Knockdown of Gli1 by small-interfering RNA enhances the effects of BCNU on the proliferation and apoptosis of glioma U251 cells

Aims: The present study is to investigate the effect of the combination of small-interfering RNA (siRNA) treatment with bis-chloroethylnitrosourea (BCNU) on the proliferation and apoptosis of glioma cells. Methods: According to different treatments, glioma U251 cells were randomly divided into blank group, Lipofectamine group, siRNA-Gli1 group, BCNU group and combination group. After treatments, the morphology of U251 cells was visualized under the microscope. Afterwards, semi-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to determine Gli1, Bcl-2, Bax and cyclin D1 mRNA levels and protein expression, respectively. MTT assay was used detect the proliferation of U251 cells, while flow cytometry was performed to determine cell apoptosis and cell cycle. Results: The combination of siRNA-Gli1 and BCNU caused more severe damages to U251 cell shapes compared with siRNA-Gli1 or BCNU alone. The combination of BCNU and siRNA-Gli1 altered mRNA level and protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax, but not those of Gli1 and cyclin D1. The combination of siRNA-Gli1 and BCNU promoted U251 cell apoptosis. The combination of siRNA-Gli1 and BCNU enhanced the arrestment of U251 cells in G0/G1 phase. The combination of siRNA-Gli1 and BCNU significantly inhibited U251 cell proliferation. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that combined treatment with siRNA-Gli1 and BCNU significantly inhibits the proliferation and promotes the apoptosis of glioma U251 cells, possibly by the up-regulation of Bax and the down-regulation of Bcl-2. The combination of siRNA-Gli1 and BCNU enhances the inhibition of cell cycles, but does not down-regulate the expression of cell cycle protein cyclin D1.     

Dendritic fibromyxolipoma in the latissimus dorsi: a case report and review of the literature

Dendritic fibromyxolipoma is an uncommon benign soft tissue tumor. Here, we report a case in a 53-year-old man presenting a painless mass located deep in the latissimus dorsi of the right back. Microscopically, the tumor was mainly consisted of small spindle and stellate cells, abundant myxoid stroma, collagen bundles and mature adipose tissue. Immunohistochemical study showed the spindle and stellate cells were positive for CD34, Bcl-2 and Vimentim, but not for Keratin, EMA, SMA and Desmin. To date, one year after operation, the patient is well without evidence of recurrence or metastasis. The implication of this report is to provide insights into further understanding of this rare tumor with review of the literature.     

Resveratrol pretreatment protects rat hearts from ischemia/reperfusion injury partly via a NALP3 inflammasome pathway

Inflammatory responses are key players in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Our previous studies showed that resveratrol alleviated I/R injury in myocardial I/R animal models, but whether the NALP3 inflammasome pathway contributes to the mechanisms remains to be elucidated. In this study, we explored the modulation effect of resveratrol on myocardial I/R-induced inflammatory responses in rats. Myocardial I/R rat animal models were induced by occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary arteries (LADs) for 30 min, followed by 2 h of reperfusion. Resveratrol was administered in different doses (2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg) at the same time as the onset of reperfusion. The serum concentrations of the trinitrotoluene (TnT) and MB isoenzyme creatine kinase (CK-MB) were detected using an automatic biochemical analyzer. Myocardial ultrastructure and morphology were observed with an electron microscope and a light microscope. Myocardial ischemia and infarct sizes were evaluated using Evans blue and tetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. The NALP3, Caspase1, interleukin 1β (IL-1β) and interleukin 18 (IL-18) mRNA levels were evaluated using RT-PCR. The NALP3 and Caspase1 protein expression levels were detected by western blotting. The IL-1β and IL-18 content in peripheral blood was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The myocardial structure in myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MI/RI) rats was extensively damaged. After preconditioning with different concentrations of resveratrol (2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg), the pathology and morphology were significantly improved in a dose-dependent manner. Our results showed that resveratrol treatment significantly reduced the infarct volume and myocardial fibrosis, resulting in myocardial cells that lined up in a more orderly fashion and dose-dependent decreases in TnT and CK-MB levels in the serum of the I/R rats. Resveratrol also significantly modulated mRNA and protein levels by down-regulating NALP3 and Caspase1 expression and IL-1β and IL-18 activation. These results suggest that the NALP3 inflammasome is activated during the myocardial I/R injury process and that the secretion of the inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18 mediates the cascade inflammatory response. Resveratrol may play an important role in protecting the myocardium against I/R injury in rats by inhibiting the expression and activation of the NALP3 inflammatory body. Therefore, the attenuation of the inflammatory response may be involved in the cardioprotective mechanisms of resveratrol in response to myocardial I/R injury.     

