Objective To investigate the relationship between the expression of the survivin gene and CpC methylation in exon 1 of the survivin gene in CA tissue, and to study the expression of survivin protein in CA tissue and its modulation mechanism. Methods Tissue samples were obtained from the CA lesions of 30 patients, normal cervix of 10 female controls, and normal foreskin of 10 male controls. Immunohistochemistry was carried out to detect the expression of survivin protein in these specimens, RT-PCR to measure the mRNA expression of survivin, and methylation specific PCR (MSP) to analyze the methylation status of CpG island in the survivin gene exon 1. Results The positivity rate of survivin protein and mRNA was 90% (27/30) and 93.3% (28/30) in CA tissue specimens, respectively, 5% (1/20) and 5% (1/20) in control tissue specimens, respectively; there was a significant difference between the two groups of specimens in both the parameters (x2 = 35.187, 38.437, both P < 0.01). The demethylation of CpG island in the survivin gene exon 1 was observed in 86.7% (26/30) of the CA tissue specimens and in 15% (3/20) of the control tissue specimens (x2 = 10.865, P < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between the demethylation status of CpG island in exon 1 and the mRNA expression of survivin gene (x2 = 13.929, P = 0.014). Conclusions The expression of survivin protein in CA tissues might be associated with the demethylation of CpG island in exon 1 of the survivin gene, and may play a certain role in the development of CA.

Objective To evaluate the prognostic factors of predicting the outcome of Graves disease (GD) after treatment with antithyroid drugs.MethodsA retrospective audit was performed for 306 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed GD.They were divided into successful and failure groups (including recurrent and non-stop subgroups )according to the treatment outcomes.Different prognostic factors after treatment with antithyroid drugs were compared and the state of thyrotropin suppression was observed as the euthyroid state at Months 3,6 and 12 respectively.ResultsAmong them,141patients (46.1％ ) were cured and 165 patients (53.9％) had treatment failures.Age at the time of diagnosis was (46 ±10) years in the successful group and (36 ±9) years in the failure group(t =3.152,P =0.002).Free T3 ( FT3 ) was (25.2 ±8.9) and ( 18.7 ±9.4) pmol/L in the failure and successful groups respectively (t =3.326,P =0.001).The FT3 to FT4 ratio and thyrotrophin receptor antibody (TRAb) levels were higher in the failure group ( t =3.331,3.389,P =0.001).Logistic regression analysis showed that thyroid size,FT3 to FT4 ratio and TRAb at the time of diagnosis were associated with failure outcomes.The ratio of continuing thyrotropin suppression in the recurrent subgroup was more than that in the successful group ( X2 =77.515,114.441,136.232,all P ＜ 0.01).ConclusionsThe GD patients with a large thyroid size and high pre-mediation levels of TRAb and FT3 to FT4 ratio are more prone to respond unfavorably to antithyroid drug treatment.And those with a large thyroid size and post-medication ophthalmopathy and continuing thyrotropin suppression have a high rate of recurrence.

ObjectiveTo observe the changes of high sensitive serum C-reaction protein (hsCRP) in macrovascular disease with or without type 2 diabetes.MethodsThere were 3 groups population in our study:148 type 2 diabetic patients were divided into 2 subgroups:77 patients with macrovascular disease and 71 without macrovascular disease, 73 non-diabetic patients with macrovascular disease and 75 health controls. The concentration of serum hsCRP of all patients were determined by ELISA.ResultsThere was significant difference in concentration of serum hsCRP between type 2 diabetes with or without macrovascular disease groups, non-diabetes macrovascular disease group and control(P<0.01 or P<0.001). However, there was not significant difference between 2 diabetes groups and non- diabetic macrovascular disease group(P>0.05). There was no significant difference in hsCRP between type 2 diabetes with and without macrovascular disease (P>0.05).ConclusionThere may be a chronic inflammatory reaction in patients with type 2 diabetes or macrovascular disease. hsCRP might be a well forecasting factor of the occurrence and development of type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis.

