BACKGROUND:Col agen type II and proteoglycan loss are two most obvious manifestations of cartilage damage in the onset of osteoarthritis. Changes in col agen type II and proteoglycan as the main components of cartilage matrix directly lead to cartilage degeneration and subsequently result in osteoarthritis. How to reverse or prevent the development of this process becomes the focus of medical research. OBJECTIVE:To observe the effect of warming yang and benefiting marrow recipe on the expression of col agen type II and proteoglycan in the articular cartilage of knee osteoarthritis rabbits as wel as to further explore the mechanism underlying chondrocyte protection. METHODS:Ninety-six New Zealand rabbits, aged 9 months old, male and female, were selected to prepare osteoarthritis models in extension position using cast immobilization method, and were randomly divided into four groups:blank group (untreated), model group (simple modeling), Chinese medicine group (intragastric administration of extracts of warming yang and benefiting marrow recipe, 24 mL/kg/d) and western medicine group (intragastric administration of glucosamine hydrochloride, 24 mL/kg/d). Intragastric administration was done once a day for 6 weeks. RT-PCR technology was used to observe the effect of warming yang and benefiting marrow recipe on the expression of col agen type II and proteoglycans in the articular cartilage, and pathological examination was also done. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The cartilage surface was smooth in the blank group and Chinese medicine group, with uniform toluidine blue staining, but in the model group and western medicine group, the cartilage surface was rough and the toluidine blue staining was extremely uneven with obvious loss of surface and middle layer dying. The expressions of cartilage proteoglycan and col agen type II in the model group were significantly lower than those in the blank group (P<0.01) as wel as in the Chinese medicine group and western medicine group (P<0.05). In addition, the expressions of cartilage proteoglycan and col agen type II in the Chinese medicine group were higher than those in the western medicine group (P<0.05). These findings indicate that the recipe of warming yang and benefiting marrow can enhance the expressions of col agen type II and proteoglycan, which can maintain the normal col agen phenotype and protect the articular cartilage.

BACKGROUND:There are a variety of methods for establishing osteoarthritis animal model, and different methods and different animals have their own characteristics.
OBJECTIVE:To review the status of the research on osteoarthritis animal models.
METHODS:The relevant articles to the osteoarthritis animal models were searched in Medline database from January 2002 to October 2011, with the key words of“animal model, osteoarthritis”in English by the computer. Similarly, Chinese Journal Ful-text Database was retrieved for related articles published in Chinese from January 2002 to October 2011, with the key words of“animal model, osteoarthritis, research development”in Chinese. Total y 423 relevant articles were col ected and 128 of them conformed the standard. At last 40 articles were included to review after ful-text reading.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The artificial induced animal models are the principal means to establish animal models of osteoarthritis and they have been widely used in the study of osteoarthritis pathogenesis, drug efficacy, cartilage physiology and pathology. Spontaneous osteoarthritis animal models have great advantages in the study addressing the initial mechanism of osteoarthritis, the biochemical changes of articular cartilage and the comparison of prevention and cure effects. Transgenic animal models have great application prospects on studying cartilage repairing mechanisms and testing a gene to prevent, delay or reversal the morphological changes. Accordingly the choice of models should be based on research needs.

Objective To develop a method of studying fiber projecting in the spinal cord duiring chicken embryo development.Methods At embryonic incubation 3 day (E3), pCAGGS-green fluorescent protein (GFP) plasmid was injected into the spinal cord using in vivo electroporation.Three days after transfection (E6), GFP-positive embryos were collected under a stereo fluorescence microscope .Subsequently , the spinal cord was separated from the embryos and cut from the roof plate as an open book .After fixed with 4%paraformaldehyde ( PFA) for one hour , the opened spinal cords were used for immunohistochemistry with N-cadherin antibody and with DAPI for nuclei .Finally, the nerve fiber projecting was photographed and analyzed under a fluorescence microscope . Results Based on the opened spinal cord and immunostaining in the cryosection , we observed that the nerve fibers projected across the midline of the floor plate and reached to the sulcus terminalis along the white matter of the contra side .The immunoreaction against N-cadherin indicated that overexpression of GFP has no significant effect on chicken embryonic development .Conclusion A new method to study fiber projecting in the developing chicken spinal cord is established successfully in this study .

This study examined the differentiation character and pluripotency of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) under different conditions. Adult MSCs were initially isolated from the bone marrow of rats, cultured in vitro and identified by flow cytometry. After MSCs were transferred to osteogenic and adipogenic medium respectively, the morphological characterization of induced cells was observed. The expression of marker genes was detected by RT-PCR analysis. Then MSCs were transfected with lentiviral vectors pGC-FU-Sox9-EGFP. Enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) expression and transfection efficiency were determined by fluorescence microscopy. The results demonstrated that EGFP caused no effect on the multilineage potential of adult MSCs. Sox9 gene expression of high level was maintained stable in the transfected MSCs and induced MSCs to differentiate into chondrocytes. Aggracan was positive in chondrogenic lineages and the expression of aggracan and type collagen II was significantly increased during MSCs chondrogenic differentiation. It was concluded that Sox9 gene-modified adult MSCs may be promising candidate cells for further studies on tissue engineering. EGFP facilitates the research on MSCs physiological behavior and application in tissue engineering during differentiation both in vitro and in vivo.

BACKGROUNDTo study the morphological characteristics, immunohistochemical stain and histological origin of so-called sclerosing hemangioma of the lung (S-SH), and to investigate the significance and diagnostic value of expressions of surfactant protein B (SP-B), thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) and other markers in S-SH.

METHODSUsing transmission electron microscope and immunohistochemistry methods, the expressions of SP-B, TTF-1, mast cell trypsin (MCT), epithelial antigen markers (CK-H, CK-L, EMA, CEA), mesothelial antigen (MC), neuroendocrine markers (NSE, Ch-A, synaptophysin, calcitonin, ACTH, GH), vimentin and CD34 were observed in 30 cases of S-SH.

RESULTSS-SH demonstrated a mixture of four histological patterns: solid, papillary, hemorrhagic and sclerotic pattern, which often showed transitional phenomena. Cuboidal cells on the surface, which contained short microvilli and lamellar bodies in cytoplasm, arranged in one row and sometimes interfused into multinuclear giant cells. Immunohistochemical results showed that these cells demonstrated strongly positive staining to SP-B, TTF-1, CK-L, EMA and CEA. The other major cell component-polygonal stromal cells were strongly positive to vimentin and TTF-1, and positive or weakly positive to 2 or 3 neuroendocrine markers in each case. Sparse neuroendocrine granulae and abundant microtubules were observed in cytoplasm of the cells. Both cuboidal and polygonal cells displayed negative immunohistochemical results to CD34 and MC. Some cell clusters in solid region were positive for SP-B and EMA. Mast cells which were positive for MCT existed sparsely in almost full vision field.

CONCLUSIONSCuboidal cells of S-SH originate from reactive proliferating type II pneumocytes and sometimes interfuse into multinuclear giant cells. The polygonal cells in stroma probably originate from multipotential primitive respiratory epithelium and have multiple differentiating ability. The presence of mast cells is also one of histological characteristics of S-SH.

Objective:To evaluate the long-term effect of structured patient education and exercise therapy for knee osteoarthritis (KOA).Methods:Prospective cohort study, 162 patients with KOA were consecutively recruited from May 2016 to December 2019 to receive structured patient education and exercise therapy and were followed up 3 years after the recruitment. All the patients received two 1-hour educational courses and exercise therapy twice per week for six weeks under the supervision of physicians or physical therapists. Knee injury and osteoarthritis score (KOOS), visual analog score of pain (VAS), intermittent and constant OA pain (ICOAP), self-efficacy for arthritis were queried at 3-month and 36-month follow-up visit. We fitted linear mixed-effects models to examine the difference in scores between baseline and 3-month and 36-month visits.Results:109(67.3%) patients finished both 3-month and 36-month follow-up visits. The KOOS pain score increased from 70.8±1.7 at baseline to 79.7±1.8 at 36 months ( P<0.05). The KOOS symptom score increased from 66.8±2.0 at baseline to 74.9±2.1 at 36 months ( P<0.05). The KOOS daily function score increased from 81.7±1.4 at baseline to 87.0±1.5 at 36 months ( P<0.05). KOOS motor function score increased from 47.4±2.8 at baseline to 55.0±2.9 at 36 months ( P<0.05). The quality of life score of KOOS increased from 46.6±2.1 at baseline to 63.5±2.2 at 36 months ( P<0.05). Compared with the baseline data, there were statistically significant improvements in all subscales of KOOS in 36 months after exercise therapy intervention ( F=14.548, 8.102, 11.394, 5.687 and25.942, P<0.05). VAS pain score of left knee, VAS pain score of right knee, ICOAP score, self-efficacy pain score and other symptoms were also significantly improved ( F=17.643, 26.791, 8.290, 4.052 and 3.654, P<0.05). Conclusion:Structured patient education and exercise therapy are effective in improving knee pain and function as well as self-efficacy until as long as 36 months.

This study examined the differentiation character and pluripotency of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) under different conditions. Adult MSCs were initially isolated from the bone marrow of rats, cultured in vitro and identified by flow cytometry. After MSCs were transferred to osteogenic and adipogenic medium respectively, the morphological characterization of induced cells was observed. The expression of marker genes was detected by RT-PCR analysis. Then MSCs were transfected with lentiviral vectors pGC-FU-Sox9-EGFP. Enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) expression and transfection efficiency were determined by fluorescence microscopy. The results demonstrated that EGFP caused no effect on the multilineage potential of adult MSCs. Sox9 gene expression of high level was maintained stable in the transfected MSCs and induced MSCs to differentiate into chondrocytes. Aggracan was positive in chondrogenic lineages and the expression of aggracan and type collagen II was significantly increased during MSCs chondrogenic differentiation. It was concluded that Sox9 gene-modified adult MSCs may be promising candidate cells for further studies on tissue engineering. EGFP facilitates the research on MSCs physiological behavior and application in tissue engineering during differentiation both in vitro and in vivo.
Adult Stem Cells ; cytology ; Aggrecans ; metabolism ; Animals ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Chondrocytes ; cytology ; Collagen Type II ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; genetics ; Lentivirus ; genetics ; metabolism ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Rats ; SOX9 Transcription Factor ; genetics ; Tissue Engineering ; Transfection

Purpose: Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) is a rare genetic autosomal recessive disease caused by mutations in ATP8B1, ABCB11 or ABCB4. Mutational analysis of these genes is a reliable approach to identify the disorder. Methods: We collected and analyzed relevant data related to clinical diagnosis, biological investigation, and molecular determination in nine children carrying these gene mutations, who were from unrelated families in South China. Results: Of the nine patients (five males, four females) with PFIC, one case of PFIC1, four cases of PFIC2, and four cases of PFIC3 were diagnosed. Except in patient no. 8, jaundice and severe pruritus were the major clinical signs in all forms. γ-glutamyl transpeptidase was low in patients with PFIC1/PFIC2, and remained mildly elevated in patients with PFIC3. We identified 15 different mutations, including nine novel mutations (p.R470HfsX8, p.Q794X and p.I1170T of ABCB11 gene mutations, p.G319R, p.A1047P, p.G1074R, p.T830NfsX11, p.A1047PfsX8 and p.N1048TfsX of ABCB4 gene mutations) and six known mutations (p.G446R and p.F529del of ATP8B1 gene mutations, p.A588V, p.G1004D and p.R1057X of ABCB11 gene mutations, p.P479L of ABCB4 gene mutations). The results showed that compared with other regions, these three types of PFIC genes had different mutational spectrum in China. Conclusion The study expands the genotypic spectrum of PFIC. We identified nine novel mutations of PFIC and our findings could help in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

Objective:To explore the risk factors of early infection patients after heart transplantation(HT)and provide references for preventing and treating early infection.Methods:From April 2018 to May 2021, clinical data were retrospectively reviewed for 95 HT recipients treated at Zhengzhou Seventh People's Hospital.They were divided into two groups of infected(n=34)and uninfected(n=61). Gender, age, disease type, preoperative IABP implantation, postoperative intra-aortic balloon pump(IABP)implantation, postoperative extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(ECMO)implantation, preoperative mechanical ventilation, preoperative leukocyte, preoperative lymphocyte, preoperative serum C-reactive protein(CRP), operative approach, APACHEⅡscore, NYHA grade, hemoglobin, cardiopulmonary bypass time, donor heart cold ischemia time, postoperative thoracic drainage tube indwelling time, postoperative gastric tube indwelling time, postoperative urinary tube indwelling time, postoperative acute rejection, postoperative ventilator assisted treatment time and postoperative ICU time.The risk factors of early infection were analyzed by univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis.Results:There were 34 cases of early infection after HT and 8 cases died.In infection group, preoperative hemoglobin(female <110 g/L or male <120 g/L), ECMO post-operation, 24-48 h post-operation, APACHE post-operation(>6), postoperative intrathoracic drainage tube indwelling time(≥7 d), postoperative gastric tube indwelling time(≥4 d), postoperative urinary tube indwelling time(≥5 d), postoperative acute rejection(positive), postoperative ventilator assisted treatment time(≥2 d)and postoperative ICU time(≥10 d)were 18 cases(52.94%), 8(23.53%), 30(88.24%), 22(64.71%), 18(52.94%), 20(58.82%), 4(11.76%), 21(61.76%)and 19(55.88%); uninfected group: 16 cases(26.23%), 3(4.92%), 32(52.46%), 24(39.34%), 15(24.59%), 31(34.43%), 1(1.64%), 21(34.43%)and 4(6.56%). Significant inter-group differences existed( χ2=6.778, 5.68, 12.326, 5.623, 7.740, 5.297, 4.489, 6.615, 28.947, P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis indicated that 24-48h post-operation, APACHEⅡ score >6(β=1.024, Wald χ2=7.653, OR=2.141, OR95% CI=1.323~4.215), ECMO post-operation(β=1.783, Wald χ2=6.186, OR=5.949, OR95% CI =1.459~24.25), postoperative intrathoracic drainage tube indwelling time ≥7 d(β=0.712, Wald χ2=5.745, OR=1.054, OR95% CI=1.183~6.753), postoperative gastric tube indwelling time(β=0.832, Wald χ2=6.756, OR=1.132, OR95% CI=1.416~8.406), postoperative ventilator assisted treatment time(β=0.745, Wald χ2=6.563, OR=1.212, OR95% CI=1.289~7.346)and postoperative ICU time=1.28(β=1.325, Wald χ2=9.752, OR=2.435, OR95% CI=1.426~6.354)were independent risk factor for early infection after HT( P<0.05). Conclusions:Early infection after HT remains higher.It is significantly correlated with 24-48 h post-operation APACHE II score, ECMO post-operation, postoperative intrathoracic drainage tube indwelling time, postoperative gastric tube indwelling time, postoperative ventilator assisted treatment time and postoperative ICU time.Targeted interventions should be adopted for lowering the incidence of early infection after HT.

