Objective To investigate the clinical significance of serum amyloid A protein in patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection. Methods Serum amyloid A (SAA) levels were detected by ELISA in 131 patients with HCV infection and 20 normal controls. The expression of SAA-mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was detected by RT-PCR from some blood samples of HCV patients and normal controls. Results The SAA levels in the patients with chronic HCV infection were markedly higher than those in normal controls (t = 17. 14, P < 0. 01 ). The expression of SAA-mRNA detected by RT-PCR was closely correlated with concentrations of SAA measured by ELISA ( r = 0.86, P <0.01 ). No correlation was found between SAA expression and serum HCV RNA titers, as well as between SAA and serum ALT in patients with chronic HCV infection. Conclusion SAA levels are increased in patients with chronic HCV infection, which is not correlated with HCV RNA titers and serum ALT levels.

Objective To evaluate the effect of crisis intervention on prevention of patients with mental disorder who had suicide ideas or attempt to commit resuicide.Methods 280 patients with mental disorder,holding suicidal ideas or attempting to suicide were randomly divided into the intervention group and control group with 140 cases in each group.The diagnosis of all patients was accorded with the CCMD-3 criteria.The cases of the control group only accepted routine treatments and cares in the hospital,and drug maintenance therapy after discharge.The cases of the intervention group accepted a comprehensive treatment of crisis intervention except the routine treatments.All cases were evaluated when they were admitted and 6 and 12 months after discharged.Results After discharged 6 months and 12 months,the social supports and treatments compliance of the intervention group were better than that of the control group(P<0.01),while suicidal ideas and the numbers of suicides were less than the control group significantly.Conclusion The crisis intervention can improve patients' social supporting and treatment compliance,eliminate their suicide ideas,and prevent the patients committing resuicide significantly.

AIM To explore the molecular mechanism of hydroquinone genotoxicity in human bronchial epithelial cells and investigate whether human X-ray repair cross complementing group 1 (XRCC1)was involved in protecting cells from the damage caused by hydroquinone. METHODS XRCC1 gene was knocked down by RNA interference and XRCC1-deficient cell was established by transfected recombinant plasmid pEGFP-C1-pU6-dsRNA. Normal human bronchial epithelial cells (normal cells) and cells transfected with the empty vector of pEGFP-C1 (vector cells) were used as the normal control and vector control. All cells were treated with different concentrations of hydroquinone (10-100 μmol·L-1) for 4 h. MTT assay was used to test cell viability and comet assay was used to detect the DNA damage and repairment. RESULTS MTT assay showed that hydroquinone inhibited the growth of cells in a concentration-dependant manner and the survival number of XRCC1-deficient cell was less than that of the two control groups. Comet assay revealed that different concentrations of hydroquinone caused more severe DNA damage in XRCC1-deficient cell line than in control cells and there were no significant difference in the two control groups. CONCLUSION The results suggest XRCC1 be involved in preventing cells from damage caused by hydroquinone.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of dural tenting suture and epidural drainage in craniotomy. Methods In 145 cases of intracranial lesions, dural tenting suture and epidural drainage were performed to prevent epidural hematoma. Results Postoperative computed tomography (CT) showed no epidural hematoma required surgery in both groups. Conclusion Both dural tenting suture and epidural drainage are effective in preventing epidural hematoma. Hemostasis is the key step. Dural tenting suture without epidural drainage relieves psychological stress. It decreases the risk of intracranial infection and avoids some unusual complications.

Objective To establish high resolution, reproducible 2-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) profiles of invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenoma tissues and to identify differentially ex-pressed proteins between the invasive and non-invasive tissues. Methods The proteome from invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenomas tissues was dissected and analyzed by: (1) immobilized pH gradient two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, (2) silver staining, (3) imageMaster 2-D software analysis, (4) peptide mass fingerprint based (PMS) on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), and (5) database comparison. Results High-resolution 2-D patterns of invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenoma tissues were successfully produced and re-peated 3 times for each sample. An average of 1080±24 and 1035±28 spots were detected for invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenoma tissues, respectively. Additionally, 975±45 and 918±56 spots were found to have an average matching rate of 90.3% and 88.7% for invasive and non-invasive tissues, re-spectively. The spot positional deviation was (1.563±0.259) mm for IEF and (1.088±0.206) mm for SDS-PAGE. A total of 99 spots of differential expression were matched between the invasive and non-in-vasive pituitary adenoma tissues. Thirty differential proteins, some of which were involved in the regula-tion of cells cycle and signal transduction, were initially characterized by PMS. Conclusion The acquisi-tion of well-resolved and reproducible 2-D patterns of invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenoma tissues and the identification of differentially expressed proteins provides a proteome database for invasive pituita-ry adenomas.

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To explore the effects of hydrogen sulfide ( H2 S) on the myocardial fibrosis in a rat model of diabetes and its mechanism.METHODS:Single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin ( STZ) was utilized to establish a rat model of diabetes.Sodium hydrosulfide was used as an exogenous donor of hydrogen sulfide.Male SD rats were ran-domly divided into control group, STZ group, STZ+H2 S group and H2 S group.Eight weeks later, HE and VG staining methods were used to observe the collagen distribution and collagen volume fraction was measured by image analysis.The expression levels of type I collagen, PPARγand NF-κB in the cardiac tissues were determined by Western blotting.RE-SULTS:Compared with control group, collagen distribution and the expression levels of type I collagen and NF-κB in the cardiac tissues were markedly increased (P<0.05), while PPARγwas significantly decreased in STZ group (P<0.05), but these indexes were reversed significantly in STZ+H2S group (P<0.05).The expression levels of type I collagen, PPARγand NF-κB had no significant difference between H2 S group and control group.CONCLUSION:Hydrogen sulfide attenuates cardiac fibrosis in diabetic rats, and its mechanism may be related to PPARγ-NF-κB signaling pathway.

