[Intraoperative neuromonitoring in surgery of cervical neurogenic tumors].

Objective: To investigate the application value of intraoperative motor nerve monitoring in cervical neurogenic tumor surgery. Methods: The efficacy of intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) was analyzed retrospectively in 18 patients, including 6 males and 12 females, aged from 15 to 74 years, treated in Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University from June 2019 to September 2022 who underwent total cystectomy of cervical neurogenic tumors under intraoperative nerve monitoring. Results: All 18 patients had complete tumor removal, including 8 patients with tumors from the vagus nerve and 10 patients with tumors from the brachial plexus nerve. Postoperative nerve functions were normal in patients with tumors from brachial plexus nerve, and incomplete vocal cord paralysis occurred in 2 patients with tumors from vagus vagus nerve. The total incidence of motor nerve injury was 11.1% (2/18). All patients were followed up for 6 to 45 months, with no tumor recurrence. Conclusion: Intraoperative neuromonitoring has significant values in surgery of cervical neurogenic tumors, which is helpful to remove completely the tumors on the basis of protecting the nerve functions to the maximum extent.

[Study on lung injury induced by subchronic exposure to crotonaldehyde in male rats].

Objective: To observe the lung injury of male rats induced by sub-chronic exposure to crotonaldehyde, and to explore the possible mechanism of injury. Methods: Forty SPF male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group and 3 groups in each group, and each group received 0.0, 2.5, 4.5, 8.5 mg/kg body weight crotonaldehyde solution for continuous intragastric administration. 120 d, once a day. After the end of the exposure, the body weight of the rats was measured, and the lung tissues were quickly separated after cervical dislocation. The organ coefficients were calculated and histopathological examination was performed to determine malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione. Peroxidase (GSH-Px) content; ELISA was used to measure interleukin (IL) -6, IL-1ß, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) -α in lung tissues. Results: Compared with the control group, the weight gain of the rats in the 4.5 and 8.5 mg/kg exposure groups was small, and the lung weight and organ coefficient of the exposed group decreased, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). In the exposed group, the lung tissue structure was disordered, the alveolar wall was thickened, and inflammatory cell infiltration was observed. Compared with the control group, the MDA activity in the serum of the rats in the 4.5 mg/kg and 8.5 mg/kg groups increased, and the SOD and GSH-Px activities decreased, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). TNF-α levels in the lung tissues of rats exposed to 4.5 mg/kg and 8.5 mg/kg, and levels of (IL) -6 and IL-1ß in the lungs of rats in the 2.5, 4.5, and 8.5 mg/kg groups. Significantly increased, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) . Conclusion: Crotonaldehyde may induce inflammatory and oxidative stress damage in rats by up-regulating the expression of inflammatory factors in lung tissue and changing the oxidative balance.

Measurement of the toroidal radiation asymmetry during massive gas injection triggered disruptions on J-TEXT.

Disruptions have the potential to cause severe damage to large tokamaks like ITER. The mitigation of disruption damage is one of the essential issues for the tokamak. Massive gas injection (MGI) is a technique in which large amounts of a noble gas are injected into the plasma in order to safely radiate the plasma energy evenly over the entire plasma-facing wall. However, the radiated energy during the disruption triggered by massive gas injection is found to be toroidally asymmetric. In order to investigate the spatial and temporal structures of the radiation asymmetry, the radiated power diagnostics for the J-TEXT tokamak have been upgraded. The multi-channel arrays of absolute extreme ultraviolet photodiodes have been upgraded at four different toroidal positions to investigate the radiation asymmetries during massive gas injection. It is found that the toroidal asymmetry is associated with plasma properties and MGI induced MHD activities.

MiR-455-3p acts as a prognostic marker and inhibits the proliferation and invasion of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by targeting FAM83F.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the current study was to elucidate the role of miR-455-3p in the pathogenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its prognostic value in patients with ESCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Expression levels of miR-455-3p and FAM83F mRNA in ESCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were detected by quantitative RT-PCR. The X2-test was used to assess miR-455-3p expression on clinicopathological parameters. The association with overall survival of patients was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Cox's multivariate regression model was performed to identify independent prognostic factors of overall survival. The effect of miR-455-3p on proliferation was evaluated by   kit-8 (CCK-8), and cell invasion was evaluated by transwell assays. The molecular target of miR-455-3p was identified using a computer algorithm and confirmed experimentally. Furthermore, the effect of miR-455-3p up-regulation on FAM83F expression was examined by Western blot. RESULTS: miRNA-455-3p was significantly increased in ESCC tissues and cell lines. Also, miR-455-3p expression was significantly associated with histological grade, lymph nodes metastasis and clinical stage (all p < 0.05). The patients with low miR-455-3p expression had shorter survival time than those with high miR-455-3p expression. Furthermore, univariate and multivariate analysis identified low miR-455-3p expression as an unfavorable prognostic factor for overall survival. Moreover, transfection with the miR-455-3p mimic enhanced the cell proliferation and invasion in ESCC cells. Luciferase reporter assays confirmed that miR-455-3p binding to the 3'-UTR regions of FAM83F inhibited the expression of FAM83F in ESCC cells. Western blot confirmed that overexpression of miR-455-3p resulted in down-regulation of FAM83F in ESCC cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that miR-455-3p plays an anti-oncogenic role in the development of ESCC by downregulation of FAM83F and could be an independent marker for predicting the clinical outcome of ESCC patients.

Influence of gossypol acetic acid on the growth of human adenoid cystic carcinoma ACC-M cells and the expression of DNA methyltransferase 1.

We investigated the effects of gossypol acetic acid (GAA) on the proliferation, apoptosis, and expression of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) mRNA in human adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC-M) cells in vitro. The proliferation and apoptosis of ACC-M cells after treatment with different concentrations of GAA were detected using Cell Counting Kit-8 and flow cytometry, respectively. DNMT1 mRNA expression was measured by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The growth of ACC-M cells was inhibited after treatment with GAA for 24, 48, and 72 h. The apoptotic rates of ACC-M cells after treatment with GAA for 72 h were higher than those of control cells (without treatment) (P < 0.05). DNMT1 mRNA expression in ACC-M after treatment with GAA for 72 h was lower than that in control cells (P < 0.05). GAA had inhibitory effects on the proliferation and induced apoptosis of human ACC-M cells, while GAA also reduced the expression level of DNMT1 mRNA in ACC-M cells.

Designing of the massive gas injection valve for the joint Texas experimental tokamak.

In order to mitigate the negative effects of the plasma disruption a massive gas injection (MGI) valve is designed for the joint Texas experimental tokamak. The MGI valve is based on the eddy-current repulsion mechanism. It has a fueling volume of 30 ml. The piston of the MGI valve is made by non-ferromagnetic material, so it can be installed close to the vacuum vessel which has a strong toroidal magnetic field. A diode is use to prevent current oscillation in the discharge circuit. The drive coil of the valve is installed outside the gas chamber. The opening characteristics and the gas flow of the MGI valve have been tested by a 60 l vacuum chamber. Owing to the large electromagnetic force the reaction time of the valve is shorter than 0.3 ms. Duration for the opening of the MGI valve is in the order of 10 ms.