Objective To investigate the imaging features of malignant invasion of major intrahepatic ductal structures (the portal and hepatic venous vasculature, the bilie duct) by primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using multi-detector-row spiral CT (MDCT). Methods We retrospectively analyzed 68 documented HCC patients with tumorous invasion of the major intrahepatic ductal structures who had undergone contrast-enhanced dual-phase MDCT scanning of the upper abdomen.The morphological changes of the portal and hepatic venous vasculature, the bile duct, and the liver parenchyma at both the hepatic arterial phase and portal venous phase images were carefully observed and recorded. Results Among the 68 patients, 47 patients had malignant invasion of the intrahepatic portal venous vessels with secondary tumor thrombus formation; 12 patients had tumor involvement of the hepatic veins and intraheptic segment of the inferior vena cava; Tumor invasion of the bile duct was seen in 9 patents. The direct CT signs of tumor invasion of intrahepatic venous vessels included: ①dilatation or enlargement of the involved vein with intraluminal soft-tissue “filling defect”; ②enhancement of the tumor thrombus at hepatic arterial phase, the so-called “venous arterialization” phenomenon. The indirect CT signs included: ①arterial-venous shunt, ②early and heterogeneous enhancement of the hepatic parenchyma adjacent to HCC focus, ③cavernous transformation of the portal vein. The CT signs suggesting tumor invasion of the bile duct included: ①dilation of the bile ducts near or proximal to HCC lesion, ②soft-tissue nodule or mass inside the bile ducts. Conclusion Invasion of major intrahepatic ductal structures by HCC will present corresponding CT imaging features. Contrast-enhanced MDCT dual-phase scanning combined with appropriate image post-processing techniques can better evaluate the malignant invasion of major intrahepatic ductal structures.

Objective To investigate the effect of hyperuricemia(HUA) on inflammation and endothelin-1 (ET-1) production and treatment of Benzbnomanone in hypertensive patients.Methods 90 initial hypertensive patients were enrolled from the inpatient division and clinic of our hospital,60 patients of them were identified HUA,and 30 patients were normal in uric acid as control.All these hypertensive patients with HUA were treated with basic anti-hypertensive drugs,of them 30 patients were additionally treated with Benzbromarone table 50mg for 8 weeks.The levels of inflammation indices and ET-1 were compared between these hypertensive patients with HUA and hypertensive patients with normal serum uric acid,also hypertensive patients with HUA treated with or without Benzbromarone for 8 weeks.Results Compared with the hypertensive patients with normal serum uric acid,levels of ET-1,interleukin-1 (IL-1) and high-sensitive C reactive protein (hsCRP) were higher in the hypertensive patients with HUA.Also,the levels of these indices were positively correlated with the level of serum uric acid [(86.6 ± 4.8) pg/ml vs (82.4 ±6.9)pg/ml; (47.6 ±6.2)mg/L vs (19.1 ±4.1) mg/L; (3.4 ±0.8)mg/L vs (2.9 ± 1.1)mg/L,r =0.81,0.74,0.83,all P ＜ 0.05].Benzbromarone could effectively decrease the levels of ET-1,IL-1and hsCRP in the hypertensive patients with HUA [(49.8 ± 5.0) pg/ml vs (87.5 ± 5.9) pg/ml ; (17.6 ±8.8) mg/L vs (48.2 ± 7.0) mg/L; (1.7 ± 0.7) mg/L vs (3.5 ± 0.9) mg/L,all P ＜ 0.05].Conclusions HUA could increase the levels of inflammation and ET-1,while Benzbromarone effectivelv decreased these changes.Decreasing the level of serum uric acid would retard the process of atherosclerosis in the hypertensive patients with HUA.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of serum homocysteine (Hcy),Cystatin C (CysC) detection in coronary heart disease prevention,diagnosis and treatment.Methods A total of 200 cases of coronary heart disease patients including 50 cases of acute myocardiac infarction (AMI) (AMI group),85 cases of unstable angina pectoris (UAP)(UAP group.) and 65 cases of stable angina pectoris (SAP) (SAP group) were selected,and 120 cases of healthy controls were selected as control group.The serum levels of Hcy and CysC were detected and compared.Results The serum levels of Hcy and CysC in AMI group,UAP group and SAP group were significandy higher than those in control group[Hcy:(22.35 ± 8.18),(16.54±7.56),(14.52±6.38) μmol/Lvs.(9.35±3.23) μmol/L; CysC:(1.32±0.27),(1.88± 0.66),(1.19 ± 0.46) mg/L vs.(0.80 ± 0.33) mg/L],and there were significant differences between two groups (P＜ 0.01).The serum level of Hcy in AMI group was higher than that in UAP group and SAP group [(22.35 ± 8.18) μ mol/L vs.(16.54 ± 7.56),(14.52 ± 6.38) μ mol/L],and there was significant difference (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions The relationship between Hcy,CysC level and coronary heart disease is close,and Hcy levels increase with increasing degree of coronary heart disease.Detection of Hcy and CysC has some clinical value on prevention,diagnosis,treatment of coronary heart disease.

