Pozzolanic and mechanical properties of Date Palm Seed Ash (Dpsa) concrete

This paper presents the findings of a research work conducted on how to improve the mechanical properties of concrete using Date Palm Seed Ash (DPSA) as partial replacement of cement. The DPSA used was obtained by controlled burning of date palm seed in a kiln at a maximum temperature of 630oC for eight hours and air cooled afterwards. The ash obtained was sieved through 75μm sieve and its oxide composition analysed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) procedures. DoE method of mix design was used to produce concrete ingredients for grade 30N/mm2 giving a water-cement ratio of 0.53. The effect of partial replacement of cement with DPSA on cement paste and concrete using 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 15 and 20% DPSA was investigated through consistency and setting times tests, workability test, compressive strength test (at 7, 21, 28 and 56 days curing duration), pozzolanic activity index evaluation and water absorption test. Results show that DPSA has high silicon dioxide (45.50%), aluminum oxide (20.75%) and Iron oxide (7.25%). Findings indicate that the consistency and setting times of cement-DPSA paste increased with increase in the replacement of cement with DPSA. The workability of DPSA concrete decreased with increase in cement replacement. Compressive strength test results show that cement can be replaced with DPSA up to 10% as the compressive strength at 10% replacement is 31.5N/mm2 as against the 31N/mm2 of the normal concrete, at 56 days. The pozzolanic activity index result also show that DPSA concrete meets up the minimum requirement of 75% specified by ASTM C618-15. Also, the water absorption capacity of DPSA concrete at the highest replacement (20%) is 11% less than that at 0%. Keywords: Cement, Compressive strength, Concrete, Date palm seed ash, Partial replacement, Pozzolana

Aggregation Enhanced Responsiveness of Rationally Designed Probes to Hydrogen Sulfide for Targeted Cancer Imaging

Activatable molecular probes hold great promise for targeted cancer imaging. However, the hydrophobic nature of most conventional probes makes them generate precipitated agglomerate in aqueous media, thereby annihilating their responsiveness to analytes and precluding their practical applications for bioimaging. This study reports the development of two small molecular probes with unprecedented aggregation enhanced responsiveness to H₂S for in vivo imaging of H₂S-rich cancers. The subtle modulation of the equilibrium between hydrophilicity and lipophilicity by N-methylpyridinium endows these designed probes with the capability of spontaneously self-assembling into nanoprobes under physiological conditions. Such probes in an aggregated state, rather than a molecular dissolved state, show NIR fluorescence light up and photoacoustic signals turn on upon H₂S specific activation, allowing in vivo visualization and differentiation of cancers based on differences in H₂S content. Thus, our study presents an effective design strategy which should pave the way to molecular design of optimized probes for precision cancer diagnostics.

Clinical characteristics of H-type hypertension and its relationship with the MTHFR C677T polymorphism in a Zhuang population from Guangxi, China

Objective

This study was designed to assess the clinical presentation of patients with H‐type hypertension who were of Zhuang nationality in Guangxi, China. The relationship between the C677T polymorphism in the MTHFR gene and H‐type hypertension was also assessed.

Methods

This was a case‐control study in which 185 Zhuang nationality patients with hypertension that had been hospitalized at the Wuming Hospital of Guangxi Medical University between February 2018 and December 2018 were assessed for plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels. These levels were used to divide patients into H‐type (>15 μmol/L) and non‐H‐type (≤15 μmol/L) hypertension groups. Patient clinical data were then analyzed, and PCR was used to analyze samples from all patients for the presence of the C677T polymorphism in the MTHFR gene. Differences between these two groups of hypertension patients were then compared using appropriate statistical methods.

Results

We found that relative to patients in the non‐H‐type hypertension group, patients in the H‐type hypertension group exhibited significant differences in sex, age, urea nitrogen levels, creatinine levels, and uric acid levels. There were, however, no significant differences between these two groups with respect to interventricular septum thickness, left ventricular posterior wall thickness, or ejection fraction. We did not detect any association between the MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism and H‐type hypertension in Zhuang nationality individuals in Guangxi.

