Biliary tract infection is the most commonly seen severe complication of malignant obstructive jaundice (MOJ)with a high mortality rate. Bile bacterial infection in MOJ patients is related with a variety of clinical factors and the therapeutic approaches including surgical operation,ERCP and percutaneous transhepatic cholangial drainage( PTCD). Bile bacterial culture combined with drug sensitivity test is of great importance for selection of optimal antibacterial agents. In this article,the related factors,current status of therapeutics,biliary bacterial spectrum and drug sensitivity in MOJ with biliary tract infection were reviewed for defining the clinical indicators and guiding the use of antibacterial agents.

Objective To observe the effect of blue light on apoptosis of cultured human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells in vitro. Methods Human RPE cells were exposed to blue light, and the cells were divided into 3 groups: group A, with various intensity of illumination; group B: with same intensity but different time of illumination; group C: with same intensity and time of illumination but different finish time of the culture. The apoptosis of RPE cells was observed by TdT-dUTP terminal nick-end labeling (TUNEL) and annexin V-fluoresein isothiocyanate (FITC)/propidium iodide (PI) flow cytometry, and transmission electron microscopy. Results The positive cells stained by TUNEL shrinked and turned round, whose nuclei concentrated and congregated like the crescent or hat. Cracked nuclei and membrane bleb were found. Swollen mitochondrial, disappeared inner limiting membrane of mitochondria, and dilation of the rough endoplasmic reticulum with metabolite were observed by transmission electronmicroscopy. In group A, mild damage of RPE cells was found when the threshold value of the intensity of illumination was less than (500?100)lx, and the apoptosis and necrosis of RPE cells aggravated as the intensity of illumination increased; in group B, as the time of illumination extended, the number of apoptotic RPE cells didn′t increase while the necrosis increased; in group C, 6 and 12 hours after illumination, apoptosis of cells was the main injury, while apoptosis with necrosis was found and necrotic cells increased as the time of illumination was prolonged. Conclusions Illumination with blue light may cause damages of human RPE cells in vitro, with the modalities of apoptosis, apoptotic necrosis and necrosis. The extent of injury is dependent on intensity and duration of the illumination.

Urothelial carcinoma associated 1 (UCA1) is a kind of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA),which has no capacities for coding proteins.UCA1 over-expresses in diverse tumors,and plays a pivotal role in initiation and progression of tumors.Researches indicate that UCA1 may function as an oncogene in gastrointestinal tumors,such as gastric cancer,colorectal cancer and hepatocellular cancer,and participate in regulating cell proliferation,metastasis and chemo-resistance.

AIM:To investigate the effect of atorvastatin on myocardial apoptosis , ventricular remodeling and cardiac function after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in diabetic rats, and to explore whether the effect is mediated by hepatocyte growth factor ( HGF)/c-Met signaling pathway .METHODS:Diabetes in 70 male SD rats was induced by in-traperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 65 mg/kg).After 8 weeks, AMI was induced by the ligation of the left ante-rior descending coronary artery in the diabetic rats , and 32 surviving rats were divided into AMI group (n=16) and AMI+atorvastatin group ( n=16, 20 mg· kg -1 · d-1 ) at random.The similar surgical procedure was completed in sham group (n=11) without coronary ligation.Atorvastatin was given daily by gavage from the first day after AMI .Two weeks later, the cardiac function , pathological changes of myocardial tissues , myocardial apoptosis , and the expression of HGF and c-Met were compared among groups .RESULTS: AMI significantly reduced cardiac function , increased collagen volume fraction ( CVF) and myocardial apoptotic index , and up-regulated the expression of HGF and c-Met at mRNA and protein levels in AMI control group (P<0.05).The cardiac function was improved , and CVF and myocardial apoptotic index were reduced by the treatment with atorvastatin , which also up-regulated the expression of HGF and c-Met (P<0.05).CON-CLUSION:Atorvastatin significantly attenuates myocardial apoptosis and cardiac remodeling , and improves cardiac func-tion after AMI in diabetic rats by further enhancing the activation of HGF /c-Met pathway .

