Different impacts of adipose tissue dynamics on prognosis in patients with resectable locally advanced rectal cancer treated with and without neoadjuvant treatment.

Background: Body composition is recognized to be associated with clinical outcomes in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). This study aimed to determine the prognostic role of regional adipose tissue distribution in patients with resectable LARC treated with or without neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT).

Methods: This retrospective study included 281 consecutive patients who underwent radical surgery for LARC with or without preoperative nCRT between 2013 and 2019.

High composite dietary antioxidant index is associated with reduced risk of kidney stones: a cross-sectional analysis of NHANES 2007-2020.

The composite dietary antioxidant index (CDAI) is commonly utilized to assess antioxidant intake across diseases, but its association with kidney stones is unclear. We hypothesized that higher CDAI is associated with reduced kidney stone risk. Using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2020 data, we calculated CDAI based on vitamins A, C, E, selenium, zinc, and carotenoids intake in 29,280 adults.

effector TRP120 manipulates bacteremia to facilitate tick acquisition.

Unlabelled: species are obligatory intracellular bacteria that cause a potentially fatal disease, human ehrlichiosis. The biomolecular mechanisms of tick acquisition of and transmission between ticks and mammals are poorly understood. infection of mice recapitulates the full spectrum of human ehrlichiosis.

The magnesium depletion score is associated with increased likelihood of kidney stone disease among female adults.

Object: The association between magnesium depletion score (MDS) and kidney stone disease (KSD) remains unknown. This study was designed to investigate the association of MDS with KSD in adults.

Methods: A total of 19,654 participants were enrolled from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES).

Rab27a via its effector JFC1 localizes to Anaplasma inclusions and promotes Anaplasma proliferation in leukocytes.

Anaplasma phagocytophilum is an obligatory intracellular bacterium that causes tick-borne zoonosis called human granulocytic anaplasmosis. Mechanisms by which Anaplasma replicates inside of the membrane-bound compartment called "inclusion" in neutrophils are incompletely understood. A small GTPase Rab27a is found in the secretory granules and multivesicular endosomes.

CT enterography-based radiomics combined with body composition to predict infliximab treatment failure in Crohn's disease.

Purpose: Accurately predicting the treatment response in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) receiving infliximab therapy is crucial for clinical decision-making. We aimed to construct a prediction model incorporating radiomics and body composition features derived from computed tomography (CT) enterography for identifying individuals at high risk for infliximab treatment failure.

Methods: This retrospective study included 137 patients with CD between 2015 and 2021, who were divided into a training cohort and a validation cohort with a ratio of 7:3.

Associations between maternal serum phytoestrogens and liver function markers: a cross-sectional study from China.

Phytoestrogens (PEs) may harm liver function. However, studies in pregnant women are limited. Our study was conducted in pregnant women to assess the effect of serum PEs on liver function markers.

Strains of from horses in Ohio are related to isolates from humans in the northeastern USA.

The tick-borne obligatory intracellular bacterium infects humans as well as domesticated and wild animals, causing a febrile disease collectively called granulocytic anaplasmosis. The epidemiology and the host species specificity and zoonotic potential of strains remain unclear. In this study, (encoding ankyrin A) and gene sequences of were determined in clinical specimens from horses in Ohio and compared with those found in strains from various hosts and geographic regions.

Advances in stem cell therapy for peritoneal fibrosis: from mechanisms to therapeutics.

Peritoneal fibrosis (PF) is a pathophysiological condition caused by a variety of pathogenic factors. The most important features of PF are mesothelial-mesenchymal transition and accumulation of activated (myo-)fibroblasts, which hinder effective treatment; thus, it is critical to identify other practical approaches. Recently, stem cell (SC) therapy has been indicated to be a potential strategy for this disease.

Diagnostic value of combined pelvic floor ultrasound parameters for pelvic floor dysfunction and risk factors.

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic value of pelvic floor ultrasound parameters in combination for pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD), and to explore the risk factors.

Methods: Forty PFD patients treated from April2019to December 2020(case group) and another 40 healthy women (control group) were enrolled. Their clinical data were collected, and both groups received three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound of the pelvic floor.

