Sternoclavicular Septic Arthritis Caused by Acupuncture over the Posterior Neck

Acupuncture has been used therapeutically for thousands of years and is considered a relatively safe procedure. Sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) arthritis is a rare joint infection and has never been reported as an adverse event of acupuncture. We report the case of a 50-year-old woman who presented with progressive left neck, shoulder and upper chest pain after acupuncture. A computerized tomography (CT) scan revealed septic arthritis over the left sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia was noted. The patient was discharged uneventfully after intravenous antibiotic treatment. SCJ septic arthritis should be considered if unilateral neck and upper chest pain occurs after acupuncture

Effect of Astragalus polysaccharide supplementation on growth performance and plasma parameters of weaned piglets under commercial condition

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Astragalus polysaccharide (APS) supplementation on the growth performance, plasma biochemical parameters, and plasma immune and antioxidant indexes of weaned piglets in a commercial swine farm. A total of 120 piglets weaned at 22 days and allocated to 2 groups, and fed a basal diet either without (CTR) or with 200 mg/kg of APS in a local commercial farm for a 42-d experiment. At end of the trial, one piglet from each pen was selected for blood sampling. The results showed that dietary APS decreased the feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to the CTR group from day 14 to day 28 and day 0 to day 42 (P = 0.08 and 0.02, respectively). In addition, supplementation of APS had the tendency to increase the plasma superoxide dismutase activity and IgG content of piglets compared to the CTR group on day 42 (P = 0.06 and 0.09, respectively). Results in this study suggested that dietary APS might have a beneficial effect on growth performance and health status of weaned piglets under the commercial condition

Genome-Wide and Differential Proteomic Analysis of Hepatitis B Virus and Aflatoxin B1 Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Guangxi, China

Both hepatitis B virus (HBV) and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) exposure can cause liver damage as well as increase the probability of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To investigate the underlying genetic changes that may influence development of HCC associated with HBV infection and AFB1 exposure, HCC patients were subdivided into 4 groups depending upon HBV and AFB1 exposure status: (HBV(+)/AFB1(+), HBV(+)/AFB1(-), HBV(-)/AFB1(+), HBV(-)/AFB1(-)). Genetic abnormalities and protein expression profiles were analyzed by array-based comparative genomic hybridization and isobaric tagging for quantitation. A total of 573 chromosomal aberrations (CNAs) including 184 increased and 389 decreased were detected in our study population. Twenty-five recurrently altered regions (RARs; chromosomal alterations observed in ≥10 patients) in chromosomes were identified. Loss of 4q13.3-q35.2, 13q12.1-q21.2 and gain of 7q11.2-q35 were observed with a higher frequency in the HBV(+)/AFB1(+), HBV(+)/AFB1(-) and HBV(-)/AFB1(+) groups compared to the HBV(-)/AFB(-) group. Loss of 8p12-p23.2 was associated with high TNM stage tumors (P = 0.038) and was an unfavorable prognostic factor for tumor-free survival (P=0.045). A total of 133 differentially expressed proteins were identified in iTRAQ proteomics analysis, 69 (51.8%) of which mapped within identified RARs. The most common biological processes affected by HBV and AFB1 status in HCC tumorigenesis were detoxification and drug metabolism pathways, antigen processing and anti-apoptosis pathways. Expression of AKR1B10 was increased significantly in the HBV(+)/AFB1(+) and HBV(-)/AFB1(+) groups. A significant correlation between the expression of AKR1B10 mRNA and protein levels as well as AKR1B10 copy number was observed, which suggest that AKR1B10 may play a role in AFB1-related hepatocarcinogenesis. In summary, a number of genetic and gene expression alterations were found to be associated with HBV and AFB1- related HCC. The possible synergistic effects of HBV and AFB1 in hepatocarcinogenesis warrant further investigations

<i>ortho-</i>Directing Chromium Arene Complexes as Efficient Mediators for Enantiospecific C(sp²)–C(sp³) Cross-Coupling Reactions

<p>Supplemental material, supplementary_table_6 for HDAC3-mediated silencing of miR-451 decreases chemosensitivity of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer by targeting NEDD9 by Dong-qin Chen, Chen Yu, Xue-feng Zhang, Zhong-fang Liu, Rui Wang, Min Jiang, Hao Chen, Feng Yan, Min Tao, Long-bang Chen, Hong Zhu and Ji-feng Feng in Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology</p

Clinical characteristics of the autumn-winter type scrub typhus cases in south of Shandong province, northern China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Before 1986, scrub typhus was only found endemic in southern China. Because human infections typically occur in the summer, it is called "summer type". During the autumn-winter period of 1986, a new type of scrub typhus was identified in Shandong and northern Jiangsu province of northern China. This newly recognized scrub typhus was subsequently reported in many areas of northern China and was then called "autumn-winter type". However, clinical characteristics of associated cases have not been reported.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>From 1995 to 2006, all suspected scrub typhus cases in five township hospitals of Feixian county, Shandong province were enrolled. Indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) was used as confirmatory serodiagnosis test. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) connected with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and sequence analyses were used for genotyping of <it>O. tsutsugamushi </it>DNAs. Clinical symptoms and demography of confirmed cases were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 480 scrub typhus cases were confirmed. The cases occurred every year exclusively between September and December with a peak occurrence in October. The case numbers were relatively higher in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2000 than in other years. 57.9% of cases were in the group aged 21–50. More cases occurred in male (56%) than in female (44%). The predominant occupational group of the cases was farmers (85.0%). Farm work was reported the primary exposure to infection in 67.7% of cases. Fever, rash, and eschar were observed in 100.0%, 90.4%, and 88.5% of cases, respectively. Eschars formed frequently on or around umbilicus, abdomen areas, and front and back of waist (34.1%) in both genders. Normal results were observed in 88.7% (WBC counts), 84.5% (PLT counts), and 89.7% (RBC counts) of cases, respectively. Observations from the five hospitals were compared and no significant differences were found.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The autumn-winter type scrub typhus in northern China occurred exclusively from September to December with a peak occurrence in October, which was different from the summer type in southern China. In comparison with the summer type, complications associated with autumn-winter type scrub typhus were less severe, and abnormalities of routine hematological parameters were less obvious.</p

Stabilization of mismatch repair gene PMS2 by glycogen synthase kinase 3β is implicated in the treatment of cervical carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>PMS2 expression loss was reported in a variety of human. However, its importance has not been fully understood in cervical carcinoma. The aim of this study was to determine the expression of PMS2 in cervical carcinoma and evaluate the significance of mismatch repair gene PMS2 regulated by glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β) in chemosensitivity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We examined PMS2 and phosphorylated GSK-3β(<it>s</it>9) expression in cervical carcinoma tissues using immunohistochemical staining. Furthermore, we detected PMS2 expression in HeLa cells and evaluate the interaction with GSK-3β after transfection with GSK-3β by small interference RNA (siRNA), co-immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting. We also evaluated the effect of PMS2 transfection on HeLa cells' chemosensitivity to cisplatin treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found significant downregulation of PMS2 in cervical carcinoma, which was negatively associated with phosphorylated GSK-3β (<it>s</it>9). Furthermore, we demonstrated GSK-3β transfection was able to interact with PMS2 and enhance PMS2 production in HeLa cells, and increased PMS2 production was responsible for enhanced chemosensitivity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results provide the evidence that stabilization of PMS2 production by GSK-3β was important to improve chemosensitization, indicating the significance of GSK-3β-related PMS2 downregulation in the development of cervical carcinoma and in developing a potential strategy for chemotherapy.</p

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN