Icariside II affects hippocampal neuron axon regeneration and improves learning and memory in a chronic cerebral hypoperfusion rat model.

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) is a basic pathological process that is comorbid with brain diseases, such as vascular Parkinsonism and Alzheimer's disease. Icariside II (ICS II), which is one of the main metabolites of icariin, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and protects against ischemic brain injury. This study aims to investigate the neuroprotective effects of ICS II on neuronal axon regeneration-related factors in a CCH rat model.

Correction: PPA1 promotes NSCLC progression via a JNK- and TP53-dependent manner.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Nuclear Factor-κB Increases Intracellular Calcium by Upregulation of Na+-Ca2+ Exchanger 1 in Cerulein-Induced Acute Pancreatitis.

Objectives: The mechanisms underlying pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis (AP) are still not completely understood. An early, critical feature of AP is aberrant calcium (Ca) signaling, termed Ca overload, within pancreatic acinar cells. This study aimed to develop a model system in rats for AP induction to study the contribution of the Na-Ca exchanger 1 (NCX1) ion channel in AP pathogenesis.

Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation-based quantitative proteomic analysis of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis and H2AX in etoposide-induced renal cell carcinoma apoptosis.

Background: X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) is a vital factor in the anti-apoptosis mechanism of tumors and is highly expressed in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, the mechanism through which XIAP regulates DNA damage repair is unknown. This study investigated the regulatory mechanism of XIAP in etoposide-induced apoptosis in two Caki-1 cell lines with high or low XIAP expression.

Development of photo-magnetic drug delivery system by facile-designed dual stimuli-responsive modified biopolymeric chitosan capped nano-vesicle to improve efficiency in the anesthetic effect and its biological investigations.

Though anesthetic drug delivery system and drug vehicles is generally applied for pain relief, there are have many difficulties and issues due to its short duration carrier and low biocompatibility, effectiveness at the conditions of inflammation at acidic pH. To resolve this issue, we have designed and developed the dual (pH and temperature) responsive bio-nanomaterial to improve the efficiency anesthetic drug delivery system. Chitosan is a unique class of biomaterials that is widely used in medical devices.

Anatomical basis and clinical application of the dorsal perforator flap based on the palmar artery in the first web.

Purpose: Soft-tissue defects of the thumb and index finger remain a challenge for plastic surgeons. Our purpose was to observe the morphological characteristics of the cutaneous vessels in the first web, to design a dorsal perforator flap based on the palmar artery in the first web and to propose its clinical application.

Methods: Thirty preserved hand specimens were dissected to observe the origin, course, branch and anastomosis of the dorsal perforators in the first web, and the dorsal perforator flap based on the palmar artery in the first web was designed.

Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Metformin, Glyburide, and Insulin in Treating Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Meta-Analysis.

To compare the efficacy and safety of metformin, glyburide, and insulin in treating gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library to November 13, 2018, were searched for RCT adjusted estimates of the efficacy and safety of metformin, glyburide, and insulin treatments in GDM patients. There were 41 studies involving 7703 GDM patients which were included in this meta-analysis; 12 primary outcomes and 24 secondary outcomes were detected and analyzed.

Autophagy and pulmonary disease.

Autophagy is a process of cell self-renewal that is dependent on the degradation of the cytoplasmic proteins or organelles of lysosomes. Many diseases, such as metabolic diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and lung diseases, have been confirmed to be associated with elevated or impaired levels of autophagy. At present, studies have found that autophagy participates in the regulation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, acute lung injury, lung cancer, and other pulmonary diseases.

The effects of tourniquet use on blood loss in primary total knee arthroplasty for patients with osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis.

Background: The tourniquet is a common medical instrument used in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, there has always been a debate about the use of a tourniquet and there is no published meta-analysis to study the effects of a tourniquet on blood loss in primary TKA for patients with osteoarthritis.

