Aim To study modulation of NMDA recep-tors on inward rectifying potassium channels through investigation of retinal horizontal cells. Methods Whole cell recording was conducted on isolated retinal horizontal cells for observation of inward-rectifying po-tassium currents before and after application of NMDA. Modulation of inward-rectifying currents by NMDA re-ceptor was also tested under calcium-free and chelation of intracellular calcium condition. Results Reduction of inward rectifying potassium currents was induced by activation of NMDA receptors. The effect was attenua-ted when calcium was removed. Conclusion Inhibi-tion of inward rectifying potassium channels can be in-duced by activation of NMDA receptors via intracellular calcium signals.

The nucleocapsid protein (N) is a major structural protein of coronaviruses. The N protein of bat SARS-like coronavirus (SL-CoV) has a high similarity with that of SARS-CoV. In this study, the SL-CoV N protein was expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and used as antigen. An Indirect Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (indirect ELISA) was developed for detection of SARS- or SL-CoV infections in bat populations. The detection of 573 bat sera with this indirect ELISA demonstrated that SL-CoVs consistently circulate in Rhinilophus species, further supporting the proposal that bats are natural reservoirs of SL-CoVs. This method uses 1-2 μl of serum sample and can be used for preliminary screening of infections by SARS- or SL-CoV with a small amount of serum sample.

Objective To investigate the clinical features of pedistric Littre hernia.Methods Clinical data of 11 cases of Littre hermia admitted from January 2002 to December 2010 was studied retrospectively.Results The diagnosis of Littre hernia was all established by laparotomy.All of the 11 cases were boys,the median age was 1.2 years (22 days to 3 years and 7 months).The main clinical features were:painful,irregular and nonresetable mass in the groin area (11/11),vomiting in 6 cases (6/11 ),fever (＞38.5 ℃ ) in 4 cases (4/11 );X-ray showed intestinal obstruction in 9 cases (9/11 ),Ultrasound found mixed mass in the groin area in 11 cases ( 11/11 ),pouch-like structure were found in 6 cases (6/11).Eight cases (8/11) presented with elevated WBC ( ＞ 10000).Palpable lobulated structure were fell in 5 cases (5/11).All cases of Littre hernia were successfully operated on,Meckel diverticulum perforation was found in 2 cases ( 2/11 ),Meckel diverticulum adhered to the hernia sac in 8 eases (8/11).All patients were cured by surgery,and postoperative follow-up (10ms-8y) found no recurrence.Conclusions Pediatric Littre hernia is rare,preoperative diagnosis is difficult.Avoiding preoperative violent reduction and intraoperative injuring Meekel's diverticulum or the small bowel helps improve the cure rate of Littre hernia in children.

Post-stroke epilepsy (PSE),as one of the common complications after stroke,often seriously affect the quality of life of the survivors.In recent years,more and more studies have found that statins can protect the integrity of blood-brain barrier,alleviate excitotoxic damage of neurotransmitters,reduce neuronal apoptosis,and reduce neuroinflammation,which play a role in brain protection,thereby reducing the risk of PSE.This article reviews the treatment of PSE and application of statins in PSE.

Objective: To analyze the differences between the social support for breast cancer patients and healthy female, and to explore the correlation between social support and quality of life (QOL) in the patients. Methods: From January 2013 to December 2014, 101 patients with operable breast cancer treated at Xinyu City People′s Hospital were recruited as the experimental group. They completed questionnaires in the preoperative, postoperative chemoradiotherapy and rehabilitation periods, respectively.101 healthy female volunteers recruited from the community were included as control group, whose age and level of education were matched with those of the experimental group.The general questionnaire including basic information, disease conditions and other projects, perceived social support scale (PSSS), quality of life of breast cancer patients (FACT-B) were applied to evaluate the general situation, social support and QOL of the subjects. The differences in PSSS scores between the experimental and control groups were compared. The correlation between PSSS score and FACT-B score in the experimental group was analyzed. SPSS 18.0 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: The general situations of the experimental and control groups were comparable (all P>0.05). The rates of the total social support score ≥50 in the experimental and control groups were not significantly different (93.6% vs. 94.7%, P=0.067). Compared with that of the control group (23.2±4.8), the scores of family support in the experimental group in preoperative, postoperative chemoradiotherapy and rehabilitation periods were statistically higher (25.6±3.2, 24.2±4.2 and 24.0±3.4, respectively, P=0.034). The social support scores of patients with different demographic characteristics were different. Among the demographic characteristics, years of education and place of residence had the largest impact. The scores of social support in patients with longer education years and living in the urban area were higher than those with shorter education years and living in the rural areas (P<0.001). The scores of QOL among preoperative, postoperative chemoradiotherapy and rehabilitation periods in the experimental group were significantly different (all P<0.05). The patients gained the highest score of QOL in the preoperative period (110.7±5.1) and the lowest in the postoperative chemoradiotherapy period (95.3±18.1). The QOL of patients in the experimental group in preoperative, postoperative chemoradiotherapy and rehabilitation periods were all positively correlated with the overall social support (all P<0.01). Conclusions The QOL of breast cancer patients at different periods of treatment is positively correlated with the social support. The quality of life can be enhanced by improving the social support for the patients.

