Correlation of Bmi-1 expression and telomerase activity in human ovarian cancer

This study investigates the correlation between the oncoprotein Bmi-1 and telomerase activity in ovarian cancer. A real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method is used to detect the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of Bmi-1 protein in 47 ovarian epithelial cancer cases, and immunohistochemistry is used to detect Bmi-1 protein expression in the tissues. A modified telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) is used to detect telomerase activity. Western blotting is used to detect the expression of telomerase hTERT in the tissues studied. Compared to normal ovarian epithelial tissue, Bmi-1 protein in the 47 ovarian epithelial cancer cases showed higher expression and was related to pathological grade and clinical stage. Significantly higher Bmi-1 levels were found among different clinocopathological types of the cancer (P<0.05). Grade G3 cases expressed Bmi-1 at a higher rate (93.10%) than did grade G2 cases (61.11%). Expression in phase II and phase III cases was lower (66.67%) than in phase IV (92.31%). In ovarian epithelial cancer tissues, 87.23% (41/47) cases demonstrated positive telomerase activity, whereas no activity was observed in normal tissues. The majority (90.24%) of specimens with positive telomerase activity showed high Bmi-1 expression levels. Spearman correlation analysis indicated that expression of Bmi-1 protein correlated positively with elevated telomerase activity. Bmi-1 protein is highly expressed in ovarian epithelial cancer tissues, and expression correlates with histological grade and clinical phase. Elevated Bmi-1 expression correlates closely with increased telomerase activity and plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer.

[Emotional and behavioral problems associated with sleep problems in preschool aged children]

Objective: To examine whether sleep problems are related to both emotional and behavioral problems in children aged 3-6 years. Methods: A large cross-sectional study was conducted in Anqing, Wuhu, Tongling and Yangzhou from March to June 2015. A total of 8 900 preschool aged children were included. Sleep problems were obtained by using adapted BISQ completed by the parents or the people who took care of children. Emotional and behavioral problems of the children were accessed by using Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and multivariate logistic regression model was used for statistical analyses. Results: The detected rates of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity problems, peer problems, total difficulties and prosocial behavior in preschool aged children were 9.0%, 13.9%, 18.9%, 25.5%, 13.6% and 16.2% respectively. All the detected rates were higher in boys than in girls except the higher rate of emotional symptoms. The proportions of children with high sleep quality, moderate sleep quality and poor or worse sleep quality were 3.9%, 52.9% and 43.2% respectively. After controlling the confounding factors of demographic variables, including gender, age, delivery mode, birth weight, birth height and patent's educational level, multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity problems, peer problems, total difficulties and prosocial behavior in children with longer sleep duration was lower than that in children with shorter sleep duration, the ORs were 0.86 (95%CI: 0.77-0.95), 0.85 (95%CI: 0.78-0.93), 0.85 (95%CI: 0.79-0.92), 0.87(95%CI: 0.81-0.93), 0.83 (95%CI: 0.76-0.91) and 0.82 (95%CI: 0.76-0.89) respectively. Compared with the children with good sleep quality, the risk of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity problems, peer problems, total difficulties and prosocial behavior were higher in children with poor or worse sleep quality, the ORs were 3.26 (95%CI: 2.40-4.42), 2.86 (95%CI: 2.16-3.78), 2.60 (95%CI: 2.00-3.38), 1.96 (95%CI: 1.52-2.54), 4.02 (95%CI: 3.06-5.27) and 2.56 (95%CI: 1.96-3.35) respectively. Conclusion: There was a negative impact of shorter sleep and poor or worse sleep on emotional and behavioral problems of preschool aged children.

Observation of rotational coherence in an excited state of CO. OPTICS LETTERS 2021;46:3893-3896. [PMID: 34388768 DOI: 10.1364/ol.432315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0]

The vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation is generated in the strong-field-ionized CO molecules through 2+1 resonance excitation with two-color femtosecond laser pulses. When scanning the relative delay between two pump pulses, the rotational-resolved VUV radiations show periodic oscillations lasting as long as 500 ps. Fourier analysis reveals that these oscillations correspond to rotational beat frequencies of the A²Π_i state of CO⁺, which is the result of multi-channel interference during the resonant excitation process. High resolution of Fourier transform spectra up to 0.067cm^-1 allows us to obtain the fine energy levels of the A²Π_i state. The theoretical calculation is in good agreement with the experimental observation. This work reveals the rotational coherence of the ionic excited state and shows the prospect of rotational coherence spectroscopy in measuring fine structures of molecular ions.

