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Purpose: To compare the ability among 5.0T MRI, 3.0T MRI and MDCT in identifying insulinomas and determining the tumor-to-duct relationship., Methods: A consecutive series of patients highly suspected of insulinomas were enrolled between October 2021 and February 2024, who underwent 5.0T MRI preoperatively, as well as 3.0T MRI or MDCT. The subjective and objective image quality, lesion-to-pancreas contrast, clarity of main pancreatic duct (MPD) and tumor-to-duct relationship at 5.0T, 3.0T MRI and MDCT were evaluated by three observers. The correlation between tumor-duct distance and clinically relevant postoperative pancreatic fistula (CR-POPF) risk was analyzed., Results: Forty patients (14 men; mean age, 46.4 ± 16.5 years) with insulinomas were included in this study. 21 of them underwent both 5.0T and 3.0T MRI; and 38 of them underwent 5.0T MRI and MDCT. The intra- and inter-observer agreement of 5.0T MRI were good to excellent. 5.0T showed significantly higher subjective and objective image quality on T1WI and DWI compared to 3.0T (p < 0.05). Lesion-to-pancreas contrast was superior across all sequences at 5.0T compared to 3.0T(p < 0.05). A head-to-head comparison of patients who received both 5.0T and 3.0T MRI demonstrated that tumor detection was superior with 5.0T MRI (5.0T: 100%; 3.0 T: 92.0%, p < 0.05). Feasibility of tumor-to-duct relationship assessment was superior at 5.0T, compared to 3.0T and MDCT (93.2%, 64.0% and 52.3%, respectively, p < 0.05). Tumor-duct distance could predict CR-POPF after enucleation surgery (areas under the ROC curve 0.79, p = 0.01)., Conclusion: 5.0T MRI exhibits certain superiority in detecting insulinomas and assessing tumor-to-duct relationship compared to 3.0T MRI and MDCT., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Objectives: To assess the feasibility of 5.0 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in characterizing pancreatic cystic lesions (PCLs), compared with 3.0 T MRI and multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). Methods: Thirty-five patients with PCLs underwent 5.0 T MR alongside 3.0 T MR or MDCT. Two observers measured subjective and objective image quality scores. The consistency of two observers between 5.0 T and 3.0 T was calculated by intraclass correlation coefficients. The characteristics of PCLs and their specific diagnosis, as well as benignity/malignancy, were evaluated across MDCT, 3.0 T, and 5.0 T MRI. Results: The 5.0 T MR demonstrated significantly higher subjective image quality and SNR on T1WI compared to that in 3.0 T MR ( p < 0.05). The 5.0 T MRI identified more cyst lesions than the 3.0 T MRI (40 and 32) and MDCT (82 and 56). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for differentiating benign from malignant lesions with 5.0 T MRI (75%, 100%, and 91.4%, respectively) surpassed those of 3.0 T MRI and MDCT. The accuracy of the specific diagnosis of PCLs at 5.0 T MRI (80%) was superior to 3.0 T MRI and MDCT. Conclusions: 5.0 T MRI exhibits certain superiority in delineating details of PCLs and in clinical diagnostic accuracy, outperforming MDCT and 3.0 T MRI while maintaining sufficient image quality.

Introduction: This study explores the effectiveness of music therapy in repairing psychological trauma in bereaved families, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of its potential therapeutic impact. It begins with an analysis of the current situation faced by bereaved families, identifying the psychological challenges they experience., Methods: The research design included the recruitment of participants from bereaved families, who were then divided into an experimental group and a control group. An optimized Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network model was constructed to analyze music therapy data, tailored specifically to capture the nuances of this therapeutic process. The experimental procedure detailed the specific operations involved in the music therapy sessions and established a clear comparison framework between the two groups., Results: The performance of the proposed LSTM model demonstrated high accuracy (0.85), precision (0.86), recall (0.84), and F 1 -score (0.85), indicating its effectiveness in predicting treatment outcomes. When compared to the Self-Reporting Inventory-90 (SCL-90) scale, the model captured the trend of treatment effects with a high level of accuracy and reliability. Notably, participants numbered 2, 6, and 8 in the experimental group showed substantial improvement rates of 67.21%, 71.45%, and 75.67%, respectively, in their psychological health issues., Discussion: The comparative analysis between the experimental and control groups confirmed that the music therapy approach, as guided by the proposed LSTM model, led to a more significant improvement in psychological health issues for bereaved families. This suggests that the model offers a promising avenue for enhancing the effectiveness of music therapy in this context., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wang, Guan, Li and Dong.)

