Forkhead box protein O3 suppresses uveal melanoma development by increasing the expression of Bcl‑2‑like protein 11 and cyclin‑dependent kinase inhibitor 1B

Forkhead box protein O3 (FoxO3a) is a forkhead box family transcription factor which serves an important role in a number of biological functions, including tumor growth. A previous study indicated that FoxO3a serves a role in insulin like growth factor‑induced growth, migration and invasion of uveal melanoma (UM) cells; however, whether FoxO3a is associated with the development and formation of UM remains unknown. In the present study, the role of FoxO3a in UM development and formation was investigated by modulating the expression of FoxO3a in a human UM cell line. The results of the present study demonstrated that FoxO3a overexpression in UM cells inhibited cell proliferation and promoted cellular apoptosis, leading to an accumulation of cells at the G1 cell cycle phase. Western blot analysis demonstrated that FoxO3a overexpression increased the transcription and protein expression of Bcl‑2‑like protein 11 and cyclin‑dependent kinase inhibitor 1B, and inhibited cyclin D1 transcription and expression. The opposite effects were observed when FoxO3a was knocked down in UM cells. The results of the present study indicated that FoxO3a may exhibit a negative role in UM development and formation, which is consistent with its role as a tumor suppressor.

Role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor in the regulation of Neuropeptide W in vitro and in vivo

Nerve growth factor (NGF) and Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are neurotrophic factors involved in the growth, survival and functioning of neurons. In addition, a possible role of neurotrophins, particularly BDNF, in HPA axis hyperactivation has recently been proposed. Neuropeptide W (NPW) is an endogenous peptide ligand for the GPR7 and GPR8 and a stress mediator in the hypothalamus. It activates the HPA axis by working on hypothalamic corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH). No information is available about the interrelationships between neurotrophines like NGF/BDNF and NPW. We studied the effect and underlying mechanisms of NGF/BDNF on the production of NPW in PC12 cells and hypothalamus. NGF time- and concentration-dependently stimulated the expression of NPW in PC12 cells. The effect of NGF was blocked by the inhibition of PI3K/Akt signal pathway with specific inhibitors for PI3K or AktsiRNA for Akt while inhibition of ERK pathway had no effect. Moreover, BDNF concentration-dependently induced the expression of NPW mRNA and decreased the expression of NPY mRNA in primary cultured hypothalamic neurons which was also blocked by a PI3K kinase inhibitor. Finally, in vivo study showed that exogenous BDNF injected icv increased NPW production in the hypothalamus and this effect was reversed by a PI3 kinase inhibitor. These results and the fact that BDNF was able to stimulate the expression of CRH demonstrated that neurotrophines can modulate the expression of NPW in neuronal cells via the PI3K/Akt pathway and suggest that BDNF might be involved in functions of the HPA axis, at least in part by modulating the expression of NPW/NPY and CRH.

[Analysis of prognostic factors of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after radical resection]

Objective: To explore the prognostic factors of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) after radical resection. Methods: From June 2006 to November 2009, preoperative peripheral blood and the clinicopathological data of 208 patients with HCC after curative resection treated in Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, were collected and analyzed, including 173 male and 35 female patients with mean age of 53 years. Univariate analyses were applied by the Kaplan-Meier method, and then, significant clinical factors were used for further multivariate analyses by Cox proportional hazard regression model.The patients were divided into low- lymphocyte-monocyte ratio(MLR) group(MLR≤1.2) and high-MLR group(MLR>1.2) according to preoperative MLR. Results: The enrolled 208 patients with median overall survival time for 38 months(1.5-82.2 months), median recurrence-free survival time for 36 months(1.0-82.0 months). Univariate analyses revealed alanine aminotransferase, serum albumin, tumor differentiation, tumor size, TNM stage and clinical stages and MLR might affect the prognosis significantly(all P<0.05), and multiple analyses showed that TNM stage and MLR could influence patients with HCC after radical resection of overall survival time and recurrence-free survival time(all P<0.05). The overall survival time(42.1 months) and recurrence-free survival time(38.1 months) of low-MLR group were longer than high-MLR group(32.7 months and 25.3 months)(both P<0.01). Conclusions: MLR might be associated with prognosis of patients with HCC after curative resection was significantly negative correlation.TNM stage and MLR might be used as an independent prognostic factors for the prognosis of patients with HCC after curative resection.

Genome-wide genetic variation discovery in Chinese Taihu pig breeds using next generation sequencing

The Chinese Taihu pig breeds are an invaluable component of the world's pig genetic resources, and they are the most prolific breeds of swine in the world. In this study, the genomes of 252 pigs of the six indigenous breeds in the Taihu Lake region were sequenced using the genotyping by genome reducing and sequencing approach. A total of 950 million good reads were obtained using an Illumina Hiseq2000 at an average depth of 13× (for SNP calling) and an average coverage of 2.3%. In total, 122 632 indels, 31 444 insertions, 44 056 deletions and 455 CNVs (copy number variants) were identified in the genomes of the pigs. Approximately 2.3% of these genetic markers were mapped to gene exon regions, and 25% were in QTL regions related to economically important traits. The KEGG pathway or GO enrichment analyses revealed that genetic variants assumed to be large‐effect mutations were significantly overrepresented in 22 SNP, 56 indel, 26 insertion, 28 deletion and three CNV gene sets. A total of 343 breed‐specific SNPs were also identified in the six Chinese indigenous pigs. The findings from this study can contribute to future investigations of the genetic diversity, population structure, positive selection signals and molecular evolutionary history of these pigs at the genome level and can serve as a valuable reference for improving the breeding and cultivation of these pigs.

Scatter to volume registration for model-free respiratory motion estimation from dynamic MRIs

Respiratory motion is one major complicating factor in many image acquisition applications and image-guided interventions. Existing respiratory motion estimation and compensation methods typically rely on breathing motion models learned from certain training data, and therefore may not be able to effectively handle intra-subject and/or inter-subject variations of respiratory motion. In this paper, we propose a respiratory motion compensation framework that directly recovers motion fields from sparsely spaced and efficiently acquired dynamic 2-D MRIs without using a learned respiratory motion model. We present a scatter-to-volume deformable registration algorithm to register dynamic 2-D MRIs with a static 3-D MRI to recover dense deformation fields. Practical considerations and approximations are provided to solve the scatter-to-volume registration problem efficiently. The performance of the proposed method was investigated on both synthetic and real MRI datasets, and the results showed significant improvements over the state-of-art respiratory motion modeling methods. We also demonstrated a potential application of the proposed method on MRI-based motion corrected PET imaging using hybrid PET/MRI.

Genome-wide association study reveals novel variants for growth and egg traits in Dongxiang blue-shelled and White Leghorn chickens

This study was designed to investigate the genetic basis of growth and egg traits in Dongxiang blue-shelled chickens and White Leghorn chickens. In this study, we employed a reduced representation sequencing approach called genotyping by genome reducing and sequencing to detect genome-wide SNPs in 252 Dongxiang blue-shelled chickens and 252 White Leghorn chickens. The Dongxiang blue-shelled chicken breed has many specific traits and is characterized by blue-shelled eggs, black plumage, black skin, black bone and black organs. The White Leghorn chicken is an egg-type breed with high productivity. As multibreed genome-wide association studies (GWASs) can improve precision due to less linkage disequilibrium across breeds, a multibreed GWAS was performed with 156 575 SNPs to identify the associated variants underlying growth and egg traits within the two chicken breeds. The analysis revealed 32 SNPs exhibiting a significant genome-wide association with growth and egg traits. Some of the significant SNPs are located in genes that are known to impact growth and egg traits, but nearly half of the significant SNPs are located in genes with unclear functions in chickens. To our knowledge, this is the first multibreed genome-wide report for the genetics of growth and egg traits in the Dongxiang blue-shelled and White Leghorn chickens.

Real-time 6DoF pose recovery from X-ray images using library-based DRR and hybrid optimization

PURPOSE

Real-time 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) pose recovery and tracking from X-ray images is a key enabling technology for many interventional imaging applications. However, real-time 2D/3D registration is a very challenging problem because of the heavy computation in iterative digitally reconstructed radiograph (DRR) generation. In this paper, we propose a real-time 2D/3D registration framework using library-based DRRs to achieve high computational efficiency.

METHOD

The proposed method pre-computes a library of canonical DRRs and reconstructs library-based DRRs (libDRRs) during registration without online rendering. The transformation parameters are decoupled to 2 geometry-relevant and 4 geometry-irrelevant ones so that canonical DRRs only need to cover the variation of 2 geometry-relevant parameters, making it practical to be pre-computed and stored. The 2D/3D registration using libDRRs is then solved as a hybrid optimization problem, i.e., continuous in geometry-irrelevant parameters while discrete in geometry-relevant parameters.

RESULTS

On 5 fluoroscopic sequences with 246 frames acquired during animal studies with a transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) probe in the field of view, 6DoF tracking of the TEE probe using the proposed method achieved a mean target registration error in the projection direction (mTREproj) of 0.81 mm, a success rate of 100 % (defined as mTREproj [Formula: see text]2.5 mm), and a registration frame rate of 23.1 fps on a pure CPU-based implementation executed in a single thread.

