Association of residential noise exposure with maternal anxiety and depression in late pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Noise is one of the most important environmental risk factors that adversely affects human health. Residential noise exposure has been associated with increased risk of anxiety and depression in the general population. However, limited study has been conducted in pregnant women. OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations of residential noise exposure with prenatal anxiety and depression. METHODS: Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Center for Epidemiological Survey Scale (CES-D) were used to assess the status of prenatal anxiety and depression for 2,018 pregnant women in Shanghai, China. Residential noise exposure was represented by a land use regression model. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to estimate the associations of noise exposure with prenatal anxiety and depression. RESULTS: The prevalence rates of prenatal anxiety and depression were 7.5 % and 8.1 %, respectively. The mean (±standard deviation) residential noise exposure during the whole pregnancy was 60.69 (±3.31) dB (A). Higher residential noise exposure was associated with increased odds of both prenatal anxiety and depression. Compared with low level of noise exposure group (<65 dB(A)), the odds of prenatal anxiety and depression increased 69 % (OR = 1.69, 95 % CI, 1.01-2.82) and 71 % (OR = 1.71, 95 % CI, 1.05-2.80) in higher noise exposure group (≥65 dB(A)), respectively. Stratified analyses showed that the associations were stronger among pregnant women with lower socioeconomic status. CONCLUSION: Residential noise exposure during pregnancy might be a risk factor for prenatal anxiety and depression.

The Emerging Role of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Arterial, Venous and Cancer-Associated Thrombosis.

Neutrophils play a vital role in the formation of arterial, venous and cancer-related thrombosis. Recent studies have shown that in a process known as NETosis, neutrophils release proteins and enzymes complexed to DNA fibers, collectively called neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). Although NETs were originally described as a way for the host to capture and kill bacteria, current knowledge indicates that NETs also play an important role in thrombosis. According to recent studies, the destruction of vascular microenvironmental homeostasis and excessive NET formation lead to pathological thrombosis. In vitro experiments have found that NETs provide skeletal support for platelets, red blood cells and procoagulant molecules to promote thrombosis. The protein components contained in NETs activate the endogenous coagulation pathway to promote thrombosis. Therefore, NETs play an important role in the formation of arterial thrombosis, venous thrombosis and cancer-related thrombosis. This review will systematically summarize and explain the study of NETs in thrombosis in animal models and in vivo experiments to provide new targets for thrombosis prevention and treatment.

The co-occurrence of leukemoid reaction and hypercalcemia in a patient with endometrial cancer: A case report and literature review.

Paraneoplastic syndromes are rarely seen in gynecological tumors especially in endometrial cancer. Early identification of paraneoplastic syndromes plays a significant role in the treatment and prognosis of cancer. Here, we reported a rare case with endometrial cancer with a 2.7 cm × 2.2 cm × 3.4 cm lesion in the posterior cervix presenting leukemoid reaction and hypercalcemia as paraneoplastic syndromes simultaneously. During the progress of the endometrial cancer, her leukocyte level rose up to 60.7 × 109/L after anti-infection treatment. Meanwhile, the patient represented a series of severe clinical situation including hypercalcemia, hypokalemia, metabolic alkalosis. and respiratory failure. Finally, the patient died of respiratory circulatory failure 2 weeks later. In addition to symptomatic treatment, possible treatment targeted on the primary tumor as early as possible might help to improve the clinical prognosis.

Evaluating coagulation status with thromboelastography in a woman with antiphospholipid syndrome and sepsis: a case report.

This study presents the case of a pregnant woman with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) who developed septic shock after labor induction. Prolonged coagulation times suggested a hypocoagulable state and contraindication to anticoagulation. Thromboelastography (TEG) similarly indicated hypocoagulation. To exclude the impact of lupus anticoagulant on the coagulation assays, a mixing test of prolonged activated partial thromboplastin times was conducted. The mixing test confirmed that prolongation of coagulation times in vitro was affected by antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), such as lupus anticoagulant. The patient was administered human immunoglobulin and low-molecular weight heparin to neutralize antibodies and for anticoagulation, respectively. The patient's coagulation state significantly improved. Based on these findings, anesthesiologists and obstetricians should be aware that TEG might not be a reliable method of correcting coagulation parameters in patients with sepsis in the presence of aPL. If necessary, a mixing test can be performed to correctly define a patient's coagulation status.

lncRNA ZFPM2-AS1 promotes proliferation via miR-18b-5p/VMA21 axis in lung adenocarcinoma.

Lung cancer has been proved to be one of the most common kinds of cancers around the globe. Meanwhile, as the predominant type of lung cancer, lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) has received increasing attention in cancer research. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are known to be associated with oncogenesis and progression of various cancers. However, many lncRNAs have not been thoroughly detected in LUAD. In this study, through bioinformatics analysis we found that zinc finger protein multitype 2 antisense RNA 1 (ZFPM2-AS1) was associated with poor prognosis of LUAD patients. Also, ZFPM2-AS1 was detected to be overexpressed in LUAD tissues and cells. Furthermore, ZFPM2-AS1 could promote the proliferation of LUAD cells. Next, miR-18b-5p was found to bind with and negatively regulated by ZFPM2-AS1. VMA21, target gene of miR-18b-5p, could bind with and be negatively regulated by miR-18b-5p. More importantly, both ZFPM2-AS1 and VMA21 were found to be attached to the RNA-induced silencing complex constructed from miR-18b-5p and Ago2. Also, ZFPM2-AS1 could regulate the expression of VMA21. Therefore, ZFPM2-AS1 were confirmed to regulate VMA21 by competitively binding with miR-18b-5p. Finally, rescue assays confirmed that ZFPM2-AS1 could regulate LUAD cell proliferation via miR-18b-5p/VMA21 axis.

Propofol prevents IL-13-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human colorectal cancer cells.

Accumulating evidence showed that cytokines are involved in the development of cancer. IL-13 was showed to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition and promote metastasis in colorectal cancer, providing a promising therapeutic target for cancer patients. Interestingly, recent studies showed that propofol, one of most common intravenous anesthetic agent, may have antitumor function in different cancer type. However, the impact of propofol on colorectal cancer and IL-13 induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition remains unknown. Herein, we found that propofol can effectively suppress cell proliferation in colorectal cell lines RKO and SW480 cells by using MTT assay. Furthermore, wound healing assay and migration assay demonstrated that propofol has the ability to inhibit epithelial-mesenchymal transition that induced by IL-13 in RKO and SW480 cells. Mechanistically, we found propofol treatment causes up-regulation of miR-361 and miR-135b, that suppress expression of STAT6 and thereafter leads to the inhibition of IL-13/STAT6/ZEB1 signaling pathway. In conclusion, our data for the first time demonstrated that propofol may serve as a novel therapeutic drug for targeting IL-13. The aggressive function of IL-13/STAT6/ZEB1 axis in colorectal cancer was impaired by propofol through miR-361 and miR-135b.

Upregulation of MUC1 by its novel activator 14-3-3ζ promotes tumor invasion and indicates poor prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma.

Lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) is currently the predominant histological subtype of lung cancer. Despite recent advancement in targeted therapies, the average 5-year survival rate is only 15%, highlighting the need to identify previously unrecognized molecular events that propel cancer development. Herein, we showed knockdown of 14-3-3ζ suppresses cell proliferation, migration and invasion capability of A549 and H1299 cells. MUC1 was then identified as a novel target of 14-3-3ζ protein. Overexpression of MUC1 is found to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition and promote metastasis of lung cancer cells, while knockdown of 14-3-3ζ can completely abolish the oncogenic function of MUC1.Furthermore, we unraveled a novel mechanism that 14-3-3ζ activates NF-κB signaling pathway, and therefore enhanced MUC1/NF-κB feedback loop to upregulate MUC1 expression. From a clinical point of view, we evaluated the expression of14-3-3ζ and MUC1 in GSE68465 datasets, in which high expression of14-3-3ζ and MUC1 emerged as poor prognostic factors in LAC patients. In conclusion, we provide novel evidence that 14-3-3ζ regulates MUC1 through MUC1/NF-κB feedback loop. 14-3-3ζ and MUC1 is a promising prognostic biomarker for lung cancer patients and therapeutic targeting of 14-3-3ζ and MUC1 may be a potential treatment option for patients with LAC.

Dynamics modelling of biolistic gene guns.

The gene transfer process using biolistic gene guns is a highly dynamic process. To achieve good performance, the process needs to be well understood and controlled. Unfortunately, no dynamic model is available in the open literature for analysing and controlling the process. This paper proposes such a model. Relationships of the penetration depth with the helium pressure, the penetration depth with the acceleration distance, and the penetration depth with the micro-carrier radius are presented. Simulations have also been conducted. The results agree well with experimental results in the open literature. The contribution of this paper includes a dynamic model for improving and manipulating performance of the biolistic gene gun.

A computational method to geometric measure of biological particles and application to DNA microarray spot size estimation.

Geometric measures (volume, area and length) of biological particles are of fundamental interest for biological studies. Many times, the measures are at micro-/nano-scale, and based on images of the biological particles. This paper proposes a computational method to geometric measure of biological particles. The method has been applied to DNA microarray spot size estimation. Compared with existing algorithms for microarray spot size estimation, the proposed method is computational efficient and also provides confidence probability on the measure. The contributions of this paper include a generic computational method to geometric measure of biological particles and application to DNA microarray spot size estimation.

A genetic algorithm-based area coverage approach for controlled drug delivery using microrobots.

BACKGROUND: The use of microrobots for controlled drug delivery shows great potential to achieve precise targeting with controllable side effects. One of the major challenges for controlled drug delivery is robot path planning for area coverage. METHODS: This article proposes a genetic algorithm (GA)-based area coverage approach for robot path planning. The GA-based area coverage approach is characterized by (1) online path planning combined with offline path planning to cope with environmental uncertainties and (2) optimal path planning for selecting an optimal path by evaluating path lengths and turning angles. The expandable chromosome concept is proposed and implemented for the area coverage. RESULTS: Simulation results from 5 different map environments show that the proposed approach achieved significant improvement in path effectiveness compared with the fixed-path approach. CONCLUSION: The proposed GA approach has advantages over traditional path planning approaches in terms of computational costs and has advantages over existing online path planning approaches (eg, fixed-path plan approaches or path-length optimization approaches) in terms of path optimality.

Interactive DNA sequence and structure design for DNA nanoapplications.

DNA sequence and structure design is very important for DNA nanoapplications. A computer-aided design tool is needed for exploring DNA sequence and structure of interests before experimental synthesis, which is a time- and labor-consuming process. In this paper, an interactive DNA sequence and structure design software tool called DNA shop is proposed and implemented. The visualization tool can generate DNA structures by specifying, selecting, and moving DNA sequences around and display corresponding structures. Using the tool, DNA sequence and structure can be visually inspected in three-dimensional space before experimental studies.