ObjectiveTo evaluate the safety and efficacy of the refractive effect produced by the implantation of intrastromal corneal ring （ICR）．MethodsEach of the 60 eyes （30 rabbits） received an ICR．The thickness of the ICRs varied from 0.19mm to 0.41mm．Each eye underwent a preoperative and postoperative examinations at the lst，3rd，7th and 14th day；the lst，3rd and 6th month．Slit-lamp biomicroscopy and an ORBSCANTM slit scan corneal tomography／pachymetry system were performed at predetermined intervals throughout the follow-up periods．ResultsThe decrease of corneal curvature was observed after ICR implantation in all of the eyes．There was a direct relationship between the ICR thickness and the degree of corneal flattening achieved．The equation is：D＝1.4353－32.87×thickness．The postoperative refractive effect was stable．Wound healing was uncomplicated and central cornea remained transparent．ConclusionThe ICR implantation is safe and effective and the refractive effect is predictive and stable．

Objective: To investigate the effect of CpG motif oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODN) on the antigen induced allergic airway reaction in mice. Methods: The asthma model was set up in the C57BL/6 mice with OVA, the CpG ODN in the dose of 30 ?g was co administered intraperitoneally with the antigen in sensitization stage to study its effect on the airway allergenic reactions. Results: (1)Compared with the control, coadministration of CpG ODN in sensitization phase significantly inhibited airway eosinophilia after antigen challenge( P

Objective To observe the effects of enriched environment on cognitive function in mice with sepsis-associated encephalopathy and to study the neuron PAS domain protein 4 (NPAS4)/brain deprive neurotrophic factor (BDNF)related mechanisms.Methods Sixty adult male mice were divided randomly into three groups:sham operation with standard environment group (group SS,n =12),cecal ligation and puncture with standard environment group (group CS,n =24),cecal ligation and puncture with enriched environment group (group CE,n =24).All mice were reared in standard environment or enriched environment for 28 days.The fear condition test was conducted on day 29 af-ter operation in mice.The change of NPAS4 and BDNF,the density of dendritic spine were detected by western blot or golgi staining.Results Compared with group SS,the context freezing time, NPAS4 and BDNF expression and the density of dendritic spine in hippocampus decreased significantly in group CS (P < 0.05).Compared with group CS,the context freezing time,NPAS4 and BDNF expression and the density of dendritic spine in hippocampus increased significantly in group CE (P <0.05).No significant difference was observed in the conditional freezing time among three groups.Conclusion Enriched environment can obviously improve cognitive function impairment induced by sepsis-associated encephalopathy,which may be related with up-regulated expression of NPAS4/BDNF,and promoted synaptic plasticity.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy ( LIBS) was used to detect the compositions of soil in the air, and the quantitative analysis model with genetic algorithm-partial least squares ( GA-PLS ) was established. A total of fifty-eight soil samples were split into calibration, monitoring and prediction sets. Eleven soil compositions including Mn, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ba, Al2 O3 , CaO, Fe2 O3 , MgO, Na2 O, and K2 O were quantitatively analyzed. The results demonstrated that, as a pretreatment method for optimizing the selection of spectral lines, GA could be effectively used to reduce the number of spectral lines for use in building PLS model, and hence simplify the quantitative analysis model. More importantly, for most of the soil compositions, GA-PLS could significantly improve the prediction ability compared with the conventional PLS model. Take Mn as an example, the root-mean-square error of prediction ( RMSEP ) was decreased from 0. 0215% to 0 . 0167%, and the mean percent prediction error ( MPE ) was decreased from 8 . 10% to 5 . 20%. The research provides an approach for further improving the accuracy of LIBS quantitative analysis in soil.

The residents who had lived for at least 5 years and aged over 20 years old were sampled from urban to rural districts of Jiangsu Province with a stratified cluster sampling technique. B mode ultrasonography and thyroid function determination were carried out in 6 128 persons. The location, diameter, number, boundary, and calcification in thyroid nodules were described by using 7.5 MHz/50 mm transducer of thyroid ultrasonography. TSH was measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay. Free triiodothyronine(FT3)and free thyroxin(FT4)were measured when TSH was abnormal. The crude prevalence of thyroid nodules was 21.12% in total population, 14.55% in male, and 25.24% in female. The standardized prevalence was 15.69%, 11.20%, and 20.40%, respectively. The prevalence was lower in male than in female, and increased with age(P＜0.05). Thyroid nodules in Jiangsu Province were highly prevalent and more attention should be paid to the follow-up, early diagnosis, and treatment.

