Hypersplenism is correlated with increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with post-hepatitis cirrhosis.

Several risk factors exist for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with post-hepatitis cirrhosis (PHC), including hypersplenism. Splenectomy is a common but controversial procedure in the management of hypersplenism, but its impact on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains uncertain. We conducted a hospital-based study of PHC patients to identify potential risk factors, including a history of splenectomy, which has been associated with progression from PHC to HCC.

A novel mutation in SIRT1-AS leading to a decreased risk of HCC.

Natural antisense transcripts (NATs) have recently been associated with the development of human cancers. However, the interrelationship between NATs and their sense transcripts in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been well-characterized. The aim of the present study was to characterize the AS lncRNA SIRT1-AS, which suppressed the miRNA-induced translational repression of SIRT1 mRNA by masking the miR-29c binding site on the SIRT1 3'UTR.

Overexpression of MAGE-A9 Is Predictive of Poor Prognosis in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer.

The cancer testis antigen, melanoma-associated antigen A9 (MAGE-A9), is expressed in many kinds of different human cancers, and is an important target for immunotherapy. However, the clinicopathologic significance of MAGE-A9 in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is unknown. In this study, real-time PCR (12 carcinomas of high FIGO stage, 12 carcinomas of low FIGO stage, and 20 normal ovary or fallopian tube tissues) and immunohistochemistry by tissue microarrays (128 carcinomas and 112 normal ovary or fallopian tube tissues, benign or borderline ovarian tumor tissues) were performed to characterize expression of MAGE-A9 in EOC.

Differences between Mice and Humans in Regulation and the Molecular Network of Collagen, Type III, Alpha-1 at the Gene Expression Level: Obstacles that Translational Research Must Overcome.

Collagen, type III, alpha-1 (COL3A1) is essential for normal collagen I fibrillogenesis in many organs. There are differences in phenotypes of mutations in the COL3A1 gene in humans and mutations in mice. In order to investigate whether the regulation and gene network of COL3A1 is the same in healthy populations of mice and humans, we compared the quantitative trait loci (QTL) that regulate the expression level of COL3A1 and the gene network of COL3A1 pathways between humans and mice using whole genome expression profiles.

Assoication of XRCC1 gene polymorphisms with risk of non-small cell lung cancer.

DNA repair genes is a key factor for cancer susceptibility, and we conducted a case-control study to investigate the association of XRCC1 codons 194 (Arg to Trp), 280 (Arg to His) and 399 (Arg to Gln) with risk of NSCLC. 210 NSCLC patients and 210 health control subjects were randomly selected from Huaihe Hospital between January 2012 and June 2014. The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was taken to assess the genotyping of XRCC1 Arg194Trp, Arg280His and Arg399Gln.

Endotoxic shock-expanded murine CD11c low CD45RB + regulatory dendritic cells modulate inflammatory T cell responses through multiple mechanisms.

Changes in the number and function of dendritic cells (DCs) have been reported to play an important role in endotoxin tolerance. It has been reported that expansion of splenic CD11c(low)CD45RB(+) DCs occurs in mice injected with sublethal doses of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). However, the function of endotoxic shock-expanded CD11c(low)CD45RB(+) DCs has not been examined.

Clinical value of concurrent radiochemotherapy in cervical cancer and comparison of ultrasonography findings before and after radiochemotherapy.

Herein, we investigated the clinical value of concurrent radiochemotherapy for patients with advanced cervical cancer and its effects on adverse clinical symptoms. Forty patients with cervical cancer were recruited from January 2011 to January 2014 for this study. Participants were randomly allocated into a test or control group, with 20 patients in each group.

Primary Sjögren syndrome in Han Chinese: clinical and immunological characteristics of 483 patients.

The epidemiological characteristics of Sjögren syndrome (SS) are significantly varied in different countries. We conducted the present study to survey the epidemiological characteristics of primary SS in China. We recruited 483 primary SS patients from 16 Chinese medical centers nationwide from January 2009 to November 2011 and assessed salivary and lacrimal gland dysfunction, organ involvement, and autoimmunity in these patients.

Whole-exome SNP array identifies 15 new susceptibility loci for psoriasis.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have reproducibly associated ∼40 susceptibility loci with psoriasis. However, the missing heritability is evident and the contributions of coding variants have not yet been systematically evaluated. Here, we present a large-scale whole-exome array analysis for psoriasis consisting of 42,760 individuals.

Trichosporon asahii infection after total knee arthroplasty: A case report and review of the literature.

Reports of fungal infection after total knee arthroplasty are extremely rare. In most reports, the infecting organism is a Candida species. The present report describes a case involving a 73-year-old immunocompetent woman who underwent total knee arthroplasty and presented one month later with signs of prosthetic infection.

Functions and Mechanisms of Long Noncoding RNAs in Ovarian Cancer.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are longer than 200-nucleotide, noncoding transcripts in length, have a variety of biological functions, and are closely associated with tumor development. Ovarian cancer, as 1 of the 3 common gynecological malignancies, is the leading cause of death in women with gynecological malignant tumor. In this study, a review of the literature found that lncRNAs H19, LSINCT5, and XIST have a close relationship to the development of ovarian cancer occurrence, growth, invasion, and metastasis, and they can promote ovarian cancer cell proliferation.

A cohort study of diabetic patients and diabetic foot ulceration patients in China.

