Potential roles of microRNAs and ROS in colorectal cancer: diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets

As one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide, colorectal adenocarcinoma often occurs sporadically in individuals aged 50 or above and there is an increase among younger patients under 50. Routine screenings are recommended for this age group to improve early detection. The multifactorial etiology of colorectal cancer consists of both genetic and epigenetic factors. Recently, studies have shown that the development and progression of colorectal cancer can be attributed to aberrant expression of microRNA. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a key role in cancer cell survival, can also lead to carcinogenesis and cancer exacerbations. Given the rapid accumulating knowledge in the field, an updated review regarding microRNA and ROS in colorectal cancer is necessary. An extensive literature search has been conducted in PubMed/Medline databases to review the roles of microRNAs and ROS in colorectal cancer. Unique microRNA expression in tumor tissue, peripheral blood, and fecal samples from patients with colorectal cancer is outlined. Therapeutic approaches focusing on microRNA and ROS in colorectal cancer treatment is also delineated. This review aims to summarize the newest knowledge on the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer in the hopes of discovering novel diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic techniques

The insights from theoretical calculation on the photophysical properties of a series of phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes

816-820The electronic structure and photophysical properties of three Ir(III) complexes with the substituted 5,5′-di(trifluoromethyl)-3,3′-bipyrazole(bipz) ligand have been theoretically investigated by using density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory method. The calculated results show that the energy gaps between of LUMO and HOMO (ΔEL→H) of complexes 1, 2 and 3 are gradually decreased, that is, 3.54 eV, 3.07 eV and 2.95 eV for 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The lowest energy absorption wavelength of 1, 2 and 3 are located at 443 nm, 532 nm and 564 nm, respectively. The calculated 443 nm absorption for 1 is in good agreement with the experimental value. The lowest energy emissions of complexes 1, 2 and 3 are localized at 545 nm, 679 nm and 731 nm, respectively, simulated in CH2Cl2 medium at TPSSH level. The conclusion can be drawn that the different substituent groups in the bipz ligand results in the important effect on the electronic structure and photophysical properties. The research work can provide valuable information for the design of new organic light-emitting diodes materials

Primary biliary cirrhosis associated with rheumatoid arthritis

Primary biliary cirrhosis(PBC) is a slowly progressive autoimmune disease of the liver which mainly affects women aged between 35 and 45 years.Prolonged liver inflammation can cause scarring, leading to cirrhosis. Although 50 to 60 percent of patients are asymptomatic at diagnosis, they will develop symptoms later. PBC can be associated with arthralgia and other non-hepatic autoimmune diseases, such as Sjögren’s syndrome, sicca syndrome, thyroiditis and scleroderma. PBC and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been suggested to coexist in 1.8 to 5.6% of patients with PBC, but data supporting this association are scarce. We report two cases of such an association and discuss how to improve threapy

Topic evolution and sentiment comparison of user reviews on an online medical platform in response to COVID-19: taking review data of Haodf.com as an example

IntroductionThroughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients have sought medical advice on online medical platforms. Review data have become an essential reference point for supporting users in selecting doctors. As the research object, this study considered Haodf.com, a well-known e-consultation website in China.MethodsThis study examines the topics and sentimental change rules of user review texts from a temporal perspective. We also compared the topics and sentimental change characteristics of user review texts before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. First, 323,519 review data points about 2,122 doctors on Haodf.com were crawled using Python from 2017 to 2022. Subsequently, we employed the latent Dirichlet allocation method to cluster topics and the ROST content mining software to analyze user sentiments. Second, according to the results of the perplexity calculation, we divided text data into five topics: diagnosis and treatment attitude, medical skills and ethics, treatment effect, treatment scheme, and treatment process. Finally, we identified the most important topics and their trends over time.ResultsUsers primarily focused on diagnosis and treatment attitude, with medical skills and ethics being the second-most important topic among users. As time progressed, the attention paid by users to diagnosis and treatment attitude increased—especially during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, when attention to diagnosis and treatment attitude increased significantly. User attention to the topic of medical skills and ethics began to decline during the COVID-19 outbreak, while attention to treatment effect and scheme generally showed a downward trend from 2017 to 2022. User attention to the treatment process exhibited a declining tendency before the COVID-19 outbreak, but increased after. Regarding sentiment analysis, most users exhibited a high degree of satisfaction for online medical services. However, positive user sentiments showed a downward trend over time, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak.DiscussionThis study has reference value for assisting user choice regarding medical treatment, decision-making by doctors, and online medical platform design

Volumetric mammographic density: heritability and association with breast cancer susceptibility loci.

