Genomic and protein expression analysis reveals flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) as a key biomarker in breast and ovarian cancer

FEN1 has key roles in Okazaki fragment maturation during replication, long patch base excision repair, rescue of stalled replication forks, maintenance of telomere stability and apoptosis. FEN1 may be dysregulated in breast and ovarian cancers and have clinicopathological significance in patients. We comprehensively investigated FEN1 mRNA expression in multiple cohorts of breast cancer [training set (128), test set (249), external validation (1952)]. FEN1 protein expression was evaluated in 568 oestrogen receptor (ER) negative breast cancers, 894 ER positive breast cancers and 156 ovarian epithelial cancers. FEN1 mRNA overexpression was highly significantly associated with high grade (p= 4.89 x 10 - 57) , high mitotic index (p= 5.25 x 10 - 28), pleomorphism (p= 6.31 x 10-19), ER negative (p= 9.02 x 10-35 ), PR negative (p= 9.24 x 10-24 ), triple negative phenotype (p= 6.67 x 10-21) , PAM50.Her2 (p=5.19 x 10-13 ), PAM50.Basal (p=2.7 x 10-41), PAM50.LumB (p=1.56 x 10-26), integrative molecular cluster 1 (intClust.1) ( p=7.47 x 10-12), intClust.5 (p=4.05 x 10-12) and intClust. 10 (p=7.59 x 10-38 ) breast cancers. FEN1 mRNA overexpression is associated with poor breast cancer specific survival in univariate (p=4.4 x 10-16) and multivariate analysis (p=9.19 x 10-7). At the protein level, in ER positive tumours , FEN1 overexpression remains significantly linked to high grade, high mitotic index and pleomorphism (ps< 0.01). In ER negative tumours, high FEN1 is significantly associated with pleomorphism, tumour type, lymphovascular invasion, triple negative phenotype, EGFR and HER2 expression (ps<0.05). In ER positive as well as in ER negative tumours, FEN1 protein over expression is associated with poor survival in univariate and multivariate analysis (ps<0.01). In ovarian epithelial cancers , similarly, FEN1 overexpression is associated with high grade, high stage and poor survival (ps<0.05). We conclude that FEN1 is a promising biomarker in breast and ovarian epithelial cancer

An Integrated Flood Risk Assessment Model for Cities Located in the Transitional Zone between Taihang Mountains and North China Plain: A Case Study in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China

Cities located in the transitional zone between Taihang Mountains and North China plain run high flood risk in recent years, especially urban waterlogging risk. In this paper, we take Shijiazhuang, which is located in this transitional zone, as the study area and proposed a new flood risk assessment model for this specific geographical environment. Flood risk assessment indicator factors are established by using the digital elevation model (DEM), along with land cover, economic, population, and precipitation data. A min-max normalization method is used to normalize the indices. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method is used to determine the weight of each normalized index and the geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis tool is adopted for calculating the risk map of flood disaster in Shijiazhuang. This risk map is consistent with the reports released by Hebei Provincial Water Conservancy Bureau and can provide reference for flood risk management

Influences of litter diversity and soil moisture on soil microbial communities in decomposing mixed litter of alpine steppe species

Many studies have examined the effects of plant diversity and soil water availability on litter decomposition, but little is known about how these two factors interactively influence soil microbial communities, especially in alpine ecosystems. Therefore, the objective of this work was to investigate how litter diversity influences soil microbial communities under different moisture conditions in an alpine steppe ecosystem in Northern Tibet. We collected litter of four abundant plant species (Stipa purpurea, Sp; Carex moorcroftii, Cm; Leontopodium pusillum, Lp; and Artemisia nanschanica, An), and used phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis to measure soil microbial biomass and community structure. A fully factorial litter mixing experiment under different soil moisture conditions (i.e., 20%, 30% and 40% water holding capacity) was employed. The results showed that litter composition, rather than species richness, significantly affected soil microbial biomass and community composition. The presence of Sp, Cm and An exerted positive or negative effects on soil microbial communities. Litter quality (i.e., C:N ratio) could explain the effects of litter composition on soil microbial communities. High soil moisture facilitated the growth of gram-negative bacteria, while gram-positive bacteria and fungi were more abundant in lower moisture soil. We did not detect any interactive effects of litter species richness and soil moisture on the microbial communities. However, the effects of litter composition on soil microbial communities were dependent on soil moisture condition. These findings indicate that litter composition, rather than species richness, shows interactive effects with soil moisture on soil microbes, and both factors are important in regulating ecosystem functions

Distal aortic arch dysplasia accompanied by multiple aneurysms in adult: A case report and review of the literature

Because of the high blood flow and high pressure, the aortic arch, which sends out 3 branches including the innominate artery that separates the right common carotid artery and the right subclavian artery, the left common carotid artery, and the left subclavian artery, is an important blood vessel supplying the brain and spinal cord, so the risk of aneurysms in this area is very high. The main risk is that the rupture can cause massive bleeding; the secondary is that some aortic arch lesions can cause insufficient blood supply to the brain or spinal cord. If early diagnosis can be detected, it could be treated completely with minimally invasive or open surgery. Therefore, especially for this kind of patient, the significance of treatment is great, and better results can be obtained through treatment. Here is a 48-year-old female patient with dysplasia of the distal aortic arch, multiple aortic parietal aneurysms, and abnormal origin of the left subclavian artery, which originates from the tortuous and twisted aorta

Opposite responses of global warming potential to ammonium and nitrate addition in an alpine steppe soil from Northern Tibet

Deposit of inorganic nitrogen (N) in different forms may divergently impact soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and then aroused different feedback of global warming potential (GWP). Nevertheless, little information is available in alpine grassland ecosystems, it is far from elucidated. In this study, the effects of ammonium (NH4+-N) and nitrate (NO3--N) addition on GHG emissions were evaluated by using laboratory incubation for an alpine steppe soil in northern Tibet. Six-level N gradient was set for the incubation: 14 (2T), 28 (4T), 56 (8T), 112 (16T), 224 (32T), 448 (64T) kg.ha(-1).year(-1). Our results showed that NH4+-N and NO3--N addition significantly increased and decreased soil CO2, respectively. In general, NH4+-N addition had a stronger promotion to N2O emission and a stronger inhibition to CH4 uptake compared with NO3--N addition at same level. Besides, GHG emissions increased or decreased linearly with inorganic N addition gradient (P 84%) in alpine steppe soil from Northern Tibet. The results suggested that NO3--N input likely to be more eco-friendly than NH4+-N input in alpine steppe area, it may have implications in environmental policy related to the anthropogenic emissions of the two N forms. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V