Objective To reprogram the adipose-derived stem cells of hepatic cancer patients into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). Methods Retrovirue-based pMXs containing Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc were prepared and were used to infect adipose-derived stem cells; the infected cells were then cultured. Alkaline phosphatase staining, quantitative-PCR and immunofluorescence assay were used to identify the ES-cell-like colonies. Results The ES-cell-like colonies expressed Alkaline phosphatase. Quantitative-PCR showed that ES-cell-like cells expressed the pluripotency genes of ES cells. Furthermore, immunofluorescence confirmed the expression of Oct4 and Sox2 in ES-cell-like cells. Conclusion Adipose-derived stem cells of hepatic cancer patients can be efficiently reprogrammed into iPS cells, and they can serve as the feeder layers of their own iPS cells. These findings may pave a way for improving efficiency of reprogramming adult cells and establishing hepatic cancer model for inducing pluripotent stem cells.

Objective To find out factors affecting physicians' prescribing conduct so as to get rid of the negative effects and reduce medical costs. Methods Analyses were conducted by reviewing relevant literature published at home and abroad. Results Factors affecting physicians' prescribing conduct include: the medical security system, the hospital compensation mechanism, the requisitioning party, pharmaceuticals per se, and promotion of sales. Conclusion To get rid of the negative effects of physicians' prescribing conduct, it is necessary to rationalize the hospital compensation mechanism, strengthen the control of drug examination, approval, purchase and sale, and provide physicians with accurate pharmaceutical information.

Objective To investigate the clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical characteristics of breast carcinosarcoma with osteosarcoma components and its differential diagnosis. Methods The pathologic features and clinical manifestations of the two patients were retrospectively reviewed. Immunohistochemistry was performed and the literature was reviewed. Results Histopathologically, the neoplasm consisted of invasive ductal carcinoma of no special type and poorly ( case 1 ) or well (case 2) differentiated osteosarcomatoid elements. The morphological transition from carcinoma to sarcomatoid elements was seen. Immunohistochemically,the carcinoma cells were positive for CK and EMA , the sarcomatoid elements were stained positive for vimentin, and a few cells of two elements were positive for S-100 protein. Ki-67 and VEGF were over expressed in both elements of Case 1.In case2 Ki-67 expression was low in both elements and VEGF over expression was only seen in sarcomatoid elements. Some of the carcinoma cells were positive for ER. Conclusions Carcinosarcoma of the breast with osteosarcomatoid elements is a rare type of mixed epithelial/mesenchymal metaplastic breast carcinoma. The types and proportion of carcinoma and sarcomatoid elements determine the diagnosis.

Evidence has indicated that low doses of anti-tumor regimens can induce cell apoptosis in vitro, although different regimens induce apoptosis by different mechanism and pathway. In recent years, new tumor treatment strategy has been mainly focused on inducing tumor cell apoptosis. The present review discusses the advantages and disadvantages of inducing tumor cell apoptosis. The benefit of inducing apoptosis is not to cause inflammatory reaction, but as its disadvantage, it inhibits immune responses, and the phagocytosis of apopotic bodies may result in horizontal transfer of genes (including oncogenes and other oncogenic materials), which can be one of the causes of tumor relapse. This paper proposes that the tumor treatment strategy should be turn into promoting tumor cell necrosis and inducing anti-tumor immune responses.
Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Humans ; Necrosis ; chemically induced ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; immunology ; pathology

Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to be involved in multiple biological pathways that can influence tumor progression and metastasis and they can serve as prognostic biomarkers in many cancers. The present study examined the prognostic significance of miR-215 in cervical cancer. The paraffin-embedded paired cervical scrape samples and tumor tissue samples from 302 patients with stage II cervical cancer were detected for the expression of miR-215 by using qRT-PCR. A miR-215-based classifier was established by using the Cox regression model. The prognostic and predictive accuracy of this classifier was determined in both the internal testing group of 138 patients, and the external independent group of 280 patients. Moreover, cervical cancer HeLa cells overexpressing miR-215 (HeLa-miR-215) were constructed and subcutaneously injected into the nude mice to examine the effect of miR-215 on tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. The results showed that the expression level of miR-215 was significantly higher in cervical cancer tissues than in paired normal tissues (P<0.0001). When patients were classified into high- and low-risk cancer progression groups according to miR-215 level, the 5-year disease-free survival in high- and low-risk groups were 43% (95% CI: 32.1-51.6) and 67% (95% CI: 48.6-77.3) (hazard ratio [HR] 2.02, 95% CI: 1.16-3.52; P=0.013) respectively. Moreover, the expression level of miR-215 was negatively associated with survival rate in patients at TNM stage T3 (HR: 3.317; 95% CI: 1.18-5.14, P=0.017) and TNM stage T4 (HR: 3.48; 95% CI: 1.49-4.45, P=0.008). Tumor volume in nude mice injected with HeLa-miR-215 cells was significantly larger than that in mice injected with control HeLa cells. It was concluded that the expression level of miR-215 is associated with cervical tumor progression and worse survival rate, suggesting that it may serve as a potential prognostic marker to identify patients at higher risk of recurrence.

