Diagnostic and prognostic implications of serum miR-101 in osteosarcoma

Blood-circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to be used as potential biomarkers in various cancers. MiR-101 has been found to act as a tumor suppressor in many tumor types, but little is known for osteosarcoma. The purpose of this study was to investigate miR-101 expression in osteosarcoma patients and assess its correlation with clinical features and prognosis. Serum samples from 152 osteosarcoma patients and 70 healthy controls were detected using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The data showed that miR-101 expression levels were remarkably underexpressed in serum samples from osteosarcoma patients compared to controls, and the post-treatment serum miR-101 expression was significantly higher than that in the pre-treatment expression. Low serum miR-101 expression was positively associated with advanced clinical stage and distant metastasis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that serum miR-101 could serve as a useful marker for osteosarcoma diagnosis, with a high sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, patients with high miR-101 expression had longer overall survival and recurrence free survival than those with low miR-101 expression. In addition, both univariate and multivariate analyses showed that serum miR-101 downregulation was associated with shorter overall survival and recurrence free survival. Our present results implicated serum miR-101 might be a useful biomarker for the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of osteosarcoma.

A Dedicated 36-Channel Receive Array for Fetal MRI at 3T

Due to a lack of fetal imaging coils, the standard commercial abdominal coil is often used for fetal imaging, the performance of which is limited by its insufficient coverage, element number, and Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, a dedicated 36-channel coil array, of which size can best fit the body sizes of pregnancy gestation from 20 to 37+ weeks, was designed for fetal imaging at 3T. SNR with full phase encoding and G-factor denoted as noise amplification for parallel imaging were quantitatively evaluated by phantom studies. Compared with a commercial abdominal coil array, the proposed 36-channel fetal array provides not only SNR improvements in full phase encoding (with 10% in the region where the whole fetal body was located, and up to 40% in the edge region where the fetal brain and heart may appear) but also an augmented parallel imaging capability and remarkable SNR improvements at high acceleration factors.

Cadmium-accumulator straw application alleviates cadmium stress of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) by promoting photosynthetic activity and antioxidative enzyme activities

The effects of application of straw derived from cadmium (Cd) accumulator plants (Siegesbeckia orientalis, Conyza canadensis, Eclipta prostrata, and Solanum photeinocarpum) on growth and Cd accumulation of lettuce plants grown under Cd exposure were studied. Treatment with straw of the four Cd-accumulator species promoted growth, photosynthesis, and soluble protein contents and enhanced the activities of peroxidase in leaves of lettuce seedlings. The biomass of shoot of lettuce from high to low in turn is the treatment of C. canadensis straw > S. photeinocarpum straw > S. orientalis > E. prostrata > Control. The Cd content in edible parts (shoots) of the lettuce plants was significantly decreased in the presence of straw from the Cd-accumulator species, except the presence of the straw of E. prostrata. And, the greatest reduction in Cd content in shoots was 27.09% in the S. photeinocarpum straw treatment compared with that of the control. Therefore, application of straw of S. orientalis, C. canadensis, and S. photeinocarpum can promote the growth of lettuce seedlings, and decrease their Cd accumulation, when grown in Cd-contaminated soil, which is beneficial for production of lettuce safe for human consumption.

Accelerated Glomerular Cell Senescence in Experimental Lupus Nephritis

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine whether senescence in renal glomeruli is involved in lupus nephritis (LN); the expression of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) and its association with glomerular lesions were investigated in a mouse model of LN. MATERIAL AND METHODS Eighteen MRL/lpr mice with severe proteinuria were randomly divided into 2 equal groups and intraperitoneally injected with dexamethasone (DEX) or saline; 4 age-matched mice with mild proteinuria served as controls. Serum creatinine and urinary protein levels were analyzed, and kidney histological changes were observed by periodic acid-Schiff and Sirius Red staining. SA-β-Gal was detected via histochemistry. Glomerular expression of collagen IV, α-SMA, and nephrin was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and glomerular complement C3 deposition was tested by immunofluorescence. The relationships between SA-β-Gal expression and renal function or glomerular lesion markers were determined by Spearman's correlation analysis. RESULTS Mice with severe proteinuria exhibited glomerular segmental sclerosis and endothelial cell proliferation. DEX administration suppressed these lesions but had no significant effect on 24-hour urinary protein levels. The elevated glomerular expression of SA-β-Gal in proteinuric mice was attenuated by DEX treatment. In addition, DEX treatment markedly downregulated glomerular C3 deposition and collagen IV and α-SMA expression, while significantly increasing nephrin expression. Furthermore, SA-β-Gal expression was positively correlated with urinary protein levels and expression of α-SMA. CONCLUSIONS Accelerated senescence of glomerular cells may contribute to glomerular injury in LN.

