Ecological evaluation of heavy metal pollution in the soil of Pb-Zn mines

Ecotoxicology - Soil heavy metal pollution evaluations are a necessary measure for mine ecological control projects. In this study, the heavy metals Pb, Zn and Cd were studied in mining areas,...     

Study on the Value of Ultrasound Elastography Combined with Plasma miRNA Expression in the Early Detection of Breast Cancer

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumor in women, and its morbidity and mortality are increasing each year, due to the lack of specific clinical symptoms in the early stage of BC, and the lack of diagnostic methods for early breast cancer. Therefore, identifying an effective diagnostic method for early BC has become urgent. Materials and Methods: Breast lesions with a histological diagnosis that were examined by ultrasonic elastography (UE) in our department from June 2020 to December 2021 were reviewed. qRT-PCR was performed to measure the expression levels of miR-144-5p and miR-26b-5p in the plasma of patients with BC. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) were used to investigate the potential diagnostic value of miR- 144-5p, miR-26b-5p and the elastographic score in BC. Results: The ultrasonic elastography score(UES) was found to be significantly upregulated in BC compared with that in benign breast lesions, and the AUC, sensitivity and specificity were 0.809, 0.717 and 0.806 for distinguishing BC from benign breast lesions, respectively. miR-144-5p and miR-26b- 5p were found to be upregulated in the plasma of BC patients, and miR-144-5p+miR-26b-5p had 0.781 sensitivity and 0.780 specificity for the diagnosis of BC. Furthermore, we found that the diagnostic performance of miR-144-5p and miR-26b-5p combined with UES for BC had 0.913 sensitivity and 0.890 specificity. Conclusions: The combination of plasma miR-144-5p, miR-26b-5p and UES has a very high clinical application value for the early detection of BC.     

痛情绪相关神经递质及神经环路研究进展＊

痛情绪是指因疼痛引发的情绪和情感体验，是疾病过程中最常见的一种情绪。痛情绪相关神经机制非常复杂，但主要与单胺类神经递质、神经肽和某些神经环路有关，笔者将结合目前研究现状分别从以上两方面展开，就痛情绪相关单胺类神经递质和神经肽在受体分类、脑区通路、共疾病以及各神经递质之间的联系和痛情绪相关神经环路中各个蛋白的作用机制等方面进行探讨。     

China special issue on gastrointestinal tumors-Radiological features of pathological complete response in mismatch repair deficient colorectal cancer after neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade: A post hoc analysis of the PICC phase II trial

Neoadjuvant programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade exhibits promising efficacy in patients with mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) colorectal cancer (CRC). However, discrepancies between radiological and histological findings have been reported in the PICC phase II trial (NCT 03926338). Therefore, we strived to discern radiological features associated with pathological complete response (pCR) based on computed tomography (CT) images. Data were obtained from the PICC trial that included 36 tumors from 34 locally advanced dMMR CRC patients, who received neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade for 3 months. Among the 36 tumors, 28 (77.8%) tumors achieved pCR. There were no statistically significant differences in tumor longitudinal diameter, the percentage change in tumor longitudinal diameter from baseline, primary tumor sidedness, clinical stage, extramural venous invasion status, intratumoral calcification, peritumoral fat infiltration, intestinal fistula and tumor necrosis between the pCR and non-pCR tumors. Otherwise, tumors with pCR had smaller posttreatment tumor maximum thickness (median: 10 mm vs 13 mm, P = .004) and higher percentage decrease in tumor maximum thickness from baseline (52.9% vs 21.6%, P = .005) compared to non-pCR tumors. Additionally, a higher proportion of the absence of vascular sign (P = .003, odds ratio [OR] = 25.870 [95% CI, 1.357-493.110]), nodular sign (P < .001, OR = 189.000 [95% CI, 10.464-3413.803]) and extramural enhancement sign (P = .003, OR = 21.667 [2.848-164.830]) was observed in tumors with pCR. In conclusion, these CT-defined radiological features may have the potential to serve as valuable tools for clinicians in identifying patients who have achieved pCR after neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade, particularly in individuals who are willing to adopt a watch-and-wait strategy.     

Analysis on internal mechanism of zedoary turmeric in treatment of liver cancer based on pharmacodynamic substances and pharmacodynamic groups

