Integrated analysis identifies an immune-based prognostic signature for the mesenchymal identity in colorectal cancer.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) has been divided into 4 consensus molecular subtypes (CMSs), of which CMS4 has the mesenchymal identity and the highest relapse rate. Our goal is to develop a prognostic signature by integrating the immune system and mesenchymal modalities involved in CMS4.

Methods: The gene expression profiles collected from 5 public datasets were applied to this study, including 1280 samples totally.

Human Case of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus Infection, Taiwan, 2019.

We report on a 70-year-old man with fever, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, vomiting, malaise, dyspnea, and consciousness disturbance who was infected with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus in northern Taiwan, 2019. This autochthonous case was confirmed by reverse transcription PCR, virus isolation, and genomic sequencing.

The Synergism of 1-Methylcyclopropene and Ethephon Preserves Quality of "Laiyang" Pears With Recovery of Aroma Formation After Long-Term Cold Storage.

A "Laiyang" pear is a climacteric fruit with a special taste and nutritional value but is prone to a post-harvest aroma compound loss and a loss in fruit quality. In this study, pears were pretreated with 0.5 μl L 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) at 20°C for 12 h and then stored at 0 ± 1°C for 150 days to evaluate the influence of 1-MCP on fruit quality and the changes in components of volatile aromas.

A tetrahedral DNA nanostructure-decorated electrochemical platform for simple and ultrasensitive EGFR genotyping of plasma ctDNA.

Genotyping of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status is of great importance in the screening of appropriate patients with advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) to receive superior tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKIs) therapy. Yet conventional assays are generally costly with a relatively long turnaround time for obtaining results, which can lead to a bottleneck for immediately starting TKI therapy in late-staged patients. In this study, we propose an on-site electrochemical platform for sensitive simultaneous genotyping of the two major EGFR mutations (19del and L858R) through plasma ctDNA based on tetrahedral DNA nanostructure decorated screen-printed electrodes (SPE).

Genome Analysis of a Novel Tembusu Virus in Taiwan.

We identified and isolated a novel Tembusu virus (TMUV) strain TP1906 (TMUV-TP1906) from a mosquito pool collected from the northern part of Taiwan in 2019. The TMUV-TP1906 genome is a 10,990-nucleotide-long, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA, consisting of a single open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polyprotein of 3425 amino acids, with 5' and 3' untranslated regions (UTRs) of 94 and 618 nucleotides, respectively. The nucleotide sequence of the TMUV-TP1906 of ORF exhibited 93.

Epidemiological analysis of the Kaohsiung city strategy for dengue fever quarantine and epidemic prevention.

Background: Dengue is endemic in over 100 countries and is an important public health problem worldwide. Dengue fever is not endemic in Taiwan; the importation of dengue viruses from neighboring countries via close commercial links and air travel is considered to be the cause of local outbreaks. Therefore, efforts toward disease control have focused on preventing the importation of dengue into Taiwan.

CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Mutagenesis Adverse to Tomato Plant Growth and MeJA-Induced Fruit Resistance to .

Methyl jasmonate (MeJA), a natural phytohormone, played a critical role not only in plant growth but also in plant defense response to biotic and abiotic stresses. MYC2, a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, is a master regulator in MeJA signaling pathway. In the present work, mutants were generated by the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and associated Cas9 protein (CRISPR/Cas9) system to investigate the role of in tomato plant growth and fruit disease resistance induced by exogenous MeJA.

Integrated Analysis Identifies an Immune-Based Prognostic Signature for the Mesenchymal Identity in Gastric Cancer.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) has been divided into four molecular subtypes, of which the mesenchymal subtype has the poorest survival. Our goal is to develop a prognostic signature by integrating the immune system and molecular modalities involved in the mesenchymal subtype.

Methods: The gene expression profiles collected from 6 public datasets were applied to this study, including 1,221 samples totally.

TNFAIP1 Mediates Formaldehyde-Induced Neurotoxicity by Inhibiting the Akt/CREB Pathway in N2a Cells.

Formaldehyde (FA) is a common air pollutant. Exposure to exogenous FA can cause damage to the nervous system, such as learning and memory impairment, balance dysfunction, and sleep disorders. Excessive production of endogenous FA also causes memory impairment and is thought to be associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Low-Dose Radiation Therapy Promotes Radiation Pneumonitis by Activating NLRP3 Inflammasome.

Purpose: To determine the role of NLRP3 inflammasome activation in low-dose radiation-induced radiation pneumonitis (RP) and to assess whether inhibition or deletion of the NLRP3 inflammasome is critical for conferring protection against RP.

Methods And Materials: The human monocytic THP-1 cells were treated with increasing doses of radiation to assess the activation of NLRP3 by Western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was measured by flow cytometry, with or without ROS inhibitor treatment.

Inhibition of miR-19a partially reversed the resistance of colorectal cancer to oxaliplatin via PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway.

Oxaliplatin is a platinum-based chemotherapeutic drug that is effective and commonly used in the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, long-term use of oxaliplatin usually induces significant drug resistance. It is urgent to develop strategies to reverse the oxaliplatin resistance to CRC cells.

Mosquito Cell-Derived Japanese Encephalitis Virus-Like Particles Induce Specific Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses in Mice.

The Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the major cause of an acute encephalitis syndrome in many Asian countries, despite the fact that an effective vaccine has been developed. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are self-assembled multi-subunit protein structures which possess specific epitope antigenicities related to corresponding native viruses. These properties mean that VLPs are considered safe antigens that can be used in clinical applications.

