Antiurolithiatic effect of ferulic acid on ethylene glycolinduced renal calculus in experimental rats

Purpose: To evaluate the anti-urolithiatic effect of ferulic acid on ethylene glycol-induced kidney stone in a rat model.Methods: Five groups of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (6 rats/group) were used in this study. Group I rats served as normal control. Renal calculus was induced through ethylene glycol (0.75 % v/v in drinking water) administration to all rats for 28 days except those in group 1. Prior to ethylene glycol treatment, ferulic acid was given orally (gavage) to rats in groups III and IV at doses of 40 and 80 mg/kg, respectively. Rats in group V (positive control) were treated with standard drug, cystone at a dose of 750 mg/kg prior to ethylene glycol administration, while group II rats received no treatment. Kidney tissue and blood serum were sampled after 28 days and used for biochemical and histopathological analyses.Results: Rats in group II showed significant increases in oxidative stress pattern as seen in significant reductions in GSH, SOD, GPx, and CAT levels, and significant elevation of lipid peroxidation (LPO), relative to normal control group (p < 0.05). However, renal calculus formation and oxidative stress were significantly inhibited by ferulic acid treatment in groups III and IV. These results were supported by histopathological findings.Conclusion: Ferulic acid exerts anti-urolithiatic effect via inhibition of oxidative stress. Thus, it has potentials for use in preventing kidney stone formation.Keywords: Urolithiasis, Ferulic acid, Ethylene glycol, Kidney, Histopatholog

Proteome analysis of human colorectal cancer tissue using 2-D DIGE and tandem mass spectrometry for identification of disease-related proteins

Laser capture microdissection and two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis were used to establish the proteomic profiles for tumor and matched adjacent tissues from 12 patients. Differential protein spots were identified by mass spectrometric analysis. The cDNA of the differential protein was transfected into colorectal cancer cells, and the biological behavior of these cells was observed. The proteomic profile in colorectal cancer tissues was significantly different from that in normal adjacent tissues. There was a 1.5-fold difference and 60 differential protein spots between cancer and adjacent tissues. Ten differential protein spots were analyzed. Among them, two protein spots were down-regulated and eight protein spots were up-regulated in the primary tumor tissues. After identification by mass spectrometry, the two down-regulated proteins were carbonic anhydrase II and protein disulfide isomerase, and these eight up-regulated proteins included APC-stimulated guanine nucleotide exchange factor, phosphoglycerate kinase 1, fumarate hydratase, aldolase A, activator protein 2B, glutathione S-transferase A3, Arginase and zinc finger protein 64 homolog. After been transfected with carbonic anhydrase II, the invasive ability, mobility and drug resistance of colon cancer lovo cells were significantly reduced. The proteomic profile was significantly different between colorectal cancer tissues and normal adjacent tissues. The down-regulation of carbonic anhydrase II and protein disulfide isomerase and up-regulation of APC-stimulated guanine nucleotide exchange facto, aldolase A, glutathione S-transferase A3 and arginase were correlated with the onset of colorectal cancer.Key words: Colorectal cancer, proteomics

Development and Validation of an RNA-Seq-Based Prognostic Signature in Neuroblastoma

Objective: The stratification of neuroblastoma (NBL) prognosis remains difficult. RNA-based signatures might be able to predict prognosis, but independent cross-platform validation is still rare. Methods: RNA-Seq-based profiles from NBL patients were acquired and then analyzed. The RNA-Seq prognostic index (RPI) and the clinically adjusted RPI (RCPI) were successively established in the training cohort (TARGET-NBL) and then verified in the validation cohort (GSE62564). Survival prediction was assessed using a time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the ROC curve (AUC). Functional enrichment analysis of the genes was conducted using bioinformatics methods. Results: In the training cohort, 10 gene pairs were eventually integrated into the RPI. In both cohorts, the high-risk group had poor overall survival (OS) (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively) and favorable event-free survival (EFS) (P = 0.00032 and P = 0.06, respectively). ROC curve analysis also showed that the RPI predicted OS (60 month AUC values of 0.718 and 0.593, respectively) and EFS (60 month AUC values of 0.627 and 0.852, respectively) well in both the training and validation cohorts. Clinicopathological indicators associated with prognosis in the univariate and multivariate regression analyses were identified and added to the RPI to form the RCPI. The RCPI was also used to divide populations into different risk groups, and the high-risk group had poor OS (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively) and EFS (P < 0.05 and P < 0.05, respectively). Finally, the RCPI had higher accuracy than the RPI for the prediction of OS (60 month AUC values of 0.730 and 0.852, respectively) and EFS (60 month AUC values of 0.663 and 0.763, respectively) in both the training and validation cohorts. Moreover, these differentially expressed genes may be involved in certain NBL-related events. Conclusions: The RCPI could reliably categorize NBL patients based on different risks of death

A comparison between the effectiveness of PBL and LBL on improving problem-solving abilities of medical students using questioning

In daily patient-history taking and diagnosis practice, doctors ask questions to gather information from patients and narrow down diagnostic hypotheses. Training medical students to be efficient problem solvers through the use of questioning is therefore important. In this study, the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) and lecture-based learning in improving the questioning abilities of medical students (N=104) was assessed by a modified 20-question task. In this task, the participants were asked to identify target pictures by asking questions, the problem-solving process of which resembles that of the diagnosis scenario. Moreover, this task requires no medical knowledge, and therefore allows knowledge-irrelevant questioning abilities to be assessed independently. The results show that PBL students generally ask more efficient questions and use fewer questions to complete the task. This finding suggests that PBL curricula may help improve the questioning strategies of medical students and help them diagnose more efficiently in future diagnosis practice.</p

Phylogenetic Analyses of Plastid-Originated Proteins Imply Universal Endosymbiosis in Ancestors of Animals and Fungi

We searched and analyzed cyanobacteria-originated metazoa/fungi proteins (COPs) by phylogenetic analyses. Analysis of them showed that for millions of years universal plastid endosymbiosis and gene transfer occurred in ancestors of metazoa/fungi, and some transferred fragments have been reserved until now even in modern mammals. Most eukaryotes contained plastids in the ancient era, and some of them lost them later. Functions of homologues in cyanobacterial genomes and eukaryotic genomes are in consensus, and most are involved in the organic compound metabolism. With emergence of organelles and subcellular structure in eukaryotic cells, the locations of these proteins diversified. Furthermore, some novel functions were endowed for COPs, especially in vertebrates