Endoscopic central lymph node dissection of thyroid cancer via chest-breast approach: results, indications, and strategies.

BACKGROUND: Surgery for thyroid cancer via endoscopic approach was still controversial. Herein, we report the indications, strategies for operative techniques, as well as results for endoscopic central lymph node dissection of thyroid cancer via chest-breast approach (ETCB-CLND). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the cases of DTC, whom underwent ETCB-CLND from January 2013 to June 2020. Three hundred and twenty-three cases underwent ETCB-CLND (endoscopic group) and 267 cases underwent open surgery (open group). General characteristic, surgical results, thyroglobulin (Tg), radioactive iodine uptake (RAIU), radioactive technetium uptake (RATU), radionuclide imaging of the thyroid residual area (RITRA), and radionuclide imaging of suspicious lymph nodes metastasis (RISLNM) were analyzed and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The age of the endoscopic group were lower than that of the open group. The operation time of lobectomy in endoscopic group were longer than that in open group. The gender distribution (P = 0.831), operation time of total thyroidectomy (P = 0.311), intraoperative blood loss (P = 0.672), postoperative hospital stay (P = 0.852), tumor size (P = 0.259), number of cases of lymph node metastasis (P = 0.618), number of dissected lymph nodes (P = 0.681), number of metastatic lymph nodes (P = 0.723), and complications (P = 0.749) did not differ significantly between groups, nor did the surgical range (P = 0.661), Tg at 1 month (P = 0.61) and 1 year (P = 0.67) after surgery, before (P = 0.589) and after (P = 0.593) radioiodine therapy, RAIU-2 h/24 h (P = 0.906/0.582), RATU (P = 0.532), (99mTc 15 min:P = 0.503; 131I 24 h:P = 0.377; 131I 3d:P = 0.919), RISLNM (none: P = 0.887; central: P = 0.630; lateral: P = 0.659). CONCLUSION: The rational and normative application of the endoscopic technique in central lymph node dissection of DTC is safe, feasible, and consistent with the principle of radical tumor cure for selected cases by well-trained surgeons.

Environmentally friendly automated line for recovering aluminium and lithium iron phosphate components of spent lithium-iron phosphate batteries.

Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries contain metals, toxic electrolytes, organic chemicals and plastics that can lead to serious safety and environmental problems when they are improperly disposed of. The published literature on recovering spent LFP batteries mainly focuses on policy-making and conceptual design. The production line of recovering spent LFP batteries and its detailed operation are rarely reported. A set of automatic line without negative impact to the environment for recycling spent LFP batteries at industrial scale was investigated in this study. It includes crushing, pneumatic separation, sieving, and poison gas treatment processes. The optimum retaining time of materials in the crusher is 3 minutes. The release rate is the highest when the load of the impact crusher is 800 g. An air current separator (ACS) was designed to separate LFP from aluminium (Al) foil and LFP powder mixture. Movement behaviour of LFP powder and Al foil in the ACS were analysed, and the optimized operation parameter (35.46 m/s) of air current speed was obtained through theoretical analysis and experiments. The weight contents of an Al foil powder collector from vibrating screen-3 and LFP powder collector from bag-type dust collector are approximately 38.7% and 52.4%, respectively. The economic cost of full manual dismantling is higher than the recovery production line. This recycling system provides a feasible method for recycling spent LFP batteries.

Anti-inflammatory effect of miR-125a-5p on experimental optic neuritis by promoting the differentiation of Treg cells.

Methylprednisolone pulse treatment is currently used for optic neuritis. It can speed visual recovery, but does not improve the ultimate visual outcomes. Recent studies have reported that miR-125a-5p has immunomodulatory effects on autoimmune diseases. However, it remains unclear whether miR-125a-5p has effects on optic neuritis. In this study, we used adeno-associated virus to overexpress or silence miR-125a-5p in mice. We found that silencing miR-125a-5p increased the latency of visual evoked potential and aggravated inflammation of the optic nerve. Overexpression of miR-125a-5p suppressed inflammation of the optic nerve, protected retinal ganglion cells, and increased the percentage of Treg cells. Our findings show that miR-125a-5p exhibits anti-inflammatory effects through promoting the differentiation of Treg cells.

miR-214 promotes periodontal ligament stem cell osteoblastic differentiation by modulating Wnt/ß­catenin signaling.

The canonical Wnt/ß­catenin signaling is important in the differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells into osteoblasts. Accumulating evidence suggests that the expression of ß­catenin is, in part, regulated by specific microRNAs (miRNAs). The aim of the present study was to investigate the putative roles of miRNAs in osteoblast differentiation. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) arrays were used to identify miRNAs that were differentially expressed between differentiated and non­differentiated periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs), and reverse transcription­quantitative PCR (RT­qPCR) was used for validation. Since miR­214 was revealed to be significantly downregulated during PDLSC differentiation, its function was further investigated via silencing and overexpression. In addition, osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs was evaluated at 10 and 21 days following induction, using Alizarin red staining and RT­qPCR analysis for mRNA expression levels of the osteogenic differentiation markers alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteocalcin and bone sialoprotein. Furthermore, the potential target genes of miR­214 were investigated using a dual­luciferase reporter assay, RT­qPCR and western blot analysis, whereas a TOPflash/FOPflash reporter plasmid system followed by a luciferase assay was used to examine the effects of miR­214 on Wnt/ß­catenin signaling. The present results demonstrated that miR­214 was significantly downregulated during the osteoblastic differentiation of PDLSCs. Notably, its overexpression inhibited PDLSC differentiation, whereas its knockdown promoted PDLSC differentiation, as revealed by alterations in mRNA expression of osteoblast­specific genes and ALP. In addition, miR­214 was demonstrated to directly interact with the 3'­untranslated region of the ß­catenin gene CTNNB1, and suppressed Wnt/ß­catenin signaling through the inhibition of ß­catenin. The results of the present study suggested that miR­214 may participate in the regulation of the Wnt/ß­catenin signaling pathway, and may have potential as a candidate target for the development of preventive or therapeutic agents for the treatment of patients with osteogenic disorders.