Objective To evaluate the relationship between CT perfusion imaging and clinicopathological features in gastric adenocarcinoma.Methods CT perfusion was performed in 31 cases of gastric cancer diagnosed by endoscopy and biopsy one week prior to operation.After an oral intake of 1000—1200 ml of water and an injection of hypotonic agent,perfusion scan was adopted in sixteen multi- slice spiral CT (MSCT) with 60 s of cine duration.Data were analyzed by a commercial software to cal- culate tumor blood flow (BF),blood volume (BV),mean pass time (MTT) and permeability surface (PS).Microvessl density (MVD) was evaluated by using immunohistochemical staining of surgical specimens with anti-CD34.All these findings were prospectively analyzed and correlated with the clinicopathological find- ings (histological grading,presence of lymph node metastasis,serous involvement,TNM staging and MVD). Results There was significant difference of PS value not only between patients with and without lymphatic in- volvement (P＜0.05),but also in different histological grade (P＜0.05) and TNM staging (P＞0.05). However BF,BV,MTT and MVD of gastric cancer revealed no significant correlation with the clinicopatholog- ical findings above (P＞0.05).Condusion The analysis of CT perfusion imaging in gastric cancer,especially PS value,might be helpful in predicting the prognosis.

Objective To observe the therapeutic efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) for focal cerebral infraction influenced by the treatment time after permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rabbits. Methods Seventy-five male rabbits were randomly divided into simple MCAO group (n=25), MCAO+HBO group (100% O2, 250 kPa, 1 h/d, from 1 d after MCAO, n=25) and MCAO+DHBO group (100% O2, 250 kPa, 1 h/d, from 7 d after MCAO, n=25). Behaviors and volumes of infarction were observed, and microdialysis was applied to monitor the concentrations of glucose, lactate, pymvate and glutamate around the infarct foci at 1, 3, 10 and 30 d after permanent MCAO. Results Behaviors'score was lower in MCAO+HBO group than the others (P<0.05). The infarct volume from day 3 to day 30 was significantly smaller in MCAO+HBO group than in the other 2 groups (P<0.05). The lactate and pyruvate ratio was increased after MCAO in three groups, but they were lower in the MCAO+HBO group than in the others at day 1 and day 3 (P<0.05). The glutamate concentration was increased after MCAO, peaked at 3 d, but at day 1 and day 3 the glutamate concentration was lower in the MCAO+HBO group (P<0.05). Conclusions HBO treatment could protect the brain from infarction through improving the energy metabolism and decreasing the excitatory amino acids disorders around the infarct foci after MCAO in rabbits. In order to improve the therapeutic efficacy of HBO, it should be performed as possible.

OBJECTIVETo explore the implication of karyotype analysis in diagnosis and prognosis of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

METHODSThe chromosomes were prepared with direct method, brief culture of cells and R-banding techniques, and then the karyotypic analysis was performed.

RESULTSeventy-seven out of 283 patients (27.21%) had karyotypic abnormalities, including the numeral abnormalities of chromosomes and structural alterations. The most common chromosomal aberrations were +8, -20/20q-, -Y, translocation, -7/7q-, +9, -5/5q-. The rate of abnormal karyotype in refractory anemia with erythroblasts (RAEB) and refractory anemia erythroblasts-transformation (RAEB-t) was much higher than in refractory anemia (RA). Patients with abnormal karyotype or higher IPSS scores had a higher risk of transformation into acute leukemia than patients with normal karyotype or lower IPSS scores (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONMDS is a highly heterogenous disorder and karyotype analysis is helpful for its diagnosis and prognosis estimation.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosome Deletion ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 8 ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Karyotyping ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; genetics ; Prognosis ; Translocation, Genetic ; genetics

BACKGROUNDTrichophyton rubrum represents the most common infectious fungus responsible for dermatophytosis in human, but the mechanism involved is still not completely understood. An appropriate model constructed to simulate host infection is the prerequisite to study the pathogenesis of dermatophytosis caused by T. rubrum. In this study, we intended to develop a new T. rubrum infection model in vitro, using the three-dimensional reconstructed epidermis - EpiSkin ®, and to pave the way for further investigation of the mechanisms involved in T. rubrum infection.

METHODSThe reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) was infected by inoculating low-dose (400 conidia) and high-dose (4000 conidia) T. rubrum conidia to optimize the infection dose. During the various periods after infection, the samples were processed for pathological examination and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation.

RESULTSThe histological analysis of RHE revealed a fully differentiated epidermis with a functional stratum corneum, which was analogous to the normal human epidermis. The results of hematoxylin and eosin staining and the periodic acid-Schiff staining showed that the infection dose of 400 conidia was in accord with the pathological characteristics of host dermatophytosis caused by T. rubrum. SEM observations further exhibited the process of T. rubrum infection in an intuitionistic way.

