Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing Reveals a Large Novel β-Thalassemia Deletion that Removes the Entire Gene.

β-Thalassemia (β-thal) is one of the most common monogenic recessive inherited diseases worldwide. The mutation spectrum of β-thal has been increasingly broadened by various genetic testing methods. The discovery and identification of novel and rare pathogenic thalassemia variants enable better disease prevention, especially in high prevalence regions.

A retrospective study of enteral nutrition on immune and inflammatory factors after liver cancer surgery.

This retrospective study aimed to explore the effect of enteral nutrition (EN) on immune and inflammatory factors after liver cancer surgery (LCS).It was retrospectively conducted on enrolled LCS patients between January 2017 and May 2020. The medical records of 528 patient case records were collected and reviewed.

dbPTM in 2022: an updated database for exploring regulatory networks and functional associations of protein post-translational modifications.

Protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) play an important role in different cellular processes. In view of the importance of PTMs in cellular functions and the massive data accumulated by the rapid development of mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics, this paper presents an update of dbPTM with over 2 777 000 PTM substrate sites obtained from existing databases and manual curation of literature, of which more than 2 235 000 entries are experimentally verified. This update has manually curated over 42 new modification types that were not included in the previous version.

A Robust Nonrigid Point Set Registration Method Based on Collaborative Correspondences.

The nonrigid point set registration is one of the bottlenecks and has the wide applications in computer vision, pattern recognition, image fusion, video processing, and so on. In a nonrigid point set registration problem, finding the point-to-point correspondences is challengeable because of the various image degradations. In this paper, a robust method is proposed to accurately determine the correspondences by fusing the two complementary structural features, including the spatial location of a point and the local structure around it.

Kinesin Family Member 11 Enhances the Self-Renewal Ability of Breast Cancer Cells by Participating in the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway.

Purpose: Our previous studies have shown that kinesin family member 11 (KIF11) is markedly overexpressed in human breast cancer cells or tissues and positively correlated with distant metastasis and prognosis in patients with breast cancer, suggesting an important role in the regulation of cancer stem cells. Herein, we examined the role of KIF11 in breast cancer stem cells.

Methods: In the current study, we validated our previous findings through analysis of data collected in The Cancer Genome Atlas.

miRTarBase 2020: updates to the experimentally validated microRNA-target interaction database.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs (typically consisting of 18-25 nucleotides) that negatively control expression of target genes at the post-transcriptional level. Owing to the biological significance of miRNAs, miRTarBase was developed to provide comprehensive information on experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions (MTIs). To date, the database has accumulated >13,404 validated MTIs from 11,021 articles from manual curations.

Kinesin family member 11 contributes to the progression and prognosis of human breast cancer.

The present study aimed to clarify the association between kinesin family member 11 (KIF11) and human breast cancer, and the effect of KIF11 on breast cancer cell progression. Western blot analysis, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis, retroviral infection, immunohistochemistry staining, MTT assay, anchorage-independent growth ability assay and tumorigenicity assay were all used in the present study. Western blot and RT-qPCR analysis revealed that the expression of KIF11 was markedly increased in malignant cells compared with that in non-tumorous cells at the mRNA and protein level.

Inhibitory effects of α-pinene on hepatoma carcinoma cell proliferation.

Background: Pine needle oil from crude extract of pine needles has anti-tumor effects, but the effective component is not known.

Methods: In the present study, compounds from a steam distillation extract of pine needles were isolated and characterized. Alpha-pinene was identified as an active anti-proliferative compound on hepatoma carcinoma BEL-7402 cells using the MTT assay.

[Chemical composition of essential oil from Thymus citriodorus and its toxic effect on liver cancer cells].

Objective: To analyze the chemical composition of essential oil from Thymus citriodorus and its toxic effect on liver cancer cells.

Methods: The essential oil from Thymus citriodorus leaves was extracted by steam distillation, and GC-MS was used for analyzing chemical composition. 35 components were identified which accounted for 95.

Prevalence and etiology of abnormal liver tests in an adult population in Jilin, China.

Background: Serum biochemical liver tests (LTs) (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and gamma glutamyltransferase) and platelet counts are often used to screen for chronic liver disease. We determined the prevalence and etiologies of abnormal LTs in an adult population in Jilin, China.

Methods: A total of 3791 individuals between the ages of 18 and 79 years were interviewed and then underwent ultrasonography and blood tests.

Anti-adenovirus activities of shikonin, a component of Chinese herbal medicine in vitro.

Radix Lithosperm eyrthrorhizon is a common prescription compound in traditional Chinese medicine. Shikonin is a major component of Radix Lithospermi and has various biological activities. We have investigated the inhibitory effect of shikonin on the growth of adenovirus type 3 (AdV3) in vitro.

[Investigation of the characteristics of HCV genotypes of Han and Korean in Yanbian area of Jilin province].

Objective: To investigate the characteristics of HCV genotypes of Han and Korean in Yanbian area of Jilin Province.

Methods: The HCV RNA load and genotypes of the 119 chronic hepatitis C patients in Yanbian area of Jilin Province were determined by real-time PCR and LiPA. The differences of the HCV genotypes in Han and Korean cases, in severity of the diseases, in HCV-RNA load, and in the relation with type 2 diabetes mellitus were analyzed.

[Apoptosis and activity changes of telomerase induced by essential oil from pine needles in HepG2 cell line].

Objective: To study the effects of essential oil extracted from pine needles on HepG2 cell line.

Methods: HepG2 cells were treated with essential oil extracted from pine needles. Cell growth rate was determined with MTF assay, cell morphologic changes were examined under transmission electromicroscope and HE straining.

[Expression of bcl-2 and bax genes in the liver cancer cell line HepG2 after apoptosis induced by essential oils from Rosmarinus officinalis].

Objective: To investigate the expression of bcl-2 and bax genes in the liver cancer cell line HepG2 after apoptosis induced by essential oils from Rosmarinus officinalis.

Methods: Essential oils from Rosmarinus officinalis were collected by steam distillation, then its chemical composition was determined by GC-MS. Expression of bcl-2 and bax genes were detected by immunohistochemical method.