CONCLUSION

Using libDRRs with a hybrid optimization can significantly improve the computational efficiency (up to tenfold) for 6DoF pose recovery and tracking with little degradation in robustness and accuracy, compared to conventional intensity-based 2D/3D registration using ray casting DRRs with a continuous optimization.

Novel mutations of CLCN7 cause autosomal dominant osteopetrosis type II (ADO-II) and intermediate autosomal recessive osteopetrosis (IARO) in Chinese patients

SUMMARY

Osteopetrosis is a group of genetic bone disorders. Mutations in the chloride channel 7 gene (CLCN7) lead to chloride channel defect, which results in autosomal dominant osteopetrosis type II (ADO-II), autosomal recessive osteopetrosis (ARO), and intermediate autosomal recessive osteopetrosis (IARO). In the present study, we identified seven novel mutations of the CLCN7 gene and reported the first case of IARO with compound heterozygous mutation in Chinese population.

INTRODUCTION

Osteopetrosis is a heritable bone disorder due to the deficiency of or function defect in osteoclasts. Mutations in the CLCN7 lead to chloride channel defects, which result in osteopetrosis with diverse severity ranging from asymptomatic or relatively mild symptoms in ADO-II to the very severe phenotype in ARO. Heterozygous mutations in CLCN7 are associated to ADO-II, while homozygous and compound heterozygous mutations in CLCN7 may result in ARO and IARO. To date, a total of 24 mutations in CLCN7 were identified in ADO-II, and only 3 mutations were identified in IARO. In the present study, we reported seven unrelated ADO-II patients and one IARO patient from Chinese population and elucidated the characteristics of CLCN7 gene mutations in these patients.

METHODS

All 25 CLCN7 exons and exon-intron boundaries from genomic DNA were amplified and sequenced in eight affected individuals suffering from ADO-II/IARO. The clinical, biochemical, and radiographic analysis were evaluated to compare the differences between ADO-II and IARO both in genotype and phenotype.

RESULTS

The results showed that there were seven novel CLCN7 mutations identified in these ADO-II/IARO patients, including six heterozygous missense mutations (p.L224R, p.S290Y, p.R326G, p.G347R, p.S473N, and p.L564P) and a novel splice mutation (p.K691FS).

CONCLUSIONS

The compound heterozygous mutations (p.L224R and p.K691FS) were firstly observed in one IARO patient. The present study would enrich the database of CLCN7 mutations and improve our understanding of this heritable bone disorder.

Genetic diversity and population structure of six Chinese indigenous pig breeds in the Taihu Lake region revealed by sequencing data

The Chinese indigenous pig breeds in the Taihu Lake region are the most prolific pig breeds in the world. In this study, we investigated the genetic diversity and population structure of six breeds, including Meishan, Erhualian, Mi, Fengjing, Shawutou and Jiaxing Black, in this region using whole‐genome SNP data. A high SNP with proportions of polymorphic markers ranging from 0.925 to 0.995 was exhibited by the Chinese indigenous pigs in the Taihu Lake region. The allelic richness and expected heterozygosity also were calculated and indicated that the genetic diversity of the Meishan breed was the greatest, whereas that of the Fengjing breed was the lowest. The genetic differentiation, as indicated by the fixation index, exhibited an overall mean of 0.149. Both neighbor‐joining tree and principal components analysis were able to distinguish the breeds from each other, but structure analysis indicated that the Mi and Erhualian breeds exhibited similar major signals of admixture. With this genome‐wide comprehensive survey of the genetic diversity and population structure of the indigenous Chinese pigs in the Taihu Lake region, we confirmed the rationality of the current breed classification of the pigs in this region.

Nerve growth factor protects retinal ganglion cells against injury induced by retinal ischemia-reperfusion in rats

In this study, we investigated the protective effect of mouse nerve growth factor (NGF) on retinal ganglion cell (RGC) injury induced by retinal ischemia-reperfusion (RIR) in rats and explored its possible mechanisms of action. RIR caused a significant injury to RGCs and an obvious impairment of the inner retina functions, which could be seen from flash electroretinogram and flash visual evoked potential recordings. RIR also increased the expression of the apoptotic protein Bax while decreasing the expression of Bcl-2 and the phosphorylation of protein kinase B (Akt) in RGCs. Preinjection (i.m.) of NGF for 22 d reversed the injury induced by RIR and ameliorated the inner retina functions. NGF also reduced the expression of Bax and reversed the reduction of Bcl-2 and the phosphorylated Akt induced by RIR. These results indicate that NGF produces a neuroprotective effect on RGCs against RIR injury and the protective effect of NGF is mainly mediated by the PI-3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Outbreak of extrapulmonary tuberculosis infection associated with acupuncture point injection

