ObjectiveTo investigate the molecular response of adult and neonate ovine articular cartilage to acute mechanical injury.MethodsAn established in vitro model was used to compare gene expression difference of ovine articular cartilage explants at different developmental stages 24 hours after mechanical injury and the gene expression was compared between these models and that of the uninjured controls by microarray analysis.Total RNA was isolated from the tissue samples,linearly amplified,and applied to a 15 208 Ovine probes cDNA microarray(Agilent).Validation for selected genes(PPARγ,GRO TNC and LDHA) was obtained by real-time polymerase chain reaction.Comparisons between groups were performed by variance analysis.ResultsThere was significant difference in gene expression in adult and neonatal ovine articular cartilage after mechanical injury.Eighty-six genes were significantly manipulated at least 2-fold following mechanical injury for neonate sheep and 83 genes for adult sheep (P＜0.05).Conclusion Our findings indicate that mechanical injury to adult and neonatal ovine articular cartilage results in the activation of a series of signaling responses.We could identify four significant genes that are up or downregulated in response to acute mechanical injury.Significant functional clusters including genes associated with wound healing,articular protection,repair integration,and energy metabolism.Of these,PPARG could be specifically identified as novel target molecules and potential chondroprotective agent involved in traumatic cartilage injury and cartilage integrated repair.

Sixty four patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery were randomly divided into two groups.In nimesulide group (n=32) patients were given nimesulide capsule 100 mg after surgery and 32 patients in control group were given 100 mg vitamin C as placebo.The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the degree of pain during withdrawing nasal packing.The VAS value of the nimesulide group was 2.8±1.1 3 h after surgery and 2.7±1.2 during with drawing nasal packing,that of control group was 6.7±0.6 and 8.3±0.6,respectively (both P<0.01).The results revealed that nimesulide had a siguificant analgesic effect in endoscopic sinus surgery.

Objective To compare the effects of propofol versus isoflurane on brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) and explore the difference in the effects of the two anesthetics on the brainstem. Methods Thirty ASA Ⅰ or Ⅱ patients aged 20-50 yr without heating disorder, scheduled for elective surgery performed under general anesthesia were randomly divided into 2 groups (n = 15 each): propofol group (group P) and isoflurane group (group Ⅰ). SpO2, PET CO2, BIS and BAEP were continuously monitored before and during anesthesia. Anesthesia was induced by propofol administered by TCI or isoflurane inhalation. Tracheal intubation was facilitated with vecuronium. The patients were mechanically ventilated. PET CO2 was maintained at 35-40 mm Hg and SpO2 at 98%-100%. After intubation BIS was maintained at 70 and 50 respectively ,the latency of the wave Ⅰ , Ⅱ and Ⅴ and the inter-peak latency (IPL) betwecn wave Ⅰ -Ⅲ , Ⅲ-Ⅴ and Ⅰ -Ⅴ were recorded.Results In group P there was no significant difference in the latency of the wave Ⅰ , Ⅲ and Ⅴ and the IPL between wave Ⅰ - Ⅲ , Ⅲ - Ⅴ and Ⅰ - Ⅴ between the baseline before anesthesia and at BIS 70 and 50. In group Ⅰ the latency of wave Ⅲ and Ⅴ and the IPL between wave Ⅰ - Ⅲ , Ⅲ - Ⅴ and Ⅰ - Ⅴ were significantly longer at BIS 50 than the baseline before anesthesia, while the latency of wave Ⅲ and Ⅴ and the IPL between wave Ⅰ -Ⅲ andⅠ -Ⅴ at BIS 50 were significantly longer than that at BIS 70. At BIS 50 the latency of wave Ⅴ and the IPL between wave Ⅰ -Ⅴ were significantly longer in group Ⅰ than in group P. Conclusion At comparable depth of anesthesia propofol exerts less depressant effects on BAEP indicating less depression of brainstem.

Purpose To detect the distribution of cerebral microbleeds (CMB) in patients with hypertension and evaluate its related risk factors in order to reduce long-term risk of cerebral hemorrhage in large areas. Materials and Methods A consecutive 110 patients of hypertension and 50 patients of non-hypertension in the departments of cardiovascular medicine and neurology were enrolled. All the patients underwent T2 star weighted angiography (SWAN) sequence scan of head. The location and quantity of CMB and other related information of patients were recorded. The distribution of CMB in patients with hypertension and correlation between CMB and age, sex, level of hypertension, duration of time, hemoglobin, platelets, smoking, diabetes, hyperlipidemia were also analyzed. Results A total of 472 CMB were detected in the hypertension group, of which 212 CMB (44.9%) were found in deep brain, 149 (31.6%) were in cortical and subcortical region, 111 (23.5%) under the tentorium. The highest distribution of CMB was in thalamus (98, 20.8%), followed by basal ganglia (78, 16.5%), temporal lobe (64, 13.6%) and brainstem (62, 13.1%). The univariate analysis showed that CMB group had significantly higher rate of hypertension and diabetes than that without CMB and the average age in CMB group was also higher (P<0.05). The results of multivariate analysis showed that age and hypertension were independent risk factors for CMB. In hypertension group, there was statistically significant difference in the incidence of CMB between patients aged 45 and older and those aged under 45 (P<0.05);the differences were significant between the patients with hypertension duration time less than 5 years, those with hypertension duration time 5 to 10 years and those over 10 years (P<0.05);the differences also existed between the patients with hypertension at class I and those patients with hypertension at class II and III (P<0.05). The quantity of CMB in patients with hypertension was correlated with duration time (P<0.05), but not correlated with age and the severity of hypertension (P>0.05). Conclusion Hypertension and age are independent risk factors for CMB. Patients aged 45 and older, with more than 5 years duration of hypertension, or with hypertension at class II and III, should be paid more attention in clinic. If necessary, magnetic resonance examination is suggested to be used, in order to reduce long-term risk of cerebral hemorrhage.

