OBJECTIVETo observe the HBV serum markers and HBV DNA expressions of the neonates born to the HBsAg-positive mothers.

METHODSBy detecting serum immunity markers of hepatitis B virus (5 items) and serum HBV DNA of 283 neonates (a pair of twins) born to 282 HBsAg-positive mothers.

RESULTS12 patterns emerge from the study of the hepatitis B serum markers of 283 neonates. Topping the list is the combination of HBeAg and anti-HBc positive accounting for 48.41% (137/283), followed by the combination of anti-HBe and anti-HBc positive accounting for 22.26% (62/283). The third highest combination is that of HBsAg, HBeAg and anti-HBc positive accounting for 12.37% (35/283). There are five combinations accounting for 16.61% (47/283), each with HBsAg-positive. No case is found of the five items all negative or only HBsAb positive. Five cases are detected of serum HBV DNA > or = 1 x 103 IU/ml accounting for 1.77%.

CONCLUSIONSNeonates born to HBsAg-positive mothers display complex patterns of serum hepatitis B markers, the dominant pattern being the combination of HBeAg and anti-HBc positive. Cases of serum HBV DNA > or = 1 x 10(3) IU/ml are rare.

Biomarkers ; blood ; DNA, Viral ; analysis ; Female ; Hepatitis B ; transmission ; Hepatitis B Antibodies ; blood ; Hepatitis B Core Antigens ; blood ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; blood ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; blood ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical ; Male

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the usefulness of new microspincolumn method for the measurement of a1pha-fetoprotein variant AFP-L3 in differentiation of benign and malignant liver disease and the warming for liver cancer.

METHODSAFP-L3 was isolated by using microspincolumn coupled with lens culinaris agglutinin (LCA), AFP and AFP-L3 were determined with chemiluminescent immunoassay, the proportion of AFP-L3 levels AFP-L3(%) were calculated, and the relationship between the elevated AFP-L3(%) levels and benign and malignant liver disease was analyzed.

RESULTSThe levels of AFP-L3(%) in serum of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly higher than those in the patients with other liver diseases (P < 0.001). Taking AFP-L3(%) >or= 10% as the diagnostic criteria, the sensitivity for diagnosis of liver cancer was 90.9%.

CONCLUSIONDetection of AFP-L3 seemed to be of clinical value in diagnosis and differential diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma; it may be especially important for identifying patients with hepatocellular carcinoma whose a1pha-fetoprotein level is low.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; blood ; diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; blood ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; methods ; Liver Cirrhosis ; blood ; diagnosis ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; Luminescent Measurements ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Young Adult ; alpha-Fetoproteins ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo establish the HPLC fingerprint of Xuelian injection.

METHODHPLC with Diamonsil C18 (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) column was used, the methanol-1% acetic acid as a mobile phase and detection wavelength at 270 nm.

RESULTIndicating 11 peaks on HPLC fingerprint.

CONCLUSIONThis method is simple and acurate with a good reproducibility and can be used as a quality control method for Xuelian injection.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Injections ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Quality Control ; Saussurea ; chemistry

OBJECTIVEUsing pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) typing to analyze strains isolated from two outbreaks caused by Shigella sonnei and to trace the source of infection.

METHODSVirulence genes ipaH and ial were detected by PCR and PFGE was used to subtype the isolates. Patterns were compared, using the software BioNumerics.

RESULTSWithin the 54 isolates, all were ipaH positive with 48 as ial positive. Strains from the Chongzhou outbreak were clustered into 4 PFGE patterns, with the predominant pattern accounted for 72% of the analyzed strains. The pattern of strains isolated from the cold pork with sauce was identical to the predominant pattern. The strains from Dayi outbreak were clustered into 8 PFGE patterns and the predominant pattern accounted for 56% of the test strains.

CONCLUSIONStrains from the two outbreaks were quite different and the 'cold pork with sauce' seemed to be the major source of infection, causing the outbreak of diarrhea in Chongzhou. The sources of infection of the Dayi outbreak might be complicated whereas PFGE showed a discriminatory and reproducible laboratory tool in the epidemiologic investigation on outbreaks of diarrhea.

Bacteriophage Typing ; China ; epidemiology ; Disease Outbreaks ; Dysentery, Bacillary ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Food Microbiology ; Foodborne Diseases ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Humans ; Shigella ; classification ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVEExplore the serum of patients with CHB of HBV large envelope protein (HBV-LHBs) trans-activation function and antiviral therapy effect relationship.

METHODS60 cases of anti-viral treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B to take every 3 months HBVDNA, HBV-LHBs, as well as detection of hepatitis B immune markers to observe the changes in indexes.

