DNA甲基化修饰在眼科疾病发病进程中的作用研究进展

许多眼科疾病的发生发展与遗传、环境两大因素密切相关,其中表观遗传修饰是连接遗传与环境因素的重要纽带,能够通过影响基因转录或翻译影响相关基因的表达水平,在眼病的发病进程中发挥作用。DNA甲基化修饰(DNA methylation)是表观遗传修饰的重要组成部分,通常由从头甲基化、维持甲基化和去甲基化三个过程调节,在调控基因表达方面具有重要意义。目前,研究人员发现DNA甲基化修饰在角膜内皮的损伤修复、线粒体动力学调控与糖尿病视网膜病变、氧化应激反应与白内障等眼科疾病中发挥重要作用,为相关眼病的治疗提供了新的思路。本文就DNA甲基化修饰在相关眼病发展进程中的作用研究进展进行简要综述,为眼病的筛查、诊断与治疗提供新的视角与方向。

Electroacupuncture alleviates ciliary muscle cell apoptosis in lens-induced myopic guinea pigs through inhibiting the mitochondrial signaling pathway

AIM:To investigate the effect of electroacupuncture(EA)on the mitochondria-dependent apoptotic signaling pathway in the ciliary muscle of guinea pigs with negative lensinduced myopia(LIM).METHODS:Guinea pigs were randomly divided into normal control(NC)group,LIM group,LIM+SHAM acupoint(LIM+SHAM)group,and LIM+EA group.Animals in the NC group received no intervention,while those in other three groups were covered with-6.0 diopter(D)lenses on right eyes.Meanwhile,animals in the LIM+EA group received EA at Hegu(LI4)combined with Taiyang(EX-HN5)acupoints,while those in the LIM+SHAM group were treated at sham points.After treatments for 1,2,and 4wk,morphological changes in ciliary muscles were observed with hematoxylin and eosin(H&E)staining and nick end labeling(TUNEL),and the expression of the mitochondrial apoptotic signaling pathway-related molecules in ciliary muscles was measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR)and Western blot.Additionally,the adenosine triphosphate(ATP)contents were also determined in ciliary muscles.RESULTS:Axial length increased significantly in the LIM and LIM+SHAM groups and decreased in the LIM+EA group.The ciliary muscle fibers were broken and destroyed in both LIM and LIM+SHAM groups,whereas those in the LIM+EA group improved significantly.TUNEL assay showed the number of apoptotic cells increased in the LIM and LIM+SHAM groups,whereas reduced in the LIM+EA group.ATP contents showed a significant decrease in the LIM and LIM+SHAM groups,whereas increased after EA treatment.Compared with the NC group,the dynamin-related protein 1(DRP1),Caspase3,and apoptotic protease activator 1(APAF1)levels were significantly increased in the LIM group and decreased in the LIM+EA group.CONCLUSION:The results provide evidence of EA inhibiting the development of myopia by regulating the mitochondrial apoptotic signaling pathway.

A review of clinical and histological parameters associated with contralateral neck metastases in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma （OSCC） has a high incidence of cervical micrometastases and sometimes metastasizes contralaterally because of the rich lymphatic intercommunications relative to submucosal plexus of oral cavity that freely communicate across the midline, and it can facilitate the spread of neoplastic cells to any area of the neck consequently. Clinical and histopathologic factors continue to provide predictive information to contralateral neck metastases （CLNM） in OSCC, which determine prophylactic and adjuvant treatments for an individual patient. This review describes the predictive value of clinical-histopathologic factors, which relate to primary tumor and cervical lymph nodes, and surgical dissection and adjuvant treatments. In addition, the indications for elective contralateral neck dissection and adjuvant radiotherapy （aRT） and strategies for follow-up are offered, which is strongly focused by clinicians to prevent later CLNM and poor prognosis subsequently.

Minimally invasive removal of a deep-positioned cannulated screw from the femoral neck:A case report

BACKGROUND Clinical femoral neck fracture is common.Based on patient age and fracture type,different surgical methods can be selected,including cannulated screw fixation of the femoral neck and artificial total hip joint or semi-hip joint replacement.When patients with femoral neck fracture are treated with cannulated screw fixation,a cannulated screw may be positioned too deep.The excessively deep-placed screw is difficult to remove and causes major trauma to the patient.CASE SUMMARY A patient with poliomyelitis and femoral neck fracture was treated with a cannulated screw that was placed too deep.A self-made auxiliary tool(made of a steel sternal wire)was used to remove the cannulated screw near the pelvic cavity.CONCLUSION The depth of the cannulated screw can be estimated before screw placement using an improved hollow screwdriver with a scale mark,thus improving the safety of screw placement and facilitating clinical use.

