BACKGROUND:The umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells possess multipotent differentiation capacity, but less research focus on its differentiation into fibroblasts.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the capacity of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells differentiating into fibroblasts.
METHODS:Using adherent method, human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells were isolated, and flow cytometric analysis of the surface antigen was performed. Passage 3 cells were selected for osteogenic and
adipogenic differentiation, and cells differentiated into fibroblasts under the induction of basic fibroblast growth factor. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Adherent stem cells were stably isolated from the umbilical cord. Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells lowly expressed CD31, CD45, CD40, HLA-DR, but strongly expressed CD29, CD90, CD44, CD105. Oil red O staining showed red droplets were ful of the cytoplasm after adipogenic induction;alizarin red staining showed red calcium nodules after osteogenic induction. After induced by basic fibroblast growth factor, the type I col agen expression was significantly higher than that in the control group. These findings indicate that the adherent human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells are reliably isolated with high purity;basic fibroblast growth factor can induce differentiation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells into fibroblasts.

Research on medicinal model organism is one of the core technologies to promote the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The research progress of Salvia miltiorrhiza as medicinal model plant is summarized in this paper. The genome of S. miltiorrhiza is small and its life cycle is short, as well as this plant can be stably genetically transformed. Because S. miltiorrhiza possesses the important medicinal and economic values, recently the transcriptome and genome of S. miltiorrhiza have been significantly recovered. The research prospect of S. miltiorrhiza as medicinal model plant in TCM was discussed, including biosynthesis of active components and their genetic regulation, relationship between quality of TCM and ecological environments, and selective breeding of good quality lines. Furthermore, as medicinal model plant, the construction of mutant library for S. miltiorrhiza, the genome map with high quality, and the functional genome should be investigated. Accompanying modern investigation of life sciences, the platform for medicinal model plant, S. miltiorrhiza, will be promoted to be established. It is important to develop the ethnopharmacology and new drugs around the world.

Objective Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus ( SLE) is a common complication of SLE, whose path-ogenesis is not yet clear but associated with the alteration of cerebral blood flow ( CBF) in some studies.This study was to investigate the CBF alteration in SLE patients without overt neuropsychiatric symptoms by arterial spin labeling ( ASL) MRI. Methods Twenty-eight SLE patients without overt neuropsychiatric symptoms and 30 age-and sex-matched healthy controls underwent conventional MRI and ASL examinations, and all received such neuropsychologic tests as number connecting test-A ( NCT-A ) , digit symbol test ( DST ) , self-rating anxiety scale ( SAS ) , and self-rating depression scale ( SDS) .Independent sample-t test was used to detect the mean CBF in the whole brain, gray matter, and white matter of the SLE patients and healthy controls.The voxel-wise CBF maps of the two groups of subjects were further analyzed with the SPM8 software to compare the regional CBF between the two groups, followed by evaluation of the correlation between the regional CBF values and clinical markers. Results In comparison with the healthy controls, the SLE pa-tients showed significantly reduced CBF in the gray matter (40.5 ±3.7 vs 37.3 ±6.5, P=0.028) and the whole brain (38.0 ±3.5 vs 35.1 ±6.1, P=0.032), especially in the supplementary motor area and the adjacent middle cingulate, anterior cingulate, left medial frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left insula (P<0.05, FWE corrected).The NCT-A score was negatively correlated with the CBF values of the left medial frontal gyrus (r=-0.402, P=0.032) and left inferior frontal gyrus (r=-0.382, P=0.045) of the SLE patients. Conclusion ASL and MRI showed significantly reduced cerebral blood flow in the SLE patient without overt neu-ropsychiatric manifestations, which was correlated with the change of the patient's cognitive function.

?AlM: To investigate the expression of miR-181 in the lens tissue of cataract and the regulating mechanism of miR-181 on apoptosis of human lens epithelial cell.
?METHODS:Real time q-PCR was used to measure the expression of miR-181 in the anterior lens capsules of age - related cataract and human lens epithelial cell apoptosis model. miR- 181 mimic and inhibitor were transfected using Lipofectamine 2 000 to regulate the expression of miR-181, and then Real time q-PCR was used to verify transfection efficiency. Flow cytometry was used to detect the change of cell apoptosis rate.
? RESULTS: Compared with control group, the expression of miR-181 was significantly higher in both the anterior lens capsules of age-related cataract and human lens epithelial cell apoptosis model; the relative expression of miR-181 in lens epithelial cells transfected with miR-181 mimic was increased, whereas decreased in cells transfected with miR-181 inhibitor;the apoptosis rate of cells transfected with miR - 181 mimic was increased, while reduced in miR-181 inhibitor group. Each result was statistically significant (P<0. 01).
?CONCLUSlON:High expression of miR-181 is detected in anterior lens capsule of age-related cataract. miR-181 might play a certain role in the pathogenesis of cataract via promoting human lens epithelial cell apoptosis. miR-181 probably becomes a new approach for the nonoperative treatment of cataract, but the concrete mechanism still needs to be further studied.

Objective To explore the feasibility,safety and efficacy of laparoscopy assisted ultrasound guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) beneath the diaphragm.Methods Twentythree consecutive patients with solitary HCC beneath the diaphragm were treated by laparoscopy assisted ultrasound guided RFA in the Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 2013 to March 2016.We observed the p erioperative complications and followedup long-term effect.Results All the 23 patients successfully underwent laparoscopy assisted ultrasound guided radiofrequency ablation.No serious complications such as massive hemorrhage,biliary fistula and severe pleural effusion,hemopneumothorax occurred in the patients during perioperative period.CT examination 2-3 days after the operation revealed that the tumor was completely covered by the ablation area.Besides,the survival condition was satisfactory during follow-up period of 9-38 months.Conclusion Laparoscopy-assisted ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation is effective and safe for HCC beneath the diaphragm.

Transcription factor is one of the key factors in the regulation of gene expression at the transcriptional level. It plays an important role in plant growth, active components biosynthesis and response to environmental change. This paper summarized the structure and classification of bHLH transcription factors and elaborated the research progress of bHLH transcription factors which regulate the active components in plants, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids. In addition, the possibility of increasing the concentration of active substances by bHLH in medicinal plants was assessed. The paper emphasized great significance of model plants and multidisciplinary research fields including modern genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics, providing the contribution to improve the discovery and function characterization of bHLH transcription factors. Accelerating the research in the mechanism of bHLH transcription factors on the regulation of active components biosynthesis will promote the development of breeding and variety improvement of Chinese medicinal materials, also ease the pressure of resources exhaustion of traditional Chinese medicine home and abroad.

To cultivate innovative medical students is the inevitable trend to adapt to the social de-velopment in the higher medical education. Stomatology is a subject emphasizing on practical and innovation ability, so paying attention to the cultivation of students' application ability and innovation ability in the undergraduate stage, combining theoretical study and research innovation, can lay a good foundation for the study and work. In recent years, the College of Stomatology of Chongqing Medical University has created the scientific research atmosphere, established the platform of scientific research, attempted the undergraduate tutorial system, expanded the construction of teaching resource, and involved undergraduate to take part in the scientific research practice. The college has taken many active measures to train the scientific innovation ability of undergraduates, and has obtained good results. Some undergraduates have already possessed a certain ability to find and solve problems as well as independently think. They have also enhanced their awareness of reading literature and critically accepting knowledge and improved their comprehensive quality.

Objective: To evaluate the association of smoking with the risk of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) using a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach. Methods: A total of 16 383 186 AS-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 378 smoking initiation associated SNPs and 126 lifetime smoking score-associated SNPs were collected from three large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS). The association of smoking phenotypes with the risk of AS was examined using inverse-variance weighted (IVW) with AS as a outcome variable, smoking initiation and lifetime smoking score as exposure factors and SNPs with strong associations with smoking as instrumental variables, and sensitivity analyses were performed with maximum likelihood-based method, MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) test and MR-Egger regression analysis. Results: A 33.5% increased risk of AS was found among genetically predicted smokers relative to non-smokers (OR=1.335, 95%CI: 1.059-1.682), and an increase in predicted lifetime smoking by per standard deviation resulted in a 101.4% increased risk of AS (OR=2.014, 95%CI: 1.341-3.024). The maximum likelihood-based method and MR-PRESSO test showed consistent correlated effect estimations and MR-Egger regression analysis identified no evidence of pleiotropy. Conclusion It is genetically predicted that smoking is associated with an increased risk of AS.

Objective To construct protective immunity to Mycobncterium tuberculosis latent infection, a novel fusion protein consisting of HspX, the 190 to 198 peptide of Mpt64 and Ag85B, which were confirmed to be the effective protective antigens mainly expressed in the dormancy and exponential phase of growth, was constructed and its immunogenicity was investigated. Methods Ag85B and Mpt64190-198-HspX sequences were amplified by PCR and cloned into plasmids pET-28a. The fusion protein, Ag85BMpt64190-198-HspX (AMH) was expressed in E. coli BL21 and purified with Ni-NTA resins. C57BL/6 mice were immunized three times at 2-week intervals subcutaneously with AMH formulated with the adjuvant composed of dimethyl-dioctyldecyl ammonium bromide (DDA) and BCG polysaccharide nucleic acid (BCGPSN). Humoral and cell-mediated immunity responses were analyzed at five weeks after the last injection. Results AMH was expressed stably in E. coli and could be purified well by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. C57BL/6 mice immunized with AMH subunit vaccine generated specific cellular and humoral immunologic response to the stimulation of Ag85B, Mpt64190-198 and HspX. Conclusion It suggested that AMH was a promising candidate antigen of tuberculosis subunit vaccine.

The medicinal fungi, which are of great importance in traditional medicine, are facing the problems of wild resources scarcity and low concentration of bioactive compounds. Velvet family and LaeA global regulator play a vital role in secondary metabolism and developmental programs, which are found in a wide variety of fungi ranging from Chytridiomycota to Basidiomycota. This review elaborates the structures and functions between Velvet family and LaeA protein. The Velvet family which shares the Velvet protein domain, including VeA (Velvet), VelB (Velvet like B), VosA (viability of spores A) and VelC (Velvet like C), acts on the regulation function is secondary metabolism and developmental programs such as asexual and sexual development. Furthermore, the function is affected by environmental factors such as light and temperature. LaeA protein which owns S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase domain, coordinately regulates development and secondary metabolism by regulating and modifying the Velvet proteins. The regulation of LaeA is mediated by light receptor proteins. Therefore, clarifying the mechanism of Velvet and LaeA proteins in medicinal fungi will pave the way for nurturing medicinal fungi and improving production of bioactive compounds.