Decrease of FGF19 contributes to the increase of fasting glucose in human in an insulin-independent manner

PURPOSE

The ileum-derived fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) plays key roles in hepatic glucose homeostasis in animals in an insulin-independent manner. Here, we analyzed the association of FGF19 with glucose effectiveness (GE, the insulin-independent glucose regulation), as well as hepatic glucose production (HGP) in Chinese subjects.

METHODS

GE was measured by frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (FSIVGTT) in normal glucose tolerance (NGT), isolated-impaired glucose tolerance (I-IGT), and isolated-impaired fasting glucose (I-IFG) subjects. The oral glucose tolerance test-derived surrogate of GE (oGE) was determined in NGT, I-IFG, combined glucose intolerance (CGI), and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) subjects. HGP was assessed by labeled ([3-³H]-glucose) hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp in NGT subjects. Insulin secretion and sensitivity were calculated by the hyperglycemic and hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps in a subgroup of NGT, I-IGT, and I-IFG subjects. Serum FGF19 levels were determined by ELISA.

RESULTS

FGF19 positively correlated with GE (r = 0.29, P = 0.004) as determined by FSIVGTT. The result was further confirmed by oGE (r = 0.261, P < 0.001). FGF19 was negatively associated with FPG (r = - 0.228, P = 0.025), but the association no longer existed after adjusting for GE (r = - 0.177, P = 0.086). FGF19 was negatively associated with basal HGP (r = - 0.697, P = 0.006). However, the correlation between FGF19 and insulin secretion and sensitivity were not found.

CONCLUSIONS

FGF19 levels are associated positively with GE and negatively with HGP. The increase of FPG in human is at least partially due to the decrease of FGF19 in an insulin-independent manner.

[Key points and major challenges in the surgical management of recurrent of laryngeal cancer]

A systematic review of principles and strategies in surgical management of recurrent of laryngeal cancer is carried out. This article focuses on the roles of salvage and palliative operations in managing recurrent of laryngeal cancer, including the contents, methods and strategies of surgeries and aims to provide guidance for physicians in making treatment decisions and choosing proper surgical procedures, and thus to improve the outcome and prognosis of recurrent laryngeal cancer.

Contribution of biomimetic collagen-ligand interaction to intrafibrillar mineralization

Contemporary models of intrafibrillar mineralization mechanisms are established using collagen fibrils as templates without considering the contribution from collagen-bound apatite nucleation inhibitors. However, collagen matrices destined for mineralization in vertebrates contain bound matrix proteins for intrafibrillar mineralization. Negatively charged, high-molecular weight polycarboxylic acid is cross-linked to reconstituted collagen to create a model for examining the contribution of collagen-ligand interaction to intrafibrillar mineralization. Cryogenic electron microscopy and molecular dynamics simulation show that, after cross-linking to collagen, the bound polyelectrolyte caches prenucleation cluster singlets into chain-like aggregates along the fibrillar surface to increase the pool of mineralization precursors available for intrafibrillar mineralization. Higher-quality mineralized scaffolds with better biomechanical properties are achieved compared with mineralization of unmodified scaffolds in polyelectrolyte-stabilized mineralization solution. Collagen-ligand interaction provides insights on the genesis of heterogeneously mineralized tissues and the potential causes of ectopic calcification in nonmineralized body tissues.

[The clinical characteristics and risk factors for acute kidney injury in patients with cirrhosis]

Objective: To investigate the clinical features and risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients with cirrhosis. Methods: A total of 1 165 hospitalized patients with chronic liver diseases were enrolled. Among them, 94 patients had chronic hepatitis, while 1 071 patients were diagnosed as cirrhosis. The clinical data, renal and liver function were retrospectively analyzed. AKI was determined according to the criteria proposed by International Club of Ascites. Compared with chronic hepatitis group, the clinical features and risk factors for AKI in patients with cirrhosis were evaluated using logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of AKI in chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis were 4.26%(4/94) and 11.11% (119/1 071), respectively. The AKI rates in patients with liver function Child A, B and C were 3.77%(18/377), 10.88% (41/377) and 27.65%(60/217), respectively. The independent risk factors for AKI in cirrhotic patients included infections (OR=5.37, 95%CI 3.24-8.90, P=0.000), acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF, OR=4.55, 95%CI 2.60-7.98, P=0.000) and diabetes (OR=1.70, 95%CI 1.07-2.70, P=0.024). The mortality rate of cirrhotic patients with AKI was 36.97% within 2 months. Moreover, the mortality rates in stage Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ AKI were 20.31%, 36.00% and 73.33%, respectively. Conclusions: The mortality rate of cirrhotic patients with stage Ⅲ AKI is extremely high. Infections, ACLF and diabetes are the independent risk factors for AKI in patients with cirrhosis.

Radiotherapy improves the survival of patients with metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a propensity score matched analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database

The survival advantage of radiotherapy (RT) for patients with metastatic esophagus cancer has not been adequately evaluated. This study aims to find out the role of RT for metastatic esophagus cancer and to find the different effect for RT to esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). This study included 5,970 metastatic esophagus cancer patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, registered from January 2004 to December 2013. Propensity score (PS) analysis with 1:1 nearest neighbor matching method was used to ensure well-balanced characteristics of all comparison groups by histological types. The Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazardous models were used to evaluate the overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Generally speaking, EAC did not get survival benefit from RT (median OS for RT group vs. no-RT group-8.0, 7.6-8.4 vs. 9.0, 8.5-9.5, P = 0.073), whereas RT for metastatic ESCC did significantly improve OS (median OS for RT group vs. no-RT group-8.0, 7.4-8.6 vs. 7.0, 6.4-7.6, P = 0.044). Therefore, compared with adenocarcinoma, ESCC could get more survival benefit from RT.

A Panel Containing PD-1, IL-2Rα, IL-10, and CA15-3 as a Biomarker to Discriminate Breast Cancer from Benign Breast Disease

Background: Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), an immune checkpoint molecule, has recently been recognized as a predictive and prognostic biomarker in several malignant tumors, but its diagnostic value remains largely unknown. Aim: We aimed to investigate the differential diagnostic efficiency of PD-1 and other immune molecules, and propose a panel of immune molecules combined with cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) to distinguish breast cancer (BC) from benign breast disease (BBD). Methods: Ninety-one eligible BC patients and 31 BBD patients were enrolled. Pretreatment peripheral blood was collected and tested for mRNA expression of PD-1, cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), forkhead box P3 (FOXP3), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), interleukin-10 (IL-10), IL-2 receptor alpha (IL-2Rα), and cluster of differentiation 28 (CD28) by quantitative real-time PCR. Results: The diagnostic areas under curve (AUCs) of PD-1, IL-2Rα, and IL-10 for BC-BBD discrimination were 0.764, 0.758, and 0.743, respectively. The diagnostic efficiencies of these 2 parameters in distinguishing early-stage or advanced BC from BBD were consistent with a role in BC-BBD discrimination. A panel of PD-1 + IL-10 + IL-2Rα + CA15-3 showed the highest AUC (0.862), with sensitivity of 0.933 and specificity of 0.724, for BC-BBD discrimination. In addition, for early-stage BC discrimination, this panel also had the highest AUC (0.811), with a sensitivity of 0.933 and specificity of 0.614, while for advanced BC discrimination, a panel of PD-1 + IL-10 + CA15-3 exhibited the highest AUC (0.896), with a sensitivity of 0.933 and specificity of 0.783. Conclusion: These data indicate that the panel containing PD-1, IL-2Rα, IL-10, and CA15-3 can effectively discriminate BC from BBD with a high efficiency. After further confirmation, it could be used to complement conventional imaging modalities, especially in discriminating early-stage BC from BBD.

