Does DRD2 polymorphism influence the clinical characteristics of prolactinoma?

ObjectivesGenetic alterations explaining the clinical variability of prolactinomas still could not be clarified and dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) polymorphism is a putative candidate for the variable response to dopaminergic treatment. The present study was conducted to investigate the influence of DRD2 TaqI A polymorphism on initial and follow-up characteristics of prolactinoma.Patients and methodsSeventy-two patients with prolactinoma and 98 age and gender matched control subjects were recruited to the case-control study. Serum prolactin levels were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and DRD2 polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction length polymorphism analysis.ResultsDecrease of prolactin levels and the tumor shrinkage after cabergoline treatment were 93.9 ± 5.9% and 58.3 ± 33.1% in microadenomas and 96.1 ± 6.1% and 51.7 ± 29.3 in macroadenomas (P = 0.02 and P > 0.05, respectively). We observed no significant difference for DRD2 genotypes and the alleles between the patients and healthy group (P > 0.05). Prolactin levels before treatment were correlated with tumor diameter before and after treatment and the percentage of prolactin decrease with treatment (P < 0.001 r = 0.58, P < 0.001 r = 0.40 and P < 0.001 r = 0.47, respectively). Tumor diameter before the treatment was also correlated with the tumor diameter after the treatment (P < 0.001 r = 0.64) and the percentage of prolactin decrease (P = 0.01 r = 0.30). However, no significant association was found between characteristics of prolactinoma and DRD2 genotypes and alleles (P > 0.05).ConclusionThis study revealed that DRD2 TaqI A receptor polymorphism was not associated with the development of prolactinoma and its clinical characteristics. Future studies are needed to clarify the clinical implications of genetic alterations in prolactinoma.     

Using ultrasound radio frequency technology to assess regression of the structure and function of the carotid artery by radioiodine therapy in hyperthyroidism patients

Introduction

The aim of the study was to investigate the structure and function of the carotid artery in patients with hyperthyroidism by ultrasound radio frequency data technology (RF data) and the effect of ¹³¹I on them.

Material and methods

Seventy patients with primary hyperthyroidism and 74 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Structural and functional parameters of the common carotid artery were measured in every patient before and after ¹³¹I treatment through the RF data, such as intima media thickness (IMT), functional compliance coefficient (CC), stiffness index (β), and pulse wave velocity (PWV). We also analyzed the correlation between these parameters and patients’ age, body mass index, hemodynamic parameters (blood pressure, heart rate), thyroid hormone levels and other risk factors.

Results

There was a significant difference in IMT between hyperthyroid patients and the control group at baseline (483.6 vs. 443.3 µm, p < 0.01); after treatment, the IMT decreased significantly (428.7 vs. 483.6 µm, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the IMT was correlated with patients’ age and systolic blood pressure (r = 0.525, p < 0.01 and r = 0.289, p < 0.05, respectively). The β and PWV were also higher than the control group (7.26 vs.5.87, 6.27 vs. 5.57 m/s, respectively; all p < 0.001); CC was lower than the control group (0.98 vs. 1.19 mm²/KPa, p < 0.01); after treatment, PWV and β were lower than baseline (5.66 vs. 6.27, 5.81 vs. 7.26 m/s, respectively; all p < 0.01), and CC was higher than baseline. In addition, they were significantly correlated with age (r = 0.525, p < 0.01 and r = 0.289, p < 0.05, respectively). However, these parameters were not correlated with the level of thyroid hormones.

Conclusions

Six-month ¹³¹I treatment for patients with hyperthyroidism reverses the structural and functional damage in the carotid artery, which is sensitively evaluated by the RF data technique.     

