Publications by authors named "Xiang-yi Kong"

Article Synopsis
  • Oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery (OBCS) enhances patient satisfaction despite potential cosmetic challenges, but complicates tumor location identification for follow-up radiation treatment; the study introduces a novel approach of giving a radiation boost before surgery instead of after.* -
  • A phase II study involved 36 patients younger than 55 with early-stage breast cancer, who received a single dose of preoperative radiation to the tumor site followed by surgery and a shorter course of postoperative whole-breast radiation.* -
  • Results showed a 19.4% rate of surgical complications, with most patients beginning their subsequent radiation treatment within the expected timeline, but some experienced mild skin reactions post-radiation.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Circular (circ) RNAs are non-coding RNAs with important functions in the nervous system, cardiovascular system, and cancer. Their role in atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction (MI) remains poorly described. We aim to investigate the potential circRNAs in immune cells during atherogenesis and examine the most regulated during MI and the modulation by interleukin (IL)-6 receptor inhibition by tocilizumab.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To address the urgent need for new antifungal agents, a collection of novel pyrazole carboxamide derivatives incorporating a benzimidazole group were innovatively designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their efficacy against fungal pathogens. The bioassay results revealed that the EC values for the compounds A7 (3-(difluoromethyl)-1-methyl-N-(1-propyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamide) and B11 (N-(1-(4-chlorobenzyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)-3-(difluoromethyl)-1-methyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamide) against B. cinerea were notably low to 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inflammation through activation of caspase-1, seems to play a role in pulmonary hypertension induced by alveolar hypoxia. Whether alveolar hypoxia induces caspase-1-mediated inflammation and influx of leukocytes in other organs than the lungs, is not known. Our aim was to explore sites of caspase-1-related inflammation in alveolar hypoxia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute myocardial infarction (MI) results in tissue damage to affected areas of the myocardium. The initial inflammatory response is the most damaging for residual cardiac function, while at later stages inflammation is a prerequisite for proper healing and scar formation. Balancing the extent and duration of inflammation during various stages after MI is thus pivotal for preserving cardiac function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

CD38 is a multifunctional enzyme implicated in chemotaxis of myeloid cells and lymphocyte activation, but also expressed by resident cells such as endothelial and smooth muscle cells. CD38 is important for host defense against microbes. However, CD38's role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is controversial with seemingly conflicting results reported so far.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy plays a critical role in multidisciplinary therapy for a variety of malignant tumours. Although oncologists consider myocardial injury to be the most concerning side effect of chemotherapy, unique chemotherapy-mediated skeletal muscular damage has received attention recently.

Clinical Features: We report two unusual cases of postoperative delayed respiratory failure following administration of the recommended sugammadex dosage for patients undergoing lengthy operations with deep neuromuscular blockade (NMB) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Researchers developed and tested new antifungal agents based on a unique molecular structure that targets succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), resulting in the creation of 24 '-phenyl-1-pyrazole-4-sulfonohydrazide derivatives.
  • The synthesized compounds were found to be effective against various plant pathogenic fungi, with one compound demonstrating potent inhibitory effects similar to a known antifungal, thifluzamide.
  • Analyses indicated that the most effective compound damaged fungal mycelium, increased cell membrane permeability, and inhibited SDH enzyme activity, suggesting potential for use as alternatives to existing antifungals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Single cell technologies, lineage tracing mouse models and advanced imaging techniques unequivocally improved the resolution of the cellular landscape of atherosclerosis. Although the discovery of the heterogeneous nature of the cellular plaque architecture has undoubtedly improved our understanding of the specific cellular states in atherosclerosis progression, it also adds more complexity to current and future research and will change how we approach future drug development. In this review, we will discuss how the revolution of new single cell technologies allowed us to map the cellular networks in the plaque, but we will also address current (technological) limitations that confine us to identify the cellular drivers of the disease and to pinpoint a specific cell state, cell subset or cell surface antigen as new candidate drug target for atherosclerosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Fascicular ventricle tachycardia (FVT) arising from the proximal aspect of left His-Purkinje system (HPS) has not been specially addressed. Current study was to investigate its clinical, electrocardiographic, and electrophysiological characteristics.

Methods And Results: Eighteen patients who were identified as this rare FVT were consecutively enrolled, and their scalar electrocardiogram and electrophysiological data were collected and analysed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Fatty liver diseases are a major health threat across the western world, leading to cirrhosis and premature morbidity and mortality. Recently, a correlation between the base excision repair enzyme SMUG1 and metabolic homeostasis was identified. As the molecular mechanisms remain unknown, we exploited a SMUG1-knockout mouse model to gain insights into this association by characterizing the liver phenotype in young vs old SMUG1-null mice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignant cancer in China. Considering the specific national conditions, no evidence is available for factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination in patients with breast cancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective To explore the performance and mechanism of(+)-corynoline in treating triple negative breast cancer MDA-MB-436 cells and thus provide an option for the development of drugs against this cancer. Methods The viability,proliferation,apoptosis and migration/invasion of MDA-MB-436 cells treated with(+)-corynoline were detected by CCK-8 assay,colony formation assay,flow cytometry and Transwell assay,respectively.Furthermore,Western blotting was employed to determine the expression of related proteins,and RNA-Seq was performed for the MDA-MB-436 cells treated with(+)-corynoline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Atherosclerosis and its consequences cause considerable morbidity and mortality world-wide. We have previously shown that expression of the DNA glycosylase NEIL3 is regulated in human atherosclerotic plaques, and that NEIL3-deficiency enhances atherogenesis in Apoe mice. Herein, we identified a time point prior to quantifiable differences in atherosclerosis between ApoeNeil3 mice and Apoe mice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • DDR1 is a key protein in the receptor tyrosine kinase family that is linked to tumor invasion, metastasis, and the development of conditions like inflammation and fibrosis.
  • Abnormal activation of DDR1 can contribute to cancer progression by affecting cell behaviors such as adhesion, migration, and cytokine secretion, which are essential for various bodily functions.
  • The review highlights recent research on DDR1's role in breast cancer and other tumors to offer insights for future prevention and treatment strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: We recently reported five cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) 7-10 days after receiving the first dose of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 adenoviral vector vaccine against corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to investigate the pathogenic immunological responses operating in these patients.

Methods And Results: We assessed circulating inflammatory markers by immune assays and immune cell phenotyping by flow cytometry analyses and performed immunoprecipitation with anti-platelet factor (PF)4 antibody in plasma samples followed by mass spectrometry from all five patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background In cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerotic disorder are the most frequent and important with respect to morbidity and mortality. Inflammation mediated by immune cells is central in all parts of the atherosclerotic progress, and further understanding of the underlying mechanisms is needed. Growing evidence suggests that deamination of adenosine-to-inosine in RNA is crucial for a correct immune response; nevertheless, the role of adenosine-to-inosine RNA editing in atherogenesis has barely been studied.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: Atherogenesis involves a complex interaction between immune cells and lipids, processes greatly influenced by the vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotype. The DNA glycosylase NEIL3 has previously been shown to have a role in atherogenesis, though whether this is due to its ability to repair DNA damage or to other non-canonical functions is not yet clear. Hereby, we investigate the role of NEIL3 in atherogenesis, specifically in VSMC phenotypic modulation, which is critical in plaque formation and stability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Phyllodes tumor of the breast (PTB) is a rare fibroepithelial breast neoplasm that accounts for less than 1% of breast tumors. Only a few cases related to pregnancy have been reported. It is not known how pregnancy affects the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of breast tumors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Multifactorial metabolic diseases, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, are a major burden to modern societies, and frequently present with no clearly defined molecular biomarkers. Herein we used system medicine approaches to decipher signatures of liver fibrosis in mouse models with malfunction in genes from unrelated biological pathways: cholesterol synthesis-, notch signaling-, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) signaling-, and unknown lysosomal pathway-. Enrichment analyses of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), Reactome and TRANScription FACtor (TRANSFAC) databases complemented with genome-scale metabolic modeling revealed fibrotic signatures highly similar to liver pathologies in humans.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Over 170 RNA modifications influence RNA function and abnormalities have been linked to human diseases, but the RNA modification landscape in atherosclerosis is largely unexplored.
  • Mass spectrometry was used to study RNA-modifying enzymes and N6-methyladenosine (mA) in atherosclerotic lesions, comparing them to healthy arteries.
  • Findings revealed significant differences in methylation enzyme levels and mA regulation in early atherosclerotic lesions, suggesting potential new strategies for prognosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Cholesterol precipitates into crystals during atherogenesis, triggering inflammation in blood vessels by activating the NLRP3 inflammasome, which is linked to cardiovascular disease.
  • A study examined blood and plaque samples from patients with advanced atherosclerosis, revealing increased levels of IL-1β and NLRP3 in patients with acute coronary syndrome, particularly when cells were stimulated with complement factors.
  • Findings indicated that cholesterol crystals act as activators for complementing the immune response, enhancing inflammation and possibly accelerating the progression of atherosclerosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Accessory pathways (APs) successfully ablated at the aortomitral continuity (AMC) were sporadically reported but relevant data are very limited. We aimed to describe the electrophysiological characteristics of AMC-AP and the related anatomy.

Methods And Results: This study involved eight (male/female = 3/5, mean age 42.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Endonuclease V (EndoV) is a conserved inosine-specific ribonuclease with unknown biological function. Here, we present the first mouse model lacking EndoV, which is viable without visible abnormalities. We show that endogenous murine EndoV cleaves inosine-containing RNA in vitro, nevertheless a series of experiments fails to link an in vivo function to processing of such transcripts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the role of legumain, a cysteine protease, in patients with cardiovascular diseases, particularly during acute events.
  • Circulating legumain levels were found to be higher in patients with cardiovascular disease and correlated with improved outcomes in certain populations, including those undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.
  • The research indicates legumain's significant presence in symptomatic plaques and thrombi, suggesting its potential role in inflammatory responses and cardiovascular health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF