Search

Purpose: To explore the value of contrast-enhanced malignancy imaging features in secondary grade diagnosis of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System for Ultrasonography (BI-RADS-US) type 4 breast lesions. Methods: After initial diagnosis by ultrasound, 124 BI-RADS-US type 4 patients with 130 lesions were examined by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and were classified again before surgery according to five contrast-enhanced malignancy imaging features: inhomogeneous enhancement, peripheral ring-like enhancement, expansive enhancement, internal filling defects, and surrounding radioactive convergence. Lesions with no contrast-enhanced features of malignancy were categorized as type 3; lesions with one, two, or three features of malignancy were categorized as type 4A, 4B, or 4C, respectively; and lesions with four or more indices of malignancy were categorized as type 5. The value of contrasted imaging features of malignancy in diagnosing BI-RADS-US type 4 breast lesions was analyzed. Results: The accuracy of CEUS diagnosis for type 3 lesions was 93.8% (46/49), 76.9% (10/13) for type 4A, 71.4% (5/7) for type 4B, 75.0% (9/12) for type 4C, and 93.8% (46/49) for type 5 lesions. The sensitivity of CEUS in diagnosing malignant lesions was 90.4%, specificity was 83.6%, and accuracy was 86.9%. CEUS decreased the benign lesion biopsy ratio to 68.5% (46/67) and increased the diagnosis ratio of malignant lesions to 73.0% (46/63). Conclusions: CEUS can further optimize the classification of BI-RADS-US type 4 breast lesions and may provide a better reference basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment of those breast lesions.

Background Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is a vital risk factor for prognosis across cancers. We aimed to develop a scoring system for stratifying LVI risk in patients with breast cancer. Methods A total of 301 consecutive patients (mean age, 49.8 ± 11.0 years; range, 29–86 years) with breast cancer confirmed by pathological reports were retrospectively evaluated at the authors’ institution between June 2015 and October 2018. All patients underwent contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) examinations before surgery. MRI findings and histopathologic characteristics of tumors were collected for analysis. Breast LVI was confirmed by postoperative pathology. We used a stepwise logistic regression to select variables and two cut-points were determined to create a three-tier risk-stratification scoring system. The patients were classified as having low, moderate and high probability of LVI. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the discrimination ability of the scoring system. Results Tumor margins, lobulation sign, diffusion-weighted imaging appearance, MRI-reported axillary lymph node metastasis, time to signal intensity curve pattern, and HER-2 were selected as predictors for LVI in the point-based scoring system. Patients were considered at low risk if the score was Conclusion This study shows that a simple and reliable score-based risk-stratification system can be practically used in stratifying the risk of LVI in breast cancer.

The etiology of granulomatous lobular mastitis (GLM) remains unknown. This study aimed to detect bacteria in GLM using Nanopore sequencing and identify the relationship between GLM andThe bacterial detection on fresh samples (including breast pus and tissue) of 50 GLM patients using nanopore sequencing and culture methods. The bacterial detection rate of participants with different stages were compared and analyzed. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues from 39 patients were performed on Gram staining to identify Gram-positive bacilli (GPB) within lipid vacuoles. Moreover, the clinicopathological characteristics of GLM patients in different bacterial subgroups were also conducted.In 50 GLM patients, the detection rate of bacteria was 78% using nanopore sequencing method, especially in the early stage of GLM (over 80%), which was significantly higher than that using culture methods (24%,Nanopore sequencing showed rapid and accurate bacteria detection over culture method in GLM patients. GLM is not sterile inflammation and closely related to

Efficient crop improvement depends on the application of accurate genetic information contained in diverse germplasm resources. Here we report a reference-grade genome of wild soybean accession W05, with a final assembled genome size of 1013.2 Mb and a contig N50 of 3.3 Mb. The analytical power of the W05 genome is demonstrated by several examples. First, we identify an inversion at the locus determining seed coat color during domestication. Second, a translocation event between chromosomes 11 and 13 of some genotypes is shown to interfere with the assignment of QTLs. Third, we find a region containing copy number variations of the Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) genes. Such findings illustrate the power of this assembly in the analysis of large structural variations in soybean germplasm collections. The wild soybean genome assembly has wide applications in comparative genomic and evolutionary studies, as well as in crop breeding and improvement programs., Wild relatives of crop plants are invaluable germplasm for genetic improvement. Here, Xie et al. report a reference-grade wild soybean genome and show that it can be used to identify structural variation and refine quantitative trait loci.

