Objectives To explore the significance of measuring free/total(f/t) prostate-specification antigen (PSA) ratio, testosterone (T) and free testosterone (FT) in the patients with prostate cancer for performing biopsy with PSA values between 2 and 4 ng/ml.Methods The f/tPSA ratio and total and free testosterone levels in two hundred and seventy-five men with serum PSA values between 2 to 4 ng/ml were quantified.Serum free testosterone levels were measured by immuno-radiometric assay (IRMA), f/tPSA and testostorone levels were determined by chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA), underwent transrected ultrasound-guided biopsy (TRUS) was used as the diagnostic standard to detect the earlier prostate cancer in these patients. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, positive and negative likelihood ratios, and confidence interval of 95% were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Results Prostate cancer was detected in 44 of 275 patients(16%). f/tPSA ratio and total and free testosterone levels in the patients with prostate cancer were significantly lower than those in nonprostatic cancer groups (P

Objective To explore the clinical features of hepatolenticular degeneration (HLD) with hemolytic anemia as the first manifestation, and its relationship with ichthyosis.Method The clinical manifestations, course, diagnosis, and treatment of HLD combined with ichthyosis in one child who presented with hemolytic anemia as the ifrst manifestation, were retrospectively analyzed.Results In ten-year-old girl, the ifrst symptom was fatigue and jaundice, and then progressed to abdominal distension 5 days after admission. The reticulocyte percentage was 8.5%. Coombs test was negative. The K-F rings appeared on the cornea. The CT scan of Abdomen showed pleural and peritoneal effusion, abnormal substance deposition in liver and splenomegaly. There were mutations inATP7B andTGM1 genes, both of which were located on fourteenth of chromosomes. The diagnosis of HLD combined with ichthyosis was conifrmed. After symptomatic and supportive treatments such as removal of copper, prevention of the copper absorption and supplement of vitamin A, the disease was brought to remission.Conclusion HLD with hemolytic anemia as the ifrst manifestation, combined with ichthyosis was extremely rare.

AIM: To observe the degree of gastric mucosal injury following limb ischemia/reperfusion(LIR),and to investigate the mechanism of gastric mucosal injury and the influence of the series of brief ischemia/reperfusion of hind limbs of rats on gastric mucosal injury. METHODS: Referring to Rosenthal's method, the model rats which underwent 4 hours of ischemia and 4 hours of reperfusion in hind limbs were made. The indexes of gastric mucosal injury after LIR and ischemic preconditioning (IPC) + LIR were determined. The morphologic changes were observed with light microscope and transmission electron microscop respectively. The GMBF,histologic lesion score, gastric barrier mucus, phospholipids, hexosamine, nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthase in mucus were measured in different groups. RESULTS: Serious damage in gastric mucosa was observed under microscope and EM after LIR. But less serious damage was observed in the IPC group. After LIR, compared to the control group, the GMBF and the content of gastric barrier mucus, phospholipids and hexosamine in mucus decreased significantly. There was significant difference in most indexes between the control group and the IPC group, but compared to LIR group, the histologic lesion score decreased significantly and the GMBF and the content of gastric barrier mucus, phospholipids, hexosamine ,nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthase in mucus increased significantly. CONCLUSION: LIR caused the gastric mucosa injury. IPC alleviated the damage of gastric mucosa following ischemia/reperfusion in hind limbs.

Rapid detection of infection pathogens is of great importance to the prevention and control of infectious diseases.Compared with traditional approaches,point-of-care testing (POCT) technologies promise great advantages in simple, rapid and portable detection of pathogens.In this review, the technologies, categories, developments and applications of POCT in detection of infectious pathogens are elaborated.Furthermore, the future developments of POCT detection of infectious pathogen are also discussed.This review focuses on loop-mediated isothermal amplification ( LAMP) technology, microfluidic chip and biosensor technology in the POCT detection of infectious pathogens while elaborating on the application of these new technologies associated with POCT detection.

Objective To investigate the effect of geographical differences on human serum metabolic profiles .Methods A total of 169 serum samples were collected from healthy individuals from 9 provinces in China and divided into four groups according to the geographical location .The nuclear magnetic resonance ( NMR) data of these samples were segmentally inte-grated, normalized,and analyzed with multivariate statistical methods using SIMCA-P 10.0 software to investigate the differ-ence in serum metabolites between eastern and western populations or between northern and southern populations .Results There were differences in a variety of small molecule metabolites in serum between eastern and western populations or be -tween northern and southern,including glucose,lipoproteins,amino acids,ketones,creatine and choline.Conclusion The geographical differences in a variety of factors (temperature,precipitation,folk culture, living habits,etc) result in the differences in human serum metabolic profiles ,which can provide appropriate reference for epidemiological studies and nu -tritional metabonomics .

