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Abstract Background Conventional treatments, including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, have many limitations in the prognosis of glioma patients. Atorvastatin (ATOR) has a significant inhibitory effect on glioma malignancy. Thus, ATOR may play a key role in the search for new drugs for the effective treatment of gliomas. Methods U87 cells were treated with different doses of ATOR and transfected. Viability was assessed using MTT, proliferative ability was determined using the colony formation test, Bax and Bcl-2 were identified using Western blot, apoptosis was identified using flow cytometry, and U87 cell migration and invasion were detected using the Transwell assay. Glucose uptake, lactate secretion, and ATP production in U87 cell culture medium were quantified. The positive rates of IFN-γ and TNF-α in CD8T were measured through flow cytometry. Subcutaneous injection of U87 cells was carried out to construct an in vivo mouse model of gliom, followed by HE staining to assess the effects of ATOR and miR-125a-5p on tumor development. Results ATOR blocked the viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion of U87 cells through the miR-125a-5p/TXLNA axis, and suppressed glycolysis and immune escape of glioma cells. Furthermore, overexpressing miR-125a-5p enhanced the anti-tumor effect of ATOR in vivo. Conclusion ATOR blocks glioma progression by modulating the miR-125a-5p/TXLNA axis, further demonstrating that ATOR provides an effective therapeutic target for the treatment of glioma.

An increasing number of cases of cerebral embolism caused by cardiac myxoma have been reported. However, cerebral infarction caused by different types of emboli obstructing different vascular regions within a short period of time has not been reported. This is the first report to histologically confirm cerebral infarctions independently caused by thrombus and myxomatous embolus in a patient with cardiac myxoma within a period of 23 days. The first cerebral infarction was due to embolization of thrombus to the right middle cerebral artery, whereas the second was due to embolization of tissue from a mucinous tumor to the left middle cerebral artery. Both cerebral infarctions underwent mechanical thrombectomy, but unfortunately, we ultimately failed to save the patient's life. Therefore, further attention should be paid to the surgical resection and treatment of cardiac myxoma.

Abstract As a prevalent tumor among women, breast cancer is still an incurable disease due to drug resistance. In this study, we report microRNA‐221 to have a significant effect on breast cancer resistance to adriamycin. The microRNA‐221 is elevated in tumor tissue compared with nearby nontumor samples, as well as in breast cancer cell line with adriamycin resistance (MCF‐7/ADR) compared to its parental line (MCF‐7) and the normal breast epithelial cell line (MCF‐10A). Enforced level of microRNA‐221 promotes cancer resistance to adriamycin, which in turn sustains cell survival and exacerbates malignant formation. Reciprocally, the silence of microRNA‐221 in cancer cells augments the sensitivity to chemotherapy, thereby resulting in enhanced apoptosis of MCF‐7/ADR cells. Mechanistically, we identify PTEN as a direct target of microRNA‐221, which was conversely associated with a microRNA‐221 level in breast tumors. The knock‐down of PTEN partially reversed the stimulatory role of microRNA‐221 in the modulation of the Akt/mTOR signaling. Taken together, these findings suggest microRNA‐221 suppresses PTEN transcription and activates Akt/mTOR pathway, which in turn enhances breast cancer resistance to adriamycin and promotes cancer development. Our data thus illuminate the microRNA‐221/PTEN axis may act as a promising strategy for the treatment of chemotherapy‐resistant breast tumors.

The changes of microbial diversity and volatile flavor compounds in fermented bamboo shoots with chopped pepper during post-ripening were determined by high-throughput sequencing and headspace solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) couple to gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), and the correlation between them was analyzed. The results showed that Colletotrichum, Penicillium, Xanthomonas, Erwinia, Ralstonia, Pseudomonas, Pediococcus and Enterobacter were dominated in fermented bamboo shoots with chopped pepper during post-ripening. A total of 71 volatile compounds were detected, and the total content of volatile compounds increased from 406.57 to 900.08 μg/kg over the ripening period. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) showed obvious separation between samples at the early and late ripening stages. Based on variable importance in projection (VIP) greater than 1 from orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), 28 important metabolites were identified. The Pearson correlation coefficient showed that bacteria had a greater impact on flavor compounds than fungi, and the dominant bacteria were positively correlated with most flavor substances. This study will provide a theoretical basis for improving the flavor quality of fermented pepper products during post-ripening.