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Objective Myonectin, a newly discovered myokine, enhances fatty acid uptake in cultured adipocytes and hepatocytes and suppresses circulating levels of free fatty acids in mice. Recent studies showed that serum myonectin concentration is negatively correlated with obesity. This study was undertaken to evaluate the change of serum myonectin in obese patients after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Methods This study was performed in a population of 42 obese and 58 control subjects from April of 2018 to December of 2019. All obese subjects underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Anthropometric measurements, lipid profiles, HbA1c and serum myonectin were assessed at baseline and six months after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Results Serum myonectin concentrations were significantly lower in the obese patients than in the controls. Serum myonectin concentrations were increased at six months after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Simple linear regression analysis indicated that serum myonectin was negatively correlated with weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, body mass index, fasting plasma glucose, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and HbA1c. Only body mass index was still inversely correlated with serum myonectin after multiple linear regression analysis. Conclusion Serum myonectin is correlated with obesity and increased after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and safety of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for ablation of swine pancreas and to detect the pathological variations in pancreas damage. Materials and Methods: (a) Eight swine were involved and randomly divided into two groups (Group A and B). HIFU was applied on swine in both groups for in vivo ablation of pancreas. The animals were anesthetized, and the artificial acoustic window was built. Then, the irradiation of FEP-BY02 type HIFU on pancreas was applied. (b) Swine in Group A were euthanized immediately after treating with HIFU to examine variations in pancreas. The biochemical evidence of pancreatitis was evaluated by blood samples collected from swine in Group B before and after HIFU. Then, the pancreas of swine in Group B was euthanized on day 5 after treatment to examine the pancreas. All specimens were visually inspected for both ultrasonic focal damage region (UFDR) and pathological routine by a skilled pathologist. Results: (a) The vital signs of all animals were stable during HIFU treatment and recovered well after treatment. (b) UFDR were observed in all HIFU irradiation region of the specimens, without significant size difference between the two groups. The coagulation nucleus pyknosis, cytochylema vacuolation, and nucleus membrane disruption were observed after HIFU in both groups. Membranous structure dissolution and inflammatory cell infiltration were also found after HIFU in swine of Group B. (c) There was no significant difference in the levels of blood amylase in swine of Group B before and after HIFU treatment. Conclusions: It was feasible and safe to use HIFU for ablation of the pancreas in swine.

The prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated by radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is mainly associated with tumor recurrence. So far, no tissue biomarker of recurrence has been confirmed in biopsy specimens. Previous studies have reported that aberrant expression of microRNA-34a (miR-34a) is involved in oncogenesis and progression of HCC. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of tissue miR-34a expression in patients with HCC treated with RFA. Patients with early-stage single-nodule HCC treated with RFA were included, and tissue expression of miR-34a were assessed by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Main clinical endpoints were overall and early recurrence. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to plot recurrence curves and univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses were performed to assess independent predictive factors for recurrence. Of 120 patients, recurrence occurred in 67 patients (55.8 %) with a median follow-up of 31 months. Forty-one patients (34.2 %) recurred within 2 years after RFA. The median miR-34a level was 0.87 (range 0.06-21.54). Low miR-34a level was associated with larger tumor size (P = 0.033) and higher serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level (P = 0.004). When analyzed with a Cox regression model, the two independent predictive factors for overall recurrence were high serum AFP level (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.21; 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-1.36; P = 0.039) and low miR-34a level (HR = 1.44; 95 % CI = 1.13-1.72; P = 0.011). The expression of miR-34a was also an independent predictive factor for early recurrence (HR = 1.49; 95 % CI = 1.15-1.79; P = 0.008). Taken together, this study suggests that the expression of miR-34a in HCC biopsy specimens has an independent predictive value of early recurrence after RFA.