Idiom Comprehension Deficits in High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder Using a Korean Autism Social Language Task

Purpose

High-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) involves pragmatic impairment of language skills. Among numerous tasks for assessing pragmatic linguistic skills, idioms are important to evaluating high-functioning ASD. Nevertheless, no assessment tool has been developed with specific consideration of Korean culture. Therefore, we designed the Korean Autism Social Language Task (KASLAT) to test idiom comprehension in ASD. The aim of the current study was to introduce this novel psychological tool and evaluate idiom comprehension deficits in high-functioning ASD.

Materials and Methods

The participants included 42 children, ages 6-11 years, who visited our child psychiatric clinic between April 2014 and May 2015. The ASD group comprised 16 children; the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) group consisted of 16 children. An additional 10 normal control children who had not been diagnosed with either disorder participated in this study. Idiom comprehension ability was assessed in these three groups using the KASLAT.

Results

Both ASD and ADHD groups had significantly lower scores on the matched and mismatched tasks, compared to the normal control children (matched tasks mean score: ASD 11.56, ADHD 11.56, normal control 14.30; mismatched tasks mean score: ASD 6.50, ADHD 4.31, normal control 11.30). However, no significant differences were found in scores of KASLAT between the ADHD and ASD groups.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that children with ASD exhibit greater impairment in idiom comprehension, compared to normal control children. The KASLAT may be useful in evaluating idiom comprehension ability.     

Factors Associated with Cataract in Korea: A Community Health Survey 2008-2012

Purpose

To investigate sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and comorbidities associated with cataracts in a large, nationally representative Korean sample.

Materials and Methods

This cross-sectional study included 715554 adults aged 40 years or older who participated in the 2008-2012 Community Health Survey. Significant risk factors were identified using multivariate logistic regression analysis for self-reported cataract, and a nomogram for analysis of cataract risk was generated.

Results

Roughly 11% of participants (n=88464) reported being diagnosed with cataracts by a doctor. Age was the most important independent risk factor [adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=1.11, 99% confidence interval (CI), 1.11-1.11 for each increasing year]. Significant comorbidities with descending order of effect size (aOR, 99% CI), included diabetes mellitus (1.78, 1.71-1.85), osteoporosis (1.62, 1.56-1.69), arthritis (1.54, 1.48-1.59), hepatitis B infection (1.46, 1.31-1.63), atopic dermatitis (1.50, 1.33-1.69), angina (1.46, 1.35-1.57), allergic rhinitis (1.45, 1.36-1.55), dyslipidemia (1.38, 1.31-1.45), asthma (1.35, 1.26-1.44), and hypertension (1.23, 1.19-1.28). Subjects who sleep less than 6 hours/day were more likely to have cataract than subjects who sleep more than 9 hours/day as a reference group (aOR=1.22, 99% CI, 1.11-1.34).

Conclusion

While the most important cataract risk factor was age, the ten comorbidities mentioned above were also significant risk factors. Interestingly, longer duration of sleep was associated with a protective effect against cataract development.     