To determine the annual incidence and clinically relevant risk factors for foot ulceration in a large cohort study of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) patients and diabetes mellitus (DM) patients in China. To investigate a cohort of 1,333 patients comprising 452 DFU patients and 881 DM patients, who underwent foot screening, physical examination, and laboratory tests in eight hospitals. The patients were assessed at baseline in terms of their demographic information, medical and social history, peripheral neuropathy disease (PND) screening, periphery artery disease (PAD) screening, assessment of nutritional status, and diabetic control.

Epidemiology of type 2 diabetic foot problems and predictive factors for amputation in China.

To determine incidence and clinically relevant risk factors for diabetic amputation in a large cohort study of diabetic foot ulceration patients in China, we investigated a total of 669 diabetic foot ulceration patients, who were assessed at baseline for demographic information, medical and social history, peripheral neuropathy screening, periphery artery disease screening, assessment of nutritional status and diabetic control, physical examination including foot deformity in 15 Grade III-A hospitals. Of the 669 patients, 435 were male and 201 were female, with the mean age being 64.0 years.

Pressure waveform-guided epidural catheter placement in comparison to the loss-of-resistance conventional method.

Study Objectives: To investigate pressure waveform-guided epidural catheter placement (PWEP) and its effect in clinical practice.

Design: Single-center, prospective cohort study.

Setting: University teaching hospital.

Genome wide analysis of sex difference in gene expression profiles of bone formations using sfx mice and BXD RI strains.

The objective of this study is to identify sex differentially expressed genes in bone using a mouse model of spontaneous fracture, sfx, which lacks the gene for L-gulonolactone oxidase (Gulo), a key enzyme in the ascorbic acid (AA) synthesis pathway. We first identified the genes that are differentially expressed in the femur between female and male in sfx mice. We then analyzed the potential gene network among those differentially expressed genes with whole genome expression profiles generated using spleens of female and male mice of a total of 67 BXD (C57BL/6J X DBA/2J) recombinant inbred (RI) and other strains.

Joint analysis of three genome-wide association studies of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Chinese populations.

We conducted a joint (pooled) analysis of three genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in individuals of Chinese ancestry (5,337 ESCC cases and 5,787 controls) with 9,654 ESCC cases and 10,058 controls for follow-up. In a logistic regression model adjusted for age, sex, study and two eigenvectors, two new loci achieved genome-wide significance, marked by rs7447927 at 5q31.2 (per-allele odds ratio (OR) = 0.

Intervention for prehypertension and its cardiovascular risk factors in Inner Mongolia.

Blood pressure levels were evaluated among prehypertension patients with associated cardiovascular risk factors to determine the effect of different interventions with respect to new endpoint events. A total of 1112 patients were equally and randomly divided into control, lifestyle, drug, and lifestyle + drug groups, and were followed-up for 12 months. We collected the age, height, weight, blood pressure, heart rate, blood lipid levels, blood glucose levels, and other clinical data from all subjects at the baseline and at the end of the follow-up period.

Comparison of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F with methotrexate in the treatment of active rheumatoid arthritis (TRIFRA): a randomised, controlled clinical trial.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF) with methotrexate (MTX) in the treatment of active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Design: a multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial. All patients were assessed by trained investigators who were unaware of the therapeutic regimen.

Tumor-derived GM-CSF promotes inflammatory colon carcinogenesis via stimulating epithelial release of VEGF.

Chronic inflammation is a major driving force for the development of colitis-associated cancer (CAC). Elevated production of granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) has been observed in mucosa of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Its actions in the progression from colitis to cancer, however, remain poorly understood.

CT morphometric analysis to determine the anatomical basis for the use of transpedicular screws during reconstruction and fixations of anterior cervical vertebrae.

Background: Accurate placement of pedicle screw during Anterior Transpedicular Screw fixation (ATPS) in cervical spine depends on accurate anatomical knowledge of the vertebrae. However, little is known of the morphometric characteristics of cervical vertebrae in Chinese population.

Methods: Three-dimensional reconstructions of CT images were performed for 80 cases.

Serum leptin concentrations in Mongolian women.

Objective: The aim of our study is to elucidate the association between leptin and obesity in Mongolian women.

Method: Total 181 women participated in the study including 118 Mongolians and 63 Han. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated by weight (kg) divided by square height (m²).

A large-scale screen for coding variants predisposing to psoriasis.

To explore the contribution of functional coding variants to psoriasis, we analyzed nonsynonymous single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) across the genome by exome sequencing in 781 psoriasis cases and 676 controls and through follow-up validation in 1,326 candidate genes by targeted sequencing in 9,946 psoriasis cases and 9,906 controls from the Chinese population. We discovered two independent missense SNVs in IL23R and GJB2 of low frequency and five common missense SNVs in LCE3D, ERAP1, CARD14 and ZNF816A associated with psoriasis at genome-wide significance. Rare missense SNVs in FUT2 and TARBP1 were also observed with suggestive evidence of association.

Association between apolipoprotein E gene polymorphism and the risk of recurrent pregnancy loss: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: The association between apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene polymorphism and the risk of recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) remains controversial. The present meta-analysis was performed to derive a precise estimate of the relationship.

Method(s): We searched the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science data- bases for studies related to the association between the ApoE genotype and the risk of RPL.