ANRIL rs2383207 polymorphism and coronary artery disease (CAD) risk: a meta-analysis with observational studies

Some studies investigated the association of antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 locus (ANRIL) rs2383207 polymorphism with coronary artery disease (CAD) risk. However, the result was still inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is an association between the ANRIL rs2383207 polymorphism and CAD risk. We carried out a PubMed (Medline), EMBASE database search covering all published articles. The strength of association between ANRIL rs2383207 polymorphism and CAD risk was assessed by calculating OR with 95% CI. A total of 13 case-control studies involving 6796 cases and 9956 controls were included in this meta-analysis. ANRIL rs2383207polymorphism was associated with a significantly an increased risk of CAD (OR=1.47; 95%CI, 1.33-1.62). We also found that this polymorphism increased CAD risk in Caucasians (OR=1.51; 95%CI, 1.28-1.77) and Asians (OR=1.42; 95%CI, 1.26-1.61). In the subgroup analysis according to gender, both women and men were significantly associated with the increased risk of CAD (OR=1.36; 95%CI, 1.03-1.79 and OR=1.58; 95%CI, 1.20-2.09). In the subgroup analysis by age, ANRIL rs2383207 polymorphism showed significant results in old CAD patients and young CAD patients (OR=1.32; 95%CI, 1.20-1.44 and OR=1.53; 95%CI, 1.32-1.77). Furthermore, this polymorphism also influenced myocardial infarction risk (OR=1.75; 95%CI, 1.24-2.47). Even the studies with adjustment for age, gender, smoking were included, the significant association was also observed (OR=1.43; 95%CI, 1.26-1.62). In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that ANRIL rs2383207 polymorphism is associated with CAD risk.

Accelerated digestion of nucleic acids by pepsin from the stomach of chicken

Nucleic acids have become an important nutritional supplement in poultry feed; however, the digestion of nucleic acids in poultry is unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the digestion of nucleic acids by chicken pepsin in vitro. The extracted pepsinogen from the stomach of the chicken was purified to homogeneity. Upon activation at pH 2.0, chicken pepsinogen was converted to its active form. Nucleic acids, including λ-DNA, salmon sperm DNA and single-strand DNA (ssDNA), can be used as substrates and digested into short-chain oligonucleotides by pepsin. Interestingly, the digestion of the nucleic acids was inhibited when pepsin was treated by alkaline solution (pH 8.0) or pepstatin A. Also, the digestion of the nucleic acids was not affected by the addition of haemoglobin or bovine serum albumin. The results suggested that nucleic acids could be digested by chicken pepsin. Thus pepsin may have a role in digesting nucleic acids in vivo. Nucleic acids added to poultry fed may be digested, starting from the stomach.

Note: Triggering behavior of a vacuum arc plasma source

Axial symmetry of discharge is very important for application of vacuum arc plasma. It is discovered that the triggering method is a significant factor that would influence the symmetry of arc discharge at the final stable stage. Using high-speed multiframe photography, the transition processes from cathode-trigger discharge to cathode-anode discharge were observed. It is shown that the performances of the two triggering methods investigated are quite different. Arc discharge triggered by independent electric source can be stabilized at the center of anode grid, but it is difficult to achieve such good symmetry through resistance triggering. It is also found that the triggering process is highly correlated to the behavior of emitted electrons.

[Analysis of treatment and prognosis in post-operative patients with urachal carcinoma]

OBJECTIVE

Urachal carcinoma is a kind of urogenital tract malignancy with a very low incidence. The objective of this study was to observe the clinical presentation, pathological condition, treatment method and outcome of patients with urachal carcinoma.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of thirty-six cases of urachal carcinoma diagnosed over a period of 10 years from 2003 to 2013 was carried out. All pathologic specimens were reviewed by two separate pathologists. Clinical and histological features, treatment condition, patient follow-up and survival outcome was reviewed and calculated.

RESULTS

The mean age at diagnosis was 53 years. Of the thirty-six patients, twenty-five were male. All patients underwent partial cystectomy with bilateral pelvic lymph node dissection. All cases were adenocarcinoma, including 20 mucinous adenocarcinoma, 7 moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma, 5 poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, 1 signet ring cell carcinoma, 3 hybrid adenocarcinoma. The Sheldon pathologic stage was stage Ⅱ in 11, Ⅲ in 16 and Ⅳa in 9 cases. All patients received medical oncological therapy. The median follow-up period was 27 months. The median overall survival was 36 months. One-year survival rate was 70% and five-year survival rate was 28%.

