Objective:To analyze the factors affecting lymph node failure pattern after radiotherapy/chemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma without initial clinical metastasis. Methods:A total of 263 patients, who were diagnosed as thoracic esopha-geal carcinoma from January 2002 to December 2009, were included in this retrospective study. Factors affecting lymph node failure pattern with general clinical data and tumor local factors were analyzed. Results:Among the 263 esophageal cancer cases, 31 (11.8%) had lymph node metastasis after treatment, including 18 cases of simple lymph node metastasis and 13 other cases of lymph node metas-tasis with esophageal and other organ metastasis or recurrence. The numbers of cases for lymph node metastasis in the upper, middle, and lower thoracic esophagus were 11 (13.3%), 13 (10.1%), and 7 (13.7%), respectively. Univariate analysis showed that recent cura-tive effect, length of tumor on X-rays, maximum tumor diameter, and tumor volume were the significant factors associated with lymph node metastasis (χ2=7.597, 9.717, 5.361, and 4.815;P=0.006, 0.002, 0.021, and 0.028). Logistic regression analysis results showed that recent curative effect and length of tumor on X-rays were independent significant factors (P=0.004 and 0.026). Conclusion:Recent cu-rative effect and length of tumor on X-rays were the significant factors associated with lymph node failure pattern after radiotherapy/chemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma without initial clinical metastasis.

Objective To explore the effect of high-fat diet(HFD) on redox states of duodenum and calcium absorption in mice,and to analyze the relation between them.Method Fifty C57BL/6 male mice were randomly assigned to five groups.The control group consumed an ordinary diet(0.6% Ca,w/w),and other four groups were fed with HFD(19.64%lard,0.6% Ca),HFD plus 0.1% lipoid acid(LA),HFD with calcium supplement(1.6%Ca) and HFD with 1.6% Ca and 0.1% LA supplement.Calcium apparent absorption was measured by mineral balance study after feeding for 8 w.Plasma and duodenum levels of ROS,SOD,CAT,MDA,GSH/GSSG,and T-AOC were measured to evaluate the antioxidant status.Results HFD induced oxidative stress of duodenum and decrease of intestinal calcium absorption in mice.There were positive correlations between calcium apparent absorption with GSH/GSSG(r=0.801,P

Objective To investigate the changes in femoral gene expression profiles in C57BL/6 mice fed high-fat diet (HFD) via clustering analysis of DNA microarray.Method Sixteen male C57BL/6 mice (4w old) were randomly assigned to two groups,8 in each,after 4-d ordinary diet for adaptation.The control group was fed with an ordinary diet,and the HFD group with HFD(19.5% lard).All mice were sacrificed at the end of 12w and the femoral gene expression was detected by oligonucleotide microarray analysis with Affymetrix Gene Chip Mouse U430A.DAVID,an online tool,was used for clustering analysis on femoral gene expression.Results Longtime administration of HFD caused femoral gene expressed differences related to cation ion channel,transcription regulation and signal transduction,bone mineralization,phosphate metabolic process regulation,and collagen synthesis.Conclusion Longtime intake of HFD will change the expression of numerous bone metabolism-related genes in bone of mice,and then inhibit bone formation.

Objective To evaluate the correlation between periodontitis and life style. Methods By using randomized cluster sampling method,2990 health check-up receivers were enrolled in this cross sectional survey from September 2007 to September 2008. The participants were requested to fill in a questionnaire to assess community periodontal index and synthesis grades. Multiple linear regression was used for data analysis. Results Gender (P = 0. 000) , age (P = 0. 000 ) , educational level ( P = 0. 001) , smoking (P = 0.011 ) and duration of teeth brush ( P = 0.026 ) were positively correlated with periodontitis. However, periodontitis showed no relationship with alcohol consumption, food intake, daily activity,frequency of teeth brush, periodontal bleeding. Conclusion Periodontitis is a condition with multiple risk factors. Improving life style may help to prevent general population from periodontitis.

