Prognostic implications and functional enrichment analysis of LTB4R in patients with acute myeloid leukemia / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the expression patterns, prognostic implications, and biological role of leukotriene B4 receptor (LTB4R) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).@*METHODS@#We collected the data of mRNA expression levels and clinical information of patients with AML from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database for mRNA expression analyses, survival analyses, Cox regression analyses and correlation analyses using R studio to assess the expression patterns and prognostic value of LTB4R. The correlation of LTB4R expression levels with clinical characteristics of the patients were analyzed using UALCAN. The co-expressed genes LTB4R were screened from Linkedomics and subjected to functional enrichment analysis. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed using STRING. GSEA analyses of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were performed based on datasets from TCGA-LAML stratified by LTB4R expression level. We also collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from AML patients and healthy donors for examination of the mRNA expression levels of LTB4R and immune checkpoint genes using qRT-PCR. We also examined serum LTB4R protein levels in the patients using ELISA.@*RESULTS@#The mRNA expression level of LTB4R was significantly increased in AML patients (4.898±1.220 vs 2.252±0.215, P < 0.001), and an elevated LTB4R expression level was correlated with a poor overall survival (OS) of the patients (P=0.004, HR=1.74). LTB4R was identified as an independent prognostic factor for OS (P=0.019, HR=1.66) and was associated with FAB subtypes, cytogenetic risk, karyotype abnormalities and NPM1 mutations. The co- expressed genes of LTB4R were enriched in the functional pathways closely associated with AML leukemogenesis, including neutrophil inflammation, lymphocyte activation, signal transduction, and metabolism. The DEGs were enriched in differentiation, activation of immune cells, and cytokine signaling. Examination of the clinical serum samples also demonstrated significantly increased expressions of LTB4R mRNA (P=0.044) and protein (P=0.008) in AML patients, and LTB4R mRNA expression was positively correlated with the expression of the immune checkpoint HAVCR2 (r= 0.466, P=0.040).@*CONCLUSION@#LTB4R can serve as a novel biomarker and independent prognostic indicator of AML and its expression patterns provide insights into the crosstalk of leukemogenesis signaling pathways involving tumor immunity and metabolism.

Effect of acupuncture on the cognitive function of migraine patients with depression/anxiety disorder / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effect of five-element acupuncture on the cognitive function repair of migraine patients with depression/anxiety disorder.@*METHODS@#The migraine patients with depression/anxiety disorder (19 cases, 5 cases dropped off) were taken as the observation group, and received five-element acupuncture twice a week for 8 weeks. Healthy subjects (19 cases) were selected by demographic data matching as the control group. The cognitive function was evaluated with the event related potential (ERP) technique, and the latency and amplitude of visual evoked potential P300 were adopted as the observation indexes. The headache days (every 4 weeks), headache intensity [visual analogue scale(VAS) score], and headache impact test-6 (HIT-6) score, Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) score and Hamilton anxiety scale (HAMA) score were used as the observation indexes for curative effect.@*RESULTS@#Before the treatment, latency of target stimulus at Fz [ (417.5±34.3) ms] in the observation group was extended compared with the healthy subjects of the control group [(388.6±42.1) ms, @*CONCLUSION@#There are some cognitive impairments in migraine patients with depression/anxiety disorder. Five-element acupuncture not only relieves headache, anxiety and depression effectively, but also improves the activation level of the frontal lobe. It significantly repairs the impaired cognitive function.

Improvement in colonic inflammatory injury in rats via activating dorsal cholinergic neurons of vagus with electroacupuncture at sensitized acupoints / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) at sensitized acupoints on choline acetyltransferase positive (ChAT@*METHODS@#A total of 79 male SD rats were randomized into five groups, i.e. a normal group (20 rats), a normal plus sensitized acupoint group (5 rats), a model group (34 rats), an EA@*RESULTS@#The EB extravasating areas were distributed in the segments from T@*CONCLUSION@#The segmental dominance (acupoints) from T

Research progress of acupuncture and the related adjuvant therapy for promoting pressure ulcer healing in recent 10 years / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To summarize the research progress of acupuncture-moxibustion and the related adjuvant therapy for promoting pressure ulcer healing in recent 10 years and explore the future research direction.@*METHODS@#By retrieving Chinese Journal Full-text Database (CNKI), VIP Database (VIP) and PubMed database, dated from January 2008 through to December 2017, the articles for the treatment of pressure ulcers with acupuncture-moxibustion and the related adjuvant therapy were collected. In terms of clinical research and experimental research, the research progress and the related effect mechanisms were analyzed and summarized.@*RESULTS@#Through screening, 78 articles for the treatment of pressure ulcer with acupuncture-moxibustion and the adjuvant therapy were collected finally, of which, 71 articles were Chinese and 7 articles were English. The therapies with the highest frequency for pressure ulcer were the simple moxibustion or moxibusiton combined with other adjuvant measures. The local surrounding needling therapy, electroacupuncture, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) and laser therapy were followed by regarding the use frequency. All of these interventions promoted the healing of pressure ulcers to different degrees. The underlying mechanisms were related to the regulation of the local blood perfusion, differentiation and migration of vascular endothelial growth factor, angiogenesis, superoxide dismutase SOD and eNOS/NO signaling pathway so as to promote tissue migration and proliferation.@*CONCLUSION@#Acupuncture-moxibustion and the related adjuvant therapies achieve the definite therapeutic effects on pressure ulcers. The researches on the treatment of pressure ulcers at home and abroad are diversified, but it is still limited in the research on the effect mechanism.

