Objective This study is to study the age related changes of the expression of caspase-3 and the apoptosis states of neurons in primary auditory cortex of 15 young C57BL/6J mice(2 months, 15～20 g) and 15 old C57BL/6J mice(10 months, 50～60 g) and to determine probable physical effects underlying these changes. This paper also discusses the relationship of caspase-3 and apotosis states in primary auditory cortex, the possible role of caspase-3 in primary auditory cortex and the pathogenesis of presbycusis. Methods The immunohistochemical methods were applied to explore the differences of the expression of caspase-3 and the apoptosis states determined by TUNEI. method in the primary auditory cortex between young and old C57BL/6J mice. Results The expression of caspase-3 and apoptosis in Al of old C57BL/6J mice was significantly higher than that in the counterpart of young C57BL/6J mice. Conclusion The results presented a direct morphological evidence for the strengthening of caspase-3 in the primary auditory cortex in old C57BL/6J mice. This method has an important role in the formation and development of presbycusis. The expression of caspase-3 participated in the regulatory procedure of apoptosis and may be a possible factor of the etiologies of presbycusis.

Twelve patients with latent Keshan disease in Xunyi County,Shaanxi Province were electron-microscopically observed with endomyocardial biopsy. Seven of them were males, 5 females; their ages ranged from 14 to 40 years old. They had suffered from the disease for 4 to 5 years in an average. The samples taken from their heart ventricles were prepared in routine,some were prepared with the modified lanthanum preparation according to Hoffstein's method to study the membrane permeability of the patients' myocardium at the same time,In almost all the samples, most of sarcoplasmic reticula,transverse tubule system and intercalated disc spaces are dilated. In some samples prepared with the lanthanum preparation, the electronic density particles are found in the intercalated disc spaces and scarcely in the cytoplasm of myocardium. Mitochondria often show changes both of proliferation and of degeneration simutaneously. Sometimes, minimal myolytic changes of filaments also can be seen, but there are no any necrotic or myolytic foci of myocardium found in the samples at all. Some nuclei are enlarged and twised,in them some pseudoinclusions also can be occasionally seen. Myofibrils vary their thickness. At the same time, they also have some abnormal branches. More than normal amount of fat droplets and glycogen granules deposite in the myocardial cells. Besides,there are lots of lipofusicin granules accumulated around the nuclei in the cytoplasm.

0.05),but had positive relationship with the clinical stages and lymphatic metastasis of the tumor. Conclusion Livin ? is highly expressed in the tissues and peripheral blood cell from the patients of laryngeal squamous carcinoma,which is closely related to the clinical stages and lymphatic metastasis of the tumor.

To explore the characteristics and treatment of temporal bone fractures and its complications, clinical data of 48 cases of temporal bone fracture admitted to our hospital from January 1989 to November 1999 were retrospectively analyzed. The results showed that in these 48 patients temporal bone fracture caused by traffic accidents accounted for 66 67%. Forty three cases survived (89 58%) and 5 died (10 41%). Middle inner ear or craniocerebral injury held 77 08% and hearing loss or tinitus held 48%; The incidences of CSF otorrhea and facioplegia were 36 7% and 3%, respectively for the longitudinal fracture, while for the transversal fracture they were 25% and 37 5%, respectively. Our conclusions are: (1) Traffic injury is the most dangerous factor of temporal bone fracture; (2) The dangerous complication is injury to cranium and brain, or multiple organs, resulting in death; (3) Middle inner ear injury is the commonest complication in temporal bone fracture; (4) CSF otorrhea is common in the longitudinal fracture and facioplegia is common in the transversal fracture.

BACKGROUND: Acellular dermalmatrix (ADM), as a new material, is generally applied to tissue repair after head and neck tumorectomy. However, hypopharyngeal carcinoma surgery always involves in repair and functional reconstruction of defected tissue; therefore, the application effect of ADM needs to be further studied for repairing laryngopharynx defect. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical effect of ADM in repairing laryngopharynx defect following tumorectomy. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A retrospective case analysis was performed at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Institute of Battle Surgery, Daping Hospital, the Third Military Medical University of Chinese PLA from May 2005 to June 2006.PATICIPANTS: A total of 25 male cases aged 45-68 years including 22 patients with tumor in the lateral wall of the unilateral piriform fossa and 3 patients with in the posterior wall of laryngopharynxat were finally diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. METHODS: According to clinical stages, patients underwent partial or complete laryngopharyngectomy. ADM was used to repair oropharynx mucosa following the laryngopharyngectomy. However, ADM alone was used to repair piece-shaped oropharynx mucosa, limiting by being unable to complete reconstruction of spatial structure. Therefore, myocutaneous flap or other materials combined with ADM was beneficial for reconstruction of laryngopharyngeal cavity following complete laryngopharyngectomy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The effect of ADM on functional reconstruction of swallowing, breathing, and pronouncing. RESULTS: A total of 25 patients were included in the final analysis. No patients suffered with the pharyngeal fistula. Only one case encountered the subcutaneous infection at day 20 after surgery, but recovering after regular change of dressing and treatment of antibiotics. About 15 patients who accepted the surgery of partial laryngopharyngectomy suffered with bucking, but after 30-60 days, the symptom relieved, even disappeared, in spite of 3 cases still bucking when they swallowed liquid diet. Breathing function was recovered, and tracheal cannula was removed 6-12 months after surgery. Ten of them who accepted total laryngopharyngectomy had resumption of normal oral diet after 20 days. The follow-up periods after the surgery lasted 12-30 months. The allograft became normal mucosa finally, without rejection or scar formation. The follow-up of 10 patients lasted more than 24 months, one case had relapse of tumor, still alive after the second surgery. CONCLUSION: ADM with perfect histocompatibility and easy operability, can be applied to repair deletion of laryngeal or pharyngeal tissue and recover functions of pronouncing, breathing, and swallowing after tumorectomy. The combined use of ADM and musculo-cutaneous flap was effective and satisfactory.

Objective To investigate the relationship of impact stress distribution and stress wave dissemination with temporal bone fracture. Methods Twelve donated fresh corpse were selected and impacted with driving force of 800 kPa, 1 200 kPa and 1 400 kPa to establish the model of impact temporal bone fractures. With aid of three-dimensional stereochemical structure image of 64-slice CT, the vitodynamic distribution and dissemination of impacted temporal bone was calculated by using computer simulation. Results (1) The instant velocity, acceleration and energy of impact as well as displace-ment scope of the hammer increased with higher driving force in the tempus. (2) Instantaneous impact of the temporal bone resulted in Von Mises stress concentration area around the impact point. The stress was weakened suddenly in the skull-brain tissue coupling place but later accumulated in the skull base. (3) Only ipsilateral linear fracture occurred when the driving force of impact was 800 kPa. While impact dif-ferent degrees of depressed fractures could be seen and one case showed secondary fracture of the opposite side when the driving force of impact was 1 200 kPa. The impact with driving force for 1 400 kPa begot complex ipsilateral fractures, secondary fracture of the opposite side and skull basal fracture. (4) Frac-ture line of the temporal bone accorded with impact stress concentration area. Conclusions All pa-rameters, stress distribution and dissemination of impact are in accordance with temporal bone fracture during impaet process of the temporal bone, which is of vital significance for diagnosis and protection of impact temporal bone fractures.

Objective To investigate the distribution of-6411A/G (rs208679) polymorphism in the 5' region of catalase (CAT) gene among Han population in Chongqing and its correlation with noiseinduced hearing loss (NIHL).Methods A total of 225 healthy volunteers (normal control group) and 237 noise exposure cases (noise exposure group) were collected from the unrelated Han people in Chongqing.The noise exposure group were further divided into non-deaf group (n =170) and deaf group (n =67) according the presence or absence of NIHL.rs208679 polymorphism in the 5' region of CAT gene was identified using the improved multiplex ligation detection reaction (iMLDR) technique.Genotypes,allelic frequencies and clinical deaf incidence were compared among groups.Results Three genotypes (AA,AG,and GG) were detected in the rs208679 locus.Frequencies of A and G alleles in normal control group and noise exposure group were 0.76 and 0.24 respectively.Genotype distribution in normal control group and noise exposure group showed no deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P ＞0.05).There were no significant differences in gene polymorphism (AA,AG,and GG) and allelic frequencies (A and G) between normal control group and noise exposure group and between deaf group and non-deaf group (P ＞ 0.05).However,significant difference was observed between deaf group and non-deaf group in recessive analysis (GG vs AG + AA,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion rs208679 is the predisposing gene to NIHL and can be used as the biomarker for NIHL susceptibility.

BACKGROUND:Discectomy and pedicle fixation fusion are golden standard to repair lumbar degenerative disease, but the treatment would induce other complications such as degeneration of adjacent segments or severer pre-existing spinal degeneration. For the problem of lumbar fusion and fixation, lumbar elastic fixation has recently been a hot focus. ＜br> OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the short-term effectiveness of dynamic lumbar pedicle fixation in repair of lumbar spinal stenosis and lumbar disc herniation. ＜br> METHODS:From December 2010 to December 2012, 62 cases of lumbar spinal stenosis and lumbar disc herniation treated with lumbar dynamic system were included. The involved segments included:5 cases at L 3/4 , 20 cases at L 4/5 , 20 cases at L 5 S 1 , 6 cases at double segment L 3/4 and L 4/5, 8 cases at double segment L 4/5 , L 5 S 1 , 3 cases at L 3/4 and L 5 S 1 . There were 34 males and 28 females with an average age of 50.8 years (range 32 to 72 years). According to different fixation systems, they were assigned to three groups:general dynamic lumbar fixation system in 17 cases, K-Rod posterior dynamic stabilization system in 28 cases, and Dynesys system in 17 cases. The fol ow-up time was from 24 to 48 months. Evaluation indexes included visual analogue scale, Oswestry disability index, imaging analysis and excellent and good rate of curative effects. ＜br> RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with before treatment, visual analogue scale score and Oswestry disability index were significantly improved at 6 months after treatment and final fol ow-up (P＜0.01). No apparent changes were detected in the length of inserted segments and adjacent segments before treatment and during final fol ow-up. There were no significant differences in the excellent and good rate in each group after treatment (P>0.05). These data indicated that the lumbar dynamic system was an effective option for lumbar disc herniation and spinal stenosis. Although there are some differences in the structure of three kinds of flexible fixation, no obvious difference in early therapeutic effects was detected. Long-term effects deserve further investigations.

Through random sampling,a total of 300 residents of Beijing Changping Ming Tombs Town were selected for home-based questionnaires.The smoking rate of interviewed residents was 21.4％ (53/248).The rate in men (42/125,33.6％ ) was bigber than that in women ( 11/123,8.9％ ).The rate in those with higher education was lower than that in those with lower educational level ( x2 =27.12,P ＜ 0.05 ).The population awareness of tobacco hazards was 80.6％ (200/248).Awareness in smokers was lower than the average awareness of ex-smokers and nonsmokers ( x2 =5.07,P ＜ 0.05 ).The higher the education level,the higher the awareness of tobacco health hazards ( x2 ≈ 19.72,P ＜ 0.05 ).There were differences in awareness among different age groups (x2 =13.37,P ＜ 0.05 ).

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of c-Met-siRNA on the proliferation, movement and invasion of laryngeal carcinoma Hep-2 cells in vitro. METHOD: Firstly, the pSilencer 2.0/c-Met-shRNA recombinant plasmid was transfected into laryngeal carcinoma Hep-2 cells with transfecting agent of cationic liposome Lipofectamine 2000. Secondly,the transfection efficacy was tested by RT-PCR and Western-Blot, then the most inhibitive c-Met-siRNA sequence was elected. Cell proliferation, movement and invasion were detected with MTT, cell migration assay and cell invasion assay, respectively. RESULT: After the transfection of pSilencer 2.0/c-Met-shRNA recombinant plasmid into laryngeal carcinoma Hep-2 cells, the expression of mRNA and protein of c-Met decreased significantly in Hep-2 cells, and ability of the proliferation, movement and invasion of laryngeal carcinoma Hep-2 cells were also inhibited. CONCLUSION The results indicated that c-Met-siRNA can down-regulated the expression of c-Met and markedly inhibited laryngeal carcinoma Hep-2 cell proliferation, movement and invasion. It may have the potential as a therapeutic modality to treat human laryngeal carcinoma.
Apoptosis ; genetics ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; genetics ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Humans ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Liposomes ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Transfection