Medicine
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Clinical Trial
Integrated assessment of differentially expressed plasma microRNAs in subtypes of nonsyndromic orofacial clefts.
Orofacial clefts include cleft lip only (CLO), cleft palate only (CPO), and cleft lip with palate (CLP). Previously, we reported the expression profile of plasma microRNAs in CLO, CPO, and CLP, respectively. However, the interaction of each subtype remains poorly investigated. ⋯ The results showed that distinct or overlapping signaling pathways were involved in CLO, CPO, and CLP. The common key gene targets reflected functional relationships to the Wnt, Notch, TGF-beta, and Hedgehog signaling pathways. Further studies should examine the mechanism of the potential target genes, which may provide new avenues for future clinical prevention and therapy.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of perioperative outcomes between endoscope-assisted technique and handheld acoustic Doppler for perforator identification in fasciocutaneous flaps.
The endoscopic technique has been utilized to harvest muscle flaps and detect perforators of fasciocutaneous flaps. This study aimed to compare the perioperative outcomes between the endoscope-assisted technique and handheld acoustic Doppler for perforator identification in fasciocutaneous flaps. This retrospective case-control study included patients who underwent fasciocutaneous flap reconstruction for traumatic soft tissue defects. ⋯ The case group had a longer operative time, but the difference was not statistically significant (180 minutes vs 150 minutes, P = .367). The amount of blood loss, the time length of postoperative drainage, and complications did not significantly differ between the 2 groups. The endoscope-assisted technique for perforator identification of fasciocutaneous flaps provided less donor-site morbidity and a significantly shorter length of donor-site wounds than the conventional handheld acoustic Doppler, which suggests that this technique could be a valuable alternative when a precise design is indicated.
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Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine tumor. Our previous studies have demonstrated that curcumin can induce apoptosis in human papillary thyroid carcinoma BCPAP cells. However, the underlined mechanism has not been clearly elucidated. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a major organelle for synthesis, maturation, and folding proteins as well as a large store for Ca. Overcoming chronically activated ER stress by triggering pro-apoptotic pathways of the unfolded protein response (UPR) is a novel strategy for cancer therapeutics. Our study aimed to uncover the ER stress pathway involved in the apoptosis caused by curcumin. ⋯ Curcumin inhibits thyroid cancer cell growth, at least partially, through ER stress-associated apoptosis. Our observations provoked that ER stress activation may be a promising therapeutic target for thyroid cancer treatment.(Figure is included in full-text article.).
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The corpus callosum, which is the most important fiber pathway linking the bilateral hemispheres, plays a key role in information access, as well as the functional coordination and reorganization between the bilateral hemispheres. However, whether the corpus callosum will undergo structural changes during the recovery of aphasia is still unclear. In the current study, a Chinese aphasic patient with stroke was reported to develop changes in the corpus callosum after speech therapy. ⋯ The fibrous structure between the corpus callosum and cortical language areas may be reconstructed during the recovery of aphasia. In addition, and the corpus callosum may play an important role in the occurrence and recovery of aphasia after stroke.
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Treating the patients with hand tremors is clinically difficult, because a wide range of disorders can result in hand tremors. Therefore, when treatment for hand tremors begins, various pharmacological options have to be considered. In clinical practice, a practical approach is to initially check hand tremor patients for signs of Parkinson's disease (PD), because patients with PD can benefit from dopamine treatment. However, only part of patients with PD tends to show a meaningful improvement in hand tremors for dopamine treatment. On the other hand, dopamine treatment may help with hand tremors of patients with other disorders, but dopamine responsiveness can't be predicted by clinical assessment alone. ⋯ Collectively, a dysfunction of the dopaminergic nigro-striatal pathway may lead to abnormal findings of F-18 FP-CIT PET, and these abnormal findings in brain-lesion patients with hand tremor may help predict dopamine responsiveness of hand tremor. We believe that our report may be helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of hand tremor in patients with brain-lesion.