Objective:To construct a prognosis associated micro RNA(miRNA) prediction model based on bioinformatics analysis and evaluate its application value in pancreatic cancer patients.Methods:The retrospective cohort study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 171 pancreatic cancer patients from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) (https: //cancergenome.nih.gov/) between establishment of database and September 2017 were collected. There were 93 males and 78 females, aged from 35 to 88 years, with a median age of 65 years. Of the 171 patients, 64 had complete clinicopathological data. Patients were allocated into training dataset consisting of 123 patients and validation dataset consisting of 48 patients using the random sampling method, with a ratio of 7∶3. The training dataset was used to construct a prediction model, and the validation dataset was used to evaluate performance of the prediction model. Nine pairs of miRNA sequencing data (GSE41372) of pancreatic cancer and adjacent tissues were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus database. The candidate miRNAs were selected from differentially expressed miRNAs in pancreatic cancer and adjacent tissues for LASSO-COX regression analysis based on the patients of training dataset. A prognosis associated miRNA prediction model was constructed upon survival associated miRNAs which were selected from candidate differentially expressed miRNAs. The performance of prognosis associated miRNA prediction model was validated in training dataset and validation dataset, the accuracy of model was evaluated using the area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curves and the efficiency was evaluated using the consistency index (C-index). Observation indicarors: (1) survival of patients; (2) screening results of differentially expressed miRNAs; (3) construction of prognosis associated miRNA model; (4) validation of prognosis associated miRNA model; (5) comparison of clinicopathological factors in pancreatic cancer patients; (6) analysis of factors for prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients; (7) comparison of prediction performance between prognosis associated miRNA model and the eighth edition TNM staging. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, comparison between groups was analyzed by the student- t test, and comparison between multiple groups was analyzed by the AVONA. Measurement data with skewed data were represented as M (range), and comparison between groups was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Count data were described as absolute numbers or percentages, and comparison between groups was conducted using the chi-square test. Ordinal data were analyzed using the rank sum test. Correlation analysis was conducted based on count data to mine the correlation between prognosis associated miRNA model and clinicopathological factors. COX univariate analysis and multivariate analysis were applied to evaluate correlation with the results described as hazard ratio ( HR) and 95% confidence interval ( CI). HR<1 indicated the factor as a protective factor, HR>1 indicated the factor as a risk factor, and HR equal to 1 indicated no influence on survival. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw survival curve and calculate survival rates, and the Log-rank test was used for survival analysis. Results:(1) Survival of patients: 123 patients in the training dataset were followed up for 31-2 141 days, with a median follow-up time of 449 days. The 3- and 5-year survival rates were 16.67% and 8.06%. Forty-eight patients in the validation dataset were followed up for 41-2 182 days, with a median follow-up time of 457 days. The 3- and 5-year survival rates were 15.63% and 9.68%. There was no significant difference in the 3- or 5-year survival rates between the two groups ( χ2=0.017, 0.068, P>0.05). (2) Screening results of differentially expressed miRNAs. Results of bioinformatics analysis showed that 102 candidate differentially expressed miRNAs were selected, of which 63 were up-regulated in tumor tissues while 39 were down-regulated. (3) Construction of prognosis associated miRNA model: of the 102 candidate differentially expressed miRNAs, 5 survival associated miRNAs were selected, including miR-21, miR-125a-5p, miR-744, miR-374b, miR-664. The differential expression patterns of pancreatic cancer to adjacent tissues were up-regulation, up-regulation, down-regulation, up-regulation, and down-regulation, respectively, with the fold change of 4.00, 3.43, 3.85, 2.62, and 2.35. A prognostic expression equation constructed based on 5 survival associated miRNAs = 0.454×miR-21 expression level-0.492×miR-125a-5p expression level-0.49×miR-744 expression level-0.419×miR-374b expression level-0.036×miR-664 expression level. (4) Validation of prognosis associated miRNA model: The C-index of prognosis associated miRNA model was 0.643 and 0.642 for the training dataset and validation dataset, respectively. (5) Comparison of clinicopathological factors in pancreatic cancer patients: results of COX analysis showed that the prognosis associated miRNA model was highly related with pathological T stage and location of pancreatic cancer ( Z=45.481, χ2=10.176, P<0.05). (6) Analysis of factors for prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients: results of univariate analysis showed that pathological N stage, radiotherapy, molecular targeted therapy, score of prognosis associated miRNA model were related factors for prognosis pf pancreatic cancer patients ( HR=2.471, 0.290, 0.172, 2.001, 95% CI: 1.012-6.032, 0.101-0.833, 0.082-0.364, 1.371-2.922, P<0.05). Results of multivariate analysis showed that molecular targeted therapy was an independent protective factor for prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients ( HR=0.261, 95% CI: 0.116-0.588, P<0.05) and score of prognosis associated miRNA model≥1.16 was an independent risk factor for prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients ( HR=1.608, 95% CI: 1.091-2.369, P<0.05). (7) Comparison of prediction performance between prognosis associated miRNA model and the eighth edition TNM staging: in the training dataset, there was a significant difference in the prediction probability for 3- and 5-year survival of pancreatic cancer patients between prognosis associated miRNA model and the eighth edition TNM staging ( Z=-1.671, -1.867, P<0.05). The AUC of the prognosis associated miRNA model and the eight edition TNM staging for 3- and 5-year survival prediction was 0.797, 0.935 and 0.737 , 0.703, with the 95% CI of 0.622-0.972, 0.828-1.042 and 0.571-0.904 , 0.456-0.951. The C-index was 0.643 and 0.534. In the validation dataset, there was a significant difference in the prediction probability for 3- and 5-year survival of pancreatic cancer patients between prognosis associated miRNA model and the eighth edition TNM staging ( Z=-1.729, -1.923, P<0.05). The AUC of the prognosis associated miRNA model and the eight edition TNM staging was 0.750, 0.873 and 0.721 , 0.703, with the 95% CI of 0.553-0.948, 0.720-1.025 and 0.553-0.889, 0.456-0.950, respectively. The C-index was 0.642 and 0.544. Conclusions:A prognosis associated miRNA prediction model can be constructed based on 5 survival associated miRNAs in pancreatic cancer patients, as a complementation to current TNM staging and other clinicopathological parameters, which provides individual and accurate prediction of survival for reference in the clinical treatment.