High-Throughput In Vitro Gene Expression Profile to Screen of Natural Herbals for Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. Some therapeutic drugs and approaches could cause side effects and weaken the immune system. The combination of conventional therapies and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) significantly improves treatment efficacy in breast cancer. However, the chemical composition and underlying anti-tumor mechanisms of TCM still need to be investigated. The primary aim of this study is to provide unique insights to screen the natural components for breast cancer therapy using high-throughput transcriptome analysis. Differentially expressed genes were identified based on two conditions: single samples and groups were classified according to their pharmaceutical effect. Subsequently, the sample treated with E. cochinchinensis Lour. generated the most significant DEGs set, including 1,459 DEGs, 805 upregulated and 654 downregulated. Similarly, group 3 treatment contained the most DEGs (414 DEGs, 311 upregulated and 103 downregulated). KEGG pathway analyses showed five significant pathways associated with the inflammatory and metastasis processes in cancer, which include the TNF, IL−17, NF-kappa B, MAPK signaling pathways, and transcriptional misregulation in cancer. Samples were classified into 13 groups based on their pharmaceutical effects. The results of the KEGG pathway analyses remained consistent with signal samples; group 3 presents a high significance. A total of 21 genes were significantly regulated in these five pathways, interestingly, IL6, TNFAIP3, and BRIC3 were enriched on at least two pathways, seven genes (FOSL1, S100A9, CXCL12, ID2, PRS6KA3, AREG, and DUSP6) have been reported as the target biomarkers and even the diagnostic tools in cancer therapy. In addition, weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) was used to identify 18 modules. Among them, blue and thistle2 were the most relevant modules. A total of 26 hub genes in blue and thistle2 modules were identified as the hub genes. In conclusion, we screened out three new TCM (R. communis L., E. cochinchinensis Lour., and B. fruticosa) that have the potential to develop natural drugs for breast cancer therapy, and obtained the therapeutic targets.

Application of fracture body surface localization film combined with CT volume rendering in the minimally invasive rib fractures internal fixation

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the application value of the technique of fracture body surface localization film combined with CT volume rendering in the selection of minimally invasive incision for internal fixation of rib fractures.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Clinical data of 55 cases of patients who underwent internal fixation for rib fracture in our hospital from June 2019 to April 2020 were selected. The differences in the accuracy of preset incision, incision length, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative wound drainage, and postoperative pain score between the group with fracture body surface localization film combined with CT volume rendering (n=32) and the group with traditional localization method (n=23).

RESULTS

Compared with traditional localization method, fracture body surface localization film combined with CT volume rendering could improve the accuracy of surgical incision, reduce the operation time, incision length, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative wound drainage, and postoperative pain score (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The application of fracture body surface localization film combined with CT volume rendering has obvious effects on the accurate selection of incision of rib fracture internal fixation, and it is an effective method that is worthy of promotion.

A Comparative Analysis on the Structure and Function of the Panax notoginseng Rhizosphere Microbiome

Panax notoginseng, an important Chinese medicinal herb, can be mainly cultivated in two planting patterns, cropland planting (DT) and understory planting (LX). We speculate that the rhizosphere microbiome may vary in DT and LX and may play an important role in promoting the growth and health of P. notoginseng. In the present study, culture-independent Illumina HiSeq was employed to investigate the rhizosphere bacteria and fungi under DT and LX planting patterns. Predominant phyla include Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Ascomycota in the two planting patterns. DT has higher alpha diversity index than LX. The predominant LX-core genera include Bradyrhizobium, Streptomyces, and Actinomadura, and the predominant DT-core genera include Sphingomonas, Variovorax, and Novosphingobium. Total relative abundance of the disease-suppression phylum (Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria) and the potential plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) were both significantly higher in LX than in DT. We also identified over-presented microbial functional traits mediating plant-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions, nutrition acquisition, and plant growth promotion in P. notoginseng rhizosphere. Our findings provide a valuable reference for studying beneficial microbes and pathogens of P. notoginseng planted in DT and LX.

Chloroform extract from Sophora Tonkinensis Gagnep. inhibit proliferation, migration, invasion and promote apoptosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells by silencing the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Sophora Tonkinensis Gagnep. (STG) has been used as a folk medicine for the treatment of different cancers, especially for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, cervical cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, lung cancer and leukemia in China. However, the main chemical composition and anticancer mechanism of chloroform extract of STG (CESTG) were still not very clear.

AIM OF STUDY

This work was carried out to investigate the anticancer effects and mechanisms of chloroform extract of STG (CESTG) on NPC.

METHODS

Cultured NPC CNE1, CNE2 and Np69 cells were treated with CESTG. Cells were subjected to cell proliferation, colony-forming, migration and invasion assays. Cell cycle and apoptosis were measured by flow cytometry. Western blotting and morphological analysis were also performed. Tumor xenografts and drug treatments were made in BALB/c nude mice. The main compounds of CESTG was separated by HPLC.

RESULTS

CESTG inhibited cell viability, clonal growth and induced cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner by silencing the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, which is associated with upregulation of cleaved PARP, caspase 3/7/8/9, cleaved caspase 3/7/8/9, Bax and downregulation of PARP, P-PI3K, PI3K, P-AKT, AKT, P-mTOR, mTOR and Bcl-2. In addition, CESTG arrested cell cycle in the G1/S phase, correlating with decreased levels of cyclin D1/B1, CDK 4 and 6. CESTG decreased cell migration and invasion which correlated with decreased expression of β-catenin, vimentin and snail. CESTG significantly inhibited the tumor growth without toxicity.

CONCLUSION

The results presented here suggest that CESTG could be use as a potential source of NPC therapeutic drug.

[Study on the effect of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine in the treatment of brucellosis]

Objective: To observe the clinical effect of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine on brucellosis and its influence on humoral immune indexes. Methods: In October 2019, 169 cases of brucellosis hospitalized in Tianjin Second People's Hospital were selected as the research objects, and divided into two groups according to the random number method, 84 cases in the integrated treatment group and 85 cases in the western medicine treatment group. The western medicine treatment group was given antibiotics and other routine western medicine support treatment. The integrated treatment group was given traditional Chinese medicine for treatment based on syndrome differentiation, on the basis of western medicine treatment group, and 6 weeks was a course of treatment. The clinical efficacy and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndrome scores were compared between the two groups of patients after treatment, and the changes in humoral immune indexes, biochemical, and liver and kidney functions of the patients before and after treatment were analyzed. Results: The total effective rate was 100.00% (84/84) in the integrated treatment group and 97.65% (83/85) in the western medicine treatment group. The difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05) . The difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05) . There was no statistically significant difference in TCM syndrome scores between the two groups before treatment (P>0.05) , and the TCM syndrome scores after treatment were lower than before treatment (P<0.05) . Among them, the TCM syndrome scores of the integrated treatment group were lower than those of the western medicine treatment group (P<0.05) . There was no significant difference in IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, C4, miRNA-155, C-reactive protein (CRP) , erythrocyte sedimention rate (ESR) , alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) between the two groups before treatment (P>0.05) . After treatment, IgG, IgA, IgM, miRNA-155, CRP, ESR, ALT and AST were all lower than before treatment, and C3 and C4 complement levels were higher than before treatment (P<0.05) . Among them, IgG, IgA, IgM, miRNA-155, CRP, ESR, ALT and AST in the integrative treatment group were all lower than the western medicine treatment group, while the C3 and C4 complement levels were higher than the western medicine treatment group (P<0.05) . Conclusion: The treatment of brucellosis with integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine can significantly improve the TCM syndrome score and reduce the levels of CRP and ESR. The mechanism of action may be related to the regulation of the patient's humoral immunological indicators.

Chromosomal-scale genome assembly of Eleutherococcus senticosus provides insights into chromosome evolution in Araliaceae

Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus, also known as ciwujia) belongs to the Araliaceae family, which contains more than 1,500 species in 41 genera with diverse chromosome numbers and genome sizes. General consensus posits that ancient whole-genome duplication events and rapid evolutionary radiation are the driving forces for this variation in genome properties. In an attempt to generate more genomic information for the Araliaceae family, we report a 1.30 Gb high-quality draft genome assembly (contig N50 = 309.43 kb) of E. senticosus via PacBio long reads and Hi-C chromatin interaction maps. We found that transposable elements accounted for 72.82% of the genome and a total of 36,372 protein-coding genes were predicted. Comparative analyses of the E. senticosus, Panax notoginseng and Daucus carota genomes revealed a burst expansion of Tekay chromoviral elements in Araliaceae after its divergence with Apiaceae. We also found that E. senticosus underwent a lineage-specific whole-genome duplication event Es-α and a whole-genome duplication event Araliaceae-β that was probably shared by all Araliaceae species. Even though the rediploidization of the E. senticosus genome is evident, pathway analyses show that these two whole-genome duplication events may have contributed to the adaptation of E. senticosus to a cold environment. Taken together, the high-quality genome assembly of E. senticosus provides a valuable genomic resource for future research on the evolution of Araliaceae.

Aromatin D-J: Seven previously undescribed labdane diterpenoids isolated from Blumea aromatica

Blumea aromatica is a traditional Chinese medicine used for treating various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, eczema, and pruritus. Previous studies on B. aromatica used a mass defect-filtering strategy via the ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry and reported the presence of several labdane diterpenoids (LADs). To determine the actual structures of these LADs and investigate their biological activities, seven previously undescribed LADs (aromatin D-J) were isolated from the whole B. aromatica herb. The structures of these isolated compounds were characterized using high-resolution mass spectrometry and extensive 1D and 2D NMR analyses. In addition, the absolute configurations of these compounds were determined by comparing the experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra as well as using X-ray crystallographic analysis. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their ability to activate adenylate cyclase by measuring the levels of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) in rat ventricular tissue. Aromatin E, F, and J showed moderate activities with an increase in cAMP levels by 67%, 69%, and 64%, respectively, compared with the control group.

Improved de novo Assembly of the Achlorophyllous Orchid Gastrodia elata

Achlorophyllous plants are full mycoheterotrophic plants with no chlorophyll and they obtain their nutrients from soil fungi. Gastrodia elata is a perennial, achlorophyllous orchid that displays distinctive evolutionary strategy of adaptation to the non-photosynthetic lifestyle. Here in this study, the genome of G. elata was assembled to 1.12 Gb with a contig N50 size of 110 kb and a scaffold N50 size of 1.64 Mb so that it helped unveil the genetic basics of those adaptive changes. Based on the genomic data, key genes related to photosynthesis, leaf development, and plastid division pathways were found to be lost or under relaxed selection during the course of evolution. Thus, the genome sequence of G. elata provides a good resource for future investigations of the evolution of orchids and other achlorophyllous plants.

Analysis of codon usage bias and evolution in the chloroplast genome of Mesona chinensis Benth

Mesona chinensis Benth (MCB) is one of the main economic crops in tropical and subtropical areas. To understand the codon usage bias (CUB) in M. chinensis Benth, chloroplast genome is essential to study its genetic law, molecular phylogenetic relationships, and exogenous gene expression. Results showed that the GC content of 53 CDS sequences was 37.95%, and GC1, GC2, and GC3 content were 46.02%, 38.26%, and 29.85%, respectively. The general GC content order was GC1>GC2>GC3. Moreover, the majority of genes had an effective number of codon (ENC) value greater than 40, except ndhE, rps8, and rps18. Correlation analysis results revealed that the GC content was significantly correlated with GC1, GC2, GC3, and ENC. Neutrality plot analysis, ENC-plot analysis, and PR2-plot analysis presented that the CUB of M. chinensis Benth chloroplast genome was mainly affected by mutation and selection. In addition, GGG, GCA, and TCC were found to be the optimal codons. Furthermore, results of cluster analysis and evolutionary tree showed that M. chinensis Benth was closely related to Ocimum basilicum, indicating that there was a certain correlation between the CUB of the chloroplast gene and the genetic relationship of plant species. Overall, the study on the CUB of chloroplast genome laid a basis for genetic modification and phylogenetic research of M. chinensis Benth chloroplast genome.

