Understanding heart development at a molecular level is a prerequisite for uncovering the causes of congenital heart diseases .Such knowledge can also greatly benefit therapeutic approaches that try to enhance cardiac regeneration or that involve the differentiation of resident cardiac progenitor cells .Wnt proteins have been shown to play multiple roles dur-ing cardiac development .They are extracellular growth factors that activate different intracellular signaling branches .Here, we summarize our current understanding of how these factors affect different aspects of cardiogenesis , from early specifica-tion of cardiac progenitors to later developmental steps , such as remodeling processes .

[Objective]To observe the relationship between blood uric acid(UA)level and carotid atherosclerosis(CAS)in perimenopausal women.[Methods] Two hundred and thirty-three perimenopausal women were selected.Intima media thickness(IMT)of bilateral carotid arteries were measured by colour Doppler ultrasound.They were divided into normal group(162 cases)and CAS group(71 cases)according to the results of colour Doppler ultrasound.The level of blood UA between two groups was compared and the influence factors of CAS we re analyzed.[Results] The level of blood UA in CAS group was significantly higher than that in normal group[(341 ± 86)μ mol/L vs.(293±78)μ mol/L](P ＜ 0.05).The detection rate of hyperuricemia in normal group was 10.49％(17/162),while the detection rate in CAS group was 40.85％(29/71),which had statistical significance between two groupe(P＜0.01).Pearson correlation analysis showed that CAS had positive correlation with age(r=0.233,P=0.028),body mass index(BMI)(r=0.215,P=0.044),bloodUA(r=0.249,P=0.019)and fasting plasma ghcose(r=0.214,P=0.046).AndCASwas negatively correlated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol(r=-0.224,P=0.036).Logistic regression analysis showed that after the factors of age and BMI were corrected,CAS still had significantly positive correlation with the level of blood UA(OR＝4.805,95％ CI 1.700-11.673,P ＜ 0.05).[Conclusion]Hyperuricemia is a related risk factor of the incidence of carotid atherosclerosis in perimenopausal women.

Objective To summarize the clinical features of angina pectoris after thoracotomy. Methods Eight males with a mean age of 60? 5. 4 years were reported and analyzed, of which four patients underwent esphagectomy, three patients esophagogastrectomy and 1 patient pneumonectomy. Results Three cases were attacked angina pectoris after surgery 2~4 h, three cases in 5~12 h, one case in 36 h, and one case in 72h. Acute mocardial infarction of different degrees happened in five cases, and one case died. Conclusion Angina pectorls after thoracotomy is very dangerous to the patlents and not easily distinguished from chest pain after thoracotomy. It's important for the surgeons to analysis comprensively , diagnose as early as posslble and treat immediately.

Objective To compare the survival effects between using electron beams (EB) and modulated X-ray beams (XB) for boosting irradiation in breast cancer patients after breast-conserving surgery and postoperative radiotherapy.Methods This study retrospectively included 485 breast cancer patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery at Beijing Cancer Hospital.All patients underwent either EB or XB for tumor bed boost irradiation (10-16 Gy/5-8 fractions) after whole-breast irradiation of 46-50 Gy/23-25 fractions.Results Median follow-up time for the cohort was 96.04 months.Statistically significant increase of local recurrence free Survival (LRFS) was observed in XB group than in EB group.The 5-year and 10-year LRFS was both 98.4％ in XB group,as well as 94.2％ and 93.2％ in EB group,respectively (x2 =4.190,P ＜ 0.05).But there was not statistically significant difference in 5-year and 10-year overall survival (OS) between XB group(96.7％ and 95.8％) and EB group(94.9％ and 89.4％),respectively (P ＞ 0.05).The multivariate analysis showed that LRFS was significantly correlated with age≤40,positive pathological lymph nodes and positive expression of Her-2 receptor.But boost irradiation method was not independent prognostic factor for LRFS and OS (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions For cancer patients treated with breast-conserving surgery and whole-breast postoperative radiation followed by a boost irradiation to tumor bed,XB irradiation was superior to EB irradiation in term of LRFS,yet no difference of OS was observed in both groups.

Objective To explore the clinical features of subcutaneous fluid collection and post-operative headache after craniotomy and assess the efficacy and side effects of the millimeter wave treatment.MethodsA total of 32 neurosurgical patients with post-operative subcutaneous fluid collection were involved in this study and divided into traditional and millimeter wave treatment groups randomly. Subcutaneous fluid volume after 3 days, time for complete fluid absorption, time of hospital stay, incidence of related infections and severe headache between two groups were assessed.ResultsThe fluid reduction is 93.8% in the millimeter wave treatment group and 76.5% in the traditional treatment group 3 days after treatment (P<0.05); time for complete fluid absorption was also shorter in the millimeter wave treatment group; there is no infection in the millimeter wave treatment group and 3 cases in the traditional treatment group, millimeter wave treatment also reduced the occurrence of severe post-operative headache; there is no treatment-related side-effects in the millimeter treatment group.ConclusionMillimeter wave treatment is an efficacious and safe method for subcutaneous fluid collection after craniotomy, and can reduce the occurrences of related infections and post-operative pain.

Objective To obtain the protein interacting with inhibitor of differentiation1′(Id1′). Methods The recombinant bait plasmid pHybLex/Zeo Id1′ was constructed and transformed into yeast strain EGY48/ pSH18 34 to test pHybLex/Zeo Id1′ for non specific activation. Adult human lung cDNA libraries were screened to obtain true positive library plasmid. The true positive library clone was obtained by sequencing and basic local alignment sequence tool (BLAST). Results The recombinant bait vector, named as pHybLex/Zeo Id1′, was confirmed by sequencing. pHybLex/Zeo Id1′ was transformed into yeast strain EGY48/pSH18 34 and the transformants had no autonomously activated reporter genes. One true positive clone, obtained by screening of the adult human lung cDNA libraries, was confirmed to be Fyn by sequencing and BLAST. Conclusion Id1′ can interact with Fyn.

Oligonucleotide microarray technology is a powerful data-mining platform and has been widely applied in biosciences. To improve the performance of assays on the oligonucleotide microarray, the factors that influence the hybridization effects such as surface chemistry, probe size, spacer length, hybridization conditions etc were intensely studied and optimized. However, it is a key problem with DNA microarrays how to generate higher fluorescent signals to improve the detection sensitivity. Two types of multiply labeled primers, termed multiply labeled linear primer and multiply labeled branched primer, were used to enhance the fluorescent signal obtained from two-dimensional DNA microarrays.The signal was intensified by increasing the number of fluorophores labeled on the target DNA segment. It was indicated that the detection limit (minimum template amoumt for detection) of the multiply labeled primers is about 1% of that of the singly labeled primer. Multiple labeling is an effective signal amplification method to increase the detection sensitivity of the probes in a miniaturized array format.

Objective:This study aimed to investigate the possible mechanism of 32P colloid induced apoptosis of craniopharyngi-oma (CP) cells in vitro and the relationship between dose effect and time effect. Methods:This study established a primary cell culture of CP limited subculture cell line. Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay was performed to plot the cell survival curve after the CP cells were treated with 32P colloid at different concentrations and time. Apoptotic rate was detected by flow cytometry(FCM). Apoptosis related DNA was investigated by TUNEL fluorescent staining. The morphological characteristics of apoptotic cells were determined by Hoechst33342 fluorescence staining. The ultrastructure of apoptotic cells was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results:Hoechst33342 fluorescence staining, TUNEL fluorescence staining, and TEM revealed that 32P colloid induced the apoptosis of CP cells. 32P colloid reduced the survival rate and increased the apoptotic rate of CP cells as concentration (0 MBq/mL to 14.80 MBq/mL) and time (1 d to 14 d) were increased. Conclusion: 32P colloid could effectively inhibit the growth of CP cells and induce apoptosis in vitro. High concentrations and prolonged time could induce a remarkable effect.

Objective To observe the effects of insulin-like growth factor-Ⅰ (IGF-Ⅰ) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) on the expressions of sodium iodide symporter(NIS) and pendrin mRNA in a placental villous trophoblast cell line(HPT-8) exposed to different levels of iodine.Methods HPT-8 cells were cultured in vitro in the culture flask and divided into low iodine group-Ⅰ (LI-Ⅰ),low iodine group-Ⅱ (LI-Ⅱ),control group,high iodine group-Ⅰ (HI-Ⅰ) and high iodine group-Ⅱ (HI-Ⅱ) that exposed to different concentrations of iodine (0,5,50,500,5000 μg/L).After cell cultured for 24 h,the followings were added to the culture medium:iodine plus IGF-Ⅰ(0.050 mg/L),iodine plus TGF-β1 (0.001 mg/L).After cultured for another 24 h,total RNA was extracted,the expressions of NIS and pendrin mRNA of HPT-8 cells were determined by real-time quantitative PCR.Results The expression of NIS mRNA in HPT-8 cells:at different levels of iodine,the differences of NIS mRNA expression between groups were statistically significant in group with iodine alone(F =3.612,P ＜ 0.01).The expression of NIS mRNA in LI-Ⅰ group(0.44 ± 0.21) was significantly lower than that of control group(1.25 ± 0.77,P＜ 0.01).At the same level of iodine,in LI-Ⅰ group and HI-Ⅰ group,the differences of NIS mRNA expression within groups were statistically significant (F =13.632,6.900,all P ＜ 0.01).In LI-Ⅰ group,the expressions of NIS mRNA were higher in iodine plus IGF-Ⅰ(1.13 ± 0.38) and iodine plus TGF-β1 (0.81 ± 0.34) than that of pure iodine(0.44 ± 0.21,P ＜ 0.01 or ＜ 0.05);in HI-Ⅰ group,the expression of NIS mRNA was lower in iodine plus TGF-β1 (0.62 ± 0.30) than that of pure iodine(1.23 ± 0.91,P ＜ 0.01).The expression of pendrin mRNA in HPT-8 cells:at different levels of iodine,the differences of pendrin mRNA expression between groups were statistically significant in group with iodine alone(F =12.717,P ＜ 0.01).The expression of pendrin mRNA in LI-Ⅰ group(0.59 ± 0.15) was significantly lower than that of control group(1.03 ± 0.14,P ＜ 0.01) ; HI-Ⅰ group(1.29 ± 0.31) was higher than control group(P ＜ 0.05).At the same level of iodine,the differences of pendrin mRNA expression within groups were statistically significant in LI-Ⅰ,LI-Ⅱ,control and HI-Ⅰ groups (F=12.588,4.588,8.679,8.445,all P ＜ 0.01).In LI-Ⅰ,LI-Ⅱ and control groups,the expressions of pendrin mRNA were significantly higher in iodine plus IGF-Ⅰ(1.68 ± 0.82,1.51 ± 0.79,1.50 ± 0.51) than that of pure iodine(0.59 ± 0.15,0.89 ± 0.22,1.03 ± 0.14,all P ＜ 0.01); in HI-Ⅰ group,the expression of pendrin mRNA was significantly lower in iodine plus TGF-β1 (0.78 ± 0.20) than that of pure iodine(1.29 ± 0.31,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions In the case of iodine deficiency,the mRNA expressions of NIS and pendrin in HPT-8 cells are decreased and the iodine uptake ability is decreased; the expression of pendrin mRNA in HPT-8 cells is increased and placental iodine uptake is increased under the conditions of mild iodine excessive.IGF-Ⅰ and TGF-β1 play a role in the placental iodine uptake through increasing iodine uptake under the conditions of iodine deficiency and decreasing iodine uptake under the conditions of iodine excessive.

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of DWI on nasopharyngeal neoplasm recurrence and fibrotic lesions after radiotherapy.Methods A retrospective analysis of pathologically confirmed nasopharyngeal neoplasm was performed in 39 patients with recurrent patients ( recurrence group ) confirmed by biopsy or MRI follow-up and 51 patients with confirmed localized fibrosis (fibrosis group) after radiotherapy.All patients underwent DWI , non-enhanced and enhanced MR scan.DWI findings and ADC values of the lesions in two groups of patients were observed and measured , then compared by using independent samples t test.Diagnostic performance of routine MRI and DWI in the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal neoplasm recurrence after radiotherapy was calculated by using ROC analysis and the differences of both of them were analyzed by using Z test.Results DWI of 39 recurrent patients showed hyper-intensity signal and ADC map showed hypo-intensity signal appearance.Overall signal of DWI in 51 recurrent patients is lower than that in recurrent group , in which ADC maps of 36 cases showed iso-intensity or moderately hypo-intensity signal appearance and the remaining 15 cases showed moderate hyper-intensity signal appearance.The ADC values of recurrent group and fibrotic group were (0.753 ±0.127) × 10 -3 mm2/s, and ( 1.233 ± 0.310 ) ×10 -3 mm2/s, respectively.The difference was statistically significant ( t=-9.118, P<0.05).On the ROC curve, the sensitivity of ADC for the diagnosis of tumor recurrence was 87.18%(34/39), specificity 94.12%(48/51) and area under the ROC curve 0.968 with the ADC cutoff value of 0.887 ×10 -3 mm2/s.The sensitivity of routine MRI was 71.79% ( 28/39 ) , the specificity 74.51% ( 38/51 ) and the area under the ROC curve was 0.732 for the diagnosis of tumor recurrence.The difference of area under the curve between them was statistically significant ( Z=4.583, P<0.01).Conclusion DWI can help tumor detection and diagnosis of recurrent nasopharyngeal neoplasm and has a higher diagnostic performance compared with routine MRI.