Fast track clinical pathway implications in esophagogastrectomy

AIM： To investigate the feasibility of fast track clinica pathway for esophageal tumor resections. METHODS： One hundred and fourteen patients with esophageal carcinoma who underwent esophagogastrectomy from January 2006 to October 2007 in our department were studied. Fast track clinical pathway included analgesia control, fluid infusion volume control, early ambulation and enteral nutrition. Nasogastric tube was removed 3 d after operation and chest tube was removed 4 d after operation as a routine, and full liquid diet 5 d after operation. RESULTS： Among 114 patients （84 men and 30 women）, 26 patients underwent fast track surgery, including 17 patients over 65 years old and 9 under 65 （P = 0.014）; 18 patients who had preoperative complications could not bear fast track surgery （P 〈 0.001）. No significant differences in tolerance of fast track surgery were attributed to differences in gender, differentiated degree or stage of tumor, pathological type of tumor, or operative incision. The median length of hospital stay was 7 d （5-28 d）, 4% patients were readmitted to hospital within 30 d of discharge. Three patients died and postoperative mortality was 2.6%. All 3 patients had no determinacy to fast track surgery approach.CONCLUSION： The majority of patients with esophageal carcinoma can tolerate fast track surgery. Patients younger than 65 or who have no preoperative diseases have the best results. Median length of hospital stay has been reduced to 7 d.

A review of clinical and histological parameters associated with contralateral neck metastases in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma （OSCC） has a high incidence of cervical micrometastases and sometimes metastasizes contralaterally because of the rich lymphatic intercommunications relative to submucosal plexus of oral cavity that freely communicate across the midline, and it can facilitate the spread of neoplastic cells to any area of the neck consequently. Clinical and histopathologic factors continue to provide predictive information to contralateral neck metastases （CLNM） in OSCC, which determine prophylactic and adjuvant treatments for an individual patient. This review describes the predictive value of clinical-histopathologic factors, which relate to primary tumor and cervical lymph nodes, and surgical dissection and adjuvant treatments. In addition, the indications for elective contralateral neck dissection and adjuvant radiotherapy （aRT） and strategies for follow-up are offered, which is strongly focused by clinicians to prevent later CLNM and poor prognosis subsequently.

BASIC CHARACTERISTICS AND CONTROLLING FACTORS OF ANASTOMSING FLUVIAL SYSTEMS

Although anastomosing fluvial rivers are given much attention recently by some research workers because the result channel sandstone of which is one typical primary reservoirs of petroleum and natural gas, of which the flood plains and the interchannel wetlands are pay zones where coals had formed, the comprehension of anastomosing river is some extent limited at present. Some researchers regard that the anastomosing river river and the anabranched river are the same kind of rivers. In this paper, the sedimentary, geomorphic and hydraulic characteristics and the main controlling factors of anastomosing fluvial system are summarized systematically. Some of the characteristics are compared with others fluvial rivers. Humid climate is suitable to form anastomosing channel systems, in arid semiarid regions anastomosing river maybe develop if many befitting factors combine together. The authors of the paper think that anastomosing river is one typical channel pattern and is dissimilar to anabranched channel pattern.

MiRNA-122 Promotes Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury after Lung Transplantation via the Toll-like Receptor Signaling Pathway

Objective:MiRNAs have been recently implicated in the pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion(IR)injury.This study aimed to investigate the miRNA expression profiles,in the early stages after lung transplantation(LT)and to study the involvement of the Toll-like receptor(TLR)signaling pathway in lung IR injury following LT.Methods:We established the left LT model in mice and selected the miRNA-122 as a research target.The mice were injected with a miRNA-122-specific inhibitor,following which pathological changes in the lung tissue were studied using different lung injury indicators.In addition,we performed deep sequencing of transplanted lung tissues to identify differentially expressed(DE)miRNAs and their target genes.These target genes were used to further perform gene ontology(GO)enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)analysis.Results:A total of 12 DE miRNAs were selected,and 2476 target genes were identified.The GO enrichment analysis predicted 6063 terms,and the KEGG analysis predicted 1554 biological pathways.Compared with the control group,inhibiting the expression of miRNA-122 significantly reduced the lung injury and lung wet/dry ratio(P<0.05).In addition,the activity of myeloperoxidase and the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and TLR2/4 were decreased(P<0.05);whereas the expression of interleukin-10 was increased(P<0.05).Furthermore,the inhibition of miRNA-122 suppressed the IR injury-induced activation of the TLR signaling pathway.Conclusion:Our findings showed the differential expression of several miRNAs in the early inflammatory response following LT.Of these,miRNA-122 promoted IR injury following LT,whereas its inhibition prevented IR injury in a TLR-dependent manner.