CONCLUSIONSWe established the T. rubrum infection model on RHE in vitro successfully. It is a promising model for further investigation of the mechanisms involved in T. rubrum infection.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Epidermis ; microbiology ; Humans ; Keratinocytes ; cytology ; Tissue Culture Techniques ; Trichophyton ; pathogenicity

BACKGROUNDTrichophyton rubrum is superficial fungi characteristically confined to dead keratinized tissues. These observations suggest that the soluble components released by the fungus could influence the host immune response in a cell in contact-free manner. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze whether the culture supernatant derived from T. rubrum grown in the nail medium could elicit the immune response of keratinocyte effectively.

METHODSThe culture supernatants of two strains (T1a, T XHB ) were compared for the β-glucan concentrations and their capacity to impact the innate immunity of keratinocytes. The β-glucan concentrations in the supernatants were determined with the fungal G-test kit and protein concentrations with bicinchoninic acid protein quantitative method, then HaCaT was stimulated with different concentrations of culture supernatants by adopting morphological method to select a suitable dosage. Expressions of host defense genes were assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction after the HaCaT was stimulated with the culture supernatants. Data were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance, followed by the least significant difference test.

RESULTSThe T. rubrum strains (T1a and T XHB ) released β-glucan of 87.530 ± 37.581 pg/ml and 15.747 ± 6.453 pg/ml, respectively into the media. The messenger RNA (mRNA) expressions of toll-like receptor-2 (TLR2), TLR4, and CARD9 were moderately up-regulated in HaCaT within 6-h applications of both supernatants. HaCaT cells were more responsive to T1a than T XHB . The slight increase of dendritic cells-specific intercellular adhesion molecule 3-grabbing nonintegrin expression was faster and stronger, induced by T1a supernatant than T XHB . The moderate decreases of RNase 7, the slight up-regulations of Dectin-1 and interleukin-8 at the mRNA level were detected only in response to T1a rather than T XHB . After a long-time contact, all the elevated defense genes decreased after 24 h.

CONCLUSIONThe culture supernatant of T. rubrum could directly and transiently activate the innate immune response of keratinocytes.

Cell Line, Tumor ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Immunity, Innate ; drug effects ; Keratinocytes ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Trichophyton ; metabolism ; beta-Glucans ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of young children's mothers on infant feeding and to evaluate the effects of nutritional education in the rural areas.

METHODSA cluster sampling method was used to select the local health station. Five hundred and fifteen mothers, who had infants with age of 4 - 6 months, were recruited for the questionnaire survey on the nutritional knowledge in rural areas of Tianjin municipality. The mothers were randomly divided into intervention group I (160), intervention group II (180) and control group (175). The mothers in the intervention group I were educated with feeding guideline on infants and young children and had had Group lectures and advisory from experts about maternal and child nutrition for teaching them how to feed their children; while, the mothers in the intervention group II were trained with feeding guideline on infants and young children by themselves; and the mothers in the control group received routine guidance at the local health station. The follow-up evaluation on nutritional knowledge of the mothers in each group was carried out after 3 and 6 months intervention, respectively.

RESULTSThe educational background had significant effect on KAP scores: KAP scores of the mothers with primary education or less (8.3 +/- 2.2) were significantly lower than that of the mothers educated with high school (9.4 +/- 1.6) and university (9.6 +/- 1.8) (LSD t = 3.70, P < 0.001). After being educated with feeding guideline on infants and young children, the knowledge of infant's mothers was greatly improved and KAP scores of the mothers after intervention were higher than that of the baseline (F = 183.556, P = 0.006); the percentage of correct answer on nutrition knowledge in the intervention groups was significantly higher than that of the control group. At six months of intervention, the KAP scores of intervention group I (12.0) and intervention group II (11.6) were higher than that of the control group (10.5) (LSD t = 5.96, P < 0.001; LSD t = 4.25, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONProviding nutritional and health education to the infant's mothers should be helpful for improving infant's feeding pattern and ensuring the adequate growth and development of infants.

Adult ; China ; Female ; Health Education ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena ; Mother-Child Relations ; Mothers ; education ; Rural Population

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of galectin-1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC) and its clinical significance.

METHODSDetection of the mRNA and protein expression of galectin-1 in the in vitro cellular carcinogenesis model of OSCC, OSCC cell lines and tissue specimens from 30 primary OSCC patients were performed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Western blotting and immunohistochemistry, respectively.

RESULTSThe value of galectin-1 mRNA and protein level in human immortalized oral epithelia cell (HIOEC) cell was 0.071 ± 0.023, 0.118 ± 0.046, Compared with the HIOEC, galectin-1 mRNA level and protein expression were increased significantly in all the cell lines (0.141 ± 0.049, 0.504 ± 0.33) (P < 0.01). The levels of mRNA and protein expression of galectin-1 were significantly higher in the cancerous tissue (0.059 ± 0.034, 1.5 ± 0.68) than in the normal adjacent tissues (0.029 ± 0.012, 0.4 ± 0.56) (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe expression of galectin-1 gene up-regulated in carcinogenesis process of OSCC significantly may be related to the tumorigenesis and development of OSCC, which illustrates its potential clinical application as tumor marker for early diagnosis.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Line, Transformed ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ; Epithelial Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Female ; Galectin 1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mouth Mucosa ; metabolism ; pathology ; Mouth Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Up-Regulation

