[The perforator flap of ipsilateral nasolabial sulcus used to repair the defect after the eradication of nasal vestibular squamous cell carcinoma]

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of only surgical resection for nasal vestibular squamous cell carcinoma and the efficacy of perforator flap of ipsilateral nasolabial sulcus in repairing postoperative defects. Methods: The clinical data of 8 cases with squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal vestibule who admitted to Department of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Eye & ENT Hospital, Fudan University were analyzed, including 6 males and 2 females, aged from 38 to 75 years. The tumor of the nasal vestibule was eradicated in time after making definite diagnosis of lesions, then the perforators flap of the ipsilateral nasolabial sulcus was used for repairment, without performing further chemotherapy or radiotherapy after surgery. The tumor recurrence, facial appearance, nostril form, donor area scar, nasal ventilation function, and cutaneous sensation were evaluated after surgery. Descriptive analysis was used in this research. Results: There were 2 cases of stage T1 and 6 cases of stage T2 in 8 cases. After 32 to 45 months of following-up, no recurrence accurred and all the flaps survived well. However, there was about 2 mm necrosis of the transplanted flap in the lateral foot of the alar in one case, which was healed well by carrying out wound care after 10 d. And the dark color flap was occurred in another case, showing the flap's backflow trouble, yet it was improved with addressing timely during 5 d postoperation. Pincusion-like deformity of the transplanted flap occurred in 4 cases (50%), which subsided gradually after 6 months. The morphology of the anterior nostril was altered in 4 cases (50%), but there was no ventilation trouble and no need for addressment in any case. The postoperative facial appearance was rated as excellentor good with hidden scar in the donor site, and the sensation of the transplanted flaps was indistinct from the surrounding tissue after 3 months. Conclusions: Surgical resection of nasal vestibular squamous cell carcinoma with tumor stage T1-2 is a feasible treatment. And it is the one of the best reconstructive methods of the perforator flap of the ipsilateral nasolabial sulcus to repair the deformities after the surgery.

Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism array and whole-genome sequencing reveal the inbreeding progression of Banna minipig inbred line

Inbred pigs are promising animal models for biomedical research and xenotransplantation. Established in 1980, the Banna minipig inbred (BMI) line originated from a sow and its own male offspring. It was selected from a small backcountry minority Lahu village, where records show that no other pig breed has ever been introduced. During the inbreeding process, we perfomed extreme inbreeding over 23 consecutive generations using full-sibling or parent-offspring mating. In order to investigate the inbreeding effects in BMI pigs across generations over the past 40 years, in this study we conducted a genome-wide SNP genotyping of the last 10 generations, representing generations 14-23. In total, we genotyped 57,746 SNPs, corresponding to an average decrease in heterozygosity rate of 0.0078 per generation. Furthermore, we were only able to identify 18,216 polymorphic loci with a MAF larger than 0.05, which is substantially lower than the values in previous reports on other pig breeds. In addition, we sequenced the genome of the first pig in the twenty-third generation (inbreeding coefficient 99.28%) to an average coverage of 12.4× to evaluate at the genome level the impact of advanced inbreeding. ROH analysis indicates that BMI pigs have longer ROHs than Wuzhishan and Duroc pigs. Those long ROH regions in BMI pigs are enriched for distinct functions compared with the highly polymorphic regions. Our study reveals a genome-wide allele diversity loss during the progress of inbreeding in BMI pigs and characterizes ROH and polymorphic regions as a result of inbreeding. Overall, our results indicate the successful establishment of the BMI line, which paves the way for further in-depth studies.

[Comparison of diagnostic performance of thyroid autoantibodies and high-resolution ultrasound in euthyroid Hashimoto's thyroiditis]

