Search

This study aims to find out the possible optimal therapy and assess the prognosis properly for patient with spontaneous rupture of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used to study the data from 325 patients with ruptured HCC (RHCC) and 2,291 patients with non-RHCC.The incidence and hospital mortality of RHCC were 5.1% and 0.8% respectively, with a median overall survival (OS) time of 17 months. There was no difference between ruptured and non-RHCC patients undergoing conservation treatment in terms of OS. Trans-arterial embolization (TAE) was carried out in 69 (21.2%) cases with RHCC, with a median OS of 7 months, which was no difference from that of non-RHCC (pre- and post-PSM). One hundred and sixty-nine (52.0%) RHCC cases underwent one-stage hepatectomy, with a median OS and disease-free survival (DFS) of 30 and 6 months respectively, which were shorter than that of non-RHCC (post-PSM). TAE plus two-stage hepatectomy was performed in 30 RHCC cases, with a median OS and DFS of 28 and 10 months respectively; these outcomes were better than that from RHCC patients undergoing TAE alone or one-stage hepatectomy (post-PSM), which were no difference from that of non-RHCC patients undergoing hepatectomy. The risk of death for RHCC patient undergoing one-stage hepatectomy is 1.545 times higher than that of one undergoing TAE + two-stage hepatectomy.TAE plus two-stage hepatectomy might be the optimal treatment for RHCC patient. Under the premise of the same pathological properties, there is no difference in prognosis between ruptured and non-RHCC patients if the therapy is appropriate.

Kingdonia uniflora is an endangered alpine herb that is distributed along an altitudinal gradient. The unique traits and important phylogenetic position make K. uniflora an ideal model for exploring how endangered plants react to altitude variation. In this study, we sampled nine individuals from three representative locations and adopted RNA-seq technology to sequence 18 tissues, aiming to uncover how K. uniflora responded to different altitudes at the gene expression level. We revealed that genes that responded to light stimuli and circadian rhythm genes were significantly enriched in DEGs in the leaf tissue group, while genes that were related to root development and peroxidase activity or involved in the pathways of cutin, suberin, wax biosynthesis, and monoterpenoid biosynthesis were significantly enriched in DEGs in the flower bud tissue group. All of the above genes may play an important role in the response of K. uniflora to various stresses, such as low temperatures and hypoxia in high-altitude environments. Furthermore, we proved that the discrepancy in gene expression patterns between leaf and flower bud tissues varied along the altitudinal gradient. Overall, our findings provide new insights into the adaptation of endangered species to high-altitude environments and further encourage parallel research to focus on the molecular mechanisms of alpine plant evolution.

Swallowtail butterflies (Papilionidae) are a historically significant butterfly group due to their colorful wing patterns, extensive morphological diversity, and phylogenetically important position as a sister group to all other butterflies and have been widely studied regarding ecological adaption, phylogeny, genetics, and evolution. Notably, they contain a unique class of pigments, i.e., papiliochromes, which contribute to their color diversity and various biological functions such as predator avoidance and mate preference. To date, however, the genomic and genetic basis of their color diversity and papiliochrome origin in a phylogenetic and evolutionary context remain largely unknown. Here, we obtained high-quality reference genomes of 11 swallowtail butterfly species covering all tribes of Papilioninae and Parnassiinae using long-read sequencing technology. Combined with previously published butterfly genomes, we obtained robust phylogenetic relationships among tribes, overcoming the challenges of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and gene flow. Comprehensive genomic analyses indicated that the evolution of Papilionidae-specific conserved non-exonic elements (PSCNEs) and transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) of patterning and transporter/cofactor genes, together with the rapid evolution of transporters/cofactors, likely promoted the origin and evolution of papiliochromes. These findings not only provide novel insights into the genomic basis of color diversity, especially papiliochrome origin in swallowtail butterflies, but also provide important data resources for exploring the evolution, ecology, and conservation of butterflies.凤蝶（凤蝶科）具有多彩的翅膀图案、丰富的形态多样性、重要的系统发育地位（是所有其他蝴蝶的姐妹类群）等，是历史上备受关注的蝴蝶类群。这一类群在生态适应、系统发育、遗传学和进化等领域都被广泛研究。值得注意的是，它们含有一类独特的色素类型，即凤蝶色素，这有助于颜色多样性的形成和各种生物学功能的发挥，如躲避捕食者和择偶。然而，到目前为止，系统发育和遗传的背景下，它们颜色多样性和凤蝶色素起源的基因组和遗传基础仍未可知。该研究使用长读长测序技术，解析了11种凤蝶的高质量参考基因组。结合之前发表的蝴蝶基因组，克服了不完全谱系分选和基因流等挑战，构建了族水平稳定的系统发育树。系统的基因组分析表明，模式基因和转运体/辅助因子等编码基因的凤蝶科特异的保守非外显子元件和转录因子结合位点的进化，以及转运体/辅因子的快速进化，可能促进了凤蝶色素的起源与进化。这些结果不仅为了解颜色多样性的基因组基础尤其是凤蝶色素的起源提供了新见解，而且为探索蝴蝶的进化、生态学和保护提供了重要的数据资源。.

