Upregulation of lincRNA-p21 in thoracic aortic aneurysms is involved in the regulation of proliferation and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells by activating TGF-ß1 signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVE: Long intergenic noncoding RNA-p21 (lincRNA-p21) has been proved in the pathogenesis of aortic aneurysms, while its functionality in thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) and the mechanism of function remains unclear. Therefore our study aimed to investigate the role of lincRNA-p21 in TAA. METHODS: Aortic media specimens and blood samples were collected from both patients with TAA and healthy controls. Expression of lincRNA-p21 in those tissues was detected by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Diagnostic values of lincRNA-p21 in aortic media and blood for TAA were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. LincRNA-p21 overexpression human vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) were prepared and the effects of lincRNA-p21 overexpression on cell proliferation and apoptosis were explored by cell counting kit-8 assay and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay, respectively. Expression of lincRNA-p21 and transforming growth factor ß1 (TGF-ß1) in VSMCs with different treatment was detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis, respectively. RESULTS: Expression of lincRNA-p21 in aortic media tissues and blood was significantly upregulated in TAA patients than in healthy controls. Expression of lincRNA-p21 in aortic media and blood can be used to effectively distinguish TAA patients form healthy controls. LincRNA-p21 overexpression inhibited proliferation and promoted apoptosis of VSMCs, while TGF-ß1 inhibitor reduced those effects. LincRNA-p21 overexpression upregulated TGF-ß1 expression, while TGF-ß1 activator showed no significant effects on lincRNA-p21 expression in VSMC. CONCLUSION: LincRNA-p21 participates in TAA by regulating the proliferation and apoptosis of VSMCs through the activation of TGF-ß1 signaling pathway.

Risk factors for deep venous thrombosis of lower limbs in postoperative neurosurgical patients.

OBJECTIVES: To detect the risk factors for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in patients after neurosurgery. METHODS: Three hundred and seventy-six patients treated in the department of neurosurgery of our hospital from February 2013 to November 2015 were reviewed retrospectively. The clinical data including age, gender, hospital stay, operation time, occupation type, hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, smoking status, drinking status, postoperative exercises, malignant tumor, and postoperative hormone or dehydrating agent were collected. RESULTS: In this study, 52 patients were included in the DVT group and 295 patients in the Non-DVT group. There was significant difference in age, hypertension, occupation type, malignant tumors, operation time, smoking status, and postoperative exercises between the two groups (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in gender, drinking status, coronary heart disease, diabetes, hospital stay, and postoperative hormone or dehydrating agent (p>0.05). In multivariate analysis, age, malignant tumor, hypertension were independent risk factors, while physical labour and postoperative exercises were protective factor for DVT. CONCLUSION: The postoperative patients with older age, malignant tumor or hypertension should be paid high attention to prevent DVT, and postoperative exercises should be selected as precautionary measures.