Background: Simultaneous bilateral rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) is a rare and challenging condition in ophthalmology. This case report focuses on a modified pneumatic retinopexy technique, designed to improve treatment outcomes for this difficult condition., Case Presentation: A 59-year-old male presented with decreased visual acuity in his right eye for one week. Examination revealed extensive retinal detachment in the right eye with multiple superior breaks and macula off, separated by approximately 3 clock hours. The left eye exhibited one quartile of retinal detachment with superior breaks and macula on. Bilateral simultaneous PR was performed for retinal repair. In the modified PR procedure, 0.7 ml of low-concentration perfluoropropane and 0.7 ml of filtered pure air were intravitreally injected into the right and left eyes, respectively. A head position maneuver was then employed to sequentially close retinal breaks, followed by laser photocoagulation once the surrounding retina reattached. Two days after gas injection, both retinas were completely reattached. Best corrected visual acuity improved to 0.6 in the right eye and 0.9 in the left eye at the 8-month follow-up., Conclusion: The innovative modified pneumatic retinopexy technique presented in this case report offers a promising new approach for effectively treating simultaneous bilateral rhegmatogenous retinal detachment., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Guo, Zhu, Zhang, Li, Xiang and Li.)

Cataract (CAT) has a very high incidence rate among the middle-aged and elderly, with most patients complicated by branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO), a key cause of blindness. In this study, through metabolomic analysis of aqueous humor samples from CAT patients with BRVO, a total of 319 different metabolites were found, most of which belonged to the categories of carboxylic acids and derivatives, fatty acyls, and organooxygen compounds. The most typical metabolites were 3-methylhistidine and biliverdin, which were up-regulated, as well as the down-regulated beta-glycerophosphoric acid. Tricosanoic acid showed the most significant correlation with CAT+BRVO. According to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis, the most commonly related keywords for differentially expressed metabolites were biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids and synaptic vesicle cycle. These results can not only help to further understand the pathogenesis of CAT complicated by BRVO in clinical practice, but also provide some new therapeutic research directions.

The high prevalence and complex etiology of renal diseases already impose a heavy disease burden on patients and society. In certain kidney diseases such as acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease, current treatments are limited to slowing rather than stabilizing or reversing disease progression. Therefore, it is crucial to study the pathological mechanisms of kidney disease and discover new therapeutic targets and effective therapeutic drugs. As cell-free therapeutic strategies are continually being developed, extracellular vesicles derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-EVs) have emerged as a hot topic for research in the field of renal diseases. Studies have demonstrated that MSC-EVs not only reproduce the therapeutic effects of MSCs but also localize to damaged kidney tissue. Compared to MSCs, MSC-EVs have several advantages, including ease of preservation, low immunogenicity, an inability to directly form tumors, and ease of artificial modification. Exploring the detailed mechanisms of MSC-EVs by developing standardized culture, isolation, purification, and drug delivery strategies will help facilitate their clinical application in kidney diseases. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of studies about MSC-EVs in kidney diseases and discuss their limitations at the human nephrology level., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Identifying anomalies from data has attracted increasing attention in recent years due to its broad range of potential applications. Although many efforts have been made for anomaly detection, how to effectively handle high-dimensional data and how to exactly explore neighborhood information, a fundamental issue in anomaly detection, have not yet received sufficient concerns. To circumvent these challenges, in this article, we propose an effective anomaly detection method with representative neighbors for high-dimensional data. Specifically, it projects the high-dimensional data into a low-dimensional space via a sparse operation and explores representative neighbors with a self-representation learning technique. The neighborhood information is then transformed into similarity relations, making the data converge or disperse. Eventually, anomalies are discriminated by a tailored graph clustering technique, which can effectively reveal structural information of the data. Extensive experiments were conducted on ten public real-world datasets with 11 popular anomaly detection algorithms. The results show that the proposed method has encouraging and promising performance compared to the state-of-the-art anomaly detection algorithms.

