Objective: To systemically review the safety and efficacy of Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold (Absorb BVS) versus cobalt chromium-everolimus eluting stent (CoCr-EES) for treating the patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Methods: We searched relevant literatures in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI and Wanfang database from 2008-01 to 2015-10, meanwhile, collected published data and randomized controlled trials from meeting abstracts and websites to compare Absorb BVS and CoCr-EES for treating CAD patients. The quality of literatures were assessed and extracted by modiifed Jadad score, Meta-analysis was conducted by STATA 12.0 soft ware.
Results: There were 4 eligible trials with 3,389 patients were enrolled. Absorb BVS group, n=2,164 and CoCr-EES group, n=1,225. During the mean of 1.1 years follow-up period, the following incidences were similar between 2 groups:target lesion failure (OR=1.29, 95%CI 0.95-1.74, P=0.10), all cause death (OR=1.31, 95%CI 0.60-2.87, P=0.50), cardiac death (OR=1.38, 95%CI 0.45-4.24, P=0.57), myocardial infarction (OR=1.30, 95%CI 0.93-1.80, P=0.12), deifnite or probable stent thrombosis (OR=2.08, 95%CI 0.95-4.54, P=0.07), re-vascularization (OR=1.03, 95%CI 0.80-1.33, P=0.81), target lesion re-vascularization (OR=1.06, 95%CI 0.67-1.66, P=0.81) and the patient-oriented composite endpoint (OR=0.95, 95%CI 0.66-1.35, P=0.76).
Conclusion: Absorb BVS and CoCr-EES had the similar safety and efifcacy for treating the low and moderate risk CAD patients who had angina, ischemia while without symptoms. The longer period of follow-up study and larger randomized, controlled clinical trials were needed for Absorb BVS application in clinical practice.

Objective To study the change characteristics of erythrocyte parameters in carriers of deletional alpha-thalassemia gene.Methods 389 patients with deletional alpha-thalassemia gene determined by the gap-PCR technique were classified into three groups based on different genotypes of alpha-thalassemia including silent thalassemia group,alpha-thalassemia trait group (265 ca-ses)and intermediate thalassemia group,and contemporaneous 188 healthy adults were randomly selected as the normal control-group(NC).The erythrocyte parameters including RBC,Hb,MCV,MCH,RDW were retrospectively analyzed and their differences were compared among aboved-mentioned groups by the analysis of variance and the multiple comparison.Results Alpha-thalasse-mia manifested by different degrees of microcyte hypochromia.There were statistically significant differences in the erythrocyte pa-rameters among various genotypes and phenotypes about erythrocyte indices(P <0.05).Moreover,the Hb,MCV and MCH values were lower than those in the control group,and had the decreasing tendency with the increase of deletedα-globin gene numbers;but the RDW value was higher than that in the control group,showing the increasing tendency,the differences had statistical siginifi-cance(P <0.05).Conclusion With the increase of deleted α-globin gene number,the characteristic of small-cell low-hemoglobin is more and more remarkable.RBC has a overall increase,while Hb,MCV and MCH have a decreasing tendency,and the heterogeneity of erythrocyte volume is increased.When MCV and MCH decreasing in high risk region,thalassemia should be highly suspected, but normal MCV and MCH can not exclude silent thalassemia and alpha-thalassemia trait.

Objective:To demonstrate the state of the art and trends on the global status of chronic disease management of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in recent 30 years.Methods:Literature relating to chronic disease management of patients with lupus from 1989 to 2018 was retrieved from Web of Science TM, using Mesh terms "lupus" and "management". CiteSpace was used to analyze countries/institutions, authors/cited authors, cited references and keywords. The information visualization analysis of centrality and counts was used to reveal countries/institutions, active authors, cited references, hot topics and frontiers. Results:A total of 3 328 papers were included, and a year-by-year increase of the number of publications were noticed. Most productive authors were from Europe, who were also open to communication and collaboration. Dr. M Petri is a representative figure in the area of lupus and antiphospholipid syndrome. She was involved in the composition of lupus classification and treatment guidelines, and played important roles in the arena of lupus treatment. Most productive countries/organizations were/from the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, since European countries and organizations paid much attention to colaboration. The basis was focused on the treatment and management of lupus nephritis, the classification of lupus, the classification criteria of APS, and the usage as wells efficacy evaluation of belimumab in lupus. According to the time trend, the most popular key words were treatment, classification, antiphospholipid syndrome, disease activity, pregnancy, which could be categorized to 14 clusters. We could predicted that comprehensive evaluation including the clinical efficacy and safety of biological agents, as well as studies on quality of life and psychological state of lupus patients would become the main stream in this area. The research focus shifted from the diagnosis and treatment of lupus to the quality of life of patients.Conclusion:CiteSpace is used to collect the information of the literatures about chronic disease management of lupus. The results have shown that chronic disease management is still a hot topic. CiteSpace could help us to identify authors and institutions that are collaborative, as well as the research subjects that may lead the directions and future development.

