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Background: The present study aimed to identify the module genes and key gene functions and biological pathways of septic shock (SS) through integrated bioinformatics analysis. Methods: In the study, we performed batch correction and principal component analysis on 282 SS samples and 79 normal control samples in three datasets, GSE26440, GSE95233 and GSE57065, to obtain a combined corrected gene expression matrix containing 21,654 transcripts. Patients with SS were then divided into three molecular subtypes according to sample subtyping analysis. Results: By analyzing the demographic characteristics of the different subtypes, we found no statistically significant differences in gender ratio and age composition among the three groups. Then, three subtypes of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and specific upregulated DEGs (SDEGs) were identified by differential gene expression analysis. We found 7361 DEGs in the type I group, 5594 DEGs in the type II group, and 7159 DEGs in the type III group. There were 1698 SDEGs in the type I group, 2443 in the type II group, and 1831 in the type III group. In addition, we analyzed the correlation between the expression data of 5972 SDEGs in the three subtypes and the gender and age of 227 patients, constructed a weighted gene co‐expression network, and identified 11 gene modules, among which the module with the highest correlation with gender ratio was MEgrey. The modules with the highest correlation with age composition were MEgrey60 and MElightyellow. Then, by analyzing the differences in module genes among different subgroups of SS, we obtained the differential expression of 11 module genes in four groups: type I, type II, type III and the control group. Finally, we analyzed the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment of all module DEGs, and the GO function and KEGG pathway enrichment of different module genes were different. Conclusions: Our findings aim to identify the specific genes and intrinsic molecular functional pathways of SS subtypes, as well as further explore the genetic and molecular pathophysiological mechanisms of SS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since risk preference affects the behavior of decision makers, the study of its characteristics and impact on decision-making contributes to good planning for emergency coordination. The consistency of a member's risk preferences in the conventional risk field and emergencies of a supply chain was analyzed by applying the prospect theory and adapting the domain-specific risk-taking (DOSPERT) scale. The influence of time pressure on the risk preferences and decision-making behaviors of members was studied in the emergency field and its sub-emergencies of a supply chain. The conclusions were drawn based on the empirical study. First, the risk preference could be measured in terms of conventional risk and emergencies. Second, the members tended to be risk averse with no time pressure, and the degree of risk aversion was weakened with time pressure, which had the greatest effect in the natural disaster event. Third, even though the change in risk preference had a consistency regarding the four types of sub-events of supply chain emergencies, it was inconsistent regarding the conventional risks and emergencies. With the evolution trend of risk preference demonstrated and the relationship between preference and time pressure revealed, this study may provide a decision-making reference for the formulation of a supply chain emergency coordination scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a biliary malignancy, which is notoriously difficult to diagnose and associated with poor survival. Accumulating evidence indicates that long non-coding RNA Nicotinamide Nucleotide Transhydrogenase-antisense RNA1 (NNT-AS1) is overexpressed in several tumors and plays a crucial role in the development of neoplasm. However, the expression pattern and functional role of NNT-AS1 in CCA remain largely unknown., Methods: NNT-AS1 expression was assessed by RT-qPCR and In Situ Hybridization (ISH) assay. The clinical relevance of NNT-AS1 was analyzed using a CCA tissue microarray with follow-up data. The function role of NNT-AS1 and its underlying molecular mechanisms were evaluated using both in vitro/in vivo experiments and bioinformatics analysis. Luciferase reporter assay, western blot and RT-qPCR were conducted to identify the miRNA/target gene involved in the regulation of CCA progression., Results: LncRNA NNT-AS1 was found highly expressed in CCA. Upregulated NNT-AS1 expression was tightly associated with clinical malignancies and predicted poor prognosis of CCA patients. Functional studies showed that NNT-AS1 knockdown inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion of CCA cells in vitro. Conversely, NNT-AS1 overexpression showed the opposite biological effects. In a tumor xenograft model, we confirmed that NNT-AS1 knockdown could significantly inhibit the growth of CCA, while NNT-AS1 overexpression promoted CCA development. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that NNT-AS1 might function as a ceRNA in regulating HMGA2 (high mobility group AT-hook 2) through competitively binding to miR-142-5p in CCA. Moreover, we showed that NNT-AS1 regulated epithelial-mesenchymal transition in CCA., Conclusion: In summary, these findings suggest the potential prognostic and therapeutic value of NNT-AS1/miR-142-5p/HMGA2 axis in CCA patients., Competing Interests: None., (AJTR Copyright © 2019.)