The study examined the association between calcified liver metastases and the histopathology of the primary colorectal carcinoma in Chinese. The clinical, pathological and CT data were retrospectively analyzed in 210 patients (mean age: 54.2 years) with liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma. Plain CT scanning and contrast-enhanced scanning were performed in all the patients. For the contrast-enhanced examination, iohexol was injected by using a high pressure syringe at a flow rate of 2.5-3.0 mL/s. The arterial phase lasted approximately 25 s and the portal venous phase about 60 s. All patients had no history of chronic liver diseases and had never received interventional treatments. χ(2)-test was used to analyze the rate of calcification in the liver metastasis from colorectal cancer of different differentiation degrees. Among the 210 cases of liver metastases, 22 patients (10.5%) were found to have calcified liver metastases on CT scan. Two patients with calcified liver metastasis received lumpectomy and developed calcification in recurrent tumors. Another two patients had calcification in newly developed tumor masses. And the calcification in the newly developed masses was similar to that of their primary counterparts in terms of morphology and distribution. On the enhanced CT scan, the tumors exhibited no enhancement during hepatic arterial phase and showed slight rim enhancement during portal venous scan in the 22 cases. The calcification became obscure on contrast-enhanced scans. Histopathologically, the primary tumors were well-differentiated adenocarcinoma in 6 cases, moderately-differentiated adenocarcinoma in 10, poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma in 4 and mucinous adenocarcinoma in 2 among the 22 cases. No statistical correlation was noted between the incidence of calcified liver metastasis and the pathological subtypes and differentiation degrees of the primary colorectal carcinoma. It was concluded that calcified liver metastases may result from colorectal adenocarcinomata of different differentiation degrees or mucinous adenocarcinomata in Chinese population. There is no correlation between calcification of liver metastases and the pathological subtype of the primary colorectal carcinoma in Chinese, which is different from the findings that calcified metastases were associated with colorectal mucinous adenocarcinoma in other ethnic groups.

C erbB 2 is overexpressed in 20%～30% of human breast cancers,this oncoprotein plays an important role in predicting response to chemotherapy in breast cancer.Overexpression of c erbB 2 in breast cancer is associated with resistance or sensitivity to certain chemo therapeutic drugs, c erbB 2 can be expected to be a biological marker to direct chemotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer.

Objective To evaluate the value of region Ⅵ lymph nodes in surgical treatment of cN0 papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC). Methods 98 cases of PTC with cN0 which received functional lymph nodes dissection were collected. We analyzed the results of pathologic examination by region Ⅵ lymph nodes distinguished from lateral neck lymph nodes(Ⅱ～Ⅴ) retrospectively. Results In 98 cases, the rate of region Ⅵ lymph nodes metastasis was 20.4 %(20 cases); the rate of region Ⅱ～Ⅴ lymph nodes metastasis was 13 cases(13.3 %). In cases with region Ⅵ lymph nodes metastasis, the rate of Ⅱ～Ⅴ lymph nodes metastasis was 45.0 %(9/20). Meanwhile in cases without region Ⅵ lymph nodes metastasis, the rate of Ⅱ～Ⅴ lymph nodes metastasis was 5.1 % (4/78, P

Objective To construct dual-luciferase reporter plasmids containing the wild type and mutant rat extracellular signal-regulat-ed kinase 1 (ERK1) gene 3' untranslated regions (UTR) which were used to detect rno-miR-15b-5p's putative target gene. Methods The rat ERK1 gene 3' UTR fragment was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from PC12 cell cDNA and cloned into pmiR-RB-ReportTM vector. The mutant rat ERK1 gene 3' UTR fragment was obtained by overlap PCR and inserted into pmiR-RB-ReportTM vector. Successful wild type and mutant recombinant plasmids were confirmed by DNA sequencing. PC12 cells were co-transfected with rno-miR-15b-5p mim-ic and pmiR-ERK13' UTR or pmiR-ERK1-mut 3' UTR and then analyzed by dual-luciferase reporter assay system. The achieved mutation sequence of the target site TGCTGCT was mutated to CGAACGT and GTACACG, respectively. Results The wild-type reporter vector pmiR-ERK13' UTR and the mutant reporter vector pmiR-ERK1-mut 3' UTR were successfully constructed. The rno-miR-15b-5p mimic de-creased the activity of pmiR-ERK13' UTR plasmid (P<0.001) but did not decrease the activity of pmiR-ERK1-mut 3' UTR plasmid. Conclu-sion The recombinant pmiR-ERK13' UTR and pmiR-ERK1-mut 3' UTR plasmids were constructed successfully, and luciferase activities demonstrated that the 3' UTR of ERK1 gene might be a potential target of rno-miR-15b-5p.

Objective To study the application of extracellular laccase from endophytic fungi to total flavonoid extraction. Methods The extracellular laccase vitality of an endophytic Fusarium sp.C-8 from Artemisa annua reached 36.1 U/mL when the fungus was cultivated in revised PDA medium with initial pH 7.0 at 20℃ on a rotary shaker incubator for 6 d. The crude laccase from the cultural medium was applied for extraction of flavonoid from the buds of Sophara japonica. The optimization on the ratio of dry buds to crude enzyme liquid,temperature,time,and pH value was carried out during the process of laccase-assistant treatment. Results After incubation with 40∶1 of crude enzyme (pH 7.0) at 20℃ to dry buds for 1 h,the extraction rate of total flavonoids was 11.4 %,a more increase of 28.7 % than that in regular extraction process. Conclusion The results present a practical method of laccase-assistant extraction process on total flavones in S. japonica buds.

