A cross-sectional study of retinal vessel changes based on optical coherence tomography angiography in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

Background: The involvement of retina and its vasculature has been recently described in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is noninvasively used to assess the retinal blood flow. Objective: This study was to compare vessel density (VD) and blood perfusion density (PD) of the macular in AD patients, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients and healthy controls by OCTA, which may provide new ideas for diagnosis of AD or MCI. Methods: AD patients, MCI patients and healthy controls underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic and neurological evaluations, including cognitive function assessments as well as visual acuity, intraocular pressure (IOP), slit lamp examinations, and OCTA. General demographic data, cognitive function, retinal VD and PD were compared among three groups. The correlations among retinal VD, PD and cognitive function, amyloid-beta (Aß) protein and phosphorylated Tau (p-Tau) protein were further evaluated. The correlations between retinal superficial capillary plexus and cognitive function, Aß protein and p-Tau protein were also explored. Results: A total of 139 participants were recruited into this study, including 43 AD patients, 62 MCI patients, and 34 healthy controls. After adjusting for sex, age, history of smoking, history of alcohol intake, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, best corrected visual acuity, and IOP, VD and PD in the nasal and inferior regions of the inner ring, superior and inferior regions of outer ring in the AD group were significantly lower than in the control group (p < 0.05). PD in nasal region of outer ring also significantly decreased in the AD group. VD and PD in superior and inferior regions of inner ring, superior and temporal regions of outer ring in the MCI group were markedly lower than in the control group (p < 0.05). After adjusting for sex and age, VD and PD were correlated with Montreal Cognitive Assessment Basic score, Mini-mental State Examination score, visuospatial function and executive function (p < 0.05), while Aß protein and p-Tau protein had no relationship with VD and PD. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that superficial retinal VD and PD in macula may be potential non-invasive biomarkers for AD and MCI, and these vascular parameters correlate with cognitive function.

Transcriptome profiling provides insights into dormancy release during cold storage of Lilium pumilum.

BACKGROUND: Bulbs of the ornamental flower Lilium pumilum enter a period of dormancy after flowering in spring, and require exposure to cold for a period of time in order to release dormancy. Previous studies focused mainly on anatomical, physiological and biochemical changes during dormancy release. There are no dormancy studies of the northern cold-hardy wild species of Lilium at the molecular level. This study observed bulb cell and starch granule ultrastructures during cold storage; and analysed the transcriptome using sequencing. The combination of morphological and transcriptomic methods provides valuable insights into dormancy release during cold storage of Lilium pumilum. RESULTS: Ultrastructural changes reflected dormancy release during cold storage of the bulbs. We compared gene expression levels among samples at 0 (S1 stage), 30 (S2 stage), 60 (S3 stage) and 90 (S4 stage) d of cold storage, with 0 d as the control. The data showed that some regulatory pathways such as carbohydrate metabolism and plant hormone signal transduction were activated to break dormancy. Some differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to antioxidant activity, epigenetic modification and transcription factors were induced to respond to low temperature conditions. These genes constituted a complex regulatory mechanism of dormancy release. CONCLUSIONS: Cytological data related to dormancy regulation was obtained through histomorphological observation; transcriptome sequencing provided comprehensive sequences and digital gene expression tag profiling (DGE) data, and bulb cell ultrastructural changes were closely related to DEGs. The novel Lilium pumilum genetic information from this study provides a reference for the regulation of dormancy by genetic engineering using molecular biology tools.

Pharmacoproteomic analysis reveals that metapristone (RU486 metabolite) intervenes E-cadherin and vimentin to realize cancer metastasis chemoprevention.

Metapristone is the most predominant biological active metabolite of mifepristone, and being developed as a novel cancer metastasis chemopreventive agent by us. Despite its prominent metastasis chemopreventive effect, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Our study, for the first time, demonstrated that metapristone had the ability to prevent breast cancer cells from migration, invasion, and interfere with their adhesion to endothelial cells. To explore the underlying mechanism of metapristone, we employed the iTRAQ technique to assess the effect of metapristone on MDA-MB-231 cells. In total, 5,145 proteins were identified, of which, 311 proteins showed significant differences in metapristone-treated cells compared to the control group (P-value < 0.05). Bioinformatic analysis showed many differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) functionally associated with post-translational modification, chaperones, translation, transcription, replication, signal transduction, etc. Importantly, many of the DEPs, such as E-cadherin, vimentin, TGF-ß receptor I/II, smad2/3, ß-catenin, caveolin, and dystroglycan were associated with TGF-ß and Wnt signaling pathways, which were also linked to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. Further validation of the epithelial marker "E-caderin" and mesenchymal marker "vimetin" were carried out using immunoblot and immunofluorescence. These results have revealed a novel mechanism that metapristone-mediated metastasis chemoprevention is through intervening the EMT-related signaling pathways.

Gallstones in liver transplant recipients: A single-center study in China.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Liver transplant recipients include patients who present with almost all kinds of end-stage liver disease. Studying the relationship between gallstones and end-stage liver disease among liver transplant recipients is becoming important. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to assess 1640 liver transplant recipients. Multiple factors were involved in the analysis, including age, sex, total bilirubin and total cholesterol levels, Child score, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, alcoholic cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). RESULTS: Age and Child score are independent risk factors for the development of gallstone disease (GD). The average age of the recipients in the GD group was 49.22±9.96 years, which was significantly higher than that in the GD-free group (48.23±9.79 years). The Child score of the recipients in the GD group was 9.21±2.47, which was significantly lower than that of the recipients in the GD-free group, which was 8.79±2.48 (t=3.23, p<0.001). We also found that hepatitis B is an influential factor in GD. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of gallstones among liver transplant recipients is related to the Child score and patient age. The prevalence of GD is lower in patients with HCC and in those who are HBV positive and is relatively higher in HCV-positive patients and in those with alcoholic cirrhosis, although no significant differences were found.

High-yield synthesis of ultrathin and uniform Bi2WO6 square nanoplates benefitting from photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into renewable hydrocarbon fuel under visible light.

Ultrathin and uniform Bi(2)WO(6) square nanoplates of ∼9.5 nm thickness corresponding to six repeating cell units were prepared in the presence of oleylamine using a hydrothermal route. The Bi(2)WO(6) nanoplates show great potential in the utilization of visible light energy to the highly efficient reduction of CO(2) into a renewable hydrocarbon fuel. On the one hand, the ultrathin geometry of the nanoplates promotes charge carriers to move rapidly from the interior to the surface to participate in the photoreduction reaction. This should also favor the improved separation of photogenerated electron and hole and a lower electron-hole recombination rate; on the other hand, the Bi(2)WO(6) square nanoplate is proven to provide the well-defined {001} facet for two dominantly exposed surfaces, which is a prerequisite for the high level of photocatalytic activity of CO(2) fixation.

High-yield synthesis of ultralong and ultrathin Zn2GeO4 nanoribbons toward improved photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into renewable hydrocarbon fuel.

Single-crystalline Zn(2)GeO(4) nanobelts with lengths of hundreds of micrometers, thicknesses as small as ∼7 nm, and aspect ratios of up to 10,000 were synthesized in a binary ethylenediamine/water solvent system using a solvothermal route. The ultralong and ultrathin geometry of the Zn(2)GeO(4) nanoribbon proves to greatly promote the photocatalytic activity toward reduction of CO(2) into renewable hydrocarbon fuel (CH(4)) in the presence of water vapor.