Quantification of Volatile Aldehydes Deriving from In Vitro Lipid Peroxidation in the Breath of Ventilated Patients

Exhaled aliphatic aldehydes were proposed as non-invasive biomarkers to detect increased lipid peroxidation in various diseases. As a prelude to clinical application of the multicapillary column–ion mobility spectrometry for the evaluation of aldehyde exhalation, we, therefore: (1) identified the most abundant volatile aliphatic aldehydes originating from in vitro oxidation of various polyunsaturated fatty acids; (2) evaluated emittance of aldehydes from plastic parts of the breathing circuit; (3) conducted a pilot study for in vivo quantification of exhaled aldehydes in mechanically ventilated patients. Pentanal, hexanal, heptanal, and nonanal were quantifiable in the headspace of oxidizing polyunsaturated fatty acids, with pentanal and hexanal predominating. Plastic parts of the breathing circuit emitted hexanal, octanal, nonanal, and decanal, whereby nonanal and decanal were ubiquitous and pentanal or heptanal not being detected. Only pentanal was quantifiable in breath of mechanically ventilated surgical patients with a mean exhaled concentration of 13 ± 5 ppb. An explorative analysis suggested that pentanal exhalation is associated with mechanical power—a measure for the invasiveness of mechanical ventilation. In conclusion, exhaled pentanal is a promising non-invasive biomarker for lipid peroxidation inducing pathologies, and should be evaluated in future clinical studies, particularly for detection of lung injury.     

卵巢癌、成熟型畸胎瘤与正常血液样本中挥发性组分的研究

采用顶空固相微萃取(HS-SPME)与气相色谱-质谱(GC-MS)联用技术,对12例卵巢癌、17例成熟型畸胎瘤与16例正常血液样本的挥发性组分进行研究,对影响提取效果的实验因素进行了优化.在最优条件下共检出28种挥发性组分,以各组分峰面积为变量,用SIMCA-P软件进行偏最小二乘判别分析(PLS-DA),3组样本被明显区分.同时,依据PLS-DA载荷图得到8种具有显著性差异的标志物,其中己醛、蘑菇醇的变化与其在肝癌、肺癌患者血液中的变化一致,可作为诊断卵巢癌和成熟型畸胎瘤的挥发性生物标志物.     

Electrochemical Detection of a Cancer Biomarker mir‐21 in Cell Lysates Using Graphene Modified Sensors

In the present study, the voltammetric and impidimetric detection of microRNA‐21, mir‐21 from cell lysates was investigated for the first time by using graphene modified disposable pencil graphite electrodes (GME). The surface characterization of GME was performed via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Upon passive adsorption of inosine substituted antimicroRNA‐21, antimir‐21 probe, InP, onto the surface of GME and then solid phase hybridization of InP with mir‐21, the target, the electrochemical detection was performed by using Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV) and EIS techniques. This developed biosensor, GME has presented a 2.77 times lower detection limit of 2.09 µg/mL (3.12 pmol) with respect to unmodified pencil graphite electrode (GE). Moreover it is capable of analyzing mir‐21 in the cell lysates of mir‐21 positive breast cancer cell line (MCF‐7) contrast to mir‐21 negative hepatoma cell line (HUH‐7). The proposed electrochemical yes‐no system does not require any purification and/or amplification step prior to fast detection of mir‐21 from real samples.     

狭窄流道中Fahraeus效应研究进展

本文详细论述了毛细管和二维狭缝中流过血液时的Fahraeus效应研究历史及现状,给出了迄今为止得到的全部结论,并报道了笔者对狭缝缝隙中Fahraeus效应研究的最新进展。本文所涉及的内容对于微循环的理论与应用以至有关流变学仪器的设计优化都有重要意义。     

Screening of exon methylation biomarkers for colorectal cancer via LC‐MS/MS strategy

The identification of biomarkers would be of benefit for the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer. DNA methylation in specific genomic regions, which had shown strongly association with disease genotypes, was an effective indicator to reveal the occurrence and development of cancers. To screen out methylation biomarkers for colorectal cancer (CRC), genomic DNA was isolated from colorectal cancerous and corresponding cancer‐adjacent tissues collected from 30 CRC patients and then bisulfite‐converted. The exon regions of 5 targeted genes (CNRIP1 , HIC1 , RUNX3 , p15 , and SFRP2 ) were amplified by using nested polymerase chain reaction with specific primers, and the amplicon was purified and hydrolyzed. The methylation levels of these specific regions were detected by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS). The results showed that 5 targeted exon regions were successfully amplified and confirmed by sequencing. The methodological validations indicated that LC‐MS/MS was highly sensitive and accurate. The methylation levels of CNRIP1 and RUNX3 were remarkably high in CRC tissues with statistical difference when compared with corresponding cancer‐adjacent individuals, while that of HIC1 , p15 , and SFRP2 had no difference between 2 subjects. These findings supported CNRIP1 and RUNX3 as potential DNA methylation biomarkers for CRC diagnosis and treatment, and our LC‐MS/MS approach exhibited great advantages in the identification of regional DNA methylation biomarkers.     

