Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ; chemistry ; cytology ; Female ; Lipopolysaccharides ; toxicity ; Lung ; drug effects ; enzymology ; pathology ; Male ; Neutrophils ; cytology ; Peroxidase ; analysis ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

The importance of Toxoplasma gondii in human disease stimulated a number of electron microscope studies on the structure of this protozoan parasite. Gustafson et al. first studied the fine structure by means of thin sections in 1954. Many other papers havs subsequantly appeared. It is well known that Toxoplasma gondii has two stages in its life cycle-the proliferative forms and the cyst. The purpose of the electron microscopical work reported here was to study the fine structure of Toxoplasma gondii with recent techniques clarifying the correlation between the proliferative forms and cyst. RH strain and KM strain as proliferative forms on the one hand and Beverley strain as a cyst form of Toxoplasma gondii on the other hand were used throughout this study. The conoid, toxoneme, nucleus, nucleolus, osmiophilic granules, mitochondria and vacuoles were found in RH strain as wsll as in KM strain and Beverley strain. The endoplasmic reticulum was found in the cytoplasm of RH strain and KM strain. It was better developed in KM strain than in RH strain. The outside contour of the organism of Beverley strain was somewhat irregular and toxoneme of this organism was better developed than in the other two strains. Vacuoles were found in RH strain, KM strain and Beverley strain. Furthermore, tube-like bodies were observed in the vacuoles of the organism of RH strain. In KM strain, two organisms of the same size were demonstrated in the leucocytes. It was presumed that they were products of longitudinal division.
parasitology-protozoa- Toxoplasma gondii ; electron microscopy

Objective To investigate apoptosis of HepG2 ceils after transfecfion with LIGHT gene and interferon-γ. Methods LIGHT gene and interferon-γ were transfected into HepG2 cells by liposome mediated method. The HepG2 cells were divided into group A (transfected with LIGHT gene or interferon-γ), group B (transfeeted with LIGHT gene and interferon-γ) and group C (non-transfection group). The apoptosis rate of the HepG2 cells and the expression of Bcl-2 and Caspase-8 were detected 12, 24, 48 hours after transfeetion. Results (1) The apoptosis rates of HepG2 cells at hour 12, 24 and 48 after transfeetion were 18.8% ± 3.5%, 25.7%± 2.8% and 36.4% ±3.6% in group A, 23.8% ±2.4%, 31.1% ±2.1% and42.5% ±4.5% in group B, and 8.7% ± 2.1%, 9.3% ± 1.6% and 10.9% ± 1.2% in group C. There was a significant difference in apoptosis rate among the 3 groups (F = 15.69, 53.33, 48.28, P < 0.01). (2) The expression of Bcl-2 in HepG2 cells at hour 12, 24 and 48 after transfection was 16.4% ± 5.0%, 13.4% ± 3.5% and 8.6% ± 2.3% in group A, 14.7%±3.8%, 9.1% ±2.0% and 4.6% ±2.0% in group B, and 25.3% ±6. 3%, 19.8% ±4.4% and 10.1% ±3.8% in group C. There was a significant difference in the expression of Bcl-2 among the 3 groups (F = 6.19, 12.29, 5.81, P <0.05). (3) The expression of Caspase-8 at hour 12, 24 and48 after transfection were 19.3% ±2.4%, 27.2% ±1.9% and 33.7% ±3.0% in group A, 22.7% ±2.2%, 30.9% ±3.1% and 38.2% ±3.2% in group B, and 1.2% ±0.8%, 1.8% ±0.6% and 3.2% ±1.5% in group C. There was a significant difference in the expression of Caspase-8 among the 3 groups (F =71.54, 112. 78, I01.61, P < 0.01). Condusions LIGHT gene can signiticanfly promote cell apoptosis through regulating the expression of Bcl-2 and Caspase-8. Interferon-γ enhanced the effect of LIGHT gene on the apoptosis of HepG2 cells.

The authors retrospectively analysed the ultrasonographic findings of 43 cases of surgically confirmed hypertrophic pyloric stenosis and their postoperative findings of sonograms taken at 1 month(n=40) or 3 months( n=5) after pyloromyotomy. In preoperative study, the thickened pyloric muscle was isoechoic or slight hypoechoic relative to liver on the midline longitudinal view and appeared as a "nonuniform acoustic ring" on the transverse view. The results of measurement in the all cases with hypertrophic pyloric stenosis were the pyloric thickness ≥3.8mm, the pyloric diameter ≥14mm, the pyloric channel length ≥16mm, the pyloric muscle volume ≥2.21Cm
Acoustics ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Liver ; Methods ; Pyloric Stenosis, Hypertrophic ; Reference Values ; Retrospective Studies ; Ultrasonography*

The goals of any new cervical cancer chemotherapy should include; a decrease in toxicity, better distant and local control of the disease, prolongation of survival, improvement in the quality of life and palliation of symptoms. The goal of FAC (5-Fluorouracil, Interferon alpha-2a, Carboplatin) neoadjuvant chemothe-raphy is for better surgical therapeutic results in locally advanced and bulky lesions with preo-perative chemotheraphy. This new trend in management of cervical cancer may provide the benefits as follows; reduction of the tumor size, a decrease in numbers of involved lymph nodes, control of microscopically metastatic lesions, improvement of the effects of radiation therapy and providing the chance of operability by lowering the clinical stage than initial prechemotherapy stage. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of FAC neoadjuvant chemotherapy on reducing the size of tumors in cervical cancer. 17 patients in stage I b2, IIa, IIb carcinoma of cervix were treated with FAC regimen; Interferon alpha-2a 6 MIU given subcutaneously on day 1~6, 5-Fluorouracil 750 mg/m(2) given intravenously on day 2~6 and Carboplatin 350 mg/m2 given intravenously on 2nd day. The overall response rate was 58.5%, including 2 complete responses(11.7%) and 8 partial responses(47.1%). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy reduced the mean cervical lesion area from 23.1+9.97 cm(2) to 8.65+5.95 cm(2) in response group. The toxicity was acceptable in this group and the frequent toxicity was myelosuppression. Although limitation of this study are the lack of randomization and the small sample size, FAC neoadjuvant chemotheraphy is a potentially useful modality in the management of patients with locally advanced bulky cervical cancer.
Carboplatin ; Cervix Uteri ; Drug Therapy* ; Female ; Fluorouracil ; Humans ; Interferons ; Lymph Nodes ; Quality of Life ; Random Allocation ; Sample Size ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*

Intestinal duplication cysts are characterized by the attachment to some part of the gastrointestinal tract with which a blood supply is shared, and have an epithelial lining resembling some part of the alimentary tract. A 15-month-old female was admitted to our hospital with cyclic irritability, vomiting, and blood-tinged stool. The results of an ultrasound showed an ileocolic intussusception and a 1.3 cm cystic mass had double-wall sign and a Y-configuration with an adjacent ileal loop. She had a past history of two ileocolic intussusceptions. The cystic mass was considered to be a pathologic lead point, so resection and end-to-end anastomosis was performed. The gross and histologic evaluation of the specimen demonstrated a 2.4x2.4 cm cystic mass containing yellow mucoid fluid and the cyst wall was lined with intestinal and gastric mucosa and enclosed by a layer of muscle, which was shared with the adjacent ileum.
Child ; Female ; Gastric Mucosa ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Ileum ; Infant ; Intussusception ; Muscles ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: Konkuk University Hospital (KUH), which opened in September 2005, is currently categorized as a secondary hospital. Early on after its establishment, the surgical residents and nurses were relatively inexperienced in the treatment of stomach cancer. Therefore, the quality of surgery for stomach cancer at KUH may be different from that of the existing large-scale tertiary hospitals. The purpose of this study is first to investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of the gastric cancer patients at the KUH, and second to compare our morbidity & mortality rates with those of previous studies, and we also analyzed the risk factors of morbidity at the early stage of a training hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study retrospectively collected the clinicopathological characteristics and the post-operative morbidity rates and mortality rates with using the electronic medical records of all the patients who went under a gastric cancer operation at KUH from September 2005 to April 2008. RESULTS: The total number of gastric cancer patients who underwent operation was 201. The morbidity rate and death rate at KUH were 10.4% and 0.5%, respectively. The morbidity has increased with an older age. The other variables had no influence on morbidity. CONCLUSION: The morbidity rate, death rate and the clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer patients at KUH were similar to those of the previous reports. We found that age is the main factor affecting the morbidity rate after stomach cancer surgery. For further surgical qualification of stomach cancer surgery at KUH, it is necessary to collect the survival data of patients who undergo stomach cancer surgery.
Electronic Health Records ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Tertiary Care Centers

