Granulomatous orchitis: A case report of misdiagnosis and review of the literature.

Granulomatous orchitis is a relatively rare clinical testicular lesion. The imaging manifestations and clinical symptoms are similar to those of testicular tumors. In order to improve the understanding of this disease, this article reports the ultrasonographic manifestations of a case of granulomatous orchitis and reviews the relevant literature with.

Foxp3-mediated blockage of ryanodine receptor 2 underlies contact-based suppression by regulatory T cells.

The suppression mechanism of Tregs remains an intensely investigated topic. As our focus has shifted toward a model centered on indirect inhibition of DCs, a universally applicable effector mechanism controlled by the transcription factor forkhead box P3 (Foxp3) expression has not been found. Here, we report that Foxp3 blocked the transcription of ER Ca2+-release channel ryanodine receptor 2 (RyR2). Reduced RyR2 shut down basal Ca2+ oscillation in Tregs, which reduced m-calpain activities that are needed for T cells to disengage from DCs, suggesting a persistent blockage of DC antigen presentation. RyR2 deficiency rendered the CD4+ T cell pool immune suppressive and caused it to behave in the same manner as Foxp3+ Tregs in viral infection, asthma, hypersensitivity, colitis, and tumor development. In the absence of Foxp3, Ryr2-deficient CD4+ T cells rescued the systemic autoimmunity associated with scurfy mice. Therefore, Foxp3-mediated Ca2+ signaling inhibition may be a central effector mechanism of Treg immune suppression.

Non-targeted metabolomics analysis of metabolite changes in two quinoa genotypes under drought stress.

BACKGROUND: Quinoa is an important economic crop, drought is one of the key factors affecting quinoa yield. Clarifying the adaptation strategy of quinoa to drought is conducive to cultivating drought-tolerant varieties. At present, the study of quinoa on drought stress-related metabolism and the identification of related metabolites are still unknown. As a direct feature of biochemical functions, metabolites can reveal the biochemical pathways involved in drought response. RESULT: Here, we studied the physiological and metabolic responses of drought-tolerant genotype L1 and sensitive genotype HZ1. Under drought conditions, L1 had higher osmotic adjustment ability and stronger root activity than HZ1, and the relative water content of L1 was also higher than that of HZ1. In addition, the barrier-to- sea ratio of L1 is significantly higher than that of HZ1. Using untargeted metabolic analysis, a total of 523, 406, 301 and 272 differential metabolites were identified in L1 and HZ1 on day 3 and day 9 of drought stress. The key metabolites (amino acids, nucleotides, peptides, organic acids, lipids and carbohydrates) accumulated differently in quinoa leaves. and HZ1 had the most DEMs in Glycerophospholipid metabolism (ko00564) and ABC transporters (ko02010) pathways. CONCLUSION: These results provide a reference for characterizing the response mechanism of quinoa to drought and improving the drought tolerance of quinoa.

Effects of Acupuncture Combined with Biofeedback Therapy on Limb Motor Rehabilitation in Patients with Acute Stroke: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: The purpose of the systematic review is to verify the effect of biofeedback therapy on limb motor rehabilitation in patients with acute stroke and to provide evidence-based medicine for the promotion and use of biofeedback therapy. Methods: The randomized controlled trials (RCT) of biofeedback therapy in the treatment of cerebral palsy were searched in PubMed, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China VIP Database, Wanfang Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM). The starting time and ending time of this study are from the time of building the database of the number of pieces to October 31, 2018. The data included in this study were extracted by two independent researchers and evaluated the bias risk of all the literature included in the study according to the Cochrane manual 5.1.0 criteria. RevMan5.4 statistical software was used to analyze the collected data by meta. Results: This systematic review included 9 RCT studies with a total of 1410 patients. The results of meta-analysis showed that there were significant differences in the improvement of lower limb muscle tension, comprehensive spasm scale score, EMG score, and passive range of motion of ankle joint between biofeedback therapy and routine rehabilitation therapy. Conclusion: Biofeedback therapy can improve lower limb muscle tension, spasticity, EMG integral value, and passive range of motion of ankle joint in children with cerebral palsy and provide better conditions for improving the motor ability of lower extremities in children with cerebral palsy. However, more studies and follow-up with higher methodological quality and longer intervention time are needed to further verify.

Circular RNA SMEK1 promotes neuropathic pain in rats through targeting microRNA-216a-5p to mediate Thioredoxin Interacting Protein (TXNIP) expression.

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a disease induced by damage to the nervous system. A large number of studies have manifested that circular RNAs (circRNAs) are key in the development of neurological diseases. However, the role of circRNA in NP remains ambiguous. In this study, the biological function and molecular mechanism of circSMEK1 were investigated in NP. NP rat and cell models were established by chronic contractile injury (CCI) surgery and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment, separately. The results exposed that circSMEK1 and TXNIP were up-regulated in NP, while miR-216a-5p was down-regulated. The claw retraction threshold and claw retraction latency in rats were elevated and reduced separately via knockdown circSMEK1 and miR-216a-5p. Meanwhile, knockout circSMEK1 or elevated miR-216a-5p declined inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1ß and IL6 in spinal cord, and the activation of microglia, but promoted the polarization of microglia into anti-inflammatory type, while up-regulation of circSMEK1 or knockdown of miR-216a-5p was opposite. Mechanism studies demonstrated that circSMEK1 mediated TXNIP expression through competitive adsorption of miR-216a-5p. Functional rescue experiments manifested that the suppressive effect of circSMEK1 knockdown on NP was reversed by declined miR-216a-5p simultaneously. In conclusion, the results of this study affirmed that circSMEK1 facilitates NP inflammation and microglia M1 polarization by modulating miR-216a-5p/TXNIP axis, providing a new molecular target for the future treatment of NP.

Fiber-optic sensor for iodine based on a covalently immobilized aminobenzanthrone Schiff base.

An aminobenzanthrone Schiff base has been synthesized as a new fluorescence carrier for the preparation of an optical chemical sensor for iodine. The response of the sensor is based on fluorescence quenching of the aminobenzanthrone Schiff base by iodine. The sensor shows a linear response toward iodine in the range of 1.0 x 10(-5) to 1.0 x 10(-3) mol l(-1), with a detection limit of 6.0 x 10(-6) mol l(-1) at pH 8.0. Leaching of the fluorophore from the membrane is effectively hindered by covalent immobilization, resulting in an enhanced sensor lifetime. In addition to satisfactory reproducibility and reversibility, the prepared sensor exhibits sufficient selectivity toward iodine with respect to other coexisting ions. The sensor has been applied to the determination of iodine in common salt samples.