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The high incidence of type 2 diabetes, the low rate of compliance, and the complex mechanism of vascular disease caused by diabetes make its complications increase year by year. Our study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of lower extremity vascular diseases in type 2 diabetes and evaluate the long-term efficacy of vascular intervention for these diseases.From 2007 to 2014, 362 patients who underwent vascular intervention in our hospital due to lower extremity vascular diseases in type 2 diabetes were followed up for 5 years and their clinical characteristics were analyzed in this retrospective study.Compared with those before treatment, the values of blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride Ester (TG), and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) of patients were significantly lower 5 years after intervention (P 0.01). We found that the levels of fibrinogen, blood glucose, HbA1c, TC, TG, LDL-C, and small dense low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL) in the vascular restenosis group were significantly higher than those in the vascular patency group (P 0.001), whereas the level of HDL-C in the vascular restenosis group was significantly lower compared with the vascular patency group.Vascular intervention can significantly improve a series of biochemical indicators in patients with lower extremity vascular diseases caused by type 2 diabetes. Postoperative restenosis may be related to hypertension, duration of diabetes, rate of inferior knee disease, fibrinogen, and sdLDL. Good survival and limb salvage were achieved in the patients in this series with interventions and medical treatment provided by endocrinologists.背景: 2型糖尿病的高发病率、低依从性以及由糖尿病引起的血管疾病的复杂机制使其并发症逐年增加。本研究旨在探讨2型糖尿病合并下肢血管病变临床特点及下肢血管介入治疗的远期疗效和临床意义。 方法: 对2007-2014年间因糖尿病下肢血管病变于我院行下肢血管病变介入治疗的362例患者进行5年疗效随访, 并对其临床特点进行分析。 结果: 与治疗前相比，患者的血压、空腹血糖、糖化血红蛋白(HbA1c)、总胆固醇(TC)、三酰甘油(TG)和低密度脂蛋白胆固醇(LDL-C)在干预5年后明显降低(P0.01)。与血管通畅组相比，血管再狭窄组患者的纤维蛋白原、血糖、HbA1c、TC、TG、LDL-C和小而密低密度脂蛋白(sdLDL)水平较高，而HDL-C水平较低。 结论: 血管介入治疗可以显着改善由2型糖尿病引起的下肢血管疾病患者的一系列生化指标。术后再狭窄可能与高血压、糖尿病持续时间、膝下疾病发生率、纤维蛋白原和sdLDL有关。通过内分泌科医师治疗和干预下，该系列患者获得了良好的生存和肢体挽救。.

Spread along nerve fiber bundles is one of the most important modes of glioma invasion; however, the current guidelines for radiotherapy target areas recommend a 1–2-cm margin in all directions from the tumor border based on pretreatment imaging findings. In this article, we analyzed the relationship between edema and nerve fiber bundles in 60 glioma patients and aimed to clarify the effect of including edema on delineation of the target volume.

Aims/Introduction. The present study estimated the cost-effectiveness of bariatric surgery versus medication therapy for the management of recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in obese patients from a Chinese health insurance payer perspective. Materials and Methods. A Markov model was established to compare the 40-year time costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) between bariatric surgery and medication therapy. The health-care costs in the bariatric surgery group, proportion of patients in each group with remission of diabetes, and state transition probabilities were calculated based on observed resource utilization from the hospital information system (HIS). The corresponding costs in the medication therapy group were derived from the medical insurance database. QALYs were estimated from previous literature. Costs and outcomes were discounted 5% annually. Results. In the base case analysis, bariatric surgery was more effective and less costly than medication therapy. Over a 40-year time horizon, the mean discounted costs were 86,366.55 RMB per surgical therapy patient and 113,235.94 CNY per medication therapy patient. The surgical and medication therapy patients lived 13.46 and 10.95 discounted QALYs, respectively. Bariatric surgery was associated with a mean health-care savings of 26,869.39 CNY and 2.51 additional QALYs per patient compared to medication therapy. Uncertainty around the parameter values was tested comprehensively in sensitivity analyses, and the results were robust. Conclusions. Bariatric surgery is a dominant intervention over a 40-year time horizon, which leads to significant cost savings to the health insurance payer and increases in health benefits for the management of recently diagnosed T2DM in obese patients in China.

