LINC00665 facilitates the progression of osteosarcoma via sponging miR-3619-5p.

OBJECTIVE: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play vital roles in the pathogenesis and development of multiple cancers, including osteosarcoma (OS). The present study aims to investigate the role of LINC00665 in OS progression. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression levels of LINC00665 and miR-3619 were assessed by RT-qPCR. The correlation between LINC00665 and miR-3619 expression was evaluated by Pearson's correlation analysis. The interaction between LINC00665 and miR-3619 was predicted by starBase, which was further confirmed by Luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay. The viability, invasion, and migration of OS cells were analyzed by CCK-8 and transwell assays. RESULTS: LINC00665 expression was upregulated in OS tissues and cell lines, and the high level of LINC00665 was associated with poor prognosis in OS. Moreover, LINC00665 knockdown attenuated the viability, invasion, and migration of OS cells. In addition, miR-3619 was demonstrated to be a target of LINC00665. Overexpression of miR-3619 inhibited OS progression, while this effect was abolished by the upregulation of LINC00665. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that LINC 00665 accelerated OS development by targeting miR-3619. These findings might provide potential treatment strategies for patients with OS.

Vacuum sealing drainage as a pre-surgical adjunct in the treatment of complex (open) hand injuries: Report of 17 cases.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have been conducted to explore the use of the vacuum sealing drainage (VSD) technique in complex hand injuries. The aim of this study was to report outcomes in patients with complex hand injuries receiving VSD as a coadjuvant treatment prior to second-stage surgery. METHODS: This case series study retrospectively reviewed the patients who underwent VSD for treatment of hand injuries. Inclusion criteria for the study were: (1) traumatic soft tissue defects of the hand and wrist, accompanied by different degrees of injury and exposure of bone, tendon, or blood vessel; (2) the wound surface of hand and wrist was seriously contaminated and direct wound closure was not possible; and (3) the soft tissues of hand and wrist were seriously lacerated or avulsed, and showed necrosis or acute infection. After debridement, one-stage and/or two-stage repairs using healthy adjacent tissues were performed and the wound was covered by the VSD materials. The non-cytotoxic polyethylene alcohol hydration seaweed salt foam was applied during the VSD treatment for its good biocompatibility. The drainage tube was connected to the vacuum equipment and the negative pressures were set at -60kPa to -40kPa. The VSD device was left in place for 5 to 7 days before removal. Either free skin grafting or skin flap transplantation was used for wound closure and/or reconstructive surgery. The hand injury severity score was used to assess wound severity. The surgical results were scored using the total active motion classification. RESULTS: A total of 17 patients (13 and 4 patients had major and severe hand injuries), averaging 33.8 years were included. During the study period, 6 patients with severe hand injuries were not treated with VSD for the following reasons: (1) hemodynamic instability (n=1); (2) impaired coagulation function (n=1); (3) uncontrollable hemorrhage on the wound surface (n=2); and (4) exposure of the main blood vessels after surgical repair (n=2). VSD treatment was performed for an average of 7.4 days (range, 6-14 days) and the duration of wound healing averaged 23 days (range, 20-43 days). Wound infection was not reported prior to second-stage surgery. Only one of 17 patients had superficial necrosis at the flap edge, for a success rate of 94%. Average follow-up was 8.7 months (range, 4-13 months). Twelve (71%) patients reported excellent or good, four (23%) reported fair, and one (6%) reported poor results. CONCLUSION: The VSD can effectively promote safe and rapid repair of local soft tissues with good prognosis.

Expression of the porcine lipoic acid synthase (LIAS) gene in Escherichia coli.

Lipoic acid synthase, which exists primarily in mitochondria, participates in the biosynthesis of intrinsic lipoic acid. The lipoic acid synthase gene in pig is known as LIAS. To further investigate the biological functions of the protein that is encoded by LIAS, we cloned the open read frame of porcine LIAS (GenBank No. JN797612.1) into the expression vector pET-28α(+). The resulting pET-28α(+)-Lias recombinant vector was introduced into the Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) strain. With induction by isopropyl ß-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside, the recombinant E. coli strain can express the target protein that has a molecular weight of 41.58 kDa, which was confirmed by Western blotting.

IL-8 mRNA expression in the mouse mammary glands during pregnancy and lactation.

