ABSTRACT Objectives: The purpose of our study was to assess the association between the winter season and desmopressin treatment failure in South Chinese children with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (MNE). Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of children with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis who have visited our urology clinic from January to December 2019. All patients received desmopressin treatment. Final treatment outcomes were categorized as successful (complete response) or failed (absent and partial response). The relationship between winter season and treatment response to desmopressin was evaluated. Additionally, associated risk factors were investigated with both univariate and multivariate regression analysis. Results: In total, 393 patients diagnosed with MNE were included in the present study. There were no statistically significant differences in pretreatment variables at first visit between patients who visited the clinic in winter and those who did so in other seasons. However, the treatment failure rate of MNE in the winter season was higher than that of other seasons (77.50% vs. 52.74%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the severity of symptoms and an initial clinic visit in the winter season were significantly related to desmopressin treatment failure in MNE patients. Conclusion: Winter season and severity of symptoms are two risk factors associated with desmopressin treatment failure in MNE patients.

Abstract Introduction: The mouse heterotopic cardiac transplant model has been extensively used to explore transplant immunity. Although the cuff technique facilitates the operation, the procedure remains difficult, and vessel eversion is the most difficult step. Cuff movement and everted vessel wall slippage are the main adverse factors in vessel eversion. Traditional strategies to prevent these factors focus on cuff fixation, while more steps or surgical instruments would be required. Methods: According to the reported protocols and our experience, the vessel eversion skills were modified and used for transplantation. Cardiac grafts from C57BL/6(H-2b) or BALB/c(H-2d) mice were transplanted into C57BL/6(H-2b) mice. The operating times of recent 90 operations, which were divided into 9 groups according to their sequence, were summarized and analyzed. Results: The mouse cervical cardiac transplantation was successfully performed by using the modified vessel eversion skills. The cuff movement, which is the most important adverse factor to prevent vessel eversion, was effectively prevented. In the recent 90 operations, the total operating time was 47.3±7.9 min and the success rate was 98%. Conclusions: The modified surgical skills simplify the vessel eversion in mouse cervical cardiac transplantation with cuff technique, characterized by less cuff movement, fewer steps, and surgical instruments. Using these surgical skills, the transplant can be performed in a short time.

Renal fibrosis is one of the most significant pathological changes after ureteral obstruction. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway plays essential roles in kidney fibrosis regulation. The aims of the present study were to investigate effects of microRNA-302b (miR-302b) on renal fibrosis, and interaction between miR-302b and TGF-β signaling pathway in murine unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model. Microarray dataset GSE42716 was downloaded by retrieving Gene Expression Omnibus database. In accordance with bioinformatics analysis results, miR-302b was significantly down-regulated in UUO mouse kidney tissue and TGF-β1-treated HK-2 cells. Masson's trichrome staining showed that miR-302b mimics decreased renal fibrosis induced by UUO. The increased mRNA expression of collagen I and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and decreased expression of E-cadherin were reversed by miR-302b mimics. In addition, miR-302b up-regulation also inhibited TGF-β1-induced epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) of HK-2 cells by restoring E-cadherin expression and decreasing α-SMA expression. miR-302b mimics suppressed both luciferase activity and protein expression of TGF-βR2. However, miR-302b inhibitor increased TGF-βR2 luciferase activity and protein expression. Meanwhile, miR-302b mimics inhibited TGF-βR2 mRNA expression and decreased Smad2 and Smad3 phosphorylation in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, over-expression of TGF-βR2 restored the miR-302b-induced decrease of collagen I and α-SMA expression. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that miR-302b attenuated renal fibrosis by targeting TGF-βR2 to suppress TGF-β/Smad signaling activation. Our findings showed that elevating renal miR-302b levels may be a novel therapeutic strategy for preventing renal fibrosis.

ABSTRACT Infestation of Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 (Gennadius) causes significant phenotypic changes in a variety of plants. However, plants damaged by Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) show no similar changes. In this study, to explore the effects of MEAM1 infestation on tobacco growth and the mechanism underlying these effects, growth index, and photosynthesis of infested tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.), as well as content of hormones, including auxin, gibberellin, cytokinin, abscisic acid, methyl jasmonate, and ethylene were measured. The results demonstrated that infestation of MEAM1 significantly inhibited tobacco growth and the inhibition effect varied with MEAM1 feeding densities, 50 MEAM1 per infested tobacco plant decreased plant height, internode length, and dry weight cm-2, and this inhibition peaked at 200 MEAM1 per plant, which reduced by 52.17%, 43.83%, and 45.61% that of controls, respectively. Additionally, MEAM1 infestation inhibited photosynthesis of tobacco, causing significant decrease in chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance. However, the effects of T. vaporariorum infestation on tobacco were significantly lighter than that of MEAM1. Hormones assays indicated that infestation with 200 MEAM1 per plant for 30 d significantly affected hormones content, among which gibberellin content was specifically reduced compared with that of uninfested control plants and T. vaporariorum infested plants. Furthermore, exogenous application of 1 and 2 μM gibberellin alleviated the reduction in plant height mediated by MEAM1. Therefore, infestation of MEAM1 significantly inhibited tobacco growth and photosynthesis, and the reduction of gibberellin content may contribute to this inhibition.