For symptomatic spontaneous isolated dissection of SMA in patients without aneurysms rupture and bowel necrosis, endovascular treatment with covered stents may be a safe and effective treatment option with a good short-term outcome.

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Neuregulin 1 (NRG1), a gene involved with myelin production has been shown to have a positive correlation with schizophrenia. Event-related potentials (ERPs) studies provide the evidence of disturbed electrophysiologic marker in schizophrenia. The present study investigated the association of NRG1 genotypes with P300 in schizophrenia. Three polymorphisms in NRG1 gene were detected in 287 Chinese Han schizophrenics and 120 healthy control subjects. Among the total sample, 140 patients and 96 controls underwent P300. There were no significant differences for genotype distributions and allele frequencies between schizophrenic group and the control. A significant difference was observed between the schizophrenic patients and controls in the AT haplotype, with Odds Ratio 0.304 (P = 0.000882, 95% CI = 0.145-0.636). P300 amplitude in the schizophrenic group was significantly lower than that of the controls at Fz, Cz, Pz. P300 latency in the schizophrenic group was also significantly longer than that of the controls at Cz, Pz, Fz. Significant differences of P300 latency between three genotypes of rs3924999 were found at Cz and Pz both in schizophrenic group and the controls. The G/G carriers of rs3924999 tended to perform worse in the P300 latency as compared to A/A or A/G carriers both in the schizophrenia and controls. There were no significant differences for P300 latency and amplitude between schizophrenic group and controls for AT haplotype. NRG1 gene is a susceptible gene for Chinese Han schizophrenia and AT haplotype might have the protective role in the schizophrenia. Rs3924999 in NRG1 gene might functionally impact cognitive processing.

Background: Many options exist for the management of cholelithiasis and secondary choledocholithiasis. Among them, laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) with choledocotomy followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy has gained popularity. However, efforts should be made to ensure minimally invasive or noninvasive management of the common bile duct (CBD). The purpose of this study was to explore the clinical experience of non-invasive surgical modality, i.e., laparoscopic transcystic dilation of the cystic duct confluence in CBD exploration (LTD-CBDE), including feasibility, safety, adverse events, and incidence. Methods: In this retrospective analysis, 68 patients were offered the LTD-CBDE technique from December 2015 to April 2018 based on patient's own intention. During the surgery, the cystic duct confluence was dilated with separation forceps and/or a columnar dilation balloon. Subsequently, CBD exploration and stone extraction were performed with a choledochoscope. The entrance of the CBD was covered with a cystic duct stump wall and was subjected to primary closure at the end of surgery. Results: Forty-nine females and 19 males with cholelithiasis and secondary choledocholithiasis were included. The mean age was 53 years old (18 to 72 year). Of these patients, 62 (91.2%) were successfully treated with the LTD-CBDE technique, and bile leakage was observed in 3 patients (4.4%). The mean operation time was 106 min, and the mean hospital stay was 5.9 days. Among the other 6 patients, 3 were converted to open cholecystectomy due to severe fibrosis, unclear anatomical structure at Calot's triangle (n = 2) or Mirizze syndrome (n = 1); LCBDE was performed in 3 patients due to cystic duct atresia (n = 2) and low level of flow from the gallbladder duct into the CBD (n = 1). These patients had a smooth postoperative course. In total, 43/68 of the patients presented no radiological evidence of retained CBD stones at the postoperative follow-up (40 patients treated with LTD-CBDE) 1 year later.

Icariside II is a flavonoid extracted from Epimedium that has antioxidant, anti‑inflammatory and antiapoptotic effects. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects icariside II on diabetic cardiomyopathy in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Icariside II treatment improved body weight, heart/body weight ratio and fasting blood glucose in diabetic model rats. Icariside II was demonstrated to reduce the expression levels of creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase in serum, and to lower cardiac oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis levels in diabetic rats. Icariside II treatment induced phosphoinositide 3‑kinase and phosphorylated‑Akt expression, and suppressed inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and nuclear factor (NF)‑κB protein expression in diabetic rat. Results from the present study suggested that treatment with icariside II improved diabetic cardiomyopathy in streptozotocin‑induced diabetic rats by activating the Akt/NOS/NF‑κB pathway.

Background Circular RNA (circRNA), as a new members of noncoding RNA family, have vital functions in many biological processes by as microRNA sponges or competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs). However, little has been reported about the genetic mechanism of circRNAs regulation of feed efficiency in sheep. Results This study aimed to explore the expression of circRNAs in the liver of Hu sheep with High-RFI (High residual feed intake) and Low-RFI (Low residual feed intake) using transcriptome sequencing. A total of 20,729 circRNAs were identified in two groups, in which 219 circRNAs were found as significantly differentially expressed. Several circRNAs were validated by using RT-PCR, sanger sequencing and RT-qPCR methods. These results demonstrated that the RNA-seq result and expression level of circRNAs identified are reliable. Subsequently, GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of the parental genes of the differentially expressed (DE) circRNAs were mainly involved in immunity response and metabolic process. Finally, the ceRNA regulatory networks analysis showed that the target binding sites for miRNA such as novel_41, novel_115, novel_171 and oar-miR-485-3p in the identified DE cirRNAs. Importantly, two metabolic (SHISA3 and PLEKHH2) and four (RTP4, CD274, OAS1, and RFC3) immune-related target mRNAs were identified from 4 miRNAs. Association analysis showed that the polymorphism (RTP4 c.399 A > G) in the target gene RTP4 were significantly associated with RFI (P < 0.05). Conclusions Analysis of sequencing data showed some candidate ceRNAs that may play key roles in the feed efficiency in sheep by regulating animal immune and metabolic. These results provide the basis data for further study of the biological functions of circRNAs in regulating sheep feed efficiency.

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In sheep meat production, the rib eye area is an important index to evaluate carcass traits. However, conventional breeding programs have led to slow genetic progression in rib eye muscle area. Operationalizing molecular marker assisted breeding is an optimized breeding method that might improve this situation. Therefore, the present study used whole genome sequencing data to excavate candidate genes associated with the rib eye muscle. Male Hu lambs (n = 776) with pedigrees and 274 lambs with no pedigree were included. The genetic parameters of the rib eye area were estimated using a mixed linear mixed model. The rib eye area showed medium heritability (0.32 ± 0.13). Whole-genome sequencing of 40 large rib eye sheep [17.97 ± 1.14, (cm2)] and 40 small rib eye sheep [7.89 ± 0.79, (cm2)] was performed. Case-control genome-wide association studies and the fixation index identified candidate rib eye-associated genes. Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in six genes (ALS2, ST6GAL2, LOC105611989, PLXNA4, DPP6, and COL12A1) were identified as candidates. The study population was expanded to 1050 lambs to perform KASPar genotyping on five SNPs, which demonstrated that SNPs in LOC105611989, DPP6, and COL12A1 correlated significantly with the rib eye area, which could be used as genetic markers for molecular breeding of the rib eye area. The results provided genetic parameters estimated on the rib eye area and information for breeding based on carcass traits in Hu sheep.