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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex and heterogeneous endocrine disorder. To understand the pathogenesis of PCOS, we established rat models of PCOS induced by letrozole and employed deep sequencing to screen the differential expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in PCOS rats and control rats. We observed vaginal smear and detected ovarian pathological alteration and hormone level changes in PCOS rats. Deep sequencing showed that a total of 129 miRNAs were differentially expressed in the ovaries from letrozole-induced rat model compared with the control, including 49 miRNAs upregulated and 80 miRNAs downregulated. Furthermore, the differential expression of miR-201-5p, miR-34b-5p, miR-141-3p, and miR-200a-3p were confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that these four miRNAs were predicted to target a large set of genes with different functions. Pathway analysis supported that the miRNAs regulate oocyte meiosis, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling, phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt (PI3K-Akt) signaling, Rap1 signaling, and Notch signaling. These data indicate that miRNAs are differentially expressed in rat PCOS model and the differentially expressed miRNA are involved in the etiology and pathophysiology of PCOS. Our findings will help identify miRNAs as novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for PCOS.

Epstein-Barr virus-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH) is a life-threatening complication of EBV infection. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) were small non-coding RNA, and EBV could encode miRNAs that are involved in the progression of infection. However, the profiles of EBV-miRNAs in EBV-HLH were unknown. Here, we aimed to profile the expression of EBV-miRNAs in children with EBV-HLH by analyzing 44 known EBV-miRNAs, encoded within the BamHI fragment H rightward open reading frame 1 (BHRF1) and the BamHI-A region rightward transcript (BART), in plasma and cellular targets by real-time quantitative PCR. The study included 15 children with EBV-HLH, 15 children with infectious mononucleosis (IM), and 15 healthy controls. CD8(+) T cells were found to be the cellular target of EBV infection in EBV-HLH, while CD19(+) B cells were infected with EBV in IM. We also found the greater levels of several miRNAs encoded by BART in EBV-HLH, compared to those in IM and healthy controls, whereas the levels of BHRF1 miRNAs were lower than those in IM. The profile and pattern of EBV-miRNAs in EBV-HLH indicated that EBV could display type II latency in EBV-HLH. Importantly, the level of plasma miR-BART16-1 continued decreasing during the whole chemotherapy, suggesting that plasma miR-BART16-1 could be a potential biomarker for monitoring EBV-HLH progression. The pathogenesis of EBV-HLH might be attributed to the abundance of EBV-miRNAs in EBV-HLH. These findings help elucidate the roles of EBV miRNAs in EBV-HLH, enabling the understanding of the basis of this disease and providing clues for its treatment.

To explore the characteristics of the dismembered homicide cases in Shanghai and to provide the valuable guidance for forensic pathological practices.Twenty-four cases of dismembered homicides were selected from 2005 to 2012 in Institute of Forensic Science, Shanghai Public Security Bureau. The general information of the victims and suspects, cause of death, criminal motive, postmortem body parts, tools and information of discarding body parts were retrospectively analyzed.Among the 24 dismembered homicide cases, victims were female in 16 cases, and suspects were male in 23 cases and were acquaintances in 22 cases. The main causes of death were mechanical asphyxia and traumatic brain injury. Most of the criminal motives were emotional disputes. The number of postmortem body parts was commonly from 20 to 30. The tools were mainly sharp instruments, including kitchen knives used in 20 cases. The postmortem body parts were discarded to different transregional areas, mainly using vehicles.The dismembered homicide cases in Shanghai show the following characteristics: the number of postmortem body parts is in large quantity; the methods of dismembered corpse are complex and different; the job characteristics of suspects are difficult to determine; the distance from homicide scene is far and the vehicles are commonly used.

To study the incidence of human cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection in pediatric patients with hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and to explore the relationship between CMV and HHV-6 infection in pediatric patients with HSCT.Pediatric patients with HSCT in hemotology center of Beijing Children's Hospital were enrolled into this study from June 2007 to October 2009. Peripheral blood were collected every week after HSCT, and Fluorescent quantitation PCR and conventional PCR were used to detect CMV DNA load in serum and HHV-6 DNA in peripheral blood respectively. Genetic typing was conducted on HHV-6.Fifty two pediatric patients with HSCT were enrolled into this study, and six hundreds and thirty six specimens were collected totally. CMV DNA was detected in fifty two specimens from twenty cases. The median time was 56 days after HSCT. The incidence of CMV infection was 38.5% (20/52) in all HSCT patients and 47.6% (20/42) in allogene HSCT patients. The incidence of late CMV infection was 22.2% (6/27) in allogene HSCT. Three patients died of CMV infection,and two died of CMV interstitial pneumonia. HHV-6 DNA was detected in thirty three specimens from fourteen cases. The median time was 23 days after HSCT. The incidence of HHV-6 infection was 26.9% (14/52)in all HSCT patients and 31% (13/42) in allogene HSCT patients. The genotype of HHV6 was all type B. HHV-6 DNA was positive in six of twenty cases with CMV infection. The incidence of co-infection was 30% (6/20).There was a substantial incidence of CMV and HHV6 infection after HSCT. The relationship between earlier HHV6 infection and later CMV infection in pediatric patients with HSCT need further study.

Infectious mononucleosis (IM) is a self-limited disease, but a few cases may have severe complications. This retrospective study was to explore the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of IM associated with Epstein-Barr virus infection (EBV-IM) in children. Hospitalized patients with EBV-IM were enrolled during January 2005 to October 2008 in Beijing Children’s Hospital Affi liated to Capital Medical University. All patients were divided into four groups

Background Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was the first virus identified to encode microRNAs (miRNAs). Both of viral and human cellular miRNAs are important in EBV infection. However, the dynamic expression profile of miRNAs during primary EBV infection was unknown. This study aimed to investigate the dynamic expression profile of viral and cellular miRNAs in infectious mononucleosis (IM) caused by primary EBV infection. Methods The levels of viral and cellular miRNAs were measured in fifteen pediatric IM patients at three different time-points. Fifteen healthy children who were seropositive for EBV were enrolled in the control group. Relative expression levels of miRNAs were detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assay. Results EBV-miR-BHRF1-1, 1-2-3P, miR-BART13-1, 19-3p, 11-3P, 12–1, and 16–1 in IM patients of early phase were significantly higher than in healthy children. Most cellular miRNAs of B cells, such as hsa-miR-155-5p, −34a-5p, −18b-5p, −181a-5p, and −142-5p were up-regulated; while most of cellular miRNAs of CD8 + T cells, such as hsa-miR-223, −29c-3p, −181a, −200a-3p, miR-155-5p, −146a, and −142-5p were down-regulated in IM patients. With disease progression, nearly all of EBV-miRNAs decreased, especially miR-BHRF1, but at a slower rate than EBV DNA loads. Most of the cellular miRNAs of B cells, including hsa-miR-134-5p, −18b-5p, −34a-5p, and -196a-5p increased with time. However, most of the cellular miRNAs of CD8 + T cells, including hsa-let-7a-5p, −142-3p, −142-5p, and −155-5p decreased with time. Additionally, hsa-miR-155-5p of B cells and hsa-miR-18b-5p of CD8+ T cells exhibited a positive correlation with miR-BHRF1-2-5P and miR-BART2-5P (0.96 ≤ r ≤ 0.99, P