Objective To investigate the clinical features of neurobrucellosis and improve the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.Methods The epidemiological information,clinical manifestation,laboratory examination,and imaging characteristics of 30 cases with neurobrucellosis were summarized retrospectively.Results There were 23 men,seven women in this group of cases.The mean age was 43 years.There were six cases with definite history of brucellosis,24 with exposure history of cattle and sheep or their diary products.Brucella blood serum agglutination tests were all positive in 30 cases.Meningitis or meningoencephalitis (29 cases),spinal cord lesion (20 cases) and auditory nerve's damage (18 cases) were the most common forms of neurobrucellosis in these patients.In the cerebral spinal fluid inspection tests,there were 29 cases with increasing leukocyte ((10-599) × 106/L),30 cases with elevated protein (0.5-4.0 g/L),29 cases with decreased glucose (0.8-2.6 mmol/L) in this group of patients.There were 17 cases with white matter lesion on cranial magnetic imaging.The combinations of doxycycline,rifampin and ceftriaxone sodium were given to most cases.The prognosis was good in most cases.Conclusions Neurobrucellosis is not unusual clinically,clinical presentation of which varies greatly.The most common form is meningitis or meningoencephalitis,whereas spinal cord damage and hearing damage are also common.Patients who come from epidemic area and develop unexplained neurological symptoms should be screened and distinguished with neurobrucellosis.

Objective To explore whether emotion regulation mediates the relationship between occupational stress and job burnout in a large sample of nurses, in order to provide a targeted intervention. Methods Chinese Nurses Stressor Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Ruminative Responses Scale were used to investigate 602 nurses working in three tertiary hospitals in Jinan. SPSS 16.0 and AMOS 17.0 software were used to analyze the data. Results Job burnout were positively correlated with stressors, expression suppression and rumination (r=0.112–0.576, P<0.01), and negatively correlated with cognitive reappraisal (r=-0.277, P<0.01). Stressors were positively correlated with expression suppression and rumination (r = 0.140–0.403, P <0.01), and negatively correlated with cognitive reappraisal (r =-0.110, P < 0.01). Occupational stress could make a positive role on job burnout directly. Moreover, in the indirect approach, occupational stress could make a positive role on job burnout through the mediating role of cognitive reappraisal and ruminative, but not expression suppression. Conclusions Cognitive reappraisal and ruminative partially mediated the relationship between occupational stress and job burnout.

Objective To clone and express the Tp0453 antigen immuno-dominant epitope fragment of Treponema pallidum (Tp) in Escherichia coli,in an effort to develop serological tests with increased specificity for the diagnosis of syphilis.Methods The gene encoding Tp0453 recombinant outer membrane protein fragment was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR),and inserted into expression vector pQE30 after T-A cloning,then confirmed by restriction map.The constructed recombinant plasmid pQE30-Tp0453 was transformed to E.coli M15 for expression induced by isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside.The expressed product was identified by Western blot,and purified by Ni2+-NTA agarose column chromatography.A double antigen sandwich enzymelinked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) was established by using the recombinant Tp0453 protein to test sera from 48 patients with positive Treponema pallidum particle agglutination test (TPPA),and 40 negative sera as control.Results The PCR amplicon of the target gene was about 490 bp.The recombinant plasmid pQE30-Tp0453 was correctly constructed and successfully expressed in E.coli M15.The expressed product,with a relative molecular of about 21 000,existed in a form of inclusion body,accounting for about 18％ of total somatic protein,and reached a purity of more than 95％ after purification.Western blot showed specific reaction of the expressed protein with Tp positive serum.The ELISA tests with the 88 clinical samples yielded a sensitivity of 97.9％ (47/48),and specificity of 100.0 ％ (40/40).The consistency of results between the ELISA test and the TPPA test was 98.9 ％ (87/88).Conclusion The expressed Tp0453 fragment has showed good immunoreactivity with serum from patients with syphilis,providing the foundation of further development of serological diagnostic kit with increased specificity for the diagnosis of TP infection.

