Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of liver transplantation (LT) and liver resection (LR) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) and to investigate risk factors affecting prognosis. Materials and Methods: A total of 94 HCC patients with PVTT type I (segmental PVTT) and PVTT type II (lobar PVTT) were involved and divided into LR (n=47) and LT groups (n=47). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared before and after inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Prognostic factors for RFS and OS were explored. Results: Two treatment groups were well-balanced using IPTW. In the entire cohort, LT provided a better prognosis than LR. Among patients with PVTT type I, RFS was better with LT (p=0.039); OS was not different significantly between LT and LR (p=0.093). In subgroup analysis of PVTT type I patients with α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels >200 ng/mL, LT elicited significantly longer median RFS (18.0 months vs. 2.1 months, p=0.022) and relatively longer median OS time (23.6 months vs. 9.8 months, p=0.065). Among patients with PVTT type II, no significant differences in RFS and OS were found between LT and LR (p=0.115 and 0.335, respectively). Multivariate analyses showed treatment allocation (LR), tumor size (>5 cm), AFP and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels to be risk factors of RFS and treatment allocation (LR), AFP and AST as risk factors for OS. Conclusion LT appeared to afford a better prognosis for HCC with PVTT type I than LR, especially in patients with AFP levels >200 ng/mL.

In the past 37 years, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) has undergone various major transmission routes in China, with the world most complex co-circulating HIV-1 subtypes, even the prevalence is still low. In response to the first epidemic outbreak of HIV in injecting drug users and the second one by illegal commercial blood collection, China issued the Anti-Drug Law and launched the Blood Donation Act and nationwide nucleic acid testing, which has avoided 98,232 to 211,200 estimated infections and almost ended the blood product-related infection. China has been providing free antiretroviral therapy (ART) since 2003, which covered >80% of the identified patients and achieved a viral suppression rate of 91%. To bend the curve of increasing the disease burden of HIV and finally end the epidemic, China should consider constraining HIV spread through sexual transmission, narrowing the gaps in identifying HIV cases, and the long-term effectiveness and safety of ART in the future.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/prevention & control* ; China/epidemiology* ; Disease Outbreaks ; HIV Infections/prevention & control* ; Humans ; Prevalence

Accumulating evidence indicated that microRNAs (miRNA) play an important role in tumor invasion and metastasis by regulating their target genes.However, whether the miRNA-216b-5p(miR-216b-5p ) and their target genes butyrophilin subfamily 3 member A2(BTN3A2) promote glioma invasion and metastasis is unclear.This study aims to study whether miR-216b-5p promoted migration and invasion in glioma cells by negatively regulating BTN3A2.The differential expression analysis of GSE15824 and GSE4290 was analyzed by GEO2R.We found that only BTN3A2 is up-regulated in both GSE15824 and GSE4290 (P<0.05).The gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) analysis indicated BTN3A2 was related to many cancer-related pathways (P<0.05).The results of survival curves showed that the overall survival of patients with high expression of BTN3A2 decreased significantly (P <0.001).The expression of BTN3A2 was increased with the increase of WHO grade (P<0.05), while the expression of BTN3A2 was increased in 1p/19q uncombined deletion and IDH mutant patients (P<0.001).Western blotting results showed that BTN3A2 was up-regulated in seven glioma tissues and glioma cell lines U87, U251 and LN-229 and downregulated in the miR-216b-5p mimics group; Transwell results showed that transfection with BTN3A2 silencing plasmids(si-BTN3A2) or miR-216b-5p mimics plasmids could inhibit the ability of migration and invasion in LN-229 cells in vitro (P<0.05).The online websites predicted miR-216b-5p as a potential target gene of BTN3A2.The survival curve results show that compared with patients with low expression of miR-216b-5p , the survival rate of patients with high expression was significantly increased (P=0.025).The relative expression of miR-216b-5p was decreased in U87, U251 and LN229 cells was detected by real time quantitative PCR (P<0.05).The results of dual luciferase assay showed that BTN3A2 could bind to miR-216b-5p (P<0.05).Transwell experiment results showed that overexpression of miR-216b-5p can inhibit the migration and invasion ability of LN229 cells (P<0.05).In summary, miR-216b-5p promotes the migration and invasion by targeting BTN3A2 of LN-229 glioma cells.

