Relationship between estimated glomerular filtration rate and diabetic macular edema in type 2 diabetic patients / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

@#AIM: To investigate the relationship between estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR)and diabetic macular edema(DME)in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).<p>METHODS: A total of 912 T2DM patients were enrolled in this study and underwent fundus colorized photography, fasting blood-glucose, glycated hemoglobin and renal function examinations. Estimated glomerular filtration rate assessed using modified abbreviated MDRD equation by Chinese eGFR investigation collaboration.<p>RESULTS:Among them, 29, 21 and 47 patients had mild, moderate and severe DME, 815 patients not had DME, respectively. GFR was gradually decreased in patients with no DME, mild DME,moderate DME and severe DME(<i>F</i>=8.87, <i>P</i><0.001). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that lower levels of GFR was significantly associated with presence of DME. And for every 20.3 \〖mL·min^-1·(1.73m²)^-1\〗 decrease in eGFR, the risk of DME increased by 1.84 times. Impaired renal function and kidney disease were associated with the presence of DME when compared to normal renal function in multivariable models(1.60 and 2.46 times).<p>CONCLUSION: In T2DM patients, lower eGFR is an independent risk factors for DME, and physicians were reminded to pay attention to changes in renal function when monitoring DME.

Analysis of visual prognosis and correlative factors in branch retinal artery occlusion / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

@#AIM:Analysis of visual prognosis and correlative factors in patients with branch retinal artery occlusion(BRAO). <p>METHODS: Retrospective medical record review of 68 eyes of 68 patients with BRAO seen at Fushun Ophthalmology Hospital from June 2015 and June 2017. Demographic and clinical characteristics were recorded, including gender, age, race, eye involved, and best-corrected visual acuity(BCVA), spectral domain optical coherence tomography(SD-OCT)and optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA, OptoVue). The OCTA retinal blood flow imaging scan mode was performed, the scanning region in the macular area were 3mm×3mm. the patients were followed up for 6mo.<p>RESULTS: On presentation, 69% of eyes with BRAO had BCVA of 0.5 or better, 24% of moderate visual impairment(0.1-0.4)and 7% of severe visual impairment(<0.1). At the 6-month visit, the percentage of eyes with slight, moderate and severe visual impairment was 75%, 19% and 6% respectively. The presenting BCVA(<i>r</i>=0.776, <i>P</i><0.001), the integrity of superficial foveal capillary arcade(<i>r</i>=-0.003, <i>P</i><0.001), the integrity of deep foveal capillary arcade(<i>r</i>=-0.003, <i>P</i><0.001), the density of superficial retinal capillary plexuses(<i>r</i>=-0.034, <i>P</i>=0.029)and the density of deep retinal capillary plexuses(<i>r</i>=-0.014, <i>P</i>=0.012)were found to be statistically significant with regard to visual outcome. Male, age, duration of symptoms, macular retinal thickness, area of macular involvement(superior or inferior)and presence or absence of emboli were not found to be statistically significant with regard to follow-up BCVA(<i>r</i>=0.273, 0.01, 0, 0.082, 0.41, 0.109, all <i>P</i>>0.05). <p>CONCLUSION: The integrity of foveal capillary arcade, the density of retinal capillary plexuses and the presenting BCVA are dosely associated with visual outcome of patients with branch retinal artery occlusion.

Inhibitive mechanisms of Pim-3 affecting fulminant hepatic apoptosis / 中华肝脏病杂志

To investigate the mechanisms of serine/threonine kinase Pim-3 inhibition of fulminant hepatic apoptosis. Thirty-two rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 8 each): normal controls (A); pretreatment with Ringer's solution (B), vector plasmid (C), or Pim-3 recombinant plasmid (D) by hydrodynamics-based procedure followed by intraperitoneal injections of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and D-galactosamine (D-GalN) after one day. At 8 h after the LPS/D-GalN injections, liver tissues were collected from all groups of mice and analyzed for cell apoptosis by detecting caspase-3 activity (measured in relative fluorescence units, RFU). Changes in expression of relevant genes were determined by RT-PCR and Western blotting. Caspase-3 activity was induced in response to LPS/D-GalN injection. Pim-3-pretreated rats showed a lower level of caspase-3 activity than the Ringer's-pretreated or vector plasmid-pretreated rats [(141.7+/-13.7)RFU vs. (508.1+/-32.0) or (493.5+/-33.1) RFU; all P less than 0.01]. High expressions of the liver injury marker gene, iNOS, and the apoptosis-induced genes, p53 and Bax, were found after LPS/D-GalN challenge, and were suppressed by exogenous Pim-3 gene injection. In addition, exogenous Pim-3 gene injection induced high expression of the liver anti-apoptosis protein, Bcl-2, but had no effect on Bax protein expression. The Pim-3 gene can block fulminant hepatic apoptosis by affecting the expression of the iNOS liver injury gene and the p53, Bax and Bcl-2 apoptosis-related genes.

Inhibitory effects of antisense oligonucleotides on VEGF gene expression by human hepatocellular carcinoma cells / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the inhibitory effects of antisense oligonucleotides to different sequences on VEGF gene expression by human hepatoma cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>SMMC7721 cells were cultured under normoxic or hypoxic conditions for 24 h, followed by being transfected with different antisense oligonucleotides (A06513 to cap structure, A06514 to translation initiation, A06515 to Exon-3 and A06516 to translation terminal). The total RNAs from the cells were extracted and the VEGF expression were examined with RT-PCR. The relative concentrations of VEGF transcripts in SMMC772 cells from different groups were determined using GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) cDNA as internal standard.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In response to the hypoxic challenge, SMMC7721 cells upregulated VEGF mRNA; Comparative to the control (no oligonucleotides), A06513, A06514, A06515, and A06516 had obvious sequence-specific inhibitory effect on VEGF gene expression, with the ratio of VEGF over GAPDH of 0.49+/-0.08, 0.71+/-0.12, 0.72+/-0.11 and 0.86+/-0.12, respectively (F=12.21, P< 0.05). A06513 showed the strongest inhibitory effect (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The antisense oligonucleotides complementary to VEGF cap structure, may become a potential alternative for antisense gene therapy of HCC.</p>