Objective To investigate the expression of scaffold protein palladin in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tissues and to discuss its clinicopathological significance.Methods 56 samples of PDAC and corresponding adjacent normal pancreas (NP) tissues were collected.Another 10 samples of chronic pancreatitis (CP) tissues were collected.Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry assay were performed to detect the expression of protein palladin.The correlation of palladin expression with clinicopathological factors of PDAC was analyzed.Results Western blot analysis revealed that the expression of palladin in PDAC,CP and NP tissues were respectively 0.93±0.07,0.41±0.07 and 0.20±0.06,and the expression of palladin was significantly increased in PDAC tissues compared with NP and CP tissues (P ＜ 0.05),and its expression was significantly increased in CP tissues compared with NP tissues (P ＜ 0.05).Immunohistochemical staining showed that palladin was mainly expressed in activated myofibroblasts in PDAC tissues.The rate of palladin expression was 79 ％ (44/56),which was higher than that in NP tissues (2/10) and CP tissues (4/10),and its expression was found to be correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation,lymph node metastasis and clinical TNM classification (P ＜ 0.05),and it had no correlation with patient' s sex,age,tumor location and distant metastasis (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Scaffold protein palladin is highly expressed in PDAC tissues,and it is expressed in the activated myofibroblasts within tumor microenvironment.Scaffold protein palladin may be involved in the invasion and metastasis of PDAC.

Objective To investigate the urinary iodine level and thyroid function during different trimesters of pregnancy in Hangzhou residents and to provide evidence for monitoring iodine nutrition or screening thyroid function. Methods The urinary iodine level and thyroid function of 395 subjects from 5 hospitals in Hanzhou were investigated. The urinary iodine level was measured by arsenic-cerium contact process method. The serum TSH, FT3 and FT4 were measured by chemiluminescence method. Results (1) The urinary iodine median concentration during pregnancy in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimesters were 170.3, 170.2, 162.4 μ/L respectively, all significantly lower than that of non-pregnant women (251.9 μg/L, all P < 0.05); (2) The mean value of TSH during the 1st trimester of pregnancy was significantly lower than that of non-preguant women (P < 0.05). The mean values of FT4 and FT3 in the 2nd and the 3rd trimesters of pregnancy were significantly lower than those of the control (P < 0.05); (3) During 2nd trimester, there were 8.7% (9/104, in FT4) and 9.6% (10/104, in FT3) pregnant women below normal lower range while during 3rd trimester, these figures reached 22.7% (22/97) and 17.5% (17/97) resfectively. Conclusions More than half of the pregnant women in Hangzhou have good nutritional status of iodine. There are significant differences in thyroid hormone levels between the non-pregnant and pregnant women as well as between gestation periods. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a trimester-specific reference range of thyroid hormones for normal pregnancy. The screening for thyroid function is recommended for pregnant women besides monitoring routine urinary iodine.