A systematic review and meta-analysis of higher expression of folate receptor alpha (FOLR1) predicts poor cancer prognosis

Abstract

Folate receptor alpha (FOLR1), a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked protein, is a well characterized folate transporter. However, the prognostic power of FOLR1 in cancer remains controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the prognostic roles of FOLR1 on different cancers. Twelve studies involving 4471 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled analysis indicated that high FOLR1 significantly predicted poor overall survival (OS) (pooled hazard ratio (HR)?=?0.78, 95% confidence interval (CI)?=?0.64–0.94, p?=?0.009) and the disease-free survival (DFS) (HR?=?1.25, 95% CI?=?1.07–1.47, p?=?0.005). Subgroup analyses based on tumour type found that high FOLR1 level was associated with poor OS in breast cancer (HR?=?2.66, 95% CI?=?1.54–4.59, p?=?0.0005) and endometrial carcinoma (HR?=?1.30, 95% CI?=?1.05–1.61, p?=?0.02). However, FOLR1 has relatively weakly correlation with gender, tumour size and chemotherapy. Additionally, overexpression of FOLR1 was correlated with grade, FIGO stage, vital status and nodule status. The present meta-analysis indicated that the high expression of FOLR1 is associated with the poor survival of cancer patients, which is helpful for the clinical decision-making process.     

Demography and mass-rearing of Carposina sasakii Matsumura (Lepidoptera: Carposinidae) reared on Golden Delicious and Red Fuji apples in the laboratory

Carposina sasakii Matsumura (Lepidoptera: Carposinidae), is one of the most serious fruit-boring pests in over ten species of fruit trees, and is especially damaging apples in the northern of China. The application of new planting systems, i.e., high-density and dwarfing rootstock orchard systems with mixed apple varieties, makes it important to study the fitness of C. sasakii on these apple varieties to gain fundamental knowledge for use in pest management involving this insect. In this study, life table data of C. sasakii were collected using Golden Delicious and Red Fuji apples as hosts. The egg-larva duration of male C. sasakii reared on Golden Delicious apples (22.81 d) was significantly shorter than that reared on Red Fuji apples (24.27 d). The egg-larva mortality in Golden Delicious apples (59.00%) was lower than that in Red Fuji apples (72.49%). The mortality of the pupal stage, however, was higher in Golden Delicious (10.51%) than in Red Fuji (0%). The total oviposition period (TPOP) on Golden Delicious apples (32.94 d) was significantly shorter than in individuals reared on Red Fuji apples (34.19 d). The intrinsic rate of increase (r = 0.0581 d⁻¹), net reproductive rate (R₀ = 7.57 offspring), and finite rate of increase (λ = 1.0598 d⁻¹) were all higher on Golden Delicious than those on Red Fuji. When the net reproductive rate (R₀) was used, the harvest rate of pupae was higher (0.8678) when reared on Golden Delicious apples than when reared on Red Fuji apples (0.8398). When a large cohort size (n = 200) was used for effective bootstrap sample, the P_E values for C. sasakii reared on Golden Delicious apples and Red Fuji apples were both almost equal to 1. For C. sasakii culturing purposes, Golden Delicious apples would be more productive than Red Fuji.     