Dual-step iterative temperature estimation method for accurate and precise fat-referenced PRFS temperature imaging

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to propose dual-step iterative temperature estimation (DITE) of a fat-referenced proton resonance frequency shift (PRFS) method to improve both the accuracy and precision of temperature estimations in fat-containing tissues.

METHODS

A fat-water signal model with multiple fat peaks was used to simultaneously estimate the temperature, fat/water intensity and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msubsup><mml:mtext>T</mml:mtext> <mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow> <mml:mrow><mml:mrow/> <mml:mo>∗</mml:mo></mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> , and field offset. In DITE, model fitting was implemented with alternating 2-step minimizations. The estimated temperature map was smoothed between the 2-step minimizations, which is considered to be the most important step for improving the temperature precision. The performance of DITE was evaluated with a Monte Carlo simulation, fat/water phantoms, and ex vivo brown adipose tissue experiments and then compared with the performance of previous fat-referenced proton resonance frequency shift methods.

RESULTS

In fat/water phantom experiment with a smooth temperature profile, the temperatures estimated by DITE are consistent with the thermometer results and present a better accuracy and precision than those of previous fat-referenced proton resonance frequency shift methods. In the brown adipose tissue heating experiment, the average mean error, SD, and RMS error were -0.08ºC, 0.46ºC, and 0.56ºC, respectively, over all of the measurements within the region of interest.

CONCLUSION

Our proposed DITE method improves both the accuracy and precision of temperature measurements in tissues with fat fractions between 20% and 80% under smooth distribution of the temperature profile and represents a simple fat-referenced thermometry method.

SCOPE: signal compensation for low-rank plus sparse matrix decomposition for fast parameter mapping

Magnetic resonance (MR) parameter mapping is useful for many clinical applications. However, its practical utility is limited by the long scan time. To address this problem, this paper developed a novel image reconstruction method for fast MR parameter mapping. The proposed method (SCOPE) used a low-rank plus sparse model to reconstruct the parameter-weighted images from highly undersampled acquisitions. A signal compensation strategy was introduced to promote low rankness along the parametric direction and thus improve the reconstruction accuracy. Specifically, compensation was performed by multiplying the original signal by the inversion of the mono-exponential decay at each voxel. The performance of SCOPE was evaluated via quantitative T _1ρ mapping. The results of the simulation and in vivo experiments with acceleration factors from 3 to 5 are shown. The performance of SCOPE was verified via comparisons with several low-rank and sparsity-based methods. The experimental results showed that the T _1ρ maps obtained using SCOPE were more accurate than those obtained using competing methods and were comparable to the reference, even when the acceleration factor reached 5. SCOPE can greatly reduce the scan time of parameter mapping while still achieving high accuracy. This technique might therefore help facilitate fast MR parameter mapping in clinical use.

rs495139 in the TYMS-ENOSF1 Region and Risk of Ovarian Carcinoma of Mucinous Histology

Thymidylate synthase (TYMS) is a crucial enzyme for DNA synthesis. TYMS expression is regulated by its antisense mRNA, ENOSF1. Disrupted regulation may promote uncontrolled DNA synthesis and tumor growth. We sought to replicate our previously reported association between rs495139 in the TYMS-ENOSF1 3' gene region and increased risk of mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC) in an independent sample. Genotypes from 24,351 controls to 15,000 women with invasive OC, including 665 MOC, were available. We estimated per-allele odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using unconditional logistic regression, and meta-analysis when combining these data with our previous report. The association between rs495139 and MOC was not significant in the independent sample (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.97⁻1.22; p = 0.15; N = 665 cases). Meta-analysis suggested a weak association (OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.03⁻1.24; p = 0.01; N = 1019 cases). No significant association with risk of other OC histologic types was observed (p = 0.05 for tumor heterogeneity). In expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis, the rs495139 allele was positively associated with ENOSF1 mRNA expression in normal tissues of the gastrointestinal system, particularly esophageal mucosa (r = 0.51, p = 1.7 × 10-28), and nonsignificantly in five MOC tumors. The association results, along with inconclusive tumor eQTL findings, suggest that a true effect of rs495139 might be small.

