Aim
The existing evidence on the relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of colorectal neoplasia is inconsistent. We conducted a systematic review with a meta‐analysis to ...explore this relationship and to determine whether the relationship varies according to the study characteristics.
Method
We searched the PubMed database and the reference lists of pertinent articles published up to July 2012. Summary odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using a random‐effects model.
Results
Twenty‐seven studies including 3792 cases of colorectal adenoma (CRA) and 3488 cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) were identified. Overall, H. pylori infection was associated with an increased risk of CRA (OR = 1.66, 95% CI 1.39–1.97, I2 = 54.3%) and CRC (OR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.18–1.64, I2 = 35.8%), although there was significant heterogeneity among the studies. Subgroup analysis revealed that the positive correlation did not differ by sex, geographic variation or subsite of neoplasia, but might vary by the method of detection of H. pylori. The study was underpowered to determine the risk of colorectal neoplasia associated with cytotoxin‐associated gene A‐positive H. pylori.
Conclusion
This meta‐analysis demonstrates a positive association between H. pylori infection and the risk of colorectal neoplasia.
In this paper, a new combination of time and spatial discretization is proposed for a partial integro-differential equation (PIDE) arising in the valuation of European options under Merton's model. ...We first present a high-order compact (HOC) difference scheme in space based on a uniform mesh to obtain a highly accurate result, and the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element method in time is introduced that can deal with the loss of the time analyticity. A penalty method is proposed for a partial integro-differential complementarity problem arising in the valuation of the American put option. Numerical experiments are performed to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.
SUMMARY
Primary small cell carcinoma of esophagus (SCCE) is a relatively rare and highly aggressive tumor characterized by early dissemination and poor prognosis. The optimal treatment has not yet ...been established, and the role of surgery has remained controversial. Most of the limited diseases were treated conventionally by surgery, but the five‐year survival rate was still very low. This retrospective study was designed to investigate the clinical characteristics, treatment, and prognostic factors of limited disease SCCE. Clinical data of 40 SCCE patients with clinically limited disease who received transthoracic esophagectomy with lymphadenectomy at the Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College from November 1990 to December 2009 were reviewed to summarize the clinical characteristics and treatment impacted on the survival. Twenty‐five cases of the 40 patients were treated with surgery alone, eight cases were treated with surgery + postoperative chemotherapy, four cases were treated with surgery + postoperative radiotherapy, and the other three were treated with surgery + postoperative radiochemotherapy. The Kaplan–Meier and log‐rank methods were used to estimate and compare survival rates. Cox's hazard regression model was used to identify the prognostic factors with the entry factors of gender, age (≤60 years versus >60 years), length of the primary lesion (≤5 cm versus >5 cm), location of the primary lesion, macroscopic tumor type, pT, pN, pTNM stage, operation (radical/palliative), and chemotherapy (yes/no). The mean follow‐up duration of this series was 24.7 months (1–121 months). Thirty‐four patients died of the disease during the follow‐up, five were still alive, and one was lost of follow‐up. The median survival time of the 40 patients was 13.0 months (95% confidence interval 4.7–21.3), and the 6‐, 12‐, 24‐, 36‐, and 60‐month overall survival rates (OS) were 77.5%, 56.4%, 28.9%, 23.7%, 10.5%, respectively. In univariate analysis, age (≤60 years versus >60 years) (P= 0.049), operation (radical/palliative) (P= 0.008), and chemotherapy (yes/no) (P= 0.013) significantly influenced the OS of the SCCE patients. In multivariate analysis, operation (P= 0.015) and chemotherapy (P= 0.031) were independent prognostic factors. The patients who received radical surgery and postoperative chemotherapy had relatively better survival. Surgical resection combined with chemotherapy should be recommended to patients with limited disease SCCE.
