The potential of soluble programmed death-ligand 1 (sPD-L1) as a diagnosis marker for colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most significant neoplasms with high morbidity and mortality. Activation of the programmed death protein 1/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) signaling pathway results in tumor immune evasion by suppressing the activity of T cells. The correlation of soluble PD-L1 (sPD-L1) in serum/plasma with clinicopathological features, lymph node metastasis, diagnosis and prognosis is less clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sPD-L1 and clinicopathological features, and diagnosis potentialof CRC. Three hundred patients with CRC were included in this study. sPD-L1 was measured by ELISA. Pretreatment levels of sPD-L1 were significantly elevated in CRC patient sera compared to healthy control (HC) (P<0.001). The median value of sPD-L1 in HC, CRC with non-lymph node metastasis, and CRC with lymph node metastasis were 246.78±50.2pg/mL, 284.12±52.7pg/mL, and 321.31±55.3pg/mL, respectively. ROC analysis of sPD-L1 allowed significant differentiation between HC group and CRC group (lymph node metastasis and non lymph node metastasis (AUC=0.861, 95% CI 0.830-0.887, p<0.001). sPD-L1 is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of CRC. Multivariate analysis showed that lymph node metastasis and tumor differentiation were independent prognostic factors (all P< 0.01), and sPD-L1 was not correlated with the CRC prognosis (p>0.05).

Ecological Civilization and High-Quality Development: Do Tourism Industry and Technological Progress Affect Ecological Economy Development?

The tourism industry is considered a smokeless industry or green economy. Under the circumstances of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, it is essential and urgent to explore whether the tourism industry and technological progress can promote ecological economy development. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in mainland China from 2007-2019, this paper, for the first time, incorporates the tourism industry, technological progress, and ecological economy development into the analytical framework by constructing a PVAR model. In addition, this paper calculates the indicator weights of each variable using the entropy weighting method. This paper utilizes GMM tests, impulse response analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, and variance decomposition to empirically investigate the dynamic impact mechanism of variables interacting with each other. The conclusions are as follows. First, the tourism industry always contributes positively to ecological economy development, while technological progress can facilitate ecological economy development in the long run rather than in the short term. Second, the tourism industry also positively contributes to technological progress. Third, ecological economy development has a "crowding out effect" on the tourism industry. Fourth, the tourism industry in developed eastern regions has a more powerful impact on ecological economy development than in underdeveloped middle and western regions. Based on the empirical results, we provide practical implications: first, the assessment system of the regional economy should include ecological development indicators; second, the tourism industry should accelerate the use of clean energy and the transformation of green technological innovation.

Effect of CT manifestations of cholesteatoma on MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 in the serum of patients.

Effect of CT manifestations of cholesteatomatous otitis media on matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the serum of patients was investigated. A total of 176 patients with cholesteatomatous otitis media were enrolled as the study group and 181 patients with simple otitis media were enrolled as the control group. Patients were admitted to the Changxing People's Hospital from January 2010 to December 2016. The patients in the study group were classified according to the 64-row spiral CT diagnosis. The expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 in the serum of the selected patients were detected by ELISA. MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 expression levels in the study group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 expression levels in the serum of the patients with injured ossicular chain were significantly higher than those in the serum of patients with injured malleus or incus (P<0.05), and significantly higher than those in the serum of patients with intact ossicular chain (P<0.05). The levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 in the serum of the patients whose malleus or incus was injured were higher than those in the serum of the patients with intact ossicular chain (P<0.05). There was an obvious positive correlation between the injury degree of different sclerotins in CT manifestations of the patients in the study group and MMP-2, MMP-9, and IL-6 (P<0.05). The high expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and IL-6 in the serum of patients with cholesteatomatous otitis media were positively correlated with the injury degree of ossicle, which may be a sign of poor prognosis of cholesteatomatous otitis media.

Tetrahydrocurcumin­induced autophagy via suppression of PI3K/Akt/mTOR in non­small cell lung carcinoma cells.

Lung carcinoma is the leading cause of mortality due to cancer worldwide. Autophagy has a significant role in the development and progression of non­small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). A previous study has revealed that tetrahydrocurcumin (THC), a traditional Chinese medicine isolated from Curcuma wenyujin (Chen & Ling, 1981), induces autophagy in human A549 NSCLC cells. The present study evaluated THC­induced autophagy in A549 cells using various assays, including the Cell Counting Kit­8, acridine orange staining, flow cytometry, reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT­qPCR), and western blot analysis of the markers of autophagy. THC inhibited the growth and proliferation of A549 cells (P<0.05). Acridine orange staining and flow cytometry revealed that THC treatment significantly enhanced autophagic cell proliferation inhibition (P<0.05). The RT­qPCR analysis revealed that THC treatment increased Beclin­1 expression level and compared with the control group (P<0.05). The light chain 3 (LC3)­II/LC3­I ratio was reduced in THC­treated cells when compared with the control group (P<0.05). Protein expression of various markers of autophagy, including p62, phosphorylated (p)­mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), phosphoinositide 3­kinase (PI3K), p­PI3K, protein kinase B (Akt), and p­Akt was significantly reduced in THC­treated cells (P<0.05). In conclusion, the present study revealed the underlying mechanisms associated with THC­induced autophagy. A promising method of enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of THC against NSCLC cells may include inducing autophagy via inhibition of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

Ferric phosphate hydroxide microcrystals for highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts.

Fe4(OH)3(PO4)3 microcrystals are successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. Due to a possible self-etching mechanism, different morphologies of Fe4(OH)3(PO4)3 microcrystals are obtained. Several reactions with different temperatures and times are performed to confirm the supposed self-etching mechanism. Moreover, as a result of their different micro/nanostructures, these microcrystals present different photocatalytic activities for visible-light-driven photodegragadation of methylene blue.

Few-layered CoHPO4 · 3H2O ultrathin nanosheets for high performance of electrode materials for supercapacitors.

Ultrathin cobalt phosphate (CoHPO4 · 3H2O) nanosheets are successfully synthesized by a one pot hydrothermal method. Novel CoHPO4 · 3H2O ultrathin nanosheets are assembled for constructing the electrodes of supercapacitors. Benefiting from the nanostructures, the as-prepared electrode shows a specific capacitance of 413 F g(-1), and no obvious decay even after 3000 charge-discharge cycles. Such a quasi-two-dimensional material is a new kind of supercapacitor electrode material with high performance.

[Diagnostic value and clinical significance of the Golgi protein-73 in hepatocellular carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: By the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with GP73 content to explore its significance for liver cancer diagnosis and clinical treatment. METHODS: Up-converting phosphor immunochromatography methods was used for detection of serum GP73 in 302 cases of liver cancer, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis patients and normal control, application electrochemiluminescence detection of AFP as a comparison. And ROC curve analysis of its diagnostic performance, and patients with HCC before and after treatment GP73 periodic testing of the treatment effect. RESULTS: GP73 content of liver cancer patients was (160.83 +/- 37.24) ng/ml, significantly higher than the chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis patients and normal controls. The area under ROC curve for GP73 diagonosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis was 0. 907 which higher than the area under the ROC curve of AFP was 0. 727. Determine 110 ng/ml most of its critical value, the sensitivity was 84.7%, specificity was 75.8%; liver cancer patients with AFP < 400 ng/ml, detection rate of GP73 was 71.15%; the GP73 content after treatment showing an overall downward trend. CONCLUSION: GP73 has a high sensitivity for the diagnosis of HCC can add to the AFP's lack of sensitivity that can be used to monitor liver cancer treatment.