Multi-phase-combined CECT radiomics models for Fuhrman grade prediction of clear cell renal cell carcinoma

ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of multi-phase-combined contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) radiomics methods for noninvasive Fuhrman grade prediction of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).MethodsA total of 187 patients with four-phase CECT images were retrospectively enrolled and then were categorized into training cohort (n=126) and testing cohort (n=61). All patients were confirmed as ccRCC by histopathological reports. A total of 110 3D classical radiomics features were extracted from each phase of CECT for individual ccRCC lesion, and contrast-enhanced variation features were also calculated as derived radiomics features. These features were concatenated together, and redundant features were removed by Pearson correlation analysis. The discriminative features were selected by minimum redundancy maximum relevance method (mRMR) and then input into a C-support vector classifier to build multi-phase-combined CECT radiomics models. The prediction performance was evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC).ResultsThe multi-phase-combined CECT radiomics model showed the best prediction performance (AUC=0.777) than the single-phase CECT radiomics model (AUC=0.711) in the testing cohort (p value=0.039).ConclusionThe multi-phase-combined CECT radiomics model is a potential effective way to noninvasively predict Fuhrman grade of ccRCC. The concatenation of first-order features and texture features extracted from corticomedullary phase and nephrographic phase are discriminative feature representations

Subunit Vaccine Preparation of Bovine Rotavirus and Its Efficacy in Mice

ABSTRACT Background: Rotaviruses (RV) are important viral diarrheal agents in calves. Vaccination is an optimum measure to prevent bovine rotaviruses (BRV) infection. However, little research on BRV VP7 vaccine has been done and currently there is no BRV vaccine. Objective: To prepare a subunit vaccine of BRV and investigate its efficacy. Methods: Total RNA was extracted from MA104 cells infected with bovine rotavirus (BRV) strain GSB01. BRV VP7 gene was amplified using real time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qPCR). The pEASY-T3-VP7 plasmid was digeste

A Preliminary Study on the Mechanisms of Growth and Physiological Changes in Response to Different Temperatures in Neopyropia yezoensis (Rhodophyta)

As an economically valuable red seaweed, Neopyropia yezoensis (Rhodophyta) is cultivated in intertidal areas, and its growth and development are greatly influenced by environmental factors such as temperature. Although much effort has been devoted to delineating the influence, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, the gametophyte blades and protoplasts were cultured at different temperatures (13 °C, 17 °C, 21 °C, 25 °C). Only blades cultured at 13 °C maintained a normal growth state (the relative growth rate of thalli was positive, and the content of phycobiliprotein and pigments changed little); the survival and division rates of protoplasts were high at 13 °C, but greatly decreased with the increase in temperature, suggesting that 13 °C is suitable for the growth of N. yezoensis. In our efforts to delineate the underlying mechanism, a partial coding sequence (CDS) of Cyclin B and the complete CDS of cyclin-dependent-kinase B (CDKB) in N. yezoensis were cloned. Since Cyclin B controls G2/M phase transition by activating CDK and regulates the progression of cell division, we then analyzed how Cyclin B expression in the gametophyte blades might change with temperatures by qPCR and Western blotting. The results showed that the expression of Cyclin B first increased and then decreased after transfer from 13 °C to higher temperatures, and the downregulation of Cyclin B was more obvious with the increase in temperature. The phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) decreased with the increase in temperature, suggesting inactivation of ERK at higher temperatures; inhibition of ERK by FR180204 significantly decreased the survival and division rates of protoplasts cultured at 13 °C. These results suggest that downregulation of Cyclin B and inactivation of ERK might be involved in negatively regulating the survival and division of protoplasts and the growth of gametophyte blades of N. yezoensis at high temperatures

CD3/CD28 Costimulation-Induced NF-κB Activation Is Mediated by Recruitment of Protein Kinase C-θ, Bcl10, and IκB Kinase β to the Immunological Synapse through CARMA1

CARMA1 (also known as CARD11) is a scaffold molecule and contains a caspase-recruitment domain (CARD) and a membrane-associated guanylate kinase-like (MAGUK) domain. It plays an essential role in mediating CD3/CD28 costimulation-induced NF-κB activation. However, the molecular mechanism by which CARMA1 mediates costimulatory signals remains to be determined. Here, we show that CARMA1 is constitutively associated with the cytoplasmic membrane. This membrane association is essential for the function of CARMA1, since a mutant of CARMA1, CARMA1(L808P), that is defective in the membrane association cannot rescue CD3/CD28 costimulation-induced NF-κB activation in JPM50.6 CARMA1-deficient T cells. Although CD3/CD28 costimulation effectively induces the formation of the immunological synapse in CARMA1-deficient T cells, the recruitment of protein kinase C-θ (PKC-θ), Bcl10, and IκB kinase β (IKKβ) into lipid rafts of the immunological synapse is defective. Moreover, expression of wild-type CARMA1, but not CARMA1(L808P), restores the recruitment of PKC-θ, Bcl10, and IKKβ into lipid rafts in CARMA1-deficient T cells. Consistently, expression of a mutant CARMA1, CARMA1(ΔCD), that cannot associate with Bcl10 failed to restore CD3/CD28 costimulation-induced NF-κB activation in JPM50.6 cells, whereas expression of Bcl10-CARMA(ΔCD) fusion protein effectively restored this NF-κB activation. Together, these results indicate that CARMA1 mediates CD3/CD28 costimulation-induced NF-κB activation by recruiting downstream signaling components into the immunological synapse