Recent Advances in the Tissue Culture of American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius)

The in vitro tissue culture of medicinal plants is considered as a potential source for plant-derived bioactive secondary metabolites. The in vitro tissue culture of American ginseng has wide commercial applications in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, food, and cosmetic fields with regard to the production of bioactive compounds such as ginsenosides and polysaccharides. This review highlights the recent progress made on different types of tissue culture practices with American ginseng, including callus culture, somatic embryo culture, cell suspension culture, hairy root culture, and adventitious root culture. The tissue culture conditions for inducing ginseng callus, somatic embryos, cell suspension, hairy roots, and adventitious roots were analyzed. In addition, the optimized conditions for increasing the production of ginsenosides and polysaccharides were discussed. This review provides references for the use of modern biotechnology to improve the production of bioactive compounds from American ginseng, as well as references for the development and sustainable utilization of American ginseng resources.

Intrinsic Mechanism for Anisotropic Magnetoresistance and Experimental Confirmation in Co_{x}Fe_{1-x} Single-Crystal Films

Using first-principles transport calculations, we predict that the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) of single-crystal Co_{x}Fe_{1-x} alloys is strongly dependent on the current orientation and alloy concentration. An intrinsic mechanism for AMR is found to arise from the band crossing due to magnetization-dependent symmetry protection. These special k points can be shifted towards or away from the Fermi energy by varying the alloy composition and hence the exchange splitting, thus allowing AMR tunability. The prediction is confirmed by delicate transport measurements, which further reveal a reciprocal relationship of the longitudinal and transverse resistivities along different crystal axes.

MiR-21 inhibitor improves locomotor function recovery by inhibiting IL-6R/JAK-STAT pathway-mediated inflammation after spinal cord injury in model of rat

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the function of miRNA-21 and interleukin-6 receptor/Janus Kinase-Signal transducer and activator of transcription (IL-6R/JAK-STAT) pathway in microglia on inflammatory responses after spinal cord injury (SCI).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study first detected respectively the protein level of inflammatory factor inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) by Western blotting after transfection of miR-21 or administration of miR-21 inhibitor in activated microglia cells of rat in vitro. The quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was utilized to detect the expression of IL-6R under two different interventions. Next, we established a model of spinal cord injury in rat and inspected miR-21 and IL-6R in SCI rat by qRT-PCR. In addition, the protein levels of iNOS and TNF-α in SCI rat were detected by Western blotting. MiR-21 inhibitor was injected into the injured area of SCI rat to delve into the function of miR-21 down-expression on iNOS and TNF-α expression by Western blot as well as the RNA levels of IL-6R, JAK and STAT3 by qRT-PCR. Furthermore, the SCI rat with movement and coordination of hindlimbs was observed by Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan locomotor rating scale (BBB scale) after miR-21 down-expression.

RESULTS

Compared with the microglia transfected with miR-21, the execution of inhibitor in microglia effectively relieved the expression of IL-6R and the breakout of iNOS and TNF-α. Meanwhile, the increase of miR-21 was significantly observed in SCI rat along with significant improvement of inflammatory response-related factors including iNOS and TNF-α. After that, we injected SCI rat with miR-21 inhibitor into the spinal cord injury area and found the inhibition of miR-21 decreased the protein levels of iNOS and TNF-α. Simultaneously, down-expression of miR-21 evidently declined the RNA levels of IL-6R, JAK, and STAT3 in SCI rat. Compared with the sham-operated rat, the movement and coordination of hindlimbs of the SCI group displayed dramatic dysfunction. However, miR-21 down-expression elevated the movement and coordination of hindlimbs of the SCI rat than those of the only injury group.

CONCLUSIONS

Inhibition of miR-21 can promote the recovery of spinal cord injury by down-regulating IL-6R/JAK-STAT signaling pathway and inhibiting inflammation.

