Ikaros is a regulatory factor playing an important role in control of the development of hema-topoietic cells and immune system;and as a tumor suppressor,its aberration can cause both T and B lineage development arrest and neoplastic transformation,leading to insensitive to therapy and poor prognosis in actue lymphoblastic leukemia. Recently,researches on how Ikaros affects the leukemogenesis and prognosis become the focus of attention.

Objective To investigate the possibility of differentiation of multipotent adult progenitor cells from human bone marrow(hMAPCs) into hepatocytes with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and fibroblast growth factor-4 (FGF-4) in vitro to find a new cell source for liver tissue engineering. Methods (1) Harvest of the hMAPCs: The bone marrow mononuclear cells were obtained from bone marrow obtained from volunteers by gradient centrifuging. The adherent mononuclear cells were cultured. The mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) were isolated and collected by magnetic activated cell sorting(MACS) through depletion selection by the use of CD45 and GlyA microbeads. (2) The hMAPCs were induced to differentiate with HGF(20ng/ml) +FGF-4(10ng/ml). L-02 human hepatocytes (cell lines) were used as the control, with undifferentiated hMAPCs serving as the contrast. (3)The expression of albumin (ALB), alpha fetoprotein (AFP), cytokeratin-18(CK-18), cytokeratin-19(CK-19) was detected with immunocytochemistry to identify the characters of the differentiated cells at different time, and to determine the ratio of positive cells. (4) ALB expression of the differentiated cells at different time was detected by Western blot on day 21 and 25. Results (1) The result of immunocytochemistry: The differentiated hMAPCs expressed the late markers (ALB, CK-18) of hepatocyte at all the time but did not express CK-19. The differentiated hMAPCs expressed AFP on day 7. (2) The result of Western blot assay: the differentiated cells expressed the late markers (ALB) of hepatocyte on day 21 and 35. Conclusions hMAPCs can differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells under specific inducing conditions.

0.05), but there were significant differesnces compared with the control group ( P

Objective:To inve tigate the value o electron beam tomography and echocardiography or diagno ing the comple congenital heart di ea e . Method :Thirty our patient with comple congenital heart di ea e underwent both echocardiography and electron beam tomography,which wa con irmed by angiocardiography in 18 patient .Twenty one patient were operated on.All data were comparatively analyzed Re ult :The rate o diagno i coincidence in diagno ing comple congenital heart di ea e wa 82 4% or electron beam tomography,and 73 5% or echocardiography.The accuracy o electron beam tomography in diagno ing e tracardiac abnormal tructure wa 97 9% and obviou ly higher than 53 2% by echocardiography.The accuracy o echocardiography in diagno ing intracardiac abnormal tructure wa 95 9% and higher than 81 6% by electron beam tomography.Electron beam tomography and echocardiography had a imilar accuracy or diagno ing abnormal tructure at the junction o ve el with cardiac chamber. Conclu ion:Electron beam tomography combined with echocardiography can greatly improve the diagno i accuracy o comple congenital heart di ea e and can al o reduce the u e o inva ive angiocardiography.

Diabetic rat model was established by peritoneal injection of streptozocin.At the end of 2 weeks,oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) level in diabetic rats was raised [ ( 2.87 ± 0.40 vs 2.27 ± 0.36 ) μg/dl,P＜0.05 ] and endothelium-dependent relaxation was sluggish compared with normal rats.At the end of 6 weeks,oxLDL level continued to increase [ 4.32 ±0.66 ) μg/dl,P＜0.01] and endothelium-dependent maximum relaxation ( Rmax ) was decreased obviously ( P ＜0.01 ).Meanwhile,the protein and mRNA expressions of lectin-like oxidized lowdensity lipoprotein receptor-1 ( LOX-1 ),NF-kB,and ICAM-1 on vessel wall of diabetic rats were higher than those in normal rats,and LOX-1 mRNA was positively correlated with the levels of oxLDL,NF-kB,and ICAM-1 mRNA,while negatively correlated with Rmax,indicating that OxLDL/LOX-1 system may cause early endothelial dysfunction in diabetes via activating NF-kB and up-regulating ICAM-1 expression.