CONCLUSIONS

Urachal carcinomas are rare and usually at locally advanced stage at diagnosis with a high tendency of metastases. Surgery is a key method of primary treatment and medical oncological therapy may play a role in decreasing the chances of recurrence which still needs to be explained by prospective clinical trials.

An in-depth kinetics study of chemically modified human serum albumin aggregation and fibrillation

Herein, chemically modified HSAs with different surface charges are used to study the process of protein fibrillation and the inhibition mechanism of quantum dots (QDs) in aqueous solutions in vitro.

Burden of smoking among adults with COPD, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema in urban China

OBJECTIVE

Tobacco, widely used in China, poses a major risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study assessed health outcomes of COPD-diagnosed smokers vs. never smokers and examined treatment patterns of patients attempting to quit smoking in urban China.

METHODS

National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS) 2010 and 2012 China data were analysed. Respondents self-reporting diagnosis with COPD, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema were categorised: quit attempters (current smokers 'trying to quit' or non-smokers 'in the process of quitting'), smokers (including quit attempters) and those who never smoked. Respondents reported smoking cessation treatment utilisation; health status: SF-36v2-based scores and SF-6D health utilities; Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire-based metrics; and resource utilisation. Regression modelling assessed health outcomes, controlling for covariates.

RESULTS

Among 1421 (3.6%) diagnosed respondents, 51.6% never smoked and 35.5% smoked (of whom, 43.8% were attempting to quit). After adjustments, smokers vs. never smokers had significantly lower health utilities, lower mental/physical health status and greater absenteeism, presenteeism, overall work impairment, activity impairment, emergency room visits, hospitalisations and provider visits. Quit attempters were diagnosed an average 6.9 years (SD = 7.7) previously, with 25.3% reporting moderate/severe COPD. Most-reported main causes of COPD were: smoking (57.5%), illnesses/conditions (53.8%) and pollutants (44.3%). Among quit attempters, 82.8% smoked currently. Use of prescription cessation treatments was reported by 12.7%.

CONCLUSIONS

Smokers experienced poorer health outcomes, reinforcing importance of prevention in mitigating disease burden. Among quit attempters, few reported using prescription cessation treatments. Given the high burden imposed by smoking in China, effective interventions may be beneficial.

Electrochemical preparation of nanostructured lanthanum using lanthanum chloride as a precursor in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ionic liquid

Nanostructured lanthanum was electrochemically prepared on a platinum (Pt) substrate in the room temperature ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (BMI-DCA) containing anhydrous LaCl₃ at 333 K.

Note: A pulsed laser ion source for linear induction accelerators

We have developed a high-current laser ion source for induction accelerators. A copper target was irradiated by a frequency-quadrupled Nd:YAG laser (266 nm) with relatively low intensities of 10(8) W/cm(2). The laser-produced plasma supplied a large number of Cu(+) ions (∼10(12) ions/pulse) during several microseconds. Emission spectra of the plasma were observed and the calculated electron temperature was about 1 eV. An induction voltage adder extracted high-current ion beams over 0.5 A/cm(2) from a plasma-prefilled gap. The normalized beam emittance measured by a pepper-pot method was smaller than 1 π mm mrad.

Knockdown of IGF2R suppresses proliferation and induces apoptosis in hemangioma cells in vitro and in vivo

Insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II)/IGF2R signaling plays a pivotal role in cell growth, migration and differentiation in many malignancies. An individual with high IGF-II expression levels has a high risk of developing cancer, but IGF2R is often considered to be a tumor suppressor. To date, little has been reported about the role of IGF-II/IGF2R signaling in hemangiomas (HAs). Thus, uncovering the mechanisms of IGF-II/IGF2R signaling is very important to understanding the development of HAs. In the present study, the expression of IGF-II and IGF2R was investigated in 27 cases of HAs of different phases by immunohistochemistry. Through lentivirus-mediated IGF2R siRNA (Lv-siIGF2R) in HA-derived endothelial cells (HDECs), we observed the effects of IGF2R knockdown on the biological behavior of HA cells. We found that the expression of IGF-II and IGF2R was significantly increased in proliferating phase HAs, but decreased in involuting phase HAs. Furthermore, knockdown of IGF2R in vitro significantly diminished the proliferative activity and induced apoptosis and cycle arrest with decreased expression of PCNA, Ki-67, Bcl-2, Cyclin D1 and E and increased the expression of Bax in the proliferative phase HAs (HDEC and CRL-2586 EOMA cells). In addition, the tumor volumes in a subcutaneous HDEC nude mouse model treated with Lv-siIGF2R were significantly smaller than those of the control group. Taken together, our findings indicate that the expression of IGF-II and IGF2R is increased in proliferating phase HAs, and knockdown of IGF2R suppresses proliferation and induces apoptosis in HA cells in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that IGF2R may represent a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of human HAs.

Aging causes exacerbated ischemic brain injury and failure of sevoflurane post-conditioning: role of B-cell lymphoma-2

Aging is associated with exacerbated brain injury after ischemic stroke. Herein, we explored the possible mechanisms underlying the age-associated exacerbated brain injury after ischemic stroke and determined whether therapeutic intervention with anesthetic post-conditioning would provide neuroprotection in aged rats. Male Fisher 344 rats (young, 4 months; aged, 24 months) underwent 2h of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) followed by 24-h reperfusion, with or without sevoflurane post-conditioning for 15 min immediately at the onset of reperfusion. Compared with young rats, aged rats showed larger infarct size, worse neurological scores and more TUNEL-positive cells in the penumbral cerebral cortex at 24h after MCAO. However, edema formation and motor coordination were similar in both groups. Sevoflurane reduced the infarct size, edema formation, and TUNEL-positive cells, and improved the neurological outcome in young rats but not in aged rats. Molecular studies revealed that basal expression of the anti-apoptotic molecule B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) in the brain was lower in aged rats compared with young rats before MCAO, while basal expression of the pro-apoptotic molecule Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) showed similar levels in both groups. MCAO reduced Bcl-2 expression and increased Bax expression in both groups; however, Bax increase was more pronounced in aged rats. In young rats, sevoflurane reversed the above MCAO-induced changes. In contrast, sevoflurane failed to enhance Bcl-2 expression but decreased Bax expression in aged rats. These findings suggest that aging-associated reduction in basal Bcl-2 expression in the brain contributes to increased neuronal injury by enhancing cell apoptosis after ischemic stroke. Sevoflurane post-conditioning failed to provide neuroprotection in aged rats, probably due to its inability to increase Bcl-2 levels and prevent apoptosis in the brain.

Knockdown of Livin inhibits growth and invasion of gastric cancer cells through blockade of the MAPK pathway in vitro and in vivo

Livin, a novel member of the human inhibitors of apoptosis protein family, has been shown to be critical for tumor progression and poor prognosis for several types of malignancies. However, limited reports exist regarding the biological functions of Livin in human gastric cancer (GC). The present study investigated the clinical significance of Livin and caspase-3 (CAS-3) in human GC using immunohistochemistry assay, and explore the potential using RNA interference to knockdown Livin expression, including the subsequent effects on tumor growth and invasion in GC cells in vitro and in vivo. Our results showed that the rate of positive expression of Livin was significantly higher in GC tissues compared to that in adjacent non-cancer tissues (ANCT) (64.1 vs. 30.8%, P<0.001), while CAS-3 was lower in GC tissues than in ANCT (33.3 vs. 66.7%, P=0.001). Livin expression was positively correlated with tumor differentiation and lymph node metastases (P=0.009; P=0.007), while CAS-3 was negatively correlated with them (P=0.036; P=0.002) in patients with GC. Furthermore, knockdown of Livin inhibited cell proliferative activities and invasive potential, and induced cell in situ apoptosis in GC cells, accompanied with decreased expression of p38 MAPK, VEGF and MMP-2 and increased expression of CAS-3. In addition, the tumor volumes in the SGC7901 subcutaneous nude mouse model treated with Lv-shLivin was significantly smaller compared to those of the PBS group (P<0.01). Taken together, our findings indicate that the expression of Livin is increased in human GC and correlates with tumor differentiation and lymph node metastases, while knockdown of Livin inhibits cell growth and invasion through blockade of the MAPK pathway in GC cells, suggesting that Livin may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of GC.