[Chemical constitutes from Clerodendrum japonicum]

The chemical constituents from the ethanol extract of Clerodendrum japonicum were isolated by a combination of various chromatographic techniques including column chromatography over silica gel, sephadex LH-20, ODS and reversed phase HPLC. Sixteen compounds with a pair of epimers were elucidated through the application of physicochemical properties with modern spectral analysis technology as 7α-hydroxy syringaresinol (1), (-)-syringaresinol (2), (-)-medioresinol (3), 2″,3″-O-acetylmartyonside (4), 2″-O-acetyl-martyonside (5), martinoside (6), monoacetyl martinoside (7)，cytochalasin O (8), 9-epi-blumenol B (9), (6R, 9S) and (6R,9R)-9-hydroxy-4-megastigmen-3-one (10a，10b), (6R,9S)-3-oxo-α-ionol (11), (-)-dehydrovomifoliol (12)，megastigm-5-en-3,9-diol (13), (3R,6E,10S)-2,6,10-trimethyl-3-hydroxydodeca-6,11-diene-2,10-diol (14), (2R)-butylitaconic acid (15), 3-(3&-hydroxybutyl)-2,4,4-trimethylcyclohexa-2,5-dienone (16), (-)-loliolide (17), of which compound 1 and 15 are new natural product, the other compounds were isolated for the first time from Clerodendrum japonicum except for compounds 4, 6 and 7.

Emergence of Nanoplatelet Light-Emitting Diodes

Since 2014, nanoplatelet light-emitting diodes (NPL-LEDs) have been emerged as a new kind of LEDs. At first, NPL-LEDs are mainly realized by CdSe based NPLs. Since 2016, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite NPLs are found to be effective to develop NPL-LEDs. In 2017, all-inorganic perovskite NPLs are also demonstrated for NPL-LEDs. Therefore, the development of NPL-LEDs is flourishing. In this review, the fundamental concepts of NPL-LEDs are first introduced, then the main approaches to realize NPL-LEDs are summarized and the recent progress of representative NPL-LEDs is highlighted, finally the challenges and opportunities for NPL-LEDs are presented.

Effects of mutual intercropping on cadmium accumulation by the accumulator plants Conyza canadensis, Cardamine hirsuta, and Cerastium glomeratum

In this study, three cadmium (Cd) accumulator species (Conyza canadensis, Cardamine hirsuta, and Cerastium glomeratum) were co-cultured in Cd-contaminated soil in pots to study the effects of intercropping on co-remediation. Only C. canadensis intercropped with C. glomeratum, C. hirsuta intercropped with C. glomeratum, and three-species intercropping increased plant biomass compared with their respective monocultures. The treatments of C. canadensis intercropped with C. glomeratum and three-species intercropping increased the Cd contents in roots and shoots of C. canadensis, whereas the other intercropping treatments decreased or had no significant impact on Cd contents. As for Cd accumulation, the treatments of C. canadensis intercropped with C. glomeratum, C. hirsuta intercropped with C. glomeratum, and three-species intercropping increased Cd accumulation in a single plant compared with that of their respective monocultures, whereas other intercropping treatments decreased Cd accumulation in individual plants. Only the treatments of C. canadensis intercropped with C. glomeratum and C. hirsuta intercropped with C. glomeratum increased Cd accumulation in shoots of a single pot compared with that of their respective monocultures. Therefore, C. canadensis intercropped with C. glomeratum and C. hirsuta intercropped with C. glomeratum may improve the phytoremediation efficiency for Cd-contaminated soil.

A rapid ultra-performance LC-MS/MS assay for determination of serum unbound fraction of voriconazole in cancer patients

BACKGROUND

Voriconazole (VOR), an antifungal agent, is clinically monitored to guide therapeutic dosing and avoid toxicity. It is believed that measurement of serum unbound VOR provides more accurate information, especially in hypoalbuminemia patients. We developed and validated an accurate, simple and fast test with ultrafiltration and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) to measure unbound VOR in human serum.

METHODS

The Agilent UPLC system coupled with a SCIEX QTRAP4000 MS with a positive ionization mode was developed and validated for VOR analysis.