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance of thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) and high-resolution ultrasound (HRUS) in euthyroid Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). Methods: From January 2016 to January 2019, patients with complete data of preoperative thyroid function, TPOAb, TgAb and HRUS who had undergone thyroid surgery treatment at the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University were reviewed. The diagnostic value of different diagnostic methods was compared using histopathology (HP) examination result as the gold standard. Results: The data of 792 patients (217 males and 575 females) was retrospectively collected. The M(Q₁,Q₃)of patients' age was 41(32,52)years and the range was 16-75 years. With HP as the diagnostic gold standard, TPOAb exhibited similar sensitivity (59.3% vs 61.2%, P=0.752), accuracy (85.0% vs 83.6%, P=0.379), area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) (0.767 vs 0.764, P=0.886) and higher specificity (94.2% vs 91.6%, P=0.033) when compared with TgAb in diagnosing euthyroid HT. They both exhibited a higher sensitivity (59.3% vs 44.5%, P = 0.002; 61.2% vs 44.5%, P<0.001), accuracy (85.0% vs 79.7%, P = 0.001; 83.6% vs 79.7%, P = 0.013) and AUC (0.767 vs 0.684, P<0.001; 0.764 vs 0.684, P<0.001) than HRUS. Compared with each method alone, the sensitivity and AUC of TPOAb combined with TgAb or HRUS were improved. The combination of three methods showed the greatest sensitivity. Concordance analysis demonstrated that TPOAb and HP had a moderate agreement (Kappa=0.580, 95%CI:0.513-0.647,P<0.001). Conclusions: The combination of thyroid antibodies, TPOAb and TgAb, can improve sensitivity, accuracy and AUC of diagnosis in euthyroid Hashimoto's thyroiditis. The two antibodies combined with HRUS exhibited the highest diagnostic performance. Elevated TPOAb showed moderate diagnostic consistency with histopathologic evidence of HT.

Development of a five-gene signature as a novel prognostic marker in ovarian cancer

The prognosis of ovarian cancer (OC) remains poor. Thus, the present study aims to identify independently prognostic factor in patients with OC. OC gene expression study GSE26712 and TCGA-OV were included in the study. Prognosis associated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between normal ovarian tissue and OC were identified. LASSO Cox proportional hazards regression model was conducted and a prognostic signature was constructed based on these DEGs. The predictive ability of the signature was analyzed in the training set and test set. The prognosis performance of the signature was compared with CA-125 and HE4. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted to identify relevant mechanism. 332 DEGs were identified, of which 64 DEGs were significantly correlated with the overall survival (OS) of OC patients, and 5 DEGs (IGF2, PEG3, DCN, LYPD1 and RARRES1) were applied to build a 5-gene signature. Patients in the 5-gene signature low risk group had significantly better OS compared with those in the 5-gene high risk group (P=0.0004) in the training set. Similar results were found in the test set, and the signature was also an independent prognostic factor. The prognosis performance of the 5-gene signature was significantly better than that of CA-125 and HE4. GSEA suggested that OC samples in the 5-gene high risk group were significantly enriched in WNT/β-catenin signaling and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. We developed and validated a 5-gene signature that might be used as an independent prognostic factor in patients with OS.

[Clinical and pathological analysis of IgA nephropathy with acute kidney injury]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the incidence, etiology, clinico- pathological characteristics and prognosis in primary IgA nephropathy (IgAN) children with acute kidney injury (AKI).

METHOD

Retrospective analysis of the clinical and pathological manifestations and follow-up results of 19 Chlidren, who were associated with AKI in 196 cases of children with IgA nephropathy treated in our department from January, 1996 to Jun, 2012 was performed.

RESULT

(1) The 19 cases associated with AKI accounted for 9.7% of all 196 Chlidren with IgAN. Within the 19 cases, there were gross hematuria in 17 cases, massive proteinuria in 16 cases, hypoalbuminemia in 10 cases, edema in 10 cases and hypertension in one case. The peak serum creatinine was from 94.5 μmol/ L to 282 μmol/L. (2) Histological changes: with the formation of crescent in 10 cases, diffuse endocapillary proliferation in 5 cases, 15 cases had renal tubular injury, 10 cases had red blood cell and protein cast, 1 case with acute interstitial nephritis. (3) The cause of IgA nephropathy with AKI: 13 patients had severe glomerular damage, including crescentic glomerulonephritis and diffuse endocapillary proliferation; 1 case was complicated with acute interstitial nephritis after being treated with antibiotics, 2 patients had decreased glomerular filtration rate because of taking benazepril or oral indomethacin, 1 case with renal tubular injury induced by gross hematuria, and the other two cases the reason was not clear. (4) Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that massive proteinuria was independent risk factor of IgAN in children with AKI (OR=27.370, 95% confidence interval was 3.151-237.740, P<0.01). (5) None of the patients were on dialysis, steroid therapy was used in 13 cases (including 7 cases of methylprednisolone pulse therapy), 6 cases were treated with combined cyclophosphamide treatment. Except 1 cases no significant improvement, the renal functiones of all patients recovered or improved within 1-2 months after treatment. Follow-up period was from 1 month to 7 years, 3 cases had renal function improved, but 2 cases were lost to follow-up for 3 years and then entered the chronic renal failure, 1 case had renal function loss after 32 months and repeated renal biopsy showed glomerular sclerosis of 32% during the follow-up period.

