Objective To evaluate left atrial function by velocity vector imaging (VVI) in patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis(RMS). Methods Thirty eight patients with RMS and 42 normal controls were studied with VVI analysis software. Peak systolic strain (S), systolic strain rate(SRs), early diastolic strain rate(SRe) and late diastolic strain rate(SRa) of each left atrial segments were measured,and also the SRa peak time delay(Td-SRa). Results Comparing to the controls group, the S, SRs and SRe of all segments were significantly lower(P<0.05). Except the base latero-aorta's SRa, the other segments' SRa were lower (P<0.05). In patients with atrial fibrillation(AF),56% segments had no SRa,and 18.6% had irregular low amplitude movement at late diastole, while 25.4% had discernible positive peak. The base and middle inferior SRa of patients with AF were lower (P<0.05 ) than those of the patients with sinus rhythm. While the Td-SRa of patients was longer than that of control group,especially what of the patients with AF. Conclusions The segmental and globe left atrial function of patients with RMS can be evaluated with VVI.

Objective To investigate the molecular regulatory mechanism of glucagon like peptide 1 (GLP-1) on proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis of human umbilical cord blood endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Methods EPCs were isolated from the umbilical cord blood of healthy pregnant women and cultured in 6-hole cell plate at 2×105 density in vitro, transfected with empty vector plasmid (control group), pcDNA3-GLP-1 plasmid (GLP-1 group), pcDNA3-GLP-1plasmid+AMD3100 (GLP-1+AMD3100 group) and simple AMD3100 (AMD3100 group). The pcDNA3-GLP-1 was transfected into EPCs. The 25μmol/L AMD3100 was used to block the SDF-1/CXCR4 signal pathway of EPCs for 1 h. The cell proliferation was determined by MTT method. The mRNA expressions of differentiation and apoptosis related genes PPARγ, C/EBPα and Caspase-3 were investigated by RT-PCR, and Caspase-3 activity was determined by Caspase-3 activity assay kit. Results Compared to control group, AMD3100 inhibitor showed no effects on cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, while over-expression of GLP-1 in EPCs obviously promoted cell proliferation, and differentiation related genes PPARγand C/EBPαmRNA expression, but down-regulated mRNA expression and the activity of Caspase-3 significantly (P＜0.05), indicating that GLP-1 increased proliferation and differentiation of EPCs while decreased cell apoptosis. When the SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling pathway was blocked by AMD3100, over-expression of GLP-1 induced promotion of cell proliferation, and the differentiation was decreased significantly and the apoptosis was significantly increased (P＜0.05). Conclusion These data confirm that GLP-1 might promote EPCs proliferation and differentiation, and inhibit cell apoptosis through the regulation of the SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling pathway.

Aim To investigate the renoprotective effect of berberine in diabetic nephropathy rat model. Methods The rat model of DN was induced by intra-peritoneal injection of streptozotocin ( STZ ) after fed with high sugar and high fat diet for six weeks. The rats were divided into 5 groups randomly, i. e. normal control group, model group, BBR ( 50 mg · kg-1 ) , BBR ( 100 mg · kg-1 ) and BBR ( 200 mg · kg-1 ) treatment group. The fasting blood glucose ( FBG) was evaluated at 2, 4, 6,8 week respectively. The patho-logical changes in the kidney were determined by PAS staining. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor ( VEGF) was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot respectively. Results Compared with normal control group, the value of FBG, SCr, BUN and UTP of model group were sharply increased.
Compared with model group, the value of FBG in ber-berine different dosage treatment groups were signifi-cantly decreased to various degrees, and berberine dif-ferent dosage treatment could decrease the levels of SCr, BUN and UTP in different degree. Berberine could surpress the alterations of pathological changes in the kidneys and downregulate the expression levels of VEGF in the kidney of diabetic rats with nephropathy. Conclusion Berberine could significantly ameliorate the biochemical indicators and renal injury of the model rats through affecting the abnormal expression levels of VEGF in the kidney.

According to the operational principle of original switch K2 for the console of orthopantomography X-ray unit, the common switch K1 and some accessory circuits are used to improve K2.

OBJECTIVE:To optimize the extraction technique for Sidiming capsules.METHODS:The technical conditions for the water decoction and the alcohol precipitation were optimized respectively by the orthogonal experiment design L9(34)with hydrosoluble extract used as the index for the water decoction and the catalpol extract for alcohol precipitation.The content of Catalpol was determined by HPLC.RESULTS:The optimum conditions were as follows:decocting the crude drugs twice with 8-fold water,1 h each time.The physic liquor extracted by water was filtered,mixed and concentrated to 1.0 g?mL-1(crude drug),and then precipitated by 75% concentration of alcohol for 24 h.Then the physic liquor was filtered,concentrated and dried by microwave vacuum concentration dryer to obtain the dry ointment.CONCLUSION:The optimum extraction procedure is stable and reliable,and it can be used as the optimal extraction procedure of Sidiming capsules.

ObjectiveTo study the role and mechanism of low-dose aspirin with IFN-α in inhibiting growth and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsMHCC97L cells were cultured and a metastatic model of human HCC was established by orthotopic implantation of histologically intact human HCC tissue into the liver of nude (nu/nu) mice.After administration of different doses of Aspirin and IFN-α for 40 days,the mice bearing xenografts in liver were killed,and the tumor volume and lung metastasis were evaluated.Cell proliferation and MMP-2 activity were measured by MTT and gelatin zymography,respectively.The expressions of VEGF and MMP-2 were measured by western blot and ELISA.ResultsCompared to the control group,there were no significant differences in the high-dose Aspirin [45 mg/(kg · d)] treated group regarding tumor volume [(1.89 ±0.88) cm3 vs (3.12±0.85) cm3,P＞0.05] and incidence of lung metastases (58.3％ vs 66.7％,P＞0.05),but the tumor volume and incidence of lung metastasis were significantly inhibited in the highdose IFN-α group [1.5 × 107/(kg · d)],the high-dose IFN-α combined with high-dose Aspirin group,and the low-dose IFN-α [7.5 × 106 / (kg · d) ] combined with low-dose Aspirin [15 mg/(kg · d] group (P＜0.05).2 mmol/L Aspirin did not inhibit the proliferation of MHCC97 cells (P＞0.05),but inhibited the activities and expressions of MMP-2 and VEGF.Low-dose IFN-α combined with low-dose Aspirin significantly decreased the expressions of MMP-2 and VEGF in nude mice (P＜0.05).ConclusionLow-dose Aspirin combined with low-dose IFN-α significantly inhibited the growth and metastasis of HCC through suppressing the expressions of MMP-2 and VEGF.

Objective To investigate the role and mechanism of TMPRSS4 in radiation induced metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods Metastatic model of human HCC was established by orthotopic implantation of histologically intact human HCC tissue into the liver of nude mice.Mice bearing xenografts in liver were killed after radiation and the residual tumors were resected and reimplanted into the liver of normal nude mice.At the end of sixth week,the mice were killed and the histopathological features,tumor volume,intrahepatic and lung metastasis were evaluated.Expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) related genes including N-cadherin,Vimentin,SIP1 and TMPRSS4 were measured by Western blotting and RT-PCR.Results The tumor volume and frequency of lung metastasis of control group was 2.25±0.52 cm3 and 66.7％,respectively.Compared to control group,tumor diameter (1.61±0.51 cm3,P＜0.05) and lung metastasis (12.5％,P＜0.05) were significantly inhibited 2 days after radiation.Whereas,30 days after radiation,tumor growth recovered (2.60±0.61 cm3,P＞0.05) and lung metastasis was enhanced (100％,P＜0.05).There were no intrahepatic metastasis in the control group and in the group of reimplantation of HCC 2 days after radiation,while the tumors from those 30 days after radiation showed enhanced intrahepatic metastasis (18 ± 8.05,P＜ 0.01 ),with overexpression of SIP1,N-cadherin,Vimentin and TMPRSS4,and reduced expression of E-cadherin.Conclusion The metastasis potential of residual HCC after radiation was first inhibited and then promoted.Overexpression of TMPRSS4 plays a critical role in radiation induced long-term metastasis of HCC by facilitating EMT.

