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Objective: This study aims to understand the differences in intestinal flora, expression of helper T cells, allergy-related indicators, and cytokine levels between children with bronchial asthma and healthy children. The study seeks to clarify the effectiveness and safety of probiotic preparations in the treatment of bronchial asthma in children, and to provide new methods for the treatment of bronchial asthma., Methods: A total of 66 pediatric patients aged 3-6 years with bronchial asthma and 35 healthy children undergoing physical examination during the same period were enrolled, designated as the asthma group and the healthy group, respectively. The asthma group was further divided into the probiotic group and the non-probiotic group based on whether probiotics were used. The gut microbiota, serum IgE antibody levels, cytokines (IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, IL-13 levels), proportions of helper T cells (Th1, Th2), and hypersensitive C-reactive protein were measured and compared among the groups., Results: Children with bronchial asthma had decreased abundance and reduced diversity of intestinal flora compared to the healthy group. At the genus level, the asthma group showed increased abundance of Bacteroides and decreased abundance of Faecalibacterium and Veillonella; The probiotic group demonstrated a significantly higher improvement in the abundance of these genera before and after treatment compared to the non-probiotic group (P < 0.05). Compared to the healthy group, children with asthma had elevated levels of serum IgE, IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, and IL-13, as well as a decreased Th1/Th2 ratio, all of which showed statistical differences (P < 0.05). After treatment, all immune indicators improved. Specifically, the probiotic group exhibited a more significant decrease in serum IgE, IL-4, and IL-13 levels compared to the non-probiotic group (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: Children with bronchial asthma exhibit dysbiosis of intestinal flora, characterized by an increased abundance of the Bacteroides and decreased abundance of the Faecalibacterium and Veillonella. This imbalance in intestinal flora increases the risk of allergic diseases. Probiotics can effectively improve dysbiosis of intestinal flora, contributing to the balance of immune function in children, and can be used as an adjunct therapy for the treatment of bronchial asthma., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Bihong Feng reports financial support was provided by Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission of China (2021KY1040). Other authors declare no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Video 1Endoscopic full-thickness resection using double endoscope-assisted snare traction facilitates precise resection of a large exophytic gastric subepithelial lesion., Competing Interests: The authors disclosed no financial relationships relevant to this publication., (© 2024 American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Selenocystine (SeC) has been identified as a novel compound with broad-spectrum anticancer activity. However, the effects of SeC on modifying DNA repair mechanism were less addressed. In this study, we demonstrated that SeC selectively induced cytotoxicity and genotoxicity against HepG2 hepatoma cell line. Comet assay revealed SeC-induced DNA damage in HepG2 cells, particularly in the form of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), corroborated by the increase expression of the DSB marker, gamma-H2AX. We further demonstrated that SeC suppressed DNA homologous recombination repair, exacerbating DNA damage accumulation. Such effects on DNA damage and cell viability inhibition were alleviated by antioxidants, glutathione and Trolox, suggesting the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS). High levels of intracellular and mitochondrial ROS were detected in SeC-treated HepG2. In addition, SeC impaired the expression of antioxidant enzymes (superoxidase mutases and catalase), prompting the imbalance between antioxidant protection and excessive ROS formation and eliciting DSBs and cellular death. Decreased procaspase-3, 7, and 9 and Bcl-2 proteins and an increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, were observed after SeC treatment, but could be reversed by Torlox, confirming the action of SeC on ROS-induced apoptosis. In vivo, the xenograft tumor model of HepG2 cells validated the inhibition of SeC on tumor growth, and the induction of DSBs and apoptosis. In summary, SeC has the capability to induce ROS-dependent DNA damage and impeded DBS repair in HepG2 cells. Thus, SeC holds great promise as a therapeutic or adjuvant agent targeting DNA repair for cancer treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Colorectal cancer has become the third most commonly diagnosed form of cancer, and has the second highest fatality rate of cancers worldwide. Currently, optical colonoscopy is the preferred tool of choice for the diagnosis of polyps and to avert colorectal cancer. Colon screening is time-consuming and highly operator dependent. In view of this, a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) method needs to be developed for the automatic segmentation of polyps in colonoscopy images. This paper proposes a modified SegNet Visual Geometry Group-19 (VGG-19), a form of convolutional neural network, as a CAD method for polyp segmentation. The modifications include skip connections, 5 × 5 convolutional filters, and the concatenation of four dilated convolutions applied in parallel form. The CVC-ClinicDB, CVC-ColonDB, and ETIS-LaribPolypDB databases were used to evaluate the model, and it was found that our proposed polyp segmentation model achieved an accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, mean intersection over union, and dice coefficient of 96.06%, 94.55%, 97.56%, 97.48%, 92.3%, and 95.99%, respectively. These results indicate that our model performs as well as or better than previous schemes in the literature. We believe that this study will offer benefits in terms of the future development of CAD tools for polyp segmentation for colorectal cancer diagnosis and management. In the future, we intend to embed our proposed network into a medical capsule robot for practical usage and try it in a hospital setting with clinicians.