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is rarely reported to be associated with acupuncture practices. We performed a retrospective outbreak investigation of a unique outbreak of 33 extrapulmonary M. tuberculosis infections related to acupuncture point injection therapy (AIT) among clients who visited a private traditional Chinese medicine clinical centre in China. The lumps, abscesses and ulcers occurred mostly on the neck, shoulders, waist, knees and hips, localized at acupuncture point meridian sites. These symptoms appeared from January to November 2011, with a peak cluster of infections in September 2011 (nine cases). M. tuberculosis Beijing strain was isolated and confirmed by DNA sequencing. All diagnosed patients were treated empirically with appropriate antibiotic treatment, and their condition improved. Our study indicated that this outbreak was most likely resulted from contaminated AIT. Drafting standard guidelines for AIT is urgently needed, and routine medical supervision should be provided, including obligating health providers to perform routine physical examinations that include testing for infectious diseases.

IGF-1 signaling via the PI3K/Akt pathway confers neuroprotection in human retinal pigment epithelial cells exposed to sodium nitroprusside insult

The pathological increase in the levels of the second messenger nitric oxide (NO) in the vitreous cavity and retina leads to injury and cell death of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells and eventually may contribute to the occurrence and development of diabetic retinopathy. In this study, we developed a cellular model of retinopathy using D407 cells (a human RPE cell line) exposed to sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and investigated the protective effect of the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) towards this insult. Cell death and apoptosis were examined by the methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay and Hoechst staining, respectively. Specific inhibitors were used and phosphorylation of relevant signaling proteins was determined by Western blotting. SNP, in a concentration-dependent fashion, increased the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation process causing cell death by apoptosis of D407 cells. IGF-1, in a time- and dose-dependent manner, conferred protection towards SNP-mediated insult. Both phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) were activated by IGF-1 in relation to the protective effect. Blockade of the PI3K/Akt pathway abolished the protective effect of IGF-1 whereas inhibition of the MAPK pathway was ineffective. SNP decreased the phosphorylation of Akt in the cells while IGF-1 reversed this inhibitory effect. These results indicate that the protective effect of IGF-1 on D407 exposed to SNP insult is mediated by the PI3K/Akt pathway. This proposal may be exploited in the clinic to improve the viability of insulted retinal cells for maintaining physiological vision.

ECMO support for right main bronchial disruption in multiple trauma patient with brain injury--a case report and literature review

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) may offer life-saving treatment in severe pulmonary contusion or acute respiratory distress syndrome when conventional treatments have failed. However, because of the bleeding risk of systemic anticoagulation, ECMO should be performed only as a last resort in multiple trauma victims. Here, we report ECMO as a bridge for right main bronchus reconstruction and recovery of traumatic wet lung in a 31-year-old male multi-trauma patient with right main bronchial disruption, bilateral pulmonary contusion, cerebral contusion and long bone fracture. The patient was discharged without any obvious complication. ECMO support in a traumatic brain injured patient with severe hypoxemia caused by lung contusion and/or tracheal bronchus disruption is not an absolute contraindication.

Three single nucleotide variants of the HDAC gene are associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus in a Chinese population: a community-based case-control study

OBJECTIVES

There are no data regarding the possible role of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of class I histone deacetylases (HDACs) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). We designed this study to examine whether polymorphisms of HDACs can be implicated in that disease.

METHODS

A community-based, case-control study was conducted, with a total of 568 subjects (284 patients and 284 controls) enrolled. Four polymorphisms of HDAC1 (rs1741981) and HDAC3 (rs11741808, rs2547547, rs2530223) were examined by the use of TaqMan technology.

RESULTS

We found a significant association with risk of type 2 DM for three SNPs of HDAC3, including rs11741808 [odds ratio (OR)=0.53, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.35-0.81], rs2547547 [OR=1.72, 95% CI: 1.13-2.64], and rs2530223 [OR=1.39; 95% CI: 1.01-1.91]. Subgroup analysis showed that BMI≥23kg/m(2), high triglyceride and high blood pressure, together with the rs11741808AG genotype, were associated with a significantly decreased risk for type 2 DM, with ORs of 0.50 (95% CI: 0.27-0.91), 0.38 (95% CI: 0.20-0.71) and 0.43 (95% CI: 0.24-0.76) compared with the AA genotype, respectively. In a population with normal total cholesterol, the AG genotype yielded a significantly decreased risk of type 2 DM risk, with an OR of 0.42 (95% CI: 0.25-0.70) when compared with the persons of the AA genotype. For rs2547547, in a population with normal total cholesterol and triglyceride, the AG genotype was associated with a significantly increased risk of type 2 DM, with ORs of 1.92 (95% CI: 1.17-3.15) and 2.24 (95% CI: 1.28-3.94) when compared with the population carrying the AA genotype.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that variants of HDAC3 contribute to an increased prevalence of type 2 DM in the Chinese Han population.

Respiratory motion compensation by model-based catheter tracking during EP procedures

In many cases, radio-frequency catheter ablation of the pulmonary veins attached to the left atrium still involves fluoroscopic image guidance. Two-dimensional X-ray navigation may also take advantage of overlay images derived from static pre-operative 3D volumetric data to add anatomical details otherwise not visible under X-ray. Unfortunately, respiratory motion may impair the utility of static overlay images for catheter navigation. We developed a novel approach for image-based 3D motion estimation and compensation as a solution to this problem. It is based on 3D catheter tracking which, in turn, relies on 2D/3D registration. To this end, a bi-plane C-arm system is used to take X-ray images of a special circumferential mapping catheter from two directions. In the first step of the method, a 3D model of the device is reconstructed. Three-dimensional respiratory motion at the site of ablation is then estimated by tracking the reconstructed catheter model in 3D based on bi-plane fluoroscopy. Phantom data and clinical data were used to assess model-based catheter tracking. Our phantom experiments yielded an average 2D tracking error of 1.4mm and an average 3D tracking error of 1.1mm. Our evaluation of clinical data sets comprised 469 bi-plane fluoroscopy frames (938 monoplane fluoroscopy frames). We observed an average 2D tracking error of 1.0 + or - 0.4mm and an average 3D tracking error of 0.8 + or - 0.5mm. These results demonstrate that model-based motion-compensation based on 2D/3D registration is both feasible and accurate.

Genetic evolution of EGFR and the clonal origin of adenocarcinomas exhibiting various degrees of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma

e22050

Background: EGFR mutations may accumulate during multistage progression of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC), leading to heterogeneity within the tumor. Moreover, intrapulmonary emersions are the predominant sites of BAC progression in the absence of other distant metastases. In cases of emerging bilateral lung lesions during the follow-up to complete resection, the issue of how to differentiate between lesions originating from multifocal BACs or distant metastases/local recurrence is an important and unresolved issue. This study was performed to determine whether sequential adenocarcinoma with BAC features emerges in the lung field arises from a single clone or multiple clones in the same individual. Methods: Samples of adenocarcinomas exhibiting various degrees of BAC were obtained by thoracotomy. Sequential specimens were obtained on detection of novel lesions in the lung field. Genomic DNA was extracted from the specimens, and the presence of activating mutations in EGFR was analyzed by direct sequencing. Our pathological findings, sequential imaging, and EGFR sequence data were compared to monitor evidence of cancer evolution. Results: Based on an analysis of EGFR in tumor specimens from 428 lung cancer patients, fifteen cases of sequential BAC-related adenocarcinoma obtained by thoracotomy were identified. Together with alterations in BAC/adenocarcinoma components, the EGFR-TKI untreated series with at least one episode of EGFR-activating mutations represented three typical models: no significant EGFR evolution for a single clone, genetic alterations from mutant to wild-type EGFR for multifocal lesions, and a switch from wild-type to mutant EGFR, which might exhibit uncertain circumstances of cancer progression. Conclusions: Genetic analysis in conjunction with pathological and radiological diagnoses can be used to explore the origin of multifocal BAC. The single clone model indicates subsequent disease progression, whereas genetic alterations from mutations to wild-type EGFR are suggestive of secondary primary carcinoma. When additional lesions emerge after radical resection of BAC-related lung cancer, sequential tumor samples should be obtained for further evaluation.

No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Cell therapy for cardiac repair

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Western society. Among these diseases, congestive heart failure continues to be a significant health care burden. Recent medical and surgical advances in therapy have improved the quality and quantity of life for patients with heart failure. However, none of these therapies address the fundamental problem of loss of functional cardiomyocytes. Cell regeneration therapies have become an exciting potential treatment for heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. This emerging therapeutic field has been pursued experimentally with both embryonic-derived stem cells and adult-derived progenitor cells. The identification of resident cardiac progenitor cells has propelled the field of cardiac regenerative biology forward at astonishing rates. This review will examine current findings of various stem and progenitor cells that have been proposed as potential sources for cardiac regeneration, and the recent therapeutic findings from preliminary clinical trials using some of these cell types for cardiovascular repair.