Enantioselective synthesis of chiral 3-alkyl-3-nitro-4-chromanones via chiral thiourea-catalysed intramolecular Michael-type cyclization

Herein we report an enantioselective method for the rapid construction of chiral 3-nitro-4-chromanones via a chiral thiourea-catalyzed intramolecular Michael-type cyclization reaction. With this method, a series of 3,3-disubstituted-3-nitro-4-chromanones bearing contiguous C2/C3 stereocenters were obtained with high diastereoselectivities and good to excellent enantioselectivities. In vitro biological evaluations indicated that the chiral amide derivative of the product showed more potent antitumor activities than both the racemic and the corresponding enantiomers, showcasing the high influence of enantioselective methodology development toward medicinal studies.

Unravelling Melatonin's Varied Antioxidizing Protection of Membrane Lipids Determined by its Spatial Distribution

The antioxidizing capability of membrane antioxidants is strongly affected by the submolecular regions of the membrane that they locate. However, the concurrent determination of their location in the membranes and the consequent antioxidizing effect remains difficult. Using our field-induced droplet ionization mass spectrometry methodology, here we show the rapid determination of the antioxidation effect and the spatial distribution of melatonin in POPC membranes. Melatonin effectively protects the membrane lipids against hydroxyl radicals originating from the Fenton reactions in the water phase but cannot protect the lipids against singlet oxygen generated by a lipophilic photosensitizer in the lipid tail region (oil phase). These varied antioxidizing behaviors indicate that melatonin dwells at the headgroup subregion of the membranes. We anticipate that the methodology in this study can be widely utilized in the screening of antioxidants' spatial distribution and antioxidizing efficiency, and eventually in designing novel antioxidants that could deliver specific functions.

Iridium-catalysed branched-selective hydroacylation of 1,3-dienes with salicylaldehydes

Herein, we report an iridium-catalyzed branched-selective hydroacylation of 1-aryl 1,3-dienes with salicylaldehydes under mild conditions with no need of phosphine ligands. With this protocol, a series of α-branched β,γ-unsaturated o-hydroxyacetophenones with biological potentials were synthesized in high efficiency with excellent regioselectivities. When simple 1,3-butadiene or isoprene instead of 1-aryl 1,3-dienes were used, exclusive linear-selective hydroacylation products were obtained.

Losartan prevents bladder fibrosis and protects renal function in rat with neurogenic paralysis bladder

AIMS

To investigate the effect of losartan on preventing bladder fibrosis and protecting renal function in rats with neurogenic paralysis bladder (NPB).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Rats were assigned to the transecting spinal nerves group (TSNG), transecting spinal nerves + losartan group (LSTG), and control group (CG). On Day 32 postsurgery, bladder capacity (BC), bladder compliance (ΔC), bladder leakage pressure (P_ves.leak ) of TSNG and LSTG while BC, ΔC, and bladder threshold pressure (P_ves.thre ) of CG were measured by cystometry in each cohort. Renal function and the expression quantity of Angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang II) in blood were detected, in addition Ang II, Ang II Type 1 receptor (AT1), transformation growth factor β1 (TGFβ1), Collagen Ⅲ, and collagen fibrin in the bladder tissue were detected too.

RESULTS

ΔC in TSNG and LSTG decreased significantly compared to the CG. P_ves.leak in TSNG and LSTG were significantly higher than P_ves.thre in CG. Renal function of both TSNG and LSTG decreased significantly compared with the CG, but renal function in LSTG was better than in TSNG. Ang Ⅱ in blood and bladder tissue in TSNG and LSTG increased significantly compared with CG. AT1 was expressed in the bladder tissue of all rats. The TGFβ1, Collagen Ⅲ, and collagen fibrin expression level increased significantly in TSNG compared with LSTG and CG, while these levels were not significantly different between CG and LSTG.

CONCLUSION

Losartan might prevent NPB fibrosis by stopping the upregulated signaling of Ang II/AT1/TGFβ1 and consequently may reduce kidney damage from occurring.

Locus Coeruleus to Paraventricular Thalamus Projections Facilitate Emergence From Isoflurane Anesthesia in Mice

Locus coeruleus (LC) sends widespread outputs to many brain regions to modulate diverse functions, including sleep/wake states, attention, and the general anesthetic state. The paraventricular thalamus (PVT) is a critical thalamic area for arousal and receives dense tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH) inputs from the LC. Although anesthesia and sleep may share a common pathway, it is important to understand the processes underlying emergence from anesthesia. In this study, we hypothesize that LC TH neurons and the TH:LC-PVT circuit may be involved in regulating emergence from anesthesia. Only male mice are used in this study. Here, using c-Fos as a marker of neural activity, we identify LC TH expressing neurons are active during anesthesia emergence. Remarkably, chemogenetic activation of LC TH neurons shortens emergence time from anesthesia and promotes cortical arousal. Moreover, enhanced c-Fos expression is observed in the PVT after LC TH neurons activation. Optogenetic activation of the TH:LC-PVT projections accelerates emergence from anesthesia, whereas, chemogenetic inhibition of the TH:LC-PVT circuit prolongs time to wakefulness. Furthermore, optogenetic activation of the TH:LC-PVT projections produces electrophysiological evidence of arousal. Together, these results demonstrate that activation of the TH:LC-PVT projections is helpful in facilitating the transition from isoflurane anesthesia to an arousal state, which may provide a new strategy in shortening the emergence time after general anesthesia.

The Human Cytomegalovirus US31 Gene Predicts Favorable Survival and Regulates the Tumor Microenvironment in Gastric Cancer

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an oncogenic virus associated with tumorigenesis. Our previous study revealed that the HCMV US31 gene interacted with NF-κB2 and mediated inflammation through macrophages. However, there are few reports on the role of US31 in gastric cancer (GC). The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of the US31 gene in GC tissue and assess its role in the occurrence and development of GC. US31 expression in 573 cancer tissues was analyzed using immunohistochemistry. Results showed that US31 was significantly associated with tumor size (P = 0.005) and distant metastasis (P < 0.001). Higher US31 expression indicated better overall survival in GC patients. Overexpression of US31 significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GC cells in vitro (P < 0.05). Furthermore, expression levels of CD4, CD66b, and CD166 were positively correlated with US31, suggesting that it was involved in regulating the tumor immune microenvironment of GC. RNA sequencing, along with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, confirmed that the expression of US31 promoted immune activation and secretion of inflammatory cytokines. Overall, US31 inhibited the malignant phenotype and regulated tumor immune cell infiltration in GC; these results suggest that US31 could be a potential prognostic factor for GC and may open the door for a new immunotherapy strategy.

PSMA conjugated combinatorial liposomal formulation encapsulating genistein and plumbagin to induce apoptosis in prostate cancer cells

Although the biomedical sciences have achieved tremendous success in developing novel approaches to managing prostate cancer, this disease remains one of the major health concerns among men worldwide. Liposomal formulations of single drugs have shown promising results in cancer treatment; however, the use of multi drugs has shown a better therapeutic index than individual drugs. The identification of cancer-specific receptors has added value to design targeted drug delivering nanocarriers. We have developed genistein and plumbagin co-encapsulating liposomes (∼120 nm) with PSMA specific antibodies to target prostate cancer cells selectively in this work. These liposomes showed >90 % decrease in PSMA expressing prostate cancer cell proliferation without any appreciable toxicity to healthy cells and human red blood cells. Release of plumbagin and genistein was found to decrease the expression of PI3/AKT3 signaling proteins and Glut-1 receptors (inhibited glucose uptake and metabolism), respectively. The decrease in migration potential of cells and induced apoptosis established the observed anti-proliferative effect in prostate cancer cell lines. The discussed strategy of developing novel, non-toxic, and PSMA specific antibody conjugated liposomes carrying genistein and plumbagin drugs may also be used for encapsulating other drugs and inhibit the growth of different types of cancers.

