Objective: To observe the effect of telomerase-antisense DNA on apoptosis of hepatoma cells induced by arsenic trioxide, in an effort to look for a new anti-hepatic cancer agent with high efficiency, low cytotoxicity. Methods: We designed and synthesized a 20nt telomerase-antisense DNA targeting telomerase template and observed its influence on the telomerase activity of hepatoma cells. H-E staining, flow cytometry, and DNA agarose electrophoresis were used to study the preventive effect of telomerase-antisense DNA on hepatoma cells apoptosis induced by arsenic trioxide. Flow cytometry was used to detect the expression of Fas, Fas-L, and bcl-2. Results: Telomerase-antisense DNA (5 ?mol/L) effectively inhibited the telomerase activity of hepatoma cells after 24 hours (P

Background & Objective: Sleep quality in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) were investigated in two recent studies. However, factors affecting sleep quality have not been studied in NMOSD. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of sleep disorders in Chinese outpatient clinics with NMOSD and its clinical correlates. Methods: We administered Chinese validated self-questionnaires on HRQOL (MSQOL-54), sleep (PSQI), pain (SF-MPQ-2), anxiety (HARS) and depression (HDRS) to 42 patients followed up in our outpatient department. We assessed the relationships between sleep quality with pain, anxiety, depression, gender, age, disability, disease duration, NMO-antibody status and explored the determinants of poor sleep quality. Results: Sixty four percent of NMOSD patients were poor sleepers. Significant correlations were found between duration, disability, pain, anxiety, depression and sleep quality. Disability, depression and the domain of affective descriptors of pain were the three main predictors of poor sleep in NMOSD. Conclusion: This study reveals that poor sleep in NMOSD is common and it decreases physical function of quality of life. It is worthwhile considering exploring adjuvant strategies aimed at controlling pain associated affect, and treatment of depression may help to improve sleep quality in NMOSD.
Neuromyelitis Optica

OBJECTIVE: To establish a supplementary diagnostic indicator (infrared radiant intensity) in tongue diagnosis of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in patients with hyperplasia of mammary glands through correlation analysis of infrared radiant intensity between hyperplastic breast tissue and tongue surface. METHODS: Infrared radiant intensity of the hyperplastic breast tissue and different points on tongue surface in 20 cases of hyperplasia of mammary glands with liver-energy stagnation and phlegm retention syndrome and 16 cases of hyperplasia of mammary glands with irregular thoroughfare and conception vessels syndrome were measured with external infrared spectrometer PHE-201 made by Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics. Correlation of infrared radiant intensity between the hyperplastic breast tissue and the different points on tongue surface was assessed by using bivariate correlation analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that the numbers of positive correlated wave bands of infrared radiant intensity between the hyperplastic breast tissue and different detected points on tongue surface in the patients with liver-energy stagnation and phlegm retention syndrome and irregular thoroughfare and conception vessels syndrome were 127 (83.55%) and 71 (46.71%), respectively. Infrared radiant intensity between the hyperplastic breast tissue and the tongue surface had a positive correlation. CONCLUSION: Infrared radiant intensity can be used as one of supplementary diagnostic indicators in TCM tongue diagnosis of hyperplasia of mammary glands.

Objective To investigate the sleep quality and influencing factors in patients with stable myasthenia gravis (MG).Methods From September 2015 to February 2017,151 cases of stable MG were enrolled in the department of neurology,West China Hospital,Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) was used to evaluate their sleep quality;Spearman analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors (clinical data,quality of life,anxiety and depression).Results Spearman test analysis showed that PSQI was positively correlated with age,duration,myasthenia gravis quality of life 15 (MG-QOL15),Hamilton Anxiety Scale 14 (HAMA14),Hamilton Depression Scale 24 (HADA24) (P ＜ 0.05).Stepwise regressionanalysis further revealed that life quality was the best predictor of reduced sleep quality (t =3.161,P =0.002),followed by anxiety (t =2.495,P =0.014) and age (t =2.356,P =0.020).Conclusions There are many influencing factors of stable MG wnich more attentions should be paid on.

Minimally invasive surgery experienced a rapid development in the past thirty years, of which the laparoscopy has been widely used in gastrointestinal surgery. Lymph node dissection is one of the difficulties of laparoscopic radical resection of gastric cancer. The lymph node dissection along the left gastroepiploic vessels is a difficult part, which usually causes bleeding and splenic injury. This article mainly introduce the indications, contraindications, surgical preparations, the difficulties and techniques during the lymph nodes dissection when the operator stood on the left side of the patients, and perioperative complications of lymph nodes dissection along the left gastroepiploic vessels.

Objective To conduct an in-depth analysis on the correlation of miRNA and Alzheimer disease (AD) pathogenesis and provide an experimental basis for AD potential biomarkers by analysis of serum miRNA expression profiles in AD patients. Methods The miRNA expression profiles were exmined in 7 severe AD patients and 5 normal controls using high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. Results Compared with the normal controls, there were serum differential expression of 112 miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) including 57 being up-regulated and 55 being down-regulated in patients with severe AD (P<0.05). GO-term function enrichment analysis showed that DEmiRNAs participated in the protein binding, ion binding, transcription metal binding, and biological metabolism and regulation process of organelle and cell membrane, etc. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis found that PI3K-Akt signal pathway was an important pathway of target genes. Conclusion The differential expression of serum miRNAs may be potential biomarkers of AD and the target genes of DEmiRNAs are related to the pathological changes of AD.

Heart failure is a group of complex clinical syndromes in the middle and late stages of cardiovascular diseases.Mitochondrial homeostasis imbalance is one of the pathological mechanisms in the occurrence and development of heart failure.This article revolved around the"yin-yang theory"in TCM and explained the pathological mechanism of heart failure through mitochondrial homeostasis.Heart failure is the syndrome of deficiency in nature and excess in superficiality fundamental.Its basic pathogenesis is"yang deficiency and yin excess".Based on the deficiency of heart yang qi and the stagnation of yin pathogens,the combination of deficiency and excess runs through the entire disease.Mitochondrial homeostasis imbalance is a manifestation of yin-yang imbalance at the cellular micro level,mainly manifested as inhibition of mitochondrial biosynthesis,mitochondrial dynamics imbalance,mitophagy disorder,etc.,which affects mitochondrial structure and function and leads to abnormal myocardial energy metabolism.Therefore,based on the"yin-yang theory",the basic treatment method is to"tonify deficiency and damage excess"to regulate mitochondrial biosynthesis,mitochondrial dynamics,and mitophagy,thereby maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis and improving myocardial energy metabolism,which is of great significance for the prevention and treatment of heart failure.

Objective The incidence of coronary microvascular disease(CMVD)is increasing annually.According to traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),CMVD belongs to the category of"collaterals",and qi deficiency and blood stasis are the main syndrome type of CMVD.Notably however,no studies have reported on the use of animal models of CMVD with qi deficiency and blood stasis.The current study therefore aimed to establish and evaluate a rat model of CMVD with qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome.Methods Forty-five male SD rats were divided randomly into sham group,CMVD group,and CMVD + QXXY group(n = 15 rats per group).Rats in the CMVD + QXXY group were randomly deprived of sleep for 14～16 h/day for 6 weeks,and the model of qi deficiency syndrome was established.Animals in the sham group and the CMVD group were fed normally for 6 weeks.After 6 weeks,rats in the CMVD and CMVD + QXXY groups were anesthetized,their chests were opened,and embolic microspheres(40～120 μm)were injected into the left ventricle.Rats in the sham group underwent thoracotomy without injection of embolic microspheres.On day 7 after operation,relevant detection indicators were measured in each group.Results Compared with the sham group,the CMVD group showed a significant decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricular shortening rate,while the activities of creatine kinase MB isoenzyme(CK-MB)and lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)were significantly increased.Heart function,hemorheology,myocardial enzyme index,and the degree of myocardial cell damage differed significantly between the CMVD + QXXY group compared with the sham group.Conclusions A rat model of CMVD + qi deficiency + blood stasis syndrome can be successfully established by sleep deprivation combined with intraventricular injection of embolic microspheres.This model will be suitable for the study of the pathogenesis of CMVD and the mechanisms of TCM.