Conclusion

Risk of H‐type hypertension is not associated with the MTHFR C677T polymorphism in hypertensive individuals of Guangxi Zhuang nationality in China.

MiTF is Associated with Chemoresistance to Cisplatin in A549 Lung Cancer Cells via Modulating Lysosomal Biogenesis and Autophagy

Background

Non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) is often fatal; advanced NSCLC has a 5-year survival rate less than 20%. Platinum-based chemotherapy, in particular, cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) (cisplatin or DDP), is employed for the treatment of NSCLC; however, the drug resistance occurs frequently. Autophagy is defined as the process of intracellular degradation of cytoplasmic materials in the lysosome; however, the correlation between autophagy and drug resistance remains controversial. Herein, we investigated the correlation between autophagy and cisplatin resistance and also explored the underlying mechanisms.

Methods and Results

We demonstrated that DDP-resistant NSCLC A549 (A549/DDP) cells had higher autophagy activity in comparison with its parental A549 cells; DDP treatment induced a time- and dose-dependent decrease of autophagy. Intriguingly, inhibition of autophagy with pharmacological drugs or knockdown of ATG5 or Beclin-1 aggravated cell death induced by DDP treatment, indicating that autophagy played protective roles during DDP treatment. Further mechanistic investigation revealed that DDP treatment could decrease the mRNA expression level of key autophagy-related genes, such as ATG5, Beclin-1, and ATG7, suggesting DDP repressed autophagy at the transcriptional level. The MiTF/TFE family (including TFEB, TFE3, TFEC, and MiTF) were involved in nutrient sensing and organelle biogenesis, and specifically, the lysosomal biogenesis. We found that only MiTF was dramatically decreased upon DDP treatment, and also a profound decrease of lysosomal markers, LAMP-1 or LAMP-2, suggesting that MiTF was involved in the modulation of lysosomal biogenesis and, consequently, the autophagy. Moreover, the knockdown of MiTF resulted in more severe cell death in A549/DDP cells, indicting the substantial correlation between MiTF and cisplatin chemoresistance.

Conclusion

Our study provides novel insights into the association between MiTF and DDP chemoresistance in NSCLC cells, and suggests targeting MiTF and/or autophagy might be a potential strategy for the reversal of DDP chemoresistance for NSCLC treatment.

Rational design of water-dispersible and biocompatible nanoprobes with H2S-triggered NIR emission for cancer cell imaging

We present an approach for constructing a H₂S-specific nanoprobe by the entrapment of a small molecule probe within the hydrophobic interior of surface cross-linked micelles (SCMs), endowing the designed nanoprobes with good water solubility and biocompatibility. Importantly, the obtained nanoprobes displayed good responsiveness to H₂S in both ratiometric fluorescence and light-up NIR emission modes, thus enabling accurate identification of H₂S-rich colorectal cancer cells.

[Meta-analysis of the effects of dexmedetomidine combined with ketamine during dressing changes in burn patients]

