Analysis of visual quality after multifocal intraocular lens implantation in post-LASIK cataract patients.

With the development of refractive corneal surgery, excimer laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) has become a common refractive surgery procedure. However, post-LASIK patients are at increased risk of developing cataracts as they age and often require IOL implantation. The choice of IOLs is particularly important for these patients, who have smaller residual refractive error and have higher requirements for post-cataract vision recovery and visual quality than the general population. Multifocal IOLs are widely used in clinical practice for patients with high visual acuity needs, such as cataract patients after refractive keratomileusis, due to their advantages of providing excellent near and distance visual acuity; however, compared to monofocal IOLs, multifocal IOLs can lead to postoperative problems related to visual quality such as increased higher order aberrations and decreased contrast sensitivity. Therefore, whether multifocal IOLs have advantages for post-LASIK cataract patients, such as improving the visual quality of such patients, has attracted attention. In this paper, we analyze the current status of research on the implantation of multifocal IOLs in post-LASIK cataract patients by domestic and foreign experts, review and summarize the relevant literature, and propose further discussion in the context of the actual situation of postoperative visual quality and vision recovery.

Association between thermal response and endogenous dopamine: Step-change environments in winter.

Temperature step change is the typical transient thermal environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the association of subjective and objective parameters in a step-change environment, including thermal sensation vote (TSV), thermal comfort vote (TCV), mean skin temperature (MST) and endogenous dopamine (DA). Three temperature step changes defined as I3 (15 °C-18 °C to 15 °C), I9 (15 °C-24 °C to 15 °C) and I15 (15 °C-30 °C to 15 °C) were designed for this experiment. Eight male and eight female healthy subjects who participated in the experiment reported thermal perception (TSV and TCV). Skin temperatures of six body parts and DA were measured. Results show that the inverted U-shaped in TSV and TCV was deviated by seasonal factors of the experiment. The deviation direction of TSV in winter was to the warm sensation side, which was opposite to the inherent cold and hot impression of people in winter and summer. The association between dimensionless dopamine (DA*), TSV and MST were described as follows: DA* was the U-shaped change with exposure times when MST was not greater than 31 °C, and TSV was at -2 and -1, and DA* increased with exposure times when MST was greater than 31 °C, and TSV was at 0, 1 and 2. The changes in the body heat storage and autonomous thermal regulation under temperature step changes may potentially be related to the concentration of DA. The human state on thermal nonequilibrium and stronger thermal regulation would correspond to a higher concentration of DA. This work is conducive to exploring the human regulation mechanism in a transient environment.

Calculation method of mean skin temperature weighted by temperature sensitivity of various parts of human body.

Skin temperature is an important physiological parameter, and its calculation methods are varied, and the results are different. At present, the area weighting method is mostly used to calculate the mean skin temperature. However, the skin of various parts of the human body has different degrees of sensitivity to temperature changes. Based on this, this article proposes two calculation methods using the weighting of the cold and heat sensitivity coefficients. This article conducted experiments with different ambient temperatures (18 °C/20 °C/22 °C), clothing thermal resistances (1.10 clo/1.31 clo/1.44 clo), and activity levels (sitting/standing/walking) to obtain the subjects' local skin temperature. And then compared and analyzed the calculation results of the above-mentioned two sensitivity coefficient methods and the traditional area weighting method. The results found that there is no significant difference between the two sensitivity coefficient methods proposed in this article (the absolute difference is up to 0.09 °C, and the relative difference is less than 0.4%), but there is a certain difference with the traditional area weighting method. The ANOVA shows that the deviation is mainly affected by the ambient temperature (P < 0.01), and the thermal resistance of clothing and activity level have no significant effects (P > 0.05). By studying the relationship between mean skin temperature and thermal sensation voting, it is found that when the human skin temperature changes due to environmental temperature changes, the mean skin temperature and thermal sensation calculated by new method have a higher linearity (correlation coefficient R2 > 0.92), and the slope is larger, which can better reflect the influence of thermal environment changes on the human body's thermal sensation.

Glycyrrhizin, an HMGB1 inhibitor, Suppresses Interleukin-1ß-Induced Inflammatory Responses in Chondrocytes from Patients with Osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is increased in osteoarthritis (OA) tissue and chondrocytes stimulated with interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß). Suppression of HMGB1 expression is correlated with reduced inflammatory responses induced by IL-1ß. This study aimed to investigate how inhibition of HMGB1 by glycyrrhizin might affect inflammatory responses and viability of OA patient-derived chondrocytes treated with IL-1ß. DESIGN: The amounts of HMGB1 in the cartilage tissue and synovial fluid in patients with OA were assessed by Western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Chondrocytes were extracted from OA patients and maintained in culture. The impact of glycyrrhizin on IL-1ß-induced cell toxicity and inflammatory mediators and cytokines, including prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), nitric oxide (NO), proinflammatory cytokines, and metalloproteases (MMPs), were assessed by ELISA, Western blot, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and the Griess reagent assay. RESULTS: We confirmed that HMGB1 was significantly upregulated in specimens acquired from patients with OA. HMGB1 inhibition by glycyrrhizin improved cell viability of chondrocytes treated with IL-1ß. Glycyrrhizin suppressed IL-1ß-induced upregulation of HMGB1 and inflammatory mediators and cytokines, including PGE2, NO, proinflammatory cytokines, and MMPs. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that glycyrrhizin may be a potential therapy for OA patients and these promising findings warrant further study for clinical application.

Inhibition of hsa_circ_0002570 suppresses high-glucose-induced angiogenesis and inflammation in retinal microvascular endothelial cells through miR-1243/angiomotin axis.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most severe microvascular complication of diabetes and a major cause of visual impairment and blindness. However, the treatment for DR is still limited. Our study aimed to explore the role of circular RNA_0002570 in DR. First, we predicted the potential microRNA and mRNA that could bind to circ_0002570 and identified the miR-1243 and angiomotin gene; then, we used RT-PCR and Western blot to measure their expression. Next, we evaluated the abilities of proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis in vitro in human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (hRMECs) by CCK-8, transwell assay, and tube formation assay, respectively. To analyze the relationship among miR-1243, circ_0002570, and angiomotin, RNA pull-down and luciferase assay were performed. Our results showed that, in DR patients and high-glucose-induced hRMECs, miR-1243, circ_0002570, and angiomotin were all abnormally expressed. MiR-1243 could directly and competitively bind to both circ_0002570 and angiomotin mRNA to inhibit their expression. Moreover, circ_0002570 suppressed the abilities of proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis in hRMECs induced by high glucose, which was dependent on miR-1243-angiomotin axis. Furthermore, circ_0002570 could upregulate angiomotin by targeting miR-1243 to mediate the dysfunction of hRMECs induced by high glucose. In conclusion, circ_0002570 might serve as a potential target for diagnosis and treatment for DR.

Soluble expression of recomb inant cMyc, Klf4, Oct4, and Sox2 proteins in bacteria and transduction into living cells.

AIM: To develop a new method to produce recombinant reprogramming proteins, cMyc, Klf4, Oct4, and Sox2, in soluble format with low cost for the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). METHODS: A short polypeptide sequence derived from the HIV trans-activator of transcription protein (TAT) and the nucleus localization signal (NLS) polypeptide were fused to the N terminus of the reprogramming proteins and they were constructed into pCold-SUMO vector which can extremely improve the solubility of recombinant proteins. Then these vector plasmids were transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3) Chaperone competent cells for amplification. The solubility of these recombinant proteins was determined by SDS-PAGE and Coomassie brilliant blue staining. The recombinant proteins were purified by Ni-NTA resin and identified by Western blot. The transduction of these proteins into HEK 293T cells were evaluated by immunofluorescence staining. RESULTS: These four reprogramming proteins could be produced in soluble format in pCold-SUMO expression vector system with the assistance of chaperone proteins in bacteria. The proteins were purified successfully with a purity of over 70% with a relative high transduction rate into 293 cells. CONCLUSION: The results in the present study indicate the four important reprogramming proteins, cMyc, Klf4, Oct4, and Sox2, can be produced in soluble format in bacteria with low cost. Our new method thus might be expected to greatly contribute to the future study of iPSCs.

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of a biphasic calcium phosphate scaffold coated with a native allogeneic extracellular matrix.

This study evaluated the osteogenic properties of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) scaffolds coated with extracellular matrix (ECM) derived in vitro from allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). BCP/ECM and plain BCP scaffolds were seeded with MSCs from F344 rats and cultured in osteoinductive medium. At 1, 7, 14 and 21 days post-seeding, assessments were made of cellularity, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and RNA expression of osteocalcin, bone sialoprotein and osteopontin. MSCs seeded on BCP/ECM scaffolds exhibited significantly higher cellularity, ALP activity and transcript levels for the three genes examined. For the in vivo study, BCP/ECM and BCP scaffolds with and without MSCs were implanted subcutaneously into F344 rats. After four weeks of implantation, the extent of new bone formation and tissue response were examined by histology and histomorphometry; histological evidence showed that the seeded cell scaffolds induced new bone formation at the ectopic site and a higher average ratio of bone in the cell-seeded BCP/ECM scaffold group. Results suggest that modification of the BCP scaffold with an in vitro generated allogeneic ECM can effectively enhance osteogenic properties in vitro and in vivo.

Molecular hydrogen regulates the expression of miR-9, miR-21 and miR-199 in LPS-activated retinal microglia cells.

AIM: To explore the potential mechanism of molecular hydrogen in the regulation of miRNA expression and signal-modulating activities. METHODS: Retinal microglia cells were activated by Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and then treated with hydrogen-saturated medium or normal medium without hydrogen. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression difference in miR-9, miR-21 and miR-199 between these two groups. Moreover, the expression of LPS-induced signaling proteins, including Myd88, IKK-ß, NF-κB, and PDCD4, were detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: The results demonstrated a marked down-regulation of miR-9 and miR-21 and up-regulation of miR-199 by hydrogen treatment; the expression of Myd88 and IKK-ß was decreased after hydrogen treatment, whereas PDCD4 was increased, and there was no significant change in NF-κB expression. CONCLUSION: The results in the present study indicate that miR-9, miR-199 and miR-21 play an important role in the anti-inflammatory regulation of LPS-activated microglia cells by molecular hydrogen, which will help to explain the protective mechanism of molecular hydrogen against inflammatory injury.