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Qin Li,1,* Dongqiong Chen,2,* Fang Ye,3 Xiaoying Wang,4 Shangsong Yang,1 Li Wang,5 Weibo Wen2 1Department of Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Gynecology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, People’s Republic of China; 3TCM for AIDS Project Office, Linxiang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lincang, People’s Republic of China; 4Research and Teaching Management Section, Kunming Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, People’s Republic of China; 5Clinical Research Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of AIDS in Chinese Medicine, Yunnan Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Weibo Wen, Department of Gynecology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China, Email weibowen1968@hotmail.com Li Wang, Clinical Research Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of AIDS in Chinese Medicine, Yunnan Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming, People’s Republic of China, Email wanglichina1234567890@hotmail.comIntroduction: We aimed to investigate whether there were changes in fundus picture and retinal microvascularity of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) who were treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).Methods: From July 2015 to November 2016, 130 HIV/AIDS patients were collected by the Yunnan Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, including 63 treatment-naïve patients and 67 that received HAART for 12 months. Fundus picture lesions, retinal microvascular diameters, CD4+ T lymphocyte count and HIV-1 plasma viral loads were compared between the two groups. The recruited patients were mainly young and middle-aged, with more males than females. There were no significant differences in smoking history, comorbidities and opportunistic infections between the two groups.Results: According to the analysis results from SPSS 20.0 software, the number of CD4+ T lymphocytes in the treated patients (563.34± 2.56 cells/μL) increased significantly (P=0.009) as compared with untreated patients (451.37± 2.10 cells/μL), and the HIV-1 plasma viral load reduced considerably (4794 vs 0 copy/mL, P=0.000). No significant differences were observed from the fundus picture of patients after effective HAART therapy, including the retinal artery diameter, venous diameter and arteriovenous diameter ratio.Keywords: fundus, retinal microvascular, HIV/AIDS, HAART

Cervical squamous cell carcinoma and endocervical adenocarcinoma (CESC) is one of the most common tumors among females worldwide. RILPL2 was recently reported to be a promising biomarker for the treatment of breast cancer. This study aimed to investigate the potential role of RILPL2 in CESC. Totally 302 CESC patients’ data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. All patients were divided into high or low RILPL2 groups according to the median expression of RILPL2. Subsequently, survival analysis, multivariate Cox regression, and experimental validation were performed on all CESC patient data. The Ualcan database was used to analyze the expression level and prognostic value of RILPL2 in pan-cancer. The Gene Set Cancer Analysis database was used for drug sensitivity analysis. Functional KEGG pathways were analyzed using gene set enrichment analysis. RILPL2 was generally down-regulated in a variety of tumors, and a high level of RILPL2 was associated with a better prognosis in CESC patients. Immunohistochemistry, western blotting, and qRT-PCR results showed that RILPL2 was significantly down-regulated in CESC cells and tissues. Besides, along with the increase of TNM Stage, the RILPL2 expression tended to decrease gradually. Patients with high RILPL2 expression showed lower resistance to small molecule drugs used in CESC progressions, such as Methotrexate, AZD7762, and Vinblastine, and a higher response rate to immunotherapy. Additionally, we identified 267 co-expressing genes of RILPL2, all of which jointly affected CESC progression through 15 complex pathways. Low RILPL2 expression was closely associated with the onset, progression, and poor prognosis of CESC. RILPL2 might be a promising optional biomarker for CESC patients’ diagnosis and prognosis.

Dioscin has been used as a treatment for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) in China. However, the molecular mechanisms governing the modes of action of dioscin have not been elucidated. In this study, f...

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the long-term therapeutic efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) versus that of surgical resection in small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Relevant articles in English from PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were retrieved. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated to assess the prognostic value of RFA compared with that of surgical resection. Results: A total of 19 studies involving 15,071 patients were included. The combined HRs (95% confidence interval [CI]) of RFA for recurrence/relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were 1.55 (95% CI = 1.29-1.86, I2 = 72.5%) and 1.61 (95% CI = 1.29-2.01, I2 = 60.4%), respectively, compared with surgical resection. In subgroup analyses according to study design, both RFS and OS of the prospective subgroups showed statistical significance, and no statistical heterogeneity existed between studies. Conclusion: Our clinical data suggest that surgical resection offers better long-term oncologic outcomes than RFA.

Dioscin has been used as a treatment for Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) in China. However, the molecular mechanisms governing the modes of action of dioscin have not been elucidated. In this study, flow cytometry and Western blotting were used to identify the proportions of CD4