AIMTo explore the change of number working memory ability in healthy young adults, a continuous 3-back number working memory task were performed for an hour and 12 Blocks according to different COMT genotypes of young adults.

METHODS18 different genotype subjects were chosen from 112 healthy young adults, P3 event-related potentials was utilized to observe the relationship between this COMT polymorphism and cortical physiology in a continuous working memory task.

RESULTSSubjects bearing the Val/Val homozygote had significantly higher mean P3 amplitudes than Val/Met heterozygote (P < 0.01), however, no significant differences in comparison to Met/Met homozygote.

CONCLUSIONVal/Met Heterozygote subjects are associated with the poorest performance of working memory. There is a relationship between COMT genotype and P3 visual event-related potentials evoked from 3-back task.

Adult ; Brain ; enzymology ; physiology ; Catechol O-Methyltransferase ; genetics ; Event-Related Potentials, P300 ; genetics ; Evoked Potentials, Visual ; genetics ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Memory, Short-Term ; physiology ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Young Adult

Objective:To compare the clinical efficacy between puncture assisted by a "TINAVI" orthopaedic robot versus freehand puncture in vertebroplaty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture(OVCF) of the upper thoracic vertebra.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted of the 19 patients (20 vertebral bodies) with OVCF of the upper thoracic vertebra who had been treated at Department of Spine Surgery, Honghui Hospital from January 2018 to March 2019 by robotic vertebroplasty (robot group) and of another 21 counterpart patients (21 vertebral bodies) who had been treated by conventional vertebroplasty from January 2016 to December 2017 (freehand group). Puncture was conducted by a "TINAVI" orthopaedic robot in the robotic vertebroplasty but freehand in the conventional vertebroplasty. The robot group had 5 males and 14 females, aged from 62 to 88 years; the freehand group had 6 males and 15 females, aged from 64 to 83 years. The 2 groups were compared in terms of operation time, bone cement volume, postoperative complications (cement leakage, infection and embolism), visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), anterior height (AH) and kyphosis angulation (KA) of the injured vertebra at day 1 and last follow-up after surgery.Results:The 2 groups were comparable because there were no significant differences between them in the preoperative general data ( P>0.05). Vertebroplasty via unilateral puncture approach was completed uneventfully in the 19 patients (20 vertebral bodies) in the robot group and in the 21 patients (21 vertebral bodies) in the freehand group. The 40 patients were followed up for 6 to 12 months (mean, 8.3 month). The operation time [(37.9±8.2) min], bone cement volume [(2.3±0.9) mL] and rate of cement leakage (10.0%, 2/20) in the robot group were all significantly less or lower than those in the freehand group [(46.2±9.4) min, (4.2±1.3) mL and 42.9% (9/21)] ( P<0.05). No infection or embolism was observed in either group. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in VAS, ODI, AH or KA of the injured vertebra at day 1 or last follow-up after surgery ( P>0.05). Conclusion:In vertebroplaty for OVCF of the upper thoracic vertebra, compared with conventional freehand puncture, puncture assisted by a "TINAVI" orthopaedic robot can lead to satisfactory clinical efficacy because it reduces operation time, volume of bone cement injection, and thus incidence of bone cement leakage.

Following contents were reviewed in this article: More and more experimental studies related with chronic uratic nephropathy were carried out in recent years. In most of these studies, the animal models were established mainly from viewpoints of gene recombination, urinary uric acid inhibition and blood uric acid production promoting. TCM showed good effects in lowering blood uric acid, regulating levels of cytokines and postponing interstitial fibrosis. However, further studies on Chinese herbs and their extracts is necessary.
Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Hyperuricemia ; blood ; Kidney Diseases ; etiology ; Mice ; Phytotherapy ; Purines ; metabolism ; Rats ; Uric Acid ; blood

OBJECTIVETo compare the efficacy and safety of the common antivirals, including adefovir dipivoxil (ADV), pegylated-interferon alpha-2a (peg-IFN) and lamivudine (LAM), used as combination therapies to treat chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with positivity for the hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) harboring the ADV-resistance mutation, rtN236T, and to explore the factors associated with curative outcome.

