[The role of miRNA in kidney development].

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small non-coding RNAs (19-25 nucleotides) that negatively regulate gene expression at the post transcriptional level by binding to complementary target sequences in the target mRNA. miRNAs play an important role in a wide range of biological processes, including organ development. Recent studies have shown that some miRNAs are highly expressed in the kidney and are closely related to kidney development and diseases, suggesting that miRNAs are important regulators in kidney physiology and pathology.

Age-related histological changes in rat tibia.

Background: At present, studies on osteochondral morphogenesis only focus on a certain period of time or only provide a pattern diagram, but lack of dynamic tracking observation from the initiation of development to maturity. This study was aimed to dynamically observe the changes of skeleton morphology and structure from embryo to adult, to provide research data for enriching the knowledge of bone and cartilage tissue structure.

Materials And Methods: In the intrauterine experiment, 5 normal pregnant Wistar rats were sacrificed under anaesthesia at gestational day (GD) 14, 17, 20, respectively.

Interleukin-6 knockout reverses macrophage differentiation imbalance and alleviates cardiac dysfunction in aging mice.

Several interleukins (ILs) have been shown to be involved in aging, but the effects of IL-6 on aging-related cardiac dysfunction remain unknown. In this study, the expression and sources of cardiac IL-6 in aging hearts were investigated for the first time. The results showed that cardiac IL-6 expression in mice gradually increased with age, and the expression at 16 months, 20 months and 25 months was higher than that at 3 months.

The optimal compound reference genes for qRT-PCR analysis in the developing rat long bones under physiological conditions and prenatal dexamethasone exposure model.

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is a powerful tool for evaluating gene expression, but its accuracy is affected by the stability of the reference genes used for normalization. The Minimum Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-time PCR Experiments (MIQE) guidelines indicated that it was important to use multiple stable reference genes as compound reference genes for acquiring optimal experimental results. In this study, the expression levels of eight candidate reference genes (SDHA, TBP, GAPDH, etc.

[Healthy China Strategy and schistosomiasis control].

This paper summarizes the changes in the policy associated with schistosmiasis control in the new era, analyzes the background of Health China Strategy and its association with the current schistosomiasis control program in China, describes several schistosomiasis control models and proposes some suggestions responding to the challenges in current schistosomiasis control program of China, so as to provide insights into the development of the effective control strategy for schistosomiasis.

The combination of hprt and gapdh is the best compound reference genes in the fetal rat hippocampus.

Hippocampus, as an important organ of central memory storage and spatial orientation, has been studied increasingly in recent years. The expression of reference genes in the hippocampus of adult rats, which are commonly used in the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), is unstable in the fetal hippocampus and may not be suitable for the fetal period. Therefore, this study intends to screen and determine the optimal compound reference genes in the fetal rat hippocampus.

The features of technetium-99m-DTPA renal dynamic imaging after severe unilateral ureteral obstruction in adult rabbits.

Background: It is controversial to evaluate the function of hydronephrotic kidneys by renal dynamic imaging (RDI). Our aim was to study the features of renal dynamic imaging (RDI) at different stages after unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and to investigate a method that could be reasonably used to evaluate renal function and predict renal functional recoverability.

Methods: We made UUO models using fifteen adult New Zealand white rabbits and systematically observed the changes in kidney morphology, blood flow, radiotracer distribution and function by RDI.

LncRNA IUR downregulates miR-144 to regulate PTEN in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

IUR is a recently identified oncogenic lncRNA in leukaemia, while its roles in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) are unclear. We aimed to explore the possible involvement of IUR in NPC. IUR and PTEN were downregulated, while miR-144 was upregulated in NPC.

GR/Sp3/HDAC1/UGDH signaling participated in the maternal dexamethasone-induced dysplasia of the rat fetal growth plate.

Maternal dexamethasone decreases the body length of the newborn. However, whether dexamethasone inhibits the development of the growth plate of the fetal long bone is still unknown. Here, we found that lengths of fetal femur and growth plate were both shorter in the fetuses with maternal dexamethasone (0.

Ryanodine receptor 1 mediated dexamethasone-induced chondrodysplasia in fetal rats.

Background: Osteoarthritis is caused by cartilage dysplasia and has fetal origin. Prenatal dexamethasone exposure (PDE) induced chondrodysplasia in fetal rats by inhibiting transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) signaling. This study aimed to determine the effect of dexamethasone on fetal cartilage development and illustrate the underlying molecular mechanism.

The effects, underlying mechanism and interactions of dexamethasone exposure during pregnancy on maternal bile acid metabolism.

As important members in steroids related signal pathways, bile acids are very important in regulating substance metabolism and immune homeostasis. However, bile acids are highly cytotoxic, and the excessive accumulation can induce several abnormalities such as cholestatic liver injury. It is known that the bile acid metabolism alters during pregnancy and mostly will not result in pathologies.

Prenatal ethanol exposure increases susceptibility to depression- and anxiety-like behavior in adult female offspring and its underlying mechanism.

