?AIM: To study the association of the single nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP) rs1157699 in the calcitonin receptor-like receptor ( CRLR ) gene with primary angle closure ( PAC) in a Han Chinese population.?METHODS: All samples, involved 232 PAC cases and 306 controls, were obtained from an epidemiologic survey conducted in Funing, Jiangsu Province, China. Genotyping were carried out by TaqMan-MGB probe using the real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction system to study the relationship between SNP of rs1157699 in CRLR gene and PAC.?RESULTS: The prevalence of CRLRrs1157699 genotype was 67.4%, 30.0%, 2.6% for CC, CT, TT in cases, and 71.3%, 27.0%, 1.7% in controls respectively.There was no difference between the two groups in the distribution of genotype and allele frequencies of rs1157699 (P>0.05).?CONCLUSION:Our results do not support a significant role for rs1157699 in CRLR with PAC.

Objective To investigate the clinicopathological features,diagnosis,treatment,prognosis and causative agent of a case of eumycetoma on the submaxilla.Methods A case of eumycetoma diagnosed in our department was assessed for its clinical and pathological features as well as mycologic and molecular identification.Related literature was reviewed.Results The patient was primarily characterized by swelling of the submaxilla,with multiple sinuses draining many black granules.Pathologic examination revealed a pyogenic granulomatous inflammation,and a number of lotus rhizome node-like hypha were observed in tissue samples through PAS staining.Sequence analysis of multiple loci of the isolates,including ITS 1,ITS2 and D1/D2,showed that it was mostly similar to Madurella mycetomatis with a homology of 97%.Conclusion This is a case ofeumycetoma on the submaxilla induced by a novel species of Madurella.

ObjectiveTo study the values of EEG and [18F]2-deoxyglucose(FDG) positron emission tomography in localizing the epiletogenic cortex,and evaluate their relation.MethodsVideo-EEG(VEEG) and FDG-PET scans were performed in 44 patients with refractory epilepsy.Electrocorticography(ECoG) in surgery and patholopy were performed in 38 patients who had undergone neurosurgical therapy.Congruence among them were studied.Results43 patients(98%) had FDG-PET hypometabolism.42 patients(95%) had epileptiform wave.There were 22 patients(50%) whose PET and EEG were in complete congruence,whereas 10 patients(23%) in part congruence.12 patients who had undergone operation had controversial results in PET and EEG,8 cases had agreement between ECoG and PET,and 2 cases had agreement between ECoG and VEEG. ConclusionFDG-PET is a effective,sensitive and non-invasive investigation.It can provide valuable supplemental data in patients with unlocalized surface EEG.

Humans ; Forensic Medicine ; Poisoning/diagnosis*

Objective To screen differentially expressed genes in placentas with hepatitis B virus (HBV)infection and to discuss the molecular mechanism of HBV intrauterine infection.Methods Thirty placenta tissue specimens from HBsAg and HBV DNA positive pregnant women were used as the study group and 30 placenta tissue specimens from normal pregnant women with HBsAg and HBV DNA negativity were served as the control group.The suppression subtractive hybridization(SSH)technique was used.Total RNAs of placenta tissue of the study group were mixed as the tester,and total RNAs of placenta tissue of the control group were mixed as the driver.A subtractive cDNA library was constructed by PCR-selective cDNA subtraction systems.Amplifications of the library were carried out with E.coil strain DH5? by reverse spot hybridization.RT-PCR confirmed that phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K)was up-regulated in placenta tissue with HBV infection.Results Colony PCR showed that the clones contained 200-1000 bp inserts. Thirty five clones were confirmed by reverse spot hybridization and analyzed by sequencing and bioinformatics.Thirty three known genes and 2 genes with unknown function were obtained.RT-PCR preliminarily confirmed that PI3K gene was up-regulated in HBV infected placenta.Conclusions The differentially expressed genes in placentas with hepatitis B virus(HBV)infection using SSH technique has been screened out successfully.These differentially expressed genes encoding proteins participating in cell vital metabolism and malformation,and signal conduction-antiapoptosis pathway.This finding brings some new clues for studying the mechanisms of HBV intrauterine infection.

