BACKGROUND:Gene therapy has become a new trend for disease therapy and brought promise for some refractory diseases. The key point is to choose the proper cell, gene and vector. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) gene transfected into endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from rat bone marrow for gene therapy. METHODS:The EPCs were isolated, cultured and identified from the bone marrow of Sprague-Dawley rats. Empty vector (LV-eGFP) or BMP2 gene (LV-eGFP-BMP2) was transferred into EPCs by the constructed lentiviral vector (LV). We examined the transfection efficiency by eGFP fluorescence, BMP2 secretion by ELISA, BMP2 expression by Western blot, and compared the capacities of migration, proliferation and anti-apoptosis after transfection in the three groups of normal EPCs, empty vector-EPCs, and BMP2-EPCs. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The transfection efficiency of lentiviral vector was 90%. BMP2 gene-transferred EPCs secreted and expressed more BMP2 proteins (P<0.01), and showed enhanced anti-apoptotic ability (P<0.05). The proliferation and migration capacity did not change obviously (P>0.05). After successful transfection with lentivirus-BMP2 gene, EPCs can secrete and express more BMP2 protein and show enhanced anti-apoptotic ability without obvious influence on the proliferation and migration capacity.

Objective To explore the clinical effectiveness of pressure-controlled ventilation-volume guar-anteed(PCV-VG)in obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome(OSAS)during uvulopalatopharyngo-plasty. Methods 40 obese patients(BMI≥30 kg/m2)with OSAS scheduled for uvulopalatopharyngoplasty under general anesthesia were randomly divided into two groups of volume-controlled ventilation(group V,n = 20)and pressure-controlled ventilation-volume guaranteed(group P,n=20). The heart rate(HR),mean arterial pressure (MAP),arterial partial pressure of oxygen(PaO2)and arterial partial pressure of carbondioxide(PaCO2)were recorded before induction of anesthesia without oxygen inhalation(T0),30 min(T1)and 1 h(T2)after tracheal intubation,and 30 min after extubation(T3). The peak airway pressure(Ppeak),airway resistance(Raw),thoracic compliance (CL),oxygenation index (OI) and respiratory index (RI) were also calculated at T1 and T2 under observation of recovery. Results There were no obvious differences between the two groups of patients before anesthesia and after recovery. Compared with the group V ,PaCO2 ,PPEAK ,Raw at T1 ,T2 and RI at T1 ~ T3 of the group P decreased(P<0.05),while CL at T1,T2 and PaO2,OI at T1~T3 increased(P<0.05). There were no sig-nificant differences in HR ,MAP at the above time points. Conclusions Compared with volume-controlled venti-lation,PCV-VG can effectively enhance thoracic compliance,lower inspiratory pressure and airway resistance ,and decrease intrapulmonary shunt ,which is conductive to improve arterial oxygenation and gas exchange in obese patients with OSAS.

Atherosclerosis(AS) is the basic pathological process of many cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Particularly, the rupture of vulnerable plaques is a major cause of disability and death among middle-aged and elderly people. It's crucial to find out some reliable serummarkers for diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of AS. This study aims to summarize some newly reported miRNAs which can control the development of AS by regulating the biological function of endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and macrophages.We also enumerated some target genes and signal pathways that they may act on, and thus provide some new ideas for the treatment of AS and to provide theoretical basis for finding serum biomarkers which can evaluate the occurrence and stability of AS plaque.

Objective:To analyze the influence of lifestyle changes on body weight and metabolic parameters during the early stage of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic and regular epidemic prevention period in physical examination population.Methods:A total of 801 subjects from Nanjing enterprises and institutions who underwent physical examination in the Department of Health Promotion Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University in May of 2019 to 2021 were included in this study. The basic information and data of body mass index, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglyceride and uric acid were collected. Information about dietary and exercise habits was obtained through pre-examination questionnaires. The data of 2019 was set as baseline data, data of 2020 represented information during the early stage of COVID-19 epidemic and data of 2021 represented information in regular epidemic prevention period. The subjects were divided into underweight group, normal weight group, overweight group, and obese group according to the body mass index at baseline. The Friedman test was applied to compare changes in body mass index and metabolic parameters across the population. Chi-square test was used to compare changes in dietary and exercise habits. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was adopted to explore the influencing factors of body mass index changes.Results:During the early stage of COVID-19 epidemic, the proportion of weight gain was the highest in the underweight group (42.9%), the proportion of weight loss was the highest in the overweight group (24.2%), and the obese group has the most stable body weight (70.6%) ( P=0.004). Men ( OR=0.56, 95% CI: 0.36-0.87) were less likely to gain weight than women ( P=0.010). There was no significant differences in weight change among all groups in the regular epidemic prevention period ( P=0.380). During the early stage of COVID-19 epidemic, the levels of fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol and LDL-C were significantly lower than those of baseline [4.98 (4.66, 5.42) vs 5.23 (4.91, 5.66) mmol/L, 4.98 (4.36, 5.67) vs 5.11 (4.54, 5.77) mmol/L, 2.90 (2.45, 3.33) vs 3.23 (2.77, 3.74) mmol/L], and the uric acid level was higher [333.0 (275.5, 397.0) vs 311.0 (257.5, 368.0) μmol/L] (all P<0.001). In regular epidemic prevention period, the levels of body mass index, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol and LDL-C were significantly higher than those in the early stage of the epidemic [24.0 (21.9, 26.3) vs 23.8 (21.7, 26.1) kg/m 2, 5.18 (4.85, 5.62) vs 4.98 (4.66, 5.42) mmol/L, 5.12 (4.42, 5.76) vs 4.98 (4.36, 5.67) mmol/L, 3.06 (2.59, 3.57) vs 2.90 (2.45, 3.33) mmol/L], while the uric acid was significantly lower [319.0 (265.0, 377.0) vs 333.0 (275.5, 397.0) μmol/L] (all P<0.001). During the early stage of the epidemic, the reduction proportion of unhealthy diet in the home group was significantly higher than that in the outing group (19.5% vs 11.4%), and the increment proportion of exercise in the outing group was significantly higher than that in the home group (5.1% vs 1.6%) (both P<0.05). In regular epidemic prevention period, the increase rate of unhealthy diet in the home group was significantly higher than that in the outing group (26.8% vs 13.0%) ( P<0.001), and there was no significant difference in exercise between the two groups ( P=0.325). During the early stage of COVID-19 epidemic and in the regular epidemic prevention period, unhealthy diet>3 times per week ( OR=3.85, 3.01, 95% CI: 1.74-8.51, 1.41-6.39) was positively correlated with weight gain, and regular exercise ( OR=4.35, 2.61, 95% CI: 2.05-9.23, 1.15-5.91) was positively correlated with weight loss (all P<0.05). Conclusions:During the early stage of COVID-19 epidemic and in the regular epidemic prevention period, the lifestyle in the physical examination population has an impact on body weight and metabolic indicators. In the early stage of the epidemic, unhealthy diet and exercise decreased, and metabolic indicators such as blood glucose and lipids decreased. People with low body weight tend to gain weight. In the regular epidemic prevention period, the subjects′ exercise increased but unhealthy diet also increased, and blood glucose, lipid and body weight elevated significantly.