Objective: To investigate the expression of microRNA-100 (miR-100) in the serum of gastric cancer patients and its clinical significance. Methods: At The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, 40 gastric cancer patients who underwent surgery with complete follow-up data and 40 healthy controls were selected as research subjects. Total miRNA was isolated from the se-rum samples of the cancer patients. A stable and sensitive detection method for the absolute quantification of miR-100 was established. The serum levels of miR-100 in the patients and healthy controls were tested according to this novel method. Differences of the miR-100 expression in the serum samples of the patients and healthy controls were analyzed using statistical analysis. The correlation between miR-100 expression levels and the clinicopathological features of gastric cancer was also analyzed. Results: The expression level of miR-100 in the serum was significantly higher in cancer patients[(2.78±1.92) fmol/L]than in the healthy controls[(0.19± 0.15) fmol/L, P<0.01]. The receiver operating characteristic curve of miR-100 indicated that serum miR-100 has satisfactory specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of gastric cancer (AUC=0.985). Further analytical results indicated that no significant differences were found among the expression levels of serum miR-100 with respect to the gender, age, tumor diameter, infiltrating depth, differentiation degree, frequency of lymph-node metastasis, and TNM stage (P>0.05). Conclusion: Serum miR-100 testing may be helpful in the diag-nosis of gastric cancer.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of detection of protein SP70 in differentiating benign and malignant pleural effusion.Methods A case-control study was conducted from July 2011 to February 2012.108 cases of pleural effusion from patients with clinically proven lung cancers and 122 cases of benign pleural effusion were collected.SP70 was detected by Sandwich ELISA,while CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE were measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay for comparison.Meanwhile,protein SP70 on exfoliated cells in pleural effusion was detected by direct immunofluorescence,and was compared with the results of HE staining.The differences between the groups were evaluated by the chisquare test Fisher' s exact test.Results Positive rates of SP70,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE were 72.2％,58.3％,52.8％ and 30.6％ in malignant pleural effusion,obviously higher than benign pleural effusio (9.8％,13.1％,23.0％ and 19.7％).The specificity of SP70,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE were 90.2％,86.9％,77.0％ and 80.3％,NSCLC had significantly higher positive rate than SCLC(74.3％ ＞0.0％,P =0.02 ＜ 0.05),detection of protein SP70 in malignant pleural effusion had significantly higher coincidence rate than HE staining(72.2％ vs 47.2％,x2 =14.03,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Determination of the protein SP70 in pleural effusion and in exfoliated cells,can improve the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion.

An approach was established using RP-HPLC (reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography) to identify ten species of Rhodiola, R. coccinea A. Bor, R. junggarica C.Y. Yang et N.R. Cui spn., R. heterodonta A. Bor, R. linearifolia A. Bor, R. pamiro alaiucm A. Bor, R. kaschgarica A. Bor, R. litwinowii A. Bor, R. gelida schrenk, R. rosea L. and R. quadrifide Fisch et Mey collected from the Tianshan Mountains areas of China. Chromatograms of alcohol-soluble proteins, generated from these ten Rhodiola spp. were compared. Each chromatogram of alcohol-soluble proteins came from a single seed of one wild species only. The results showed that when using a Waters Delta Pak. C18, 5 microm particle size reversed phase column (150 mm x 3.9 mm), a linear gradient of 22%-55% solvent B with a flow rate of 1 ml/min and a run time of 67 min, the chromatography gave optimum separation of Rhodiola alcohol-soluble proteins. Chromatogram of each species was different and could be used to identify those species. Cluster analysis of genetic similarity coefficients of 37% to 60% showed a medium degree of genetic diversity among the species in these eco-areas. Cluster analysis showed that the ten species of Rhodiola can be divided into four clusters and yielded the general and unique biochemical markers of these species. RP-HPLC was shown to be a rapid, repeatable and reliable method for Rhodiola species identification and analysis of genetic diversity.
Algorithms ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Cluster Analysis ; Plant Proteins ; analysis ; Rhodiola ; classification ; metabolism ; Species Specificity

OBJECTIVETo explore a new method of alleviating graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT) through selected elimination of mouse alloreactive T cells (ARTC) by Fas-Fas ligand (FasL) passway.

