BACKGROUND: At present, there is little related report about producing a whole-kidney acellular matrix (ACM) scaffold in rats using perfusion. The cellular biocompatibility of the ACM is poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: To produce a whole-kidney ACM scaffold in rats by perfusion, to evaluate the cytocompatibility of ACM with the L929 cells in vitro, and to assess the possibility of ACM as the cytoskeleton and tissue-engineered urinary organ construction. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: An in vitro observation was performed at the Central Laboratory of Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University from February to May 2009. MATERIALS: Kidneys were obtained from 12-week-old Whista rats, while ureter, renal veins and renal artery were reserved. Intravenous catheters were inserted through renal arteries to establish channels for perfusion. Whole-kidney retrograde perfusion was performed with successively heparinized PBS, 1% SDS, deionized water, 1% TritonX-100 and antibiotic-containing PBS under a pressure of 9.81 kPa to prepare whole-kindney acellular matrix scaffolds. METHODS: ① Samples were randomly divided into blank group (without any cells), negative control group (culture media), experimental group (rat kidney ACM leaching liquor), and positive control group (culture media containing 0.64% phenol). L929 cells in the logarithmic phase were seeded in 96-well plates at the density of 4×10~3/well, with 5 wells in each group. At 24, 72, and 120 hours after incubation, cells were stained with MTT method to detect absorbance at 490 nm and calculate relative growth rate. ② Control group (culture medium), experimental group (rat kidney ACM leaching liquor), and positive control group (culture media containing 0.64% phenol) were set up to detect cell apoptosis at 48 hours after culture using flow cytometry. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Microstructure of the scaffold, cytotoxicity and cell apoptotic rate. RESULTS: After SDS and TritonX-100 union processing, reticulate structures made of basilar membrane and collagen were shown under scanning electron microscope rather than normal structures of cells. At every time intervals (24, 72, and 120 hours), there was no significant difference in the absorbance between experimental group and negative control group (P > 0.05). The grade of the cytotoxicity of the ACM was .0-1. There was no significant difference in cell apoptotic rate between experimental group and negative control group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The whole-kidney acellular matrix scaffolds in rat by perfusion have good biocompatibility.

Objective To analyze the electroencephalograph (EEG) features of 43 patients with clinically possible or probable Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and its correlation with megnetic resonance imaging (MRI) imaging and clinical manifestations.Methods All patients diagnosed with suspected CJD who were hospitalized in Xuanwu Hospital from January 2013 to December 2015 were collected.The clinical data, EEG and MRI imaging features were analyzed retrospectively.Based on the periodic sharp wave complexes (PSWC) appearance in EEG results, the patients were divided into typically changed group (TCG), atypically changed group (ACG) and unchanged group (UCG).Age, disease duration, clinical manifestations and MRI features among three groups were analyzed and the correlations between patient′s EEG features and age, disease duration, clinical manifestations or MRI features were explored using spearman method.Results Among the 43 patients with possible or probable CJD disease, 26 were male and 17 were female with an average disease duration of 4 months.The age of onset ranged from 31 to 80 with an average of (58.0±9.8) years old, and 86.0% of patients were 51 years old or above.Clinical characteristics of CJD patients according to occurrence rate were as follows: 35 cases (81.4%) with cognitive impairment, 29 cases (67.4%) with mental and behavior disorder, 28 cases (65.1%) with pyramidal tract damage, 24 cases (55.8%) with cerebellar symptoms, 23 cases (53.5%) with extrapyramidal symptoms,17 cases (39.5%) with myoclonic, 13 cases (30.2%) with dyssomnia, 13 cases (30.2%) with visual disorder and 2 cases (4.7%) with akinetic mutism.Regarding EEG features, 39.53% (17/43) of patients showed typical periodic sharp wave complexes (PSWC) (TCG group), 51.2% (22/43) had irregular rhythm and different forms of slow wave (ACG group) and only 9.3% (4/43) had no EEG change (UCG group).The occurrence rate of ribbon sign in MRI was 82.4% (14/17) in TCG group, 77.3% (17/22) in ACG group and none in UCG group.The rates were significantly higher in TCG and ACG group than that in UCG group (both P<0.05).Spearman correlation analysis revealed that EEG features was correlated with disease duration (r=0.351, P=0.021) and visual impairment (r=-0.377, P=0.013) for all CJD patients.There was no correlation between EEG and MRI or other clinical manifestations such as myoclonic, age and so on (all P>0.05).Conclusions EEG showed typical changes associated with disease duration in different stages of disease.EEG and MRI are two different means to evaluate different aspects of patients with CJD disease, and combination of two means could achieve better evaluation results.

To effectively screen treating pigmentation disorders drug, a new transgenic zebrafish drug screening model was constructed. Green fluorescent protein(GFP)were drived by tyrosinase-related protein 1a (tyrp1a)promoter specific expression in melanocyte. Effect of N-Phenylthiourea(PTU)and alpha-melanaocyte stimulating hormone(α-MSH)on the GFP expression and melanogenic of tyrp1a: eGFP zebrafish were photographed under the steromicroscope. Results showed that PTU could significantly inhibit the melanogenic and expression of GFP of zebrafish. As compared with control group, α-MSH treatment resulted in marked stimulation of body pigmentation and expression of GFP. In conclusion, a new transgenic zebrafish drug screening model was successfully established, which can be used for treating pigmentation disorders.

Objective:To investigate the clinical significance of serum glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP)level in middle-aged and elderly patients with Parkinson's disease(PD).Methods:In the prospective study, a total of 39 patients with PD hospitalized in the Department of Neurology of Zhejiang Hospital affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and 17 healthy subjects from January 2017 to May 2021 were collected.Serum GFAP levels in the PD group and healthy control(CT)group were detected by an ultra-sensitive Simoa hypersensitive protein detection technology.The correlations of serum GFAP level with age, gender, clinical presentation type, depression score, Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale(MOCA)score and Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE)score were analyzed.Results:The level of serum GFAP was significantly higher in PD group(219.6±166.2)ng/L than in CT group(109.9±56.6)ng/L( P< 0.01). In PD group, there was no correlation of serum GFAP with age, gender, clinical classification, depression and MOCA score(age: r=0.042, gender: r=-0.142, depression score: r=0.076, MoCA score: r=0.014, all P>0.05); but there was a significant negative correlation between serum GFAP and MMSE score( r=-0.433, P< 0.05). Conclusions:There is a negative correlation between serum GFAP level and MMSE score, suggesting that the increase of serum GFAP might be suggestive of cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease patients to some extent, which should be paid attention to in clinical work.

Objective This study aimed to explore the predictive value of endoplasmic reticulum stress response(ERS)-related regulatory gene expression for the pathological grading,prognosis,and malignant progres-sion phenotype of gliomas(excluding glioblastomas).Methods After excluding duplicate and non-survival samples,clinical sequencing data of glioma samples from the American Cancer Genome Atlas and the Chinese Brain Glioma Genome Atlas were selected as the training and validation sets.A prognosis-related ERS risk regression model was constructed through differential gene enrichment and protein interaction analysis.The predictive value of ERS Cox model for glioma prognosis and malignant progression phenotype was validated using ROC curve analysis,real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR,and immunohistochemistry.Results The study findings reveal that the expression of 7 ERS-related risk factors increases with the rise in glioma grade and accurately predicts unfavorable patient prognosis(with accuracies higher than 0.7 for predictions at 1,3,and 5 years),all of which are statistically significant.Further validation demonstrates a positive correlation between ERS risk genes and the glioma malignant phenotype marker CD44,as well as a negative correlation with the clinically favorable prognosis marker GPR158,both of which have statistical differences(P<0.05).Finally,gene expression and immunohistochemistry analysis of clinical samples confirm that ERS-related risk factors are highly expressed in higher-grade gliomas,positively correlated with CD44 expression,with statistical significance(P<0.05).Conclusion The preliminary results of the study suggest that the risk regression model based on ERS response exhibits the capacity to predict pathological grading and prognosis.Moreover,it demonstrates a positive correlation with the malignant progression phenotype of gliomas.These findings offer insights for precise and targeted diagnosis and treatment of gliomas.

Objective:To explore the expression and clinical significance of immunosuppressive receptor T cell immunoglobulin and immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif domain (TIGIT) on the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in silicosis patients with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Methods:August 2018, a total of 78 patients with silicosis (all were quarry workers in Sanmen County, Zhejiang Province) were enrolled and divided into silicosis combined with active pulmonary tuberculosis group (APTB group), silicosis combined with latent tuberculosis infection group (LTBI group), and simple silicosis with non-tuberculosis infection group (non-TB group). Flow cytometry was used to analyze the expressions of TIGIT, programmed death-1 (PD-1) and transcription factor T-bet on PBMC from patients. Mann-Whitney U test and Pearson correlations analysis were used for statistical analysis. Results:Among the 78 patients, eight were in the APTB group, 24 in the LTBI group, and 46 in the non-TB group. The expressions of PD-1 and TIGIT on CD8 + T cells in the APTB group (29.45%(16.78%) and 65.40%(12.12%), respectively) were significantly higher than those in the LTBI group (17.40%(11.17%) and 48.30%(28.75%), respectively; U=23.500 and 43.500, respectively, P=0.000 8 and 0.020 5, respectively) and non-TB group (15.95%(12.46%) and 45.30%(19.75%), respectively; U=64.000 and 69.000, respectively, P=0.002 3 and 0.003 8, respectively), and the differences were all statistically significant. The expression of TIGIT was positively correlated with PD-1 on CD8 + T cells in silicosis patients ( r=0.434 3, P<0.01). The proportion of PD-1 + TIGIT + CD8 + T cells in the APTB group (19.90%(22.67%)) was significantly higher than those in the non-TB group (11.55%(11.29%), U=76.500, P=0.007 1) and LTBI group (11.55%(10.53%), U=41.000, P=0.015 4), while the proportion of PD-1 -TIGIT -CD8 + T cells in the APTB group (30.60%(12.90%)) was significantly lower than non-TB group (48.90%(18.98%), U=58.000, P=0.001 3) and LTBI group (47.20%(24.59%), U=41.000, P=0.015 4). The differences were all statistically significant. The expression of T-bet on the peripheral blood CD8 + T cells in the APTB group (29.45%(16.78%)) was higher than that in the non-TB group (15.95%(12.46%)) and the LTBI group (17.40%(11.17%)), and the differences were both statistically significant ( U=46.500 and 46.000, respectively, P=0.000 3 and 0.028 3, respectively). The expression of T-bet on CD8 + T cells was positively correlated with TIGIT on CD8 + T cells ( r=0.456 7, P<0.01). The expression of T-bet on PD-1 + TIGIT + CD8 + T cells in the APTB group (65.40%(12.12%)) was higher than those in the LTBI group (48.30%(28.75%), U=23.500, P=0.000 8) and non-TB group (45.30%(19.75%), U=65.000, P=0.002 6), and the differences were both statistically significant. Conclusion:The immunosuppressive receptor PD-1 and TIGIT are highly expressed on CD8 + T cells in silicosis patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis, which indicates CD8 + T cells exhaustion in these population, while the highly co-expression of T-bet suggests the exhausted subsets may have reversed potentiality.

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the response in health-related epidemiological investigation among Chinese population aged 15 and over.We analyzed the specific causes of non-response,and explored the effective ways to improve the response rate,so as to provide reference for future epidemiological studies of this kind.Methods Two modes of studies regarding the prevalence of important cardiovascular diseases were used in Chongqing,during the 12th Five-Year Plan period in oder to find out the cause related to non-response.Intervention programs were carried out to evaluate the effects.Results When using the concentrated mode (CM),the completion rate to the questionnaires was only 20.00％ in the pre-investigation,with the response rate as 13.48％.In the deconcentrated mode (DM),the completion rate was 31.16％,with the response rate as 25.19％.After a series of incentives provided to both the respondents and the project-related core staff in the two modes,response rates of the two modes increased to the expected 60％.Conclusions CM appeared having advantages on quality control,but was more time consuming,with higher cost,and without effective follow-up measures to improve the response rate.However,DM had the advantages on controlling the cost and could increase the response rate through making advanced appointment with the households but quality control remained difficult.Two key points should be strengthened to improve the response rates,which including:Precisely finding out the research objects and providing incentives to the respondents to attract their interests of participating in the investigation.

Objective To retrospectively analyze and compare the clinical efficacy and safety between fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (FSRT) combined with and without temozolomide in the treatment of large brain metastases.Methods Between 2009 and 2017,84 patients with large brain metastases (tumor size ≥ 6 cm3) were recruited and assigned into the CRT group (concurrent TMZ and FSRT,n=42) and RT group (FSRT alone,n=42).The radiation dose was 52.0 Gy in 13 fractions or 52.5 Gy in 15 fractions.Patients were reexamined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during treatment.The radiation field would be shrunk if the gross target volume (GTV) was reduced.The clinical efficacy was evaluated at postoperative 2 to 3 months.The primary end-point event was local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and the secondary end-point events included intracranial progression-free survival (IPFS),progression-free survival (PFS),overall survival (OS),brain metastasis-specific survival (BMSS) and adverse events.The survival rates were assessed with Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test and monovariate analysis.Results The median GTV in the CRT and RT groups was 16.9 cm3 and 15.7 cm3.During the treatment,75％ of the lesions in the CRT group were reduced compared with 34％ in the RT group (P=0.000).The local control (LC) rate in the CRT and RT groups was 100％ and 98％.The median follow-up time was 16.1 months (range,2.1-105.7 months).In the CRT group,the LRFS (P=0.040),IPFS (P=0.022),PFS (P=0.045),OS (P=0.013) and BMSS (P=0.006) were significantly better than those in the RT group,respectively.In the CRT group,the incidence of grade Ⅰ-Ⅱ gastrointestinal adverse events was 33％,significantly higher compared with 26％ in the RT group (P=0.006).No grade Ⅳ-Ⅴ adverse events occurred in both groups.Conclusion Combined application of temozolomide and FSRT can further enhance the LC and survival rates and do not increase the risk of severe adverse events in patients diagnosed with large brain metastases.

Objective To retrospectively analyze the dosimetry and efficacy of whole-brain irradiation (WBRT) with simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) by helical tomotherapy (HT) in the treatment of multiple brain metastases (BMs),and to evaluate the feasibility,efficacy,and safety of HT.Methods From 2014 to 2017,a total of 43 patients with multiple BMs (no less than 3 lesions) were enrolled as subjects.A dose of 40 Gy was delivered to the whole brain in 20 fractions,while a dose of 60 Gy was delivered to the gross target volume (GTV) in 20 fractions.Patients were reexamined by magnetic resonance imaging during treatment.The radiation field would be shrunk if GTV was reduced.Target coverage (TC),conformity index (CI),prescription isodose/target volume (PITV) ratio,and homogeneity index (HI) were assessed.Clinical indices included local recurrence-free survival (LRFS),intracranial progression-free survival (IPFS),progression-free survival (PFS),overall survival (OS),and toxicities.Results The median lesion number was 6(3-36) and the median total volume of GTV was 8.74 cm3.The TC,CI,PITV,and HI for GTV were 0.96±0.028,0.51±0.164,2.09±1.245,and 0.12±0.066,respectively,while the TC and HI for the whole brain were 0.95±0.033 and 0.43±0.161,respectively.In all the patients,26％ had replarming during treatment.The two-stage treatment reduced the radiation dose to organs at risk.The 1-year LRFS,IPFS,PFS,and OS rates were 96％,80％,39％,and 86％,respectively.No grade ≥3 toxicities were observed.Conclusions WBRT with SIB by HT achieves satisfactory conformity,homogeneity,efficacy,and safety,which is a recommended treatment plan for multiple BMs.Replanning during treatment can better protect normal tissue.

Objectives To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of hypofractionated radiotherapy for cancer patients with hepatic metastases. Methods From May 2007 to November 2016,45 patients ( male:female=20:25) with inoperable hepatic metastases were enrolled in this investigation. The median age was 58 years old ( range:25-83).The median Karnofsky performance score ( KPS) was 80.Primary colorectal cancer was detected in 14 patients,primary breast cancer in 9 and primary lung cancer in 6 cases. Twenty-one patients had extrahepatic metastases. A total of 52 lesions were treated. Thirty-four cases received radiotherapy for one single lesion. The fractional dose was 45 Gy/3 fractions and 60 Gy/10-15 fractions. The median gross tumor volume (GTV) was 10. 1 cm3(0. 3-175. 2 cm3) and 29. 8 cm3(5. 0-209. 6 cm3) for planning target volume ( PTV).Seventeen CT images were fused with MRI and IMRT was adopted in 43 cases. The median dose of PTV was 60 Gy (40-60 Gy) and 90 Gy (60-132 Gy) for bioequivalent dose (BED). Results The median follow-up time was 23. 5 months and the median survival time was 26. 0 months (95%CI:21.4-30.6 months).The 1-year local control (LC),disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival ( OS ) were 94%, 27% and 91%, respectively. Six cases died of liver metastases and abnormal liver function. Conclusion Hypofractionated radiotherapy is an efficacious and safe local treatment for inoperable hepatic metastases.