Objective To observe the sequence of fat deposit and its relationship with insulin resistance in SD rats fed by high fat diet.Methods Normal 8-week-old male SD rats were randomly divided into normal chow (NC,n=40)and high fat diet(HF,n=40)groups.Triglyceride(TG)in serum,liver and muscle were measured;glucose infusion rate(GIR)and the mRNA level of genes related to lipid metabolism in liver and muscle were determined in different stages.GIR was detected by eugiyeemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp for evaluating the insulin sensitivity.Gene expression was determined by real-time PCR.Results(1)As compared with NC group,serum TG was not increased after high fat feeding for4 and 8 weeks,it began to increase after 12 weeks [0.52(0.15-1.00) mmol/L vs O.31(0.09-0.53)retool/L, P0.05)in skeletal muscle.After 8 weeks,the expression of ACC1 in liver in HF group was increased by 20.6%,CPT-1 was decreased by 27.1%(P

Objective To investigate the etfect of microenvironment simulated by colon carcinoma homogenate supernatant on the differentiation and development of human dendritic ceils (DCs), and to investigate the function of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) during this process . Methods Fresh colon carcinoma and peri-cancer tissues were collected to prepare homogenate supernatant. The pe-ripberal blood mononuclear cells were isolated and cultured with 1640 medium including rhGM-CSF and rhIL-4. Then the colon carcinoma homogenate supernatant, peri--carcinoma homogenate supernatant and VEGF-A were added to the cultures at day 2. Antigen of colon carcinoma cell line SW620 was added at day 4 and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was added at day 6. DCs were collected at day 8 for further study. The con-tent of VEGF-A was tested by ELISA. The morphology and the immunopbenotype of DCs were checked by microscope and flow cytometry, respectively. The expression of CDIa was tested by RT-PCR, and the prolif-eration and killing rate of T cell was measured by CCK-8. Results The content of VEGF-A in the homoge-nate supernatant of colon carcinoma was significantly higher than that of the peri-carcinoma (P ＜ 0. 05). Compared with normal DCs, the cell morphology of colon carcinoma homogenate aupernatant group was in-hibited, and the cell number was decreased. Besides, the positive expression rate of DC surface markers de-creased (P ＜ 0.01). The capacity of mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) and killing capacity of T cells de-creased(P ＜0.01). However, there was almost no difference between VEGF-A group and normal DCs on the cell morphology and cell number, and VEGF-A had no obvious inhibition on the expression of DCs sur-face markers (P ＞ 0.05). But VEGF-A group had significantly inhibitory effect on the MLR and T cells kill-ing. Conclusion The tumor microenvironment simulated by the colon carcinoma homogenate supernatant obviously has inhibitory effect on the differentiation and function of DCs, and VEGF-A has the inhibitory effect on DC function, but the inhibitory effect is not through the inhibition of the expression of DC costimu-lators.

Objective To explore the possible relationship between environmental contamination by Aspergillus and invasive aspergillosis.Methods From November 2005 to October 2006,samples were collected from the environment (air in corridors,air in wards,surfaces and tap water) twice a month,and from patients (nose,pharynx and sputum) at a liver transplantation department (LTD),neurologic surgery intensive care unit (NSICU) and central intensive care unit (CICU) in our hospital,and subjected to fungal culture.The Aspergillus density was determined in these environments.The isolates of Aspergillus flavus were genotyped by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay to investigate the origin of infection.Results The mean aspergillus density was 12,10.75,0 and 20 cfu/m~3 at LTD,NSICU,CICU and corridors respectively.The five most prevalent species of aspergillus in these environments in decreasing order were Aspergillus flavus,Aspergillus fumigatus,Aspergillus niger,Aspergillus versicolor and Aspergillus clavatus.RAPD demonstrated that the genotypes ofA.flavus isolated from two patients were identical to those of the environmental strains in NSICU.The A.flavus genotypes from 3 patients in CICU were all different from those of the environment strains in CICU,but the genotypes were identical from two of the three patients.Conclusions Aspergillus contamination of different degree does exist at LTD,NSICU and CICU. The genotypes of A.flavus are identical from patients and environment in NSICU,suggesting that the clinical infection may originate from hospital environment.

