Medicine
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To observe the clinical phenomenon of amblyopia vision improvement in patients with monocular amblyopia over 18 years old after non-amblyopia diseases, analyze the conditions and causes of vision improvement, explore the plasticity of the adult optic nerve, and provide a clinical basis for the treatment of adult amblyopia. A total of 74 patients with monocular amblyopia combined with non-amblyopia visual acuity decline from 2018 to 2021 were collected. The patient's age, initial best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), pattern visual evoked potential examination results, and visual acuity regression were recorded. ⋯ This study confirms that adult amblyopia can still be cured under certain conditions. This visual plasticity is related to age, initial visual acuity, and excitability of the visual center. This study provides new clinical evidence and diagnostic ideas for the study of the pathogenesis of adult amblyopia.
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Mpox (MPX) has escalated into a public health emergency of international concern, necessitating urgent prophylactic and therapeutic measures. The primary goal of this investigation was to systematically extract Wan Quan's expertise in treating smallpox, as documented in Exclusive Methods for Treating Pox (Dou Zhen Xin Fa in Chinese), with the aim of identifying potential prescriptions, herbs, and components for alternative MPX therapies or drugs. This research utilized data mining to identify high-frequency Chinese Medicines (CMs), high-frequency CM-pairs, and CM compatibility rules. ⋯ Moreover, key mpox virus targets, F8-A22-E4 DNA polymerase holoenzyme and profilin-like protein A42R, were docked well with the selected core components. And molecular dynamic simulation indicated that the component (quercetin) could stably bind to the target (profilin-like protein A42R). Our findings identified potential prescriptions, herbs, and components that can offer potential therapies or drugs for addressing the MPX epidemic.
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To investigate sexual dimorphism of serum pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) and its influencing factors in healthy individuals. A total of 162 healthy people (69 males, 93 females) who underwent health examinations in our department were selected. Serum PEDF, estradiol and other metabolic indices were measured, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function (HOMA-β) were calculated to evaluate insulin resistance and β-cell function, respectively. ⋯ In women, correlation analysis showed that serum PEDF levels were significantly correlated with body mass index, waist circumference, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), 2-h postprandial glucose, fasting and 2-h postprandial insulin, HOMA-β, HOMA-IR, aminotransferase, triacylglycerol, and estradiol. Elevated triacylglycerol and aminotransferase and decreased estradiol were significant predictors of increased PEDF concentrations in women. There is sexual dimorphism in circulating PEDF levels, which may be related to estrogen status.
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Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication associated with damage to the retina due to inflammation induced by high glucose. Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome plays a critical role in DR and its prevention is beneficial to patients. However, the regulation of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in NLRP3 inflammasome activation of DR is incompletely understood. So, this study aimed to uncover the functional and regulatory mechanism of the lncRNA HOTAIR in NLRP3 inflammasome activation in Dr. ⋯ The lncRNA HOTAIR promotes NLRP3 inflammasome activation and ROS generation by inhibiting Nrf2 in Dr.
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Long noncoding RNAs metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) can regulate tumorigenesis and progression of various cancers. However, there is little known about the tumor biology and regulatory mechanism of MALAT1 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). The objective of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value and potential functions of MALAT1 in ccRCC based on the cancer genome atlas. ⋯ Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that MALAT1 expression was associated with the DNA methylation, epigenetic regulation of gene expression signaling pathway. In addition, the prognostic models were established to predict 1-, 3- and 5-year survival. This study showed that high expression of MALAT1 might be a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker.