[Molecular mechanisms and relationship of M2-polarized macrophages with early response in multiple myeloma]

目的

探讨替代活化型巨噬细胞（M2 MΦ）和多发性骨髓瘤（MM）早期治疗反应的关系及其在发病机制中的可能作用。

方法

采用免疫组化法标记240例MM患者骨髓标本中的MΦ；建立体外M2 MΦ诱导培养体系，构建Transwell共培养模型与RPMI 8226和U266细胞共培养，CCK-8法检测M2 MΦ对细胞增殖的影响，流式细胞术检测对地塞米松（1 µ mol/L）诱导骨髓瘤细胞凋亡的影响，ELISA法检测对TNF-α和IL-6表达的影响，real time PCR法检测对趋化因子、血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）及其受体表达的影响。

结果

①依据骨髓组织M2 MΦ浸润程度将患者分为高浸润组（92例）和低浸润组（148例），高浸润组患者早期治疗有效率明显低于低浸润组，差异有统计学意义（23.9%对73.0%，χ²=60.31，P<0.001）。②培养24、36 h，共培养组细胞增殖能力较对照组显著上升：M2 MΦ+RPMI 8226细胞组与对照组比较，P值分别为0.005、0.020；M2 MΦ+U266细胞与对照组比较，P值分别为0.030、0.020。③地塞米松诱导后，共培养组与对照组比较，RPMI 8226细胞凋亡率下降（29.0%对71.0%，t=4.97，P=0.008），U266细胞凋亡率也下降（24.9%对67.7%，t=6.99，P=0.002）。④共培养48 h后，与对照组比较，加入M2 MΦ后可促进RPMI 8226和U266细胞分泌IL-6、TNF-α，促进表达CCL2、CCL3、CCR2、CCR5、VEGFA、VEGFR-1和VEGFR-2。

结论

MM患者骨髓组织M2 MΦ浸润程度和早期治疗反应相关。M2 MΦ通过促进骨髓瘤细胞分泌系列炎症因子、趋化因子和相关受体的表达，从而促进骨髓瘤细胞增殖以及保护骨髓瘤细胞免于凋亡。

[Effect of nasal glucocorticoid combined with loratadine or montelukast on allergic rhinitis]

Objective:To evaluate the effect of nasal glucocorticoid combined with second-generation antihistamines or leukotriene receptor antagonists on the treatment of moderate severe allergic rhinitis, and explore the optimal scheme of personalized treatment for AR patients.Method:Fiftyseven patients with persistent moderatesevere allergic rhinitis were randomly divided into three groups and treated by mometasone furoate aqueous nasal spray (group MOM), mometasone furoate aqueous nasal spray combined with loratadine (group MOM+L), mometasone furoate aqueous nasal spray combined with montelukast (group MOM+M) for 4 weeks. Four major clinical symptoms of allergic rhinitis: nasal congestion, nose itching, sneezing and runny nose were evaluated by "symptom rating score" before treatment and after treatment for 4 weeks.Result:After treatment, the total nasal symptom scores of each group showed a decreasing tendency, and the differences between various time points were statistically significant (P< 0.05). For the symptom of nasal congestion, the symptom score of MOM+M group was significantly lower than that of MOM group and MOM+L group at the 2nd and 4th week after treatment. For the symptoms of sneezing and nasal itching, MOM+L group had the lowest score at each time point after treatment and the difference was statistically significant compared with MOM group (P< 0.05), but there was no significant difference between MOM group and MOM+M group (P> 0.05). For the symptom of runny nose, the score of MOM+L group was significantly lower than MOM group (P< 0.05) at the 1st and 2nd week, MOM+M group was significantly lower than MOM group (P< 0.05) at the 2nd and 4th week, while there was no significant difference between MOM+L group and MOM+M group (P> 0.05).Conclusion:Nasal glucocorticoid alone or combined with secondgeneration antihistamines or leukotriene receptor antagonists can effectively control nasal symptoms of moderatesevere allergic rhinitis, yet the effect of combination therapy is better. For nasal congestion, nasal glucocorticoid combined with leukotriene receptor antagonists have a better effect. For nasal itching and sneezing, the choice of nasal glucocorticoid combined with second-generation antihistamines may be more sensible. For runny nose, nasal glucocorticoid combined with second-generation antihistamines or leukotriene receptor antagonists have similar efficacy.

