Good adaptability of freshmen in medical universities under the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic: a questionnaire-based single center study in China.

Objective: To investigate the adaptability of freshmen in medical universities to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to understand the relevant factors affecting their adaptation in medical university.

Methods: Freshmen in a medical university in Guangdong Province were selected and surveyed using a self-administered general questionnaire and a college student adjustment scale prepared by Fang Xiaoyi et al. The results were analyzed statistically.

Cellular nanointerface of vertical nanostructure arrays and its applications.

Vertically standing nanostructures with various morphologies have been developed with the emergence of the micro-/nanofabrication technology. When cells are cultured on them, various bio-nano interfaces between cells and vertical nanostructures would impact the cellular activities, depending on the shape, density, and height of nanostructures. Many cellular pathway activation processes involving a series of intracellular molecules (proteins, RNA, DNA, enzymes, ) would be triggered by the cell morphological changes induced by nanostructures, affecting the cell proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, immune activation, cell adhesion, cell migration, and other behaviors.

Analysis of the tumor microenvironment and mutation burden identifies prognostic features in thymic epithelial tumors.

Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are one of the rarest adult malignancies in the anterior mediastinum. Thymic carcinomas (TCs) are less prevalent among TETs, but they are more clinically aggressive. Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach for refractory TETs, even though chemotherapy remains the conventional treatment for the advanced disease.

Establishment and validation of prognostic nomograms to predict the overall and cancer-specific survival in patients with hepatic malignant vascular tumors.

Objective: To characterize the clinicopathologic features and to investigate the prognostic nomograms for overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in patients with Hepatic malignant vascular tumors (HMVT).

Method: Patients diagnosed with HMVT between 1973 and 2015 were screened from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The Kaplan-Meier (KM) was used for survival analysis.

Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated by transcatheter arterial chemoembolization with drug-eluting beads plus lenvatinib versus sorafenib, a propensity score matching retrospective study.

Recently, a prospective randomized study suggested that transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) plus lenvatinib, as opposed to TACE plus sorafenib, was an effective and promising treatment for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) having portal vein thrombus (PVTT) and large tumor burden. However, no propensity score matching retrospective studies on TACE with drug-eluting beads (DEB-TACE) plus lenvatinib (DEB-TACE+LEN) versus DEB-TACE plus sorafenib (DEB-TACE+SOR) for advanced HCC has been reported to date. The medical records of consecutive patients with advanced HCC who underwent DEB-TACE+LEN or DEB-TACE+SOR between January 2017 and December 2020 were retrospectively reviewed.

Screening of autophagy genes as prognostic indicators for glioma patients.

Although autophagy is reported to be involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression, its correlation with the prognosis of glioma patients remains unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify prognostic autophagy-related genes, analyze their correlation with clinicopathological features of glioma, and further construct a prognostic model for glioma patients. After 139 autophagy-related genes were obtained from the GeneCards database, their expression data in glioma patients were extracted from the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas database.

Targeting Super-Enhancers via Nanoparticle-Facilitated BRD4 and CDK7 Inhibitors Synergistically Suppresses Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignant cancer with complex genomic variations, and no targetable genomic lesions have been found yet. Super-enhancers (SEs) have been found to contribute to the continuous and robust oncogenic transcription. Here, histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27ac) is profiled in PDAC cell lines to establish SE landscapes.

LINC01234 promotes multiple myeloma progression by regulating miR-124-3p/GRB2 axis.

LncRNA is gradually considered as a vital regulator in various physiological and pathological processes. Recently, the role of LINC01234 in several cancers has been reported. However, the function and underlying regulatory mechanism of LINC01234 in multiple myeloma (MM) remain unclear.

MiR-125a-3p negatively regulates osteoblastic differentiation of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells by targeting Smad4 and Jak1.

Osteogenesis is a complex process which relies on the coordination of signals and transcription factors. Recent evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) act as important post-transcriptional regulators in a large number of biological processes including osteoblast differentiation. In this study, we investigated the expression and biological effect of miR-125a-3p during osteogenic differentiation of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (hADSCs).

Development of a Non-Coding-RNA-based EMT/CSC Inhibitory Nanomedicine for In Vivo Treatment and Monitoring of HCC.

The objective of this study is to improve the overall prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); therefore, new therapeutic methods that can be used in vivo are urgently needed. In this study, the relationship between the quantities of microRNA (miR)-125b-5p in clinical specimens and clinicopathological parameters is analyzed. A folate-conjugated nanocarrier is used to transfect miR-125b-5p in vivo and to observe the therapeutic effect on HCC.

Treatment selection of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma with microvascular invasion at the initial hepatectomy.

Background: Recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (rHCC) patients with microvascular invasive (MVI) positive at first resection usually had poorly differentiated tumors and worse survivals. The optimal treatment for this population remains to be elucidated.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 319 rHCC patients with MVI-positive at first resection from June, 2009 to June, 2017.

Irradiation-induced dynamic changes of gene signatures reveal gain of metastatic ability in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), arising from the nasopharynx epithelium, is prevalent among South and East Asia. The radiotherapy is the primary treatment for NPC patients. However, the acquired radioresistance dramatically diminishes the therapeutic effect of radiotherapy.

Asp1104His polymorphism increases colorectal cancer risk especially in Asians.