Successful treatment of a severely injured victim from 8.12 Tianjin Port Explosion, China / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

A male patient, 55 years old, was found from a container yard 65 h later following a chemical warehouse explosion in Tianjin, China on August 12, 2015. He was about 50 m away from the explosion center. He was subjected to compound multiple trauma, multi-viscera function damage, multiple fractures, hemothorax, traumatic wet lung, respiratory failure I, hypovolemic shock and impaired liver and kidney functions. After a series of successful treatments, he was rescued and recovered well.

Etiology of nonspecific chronic cough in children and relationship between TRPV1 gene polymorphisms and nonspecific chronic cough / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the causes of nonspecific chronic cough in children and relationship between transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) gene polymorphisms and nonspecific chronic cough.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 195 children with chronic cough were followed up half a month, one month and three months after their first visit to hospital. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to examine polymorphisms of the TRPV1 gene in the children. A total of 205 healthy or surgical children without chronic cough served as the control group.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The etiologic distribution of the 195 children with chronic cough was as follows: 96 (49.2%) cases of cough variant asthma (CVA), 48 (24.6%) cases of CVA complicated by upper airway cough syndrome (UACS), 34 (17.4%) cases of post-infectious cough, and 17 (8.7%) cases of UACS. Three genotypes were identified in both groups at positions rs222747 (CC, GC and GG), rs222748 (CC, TC and TT) and rs8065080 (CC, TC and TT). The frequencies of genotype and allele at position rs222747 did not accord with the law of Hardy-Weinberg. There was no significant difference in frequencies of genotype and allele at positions rs222748 and rs8065080 between the two groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>CVA, UACS and post-infectious cough are common causes of nonspecific chronic cough in children. TRPV1 gene polymorphisms at positions rs222748 and rs8065080 may be unrelated to nonspecific chronic cough in children.</p>

Gene mutation and clinical characteristics of a Chinese Uygur family with spinocerebellar ataxia type 12 / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion and clinical characteristics of a Chinese Uygur family with spinocerebellar ataxia type 12 (SCA12) in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In the Uygur SCA12 family, 6 patients and 54 "healthy" members were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction, agarose gel electrophoresis, recombinant DNA technology by T-Vector cloning and restriction enzyme digestion, and direct sequencing. The diagnosis of SCA12 was confirmed. The CAG trinucleotide expansion was also analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Six members in the family were diagnosed as SCA12 patients and 13 were presymptomatic. Five of them were successfully detected by sequencing. The CAG repeat numbers of 4 patients were 47, 51, 52 and 53, respectively, and 48 in the presymptomatic patient. We also observed that in the CAG repeat region there was replacement of single nucleotide C, A or G.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Forty-seven CAG repeats of SCA12 has been reported as the shortest known causative expanded alleles. The present study is the first report of the characteristics of SCA12 gene mutation in Chinese. It will provide basis for the accurate classification, disease etiology, treatment and prenatal diagnosis of this disease.</p>

Clinical characteristics and genetic mutation analysis in a Hui family with Huntington disease / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To perform clinical analysis and gene diagnosis of Huntington disease (HD) in a Hui pedigree from Xinjiang.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The IT15 gene mutation of the Hui family was analyzed by touchdown PCR, molecular cloning and gene sequencing.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The proband carried 46 CAG repeats. Pain in bilateral lower limb was the first symptom, followed by symptoms such as dance like involuntary movements, mood disorders, impaired memory and intelligence. Asymptomatic son of the proband carried 44 CAG repeats.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>This family showed reduced CAG trinucleotide repeats of IT15 gene during maternal transmission. A CAA variation is also detected within the CAG repeat region.</p>

Mutation analysis of a Chinese family with spinocerebellar ataxia 7 / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To characterize the clinical phenotype and the gene mutation of the spinocerebellar ataxia 7 (SCA7) family.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two patients from a two generation Hui Chinese pedigree were detected by gene test. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for CAG trinucleotide repeats was performed for the SCA7 gene, and the fragments with expanded alleles were subcloned into the pGEM-T plasmids and sequenced.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Molecular analysis demonstrated the pathological expansions in the SCA7 gene, with 46 CAG repeats in the expanded allele of the proband's father. The 46 repeats expanded to 54 repeats in the proband with marked anticipation of approximately 22 years.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>This family was the first SCA7 Hui Chinese family reported. Retinal degeneration is relatively unique to SCA7. The instability of the expanded triplet repeats accounts for the marked anticipation and the rate of progression of the disease.</p>