As the climate change has made an enormous impact on the global environment in recent years, people begin to place a premium on the concept of environmental protection with many nongovernmental green groups working together surrounding the issue. Due to the interlocking effect of reducing productivity, the instability of oil price, and alternative energy, green ingredients, energy-saving materials and other green industries that the textile industry in Taiwan is confronted with, the approach to reviving the sunset industry may, through the lens of cultural creativity, has blue ocean business opportunities to offer. The study focuses on how to combine traditional stain and green stain so as to formulate visual and scientific standards and improve the age-old stereotype that dyed cloth belongs exclusively to traditional handicraft, which will open up the potential for the future application and originality of dyed cloth and may usher in new business opportunities for Taiwan dyed cloth. The study has two aims. On one hand, it will analyze the hi-tech green dyeing and natural dyeing in Taiwan textile industry and explore the two stains’ properties of environmental protection, energy conservation, stain resistance, color fastness, and optical activity resistance. Through data-based visual research, a visual systematic structure will be set up based on the existing materials, and the stain color scheme will be developed for relevant industrial growth and designers to use. On the other hand, on the basis of the stain color scheme, compound media materials will be employed in wax printing craft to create cultural commodities that blends creativity and international competitiveness. The overall study result shall provide creators with a scientific research-based stain visual system, stain color scheme, thereby enhancing the quality and width of creation and open up the potential blue ocean business opportunities for cultural creation.

BACKGROUND The development of artificial dermis provides a new therapeutic method for full-thickness skin defects. However, the slow regeneration of blood vessels in the wound site still cannot be solved perfectly. In our study, we combined platelet-rich plasma (PRP) with Lando® artificial dermal scaffold to promote vascular regeneration and wound healing in pigs. MATERIAL AND METHODS First, PRP was compounded with the artificial dermal scaffold. Then, this material was co-cultured with human vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) and the growth and proliferation of HUVECs were assessed. Bama miniature pigs wound models were fabricated, the materials were transplanted into the skin defect, and wound healing and blood vessel regeneration were assessed by HE staining and CD31 immunohistochemistry. RESULTS Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that PRP formed round particles on the surface of the artificial dermis material. Cell co-culture experiments showed that the PRP composite artificial dermal scaffold can promote the growth and proliferation of HUVECs. CCK8 experiments demonstrated that the number of cells in the PRP composites group on days 2, 3, 4, and 5 was higher than that in the material alone group (P0.01). The results of animal experiments showed that PRP composite artificial dermal material can promote wound healing. Histological staining and immunohistochemical staining indicated that the PRP composites group promoted epithelial tissue thickening and blood vessel regeneration in wounds (P0.001). CONCLUSIONS Our experimental results showed that the artificial dermal scaffold loaded with platelet-rich plasma can promote the revascularization of wounds and accelerated wound healing.

While elemene (ELE) can reverse tumor multidrug resistance (MDR), the mechanisms for ELE reversing MDR remain unclear. Numerous studies have suggested that the efflux functionality of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, not their quantity, is more relevant to tumor MDR. However, no appropriate methods exist for real-time detection of the intracellular drug efflux caused by ABC transporters in vitro, especially in vivo, which hinders the examination of MDR reversal mechanisms. This study directly investigates the correlation between efflux functionality of ABC transporters and MDR reversal via ELE, using D-luciferin potassium salt (D-luc) as the chemotherapeutic substitute to study the intracellular drug efflux. Here, a luciferase reporter assay system combined with bioluminescence imaging confirmed that the efflux of D-luc from MCF-7/DOXFluc cells in vitro and in vivo was significantly reduced by ELE and when combined with Doxorubicin (DOX), ELE showed a synergistically anti-tumor effect in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, the luminescence pharmacokinetics of D-luc in MCF-7/DOXFluc cells and pharmacodynamics of the combined ELE and DOX in vivo showed a great correlation, implying that D-luc might be used as a probe to study ABC transporters-mediated efflux in order to explore mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicines reversing MDR.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the ability of differentiating into osteoblasts. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of MSC differentiation into osteoblasts may provide novel therapeutic strategies for bone‑related diseases. Increasing evidence has confirmed that Wnt signaling plays the key role in osteoblast differentiation; however, the role of individual Wnt proteins in osteogenesis needs to be investigated. The present study thus aimed to explore the role of Wnt7a in bone formation. For this purpose, human bone‑derived MSCs were identified by flow cytometry and the cell differentiation potential, including osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation was examined. In order to explore the role of Wnt7a in MSC osteogenic differentiation, Wnt7a expression was measured at the mRNA and protein level following treatment with the osteogenic inducer, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)4/7, and following the induction of osteogenic or adipogenic differentiation. The ectopic expression of Wnt7a in MSCs was confirmed and its influence on MSC osteogenic differentiation was detected using osteocyte markers and by Alizarin Red S staining. Mechanistically, the influence of Wnt7a on Runt‑related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) expression was examined at the mRNA and protein level. The regulatory effects of Wnt7a on RUNX2 promoter activities were examined by promoter reporter assay, and by examining the binding of TCF1, a downstream target of Wnt, to the RUNX2 promoter by ChIP assay. The results revealed that the knockdown of Wnt7a in MSCs decreased the expression of osteocyte markers and inhibited osteogenic differentiation. In accordance, the overexpression of Wnt7a in MSCs increased the expression of osteocyte markers and promoted osteogenic differentiation. Mechanistically, the knockdown of Wnt7a in MSCs reduced RUNX2 expression and the overexpression of Wnt7a in MSCs promoted RUNX2 expression. Furthermore, it was confirmed that Wnt7a regulated RUNX2 promoter activities by promoter report assay, and by examining the binding of TCF1 to the RUNX2 promoter by ChIP assay. On the whole, the present study demonstrates that Wnt7a plays a key role in MSC differentiation into osteoblasts and the findings presented herein may provide a promising therapy target for bone‑related diseases.

Great effort has been spent to promote the vascularization of tissue engineering bone grafts (TEBG) for improved therapeutic outcome. However, the thorough vascularization especially in the central region still remained as a major challenge for the clinical translation of TEBG. Here, we developed a new strategy to construct a centrally vascularized TEBG (CV-TEBG) with unique core-shell composite structure, which is consisted of an angiogenic core and an osteogenic shell. The in vivo evaluation in rabbit critical sized femoral defect was conducted to meticulously compare CV-TEBG to other TEBG designs (TEBG with osteogenic shell alone, or angiogenic core alone or angiogenic core+shell). Microfil-enhanced micro-CT analysis has been shown that CV-TEBG could outperform TEBG with pure osteogenic or angiogenic component for neo-vascularization. CV-TEBG achieved a much higher and more homogenous vascularization throughout the whole scaffold (1.52-38.91 folds, p < 0.01), and generated a unique burrito-like vascular network structure to perfuse both the central and peripheral regions of TEBG, indicating a potential synergistic effect between the osteogenic shell and angiogenic core in CV-TEBG to enhance neo-vascularization. Moreover, CV-TEBG has generated more new bone tissue than other groups (1.99-83.50 folds, p < 0.01), achieved successful bridging defect with the formation of both cortical bone like tissue externally and cancellous bone like tissue internally, and restored approximately 80% of the stiffness of the defected femur (benchmarked to the intact femur). It has been further observed that different bone regeneration patterns occurred in different TEBG implants and closely related to their vascularization patterns, revealing the potential profound influence of vascularization patterns on the osteogenesis pattern during defect healing.

Clear tumor imaging is essential to the resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to create a novel biological probe to improve the HCC imaging.Au nano-flower particles and CuInSThe fluorescence stability of the probe was maintained 100% for 24 h, and the brightness value was 4 times stronger than that of the corresponding CuInSThe Au@SiO

