Geriatric depression in the elderly is becoming one of the most common psychiatric disorders affecting older people's mental and physical health.However, there is currently no systematic review on animal models for geriatric depression.Therefore, this paper analyzes and summarizes the animal models commonly used in geriatric depression studies and the application of antidepressants in geriatric depression models based on relevant national and international literature of recent years, aiming to provide insights on research approaches and considerations on study methods for geriatric depression.

Metastasis is crucial for the mortality of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a critical role in regulating tumor metastasis. Glioma-associated oncogene 1 (Gli1) is aberrantly active in a series of tumor tissues. However, the molecular regulatory relationships between Gli1 and NSCLC metastasis have not yet been identified. Herein, we reported Gli1 promoted NSCLC metastasis. High Gli1 expression was associated with poor survival of NSCLC patients. Ectopic expression of Gli1 in low metastatic A549 and NCI-H460 cells enhanced their migration, invasion abilities and facilitated EMT process, whereas knock-down of Gli1 in high metastatic NCI-H1299 and NCI-H1703 cells showed an opposite effect. Notably, Gli1 overexpression accelerated the lung and liver metastasis of NSCLC in the intravenously injected metastasis model. Further research showed that Gli1 positively regulated Snail expression by binding to its promoter and enhancing its protein stability, thereby facilitating the migration, invasion and EMT of NSCLC. In addition, administration of GANT-61, a Gli1 inhibitor, obviously suppressed the metastasis of NSCLC. Collectively, our study reveals that Gli1 is a critical regulator for NSCLC metastasis and suggests that targeting Gli1 is a prospective therapy strategy for metastatic NSCLC.

BACKGROUND: Airway stents are used to treat central airway stenosis or tracheal fistula caused by a variety of malignant and benign tracheal diseases as well as iatrogenic procedures. Airway stent placement has a satisfying effect in instantly relieving of symptoms, but the long-term survival of patients still depends on the individualized treatment of the primary diseases. Therefore, exploring the prognostic risk factors of patients who received airway stent placement can be beneficial to the optimization of the placement procedure and also the improvement of individualized clinical management of patients. METHODS: Data of a total of 66 patients who underwent airway stent placement at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University from January 2014 to June 2017 were retrospectively collected. Prognostic effects of the clinical characteristics as age, gender, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) and procedure duration were analyzed. RESULTS: Age and gender had no significant effect on the outcomes of the patients, while higher CCI (P=0.045) and procedure duration over 60 min (P=0.037) were both independent risk factors of poor prognosis. A prognostic nomogram was then constructed, of which the area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the concordance index (C-index) was 0.71 and 0.69, respectively. CONCLUSIONS For patients receiving airway stent placement, the baseline CCI and the procedure duration had prognostic significance in clinical practice.

The technical combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and thoracic surgery is increasingly close, especially in the field of image recognition and pathology diagnosis. Additionally, robotic surgery, as a representative of high-end technology in minimally invasive surgery is flourishing. What progress has been or will be made in robotic surgery in the era of AI? This article aims to summarize the application status of AI in thoracic surgery and progress in robotic surgery, and looks ahead the future.

BACKGROUND: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and BMSCs-derived exosomes have similar functions, but the regulatory mechanism underlying the release of exosomes is still unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of GW4869, an inhibition of neutral sphingomyelinase 2, in the release of exosomes in BMSCs and the influence of GW4869 on BMSCs proliferation. METHODS: Rat BMSCs were divided into three groups: normal control group, 24-hour GW4869 treatment group and withdrawal of GW4869 for 24 hours group (24-hour GW4869 treatment followed by 24-hour successive culture with drug withdrawal). Cultured cells were collected to extract exosomes by ultracentrifugation. Western blot was used to detect exosome-associated proteins CD63 and tumor susceptibility gene 101 (TSG101). The concentration and size distribution of exosomes were measured using nanoparticle tracking analysis. BCA was used to test the level of total proteins in exosomes. Live cell imaging system was used to observe the influence of GW4869 on BMSCs proliferation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Western blot results showed that exosomes expressed marker proteins such as CD63, TSG101. (2) Findings from the nanoparticle tracking analysis confirmed that the size of released exosomes was about 114 nm. (3) Significantly reduced release of exosomes was found in the two treatment groups compared with the normal control group (P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference between 24-hour GW4869 treatment group and withdrawal of GW4869 for 24 hours group (P > 0.05). (4) No significant difference in the proliferation of BMSCs was found among the three groups (P > 0.05). To conclude, 24-hour W4869 can inhibit the release of exosomes by BMSCs and this inhibitory effect is still sustained within 24 hours after drug withdrawal. However, GW4869 has no influence on the proliferation of BMSCs.

