Objective To investigate the effects of hyperuricemia on vascular endothelial function.Methods With high-resolution ultrasound,flow-and nitroglycerin induced dilation,the vasodilation of brachial artery was measured in 30 hyperuricemia male patients and 30 healthy male subjects(control group).Both serum NO and plasma endothelin-1(ET-1) levels were determined at the same time.Results In patients with hyperuricemia,flow-induced vasodilation was much reduced compared with that in the control subjects(P0.05).Plasma NO level in the hyperuricemia group was lower than that in the control group (P

Xinjiang is the area with a high incidence of AIDS, and a high incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis. Cases of AIDS combined with pulmonary tuberculosis have continued to increase in recent years. According to the characteristics of AIDS, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) reveals that AIDS belongs to epidemic febrile disease, and in accordance with the category of warm disease caused by incubating pathogens.

AIM: To investigate the genes differential expression in cortex during rat focal cerebral ischemia. METHODS: cDNA microarray chips containing numerous cDNAs were used to investigate the gene expression pattern between samples of focal cerebral ischemia and sham-control operation rats. RESULTS: Two hundred and eleven genes differentially expressed were screened out, among these genes, up-and down-regulated genes were 199 and 12, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of gene expression pattern of focal cerebral ischemia based on cDNA microarray can realize high-throughput screening of the genes associated with the focal cerebral ischemia. The differential expression of genes may be related to the pathogenesis of focal cerebral ischemic diseases.

Objective To optimize the method of the directional differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells into keratinocytes.Methods Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs),separated by collagenase digestion method,were isolated and cultured.Then the expression of surface specific markers CD34,CD44 and CD90 were detected by flow cytometer.The effect of different induced mediums cultured for two weeks on the differentiation of ADSCs into KCs was demonstrated:Group 1,the DMEM supplied with 2％ FBS and 49％ supertant of KCs;group 2,KSFM medium;group 3,DMEM medium supplied with 10％ FBS and 5 μM ATRA;10％ FBS DMEM as the control group.Immunofluorescene staining was applied to detect the expression of keratin CK14 and F-actin.Results A flattened fibroblast-like morphology was observed in cells,the positive expression rate of CD34 was 0.08％,while those of CD44 and CD90 were 99％.The cells that could differentiate into osteoblasts and chondrocytes,indicated that the cells were ADSCs.There was no significant change in the cell morphology in the group 1 under the induction medium;about 10％ of the cells in group 2 were altered;the morphological changes were obvious in group 3,and approximately 20％ of the cells showed irregular polygon.The immunofluorescene staining of the cells in group 3 indicated that the cells showed cobblestone-like phenotype and an organized cytoskeletal network with dense actin fibers at the edges;some cells were positive for CK14.Conclusions ADSCs show higher induction rate under ATRA stimulation.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of long noncoding RNA linc00261 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its correlation with the clinicopathological features and postoperative outcomes of the patients.

METHODSReal-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of linc00261 in surgical specimens of HCC and adjacent tissues from 74 patients. The correlation of the expression level of linc00261 in HCC with the clinicopathological parameters of the patients was analyzed using Chi-square test. The Cox's proportional hazards regression model was used to assess the value of linc00261 in predicting the prognosis of HCC patients after operation. The expression of linc00261 was also examined in 5 HCC cell lines using qRT-PCR. The HCC cell lines MHCC-LM3 and SNU-449 were transfected with small interfering RNAs targeting linc00261 for linc00261 knockdown, and the changes in the cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities were observed using CCK-8 assay and Transwell assay.

RESULTSThe expression level of linc00261 in HCC was significantly correlated with AFP (=0.032), tumor size (=0.007), microscopic vascular invasion (MVI; =0.01), and TNM stage (=002). The patients with lowered expressions of linc00261 in HCC tissues had a significantly shortened tumor-free survival time ( < 0.05), and a lowered expression of linc00261 was identified as an independent risk factor affecting postoperative recurrence-free survival time of the patients ( < 0.05). In HCC cell lines MHCC-LM3 and SNU-449 cells, linc00261 knockdown obviously promoted the cell migration and invasion ( < 0.01) but did not significantly affect cell proliferation ( > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSLinc00261 may serve as a new prognostic biomarker for predicting the postoperative outcomes of the patients with HCC.

BACKGROUNDMyotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an autosomal dominant multisystem disease caused by abnormal expansion of cytosine-thymine-guanine (CTG) repeats in the myotonic dystrophy protein kinase gene. The clinical manifestations of DM1 are multisystemic and highly variable, and the unstable nature of CTG expansion causes wide genotypic and phenotypic presentations, which make molecular methods essential for the diagnosis. So far, very few studies about molecular diagnosis in Chinese patients with DM1 have been reported. Therefore, we carried out a study using two different methods in molecular diagnosis to verify the validity in detecting CTG expansion in Chinese patients showing DM signs.

METHODSA total of 97 Chinese individuals were referred for molecular diagnosis of DM1 using conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) accompanied by Southern blotting and triplet primed PCR (TP-PCR). We evaluated the sensitivity and limitation of each method using percentage.

RESULTSBy conventional PCR 65 samples showed only one fragment corresponding to the normal allele and 62 out of them were correctly diagnosed as DM1 by TP-PCR and three homologous non-DM1 samples were ruled out; Southern blotting analysis successfully made 13 out of 16 correct diagnoses with a more sensitivity using α-(32)P-labeled probes than dig-labeled probes.

CONCLUSIONMolecular analysis is necessary for the diagnosis of DM1 and TP-PCR is a reliable, sensitive, and easily performed method in molecular diagnosis which is worthy to be popularized.

Adult ; Aged ; Blotting, Southern ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques ; methods ; Myotonic Dystrophy ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Young Adult