Objective:To summarize the genetic and phenotypic features of MORC family CW-type zinc finger 2 (MORC2) gene-related neuropathy in Chinese patients. Methods:The clinical and whole exome sequencing data of MORC2 gene-related neuropathy families with a definitive genetic diagnosis were collected from the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University between 2010 and 2023. Literature involving Chinese families with MORC2 gene-related neuropathy was extensively reviewed to provide a comprehensive summary of the genetic and phenotypic spectrum of the disease. Results:A total of 10 families with MORC2 gene-related neuropathy were identified and analyzed. Six different heterozygous pathogenic variants in the MORC2 gene were observed among these families, including the novel variant c.1330G>C (p.G444R) that had not been previously reported. Six families presented as axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease caused by variants in the MORC2 gene (CMT2Z) phenotype with childhood or adult onset, and carried variants c.754C>T (p.R252W), c.1199A>G (p.Q400R), c.1330G>C (p.G444R), or c.1396G>A (p. D466N); 3 families manifested as severe spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)-like phenotype with infantile onset, all carried c.260C>T (p.S87L); 1 family carried c.1181A>G (p.Y394C), presented as DIGFAN syndrome phenotype with infantile onset combined with mental and motor retardation. Systematic review showed 8 Chinese families carried pathogenic variants of the MORC2 gene, among which 5 families were associated with the CMT2Z phenotype, carrying c.754C>T (p.R252W), c.1079A>G (p.E360G), c.1220G>A (p.C407Y), or c.1397A>G (p.D466G); 1 family was associated with SMA-like phenotype, carrying c.260C>T (p.S87L); and 2 families were associated with DIGFAN syndrome, carrying c.79G>A (p.E27K) and c.292G>A (p.G98R). Conclusions:A novel pathogenic variant c.1330G>C (p.G444R) of the MORC2 gene associated with the CMT2 phenotype is reported. Eleven pathogenic variants of the MORC2 gene have been reported in the Chinese patients to date, and c.754C>T(p.R252W) may be the most common. Patients with MORC2 gene-related neuropathy carrying different variants present with significant clinical heterogeneity, manifesting as CMT2Z, early-onset severe SMA-like myasthenia, or DIGFAN syndrome.

