BACKGROUND: Plenty of materials have been used as stent in total auricular reconstruction with varying advantages and disadvantages. The in vitro prepared tissue engineered complex cartilage stent has been not applied in clinic.OBJECTIVE: To observe the ultrastructure changes of surrounding tissues following total auricular reconstruction with nickel-titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloy stent in vivo.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: The randomized, controlled, animal experiment was performed in the Central Laboratory of EENT Hospital of Fudan University, Anhui Provincial Hospital and Department of Nuclear Medicine, Huashan Hospital of Fudan University from April 2004 to October 2005.MATERIALS: A total of 12 New Zealand rabbits were randomized divided into the skin-expanded and unexpanded groups, with 6 animals in each group.METHODS: Each animal underwent subcutaneous implantation with a NiTi alloy stent like human auricle. In the skin-expanded group, the stent was implanted after skin expansion, while no treatment in the unexpanded group.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The ultrastructure changes of surrounding tissues were detected by scanning electron microscope at months 6 and 12 after implantation.RESULTS: Structure of nickel-titanium alloy implant stent make fibrovascular ingrowth more easily. The surface of nickel-titanium alloy stent was smooth without corrosion. There was no evidence of infection in the host tissue. Microstructure of Ni-Ti stent wires showed no morphologic and functional changes after subcutaneously implanted in vivo, and the difference between 2 groups had no significance.CONCLUSION: NiTi shape memory alloy stent can smoothly pass the process of fibrovascularization with less complication.According to the examination by SEM, the nickel-titanium stent showed good biocompatibility.

Objective To observe the RASSF1A expression in laryngeal keratosis and laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and investigate the relationship between the gene and the occurrence and development of this disease. Methods The specimens of keratosis of larynx(43 cases)and laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma(31 cases)in Oto-laryngology-Head and Neck surgery of Anhui provincial hospital from Dec 2009 to Dec 2012 were collected.Nor-mal vocal fold mucosa from the cadaveric head as control group(8 cases)were collected.Immunohistochemical meth-ods were used to detect the expression of RASSF1A protein in these tissues.The diffuse distribution of brown gran-ules in the cell cytoplasm yielded positive results and the nucleus was not coloring.The percentage of positive cells of every section,and the average standard deviation(￣x±s)were calculated.SPSS17.0 statistical analysis software was used to analyze the data,P<0.05 for the difference was statistically significant.ResuIts The RASSF1A expes-sion in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma,normal laryngeal mucosa,squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx and la-ryngeal keratosis were compared.The differences of RASSF1A expression were statistically significant (P<0.05). The difference of RASSF1A expression in keratosis of larynx and normal laryngeal mucosa was not significant (P>0.05).RASSF1A expression in the clinical stage from I to IV of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma gradually de-clined.During the clinical stage,the difference had statistics significance (P<0.05 ).In high differentiated squa-mous cell carcinoma,moderately differentiated squamous and poorly differentiated squamous,the differences of RASSF1A expression were insignificant (P>0.05).ConcIusion The reduction of RASSF1A expression correlated with laryn-geal squamous cell carcinoma,which has certain significance for the different ion of carcinoma and laryngeal precan-cerous lesion.

PURPOSE: Obstructive sleep apnea and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are independent risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and their coexistence is known as overlap syndrome (OS). Endothelial dysfunction is the initial stage of CVD; however, underlying mechanisms linking OS and CVD are not well understood. The aim of this study was to explore whether OS can lead to more severe inflammation and endothelial apoptosis by promoting endothelial dysfunction, and to assess the intervention effects of antioxidant tempol. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male Wistar rats (n=66) were exposed to normal oxygen [normal control (NC) group], intermittent hypoxia (IH group), cigarette smoke (CH group), as well as cigarette smoke and IH (OS group). Tempol intervention was assessed in OS group treated with tempol (OST group) or NaCl (OSN group). After an 8-week challenge, lung tissues, serum, and fresh blood were harvested for analysis of endothelial markers and apoptosis. RESULTS: The levels of intracellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cellular adhesion molecule-1, and apoptosis in circulating epithelial cells were the highest in OS group and the lowest in NC group. These levels were all greater in IH group than in CH group, and were lower in OST group than in OS and OSN groups (all p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Synergistic effects of IH with cigarette smoke-induced emphysema produce a greater inflammatory status and endothelial apoptosis. OS-related inflammation and endothelial cell apoptosis may play important roles in promoting cardiovascular dysfunction, and antioxidant tempol could achieve a partial protective effect.
Animals ; Anoxia* ; Apoptosis* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Emphysema ; Endothelial Cells ; Epithelial Cells ; Humans ; Inflammation* ; Lung ; Male ; Oxygen ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Rats* ; Rats, Wistar ; Risk Factors ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Smoke ; Tobacco Products

Objective: To investigate the migration and invasion behaviors of Hep-2 after the targeted knockdown of yes-associated protein (YAP). Methods: Hep-2 cells were knock-downed for YAP by shRNA as YAP-shRNA group, Hep-2 treated with non-specific shRNA as YAP-NC group, and Hep-2 with no treatment as control. Glucose uptake and lactate production in the cells were examined to assess Warburg effect. The migration and invasion behaviors of cells in three groups were observed. The expressions of vimentin and E-cadherin were detected by RT-PCR and Western Blot. The statistical software GraphPad Prism 7.0 was used to analyze significance of data. Two tailed Student′ s t-tests was used to determine significance when only two groups were compared. P values of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Downregulation of YAP led to a obvious decrease in glucose uptake [(18.51±1.72)%] and lactate production [103.40±8.32] in Hep-2 cells compared with control [(41.20±1.11)% and 743.69±19.49, t=19.20 and 52.33, respectively, both P<0.01] and YAP-NC group [(39.60±0.78)% and 705.22±17.20, t=19.34 and 54.56, respectively, both P<0.01]. Compared with the control group (78.32±4.04) and YAP-NC group (77.28±3.11), the scratch healing ability of Hep-2 cells was significantly decreased in YAP-shRNA group (44.71±4.68). The P value was less than 0.01 (t=9.42 and 10.04). The number of cells with YAP-shRNA (33.30±4.19) passing through compartments was remarkable fewer than the control group (133.71±6.72) and YAP-NC group (126.32±4.21). The P value was less than 0.01 (t=21.96 and 27.13). The expression of E-cadherin protein in cells of YAP-shRNA group (6.16±0.11) was up-regulated compared with control (0.97±0.10, t=35.70, P<0.01) and YAP-NC group (1.13±0.09, t=36.28, P<0.01), while the expression of vimentin protein in cells of YAP-shRNA group (1.08±0.09) was down-regulated compared with control (5.67±0.12, t=29.91, P<0.01) and YAP-NC group (5.51±0.12, t=29.04, P<0.01). Conclusions The down-regulation of YAP in Hep-2 inhibits the migration and invasion of cells via suppressing Warburg and EMT program.

Objective To investigate the relationship between lesion size of solitary bone cyst ( SBC) and pathological fracture of calcaneus, so as to provide references for the treatment of SBC. Methods The three dimensional (3D) finite element model of foot and ankle was established based on CT images. Four models with gradient spherical bone defects were constructed in the focal area to simulate different SBC lesion sizes, and the biomechanical characteristics of calcaneus in different gait phases were analyzed. Results With the increasement of SBC size, the kinematics of calcaneus did not change significantly, but the peak stress of calcaneus increased gradually. When the SBC size exceeded 75% of the calcaneal width, the stress in calcaneal sulcus and cortical bone below SBC increased by 1. 48 times and 7. 74 times, respectively. Conclusions The risk of pathological fracture increases when the SBC diameter exceeds 75% of the calcaneal width, and early surgical intervention should be recommended. The calcaneal sulcus and the cortex bone below SBC are stress concentration regions and can be used as important areas to evaluate pathological fractures.