The identification of potential tumor markers will help improve therapeutic planning and patient management. Thrombomodulin (TM) is a sensitive urothelial marker. TM was reported to be one of the ...endogenous anti-metastatic factors and has diagnostic and prognostic values for the progression of carcinoma. In the present study, we examine the role of TM in bladder cancer.
We studied the role of TM in tumor behavior and related signaling pathways in vitro using the human bladder cancer cell lines HT1376, HT1197, J82 and T24, and in vivo using animal models. We also selected clinical specimens from 100 patients with bladder cancer for immunohistochemical staining to evaluate the predictive capacity of TM in tumor invasiveness.
The data revealed that positive immunoreactivity for TM was inversely correlated with clinical stage and DNA methyltransferase 1 immunoreactivity. Decreased TM expression could predict the aggressive tumor growth and advanced clinical stage in bladder cancer. When TM was inhibited, tumor growth rate and invasion ability were augmented in vitro and in vivo. The underlying changes included increased cell proliferation, enhanced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and angiogenesis. Moreover, inhibition of NF-κB activation significantly increased TM expression and attenuated tumor aggressiveness in bladder cancer.
TM plays an important role in bladder cancer tumor aggressiveness in vitro and in vivo and is a clinically significant predictor that may represent a suitable therapeutic target for bladder cancer.
Background:
This study formulated clinical guidelines for assessing nasogastric tube placement and for health education guidance according to evidence-based recommendations.
Method:
This study used a ...single group, pre- and postintervention design. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants from nursing institutions in Taiwan.
Results:
Sixty-two individuals in charge of nursing institutions were recruited to participate in the in-service training program. Statistically significant differences were observed in the four major items in the self-directed learning readiness scale (
t
= 3.85,
p
< .00;
t
= 3.99,
p
< .00;
t
= 2.94,
p
< .01;
t
= 4.13,
p
< .00). With regard to program satisfaction, the mean score was 4.88 to 4.9 points. The mean score for teaching satisfaction was 4.94 to 4.9 points. Furthermore, the participants scored more than 80 points in the online course test and the nasogastric tube placement skill.
Conclusion:
The individuals in-charge are expected to be willing to apply and promote methods of literature collation and recommendation in their respective institutions.
J Contin Educ Nurs
. 2021;52(7):326–334.
Soil fungi play an integral and essential role in maintaining soil ecosystem functions. The understanding of altitude variations and their drivers of soil fungal community composition and diversity ...remains relatively unclear. Mountains provide an open, natural platform for studying how the soil fungal community responds to climatic variability at a short altitude distance. Using the Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing technique, we examined soil fungal community composition and diversity among seven vegetation types (dry valley shrub, valley-mountain ecotone broadleaved mixed forest, subalpine broadleaved mixed forest, subalpine coniferous-broadleaved mixed forest, subalpine coniferous forest, alpine shrub meadow, alpine meadow) along a 2582 m altitude gradient in the alpine–gorge region on the eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Ascomycota (47.72%), Basidiomycota (36.58%), and Mortierellomycota (12.14%) were the top three soil fungal dominant phyla in all samples. Soil fungal community composition differed significantly among the seven vegetation types along altitude gradients. The α-diversity of soil total fungi and symbiotic fungi had a distinct hollow pattern, while saprophytic fungi and pathogenic fungi showed no obvious pattern along altitude gradients. The β-diversity of soil total fungi, symbiotic fungi, saprophytic fungi, and pathogenic fungi was derived mainly from species turnover processes and exhibited a significant altitude distance-decay pattern. Soil properties explained 31.27−34.91% of variation in soil fungal (total and trophic modes) community composition along altitude gradients, and the effects of soil nutrients on fungal community composition varied by trophic modes. Soil pH was the main factor affecting α-diversity of soil fungi along altitude gradients. The β-diversity and turnover components of soil total fungi and saprophytic fungi were affected by soil properties and geographic distance, while those of symbiotic fungi and pathogenic fungi were affected only by soil properties. This study deepens our knowledge regarding altitude variations and their drivers of soil fungal community composition and diversity, and confirms that the effects of soil properties on soil fungal community composition and diversity vary by trophic modes along altitude gradients in the alpine–gorge region.
