The lumbar intervertebral disc is a disc-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure located between the vertebral bodies and acts as an important anatomical structure in the spine for stability. The spinal stability system consists of three subsystems: passive subsystem, active subsystem, and neural control subsystem. Lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD), the leading cause of low back pain, induces pathological changes in other tissues of the three subsystems and interacts to degrade spinal stability. IVDD is commonly accompanied by degeneration of facet joint and ligament, Modic change, decreased vertebral blood flow, increased paraspinal muscle fat infiltration, reduced axial tension injury of the nerve, et al. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the preferred imaging modality for assessing spinal stability. Conventional MRI could completely demonstrate the morphological changes of the three subsystems in IVDD patients, and functional MRI could quantitatively evaluate the degree of pathophysiological change. We summarized the morphological and functional changes of MRI in lumbar intervertebral disc, facet joint, ligament, vertebral body, paraspinal muscle, and nerve of patients with IVDD, and then analysed the changes in spinal stability caused by IVDD, aiming to provide more imaging information for improving diagnosis accuracy and developing appropriate management of patients with low back pain.

Actinic keratosis (AK) is a precursor to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC),and molecular mechanisms of transformation from AK to SCC have been a research hotspot.This review focuses on four aspects of the molecular mechanisms,including chromosomal variation,gene mutations,signaling pathways and other factors,summarizes advances in selective mutations in chromosomes 3p,9p,9q,13q,17p and 17q,heterozygous deletion mutations in chromosome 18q,mutations of p53,p16 and Ras genes,abnormality of the transforming growth factor β1 signaling pathway and Fas/FasL signaling pathway,and aberrant expression of matrix metalloproteinases in the transformation from AK to SCC,which will provide a reference for further researches.

Objective To explore the effect of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) in uric acid?induced phenotypic change in renal tubular epithelial cells (HK?2). Methods (1) HK?2 cells were cultured with 0, 75, 150, 225, 300 mg/L uric acid for 24 h in vitro. (2) The cells were divided into normal control group, ER stress inhibitor 4?PBA (5 μmol/L) group, uric acid (150 mg/L) group and 4?PBA+uric acid group for 24 h. Morphological changes of HK?2 cells were observed under inverted microscope. MTT assay was used to detect the proliferation of HK?2 cells treated with 150 mg/L uric acid for 24, 48 and 72 h. The protein expressions of α?smooth muscle actin (α?SMA), vimentin, snail, glucose regulated protein 78 (GRP78) and the phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 2α(p?eIF2α) in HK?2 cells were measured by Western blotting. Results Compared with the control group, HK?2 cells in uric acid groups (150, 225, 300 mg/L) showed fibroblast?like appearance. The protein expressions of α?SMA, vimentin, snail, GRP78 and p?eIF2α in 150 mg/L and 225 mg/L uric acid groups were higher than those in the control group (all P<0.05). The proliferation of HK?2 cells in 150 mg/L uric acid group was lower than that in control group at 48 and 72 h (all P<0.01). Compared with the uric acid group, the cell morphology in 4?PBA+uric acid group was improved, and the protein expressions ofα?SMA, vimentin, snail, GRP78 and p?eIF2α were decreased (all P<0.05). Conclusions Uric acid may induce the phenotype transformation of renal tubular epithelial cell, and ER stress is involved. 4?PBA may inhibit the uric acid?induced ER stress response and phenotypic transformation, and may be beneficial in attenuating uric acid?induced renal tubular damage.

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To observe the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid ( UDCA) on the treatment of infantile hepatitis syndrome ( HIS) and to investigate its mechanism.METHODS:The children with infantile hepatitis syndrome were divid-ed into conventional treatment group and the UDCA treatment group.Twenty healthy children were selected as normal con-trol.The children in conventional therapy group were given antiviral and hepatoprotective treatments.The children in UD-CA treatment group were given ursodeoxycholic acid (10 mg? kg-1? d-1 ) in addition to the conventional treatment group for 2 to 3 weeks.The levels of total bilirubin (TBIL), direct bilirubin (DBIL), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), glu-tamyltransferase ( GGT) , total bile acids ( TBA) and TNF-α, IL-6 were detected before admission and 2 weeks later.RE-SULTS:The levels of TNF-αand IL-6 were significantly higher in the children with IHS than those in the normal control (P<0.01).The levels of TBIL, DBIL, ALT, GGT, TBA, TNF-αand IL-6 in conventional treatment group were reduced after therapy (P<0.01).All the above index in UDCA treatment group were decreased compared with conventional treat-ment group (P<0.01).CONCLUSION:On the basis of conventional therapy, ursodeoxycholic acid effectively alleviates the systemic inflammatory response in the children with IHS, reduces the liver damages.

Objective: To improve the understanding of pulmonaryStrongyloides stercoralis. Methods: Two paients were diagnosed with severe infection with pulmonaryStrongyloides stercoralis by respiratory ICU of Xiangya Hospital. The clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, imaging and pathological data were analyzed. Another 87 cases in the literature were reviewed from 1973 to 2013. Results: In the 2 cases, digestive symptoms were the ifrst symptom andStrongyloides stercoralis was found in the lungs. Eosinophils was detected in the 13 death cases by blood routine examination, with 10 cases≤0.05×109/L. Conclusion: The farmers were the main infected people. Patients with basic diseases or with immunosuppression due to long-term glucocorticoid treatment tend to infect and even die atfer the infection withStrongyloides stercoralis. Eosinophil granulocyte reduction shows poor prognosis, which needs early diagnosis and treatment.

Objective To observe the effect of Danshen in the treatment of severe hand-foot-and-mouth disease and investigate its mechanism.Methods One hundred and forty cases of children with severe hand foot and mouth diseases who hospitalized the intensive care unit were enrolled in the study from February 2012 to July 2014.The children were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group,with 70 cases in each group.The control group was given antiviral to reduce the intracranial pressure and intravenous immunoglobulin and the observation group was given Danshen in addition to the control group.The levels of neuron specific enolase (NSE)、S-100βprotein、TNF-α and IL-6 were detected at admission and checked again seven days after treatment.The changes of the above indicators and the clinical curative effect were compared before and after therapy.Results The total effective rate of the control group and the observation group was 80.0% and 92.9% respectively,showing statistical significance(P<0.05). After treatment, observation group of serum NSE (9.42 ± 2.56μg/Lvs. 11.71 ± 3.21μg/L,t=2.159), S-100β (177.34 ± 87.28 ng/Lvs. 286.14 ± 159.69 ng/L, t=2.315), TNF-α (15.98 ± 4.35 ng/Lvs. 23.17 ± 4.80 ng/L, t=4.297), IL-6 (41.72 ± 6.64 ng/Lvs. 52.05 ± 9.33 ng/L,t=3.492) , the level of were lower than those in the control group(P<0.05 orP<0.01). In the observation group, serum. The fever clearance time、the disappearance time of rash and the hospitalization time in the observation group (3.55 ± 1.02 d vs.4.55 ± 1.09 d, 7.14 ± 1.04 d) were shorter than those in the control group (4.46 ± 0.97 d vs.5.88 ± 1.44 d, 8.68 ± 1.06 d;t=5.409, 6.161, 8.677 respectively, P<0.01).Conclusions On the basis of conventional therapy,Danshen can effectively alleviate the systemic inflammatory response in children with severe hand foot and mouth diseases, reduce brain damage and improve the clinical efficacy.

Objective To clone human autoimmune antigen SSA/Ro60 and to purify its expression to provide the material basis for the assisted diagnosis of human autoimmune diseases .Methods The SSA/Ro60 gene was cloned by RT‐PCR and directionally inserted into expression vector pPICZ .The recombinant plasmid was transformed into Pichia SMD1168 .The obtained recombinant protein was identified by SDS‐PAGE and Western blotting .Results The amplified full‐length sequence was about 1 .5 kb in size . The pPICZ‐SSA positive clone produced a 60 × 103 recombinant protein which had natural immunogenicity of human autoimmune antigen SSA/Ro60 by SDS‐PAGE and Western blot .Conclusion Human autoimmune antigen SSA/Ro60 is successfully cloned and expressed ,which lays a foundation for diagnosing autoimmune diseases .

In gene manipulation, different selectable markers with various linkers are necessary. In order to get selectable markers directly, we constructed from pBlueScript SK(-) a series of particular plasmids, pSKsymKm, pSKsymBle, pSKsymEry, pSKsymHyg and pSKsymGm, each contains Kanamycin, Bleomycin, Erythromycin, Hygromycin or Gentamycin resistance cassette. By restriction enzyme digestion and gel extraction, any of five antibiotic resistance genes with specific ends can be conveniently obtained.