子宫内膜癌组织KIF23、LAPTM4B、Snail表达与患者临床病理参数及预后的关系

目的:探讨子宫内膜癌组织驱动蛋白家族成员23(KIF23)、溶酶体相关4次跨膜蛋白质β(LAPTM4B)、Snail表达与患者临床病理参数及预后的关系。方法:选择2012年10月至2015年2月期间在我院治疗的130例子宫内膜癌患者进行临床研究,采用免疫组织化学染色法检测KIF23、LAPTM4B、Snail的表达,分析KIF23、LAPTM4B、Snail的表达与各项临床病理参数及预后的关系。Cox比例风险回归分析子宫内膜癌患者预后的影响因素。结果:子宫内膜癌组织中KIF23、LAPTM4B、Snail阳性率明显高于癌旁正常组织(x~2=61.356、67.031、82.028,均P=0.000)。子宫内膜癌组织中KIF23、LAPTM4B、Snail表达与淋巴结转移、肌层浸润和FIGO分期相关(P0.05)。KIF23、LAPTM4B、Snail阳性患者5年总生存率明显低于KIF23、LAPTM4B、Snail阴性患者(P0.05)。FIGO分期、KIF23、LAPTM4B和Snail是子宫内膜癌患者预后的影响因素(HR=1.409、1.478、1.523、2.178,P0.05)。结论:KIF23、LAPTM4B和Snail在子宫内膜癌中阳性表达率升高,并且均与子宫内膜癌淋巴结转移、肌层浸润、FIGO分期和预后相关,在子宫内膜癌的诊断和预后评估中具有一定临床意义。     

Effect of diets on the developmental rate of calliphorid fly of forensic importance Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794)

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of diets on the morphological parameters of different developmental stages of blowflies Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794). Adult C. megacephala flies were collected from a goat cadaver and reared in the laboratory when the max and min temperature were 32 and 24 °C and the relative max and min humidity were ranged between 55 and 31% respectively. Blowflies at various feeding stages (first-, second-, and third-instar larvae) received different types of diets (meat, liver, fats, and mixed). The effects of the different diets on the life cycle duration and the morphological parameters of various stages were observed. The results revealed that the fat diet prolonged the post-mortem interval (PMI) up to 298.5 ± 1.15 hrs, whereas the mixed food diet shortened PMI to the 243.67 ± 0.12 hrs. Significant variation were observed at level (F = 740.71 df = 3P < 0.001). Furthermore, the mixed food diet significantly increased the morphological parameters (length, width, and weight) for almost all stages during the life cycle of blowflies. In contrast, the fat diet decreased these parameters to the lowest level. The present findings may provide a scientific basis for the determination of PMI.     

Effects of native pollinator communities on the physiological and chemical parameters of loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica) under open field condition

Wild and managed pollinators are the key component of biodiversity, contributing to important ecosystem services such as pollination and supporting human food security. Pollination by insects is a crucial component of the food chain that ensures the production of fruits and strongly affects the fruit quality, but the effect of insect pollination on fruit physiological and chemical parameters is largely unknown. The current study was conducted to determine the insect pollinators diversity and their relative abundance in the loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) orchard during 2017–2019. Further, the effect of insect pollinators pollination on the physiological and chemical parameters of fruit quality as compared to control pollinated flowers was investigated. The results revealed that a total of 22 species from 3 families (Apidae, Halictidae, and Syrphidae) were identified during the flowering season. The Apidae and Syrphidae were the most frequently observed families with major groups honey bees (67.89%) and hoverflies (21.57%), respectively. Moreover, results indicated that the fruit yield by the open-pollinated flowers (22.31 ± 0.34 kg/tree) was significantly higher than the control pollinated flowers (14.80 ± 0.25 kg/tree). Physiological and chemical parameters of loquat fruit differed significantly when fruits obtained from open-pollinated flowers as compared to control pollinated flowers. These results suggested that native insect pollinators play important role in the fruit quality of loquat. Hence, maintenance of appropriate habitat of native pollinators near loquat orchards is necessary to ensure good productivity and fruit quality.     

Quantitative structure-activity relationship study on affinity profile of a series of 1,8-naphthyridine antagonists toward bovine adenosine receptors

The affinity profiles for the bovine adenosine receptors, A₁ and A_2A, of a series of 1,8-naphthyridine derivatives were quantitatively analyzed using physicochemical and structural parameters of the substituents, present at varying positions of the molecules. The derived significant correlation, for bovine A₁ receptor, suggested that a R₁ substituent having a higher van der Waals volume, a R₂ substituent being a hydrogen-bond donor and a R₃ substituent able to transmit a higher field effect are helpful in augmenting the pK_i of a compound. Similarly the study, pertaining to bovine A_2A receptor, revealed that a less bulky substituent at R₂ and a strong electron-withdrawing substituent at R₃ are desirable in improving the binding affinity of a compound while substituents at R₁ remain insignificant to any interaction.     

