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Objective To screen out the biomarkers with diagnostic value in lung cancer by biochip technology. Methods We screened four pairs of differentially-expressed circRNAs in lung cancer by circRNA expression profiling chip, and then verified the screened differential circRNA hsa_circ_0044569 by qRT-PCR, and collected clinical case information of patients at the same time. The independent sample t test and ROC curve were used to analyze the relation between the clinical data of lung cancer patients and the expression of circRNA hsa_circ_0044569 on clinical samples. Results The expression level of hsa_circ_0044569 in lung cancer tissues was higher than that of its paired adjacent tissues. The cutoff value of hsa_circ_0044569 for the diagnosis of lung cancer was 9.62, AUC was 0.758, P < 0.05, sensitivity was 0.712, and specificity was 0.712. The expression of hsa_circ_0044569 was significantly related with the pathological type of lung cancer patients (P < 0.05). Conclusion hsa_circ_0044569 is highly expressed in lung cancer and related to the pathological type, suggesting that it may become a potential biomarker in the early diagnosis of lung cancer.

Understanding the influence of tillage and fertilizer management on soil physical properties, and their roles in soil stoichiometry are critical for estimating the ecological implications of agricultural management. The study investigated the 3-yr effects of tillage and fertilizer management on soil physical properties, nutrients, and stoichiometry. The study included two tillage methods: rotary tillage (R) and deep tillage (D), with three fertilizer management: chemical fertilizer (N), chemical fertilizer + straw returning (S), chemical fertilizer + straw returning + organic fertilizer (M). Samples were collected at three depths: 0–15, 15–30, 30–50 cm. Results indicated that treatment effects were better at depth 0–30 cm than at 30–50 cm. The D significantly increased the soil C: N but decreases the C: P because nutrient fixation state was broken. The M had more effect on soil nutrient concentrations and stoichiometry. Effects of tillage and bulk density were positively correlated with soil nutrient concentrations, while moisture content and compactness were positively correlated with the soil stoichiometric ratio. Fertilizer management is the main factor to control soil nutrient and stoichiometry while using organic fertilizer under deep tillage can improve nutrients and maintain the stability of Mollisols ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As alternative replacement products for tobacco-derived nicotine, synthetic nicotine products have recently emerged and gained increasing popularity. This study analyzes public perception and discussion of synthetic nicotine products on Twitter (now "X")., Methods: Through Twitter streaming API (Application Programming Interface), we have collected 2,764 Twitter posts related to synthetic nicotine from December 12, 2021, to October 17, 2022, using keywords related to synthetic nicotine. By applying an inductive approach, two research assistants manually determined the relevance of tweets to synthetic nicotine products and assessed the attitude of tweets as positive, negative, and neutral of tweets toward synthetic nicotine, and the main topics., Results: Among 1,007 tweets related to synthetic nicotine products, the proportion of negative tweets (383/1007, 38.03%) toward synthetic nicotine products was significantly higher than that of positive tweets (218/1007, 21.65%) with a p-value <0.05. Among negative tweets, major topics include the concern about addiction and health risks of synthetic nicotine products (44.91%) and synthetic nicotine as a policy loophole (31.85%). Among positive tweets, top topics include alternative replacement for nicotine (39.91%) and reduced health risks (31.19%)., Conclusion: There are mixed attitudes toward synthetic nicotine products on Twitter, resulting from different perspectives. Future research could incorporate demographic information to understand the attitudes of various population groups., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Chen, He, Xie and Li.)

Objective: To analyse the expression of serum periostin in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its clinical significance., Study Design: Descriptive study., Place and Duration of Study: General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, China, from October 2018 to October 2019., Methodology: Patients with NSCLC, benign lung lesions, and healthy volunteers (controls) were enrolled. Serum periostin level of all the patients with NSCLC was determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assayed upon admission. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the value of serum periostin predicting metastasis and recurrence., Results: The serum periostin level in the NSCLC group (n=66) was significantly higher than that of the benign group (n=40), control group (n= 38, p<0.001), and in patients with different T and N stages in the NSCLC group (p<0.001). The serum levels of periostin in patients with metastasis and recurrence within one year were significantly higher than those without that (p<0.001). When the serum periostin level was 54.12 ng/mL, the area under the curve (AUC) predicting postoperative recurrence of NSCLC in patients was 0.739, with 69.23% sensitivity and 75.47% specificity. When the serum periostin level was 42.84 ng/mL, the AUC predicting postoperative metastasis of NSCLC in patients was 0.831, with 80.00% sensitivity and 82.93% specificity., Conclusion: Serum periostin level is possibly related to the progression of NSCLC and exhibited certain predictive values for the prognosis of NSCLC patients. The value of periostin level predicting metastasis was greater than predicting recurrence at the studied levels., Key Words: Non-small cell lung cancer, Periostin expression, Clinical significance.

