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The thermo-optic coupling model was established and used to simulate the thermal anisotropic property of AgGaS2 crystal pumped by carbon dioxide laser at the wavelength of 9.6 um. To acquire the ac...

Background: Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in gynecology. The potential functions and mechanisms of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the occurrence and progression of EC remains unclear. It’s meaningful to explore lncRNAs signature for providing prognostic value of EC. Methods：The differentially expressed lncRNAs and their prognostic values in EC were investigated based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database; the transcriptional factors (TFs), the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) mechanism, functional regulatory network and immune infiltration of RP11-89K21.1 and RP11-357H14.17 were further explored by various bioinformatics tools and databases. Results: We first identified high expression of RP11-89K21.1 and RP11-357H14.17 were closely associated with shorten overall survival (OS) and poor prognosis in patients with EC. We also elucidated the networks of transcription factor and co-expression genes associated with RP11-89K21.1 and RP11-357H14.17. Furthermore, the ceRNA network mechanism was successfully constructed through 2 lncRNAs (RP11-89K21.1 and RP11-357H14.1), 11 miRNAs and 183 mRNAs. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that the targeting genes of RP11-89K21.1 and RP11-357H14.17 were strongly associated with microRNAs in cancer, vessel development, growth regulation, growth factor and cell differentiation, and involved in pathways including cytokine-mediated signaling pathway, transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase signaling pathway and apoptotic signaling pathway. Moreover, RP11-89K21.1 and RP11-357H14.17 were correlated with immune infiltration including CD8_T cell, CD4_Tcell, Macrophage and Neutrophil. Conclusions: We demonstrated for the first time that RP11-89K21.1 and RP11-357H14.17 may play crucial roles in the occurrence, development and malignant biological behavior of EC, and can be regarded as potential prognostic biomarkers for EC.

Endometrial carcinoma(EC) is the most common cancer of female reproductive system, thus requiring for new effective biomarkers which could predict the onset of EC and poor prognosis. Our study integrated two GEO datasets(i.e.GSE63678, GSE17025) and TCGA(The Cancer Genome Atlas ) UCEC data to screen out 344 common differentially expressed genes(DEGs), which were further analyzed by GO(gene ontology) functions and KEGG(Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genome) pathways. KEGG analysis results showed these DEGs were mainly enriched in cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, cellular senescence, carbon metabolism and p53 signaling pathway. Top 20 hub genes with higher degree were selected from PPI(protein-protein interaction) network and 15 of them were associated with the prognosis of EC, that is, CCNB2, CDC20, BUB1B, UBE2C, AURKB, FOXM1, NCAPG, RRM2, TPX2, DLGAP5, CDCA8, CDC45, MKI67, BUB1, KIF2C. UBE2C(Ubiquitin Conjugating Enzyme E2 C) was chosen for further validation in TCGA cohort on mRNA level and in our patient samples on protein level by immunohistochemistry. UBE2C was significantly highly expressed in endometrial carcinoma, and its expression level was associated with advanced FIGO staging and poor prognosis. Cox risk model demonstrated high UBE2C expression was an independent risk factor. Somatic mutations, elevated copy number, DNA hypomethylation all contributed to its overexpression. Therefore, by combination of bioinformatics and experiment, our study provided a unique insight into the pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms underlying EC and discovered new biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognostic prediction. UBE2C could serve as a potential marker to predict poor prognosis and as a therapeutic target.

Exercising was reported by several studies to bring great benefits to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), which reduced the hospitalization and the mortality of heart failure. However, the underlying mechanism of exercising on HFpEF remains unclear. In the present study, we designed and constructed a device that can perform early passive leg movement (ePLM) in rats and further observed whether treatment of ePLM exerts protective effects on HFpEF of rats. Rats were fed with high salt feed to establish an animal model of pre-clinical diastolic dysfunction (PDD), which would eventually develop into HFpEF, and then treated rats with ePLM. We conducted several experiments to evaluate the conditions of heart and blood vessel. The results show that diastolic functions of heart and blood vessel in rats were significantly improved by treatment of ePLM. We also found that pathological injuries of heart and blood vessel were ameliorated after treatment of ePLM. Moreover, treatment of ePLM decreased the protein levels of Collagen type I, Collagen type III, MMP2, and MMP9 in heart and blood vessel, indicating that cardiac and vascular fibrosis were reduced apparently by treatment of ePLM. Further investigation suggested that treatment of ePLM probably inhibit the activation of TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling pathway as well as promote the activation of Akt/eNOS signaling pathway in high salt diet induced HFpEF. In conclusion, treatment of ePLM alleviated high salt diet induced HFpEF by inhibiting fibrosis via suppressing TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling pathway as well as activating Akt/eNOS signaling pathway, implicating treatment of ePLM as a promising novel non-pharmacological approach for HFpEF.

