OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between the polymorphisms of single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) in rs2240424, rs2057951, rs2240427 and rs714909 loci in the PATZ1 gene and azoospermia.

METHODSThe allele and genotype frequencies of the four SNPs were investigated in 180 patients with azoospermia and 190 normal men as controls by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. The allele and genotype frequencies of the four SNPs were investigated in 180 patients with azoospermia and 190 normal men as controls by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis.

RESULTSThe frequencies of allele C (35.0% vs. 27.6%, P=0.031) and individuals with allele C (TC+CC) (57.8% vs. 46.3%, P=0.027) at the rs2057951 locus in azoospermic patients were significantly higher than that in normal men. There was a significant difference in distribution of haplotypes of the four SNPs between the two groups (P=0.01). Hapoltypes ACAC (11.1% vs. 6.6%, P=0.029) and ACGC (11.2% vs. 5.2%, P=0.003) increased significantly in azoospermic patients compared with controls.

CONCLUSIONThe allele C of rs2057951 locus and haplotypes ACAC and ACGC of the four SNPs in PTAZ1 gene increased the susceptibility to azoospermia, suggesting that PATZ1gene may be associated with azoospermia.

Alleles ; Azoospermia ; genetics ; Gene Frequency ; genetics ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; genetics ; Genotype ; Haplotypes ; Humans ; Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors ; genetics ; Male ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; genetics ; Repressor Proteins ; genetics

Objective To investigate the clinicopathological features,diagnosis,treatment,prognosis and causative agent of a case of eumycetoma on the submaxilla.Methods A case of eumycetoma diagnosed in our department was assessed for its clinical and pathological features as well as mycologic and molecular identification.Related literature was reviewed.Results The patient was primarily characterized by swelling of the submaxilla,with multiple sinuses draining many black granules.Pathologic examination revealed a pyogenic granulomatous inflammation,and a number of lotus rhizome node-like hypha were observed in tissue samples through PAS staining.Sequence analysis of multiple loci of the isolates,including ITS 1,ITS2 and D1/D2,showed that it was mostly similar to Madurella mycetomatis with a homology of 97%.Conclusion This is a case ofeumycetoma on the submaxilla induced by a novel species of Madurella.

OBJECTIVETo observe the efficacy, median survival time, time to progression, quality of life and adverse effect of gefitinib (IRESSA) in the treatment for refractory advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODSForty-one patients with stage III b to IV NSCLC who had previously treated with 2-7 cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy were enrolled into the study, 85.4% of the patients had received second line chemotherapy. The regimen was oral intake of gefitinib 250 mg once daily until the disease progression or intolerable toxic reaction occurred. The patients were required to receive tumor assessment before the treatment, one month, two months and every three months after IRESSA administration.

RESULTSAll 41 patients were evaluable for therapeutic effect. Partial response rate (PR), stable disease (SD) and progression of disease (PD) was 43.9% (18/41), 34.1% (14/41) and 22.0% (9/41), respectively. No complete regression was observed. The overall response rate was 43.9% (18/41) with a rate of 42.1% in the male and 45.5% in the female (P > 0.05). The disease control rate (PR + SD) was 78.0% (32/41). Twenty-two of the 41 patients (53.7%, 22/41) were still alive with MST of 10.1 months when the follow-up ended in Nov. 2006. TP and MST of dead patients was 2.7 and 5.0 months, respectively. The rate of symptom improvement was 78% for all patients with MST of 13.3 months for PR patients. The performance status (Karnofsky) was improved (20 +/- 5) after 28-day treatment. III-IV degree toxicity was not observed.

CONCLUSIONIRESSA is effective and safe for the advanced NSCLC patients with poor performance status who previously failed in the second or third line chemotherapy.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antineoplastic Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Bone Neoplasms ; secondary ; Brain Neoplasms ; secondary ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Diarrhea ; chemically induced ; Disease-Free Survival ; Exanthema ; chemically induced ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Quality of Life ; Quinazolines ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Remission Induction ; Survival Rate

Objective To explore the possible relationship between environmental contamination by Aspergillus and invasive aspergillosis.Methods From November 2005 to October 2006,samples were collected from the environment (air in corridors,air in wards,surfaces and tap water) twice a month,and from patients (nose,pharynx and sputum) at a liver transplantation department (LTD),neurologic surgery intensive care unit (NSICU) and central intensive care unit (CICU) in our hospital,and subjected to fungal culture.The Aspergillus density was determined in these environments.The isolates of Aspergillus flavus were genotyped by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay to investigate the origin of infection.Results The mean aspergillus density was 12,10.75,0 and 20 cfu/m~3 at LTD,NSICU,CICU and corridors respectively.The five most prevalent species of aspergillus in these environments in decreasing order were Aspergillus flavus,Aspergillus fumigatus,Aspergillus niger,Aspergillus versicolor and Aspergillus clavatus.RAPD demonstrated that the genotypes ofA.flavus isolated from two patients were identical to those of the environmental strains in NSICU.The A.flavus genotypes from 3 patients in CICU were all different from those of the environment strains in CICU,but the genotypes were identical from two of the three patients.Conclusions Aspergillus contamination of different degree does exist at LTD,NSICU and CICU. The genotypes of A.flavus are identical from patients and environment in NSICU,suggesting that the clinical infection may originate from hospital environment.

