Delineating the molecular landscape of different histopathological growth patterns in colorectal cancer liver metastases

BackgroundHistopathological growth patterns (HGPs) have shown important prognostic values for patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases, but the potential molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown.MethodsWe performed an exploratory analysis by conducting the RNA sequencing of primary colorectal lesions, colorectal liver metastatic lesions and normal liver tissues.FindingsWe found that desmoplastic HGPs of the metastatic lesions were significantly enriched in EMT, angiogenesis, stroma, and immune signaling pathways, while replacement HGPs were enriched in metabolism, cell cycle, and DNA damage repair pathways. With the exception of immune-related genes, the differentially expressed genes of the two HGPs from colorectal liver metastases were mostly inherited from the primary tumor. Moreover, normal liver tissue in the desmoplastic HGP subgroup was markedly enriched in the fibrinous inflammation pathway.ConclusionsWe surmised that HGPs are observable morphological changes resulting from the regulation of molecular expressions, which is the combined effect of the heterogeneity and remodeling of primary tumors seeds and liver soils

3640 Unique EST Clusters from the Medaka Testis and Their Potential Use for Identifying Conserved Testicular Gene Expression in Fish and Mammals

BACKGROUND: The fish medaka is the first vertebrate capable of full spermatogenesis in vitro from self-renewing spermatogonial stem cells to motile test-tube sperm. Precise staging and molecular dissection of this process has been hampered by the lack of suitable molecular markers. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have generated a normalized medaka testis cDNA library and obtained 7040 high quality sequences representing 3641 unique gene clusters. Among these, 1197 unique clusters are homologous to known genes, and 2444 appear to be novel genes. Ontology analysis shows that the 1197 gene products are implicated in diverse molecular and cellular processes. These genes include markers for all major types of testicular somatic and germ cells. Furthermore, markers were identified for major spermatogenic stages ranging from spermatogonial stem cell self-renewal to meiosis entry, progression and completion. Intriguingly, the medaka testis expresses at least 13 homologs of the 33 mouse X-chromosomal genes that are enriched in the testis. More importantly, we show that key components of several signaling pathways known to be important for testicular function in mammals are well represented in the medaka testicular EST collection. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Medaka exhibits a considerable similarity in testicular gene expression to mammals. The medaka testicular EST collection we obtained has wide range coverage and will not only consolidate our knowledge on the comparative analysis of known genes' functions in the testis but also provide a rich resource to dissect molecular events and mechanism of spermatogenesis in vivo and in vitro in medaka as an excellent vertebrate model

Determination of chlorine in coal by Eschka's mixture decomposition-ion chromatography

This paper proposed a new method for the determination of chlorine in coal by Eschka's mixture decomposition-ion chromatography so as to satisfy the needs of determining chlorine content in coal samples in large batches in coal exploration, coal production and processing industries.Specifically, this paper improved the sample pretreatment steps and determined the experimental parameters.The detection limit of the method was 0.001 7 %, the relative standard deviations of ten parallel determinations of three actual coal samples were in the range of 1.08 % ~3.92 %, the recoveries of six spiked determinations were in the range of 98 % ~104 %, and the results of the three standard coal samples were all within the guaranteed values.Results showed that the detection limit of the method was lower than that of the national standard method, and the precision and accuracy met or exceeded the national standard method.The determination of chlorine in coal by Eschka's mixture decomposition-ion chromatography has the advantages of simple operation, low cost and high determination efficiency and could be widely applied in the batch determination of a large number of samples

A study on Static behavior of New Reinforced concrete column-steel beam Composite Joints

Through Experiment, we study the aseismic behavior of inserted reinforced concrete column-steel beam (RCS) composite joints. In order to design an RCS with endplate combination joint, we analyze simulation test joints on a basis of the static load test combining with finite element software ABAQUS. The numerical simulation results and the contract test results which include finite element simulation of load–displacement curve of bending moment–rotation curve and the components of yield sequence are basically the same as the experiment results. This uniformity verifies the reliability to use numerical simulation upon such problems. To compare with the ordinary reinforced concrete structures, the new type of inserted RCS composite joints is safer, and it presents a better seismic performance under the static load of the beam end. After we use numerical simulation to study the influential factors of six kinds of RCS combination of static performance including the axial compression ratio, steel insert length, the thickness of endplate, the ratio of the width of column section and beam section, the column concrete grade and four kinds of joint structure, we found that it does not only well perform on mechanical aspect but also is simple and convenient on the structure and construction of RCS composite nodes