Objective:To investigate the safety and efficacy of haplo-identical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT) conditioning with the same dosage form of antithymoglobulin (ATG) in patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) failure to ATG.Methods:This was a retrospective cohort study. A total of 65 patients with SAA who failed ATG treatment and received haplo-HSCT conditioning with the same dosage of ATG at the Institute of Hematology, Peking University People′s Hospital between July 2008 and October 2020 were included as the ATG treatment failure group. An additional 65 SAA patients who applied ATG for the first time during haplo-HSCT were randomly selected by stratified sampling as the first-line haplo-HSCT group. Baseline clinical data and follow-up data of the two groups were collected. Conditioning-related toxicity within 10 days after ATG application and long-term prognosis were analyzed. The Kaplan-Meier was used to calculate the overall survival rate, and the Log-rank test was applied to compare the rates of the two groups.Results:In the ATG treatment failure group, there were 36 males and 29 females, and the age at the time of transplantation [ M ( Q1, Q3)] was 16 (8, 25) years. In the first-line haplo-HSCT group, there were 35 males and 30 females, with a median age of 17 (7, 26) years. Within 10 days of ATG application, the incidence of noninfectious fever, noninfectious diarrhea, and liver injury in the ATG treatment failure group was 78% (51 cases), 45% (29 cases), and 28% (18 cases), respectively, and in the first-line haplo-HSCT group was 74% (48 cases), 54% (35 cases), and 25% (16 cases), respectively; the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant for any of these three parameters (all P>0.05). For graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), there was no significant difference between the ATG treatment failure group and the first-line haplo-HSCT group in the development of 100 day Ⅱ to Ⅳ acute GVHD (29.51%±0.35% vs. 25.42%±0.33%), Ⅲ to Ⅳ acute GVHD (6.56%±0.10% vs. 6.78%±0.11%), and 3-year chronic GVHD (26.73%±0.36% vs. 21.15%±0.30%) (all P>0.05). Three-year overall survival (79.6%±5.1% vs. 84.6%±4.5%) and 3-year failure-free survival (79.6%±5.1% vs. 81.5%±4.8%) were also comparable between these two groups (both P>0.05). Conclusions:Compared with no exposure to ATG before HSCT, similar early adverse effects and comparable survival outcomes were achieved in patients with SAA who failed previous ATG treatment and received haplo-HSCT conditioning with the same dosage form of ATG. This might indicate that previous failure of ATG treatment does not significantly impact the efficacy and safety of salvaging haplo-HSCT in patients with SAA.

