In order to locate the level of nitroquine action on the folate metabolism, ni-troquine was given to the mice infected with P. berghei or P. yoelii. To the first group of mice, different doses of nitroquine were given to its five subgroups. The second group of mice received the same doses of nitroquine as the first group but calcium leucovorin (folinic acid) 6 mg/kg/day intramuscularly, folic acid 20 mg/kg/day intramuscularly, or PABA 20 mg/kg/day orally were given to different subgroups respectively at the same time. It was found that the dose-effective curve of nitroquine was shifted to the right when PABA was administered simultaneously and the CD50 of nitroquine at that time was larger than that of nitroquine used singly. Both calcium leucovorin and folic acid essentially showed no antigonistic effects.From the antigonistic action of PABA against nitroquine) it is suggested that nitroquine is likely to achieve its antimalarial effect through its competition for dihydropteric acid synthetase with PABA. Other chains on the folic acid metabolism were also discussed.

A summary of the reform for public hospitals'internal operating mechanism in 17 pilot cities identified its four main patterns,the internal decision-making machanism,human resource management mechanism,compensation allocation system,and business mechanism.It also analyzed the initial outcomes and problems encountered in the reform.On this basis,the authors proposed the direction for the reform pattern in designing the internal operating mechanism for reference of a wholescale reform of public hospitals in China.

Through defining the connotation of division and cooperation among medical institutions, this paper introduces the current status for division and cooperation among medical institutions of Britain, Germany, Singapore and USA. The advantages include excellent general practices, optimal health resource allocation, effective first treat-ment in community health facilities, and effective two-way referral. We analyzed the influence of some new policies on the division and cooperation among medical institutions such as medical association, managed care and the General Practices’ service contract. This provided a lot of experience and revelations, including the dynamics to promote the division and cooperation, the separation of outpatient services and inpatient services, privatization of primary medical institutions, division and cooperation between medical institutions and nursing, rehabilitation institutions, distinguis-hing the division and cooperation from hospitals alliance, and division and cooperation among medical institutions can not resolve the all issues in the medical care supply system.

The body surface area of adult Chinese males was estimated by using paper cast method.56 healthy individuals, aged 18 to 45, coming from thirteen provinces mostly from Hebei and Hubei were used in this study. From the results obtained, the mean body weight, height and surface area were 59.78kg, 168.8 cm and 1.712 m2 respectively. A height-weight equation for estimating body surface area was derived accordingly, i.e. body surface area(m2)= 0.00607H(cm) + 0.0127W(kg)-0.0689. The error of the value calculated from the equation was 0.17% higher than the value actually taken on an average. The percentage of various body regions to the total body surface area was as follows: head, 6.11; trunk (including neck), 29.59; upper arms, 8.09; forearms, 6.41; hands, 4.93; thighs (including buttock), 24.63; calf, 13.29 and feet, 6.95.For convenient use a table for calculation was given.

AIM: To observe skeletal muscle damage of mdx mice after overload exercise, and protection to muscle damage induced by exercise due to myoblast transplantation (MTT). METHODS: Muscle samples of C 57 mice were minced and digested with trypsin, and myoblasts were cultured ex vivo , purified and detected by immunohistochemistry stains. The myoblasts were injected into muscle of left limb of mdx mice, whereas the right limb was injected with DMEM liquid as control. Mice were submitted to exercise for 3 days starting 1 month after MTT, and then Evans blue was injected intravenously through the tail vein. The muscle cryostat sections of mdx mice were made, and then detected the immunofluorescence of dystrophin. Under a fluorescence microscope, the number of fiber stained with Evans blue and dystrophin was counted, analyzed quantitatively with image software. RESULTS: Under a fluorescence microscope, only 10 37%?2 87% muscle fibers in the myoblast grafted muscles were stained with Evans blue. In contrast, 26 82%?14 85% muscle fibers in right control muscles were stained. Significant differences between these two groups were showed ( P