Objective To observe the effect of enriched environment (EE) on the pain threshold and depression like behavior in mice with chronic constriction injury (CCI) and the underly ing mechanism.Methods Sixty C57/BL6 mice were equally randomized into five groups:sham operation group (group Sham),CCI+standard environment(SE) group (group CS),CCI+EE group (group CE),CCI+EE+temozolomide group (group CET),CCI+EE+lipopolysaccharide group (group CEL).The paw withdraw threshold (PWT),paw withdraw latency,forced swim test (FST)and sucrose preference test (SPT) were evaluated,after the operation,meanwhile the hippocampal bromodeoxyuridine (Brdu),ki67 and doublecortin (ICX) positive cells,tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β(IL-1β) were determined.Results Compared with group Sham,the PWT,PWL,sucrose consumption and Brdu,Ki67,DCX positive cells were significantly decreased,the immobility time and levels of TNF-α and IL-1β were obviously increased in group CS (P＜0.05).Compared with group CE,the PWT,PWL,sucrose consumption and Brdu,Ki67,DCX positive cells were significantly decreased in groups CS and CEL.The immobility time was obviously increased in groups CS,CET and CEL,moreover,the levels of TNF-α and IL-1β were significantly increased in groups CS and CEL (P＜0.05).Conclusion EE can improve the neuropathic pain,depression-like behavior and neural regeneration in mice with CCI.The inhibition of neural regeneration can block EE-induced improvement of depression-like behavior,but does not affect the pain threshold in mice with CCI.The augmentation of central inflammation can attenuate EE-induced improvement of pain threshold and depression-like behavior in mice with CCI.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of miR-137 on the proliferation and apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by high glucose and its mechanism. METHODS: HUVECs cells were divided into low-glucose group (5.5 mmol/L glucose-treated cells), high-glucose group (33.36 mmol/L glucose-treated cells), anti-NC group (cells treated with 33.36 mmol/L glucose after anti-NC transfection) and anti-miR-137 group (cells treated with 33.36 mmol/L glucose after anti-miR-137 transfection). After 48 hours, qRT-PCR was used to determine the expression of miR-137. CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry were used to detect cell proliferation and apoptosis rate, respectively. The targeting relationship between miR-137 and AKT2 was validated by dual fluorescence reporter gene detection system and AKT2 protein expression after overexpression or inhibition of miR-137. RESULTS: High glucose could significantly up-regulate the expression of miR-137 in HUVECs cells, and the expression of miR-137 in HUVECs cells transfected with miR-137 inhibitor was significantly decreased (P<0.05). High glucose can significantly inhibit HUVECs cell proliferation and induce apoptosis, while inhibition of miR-137 expression can weaken the effect of high glucose on HUVECs cell proliferation inhibition and apoptosis promotion (P<0.05). Inhibiting AKT2 expression could weaken the inhibitory effect of miR-137 inhibitor on HUVECs cell proliferation and apoptosis (P<0.05). CONCLUSION Inhibiting the expression of miR-137 gene can attenuate the proliferation inhibition and apoptosis promotion of HUVECs induced by high glucose, and the mechanism is related to activating the expression of AKT2.
Apoptosis ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Glucose ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ; cytology ; Humans ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; genetics

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has the features of high incidence rate, low survival rate, poor treatment outcome, and complex pathogenesis. In recent years, many studies have shown that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) MALAT1 is upregulated in HCC and can promote the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of HCC cells, and it can also guide the diagnosis, prognostic evaluation, and treatment of HCC in clinical practice. This article reviews the current status of research on lncRNA MALAT1 in HCC and discusses its expression pattern, mechanism of action, and clinical significance in predicting and monitoring the progression of HCC, so as to gain a deep understanding of the role of lncRNA MALAT1 in the progression of HCC. It is pointed out that lncRNA MALAT1 is expected to become a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of HCC and may be used as a therapeutic target in clinical practice.