PurposeTo find an optimal model to predict venous thromboembolism specially for glioblastoma by a prospective research.Methods Patients with newly histologically confirmed glioblastoma multiform (GBM) were recruited for this study. Status of IDH1, PTEN, P53, BRAF, MGMT and TERT were determined using genetic sequencing through polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Amplification of EGFR was established through fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Competing-risks regression model was performed to calculate the risk of VTE. Clinical and laboratory parameters that were independently predicted risk of VTE were used to develop a risk assessment model (RAM).Results145 patients with GBM were included in the present analysis. A total of 48/145 patients (33.1%) developed VTE, all 48 patients were found to be IDH1wt . D-dimer, ECOG score and EGFR staus were sugggested to be significantly associtaed with the VTE risk in multivariable analysis. High ECOG score (>2), high D-dimer (>1.6 μg/mL) and EGFR amplification were used as the strongest independent predictors of increased risk of VTE. The cumulative incidence of VTE was 17.2% for patients with score 0 (n =29), 23.6% for patients with score 1 (n =55 ) and 63.8% for patients with score 2 (n = 35) or score 3 (n = 12) by application of a RAM .Conclusion GBM patients with IDH1 mutation were at very low risk of VTE. In IDHwt patients, by applying a VTE risk assessment model, we could identify patients with a very high and low risk of VTE.

The microbiota in the human body play critical roles in many physiological and pathological processes. However, the diversity and dynamics of the female genital tract (FGT) microbiota have not been fully unveiled. In this study, we characterized the microbiome variations in reproductive-aged Chinese women, and we revealed that the cervicovaginal microbiota were dominated by Lactobacillus. Overall, the composition of microbiota in the uterine cavity was more diverse than that in the vagina and cervix. A positive correlation between Lactobacillus iners and Lactobacillus crispatus was observed in both the vagina and the cervix, suggesting that these two species might have a symbiotic relationship in the cervicovaginal microbiota. Moreover, we, for the first time, stratified the reproductive-aged Chinese women into subgroups, based on their microbiome profiles. Furthermore, we identified the bacteria whose abundance changed in the uterine cavity of infertile patients when compared with healthy controls, such as L. iners and L. crispatus. Functionally, the metabolism-related pathways, neurotrophin signaling pathway, and adipocytokine signaling pathway were predominantly dysregulated in the uterine cavity of infertile patients. In conclusion, we characterized a comprehensive microbial landscape in FGT, as well as their functional roles in female infertility of the Chinese population.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a newly erupted respiratory infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has swept across the most of countries. The laboratory characteristics of COVID-patients accompanied with cancer and the risk factors for disease progression and survival of this particular population were few reported. Methods: We enrolled 585 confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to our hospitals with measured interleukin-6 level on admission. Laboratory tests and outcome were extracted from electronic medical records. Data was divided to cancer group and non-cancer group to explorer the risk factors of progression and survival.Findings: A total of 44 patients with different cancer type (cancer group) and 541 patients without cancer (non-cancer group) were included. Cancer group had significant higher levels of NEUT, NLR, IL-6, and CRP than non-cancer group, but lymphocyte count and ALB were lower. Cancer group showed significantly higher progression rate (42·1% vs 22·5%) and mortality (27·27% vs 11·91%) than non-cancer group. Elevated IL-6 and CRP were the risk factors associated with progression among moderate patients and death in-hospital (all pInterpretation: IL-6, CRP, NEUT, and NLR were elevated in COVID-19 patients with cancer, with lower level of LYMP and ALB. IL-6 and CRP were positively correlated with progression and poor outcome in patients without cancer. As one of combined diseases, despite malignancy history did not directly affect the prognosis of COVID-19, but it could play a role in the poorer outcome through release of IL-6 and CRP.

Recent studies have revealed significant roles of neurotransmitters and gut microbiota along the gut-brain axis in Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the potential mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the current study, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) induced characteristic PD neurobehavior changes accompanied by increased α-synuclein, apoptotic protein Bim, and cleaved caspase-3 and decreased expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Meanwhile, the tryptophan (Trp) and tyrosine (Tyr) neurotransmitter metabolites involving kynurenine (KYN), serotonin (5-HT), and dopamine (DA) pathways were significantly changed in serum. Furthermore, the step-limited enzymes, which are responsible for the key metabolic pathways of these neurotransmitters, were obviously dysregulated. The 16S rRNA gene sequence results indicated that the abundance and diversity of the microbiota were obviously decreased in MPTP-treated mice, the presence of Ruminococcus, Parabacteroides and Parasutterella genera were obviously increased, while Coriobacteriaceae, Flavonifractor, Lachnospiraceae, Lactobacillaceae, and Rikenellaceae abundance was markedly decreased. The connectivity between the gut microbiota and neurotransmitter metabolism revealed that the gut microbiota dysbiosis was associated with disturbance of the DA, KYN, and 5-HT metabolic pathways. Therefore, our results provide evidence that gut-microbiota-brain axis disturbance may play an important role in PD development and targeting this axis might provide a promising therapeutic strategy for PD.