Unveiling the Superconducting Mechanism of Ba_{0.51}K_{0.49}BiO_{3}

The mechanism of high superconducting transition temperatures (T_{c}) in bismuthates remains under debate despite more than 30 years of extensive research. Our angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies on Ba_{0.51}K_{0.49}BiO_{3} reveal an unexpectedly 34% larger bandwidth than in conventional density functional theory calculations. This can be reproduced by calculations that fully account for long-range Coulomb interactions-the first direct demonstration of bandwidth expansion due to the Fock exchange term, a long-accepted and yet uncorroborated fundamental effect in many body physics.Furthermore, we observe an isotropic superconducting gap with 2Δ_{0}/k_{B}T_{c}=3.51±0.05, and strong electron-phonon interactions with a coupling constant λ∼1.3±0.2. These findings solve a long-standing mystery-Ba_{0.51}K_{0.49}BiO_{3} is an extraordinary Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superconductor, where long-range Coulomb interactions expand the bandwidth, enhance electron-phonon coupling, and generate the high T_{c}. Such effects will also be critical for finding new superconductors.

Protective effects of Herpetospermum caudigerum extracts against liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride in mouse

Herpetospermum caudigerum (H. caudigerum; HC), popularly known as “Sejimeiduo” in Tibet, it is widely used in Tibetan traditional medicine for the treatment of dyspepsia, liver and colic diseases. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of H. caudigerum extract (HCE) on suppressing liver injury induced by carbon tetra chloride (CCl4). For this purpose, we used CCl4 to induce acute liver injury in mouse model. The protective effects of HCE against liver injury were evaluated by biochemical parameters, histopathological and immunohistochemical staining. The results showed that the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was significantly increased with the increasing dose of HCE as compared to the CCl4-treated group (p less than 0.01); while AST and ALT levels in serum, MDA and MPO in liver were reduced in a dose-dependent manner. The histopathology showed that HCE treatment promoted the recovery of histopathological changes in liver in a dose-dependent way. Meanwhile, there was a higher expression of caspase-3 and NF-κB in the nucleus of several liver cells in the CCl4-induced group, and a low expression of caspase-3 and NF-κB were found with the increasing dose of HCE. Therefore, the present study suggests that HCE is a potent hepatoprotective agent that can treat acute liver injury and this ability may be attributed towards its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential.

Synthesis of coral-globular-like composite Ag/TiO2-SnO2 and its photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B under multiple modes

Taking cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the template and using TiO₂ as the substrate, coral-globular-like composite Ag/TiO₂-SnO₂ (CTAB) was successfully synthesized by the sol-gel combined with a temperature-programmed treatment method. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, SEM combined with X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy, and N₂ adsorption-desorption tests were employed to characterize samples' crystalline phase, chemical composition, morphology and surface physicochemical properties. Results showed that composites not only had TiO₂ anatase structure, but also had some generated SnTiO₄, and the silver species was metallic Ag⁰. Ag/TiO₂-SnO₂ (CTAB) possessed a coral-globular-like structure with nanosheets in large quantities. The photocatalytic activity of Ag/TiO₂-SnO₂ (CTAB) had studied by degrading organic dyes under multi-modes, mainly using rhodamine B as the model molecule. Results showed that the coral-globular-like Ag/TiO₂-SnO₂ (CTAB) was higher photocatalytic activity than that of commercial TiO₂, Ag/TiO₂-SnO₂, TiO₂-SnO₂ (CTAB), and TiO₂-SnO₂ under ultraviolet light irradiation. Moreover, Ag/TiO₂-SnO₂ (CTAB) composite can significantly affect the photocatalytic degradation under multi-modes including UV light, visible light, simulated solar light and microwave-assisted irradiation. Meanwhile, the photocatalytic activity of Ag/TiO₂-SnO₂ (CTAB) was maintained even after three cycles, indicating that the catalyst had good usability.