Tumor-stroma ratio is an independent predictor for survival in NSCLC

Tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) has been identified as a new and practicable prognostic factor in some solid tumors. The aim of the study is to evaluate the prognostic value of TSR in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A total of 404 patients who underwent surgery resection for NSCLC were included in this study. TSR was assessed visually on the hematoxylin-stained tissue sections of surgical specimens. Patients with more than 50% intratumor stroma were quantified as the stroma-rich group and those with less than 50% as the stroma-poor group. In 404 cases of tissue samples, 302 cases were included in the stroma-poor group, while 102 cases in stroma-rich group. The different expression of TSR in NSCLC tissue was not correlated with gender, age, smoking history, tumor diameter, histology, differentiation grade and pTNM staging. In the Cox univariate and multivariate analyses of the 5-year OS, the HRs of the TSR were 1.818 (95% CI; 1.323-2.497; P<0.001) and 1.748 (95% CI; 1.262-2.422; P<0.05), respectively. As for DFS, the HRs were 1.715 (95% CI; 1.249-2.354; P<0.001) and 1.570 (95% CI; 1.135-2.172; P<0.05). Stroma-rich tumors were associated with poor prognosis and an increased risk of relapse, which may serve as a new prognostic histological characteristic in NSCLC.     

Significance of Fas and FasL protein expression in cardiac carcinoma and local lymph node tissues

Objective: To investigate the relation of Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) protein expression with carcinogenesis and metastasis of cardiac carcinoma. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to detect Fas and FasL protein expression in 64 cardiac carcinoma tissue samples and 20 normal gastric tissue samples. Relation between FasL and Fas expression, age and gender of gastric cancer patients, and pathological subtype and lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer was analyzed. Results: The Fas expression level was significantly higher in normal gastric tissue samples than in cardiac carcinoma tissue samples (85.0% vs. 25.0%, P<0.001), while the FasL expression level was significantly lower in normal gastric tissue samples than in cardiac carcinoma tissue samples (30.0% vs. 81.3%, P<0.001). The Fas expression level was significantly higher in invasive lymph nodes than in non-invasive lymph nodes (82.9% vs. 56.5%, P<0.003) and in well-differentiated gastric carcinoma tissue samples than in poorly-differentiated cardiac carcinoma tissue samples (50.0% vs. 18.0%, P=0.015). The FasL expression level was significantly lower in well-differentiated cardiac carcinoma tissue samples than in poorly- differentiated cardiac carcinoma tissue samples (42.9% vs. 84.0%, P=0.021). The Fas and FasL expression levels (25.0% and 81.3%) were significantly different in cardiac carcinoma tissue samples (P<0.001), but had a non-linear correlation (P=0.575). Conclusion: Abnormal Fas and FasL expressions in cardiac carcinoma and lymph node tissues are involved in carcinogenesis and metastasis of gastric cancer.     

National Priority Setting of Clinical Practice Guidelines Development for Chronic Disease Management

By November 2013, a total of 125 clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been developed in Korea. However, despite the high burden of diseases and the clinical importance of CPGs, most chronic diseases do not have available CPGs. Merely 83 CPGs are related to chronic diseases, and only 40 guidelines had been developed in the last 5 yr. Considering the rate of the production of new evidence in medicine and the worsening burden from chronic diseases, the need for developing CPGs for more chronic diseases is becoming increasingly pressing. Since 2011, the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been jointly developing CPGs for chronic diseases. However, priorities have to be set and resources need to be allocated within the constraint of a limited funding. This study identifies the chronic diseases that should be prioritized for the development of CPGs in Korea. Through an objective assessment by using the analytic hierarchy process and a subjective assessment with a survey of expert opinion, high priorities were placed on ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, Alzheimer''s disease and other dementias, osteoarthritis, neck pain, chronic kidney disease, and cirrhosis of the liver.     

Complicated transseptal puncture during intervention catheter ablation on atrial fibrillation concomitant with straight back syndrome

Straight back syndrome (SBS) is a thoracic deformity with absence of upper thoracic spine kyphosis and heart compression. The anatomic abnormity of SBS may raise the difficulty of introcardial operation and increase the complicated risk of intervention performance. Here we report a case of SBS with complicated transseptal puncture during intervention catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation.     

护理人员血压、血脂水平监测

在当今高速发展的信息时代,随着医疗护理模式的改变,人们对医疗护理工作提出了更高的要求,同时也给护理人员带来了新的挑战和新的压力,护理人员在迎接挑战的同时往往忽视自身健康。为了解护理人员的健康状况,2001年—2004年笔者对我院护理人员的血压水平、心脑血管病危险因素进