Non-contact wide-field viewing system-assisted scleral buckling surgery for retinal detachment in silicone oil-filled eyes.

Aim: To evaluate scleral buckling (SB) surgery using a non-contact wide-field viewing system and 23-gauge intraocular illumination for the treatment of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in silicone oil (SO)-filled eyes.

Methods: Totally 9 patients (9 eyes) with retinal detachment in SO-filled eyes were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent non-contact wide-field viewing system-assisted buckling surgery with 23-gauge intraocular illumination.

Identification of Diagnostic Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in 47 Shoulders with Subcoracoid Impingement Syndrome by Comparison with 100 Normal Shoulders.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to identify the diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in 47 shoulders with subcoracoid impingement syndrome by comparison with 100 normal shoulders. MATERIAL AND METHODS The subcoracoid impingement syndrome group consisted of 47 shoulders with subcoracoid impingement syndrome and the normal group consisted of 100 normal shoulders. The MRI parameters - coracoids-humeral distance (CHD), coracoid index (CI), height of the lesser tuberosity (HLT), coracoid obliquity (CO), coracoglenoid angle (CGA), coracohumeral angle (CHA), width of the subscapular tendon (WST), and contact distance between subscapular tendon and coracoid process (CD) - were compared between the subcoracoid impingement syndrome group and the normal group.

Characteristics of macular microvasculature before and after idiopathic macular hole surgery.

Aim: To evaluate the macular microvasculature before and after surgery for idiopathic macular hole (MH) and the association of preoperative vascular parameters with postoperative recovery of visual acuity and configuration.

Methods: Twenty eyes from 20 patients with idiopathic MH were enrolled. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) images were obtained before, 2wk, 1, and 3mo after vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane peeling.

Macular density alterations in myopic choroidal neovascularization and the effect of anti-VEGF on it.

Aim: To analyse macular microvascular alterations in myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) and the efficiency of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy for mCNV by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Methods: A total of 123 patients were included in this retrospective study, divided into mCNV group, high myopia (HM) group, and normal group at the Affiliated Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from January 2017 to January 2019. Superficial vessel density, deep capillary density, foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, A-circularity index (AI) and vessel density around the 300 µm width of the FAZ region density (FD) and the area of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) lesion (only for mCNV group) were measured on 3×3 mm OCTA images.

The Reliability of MyotonPRO in Assessing Masseter Muscle Stiffness and the Effect of Muscle Contraction.

BACKGROUND Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are accompanied by masticatory muscle-related pain, making it meaningful to assess the stiffness of the masticatory muscles. The present study investigated the intra- and inter-operator reliabilities of MyotonPRO for assessing the elasticity of masseter muscles, to determine minimal detectable changes, and to quantify changes in stiffness from conditions of relaxation to maximal contraction. MATERIAL AND METHODS Twenty healthy subjects (10 men and 10 women) were recruited.

Modulation in the elastic properties of gastrocnemius muscle heads in individuals with plantar fasciitis and its relationship with pain.

The objectives of this study were (1) to investigate the passive stiffness of the medial gastrocnemius (MG) and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) in patients with and without plantar fasciitis (PF), (2) to explore the correlation between gastrocnemius stiffness and plantar fascia thickness (PFT) as well as the intensity of pain in patients with PF, (3) to detect optimal cut-off points for stiffness of the MG and LG for identifying patients with PF. Forty patients (mean age = 51.1 years ± 12.

Four novel biomarkers for bladder cancer identified by weighted gene coexpression network analysis.

Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most malignancies in terms of incidence and recurrence worldwide. The aim of this study is to find out novel and prognostic biomarkers for patients with BC. First, we identified 258 differentially expressed genes by using GSE19915 from Gene Expression Omnibus database.

DisBind: A database of classified functional binding sites in disordered and structured regions of intrinsically disordered proteins.

Background: Intrinsically unstructured or disordered proteins function via interacting with other molecules. Annotation of these binding sites is the first step for mapping functional impact of genetic variants in coding regions of human and other genomes, considering that a significant portion of eukaryotic genomes code for intrinsically disordered regions in proteins.

Results: DisBind (available at http://biophy.

Natural protein sequences are more intrinsically disordered than random sequences.