RESULTS

A good linearity was demonstrated from 0.02 to 2.5 μg/ml for unbound VOR (r² = 0.9969). The within-run and between-run accuracy and precision was <5% and < 6%. The levels of total VOR were well correlated with reference laboratory results. Serum unbound VOR levels were correlated with the total VOR levels (r = 0.78, p < 0.0001). There was a reverse correlation between unbound VOR fractions and plasma albumin levels (p < 0.05). In hypoalbuminemia patients, the unbound VOR levels were increased to a higher degree than total VOR.

CONCLUSION

This assay is suitable for monitoring both unbound and bound VOR in cancer patients especially in those with hypoalbuminemia in clinical laboratories. Measurement of unbound VOR offers a better approach in prediction of VOR toxicity.

Effects of living hyperaccumulator plants and their straws on the growth and cadmium accumulation of Cyphomandra betacea seedlings

To determine whether the living hyperaccumulator plants and their straws have the same effects on the growth and heavy metal accumulation of common plants, two pot experiments (intercropping experiment and straw mulch experiment) were conducted to study the effects of living hyperaccumulator plants (Solanum photeinocarpum, Tagetes erecta, Galinsoga parviflora and Bidens pilosa) and their straws on the growth and cadmium (Cd) accumulation of common plant Cyphomandra betacea seedlings. Intercropping with T. erecta or B. pilosa promoted the growth of C. betacea seedlings compared with the monoculture, while intercropping with S. photeinocarpum or G. parviflora inhibited that. Intercropping with S. photeinocarpum decreased the Cd contents in the roots and shoots of C. betacea seedlings compared with the monoculture, but intercropping with the other plants did not. In the straw mulch experiment, the straw of S. photeinocarpum or T. erecta promoted the growth of C. betacea seedlings compared with the control, while the straw of G. parviflora or B. pilosa did not. The straw of S. photeinocarpum or T. erecta decreased the Cd contents in the shoots of C. betacea seedlings, and the straw of G. parviflora or B. pilosa increased the shoot Cd contents. Thus, intercropping with S. photeinocarpum and applying S. photeinocarpum or T. erecta straw can reduce the Cd uptake of C. betacea.

Variants in genes encoding small GTPases and association with epithelial ovarian cancer susceptibility

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the fifth leading cause of cancer mortality in American women. Normal ovarian physiology is intricately connected to small GTP binding proteins of the Ras superfamily (Ras, Rho, Rab, Arf, and Ran) which govern processes such as signal transduction, cell proliferation, cell motility, and vesicle transport. We hypothesized that common germline variation in genes encoding small GTPases is associated with EOC risk. We investigated 322 variants in 88 small GTPase genes in germline DNA of 18,736 EOC patients and 26,138 controls of European ancestry using a custom genotype array and logistic regression fitting log-additive models. Functional annotation was used to identify biofeatures and expression quantitative trait loci that intersect with risk variants. One variant, ARHGEF10L (Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 10 like) rs2256787, was associated with increased endometrioid EOC risk (OR = 1.33, p = 4.46 x 10-6). Other variants of interest included another in ARHGEF10L, rs10788679, which was associated with invasive serous EOC risk (OR = 1.07, p = 0.00026) and two variants in AKAP6 (A-kinase anchoring protein 6) which were associated with risk of invasive EOC (rs1955513, OR = 0.90, p = 0.00033; rs927062, OR = 0.94, p = 0.00059). Functional annotation revealed that the two ARHGEF10L variants were located in super-enhancer regions and that AKAP6 rs927062 was associated with expression of GTPase gene ARHGAP5 (Rho GTPase activating protein 5). Inherited variants in ARHGEF10L and AKAP6, with potential transcriptional regulatory function and association with EOC risk, warrant investigation in independent EOC study populations.

Triple Stimuli-Responsive Magnetic Hollow Porous Carbon-Based Nanodrug Delivery System for Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Synergistic Photothermal/Chemotherapy of Cancer

The premature leakage of anticancer drugs during blood circulation may the damage immune system, normal cells, and tissues. Constructing targeted nanocarriers with pH, glutathione, and NIR triple-responsive property can effectively avoid the leakage of anticancer drugs before they arrive at the targeted site. In this paper, magnetic hollow porous carbon nanoparticles (MHPCNs) were successfully fabricated as nanocarrier. Poly(γ-glutamic acid) was used to cap the pores of MHPCNs. The photothermal conversion property of carbon and iron oxide (Fe₃O₄) nanomaterials was utilized to perform photothermal therapy to overcome multidrug-resistance produced by chemotherapy. The biodistribution of nanoparticles was investigated by magnetic resonance imaging. Experiments in vivo confirm the efficient accumulations of nanoparticles at tumor sites. Meanwhile, tumor growth was effectively inhibited via synergistic photothermal/chemotherapy with minimal side effects.

