Association between long non-coding RNA HOTAIR polymorphism and lung cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of long noncoding RNA (lnc)RNA has been reported to be an important factor in cancer development. Recently, lncRNA homeobox transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) was indicated to induce tumorigenesis of several cancer types, but the association between the SNP of lncRNA HOTAIR and lung cancer susceptibility has remained undetermined. The present meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effect of HOTAIR polymorphism on susceptibility to lung cancer. The PubMed, Ovid Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library databases were thoroughly searched. Studies containing data on the incidence of lung cancer in patients with different HOTAIR SNPs were included. The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was analyzed to determine genotype distribution and allele frequencies. The odds ratio (OR) was pooled to evaluate the association of different SNPs with the susceptibility to lung cancer. A total of six studies comprising 1,715 patients with lung cancer and 2,745 healthy controls were finally included. A total of 4 SNPs (rs12826786, rs1899663, rs920778 and rs4759314) were reported. Analyses for all of these SNPs individually indicated that the lncRNA HOTAIR rs1899663 C>A polymorphism was a risk factor for lung cancer (dominant mode, AA+CA vs. CC: OR=0.816, 95% CI=0.707-0.942, P=0.005). The present study was the first meta-analysis investigating the association between lncRNA HOTAIR and lung cancer susceptibility. The results indicated that the lncRNA HOTAIR rs1899663 C>A polymorphism is a risk factor for lung cancer. LncRNA HOTAIR may be of value in lung cancer screening, particularly for populations with high-risk factors, as well as prognosis prediction. Future investigations are required to further clarify the intrinsic mechanism of the role of HOTAIR in the oncogenesis of lung cancer.

Long non-coding RNA DDX11-AS1 promotes non-small cell lung cancer development via regulating PI3K/AKT signalling.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been considered to be the most common category of lung cancer, comprising approximately 80% of lung cancers. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were diffusely documented to modulate carcinogenesis or progression of tumours. However, the role of DDX11-AS1 was still unclear in NSCLC. Bioinformatics analysis and experimental assays including hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, RT-qPCR, colony formation, CCK-8, flow cytometry, western blot and xenograft assays were applied to investigate the biological role and molecular mechanism of DDX11-AS1 in NSCLC. The level of lncRNA DDX11-AS1 was up-regulated in NSCLC tumour tissues and cells. In function aspect, knockdown of DDX11-AS1 caused an apparent inhibitive effect on cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. DDX11-AS1 inhibition promoted cell apoptosis in vitro. In mechanism, the protein level of phosphorylated AKT was reduced by DDX11-AS1 inhibition but increased by DDX11-AS1 overexpression. These results indicated that DDX11-AS1 exacerbated NSCLC progression via activating PI3K/AKT signalling pathway. All in all, DDX11-AS1 promotes NSCLC development via regulating PI3K/AKT signalling.

Long non-coding RNA LINC00243 promotes proliferation and glycolysis in non-small cell lung cancer cells by positively regulating PDK4 through sponging miR-507.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the main subtype of lung cancer. The overall survival of NSCLC patients is relatively low even after various treatments. Accumulating evidence demonstrated that long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) plays crucial roles in different biological process. However, the role of a novel LncRNA, LINC00243, in NSCLC remains unclear. We aimed to explore the biological role of LINC00243 in NSCLC. The mRNA and protein levels were determined by real-time PCR and western blot, respectively. Cell viability in vitro was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and colony-formation assay. Reporter assay was used to detect the interactions between molecules, and the interaction was assessed by RNA pull-down assay. LINC00243 expression increased in human NSCLC tissues and associated with poor prognosis of NSCLC patients. LINC00243 knockdown inhibited proliferation and glycolysis of NSCLC cells. Mechanically, LINC00243 acted as a molecular sponge for miR-507, and miR-507 reversed the effect of LINC00243 on promoting proliferation and glycolysis of NSCLC cells. Moreover, LINC00243 modulated expression of endogenous miR-507-targeted PDK4. LINC00243 promotes proliferation and glycolysis in NSCLC cells by positively regulating PDK4 through sponging miR-507. LINC00243 could be the potential target for NSCLC treatment clinically.

Experimental study on factors affecting the end effect in gas viscosity measurement using capillary-tube viscometer.

