Correlation between KLK6 expression and the clinicopathological features of glioma.

AIM OF THE STUDY: We measured the impact of changing KLK6 expression levels on the pathological grade of gliomas and on proliferation rate, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis in the U251 glioblastoma cell line. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The expression of KLK6 in 35 brain glioma tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues was measured using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the relationship between KLK6 expression and pathological grades was analysed. RESULTS: The KLK6 expression in U251 cells was silenced by a specific siRNA, and the effects on proliferation, the cell cycle, and apoptosis were compared to wild type cells. Expression of KLK6 was downregulated in gliomas relative to matched noncancerous tissue. There was no obvious relationship between patient sex, pathological grade, or tumour classification and the expression of KLK6. In the U251 cell line, cell proliferation was enhanced and the fractions of cells in the G2 and S phases were increased by siRNA-mediated KLK6 silencing. CONCLUSIONS: Expression of KLK6 inhibits tumour growth. Decreased KLK6 expression may be a possible risk factor for glioma.

Fibrinogen to albumin ratio, a novel serum indicator for evaluating the severity of preeclampsia: A single-center retrospective study.

Preeclampsia (PE) is a disorder that affects approximately 5% to 10% of pregnant women. Timely and accurate identification of PE and assessment of its severity are crucial. Therefore, it is necessary to develop predictive indicators which are easily measured in routine antenatal examinations to enable the early detection of PE and assess its severity. We designed a single-center retrospective study in our daily work to assess whether the serum levels of fibrinogen to albumin ratio (FAR), fibrinogen (Fib), albumin (ALB), prothrombin time, calcium (Ca), activated partial thrombin time, creatinine (Cr), D-dimer(D-D), platelet, white blood cell, neutrophil, and lymphocyte counts could help in assessing PE and evaluating its severity. Our findings showed that the serum levels of FAR, Cr, Fib, and D-D were significantly higher in the severe preeclampsia group (sPE) compared with the control and mild preeclampsia groups, whereas the levels of ALB and Ca were significantly lower in sPE patients. In addition, no differences were found between the control and PE groups in terms of prothrombin time, activated partial thrombin time, platelet, white blood cell, neutrophils, and lymphocytes counts. Furthermore, FAR is a novel and better indicator for evaluating the severity of PE, which has not been reported before. And it is an independent risk factor for the development of sPE. In conclusion, the serum levels of FAR, Cr, D-D and Fib were positively correlated with PE, whereas ALB and Ca were negatively correlated with PE severity, which might be valuable in evaluating the severity of PE. FAR proved to be a feasible diagnostic marker for sPE with sensitivity and specificity comparable to those of ALB and Fib.

Involvement of canonical Wnt/ß-catenin signaling in the extinction of auditory fear conditioning in male mice.

The Wnt signaling pathway plays a critical role in activity-dependent plasticity processes such as long-term potentiation, learning and memory. However, the role of the Wnt signaling pathway in adult extinction is still not well understood. In this study, we aimed to investigate the roles and mechanisms of the canonical Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway in the extinction of auditory fear conditioning (AFC) in adult mice. We found that AFC extinction training induced a significant decrease in p-GSK3ß and nuclear ß-catenin in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Micro-infusion of the canonical Wnt inhibitor Dkk1 into the mPFC before AFC extinction training facilitated AFC extinction, suggesting that the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway is involved in AFC extinction. To determine how Dkk1 affects canonical Wnt/ß-catenin signaling in AFC extinction, the protein levels of p-GSK3ß and ß-catenin were measured. We found that DKK1 produces a decrease in p-GSK3ß and ß-catenin. Moreover, we found that upregulating the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway using LiCl (2 µg/side) impaired AFC extinction. These findings may help us understand the role of canonical Wnt signaling pathway in memory extinction and suggest that appropriate manipulating the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway might be a suitable way of therapeutically treating psychiatric disorders.

Hypoxia-Induced Upregulation of lncRNA ELFN1-AS1 Promotes Colon Cancer Growth and Metastasis Through Targeting TRIM14 via Sponging miR-191-5p.

Hypoxia is identified as one of the microenvironmental features of most solid tumors and is involved in tumor progression. In the present research, we demonstrate that lncRNA extracellular leucine rich repeat and fibronectin type III domain-containing 1-antisense RNA 1 (ELFN1-AS1) is upregulated by hypoxia in colon cancer cells. Knockdown of ELFN1-AS1 in hypoxic colon cancer cells can reduce cell proliferation and restore the invasion to non-hypoxic levels. Fluorescence in situ hybridization results show that ELFN1-AS1 is distributed in the cytoplasm of colon cancer cells, so we further analyze the potential targets for ELFN1-AS1 as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA). MiR-191-5p contains a binding sequence with ELFN1-AS1 and is downregulated by ELFN1-AS1 in colon cancer cells. Then, there is a binding site between miR-191-5p and the 3' untranslated region of tripartite motif TRIM 14 (TRIM14). The expression of TRIM14 is inhibited by ELFN1-AS1 siRNA or miR-191-5p mimics in LoVo and HT29 cells. The treatment of the miR-191-5p inhibitor in ELFN1-AS1 knockdown cells can significantly increase cell proliferation and invasion ability. Overexpression of TRIM14 in miR-191-5p-mimic-treated cells can rescue the inhibition of proliferation and invasion caused by miR-191-5p mimics. In conclusion, ELFN1-AS1 operates as a downstream target of hypoxia, promotes proliferation and invasion, and inhibits apoptosis through upregulating TRIM14 by sponging miR-191-5p in the colon cancer cells. Our results enrich our understanding of colon cancer progression and provide potential targets for clinical treatment of colon cancer.

Silencing of PRDX2 Inhibits the Proliferation and Invasion of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells.

Peroxiredoxin 2 (PRDX2), a member of the peroxiredoxin family of antioxidant enzymes, has been revealed to be an important player in cancer progression. However, the biological role of PRDX2 in the progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is poor reported. In the present study, the loss-of-function experiments were performed to investigate the specific role of PRDX2 in the growth and invasion of NSCLC. The results revealed that knockdown of PRDX2 by siRNA interference significantly suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of A549 and H1299 cells, as well as diminished the activity of MMP9. Additionally, the decrease in PRDX2 expression significantly promoted apoptosis in NSCLC cells by downregulating expression of Bcl-2 and upregulating the expression of Bax, cleaved caspase 3 and cleaved caspase 9, but had no significant effect on the apoptosis of normal lung epithelial cells BEAS-2B. Moreover, PRDX2 inhibitor also inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of A549 cells and promoted apoptosis. Further, our data demonstrated that silencing of PRDX2 markedly reduced the phosphorylation of Akt and mTOR and expression of downstream proteins Cyclin D1 and p70S6k. In conclusion, our findings indicate that PRDX2 exerts a prooncogenic role in the progression of NSCLC and might be a potential therapeutic target for NSCLC treatment.

Depressive-Like Behaviors Induced by Chronic Social Defeat Stress Are Associated With HDAC7 Reduction in the Nucleus Accumbens.

Persistent symptoms of depression indicate the adaptive involvement of stable molecules in the brain that may be manifested at the level of chromatin remodeling, such as histone acetylation. Former studies have identified alterations in histone acetylation and deacetylation in several animal models about depression. However, the specific histone deacetylases related with depression are needed to be explored. Here, social avoidance behaviors, anxiety-, and depression-like behaviors were all found in mice suffered from chronic social defeat stress. Moreover, we also discovered that the amount of the class II histone deacetylase, HDAC7 rather than HDAC2, was significantly decreased in the nucleus accumbens of defeated mice, which suggested that HDAC7 might be a crucial histone deacetylase in a chronic social defeat stress model. Our data showed that the depressive-like behaviors induced by chronic social defeat stress were associated with HDAC7 reduction in nucleus accumbens. HDAC7 might be a promising therapeutic target for depression.

Protective effect of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides on oxidative damage in skeletal muscle of exhaustive exercise rats.

The aim of this study was to determine the modulatory effect of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) on the oxidative stress induced by an exhaustive exercise. 32 male Wistar rats were taken in the study. The experiment was a 30-day exhaustive exercise program. We determined the lipid peroxidation, glycogen levels, and anti-oxidant enzyme activities in skeletal muscle. The results demonstrated that L. barbarum polysaccharides administration significantly increases glycogen level and anti-oxidant enzyme activities, and decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) level and creatine kinase activities. In conclusion, L. barbarum polysaccharides administration can significantly decrease the oxidative stress induced by the exhaustive exercise.

EFFECT OF "TAI CHI" EXERCISE ON ANTIOXIDANT ENZYMES ACTIVITIES AND IMMUNITY FUNCTION IN MIDDLE-AGED PARTICIPANTS.

BACKGROUND: "Tai Chi" is a useful exercise that increases physical strength and relax the mind. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study investigates effect of "tai chi" exercise on antioxidant enzymes activities and immunity function in participants. These participants were randomly divided into two groups: "tai chi" exercise group (n=25) and control group (n=25). The participants in the "tai chi" group performed "tai chi" exercise for 1 h every day. The participants in the control group didn't perform "tai chi". The exercise lasts for half a year. RESULTS: "tai chi" exercise increased antioxidant enzymes activities and improve immunity function in participants. CONCLUSION: "tai chi" exercise is useful for health-keep of participants.

Oncocytic carcinoma of the salivary gland with thymoma: A case report and review of the literature.

Oncocytic carcinoma (OC) arising in the salivary gland is a very rare tumor with only 32 previously reported cases. In this report, we describe a novel case of oncocytic carcinoma with associated thymoma, which arose in the left parotid gland of a 66-year-old male with a history of a painless left parotid mass for 1 year. Oncocytes are large, polygonal cells that are characterized by marked cellular atypia, frequent mitoses, wide eosinophilic granular cytoplasm, a central nucleus and a prominent nucleolus. The follow-up data showed no evidence of recurrence and the patient is in a good health 20 months after the surgery. In the current case, the patient had not only OC but also thymoma, which is exceedingly rare and may represent the first documented case in the literature.

[Oxidative stress status in patients with various degrees of chronic renal insufficiency].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the changes of lipid peroxidation and antioxidative enzyme activities of chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) and to explore their effects on the pathogenesis of CRI. METHODS: Serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) in 36 non-dialyzed patients with various degrees and 12 hemodialyzed (HD) were determined with the method of chemistry colorimetry. RESULTS: Thirty-six CRI and 12 HD patients included in the study had higher SOD activities when compared with the controls [(110.30+/-18.60) kNU/L]. They also had lower serum GSH-Px activity than the controls [(120.63+/-27.57) x 10(4)U/L]. Serum MDA levels in the patients were higher than that in the controls [(4.06+/-0.67) micromol/L]. Serum SOD, GSH-Px and MDA concentrations in 36 non-dialyzed patients with various degrees were also correlated with creatinine clearance (r(G)=0.68, P<0.01; r(M)=-0.52, P<0.01; r(S)=-0.44, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Free radicals, lipid peroxidation and the abnormality in antioxidative system may play an important role in the pathogenesis of CRI and correlated with impaired renal function, and that they can be regarded as important clinical indexes to infect the severity of chronic renal insufficiency.

Utility and necessity of repeat testing of critical values in the clinical chemistry laboratory.

CONTEXT: Routine repeat testing of critical values is a long-standing practice in many clinical laboratories; however, its usefulness and necessity remain to be empirically established and no regulatory requirements yet exist for verification of the critical value results obtained by repeat analysis. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether repeat testing of critical values is useful and necessary in a clinical chemistry laboratory. METHODS: A total of 601 chemistry critical values (potassium, n = 255; sodium, n = 132; calcium, n = 108; glucose, n = 106) obtained from 72,259 routine clinical chemistry specimens were repeat tested. The absolute value and the percentage of difference between the two testing runs were calculated for each of the four critical values and then compared with the allowable error limit put forth in the College of American Pathologists (CAP). RESULTS: Among the repeat data for the 601 critical values, a total of 24 showed large differences between the initial result and the repeated result which exceeded the CAP limits for allowable error. The number and rates (%) of large differences for within and outside the analytical measurement range (AMR) were 12 (2.1%) and 12 (41.4%), respectively. For the 572 critical values within the AMR for each test category, the mean absolute difference (mmol/L) and difference(%) between the two testing runs were: potassium, 0.1 mmol/L (2.7%); sodium, 2.1 mmol/L (1.7%); calcium, 0.05 mmol/L (3.0%); glucose, 0.18 mmol/L (2.6%). CONCLUSIONS: When the initial chemistry critical values are within the AMR, repeated testing does not improve accuracy and is therefore unnecessary. When the initial chemistry critical values are outside the AMR, however, the benefit of repeated testing justifies its performance and makes it necessary. Performing repeat clinical testing on a case-by-case, rather than routine, basis can improve patient care by delivering critical values more rapidly while providing savings on reagent costs associated with unnecessary repeat testing.