Postoperative shed autologous blood reinfusion does not decrease the need for allogeneic blood transfusion in unilateral and bilateral total knee arthroplasty.

Postoperative shed autologous blood reinfusion techniques have been used for decades in total knee arthroplasty (TKA), but the effectiveness of this procedure is still a matter of debate. This multicenter retrospective study investigated the medical records of patients who underwent unilateral and bilateral TKA from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017 in three hospitals. According to whether postoperative shed autologous blood reinfusion was used, the patients were divided into the control group and the shed autologous blood reinfusion group. The volume of perioperative infusion of red blood cells and plasma, the blood transfusion-related costs, and the postoperative hospital stay were compared between the two groups of patients. A total of 200 unilateral and 74 bilateral TKA were included after successful matching. Among the patients who underwent unilateral TKA, the control group and the shed autologous blood reinfusion group had 95 and 91 patients, respectively, who received allogeneic blood infusion (P = 0.268). There was no significant difference in the number of units of allogeneic red blood cells infused (P = 0.154), while the transfusion-related cost was increased (P<0.001). The same phenomena were observed over the patients underwent bilateral TKA. Shed autologous blood reinfusion does not reduce the need for infusing allogeneic red blood cells. In addition, the procedure increases patient expense and may also lead to an extended postoperative hospital stay.

The yellow specialist: dronefly Eristalis tenax prefers different yellow colours for landing and proboscis extension.

Droneflies, imagoes of the hoverfly Eristalis tenax, are known to possess a preference for yellow flowers, i.e. they prefer to visit yellow flowers and prefer to extend the proboscis to yellow colours. In this study we disentangle these colour preferences by investigating the landing reaction and proboscis reflex with particular reference to intensity, spectral purity and dominant wavelength of colour stimuli and their UV reflection properties. In multiple-choice tests, naïve and non-trained flies prefer to land on yellow colours independent of their UV reflection characteristics, but also accept blue, white and pink colours if they absorb UV and are of sufficient brightness. Flies trained to land on colours other than yellow still prefer yellow colours to some extent. Moreover, the flies prefer bright over dark yellow colours even if trained to dark yellow ones. The flies refuse to land on dark colours of all hues. Naïve flies exhibit the proboscis reflex only to pure yellow pollen. These experiments show for the first time that landing in droneflies is triggered by a yellow colour independent of its UV reflection properties, but proboscis extension is triggered by yellow colours strongly absorbing blue and UV. The ability to discriminate colours is better than predicted by the categorical colour vision model. The colour preferences in E. tenax represent a fine-tuned ability to visit yellow flowers displaying a UV bull's-eye pattern.

Elevated microRNA-155 promotes foam cell formation by targeting HBP1 in atherogenesis.

AIM: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in inflammatory responses of macrophages. However, the function of miRNAs in macrophage-derived foam cell formation is unclear. Here, we investigated the role of miRNAs in macrophage-derived foam cell formation and atherosclerotic development. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR), we found that the level of miR-155 expression was increased significantly in both plasma and macrophages from atherosclerosis (ApoE(-/-)) mice. We identified that oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) induced the expression and release of miR-155 in macrophages, and that miR-155 was required to mediate oxLDL-induced lipid uptake and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production of macrophages. Furthermore, ectopic overexpression and knockdown experiments identified that HMG box-transcription protein1 (HBP1) is a novel target of miR-155. Knockdown of HBP1 enhanced lipid uptake and ROS production in oxLDL-stimulated macrophages, and overexpression of HBP1 repressed these effects. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis identified three YY1 binding sites in the promoter region of pri-miR-155 and verified YY1 binding directly to its promoter region. Detailed analysis showed that the YY1/HDAC2/4 complex negatively regulated the expression of miR-155 to suppress oxLDL-induced foam cell formation. Importantly, inhibition of miR-155 by a systemically delivered antagomiR-155 decreased clearly lipid-loading in macrophages and reduced atherosclerotic plaques in ApoE(-/-) mice. Moreover, we observed that the level of miR-155 expression was up-regulated in CD14(+) monocytes from patients with coronary heart disease. CONCLUSION: Our findings reveal a new regulatory pathway of YY1/HDACs/miR-155/HBP1 in macrophage-derived foam cell formation during early atherogenesis and suggest that miR-155 is a potential therapeutic target for atherosclerosis.

[New method of processing on Rhei Radix Et Rhizoma and study on quality control of its processing products].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a simple, rapid and usable new method of processing on Rhei Radix Et Rhizoma and the quality control standard on its processing products. METHODS: The studies of processing on Rhei Radix Et Rhizoma were proceed using yellow rice wine as solvent, through spray, soften and dry at 60-70 degrees C. The contents of total and uncombined chrysophanol and emodin in multi-Rhei Radix Et Rhizoma and its processing products were determined by HPLC. RESULTS: The new method of processing on Rhei Radix Et Rhizoma was simple, rapid and usable. The contents of uncombined chrysophanol and emodin in its processing products was 80%. CONCLUSION: This study provides a new method of processing on Rhei Radix Et Rhizoma and quality control standard on its processing products.