Objective To investigate the effects of trivalent arsenicals on ce ll proliferation and induction of apoptosis in human epidermal keratinocytes. Me thods Human benign epidermal keratinocytes (cell line HaCaT), human epidermal ca rcinoma cells(cell line A431) were cultured. After treatment with arsenous acid, inhibition of cellular growth was determined by measuring MTT dye absorption of living cells.Apoptosis was assessed with respect to morphological changes by li ght and electron microscopy and to cell cycle distribution by flow cytometry. An nexin-ⅴbinding assay was used to detect the early stage of apoptosis. Results With concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 10 ?mol/L, arsenous acid significantly inhibited the proliferation of HaCaT cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner . By light and electron microscopy, morphological changes revealed characteristi cs of apoptosis. But A431 cells showed no obvious change. DNA flow cytometric an alysis indicated that arsenous acid induced an arrest in G2M phase and sub-G1 p hase in HaCaT compared with A431 cells. The green flurorescence indicated early stage of apoptosis in HaCaT cells by annexin-V binding assay. Conclusion Arseno us acid may inhibit the proliferation of HaCaT cells and induce apoptosis, but d oes not affect A431 cell line obviously, which suggests that HaCaT cells are mor e sensitive to arsenous acid compared with A431 cells.

OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation between age and general morphology of transverse section of cartilago costalis and its forensic significance. METHODS: Eighty-six corpses' cartilago costalis from the routine postmortem examination were collected and the morphological features of their transverse section were observed. RESULTS: With the increased age, there were regular changes in the color, structure, and material of the general morphology of transverse section of cartilago costalis. But the changes were not affected by gender. CONCLUSION The good correlation between general morphology of transverse section of cartilago costalis and age can be used to estimate age of the deceased rapidly.
Age Factors ; Autopsy ; Cadaver ; Cartilage/pathology* ; Humans

Projects which supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in discipline of pharmacology of Chinese medicine between 2010 to 2013 financial years were reviewed. Based on these research items, new features and problems were summarized in this field.
China ; Foundations ; economics ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; economics ; Natural Science Disciplines ; economics ; Research ; economics

To investigate the effect of compound Chinese traditional medicine PC-SPES II I in inhibiting proliferation of human prostate cancer cell LNCaP based on the androgen receptor (AR) signaling pathway. The effect of PC-SPES II on LNCaP cell proliferation was detected by MTT assay. According to the findings, at the mass concentration of 180-1 440 mg x L(-1), PC-SPES II significantly inhibited the proliferation of LNCaP cells; the IC50 of PC-SPES II at 24 h and 48 h were 311.48, 199.01 mg x L(-1), respectively. The flow Cytometry detection showed 240 mg x L(-1) PC-SPES II arrested cells in G2/M phase, and an obvious apoptotic peak appeared before G0/G1 peak and rose over time. Meanwhile, Hoechst 33258 staining revealed apoptotic cellular morphology. Annexin V-FITC/PI staining manifested an increase in apoptotic cell ratio at the PC-SPES II concentration of 480 mg x L(-1) in a dose dependent manner. The prostate specific antigen (PSA) secretion of LNCaP cells was tested by PSA ELISA kit. Besides, compared with 25 mg x L(-1) Bic, 480 mg x L(-1) PC-SPES II significantly reduced the cell secretion of PSA. The AR and PSA mRNA and protein expressions were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot. According to the results, after the induction of LNCaP cells with synthetic androgen 25 μg x L(-1) R1881, 240-480 mg x L(-1) PC-SPES II notably down-regulated the AR and PSA mRNA and protein expressions and inhibited the translocation of AR from cytoplasm to nucleus. In summary, PC-SPES II significantly can inhibit the in vitro proliferation of LNCaP cells and arrest cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase. Its mechanism may be associated with the down-regulation of the AR and PSA expressions and the inhibition of AR nuclear translocation.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Male ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; genetics ; metabolism ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Receptors, Androgen ; genetics ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects

AIMTo prepare the combined system of diltiazem hydrochloride delayed-onset sustained-release pellets in order to make time-specific drug delivery system. The drug can release from the system sustained after a predetermined lag time, and the release behavior can continue till 24 hour after administrating the formulation. According to the concept of chronotherapy, the combined system is useful to improve the pharmacotherapy of cardiovascular diseases.

METHODSThe velocity-time curve of the drug release from the multiple-unit system containing pellets was consistent with the fluctuation curve following time of blood pressure and heart ratio. So the velocity-time curve was selected to describe the release behavior of the combined system. The velocity-time equation describing the release behavior of two kinds of pellets was deduced by non-linear least square model fit. And zero-order kinetics equation was adopted to fit the release behavior of different combinations which were composed of different proportion of two kinds of pellets. The velocity-time equation describing the release behavior of the combinations was deduced by non-linear least square model fit, too. The difference of combinations in velocity-time curves between theoretical value and test value was compared.

RESULTSThe results showed that the test values were closely approximate to the theoretical values. Therefore, the multiple unit drug delivery system can be described by adding the velocity-time equations of different pellets to calculate the theoretical equations.

CONCLUSIONA multiple-unit combined system containing different coated pellets, as a novel delayed-onset sustained-release system, was prepared. Then a time-specific drug delivery system has been made. The programmed drug delivery system could be predicted by adding the velocity-time equation of each kind of pellets to calculate the theoretical equations. characterized by mathematics equation. The release behavior of pellets system could be characterized by mathematics equation.

Capsules ; Delayed-Action Preparations ; Diltiazem ; administration & dosage ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Mathematics ; Models, Chemical ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

Objective To investigate the effects and mechanism of IL-6 on invasion and metastasis of human pancreatic cancer cells. Methods IL-6 was added into the culture media of human pancreatic cancer cells Capan-2 and SW1990. Cell growth was measured by MTT assay. Western blot and immunocytochemistry were performed to detect Phosphorylated STAT3 (P-STAT3) protein. VEGF and MMP-2 mRNA and protein expression were examined using fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot, respectively. The invasion ability of SW1990 and Capan2 cells was determined by cell invasion assay in vitro. Results 100 ng/mL IL-6 significantly promoted growth and invasion ability of Capan-2 and SW1990 cells (P＜0.05). The use of IL-6 not only markedly increased the protein expression of P-STAT3, VEGF and MMP-2, but also greatly increased the mRNA expression of MMP-2 and VEGF. Conclusions STAT3 signal transducer pathway activation with IL-6 can promote the invasion ability of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro through up-regulation of MMP-2 and VEGF expression. STAT3 signal transducer may provide a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

OBJECTIVETo explore the changes of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets in patients with acute hydrogen chloride gas poisoning.

METHODSWhen the patients were admitted or on the secondary day, the percentages of total T-cell lymphocyte subsets (CD(3)(+)CD(19)(-)), CD(4)(+)T cells (CD(3)(+)CD(4)(+)), CD(8)(+)T cells (CD(3)(+)CD(8)(+)), B cells (CD(3)(-)CD(19)(+)) and NK cells (CD(3)(-)CD(16)(+)CD(56)(+)), and the ration of CD(4)(+)/CD(8)(+) in 37 cases with acute hydrogen chloride gas poisoning and 49 healthy controls were detected with flow cytometer.

RESULTSThe total T-cell percentage and total CD(4)(+)T cell percentage in 37 cases were significantly lower than those in 47 controls (P < 0.05). The percentages of NK cells and B lymphocytes in 37 cases significantly increased, as compared with controls (P < 0.05). The ration of CD(4)(+)/CD(8)(+) in 37 cases significantly decreased, as compared with controls (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe lymphocyte subsets in the patients with acute hydrogen chloride gas poisoning changed, which could influence the immune function of patients.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Gas Poisoning ; blood ; Humans ; Hydrochloric Acid ; poisoning ; Lymphocyte Count ; Lymphocyte Subsets ; cytology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult