Clinical and molecular pathological characteristics of 371 cases of malignant pulmonary nodules

Objective: To summarize the clinical and molecular pathological characteristics of malignant pulmonary nodules and improve understanding of the disease. Methods: Patients who underwent surgical resection of small pulmonary nodules in Cardiothoracic Surgery of Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine from March 2018 to December 2021 and were pathologically confirmed to be malignant were taken as the research objects. Retrospective analysis of clinical data and molecular pathological features of surgical specimens was conducted. Results: A total of 371 patients were enrolled, including 39 cases of carcinoma in situ (CIS), 164 cases of microinvasive adenocarcinoma (MIA) and 168 cases were invasive adenocarcinoma (IA); 69.8% were females, 30.2% were males, with a majority of females. 87.6% of patients did not smoke; The upper lobe of the right lung had the most malignant nodules (37.5%), followed by the lower lobe of the left lung (18.6%). In comparison among different pathological types, the ages of CIS, MIA and IA were (54.1±10.9), (52.2±12.6) and (59.1±9.9) years (F=16.05, P＜0.01), the smoking rates were 10.3%, 3.7% and 21.4% (X2=24.31, P＜0.01), the median tumor diameter was 0.55, 0.60 and 0.80 cm (H=76.13, P＜0.01), respectively, with IA all being the highest, and the differences were statistically significant. The mutation frequency of exons 21 of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and tumor suppressor protein p53 (TP53) in IA were higher than those in CIS and MIA (P＜0.05), while the mutation frequency of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) exon 20ins, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP2K1) and serine/threonine protein kinase (BRAF) were lower than those in CIS and MIA, and the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05). Conclusion: Patients with malignant pulmonary nodules may have the following characteristics: more common in women, non-smoking, located in the upper lobe of the right lung. There are differences in age, smoking rate, tumor diameter and driving gene mutation frequency among the three pathological types of malignant nodules

Global DNA methylation and transcriptional analyses of human ESC-derived cardiomyocytes.

With defined culture protocol, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are able to generate cardiomyocytes in vitro, therefore providing a great model for human heart development, and holding great potential for cardiac disease therapies. In this study, we successfully generated a highly pure population of human cardiomyocytes (hCMs) (>95% cTnT(+)) from hESC line, which enabled us to identify and characterize an hCM-specific signature, at both the gene expression and DNA methylation levels. Gene functional association network and gene-disease network analyses of these hCM-enriched genes provide new insights into the mechanisms of hCM transcriptional regulation, and stand as an informative and rich resource for investigating cardiac gene functions and disease mechanisms. Moreover, we show that cardiac-structural genes and cardiac-transcription factors have distinct epigenetic mechanisms to regulate their gene expression, providing a better understanding of how the epigenetic machinery coordinates to regulate gene expression in different cell types

Engineering Escherichia coli for autoinducible production of n-butanol

Background: Escherichia coli does not produce n-butanol naturally, but can be butanologenic when related enzymes were expressed using inducible elements on plasmids. In this study we attempted to confer E. coli strain capability of automatic excretion of the chemical by employing a native anaerobic promoter. Also, a novel DNA kit was designed for PCR preparation of linear DNA fragments to perform strain modification. The kit is primarily composed of two mother vectors, co-transformation of linear DNAs into E. coli can simultaneously introduce two butanol synthetic operons into the chromosome and create two in-frame gene deletions at targeted native loci. Results: E. coli strain Bw2V carries plasmid pCNA-PHC and pENA-TA, both utilizes native anaerobic promoter Phya for the expression of butanol synthetic enzymes. When Bw2V was subjected in anaerobic fermentation using medium containing extra glucose, the accumulated n-butanol in the broth was up to 2.8 g/L in bioreactor; as the genetic element expressing the same pathway was introduced into the genome, the titer of butanol was 1.4 g/L. Conclusions: The expression systemusing Phya is effective in applications that involve expression plasmids as also applicable in ectopic expression as single copy on the chromosome. Results imply that Phya can be subjected for broader application in bioproduction of more feedstock chemicals

Effect and complications of different surgical methods in treatment of laryngeal carcinoma

Objective·To compare the effects and complications of carbon dioxide laser laryngectomy and open partial laryngectomy in the treatment of laryngeal carcinoma.Methods·Clinical data of 101 patients with stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma admitted to Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2013 to January 2018 were selected and divided into open surgery group and minimally invasive group according to different surgical methods. The open surgery group received open partial laryngectomy (57 cases), and the minimally invasive group received carbon dioxide laser laryngectomy (44 cases). Follow-up visits were made by telephone and outpatient visits, and the operation time, postoperative laryngeal mucosa edema time, length of stay, 5-year survival rate, complication rate and recurrence rate of the two groups were compared in the different clinical stages (stage Ⅰ, stage Ⅱ, and stage Ⅲ) and tumor locations (glottic type and non-glottic type).Results·The operation time, postoperative laryngeal mucosa edema time and length of stay of the minimally invasive group were shorter than those of the open surgery group (P<0.05). Comparison of the 5-year survival rates of patients with the same clinical stage and glottic type between the two groups showed no statistically significant difference (both P>0.05); while comparison of the 5-year survival rates of patients with non-glottic type between the two groups (62.5% in the open surgery group vs 0 in the minimally invasive group) showed a statistically significant difference (P<0.05). In the minimally invasive group, there were 3 cases of complications, including 1 case of fever and 2 cases of lung infection; in the open surgery group, there were 14 cases of complications, including 5 cases of fever, 7 cases of lung infection and 2 cases of pharyngeal fistula. The complication rate of patients in the minimally invasive group (6.82%, 3/44) was lower than that in the open surgery group (24.60%, 14/57), and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05); the complication rate of patients with stage Ⅱ and glottic type in the minimally invasive group was significantly lower than that in the open surgery group (P<0.05). Comparing the recurrence rate of patients in the two groups (10.53% in the open surgery group vs 2.27% in the minimally invasive group), the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05).Conclusion·Compared with open partial laryngectomy, carbon dioxide laser laryngectomy has faster postoperative recovery and lower complication rate in the treatment of early and middle laryngeal malignant tumors, so it is worth promoting

Satellite-observed strong subtropical ocean warming as an early signature of global warming

Satellite observations covering the last four decades reveal an ocean warming pattern resembling the negative phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. This pattern has therefore been widely interpreted as a manifestation of natural climate variability. Here, we re-examine the observed warming pattern and find that the predominant warming over the subtropical oceans, while mild warming or even cooling over the subpolar ocean, is dynamically consistent with the convergence and divergence of surface water. By comparison of observations, paleo-reconstructions, and model simulations, we propose that the observed warming pattern is likely a short-term transient response to the increased CO2 forcing, which only emerges during the early stage of anthropogenic warming. On centennial to millennial timescales, the subpolar ocean warming is expected to exceed the temporally dominant warming of the subtropical ocean. This delayed but amplified subpolar ocean warming has the potential to reshape the ocean-atmosphere circulation and threaten the stability of marine-terminating ice sheets

Differences in subthalamic oscillatory activity in the two hemispheres associated with severity of Parkinson’s disease

BackgroundIt is well known that motor features of Parkinson’s disease (PD) commonly begin on one side of the body and extend to the other side with disease progression. The onset side generally remains more severely affected over the course of the disease. However, the pathophysiology underlying the asymmetry of motor manifestations remains unclear. The purpose of the present study is to examine whether alterations in neuronal activity in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) associate with PD severity.MethodsMicroelectrode recording was performed in the STN during targeting for 30 patients in the treatment of deep brain stimulation. The mean spontaneous firing rate (MSFR), power density spectral analysis, and correlations were calculated. Characteristics of subthalamic oscillatory activity were compared between two hemispheres. UPDRS III scores during “Off” and “On” states were obtained for the body side of initial symptoms (BSIS) and the body side of extended symptoms (BSES).ResultsThere were significant differences of MSFR (41.3 ± 11.0 Hz vs 35.2 ± 10.0 Hz) and percentage of ß frequency oscillatory neurons (51.3% vs 34.9%) between BSIS and BSES. The percentage of ß frequency oscillatory neurons correlated with the bradykinesia/rigidity scores for both sides (p &lt; 0.05). In contrast, the percentage of tremor frequency oscillatory neurons was significantly higher in the BSES than that in the BSIS. In particular, these neurons only correlated with the tremor scores of the BSES (p &lt; 0.05).ConclusionThe results suggest that increased neuronal firing rate and ß frequency oscillatory neurons in the STN are associated with contralateral side motor severity and its progression. Tremor frequency oscillatory neurons are less observed in the STN of the BSIS suggesting that ß oscillatory activity dominates and tremor frequency oscillatory activity reciprocally declines

Visual tracking method of shearer based on compressive sensing

For problems of low illumination intensity, uneven illumination and high coal dust concentration in working face, a visual tracking method of shearer based on compressive sensing was proposed. The image is normalized by use of rectangular filter firstly to get feature vectors. Then compressed Haar-like feature vectors of target samples and background samples are gotten according to compressive sensing theory for building target model and training naive Bayes classifier. The target image and background image are identified by the naive Bayes classifier finally, so as to realize dynamic tracking of shearer. The experimental result shows that the method can track shearer effectively when the shearer is moving or covered in environment of uneven and varied illumination, and average tracking frame rate is 22 frames per second

Upregulation of MiR-196a promotes cell proliferation by downregulating p27kip1 in laryngeal cancer

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence has confirmed that miR-196a plays a critical role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression in a variety of cancers. It has been demonstrated that miR-196a is highly up-regulated in laryngeal cancer by miRNA profiling analysis. However, the functional mechanism of miR-196a in laryngeal cancer remains unclear. This study aims to explore the mechanism of miR-196a in laryngeal cancer METHODS: In the present study, we conducted qPCR analysis of miR-196a expression in human laryngeal cancer and showed that miR-196a was overexpressed in tumor-derived samples and laryngeal cancer cell lines compared with matched normal controls. Further functional analysis of miR-196a demonstrated that the inhibition of miR-196a could inhibit laryngeal cell-cycle progression and proliferation in vitro. Luciferase reporter assay and western blot confirmed that miR-196a directly targeted p27kip1. Moreover, in order to investigate whether miR-196a regulated cell growth in laryngeal cancer cells by targeting p27kip1, rescue studies were performed in laryngeal cancer cells RESULTS: Results showed that overexpression of p27kip1 rescue decreased cell proliferation caused by miR-196a inhibitors. A negative relation between miR-196a and p27kip1 expression in laryngeal cancer tissues were also noted by further analyses CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that miR-196a was upregulated in laryngeal cancer and promoted cell proliferation by downregulating p27kip1 in laryngeal cancer. However, further studies are needed to verify this findin

How Sugar Labeling Affects Consumer Sugar Reduction: A Case of Sucrose Grade Labels in China

The effectiveness of sugar labeling depends not only on direct sugar reduction but also on the extent to which compensatory eating occurs. This study focuses on the use of sucrose grade labels in the Chinese market to investigate not only consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for different sucrose labels but also the consistency of their sugar control behavior when confronted with unlabeled processed foods. The findings reveal that consumers are willing to pay approximately 4%, 7%, and 7% more for yogurt labeled as “low sucrose”, “no sucrose”, and “no sucrose with sugar substitutes”, respectively, compared to yogurt labeled as “regular sucrose.” Furthermore, when subsequently presented with unlabeled toast, a significant proportion of consumers who initially chose “no sucrose” yogurt continued to select wholewheat toast, which contains less sugar than white and coconut toast. This indicates their commitment to maintaining their sugar control behavior. The study provides valuable experimental evidence for researchers, food manufacturers, and policymakers regarding the efficacy of sucrose grade labels. In particular, it offers policymakers insights into guiding consumers to promote sustainable healthy diets

Investigation and Improvement of Grass-roots Agricultural Extension System in Yichang City

Through a questionnaire survey, the working status, payment and ideological conditions of 166 grassroots agro-technicians were studied and analyzed. As is indicated by the results, the technicians are generally paid with low wages, and lack enthusiasm and initiative in jobs, and most of them take a second job. After an expose of the existing problems in the grassroots agricultural extension system in Yichang, some suggestions were proposed for improving the agricultural extension system in the new era