Changes in sensorimotor regions of the cerebral cortex in congenital amusia:a case-control study

Perceiving pitch is a central function of the human auditory system;congenital amusia is a disorder of pitch perception.The underlying neural mechanisms of congenital amusia have been actively discussed.However,little attention has been paid to the changes in the motor rain within congenital amusia.In this case-control study,17 participants with congenital amusia and 14 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while resting with their eyes closed.A voxel-based degree centrality method was used to identify abnormal functional network centrality by comparing degree centrality values between the congenital amusia group and the healthy control group.We found decreased degree centrality values in the right primary sensorimotor areas in participants with congenital amusia relative to controls,indicating potentially decreased centrality of the corresponding brain regions in the auditory-sensory motor feedback network.We found a significant positive correlation between the degree centrality values and the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia scores.In conclusion,our study identified novel,hitherto undiscussed candidate brain regions that may partly contribute to or be modulated by congenital amusia.Our evidence supports the view that sensorimotor coupling plays an important role in memory and musical discrimination.The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Second Xiangya Hospital,Central South University,China(No.WDX20180101GZ01) on February 9,2019.     

RhPDCD5 combined with dexamethasone increases antitumor activity in multiple myeloma partially via inhibiting the Wnt signalling pathway

Multiple myeloma (MM) is one of the most common hematological malignancies and characterized by the clonal accumulation of malignant plasma cells. Significant progress has been made in MM treatment recently, while MM still remains incurable. Our previous studies showed that the recombined human programmed cell death 5 (rhPDCD5) can promote MM apoptosis induced by dexamethasone (Dex). Here, we expanded the findings by showing that the rhPDCD5 alone could not induce an obvious growth inhibition of U266 cells (a MM cell line). Of note, with the combination of dexamethasone (Dex), the growth of MM cells was significantly inhibited and accompanied with the cell cycle arrest in G0/G1. For mechanism study, we found that the combination treatment of rhPDCD5 plus Dex downregulated the mRNA and protein expressions of Wnt effectors including β‐catenin, β‐catenin (Ser675), TCF4, survivin and c‐Myc when compared to Dex only. Moreover, the activation of WNT pathway induced by LiCl can also be inhibited by this combination treatment. Taken together, our study demonstrated that the combination of rhPDCD5 and Dex can suppress the proliferation of multiple myeloma cells partially via inhibiting the WNT signalling pathway.     

氯胍通过下调FASN/SREBP-1c通路抑制肝癌细胞增殖、集落形成及迁移

目的探讨氯胍对肝癌细胞Hep-G2及SMMC-7721增殖、集落形成和迁移的影响及可能机制。方法用不同浓度的氯胍分别处理Hep-G2及SMMC-7721细胞。采用MTT法检测细胞增殖情况,克隆形成实验检测细胞集落形成能力,Transwell检测细胞迁移能力,Western blotting检测脂肪酸合成酶(FASN)及调节元件结合蛋白(SREBP-1c)的表达情况。结果氯胍抑制Hep-G2及SMMC-7721的增殖、集落形成及迁移能力;Western blotting显示氯胍下调FASN及SREBP-1c的表达。结论氯胍能抑制肝癌细胞Hep-G2及SMMC-7721增殖、集落形成及迁移,其作用机制可能与下调FASN/SREBP-1c通路有关。     

全麻与腰麻无管化经皮肾镜碎石取石术治疗肾结石的比较

目的探讨全麻与腰麻无管化经皮肾镜碎石取石术(PCNL)治疗肾结石的临床效果。方法前瞻性分析2017年8月至2017年12月我院65例行无管化经皮肾镜钬激光碎石取石术的患者的临床资料,术前采用随机数字表将患者分为全麻组与腰麻组,其中术中发生严重出血需留置肾造瘘管共12例被删除。最终53例行无管化PCNL的患者被纳入研究,其中全麻组28例,腰麻组25例,统计分析两组患者结石的基本特征、术中及术后的参数。结果两组患者在年龄、性别、体质量指数、结石大小、结石位置、手术时间、住院天数、穿刺针数、穿刺位置、血红蛋白下降、出院当天视觉模拟疼痛评分(VAS)及残石率差异无统计学意义(P>0.05),但腰麻组术后的第一天的VAS评分[(4.4±1.8)vs(6.4±2.0),P<0.05]及曲马多镇痛需求量[(56±36) mg vs (112±44) mg,P<0.05]显著小于全麻组。结论腰麻行无管化PCNL是全麻下无管化PCNL的良好替代方案,与全麻相比,腰麻术后疼痛更轻,减少了无管化PCNL患者术后镇痛需求。     

伟力精子质量检测动态分析系统的临床应用

目的比较国产伟力彩色精子质量检测系统（WUY-9000）与传统的人工常规检查（按WHO标准）两种方法检测参数的可信度。方法随机选择2011年5月～2012年2月来本院检查的100例精液（捐献者年龄25～45岁）标本进行检测,并对两种检查参数如精子密度、活动率、活动力（a＋b）等进行分析比较。结果采用两种检测方法所得精子密度、精子活动率以及精子活力（a＋b）差异无统计学意义（P〉0．9）;通过20°和40°两种放大倍数的一致性测定数据显示该检测系统具有良好的重复性和一致性。结论该检测系统有较好的准确性、良好的重复性和一致性,可以代替人工检测,为临床诊断男性不孕不育和体外受精选配优质精子等提供了参考依据,在检测过程中也有效避免了一些因人工主观判断所产生的误差．具有多种人工检测方法不具有的功能。也为临床和科研中精液常规分析的科学化、规范化和标准化创造了条件。     

退火处理不同管径TiO2纳米管表面成纤维细胞的生物学行为

文题释义：TiO₂纳米管阵列：利用阳极氧化方法在纯钛板表面生成的一薄层TiO₂结构。即以钛或钛合金为阴极以铂片为阳极,在含氟电解液中通过电化学方法产生的自组装TiO₂纳米管层,可通过控制阳极氧化的电压来精确控制纳米管的管径,阳极氧化的时间会影响纳米管的长度。与光滑的钛表面相比,TiO₂纳米管显著增大了表面积,提高了材料的亲水性和表面能,增加了对纤维粘连蛋白和玻璃粘连蛋白等胞外蛋白大分子的吸附,同时纳米管状结构具有加载药物和生物因子等潜能。 退火处理：退火是一种金属热处理工艺,即将金属缓慢加热到一定温度保持足够的时间,然后以适宜速度冷却。TiO₂存在3种不同的晶型结构：非晶态、锐钛矿和金红石相态。常温制备的TiO₂纳米管为非晶态,经过退火处理,控制退火处理的温度,TiO₂晶型结构转变为锐钛矿或金红石。一般情况下,400-600 ℃的退火可形成锐钛矿,600-750 ℃的退火可形成金红石相。 背景：前期研究发现不同管径钛纳米管对植体表面细胞的黏附和生长影响不同。 目的：分析退火处理不同管径TiO₂纳米管对成纤维细胞生物学行为的影响。 方法：在5 V和20 V电压下分别采用阳极氧化方法在抛光纯钛表面制备TiO₂纳米管,并行退火处理。将纯钛试样分为6组：抛光纯钛组、5 V纳米管组、20 V纳米管组、退火处理抛光纯钛组、退火处理5 V纳米管组、退火处理20 V纳米管组,利用场发射扫描电镜观察试样表面形貌。各组试样表面接种成纤维细胞,采用胞核染色计数方法分析培养60,120 min时试样表面细胞的黏附数,利用扫描电镜观察培养1 d时的细胞形态,MTT法检测培养1,3,5 d后试样表面细胞的增殖情况,天狼星红苦味酸染色法分析培养3 d时细胞的胶原纤维分泌情况。 结果与结论：①退火处理对钛表面TiO₂纳米管形貌及管径无明显影响;②5,20 V纳米管组表面的细胞黏附数量少于抛光纯钛组;退火处理增加了抛光纯钛表面的成纤维细胞黏附数量,减少了5,20 V纳米管表面的细胞黏附数量;③退火处理增强了抛光纯钛表面成纤维细胞的活性,降低了5,20 V纳米管表面的细胞活性;④5,20 V纳米管组表面的细胞增殖活性低于抛光纯钛组;退火处理提高了抛光纯钛表面的细胞增殖活性,减少了5,20 V纳米管表面的细胞增殖活性;⑤5,20 V纳米管组表面细胞的胶原纤维分泌量高于抛光纯钛组;退火处理提高了抛光纯钛表面的细胞胶原分泌量,减少了5,20 V纳米管表面的细胞胶原分泌量;⑥结果表明,TiO₂纳米管不同程度地抑制成纤维细胞的黏附、伸展和增殖,退火处理可增强这种抑制作用;TiO₂纳米管不同程度增强成纤维细胞的胶原分泌功能,退火处理抑制了这种增强效果。 ORCID: 0000-0002-3358-5856(李红彩) 中国组织工程研究杂志出版内容重点：生物材料;骨生物材料; 口腔生物材料; 纳米材料; 缓释材料; 材料相容性;组织工程     

Inhibiting MT2‐TFE3‐dependent autophagy enhances melatonin‐induced apoptosis in tongue squamous cell carcinoma

Autophagy modulation is a potential therapeutic strategy for tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC). Melatonin possesses significant anticarcinogenic activity. However, whether melatonin induces autophagy and its roles in cell death in TSCC are unclear. Herein, we show that melatonin induced significant apoptosis in the TSCC cell line Cal27. Apart from the induction of apoptosis, we demonstrated that melatonin‐induced autophagic flux in Cal27 cells as evidenced by the formation of GFP‐LC3 puncta, and the upregulation of LC3‐II and downregulation of SQSTM1/P62. Moreover, pharmacological or genetic blockage of autophagy enhanced melatonin‐induced apoptosis, indicating a cytoprotective role of autophagy in melatonin‐treated Cal27 cells. Mechanistically, melatonin induced TFE3^(Ser321) dephosphorylation, subsequently activated TFE3 nuclear translocation, and increased TFE3 reporter activity, which contributed to the expression of autophagy‐related genes and lysosomal biogenesis. Luzindole, a melatonin membrane receptor blocker, or MT2‐siRNA partially blocked the ability of melatonin to promote mTORC1/TFE3 signaling. Furthermore, we verified in a xenograft mouse model that melatonin with hydroxychloroquine or TFE3‐siRNA exerted a synergistic antitumor effect by inhibiting autophagy. Importantly, TFE3 expression positively correlated with TSCC development and poor prognosis in patients. Collectively, we demonstrated that the melatonin‐induced increase in TFE3‐dependent autophagy is mediated through the melatonin membrane receptor in TSCC. These data also suggest that blocking melatonin membrane receptor‐TFE3‐dependent autophagy to enhance the activity of melatonin warrants further attention as a treatment strategy for TSCC.     

Clinical features and outcomes of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated vasculitis in Chinese childhood-onset patients

Data on anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV) are limited in children. This study is to determine the clinical features and outcomes of childhood-onset AAV. A retrospective study was performed on patients who were diagnosed with AAV before 18 years old in Xiangya Hospital. Their medical records were analyzed by retrospective review. Sixteen patients were diagnosed with AAV before 18 years old in the past 9 years, with an average age of 13.3?±?3.3 years and 13 of them were female. There were 15 patients with microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and 1 with Wegener’s granulomatosis. The interval between onset of disease and diagnosis of AAV was 2 (1.5–3) months. Most patients (15/16, 93.8%) had multi-organ involvement, and all patients had renal involvement with 7 (43.8%) patients requiring dialysis at presentation. Eleven patients underwent a renal biopsy, of which mixed class and sclerotic class were the most two common histological types. All patients received immunosuppressive therapy for induction therapy including intravenous administrations of methylprednisolone (MP) pulse therapy for 8 patients. 8 patients (50%) achieved remission after induction therapy. After a median follow-up of 46.3?±?36.1 months, nine (56.3%) patients progressed to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and 5 (31.3%) patients died. Childhood-onset AAV showed similar clinical and pathological features compared to those of adults, except that it usually occurs in girls. The most commonly involved organ was the kidney, and it had a high risk of progression to ESRD. Early diagnosis and initiation of appropriate immunomodulatory therapy would be important to improve outcomes.