Liver fibrosis is a wound‐healing response represented by excessive extracellular matrix deposition. Activation of hepatic stellate cell (HSC) is the critical cellular basis for hepatic fibrogenesis, whereas hepatocyte undergoes epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) which is also involved in chronic liver injury. Long noncoding RNA H19 has been found to be associated with cholestatic liver fibrosis lately. However, the role of H19 in liver fibrosis remains largely to be elucidated. In this study, we found that the expression of H19 was significantly upregulated in the liver tissue of CCl4‐induced mice, a toxicant‐induced liver fibrogenesis model. Overexpression of H19 significantly aggravated activation of HSC and EMT of hepatocyte both by stimulating transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) pathway. In terms of mechanism, H19 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA to sponge miR‐148a and subsequently sustained the level of ubiquitin‐specific protease 4 (USP4), which was an identified target of miR‐148a and was able to stabilize TGF‐β receptor I. In conclusion, our findings revealed a novel H19/miR‐148a/USP4 axis which promoted liver fibrosis via TGF‐β pathway in both HSC and hepatocyte, indicating that H19 could become a promising target for the treatment of liver fibrosis.

The fine dissection of nerves and blood vessels in the tarsal tunnel is necessary for clinical operations to provide anatomical information. A total of 60 feet from 30 cadavers were dissected. Two imaginary reference lines that passed through the tip of the medial malleolus were applied. A detailed description of the branch pattern and the corresponding position of the posterior tibial nerve, posterior tibial artery, medial calcaneal nerve and medial calcaneal artery was provided, and the measured data were analyzed. Our results can be summarized as follows. I. A total of 81.67% of the bifurcation points of the posterior tibial nerve, which was divided into the medial and lateral plantar nerves, were located within the tarsal tunnel, not distal to the tarsal tunnel. II. The bifurcation points of the posterior tibial artery were all located in the tarsal tunnel. Almost all of the bifurcation points of the posterior tibial artery were lower than those of the posterior tibial nerve. The bifurcation point of the posterior tibial artery situated distal to the tarsal tunnel was not found. III. The number and the origin of the medial calcaneal nerves and arteries were highly variable.

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20(R)-Rg3-loaded PLGA nanoparticles was well prepared and characterized. The antitumor activity was increased after PLGA encapsulation. The data will be beneficial to the development of new dosage forms of 20(R)-Rg3 and extensive application.