A clinical research of 11cases of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells for curing senile vascular dementia.

BACKGROUND: Patients affected by senile vascular dementia (VaD) suffer from a gradual deterioration in their cognitive expressions as well as the ability of taking care for themselves. This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of improving cognitive function and daily life activities of patients with VaD by transplanting human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUCMSCs). METHODS: A total number of 11 patients with senile VaD, who were admitted through outpatient treatment and hospitalized between February 2013 and February 2016, were selected. The diagnosis was based on CT and MRI examinations. The cultivated HUCMSCs (106 /kg) were injected by intravenous (i.v.) infusion on three occasions. Patients were evaluated for the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) with 25-30 as normal, 21-24 as mild dementia, 10-20 as moderate dementia, and 0-9 as severe dementia. In addition, the Barthel index (BI) was used for a standardized activities of daily living (ADLs) with 0-20 as total dependence, 21-60 as severe dependence, 61-90 as moderate dependence, and 91-95 slight dependence. The t-test was performed to compare statistical significance. RESULTS: The study included 11 subjects, one of whom fell out due to an event unrelated to the study. The results show descriptive statistics at different time points. No matter MMSE score or Barthel index, the difference between before treatment and after treatment or follow-up was statistically significant (P < 0.001).Result interpretation: this intervention method has a significant therapeutic effect, and in the 3-month follow-up period, the intervention effect is still significant compared with that before treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary clinical observations suggest that the i.v. infusion of HUCMSCs significantly improved the cognitive function (MMSE) and daily life activities (BI) of patients with senile VaD. This approach may prove to be safe and relatively simple method to be applied for the treatment of senile VaD.

Effect of endometrial thickness on the day of hCG administration on pregnancy outcome in the fresh IVF/ICSI cycle-a retrospective multicenter study / 中国实用妇科与产科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of endometrial thickness(EMT)on the day of hCG administration on preg⁃nancy outcome in the fresh in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection(IVF/ICSI)cycle.METHODS:A retrospec⁃tive analysis was conducted of 3601 IVF/ICSI-ET cycles between January 1,2015 and December 31,2015 in eight repro⁃ductive centers.The endometrial thickness was measured on hCG injection day and the distribution of endometrial thick⁃ness and pregnancy outcome was drawn.Patients were divided into two groups based on the EMT:group A(289 cycles,EMT<8 mm),group B(3312 cycles,EMT≥duration of pregnancy and birth weight of single gestation were compared.RESULTS:Group A had significantly lower clini⁃cal pregnancy rate(46.0% vs.55.9%,P=0.001),live birth rates(35.3% vs. 47.0%,P=0.000)and higher pregnancy loss rate(23.3% vs.15.8%,P=0.024)compared with group B,while there was no significant difference in duration of pregnan⁃cy or birth weight of single gestation.Logistic regression analyses showed that clinical pregnancy rate(aOR=1.492,P=0.001)and live birth rate(aOR=1.621,P=0.000)increased in group B compared with group A,when correcting for the women age,BMI and transfer embryo numbers.CONCLUSION:The endometrial thickness on the day of hCG administra⁃tion affects the pregnancy outcome in the fresh IVF/ICSI cycle.When EMT<8 mm,the clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate of IVF-ET are lower,and the patient should be well informed before making the decision of em⁃bryo transfer.However,endometrial thickness on the day of hCG administration does not affect the duration of preg⁃nancy and the birth weight of the fetus.

Critical role of Emx2 in the pluripotency - differentiation transition in male gonocytes via regulation of FGF9/NODAL pathway.

Emx2 deletion impairs the growth and maintenance of the genital ridge. However, its role in subsequent germ cell differentiation during embryonic stages is unknown. Using a tamoxifen-inducible Cre-loxP mouse model (Emx2(flox/flox), Cre-ER(TM), hereafter called as Emx2 knockdown), we showed that germ cell differentiation was impaired in Emx2-knockdown testes. Representative characteristics of male germ cell differentiation, including a reduced ability to form embryonic germ (EG) cell colonies in vitro, down-regulation of pluripotency markers and G1/G0 arrest, did not occur in Emx2-knockdown testes. Furthermore, FGF9 and NODAL signalling occurred at abnormally high levels in Emx2-knockdown testes. Both blocking FGF9 signalling with SU5402 and inhibiting NODAL signalling with SB431542 allowed germ cells from Emx2-knockdown testes to differentiate in vitro Therefore, EMX2 in somatic cells is required to trigger germ cell differentiation in XY foetuses, posterior to its previously reported role in the growth and maintenance of the genital ridge.

miR-205 mediates the inhibition of cervical cancer cell proliferation using olmesartan.

OBJECTIVE: The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system has become known as a prerequisite for tumor angiogenesis that is now recognized as a crucial step in the development of tumors, including cervical cancer. The Ang II-AT1R pathway is known to play an important role in tumor angiogenesis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, regulating RNAs that participate in tumor genesis, differentiation and proliferation. The current study focused on the anti-tumor mechanism of olmesartan, a novel angiotensin II antagonist, on cervical cancer cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: qRT-PCR and Western blot were used to demonstrate the effect of olmesartan on miR-205 and VEGF-A expression. miR-205 mimics and VEGF-A shRNA plasmid were separately transfected into HeLa and Siha cells to further validate the function of miR-205 and VEGF-A in cervical cancer cell proliferation. RESULTS: It was found that olmesartan could upregulate miR-205 and inhibit VEGF-A expression in HeLa and Siha cells. In addition, VEGF-A was proven to be a target gene of miR-205. CONCLUSION: This result provides a new idea on the anti-tumor mechanism of olmesartan, which may be used as a novel therapeutic target of cervical cancer.

Influence of the reference values for semen analysis proposed in the 5th edition of WHO laboratory manual on the indication spectrum for intrauterine insemination / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the influence of the reference values for semen analysis proposed in the 5th edition of the WHO Laboratory Manual for the Examination and Processing of Human Semen on the indication spectrum for intrauterine insemination (IUI).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 111 cycles of IUI by the reference values for semen analysis in the 4th edition of the WHO Laboratory Manual (group A) and 84 cycles by the 5th edition (group B). We recorded and compared the percentages of various indications for IUI between the two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The complications for IUI in groups A and B were as follows: asthenospermia (87.4% [97/111] vs 55.9% [47/84], P < 0.05), oligospermia (0 vs 0), teratospermia (51.4% [57/111] vs 35.7% [30/84]) , abnormal liquefaction (0.9% [1/111] vs O) , sexual dysfunction and genital malformation (0 vs 3.6% [3/84] , immune infertility (0.9% [ 1/111] vs O), and unexplained infertility (3.6% [4/111] vs 2. 4% [2/84 ] ). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the percentages of all the indications except that of asthenospermia.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The reference values for semen analysis proposed in the 5th edition of the WHO Laboratory Manual for the Examination and Processing of Human Semen have an evident influence on the indication spectrum for IUI by largely reducing the cases of IUI for male factors, prolonging the cycles of some patients, causing excessive diagnosis and treatment for females, and increasing their mental and economic burdens.</p>

Applications and prospect of multiple displacement amplification in preimplantation genetic diagnosis / 中华医学遗传学杂志

Multiple displacement amplification (MDA) is a new technology for whole genome amplification (WGA), which can generate large amount of high-quality DNA and features high amplification efficiency and fidelity. MDA combined with conventional PCR techniques has been successfully applied for preimplantation genetic diagnosis, which has broaden latter's clinical applications.