The seat of human intelligence is the human cerebral cortex, which is responsible for our exceptional cognitive abilities. Identifying principles that lead to the development of the large-sized human cerebral cortex will shed light on what makes the human brain and species so special. The remarkable increase in the number of human cortical pyramidal neurons and the size of the human cerebral cortex is mainly because human cortical radial glial cells, primary neural stem cells in the cortex, generate cortical pyramidal neurons for more than 130 days, whereas the same process takes only about 7 days in mice. The molecular mechanisms underlying this difference are largely unknown. Here, we found that bone morphogenic protein 7 (BMP7) is expressed by increasing the number of cortical radial glial cells during mammalian evolution (mouse, ferret, monkey, and human). BMP7 expression in cortical radial glial cells promotes neurogenesis, inhibits gliogenesis, and thereby increases the length of the neurogenic period, whereas Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling promotes cortical gliogenesis. We demonstrate that BMP7 signaling and SHH signaling mutually inhibit each other through regulation of GLI3 repressor formation. We propose that BMP7 drives the evolutionary expansion of the mammalian cortex by increasing the length of the neurogenic period.
Animals ; Mice ; Humans ; Ependymoglial Cells/metabolism* ; Hedgehog Proteins/metabolism* ; Ferrets/metabolism* ; Cerebral Cortex ; Neurogenesis ; Mammals/metabolism* ; Neuroglia/metabolism* ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7/metabolism*

Medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the striatum, which can be divided into D1 and D2 MSNs, originate from the lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE). Previously, we reported that Six3 is a downstream target of Sp8/Sp9 in the transcriptional regulatory cascade of D2 MSN development and that conditionally knocking out Six3 leads to a severe loss of D2 MSNs. Here, we showed that Six3 mainly functions in D2 MSN precursor cells and gradually loses its function as D2 MSNs mature. Conditional deletion of Six3 had little effect on cell proliferation but blocked the differentiation of D2 MSN precursor cells. In addition, conditional overexpression of Six3 promoted the differentiation of precursor cells in the LGE. We measured an increase of apoptosis in the postnatal striatum of conditional Six3-knockout mice. This suggests that, in the absence of Six3, abnormally differentiated D2 MSNs are eliminated by programmed cell death. These results further identify Six3 as an important regulatory element during D2 MSN differentiation.

Mouse cortical radial glial cells (RGCs) are primary neural stem cells that give rise to cortical oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and olfactory bulb (OB) GABAergic interneurons in late embryogenesis. There are fundamental gaps in understanding how these diverse cell subtypes are generated. Here, by combining single-cell RNA-Seq with intersectional lineage analyses, we show that beginning at around E16.5, neocortical RGCs start to generate ASCL1

Objective: To investigate the efficiency and safety of domestic tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) dasatinib (Yinishu) as second-line treatment for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP). Methods: A retrospective analysis of clinical data of CML-CP patients who received domestic dasatinib as second-line treatment in the CML collaborative group hospitals of Hubei province from March 2016 to July 2018 was performed. The optimal response rate, the cumulative complete cytogenetic response (CCyR), the cumulative major molecular responses (MMR), progression free survival (PFS), event free survival (EFS) and adverse effects (AEs) of the patients were assessed at 3, 6 and 12 months of treatment. Results: A total of 83 CML-CP patients were enrolled in this study. The median follow-up time was 23 months. The optimal response rates at 3, 6 and 12 months in 83 CML-CP patients treated with dasatinib were 77.5% (54/71), 72.6% (61/75) and 60.7% (51/69), respectively. By the end of follow-up, the cumulative CCyR and MMR rates were 65.5% (55/80) and 57.1% (48/73), respectively. The median time to achieving CCyR and MMR was 3 months. During follow-up time, the PFS rate was 94.0% (79/83) and the EFS rate was 77.4% (65/83). The most common non-hematological AEs of dasatinib were edema (32.5%), rash itching (18.1%) and fatigue (13.3%). The common hematological AEs of dasatinib were thrombocytopenia (31.3%), leukopenia (19.3%) and anemia (6.0%). Conclusion Domestic dasatinib was effective and safe as the second-line treatment of CML-CP patients and it can be used as an option for CML-CP patients.

Echinococcus granulosus is an important zoonotic parasite globally causing cystic echinococcosis (CE) in humans and animals. In this study, prevalence of CE and variation of cox1 gene sequence were analyzed with isolates E. granulosus collected from different areas in northern Xinjiang, China. The survey showed that 3.5% of sheep and 4.1% of cattle were infected with CE. Fragment of cox1 was amplified from all the positive sheep and cattle samples by PCR. In addition, 26 positive samples across the 4 areas were included. The isolates were all E. granulosus sensu stricto (s.s.) containing 15 haplotypes (Hap1-15), and clustered into 2 genotypes, G1 (90.1%, 91/101) and G3 (9.9%, 10/101). Hap1 was the most common haplotype (48.5%, 49/101). Hap9 were found in humans samples, indicating that sheep and cattle reservoir human CE. It is indicate that E. granulosus may impact on control of CE in livestock and humans in the region.
Animals ; Cattle ; China ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Echinococcosis ; Echinococcus granulosus ; Echinococcus ; Genotype ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Livestock ; Parasites ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; Sheep

Alveolar and cystic echinococcosis are important zoonotic diseases caused by the dog/fox tapeworms of Echinococcus granulosus and E. multilocularis, which are distributed in almost whole the world. The diseases remarkably impact on the people's health and economic development of communities. Echinococcus tapeworms need two mammalian animals to complete their lifecycle. The worms undergo different developmental stages (adult, egg/oncosphere, cyst, and protoscolex). Each stage has its own distinct physiological characteristics. We summarize the characteristics and emphasize that some features that strongly impact on design of control program. Based on the lifecycle of these worms, two stages are infectious, one is egg the only stage for primarily infecting humans and intermediate host, and another stage is protoscolex, the only stage for infecting the definite hosts of the worms. Eggs are produced by the adult worms parasitized in the intestine of definite hosts. It takes 45 days for eggs becoming mature in dogs. With this feature of the tapeworm, New Zealand and Tasmania in Australia designed control program for deworming 8 times annually with an interval between deworms at 45 days. E. multilocularis takes 28-30 days in dog/fox producing mature eggs. Given that co-existence of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis in western China, a control measure so called "prepatent deworming control measure" has been used in these endemic areas with dosing worms in dogs every month. It normally takes 12-15 months for producing protosocleces in E. granulosus cysts in sheep. If meat markets attract most lambs, that is an effective measure for controlling cystic echinococcosis given that there are no protoscoleces produced from those lambs. In addition, Echinococcus has its own unique biological characteristics, such as sexual reproduction and asexual reproduction, single-cell layer structure of cyst, bidirectional development of protoscoleces induced by bile salts, and long term of infection causing host asymptomatic reaction make the parasites a models for addressing some biological and biomedical issues. And more, hydatid cyst fluid is the antigen resource for identifying diagnostic reagents; the specific gene expressed in oncospheres has been developed as an effective vaccine used for control program. With the development and application of high-throughput omics, including genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics, we can use the physiological characteristics of Echinococcus for searching diagnostic reagents, developing preventive vaccines and identify new drug targets.

This study aimed at exploring a fast method to accurately identify the medicinal insect Vespa mandarinia Smith from its adulterants using DNA barcode and COI sequences.The extracted DNAs from V.mandarinia and its adulterants V.soror were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced bilaterally based on COI barcode sequence investigation.The information of the COI sequences of V.mandarinia and V.soror were gathered from GenBank.All the sequences were compared and analyzed,and their intraspecific and interspecific genetic distances were calculated using MEGA 6.06.In addition,the phylogenetic tree was established with neighbor-joining (NJ) method.As a result,the COI sequences of V.mandarinia and V.soror were successfully amplified.The minimum interspecific distance between V.mandarinia and its adulterants was 0.152 ± 0.017,being considerably larger than the maximal intraspecific distance between V.mandarinia,0.009±0.004.The constructed phylogenetic tree showed an independent branch for each species.It was concluded that the DNA barcode based on COI sequence can efficiently identify V.mandarinia and its adulterants.This study provided an innovative tool for the quality control and market regulation of Chinese materia medica,securing the safe medication of V.mandarinia.

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory-demyelinating disease of central nervous system that is characterized by severe attacks of optic neuritis (ON) and longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM).Conventional MRI is the most sensitive method in detection of NMO lesions in brain,spinal cord and optic nerve,which can objectively show the site,number,size and distribution of lesions.The MRI features of NMO lesion in brain,spinal cord and optic nerve lesions were reviewed in this article.

Objective To discuss the characteristics,growth and development of atlantoaxial pedicle in preschool children,and to provide the basic theoretical basis for the design,production and clinical application of pedicle screw technique in the treatment of atlantoaxial disease in preschool children.Methods Excluded patients with atlantoaxial fractures,deformities,tuberculosis and tumor,the clinical data of 60 children aged from 3 to 6 years old with cervical spondylolisthesis were collected.The original CT images were reconstructed in DICOM format and the subjects were reconstructed with Mimics software.The subjects were grouped by age to measure and analyze the atlantoaxial pedicle correlation.Results The pedicle width(PW),pedicle height(PH) and total length of pedicle bone channel (PL) increased gradually with age.The PW/PH ratio of the vertebrae(C1) is greater than 1.0,and that is, the width of the pedicle of the C1 pedicle is greater than the height.The PW/PH ratio of the vertebral (C2) is less than 1.0,which means the width of the pedicle of the C1 pedicle is less than the height.Conclusion The growth and development of spine in preschool children are fast, and the pedicle of atlantoaxial calculus in different age groups has different developmental characteristics.In this study,the diameter of the pedicle of the atlantoaxial pedicle in the 3 to 6 year old children is increasing with age.The pedicle screw with the smallest diameter of 3.5 mm can be implanted into the atlantoaxial pedicle with feasibility in theory.

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has the advantages of small trauma, quick recovery and lower risk of the surgery.Compared with the traditional two-dimension laparoscopic technique, three-dimension laparoscopic system uses the double beam imaging system as well as the three-dimensional imaging display device so as to compensate for the lack of depth information in two-dimension laparoscopic imaging technique, reduce the surgeon's difficulty in using surgical instruments and enhance the accuracy of the surgery. For those reasons, the author designed a glassesfree three dimensional wide-field electronic laparoscopic system, which consists of dual CMOS camera module,image processing module and glasses-free display module that can offer depth information. The active shape model is applied to eye tracking, for the purpose of getting the wide-field to help doctor obtain 3D display in more places.Primary experimental results of the simulation using the system show that operators with the aid of proposed system spend less time finishing the task than those using traditional system without depth perception during operation.