BACKGROUND: It is proposed that elevated serum homocysteine is an important independent risk factor for ischemic stroke (IS), and 5, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is the key enzyme for homocysteine metabolism. The relationship between genetic mutation of MTHFR and IS remains controversial.OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of hyperhomocysteinemia and two MTHFR gene polymorphisms with IS in Northwest Chinese population.DESIGN: Case-control study.SETTING: Department of Neurology, First Hospital Affiliated to Jilin University, and Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA.PARTICIPANTS: Ninety-seven consecutive patients with ischemic stroke (71 males and 26 females) treated between November 2001 and May 2002were recruited, who were diagnosed by CT scan or MRI in the Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA. The control group consisted of 94 subjects (58 males and 36 females) without history of ischemic stroke. All the subjects were free of intracranial hemorrhage, cancer, renal dysfunction, and none used multivitamins or estrogen.METHODS: Serum homocysteine was measured by fluorescence polarization immunoassay. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was employed to detect the genotype at the two sites of C677T and A1298C in MTHFR gene.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Serum homocysteine levels and the genotypic frequency frequencies of the two mutations of MTHFR.RESULTS: The 677T allele frequency was 59.3% in IS patients and 44.7% in the controls, showing significant differences (P=0.006), but no difference in 1298C allele frequency was detected between the two groups (22.7% vs 19.7%, P ＞ 0.05). Homozygous 677TT genotype was closely associated with hyperhomocysteinemie (P ＜ 0.01). In multivariate logistic regression analysis,677T gene mutation and hyperhomocysteinemie were all associated with the IS, with an OR of 1.870 and 1.031 (P＜ 0.05), respectively.CONCLUSION: Hyperhomocysteinemie is a risk factor of IS, and C677T mutation significantly increases homocysteine levels, and serves also as an independent genetic risk factor of IS.

Objective To study the effect of moxonidine (Mox) on the His bundle electrogram (HBE) of normal rabbits. Methods A total of 24 healthy rabbits were randomly divided into four groups: control group, small dose of Mox (0.1 mg?kg -1), medium dose of Mox (0.3 mg?kg -1) and large dose of Mox (0.9 mg?kg -1). The electrode catheter was inserted from the right carotid artery to record the HBE. The HBE and the synchronism surface ECG were recorded before and after intravenous injection. Results In normal rabbits, the R-R interphase, P-R interphase of the ECG and the H-V interphase of the HBE were prolonged in a dose-dependent manner after intravenous injection of Mox. Mox exerted no significant influence on the A-H interphase. Conclusion ① Mox decreases the heart rate of rabbits in a dose-dependent manner in vivo. ② Mox dose-dependently prolongs the P-R interphase of the surface ECG and the H-V interphase of HBE. This indicates that Mox mainly acts on the intraventricular conducting system.

To explore the clinical characteristics and imaging features of miliary tuberculomas in central nervous system (CNS).A total of 5 cases diagnosed with tuberculosis in CNS first diagnosed by neurologists in Navy General Hospital of PLA were enrolled in the study.All clinical and imaging data were collected and analyzed retrospectively.The main initial symptoms were fever and headache (4/5).Multiple diffused miliary lesions were shown by brain MRI,with maximum diameter ranged from 1-4 mm and ringshape or nodular enhancement after gadolinium injection.As mycobacterium tuberculosis could seldomly be found in serum and cerebrospinal fluid,contrast MRI remains the effective method for detecting miliary tuberculomas in CNS.

Objective To analyze the clinical,imaging and pathological features of cortical vein thrombosis (CoVT).Methods Three cases of cortical vein thrombosis were diagnosed in our hospital from February 2010 to October 2012.We reviewed and summarized their clinical manifestation,radiological feature and pathological characteristics.Results All patients were young with acute onset.The main clinical manifestations included headache,epilepsy or limbs weakness.Two cases had intracranial hypertension.One case had decreased activity of protein S.One had increased plasma homocysteine.Brain computed tomography scan showed hypodensity lesion with some hyperdensity inside.Cranial routine magnetic resonance imaging showed long signal in T1-weighed image and T2-weighed image,with occasional short T1 signal inside.Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging revealed heterogeneous enhancement.All of 3 cases underwent brain biopsy because of the suspected diagnosis of brain tumor.Brain pathology showed the local necrosis and hemorrhage,dilated small vein with congestion or thrombosis.Neuronal degeneration,hyperplasia of gliocyte,hyperplasia of endotheliocyte in small blood vessels with reaction of histiocytes was also displayed.Duration from initial visit to final diagnosis was from 14 days to 2 months.Conclusions CoVT has various clinical and radiological manifestations and it is easy to misdiagnose as brain tumor.Careful analysis of clinical and imaging data could improve its diagnostic accuracy.Brain biopsy would also be helpful for diagnosis.

