Background and purpose:Gastrointestinal stromal tumor(GIST) is the most common mesenchymal tumor of the digestive tract. The mutation status of c-kit and PDGFRA gene in GIST appear to be in correlation with gleveec therapy. However, the prognostic significance of c-kit and PDGFRA mutations in GIST is still controversial. We investigated the status and significance of c-kit and PDGFRA gene mutation in GIST. Methods: Mutation of c-kit (exon 9,11,13,17) and PDGFRA gene (exon 12,18) in 50 cases of GIST were examined by PCR amplification and direct sequencing. Results:Mutations of c-kit exon 11 were identified in 54% (27/50) of patients and were heterogeneous, including 16 cases of in-frame deletion,10 cases of point mutation and 1 case of the two type mutation. These mutations mostly were clustered in 550-560 "hot spots" code at the 5′ end of the exon 11.1 case with mutation was detected in 2 cases of CD117-negative GIST. There was significant relationship between mutations of c-kit exon 11 and the categories of cell type (P0.05), respectively. Conclusion:c-kit mutation was common in GIST and had relatively fixed tendency and mostly was detected in spindle-cell GIST.The presence of c-kit mutation is not a significant prognostic factor in GIST.

Our study investigated the host cell protein which can interact with SARS-CoV N protein, and explored the functional connections. The eukaryotic expression vectors pEGFP-N1/SARS-CoVN and pdsRed2-N1/ CXCL16 were constructed and used to co-transfect HEK293FT cells by the calcium phosphate method. The HIS-tagged fusion protein SARS-CoVN-GFP was then built and purified for the binding assay in vitro. The co-localization of SARS-CoVN and CXCL16 in the cytoplasm of HEK293FT cells was also shown using confocal laser scanning microscopy. It is suggested that their interaction might be through direct combination. Under a fluorescence microscope, it was observed that the purified fusion protein SARS-CoVN-GFP was attached to the cell membrane of CXCL16-transfected cells, indicating that SARS-CoVN and CXCL16 can be mutually combined.

Objective To determine the outcome of unstable atlas fractures combined with rupture of transverse ligament treated by posterior atlantoaxial transpedicular screw fixation.Methods A retrospective case series study was made on 17 patients with unstable atlas fractures combined with rupture of transverse ligament treated by posterior atlantoaxial transpedicular screw fixation and fusion from January 2008 to December 2015.There were 13 males and 4 females,with age range of 34-69 years (mean,47.8 years).All atlas fractures were Jefferson fractures (Levine-Edwards type Ⅲ).Classification of transverse ligament rupture was type Ⅰ in 12 patients and type Ⅱ in 5 patients.No patients had neurologic deficit [American spinal injury association (ASIA) classification grade E].Operation time,blood loss,implant failure,bone fusion and visual analogue scale (VAS) were recorded after operation.Results Operation time was 85-120 min (mean,102 min).Blood loss was 90-150 ml (mean,115 ml).All patients were followed up for 10-20 months (mean,17.8 months).At the final follow-up,all patients achieved bone union,with no implant loosening or breakage happened.VAS was improved from preoperative (5.5 ± 1.8) points to (2.4 ± 1.5) points at tbe final follow-up (P ＜ 0.05).ASIA Grade E remained in all patients.Conclusion Posterior atlantoaxial transpedicular screw fixation of unstable atlas fractures combined with rupture of transverse ligament is a safe and effective surgical procedure that is able to restore the atlanto-axial vertebral stability and relieve pain.

BACKGROUND:Clinical studies have demonstrated that systemic mild hypothermia could significantly reduce the disability and mortality rate of patients with severe traumatic brain injury. In recent years, the researches about the treatment of spinal cord injury by mild hypothermia have been successively carried out. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of mild hypothermia on nerve regeneration microenvironment after spinal cord injury and explore the possible underlying mechanism of nerve regeneration and functional recovery after spinal cord injury in rats. METHODS:Twenty out of sixty-seven rats were randomly selected as the sham group, and other rats were used to establish spinal cord injury models in T9 segment using modified Alen's method. Three rats were excluded for failure in spinal cord injury induction and four rats for death during modeling. The rest 40 rats were randomly and evenly divided into the spinal cord injury and mild hypothermia groups (n=20 rats/group). The rats in the sham and spinal cord injury groups were placed in the operating table with normal temperature, making their rectal temperature at 37.0±0.5℃ for 72 hours. The rats in the mild hypothermia group were placed on ice blanket machine, making their rectal temperature at 34.0±0.5℃ for 72 hours, then the temperature was naturaly rewarmed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with spinal cord injury group, the apoptosis index and the level of aquaporin 4/9 mRNA and protein expression in spinal cord injury tissue were al decreased, somatosensory evoked potential latency and amplitude were recovered, and the motor functional scores were increased in the mild hypothermia group. These results indicate that mild hypothermia play its protective effect on spinal cord injury through attenuating apoptosis of neural cels and decreasing aquaporin 4/9 mRNA and protein expression levels.

Alzheimer's disease(AD),a most common type of dementia,often results in cognitive and behavioral dysfunction,A growing body of research suggested that there are specific correlations between AD and traditional vascular risk factors.There are significant associations between the incidence of AD and diabetes mellitus,hypercholesterolemia,hypertension,hyperhomocysteinemia,antioxidants,alcohol consumption,smoking,physical activity,and the presence of atrial fibrillation.These risk factors may he the potentially preventable etiologies of AD.

Objective To investigate the correlation between the erythrocyte indices and the genotypes of alpha thalassemia.Methods337 carriers with various genotypes of alpha-thalassaemia ( iron deficiency,alpha-thalassemia double heterozygote and homozygote,α-compounding β-thalassemia and abnormal hemoglobinopathy were excluded) were classified into three groups based on different genotypes of alpha-thalassaemia including silent thalassemia group (ST,83 cases),α-thalassemia trait group (TT,210cases) and intermediate thalassemia group( IT,44 cases),and 154 healthy adults were randomly choosed as normal control The erythrocyte indices involving in RBC,Hb,MCV,MCH,MCHC and RDW-CV were retrospectively analyzed and the difference of which was compared by analysis of variance and SNK test among aboved-mentioned groups.ResultsThere were statistical significance among groups about erythrocyte indices except Hb F.The order of the level of MCV and MCH was NC [( 86.6 ± 5.2) fl,( 29.5 ± 2.1 ) pg] ＞ST[(80.1 ±3.3) fl,(26.7±1.3) pg] ＞TT[(68.5 ±3.4) fl,(22.0 ±1.2) pg] ＞IT[(66.6±7.1)fl,(20.0 ±2.2) pg,F =580.67,761.19,P ＜0.05].And the size of RDW-CV was IT(22.3 ±3.4)％ ＞TT (14.9±1.2) ％ ＞ST(13.8±1.6)％ ＞NC(13.2±1.4)％(F=347.25,P＜0.05).In ST group,the value of MCHC of -α3.7/αα subgroup( 335.6 ± 8.0) g/L was higher than that of -α4.2/αα subgroup( 330 ±7.2) g/L and αTα/αα subgroup (328.4 ±9.5) g/L(F=6.07,P ＜0.05).Meanwhile,in IT group,the value of MCV of αTα/--SEA subgroup( 70.1 ± 7.2 ) fl was higher than that of -α3.7/--SEA subgroup ( 63.4 ±5.9) fl and -α4.2/--SEA subgroup ( 64.1 ± 4.0 ) fl ( F =5.55,P ＜ 0.05 ).However,the value of MCHC of αTα/--SEA subgroup( 289.7 ± 21.2 ) g/L was lower than that of other two subgroups [( 306.3 ± 8.4 ),(306.1 ± 8.7) g/L,F =8.72,P ＜0.05].Except Hb A2 and Hb F,there was positive correlation between the number of deleted α-globin gene and that of RBC and RDW-CV ( r =0.318 and 0.580,P ＜0.01 ).Nevertheless,there was negative correlation between the number of deleted α-globin gene and that of the other erythrocyte indices (r =-0.483,-0.827,-0.744 and -0.684,P all ＜0.01 ).ConclusionsThere is close correlation between the degree of anemia and the number of deleted α-globin gene characterized by Hb reduction and RBC increasing.In addition,the anemia degree of non-deletional Hb H disease is severer than that of deletional Hb H,which of Hb H disease with -α4.2/--SEA is severer than that with -α3.7/--SEA.

Objective To explore the risk factors for falls in patients with dementia. Methods Totally 118 patients diagnosed with dementia were divided into fails group and no fails group. The scores of mini-mental state examination (MMSE), clinical dementia rating (CDR) , activity of daily living scale (ADL), neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) and unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) were compared between the two groups. The relationship between falls and their risk factors were analyzed by logistic regression model. Results The NPI and UPDRS scores were higher in falls group than in no falls group(t=2. 237,2. 213; both P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that dyskinesia and behavior disorders were significantly associated with an increased risk of falls (β=0.77 and 0.86, both P<0.05). Conclusions Dyskinesia and behavior disorders may be related to fails in patients with dementia and intervention measures of these risk factors are very essential.