RESULTSIncome group 60 cases of anti-virus group HBVDNA with HBV-LHBs have a higher detection rate of the consistency of the results found no statistical significance (P > 0.05), HBV-LHBs-positive rate and positive rate of HBeAg differences (chi2 = 4.08, P < 0.05). After 24 months of antiviral therapy HBV-LHBs expression always HBVDNA in 29 cases of which occurred 24 months after the negative reaction of the 20 cases, continuous positive were seven cases of non-negative. 60 cases of patients 24 months found no HBsAg seroconversion, four cases of emergence of HBeAg seroconversion.

CONCLUSION(1) detection of serum HBV-LHBs to reflect the hepatitis B virus replication with HBVDNA good correlation. (2) anti-viral treatment of dynamic observation of the process of HBV-LHBs expression can predict the effectiveness of anti-viral therapy.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; DNA, Viral ; blood ; genetics ; Female ; Hepatitis B ; blood ; drug therapy ; virology ; Hepatitis B Antigens ; blood ; genetics ; Hepatitis B virus ; drug effects ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; blood ; genetics ; Virus Activation ; drug effects ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate the predictive value of a combined model based on clinical and radiomics features for the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma manifesting as ground glass nodule(GGN).Methods Clinical data of patients with GGN-type lung adenocarcinoma who underwent chest CT and were confirmed by surgical pathology at some hospital from January to December 2019 were analyzed retrospectively,and the extraction of imaging histological features was performed using Python-based open resource Pyradiomics.A clinical model was constructed based on independent risk factors obtained from univariate and multivariate analyses,a radiomics model was built using the screened radiomics features,and a combined model was established with the predictive values of the clinical models and radiomics scores(Radscore).The predictive performance of the three models in the training and test sets was assessed using ROC curves,the statistical significance of the differences in the ROC curves of the three models for predicting GGN-type lung adenocarcinoma was assessed using the Delong test,and the net benefits of the models were analyzed using clinical decision curves.Results Logistic multifactor analysis showed that age(P=0.020 2)and vascular characteristics(P=0.002 2)were the independent predictors of the degree of the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma.The AUCs of the radiomics model,clinical model and combined model were 0.876,0.867 and 0.904 on the training set,and 0.828,0.828 and 0.864 on the test set,respectively.The difference between the ROC curves of the combined model and the clinical and radiomics models was not statistically significant(P>0.05)on the test set.Clinical decision curves showed a higher clinical benefit when using the combined model to predict the invasiveness under most conditions of threshold probability.Conclusion The combined model based on clinical and radiomics features enhances the predictive performance for the invasiveness of GGN-type lung adenocarcinoma.

Aim To establish human U87-MG glioma model in nude mice brain and to observe the characteristics of the tumor growth. Methods Human U87-MG glioma cells were cultured in vitro. 5 μL of cell suspension containing 3.0 ×1010·L-1, 4.0×1010·L-1and 5.0×1010·L-1respectively was inocula-ted into the right caudate nucleus of 18 male nude mice brain un-der the guidance of stereotaxic apparatus, separately, whereas another 6 nude mice as the control group, were inoculated into the same volume of Hanks solution. The moving and survival state of rats with gliomas were observed. The examinations of the tumors formation, volumes, metastasis and histopathology were performed and the obtained brain samples were stained with HE and immunohistochemistry. Results All the tested rats of dif-ferent inoculation doses developed brain tumors without extracra-nial metastasis. The mean survival time of three groups was (46.50 ± 3.27) d,(38.50 ± 3.28) d and (30.67 ± 3.51) d,respectively. The tumors showed the similar morphological fea-tures and immunophenotype to human glioma. There was positive expression of GFAP and S-100 in the tumors. Conclusions The orthotopic implantation model of human U87-MG glioma, by in-oculating quantitative U87-MG cells stereotaxically into the brains of the nude mice, is successfully established with 100 yield of intracranial tumor and no extracranial growth extension. It resembles the histopathological and morphological features of human glioma,which can be used as a reliable animal model for the study of the tumorigenesis, pathogenesis, biological charac-teristics and therapy of glioma.