Xeroderma pigmentosum group G (XPG) protein is a pivotal element of the nucleotide excision repair pathway. gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been shown to confer colorectal cancer (CRC) susceptibility. In this study, we further investigated the role of Asp1104His (rs17655 G > C) in on CRC risk.

Gene expression profiling: identification of gene expression in human MSC chondrogenic differentiation.

Understanding the mechanisms that govern cell fate will lead to the development of techniques for the induction of human mesenchymal stem cell differentiation into desired cell outcomes and the production of an autologous source of tissue for regenerative medicine. Here, we demonstrate that stem cells derived from adult bone marrow grown with 3D pellets take on characteristics similar to human cartilage. The NFAT signaling pathway is primarily linked to cell differentiation and influences chondrogenic differentiation.

Cancer in a dish: progress using stem cells as a platform for cancer research.

Cancer models derived from patient specimens poorly reflect early-stage cancer development because cancer cells acquire numerous additional molecular alterations before the disease is clinically detectable. Earlier studies have used differentiated cells derived from induced pluripotent cancer cells (iPCCs) to partially mirror cancer disease phenotype, but the highly heterogeneous nature of cancer cells as well as difficulties with reprogramming cancer cells has limited the application of this technique. An alternative approach to modeling cancer in a dish entails reprogramming adult differentiated cells from patients with cancer syndromes to pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), followed by directed differentiation of those PSCs.

Osthole attenuates myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats by inhibiting apoptosis and inflammation.

This study was performed to evaluate the cardioprotective effects of osthole (OST) in a rat model of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MI/RI) and the underlying mechanism. We exposed rat hearts to left anterior descending coronary artery ligation for 30 min followed by 24 h of reperfusion. The results showed that pretreatment with OST ameliorated MI/RI as evidenced by histopathological examination.

Serum miR-126-3p level is down-regulated in sepsis patients.

Background: Endothelial injury is part of the pathogenesis of sepsis. The microRNA-126 (miR-126) was previously identified as an endothelial biomarker and is known to play a critical role in preserving endothelial cell integrity. However, the role of miRNA-126 in sepsis is unclear.

Retracted Article: Chrysin attenuates myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury by inhibiting myocardial inflammation.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of chrysin (CH) on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. Cytokines were reduced by CH in coronary artery occlusion-induced rats and also in H9C2 cells. The ST segment was also restored by CH.

TGF-β1 suppresses syndecan-2 expression through the ERK signaling pathway in nucleus pulposus cells.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is the main cause of low back pain and has become a worldwide problem causing enormous economic loss. Thus, mechanisms and treatment of IVDD are attracting great attention from surgeons and physicians. The syndecan (SDC) family has been reported to play important roles in various physiopathologic processes.

miR-27b expression in diagnosis and evaluation prognosis of prostate cancer.

Objective: The aim of study was to investigate the expression of microRNA-27b in different prostate tissues and its anti-tumor effects in prostate cancer.

Methods: Measuring the expression of microRNA-27b, evaluating the PI3K protein expression in 28 benign prostatic hyperplasia and 63 prostate cancer tissues, analyzing the correlation between miRNA-27b and PI3K, and miRNA-27b's correlation with Gleason Grading and clinical stages were analyzed. We divided the prostate cancer patients into two groups: low group and high group, comparing the overall survival and progression free survival.

The Bidirectional Regulation between MYL5 and HIF-1α Promotes Cervical Carcinoma Metastasis.

Myosin light chains (MLC) serve important regulatory functions in a wide range of cellular and physiological processes. Recent research found that MLC are also chromatin-associated nuclear proteins which regulate gene transcription. In this study, the MLC member myosin regulatory light chain 5 (MYL5) expression was upregulated in late stage cervical cancer patients, positively correlated with pelvic lymph node metastasis, and identified as a poor survival indicator.

[Effect of metformin on colorectal carcinoma in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: a Markov model analysis].

Objective: To evaluate the colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention effect of metformin in comparison with that of other T2DM medications from a Markov model perspective.

Methods: Literature concerning CRC morbidity of T2DM patients with metformin or other diabetes medications treatment was reviewed in PubMed and Cochrane Library database from September 2010 to December 2016.

Inclusion Criteria: (1)enrolled population was adult patients with T2DM but without CRC; (2) any of the parameters applied in our model was reported; (3) randomized clinical trials (RCTs), quasi-randomized trials, prospective or retrospective cohort studies.

Probiotics enhance the effect of allergy immunotherapy on regulating antigen specific B cell activity in asthma patients.

Immune regulatory system dysfunction plays a role in the pathogenesis of asthma. The therapeutic effect of allergic asthma is to be improved. The immune regulatory function of probiotics has been recognized.

Defects in dermal Vγ4 γ δ T cells result in delayed wound healing in diabetic mice.

The skin serves as a physical and chemical barrier to provide an initial line of defense against environmental threats; however, this function is impaired in diabetes. Vγ4 γ δ T cells in the dermis are an important part of the resident cutaneous immunosurveillance program, but these cells have yet to be explored in the context of diabetes. In this study, we observed that the impaired maintenance of dermal Vγ4 γ δ T cells is caused by reduced production of IL-7 in the skin of diabetic mice, which was closely associated with weakened activation of the mTOR pathway in the epidermis of diabetic mice.