Biohydrometallurgy is generally considered as a green technology for the recycling of industrial solid waste. In this study, an indigenous fungal strain named Y5 with the ability of high-yielding ...organic acids was isolated and applied in bioleaching of waste printed circuit boards (PCBs). The strain Y5 was identified as Penicillium chrysogenum by morphological and molecular identification. Meanwhile, we investigated that an optimal set of culturing conditions for the fungal growth and acids secretion was 15 g/L glucose with initial pH 5.0, temperature 25°C and shaking speed 120 rpm in shaken flasks culture. Moreover, three bioleaching processes such as one-step, two-step and spent medium processes were conducted to extract copper from waste PCBs. Spent medium bioleaching showed higher copper extraction percentage and it was 47% under 5%(w/v) pulp density. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation combining with energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDAX) showed that the leached metal ions did not obviously damage the hypha cells. All above results indicated that P.chrysogenum strain Y5 has the tolerance to metal ions, suggesting its potential in recycling of metals from waste PCBs in industry.
•Penicillium chrysogenum was firstly applied in the treatment of low-grade waste printed circuit boards.•Spent medium bioleaching achieved 76% Cu extraction under 1% pulp density better than one- and two-step processes.•Extracellular polymeric substances production and intracellular mechanism may be involved in fungal tolerance to heavy metals.
Background:
Eltrombopag (ELT), a thrombopoietin receptor agonist (TPO-RA), has been approved for relapsed/refractory aplastic anemia (AA). However, data on avatrombopag (AVA), another TPO-RA, are ...limited, and the comparisons between the two TPO-RAs are lacking.
Objectives:
We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety between ELT and AVA in relapsed/refractory AA patients.
Design:
In this retrospective study, patients with relapsed/refractory AA who had been treated with ELT (N = 45) or AVA (N = 30) alone and had compatible baseline hematological parameters were compared.
Methods:
Data from patients diagnosed with acquired AA were retrospectively collected. All patients were refractory/relapsed to standard immunosuppressive therapy (IST) for at least 6 months before ELT or AVA. Patients had to be treated with ELT or AVA alone for at least 6 months before evaluation if they did not respond. Baseline characteristics, overall response (OR), complete response (CR), relapse, adverse events, and factors that may affect efficacy were analyzed.
Results:
Of the 75 patients enrolled, 45 received ELT and 30 received AVA. Patients with AVA had a higher percentage of abnormal liver or renal function than those with ELT (p = 0.036). No significant difference was found in the OR/CR rate in the first/second/third/sixth month between the two cohorts (p > 0.05). Patients treated with AVA had a shorter median time to response than those treated with ELT (p = 0.012) and had a higher platelet level in the second month (p = 0.041). AVA had fewer adverse events than ELT (p = 0.046). Under compatible follow-up time (p = 0.463), no difference was found between the ELT and AVA cohorts in relapse (p = 1.000) or clone evolution (p = 0.637). No predictive factors for OR and CR in the sixth month were found for either ELT or AVA.
Conclusion:
With worse liver or renal function, AVA had a similar OR/CR rate but a shorter median time to response and fewer adverse events for patients with relapsed/refractory AA.
The aging characteristics of lithium titanate batteries under ultra-high discharge rate were studied in this paper. The discharge characteristics is highly temperature-dependent under 55C discharge ...rate. The capacity retention rate is about 73% after 100 cycles of 55C discharge. The in-situ analysis incremental capacity analysis (ICA) was used to analyze the aging mechanism, and it was found that the main reason for the capacity fading was the loss of active material of the positive electrode, which leads to an increase of polarization resistance under 55C discharge rate.
•Film coating on the shelf-life enhancement of sea bass was studied.•Sea bass samples coated by chitosan-SPS presented minimum drip loss.•Coating is an effective way to prevent fish from lipid ...oxidation and muscle ageing.•Chitosan-based coating was good in retaining the texture parameters of fish.•TBA content of coated sea bass was lower as compared to the control.
Sea bass (Lateolabrax maculatus) is one of the important seafood in China. Its shelf-life under refrigerated storage exponentially deteriorate due to the growth of spoilage microorganisms, protein degradation and lipid oxidation. In this study, 4 coating materials namely, konjac glucomannan-whey protein isolate (KGM-WPI) film, chitosan-sweet potato starch (CHI-SPS) film, chitosan-bamboo fungus (CHI-BF) film, and chitosan-boehmite alumina (CHI-BAH) have been explored to enhance the shelf life of sea bass during 8 days of refrigerated storage. Overall, CHI-BF was observed to be best in retaining hardness, gumminess and maintaining total volatile basic nitrogen value. Whereas CHI-SPS was found to retain chewiness and maintain lower values for drip loss and peroxide value. CHI-BAH coating was observed to maintain the lower values for pH and EC values of sea bass under refrigerated storage. However, the least increase in total viable count and minimum change in b* value was observed in the case of sea bass coated with KGM-WPI. The current research findings provide a new practical storage method for the entire fresh fish. The fresh fish can be coated with different coating materials and store on the ice at 4°C without packaging during retailing. These film coated whole fresh fish retains its microbial and sensory quality.
