Objective:To study the toxicity of 11 dehydrocorticosterone on hippocampal neurons and to determine whether 11? hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11? HSD1) is involved in the neurotoxity. Methods:Western blotting, radiometric enzyme activity assay and MTT assay were employed in this study. Results:Both 11? HSD1 protein and bioactivity were positive in the hippocampal neurons as demonstrated by Western blotting and radiometric enzyme activity assay. At concentration of 10 -6 mol/L, 11 dehydrocorticosterone was neurontoxic to hippocampal neurons cultured in serum free DMEM medium. This neurotoxic effect of 11 dehydrocorticosterone was blocked by 11? HSD1 inhibitor carbenoxolone (CBX) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonist RU38486, but not by mineralcocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist spironolatone. Corticosterone and its derivative 11 dehydrocorticosterone up regulated 11? HSD1 level. Conclusion:11 dehydrocorticosterone has toxicity on hippocampal neurons, and it can be blocked by CBX, suggesting 11? HSD1 may convert biologically inactive 11 dehydrocorticosterone to active corticosterone. The up regulation of 11? HSD1 by glucocorticoids in return exaggerates the neurotoxic effect of corticosterone, which may play a positive role in the delayed neuron death during stress.

Objective To observe the adverse reactions of acute stage and late stage in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients after radiotherapy.Methods 89 patients were investigated in the outpatient department by form.The median follow-up time was 3 years (2-23 years).Results In the acute stage,the ratios of serious xerostomia [78.7 ％(70/89)],the ear reaction [66.3 ％ (59/89)] and nose impairment [64.0 ％ (57/89)] were very high.In the late stage 79.8 ％ (71/89) patients developed radioactive tympanitis,in which 53.9 ％ (48/89) patients induced hearing loss,42.7 ％ (38/89) patients developed dry nose or nasal excessive discharge.The rate of serious xerostomia was 11.2 ％ (10/89),66.3 ％(59/89) patients suffered from superficial and more serious caries.Conclusion The rates of the radioactive tympanitis and caries stayed high in the late stage of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients after radiotherapy.Concurreut chemoradiotherapy is probable to increase or aggravate the incidence of adverse reactions in the acute stage,but don’t show an effect on the late stage reaction.

Objective To denoise digital radiographic images well.Methods A technique was presented that used the Anscombe's transformation to adjust the original image to a Gaussian noise model based upon the wavelet denoising method and the wavelet-domain Hidden Markov Tree(HMT) model.Wavelet domain HMT models were used to determine the dependencies of multiscale wavelet coefficients through the state probabilities of the wavelet coefficients,whose sedistribution densities could be approximated by Gaussian mixture model.Results The proposed method could keep natural images edges from damaging and increase PSNR.Conclusion Quantitative and qualitative DR images assessment shows that the proposed algorithm outperforms the traditional Gaussian filter in terms of noise reduction,quality of details and bone sharpness.

Objective This study was designed to study the distribution and developmental changes of 11?\|hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1(11?\|HSD1) in the neonatal rat brain. Methods Immunohistochemistry and Western blot were used to observe the distribution and changes of 11?\|HSD1 protein levels in the neonatal rat brain. Results 11?\|HSD1 protein was highly expressed in all layers of the cerebral cortex as well as all sub\|regions of the hippocampus by immunohistochemistry.Western blot analysis showed that the expression of 11?\|HSD1 protein in the neonatal rat cortex,hippocampus and hypothalamus was higher during the first two weeks of life,but started to fall from 15th day after birth.Conclusion\ The expression pattern of 11?\|HSD1 protein in different brain areas in the neonatal rat suggests that 11?\|HSD1 protein may play an important role in the development and maturation of the brain.\;[

To compare the growth factors mRNA expressions in human skin fibroblasts cultured in two (2D) or three dimensional systems (3D). Human skin fibroblasts were isolated and cultured in collagen jelly (3D) or the regular culture plates (2D). After 72 hours, the total RNA of fibroblasts were extracted. Specific oligonucleotide primers for the growth factor VEGF and bFGF were synthesized and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) was utilized to amplify the mRNA of those growth factors. RT PCR productions were separated by electrophoresis in 1% wt/vol agarose gels and photographed. Semi quantitative data were statistically analyzed. Although the morphology of fibroblasts in 3D culture was different from that in 2D culture, the RT PCR analysis revealed the same expression and concentration of VEGF mRNA and bFGF mRNA in human skin fibroblasts cultured in different systems.

g this model, trainees could improve their basic techniques, such as resection and vaporization technique.