Background Primary disease influenced the prognosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the clinical characters of patients accompanied with tumor were few reported. Methods We enrolled 528 COVID-19 patients. Date of laboratory tests and outcome were divided to corresponding groups to compare the risk factors of disease severity, progression and survival. Results The disease severity at hospitalization, progression rate (51.43% vs 54.42%) and mortality (19.51% vs 11.91%) were equal between tumor and non-tumor group. In both groups, lymphopenia was negatively related to the severity grading (OR = 0.019 and 0.168 separately), NLR was positively correlated with the poor outcome (OR = 1.371 and 1.155 separately), and CRP was relevant to the disease progression and survival (OR = 1.334 and 1.303 separately). Conclusions Malignancy history may have no marked effect on the severity and prognosis of COVID-19. Lymphopenia, NLR and CRP levels could be regarded as indicators to determine severe cases, and predict progression and survival.

Laparoscopic unwinding of adnexal torsion has been proposed for decades. However, this technique is still controversial regarding the concern of thromboembolic events. We present two cases of conservative laparoscopic management of adnexal torsion. In the first case, a 16-year-old adolescent with serous cystadenoma was successfully managed by untwisting and cystectomy. We followed up this patient for 17 years with regular re-examinations in our hospital. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest follow-up reported of this condition. In the second case, a 32-year-old infertile woman who received oocyte retrieval 3 days before being admitted to hospital was referred to hospital with right ovarian torsion. We treated her successfully based on our long-term follow-up experience, and she is now asymptomatic and in her 7th month of pregnancy.

Gender dysphoria (GD) is characterized by an incongruence between the gender assigned at birth and the gender with which one identifies. The biological mechanisms of GD are unclear. While common genetic variants are associated with GD, positive findings have not always been replicated. To explore the role of rare variants in GD susceptibility within the Han Chinese population, whole-genome sequencing of 9 Han female-to-male transsexuals (FtMs) and whole-exome sequencing of 4 Han male-to-female transsexuals (MtFs) were analyzed using a pathway burden analysis in which variants are first collapsed at the gene level and then by Gene Ontology terms. Novel nonsynonymous variants in ion transport genes were significantly enriched in FtMs (P- value, 2.41E-10; Fold enrichment, 2.8) and MtFs (P- value, 1.04E-04; Fold enrichment, 2.3). Gene burden analysis comparing 13 GD cases and 100 controls implicated RYR3, with three heterozygous damaging mutations in unrelated FtMs and zero in controls (P = 0.001). Importantly, protein structure modeling of the RYR3 mutations indicated that the R1518H mutation made a large structural change in the RYR3 protein. Overall, our results provide information about the genetic basis of GD.

Background The goal of this study was to determine if vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms underlie susceptibility to dyslipidemia in a Chinese Han population. Methods Three tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs11574129, rs2228570, and rs739837) were genotyped using TaqMan assays to determine VDR SNP associations with dyslipidemia. We genotyped 877 cases of dyslipidemia from a normotensive, non-diabetes mellitus population and 1822 non-dyslipidemia subjects in a stage I study. In a follow-up stage II study, we included a larger sample of 3124 controls and 1679 cases with dyslipidemia. Finally, we explored the potential molecular mechanism for the SNP associations using molecular modeling analysis. Results We found a significant association between SNP rs2228570 and dyslipidemia in the additive (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.255, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = (1.118–1.409), P

Background and objective Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer's disease. The aim of this work was to determine whether the differences of serum miRNAs profiling could distinguish PD patients from healthy individuals. Methods We collected serum samples from 106 sporadic PD patients and 91 age/gender-matched healthy controls. Serum miRNAs were analysed by Solexa sequencing followed by a qRT-PCR examination. The qRT-PCR assay, which was divided into two phases, was used to validate the expression of miRNAs screened by Solexa sequencing. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and clustering analysis were performed to determine the diagnostic usefulness of the selected miRNAs for PD. Results In this study, we generated a profile of 5 serum miRNAs: miR-195 was up-regulated, and miR-185, miR-15b, miR-221 and miR-181a were down-regulated. Conclusion This group of five miRNAs can precisely distinguish PD patients from health individuals and may be used as a potential serum-based biomarker for the diagnosis of PD.

