Reference intervals of C2-C7 lateral spinous process deviation in Chinese adults.

BACKGROUND: Lateral spinous process deviation (LSPD) is a commonly used morphological parameter in the anatomical study of the cervical spinous process. However, quantitative studies on this issue are still lacking. In this study we aimed to establish reference intervals of C2-C7 LSPD in the adult Chinese population and provide decision-making information for clinical practitioners. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study of 92 adult patients who received neck computed tomography scans, including 42 females and 50 males meeting the inclusion criteria. Three-dimensional reconstruction and anatomical measurements were performed using Mimics Research 19.0 and 3-Matic Research 11.0. RESULTS: The inter-observer reliability of LSPD measurement in this study was excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient value > 0.93). Only 2 cases of LSPD angles of 90 degrees were found, which means most cervical spinous process exist deviation. The reference interval for the C2-C7 LSPD angle was (85.11, 94.75) degrees. The C2 LSPD showed the different directions to C5 and C7 (p < 0.05). In the C4 vertebrae, the male tends to have greater LSPD angles than the female (T = -2.013, p = 0.047). In the C2 vertebrae, there was a statistically significant but weak correlation between age and LSPD angles (r = 0.24, p = 0.029). There was no statistically significant effect of sex or age on other levels of cervical vertebrae. CONCLUSIONS: Cervical spinous process deviation of less than 5 degrees on either side is a common morphological manifestation in Chinese adults. Thus, LSPD may not be an indicator for clinical care. Moreover, the vertebrae may have opposite directions of LSPD in the upper levels (C2-C4) and lower levels (C5-C7).

miR-590-3p promotes colon cancer cell proliferation via Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway by inhibiting WIF1 and DKK1.

OBJECTIVE: Colon cancer is one of the most common and deadly types of gastrointestinal tumor. Despite progressive treatments, the patient prognosis has not been improved effectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Expression of miRNA and mRNA were tested by Realtime PCR. Cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry. Cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay. Cell spheroid formation was determined by colony assay. Wnt signaling pathway activity was evaluated by TOP/FOP ratio. Protein expression was tested using Western blot. ß-catenin binding ability was detected by ChIP assay. miRNA target gene was confirmed by luciferase assay. RESULTS: miR-590-3p was found to be overexpressed in both glioma tissues and cell lines. miR-590-3p is upregulated in colon cancer cells and tissues compared to non-tumorigenic colon cells and normal colon tissues. miR-590-3p positively regulated cell proliferation, spheroid formation, and cell cycle in LS174T cells. Conversely, inhibition of miR-590-3p reduced these effects. We confirmed that WIF1 and DKK1 are targets of miR-590-3p. Overexpression of miR-590-3p promoted TOP flash luciferase activity, enhanced nuclear ß-catenin levels and increased target genes expression of Wnt signaling pathway. The results indicated that miR-590-3p activates the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that miR-590-3p regulates colon cancer progression via WIF1 and DKK1, which suggests that miR-590-3p may be a promising candidate for therapeutic applications in colon cancer treatment.

L-3-n-Butylphthalide protects rats' cardiomyocytes from ischaemia/reperfusion-induced apoptosis by affecting the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.

AIMS: This study investigated the role of L-3-n-Butylphthalide (NBP) in cardiac protection. METHODS: The left anterior descending coronary arteries (LAD) of the rats were occluded for 30 min following by 2-h reperfusion to make the ischaemia/reperfusion models. Neonatal cardiomyocytes were cultured and subjected to hypoxia. L-3-n-Butylphthalide was administered intraperitoneally 2 h before the surgery and right after the reperfusion in the in vivo experiments or added to the culture medium in vitro. Haemodynamic parameters were recorded to evaluate the cardiac functions, triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) and Evens blue staining were used to determine the area of risk and infarct area, apoptotic cell numbers were counted with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) staining. Western blotting was used to determine the apoptotic protein levels and immune staining to determine the translocation of Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) protein. RESULTS: Our research showed for the first time that L-3-n-Butylphthalide had great effects in improving cardiac hemodynamic function and decreasing cardiac infarct areas and apoptotic cell numbers in the peri-infarct areas. The apoptotic signals investigation showed that L-3-n-Butylphthalide affected the mitochondrial pathway including Bcl-2 protein expression, inhibition of caspase 3 activation and cytochrome C releasing. Besides, Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase protein translocation was inhibited by L-3-n-Butylphthalide treatment, and this effect was mediated by endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS). CONCLUSION: L-3-n-Butylphthalide protects cardiomyocytes from ischaemia/reperfusion-induced apoptosis by antioxidant effect and affecting mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.

Observation of Multi-TeV Gamma Rays from the Crab Nebula using the Tibet Air Shower Array.

The Tibet experiment, operating at Yangbajing (4300 m above sea level), is the lowest energy air shower array, and the new high-density array constructed in 1996 is sensitive to gamma-ray air showers at energies as low as 3 TeV. With this new array, the Crab Nebula was observed in multi-TeV gamma-rays and a signal was detected at the 5.5 sigma level. We also obtained the energy spectrum of gamma-rays in the energy region above 3 TeV which partially overlaps those observed with imaging atmospheric Cerenkov telescopes. The Crab spectrum observed in this energy region can be represented by the power-law fit dJ&parl0;E&parr0;&solm0;dE=&parl0;4.61+/-0.90&parr0;x10-12&parl0;E&solm0;3 TeV&parr0;-2.62+/-0.17 cm-2 s-1 TeV-1. This is the first observation of gamma-ray signals from point sources with a conventional air shower array using scintillation detectors.