Transient receptor potential channel 6 knockdown prevents apoptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells upon oxidative stress via autophagy activation

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated under various pathological conditions such as renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and provoke damage to multiple cellular organelles and processes. Overproduction of ROS causes oxidative stress and contributes to damages of renal proximal tubular cells (PTC), which are the main cause of the pathogenesis of renal I/R injury. Autophagy is a dynamic process that removes long-lived proteins and damaged organelles via lysosome-mediated degradation, which has an antioxidant effect that relieves oxidative stress. The canonical transient receptor potential channel 6 (TRPC6), a nonselective cation channel that allows passage of Ca²⁺, plays an important role in renal disease. Yet, the relationship between TRPC6 and autophagy, as well as their functions in renal oxidative stress injury, remains unclear. In this study, we found that oxidative stress triggered TRPC6-dependent Ca²⁺ influx in PTC to inhibit autophagy, thereby rendering cells more susceptible to death. We also demonstrated that TRPC6 knockout (TRPC6^-/-) or inhibition by SAR7334, a TRPC6-selective inhibitor, increased autophagic flux and mitigated oxidative stress-induced apoptosis of PTC. The protective effects of TRPC6 ablation were prevented by autophagy inhibitors Chloroquine and Bafilomycin A1. Moreover, this study also shows that TRPC6 blockage promotes autophagic flux via inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and ERK1/2 signaling pathways. This is the first evidence showing that TRPC6-mediated Ca²⁺ influx plays a novel role in suppressing cytoprotective autophagy triggered by oxidative stress in PTC, and it may become a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of renal oxidative stress injury in the future.

CP-25 Alleviates Experimental Sjögren's Syndrome Features in NOD/Ltj Mice and Modulates T Lymphocyte Subsets

Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune illness of the moisture-producing glands such as salivary glands that is characterized by various immune abnormalities. The aetiology of pSS remains unclear and there is no curative agent. In this study, we investigated the putative therapeutic effects on a NOD/Ltj mouse model of Sjögren's syndrome-like disorders of an ester derivative of paeoniflorin, paeoniflorin-6'O-benzene (termed CP-25). Our study showed that CP-25 alleviated effectively clinical manifestations in NOD/Ltj mice resulting, for example, in increased salivary flow and reduced histopathological scores. Furthermore, CP-25 decreased lymphocyte viability in NOD/Ltj mice and attenuated the infiltration of Th1 cells and Th2 cells into the salivary glands of NOD/Ltj mice. In the spleen on NOD/Ltj mice, CP-25 skewed the ratio of Th17 and regulatory T cells towards regulatory T cells. After treatment, concentrations of anti-La/SSB and IgG antibodies were reduced and the titre of the inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-6 and IL-17A in the serum on NOD/Ltj mice was alleviated. Thus, we define CP-25 as a novel compound that is a potent therapeutic agent for pSS by modulating T lymphocyte subsets. Future studies will validate the use of CP-25 as a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of pSS.

Interaction of TBC1D9B with Mammalian ATG8 Homologues Regulates Autophagic Flux

Autophagosomes are double-membraned vesicles with cytosolic components. Their destination is to fuse with the lysosome to degrade the enclosed cargo. However, autophagosomes may be fused with other membrane compartments and possibly misguided by the RAB molecules from these compartments. The mechanisms ensuring the proper trafficking are not well understood. Yeast ATG8 and its mammalian homologues are critically involved in the autophagosome formation and expansion. We hypothesized that they could be also involved in the regulation of autophagosome trafficking. Using the yeast two-hybrid system, we found that TBC1D9B, a GTPase activating protein for RAB11A, interacted with LC3B. TBC1D9B could also interact with other mammalian ATG8 homologues. This interaction was confirmed with purified proteins in vitro, and by co-immunoprecipitation in vivo. The interacting domain of TBC1D9B with LC3 was further determined, which is unique and different from the known LC3-interacting region previously defined in other LC3-interacting molecules. Functionally, TBC1D9B could be co-localized with LC3B on the autophagosome membranes. Inhibition of TBC1D9B suppressed the turnover of membrane-bound LC3B and the autophagic degradation of long-lived proteins. TBC1D9B can thus positively regulate autophagic flux, possibly through its GTPase activity to inactivate RAB11A, facilitating the proper destination of the autophagosomes to the degradation.

