Objective To evaluate the accuracy of different methods in detecting free amino acids in plasma.Method 40 blood samples from healthy volunteers were analyzed by an automatic amino acid analyzer ( Li+system) and the results compared with previous reports using other analyzers.Results The results ob-tained by this analyzer for major amino acids [asparagine (Asn), glutamic acid (Glu), glutamine (Gln), valine (Val), tyrosine (Tyr), phenylalanine (Phe), ornithine (Orn), arginine (Arg)] were similar with those previously reported using other amino acid analyzers ( all P>0.05 ) and liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) (all P>0.05).Except for Glu and Tyr, the results for major amino acids showed large deviation compared to the results from high performance liquid chromatography ( HPLC) ( all P<0.05).Conclusion The amino acid analyzer (Li+) and LC-MS/MS (iTRAQ kit) could accurately detect free amino acids in plasma.

Foundations of Oriental Medicine (FOM) is one of the mandatory examinations for the Diplomate of Oriental Medicine (Dipl.OM.), Chinese Herbology (Dipl.CH.), or Acupuncture (Dipl. Ac.) by American National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). In the light of NCCAOM Certification Handbook, Foundations of Oriental Medicine Expanded Content Outline,and Foundations of Oriental Medicine Study Guide, the authors introduced the examination pattern and examination-related contents including: Clinical diagnostic methods; assessment, analysis, and pattern-differentiation based upon Oriental Medicine theory and treatment principle and strategy.

Objective: To assess the potential significance of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) labelling indexes (PCNA-LI) and AgNORs number in evaluation of proliferative activity of Wilms′ tumor. Methods: A silver staining for AgNORs and an immunohistochemical method PCNA staining were performed on the biopsy specimens taken from 34 children with Wilms′ tumor. Results: No significant differences were observed between PCNA-LI and the pathological types and clinical stages, whereas fraction of S-phase and PI and the number of AgNORs were significantly higher in patients with PCNA-LI≥25% than that in patients with PCNA-LI<25%. The number of AgNORs/cell correlated well with both pathological types and clinical stages. The combination of PCNA-LI and AgNORs can accurately reflect the proliferative activity of cancer cells in Wilms′ tumor. Conclusion: The current pathological types and clinical stages may reflect the aggressive activity in Wilms′ tumor, but insufficient. The simultaneous determination of PCNA-LI and AgNORs count could be used as the essential complementarity of conventional pathological types and stages for accurate evaluation of biologic behaviour of Wilms′ tumor.

AIM: To investigate the changes of the expression of Bcl-2 and Fas protein and the apoptosis in HL-60 cells induced by cyclosporine A. METHODS: The expression of Bcl-2 and Fas protein and apoptosis in (HL-60) cells were measured by immunohistochemistry analysis and flow cytometric analysis. RESULTS: There was strong expression of Bcl-2 in HL-60 cells, treatment with cyclosporine A (CsA) for 8-10 h down-regulated the expression of Bcl-2. Fas protein expression in HL-60 cells was very low, CsA induced apoptosis of HL-60 cells, but didn't induce Fas protein expression. CONCLUSION: CsA induces apoptosis in HL-60 cells by down-regulating Bcl-2 expression. [

Objective:To investigate whether His-tag to change the immunogenicity of recombinant protein G1F/M2 of respiratory syncytial virus.Methods:The G1 and F/M2 gene fragments were amplified by PCR method and then ligated into the expressing vector pET-His or pET-DsbA-His.Each recombinant plasmid was transferred into E.coli BL21(DE3) and the expression was induced by IPTG.The expressed His-G1F/M2 or DsbA-His-G1F/M2 was purified by affinity chromatography.The latter was digested with thrombase and G1F/M2 was purified by affinity chromatography.His-G1F/M2 or G1F/M2 was used to immunize BALB/c mice.Anti-RSV antibody was measured by ELISA and RSV-specific CTL responses by MTT.Results:No significant difference was observed between the level of anti-RSV antibody or RSV-specific CTL response induced by G1F/M2 and that by His-G1F/M2.Conclusion:His-tag does not change the immunogenicity of recombinant protein G1F/M2 of respiratory syncytial virus.

Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of two kinds of homemade sirolimus-eluting stents (Firebird and Excel) for treatment of acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods The 249 consecutive patients with STEMI who underwent PCI were randomly divided into two groups: Excel group (n=136) and Firebird group (n=113). They were followed up for 6-24 months, and coronary angiography was reviewed average 12 months later. The primary endpoints were major adverse cardiac events, including death, reinfarction and target vessel revascularization. The second endpoints included late luminal loss and restenosis 12 months after treatment. Results There were no significant differences in baseline data, coronary arterial lesion before operation, and immediateness condition after PCI between the two groups (all P＞0.05). Within follow-up, there were 2 (1.47%) death cases and 1 (0.88%) death case, 1 (0.74%) and 1 (0.88%) nonfatal myocardial infarction case, 2 (1.47%) and 2 (1.77%) target vessel revascularization cases in the two groups respectively (all P＞0.05). There were no significant differences in late luminal loss of in-stent and in-segment, the rates of in-stent restenosis, in-segment restenosis and stent thrombosis, the in-stent minimal lumen diameter and in-segment minimal lumen diameter between the two groups (all P＞0.05). Conclusions The two kinds of homemade sirolimus-eluting stents may have similar efficacy and safety in patients with STEMI treated with primary PCI.

OBJECTIVEThe survey will reveal current status of subclinical vitamin A deficiency (SVAD) and explore its affecting factors in children of China.

METHODSTotally 8 669 children aged under 6 years were randomly selected from 14 provinces for clinical examination, health and dietary questionnaire and serum level of vitamin A measurement with fluorescence method. The cut-off value for SVAD was defined as

RESULTSPrevalence of SVAD was 11.7% and that of suspected SVAD 39.2% in all subjects, which decreased with the increase of gross domestic product, average annual family income, mother's schooling and children's age. Prevalence of SVAD and suspected SVAD higher in rural areas (15.0%) than in urban areas (5.2%), and higher in children with a minority mother (22.6%) than in those with a Han nationality mother (8.7%). Prevalence of SVAD and suspected SVAD was higher in children whose blood samples were collected within one week in-taking vitamin A-rich food (12.6%-22.6%) than those in-taking vitamin A daily (4.1%-10.0%), and higher in children suffering from respiratory infection, fever and diarrhea two weeks before their blood collection (15.2%-20.3%) than in those without those diseases (10.1%-11.1%). Logistic regression analysis showed that poor family economic status, living in rural areas, children with a minority mother, younger age, no-dairy milk products intake, and respiratory infection and fever all were risk factors for SVAD.

CONCLUSIONSMore than half of children under six years old in China (50.9%) had vitamin A nutrition problem. Varied factors played roles to different extent in SVAD in children.

Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Prevalence ; Vitamin A ; blood ; Vitamin A Deficiency ; epidemiology ; etiology

Objective: This study aims to explore the effect of practice on the triage and acuity scale in the emergency department of Stomatological Hospital. Methods : 150 emergency patients admitted to the emergency department from April 2016 to July 2016 were randomly selected as the control group before the implementation of graded district diagnosis and treatment, and 150 emergency patients admitted from August 2016 to November 2016 were selected as the observation group after the implementation of graded diagnosis and treatment. The control group was treated with the traditional nursing treatment mode, and the observation group adopted the triage and acuity scale mode. The efficiency of treatment for the patients and the degree of satisfaction of the patients in terms of the nursing work was compared between the two groups (waiting time, checkup time, start treatment time). Results: A comparison of the patients in the observation group and control group showed that the waiting time (min)(25.63 ± 8.75 vs. 35.57 ± 10.60, t = -8.52, P < 0.001), the time of accepting examination (min)(24.80 ± 7.90 vs. 39.23 ± 12.42, t = -12.01, P < 0.001) and the starting time of treatment （min）(28.67 ± 9.37 vs. 40.47 ± 10.86, t = -10.08, P < 0.001) were significantly lower in the observation group than the control group (P < 0.05). The degree of satisfaction with the nursing work for the patients in the observation group (96.67%) was higher than that of the control group (85.33%), and this difference was statistically significant (χ2=17.647, P=0.001). Conclusion The application of a triage and acuity scale in the diagnosis and treatment of stomatological emergency patients according to the severity and urgency of disease can ensure the priority of treatment in critically ill patients, the safe and efficient performance of emergency work, and improvements to the efficiency and quality of emergency medical services.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor that mainly occurs in East and Southeast Asia. Although patients benefit from the main NPC treatments (e.g., radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy), persistent and recurrent diseases still occur in some NPC patients. Therefore, investigating the pathogenesis of NPC is of great clinical significance. In the present study, replication factor c subunit 4 (RFC4) is a key potential target involved in NPC progression via bioinformatics analysis. Furthermore, the expression and mechanism of RFC4 in NPC were investigated in vitro and in vivo. Our results revealed that RFC4 was more elevated in NPC tumor tissues than in normal tissues. RFC4 knockdown induced G2/M cell cycle arrest and inhibited NPC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, HOXA10 was confirmed as a downstream target of RFC4, and the overexpression of HOXA10 attenuated the silencing of RFC4-induced cell proliferation, colony formation inhibition, and cell cycle arrest. For the first time, this study reveals that RFC4 is required for NPC cell proliferation and may play a pivotal role in NPC tumorigenesis.
Humans ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma/pathology* ; Carcinoma/pathology* ; Replication Protein C/metabolism* ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Cell Movement

The characteristic genetic abnormality of neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs), a heterogeneous group of tumors found in various organs, remains to be identified. Here, based on the analysis of the splicing variants of an oncogene Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) in The Cancer Genome Atlas datasets that contain 9193 patients of 33 cancer subtypes, we found that Box 6/Box 7-containing FAK variants (FAK^6/7) were observed in 7 (87.5%) of 8 pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas and 20 (11.76%) of 170 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs). We tested FAK variants in 157 tumor samples collected from Chinese patients with pancreatic tumors, and found that FAK^6/7 was positive in 34 (75.6%) of 45 pancreatic NENs, 19 (47.5%) of 40 pancreatic solid pseudopapillary neoplasms, and 2 (2.9%) of 69 PDACs. We further tested FAK splicing variants in breast neuroendocrine carcinoma (BrNECs), and found that FAK^6/7 was positive in 14 (93.3%) of 15 BrNECs but 0 in 23 non-NEC breast cancers. We explored the underlying mechanisms and found that a splicing factor serine/arginine repetitive matrix protein 4 (SRRM4) was overexpressed in FAK^6/7-positive pancreatic tumors and breast tumors, which promoted the formation of FAK^6/7 in cells. These results suggested that FAK^6/7 could be a biomarker of NENs and represent a potential therapeutic target for these orphan diseases.
Female ; Humans ; Alternative Splicing ; Breast Neoplasms/metabolism* ; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal/pathology* ; Focal Adhesion Protein-Tyrosine Kinases/therapeutic use* ; Nerve Tissue Proteins/genetics* ; Neuroendocrine Tumors/genetics* ; Oncogenes ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/metabolism*