In order to study the expression of melatonin receptors Mel1a and RORβ in the human brain,and to furthe investigate the melatonin's function in Alzheimer's disease,two melatonin receptor cDNAs were cloned and introduced into pBluescript Ⅱ (KS+)vector.The recombinant plasmids were identified by using restriction enzymes and then sequenced.The results indicated that the cloned DNA sequences and the Genbandk Sequences were inentical.The cRNA probes made from them can be used in the in situ hybridization immunohistochemistry to detect the mRNA expression level in the future study.

Objective To investigate p75 NTR expressing neurons and hyperphosphorylated tau protein containing neurons in the hippocampal CA1 subfield of Alzheimer's disease. Methods Samples of hippocampus of 10 female AD patients and 10 non-demented female controls matched with age and postmortem delay were obtained from the Netherlands Brain Bank. The main body of hippocampus was dissected, dehydrated and embedded in paraffin. Serial 6-?m coronal sections were cut, and 3 successive sections were selected. The first section was stained with 0.5% thionin, the second was processed for p75 NTR immunocytochemistry and the third was processed for p75 NTR double-labeling immunocytochemistry with Alz-50. For quantitative analysis of the total number of neurons, p75 NTR expressing neurons and neurons colocalizing p75 NTR and Alz-50 in the CA1 subfields, a MetaMorph image acquisition and processing software (Universal Imaging Corp, USA) was used.Results The total number of neurons, p75 NTR immunoreactive neurons and ratio of the latter to the former in 1 mm2 of the CA1 subfield of AD patients were 293.2?37.0, 116.0?20.4 and 39.7%?5.3%, respectively, of controls were 473.6?63.1, 136.7?24.4 and 28.9%?3.7%, respectively. There was significant decrease in the total number of neurons of the AD patients in comparison with controls (P=0.000 2). However, the ratio of p75 NTR neurons to total number of neurons was significant increase in AD patients compared with controls (P=0.001). The number of Alz-50 neurons, Alz-50 and p75 NTR double-labeling neurons and ratio of the latter to the former in 1 mm2 of the CA1 subfield of AD patients were 87.5?29.2, 76.4?26.6 and 86.6%?5.0%, respectively. Furthermore, the number of p75 NTR containing neurons was significantly correlated to the number of Alz-50 expressing neurons (r=0.79, P=0.006). Conclusion The p75 NTR may interact with hyperphosphorylated tau protein and involve in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer′s disease.

AIM To investigate the relationships between the alterations in circadian rhythms of cortisol, melatonin and nocturnal asthma METHODS Circadian rhythms of salivary free cortisol and melatonin levels were investigated in 15 control subjects and 8 exacerbation and 7 remission patients with bronchial asthma The serial salivary samples were collected at 12 time points during a 24 hour period The intensity of illumination was restricted to 50 lux during the night Salivary cortisol and melatonin levels were measured by radioimmunoassay RESULTS The 24 hour mean levels (mesor) of salivary cortisol was significantly different by one way ANOVA among the three groups ( P

Objective To explore the influence of singing therapy on anxiety and depression of patients with stable COPD.Methods Toally 56 COPD patients were divided into intervention group and control group according to random digit table.The control group was provided health education and mental nursing.On the base of treatment for the control group,the intervention group received singing therapy for 24 weeks.The anxiety and depression scale was to measure the anxiety and depression before and 24 weeks after intervention.Results There were no differences in HAD score and HAD-A score and HAD-D score between the groups before intervention (P＞0.05),but after intervention,the differences were significant in terms of the HAD score and HAD-A score and HAD-D score (P＜0.01).The scores of intervention group were significantly lower than those of the control group.For the scores,there was no difference in the control group between pre-and post-intervention (P＞0.05),but the scores after intervention were significantly lower than those before intervention in the intervention group (P＜0.001).Conclusion Singing therapy can effectively alleviate anxiety and depression of COPD patients at the stable state.

