[Current situation of screening, prevention and treatment of bleeding esophageal varices in cirrhotic portal hypertension in Tibet region: a multicenter study].

Objective: To investigate and analyze the current situation, screening, clinical characteristics, prevention and treatment of bleeding esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension in Tibet region. Methods: Clinical data of cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension through March 2017 to February 2020 from Tibet region were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Results: 511 cases with liver cirrhosis were included in the study, of which 185 cases (36.20%) had compensated cirrhosis and 326 cases (63.80%) had decompensated cirrhosis. Further analysis of the etiological data of liver cirrhosis showed that 306 cases (59.88%) were of chronic hepatitis B, 113 cases (22.11%) of alcoholic liver disease, and 68 cases (13.31%) of chronic hepatitis B combined with alcoholic liver disease. Among patients with compensated liver cirrhosis, 48 cases (25.95%) underwent endoscopic examination of which 33 diagnosed as high-risk variceal bleeding. However, none of these 33 cases had received non-selective ß-blocker therapy, and only four patients had received endoscopic variceal banding therapy. Among patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis, 83 cases (25.46%) had a history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, 297 cases (91.10%) had ascites, 23 cases (7.05%) had hepatic encephalopathy, and 3 cases (0.92%) had hepatorenal syndrome. Among the patients with a history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, 42 cases (50.60%) had received secondary preventive treatment for bleeding esophageal varices, including 39 cases of endoscopic treatment, 1 case of endoscopic combined drug treatment, 3 cases of interventional treatment, and 2 cases of surgical treatment. Conclusion: Chronic hepatitis B and alcoholic liver diseases are the main causes of liver cirrhosis in Tibet region. Moreover, this region lacks screening, prevention and treatment for bleeding esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the screening of high-risk groups to prevent and improve the first-time bleeding, and promote multidisciplinary team to prevent and treat re-bleeding.

[Individual irradiation dose trend and correlation analysis of nuclear medicine workers in a hospital].

Objective: To understand the personal dose level of nuclear medical workers in a hospital, and to provide basis for health management of nuclear medicine occupational population. Methods: From January 2014 to December 2018, 147 radiation workers in a hospital were selected as the monitoring objects, and the individual dose monitoring data were analyzed. The correlation between individual dose and clinical workload was analyzed. Results: The average annual personal dose of 147 staff members was below the national dose limit. Compared with the radiation department, the average annual personal dose of nuclear medical staff was higher, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) . There was a positive correlation between the annual average personal dose and the corresponding injection workload (Rs=0.69, P<0.05) . Conclusion: The occupational exposure risk of nuclear medical technicians and nurses is high, and reasonable protective measures should be taken to reduce the radiation exposure dose. Conclusion The occupational exposure risk of nuclear medical technicians and nurses is high, and reasonable protective measures should be taken to reduce the radiation exposure dose.

Retraction RETRACTION of "Methylation of the RASSFIA promoter in breast cancer" by Y. Ji, H.H. Jin, M.D. Wang, W.X. Cao, J.L. Bao - Genet. Mol. Res. 15 (2): gmr.15028261 (2016) - DOI: 10.4238/gmr.15028261.

The retracted article is: Ji Y, Jin HH, Wang MD, Cao WX, et al. (2016). Methylation of the RASSFIA promoter in breast cancer. Genet. Mol. Res. 15: gmr.15028261. There are significant parts of this article (particularly, in the discussion section) that are copied from "Methylation of HIN-1, RASSF1A, RIL and CDH13 in breast cancer is associated with clinical characteristics, but only RASSF1A methylation is associated with outcome", by Jia Xu, Priya B Shetty, Weiwei Feng, Carol Chenault, Robert C Bast Jr, Jean-Pierre J Issa, Susan G Hilsenbeck and Yinhua Yu, published in BMC Cancer 2012; 12: 243. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2407-12-243. The first paragraphs of both discussions are identical. This is concerning. The abstract and introduction sections have much of their text plagiarized. Overall, there is high plagiarism detected. The GMR editorial staff was alerted and after a thorough investigation, we have strong reason to believe that the peer review process was failure and, after review and contacting the authors, the editors of Genetics and Molecular Research decided to retract the article in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The authors and their institutions were advised of this serious breach of ethics.

Methylation of the RASSFIA promoter in breast cancer.

Tumor suppressor genes are the key targets of hypermethylation in breast cancer and may therefore lead to malignancy by deregulation of cell growth and division. Our previous pilot study with pairs of malignant and normal breast tissues identified a correlation between RASSFIA gene methylation and breast cancer. To determine the relationship between RASSFIA methylation and breast cancer, we conducted a larger study. We took samples from 108 patients with breast cancer, 28 patients with benign breast tumors, and 33 subjects with normal breast tissues at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University at Wuxi between July 2013 and September 2015. We used the samples to investigate methylation levels of the RASSF1A gene for associations with breast cancer. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and methylation-specific PCR were used to investigate the levels of RASSF1A mRNA expression and RASSF1A methylation, respectively. RASSFIA was not expressed in 22 of the 108 breast cancer tissue samples (20.37%), and there was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05); however, RASSFIA expression was significantly lower than that in the normal breast tissue samples (P < 0.05). Moreover, the methylation rate of the RASSFIA gene promoter was significantly higher in the breast cancer tissues (64.81%) than in the normal breast tissues (18.18%) and benign breast tumors (17.86%) (P < 0.05). High methylation of the RASSF1A gene promoter was an important reason for its downregulation, and the gene played a critical regulated role in the incidence and development of breast cancer.

MiR-155 and miR-148a reduce cardiac injury by inhibiting NF-κB pathway during acute viral myocarditis.