Objective: This study was performed to analyze the feasibility of elective nodal irradiation (ENI) for early-stage esophageal carcinoma (EEC), evaluate the curative effect of radiation therapy for EEC, and determine the causes of treatment failure. Methods:Data were collected from 123 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma of clinical T1-2 N0-1 M0 stage. Patients were divided into two groups based on different types of radiation therapy. Among the 123 patients, 102 underwent involved field irradiation (IFI), whereas 21 received ENI. A comparative analysis of patients in the two groups was conducted. Results:In 123 patients, the one-, three-, and five-year overall survival rates were 87.8%, 47.2%, and 36.6%, respectively. By contrast, the one-, three-, and five-year local control rates were 89.4%, 67.5%, and 48.8%, respectively. After comparing the one-, three-, and five-year survival rates in the ENI patients (i.e., 90.5%, 47.6%, and 42.9%, respectively) with those in the IFI patients (i.e., 86.3%, 49.0%, and 35.2%, respectively), no significant difference was found (χ2=0.290, P=0.588 8). The results indicate that ENI possibly decreased nodal metastases (χ2=5.778, P=0.016). Conclusion:Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy is one of the best therapeutic regimens of radiation for EEC. ENI is possibly effective for preventing regional nodal metastasis. Whether ENI leads to an improved overall survival needs further investigation.

Background and purpose:B cell-specific MLV integration site 1 (BMI-1) gene plays an important role in DNA damage after exposure to irradiation. The present study aimed to investigate the effect ofBMI-1 on radio-sensitivity of esophageal carcinoma cell after down-regulation of BMI-1 expression by silencing siRNA.Methods:Three pairs of siRNA based on the sequences of the BMI-1 mRNA were synthesized (siRNA1, siRNA2 and siRNA3) by compa-ny, and transfected into cultured TE13 cells as the BMI-1 siRNA groups, and a negative one was synthesized to be used as the negative control (NC) group. The untransfected group was named as the control group. BMI-1 mRNA and protein expression in esophageal cancer TE13 cells were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot in different groups. This study used flow cytometry assay to analyze cell cycle of transfected cells, and examined cellular growth and radiosensitivityin vitro by MTT and clone formation assay. mRNA and protein expression of p16 and CDK4 in esophageal cancer TE13 cells were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot.Results:The results of RT-PCR and Western blot showed that the expressions of BMI-1 at gene and protein levels were inhibited after silencing the BMI-1 gene. The mRNA and protein expression of BMI-1 in BMI-1 siRNA3 group were both significantly lower than that in BMI-1 siRNA1 and 2 groups. There was no significant difference in the cell proliferation among control, NC and BMI-1 siRNA3 groups. The values ofD0,Dq, and SF2 in BMI-1 siRNA3 group were 1.761, 2.122 and 0.6255, respectively, obvi-ously lower than those in control group (2.514, 2.694 and 0.8268) and those in NC group (2.506, 2.664 and 0.8231), while the value of N in BMI-1 siRNA3 group (3.336) was higher than that in control group (2.92) and that in NC group (2.895), which showed higher radiosensitivity in BMI-1 siRNA3 group. In addition, the cell cycle was arrested at G2/M phase after irradiation in control and NC groups. The percentage of G0/G1 phase in BMI-1 siRNA3 group was higher than that of control group and NC group, while the percentage of G2/M phase was lower than those in the latter. The up-regulation of p16 and down-regulation of CDK4 at gene and protein levels were detected after knockdown of BMI-1 expression by siRNA (P<0.01).Conclusion:siRNA could inhibitBMI-1 gene expression in esophageal cancer TE13 cells and enhance radiosensitivity, followed by eliminating the cell cycle arrest at G2/M stage after irradiationin vitro, which is related to the regulation of the protein expression ofp16 andCDK4.

Objective To analyze the result of3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy(3DCRT)and operation of early stage esophageal carcinoma. Methods Ninety-three patients with early stage esophageal carcinoma were treated with 3DCRT from October 2000 to December 2006. The total dose was 50 -70 Gy/25 -35F/5 -7 w. Toxicities and survival rates were evaluated by Kaplan Meier method and the factors of death were analyzed. Results In the 3DCRT group, 79, 42 and 13 cases were followed up for at least 1-,3-,and 5-year, respectively. Follow-up rate was 100%. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year actuarial survival rates were 84% ,50% and 29%, respectively, with a median survival time of 37.0 months. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year local control rates were 83% ,63% and 55% ,respectively. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year disease free survival rates were 83% ,49% and 28%, respectively. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year metastasis free survival rates were 84%,51% and 28%, respectively. There were significant influence on the prognosis of age, the state of food taken before treatment, the pain of chest and back, the disease region, the tumor length in x-ray, the maximuminfiltration depth in CT scan, the preliminary curative effect and the no operation in univariate analysis. The Cox multivariate model showed that age, the pain of chest and back, the disease region and the tumor length in X-ray were independent prognostic factors. In the operation group, 80,46 and 16 cases were followed up for at least 1-,3-,and 5-year, respectively. Follow-up rate was 100%. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year actuarial survival rates were 86% ,62% and 41%, respectively, with a median survival time of 47.8 months. Conclusion Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy is one of the best radiation treatment regimen for early esophageal carcinoma.