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of temperature dropping process in cold air on the coagulation function both in healthy and hypertensive rats.

METHODSTwenty-four male healthy Wistar rats and 24 male spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR) were randomly divided into the minimum temperature group (Tim), Tmin control group (Tmin-c), recovery temperature group (Tr) and Tr control group (Tr-c), With the simulated temperature dropping process of a cold air, collected from Zhangye city in March of 2011, the groups of Tmin and Tr were exposed to this process. Both at the Tmin and Tr, blood were collected from the rats for coagulation function measurements.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, no significant difference was found in the results of activated partial thrombin time(APIT), pro-thrombin time (PF) and thrombin time (TT) between any groups in any strains (P > 0.05). The fibrinogen (Fbg) and fibrinogen-time were found to be obvious higher and shorter in Tmin and Tr of healthy rats and in Tmin of hypertensive rats in contrast to the control group. Hypertensive rats had higher level of fibrinogen and shorter level of fibrinogen-time.

CONCLUSIONThe temperature dropping process induced the increase of plasma Fbg both in the healthy and hypertensive subjects, which might be the reason to explain the higher occurrence of cardiovascular diseases event especially these activated through the formation of thrombin during cold air stress. Besides, the coagulation function of healthy subjects was more likely to be affected by cold air than the hypertensive subjects.

Animals ; Blood Coagulation ; Cold Temperature ; Hypertension ; physiopathology ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred SHR ; Rats, Wistar ; Thrombin Time

OBJECTIVETo study the clinical manifestations and radiological characteristics, diagnostic methods and outcomes of pulmonary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue-derived(MALT) lymphoma.

METHODSA retrospective review of clinical, radiological and follow-up data of 29 pulmonary MALT lymphoma cases at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital affiliated to Tong Ji University from January 2002 to June 2010 was performed.

RESULTSAmong these patients, there were 19(65.5%) males and 10 (34.5%) females aged from 27 to 73 (median 53) years old. Common clinical manifestations were cough (51.7%), fever (20.7%), apnea (17.2%), chest pain (17.2%), fatigue (13.8%) and weight loss (13.8%), while 9(31.0%) cases had no symptoms at diagnosis. The characteristics of the chest CT showed that 22 (75.9%) of the cases had patch infiltration or consolidation of the lung, 7(24.1%) of the cases had mass, and 15 (51.7%) unilateral and 14(48.3%) bilateral lesions. Their diagnosis duration varied between 0.5 and 96 months. 18(62.1%) cases were confirmed by surgery (15 open lung and 7 video-assisted thoracic surgery, VAST), 4 (13.8%) by percutaneous lung biopsy, 5 (17.2%) by bronchoscopic biopsy, and 2 (6.9%) by peripheral lymph node biopsy. The treatment methods included surgery, combined chemotherapy, radiotherapy and Chinese herbal medicine. The 1- and 3-year-survival rates were 92.3% and 87.4%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSPulmonary MALT lymphoma is atypical in clinical manifestations and radiological characteristics, and easy to be misdiagnosed. Local diseases are mainly treated by operation while extensive diseases receive combined chemotherapy. A proper diagnosis is mainly based on pathological biopsy. Patients with MALT lymphoma have a favorable outcome. Poor prognosis may be connected with poor performance status and long diagnosis duration.

Adult ; Aged ; Antigens, CD20 ; metabolism ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Cyclophosphamide ; therapeutic use ; Doxorubicin ; therapeutic use ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lung ; pathology ; Lung Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; therapy ; Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Pneumonectomy ; methods ; Prednisone ; therapeutic use ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Vincristine ; therapeutic use

OBJECTIVETo explore the survey methods for the cultivated medicinal plant resources such as Panax notogingseng based on remote sensing.

METHODThrough the preliminary study by remote sensing technique and field survey in the study area, the optimal methods in the procedure were chosen for the survey.

RESULTIn this study,a set of survey method for P. notogingseng based on remote sensing technique was founded, which included the remotely sensed data-source selecting, the remote sensing image processing, interpretation and validation etc.

CONCLUSIONWith different resolution remotely-sensing data at the study area, the area, the natural storage and the yield of P. notoginseng were calculated. For Maguan county, with SPOT5 (5 m), the relative right rate of judgement, the relative precision of area and the relative precision of yield with statistics was 92.7%, 94.4% and 78.2% separately, and with TM (30 m), the relative right rate of judgement, the relative precision of area was only 71.4% and 58.8%, though, for Qiubei county, with TM (30 m), the relative precision of area with statistics could reach 74.7%, which showed that choosing appropriate remotely-sensing data and processing methods for different area, the remote sensing technique is feasible for resource survey of cultivated medicinal plants such as P. notoginseng.

