Polyphenols are natural antioxidants that are thought to contribute to prevention of cardiovascular disease and malignancy. Although many studies have been carried out to investigate the ...chemopreventive role of flavonoids, less attention has been focused on phenolic acids. In this study, the aim was to investigate the effect of phenolic acids found abundantly in vegetables, i.e. gallic acid (GA), caffeic acid (CA) and protocatechuic acid (PCA), on the inhibition of gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) cell metastasis. The results showed 0.01
mM GA induced the same level of cell toxicity as 4.0
mM PCA. Using wound-healing assay and Boyden chamber assay, GA had potent inhibitory effects on AGS cell migration. The expression of MMP-2/9 of AGS cells was inhibited by 2.0
μM of GA. It is possible that the suppressive effect of GA on MMP-2/9 might involve the inhibition of NF-κB activity. Multiple proteins involved in metastasis and the cytoskeletal reorganization signal pathway, including Ras, Cdc42, Rac1, RhoA, RhoB, PI3K and p38MAPK, were also inhibited by GA. Furthermore, immunoreactivity assay of cytoskeletal F-actin demonstrated a significant inhibitory effect of GA treatment. In conclusion, GA may have the potential to be an effective agent for prevention and treatment of gastric cancer metastasis.
Thermostability is a protein property that impacts many types of studies, including protein activity enhancement, protein structure determination, and drug development. However, most computational ...tools designed to predict protein thermostability require tertiary structure data as input. The few tools that are dependent only on the primary structure of a protein to predict its thermostability have one or more of the following problems: a slow execution speed, an inability to make large-scale mutation predictions, and the absence of temperature and pH as input parameters. Therefore, we developed a computational tool, named KStable, that is sequence-based, computationally rapid, and includes temperature and pH values to predict changes in the thermostability of a protein upon the introduction of a mutation at a single site. KStable was trained using basis features and minimal redundancy–maximal relevance (mRMR) features, and 58 classifiers were subsequently tested. To find the representative features, a regular-mRMR method was developed. When KStable was evaluated with an independent test set, it achieved an accuracy of 0.708.
The distal coil of a double-J ureteral stent is considered the major cause of stent-related symptoms. We noticed that some recent studies investigated whether complete intraureteral stent placement ...(CIU-SP) reduced these symptoms. The current systemic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the safety and the effectiveness of CIU-SP, as compared to conventional stent placement (C-SP).
We retrieved relevant trials published before December 2021 from three databases, including PubMED, Embase, and Web of Science. The following medical subject heading were used ((complete intraureteral stent) OR (suture stent)) AND (symptom OR pain) AND (randomized OR randomised). The above search was limited to English language publication.
We identified six prospective randomized trials, all of which investigated a short-term (1–2 weeks) stent placement following uncomplicated ureteroscopic lithotripsy. The meta-analysis revealed that CIU-SP significantly reduced stent-related symptoms: CIU-SP had lower USSQ (Ureteral Stent Symptom Questionnaire) Urinary Symptom Index score (MD -5.13; 95%CI -5.82,-4.44; P < 0.00001), lower USSQ Pain Index score (MD -4.21; 95%CI -5.25,-3.17; P < 0.00001), and lower VAS pain scale (MD -1.93; 95%CI -2.17,-1.69; p < 0.00001). Besides, patients with CIU-SP were less likely to have pain (RR 0.78; 95%CI 0.67,0.91; p = 0.001). There was no significant difference regarding the USSQ General Health and Work Performance. Both CIU-SP and C-SP had similarly few complications of Clavien-Dindo grade ≥2.
This meta-analysis reveals that CIU-SP significantly decreases stent-related urinary symptoms and pain. Based on the current evidence, CIU-SP is ready to be applied in clinical practice, at least in those requiring short-term stent placement following uncomplicated ureteroscopic lithotripsy.
Early childhood is a critical stage for the prevention of dental caries. The prevalence of caries in preschool children is still high in Taiwan, where National Health Insurance covers 99% of the ...population. The effort to improve the oral health of preschool children should be based on conceptual model that encompasses more than individual-level factors. This study input nationwide survey data in a conceptual model to evaluate the effects of comprehensive factors related to the high prevalence of caries in preschool children.
This observation study examined factors related to the oral health of preschool children by employing a comprehensive multilevel model to analyse nationally representative data from the Taiwan Oral Health Survey of Preschool Children (TOHPC) 2017-2018. Individual-level, family-level and community-level contextual effects were evaluated through multilevel analysis in this study. The proportional change in variance (PCV) was used to compare the multilevel model with the null model and individual-level, family-level, and community-level context effects.
The estimated deft index for preschool children was 1.34 (1.22-1.47) at age 3, 2.20 (2.08-2.32) at age 4, and 3.05 (2.93-3.18) at age 5. The overall prevalence of caries in preschool children in Taiwan was 34.27% (30.76%, 37.78%) at age 3, 51.67% (48.99%, 54.35%) at age 4, and 62.05% (59.66%, 64.44%) at age 5. The model that included the individual-, family-, and community-context levels exhibited the highest reduction of variance (PCV = 53.98%). The PCV was further reduced to 35.61% when only the level of accessibility to dental services for individuals, families, and the community was considered. For the model in which no community-context cofactors were considered and the model considering only the individual level, the PCVs were 20.37% and 5.52%, respectively.
Our findings indicate the key components that affect oral health in preschool children and can serve as a reference for policy makers. The most notable finding of this study is that to improve the oral health of preschool children, community-level factors should be targeted. To rely solely on dentists for leading oral health education programs for children is impractical and inefficient. Training more professional oral health educators to provide additional community-based oral health promotion campaigns is critical. We suggest training more professional oral health educators to provide more community-based oral health promotion campaigns.
Sniffer dogs can diagnose lung cancer. However, the diagnostic yields of different samples and training methods for lung cancer remain undetermined.
Six dogs were trained in three stages with the aim ...of improving the diagnostic yield of lung cancer by comparing training methods and specimens.
The pathological tissues of 53 lung cancer patients and 6 non-lung cancer patients in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Kaohsiung Chang Gung Hospital were collected, and the exhaled breath samples and urine samples were collected. Urine and exhaled breath samples were also collected from 20 healthy individuals. The specimens were sent to the Veterinary Department of Pingtung University of Science and Technology.
The dogs had a very low response rate to urine target samples in the first and second stages of training. The experimental results at the second stage of training found that after lung cancer tissue training, dogs were less likely to recognize lung cancer and healthy controls than through breath target training: the response rate to exhaled breathing target samples was about 8-55%; for urine target samples, it was only about 5-30%. When using exhaled air samples for training, the diagnosis rate of these dogs in lung cancer patients was 71.3% to 97.6% (mean 83.9%), while the false positive rate of lung cancer in the healthy group was 0.5% to 27.6% (mean 7.6%). Compared with using breathing target samples for training, the diagnosis rate of dogs trained with lung cancer tissue lung cancer was significantly lower (
< 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of lung cancer tissue training (50.4% and 50.1%) were lower than the exhaled breath target training (91.7% and 85.1%). There is no difference in lung cancer diagnostic rate by sniff dogs among lung cancer histological types, location, and staging.
Training dogs using breathing target samples to train dogs then to recognize exhaled samples had a higher diagnostic rate than training using lung cancer tissue samples or urine samples. Dogs had a very low response rate to urine samples in our study. Six canines were trained on lung cancer tissues and breathing target samples of lung cancer patients, then the diagnostic rate of the recognition of exhaled breath of lung cancer and non-lung cancer patients were compared. When using exhaled air samples for training, the diagnosis rate of these dogs in lung cancer patients was 71.3% to 97.6% (mean 83.9%), while the false positive rate of lung cancer in the healthy group was 0.5% to 27.6% (mean 7.6%). There was a significant difference in the average diagnosis rate of individual dog and overall dogs between the lung cancer group and the healthy group (
< 0.05). When using lung cancer tissue samples for training, lung cancer diagnosis rate of these dogs among lung cancer patients was only 15.5% to 40.9% (mean 27.7%). Compared with using breathing target samples for training, the diagnosis rate of dogs trained with lung cancer tissue lung cancer was significantly lower (
< 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of lung cancer tissue training (50.4% and 50.1%) were lower than the exhaled breath target training (91.7% and 85.1%). The diagnostic rate of lung cancer by sniffer dogs has nothing to do with the current stage of lung cancer, pathologic type, and the location of tumor mass. Even in stage IA lung cancer, well-trained dogs can have a diagnostic rate of 100%. Using sniffer dogs to screen early lung cancer may have good clinical and economic benefits.
Inspired by knobby starfish, this work demonstrates a bottom-up approach for fabricating a calcite single-crystal (CSC) with a diamond structure by exploiting the self-assembly of the block copolymer ...and corresponding templated synthesis. Similar to the knobby starfish, the diamond structure of the CSC gives rise to a brittle-to-ductile transition. Most interestingly, the diamond-structured CSC fabricated exhibits exceptional specific energy absorption and strength with lightweight character superior to natural materials and artificial counterparts from a top-down approach due to the nanosized effect. This approach provides the feasibility for creating mechanical metamaterials with the combined effects of the topology and nanosize on the mechanical performance.