Simultaneous In Situ Monitoring of Trimethoxysilane Hydrolysis Reactions Using Raman, Infrared, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy Aided by Chemometrics and Ab Initio Calculations

Sol-gels are found in many different scientific fields and have very broad applications. They are often prepared by the hydrolysis and condensation of alkoxysilanes such as trimethoxysilanes, which are commonly used as precursors in the preparation of silsequioxanes via the sol-gel process. The reaction rates of such reactions are influenced by a wide range of experimental factors such as temperature, pH, catalyst, etc. In this study, we combined multiple in situ spectroscopic techniques to monitor the hydrolysis and partial condensation reactions of methyltrimethoxysilane and phenyltrimethoxysilane. A rich set of kinetics information on intermediate species of the hydrolysis reactions were obtained and used for kinetics modeling. Raman and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provided the most information about hydrolysis and NMR provided the most information about condensation. A quantitative method based on Raman spectra to quantify the various transient intermediate hydrolysis products was developed using NMR as the primary method, which can be deployed in the field where it is impractical to carry out NMR measurements.

High-throughput detection and screening of plants modified by gene editing using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction

Gene editing techniques are becoming powerful tools for modifying target genes in organisms. Although several methods have been developed to detect gene-edited organisms, these techniques are time and labour intensive. Meanwhile, few studies have investigated high-throughput detection and screening strategies for plants modified by gene editing. In this study, we developed a simple, sensitive and high-throughput quantitative real-time (qPCR)-based method. The qPCR-based method exploits two differently labelled probes that are placed within one amplicon at the gene editing target site to simultaneously detect the wild-type and a gene-edited mutant. We showed that the qPCR-based method can accurately distinguish CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutants from the wild-type in several different plant species, such as Oryza sativa, Arabidopsis thaliana, Sorghum bicolor, and Zea mays. Moreover, the method can subsequently determine the mutation type by direct sequencing of the qPCR products of mutations due to gene editing. The qPCR-based method is also sufficiently sensitive to distinguish between heterozygous and homozygous mutations in T₀ transgenic plants. In a 384-well plate format, the method enabled the simultaneous analysis of up to 128 samples in three replicates without handling the post-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products. Thus, we propose that our method is an ideal choice for screening plants modified by gene editing from many candidates in T₀ transgenic plants, which will be widely used in the area of plant gene editing.

Dynamic MTORC1-TFEB feedback signaling regulates hepatic autophagy, steatosis and liver injury in long-term nutrient oversupply

Normal metabolism requires a controlled balance between anabolism and catabolism. It is not completely known how this balance can be retained when the level of nutrient supply changes in the long term. We found that in murine liver anabolism, as represented by the phosphorylation of RPS6KB (ribosomal protein S6 kinase), was soon elevated while catabolism, as represented by TFEB (transcription factor EB)-directed gene transcription and lysosomal activities, was downregulated after the administration of a high-fat diet (HFD). Surprisingly, neither the alteration in RPS6KB phosphorylation nor that in TFEB functions was static over the long course of HFD feeding. Instead, the 2 signals exhibited dynamic alterations in opposite directions, which could be explained by the dependence of MTORC1 (MTOR complex 1) activation on TFEB-supported lysosome function and the feedback suppression of TFEB by MTORC1. Disruption of the dynamics by enforced expression of TFEB in HFD-fed mice at the peaks of MTORC1 activation restored lysosome function. Consistently, interference of MTORC1 activation with rapamycin or with a constitutively activated RRAGA mutant at the peak or nadir of MTORC1 oscillation enhanced or reduced the lysosome function, respectively. These treatments also improved or exacerbated hepatic steatosis and liver injury, respectively. Finally, there was a significant inverse correlation between TFEB activation and steatosis severity in the livers of patients with non-alcohol fatty liver diseases, supporting the clinical relevance of TFEB-regulated events. Thus, maintaining catabolic function through feedback mechanisms during enhanced anabolism, which is caused by nutrient oversupply, is important for reducing liver pathology.

A Novel Method for Estimating Free Space 3D Point-of-Regard Using Pupillary Reflex and Line-of-Sight Convergence Points

In this paper, a novel 3D gaze estimation method for a wearable gaze tracking device is proposed. This method is based on the pupillary accommodation reflex of human vision. Firstly, a 3D gaze measurement model is built. By uniting the line-of-sight convergence point and the size of the pupil, this model can be used to measure the 3D Point-of-Regard in free space. Secondly, a gaze tracking device is described. By using four cameras and semi-transparent mirrors, the gaze tracking device can accurately extract the spatial coordinates of the pupil and eye corner of the human eye from images. Thirdly, a simple calibration process of the measuring system is proposed. This method can be sketched as follows: (1) each eye is imaged by a pair of binocular stereo cameras, and the setting of semi-transparent mirrors can support a better field of view; (2) the spatial coordinates of the pupil center and the inner corner of the eye in the images of the stereo cameras are extracted, and the pupil size is calculated with the features of the gaze estimation method; (3) the pupil size and the line-of-sight convergence point when watching the calibration target at different distances are computed, and the parameters of the gaze estimation model are determined. Fourthly, an algorithm for searching the line-of-sight convergence point is proposed, and the 3D Point-of-Regard is estimated by using the obtained line-of-sight measurement model. Three groups of experiments were conducted to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method. This approach enables people to obtain the spatial coordinates of the Point-of-Regard in free space, which has great potential in the application of wearable devices.

Inflammatory immune response in rabbits with Staphylococcus aureus biofilm-associated sinusitis

Background

Staphylococcus aureus is the most commonly isolated bacterium from patients with surgically recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Understanding the immune responses to S aureus biofilms will provide insights into how the host response may be manipulated by therapeutic agents to improve the chances of successfully preventing and treating these infections. In this study, we investigated the inflammatory immune response in a rabbit model of S aureus biofilm–related sinusitis by analyzing the levels of some major inflammatory cytokines.

Methods

Eighteen New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups: a blank‐control group; a negative‐control group; and a model group. Four weeks after the biofilm‐associated sinusitis models were established, the sinus mucosa was harvested and examined using hematoxylin‐eosin (H&E) staining, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), and western blotting. The expression levels of inflammatory cytokines were analyzed statistically.

Results

Interleukin (IL)‐1β, IL‐8, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α expression levels were significantly higher in the model group than in the blank‐control group (p < 0.05); mRNA levels were increased by 1600%, 230%, and 130%, respectively, and the protein levels were increased by 180%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. In contrast, IL‐4 and IL‐5 mRNA levels were reduced by 44% and 70%, respectively, compared with the blank‐control group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

S aureus biofilms in the rabbit maxillary sinus mucosa were associated with increased IL‐1β, IL‐8, and TNF‐α expression, and decreased IL‐4 and IL‐5 expression.

Resveratrol alleviates heat stress-induced impairment of intestinal morphology, microflora, and barrier integrity in broilers

This study was to investigate the effect of resveratrol on intestinal morphology, microfloras, and barrier integrity of broilers subjected to heat stress. Two-hundred-seventy 21-day-old Cobb male broilers were randomly allocated to 3 treatment groups, each of which included 6 replicates with 15 birds per replicate. The 3 treatment groups were as follows: the control group, in which birds were exposed to thermoneutral condition (22 ± 1°C), and the heat stress group and heat stress + resveratrol (400 mg/kg) group, in which birds were exposed to cyclic heat stress (33 ± 1°C for 10 h/d from 0800 to 1800 h and 22 ± 1°C for the remaining time. Compared with birds in the control group, birds in the heat stress group exhibited decreased (P < 0.05) final body weight, average daily gain, average daily feed intake, villus height, villus height to crypt depth ratio, goblet cells numbers, populations of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, and mRNA levels of mucin-2, claudin-1, occludin, zona occludens-1, and E-cadherin, and increased (P < 0.05) crypt depth, serum D-lactic acid and fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran contents and diamine oxidase activity, and populations of Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Clostridium. Compared with birds in the heat stress group, birds in the heat stress + resveratrol group exhibited decreased (P < 0.05) crypt depth, serum D-lactic acid and fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran contents, and populations of Escherichia coli, and increased (P < 0.05) final body weight, villus height, villus height to crypt depth ratio, goblet cells numbers, populations of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, and mRNA levels of mucin-2, claudin-1, occludin, and E-cadherin. Taken together, these results indicated for the first time that dietary addition of resveratrol was effective in partially ameliorating the adverse effects of heat stress on intestinal barrier function in broilers by restoring the impaired villus-crypt structure, modifying the profiles of intestinal microfloras, and altering the mRNA expression of intestinal tight junctions- and adherence junctions-related genes.

Broad-spectrum antiviral functions of duck interferon-induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats (AvIFIT)

Mammalian interferon-induced proteins with tetratricopeptide repeats (IFITs) play important roles in many cellular processes and host innate immune response to viruses. However, the functions of IFIT proteins in birds are largely unknown. Here, we first describe that the only one avian IFIT protein is orthologous to ancestor of mammalian IFITs. We find that the predicted structure of duck AvIFIT protein is similar to that of human IFIT5. We also find that duck AvIFIT protein shows antiviral activity to a broad range of specific RNA and DNA viruses like mammalian IFIT proteins. Further analysis indicates that overexpression of duck AvIFIT protein in DF1 cells leads to a remarkable accumulation of cells at G1/S transition associated with growth arrest and may promote apoptosis. Moreover, duck AvIFIT binds to nucleoprotein (NP) of H5N1 influenza virus and upregulates the expression of genes involving the IFN pathway in DF1 cells. In summary, our findings support that duck AvIFIT protein plays critical role in host immune response to viruses, at least H5N1 virus, through affecting function of viral NP protein, magnifying the IFN signaling and arresting cell growth.

Impact of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme on the Rural Residents' Hospitalization Medical Expenses: A Five-Year Survey Study for the Jiangxi Province in China

This survey study was conducted to understand the effect of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) on farmers’ medical expenses through comparing the information from five investigations and to obtain a scientific basis for a more applicable NCMS. The survey was carried out through interviewing farmers in their homes. The multi-phase stratified cluster random sampling was adopted to select 3 counties from all 92 counties of the Jiangxi province, 9 townships from the 3 selected counties, 27 villages from the selected 9 townships, and 60 families from each village between 2006 and 2014, and a longitudinal comparative analysis was conducted. The numbers of households/overall sample for the five years were 1924/8082, 1879/8015, 1885/7506, 1890/7857, and 1896/7811, respectively. We collected family members’ social demographic characteristics, health resources, and peoples’ health and medical expenses and reimbursement of each family member. The adjusted hospitalization expenses per capita of township hospitals and county hospitals were totally on a rising trend. However, the costs of tertiary hospitals were on a decreasing tendency. In addition, the expenses for county hospitalization per admission were on an upward trend in general. Furthermore, the total hospitalization expenses and reimbursement per capita (the insurance paid out for the hospitalization expenses) were also all on an upward trend. The proportion of reimbursement also had a tendency of increasing from 24.41% in 2006 to 41.34% in 2014. The costs paid from farmers’ pockets were fluctuated, but in general all lower than the costs in 2006. Furthermore, the percentage of hospitalization expenses from farmers’ annual incomes gradually decreased each year from 56.38% in 2006 to 26.58% in 2014. NCMS program has had an obvious impact on the hospitalization expenses in the Jiangxi rural area. It reduced the hospitalization expenses of the tertiary hospitals significantly. In addition, the program has also encouraged farmers to get more health care. However, there are still some shortages associated with present construction of the NCMS. Hence, there is a need for local government to continue to take effective countermeasures to control the rising trend of hospitalization expense.

Molecular Mechanisms for the Adaptive Switching Between the OAS/RNase L and OASL/RIG-I Pathways in Birds and Mammals

Host cells develop the OAS/RNase L [2′–5′–oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS)/ribonuclease L] system to degrade cellular and viral RNA, and/or the OASL/RIG-I (2′–5′–OAS like/retinoic acid inducible protein I) system to enhance RIG-I-mediated IFN induction, thus providing the first line of defense against viral infection. The 2′–5′–OAS-like (OASL) protein may activate the OAS/RNase L system using its typical OAS-like domain (OLD) or mimic the K63-linked pUb to enhance antiviral activity of the OASL/RIG-I system using its two tandem ubiquitin-like domains (UBLs). We first describe that divergent avian (duck and ostrich) OASL inhibit the replication of a broad range of RNA viruses by activating and magnifying the OAS/RNase L pathway in a UBL-dependent manner. This is in sharp contrast to mammalian enzymatic OASL, which activates and magnifies the OAS/RNase L pathway in a UBL-independent manner, similar to 2′–5′–oligoadenylate synthetase 1 (OAS1). We further show that both avian and mammalian OASL can reversibly exchange to activate and magnify the OAS/RNase L and OASL/RIG-I system by introducing only three key residues, suggesting that ancient OASL possess 2–5A [p_x5′A(2′p5′A)_n; x = 1-3; n ≥ 2] activity and has functionally switched to the OASL/RIG-I pathway recently. Our findings indicate the molecular mechanisms involved in the switching of avian and mammalian OASL molecules to activate and enhance the OAS/RNase L and OASL/RIG-I pathways in response to infection by RNA viruses.

Isolation, Diversity, and Antimicrobial and Immunomodulatory Activities of Endophytic Actinobacteria From Tea Cultivars Zijuan and Yunkang-10 (Camellia sinensis var. assamica)

Endophytic actinobacteria exist widely in plant tissues and are considered as a potential bioresource library of natural products. Tea plants play important roles in human health and in the lifestyles of Asians, especially the Chinese. However, little is known about the endophytic actinobacteria of tea plants. In this study, 16 actinobacteria of 7 different genera and 28 actinobacteria of 8 genera were isolated and analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing from tea cultivars of Zijuan and Yunkang-10 (Camellia sinensis var. assamica), respectively. The diversity of actinobacteria species from Zijuan were higher in July than December (6 vs. 3 genera), but the diversity of species from Yunkang-10 were higher in December than July (7 vs. 3 genera). No actinobacteria isolates were obtained from any tea cultivar in September. Ten isolates from Yunkang-10 exhibited antimicrobial activity against at least one human pathogenic microorganism (Staphylococcus epidermidis, Shigella flexneri, and Escherichia coli), but none of the isolates from Zijuan exhibited antimicrobial activities. Fourteen strains were further exammined the genes of polyketide synthetase (PKS)-I and PKS-II and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS). Brevibacterium sp. YXT131 from Yunkang-10 showed strong inhibitory activity against S. epidermidis, Sh. flexneri, and E. coli, and PKS-I and PKS-II and NRPS genes were obtained from the strain. In in vitro assays, extracts from 14 actinobacteria that were tested for antibiotic biosynthetic genes showed no inhibition of concanavalin A (ConA)-induced murine splenocyte proliferation. In in vivo assays, the crude extract of YXT131 modulated the immune response by decreasing the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-12/IL-23 p40 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in the serum of mice. These results confirm that endophytic actinobacteria from tea plants might be an undeveloped bioresource library for active compounds.

[Expression of osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand in mandibular ramus osteotomy healing with administration of different doses of parathyroid hormone]

