Objective To study the effects of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells transplantation on functional recovery of the injured rats spinal cord.Methods MSCs labeled with Brdu were transplanted into rats model of spinal cord half-transection injury.The open-field BBB scoring system was employed to evaluate behavioral changes.MSCs' survival after transplantation was identified by BrdU immunohisto chemistry.We observed the reconstruction of neuronal circuits by HRP coloration.The recovery of transduction function after spinal injury was examined by cortex somatosensory evoked potential (CSEP).Results Treated rats generally showed better functional recovery than control rats after operation.BrdU-positive cells could be found in the spinal cord injury site one week after transplantation.At two months after transplantation, HRP-positive cells could be found at rostral of the spinal cord injury site of treated rats, but not be found in control.CSEP could be evoked at treated rats from two months after transplantation,but not in controls.Conclusion MSCs may survive in the spinal cord injury site via local injection immediately after spinal cord injury, and may promote regeneration of the injured axons.

BACKGROUND: The cel density is one of the factors involved in the state of cel differentiation, and the effect of cel density on transforming growth factor-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition of HaCaT cells is stil unclear. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of cel density on transforming growth factor-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition of HaCaT cells. METHODS: HaCaT cells was seeded in 6-wel plates at low density of 103/cm2 and high density of 105/cm2 then treated by 2 μg/L transforming growth factor-β1 for 48 hours, thereafter observed the changes in cel morphology. The transcription levels of epithelial cadherin, tight junction protein-1, vimentin, neuronal-cadherin were detected by real-time PCR, and expression levels of epithelial cadherin and vimentin were detected by Western blot. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Cel gap of HaCaT cells grew larger after treated with transforming growth factor-β1 for 48 hours, and cel morphology was long spindle rather than polygonal in low-density group, while in high-density group without obvious morphological changes. The real-time PCR showed that the transcriptions of epithelial cel marker epithelial cadherin and tight junction protein-1 were suppressed when compared with the control group (P < 0.05), and the decreasing deree in the high-density group was higher than that in the low-density group (P <0.05), mesenchymal cel marker neuronal-cadherin and vimentin were upregulated in the high-density group and the low-density group when compared with the control group (P < 0.05), and there were no significant differences between high-density group and low-density group. Western blot results verified the changes of neuronal-cadherin and vimentin expression level. These results suggest that the high seeding density can inhibit transforming growth factor-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition of HaCaT cells.

OBJECTIVEReduced oxygen availability at a high altitude is associated with increased pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP). With the altitude goes up the change of PAP in healthy children is still not clear. The difference of PAP in native Tibetan and Han children at a high altitude are also not clear. Many studies have shown that Doppler echocardiographic estimation of PAP correlates closely to the values obtained with the invasive measurement. Therefore the indexes of PAP in health children living at different altitudes were investigated and the indexes of PAP in Han and Tibetan children at the high altitude were compared by Doppler echocardiography.

METHODSA randomized survey was carried out on the indexes of PAP with Doppler echocardiography (HP-8500 and CAL-163 echocardiographic machine) by two doctors of Qinghai Provincial Women and Children Hospital from June 1998 to July 2002. The survey covering Jiuzhi Qinghai (at 3700 m above the sea level), Xining Qinghai (at 2260 m above the sea level) and Shanghai (at 16 m above the sea level) included a population of 1061 children aged 0 - 14 years. The population of 1061 composed of 218 Han children at Shanghai, 567 Han children at Xining Qinghai and 276 children at Jiuzhi, Qinghai including 118 migrated Han and 148 native Tibetan children. The physical, EKG and chest X-ray examination of each child were carried out to ensure all the subjects were healthy. A pulse oximeter was placed on each child's foot to provide measurements of arterial oxygen saturation (SO2) distal to the ductus arteriosus. The indexes of PAP included right ventricular systolic time interval (RSTI) and mean of pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) which was assessed by a multiple regression equation (mPAP=27.79 + 35.42 x PEP/AT-50.85 x AT/ETc). The AT/ETc was that AT/ET was divided by R-R. The RSTI included previous ejection period (PEP), ascending time (AT), ejection time (ET), PEP/AT and AT/ET. All subjects were divided into 7 age groups. The data of PAP indexes were compared among three different altitude groups and age groups. The data of PAP indexes were also compared in Han and Tibetan children living over 3700 m sea level in each age group.

RESULTSWith the altitude increase the SO2 of the subjects obviously reduced and the indexes of PAP changed. The SO2 correlated closely with the PEP, AT, PEP/A, AT/ET and mPAP (r = 0.352, 0.144, -0.394, -0.166 and -0.363, respectively; P < 0.01). The AT and AT/ET in the groups of 2260 m and 3700 m were shorter than those in the group of 16 m (P = 0.03-0.000) in each age group. The PEP and PEP/AT in 3700 m group were longer than those in 2260 m and 16 m groups (P=0.006-0.000) in each age group. The mPAP in 3700 m group was higher than that in 2260 m and 16 m groups in each age group (mean [+/-SE] mmHg, 35.23 +/- 8.72 vs 17.99 +/- 8.78 and 15.86 +/- 8.96 aged 0 - 28 d, 32.06 +/- 13.38 vs 20.72 +/- 5.71 and 14.64 +/- 8.19 aged to 6 mo, 31.83 +/- 10.53 vs 20.89 +/- 10.12 and 14.69 +/- 5.89 aged to 1 yr, 27.58 +/- 13.55 vs 19.12 +/- 9.75 and 17.36 +/- 6.71 aged to 3 yr, 24.19 +/- 8.38 vs 19.64 +/- 9.36 and 16.43 +/- 4.68 aged to 6 yr, 23.90 +/- 11.35 vs 16.77 +/- 6.79 and 14.42 +/- 6.50 aged to 10 yr, 23.08 +/- 7.31 vs 18.53 +/- 7.25 and 15.45 +/- 6.12 aged to 14 yr, P=0.000). With the growth of the children the reduction of PAP was remarkable at 3700 m above sea level (F=5.638 P=0.000), the mPAP indexes of the first, second and third age groups were evidently higher than those of the other age groups. The SO2, RSTI and mPAP in the native Tibetan children were not different from those in the migrated Han children (P > 0.05) in each age group.

CONCLUSIONThe PAP of healthy children at the high altitude was different from that of healthy children at the low altitude. The PAP of the healthy children at 3700 m above sea level was remarkably increased. At 3700 m above sea level the PAP of newborns and infants increased much more compared with that of juvenile. The race may not significantly affect the PAP at the high altitude. The high altitude hypoxic environment might play a major role in the increase of PAP.

Adolescent ; Altitude ; Blood Pressure ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; Humans ; Hypoxia ; physiopathology ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Oximetry ; Oxygen ; analysis ; Pulmonary Artery ; diagnostic imaging ; physiology ; Tibet

Dendritic cells (DCs), a type of antigen-presenting cells (APC), are recognized as an important regulator of immune response and immune tolerance, and play a critical role in the host innate immunity and adaptive immunity. Previous studies have shown that the long-term parasization of Echinococcus in the host is strongly associated with the host immune tolerance induced by DCs. This review summarizes the research progress of the role of DCs in host immune tolerance caused Echinococcus infection, aiming to provide the theoretical basis and insights into the management and immunotherapy of Echinococcus infections.

Objective To investigate the association between serum macrophage polarization-related factors and liver fibrosis in patients with alveolar echinococcosis (AE). Methods A total of 120 patients with AE who attended Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery in The Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University from September 2018 to October 2020 were enrolled as AE group, and 33 healthy controls were enrolled as normal control group. The two groups and the patients with varying degrees of liver fibrosis were compared in terms of the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). Comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups was made by the independent samples t -test, while comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data was made by the Mann-Whitney U test or Kruskal-Wallis H test. Comparison of categorical data between groups was made by the chi-square test. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the association between serum macrophage polarization-related factors and liver fibrosis in patients with AE, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the value of serological examination in the diagnosis of liver fibrosis in patients with AE. A Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation of each index with HAI score and Metavir score. Results Compared with the normal control group, the AE group had significant increases in the serum levels of IL-6 [13.97 (9.64-23.62) pg/mL vs 1.30 (0.35-2.71) pg/mL, Z =-5.980, P < 0.001], TNF-α [2.26 (1.65-4.13) pg/mL vs 1.40 (1.04-2.10) pg/mL, Z =-3.114, P < 0.01], and TGF-β1 [3.64(2.71-5.72) pg/mL vs 2.91(2.20-3.35) pg/mL, Z =-2.594, P < 0.05], and increases in the serum levels of IL-6 (hazard ratio [ HR ]=2.721, 95% confidence interval [ CI ]: 1.730-4.280, P < 0.05) and TNF-α( HR =3.527, 95% CI : 1.158-10.747, P < 0.05) were independent risk factors for the onset of liver fibrosis in AE patients. The ROC curve analysis showed that hydatid IgG combined with the serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α had a sensitivity of 88.4%, a specificity of 95.8%, and an area under the ROC curve of 0.951(95% CI : 0.937-0.964) in the diagnosis of liver fibrosis, which were significantly higher than those of IL-6, TNF-α, or hydatid IgG alone ( Z =-3.458, -4.011, and 2.379, all P < 0.05). The Spearman analysis showed that the serum levels of IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β1 were positively correlated with HAI score ( r =0.560, 0.644, and 0.465, all P < 0.001) and Metavir fibrosis score ( r =0.530, 0.758, and 0.567, all P < 0.001), and the serum level of IL-10 was negatively correlated with HAI score ( r =-0.232, P =0.011) and Metavir fibrosis score ( r =-0.288, P =0.001). Conclusion Macrophage polarization is often observed in patients with hepatic AE, and the levels of the macrophage polarization-related factors IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β1 are associated with the development and progression of liver fibrosis, which can provide certain reference information for predicting the onset of liver fibrosis.

OBJECTIVEThis research focused on analyzing the differences of 5S rRNA gene spacer sequences on Swertia mussotii and its commonly used adulterants, including S. franchetiana, S. wolfangiana and S. chirayita.

METHODDNA was extracted from the collected Swertia samples. 5S rRNA intergenic spacers were amplified by PCR, sequenced and analyzed.

RESULT5S rRNA gene spacer sequences were different between S. mussotii and its other three adulterants. Sequence divergence among species ranged from 30.6% to 65.0%.

CONCLUSION5S rRNA spacers may be used as molecular authentication markers to differentiate S. mussotii and other commonly used Swertia adulterants. This result provides reliable and simple reference for the authentication of Swertia genus species.

Base Sequence ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Ribosomal, 5S ; genetics ; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid ; Swertia ; classification ; genetics

Objective To establish a nomogram for predicting the risk of post-hepatectomy complications (PHC) in hepatic echinococcosis by analyzing the risk factors for PHC in two types of hepatic echinococcosis, and to investigate its value in clinical practice. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 263 patients with two types of hepatic echinococcosis who underwent hepatectomy in Qinghai University Affiliated Hospital from January 2015 to August 2020, and among these patients, 93 were enrolled as PHC group and 170 were enrolled as control group. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups, and the independent samples t -test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups; the chi-square test and the Fisher's exact test were used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to screen out independent risk factors for PHC, and a nomogram risk prediction model was established based on the weight of each independent risk factor. The Bootstrap resampling method was used for internal verification of the model; the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to evaluate the discriminatory ability of the model; calibration curve and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test were used to evaluate the consistency of the model; decision curve analysis (DCA) was performed to verify the clinical effectiveness of the model. Results Albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score (odds ratio [ OR ]=3.694, 95% confidence interval [ CI ]: 1.860-7.336, P < 0.05), time of operation ( OR =2.848, 95%CI: 1.384-5.859, P < 0.05), intraoperative blood loss ( OR =4.832, 95%CI: 2.384-9.793, P < 0.05), and hydatid diameter ( OR =3.073, 95%CI: 1.528-6.177, P < 0.05) were independent risk factors for PHC in two types of hepatic echinococcosis. A nomogram risk prediction model was established based on the weight of the above four independent risk factors, and the model had an area under the ROC curve of 0.877 (95% CI : 0.831-0.923). The model had a consistency index of 0.871 after internal verification using the Bootstrap resampling method, suggesting that the model had good discriminatory ability. The fitting of the observed value and the actual value of the calibration curve and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test ( P =0.905) showed that the predicted value of the nomogram risk prediction model had good consistency with the actual observed value. When the threshold probability was 35.6%, DCA showed a net clinical benefit of 22%, and the model had good clinical applicability within the threshold probability ranging from 8% to 89%. Conclusion ALBI score, time of operation, intraoperative blood loss, and hydatid diameter are independent risk factors for PHC in patients with two types of hepatic echinococcosis, and the nomogram risk prediction model established based on these factors has good accuracy, consistency, and clinical practicability.