In this study, a high-gravity (HiGee) process incorporating CO 2 and NO x reduction from flue gas in a petrochemical plant coupled with petroleum coke fly ash (PCFA) treatment was established. The performance of HiGee was systematically evaluated from the engineering, environmental, economic, and energy aspects (a total of 15 key performance indicators) to establish the air pollution, energy efficiency, waste utilization nexus. The engineering performance was evaluated that lower energy consumption of 78 kWh/t-CO 2 can be achieved at a capture capacity of 600 kg CO 2 /t-PCFA. A net emission reduction of 327.3 kg-CO 2 /t-PCFA could be determined based on six environmental impact indicators. A cost-benefit analysis was conducted using operating cost, product sale, carbon credit, and savings in air pollution fees to present a better technological selection compared to existing carbon capture and storage plants. The waste heat recovery from the flue gas via the HiGee process could be measured via moisture condensation and attendant elimination of white smog emissions. Retrofitted heat recovery and energy intensity up to 131.8 kJ/t-PCFA and 0.21 kWh/t-PCFA were assessed. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of the HiGee process based on three daily load scenarios of CO 2 capture scale were conducted, suggesting an optimal operating condition of the HiGee for generating profitability., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Drawdown data from independent pumping tests have widely been used to validate the estimated hydraulic parameters from inverse modeling or hydraulic tomography (HT). Yet, the independent pumping test has not been clearly defined. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to define this independent pumping test concept, based on the redundant or nonredundant information about aquifer heterogeneity embedded in the observed heads during cross-hole pumping tests. The definition of complete, moderate redundancy and high nonredundancy of information are stipulated using cross-correlation analysis of the relationship between the head and heterogeneity. Afterward, data from numerical experiments and field sequential pumping test campaigns reinforce the concept and the definition., (© 2019, National Ground Water Association.)

The objective of this study is to determine the reduction efficiency of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) as well as the removal of color and Amaranth dye metabolites by the Aerobic-anaerobic Baffled Constructed Wetland Reactor (ABCW). The ABCW reactor was planted with common reed (Phragmite australis) where the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was set to 1 day and was fed with synthetic wastewater with the addition of Amaranth dye. Supplementary aeration was supplied in designated compartments of the ABCW reactor to control the aerobic and anaerobic zones. After Amaranth dye addition the COD reduction efficiency dropped from 98 to 91% while the color removal efficiency was 100%. Degradation of azo bond in Amaranth dye is shown by the UV-Vis spectrum analysis which demonstrates partial degradation of Amaranth dye metabolites. The performance of the baffled unit is due to the longer pathway as there is the up-flow and down-flow condition sequentially, thus allowing more contact of the wastewater with the rhizomes and micro-aerobic zones.

Therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is the mainstay treatment for bile duct disease. The procedure is difficult per se, especially when a side-viewing duodenoscope is used, and when the patient has altered anatomical features, such as colonic interposition. Currently, there is no consensus on the standard approach for therapeutic ERCP in patients with total esophagectomy and colonic interposition. We describe a novel treatment design that involves the use of a side-viewing duodenoscope to perform therapeutic ERCP in patients with total esophagectomy and colonic interposition. A gastroscope was initially introduced into the interposed colon and a radio-opaque standard guidewire was advanced to a distance beyond the papilla of Vater, before the gastroscope was withdrawn. A side-viewing duodenoscope was then introduced along the guidewire under fluoroscopic guidance. After cannulation into the papilla of Vater, endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) revealed a filling defect (maximum diameter: 15 cm) at the distal portion of the common bile duct (CBD). This defect was determined to be a stone, which was successfully retrieved by a Dormia basket after complete sphincterotomy. With this treatment design, it is possible to perform therapeutic ERCP in patients with colonic interposition, thereby precluding the need for percutaneous drainage or surgery.

One hundred and twenty-five patients with eosinophilic meningitis or meningoencephalitis were studied in southern Taiwan in 1968 and 1969. The majority of patients had mild to moderate disease, but several had severe manifestations. Four patients died and three others had severe permanent sequelae such as blindness. Young adult Angiostrongylus cantonensis were recovered from nine patients, at autopsy in one, and from the cerebrospinal fluid of eight who survived. The clinical manifestations of cases of proven etiology were similar to those of cases from which parasites were not recovered and it is believed that the latter also were the result of infection with A. cantonensis.

A study of the epidemiologic characteristics of 125 cases of eosinophilic meningitis or meningoencephalitis, probably caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis, which occurred in southern Taiwan in 1968 and 1969 revealed a close association of the disease with the rainy season. In contrast to findings in other geographic areas, most such cases in this study occurred among children. A higher attack rate was observed among aborigines than among descendants of mainland Chinese. Most patients had eaten the giant African snail, Achatina fulica, prior to their illness and this mollusc was commonly found infected with third-stage larvae of A. cantonensis. However, in almost all instances the snail was eaten after it had been thoroughly cooked and examination of cooked snail meat revealed only dead larvae. It is suspected that patients became infected by inadvertently ingesting A. cantonensis larvae liberated when the snails were prepared for consumption.