The clinical efficacy of pneumatic retinopexy (PR) using intravitreal pure air injection and laser photocoagulation for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) remains unknown. Thirty-nine consecutive patients with RRD (39 eyes) were included in this prospective case series. All patients underwent two-step PR surgery containing pure air intravitreal injection and laser photocoagulation retinopexy during hospitalization. The main outcomes were best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and primary anatomic success rates after PR treatment. The mean follow-up was 18.3 ± 9.7 months, ranging from 6 to 37 months. The primary anatomic success rate was 89.7% (35/39) after PR treatment. Final reattachment of the retina was achieved in 100% of cases. Macular epiretinal membrane was developed in two patients (5.7%) among successful PR cases during the follow-up. The mean logMAR BCVA value was significantly improved from 0.94 ± 0.69 before surgery to 0.39 ± 0.41 after surgery. The average central retinal thickness was significantly thinner in the RRD eyes of macula-off patients (206.8 ± 56.13 μm) when compared with the fellow eyes (234.6 ± 48.4 μm) at the last follow-up ( p = 0.005). This study concluded that an inpatient PR procedure with pure air injection and laser photocoagulation is a safe and effective approach to treating patients with RRD, who may achieve a high single-operation success rate and good visual acuity recovery.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most representative primary bone tumour in children and teenagers. This study explored the regulatory effects of long noncoding RNA MIR503HG (MIR503HG) on the biological functions of OS cells, and further investigated the potential mechanism of MIR503HG function exertion by analyzing the microRNA-103a-3p (miR-103a-3p) in OS cells and tissues. The expression of MIR503HG was examined using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. OS cell proliferation was assessed by CCK-8 assay. Transwell assay was used to evaluate the migration and invasion of OS cells. The interaction between MIR503HG and miR-103a-3p was detected using the Dual-luciferase reporter assay. Forty-six paired OS tissues were collected, and the expression and correlation of MIR503HG and miR-103a-3p were evaluated. The expression of MIR503HG were significantly decreased in both OS cells and tissues. Over-expression of MIR503HG inhibited OS cell proliferation, migration and invasion. miR-103a-3p was directly targeted by MIR503HG in OS cells, and mediated the inhibitory effects of MIR503HG on OS cell malignant behaviors. miR-103a-3p expression was upregulated in OS tissues, which was negatively correlated with MIR503HG expression levels. The expression of MIR503HG was associated with OS patients' tumor size, differentiation, distant metastasis and clinical stage. Decreased MIR503HG in OS tissues and cell lines served as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting OS cell malignant behaviors through sponging miR-103a-3p. The findings of this study may provide evidence for the development of novel therapeutic targets of OS.

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) led by trauma is a serious damage in central nervous system. This study aimed at confirming the expression levels and clinical significance of miRNA-301a-3p (miR-301a-3p) in SCI patients, and exploring the potential mechanisms of miR-301a-3p participating in SCI progression., Methods: One hundred and thirty nine acute spinal trauma patients, included neurologically normal, incomplete and complete SCI cases, were analyzed in this study. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure the expression of miR-301a-3p. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of serum miR-301a-3p in SCI. LPS-treated SH-SY5Y cells were used to mimic SCI inflammatory injury. The levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay., Results: Expression of serum miR-301a-3p was significantly higher in both incomplete and complete SCI patients than that in neurologically normal controls, and had a significant ability to distinguish SCI patients from controls. Additionally, complete SCI cases had markedly increased miR-301a-3p compared to incomplete cases, and the two groups of patients could be distinguished based on serum deregulated miR-301a-3p. In the SCI cell model, miR-301a-3p overexpression led to decreased cell viability. The inflammatory responses of the cell model were enhanced by miR-301a-3p, which was consistent with the findings in SCI patients that serum miR-301a-3p was positively correlated with pro-inflammatory cytokines., Conclusion: The expression of miR-301a-3p is increased in SCI patients, and serves as a candidate biomarker for SCI diagnosis. MiR-301a-3p may be involved in SCI progression by affecting neuronal viability and inflammation.

