Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) was very common among preterm infants, which could cause several complications and severely affects the prognosis. The standardization of diagnosis and treatment of gastroesophageal reflux was very important for preterm infants. Due to less adverse reactions, nonpharmacological therapy was the most advisable choice in preterm infants with GER. In this paper, nonpharmacological therapies including body positioning, feeding frequency and modality, changing food patterns, gastric tube, and nonnutritive sucking were reviewed. Body positioning was the safest and most effective nonpharmacological therapy. Other nonpharmacological strategies such as changes of feeding frequency and modality might also be useful. The role of some strategies was still controversial, thereby needing to be further investigated. Selection of what kind of specific nonpharmacological therapy should be based on the specific conditions.

[Summary] Eighteen patients with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism( IHH) receiving aromatase-inhibitor( AI) letrozole for at least 3 months were recruited.After 3 months′treatment, LH levels were increased from (2.1 ±1.5) IU/L to (3.6 ±3.7) IU/L(P=0.029), and FSH levels from (2.6 ±1.8) IU/L to (4.3 ±3.4) IU/L (P=0.003).Total testosterol was increased from (87 ±42) ng/dl to (166 ±200) ng/dl(P=0.082), and estradiol wasdecreasedfrom(22.7±18.7) pg/ml to (13.4±10.6) pg/ml(P=0.020).The average testis volume was increased[(14.3 ±3.9 vs 11.2 ±4.9) ml, P<0.01].Sperms were detected in 8 out of 9 patients who did seminal fluid test.The result of general linear model showed that LH(60 min) was significantly related with total testosterol increment( P=0.045) .

OBJECTIVETo study the expression of OCT4 protein in bladder cancer and its correlation to the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of bladder cancer.

METHODSOCT4 mRNA and protein expression was detected in 5 bladder cancer cell lines (RT-4, Tcc-Sup, KK47, T24, and 5637) and 1 normal bladder cell lines by real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to detect the expression of OCT4 protein in 46 bladder cancer samples.

RESULTSAll the 5 bladder cancer cell lines expressed detectable levels of OCT4 mRNA and proteins, whereas the normal bladder cell line SV-HUC-1 was negative for OCT4 expression. The clinical bladder cancer tissues showed a high positivity rate of OCT4 expression (76.1%), which was not detected in normal bladder tissues. Specific OCT-4 signals were localized mainly in the nuclei of the cancer cells. The expression rate of OCT4 protein was significantly higher in bladder cancer tissue than in normal bladder epithelium (P<0.05), and showed a positive correlation to the grade of tumor differentiation and metastasis (P<0.05) but not to the patients' age, gender or TNM stage.

CONCLUSIONOCT4 protein expression is associated with tumor differentiation and metastasis in bladder cancer and may play an important role in the early diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of bladder cancer.

Cell Line, Tumor ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Octamer Transcription Factor-3 ; metabolism ; Prognosis ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology

Objective To investigate the characteristic volatile organic compounds(VOCs)in exhaled breath and their diagnostic value in mice with early stage radiation injury.Methods The thermal desorption gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(TD-GC/MS)technique was used to analyze VOCs in exhaled breath of irradiated mice by 60Coγ-ray with 800 cGy.The characteristic VOCs in the early stage of radiation injury were identified,and a diagnostic model was established.Results The 30-day survival rate of mice was 4.2%.There were significant differences in characteristic VOCs at 7 hours after radiation injury,and thirty characteristic VOCs related to early-stage radiation injury were identified.The diagnostic value of differential metabolites in mice after irradiation was evaluated via the ROC curve,and the area under the ROC curve(AUC)of a single compound exceeded 0.8.The diagnostic model was constructed by screening 9 potential biomarkers of exhalation through Fisher discriminant analysis,and its sensitivity and specificity were close to 100%.Conclusion Analysis of VOCs in exhaled breath is expected to provide a non-invasive diagnostic method for early screening and diagnosis of radiation injury.