Objective To investigate the prognostic value of plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in patients with acute cerebral infarction. Methods Sixty-five patients with first-ever acute cerebral infarction and 32 healthy controls were recruited. The neurological deficits in patients with cerebral infarction were evaluated by using Chinese Stroke Scale (CSS).Plasma BNP levels were detected by immunofluorescence technique. Death and recurrent stroke events were followed up. Plasma BNP levels were compared between an event group and a non-event group, and the relationship between plasma BNP levels and poor prognosis was analyzed.Results Plasma BNP levels in patients with acute cerebral infarction was significantly higher than those in healthy controls (238.7 ± 131.6 pg/ml vs 38.7±23.8 pg/ml, P <0.01). Nine patients (13.8%) died, and 8 (12.3%) had nonfatal recurrent stroke during the follow-up period. Compared to the non-event group, the baseline plasma BNP levels in the death/recurrent stroke event group were significantly higher (304.0 ± 134.9 pg/ml vs 214.4 ± 120.9 pg/ml,P < 0.01). There was significant correlation between plasma BNP levels and CSS scores (r = -0.359, P <0.05). After performing multivariate analysis of various risk factors, it found that BNP levels (OR = 3.5, 95 % CI 2.1 to 5.8, P < 0.01), advanced age (OR = 4.1,95% CI 1.7 to 9.2, P <0.01) and CSS scores (OR =2.6, 95% CI 1.6 to 4.3, P <0.01)were the independent predictors of poor outcome. Conclusions The increased BNP levels are the recent death and recurrent independent predictors in patients with acute cerebral infarction.

Objective To investigate the relationship between some autoantibodies including anti-? 2-glycoprotein Ⅰ (anti-? 2GPⅠ) and chronic liver disease. Methods A cohort of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and post-hepatitis B cirrhosis (PHBC) was studied for the serum anti-? 2GPⅠ levels by ELISA with purified ? 2GPⅠ as antigen. The serum dsDNA, smooth muscle antibody (SMA) and ribonucleoprotein antibody (RNPA) were also detected. Results High positive rate was observed in patients with CHB or PHBC (20.9%, 9/43; 49.3%,35/75) comparing with that in control group (3.1%, 1/32) ( P

0.05). According to the HSS system, the score was 89.6 (range, 75-98) averagely one year after operation. No any complications occurred, such as necrosis of the incision, deep infection, the loosening and breakage of the internal fixator. Conclusion The technique with modified dual plating for the complex fractures of the tibial plateau provides satisfactory function of the knee, it has many advantages, such as stable and durable fixation, avoiding the replacement and change of the knee mechanics, as well as diminish the problems about the incision and soft tissue.

Objective To study the relationship between anti-? 2-glycoprotein I(a? 2GPⅠ) and extracellular matrix (ECM) in patients with post-hepatitis B cirrhosis (PHBC).Method The of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and PHBC were studied for the serum a? 2GPⅠ levels by ELISA with purified ? 2GPⅠ as antigen, and we investigated serum level of collagen IV (IV-C)?hyaluronic acid (HA) and laminin (LN) in these patients.Result High positive rate was observed compared with control group (P

Objective To design a new type of hybrid bioartificial liver (HBAL), evaluate its efficacy in vitro, and explore the feasibility in clinical application.Methods CL-1 human hepatocytes were cultured on microcarriers for 5 days, when cell count reached about 4.0 × 109 with cell density of about 4.0 × 107/ml.CL-1 cells cultured on microcarriers in home-made bioreactor constitute the biological part of the HBAL.The abiotic part included blood perfusion and bilirubin adsorption, and blood pump was employed as the circulation driver, which were parts of HBAL.The changes of the concentrations of indirect bilirubin (UBD), chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCD), cholic acid (CA), blood ammonia (AA), AST, ALT and LDH were observed under the condition of in vitro circulation.Meanwhile, the function, morphology and the cell activity of CL-1 cells were also observed.Results After in vitro circulation for 24 h, the concentrations of UBD, CDCD, CA and AA significantly decreased from (335.3 ± 6.0) μmol/L, (395.0 ± 5.6) μmol/L, (155.7 ± 4.5) μmol/L, (39.0 ± 2.6) μmol/L at 0 h to (106.0 ± 10.9) μmol/L, (131.8 ± 28.7) μmol/L, (42.2 ± 7.3) μmol/L, (3.5 ± 1.0) μmol/L, respectively.At 48 h, ALT, AST and LDH significantly increased from (25.9 ± 4.2) IU/L, (22.0 ± 3.6) IU/L, (0.28 ± 0.09) μmol/L to (31.0 ± 2.6) IU/L,(31.6 ± 8.0) IU/L, (0.41 ± 0.12) μmol/L, meanwhile the count and vitality of CL-1 cells were significant declined.Conclusions (1) In the new HBAL system, CL-1 cells can keep its viability and function in vitro;and (2) the HBAL appears to be effective in purifying the serum in liver failure simulation model by clearing out non-conjugated bilirubin, chenodeoxycholic acid, cholic acid and ammonium chloride, which seems to be a promising therapeutic option.

Objective To develop a double-regulated replicative adenovirus carrying the Human endostatin gene(hEndo). Methods The plasmid pTPHre-hEndo was constructed by gene engineering technique, carrying human endostatin gene, in which El A gene and E1B gene were driven by human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) promoter and hypoxia response element (HRE) promoter,respectively. The pTPHre-hEndo was co-transfected with pBHGE3 in 293 cells to generate recombinant adenovirus AdTPHre-hEndo. Virus titer was measured by the TCID50 method. Virus replication assay was performed to evaluate the selective replication ability of AdTPHre-hEndo. The transgene expression of endostatin was detected by ELISA assay. Results A novel gene-viral therapeutic system AdTPHre-hEndo was constructed by gene engineering technique and its titer was 3. 25 X 1010 pfu/ml.Proliferative test revealed that AdTPHre-hEndo could proliferate selectively in telomerase positive tumors. Furthermore, in comparison with non-replicative adenovirus Ad-hEndo, the transgene expression of endostatin mediated with AdTPHre-hEndo was significantly increased (P < 0. 01).Conclusion The novel gene-viral therapeutic system AdTPHre-hEndo has the capacity to replicate in pancreatic cancer cells and expresses the endostatin efficiently, and may provide a new strategy for pancreatic cancer gene therapy.

Objective To investigate the changes in the abilities of invasion and metastasis in surviving human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) cells after X-ray irradiation and the related mechanism.Methods The change in radiosensitivity after X-ray irradiation was determined by colony formation assay.The abilities of invasion and metastasis were evaluated by MTF adhesion assay and Transwell invasion and migration assay in vitro.The mRNA and protein expression of E-cadherin,vimentin,tumor growth factor (TGF)-β1,matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2,and MMP-9 was measured by real-time RT-PCR using SYBR Green fluorescence and Western blot.Results The colony formation assay showed that the surviving A549 cells after X-ray irradiation were more resistant to irradiation (ratio of D0 values =0.94).Their abilities of adhesion,invasion,and migration were significantly increased by 1.46 times,1.40 times,and 1.45 times,respectively.In addition,the surviving cells showed enlarged intercellular spaces and had many long pseudopodi.Compared with those in the control group,the mRNA expression levels of vimentin,TGF-β1,MMP-2,and MMP-9 of surviving cells were increased by 1.37 times,2.37 times,1.80 times,and 1.50 times,respectively,the protein expression levels of the above substances were increased by 1.60 times,1.80 times,1.10 times,and 1.20 times,respectively,and the mRNA and protein expression levels of E-cadherin were decreased by 59.4％ and 74.6％.Conclusions The surviving A549 cells after X-ray irradiation have significantly increased abilities of invasion and metastasis.This may be due to radiationinduced TGF-β1 expression increase that in turn promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition and also due to radiation-induced MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression increase.

To establish a murine carotid artery transplantation model for the study of the chronic rejection, 80 rats were divided into two groups, an allotransplant (ACI-Lewis) group and an isotransplant (Lewis-Lewis) group (control group). The donor carotid artery and the recipient carotid artery were anastomosed by using a polyethylene cuff (internal diameter: 0.7 mm, length: 3 mm).The pathological changes of carotid artery transplant were observed 14, 28 and 56 days after the transplantation. The results showed that the model was successfully established in 95% of the animals. The chronic rejection-associated arteriosclerosis was induced 28 days after the transplantation. The new chronic rejection model of carotid artery by using cuff technique caused fewer traumas and was easy to make. The pathological changes of the transplant mimicked the chronic rejection-associated arteriosclerosis found in human transplant.
Anastomosis, Surgical/methods ; Arteriosclerosis ; Carotid Artery, Common/*transplantation ; Delayed Graft Function ; Graft Rejection/*pathology ; Models, Animal ; Polyethylene ; Rats, Inbred ACI ; Rats, Inbred Lew

Aim To study the insulinotropic effects of Efaroxan and the underlying mechanism in rat βcells. Methods Pancreatic islets were isolated by college-nase p digestion.Radioimmunoassay was used to meas-ure insulin secretion and cAMP level in rat pancreatic islets.Results Efaroxan only potentiated insulin se-cretion at high glucose concentrations(8.3,1 1 .1 mmol ·L -1 )but not at low glucose concentrations.KU1 4R,an antagonist of Efaroxan,remarkably inhibited Efarox-an-potentiated insulin secretion;and similarly,KU1 4R significantly inhibited forskolin-induced and IBMX-in-duced insulin secretion.cAMP measurement showed that forskolin and IBMX significantly increased cAMP levels,but Efaroxan and KU1 4R had no effects on cAMP content in pancreatic islets.Conclusion The mechanism of Efaroxan-potentiated insulin secretion is related to downstream of cAMP signaling pathway, KU1 4R antagonized the downstream of cAMP signaling leading to its inhibitory effects on Efaroxan,forskolin and IBMX-induced insulin secretion.

Ubiquitin-proteasome pathway is one of the primary pathway in intracellular protein degrada-tion,therefore the ubiquitin conjugating enzyme D3(UbE2D3)which involved in the ubiquitin mineralization process can affect the biological effects accordingly to affect some protein and nucleic acid content and activity. The function that participate in modification and degradation of some cancer factors is vital in tumor cells,and followed by tumor biological behavior changing. Researches show that UbE2D3 correlates with human telomer-ase reverse transcriptase( hTERT),radiation sensitivity,aggressive,etc in breast cancer.