Objective:To evaluate the potential value of gut microbiota metabolites in predicting the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy combined with immunotherapy in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.Methods:Prospectively collected case data from 32 patients with locally advanced rectal patients, who underwent total mesorectal excision at Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, between October 2021 and August 2022. Among these patients, 18 (56.25%) were male and 14 (43.75%) were female, with ages ranging from 37 to 79 years and a mean age of (61.69±8.73) years. Postoperative pathological response was evaluated using the Tumor Regression Grade (TRG), dividing the patients into two groups: an efficacious group (ypT 0N 0, n=14) and a non-efficacious group (non-ypT 0N 0, n=18). Stools from 14 patients in the efficacious group and 18 patients in the non-efficacious group, who had experienced neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy combined with immunotherapy, were collected before treatment. Metabolites were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, and pathway enrichment analysis was performed. A random forest model was constructed based on the differential metabolites. The data were analyzed by using R4.1.1 and 26.0 software. Results:Through untargeted metabolomics analysis, 2′-Deoxyinosine and albiflorin were enriched in the responders, while Sorbitan monooleate, 2-(Formylamino) Benzoic Acid, and 12-Hydroxydodecanoic acid were enriched in the non-responders ( P<0.05); Arachidonic acid metabolism and tryptophan metabolism were enriched, and the AUC for the model was 0.976. Conclusions:Rectal cancer patients with or without complete postoperative pathological remission exhibit differences in the metabolites of their intestinal microbiome prior to undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy combined with immunotherapy. The identified differential metabolites have the potential to serve as predictive biomarkers for treatment efficacy.

Objective To use analytic hierarchy process(AHP)-entropy weight method to evaluate the quality of symbiotic Armillaria in Gastrodia elata Bl.Methods The physiological,growth and chemical indexes of 6 strains of G.elata symbiotic Armillaria were used as evaluation factors,and the weight coefficients of each index were calculated by the AHP-entropy weight method.A comprehensive quality evaluation system was established to evaluate the quality of Armillaria strains,and the results were verified by red G.elata and hybrid G.elata combined planting experiments.Results The quality evaluation results showed that extracellular xylanase activity,extracellular cellulase activity and total sugar weight were relatively high,among which strains N6 and N3 ranked the top.The results showed that strains N5 and N4 combined with red G.elata had better quality,that strains N6 and N3 combined with hybrid G.elata had better quality.Conclusion The correlation of extracellular xylanase activity and total sugar of cellulase activity should be paid attention to in the quality evaluation of symbiotic Armillaria in G.elata.The quality evaluation system constructed in this artilcle is basically consistent with the results of hybrid G.elata combined with hybrid G.elata experiment,which can provide references for the quality screening of symbiotic Armillaria in G.elata.

Screening for diabetes and its complications contributes to slowing the progression of diabetes mellitus. Based on the setting of grass-roots diabetes complication screening workstation with the concept of two stages of screening and three levels of prevention, we proposed a hospital-community-family integrated diabetes management strategy. This article discusses the background, organization structure, operation mechanism and implementation process of this strategy, aiming to provide reference for constructing a suitable and practical grass-roots diabetes management model.