Objective To examine the effectiveness and safty of intraperitoneal injection of rapamycin on epileptogenesis in a rat model of pentylenetetrazole-induced kindling epilepsy. Method The Sprague Dawley rats at 6-8 weeks old were randomly divided into group PTZ+RAPA and group PTZ+NS. The body weight, mortality and seizures were recorded at 1, 4 and 6 weeks after treatment. Mossy fiber sprouting in the hippocampal CA3 area and DG area was examined by Tim staining. Results 1.The rats mortality was 22.9% in PTZ+RAPA and 10.4% in PTZ+NS. Weight alteration was statistically significant between PTZ+RAPA and PTZ+NS at the corresponding time points (P< 0.001); 3. The kindling rate was 66.7% in PTZ+RAPA and 58.3% in PTZ+NS at 6 weeks and the difference was statistical significant between these two groups (P>0.05). There was no statistical significance in the seizure scores be-tween PTZ+RAPA and PTZ+NS (P> 0.05). 4.The scores of mossy fiber sprouting in hippocampal CA3 and DG areas was higher in PTZ+NS than in PTZ+RAPA (P<0.05). Conclusion Rapamycin cannot reduce or curb epileptic seizures in young rats. It can obviously reduce the weight of the young SD rats which may be associated with its side effects.

BACKGROUND:Chronic tendinopathy is a tendon disorder extremely common in athletes and in the general population with repetitive strain injuries of tendons. The pathogenesis of tendinopathy remains unclear and hence treatment of tendinopathy is usual y pal iative.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the of adipogenic and tenogenic ability of patel ar tendon-derived stem cel s isolated
from chronic tendinopathy and healthy rats in vitro.
METHODS:Tendon-derived stem cel s were isolated from patel ar tendons of chronic tendinopathy and healthy rats respectively. The tendon-derived stem cel s were cultured to the 3rd passage in complete culture medium, and cel morphology was observed. The cel s were divided into adipogenic induction group and control group. Cel s in the adipogenic induction group were cultured in adipogenic induction medium, while those in the control group cultured in complete culture medium. The ability of adipogenic differentiation between tendon-derived stem cel s isolated from the tendon of chronic tendinopathy and healthy rats in vitro was examined by oil red O staining and quantification assay. The mRNA expressions of C/EBPαand PPARγ2 were detected by real-time quantitative PCR. When 70%-80%cel s were confluent, the mRNA expressions of Col1a1, Scx, Tnmd and Dcn were also detected by real-time quantitative PCR.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:At the third passage, slender spindle-shaped cel s were seen in both two groups, but there was a little change in the cel morphology in the chronic tendinopathy group. Lipid droplets were formed after the cel s were cultured in adipogenic induction medium for 21 days. This was not observed in the control group. We observed more oil red O-positive oil droplets in tendon-derived stem cel s from the tendons of chronic tendinopathy rats than healthy rats. The difference between them was statistical y significant (P=0.004). The results of real-time quantitative PCR showed that the mRNA expressions of C/EBPαand PPARγ2 in the tendon-derived stem cel s from the tendons of chronic tendinopathy rats were significantly higher than those in tendon-derived stem cel s from the tendons of healthy rats (P=0.004);the mRNA expressions of Col1a1, Scx, Tnmd and Dcn in the tendon-derived stem cel s from the tendons of chronic tendinopathy rats were significantly lower than those in tendon-derived stem cel s from the tendons of healthy rats (P=0.009). In conclusion, tendon-derived stem cel s from chronic tendinopathy rats showed a higher ability of adipogenic differentiation, but a lower capacity of tenogenic differentiation compared to tendon-derived stem cel s from healthy rats, which might contribute to better understand the pathogenesis of tendinopathy.

AIM:To investigate the inhibitory effect of P12,a kind of lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-binding protein(LBP) inhibitory peptide,on the binding of LPS to macrophage in vitro.METHODS:Human monocyte-like cell line(U937 cells) was grown in RPMI-1640 and stimulated with PMA in order to induce their differentiation to macrophage stage.The relative affinity of P12 to LPS was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).The effects of P12 on the binding of LPS to U937 cells were determined by flow cytometry analysis.The production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-?) was measured by ELISA.RESULTS:The relative binding activity of P12 to LPS was higher than that of LBP in the same mass concentration.P12 inhibited the binding of FITC-conjugated LPS(FITC-LPS) to U937 cells.The productions of TNF-? was also significantly suppressed by P12.CONCLUSION:The results suggest that blockage of LBP at the inflammatory sites might attenuate LPS-induced circulatory shock.

OBJECTIVE:To study the factors influencing the stability of Chlorogenic acid in Marsdenia tenacissima extract.METHODS:The contents of Chlorogenic acid in Marsdenia tenacissima extract in different solvents,different lighting and different time under the heat were determined by HPLC.RESULTS:The Chlorogenic acid in Marsdenia tenacissima extract in organic solvents was more stable,in addition,lighting and heating temperature were important factors affecting the stability of the Chlorogenic acid.CONCLUSION:The stability of the Chlorogenic acid in Marsdenia tenacissima extract changes in different conditions;and the study results serve as a reference for the preparation,storage,analysis and production of Marsdenia tenacissima extract.