The therapeutic effect of transplantation of human umbilical cord blood cell-derived mononuclear cells (HUCMNCs) on treating in-stent restenosis (ISR) after endovascular interventional therapy (EIT) was evaluated in preclinical rabbit model of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)-related peripheral artery disease (PAD). HUCMNCs were transplanted to T2DM rabbits subjected to femoral artery occlusion surgery and received EIT. Serum concentration of soluble vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cad) and plasma concentration of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay before and after the transplantation. The injury and the recovery of right femoral artery at stenting site were evaluated with Hematoxylin and Eosin (HE) staining. HUCMNCs purified from umbilical cord blood were 100% CD45+ and 96.5% CD34− with round or oval morphology and adherent growth pattern. The soluble VE-cad and Lp-PLA2 were significantly attenuated after HUCMNC transplantation. The intimal area and the ratio between intimal area and medium film area in the dilated occlusion site were also dramatically decreased 4 weeks after receiving HUCMNCs. HUCMNC transplantation is effective in protecting vascular endothelial function and preventing ISR after EIT in T2DM rabbits suffering from PAD.

A genome-wide approach found significant association of two at-risk haplotypes (HapA, HapB) in the ALOX5AP gene with myocardial infarction and stroke. To date, it is still controversial whether ALOX5AP gene polymorphisms are risk factors for stroke. The aim of the present study is to investigate the association between the ALOX5AP gene polymorphism and the risk for stroke in Eastern Chinese Han population with a haplotype-based analysis. We conducted a comprehensive association study of 507 stroke patients and 510 healthy controls to assess the association between the ALOX5AP tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (tSNPs) and stroke risk. Genotyping was performed using the PCR-RFLP assay. In the single-locus analysis, we found that the rs9579646 AG genotype was associated with a marginally decreased risk for stroke (adjusted odds ratio, 0.65; 95% confidence interval, 0.45-0.96), compared with the AA genotype. Haplotype-based association analysis of block 2 involving rs10507391 and rs12429692 revealed that the decreased risk of stroke was significantly associated with haplotype AA (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.46-0.95). These results suggested that the genetic variants in ALOX5AP might modulate the risk of stroke in Eastern Chinese Han population. The frequencies of single-marker alleles and haplotypes showed remarkable differences from those in other populations.

RAD51 plays a key role in homologous recombination repair of double-stranded DNA breaks which may cause chromosomal breaks and genomic instability. We performed a meta-analysis of 9 epidemiological studies involving 13,241 cases and 13,203 controls that examined the association between RAD51 135G>C polymorphism and breast cancer. No significant association of RAD51 135G>C polymorphism with breast cancer was found in overall and European populations. However, after the studies which did not fulfill Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium were excluded, we observed an overall significant increased breast cancer risk (for the recessive model CC vs. GG/CG: OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.05–1.74, P heterogeneity = 0.06). In summary, our meta-analysis suggested the RAD51 135G>C polymorphism may contribute to breast cancer susceptibility.

The Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) plays an important role in the development of breast cancer. Many previous epidemiologic studies explored the association of COMT Val158Met polymorphism with breast cancer susceptibility. However, the results were inconsistent. We therefore performed a meta-analysis of 26 published studies including 16,693 breast cancer patients and 18,261 healthy controls. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of the association of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism with breast cancer risk. No significant association was found in all genetic models in overall, Asian, European populations. After the studies whose genotype frequencies in the controls did not fulfill Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium were excluded, we found a borderline significant decreased breast cancer risk among Europeans (for the recessive model LL versus HH/HL: OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.90–1.00, P heterogeneity = 0.33). There was no between-study heterogeneity. In conclusion, COMT Val158Met polymorphism may be a low-penetrant risk factor for breast cancer development in European population.