Objective: This study aims to analyze the relationship among the clinical features, radiologic characteristics and pathological diagnosis in patients with solitary pulmonary nodules, and establish a prediction model for the probability of malignancy. Methods: Clinical data of 372 patients with solitary pulmonary nodules who underwent surgical resection with definite postoperative pathological diagnosis were retrospectively analyzed. In these cases, we collected clinical and radiologic features including gender, age, smoking history, history of tumor, family history of cancer, the location of lesion, ground-glass opacity, maximum diameter, calcification, vessel convergence sign, vacuole sign, pleural indentation, speculation and lobulation. The cases were divided to modeling group (268 cases) and validation group (104 cases). A new prediction model was established by logistic regression analying the data from modeling group. Then the data of validation group was planned to validate the efficiency of the new model, and was compared with three classical models(Mayo model, VA model and LiYun model). With the calculated probability values for each model from validation group, SPSS 22.0 was used to draw the receiver operating characteristic curve, to assess the predictive value of this new model. Results: 112 benign SPNs and 156 malignant SPNs were included in modeling group. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that gender, age, history of tumor, ground -glass opacity, maximum diameter, and speculation were independent predictors of malignancy in patients with SPN(P<0.05). We calculated a prediction model for the probability of malignancy as follow: p=e^x/(1+ e^x), x=-4.8029-0.743×gender+ 0.057×age+ 1.306×history of tumor+ 1.305×ground-glass opacity+ 0.051×maximum diameter+ 1.043×speculation. When the data of validation group was added to the four-mathematical prediction model, The area under the curve of our mathematical prediction model was 0.742, which is greater than other models (Mayo 0.696, VA 0.634, LiYun 0.681), while the differences between any two of the four models were not significant (P>0.05). Conclusions Age of patient, gender, history of tumor, ground-glass opacity, maximum diameter and speculation are independent predictors of malignancy in patients with solitary pulmonary nodule. This logistic regression prediction mathematic model is not inferior to those classical models in estimating the prognosis of SPNs.

Objective: To investigate the best amount of TPCK trypsin in Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell suspension for the culture of H7N9 avian influenza virus. Methods: Different concentrations of TPCK trypsin were added during the periods of cell growth and virus production. Their effects on cell growth, viability, glucose and lactate metabolism, and hemagglutination titer were monitored every 12 h. Inter-batch differences were analyzed. The amount of trypsin added in the cell growth phase was 0, 1 μg/ml, 2 μg/ml, 4 μg/ml, 6 μg/ml, 8 μg/ml, 10 μg/ml and 15 μg/ml. The amount of trypsin added during the virus production period was 0, 0.5 μg/ml, 1 μg/ml, 1.5 μg/ml, 2 μg/ml and 2.5 μg/ml. When the hemagglutination titers were same, the adding amount was further optimized at different multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.001, 0.005, 0.025 and 0.05. Results: No significant linear effects of TPCK trypsin concentration on cell number, viability, and glucose and lactate metabolism were observed. No toxicity to cell growth was observed when TPCK trypsin concentration reached 15 μg/ml. After the inoculation of H7N9 avian influenza virus, the hemagglutination titers in the 1 μg/ml, 1.5 μg/ml, 2 μg/ml and 2.5 μg/ml TPCK trypsin groups reached the peaks at 48 h, which were 1∶2^6.5. At 60 h, the hemagglutination titers of the latter two groups decreased faster than those of the former two groups. When the MOI was 0.005, the hemagglutination titer of the 1.5 μg/ml group at 48 h was 2^6.5 higher than 2⁶ in the 1 μg/ml group under the same condition. There were differences between different batches of TPCK trypsin. Conclusions Adding 1 μg/ml and 1.5 μg/ml of trypsin could better promote the proliferation of H7N9 avian influenza virus, and 1.5 μg/ml of trypsin had a wider range of MOI applicability.