Objective: To investigate the effect of parathyroid hormone (PTH) on the bone healing of mandibular ramus osteotomy. Methods: The mandibular ramus osteotomy model was established in sixty rabbits and these rabbits were randomly divided into experimental group A, experimental group B and control group. In the experimental group A and experimental group B, the rabbits were given PTH (20 and 40 μg/kg respectively) every other day after operation. In the control group, 1 ml saline was given. The animals were sacrificed at 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks and 4 weeks postoperatively. The new bone formation was observed by histology and cone bone CT. The expression of osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B (RANKL) in the new bone was detected by real-time quantitative PCR. Results: The experimental groups has better osteogenesis and the bone mineral density than the control group in osteotomy area. The experimental group B showed the best osteogenesis.Osteoprotegerin mRNA expression in experimental group A (1.127±0.035, 1.742±0.049, 1.049±0.062, 1.063±0.036) was significantly higher than that in the control group in each period (0.965±0.082, 1.254±0.071, 0.793±0.061, 0.684±0.055) (P=0.010, P=0.000, P=0.001, P=0.020), while group B (1.416±0.205, 2.648±0.168, 1.652±0.091, 1.712±0.070) was significantly higher than group A (P=0.000, P=0.010, P=0.023, P=0.003). RANKL mRNA expression in control group (1.666±0.086, 1.058±0.105, 0.885±0.124, 0.972±0.136) was significantly higher than that of the group A (0.788±0.036, 0.585±0.017, 0.692±0.017, 0.527±0.051) (P=0.001, P=0.006, P=0.003, P=0.028) in each period, while group A was significantly higher than group B(0.247±0.022, 0.240±0.034, 0.134±0.011, 0.103±0.050) (P=0.000, P=0.001, P=0.002, P=0.012). Conclusions: PTH can upregulate the expression of osteoprotegerin and reduce expression of RANKL, thus promoting new bone formation. Intermittent administration of high dose of parathyroid hormone can further promote the healing process after mandibular ramus osteotomy.

Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of Sjogren's syndrome

Sjogren's syndrome (SS) is a systemic autoimmune disease that primarily affects the exocrine glands, resulting in dryness of the eyes and mouth due to lymphocytic infiltration of the salivary and lacrimal glands along with arthritis, kidney, liver, and lung involvement, chronic fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, vasculitis, and so on. Considerable advance has been made for the classification and treatment of primary SS in the past few years. This article reviews the recent classification criteria for primary SS and briefly discusses the conventional and novel therapies of the disease.

Meclofenamic Acid Reduces Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and Apoptosis, Inhibits Excessive Autophagy, and Protects Hair Cell-Like HEI-OC1 Cells From Cisplatin-Induced Damage

Hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in humans, and a significant number of cases is due to the ototoxicity of drugs such as cisplatin that cause hair cell (HC) damage. Thus, there is great interest in finding agents and mechanisms that protect HCs from ototoxic drug damage. It has been proposed that epigenetic modifications are related to inner ear development and play a significant role in HC protection and HC regeneration; however, whether the m⁶A modification and the ethyl ester form of meclofenamic acid (MA2), which is a highly selective inhibitor of FTO (fatmass and obesity-associated enzyme, one of the primary human demethylases), can affect the process of HC apoptosis induced by ototoxic drugs remains largely unexplored. In this study, we took advantage of the HEI-OC1 cell line, which is a cochlear HC-like cell line, to investigate the role of epigenetic modifications in cisplatin-induced cell death. We found that cisplatin injury caused reactive oxygen species accumulation and increased apoptosis in HEI-OC1 cells, and the cisplatin injury was reduced by co-treatment with MA2 compared to the cisplatin-only group. Further investigation showed that MA2 attenuated cisplatin-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in HEI-OC1 cells. We next found that the cisplatin-induced upregulation of autophagy was significantly inhibited after MA2 treatment, indicating that MA2 inhibited the cisplatin-induced excessive autophagy. Our findings show that MA2 has a protective effect and improves the viability of HEI-OC1 cells after cisplatin treatment, and they provide new insights into potential therapeutic targets for the amelioration of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity.

Voting Simulation based Agglomerative Hierarchical Method for Network Community Detection

Community detection has been paid much attention in many fields in recent years, and a great deal of community-detection methods have been proposed. But the time consumption of some of them is heavy, limiting them from being applied to large-scale networks. On the contrary, there exist some lower-time-complexity methods. But most of them are non-deterministic, meaning that running the same method many times may yield different results from the same network, which reduces their practical utility greatly in real-world applications. To solve these problems, we propose a community-detection method in this paper, which takes both the quality of the results and the efficiency of the detecting procedure into account. Moreover, it is a deterministic method which can extract definite community structures from networks. The proposed method is inspired by the voting behaviours in election activities in the social society, in which we first simulate the voting procedure on the network. Every vertex votes for the nominated candidates following the proposed voting principles, densely connected groups of vertices can quickly reach a consensus on their candidates. At the end of this procedure, candidates and their own voters form a group of clusters. Then, we take the clusters as initial communities, and agglomerate some of them into larger ones with high efficiency to obtain the resulting community structures. We conducted extensive experiments on some artificial networks and real-world networks, the experimental results show that our proposed method can efficiently extract high-quality community structures from networks, and outperform the comparison algorithms significantly.