Identification of ATXN3 intermedial allele associated with a disease phenotype in an SCA3 Han Chinese family / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical manifestation and the mutation characteristics of intermedial allele associated with a disease phenotype of a Machado-Joseph disease (MJD) family.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Polymerase chain reaction, capillary electrophoresis, molecular cloning and sequencing were performed to detect the ATXN3 gene in an spinocerebellar ataxia(SCA) family. The fragments of expanded alleles were subcloned into the pGEM-T plasmids and sequenced.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expanded repeats at the MJD locus were confirmed by molecular technique. The proband had 43 CAG repeats at the MJD locus. He had two sons with 41 and 64 repeats in the expanded allele respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A 43 CAG repeat allele was unstable upon inter-generational transmission. The change of the CAG repeat was bidirectional. This is the shortest expanded allele associated with a disease phenotype in the MJD gene reported to date. The identification of the MJD family has reduced the amplitude between the normal and expanded allele repeats.</p>

Study on the anti-tumor effect of paclitaxel mixed micelle by using in vivo optical imaging technique / 药学学报

In vivo tumor imaging technique method based on bioluminescence principle was established to evaluate the anti-tumor effect of paclitaxel mixed micelle (PMM). MDA-MB-231 tumor cells with luciferase reporter vectors were firstly implanted into nude mice, and subsequently the luciferase substrate was regularly injected during intraperitoneal administration of PMM. Then the tumor size, growth and the intensity of light signals were monitored with in vivo imaging technique. The method of luciferase tumor in vivo imaging could be real-time, reliable and exact in labeling and reflecting the growth of tumors, and the observed results were consistent with that by conventional method, so it would be a feasible approach to study anti-tumor effect of drugs. The anti-tumor effect of paclitaxel mixed micelle was observed by this method, and the results showed that this formulation could inhibit growth of tumor, and the anti-tumor rate of it was about 85%.

Study on the nucleic acid of E. coli bacteriophage with broad host range and its sterilization effect to sewage samples from the environment / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the change of nucleic acid sequence and the germicidal effect of an E. coli bacteriophage with broad host range isolated from hospital sewage as well as to study the mechanism of phage host specificity and the effect of killed bacteria by phage-disinfectant to the samples from sewage water.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>To extract the nucleic acid from phage f(2) and phage with broad host range using anti-serum-carbamidine hydrochloride assay. Purity with agarose gel electrophoresis was then evaluated. Differences of nucleic acid sequence between phage f(2) and phage with broad host range with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR were also comparing and analysed. Through observing the germicidal test of phage f(2) and phage with broad host range to samples from environment, different sterilization effects between the two phages were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Analystic test for nucleic acid revealed that the two phages both belonged to 6000 bp, single-stranded RNA bacteriophage. Significant differences in their specificity of RAPD-PCR and RT-PCR were found during the changed of host range; with 26 RAPD-cDNA differential fragments found that in two phages RAPD-PCR products. The RT-PCR product of phage f(2) was 450 bp cDNA fragment, but the phage with broad host range did not show PCR product. Treating the sewage water with phage under broad host range, the germicidal test showed that the cleaning rate of E. coli bacteria and phage f(2) in water samples from environment could reach 36.75% - 56.28%, 30.84% - 47.96%, 19.19% - 35.06% and 13.05% - 27.85%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The cleaning rates to E. coli and bacteria by phage with broad host range were obviously higher than phage f(2) (P = 0.000). Analytic test for nucleic acid indicated that host-specific lytic effect of phage with broad host range had been changed at genetic level.</p>

Gene mutation and clinical feature of 10 patients with spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 and type 3 / 中华神经科杂志

Objective To investigate clinical phenotype and the characteristics of gene mutation of patients with spinocercbellar ataxia type 2 and type 3.Methods The trinucleotide repeat mutations were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR),fluorescence-PCR and capillary electrophoresis in 9 patients and 43 members from 4 spinocerebellar ataxia families,1 sporadic patients,and 60 normal controls without family history.Results Six patients from 3 families and one sporadic patient had SCA3/MJD (CAG) n expansion mutation(n=68-75) ;Three patients from 1 family had SCA2 allele expansion for 37-41 times. Some of clinical menifestations were same among patients with type 2 or 3,while they showed significant difference in age of onset ,disease devetopment and nervous system injury.Conclusion The difference of clinical feature helps to distinguish SCA3/MJD and SCA2,however genotype analysis is the only method of definite diagnosis.