Liver fibrosis occurs as compensatory responses to tis-sue repairing process in a wide range of chronic liver injures.It is characterized by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM)in liver tissues.The new discovery shows that suppres-sor of cytokine signaling (SOCS-3)is strictly associated with fi-brogenic progression of chronic liver diseases.Recent basic and clinical investigations also demonstrate that liver fibrogenesis is accompanied by SOCS-3,which critically determines the patho-
genesis and prognosis of liver fibrosis.This review summarizes current knowledge on SOCS-3 and the relationships between SOCS-3 and liver fibrosis.On the other hand,it also presents the different strategies that have been used in experimental mod-els to counteract excessive SOCS-3 and the role of SOCS-3 in the prevention and treatment of liver fibrosis.

Farnesoid X receptor ( FXR) plays a key role in me-tabolism of substance, such as bile acid, lipid, glucose,( etc) . Newly published credible discoveries have claimed that as a reg-ulatory hub in metabolism, FXR is closely linked with diverse chronic liver diseases, including viral hepatitis, alcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, hepatic fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. This review summarizes the roles and mechanisms of FXR during the courses of chronic liver dis-eases, aiming at providing novel insights and therapeutic target for antifibrotic research and drug development.

Previous studies have indicated that ERp44 inhibits inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP(3))-induced Ca(2+) release (IICR) via IP(3)R(1), but the mechanism remains largely unexplored. Using extracellular ATP to induce intracellular calcium transient as an IICR model, Ca(2+) image, pull down assay, and Western blotting experiments were carried out in the present study. We found that extracellular ATP induced calcium transient via IP(3)Rs (IICR) and the IICR were markedly decreased in ERp44 overexpressed Hela cells. The inhibitory effect of C160S/C212S but not C29S/T396A/ΔT(331-377) mutants of ERp44 on IICR were significantly decreased compared with ERp44. However, the binding capacity of ERp44 to L3V domain of IP(3)R(1) (1L3V) was enhanced by ERp44 C160S/C212S mutation. Taken together, these results suggest that the mutants of ERp44, C160/C212, can more tightly bind to IP(3)R(1) but exhibit a weak inhibition of IP(3)R(1) channel activity in Hela cells.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; pharmacology ; Amino Acid Substitution ; Biological Transport ; drug effects ; physiology ; Blotting, Western ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Calcium Signaling ; drug effects ; physiology ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Immunoprecipitation ; Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate ; metabolism ; Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors ; physiology ; Membrane Potentials ; drug effects ; physiology ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Molecular Chaperones ; genetics ; metabolism ; Mutation ; Plasmids ; Transfection

Objective:To explore the factors influencing the supportive communication ability of medical undergraduates, and to propose strategies to improve supportive communication.Methods:By cluster sampling, we selected 388 medical undergraduates of grades 2017 and 2018 from Harbin Medical University for a questionnaire survey on supportive communication, general self-efficacy, and health education abilities. SPSS 22.0 was used for descriptive statistical analysis. AMOS 22.0 was used to construct a structural equation model to verify the relationship between the three variables. Mediating effects were also tested.Results:The students showed good supportive communication ability, with a total score of (74.28±10.84) points. The general self-efficacy score was (27.81±5.58) points, and the total score of health education ability was (25.50±4.76) points. General self-efficacy had direct positive effects on supportive communication and health education abilities ( β=0.75, 0.31, both P<0.001). Health education ability had a direct positive effect on supportive communication ability ( β=0.14, P<0.001). Health education ability played a significant mediating role in the influence of general self-efficacy on supportive communication ability (standardized mediating effect value=0.042, P<0.01), with the mediating effect accounting for 5.1%. Conclusions:The health education competency of medical undergraduates can mediate the effect of general self-efficacy on supportive communication ability. By strengthening medical humanities education to increase general self-efficacy and also emphasizing the cultivation of health education competency, the supportive communication ability of students can be improved.

Objective:To determine the safety of prophylactic irradiation dose CTV 60Gy optimized to CTV 50Gy for II b region in patients with stage N 0-N 1 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and the dose advantage and clinical value for parotid gland protection, and to understand the diagnostic value of PET-CT and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for suspicious positive lymph nodes in the neck (5 mm≤maximum short diameter<10 mm). Methods:Clinical data of 157 patients with primary non-metastatic NPC (N 0-N 1) admitted to our hospital from June 2015 to March 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. 104 patients underwent II b clinical target volume optimization guided by multimodal imaging system. Survival analysis was performed by Kaplan - Meier method. Univariate/multivariate regression analysis was performed to analyze the pattern of cervical lymph node recurrence. Paired t-test was used to compare the differences in target volume and parotid gland dose parameters before and after dose optimization. Results:Sixty patients underwent single-neck optimization in stage N 1, 25 patients received double-neck optimization (only those with retropharyngeal lymph node metastasis), and 19 patients underwent double-neck optimization in stage N 0. Three patients had cervical regional recurrence, all in-field. The 5-year overall survival rate was 93.3%. The lymph node recurrence-free survival rate, local recurrence-free survival rate, distant metastasis-free survival rate and disease-free survival rate were 97.1%, 91.3%, 88.5% and 80.8%, respectively. Cervical lymph node recurrence was associated with local recurrence in the nasopharynx, regardless of retropharyngeal lymph node status. Fourteen patients had suspicious positive cervical lymph nodes in II b region, with a mean maximum short diameter of 7.1 (5~9) mm on the largest cross-sectional plane, and 11 of them were positive on PET-CT, with a mean SUV max of 2.96 (2.5~3.3). There was no significant difference in GTV after optimization ( P>0.05). D mean, D max, D 50% and V 26Gy of parotid gland were significantly lower than those of conventional plan (all P<0.01). Conclusions:It is safe to optimize CTV 60Gy to CTV 50Gy in II b region in patients with N 0-N 1 NPC, and the exposure dose to normal tissues around the parotid gland and neck is significantly reduced. For small lymph nodes that do not meet the diagnostic criteria, it needs to be individualized in combination with multimodality imaging systems, such as PET-CT and DWI.

Scientific misconduct of researchers causes great waste of academic resources and academic life, which is not only related to the vigorous development of a country’s scientific undertaking, but also directly affects the reputation of the country in the field of scientific research. Based on the analysis of the causes of scientific misconduct of medical researchers in China, this paper comprehensively summarized a series of mature experiences of extraterritorial medical field in preventing scientific misconduct, and put forward corresponding and reasonable countermeasures and suggestions for China’s scientific research governance from three aspects: establishing an effective governance structure based on the normative framework, clarifying the definition standards of scientific research dishonesty in laws and regulations, and formulating good prevention procedures in a healthy academic environment, in order to promote the healthy development of scientific research in China’s medical field and further promote the innovation and progress of medical science and technology.