The aim of this study was to detect the presence of human AML leukemia stem cells (LSC) in childhood patients with acute leukemia (AL) and analyze the correlation between LSC concentrations and minimal residual disease (MRD) levels in AML cases after remission. The multi-parameter flow cytometry (FCM) and a panel of monoclonal antibody combination were used to detect the AML LSC or AML LSC immunophenotype-identical cell (AML LSC-IPIC) concentrations in childhood AML or ALL leukemia both at new diagnosis and at remission and correlated AML LSC to the MRD levels at different time points after remission. The results indicated that the AML LSC or AML LSC-IPIC concentrations [in average 166 (range 14 - 1459)/100 000 mononuclear cells (MNCs)] in AML at initial diagnosis were significantly higher than those in ALL [7 (range 0 - 560)/100 000 MNCs, p < 0.017] and control [0 (range 0 - 6)/100 000 MNCs, p < 0.017], respectively. The AML LSC concentrations in AML at non-CR were in average 36 (range 5 - 224)/100 000 MNCs. No statistical difference (p > 0.05) was found between the AML LSC or AML LSC-IPIC concentrations in AML (in average 6 (range 0 - 41)/100, 000 MNCs) and ALL [10 (range 0 - 105)/100, 000 MNCs] after CR. The significantly negative correlation was noticed between AML LSC concentrations and MRD levels. It is concluded that the AML LSCs exist in newly diagnosed AML, which are significantly reduced when complete remission has achieved, but the low levels of these populations still remain. The phenotypically similar (CD34(+)CD38⁻CD123(+)) AML LSC populations have also been found in the bone marrow from ALL patients, but their concentrations are not significantly different when CR has achieved. The significantly negative correlation between AML LSC concentrations and MRD levels is observed in AML patients after remission.
Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; immunology ; metabolism ; Male ; Neoplasm, Residual ; immunology ; metabolism ; Neoplastic Stem Cells ; cytology ; Tumor Stem Cell Assay

Objective To investigate the prevalence of uncorrected refractive errors among urban population aged 50 years and above in Ftming county,Jiangsu province.Methods Survey research was conducted and randomly cluster sampling was used to select individuals aged ≥50 years for visual acuity test and eye examination in Funing county,Jiangsu province.The criteria of uncorrected refractive errors in this study was defined as an improvement of at least 0.2 log MAR (equivalent to 2 lines) in the best corrected visual acuity with the base vision ＜ 0.5 log MAR in daily life.The quantitative data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation,and t-test was used for comparison between groups,and while the count data were expressed as rate or composition ratio,and the x2 test was adopted for comparison between the groups.Logistic regression was used to examine the effect of possible factors (i.e.age and gender) on the prevalence of uncorrected refractive errors.Results A total of 6145 persons aged 50 years and above were enumerated and 5947 (96.8％) participants were examined,of whom 2388 had uncorrected refractive errors,with the prevalence of 40.2％.The prevalence of uncorrected refractive errors for myopia only,hyperopia only,astigmatism,and for hyperopia and astigmatism were 84.4％,84.2％,64.1％ and 100％,respectively.Moreover,the higher prevalence of uncorrected refractive errors presented in elderly person (OR =1.07,P ＜ 0.00l) and female (OR =1.38,P ＜ 0.001),and education was a protective factor for junior high school (OR =0.74,P =0.003) and high school (OR =0.55,P ＜ 0.001).Conclusion Uncorrected refractive errors presented high prevalence in rural population aged 50 years and above in Funing county,Jiangsu province,which are the leading cause of visual impairment.