Silencing of Long Noncoding RNA AK139328 Attenuates Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Mouse Livers

Recently, increasing evidences had suggested that long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) are involved in a wide range of physiological and pathophysiological processes. Here we determined the LncRNA expression profile using microarray technology in mouse livers after ischemia/reperfusion treatment. Seventy one LncRNAs were upregulated, and 27 LncRNAs were downregulated in ischemia/reperfusion-treated mouse livers. Eleven of the most significantly deregulated LncRNAs were further validated by quantitative PCR assays. Among the upregulated LncRNAs confirmed by quantitative PCR assays, AK139328 exhibited the highest expression level in normal mouse livers. siRNA-mediated knockdown of hepatic AK139328 decreased plasma aminotransferase activities, and reduced necrosis area in the livers with a decrease in caspase-3 activation after ischemia/reperfusion treatment. In ischemia/reperfusion liver, knockdown of AK139328 increased survival signaling proteins including phosphorylated Akt (pAkt), glycogen synthase kinase 3 (pGSK3) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (peNOS). Furthermore, knockdown of AK139328 also reduced macrophage infitration and inhibited NF-κB activity and inflammatory cytokines expression. In conclusion, these findings revealed that deregulated LncRNAs are involved in liver ischemia/reperfusion injury. Silencing of AK139328 ameliorated ischemia/reperfusion injury in the liver with the activation of Akt signaling pathway and inhibition of NF-κB activity. LncRNA AK139328 might be a novel target for diagnosis and treatment of liver surgery or transplantation.     

Foot Drop Caused by Lumbar Degenerative Disease: Clinical Features,Prognostic Factors of Surgical Outcome and Clinical Stage

Objective

The purpose of this study was to analyze the clinical features and prognostic factors of surgical outcome of foot drop caused by lumbar degenerative disease and put forward the clinical stage.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed 135 patients with foot drop due to lumbar degenerative disease. The clinical features and mechanism were analyzed. Age, sex, duration of palsy, preoperative muscle strength of tibialis anterior (TA), sensation defect of affected lower limb, affected foot, diagnosis and compressed nerve roots were recorded and compared with surgical outcome.

Results

Foot drop was observed in 8.1% of all inpatients of lumbar degenerative disease. L5 nerve root compression was observed in 126 of all 135 patients (93.3%). Single, double and triple roots compression was observed respectively in 43, 83, and 9 patients (31.9%, 61.5%, and 6.6%). But there was no significant relationship between preoperative muscle strength of TA and the number of compressed roots. The muscle strength of TA was improved in 113 (83.7%) patients after surgery, but it reached to >=4 in only 21 (15.6%) patients. Improvement of the muscle strength of TA was almost stable at the 6-month follow-up. At the last follow-up, the muscle strength of TA was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 respectively in 28, 24, 62, 13, 8 patients. Multivariate logistic regression showed duration of palsy (p=0.0360, OR=2.543), preoperative muscle strength of TA (p=0.0064, OR=5.528) and age (p=0.0309, OR=3.208) were factors that influenced recovery following an operation.

Conclusions

L5 nerve root was most frequently affected. The muscle strength of TA improved in most patients after surgery, but few patients can get a good recovery from foot drop. Patients of shorter duration of palsy, better preoperative muscle strength of TA and younger age showed a better surgical outcome.     

Beneficial Effects of Schisandrin B on the Cardiac Function in Mice Model of Myocardial Infarction

The fruit of Schisandra chinensis has been used in the traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. Accumulating evidence suggests that Schisandrin B (Sch B) has cardioprotection effect on myocardial ischemia in vitro. However, it is unclear whether Sch B has beneficial effects on continuous myocardial ischemia in vivo. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether Sch B could improve cardiac function and attenuate myocardial remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI) in mice. Mice model of MI was established by permanent ligation of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. Then the MI mice were randomly treated with Sch B or vehicle alone. After treatment for 3 weeks, Sch B could increase survival rate, improve heart function and decrease infarct size compared with vehicle. Moreover, Sch B could down-regulate some inflammatory cytokines, activate eNOS pathway, inhibit cell apoptosis, and enhance cell proliferation. Further in vitro study on H9c2 cells showed similar effects of Sch B on prevention of hypoxia-induced inflammation and cell apoptosis. Taken together, our results demonstrate that Sch B can reduce inflammation, inhibit apoptosis, and improve cardiac function after ischemic injury. It represents a potential novel therapeutic approach for treatment of ischemic heart disease.     

Downregulated E-Cadherin Expression Indicates Worse Prognosis in Asian Patients with Colorectal Cancer: Evidence from Meta-Analysis

Background

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a crucial role in the progression and aggressiveness of colorectal carcinoma. E-cadherin is the best-characterized molecular marker of EMT, but its prognostic significance for patients with CRC remains inconclusive.

Methodology

Eligible studies were searched from the PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases. Correlation between E-cadherin expression and clinicopathological features and prognosis was analyzed. Subgroup analysis was also performed according to study location, number of patients, quality score of studies and cut-off value.

Principal Findings

A total of 27 studies comprising 4244 cases met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis suggested that downregulated E-cadherin expression had an unfavorable impact on overall survival (OS) of CRC (n = 2730 in 14 studies; HR = 2.27, 95%CI: 1.63–3.17; Z = 4.83; P = 0.000). Subgroup analysis indicated that low E-cadherin expression was significantly associated with worse OS in Asian patients (n = 1054 in 9 studies; HR = 2.86, 95%CI: 2.13–3.7, Z = 7.11; P = 0.000) but not in European patients (n = 1552 in 4 studies; HR = 1.14, 95%CI: 0.95–1.35, Z = 1.39; P = 0.165). In addition, reduced E-cadherin expression indicated an unfavorable OS only when the cut off value of low E-cadherin expression was >50% (n = 512 in 4 studies; HR = 2.08, 95%CI 1.45–2.94, Z = 4.05; P = 0.000). Downregulated E-cadherin expression was greatly related with differentiation grade, Dukes'' stages, lymphnode status and metastasis. The pooled OR was 0.36(95%CI: 0.19–0.7, Z = 3.03, P = 0.002), 0.34(95%CI: 0.21–0.55, Z = 6.61, P = 0.000), 0.49(95%CI: 0.32–0.74, Z = 3.02, P = 0.002) and 0.45(95%CI: 0.22–0.91, Z = 3.43, P = 0.001), respectively.

Conclusions

This study showed that low or absent E-cadherin expression detected by immunohistochemistry served as a valuable prognostic factor of CRC. However, downregulated E-cadherin expression seemed to be associated with worse prognosis in Asian CRC patients but not in European CRC patients. Additionally, this meta-analysis suggested that the negative threshold of E-cadherin should be >50% when we detected its expression in the immunohistochemistry stain.     

Crystal Structure of the Human Short Coiled Coil Protein and Insights into SCOC-FEZ1 Complex Formation

The short coiled coil protein (SCOC) forms a complex with fasciculation and elongation protein zeta 1 (FEZ1). This complex is involved in autophagy regulation. We determined the crystal structure of the coiled coil domain of human SCOC at 2.7 Å resolution. SCOC forms a parallel left handed coiled coil dimer. We observed two distinct dimers in the crystal structure, which shows that SCOC is conformationally flexible. This plasticity is due to the high incidence of polar and charged residues at the core a/d-heptad positions. We prepared two double mutants, where these core residues were mutated to either leucines or valines (E93V/K97L and N125L/N132V). These mutations led to a dramatic increase in stability and change of oligomerisation state. The oligomerisation state of the mutants was characterized by multi-angle laser light scattering and native mass spectrometry measurements. The E93V/K97 mutant forms a trimer and the N125L/N132V mutant is a tetramer. We further demonstrate that SCOC forms a stable homogeneous complex with the coiled coil domain of FEZ1. SCOC dimerization and the SCOC surface residue R117 are important for this interaction.     

医学生实习中外科基本操作常犯错误及对策分析

目的：探讨医学生临床实习中在基本操作上常犯的错误,并对此提出建议和纠正措施,旨在进一步提高临床带教水平及临床教学质量。方法i总结我院临床医学专业实习生进行常见的外科临床基本操作考核成绩的情况,对错误类型等进行统计并提出合理的解决措施。结果：共考察学生90名,其中外科换药方法欠佳者22人（24．4％）,消毒铺巾存在问题24人（26．6％）,缝合存在问题32人（35．5％）,打结存在问题38（42．2％）人,拆线存在问题19（21．1％）人。结论：加强医学生外科实习期间的无菌观念培养及强化手术基本操作是临床教学的重要环节。