Statins and Thyroid Carcinoma: a Meta-Analysis

Background/Aims: Experimental studies have reported the antineoplastic effects of statins in thyroid carcinoma; however, observational studies suggested that statins might increase the risk of thyroid carcinoma. Therefore, this study evaluated the antineoplastic effects of statins in both in vitro studies and animal models, as well as the epidemiological evidence. Methods: Databases—PubMed, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, CNKI, Wanfang, and clinical trial registries— were searched. A meta-analysis was performed with sufficiently homogeneous studies. Eighteen articles were involved. Results: In in vitro studies, statins showed a concentration-dependent inhibition of cell line growth (weighted mean difference –34.68, 95% confidence interval –36.53 to –32.83). A significant efficacy of statin-induced apoptosis was observed (weighted mean difference [95% confidence interval]: 24 h, 57.50 [55.98–59.03]; 48 h, 23.43 [22.19–24.66]; 72 h, 51.29 [47.52–55.07]). Early apoptosis was increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In in vivo antitumor studies, lovastatin inhibited tumor growth, as shown by a reduction in tumor volume. However, two clinical studies showed discordant results from the experimental studies. Conclusion: Experimental studies revealed the antineoplastic efficacy of statins but statins were associated with thyroid carcinoma in clinical studies. This discrepancy may be due to the different concentrations of statins used and the effects of hyperlipidemia interventions, and thus further study is required

TNF-α-1031T/C gene polymorphism as a predictor of malnutrition in patients with gastric cancer

IntroductionMalnutrition is a complex clinical syndrome, the exact mechanism of which is yet not fully understood. Studies have found that malnutrition is associated with anorexia and inadequate intake, tumor depletion, leptin, tumor-induced metabolic abnormalities in the body, and catabolic factors produced by the tumor in the circulation and cytokines produced by the host immune system. Among these, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are present in the gene encoding the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α.AimThe objective of this study was to investigate TNF-α -1,031 T/C gene polymorphism as an unfavorable predictor of malnutrition in patients with gastric cancer.MethodsThe study group consisted of 220 gastric cancer patients treated at Affiliated Jinhua Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine. Malnutrition was mainly assessed by the Global Consensus on Malnutrition Diagnostic Criteria (GLIM). DNA was extracted from peripheral leukocytes of whole blood samples using an animal DNA extraction kit. DNA was amplified using a 1.1× T3 Super PCR mixture and genotyped using SNP1 software.ResultsThere are three major genetic polymorphisms in TNF-α. Among the 220 patients with gastric cancer, there were 7 patients with the CC genotype, 61 with the CT genotype and 152 with the TT genotype. Compared to patients with the TT genotype, patients with the C allele had an approximately 2.5-fold higher risk of developing malnutrition (p = 0.003; OR = 0.406). On the basis of multivariate analysis, patients with the CC genotype had an approximately 20.1-fold higher risk of developing malnutrition (p = 0.013; OR = 20.114), while those with the CT genotype had an almost 3.7-fold higher risk of malnutrition (p = 0.002; OR = 3.218).ConclusionSNP (−1,031 T/C) of the TNF-α may be a useful marker in the assessment of the risk of nutritional deficiencies in gastric cancer patients. Patients with gastric cancer carrying the C allele should be supported by early nutritional intervention, but more research is still needed to explore confirmation

How Non-Uniform Stiffness Affects the Propulsion Performance of a Biomimetic Robotic Fish

Live fish in nature exhibit various stiffness characteristics. The anguilliform swimmer, like eels, has a relatively flexible body, while the thunniform swimmer, like the swordfishes, has a much stiffer body. Correspondingly, in the design of biomimetic robotic fish, how to balance the non-uniform stiffness to achieve better propulsion performance is an essential question needed to be answered. In this paper, we conduct an experimental study on this question. First, a customized experimental platform is built, which eases the adjustment of the non-uniform stiffness ratio, the stiffness of the flexible part, the flapping frequency, and the flapping amplitude. Second, extensive experiments are carried out, finding that to maximize the propulsion performance of the biomimetic robotic fish, the non-uniform stiffness ratio is required to adapt to different locomotor parameters. Specifically, the non-uniform stiffness ratio needs to be reduced when the robotic fish works at low frequency, and it needs to be increased when the robotic fish works at high frequency. Finally, detailed discussions are given to further analyze the experimental results. Overall, this study can shed light on the design of a non-uniform biomimetic robotic fish, which helps to increase its propulsion performance

Monitoring the Methyl Eugenol Response and Non-Responsiveness Mechanisms in Oriental Fruit Fly Bactrocera dorsalis in China

Bactrocera dorsalis is a notorious polyphagous pest in China, and its management strategies largely depend on methyl eugenol (ME), which has been widely used as an attractant to monitor and eradicate B. dorsalis populations for seven decades. However, the non-responsiveness levels in field B. dorsalis populations to ME is unknown. In this study, we monitored the response to ME in field populations from the four most heavily infested provinces in China, and the results showed that the populations had lower sensitivity to ME relative to GZS susceptible strain. The percent responsiveness of the lowest sensitivity population was 5.88-, 3.47-, and 1.47-fold lower relative to the susceptible strain at doses of 1, 10, and 100 µL of ME, respectively. Gene expression analysis and inhibitor assays further revealed that odorant binding protein (BdorOBP2, BdorOBP83b) and the P450 enzyme system may be associated with the lower response to ME. To our knowledge, this work is the first to report that the P450 enzyme system confers a lower responsiveness to lure insects. These findings provided valuable insights for exploiting ME non-responsiveness to protect sterile males from ME-based control strategies and the use of lures combined with insecticides

Thrust Improvement of a Biomimetic Robotic Fish by Using a Deformable Caudal Fin

In nature, live fish has various deformable fins which are capable to promote the swimming speed, efficiency, stability, and thrust generation. However, this feature is rarely possessed by current man-made biomimetic robotic fishes. In this paper, a novel deformable caudal fin platform is proposed to improve thrust generation of biomimetic robotic fish. First, the design of the deformable caudal fin is given, which includes a servo motor, a gear-based transmission mechanism, fin bones, and silica membrane. Second, an improved Central Pattern Generator (CPG) model was developed to coordinately control the flapping of the tail and the deformation of the caudal fin. More specifically, three deformation patterns, i.e., conventional nondeformable mode, sinusoidal-based mode, instant mode, of the caudal fin are investigated. Third, extensive experiments are conducted to explore the effects of deformation of the caudal fin on the thrust generation of the biomimetic robotic fish. It was found that the instant mode of the caudal fin has the largest thrust, which sees a 27.5% improvement compared to the conventional nondeformable mode, followed by the sinusoidal-based mode, which also sees an 18.2% improvement. This work provides a novel way to design and control the deformation of the caudal fin, which sheds light on the development of high-performance biomimetic robotic fish

Tat peptide-mediated soluble expression of the membrane protein LSECtin-CRD in Escherichia coli.

The human liver and lymph node sinusoidal endothelial cell C-type lectin (hLSECtin), a type II integral membrane protein, containing a Ca(2+)-dependent carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD), has a well-established biological activity, yet its three-dimensional structure is unknown due to low expression yields and aggregation into inclusion bodies. Previous study has demonstrated that the HIV-1 virus-encoded Tat peptide ('YGRKKRRQRRR') can increase the yields and the solubility of heterologous proteins. However, whether the Tat peptide could promote the high-yield and soluble expression of membrane proteins in Escherichia coli is not known. Therefore, the prokaryotic expression vector pET28b-Tat-hLSECtin-CRD (using pET28b and pET28b-hLSECtin-CRD as controls) was constructed, and transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells and induced with isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactoside (IPTG) followed with identifying by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. Subsequently, the bacterial subcellular structure, in which overexpressed the heterologous proteins Tat-hLSECtin-CRD and Tat-free hLSECtin-CRD, was analyzed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) respectively, and the mannose-binding activity of Tat-hLSECtin-CRD was also determined. Expectedly, the solubility of Tat-LSECtin-CRD significantly increased compared to Tat-free LSECtin-CRD (**p < 0.01) with prolonged time, and the Tat-LSECtin-CRD had a significant mannose-binding activity. The subcellular structure analysis indicated that the bacterial cells overexpressed Tat-hLSECtin-CRD exhibited denser region compared with controls, while dot denser region aggregated in the two ends of bacterial cells overexpressed Tat-free hLSECtin-CRD. This study provided a novel method for improving the soluble expression of membrane proteins in prokaryotic systems by fusion with the Tat peptide, which may be potentially expanded to the expression of other membrane proteins

Effects of pulsed 2.856 GHz microwave exposure on BM-MSCs isolated from C57BL/6 mice.

The increasing use of microwave devices over recent years has meant the bioeffects of microwave exposure have been widely investigated and reported. However the exact biological fate of bone marrow MSCs (BM-MSCs) after microwave radiation remains unknown. In this study, the potential cytotoxicity on MSC proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, and in vitro differentiation were assayed following 2.856 GHz microwave exposure at a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 4 W/kg. Importantly, our findings indicated no significant changes in cell viability, cell division and apoptosis after microwave treatment. Furthermore, we detected no significant effects on the differentiation ability of these cells in vitro, with the exception of reduction in mRNA expression levels of osteopontin (OPN) and osteocalcin (OCN). These findings suggest that microwave treatment at a SAR of 4 W/kg has undefined adverse effects on BM-MSCs. However, the reduced-expression of proteins related to osteogenic differentiation suggests that microwave can the influence at the mRNA expression genetic level

Meta-Analyses of <i>KIF6</i> Trp719Arg in Coronary Heart Disease and Statin Therapeutic Effect

Aims: The goal of our study is to assess the contribution of KIF6 Trp719Arg to both the risk of CHD and the efficacy of statin therapy in CHD patients.Methods and Results: Meta-analysis of 8 prospective studies among 77,400 Caucasians provides evidence that 719Arg increases the risk of CHD (PP = 0.642, OR = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.95–1.08). This suggests that the contribution of Trp719Arg to CHD varies in different ethnic groups. Additional meta-analysis also shows that statin therapy only benefit the vascular patients carry 719Arg allele (PP = 0.04, χ2 = 4.228, df = 1, odd ratio (OR) = 1.979, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.023–3.828). Similar trends are observed for post hoc analysis between female CHD cases and female healthy controls (dominant model: P = 0.04, χ2 = 4.231, df = 1, OR = 2.015, 95% CI = 1.024–3.964). Non-genetic CHD risk factors are not controlled in these analyses.Conclusions: Our meta-analysis demonstrates the role of Trp719Arg of KIF6 gene in the risk of CHD in Caucasians. The meta-analysis also suggests the role of this variant in statin therapeutic response in vascular diseases. Our case-control study suggests that Trp719Arg of KIF6 gene is associated with CHD in female Han Chinese through a post hoc analysis.</p