AIM: To investigate the role of fluoxetine in the hippocampal synaptic plasticity in chronic unpre-dictable mild stress (CUMS) depression rats and its effect on mTOR and autophagy signaling pathways.METHODS:Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n =60) were randomly divided into normal control group, CUMS group and fluoxetine group. The CUMS rat model was established through CUMS combined with solitary raising, and fluoxetine (20 mg? kg -1? d -1 ) was administered via intragastric gavage.The changes of body weight, the ratio of sugar intake and the results of the behav-ioral test were recorded to identify the modeling.Moreover, the expression of synaptic plasticity-related proteins glial fibril-lary acidic protein (GFAP) and synaptophysin (SYP), apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2 and caspase-3, mTOR signaling proteins mTOR and 4EBP1, and autophagy-related proteins beclin 1 and LC3 were examined by RT-PCR and Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with control group, the body weight, sucrose intake, and total distance and intermediate residence time in the open field test were significantly decreased in CUMS group.The results of RT-PCR and Western blotting showed that the mRNA and protein levels of SYP and GFAP in CUMS group were significantly down-regulated compared with con-trol group.The expression of Bcl-2 in CUMS group was downregulated, while the protein level of cleaved caspase-3 in-creased.Decreased phosphorylation levels of mTOR and its downstream target molecule 4EBP1 were observed in CUMS group.Besides, the autophagy-related proteins beclin 1 and LC3 were significantly upregulated at mRNA and protein lev-els.All these results(upregulation or downregulation) were attenuated by the treatment with fluoxetine, and the difference was statistically significant.CONCLUSION: Fluoxetine might improve hippocampal synaptic plasticity and alleviate symp-toms of depression by supressing apoptosis/autophagy signaling pathways and upregulating mTOR signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVE:To observe therapeutic efficacy and safety of Danshen chuanxiongqin injection combined with flunari-zine hydrochloride in the benign prevention and treatment of paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and lower extremity deep ve-nous thrombosis (DVT) in post-operative long-term bedridden patients with lower limb fractures. METHODS:300 post-operative long-term bedridden patients with lower limb fractures were selected and randomly divided into observation group and control group,with 150 cases in each group. Control group was given Flunarizine hydrochloride capsules orally 10 mg,qd;observation group was additionally given Danshen chuanxiongqin injection 10 ml+5% Glucose injection 250 ml,ivgtt,qd. The incidence of BPPV and DVT were observed in 2 groups after intervention,and the circumference of lower limb,blood coagulation indexes, blood rheology indexes and inflammatory factor were observed before and after intervention,and the incidence of ADR was com-pared. RESULTS:The incidence of BPPV and DVT in observation group were 18.0% and 16.7%,which were significantly lower than in control group(48.7% and 52.7%),with statistical significance(P<0.05);after intervention,the circumference of lower limb,blood rheology indexes and the levels of inflammatory factors in 2 groups were decreased significantly, while the coagula-tion indicators were significantly improved;the observation group was better than the control group,with statistical significance (P<0.05). There was no statistical significance in the incidence of ADR between 2 groups(P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS:Danshen chuanxiongqin injection combined with flunarizine hydrochloride is effective in the prevention of BPPV and DVT in long-term bed-ridden patients with lower limb fractures,with low incidence of ADR.

Objective: To explore the clinical features and molecular basis for a child featuring infantile epilepsy and developmental disorders. Methods: Clinical data and peripheral blood samples of the child and his parents were collected. The coding regions of genes associated with nervous system development were subjected to target region capture sequencing. Results: The child developed generalized spasm at 3 months and was diagnosed with epilepsy at 6 months of age. He was treated with Depakin but was diagnosed with mental retardation and developmental retardation at 3 years of age. A novel heterozygous c. 3842T>G variant of the SYNE1 gene was detected. His father was found to carry the same variant and had a history of convulsions in infancy but with no mental or developmental anomalies. Conclusion A novel variant of SYNE1 gene was identified in this child, and the prognosis may be poor.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic basis for a child featuring delayed intellectual development. METHODS: The child and his parents were subjected to conventional G-banding karyotyping and single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP-array) analysis. Suspected copy number variations (CNVs) were verified in both parents. RESULTS: No karyotypic abnormality was found with the child and his parents. SNP-array results for both parents were normal. The child was found to harbor a de novo 172 kb deletion at 18q21.2 with a physical position of 52 957 042-53 129 237. The deletion only involved one OMIM gene, namely TCF4, resulting in removal of its exons 6 to 8. CONCLUSION The SNP-array assay has facilitated with the diagnosis of this child. Deletion of 18q21.2 region probably accounts for the Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS) in this patient.
Child ; Chromosome Deletion ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18 ; genetics ; DNA Copy Number Variations ; Developmental Disabilities ; genetics ; Facies ; Humans ; Hyperventilation ; genetics ; Intellectual Disability ; genetics ; Phenotype ; Transcription Factor 4 ; genetics

Objective:To analyze the functional connectivity (FC) characteristics of sensory motor network (SMN) in patients with bipolar disorder type Ⅰ (BD-Ⅰ) by independent component analysis (ICA), and explore the correlation between abnormal SMN and clinical symptoms.Methods:Eighteen patients with BD-Ⅰ (BD-Ⅰ group) and 20 matched normal controls (HC group) were included.Both groups received resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) scanning.Based on ICA-fMRI data, one-sample t-test and two-sample t-test were used to analyze the components of SMN and to explore abnormal brain regions between the two groups.Functional network analysis (FNC) was also used to explore the functional connectivity between SMN and other brain networks.Pearson correlation analysis were conducted by SPSS 17.0 to measure the potential associations between intra-and inter-network functional connectivity and age, education, score of Bech-Rafaelsen mania rating scale (BRMS), score of positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) and other indicators. Results:In BD-Ⅰ group, the functional connection in the right paracentral lobule (MIN: x=8, y=-32, z=68, t=4.86, P<0.001) and the right postcentral gyrus (MIN: x=41, y=-26, z=53, t=3.33, P<0.001) in SMN were higher than those in HC group.Compared with HC group, the connectivity value in patients with BD-Ⅰ increased between SMN-DAN (0.247±0.073, -0.078±0.080, t=-2.974, P<0.01, FDR adjusted), while the connectivity value decreased between SMN-DMN(-0.037±0.054, 0.272±0.067, t=3.520, P<0.01, FDR adjusted) and between SMN-rFPN(-0.034±0.055, 0.231±0.070, t=2.939, P<0.01, FDR adjusted). Conclusion:The sensorimotor network of patients with BD-Ⅰ has abnormal functional connections within and between networks, and FC values in some networks are positively correlated with manic symptoms, which may be part of the neural mechanisms of patients with BD-Ⅰ.