Objective To identify the GNAS gene mutation resulting in pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ⅰa (PHP-Ⅰa) in one patient. Methods The clinical data of a patient with pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ⅰa was retrospectively analyzed. All the 13 exons of GNAS were sequenced using Sanger method for the patient and the parents. The distribution of suspected causal mutation was screened in 478 healthy controls. To clarify the origin of the mutation, we performed targeted high-depth sequencing of GNAS exon harboring the mutation for the patient and the parents. Results The clinical data of the patient with the laboratory results of hypocalcaemia, hyperphosphataemia, elevated serum PTH, together with the features of AHO, conformed to the characterization of PHP-Ⅰa. The sequencing of GNAS exons identified a missense mutation (c.479G>C, p.R160P) located at exon 6 in the patient, which was absent in DNA of the parents. The mutation was not reported previously and was not found in the 478 healthy controls. We obtained about 8000-fold coverage from high-depth sequencing of DNA from peripheral blood of the patient and the parents. The disease-associated allele C identified in the patient was not observed in the parents. The number of reads with G allele (3984 reads) was roughly equal to that of C allele (4019 reads) from the targeted reanalysis of DNA of the patient. The results from high-depth sequencing indicated a de novo mutation in maternal germ cells. Conclusions We identified a new GNAS gene mutation (c.479G>C, p.R160P) caused PHP-Ia in a patient. Our results suggested the mutation was a maternal germline de novo mutation.

AIM:To explore the association between single nucleotide polymorphism in exon 33 (E33SNP) of thyroglobulin gene and Graves ’ disease ( GD) relapse after antithyroid drug ( ATD) withdrawal .METHODS:The healthy controls (232 cases) and GD patients with discontinued treatment (243 cases) were selected.According to the time of re-lapse, the GD patients were divided into A, B and C subgroups.The A group contained 77 cases of relapse within 1 year, B group contained 86 cases of relapse 1~2 years after treatment and C group contained 80 cases without recurrence within 2 years.The genotypes of E33SNP were identified by RT-PCR.The genotype ratio of thyroglobulin between control group and observation group was comparatively analyzed , and the levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone ( TSH) , free triiodothyro-nine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyrotropin receptor antibody (TRAb), ophthalmopathy and goiter size in A , B and C subgroups in different genotype GD patients were investigated .Moreover , cumulative efficiency for patients with different genotypes in the observation group after ATD treatment within 2 years were analyzed .RESULTS:The genotype of E33SNP between observation group and control group had no significant difference , but a significant difference between A , B and C subgroups was observed (P<0.05).The levels of TSH, FT3 and FT4, and goiter size of the patients with different geno-types had no significant difference , while the TRAb levels and ophthalmopathy presented a significant difference ( P <0.05).In addition, the cumulative efficiency within 2 years for GD patients with E33SNP T/T, E33SNP T/C and E33SNP C/C genotypes was 61.8%, 42.6% and 21.3%, respectively, all with significant differences (P<0.05).CONCLU-SION:The GD patients with E33SNP C/C genotype have significantly higher TRAb level and ophthalmopathy rate than those in the patients with E33SNP C/T and E33SNP C/C genotypes, and are more likely to relapse after ATD treatment . The GD patients with E33SNP T/T genotype show a lower recurrence rate .Therefore, combination treatment or other treat-ment modalities may be more reasonable for the GD patients with E 33SNP C/C genotype.

