Objective To analyze the microRNA-155 (miR-155) expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC),and to assess its correlation with clinicopathological parameters and its prognostic significance.Methods MiR-155 expression was detected in specimens of HCC and its adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues in 124 HCC patients by real-time PCR.The expression was also detected in different HCC cell lines.The Kaplan-Meier Curve was used to analyze survival of HCC patients.Gain-and loss-of-function studies were used to determine whether miR-155 impact cell cycle,cell proliferation and apoptosis of HCC cells.Results Expression of miR-155 in HCC tissues was significantly elevated when compared with that in the adjacent non-tumor liver tissues (P ＜ 0.05).MiR-155 expression was significantly higher in different HCC cell lines (P ＜ 0.05) than that in normal liver cells.MiR-155 overexpression was significantly correlated with large tumor size (P ＜ 0.05),high histological grade (P ＜ 0.05) and advanced tumor stage (P ＜ 0.05).Patients with high miR-155 expression had significantly decreased overall survival (P ＜ 0.05) and disease-free survival (P ＜ 0.05).Upregnlation of miR-155 promoted cell cycle transition from G1 to S phase (P ＜ 0.05),increased cell proliferation (P ＜ 0.05) and apoptosis resistance (P ＜ 0.05) in Hep3B cells.Downregulation of miR-155 resulted in G1 arrest,apoptosis promotion and proliferation reduction in SMMC-7721 cells (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion MiR-155 can be used as a prognostic marker for HCC patients,and target therapy on miR-155 can be used as a potential option to prevent HCC progression.

OBJECTIVETo establish a brain functional network of the whole brain based on glucose metabolism, and to evaluate the cost and efficiency of the functional network.

METHODS18F-FDG PET of 148 healthy volunteers (30-59 years, n = 148) was performed in a resting state. Images were registered to atlas by using the statistical parametric mapping (SPM) software. The functional connectivity between 90 cortical and sub-cortical regions was estimated by correlation analysis.

RESULTSGlucose metabolism brain functional networks had global efficiency greater than the lattice but less than the random graph, and local efficiency greater than random but less than lattice. This characteristically small-world behavior of the brain network was most consistently seen for low-cost to medium-cost networks. The small world regime was Cost-[0.0512, 0.5406]. The cost efficiency of the networks typically had a maximum positive value when the cost was 0.23.

CONCLUSIONSGlucose metabolism brain functional networks have economical small-world properties. It is feasible to analyze the functional characteristics of human brain by study 18F-FDG PET images. This paper provides a new method for studies on brain function.

Adult ; Brain ; metabolism ; physiology ; Brain Mapping ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Glucose ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Neurological ; Nerve Net ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; methods