Objective To investigate the effect and safety of orthokeratology lens on myopia control in adolescents and children with different diopters.Methods Ninety-three patients(171 eyes)with myopia who received orthokeratology lens treatment in the Affiliated Jiangning Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from February to August 2021 were selected for the study.They were divided into a low degree group(88 eyes,-0.5D to-3.0D)and medium degree group(83 eyes,-3.0D to-6.0D)according to the equivalent spherical lens degree.The naked eye distant vision,diopter,optic axis,breakup time of tear film(BUT),corneal endothelial cell count and complications were compared between two groups.Results After 1 year of lens wear,growth of optic axis in low degree group was significantly greater than that in medium degree group(Z=-2.035,P=0.042).After 1 year of lens wear,naked eye distant vision of both groups was significantly higher than that before lens wear(P<0.05),and increase of visual acuity in medium degree group was significantly greater than that in low degree group(P<0.05).The equivalent spherical degree of two groups was significantly lower than that before lens wear(P<0.05),and reduction of equivalent spherical lens degree in medium degree group was significantly greater than that in low degree group(P<0.05).After 1 year of lens wear,BUT in both groups was significantly shorter than that before lens wear,and corneal endothelial cell count was lower than that before lens wear(P<0.05),but there were no significant differences in BUT and corneal endothelial cell count between two groups(P>0.05).There was no statistically significant difference in complication rate between two groups(χ2=2.000,P=0.157).Conclusion Orthokeratology lens has good control effect and safety for adolescents and children with different diopters,and the effect is more prominent for moderate myopia.

Traditional ophthalmic pharmaceutical preparations are mostly eye drops or eye ointments, which have the disadvantages of low efficiency and poor patient compliance in application.Drug-loaded contact lenses can overcome these shortcomings and have attracted much attention.Improving drug loading capacity and enhancing sustained-release performance of drug-loaded contact lenses are the main focus of research and development.In recent years, drug-loaded contact lenses made of molecularly imprinted hydrogel can significantly improve drug loading capacity and sustained-release performance, and have been widely studied.The application status of molecularly imprinted hydrogel drug-loaded contact lenses in the delivery of ophthalmic drugs, as well as the effects of various factors on drug loading capacity and sustained-release performance were reviewed in this article.

Objective: To compare the reproducibility and performance of quantitative metrics between ZOOMit and conventional intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis of early- and mid-stage Sjögren’s syndrome (SS). Materials and Methods: Twenty-two patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 52.0 ± 10.8 years; male:female, 2:20) with early- or mid-stage SS and 20 healthy controls (46.9 ± 14.6 years; male:female, 7:13) were prospectively enrolled in our study.ZOOMit IVIM and conventional IVIM MRI were performed simultaneously in all individuals using a 3T scanner. Quantitative IVIM parameters - including tissue diffusivity (D), pseudodiffusion coefficient (D*), and perfusion fraction (f) - inter- and intra-observer reproducibility in measuring these parameters, and their ability to distinguish patients with SS from healthy individuals were assessed and compared between ZOOMit IVIM and conventional IVIM methods, appropriately. MR gland nodular grade (MRG) was also examined. Results: Inter- and intra-observer reproducibility was better with ZOOMit imaging than with conventional IVIM imaging (ZOOMit vs. conventional, intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.897–0.941 vs. 0.667–0.782 for inter-observer reproducibility and 0.891–0.968 vs. 0.814–0.853 for intra-observer reproducibility). Significant differences in ZOOMit f, ZOOMit D*, conventional D*, and MRG between patients with SS and healthy individuals (all p < 0.05) were observed. ZOOMit D* outperformed conventional D* in diagnosing early- and mid-stage SS (area under receiver operating curve, 0.867 and 0.658, respectively; p = 0.002). The combination of ZOOMit D*, MRG, and ZOOMit f as a new diagnostic index for SS, increased diagnostic area under the curve to 0.961, which was higher than that of any single parameter (all p < 0.01). Conclusion Considering its better reproducibility and performance, ZOOMit IVIM may be preferred over conventional IVIM MRI, and may subsequently improve the ability to diagnose early- and mid-stage SS.

OBJECTIVESTo explore the mechanisms of neuronal loss and apoptosis in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, through studying the expression of proteins related to signal transduction pathways, which are important for neuron survival.

METHODS(1) Immunohistochemistry: Sections were double stained with Tunel and NSE antibodies. (2) The hippocampal tissue taken from 6 cases of AD and 6 cases of non-AD brains was homogenized. Protein estimation was done by Lowry method. Equal amounts of protein were taken from each specimen and immunoprecipitation was performed and analyzed by Western blot; color development was done by alkaline phosphatase method or luminol reagent.

RESULTS(1) Tunel positive neurons were found in both AD and non-AD brains, but the number in the former was more than the latter. (2) The AD hippocampal tissue showed diminished expression of Akt/PKB, CREB, P-CREB, increased expression of apoptosis-related protein apoptosis-inducing factor, and diminished expression of apoptosis-related protein bcl-2. The expression of bax did not change.