Objective To investigate the surgical technique and outcomes of replacement of chordae tendineae in mitral valve repair, and evaluate the value of real-time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography in the perioperative period. Methods Thirty-one patients with mitral valve prolapse underwent mitral valve repair using chordae tendineae replacement concomitant with implantation of valveplasty ring. A 4-0 Goretex sutures was used for reconstruction of artificial chordae. Realtime three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography was performed in all the patients during the preoperative, intraoperatire, and postoperative periods. The length of the chordae tendineae under the A1 section of the anterior leaflet and the P1 section of the posterior leaflet were measured and considered the normal length of chordae tendineae by real-time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography preoperatively. These pre-determined normal chordal lengths helped intraoperatively to approximate the length of the artificial chordae used and postoperatively to gauge the success of the procedures. The same values were used again postoperatively to gauge the success of intervention. Full flexible valveplasty rings were used in all the patients.Results There was no operative death. The mean cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and aortic cross clamp time were ( 142. 0 ±31.2 ) min and (98.0 ± 22.5 ) min, respectively. One patient' s intraoperative echocardiography upon termination of CPB showed persistent severe mitral regurgitation and was converted to mitral valve replacement. This patient was not included in the study group. The mean number of artificial chordae per patient was (2.0 ± 1.5 ) , range from 1 to 3. The mean preoperatively measured normal chordal length was ( 21.0 ± 2.5 ) mm, and the mean postoperative artificial chordal length was ( 20.0 ± 2.2 )mm. The difference was not significant. The follow-up interval was from 3 to 30 months and the follow-up rate was 98%. During the follow-up period, there was no late death. Trace mitral regurgitation (MR) was detected in 15 patients, mild and moderate MR were detected in 1 for each. No severe MR was detected. The freedom from reoperation was 100% during follow-up.There were no documented artificial chordae ruptures. Conclusion Conclusion Artificial chordal replacement with Gore-tex suture in mitral valve repair in this group of patients with mitral valve prolapse appears to have satisfactory early and mid-term results. Real-time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography plays a critical role in this technique. Real-time threedimensional transesophageal echocardiography can exactly predict the length of artificial chordae, which is helpful to improve the outcomes of mitral valve repair. However, longer term follow-up and larger series are required to validate our findings.

A novel medical automatic image segmentation strategy based on guided filtering and multi-atlas is proposed to achieve accurate, smooth, robust, and reliable segmentation. This framework consists of 4 elements: the multi-atlas registration, which uses the atlas prior information; the label fusion, in which the similarity measure of the registration is used as the weight to fuse the warped label; the guided filtering, which uses the local information of the target image to correct the registration errors; and the threshold approaches used to obtain the segment result. The experimental results showed part among the 15 brain MRI images used to segment the hippocampus region, the proposed method achieved a median Dice coefficient of 86% on the left hippocampus and 87.4% on the right hippocampus. Compared with the traditional label fusion algorithm, the proposed algorithm outperforms the common brain image segmentation methods with a good efficiency and accuracy.
Algorithms ; Hippocampus ; anatomy & histology ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neuroimaging ; Software

OBJECTIVE: To investigate relationship between anti-endothelial cell antibody(AECA) and response to dexamethasone in sudden hearing loss(SHL). METHOD: Forty-eight SHL patients and thirty normal controls with SHL were recruited in present study. AECA was detected by ELISA in serum of all normal controls and SHL patients as well as pure-tone average was examined by electronic audiometry during treatment in SHL patients. Both AECA-positive and -negative subjects received 10 mg/d venous dexamethasone for 5 days followed by gradual tapering of dose of 5 mg/d for another 5-day. Then pure-tone average was reexamined. Differences in hearing recovery between AECA-positive and -negative subjects and relationship between AECA level and hearing recovery were analyzed. RESULT: The prevalence of AECA detection was 68.75% (33 of 48 patients) in SHL patients, with significant difference compared with control subjects with 23.33% (7 of 30 controls) (P<0.01). After treatment, rates of response to dexamethasone in AECA-positive and -negative SHL patients were 81.8% (27 of 33 patients) and 33.3% (5 of 15 patients), respectively. Meanwhile, there was a significant difference in cure, excellent recovery, partly recovery and invalid between AECA-positive and -negative groups [21.2% (7/33), 33.3% (11/33), 27.3% (9/33) and 18.2% (6/33) versus 0, 13.3% (2/15), 20.0% (3/15) and 66.7% (10/15), P<0.01]. Except 5 subjects with AECA level more than 263 microg/L, hearing recovery was correlated to pretreatment AECA level (r=0.8084, P<0.01). CONCLUSION In sudden HL patients treated with dexamethasone, AECA might represent a serological marker of prognosis.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Audiometry, Pure-Tone ; Autoantibodies ; blood ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Dexamethasone ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; blood ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Young Adult