Background: s/Aims: Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rare histological subtype of HCC characterized by extremely poor prognosis; however, its molecular characterization has not been elucidated. Methods: In this study, we conducted an integrated multiomics study of whole-exome sequencing, RNA-seq, spatial transcriptome, and immunohistochemical analyses of 28 paired sarcomatoid tumor components and conventional HCC components from 10 patients with sarcomatoid HCC, in order to identify frequently altered genes, infer the tumor subclonal architectures, track the genomic evolution, and delineate the transcriptional characteristics of sarcomatoid HCCs. Results: Our results showed that the sarcomatoid HCCs had poor prognosis. The sarcomatoid tumor components and the conventional HCC components were derived from common ancestors, mostly accessing similar mutational processes. Clonal phylogenies demonstrated branched tumor evolution during sarcomatoid HCC development and progression. TP53 mutation commonly occurred at tumor initiation, whereas ARID2 mutation often occurred later. Transcriptome analyses revealed the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and hypoxic phenotype in sarcomatoid tumor components, which were confirmed by immunohistochemical staining. Moreover, we identified ARID2 mutations in 70% (7/10) of patients with sarcomatoid HCC but only 1–5% of patients with non-sarcomatoid HCC. Biofunctional investigations revealed that inactivating mutation of ARID2 contributes to HCC growth and metastasis and induces EMT in a hypoxic microenvironment. Conclusions We offer a comprehensive description of the molecular basis for sarcomatoid HCC, and identify genomic alteration (ARID2 mutation) together with the tumor microenvironment (hypoxic microenvironment), that may contribute to the formation of the sarcomatoid tumor component through EMT, leading to sarcomatoid HCC development and progression.

Background: s/Aims: Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rare histological subtype of HCC characterized by extremely poor prognosis; however, its molecular characterization has not been elucidated. Methods: In this study, we conducted an integrated multiomics study of whole-exome sequencing, RNA-seq, spatial transcriptome, and immunohistochemical analyses of 28 paired sarcomatoid tumor components and conventional HCC components from 10 patients with sarcomatoid HCC, in order to identify frequently altered genes, infer the tumor subclonal architectures, track the genomic evolution, and delineate the transcriptional characteristics of sarcomatoid HCCs. Results: Our results showed that the sarcomatoid HCCs had poor prognosis. The sarcomatoid tumor components and the conventional HCC components were derived from common ancestors, mostly accessing similar mutational processes. Clonal phylogenies demonstrated branched tumor evolution during sarcomatoid HCC development and progression. TP53 mutation commonly occurred at tumor initiation, whereas ARID2 mutation often occurred later. Transcriptome analyses revealed the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and hypoxic phenotype in sarcomatoid tumor components, which were confirmed by immunohistochemical staining. Moreover, we identified ARID2 mutations in 70% (7/10) of patients with sarcomatoid HCC but only 1–5% of patients with non-sarcomatoid HCC. Biofunctional investigations revealed that inactivating mutation of ARID2 contributes to HCC growth and metastasis and induces EMT in a hypoxic microenvironment. Conclusions We offer a comprehensive description of the molecular basis for sarcomatoid HCC, and identify genomic alteration (ARID2 mutation) together with the tumor microenvironment (hypoxic microenvironment), that may contribute to the formation of the sarcomatoid tumor component through EMT, leading to sarcomatoid HCC development and progression.

Background: s/Aims: Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rare histological subtype of HCC characterized by extremely poor prognosis; however, its molecular characterization has not been elucidated. Methods: In this study, we conducted an integrated multiomics study of whole-exome sequencing, RNA-seq, spatial transcriptome, and immunohistochemical analyses of 28 paired sarcomatoid tumor components and conventional HCC components from 10 patients with sarcomatoid HCC, in order to identify frequently altered genes, infer the tumor subclonal architectures, track the genomic evolution, and delineate the transcriptional characteristics of sarcomatoid HCCs. Results: Our results showed that the sarcomatoid HCCs had poor prognosis. The sarcomatoid tumor components and the conventional HCC components were derived from common ancestors, mostly accessing similar mutational processes. Clonal phylogenies demonstrated branched tumor evolution during sarcomatoid HCC development and progression. TP53 mutation commonly occurred at tumor initiation, whereas ARID2 mutation often occurred later. Transcriptome analyses revealed the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and hypoxic phenotype in sarcomatoid tumor components, which were confirmed by immunohistochemical staining. Moreover, we identified ARID2 mutations in 70% (7/10) of patients with sarcomatoid HCC but only 1–5% of patients with non-sarcomatoid HCC. Biofunctional investigations revealed that inactivating mutation of ARID2 contributes to HCC growth and metastasis and induces EMT in a hypoxic microenvironment. Conclusions We offer a comprehensive description of the molecular basis for sarcomatoid HCC, and identify genomic alteration (ARID2 mutation) together with the tumor microenvironment (hypoxic microenvironment), that may contribute to the formation of the sarcomatoid tumor component through EMT, leading to sarcomatoid HCC development and progression.