Aim To investigate the role of CCL5 secreted by tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) in gastric cancer, and to explore how CCL5/CCR5 axis modulates phenotypes of gastric cancer cells. Methods Expression of CCL5 and TAM surface marker CD68 in gastric cancer tissues was examined using SP immunohistochemistry. Serum CCL5 levels of patients were assessed using ELISA. Cross-analyses of CCL5 and CD68 expression with clinicopathological data were done. Correlation between CCL5 and CD68 in gastric cancer tissues was also studied. In vitro functional characterization of CCL5 in gastric cancer was done in co-culture of AGS and THP-1 derived macrophages using MTS assay, plate clone formation assay, and transwell experiment. Expression of chemokines and its receptors were detected by RT-PCR, while Stat3 phosphorylation and downstream target proteins were studied using western blot. Results CCL5 and CD68 were both highly expressed in tissues gastric cancer, of which the expressions were positively correlated with each other, and of clinical importance, were associated with the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM staging and tumor differentiation. Serum CCL5 was also elevated in patients with gastric cancer comparing to healthy volunteers. Co-culture of AGS cells with THP-1 derived macrophages increased cell proliferation, clone forming ability as well as migration of AGS cells. Migration of AGS cells across transwell membrane was also enhanced by increasing exogenous CCL5. Meanwhile, mRNA expression of CCL5, MMP2, MMP9, and CCR5 was also highly expressed in the cells. Stat3 signaling as reflected by its phosphorylation was also increased in AGS cells upon co-culture with THP-1 derived macrophages. Conclusion CCL5 secreted by TAMs may promote the proliferation, invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer cells, in which Stat3 signaling pathway is likely to play an important role. The correlation of CCL5 with clinicopathological parameters suggested CCL5 holds promise as important molecular marker of gastric cancer staging and disease progression.

We investigated the effect of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism on the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a Chinese Han population.Three tagSNPs (rs11574129, rs2228570 and rs739837) were genotyped using TaqMan assays in a case-control study including 669 cases with T2DM, 1084 individuals with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and 1,961 controls with normal fasting glucose. Multiple logistic regression was applied to analyze the association of SNPs and the risk of diabetes by adjusting for covariates including age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and smoking. General linear model (GLM) was applied to compare fasting blood glucose levels between genotypes and adjusted for confounding factors.The results showed that rs739837 was significantly associated with increased risk of T2DM in additive model (OR = 1.166, 95% CI 1.017-1.337, p = 0.028) and dominant (OR = 1.166, 95% CI 1.017-1.337, p = 0.002) model. Stratified analysis showed that rs739837 and rs2228570 were, respectively, correlated with T2DM in females and males. Significant associations were found between three SNPs and T2DM in the population55 years of age. SNPs (rs739837, rs11574129) showed significant associations with T2DM in the smoking population. Quantitative trait analysis indicated that the CC group of rs2228570 has lower fasting glucose than TT/TC genotype group in controls.This study provides further evidence that rs739837 in the VDR gene is associated with increased risk of T2DM in a Chinese Han population.

Over the last decades, increasing knowledge about the genetic architecture of Parkinson's disease(PD) has provided novel insights into the pathogenesis of the disorder. Recently, several studies in different populations have found a strong association between idiopathic PD and the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs356219, which is located in the 3'UTR of the SNCA gene. In this study, we aimed to verify these findings and to explore further the nature of the association in a subset of Chinese Han PD patients.Four hundred and three unrelated patients with sporadic PD and 315 healthy ethnically matched control subjects were recruited consecutively for the study. Patients and normal controls were genotyped for SNCA rs356219 variant by ligase detection reaction (LDR).A statistically significant difference was found in the frequencies of the single alleles of rs356219 (χ(2) = 12.986,P = 0.002) between PD patients and normal subjects. The distribution of AG genotypes was different between patients and controls (χ(2) = 13.243, P0.001). The OR for subjects with the variant genotypes (AG and GG) was 1.88 (95%CI = 1.27-2.78, P = 0.001). The frequencies of the homozygous genotype for this variant was 42.2% (170 patients), which was significantly higher than that in controls (32.4%, P0.001).The results suggested that SNCA rs356219 variant might have an increased risk of susceptibility to PD in a Chinese Han population. Further studies are needed to replicate the association that we found.

Background and Purpose— Leptomeningeal artery abnormalities in Cerebral Autosomal–Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) have not been extensively characterized. We quantified substructure and diameter of leptomeningeal arteries in CADASIL compared with age-matched controls and the very old; in addition, we characterized intimal thickening in CADASIL using immunohistochemistry. Methods— Frontal and temporal cortex of 6 genetically proven CADASIL brains (average age, 66 years), 6 controls without symptoms of cerebrovascular disease, and 6 very old brains (average age, 89 years) were examined for leptomeningeal artery intimal, medial, and adventitial thickness; inner diameter; and sclerotic index and for smooth muscle markers. Results— The intima of CADASIL arteries was thickened 5-fold compared with controls and the very aged ( P P P Conclusions— Principle changes of leptomeningeal arteries in CADASIL include intimal thickening and medial thinning, but not luminal narrowing. Smooth muscle–like cells participate in neointimal thickening of CADASIL arteries.