Objective To investigate changes of muscle activation in the lower limbs during landing impact as running fatigue pro-gresses. Methods From November to December,2022,eleven male runners were recruited from Wuhan Sports University.They performed a steady-state run at 75%of their maximum heart rate and continued until Borg rating score≥17 or 90%of their maximum heart rate.Muscle activity data were collected using a Delsys wireless surface electromy-ography system,continuously recording the EMG of the quadriceps(vastus medialis,rectus femoris,vastus later-alis),hamstrings(biceps femoris,semitendinosus),gluteus maximus,lateral head of the gastrocnemius and tibia-lis anterior.The pre-activation,post-activation and co-activation characteristics of these lower limb muscles were analyzed. Results With fatigue accumulation during running,significant differences were observed in the pre-activation level of the tibialis anterior among different fatigue points(F=2.955,P=0.048),with the 100%fatigue point showing significantly higher pre-activation levels than the start(P=0.010);as well as post-activation levels of quadriceps(F=6.609,P=0.001),with higher levels at the 100%point compared to the start(P=0.011),33%(P=0.009)and 67%(P=0.043)fatigue points;co-activation ratios of ankle joint during the pre-activation phase(F=3.287,P=0.034),with a significantly higher co-activation ratio at the 100%fatigue point compared to the start(P=0.023). Conclusion As running fatigue accumulates,the central nervous system adjusts the activation levels of various lower limb muscles to modify impact posture,reducing the risk of injury from accumulated lower limb loads.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the damage mechanism of pathogenic E.coli on mouse brain microvascular endothelial cells(BMEC cells)and mouse alveolar macrophages(MH-S cells),as well as the lung and brain of healthy mice.In this study,BMEC cells and MH-S cells were infected with pathogenic E.coli strains,and cell morphological changes were observed.Plate counting method was used to detect the adhesion and invasion ability of the strains to cells and the number of bacteria in the lungs and brains of mice.RT-qPCR was used to detect the ex-pression of TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-6 genes in cells and mouse organs at different time periods.West-ern blot was used to detect the expression of p-NF-κB,p-JAK2 and p-STAT3 proteins related to inflammation in cells and mouse organs after infection.The results showed that the cell culture medium of the infection group was turbid,the cell vision became dark and blurred,some cells shrank and died,and more fragments were produced.The adhesion rate and invasion rate of BMEC cells at 3 h were significantly lower than those at 6 h(P＜0.050),and the adhesion rate and inva-sion rate of MH-S cells at 3 h were significantly higher than those at 6 h(P＜0.010).Infected mice had a large area of swelling and bleeding in the brain,and the lungs had different degrees of swell-ing and bleeding.The bacterial load in the brain and lung was the highest at 12 h.Compared with the control group,the mRNA expression levels of IL-1β,IL-6 and TNF-α in the infection group were significantly increased at 3 h and 6 h(P＜0.050),and the mRNA expression levels of inflam-matory factors in BMEC cells and MH-S cells were the highest at 6 and 3 h,respectively.The mR-NA expression of inflammatory factors in the brain and lung of infected mice showed a trend of in-creasing first and then decreasing with time,with the highest expression at 12 h after infection.The expression levels of p-NF-κB protein in BMEC cells,MH-S cells,lung and brain tissues of mice in the infection group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P＜0.001),and the expression levels of p-JAK2 protein and p-STAT3 protein were significantly lower than those in the control group(P＜0.050).The above results showed that pathogenic E.coli could adhere and invade BMEC cells and MH-S cells,colonize in lung and brain tissues of mice,promote the expres-sion of NF-κB protein in cells and tissues,inhibit the expression of JAK2 protein and STAT3 pro-tein,and then stimulate cells and tissues to produce inflammatory response.

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) following prostatectomy is an important and common problem in male, which can significantly reduce the quality of life. Urethral sling is a promising treatment for male SUI. It is easy to operate and can avoid the insertion of prosthesis, making it highly acceptable to patients. In recent years, with the advancement of technology, several kinds of slings have been put into clinical application and have achieved great outcomes. This article reviews the application of urethral sling in the treatment of SUI after prostatectomy.

Pheochromocytoma and paranganglioma (PPGL) is a rare neuroendocrine tumor. In recent years, the continuous development of multimodal imaging, pathonomics, genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, metabolism and proteomics have provided us with ideas to better understand the complex transfer mechanism of PPGL. This paper will review the precise typing system of PPGL, current research advances in the diagnosis and clinical prognosis.

Objective To find out the epidemic characteristics of brucellosis in Harbin and provide scientific evidences for development of countermeasures.Methods The brucellosis surveillance data were collected from the "National Diseases Surveillance Information Management System" and the municipal surveillance results from 2013 to 2017 in Harbin;the place,time and population distribution characteristics of brucellosis were analyzed by descriptive epidemiological methods.Results A total of 2 909 cases of brucellosis were reported in Harbin from 2013 to 2017,and the incidence of brucellosis declined from 5.98 per 100 000 to 4.53 per 100 000,the epidemic situation was mainly sporadic,and an outbreak caused by a live Brucella vaccine (A19 strain) was reported in 2017;all eighteen districts (counties or cities) in Harbin had reported epidemic in the past five years,Shuangcheng,Yilan,Binxian and Bayan had a large number of cases,accounted for 53.76％ (1 564/2 909) of the total number of patients in Harbin;the time of onset focused on March to July,which accounted for 57.17％ (1 663/2 909) of annual incidence;age distribution,mainly young adults aged 30 to 59,accounted for 72.57％ (2 111/2 909);gender distribution predominandy male,accounted for 75.42％ (2 194/2 909);and occupational distribution predominantly farmers,accounted for 86.28％ (2 510/2 909).In the municipal surveillance stations from 2013 to 2017,7 005 cases were surveyed,of which 2 141 cases received serological test,the positive rate was 3.32％ (71/2 141),except 2016,the serum positive rate was decreasing year by year (x2 =13.927,P ＜ 0.05),and the monitoring results of municipal monitoring stations can better reflect the epidemic trend.Conclusions The incidence of brucellosis in Harbin is decreasing year by year.However,the outbreak caused by the new vaccines should be given high attention and we should strengthen prevention and control of the disease.