Objective To explore effect of 5 -aminolevulinic acid -photodynamic therapy combined with thymopentin -5 on IL -17,IL -23 expression of recurrent condylomata acuminata patients.Methods 140 patients with recurrent condylomata acuminata were randomly divided into 3 groups.53 cases in observation group were treated by 5 -aminolevulinic acid -photodynamic therapy combined with thymopentin -5,42 cases in control group 1 were treated by 5 -aminolevulinic acid -photodynamic therapy,and 45 cases in control group 2 were treated by thymopen-tin -5.24 healthy subjects were served as normal controls.IL -17,IL -23 levels were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay before and after the clinical therapy.Results IL -17,IL -23 levels in the patients with recur-rent condylomata acuminata were significantly lower than those in healthy subjects(t =28.10,P <0.01;t =11.10, P <0.01).There were significant differences in IL -17,IL -23 between recurrent condylomata acuminata patients and healthy persons before treatment.There was significant difference after treatment(t =61.17,P <0.01;t =28.02, P <0.01).Conclusion 5 -aminolevulinic acid -photodynamic therapy combined with thymopentin -5 in the treat-ment of recurrent condylomata acuminata inhibited IL -17,IL -23 expression,so as to achieve therapeutic effect.

BACKGROUND: Limb ischemia reperfusion (LIR) as a stressor leads to gastric mucosal injury, and then results in the occurrence of stress ulcer.OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of LIR on gastric mucosal injury, investigate part of the mechanism, and the role of several transient limb ischemia in the occurrence of gastric mucosal injury.DESIGN: A randomized grouping design and controlled animal experiment.SETTING: Department of Pathophysiology of North China Coal Medical College.MATERIALS: The experiment was carried out in the pathophysiological laboratory of North China Coal Medical College from January to June 2002. Fifty-four healthy adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups with 18 rats in each group. Ischemia reperfusion (I/R) group: The rats were duplicated into models according to the Rosenthal method that under superficial anesthesia with ether, the roots of both hindlimbs were ligated by wrapping with rubber strap, blood flow was blocked for 4 hours and then recovered to perfusion for 4 hours, and finally killed by bleeding from abdominal aorta. Ischemic preconditioning group: Before model establishment, blood flow of both hindlimbs was blocked for 5 minutes, and then recovered to perfusion for 5 minutes, which was repeated for four times, and the following operations were the same as those in the I/R group. Control group: The operations were the same as those in the I/R group,but both hindlimbs were ligated at relaxation without blocking the blood flow.METHODS: Sections of gastric mucosa were prepared, and then observed under light microscope and electron microscope, and the index of gastric mucosal injury was determined according to the Guth standard. The colorimetric assay was performed with 721 spectrophotometer at 650 nm, and the amount of gastric combining mucus was calculated.Meanwhile, the blood flow of gastric mucosa, contents of phospholipid and hexosamine in gastric mucus, content of nitric oxide in plasma and gastric tissue and activity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in gastric mucosa were determined.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Index of gastric mucosal injury, amount of gastric combining mucus, blood flow of gastric mucosa, contents of phospholipid and hexosamine in gastric mucus, contents of nitric oxide in plasma and gastric tissue and NOS activity in gastric mucosa.RESULTS: All the 54 rats were involved in the analysis of results. ① In the I/R group, gastric mucosal injury was serious, edema, hyperemia, erosion and disintegration of gland of mucosal glands were observed, infiltration of inflammatory cells (formation of ulcer) was observed in basal and inferior mucosa. In the ischemic preconditioning group, the gastric mucosa was complete, and the damaged severity was milder than that in the I/R group; Under electron microscope, the organell structures of gastric parietal and chief cells were incomplete and destroyed. The cell injuries in the ischemic preconditioning group were milder than those in the I/R group (index of injury: 18.00±10.71, 34.00±15.01, P＜ 0.01). ② The blood flow and combining mucosal amount of gastric mucosa, contents of phospholipid and hexosamine in gastric mucus in the ischemic preconditioning group and I/R group were all obviously lower than those in the control group [(2.12±0.56), (10.84±2.56), (25.52±2.97) mL/(kg·h); (2.01±0.91), (2.79±0.73), (3.99±0.87) mg;(7.68±1.95), (9.74±1.04), (11.98±1.98) mg/g; (3.83±1.18), (5.42±0.47), (5.76±1.21) mg/g, P ＜ 0.05, 0.01], those the above indexes were all higher in the ischemic preconditioning group than in the I/R group. ③ The contents of nitric oxide in plasma and gastric tissue and NOS activity in gastric mucosa in the ischemic preconditioning group and I/R group were significantly lower than those in the control group [(250.0±5.6), (270.0±11.3), (210.0±7.4) μmol/L; (9.34±0.67), (11.34±1.00), (7.50±0.67) μ kat/g, P ＜ 0.01], those were also signficantly higher in the ischemic preconditioning group than in the I/R group.CONCLUSION: As a stressor, LIR can lead to gastric mucosal injury, and cause stress ulcer.Ischemic preconditioning can alleviate the gastric mucosal injury following LIR

Objective To illustrate the composition ratio of ERβ isoforms in paired cancerous and adjacent normal tissues from breast cancer patients.Methods Eighty-seven pairs of cancerous and adjacent normal tissues were obtained from breast cancer patients.RT-qPCR was used to determine the relative mRNA expression levels of ERβ isoforms (ER[β1,ERβ2 and ERβ5),and the composition ratios of ERβ isoforms were analyzed.Results The expression levels of all tested ERβ isoforms (ERβ1,ERβ2 and ERβ5) in breast cancer tissues were much lower than those in adjacent normal breast tissues (P ＜ 0.01).Isoform ratio analysis showed that ERβ5 was the dominant isoform in both cancerous and adjacent normal tissues with a positive detection rate of 54.02 ％ and 75.84 ％,respectively.Meanwhile,ERβ1 had the lowest detection rate (9.74 ％ and 6.77 ％ in cancerous and adjacent normal tissues,respectively).The positive rates for both ERβ1 and ERβ2 were much lower in adjacent normal tissues than those in cancer tissues (Z =-2.24,P =0.025 and Z =-4.85,P ＜ 0.01,separately),while more cancerous tissues were ERβ5-positive in comparison to adjacent normal tissues (Z =-5.32,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions The expression levels of all the ERβ isoforms are differentially down-regulated with significant alterations in their composition ratios during breast carcinogenesis.Further understanding on molecular mechanisms underlying the differential down-regulation of ER[β isoforms will shed new light on breast carcinogenesis.

Temporins are a kind of small,hydrophobic and C-terminus amidated antimicrobial peptides from Rana species.They are effective against bacteria,fungi,yeast,protozoa and viruses.Two novel temporins named as temporin-La(LLRHWKILEKYLanifc) and temporin-Lb(LFRHVVKIFEK.Ylamid.) were cloned from Lithobates catesbeianus.Synthetic peptides of temporin-La and temporin-Lb showed strong antimicrobial activities against bacteria tested,especially Gram-positive bacteria.Besides,temporin-La showed no haemolytic activity to rabbit erythrocytes at the concentration of 250 mg/L while temporin-Lb showed weak haemolytic activity(LC50≈ 230 μmol/L).Transmission electron microscopy showed that temporin-La and temporin-Lb induced different effects on bacterial structure of Staphylococcus aureus.

Objective To investigate the effects of mannan-binding lectin (MBL) on IL-8 and TNF-α production induced by Candida albicans ( C. albicans) in human THP1/CD14 monocytes. Methods The THP1/CD14 cells were stimulated for 24 h with heat-inactivated yeast form or hyphal form cells of C. albicans strain at the indicated ratios after pretreated with human natural MBL at concentrations ranging from 1 to 20 mg/L for 2 h. The content of IL-8 and TNF-α in culture supernatants were detected by ELISA,and the levels of IL-8 and TNF-α mRNA expressions in these cells were determined by RT-PCR. Western blot was used to detect C. albicans-induced NF-κB translocation in THP1/CDI4 cells. Results ELISA showed that secretion of IL-8 and TNF-α from THP1/CD14 cells could be induced by both yeast cells and hyphal cells. Hyphal cells proved to be much less efficient than yeast cells in stimulating production of IL-8and TNF-α by THP1/CD14 cells. The productions of IL-8 and TNF-α by THP1/CD14 cells induced with C.albicans were profoundly inhibited by MBL at higher concentrations ( 10-20 mg/L) but not MBL at lower concentrations ( 1 mg/L). RT-PCR analysis also indicated that the mRNA expressions of IL-8 and TNF-αt in THP1/CD14 cells were decreased to various extents by MBL at higher concentration, compared to the corresponding THP1/CD14 cells stimulated with C. albicans only. Similarly, MBL at higher concentration ( 20mg/L) decreased the NF-κB translocation in THP1/CD14 cells. Conclusion MBL may inhibit IL-8 and TNF-α production induced by dimorphism C. albicans in THP1/CD14 cells, suggesting that MBL can play some roles on the regulation of C. albicans immune response.