[The effect of steatotic donor livers on the prognosis of donors and recipients after pediatric living donor liver transplantation]

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of steatotic donor livers on the safety of donors and the prognosis of donors and recipients in pediatric living donor liver transplantation. Methods: A total of 814 pediatric living donor liver transplantations were performed between January 2013 and December 2020 at Department of Pediatric Organ Transplantation,Tianjin First Central Hospital.The clinical data were collected and a retrospective study was conducted.The recipients and the donors were divided into non-steatotic donor liver group(n=733) and steatotic donor liver group(n=81) according to whether the donor graft had steatosis. The recipients and the donors in the steatotic donor liver group were further divided into mild and moderate steatosis groups based on the degree of liver steatosis.Among the donors of non-steatosis donor group,there were 307 males and 426 females,with a median age of 30 years(range:18 to 57 years);the recipients included 351 males and 382 females,with a median age of 7 months(range:4 month to 14 years).Among the donors of steatosis donor group,there were 41 males and 40 females,with a median age of 31 years(range:22 to 51 years);the recipients included 34 males and 47 females,with a median age of 8 months(range:5 months to 11 years).The donors and the recipients were followed up regularly by means of outpatient reexamination and questionnaire survey after operation.Statistical analysis of data between groups was performed using t-test,Wilcoxon rank-sum test,repeated measures ANOVA,χ² test,or Fisher's exact test,respectively.The survival curves of recipients and grafts in different groups were created by Kaplan-Meier method,and the survival rates of the steatotic donor liver group and the non-steatotic donor liver group were compared by Log-rank method. Results: There was no significant difference in the gender of donors in both groups (P=0.132).There were significant differences in the age and blood type distribution as well as body weight and body mass index(all P<0.05) between the two groups.No significant difference was seen in the recovery of liver function markers ALT and AST at 1,2,5 days and 1 month after operation (all P>0.05) between the two groups.The steatotic donor liver group showed longer operation time ((294±75) minutes vs. (264±81) minutes; t=3.149,P=0.002),increased incidence of postoperative biliary leakage (3.7%(3/81) vs. 0.5% (4/733); P=0.025) and delayed incision healing (7.4%(6/81) vs. 2.0%(15/733); P=0.013).There were no significant differences in gender,age,blood type distribution,height,weight and pediatric end-stage liver disease score of recipients between the two groups (all P>0.05).As compared to the non-steatotic donor liver group,the steatotic donor liver group showed similar levels of ALT, AST and total bilirubin within 2 weeks after operation(all P>0.05). The cumulative recipient survival rates in both groups were both 96.3%,the cumulative graft survival rates were 96.3% and 95.5%,respectively,without significant difference(both P>0.05). No statistical difference was observed in the incidence of major complications between the two groups (all P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the recovery of liver function markers of donors and recipients between mild and moderate steatosis groups(all P>0.05).The cumulative recipient survival rates were both 95.9% and the cumulative graft survival rates were both 100% in mild and moderate steatosis groups,without significant difference(P=0.592). Conclusions: The application of mild to moderate steatotic donor livers in pediatric living donor liver transplantation may prolong the operation time of donors,increase the incidence of complications such as biliary leakage and delayed incision healing. But there is no significant impact of mild to moderate steatotic donor livers on the overall postoperative recovery of donors and recipients,and the prognosis is ideal.

The treatment of tibial and fibular fractures with a rectangle-shaped intramedullary nail

A study is reported in which excellent results were achieved with use of a flexible rectangle-shaped intramedullary (RIM) nail in the treatment of 171 tibial and fibular shaft fractures in a series of 165 patients. Mechanical analysis showed improved fracture stability compared to fractures treated with an Ender nail. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the method of treatment described in this report has not been discussed previously in the Western literature.

Bioinformatics-based design of a fusion vaccine with CTLA-4 variable region to combat Brucella

Brucellosis has become a global zoonotic disease, seriously endangering the health of people all over the world. Vaccination is an effective strategy for protection against Brucella infection in livestock in developed countries. However, current vaccines are pathogenic to humans and pregnant animals, which limits their use. Therefore, it is very important to improve the safety and immune protection of Brucella vaccine. In this study, different bioinformatics approaches were carried out to predict the physicochemical properties, T/B epitope, and tertiary structure of Omp2b and Omp31. Then, these two proteins were sequentially linked, and the Cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) variable region was fused to the N-terminal of the epitope sequence. In addition, molecular docking was performed to show that the structure of the fusion protein vaccine had strong affinity with B7 (B7-1, B7-2). This study showed that the designed vaccine containing CTLA-4 had high potency against Brucella, which could provide a reference for the future development of efficient brucellosis vaccines.

