Objective To explore the potential mechanism of abnormal behavior resulted from maternal separation in neo-natal period in rat. Methods Neonatal rats were equally and randomly divided into maternal separation group and control group. The rats in maternal separation group were separated from the dam for 3h per day on postnatal days (PND) 2 to 21, nothing was done to the rats in the control group. The brain tissues were taken out after being killed on PND 7, 14, and 21. The expressions of Caveolin-l, BDNF and GFAP in hippocampal formation were detected by immunohistochemistry. Semiquantitative assessment of immunohistochemical images was performed by Image-Pro Plus software. Results Compared with control groups, the expres-sion of Caveolin-l on PND 7 had no signiifcant change, while BDNF and GFAP were signiifcantly increased in maternal separa-tion group (P<0.05). On PND 14 and 21, the expressions of Caveolin-l, BDNF and GFAP were signiifcantly decreased in maternal separation group (P<0.05). Conclusions Decreased expressions of Caveolin-l, BDNF and GFAP caused by maternal separation in neonatal period may be associated with abnormal behaviors in adulthood in rat.

Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) is a primary disease that affects the vision of young and middle-aged people.Its treatment is difficult because of its high incidence and easy recurrence.Currently, the commonly used clinical treatment methods for CSC include photodynamic therapy, traditional laser photocoagulation, subthreshold micropulse laser photocoagulation (SDM), anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy, and so on.SDM is a high-frequency, short, subthreshold and selective laser, which is preferred by many clinicians because of its low energy, good safety, small trauma and so on.Different wavelengths of laser can be absorbed by different pigments in the eye, so the therapeutic wavelengths of SDM for different sites of CSC are also different.In SDM treatment, it is necessary to determine the effective treatment range and parameters to avoid undertreatment or overtreatment.In this article, the mechanism of SDM in the treatment of CSC, the difference of SDM under different wavelengths, the selection of treatment site and parameters, the efficacy and safety were reviewed, and the prospect of SDM in the future was envisioned.

Liver fibrosis is a major disease that affects human health. Currently,drugs used for the treatment of hepatic fibrosis have such problems as low drug solubility,lack of liver specificity and possible occurrence of side-effects. In order to improve the anti-fibrosis therapeutic efficacy,various nano-drug delivery systems and targeting strategies are explored in liver fibrosis therapy. This review summarizes the drug delivery systems and targeting strategies that have been applied to liver fibrosis therapy in recent years from the types of carriers and modified ligands,which serve as a basis of designing safe and effective drug delivery systems for liver fibrosis therapy.

Delivery of follistatin (FST) represents a promising strategy for both muscular dystrophies and diabetes, as FST is a robust antagonist of myostatin and activin, which are critical regulators of skeletal muscle and adipose tissues. FST is a multi-domain protein, and deciphering the function of different domains will facilitate novel designs for FST-based therapy. Our study aims to investigate the role of the N-terminal domain (ND) of FST in regulating muscle and fat mass in vivo. Different FST constructs were created and packaged into the adeno-associated viral vector (AAV). Overexpression of wild-type FST in normal mice greatly increased muscle mass while decreasing fat accumulation, whereas overexpression of an N terminus mutant or N terminus-deleted FST had no effect on muscle mass but moderately decreased fat mass. In contrast, FST-I-I containing the complete N terminus and double domain I without domain II and III had no effect on fat but increased skeletal muscle mass. The effects of different constructs on differentiated C2C12 myotubes were consistent with the in vivo finding. We hypothesized that ND was critical for myostatin blockade, mediating the increase in muscle mass, and was less pivotal for activin binding, which accounts for the decrease in the fat tissue. An in vitro TGF-beta1-responsive reporter assay revealed that FST-I-I and N terminus-mutated or -deleted FST showed differential responses to blockade of activin and myostatin. Our study provided direct in vivo evidence for a role of the ND of FST, shedding light on future potential molecular designs for FST-based gene therapy.
Activins ; Animals ; Follistatin* ; Genetic Therapy ; In Vitro Techniques ; Mice ; Muscle Fibers, Skeletal ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Muscular Dystrophies ; Myostatin ; Negotiating

Objective:To analyze the characteristics of eyes with congenital optic disc pits (ODPs) through multimodal imaging.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted.Thirty-eight patients (38 eyes) diagnosed with congenital ODPs in the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University from January 2009 to January 2020 were enrolled.A comprehensive summary analysis of the imaging results including fundus photography, spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), infrared imaging, fundus autofluorescence (FAF), fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA) and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) was performed.This study protocol adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by an Ethics Committee of The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University (No.2021-P011). Written informed consent was obtained from each subject prior to any medical examination.Results:Among the 38 eyes, there were 32 eyes with ODPs located in or below the temporal side of optic disc, 4 eyes with ODPs located above the temporal side of optic disc, and 2 eyes with ODPs located at the center of optic disc, which were round or quasi-circular pale depression, and dark red eminences with clear or unclear boundaries between milk spots were found in 29 eyes with optical-disc macular degeneration (ODP-M) by fundus photography.SD-OCT examination showed that the structure of lamina cribrosa in the lesion area in all ODPs patients was incomplete, which presented a dark area with no tissue reflection, and the fissure led to the deep optic nerve.Fluid was found in the outer nuclear layer in all ODP-M patients, and there were 27 eyes with fluid in the inner nuclear layer, 13 eyes in the ganglion cell layer, and 4 eyes under the inner limiting membrane.Among the 29 eyes with ODP-M, there were 21 eyes with retinoschisis in outer layer, 27 eyes with neuroepithelial detachment.In the 27 eyes with neuroepithelial detachment, spot-like high reflection and reduced or disappeared ellipsoid band reflectance were seen above the neuroepithelium in 18 eyes.In infrared images, there were circular or quasi-circular low-reflection areas in the temporal side of the optic disc, and the lesion of ODP-M eyes presented low-reflection areas.FAF examination showed that in 27 eyes with ODP-M, there was a hypofluorescent region at the posterior pole consistent with the lesion range, among which, there was a granular or sheet-like hyperfluorescence at the center of the hypofluorescent region in 18 eyes.FFA showed that the optic disc depression in the arterial phase of patients was in a localized hypofluorescence state.During the venous phase, fluorescein dye extravasation along the temporal side of the optic disc could be found.A strong fluorescent arc with unclear boundaries at the temporal edge of the optic disc was formed in the late stage of angiography.Among the 29 eyes with ODP-M, the area of the macular lesion showed hyperfluorescence during the late stage of angiography in 27 eyes with neuroepithelial detachment, and no extension of dye toward the macula was found.ICGA showed that the optic disc depression of ODPs patients presented a localized hypofluorescence, and the lesion showed hyperfluorescence in 27 of the 29 ODP-M eyes with neuroepithelial detachment.Conclusions:Multimodal imaging can be helpful to realize the early diagnosis, etiology analysis of ODPs and make treatment plan.

To investigate the cellular immunogenicity of influenza vaccine liposomes dry powder using the film-dispersion and freeze-thawing. Mice were divided into the non-liposomal influenza vaccine group, film-dispersion prepared liposomal influenza vaccine group, freeze-thawing lyophilized influenza vaccine liposome group, positive control group and negative control group(n=5). 6 μg of hemagglutinin of H1N1 subtype per mouse was delivered tracheally to the mice of lyophilized liposomes groups, with the same dose for non-liposomes intraperitoneally delivered groups as the positive control, and PBS intraperotoneal injection group as the negative control. After 28-day of immunization, the proliferationofsplenic lymphocytes was detected by MTT assay; CD4+cell and CD8+cell were analyzed by flow cytometry. The dry powder of influenza vaccine liposomes prepared by the above two methods, both induce cellular immunity, with no significant difference in the induced on immunogenicity between the prepared products(P< 0. 05). The results showed that freeze-thawing method is feasible in the preparation of vaccine liposomes, leading to the attenuated live vaccine liposome preparation.

Objective:To investigate the clinical value of free-talk language functional cortex mapping methods based on high frequency response in epileptic foci resection.Methods:Twenty patients with intractable epilepsy admitted to our hospital from January 2016 to May 2019 were chosen in our study. According to the different intraoperative mapping methods of language functional region, these patients were divided into test group ( n=10, using free-talk language function localization based on high frequency response [new method]+ electrical cortical stimulation [ECS]) and control group ( n=10, using ECS localization only). The overlap rate of the two methods in the test group were calculated and the postoperative follow-up results of patients in the two groups were analyzed. Results:In 10 patients from the test group, 33 positive loci in the Broca's area and 33 positive loci in the Wernicke's area were detected by new method; at the meantime, 16 positive loci in the Broca's area and 8 positive loci in the Wernicke's area were detected by ECS method, which had a overlap rate of 93.75% (15/16) in the Broca's area and 75.00% (6/8) in the Wernicke's area, respectively, as compared with the new method. In the 10 patients from the control group, 18 positive loci in the Broca's area and 3 positive loci in the Wernicke's area were detected by ECS method. In the test group, 7 patients achieved Engel grading I and 2 patients developed transient language function impairment after surgery; while in the control group, 5 patients achieved Engel grading I and 4 patients developed transient language function impairment after surgery.Conclusion:The new method has a high overlap rate with ECS method; the combination of the two methods can help to decrease the speech function impairment after excision of epileptogenic foci in patients with epilepsy.

Biodegradable polyamines have long been studied as potential recombinant viral gene vectors. Spermine (SPE) is an endogenous tetra-amine with excellent biocompatibility yet poor gene condensation capacity. We have previously synthesized a polyspermine based on SPE and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) diacrylate (SPE-alt-PEG) for enhanced transfection performance, but the synthesized SPE-alt-PEG still lacked specificity towards cancer cells. In this study, folic acid (FA) was incorporated into SPE-alt-PEG to fabricate a targeted gene delivery vector (FA-SPE-PEG) via an acylation reaction. FA-SPE-PEG exhibited mild cytotoxicity in both cancer cells and normal cells. FA-SPE-PEG possessed higher transfection efficiency than PEI 25 K and Lipofectamine(®) 2000 in two tested cancer cell lines at functional weight ratios, and its superiority over untargeted SPE-alt-PEG was prominent in cells with overexpressed folate receptors (FRs). Moreover, in vivo delivery of green fluorescent protein (GFP) with FA-SPE-PEG resulted in highest fluorescent signal intensity of all investigated groups. FA-SPE-PEG showed remarkably enhanced specificity towards cancer cells both in vivo and in vitro due to the interaction between FA and FRs. Taken together, FA-SPE-PEG was demonstrated to be a prospective targeted gene delivery vector with high transfection capacity and excellent biocompatibility.

Objective: To understand the possible transmission route of a family cluster of COVID-19 in Zhengzhou and the potential infectivity of COVID-19 in incubation period, and provide scientific evidence for the timely control of infectious source and curb the spread of the epidemic. Methods: Epidemiological investigation was conducted for a family cluster of COVID-19 (8 cases) with descriptive epidemiological method, and respiratory tract samples of the cases were collected for the nucleic acid detection of 2019-nCoV by RT-PCR. Results: Two primary cases, which occurred on 31 January and 1 February, 2020, respectively, had a common exposure history in Wuhan. The other six family members had onsets on 30 January, 31 January, 1 February (three cases) and 3 February, 2020. Conclusions In this family cluster of COVID-19, six family members were infected through common family exposure to the 2 primary cases. Five secondary cases had onsets earlier than or on the same day as the primary cases, indicating that COVID-19 is contagious in incubation period, and the home isolation in the early phase of the epidemic might lead to the risk of family cluster of COVID-19.

ACC oxidase (ACO) is one of the key enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of ethylene. Ethylene is involved in salt stress response in plants, and salt stress seriously affects the yield of peanut. In this study, AhACO genes were cloned and their functions were investigated with the aim to explore the biological function of AhACOs in salt stress response, and to provide genetic resources for the breeding of salt-tolerant varieties of peanut. AhACO1 and AhACO2 were amplified from the cDNA of salt-tolerant peanut mutant M29, respectively, and cloned into the plant expression vector pCAMBIA super1300. The recombinant plasmid was transformed into Huayu22 by pollen tube injection mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. After harvest, the small slice cotyledon was separated from the kernel, and the positive seeds were screened by PCR. The expression of AhACO genes was analyzed by qRT-PCR, and the ethylene release was detected by capillary column gas chromatography. Transgenic seeds were sowed and then irrigated with NaCl solution, and the phenotypic changes of 21-day-seedings were recorded. The results showed that the growth of transgenic plants were better than that of the control group Huayu 22 upon salt stress, and the relative content of chlorophyll SPAD value and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) of transgenic peanuts were higher than those of the control group. In addition, the ethylene production of AhACO1 and AhACO2 transgenic plants were 2.79 and 1.87 times higher than that of control peanut, respectively. These results showed that AhACO1 and AhACO2 could significantly improve the salt stress tolerance of transgenic peanut.
Salt Tolerance/genetics* ; Arachis/genetics* ; Plant Breeding ; Ethylenes/metabolism* ; Plants, Genetically Modified/genetics* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Plant Proteins/genetics*