Vasculogenic mimicry and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α expression in cervical squamous cell carcinoma

In this study, the existence of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) in cervical squamous cell carcinoma was investigated. To this end, the relationship between hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) and the development, infiltration, and metastasis of cervical squamous cell carcinoma was studied. Between January 2010 and December 2010, 67 human cervical squamous carcinoma tissue samples were collected and stained by CD34/periodic acid-Schiff double staining to detect the existence of VM. HIF-1α expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The relationship between VM and HIF-1α was also analyzed. Normal cervical tissues (20 cases) from patients who had uterine surgeries in the same period were collected as controls. In the cervical squamous carcinoma tissues, positive rates of VM and HIF-1α were 38.81% (26/67) and 64.18% (43/67), respectively. This was significantly higher than those in the normal cervical tissues [0 (0/20); P < 0.05]. VM rates in cervical squamous carcinoma tissues from patients with different pathological grades, Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages, and lymph node metastasis states were also significantly different (P < 0.05). In addition, significant differences in HIF-1α positivity rates were observed among patients with varying tumor sizes and lymph node metastasis states (P < 0.05). Positive correlation was found between VM and HIF-1α (r = 0.339, P < 0.05). To summarize, we found VM in cervical squamous carcinoma; high expression of HIF-1α may promote VM formation, as well as cervical squamous cell infiltration and metastasis.

Timing of antiretroviral therapy initiation after diagnosis of recent human immunodeficiency virus infection and CD4(+) T-cell recovery

We retrospectively examined the timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and CD4(+) T-cell recovery over 36 months among recent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections using BED (HIV-1 subtypes B, E and D) immunoglobulin G capture enzyme immunoassay (BED-CEIA). Regardless of baseline CD4(+) counts, individuals (n = 393) who initiated ART >2 months after diagnosis had significantly decreased probability and rate of achieving CD4(+) counts ≥900 cells/μL or ≥600 cells/μL than those individuals (n = 135) who started ART earlier (≤2 months). But the mean CD4(+) counts in two groups converged after 30 months of treatment. Early ART initiation leads to accelerated CD4(+) recovery, but does not offer a long-term advantage in CD4(+) counts.

The effects of nerve growth factor on endothelial cells seeded on different titanium surfaces

Angiogenesis is critical for peri-implant bone regeneration and osseointegration. Endothelial cells (ECs) play an important role in angiogenesis during the early stage of bone formation. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is also reported to function as an angiogenic growth factor. The effects of NGF on ECs seeded on titanium surfaces are unclear. This study was done to investigate the influence of NGF on peri-implant angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. We used two different titanium surfaces. ECs seeded on these surfaces were treated with indicated concentrations of NGF or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Proliferation, differentiation, morphological features, and amounts attached were assessed. Chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) was adopted to evaluate the effect of NGF in vivo. The results showed that NGF could promote EC proliferation on both titanium surfaces (F1d=2.083, P=0.156; F3d=30.857, P=0.0002; F5d=4.440, P=0.041; F7d=11.065, P=0.001). NGF and the SLA surface upregulated mRNA of NGF, TrkA, and p75 expression (FNGF=11.941, P=0.003; FTrkA=28.514, P=0.004; Fp75=7.725, P=0.01). In vivo, the supernatants of the NGF-treated group could promote neovascularization in CAM (F=17.662, P=0.009). This study demonstrated that NGF could enhance EC proliferation, gene expression on different titanium surfaces, and neovascularization in CAM. This provides novel information in relation to the promotion of early dental implant osseointegration.

Supersaturation-induced hydrothermal formation of α-CaSO4·0.5H2O whiskers

Supersaturation-induced fast transformation from CaSO₄·2H₂O to α-CaSO₄·0.5H₂O was observed and the process followed the dissolution–precipitation and homogeneous nucleation mechanism according to classical nucleation theory.

Plasma metabolic signatures reveal the regulatory effect of exercise training in db/db mice

Regulatory effect of moderate exercise training on fatty acid oxidation.

Osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament cells after transfection with recombinant lentiviral vector containing follicular dendritic cell secreted protein

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Follicular dendritic cell secreted protein (FDC-SP), has been identified in human periodontal ligament (PDL) in a recent study. It is suggested that the expression of FDC-SP might be associated with the osteogenic differentiation and mineralization of human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs). However, the intrinsic mechanism regarding this is still unclear. The aim of this study was to establish hPDLCs with safe and efficient overexpression of FDC-SP and to elucidate the influence of FDC-SP transfection on hPDLC osteogenesis in periodontal regeneration.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We first applied a recombinant lentiviral vector containing FDC-SP to transfect hPDLCs via different multiplicity of infection (MOI) levels (1, 10, 20, 50 and 100). Western blot was performed to confirm the expression of FDC-SP. MTT assay was employed to evaluate the proliferation status of transfected cells. Then, the extent of osteogenic differentiation was investigated by simultaneous monitoring of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assessment, immunofluorescent staining, the expression patterns of osteoblastic markers and mineralization staining.

RESULTS

We found that hPDLCs transfected via MOI 20, 50 and 100 exhibited expression of FDC-SP protein compared with MOI 1 and 10. There was no significant effect of FDC-SP transfection (at different MOI levels of 1, 10 and 20) on the proliferation of hPDLCs, whereas higher MOI levels (50 and 100) inhibited cell proliferation ability. In addition, ALP activity decreased significantly in FDC-SP-transfected hPDLCs at day 7. When stained with alizarin red, cells overexpressing FDC-SP formed less mineralized nodules at 21 d post-induction of differentiation, compared with the control cultures. Osteogenic inhibition was also confirmed by ALP immunostaining. Moreover, mRNA expression levels of osteoblastic markers decreased after FDC-SP transfection, which were in accordance with western blot results.

CONCLUSION

Our data suggest that MOI 20 is optimal to transfect hPDLCs, which achieves safe and efficient overexpression of FDC-SP in transfected cells. Moreover, FDC-SP overexpression inhibits osteogenic differentiation of hPDLCs. The present study contributes to a better understanding of the biological functions governing FDC-SP-induced hPDLC differentiation.

Time-shift homotopic connectivity in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Voxel-mirrored intrinsic functional connectivity allows the depiction of interhemispheric homotopic connections in the human brain, whereas time-shift intrinsic functional connectivity allows the detection of the extent of brain injury by measuring hemodynamic properties. We combined time-shift voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity analyses to investigate the alterations in homotopic connectivity in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and assessed the value of applying this approach to epilepsy lateralization and the prediction of surgical outcomes in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Resting-state functional MR imaging data were acquired from patients with unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (n=62) (31 left- and 31 right-side) and healthy controls (n=33). Dynamic interhemispheric homotopic architecture seeding from each hemisphere was individually calculated by 0, 1, 2, and 3 repetition time time-shift voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity. Voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity maps were compared between the patient and control groups by using 1-way ANOVA for each time-shift condition, separately. Group comparisons were further performed on the laterality of voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity in each time-shift condition. Finally, we correlated the interhemispheric homotopic connection to the surgical outcomes in a portion of the patients (n=20).

RESULTS

The patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy showed decreased homotopic connectivity in the mesial temporal structures, temporal pole, and striatum. Alterations of the bihemispheric homotopic connectivity were lateralized along with delays in the time-shift in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. The patients with unsuccessful surgical outcomes presented larger interhemispheric voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity differences.

CONCLUSIONS

This study showed whole patterns of dynamic alterations of interhemispheric homotopic connectivity in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, extending the knowledge of abnormalities in interhemispheric connectivity in this condition. Time-shift voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity has the potential for lateralization of unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and may have the capability of predicting surgical outcomes in this condition.

Serum uric acid is associated with arterial stiffness in men with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND

Increased serum uric acid levels and vascular atherosclerosis are very common in diabetes. However, few studies focused on the relationship between serum uric acid and aortic or peripheral arterial stiffness in newly diagnosed diabetic patients. This study investigated the association between serum uric acid levels and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) or carotid-radial (cr) PWV in male patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

METHODS

106 male patients with newly diagnosed T2DM were recruited. cfPWV and crPWV as well as anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, serum uric acid, blood glucose, fasting insulin, C-reactive protein and blood lipids were measured.

RESULTS

The subjects were divided into low uric acid (UA) subgroup and high UA subgroup according to uric acid median. cfPWV and crPWV were significantly higher in high UA subgroup. Serum uric acid significantly correlated with cfPWV (r = 0.533, P < 0.001), crPWV (r = 0.334, P = 0.001), waist circumference (r = 0.350, P < 0.001), waist-to-hip ratio (r = 0.254, P = 0.009), fasting insulin (r = 0.432, P < 0.001), HOMA-IR (r = 0.173, P = 0.042), fasting blood glucose (r = -0.271, P = 0.005), haemoglobin A1c (r = -0.202, P = 0.038), and HDL-cholesterol (r = -0.267, P = 0.006) after correction for age. Stepwise multiple regressions showed that the independent determinants of cfPWV were serum uric acid, age, C-reactive protein, HDL-cholesterol, and smoking status. And the independent determinants of crPWV were serum uric acid, age, diastolic blood pressure, and HDL-cholesterol.

CONCLUSIONS

Serum uric acid is significantly associated with increased aortic and peripheral arterial stiffness in men with T2DM at the early stage.

SLC7A14 linked to autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is characterized by degeneration of the retinal photoreceptors and is the leading cause of inherited blindness worldwide. Although few genes are known to cause autosomal recessive RP (arRP), a large proportion of disease-causing genes remain to be revealed. Here we report the identification of SLC7A14, a potential cationic transporter, as a novel gene linked to arRP. Using exome sequencing and direct screening of 248 unrelated patients with arRP, we find that mutations in the SLC7A14 gene account for 2% of cases of arRP. We further demonstrate that SLC7A14 is specifically expressed in the photoreceptor layer of the mammalian retina and its expression increases during postnatal retinal development. In zebrafish, downregulation of slc7a14 expression leads to an abnormal eye phenotype and defective light-induced locomotor response. Furthermore, targeted knockout of Slc7a14 in mice results in retinal degeneration with abnormal ERG response. This suggests that SLC7A14 has an important role in retinal development and visual function.

Retinitis pigmentosa is the leading cause of inherited blindness worldwide. Here, the authors use exome sequencing to identify mutations in SLC7A14 that may be linked to the disease, and provide functional support for the role of this gene in retinal development and visual function in mice and zebrafish.

AAV-mediated lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 (Lpcat1) gene replacement therapy rescues retinal degeneration in rd11 mice

PURPOSE

The retinal degeneration 11 (rd11) mouse is a newly discovered, naturally occurring animal model with early photoreceptor dysfunction and rapid rod photoreceptor degeneration followed by cone degeneration. The rd11 mice carry a spontaneous mutation in the lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 (Lpcat1) gene. Here, we evaluate whether gene replacement therapy using the fast-acting tyrosine-capsid mutant AAV8 (Y733F) can arrest retinal degeneration and restore retinal function in this model.

METHODS

The AAV8 (Y733F)-smCBA-Lpcat1 was delivered subretinally to postnatal day 14 (P14) rd11 mice in one eye only. At 10 weeks after injection, treated rd11 mice were examined by visually-guided behavior, electroretinography (ERG) and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and then killed for morphologic and biochemical examination.

RESULTS

Substantial scotopic and photopic ERG signals were maintained in treated rd11 eyes, whereas untreated eyes in the same animals showed extinguished signals. The SD-OCT (in vivo) and light microscopy (in vitro) showed a substantial preservation of the outer nuclear layer in most parts of the treated retina only. Almost wild-type LPCAT1 expression in photoreceptors with strong rod rhodopsin and M/S cone opsin staining, and normal visually-guided water maze behavioral performances were observed in treated rd11 mice.

CONCLUSIONS

The results demonstrate that the tyrosine-capsid mutant AAV8 (Y733F) vector is effective for treating rapidly degenerating models of retinal degeneration and, moreover, is more therapeutically effective than AAV2 (Y444, 500, 730F) vector with the same promoter-cDNA payload. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of phenotypic rescue by gene therapy in an animal model of retinal degeneration caused by Lpcat1 mutation.

The treatment of severe and multiple injuries in intensive care unit: report of 80 cases

OBJECTIVE

To summarize our case load in managing severe and multiple injuries (SMI) in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The clinical data of 80 SMI patients treated in our ICU from January 2009 to June 2013 were analyzed.

RESULTS

Results of these 80 SMI patients, 60 (75%) were salvaged and 15 (18.75%) died. The causes of death included severe head injury (n=7), severe chest injury (n=3), destruction of injured abdominal organs (n=2), and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (n=3). Five patients (7.50%) gave up treatment and were discharged upon their own requests. Early application of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) and enteral nutrition (EN) improved outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

The key interventions during the ICU treatment of SMI include: adequate analgesia and appropriate sedation; timely management of hypoxemia; reasonable fluid resuscitation and CRRT.

Glucocorticoid receptor BclI polymorphism associates with immunomodulatory response to stress hormone in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) variants have been found to be associated with stress-related disorders. Our previous in vivo study revealed that the CC allele of GR BclI single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was more common in the high-stress group, which had lower levels of both regulatory T cells (Treg) and Th1 cytokine. The current study was to investigate the associations between GR BclI polymorphism and immunomodulatory response to stress hormone in vitro in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Blood samples were collected from 18 normal volunteers including 9 subjects with BclI polymorphism GG allele and 9 with wild-type (WT) CC allele. PBMC were cultured with 10(-8) m dexamethasone (DEX), which mimics the plasma cortisol level observed during periods of psychological stress for 24 h and 11 days. Gene expressions of transcription factors, stress hormone and cytokine receptors were analysed by real-time RT-PCR. FoxP3 mRNA was significantly altered in the BclI WT (decreased at 24 h and increased at 11 days) but not in the GG allele. GR mRNA was up-regulated at 24 h and down-regulated at 11 days in CC alleles (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05), rather than in GG alleles. The expression of β-2 adrenergic receptor (β2AR) was increased at 24 h in both CC and GG alleles (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001), but decreased significantly at 11 days in only GG alleles. Expression of T-bet and GATA-3 was altered simultaneously in 24-h culture with DEX from both groups. The BclI polymorphism of GR identifies different immunomodulatory responses to corticosteroids, which may explain, at least in part, the variability in individual sensitivity to stressors.

Rapid determination of patulin in medicinal hawthorn fruits by HPLC-MS/MS

An HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for the determination of patulin (PAT) in dried medicinal hawthorn fruit, a well-known traditional medicine in China. Liquid-liquid extraction was applied in the sample preparation. Multiple reaction monitoring was performed at m/z 153/109 for PAT and m/z 317/273 for internal standard zearalenone in the negative ion mode with electrospray ionisation source. Good linearity was achieved when spiked PAT concentrations were in the range of 10-500 μg/kg, with coefficient being 0.9993. The limit of quantitation was 10 μg/kg. The extraction recoveries for the spiked PAT at concentrations of 20, 100 and 400 μg/kg were 64.5%, 64.6% and 63.9%, respectively, with relative standard deviations of 1.25%, 2.82% and 2.61%. The intra-day and inter-day precision were in the range of 2.2-9.6% and 5.9-6.4%. This rapid, sensitive and reliable method was applied in 25 batches of medicinal hawthorn fruit, in which PAT was detected in 8 batches, including those that were baked or charred.