Chromosome Level Genome Assembly of Andrographis paniculata

Andrographis paniculata (Chinese name: Chuanxinlian) is an annual dicotyledonous medicinal plant widely grown in China and Southeast Asia. The dried plant has a highly acclaimed usage in the traditional Chinese medicine for its antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects. In order to help delineate the biosynthetic pathways of various secondary metabolites, we report in this study a high-quality reference genome for A. paniculata. With the help of both PacBio single molecule real time sequencing and Illumina sequencing reads for error correction, the A. paniculata genome was assembled into a total size of 284 Mb with a contig N50 size of 5.14 Mb. The contigs were further assembled into 24 pseudo-chromosomes by the Hi-C technique. We also analyzed the gene families (e.g., KSL, and CYP450) whose protein products are essential for synthesizing bioactive compounds in A. paniculata. In conclusion, the high-quality A. paniculata genome assembly builds the foundation for decoding the biosynthetic pathways of various medicinal compounds.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of the medicinal plant Sophora tonkinensis

Sophora tonkinensis belongs to genus Sophora of the Fabaceae family. It is mainly distributed in the ridge and peak regions of limestone areas in western China and has high medicinal value and important ecological functions. Wild populations of S. tonkinensis are in danger and need urgent conservation. Furthermore, wild S. tonkinensis resources are very limited relative to the needs of the market, and many adulterants are present on the market. Therefore, a method for authenticating S. tonkinensis and its adulterants at the molecular level is needed. Chloroplast genomes are valuable sources of genetic markers for phylogenetic analyses, genetic diversity evaluation, and plant molecular identification. In this study, we report the complete chloroplast genome of S. tonkinensis. The circular complete chloroplast genome was 154,644 bp in length, containing an 85,810 bp long single-copy (LSC) region, an 18,321 bp short single-copy (SSC) region and two inverted repeat (IR) regions of 50,513 bp. The S. tonkinensis chloroplast genome comprised 129 genes, including 83 protein-coding genes, 38 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. The structure, gene order and guanine and cytosine (GC) content of the S. tonkinensis chloroplast genome were similar to those of the Sophora alopecuroides and Sophora flavescens chloroplast genomes. A total of 1,760 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified in the chloroplast genome of S. tonkinensis, and most of them (93.1%) were mononucleotides. Moreover, the identified SSRs were mainly distributed in the LSC region, accounting for 60% of the total number of SSRs, while 316 (18%) and 383 (22%) were located in the SSC and IR regions, respectively. Only one complete copy of the rpl2 gene was present at the LSC/IRB boundary, while another copy was absent from the IRA region because of the incomplete structure caused by IR region expansion and contraction. The phylogenetic analysis placed S. tonkinensis in Papilionoideae, sister to S. flavescens, and the genera Sophora and Ammopiptanthus were closely related. The complete genome sequencing and chloroplast genome comparative analysis of S. tonkinensis and its closely related species presented in this paper will help formulate effective conservation and management strategies as well as molecular identification approaches for this important medicinal plant.

High-Throughput Transcriptome Profiling in Drug and Biomarker Discovery

The development of new drugs is multidisciplinary and systematic work. High-throughput techniques based on “-omics” have driven the discovery of biomarkers in diseases and therapeutic targets of drugs. A transcriptome is the complete set of all RNAs transcribed by certain tissues or cells at a specific stage of development or physiological condition. Transcriptome research can demonstrate gene functions and structures from the whole level and reveal the molecular mechanism of specific biological processes in diseases. Currently, gene expression microarray and high-throughput RNA-sequencing have been widely used in biological, medical, clinical, and drug research. The former has been applied in drug screening and biomarker detection of drugs due to its high throughput, fast detection speed, simple analysis, and relatively low price. With the further development of detection technology and the improvement of analytical methods, the detection flux of RNA-seq is much higher but the price is lower, hence it has powerful advantages in detecting biomarkers and drug discovery. Compared with the traditional RNA-seq, scRNA-seq has higher accuracy and efficiency, especially the single-cell level of gene expression pattern analysis can provide more information for drug and biomarker discovery. Therefore, (sc)RNA-seq has broader application prospects, especially in the field of drug discovery. In this overview, we will review the application of these technologies in drug, especially in natural drug and biomarker discovery and development. Emerging applications of scRNA-seq and the third generation RNA-sequencing tools are also discussed.

Comparative Genomics of Spatholobus suberectus and Insight Into Flavonoid Biosynthesis

Spatholobus suberectus Dunn (S. suberectus), has been widely used in traditional medicines plant source of the Leguminosae family. Its vine stem of which plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of various diseases because it contains various flavonoids. Comparative genome analysis suggested well-conserved genomic components and genetic collinearity between the genome of S. suberectus and other genera of Leguminosae such as Glycine max. We discovered two whole genome duplications (WGD) events in S. suberectus and G. max lineage underwent a WGD after speciation from S. suberectus. The determination of expansion and contractions of orthologous gene families revealed 1,001 expanded gene families and 3,649 contracted gene families in the S. suberectus lineage. Comparing to the model plants, many novel flavonoid biosynthesis-related genes were predicted in the genome of S. suberectus, and the expression patterns of these genes in the roots are similar to those in the stems [such as the isoflavone synthase (IFS) genes]. The expansion of IFS from a single copy in the Leguminosae ancestor to four copies in S. suberectus, will accelerate the biosynthesis of flavonoids. MYB genes are widely involved in plant flavonoid biosynthesis and the most abundant member of the TF family in S. suberectus. Activated retrotransponson positive regulates the accumulation of flavonoid in S. suberectus by introducing the cis-elements of tissue-specific expressed MYBs. Our study not only provides significant insight into the evolution of specific flavonoid biosynthetic pathways in S. suberectus, but also would facilitate the development of tools for enhancing bioactive productivity by metabolic engineering in microbes or by molecular breeding for alleviating resource shortage of S. suberectus.

Identification and Analysis of Components in Yizhi Granule and Cynomolgus Monkey Plasma after Oral Administration by UPLC/ESI-Q-TOF MS and Their Protective Effects on PC12 Cells

Yizhi Granule (YZG) is a health food containing six traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). It improves memory barriers in rat experiments. Here, we describe the first fast and sensitive ultraperformance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/ESI-Q-TOF MS) method for analyzing YZG in plasma. We used this technique for studies in cynomolgus monkey plasma. By comparing retention time, MS, and MS/MS data of reference compounds, 70 compounds were detected in YZG. Of these, 63 were identified including 60 saponins, 2 flavones, and 1 methyl ester. There were 33 saponins, 1 flavone, and 1 methyl ester in the plasma. Next, to study the therapeutic properties of YZG, the neuroprotective effect of some of the absorbed components was evaluated using PC12 cell damage caused by the Aβ _25-35 model. The results showed that 9 compounds protect PC12 cells from Aβ _25-35 with cell viability (%) of 111.00 ± 8.12 (G-Rb1), 102.20 ± 4.22 (G-Rb2), 100.34 ± 6.47 (G-Rd), 102.83 ± 2.10 (G-Re), 101.68 ± 7.64 (NG-Fa), 101.19 ± 7.83 (NG-R1), 102.53 ± 0.55 (NG-R2), 106.88 ± 4.95 (gypenoside A), and 103.95 ± 4.11 (gypenoside XLIX), respectively, versus the control group (87.51 ± 6.59). These results can reveal the real pharmacodynamic basis of YZG and provide a theoretical basis for subsequent studies. It can also provide some references for the research of Alzheimer's disease.

Feasibility of diffusion and probabilistic white matter analysis in patients implanted with a deep brain stimulator

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease (PD) is an established advanced therapy that produces therapeutic effects through high frequency stimulation. Although this therapeutic option leads to improved clinical outcomes, the mechanisms of the underlying efficacy of this treatment are not well understood. Therefore, investigation of DBS and its postoperative effects on brain architecture is of great interest. Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is an advanced imaging technique, which has the ability to estimate the structure of white matter fibers; however, clinical application of DWI after DBS implantation is challenging due to the strong susceptibility artifacts caused by implanted devices. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of generating meaningful white matter reconstructions after DBS implantation; and to subsequently quantify the degree to which these tracts are affected by post-operative device-related artifacts. DWI was safely performed before and after implanting electrodes for DBS in 9 PD patients. Differences within each subject between pre- and post-implantation FA, MD, and RD values for 123 regions of interest (ROIs) were calculated. While differences were noted globally, they were larger in regions directly affected by the artifact. White matter tracts were generated from each ROI with probabilistic tractography, revealing significant differences in the reconstruction of several white matter structures after DBS. Tracts pertinent to PD, such as regions of the substantia nigra and nigrostriatal tracts, were largely unaffected. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility and clinical applicability of acquiring and processing DWI post-operatively in PD patients after DBS implantation. The presence of global differences provides an impetus for acquiring DWI shortly after implantation to establish a new baseline against which longitudinal changes in brain connectivity in DBS patients can be compared. Understanding that post-operative fiber tracking in patients is feasible on a clinically-relevant scale has significant implications for increasing our current understanding of the pathophysiology of movement disorders, and may provide insights into better defining the pathophysiology and therapeutic effects of DBS.

