Cascading detection model for prediction of apnea-hypopnea events based on nasal flow and arterial blood oxygen saturation.

Purpose: Sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) seriously affects sleep quality. In recent years, much research has focused on the detection of SAHS using various physiological signals and algorithms. The purpose of this study is to find an efficient model for detection of apnea-hypopnea events based on nasal flow and SpO signals.

miR-29b in regulating blood pressure and cardiac function in the rat model of hypertension.

The possibility of micro ribonucleic acid-29b (miR-29b) regulating blood pressure and cardiac function in the rat model of hypertension was investigated. Sixty rat models of hypertension were established and randomly divided into the lentivirus group (n=20), the negative lentivirus group (n=20) and the control group (n=20). Rats in the lentivirus group were injected with the recombinant lentivirus, and those in the negative lentivirus and control groups were injected with the negative control virus and infection enhancement solution, respectively.

The relationship between gastric microbiota and gastric disease.

Traditionally, the stomach was believed to be a sterile organ unsuitable for microbiota growth. However, the discovery of subverted this conception. With the development of molecular techniques, an abundance of microbiota of great diversity was found in the stomach.

JinQi Jiangtang Tablet Regulates Gut Microbiota and Improve Insulin Sensitivity in Type 2 Diabetes Mice.

Background: Gut microbiota modulates the barrier function and host inflammatory state in metabolic disease. JinQi Jiangtang (JQJT) tablets are a traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of diabetes. However, the low bioavailability of its chemical compositions makes it hard to explain the pharmacological mechanisms.

Association of vitamin D receptor expression with inflammatory changes and prognosis of asthma.

The expression level of vitamin D receptor in patients with asthma was investigated to study the association between vitamin D receptor and inflammatory changes in asthma. Thirty patients with bronchial asthma treated in the Tianjin Hospital of ITCWM Nankai Hospital were selected as the experimental group, while 30 healthy individuals were selected as the control group. The mRNA expression level of vitamin D receptor in blood was detected via reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).

Pancreatic Stellate Cells Activation and Matrix Metallopeptidase 2 Expression Correlate With Lymph Node Metastasis in Pancreatic Carcinoma.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between pancreatic stellate cell activation, matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2) expression and lymph node metastasis in pancreatic carcinoma.

Methods: Alpha-smooth muscle actin (ACTA2), Desmin (DES) and MMP2 were detected in 40 pancreatic carcinoma patients and 10 cases of normal pancreas tissues using immunohistochemistry. Then MMP2 and ACTA2 expression profiles in pancreatic cancer were obtained from UCSC (University of California, Santa Cruz) and SurvExpress.

Effects of Thymoquinone on radiation enteritis in mice.

Radiation enteritis is an old but emerging question induced by the application of radiation. However, no effective drugs for radiation enteritis in clinic. In this study, we found that thymoquinone (TQ) could mitigate intestinal damages induced by irradiation.

Interleukin 35 induced Th2 and Tregs bias under normal conditions in mice.

Objective: The benefits of IL-35 treatment have been verified in multiple animal models of diseases, while its influence on T cells immunity under normal condition still needs to be elucidated. The present study was designed to investigate the effects modulating IL-35 levels and on T cells, response and also the effects on T cells subsets in normal mice.

Methods: A plasmid pMSCV-IL-35-GFP carrying mouse linear IL-35 fragment with two subunits joint together was constructed and the heterodimer expression was confirmed.

The TNF-α-induced expression of miR-130b protects cervical cancer cells from the cytotoxicity of TNF-α.

Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a multifunctional cytokine and has the capacity both to promote cell growth and to kill tumour cells by inducing cell apoptosis. However, many tumour cells develop resistance to the toxic effects of TNF-α. Thus, understanding the mechanism underlying the resistance of tumours to TNF-α toxicity and finding ways to overcome this resistance are urgently needed.

Cryoablation inhibition of distant untreated tumors (abscopal effect) is immune mediated.

Cryoablation is moderately effective against prostate cancer. Of note, the off-target or enlarged therapeutic effect after cryoablation is reported in routine clinical practice. To uncover it, we constructed a bilateral inguinal transplantation model of prostate cancer.

Elevated level of Vav1 was correlated with advanced biological behavior and poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer.

Unlabelled: Vav1 play key roles in the progression of human cancer. However, the role of Vav1 in gastric cancer (GC) remains to be elucidated. The present study aimed to investigate the potential relevance of the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic significance of Vav1 in GC patients.

Rictor regulates the vasculogenic mimicry of melanoma via the AKT-MMP-2/9 pathway.

Vasculogenic mimicry (VM)-positive melanomas are usually associated with poor prognosis. Rictor, the key component of the rapamycin-insensitive complex of mTOR (mTORC2), is up-regulated in several cancers, especially in melanomas with poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Rictor in the regulation of VM and the mechanism underlying this possible regulation.

The Wnt/β-catenin and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways promote EMT in gastric cancer by epigenetic regulation via H3 lysine 27 acetylation.

