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Objective: To compare early clinical and imaging results of domestic HURWA and imported Brainlab Knee3 surgical robot-assisted knee replacement., Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 93 patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) who underwent robot-assisted descending total knee arthroplasty(TKA) from January 2021 to July 2023, and they were divided into BRATKA group and HRATKA group according to use of robotic system. There were 40 patients in BRATKA group, including 16 males and 24 females, aged from 55 to 90 years old with an average of (64.3±7.0) years old;27 patients with grade Ⅲ and 13 patients with grade Ⅳ according to Kellgren-Lawrence(K-L);18 patients on the right side and 22 patients on the left side;the courses of disease ranged from 1 to 30 years with an average of (15.3±7.6) years;imported Brainlab Knee3 surgical robot assisted system was adopted. There were 53 patients in HRATKA group, including 18 males and 35 females, aged from 52 to 81 years old with an average of (64.4±8.5) years old;30 patients with grade Ⅲ and 23 patients with grade Ⅳ;21 patients on the right side and 32 patients on the left side;the courses of disease ranged from 1 to 32 years with an average of (16.4±7.9) years;HURWA surgical robot assisted system was adopted. Operation time, perioperative total blood loss, incision length and postoperative complications were compared between two groups. Deviation angle of hip-knee-ankle angle(HKAA) before operation and on the first day after operation was compared between two groups. Later tibal component (LTC), frontal femoral component (FFC), later femoral component (LFC) and frontal tibal component(FTC) at 1 day after on the first day after operation was compared between two groups. Knee Society score(KSS), visual analogue scale (VAS) and range of motion (ROM) of knee joint were compared between two groups before operation and on the 3rd and 90th day after operation., Results: Both groups were followed up for 11 to 18 months with an average of (14.4±2.1) months, and the wounds of all patients healed well. Operation time and incision length of BRATKA group were (132.1±34.6) min and (12.9±1.9) cm, while (94.1±10.8) min and (14.8±2.1) cm in HRATKA group, respectively, and the differences between two groups were statistically significant( P <0.05). There were no significant difference in perioperative total blood loss and preoperative deviation angle of HKAA between two groups( P >0.05). Deviation angle of HKAA, FFC angle and LFC angle in BRATKA group were (1.90±0.91) °, (87.90±1.51) ° and(9.00±3.2) °, respectively;while (0.93±1.04) °, (89.03±0.96) ° and (7.63±0.59) ° in HRATKA group, respectively, and the differences between two groups were statistically significant ( P <0.05). There were no significant differences in FTC and LTC between two groups( P >0.05). There were no significant differences in VAS of knee rest and exercise, KSS score and ROM of knee joint between two groups before operation and 3 days and 90 days after operation( P >0.05). There was no significant difference in complications between two groups ( P >0.05)., Conclusion: Postoperative imaging of two robot systems showed good lower limb force line. The domestic HRATKA group had better LFC, FFC angle and HKA deviation angle than the imported BRATKA group, but there were no significant difference in postoperative knee function and pain relief.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are evolutionarily conserved and abundant non-coding RNAs whose functions and regulatory mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we identify and characterize an epigenomically distinct group of circRNAs (TAH-circRNAs), which are transcribed to a higher level than their host genes. By integrative analysis of cistromic and transcriptomic data, we find that compared with other circRNAs, TAH-circRNAs are expressed more abundantly and have more transcription factors (TFs) binding sites and lower DNA methylation levels. Concordantly, TAH-circRNAs are enriched in open and active chromatin regions. Importantly, ChIA-PET results showed that 23-52% of transcription start sites (TSSs) of TAH-circRNAs have direct interactions with cis-regulatory regions, strongly suggesting their independent transcriptional regulation from host genes. In addition, we characterize molecular features of super-enhancer-driven circRNAs in cancer biology. Together, this study comprehensively analyzes epigenomic characteristics of circRNAs and identifies a distinct group of TAH-circRNAs that are independently transcribed via enhancers and super-enhancers by TFs. These findings substantially advance our understanding of the regulatory mechanism of circRNAs and may have important implications for future investigations of this class of non-coding RNAs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Li, Tang, Peng, Li, Qian, Zhao, Ding, Du, Li, Zhang, Bai, Zhu, Feng, Wang, Pan and Li.)

