Xueren Wang

Escherichia coli noncoding RNAs can affect gene expression and physiology of Caenorhabditis elegans

Food and other environmental factors affect gene expression and behaviour of animals. Differences in bacterial food affect the behaviour and longevity of Caenorhabditis elegans. However, no research has been carried out to investigate whether bacteria could utilize endogenous RNAs to affect C. elegans physiology. Here we show that two Escherichia coli endogenous noncoding RNAs, OxyS and DsrA, impact on the physiology of C. elegans. OxyS downregulates che-2, leading to impairment in C. elegans chemosensory behaviour and DsrA suppresses diacylglycerol lipase gene F42G9.6, leading to a decrease in longevity. We also examine some genes in the C. elegans RNA interference pathway for their possible involvement in the effects of OxyS and DsrA. Other bacteria, such as Bacillus mycoides, may also utilize its noncoding RNAs to interfere with gene expression in C. elegans. Our results demonstrate that E. coli noncoding RNAs can regulate gene expression and physiological conditions of C. elegans and indicate that noncoding RNAs might have interspecies ecological roles.

Remote ischemic preconditioning fails to improve early renal function of patients undergoing living-donor renal transplantation: a randomized controlled trial.

and liver transplantation is indicated only for patients with end-stage liver and cardiac disease or familial amyloidosis, limiting its clinical use. Recent reports have described the use of a partial auxiliary liver in the context of kidney transplantation (15, 16), demonstrating that the auxiliary liver may offer a protective effect when transplanted together with a kidney from the same donor, despite a positive crossmatch between the donor and the recipient. The results of the antibody analyses in these reports have supported the hypothesis that even smaller liver grafts protect the transplanted kidneys by reducing the levels of specific DSA reactivity. Whether such partial auxiliary liver transplants may be performed in the context of heart transplantation in patients with high titers of DSA is speculative. In conclusion, transplantation of a liver graft immediately before heart transplantation can achieve profound and sustained decrease in DSA and protect the transplanted heart for celland antibody-mediated rejection, even in the presence of preformed high titers of such antibodies. Combined heart and liver transplantation in ‘‘reversed order’’ may become a therapeutic option for highly sensitized patients waiting for a heart transplant. Richard C. Daly Yan Topilsky Lyle Joyce Tal Hasin Manish Gandhi Charles Rosen Julie Heimbach Brooks S. Edwards Naveen Pereira John M. Stulak Christopher J. Arendt Soon J. Park Sudhir S. Kushwaha 1 Division of Cardiovascular Surgery Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN 2 Division of Cardiovascular Disease Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN 3 Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN 4 Division of Transplant Surgery Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN 5 Division of Pharmacy and Therapeutics Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN

Regulation of spinal neuroimmune responses by prolonged morphine treatment in a rat model of cancer induced bone pain

Cancer induced bone pain (CIBP) is a major clinical problem. Although opioids remain the principal axis in drug therapies for CIBP, their sustained application is known to induce cellular and molecular adaptations including enhanced neuroimmune reactivity. This is generally characterized by glial activation and proinflammatory cytokine production which frequently results in pharmacological tolerance. This research was performed to investigate spinal neuroimmune responses after prolonged systemic morphine treatment in a rat model of CIBP. The model was established using a unilateral intra-tibia injection of Walker 256 mammary gland carcinoma cells. Subcutaneous morphine was repeatedly administered from postoperative days 14 to 19. Mechanical allodynia to von Frey filaments and ambulatory pain scores were recorded to investigate changes of nociceptive behaviors. Spinal glial activation was detected by immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR; the production of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1beta and TNF-alpha) was examined through real-time PCR and ELISA. Results showed that chronic morphine use failed to elicit analgesic tolerance in the rat CIBP model. Moreover, the treatment had no significant influence on the activated spinal glia morphology, cell density and expression of special cytomembrane markers, whereas it significantly down-regulated the local proinflammatory cytokine production at the mRNA and protein level. Collectively, these data suggest that chronic morphine treatment in CIBP is not concomitant with pharmacological tolerance, at least partially because the treatment fails to amplify spinal neuroimmune responses.

Blocking PAR2 attenuates oxaliplatin-induced neuropathic pain via TRPV1 and releases of substance P and CGRP in superficial dorsal horn of spinal cord.

Oxaliplatin (OXL) is a third-generation chemotherapeutic agent commonly used to treat metastatic digestive tumors; however, neuropathic pain is one of the main limiting complications of OXL. The purpose of this study was to examine the underlying mechanisms by which neuropathic pain is induced by OXL in a rat model. Our results demonstrated that blocking spinal proteinase-activated receptor 2 (PAR2) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) attenuated pain responses evoked by mechanical stimulation and decreased the releases of substance P and CGRP in the superficial dorsal horn of the spinal cord. The attenuating effect on mechanical pain was significantly smaller in OXL-rats than that in control rats. Blocking PAR2 also attenuated a heightened cold sensitivity evoked by OXL; whereas blocking TRPV1 had little effects on OXL-evoked hypersensitive cold response. Our data also showed that OXL increased the protein expressions of PAR2 and TRPV1 in the superficial dorsal horn. In addition, blocking PAR2 decreased TRPV1 expression in OXL-rats. Overall, our data suggest that upregulated expression of PAR2 in the superficial dorsal horn contributes to mechanical hyperalgesia and cold hypersensitivity; whereas amplified TRPV1 plays a role in regulating mechanical hyperalgesia, but not cold hypersensitivity after administration of OXL. We further suggest that TRPV1 is likely one of the signaling pathways for PAR2 to play a role in regulating OXL-induced neuropathic pain.

Role of ATP-sensitive potassium channels in modulating nociception in rat model of bone cancer pain

Bone cancer pain is a major clinical problem and remains difficult to treat. ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels may be involved in regulating nociceptive transmission at the spinal cord level. We determined the role of spinal KATP channels in the control of mechanical hypersensitivity in a rat model of bone cancer pain. The rat model of bone cancer pain was induced by implanting rat mammary gland carcinoma cells (Walker256) into the tibias. KATP modulators (pinacidil and glibenclamide) or the specific Kir6.2-siRNA were injected via an intrathecal catheter. The mechanical withdrawal threshold of rats was tested using von Frey filaments. The Kir6.2 mRNA and protein levels were measured by quantitative PCR and western blots, respectively. Intrathecal injection of pinacidil, a KATP channel opener, significantly increased the tactile withdrawal threshold of cancer cell-injected rats in a dose-dependent manner. In contrast, intrathecal delivery of glibenclamide, a KATP channel blocker, or the specific Kir6.2-siRNA significantly reduced the tactile withdrawal threshold of cancer cell-injected rats. The mRNA and protein levels of Kir6.2 in the spinal cord of cancer cell-injected rats were significantly lower than those in control rats. Our findings suggest that the KATP channel expression level in the spinal cord is reduced in bone cancer pain. Activation of KATP channels at the spinal level reduces pain hypersensitivity associated with bone cancer pain.

Investigation of ion characteristics in CO 2 laser irradiating preformed tin-droplet plasma

Comparative study of CO 2 laser-produced tin-droplet plasma with and without pre-pulse laser has been presented. A pre-pulse laser and the CO 2 laser was combined and focused to tin-droplet with a diameter of 180 µm. The emitted Sn ions were detected by several Faraday cups to obtain angular distribution of ions in the laser-produced tin-droplet plasma. The influence of pre-pulse laser energy and delay time between pumping laser and pre-pulse laser on the ion characteristics was investigated. It is illustrated that ion average kinetic energy from CO 2 laser-produced plasma (LPP) can be reduced when the tin-droplet target has been replaced by the preformed Sn plasma. The obtained optimal delay time with the lowest ion average kinetic energy is about hundreds of nanoseconds. The ion time-of-flight spectra show a twin peak structure in laser-irradiating preformed Sn plasma. And a superimposed Maxwell–Boltzmann (MB) distribution is proposed to describe this twin peak ion time-of-flight spectra. The fitting results quite agree with the raw ion time-of-flight spectra in current experiment. Then, the fitted plasma temperatures and mass-center velocities with various delay times in laser-irradiating preformed plasma are obtained, and the fitted plasma temperatures can be comparable with ion average kinetic energy in double-pulse LPP, which justified the rationality using this superimposed MB distribution.