BACKGROUND:Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells can be induced to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells in vitro and in vivo.However,the exact mechanism is still unknown. Existing studies have shown that the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is closely related to this process. OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway on the differentiation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells into hepatocyte-like cells and its potential molecular mechanism. METHODS: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells were extracted from the neonatal umbilical cord by tissue adherent method. After being cultured and purified, the umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells at passages 4-6 were divided into four groups: control group (DMEM culture group), hepatocyte-like differentiation group, activator Wnt3a group (adding 20 μg/L Wnt3a, an activator of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, under the differentiation condition), and inhibitor Dkk-1 group (adding 20 μg/L Dkk-1, an inhibitor of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, under the differentiation condition). Induced cells were collected respectively on days 7, 14, 21, 28. Their mRNA and protein expressions of α-fetoprotein (AFP), albumin (ALB), hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) and Cytokeratin-19 (CK-19) in the cells were detected by real-time quantitative PCR and western blot respectively. Meanwhile, Periodic Acid-Schiff staining, low-density lipoprotein uptake test and indocyanine green absorption test were applied to detect the function of hepatocyte-like cells. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the control group, expressions of AFP and HNF4α mRNA and protein as well as ALB mRNA were significantly up-regulated in the hepatocyte-like differentiation group, activator Wnt3a group and inhibitor Dkk-1 group (P < 0.05). Whereas, there was a decrease in the CK-19 expression at mRNA and protein levels (P < 0.01) in these three groups. Compared with the hepatocyte-like differentiation group, the mRNA and protein expressions of AFP and HNF4α, and the mRNA expression of ALB were significantly down-regulated in the activator Wnt3a group (P < 0.05). Compared with hepatocyte-like differentiation group and activator Wnt3a group, the inhibitor Dkk-1 group had higher expression of AFP, HNF4α mRNA and their proteins as well as the mRNA expression of ALB (P <0.05). Findings from the Periodic Acid-Schiff staining, low-density lipoprotein uptake test and indocyanine green absorption test showed more positive cells in the inhibitor Dkk-1 group than in the hepatocyte-like differentiation group and least positive cells in the activator Wnt3a group. Overall, these findings suggest that the inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway promotes the differentiation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells into hepatocyte-like cells;conversely,the cell differentiation can be inhibited via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Lung cancer is the one of the malignant tumor of the highest morbidity and mortality over the world, and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) makes up about 80%. Nowadays, molecular targeted therapy has been the first-line treatment for NSCLC. Epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are increasingly used in the clinical treatment, but the EGFR-TKIs acquired resistance becomes the bottleneck of continuation of EGFR-TKIs therapy. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a biological phenomenon in which epithelial cells are transformed into mesenchymal cells. EMT promoted metastasis, invasion of lung cancer and conferred characteristic of stem cell on cancer cells. Meanwhile, EMT is one of an important cause of EGFR-TKIs resistance in NSCLC. The recent studies have found that resistant cells restored the sensitivity to EGFR-TKIs by reversing EMT which suggested that the target of EMT may contribute to inhibit or even reverse the resistance of EGFR-TKIs. Here we make a review about research progress of EMT in EGFR-TKIs resistance in NSCLC.
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Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; administration & dosage ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition ; drug effects ; ErbB Receptors ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors ; administration & dosage

BACKGROUND: Afatinib, a second-generation irreversible epidermal growth factor inhibitor receptor for the development of non-small cell lung cancer and secondary drug resistance, has low bioavailability and adverse reactions due to current oral administration. The aim of this study was to prepare a novel drug delivery system, afatinib liposome, and to establish a method for the determination of encapsulation efficiency. METHODS: Four different preparation methods were used to prepare afatinib liposomes, and the optimal preparation process was determined by comparing the encapsulation efficiency and particle size. RESULTS: It has been verified that sephadex microcolumn centrifugation can be used to purify afatinib liposomes, and UV spectrophotometry can be employed to determine the entrapment efficiency of liposomes. Among different preparation methods, the encapsulation efficiency of afatinib liposomes prepared by ammonium sulfate gradient method was 90.73% and the average particle size was 108.6 nm. CONCLUSIONS Ammonium sulfate gradient method can be successfully applied to prepare afatinib liposomes that performed higher encapsulation efficiency and smaller particle size. The UV spectrophotometry employed to determine the liposome encapsulation efficiency was easy operation and with high accuracy.
Afatinib ; Capsules ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; drug therapy ; Drug Compounding ; methods ; Liposomes ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; Quinazolines ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; therapeutic use

Objective To investigate the pathogen infections of Mongolian gerbils raised in a conventional facility,and to provide a basis for the establishment of local standards for pathogen detection in Mongolian gerbils. Methods A total of 16 species of bacteria,11 species of viruses and 8 species of parasites were detected in 30 gerbils raised in a conventional facility, according to the national standards of microorganism and parasite detection in mice and rats. Results Gerbils raised in this conventional facility were infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus(a positive rate of 6. 7%), sendai virus(3. 3%), pneumonia virus of mice(100. 0%), reovirus type III(6. 7%), mouse encephalomyelitis virus(10. 0%), mycoplasma spp.(6. 7%), Tyzzer's organism(6. 7%)and Helicobacter spp. (56.7%),according to our antibody detection results. Meanwhile,the detected positive rate of Pasteurella pneumotropica was 3.3%,Staphylococcus aureus 10.0%,Escherichia coli O115 a,C,K(B)6.7%,Tritrichomonas muris 100.0% and flagellates 100.0%. Conclusions The results of our study provide a reference for the establishment of classification standards for gerbils according to their pathogen and parasite infections.

The paper analyzes the current problems of medical students'humanistic quality and the causes,points out the necessity of strengthening the humanistic quality of medical students,and puts forward the countermeasures to be taken by libraries of medical colleges in the humanistic quality education for college students,including strengthening the construction of medical humanistic resources,doing well of medical humanistic reading guide and entrance education for new students,and strengthening reading promotion activities,etc.