Objective: To investigate the impact and its possible mechanism of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on myocardial collagen remodeling in experimental rats with diabetic mellitus (DM).
Methods: Rat’s DM model was established by intraperitoneal injection of STZ at 40 mg/kg. A total of 40 SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups:Control group, DM group, DM+NaHS group, in which NaHS worked as exogenous donor of H2S and NaHS control group. n=10 in each group, all animals were treated for 8 weeks. The cardiac collagen deposition was observed by Masson staining, protein expressions of cardiac collagen types I, III, IV and transforming growth factorβ1 (TGF-β1), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) were examined by Western blot analysis.
Results: Compared with Control group, DM group showed increased protein expressions of cardiac collagen types I and III, up-regulated expressions of TGF-β1 and CTGF, P<0.05;while the expressions of collagen type IV were similar between 2 groups. Compared with DM group, DM+NaHS group presented reduced cardiac collagen expression, decreased expression of collagen types I and III, down-regulated expressions of TGF-β1 and CTGF, P<0.05;while the expressions of collagen type IV were similar between 2 groups.
Conclusion: H2S may improve the myocardial collagen remodeling in experimental DM rats, the mechanism might be related to the down-regulation of TGF-β1 and CTGF expression.

Objective To explore the effects of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on myocardial fibrosis and expressions of MAPK1/3 and MMP-8 in diabetic rats. Methods Forty adult male SD rats were randomized into 4 groups, namely the control group, diabetes mellitus group (STZ group), diabetes mellitus with H2S treatment group (STZ+H2S group), and normal rats with H2S treatment group (H2S group). Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injections of 40 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ). The rats in the control group received daily intraperitoneal injections of saline, and those in STZ+H2S group and H2S group were given NaHS (100μmol/kg) injections. After 8 weeks, the pathologies of cardiac fibrosis were examined with HE staining, and the expressions of collagen I, MAPK1/3 and MMP-8 were analyzed with Western blotting. Results Compared with the control group, the diabetic rats showed increased collagen content and obvious interstitial fibrosis in the myocardial tissue with significantly increased expression levels of collagen I, MAPK1/3 and MMP-8 (P<0.05); all these changes were obviously reversed by treatment with H2S (P<0.05). Collagen I, MAPK1/3 and MMP-8 expression levels and the degree of myocardial fibrosis were comparable between H2S group and control group (P>0.05). Conclusion Hydrogen sulfide can attenuate cardiac fibrosis in diabetic rats, and the mechanism may involve the inhibition of MAPK1/3/MMP-8 signal pathway.

Objective To explore the effects of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on myocardial fibrosis and expressions of MAPK1/3 and MMP-8 in diabetic rats. Methods Forty adult male SD rats were randomized into 4 groups, namely the control group, diabetes mellitus group (STZ group), diabetes mellitus with H2S treatment group (STZ+H2S group), and normal rats with H2S treatment group (H2S group). Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injections of 40 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ). The rats in the control group received daily intraperitoneal injections of saline, and those in STZ+H2S group and H2S group were given NaHS (100μmol/kg) injections. After 8 weeks, the pathologies of cardiac fibrosis were examined with HE staining, and the expressions of collagen I, MAPK1/3 and MMP-8 were analyzed with Western blotting. Results Compared with the control group, the diabetic rats showed increased collagen content and obvious interstitial fibrosis in the myocardial tissue with significantly increased expression levels of collagen I, MAPK1/3 and MMP-8 (P<0.05); all these changes were obviously reversed by treatment with H2S (P<0.05). Collagen I, MAPK1/3 and MMP-8 expression levels and the degree of myocardial fibrosis were comparable between H2S group and control group (P>0.05). Conclusion Hydrogen sulfide can attenuate cardiac fibrosis in diabetic rats, and the mechanism may involve the inhibition of MAPK1/3/MMP-8 signal pathway.

Objective To investigate the role of peripheral CD14+monocyte-macrophages in the recognition of phosphorylated antigen by γδ T cells and its relationship with treatment outcome. Methods Three kinds of γδ TCR tetramers were used to stain PBMC collected from patients with tuberculosis ( TB) and neonatal umbilical cord blood samples. The proportions of various TB-specific antigen presenting cells (APC) in peripheral blood were analyzed, and their relationships with treatment outcome were assessed based upon clinical data. Results CD14+monocyte-macrophages both in tuberculosis patients′ peripheral blood and neonatal umbilical cord blood were the strongest binding cells to CD277 antibody and γδ TCR tet-ramers. The median (P50) of CD14+monocyte-macrophages reached the highest peak after taking anti-tu-berculosis treatment for about one month and patients′condition was improved obviously during this period. Conclusion This study elucidated that CD14+monocyte-macrophages accounted for the largest proportion of APC when γδ T cells recognized phosphorylated antigens, which provided reference data for further study on the mechanism of γδ T cells restrictively recognizing phosphorylated antigen and their significance in innate and adaptive immunity.