CRISP R/Cas9 is an emerging gene editing technique, which plays an important role in life science research.It is of great significance to introduce this cutting-edge scientific technique into the experimental teaching for undergraduates.Therefore, we established an undergraduate experiment system based on CRISPR/Cas9 technology.This experiment system focuses on the application of CRISPR/Cas9- mediating gene editing in mammalian cells.An engineered mouse embryonic fibroblast which genome were inserted with fluorescein mCherry gene was selected as the experimental model, and called STO-82.Firstly, sgRNAs targeting mCherry gene were designed to construct CRISPR-Cas9/sgRNA co-expression plasmids.After being confirmed by sequencing, they were transfected into STO-82 cells.Two groups of cells with mCherry negative and positive signals were detected by fluorescence-activated cell sorting.Single cells with negative fluorescence were separated and then cultivated to become monoclonal cells.The mutation status of mCherry gene in monoclonal cell lines was detected by sequence analysis.The result showed that there were mutations of insertion or deletion at target sites, indicating that the experimental system was successfully established.Therefore, this comprehensive experiment is comprised of sgRNA design, construction of CRISPR-Cas9/sgRNA co-expression plasmids, cell transfection, cell sorting, monoclonal cell cultivation and sequence analysis.This experiment system is used for experimental teaching for senior undergraduates.Teaching practice can either be decomposed into content modules or be taken as a whole program in light of actual situation.In the teaching practice at 3 classes (13 groups in total, two students every group), which adopted the model of small-class teaching (about 10 students per class), the majority completed the content modules and the expected outcomes were achieved.Through the design and teaching practice of this experiment system, the students acquire a deeper understanding for the principle and experimental procedure of CRISPR/Cas9 technology, an enhanced experimental ability and rigorous scientific thinking and also some knowledge in the risk of its medical application.

Objective To study the distribution of sleep duration in mid－pregnancy women and examine its association with prehypertension ( PHT) ． Methods In the baseline survey of a prospective cohort study，943 women in mid－pregnancy were recruited in Guangzhou，China in 2017－2018． A standardized questionnaire was used to assess demographic characteristics，sleep duration and other lifestyles． We obtained maternal blood pressure values，weights，heights，and medical histories from medical records． Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to examine the association between sleep duration and PHT． Ｒesults The average daily sleep duration of women in mid －pregnancy was ( 10. 41 ± 1. 67 ) hours，and it was negatively related to age and educational level． Overall，98. 33% of pregnant women had a daily sleep duration ≥ 7 h and the distribution was related to passive smoking． The average night time sleep duration was ( 9. 48±1. 21 ) hours，and it was negatively related to age and educational level． The daytime sleep duration was ( 0. 93 ± 0. 69 ) hours，and it was positively associated with physical activity． The average bedtime was( 22 ∶ 42 ± 1．24) ，and it was positively associated with passive smoking． The prevalence of PHT was 9. 61%． We did not observe any significant association between sleep duration and PHT． Conclusions The mid－pregnancy women in Guangzhou had relatively long sleep duration， and it differed by maternal age，educational level，physical activity，and passive smoking． There was no significant association between sleep duration and PHT．

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect on spinal low back pain (SLBP) in Air Force crew treated with novel thumbtack needling therapy and to analyze the relevant factors of the therapeutic effect. METHODS: A total of 120 Air Force crew with SLBP were randomized into a thumbtack needling group (40 cases), an external treatment group (40 cases, 1 case dropped off ) and a combined treatment group (40 cases, 1 case dropped off ). In the thumbtack needling group, the thumbtack needling therapy was adopted. The novel thumbtack needles were inserted at the lower No.6 region of the wrist-ankle acupuncture, Yaotongdian (EX-UE 7), Yaoyangguan (GV 3), etc. Each point was pressed and kneaded for 1 min each time, 3 or 4 times a day. The treatment for 3 days was taken as one course. At the interval of 2 days, 3 courses were required totally. In the external treatment group, RESULTS: Compared with the values before treatment, McGill scores and ODI scores were reduced ( CONCLUSION The thumbtack needling therapy is significantly effective on spinal low back pain in Air Force crew and is of the safety. Hence, this therapy is applicable to be promoted in the primary care army hospital.
Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Electromyography ; Humans ; Low Back Pain/therapy* ; Needles ; Treatment Outcome

Objective Angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang Ⅱ)-induced vascular damage is a major risk of hypertension. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of AngⅡ-induced vascular damage is still unclear. In this study, we explored the novel mechanism associated with Ang II-induced hypertension. Methods We treated 8- to 12-week-old C57BL/6J male mice with saline and Ang Ⅱ(0.72 mg/kg·d) for 28 days, respectively. Then the RNA of the media from the collected mice aortas was extracted for transcriptome sequencing. Principal component analysis was applied to show a clear separation of different samples and the distribution of differentially expressed genes was manifested by Volcano plot. Functional annotations including Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway were performed to reveal the molecular mechanism of Ang Ⅱ-induced hypertension. Finally, the differentially expressed genes were validated by using quantitative real-time PCR. Results The result revealed that a total of 773 genes, including 599 up-regulated genes and 174 down-regulated genes, were differentially expressed in the aorta of Ang Ⅱ-induced hypertension mice model. Functional analysis of differentially expressed genes manifested that various cellular processes may be involved in the Ang Ⅱ-induced hypertension, including some pathways associated with hypertension such as extracellular matrix, inflammation and immune response. Interestingly, we also found that the differentially expressed genes were enriched in vascular aging pathway, and further validated that the expression levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 and adiponectin were significantly increased (P<0.05). Conclusion We identify that vascular aging is involved in Ang Ⅱ-induced hypertension, and insulin-like growth factor 1 and adiponectin may be important candidate genes leading to vascular aging.
Aging ; Angiotensin II ; Animals ; Aorta/physiopathology* ; Blood Pressure/genetics* ; Gene Expression Profiling/methods* ; Gene Ontology ; Hypertension/genetics* ; Male ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

