Objectives Prostate cancer (PCA) is the deadliest urological disease affecting men worldwide. Long noncoding RNA activated by DNA damage (NORAD) levels are increased in many cancer types, and induce cancer cell progression. However, little is known about the biological functions of NORAD in PCA. Methods In this work, the roles of NORAD in cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis were examined by Cell Counting Kit-8, scratch wound, and annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining assays, respectively, in PCA cell lines. Knockdown of NORAD was achieved by small interfering (si)RNA in PCA cell lines, and quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of NORAD. Results Cell proliferation and migration rates were significantly lower in the siNORAD group than in the wild-type group, while the apoptosis level was significantly higher in the siNORAD group compared with the wild-type group. Conclusions These results suggest that NORAD promotes the proliferation and migration of PCA cells and inhibits their apoptosis.

No abstract

To discuss the mechanisms of infection complications in different degrees after percutaneous nephrolithotomy (pcnL) through predicting and comparing post-pcnL infections based on nomograms, a retrospective cohort study was conducted among 969 cases who underwent PCNL from Dec 5, 2016 to Dec 25, 2017 in Kunming, Yunnan Province. We examined clinical features, urine routine, blood routine, blood biochemistry, imaging studies and operative information and recorded the examination results before surgery for univariate and multivariate logistic regression. We applied receiver operating characteristic curves, calibration curves, accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value to evaluate and compare the models. Nomograms were used to visualize the different degrees of postoperative infection complications. The risk scores of the three groups were compared by diabetes mellitus distribution. Our results suggest that the more severe the infection is, the more accurate the model predicts and that the occurrence of severe infection mostly is related to the patients' homeostasis. Hence, we developed an online post-PCNL sepsis dynamic nomogram which can achieve visualization and dynamically predict the incidence of sepsis in postoperative patients. Kidney stones, one of the most common urologic diseases, show an upward trend annually 1 , especially in Southwest China where the incidence rate is higher than those in other parts of the country 2. PCNL is used as the standard method in the treatment of upper urinary tract stone > 2 cm 3 with minimal invasion and a faster and higher stone clearance rate 4. However, complications are reported including fever (21.0-32.1%), blood transfusion (11.2-17.5%), extravasation (7.2%) and septicemia (0.3-4.7%) 5. Infection, as a major complication, is graded into fever, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), and sepsis according to the severity. Previous studies have reported the risk factors on the severity of infectious complications, such as gender, nephrostomy 6 , preoperative positive urine culture 7 , stone size 8 , age, diabetes mellitus and complex stones 9. Risk factors of SIRS include PCNL operation history, stone size, degree of hydronephrosis, complex stones, preoperative positive urine culture, perfusion pressure, and neurogenic bladder and the use of antibiotics 10-13. Risk factors of sepsis include stone burden, infectious stone, the number of tracts, preoperative positive urine culture, leukopenia, creatinine and operation time 14-17. Nonetheless, most studies only discussed one or two infection outcomes and did not compare similarities and differences of infection concurrency between different degrees in the same samples. In this study, we established models to predict and to study the infection complications of different degrees after PCNL, and compared the differences between the models to illustrate the different infection mechanisms and the clinical significance. Finally, we developed online application to achieve visu...

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which is synthesized and released by the hypothalamus, promotes the synthesis and secretion of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), thereby regulating the growth and reproduction of animals. GnRH analogues have been widely used in livestock production. MiRNAs, which are endogenous non-coding RNAs, have been found to play important roles in hormone regulation and other physiological processes in recent years. However, the roles of miRNAs in GnRH-mediated regulation of FSH secretion have rarely been studied. Herein, we treated bovine anterior adenohypophyseal cells with an exogenous GnRH analogue and found that miR-488 was differentially expressed. Through a combination of TargetScan prediction and dual luciferase reporter analysis, miR-488 was confirmed to be able to target the FSHB gene. Based on this finding, we verified the expression of Fshβ and Lhβ mRNA in the rat adenohypophysis before and after exogenous GnRH treatment in vivo and in vitro. Experiments on rat anterior adenohypophyseal cells showed that overexpression of miR-488 significantly inhibited Fshβ expression and FSH synthesis, while knockdown of miR-488 had the opposite effects. Our results demonstrate that GnRH relies on miR-488 to regulate FSH synthesis, providing additional useful evidence for the significance of miRNAs in the regulation of animal reproduction.

Growth hormone (GH) is an important hormone released by the pituitary gland that plays a key role in the growth and development of organisms. In our study, TargetScan analysis and the dual luciferase reporter assays were used to predict and screen for miRNAs that might act on the rat Gh1 gene, and we identified miR-543-5p. Then, the GH3 cell line and the primary rat pituitary cells were transfected with miRNA mimic, inhibitor, and siRNA. We detected the Gh1 gene expression and the GH secretion by real-time PCR and ELISAs, respectively, to verify the regulatory effect of miR-543-5p on GH secretion. The results showed that miR-543-5p can inhibit Gh1 mRNA expression and reduce GH secretion. MiR-543-5p inhibitor upregulated Gh1 mRNA expression and increased GH secretion compared with the negative control. In summary, miR-543-5p downregulates Gh1 expression, resulting in a decrease in GH synthesis and secretion, which demonstrates the important role of miRNAs in regulating GH and animal growth and development.