CONCLUSIONSDiminished expression of CREB, P-CREB, bcl-2 in AD hippocampus indicates that the neuron survival signal transduction pathway in AD brains is impaired. Neurons are in apoptotic or pro-apoptotic state. In addition, increased expression of apoptosis-inducing factor, diminished expression of bcl-2, which is an anti-apoptotic factor, promotes further neuron apoptosis.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alzheimer Disease ; metabolism ; pathology ; Apoptosis ; Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Neurons ; metabolism ; pathology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; physiology

Objective: To evaluate the performance of a convolutional neural network (CNN) model that can automatically detect and classify rib fractures, and output structured reports from computed tomography (CT) images. Materials and Methods: This study included 1079 patients (median age, 55 years; men, 718) from three hospitals, between January 2011 and January 2019, who were divided into a monocentric training set (n = 876; median age, 55 years; men, 582), five multicenter/multiparameter validation sets (n = 173; median age, 59 years; men, 118) with different slice thicknesses and image pixels, and a normal control set (n = 30; median age, 53 years; men, 18). Three classifications (fresh, healing, and old fracture) combined with fracture location (corresponding CT layers) were detected automatically and delivered in a structured report. Precision, recall, and F1-score were selected as metrics to measure the optimum CNN model. Detection/diagnosis time, precision, and sensitivity were employed to compare the diagnostic efficiency of the structured report and that of experienced radiologists. Results: A total of 25054 annotations (fresh fracture, 10089; healing fracture, 10922; old fracture, 4043) were labelled for training (18584) and validation (6470). The detection efficiency was higher for fresh fractures and healing fractures than for old fractures (F1-scores, 0.849, 0.856, 0.770, respectively, p = 0.023 for each), and the robustness of the model was good in the five multicenter/multiparameter validation sets (all mean F1-scores > 0.8 except validation set 5 [512 x 512 pixels; F1-score = 0.757]). The precision of the five radiologists improved from 80.3% to 91.1%, and the sensitivity increased from 62.4% to 86.3% with artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis. On average, the diagnosis time of the radiologists was reduced by 73.9 seconds. Conclusion Our CNN model for automatic rib fracture detection could assist radiologists in improving diagnostic efficiency, reducing diagnosis time and radiologists’ workload.

Objective: To analyze three different integrated scoring schemes of prostate biopsy and to compare their concordance with the scoring of radical prostatectomy specimens. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 556 patients with radical prostatectomy performed in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing, China from 2017 to 2020. In these cases, whole organ sections were performed, the pathological data based on biopsy and radical prostatectomy specimens were summarized, and 3 integrated scores of prostate biopsy were calculated, namely the global score, the highest score and score of the largest volume. Results: Among the 556 patients, 104 cases (18.7%) were classified as WHO/ISUP grade group 1, 227 cases (40.8%) as grade group 2 (3+4=7); 143 cases (25.7%) as grade group 3 (4+3=7); 44 cases (7.9%) as grade group 4 (4+4=8) and 38 cases (6.8%) as grade group 5. Among the three comprehensive scoring methods for prostate cancer biopsy, the consistency of global score was the highest (62.4%). In the correlation analysis, the correlation between the scores of radical specimens and the global scores was highest (R=0.730, P<0.01), while the correlations of the scores based on radical specimens with highest scores and scores of the largest volume based on biopsy were insignificant (R=0.719, P<0.01; R=0.631, P<0.01, respectively). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed tPSA group and the three integrated scores of prostate biopsy were statistically correlated with extraglandular invasion, lymph node metastasis, perineural invasion and biochemical recurrence. Elevated global score was an independent prognostic risk factor for extraglandular invasion and biochemical recurrence in patients; increased serum tPSA was an independent prognostic risk factor for extraglandular invasion; increased hjighest score was an independent risk factor for perineural invasion. Conclusions: In this study, among the three different integrated scores, the overall score is most likely corresponded to the radical specimen grade group, but there is difference in various subgroup analyses. Integrated score of prostate biopsy can reflect grade group of radical prostatectomy specimens, thereby providing more clinical information for assisting in optimal patient management and consultation.
Male ; Humans ; Prostate/pathology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Prostatectomy/methods* ; Biopsy ; Prostatic Neoplasms/pathology*