[Effect of ruxolitinib combined with glucocorticoid on cytomegalovirus activation in acute graft-versus-host disease].

Objective: To observe the effect of ruxolitinib combined with glucocorticoid on cytomegalovirus (CMV) activation in patients with acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) . Methods: The clinical data of 195 patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the Department of Hematology of the First Medical Center of the People's Liberation Army General Hospital from August 2018 to September 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the severity of aGVHD, the patients were divided into the non-GVHD group, aGVHD grade Ⅰ group, aGVHD grade Ⅱ-Ⅳ group, and aGVHD grade Ⅲ/Ⅳ group. In addition, they were classified into two subgroups according to the first-line treatment regimen for aGVHD: combined regimen group (ruxolitinib combined with glucocorticoid) and classical regimen group (glucocorticoid alone) . The cumulative incidence of CMV activation, the duration of CMV activation, and the duration of CMV negativity in each subgroup at 90 and 180 days after transplantation were analyzed. The overall survival and disease-free survival rates of patients in both regimens were compared. Results: Sixty-four (32.8%) patients in the group did not develop aGVHD. The numbers of patients with grade Ⅰ, Ⅱ-Ⅳ, and Ⅲ/Ⅳ aGVHD were 30 (15.4%) , 101 (51.8%) , and 14 (7.2%) , respectively. Compared with patients in the classical regimen, no significant difference was observed in the cumulative incidence of CMV activation, duration of CMV activation, and duration of CMV negativity in patients with grade Ⅰ-Ⅳ aGVHD in the combined regimen at 90 and 180 days after transplantation (P>0.05) . Further analysis of patients with grade Ⅱ-Ⅳ and Ⅲ/Ⅳ aGVHD showed that the cumulative incidence of CMV activation, duration of CMV activation, and duration of CMV negativity did not show significant difference between the two treatment regimens (P>0.05) . In addition, there was no significant difference in the overall survival and disease-free survival rates of patients in both regimens (P>0.05) . Conclusion: Ruxolitinib combined with glucocorticoid as the first-line therapy for aGVHD did not increase the risk of CMV activation.

Effects of balanced selection for intramuscular fat and abdominal fat percentage and estimates of genetic parameters.

Intramuscular fat (IMF) content contributes to meat flavor and improves meat quality. Excessive abdominal fat, however, leads to a waste of feed resources. Here, an independent up-selection for IMF was used as a control (Line C), and a balanced selection program, with up-selection for IMF and down-selection AFP (Line B), was studied in JingXing yellow chickens. The mean of IMF and AFP within a family was the phenotypic value upon which selection was based. The selective pressures of IMF in line B and line C were the same in each generation. At G5, the IMF was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that at G0 in both lines. For AFP, Line C was significantly higher at G5 (P < 0.05) than at G0, but the difference in Line B was not significant (P > 0.05). IMF increased by 11.4% and AFP decreased by 1.5% in Line B compared with the G0 generation. In contrast, the IMF increased by 17.6%, but was accompanied by an 18.7% increase in AFP, in control Line C. Of 10 other traits measured, body weight at 56 d age (BW56) and the percentages of eviscerated weight (EWP) showed a significant difference between the 2 lines (P < 0.05). The heritabilities for IMF and AFP, estimated by the DMU package, were 0.16 and 0.32, respectively. A moderate positive correlation existed between IMF and AFP (0.35). A balanced selection program for increasing IMF while controlling AFP (Line B) is shown here to be effective in practical chicken breeding.

Clinical significance and levels of blood brain natriuretic peptides in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation before and after catheter ablation.

The aim of this study was to observe levels of blood brain natriuretic peptides (BNPs) in patients with persistent atrial fibril-lation (AF) before and after catheter ablation. Thirty-six patients with persistent AF (28 successful surgeries and eight recurrent cases) and 36 healthy controls with normal sinus rhythm were recruited for this study. BNP levels in the AF and control groups were measured before and after catheter ablation. BNP levels before surgery were significantly higher in the persistent AF group than in the control group (P < 0.01). The successful surgery group had distinctly lower BNP levels before ablation than the recurrent group (P < 0.01). In the recurrent group, BNP levels 2 h after ablation were significantly lower than those be-fore ablation (P < 0.01); these levels increased after AF recurrence (P < 0.01) and were comparable with those before ablation (P < 0.01). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the BNP level was an inde-pendent factor for and predictor of AF recurrence (P < 0.01). The BNP level in patients with persistent AF is clinically important in predicting and evaluating AF recurrence after ablation.

Safety and efficacy of intracoronary tirofiban administration in patients with serious thrombus burden and ST-elevation myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

OBJECTIVE: This work aims to explore the safety and efficacy of intracoronary tirofiban administration in patients with serious thrombus burden and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 104 patients with serious thrombus burden and acute STEMI were randomly divided into treatment (intracoronary tirofiban administration, 56 cases) and control (48 cases) groups. Comparison of coronary blood flow, ST-segment resolution (STR), duration of hospital stay, 30-day major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and complications such as hemorrhage was conducted. RESULTS: In treatment group, the percentage of thrombolysis in myocardial infarction-3 (TIMI-3) flow in the infarct-related artery (IRA) increased (89.3% to 85.4, p < 0.05), blood flow in the IRA calculated with TIMI frame count method enhanced [(1.68 ± 0.23) ml/s to (1.42 ± 0.31) ml/s, p < 0.05], STR on electrocardiogram (ECG) enlarged [(64.3 ± 7.84)% to (48.6 ± 6.47)%, p < 0.05)] and the prevalence of MACE decreased (10.7% to 18.8%, p < 0.05), all of which were significantly different from those of control group, but no statistical difference in complications was observed between two groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It was simple, safe and effective to perform intracoronary tirofiban administration in patients with serious thrombus burden and STEMI when undergoing emergency PCI.

Regulatory functions of docosahexaenoic acid on ion channels in rat ventricular myocytes.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to study the regulatory functions of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on resting potential (RP), action potential duration (APD), delayed rectifier potassium current (Ik), and inwardly rectifier potassium current (Ik1) in rat ventricular myocytes, and analyze the related anti-arrhythmia mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rat ventricular myocytes were isolated by enzyme digestion method. RP, APD, Ik and Ik1 in individual ventricular myocytes were recorded by patch-clamp technique with whole-cell configuration. Effects of DHA with various concentrations (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 mmol/L, respectively) on RP, AP, Ik and Ik1 were investigated. RESULTS: There was no statistical difference of RP with different DHA concentrations (p > 0.05, n = 20), and the 25%, 50% and 90% of APD (APD25, APD50, and APD90) were gradually prolonged with increase of DHA concentration, respectively (p < 0.05, n = 20). IK gradually blocked and the I-V curve was downward shifted, according to increase of DHA concentration (p < 0.05, n = 20). The DHA half effect concentration (EC50) was 47.52 ± 2.32 µmol/L. With increasing DHA concentration, the steady-state inactivation curve shifted to left, and the recovery curve shifted to right. DHA had no significant effect on IK1 (p > 0.05, n = 20). CONCLUSIONS: DHA has regulatory functions on RP, APD, Ik and Ik1 in rat ventricular myocytes, which may be one of the related antiarrhythmic mechanisms.

The mRNA expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in oocytes and embryos and its effects on the development of early embryos in cattle.

The aims of the study were to measure the mRNA expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in bovine oocytes and early embryos derived from in vitro fertilization (IVF), parthenogenetic activation (PA) and nuclear transfer (NT), and to investigate the effects of BDNF on the development of IVF and parthenogenetic embryos. Bovine oocytes matured in vitro for 22 h were in vitro fertilized or parthenogenetic activated. By reverse transcription-PCR and quantitative real-time PCR, we found that germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes, metaphase II (MII) oocytes, 4-cell and 8-cell embryos, morulae, and blastocysts were all shown to express mRNA for BDNF. The mRNA levels for BDNF gene were different in bovine oocytes and IVF embryos at different stages (P < 0.01), with the highest expression in MII oocytes and the lowest expression in 8-cell embryos. The mRNA for BDNF was highly expressed in the PA and IVF blastocysts compared to the NT blastocysts (P < 0.01). Supplementation of culture media with BDNF at the concentration of 40 µg/l caused a significant increase in the rates of in vitro-fertilized blastocyst formation (P < 0.05) and parthenogenetic blastocyst formation (P < 0.05). However, the rate of oocyte cleavage in BDNF groups was not significantly different from that in the BDNF-free control (P > 0.05) after IVF or PA. We have also investigated the effects of BDNF on the growth of granulosa cells, which were used for co-culture of bovine early embryos. The results revealed that supplementation of culture media with 20 µg/l BDNF promoted the growth of granulosa cells (P < 0.01). Taken together, these results provided evidence for the role of neurotrophins in promoting early embryonic development as well as in the growth of granulosa cells by the co-culture system, indicating that BDNF can directly or indirectly promote bovine early embryo development.