Abstract
Magnetic seizure therapy (MST) has established efficacy in the treatment of depression and a growing evidence base in the treatment of depression. We conducted the first systematic review ...and meta-analysis of the efficacy of MST in anti-depressive treatment and its impact on cognitive function (INPLASY registration number: INPLASY202170061). We searched for controlled trials published in English between 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2020 in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and PsycINFO databases. The evaluation process strictly followed the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool into the literature, and Meta-analysis was performed according to the Cochrane System Reviewer’s Manual. Data from a total of 285 patients from 10 studies were retained in the quantitative synthesis. The results showed no significant difference between MST and ECT in the antidepressant effect (SDM −0.13 −0.78;0.52). Compared with ECT, MST showed shorter recovery time (MD −5.67 −9.75; −1.60) and reorientation time (MD −14.67 −27.96; −1.41); and MST showed less cognitive impairment on the immediate recall of words (SDM 0.80 0.35;1.25), delayed recall of words (SDM 0.99 0.01;0.74), visual-spatial immediate memory (SDM 0.51 0.20;0.83), visual-spatial delayed memory (
SDM
0.57 0.11;1.02), and the verbal fluency (
SDM
0.51 0.20;0.83). Our evidence-based study is the first meta-analysis on the efficacy of MST in anti-depressive treatment and its effect on cognitive function. It showed that the curative effect of MST in anti-depressive treatment is equivalent to that of ECT. Besides, depressive patients with MST benefit more from cognitive function compared with ECT.
Alternative tailings disposal technologies can be effective solutions to mining waste safety and environmental problems. The current decision-making processes for tailings disposal schemes lack ...consideration of environmental impacts. Based on a case study of an open-pit iron mine in northern China, this study adopted the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to compare the environmental impacts of three tailings disposal schemes of conventional slurry disposal technology (CSDT), dry stack disposal technology (DSDT) by belt conveyance and DSDT by truck transport. The results indicated that (1) the environmental impacts of the CSDT scheme were lowest under the premise that water consumption was ignored; (2) the environmental impacts of the DSDT scheme by belt conveyance mainly originated from its transport process, indicating that the tailings storage facilities (TSFs) site planning could be crucial in design decision making; (3) the environmental impacts of the DSDT scheme by truck transport mainly originated from the energy consumption of dry stacking equipment; and (4) the DSDT scheme by truck transport was eventually found to be preferable and implemented in the case study, after comprehensively considering the LCA results, TSF safety and remaining capacity, and social and policy uncertainties. It is therefore recommended to conduct LCA of environmental impacts in the decision-making process for the sustainable design of TSFs.
Thyroid carcinoma is the most prevalent endocrine cancer globally and the primary cause of cancer-related mortality. Epigenetic modifications are progressively being linked to metastasis. This study ...aimed to examine whole-genome DNA methylation patterns and the gene expression profiles in thyroid cancer tissue samples using a MethylationEPIC BeadChip (850K), RNA sequencing, and a targeted bisulfite sequencing assay. The results of the Illumina Infinium human methylation kit (850K) analyses identified differentially methylated CpG locations (DMPs) and differentially methylated CpG regions (DMRs) encompassing nearly the entire genome with high resolution and depth. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analyses revealed that the genes associated with DMRs belonged to various domain-specific ontologies, including cell adhesion, molecule binding, and proliferation. The RNA-Seq study found 1627 differentially expressed genes, 1174 of which that were up-regulated and 453 of which that were down-regulated. The targeted bisulfite sequencing assay revealed that CHST2, DPP4, DUSP6, ITGA2, SLC1A5, TIAM1, TNIK, and ABTB2 methylation levels were dramatically lowered in thyroid cancer patients when compared to the controls, but GALNTL6, HTR7, SPOCD1, and GRM5 methylation levels were significantly raised. Our study revealed that the whole-genome DNA methylation patterns and gene expression profiles in thyroid cancer shed new light on the tumorigenesis of thyroid cancer.
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