An anthraquinone dye underwent supramolecular polymerization, affording 2D-monolayered nanosheets in a kinetically controlled state. The nanosheets then transformed into hierarchically chiral aggregates in a thermodynamically controlled step. The unanticipated role played by pathway complexity was clearly unravelled in this work, highlighting the diversified pathways in the supramolecular polymerization of various building blocks.

Background: The dysregulated expression of aerobic glycolysis-related genes is closely related to prostate cancer progression and metastasis. However, reliable prognostic signatures based on aerobic glycolysis have not been well established., Methods: We screened aerobic glycolysis-related gene modules by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and established the aerobic glycolysis-related prognostic risk score (AGRS) by univariate Cox and lasso-Cox. In addition, enriched pathways, genomic mutation, and tumor-infiltrating immune cells were analyzed in AGRS subgroups and compared to each other. We also assessed chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity and immunotherapy response among two subgroups., Results: An aerobic glycolysis-related 14-gene prognostic model has been established. This model has good predictive prognostic performance both in the training dataset and in two independent validation datasets. Higher AGRS group patients had better immunotherapy response. Different AGRS patients were also associated with sensitivity of multiple prostate cancer chemotherapeutic drugs. We also predicted eight aerobic glycolysis-related small-molecule drugs by differentially expressed genes., Conclusion: In summary, the aerobic glycolysis-derived signatures are promising biomarkers to predict clinical outcomes and therapeutic responses in prostate cancer., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 He, He and Li.)

Background: Drainage is indicated in many patients with a perinephric abscess (PA). Surgical drainage is associated with trauma and slow recovery, while percutaneous drainage can be ineffective in some patients. We report on 11 patients with PA treated by percutaneous nephroscopy combined with ultrasound-guided negative-pressure suction under local anesthesia., Methods: This case series included 11 PA patients operated on from January 2013 to June 2020. All patients received percutaneous nephroscopy combined with ultrasound-guided negative-pressure suction. Data, including operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, volume of intraoperative pus suction, time of postoperative drainage tube indwelling, time to restore normal body temperature, length of postoperative hospital stay, and intraoperative and postoperative complications, were collected., Results: The age of the patients was 59 (53-69) years. Eight, six, two, and two patients had hypertension, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and renal calculi, respectively. The operations were successful forall11 patients. Eight, two, and one patients required one, two, and three channels, respectively, to clear their abscess. The average operation time was 44 (30-65) min, and intraoperative blood loss was 16 (10-20) ml. The volume of intraoperative pus suction was 280 (200-400) ml, time of postoperative drainage tube indwelling was 8.2 (6-12) days, and time to restoring normal body temperature was 0.8 (0.5-2) days. The average postoperative hospital stay was 9.8 (7-14) days. No severe intraoperative or postoperative complications occurred. The postoperative follow-up time was typically 4.8 (3-8) months, and there were no recurrences., Conclusion: Percutaneous nephroscopy combined with ultrasound-guided negative-pressure suction might be a feasible method for treating PA., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To evaluate the pathological role of autophagy in dry eye diseases by detecting the autophagic degradation of RIG-I, a master RNA-sensing receptor in cells. Methods: RNA-sequencing analysis and qPCR analysis of the expression level of genes related to IFN-I signaling pathway was used to evaluate the inflammatory level of cells overexpressed with RIG-I or empty vector, which was further confirmed by WB analysis. Chemical treatment (3-methyladenine, chloroquine, NH 4 Cl, rapamycin, torin 1 or trehalose) or gene knockdown was used to modulate autophagy. When the autophagy level was regulated, the autophagic degradation of RIG-I and its pathological role in dry eye diseases were determined by detecting the protein level of RIG-I and the level of cell inflammation. Results: Cells that overexpressed RIG-I showed increased expression of genes involved in the IFN-I signaling pathway compared with cells transfected with an empty vector. Inhibition of autophagy leaded to the accumulation of RIG-I in HCECs, combined with the aggravation of the RIG-I-mediated IFN-I signaling pathway. Contrarily, promoting the autophagic degradation of RIG-I by trehalose treatment could alleviate IFN-I signaling pathway. Conclusions: Autophagy could protect the ocular surface against IFN-I signaling pathway by degrading RIG-I in HCECs. This process may restrict the overactivation of inflammation in the pathological development of dry eye disease.