Objective: To investigate the role of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) in evaluating pulmonary hemodynamics and right ventricular function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary hypertension (PAH); and the relationship between CMRI parameters and pulmonary function parameters, blood gas analysis parameters and 6-minute walk test (6MWT) parameters in patients with COPD complicated with PAH., Methods: Thirty-seven patients were diagnosed with COPD in the department of respiratory and critical care discipline of Ningxia Medical University General Hospital from October 2013 to October 2016, who underwent transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) to measure pulmonary arterial systolic pressure (PASP), and were divided into COPD group and COPD+PAH group according to whether there was PAH [PASP > 40 mmHg (1 mmHg = 0.133 kPa) was defined as PAH]. All patients completed pulmonary function tests [1 second forced expiratory volume to forced vital capacity ratio (FEV1/FVC), FEV1 predicted value (FEV1pred)], blood gas analysis [arterial blood oxygen partial pressure (PaO 2 ), arterial blood carbon dioxide partial pressure (PaCO 2 )], CMRI examination [relative dilatation of the main pulmonary artery (mPAD), mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF), right ventricular end-diastolic myocardial mass (RVMED), right ventricular end-systolic myocardial mass (RVMES)], and 6MWD [6-minute walk distance (6MWD)] within 1 week. The obtained clinical parameters had been compared between the groups, and correlation was analyzed., Results: Among the 37 patients with COPD, 16 patients were complicated with PAH. There were no significant differences in FEV1/FVC, FEV1pred, PaO 2 , PaCO 2 and other baseline indicators between the two groups. In the COPD group, TTE obtained PASP of 2 patients were normal (PSAP < 40 mmHg), while CMRI measured mPAP were higher than the normal limit (> 25 mmHg). Compared with the COPD group, mPAD, RVEF and 6MWD were significantly decreased in the COPD+PAH group [mPAD: (25.64±5.01)% vs. (44.00±22.52)%, RVEF: 0.525±0.054 vs. 0.592±0.071, 6MWD (m): 319.3±116.5 vs. 408.2±38.0, all P < 0.01], mPAP, RVMED and RVMES were significantly increased [mPAP (mmHg): 28.89±3.16 vs. 20.18±2.43, RVMED (g): 57.19±15.46 vs. 40.71±15.44, RVMES (g): 45.99±11.16 vs. 33.71±13.39, all P < 0.01], and there was no significant differences in LVEF (0.663±0.082 vs. 0.699±0.075, P > 0.05). Correlation analysis showed that mPAD was positively correlated with FEV1/FVC and FEV1pred (r 1 = 0.538, P 1 = 0.021; r 2 = 0.448, P 2 = 0.049); RVMED was negatively correlated with PaO 2 (r = -0.581, P = 0.015), and positively correlated with PaCO 2 (r = 0.592, P = 0.014); 6MWD was positively correlated with RVEF (r = 0.485, P = 0.041), and had no correlation with LVEF (r = 0.271, P = 0.104)., Conclusions: Compared with COPD patients, changes in pulmonary hemodynamics and right ventricular function in COPD patients with PAH are related to the severity of airflow limitation. CMRI can early monitor pulmonary hemodynamics and right heart function changes in patients with COPD. Once PAH appears, pulmonary hemodynamics, right heart function and exercise tolerance have changed.

Objective: To investigate the expression and biological significance of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) in cisplatin-resistant human A549/DDP lung adenocarcinoma cell line., Methods: The expressions of biomarkers of cancer stem cells (CSCs) including CD44, CD73, CD90, CD105, epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), ATP-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2) and ALDH in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells and cisplatin-resistant A549/DDP cells were ascertained by flow cytometry. The proliferation and sensitivity of A549/DDP cells to cisplatin were evaluated by MTT assay before and after ALDH inhibitor diethylaminobenzaldehyde (DEAB) treatment. The differential expression of ALDH subtypes in cells was determined by real-time quantitative PCR, and was further confirmed by a Western blotting., Results: The frequencies of ABCG2 and ALDH positive cells were higher in cisplatin-resistant A549/DDP cells than those in A549 cells, in particular the expression of ALDH which was 97.7% in A549/DDP cells, and only 4.3% in A549 cells. There was no significantly differential expression of CD44, CD90, CD73, CD105 between A549/DDP cells and A549 cells, whereas less EpCAM was found in A549/DDP cells compared with A549 cells. Importantly, the ALDH inhibitor DEAB (100 μmol/L) was able to significantly reduce cisplatin resistance in A549/DDP cells. Compared with A549 cells, the expressions of ALDH subtypes ALDH1A3 and ALDH1B1 mRNA significantly went up in A549/DDP cells. Interestedly, Western blotting revealed that ALDH1B1 protein expression was elevated but ALDH1A3 protein was reduced in A549/DDP cells in comparison with A549 cells., Conclusion: ALDH can serve as a useful surface marker for cisplatin-resistant human lung adenocarcinoma cells.ALDH1B1 may play a role in the chemoresistance of these cells. Therefore, ALDH1B1 may be an important target for developing novel therapeutic agents and strategies for patients with cisplatin-resistant lung adenocarcinoma.