Aim To investigate the effect of berberine on the expression of nephrin, podocin and intergrinα3β1 in diabetic nephropathy ( DN ) rat model, and further probe in to the renoprotective effects of berber-ine and its potential mechanisms. Methods The rat model of DN was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin ( STZ ) after fed with high-sugar and high-fat diet for six weeks. The rats were assigned into 6 groups randomly: normal control group, DN model group, BBR (50,100 and 200 mg·kg-1 ) treatment group and enalaprilat positive control group ( 1 mg · kg-1 ) . The distribution and expression of kidney podocyte related proteins nephrin, podocin and interg-rinα3β1 were detected by immunohistochemical meth-od following electron microscopy observation ( × 1000 ) and high magnification observation( × 400) and West-ern blot. Results The podocyte related protein neph-rin, podocin and intergrin α3β1 were mainly distribu-ted in podocyte, but slightly different. Compared with normal control group, the expresion of podocyte related protein nephrin, podocin and intergrin α3β1 was de-creased obviously; compared with model group, BBR (100 and 200 mg·kg-1 ) treatment group could sig-nificantly suppress the abnormalities of pathological changes of the kidney and upregulate the expression levels of podocyte specific protein nephrin, podocin and intergrin α3β1 in the kidney of diabetic rats with nephropathy. Conclusions Berberine could alleviate the abnormalities of kidney pathological changes and proteinuria production in the DN model rats, which may be related to the upregulation of the expression of the podocyte proteins nephrin, podocin and intergrinα3β1.

Objective To identify the epidemiological changes in invasive fungal infection (IFI) in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to provide information for prevention and treatment of IFI.Methods A total of 102 cases who were diagnosed with IFI among 42 187 neonates hospitalized in the NICU of Affiliated BaYi Children's Hospital,Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital from January 1,2009 to December 31,2014 were enrolled in this study.Since January 1,2012,the divisions of our NICU were more specific and intravenous fluconazole was administered as a routine preventive measure for high-risk infants.Clinical information of the IFI cases including general features,incidence,distribution of pathogens and drug (Amphotericin B,Fluconazole,Flucytosin,Itraconazole and Voriconazole) sensitivity were analyzed between former period (January 1,2009 to December 31,2011) and latter period (January 1,2012 to December 31,2014) by Chi-square test.Results The total incidence of IFI was 2.42‰ (102/42 187),and among the 102 IFI cases,73.5％ (75/102) were preterm infants and 75.5％ (77/102) were low birth weight infants.The incidence ofIFI in the latter period was lower than that in the former period [1.8‰ (48/26 046) vs 3.3‰ (54/16 141),x2=9.329,P＜0.01].The incidences of IFI in neonates with gestation age ＜28,≥ 28-＜32 and ≥ 32-＜37 weeks in latter period were decreased as compared with those in former period [10.6 ‰ (3/284) vs 76.9 ‰ (9/117),x2=12.569;6.1‰ (13/2 134) vs 21.9‰ (28/1 277),x2=16.868;1.4‰ (12/8 706) vs 1.9‰ (10/5 256),x2=7.165] (all P＜0.01).Altogether 103 pathogen strains were identified from 102 IFI cases as one Candida parapsilosis strain and one Laurent cryptococcus strain were both isolated from one patient.The most prevalent three pathogens were Candida albicans [51.5％ (53/103)],Candidaparapsilosis [24.3％ (25/103)] and Candida glabrata [8.7％ (9/103)].The isolated rates of Candida albicans and Candida glabrata strains in the latter period were higher than those in the former period [63.3％ (31/49) vs 40.7％ (22/54),x2=5.218;18.4％ (9/49) vs 0.0％ (0/54),x2=10.868],while the isolated rate of Candida parapsilosis strain was lower in the latter period than that in the former period [12.2％(6/49) vs 35.2％(19/54),x2=7.355] (all P＜0.05).All pathogen strains were sensitive strains except one Candida krusei strain which was isolated in the former period and was resistant to Fluconazole.Conclusions Premature infants born at lower gestational ages or with low birth weights are still at high-risk of IFI,but the incidence of IFI has declined in recent years.Routine administration of fluconazole in high-risk infants in NICU could prevente IFI without increasing drug resistance.Candida albicans is the predominant pathogen ofIFI.

Adenoma ; pathology ; Colonic Neoplasms ; pathology ; Humans ; Intestinal Mucosa ; pathology