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Altered sialylation is closely associated with tumor progression and invasiveness. Micro-RNAs endogenous regulators of gene expression have been implicated in human thyroid carcinoma invasiveness. The objective of this study is to examine the alterations of miR-4299 and ST6GALNAC family in human follicular thyroid carcinoma during metastatic process. qRT-PCR showed the differential expressional profiles of miR-4299 and ST6GALNAC family in three kinds of thyroid cell lines (FTC-133,FTC-238, Nthy-ori 3-1) and clinical tissue specimens(malignant and borderline). The altered expression levels of ST6GALNAC4 were corresponding to invasive phenotypes of FTC-133 and FTC-238 cells both in vitro and in vivo. Further date indicated that miR-4299 regulated tumor progression and invasiveness by directly targeting ST6GALNAC4. This study implies the potential therapeutic application of miR-4299 and ST6GALNAC4 in modulating the invasion and tumorigenicity of follicular thyroid carcinoma cell. © 2015 IUBMB Life, 68(2):136-144, 2016 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The invasion and chemoresistance are crucial causes of morbidity and death for cancer patients. Axl is closely associated with malignant phenotype of breast tumor cells, including invasiveness and metastasis. Both breast cancer cell line and tissue displayed increased expression of Axl, especially in highly metastatic breast cancer. On the contrary, experimental inhibition of Axl or transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) by RNAi assay could suppress cell invasion ability and chemoresistance. Moreover, the up-regulation of Axl was induced by TGF-β1, further activated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt and PAK1 translocation, and resulted in greater cell motility, invasion, and chemoresistance in vitro and in vivo. After the detection and statistics in human breast cancer specimens, we found that the Axl expression was closely correlated with TGF-β1 level, tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, and clinical stage ( p < 0.01). Our findings support the possibility that Axl is a significant regulator of invasion and chemosensitivity, and it means by targeting Axl or its related signaling pathways, we can reduce the invasion and chemosensitivity of breast tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stable skull layer formed on the inner surface of the hearth could effectively protect the lining and extend blast furnace campaign life. This is the first comprehensive work of using integrated heat transfer, fluid flow dynamics and solidification numerical simulation to investigate skull formation phenomena in a blast furnace hearth. The impact of hearth design and furnace operation parameters on skull formation is examined, including lining property and structure, cooling water temperature and flow rate, hot metal production rate, temperature and viscosity, and cast practice. The findings from this study are compared with operating experience of United States Steel blast furnaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] The paper was to verify the disinfection effect of ozone on livestock and poultry houses. [Method] The empty chicken house was disinfected by ozone with the help of ozone disinfector. [Result] As the ozone disinfector was worked for 60 min, the average sterilizing rate of air was 85.33%; the average sterilizing rate on the surface of chicken coop was 86.77%; and the average sterilizing rate of wall was 89.13%. The disinfection effect was obvious. [Conclusion] The results will provide references for promotion and application of ozone disinfector in breeding industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) possesses the capability to non-invasively image internal lumens; however, it is susceptible to saturation artifacts arising from robust reflective structures. In this study, we introduce an innovative deep learning network, ATN-Res2Unet, designed to mitigate saturation artifacts in endoscopic OCT images. This is achieved through the integration of multi-scale perception, multi-attention mechanisms, and frequency domain filters. To address the challenge of obtaining ground truth in endoscopic OCT, we propose a method for constructing training data pairs. Experimental in vivo data substantiates the effectiveness of ATN-Res2Unet in reducing diverse artifacts while preserving structural information. Comparative analysis with prior studies reveals a notable enhancement, with average quantitative indicators increasing by 45.4-83.8%. Significantly, this study marks the inaugural exploration of leveraging deep learning to eradicate artifacts from endoscopic OCT images, presenting considerable potential for clinical applications.