Objective To study the different effects between intermittent eliminating white blood cells and immunosuppressive agents pulse therapy in children′s anaphylatoid purpura nephritis on the base of hormone′s treatment.Methods Twelve cases of anaphylatoid purpura nephritis were enrolled in the study and divided into 2 groups.After failure in the hormone′s treatment,the observation group was applied with intermittent eliminating white blood cells(5 mL/kg,1-2 times/week),and the control group was treated with immunosuppressive agents[cyclophosphamide(CTX) 0.8-1.0 g/m~2,or methotrexate(MTX) 8-10 g/m~2].Results There were no significant differences between the 2 groups.The observation group had no obvious side effects,but the control group all had different side effects.Conclusion The treatment of intermittent eliminating white blood cells can have better effects without the side effect resulting from immunosuppressive agents.

Objective To investigate the influence of coxsackie B virus (CVB) and mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) superinfection on immunological manifestation of recurrent respiratory tract inflammations(RRI) in children.Methods One hundred and thirty-two hospitalized children with RRI between Jan.to Dec.2005 were divided into negative control group,MP infection group,CVB infection group and superintection group by determining anti-MP IgM and anti-CVB IgM.Blood sedimentation,C-reactive protein,IgG,IgA,IgM and T lymphocyte subpopulation etc.were determined in four groups.The anti-MP IgM was determined by specificity immune agglutination test.Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect anti-CVB IgM.The IgG,IgA,IgM were determined by simple agar diffusion method.T lymphocyte subpopulation was tested by flow cytometry.Results The percentage of CVB infection was 32.1%,mainly expressed in the 1-3 years old children;the percentage of MP infection was 22.7%,mainly expressed in children over 3 years old.In both CVB and MP infection group,the ten-dency of IgG increased and that of IgA decreased.IgM in the CVB and MP superinfection group was obviously higher than that in negative control group and MP infection group (Pa

T were also detected in the controls.Conclusion Nephrotic syndrome may be associated with NPHS2 identified in children.

Objective To understand the environmental estrogens contamination of tap water and source water. Methods Environmental estrogens in the water samples were concentrated by macroporous adsorption resin H103. The effect of environmental estrogens in concentrated samples was assessed by the recombinant yeast system. Results The results showed that some source water and tap water really contained environmental estrogens. The activity of environmental estrogens in concentrated samples of some source water increased as the volume of concentrated sample increased. The concentrate of 100 ml water sample could show the estrogenic effect. Conclusion Some source waters and tap waters in China have been contaminated by environmental estrogens. Environmental estrogens in source water can not be removed completely by drinking water treatment system of city.

Objective To evaluate the usefulness of DiversiLab system for genotyping of Acinetobacter baumannii.Methods Fifty-eight non-duplicated clinical Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from 15 cities in China in 2005 were typed by rep-PCR-based DiversiLab system.The results were compared with those of PFGE and multilocus sequence typing. Simpson's index of diversity was used to compare the discriminatory power among DiversiLab system, PFGE and MLST.Results Fifty-eight Acinetobacter baumannii isolates were differentiated into 5 clusters and 25 unique types by DiversiLab system. MLST identified 35 distinct sequence types, which fell into one clone complex of CC22 and 35 singletons, while PFGE resolved 5 pulsotypes and 34 unique types.Simpson's diversity indices for DiversiLab system, MLST and PFGE were O.876, O.944 and 0.961, respectively.Conclusions The discriminatory power of DiversiLab system is lower than that of PFGE and MLST.But as a simple, fast and reproducible typing method, it could be used as a first-line typing tool for the analysis of a large number of isolates.