Objective To explore the mechanism of long non-coding RNA fibroblast activation inhibitory factor 1(FAIF1)regulates the proliferation,activation,and fibrosis of human cardiac fibroblasts induced by advanced glycation end products(AGEs).Methods Human cardiac fibroblasts were assigned to control group,AGE group,FAIF1 recombinant lentivirus(Lv-FAIF1)+AGE group or control lentivirus(Lv control)+AGE group.The expression levels of miRNA-424-5p,FAIF1,and Smad7 in myocardial fibroblasts induced by AGEs were detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR)and Western blotting.Bioinformatics analysis was used to predict the interactions between miRNA-424-5p,FAIF1,and Smad7;and luciferase reporter assays were used for verification.Cell proliferation activity was measured by cell counting kit 8 assay,the expression and secretion of collagen Ⅰ/Ⅲ were observed by immunofluorescence staining,and the effect of Lv-FAIF1 on cell activation markers α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA)and migration proteins matrix metalloproteinase 9(MMP9)induced by AGEs was evaluated by qPCR.Results qPCR and Western blotting results showed that AGEs significantly reduced the expression of FAIF1 and Smad7 in myocardial fibroblasts and upregulated the level of miRNA-424-5p(compared with the control group,all P＜0.05).Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the 3'-untranslated region of Smad7 mRNA contained a binding site for the miRNA-424-5p seed sequence"UGCUGCU",and FAIF1 sequence contained 3 identical binding sites.Luciferase assays showed that miRNA-424-5p inhibited the expression of Smad7,while FAIF1 competed with miRNA-424-5p for binding,thereby relieving the inhibitory effect of miRNA-424-5p on Smad7 mRNA.Functional experiments showed that Lv-FAIF1 significantly inhibited AGEs-induced cell proliferation,collagenⅠ/Ⅲ expression and secretion,as well as α-SMA and MMP9 expression(compared with AGE group,all P＜0.01);and it promoted the expression of Smad7(compared with AGE group,P＜0.01).Conclusion miRNA-424-5p can inhibit the expression of Smad7,and FAIF1 effectively suppresses AGEs-induced over-activation of cardiac fibroblasts by regulating the miRNA-424-5p/Smad7 axis,which provides a new molecular target for the prevention and treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy.

To describe the effects of endogenous testosterone levels on the visuospatial ability.Thevisuospatial ability,testosteronewere included as the key words,retrieving 46 papers in the database.35 relevant papers have been reviewed in the paper,as the results,we have found that the visuospatial ability of male was better than female.The performances of the visuospatial tasks in males were associated with the lev-els of endogenous testosterone,and the effects comprised two aspects:the organizational function and activa-tional function of the testosterone.The latter have received more attention from researchers.Until now,most studies of activational effects of testosterone on visuospatial ability remained on the level of behavioral re-search.The mental rotation task,navigation task and virtual reality scenes tasks were implied in these stud-ies.A nonlinear relationship has aroused a great controversy.Latest research suggests that further investiga-tion of the neural mechanisms related to visual-spatial ability is needed,using ERP and MRI techniques,to assess the relationship of endogenous testosterone levels with the relevant neural basis of visuospatial ability.

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of the preoperative intra-arterial embolization of the nasopharyngeal angiofibromas. Methods The treatment group of 7 male patients with the nasopharyngeal angiofibromas were undergone angiographic evaluation and embolization of tumor-feeding vessels before surgery. All patients were embolized with gelfoam particles and PVA. The control group of 7 patients received surgical treatment without preoperative embolization. We compared the volumes of intraoperative bleeding and the blood transfusions during oprations between the two groups. Results All patients achieved symptomatic remission,with no complications. Comparing with the control group,the amount of intraoperative bleeding and the blood transfusions during operations were much less in the treatment group submitted to endovascular embolirzation.Marked edema in the peripheral region of tumor of the treatment group made the tumor easy to be dissociated. Conclusion The intraoperative bleeding can be reduced significantly by preoperative embolization of supplying arteries to the nasopharyngeal angiofibromas,therefore it should be used routinely as an adjunct to surgery. (J Intervent Radiol,2006,15: 345-347)