Endosulfan causes the alterations of DNA damage response through ATM-p53 signaling pathway in human leukemia cells

Exposure to pesticides results in DNA damage and genomic instability. We previously predicted that endosulfan might be associated with leukemia, but the role of endosulfan in leukemia cells has been unexplored. The aim of this study is to elucidate molecular mechanism of endosulfan-induced DNA damage response in human leukemia cells. We performed endosulfan exposure experiments in K562 cells with varying concentrations of endosulfan for 48 h and found that endosulfan lowered cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. We observed the dramatic DNA damage using comet assay and the increase of micronucleus in 75 μM endosulfan-exposed cells. Endosulfan at 75 μM caused the expression alterations of ATM and DNA repair genes such as FANCD2, and BRCA1/2 at different exposure time points (12, 24, 48 h), which was reversed by ATM inhibitor KU-55933. Endosulfan significantly increased the mRNA expression levels of p53 and GADD45A, and decreased PCNA and XRCC2 at 48 h after exposure. Flow cytometric analysis showed that endosulfan at 50 and 75 μM induced cell cycle G1 arrest, a response attributed to down-regulation of CDK6 and up-regulation of p21. We also observed that endosulfan at 50 and 75 μM induced a considerable percentage of cells to undergo apoptosis, as detected by Annexin-V binding assays. Endosulfan resulted in the activation of caspase-3, and elevated the expression levels of PUMA and the ratio of BAX/Bcl-2. These findings suggest that endosulfan caused DNA damage response throughATM-p53 signaling pathway, implicating the potential correlation between endosulfan and leukemia.

Diffusion effect on T2 relaxometry in triple-echo steady state free precession sequence

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of diffusion on SSFP (Steady-state Free Precession) signals in triple-echo steady state (TESS) sequence and ultimately on the accuracy of T2 relaxometry.

METHODS

The extended phase graph (EPG) algorithm was used to study the effect of diffusion on SSFP signals and T2 relaxometry. The simulation results were verified by a commercial phantom and in vivo studies. Based on the simulation results, a correction scheme was proposed to correct the estimated T2 values.

RESULTS

T2 underestimation in TESS was evident in case of small flip angle and large unbalanced gradient moment on objects with large T2 and D values. The T2 underestimation mainly originated from the diffusion sensitivity of SSFP-echo. It was also observed that SSFP-FID (Free Induction Decay) signals increased with increasing diffusion weighting under some specific conditions. The proposed correction scheme corrected the T2 underestimation, which verified that the underestimation was due to the neglect of diffusion effect. For clinical practice of TESS in tissues with short T2 such as cartilage and muscle, the diffusion effect of TESS is negligible.

CONCLUSION

The effect of diffusion cannot be neglected during TESS T2 quantification as it is the main source of T2 underestimation when small flip angle and large unbalanced gradient moment is used, especially for objects with large T2 and D values.

Fast MR thermometry using an echo-shifted sequence with simultaneous multi-slice imaging

PURPOSE

Real-time monitoring is important for the safety and effectiveness of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy. Magnetic resonance imaging is the preferred imaging modality for HIFU monitoring, with its unique capability of temperature imaging. For real-time temperature imaging, higher temporal resolution and larger spatial coverage are needed. In this study, a sequence based on the echo-shifted RF-spoiled gradient echo (GRE) with simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) imaging was designed for fast temperature imaging.

METHODS

A phantom experiment was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of the echo-shifted sequence using a fluorescent fiber thermometer as reference. The temperature uncertainty of the echo-shifted sequence was compared with the traditional GRE sequence at room temperature through the ex vivo porcine muscle. Finally, the ex vivo porcine liver tissue experiment using HIFU heating was performed to demonstrate that the spatial coverage was increased without decreasing temporal resolution.

RESULTS

The echo-shifted sequence had a better temperature uncertainty performance compared with the traditional GRE sequence with the same temporal resolution. The ex vivo heating experiment confirmed that by combining the SMS technique and echo-shifted sequence, the spatial coverage was increased without decreasing the temporal resolution while maintaining high temperature measurement precision.

CONCLUSION

The proposed technique was validated as an effective real-time method for monitoring HIFU therapy.