OBJECTIVES: To investigate the role of activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) in atherosclerotic plaques for regulating inflammatory responses during atherosclerosis (AS) progression. METHODS: Human coronary artery specimens from autopsy cases were examined for ATF3 protein expression and localization using immunofluorescence staining and Western blotting. Apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE^-/-) mouse models of AS induced by high-fat diet (HFD) feeding for 12 weeks were subjected to tail vein injection of adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9) to knock down ATF3 expression. After an additional 5 weeks of HFD feeding, the mice were euthanized for analyzing structural changes of the aortic plaques, and the expression levels of ATF3, inflammatory factors (CD45, CD68, IL-1β, and TNF-α), and NF-κB pathway proteins (P-IKKα/β and P-NF-κB p65) were detected. In the cell experiment, THP-1-derived foam cells were transfected with an ATF3-overexpressing plasmid or an ATF3-specific siRNA to validate the relationship between ATF3 and NF‑κB signaling. RESULTS: In human atherosclerotic plaques, ATF3 expression was significantly elevated and partially co-localized with CD68. ATF3 knockout in ApoE^-/- mice significantly increased aortic plaque volume, upregulated the inflammatory factors, enhanced phosphorylation of the NF‑κB pathway proteins, and increased the expressions of VCAM1, MMP9, and MMP2 in the plaques. In THP-1-derived foam cells, ATF3 silencing caused activation of the NF‑κB pathway, while ATF3 overexpression suppressed the activity of the NF-κB pathway. CONCLUSIONS AS promotes ATF3 expression, and ATF3 deficiency exacerbates AS progression by enhancing plaque inflammation via activating the NF-κB pathway, suggesting the potential of ATF3 as a therapeutic target for AS.
Animals ; Activating Transcription Factor 3/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction ; NF-kappa B/metabolism* ; Humans ; Mice ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic/metabolism* ; Inflammation/metabolism* ; Apolipoproteins E ; Atherosclerosis/metabolism* ; Diet, High-Fat

BACKGROUND:Traditional Chinese medicine has unique advantages in preventing and treating spleen-deficiency and hyperlipidemia.In basic studies,models of spleen-deficiency and hyperlipidemia are commonly found in rats,pigs,and other animals.This has limitations for medical research that can only use mouse models.It is urgent to establish and evaluate mouse models of spleen-deficiency and hyperlipidemia to support basic research on traditional Chinese medicine in preventing and treating spleen-deficiency and hyperlipidemia.OBJECTIVE:To establish a mouse model of spleen-deficiency hyperlipidemia.METHODS:Totally 24 C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into normal group(n=12)and spleen-deficiency hyperlipemia group(n=12).Mice in normal group were fed basic diet.Mice in the spleen-deficiency hyperlipemia group were prepared with a diet disorder+fatigue internal injury+high-fat feeding method to establish a spleen-deficiency high-fat model.In the first 2 weeks,the mice were forced to swim to their endurance limit on a single day and were only fed cabbage,with free access to water.They were also gavaged with refined lard+high-fat feed on two-day intervals.After 2 weeks,the mice were fed a high-fat diet every day and the diet continued until 12 weeks.The mice were fed with a high-fat diet for 4 and 12 weeks,and their body weight,food intake,gripping strength,fecal water content,small intestinal charcoal propulsion rate,serum D-xylose and gastrin levels,spleen index and thymus index,blood lipid level,total body fat mass,body fat percentage,and liver lipid deposition were tested.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Compared with the normal group,the body weight,fecal water content,total body fat mass,body fat percentage,triglyceride and total cholesterol levels of the mice in the spleen-deficiency hyperlipemia group fed with high-fat diet for 4 and 12 weeks were increased(P＜0.05);the daily food intake,gripping force,and D-xylose level of the mice fed with high-fat diet for 4 and 12 weeks were decreased(P＜0.05);the spleen index of the mice fed with high-fat diet for 4 weeks was increased(P＜0.05);the small intestinal carbon propulsion rate,gastrin level,spleen index,and thymus index of the mice fed with high-fat diet for 12 weeks were decreased(P＜0.05);the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level of the mice fed with high-fat diet for 12 weeks was increased(P＜0.05).(2)The results of liver oil red O staining showed that the lipid deposition in the spleen-deficiency hyperlipemia group after 4 weeks of high-fat diet feeding was slightly more than that in the normal group,and the lipid deposition in the high-fat diet feeding for 12 weeks was significantly more than that in the normal group.(3)The results show that a stable spleen deficiency and hyperlipidemia mouse model can be prepared by the compound method of eating disorders,exhaustion,and high-fat feeding.

Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy of transurethral 450 nm blue laser vaporization of prostate (BVP) and transurethral plasmakinetic resection of the prostate (PKRP) in the treatment of frail elderly patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 62 frail elderly BPH patients undergoing BVP (n=32) or PKRP (n=30) in our hospital during Jan.2023 and Jun.2024.The two groups were compared in terms of postoperative hemoglobin drop, operation time, hospital stay, catheter indwelling time, bladder irrigation time, preoperative and postoperative 3-month postvoid residual (PVR), maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax), international prostate symptom score (IPSS), quality of life score (QoL), and postoperative complications. Results: The postoperative hemoglobin drop was lower in the BVP group than in the PKRP group [(1.62±1.04) g/L vs.(7.37±2.37) g/L, P＜0.001].The operation time [(24.53±7.52) min vs. (47.77±11.12) min], hospital stay [(2.78±1.62) d vs. (8.13±0.82) d], catheter indwelling time [(1.84±0.99) d vs. (5.40±0.81) d], and bladder irrigation time [(7.37±2.35) h vs. (51.60±19.72) h] were significantly shorter in the BVP group than in the PKRP group (all P＜0.001).At 3 months postoperatively, both groups showed significant improvements in IPSS, QoL, Qmax, and PVR compared to preoperative levels (P＜0.05), but there were no significant differences between the two groups (P>0.05).The overall incidence of early postoperative complications in the BVP group was lower than that in PKRP group (18.75% vs. 43.33%, P＜0.05).After 3 months of follow-up, there was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between the BVP group and PKRP group(3.13% vs. 13.33%, P=0.14). Conclusion: BVP for the treatment of frail elderly BPH patients is safe and reliable, associated with minimal bleeding, short operation time, catheterization time and hospital stay, and there is no need to discontinue anticoagulant drugs.

BACKGROUND:Traditional Chinese medicine has unique advantages in preventing and treating spleen-deficiency and hyperlipidemia.In basic studies,models of spleen-deficiency and hyperlipidemia are commonly found in rats,pigs,and other animals.This has limitations for medical research that can only use mouse models.It is urgent to establish and evaluate mouse models of spleen-deficiency and hyperlipidemia to support basic research on traditional Chinese medicine in preventing and treating spleen-deficiency and hyperlipidemia.OBJECTIVE:To establish a mouse model of spleen-deficiency hyperlipidemia.METHODS:Totally 24 C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into normal group(n=12)and spleen-deficiency hyperlipemia group(n=12).Mice in normal group were fed basic diet.Mice in the spleen-deficiency hyperlipemia group were prepared with a diet disorder+fatigue internal injury+high-fat feeding method to establish a spleen-deficiency high-fat model.In the first 2 weeks,the mice were forced to swim to their endurance limit on a single day and were only fed cabbage,with free access to water.They were also gavaged with refined lard+high-fat feed on two-day intervals.After 2 weeks,the mice were fed a high-fat diet every day and the diet continued until 12 weeks.The mice were fed with a high-fat diet for 4 and 12 weeks,and their body weight,food intake,gripping strength,fecal water content,small intestinal charcoal propulsion rate,serum D-xylose and gastrin levels,spleen index and thymus index,blood lipid level,total body fat mass,body fat percentage,and liver lipid deposition were tested.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Compared with the normal group,the body weight,fecal water content,total body fat mass,body fat percentage,triglyceride and total cholesterol levels of the mice in the spleen-deficiency hyperlipemia group fed with high-fat diet for 4 and 12 weeks were increased(P＜0.05);the daily food intake,gripping force,and D-xylose level of the mice fed with high-fat diet for 4 and 12 weeks were decreased(P＜0.05);the spleen index of the mice fed with high-fat diet for 4 weeks was increased(P＜0.05);the small intestinal carbon propulsion rate,gastrin level,spleen index,and thymus index of the mice fed with high-fat diet for 12 weeks were decreased(P＜0.05);the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level of the mice fed with high-fat diet for 12 weeks was increased(P＜0.05).(2)The results of liver oil red O staining showed that the lipid deposition in the spleen-deficiency hyperlipemia group after 4 weeks of high-fat diet feeding was slightly more than that in the normal group,and the lipid deposition in the high-fat diet feeding for 12 weeks was significantly more than that in the normal group.(3)The results show that a stable spleen deficiency and hyperlipidemia mouse model can be prepared by the compound method of eating disorders,exhaustion,and high-fat feeding.

Musical training can counteract age-related decline in speech perception in noisy environments. However, it remains unclear whether older non-musicians and musicians rely on functional compensation or functional preservation to counteract the adverse effects of aging. This study utilized resting-state functional connectivity (FC) to investigate functional lateralization, a fundamental organization feature, in older musicians (OM), older non-musicians (ONM), and young non-musicians (YNM). Results showed that OM outperformed ONM and achieved comparable performance to YNM in speech-in-noise and speech-in-speech tasks. ONM exhibited reduced lateralization than YNM in lateralization index (LI) of intrahemispheric FC (LI_intra) in the cingulo-opercular network (CON) and LI of interhemispheric heterotopic FC (LI_he) in the language network (LAN). Conversely, OM showed higher neural alignment to YNM (i.e., a more similar lateralization pattern) compared to ONM in CON, LAN, frontoparietal network (FPN), dorsal attention network (DAN), and default mode network (DMN), indicating preservation of youth-like lateralization patterns due to musical experience. Furthermore, in ONM, stronger left-lateralized and lower alignment-to-young of LI_intra in the somatomotor network (SMN) and DAN and LI_he in DMN correlated with better speech performance, indicating a functional compensation mechanism. In contrast, stronger right-lateralized LI_intra in FPN and DAN and higher alignment-to-young of LI_he in LAN correlated with better performance in OM, suggesting a functional preservation mechanism. These findings highlight the differential roles of functional preservation and compensation of lateralization in speech perception in noise among elderly individuals with and without musical expertise, offering insights into successful aging theories from the lens of functional lateralization and speech perception.
Humans ; Speech Perception/physiology* ; Music ; Male ; Functional Laterality/physiology* ; Female ; Aged ; Adult ; Young Adult ; Aging/physiology* ; Middle Aged ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Brain/physiology*

Conventional therapies for hemophilia A (HA) are prophylactic or on-demand intravenous FVIII infusions. However, they are expensive and inconvenient to perform. Thus, better strategies for HA treatment must be developed. In this study, a recombinant FVIII cDNA encoding a human/rat hybrid FVIII with an enhanced procoagulant potential for adeno-associated virus (AAV)-delivered gene therapy was developed. Plasmids containing human FVIII heavy chain (hHC), human light chain (hLC), and rat light chain (rLC) were transfected into cells and hydrodynamically injected into HA mice. Purified AAV viruses were intravenously injected into HA mice at two doses. Results showed that the hHC + rLC protein had a higher activity than the hHC + hLC protein at comparable expression levels. The specific activity of hHC + rLC was about 4- to 8-fold higher than that of their counterparts. Hydrodynamic injection experiments obtained consistent results. Notably, the HA mice undergoing the AAV-delivered hHC + rLC treatment exhibited a visibly higher activity than those treated with hHC + hLC, and the therapeutic effects lasted for up to 40 weeks. In conclusion, the application of the hybrid FVIII (hHC + rLC) via an AAV-delivered gene therapy substantially improved the hemorrhagic diathesis of the HA mice. These data might be of help to the development of optimized FVIII expression cassette for HA gene therapy.
Animals ; Dependovirus/genetics* ; Factor VIII/metabolism* ; Genetic Therapy/methods* ; Hemophilia A/therapy* ; Humans ; Mice ; Rats