Comparative cost analysis of three different anesthesia methods in gynecological laparoscopic surgery

In the current study, we assessed and evaluated the costs and benefits of three popular methods of general anesthesia practiced in our department for gynecological laparoscopic surgery in recent years. Sixty adult female patients who underwent elective gynecological laparoscopic surgery under general anesthesia were randomly divided into three groups: group V, group I and group C. In group V, anesthesia was induced intravenously with midazolam, remifentanil, propofol and vecuronium, and maintained with continuous infusion of propofol and remifentanil. In group I, anesthesia was intravenously induced with midazolam, fentanyl, propofol and vecuronium, and maintained with inhaled isoflurane and intravenous bonus of fentanyl. In group C, anesthesia was induced as in group I, but maintained with isoflurane inhalation combined with propofolremifentanil infusion. All patients received vecuronium for muscle relaxation. Perioperative incidences of complications and total anesthesia costs for patients in all groups were recorded. In addition, postoperative satisfaction of the patients was also noted, and similar outcomes of the satisfaction were reported in all 60 patients. Although there was no statistical significance among groups, the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting were higher in group C, and the rates of shivering and the needs for analgesics were higher in group V. Anesthesia costs in group I were the lowest. Therefore, it is concluded that the costs of anesthesia induced with midazolam, fentanyl, propofol, vecuronium, and maintained with isoflurane, fentanyl and vecuronium are cheapest, and there is no significant difference in patients’ satisfaction and safety among the three above-mentioned methods of anesthesia in our department.

Neuroprotective effects of 17β-estradiol associate with KATP in rat brain.

Previous studies have indicated that estrogen protects the brain from ischemic damage and regulates KATP channel activity; the present study was designed to address the involvement of KATP channels in the neuroprotective effects of estrogen in focal cerebral ischemia: in experiment 1, KATP mRNA and protein in the cortices of rats were compared among groups of ovariectomized rats (Ovx-1), Sham-operated rats (Sham-1), and ovariectomized rats administered 17&bgr;-estradiol (Estr-1). In experiment 2, neurobehavioral scores and infarct volume of rats were evaluated after middle cerebral artery occlusion in ovariectomized rats (Ovx-2), Sham-operated rats (Sham-2), ovariectomized female rats administered 17&bgr;-estradiol (Estr-2), and ovariectomized rats administered both 17&bgr;-estradiol and stereotactic injections of glibenclamide (Estr+G). Our results showed that the Kir6.2 and SUR1 mRNA and protein levels in the brain cortices of female ovariectomized rats were lower than those in Sham rats. However, the expression levels of Kir6.2 and SUR1 in brain cortices of ovariectomized rats recovered after supplementation with 17&bgr;-estradiol. The protective effects of 17&bgr;-estradiol were abolished by glibenclamide, a KATP channel blocker. This indicates that estradiol significantly upregulates the expression of KATP channel subunits and channel activity in the brain cortices of ovariectomized rats. This regulation is associated with the neuroprotective effects of estradiol.

Risk factors for acute kidney injury after orthotopic liver transplantation: A single-center data analysis

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of the current study was to determine the risk factors for AKI in patients undergoing OLT. A total of 103 patients who received OLT between January 2015 and May 2016 in Tongji Hospital, China, were retrospectively analyzed. Their demographic characteristics and perioperative parameters were collected, and AKI was diagnosed using 2012 Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) staging criteria. It was found that the incidence of AKI was 40.8% in this cohort and AKI was significantly associated with body mass index, urine volume, operation duration (especially > 480 min), and the postoperative use of vasopressors. It was concluded that relative low urine output, long operation duration, and the postoperative use of vasopressors are risk factors for AKI following OLT.SummaryAcute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of the current study was to determine the risk factors for AKI in patients undergoing OLT. A total of 103 patients who received OLT between January 2015 and May 2016 in Tongji Hospital, China, were retrospectively analyzed. Their demographic characteristics and perioperative parameters were collected, and AKI was diagnosed using 2012 Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) staging criteria. It was found that the incidence of AKI was 40.8% in this cohort and AKI was significantly associated with body mass index, urine volume, operation duration (especially > 480 min), and the postoperative use of vasopressors. It was concluded that relative low urine output, long operation duration, and the postoperative use of vasopressors are risk factors for AKI following OLT.