Objective To evaluate the roles of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(STAT3) played in delayed xenograft rejection.Method Mice-to-rats cardiac xenograft model was established and recipients were administrated by inhibitor of phosphorylation of STAT3,5,15-Diphenylporphyrin(DPP),and immunosuppressive agent,ciclosporin A (CsA) alone or both.The survival of graft was analyzed.Immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting were utilized to detect the phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3),and real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to assess STAT3-targeted genes in grafts.Result The expression of p-STAT3 was increased significantly with the prolonged survival in grafts (P ＜ 0.05).Administration of DPP and CsA both significantly prolonged survival of the grafts (P＜0.05),and decreased the expressions of STAT3-targeted genes including Bcl-xl,Bcl-2,Cyclin D1,C-myc and VEGF (P＜0.05).DPP and CsA exerted the synergistic effects.Conclusion STAT3,which is persistently activated in cardiac xenografts,probably up-regulates downstream genes to promote proliferation and to inhibit apoptosis of endothelial cells,leading to the activation of endothelial cells and delayed xenograft rejection.

ObjectiveTo survey the incidence of depression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and explore the related factors.MethodsOne hundred and fifty-nine patients with RA were investigated.All of them were assessed by depression scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale.A mono-variate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were carried out to determine the factors that best related to the occurrence of depression in RA.ResultsThe overall incidence rate was 39.6％.The regression analysis showed that factors related to the occurrence of depression in RA were HAQ-DI (OR=3.276,95％CI 1.315-7.814,P=0.003),the number of tender joints (OR=2.252,95％CI 1.117-3.362,P=0.029),low-income families (OR=1.629,95％CI 1.215-2.437,P=0.031 ) and serum CRP level (OR=1.528,95％CI 1.112-2.294,P=0.040).ConclusionDepression is common in patients with RA.Patients who havehigh HAQ-DI,CRP and from low-income families with more tender joints tend to develop depression.

Objective To establish the model and software for quality assessment of fetal nuchal translucency ultrasound image using computer image recognition technology.Methods The proposed approach firstly divided the input image into four sub-image blocks:the nasal bone(NB) area,the nuchal translucency (NT) area,the midbrain area,and the jaw and chest area.For each sub-image block,the algorithm compared the image block with the corresponding area of the standard training image set,and then determined whether the current image block was the qualified one using the the Gabor feature and Bayesian decision.The input ultrasound image was determined to be qualified only if it had four qualified sub-image blocks.Results The difference between our automatic method and the manual screening by experts wasting small,the method obtained Kappa =0.795 and P ＜0.001.Moreover,the efficiency of our method was much higher than the manual screening method.Conclusions Image recognition technology can effectively assist the sonographer to assess the quality of fetal NT of ultrasound image.The proposed approach can reduce the subjectivity and randomness of the manual evaluation of NT image.

Objective To establish regression m odel betw een craniofacial lines and body height by m ea-suring craniofacial lines in Southw est H an m ales using C Tand to accum ulate data for the study of foren-sic anthropology. Methods H ead C Tdata of 273 H an m ales in Southw est w ere collected and 7 cranio-facial lines w ere determ ined. M ultiplanar reconstruction and volum e rendering w ere perform ed by im age post-processing softw are and the selected lines w ere m easured. The relationship betw een each m easuring indicator and body height w as analyzed using SPSS 21.0 softw are. The regression equation of body height estim ation w as established and 50 sam ples w ere selected again and put into the m athem atics m odels to verify its accuracy. Results The linear regression equations of 7 lines w ere established (P<0.05). The correlation coefficients of the unary linear regression equations w ere 0.190-0.439 and the standard errors of the estim ate (SEE) w ere 4.597-5.023 cm . The correlation coefficients of the m ultiple linear regression equation w ere 0.494-0.524 and the SEEw ere 4.418-4.458 cm . The return tests show ed that the highest ±1SEEaccuracy of the m ultiple regression equation:y=83.959+3.589 x6+2.573 x2, w ere 30%;and the highest ±2SEEaccuracy of the m ultiple regression equation: y=72.646+3.316 x6+1.586 x2+1.553 x4+2.211 x3, w ere 92% . Conclusion There is significant linear correlation betw een 7 selected lines and the stature in this study, and the plural linear regression equation established could be applied for estim ating the stature of Southw est H an m ales.

Objective To study the activation of TLRs/NF-κB signal pathway and production of different functional cytokines during invasive pulmonary aspergillosis( IPA) , in order to probe the pathogene-sis of IPA. Methods Mouse were randomly divided into normal, normal + inoculated with Aspergillus fumigatus( normal inoculation group), and immune suppression + inoculation with Aspergillus fumigatus (IPAmodel group) , the mouse were killed at different time points after inhaling Aspergillus fumigatus spores by nose. Removing the lung tissue in a sterile manner and making pathological section respectively, counting Aspergillus fumigatus colony, dynamiclly detecting the expression of TLR2, TLR4 mRNA, variation of NF-κB p65 protein, pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β and anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 levels in the lung tissue by RT-PCR and Western blot method during Aspergillus fumigatus infection in mouse. Results (1) When it's 72 h after inhaling Aspergillus fumigatus by nose, IPA model emerged severe lung tissue inflammation, and generated a large number of hyphae, meanwhile, burthen of Aspergillus fumigatus was higher than normal inoculation group at each time point. (2)Compared with the normal inoculation group, IPA group whose TLR2 mRNA was low expression at early stage of infection (24 h), and emerged high expression at late stage of infection (120 h, 144 h); and TLR4 mRNA has been at a state of low expression in the infection process; NF-κB p65 suddenly increased at early stage of infection(24 h) and then continued to decline. (3) After infected by Aspergillus fumigatus in normal mouse, proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α, IL-1β in lung exhibited high expression at the early stages of infection, and the highest expression levels appeared at 48 h or 72 h, then decreased and recovered to normal level. And the expression level of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 rised at late stage of infection; The IP A mouse released a lot of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 at early stage of infection, which significantly reduced at late stage, and released pro-inflammatory cyto-kines TNF-α, IL-1β at slow and low level. Conclusion The abnormal activation of TLRs/NF-β signaling pathway caused the loss of dynamic balance between pro-inflammatory cytokines and anti-inflammatory cytokines, leading to the occurrence and development of IPA.

Objective To study the role of TLR2 and TLR4 signal transduction in RAW264.7 monocyte-macrophages stimulated by Aspergillus fumigatus conidia,and to investigate the expression of TLR2 signal transduction after silencing gene of TLR4.Methods Macrophages were randomly divided into normal group ( N group),normal+stimulated with Aspergillus fumigatus conidia ( N +Af group ),normal + transfected with TLR4-siRNA [ TLR4 (RNAi) group ],normal+transfected with TLR4-siRNA +stimulated with Aspergillus fumigatus conidia[ TLR4(RNAi) +Af group].RT-PCR and Western blot were used to assay expression levels of TLR2,TLR4,MyD88 mRNA and pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α protein when macrophages were stimulated 12 h by Aspergillus fumigatus conidia after tranfected 24 h with TLR4-siRNA by technology of RNAi.Results ( 1 ) Compared with N group,the expression of TLR2,TLR4,MyD88 mRNA and TNF-αprotein in N+Af group significantly increased before silencing gene of TLR4.(2) Silencing efficiency of macrophates was up to 83％ after transfected with TLR4-siRNA.(3)The expression of TLR2,MyD88 mRNA in TLR4 (RNAi) group significantly decreased contrast with normal group.Meanwhile the expression of TLR2,MyD88 mRNA and TNF-α protein also obviously reduced in TLR4(RNAi) +Af group when compared with N +Af group.Compared with TLR4 (RNAi) group,the expression of MyD88 mRNA in TLR4 (RNAi) +Af group significantly increased.However,the expression of TLR2 mRNA and TNF-α protein have no significant change after silencing gene of TLR4.Conclusion Signaling pathway of TLR2 and TLR4 in macrophages was activated by given stimulus of Aspergillusfumigatus conidia and exerted the effect of anti-Aspergillus fumigatus spores stimulation through the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α.Meanwhile,silencing gene of TLR4 down-regulate the effect of TLR2 signal transduction in RAW264.7 cells to anti-Aspergillus fumigatus conidia stimulation,and it found that TLR4 played an more important role by contrast with TLR2.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the value of microsurgery for acoustic neuromas.MethodsThe author performed a retrospective study of 63 consecutive patients after vestibular schwannomas (VSs) microsurgery with the retrosigoid approaches. The tumor was debulked firstly and dissected from surrounding neural and vascular structures by gripping the tumor capsule,and then drilled of the IAC.Intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring of facial nerve function during operation.Results Total tumor resection was achieved in 52 cases, subtotal resection was achieved in 11 cases. The anatomic preservation of facial nerve was achieved in 58 cases,the acoustic nerve was preserved anatomically in 29 cases.Fifty-eight cases received a follow-up, the mean follow-up time was 7.2 years. Two recurrent patients were found and there were no operative deaths. A long term facial nerve status:twenty-three cases were in grade Ⅰ, twenty-nine cases in grade Ⅱ ,five cases in grade Ⅲ , one cases in grade Ⅳ.Hearing level had an improvement in 9 cases and remained unchanged in 8 cases.ConclusionMicrosurgery treatment is the main choice of the treatment of VSs, could achieve better result in control of tumor and facial and acoustic nerve function restoration.

Objective To investigate the correlation between the mutation of pncA gene and the susceptibility to pyrazinamide ( PZA) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex ( MTBC) strains and to analyze the mutation of panD and rpsA genes in wild type isolates without pncA gene mutation.Methods The sus-ceptibilities of 108 MTBC strains to first-line drugs including PZA were detected by using the MGIT 960 TB system.PCR was performed to amplify the 16S rDNA and pncA, panD and rpsA genes.The PCR products were analyzed by DNA sequencing analysis .Results Among the 78 multidrug-resistant MTBC strains , 47 isolates (60%) were resistant to PZA.Four out of 30 (13%) strains that were sensitive to ethambutol , iso-niazid, rifampicin and streptomycin (EIRS) were resistant to PZA.The drug-resistant MTBC strains showed higher resistance rate to PZA than that of the EIRS sensitive strains .There were 49 ( 96%) PZA-resistant isolates and 4 (7%) PZA-sensitive isolates occurred pncA gene mutation.Most of the pncA gene mutations in the genomes of PZA-resistant strains were base substitution mutation , especially the His57Asp substitu-tion.The pncA gene mutations centralized in the regions of 160-169, 203-289, 309-396 and 413-467.Seven novel mutation sites of pncA gene were observed including T175C, C188A, G insertion at 68, AGC insertion at 235, C insertion at 339, CC insertion at 392 and GT deletion at 395.The mutation sites founded in the genomes of PZA-sensitive strains were different from those of the PZA-resistant strains .No mutation of the pncA gene and the upstream regulatory sequence was found in two PZA-resistant strains , NJ44 and NJ108 . The sequence analysis of panD and rpsA gene showed that the NJ 108 strain had panD gene mutation at G419A, but no mutation was detected in the NJ 44 strain.Conclusion The multidrug-resistant MTBC strains showed higher resistance rate to PZA .The pncA gene mutation was common in PZA-resistant MTB strains and the panD gene mutation was also worthy of attention .

Objective To establish the linear regression equation between body height and com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum of sternum m easured by CTvolum e rendering technique (CT-VRT) in southw est H an population. Methods One hundred and sixty subjects, including 80 m ales and 80 fem ales w ere selected from southw est H an population for routine CT-VRT(reconstruction thickness 1 m m ) ex-am ination. The lengths of both manubrium and mesosternum w ere recorded, and the com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum was equal to the algebraic sum of them . The sex-specific linear regression equations between the com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum and the real body height of each subject w ere deduced. Results The sex-specific sim ple linear regression equations between the com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum (x3) and body height (y) w ere established (m ale:y=135.000+2.118x3 and fem ale:y=120.790+2.808x3).Both equations show ed statisticalsignificance (P<0.05) w ith a 100% predictive accuracy. Conclusion CT-VRTis an effective m ethod for m easurem ent of the index of sternum . The com bined length of manubrium and mesosternum from CT-VRTcan be used for body height estim ation in southw est H an population.