Like Heterochromatin Protein 1b represses fruit ripening via regulating the H3K27me3 levels in ripening-related genes in tomato.

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins play vital roles in plant development via epigenetically repressing the transcription of target genes. However, to date, their function in fruit ripening is largely unknown. Combining reverse genetic approaches, physiological methods, yeast two-hybrid, co-immunoprecipitation, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we show that Like Heterochromatin Protein 1b (SlLHP1b), a tomato Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1)-like protein with a ripening-related expression pattern, represses fruit ripening via colocalization with epigenetic mark H3K27me3.

Clinical profile and treatment outcome of collision carcinoma in cervix.

A collision tumor is defined by co-existence of two adjacent tumors which are histologically distinct. Little is known about the clinical manifestation, treatment, and prognosis of cervical collision cancer. The objective of the study was to investigate the management and prognosis of patients with cervical collision cancer.

Clinical outcomes of different therapeutic modalities for rectal gastrointestinal stromal tumor: Summary of 14-year clinical experience in a single center.

Objective: The optimal treatment for gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) of the rectum is controversial due to the extremely low incidence of the disease. The aim of the present study was to compare the clinical outcomes of different treatment modalities for rectal GIST by reviewing the 14-year experience in our center.

Method: Medical records of rectal GIST patients who received surgical treatment in our center between January 2004 to December 2017 were reviewed retrospectively.

Therapeutic Applications of Genes and Gene-Engineered Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Femoral Head Necrosis.

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a common and disabling joint disease. Although there is no clear consensus on the complex pathogenic mechanism of ONFH, trauma, abuse of glucocorticoids, and alcoholism are implicated in its etiology. The therapeutic strategies are still limited, and the clinical outcomes are not satisfactory.

Silencing of SENP2 in Multiple Myeloma Induces Bortezomib Resistance by Activating NF-κB Through the Modulation of IκBα Sumoylation.

The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib is the most successfully applied chemotherapeutic drug for treating multiple myeloma. However, its clinical efficacy reduced due to resistance development. The underlying molecular mechanisms of bortezomib resistance are poorly understood.

Optimal Trajectories of Brain State Transitions Indicate Motor Function Changes Associated with Aging.

Healthy aging is associated with structural and functional changes in sensorimotor systems, leading to a deterioration in motor function. However, most of the previous studies focused on the descriptive measures of alteration, little is known about how structural network facilitate functional dynamics during aging. Based on the structural brain network constructed by diffusion-weighted imaging, we employed recent network control theory to evaluate the control energy necessary to drive the state transition from baseline condition with default mode network (DMN) activation to motor network activation in a large cohort (n = 625; 18-88 years).

Extracting Individual Neural Fingerprint Encoded in Functional Connectivity by Silencing Indirect Effects.

Objective: The possibility of subject discriminability based on whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) has been demonstrated. To extract more accurate "fingerprint" encoded in FC, we speculated that the indirect effects in FC might be unfavorable information for subject discriminability, then the remaining component of FC (referred as direct FC (dFC)) may constitute a better "fingerprint."

Methods: We adopted the silencing method to infer dFC from experimentally accessible FC and explained the superiority of dFC in subject discriminability from the perspective of test-retest reliability.

SlMYC2 are required for methyl jasmonate-induced tomato fruit resistance to Botrytis cinerea.

The mechanism of SlMYC2, involved in methyl jasmonate (MJ)-induced tomato fruit resistance to pathogens, was investigated. The data indicated that MJ treatment enhanced the accumulation of total phenolics and flavonoids, as well as individual phenolic acids and flavonoids, which might be caused by the increased phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and polyphenol oxidase activities, induced pathogenesis-related gene (PR) expression, β-1,3-glucanase and chitinase activities, as well as α-tomatine, by inducing GLYCOALKALOID METABOLISM gene expression. These effects, induced by MJ, partly contributed to tomato fruit resistance to Botrytis cinerea.

Effect of Yiqi Huayu Jiedu decoction on stages II and III gastric cancer: A multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

Background: This study aimed to explore the effect of YHJD (Yiqi Huayu Jiedu decoction) in patients with stages II and III gastric cancer.

Methods: A multicenter, prospective, cohort study was conducted in Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, People's Liberation Army Bayi Hospital, Changzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Changzhou Tumor Hospital, Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Kunshan, Yangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Yixing Tumor Hospital. A total of 489 patients with stage II or III gastric cancer were enrolled after radical gastrectomy.

Wogonoside inhibits tumor growth and metastasis in endometrial cancer via ER stress-Hippo signaling axis.

Wogonoside, a bioactive flavonoid component derived from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, has been reported to inhibit tumor growth in mice bearing various types of cancer cells such as breast cancer, lung cancer, and leukemia cells. However, whether wogonoside could inhibit tumor growth of endometrial cancer has not been elucidated. In this study, we explored the function of wogonoside on tumor growth and the underlying mechanism on endometrial cancer.

An immune-related gene pairs signature predicts overall survival in serous ovarian carcinoma.

Background: Ovarian cancer has the highest death rate of all fatal gynecological cancers. Increasing evidence has depicted the correlation between serous ovarian carcinoma prognosis and immune signature. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a robust prognostic immune-related gene pairs (IRGPs) signature for estimating overall survival (OS) of HGSOC.