Objective: To investigate the clinical features of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) patients with poor response to treatment. Methods: A total of 61 AIH patients were enrolled, among whom 49 (80.33%) achieved complete response (good response group) and 12 (19.67%) had incomplete response (poor response group). The two groups were compared in terms of clinical manifestations, laboratory markers, abdominal ultrasound findings, pathological features by liver biopsy, and response to treatment. Continuous data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (x±s), and the t-test was used for comparison between groups; categorical data were expressed as rates or percentages, and the chi-square test was used for comparison between groups; a binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine influencing factors. Results: Most patients were female in both groups, and there were no significant differences in sex ratio, mean age of onset, and general status including extrahepatic autoimmune disease between the two groups. Compared with the good response group, the poor response group had significantly higher levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin, immunoglobulin G, and immunoglobulin M (P < 0.05). Compared with the good response group, the poor response group had a significantly higher positive rate of autoimmune antibodies except anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), anti-smooth muscle antibody (SMA), antimitochondrial antibody (AMA), and AMA/M2 (75% vs 16.3%, P < 0.001), and there was a significant difference in the positive rate of gp210 antibody between the two groups (25% vs 0%, P < 0.01). There were significant differences between the poor response group and the good response group in the proportion of patients with liver cirrhosis (50.0 % vs 16.3%, P < 0.05) and splenomegaly (58.3% vs 22.4%, P < 0.05). The binary logistic regression analysis showed that a high serum level of ALP (odds ratio [OR] = 1.017, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.001-1.033, P = 0.034), positive autoimmune antibodies except ANA, SMA, and AMA/M2 (OR = 70.842, 95% CI 2.132-2 354.371, P = 0.017), and liver cirrhosis (OR = 28.777, 95% CI 1.015-815.854, P = 0.049) were independent risk factors for initial treatment outcome. Conclusion A high serum level of ALP, positive autoimmune antibodies except ANA, SMA, and AMA/M2, and liver cirrhosis are closely associated with poor response in AIH patients.

Objective: To compare difference in stability between two fixation modes in application of three-dimensional (3D) printed coronoid process prosthesis. Methods: 3D coronoid process prosthesis was reconstructed from computed tomography (CT) scanning acquired from volunteers with normal bony architecture of elbow. The prosthesis fixation was simulated using screws with diameter of 2.0 mm and 2.5 mm separately. Finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted at elbow flexion with different angles and the parameters including the maximum equivalent stress and the maximum displacement were evaluated. Results: Compared fixation using screw with the diameter of 2.0 mm and 2.5 mm, the maximum equivalent stress were 56.29 MPa and 39.96 MPa and the maximum displacement were 0.038 0 mm and 0.029 0 mm in 30° flexion of elbow; the maximum equivalent stress were 8.97 MPa and 8.12 MPa and the maximum displacement were 0.006 5 mm and 0.005 8 mm in 90° flexion of elbow; the maximum equivalent stress were 10.03 MPa and 9.32 MPa and the maximum displacement were 0.007 9 mm and 0.006 6 mm in 130° flexion of elbow. The maximum equivalent stress occurs at the junction of head and shaft with in both situations while the value from screw with diameter of 2.5 mm was lower. The displacement was smaller in the screw with diameter of 2.5 mm. Conclusion Compared to screws with the diameter of 2 mm, screw with the diameter of 2.5 mm shows superior stability in the fixation of 3D printed coronoid process prosthesis.