Improving the Prediction of Benign or Malignant Breast Masses Using a Combination of Image Biomarkers and Clinical Parameters

Background: Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in female cancer patients. The disease can be detected early using Mammography, an effective X-ray imaging technology. The most important step in mammography is the classification of mammogram patches as benign or malignant. Classically, benign or malignant breast tumors are diagnosed by radiologists' interpretation of mammograms based on clinical parameters. However, because masses are heterogeneous, clinical parameters supply limited information on mammography mass. Therefore, this study aimed to predict benign or malignant breast masses using a combination of image biomarkers and clinical parameters. Methods: We trained a deep learning (DL) fusion network of VGG16 and Inception-V3 network in 5,996 mammography images from the training cohort; DL features were extracted from the second fully connected layer of the DL fusion network. We then developed a combined model incorporating DL features, hand-crafted features, and clinical parameters to predict benign or malignant breast masses. The prediction performance was compared between clinical parameters and the combination of the above features. The strengths of the clinical model and the combined model were subsequently validated in a test cohort (n = 244) and an external validation cohort (n = 100), respectively. Results: Extracted features comprised 30 hand-crafted features, 27 DL features, and 5 clinical features (shape, margin type, breast composition, age, mass size). The model combining the three feature types yielded the best performance in predicting benign or malignant masses (AUC = 0.961) in the test cohort. A significant difference in the predictive performance between the combined model and the clinical model was observed in an independent external validation cohort (AUC: 0.973 vs. 0.911, p = 0.019). Conclusion: The prediction of benign or malignant breast masses improves when image biomarkers and clinical parameters are combined; the combined model was more robust than clinical parameters alone.

Quantitative analysis of contrast enhanced spectral mammography grey value for early prediction of pathological response of breast cancer to neoadjuvant chemotherapy

A quantitative analysis of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) enhancement was conducted for the early prediction of the pathological response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Retrospective analysis of the data of 111 patients was conducted, and all of them underwent NAC in our hospital and surgical resection after the end of all cycles from January 2018 to May 2019. They were divided into pathological complete response (PCR) and non-PCR groups. We determined whether a statistical difference in the percentage of CESM grey value reduction (ΔCGV) was present in the PCR and non-PCR groups and whether a statistical difference was observed in the diagnostic efficiency of craniocaudal (CC) and mediolateral oblique (MLO) view subtraction images. Independent sample t-test was used to compare different groups, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to compare the diagnostic efficacy of CC and MLO for pathological response after NAC, and the Delong test was used to compare the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05. A statistical difference was observed in the ΔCGV in the PCR and non-PCR groups. No statistical difference was observed in the AUCs of CC and MLO view subtraction images. The ΔCGV can be used as a quantitative index to predict PCR early, and no statistical difference was observed in the diagnostic efficacy of CC and MLO view subtraction images.

Facile synthesis of 1,4-oxazines by ruthenium-catalyzed tandem N-H insertion/cyclization of α-arylamino ketones and diazo pyruvates

Herein, we report an efficient strategy for the rapid construction of 1,4-oxazines starting from simple α-amino ketones and diazo pyruvates under mild reaction conditions. This transformation is efficiently catalyzed by RuCl3 through a tandem N-H insertion/cyclization sequence via an enol formation. This reaction shows broad functional group tolerance, and the resulting 1,4-oxazine products show promising anticancer activities toward HCT116.

Evaluation of microvascular permeability of skeletal muscle and texture analysis based on DCE-MRI in alloxan-induced diabetic rabbits

OBJECTIVES

To estimate the microvascular permeability and perfusion of skeletal muscle by using quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and explore the feasibility of using texture analysis (TA) to evaluate subtle structural changes of diabetic muscles.

METHODS

Twenty-four rabbits were randomly divided into diabetic (n = 14) and control (n = 10) groups, and underwent axial DCE-MRI of the multifidus muscle (0, 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks after alloxan injection). The pharmacokinetic model was used to calculate the permeability parameters; texture parameters were extracted from volume transfer constant (K^trans) map. The two-sample t test/Mann-Whitney U test, repeated measures analysis of variance/Friedman test, and Pearson correlations were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

In the diabetic group, K^trans and rate constant (K_ep) increased significantly at week 8 and then showed a decreasing trend. Extravascular extracellular space volume fraction (V_e) increased and plasma volume fraction (V_p) decreased significantly from the 8th week. Skewness began to decrease at the 4th week. Median K^trans and entropy increased significantly, while inverse difference moment decreased from the 8th week. Energy decreased while contrast increased only at week 8. Muscle fibre cross-sectional area was negatively correlated with V_e. The capillary-to-fibre ratio was positively correlated with V_p (p < 0.05, all).

CONCLUSIONS

Quantitative DCE-MRI can be used to evaluate microvascular permeability and perfusion in diabetic skeletal muscle at an early stage; TA based on K^trans map can identify microarchitectural modifications in diabetic muscles.

KEY POINTS

• Four quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI can be used to evaluate microvascular permeability and perfusion of skeletal muscle in diabetic models at early stages. • Texture analysis based on K^trans map can identify subtle structural changes in diabetic muscles.

Changes in genome architecture and transcriptional dynamics progress independently of sensory experience during post-natal brain development

Both transcription and three-dimensional (3D) architecture of the mammalian genome play critical roles in neurodevelopment and its disorders. However, 3D genome structures of single brain cells have not been solved; little is known about the dynamics of single-cell transcriptome and 3D genome after birth. Here, we generated a transcriptome (3,517 cells) and 3D genome (3,646 cells) atlas of the developing mouse cortex and hippocampus by using our high-resolution multiple annealing and looping-based amplification cycles for digital transcriptomics (MALBAC-DT) and diploid chromatin conformation capture (Dip-C) methods and developing multi-omic analysis pipelines. In adults, 3D genome "structure types" delineate all major cell types, with high correlation between chromatin A/B compartments and gene expression. During development, both transcriptome and 3D genome are extensively transformed in the first post-natal month. In neurons, 3D genome is rewired across scales, correlated with gene expression modules, and independent of sensory experience. Finally, we examine allele-specific structure of imprinted genes, revealing local and chromosome (chr)-wide differences. These findings uncover an unknown dimension of neurodevelopment.

Evaluation of the therapeutic effect of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy on patients with aspiration pneumonia accompanied by respiratory failure in the post-stroke sequelae stage

Background

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen therapy on patients with aspiration pneumonia accompanied by respiratory failure in the post-stroke sequelae stage, with the goal of providing more effective oxygen therapy and improving patient prognosis.

Methods

Retrospective analysis was conducted on 103 elderly patients with post-stroke aspiration pneumonia and moderate respiratory failure (oxygenation index: 100–200 mmHg) that had been admitted. The patients were divided into two groups according to the mode of oxygen therapy that was used: the Venturi mask group and the HFNC treatment group. The two groups were analyzed and compared in terms of the changes in the blood gas indices measured at different points in time (4, 8, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h), the proportion of patients that required transition to invasive auxiliary ventilation, and the 28-day mortality rate.

Results

A total of 103 patients were retrospectively analyzed; 16 cases were excluded, and 87 patients were included in the final patient group (42 in the HFNC group and 45 in the Venturi group). There was a statistically significant difference in the oxygenation indices of the HFNC group and the Venturi group (F = 546.811, P < 0.05). There was a statistically significant interaction between the monitored oxygenation indices and the mode of oxygen therapy (F = 70.961, P < 0.05), and there was a statistically significant difference in the oxygenation indices for the two modes of oxygen therapy (F = 256.977, P < 0.05). HFNC therapy contributed to the improvement of the oxygenation indices at a rate of 75.1%. The Venturi and HFNC groups also differed significantly in terms of the proportion of patients that required transition to invasive auxiliary ventilation within 72 h (P < 0.05). The HFNC group’s risk for invasive ventilation was 0.406 times that of the Venturi group (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in the 28-day mortality rate of the two groups (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

HFNC could significantly improve the oxygenation state of patients with post-stroke aspiration pneumonia and respiratory failure, and it may reduce the incidence of invasive ventilation.

Evaluation of Bone Marrow Texture and Trabecular Changes With Quantitative DCE-MRI and QCT in Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rabbit Models

PURPOSE

To investigate whether the microvascular permeability of lumbar marrow and bone trabecular changes in early-stage diabetic rabbits can be quantitatively evaluated using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI), quantitative computed tomography, and texture-analyzed permeability parameter K^trans map of DCE-MRI.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This prospective study included 24 rabbits that were randomly assigned to diabetic (n = 14) and control (n = 10) groups. All rabbits underwent sagittal MRI of the lumbar region at 0, 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks after alloxan injection. Pearson correlation coefficient was performed to determine the correlation between permeability parameter and bone mineral density (BMD). Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to analyze the changes in lumbar BMD over time in each group and the texture parameters of diabetic rabbit lumbar marrow at different time points. Mann-Whitney U rank sum test was used to compare the differences of each index between the two groups and calculate the area under the curve (AUC).

RESULTS

BMD was correlated with K^trans , K_ep , and V_e but not with V_p . At weeks 0-16, the BMD of the rabbits in the diabetic and normal groups was not statistically significant, but the change in BMD showed an overall downward trend. For texture analysis, entropy, energy, and Uniformized positive pixel (UPP) parameters extracted from the K^trans map showed significant differences from week 0 to 16 between the two groups. The identification ability at 8-12 weeks was higher than that at 12-16 weeks, and the AUCs were 0.734, 0.766, and 0.734, respectively (P < 0.05 for all).

CONCLUSIONS

The changes in BMD measured using quantitative computed tomography occurred later than those measured using bone trabecular morphometry. Texture analysis parameters based on DCE-MRI quantitative parameter Ktrans map are feasible to identify early changes in lumbar marrow structure in diabetic rabbits.

Background parenchymal enhancement on contrast-enhanced spectral mammography does not represent an influencing factor for breast cancer: A preliminary study

To compare the relationship between background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) on contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM), mammographic breast density (MBD), age, in the group with benign vs malignant breast lesions.Four hundred thirty three non-high-risk patients from January 2018 to May 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were assigned into 4 groups: premenopausal benign lesions, premenopausal malignant lesions, postmenopausal benign lesions, and postmenopausal malignant lesions. The differences in CESM BPE and MBD between premenopausal benign lesions and premenopausal malignant lesions, between postmenopausal benign lesions and postmenopausal malignant lesions, between premenopausal and postmenopausal benign lesions, and between premenopausal and postmenopausal malignant lesions were evaluated. Pearson Chi-Squared test was used to analyze the differences between the above groups. Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlations between BPE, MBD, and age. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of breast cancer. P < .05 was considered statistically significant.There was no significant difference in CESM BPE or MBD of benign and malignant lesions regardless of premenopausal or postmenopausal status, but there was a significant difference in CESM BPE and MBD of premenopausal and postmenopausal patients regardless of the presence of benign or malignant lesions. The intensity of CESM BPE was positively correlated with MBD, and the intensity of CESM BPE and MBD were negatively correlated with age. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that age was an influencing factor for breast cancer in both premenopausal and postmenopausal patients.For non-high-risk women, CESM BPE and MBD were not correlated with benign or malignant breast lesions, and age was an influencing factor for breast cancer.

