Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function as essential posttranscriptional modulators of gene expression, and are involved in a wide range of physiologic and pathologic states, including cancer. ...Numerous miRNAs are deregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to investigate the role of miR-27a in the development of HCC.
Methods: The expression of MiR-27a was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide was used to examine changes in the viability of HepG2, Bel-7402, Bel-7404 hepatoma cell lines associated with up-regulation or down-regulation of miR-27a. A dual-luciferase activity assay was used to verify a target gene of miR-27a. Immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR, Western blotting analysis, and cell cycle and apoptosis flow cytometric assays were used to elucidate the mechanism by which miR-27a modulates liver cancer cell proliferation.
Results: The expression of miR-27a was significantly increased in HCC tissues and HepG2, Bel-7402, Bel-7404 hepatoma cell lines (P < 0.05). We also found that the down-regulation of miR-27a in HepG2 cells dramatically inhibited proliferation, blocked the G1 to S cell cycle transition and induced apoptosis (P < 0.05). In addition, miR-27a directly targeted the 3′- untranslated region of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ), and ectopic miR-27a expression suppressed PPAR-γ expression on the mRNA and protein levels. The rosiglitazone-induced overexpression of PPAR-γ attenuated the effect of miR-27a in HCC cells.
Conclusions: Our findings suggested that miRNA-27a promoted HCC cell proliferation by regulating PPAR-γ expression. MiR-27a may provide a potential therapeutic strategy for HCC treatment.
Rapid laboratory detection is remarkably crucial to diagnosing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, due to whose outbreak causes to the world pandemic. The BinaxNOW antigen card (BinaxNOW) ...is a simple, effective, and cheap tool to detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The meta-analysis in this study was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic performance of BinaxNOW for SARS-CoV-2. The researchers independently retrieved the related databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library) before May 1st, 2021, and extracted the relevant data based on the early inclusion/exclusion criterion. Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Study-2 was used to evaluate the quality of the enrolled studies. Stata 16.0, Meta-DiSc 1.4, and Review Manager 5.3 were used to generate analytical data for the statistical analysis. 59 sets of data were identified from the seven studies included in this meta-analysis. The combined sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and their 95% confidence intervals were 0.77 (0.76 to 0.79), 0.99 (0.99 to 0.99), 65.72 (48.23 to 89.56), 0.23 (0.19 to 0.28), and 461.10 (281.55 to 755.13), respectively. The area under curve was 0.9910 in the summary receiver operating characteristic curve. BinaxNOW is beneficial for symptomatic patients' onset within 7 days. CT value and testing site may be the heterogeneity source of BinaxNOW accuracy. Moreover, this technology has an efficient performance for diagnosing COVID-19, especially in patients with heavy viral load. BinaxNOW may become a practical tool for large-scale or at-home use for COVID-19 in the post-pandemic era.Highlights● Pooled sensitivity with 0.77 and specificity with 0.99 in the BinaxNOW assay.● CT value and testing site may be the heterogeneity source of BinaxNOW accuracy.● BinaxNOW is beneficial for symptomatic patients' onset within 7 days.● BinaxNOW may become a practical tool for large-scale or at-home use for COVID-19.
The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is increasing in many Asian countries and microRNAs have already been proven to be associated with tumorigenesis. Currently, microRNA-376a (miR-376a) ...expression and association with clinical factors in CRC remains unclear. In this study, real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was carried out on 53 matched pairs of CRC and adjacent normal mucosa to investigate the expression levels of miR-376a. According to the high or low expression of miR-376a, patients were divided into two groups. The relationship between miR-376a expression and clinicopathological factors of 53 patients was evaluated. Survival analysis of 53 CRC patients was performed with clinical follow- up information and survival curves were assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was performed on sections of paraffin-embedded tissue to investigate the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. MiR-376a showed low expression in cancer tissues compared to the adjacent normal tissues and altered high miR-376a expression tended to be positively correlated with advanced lymph node metastasis and shorter patient survival. VEGF IHC positivity was significantly more common in patients with high expression levels of miR-376a.Those results demonstrated that miR-376a may be a meaningful prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target in colorectal cancer.