To investigate the effect of dihydroartemisinin on apoptosis of human pancreatic cancer cell line JF-305 and the role of reactive oxygen species(ROS) in the apoptosis of JF-305 cells induced by dihydroartemisinin. MTT assays were used to detect effect of different concentrations of dihydroartemisinin on cells proliferation of JF-305 lines. Cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry, and the apoptotic morphology was observed by Hoechst 333258 fluorescence staining. Annexin V fluorescence staining was used to detect the apoptosis changes of JF-305 cells, while DCFH-DA was used to detect the changes of ROS during apoptosis process. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression changes of Bax, Bcl-2, Cleaved caspase-3, Cleaved caspase-9 and Cyto C. As compared with the control group, the JF-305 cells proliferation was inhibited significantly(P<0.05) after treatment with different concentrations of dihydroartemisimin for 48 h; cell cycle was blocked in the G2/M phase; apoptotic morphology of nuclear condensation, aggregation, and fragmentation was found, and the apoptosis ratio was increased(P<0.05). DCFH-DA detection showed that the cell ROS was increased significantly after dihydroartemisinin treatment(P<0.05). Western blot results showed that the expression of Bcl-2 protein was down-regulated; the expression of Bax protein was up-regulated; the ration of Bax/Bcl-2 was increased and the protein expression levels of Cleaved caspase-3, Cleaved caspase-9 and Cyto C were increased after dihydroartemisinin treatment. Therefore, dihydroartemisinin could induce apoptosis of JF-305 cells, and the possible mechanism may be related to the formation and increasing of ROS.

Huperzine A is a potent,reversible,and blood-brain barrier permeable acetylcholinesterase irhibitor.The aim of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetics,tolerability,and bioavailability of two formulations with the established reference formulation of huperzine A in a fasting,healthy Chinese male population.This was a randomized,single-dose,3-period,6-sequence crossover study.The plasma concentrations of huperzine A were determined by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.Tolerability was assessed based on subject interview,vital sign monitoring,physical examination,and routine blood and urine tests.The mean (SD) pharmacokinetic parameters of the reference drug were Cmax,1.550 (0.528) ng/mL;t1/2,12.092 (1.898) h;AUC0-72h,17.550 (3.794) ng.h/mL.Those of the test formulation A and test formulation B were Cmax,1.412 (0.467),1.521 (0.608) ng/mL;t1/2,12.073 (2.068),12.271 (1.678) h;AUC0-72h,15.286 (3.434) ng.h/mL,15.673 (3.586) ng.h/mL.The 90％ confidence intervals for the AUC0-72h and Cmax were between 0.80 and 1.25.No adverse events were reported by the subjects or found with results of clinical laboratory test.The test and reference products met the regulatory criteria for bioequivalence in these fasting,healthy Chinese male volunteers.All three formulations appeared to be well tolerated.

Background: Esophageal cancer is associated with substantial disease burden in China, and data on the economic burden are fundamental for setting priorities in cancer interventions. The medical expenditure for the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer in China has not been fully quantified. This study aimed to examine the medical expenditure of Chinese patients with esophageal cancer and the associated trends. Methods: From 2012 to 2014, a hospital-based multicenter retrospective survey was conducted in 37 hospitals in 13 provinces/municipalities across China as a part of the Cancer Screening Program of Urban China. For each esophageal cancer patient diagnosed between 2002 and 2011, clinical information and expense data were extracted by using structured questionnaires. All expense data were reported in Chinese Yuan (CNY; 1 CNY= 0.155 USD) based on the 2011 value and inflated using the year-specific health care consumer price index for China. Results: A total of 14,967 esophageal cancer patients were included in the analysis. It was estimated that the overall average expenditure per patient was 38,666 CNY, and an average annual increase of 6.27％ was observed from 2002 (25,111 CNY) to 2011 (46,124 CNY). The average expenditures were 34,460 CNY for stage Ⅰ, 39,302 CNY for stage Ⅱ, 40,353 CNY for stage Ⅲ, and 37,432 CNY for stage IV diseases (P < 0.01). The expenditure also differed by the therapy type, which was 38,492 CNY for surgery, 27,933 CNY for radiotherapy, and 27,805 CNY for chemotherapy (P < 0.05). Drugs contributed to 45.02％ of the overall expenditure. Conclusions: These conservative estimates suggested that medical expenditures for esophageal cancer in China substantially increased in the last 10 years, treatment for early-stage esophageal cancer costs less than that for advanced cases, and spending on drugs continued to account for a considerable proportion of the overall expenditure.