Zedoary tumeric (Curcumae Rhizoma, Ezhu in Chinese) has a long history of application and has great potential in the treatment of liver cancer. The anti liver cancer effect of zedoary tumeric depends on the combined action of multiple pharmacodynamic substances. In order to clarify the specific mechanism of zedoary tumeric against liver cancer, this paper first analyzes the mechanism of its single pharmacodynamic substance against liver cancer, and then verifies the joint anti liver cancer mechanism of its "pharmacodynamic group". By searching the research on the anti hepatoma effect of active components of zedoary tumeric in recent years, we found that pharmacodynamic substances, including curcumol, zedoarondiol, curcumenol, curzerenone, curdione, curcumin, germacrone, β-elemene, can act on multi-target and multi-channel to play an anti hepatoma role. For example, curcumin can regulate miR, GLO1, CD133, VEGF, YAP, LIN28B, GPR81, HCAR-1, P53 and PI3K/Akt/mTOR, HSP70/TLR4 and NF-κB. Wnt/TGF/EMT, Nrf2/Keap1, JAK/STAT and other pathways play an anti hepatoma role. Network pharmacological analysis showed that the core targets of the "pharmacodynamic group" for anti-life cancer are AKT1, EGFR, MAPK8, etc, and the core pathways are neuroactive live receiver interaction, nitrogen metabolism, HIF-1 signaling pathway, etc. At the same time, by comparing and analyzing the relationship between the specific mechanisms of pharmacodynamic substance and "pharmacodynamic group", it is found that they have great reference significance in target, pathway, biological function, determination of core pharmacodynamic components, formation of core target protein interaction, in-depth research of single pharmacodynamic substance, increasing curative effect and so on. By analyzing the internal mechanism of zedoary tumeric pharmacodynamic substance and "pharmacodynamic group" in the treatment of liver cancer, this paper intends to provide some ideas and references for the deeper pharmacological research of zedoary tumeric and the relationship between pharmacodynamic substance and "pharmacodynamic group".     

角膜电刺激对糖尿病大鼠前部缺血性视神经病变模型的影响

观察并评估角膜电刺激对糖尿病大鼠前部缺血性视神经病变（AION）模型的影响。方法：实验 研究。健康雄性Sparague-Dawley大鼠40只，随机分组后抽出8只作为正常大鼠组。余下32只先予 以链脲佐菌素腹腔注射建立糖尿病大鼠模型，将造模成功的大鼠随机抽出8只作为糖尿病组，余下 24只糖尿病大鼠采用孟加拉玫瑰红联合532 nm激光方法建立AION大鼠模型。将24只造模成功的 AION大鼠随机分成3组，每组8只，分别为AION模型组，不予任何处理；电刺激组，予以角膜电刺 激（刺激参数为：电流1 mA，频率20 Hz，波宽1 ms/phase，刺激时间1 h，隔日1次，刺激2周）；假电 刺激组，电极安放位置与电刺激组相同，仅不接通电源。2周后5组大鼠进行眼底照相、光学相干断 层扫描和视觉诱发电位，然后处死，行视网膜及视神经冰冻切片，苏木精伊红染色观察。数据采用 单因素方差分析和LSD-t检验进行分析。结果：正常大鼠组视盘上半部视网膜厚度为（211±13）μm， 糖尿病大鼠组为（206±16）μm，AION模型组为（240±54）μm，假电刺激组为（216±11）μm，电刺 激组为（198±4）μm，5组视盘上半部视网膜厚度差异有统计学意义（F=2.854，P=0.038）。其中AION 模型组视盘上半部视网膜厚度高于正常组、糖尿病组、电刺激组，差异均有统计学意义（P<0.05）； 正常组与糖尿病组差异无统计学意义，AION模型组与假电刺激组未见明显差异。视觉诱发电位示 AION模型组N1潜伏期较电刺激组延长，差异有统计学意义（t=4.1，P<0.001）；AION模型组P1潜伏 期较正常组、糖尿病组、假电刺激组、电刺激组延长，差异均有统计学意义（t=4.1、2.5、2.6、3.2， P<0.05）；电刺激组N1-P1波幅大于假电刺激组，差异有统计学意义（t=4.0，P<0.001）。结论：角膜电 刺激能促进糖尿病大鼠前部缺血性视神经病变模型肿胀的视盘变薄，加速视盘水肿的消退，同时在 一定程度上改善视功能。     

Dexamethasone potentiates in vitro blood-brain barrier recovery after primary blast injury by glucocorticoid receptor-mediated upregulation of ZO-1 tight junction protein

Owing to the frequent incidence of blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) in recent military conflicts, there is an urgent need to develop effective therapies for bTBI-related pathologies. Blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown has been reported to occur after primary blast exposure, making restoration of BBB function and integrity a promising therapeutic target. We tested the hypothesis that treatment with dexamethasone (DEX) after primary blast injury potentiates recovery of an in vitro BBB model consisting of mouse brain endothelial cells (bEnd.3). DEX treatment resulted in complete recovery of transendothelial electrical resistance and hydraulic conductivity 1 day after injury, compared with 3 days for vehicle-treated injured cultures. Administration of RU486 (mifepristone) inhibited effects of DEX, confirming that barrier restoration was mediated by glucocorticoid receptor signaling. Potentiated recovery with DEX treatment was accompanied by stronger zonula occludens (ZO)-1 tight junction immunostaining and expression, suggesting that increased ZO-1 expression was a structural correlate to BBB recovery after blast. Interestingly, augmented ZO-1 protein expression was associated with specific upregulation of the α⁺ isoform but not the α⁻ isoform. This is the first study to provide a mechanistic basis for potentiated functional recovery of an in vitro BBB model because of glucocorticoid treatment after primary blast injury.