Objective To evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of finasteride in treating patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) during a 14-year period in a hospital.Methods Forty-one patients with BPH receiving finasteride 5 mg daily for the treatment from December 1994 to Febrary 2009 were included in the study. The base line and the end of study data of nocturia, prostate volume, serum creatine, complete blood count and serum prostatic specific antigen (PSA) were recorded. The acute urinary retention, surgical treatment and drug adverse reaction (prostate cancer or breast cancer) during the observation periods were recorded as well.ResultsAll the 41 cases took finasteride regularly for long-term medical therapy of BPH. At the end of this study, the average age of patients was (87.9±5.4) years old and the average duration of treatment was (141.1±27.1) months. The numbers of nocturia were 1.8±1.5 and 3.2±1.3 pre- and post- treatment, respectively (t= -4.52,P<0. 05). Before and at the end of the study, the prostate volumes were (44.9±26.6) ml and (42.8±31.3) ml, respectively(t=0. 33,P>0.05). Stratified study showed that, compared with the baseline data, the prostate volume was increased by 17.3 ％ in patients with prostate volume <25 ml(t= -0. 88 ,P>0. 05) ; the prostate volume was decreased by 17.2％ in patients with prostate volume of 25-40 ml(t=2.59,P<0.05); the prostate volumes were (63.3±28. 9) ml and (62.6±36.5) ml pre- and post-treatment in patients with prostate volume > 40 ml, and there was no significant change(t= 0.07, P>0. 05). Before and after the treatment, the serum creatine levels were (96.8±18. 6) mol/L and (86.45±32. 3) mol/L, respectively(t= 1.79, P>0. 05) ; the white blood cell counts were (6.4±1.5) × 109 L and (6.0±1.7) ×109 L, respectively (t= 1.13,P>0. 05) ; and the PSA levels were (1.2±2.0) μg/L and (1.4±1.7) μg/L, respectively (t=-0. 49,P>0. 05). Three cases (7.3％) occurred acute urinary retention. There was no prostate cancer and breast cancer case, and no new adverse event occurred during long-time use of finasteride. Conclusions This retrospective study has demonstrated that the clinical progress of BPH can be controlled effectively by long-term administration of finasteride.

Objective To establish the animal model of acute intracranial hypertension,investigate the changes of transeranial Doppler patterns in raised intraeranial pressure so that the necessary experimental evidence will be provided to clinical experience for monitoring intraeranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) using transeranial Doppler non-invasively. Methods Acute intraeranial hypertension was induced by inflating the balloon inserted into the epidural space. Blood flow velocity of basilar artery was measured with transcranial Doppler and intracranial pressure as well as cerebral perfusion pressure was measured. Results With progressive increase of intracranial pressure five characteristic flow patterns were observed, appearing in the following order: high resistance pattern, systolic flow, retrograde diastolic flow, very small systolic flow and zero flow. Conclusions Analysing patterns of TCD may be helpful for evaluating ICP and CPP qualitatively. The animal model is simple and strict so that it is worthy of being spreadcd.

Objective To study the effect of down-rdgulation of EF-1 alpha gene in prostate cancer cell line DU-145 on cancer cell migration and invasion by using RNA interference technique. Methods The prostate cancer cell line DU-145 was divided into three groups: the control group (untransfected with siRNA), randomly control group (randomly transfected with siRNA) and experimental group (transfected with EF-1 alpha siRNA). Localization of EF-1 alpha and its relationship with F-actin in cytoplasm were analyzed by immunofluorescence technique. Cancer cell migration and invasion capability of DU145 cells were studied by transwell technique in these three groups. Results EF-1 alpha expression in DU145 cell line was down-regulated by using RNA interference technique. EF-1 alpha was localized in cytoplasm and co-located with F-actin. The down-regualtion of EF-1 alpha did not change the F-actin distribution in cytoplasm. The cell migration and invasion study showed that after seeding 20×104 DU145 cells into the upper chamber of transwall for 12 hours, the cells collected in the lower chambers were (10.6±1.0)×104 in control group, (11.2±0.8)×104 in randomly control group and (3.9±0.6)×104 in experimental group. Compared with controls, the cancer cell migration and invasion capability was significantly inhibited to only 37.1% (t= 13.9, P<0.05) after the specific down-regulation of EF-1 alpha expression in DU145 cells. Conclusions The down-regulation of EF-1 alpha expression has negative impacts on prostate cancer cell migration and invasion. EF-1 alpha plays important roles in prostate cancer local invasion.

The incidence of hypoglycemic events in patients with type 2 diabetes around the period of fasting in Ramadan was compared under the treatment with combined insulin glargine and glimepiride. The results showed that the number of hypoglycemic events in patients with type 2 diabetes before, during and after the period of fasting in Ramadan was not different (P=0.238).