A proteomic study on gastric impairment in rats caused by microcystin-LR.

Microcystins (MCs) are the most common cyanobacterial toxins. Epidemiological investigation showed that exposure to MCs can cause gastro-intestinal symptoms, gastroenteritis and gastric cancer. MCs can also accumulate in and cause histopathological damage to stomach.

Pre-transjugular-intrahepatic-portosystemic-shunt measurement of hepatic venous pressure gradient and its clinical application: A comparison study.

Background: It is controversial whether transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) placement can improve long-term survival.

Aim: To assess whether TIPS placement improves survival in patients with hepatic-venous-pressure-gradient (HVPG) ≥ 16 mmHg, based on HVPG-related risk stratification.

Methods: Consecutive variceal bleeding patients treated with endoscopic therapy + nonselective β-blockers (NSBBs) or covered TIPS placement were retrospectively enrolled between January 2013 and December 2019.

Chromosome-level genome assembly of the Muscovy duck provides insight into fatty liver susceptibility.

The Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) is an economically important poultry species, which is susceptible to fatty liver. Thus, the Muscovy duck may serve as an excellent candidate animal model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, the mechanisms underlying fatty liver development in this species are poorly understood.

Two-Dimensional Shear Wave Elastography Evaluation of Post-transplantation Complications in Pediatric Receipt: A Retrospective Cohort.

Background: The 20-year survival rate in pediatric patients after liver transplantation (LT) was no more than 70%. Hepatic fibrosis is one of the principal factors affecting the long-term prognosis. Imaging evaluation was the first-line examination for pediatric liver graft assessment.

Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Characteristics for Targeted and Image-Guided siRNA Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary liver cancer and remains a global health challenge. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a promising therapeutic modality that blocks multiple disease-causing genes without impairing cell structures. However, siRNA therapeutics still have off-target proportion and lack effective quantitative analysis method in vivo.

DHF-7 Ameliorates Behavioral Disorders and White Matter Lesions by Regulating BDNF and Fyn in a Mouse Model of Schizophrenia Induced by Cuprizone and MK-801.

Background: Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder including multiple clinical symptoms such as severe psychosis and cognitive dysfunction. DHF-7 is a novel dihydroflavanone derivative that was designed and synthesized to treat schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of DHF-7 in a mouse model of schizophrenia induced by a combination of cuprizone and MK-801.

Behavioral and neurobiological changes in a novel mouse model of schizophrenia induced by the combination of cuprizone and MK-801.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by episodes of psychosis, apathy, social withdrawal, and cognitive impairment. White matter lesions and glutamatergic hypofunction are reported to be the key pathogeneses underlying the multiple clinical symptoms of schizophrenia. Cuprizone (CPZ) is a copper chelator that selectively injures oligodendrocytes, and MK-801 is an antagonist of the N-methyl d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor.

Additional value of superb microvascular imaging for assessing hepatic arterial blood flow after pediatric liver transplantation.

Background: The aim of this study was to explore the value of SMI compared with conventional ultrasonography for assessing hepatic arterial blood flow after pediatric liver transplantation.

Methods: From March 2018 to November 2018, a total of 105 pediatric recipients with biliary atresia underwent liver transplantation in our hospital. Ultrasound examinations were performed at the bedside in the intensive care unit to check the patency of the blood flow in the hepatic allograft.

Shear wave elastography for evaluation of the urgency of liver transplantation in pediatric patients with biliary atresia.

Background: To investigate the role of two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) in the preoperative evaluation of pediatric patients with biliary atresia awaiting liver transplantation.

Methods: Among a total of 152 pediatric patients enrolled in this single-institution prospective study between March 2018 and August 2019, 143 patients (age range, 4-97 months; median age, 7 months; 84 males, 59 females) who underwent successful routine ultrasound examination, SWE examination, and blood test before liver transplantation were included in the final analysis. The values of liver stiffness measured by SWE were compared with ultrasound and blood test parameters by Spearman's correlation analysis.

Hepatic artery reconstruction in pediatric liver transplantation: Experience from a single group.

Background: The reconstruction of hepatic artery is a challenging part of the pediatric liver transplantation procedure. Hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) and stenosis are complications which may result in ischemic biliary injury, causing early graft lost and even death.

Methods: Two hundred and fifty-nine patients underwent liver transplantation in 2017 in a single liver transplantation group.

The utility of two-dimensional shear wave elastography and texture analysis for monitoring liver fibrosis in rat model.

Background: Liver fibrosis is a common pathological change caused by a variety of etiologies. Early diagnosis and timely treatment can reverse or delay disease progression and improve the prognosis. This study aimed to assess the potential utility of two-dimensional shear wave elastography and texture analysis in dynamic monitoring of the progression of liver fibrosis in rat model.

Ultrasound-based scoring system for differential diagnosis of polypoid lesions of the gallbladder.

Background And Aim: Polypoid lesions of the gallbladder may be neoplastic or non-neoplastic. Correct diagnosis would help reduce unnecessary cholecystectomies. This study aimed to determine the predictive value of individual ultrasound characteristics for diagnosis of neoplastic polyps and to build a scoring system based on these characteristics.

Gene expression profiling in Pekin duck embryonic breast muscle.

Lean-type Pekin duck is a breed gained through long-term selection and great effort has been exerted to understand the mechanisms underlying increased muscle yields. However, the genes involved in Pekin duck embryonic breast muscle development have not been explored to date. In this study, we investigated gene expression profiles in Pekin Duck embryonic breast muscle at hatched day 13 (E13), E19, and E27 using RNA-seq.