Objective To describe the anatomical variants of infants’internal cerebral veins and their tributaries with MR suscep-tibility weighted imaging,and to evaluate the capability in the visualization of cerebral deep veins.Methods 80 healthy infants were enrolled in this study.All the brain images were obtained by a 3D gradient-echo sequence (Enhanced T2 ? weighted angiography-ES-WAN)on a 3.0T MR,which were reconstructed with minimal intensity projection.The septal vein,thalamostriate vein,internal cerebral vein and anterior caudate nucleus veins were evaluated.4 types (ⅠA,ⅠB,ⅡA,ⅡB)were classified based on their rela-tionship with the septal vein-internal cerebral vein junction and interventricular foramen,and 3 types (Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ)based on the drainage patterns of the anterior caudate nucleus veins.Results The septal vein,thalamostriate vein and internal cerebral vein could be clearly and continuously visualized in 100% infants,and the visualization rate of the anterior caudate nucleus veins was 88.1%. TypeⅠA and TypeⅠ were most common in the two classification patterns.Conclusion Infants’internal cerebral veins and their tributaries are able to be clearly shown with the minimal intensity projection in susceptibility weighted imaging,which is a good method to evaluate the cerebral deep veins in infants.

Streptomycetes produce many antibiotics and are important model microorgansims for scientific research and antibiotic production. Metabolomics is an emerging technological platform to analyze low molecular weight metabolites in a given organism qualitatively and quantitatively. Compared to other Omics platform, metabolomics has greater advantage in monitoring metabolic flux distribution and thus identifying key metabolites related to target metabolic pathway. The present work aims at establishing a rapid, accurate sample preparation protocol for metabolomics analysis in streptomycetes. In the present work, several sample preparation steps, including cell quenching time, cell separation method, conditions for metabolite extraction and metabolite derivatization were optimized. Then, the metabolic profiles of Streptomyces coelicolor during different growth stages were analyzed by GC-MS. The optimal sample preparation conditions were as follows: time of low-temperature quenching 4 min, cell separation by fast filtration, time of freeze-thaw 45 s/3 min and the conditions of metabolite derivatization at 40 degrees C for 90 min. By using this optimized protocol, 103 metabolites were finally identified from a sample of S. coelicolor, which distribute in central metabolic pathways (glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway and citrate cycle), amino acid, fatty acid, nucleotide metabolic pathways, etc. By comparing the temporal profiles of these metabolites, the amino acid and fatty acid metabolic pathways were found to stay at a high level during stationary phase, therefore, these pathways may play an important role during the transition between the primary and secondary metabolism. An optimized protocol of sample preparation was established and applied for metabolomics analysis of S. coelicolor, 103 metabolites were identified. The temporal profiles of metabolites reveal amino acid and fatty acid metabolic pathways may play an important role in the transition from primary to secondary metabolism in S. coelicolor.
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Metabolic Networks and Pathways ; Metabolome ; Metabolomics ; methods ; Streptomyces coelicolor ; metabolism

Objective To compare the effects of sodium hyaluronate (SH) and celecoxib (CO) administration on the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA) and to investigate their influences on levels of uPA and MMP-3 in synovial fluid. Methods One hundred and thirty-six knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients from January 2010 to October 2011 were randomly enrolled into two groups: the SH group and the CO group. In the SH group, patients were injected with 2 mL sodium hyaluronate intra articulation once a week for 5 weeks. In the CO group , patients were given oral administration of celecoxib daily at a dosage of 200 mg for 5 weeks. Before and at 1 ,6 months after treatment, Lequesne′s index and VAS-pain were detected to assess the clinical results of these two drugs. The levels of uPA and MMP-3 in synovial fluid were measured by using ELISA assay. Results All patients were followed up for 6 months to 12 months. The Lequesne′s index and VAS-pain score were lowered at 1 and 6 moths after treatment in both the SH group and the CO group(P<0.05). In the CO group, however, higher Lequesne′s index and VAS-pain score were obtained at 6 months compare to that obtained at 1 month after treatment (P<0.05). In contrast, no significant difference of Lequesne′s index and VAS-pain score were shown at 6 months and at 1 month after treatment in the SH group (P>0.05). Dramatic reduction of the levels of uPA and MMP-3 in synovial fluid were observed in the SH group after treatment(P<0.01), while marginal changes were found in the CO group(P>0.05). Conclusion The redueced levels of uPA and MMP-3 in synovial fluid after treatment of sodium hyaluronate may contribute to its longer-lasting effect than that of celecoxib. Therefore , the combination of sodium hyaluronate with celecoxib may lead to better therapeutic effect on OA patients.