In this paper, we develop a time‐dependent MHD model driven by the daily‐updated synoptic magnetograms (MHD‐DUSM) to study the dynamic evolution of the global corona with the help of the 3D ...Solar‐Interplanetary (SIP) adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) space‐time conservation element and solution element (CESE) MHD model (SIP‐AMR‐CESE MHD Model). To accommodate the observations, the tangential component of the electric field at the lower boundary is specified to allow the flux evolution to match the observed changes of magnetic field. Meanwhile, the time‐dependent solar surface boundary conditions derived from the method of characteristics and the mass flux limit are incorporated to couple the observation and the 3D MHD model. The simulated evolution of the global coronal structure during 2007 is compared with solar observations and solar wind measurements from both Ulysses and spacecrafts near the Earth. The MHD‐DUSM model is also validated by comparisons with the standard potential field source surface (PFSS) model, the newly improved Wang‐Sheeley‐Arge (WSA) empirical formula, and the MHD simulation with a monthly synoptic magnetogram (MHD‐MSM). Comparisons show that the MHD‐DUSM results have good overall agreement with coronal and interplanetary structures, including the sizes and distributions of coronal holes, the positions and shapes of the streamer belts, and the transitions of the solar wind speeds and magnetic field polarities. The MHD‐DUSM results also display many features different from those of the PFSS, the WSA, and the MHD‐MSM models.
Key Points
A time‐dependent model is developed for the dynamic evolution of global corona
The model is driven by the daily‐updated magnetic field synoptic data
MHD results have good agreement with coronal and interplanetary observations
Nanoparticles are now emerging as a novel class of autophagy activators. Functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (f-SWCNTs) are valuable nanomaterials in many industries. This article is ...designed to assess the autophagic response for f-SWCNTs exposure in vitro and in vivo. A few types of f-SWCNTs were screened in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells for the autophagic response and related pathways in vitro. Formation of autophagosomes and LC3-II upregulation were confirmed on the basis of electron microscopy and LC3 western blotting for COOH-CNT, but not for PABS-CNT and PEG-CNT. MTT assay showed marked increase in cell viability, when COOH-CNT was added to cells in the presence of autophagy inhibitor 3MA, ATG6 or TSC2 siRNA. Consistent with the involvement of the Akt-TSC1/2-mTOR pathway, the phosphorylation levels of mTOR, mTOR's substrate S6 and Akt were shown significantly decreased in A549 cells on treatment with COOH-CNT using western blotting. What's more, autophagy inhibitor 3MA significantly reduced the lung edema in vivo. In a word, COOH-CNT induced autophagic cell death in A549 cells through the AKT-TSC2-mTOR pathway and caused acute lung injury in vivo. Inhibition of autophagy significantly reduced COOH-CNT-induced autophagic cell death and ameliorated acute lung injury in mice, suggesting a potential remedy to address the growing concerns on the safety of nanomaterials.
Abstract Background This study aimed to compare the outcomes of single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) versus conventional 4-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Methods From November ...2009 to August 2010, 51 patients with symptomatic gallstone or gallbladder polyps were randomized to SILC (n = 24) or 4-port LC (n = 27). Results Mean surgical time (43.5 vs 46.5 min), median blood loss (1 vs 1 mL) and mean hospital stay (1.5 vs 1.8 d) were similar for both the SILC and 4-port LC group. There were no open conversions and no major complications. The mean total wound length of the SILC group was significantly shorter (1.76 vs 2.25 cm). The median visual analogue pain score at 6 hours after surgery was similar (4.5 vs 4.0) but the SILC group had a significantly worse pain score on day 7 (1 vs 0). There was no difference in time to resume usual activity (mean, 5.6 vs 5.0 d). The median cosmetic score of SILC was significantly higher than at 3 months after surgery (7 vs 6). Conclusions SILC was feasible and safe for properly selected patients in experienced hands.
An understanding of the etiologic heterogeneity of ovarian cancer is important for improving prevention, early detection, and therapeutic approaches. We evaluated 14 hormonal, reproductive, and ...lifestyle factors by histologic subtype in the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium (OC3).
Among 1.3 million women from 21 studies, 5,584 invasive epithelial ovarian cancers were identified (3,378 serous, 606 endometrioid, 331 mucinous, 269 clear cell, 1,000 other). By using competing-risks Cox proportional hazards regression stratified by study and birth year and adjusted for age, parity, and oral contraceptive use, we assessed associations for all invasive cancers by histology. Heterogeneity was evaluated by likelihood ratio test.
Most risk factors exhibited significant heterogeneity by histology. Higher parity was most strongly associated with endometrioid (relative risk RR per birth, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.83) and clear cell (RR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.61 to 0.76) carcinomas (P value for heterogeneity P-het < .001). Similarly, age at menopause, endometriosis, and tubal ligation were only associated with endometrioid and clear cell tumors (P-het ≤ .01). Family history of breast cancer (P-het = .008) had modest heterogeneity. Smoking was associated with an increased risk of mucinous (RR per 20 pack-years, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.46) but a decreased risk of clear cell (RR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.55 to 0.94) tumors (P-het = .004). Unsupervised clustering by risk factors separated endometrioid, clear cell, and low-grade serous carcinomas from high-grade serous and mucinous carcinomas.
The heterogeneous associations of risk factors with ovarian cancer subtypes emphasize the importance of conducting etiologic studies by ovarian cancer subtypes. Most established risk factors were more strongly associated with nonserous carcinomas, which demonstrate challenges for risk prediction of serous cancers, the most fatal subtype.
Background
The generation of the tolerogenic dendritic cells (DC) is not fully understood yet. Forkhead box protein‐3 (Foxp3) is an important molecule in the immune tolerance. This study tests a ...hypothesis that DCs express Foxp3, which can be upregulated by Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB).
Methods
The expression of Foxp3 by DCs was evaluated by real‐time RT‐PCR, Western blotting, flow cytometry, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay.
Results
We observed that mice treated with SEB at 0.25–0.5 μg/mouse showed high frequencies of transforming growth factor (TGF)‐β‐producing CD4+ T cells and TGF‐β‐producing DCs in the intestine, while the IL‐4+ CD4+ T cells and TIM4+ DCs were dominated in the intestine in mice treated with SEB at 1–10 μg/mouse. Treating DCs with SEB in the culture induced high levels of Foxp3 at the TGF‐β promoter locus. The function of Foxp3 was blocked by STAT6 (signal transducer and activator transcription‐6); the latter was induced by exposing DCs to SEB in the culture at doses of 100–400 ng/ml. Treating allergic mice with specific immunotherapy (SIT) together with SEB significantly promoted the therapeutic effects on the allergic responses than treating with SIT alone.
Conclusion
Dendritic cells have the capacity to express Foxp3, which can be upregulated by exposure to SEB.
Background and Objective
The majority of experiments show that tumor necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α) inhibits osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and pre‐osteoblasts by activated ...nuclear factor‐kappaB (NF‐κB) signaling. However, the underlying mechanisms by which NF‐κB signaling inhibits osteogenic differentiation are not fully understood. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether EphB4 signaling inhibition mediates the effects of TNF‐α‐activated NF‐κB signaling on osteogenic differentiation of pre‐osteoblasts.
Material and Methods
Murine MC3T3‐E1 pre‐osteoblasts were treated with 10 ng/mL of TNF‐α. NF‐κB inhibitor, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, was used to achieve NF‐κB signaling inhibition. EphB4 signaling was activated using ephrinB2‐fc. The mRNA expressions of runt related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), bone sialoprotein (BSP) and EphB4 were determined using reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction. The protein levels of Runx2, BSP, Col Ia1, osteopontin, EphB4, p‐NF‐κB p65 and NF‐κB p65 were evaluated using western blot assays. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in MC3T3‐E1 cells was evaluated by ALP activity kit, and mineral nodule formation was evaluated by Alizarin Red S staining.
Results
TNF‐α inhibited EphB4 expression, while it suppressed Runx2, BSP expression from gene and protein levels as well as ALP activity and mineral nodule formation in MC3T3‐E1 cells. Activation of EphB4 signaling by ephrinB2‐fc promoted osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3‐E1 cells, whereas TNF‐α impaired the osteogenic differentiation enhanced by ephrinB2‐fc. Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate blocked the activation of NF‐κB signaling induced by TNF‐α, while it prevented the downregulation of Runx2, BSP and EphB4, induced by TNF‐α.
Conclusion
TNF‐α inhibits osteogenic differentiation of pre‐osteoblasts by downregulation of EphB4 signaling via activated NF‐κB signaling pathway.
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