Objective To observe the effects of ice-water swimming on pathological changes in model gouty rats,and investigate the relevant regulatory mechanism of the purinergic P2X7R receptor.Methods Male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into normal(NORM)and experimental groups including gouty control(GC),ice-water swimming(IWS),and Brilliant Blue G(BBG,a P2X7R inhibitor)groups.Rats in the experimental groups were modeled to simulate hyperuricemia and gouty arthritis by inhibiting uric acid metabolism combined with the Coderre method.Rats in the ice-water swimming group were treated with 5 min of endurance swimming in an ice-water mixture at a depth of about 0.5 m for 0 h and 12 h after modeling by the Coderre method,while rats in the BBG group were injected intraperitoneally with BBG solution once after modeling.Ankle swelling index was calculated using a formula.Serum uric acid levels were detected by uricase assay,and serum levels of the inflammatory factors interleukin(IL)-1β,1L-6,and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-αwere detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The pathological status of the ankle joints was examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining.P2X7R and NLRP3 protein expression levels in synovial tissue were detected by Western blot and immunohistochemistry,respectively.Results Serum uric acid levels and the ankle joint swelling index were significantly higher in the experimental groups compared with the normal group(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01),and the synovial tissues showed different degrees of inflammatory infiltration.The ankle swelling index was significantly higher in the ice-water swimming group compared with the gouty control group at 12 h(P＜0.05).Serum IL-1β,IL-6,and TNF-α levels(P＜0.01)and P2X7R and NLRP3 protein levels in synovial tissues were all significantly elevated(P＜0.05).Histopathology showed that the cartilage surface was broken and the synovial tissue showed severe hyperplasia and erosion,accompanied by numerous inflammatory cell aggregates.There were no significant changes in P2X7R or NLRP3 protein expression or pathology in synovial tissues in the BBG group compared with the gouty control group(P＞0.05),but serum IL-1β,IL-6,and TNF-α levels were all significantly suppressed(P＜0.01).Conclusions Cold stimulation and strenuous exercise simulated by ice-water swimming may exacerbate pathological damage in gouty arthritis via a mechanism related to high P2X7R expression in the joints.

Objective:To establish a TAL gel-clot bacterial endotoxin test for aluminum hydroxide adjuvant.Methods:According to the bacterial endotoxin test in general chapter 1143 of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020,pre-interference test was performed using 3 types of buffer solutions and Ca-Mg additive by orthogonal design.The interference test and sample preparation validation were carried out using different batches of aluminum hydroxide adjuvant from 2 TAL manufacturers.Results:No interference was obtained through pre-interference test.Under the validated conditions,aluminum hydroxide adjuvant combined with phosphate buffered saline and Ca-Mg additive was employed to remove interference in bacteria endotoxin test.Conclusion:The established TAL gel-clot method is applicable to bacterial endotoxin test for aluminum hydroxide adjuvant.

BACKGROUND: Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of sepsis, but the exact mechanism remains debatable. In this study, we investigated the associations among the serum levels of PAI-1, the incidence of 4G/5G promoter PAI-1 gene polymorphisms, immunological indicators, and clinical outcomes in septic patients. METHODS: A total of 181 patients aged 18-80 years with sepsis between November 2016 and August 2018 in the intensive care unit in the Xinhua Hospital were recruited in this retrospective study, with 28-day mortality as the primary outcome. The initial serum level of PAI-1 and the presence of rs1799768 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were examined. Univariate logistic regression and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with different genotypes of PAI-1, serum level of PAI-1, and 28-day mortality. RESULTS: The logistic analysis suggested that a high serum level of PAI-1 was associated with the rs1799768 SNP of PAI-1 (4G/4G and 4G/5G) (Odds ratio [OR]: 2.49; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.09, 5.68). Furthermore, a high serum level of PAI-1 strongly influenced 28-day mortality (OR 3.36; 95% CI 1.51, 7.49). The expression and activation of neutrophils (OR 0.96; 95% CI 0.93, 0.99), as well as the changes in the expression patterns of cytokines and chemokine-associated neutrophils (OR: 1.00; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.00), were both regulated by the genotype of PAI-1. CONCLUSIONS Genetic polymorphisms of PAI-1 can influence the serum levels of PAI-1, which might contribute to mortality by affecting neutrophil activity. Thus, patients with severe sepsis might clinically benefit from enhanced neutrophil clearance and the resolution of inflammation via the regulation of PAI-1 expression and activity.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult ; Genotype ; Neutrophils ; Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1/genetics* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide/genetics* ; Retrospective Studies ; Sepsis/genetics*