Hepatic cystic echinococcosis is a chronic parasitic disease caused by the infection with the larvae of Echinococcus granulosus in human or animal liver tissues. As a chronic active infectious disease, tuberculous empyema mainly invades the pleural space and then causes visceral and parietal pleura thickening. It is rare to present comorbidity for hepatic cystic echinococcosis and tuberculous empyema. This case report presents a case of hepatic cystic echinococcosis complicated with tuberculous empyema misdiagnosed as hepatic and pulmonary cystic echinococcosis, aiming to improve clinicians’ ability to distinguish this disorder.

Objective To investigate the effect of different concentrations of Echinococcus multilocularis secretion antigen (Em-sAg) on the phenotype and function of mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods The bone marrow precursor cells isolated from the mouse bone marrow cavity were stimulated by mouse recombinant granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) to form BMDCs, and then cell morphology was observed under an inverted microscope. After the purity of BMDCs was identified by flow cytometry, BMDCs were divided into control group, positive control group (LPS 1 μg/ml), LPS+3 mg/ml Em-sAg group, LPS+1.5 mg/ml Em-sAg group, LPS+0.75 mg/ml Em-sAg group, and LPS+0.375 mg/ml Em-sAg group. Flow cytometry was used to measure the expression of BMDC surface molecules (CD80, CD86, and MHC-Ⅱ molecules) in each group, and ELISA was used to measure the expression level of the cytokine IL-12p70. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups, and the least significant difference t -test was used for further comparison between two groups. Results Observation under an inverted microscope showed that after 8-10 days of culture, the cells had burr-like protrusions and were in a state of complete suspension. Flow cytometry showed that the positive rate of CD11c was above 70% and most of the cultured cells were identified as BMDCs based on this. Flow cytometry further showed that compared with the control group, the LPS group had significant increases in the cell molecules CD80, CD86, and MHC-Ⅱ on surface (all P < 0.05); compared with the LPS group, the LPS+3 mg/ml Em-sAg group, the LPS+1.5 mg/ml Em-sAg group, the LPS+0.75 mg/ml Em-sAg group, and the LPS+0.375 mg/ml Em-sAg group had a significant reduction in CD80 ( F =34.870, P < 0.001), while there were no significant reductions in CD86 and MHC-Ⅱ( P > 0.05). ELISA showed that there was a significant difference in the level of IL-12 p70 between groups ( F =73.140, P < 0.05); compared with the control group, the LPS group had a significant increase in the expression level of IL-12p70 after stimulation ( P < 0.05); compared with the positive control group, the LPS+3 mg/ml Em-sAg group, the LPS+1.5 mg/ml Em-sAg group, the LPS+0.75 mg/ml Em-sAg group, and the LPS+0.375 mg/ml Em-sAg group had a significant reduction in the expression level of IL-12p70 ( P < 0.05), and the degree of reduction in the pro-inflammatory factor IL-12p70 increased with the increase in the concentration of Em-sAg. Conclusion Different concentrations of Em-sAg can inhibit LPS-induced maturity of BMDCs and the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-12p70.

Objective: To describe the distribution characteristics of hypertension among adult twins in the Chinese National Twin Registry (CNTR) and to provide clues for exploring the role of genetic and environmental factors on hypertension. Methods: A total of 69 220 (34 610 pairs) of twins aged 18 and above with hypertension information were selected from CNTR registered from 2010 to 2018. Random effect models were used to describe the population and regional distribution of hypertension in twins. To estimate the heritability, the concordance rates of hypertension were calculated and compared between monozygotic twins (MZ) and dizygotic twins (DZ). Results: The age of all participants was (34.1±12.4) years. The overall self-reported prevalence of hypertension was 3.8%(2 610/69 220). Twin pairs who were older, living in urban areas, married, overweight or obese, current smokers or ex-smokers, and current drinkers or abstainers had a higher self-reported prevalence of hypertension (P<0.05). Analysis within the same-sex twin pairs found that the concordance rate of hypertension was 43.2% in MZ and 27.0% in DZ, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). The heritability of hypertension was 22.1% (95%CI: 16.3%- 28.0%). Stratified by gender, age, and region, the concordance rate of hypertension in MZ was still higher than that in DZ. The heritability of hypertension was higher in female participants. Conclusions: There were differences in the distribution of hypertension among twins with different demographic and regional characteristics. It is indicated that genetic factors play a crucial role in hypertension in different genders, ages, and regions, while the magnitude of genetic effects may vary.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Alcohol Drinking ; Diseases in Twins/genetics* ; Hypertension/genetics* ; Twins, Dizygotic/genetics* ; Twins, Monozygotic/genetics*