OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of thymoquinone on the proliferation of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells and its molecular mechanism, so as to provide theoretical basis for the basic research on the anti-leukemia of traditional Chinese medicine. METHODS: The HL-60 and THP-1 cells were treated with thymoquinone at different concentration gradients, cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 method, morphological changes were detected by Wright-Giemsa method, apoptosis was detected by Annexin V/PI double staining flow cytometry, and apoptosis and signal pathway protein expression were detected by Western blot. Real-time quantitative fluorescence PCR and Western blot were used to detect the expression changes of high mobility family members of SRY-related proteins (SOX). RESULTS: Thymoquinone inhibited the malignant proliferation of HL-60 and THP-1 cells, up-regulated the expression of pro-apoptotic protein Bax, down-regulated the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and Survivin, and hydrolyzed Caspase-3 to induce the apoptosis of HL-60 and THP-1 cells. Thymoquinone could also significantly down-regulate the phosphorylation of PI3K, Akt and mTOR, and inhibit the malignant biological characteristics of HL-60 and THP-1 cells by inhibiting the activation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. After thymoquinone intervention in HL-60 and THP-1 cells, the expression of SOX2 and SOX4 could be down-regulated significantly. At low concentration ( < 10 μmol/L), the expression of SOX12 was weakly affected by thymoquinone. With increasing concentration, the expression of SOX12 could be down-regulated, however, thymoquinone had no effect on SOX11 expression. CONCLUSION Thymoquinone can inhibit the proliferation of AML cells, and its mechanism may be related to inhibiting the activation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, regulating the expression of apoptotic proteins and core members of SOX family.
Humans ; Benzoquinones/pharmacology* ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects* ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/metabolism* ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; HL-60 Cells ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism* ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/metabolism* ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/metabolism* ; THP-1 Cells

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) on immune mediators dysregulation in severe infection after chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its molecular mechanism. METHODS: Bone marrow or peripheral blood samples of 36 AML patients with severe infection (AML-SI) and 29 AML patients without infection (AML-NI) after chemotherapy were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University from August 2022 to June 2023. In addition, the peripheral blood of 21 healthy subjects from the same period in our hospital was selected as the control group. The mRNA expressions of CXCL12, CXCR4 and CXCR7 were detected by RT-qPCR technology, and the levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α were detected by ELISA. Leukemia-derived THP-1 cells were selected and constructed as AML disease model. At the same time, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) from AML-SI patients were co-cultured with THP-1 cells and divided into Mono group and Co-culture group. THP-1 cells were treated with different concentration gradients of HCQ. The cell proliferation activity was subsequently detected by CCK-8 method and apoptosis was detected by Annexin V/PI double staining flow cytometry. ELISA was used to detect the changes of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α levels in the supernatant of the cell co-culture system, RT-qPCR was used to detect the mRNA expression changes of the core members of the CXCL12-CXCR4/7 regulatory axis, and Western blot was used to detect the expressions of apoptosis regulatory molecules and related signaling pathway proteins. RESULTS: CXCL12, CXCR4, CXCR7, as well as IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α were all abnormally increased in AML patients, and the increases were more significant in AML-SI patients (P <0.01). Furthermore, there were statistically significant differences between AML-NI patients and AML-SI patients (all P <0.05). HCQ could inhibit the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of THP-1 cells, but the low concentration of HCQ had no significant effect on the killing of THP-1 cells. When THP-1 cells were co-cultured with BM-MSCs of AML patients, the levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α in the supernatance of Co-culture group were significantly higher than those of Mono group (all P <0.01). After HCQ intervention, the levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α in cell culture supernatant of Mono group were significantly decreased compared with those before intervention (all P <0.01). Similarly, those of Co-culture group were also significantly decreased (all P <0.001). However, the expression of the core members of the CXCL12-CXCR4/7 regulatory axis was weakly affected by HCQ. HCQ could up-regulate the expression of pro-apoptotic protein Bax, down-regulate the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, as well as simultaneously promote the hydrolytic activation of Caspase-3 when inhibiting the activation level of TLR4/NF-κB pathway, then induce the programmed death of THP-1 cells after intervention. CONCLUSION The core members of CXCL12-CXCR4/7 axis and related cytokines may be important mediators of severe infectious immune disorders in AML patients. HCQ can inhibit cytokine levels to reverse immune mediators dysregulation and suppress malignant biological characteristics of leukemia cells. The mechanisms may be related to regulating the expression of Bcl-2 family proteins, hydrolytically activating Caspase-3 and inhibiting the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.
Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/immunology* ; Hydroxychloroquine/pharmacology* ; Receptors, CXCR4/metabolism* ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/metabolism* ; Chemokine CXCL12/metabolism* ; Interleukin-8/metabolism* ; Interleukin-6/metabolism* ; Receptors, CXCR/metabolism* ; Mesenchymal Stem Cells ; THP-1 Cells