Morphine dependence (MD) is a very common complication because of the chronic morphine consumption. Studies suggest that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can be used for the treatment of MD. However, there is still lacking evidence to support rTMS for MD. Thus, this retrospective study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of rTMS for patients with MD. In this retrosepctive study, a total of 100 patients with MD were included, and they were divided into a rTMS group (n = 50), and a control group (n = 50). All patients in both groups received occupational therapy. In addition, patients in the rTMS group received rTMS. All patients in both groups received a total of 8 weeks treatment. The outcomes comprised of morphine craving intensity, depression, anxiety, and sleep quality, which were appraised by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively. In addition, treatment-related adverse events were also considered for assessment. After 8 weeks treatment, patients in the rTMS group exerted better benefits in improving VAS (P

Background: Luteolin (3', 4', 5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone), a natural flavonoid exists in various medicinal plants, has strong anti-inflammatory effect. However, anti-inflammatory mechanism of luteolin has not been fully explored. Hence, we aimed to systematically investigate druggability and anti-inflammatory mechanism of luteolin based on network pharmacology. Methods: The absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity of luteolin were evaluated by TCMSP server. Targets associated with luteolin and inflammation were collected from public databases, and the overlapping targets between luteolin and inflammation were analyzed by Draw Venn diagram. Then the protein-protein interaction network of luteolin against inflammation was constructed to get core genes. Further, gene function and pathway enrichment analysis were performed. Finally, in vitro experiment was carried out to estimate the accuracy of predicted target genes. Results: ADME results indicated that luteolin has great potential to be developed into a drug. 226 overlapping targets (targets of luteolin against inflammation) were screened by matching 280 targets of luteolin with 9015 targets of inflammation. 9 core targets of luteolin against inflammation were identified, including MMP9, MAPK1, HSP90AA1, CASP3, ALB, EGFR, SRC, HRAS and ESR1. Gene function were mainly involved in metabolism, energy pathways and signal transduction. Pathway enrichment results suggested that metabolic pathways, pathways in cancer, PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, Ras signaling pathway and so on might be the critical pathways of luteolin against inflammation. RT-qPCR and ELISA results indicated that luteolin decreased the expression of most of core genes at protein and mRNA levels (MMP9, MAPK1, HSP90AA1, EGFR, SRC and HRAS). Conclusions: The anti-inflammatory mechanism of luteolin were systematically investigated based on network pharmacology, RT-qPCR and ELISA. Luteolin is expounded to have great potential to be developed into a drug and target various genes and pathways to perform systematic anti-inflammatory effect.

Ammopiptanthus is an endangered angiosperm genus with evergreen and broad leaves, grown in the semi-desert regions of eastern Central Asia. We decoded the complete plastid genomes of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus (AM) and Ammopiptanthus nanus (AN), the only two species in the genus Ammopiptanthus. The total length of AM plastome is 153,935 bp, comprising a 83,889-bp long single-copy region (LSC), a 18,022-bp short single-copy region (SSC) and two inverted repeat (IR) regions of 26,012 bp. The total length of AN plastome is 154,140 bp, including a LSC of 84,069 bp, a SSC of 17,971 bp and two IR regions of 26,000 bp, respectively. Each Ammopiptanthus plastome contains 116 unique functional genes, including 78 protein-coding genes, 4 rRNA and 34 tRNA genes. Plastome sequence alignment with other Papilionoid legumes and an outgroup revealed a novel 23-kb inversion between the ndhJ and petN loci in Ammopiptanthus plastomes.

The high-resolution and accurate typing of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) is of great significance for the study of tissue matching in organ transplantation and the correlation between HLA and disease. In this study, the peripheral blood of 12 patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma was used to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the next- and third-generation sequencing technology for high-resolution HLA typing. In addition, probe capture technology was used to capture the MHC region of YH and HeLa standard cell lines, and a primary hepatocellular carcinoma patient. The captured products were sequenced using PacBio platform to assess the potential of ultra-long reads sequencing technology for analysis of the entire MHC region. Our results showed that: (1) the next- and third-generation sequencing technology can both achieve 6-8 digit high resolution in HLA typing. However, the coverage of the third-generation is significantly better than the next-generation sequencing technology. (2) The ultra-long reads of the third generation sequencing can directly span the entire amplicon region, which has obvious advantages for haplotype phasing, with 92.79% of the HLA genes having accurate phasing results, which is much higher than the 75.65% from the next-generation data. (3) The long-reads from the third generating sequencing can not only be used to assemble the MHC region but also the ability to phase the entire MHC region of 3.6 Mb, thereby helping to clarify the localization information of the mutation sites, alleles and non-coding regions on each MHC haplotype, and providing a theoretical basis for the study of immune and other related diseases.

Luteolin, a natural flavonoid exists in various medicinal plants, has strong anti-inflammatory effect. However, anti-inflammatory mechanism of luteolin has not been fully explored. Hence, we systematically investigated druggability and anti-inflammatory mechanism of luteolin based on network pharmacology and in vitro experiments. The absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of luteolin were evaluated by TCMSP server. Targets associated with luteolin and inflammation were collected from public databases, and the overlapping targets between luteolin and inflammation were analyzed by Draw Venn diagram. Then the protein-protein interaction network of luteolin against inflammation was constructed. Further, gene function and pathway enrichment analysis were performed. Finally, in vitro experiments were carried out to estimate the accuracy of predicted target genes. ADME results indicated that luteolin has great potential to be developed into a drug. 226 overlapping targets were screened by matching 280 targets of luteolin with 9015 targets of inflammation. 9 core targets of luteolin against inflammation were identified, including MMP9, MAPK1, HSP90AA1, CASP3, ALB, EGFR, SRC, HRAS and ESR1. Gene function were mainly involved in metabolism, energy pathways and signal transduction. Metabolic pathways, pathways in cancer, PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, Ras signaling pathway and so on might be the critical pathways of luteolin against inflammation. RT-qPCR and ELISA results indicated that luteolin decreased the expression of most of core genes at protein and mRNA levels (MMP9, MAPK1, HSP90AA1, EGFR, SRC and HRAS). Luteolin is expounded to have great potential to be developed into a drug and target various genes and pathways to perform anti-inflammatory effect.

Phytochemical investigation of the whole plants of Tacca plantaginea led to the isolation of 3 new withanolides and one new withanolide glucoside, named plantagiolides K-N (1-4), together with one known withanolide, 4 known withanolide glucosides, and 2 known taccalonolides. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis. Compound 4 is the first withanolide glycoside which the sugar moiety is attached at C-7. The effects of the some of isolates on TNFa-induced NF-kappa B transcriptional activity and cytotoxicity were evaluated. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In order to utilize and protect the resources of Rhizoma Paridis rationally, we carried out a phytochemical investigation on the non-medicinal (aerial) parts of Paris verticillata that led to the isolation of fifteen steroidal saponins. Among them, three are new spirostanol saponins, named parisverticosides A-C (1-3), as well as one new cholestane glycoside, named parisverticoside D (4). Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis and acid hydrolysis. The aglycone of compound 1 is a new spirostane and identified as (23S,24S,25S)-spirost-5-en-1 beta,3 beta,23, 24-tetraol. The selected isolates were evaluated for induced platelet aggregation activity and compound 5 showed 62% maximal platelet aggregation rate at the concentration of 300 mu g/mL. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Eight new steroidal saponins, trillikamtosides K-R (1-8), along with three known analogues, were isolated from the whole plants of Trillium kamtschaticum. Their structures were unambiguously established by interpretation of spectroscopic data (MS and NMR) and chemical methods. Compound 1 had a rare aglycone featuring a skeleton of 16-oxaandrost-5-en-3-ol-17-one, which was reported for the first time. The isolated saponins were tested for cytotoxicities against HCT116 cells, and trillikamtoside R (8) was found to show the most cytotoxic effect with an IC50 value of 4.92μM.

Phytochemical investigation on the whole plants of Ypsilandra yunnanensis was carried out for the first time and led to the isolation of five new cholestanol glycosides, ypsiyunnosides A–E (1–5), and one known analogue. Their structures were determined mainly by detailed spectroscopic analysis, including extensive 1D and 2D NMR, MS and UV, as well as chemical methods. Among them, compound 1 possessed a rare 6/6/6/5/5 fused-rings cholestanol sketelon, which was identified as (23R,25R)-3β,16α,26-triol-16,23-cyclocholest-5,17(20)-dien-22-one. Their induced platelet aggregation activities and cytotoxicities were evaluated. Graphical Abstract Five new cholestanol glycosides, ypsiyunnosides A–E (1–5), were isolated from the whole plants of Ypsilandra yunnanensis. Compound 1 possessed a rare 6/6/6/5/5 fused-rings cholestanol sketelon. Their structures were elucidated by a combination of 1D and 2D NMR, MS and chemical analysis. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13659-016-0098-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Eight new spirostane glycosides, taccaosides E-L ( 2 – 7 , 11 , and 14 ), along with 7 known spirostane glycosides were isolated from the extract of the whole plants of Tacca plantaginea (Hance) Drenth. Their structures were established on the basis of physical data, spectroscopic analysis (MS, 1D and 2D NMR), and chemical methods. The cytotoxicities of the isolates were evaluated in vitro against two human cancer cell lines (HEK293 and HepG2). The results showed that compound 1 had the strongest cytotoxic activity with IC 50 values of 1.7 μM and 1.2 μM against the two cancer cell lines, respectively. Furthermore, the spirostane glycosides with 17 α -hydroxyl group at their aglycones ( 10 , 12 , and 15 ) were tested for the induced platelet aggregation activity.

Two new monosaccharide steroidal saponins, named ypsilandroside S (1) and ypsilandroside T (2), have been isolated from the whole plants of Ypsilandra thibetica. Their structures were elucidated as heloniogenin 3-O-β-D-apiofuranoside (1) and pregna 5,16-dien-3β,12α-diol-20-one-3-O-β-D-apiofuranoside (2) by spectroscopic techniques (1D and 2D NMR, MS). Compounds 1 and 2 were tested for their inhibitory effects on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 cells. Graphical Abstract

Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel and alternative diesel, but the first generation of biodiesel, which has many defects in properties and in production methods, mainly comes from the chemical transesterification of triglyceride from plant oil. With the fast development in the field of synthetic biology and metabolic engineer-ing, the researchers can choose suitable microbes and engineer its metabolic pathways, such as fatty acid bio-synthesis pathway and isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway, to directly produce the second generation of advanced biodiesel---long chain hydrocarbons, which have better properties and quality using the newest biotechnology techniques. In this review, we summarized the research progress about microbial production of advanced bio-diesel and also pointed the deficiencies and future direction in this new field.