Objective:To explore the effect of lipoic acid (LA) on chronic oxidative stress,cytokines and inflammatory gene expression with mice fed with high fat diet (HFD) and whether LA supplementation could prevent development of chronic inflammation.Methods:C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to three groups.The control group were administrated with an ordinary diet.The two experimental groups were fed with a high fat diet or high fat plus 0.1% LA.Antioxidants defense index such as SOD,CAT,GSH-Px and MDA were examined after 10 week.Cytokines such as IFN-?,IL-4,IL-6,TNF-? and IL-10 were examined after 10 week,respectively.Gene expression related to oxidative stress and inflammation were confirmed by QRT-PCR.Results:HFD led to potently weaken antioxidant defenses in mice.HFD significantly increased levels of IFN-?,IL-6 and TNF-?,and decreased levels of IL-4 and IL-10 in mice plasma.QRT-PCR results showed an up-regulation of inflammation related genes and a down-regulation antioxidant-related genes.Conclusion:LA is a possibly effective supplementation with HFD,both to prevent from the development of long-term oxidative stress and to attenuate chronic inflammation.

Objective To investigate the protective effects of folic acid on the oxidative damage that ox-LDL (oxi?dized low-density lipoprotein receptor 1) render to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Methods HUVECs were injured by ox-LDL (120 mg/L) for 24 h while they were incubated with various concentration of folic acid (0,15, 60, 150, 225, 300, 375 nmol/L). Then HUVECs were cultured in media contains same concentration of folic acid but without ox-LDL for 72 hours. Finally, HUVECs were harvested after 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. The morphological changes were observed us?ing inverted microscope and cell viability were examined by MTT. Results Various concentrations of folic acid (0,15, 50, 100, 200 and 500 nmol/L) has no obvious promotion or inhibition effect in growth of normal HUVEC (P>0.05). However, compared with the ox-FA-def group, 150, 225, 300 and 375 nmol/L of folic acid promoted proliferation of HUVECs with 96 and 120 hours of incubations (P < 0.05). Folic acid of 60, 150, 225, 300 and 375 nmol/L promoted the proliferation of HUVECs with 72 h and 96 hours of incubation (P<0.05). Conclusion High dose folic acid can reduce the ox-LDL oxida?tive damage on HUVEC in a concentration dependent manner.

Objective To study the effect and significance of transforming growth factor-?_1(TGF-?_1), and TGF-?_1mRNA in the pathogenesis of chronic pancreatitis. Methods The expression and distribution of TGF-?_1, and TGF-?_1mRNA in the pancreatic tissue in different stage of the pathogenesis of chronic pancreatitis were studied with immunohistochemical SP staining, in situ hybridization,and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction on the canine model of chronic pancreatitis . Results The Expression of TGF-?_1 and TGF-?_1mRNA were found in fibrotic tissues, fibroblasts, macrophages and endothelial cells of blood vessels.The expression of TGF-?_1 and TGF-?_1mRNA were high and lasting in the pathogenesis of chronic pancreatitis. Conclusions High expression of TGF-?_1 is closely related to the fibroblast proliferating activity, extracellular matrix overdeposition and proceeding fibrosis of pancreas.