The identification and preservation of parathyroid glands (PGs) during thyroid surgery can be challenging. Many techniques have been developed to help surgeons find PGs. We have developed a novel mitoxantrone hydrochloride injection that can be used for lymphatic targeting. After local application during surgery, mitoxantrone hydrochloride injection for tracing (MHI) helps surgeons better identify and preserve PGs and helps pathologists find more lymph nodes. We conducted an open-label, multicenter, randomized clinical trial (CTR20171137) in six centers in China from 08/2017 to 12/2018. Patients with thyroid carcinoma were randomized to the MHI group or the control group. All patients received total thyroidectomy and bilateral central compartment lymph node dissection. The primary outcomes were the PG resection rate and lymph node staining rate. The full analysis set (FAS) included 461 patients, of which 228 were assigned to the MHI group, and 233 were assigned to the control group. The PG resection rates of the MHI group and the control group were 6.6% (15/228) and 26.6% (62/233), respectively, with a significant difference (P < 0.001). No PGs were stained blue with MHI. The central lymph nodes were stained blue with MHI, and the staining rate was 90.5%±12.0%. More lymph nodes were detected in the MHI group than in the control group (13.0±7.3 vs. 10.1±6.4 nodes/patient, P < 0.001). No adverse events related to MHI were observed. MHI is a safe and effective tracer that may help to preserve PGs and identify more central lymph nodes in patients with thyroid cancer., Competing Interests: None., (AJCR Copyright © 2022.)

Purpose: Increasing investigations have been performed on the association of -607C/A polymorphism in Interleukin-18 (IL-18) gene promoter with cancer risk and have yielded conflicting results. To derive a more precise estimation of the association, we performed an updated meta-analysis of all eligible studies., Methods: We searched all eligible studies by using PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. The odds ratios (ORs) were pooled by the fixed-effects/random-effects model in STATA 12.0 software., Results: This meta-analysis included 29 studies with 6,026 cases and 6,476 controls. Overall, significantly increased cancer risk was observed (A vs C: OR=1.10, 95% CI: 1.01,1.19, Pheterogeneity=0.001; AA vs CC: OR=1.17, 95% CI: 1.01,1.37, Pheterogeneity=0.007; CA vs CC: OR=1.15, 95% CI: 1.05,1.25, Pheterogeneity=0.152; AA/CA vs CC: OR=1.17, 95% CI: 1.06,1.31, Pheterogeneity=0.042). In subgroup analyses based on ethnicity, the results suggested a significantly increased risk of cancer in Asian population (CA vs CC: OR=1.11, 95% CI: 1.00-1.24, Pheterogeneity=0.353; AA/CA vs CC: OR=1.14, 95% CI: 1.02-1.29, Pheterogeneity=0.081) and in Mixed population (A vs C: OR=1.72, 95% CI: 1.22-2.43, Pheterogeneity=NA; AA vs CC: OR=2.84, 95% CI: 1.43-5.64, Pheterogeneity=NA; AA vs CC/CA: OR=2.43, 95% CI: 1.34-4.42, Pheterogeneity=NA; AA/CA vs CC: OR=1.69, 95% CI: 1.00-2.85, Pheterogeneity=NA); however, no significant association was found in Caucasian or African populations. In the subgroup analysis by cancer type we found a significantly increased susceptibility to breast cancer (A vs C: OR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.00-1.75,Pheterogeneity=0.155; AA vs CC: OR=1.80, 95% CI: 1.02-3.21,Pheterogeneity=0.162; AA7sol;CA vs CC: OR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.00-1.78,Pheterogeneity=0.546), nasopharyngeal carcinoma (A vs C: OR=1.16, 95% CI: 1.01-1.32, Pheterogeneity=0.921; AA vs CC: OR=1.34, 95% CI: 1.02-1.75, Pheterogeneity=0.863; CA vs. CC: OR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.08-1.70, Pheterogeneity=0.824; AA/CA vs CC: OR=1.35, 95% CI: 1.09-1.68,Pheterogeneity=0.904), and esophageal cancer (CA vs CC: OR=1.37, 95% CI: 1.04-1.80, Pheterogeneity=0.528; AA/CA vs CC: OR =1.29, 95% CI: 1.00-1.66, Pheterogeneity=0.700)., Conclusions: The current meta-analysis suggests that the -607C/A polymorphism in IL-18 gene promoter is associated with a significantly increased risk of cancer, especially of breast cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and esophageal cancer and in Asian and Mixed populations. More studies with diverse ethnic groups, larger sample size, and well controlled confounding factors are warranted to further investigate the association.

Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are selectively expressed in malignant cells and can serve as ideal targets for immunotherapy. We investigated the expressions of MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4, MAGE-C2 and NY-ESO-1 to determine if combinatorial expressions of CTAs might be as potential prognostic markers for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In tumor tissues of 142 HCC patients, the mRNA expressions of MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4, MAGE-C2 and NY-ESO-1 were 78.9%, 33.8%, 74.6% and 14.1% respectively. Furthermore, the expressions of MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4 and combination of MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4 and NY-ESO-1 (CTAs-A3/A4/NY) showed positive correlations with serum AFP, tumor stages and Ki-67 (P < 0.05). In addition, mRNA expressions of CTAs were significantly consistent with protein expressions of CTAs by immunohistochemistry (P > 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) analysis showed that CTAs-A3/A4/NY had larger areas under ROC curve (0.768), specificity (99.1%), Youden's index (44.6), positive predictive value (90.9%) and negative predictive value (89.9%) for predicting HCC recurrence than other CTAs. Moreover, the combinatorial expression of CTAs-A3/A4/NY was significantly associated with HCC recurrence by Kaplan-Meier analysis (HR = 69.36, P < 0.01) and multivariate Cox analysis (RR = 17.11, P < 0.01). The combinatorial expression of CTAs-A3/A4/NY mRNA promotes the predictive accuracy of HCC recurrence and itself may be a potential target for immunotherapy of HCC as well.

The invasion and chemoresistance are crucial causes of morbidity and death for cancer patients. Axl is closely associated with malignant phenotype of breast tumor cells, including invasiveness and metastasis. Both breast cancer cell line and tissue displayed increased expression of Axl, especially in highly metastatic breast cancer. On the contrary, experimental inhibition of Axl or transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) by RNAi assay could suppress cell invasion ability and chemoresistance. Moreover, the up-regulation of Axl was induced by TGF-β1, further activated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt and PAK1 translocation, and resulted in greater cell motility, invasion, and chemoresistance in vitro and in vivo. After the detection and statistics in human breast cancer specimens, we found that the Axl expression was closely correlated with TGF-β1 level, tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, and clinical stage (p < 0.01). Our findings support the possibility that Axl is a significant regulator of invasion and chemosensitivity, and it means by targeting Axl or its related signaling pathways, we can reduce the invasion and chemosensitivity of breast tumor.

Objectives: Experimental animal models of brain death that mimic human conditions may be useful for investigating novel strategies that increase quality and quantity of organs for transplant., Materials and Methods: Brain death was induced by increasing intracranial pressure by inflating an intracranial placed balloon catheter. Brain death was confirmed by flatline electroencephalogram, physical signs of apnea, and absence of brain stem reflexes. Donor management was done after brain death. Intracranial pressure and physiologic variables were continually monitored during 9 hours' follow-up., Results: Ninety percent of brain dead animals showed typical signs of brain death such as diabetes insipidus, hypertensive, and hypotensive periods. Donor care was performed for 9 hours after brain death, and the mean arterial pressure was maintained above 60 mm Hg., Conclusions: We conclude that the rat model of brain death can be performed in a standardized, reproducible, and successful way.

The COL8A1 (collagen type VIII, alpha-1) gene, which encodes the alpha 1 chain of collagen, type VIII, may modulate migration, proliferation and adherence of various cells. Only very sparse information exists on COL8A1 expression in hepatocarcinoma. To investigate the possible role of COL8A1 in the mouse hepatocarcinoma cell line Hca-F with highly metastatic potential in the lymph nodes, we used an RNA interference (RNAi) approach to silence COL8A1 expression. The results showed that a small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeted against COL8A1 significantly impeded Hca-F cells proliferation and colony formation in soft agar. This reduction of COL8A1 expression also led to the decreased invasion of Hca-F cells dramatically in vitro. Furthermore, the downregulation of COL8A1 expression also sensitized cells to the action of D-limonene. These data together provide insights into the function of COL8A1 and suggest that COL8A1 might represent a new potential target for gene therapy in hepatocarcinoma.