骨骼肌的中医五藏归属

"脾主身之肌肉"是指脾藏化生水谷精微营养全身的骨骼肌及其辅助装置,但骨骼肌的功能并非只属于脾藏。基于中西医学研究对象的一致性,从解剖学找到全身骨骼肌的分布部位及其功能,并将这些功能与中医五藏的功能做对比,认为骨骼肌的功能应分属于中医脾藏的运化、在体合肉和固定升提功能,肺藏的司呼吸功能,肾藏的主水主生殖功能,肝藏的主疏泄调情志功能和心藏的主藏神功能。即,参与消化的骨骼肌属于主运化的脾藏;产生肌力肌紧张维持躯体运动与姿势的骨骼肌属于在体合肉的脾藏;产生张力固定内脏、支撑皮肤的筋膜属于具有固定升提功能的脾藏。参与呼吸的骨骼肌属于司呼吸的肺藏;参与排尿和分娩的骨骼肌属于主水主生殖的肾藏;参与表达情感的骨骼肌归属于主疏泄调情志的肝藏;参与表达精神活动的骨骼肌归属于主藏神的心藏。     

Potential crowdedness of mechanical thrombectomy and cerebral infarction mortality in Japan: Application of inverted two-step floating catchment area method

ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate a stroke medical delivery system based on population coverage and the potential crowdedness index (PCI) of mechanical thrombectomy and investigate the relationship between PCI and cerebral infarction mortality in Japan.Materials and methodsThis cross-sectional study defined 662 facilities and 1605 neurointerventionalists as supply, population aged 55 years or older as demand, and set the reachable area for demand as 120 min in driving time. Multiple regression analysis adjusted for spatial autocorrelation was used to examine the relationship between PCI and cerebral infarction mortality.ResultsIn the 2020 data, 99% of the population aged 55 years or older had access to mechanical thrombectomy (≤120 min), and the PCI ranged from 5876 to 129838, with a median of 30426. From 2020 to 2035, the PCI is estimated to increase (30426 to 32510), decreasing after 2035 (32510 to 29469). The PCI distribution exhibited geographical heterogeneity. High PCI values emerged in eastern Japan. According to regression analysis, the increase in PCI by 1% led to an increase of 0.13% in standardized mortality ratio of cerebral infarction in men. However, PCI did not significantly correlate with cerebral infarction mortality in women.ConclusionsPCI for hospitals based on supply and demand was geographically heterogeneous in Japan. Optimization of PCI contributes equalization of mechanical thrombectomy provision system and may improve cerebral infarction mortality.     

Detection of human papillomavirus in Chinese esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its adjacent normal epithelium

AIM: To investigate the putative role of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the carcinogenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in China. METHODS: Twenty-three esophageal squamous cell carcinoma samples and the distal normal epithelium from Shanxi Province, and 25 more esophageal squamous cell carcinoma samples from Anyang city, two areas with a high incidence of esophageal cancer in China, were detected for the existence of HPV-16 DNA by PCR, mRNA in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) targeting HPV-16 E6 gene. RESULTS: There were approximately 64 % (31/48) patients having HPV-16 DNA in tumor samples, among them nearly two-thirds (19/31) samples were detected with mRNA expression of HPV-16 E6. However, in the normal esophageal epithelium from cancer patients, the DNA and mRNA of HPV-16 were found with much less rate: 34.7 % (8/23) and 26.1 % (6/23) respectively. In addition, at protein level detected by IHC assay, 27.1 % (13/48) tumor samples had virus oncoprotein E6 expression, while only one case of normal epithelium was found positive. CONCLUSION: HPV infection, especially type 16, should be considered as a risk factor for esophageal malignancies in China.     