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy between rolling needle pricking-cupping (RNP-C) and traditional pricking-cupping (TP-C) for cervical spondylosis of neck type., Methods: A total of 96 patients with cervical spondylosis of neck type were randomly divided into an RNP-C group, a TP-C group and an electroacupuncture (EA) group, 32 cases in each group. Each group was treated with EA at Jingbailao (EX-HN 15), Fengchi (GB 20), Dazhui (GV 14), Jianjing (GB 21) and ashi points with continuous wave and 2 Hz of frequency; each EA treatment lasted for 20 min, once every 3 to 5 days, totaling 6 treatments. On the basis of EA treatment, the patients in the TP-C group were treated with bloodletting by seven-star needle, followed by fire cupping; the patients in the RNP-C group were treated with bloodletting by rolling needle, followed by fire cupping. The treatment was given once a week for 4 weeks. The follow-up was 1 month. Before treatment, 2 and 4 weeks into treatment and follow-up, the Northwick Park neck-pain questionnaire (NPQ) and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were evaluated. The acupuncture pain degree was recorded at the first treatment and 2 and 4 weeks into treatment. The efficacy was evaluated after 4 weeks of treatment., Results: Compared before treatment, the scores of NPQ and VAS in each group were all reduced at 2 and 4 weeks into treatment and follow-up ( P <0.05). The scores of NPQ in the TP-C group and the RNP-C group were lower than those in the EA group at 2 and 4 weeks into treatment ( P <0.05). The scores of VAS in the TP-C group and the RNP-C group were lower than those in the EA group at 2 and 4 weeks into treatment and follow-up ( P <0.05). The differences of NPQ and VAS scores between the TP-C group and the RNP-C group at each time point after treatment were not significant ( P >0.05). The acupuncture pain degree in the RNP-C group was lower than that in the TP-C group ( P <0.05). The total effective rates were 79.3% (23/29) in the TP-C group and 75.0% (24/32) in the RNP-C group, which was superior to 63.3% (19/30) in the EA group ( P <0.05), but there was no statistical significance between the TP-C group and the RNP-C group ( P >0.05)., Conclusion: TP-C and RNP-C could both improve the cervical pain symptoms in patients with cervical spondylosis of neck type, and improve the overall function of the cervical spine, and the curative effect is similar.

Background: Congenital blepharoptosis (CBP) may be part of a large spectrum of birth defects presenting with other ocular or systemic conditions. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the incidence of congenital heart diseases (CHD) in CBP children not associated with specific syndromes., Methods: A total of 1053 Chinese children diagnosed with non-syndromic CBP were consecutively enrolled and their cardiac structure was evaluated by echocardiography., Results: Forty children were identified with CHD. Twenty-four children had one type of structural malformation (simple CHD). Sixteen children had two or more types of structural malformation (complex CHD). CHD and complex CHD were more prevalent in patients with severe or bilateral ptosis. Multivariate analysis revealed that presence of severe ptosis and bilateral ptosis was independently associated with CHD occurrence., Conclusions: We found an increased frequency of CHD in CBP children, suggesting a clinical need for routine echocardiography evaluation in CBP, especially in children with severe or bilateral ptosis.

Super-enhancers (SEs) have prominent roles in biological and pathological processes through their unique transcriptional regulatory capability. To date, several SE databases have been developed by us and others. However, these existing databases do not provide downstream or upstream regulatory analyses of SEs. Pathways, transcription factors (TFs), SEs, and SE-associated genes form complex regulatory networks. Therefore, we designed a novel web server, SEanalysis, which provides comprehensive SE-associated regulatory network analyses. SEanalysis characterizes SE-associated genes, TFs binding to target SEs, and their upstream pathways. The current version of SEanalysis contains more than 330 000 SEs from more than 540 types of cells/tissues, 5042 TF ChIP-seq data generated from these cells/tissues, DNA-binding sequence motifs for ∼700 human TFs and 2880 pathways from 10 databases. SEanalysis supports searching by either SEs, samples, TFs, pathways or genes. The complex regulatory networks formed by these factors can be interactively visualized. In addition, we developed a customizable genome browser containing >6000 customizable tracks for visualization. The server is freely available at http://licpathway.net/SEanalysis., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.)