METHODSThe Sca-1(+) early hematopoietic cells (EHCs) were isolated from BALB/c mouse (H-2(d)) bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMC) by using a high gradient magnetic cell sorting system (MACS), then transferred with exogenous mouse FasL (mFasL) gene by retroviral gene transfecting technique. Afterward the transduced EHCs were expanded in vitro for one week followed by coculture with the spleen cells from BAC mouse (H-2(d) x b) as one-way mixed lymphocyte culture (OWMLC) for 6 days, then the cytotoxicity of treated BAC mouse spleen cells against Na(2)(51)CrO(4) labelling spleen cells from BALB/c mouse was observed.

RESULTSThe Sca-1(+) EHCs were successfully isolated by MACS, with a purity of (89.0 +/- 6.1)%. After transferred with exogenous mFasL gene and expanded for one week, the transferred EHCs in the 6 day OWMLC with the spleen cells from BAC mouse at a ratio of five to one resulted in an obvious inhibition of the BAC mouse spleen cells cytotoxicity against the BALB/c mouse spleen cell at different effector/target ratios as compared to the control group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe higher exogenous mFasL-expressing mouse EHCs can deplete ARTC against their own major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens in vitro.

Animals ; Antigens, Ly ; immunology ; Fas Ligand Protein ; Female ; Graft vs Host Disease ; immunology ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; cytology ; immunology ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; genetics ; immunology ; Membrane Proteins ; immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Signal Transduction ; Spleen ; cytology ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of environmental risk factors on the development of stroke.

METHODSWith the use of cold-stimuli plus high-salt intake as environmental risk factors, a hypertension model with the complication of stroke was established in rats, then, a new technique, suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH), was used to identify the differential genes which specifically expressed in total cerebrum tissue of rat in each group. Comparison was made between control group and stroke group.

RESULTSBy the application of SSH, a total of 576 clones were generated in this study from two subtractive libraries, among them 456 clones were usable and were analyzed. Genes for cell/organs defense were down-regulated in stroke group and metabolism transcripts were shown to be up-regulated (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONCell/organs defense genes may play important roles in the development of stroke. The above findings suggested that environmental risk factors could genetically alter individual sensitivity to stroke.

Animals ; Brain ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Division ; genetics ; Cold Temperature ; DNA, Complementary ; chemistry ; genetics ; Expressed Sequence Tags ; Gene Expression Regulation ; drug effects ; Immunity, Innate ; genetics ; Male ; RNA, Messenger ; drug effects ; genetics ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Signal Transduction ; genetics ; Sodium Chloride, Dietary ; administration & dosage ; Stroke ; genetics

The effects of tissue factor (TF) on doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in human neuroblas- toma were investigated. The expression of TF was examined by Western blotting. TFsiRNA-pSUPER plasmid was constructed by inserting specific 19-nt silencing sequence targeting TF gene into pSU- PER vector. Transfection of TFsiRNA-pSUPER was performed using lipofectamine2000. The cytotox- icity of doxorubicin was determined by WST assay. The activation of Caspase-3 and PARP induced by doxorubicin was tested by Western blotting. The apoptotic cells were stained by Hochest33342 and counted under fluorescence inverted microscope. It was found that human neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-MC expressed high level of TF. Knockdown of the TF expression was achieved by trans- fection of TFsiRNA-pSUPER on SK-N-MC cells in a dose-dependent manner. Inhibition of TF sig- nificantly decreased the viability of transfected SK-N-MC cells treated with different concentrations of doxorubicin. Cleavage of Caspase-3 and PARP was enhanced in transfected SK-N-MC cells with down-regulation of TF. TFsiRNA treatment significantly increased the number of apoptotic cells in transfected SK-N-MC cells as compared with those control cells (P＜0.05) when these cells were ex-posed to 1 μg/mL doxorubicin for 8 h. These results suggested that knockdown of the TF expression by specific siRNA vector could increase the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin and enhance doxorubi- cin-induced apoptosis in human nearoblastoma cells. Over-expression of TF might contribute to chemotherapy resistance in human neuroblastoma and its progression, at lest in part, by regulating doxorubicin-induced apoptosis.