Background Optimal balance control is of paramount importance for function recovery after total joint arthroplasty (TJA). The study objective of this meta-analysis was to assess the short- and mid-term effects of proprioceptive and balance training for patients undergoing TJA. Methods Electronic searches were conducted from PubMed, Cochrane library, and Embase databases to identify eligible RCTs through May 2020. Standard mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) was applied to calculate pooled effect estimates between proprioceptive and balance training and control group. Main outcomes were self-reported functionality, balance, pain, quality of life, and function (range of motion). Results Seven randomized controlled trials were finally included in this meta-analysis. Pooled results found that balance and proprioceptive trainings have a positive role in improving self-reported functionality at short-term after TJA. Moreover, balance and proprioceptive trainings were associated with an increase of the balance at short- and mid-term after TJA. These results were further confirmed by subgroup analysis between preoperative and postoperative administration of balance and proprioceptive trainings. Conclusion Our meta-analysis suggests that balance and proprioceptive trainings after TJA improved self-reported functionality and balance. These improvements were maintained at mid-terms. More research is needed to confirm balance and proprioceptive trainings for pain and quality of life for TJA.

Ming-Jun Zheng,1,2,* Jing Wang,1,2,* Hui-Min Wang,1,2 Ling-Ling Gao,1,2 Xiao Li,1,2 Wen-Chao Zhang,1,2 Rui Gou,1,2 Qian Guo,1,2 Xin Nie,1,2 Juan-Juan Liu,1,2 Bei Lin1,2 1Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Shengjing Hospital Affiliated to China Medical University, Heping District, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning, China; 2Key Laboratory of Maternal-Fetal Medicine of Liaoning Province, Key Laboratory of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Higher Education of Liaoning Province, Liaoning, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the expression of peroxiredoxin1 (PRDX1) in epithelial ovarian cancer, analyze the relationship between PRDX1 and clinicopathologic parameters of patients with ovarian cancer, including their prognosis, and describe changes and the mechanisms involved in malignant biologic behavior of ovarian cancer cells when PRDX1 expression is inhibited.Methods: The expression of PRDX1 was detected immunohistochemically in 15 samples of normal ovarian tissue, 21 benign, 11 borderline, and 101 malignant epithelial ovarian tumors. Changes in ovarian cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis before and after inhibiting PRDX1 expression were assessed by cell function assay. Additionally, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of PRDX1 was performed by the Cancer Genome Atlas database. A protein–protein interaction network was then constructed and a pathway function analysis of the genes in the network was conducted.Results: PRDX1 expression was mainly localized to the cytoplasm, as well as the nucleus of cells. The expression rate of PRDX1 in epithelial ovarian malignant tissues (96.04%) was significantly higher than that in borderline (72.72%) and benign (57.14%) epithelial ovarian tumors, and normal ovarian tissue (20%; all P

Background As a novel adipokine, CTRP3 involves in various functions of energy metabolism. Recent advance reveals a complex interaction between bone and adipose tissue via the secretion of adipokines. Aims A hospital-based case-control study was conducted to investigate the role of serum CTRP3 in osteoporosis among postmenopausal women. Methods Serum levels of CTRP3 and osteocalcin were measured. Bone mineral density (BMD) was obtained on femoral neck and lumbar spines by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results Serum CTRP3 level was lower in subjects with osteoporosis (76.7±22.1 ng/ml) than it in controls (89.4±22.5 ng/ml) (P Conclusions It shows that a decreased serum level of CTRP3 was independently associated with osteoporosis.

Aim Cervical cancer is a common malignant carcinoma of the gynecological tract with high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it is crucial to elucidate the pathogenesis, prevention, diagnosis and prognosis of cervical cancer by searching for the involved key genes. Method In this study, the alternative splicing (AS) events of 253 patients with cervical cancer were analyzed, and 41,766 AS events were detected in 9961 genes. Univariate analysis was performed to screen prognostic AS events. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis was used to identify the pathways in which these AS events were involved. Results We found that exon skip (ES) is the main AS event in patients with cervical cancer. There was pronounced consistency between the genes involved in overall survival and those involved in recurrence. At the same time, we found that a gene may exhibit several different types of AS events, and these different AS events may be related to prognosis. Four characteristic genes, HSPA14, SDHAF2, CAMKK2 and TM9SF1, that can be used as prognostic markers for cervical cancer were selected. Conclusion: The importance of AS events in the development of cervical cancer and prediction of prognosis was revealed by a large amount of data at the whole genome level, which may provide a potential target for cervical cancer treatment. We also provide a new method for exploring the pathogenesis of cervical cancer to determine clinical treatment and prognosis more accurately.