In this study, we investigated the underlying mechanism of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt- and Wnt/β-catenin-mediated promotion of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition by epigenetic regulation of histone acetylation in gastric cancer. First, we used immunohistochemistry to detect the expression of phosphorylated Akt, phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta, and β-catenin in gastric cancer tissues and adjacent tissues. In addition, we confirmed that the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways were correlated with tumorigenesis, progression, and maintenance of gastric cancer using the phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 and an inhibitor of the β-catenin/TCF4 complex, FH535.

Increased expression of high-mobility group A2: A novel independent indicator of poor prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Purpose: Although high-mobility group A2 (HMGA2) protein has been reported to participate in cancer progression and metastasis, its clinical relationship with tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, and prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unclear. The purpose of this study is to analyze the clinical and prognostic significance of HMGA2 in ESCC patients after curative resection.

Materials And Methods: The expression of HMGA2 protein was evaluated by using immunohistochemistry in a tissue microarray (TMA) containing ESCC lesions and adjacent normal esophageal epithelial tissues from 96 patients who had undergone curative resection.

Gastric submucosa is inferior to the liver as transplant site for autologous islet transplantation in pancreatectomized diabetic Beagles.

Intraportal transplantation of islets is no longer considered to be an ideal procedure and finding the extrahepatic alternative site is becoming a subject of high priority. Herein, in this study, we would introduce our initial outcomes of using gastric submucosa (GS) and liver as sites of islet autotransplantation in pancreatectomized diabetic Beagles. Total pancreatectomy was performed in Beagles and then their own islets extracted from the excised pancreas were transplanted into GS (GS group, n=8) or intrahepatic via portal vein (PV group, n=5).

Potential treatment benefits and safety of roflumilast in COPD: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Current evidence suggests that roflumilast is efficacious in treating COPD, especially in preventing the acute exacerbation of COPD.

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the clinical effects and safety of roflumilast in the treatment of stable COPD using randomized clinical trial (RCT) data.

Methods: A MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register search was carried out.

RABEX-5 overexpression in gastric cancer is correlated with elevated MMP-9 level.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate mRNA and protein expression levels of RABEX-5 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), their mutual correlation, and biological behavior in gastric cancer (GC) patients.

Methods: The expression levels of RABEX-5 and MMP-9 were determined by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blotting in cell lines, GC tissues, and adjacent normal tissues. In addition, RABEX-5 and MMP-9 expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed tissues from 113 GC patients.

Notch4+ cancer stem-like cells promote the metastatic and invasive ability of melanoma.

Sphere formation in conditioned serum-free culture medium supplemented with epidermal growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor (tumorospheres) is considered useful for the enrichment of cancer stem-like cells, also known as tumor-initiating cells. We used a gene expression microarray to investigate the gene expression profile of melanoma cancer stem-like cells (MCSLCs). The results showed that MCSLCs highly expressed the following Notch signaling pathway molecules: Notch3 (NM_008716), Notch4 (NM_010929), Dtx4 (NM_172442), and JAG2 (NM_010588).

Primary pleuropulmonary synovial sarcoma: a case report.

Pleuropulmonary synovial sarcoma (PPSS) is an extremely rare malignant tumor, which is increasingly recognized as a subtype of sarcoma with a distinctive chromosomal translocation specific to synovial sarcoma. It is often presents like any thoracic tumor with symptoms such as chest pain or cough. Here we report a case of PPSS in a 49-year-old woman presenting with cough, shortness of breath and chest pain.

Biochemical properties of Bacillus Calmette Guerin ribonuclease III.

Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is discovered to participate in the regulation of gene expression in both bacterial and eukaryotic cells. Members of ribonuclease III (RNase III) family recognize RNA motifs and cleave substrates at specific sites in a divalent-metal-ion-dependent manner. In this study, we find the RNase III from Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG-RNase III) cleaves small hairpin RNA based on the conserved stem structure associated with Mycobacterium 16S ribosomal RNA precursor at specific sites which are not determined.

Elevated RABEX-5 expression predicts poor prognosis in non-small-cell lung cancer.

RABEX-5 has been studied in various solid tumors, but its role in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unknown. This study is aimed to investigate the expression, the potential relevance to clinicopathological characters and prognostic significance of RABEX-5 in patients with NSCLC. A total of 120 NSCLC patients who underwent radical surgery between 2005 and 2010 were enrolled in the study.

High pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio predicts recurrence and poor prognosis for combined small cell lung cancer.

Backgrounds: Compared to pure small cell lung cancer (SCLC), combined small cell lung cancer (C-SCLC) has its own characteristics. High neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been shown to be related to poor prognosis in several types of tumors. The aim of this study was to explore the prognosis value of NLR and PLR in patients with C-SCLC.

The progression of symmetrical left ventricular hypertrophy in a 54-year-old man: a case report with a 10.5-year follow-up and literatures review.

Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (AHCM) is a well-known clinical entity, which is characterized by LV apex hypertrophy and the giant negative T wave at ECG and a spade-like left ventricle. It is a uncommon morphologic variant of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and AHCM appears to be particularly common in Asia whose prevalence was 15% and 3% of all the HCM patients in Japan and USA, respectively. In this case, we present a dramatic progress from symmetrical left ventricular hypertrophy to AHCM with apical aneurysm.