PURPOSE: Although penile duplex Doppler ultrasonography (PDDU) is a common and integral procedure in a Peyronie's disease workup, the intracavernosal injection of vasoactive agents can carry a serious risk of priapism. Risk factors include young age, good baseline erectile function, and no coronary artery disease. In addition, patients with Peyronie's disease undergoing PDDU in an outpatient setting are at increased risk given the inability to predict optimal dosing. The present study was conducted to provide support for a standard protocol of early administration of phenylephrine in patients with a sustained erection after diagnostic intracavernosal injection of vasoactive agents to prevent the deleterious effects of iatrogenic priapism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective review of Peyronie's disease patients who received phenylephrine reversal after intracavernosal alprostadil (prostaglandin E1) administration to look at the priapism rate. Safety was determined on the basis of adverse events reported by subjects and efficacy was determined on the basis of the rate of priapism following intervention. RESULTS: Patients with Peyronie's disease only had better hemodynamic values on PDDU than did patients with Peyronie's disease and erectile dysfunction. All of the patients receiving prophylactic phenylephrine had complete detumescence of erections without adverse events, including no priapism cases. CONCLUSIONS: The reversal of erections with phenylephrine after intracavernosal injections of alprostadil to prevent iatrogenic priapism can be effective without increased adverse effects.
Alprostadil/adverse effects/diagnostic use ; Drug Evaluation/methods ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Penile Erection ; Penile Induration/*ultrasonography ; Phenylephrine/*therapeutic use ; Pilot Projects ; Priapism/chemically induced/*prevention & control ; Retrospective Studies ; Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex/adverse effects/methods ; Vasoconstrictor Agents/*therapeutic use ; Vasodilator Agents/adverse effects/diagnostic use

Objective:To investigate the relationship between plasma phosphorylated α-synuclein (ps129-α-syn) and cognitive function in Parkinson disease (PD).Methods:This study recruited 90 PD patients who were hospitalized in the Department of Neurology, Henan province people's hospital from March 2019 to June 2020.Forty healthy middle-aged and elderly people with normal cognitive function who came to the hospital for physical examination were selected during the same period.Clinical characteristics and blood samples were collected.Patients with PD were classified into those with normally cognitive (PD-NC), mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI), and dementia (PDD). The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the plasma ps129-α-syn.Correlations between plasma ps129-α-syn and clinical characteristics such as disease duration, Hoehn-Yahr stage (H-Y), unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS), Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA), 14-item Hamilton anxiety rating scale (HAMA-14), the 24-item Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD-24), levodopa equivalent daily dosage (LEDD), the scale of outcomes in Parkinson's disease for autonomic symptoms, SCOPA-AUT) were analyzed using Pearson or Spearman correlation analysis.Multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors affecting the cognitive function of PD.Results:Plasma ps129-α-syn in PD patients was higher than that in healthy controls((19.44±8.93)μg/L, (10.78±5.87)μg/L, ( t=5.615, P<0.01). Plasma ps129-α-syn was higher in PD-MCI group((19.64±7.77)μg/L)and PDD group((23.79±9.47)μg/L) compared with that in PD-NC group((13.37±5.40)μg/L)( P<0.05). Plasma ps129-α-syn was positively correlated with H-Y ( r=0.404, P<0.01), UPDRS-Ⅲ( r=0.275, P=0.009), UPDRS-total ( r=0.211, P=0.046) and SCOPA-AUT( r=0.335, P=0.001). Plasma ps129-α-syn was negatively associated with MoCA ( r=-0.459, P<0.01). Multiple linear regression analysis suggested disease duration ( t=-4.618, P<0.01), ps129-α-syn( t=-3.792, P<0.01) and UPDRS-total ( t=-2.826, P=0.006) were independently associated with cognitive function.Plasma ps129-α-syn could discriminate between PD-NC and PD cognitive function impairment with an AUC of 0.7797 (95% CI: 0.686 3-0.873 2, P<0.01). Conclusions:Plasma ps129-α-syn is correlated with cognitive function and the severity of motor symptoms in PD patients, and have high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing PD cognitive dysfunction.Therefore, plasma ps129-α-syn can serve as a biomarker to assess cognitive function in PD.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of inhibition of interleukin-6 (IL-6) trans-signaling on sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) in mice.Methods:Eighty healthy male C57BL/6J mice, aged 8-10 weeks, weighing 22-24 g, were divided into 4 groups using a random number table method: sham operation group (Sham group, n=10), SAE group ( n=35), SAE plus sgp130Fc group ( n=25) and sgp130Fc group ( n=10). Sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) in anesthetized animals.Sham and sgp130Fc groups received no CLP.In group sgp130Fc and group SAE+ sgp130Fc, sgp130Fc 0.5 mg/kg was intraperitoneally injected at 1 h after sham operation or CLP.The survival rates, body weight and neurological function scores were recorded within 1-10 days after sham operation or CLP.Four mice in each group were selected at 24 h after sham operation or CLP to detect the expression of occlusin in hippocampus by Western blot.Five mice in each group were selected to measure cognitive function using Morris water maze test at day 4 after sham operation or CLP. Results:Compared with group Sham, the survival mice, body weight and neurological function scores on days 2-10 after CLP were significantly decreased, the expression of occludin was down-regulated, the frequency of crossing the original platform was decreased, and the time spent in target quadrant was shortened in group SAE ( P<0.05), and no significant change was found in the indexes mentioned above in group sgp130Fc ( P>0.05). Compared with group SAE, the survival rate and neurological function scores on days 3-10 after CLP were significantly increased, the expression of occludin was up-regulated, the frequency of crossing the original platform was increased, and the time spent in target quadrant was prolonged ( P<0.05), and no significant change was found in body weight in group SAE+ sgp130Fc ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Inhibition of IL-6 trans-signaling can reduce the damage to the blood brain barrier and SAE in mice.

Cohort study is one of the basic methods used in epidemiological research. With the development of the etiological analysis of complex diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, large natural population-based cohort study has become a popular topic in medical research. In the process of cohort development, one of the important issues is to ensure the efficiency and safety on data collection. As a database management system, with open source, free clinical research data collection and high quality, REDCap can widely be applied in large population-based cohort studies. This article summarizes the baseline survey and follow-up procedures on cohort studies and introduces a REDCap-system-based solution for data collection and management. Contents on the establishment of data working groups, data collection, cohort follow-up methods and field application are also discussed in this paper, in order to improve the efficiency of data collection and management in cohort study to help the development of cohort study in China.

Gene editing technology has been a hotspot in the field of biotechnology. CRISPR/Cas systems are efficient gene editing tools because of its specificity, simplicity and flexibility, these features enabled the rapid application of CRISPR/Cas systems in a variety of organisms. Moreover, the combination of transcriptional activator with dead Cas protein can achieve specific regulation of gene expression at the transcription level, which has made important contributions to the development of biotechnology in medical and agriculture. Overexpression of foreign genes is a common method to verify gene function and regulation. However, due to the limitation of vector capacity, it is difficult to achieve overexpression of multiple genes. CRISPR/Cas9 activation system can regulate the expression of multiple genes under the guidance of different guide RNAs to verify gene functions at the regulatory level. This review summarizes the composition of the CRISPR/Cas9 activation system and different activation strategies, and summarizes solutions for excessive activation. It may facilitate the application of CRISPR/Cas9 activation system in genetic improvement of cotton and herbicide resistance research.
Biotechnology ; CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics* ; Gene Editing ; Phenotype ; RNA, Guide, Kinetoplastida/metabolism*