Background The evidence of current epidemiological studies investigating the association between serum potassium levels and mortality of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients is controversial and inadequate. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods Two researchers independently searched the PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases to identify observational studies published prior to 31 October 2017. Similarly, two researchers separately extracted data and any differences were resolved by discussion. Pooled relative risks and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed with an inverse variance-weighted random-effects model. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed with the I2 statistic. Results Seven cohort studies were included for analysis. Compared with the reference group (3.5 to Conclusions These findings indicate that both lower (

Highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (HP-PRRS), which emerged in China in 2006, was characterized by high fever, high morbidity and high mortality. The causative agent of the disease was a highly pathogenic variant of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (also called HP-PRRSV), which has a discontinuous deletion of 1 + 29 amino acids (aa) in the Nsp2 coding region, compared to classical PRRSV. In 2014, fattened pigs on a pig farm in Jiangxi Province suffered from clinical symptoms of high fever, dyspnoea and death. A PRRSV, termed JX2014T2, was isolated from samples of the dead pigs. Genomic analysis of the isolated PRRSV indicated that the genome of the virus was 14,960 bp in length and belonged to the North American genotype. In the Nsp2-coding region, there was a discontinuous deletion of 1 + 29 aa, similar to HP-PRRSV; however, an additional continuous deletion of 120 amino acids between aa 628 and 747 was found. Further analysis of the pathogenicity of PRRSV JX2014T2 was performed in piglets, and the results indicated that all infected piglets suffered from typical clinical symptoms of PRRS, such as high fever, cough, mental depression, anorexia, dyspnoea and palpebral swelling and died within 15 days postinfection (dpi). This demonstrated that the newly isolated PRRSV JX2014T2 strain containing an additional deletion of 120 aa is highly pathogenic to piglets, suggesting that a highly pathogenic variant with new genetic features is circulating in China.

Aim We investigated whether plasma levels of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) could serve as a diagnostic indicator for assessing disease progression in ovarian cancer (OC) patients. Material and Methods In this study, we enrolled 98 patients with OC, 70 patients with benign ovarian tumors and 75 healthy controls. Plasma levels of LPA and cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) were measured in all study subjects. The diagnostic values of LPA and CA-125 plasma levels were evaluated and an updated meta-analysis was performed to examine the association between LPA plasma levels and OC progression. Statistical analyses were performed with spss 18.0 and R 3.1.0 software. Results In our case–control study, OC patients showed significantly higher plasma LPA levels compared to patients with benign tumors and healthy controls (all P

This study aimed to examine the association between sleep disturbance and attempted suicide in rural China. The study group included 409 suicide attempters from six rural counties in Shandong Province, China and an equal number of controls matched on age, sex, and residency. Sleep disturbance was assessed by the item "sleep restless" in the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Sleep disturbance was reported more frequently in suicide attempters than in controls (1-2 days/week, 9.0% vs. 4.4%; 3-4 days/week, 11.5% vs. 2.4%; ≥5 days/week, 30.3% vs. 7.5%, χ 2= 128.72, p < 0.001). Suicide risk was significantly associated with increased frequency of sleep disturbance (OR = 3.98, 95% CI = 1.62-9.74 for 1-2 days/week; OR = 3.28, 95% CI = 1.21-8.84 for 3-4 days/week; OR = 2.41, 95% CI = 1.26-4.60 for ≥5 days/week) even after adjusting for potential psychosocial confounding factors and mental disorders. This finding may have important implications for early intervention and prevention of suicide.

Objective This study aims to reveal the regulation network of lncRNAs-miRNAs-mRNA in endometrial carcinoma (EC), to investigate the underlying mechanisms of EC occurrence and progression, to screen prognostic biomarkers. Methods RNA-seq and miRNA-seq data of endometrial carcinoma were downloaded from the TCGA database. Edge.R package was used to screen differentially expressed genes. A database was searched to determine differentially expressed lncRNA-miRNA and miRNA-mRNA pairs, to construct the topological network of ceRNA, and to elucidate the key RNAs that are for a prognosis of survival. Results We screened out 2632 mRNAs, 1178 lncRNAs and 189 miRNAs that were differentially expressed. The constructed ceRNA network included 97 lncRNAs, 20 miRNAs and 73 mRNAs. Analyzing network genes for associations with prognosies revealed 169 prognosis-associated RNAs, including 92 lncRNAs, 16miRNAs and 61 mRNAs. Conclusion Our results reveal new potential mechanisms underlying the carcinogenesis and progression of endometrial carcinoma.

