Objective To observe the microstructural changes in lesions of alopecia areata (AA) with dermoscopy and to evaluate their correlation with clinicopathological manifestations. Methods The area of alopecia of 62 patients with AA and 44 patients with other types of hair loss were observed by using a noncontact polarized dermoscope (Dermlite, USA). Clinical data on and laboratory findings from these patients were collected. Pathological examination was carried out with scalp biopsy specimens from the alopecia area of 15 AA patients. Results Characteristic dermoscopic signs of AA included yellow dots, black dots, broken hairs, exclamation mark hairs, short vellus hair and newly-grown short hairs. Among these signs, yellow dots showed the highest prevalence (83.9%). Exclamation mark hairs, black dots and broken hairs were rather specific signs for AA, and the prevalence of the three signs was positively correlated with disease activity and positivity rate of hair-pull test. A positive correlation was also noted between the prevalence of elevated thyroid peroxidase antibody levels and positivity rate of hair-pull test (r = 0.269, P ＜ 0.05 ) as well as prevalence of broken hairs (r = 0.445, P ＜ 0.05), and between the prevalence of yellow dots and that of keratinous plug in follicular orifice. There was a negative correlation between the prevalence of newly-grown short hairs and perifollicular mast cell infiltration and between the prevalence of black dots and the anagen/catagen ratio. Conclusions Yellow dots can serve as a preliminary screening marker for AA. Exclamation mark hairs, black dots and broken hairs are highly sensitive for the confirmation of diagnosis of AA, and often predict progressive AA.Dermoscopic signs are well correlated to the histopathology features of AA, and may be useful for the evaluation of disease severity and guidance on the treatment of AA.

Objective To observe the effect of nerve growth factor(NGF) on CCL4‐induced hepatic fibrosis in mice .Methods The hepatic fibrosis model was induced by subcutaneous injection of CCL 4 in mice .Thirty female Kunming mice were equally and randomly divided into three groups :fibrosis model group (A) ,NGF intervention group (B) and normal saline control group (C) .At 8 weeks following the initiation of experiment ,the samples were collected to measure ALT ,AST ,TBIL ,ALB by the fully automativ biochemical analyzer ,an the liver fibrosis indices (HA ,LN ,PC Ⅲ ) by radioimmunoassay .The Ishaki scoring system was adopted to assess the severity of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis degree .Results Serum levels of ALT ,AST ,HA and LN in the group A and B were significantly higher than those in the group C (F= 111 .45 ,658 .80 ,157 .43 ,167 .99 ;P< 0 .05) ,the levels of ALT 、AST and LN in the group B were significantly lower than those in the group A (P< 0 .05) .The HE staining ,reticular fiber staining and Masson staining showed that the liver fibrosis degree and the liver tissue inflammation in the group A were most obvious ,the liver tissue inflamation in the group B were significantly alleviated as compared with the group A .No fibrous septum was formed and the fiber tissues were fine and short .No obvious inflammatory cells infiltration and fibers formation were found in the liver tissue of the group C .The scores of liver inflamation grade and fibrosis staging in the group C were higher than those in the group B and C ,moreover the scores of liver inflammation grade and fibsosis had statstical differences among 3 groups (P < 0 .05) .Conclusion NGF can block hepatic fibrosis induced by CCL4 and relieve the liver inflammation .

To systematically review the prognostic value regarding the expression of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) Hox transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) in patients with cancer. 
 Methods: Databases including The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PubMed were searched to collect English literature on the correlation between lncRNA HOTAIR expression and overall survival in tumors. The retrieval time was from inception to September 2015. After data were extracted, a Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.
 Results: A total of 17 studies were included, which was involved in 1 639 patients. The Meta-analysis showed that high expression of HOTAIR could predict poor overall survival in cancer (HR: 2.39, 95% CI 2.01-2.86, P<0.001). High expression of HOTAIR could also predict poor overall survival both in digestive tumor (HR: 2.51, 95% CI 2.02-3.11, P<0.001) and non-digestive tumor (HR: 2.17, 95% CI 1.59-2.98, P<0.001). Moreover, overexpression of HOTAIR was found to be significantly associated with recurrence-free survival.
 Conclusion: The overexpression of lncRNA HOTAIR might be associated with poor prognosis in patients with cancer.
Biomarkers, Tumor ; genetics ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; genetics ; mortality ; Prognosis ; RNA, Long Noncoding ; genetics