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Objective To investigate the morphological changes of the brainstem in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their relationship with hippocampal morphological changes.Methods Sixty AD patients (AD group) and sixty age-and gender-matched normal elderly (normal control group) were selected from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database.The hippocampus and the brainstem of each subject were segmented and their normalized volumes were calculated.According to the hippocampal volume standard value (Z-score),AD patients were divided into two subgroups (hippocampal atrophy group (n=51) and hippocampal spared group (n=9)).A voxel-based morphology (VBM) study was also performed to investigate the morphological differences of the brainstem between the normal control group and the AD group,as well as between the AD subgroups.Results Compared with the normal control group,the brainstem volume in the AD group decreased significantly (16 741.31±1 739.11 vs 15 609.67±1 451.60,t=3.870,P=0.001).In AD subgroups,the volume of the brainstem in the hippocampal atrophy group was significantly smaller than that in the hippocampal spared group (16 556.30 ± 1 514.86 vs 15 442.62 ± 1 389.05,t=2.189,P=0.033).Pearson correlation analysis showed that Mini-Mental State Examination scores were positively correlated with the hippocampal and the brainstem volumes (r=0.590,P＜0.01;r=0.234,P＜0.05),and there was a positive correlation between the hippocampal and the brainstem volume changes in patients with AD (r=0.315,P=0.014).VBM results showed that both the bilateral midbrain and the bilateral pons in the AD group had significant atrophy compared with the normal control group (P＜0.05).In the AD subgroups,the bilateral midbrain and the left pons in the hippocampal atrophy group were significantly atrophied compared with the hippocampal spared group (P＜0.05).Conclusion The brainstem showed morphological changes in patients with AD,and the morphological changes of the brainstem in AD patients with different degrees of hippocampal atrophy were different,indicating the morphological changes of the hippocampus and the brainstem may have an interrelated relationship.
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Objective@#To investigate the sleep quality of prison policemen and explore its influencing factors, so as to provide reference for improving the sleep quality of prison policemen.@*Methods@#In August 2013, 177 policemen in a prison were selected by cluster sampling. The sleep quality of 177 prison policemen was investigated by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Scale and General Situation Questionnaire, and the influencing factors were analyzed.@*Results@#The PSQI scores of 177 prison policemen were (7.47+3.80). There were significant differences between the PSQI scores of prison policemen and the normal adult norm (P<0.05). According to the standard of poor sleep quality, 84 prison policemen (47.46%) had poor sleep quality, and the prison policemen scored higher on daytime dysfunction, subjective sleep quality, sleeping time and sleeping time components. Single factor t test and single factor variance analysis showed that there were significant differences in sleep quality among prison policemen in gender, age, educational level and job classification (P <0.05). The results of multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that gender, age and job classification entered the regression equation with PSQI total score as dependent variable (β=0.167, 0.270, 0.222) .@*Conclusion@#The sleep quality of prison policemen is worse than that of normal adults, and is affected by gender, age, job classification and other factors, which should be paid attention to by prison administrators.
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Objective To study the expression level of miR-21 in UVB irradiated HaCaT cells and A431 cells. Methods Real-time qPCR was used to examine the expression level of miR-21 in HaCaT cells and A431 cells after 50 J/m2UVB radiation. The possible target genes were predicted by PicTar and performed function categories with Gostat analysis. Results Compared with the HaCaT cells, miR-21 the expression level in A431 cells increased over 4 times. At 2h and 4h after UVB irradiation, the expression level of miR-21 in HaCaT cells were up regulated, and it lowered 2 times at 8 h compared with the control.There was no further change in the expression level of miR-21 after 12 h. While miR-21 expression levels in A431 cells were not changed signifcantly. The results of target prediction and Gostat analysis suggested that PIK3R1, BCL2 and E2F3 were involved in the cell differentiation and cell process. Conclusion miR-21 possibly involved in the pathogenesis of epidermal squamous cell carcinoma and the mechanism of UVB-induced injury.
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Objective To study the function of let-7 and miR-24 in UVB-induced apoptosis.Methods After NIH3T3 cells were irradiated with UVB.Hoechest33342/PI staining was used to study the cell apoptosis and RT-PCR was used to uralyzc the expression level of let-7 and miR-24.In addition,potential target genes of these miRNAs in PicTar were classified into different function categories through GOstat software.Results Compared to the control,the NIH3T3 cells exposure to UVB appeared typical apoptotic and necrotic ceils by fluorescence microscope.The exprossion level of let-7 and miR-24 in NIH3T3 cells after UVB irradiation was higher than that of the control.Among the target genes,casp3,bc1212,map3kl and cdk5 were also involved in UVB-induced apoptosis mechanism.Conclusion Let-7 and miR-24 play a role in UVB-induced apoptosis.