Astragaloside IV exerts anti-inflammatory role in endometriosis by downregulating TLR4/NF-κB pathway

Purpose: To investigate the effect of astragaloside IV administration on the inflammatory response in endometriosis and the underlying mechanism of action. Methods: Mice were divided into two groups: endometriosis (EMs) mice and control mice (n = 12). EMs induction in mice was achieved by transplantation of mouse uterine tissue. The same procedure was performed in control mice except that a separate suture was inserted instead of endometrial tissue. After 5 weeks, EMs mice were treated with or without astragaloside IV (AIV). The tissue lesions in EMs and control mice were stained with hematoxylin and eosin staining. The activation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65 signaling was evaluated by western blot, while expression of inflammatory cytokines was evaluated by quantitative real-time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Astragaloside IV repressed the inflammation of murine Ems lesions, and also dampened the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling in vivo and vitro (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). In addition, the expression levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, Ccl-2, and TNF-α) decreased following AIV treatment in vivo. Conclusion: The results indicate that TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathways are closely related to the inhibition of Ems inflammation by astragaloside IV. Thus, astragaloside IV may be a novel drug for the prevention and treatment of endometrioses

Kirigami-inspired, highly stretchable micro-supercapacitor patches fabricated by laser conversion and cutting.

The recent developments in material sciences and rational structural designs have advanced the field of compliant and deformable electronics systems. However, many of these systems are limited in either overall stretchability or areal coverage of functional components. Here, we design a construct inspired by Kirigami for highly deformable micro-supercapacitor patches with high areal coverages of electrode and electrolyte materials. These patches can be fabricated in simple and efficient steps by laser-assisted graphitic conversion and cutting. Because the Kirigami cuts significantly increase structural compliance, segments in the patches can buckle, rotate, bend and twist to accommodate large overall deformations with only a small strain (<3%) in active electrode areas. Electrochemical testing results have proved that electrical and electrochemical performances are preserved under large deformation, with less than 2% change in capacitance when the patch is elongated to 382.5% of its initial length. The high design flexibility can enable various types of electrical connections among an array of supercapacitors residing in one patch, by using different Kirigami designs

Cyclophilin E Functions as a Negative Regulator to Influenza Virus Replication by Impairing the Formation of the Viral Ribonucleoprotein Complex

The nucleoprotein (NP) of influenza A virus is a multifunctional protein that plays a critical role in the replication and transcription of the viral genome. Therefore, examining host factors that interact with NP may shed light on the mechanism of host restriction barriers and the tissue tropism of influenza A virus. Here, Cyclophilin E (CypE), a member of the peptidyl-propyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase) family, was found to bind to NP and inhibit viral replication and transcription.In the present study, CypE was found to interact with NP but not with the other components of the viral ribonucleoprotein complex (vRNP): PB1, PB2, and PA. Mutagenesis data revealed that the CypE domain comprised of residues 137–186 is responsible for its binding to NP. Functional analysis results indicated that CypE is a negative regulator in the influenza virus life cycle. Furthermore, knock-down of CypE resulted in increased levels of three types of viral RNA, suggesting that CypE negatively affects viral replication and transcription. Moreover, up-regulation of CypE inhibited the activity of influenza viral polymerase. We determined that the molecular mechanism by which CypE negatively regulates influenza virus replication and transcription is by interfering with NP self-association and the NP-PB1 and NP-PB2 interactions.CypE is a host restriction factor that inhibits the functions of NP, as well as viral replication and transcription, by impairing the formation of the vRNP. The data presented here will help us to better understand the molecular mechanisms of host restriction barriers, host adaptation, and tissue tropism of influenza A virus

A Comparative Study of Acute and Chronic Pain between Single Port and Triple Port Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery for Lung Cancer