Objective To analyze the clinical,imaging and pathological features of cortical vein thrombosis (CoVT). Methods Ten patients with CoVT (4 patients with CoVT alone and 6 patients with CoVT and venous sinus thrombosis)treated at Navy General Hospital from January 2006 to Jun 2013 were collected retrospectively.Its etiology,imaging,and pathological features of brain tissue in 3 patients were analyzed. Results Of the 10 patients with CoVT,3 were female and 7 were male.Their mean age was 31 ± 15 years old.(1)Brain CT scan and MRI showed hemorrhagic cerebral infarction,and contrast-enhanced MRI showed scattered heterogeneous enhancement within lesions. DSA could find CoVT at different parts.(2)3 patients underwent brain biopsy because they were initially diagnosed as brain tumor. Pathological examination showed glial cell,endothelial proliferation and phagocytic reaction.Scattered spotty bleeding was observed,and significant expansion of small veins,A few of them had blood stasis and thrombosis. Conclusion CoVT is one kind of intracranial venous thrombosis. It is more common occurred in young and middle aged adults,and most of them were venous sinus thrombosis.It is caused by retrograde thrombosis and spread to cortical veins.CoVT is easily to be misdiagnosed as brain tumor.Combination of clinical and imaging findings is needed for accurate diagnosis.

BACKGROUND:To obtain more quantum dot (QD) barcodes,the overlay peaks of fluorescence occur,leading to difficulties in identifying QD barcodes.OBJECTIVE:To identify QD barcodes of two adjacent wave length using wavelet transform technique.METHODS:Through the microscopy,the spectrum of fluorescence induced by 375 nm light was captured by spectroscopy.The spectral signal was split into multi-scale components by wavelet transform.After transformed by spline function,every component constructed a new spectrum with peaks expanded by inverse wavelet transform.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Interpolation operation was performed on original data to control the data length to 2n.Following wavelet transform,peak location remained unchanged,so the eigenvalue of spectrum of coding fluorescence was extracted.The spectrum of fluorescence mixed with microspheres was split,and two QD barcodes were identified.The improved barcodes identification of adjacent spectrum increase color of QD barcodes,thereby enhancing code information volume.Results show that following spectrum was processed by wavelet transform,overlay peaks of fluorescence has be expanded,and enhanced the efficiency of recognition,which lays a foundation for detecting tumor markers.

Objective To evaluate the role of angiotensin Ⅱ(AngⅡ) signal passway on the expression of Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor alpha (RhoGDIα) in hypertensive rats. Methods Protein and mRNA expressions of RhoGDIα in aortae of 4, 12 and 18 week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR, n = 4) and Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY, n= 4) were examined by Western blotting and real-time PCR. Aortas from SHR and WKY were analyzed using immonuchemical staining to locate the RhoGDIα in the aorta. The RhoGDIα expression in aorta of hypertensive rat model of aorta coarctation (ACR, n = 6) was also analyzed using Western blotting. Furthermore, The effect of mechanical strain at 10 % elongation on expression of RhoGDIα in vascular smoothmuscle cells (VSMCs) in the presence or absence of L-158809, an antagonist for AngⅡ type 1 receptor, was also evaluated by Western blotting. Results No significant difference of RhoGDIα expression was found between SHR and WKY at 4-week-old and 12-week-old. However, in 18-week-old group, RhoGDIα was significantly highly expressed in SHR than that of WKY at both mRNA and protein levels. RhoGDIα was located in the media of the aorta. Expression of RhoGDIα protein was upregulated in aortas of ACR at 2 and 4 weeks as compared with the controls. The expression of RhoGDIα in VSMCs was inhibited by mechanicalstrain at 10 % elongation, and further decreased by treatment of L-158809. Conclusion RhoGDIα is upregulated in aortae of the hypertensive rats. AngⅡ signal passway may be involved in the process of regulating expression of RhoGDIα.

Objective To investigate the effect of atorvastatin on expression of ABCA1(mRNA,protein) and LXR? mRNA in THP-1 macrophages induced by PMA.Methods Cultured THP-1 cells were induced to differentiate into macrophages by PMA for 48 hours.The macrophages were incubated with atorvastatin in different concentions for 24 or 48 hours.We determined the changes of ABCA1 mRNA,protein and LXR? mRNA by reverse trancriptase polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) and immuno-histochemistry.Results The expression level of ABCA1 mRNA(ratio of relative expression 1.21 vs 1.48) and protein as well as LXR? mRNA(0.87 vs1.12) were decreased in THP-1macrophages when cultured with atorvastatin(10 ?mol/L) for 24 h.Conclusion Atorvastatin inhibits the expression of ABCA1 mRNA and protein as well as LXR? mRNA of THP-1macrophages in vitro.