Hypertrophy of the ligamentum flavum (LF) is one of the key pathomechanisms of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 is abundantly expressed in hypertrophied degenerative LF tissues from LSS. However, the molecular mechanisms underling the association between TGF-β1 and LF hypertrophy have not yet been fully elucidated. In this study, we investigated the important role of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in the pathogenesis of LSS by analyzing the expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and extracellular matrix (ECM) components (collagen I and collagen III) in TGF-β1-treated LF cells. Cell growth assay revealed that TGF-β1, in association with CTGF, enhanced the the proliferation of LF cells, and we found that TGF-β1 also elevated CTGF expression and subsequently enhanced the mRNA expression of collagen I and collagen III. The increased mRNA expression levels of CTGF, collagen I and collagen III were abolished by p38 inhibitors. Both immunofluorescence imaging and western blot analysis of p38 and p-p38 revealed the increased expression and phosphorylation of p38. Silencing the expression of p38 by siRNA in LF cells decreased the protein expression of p38, p-p38 and CTGF, as well as the mRNA expression of CTGF, collagen I and collagen III. Taken together, our findings indicate that TGF-β1, in association with the increased expression of CTGF, contribute to the homeostasis of the ECM and to the hypertrophy of LF through the p38 MAPK pathway.

Objective To observe the difference in cellular senescence patterns between recurrent tonsillitis and tonsillar hypertrophy. Methods and materials Forty-three patients diagnosed with recurrent tonsillitis or tonsillar hypertrophy, based on medical history and symptoms, underwent tonsillectomy. The specimens were collected and examined using senescence β-galactosidase staining for cellular senescence. Macrophages were detected by immunochemistry. Results Cellular senescence was found in both recurrent tonsillitis and tonsillar hypertrophy groups. The comparison of cellular senescence in microcompartments of tonsil tissue (germinal centre, mantle zone, subepithelial and intraepithelial) revealed a significant increase of senescent cells in germinal centres in tonsillar hypertrophy compared with that in tonsillar hypertrophy. The majority of senescent cells in both groups were CD68-positive. Conclusions Different cellular senescence patterns were found between the two studied paediatric tonsillar diseases. Macrophage senescence may play a role in the pathogenesis of these diseases.

Improving the closure effect of surgical suture for repair of annulus fibrosus defects remains an unsolved problem. A new type of porcine fibrin glue was reported for the repair of annulus fibrous defects in sheep models in this study. Continuous axial loading test showed that this glue could effectively improve the closure effect of surgical suture for annulus fibrous defect. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lumbar spine confirmed that, compared with non-fibrin glue treated intervertebral discs, it contributed to preservation of the nucleus pulposus and maintained the physiological hydration of the intervertebral discs. Moreover, histomorphology evaluation showed that the porcine fibrin glue could partially reverse degeneration of the injured intervertebral discs. Taken together, porcine fibrin glue can effectively enhance the closure effect of surgical suture on annulus fibrosus, improve the repair effect and slow down the degeneration of the intervertebral disc, and provide a potential therapeutic strategy for degenerative intervertebral disc disease.

In order to explore the mechanism of the reversing multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotypes by β-elemene (β-ELE) in doxorubicin (DOX)-resistant breast cancer cells (MCF-7/DOX), both the functionality and quantity of the ABC transporters in MCF-7/DOX were studied. Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) was used to study the efflux of d-luciferin potassium salt, the substrate of ATP-binding cassette transporters (ABC transporters), in MCF-7/DOX cells treated by β-ELE. At the same time three major ABC transport proteins and genes-related MDR, P-glycoprotein (P-gp, ABCB1) and multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP, ABCC1) as well as breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP, ABCG2) were analyzed by q-PCR and Western blot. To investigate the efflux functionality of ABC transporters, MCF-7/DOXFluc cell line with stably-overexpressed luciferase was established. BLI was then used to real-time monitor the efflux kinetics of d-luciferin potassium salt before and after MCF-7/DOXFluc cells being treated with β-ELE or not. The results showed that the efflux of d-luciferin potassium salt from MCF-7/DOXFluc was lessened when pretreated with β-ELE, which means that β-ELE may dampen the functionality of ABC transporters, thus decrease the efflux of d-fluorescein potassium or other chemotherapies which also serve as the substrates of ABC transporters. As the effect of β-ELE on the expression of ABC transporters, the results of q-PCR and Western blot showed that gene and protein expression of ABC transporters such as P-gp, MRP, and BCRP were down-regulated after the treatment of β-ELE. To verify the efficacy of β-ELE on reversing MDR, MCF-7/DOX cells were treated with the combination of DOX and β-ELE. MTT assay showed that β-ELE increased the inhibitory effect of DOX on the proliferation of MCF-7/DOX, and the IC50 of the combination group was much lower than that of the single DOX or β-ELE treatment. In all, β-ELE may reverse MDR through the substrates of ABC transporters by two ways, to lessen the ABC protein efflux by weakening their functionality, or to reduce the quantity of ABC gene and protein expression.