BACKGROUND: Mammographic density is a strong heritable trait, but data on its genetic component are limited to area-based and qualitative measures. We studied the heritability of volumetric mammographic density ascertained by a fully-automated method and the association with breast cancer susceptibility loci. METHODS: Heritability of volumetric mammographic density was estimated with a variance component model in a sib-pair sample (N pairs = 955) of a Swedish screening based cohort. Associations with 82 established breast cancer loci were assessed in an independent sample of the same cohort (N = 4025 unrelated women) using linear models, adjusting for age, body mass index, and menopausal status. All tests were two-sided, except for heritability analyses where one-sided tests were used. RESULTS: After multivariable adjustment, heritability estimates (standard error) for percent dense volume, absolute dense volume, and absolute nondense volume were 0.63 (0.06) and 0.43 (0.06) and 0.61 (0.06), respectively (all P < .001). Percent and absolute dense volume were associated with rs10995190 (ZNF365; P = 9.0 × 10(-6) and 8.9 × 10(-7), respectively) and rs9485372 (TAB2; P = 1.8 × 10(-5) and 1.8 × 10(-3), respectively). We also observed associations of rs9383938 (ESR1) and rs2046210 (ESR1) with the absolute dense volume (P = 2.6 × 10(-4) and 4.6 × 10(-4), respectively), and rs6001930 (MLK1) and rs17356907 (NTN4) with the absolute nondense volume (P = 6.7 × 10(-6) and 8.4 × 10(-5), respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the high heritability of mammographic density, though estimates are weaker for absolute than percent dense volume. We also demonstrate that the shared genetic component with breast cancer is not restricted to dense tissues only.This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council (grant no. 521-2011- 3187) and Swedish Cancer Society (grant no. CAN 2013/469). The KARolinska MAmmography project for risk prediction of breast cancer study was supported by Märit and Hans Rausing’s Initiative Against Breast Cancer and the Cancer and Risk Prediction Center CRisP (http://ki.se/en/meb/crisp), a Linneus Centre (Contract ID 70867902) financed by the Swedish Research Council. KH is supported by the Swedish Research Counsil (grant no. 521-2011-3205) and JL is a UNESCO-L’OREAL International Fellow.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from OUP at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jnci/dju33

One-pot synthesis of 2-alkyl cycloketones on bifunctional Pd/ZrO₂ catalyst

2-Alkyl cycloketones are essential chemicals and intermediates for synthetic perfumes and pesticides, which are conventionally produced by multistep process including aldol condensation, separation and hydrogenation. In present work, a batch one-pot cascade approach using aldehydes and cycloketones as the raw materials, and a bifunctional Pd/ZrO2 catalyst was developed for the synthesis of 2-alkyl cycloketones, e.g., cyclohexanone and cycloheptanone. Very high aldehydes (except for paraldehyde with large steric hindrance) conversion and high yields for 2-alkyl cycloketones (e.g., 99 % of conversion for n-butanal and 76 wt.% of yield for 2-butyl cyclohexanone) were obtained at mild temperature of 140 °C. After 10 cycles of reuse, Pd/ZrO2 catalyst showed slight deactivation (ca. 5 % conversion and 10 % yield losses), due to the coke on the catalyst. However, the performance of the catalyst was completely recovered after an oxidative regeneration

Associations of breast cancer risk prediction tools with tumor characteristics and metastasis