OBJECTIVES: Acute viral myocarditis (VM) is an important cause of sudden cardiac death and heart failure in healthy young person. Its pathogenesis is based on an adverse immune response evoked by infection of the cardiac muscle by cardiotropic viruses especially Coxackievirus B3 (CVB3). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, noncoding RNA sequences that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. Recently, there are reports that disturbed miRNAs expression is associated with VM but the mechanism is not well understood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Herein, we screened 15 selected miRNAs in myocardial tissues of patients with acute CVB3 caused myocarditis and found the expression of miR-155 and miR-148a was up-regulated significantly. RESULTS: Predicted by using bioinformatics tools and confirmed by dual-luciferase assay and western blot, we confirmed that RelA is a direct target gene of miR-155 and miR-148a. Subsequent in vitro functional study indicated that miR-155 function as immune response negative feedback factor that reduced cardiac myoblast cytokines expression during CVB3 infection. Further in vivo experiments indicated that miR-155 can improved mice survival rate when CVB3 infected. CONCLUSIONS: So, our study indicated that miR-155 is a potential therapeutic target for viral myocarditis.

Rotor-like ZnO by epitaxial growth under hydrothermal conditions.

Rotor-like ZnO was grown from a mixture of rod-like ZnO powder and a saturated Zn(OH)(4)(2-) solution under moderate hydrothermal conditions at 100 degree C, in which the precursor rod-like ZnO crystal plane acts as a matrix core, and the branched nanorods showed fast epitaxial growth on the six directions around the prism core.

The effect of 50 Hz magnetic field on GCSmRNA expression in lymphoma B cell by mRNA differential display.

Magnetic fields (MFs) of various characteristics can lead to plethora effects in biological system. From a molecular point of view, we hypothesized that there must be a fundamental difference in gene expression between the MF exposed and the unexposed cell. To identify the classes of genes that are regulated, 0.8 mT 50 Hz MF-induced changes in gene expression were examined in a Daudi cell culture using differential display and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. A candidate cDNA (signatured as MF-CB) that was observed in the sham-exposed but not in MF-exposed cultures was recovered and reamplified. After verification by Northern blot, the cDNA was cloned and sequenced. It was found that 254-base pair of 5'-end MF-CB cDNA clone was identical to gcs in open reading frame (ORF) range. Based on the preliminarily sequence, the prolonged length of 5'-end MF-CB cDNA was obtained by PCR amplification and its sequence analysis showed the same results as its original fragment. In order to further determine whether MF-CB cDNA is from gcs, two Northern blots were probed with gcs and MF-CB cDNA, respectively, and the data revealed signals of the same size and expression pattern on the two probe filters, which demonstrated that MF-CB is an EST (expression sequence tag) of gcs. gcs is a gene, identified recently (GenBank accession number D89866), encoding ceramide glucosyltransferase (GCS), which has been implicated as a causal element in human cell growth and differentiation. In an additional experiment, time-dependent changes in the transcription of gcs induced by 0.8 mT MF were observed by Northern blot with a sharp and reproducible inhibition effect after 20 min exposure and a reduction after 20-24 h exposure. The study demonstrates for the first time that 50 Hz MF can lead to changes in gcs transcription, which provides a new clue to elucidate the mechanism by which MF influence cell growth and differentiation.

Theoretical analysis of a rectifying gap junction model.

Based on the experimental observations, an electrical circuitry model for a rectifying gap junction was developed in previous work. In order to show the physiological function for each element in the model, a theoretical analysis is carried out in this report. The results indicate that the gap junctional capacitance Cj newly introduced into the model plays a major role in determining the duration increase, the peak attenuation, and the peak delay on the postmembrane action potential. Also, a comparison between the newly proposed model and the widely accepted kinetic model by Giaume is made. The results show that the electrical circuitry model can not only describe the characteristics of Giaume's model but also allow the interpretation of some experimental phenomena that were not reflected in other gap junctional models.

Wrist position in closed reduction of fractured carpal scaphoid. An experimental observation.

Experimental observation on the relation between the apposition of scaphoid fracture surfaces and wrist position showed that fracture reduction could be achieved when the wrist was placed in a position from 15 degrees radial deviation to 15 degrees ulnar deviation provided that the wrist assumed certain amount of extension. The principle was that the more the wrist was radially deviated, the more the extension was needed. Fracture displacement occurred regularly and could be classified into three types, which were related to different loading patterns on the distal scaphoid.

Colorectal cancer in Chinese and Chinese-Americans.

Rationale and plans are described for a collaborative case-control study of large bowel cancer among Chinese-Americans in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area and among Chinese in Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China. A common protocol and questionnaire will be used during personal interviews of approximately 400 Chinese and 300 Chinese-American patients with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum and 2,100 Chinese and Chinese-American controls. Controls will be matched to patients on age, sex, and community of residence. The information requested from subjects will permit testing of hypotheses relating colorectal cancer risk to: dietary factors, including intake of fat (saturated and unsaturated), animal protein, fiber, and vitamins A and E and ascorbic acid; physical activity levels and body mass index; reproductive factors among women; history of bowel disease; and family history of cancer. The information requested of Chinese-American subjects will also permit testing of hypotheses relating cancer risk to such migrant factors as United States versus Chinese nativity, duration of residence in the United States, and Chinese province of ancestry. These factors will be tested for associations with cancers of the colon and rectum separately and with cancers of the large intestine as a whole. We will examine sex and geographic differences in relative risks for etiologic factors, location of tumors within the large bowel, histologic subtype of adenocarcinoma, and frequency of accompanying polyps.