[Risk factors of blood loss during liver transplantation in children with biliary atresia and its influence on prognosis]

Objectives: To study the risk factors for massive intraoperative blood loss in children with biliary atresia who underwent liver transplantation for the first time,and to analyze their impacts on graft survival,hospital stay and postoperative complications. Methods: The data of 613 children with biliary atresia who underwent liver transplantation at Department of Pediatric Organ Transplantation,Tianjin First Central Hospital from January 2015 to December 2018 were collected and analyzed. There were 270 males and 343 females, aged 7.4 (3.9) months (range: 3.2 to 148.4 months), the body weight of the recipients were (7.8±3.5) kg (range: 4.0 to 43.3 kg).According to the 85^th quad of estimated blood loss(EBL),they were divided into two groups:massive EBL group(96 cases) and non massive EBL group(517 cases). The age,height,weight and other factors between the two groups were analyzed and compared. Univariate Logistic regression and multiple stepwise regression were used to determine the risk factors of massive EBL. Then,the postoperative complications of the two groups,including portal vein thrombosis and portal vein anastomotic stenosis etc.,were analyzed and compared by chi square test. Kaplan Meier curve and log rank test were used to analyze the recipient and graft survival rate of the two groups. Results: During the study period,713 transplants were performed and 613 patients were enrolled in the study. Ninety-six patients(15.7%) had massive EBL,and the postoperative hospital stay was 21(16) days(range:2 to 116 days),the hospital stay of non-massive EBL group was 22(12)days(range:3 to 138 days)(U=24 224.0,P=0.32). Univariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the recipient's weight,Kasai portoenterostomy,platelet count,operation time and cold ischemia time were the risk factors of massive EBL during biliary atresia transplantation. Multiple regression analysis showed that cold ischemia time ≥10 hours,prolonged operation time(≥8 hours) and body weight<5.5 kg were important independent risk factors for massive EBL.The incidence of portal vein thrombosis,hepatic vein stenosis,intestinal leakage and pulmonary infection in patients with massive EBL were significantly higher than those without massive EBL(3.1% vs. 0.8%,9.4% vs. 2.1%,6.3% vs. 0.8%,30.2% vs. 20.1%,all P<0.05). The 3-year overall graft and recipient survival rate were significantly lower in patients with massive EBL than those without massive EBL(87.5% vs. 95.7%,P=0.001;84.4% vs. 95.4%,P<0.01,respectively). Conclusions: In children with biliary atresia who underwent liver transplantation for the first time,the effective control of intraoperative bleeding should shorten the operation time and reduce the cold ischemia time as far as possible,on the premise of ensuring the safety of operation. For children without growth disorder,the weight of children should be increased to more than 5.5 kg as far as possible to receive the operation. Reducing intraoperative bleeding is of great significance to the prognosis of children.

Bmi-1 siRNA inhibited ovarian cancer cell line growth and decreased telomerase activity

The knockdown of Bmi-1 could effectively suppress cancer cell proliferation and tumourigenicity in several cancers. This study aims to investigate whether or not Bmi-1 plays a causative role in the proliferation of ovarian epithelial cancer cells and telomerase activity. The messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression levels of Bmi-1 in the human ovarian carcinoma cell line OVCAR-3 were downregulated by Bmi-1 siRNA, as confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot. Cell viability was analysed by MTT assay, and telomerase activity was analysed by a modified telomeric repeat amplification protocol. Targeting Bmi-1 with siRNA inhibited Bmi-1 mRNA over five-fold compared with the control cells, and inhibited Bmi-1 protein expression over three-fold compared with control cells. The viability of the OVCAR-3 ovarian cancer cell line was reduced by Bmi-1 mRNA compared to control cells. Telomerase activity was decreased 22.73% (from 0.33 to 0.255) by Bmi-1 siRNA treatment compared to control cells. As Bmi-1 siRNA depressed telomerase activity, cell immortalisation may be prevented; thus, silencing Bmi-1 may be a potential therapy to manage ovarian cancer.

[Research progress on the role of type II innate lymphoid cells in liver diseases]

Type II innate lymphoid cell (ILC2) is a newly identified innate immunological cell that belongs to the lymphocyte lineage in cell morphology, resides in the body's mucosal tissues, and has the dual functions of innate and adaptive immunity to promote tissue remodeling and repair after injury. Additionally, it is involved in the occurrence and development of a variety of liver diseases and plays an important role in maintaining the immunological homeostasis of the liver region. This article reviews the differentiation, development, and biological functions of ILC2, with particular attention to the research progress in liver diseases.