Objective To explore the effect of intermittent hypoxia (IH) on RhoA/ROCK pathway in lung and on the muscularization in pulmonary vascular in rat model. Methods Wistar rats (n=40) were randomly divided into two groups:the normal oxygen control group (n=20) and the IH group ( n=20). For 4 weeks, rats in control group and IH group were ex?posed to intermittent normal oxygen (21%O2) or IH (5%-21%O2) respectively. Then, mRNA transcription and protein trans?lation levels of RhoA/ROCK were examined by Real-time PCR and Western blot. Expression of proliferation cell nuclear an?tigen (PCNA) andα-smooth muscle actin (SM-α-actin ) of lung and pulmonary artery were detected by immunohistochemis?try. Results RhoA mRNA transcription level(0.463 ± 0.067 vs 0.182 ± 0.040), ROCK mRNA transcription level(0.384 ± 0.062 vs 0.192 ± 0.052), RhoA protein expression level(0.827 ± 0.065 vs 0.424 ± 0.075)and ROCK protein expression level (0.488±0.088 vs 0.336±0.102)were higher in IH group than those in control group(P<0.05);Levels of PCNA in lung tissue [(54.67±1.80)%vs (9.14±0.91)%], PCNA in pulmonary artery [(49.40±1.21)%vs (8.38±1.13)%], SM-α-actin in lung tis?sue [(42.66±1.63)%vs (35.44±1.41)%] and SM-α-actin in pulmonary artery [(62.62±2.53)%vs (45.54±2.58)%] were also higher in IH group than those in control group(P<0.05). Conclusion Rho/ROCK pathway may play an important role in developing pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with IH;and IH can promote the muscularization in pulmonary vascular to accelerate PH.

Objective To investigate the effect of adenovirus-mediated IL-24 (Ad-IL-24)gene expression on the apoptosis in a human squamous cell carcinoma cell line COLO 16, and to explore the underlying molecular mechanism. Methods Cultured COLO 16 cells were divided into two groups to be transfected with an adenovirus vector carrying the IL-24 gene (Ad-IL-24 group)or green fluorescent protein (Ad-GFP group), while those receiving no treatment served as the control group. After culture for different durations, qPCR was performed to quantify IL-24 gene expression, methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay to evaluate the proliferative activity of COLO 16 cells, flow cytometry to detect the apoptosis of COLO 16 cells, laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) to observe the morphological changes of COLO 16 cells, Western blot to determine the levels of Bax and Bcl-2 proteins and to evaluate the activation of caspase-3, qPCR to determine the levels of Bax and Bcl-2 mRNAs, an immunofluorescence assay to observe the expression of Bax and Bcl-2 proteins. Statistical analysis was carried out by a two-sample t-test with the SPSS 19.0 software. Results MTT assay showed that the proliferation of COLO 16 cells in the Ad-IL-24 group was significantly inhibited as early as 4 days after the transfection; thereafter, the inhibitory effect increased in a time-dependent manner, and peaked on day 6(P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in cellular proliferative activity between the Ad-GFP group and control group (P>0.05). Flow cytometry revealed that the apoptosis rate was significantly higher in the Ad-IL-24 group(13.10%± 0.92%)than in the control group(3.69%± 0.36%, P<0.05)and Ad-GFP group(3.39%± 1.06%, P<0.05), but no significant difference was observed between the control group and Ad-GFP group (P>0.05). LSCM demonstrated that the apoptosis of COLO 16 cells was accelerated in the Ad-IL-24 group. The immunofluorescence assay, Western blot and qPCR all showed that the mRNA and protein expressions of Bax were increased, but those of Bcl-2 were decreased in the Ad-IL-24 group compared with the Ad-GFP group and control group. Moreover, Western blot showed a protein band that could specifically bind to the anti-cleaved caspase-3 antibody in the Ad-IL-24 group, but not in the Ad-GFP group or control group. Conclusions Ad-IL-24 can induce apoptosis in human COLO 16 squamous cell carcinoma cells, probably by up-regulating Bax expression, down-regulating Bcl-2 expression, and activating caspase 3.

