Yiyuan Sun

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder in gastrointestinal system and impairs the quality of life of the patients. Clostridium butyricum (CB) is a probiotics that has been used in several gastrointestinal diseases. The efficacy of CB in treating IBS is still unknown. This prospective, multi-centre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of CB in treating diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D) and analyze the fecal microbiota after treatment. Two hundred patients with IBS-D were recruited and were given CB or placebo for 4 weeks. End points included change from baseline in IBS symptoms, quality of life, stool consistency and frequency. Compared with placebo, CB is effective in improving the overall IBS-D symptoms (-62.12 ± 74.00 vs. -40.74 ± 63.67, P = 0.038) as well as quality of life (7.232 ± 14.06 vs. 3.159 ± 11.73, P = 0.032) and stool frequency (-1.602 ± 1.416 vs. -1.086 ± 1.644, P = 0.035). The responder rates are found higher in CB compared with the placebo (44.76% vs. 30.53%, P = 0.042). The change in fecal microbiota was analyzed and function pathways of CB in treating IBS-D were predicted. In conclusion, CB improves overall symptoms, quality of life and stool frequency in IBS-D patients and is considered to be used as a probiotics in treating IBS-D clinically.

Abstract Background To investigate the effects of twice daily short‐message‐based re‐education (SMRE) before taking medicine for Helicobacter pylori ( H pylori ) eradication. Materials and Methods Treatment‐naive patients with H pylori infection were prescribed 14‐day quadruple regimen consisting of lansoprazole 30 mg, colloidal bismuth pectin 200 mg, amoxicillin 1000 mg, and clarithromycin 500 mg twice daily. Patients were randomly allocated to SMRE group or control group. Patients in control group received oral and written instructions at outpatient clinic. In contrast, patients in the SMRE group received extra short messages including dosage and time of administration twice daily. Successful H pylori eradication was assessed using the 13 C‐urea breath test 6 weeks after treatment. The compliance, adverse events, and patient satisfaction were also analyzed. Results A total of 310 patients were enrolled in the intention‐to‐treat (ITT) and 283 in the per‐protocol (PP) analysis. For young patients, the eradication rates were significantly higher in SMRE group than those in control group in PP analysis (88.6% vs 71.2%, P = 0.036), while for patients of all age groups, the eradication rate improvements were not statistically significant. The eradication rates in SMRE group and control group were 74.2% and 67.7% ( P = 0.211) in ITT analysis and 82.1% and 73.4% ( P = 0.078) in PP analysis, respectively. The compliance in SMRE group was significantly better than that in control group (84.8% vs 72.8%, P = 0.011). Conclusions Twice daily SMRE could improve the eradication rate in young population, as well as the compliance with treatment during H pylori eradication.

Paclitaxel has been proved to be active in treatment and larynx preservation of HNSCC, however, the fact that about 20-40% patients do not respond to paclitaxel makes it urgent to figure out the biomarkers for paclitaxel-based treatment in Hypopharynx cancer (HPC) patients to improve the therapy effect. In this work, Fadu cells, treated or untreated with low dose of paclitaxel for 24 h, were applied to DNA microarray chips. The differential expression in mRNAs and miRs was analyzed and the network between expression-altered mRNAs and miRs was constructed. Differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in superpathway of cholesterol biosynthesis (ACAT2, MSMO1, LSS, FDFT1 and FDPS etc.), complement system (C3, C1R, C1S, CFR and CFB etc.), interferon signaling (IFIT1, IFIT3, IFITM1 and MX1 etc.), mTOR signaling (MRAS, PRKAA2, PLD1, RND3 and EIF4A1 etc.) and IGF1 signaling (MRAS, IGFBP7, JUN and FOS etc.), most of these pathways are implicated in tumorigenesis or chemotherapy resistance. The first three pathways were predicted to be suppressed, while the last two pathways were predicted to be induced by paclitaxel, suggesting the combination therapy with mTOR inhibition and paclitaxel might be better than single one. The dramatically expression-altered miRs were miR-112, miR-7, miR-1304, miR-222*, miR-29b-1* (these five miRs were upregulated) and miR-210 (downregulated). The 26 putative target genes mediated by the 6 miRs were figured out and the miR-gene network was constructed. Furthermore, immunoblotting assay showed that ERK signaling in Fadu cells was active by low dose of paclitaxel but repressed by high dose of paclitaxel. Collectively, our data would provide potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for paclitaxel-based therapy in HPC patients.

Upregulation of programmed death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) in cancer cells and its ligation to PD-1 on T cells facilitates cancer cell escape from immune surveillance. Therapies with PD-1 or PD-L1 antibodies have resulted in marked clinical responses in various cancer types. Hence, modulators that inhibit PD-L1 expression in cancer cells may serve as a novel strategy by which to enhance host immune responses. In the present study, we investigated the effects of miR-375 on PD-L1 expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells by qRT-PCR and western blot analyses. We confirmed that miR-375 inhibited IFN-γ-induced PD-L1 surface expression in HNSCC cells, and we observed that Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) is a bona fide target of miR-375 and further activated signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1). Additionally, miR-375-mediated inhibition of PD-L1 expression was dependent on the JAK2/STAT1 pathway. Therefore, by attenuating PD-1/PD-L1 signaling, miR-375 may also serve as a modulator to increase the cell immune responses to HNSCC.

Porous polyethylene is a widely used implants in orbital reconstruction, on which comprehensive clinical analysis, various treatments, and different prognosis according to specific classification principles on long-term complications have not been reported.To investigate the new clinical symptoms, intraoperative findings, treatments, and outcomes of complications long period after previous surgery, resulting from the use of porous polyethylene mesh for orbital fracture reconstruction.A retrospective study was conducted on 21 patients at the Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital with orbital complications after orbital fracture reconstruction with porous polyethylene mesh for 4 ± 2.2 years from 2011 to 2013. These data included new clinical symptoms after previous surgery, computerized tomography data, intraoperative findings, treatments, and outcomes.Data from 21 patients were analyzed in this study. Two patients received conservative treatment, while the other 19 patients underwent surgical approaches. Classification principles for orbital complications after orbital wall defect reconstruction with porous polyethylene mesh were formulated according to patients' new clinical symptoms, computed tomography (CT), and intraoperative findings after previous surgery. In the last follow-up, 19 patients (90.5%) were cured or improved according to our assessment principle. The follow-up ranged from 3 to 45 months (35 months in average).According to specific classification for orbital complications resulting from the use of porous polyethylene mesh for orbital fracture reconstruction, various medical treatments should be carried out, and the prognosis may be different.