基于COLLATE融合多图谱的心脏电影MRI右心室分割

右心室分割对肺动脉高压等疾病的心功能分析具有重要的临床意义.然而，右心室心肌薄、易变且不规则，其传统的医学图像分割方法仍然未能取得突破性进展.本文提出基于COLLATE（Consensus Level，Labeler Accuracy and Truth Estimation）的多图谱分割方法，首先以归一化互信息为相似测度对目标图像和图谱集进行B样条配准以获取粗分割结果；然后利用COLLATE对粗分割结果进行融合；最后采用基于形状约束的区域生长算法修正出现错误的数据.10例临床心脏磁共振短轴电影图像被用于算法验证.本文还将使用基于COLLATE的多图谱分割方法得到的结果与深度学习算法及手动分割进行了比较.结果显示与深度学习算法比较，使用本文算法得到的射血分数（Ejection Fraction，EF）与手动分割更加一致和相关，表明该算法的分割结果有望辅助临床心脏功能诊断.     

雄激素非依赖前列腺癌细胞系代谢组学的初步研究

探讨雄激素依赖性前列腺癌LNCaP细胞系向雄激素非依赖性前列腺癌细胞系(LNCaP-AI和LNCaP-AI+F)转变过程的代谢组学变化,寻找前列腺癌发生雄激素耐药的可能发生机制.利用超高效液相色谱-四极杆-飞行时间质谱,在电喷雾电离源在正离子模式下,采用60%(V/V)甲醇-0.85%(w/V)NH4HCO3溶液在-4...     

超声心动图联合动态心电图检查对急性心肌梗死诊断和预后评估的价值

为探讨超声心动图联合动态心电图检查在急性心肌梗死(AMI)患者诊断和预后评估中的应用价值,本研究选取2016年6月~2018年6月我院收治并确诊的100例AMI患者作为观察组,另选取同期100例非冠心病患者作为对照组。以AMI患者心源性死亡为终点事件,将观察组分为死亡组(n=15)和存活组(n=85)。所有患者均采用飞利浦IU-Elite及EPIQ5彩色多普勒超声诊断仪进行超声心动图检查,采用DMS-3004A进行标准的12导联动态心电图检查。比较各组患者心率震荡指标[震荡起始(TO)、震荡斜率(TS)]、心率变异性指标[NN间期标准差(SDNN)、QT离散度(QTd)、经心率校正的QT离散度(QTcd)]及心功能指标[左心室舒张末期内径(LVEDD)、左心室射血分数(LVEF)]水平的变化。结果显示,观察组TO、QTd、QTcd、LVEDD均明显高于对照组,TS、SDNN、LVEF均明显低于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。死亡组TS、SDNN均明显低于存活组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);死亡组TO高于存活组,QTd、QTcd、LVEF、LVEDD均低于存活组,但差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。本研究结果表明,AMI患者心率震荡(HRT)明显减弱甚至消失,HRV、LVEF明显降低,LVEDD、QTd明显增大,QT间期明显延长。超声心动图和动态心电图联合检查对AMI患者诊断及预后评估均有重要的临床应用价值。     

Metabolic characterization of the early stage of hepatic fibrosis in rat using GC‐TOF/MS and multivariate data analyses

The aim of this study was to explore the changes in the urine metabolic spectrum in rats with the early stage of liver fibrosis using gas chromatography–time of flight/mass spectrometry (GC‐TOF/MS), try to search for potential biomarkers and elucidate the probably metabonomic pathogenesis. The early stage of liver fibrosis was established with a single subcutaneous injection of carbon tetrachloride twice each week for 4 weeks continuously. At the end of the experiment, GC‐TOF/MS technology with multivariate statistical approaches such as principal component analysis, partial least squares‐discriminant analysis and orthogonal partial least squares‐discriminant analysis was used to analyze the changes in the metabolic spectrum trajectory and identify potential biomarkers. Twelve potential biomarkers in the model group, such as succinic acid, threonine and lactose, were selected, which indicate that the metabonomic pathogenesis of the early stage of liver fibrosis may be related to disorders of energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism and fatty acid metabolism.     

Quantitative sphingosine measurement as a surrogate for total ceramide concentration—preclinical and potential translational applications

Biomarkers are an increasingly important constituent of the drug development process, offering the potential of increased efficiency through reduced compound attrition and earlier proof of mechanism and/or efficacy. Assays developed for compound screening that can be directly translated for clinical trials are especially valuable, but their successful adoption requires a careful balance between assay performance and implementation costs. One such ‘fit‐for‐purpose’ biomarker assay, the indirect measurement of pharmacological modulation of sphingolipid biosynthesis and disposition, is presented here. Among spingolipids, numerous ceramide species are readily detectable in different lipoprotein fractions of mammalian plasma, but their parallel quantification can be prohibitively expensive and time consuming. Ceramides differ in their fatty acid moiety, which is readily removed by hydrolysis, yielding a common sphingosine derivative, the measurement of which serves as an indicator of total ceramide. When followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) for detection, robust analyte quantification becomes relatively straightforward. The practical utility of a method developed to be fit for the purpose of rapidly and quantitatively measuring treatment‐induced variations in total ceramide from hamster plasma and individual lipoprotein fractions is described. With a linear calibration range from 0.003 to 33.4 μm sphingosine, precision and accuracy error in plasma‐based quality controls spiked with ceramides was less than 15%. The specificity of the assay for ceramides was also assessed. The simplicity of the method would allow for its potential translation to other preclinical species, as well as for clinical applications in later‐stage drug development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.