METHODSSixty-five adult CHB patients (age range: 20-60 years) who were unresponsive to ADV therapy (HBeAg-positive; HBV DNA >or= 10(5) copies/ml), LAM-naive, and tested positive for the rtN236T HBV mutation were enrolled in the study and randomly divided into two treatment groups: Group A (n = 33), who were administered ADV (10 mg/day, orally) plus peg-IFN (180 microg/week, subcutaneous injection) for 48 weeks; and Group B (n = 32 patients), who received the ADV plus LAM (100 mg/day, orally) for 48 weeks followed by continued LAM treatment for an additional 24 weeks. Pre- (baseline), during and post-treatment measurements of HBV viral loads and hepatitis B markers were made by quantitative PCR and electrochemiluminescence assays, respectively. All patients underwent liver biopsies to determine the histological activity index (HAI) and treatment response regarding inflammation and fibrosis stage. The rates of virological response (VR), HBeAg-negativity, HBeAg seroconversion, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) normalization were calculated, and the significance of differences between groups were assessed by Student's t-test and Chi2 test.

RESULTSThere were no significant differences between the two groups in regards to sex, age, or baseline levels of HBV DNA, ALT, and total bilirubin (P > 0.05). At weeks 24 and 48 of treatment and 24 after treatment end, group A showed significantly higher (vs. group B, P < 0.05) rates of reduced HBV DNA viral loads (81.8%, 90.9%, and 75.8% vs. 53.1%, 56.2%, and 59.4%), VR (48.5%, 60.6%, and 42.4% vs. 31.3%, 34.4%, and 31.3%), HBeAg-negativity (39.4%, 60.6%, and 54.5% vs. 12.5%, 37.5%, and 37.5%), HBeAg seroconversion (27.3%, 54.5%, and 48.5% vs. 6.3%, 15.6%, and 18.8%), and ALT normalization (72.7%, 84.8%, and 78.8% vs. 46.9%, 56.3%, and 46.9%). After 48 weeks of treatment, group A showed significantly improved HAI (vs. group B, P < 0.05). With the exception of treatment-related increased creatinine (P < 0.05), group A showed significantly higher rates of adverse reactions; although, none was serious enough to threaten patient safety or necessitate early termination of the treatment regimen. Twenty-four weeks after treatment completion, five patients had HBV viral loads of >or= 2log10 copies/ml and four had < or= 500 copies/ml, and ALT was normalized in 28 patients. The four patients in group A with HBV DNA < or= 500 copies/ml and elevated ALT during treatment did not show HBeAg seroconversion.

CONCLUSIONPeg-IFN plus ADV combination therapy produced better outcomes than the ADV plus LAM combination therapy in regards to HBV viral loads, VR rate, HBeAg-negative rate, HBeAg seroconversion rate, ALT normalization rate, and HAI, but was associated with a higher rate of adverse reactions (none of which were severe). Lack of HBeAg seroconversion was associated with higher virus load and ALT levels.

Adenine ; adverse effects ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Adult ; Drug Resistance, Viral ; genetics ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; blood ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; blood ; drug therapy ; virology ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Lamivudine ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; Organophosphonates ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Polyethylene Glycols ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Recombinant Proteins ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Young Adult

Objective To analyze the efficacy of the combination of MALDI-TOF and immunoadsorption to detect new biomarkers for lupus. Methods Twenty lupus patients at active stage (SLE group), 10 SLE patients in remission (SLE control group), 10 RA patients and 10 PSS patients (other rheumatic disease control group) and 20 healthy volunteers (healthy control group) were enrolled. The serum samples before and after immunoadsorption from SLE group and those from the control groups were co-incubated with activated chitosan copper derivative nano material. The adsorbed nano material was spotted onto the matrix used in MALDI-TOF for analysis by the Axima-CFR plus MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer. T-test was used for statistical analysis. Results MALDI-TOF MS screening showed that three potential protein biomarkers of mass-to-charge (m/z) ratio 3136, 3264, 3326 were found to be very specific for lupus patients: All of them were expressed before immunoadsorption in high quantity and none of them could be detected both after immunoadsorption and in all the three control groups. None of them (<10 000) were in the molecular weight range of the biomarkers used nowadays such as auto antibodies and complement (>50 000). Conclusion The combination of MALDI-TOF and immunoadsorption is effective in the detection of new serum protein biomarkers for lupus and it may be helpful in the screening of SLE patients at active stage from healthy people.

Objective To explore the effects of application of Hain rules to nursing safety management in thoracic surgery wards.Methods Hain rules were used to enhance the professional quality of staff and strengthen management of apparatus,equipment and facilities,improve the personnel replacement system,and strengthen the management of drug standardization,quality service,strengthen the management of high-risk patients in order to ensure the care and safety effectively.Results The adverse events were significantly reduced and the quality of care significantly increased after the implementation of Hain rules(2009 Year)compared with those before the implementation of this roles (2008 Year) (P<0.01).Conclusions In the thoracic surgery wards,Hein rules plays significant effects on care and safety management.

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of microRNA-148a-3p(miR-148a-3p)in lung adenocarcinoma and analyze the effect and mechanism of miR-148a-3p on ra-diotherapy sensitivity of lung adenocarcinoma cells by targeting the protein core 1 β13-galactosyltrans-ferase 1(C1GALT1).Methods Seventy-six patients'tumor tissues from lung adenocarcinoma tissue microarrays and lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell line were selected for the study.The miR-148a-3p in situ hybridizations(ISH)and C1GALT1 immunohistochemical staining were performed on the tissue microarrays to analyze the correlations of miR-148a-3p expression with clinical pathology,prognosis and C1GALT1 expression in the tumor tissues of the 76 patients with lung adenocarcinoma.A549 cells were transfected with miR-148a-3p overexpression plasmid by using cell transfection technique;the clone formation assay was used to detect the sensitivity of the transfected cells for radiotherapy after re-ceiving 2 Gy radiotherapy;the protein expression level of cellular C1GALT1 was detected by western blot;the targeted regulatory relationship between miR-148a-3p and C1GALT1 was verified by dual-luciferase reporter gene experiment;the mechanism of miR-148a-3p regulating the sensitivity of A549 cells to radiotherapy was analyzed by co-transfection technique.Results Low expression of miR-148a-3p in 76 cases of lung adenocarcinoma tissues was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis(P=0.012);the prognosis of patients with high expression of miR-148a-3p was significantly better than that of patients with low expression of miR-148a-3p(P=0.005);there was a significant negative correlation between the expression of miR-148a-3p and C1GALT1 in lung adenocarcinoma tissues(P=0.023).Multivariate analysis showed that low expression of miR-148a-3p,T staging and lymph node metastasis were the independent risk factors for prognosis.Clone formation experiment showed that the number of clone formation in the miR-148a-3p overexpression group was significantly lower than that in the control group(P＜0.001);western blot result showed that overexpression of miR-148a-3p was able to significantly down-regulate the level of C1GALT1 protein in cells(P＜0.001).Dual luciferase reporter gene experiment showed that miR-148a-3p was able to regulate the expression of C1GALT1 by binding to the 3'UTR of C1GALT1.Functional rescue experiment showed that C1GALT1 could partially offset the radiosensitization effect of miR-148a-3p.Conclusion Low ex-pression of miR-148a-3p in lung adenocarcinoma is significantly associated with lymph node metasta-sis,high expression of C1GALT1 and poor prognosis,and miR-148a-3p can enhance the radiosensitiv-ity of lung adenocarcinoma cells by negatively regulating the expression of C1GALT1.

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of microRNA-148a-3p(miR-148a-3p)in lung adenocarcinoma and analyze the effect and mechanism of miR-148a-3p on ra-diotherapy sensitivity of lung adenocarcinoma cells by targeting the protein core 1 β13-galactosyltrans-ferase 1(C1GALT1).Methods Seventy-six patients'tumor tissues from lung adenocarcinoma tissue microarrays and lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell line were selected for the study.The miR-148a-3p in situ hybridizations(ISH)and C1GALT1 immunohistochemical staining were performed on the tissue microarrays to analyze the correlations of miR-148a-3p expression with clinical pathology,prognosis and C1GALT1 expression in the tumor tissues of the 76 patients with lung adenocarcinoma.A549 cells were transfected with miR-148a-3p overexpression plasmid by using cell transfection technique;the clone formation assay was used to detect the sensitivity of the transfected cells for radiotherapy after re-ceiving 2 Gy radiotherapy;the protein expression level of cellular C1GALT1 was detected by western blot;the targeted regulatory relationship between miR-148a-3p and C1GALT1 was verified by dual-luciferase reporter gene experiment;the mechanism of miR-148a-3p regulating the sensitivity of A549 cells to radiotherapy was analyzed by co-transfection technique.Results Low expression of miR-148a-3p in 76 cases of lung adenocarcinoma tissues was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis(P=0.012);the prognosis of patients with high expression of miR-148a-3p was significantly better than that of patients with low expression of miR-148a-3p(P=0.005);there was a significant negative correlation between the expression of miR-148a-3p and C1GALT1 in lung adenocarcinoma tissues(P=0.023).Multivariate analysis showed that low expression of miR-148a-3p,T staging and lymph node metastasis were the independent risk factors for prognosis.Clone formation experiment showed that the number of clone formation in the miR-148a-3p overexpression group was significantly lower than that in the control group(P＜0.001);western blot result showed that overexpression of miR-148a-3p was able to significantly down-regulate the level of C1GALT1 protein in cells(P＜0.001).Dual luciferase reporter gene experiment showed that miR-148a-3p was able to regulate the expression of C1GALT1 by binding to the 3'UTR of C1GALT1.Functional rescue experiment showed that C1GALT1 could partially offset the radiosensitization effect of miR-148a-3p.Conclusion Low ex-pression of miR-148a-3p in lung adenocarcinoma is significantly associated with lymph node metasta-sis,high expression of C1GALT1 and poor prognosis,and miR-148a-3p can enhance the radiosensitiv-ity of lung adenocarcinoma cells by negatively regulating the expression of C1GALT1.

This study was aimed to investigate the expression of cdx2 gene in pediatric patients with acute leukemia and its clinical implication. The bone marrow and peripheral blood were collected from 33 newly diagnosed pediatric patients with acute leukemia, the cdx2 gene expression in each AL subtypes and normal controls was detected by RT-PCR, the relationship between cdx2 expression and response to treatment was observed. The results showed that the expression of cdx2 was positive in 25 out of 30 AL cases (83.3%), to be exact, in 20 of 21 ALL cases (95.2%) and in 5 of 9 AML cases (55.6%), which showed statistical difference (p < 0.05). The cdx2 mRNA could be detected also in 1 of 3 CML cases. However, no expression of cdx2 was observed in all normal control which revealed significant difference between patient group and normal control group. 21 AL patients with cdx2 positive expression (17 ALL and 4 AML patients) and 4 AL patients with cxd2 negative expression (1 ALL and 3 AML patients) all reached complete remission (CR) after treatment, which showed no correlation with CR rate. 8 patients with positive cdx2 expression were followed up. As a result, the cdx2 positive expression at initial diagnosis of patients remained positive at reaching CR, but it gradually turned to negative along with prolonging of CR, while the cdx2 negative expression at initial diagnosis of patients remained negative at CR in bone marrow level. It is concluded that cdx2 positive expression is observed in the majority of pediatric AL patients, even positive rate in ALL patients is higher than that in AML patients, while the cdx2 expression also can be observed in CML patients. The cdx2 positive expression is not related to the CR rate in AL patients.
CDX2 Transcription Factor ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Gene Expression ; Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; Humans ; Infant ; Leukemia ; genetics ; Male ; Prognosis ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo detect the gene mutation of a family with piebaldism.

METHODSDiagnosis of a patient with piebaldism was constructed by pathology, ultrastructural examination and typical clinical-phenotype. Detection of gene mutation was carried out by PCR and DNA sequencing.

RESULTSG 2528A substitution transition in the KIT gene was found in the proband of the family with piebaldism. This mutation resulted in S850N substitution in protein product of KIT gene. No mutation was found in 100 normal individuals and other family members.

CONCLUSIONThe mutation of S850N maybe one cause of clinical phenotype of the family with piebaldism.

Adult ; Base Sequence ; China ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Male ; Mutation, Missense ; Pedigree ; Piebaldism ; genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA