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Jin Li,1 Sheng-Wei Ren,1 Li-Juan Dai,1 Bo Zhang,1 Yu-Wei Gu,1 Chen-Jiu Pang,1 Yan Wang2 1Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, Henan Eye Hospital, Henan Eye Institute, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan University People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Clinical College of Ophthalmology Tianjin Medical University, and The Tianjin Eye Hospital Tianjin Eye Institute, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tianjin, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Chen-Jiu Pang, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, Henan Eye Hospital, Henan Eye Institute, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan University People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8613939018599, Email pangcj999@163.com; jinjinlily32@163.com Yan Wang, Clinical College of Ophthalmology Tianjin Medical University, and The Tianjin Eye Hospital Tianjin Eye Institute, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8613602089393, Email wangyan7143@vip.sina.comPurpose: To describe the development of bacterial keratitis after small incision lenticule extraction in 5 patients and to explore its appropriate therapies.Methods: We retrospectively summarized the clinical treatments of five patients with postoperative bacterial infection after small incision lenticule extraction, who were referred to our hospital from 2019 to 2021.Results: Five male patients had undergone bilateral SMILE in the local hospital due to myopia aged from 18 to 26 years. The onset of keratitis during 1– 3 days postoperatively and four of them were severe infection (2 bilateral, 2 unilateral). In five cases, 1 patient (1 eye) who was infected mild keratitis after SMILE was treated with only topical antibiotics; the others who respond poorly to topical antibiotics require surgical treatment, which 1 patient (1 eye) infected necrotic mass of the corneal cap was scraped and irrigated with antibiotic, and 3 patients (5 eyes) were treated by converting the cap to flap, curetting the necrotic tissue and irrigating with the antibiotic solution. In all patients, the duration from onset to resolution was 1– 5 weeks. The final uncorrected visual acuity was above 20/32.Conclusion: Owing to the upward popularity of refractive surgery, the incidence of keratitis after SMILE should not be ignored. Early diagnosis and timely treatment of post-SMILE keratitis are essential. For severe keratitis that fails to respond to topical antibiotics, the corneal cap should be opened as a flap.Keywords: small incision lenticule extraction, bacterial keratitis, refractive surgery, postoperative infection, therapy

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 8 (ERK8), also known as mitogen-activated protein kinase 15 (MAPK15), is the most recently identified protein kinase of the ERK family members and yet the least has been studied so far. Here, we report that ERK8 is highly expressed in several human lung cancer cell lines and is positively correlated with their sensitivities to the anti-cancer drug arsenic trioxide (As2O3). As2O3 at physiologically relevant concentrations (5-20 μM) potently stimulates the phosphorylation of ERK8 at Thr175 and Tyr177 within the TEY motif in the kinase domain, leading to its activation. Interestingly, activated ERK8 interacts and directly phosphorylates IkappaBalpha (IκBα) at Ser32 and Ser36, resulting in IκBα degradation. This in turn promotes nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) p65 nuclear translocation and chromatin-binding, as well as the subsequent induction and activation of proteins involved in apoptosis. We also show that stable short-hairpin RNA-specific knockdown of endogenous ERK8 or inhibition of NF-κB activity by NF-κB inhibitor in high ERK8 expressing lung cancer H1299 cells blunted the As2O3-induced NF-κB activation and cytotoxicity towards these cells, indicating the critical role of ERK8 and NF-κB in mediating the As2O3 effects. Taken together, our findings suggest for the first time a regulatory paradigm of NF-κB activation by ERK8 upon As2O3 treatment in human lung cancer cells; and implicate a potential therapeutic advantage of As2O3 that might gain more selective killing of cancer cells with high ERK8 expression.

Background Previous reports found that cinnamaldehyde has effects on anti-respiratory syncytial virus (ARSV). However, their results are still contradictory. Therefore, this study will systematically address the effects of cinnamaldehyde on ARSV. Methods The following electronic bibliographic databases will be retrieved from their outset to the March 31, 2020: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Technology Periodical Database, China Biology Medicine, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. No language and publication time limitations will be exerted in this study. All relevant case-controlled studies or randomized controlled studies exploring the effects of cinnamaldehyde on ARSV will be included. Study quality of case-controlled studies will be assessed by Newcastle-Ottawa scale, and that of randomized controlled studies will be identified by Cochrane risk of bias tool. All data pooling and analysis will be performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results This study will summarize the up-to-date high-quality evidence to synthesize outcome data on the effects of cinnamaldehyde on ARSV. Conclusion Findings of this study may provide beneficial evidence for both clinicians and future studies regarding the effects of cinnamaldehyde on ARSV. Systematic review registration INPLASY202040074.