Objective To observe the expression of ciz1 in human colorectal cancer tissues and analyse the relationship between their expression and clinicopathologic features.Methods We detected the expression of Ciz1 and Ciz1 mRNA by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting.The relationship between the expression of ciz1 and clinicopathologic features was analied.Results According to immunohistochemical results,Ciz1 showed significant high expression in the primary lesion of colorectal cancer tissue,compared to normal adjacent tissues(66.7%vs.35.0%,P=0.001).Through Western blot analysis,it was found that the relative expression level in colorectal cancer tissue was 0.32±0.03,while in normal colorectal mucosal tissue it was 0.11±0.01.In addition,the relative expression level of Ciz1 in colorectal cancer tissue was significantly higher than that in normal intestinal mucosal tissue(P<0.05).The study found that the overexpression of Ciz1 in colorectal cancer tissue is significantly correlated with the T stage(P=0.018),lymph node metastasis(P=0.022),and AJCC stage(P=0.017)of the cancer.The age,gender,tumor location,degree of differentiation,and the presence of distant metastasis of patients were not correlated with this(P>0.05).The expression level of Ciz1 in colorectal cancer tissue is significantly increased,which is closely related to the T stage(P=0.018),lymph node metastasis(P=0.022),and American Joint Committee on Cancer stage(P=0.017)of colorectal cancer.Conclusion This association suggests that Ciz1 may play an important role in tumor staging,participating in the development and spread of tumors.Therefore,it can be foreseen that Ciz1 is expected to become a new biomarker for evaluating the prognosis of colorectal cancer patients.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) are the most widely used method to identify genetic risk loci associated with orofacial clefts (OFC). However, despite the increasing size of cohort, GWASs are still insufficient to detect all the heritability, suggesting there are more associations under the current stringent statistical threshold. In this study, we obtained an integrated epigenomic dataset based on the chromatin conformation of a human oral epithelial cell line (HIOEC) using RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, H3K27ac ChIP-seq, and DLO Hi-C. Presumably, this epigenomic dataset could reveal the missing functional variants located in the oral epithelial cell active enhancers/promoters along with their risk target genes, despite relatively less-stringent statistical association with OFC. Taken a non-syndromic cleft palate only (NSCPO) GWAS data of the Chinese Han population as an example, 3664 SNPs that cannot reach the strict significance threshold were subjected to this functional identification pipeline. In total, 254 potential risk SNPs residing in active cis-regulatory elements interacting with 1 718 promoters of oral epithelium-expressed genes were screened. Gapped k-mer machine learning based on enhancers interacting with epithelium-expressed genes along with in vivo and in vitro reporter assays were employed as functional validation. Among all the potential SNPs, we chose and confirmed that the risk alleles of rs560789 and rs174570 reduced the epithelial-specific enhancer activity by preventing the binding of transcription factors related to epithelial development. In summary, we established chromatin conformation datasets of human oral epithelial cells and provided a framework for testing and understanding how regulatory variants impart risk for clefts.
Chromatin ; Cleft Lip/genetics* ; Cleft Palate/genetics* ; Epithelium ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Humans

Objective:To identify the pathogenic gene of a pedigree with symphalangism and to prove the pathogenicity of this locus in vitro.Methods:The clinical data of patients’families were collected at Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, peripheral blood was collected and genomic DNA was extracted and NOG, FGF9, GDF5 exon regions were amplified by PCR, and the exon gene mutations were detected by first-generation sequencing technique. The structure of noggin-GDF5 protein complex was simulated in silicon. COS-7 cells were transfected with 5 μg empty plasmid, wild type plasmid and V202G mutant plasmid in vitro. Each group of plasmids was transfected into 3 well cells. The experiment was repeated for 3 times, and the expression of noggin protein was detected by Western blotting. C2C12 cells were also transfected with the above plasmids in vitro for osteogenic differentiation. By applying alkaline phosphatase staining and quantitative assay. Relative expression level of osteoblast-related genes Col1α1, ALP and Runx2 were detected by qRT-PCR. Each group of plasmids was transfected into 3 well cells, and the experiment was repeated for 3 times. All statistical analysis were performed by Prism 6 software. The result were shown as mean±standard deviation, and the comparison between groups was done by unpaired t-test. Data were considered