Protozoans,the natural host of the facultative intracellular pathogen Legionella species,play an important role in survival,proliferation,virulence and stress resistance of Legionella species. By repeating transformation and selection,a spontaneous mutant of plasmid over expressing green fluorescent protein was obtained. This mutant replicates and is maintained stably in Legionella cells. The colonies of L. pneumophila harbouring the mutated plasmid were intense green in colour even under the daylight. After feeding BF1 strain of Tetrahymena thermophila with transformed L. pneumophila,the intracellular dynamic of changing of bacterial shape,bacterial proliferation and lysis of the host cell due to the bacterial proliferation were observed clearly under fluorescent microscopy. Thus,the present paper provides a simple and intuitionistic strategy for investigating the ecological and cellular relationship between L. pneumophila and its host.

Objective: To analyze the mortality trend of bladder cancer among residents in Qidong, Jiangsu Province from 1972 to 2016, so as to provide the basis for the prevention and treatment strategy of bladder cancer in Qidong. Methods: The data of bladder cancer was collected from Qidong Cancer Registry.The crude mortality rate ( CR ), age-standardized rate by Chinese population in 2000 (CASR) and world population in 1960 ( WASR ), truncated rate (35-64 years) and cumulative rate ( 0-74 years ) were calculated. The annual percent change ( APC ) was used to analyze the trend of mortality in bladder cancer. Results: During from 1972 to 2016, There were 1 497 deaths due to bladder cancer in Qidong from 1972 to 2016. The CR, CASR and WASR were 2.96/105, 1.83/105 and 1.80/105, respectively. The APCs in CR, CASR, WASR of bladder cancer were 5.29%, 1.86% and 1.81%, respectively ( P<0.05 ), showing upward trends. The truncated rate, cumulative rate and cumulative risk were 1.47/105, 0.17% and 0.17%, respectively. The CR, CASR and WASR in males were 4.71/105, 2.97/105 and 3.31/105, respectively, which was higher than that of 1.26/105, 0.75/105, and 0.66/105 in females ( P<0.05 ). The APC of CR, CASR and WASR in males were 5.71%, 1.96% and 2.17%, respectively ( P<0.05 ), all showed upward trends. For females, the APC of CR was 4.47% ( P<0.05 ), showing an upward trend, but there was no significant change in CASR and WASR ( P>0.05 ). The CR of bladder cancer was high among people aged more than 55 years. The CR in 55-64-year-old group, 65-74-year-old group and more than 75-year-old group showed upward trends, with APC of 4.50%, 2.22% and 4.51%, respectively ( P<0.05 ). Conclusions From 1972 to 2016, the mortality of bladder cancer in Qidong showed an upward trend, which was relatively high in men and people aged over 55 years.

Objective To summarize the experience of diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of solid pseudopapillary tumors of the pancreas (SPT) in China. Methods The Chinese literature from January 1992 to April 2009 in Chinese Journal Full-text Database was systematically searched and a total of 439 cases of SPT from 42 reports were found. Clinical data of these cases were retrospectively analyzed. Results Among 439 was 28 years old (range 8 ～76 yrs). The clinical symptoms were recorded in 377 cases, including abdominal pain (35. 3%), mass (31. 3%), discomfort (7. 7%). 101 patients (26. 8%) were completely asymptomatic, and the lesions were detected during routine check-up. All of the patients underwent surgical resection. The preoperative misdiagnosis rate was 65.4% ( 161/246 ). The rate of curative resection was 97.3% (427/439). Mean diameter of the tumor was 7.8 cm ( range 1.5 ～ 25.0 cm). Among 394 patients with information on metastases or invasions, 80 patients(20.3% ) were positive. In all patients, 418(95.2% )were followed up and the mean follow-up period was 34 months ( range 1 month to 25 years ). During the follow-up period, 403 ( 96. 4% ) patients were alive with no evidence of recurrence or metastases, local recurrence developed in 4 patients, the liver metastases developed in 6 patients, 4 patients died from the disease. Conclusions SPT is a rare and potentially low-grade malignant tumor, and predominantly affect young women. The correct diagnosis depends on the histopathological examination. Radical surgical resection is the only effective treatment for SPT, which usually has an excellent prognosis.

Along with the development of economy and society, type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM) has become one of the most common diseases at the global level. As one of the complications of T2DM, diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) stubbornly and chronically affects the health and life of human beings. In the pain field, dorsal root ganglion (DRG) is generally considered as the first stage of the sensory pathway where the hyperexcitability of injured neurons is associated with different kinds of peripheral neuropathic pains. The abnormal electrophysiology is mainly due to the changed properties of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) and the increased sodium currents (I(Na)). Curcumin is an active ingredient extracted from turmeric and has been demonstrated to ameliorate T2DM and its various complications including DNP effectively. The present study demonstrates that the I(Na) of small-sized DRG neurons are significantly increased with the abnormal electrophysiological characteristics of VGSCs in type 2 diabetic neuropathic pain rats. And these abnormalities can be ameliorated efficaciously by a period of treatment with curcumin.
Animals ; Curcumin ; pharmacology ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; complications ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; complications ; Diabetic Neuropathies ; drug therapy ; Ganglia, Spinal ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Neuralgia ; drug therapy ; Neurons ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Rats ; Sodium ; Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels ; physiology

Objective To explore the application of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR)scanning technique in low dose pediatric cervical CT, especially in reducing the radiation dose for thyroid. Methods We retrospectivly analyzed 140 pediatric cervical CT. 70 cases of group A scaned with ASIR technology and preseting noise index 12 HU in Discovery CT 750 HD (GE Healthcare), and 70 cases of group B scaned with filtered back projection (FBP) technology and preseting noise index 14 HU in VCT 64 (64 Lightspeed VCT, GE Healthcare). The other scan parameters were same in 2 groups. The distribution characteristics of gender and age were completely consistent between groups. The minimum current, the maximum current, the current of thyroid on CT images and CT dose volume index (CTDIvol), scanning length and dose length product (DLP) on dose reports were all recorded for each child. The noise values of CT images were measured. 4 scores standard was used to evaluate the subjective image quality. The data were analyzed with SPSS 13, Kappa method for the test of consistency and t test for the differences of the measured data. Excel was used for mapping. Results The minimum current, the maximum current, the average current, the current for thyroid of the two groups were respectively (26.8 ± 4.2), (43.2 ± 15.4)mA;(35.8±9.6),(41.8±13.6)mA;(34.6±8.6), (41.0±13.2)mA;(36.8±12.3), (44.7±21.0)mA. The CTDIvol, DLP and the scanning length of the two groups were respectively(1.3 ± 0.3), (1.8 ± 0.6)mGy;(29.0 ± 8.3), (40.3 ± 15.6) mGy·cm and(157.5±20.2), (157.6±21.8)cm. The average current, the thyroid current, CTDI and DLP in group A were 15.8%, 17.9%, 27.3%and 28.4%lower than those in group B (t=-5.50—-0.02, P<0.01). The subjective image quality scores of the two doctors were respectively 3.4 ± 0.9, 3.3 ± 1.0, they were highly consistent (Kappa=0.834, P<0.01). The objective image noise of cancellous bone and neck muscles were respectively (32.5 ± 5.3),(32.9 ± 5.1)HU and (9.2 ± 2.3), (9.1 ± 2.0)HU, there were not statistically difference between the two groups (t=-0.47—0.24, P<0.05). Conclusion Compared with FBP, low dose pediatric cervical CT with 30%ASIR could provide dose reduction for thyroid and the whole neck while maintaining diagnostically acceptable images .

Objective To investigate the effect of hepatopoietin Cn(HPPCn) on liver stem cells.Methods In this study, WB-F344 cell line was used, and MTT and flow cytometry assay were conducted to determine cell proliferation and apoptosis.Transwell assay was used to test the migration of WB-F344 cells.A 2AAF-partial hepatectomy(PH) mouse model was used to observe the effect of HPPCn on liver stem cell proliferation in vivo.Results HPPCn enhanced WB-F344 cell proliferation and migration and activated the SphK1, Erk and Stat3 signal pathways.The analysis of the 2AAF-PH mouse model showed that oval cells in the experimental group far outnumbered those in control and the regeneration of the liver was improved post PH.Conclusion HPPCn can increase the liver stem cell proliferation and survival while promoting the regenenation of the liver by augmenting oval cell proliferation.

AIM:ToinvestigatetheeffectofP21-activatedkinase1(PAK1)andlymphoidenhancer-binding factor 1(LEF1) on the proliferation of esophagus cancer cells .METHODS:Real-time PCR was applied to detect the mR-NA expression of PAK1 and LEF1 in the esophagus cancer tissues .MTT assay were used to measure the proliferation of hu-man esophagus cancer cell line KYSE transfected with PAK 1 and LEF1.RESULTS: The mRNA expression of PAK1 in the esophagus cancer tissues was lower than that in control group (P<0.05).The mRNA expression of LEF1 and tran-scription factor 4 (TCF4) in the esophagus cancer tissues was higher than that in control group (P<0.05).The prolifera-tion of KYSE cells with over-expression of PAK1 and LEF1 was higher than that in control group .No significant change of apoptosis between the KYSE cells with over-expression of PAK1 and LEF1 and control group was observed .CONCLU-SION:The expression of PAK1 decreases and the expression of LEF 1 increases in esophagus cancer tissues .LEF1 domi-nantly regulates the proliferation of esophagus cancer cells .

Objective To measure serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25HVD) in patients with chronic urticaria (CU),and to explore its role in the occurrence of CU.Methods Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 50 patients with CU and 40 healthy controls.The urticaria activity score (UAS) was used to assess the severity of CU and to group the patients with CU.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to measure the serum levels of 25HVD,interferon-γ (IFN-γ),interleukin-4 (IL-4) and immunoglobulin E (IgE).Statistical analysis was carried out by t test,rank sum test and linear correlation analysis.Results The serum level of 25HVD was significantly lower in the patients with CU than in the healthy controls (15.20 ± 7.72 vs.21.54 ± 8.31 μg/L,t =3.75,P ＜ 0.05).Moreover,there was a significant difference in the distribution of serum 25HVD levels between the patients and healthy controls (H =17.9,P ＜ 0.05).However,no significant difference was observed in the serum level of 25HVD between severe and mild CU groups (15.57 ± 7.38 vs.14.86 ± 6.28 μg/L,t =0.37,P ＞ 0.05).Compared with the control group,the patient group showed significantly decreased serum levels of IFN-γ (t =15.34,P ＜ 0.05),but increased serum levels of IL-4 and IgE (t =6.54,4.88,respectively,both P ＜ 0.05).Among the patients with CU,the serum level of 25HVD was positively correlated with that of IFN-γ(r =0.738,P ＜ 0.05),but negatively correlated with that of IL-4 (r =-0.689,P ＜ 0.05),and uncorrelated with that of IgE (r =-0.271,P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion The serum level of 25HVD evidently decreased in patients with CU,and it may participate in the occurrence of CU by mediating the Th 1/Th2 imbalance.

Child, Preschool ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22 ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 8 ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9 ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Karyotyping ; Male ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; genetics ; Translocation, Genetic

Objective To investigate the removal effect of immunoadsorption (IA) on associated antibodies and the efficacy in late-onset myasthenia gravis (MG). Methods A total of 25 late-onset MG patients were randomly selected to enroll in this study. IA therapy was given to 10 patients (IA group), while immunoglobin (0.4 g·kg-1·d-1) was administrated to the other 15 patients for 5 days(Ig group). The titers of Titin antibody (Titin-ab), acetylcholine receptor antibody (AchR-ab) and presynaptic membrane antibody (PrsmR-ab) were detected before and after the treatment. Quantitive MG (QMG) score was assessed before and immediately after the entire course of treatment. The clinical efficacy, the duration of respiratory support and in-hospital were compared between two groups. The correlation between three antibodies and QMG score was also analyzed. Results Compared with that before treatment, the Titin-ab PIN values, the AchR-ab PIN values, and the PrsmR-ab P/N values of IA group were all decreased significantly after treatment (P<0.05, respectively). The P/N value of Titin-ab in IA group was decreased by 54.7%～3.5%, which was significantly higher than that in Ig group(19.9%±3.1%) (P<0.01). QMG score reduced by 42.4%± 4.2% and 23.8%±3.7% in IA group and Ig group respectively (P<0.01, respectively). Symptoms were effectively ameliorated by both treatments, but the effective power of IA group was higher than that of Ig group (70% vs 40%, P<0.05). Remission time of IA group was significantly shorter than that of Ig group [(5.38±0.42) d vs (8.4±1.54) d, P=0.008), so was the duration of in-hospital [(13.50±0.50) d vs (16.50±0.50) d, P<0.05). The number of respiratory support in IA group was less than that in Ig group (1/10 vs 6/15, P<0.05). By the Pearson correlation analysis, the decrease of Titin-ab showed a better longitudinal correlation with the decrease of QMG score than the other two antibodies (r=0.6315, P<0.01). Conclusion IA can rapidly and effectively clear the pathogenic antibodies of late-onset MG patients and its short-term clinical efficacy is better than immunoglobin.