Growth hormone inhibits the JAK/STAT3 pathway by regulating SOCS1 in endometrial cells in vitro: a clue to enhance endometrial receptivity in recurrent implantation failure.

Recurrent implantation failure (RIF) is defined as failure to achieve clinical pregnancy after at least 3 transfers of good-quality embryos by natural or artificial means. RIF is often a complex problem with a wide variety of etiologies and mechanisms as well as treatment options. In this study, using immunohistochemistry and Western blot, we demonstrated that the expression of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), Janus kinase 1 (JAK1), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was increased, while that of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) was decreased in RIF patients. Growth hormone (GH) administration proved to have positive effects on embryo implantation in RIF patients, but the action mechanism of GH has not been elucidated yet. To this aim, we studied the effects of GH on the proliferation in vitro of endometrial adenocarcinoma Ishikawa cells. GH stimulated the expression of LIF and SOCS1, and through SOCS1 inhibits the expression of phosphorylated STAT3, and finally inhibits the occurrence of RIF. Excessive phosphorylation of STAT can lead to decreased endometrial receptivity and abnormal embryo implantation. We also examined the effects of LIF overexpression and an LIF inhibitor (EC330) on the JAK/STAT pathway. LIF promoted cell proliferation, and the up-regulation of LIF increased the expression of SOCS1 and JAK1/STAT3 pathway-related genes in Ishikawa cells. As GH can inhibit the JAK1/STAT3 pathway through LIF, we hypothesize that upregulating SOCS1 may be a potential approach to treat RIF at the molecular level. GH can inhibit the JAK1/STAT3 pathway through LIF, up-regulating SOCS1 to treat RIF at the molecular level.

A Comparison Study of Precipitation in the Poyang and the Dongting Lake Basins from 1960-2015.

The Dongting Lake Basin and the Poyang Lake Basin, both located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, provide 30% of the total water volume for the Yangtze River. Under global climate change, precipitation patterns have undergone varying degrees of changes in different regions. Analysing temporal and spatial rainfall variations is important for understanding the variations in capacity of the two lake basins and the water intake variations by the Yangtze River. This study analyses the temporal and spatial variations of the two basins based on 33 rain-gauge data series from 1960-2015, using statistical methods, GIS spatial analysis and the M-K trend test. Our results showed that the annual precipitation generally increased in the Poyang Lake Basin and we found no obvious changes in the Dongting Lake Basin from 1960 to 2015. Seasonal precipitation levels at interannual scales were roughly consistent, but exhibited variability larger by an order of magnitude in the Poyang Lake Basin than in the Dongting Lake Basin. In general, an increasing trend dominated in spring and autumn while a decreasing trend was observed in summer and winter. The increasing trend was significant from the 1990s in the Poyang Lake Basin and from the late 1990s in the Dongting Lake Basin. It was found that annual precipitation with relatively larger anomalies appeared in ENSO (El Niño and Southern Oscillation) years in most cases, such as in 1963, 1997/1998 and 2002, while a few anomalies appeared in the previous or next year around an ENSO year, such as 1971 and 1978. All monthly precipitation periods with relatively larger or smaller anomalies coincided with ENSO events. In addition, El Niño and SOI (Southern Oscillation) events had significant relationships with negative monthly precipitation anomalies. El Niño and the SOI exerted more significant impacts on the Poyang Lake Basin than on the Dongting Lake Basin, which explains the conclusions regarding seasonal precipitation trends as mentioned above.

The clinical application of partial removal periodontal surgery in the therapy of epulis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the clinical effects between traditional surgery and minimally invasive periodontal surgery in the treatment of epulis. METHODS: A total of 33 cases of patients diagnosed with fibrous epulis were randomly divided into traditional surgery group and minimally invasive periodontal surgery group. After the different procedures, several parameters were detected to evaluate the effects of minimally invasive periodontal surgery. RESULTS: Preoperative bleeding index and plaque index, adopt rank, and test showed no significant differences between the 2 groups. After 12 weeks, gingival papilla filling index in experiment group is statistically higher than control group, and shows the statistical differences (P < .05). The width of keratinized gingiva in experiment group grew more than that in control group, and showed the statistical differences (4.68 ±â€Š0.30 vs 3.00 ±â€Š0.28 mm, P < .05). No recurrence of fibrous epulis was found during the subsequent 6 months to 2 years follow-up after the surgeries. CONCLUSION: Minimally invasive periodontal surgery that reserved tumor epithelium could have a better effect than the traditional surgery in the selected patients.

Tooth loss and risk of oral squamous cell carcinoma in Chinese Han population.

OBJECTIVE: Association between tooth loss and oral cancer risk was investigated primary studies and meta-analyses, however, the results remain inconsistent. This study is to test the association between tooth loss and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in Chinese Han population. METHODS: Case-control study including histologically confirmed OSCC cases and healthy controls individually matched to the cases for age, sex, and district of residence between May 1, 2010, and Match 31, 2014. Univariate and multiple logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using the STATA 12.0 software. RESULTS: Finally included 150 OSCC patients and 167 healthy controls. Cases had a significantly higher mean (SD) number of lost teeth than controls (10.03±6.62 vs. 8.69±5.20; P = 0.045). The results of univariate analysis and adjustment for smoking and alcohol showed a non-significant association between tooth loss and OSCC. After adjustment for age at diagnosis, gender, smoking, alcohol use, body mass index, and history of diabetes mellitus, those in the upper tertiles of lost tooth were significantly more likely to have OSCC (OR = 3.64, 95% CI = 1.15-11.53, P = 0.03; P for trend = 0.11) than in the lower tertiles. The unadjusted and adjusted results of per teeth also revealed non-significant association. CONCLUSIONS: Tooth loss may be not associated with risk of oral cancer in this case-control study. The relevant large-scale studies in Chinese are suggested to perform.