Germacrone a sesquiterpene is a potential pharmacological agent with important medicinal applications. It is a potential anticancer agent and has been reported for anticancer activity against hepatoma cells and breast cancer cells, additionally, it has also shown anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antifungal activity. Therefore, this study was designed to testify anticancer activity of germacrone terpenoid in human osteosarcoma cells along with studying its effects of autophagy induction, cell cycle disruption, downregulating the cell cycle regulatory protein expressions and cell migration inhibition. Cell proliferation rate was examined by MTT assay and phase contrast inverted microscopy was performed for morphological analysis. Further, flowcytometry was implemented to examine different cell cycle phases. Transwell assay was executed for the monitoring of cell migratory tendency of osteosarcoma cells. Finally, the levels of pro-autophagic and cell cycle allied proteins were checked by Western blot analysis. MTT assay results designated potential inhibition of osteosarcoma cell viability by germacrone drug in a dose and time-reliant manner. Further, phase contrast inverted microscopy depicted significant morphological changes in osteosarcoma cells after germacrone exposure, which were indicative of autophagic cell death. Next, transmission electron microscopy evaluated the formation of autophagic vesicles which are the trademark for autophagy. The autophagy allied protein expressions were observed through Western blotting indicating enhanced levels of pro-autophagic proteins (Becalin-1, LC3-I and -II). Hence, it may be depicted that the anti-proliferation effects of germacrone may be of autophagy inducing potential. Next, flowcytometric analysis revealed the cell cycle inhibitory effects of germacrone in osteosarcoma cells and the results indicated cell cycle arrest at S-phase. Cell cycle allied protein levels indicated declination in their expressions after germacrone exposure. Finally, transwell assay specified inhibitory effects on cell migration of osteosarcoma cells by germacrone in a dose-reliant manner. In conclusion, the results of the present investigation specified that germacrone drug is a potential anticancer agent against osteosarcoma cells. The anticancer effects were found to be mediated via autophagy induction, cell cycle disruption, downregulating the cell cycle regulatory protein expressions, and cell migration inhibition.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Hengli ® Chinese botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A; 100 U) in Chinese patients with overactive bladder. Methods: This study was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in Chinese patients who were inadequately managed with anticholinergic medications. Eligible patients were randomized 2:1 to receive intradetrusor injections of Hengli ® BTX-A ( n = 144) or placebo ( n = 72). The primary endpoint was the change in the number of daily micturition episodes at week 6 from baseline. The secondary efficacy endpoints included the average frequency of urgency and urinary incontinence (UI) episodes per day, urgency score, average micturition volume per day, OABSS, and QoL score. Results: In the Hengli ® BTX-A group, there was a significantly greater reduction in the average number of micturition episodes per 24 h compared with the placebo group (3.28 vs. 1.43; p = 0.003). Moreover, there was a significantly greater improvement in the daily number of urgency episodes, micturition volume and OABSS score. An increased post-void residual urine volume, dysuria, and urinary tract infection represented adverse events (AEs) in the Hengli ® BTX-A group. Most AEs were mild or moderate in severity. One patient in the BTX-A group initiated clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) during treatment. Conclusion: Hengli ® BTX-A treatment was well-tolerated and resulted in significant improvements in OAB symptoms among Chinese patients inadequately managed by anticholinergics. Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.chinadrugtrials.org.cn/clinicaltrials.prosearch.dhtml, Identifier: CTR20131190., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Liao, Liu, Cong, Xu, Li, Weng, Jiang, Liu, Huang, Xia, Wen, Wu, Shi, Wang, Li, Yu, Fang, Zheng, Tian, Shang, Li, Huang, Zhou, Xiao, Zhang, Wang, Zhang, Zhang, Wang, Zhang, Xie, Wang, Ma, Tian, Chen and Dong.)

