Gut hyperpermiability after ischemia and reperfusion: Attenuation with adrenomedullin and its binding protein treatment. Int J Audiol. 2008;1:409-418. [PMID: 18787625 DOI: 10.1080/14992020802286202]

Transcriptome analysis reveals molecular mechanisms of lymphocystis formation caused by lymphocystis disease virus infection in flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus)

Lymphocystis disease is frequently prevalent and transmissible in various teleost species worldwide due to lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) infection, causing unsightly growths of benign lymphocystis nodules in fish and resulting in huge economic losses to aquaculture industry. However, the molecular mechanism of lymphocystis formation is unclear. In this study, LCDV was firstly detected in naturally infected flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) by PCR, histopathological, and immunological techniques. To further understand lymphocystis formation, transcriptome sequencing of skin nodule tissue was performed by using healthy flounder skin as a control. In total, RNA-seq produced 99.36%-99.71% clean reads of raw reads, of which 91.11%-92.89% reads were successfully matched to the flounder genome. The transcriptome data showed good reproducibility between samples, with 3781 up-regulated and 2280 down-regulated differentially expressed genes. GSEA analysis revealed activation of Wnt signaling pathway, Hedgehog signaling pathway, Cell cycle, and Basal cell carcinoma associated with nodule formation. These pathways were analyzed to interact with multiple viral infection and tumor formation pathways. Heat map and protein interaction analysis revealed that these pathways regulated the expression of cell cycle-related genes such as ccnd1 and ccnd2 through key genes including ctnnb1, lef1, tcf3, gli2, and gli3 to promote cell proliferation. Additionally, cGMP-PKG signaling pathway, Calcium signaling pathway, ECM-receptor interaction, and Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction associated with nodule formation were significantly down-regulated. Among these pathways, tnfsf12, tnfrsf1a, and tnfrsf19, associated with pro-apoptosis, and vdac2, which promotes viral replication by inhibiting apoptosis, were significantly up-regulated. Visual analysis revealed significant down-regulation of cytc, which expresses the pro-apoptotic protein cytochrome C, as well as phb and phb2, which have anti-tumor activity, however, casp3 was significantly up-regulated. Moreover, bcl9, bcl11a, and bcl-xl, which promote cell proliferation and inhibit apoptosis, were significantly upregulated, as were fgfr1, fgfr2, and fgfr3, which are related to tumor formation. Furthermore, RNA-seq data were validated by qRT-PCR, and LCDV copy numbers and expression patterns of focused genes in various tissues were also investigated. These results clarified the pathways and differentially expressed genes associated with lymphocystis nodule development caused by LCDV infection in flounder for the first time, providing a new breakthrough in molecular mechanisms of lymphocystis formation in fish.

Case Report: Trastuzumab Treatment in Adenosquamous Carcinoma of the Extrahepatic Biliary Tract With Her-2 Amplification

Extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC) is an uncommon and devastating malignancy that mainly consists of adenocarcinoma. Adenosquamous carcinoma is a rare histologic type and accounts for 2-5% of ECC. It reports that 3.6-8.5% of ECC patients carry Her-2 amplification. A 45-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of jaundice. Abdominal computerized tomography (CT) suggested extrahepatic biliary tract mass. The patient received surgery and pathological examination confirmed adenosquamous carcinoma. Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH) and Next-generation sequencing showed the tumor had Her-2 amplification. One month after the operation, CT demonstrated distant lymph nodes metastases (cT3N1M1, stage IV). The patient received gemcitabine and cisplatin combined with targeted therapy of trastuzumab. After three cycles of treatment, the evaluation of response was stable disease (SD). The progression-free survival of 1st line treatment (PFS1) reached 5 months with five cycles of treatment. After progression, the patient received three cycles of albumin-bound paclitaxel combined with S-1 and trastuzumab and concurrent chemoradiotherapy (S-1) because of serious backache. Now, the disease is stable, and the PFS of 2nd line treatment (PFS2) has reached 7 months.

Ubiquitin-specific protease 22 enhances intestinal cell proliferation and tissue regeneration after intestinal ischemia reperfusion injury

BACKGROUND

Intestinal ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury is a serious but common pathophysiological process of many diseases, resulting in a high mortality rate in clinical practice. Ubiquitin-specific protease 22 (USP22) acts as regulator of cell cycle progression, proliferation, and tumor invasion. Depleted USP22 expression has been reported to contribute to arrested cell cycle and disrupted generation of differentiated cell types in crypts and villi. However, the role of USP22 in intestinal damage recovery has not been investigated. Therefore, elucidation of the underlying mechanism of USP22 in intestinal I/R injury may help to improve the tissue repair and patient prognosis in clinical practice.

AIM

To investigate the role of USP22 in intestinal cell proliferation and regeneration after intestinal I/R injury.

METHODS

An animal model of intestinal I/R injury was generated in male Sprague-Dawley rats by occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery followed by reperfusion. Chiu’s scoring system was used to grade the damage to the intestinal mucosa. An in vitro model was developed by incubating rat intestinal epithelial IEC-6 cells in hypoxia/reoxygenation conditions in order to simulate I/R in vivo. siRNA and overexpression plasmid were used to regulate the expression of USP22. USP22, Cyclin D1, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression levels were measured by Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry staining. Cell survival (viability) and cell cycle were evaluated using the Cell Counting Kit-8 and flow cytometry, respectively.

RESULTS

USP22 expression was positively correlated with the expression levels of PCNA and Cyclin D1 both in vivo and in vitro, which confirmed that USP22 was involved in cell proliferation and intestinal regeneration after intestinal I/R injury. Decreased levels of Cyclin D1 and cell cycle arrest were observed in the USP22 knockdown group (P < 0.05), while opposite results were observed in the USP22 overexpression group (P < 0.05). In addition, increased expression of USP22 was related to improved intestinal pathology or IEC-6 cell viability after I/R or hypoxia/reoxygenation. These results suggested that USP22 may exert a protective effect on intestinal I/R injury by regulating cell proliferation and facilitating tissue regeneration.

CONCLUSION

USP22 is correlated with promoting intestinal cell proliferation and accelerating intestinal tissue regeneration after intestinal I/R injury and may serve as a potential target for therapeutic development for tissue repair during intestinal I/R injury.

Orientação no processo de reabilitação de crianças deficientes auditivas na perspectiva dos pais

RESUMO Objetivo: analisar o procedimento de orientação familiar realizado em serviços públicos de reabilitação de crianças deficientes auditivas considerando-se a perspectiva dos pais. Métodos: a amostra do estudo foi composta por vinte e um responsáveis de menores com déficit auditivo que realizam terapia fonoaudiológica em serviços públicos. Para a coleta de dados, aplicou-se um questionário contendo perguntas relativas ao processo de aconselhamento fonoaudiológica e sobre os principais temas explorados no mesmo. As respostas foram categorizadas e organizadas em uma planilha digital, a fim de realizar a análise descritiva por meio dos resultados em porcentagem. Resultados: 100% dos pais afirmaram receber orientações, sendo estas fornecidas semanalmente (90,5%). Entre os temas explorados, 90,5% dos genitores referiram receber informações acerca dos aspectos relacionados ao desenvolvimento de linguagem, fala e comunicação; quanto ao uso, funcionamento e manutenção do dispositivo eletrônico utilizado pela criança, 81%; a respeito do processo escolar de seus filhos, 47,6% e, sobre audição e perda auditiva, 52,4%. 95,2% dos pais também referiram não sentir dificuldades em compreender os esclarecimentos realizados pelos profissionais, e 100% relataram que aplicam as mesmas em ambiente familiar. Conclusão: o procedimento de orientação realizado nesses serviços foi considerado eficiente, uma vez que propicia aos genitores informações sobre os temas mais comumente reportados na literatura, além de serem fornecidas em todas as sessões realizadas. O mesmo também possibilita que os responsáveis apliquem as recomendações recebidas, sendo possível dar continuidade às estratégias aplicadas durante o processo terapêutico em ambiente familiar, potencializando o desenvolvimento da criança deficiente auditiva.

Early detection of infant hearing loss in the private health care sector of South Africa

OBJECTIVE

A national survey of early hearing detection services was undertaken to describe the demographics, protocols and performance of early hearing detection, referral, follow-up and data management practices in the private health care sector of South Africa.

METHODS

All private hospitals with obstetric units (n=166) in South Africa were surveyed telephonically. This data was incorporated with data collected from self-administered questionnaires subsequently distributed nationally to audiology private practices providing hearing screening at the respective hospitals reporting hearing screening services (n=87). Data was analyzed descriptively to yield national percentages and frequency distributions and possible statistical associations between variables were explored.

RESULTS

Newborn hearing screening was available in 53% of private health care obstetric units in South Africa of which only 14% provided universal screening. Most (81%) of the healthy baby screening programs used only otoacoustic emission screening. Auditory brainstem response screening was employed by 24% of neonatal intensive care unit screening programs with only 16% repeating auditory brainstem response screening during the follow-up screen. Consequently 84% of neonatal intensive care unit hearing screening programs will not identify auditory neuropathy. A referral rate of less than 5% for diagnostic assessments was reported by 80% of universal programs. Follow-up return rates were reported to exceed 70% by only 28% of programs. Using multiple methods of reminding parents did not significantly increase reported follow-up return rates. Data management was mainly paper based with only 10% of programs using an electronic database primarily to manage screening data.

CONCLUSIONS

A shortage of programs and suboptimal and variable protocols for early hearing detection, follow-up and data management in existing programs mean the majority of babies with hearing loss in the South African private health care sector will not be identified early. Newborn hearing screening must be integrated with hospital-based birthing services, ideally with centralized data management and quality control.