Methods: We performed a literature review on high-quality clinical studies to determine the effects of using a tourniquet or not on blood loss in cemented TKA.

miR-204-5p Represses Bone Metastasis via Inactivating NF-κB Signaling in Prostate Cancer.

The prime issue derived from prostate cancer (PCa) is its high prevalence to metastasize to bone. MicroRNA-204-5p (miR-204-5p) has been reported to be involved in the development and metastasis in a variety of cancers. However, the clinical significance and biological functions of miR-204-5p in bone metastasis of PCa are still not reported yet.

[Clinical significance of antibacterial peptide LL-37 in early diagnosis of patients with sepsis in emergency department].

Objective: To discuss the clinical significance of antibacterial peptide LL-37 in the early diagnosis of patients with sepsis in emergency department.

Methods: Forty patients diagnosed with sepsis in the emergency department of the Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical College from December 2017 to March 2018 were enrolled as sepsis group. Twenty healthy volunteers were enrolled contemporaneously in our hospital at medical center as healthy control group.

Enzyme responsive titanium substrates with antibacterial property and osteo/angio-genic differentiation potentials.

After implantation into a host, titanium (Ti) orthopaedic materials are facing two major clinical challenges: bacterial infection and aseptic loosening, which directly determine the long-term survival of the implant. To endow Ti implant with self-defensive antibacterial properties and desirable osteo/angio-genic differentiation potentials, hyaluronic acid (HA)-gentamicin (Gen) conjugates (HA-Gen) and chitosan (Chi) polyelectrolyte multilayers were constructed on deferoxamine (DFO) loaded titania nanotubes (TNT) substrates via layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly technique, termed as TNT/DFO/HA-Gen. The HA-Gen conjugate was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR).

Dynamic expression of autophagy-related factors in autoimmune encephalomyelitis and exploration of curcumin therapy.

Curcumin has been used in the study of central nervous system immune-related diseases and exerts a substantial neuroprotective effect. However, the mechanism remains unclear. The AKT/mTOR autophagy-related signalling pathway plays an important role in tumour therapy, but whether curcumin plays a therapeutic role in multiple sclerosis (MS) through this signalling pathway remains to be determined.

[Advances in researches on mechanism of macrophage migration inhibitory factor regulating parasite-host immune interaction].

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a type of pleiotropic immunoregulatory cytokine with a specific structure, participates in the regulation of host cell growth and migration and immune responses. Following parasitic infections, hosts may produce MIF and then participate in the parasite-host interactions. In addition, parasites may secrete parasite-derived MIF, and they jointly participate in parasite-host interactions.

Conditioned medium from 3D culture system of stromal vascular fraction cells accelerates wound healing in diabetic rats.

We investigated the healing effects of conditioned medium (CM) derived from a physiological 3D culture system engineered to use an extracellular matrix/stromal vascular fraction (SVF) gel enriched for adipose on diabetic wounds in rats. This CM (Gel-CM) was compared with that from a 2D culture system that used SVF cells (SVF-CM). Keratinocytes, fibroblasts and wounds were treated with Gel-CM and SVF-CM, and cytokine levels in the CM types were quantified.

polysaccharide alleviates oxygen glucose deprivation-induced PC-12 cells damage by up-regulating miR-24.

This research was aimed to detect the functions of polysaccharides (LBPs) on oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) injury and potential mechanisms at PC-12 cells. CCK-8, flow cytometry and reactive oxygen species (ROS) assays were used to detect OGD, LBPs and miR-24 effects on cell viability, apoptosis, and oxidative stress. MiR-24 was transfected and texted by transfection and qRT-PCR.

Organic anion transporters and PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway mediate the synergistic anticancer effect of pemetrexed and rhein.