Background and objective Through the comparative analysis of the acute and chronic pain postoperative between the single port and triple port video-assisted thoracic surgery to seek the better method which can reduce the incidence of acute and chronic pain in patients with lung cancer. Methods Data of 232 patients who underwent single port -VATS (n=131) or triple port VATS (n=101) for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on January 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017 in our hospital were analyzed. The clinical and operative data were assessed, numeric rating scale (NRS) was used to evaluate the mean pain score on the 1th, 2th, 3th, 7th, 14th days, 3th months and 6th months postoperative. Results Both groups were similar in clinical characteristics, there were no perioperative death in two groups. In the 1th, 2th, 7th, 14th days and 3th, 6th months postoperative, the NRS score of the single port group was superior, and the difference was significant compared with the triple port (P0.05). Univariate and multivariate analysis of the occurrence on the chronic pain showed that the operation time, surgical procedure and the 14th NRS score were risk factors for chronic pain (P<0.05). Conclusion The single port thoracoscopic surgery has an advantage in the incidence of acute and chronic pain in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Shorter operative time can reduce the occurrence of chronic pain. The 14th day NRS score is a risk factor for chronic pain postoperative

A Retrospective Study of Mean Computed Tomography Value to Predict the Tumor Invasiveness in AAH and Clinical Stage Ia Lung Cancer

Background and objective Recently, the detectable rate of ground-glass opacity (GGO ) was significantly increased, a appropriate diagnosis before clinic treatment tends to be important for patients with GGO lesions. The aim of this study is to validate the ability of the mean computed tomography (m-CT) value to predict tumor invasiveness, and compared with other measurements such as Max CT value, GGO size, solid size of GGO and C/T ratio (consolid/tumor ratio, C/T) to find out the best measurement to predict tumor invasiveness. Methods A retrospective study was conducted of 129 patients who recieved lobectomy and were pathological confirmed as atypical adenomatous pyperplasia (AAH) or clinical stage Ia lung cance in our center between January 2012 and December 2013. Of those 129 patients, the number of patients of AAH, AIS, AIS and invasive adenocarcinoma were 43, 26, 17 and 43, respectively. We defined AAH and AIS as noninvasive cancer (NC), MIA and invasive adenocarcinoma were categorized as invasive cancer(IC). We used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to compare the ability to predict tumor invasiveness between m-CT value, consolidation/tumor ratio, tumor size and solid size of tumor. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the independent variables for prediction of pathologic more invasive lung cancer. Results 129 patients were enrolled in our study (59 male and 70 female), the patients were a median age of (62.0±8.6) years (range, 44 to 82 years). The two groups were similar in terms of age, sex, differentiation (P>0.05). ROC curve analysis was performed to determine the appropriate cutoff value and area under the cure (AUC). The cutoff value of solid tumor size, tumor size, C/T ratio, m-CT value and Max CT value were 9.4 mm, 15.3 mm, 47.5%, -469.0 HU and -35.0 HU, respectively. The AUC of those variate were 0.89, 0.79, 0.82, 0.90, 0.85, respectively. When compared the clinical and radiologic data between two groups, we found the IC group was strongly associated with a high m-CT value, high Max CT value, high C/T ratio and large tumor size. Gender, solid tumor size, tumor size, C/T ratio, m-CT value and MaxCT value were selected factor for multivariate analysis, when using the preoperatively determined variables to predict the tumor invasiveness, revealed that tumor size, C/T ratio, m-CT value and Max CT value were independent predictive factors of IC. Conclusion The musurements of Max CT value, GGO size, solid size of GGO and C/T ratio were significantly correlated with tumor invasiveness, and the evaluation of m-CT value is most useful musurement in predicting more invasive lung cancer