CONCLUSION

In children with IgAN, AKI accounted for about 10%, except glomerular severe lesion, the onset of AKI is also relevant to clinical medication and repeated gross hematuria, and the heavy proteinuria is an independent risk factor. Based on clinical observation, the short-term prognosis of IgAN children with AKI is optimistic.

Osteoprotegerin polymorphisms in Chinese Han patients with rheumatoid arthritis

In order to investigate the association between osteoprotegerin (OPG) gene polymorphisms and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we studied OPG rs3102735 T/C and rs2073618 G/C polymorphisms in a Chinese Han population comprising 574 patients with RA and 804 controls. Genotyping by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was conducted. Our data indicated that OPG rs3102735 T/C and rs2073618 G/C polymorphisms were not associated with the risk of RA. However, among older patients (≥55 years), patients with the OPG rs3102735 TC (TC vs TT: OR = 0.68, 95%CI = 0.49‑0.96, P = 0.029) and TC/CC (TC+CC vs TT: OR = 0.69, 95%CI = 0.49‑0.96, P = 0.026) genotypes showed a significantly lower risk of RA than patients with the TT genotype, while patients with the OPG rs2073618 GC (GC vs GG: OR = 1.53, 95%CI = 1.13‑2.07, P = 0.006) and GC/CC (GC+CC vs GG: OR = 1.43, 95%CI = 1.07‑1.92, P = 0.015) genotypes showed a significantly higher risk of RA than patients with the GG genotype. We also found a significantly increased risk of RA associated with the OPG rs2073618 GC (GC vs GG: OR = 1.44, 95%CI = 1.07‑1.93, P = 0.018) and GC/CC (GC+CC vs GG: OR = 1.39, 95%CI = 1.04‑1.86, P = 0.024) genotypes among functional class III+IV patients. Our results were obtained from only a moderate-sized sample and, thus, a larger study with a more diverse ethnic population is needed to confirm these results.

Corrosion resistance of graphene directly and locally grown on bulk nickel substrate by laser irradiation

Graphene grown using a laser is superior at resisting the acid corrosive environment for realizing real application in the anti-corrosion field.

Membrane-microfilament interactions in ascites tumor cell microvilli. Identification and isolation of a large microfilament-associated membrane glycoprotein complex

[14C]Glucosamine metabolic labeling and concanavalin A blots were used to identify four major glycoprotein species associated with ascites tumor cell microvillar microfilament cores and with a transmembrane complex containing actin. Phalloidin shift analysis of glucosamine-labeled microvilli showed that glycoproteins of 110-120, 80, 65, and 55 kDa are stably associated with the microfilament cores. Analysis of large (greater than 10(6) kDa) transmembrane complexes from microvillar membranes made under microfilament-depolymerizing conditions (Carraway, C. A. C., Jung, G., and Carraway, K. L. (1983) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 80, 430-434) revealed glycoproteins of the same Mr values, showing the same relative staining or labeling patterns as those observed with the microfilament cores. Gel filtration of high salt, high pH extracts of intact microvilli, microfilament cores, or transmembrane complexes showed that in all of these fractions the glycoproteins are associated in a very large, stable complex. The glycoprotein multimer was isolated essentially free of actin and other components by Sephacryl S-1000 chromatography of microvilli, microvillar membranes prepared at pH 11, microfilament cores, or transmembrane complex fractions in Triton X-100, 1 M KCl, glycine, pH 9.5. Purified glycoprotein complex bound actin when incubated under polymerizing conditions. The presence of the glycoprotein heteromultimer in both microfilament cores and transmembrane complex from isolated membranes and the association of the purified glycoprotein complex with actin are consistent with our hypothesis that the glycoprotein-containing transmembrane complex is an association site for microfilaments at the plasma membrane.