Objective: To systematically evaluate the safety and efficacy of dexmedetomidine combined with ketamine during dressing changes in burn patients using meta-analysis. Methods: Foreign language databases including PubMed, Cochrane Central, Embase, and Web of Science were searched with the terms of " burns, dexmedetomidine, ketamine, and dressing" , and Chinese databases including Chinese Journal Full-Text Database, Wanfang Data, and China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database were searched with the terms in Chinese version of ",,,,," to retrieve the publicly published randomized controlled trials on the application of dexmedetomidine combined with ketamine for sedation and analgesia during dressing changes in burn patients from the establishment of each database to March 2019. The outcome indexes included systolic blood pressure at 5 minutes after administration, arousal restlessness score, ketamine dosage, dressing change time, body movement/recovery time, pain score, Ramsay sedation scores at 10 minutes after the start of dressing change and 1 hour after dressing change, physician satisfaction score, neuropsychological symptoms, nausea and vomiting times, nausea and vomiting score. RevMan 5.3 and Stata 14.0 statistical software were used to conduct a meta-analysis of eligible studies. Results: A total of 396 burn patients were included in 7 articles, including 198 patients in dexmedetomidine+ ketamine group who received dexmedetomidine and ketamine for sedation and analgesia, and 198 patients in ketamine alone group who received ketamine alone for sedation and analgesia. The bias risks of the seven studies included were uncertain. Compared with those of ketamine alone group, the systolic blood pressure at 5 minutes after administration, arousal restlessness score, nausea and vomiting score of patients in dexmedetomidine+ ketamine group were significantly decreased, with standardized mean differences of -13.89, -0.84, and -0.99 (95% confidence interval=-20.89--6.89, -1.17--0.52, -1.31--0.68, P<0.01), the Ramsay sedation score at 10 minutes after the start of dressing change and that at 1 hour after dressing change were significantly increased, with standardized mean differences of 1.53 and 0.72 (95% confidence interval=1.05-2.02, 0.13-1.31, P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the number of neuropsychological symptom and number of nausea and vomiting were significantly reduced, with relative risks of 0.20 and 0.16 (95% confidence interval=0.07-0.58, 0.05-0.58, P<0.01). The patients in the two groups were similar in ketamine dosage, dressing change time, body movement/recovery time, pain score, and physician satisfaction score. There was no publication bias in dressing change time or ketamine dosage (P>0.05), while the other indexes might have publication bias (P<0.05). Conclusions: Compared with ketamine alone, combination of dexmedetomidine and ketamine during dressing changes in burn patients can reduce the occurrence of restlessness, nausea and vomiting, neuropsychological symptoms, and other complications, better stabilize blood pressure, and enhance sedation effect.

AB0919 WHAT IS LOWER EXTREMITY ENTHESEAL INVOLVEMENT IN ACUTE GOUT ATTACK? AN ULTRASOUND-STUDY

Background:

Articular involvement in acute gout attack is extremely common and mainly characterized by arthritis, which are usually transient, severe, reversible and well responsive to treatment. The involvement of tendons and entheses in lower extremity in monosodium urate-related disease through US (ultrasound) assessment have been described1,2. US findings in gout raising the hypothesis that entheseal involvement could be a missing target in the clinical evaluation of gout patients.

Objectives:

To evaluate by ultrasound (US) the frequency and characteristics of lower extremity entheseal involvement in acute gout attack patients.

Methods:

US assessment were performed by independent rheumatologist on 31 patients with acute gout attack. Presence of lower extremity entheseal involvement were evaluated by grey-scale (GS) and power Doppler (PD). US assessment contain quadriceps, patellar and Achilles tendons, and plantar fascia entheses according to the OMERACT definitions.

Results:

US revealed one or more abnormalities in at least one enthesis in 22 out of 31 gout patients (71.0%) and 47 out of 310 entheses (15.2%). Among the affected entheses, the patellar insertion of quadriceps tendon was most commonly involved (57.4%) during acute gout attack, followed by the calcaneal insertion of the Achilles tendon (17.0%) and distal insertion of the patellar tendon (14.9%). The proximal insertion of the patellar tendon and calcaneal insertion of the plantar fascia were involved in 8.5% and 2.1%, respectively. Bone erosions and osteophytes were found in affected entheses (10.6% and 25.5%, respectively).

Conclusion:

Our study identifies that lower extremity entheseal involvement is a missing target in the evaluation of patients with acute gout attack. US plays a key role in the assessment of both clinical and subclinical enthesitis in gout patients.

References:

[1]Pineda C, Amezcua-Guerra LM, Solano C, et al. Joint and Tendon Subclinical Involvement Suggestive of Gouty Arthritis in Asymptomatic Hyperuricemia: an Ultrasound Controlled Study.J Rheumatol.2011;38(6):1195-1195.