Low-loss and broadband silicon mode filter using cascaded plasmonic BSWGs for on-chip mode division multiplexing

A mode splitter is a key device to eliminate undesired modes but allow desired modes go through for an on-chip mode-division multiplexing (MDM) system. Here, we propose a silicon high-order mode (HOM) pass filter based on the cascaded plasmonic bridged subwavelength gratings (BSWGs). A metal bridge is introduced to generate a plasmonic hybrid mode, which has a significant influence on the fundamental mode but a neglected impact on the first-order mode. A silicon HOM-pass filter for handling the TM₀ and TM₁ modes is optimized by using the 3D full-vectorial finite difference time domain (3D-FV-FDTD) method. The numerically simulated results indicate that the optimized mode filter is with a low loss of 0.63 dB and a mode extinction ratio (ER) of 26.4 dB based on 4-cascaded plasmonic BSWGs. The 3 dB bandwidth is over 493 nm from 1222 nm to 1715 nm. With the mode ER > 15.0 dB, a broad bandwidth of 150 nm can be achieved. The performance of the proposed mode filter is tolerant to the width error of ± 50 nm. The proposed silicon HOM-pass filter can be utilized in on-chip MDM systems for mode controlling.

1176Hepatocyte growth factor has prognostic utility in light chain and transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis

Background

With the advent of multiple novel therapeutics for light chain (AL) and transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis, there is a critical need for validated prognostic markers in cardiac amyloidosis. A discriminatory serum biomarker may improve prognostic and staging systems in AL and ATTR cardiac amyloidosis.

Purpose

Our objective was to test the hypothesis that hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is associated with clinical outcomes in patients with AL and ATTR cardiac amyloidosis.

Methods

102 patients with AL or ATTR and suspected cardiac involvement were prospectively enrolled. HGF, NT-proBNP, troponin-T, and eGFR were measured upon study enrollment. Cardiac involvement was established by 1) endomyocardial biopsy, or 2) non-cardiac biopsy with concentric hypertrophy on echocardiography, low voltage or pseudo-infarction on ECG, elevated NT-proBNP or troponin-T, or characteristic delayed myocardial enhancement on cardiac MRI. Patients were followed for the occurrence of all-cause mortality, cardiac transplantation, and left-ventricular assist device implantation.

Results

Of the total amyloidosis cohort, 72 had cardiac involvement while 30 had non-cardiac disease. HGF, NT-proBNP, and troponin-T levels were significantly higher in patients with cardiac involvement than in patients with non-cardiac disease (p<0.05 for all comparisons). Over a median follow-up period of 1.9 years there were 20 deaths, 1 cardiac transplant, and 1 left-ventricular assist device implant, all in patients with cardiac involvement. Patient stratification by cut-off levels of NT-proBNP (332 pg/mL), troponin-T (35 ng/L), and eGFR (45 mL/min/1.73m2) used in published staging models for AL and ATTR cardiac amyloidosis showed no association between abnormal biomarker level and adverse clinical outcome (p>0.05). In contrast, stratification by HGF level of 310 pg/mL (identified by the Youden Index for cardiac involvement by AL and ATTR in our cohort) showed that elevated HGF was associated with worse clinical outcomes (p=0.0211). Furthermore, event-free survival was worse in patients with elevated HGF, with survival curves diverging soon after enrollment (p=0.0730).

HGF is Prognostic in Cardiac Amyloidosis

Conclusions

Elevated HGF is associated with worse clinical outcomes in patients with AL and ATTR cardiac amyloidosis and has potential for clinical utility.