Interkeukin-8 (IL-8) is an important inflammatory mediator. It is an angiogenic factor associated with inflammation and carcinogenesis. To date, research on IL-8 has been limited to its role as an indicator of inflammation. There has been no systematic research concerning IL-8 expression levels in the mouse mammary gland during pregnancy and lactation. Mouse mammary gland samples were collected on days 1, 6, 12, 18 of pregnancy and of lactation (6 mice per group). The expression levels of IL-8 mRNA were measured by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, with GAPDH as an internal control. IL-8 mRNA was highly expressed on day 1 of pregnancy in the mouse mammary glands (IL-8(IOD)/GAPDH(IOD) = 1.68), and then suddenly declined; it reached 0.74 and 0.71 on days 6 and 12 of pregnancy. On day 18 of pregnancy, it started to increase (IL-8(IOD)/GAPDH(IOD) = 1.02). However, the expression levels of IL-8 mRNA were not significant during pregnancy. During lactation, IL-8 expression level was lower than during pregnancy, but it stabilized at 0.32-0.41 (IL-8(IOD)/GAPDH(IOD)) from day 1 to day 18 of lactation, although the difference was not significant. We suggest that the changes in IL-8 expression level during development is related to its regulatory role in mouse mammary gland immunity.

Metoclopramide as pharmacological tool to assess vasopressinergic co-activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis: a study in healthy volunteers.

The synthetic vasopressin (AVP) analogue desmopressin (dDAVP) has been used as pharmacological function test to quantify vasopressinergic co-activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in the past. Such exogenous vasopressinergic stimulation may induce confounding cardiovascular, pro-coagulatory and anti-diuretic effects and low endogenous corticotrophin-releasing-hormone (CRH) levels may limit its potential to reliably assess co-activation. Alternatively, the dopamine-2-(D2)-antagonist metoclopramide is believed to induce co-activation indirectly by releasing endogenous AVP. We investigated this indirect co-activation with metoclopramide under conditions of low and enhanced endogenous CRH release in healthy volunteers. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, four-way crossover study was performed in 12 healthy males. CRH release was induced by administering an oral 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) 200 mg function test. Co-activation was investigated by administering metoclopramide 10mg intravenously around the expected maximal effect of 5-HTP. The neuroendocrine effects were compared to those of metoclopramide alone, the 5-HTP test alone and matching placebo. Metoclopramide safely induced HPA-axis activation by itself, and potently synergized 5-HTP-induced corticotrophinergic activation of the HPA axis. These findings are indicative of vasopressinergic co-activation and suggest a role for metoclopramide as a practical function test for co-activation of the HPA axis. However, its application will be hampered pending clarification of the exact pharmacological mechanism by which metoclopramide induces co-activation of the HPA axis.

[Sustainable electricity generation in microbial fuel cells using Fe(III)-EDTA as cathodic electron shuttle].

The rate of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode is a major factor affecting the performance of the microbial fuel cells (MFC). Results showed that when using Fe(III)-EDTA solution as catholyte, the ORR rate was significantly increased and the internal resistance was reduced, consequently leading to an increase in power output. With a concentration of Fe(III )-EDTA at 20.0 mmol/L in the catholyte, the MFC produced the voltage and power density at approximate 200.1 mV and 16.0 mW/m2, respectively, which was increased by 73.2% and 70.1% contrary to the MFC without the presence of Fe(III)-EDTA. The further experiment suggested that Fe(III)-EDTA functioned as electron shuttle to accelerate electron transfer. Fe(III)-EDTA received electron and got reduced to Fe(III)-EDTA, which further provided electrons to oxygen and got reoxidized at the same time. Therefore Fe(III)-EDTA can act as recyclable electron shuttles between cathode electrode and oxygen. The optimum condition in the case of using Fe(III)-EDTA as cathode electron shuttles was tested to be Fe(III)-EDTA concentration at 20.0 mmol/L and pH at 5.0, which allowed MFC produced the maximum power density of 100.9 mW/m2.

[Candida albicans resistance and genotyping by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA method].

The Etest was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations(MICs) of five antifungal agents for 30 C. albicans clinical isolates. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA(RAPD) analysis was established and was used to type 30 epidemiological unrelated strains of C. albicans. The relationship between genotype of C. albicans and its resistance to antifungal was analysed by dendrogram according to RAPD patterns. The results were that there were 2 of 30 isolates of C. albicans against fluconazole and their RAPD profiles had high similarity. These results suggest that a high degree of genetic correlation exists between fluconazole-resistant patterns and RAPD profiles of C. albicans.

[Experimental study on basic fibroblast growth factors in viral myocarditis].

In order to know earlier pathological changes in myocarditis, 8 rats were inoculated with CVB3, and a model of viral myocarditis was built. The changes of basic fibroblast growth factors (bFGF) in acute viral myocarditis were observed by immunohistochemistry. It was found that the bFGF stain started to show positive at the third day after viral infection and that the positive degree increased afterwards. With normal HE staining, obvious lesion usually appeared under microscopy at least five days after infection. This suggests that the changes of bFGF in myocardium can be used for examination of early and light lesions of viral myocarditis.