Ethnic variation in deep lateral orbital anatomy and its implications on decompression surgery

Aim: To describe differences in the deep lateral orbital wall (specifically, trigone) between Chinese, Malay, Indian and Caucasian subjects

Methods: Single-centre retrospective Computed Tomogram (CT)-based study; 20 subjects of each ethnicity were used from existing databases, matched for gender, average age and laterality. Subjects below 16 years of age were excluded. DICOM image viewing software CARESTREAM Vue PACS (Carestream Health Inc., USA) and OsiriX version 7.5 (Pixmeo., Switzerland) were used to measure deep lateral wall length, thickness and volume, as well as orbital depth and statistical analyses performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21 (IBM, USA).

Results: In each group, there were 12 males (60%) and average age was not significantly different (p = 0.682–0.987). Using Chinese subjects as a reference, in Chinese, Malay, Indian and Caucasian subjects, mean trigone thickness was 13.68, 14.02, 11.60 (p < 0.001) and 13.80 mm, curved total wall length 45.23, 42.29 (p = 0.048), 41.91 (p = 0.020) and 45.00 mm, curved trigone length 23.03, 22.61, 17.19 (p = 0.011) and 18.76 mm (p = 0.030) and trigone volume 3120.97, 3221.01, 1613.66 (p < 0.001), 2498.46 mm³ (p = 0.059) respectively. Similarly, perpendicular orbital depth was 27.54, 24.97, 22.12 (p = 0.001) and 25.93 mm and diagonal orbital depth was 34.19, 33.27, 29.48 (p = 0.01) and 34.63 mm respectively.

Conclusions: Indian and, to a lesser extent, Caucasian subjects have smaller trigones compared to their Chinese and Malay counterparts. Indian subjects also have shallower orbits and due care should be taken during decompression surgery.     

Non alcoholic fatty liver disease and risk of incident diabetes in subjects who are not obese

Background and aims

It is not known whether non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a risk factor for diabetes in non obese, non centrally-obese subjects. Our aim was to investigate relationships between fatty liver, insulin resistance and a biomarker score for liver fibrosis with incident diabetes at follow up, in subjects who were neither obese nor centrally-obese.

Rabs and axonal regeneration

Membrane trafficking processes are presumably vital for axonal regeneration after injury, but mechanistic understanding in this regard has been sparse. A recent loss-of-function screen had been carried out for factors important for axonal regeneration by cultured cortical neurons and the results suggested that the activity of a number of Rab GTPases might act to restrict axonal regeneration. A loss of Rab27b, in particular, is shown to enhance axonal regeneration in vitro, as well as in C. elegans and mouse central nervous system injury models in vivo. Possible mechanisms underlying this new finding, which has important academic and translational implication, are discussed.     

多原发结直肠癌的临床特征和预后

目的探讨多原发结直肠癌的临床特征和预后。方法回顾性分析南京医科大学第一附属医院2013年1月至2018年12月收治的42例多原发结直肠癌患者的临床资料,对其临床病理特征、诊治及预后进行总结。结果符合多原发结直肠癌诊断的患者42例,占同期收治的所有结直肠癌患者的1.20%(42/3499),病理类型以腺癌为主。其中,同时性多原发癌32例,年龄38~86岁,中位年龄66岁,共发现73处结直肠癌灶,多位于近端结肠、乙状结肠及直肠;共检出淋巴结527枚,阳性10枚(1.9%),淋巴结阳性患者占同时性多原发癌的37.5%(12/32);27例为双原发癌,3例为三原发癌,2例为五原发癌;1、3年总生存率分别为83.75%和74.38%。异时性多原发癌10例,年龄33~86岁,第一癌多位于直肠和乙状结肠区域,第二癌多位于升结肠区域;共检出淋巴结276枚,阳性率12.3%(34枚),1、3年总生存率分别为100.00%和66.67%。结论多原发结直肠癌在临床上不少见,其分布有一定规律。临床中应引起重视,提高早期诊断率。应早期手术治疗以提高患者的生存率。     

Protein kinase Cδ mediates trimethyltin-induced neurotoxicity in mice in vivo via inhibition of glutathione defense mechanism

We investigated whether protein kinase C (PKC) is involved in trimethyltin (TMT)-induced neurotoxicity. TMT treatment (2.8 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly increased PKCδ expression out of PKC isozymes (i.e., α, βI, βII, δ, and ?) in the hippocampus of wild-type (WT) mice. Consistently, treatment with TMT resulted in significant increases in cleaved PKCδ expression. Genetic or pharmacological inhibition (PKCδ knockout or rottlerin) was less susceptible to TMT-induced seizures than WT mice. TMT treatment increased glutathione oxidation, lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, and levels of reactive oxygen species. These effects were more pronounced in the WT mice than in PKCδ knockout mice. In addition, the ability of TMT to induce nuclear translocation of Nrf2, Nrf2 DNA-binding activity, and upregulation of γ-glutamylcysteine ligase was significantly increased in the PKCδ knockout mice and rottlerin (10 or 20 mg/kg, p.o. × 6)-treated WT mice. Furthermore, neuronal degeneration (as shown by nuclear chromatin clumping and TUNEL staining) in WT mice was most pronounced 2 days after TMT. At the same time, TMT-induced inhibition of phosphoinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling was evident, thereby decreasing phospho-Bad, expression of Bcl-xL and Bcl-2, and the interaction between phospho-Bad and 14-3-3 protein, and increasing Bax expression and caspase-3 cleavage were observed. Rottlerin or PKCδ knockout significantly protected these changes in anti- and pro-apoptotic factors. Importantly, treatment of the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 (0.8 or 1.6 µg, i.c.v.) 4 h before TMT counteracted protective effects (i.e., Nrf-2-dependent glutathione induction and pro-survival phenomenon) of rottlerin. Therefore, our results suggest that down-regulation of PKCδ and up-regulations of Nrf2-dependent glutathione defense mechanism and PI3K/Akt signaling are critical for attenuating TMT neurotoxicity.