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of surgical treatment for internal carotid artery atheromatous pseudo-occlusion (APO).Methods Clinical data of patients with carotid artery stenosis treated by carotid endarterectomy from Dec.,2011 to Jun.,2016 in Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University were analyzed retrospectively.Carotid endarterectomy were performed in 32 patients with pseudo-occlusion of the internal carotid artery (APO group).And 124 patients with traditional severe stenosis (70％-99％) served as control group.Perioperative major and minor complications,recurrence rate of ipsilateral ischemic stroke,restenosisrate and mortality in follow-up were compared between the two groups.Results Perioperative major complications:one patient (3.1 ％) developed myocardial infarction in the APO group,no ischemic stroke,cerebral hemorrhage and death cases;2 (1.4％) ischemic stroke cases,6 (4.2％) myocardial infarction cases and 1 (0.7％)death case was found in control group.Perioperative minor complications:1 (3.1％) incision bleeding case,2 (6.3％) pulmonary infection cases,2 (6.3％) cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome cases were found in APO group;3 (2.1％) incision bleeding cases,2 (1.4％) incision infection cases,4 (2.8％)pulmonary infection cases,2 (1.4％) cranial nerve injury cases,2 (1.4％) cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome cases were found in control group.Patients were followed up for 6-60 months,with mean follow-up period of (35.3 ± 17.5) months.During follow-up,1 (3.1％) ipsilateral ischemic stroke recurrence case,4 (12.5％) restenosis cases,and 3 (9.4％) death cases were found in the APO group.And 8 (5.6％) ipsilateral ischemic stroke recurrence cases,9 (6.3％) restenosis cases,8 (5.6％)death cases were found in control group.There were no significant differences in perioperative major and minor complications,recurrence rate of ipsilateral ischemic stroke,restenosis rate and mortality between the two groups.Conclusions Surgical treatment for atheromatous pseudo-occlusion of the internal carotid artery is safe and effective.Perioperative and follow-up results are satisfactory.

BACKGROUND:Rapid developments in the field of bioinformatics have provided new methods for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis.Artificial neural networks have powerful data computing and classification capabilities,which have shown better performance in disease diagnosis. OBJECTIVE:To establish a new diagnostic predictive model of osteoarthritis based on artificial neural network and to verify the diagnostic value of the model in osteoarthritis with an external dataset. METHODS:The eligible osteoarthritis-related data sets were downloaded through GEO database search and divided into Train group and Test group.The gene expression matrix of the Train group was analyzed to screen the differentially expressed genes.GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were performed on the differentially expressed genes.Through Lasso regression model,support vector machine model and random forest tree model,the key genes of osteoarthritis were further identified from the differentially expressed genes.The R software"Neuralnet"package was then used to construct the osteoarthritis diagnosis model based on artificial neural network,and the model performance was evaluated by the five-fold cross-validation.Two independent data sets in the Test group were used to verify their diagnostic results. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:A total of 90 differentially expressed genes related to osteoarthritis were obtained by differential analysis,of which 33 were down-regulated and 57 were up-regulated.GO enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in the following biological processes,including leukocyte-mediated immunity,leukocyte migration in bone marrow and chemokine production.KEGG enrichment analysis showed that these genes were mainly enriched in rheumatoid arthritis,interleukin-17 signaling pathway and osteoclast differentiation pathway.Five key genes for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis,HMGB2,GADD45A,SLC19A2,TPPP3 and FOLR2,were identified by three machine learning methods.The artificial neural network model of five key genes in the Train group showed that the accuracy was 96.36%and the area under the curve was 0.997.The five-fold cross validation of the neural network model showed that the average area under the curve was greater than 0.9 and the model was of robustness.Two independent data sets in the Test group showed its area under the curve was 0.814 and 0.788 respectively.Therefore,the establishment of an artificial neural network model for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis has a certain diagnostic value.

Opioid receptor agonist-antagonists are a class of drugs which have both agonistic and antagonistic effects on opioid receptors. These drugs already on the market mainly include pentazocine， butorphanol， nalbuphine， buprenorphine， dezocine and so on. Compared with pure opioid receptor agonists such as morphine and fentanyl， these drugs have strong analgesic effects， less addictive， and less side effects such as cough， itching and respiratory depression. Due to the different tendentious effects of opioid receptor agonists-antagonists among different endogenous opioid receptors （μ， κ， δ， etc.）， different receptors of subtypes can exhibit different or even opposite effects in terms of affecting emotions and drug dependence. Therefore， the rational use of these drugs can effectively reduce the occurrence of adverse reactions and drug abuse caused by opioid drugs. With the deepening of research on various endogenous opioid receptor subtypes and related drugs in the academic community， opioid receptor agonists- antagonists have broad application space and prospects in improving adverse reactions to opioid drugs and enhancing patient drug compliance.