Objective To study the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) and VEGF receptor-3 (VEGFR-3) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to explore its relationship with lymph node metastasis. Methods Sixty patients with NSCLC were studied. The expression of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 was detected by immunohistochemistry in lung cancer samples, and its relationship to clinical and pathological data was analyzed. Results The positive expression rate of VEGF-C in NSCLC tissues was 68.3% (41/60), the expression rate of VEGFR-3 was 53.3% (32/60). The expression of VEGF-C was related with the degree of cell differentiation in lung cancer. Both the expressions of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 were positively associated with lymph node metastasis. There was a positive correlation between VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 expressions (r=0.27). Conclusion The expressions of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 are related to lymph node metastasis in NSCLC. VEGF-C may promote intratumoral lymphangiogenesis via VEGFR-3 and lymphatic metastasis.

Objective To evaluate the sensitive indicator of left ventricular rotation/torsion assessed by two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (STI) and Logistic regression analysis,and to investigate the clinical value of the sensitive indicator for assessment of left ventricular dysfunction in patients with chronic cor pulmonale (CCP).Methods 36 patients with CCP (CCP group) and 38 healthy controls (control group) were included in this study.Imaging in parasternal short-axis view (in basal and apical level) were selected.Parasternal short-axis views at mitral valve and apical levels were collected.Basal peak rotation,apical peak rotation,peak torsion,basal end-systolic rotation,apical end-systolic rotation and end systolic torsion were measured with Echo PAC software.Relevant indicators of left ventricular rotation/torsion were selected by using logistic regression analysis and the regression equation was established.Optimal values of specific parameters (Peak torsion and end-systolic torsion) were calculated with receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Results Specific parameters of rotation/torsion were significantly reduced in patients with CCP as compared with controls (all P＜0.01).Logistic regression analysis showed that end-systolic torsion and peak torsion were correlated with CCP (OR=0.473 and 0.706,P=0.007 and 0.011).Cut-off value of peak torsion for predicting left ventricular dysfunction was 12.070°,the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.819 (95％ CI:0.683-0.956),the sensitivity was 84.6％,and the specificity was 73.9 ％.Cut-off value of end-systolic torsion for predicting left ventricular dysfunction was 10.680°,AUC was 0.875(95％CI:0.744 1.000),the sensitivity was 84.6％,and the specificity was 91.3％.Conclusions Two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging can sensitively assess left ventricular torsion and evaluate the left ventricular dysfunction in patients with CCP.

Objective Several physiological reactions of human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs) are effected by a varie-ty of long-chain non-coding RNA , and nicotine as the major risk factor of smoking-related periodontitis , would lead to many cytokines changes in hPDLCs .The aim of the study was to explore the effect of nicotine on the expression of lncRNA NEAT 1 and IL 8 in the nucleus of hPDLCs. Methods We cultured the hPDLCs in vitro and used the 4th generation cells for subsequent experiments .hPDLCs were randomly divided into 4 groups:control group , nicotine group ,α-BTX group, nicotine+α-BTX group.Control group:hPDLCs without any ir-ritation;nicotine group: 10-5 mol/L nicotine stimulated hPDLCs for 4h;α-BTX group:10-8 mol/Lα-BTX stimulated hPDLCs; nicotine+α-BTX group:10-5 mol/L nicotine+10-8 mol/Lα-BTX stimulated hPDLCs .Real-time quantitative PCR was taken to detect the expres-sion level of NEAT1 and downstream IL 8 mRNA.In addition, the protein expression of IL-8 was tested by ELISA. Results After we primary cultured the periodontal ligament tissue for 3 weeks, the cells around the tissue were arranged radially .After a stable passage, microscopic observation showed that hPDLCs were long spindle-shape or spindle-shape with clear contour and adherent growth .Com-pared with nicotine group , the expression of NEAT1-1, NEAT1-2, IL-8 mRNA in hPDLCs in other three groups were all decreased ( P<0.05) .The expression level of IL-8 protein in the supernatant of the nicotine group was significantly higher than the control group , about 4.8 times higher than the control group ( P<0.05) , while theα-BTX group and nicotine+α-BTX group were not significantly dif-ferent from the control group (P>0.05). Conclusion Nicotine can promote the expression of NEAT1 and IL-8 in hPDLCs, which suggets that NEAT 1 may be involved in the development of smoking-related periodontitis by promoting early inflammatory reaction .

Objective To investigate the immunization effect of influenza A/H1N1 vaccine in health care workers (HCW) in Inner Mongolia Greater Khingan Mountains area. Methods Five hundred and five HCW who received A/H1N1 influenza vaccination (immunized group) and 129 staffs who didn't receive the vaccination (unimmunized group) were randomly sampled for semiquantitative testing of serum H1N1 antibody (IgG) levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results were analyzed and stratified by age, sex, occupation and the time interval between the time of vaccination and serum sample collection. The antibody positive rates of the two groups were compared by x2test. Results There were 401 (79. 4%) HCW whose H1N1 antibody were positive and 50 (9.9%) whose antibody were weak positive among 505 immunized HCW. While among 129 unimmunized HCW, there were 59 (45.7%) whose antibody were positive and 15 (11.6%) whose antibody were weak positive. The seroconversion rates of specific antibody were not significantly different among the different age groups after receiving A/H1N1 influenza vaccine (P＞ 0.05).However, there were statistical differences of the seroconversion rates among different sex groups (men 95.7% vs women 87.4% in immunized group, x2=6.40, P＜0.05; and men 73.3% vs women 52.5% in unimmunized group, x2 =4.07, P＜0.05) and different occupation groups (doctor 86.0% vs nurse 94.5% in immunized group, x2 = 9. 16, P＜0.01; and doctor 43. 8% vs nurse 75.0% in unimmunized group, x2=12.61, P＜0.01 ). The seroconversion rate was 81.5% after 80 to 89 days of vaccination, which was significantly lower than those after 30 to 39, 50 to 59 days and 60 to 69 days of vaccination, which was 100.0%, 94.7% and 93.6%, respectively (x2 =3.96, P ＜0.05; x2=7.15, P ＜0. 01; x2 = 9. 98, P＜0. 01). Conclusions A/H1N1 influenza vaccination can induce effective immune response in HCW in Greater Khingan Mountains area of Inner Mongolia. However,the level of specific antibody significantly reduces after 80 to 89 days of vaccination.

Objective To identify inflammation-related genes in atrial fibrillation(AF)and explore the possible role and mechanism of these genes and infiltrating immune cells in the development of AF.Methods A series of bioinformatics analysis combined with machine learning algorithms to identify biomarkers of AF,the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were used to verify the prediction and diagnostic value of key genes,and Spearman correlation analysis was used to clarify the correlation between key genes and infiltrating immune cells.Results 593 differential genes(| log2(fold change,FC)|>1,P<0.05),7 immune cell subtypes(P<0.05)were selected,190 immune-related differential genes were obtained,3 biomarkers(IGF1,PTGS 2 and PPARG),and the correlation analysis showed that 3 markers were significantly associated with infiltrating immune cells(P<0.05).Conclusion IGF1,PTGS2 and PPARG are inflammation-related genes of AF,which are speculated to be closely related to the process and pathway of immune cell infiltration.