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Differential gene analyses on gastric cancer usually focus on expression change of single genes between tumor and adjacent normal tissues. However, besides changes on single genes, there are also coexpression and expression network module changes during the development of gastric cancer. In this study, we proposed a pipeline to investigate various levels of changes between gastric cancer and adjacent normal tissues, which were used to repurpose potential drugs for treating gastric cancer. Specifically, we performed a series of analyses on 242 gastric cancer samples (33-normal, 209-cancer) downloaded from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA), including data quality control, differential gene analysis, gene coexpression network analysis, module function enrichment analysis, differential coexpression analysis, differential pathway analysis, and screening of potential therapeutic drugs. In the end, we discovered some genes and pathways that are significantly different between cancer and adjacent normal tissues (such as the interleukin-4 and interleukin-13 signaling pathway) and screened perturbed genes by 2703 drugs that have a high overlap with the identified differentially expressed genes. Our pipeline might be useful for understanding cancer pathogenesis as well as gastric cancer treatment.

Paraquat (PQ) poisoning can cause oxidative stress, acute lung injury (ALI), and fibrosis. Excess oxidative stress can induce mitophagy. However, whether PQ exposure can induce mitophagy, contributing to the development of ALI and pulmonary fibrosis in vivo has not been clarified. Here, we show that PQ exposure induces ALI and fiber accumulation in the lung of rats in a time-dependent manner, accompanied by upregulating fibronectin (FN) and Collagen I (COL-I) expression. PQ exposure increased mitophagosome formation and PINK1 and Parkin expression in the lungs of rats. Similarly, PQ exposure reduced the viability and mitochondrial membrane potential, but enhanced FN, COL-I, PINK1, and Parkin expression in A549 cells. In contrast, PINK1 silencing significantly mitigated the PQ-upregulated Parkin, FN, and COL-I expression in A549 cells. Hence, PQ exposure induced ALI and fibrosis in rats by enhancing the PINK1/Parkin signaling and profibrotic factor expression in the lungs. Therefore, our findings suggest that the PINK1/Parkin signaling may be new therapeutic targets and may provide new insights in the pathogenesis of PQ-related ALI in rats.

There are a lot of bacteria in the environment, and Gram-positive bacteria are the most common ones. Some Gram-positive bacteria are very harmful to the human body, so it is significant to predict Gram-positive bacterial protein subcellular location. And identification of Gram-positive bacterial protein subcellular location is important for developing effective drugs. In this paper, a new Gram-positive bacterial protein subcellular location dataset was established. The amino acid composition, the gene ontology annotation information, the hydropathy dipeptide composition information, the amino acid dipeptide composition information, and the autocovariance average chemical shift information were selected as characteristic parameters, then these parameters were combined. The locations of Gram-positive bacterial proteins were predicted by the Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm, and the overall accuracy (OA) reached 86.1% under the Jackknife test. The overall accuracy (OA) in our predictive model was higher than those in existing methods. This improved method may be helpful for protein function prediction.

Purpose. Pyroptosis has been known to play a vital role in the inflammation process which was induced by infection, injury, or inflammatory disease. The present study was aimed at evaluating the percentage of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) pyroptosis in septic patients and assessing the correlation of PBMC pyroptosis with the severity and the mortality of septic patients. Methods. 128 trauma-induced patients with sepsis were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. Blood samples were collected, and PBMC pyroptosis was measured by flow cytometry within 24 hours after sepsis was diagnosed. Results. Percentage of PBMC pyroptosis was positively correlated with the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score (all P<0.01). The area under the curve (AUC) for the percentage of PBMC pyroptosis on a receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.79 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.68–0.90). A Cox proportional hazard model identified an association between an increased percentage of PBMC pyroptosis (>14.17%) and increased risk of the 28-day mortality (hazard ratio=1.234, 95% CI, 1.014–1.502). Conclusion. The percentage of PBMC pyroptosis increases in septic patients, and the increased percentage of PBMC pyroptosis is associated with the severity of sepsis and the 28-day mortality of patients with sepsis.

Ventilator-induced lung injury aggravates the existing lung injury. This study investigated the effect of desflurane on VILI in a rat model of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Forty-eight rats were randomized into a sham (S) group, control (C) group, lipopolysaccharide/ventilation (LV) group, lipopolysaccharide/ventilation/desflurane (LVD) group, or lipopolysaccharide/low ventilation with and without desflurane (LLV and LLVD) groups. Rats in the S group received anesthesia only. Rats in the LV and LVD groups received lipopolysaccharide and were ventilated with a high tidal volume. Rats in LLV and LLVD groups were treated as the LV and LVD groups and ventilated with a low tidal volume. PaO2/FiO2, lung wet-to-dry weight ratios, concentrations of inflammatory factors in serum and BALF, histopathologic analysis of lung tissue, and levels of nuclear factor- (NF-) κB protein in lung tissue were investigated. PaO2/FiO2 was significantly increased by desflurane. Total cell count, macrophages, and neutrophils in BALF and proinflammatory factors in BALF and serum were significantly decreased by desflurane, while IL-10 was increased. The histopathological changes and levels of NF-κB protein in lung tissue were decreased by desflurane. The results indicated that desflurane ameliorated VILI in a rat model of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term prognostic value of pentraxin-3 (PTX3) in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). 377 patients were prospectively followed up for 3 years to determine cardiac events including cardiac death or rehospitalization for worsening heart failure. The plasma PTX3 levels were significantly higher in CHF patients than in healthy subjects (p<0.001), and they increased with advancing New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Classification (p<0.001). Plasma PTX3 levels in CHF patients with cardiac events were significantly higher than in event-free patients (p<0.001). We determined the normal upper limit of plasma PTX3 levels from the mean + 2 SD value of 64 control subjects (3.64 ng/mL). A Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with increased PTX3 (≥3.64 ng/mL) were at a higher risk for cardiac events than those without increased PTX3 (p<0.01). A multifactorial Cox proportional hazards model showed that increased PTX3 (≥3.64 ngImL) was an independent risk factor for cardiac events in CHF patients (hazard ratio (HR) = 4.224,p<0.01; 95% CI: 1.130–15.783). Plasma PTX3 levels are a long-term independent predictor of prognosis in patients with CHF.

Introduction. Solid pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) of the pancreas is a rare tumor of low malignant potential. The aim of this study was designed to evaluate the clinicopathologic feature, predictive factors of malignancy, and survival from experience of a single center. Methods. 53 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for a pathologically definitive SPN were retrospectively reviewed. Results. A total of 53 cases included 7 male cases and 46 female cases with the median age of 35.4 years (14–67). Abdominal pain and mass were the most common clinical presentations. The radiological presentations were consistent with solid and cystic pattern in 18 cases, solid pattern in 25 cases, and cystic pattern in 10 cases. The predominant location of tumor was pancreatic body and tail. The mean size of the tumors was 6.4 cm. Aggressive en bloc resection combined with organ-preserving should be indicated whenever feasible. Follow-up information was available for 48 patients with a median follow-up time of 48 months. The 5-year disease-specific survival was 95.7%. Incomplete capsule was not only the predictive factor of malignancy but also the significant predictor of disease-specific survival. Conclusion. Incomplete capsule may suggest a malignant SPN and a prognostic indicator of disease-specific survival. We recommend that surgeons consider a more radical resection with an incomplete capsule of tumor.

Ionizing radiation may cause irreversible ovarian failure, which, therefore, calls for an effective radioprotective reagent. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential radioprotective effect of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on ionizing radiation induced ovarian failure and loss of ovarian reserve in mice. Kun-Ming mice were either exposed to X-irradiation (4 Gy), once, and/or treated with NAC (300 mg/kg), once daily for 7 days before X-irradiation. We examined the serum circulating hormone levels and the development of ovarian follicles as well as apoptosis, cell proliferation, and oxidative stress 24 hours after X-irradiation. In addition, morphological observations on the endometrial luminal epithelium and the fertility assessment were performed. We found that NAC successfully restored the ovarian and uterine function, enhanced the embryo implantation, improved the follicle development, and altered the abnormal hormone levels through reducing the oxidative stress and apoptosis level in granulosa cells while promoting the proliferation of granulosa cells. In conclusion, the radioprotective effect of NAC on mice ovary from X-irradiation was assessed, and our results suggested that NAC can be a potential radioprotector which is capable of preventing the ovarian failure occurrence and restoring the ovarian reserve.