Background Procymidone (PCM) exposure can cause damage to reproductive organs of male mice, but whether its mechanism is related to the retinoic acid (RA) signaling pathway is unclear. Objective To explore the possible mechanism of PCM-induced testes damage in adolescent mice. Methods Three-week-old ICR mice (n=64) were randomly divided into a control group and three dose groups (low, medium, and high), with 16 mice in each group. PCM was administered orally at 0, 50, 100, and 200 mg·kg⁻¹·d⁻¹ for 21 consecutive days. Serum and bilateral testes in each mouse were collected to detect content of testosterone in serum and to observe histological changes in testis section after the mice were sacrificed one week after cessation of drug administration. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR and Western blotting were used to detect the mRNA expression abundances of genes related to the RA signaling pathway and apoptosis genes Casp9 and Casp12, and the protein expression levels of CYP26A1, ALDH2, and CASP9 respectively. Results Compared with the control group, there was no significant change in the overall appearance and testicular appearance of mice in each dose group after the PCM exposure. According to pathological section observation, the testicular seminiferous tubules of mice in the low-dose group showed slight atrophy and reduced sperm production; the testes of mice in the medium- and the high-dose groups showed obvious pathological damage (e.g. dilated lumen of seminiferous tubules, damaged spermatogenic epithelium, decreased number of spermatogonia, and partial absence of sertoli cells); as the concentration of PCM increased, the degree of spermatogenic epithelial damage in mice gradually increased and the number of spermatozoa in the seminiferous tubules decreased. There were no significant differences in the distance between the anus and the genitals, testicular mass, testicular volume, and testicular organ coefficient among the four groups of mice (P>0.05). The body weights of the mice in the low-, medium-, and high-dose groups were (34.91±1.89), (34.88±1.75), and (32.94±1.37) g respectively, and that in the high-dose group was lower than that in the control group, (35.93±1.99) g, (P<0.05); the serum testosterone concentrations were (313.77±5.32), (305.31±3.47), and (304.80±5.28) pg·mL⁻¹ respectively, which were lower than that in the control group, (319.05±1.92) pg·mL⁻¹ (P<0.05); as the dose of PCM increased, the body weight and serum testosterone concentration showed decreasing trends. The mRNA expression levels of Stra6 and Rbp1 in the high-dose group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05); the mRNA expression levels of Aldh2, Aldh1a1, Aldh1a3, Rarα, Rar\begin{document}$\beta $\end{document}, Rxrα and Rxr\begin{document}$\beta $\end{document} in the medium-and the high-dose groups were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05); the mRNA expression levels of Cyp26a1 and Cyp26b1 in the medium- and high-dose groups were lower than those in the control group(P<0.05); the mRNA expression levels of apoptosis genes Casp9 and Casp12 in the medium-and the high-dose groups were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The protein expression level of CYP26A1 in each exposure group was lower than that in the control group (P<0.05), and the expression level decreased with increasing concentration of PCM; the expression level of ALDH2 protein in the medium- and the high-dose groups and the protein expression level of CASP9 in each exposure group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05), and the levels increased with increasing concentration of PCM. Conclusion PCM can damage the testis tissues of adolescent mice, where RA signaling pathway, Casp9 and Casp12 genes, and CASP9 protein are activated.

AIM:To explore the fundus vascular characteristics of healthy individuals based on deep learning techniques, with a view to discovering the range of normal values of the fundus arteries and veins, as well as the relationship between physiological factors, such as gender, age, body mass index(BMI), blood pressure, and fundus vasculature characteristics.METHODS:Fundus images of healthy people were taken from a professional fundus camera, and the subject's blood pressure and laboratory test was collected. Additionally, the fundus arteries and veins were segmented by the improved U-Net model, and the color, morphology and Haralick texture features of the vessels were extracted from computer vision technology.RESULTS:A total of 4 487 cases fundus images were taken and 326 cases with healthy and clear fundus images were screened, including 200 males and 126 females. There were differences in the morphology, color, and textural characteristics of the left and right eyes, as well as of the fundus arterioles and veins, with a mean vessel width(width)of 1.146 in the arteries and 1.430 in the veins, and an arteriovenous ratio about 4:5. Fundus artery and vein characteristics in healthy individuals of different ages(21-30, 31-40, 41-50): compared with the healthy population aged 21-30 and 31-40 years, arterial and venous inverse difference moment(idm), f12 and venous angular second moment(asm)values increased, and arterial and venous contrast(con), entropy(ent), difference entropy(den), and venous sum entropy(sen)values decreased in 41-50 years. Compared with the 21-30 years age group, arterial f12 values increased and venous con values decreased in 31-40 years(all P<0.05). Fundus vascular characteristics of healthy individuals of different sexes: compared with male, fundus arterial and venous sum average(sav), sum variance(sva)values, arterial curved values, and venous b mean, bsd, variance(var), sen, ent values increased in female, while venous area value of female decreased(all P<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in fundus arteriosus and venous features in healthy subjects with different levels of BMI(all P>0.05). Fundus characteristics of healthy people with different degrees of blood pressure: there were statistically significant differences in fundus arteriosus area, width, and venous con, idm, dva, and den values between the normal blood pressure and high blood pressure groups(all P<0.05).CONCLUSION: The characteristics of the left and right eyes as well as the fundus arteries and veins differ in healthy individuals and correlate with physiological factors such as gender, age and blood pressure, which have the value of a potential microcirculation marker.