Objective To explore the value of pelvic CT angiography(CTA)digital three-dimensional reconstruction model(abbreviated as"three-dimensional model")in the diagnosis of female pelvic mass.Methods A total of 98 patients with pelvic mass who were hospitalized and operated in Xi'an People's Hos-pital(Xi'an Fourth Hospital)from January 2021 to April 2023 were selected.All patients underwent B-ultra-sound and CTA examination before operation,and the original data of CTA were collected.The digital three-dimensional model of pelvic mass was established by three-dimensional reconstruction software,and the source of pelvic mass was judged according to the blood supply of pelvic mass.Taking postoperative pathological di-agnosis as the gold standard,the coincidence rate between different preoperative diagnosis methods(B-ultra-sound,CTA examination and three-dimensional model)was compared.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was plotted to evaluate the efficacy of different preoperative diagnostic methods in judging the ovarian origin of pelvic tumors.Results A total of 130 pelvic masses were included in 98 patients,and the average maximum diameter of the mass was(71.61±3.03)mm,including 83 ovarian masses and 47 non-ovarian masses.Taking postoperative pathological diagnosis as the gold standard,the diagnostic coincidence rate of the preoperative three-dimensional model was 72.31％,which was higher than that of B-ultrasound(58.46％)and CTA(52.31％),and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.001).The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value,accuracy,Kappa value,and area under the ROC curve were 79.51％,91.49％,94.29％,71.67％,83.85％,0.67 and 0.855,respectively,when the three-dimensional model showed that the blood supply of the mass originated from ovarian artery or uterine artery-ovarian branch.Conclusion The three-dimensional model of pelvic CTA can directly display the blood supply source,characteristics of mass,and the relationship between mass and adjacent organs,which can guide the clinical treatment.It has certain clinical value to judge the ovarian origin of pelvic mass by using ovarian artery and uterine artery-ovarian branch.

Programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) is an important immunosuppressive molecule, which inhibits the function of T cells and other immune cells by binding to the receptor programmed cell death-1. The PD-L1 expression disorder plays an important role in the occurrence, development, and treatment of sepsis or other inflammatory diseases, and has become an important target for the treatment of these diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a kind of pluripotent stem cells with multiple differentiation potential. In recent years, MSCs have been found to have a strong immunosuppressive ability and are used to treat various inflammatory insults caused by hyperimmune diseases. Moreover, PD-L1 is deeply involved in the immunosuppressive events of MSCs and plays an important role in the treatment of various diseases. In this review, we will summarize the main regulatory mechanism of PD-L1 expression, and discuss various biological functions of PD-L1 in the immune regulation of MSCs.