Because of its simple principle and high adaptability to severe operational conditions, the capillary-tube viscometer has been widely used for viscosity measurement. However, difficulties in accurately correcting the end effect induced measurement deviation will result in great uncertainty for measurement results. In order to solve this problem, in this work, we studied factors affecting the end effect by conducting the high pressure nitrogen viscosity measurement at low flow velocity with an improved capillary-tube viscometer. The experimental results indicated that the influence of the end effect became less significant with the decrease in flow velocity (v) and tube inner diameter (d) and varied inversely with the length of tube (L). We defined the ratio of measured viscosity to standard viscosity obtained from the NIST database as the viscosity deviation coefficient (Ce). From the Ce vs v, Ce vs d, and Ce vs L curves, we have observed that there existed a threshold velocity (vthreshold), a threshold diameter (dthreshold), and a threshold length (Lthreshold) at which Ce got closer to 1.0. It suggested that under certain experimental conditions, the influence of the end effect on gas viscosity measurement became negligible. Based on that, we established end effect free capillary-tube viscometry and compared the nitrogen viscosity results measured by this method with the data provided by the NIST database. The results presented a good match with error within 1.2%. These insights will contribute to improving the accuracy of a capillary-tube viscometer especially under high pressure.

BEM-based simulation of lung respiratory deformation for CT-guided biopsy.

PURPOSE: Accurate and real-time prediction of the lung and lung tumor deformation during respiration are important considerations when performing a peripheral biopsy procedure. However, most existing work focused on offline whole lung simulation using 4D image data, which is not applicable in real-time image-guided biopsy with limited image resources. In this paper, we propose a patient-specific biomechanical model based on the boundary element method (BEM) computed from CT images to estimate the respiration motion of local target lesion region, vessel tree and lung surface for the real-time biopsy guidance. METHODS: This approach applies pre-computation of various BEM parameters to facilitate the requirement for real-time lung motion simulation. The resulting boundary condition at end inspiratory phase is obtained using a nonparametric discrete registration with convex optimization, and the simulation of the internal tissue is achieved by applying a tetrahedron-based interpolation method depend on expert-determined feature points on the vessel tree model. A reference needle is tracked to update the simulated lung motion during biopsy guidance. RESULTS: We evaluate the model by applying it for respiratory motion estimations of ten patients. The average symmetric surface distance (ASSD) and the mean target registration error (TRE) are employed to evaluate the proposed model. Results reveal that it is possible to predict the lung motion with ASSD of [Formula: see text] mm and a mean TRE of [Formula: see text] mm at largest over the entire respiratory cycle. In the CT-/electromagnetic-guided biopsy experiment, the whole process was assisted by our BEM model and final puncture errors in two studies were 3.1 and 2.0 mm, respectively. CONCLUSION: The experiment results reveal that both the accuracy of simulation and real-time performance meet the demands of clinical biopsy guidance.

A novel approach to treat women patients with palmar hyperhidrosis: transumbilical thoracic sympathectomy with an ultrathin gastroscope.

BACKGROUND: Primary palmar hyperhidrosis is very common in women. Video-assisted thoracic sympathectomy is recognized as an effective treatment for patients with severe hyperhidrosis, which has usually been performed with more than 2 skin incisions. We developed a novel approach for thoracic sympathectomy in women with palmar hyperhidrosis through the umbilicus using an ultrathin gastroscope. The approach requires only 1 tiny incision, which is hidden in the umbilicus. METHODS: Under general anesthesia, patients were intubated with a dual-lumen endotracheal tube. Through the incision in the umbilicus, a newly developed long trocar was inserted into the abdominal cavity. After insertion of the ultrathin gastroscope through this trocar, a small incision was created on the both sides of diaphragm by a needle knife. The endoscope was introduced into the thoracic cavity through the incision made in the left or right diaphragm. The sympathetic chain was identified at the desired thoracic level and ablated. RESULTS: From January 10, 2010, to November 30, 2011, 25 women underwent transumbilical-diaphragmatic thoracic sympathectomy. The mean operating room time for the entire bilateral procedure was 56.9 ± 6.9 minutes. There were no significant postoperative complications. The symptoms disappeared in all patients. Compensatory sweating was reported in 56%. All of the patients were satisfied with the surgical results and the cosmetic outcome of the incision. CONCLUSIONS: Transumbilical thoracic sympathectomy with the ultrathin flexible endoscope was a safe and effective option for women with severe palmar hyperhidrosis that provided excellent cosmetic outcomes.

Gap between tourism planning and implementation: A case of China.

In tourism literature, a phenomenon is identified, and considered ubiquitous in planning exercise. Namely, a gap occurs between planning and implementation once the planned approach to tourism development is adopted. Such a phenomenon is not rare to find in China, where tourism has become increasingly important for the country's economy. This paper presents a research that attempts to examine the causes of the gap in a Chinese context, in order to offer insights about what possible countermeasures should be sought. A case study is adopted for the examination which focuses on the 3-year implementation of 2001-2020 Guniujiang Guanyintang Tourism Development Master Plan. These seven major causes are detected: flaws of master planning, planner's inadequate background survey and analysis, planner's inaccurate anticipation, planner's lack of practical experience, practitioner's misunderstanding, divergence of views between practitioner and planner, pitfalls of private investment and imbalance of development between regions of China.