Genomic landscape and potential therapeutic targets in alpha-fetoprotein-producing gastric cancer.

Alpha-fetoprotein-producing gastric carcinoma (AFPGC) is a rare and aggressive subtype of gastric cancer (GC). A comprehensive analysis of clinicopathological features, immunophenotypes, molecular characteristics, and survival in AFPGC contributes to identifying potential therapeutic targets and developing new strategies to manage this disease. A retrospective cohort study was conducted at Shanxi Cancer Hospital from January 2018 to December 2020, involving patients diagnosed with GC and elevated AFP serum levels.

Building Three-Dimensional Complexity by Intramolecular 2-Aminoallyl Cation-Diene (4+3) Cycloaddition.

Reliable methods for rapidly constructing C(sp)-rich three-dimensional polycycles are in high demand for organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry. Although there are various mature systems for synthesizing five- or six-membered polycycles, a catalytic platform for accessing diverse cycloheptanoid-containing polycyclic scaffolds is lacking. Herein, we describe a method for copper-catalyzed intramolecular 2-aminoallyl cation-diene (4+3) cycloaddition reactions.

Cell-free Protein Synthesis System for Building Synthetic Cells.

The Cell-Free Protein Synthesis (CFPS) system has been widely employed to facilitate the bottom-up assembly of synthetic cells. It serves as the host for the core machinery of the Central Dogma, standing as an optimal chassis for the integration and assembly of diverse artificial cellular mimicry systems. Despite its frequent use in the fabrication of synthetic cells, establishing a tailored and robust CFPS system for a specific application remains a nontrivial challenge.

Effects of perioperative intravenous lidocaine and esketamine on the quality of recovery and emotional state of patients after thyroidectomy: A randomised, double-blind, controlled trial.

Background And Aims: Perioperative intravenous (IV) infusions of lidocaine and esketamine reduce postoperative pain, but there are few studies on the quality of recovery and patients' emotional states postoperatively. We aimed to explore the effects of perioperative IV lidocaine and esketamine on the quality of recovery and emotional state after thyroidectomy.

Methods: In this randomised trial, 137 patients undergoing thyroidectomy were randomly assigned to three groups: a lidocaine group (Group L), an esketamine group (Group E) and a normal saline placebo group (Group C).

Effect of ultrasound-guided bilateral superficial cervical plexus block versus perioperative intravenous lidocaine infusion on postoperative quality of recovery in patients undergoing thyroidectomy: A randomised double-blind comparative trial.

Background And Aims: Recent studies have found that ultrasound-guided (USG) bilateral superficial cervical plexus block (BSCPB) and intravenous infusion of lidocaine (IVL) have the potential to improve the quality of postoperative recovery. This study aimed to investigate and compare their effects on postoperative quality of recovery in patients undergoing thyroidectomy.

Methods: A total of 135 patients were randomised to Group N: BSCPB with 10 mL 0.

Network Pharmacology Analysis of the Therapeutic Potential of Colchicine in Acute Lung Injury.

Background: This study employed integrated network pharmacology approach to explore the mechanisms underlying the protective effect of colchicine against acute lung injury (ALI).

Methods: We analyzed the expression profiles from 13 patients with sepsis-related ALI and 21 controls to identify differentially expressed genes and key modules. ALI-related genes were curated using databases such as DisGeNET, Therapeutic Target, and Comparative Toxicogenomics Database to curate ALI-related genes.

Bottom-Up Synthetic Biology Using Cell-Free Protein Synthesis.

Technical advances in biotechnology have greatly accelerated the development of bottom-up synthetic biology. Unlike top-down approaches, bottom-up synthetic biology focuses on the construction of a minimal cell from scratch and the application of these principles to solve challenges. Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) systems provide minimal machinery for transcription and translation, from either a fractionated cell lysate or individual purified protein elements, thus speeding up the development of synthetic cell projects.

Aquaporins and CO diffusion across biological membrane.

Despite the physiological significance of effective CO diffusion across biological membranes, the underlying mechanism behind this process is not yet resolved. Particularly debatable is the existence of CO-permeable aquaporins. The lipophilic characteristic of CO should, according to Overton's rule, result in a rapid flux across lipid bilayers.

ITGA5 promotes tumor angiogenesis in cervical cancer.

Purpose: Integrins are critical to cancer progression. Integrin alpha 5 (ITGA5) is correlated with the prognosis of cervical cancer patients. However, whether ITGA5 plays an active role in cervical cancer progression or not remains unknown.

Activation of endogenous cadmium from biochar under simulated acid rain enhances the accumulation risk of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.).

Biochar has been widely applied to remediate heavy metal-contaminated soils, but the environmental risk of the endogenous pollutants in biochar remains unclear. Two biochars with different endogenous cadmium (Cd) concentrations were prepared from background soil (BCB) and contaminated soil (BCC), respectively. We studied the effects of simulated acid rain (SAR) on the activation mechanism of endogenous Cd in biochar and Cd uptake of Cd by lettuce from the biochar-amended soils.

Study on the Structure, Function, and Interface Characteristics of Soybean Protein Isolate by Industrial Phosphorylation.

The impacts of industrial phosphorylation on the structural changes, microstructure, functional, and rheological features of soybean protein isolate (SPI) were spotlighted. The findings implied that the spatial structure and functional features of the SPI changed significantly after treatment with the two phosphates. Sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) promoted aggregation of SPI with a larger particle size; sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) modified SPI with smaller particle size.

Copper-Catalyzed Enantioselective C1,N-Dipolar (3+2) Cycloadditions of 2-Aminoallyl Cations with Indoles.

2-Aminoallyl cations are versatile 1,3-dipoles that could potentially be used for diverse (3+n) cycloaddition reactions. Despite some preliminary studies, the asymmetric catalytic transformation of these species is still underdeveloped. We herein report a binuclear copper-catalyzed generation of 2-aminoallyl cations from ethynyl methylene cyclic carbamates and their enantioselective (3+2) cycloaddition reaction with indoles to construct chiral pyrroloindolines.

The multi-scale meso-mechanics model of viscoelastic dentin.

Human dentin is a hierarchical material with multi-level micro-/nano-structures, consisting of tubule, perti-tubular dentin (PTD) and intertubular dentin (ITD) as the major constituents at microscale; and the PTD and ITD are further composed of collagen and hydroxyapatite (HAp) crystals with different volume fractions at nanoscale. In most cases, the HAp is considered as elastic while the collagen as viscoelastic material. It is of great significance to study the hierarchical structure and viscoelasticity of human dentin to understand the mechanical properties of dentin for further development of restorative materials.

A comprehensive multi-omics analysis reveals molecular features associated with cancer via RNA cross-talks in the Notch signaling pathway.

The Notch signaling has an important role in multiple cellular processes and is related to carcinogenic process. To understand the potential molecular features of the crucial Notch pathway, a comprehensive multi-omics analysis is performed to explore its contributions in cancer, mainly including analysis of somatic mutation landscape, pan-cancer expression, ncRNA regulation and potential prognostic power. The screened 22 Notch core genes are relative stable in DNA variation.

Prognostic Role of M6A-Associated Immune Genes and Cluster-Related Tumor Microenvironment Analysis: A Multi-Omics Practice in Stomach Adenocarcinoma.

N6-methylandrostenedione (m6A) methylation plays a very important role in the development of malignant tumors. The immune system is the key point in the progression of tumors, particularly in terms of tumor treatment and drug resistance. Tumor immunotherapy has now become a hot spot and a new approach for tumor treatment.

Critical Roles of Circular RNA in Tumor Metastasis via Acting as a Sponge of miRNA/isomiR.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a class of new endogenous non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), are closely related to the carcinogenic process and play a critical role in tumor metastasis. CircRNAs can lay the foundation for tumor metastasis via promoting tumor angiogenesis, make tumor cells gain the ability of migration and invasion by regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), interact with immune cells, cytokines, chemokines, and other non-cellular components in the tumor microenvironment, damage the normal immune function or escape the immunosuppressive network, and further promote cell survival and metastasis. Herein, based on the characteristics and biological functions of circRNA, we elaborated on the effect of circRNA via circRNA-associated competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network by acting as miRNA/isomiR sponges on tumor angiogenesis, cancer cell migration and invasion, and interaction with the tumor microenvironment (TME), then explored the potential interactions across different RNAs, and finally discussed the potential clinical value and application as a promising biomarker.

Establishing a Prognostic Model Based on Three Genomic Instability-related LncRNAs for Clear Cell Renal Cell Cancer.

Background: Among all types of renal cell cancer (RCC), clear cell renal cell cancer (ccRCC) is the most common and aggressive one. Emerging evidence uncovers that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in genomic instability, which correlates to the clinical outcomes of patients who suffer from various kinds of cancers.

Methods: We gathered expression profiles of transcriptome RNA and clinical information about ccRCC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database.

Structural characterization and in vitro anti-inflammatory estimation of an unusual pectin linked by rhamnogalacturonan I and xylogalacturonan from lotus plumule.

A novel homogenous polysaccharide LPWF together with its three acid hydrolysis products LPWF1-3 were isolated and prepared from lotus plumule (germs of Nelumbo nucifera). LPWF was composed of rhamnose (Rha), arabinose (Ara), galactose (Gal), xylose (Xyl), and galacturonic acid (GalA) in the molar ratio of 7.3: 34.

NOV/CCN3 Promotes Cell Migration and Invasion in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma via miR-92a-3p.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a common type of human cancer with a poor prognosis, and investigating the potential molecular mechanisms that can contribute to gene diagnosis and therapy. Herein, based on the recently concerned vertebrate-specific Cyr61/CTGF/NOV (CCN) gene family because of its important roles in diverse diseases, we obtained NOV/CCN3 to query for its potential roles in tumorigenesis via bioinformatics analysis. Experimental validations confirmed that both NOV mRNA and protein are up-regulated in two ICC cell lines, suggesting that it may promote cell migration and invasion by promoting EMT.

Overexpression of miR-378 Alleviates Chronic Sciatic Nerve Injury by Targeting EZH2.

In numerous studies, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been authenticated to play vital roles in the pathophysiology of neuropathic pain and other neurological diseases. In our study, we focused on evaluating miR-378 and its potential effects in neuropathic pain development, as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms. Primarily, a chronic sciatic nerve injury (CCI) rat model was established.