Eclampsia as the First Manifestation of Primary Hyperparathyroidism: a Case Report.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the diagnosis and treatment strategies of eclampsia during pregnancy and postpartum acute pancreatitis caused by primary hyperparathyroidism. METHODS: This study reported a 26-year-old patient who had maternal eclampsia as her first symptom and was admitted to the hospital. The pregnancy was terminated by cesarean section immediately. Postpartum life-threatening complications, such as severe hypercalcemia and acute pancreatitis, occurred afterward. Following completion of the relevant examination, primary hyperparathyroidism was initially considered to be the cause. Symptomatic treatment is ongoing and will be improved, and the patient will be admitted again for parathyroidectomy. RESULTS: The patient gave birth to a premature neonate via cesarean section. The postpartum diagnosis was primary hyperparathyroidism, for which post-surgical pathology showed a parathyroid adenoma. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical manifestations of pregnancy with primary hyperparathyroidism are atypical but may cause serious maternal and fetal complications. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can prevent serious prenatal and postnatal complications and foster better pregnancy outcomes.

The Expression and Clinical Value of miR-221 and miR-320 in the Plasma of Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND: The goal was to investigate the expression of plasma miR-221 and miR-320 in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and to further explore the relationship between miRNA and risk factors for GDM. METHODS: This study included 85 GDM and 85 age-matched normal pregnant women who visited our hospital from January 2019 to January 2020. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to determine the expression of miR-221 and miR-320 in the plasma of pregnant women. The correlation analysis was used to detect the relationship between miR-221, miR-320, and risk factors of GDM, including homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), percentage of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and the prepregnancy BMI. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to determine the diagnostic value of miR-320 and miR-221 in GDM. RESULTS: Compared with normal pregnant women, the expression of miR-221 and miR-320 in GDM was significantly higher (p < 0.05). The results also demonstrate that the expression of miR-221 and miR-320 increases grad-ually with the development of pregnancy in GDM at 24 weeks, 28 weeks, and 32 weeks (p < 0.05). Spearman's correlation analysis confirmed that the expression level of miR-221 and miR-320 in the plasma of GDM is positively correlated with the HOMA-IR and HbA1c, but has no significant correlation with pre-pregnancy BMI. The area under the curve (AUC) values of miR-221 and miR-320 were 0.862 and 0.853, respectively. Meanwhile, the area under the combined detection curve is 0.904. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma miR-221 and miR-320 are significantly elevated in GDM, and are positively correlated with HbA1c and HOMA-IR. The high expression of miR-221 and miR-320 in the peripheral plasma of pregnant women may directly or indirectly participate in the occurrence and development of GDM or may become a new target for the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of GDM.

miR­145 inhibits human non­small-cell lung cancer growth by dual-targeting RIOK2 and NOB1.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a leading cause of cancer-associated mortality worldwide. Right open reading frame kinase 2 (RIOK2) and nin one binding protein (NOB1) are important accessory factors in ribosome assembly. In our previous study, RIOK2 and NOB1 were revealed to be highly expressed in NSCLC, and were associated with the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with NSCLC, i.e. TNM clinical stage, lymph node metastasis and differentiation. In addition, RIOK2 expression was correlated with NOB1. To further explore the mechanism and the RIOK2 and NOB1 signaling pathway, microRNA (miR) regulation was analyzed. The tumor suppressor miR­145 has been reported to be lowly expressed in numerous types of human cancer; in the present study, the expression levels of miR­145 were decreased in patients with NSCLC. Furthermore, RIOK2 and NOB1 were predicted to be the direct targets of miR­145 using bioinformatics software; this was further validated using a dual luciferase reporter assay. In addition, the protein expression levels of RIOK2 and NOB1 were inhibited in response to miR­145 overexpression, thus resulting in the suppression of cell viability, migration and invasion. These results suggested that RIOK2 and NOB1 may be potential targets in the treatment of NSCLC, and miR­145 may be considered a therapeutic inhibitor of both genes.

DISC1 overexpression promotes non-small cell lung cancer cell proliferation.

Neuropsychiatric disorder-associated disrupted-in-schizophrenia-1 (DISC1) activates Wnt/ß-catenin signaling by inhibiting glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3ß) phosphorylation, and may promote neural progenitor cell and pancreatic ß-cell proliferation. The present study found that DISC1 promotes non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell growth. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry analyses showed that DISC1 was highly expressed in NSCLC cell lines and patient tissues. DISC1 expression was negatively associated with phosphorylated (p-) GSK3ß, but positively correlated with a more invasive tumor phenotype and predicted poor NSCLC patient prognosis. siRNA-mediated DISC1 silencing increased p-GSK3ß expression and decreased expression of ß-catenin and Cyclin D1, while DISC1 upregulation produced the opposite results. DISC1 knockdown also reduced NSCLC cell proliferation rates in vitro. These results suggest that DISC1 promotes NSCLC growth, likely through GSK3ß/ß-catenin signaling, and that DISC1 may function as an oncogene and novel anti-NSCLC therapeutic target.

Curcumin attenuates myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are at a badly high-risk of morbidity and mortality in the world. METHODS: Our study was attempted to investigate the cardioprotective role of curcumin. Hearts injury was assessed in isolated hearts and the rats of coronary artery ligated. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines was observed by curcumin in coronary artery ligated rats. ST segment was also reduced by curcumin. Triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining (TTC) staining and pathological analysis were also showed that curcumin could dramatically alleviate myocardial injury. Besides, the results in vitro also demonstrated that curcumin could improved the function of isolated hearts. Besides, the expressions of inflammation-related pathway in both rats and isolated hearts treated with curcumin were significantly decreased. The present study investigated the protective effects of curcumin on myocardial injury and its mechanism.

High Expression of RIOK2 and NOB1 Predict Human Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Outcomes.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. However, there is a shortage of suitable diagnostic markers for early stages of NSCLC, and therapeutic targets are limited. Right open reading frame (Rio) kinase 2 (RIOK2) and Nin one binding (NOB1) protein are important accessory factors in ribosome assembly and are highly expressed in malignant tumours; moreover, they interact with each other. However, the RIOK2 expression profile and its clinical significance as well as NOB1's mechanism in NSCLC remain unknown. In this study, NSCLC cell lines and 15 NSCLC tumour tissues (paired with adjacent normal lung tissues) were collected for a real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis. In addition, 153 NSCLC cases and 27 normal lung tissues were used in an immunohistochemical analysis to evaluate the RIOK2 and NOB1 expression profiles, their clinicopathological factors in NSCLC and their correlations with prognoses. RIOK2 and NOB1 were highly expressed in NSCLC cells and tissues, and their expression profiles were significantly associated with the Tumour Node Metastasis (TNM) clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, and differentiation. RIOK2 expression was correlated with NOB1. The results suggested that simultaneously determining the expression of RIOK2 and NOB1 will improve the diagnostic rate in early stages of NSCLC. Moreover, RIOK2 and NOB1 might be potential targets for NSCLC therapy.