Epidemiological investigations have found that maternal alcohol intake increases the risk of mental illness in offspring. Our study investigated changes of depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in adult offspring caused by prenatal ethanol exposure (PEE) and explored the potential mechanism. After Wistar rats were intragastrically administered ethanol at a dose of 4 g/kg·d on the 9-20 t h days of pregnancy, the offspring were given 21 days of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) starting from the 9th week after birth.

Longitudinal Association Between Markers of Liver Injury and Mortality in COVID-19 in China.

Background And Aims: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new infectious disease. To reveal the hepatic injury related to this disease and its clinical significance, we conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study that included 5,771 adult patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Hubei Province.

Approach And Results: We reported the distributional and temporal patterns of liver injury indicators in these patients and determined their associated factors and death risk.

Prenatal dexamethasone exposure exerts sex-specific effect on placental oxygen and nutrient transport ascribed to the differential expression of IGF2.

Background: Clinical studies have showed that dexamethasone exposure during pregnancy could cause fetal growth retardation, but the mechanism by which prenatal dexamethasone exposure influences placental nutrient transport is still unclear. This study investigated the impacts of prenatal dexamethasone on the placental oxygen and nutrient transport.

Methods: Pregnant Wistar rats were subcutaneously administered with dexamethasone from day 9 to day 20 of gestation at 0.

CDK1-PLK1/SGOL2/ANLN pathway mediating abnormal cell division in cell cycle may be a critical process in hepatocellular carcinoma.

This study aims to investigate the potential mechanisms and identify core biomarkers of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The profile GSE113850 was downloaded to analyze the differentially expressed genes. Gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and protein-protein interaction network analysis were used to reveal the main signal pathways of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and hub genes.

GR/HDAC2/TGFβR1 pathway contributes to prenatal caffeine induced-osteoarthritis susceptibility in male adult offspring rats.

Prenatal caffeine exposure (PCE) induces developmental toxicity of multi-organ and susceptibility to multi-disease in offspring. However, the effects of PCE on osteoarthritis susceptibility in adult offspring and its intrauterine programming mechanism remain to be further investigated. Here, we found that PCE induced susceptibility to osteoarthritis in male adult offspring rats, which was related to the inhibited function of cartilage matrix synthesis from fetuses to adults.

Glutamate affects cholesterol homeostasis within the brain via the up-regulation of CYP46A1 and ApoE.

Chronic glutamate excitotoxicity has been thought to be involved in numerous neurodegenerative disorders. A small but significant loss of membrane cholesterol has been reported following a short stimulation of ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs). We investigated the alteration of brain cholesterol following chronic glutamate treatment.

Thyroxine Alleviates Energy Failure, Prevents Myocardial Cell Apoptosis, and Protects against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiac Injury and Cardiac Dysfunction via the LKB1/AMPK/mTOR Axis in Mice.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that energy failure is closely associated with cardiac injury. Doxorubicin (DOX) is a commonly used clinical chemotherapy drug that can mediate cardiac injury through a variety of mechanisms. Thyroxine is well known to play a critical role in energy generation; thus, this study is aimed at investigating whether thyroxine can attenuate DOX-induced cardiac injury by regulating energy generation.

Surgical outcomes of subtotal colectomy with antiperistaltic caecorectal anastomosis vs total colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis for intractable slow-transit constipation.

Background: Few studies have compared the surgical outcomes of different surgical procedures currently used to treat refractory colonic slow-transit constipation (STC), despite the increase in the number of cases. This study aimed to analyse the long-term surgical outcomes of subtotal colectomy with antiperistaltic caecorectal anastomosis (SC-ACRA) vs total colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis (TC-IRA) for severe STC.

Methods: Between January 2005 and January 2015, we retrospectively collected clinical data of 55 patients who underwent TC-IRA (=35) or SC-ACRA (=20) for severe STC at our institution.

FXR activation alleviates tacrolimus-induced post-transplant diabetes mellitus by regulating renal gluconeogenesis and glucose uptake.

Background: Tacrolimus (FK506)-induced diabetes mellitus is one of the most important factors of post-transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM). However, the detailed mechanisms underlying PTDM are still unclear. Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) regulates glycolipid metabolism.

Prenatal ethanol exposure increased the susceptibility of adult offspring rats to glomerulosclerosis.

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of prenatal ethanol exposure (PEE) on the susceptibility of offspring rats to glomerulosclerosis and to explore the mechanism. Pregnant Wistar rats were intragastrically administered ethanol (4g/kg·d) from gestational day (GD) 9 to GD 20, and the control group was given equal volume of normal saline. The offspring rats were all fed with high-fat diet after weaning, and were sacrificed at postnatal week 24 (PW24).

Prenatal glucocorticoids exposure and fetal adrenal developmental programming.

Clinically, we apply synthetic glucocorticoids to treat fetal and maternal diseases, such as premature labor and autoimmune diseases. Although its clinical efficacy is positive, the fetus will be exposed to exogenous synthetic glucocorticoids. Prenatal adverse environments (such as xenobiotics exposure, malnutrition, infection, hypoxia and stress) can cause fetuses overexposure to excessive endogenous maternal glucocorticoids.