AIM:To investigate the effect of N-[N-(3,5-difluorophenacetyl)-L-alanyl]-S-phenylglycine t-butyl ester (DAPT) on the Notch signaling pathway in a model of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) damage.METHODS:HUVECs were divided into control group, ox-LDL group, DAPT group and ox-LDL+DAPT group.The morphological changes of the HUVECs with different treatments were observed under light microscope.The viability of the HUVECs was measured by CCK-8 assay.The protein expression levels of Notch1, Notch4 and Jagged1 were determined by Western blot.RESULTS:ox-LDL induced great damage to the HUVECs, evidenced by increased cell death and debris in the culture.However, the cell damage was abolished by adding DAPT into the culture.The viability of the HUVECs was increased by co-treatment with DAPT and ox-LDL.ox-LDL treatment significantly decreased the protein expression levels of Notch1 and Jagged1, and elevated Notch4.However, these changes were totally reversed by DAPT.None of these proteins showed significant change in the HUVECs co-treated with DAPT and ox-LDL as compared with control group.CONCLUSION:ox-LDL is able to induce HUVEC damage in vitro.DAPT attenuates ox-LDL-induced damage in the HUVECs by regulating the Notch signaling pathway.

ObjectiveTo estimate the total effect size and the proportion of contextual effect (PCE) of non-surgical treatments for rotator cuff injury. MethodsRandomized controlled trial (RCT) on non-surgical treatments for rotator cuff injuries was retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL, CNKI, and Wanfang Data from the establishment to October, 2020. Two researchers conducted independent literature screening, data extraction and quality evaluation, and used STATA 15.0 software for meta-analyses. ResultsForty studies involving 2 976 participants were included. The total PCE of pain was 0.61 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.69). PCE of treatments from the largest to the smallest were corticosteroid injection, extracorporeal shockwave therapy, oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), manual therapy, hyaluronic acid injection therapy, platelet-rich plasma injection therapy, laser therapy, NSAIDs injection therapy, and acupuncture therapy. Total PCE for function and range of motion was 0.69 (95% CI 0.61 to 0.77) and 0.62 (95% CI 0.48 to 0.81), respectively. Blinding, studies in developed countries, and longer courses of treatment increased the PCE of pain. ConclusionUp to 61% of PCE for the non-surgical treatments for rotator cuff injuries means instable research. A higher proportion of PCE may be the cause of inconsistencies between clinical practice and clinical research conclusions.