Objective: To analyze the trends of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents aged 7-18 in Hainan Province from 2005 to 2019, in order to provide a scientific basis for prevention strategies. Methods: Data were sourced from a total of 42 811 students in Hainan Province in 2005, 2010, 2014 and 2019 for physical fitness and health investigation, according to the criteria of Screening for Overweight and Obesity among School aged Children and Adolescents. The linear trend of overweight and obesity was compared by using the χ 2 test and χ 2 trend test, and with 2005 as the base period, the dynamic analysis was conducted to compare the growth and development rates of overweight and obesity. Results: The detection rates of overweight in children and adolescents aged 7-18 in Hainan Province were 4.7%, 5.1%, 6.7% and 10.8% in 2005, 2010, 2014 and 2019, respectively, while the detection rates of obesity were 2.7%, 2.4%, 2.5% and 6.8%, which showed an overall upward trend by year ( χ 2 trend =370.57 , 313.55, P <0.01). All differences in overweight and obesity detection rates across gender, ethnicity, and age groups were statistically significant for each year ( χ 2=9.56-290.95, P <0.01). And the detection rates of overweight and obesity increased linearly over year in different characteristic groups ( χ 2 trend =29.92-280.11, P <0.01). The annual growth rate of overweight detection rate was higher for girls (6.4%) than for boys (6.1%), higher for ethnic minorities (7.1%) than for Han (5.7%), and higher for the 16- 18 age group (8.4%) than for the 7-9 (3.6%), 10-12 (6.2%), and 13-15 age groups (7.7%). And the annual growth rate of obesity detection rate was higher for boys (8.1%) than for girls ( 5.7% ), higher for ethnic minorities (7.1%) than for Han ( 6.8% ), and higher for the 16-18 age group (77.2%) than for the 7-9 (2.8%), 10-12 (8.2%), and 13-15 (18.7%) age groups. Conclusions The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 7-18 in Hainan Province continues to increase from 2005 to 2019, with differences in genders, ethnic and ages. Interventions should be implemented to reduce the incidence of overweight obesity in children and adolescents.

The most common type of intracranial malignancy is glioma. Although the current treatments are surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the prognosis for patients with glioma is not promising. Therefore, it becomes critical to find an effective management. The literature shows that microRNA (miRNA) plays an important role in tumorigenesis and progression. Based on this, this study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of miR-525-5p in regulating the migration, invasion and proliferation of glioma cells. The TCGA database was used to identify perilipin 3 (PLIN3) differentially expressed in normal tissues and glioma tissues, and the CGGA and GEPIA databases were used to query that high expression of PLIN3 was associated with poor prognosis in glioma patients and Western blot experiments revealed that PLIN3 was highly expressed in glioma cells (P<0. 05) . The results of wound healing assay and Transwell invasion assay showed that knockdown or overexpression of PLIN3 respectively inhibited or promoted the migration and invasion of glioma cells (P < 0. 05) . Dual luciferase assays confirmed that PLIN3 could bind to miR-525-5p target. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) showed that miR-525-5p expression was lower in LN229 and U251 glioma cells than in human astrocyte (HA) (P < 0. 05) . Transwell assay and 5-ethynyl-2-deoxyuridine (EdU) cell proliferation assay verified that down- or up-regulation of miR-525-5p could reverse the effects of overexpression or knockdown of PLIN3 on LN229 glioma cells (P<0. 05) . Taken together, miR-525-5p was able to regulate the migration, invasion and proliferation of glioma cells by targeting PLIN3.

Objective     To explore the relationship between preoperative fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) in type 2 diabetic patients undergoing elective thoracoscopic lung resection, and provide a reference for prediction and prevention of PPCs in the clinic. Methods     A retrospective analysis was performed on the type 2 diabetic patients who underwent elective thoracoscopic lung resection for the first time in our hospital from January 2017 to March 2021. According to the level of FPG one day before the operation, the patients were divided into three groups: a hypoglycemia group (<6.1 mmol/L), a medium level blood glucose group (≥6.1 mmol/L and <8.0 mmol/L) and a high blood glucose group (≥8.0 mmol/L). Besides, the patients were divided into a PPCs group and a non-PPCs group according to whether PPCs occurred. The risk factors for PPCs were analyzed by logistic regression analysis, and the predictive value of preoperative FPG level on PPCs was estimated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results     A total of 130 patients were included, including 75 (57.7%) males and 55 (42.3%) females with an average age of 63.5±9.0 years. Logistic regression analysis showed that compared to non-PPCs patients, the level of preoperative FPG (P=0.023) and smoking history ratio (P=0.036) were higher and the operation time was longer (P=0.004) in the PPCs patients. High FPG level on preoperative day 1 and longer operation time were associated with PPCs risk. Besides, the preoperative FPG of 6.79 mmol/L was the threshold value to predict the occurrence of PPCs [AUC=0.653, 95%CI (0.559, 0.747), P=0.003]. Conclusion     There is a certain correlation between preoperative FPG level and postoperative PPCs, which may be used as an index to predict the occurrence of PPCs.