Objective To investigate the effects of intestinal ischemia-reperfusion(I/R)on cerebral microglial activation in rats.Methods One hundred and twenty-eight healthy male SD rats weighing 250-300 g were randomly allocated to one of two groups(n =64 each):group sham operation(group S)and intestinal I/R group.Intestinal I/R was produced by occlusion of superior mesenteric stery for 90 main followed by reperfusion.Sixteen animals were sacrificed at each of the 4 time points:2,6,24 and 48 h of reperfusion in each group.Their intestines were obtained for microscopic examination.Their brains were harvested for detection of microglial activation (by immuno-histochemistry).The reactive oxygen species(ROS),MDA and NO contents and SOD,nitric oxide synthase(NOS)and inducible nitric oxide synthase(iNOS)activities in the brain were measured.Results The microglia were in quiescent condition.Ibal staining was negative or light in group S.Intestinal I/R significantly increased intestinal Chiu score,cerebral microglial activation at 6,24 and 48 h of repeffusion which peaked at 24 h of reperfusion in group I/R as compared with group S.Cerebral ROS,MDA,NO levels and NOS,iNOS activities were significantly higher while SOD activity was significantly lower in group I/R than in group S.Concluslon Intestinal I/R can activate microglia and induce the release of nitrogen and oxygen free radicals resulting in cerebral injury.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression and significance of hypoxia inducible factor-2α (HIF-2α) and transcription factor OCT-4 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and evaluate their roles in the prognosis of NSCLC. METHODS: Tissues from 51 cases of NSCLC were collected and immunohistochemistry (SP method) was used to detect the expression of HIF-2α and OCT-4 proteins. The correlation between the protein expression and the prognosis of NSCLC was analyzed. RESULTS: The positive rates of HIF-2α and OCT-4 expression in the NSCLC were 52.9% and 72.5%, respectively. There was significant relation between the expression of HIF-2α and OCT-4 (r=0.514,P<0.01). High expression of them revealed poor prognosis for NSCLC patients characterized with a bad overall survival(P<0.05). CONCLUSION There is a negative corelation between the expression of HIF-2α and OCT-4 and the prognosis of NSCLC. Combined examination of HIF-2α and OCT-4 expression might be an important biomarker for NSCLC prognosis.
Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors ; metabolism ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; metabolism ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; Male ; Octamer Transcription Factor-3 ; metabolism ; Prognosis

Objective:To detect the expression levels of neuropilin1 (NRP1)mRNA and miR-9 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)tissue samples, and to explore the correlations between the expressions of NRP1 mRNA, miR-9 and the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients with NSCLC.Methods:Informed consent was obtained from each patient before surgery.The tissue samples including 45 NSCLC tissue ,45 adjacent carcinoma tissue and 45 normal lung tissue were collected from China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University from 2010 to 2011.qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression levels of NRP1 mRNA and miR-9 in three kinds of lung tissue, and the correlation between the expressions of NRP1 mRNA, miR-9 and clinicopathological characteristics of the patients with NSCLC was analyzed.Results:Compared with normal tissue,the expression level of NRP1 mRNA in adjacent carcinoma tissue had no change (P>0.05),but the expression level of NRP1 mRNA in non-small cell lung cancer tissue was significantly decreased (P<0.05).Compared with normal tissue,the expression level of miR-9 in adjacent carcinoma tissue had no change (P>0.05),but the expression level of miR-9 in non-small cell lung cancer tissue was significantly increased (P < 0.05 ). Furthermore, in adjacent carcinoma tissue, the expression level of miR-9 in the males was lower than that in the females (P<0.05 ). In NSCLC tissue, the expression level of NRP1 mRNA had no relationship with sex,age,differentiation degree,TNM stage and clinical stage,but was significantly correlated to the histological subtype and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05).In NSCLC tissue,the expression level of miR-9 had no relationship with age, pathological type, lymph node metastasis, differentiation degree,TNM stage,and clinical stage (P>0.05),but was correlated to the sex (P<0.05). Conclusion:The expression level of miR-9 is up-regulated and the expression level of NRP1 mRNA is down-regulated significantly in non-small cell lung cancer tissue. The detection of the expression level of NRP1 mRNA contributes to j udge the histological subtype and lymph node metastasis of NSCLC.

Nowadays potential preclinical drugs for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) have failed to achieve expected therapeutic efficacy because the pathogenic mechanisms are underestimated. Inactive rhomboid protein 2 (IRHOM2), a promising target for treatment of inflammation-related diseases, contributes to deregulated hepatocyte metabolism-associated nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) progression. However, the molecular mechanism underlying Irhom2 regulation is still not completely understood. In this work, we identify the ubiquitin-specific protease 13 (USP13) as a critical and novel endogenous blocker of IRHOM2, and we also indicate that USP13 is an IRHOM2-interacting protein that catalyzes deubiquitination of Irhom2 in hepatocytes. Hepatocyte-specific loss of the Usp13 disrupts liver metabolic homeostasis, followed by glycometabolic disorder, lipid deposition, increased inflammation, and markedly promotes NASH development. Conversely, transgenic mice with Usp13 overexpression, lentivirus (LV)- or adeno-associated virus (AAV)-driven Usp13 gene therapeutics mitigates NASH in 3 models of rodent. Mechanistically, in response to metabolic stresses, USP13 directly interacts with IRHOM2 and removes its K63-linked ubiquitination induced by ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2N (UBC13), a ubiquitin E2 conjugating enzyme, and thus prevents its activation of downstream cascade pathway. USP13 is a potential treatment target for NASH therapy by targeting the Irhom2 signaling pathway.