Mutations in mitochondrial (mt)transfer (t)RNA (mt‑tRNA) have been reported to serve important roles in hypertension. To determine the underlying molecular mechanisms of mt‑tRNA mutations in hypertension, the present study screened for mt‑tRNA mutations in a Chinese family with a high incidence of essential hypertension. Sequence analysis of the mt‑tRNA genes in this family revealed the presence of an A4401G mutation in the glycine‑and methionine‑tRNA genes, and a G5821A mutation in the cysteine‑tRNA (tRNACys) gene. The G5821A mutation was located at a position conserved in various species, and disrupted G6‑C67 base‑pairing. It was hypothesized that the G5821A mutation may decrease the baseline expression levels of tRNACys, and consequently result in failure of tRNA metabolism. The A4401G mutation was reported to cause the mitochondrial dysfunction responsible for hypertension. Thus, the combination of G5821A and A4401G mutations may contribute to the high incidence of hypertension in this family. Mt‑tRNA mutations may serve as potential biomarkers for hypertension.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have a critical role in cancer initiation and progression, and thus may mediate oncogenic or tumor suppressing effects, as well as be a new class of cancer therapeutic targets. We performed high-throughput sequencing of RNA (RNA-seq) to investigate the expression level of lncRNAs and protein-coding genes in 30 esophageal samples, comprised of 15 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) samples and their 15 paired non-tumor tissues. We further developed an integrative bioinformatics method, denoted URW-LPE, to identify key functional lncRNAs that regulate expression of downstream protein-coding genes in ESCC. A number of known onco-lncRNA and many putative novel ones were effectively identified by URW-LPE. Importantly, we identified lncRNA625 as a novel regulator of ESCC cell proliferation, invasion and migration. ESCC patients with high lncRNA625 expression had significantly shorter survival time than those with low expression. LncRNA625 also showed specific prognostic value for patients with metastatic ESCC. Finally, we identified E1A-binding protein p300 (EP300) as a downstream executor of lncRNA625-induced transcriptional responses. These findings establish a catalog of novel cancer-associated functional lncRNAs, which will promote our understanding of lncRNA-mediated regulation in this malignancy.

Objective: To analyze the relationship between cleft severity and incidence of associated heart defect in children with isolated cleft palate (CP), as well as the characteristics of the heart defect., Methods: From Aug 2008 and Dec 2009, a total 416 children with CP underwent echocardiogram, and were divided into complete and incomplete CP groups. Then each group was further classified as unilateral or bilateral groups. Incomplete CP was subdivided into submucous cleft palate, soft palate cleft, hard and soft palate cleft. The associated heart defects were recorded and analyzed in each group. The data were analyzed statistically using SPSS 13.0. Chi-square test was used to compare the incidence between groups., Results: In the series of 416 patients, 46 (11.1%) children were found to have an associated congenital heart disease. The incidence of heart defect was 9.9% (38/384) in the incomplete cleft group, and 25% (8/32) in the complete cleft group, showing a significant difference between the two groups ( F = 6.852, P < 0.05). Atrial septal defect was the most common heart defect, which accounted for 52.2% (24/46) of all associated heart malformations., Conclusions: Compared to incomplete cleft palate, complete cleft palate has a higher risk of heart defect. Cleft severity may be a predictor for congenital heart diseases in cleft palate. Routine echocardiogram should be considered in CP patients.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an enzyme that suppresses adaptive T-cell immunity by catabolizing tryptophan from the cellular microenvironment. Inhibition of IDO pathway might enhance the efficacy of immunotherapeutic strategies for cancer. We synthesized 1-alkyl-tryptophan targeted IDO inhibitors and compared their effects on IDO expression and activity in dendritic cells (DCs) with the common IDO inhibitor 1-methyl-DL-tryptophan (1-MT). The IDO gene expression was examined by RT-PCR and realtime PCR. The toxicity of these analogs on the proliferation of DCs was detected by MTT assay. All of these analogs inhibited IDO expression and activity induced by IFN-gamma and showed no cytotoxicity to DCs at 100 microM. 1-MT intensively suppressed IDO1 expression and activity in DCs, and 1-propyl-tryptophan (1-PT) and 1-isopropyl-tryptophan (1-isoPT) moderately inhibited them. 1-Butyl-tryptophan (1-BT) and 1-ethyl-tryptophan (1-ET) mainly inhibited IDO2 expression. Our results suggest that those analogs differed in their inhibitory activity on IDO expression may give us a clue for developing active IDO inhibitors.

The paper reports the results of estimation of plasma protein C (PC), protein S (PS) and antithrombin III (AT III) in 39 normal controls and 70 patients with various chronic liver diseases and concludes that the plasma values of PC, PS and AT III decrease in patients with chronic liver diseases and the decrease seems to be related to the severity of liver diseases.