Endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy for management of chronic fecalith appendicitis.

Background And Aims: Chronic appendicitis is a condition with chronic abdominal pain or mild attacks of appendicitis, seriously affecting the patient's quality of life. Endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy (ERAT) has emerged as a promising, non-invasive treatment for acute uncomplicated appendicitis. Here, we aim to assess the safety and efficacy of ERAT for chronic fecalith appendicitis.

Association between Exposure of Rare Earth Elements and Outcomes of Fertilization-Embryo Transfer in Beijing.

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the impact of rare earth elements (REEs) exposure on pregnancy outcomes of fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) by analyzing samples from spouses.

Methods: A total of 141 couples were included. Blood and follicular fluid from the wives and semen plasma from the husbands, were analyzed for REEs using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Long-term outcomes of endoscopic resection for well-differentiated nonampullary duodenal neuroendocrine tumors.

Background And Aims: Nonampullary duodenal neuroendocrine tumors (NAD-NETs) are rare, with limited evidence regarding endoscopic treatment. This study investigated the efficacy and safety of endoscopic resection of well-differentiated NAD-NETs and evaluated long-term outcomes, including local recurrence and metastasis.

Methods: Seventy-eight patients with NAD-NETs who underwent endoscopic resection between January 2011 and August 2022 were included.

From immunology to artificial intelligence: revolutionizing latent tuberculosis infection diagnosis with machine learning.

Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) has become a major source of active tuberculosis (ATB). Although the tuberculin skin test and interferon-gamma release assay can be used to diagnose LTBI, these methods can only differentiate infected individuals from healthy ones but cannot discriminate between LTBI and ATB. Thus, the diagnosis of LTBI faces many challenges, such as the lack of effective biomarkers from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) for distinguishing LTBI, the low diagnostic efficacy of biomarkers derived from the human host, and the absence of a gold standard to differentiate between LTBI and ATB.

The role of type II esophageal microbiota in achalasia: Activation of macrophages and degeneration of myenteric neurons.

Objective: The gut microbiota plays a critical role in the appropriate development and maintenance of the enteric nervous system (ENS). Esophageal achalasia (EA) is a rare motility disorder characterized by the selective degeneration of inhibitory neurons in the esophageal myenteric plexus. This study aimed to evaluate the composition of the esophageal microbiota in achalasia and explore the potential microbial mechanisms involved in its pathogenesis.

A single-cell transcriptional landscape of immune cells shows disease-specific changes of T cell and macrophage populations in human achalasia.

Achalasia is a rare motility disorder of the esophagus caused by the gradual degeneration of myenteric neurons. Immune-mediated ganglionitis has been proposed to underlie the loss of myenteric neurons. Here, we measure the immune cell transcriptional profile of paired lower esophageal sphincter (LES) tissue and blood samples in achalasia and controls using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq).

Endoscopic resection and suturing methods for non-ampullary duodenal submucosal tumors: "mini-invasive" treatments that should never be underestimated.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of endoscopic resection and various suturing methods to treat non-ampullary duodenal submucosal tumors (NAD-SMTs).

Design: We performed a retrospective observational study of patients with NAD-SMTs who underwent endoscopic resection at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, China, between June 2017 and December 2020. Data on patient characteristics, treatments and follow-up results were collected.

Improving bowel preparation for colonoscopy with a smartphone application driven by artificial intelligence.

Optimal bowel preparation is a prerequisite for a successful colonoscopy; however, the rate of inadequate bowel preparation remains relatively high. In this study, we establish a smartphone app that assesses patient bowel preparation using an artificial intelligence (AI)-based prediction system trained on labeled photographs of feces in the toilet and evaluate its impact on bowel preparation quality in colonoscopy outpatients. We conduct a prospective, single-masked, multicenter randomized clinical trial, enrolling outpatients who own a smartphone and are scheduled for a colonoscopy.

Hydroxyphenylpyruvate Dioxygenase Is a Metabolic Immune Checkpoint for UTX-deficient Colorectal Cancer.

Background & Aims: Aberrant epigenetic events mediated by histone methyltransferases and demethylases contribute to malignant progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the role of the histone demethylase ubiquitously transcribed tetratricopeptide repeat on chromosome X (UTX) in CRC remains poorly understood.

Methods: UTX conditional knockout mice and UTX-silenced MC38 cells were used to investigate UTX function in tumorigenesis and development of CRC.

A cross-sectional study reveals a chronic low-grade inflammation in achalasia.

Background And Aim: Immune-mediated neuroinflammation has been proposed to underlie the loss of lower esophageal sphincter (LES) myenteric neurons in achalasia. However, the immune status and key pathogenic immune subpopulations remain unclear. This study aims to evaluate the inflammatory status of patients with achalasia and their correlation with clinical characteristics, and further explore the key pathogenic subpopulations.

Poor intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcome in infertile males with azoospermia factor c microdeletions.

Objective: To explore whether the presence of azoospermia factor c (AZFc) microdeletions adversely affects intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcome.

Design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: University hospital.

Controlled hypertension under hemostasis prevents post-gastric endoscopic submucosal dissection bleeding: a prospective randomized controlled trial.

Background: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a prominent minimally invasive operative technique for treating early gastrointestinal tumors but can result in postoperative bleeding. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether increasing blood pressure under hemostasis during gastric ESD to identify potential bleeding spots reduces the risk of post-ESD bleeding.

Methods: In this randomized, controlled, single-blinded clinical trial, 309 patients with early gastric cancer who were admitted to a hospital to undergo ESD were recruited from March 2017 to February 2018 and were randomized into intervention and control groups.

Endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR) without laparoscopic assistance for nonampullary duodenal subepithelial lesions: our clinical experience of 32 cases.

Background: Standard treatment for nonampullary duodenal tumors has not yet been established. In case of tumors originated from the muscularis propria (MP) layer and adherent to the serosa layer, the lesions can not be completely removed by ESD. However, with the development of the endoscopic suture technique, endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR) of duodenal subepithelial lesions has become possible.

Epigenetic dynamics and interplay during spermatogenesis and embryogenesis: implications for male fertility and offspring health.

Mapping epigenetic modifications and identifying their roles in the regulation of spermatogenesis and embryogenesis are essential for gaining fundamental medical understandings and for clinical applications. More and more evidence has shown that specific epigenetic modifications are established during spermatogenesis, which will be transferred into oocyte fertilisation, and play an important role in the early embryo development. Defects in epigenetic patterns may increase the risk of abnormal spermatogenesis, fertilisation failure, early embryogenesis abnormality and several other complications during pregnancy.

Overexpression of gelsolin reduces the proliferation and invasion of colon carcinoma cells.

The enhanced motility of cancer cells via the remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton is crucial in the process of cancer cell invasion and metastasis. It was previously demonstrated that gelsolin (GSN) may be involved as a tumor or a metastasis suppressor, depending on the cell lines and model systems used. In the present study, the effect of GSN on the growth and invasion of human colon carcinoma (CC) cells was investigated using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting.

Identification of prolyl hydroxylation modifications in mammalian cell proteins.

Prolyl hydroxylation is a PTM that plays an important role in the formation of collagen fibrils and in the oxygen-dependent regulation of hypoxia inducible factor-α (HIF-α). While this modification has been well characterized in the context of these proteins, it remains unclear to what extent it occurs in the remaining mammalian proteome. We explored this question using MS to analyze cellular extracts subjected to various fractionation strategies.

Defective Tibetan PHD2 binding to p23 links high altitude adaption to altered oxygen sensing.

The Tibetan population has adapted to the chronic hypoxia of high altitude. Tibetans bear a genetic signature in the prolyl hydroxylase domain protein 2 (PHD2/EGLN1) gene, which encodes for the central oxygen sensor of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway. Recent studies have focused attention on two nonsynonymous coding region substitutions, D4E and C127S, both of which are markedly enriched in the Tibetan population.

Lower expression of ER-α36 is associated with the development of endometrial hyperplasia in PCOS patients.

Objective: To explore the expression change of ER-α36 in endometria of PCOS patients.

Methods: Proliferative endometria were collected and divided into three groups: CE group (n=30), proliferative endometria from control women; PCOSE group (n=30), proliferative endometria from PCOS patients; HPCOSE group (n=15), hyperplastic endometria from PCOS patients. The cellular localization of ER-α36 and ER-α66 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and expression of ER-α36 and ER-α66 was determined by immunohistochemistry and Real-Time Quantitative PCR.

Prolyl hydroxylase domain protein 2 (PHD2) binds a Pro-Xaa-Leu-Glu motif, linking it to the heat shock protein 90 pathway.

Prolyl hydroxylase domain protein 2 (PHD2, also known as Egg Laying Defective Nine homolog 1) is a key oxygen-sensing protein in metazoans. In an oxygen-dependent manner, PHD2 site-specifically prolyl hydroxylates the master transcription factor of the hypoxic response, hypoxia-inducible factor-α (HIF-α), thereby targeting HIF-α for degradation. In this report we show that the heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) co-chaperones p23 and FKBP38 interact via a conserved Pro-Xaa-Leu-Glu motif (where Xaa = any amino acid) in these proteins with the N-terminal Myeloid Nervy and DEAF-1 (MYND)-type zinc finger of PHD2.

ER-α36, a novel variant of estrogen receptor α, is involved in EGFR-related carcinogenesis in endometrial cancer.

Objective: To explore the role of estrogen receptor-α36 (ER-α36) in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-related carcinogenesis in endometrial cancer.

Study Design: The expression of ER-α36, EGFR, and phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase was analyzed using immunohistochemistry in endometrial cancer samples. The cellular localization of ER-α36 and EGFR was determined using immunofluorescence in the endometrial cancer Hec1A cells.

PAK1 regulates spindle microtubule organization during oocyte meiotic maturation.

P21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1), an effector of Rho GTPase Rac 1 and Cdc42, is required for mitotic progression. However, its functions in meiosis are unclear. In the present study, we examined the expression, localization and function of PAK1 during mouse oocyte meiotic maturation and found that PAK1 was mainly associated with the meiotic spindle microtubules.

Borealin regulates bipolar spindle formation but may not act as chromosomal passenger during mouse oocyte meiosis.

In mitosis, Borealin is a member of the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC), which plays interaction roles with INCENP and survivin in the complex. Its roles in mammalian meiosis are unknown. Here, we report the expression, localization, and function of Borealin and its relation with survivin in mouse oocyte meiosis.

Septin2 is modified by SUMOylation and required for chromosome congression in mouse oocytes.

In mitosis, centrosomes nucleate microtubules that capture the sister kinetochores of each chromosome to facilitate chromosome congression. In contrast, during meiosis chromosome congression on the acentrosomal spindle is driven primarily by movement of chromosomes along laterally associated microtubule bundles. Previous studies have indicated that septin2 is required for chromosome congression and cytokinesis in mitosis, we therefore asked whether perturbation of septin2 would impair chromosome congression and cytokinesis in meiosis.