Autoinflammatory mutation in NLRC4 reveals a leucine-rich repeat (LRR)-LRR oligomerization interface

Background

Monogenic autoinflammatory disorders are characterized by dysregulation of the innate immune system, for example by gain-of-function mutations in inflammasome-forming proteins, such as NOD-like receptor family CARD-containing 4 protein (NLRC4).

Objective

Here we investigate the mechanism by which a novel mutation in the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain of NLRC4 (c.G1965C, p.W655C) contributes to autoinflammatory disease. Methods: We studied 2 unrelated patients with early-onset macrophage activation syndrome harboring the same de novo mutation in NLRC4. In vitro inflammasome complex formation was quantified by using flow cytometric analysis of apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) specks. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 techniques and lentiviral transduction were used to generate THP-1 cells with either wild-type or mutant NLRC4 cDNA. Cell death and release of IL-1β/IL-18 were quantified by using flow cytometry and ELISA, respectively.

Results

The p.W655C NLRC4 mutation caused increased ASC speck formation, caspase-1–dependent cell death, and IL-1β/IL-18 production. ASC contributed to p.W655C NLRC4–mediated cytokine release but not cell death. Mutation of p.W655 activated the NLRC4 inflammasome complex by engaging with 2 interfaces on the opposing LRR domain of the oligomer. One key set of residues (p.D1010, p.D1011, p.L1012, and p.I1015) participated in LRR-LRR oligomerization when triggered by mutant NLRC4 or type 3 secretion system effector (PrgI) stimulation of the NLRC4 inflammasome complex.

Conclusion

This is the first report of a mutation in the LRR domain of NLRC4 causing autoinflammatory disease. c.G1965C/p.W655C NLRC4 increased inflammasome activation in vitro. Data generated from various NLRC4 mutations provides evidence that the LRR-LRR interface has an important and previously unrecognized role in oligomerization of the NLRC4 inflammasome complex.

Dietary resveratrol supplementation prevents transport-stress-impaired meat quality of broilers through maintaining muscle energy metabolism and antioxidant status

This experiment was to evaluate the effect of dietary resveratrol (Res) supplementation (0, 400 mg/kg) on growth performance, meat quality, and muscle anaerobic glycolysis and antioxidant capacity of transported broilers. A total of 360 21-day-old male Cobb broilers was randomly allotted to 2 dietary treatments (Res-free group and Res group) with 12 replicates of 15 birds each. On the morning of d 42, after a 9-hour fast, 24 birds (2 birds of each replicate) were selected from the Res-free group and then equally placed into 2 crates, and the other 12 birds (one bird of each replicate) were selected from the Res group and then placed into the other crate. All birds in the 3 crates were transported according to the following protocols: 0-hour transport of birds in the Res-free group (control group), 3-hour transport of birds in the Res-free group (T group), and 3-hour transport of birds in the Res group (T + Res group). The results showed that Res not only improved feed conversion ratio (P < 0.05) but also tended to improve birds’ final body weight (P < 0.10). In the Res-free group, a 3-hour transport increased serum corticosterone concentration, muscle malondialdehyde (MDA) and lactate contents, and muscle lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, while it decreased muscle glycogen content, total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activities (P < 0.05), which induced decreased breast meat quality (lower pH_24h and higher drip loss and L*_24 h, P < 0.05). Nevertheless, compared with the T group, Res increased muscle glycogen content and T-SOD and GSH-PX activities (P < 0.05 or P < 0.10), while it decreased muscle MDA content and LDH activity (P < 0.05), which is beneficial to the meat quality maintenance of transported broilers (lower drip loss, L*_24 h, and higher pH_24h, P < 0.05 or P < 0.10). This study provides the first evidence that dietary resveratrol supplementation prevents transport-stress-impaired meat quality of broilers, possibly through decreasing the muscle anaerobic glycolysis metabolism and improving the muscle antioxidant capacity.