Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on opioid-induced constipation (OIC) and patient quality of life. Methods A total of 251 patients were randomly allocated to a treatment group, who received TENS and oral lactulose solution (n = 124), and a control group, who received only oral lactulose solution (n = 127). Constipation and quality of life after treatment were measured by comparing semiquantitative scores based on subjective symptoms. Results The defecation difficulty, incomplete defecation feeling, and overall defecation satisfaction scores of the treatment group were significantly different from those of the control group ( P = 0.018). Bowel Function Index and quality of life scores of the treatment group were significantly greater than those of the control group. The effective rates of control and treatment groups were 85.8% and 91.9%, respectively. Conclusion TENS of relevant acupuncture points significantly relieved the clinical symptoms of constipation of patients with OIC and improved their quality of life.
Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) FOXD3 antisense RNA 1 (FOXD3-AS1) has been reported to participate in multiple processes that contribute toward the development of cancer. The present study aimed to explore the effect of lncRNA FOXD3-AS1 on anti-estrogen resistance in breast cancer (BC) cells. FOXD3-AS1 was found to be highly expressed in BC cell lines. Moreover, FOXD3-AS1 was highly expressed in estrogen receptor-negative (ER − ) cells compared to the ER-positive (ER + ) cells. FOXD3-AS1 overexpression in T47D and MCF-7 (ER + ) cells enhanced the resistance of cells to tamoxifen (TMX), whereas FOX3-AS1 downregulation reduced the TMX resistance in MDA-MB-231 (ER − ) cells. Similar results were reproduced in vivo that FOXD3-AS1 inhibition reduced the growth of xenograft tumors formed by MDA-MB-231 cells following TMX treatment whereas FOXD3-AS1 overexpression in T47D cells facilitated tumor growth. The bioinformatic analysis and luciferase assays indicated that FOXD3-AS1 sponged microRNA-363 (miR-363) to restore expression of trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) mRNA. Overexpression of miR-363 reduced T47D cell proliferation induced by FOXD3-AS1, whereas overexpression of TFF1 restored growth of MDA-MB-231 cells reduced after FOXD3-AS1 silencing. The phosphorylation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/ protein kinase B (Akt) was increased by FOXD3-AS1 but attenuated by miR-363. Inhibition of PI3K/ Akt blocked the role of FOXD3-AS1 and reduced the TMX resistance in T47D and MCF-7 cells. Taken together, the present study suggested that FOXD3-AS1 sponges miR-363 to upregulate TFF1 expression, leading to PI3K/Akt signaling activation and anti-estrogen resistance in BC cells.
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