Objective: To assess the effect of miR-137 on the proliferation and apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by high glucose and its mechanism. Methods: HUVECs cells were divided into low-glucose group (5.5 mmol/L glucose-treated cells), high-glucose group (33.36 mmol/L glucose-treated cells), anti-NC group (cells treated with 33.36 mmol/L glucose after anti-NC transfection) and anti-miR-137 group (cells treated with 33.36 mmol/L glucose after anti-miR-137 transfection). After 48 hours, qRT-PCR was used to determine the expression of miR-137. CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry were used to detect cell proliferation and apoptosis rate, respectively. The targeting relationship between miR-137 and AKT2 was validated by dual fluorescence reporter gene detection system and AKT2 protein expression after overexpression or inhibition of miR-137. Results: High glucose could significantly up-regulate the expression of miR-137 in HUVECs cells, and the expression of miR-137 in HUVECs cells transfected with miR-137 inhibitor was significantly decreased (P<0.05). High glucose can significantly inhibit HUVECs cell proliferation and induce apoptosis, while inhibition of miR-137 expression can weaken the effect of high glucose on HUVECs cell proliferation inhibition and apoptosis promotion (P<0.05). Inhibiting AKT2 expression could weaken the inhibitory effect of miR-137 inhibitor on HUVECs cell proliferation and apoptosis (P<0.05). Conclusion Inhibiting the expression of miR-137 gene can attenuate the proliferation inhibition and apoptosis promotion of HUVECs induced by high glucose, and the mechanism is related to activating the expression of AKT2.

Objective:To compare the differences in the prevalence of mild micro-hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) among patients with cirrhosis by using the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES) and the Stroop smartphone application (Encephal App) test.Methods:This prospective, multi-center, real-world study was initiated by the National Clinical Medical Research Center for Infectious Diseases and the Portal Hypertension Alliance and registered with International ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05140837). 354 cases of cirrhosis were enrolled in 19 hospitals across the country. PHES (including digital connection tests A and B, digital symbol tests, trajectory drawing tests, and serial management tests) and the Stroop test were conducted in all of them. PHES was differentiated using standard diagnostic criteria established by the two studies in China and South Korea. The Stroop test was evaluated based on the criteria of the research and development team. The impact of different diagnostic standards or methods on the incidence of MHE in patients with cirrhosis was analyzed. Data between groups were differentiated using the t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and χ2 test. A kappa test was used to compare the consistency between groups. Results:After PHES, the prevalence of MHE among 354 cases of cirrhosis was 78.53% and 15.25%, respectively, based on Chinese research standards and Korean research normal value standards. However, the prevalence of MHE was 56.78% based on the Stroop test, and the differences in pairwise comparisons among the three groups were statistically significant (kappa = -0.064, P < 0.001). Stratified analysis revealed that the MHE prevalence in three groups of patients with Child-Pugh classes A, B, and C was 74.14%, 83.33%, and 88.24%, respectively, according to the normal value standards of Chinese researchers, while the MHE prevalence rates in three groups of patients with Child-Pugh classes A, B, and C were 8.29%, 23.53%, and 38.24%, respectively, according to the normal value standards of Korean researchers. Furthermore, the prevalence rates of MHE in the three groups of patients with Child-Pugh grades A, B, and C were 52.68%, 58.82%, and 73.53%, respectively, according to the Stroop test standard. However, among the results of each diagnostic standard, the prevalence of MHE showed an increasing trend with an increasing Child-Pugh grade. Further comparison demonstrated that the scores obtained by the number connection test A and the number symbol test were consistent according to the normal value standards of the two studies in China and South Korea ( Z = -0.982, -1.702; P = 0.326, 0.089), while the other three sub-tests had significant differences ( P < 0.001). Conclusion:The prevalence rate of MHE in the cirrhotic population is high, but the prevalence of MHE obtained by using different diagnostic criteria or methods varies greatly. Therefore, in line with the current changes in demographics and disease spectrum, it is necessary to enroll a larger sample size of a healthy population as a control. Moreover, the establishment of more reliable diagnostic scoring criteria will serve as a basis for obtaining accurate MHE incidence and formulating diagnosis and treatment strategies in cirrhotic populations.