Coronary plaque property evaluation by coronary CTA and its correlation with inflammatory molecules and MMPs/TIMPs

Objective: To study the evaluation value of coronary CTA for coronary plaque properties and its correlation with inflammatory molecules and MMPs/TIMPs. Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University between August 2014 and December 2016 were selected as the ACS group of the research, patients who were diagnosed with stable angina pectoris were selected as the SAP group of the research, and healthy subjects who received physical examination during the same period were selected as the control group of the research. Coronary CTA was done to determine the coronary plaque properties of ACS group, and serum was collected from the three groups of subjects to determine the contents of inflammatory molecules and MMPs/TIMPs collagen metabolites. Results: Serum MIP-1 , MCP-1, sFGL-2, sCD14, CXCL5, I-CTP, III-CTP and EMMPRIN contents of ACS group and SAP group were higher than those of control group while TIMP1, TIMP2 contents were lower than those of control group;serum MIP-1 , MCP-1, sFGL-2, sCD14, CXCL5, Ⅰ-CTP, Ⅲ-CTP and EMMPRIN contents of ACS group were higher than those of SAP group while TIMP1 and TIMP2 contents were lower than those of SAP group. Serum MIP-1 , MCP-1, sFGL-2, sCD14, CXCL5, Ⅰ-CTP, Ⅲ-CTP and EMMPRIN contents of ACS patients with soft plaque and fibrous plaque were higher than those of ACS patients with calcified plaque while TIMP1 and TIMP2 contents were lower than those of ACS patients with calcified plaque;serum MIP-1 , MCP-1, sFGL-2, sCD14, CXCL5, Ⅰ-CTP, Ⅲ-CTP and EMMPRIN contents of ACS patients with soft plaque were higher than those of ACS patients with fibrous plaque while TIMP1, TIMP2 contents were lower than those of ACS patients with fibrous plaque. Conclusion: The coronary plaque property evaluation by coronary CTA is closely related to the changes of inflammatory response and MMPs/TIMPs collagen metabolism.

Nitrogen recovery from wastewater using microbial fuel cells

Nitrogen is one of major contaminants in wastewater; however, nitrogen, as bio-elements for crop growth, is the indispensable fertilizer in agriculture. In this study, two-chamber microbial fuel cells （MFCs） were first operated with microorganisms in anode chamber and potassium ferricyanide as catholyte. After being success- fully startup, the two-chamber MFCs were re-constructed to three-chamber MFCs which were used to recover the NO-3 -N and NH＋4 -N of synthetic wastewater into value- added nitrogenous fertilizer from cathode chamber and anode chamber, respectively. Ferric nitrate was used as the sole electron acceptor in cathode, which also was used to evaluate the NO-3 -N recover efficiency in the case major anion of NO3 in cathode. The output voltage of these MFCs was about 600-700 mVat an external load of 500 Ω. About 47% NH＋4 -N in anode chamber and 83% NO-3 -N in cathode chamber could be recovered. Higher current density can selectively improve the recovery efficiency of both NH＋4-N and NO3 -N. The study demonstrated a nitrogen recovery process from synthetic wastewater using three-chamber MFCs.

Generalized high-order twisted partially coherent beams and their propagation characteristics

Twist phase is a nontrivial statistical phase that only exists in partially coherent fields,which makes the beam carry orbital angular momentum(OAM).In this paper,we introduce a new kind of partially coherent beams carrying high-order twist phase,named generalized high-order twisted partially coherent beams(GHTPCBs).The propagation dynamics such as the spectral density and OAM flux density propagating in free space are investigated numerically with the help of mode superposition and fast Fourier transform(FFT)algorithm.Our results show that the GHTPCBs are capable of self-focusing,and the beam spot during propagation exhibits teardrop-like or the diamond-like shape in some certain cases.Moreover,the influences of the twist order and the twist factor on the OAM flux density during propagation are also illustrated in detail.Finally,we experimentally synthesize the GHTPCBs with controllable twist phase by means of pseudo-mode superposition and measure their spectral density during propagation.The experimental results agree well with the theoretical predictions.Our studies may find applications in nonlinear optics and particle trapping.