Up-regulation of angiotensin II receptors by in vitro differentiation of murine N1E-115 neuroblastoma cells

In vitro differentiation of murine neuroblastoma N1E-115 cells induced by low serum (0.5%) and dimethyl sulfoxide (1.5%) increased the uptake of 45Ca2+ as well as basal and forskolin-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity. Associated with these biochemical indices of differentiation was an increase in the density of binding sites for the angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor agonist 125I-[Sar1]-Ang II and the antagonist 125I-[Sar1,Ile8]-Ang II (125I-SARILE). This up-regulation was apparent within 24 hr and was maximal at 72 hr. Other manipulations that independently increased intracellular cAMP or Ca2+ levels produced a qualitatively similar up-regulation of Ang II receptors. In vitro differentiation did not diminish the specificity of these receptors for Ang-II related peptides. Sarcosine-substituted Ang II receptor antagonists such as [Sar1,Gly8]-Ang II, [Sar1,Thr8]-Ang II, or SARILE itself competed for 125I-SARILE in a monophasic fashion, whereas the competition displayed by the agonists Ang II, angiotensin III, and Crinia-Ang II for 125I-SARILE-labeled sites was biphasic, consisting of distinct high and low affinity components. Moreover, in vitro differentiation predominantly increased the density of high affinity sites for angiotensin III and Crinia-Ang II, but the lower affinity site for Ang II, and in all three cases the majority of this increased binding was insensitive to guanine nucleotides. Collectively, these results demonstrate that the expression of Ang II receptors on neuron-like cells is regulated by the biochemical events accompanying differentiation and suggest that the biphasic nature of the binding of some angiotensin agonists may be indicative of multiple receptor subtypes.

Strong association of bovine IgM with microvilli and their microfilament core from 13762 ascites tumor cells

Microfilament cores, obtained by extracting 13762 mammary ascites tumor cell microvilli with Triton X-100, contain a major glycoprotein migrating at an apparent molecular weight of 80 kDa by dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The 80-kDa component is a disulfide-linked multimer, as demonstrated by velocity sedimentation and agarose-acrylamide gel electrophoresis analyses under nonreducing conditions. This 80-kDa species is not metabolically labeled, as is a minor 80-kDa glycoprotein found in the cores, membranes, and an isolated transmembrane complex with actin. Antibodies prepared against the 80-kDa glycoprotein react strongly with bovine IgM and more weakly with rat IgM. These antibodies were used to demonstrate that the 80-kDa component is present in microvilli, microvillar microfilament cores, and microvillar membranes only if the microvilli are prepared in the presence of calf serum. The 80-kDa component, purified by velocity sedimentation in dodecyl sulfate, reacts with anti-rat IgM by immunoblot analyses. Moreover, immunoprecipitation of detergent extracts of microvilli with anti-rat IgM specifically sediments the 80-kDa component. The 80-kDa glycoprotein fractionates with the actin-containing transmembrane complex prepared by gel filtration of Triton-solubilized microvillar membranes. These results indicate that the disulfide-linked, multi-meric 80-kDa component is bovine IgM, which binds strongly to a cell-surface component of the microvilli, and is indirectly associated with the microfilament cores. Thus, the IgM provides a marker by which the transmembrane complexes to the microfilaments can be identified.

[Radiologic diagnosis and differential diagnosis of fibrous dysplasia of the facial bones]

A radiologic-pathologic correlative study was carried out on 43 cases with fibrous dysplasia of the facial bones with emphasis on basis for radiological diagnosis. The x-ray manifestations according to density changes are classified into three types: sclerotic, osteolytic and mixed. The lesion extends along the longitudinal axis in the mandible whereas in the maxilla, the lesion spreads in a diffuse pattern along the wall of the maxillary antrum with preservation of maxillary contour. The authors considered that fibrodysplasia and ossifying fibroma are different disease entities and should be distinguished by combination of clinical, radiologic and pathologic evidences.