The aim of this study was to explore whether rhein could enhance the effects of pemetrexed (PTX) on the therapy of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to clarify the associated molecular mechanism. Our study shows that rhein in combination with PTX could obviously increase the systemic exposure of PTX in rats, which would be mediated by the inhibition of organic anion transporters (OATs). Furthermore, the toxicity of PTX was significantly raised by rhein in A549 cells in a concentration-dependent manner.

PPA1 promotes NSCLC progression via a JNK- and TP53-dependent manner.

Inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPA1) promotes tumor progression in several tumor types. However, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, we disclosed that PPA1 expression is markedly upregulated in lung carcinoma tissue versus normal lung tissue.

Phosphorylation of eIF2α mitigates endoplasmic reticulum stress and hepatocyte necroptosis in acute liver injury.

Introduction And Objectives: Necroptosis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been implicated in acute and chronic liver injury. Activated eukaryotic initiation factor 2 alpha (eIF2α) attenuates protein synthesis and relieves the load of protein folding in the ER. In this study, we aimed to analyze the impact of eIF2α phosphorylation on hepatocyte necroptosis in acute liver injury.

[Effect of overexpression of microRNA-21-5p on early apoptosis of type II alveolar epithelial cells in rats with hyperoxic acute lung injury].

Objective: To investigate the effect of overexpression of microRNA-21-5p (miR-21-5p) on early apoptosis of type II alveolar epithelial cells (AEC II) in rats with hyperoxic acute lung injury (HALI).

Methods: The Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups: control group (CON group), hyperoxia group (H group), overexpression group (OE group) and empty vector group (EV group), with 20 rats in each group. HALI animal model was made by inhaling high concentration oxygen (oxygen concentration ≥ 90%); CON group was arranged to inhale room air.

[Establishment of Ace2 knockout mouse model with CRISPR/Cas9 gene targeting technology].

The aim of the study was to establish Ace2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) knockout mouse model with CRISPR/Cas9 gene targeting technology. A vector targeting Ace2 gene knockout was constructed with the primers of single-guide RNA (gRNA), and then transcribed gRNA/Cas9 mRNA was micro-injected into the mouse zygote. The deletion of exons 3 to 18 of Ace2 gene in mice was detected and identified by PCR and gene sequencing.

[Effect of Silencing LNK Gene on the Expression of EPO and EPOR in THP-1 Cells].

Objective: To investigate the effect of silencing LNK gene on the expression of EPO and EPOR in acute myeloid leukemia cells (THP-1).

Methods: THP-1 cells were cultured. The lentivirus was used as a vector to silence the LNK gene stably.

Human adipose liquid extract induces angiogenesis and adipogenesis: a novel cell-free therapeutic agent.

Background: Taking advantage of cellular paracrine mechanisms, the secretome of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) and adipose tissue has been demonstrated to induce tissue repair and regeneration in various ischemic and impaired conditions. However, these cell-based therapies have been hindered by issues, such as inherent safety and cost-efficiency for clinical applications. In this study, we prepared a liquid cell-free extract from human adipose tissue [adipose liquid extract (ALE)] and evaluated its potential therapeutic efficacy.

N-methyladenosine modification of ITGA6 mRNA promotes the development and progression of bladder cancer.

Background: Accumulating evidence has revealed the critical roles of N-methyladenosine (mA) modification of mRNA in various cancers. However, the biological function and regulation of mA in bladder cancer (BC) are not yet fully understood.

Methods: We performed cell phenotype analysis and established in vivo mouse xenograft models to assess the effects of mA-modified ITGA6 on BC growth and progression.

Transplantation of MHC-mismatched mouse embryonic stem cell-derived thymic epithelial progenitors and MHC-matched bone marrow prevents autoimmune diabetes.

Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease resulting from the destruction of insulin-secreting islet β cells by autoreactive T cells. Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice are the widely used animal model for human T1D. Autoimmunity in NOD mice is associated with particular major histocompatibility complex (MHC) loci and impaired islet autoantigen expression and/or presentation in the thymus, which results in defects in both central and peripheral tolerance.