Circadian mechanisms play an important role in the regulation of sleep. A circadian clock-controlled gene, Tef, has been suggested to be associated with depressive symptoms, restless legs syndrome, and slow wave sleep in patients with sleep disorders. The present study sought to explore the association between Tef and sleep disturbances in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).Three hundred and ninety-two unrelated patients with PD were recruited for this study. All of them completed the PD Sleep Scale (PDSS) and other clinical and demographic assessments. rs738499, a single nucleotide polymorphism of the Tef gene, was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.Mean total PDSS scores were 111.5 (standard deviation [SD] 23.0) in the TT genotype and 122.2 (SD 18.2) in the TG+GG genotypes (P0.01). Significant differences were found between genotypes (TT vs TG+GG) for 14 item scores (all P0.05). Total and item scores displayed negative associations with the TT genotype (all P0.05) except Item 2 (P=0.178). Linear regression adjusted for gender, duration, depression and disease severity showed that the polymorphism could explain 0.9% of the variance in PDSS scores.These preliminary results suggest that the TT genotype in Tef rs738499 is associated with sleep disturbances in PD. Depression and disease severity are the main contributors to these findings, but rs738499 itself is an independent risk factor.

Recent evidence indicated that the PRKCH gene was a susceptibility gene for lacunar infarction in a Japanese population. The aim of the present study was to explore the association of the gene with lacunar infarction in a population of Chinese Han ancestry. A total of 280 consecutive lacunar infarction patients and 306 unrelated population-based controls that had been matched for age and sex were examined using a case-control design. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PRKCH gene (rs3783799 and rs2230500) were genotyped with ligase detection reaction (LDR) and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Linkage disequilibrium (LD) and haplotype analysis were also investigated between these two groups. Overall alleles and genotype frequencies were similar between cases and controls. No significant association was detected with the gene polymorphisms mentioned above and lacunar infarction; no significant difference was found with haplotype analysis between these two groups. None of the two SNPs showed significant association with lacunar infarction in the whole subjects before and after adjustment for conventional stroke risk factors (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolemia). The frequencies of PRKCH differed largely from those in the Japanese population. The present study suggests that variants in the PRKCH gene are not the risk factors for lacunar infarction in individuals from a small population of Chinese Han ancestry. Population differences in alleles and haplotype frequencies as well as LD structure may contribute to the observed differences between populations.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder with genetic risk factors. Semaphorin 5A (SEMA5A) was recognized as a risk factor for PD through high resolution whole genome association study by Maraganore et al. We used polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay to check two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within SEMA5A in 340 PD patients and 222 PD free cases of Chinese Han ancestry and tested by gene sequencing. We found that the SEMA5A variant genotype (allele) of rs7702187 and rs3798097 had no association with the risk of PD in our sample. The AC haplotype was associated with a significant increased risk of PD and the AT haplotype showed an associated decreased risk of PD compared with the most common haplotype TC. Our findings suggested that haplotypes of SEMA5A may be involved in PD risk in the Chinese Han population.

Background and Objective: Previous genetic studies in Parkinson's disease (PD) have provided conclusive evidence for association of genes with strong biological rationale for PD. Recently several studies in different populations have found a strong association between idiopathic PD and the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2736990, located within an intron of the α-synuclein (SNCA) gene. In this study, we aimed to verify these findings and to explore the characteristic of the association in a subset of Chinese Han PD patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 515 unrelated patients with sporadic PD and 450 healthy ethnically matched control subjects were recruited consecutively for the study. Patients and healthy controls were genotyped for SNCA rs2736990 variant by polymerase chain reaction - ligase detection reaction. Results: Our data showed a significant association between the rs2736990 polymorphism and PD, the frequency of the allele C in PD patients was significantly higher than that in controls (P = 0.017, OR = 1.26, 95% confident intervals (CI) =1.04-1.51). The distribution of C > T genotypes was different between patients and controls (P = 0.027). Furthermore, allele C of SNP rs2736990 in early-onset PD was significantly more frequent than that in healthy controls (P = 0.007, odds ratio = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.13-2.26). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that SNCA rs2736990 C > T polymorphism was associated with susceptibility to PD in Chinese Han population. Further studies are needed to replicate the association we found.