We report acute antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in 285 patients with COVID-19. Within 19 days after symptom onset, 100% of patients tested positive for antiviral immunoglobulin-G (IgG). ...Seroconversion for IgG and IgM occurred simultaneously or sequentially. Both IgG and IgM titers plateaued within 6 days after seroconversion. Serological testing may be helpful for the diagnosis of suspected patients with negative RT-PCR results and for the identification of asymptomatic infections.
To summarize the echocardiographic features of a wide spectrum of congenital mitral valve anomalies.
The medical records, echocardiograms, cardiac catheterization studies, and surgical reports were ...reviewed. The mitral valve anomalies evaluated in the study included parachute mitral valve, double orifice mitral valve, congenital mitral stenosis with 2 papillary muscles, anomalous papillary muscle rotation, and 3 commissures and papillary muscles in 15 cases. Surgeries were performed in 11 patients, and 1 patient underwent transcatheter closure of the patent ductus arteriosus.
The echocardiograms of 6 cases of parachute mitral valve were characterized by a hypoplastic mitral valve with short chordal attachments to a single posterior medial papillary muscle. The mitral valve demonstrated restricted motion. The double orifice mitral valve were featured by two separate mitral valve orifice, with each suborifice supported by its own tension apparatus in 4 patients. Asymmetric hypoplastic mitral valve stenosis with
Cytochrome P450（CYP） 2El is a dual function monoxygenase with a crucial role in the metabolism of 6% of drugs on the market at present. The enzyme is of tremendous interest for its association with ...alcohol consumption, diabetes, obesity and fasting. Despite the abundant experimental mutagenesis data, the molecular origin and the structural motifs for the enzymatic activity deficiencies have not been rationalized at the atomic level. In this regard, we have investigated the effects of mutation on the structural and energetic characteristics upon single point mutations in CYP2E1, N219D and $366C. The molecular dynamics（MD） simulation combined with quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics（QM/MM） and noncovalent interaction（NCI） analysis was carried out on CYP2EI and its two mutants. The results highlight the critical role of Phe207, which is responsible for both structural flexibility and energetic variation, shortening the gap between the theory and the experimentally observed results of enzymatic activity decrease, The underlying molecular mechanism of the enzymatic activity deficiencies for mutants may be attributed to the changes of spatial position of Phe207 in the two mutants. This work provides particular explanations to how mutations affect ligand-receptor interactions based on combined MD and QM/MM calculations. Furthermore, the mutational effects on the activity of CYP2E1 obtained in the present study are beneficial to both the experimental and the computational works of CYPs and may allow researchers to achieve desirable changes in enzymatic activity.
Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function as essential posttranscriptional modulators of gene expression, and are involved in a wide range of physiologic and pathologic states, including cancer. ...Numerous miRNAs are deregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to investigate the role of miR-27a in the development of HCC. Methods: The expression of MiR-27a was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide was used to examine changes in the viability of HepG2, Bel-7402, Bel-7404 hepatoma cell lines associated with up-regulation or down-regulation of miR-27a. A dual-luciferase activity assay was used to verify a target gene of miR-27a. Immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR, Western blotting analysis, and cell cycle and apoptosis flow cytometric assays were used to elucidate the mechanism by which miR-27a modulates liver cancer cell proliferation. Results: The expression of miR-27a was significantly increased in HCC tissues and HepG2, Bel-7402, Bel-7404 hepatoma cell lines (P < 0.05). We also found that the down-regulation of miR-27a in HepG2 cells dramatically inhibited proliferation, blocked the G1 to S cell cycle transition and induced apoptosis (P < 0.05). In addition, miR-27a directly targeted the 3'- untranslated region of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ), and ectopic miR-27a expression suppressed PPAR-γ expression on the mRNA and protein levels. The rosiglitazone-induced overexpression of PPAR-γ attenuated the effect of miR-27a in HCC cells. Conclusions: Our findings suggested that miRNA-27a promoted HCC cell proliferation by regulating PPAR-γ expression. MiR-27a may provide a potential therapeutic strategy for HCC treatment.
Mental problems have profound influence on the development and transfer of illness of the maintained hemodialysis (MHD) patients in the past study. The goal of this pilot study was to explore the ...effects of psychological intervention which combined brainwave synchronizer with progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) on the mental health, physiological function and quality-of-life (QOL) of MHD patients. Seventy-seven MHD patients were randomly assigned to the intervention group (ITG, 39 patients) or the control group (CTG, 38 patients). The CTG received the conventional therapy which included hemodialysis (HD) 3 times/week and recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) at dosages of 100 units/(kg·week-1) to 150 unites/(kg·week-1) by i.v or subcutaneous injection. The ITG received the conventional therapy combined with psychological intervention, which included brainwave synchronizer and PMR. Psychological and QOL outcomes in both groups were assessed with The Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) and the Short Form 36 Health survey Questionnaire (SF-36) three days before and after the intervention, respectively. And blood routing and kidney functions indexes were tested with hematic parameter at the same time. Two-tailed independent sample t test and χ2 test were performed. Thirty-six patients of the ITG and 34 patients of the CTG completed the study. The patients in the ITG showed better mental state, higher global QOL and higher values of heamoglobin (HB), accounting of red blood cells (RBC), hematocrit (HCT) and serum calcium, lower values of serum phosphor, serum kalium, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) before HD and the ratio of interdialytic weight gain to dry weight (IWGR) than those in the CTG. There is no significant difference in serum creatinine (Scr) before HD between both groups. Psychological intervention seems effective in improving MHD patients’ mental state, increasing their compliance to treatment, and mending their physiological function and QOL.
Experiments were conducted to study the temperature field, flow field, 3-D characteristics and self-sustained oscillation of the natural air convection in a 3-D shallow cavity which was heated from ...underneath. The experiments were conducted by the methods of laser holographic interferometry photography and smoke visualization. To ensure the temperature of both plates to be constant and the accuracy of laser interferometer, the instrument was calibrated and error has was analyzed. The results showed that the flow field was stable at lower Rayleigh numbers. When the Rayleigh number increased, the flow field became instable and the isotherms distorted. The rolls merged at Ra=12500 and formed along both axes when Ra was over 18500. The air rose from the middle and descended in the circumference while the flow field and heat transfer converted to 3-D characteristic from 2-D characteristic. When the Rayleigh number increased, the flow field became more instable. The rolls became irregular and time dependent when Ra≥Rac （=30500）, which is nonlinear. When lateral walls were heated or cooled, the rolls merged along the long axis and two rolls formed along the short axis. Three rolls formed occasionally in the process.
Curcumin exhibited excellent properties including antioxidant, anti- inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, and anticoagulant activities. In this study, curcumin was ...incorporated into silk fibroin （SF）/poly（L-lactic acid-co-e- caprolactone） （P（LLA-CL）） nanofibrous scaffolds via electrospinning, and changes brought about by raising the curcumin content were observed： SEM images showed that the average nanofibrous diameter decreased at the beginning and then increased, and the nanofibers became uniform; FTIR showed that the conformation of SF transforming from random coil form to β-sheet structure had not been induced, while SF conformation converted to β-sheet after being treated with 75% ethanol vapor; XRD results confirmed that the crystal structure of （P（LLA-CL）） had been destroyed; The mechanical test illustrated that nanofibrous scaffolds still maintained good mechanical properties. Further, curcumin-loaded nanofibrous scaffolds were evaluated for drug release, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities in vitro. The results showed that curcumin presented a sustained release behavior from nanofibrous scaffolds and maintained its free radical scavenging ability, and such scaffolds could effectively inhibit S. aureus growth （〉 95%）. Thus, curcumin-loaded SF/P（LLA-CL） nanofibrous scaffolds might be potential candidates for wound dressing and tissue engineering scaffolds.
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