Objective To investigate the CT imaging features of basal cell adenoma in the parotid gland and thus to improve the preoperative diagnostic accuracy.Methods The clinical materials and image findings of 8 cases with parotid basal cell tumor,which were proved by pathology,were retrospectively studied.Results All 8 patients had solitary BCA lesion,which involved both the superficial and deep lobe(n =1) and located at the superficial lobe of parotid gland(n =7).All the 6 tumors were clear boundary and round shape without lobular appearance.The diameters of the max lesions ranged from 10.3-27.6 mm.CT scan showed that all lesions were solid nodules with uniform or uneven density.Cystic degeneration was displayed in 5 lesions,among them,cystic area was ≥90％ in 1 lesion.At enhanced scanning phase,most tumors showed a strong enhancement at the arterial phase and a pattern of persistent strong enhancement or slow decline at the venous phase.Conclusion The multi-slice CT imaging features of BCA in parotid gland are characteristic,which is helpful to make qualitative diagnosis in combination with clinical materials.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association between catecholamine-beta-adrenoceptor (beta-AR)-adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate (cAMP) system and long-term prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

METHODSThe study population comprised 73 patients with CHF (EF: 23% +/- 10%) with a mean follow-up of 3.8 +/- 1.9 years. Plasma levels of norepinephrine (NE) were measured using high performance lipid chromatography, beta-adrenergic receptor density (Bmax) and the content of cAMP in peripheral lymphocytes were calculated using 3H-dihydroalpneolo as ligand and competitive immunoassay, respectively. Deaths due to cardiovascular events within the follow-up period were registered.

RESULTSThe total mortality was 64.7%, 57.4% of which was for cardiogenic (worsening heart failure: 32.4%; sudden death: 25.0%). In the cardiogenic death group, plasma levels of NE and epinephrine (E) (3.74 nmol/L +/- 0.09 nmol/L and 3.17 nmol/L +/- 1.0 nmol/L) and the contents of peripheral lymphocyte cAMP (3.64 pmol/mg protein +/- 1.4 pmol/mg protein) were significantly increased as compared with the survival group (2.68 nmol/L +/- 0.07 nmol/L, 2.41 nmol/L +/- 0.24 nmol/L and 2.73 pmol/mg protein +/- 0.9 pmol/mg protein, respectively, all P < 0.01). In the sudden death group, plasma levels of NE and E (5.01 nmol/L +/- 0.06 nmol/L and 4.13 nmol/L +/- 0.08 nmol/L) were significantly increased as compared with the worsening heart failure group (2.49 nmol/L +/- 0.07 nmol/L and 2.33 nmol/L +/- 0.8 nmol/L, all P < 0.001) and to the survival group (2.68 nmol/L +/- 0.07 nmol/L and 2.41 nmol/L +/- 0.14 nmol/L, all P < 0.01). The incidences of sudden death were 0%, 75%, and 100% (chi(2) = 16.018, P < 0.01) in patients with plasma NE < 2.5 nmol/L, NE 2.5 nmol/L - 4.5 nmol/L, and NE > 4.5 nmol/L, respectively. In the worsening heart failure group, the content of peripheral lymphocyte cAMP (4.46 pmol/mg protein +/- 0.18 pmol/mg protein) was significantly increased compared with the sudden death group (2.39 pmol/mg protein +/- 0.9 pmol/mg protein, P < 0.001) and to the survival group (2.73 pmol/mg protein +/- 1.1 pmol/mg protein, P < 0.001). The worsening heart failure death occurences were 5.0%, 72.2%, and 100% (chi(2) = 14.26, P < 0.01) in patients with a content of peripheral lymphocyte cAMP < 2.5 nmol/L, cAMP 2.5 nmol/L - 4.5 nmol/L, and cAMP > 4.5 nmol/L, respectively. Bmax in peripheral lymphocyte was not significantly different (P > 0.05) among the sudden death, worsening heart failure, and survival groups in CHF patients.

CONCLUSIONSPlasma levels of catecholamine increase significantly, and Bmax and the contents of cAMP in peripheral lymphocytes decrease significantly in patients with CHF. High plasma catecholamine levels may be associated with sudden death, and high intralymphocyte cAMP content may be associated with worsening heart failure in CHF patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Catecholamines ; blood ; Cyclic AMP ; blood ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac ; Female ; Heart Failure ; blood ; mortality ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; chemistry ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Receptors, Adrenergic, beta ; blood