Targeting endoplasmic reticulum stress in liver disease.

INTRODUCTION: The accumulation of unfolded protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) initiates an unfolded protein response (UPR) via three signal transduction cascades, which involve protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK), inositol requiring enzyme-1α (IRE1α) and activating transcription factor-6α (ATF6α). An ER stress response is observed in nearly all physiologies related to acute and chronic liver disease and therapeutic targeting of the mechanisms implicated in UPR signaling have attracted considerable attention. AREAS COVERED: This review focuses on the correlation between ER stress and liver disease and the possible targets which may drive the potential for novel therapeutic intervention. Expert Commentary: We describe pathways which are involved in UPR signaling and their potential correlation with various liver diseases and underlying mechanisms which may present opportunities for novel therapeutic strategies are discussed.

Job burnout and organizational justice among medical interns in Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

BACKGROUND: New challenges are occurring in the medical education in Mainland China, and the main risk is the loss of excellent physician candidates. This is due to lack of respect; a large, strong labor force; relatively low remuneration; unstable relationships between patients and doctors; pressures from the public media; and the possible existence of organizational injustice within the hospital. The study reported here looked at one of the in-hospital risks, psychological job burnout and organizational justice, to identify the possible internal cause-effect relationship at the two major general hospitals both affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the reported study was to analyze the related factors associated with job burnout in Chinese medical interns in Shanghai and to provide some suggestions to better their occupational development. METHODS: A total of 135 medical interns were investigated and assessed by the Organizational Justice Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant negative correlation between organizational justice and job burnout (r=-0.298, P=0.000), suggesting the existence of job burnout among the participant interns. In particular, emotional exhaustion and cynicism were statistically more significant; the comparison between the N group (from Nanjing) and S group (Shanghai) showed significant difference in participation and reduced professional efficacy (P<0.05), with reduced professional efficacy in N group more significant than in S group, and participation in S group more significant than in N group. CONCLUSION: Job burnout existed among Chinese medical interns, and was associated with fewer complaints and lower professional efficacy. Organizational justice should be promoted more, and school authorities should pay more attention to outside "non-home" interns. Finally, it is essential that the medical interns themselves establish reasonable judgment of their valuable profession.

Y chromosome interstitial deletion induced Y-STR allele dropout in AMELY-negative individuals.

Short tandem repeat (STR) multiplexes with the amelogenin (AMEL) gene as a gender marker have been used as a routine tool of forensic DNA analysis. It has been reported that AMEL-based gender detection could misidentify a known male as a female due to the dropout of amelogenin Y (AMELY) allele. Other gender markers, such as Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (Y-STR), may be a substitution of AMEL and help the sex determination. In current study, employing AmpFlSTR® Sinofiler and AmpFlSTR® Y-filer™ PCR Amplification kit, 18 AMELY-negative males were identified. Accordingly, the incidence of the AMELY dropout was 0.227 ‰ (18/79,304) in Chinese population. Sequencing of AMELY allele and analyzing of azoospermia factors region suggested that 3 out of 18 misidentifications were induced by mutations in the primer-binding region of the AMELY, while other 15 sex misidentifications were results of Y chromosome microdeletions with variant lengths. Moreover, variant combination patterns of AMELY dropout and Y-STRs deletions were also observed. Our data suggested that Y-STR locus dropout may indicate more problems, especially in the mixed sample's interpretation. Results of haplogroup prediction showed that seven AMELY dropouts combined with variant Y-STR deletions can be classified as the J2 subdivision, suggesting that some of these Y chromosomes might descend from a common ancestor.