Objective To study the value of CT and barium radiograpy in diagnosis of gastric schwannoma.Methods A retrospectiveanalysis was made on imaging of 8 patients with pathologically approved gastric schwannoma.Plain abdominal CT scan was performed in all patients, additional enhanced CT scan was carried out in 6 cases and barium radiography of upper digestive tract was carried out in 5 cases. Results The lesions localized in fundus ventriculi in 2 cases, curvatura ventriculi minor in 4 cases and pars pylorica in 2 cases. Three main types were seen: localized mass type (n=4), localized thickening of gastric paries type (n=2) and huge mass type (n=2).Conclusion In comparison with barium radiography of upper digestive tract, CT can accurately demonstrate the shape, the location and internal structure of lesions.Three main patterns of this lesion also can be showed clearly by CT scans and suggestive diagnosis can be made in some patients combined with barium radiography of upper digestive tract images.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of miRNA-204 in patients with NPC and to analyze the as- sociation of the expression with the cIinicopathologicaI features and prognosis. METHOD: The expression levels of miRNA-204 in 50 patients with NPC and 40 patients with nasopharyngeal chronic inflammation were detected by using stem-loop real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction RT-PCR. Analysis of the relationship between microRNA and prognosis by Kaplan-Meier method. RESULT: Expression levels of miRNA-204 were down- regulated in patients with NPC as compared with patients with nasopharyngeal chronic inflammation (P < 0.05). The expression of miRNA-204 was associated with EBV infection, differentiation, lymphatic metastasis and TNM stages (P < 0.05). Low miRNA-204 expression was significantly correlated with shorter overall survival (P < 0.05) of NPC. CONCLUSION The downregulation of miRNA-204 expression has related with disease progression and miRNA-204 can serve as a potential therapeutic target for NPC.
Carcinoma ; Disease Progression ; Down-Regulation ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; MicroRNAs ; metabolism ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; Nasopharynx ; Prognosis ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the effects of 3 kinds of serum containing blood-activating and stasis-eliminating TCM compound formulas on aggressive behavior,Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transduction and transcriptional activator (STAT) pathway of glioma U251 cells. METHODS:Rats were randomly divided into normal saline group (5 mL/kg),Taohong Siwu decoction group(5.7 g/kg),Xuefu Zhuyu decoction(8.5 g/kg)and Didang decoction(2.8 g/kg),calculated by crude drug,intragastrically administrated once a day,for 10 d. 10% drug-containing serum culture medium was prepared after 2 h of last administration. After 10% drug-containing serum culture medium intervening U251 cells for 1 week,Transwell method was conducted to detect the cell invasion rate, Western blot was adopted to detect the metal matrix protease 2 (MMP-2), MMP-9, phosphorylated JAK2 (p-JAK2),phosphorylated STAT3(p-STAT3)protein expression;and real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction method was used to detect MMP-2,MMP-9 mRNA expression. RESULTS:Compared with blank serum,Xuefu Zhuyu decoction drug-containing serum can reduce cell invasion rate (P<0.05),decrease the MMP-2,MMP-9 mRNA and its protein expression, and p-JAK2,p-STAT3 protein expression in cells (P<0.05 or P<0.01),while there was no significant difference in above-men-tioned indexes in Taohong Siwu decoction drug-containing serum group and Didang drug-containing serum group(P>0.05). CON-CLUSIONS:In the 3 kinds of blood-activating and stasis-eliminating TCM compound formulas,Xuefu Zhuyu decoction shows sig-nificant invasive effect on inhibiting U251 cells;the mechanism may be related to inhibiting the activation of JAK2/STAT3 signal pathway and decreasing MMP-2,MMP-9 gene and protein expressions.