Objective:To explore the correlation between the serum 25-(OH)D 3, adiponectin (APN), and chemerin levels of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and insulin resistance. Methods:28 pregnant women with GDM were selected for the study group from May 2020 to December 2021, and 45 pregnant women with normal glucose tolerance were selected for the control group. 25-(OH)D 3, APN, chemerin, islet resistance index (HOMA-IR), fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, and HbA1c were compared between the two groups. The correlation between 25-(OH)D 3, APN, chemerin, and GDM insulin resistance was analyzed. Results:Fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and chemerin in the GDM group were higher than those in the control group (all P<0.05), while 25-(OH)D 3 and APN were lower than those in the control group (all P<0.05). There was no statistical difference in HbA1c between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis showed that serum 25-(OH)D 3, APN, and chemerin were all related influencing factors of GDM (all P<0.05). Spearman's correlation analysis showed that serum 25-(OH)D 3 was negatively correlated with fasting blood glucose and HOMA-IR (all P<0.05), chemerin was positively correlated with fasting insulin and HOMA-IR (all P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of 25-(OH)D 3 was 0.841 (95% CI: 0.746~0.967). AUC of APN was 0.678 (95% CI: 0.545~0.812). AUC of chemerin AUC was 0.360 (95% CI: 0.233~0.487). Conclusions:The levels of 25-(OH)D 3, APN, and chemerin have a certain correlation with the pathogenesis of GDM, which has a certain reference value for the prediction of GDM.

Objective: To establish a diagnostic prediction model for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and search the potential biomarkers of ESCC. Methods: Serum samples from 59 patients with ESCC and 57 healthy controls were collected, and randomly divided into the training group (44 patients and 42 healthy controls) and validation group (15 patients and 15 healthy controls). Serum proteins/peptides were extracted and purified with weak cation-exchange chromatography Magnetic Beads (WCX-MB), and detected by the matrix-assisted laser desorption / ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Then the differentially expressed proteins/peptides were screened out, and a diagnostic prediction model for ESCC was established and preliminarily validated. Results: The ClinProTools software identified 31 differential peptide peaks (P＜0.05), among which 18 peaks had significant difference (P＜0.01). Compared with healthy controls, 8 peaks were up-regulated in ESCC patients, while 10 peaks were down-regulated. Among them, the areas under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve (AUC ROC ) of m/z 2 660.84 and m/z 5 336.49 peaks were 0.95 and 0.91, respectively, and their expressions were up-regulated in ESCC patients. The validation results showed that the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic prediction model established by the genetic algorithm (GA) were 93.10%, 92.90% and 93.30%, respectively. Conclusion The established diagnostic prediction model may be used for the auxiliary diagnosis of ESCC. Two peptide peaks of m/z 2 660.84 and m/z 5 336.49 may be the potential biomarkers of ESCC.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of B7-H3 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) on diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion (MPE).Methods We collected and analysed the expression of B7-H3 and CEA in 40 MPE cases and 22 cases of benign pleural effusion (BPE) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Receiver operator characteristic curves (ROC) were drawn according to the expression of B7-H3 and CEA, calculated diagnosis sensitivity, specificity and the area under curve (AUC).Results The diagnosis sensitivity of B7-H3 was 62.5％, specificity 81.0％, with the AUC of 0.777;similarly, The diagnosis sensitivity of CEA was 72.5％, specificity 81.0％, with the AUC of 0.850.Higher AUC of 0.910 was gained in combination ROC, with sensitivity and specificity of 72.5％, 81.0％, respectively.Conclusion B7-H3 and CEA could be available diagnosing markers for MPE.Combined applications of B7-H3 and CEA have higher AUC.They may be widely applied in future clinical practice.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting CTLA-4 and PD-1 /PD-L1 are increasingly used to treat several types of cancer.Although several agents have been approved,only 10％ to 30％ of patients have benefited from them.Some studies have shown that intestinal micro-ecology can affect the outcome of ICIs through immune regulation in cancer patients.This literature review s summarized the regulation and predictive functions of intestinal micro-ecology on ICIs treatment,and introduced possible mechanisms of intestinal micro-ecology that affacted the efficacy of immunotherapy.In addition,some approaches for detecting gut microbiome were also summarized.Gut microbiota highlighted in this review may serve as novel biomarkers to predict clinical outcomes in cancer patients.

Objective To use the liquid protein combined with MALDI-TOF-MS for screening the serum differential peptides markers in lung adenocarcinoma patients and to establish the lung adenocarcinoma diag-nosed prediction model for founding the potential markers for the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma.Methods 37 patients with lung adenocarcinoma and 33 healthy subjects and benign lung disease which were made up in control group were collected,in the two groups the age and the sex were matched.The two groups were ran-domly divided into training group(30 cases of lung adenocarcinoma,26 cases of control)and test group(7 ca-ses of lung adenocarcinoma,7 cases of control)according to 3:1.T he differential diagnosis of lung adenocarci-noma and control group was performed by liquid chip-time-of-flight mass spectrometry and software ClinPro-Tools 3.0 to establish a prediction model of lung adenocarcinoma.The diagnostic model was validated by using serum samples from the test group to assess the diagnostic efficacy of the model.Results Nine peptide peaks with significant differences(P<0.05)were obtained by ClinProTools 3.0 software analysis.The up-regulated peaks in lung adenocarcinoma(m/z)were 8 976.5,4 469.05,4 966.78,8 925.5,4 531.05,and the down-reg-ulated m/z were 3 304.44,8 594.76,3 266.82,3 195.52.According to the genetic algorithm(GA),the lung ad-enocarcinoma diagnosis and prediction model was established.The overall recognition ability of the model was 94.49%.The model was evaluated by the test group.The results showed that the sensitivity of the model was 100.0% and the specificity was 85.7%.Conclusion Among lung adenocarcinoma patients,serum benign lung disease and healthy,there are differences in the serum peptide.T he use of differential peptide peaks to estab-lish lung adenocarcinoma diagnostic prediction model for the early diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma provides a new method.

Objective To explore the significance of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) taurine up-regulated gene 1 (TUG1) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC),to predict the target gene of TUG1,and to provide a ref-erence for further study of TUG1 in HCC.Methods The differential expression of TUG1 in HCC was ana-lyzed by using the UALCAN database and the survival analysis of TUG1 was performed.The target gene of TUG1 was predicted by RegRNA 2.0 biology software,HMDD,targetscan and microT-CDS,and the regulato-ry network of lncRNA TUG1-microRNAs-mRNAs was constructed.The predicted target gene was analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG signal transduction pathway enrichment by using FunRich platform. Results TUG1 expression in HCC was significantly increased,and the expression level of TUG1 increased generally with the increase of tumor grade.The overall survival of patients with low expression of lncRNA TUG1 was significantly longer than that of lncRNA TUG1 high expression patients.There were four possible binding sites of HCC related microRNAs (hsa-mir-122-5p,hsa-mir-200a-3p,hsa-mir-34c-3p,hsa-mir-629-3p) on TUG1,which regulated 245 downstream target genes and formed the regulatory network of lncRNA TUG1-microRNAs-mRNAs.In the biological process,microRNA target genes were highly enriched in the processes such as the regulation of nucleobase,nucleoside,nucleotide and nucleic acid metabolism.In KEGG pathway analysis,microRNA target genes were highly enriched to the signal pathways mediated by Syndecan and TRAIL.Conclusion TUG1 expression level in HCC increased.Increased expression of TUG1 is associat-ed with poor prognosis in HCC.Bioinformatics methods can be used to explore the mechanism of tumorigene-sis from the molecular level,which can provide valuable information for subsequent experiments and clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Objective To investigate the changes in serum level of microparticles (EMPs) in mice with ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), and explore its significance in VILI. Methods Forty-eight grade SPF male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into two groups, with 24 mice in each group: the mice in mechanical ventilation (MV) group were given high tidal volume (VT 30 mL/kg) MV for 4 hours after tracheal intubation, and those in spontaneous breathing group were spontaneously breathed for 4 hours. The apical blood of 12 mice in each group were collected, and serum levels of interleukins (IL-1β, IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and serum EMPs levels were determined by flow cytometer. The correlations between EMPs and IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were analyzed by linear regression analysis. The lung tissues of other 12 mice in each group were harvested, and wet/dry weight (W/D) ratio was assessed. After hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, the morphological changes in lung tissue were observed under light microscope. After double staining of uranium acetate and lead citrate, the ultrastructural changes in lung tissue were observed with electron microscope. Results Compared with spontaneous breathing group, the levels of lung W/D ratio in MV group was significantly increased (5.47±0.14 vs. 4.34±0.11), the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and EMPs were also significantly increased [IL-1β (ng/L): 42.4±4.4 vs. 7.7±3.6, IL-6 (ng/L): 1 239.5±66.3 vs. 21.7±4.6, TNF-α (ng/L):237.6±25.8 vs. 37.1±19.1, EMPs (cells/μL): 28.6±1.8 vs. 5.9±1.8, all P < 0.01]. It was shown by correlation analysis that EMPs were positively related with IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α (r value was 0.968, 0.932, 0.945, respectively, all P = 0.000). It was shown by fitting linear regression analysis that when EMPs increased by 1 cell/μL, IL-1β increased by 2.4 ng/L [95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 1.9-2.8, P < 0.001], IL-6 increased by 34.5 ng/L (95%CI = 25.1-44.0, P < 0.001), and TNF-α increased by 13.6 ng/L (95%CI = 10.3-16.9,P < 0.001). It was shown by light microscope that the structure of lung tissue and alveolar of mice in spontaneous breathing group appeared normal, while the shrinks of alveolar and disappearance of alveolar architecture were found in MV group. It was shown by electron microscopy that alveolar wall edema and thickening and broken alveolar septa were found in MV group, by contrast, the structure of alveolar was normal in spontaneous breathing group. Conclusion 30 mL/kg VT ventilation for 4 hours could induce VILI with increase in EMPs, suggesting EMPs closely related to VILI, and EMPs level may be putative biomarker of VILI.