Conclusions: Use of artificial biological material - acellular dermal matrix (Alloderm, ADM) - combined with pectoralis major myocutaneous flaps (PMMFs) or other cervical tissue is a feasible technique with which to reconstruct a large circumferential defect involving the oral cavity and hypopharynx. Objective: This paper presents a review of seven patients with advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma treated at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital, China, over a 4-year period. Methods: ADM was used in the form of tissue patches for reconstruction. Five of the seven patients underwent total laryngectomy and total hypopharyngectomy, and reconstruction with a combination of PMMF and ADM tissue patches to restore hypopharyngeal functions. Two other patients underwent tumour resection. The defect in the posterior pharyngeal wall was reconstructed with ADM. Treatment details of the seven patients are discussed. Results: All five PMMFs and seven ADM tissue patches survived. No pharyngeal fistula occurred. Satisfactory healing was observed between the wound margin and ADM 10 days after operation. The trauma area was completely covered by growing epithelium 18-37 days after operation. To some degree, stenosis of the pharyngeal cavity did occur, but patients could have a regular diet following dilatation of the stenosis. Five patients are free of disease after 18-42 months of follow-up.

Conclusions. Malignant carotid body tumour (MCBT) is a clinically rare disease that often invades the carotid artery and cranial nerves. Diagnosis of malignant tumour should be based on extensive invasion of neighbouring organs and distant metastasis. Extensive resection should be undertaken early. Radiotherapy is effective, whereas chemotherapy is uncertain. Objective. To summarize the clinical pathological and prognostic characteristics of MCBT and explore methods for diagnosis and treatment. Materials and methods. The study material comprised clinical, pathological, therapeutic and follow-up data concerning nine patients (four males, five females) with MCBT, treated at Tianjin Cancer Hospital between January 1956 and June 2006. The material was analysed retrospectively. Disease duration averaged 6.4 years. Shamblin classification was: one case, type ?; 8 cases, type ?. All nine patients underwent ultrasound examination, four underwent digital subtraction arteriography (DSA) and three had magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). Five patients underwent preoperative training of compression of the carotid (Matas test). Extensive resection was performed in all nine cases. Results. The carotid artery was blocked in three patients. In one of these the artery was reconstructed with a vascular prosthesis, while two underwent carotid ligation. Eight patients suffered from a cranial nerve dysfunction (defect) and two suffered postoperatively from a hoarse voice, four had a glossal deviation, five had Horner's syndrome and one had a deviation of the lip angle. One patient had a congestive cough. The histopathological diagnosis in all nine cases was MCBT. One patient had metastases to a cervical lymph node and lung and another had liver metastasis. The median follow-up period was 3 years (range 6 months to 14 years). Six patients survived surgery, of whom two underwent radiotherapy. Two patients died and one could not be traced.

The authors recruited 401 suicide attempters from general hospitals and 409 matched non-attempters to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) in rural China. All participants completed the BHS, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and Trait Anxiety Inventory (TAI). Suicide attempters had higher BHS scores than non-attempters. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were satisfactory and BHS scores significantly correlated to CES-D and TAI scores. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a four-factor model for suicide attempters and a five-factor model for non-attempters. The BHS is satisfactory in assessing hopelessness among suicide attempters in rural China.

BACKGROUND: Antinuclear antibodies (ANA), smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) and antibodies to a soluble liver antigen/liver pancreas (anti-SLA/LP) are useful markers that can help clinicians to diagnose and classify autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). OBJECTIVES: To determine whether ANA, SMA and anti-SLA/LP help to accurately diagnose patients with AIH. SEARCH STRATEGY: The PubMed, CNKI, WANFANG, and SinoMed databases were accessed to retrieve studies published in English and Chinese. Studies published up to October 2013 were reviewed. SELECTION CRITERIA: Studies on the diagnostic value of ANA, SMA or anti-SLA/LP in the diagnosis of known or suspected AIH were included. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors evaluated studies independently and rated their methodological quality using quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (QUADAS) tools; relevant data were abstracted. The random-effects method was used to summarize sensitivities, specificities, positive and negative likelihood ratios, and diagnostic odds ratios (DORs) from all 29 studies. RESULTS: The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios, and DOR for ANA were 0.650 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.619 to 0.680), 0.751 (95%CI, 0.737 to 0.764), 3.030 (95%CI, 2.349 to 3.910), 0.464 (95%CI, 0.356 to 0.604), and 7.380 (95%CI, 4.344 to 12.539), respectively. For SMA, the values were 0.593 (95%CI, 0.564 to 0.621), 0.926 (95%CI, 0.917 to 0.934), 11.740 (95%CI, 7.379 to 18.678), 0.449 (95%CI, 0.367 to 0.549), and 31.553 (95%CI, 17.147 to 58.060), respectively. Finally, for anti-SLA/LP, the values were 0.194 (95%CI, 0.168 to 0.222), 0.989 (95%CI, 0.985 to 0.993), 11.089 (95%CI, 7.601 to 16.177), 0.839 (95%CI, 0.777 to 0.905), and 16.867 (95%CI, 10.956 to 25.967), respectively. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: ANA provided moderate sensitivity and specificity, while SMA gave moderate sensitivity and high specificity, and anti-SLA/LP exhibited low sensitivity and high specificity. All three antibodies were limited by their unsatisfactory sensitivities and lack of consistency.