Magnesium lithospermate B (MLB) is a primary hydrophilic component of Danshen, the dried root of
used in traditional medicine, and its beneficial effects on obesity-associated metabolic abnormalities ...were reported in our previous study. The present study investigated the anti-muscle atrophy potential of MLB in mice with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity. In addition to metabolic abnormalities, the HFD mice had a net loss of skeletal muscle weight and muscle fibers and high levels of muscle-specific ubiquitin E3 ligases, namely the muscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx) and muscle RING finger protein 1 (MuRF-1). MLB supplementation alleviated those health concerns. Parallel changes were revealed in high circulating tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), skeletal TNF receptor I (TNFRI), nuclear factor-kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), p65 phosphorylation, and Forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1) as well as low skeletal phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase B (Akt) phosphorylation. The study revealed that MLB prevented obesity-associated skeletal muscle atrophy, likely through the inhibition of MAFbx/MuRF-1-mediated muscular degradation. The activation of the PI3K-Akt-FoxO1 pathway and inhibition of the TNF-α/TNFRI/NF-κB pathway were assumed to be beneficial effects of MLB.
Inspired by Mantis shrimp, this work aims to suggest a bottom-up approach for the fabrication of nanonetwork hydroxyapatite (HAp) thin film using self-assembled polystyrene-block-polydimethylsiloxane ...(PS-b-PDMS) block copolymer (BCP) with a diamond nanostructure as a template for templated sol–gel reaction. By introducing poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) into precursors of calcium nitrate tetrahydrate and triethyl phosphite, which limits the growth of forming HAp nanoparticles, well-ordered nanonetwork HAp thin film can be fabricated. Based on nanoindentation results, the well-ordered nanonetwork HAp shows high energy dissipation compared to the intrinsic HAp. Moreover, the uniaxial microcompression test for the nanonetwork HAp shows high energy absorption per volume and high compression strength, outperforming many cellular materials due to the topologic effect of the well-ordered network at the nanoscale. This work highlights the potential of exploiting BCP templated synthesis to fabricate ionic solid materials with a well-ordered nanonetwork monolith, giving rise to the brittle-to-ductile transition, and thus appealing mechanical properties with the character of mechanical metamaterials.
To unravel the role of interleukin (IL)-6 and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I receptor (IGFIR) in expressing stemness-related properties and to evaluate the prognostic values of pluripotent ...transcription factor OCT4/NANOG, and IGFIR in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Serum levels of IL6 were detected using ELISA assays (n = 120). The effects of IL6/IGFI on stemness expression in HCC were examined using OCT4/NANOG promoter luciferase reporter, RNA interference, secondary sphere formation, side population, and xenograft animal models. The OCT4/NANOG protein and phospho-IGFI receptor (p-IGFIR) in tissues were detected by Western blotting (n = 8) and immunohistochemical staining (n = 85). OCT4, NANOG, and IGFIR expression levels in tissues (n = 191) were analyzed by real-time qRT-PCR and was correlated with early tumor recurrence using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.
A high positive correlation between the expression levels of OCT4/NANOG and IGFIR/p-IGFIR in human HCC tissues was observed. The concurrent expression of OCT4/NANOG/IGFIR was mostly confined to hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC (HBV-HCC) and was significantly correlated with early tumor recurrence. High serum levels of IL6 were significantly correlated with high OCT4/NANOG expression. IL6 stimulated an autocrine IGFI/IGFIR expression STAT3 dependently, which stimulated stemness-related properties in both the cell lines and the xenografted mouse tumors. The inhibition of IGFIR activation by either RNA interference or by treatment with the inhibitor picropodophyllin (PPP) significantly suppressed the IL6-induced stemness-related properties both in vitro and in vivo.
The expression of pluripotency-related genes is associated with early tumor recurrence and is regulated by IL6-induced IGF/IGFIR activation, particularly in HBV-HCC.
In this study, preliminary field-sampling of bioactive fungal strains and bioassay-guided selection were conducted. A number of fungal strains were isolated from sea anemones along the northeastern ...coast of Badouzi, Keelung, Taiwan. Among them, Arthrinium arundinis MA30 showed significant anti-inflammatory activity and was thus selected for further chemical investigation. After a series of purification and isolation using different chromatographic techniques on the fermented products of A. arundinis MA30, thirty-one compounds were identified, five of which were previously unreported, including arthrinoic acid, hexylaconitic anhydride methyl ester, (3S,8R)-8-hydroxy-3-carboxy-2-methylenenonanoic acid, and arthripenoids G and H. These compounds were subjected to comprehensive spectroscopic data analysis. Of all the isolates, 1,3,5,6-tetrahydroxy-8-methylxanthone and arthripenoid C demonstrated the most distinctive inhibitory activities against nitric oxide production in mouse microglial BV-2 cells, with their respective inhibitory rates being 71% and 81% at 10 μM concentration, and their respective IC50 values were further determined to be 5.3 ± 0.6 and 1.6 ± 0.4 μM. These compounds showed no significant cytotoxicity, and curcumin was used as a positive control in this study.
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•A marine-derived fungal strain Arthrinium arundinis MA30 was isolated from sea anemones.•Five previously unreported compounds were identified from Arthrinium arundinis MA30.•Anti-inflammatory activity of all the isolates using microglial BV-2 cell line was evaluated.
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