Anaplasma phagocytophilum Hijacks Flotillin and NPC1 Complex To Acquire Intracellular Cholesterol for Proliferation, Which Can Be Inhibited with Ezetimibe.

The intracellular cholesterol transport protein Niemann-Pick type C1 (NPC1) and lipid-raft protein flotillin (FLOT) are required for cholesterol uptake by the obligatory intracellular bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum and for infection, and each protein localizes to membrane-bound inclusions containing replicating bacteria. Here, we found striking localization of FLOT2 in NPC1-lined vesicles and a physical interaction between FLOT2 and NPC1. This interaction was cholesterol dependent, as a CRAC (cholesterol recognition/interaction amino acid cholesterol-binding) domain mutant of FLOT2 did not interact with NPC1, and the cholesterol-sequestering agent methyl-β-cyclodextrin reduced the interaction.

Silencing MicroRNA-155 Attenuates Kainic Acid-Induced Seizure by Inhibiting Microglia Activation.

Objective(s): Neuroinflammation is an important contributor to the development of seizures and epilepsy. Micro-RNA-155 (miR-155) plays a critical role in immunity and -inflammation. This study aims to explore the function of miR-155 and miR-155-mediated inflammation in epilepsy.

Infection by Anaplasma phagocytophilum Requires Recruitment of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol by Flotillins.

is an obligatory intracellular bacterium that proliferates in membrane-bound inclusions. is dependent on cholesterol and acquire cholesterol from low-density lipoprotein (LDL) endocytosed by mammalian host cells. The mechanism of cholesterol transport to inclusions, however, is not fully understood.

type IV secretion system effector Etf-2 binds to active RAB5 and delays endosome maturation.

, an obligatory intracellular bacterium, infects monocytes/macrophages by sequestering a regulator of endosomal traffic, the small GTPase RAB5, on its membrane-bound inclusions to avoid routing to host-cell phagolysosomes. How RAB5 is sequestered on ehrlichial inclusions is poorly understood, however. We found that native translocated factor-2 (Etf-2), a previously predicted effector of the type IV secretion system, and recombinant Etf-2 (cloned into the genome) are secreted into the host-cell cytoplasm and localize to ehrlichial inclusions.

Long noncoding RNA SNHG6 regulates p21 expression via activation of the JNK pathway and regulation of EZH2 in gastric cancer cells.

Aims: Increasing evidence suggests that long noncoding RNAs act as critical regulators in various malignancies. Small nucleolar RNA host gene 6 (SNHG6) plays a role in the progression of human cancers. The present study aims to investigate the molecular mechanism through which SNHG6 promotes the development of gastric cancer (GC).

The UbL-UBA Ubiquilin4 protein functions as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer by p53-dependent and p53-independent regulation of p21.

Ubiquilin4 (Ubqln4), a member of the UbL-UBA protein family, serves as an adaptor in the degradation of specific substrates via the proteasomal pathway. However, the biological function of Ubqln4 remains largely unknown, especially in cancer. Here, we reported that Ubqln4 was downregulated in gastric cancer tissues and functioned as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting gastric cancer cell proliferation in vivo and in vitro.

Systemic Administration of siRNA via cRGD-containing Peptide.

Although small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have been demonstrated to specifically silence their target genes in disease models and clinical trials, in vivo siRNA delivery is still the technical bottleneck that limits their use in therapeutic applications. In this study, a bifunctional peptide named RGD10-10R was designed and tested for its ability to deliver siRNA in vitro and in vivo. Because of their electrostatic interactions with polyarginine (10R), negatively charged siRNAs were readily complexed with RGD10-10R peptides, forming spherical RGD10-10R/siRNA nanoparticles.

Site-specific RNase A activity was dramatically reduced in serum from multiple types of cancer patients.

Potent RNase activities were found in the serum of mammals but the physiological function of the RNases was never well illustrated, largely due to the caveats in methods of RNase activity measurement. None of the existing methods can distinguish between RNases with different target specificities. A systematic study was recently carried out in our lab to investigate the site-specificity of serum RNases on double-stranded RNA substrates, and found that serum RNases cleave double-stranded RNAs predominantly at 5'-U/A-3' and 5'-C/A-3' dinucleotide sites, in a manner closely resembling RNase A.