Diagnosis and outcomes of collateral arterial formation after irreversible early hepatic artery thrombosis in pediatric liver recipients.

Background: Early hepatic artery thrombosis (eHAT) has been recognized as an important cause of graft loss and mortality. However, the incidence, etiology and outcome are not clear, especially for children. The present study was to investigate the formation of collateral artery flow after irreversible eHAT and its impact on patient's prognosis.

Preoperative hepatic hemodynamics in the prediction of early portal vein thrombosis after liver transplantation in pediatric patients with biliary atresia.

Background: Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is one of the main vascular complications after liver transplantation (LT), especially in pediatric patients with biliary atresia (BA). This study aimed to assess the preoperative hepatic hemodynamics in pediatric patients with BA using Doppler ultrasound and determine whether ultrasonographic parameters may predict early PVT after LT.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-eight pediatric patients with BA younger than 3 years of age underwent Doppler ultrasound within seven days before LT, between October 2006 and June 2013.

Differential diagnosis of polypoid lesions of the gallbladder using contrast-enhanced sonography.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of real-time contrast-enhanced sonography and microvascular imaging for differential diagnosis of neoplastic and non-neoplastic polypoid lesions of the gallbladder.

Methods: Real-time contrast-enhanced sonography and microvascular imaging were performed in 128 patients with polypoid lesions of the gallbladder larger than 6 mm in diameter. The enhancement patterns, microvascular imaging types, and kinetic parameters were analyzed on contrast-enhanced sonography.

Identification and characterization of genes related to the development of skeletal muscle in the Hainan black goat.

In total, 185 unigenes were identified from 380 clones of postnatal skeletal muscle of Hainan Black goats by suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) technology. Most of the differentially expressed genes involved energy metabolism and muscle contraction. The expression of 19 genes was analyzed in the longissimus dorsi muscles of 2-, 6-, 12-, 24-month olds, and four gene expression patterns were found by hierarchical cluster analysis.

Hedgehog signaling, keratin 6 induction, and sebaceous gland morphogenesis: implications for pachyonychia congenita and related conditions.

Keratins 6a and b (K6a, K6b) belong to a subset of keratin genes with constitutive expression in epithelial appendages, and inducible expression in additional epithelia, when subjected to environmental challenges or disease. Mutations in K6a or K6b cause a broad spectrum of epithelial lesions that differentially affect nail, hair, and glands in humans. Some lesions reflect a loss of the structural support function shared by K6, other keratins, and intermediate filament proteins.

[Effect of Psidium guajava leaf extract on alpha-glucosidase activity in small intestine of diabetic mouse].

Objective: To investigate the inhibition effect of Psidium guajava linn (PGL), a leaf water-soluble extract, on the activities of alpha-glucosidases.

Methods: The PGL water-soluble extract (PGL WE) was obtained by the procedure of distilled water immersion, filtration, extracted fluid concentration and dry of Psidium guajava leaf. The diabetes of Kunming mice was induced by intraperitoneal injection of Streptozotocin (STZ).

Keratin function in skin epithelia: a broadening palette with surprising shades.

Keratins make up the largest subgroup of intermediate filament (IF) proteins and form a dynamic network of 10-12 nm filaments, built from type I/type II heterodimers, in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells. A major function of keratin IFs is to protect epithelial cells from mechanical and non-mechanical stresses that cause cell rupture and death. Interference with this role is the root cause of a large number of inherited epithelial fragility conditions.

Keratin expression provides novel insight into the morphogenesis and function of the companion layer in hair follicles.

Hair follicles cycle between stages of growth (anagen) and metabolic quiescence (telogen) throughout life. In mature follicles, transition from telogen back into anagen involves the activation, proliferation, and differentiation of epithelial stem cells located in the bulge, a specialization of the outer root sheath. Recent studies identified keratin 6a (K6a) transcripts as enriched in bulge epithelial stem cells in mouse skin.

Defining the properties of the nonhelical tail domain in type II keratin 5: insight from a bullous disease-causing mutation.

Inherited mutations in the intermediate filament (IF) proteins keratin 5 (K5) or keratin 14 (K14) cause epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS), in which basal layer keratinocytes rupture upon trauma to the epidermis. Most mutations are missense alleles affecting amino acids located in the central alpha-helical rod domain of K5 and K14. Here, we study the properties of an unusual EBS-causing mutation in which a nucleotide deletion (1649delG) alters the last 41 amino acids and adds 35 residues to the C terminus of K5.

A usual frameshift and delayed termination codon mutation in keratin 5 causes a novel type of epidermolysis bullosa simplex with migratory circinate erythema.

We report here two unrelated families in Japan and Korea having patients with a unique type of epidermolysis bullosa simplex and a novel mutation in the keratin gene KRT5, i.e., a frameshift and delayed stop codon inconsistent with any subtype described before.

Aberrant expression of p16 and RB protein in eccrine porocarcinoma.

Background: Eccrine porocarcinoma is a rare malignant tumor of the sweat gland and very little is known about its etiology and molecular basis.

Methods: To investigate the expression of p16 and retinoblastoma (RB) protein and their relationship, an immunohistochemical method was performed on nine eccrine porocarcinomas and five eccrine poromas. Furthermore, one case of eccrine porocarcinoma was analyzed for p16 gene mutation.