Objective optical assessment of tear-film quality dynamics in patients with meibomian gland dysfunction and aqueous-deficient dry eye optical quality changes in different dry eye subtypes

Purpose: To evaluate the optical quality and tear-film dynamics in patients with aqueous-deficient or evaporative subtype of dry eye disease (DED). Methods: Twenty-five aqueous-deficient dry eye (ADDE) patients, 25 DED patients with meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), and 25 healthy subjects were included in this study. Vision-related health-targeted quality of life was evaluated using the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire. Dynamic recording with a double-pass system (Optical Quality Analysis System [OQAS]) was performed in right eyes. Scattered light was measured as the objective scatter index (OSI) at 0.5-second intervals over 20 seconds without blinking. Then, we recorded OSI every 0.5 seconds within a 20-second period with the subjects asked to blink freely. Several parameters were established to evaluate the dynamic alterations of optical quality and the effects of blinks: OSI, OSI standard deviation (SD), ?OSI, ?OSI/time, blinking change (BC), and blinking frequency (BF). Additional clinical examination included tear film break-up time (BUT), Schirmer I test (SIT), fluorescein staining grade (FL), meibomian gland quality, meibomian gland expressibility, and meibomian gland drop-out. Results: The OSI, SD, ?OSI, ?OSI/time, BC, and BF were significantly higher in DED patients than controls (P < 0.01, respectively). The OSI, SD, ?OSI, ?OSI/time, BC, and BF were significantly higher in patients with MGD than patients with ADDE (P < 0.01). In the MGD group, BUT, FL staining score, lid abnormality, meibomian gland expressibility, and meibomian gland drop-out were correlated with ? OSI and ? OSI/time. Conclusion: Dry eye patients with MGD had significant alterations of optical quality compared with ADDE patients. The double-pass system has potential to be a useful quantitative method to evaluate the optical quality and tear-film dynamics in patients with dry eye.

Caffeic acid improves cell viability and protects against DNA damage: involvement of reactive oxygen species and extracellular signal-regulated kinase

Hormesis is an adaptive response to a variety of oxidative stresses that renders cells resistant to harmful doses of stressing agents. Caffeic acid (CaA) is an important antioxidant that has protective effects against DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, whether CaA-induced protection is a hormetic effect remains unknown, as is the molecular mechanism that is involved. We found that a low concentration (10 μM) of CaA increased human liver L-02 cell viability, attenuated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated decreases in cell viability, and decreased the extent of H2O2-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). In L-02 cells exposed to H2O2, CaA treatment reduced ROS levels, which might have played a protective role. CaA also activated the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signal pathway in a time-dependent manner. Inhibition of ERK by its inhibitor U0126 or by its specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) blocked the CaA-induced improvement in cell viability and the protective effects against H2O2-mediated DNA damage. This study adds to the understanding of the antioxidant effects of CaA by identifying a novel molecular mechanism of enhanced cell viability and protection against DNA damage.

A meta-analysis of limb-salvage versus amputation in the treatment of patients with Enneking II pathologic fracture osteosarcoma.

Introduction: The aim of this meta-analysis was to further explore whether the relapse, 5-year survival and metastasis the same or not between limb-salvage and amputation in the treatment of patients with limited stage Enneking‡U pathologic fracture osteosarcoma. Materials and Methods: An electronic search of the Medline, EMBASE and CNKI was done on October 2014. The clinical studies about amputation or limb-salvage surgery in the treatment of patients with limited stage Enneking‡U pathologic fracture osteosarcoma were searched and reviewed. The effect size of relapse, 5-year survival and metastasis between the amputation and limb-salvage surgery were pooled by stata11.0 software (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA, http://www.stata.com;) using random or fixed effect model. The funnel plot and Egger's line regression test were used for evaluation of publication bias. Results: A total of 89 studies were identified and seven articles with 200 cases in the limb-salvage surgery group and 84 subjects in the amputation group were finally included in the meta-analysis. The pooled data indicated that no statistical different of risk for developing relapse between limb-salvage and amputation was found relative risk (RR) =1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.71-2.79, (P = 0.33). The 5-year survival rate of patients underwent limb-salvage surgery was smaller than patients received amputation RR = 1.86, 95%CI: 1.19-2.89, (P = 0.01); the metastasis rate of patients underwent limb-salvage surgery was significant decreased compared with patients received amputation RR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.34-0.94, (P = 0.03). No publication bias was existed in this meta-analysis. Conclusion: Limb-salvage surgery does not increased the risk of relapse compared with amputation in the treatment of patients with limited stage Enneking‡U pathologic fracture osteosarcoma.

Investigating evolutionary perspective of carcinogenesis with single-cell transcriptome analysis / 癌症

We developed phase-switch microfluidic devices for molecular profiling of a large number of single cells. Whole genome microarrays and RNA-sequencing are commonly used to determine the expression levels of genes in cell lysates (a physical mix of millions of cells) for inferring gene functions. However, cellular heterogeneity becomes an inherent noise in the measurement of gene expression. The unique molecular characteristics of individual cells, as well as the temporal and quantitative information of gene expression in cells, are lost when averaged among all cells in cell lysates. Our single-cell technology overcomes this limitation and enables us to obtain a large number of single-cell transcriptomes from a population of cells. A collection of single-cell molecular profiles allows us to study carcinogenesis from an evolutionary perspective by treating cancer as a diverse population of cells with abnormal molecular characteristics. Because a cancer cell population contains cells at various stages of development toward drug resistance, clustering similar single-cell molecular profiles could reveal how drug-resistant sub-clones evolve during cancer treatment. Here, we discuss how single-cell transcriptome analysis technology could enable the study of carcinogenesis from an evolutionary perspective and the development of drug-resistance in leukemia. The single-cell transcriptome analysis reported here could have a direct and significant impact on current cancer treatments and future personalized cancer therapies.