The method to investigation the changes of optical properties and evaluating the effect of laser application in real time is presented in this paper. In vivo measurements of the reduced scattering coefficient (μ’s) and tissue temperature (T) were performed with a functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system and a temperature measurement system during LITT. Mice liver tumors were examined in vivo in different laser doses (0.8W, 1.0W, 1.2W, 1.4W) at a certain heating time (600s). The results showed that there were the same rising tendencies of the reduced scattering coefficient and temperature during LITT. They increased quickly at the beginning, gradually reached a stable state, and rose faster when the laser power was greater. When the tissue temperature was in the range of 50°C to 70°C, there was a clear linear relationship between μ’s and T. The linear equation was obtained for the first time.

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 8 (ERK8), proposed as a novel potential therapeutic target for cancer, has been implicated in cell transformation, apoptosis, the protection of genomic integrity, and autophagy. To facilitate ERK8 research, a highly specific anti-ERK8 antibody is needed. In this article, we use the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource online tool to predict B-cell epitopes of human ERK8 protein, and choose a 28 aa-peptide sequence to generate the GST-ERK8(28aa) fusion protein as the antigen for developing polyclonal antibody against ERK8. The specificity and sensitivity of anti-ERK8 antibody were robustly validated by immunoblotting, immunocytochemical and immunohistochemical analyses; and we found that both the endogenous and ectopically-expressed human ERK8 proteins can be recognized by our anti-ERK8 antibody. This suggested that our characterized anti-ERK8 antibody will be a valuable tool for the elucidation of the distribution of ERK8 at cellular and histological levels. Finally, our tissue array analysis also demonstrated that the ERK8 protein was localized in both the nucleus and cytoplasm of human lung cancers.

To construct and express an anti-VEGFR2/anti-CD3 bispecific single-chain antibody (bscVEGFR2×CD3)and to identify its binding specificities to CD3 and VEGFR2.The gene encoding anti-VEGFR2/anti-CD3 bispecific single-chain antibody was designed and synthesized. Bispecific single-chain antibody (bsc-Ab) DNA was subcloned into a eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1(+), then transfected into Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and stable expression cell lines were selected. Expressed Bsc-Ab was purified by His-tag affinity chromatography and confirmed by 120 g/L SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. Antigen binding activity of the bsc-Ab was analyzed by FACS.The plasmid DNA containing bispecific single-chain fragments were confirmed. BscVEGFR2×CD3 was secreted by CHO into the supernatant. Six stable expression cell lines were established. The molecular weight of bsc-Ab was correct indicated by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. The bsc-Ab could specifically bind to CD3(+); jurkat cells and VEGFR2(+); A375 cells.An anti-VEGFR2/anti-CD3 bispecific single-chain antibody is successfully constructed and expressed, and the antibody has specific binding capacity to CD3 and VEGFR2.

Total hemoglobin concentration (THC) and hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO2) are essential parameters to doctors who wonder patients' hematogenous conditions and oxygen supplies and consumptions. Instruments presently used for measuring these parameters have big size of detecting probes that limit their applications to inner bodies. An optical probe involving two fibers with source-detector separations of one hundred micrometers was developed in the present study for purpose of minimally invasive inner detecting, which uses steady-state, broadband (300-1 000 nm) light source. The source light is delivered to targets through one fiber and the reflected light from the targets is collected and transferred to a spectrometer through the other fiber. Reflectance spectrum is obtained from the spectrometer. The method of reading THC and SO2 from the reflectance spectrum was developed using liquid-tissue phantoms containing intralipid and blood. Firstly, reflex spectrum of intralipid was recorded before mixtures of intralipid and blood with different THC were made as tissue phantoms. Then the fiber optical spectrometer was used to obtain reflex spectra as the phantoms' SO2 changed; simultaneously their corresponding THC and SO2 were recorded as the scale values by an oximeter. Differences of reflex spectra in 520-590 nm between intralipid and tissue models were proved reliably. Secondly, after data collections of absorption spectra and scale values were finished, two artificial neural networks (ANN) were build to model the relationship between scale values and absorption spectra. After being trained, the ANNs could output THC and SO2 correctly when an absorption spectrum was input. The ANNs produced errors of less than 4 micromol x L(-1) for THC and 5% for SO2. In vivo and minimally invasive measurements of THC and SO2 of brain tissues in different depth were finished on 30 rats by this specific system with the ANNs. The probe was inserted stereotactically to a depth of 6 mm with measurements obtained every 0.2 mm. SO2 of gray mater and white mater of rats was respectively obtained as 0.60-0.70 and 0.45-0.55. The highest THC, 110 micromol x L(-1) was measured around rat cortex. THC of brain tissue in other depth is 70-90 micromol x L(-1). These values agree well with reported data. This simple, inexpensive method deserves further study to establish its efficacy for THC and SO2 measurements of inner body.