OBJECTIVE To prepare reactive oxygen species （ROS）-responsive methotrexate （MTX）-modified paclitaxel （PTX）/icariin （ICA） micelles （MTX-oxi-Ms@PTX/ICA）， and perform technology optimization and in vitro anti-tumor effect evaluation. METHODS Synergistic toxicity concentration range of PTX and ICA was screened by synergistic toxicity test. The micelles were prepared by thin film hydration method， and their technology was optimized by response surface methodology. The fundamental characteristics of the micelles prepared by the optimal technology were evaluated. The micelles’ cytotoxicity， targeting ability to renal carcinoma RENCA cells of mice， and their inhibitory effects on invasion and migration were assessed. RESULTS Results of synergistic toxicity experiments demonstrated that the strongest synergistic effect occurred when PTX concentrations ranged from 2.5 to 10 μmol/L and ICA concentrations ranged from 5 to 15 μmol/L. The optimal technology of MTX-oxi-Ms@PTX/ ICA was determined to include 80 mg Soluplus®， Soluplus® and TPGS1000 mass ratio of 4∶1 （mg/mg）， 2 mg DSPE-PEG2000-TK- PEG5000， 2 mg DSPE-PEG2000-MTX， 1 mg PTX， and 1.5 mg ICA， with a hydration temperature of 35 ℃ and a formulation volume of 5 mL. Under the optimal conditions， average encapsulation efficiency of PTX and ICA in 3 batches of MTX-oxi- Ms@PTX/ICA reached 92.75%， the critical micelle concentration （CMC） was 0.007 9 mg/mL， the particle size was （62.09±1.68） nm， the polydispersity index （PDI） was 0.046±0.032， and the Zeta potential was （－2.47±0.15） mV. Within 30 days of placement， there was no significant change E-mail：yingqiang_1126@163.com in particle size and polydispersity index of micelle. In vitro release experiments showed that MTX-oxi-Ms@PTX/ICA released drugs more rapidly in oxidative environments. The half maximal inhibitory concentration of MTX-oxi-Ms@PTX/ICA against RENCA cells was （5.170±0.036） μmol/L. In vitro cellular uptake experiments indicated that compared with unmodified micelles， MTX modified micelles had stronger targeting effects on cancer cells， and also significantly enhanced the inhibitory ability of invasion and migration of RENCA cells （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS MTX-oxi-Ms@PTX/ICA micelles are successfully prepared， which exhibit high encapsulation efficiency， low critical micelle concentration， and good stability. These micelles demonstrate significant cytotoxicity against RENCA cells and effectively inhibit cancer cell invasion and migration.

BACKGROUND: Anlotinib is a newly developed small molecule multiple receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) inhibitor that was approved for the treatment of patients with lung cancer in China. We aim to report 3 cases of rare complication of anlotinib-bronchial fistula (BF) during the treatment of lung cancer patients and summarize the possible causes. METHODS: We collected three patients who developed BF due to anlotinib treatment, and conducted a search of Medline and PubMed for medical literature published between 2018 and 2020 using the following search terms: "anlotinib," "lung cancer," and "fistula." RESULTS: Our literature search produced two case reports (three patients) which, in addition to our three patients. We collated the patients' clinical characteristics including demographic information, cancer type, imaging features, treatment received, risk factors for anlotinib related BF, and treatment-related outcomes. The six patients shared some common characteristics: advanced age, male, concurrent infection symptoms, diabetes mellitus (DM), advanced squamous cell and small cell lung cancers, centrally located tumors, tumor measuring ≥5 cm in longest diameter, and newly formed tumor cavitation after multi-line treatment especially after receiving radiotherapy. Fistula types included broncho-pericardial fistula, broncho-pleural fistula, and esophago-tracheobronchial fistula. Six patients all died within 6 months. CONCLUSIONS Although anlotinib is relatively safe, it is still necessary to pay attention to the occurrence of BF, a rare treatment side effect that threatens the quality of life and overall survival of patients. Anlotinib, therefore, requires selective use and close observation of high-risk patients.