Abstract Background: Acupuncture, a therapy of traditional Chinese medicine, is confirmed to exert the therapeutic action on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). However, the detailed therapeutic mechanisms of acupuncture in PCOS remain ambiguous. In this study, we further investigated whether electroacupuncture (EA) alleviated PCOS-like symptoms in rats via regulating a metabolic regulator, sterol regulatory element binding protein-1 (SREBP1). Methods: The PCOS-like rat model was built by hypodermic injection with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). The rats were subjected to EA intervention (ST29 and SP6 acupuncture points) for 5 weeks. Primary granulosa cells were isolated from control and PCOS-like rats for evaluating insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in vitro. Results: The expression of SREBP1 was increased in PCOS-like rats, which was suppressed by EA treatment. In addition, lentivirus-mediated overexpression of SREBP1 restrained EA treatment-induced improvement in pathological changes, serum hormone levels and insulin resistance in rats. In addition, overexpression of SREBP1 repressed insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of insulin receptor β (IR) and AKT in primary granulosa cells. Moreover, upregulation of SREBP1 further exacerbated mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in granulosa cells isolated from PCOS-like rats. Mechanically, EA treatment suppressed SREBP1 expression through inducing the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway in PCOS-like rats. Conclusion: EA intervention alleviated PCOS-like symptoms in rats via improving IR, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress through regulating SREBP1, a lipid metabolism regulator. Our findings illuminate the novel protective mechanisms of EA in the treatment of PCOS.

Given their relationship with metabolic syndrome and systematic inflammatory diseases, the pathogenesis of hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia is closely related. To explore the common genes among these three conditions, spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR), spontaneous diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats (GK) and hyperlipidemia rats (HMR) were reared for experiments. Gene array was used to identify the genes of SHR, GK and HMR compared with normal Wistar rats using TBtools software. First, real-time PCR was applied to verify these genes, and Cytoscape software was used to construct networks based on the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. Second, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database analysis was performed to classify the genes. Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) database and Gene Ontology database were used to explore the biological function. Finally, Onto-tools Pathway Express was used to analyze the pathways of shared genes. Importantly, upregulated common genes, such as Bad, Orm1, Arntl and Zbtb7a, were used to construct a network of 150 genes, while downregulated genes, such as Mif and Gpx1, formed a network of 29 genes. Interestingly, the networks were involved in various pathways, such as insulin signal pathway, endometrial cancer pathway, circadian rhythm pathway, and pancreatic cancer pathway. We discovered common genes of SHR, GK and HMR compared with normal Wistar rats, and the association of these genes together with biological function were preliminarily revealed.

Background and aim: To improve the diagnostic rate of gastric lymphoma by analyzing clinical and endoscopic features of patients with gastric lymphoma and suspected gastric lymphoma. Methods: Clinical and endoscopic records of 35 patients with gastric lymphoma (positive group) and 133 patients with suspected gastric lymphoma but subsequent non-malignant pathology (negative group) were analyzed retrospectively. Data from another 99 gastric lymphoma patients with malignant pathology but nonspecific endoscopy (endoscopy non-suspect group) were analyzed. Results: Abdominal pain was the predominant symptom reported in both the positive and negative lymphoma groups, representing 60.0 and 52.5%, respectively. No significant differences in age, sex and clinical manifestations in subjects from the two groups were found. In the positive group, 54.3% were ulcerative; 34.3%, infiltrative; 8.5%, polypoid; and 2.9%, granulonodular. In the negative group, 52.6% were infiltrative; 42.1%, ulcerative; 4.5%, granulonodular; and 0.75%, polypoid. The endoscopic results varied between the two groups (p < 0.05). In the non-suspect group, 66.7% were ulcerative; 17.2%, infiltrative; 14.1%, polypoid; and 2.0%, granulonodular. With regards to histology, diffuse large B cell lymphoma was the most common subtype. The sensitivity of endoscopy was 60% for detecting malignancy and 21% for gastric lymphoma. Conclusion: The present study suggests that gastric lymphoma and suspected gastric lymphoma have similar clinical features. Gastric lymphoma presented mainly as macroscopic ulcerative lesions, whereas suspected gastric lymphoma appeared mainly as infiltrative lesions. Although the diagnostic rate of gastric lymphoma was relatively low (21%), it can be identified by endoscopy (60%). To improve diagnosis, repetitive endoscopic biopsies should be performed and novel endoscopic techniques developed in the future.

Background Accompanying its rapid economic development and population growth, China is the world's third largest acid rain region, following Europe and North America. The effects of acid rain on forest ecosystem were widely researched, including the growth, the nutrient of the leaf and soil, and so on. However, there are few reports about the effects of acid rain on the soil microbial diversity. This study investigated the effects of acid rain on soil microbial community function under potted Masson pine seedlings (Pinus massoniana Lamb). Results After 7 months of treatment with simulated acid rain, the low acid load treatment (pH 5.5) stimulated soil microbial activity, and increased soil microbial diversity and richness, while the higher levels of acid application (pH 4.5, pH 3.5) resulted in lower soil microbial activity and had no significant effects on soil microbial diversity and richness. Principal component analysis showed that there was clear discrimination in the metabolic capability of the soil microbial community among the simulated acid rain and control treatments. Conclusion The results obtained indicated that the higher acid load decreased the soil microbial activity and no effects on soil microbial diversity assessed by Biolog of potted Masson pine seedlings. Simulated acid rain also changed the metabolic capability of the soil microbial community.