Suppression of miR-21 and miR-155 of macrophage by cinnamaldehyde ameliorates ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a major form of inflammatory bowel disease which involved mucosal immune dysfunction. Cinnamaldehyde (CA) is major active compound from cinnamon, a useful traditional medicine in Asia which shows superior antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity. In this study, we investigated the effects of CA on UC both in vivo and in vitro. We showed that CA attenuated the symptoms of DSS-induced colitis, including loss of body weights, disease activity index (DAI), shortening of the colon lengths and infiltration of inflammatory cells. Moreover, CA decreased the pro-inflammatory cytokines and NLRP3 inflammasome, miR-21 and miR-155 in colon tissues, in addition, the percentage of macrophages was reduced based on the surface marker F4/80 and IL-10 secretion in CA-treated group, suggesting that the CA ameliorate the UC via activation of macrophage. Herein, the effects of CA on macrophage cells were examined in vitro. We found that CA reduced the level of proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, in the activation of RAW264.7, human macrophage-like cells U937, and primary peritoneal macrophages. Furthermore, the suppression of NLRP3 inflammasome, miR-21 and miR-155 was also found in CA-treated LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. CA also reduced the production of reactive oxygen species, the phosphorylation of AKT, mTOR and COX2 protein level in the RAW264.7. Meanwhile, data revealed that transferred miR-21 or miR-155 inhibitor suppressed levels of IL-1β and IL-6, whereas miR-21 or miR-155 mimics increased expressions of these, and CA suppressed these expressions. Our results indicate that CA could ameliorate DSS-induced colitis through inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and miR-21 and miR-155 levels in colons and macrophage, suggesting that CA might be a potentially effective drug for UC.     

Cardio-protective effects of the new crystal of puerarin in isoproterenol-induced myocardial ischemia rats based on metabolomics

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the cardio-protective effects of the new crystal of puerarin and investigate its potential therapeutic mechanism. METHODS A total of 60 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups(n=10): the control group, the Isoproterenol(ISO)-damaged group, and the different drug administration groups, including the propranolol group,the original crystal of puerarin group, the low and high dose of the new crystal of puerarin groups. Besides, rats in the control group were subcutaneously injected with saline, and other rats in the model and drug-treatment groups were injected with ISO(85 mg·kg-1) for the final 2 consecutive days to establish the model of myocardial ischemia(MI). And for control and model groups, the rats were intragastric administrated starch continuously for 7 d,and drug-treatment rats were respectively intragastric administered the new crystal of puerarin(30, 120 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)),the original crystal of puerarin(120 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)) and the positive drug(propranolol 15 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)) for 7 d. In this research, the cardio-protective effect of the new crystal of puerarin in ISO-damaged experimental rats were evaluated by echocardiography detection, biochemical assays in serum levels(including CK, LDH, cTnT, cTnI,SOD, and MDA), and myocardial histology analysis.Then nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) analysis both in serum and heart tissues was used to investigate potential mechanism of the new crystal. RESULTS In this study, given ISO to rats caused significant increase in heart weight and the heart weight index. And the twodimensional and M-mode short-axis image of the left ventricle from model rats was obviously different from other groups. And the left ventricular internal dimensiondiastole(LVIDd) was significantly increased and ejection fraction(EF%) and fractional shortening(FS%) were obviously reduced in model rats. Compared with model group, aforesaid parameters were improved in all drugtreatment groups. For the biochemical assays of the serum, on the one hand, the contents of representative diagnostic markers of ischemia injury(CK, LDH, cTn-T and cTn-I) were obviously increased in ISO-damaged rats and apparently decreased after the drug-administration treatment. On the other hand, the activity of SOD was significantly decreased in model rats and the levels of MDA was increased, while pretreatment with the new crystal of puerarin exhibited different improvements in these indices. The results of histopathology showed that pretreatment with the new crystal of puerarin in ISOinduced rats significantly ameliorated the injuries in myocardial tissues. Then the NMR analysis showed that the new crystal of puerarin could effectively inhibit the abnormalities of 11 metabolites in serum and 9 metabolites in cardiac tissues, which were mainly associated with amino acid metabolism, oxidative stress and energy metabolism. CONCLUSION The new crystal of puerarin was effective to treatment MI, which could obviously improve the ISO-induced cardiac hypertrophy. And the potential mechanism was improved the amino acid metabolism disorder, oxidative stress and energy metabolism under MI conditions.     

Multiple methods used for type detection of uniparental disomy in paternity testing

International Journal of Legal Medicine - Uniparental disomy (UPD) has attracted more attention recently in paternity testing, though it is an infrequent genetic event. Although short tandem repeat...