Objective To investigate the correlation of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) with clinical pathological factors and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC ).Methods Two hundred and twenty patients with HCC who hospitalized in our hospital from January 2007 to June 2009 were enrolled in this study.The relationship of AFP levels before operation to clinical pathological factors such as pathological grade,tumor size,tumor encapsulation,tumor numbers,portal vein tumor thrombus,TNM stage and postoperative recurrence were analyzed.Results Serum AFP concentration before operation were related with tumor size ( x2 =11.76,P ＜ 0.05 ),tumor encapsulation ( x2 =17.07,P ＜ 0.05 ),portal vein tumor thrombus ( x2 =8.944,P ＜ 0.05 ),higher TNM stage ( x2 =4.929,P ＜ 0.05 ) and early postoperative recurrence rate ( x2 =5.569,P ＜ 0.05 ).However,it had no correlation with pathological edmondson grade tumor numbers.Conclusion HCC patients with high serum AFP concentration often has greater tumor without encapsulation,high occurrence rate of portal vein tumor thrombus and higher TNM stage,they are more likely to early postoperative recurrence.Serum AFP before operation is useful not only for diagnosis,but also as a prognostic biomarker to predict prognosis and recurrence.

Objectives:In situ coronary calcium is a specific anatomic marker of coronary atheroma. Electron beam CT is the first noninvasive method to determine coronary artery calcium. The aim of this study was to investigate the coronary artery calcium(CAC) in Chinese. Methods:Nine hundred and fifty-nine Chinese cases undergoing electron beam screening were divided into six age groups: ①younger than 29,②30～39,③40～49,④50～59,⑤60～69,⑥older than 70 years old, and were divided into another three groups according to coronary artery disease(CAD) symptoms.①symptomatic group: symptomatic patients with CAD;②doubtful symptom group: patients had atypical chest pain, but without sufficient information of angina,③asymptomatic group: patients without CAD symptoms. Results:① Prevalence of CAC and the total scores of CAC in asymptomatic men and women increased significantly with increased ages. ② There was a large increase in the prevalence of CAC in asymptomatic women between the age of 40～49 and 50～59. Conclusions: ①Coronary artery calcium prevalence increases with age in both men and women.②There is a marked difference in the prevalence of calcium between men and women.③The noninvasive detection of CAC by EBCT has certain prognostic and predictive value for coronary artery disease.

Background and purpose:Gastric cancer is one of the common malignancies seen in our country, most patients were diagnosed at a late stage. Surgery remains as one of the main treatments for the patients but the local local and regional failures were still high. The importance of the role of chemotherapy and radiotherapy has been investigated in the treatment of gastric cancer.We evaluated the efficacy and side-effects of CPT-11 combined with capecitabine for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. Methods:Since May 2004 to May 2006, twenty patients with pathologically proved gastric cancer have been treated by CPT-11 plus capecitabine in our hospital. The regimen consisted of CPT-11 120 mg/m2 infusion at 1st day and 8th day, capecitabine 1000 mg/(m2?d) twice a day from 1st-14th day . The cycles were repeated every three weeks. All the patients were planned to receive at least 2 cycles of chemotherapy.Results:In 20 evaluable patients, 1 case had complete response; 8 case had partial response; 6 case had stable disease and 5 case with progressive disease. The response rate of the whole group was 45.0%(9/20); Clinical tumor control rate was 75.0%(15/20). The major toxicities were bone marrow suppression (52.1%) and reactions relative to digestive system (35.2%). All of complications were RTOGⅠ/Ⅱ degree.Conclusions:Combination of CPT-11 and capecitabine is effective for advanced gastric cancer and well tolerated by the patients. For the patients with either old age, poor general status or relapse after other chemotherapeutic regimen, the regimen could be the one of choice.

Epidemiological and animal studies have demonstrated that dietary lower intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) and(or) higher intake of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids(n-6 PUFAs) leading to imbalance of their ratios are closely related to obesity.The mechanisms underlied are involved in PUFA′s effects on fatty acid synthesis and oxidation,adipocyte proliferation and differentiation and leptin expression.At transcription level,PUFAs can regulate the activities of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors and CCAAT enhancer bin-ding proteins.

Objective:To investigate the expression of pre-B-cell leukemia homeobox 3 (PBX3) and the phosphatase and tensin homology deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) in cervical cancer and its relationship with the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis.Methods:Cervical cancer tissues and adjacent tissues of 85 patients with cervical cancer admitted to Xianlin Gulou Hospital from June 2014 to December 2018 were collected and the expression levels of PBX3 and PTEN were detected by immunohistochemistry. The univariate analysis and Logistic regression model were used to analyze the relationship between the expression levels of PBX3, PTEN and clinicopathologic features. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze the relationship between the expression levels of PBX3, PTEN and prognosis.Results:The positive expression rate of PBX3 protein in cervical cancer tissues was higher than that in adjacent tissues: 38.82%(33/85) vs. 25.53%(20/85); the positive expression rate of PTEN protein was lower than that in adjacent tissues: 36.47%(31/85) vs. 98.82%(84/85), and there were significant differences ( P<0.05). The univariate analysis showed that the expression levels of PBX3 and PTEN were associated with clinical stages, degree of tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, vascular invasion, and degree of tumor invasion ( P<0.05). The multiple Logistic regression model showed that the clinical stages, tumor differentiation and lymph node metastasis were independent influencing factors for the positive expression of PBX3 or PTEN in cervical cancer tissues ( P<0.05). While 45.45%(15/33) of patients with positive PBX3 expression died, with a median survival of 31 months, and 25.00% (13/52)of patients with negative expression died, with a median survival of 38 months. Kaplan-rank test showed that the survival time in the patients with positive PBX3 expression and in the patients with negative expression had significant difference ( P=0.025). While 22.58%(7/31) of patients with positive PTEN expression died, with a median survival of 39 months, and 38.89%(21/54) of the patients with negative expression died, with a median survival time of 33 months. Kaplan-rank test showed that the survival time in the patients with positive PTEN expression and in the patients with negative expression had significant difference ( P=0.035). Conclusions:The expression of PBX3 is up-regulated and PTEN is down-regulated in cervical cancer. The expression levels of PBX3 and PTEN are related to clinical stage, tumor differentiation and lymph node metastasis. The prognosis of the patients with positive PBX3 expression is worse than that of the patients with negative expression, and the prognosis of the patients with positive PTEN expression is better than that of the patients with negative expression.

Objective There are still different news on the preemptive analgesia. We aimed to investigate the preemptive analgesic effect of rofecoxib on the tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) sodium current in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons m a rat model of acute pain. Methods Seventy-five male SD rats weighing 100-140 g were randomly divided into five groups with 15 animals in each group: (A) sham operation + placebo group; (B) operation control group received placebo orally before operation; (C) preoperatine rofecoxib group received oral rofecoxib 10mg?kg-1 h before operation; (D) and (E) postoperatire, rofecoxib group Ⅰ and Ⅱ received oral rofecoxib 10mg?kg immediately (D) and 1 h (E) after operation. Acute pain was produced by an 1 cm long incision in the plantar surface of the right hindpaw through skin, fascia and muscle. Pain threshold to mechanical stimulation with von Frey filament was measured before (baseline) and 2, 6,12, 48, 96 h after operation. The animals were killed by cervical dislocation before and 24, 48, 96 h after incision. DRGs at L3.5 on the operated side were isolated and minced. DRG neurons were isolated by digestion with collagenase Ⅰ A and trypsin TTX-R Na-current density in DRG neurons were measured by using whole-cell patch clamp technique. Results There was no significant change in pain threshold to mechanical stimulation and Na-current density in DRG neurons during the experiment in group A, The withdrawal threshold to mechanical stimuli was significantly decreased after operation compared to the baseline in the four groups ( B, C, D, E). The decrease in pain threshold was significantly less in group C,D,E than that m group B at 2, 6, 12, 24, 48 h after operation and was the least in group C Current density (pA/pF) was significantly increased at 24 h and 48 h after operation compared to baseline in group B, C, D, E. The increase in current density was significantly less in group C, D, E than in group B and was the least in group C.Conclusion Rofecoxib given before operation has preemptive analgesic effect in a rat model of acute pain. Stronger inhibition of TTX-R Na-current m DRG neurons may contribute to the underlying mechanism.

Designer Drugs ; Drug Design ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Tablets

Objective To investigate the effect of antihypertensive therapy on brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in patients with essential hypertension (EH). Methods The 150 EH patients (EH group)receiving antihypertensive therapy with valsartan 80 mg/d, and 135 healthy controls (control group) were enrolled in this study. Automatic pulse wave velocity (PWV)measurement system was employed to examine baPWV, and the investigation about cardiac risk factors, physical and laboratory examination was performed. The baPWV was used as an index to show artery stiffness.Results The baPWV was significantly higher in EH group than in control group [(2105.8±378.4) cm/svs. (1371.5±176.5) cm/s, t=4.05, P＜0.001]. The detection rate of atherosclerosis was 82.0% and 21.8% in EH and control group respectively. In EH group, there were positive relationships between age and baPWV (r= 0.51, P＜0. 001), SBP and baPWV (r=0.53, P＜0.001), pulse pressure (PP) and baPWV (r=0.43, P＜0. 05), PP index (PPI) and baPWV (r=0.51, P＜0.05), blood glucose and baPWV (r=0.39, P＜0.01). The baPWV decreased significantly from (2105.8±378.4) cm/s to (1704.2±332.0) cm/s (t=3.85, P＜0. 05) in EH group. The baPWV was significantly lower in the subgroup with a target BP than without a target BP in EH patients [(1588.8±278.7) vs. (1857.7±324.9) cm/s, t=3.67, P＜0.001].Conclusions The age and SBP are primary risk factors for baPWV in EH patients. The antihypertensive therapy can relieve baPWV with a target blood pressure.

BACKGROUND:With respect to mesenchymal stem cels from other sources, synovial mesenchymal stem cels are rich in source, and moreover, the synovial tissue can regenerate quickly after partial hepatectomy and lead to fewer complications, in recent year, which have become a hot spot in stem cel research. OBJECTIVE:To observe the proliferation and directional differentiation of synovial mesenchymal stem cels from osteoarthritis patients. METHODS:Synovial mesenchymal stem cels were isolated and cultured. MTT assay was used to detect cel proliferation ability. Alkaline phosphatase activity was detected quantitatively at 7 days of osteogenic induction, and osteogensis-related gene expression was measured at 7, 14, 21 days of osteogenic induction. Alizarin red staining was performed at 21 days of induction. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1) Passage 3 synovial mesenchymal stem cels proliferated faster, which were in latent period at 1, 2 days after inoculation, in logarithmic growth phase at 3-6 days, and then entered into the plateau phase at 7 days. (2) The activity of alkaline phosphatase was significantly higher in the induction group than the control group at 3, 7, 10 days after osteogenic induction (P < 0.05). The cels were positive for alizarin red staining at 21 days of osteogenic induction, and there were calcium deposits and calcium nodules in the extracelular matrix. (3) Bone-binding protein and Runx2 were visible at 7 days of osteogenic induction, and reached the peak at 21 days. These findings indicate that synovial mesenchymal stem cels from patients with advanced osteoarthritis have strong proliferation ability, which can differentiate into osteoblasts under in vitro induction.

BACKGROUND:Trauma easily leads to the emergence of articular cartilage defects, which is a difficult problem in the orthopedics field. Tissue engineering technology provides a new method for cartilage repair. OBJECTIVE:To explore the feasibility of combining chitosan and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels to repair injured articular cartilage in rabbits. METHODS: Cultured rabbit bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels were seeded onto chitosan scaffold, and then the composite material was implanted into the defect as experimental group. Rabbits with no treatment served as control group. Gross observation and toluidine blue staining were carried out at 6 and 12 weeks after operation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:At 6 weeks after operation, the control group had only fibrous tissue hyperplasia, and in the experimental group, cartilage-like tissues were generated at the defect site. At 12 weeks after operation, a smal amount of hyaline cartilage-like tissues were observed in the control group, and the defects in the experimental group were covered with smooth and hyaline cartilage tissues. After 12 weeks, the toluidine blue staining was light in the control group with a smal amount of cartilage tissues; in the experimental group, the toluidine blue staining was remarkable, and the defects were completely covered with hyaline cartilage tissues, and cartilage cels were increased in number. The findings indicate that chitosan-bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels composite material is better to induce cartilage tissue formation and promote cartilage defect repair.