[2]Carroll M, Dalbeth N, Allen B, et al. Ultrasound Characteristics of the Achilles Tendon in Tophaceous Gout: A Comparison with Age- and Sex-matched Controls.J Rheumatol.2017;44(10):1487-1492.

Disclosure of Interests:

None declared

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of 74 Patients With Severe or Critical COVID-19

BACKGROUND

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to a major concern and caused a pandemic globally. The goal of this study was to clarify the clinical characteristics of recovery and death in patients with severe or critical COVID-19.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this retrospective single-center study, clinical data were collected from 74 severe or critical COVID-19 patients in Wuhan Fourth Hospital between Jan. 25th and Feb. 26th, 2020. All patients were divided into a recovery group or a death group according to clinical outcomes, and the differences between the groups were compared.

RESULTS

Of the 74 patients enrolled in the study, 48 (64.9%) were severe cases and 26 (35.1%) were critical cases. Sixty (81.1%) patients were recovered and 14 (18.9%) died. Compared with recovery patients, patients in the death group were older, and had higher incidences of hypertension, coronary disease and dyspnea at admission. Laboratory tests for lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, myoglobin, brain natriuretic peptide and D-dimer indicated higher levels in the death group. The PaO₂:FiO₂ ratio and minimum SpO₂ were lower in the death group, and a higher proportion of these patients received noninvasive mechanical ventilation, invasive mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Elderly patients with comorbidities are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 or death. Patients with a low blood gas index and poor coagulation function at admission had a high mortality rate. For such patients, comprehensive treatment should be performed as soon as possible to improve the prognosis and reduce mortality.

[A case of chronic ulcer with ectopic ossification in lower right extremity]

On January 1st, 2019, one male patient, aged 55 years, with chronic ulcer in right lower extremity was admitted to Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital. After admission, ulcer debridement and vacuum sealing drainage (VSD) surgery was performed in lower right extremity. Two pieces of bone-like tissue was removed from the lateral space between the Achilles tendon and fibula in the right leg, which was confirmed as ossification tissue by histopathological sections after surgery. The wounds were treated with VSD technique and dressing changes. On the 49th day after surgery, split-thickness skin graft was taken from the lateral left thigh and grafted to the wound area, which was then treated with VSD. The skin graft of patient survived well. The wound healed completely and the patient was discharged from hospital on day 77 post hospitalization. This case suggests that the patients with chronic ulcer should complete all related examinations in time, and improving the blood circulation of the wound and clearing the ectopic ossification in the wound are critical for wound healing.

Copper Oxide Nanoparticles Induce Oxidative DNA Damage and Cell Death via Copper Ion-Mediated P38 MAPK Activation in Vascular Endothelial Cells

Background

Inhaled nanoparticles can cross pulmonary air–blood barrier into circulation and cause vascular endothelial injury and progression of cardiovascular disease. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the vascular toxicity of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) remains unclear. We have recently demonstrated that the release of copper ions and the accumulation of superoxide anions contributed to CuONPs-induced cell death in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Herein, we further demonstrate the mechanism underlying copper ions-induced cell death in HUVECs.

Methods and Results

CuONPs were suspended in culture medium and vigorously vortexed for several seconds before exposure. After treatment with CuONPs, HUVECs were collected, and cell function assays were conducted to elucidate cellular processes including cell viability, oxidative stress, DNA damage and cell signaling pathways. We demonstrated that CuONPs uptake induced DNA damage in HUVECs as evidenced by γH2AX foci formation and increased phosphorylation levels of ATR, ATM, p53 and H2AX. Meanwhile, we showed that CuONPs exposure induced oxidative stress, indicated by the increase of cellular levels of superoxide anions, the upregulation of protein levels of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and glutamate-cysteine ligase modifier subunit (GCLM), the elevation of the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), but the reduction of glutathione to glutathione disulfide ratio. We also found that antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) could ameliorate CuONPs-induced oxidative stress and cell death. Interestingly, we demonstrated that p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway was activated in CuONPs-treated HUVECs, while p38α MAPK knockdown by siRNA significantly rescued HUVECs from CuONPs-induced DNA damage and cell death. Importantly, we showed that copper ions chelator tetrathiomolybdate (TTM) could alleviate CuONPs-induced oxidative stress, DNA damage, p38 MAPK pathway activation and cell death in HUVECs.

Conclusion

We demonstrated that CuONPs induced oxidative DNA damage and cell death via copper ions-mediated p38 MAPK activation in HUVECs, suggesting that the release of copper ions was the upstream activator for CuONPs-induced vascular endothelial toxicity, and the copper ions chelator TTM can alleviate CuONPs-associated cardiovascular disease.

Screening Circular RNAs Related to Acquired Gefitinib Resistance in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cell Lines

Background: Gefitinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) used to treat EGFR mutation-positive patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the efficacy of gefitinib is limited by the development of acquired resistance. Studies have shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs) are involved in the acquired resistance to many anticancer agents. However, the expression profiles and functions of circRNAs in gefitinib resistance in NSCLC are poorly understood so far. Methods: In this study, circRNA expression profiling was explored in two gefitinib-resistant NSCLC cell lines (HCC827/GR and PC9/GR) and their parental sensitive cells (HCC827 and PC9) using high-throughput RNA sequencing. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to confirm the expression of selected differentially expressed circRNAs. Bioinformatic tools including gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), network analysis, and Kaplan-Meier plotter database were used to predict the functions and pathways of these differentially expressed circRNAs. Results: We identified 46 and 56 differentially expressed circRNAs in HCC827/GR and PC9/GR cell lines, respectively, compared with those in their parental cell lines. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analysis identified that the host linear transcripts of these differentially expressed circRNAs were involved in many critical biological pathways and molecular functions. We found that hsa_circ_0000567 was consistently up-regulated, and hsa_circ_0006867 was consistently down-regulated in two resistant cell lines. We further used hsa_circ_0000567 and hsa_circ_0006867 as key circRNAs to construct circRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks. Several target mRNAs of these two circRNAs had been shown to significantly associate with the overall survival of patients with lung cancer. Conclusions: In this study, we generated the comprehensive expression and functional profiles of the differentially expressed circRNAs between gefitinib-resistant and -sensitive NSCLC cells, and showed that dysregulation of circRNAs might play an important role in the development of acquired resistance to gefitinib in NSCLC.

20-Hydroxyecdysone receptor-activated Bombyx mori CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein gamma regulates the expression of BmCBP and subsequent histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation in Bo. mori

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response element binding protein (CREB)-binding protein (CBP or CREBBP) plays important roles in regulating gene transcription and animal development. However, the process by which CBP is up-regulated to impact insect development is unknown. In this study, the regulatory mechanism of Bombyx mori CBP (BmCBP) expression induced by 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) was investigated. In the Bo. mori cell line, DZNU-Bm-12, 20E enhanced BmCBP transcription and histone H3K27 acetylation. BmCBP RNA interference (RNAi) resulted in decreased histone H3K27 acetylation. Additionally, the luciferase activity analysis revealed that the transcription factor, Bo. mori CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein gamma (BmC/EBPg), activated BmCBP transcription, which was suppressed by BmC/EBPg RNAi and promoted by BmC/EBPg overexpression. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation results demonstrated that BmC/EBPg could bind to the C/EBP cis-regulatory elements in two positions of the BmCBP promoter. Moreover, BmC/EBPg transcription was enhanced by the 20E receptor (BmEcR), which bound to the BmC/EBPg promoter. BmEcR RNAi significantly inhibited the transcriptional levels of BmC/EBPg and BmCBP in the presence of 20E. Furthermore, the BmEcR-BmC/EBPg pathway regulated the acetylation levels of histone H3K27. Altogether, these results indicate that BmEcR enhances the expression of BmC/EBPg, which binds to the BmCBP promoter, activates BmCBP expression and leads to histone H3K27 acetylation.

RUNX1-activated upregulation of lncRNA RNCR3 promotes cell proliferation, invasion, and suppresses apoptosis in colorectal cancer via miR-1301-3p/AKT1 axis in vitro and in vivo

PURPOSE

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have participated in progression of colorectal cancer. This study aims to study the role of RUNX1/RNCR3/miR-1301-3p/AKT1 axis in colorectal cancer.

METHODS

The cancer tissues were from patients with colorectal cancer. The qRT-PCR was used to determine expression of lncRNA RNCR3, miR-1301-3p, and AKT1. Both dual-luciferase reporter assay and ChIP assay were conducted to investigate the binding sites of RUNX1 on RNCR3 promoter. Western blot was performed to analyze expression of AKT1 protein. Both dual-luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay were performed to detect the interacting sites between RNCR3 and miR-1301-3p. The CCK-8 assay, soft agar assay, transwell assay, and annexin-V-FITC/PI staining were applied to analyze the cell growth, invasion, and apoptosis, respectively.

RESULTS

The data demonstrated that RNCR3 was elevated in colorectal cancer, and it was negatively correlated with expression of miR-1301-3p which was decreased in cancers. Then, RNCR3 could interact with and suppress miR-1301-3p expression in HCT116 and SW480. Knockdown of RNCR3 or miR-1301-3p overexpression significantly inhibited cell growth, invasion, and increased apoptosis through suppressing expression of Cyclin A1, PCNA, N-cadherin, Bcl-2, and promoting expression of E-cadherin, Bax in vitro and in vivo. RUNX1 was directly bound to RNCR3 promoter to activate RNCR3 expression. Furthermore, overexpression of RNCR3 blocked tumor inhibitory effects of miR-1301-3p on proliferation, colony formation, invasion, and apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, RNCR3 and miR-1301-3p synergistically modulated AKT1 expression.

CONCLUSION

RUNX1-activated upregulation of RNCR3 promoted colorectal cancer progression by sponging miR-1301-3p to elevate AKT1 levels in vitro and in vivo.

The NADPH oxidase 4 protects vascular endothelial cells from copper oxide nanoparticles-induced oxidative stress and cell death

AIMS

Nanoparticles (NPs) exposure is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, but the underlying mechanism is still obscure. In this study, we investigated the role of NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) in copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs)-induced cytotoxicity in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Morphology changes were examined under the microscope. Cell viability was determined by MTS assay and Calcein AM assay. Apoptosis and the levels of superoxide anion (O₂^-) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) were measured by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS). Oxidative stress was detected by assaying the levels of glutathione/glutathione disulfide (GSH/GSSG) and malondialdehyde (MDA). Protein expression levels were determined by western blotting.

KEY FINDINGS

We revealed that O₂^- rather than H₂O₂ was the major component of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in CuONPs-treated HUVECs. Meanwhile, CuONPs downregulated expression of O₂^--eliminating enzyme NOX4 both at mRNA and protein levels, but did not affect the expression of SOD2 and catalase. NOX4 knockdown caused more accumulation of O₂^-, and a further decrease of H₂O₂ in CuONPs-treated HUVECs, suggesting that NOX4 regulates the conversion of O₂^- to H₂O₂ in CuONPs-treated HUVECs. Furthermore, we revealed that NOX4 knockdown aggravated CuONPs-induced oxidative stress, characterized by a decrease of GSH/GSSG ratio, an increase of MDA level, and upregulation of HSPA5 and γH2AX. Finally, we showed that NOX4 knockdown exacerbated CuONPs-induced apoptotic cell death in HUVECs, indicating that NOX4 could protect ECs from CuONPs-induced cell death.

SIGNIFICANCE

Our study provides the evidence that NOX4 protects vascular endothelial cells from CuONPs-induced oxidative stress and cell death.

Temporal and spatial expression of Sox9, Pax1, TGF-β1 and type I and II collagen in human intervertebral disc development

PURPOSE

An accurate understanding of cellular biochemical changes in human intervertebral disc (IVD)s and the corresponding mechanisms during the developmental process still remain unknown and important for investigating the function of critical factors in normal IVD development as well as ascertaining the therapeutic targets for the IVD degeneration.

METHODS

Under ethical conditions, human fetal cervical IVDs at 4, 5, and 6 months of pregnancy were collected at abortion surgery. Normal adult human C3-C7 cervical IVDs were taken from cadaveric donors. Sox9, Pax1, TGF-β1 and type I/II collagen protein and RNA were detected. The number of positive cells was counted to calculate the optical density value for each factor.

RESULTS

Sox9, Pax1, and TGF-β1 expression in the IVD was remarkably reduced with the developmental stage. The location of high expression of Sox9, Pax1, and TGF-β1 changed with the developmental stage, and migrated from the nucleus pulposus to the annulus fibrosus and endplate. Higher Sox9, Pax1, and TGF-β1 expression was finally observed around the sclerotome of the vertebral body. The anabolism of type I/II collagens is significantly increased in the IVD in the mid-trimester fetus.

CONCLUSIONS

Sox9, Pax1 and TGF-β1 participate in the developmental process of the human IVD and vertebral body. However, these factors show a separate expression of mRNA and protein, suggesting that they are expressed in the strict time and spatial order.

Uric acid level and risk of symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage in ischaemic stroke treated with endovascular treatment

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There are limited data on the association between uric acid (UA) and symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage (SICH) in patients who have undergone mechanical thrombectomy [endovascular treatment (EVT)]. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of serum UA level in SICH after EVT in a real-world practice.

METHODS

Patients were selected from the Endovascular Treatment for Acute Anterior Circulation Ischemic Stroke (ACTUAL) registry. SICH was identified using the Heidelberg Bleeding Classification. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the relationship between serum UA and SICH.

RESULTS

Among 611 enrolled patients, 90 (14.7%) were diagnosed with SICH within 72 h after EVT. Patients with SICH had a significantly higher level of serum UA (median, 341.0 vs. 302.0 μmol/L; P = 0.003) than those without SICH. Univariate logistic regression analysis indicated that patients with UA levels in the fourth quartile, compared with the first quartile, were more likely to have SICH (odds ratio, 2.846; 95% confidence intervals, 1.429-6.003; P = 0.003). The association remained significant after multivariable adjustment for potential confounders. Furthermore, the multiple-adjusted spline regression model showed an inverted U-shaped association between UA and SICH (P = 0.047 for non-linearity).

CONCLUSION

Our study indicated that increased serum UA level was independently associated with SICH after EVT in acute ischaemic stroke.

Extracting Polarity Shifting Patterns from Any Corpus Based on Natural Annotation

In recent years, online sentiment texts are generated by users in various domains and in different languages. Binary polarity classification (positive or negative) on business sentiment texts can help both companies and customers to evaluate products or services. Sometimes, the polarity of sentiment texts can be modified, making the polarity classification difficult. In sentiment analysis, such modification of polarity is termed as polarity shifting , which shifts the polarity of a sentiment clue (emotion, evaluation, etc.). It is well known that detection of polarity shifting can help improve sentiment analysis in texts. However, to detect polarity shifting in corpora is challenging: (1) polarity shifting is normally sparse in texts, making human annotation difficult; (2) corpora with dense polarity shifting are few; we may need polarity shifting patterns from various corpora.

In this article, an approach is presented to extract polarity shifting patterns from any text corpus. For the first time, we proposed to select texts rich in polarity shifting by the idea of natural annotation , which is used to replace human annotation. With a sequence mining algorithm, the selected texts are used to generate polarity shifting pattern candidates, and then we rank them by C-value before human annotation. The approach is tested on different corpora and different languages. The results show that our approach can capture various types of polarity shifting patterns, and some patterns are unique to specific corpora. Therefore, for better performance, it is reasonable to construct polarity shifting patterns directly from the given corpus.

[Comparison of radiological and clinicopathological features of craniofacial fibro-osseous lesions]

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological and radiological features of benign fibro-osseous lesion (BFOL). Methods: Sixty-five cases of craniofacial BFOL, eight cases of peripheral ossifying fibroma (POF) and one case of low-grade central osteosarcoma diagnosed at Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital between January 2010 and March 2019 were collected. The clinicopathologic features, hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining and radiographic features were analyzed. MDM2 gene amplification was detected by FISH in difficult borderline cases. Results: This cohort of BFOLs included 50 cases of fibrous dysplasia (FD), 12 cases of ossifying fibroma (OF), and three cases of juvenile psammomatoid ossifying fibroma (JPOF). The average ages of patients with FD,OF and JPOF were 31.7, 39.2 and 26.0 years respectively. The male to female ratio was 1.0∶1.8.The average age of POF was 47.0 years, with male to female ratio of 1∶7. Patient of low-grade central osteosarcoma was a 48-year-old man. Twenty-seven cases of FD were located in the jaw, and 23 cases were in other craniofacial bones. Nine cases of OF were located in the jaw, and three cases were in the nasal cavity. Two cases of JPOF were in the nasal sinus, and one was in the jaw. All POF were located in the gingiva, and low-grade central osteosarcoma was located in the mandible. The imaging features of FD were luffa-like or ground-glass like signal shadows with poorly defined borders with expansion. OF had clear borders or sclerosing margins. Both JOF and low-grade central osteosarcoma were expansile intraosseously and with focally invasive nodular masses with ground-glass like signal shadows; and POF showed soft tissue mass with bone formation. Histological features of BFOLs showed mixed fibrous and irregular osteoid lesions. FD had no clear relationship with the host bone and no osteoblasts surrounded the bone trabeculae. Osteoblasts rimming was found in OF, and the boundaries of the host bone were clear. JPOF and low-grade central osteosarcoma infiltrated the host bone focally, and the latter showed mild cellular atypia. MDM2 amplification was detected in low-grade central osteosarcoma. Conclusions: BFOLs are a group of fibro-osseous lesions with similar morphology in the head and neck and face, but their clinical features and prognosis are different; and their imaging and histological characteristics are also slightly different. Attentions should be given to the combination of clinical, imaging and pathologic features of BFOLs, especially the differential diagnosis between BFOLs and low-grade central osteosarcoma. Molecular detection could be used to assist the diagnosis in difficult cases.

Association Between Cystatin C and Cardiac Function and Long-Term Prognosis in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure

Background

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between cystatin C and cardiac function and long-term prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

Material/Methods

We selected 418 CHF patients admitted to our hospital as subjects. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the cystatin C level (Quantile 1 group: 0.65–1.04 mg/L, Quantile 2 group: 1.05–1.35 mg/L, and Quantile 3 group: 1.36–7.84 mg/L), and patients were followed up for 5 years. We used odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) to compare the results.

Results

The cystatin C and NT-ProBNP level in the cardiac function grade (NYHA) class IV group were higher than those in the class III group (P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between cystatin C and NT-ProBNP log₁₀ transform in CHF patients (r=0.411). During 5-year follow-up, 231 patients died and the 5-year all-cause mortality rate was 55.26% (231/418). There was a significant difference in 5-year all-cause mortality among the 3 groups (P for trend=0.010). After adjusting for potential confounders by multivariate regression analysis, the Quantile 2 group vs. Quantile 1 group were OR=0.83, 95% CI 0.51 to 1.35, P=0.448, and the Quantile 3 group vs. Quantile 1 group were OR=1.71, 95% CI. 1.04 to 2.82, P=0.034. Curve fitting showed that cystatin C was positively correlated with 5-year all-cause mortality in CHF patients.

Conclusions

Cystatin C was positively correlated with cardiac function and NT-ProBNP in CHF patients. Cystatin C could be used as a serological index to evaluate the long-term prognosis of CHF patients.