Objective To investigate the protein expression of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), phosphorylated Akt B (p-Akt) and p-mTOR in human gliomas, and evaluate their clinical significance in clinicopathological status and prognosis of these patients with gliomas. Methods Eighty-eight patients, admitted to our hospital from September 2004 to September 2008, were chosen in our study; these patients were performed surgical resection and the samples were pathologically confirmed as gliomas. Another 20 samples, cut from the normal brain tissue were adopted as controls.Immunohistochemistry was employed to examine the protein expression of PI3K, p-AKT and p-mTOR.Then, the correlation of their expression with the clinicopathological features of the gliomas and prognosis of the patients was further analyzed. Results The positive expression rates of PI3K in gliomas and normal brain tissues were 68.18% (60/88) and 18.18% (16/88), respectively; those of p-AKT were 73.86% (65/88) and 17.05% (15/88), respectively;, those of p-mTOR were 75.00% (66/88) and 18.18% (16/88), respectively; the expression levels of these 3 proteins were all significantly higher than those in normal brain tissues (PI3K: x2=14.028, P=0.009; p-AKT: x2=15.132, P=0.008 and mTOR:x2=15.293, P=0.008). The positive expression rates of PI3K, p-AKT and p-mTOR were significantly different in the gliomas with pathological grades, different scores of Karnofsky performance status and different clinical stages (P＜0.05). In addition, the 5-year overall survival rate in PI3K-positive group,p-AKT-positive group and p-mTOR-positive group was significantly lower than in those negative groups (PI3K: x2=8.381, P=0.026; p-AKT: x2=12.923, P=0.011; mTOR: x2=13.252, P=0.013). Conclusion PI3K/Akt/mTOR signal transduction pathway is over-activated in gliornas, which is closely correlated to the grade-malignancy; and the positive expression of PI3K, p-AKT and p-mTOR may predict the poor prognosis of the patients with gliomas.

BACKGROUND: Groundwater is believed to possess many beneficial effects due to its natural source of various minerals. In this study, we examined the effects of natural Jeju groundwater S1 (Samdasoo(TM)), S2 and S3 pumped up from different locations of Jeju Island, Korea, along with local tap water, on body weight gain, serum lipids and lipoproteins, and liver histopathology in high-fat diet-induced hyperlipidemic rats. MATERIALS/METHODS: Rats were randomly and equally divided into 6 groups. Different water samples were supplied to the hyperlipidemic rats as their daily drinking water and the widely-used anti-hyperlipidemic drug simvastatin was used as a positive control. Body weight, serum lipids and lipoproteins were measured weekly. Liver weight, liver index and liver histopathology were examined after the execution of the rats. RESULTS: After drinking Jeju groundwaters for two months, S2 but not S3 significantly reduced weight growth and serum triglycerides levels and increased high density lipoprotein-C (HDL-C) without affecting total cholesterol or LDL-C. S1 and particularly S2 significantly reduced the severity of liver hypertrophy and steatosis. All Groundwaters had much higher contents of vanadium (S3>S2>S1>>tap water) whereas S1 and S2 but not S3 markedly blocked autoxidation of ferrous ions. CONCLUSION: Jeju Groundwater S1 and particularly S2 exhibit protective effects against hyperlipidemia and fatty liver and hypothesize that the beneficial effect of Jeju Groundwaters may be contributed from blockade of autoxidation of ferrous ions rather than their high contents of vanadium.
Animals ; Body Weight ; Cholesterol ; Drinking ; Drinking Water ; Fatty Liver ; Groundwater* ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertrophy ; Ions ; Korea ; Lipid Metabolism* ; Lipoproteins ; Liver ; Minerals ; Rats* ; Simvastatin ; Triglycerides ; Vanadium ; Water

OBJECTIVETo study the expressions of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (Flt-1) in the testis, epididymis and epididymal sperm of adolescent rats and explore the functions of both the proteins in the male reproductive system.

METHODSThe expressions of VEGF and Flt-1 were detected in 20 adolescent SD rats, immunohistochemical staining used for both the testis and the epididymis and immunofluorescent staining for sperm.

RESULTSVEGF and Flt-1 proteins were specifically present in the testis, epididymis and sperm. In the testis, VEGF immunoreactive particles were localized in the cytoplasm of spermatogenic cells, the developing acrosome of spermatids, Sertoli cells and Leydig cells, while Flt-1 expressed mainly in the developing acrosome of spermatids and Leydig cells. In the epididymis, the cell-specific and region-specific expressions of VEGF and Flt-1 proteins were observed in the principal cells of epididymal epithelia, VEGF in the whole epididymis, while Flt-1 only in the caput and cauda segments. Both VEGF and Flt-1 were localized in the acrosome of the sperm head as well as in the neck, middle and principal segments of the sperm tail.

CONCLUSIONThe specific expression patterns of VEGF and Flt-1 in the rat testis, epididymis and sperm indicate that they may independently or collectively affect spermatogenesis and spermiotelcosis in either an autocrinological or a

Animals ; Epididymis ; metabolism ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sexual Maturation ; Spermatozoa ; metabolism ; Testis ; metabolism ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; biosynthesis ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 ; biosynthesis