miR-21, miR-221 and miR-222 expression and prostate cancer recurrence among obese and non-obese cases

Recent evidence shows that certain microRNAs （miRNAs） play a role in both obesity and prostate cancer recurrence, but the association between the expression of these miRNAs and obesity in prostate cancer recurrence is unknown. In this study, we examined the effect of the interaction between obesity and miR-21, miR-221 or miR-222 expression on prostate cancer recurrence among 28 recurrent and 37 non-recurrent prostate cancer cases, miRNA expression was determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Cox proportional hazard models adjusting for age at diagnosis, clinical stage and Gleason score were used to estimate hazard ratios （HR） and 95% confidence intervals （95% CI） for recurrence free survival. A significantly （P=0.014） higher proportion of recurrent cases （78,6%） than non-recurrent cases （48.6%） had a low expression of miR-21 and the difference was more prominent in obese than non-obese patients. Multivariate analysis showed that the expression of miR-21 was an independent risk factor for recurrence in obese （HR=6.15, 95% CI= 1.04-36.48, P=-0.045）, but not in non-obese （HR= 1.28, 95% C1=0.30-5.49, P=0.74） cases. A significant association with recurrence was not observed for the expression of miR-221 and miR-222. In summary, our findings show that miR-21 is associated with prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy and suggest that the differential expression of miR-21 is more prominent in obese than in non-obese cases. Future larger studies are warranted to confirm these initial findings and to elucidate the mechanisms involved.

Appropriate empirical antibiotic use and 30-d mortality in cirrhotic patients with bacteremia

AIM: To analyze whether prompt and appropriate empirical antibiotic(AEA) use is associated with mortality in cirrhotic patients with bacteremia. METHODS: A total of 102 episodes of bacteremia in 72 patients with cirrhosis were analyzed. AEA was defined as a using or starting an antibiotic appropriate to the isolated pathogen at the time of bacteremia. The primary endpoint was 30-d mortality. RESULTS: The mortality rate at 30 d was 30.4%(31/102 episodes). Use of AEA was associated with better survival at 30 d(76.5% vs 46.9%, P = 0.05), and inappropriate empirical antibiotic(IEA) use was an independent factor associated with increased mortality(OR = 3.24; 95%CI: 1.50-7.00; P = 0.003, adjusted for age, sex, ChildPugh Class, gastrointestinal bleeding, presence of septic shock). IEA use was more frequent when the isolated pathogen was a multiresistant pathogen, and when infection was healthcare-related or hospital-acquired. CONCLUSION: AEA use was associated with increased survival of cirrhotic patients who developed bacteremia. Strategies for AEA use, tailored according to the local epidemiological patterns, are needed to improve survival of cirrhotic patients with bacteremia.

Chromosomal assembly of the Antarctic toothfish(Dissostichus mawsoni)genome using third-generation DNA sequencing and Hi-C technology

DEAR EDITOR,The Antarctic toothfish,Dissostichus mawsoni,belongs to the Nototheniidae family and is distributed in sub-zero temperatures below S60°latitude in the Southern Ocean.Therefore,it is an attractive model species to study the stenothermal cold-adapted character state.In this study,we successfully generated highly contiguous genome sequences of D.mawsoni,which contained 1062 scaffolds with a N50 length of 36.98 Mb and longest scaffold length of 46.82 Mb.Repetitive elements accounted for 40.87%of the genome.We also inferred 32914 protein-coding genes using in silico gene prediction and transcriptome sequencing and detected splicing variants using Isoform-Sequencing(Iso-Seq),which will be invaluable resource for further exploration of the adaptation mechanisms of Antarctic toothfish.This new high-quality reference genome of D.mawsoni provides a fundamental resource for a deeper understanding of cold adaptation and conservation of species.

Polyurethane-based Actuators with Various Polyols

This study dealt with the electrostrictive responses of polyurethane （PU） actuators with different microphase separation structure, which was a promising candidate for a material used in polymer actuators. In order to construct PUs with different higher-order structure, PUs with various types of polyol were synthesized： poly（neopentyl glycol adipate） （PNAD）, poly（tetramethylene glycol） （PTMG）, and poly（dimethyl siloxnae） （PDMS）. Synthesized PU was characterized by Fourier transform-infrared （FT-IR） spectroscopy and gel per- meation chromatography （GPC）. Thermal analysis and mechanical properties of PU films were carried out with differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） and UTM （universal testing machine）, respectively. And PU actuator was formed in a type of monomorph, which was made by carbon black electrodes on the both surfaces of PU film by spin coating method. Actuation behavior was mainly influenced on microphase separation struc- ture and mechanical property of PU. In result, PU actuator with PNAD, polyester urethane, had the largest field-induced displacement.