Predictive Value of Temporal Muscle Thickness Measurements on Cranial Magnetic Resonance Images in the Prognosis of Patients With Primary Glioblastoma

Objective: To investigate the predictive value of prognosis of primary GBM patients using TMT on three-dimensional (3D) MR images of the brain. Methods: Data of 130 patients with primary GBM from the TCGA-GBM database were analyzed retrospectively. TMT was measured on the axial plane by multi-planar reformation (MPR) of T1WI MR images perpendicular to the long axis of the temporal muscle at the level of the orbital roof. The axial MR plane was oriented parallel to the anterior commissure-posterior commissure line. Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney U-test was utilized to determine whether there were significant differences in the TMT and OS between male and female patients. The Pearson correlation analysis was adopted to evaluate the correlation between the age at GBM diagnosis and TMT. All patients were divided into two groups based on their median TMT, and the Kaplan-Meier curve was used to calculate the OS curve. The association between TMT and OS of GBM patients, as well as the multivariate analysis of TMT and other clinical factors affecting the survival time, was evaluated with Cox regression model. Results: TMT was a risk factor for the prognosis of GBM with its hazard ratio (HR) of 0.802 (95% CI 0.698-0.922; P = 0.002; Cox regression model). Grouped by median TMT, the group with above-median TMT demonstrated a significant increase in survival time (15.6 months) compared with the one with below-median TMT (11.2 months) (P < 0.001; log-rank test). In the multivariate survival analysis using a Cox regression model, TMT (HR 0.863; 95% CI 0.748-0.996; P = 0.044), age at the diagnosis of GBM (HR 1.042; 95% CI 1.024-1.060; P < 0.001), and concurrent chemoradiotherapy (HR 0.510; 95% CI 0.336-0.775; P = 0.002) were significantly associated with survival time. Conclusion: TMT as an independent predictor is sensitive to the survival prognosis of primary GBM patients, which has potential to predict the survival time.

Ultrasonic evaluation of systemic and renal perfusion in sepsis patients before and after fluid resuscitation

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the significance of renal Doppler ultrasound in evaluating systemic and renal perfusion in sepsis patients before and after fluid resuscitation.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Forty sepsis patients admitted to the Department of Intensive Medicine and intensive care unit (ICU) of the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from June 2014 to December 2014 were enrolled in this study, and 35 patients were included in the final analysis. These patients were divided into positive and negative fluid responsiveness groups. They were also divided into an acute kidney injury (AKI) group and a non-AKI group according to changes in creatinine and urine volume. The correlations of the changes in hemodynamics before and after fluid resuscitation in each group with the changes in renal resistance index (RRI) and renal blood flow (RBF) grades were evaluated.

RESULTS

Before and after fluid resuscitation, the heart rate (HR), blood creatinine (Cre), and lactate (Lac) levels of all patients, including the patients in the positive fluid responsiveness group decreased, and the stroke volume (SV) and central venous pressure (CVP) increased. Only HR decreased in the negative fluid responsiveness group. In the AKI group, HR, Cre, and Lac decreased, while in the non-AKI group, HR decreased, but CVP and SV increased. There were differences between HR, Lac, and change rate of Lac (Lac%) after fluid resuscitation for the positive and negative fluid responsiveness groups. There was no statistical difference between the RRI values of each group before and after fluid resuscitation. The RRI values of the AKI group were higher than those of the non-AKI group, while the AKI group's RBF grades were lower than those of the non-AKI group. The change rate of RRI (RRI%) was higher in the AKI group than in the non-AKI group. Except for the negative fluid responsiveness group, the RBF grade of each group increased.

CONCLUSIONS

The approach of RBF classification based on Doppler ultrasound can be used to evaluate the systemic and renal perfusion of patients with severe sepsis before and after fluid resuscitation, while the RRI value cannot be used for evaluation. However, the RRI value can be used as a dynamic index for the evaluation of renal perfusion in patients with AKI.