Objective: To reclarify the natural change trend of several hormones with age in Chinese population. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed including 5 935 healthy individuals (2 286 males and 3 649 females) in the final statistical analysis. All participants received questionnaire survey, anthropometric index and laboratory tests including sex-related hormones, insulin, thyroid hormones, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. Kruskal-Wallis test or One-way ANOVA analysis was used to compare hormone levels in different age groups. Spearman analysis was used to explore the correlation between age and hormone levels. Results: (1) Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations increased with age from 40 years in both males and females, and stabilized at high levels after the age of 60 in females and 80 in males. Estradiol level in females started to decrease since 40 years old, then stabilized around 70 years. Sex hormone binding globulin level increased significantly with age in males, but decreased in postmenopausal females. (2) Fasting serum insulin gradually decreased with age in males until 60 years, but without obvious change in females. Fasting plasma glucose and HbA_1C increased with age in both males and females. (3) Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) increased slowly with age in both males and females. (4) 25(OH)D increased with age in both males and females overall, especially more obvious in males. (5) During 41-60 years, FSH and LH levels in menopausal females were much higher than those in premenopausal females, while estradiol level in menopausal females was much lower. Compared with premenopausal females aged 41-50 years, estradiol level in premenopausal females was much lower in 51-60 years. Conclusion The levels of several important hormones are related with age, revealing a natural change trend as aging in Chinese population. (Chin J Endocrinol Metab, 2018, 34: 555-562)

Objective To investigate the correlation between blood glucose variability index(GLUCV)and postoperative delirium(POD)in elderly patients undergoing knee arthroplasty.Methods A total of 112 elderly patients undergoing elective knee arthroplasty were analyzed retrospectively,16 males and 96 females,aged 65-80 years,BMI 22.0-28.0 kg/m2,ASA physical status Ⅰ or Ⅱ.They were di-vided into two groups according to whether they had POD within 5 days after operation:POD group and non-POD group.The score of the last preoperative mini-mental state examination(MMSE),operation time,the duration of the intraoperative regional cerebral oxygen saturation(rScO2)value decreased by more than 13％of the rScO2 basic value(△rScO2＞13％),the preoperative hemoglobin(Hb)and C-reactive protein(CRP)concentration,the fingertip blood glucose concentration before entry,before anesthesia induction,5 minutes after anesthesia induction,1 minute after skin incision,and before leaving the chamber were col-lected,and the GLUCV was calculated.The risk factors of POD in elderly patients undergoing knee arthro-plasty were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression,and the odds ratio(OR)and 95％confidence interval(CI)were calculated.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was drawn to calculate the area under the curve(AUC)and analyze the predictive value of GLUCV.Results Thirty patients(26.8％)showed POD symptoms within 5 days after surgery.Compared with the non-POD group,the operation time and duration of intraoperative △rScO2＞13％in the POD group were significantly prolonged(P＜0.05),the CRP concentration and GLUCV were significantly increased(P＜0.05).Multi-variate logistic regression analysis showed that prolonged time of △rScO2＞13％(OR=3.542,95％CI 1.380-9.093,P=0.011),elevated CRP concentration(OR=1.984,95％CI 1.078-3.650.P=0.015),and elevated GLUCV(OR=5.257,95％CI 1.690-16.353,P=0.008)were risk factors of POD in elderly patients undergoing knee arthroplasty.ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the AUC of GLUCV in predicting POD in elderly patients undergoing knee arthroplasty was 0.747(95％CI 0.650-0.844,P＜0.001),while the optimal cutoff value was 23.4％,the sensitivity was 71.4％,and the specificity was 63.3％.Conclusion GLUCV is closely related to POD,and GLUCV level has a good pre-dictive effect on POD in elderly patients undergoing knee arthroplasty.

PURPOSE: Immune suppression is common in patients with advanced breast cancer but the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon have not been sufficiently studied. In this study, we aimed to identify B7 family members that were able to predict the immune status of patients, and which may serve as potential targets for the treatment of breast cancer. We also aimed to identify microRNAs that may regulate the expression of B7 family members. METHODS: The Cancer Genome Atlas data from 1,092 patients with breast cancer, including gene expression, microRNA expression and survival data, were used for statistical and survival analyses. Polymerase chain reaction and Western blot were used to measure messenger RNA and protein expression, respectively. Luciferase assay was used to investigate direct microRNA target. RESULTS: Bioinformatic analysis predicted that microRNA (miR)-93, miR-195, miR-497, and miR-340 are potential regulators of the immune evasion of breast cancer cells, and that they exert this function by targeting CD274, PDCD1LG2, and NCR3LG1. We chose CD274 for further investigations. We found that miR-195, miR-497, and CD274 expression levels were inversely correlated in MDA-MB-231 cells, and miR-195 and miR-497 expressions mimic inhibited CD274 expression in vitro. Mechanistic investigations demonstrated that miR-195 and miR-497 directly target CD274 3′ untranslated region. CONCLUSION: Our data indicated that the level of B7 family members can predict the prognosis of breast cancer patients, and miR-195/miR-497 regulate CD274 expression in triple negative breast cancer. This regulation may further influence tumor progression and the immune tolerance mechanism in breast cancer and may be able to predict the effect of immunotherapy on patients.
Antigens, CD274 ; B7 Antigens ; Blotting, Western ; Breast Neoplasms ; Computational Biology ; Gene Expression ; Genome ; Humans ; Immune Evasion ; Immune Tolerance ; Immunotherapy ; In Vitro Techniques ; Ligands* ; Luciferases ; MicroRNAs ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prognosis ; RNA, Messenger ; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms* ; Untranslated Regions

Stem cell niche is a specialized microenvironment crucial to self-renewal. The testis in Drosophila contains two different types of stem cells, the germline stem cells and the somatic cyst stem cells that are sustained by their respective niche signals, thus is a good system for studying the interaction between the stem cells and their hosting niche. The JAK-STAT and BMP pathways are known to play critical roles in the self-renewal of different kinds of stem cells, but the roles of several other pathways have emerged recently in a complex signaling network in the testis niche. Reports of independent observations from three research groups have uncovered an important role of Hedgehog (Hh) in the Drosophila testis niche. In this review, we summarize these recent findings and discuss the interplay between the Hh signaling mechanisms and those of the JAK-STAT and BMP pathways. We also discuss directions for further investigation.
Adult Germline Stem Cells ; metabolism ; Animals ; Bone Morphogenetic Proteins ; metabolism ; Drosophila ; cytology ; metabolism ; Drosophila Proteins ; metabolism ; Female ; Hedgehog Proteins ; metabolism ; Janus Kinases ; metabolism ; Male ; Ovary ; metabolism ; STAT Transcription Factors ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; Stem Cell Niche ; Testis ; cytology ; metabolism ; Transcription Factors ; metabolism

Objective    To investigate the effect of simvastatin and mechanical pretreatment on intimal hyperplasia of venous graft and its mechanism. Methods    Twelve New Zealand rabbits were selected and randomly divided into 4 groups: a blank control group, a simvastatin topical treatment group, a mechanical precondition group and a combined group (n=3 in each group). Ultrasound was used to evaluate the changes of graft wall and blood flow velocity in the graft, and pathological section was used to evaluate the intimal hyperplasia. Human umbilical cord endodermal cells were cultured in vitro. A simvastatin group and a solvent control group were set to detect YAP phosphorylation, downstream target gene expression and cell proliferation. Results    Vascular ultrasound showed that except the simvastatin topical treatment group, the flow velocity in vein grafts in the other three groups significantly increased 21 days after surgery compared with 7 days after surgery (P<0.01). Pathological sections showed that the thickness of new intima in the simvastatin topical treatment group, mechanical precondition group, combined group and blank control group were 45.56±4.11 μm, 201.28±16.71 μm, 143.57±7.82 μm, 249.45±13.33 μm, respectively, and there were statistical differences compared with the blank control group (P<0.05). In vitro results showed that compared with the solvent control group, cell death was observed in high concentration simvastatin (5 mmol/L) group, cell proliferation was inhibited in low concentration simvastatin (2.5 mmol/L) group (P<0.05), the expression of YAP protein in the simvastatin group was unchanged, but the expression of phosphorylated YAP protein significantly increased (P<0.05), and the expression of downstream target gene ccn1 was down-regulated (P<0.001). Conclusion    Intravascular local application of simvastatin and mechanical preconditioning alone or in combination can inhibit intimal hyperplasia of venous graft. High concentration of simvastatin has cytotoxicity, while low concentration of simvastatin has inhibitory effect on cell proliferation. Simvastatin can inhibit the formation of new intima by inhibiting the entry of YAP into the nucleus and reducing the transcription of cell proliferation-related target gene ccn1.