Objective:To evaluate the value of CT angiography (CTA) for vertebral artery (VA) injury in the transverse foramen region of cervical vertebra.Methods:The clinical and CTA imaging data of 56 patients with cervical spine trauma in People's Hospital of Yuxi City from January 2016 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. To observe the VA were or not injuried and their degrees, and the relationship between fracture in transverse foramen region and injured of the VA by applying post processing techniques such as volume reconstruction (VR), image fusion, curved planar reconstruction (CPR), multi-planar reconstruction (MPR), vascular analysis and so on.Results:There were 35 cases in the positive group of transverse perforation stenosis among the 56 patients, and 21 cases in the negative group. There were 19 cases injuried the VA in the positive group of stenosis, but just 5 cases′VA were injuried in the negative group of stenosis, with statistically significant differences ( P<0.05). The risk of VA injuried caused by different degrees of transverse perforation stenosis in the positive stenosis group was statistically significant ( P<0.05). The VA damaged distribution were: 3 cases in V1 segment, 16 cases in V2 segment, 5 cases in V3 segment. The degree of luminal stenosis were: 9 cases of mild stenosi, 7 cases of moderate stenosis, 5 cases of severe stenosis, and 3 cases of luminal occlusion. Conclusions:The CTA of VA can clearly show its anatomical route, degree of injury, range and its adjacent relationship with the fracture end of the transverse foramina of cervical vertebra, which can provide evidences of objective and reliable imaging for spinal surgeons to assess their conditions and select the treatment plans.

Objective: To improve the accuracy of diagnosis and to reduce the misdiagnosis rate of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by analyzing the characteristics of such masses. Methods: Clinical data from 55 patients with suspicion of nasopharyngeal carcinoma diagnosed and treated between March 2016 and September 2017 were analyzed. All patients were followed up regularly. Results: With following-up of 12 to 25 months, 6 (10.9%) of 55 cases were identified as nasopharyngeal malignant tumors, including 4 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and 2 cases of lymphoma, and 49 cases (89.1%) were diagnosed with nasopharyngeal benign masses, including 29 (59.2%) cases for nasopharyngeal lymphoid proliferation, 15 (30.6%) for adenoid hypertrophy, 2 (4.1%) for nasopharyngeal cyst, 1 (2.0%) for polyp, 1 for papilloma and 1 for nasopharyngeal pharyngeal cyst. Small nasopharyngeal malignant tumor and masses with benign hyperplasia showed the overlap of images on the enhanced MRI/CT and Fibro-nasopharyngoscopy, but all 6 patients with nasopharyngeal malignant tumors presented with moderately enhanced multiple enlarged lymph nodes. Conclusions Fibro-nasopharyngoscopy and enhanced MRI/CT have some value on evaluation of nasopharyngeal masses, but biopsy is a golden standard for diagnosis. Follow-up is necessary for the patients with negative biopsy and benign nasopharyngeal hyperplasia indicated by fibro-nasopharyngoscopy and enhanced MRI/CT.

Objective To compare effects of both ends of the injection cesarean section anesthesia differ-ences.Methods ASAⅠ-Ⅱgrade cesarean section 226 cases were selected and randomly divided into the observa-tion group and control group on the basis of number characterization.Observation group:After the success of epidural puncture needle oblique injection of 1.7% for the end of lidocaine carbonate 5mL,then needle bevel steering head end 3-5min without observing all spinal abnormalities such as re-injection of 5mL of 1.7% lidocaine carbonate,fol-lowed by epidural catheter inserted,modified supine position to continue after injection of 1.7% lidocaine carbonate 5mL;Control group:after the success of epidural catheter tip administered by traditional teaching methods.Two groups of maternal range block plane , intraoperative pain intensity and time of delivery of the fetus were recorded .intraoperative changes in vital signs and Apgar score after the fetus were observed.Results The block wide range for anesthesia of the observation group[(14.43 ±1.21)points]were significantly higher than that of the control group,and intraopera-tive pain was (1.61 ±0.92)points,fetal childbirth lengthwas (1.8 ±0.6)minutes,which were better than those in the control group(t=12.76,13.07,12.86,all P<0.05);The MAP,HR,R,SpO2 between the two groups showed no significant differences(F=4.32,2.73,3.54,3.06,all P<0.05);Intraoperative vital signs and Apgar score was con-firmed no difference between the two groups(all P>0.05).Conclusion Both ends of the epidural injection for ce-sarean section is better than the traditional mode of administration of anesthesia.

By discussion the experience of surgery teaching for foreign students by the methods of CBL+MCAI, the successful teaching experience are the followings: making sufficient preparations before lesson according to the features and difficulties in the foreign students' surgery teaching; Emphasis on CBL teaching methods and rational application of multimedia computer assisted instruction,strengthening the teaching disciphne of foreign students and the cultivation of the spirit of students' active learning.These measures stimulated the enthusiasm of students' active learning and improved the quality of teaching.