Inhibitory Effect of MiR-449b on Cancer Cell Growth and Invasion through LGR4 in Non-Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma

Non-small-cell lung carcinoma （NSCLC） is one of the most frequently diagnosed malignancies worldwide. Previous studies have shown that microRNA-449b （miR-449b） functions as a tumor suppressor in many cancers. However, the role of miR- 449b in NSCLC is still unknown. In the present study, miR-449b was significantly down- regulated in NSCLC samples and cell lines. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that 3＇-UTR region of leucine rich repeat containing G protein-coupled receptor 4 （LGR4） mRNA had putative complementary sequences to miR-449b, which was further confirmed by the luciferase assay. Western blotting showed that restoration of miR-449b in NSCLC cells decreased the expression of LGR4. Interestingly, over-expression of miR-449b inhibited growth and invasion of NSCLC cells in vitro. Furthermore, ectopic expression of LGR4 reversed miR-449b-suppressed proliferation and invasion of NSCLC cells. Therefore, the data of the present study demonstrate that miR-449b inhibits tumor cell growth and invasion by targeting LGR4 in NSCLC.

Generation of genetically modified mice using CRISPR/Cas9 and haploid embryonic stem cell systems

With the development of high-throughput sequencing technology in the post-genomic era, researchers have concentrated their efforts on elucidating the relationships between genes and their corresponding functions. Recently, important progress has been achieved in the generation of genetically modified mice based on CRISPR/Cas9 and haploid embryonic stem cell （haESC） approaches, which provide new platforms for gene function analysis, human disease modeling, and gene therapy. Here, we review the CRISPR/Cas9 and haESC technology for the generation of genetically modified mice and discuss the key challenges in the application of these approaches.

Excretion and detection of SARS coronavirus and its nucleic acid from digestive system

AIM： To study whether severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus （SARS-CoV） could be excreted from digestive system.METHODS： Cell culture and semi-nested RT-PCR were used to detect SARS-CoV and its RNA from 21 stool and urine samples, and a kind of electropositive filter media particles was used to concentrate the virus in 10 sewage samples from two hospitals receiving SAILS patients in Beijing in China. RESULTS： It was demonstrated that there was no live SARS-CoV in all samples collected, but the RNA of SARS-CoV could be detected in seven stool samples from SARS patients with any one of the symptoms of fever, malaise, cough, or dyspnea, in 10 sewage samples before disinfection and 3 samples after disinfection from the two hospitals. The RNA could not be detected in urine and stool samples from patients recovered from SARS.CONCLUSION： Nucleic acid of SARS-CoV can be excreted through the stool of patients into sewage system, and the possibility of SARS-CoV transmitting through digestive system cannot be excluded.

Tunable optical gradient trap by radial varying polarization Bessel-Gauss beam

Optical tweezers play an important role in many domains, especially in life science. And optical gradient force is necessary for constructing optical tweezers. In this paper, the optical gradient force in the focal region of radial varying polarization Bessel- Gauss beam is investigated numerically by means of vector diffraction theory. Results show that the beam parameter and vary rate parameter that indicates the change speed of polarization rotation angle affect the optical gradient force pattern very considerably, and some novel force distributions may come into being, such as multiple force minimums, force ring, and force crust. Therefore, the focusing of radial varying polarization Bessel-Gauss beam can be used to construct optical traps.

Gaussian beam with non-spiral optical vortex

Optical vortex has attracted much interest re-cently due to its novel properties and applica-tions. In this paper, the focusing properties of Gaussian beam containing one non-spiral opti-cal vortex are investigated by means of scalar diffraction theory. Simulation results show that topological charge of non-spiral optical vortex affects optical intensity distribution in focal re-gion considerably, and non-spiral focal pattern may also occur. Multiple intensity peaks may appear companying with center main focal spot under condition of higher topological charge. In addition, the number of weak intensity peak outside of the center main intensity peak is re-lated to the value of topological charge.

Corrigendum to"Rescue of male infertility through correcting a genetic mutation causing meiotic arrest in spermatogonial stem cells"

There is an error in the second affiliation in the published article by Wang et al.!The correct afiliation for the authors,Xi Zhang and Ming-Han Tong,should be:“2State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Andrology,Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology,Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Shanghai 200031,China”.

Rescue of male infertility through correcting a genetic mutation causing meiotic arrest in spermatogonial stem cells

Azoospermia patients who carry a monogenetic mutation that causes meiotic arrest may have their biological child through genetic correction in spermatogonial stem cells(SSCs).However,such therapy for infertility has not been experimentally investigated yet.In this study,a mouse model with an X-linked testis-expressed 11(TEX11)mutation(Tex11PM/Y)identified in azoospermia patients exhibited meiotic arrest due to aberrant chromosome segregation.Tex11PM/Y SSCs could be isolated and expanded in vitro normally,and the mutation was corrected by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)–CRISPR-associated endonuclease 9(Cas9),leading to the generation of repaired SSC lines.Whole-genome sequencing demonstrated that the mutation rate in repaired SSCs is comparable with that of autonomous mutation in untreated Tex11PM/Y SSCs,and no predicted off-target sites are modified.Repaired SSCs could restore spermatogenesis in infertile males and give rise to fertile offspring at a high efficiency.In summary,our study establishes a paradigm for the treatment of male azoospermia by combining in vitro expansion of SSCs and gene therapy.