Objective To investigate the effect of emphysema and intermittent hypoxia (IH) on the hepatic oxidative stress and inflammatory injury in rats. Methods Sixty male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to 4 groups, control group (A), emphysema group (B), IH group (C) and emphysema+IH group (D). Group A was normally fed. Group B was exposed to smoke, 30 min per time, twice everyday. Group C was exposed to 5%O2 30 s/Air 90 s for 8 h/d. Group D was exposed to smoke twice, about 30 min each time, and exposed 5%O2 30 s/Air 90 s for 8 h/d. After continues exposure for 8 weeks, five rats in each group were randomly selected for arterial blood gas analysis. The tissue blocks of liver was obtained for pathologi-cal scoring and measurements of liver oxidative stress in the rest 10 rats of each group. HE staining was used to calculate the mean lining interval (MLI) and mean alveolar number (MAN). The hepatic inflammatory factor interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, catalase (CAT) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) con-centration were measured in four groups. Results Characteristics of emphysema were found in group B and group D. The values of MLI were significantly higher in Group B and group D than those of group A and group C (P<0.05). The values of MAN were significantly lower in group B and group D than those of group A and group C (P<0.05). The levels of SOD and CAT were significantly lower in group B, group C and group D than those of group A (P<0.05). And the levels of SOD and CAT were significantly lower in group D than those of group B and group C (P<0.05). The values of liver MDA were signifi-cantly higher in group B, group C and group D than those of group A, and the values were significantly higher in group D than those of group B and group C (P<0.05). The liver histological scores and the levels of IL-6 and TNF-αwere signifi-cantly higher in group B, group C and group D than those of group A, and the values were significantly higher in group D than those of group B and group C (P<0.05). Conclusion Emphysema and IH have synergistic action in causing hepatic oxidative stress and inflammation.

Objective To investigate the features of immune response of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) antigen specific T lymphocytes in HIV-1 monoinfected or HIV 1/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfected individuals.Methods Twenty-six HIV-1 monoinfected and 23 HIV-1/HCV coinfected individuals were enrolled.Immunomagnetic microbeads were used to isolate T lymphocyte subpopulation CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).Frequencies of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) secreting cells of CD4+,CD8+ T lymphocytes and PBMC stimulated by a peptide pool containing 12 overlapping peptides in HIV-1 P24 from 49 patients were assessed by enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay.HIV-1 RNA levels of these patients were also detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction.The data were compared by one-way ANOVA and Mann-Whitney U test,and Spearman test was used for correlation analysis.Results Frequencies of HIV-1 antigen specific CD4+ T lymphocytes [median =25 spot-forming cells (SFC)/106 cells] were significantly lower than those of CD8+T lymphocytes (median=38SFC/106 cells,F=4.592,P=0.037) and PBMC (median=53 SFC/106 cells,F=5.436,P=0.025) in HIV-1 monoinfected group.Frequencies of HIV-1 antigen specific CD4+ T lymphocytes (median=5 SFC/106 cells,Z=-2.432,P=0.015),CD8+T lymphocytes (median=5 SFC/106 cells,Z=-1.996,P=0.046) and PBMC (median=10 SFC/106 cells,Z=-2.306,P=0.021) in HIV-1/HCV coinfected group were significantly lower than those in HIV-1 monoinfected group.Conclusions In HIV-1 infection,antigen specific immune response of CD4+ T cells can be activated,but weaker than that of CD8+ T cells.Co-infection with HCV might down-regulate the responses of HIV-1 antigen specific T lymphocytes in HIV-1 infected individuals.