Micellar‐mediated binding interaction between proflavine hemisulfate and salicylic acid: Spectroscopic insights and its analytical application

The molecular interactions between salicylic acid (SA) and proflavin hemisulfate (PF) were investigated using fluorescence and UV–VIS absorption spectroscopy in an aqueous micellar environment. Changes in the absorption spectra of SA in the presence of PF indicate a ground state interaction between salicylate and proflavine hemisulfate ions to form a complex. The excitation bands of SA monitored at its emission wavelength reveal a red spectral shift of 8390.54 and 2037.75 cm^‐1 when compared with absorption bands. The intensity of both excitation bands decreased in the presence of increasing amounts of PF. The absence of excitation bands of PF rules out the possibility of its direct excitation and suggests energy transfer from excited SA to PF, resulting in quenching of the SA fluorescence. The fluorescence quenching results were found to fit the well‐known Stern–Volmer (S–V) relation. S–V plots at different temperatures were used to further evaluate thermodynamic parameters such as ?G, ?H and ΔS. The thermodynamic and kinetic data obtained from the quenching results were used to investigate the possible mechanism of binding, the nature of the binding force and the distance between SA and PF molecules. The linear relation between SA fluorescence quenching and PF concentration used to develop an analytical method for the determination of PF from Lorexane (a veterinary cream) using a fluorescence quenching method. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of parameter settings in automated scoring of AFLPs on population genetic analysis

The use of procedures for the automated scoring of amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) fragments has recently increased. Corresponding software does not only automatically score the presence or absence of AFLP fragments, but also allows an evaluation of how different settings of scoring parameters influence subsequent population genetic analyses. In this study, we used the automated scoring package rawgeno to evaluate how five scoring parameters influence the number of polymorphic bins and estimates of pairwise genetic differentiation between populations (F_st). Steps were implemented in r to automatically run the scoring process in rawgeno for a set of different parameter combinations. While we found the scoring parameters minimum bin width and minimum number of samples per bin to have only weak influence on pairwise F_st values, maximum bin width and bin reproducibility had much stronger effects. The minimum average bin fluorescence scoring parameter affected F_st values in an only moderate way. At a range of scoring parameters around the default settings of rawgeno , the number of polymorphic bins as well as pairwise F_st values stayed rather constant. This study thus shows the particularities of AFLP scoring, be it either manual or automatical, can have profound effects on subsequent population genetic analysis.     

The variation in spore concentrations of selected fungal taxa associated with weather conditions in Szczecin,Poland, 2004–2006

The investigation of airborne fungal spore concentrations was carried out in Szczecin, Poland between 2004 and 2006. The objective of the studies was to determine a seasonal variation in concentrations of selected fungal spore types due to meteorological parameters. The presence of spores of ten taxa: Cladosporium, Ganoderma, Alternaria, Epicoccum, Didymella, Torula, Dreschlera‐type, Polythrincium, Stemphylium and Pithomyces was recorded in Szczecin using a volumetric method (Hirst type). Fungal spores were present in the air in large numbers in summer. The highest concentrations were noted in June, July and August. The peak period was recorded in August for most of the studied spore types: Ganoderma, Alternaria, Epicoccum, Dreschlera‐type, Polythrincium and Stemphylium. Cladosporium and Didymella spores reached their highest concentrations in July while concentrations of Torula were highest in May and Pithomyces in September. Multiple regression analysis was performed for three fungal seasons: 2004, 2005, and 2006. Spore concentrations were positively correlated with minimum temperature for seven spore types in 2004, for five spore types in 2005, and for eight spore types in 2006 (significance level of α = 0.05). Some spore types are also significantly correlation among their concentrations, pressure, relative humidity and rain. Minimum temperature appeared to be the most influential factor for most spore types.