Objective To analyze the rule of lymph node metastasis, compare the preoperative computed tomographic findings with pathological diagnosis in thoracic esophageal carcinoma and to evaluate the clinical value. Methods Six hundred and eighteen patients with esophageal carcinoma after radical resection were enrolled. All patients did not receive any preoperative radiotherapy or chemotherapy, having complete information of postoperative pathological reports. CT scanning were applied to all patients in our hospital. The CT image were transmitted to the three-dimensional treatment planning system via the network at digital format and be reconstructed. In which system the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy rates in diagnosis of lymph node metastasis of the preoperative CT image were observed, measured and recorded. x2 test or Fisdher's statistical methods was adopted for comparing the concord rate of preoperative CT scanning with postoperative pathological diagnosis. Results Lymph nodes metastasis were defected in 242 of the 618 treated patients(39.2%), The rate of lymph node metastasis present in lower neck, upper-mediastinum,middle-mediastinum, lower-mediastinum, and superior abdomen regions in upper-thoracic esophageal carcinoma were 3.2% ,20.8% ,6.4% ,2.4% and 8.0%, in middle-thoracic esophageal carcinoma 1.5%,7.8% ,22.0% ,3.5% and 22.8%, and in lower-thoracic esophageal carcinoma 0% ,2.0% ,21.4% ,6.1% and 32.7%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value,younden index and accuracy rates of diagnosis of lymph node metastasis with preoperative CT scan were 58.3%, 70.7%, 56.2%, 72.5%, 29.0% and 65.9%, respectively. The concordance rate of 0, 1, 2 and ≥ 3 lymph node metastasis by preoperative CT scanning with postoperative pathological diagnosis were 72.4%, 32.2% , 58.3% and 73.1%, respectively in whole group(x2 = 82. 61, P = 0.000). The concordance rate of no lymph node metastasis by CT scan comparing with that by postoperative pathological diagnosis was higher than that of the 1 lymph node metastasis in upper-thoracic esophageal carcinoma 3 lymph node metastasis were 71.1%, 30.1%, 55.6% and 77.8%, respectively(x2 =55.14,P =0.000.Conclusions Preoperative CT image can accurately predict the distribution patterns of the lymph node metastasis in esophageal carcinoma. The concordance rate was the highest in diagnosis of 0 and ≥3 lymph node metastasis, the lowest in diagnosis of one lymph node metastasis. These findings are valuable for definition of the target range of radiotherapy after radical resection of esophageal carcinoma.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of oligomeric grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSP) on isoproterenol (ISO)-induced cardiac remodeling in rats. ISO was given subcutaneously (5 mg x kg(-1), sc, 7 days) to induce cardiac remodeling in rats. Therapeutic groups were given GSP (50, 100, and 150 mg x kg(-1)) after ISO treatment. After 2 weeks intervention, heart rate (HR), left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), rate of rise of left ventricular pressure (+/- dp/dt(max)) were examined. The myocardial hypertrophy index was expressed as heart weight/body weight (HW/BW) and left ventricle weight/body weight (LVW/BW), the histological changes were investigated by HE and Van Gieson stain. SOD activity and MDA content in serum, contents of hydroxyproline (Hyp) in the left ventricular tissue were assayed by xanthinoxidase method, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) method and alkaline hydrolysis method, respectively. After the onset of ISO-treatment, GSP therapy potently improved cardiac function, inhibited myocardial hypertrophy, improved cardiac pathology change, decreased the myocardial cross-section area (CSA), collagen volume fraction (CVF) and perivascular circumferential collagen area (PVCA), reduced the content of Hyp in the left ventricular tissue, inhibited the decrease of SOD activity and increase of MDA content in serum. GSP possess protective effect against ISO induced cardiac remodeling in rats, this may be related to reducing the oxidative stress and improving antioxidant capacity.