Aim To explore the effects of lipoteichoic acid (LTA) induced delayed preconditioning (PC) on hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) injury of cultured human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs), and to investigate the potential role of endogenous nitric oxide (NO) participated in the protective mechanism. Methods HCAECs were incubated for 2 h in a hypoxic atmosphere and reoxygenated for 4 h in a normoxic atmosphere. The delayed PC was induced by pretreatment with LTA assessed by the percentage of cellular injury with Trypan blue exclusion and by the amount of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in culture media. The NO level of the culture media was measured detect the expression of eNOS mRNA by RT-PCR method after cells were recovered from different points.Results LTA pretreatment significantly decreased the percentage of the killed cell and the concentration of LDH in media. Also, LTA pretreatment obviously raised the concentrations of NO in culture media. The protective effects of LTA were abrogated by pretreatment with N-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA).Moreover, the expression of eNOS mRNA was significantly upregulated after HCAECs exposure to LTA for 4 h following 2 h or 4 h recovery. Conclusion LTA could induce the delayed protection against H/R induced endothelial injury and dysfunction of cultured HCAECs. NO produced by eNOS acts initially as a trigger and subsequently as a mediator of delayed PC.

A series of studies have demonstrated that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are attractive candidates for cell and gene therapies, because they are readily obtained and multipotentially differentiated. Then homogeneous MSC cultures in vitro with more rapidly self-renewing ability and multipotential differentiation will accelerate and improve their progress in clinical application. Colter et al. found that early colonies contain a third kind of cells very small round cells that rapidly self-renew, besides spindle-shaped cells and large flat cells, called RS cells. RS cells are characterized by their extremely small size, rapid rate of replication, and enhanced potential for multilineage differentiation. Moreover, they can be distinguished from more mature cells in the same cultures by a series of surface epitopes and expressed proteins. Therefore, the results raise the possibility that RS cells may have the greatest potential for long-term engraftment and differentiation in vivo.
Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Multipotent Stem Cells ; classification ; cytology ; Stromal Cells ; cytology

To explore the potential of lipoteichoic acid (LTA) induced cardioprotection against ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in isolated rat hearts and whether endogenous nitric oxide (NO) participates in the protection, the rats were pretreated with LTA (1 mg/kg, i.p.) 24 h before the experiment, and the isolated hearts were subjected to 30 min no-flow normothermic global ischemia and 60 min reperfusion after a 20-min stabilization period by the langendorff method. Cardiac functions were evaluated at the end of stabilization, and at 30 min, 60 min of reperfusion. The amounts of MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) and total NO oxidation products in the coronary effluent were measured spectrophotometrically at the end of reperfusion. It was revealed that pretreatment with LTA could significantly improve the recovery of cardiac function, reduce the release of CK-MB and LDH, and increase the concentrations of NO in coronary effluent. The protective effects were abrogated by pretreatment of the rats with L-NAME. It was concluded that LTA could induce the delayed cardioprotection against I/R injury, and endogenous NO may be involved in the mechanisms.
Animals ; Cardiotonic Agents ; pharmacology ; Creatine Kinase ; metabolism ; Creatine Kinase, MB Form ; In Vitro Techniques ; Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial ; Isoenzymes ; metabolism ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides ; pharmacology ; Male ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; prevention & control ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Teichoic Acids ; pharmacology

[Objective] The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the 2013 edition of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) ultrasound lexicon in diagnosing breast categories 3-5 lesions.[Methods] Using our breast ultrasound database from June 2014 to June 2016,we identified 4428 BI-RADS category 3 to 5 lesions with a known pathological diagnosis in 4 428 adult women.The positive predictive value (PPV) of each BI-RADS category was calculated based on the pathological diagnoses and compared with the reference range provided by the American College of Radiology (ACR).[Results] 4 428 lesions from 4428 patients were included in this study.The PPV of each BI-RADS category waswithin the reference range provided by the ACR in 2013.1198 (27.1％) pathological malignant/borderline results were found in the 4 428 lesions,the other 3 230 (72.9％)lesions were diagnosed with benign results.Among the malignant/borderline lesions,the rate of lymph node metastasis gradually increased as the BI-RADS categories were upgraded.Malignant lesions with a diagnosis ofinvasive ductal carcinoma or invasive lobular carcinoma showed an increasing distribution trend from category 3 to 5.[Conclusion] The 2013 editionof BI-RADS ultrasound lexiconhas good diagnostic accuracy and efficiencyin clinical practice.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of miRNA-34a,miRNA-34c,and miRNA-135a in the early diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).Methods The patients were collected in the outpatient and inpatient of Neurology during Aug 2014 to May 2016.The levels of miRNA-34a,miRNA-34c,an dmiRNA-135a were detected with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).Results AD patients had higher level of miRNA-34a than the controls.The levels of miRNA-34c were higher in MCI and AD patients,while lower levels of miRNA-135a compared to the controls.Conclusions The miRNA 34a and miRNA-135a were likely to became the biomarker in early diagnosis of MCI and AD.

Objective To search for the metabolites that associated with articular cartilage damage in the urine of rat model with articular cartilage destruction induced by T-2 toxin.Methods Thirty healthy male Wistar rats aged 4-5 weeks were numbered by weight,randomly divided into two groups (n =15 per group),namely the control group and the model group.The rats in the control group were fed with standard rat diets,and those in the model group were given diets contaminated by T-2-toxin (300 μg/kg).Throughout the experiment,all animals were given free access to distilled water and diets.After continuous treatment for 3 months,all the rats were sacrificed.The changes of articular cartilage in rat knee joints were observed by histopathological method,the metabolic profile of rats' urine was determined by ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time of flight-mass spectrometry (UPLC/QTOF-MS) technique.Combined with multivariate statistical analysis,database searching was applied to explore and confirm the different metabolites associated with cartilage damage.Results Light microscope showed that rats' articular chondrocytes in the control group presented cells in neat rows and eumorphism,rats' articular chondrocytes in the model group presented extensive areas of chondrocyte degeneration,necrosis and loss.In rats' urine metabolic profiles,5 different metabolites associated with cartilage destruction were detected,such as 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE),trans-4,5-epoxy-2(E)-decenal (EDE),5-methyldeoxycytidine,and 5-L-glutamyl-glycine and prolyl-valine.Compared with the control group (mass spectrum peak area:65820 ± 5200,22080 ± 3538,4292 ± 3520,3277 ± 2025,1104 ± 990),all of them increased in the model group (mass speetrum peak area:90240 ± 18863,25610 ± 5071,9702 ± 6562,6029 ± 3905,4144 ± 5322,t =-3.903,-2.209,-2.814,-2.424,-2.174,all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The articular cartilage destruction induced by T-2 toxin could cause the changes of related metabolites in the urine;the 5 kinds of changed metabolites in urine are related to articular cartilage destruction.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical effect and safety of albumin-bound paclitaxel (Nab-P) as the first-line treatment for advanced primary liver cancer. MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 23 patients with advanced primary liver cancer who were admitted to the Department of Medical Oncology in Chinese PLA General Hospital from May 2014 to December 2015. According to the treatment regimen, these patients were divided into observation group and control group. The 12 patients in the observation group were treated with Nab-P, among whom 5 were treated with Nab-P combined with tegafur, gimeracil and oteracil, 5 were treated with Nab-P combined with capecitabine, and 2 were treated with Nab-P alone; the 11 patients in the control group were treated with gemcitabine combined with oxaliplatin. One cycle of the treatment was 21 days for each treatment regimen; therapeutic effect was evaluated every 2 cycles, and adverse events were evaluated every cycle. The chi-square test or the Fisher’s exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups, the Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to analyze progression-free survival, and the log-rank test was used to compare survival rates between groups. ResultsAll the patients were eligible for evaluation of clinical outcome and adverse events. In the observation group, 2 patients achieved partial remission, 7 had a stable disease, and 3 had a progressive disease; in the control group, 2 achieved partial remission, 5 had a stable disease, and 4 had a progressive disease. There was no significant difference in disease control rate between the two groups (75% vs 64%, χ2=0.350, P＞0.05). There was also no significant difference in the median progression-free survival between the two groups ［5.1 (2.7-6.7) months vs 4.3 (2.5-5.4) months, χ2=0.647, P＞0.05］. As for adverse events, no patient experienced serious adverse events, and there were significant differences in the incidence rates of platelet toxicity and increased aspartate aminotransferase between the two groups (χ2=5.490 and 6.135, P=0.036 and 0.027). ConclusionIn the treatment of advanced primary liver cancer, the medication based on Nab-P shows a good clinical effect and tolerable toxic and side effects; however, due to the small sample size in this study, the clinical studies with a large sample size are needed.

Carotid atherosclerotic plaque rupture and thrombosis are the independent risk factors of acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease. Early identification of vulnerable plaques provides the evidence for early intervention in patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis, and also helps to reduce the recurrence risk in patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis. This article focuses on comparing the advantages and limitations of the available clinical imaging methods in identifying vulnerable carotid artery plaque, and provides relevant prognostic indicators for patient risk stratification in clinical work.

Intravenous thrombolysis is an effective treatment for acute ischemic stroke, but its benefits are time-dependent. The time from onset to intravenous thrombolysis is divided into onset-to-door time (ODT) and door-to-needle time (DNT). The former reflects pre-hospital delay, while the latter reflects in-hospital delay and can be controlled by stroke improvement plan. This article reviews the influence of DNT on clinical outcomes, the influencing factors of DNT and the stroke improvement plan to shorten DNT.

Objective To investigate the genetic basis of patients with intellectual disability,and to assess the application of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP)-array in the molecular diagnosis of intellectual disability.Methods Sixty-four patients with intellectual disability who were identified in Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from January 2013 to June of 2015 were enrolled.Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and was analyzed with Illumina Humancyto SNP-12 300K gene array chip.All identified copy number variants (CNVs) were analyzed with references from databases such as ClinVar,DECIPHER,OMIM and DGV(Database of Genomic Variants),as well as comprehensive literature review from PubMed database to determine the pathogenicity of CNVs.Results Sixteen cases of the above 64 patients were found to have CNVs with genomic alterations,including 6 cases microdeletions/microduplications associated with known syndromes,3 cases microdeletions and microduplications with clear clinical relevance (non-syndrome),1 case numerical chromosome aberration,1 case unbalanced translocation and 5 cases CNVs of unknown clinical significance.The detection rate was 25% (16/64 cases).Among these 16 abnormalities,6 cases of them could not be detected by using karyotyping analysis because their sizes were less than 5 Mb,and the smallest detected missing fragment was 0.53 Mb.Conclusion SNP-array gene chip technique with the advantages of higher efficiency,high-resolution and good accuracy,which can be applied to the genetic diagnosis of intellectual disability.