statistically significant when P value is less than 0.05. Results:Both the proband and his mother suffered from symphalangism. The result of Sanger sequencing showed that there was a heterozygous missense mutation of NOG gene (p.V202G) in all patients in this pedigree. No disease-related mutations were detected in FGF9 and GDF5. Computer three-dimensional mechanism simulation showed that the site was located at the α helix. The result of Western blotting showed that the expression of mutant protein was significantly lower than that of wild type. Osteogenic differentiation in vitro showed that the inhibitory effect of V202G mutant protein on osteogenic differentiation decreased. The quantitative result of alkaline phosphatase staining showed that the alkaline phosphatase activity in the vector group was (12.3±0.8) U/L, and the alkaline phosphatase activity in the wild type plasmid group was (2.6±0.3) U/L, which was significantly lower than that in the vector group ( t=11.550, P<0.001). The alkaline phosphatase activity in the mutant plasmid group was (10.8±0.3) U/L. There was no significant difference between the mutant group and the vector group ( t=1.830, P=0.141). The mRNA expression level of osteogenesis-related genes was consistent with the above result . Compared with vector group, the expression of osteogenesis-related genes in wild-type noggin group decreased significantly ALP、 Col1α1 and Runx2 ( t=5.987, 4.498, 4.170; P=0.004, 0.011, 0.014). There was no significant difference between mutant plasmid group and blank vector group in ALP、 Col1α1 and Runx2 ( t=0.433, 0.177, 1.159; P=0.688, 0.868, 0.311). Conclusions:NOG gene c. 605T < G p. V202G is a novel mutation in symphalangism, which is located in the α helix of noggin protein, leading to the decrease of the expression of noggin protein and the manifestation of ankylosis.

Objective:To identify the pathogenic gene of a pedigree with symphalangism and to prove the pathogenicity of this locus in vitro.Methods:The clinical data of patients’families were collected at Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, peripheral blood was collected and genomic DNA was extracted and NOG, FGF9, GDF5 exon regions were amplified by PCR, and the exon gene mutations were detected by first-generation sequencing technique. The structure of noggin-GDF5 protein complex was simulated in silicon. COS-7 cells were transfected with 5 μg empty plasmid, wild type plasmid and V202G mutant plasmid in vitro. Each group of plasmids was transfected into 3 well cells. The experiment was repeated for 3 times, and the expression of noggin protein was detected by Western blotting. C2C12 cells were also transfected with the above plasmids in vitro for osteogenic differentiation. By applying alkaline phosphatase staining and quantitative assay. Relative expression level of osteoblast-related genes Col1α1, ALP and Runx2 were detected by qRT-PCR. Each group of plasmids was transfected into 3 well cells, and the experiment was repeated for 3 times. All statistical analysis were performed by Prism 6 software. The result were shown as mean±standard deviation, and the comparison between groups was done by unpaired t-test. Data were considered statistically significant when P value is less than 0.05. Results:Both the proband and his mother suffered from symphalangism. The result of Sanger sequencing showed that there was a heterozygous missense mutation of NOG gene (p.V202G) in all patients in this pedigree. No disease-related mutations were detected in FGF9 and GDF5. Computer three-dimensional mechanism simulation showed that the site was located at the α helix. The result of Western blotting showed that the expression of mutant protein was significantly lower than that of wild type. Osteogenic differentiation in vitro showed that the inhibitory effect of V202G mutant protein on osteogenic differentiation decreased. The quantitative result of alkaline phosphatase staining showed that the alkaline phosphatase activity in the vector group was (12.3±0.8) U/L, and the alkaline phosphatase activity in the wild type plasmid group was (2.6±0.3) U/L, which was significantly lower than that in the vector group ( t=11.550, P<0.001). The alkaline phosphatase activity in the mutant plasmid group was (10.8±0.3) U/L. There was no significant difference between the mutant group and the vector group ( t=1.830, P=0.141). The mRNA expression level of osteogenesis-related genes was consistent with the above result . Compared with vector group, the expression of osteogenesis-related genes in wild-type noggin group decreased significantly ALP、 Col1α1 and Runx2 ( t=5.987, 4.498, 4.170; P=0.004, 0.011, 0.014). There was no significant difference between mutant plasmid group and blank vector group in ALP、 Col1α1 and Runx2 ( t=0.433, 0.177, 1.159; P=0.688, 0.868, 0.311). Conclusions:NOG gene c. 605T < G p. V202G is a novel mutation in symphalangism, which is located in the α helix of noggin protein, leading to the decrease of the expression of noggin protein and the manifestation of ankylosis.

Extralevator abdominoperineal excision (ELAPE) has been suggested to potentially improve oncological outcomes in advanced low rectal cancer patients. However, the urogenital function impairment as one of the main complications deteriorates the quality of life in these patients. The key point to prevent urogenital function impairment is to avoid autonomic nerve injury, including the superior and inferior hypogastric nerve plexus and neurovascular bundle. Three areas should be especially focused during surgery, including the posterolateral aspect of the prostate during the separation of the rectum from prostate, the lateral wall of ischioanal fossa and the area in front of anal canal. Previous presumption supposed that extended resection, though promoting oncologic outcomes, might lead to enlarged injury to surrounding vessels and nerves that deteriorated patients′ urogenital function. But recent studies show that postoperative urogenital function outcomes of rectal cancer patients who underwent ELAPE are not inferior to conventional APE after the induction of minimal invasive approaches including laparoscopic and robotic surgery. Their quality of life can be comparable with patients who underwent conventional APE, and are even better in some particular area. Moreover, as further improvement of ELAPE procedure has been made, the concept of individualized ELAPE addressed the importance of personalized surgical procedure based on tumor stage and location, dedicating to avoid injury to vessels and nerves through preserving more surrounding tissues. Urogenital function outcomes, as part of postoperative outcomes, get more and more attention in recent years. We review current studies on urogenital function after ELAPE from anatomy to clinical research, in order to raise surgeons′ attention of nerve preservation technique and to improve their understanding of ELAPE procedure.

Objective:To observe the changes of insulin secretion in the early stage of severe scald in rats, and to explore its signal transduction mechanism.Methods:Twenty-four male Wistar rats aged 7 weeks were divided into sham injury alone (SIA) group, sham injury+ BPV (HOpic) (SIB) group, scald alone (SA) group, and scald+ BPV (HOpic) (SB) group using the random number table, with 6 rats in each group. Full-thickness scald of 50% total body surface area was inflicted in rats of SA and SB groups by a 6-s immersion of the abdomen and a 12-s immersion of the back in 94 ℃ hot water. Rats in SIA and SIB groups received sham injuries through immersion of the back and abdomen in 37 ℃ warm water for 6 and 12 seconds respectively. From 0 (immediately) to 2 day (s) after injury, the rats in groups SB and SIB were intraperitoneally injected with the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) signaling pathway enhancer BPV (HOpic) solution (0.5 mg/mL) at the dosage of 0.6 mg/kg once a day, and the rats in groups SA and SIA were intraperitoneally injected with the same volume of dimethyl sulfoxide once a day. At post injury hour (PIH) 72, the tail blood of rats was sampled for measuring fasting blood glucose (FBG) with a glucometer, and the pancreatic tissue samples of rats was harvested for observing the pathological manifestations of islets by hematoxylin-eosin staining, counting the docked granules per 10 μm membrane of islet beta cells and calculating the proportion of insulin vesicles through the observation of the ultrastructure of islet beta cells by transmission electron microscope, and detecting the phosphorylation level of Akt in the pancreatic PI3K/Akt signaling pathway by Western blotting. Data were statistically analyzed with one-way analysis of variance and least significant difference test.Results:(1) At PIH 72, the rat FBG levels in SIA and SIB groups were normal and similar ( P>0.05). Compared with the levels of those two groups, the rat FBG level in SA group was increased significantly ( P<0.01), while the level in SB group showed no obvious change ( P>0.05). Compared with that in SA group, the rat FBG level in SB group was decreased significantly ( P<0.01). (2) At PIH 72, the morphology of rat islets was complete and the islet cells distributed regularly in SIA and SIB groups. Compared with those in SIA and SIB groups, the morphology of rat islets was incomplete, the insulin vesicles in islets were common, the islet cells distributed irregularly, and the cytoplasm of some islet beta cells was lightly stained or translucent in SA group; the morphology of islets in SB group did not change obviously. Compared with those in SA group, the morphology of islets was comparatively complete, the insulin vesicles in islets were less common, the islet cells distributed comparatively regularly, and the lightly stained or translucent cytoplasm of islet beta cells was less in SB group. (3) At PIH 72, the number of docked granules per 10 μm membrane of rat islet beta cells and the proportion of insulin vesicles in SIA and SIB groups were similar ( P>0.05). Compared with those in SIA and SIB groups, the number of docked granules per 10 μm membrane of rat islet beta cells in SA group was decreased significantly ( P<0.01), while the proportion of insulin vesicles was increased significantly ( P<0.01); the number of docked granules per 10 μm membrane of rat islet beta cells in SB group was obviously decreased ( P<0.05), while the proportion of insulin vesicles did not change obviously ( P>0.05). Compared with those in SA group, the number of docked granules per 10 μm membrane of rat islet beta cells in SB group was significantly increased ( P<0.01), while the proportion of insulin vesicles was significantly decreased ( P<0.01). (4) At PIH 72, the phosphorylation levels of Akt in SIA, SIB, SA, and SB groups were 0.91±0.03, 0.98±0.03, 0.78±0.08, and 0.87±0.08, respectively. Compared with that in SIA group, the phosphorylation level of Akt was increased obviously in SIB group ( P<0.05) but was decreased significantly in SA group ( P<0.01), while the level in SB group did not change obviously ( P>0.05). Compared with the level in SIB group, the phosphorylation levels of Akt in SA and SB groups were decreased significantly ( P<0.01). Compared with that in SA group, the phosphorylation level of Akt in SB group was increased significantly ( P<0.05). Conclusions:At the early stage post severe scald in rats, the activity of the pancreatic PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and the function of insulin secretion are reduced. Improving the activity of the pancreatic PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in rats can ameliorate the function of insulin secretion and recover the physiological level of blood glucose.

Objective To investigate whether transcatheter renal sympathetic denervation (RSD) by radiofrequency ablation interfere with the development of left ventricular (LV) mechanical dyssynchrony during the progression of heart failure (HF).Methods Nineteen beagles were randomly divided into sham-operated group (six dogs),control group (seven dogs),and RSD group (six dogs).Sham-operated group were implanted with pacemakers without pacing;Control group were implanted with pacemakers and underwent 3 weeks of rapid right ventricular pacing;and RSD group underwent catheter-based RSD bilaterally and were simultaneously implanted with pacemakers.LV dyssynchrony was analyzed via 2D speckle-tracking strain echocardiography to evaluate LV function.Longitudinal dyssynchrony was determined as the standard deviation for time-to-peak speckle-tracking strain on apical 4-and 2-chamber views.Radial and circumferential dyssynchrony was determined as the standard deviation for time-to-peak speckle-tracking strain in mid-and base-LV short-axis views.LV systolic pressure (LVSP) and LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) were measured.The LV interstitial fibrosis was determined by histological analysis.Results After 3 weeks,all of the dogs in both the control and RSD groups showed greater LV end-diastolic volume compared with the sham-operated group;however,the dogs in the RSD group had a higher LV ejection fraction (LVEF) than the dogs in the control group (P ＜0.001).The LV systolic strains were higher in the RSD group than in the control group (P ＜0.001 for longitudinal,circumferential and radial strain,respectively).The levels of LV dyssynchrony were lower in the RSD group than in the control group (P ＜ 0.001 for longitudinal,circumferential and radial dyssynchrony,respectively).Compared with control group,RSD group had lower LV end-diastolic pressures and less fibrous tissue.Conclusions RSD inhibites the development of left ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony during the progression of heart failure in dogs.