The aim of this work was to assess the diagnostic value of anti-CCP-3 and anti-CCP-2 for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and determine whether anti-CCP-3 more accurately identifies patients with rheumatoid arthritis than anti-CCP-2. PubMed and CNKI databases were searched for studies published in English and Chinese that examined the use of anti-CCP-3 and anti-CCP-2 in the diagnosis of known or suspected rheumatoid arthritis from January 2006 to July 2013. Seventeen included studies of methodological quality were rated by using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) tools A random-effects method was used to summarize sensitivities, specificities, positive and negative likelihood ratio (LR+ and LR-, respectively), and diagnostic odds ratio from 17 studies. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, LR+, LR- and diagnostic odds ratio for anti-CCP-3 were 0.737 (95% CI, 0.717-0.757), 0.933 (95% CI, 0.924-0.942), 11.096 (95% CI, 8.876-13.870), 0.274 (95% CI, 0.231-0.326), and 42.908 (95% CI, 33.828-54.426), respectively. For anti-CCP-2, the values were 0.719 (95% CI, 0.699-0.739), 0.960 (95% CI, 0.953-0.966), 17.485 (95% CI, 11.960-25.562), 0.294 (95% CI, 0.258-0.335) and 63.458 (95% CI, 44.214-91.078), respectively. With high specificity and moderate sensitivity, anti-CCP-2 and anti-CCP-3 played an important role in confirming the diagnosis of RA. Anti-CCP-3 did not have better diagnostic performances than anti-CCP-2, but anti-CCP-2 had evident heterogeneity compared to anti-CCP-3, especially in American patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the association between negative life events (NLEs) and attempted suicide in rural China. METHODS: Six rural counties were selected from disease surveillance points in Shandong province, China. A total of 409 suicide attempters in rural areas between October 1, 2009, and March 31, 2011, and an equal number of matched controls were interviewed. We compared negative life events experienced within 1 month, 1-3 months, 3-6months, and 6-2 months prior to attempted suicide for cases and prior to interview for controls. We used multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between NLEs and attempted suicide. RESULTS: Suicide attempters experienced more NLEs within the last year prior to suicide attempt than controls prior to interview (83.1% vs. 33.5%). There was a significant dose-response relationship between NLEs experienced within the last year and increased risk of attempted suicide. Timing of NLEs analysis showed that NLEs experienced in the last month and 6-12 months prior to suicide attempt were significantly associated with elevated risk of attempted suicide, even after adjusting for mental disorders and demographic factors. Of NLEs, quarrelling with spouse, quarrelling with other family members, conflicting with friends or neighbors, family financial difficulty, and serious illness were independently related to attempted suicide. CONCLUSION: NLEs are significantly associated with increased risk for attempted suicide in rural China. Stress management and intervention may be important to prevent suicidal behavior in rural China. Language: en

Background In this study, using a meta-analysis approach, we examined the correlation between serum levels of lysophosphastidic acid (LPA) and ovarian cancer (OC). Methods Relevant published studies were identified from multiple scientific literature databases by using a pre-determined electronic and manual search strategy. The search results were screened through a multi-step process to select high-quality case–control studies suitable for the present meta-analysis. Mean values and standardized mean differences (SMD) were calculated for plasma LPA levels. Two investigators independently extracted the data from the studies and performed data analysis using STATA software version 12.0 (Stata Corp, College Station, TX, USA). Results Nineteen case–control studies met our selection criteria and contained a total of 980 OC patients, 872 benign controls and 668 healthy controls. Our meta-analysis results revealed that the plasma levels of LPA in OC patients were significantly higher than benign controls (SMD = 2.36, 95 % CI: 1.61–3.10, P