Objective     To investigate the clinical characteristics and risk factors for perioperative lung surgery patients with SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron variant infection. Methods     The clinical data of patients who underwent lung surgery at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from December 1, 2022 to January 9, 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into an infection group and a non-infection group according to whether they were infected with SARS-CoV-2. And the clinical data of two groups were collected and compared. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the risk factors affecting the time of hospitalization. Results     A total of 70 patients were enrolled in this study, including 36 (51.4%) males and 34 (48.6%) females at a median age of 61.0 (49.0, 66.8) years. There were 28 patients in the infection group and 42 patients in the non-infection group. The proportion of preoperative abnormal coagulation function and the risk of postoperative pulmonary infection in perioperative patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 were higher than those in the non-infection group (P<0.05). Subgroup analysis found that patients with preoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection were more likely to have pulmonary infection after surgery, but did not prolong the time of hospitalization or increase the risk of severe disease rate. The patients with postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection had worse clinical prognosis, including longer time of hospitalization (P=0.004), higher ICU admission rate (P=0.000), higher lung infection rate (P=0.003) and respiratory failure rate (P=0.000). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that gender and extent of surgery were independent risk factors for prolonged hospitalization time. Conclusion     Preoperative infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant will increase the risk of pulmonary infection, but it will not affect the clinical prognosis. However, postoperative infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant will still prolong the time of hospitalization, increase the ICU rate, and the risk of pulmonary complications.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of pedunculated rectus abdominis combined with bilateral ureteral extravestheter drainage in the treatment of refractory bladder-vaginal stump fistula. Methods: The clinical data of 8 cases of the refractory bladder-vaginal stump fistula were admitted to the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University and Henan Cancer Hospital and underwent the clinical treatment of bladder-vaginal stump from December 2019 to December 2022 were collected. The reason of refractory bladder-vaginal stump fistula was analyzed, the operation manner of pedunculated rectus abdominis combined with peduncle and bilateral ureter for the treatment of bladder-vaginal stump through extrabladder drainage was explored. The operation time, bleeding volume and clinical effect were record. Results: The median operation time of 8 patients was 150 minutes(120~180 min), and the median blood loss was 400 ml(200~600 ml). During the perioperative period, there were 2 cases of incision infection, delayed healing by debridement and dressing, 2 cases of incision rupture and suture wound healing after reoperation, and 2 cases of urinary tract infection were cured by anti-infection. When followed up for 6 months, 8 cases of vesicovaginal stump fistula were cured. Conclusion: Bilateral ureteral external drainage of the rectus abdominis muscle, has a practical effect in the treatment of refractory bladder-vaginal stump fistula, which can be one of the clinical repairing treatment.
Female ; Humans ; Urinary Bladder/surgery* ; Ureter/surgery* ; Rectus Abdominis ; Drainage ; Fistula

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of pedunculated rectus abdominis combined with bilateral ureteral extravestheter drainage in the treatment of refractory bladder-vaginal stump fistula. Methods: The clinical data of 8 cases of the refractory bladder-vaginal stump fistula were admitted to the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University and Henan Cancer Hospital and underwent the clinical treatment of bladder-vaginal stump from December 2019 to December 2022 were collected. The reason of refractory bladder-vaginal stump fistula was analyzed, the operation manner of pedunculated rectus abdominis combined with peduncle and bilateral ureter for the treatment of bladder-vaginal stump through extrabladder drainage was explored. The operation time, bleeding volume and clinical effect were record. Results: The median operation time of 8 patients was 150 minutes(120~180 min), and the median blood loss was 400 ml(200~600 ml). During the perioperative period, there were 2 cases of incision infection, delayed healing by debridement and dressing, 2 cases of incision rupture and suture wound healing after reoperation, and 2 cases of urinary tract infection were cured by anti-infection. When followed up for 6 months, 8 cases of vesicovaginal stump fistula were cured. Conclusion: Bilateral ureteral external drainage of the rectus abdominis muscle, has a practical effect in the treatment of refractory bladder-vaginal stump fistula, which can be one of the clinical repairing treatment.
Female ; Humans ; Urinary Bladder/surgery* ; Ureter/surgery* ; Rectus Abdominis ; Drainage ; Fistula