Most natural protein sequences have resulted from millions or even billions of years of evolution. How they differ from random sequences is not fully understood. Previous computational and experimental studies of random proteins generated from noncoding regions yielded inclusive results due to species-dependent codon biases and GC contents.

A Novel Cylindrical Representation for Characterizing Intrinsic Properties of Protein Sequences.

The composition and sequence order of amino acid residues are the two most important characteristics to describe a protein sequence. Graphical representations facilitate visualization of biological sequences and produce biologically useful numerical descriptors. In this paper, we propose a novel cylindrical representation by placing the 20 amino acid residue types in a circle and sequence positions along the z axis.

Analysis of the multi-copied genes and the impact of the redundant protein coding sequences on gene annotation in prokaryotic genomes.

The important roles of duplicated genes in evolutional process have been recognized in bacteria, archaebacteria and eukaryotes, while there is very little study on the multi-copied protein coding genes that share sequence identity of 100%. In this paper, the multi-copied protein coding genes in a number of prokaryotic genomes are comprehensively analyzed firstly. The results show that 0-15.

An exploration of evolution, maturation, expression and function relationships in mir-23 ∼ 27 ∼ 24 cluster.

The study aims to explore the potential relationships of evolution, maturation, expression and function between homologous/clustered miRNAs. mir-23 ∼ 27 ∼ 24 gene cluster, including the two gene clusters (mir-23a and mir-23b) and the three miRNA gene families (mir-23, mir-27 and mir-24), was typically selected as an example. These related miRNAs show similar evolutionary patterns and various expression patterns.

[Effect of Hanfangji compound on proliferation of hepatic stellate cells and expressions of TTR, ITIH1 and SERPINF2].

Objective: To observe and compare the effects of Hanfangji Compound and IFN-gamma on expressions of transthyretin (TTR) , inter-alpha inhibitor H1 (ITIH1) and serpin peptidase inhibitor clade F member 2 (SERPINF2) of hepatic stellate cells (HSC-T6).

Method: Hanfangji Compound and IFN-gammaof different concentrations were used in hepatic stellate cell-T6 (HSC-T6) for 48 h. Flow cytometer was used to detect the effects of Hanfangji Compound and IFN-gamma on HSC proliferation.

An integrative method for identifying the over-annotated protein-coding genes in microbial genomes.

The falsely annotated protein-coding genes have been deemed one of the major causes accounting for the annotating errors in public databases. Although many filtering approaches have been designed for the over-annotated protein-coding genes, some are questionable due to the resultant increase in false negative. Furthermore, there is no webserver or software specifically devised for the problem of over-annotation.

[Coracoclavicular ligament reconstruction using autologous double-strand palmaris longus tendon and artificial ligament for the treatment of acromioclavicular joint dislocation].

Objective: To investigate clinical effects of coracohumeral ligament reconstruction with autologous double-strand of long palmaris longus tendon and artificial ligament for the treatment of acromioclavicular joint dislocation.

Methods: From April 2006 to June 2009, 31 patients with acromioclavicular joint dislocation were treated with coracohumeral ligament reconstruction using autologous double-strand palmaris longus tendon and artificial ligament. There were 18 males and 13 females, ranging in age from 18 to 60 years, with an average of 35 years.

Reannotation of protein-coding genes based on an improved graphical representation of DNA sequence.

Over annotation of protein coding genes is common phenomenon in microbial genomes, the genome of Amsacta moorei entomopoxvirus (AmEPV) is a typical case, because more than 63% of its annotated ORFs are hypothetical. In this article, we propose an improved graphical representation titled I-TN (improved curve based on trinucleotides) curve, which allows direct inspection of composition and distribution of codons and asymmetric gene structure. This improved graphical representation can also provide convenient tools for genome analysis.

TN curve: a novel 3D graphical representation of DNA sequence based on trinucleotides and its applications.

In this paper, a novel 3D graphical representation of DNA sequence based on trinucleotides is proposed. This representation allows direct inspection of composition as well as distribution of trinucleotides in DNA sequence for the first time and avoids loss of information, from which one can obtain more information. Based on this novel model, six numerical descriptors of DNA sequence are deduced without complicated calculations, and the applications in similarities/dissimilarities analysis of coding sequences and conserved genes discrimination illustrate their utilities.