The aim of this manuscript is to analyze the diagnostic and prognostic value of circulating miR-18a in the plasma of patients with gastric cancer. In this study, 82 patients with gastric cancer and 65 healthy controls were enrolled in the study, and 10 ml of peripheral venous blood was collected for RNA extraction. miR-18a expression was determined using TaqMan quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay and was further correlated with patients’ clinicopathological parameters and the follow-up data. The results indicated that plasma miR-18a was upregulated in gastric cancer patients compared with healthy controls (P

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychotic illness and its etiology remains poorly understood. Recent studies have suggested that neurodegeneration is a component of schizophrenia pathology and some atypical antipsychotics appear to slow progressive morphological brain changes. In addition, the atypical antipsychotics were reported to have a superior therapeutic efficacy in treating schizophrenia and have a low incidence of extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) compared to typical antipsychotics. However, the mechanisms of atypical antipsychotics in treating schizophrenia and the basis for differences in their clinical effects were still totally unknown. In the present study, we investigated whether paliperidone shows protective effects on SK-N-SH cells from cell toxicity induced by exposure to glutamate. We examined the effects of the drugs on cell viability (measured by MTT metabolism assay and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity assay), apoptosis rate, ROS levels and gene expression and phosphorylation of Akt1 and GSK3β. The results showed that paliperidone significantly increases the cell viability by MTT and LDH assays (p

Chromodomain helicase/ATPase DNA binding protein 1-like gene (CHD1L) is involved in malignancies. However, the role of CHD1L in gastric cancer (GC) has not been elucidated. The aim of this study is to explore the clinical role of CHD1L in GC. The gene and protein expression levels of CHD1L were detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot analysis in fresh samples of GC and paired adjacent noncancerous tissue (n = 34). We evaluated the CHD1L expression by immunohistochemistry in a large number of GC patients (n = 616) and paired adjacent noncancerous tissues from December 1, 2004 to December 1, 2008. The correlations of CHD1L expression with clinicopathological features and clinical outcome were analyzed. The gene and protein expression levels of CHD1L were higher in fresh samples of GC than in paired adjacent noncancerous tissues as determined by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that positive expression rates of CHD1L in GC and paired adjacent noncancerous tissues were 58.7 % (361/616) and 7.3 % (45/616), respectively. CHD1L positivity was significantly associated with clinical stage and distant metastasis. GC patients with positive CHD1L expression had shorter overall survival than those with negative CHD1L expression. Multivariate analysis showed that CHD1L was an independent prognostic marker for overall survival [Hazard Ratio (HR) = 5.952, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 3.194–11.187, P = 0.0043]. These results indicated that CHD1L could serve as a prognostic marker for GC.

Objective: To further delineate the clinicopathological and radiological features of solid pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of the pancreas and summarize the surgical therapy strategy for this tumor. Methods: A retrospective review of 18 pathologically confirmed cases of SPT was performed and the clinical and pathological features, radiological findings and surgical interventions were analyzed. Results: The patients included 17 females and 1 male with a median age of 23 years. The median diameter of the lesions was 8.0 cm. Abdominal pain was the predominant complaint (8/18). The rest of the patients were asymptomatic and presented with a pancreatic mass detected incidentally. Radiological study revealed a well-demarcated mass which was composed of a solid-cystic portion. On post-contrast CT, the solid portions could be enhanced whereas the cystic parts remained unenhanced. With the preoperative diagnosis of SPT in 11 patients and pancreatic cyst, benign or malignant pancreatic tumor in the rest, pancreatic tumor resection was successfully completed. Surgical exploration findings, pathological characteristics and good prognosis of the patients with SPT, indicated its low-grade malignant potential. Conclusion: In combination with clinical findings, radiological features of SPT may help to make the correct diagnosis and differentiation from other pancreatic neoplasms. Once diagnosed, given the excellent prognosis and low-grade malignancy, less aggressive surgical resection of the primary lesion is proposed.

The chemokine receptor CCR9 was recently implicated in tumor biology. In the present study, our objective was to evaluate the clinical significance and potential role of CCR9 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). CCR9 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry, quantitative PCR (qPCR) and western blotting in HCC patients. The prognostic significance of CCR9 expression was assessed. The functional roles of CCR9 in HCC were investigated using MTT, BrdU, colony formation assay and flow cytometry. CCR9 was significantly elevated in HCC tissue samples. High CCR9 expression was correlated with multiple tumor nodes, high Edmondson-Steiner grade and vascular invasion. Multivariate analysis showed that CCR9 expression was an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival (OS) of HCC patients. Further investigations revealed that ectopic expression of CCR9 enhanced cell proliferation and tumorigenicity in HCC cells, whereas CCR9 silencing impaired cell proliferation and tumorigenicity, which was mediated through downregulation of the cell cycle regulators p21, p27 as well as upregulation of cyclin D1. These results suggest that CCR9 can act as a novel prognostic marker and therapeutic target for HCC.