Unsupervised AER Object Recognition Based on Multiscale Spatio-Temporal Features and Spiking Neurons

This article proposes an unsupervised address event representation (AER) object recognition approach. The proposed approach consists of a novel multiscale spatio-temporal feature (MuST) representation of input AER events and a spiking neural network (SNN) using spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) for object recognition with MuST. MuST extracts the features contained in both the spatial and temporal information of AER event flow, and forms an informative and compact feature spike representation. We show not only how MuST exploits spikes to convey information more effectively, but also how it benefits the recognition using SNN. The recognition process is performed in an unsupervised manner, which does not need to specify the desired status of every single neuron of SNN, and thus can be flexibly applied in real-world recognition tasks. The experiments are performed on five AER datasets including a new one named GESTURE-DVS. Extensive experimental results show the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed approach.

Tumor-infiltrating B cell is associated with the control of progression of gastric cancer

This study aimed to further explore the clinicopathological correlation of B cell infiltration in gastric cancer (GC) and its impact on prognostic. By immunohistochemical method, CD20+ B cells, CD3+ T cells, CD66b+ tumor-associated neutrophils, CD163+ tumor-associated macrophages, and CD57+ natural killer cells were analyzed in consecutive sections of 584 GC tissues and 69 normal adjacent tissues. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses determined the relationship between clinical relevance or prognosis and B cell infiltration. The correlation between total B cell infiltration and various T cell subtype infiltration in GC tissues from 407 patients in the TCGA data was also analyzed. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses determined the effects of total B cell infiltration and various B cell subtype infiltration on the prognosis of patients with GC. The infiltration level of CD20+ B cells was positively correlated with that of T cells (risk ratio [RR] = 0.0930), especially CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells (P < 0.05). A high level of CD20+ B cell infiltration was significantly associated with low lymph node involvement and low TNM stage (P < 0.05). High levels of CD20+ B cell infiltration were significantly associated with improvements in overall survival and disease-free survival. Univariate Cox regression and multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that CD20+ B cell infiltration was an independent protective factor of prognosis. Higher levels of class-switched memory B cell and plasma cell also reflected better overall survival, and class-switched memory B cell and plasma cell were independent protective factors for prognosis. The findings indicate that B cell infiltration in GC, especially switched memory B cells and plasma cells, has a significant effect on tumor progression and prognosis.

Diagnostic value of the enhancement intensity and enhancement pattern of CESM to benign and malignant breast lesions

This study aimed to improve the diagnostic accuracy of breast diseases by combining breast imaging-reporting and data system (BI-RADS) with the enhancement intensity and pattern of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) (this combination of BI-RADS and CESM was designated as BaC).BI-RADS was used to evaluate low-energy CESM images. Spearman nonparametric correlation analysis was performed to analyze the correlation between the enhancement intensity of CESM subtraction images and the pathological results. Odds ratio (OR) values were calculated to determine whether the enhancement pattern of CESM subtraction images is a risk factor for benign and malignant lesions. The diagnostic efficacies of BI-RADS, CESM, and BaC scores for benign and malignant breast diseases were analyzed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Lesions with a high enhancement intensity were more likely to be malignant than those with low enhancement intensity. Lesions with heterogeneous enhancement tended to be malignant, whereas those with homogeneous enhancement tended to be benign. No significant correlation was observed between ring enhancement and the benignity or malignancy of lesions. The area under the ROC curve of BaC was higher than that of BI-RADS or CESM, and the difference was statistically significant.The diagnostic efficacy of BI-RADS combined with CESM enhancement was superior to that of either method alone.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of substituted pyrrolidines and pyrroles as potential anticancer agents

A series of polysubstituted pyrrolidines obtained via ruthenium-catalyzed cascade cyclization of diazo pyruvates and anilines as well as their corresponding pyrrole analogs obtained via dehydration were evaluated for their antiproliferation activities. Pyrrolidines 3h and 3k showed good proliferation inhibitory effects toward 10 cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values ranging from 2.9 to 16 μM. Furthermore, pyrrolidine 3k induced cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase and time- and dose-dependent cellular apoptosis in both HCT116 and HL60 cells, suggesting that this type of pyrrolidine structure might be a good candidate for future anticancer therapies.