Background: With the development of minimally invasive surgery technology, patients with bladder cancer are increasingly receiving laparoscopic radical cystectomy (LRC) or robotic-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) treatment. The main purpose of this study was to compare the long-term outcomes of bladder cancer patients treated with LRC versus RARC., Methods: A retrospective study to identify patients with clinical stage Ta/T1/Tis to T3 bladder cancer who underwent RARC or LRC has been performed. The perioperative outcome, recurrence, and overall survival (OS) of the two surgical methods were compared., Results: 218 patients were identified from March 2010 to December 2019 in our department, which including 82 (38%) patients who received LRC and 136 (62%) patients who received RARC. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of lymph node collection, lymph node positive rate, resection margin positive rate, and postoperative pathological staging. Compared with the LRC group, patients in the RARC group had a median estimated blood loss (180 vs. 250 ml; P = 0.02) and reduced complications at 90 days postoperatively (30.8% vs. 46.3%; P = 0.01). Recurrence, all-cause death, and cancer-specific death occurred in 77 (35%), 55 (25%), and 39 (18%) patients, respectively. The 5-year OS rate was 54.63% and 54.65% in the RARC and LRC group (P > 0.05). The 5-year cancer-specific survival (CSS) rate was 73.32% and 61.55% in RARC and LRC group (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in OS [hazard ratio (HR) 1.083, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.626-1.874; P = 0.78], and CSS (HR 0.789, 95%CI 0.411-1.515; P = 0.61) between two groups., Conclusions: Both RARC and LRC were safe and effective with a similar long-term clinical outcomes. Moreover, RARC had significantly lower median estimated blood loss and reduced postoperative complications., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Learning words through contextual inference is a key way to enlarge one's vocabulary especially for adults. However, few studies focused on the effects of different information contained in contexts on novel word learning. The present study used behavioral and fNIRS techniques to investigate the influences of positive, neutral and negative emotions inherent in self-related or other-related referential contexts. Participants were asked to perform a semantic consistency and a source judgment task after learning the relations between novel words and concepts in different contexts. The results showed that self-reference during lexical encoding could promote word learning generally. More importantly, there existed a self-positivity bias which is manifested in the significant interactions between contextual emotions and referential value. These interactions are related to the neural activities of the DLPFC and IFG. These results revealed the contextual information's integrative contributions to semantic meaning acquisition and episodic source memory related with novel word learning., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Benzoxazole derivative K313 has previously been reported to possess anti-inflammatory effects in lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW264.7 macrophages. To date, there have been no related reports on the anticancer effects of K313. In this study, we found that K313 reduced the viability of human B-cell leukemia (Nalm-6) and lymphoma (Daudi) cells in a dose-dependent manner without affecting healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and induced moderate cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. Meanwhile, K313 mediated cell apoptosis, which was accompanied by the activation of caspase-9, caspase-3, and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP). Furthermore, cells treated with K313 showed a significant decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), which may have been caused by the caspase-8-mediated cleavage of Bid, as detected by Western blot analysis. We also found that K313 led to the downregulation of p-p70S6K protein, which plays an important role in cell survival and cell cycle progression. In addition, treatment of these cells with K313 blocked autophagic flux, as reflected in the accumulation of LC3-II and p62 protein levels in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In conclusion, K313 decreases cell viability without affecting normal healthy PBMCs, induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, reduces p-p70S6K protein levels, and mediates strong autophagy inhibition. Therefore, K313 and its derivatives could be developed as potential anticancer drugs or autophagy blockers in the future.