Objective To observe the expression of retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) and phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) in insulin resistant (IR) rats and the role of pioglitazone intervention. MethodsThirty-five male Wistar rats in SPF level were randomly divided into control fed with normal diet (n= 11 ) and IR model fed with high fat sucrose diet (HFSD) (n= 24). The IR rats were then randomly divided into two subgroups, namely IR fed with HFSD(n = 12) and pioglitazone intervention (n= 12) given a daily dose of 20 mg · kg 1 · d-1 pioglitazone and HFSD (IR +Pio group )for 8 weeks.All rats were killed after 16 weeks and the levels of serum TG, high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein (LDL-C), fasting blood-glucose (FBG), fasting serum insulin (FIns) and insulin resistance index (HOME-1R) were measured.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and RT-PCR were employed to detect the level of serum RBP4 and the mRNA expression of RBP4 in the epididymis adipose tissues, respectively. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the protein expression of PI3K in skeletal muscles while UV spectrophotometer was employed to measure level of serum AOPP. The ratio of visceral fat weight of mesentery, epididymis and peritoneum in abdominal cavity to body weight (BW) was calculated. Results(1) the level of BW, TG, LDL-C, FINS and the ratio of visceral fat weight to BW were higher in IR group than in control group, but HDL-C decreased significantly. After the intervention of pioglitazone, the level of BW,TG, LDL-C, FINS, and the ratio of visceral fat weight to BW in IR+Pio group were lower and HDL-C increased significantly than those in IR group.(2) The level of RBP4 from serum and epididymis adipose and serum AOPP were higher in IR group than in control and lower significantly in IR+Pio group than in IR group (all P＜0.05). (3) The expression of PI3K in skeletal muscles were lower in IR group than in NC group, and increased after the invention of pioglitazone. (4) FIns, the ratio of visceral fat weight to BW and LDL-C were positively correlated with RBP4 while HDL-C and PI3K negatively correlated with RBP4. Conclusions(1) The increased RBP4 can lead to metabolic disturbances and oxidative stress in IR rats.(2) RBP4 may decrease the insulin sensibility by weakening insulin signal transduction. (3) Pioglitazone can ameliorate insulin resistance by decreasing the level of RBP4 and serum AOPP and increasing the level of PI3K in skeletal muscles of IR rats.

Preoperative portal vein embolization(PVE)has become an important tool in the management of selected patients with hepatic cancer before the major hepatic resection is carried out.PVE can redirect the portal flow to the intended future remnant liver tissue in order to induce the hypertrophy of the non-diseased portion of the liver and thereby may reduce the occurrence of complications and shorten the hospitalization days after surgery.This article aims to review the technical and clinical considerations in performing PVE and to discuss the PVE-related practical points,including the relevant anatomy,the access approach,the choosing of embolic agents and the pathophysioiogy of PVE.In addition,the indications and contraindications for performing PVE,the use of combination therapies and the concern for tumor growth after PVE are also discussed.

Objective To investigate the prevalence, molecular mechanism and genetic characteristics of azithromycin-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N.gonorrhoeae) strains isolated in Shenzhen.Methods N.gonorrhoeae strains were collected in Shenzhen from 2011 to 2015.Agar dilution method and E-test were used to detect the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of these strains to azithromycin.All azithromycin-resistant (AZM-R) strains (MIC≥2 μg/ml) and some azithromycin-sensitive strains (MIC≤0.25 μg/ml) which were randomly selected as the control group were screened for mutations in 23S rRNA, mtrR and erm genes and genotyped by using N.gonorrhoeae multi-antigen sequence typing (NG-MAST).Results A total of 788 N.gonorrhoeae strains were collected, 148 (18.8%) of which were AZM-R strains (MIC≥1 μg/ml).Eighteen out of 21 high-level AZM-R (AZM-HLR) strains had A2143G mutations in the four copies of the 23S rRNA gene.Twelve out of 29 middle-level AZM-R (AZ-MLR) strains had missense mutations, among which C2611T mutations in the four copies of the 23S rRNA were detected in 10 strains.Incidence of G45D/Y105H mutation in AZM-HLR strains was higher than that in AZM-MLR (χ2=12.702, P=0.000) or AZ-S (χ2=4.462, P=0.035) strains according to the analysis of the promoter and coding region of mtrR gene.PCR analysis revealed that only one strain carried ermB gene (MIC=2 μg/ml).The 788 N.gonorrhoeae strains were typed into 81 sequence types (STs) by NG-MAST, most of which were represented by one strain only.STs of ST3356 and ST1866 that were identified in the AZ-R strains in the current study had been noted in a previous report of emerging AZM-R N.gonorrhoeae strains in Nanjing, Chongqing and Guangzhou.Neighbor-joining (NJ) phylogenetic tree showed that the resistant strains did not form a separate cluster.Conclusion Currently, it is not suitable to use azithromycin as a monotherapy for gonorrhea in Shenzhen.Mutations of A2059G and C2611T in 23S rRNA of N.gonorrhoeae were respectively responsible for high-level and middle-level resistance to azithromycin.Repeated emergence of ST1866 and ST3356 will help us monitor and analyze the epidemiological characteristics of N.gonorrhoeae strains resistant to azithromycin in Shenzhen.

Objective · To design and build a high-throughput sequencing approach based on targeted panel sequencing (TPS) using for the primary immunodeficiency disease (PID) diagnosis. Methods · By reviewing the literature and querying the relevant databases to determine the known diseasecausing genes of PID, capture probes using for the TPS were designed and customized for all exons and flanking sequences of these genes. A child suspected with PID was diagnosed by the customized TPS. Results · The PID sequencing panel contains a total of 100 known pathogenic genes. The sequencing data of the patient has 16414298 reads. The average coverage depth is 157 X, 98.35% of the target region sequencing depth is greater than 20 X, and 99.97% of the target region sequencing depth is greater than 1 X. Finally, a heterozygous nonsense mutation was found in the exon 2 of the CXCR4 gene (c.1000C>T, p.Arg334*) in the child. The results of Sanger sequencing confirmed the variation in the child and showed that his parents were wildtype at the corresponding sites, indicating the mutation is de novo. Conclusion · This study established a high-throughput sequencing diagnostic approach for PID, with which a case of WHIM syndrome was successfully diagnosed.

Objective To analyze the relationship of penA, ponA, porB and mtrR gene mutations with the reduced sensitivity to ceftriaxone in N.gonorrhoeae isolates from Shenzhen city.Methods A total of 296 clinical isolates of N.gonorrhoeae were collected in Shenzhen city from 2009 to 2011.The agar dilution method was used to estimate the sensitivity of these N.gonorrhoeae to ceftriaxone.Totally, 53 strains with reduced sensitivity to ceftriaxone (minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC): 0.06-0.50 μg/ml) were identified, and 53 strains with high sensitivity to ceftriaxone were randomly selected from the remaining strains and served as the control group.PCR was performed to amplify the penA, ponA,porB and mtrR genes from the 106 isolates followed DNA sequencing.Results The mosaic structure of the penicillinbinding protein 2 (PBP2) gene (penA gene) was found in only one isolate with a ceftriaxone MIC of 0.125 0 μg/ml.Amino acid sequence analysis of the remaining 105 isolates yielded 16 different amino acid patterns.The MICs of ceftriaxone were relatively high (0.062 5 μg/ml) in N.gonorrhoeae strains harboring the amino acid patterns ⅩⅢ, ⅩⅧ or ⅩⅩⅩⅧ,but relatively low (0.008 0 μg/ml) in those harboring the amino acid pattern Ⅱ.No significant differences were observed in the frequency of mtrR, porB or ponA gene mutations between N.gonorrhoeae isolates with reduced sensitivity to ceftriaxone and those with high sensitivity (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The mosaic structure of PBP2 may be not the primary reason for reduced sensitivity of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to ceftriaxone in Shenzhen, while different amino acid patterns produced by various mutations in amino acid residues at positions 500-580 in the non-mosaic PBP2, together with mtrR, porB and ponA mutations, may play more important roles in the reduced sensitivity.