Purpose: The association between established risk factors for breast cancer and subtypes or prognosis of the disease is not well known. We analyzed whether the Tyrer-Cuzick–predicted 10-year breast cancer risk score (TCRS), mammographic density (MD), and a 77-single nucleotide polymorphism polygenic risk score (PRS) were associated with breast cancer tumor prognosticators and risk of distant metastasis. Patients and Methods: We used a case-only design in a population-based cohort of 5,500 Swedish patients with breast cancer. Logistic and multinomial logistic regression of outcomes, estrogen receptor (ER) status, lymph node involvement, tumor size, and grade was performed with TCRS, PRS, and percent MD as exposures. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of distant metastasis. Results: Women at high risk for breast cancer based on PRS and/or TCRS were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with favorable prognosticators, such as ER-positive and low-grade tumors. In contrast, PRS weighted on ER-negative disease was associated with ER-negative tumors. When stratifying by age, the associations of TCRS with favorable prognosticators were restricted to women younger than age 50. Women scoring high in both TCRS and PRS had a lower risk of distant metastasis (HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.98). MD was not associated with any of the examined prognosticators. Conclusion: Women at high risk for breast cancer based on genetic and lifestyle factors were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancers with a favorable prognosis. Better knowledge of subtype- specific risk factors could be vital for the success of prevention programs aimed at lowering mortality.Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Cancer SocietyCancer Society in StockholmCancer Risk Prediction Center (CRisP)Linneus Centre - Swedish Research CouncilPublishe

Risk factors and tumor characteristics of interval cancers by mammographic density

Purpose: To compare tumor characteristics and risk factors of interval breast cancers and screen-detected breast cancers, taking mammographic density into account. Patients and Methods: Women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer from 2001 to 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden, with data on tumor characteristics (n 4,091), risk factors, and mammographic density (n 1,957) were included. Logistic regression was used to compare interval breast cancers with screen- detected breast cancers, overall and by highest and lowest quartiles of percent mammo- graphic density. Results: Compared with screen-detected breast cancers, interval breast cancers in nondense breasts ( 20% mammographic density) were significantly more likely to exhibit lymph node involvement (odds ratio [OR], 3.55; 95% CI, 1.74 to 7.13) and to be estrogen receptor negative (OR, 4.05; 95% CI, 2.24 to 7.25), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (OR, 5.17; 95% CI, 1.64 to 17.01), progesterone receptor negative (OR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.58 to 4.38), and triple negative (OR, 5.33; 95% CI, 1.21 to 22.46). In contrast, interval breast cancers in dense breasts ( 40.9% mammographic density) were less aggressive than interval breast cancers in nondense breasts (overall difference, P .008) and were phenotypically more similar to screen-detected breast cancers. Risk factors differentially associated with interval breast cancer relative to screen- detected breast cancer after adjusting for age and mammographic density were family history of breast cancer (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.70), current use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT; OR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.38 to 2.44), and body mass index more than 25 kg/m2 (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.29 to 0.82). Conclusion: Interval breast cancers in women with low mammographic density have the most aggressive phenotype. The effect of HRT on interval breast cancer risk is not fully explained by mammographic density. Family history is associated with interval breast cancers, possibly indicating disparate genetic background of screen-detected breast cancers and interval breast cancers.Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Cancer SocietyStockholm County CouncilLinneus Centre - Swedish Research CouncilSwedish E-science Research CouncilCancer Risk Prediction CenterPublishe

Who are the preferential targets for intervention programs related to the female condom among sex workers in Southern China?

The authors used a cluster analysis approach to investigate which female sex workers (FSW) are preferential targets for female condom (FC) intervention programs in southern China. Cross-sectional 6-month (N = 316) and 12-month (N = 217) postintervention surveys of FSW were analyzed. Based on FC attitudes and beliefs, initially suggesting FC use to a partner, practicing insertion, total times ever used, and willingness to use in the future, cluster analysis apportioned women into two clusters, with 50.6% and 58.1% of participants in the likely future FC users group at 6 months and 12 months, respectively. Likely future FC users tended to be from boarding houses, older, currently or previously married, experienced with childbirth, with current multiple sex partners, longer history of sex work, and more unprotected sexual encounters. Focusing FC programs on sectors of the community with more FSW who are likely to use FC may be more costeffective for enhancing FC acceptability and usage. © 2013 The Guilford Press