UNLABELLED: Abstract OBJECTIVE: To measure the expression of CK18 and CK19 in the cells from peripheral blood and tumor tissue of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients,to test whether CK 18 and CK 19 could be biomarkers of nasopharyngeal carcinoma fordiagnosis. METHOD: The mRNA was extracted from the blood and carcinoma tissue of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and was reversed transcription to cDNA. The 3 pairs primers were designed for RT-PCR and the fold value was calculated to evaluated expression by ΔCT. RESULT: There are no statistical differences between the CK18 and CK19 gene expression and the gender, age and metastasis in tumor tissue of 45 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients (P>0. 05). There are significant differences among 3 pathological stages and 2 genes expressed increase as the grade malignancy (P<0. 05). The detecting of the 2 genes expression from blood cells shows that CK18 and CK19 had a high positive ratio 64% and 75% respectively. Meanwhile this method showed a same detection characteristic in tumor and blood, the positive.rate of CK18 and CK19 genes in metastasis is higher than non-metastasis. The results showed CK18 has a high specificity and CK19 has a high sensitivity for prognosis and all relapsed cases are associated with the expression of CK18 and CK19. CONCLUSION CK18 and CK19 may be used as biomarkers of nasopharyngeal carcinoma for diagnosis.
Biomarkers, Tumor ; Carcinoma ; DNA, Complementary ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Keratin-18 ; biosynthesis ; Keratin-19 ; biosynthesis ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; RNA, Messenger ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

BACKGROUND: The imaging technique of CT and MRI has lower diagnostic accuracy in analyzing lymph node location due to the nonspecific diagnostic criteria. However, this situation can be improved with Gadolinium diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA), especially the use of lymphatic targeting contrast agent. OBJECTIVE: To prepare DTPA-coupled human serum albumin (HSA) labeled with gadoliniumion, and to investigate the enhancement for the lymph node in animal experiment, in further, to explore the potential value of its application. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: The randomized grouping, controlled animal experiment was performed at the laboratory of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital from December 2008 to April 2009. MATERIALS: GdCI3 was prepared with Gd2O3 reacted with 0.1mol/L HCI for 10 minutes. Then, DTPA cyclic anhydride and HAS solution were mixed together at the ratio of 200:1 or 100:1. The product was divided into 4 equal portions, which was reacted with 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0 pH values at room temperature for 30 minutes. At last, GdCI3 was added. The complexation reaction was completed within 1 minute. The Gd-DTPA-HAS was dried and prepared for Gd-DTPA-HAS solution with concentration of 0.50 mmol Gd/L.METHODS: Six New Zealand rabbits were undergone the MRI examination, followed by subcutaneous injection of 0.2 mL with Gd 0.50 mmol/L HSA-Gd-DTPA solution. And contrast scanning was performed at minutes 30, 60 and 180 after injection. The signal intensity of popliteal lymph node was measured and the enhancement rate was obtained. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The number of combined Gd-DTPA per HSA at different reaction conditions was measured, and coupling efficiency of HSA-DTPA was calculated. The enhancement rates of lymph node, as well as dynamic changes were observed. RESULTS: ①The number and coupling efficiency of HSA-coupled of gadolinium ions were increased with the pH value of the reaction system at the same DTPA-to-HSA molar ratio. ②At the same pH value of the reaction system, the number of HSA-coupled of gadolinium ions increased with the DTPA-to-HSA molar ratios while the coupling efficiency of HSA-coupled of gadolinium ions decreased.③After subcutaneous injection, HSA-Gd-DTPA entered the lymphatic vessel, which resulted in obvious homogeneous enhancement of the lymphatic vessels and popliteal lymph nodes. CONCLUSION: The number and coupling efficiency of HSA-coupled of gadolinium ions can be increased in pH=8.0, 0.1 mol/L NaHCO_3 reaction system. HSA-Gd-DTPA is an effective contrast agent targeted for lymph node after subcutaneous administration.

Objective To study the transfection effects of nuclear factor-KappaB(NF-κB)decoy oligodeoxynucleotides(ODN) to Kupffer cells (KCs) mediated by lipofectamine,and investigate it's suppression effects on KCs activation. Methods Twenty-four Wistar rats were divided into three groups (n=8).(1)Control group,in which the normal KCs were isolated.(2)LPS group,in which 1 ms/L LPs was added to the culture system.(3)NF-κB decoy ODN group,in which KCs were transduced with NF-κB decoy ODN (4μg×105KCs)prior to LPS stimulation.The transfection efficiency Was assayed,and the phagocytosis function,NF-κB(P65) translocation,CD40 mRNA expression of KCs were also detected respectively. Results Kupffer cells were obviously activated after LPS stimulation.the phagocytosis function was reinforced.the activity of NF-κB transloeated from cytoplasm into nucleus was obviosly increaced.The co-stimulatory molecules expression(CD40 mRNA)significantly increased compared with control group(t=4.01,P<0.01).NF-κB decoy oligodeoxynucleotides can efficiently transfected into KCs mediated by lipofectamine,which can obviously suppress KCs activation,and downregulate the expression of downstream gene(compared with LPS group,t=4.89,P<0.01). Condusion NF-κB decoy ODN can efficiently transfect into KCs and inhibit it's activation.