This study investigates the effects of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on blueberry anthocyanins and their interaction. Findings showed that BSA could protect blueberry anthocyanins against degradation and retain their antioxidant activity at an ideal concentration of 0.15 mg/mL under three deteriorating treatments: illumination, vitamin C + illumination, and sucrose + illumination. The fluorescence and UV absorption spectra showed that malvidin-3-o-galactoside (M3G), the major monomer in blueberry anthocyanins, led to a static quenching of BSA and the binding site of M3G to BSA was approximately one. Further, the interaction was a spontaneous process with electrostatic interactions being the main force. CD spectra and synchronous fluorescence spectra presented alterations in the secondary structure and microenvironment of Trp and Tyr residues of BSA, respectively, upon interaction with M3G. Finally, molecular docking analysis showed that M3G mainly bound the II and III domains of BSA by hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interaction. In conclusion, our study highlights the protective effects of BSA on the stability and anti-oxidant activity of blueberry anthocyanins and their interaction analysis., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Polyphenols are known for their various health benefits. Blueberries are dietary sources of polyphenols with reported health benefits. However, the role of blueberry polyphenols in alleviating obesity is not completely understood. This study investigated the potential positive effect of blueberry polyphenol extract (PPE) on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity in C57BL/6 J mice by modulation of the gut microbiota. Four-week-old C57BL/6 J mice were fed a normal-fat diet or HFD with or without PPE or Orlistat for 12 weeks. Mice fed HFD exhibited increased body weight and adipose tissue weight and disordered lipid metabolism. In contrast, PPE inhibited body weight gain and returned lipid metabolism to normal. Furthermore, 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the fecal microbiota suggested that PPE changed the composition of the gut microbiota in C57BL/6 J mice and modulated specific bacteria such as Proteobacteria, Deferribacteres, Actinobacteria, Bifidobacterium, Desulfovibrio, Adlercreutzia, Helicobacter, Flexispira, and Prevotella. Orlistat also improved obesity and metabolic alterations of HFD mice and modulated the composition of the gut microbiota. Our findings suggest that PPE, as a potential prebiotic agent, influences the gut microbiota to positively affect HFD-induced obesity in C57BL/6 J mice., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The aim of this study was the purification process of polyphenols from Aronia melanocarpa (chokeberry), and the purification parameters were optimised by adsorption and desorption tests. By comparing adsorption and desorption ability of polyphenols from chokeberry on six kinds of macroporous resin, XAD-7 resin was selected. Experiments prove that the best purification parameters of static adsorption and desorption were sample pH = 4.0 with 4 h of adsorption; and desorption solvent is 95% ethanol (pH = 7.0) with 2 h of desorption. The best dynamic parameters were 9.3 bed volume (BV) of sample loading amount at a feeding flow rate of 2 BV/h, and washing the column with 5.8 BV of water, followed by subsequent elution with an eluent volume of 5.0 mL at an elution flow rate of 2 BV/h. Next the antioxidant and antiproliferative activity of polyphenols from chokeberry, blueberries, haskap berries was studied on HepG2 human liver cancer cells. The results show that polyphenol from chokeberry has a strong antioxidant effect. Taking into account the content of polyphenols in fruit, polyphenols from chokeberry represent a very valuable natural antioxidant source with antiproliferative products., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that can post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression and play critical roles in many important biological processes. The role of miRNAs in prostate cancer (PCa) development and pathogenesis remains largely unknown. In the present study, we showed that miR-200b was downregulated in clinical prostatic tumors when compared to normal prostate tissue and in advanced PCa cell lines when compared to normal epithelial prostatic cells. Enforced miR-200b expression suppressed PCa cell proliferation and migration and enhanced chemosensitivity to docetaxel by targeting B-cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus insertion site 1 (Bmi-1). Bmi-1 was detected at higher levels in PCa, and knockdown of Bmi-1 showed similar effects as miR-200b overexpression in PCa cells. Moreover, we confirmed that these effects were correlated with increased levels of E-cadherin and P16 and a reduction in vimentin expression and expression of stem cell markers (CD44 and OCT4). These findings suggest that miR-200b plays vital roles as a tumor-suppressor by targeting Bmi-1 and may be a promising therapeutic target for PCa treatment.

The growth of pentacene on KCl(001) at submonolayer coverage was studied by dynamic scanning force microscopy. At coverages below one monolayer pentacene was found to arrange in islands with an upright configuration. The molecular arrangement was resolved in high-resolution images. In these images two different types of patterns were observed, which switch repeatedly. In addition, defects were found, such as a molecular vacancy and domain boundaries.