Objective Mutated inbred animal model is introduced to the practical course of genetic diagnosis in the hope that medical students are able to apply what they have learned to clinical cases, based on a deep understanding of principle and technology on gene mutation detection. Methods We integrated DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction, agarose gel electrophoresis, and gel imaging analysis into a comprehensive experiment and arranged 4-year-programme undergraduates majoring in preclinical medical sciences to conduct it with the purpose of investigating the internal relations between phenotype and genotype in a hairless Uncv mouse model. Subsequently, the questionnaire aimed at evaluating learning effect on the part of students was handed out and their feedbacks were analyzed. Results More than 90% of respondents are satisfied with the general learning effect. Especially, 98. 7% of students support the enhancing effect of the new teaching mode on their research skills and 96% consider the practical course helpful to their problem-solving ability. Conclusions The introduction of mutated inbred animal model to the practical system of molecular diagnostics proves beneficial to boost students' learning effect and scientific research quality. Our practice also provokes thoughts on the further utilization of animal models in teaching system of medical sciences.

OBJECTIVEFrequency, type and clinical implications on protease and reverse transcriptase drug resistance mutations were investigated and phylogenetic analysis in antiretroviral drug-naïve AIDS patients was carried out in Henan province.

METHODS45 plasma samples were separated from the anticoagulatory whole blood, from which reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction technique was used to amplify the partial pol gene. The sequences were analysed for genotypic antiretroviral resistance and phylogenetic relation through landing the websites http://hivdb.stanford.edu and http://hiv-web.lanl.gov, under BioEdit and DNAClub software.

RESULTSPartial pol sequences of 36 samples were successfully amplified. The major mutation rate of resistance to protease was 8.3% (3/36), including types D30A, V32A, G73C and V82A. Minor mutation rate of resistance was 100%, including types of L63PS (36/36), I93L (35/36), V77IL (34/36), A71IVT (10/36) and D60E (2/36). The mutation rate of resistance to reverse transcriptase was 38.9% (14/36). Mutation-scoring and clinical implication clewed drug resistance rates were 5.6% (2/36) and 22.2% (8/36) to protease inhibitors and reverse transcriptase inhibitors respectively, while 1 sample was potentially low-level resistant to all of the protease inhibitors and 3 samples to part of the reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the pol gene of 36 samples were highly homologous and having a near relative to B.US.83.RF ACC M17451. 36 samples seemed to have the same infection source while their resistance mutations were not due to drug-resistant virus infection but to the evolving of virus in vivo.

CONCLUSIONMost of the antiretroviral drug-naïve AIDS patients in Henan province were sensitive to the currently available antiviral medicine, but antiviral treatment must be in accordance with the strict procedure and to keep better adherence, to avoid the epidemics caused by drug-resistant virus.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; genetics ; Adult ; Anti-HIV Agents ; pharmacology ; China ; Drug Resistance, Viral ; genetics ; Female ; Genes, pol ; genetics ; Genotype ; HIV Protease ; genetics ; HIV Protease Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Male ; Mutation ; Phylogeny ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors ; pharmacology

Purpose: Capmatinib, an oral MET kinase inhibitor, has demonstrated its efficacy against non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with MET dysregulation. We investigated its clinical impact in advanced NSCLC with MET exon 14 skipping mutation (METex14) or gene amplification. Materials and Methods: Patients who participated in the screening of a phase II study of capmatinib for advanced NSCLC were enrolled in this study. MET gene copy number (GCN), protein expression, and METex14 were analyzed and the patients’ clinical outcome were retrospectively reviewed. Results: A total of 72 patients were included in this analysis (group A: GCN ≥ 10 or METex14, n=14; group B: others, n=58). Among them, 13 patients were treated with capmatinib (group A, n=8; group B, n=5), and the overall response rate was 50% for group A, and 0% for group B. In all patients, the median overall survival (OS) was 20.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.9 to not applicable [NA]) for group A, and 11.3 months (95% CI, 8.2 to 20.3) for group B (p=0.457). However, within group A, median OS was 21.5 months (95% CI, 20.8 to NA) for capmatinib-treated, and 7.5 months (95% CI, 3.2 to NA) for capmatinib-untreated patients (p=0.025). Among all capmatinib-untreated patients (n=59), group A showed a trend towards worse OS to group B (median OS, 7.5 months vs. 11.3 months; p=0.123). Conclusion Our data suggest that capmatinib is a new compelling treatment for NSCLC with MET GCN ≥ 10 or METex14 based on the improved survival within these patients.