China ; Conservation of Natural Resources ; Ecosystem ; Geographic Information Systems ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Panax ; Plants, Medicinal ; Satellite Communications

AIM:To investigate the inhibitory effect of allicin on apoptosis and caspase-12 activation of macro-phage-derived foam cells,and to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. METHODS:RAW264.7 macrophages were pretreated with allicin (12.5,25 and 50 mg/L) or 4-phenylbutyric acid(PBA,4 mmol/L) for 1 h and then treated with oxidized low-density lipoprotein(ox-LDL,100 mg/L) or tunicamycin(TM,4 mg/L) for 24 h. The cell viability and apoptosis were examined by MTT assay and flow cytometry with Annexin V-FITC/PI staining,respectively. The activities of caspase-3 in the cells and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) in the medium were measured. The protein levels of caspase-12 were determined by Western blot. The intracellular lipid accumulation was measured with oil red O staining and the content of intracellular total cholesterol was determined by enzymatic colorimetry. RESULTS:Similar to the endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) inhibitor PBA, allicin inhibited ox-LDL-induced injury of RAW264.7 macrophages in a concentration-de-pendent manner,as determined by the increased cell viability and the decreased LDH leakage,apoptosis and caspase-3 ac-tivity. The decrease in cell viability and increases in LDH leakage and apoptosis induced by TM (an ERS inducer) were also suppressed by allicin. Moreover, similar to PBA, allicin remarkably inhibited ox-LDL- or TM-induced activation of caspase-12. Furthermore, allicin remarkably attenuated ox-LDL-induced lipid accumulation in the RAW264.7 cells and foam cells formation in a concentration-dependent manner. CONCLUSION:Allicin may inhibit macrophage-derived foam cell apoptosis induced by ox-LDL,and the mechanism is partially related to suppressing the activation of caspase-12.

Objective To evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of inactivated poliovirus vaccine derived from Sabin strain (sIPV) in Banna mini pigs, and to provide experimental evidence for the new animal model. Methods sIPV vaccines which are listed at Institute of Medical Biology at Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences were used in this study. The groups of intramuscular sIPV and the wild strain IPV injections (IPV derived from wild strain, wIPV) were designed, and the saline group was used as a negative control group. The Banna mini pigs in various groups were immunized at 0, 1 and 2 months. Blood samples were collected before immunization and on days 30 after each immunization. Levels of neutralizing antibodies were tested for evaluating immunogenicity. The safety was evaluated by observation of the status and weight of mini pigs. Results After the three dose immunization schedules in the Banna mini pigs, the seroconversion rates of type Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ sIPV experimental groups and wIPV group were all up to 100%. The neutralizing antibody levels in all the three types were much higher than the protective titer 1: 8. The weight of mini pigs increased after vaccination. Conclusions The sIPV vaccine has good immunogenicity and safety in Banna mini pigs. Banna mini pigs could be a new animal model for evaluation of sIPV vaccine.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of isotretinoin and viaminate for the treatment of moderate to severe acne vulgaris.Methods A multiple-centre,double-blind,double-analog comparative clinical trial was conducted.Patients diagnosed with moderate to severe acne by GAGS (global acne grading system) were randomly divided into isotretinoin group (10 mg,bid) and viaminate group (50 mg,tid);treatment was done for a total of 6 weeks.All subjects were evaluated before treatment,and at 2,4,6 weeks after the initiation of treatment,for evaluation of lesion count,and for observation of thera- peutic effects and side effects.Results A total of 217 patients were enrolled this trial,of which,213 could be evaluated in a FAS (Full Analysis Set) analysis and 200 in a PPS (per protocol) analysis.There was no significant difference in the efficacy at 2,4,6 weeks after the initiation of treatment between the isotretinoin group and viaminate group (6.0% vs 5.0%,29.0% vs 20.0%,57.0 % vs 51.0 %,respectively). However,the inflammatory papules and pustules decreased more rapidly in the isotretinoin group than in the viaminate group at each of the follow up evaluations (all P＜0.05).There was no obvious difference in the rate of clearance of comedones and nodules between the two groups.Both the occurrence rate (68.81% vs 36.53%,P＜0.001) and severity (P＜0.05) of side effects were higher in the isotretinoin group than in the viaminate group.The main adverse events included mouth dryness,dizziness,etc,occurred more fre- quently in the isotretinoin group than in the viaminate group.Conclusion For the treatment of moderate to severe acne,the efficacy of isotretinoin is similar to that of viaminate;however,isotretinoin has more imme- diate effect with more side effects than viaminate.