Short-term Outcome of Uniportal and Three Portal Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery for Patients with Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Background and objective Currently, there are many reports on the advantages of three portal video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) in the treatment of lung cancer, but there are few reports on the comparison between uniportal and three portal video-assisted thoracic surgery. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the recent curative effect of the postoperative short-term quality of life between uniportal and three portal video-assisted thoracic surgery for non-small cell lung cancer. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 266 patients with NSCLC who underwent intended VATS lobectomy by a single surgical team in our ward between January 2016 and August 2017. The general clinical date, perioperative data and short-term life quality were individually compared and analyzed between the two groups. Results The two groups were similar in terms of clinicopathological features, total number of dissected lymph nodes and nodal stations, postoperative complications and pulmonary complications (P>0.05). Compared with three portal VATS, the intraoperative blood loss, chest tube duration, postoperative thoracic drainage, length of stay and NRS score were significantly decreased in uniportal VATS, with significant differences (P<0.05). Conclusion As a more minimally invasive surgery, uniportal VATS can be safely and effectively performed for resectable lung cancer, which would achieve even better operation curative effect than three portal VATS

Prognostic Value of Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte Ratio in Patients with Lung Adenocarcinoma Treated with Radical Dissection

Background and objective Previous studies have shown that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has a significant impact on the prognosis of many malignant tumors such as gastric cancer, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer, but the study on the prognosis of patients with resectable lung adenocarcinoma is less. The aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between the NLR and the clinicopathologic features of adenocarcinoma of lung patients who underwent radical pneumonectomy. Furthermore, this study aimed to clarify the predictive and prognostic significance of NLR in patients who underwent pneumonectomy for lung adenocarcinoma. Methods This study reviewed the medical records of 163 patients with lung adenocarcinoma who underwent pneumonectomy. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Youden index were used to determine the cut-off value of the NLR. Survival curves were described by Kaplan-Meier method and compared by Log-rank test. The univariate and multivariate analyses were performed with the Cox proportional hazard model to identify the prognostic factors. Results When the NLR value was 2.96, the Youden index was maximal, with a sensitivity of 77.5% and a specificity of 75.9%. The 5-year survival rate in the low NLR group was higher than that in the high NLR group (P<0.05). The univariate and multivariate analyses showed that TNM staging and NLR were independent factors in predicting survival rate. Conclusion The NLR value was a simple and useful tool to predict the prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma after radical pneumonectomy

Kirigami-inspired, highly stretchable micro-supercapacitor patches fabricated by laser conversion and cutting.

The recent developments in material sciences and rational structural designs have advanced the field of compliant and deformable electronics systems. However, many of these systems are limited in either overall stretchability or areal coverage of functional components. Here, we design a construct inspired by Kirigami for highly deformable micro-supercapacitor patches with high areal coverages of electrode and electrolyte materials. These patches can be fabricated in simple and efficient steps by laser-assisted graphitic conversion and cutting. Because the Kirigami cuts significantly increase structural compliance, segments in the patches can buckle, rotate, bend and twist to accommodate large overall deformations with only a small strain (&lt;3%) in active electrode areas. Electrochemical testing results have proved that electrical and electrochemical performances are preserved under large deformation, with less than 2% change in capacitance when the patch is elongated to 382.5% of its initial length. The high design flexibility can enable various types of electrical connections among an array of supercapacitors residing in one patch, by using different Kirigami designs

A multiparameter radiomic model for accurate prognostic prediction of glioma

Abstract An accurate prediction of prognosis is important for clinical treatments of glioma. In this study, a multiparameter radiomic model is proposed for accurate prognostic prediction of glioma. Three kinds of region of interest were extracted from preoperative postcontrast T1‐weighted images and T2 fluid‐attenuated inversion recovery images acquired from 140 glioma patients. Radiomics score (Radscore) was calculated and the conventional image features and clinical molecular characteristics that may be related to progression‐free survival (PFS) were evaluated. Five uniparameter and various combinations of biparameter and multiparameter models based on above characteristics were built. The performance of these models was evaluated by concordance index (C index), and the nomogram of the multiparameter radiomic model was constructed. The results show that the proposed multiparameter radiomic model has a better prediction performance than other models. In the training and validation sets, the calibration curves of the multiparameter radiomic model for the 1‐, 2‐, and 3‐year PFS probability demonstrate a high consistence between predictions and observations. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the multiparameter radiomic model based on Radscore, conventional image features and clinical molecular characteristics can improve the prediction accuracy of glioma prognosis, which could be informative for individualized treatments