic agents targeting the various pathways of stem cells was used to identify effective therapeutics against CSLCs. Results RNAseq analysis revealed that 654 and 840 genes were significantly upregulated and downregulated, respectively, in the HCT116 CSLCs. Among these genes, notably, platelet-derived growth factor A (PDGFA) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) were relevant according to the cancer pathway analyzed using NetworkAnalyst. Furthermore, therapeutic screening revealed that the agents targeting STAT3 and Wnt signaling pathways were efficient in reducing the cell viabilities of both HCT116 and HT29 cells. Consequently, we discovered that STAT3 inhibition using homoharringtonine and STAT3 knockdown significantly reduced the formation and survival of HT29-derived tumorspheres. We also observed that STAT3 phosphorylation was regulated by epidermal growth factor (EGF) to induce PDGFA and Wnt signaling cascades. Conclusions We identified the potential genes involved in tumorsphere formation and survival in selective EGFR-positive CRCs. The results reveal that the EGF-STAT3 signaling pathway promotes and maintains CRC stemness. In addition, a crosstalk between STAT3 and Wnt activates the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, which is also responsible for cancer stemness. Thus, STAT3 is a putative therapeutic target for CRC treatment.

Abstract Background Babesia gibsoni is the predominant tick-borne protozoan blood parasite affecting dogs throughout the Oriental region. Babesia gibsoni is transmitted by Haemaphysalis longicornis, whereas a similar role has been suggested for Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Haemaphysalis longicornis does not occur in Taiwan, but R. sanguineus is widely distributed on dogs. However, clinical cases of babesiosis are mainly restricted to the northern part of the island. The discrepancy between tick distribution and clinical cases stimulated us to investigate the tick species distribution on dogs in northern Taiwan, with the aim to identify the local vector for canine babesiosis. Methods Ticks were collected from stray dogs or free ranging pet dogs in northern Taiwan between 2015 and 2017 and, after identification, were tested for the presence of tick-borne Babesia parasites using PCR and reverse line blot (RLB) hybridisation. Moreover, engorged ticks collected from the dogs were incubated at 28 °C to allow them to oviposit. Their subsequent larval progeny was also examined by PCR/RLB. Results A total of 1085 ticks collected from 144 stray dogs at different residential areas consisted of 5 different species: H. hystricis (n = 435), R. sanguineus (n = 582), R. haemaphysaloides (n = 43), Amblyomma testudinarium (n = 14) and Ixodes ovatus (n = 11) were identified. Babesia gibsoni DNA was detected in H. hystricis females (10.3%), males (7.0%) and in 2.6% of the nymphs. One R. sanguineus female and one A. testudinarium female tick also carried B. gibsoni DNA. DNA of B. gibsoni was demonstrated in 11 out of 68 (16.2%) batches of larval ticks derived from engorged H. hystricus ticks only. Babesia vogeli DNA was detected only in R. sanguineus females (2.6%) and males (2.4%). DNA of B. vogeli was detected in 13 out of 95 (13.7%) batches of larval ticks derived from engorged R.sanguineus females. Conclusions Babesia gibsoni DNA was detected in the larval progeny of H. hystricis ticks only, whereas B. vogeli was restricted to the larvae of R. sanguineus. This provides evidence for transovarial passage of B. gibsoni in H. hystricis and evidence that this tick does act as the local vector for this parasite on dogs in northern Taiwan where most cases of babesiosis are reported. The vectorial capacity of R. sanguineus for babesiosis is probably restricted to the transmission of B. vogeli only.

Photoelectrochemical O2 evolution is the decisive step in photoelectrochemical water splitting. Among many photoanode materials, Fe2O3 has attracted much attention for its ideal band gap and excellent light-absorption ability. However, surface defects and the easy recombination of photogenerated electron and hole pairs result in a low photoelectrochemical O2 evolution activity from water splitting. In this study, the passivation layers of MoOx and oxygen vacancies were introduced on the surface of Fe2O3 by a simple solvothermal treatment method, which could efficiently enhance photoelectrochemical O2 evolution activity from water splitting. The MoOx/Fe2O3-3 sample showed the best photoelectrochemical O2 evolution activity from water splitting. The photocurrent density of MoOx/Fe2O3-3 reached 3.3 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE, which was 5.6 times that of Fe2O3 (0.58 mA cm−2). The passivation layer of MoOx was confirmed by HRTEM and XPS, while the presence of oxygen vacancies was confirmed by EPR and XPS. The passivation layers of MoOx and oxygen vacancies introduced could reduce the number of surface defects, increase the carrier density, enhance the injection efficiency of surface holes into the electrolyte, and promote the separation efficiency of photogenerated charges, leading to an improvement in the efficiency of photoelectrochemical oxygen production from water. This study provides a new idea and method for the development of photoelectrochemical O2 evolution technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Studies have reported inconsistent results about the risk of incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) in people with metabolically healthy obesity (MHO). We designed this systematic review and meta‐analysis to evaluate the risk of developing CKD in people with MHO and metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUNW). We used a predefined search strategy to retrieve eligible studies from multiple databases up to June 20, 2022. Random‐effects model meta‐analyses were implied to estimate the overall hazard ratio (HR) of incident CKD in obesity phenotypes. Eight prospective cohort studies, including approximately 5 million participants with a median follow‐up ranging between 3 and 14 years, were included in this meta‐analysis. Compared to the metabolically healthy normal weight (MHNW), the mean differences in cardiometabolic and renal risk factors in MHO, MUNW, and metabolically unhealthy obesity (MUO) were evaluated with overall HR of 1.42, 1.49, and 1.84, respectively. Compared to MHNW, the mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) were significantly lower, and low‐density lipoprotein (LDL), blood pressure, blood glucose, and triglycerides were higher in MHO and MUNW. In conclusion, MHO and MUNW are not benign conditions and pose a higher risk for incident CKD. Obesity, whether in the presence or absence of metabolic health, is a risk factor for CKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]