The Diagnostic value of FibroScan for the degree of liver fibrosis in patients with ALT<2×ULN chronic hepatitis B

Objective: This paper studied the diagnostic value of FibroScan (FS) for the degree of liver fibrosis in patients with ALT&lt;2×ULN chronic hepatitis B(CHB).Methods: 100 ALT&lt;2×ULN CHB patients, who also with liver biopsy in our hospital from January 2017 to May 2019 were enrolled. According to the results of liver biopsy, patients that below G2 were classified as mild inflammation group. patients that above G2 were classified as moderate inflammation group; patients that below S2 were designated as non-significant fibrosis group, patients that above S2 and equal to S2 were designated as significant fibrosis group, then compared it with the results of Liver Stiffness Measurement (LSM) which measured by FS respectively.Results: 91 out of 100 patients had complete data, there were 60 patients in mild liver inflammation group, 31 in the moderate inflammation group, 53 patients belong to no significant fibrosis group and 17 patients belong to significant fibrosis group, comparison, there were statistically significant between the two groups of LSM (Z= 3.303, P = 0.001; Z= 4.944, P &lt; 0.001); FS diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis area under the curve (ACU) were 0.851, 95% CI (0.765-0.937), when the Yoden index is 0.59, the LSM optimal cut-off value is 5.35, and the corresponding sensitivity value is 86.4%, the specificity value is 72.5%.Conclusion: For patients with ALT&lt;2×ULN CHB, the liver stiffness measurement (LSM) measured by FS is related to the degree of fibrosis in the liver tissue. When the optimal cut-off value of LSM is 5.35, its diagnosis is most effective in significant liver fibrosis.</p

Alpha-linolenic acid given as an anti-inflammatory agent in a mouse model of colonic inflammation

This study examined the relationship between the high-fat, high-sugar diet (HFHSD) and trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) induced mouse colitis, the therapeutic effect of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) on mouse colitis, and the relationship between HFHSD and hyperlipidemia. We also examined the possible underlying mechanisms behind their interactions. Female BABL/c mice were fed with HFHSD for the 9 weeks. At the same time, ALA treatment (150 or 300 mg/kg) was administered on a daily basis. At the end of the 9 weeks, experimental colitis was induced by the intra-colonic administration of TNBS. Body weight, spleen weight, disease activity index (DAI), histological changes, T-cell-related cytokine level, and lipid profiles were measured after treatment. TNBS induced severe clinical manifestations of colitis and histological damage. Low-ALA (150 mg/kg) administration profoundly ameliorated TNBS-induced clinical manifestations, body weight loss, spleen weight loss, and histological damage. On the contrary, the high-ALA (300 mg/kg) administration did not ameliorate colitis and even exacerbated the symptoms. HFHSD consumption assisted TNBS in changing IL-12, IFN-γ, IL-2, and IL-17A in the liver. As expected, these changes were recovered through low-ALA. In addition, HFHSD had a significant impact on the total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglyceride (TG), which related to the increased risk of hyperlipidemia. In summation, HFHSD exacerbated the TNBS-induced colitis via the Th1/Th17 pathway. The Low-ALA (150 mg/kg) exhibited protective effects against the TNBS-induced colitis via the Th1/Th2/Th17 pathway

A β-glucosidase-producing M-2 strain: Isolation from cow dung and fermentation parameter optimization for flaxseed cake

Flaxseed cake contains cyanogenic glucosides, which can be metabolized into hydrocyanic acid in an animal's body, leading to asphyxia poisoning in cells. Beta-glucosidase is highly efficient in degrading cyanogenic glucosides. The Cattle may have β-glucosidase-producing strains in the intestinal tract after eating small amounts of flaxseed cake for a long time. This study aimed to isolate of a strain from cow dung that produces β-glucosidase with high activity and can significantly reduce the amount of cyanogenic glucosides. We used cow dung as the microflora source and an esculin agar as the selective medium. After screening with 0.05% esculin and 0.01% ferric citrate, we isolated 5 strains producing high amounts of β-glucosidase. In vitro flaxseed cake fermentation was fermented by these 5 strains, in which the strain M-2 exerted the best effect (P < 0.05). The strain M-2 was identified as Lichtheimia ramosa and used as the fermentation strain to optimize the fermentation parameters by a single factor analysis and orthogonal experimental design. The optimum condition was as follows: inoculum size 3%, water content 60%, time 144 h, and temperature 32 °C. Under this condition, the removal rate of cyanogenic glucosides reached 89%, and crude protein increment reached 44%. These results provided a theoretical basis for the removal of cyanogenic glucosides in flaxseed and the comprehensive utilization of flaxseed cake. Keywords: Flaxseed cake, Cyanogenic glycosides, Fermentation, β-glucosidase, Crude protein, Lichtheimi