A Convoy of Magnetic Millirobots Transports Endoscopic Instruments for Minimally-Invasive Surgery.

Small-scale robots offer significant potential in minimally invasive medical procedures. Due to the nature of soft biological tissues, however, robots are exposed to complex environments with various challenges in locomotion, which is essential to overcome for useful medical tasks. A single mini-robot often provides insufficient force on slippery biological surfaces to carry medical instruments, such as a fluid catheter or an electrical wire.

A Magnetic Millirobot Walks on Slippery Biological Surfaces for Targeted Cargo Delivery.

Small-scale robots hold great potential for targeted cargo delivery in minimally invasive medicine. However, current robots often face challenges in locomoting efficiently on slippery biological tissue surfaces, especially when loaded with heavy cargo. Here, we report a magnetic millirobot that can walk on rough and slippery biological tissues by anchoring itself on the soft tissue surface alternatingly with two feet and reciprocally rotating the body to move forward.

A High-Fidelity Artificial Urological System for the Quantitative Assessment of Endoscopic Skills.

Minimally-invasive surgery is rapidly growing and has become a standard approach for many operations. However, it requires intensive practice to achieve competency. The current training often relies on animal organ models or physical organ phantoms, which do not offer realistic surgical scenes or useful real-time feedback for surgeons to improve their skills.

A Hybrid Surgical Simulator for Interactive Endoscopic Training.

Endoscopy serves as an indispensable minimally-invasive surgical procedure. Due to the limited view and non-intuitive operation of the instrument, the mastery of endoscopic manipulation requires deep medical knowledge as well as complex perception and motor skills of the surgeon. Intensive surgical training is required, and simulation-based training is of more and more importance over traditional animal- or cadaver-based approaches.

Impact of Salvage Surgery following Colonic Endoscopic Polypectomy for Patients with Invasive Neoplasia.

Background: Invasive neoplasia (Tis-T1) are increasingly being encountered in the daily routine of endoscopic polypectomy. However, the need for salvage surgery following endoscopic therapy for invasive neoplasia is controversially discussed.

Patients And Methods: Patients with endoscopic removal of invasive neoplasia were identified from the national Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Database 2005 to 2015.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Background: The impact of gastrointestinal endoscopy on COVID-19 infection remains poorly investigated. We herein performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the outcomes of COVID-19 in patients undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Method: Ovid Medline, Ovid EMBASE, Ovid the Cochrane Library, and other electronic databases were searched until 30 November 2020 to identify publications with confirmed COVID-19 infection in patients undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Comprehensive analysis of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks for microbiota-mediated colorectal cancer associated with immune cell infiltration.

Recent findings have identified microbiota as crucial participants in many disease conditions, including cancers. Competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) is regarded as a candidate mechanism involving relevant biological processes. We therefore constructed a ceRNA network using the TCGA and GEO database, to determine the potential mechanisms of microbiota-mediated colorectal carcinogenesis and progression.

Nuclear IGF1R interacts with NuMA and regulates 53BP1‑dependent DNA double‑strand break repair in colorectal cancer.

Nuclear insulin‑like growth factor 1 receptor (nIGF1R) has been associated with poor overall survival and chemotherapy resistance in various types of cancer; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, immunoprecipitation‑coupled mass spectrometry was performed in an IGF1R‑overexpressing SW480‑OE colorectal cancer cell line to identify the nIGF1R interactome. Network analysis revealed 197 proteins of interest which were involved in several biological pathways, including RNA processing, DNA double‑strand break (DSB) repair and SUMOylation pathways.

Soft Liver Phantom with a Hollow Biliary System.

Hepatobiliary interventions are regarded as difficult minimally-invasive procedures that require experience and skills of physicians. To facilitate the surgical training, we develop a soft, high-fidelity and durable liver phantom with detailed morphology. The phantom is anatomically accurate and feasible for the multi-modality medical imaging, including computer tomography (CT), ultrasound, and endoscopy.

Magnetic endoscopic imaging as a rational investment for specific colonoscopies: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Magnetic endoscopic imaging (MEI) was regarded as an adjuvant device to improve procedural efficacy and patients' comfort during colonoscopy.

Methods: Several electronic databases were searched to identify eligible studies. Based on the heterogeneity of included studies, random-effects or fixed-effects models were used to calculate pooled risk ratios (RR), risk difference (RD) or mean difference (MD) along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Prognostic relevance of neuroendocrine differentiation in colorectal cancer: a population-based, propensity score matching study.

Purpose: Neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) may serve as a prognostic factor in colorectal cancer; however, the prognostic relevance of NED remains controversial. The aim of the present study was to determine whether NED influenced the survival of patients in colorectal cancer while exploring its potential interactions with other clinicopathological features.

Methods: Patients with primary stage I to IV colorectal adenocarcinoma ranging between 2010 and 2015 were identified using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database.

LXRα Promotes the Differentiation of Human Gastric Cancer Cells through Inactivation of Wnt/β-catenin Signaling.

LXRα is a subtype of the liver X receptors (LXRs). There is accumulating evidence to support the involvement of LXRα in a variety of malignancies. However, the function and specific mechanism of LXRα in gastric cancer (GC) remain unclear.

Chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and the prognosis of colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis of cohort studies.

Introduction: Recently, there has been a controversial discussion about the prognostic value of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN) in colorectal cancer patients. Thus, a meta-analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between CIN and the prognosis of colorectal cancer patients.

Methods: We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane library databases to identify studies evaluating the association between CIN and colorectal cancer prognosis.

[Expression of LXR-β in human gastric cancer tissue and the effect of GW3965 on the proliferation of gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901].

Objective: To examine the expression of liver X receptor-β (LXR-β) in human gastric cancer tissue, and to explore the effect of GW3965, an agonist of LXRs, on proliferation of gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901.


Methods: The immunohistochemical assay was used to detect the expression of LXR-β, activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) in gastric cancer tissues and the corresponding pericarcinoma tissues in 114 patients. Real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot were used to determine mRNA and protein levels of ATF4 and ATP-binding cassette 1 (ABCA1), one of the downstream target genes of LXRs, in SGC-7901 cells with or without GW3965 treatment.