Objective To investigate the serum procalcitonin (PCT) levels in sepsis caused by the bacteria,virus and mycoplasma and explore the role of PCT in etiology diagnosis of sepsis in children.Methods Three hundreds and thirty critically ill children with sepsis caused by bacteria,virus and mycoplasma admitted in PICU of Hunan Children' s Hospital from Feb 1,2011 to Sep 1,2012 were reviewed and analyzed.The PCT levels were measured at admission and day 3.The differences in accidence of sepsis caused by bacteria,viruses and mycoplasma according to different serum PCT levels were analyzed.The differences of PCT levels at admission and day 3 in sepsic children caused by bacteria,viruses and mycoplasma were analyzed.Results The level of serum PCT in sepsis caused by bacterial infection were distinctly increased,caused by virus and mycoplasma infections was not obvious but the increases of serum PCT [0.71 (8.14)ng/ml,0.15 (1.68) ng/ml,0.28 (1.89) ng/ml].According to various PCT levels(0.05 ～ ng/ml,0.5 ～ng/ml,2 ～ ng/ml,10 ～ 300 ng/ml),the differences of accidence of sepsis caused by bacteria,virus and mycoplasma were also statistically significant(x2 =84.50,P ＜ 0.01).The PCT level of septic children caused by bacterial infection in day 3 was significantly decreased compared with that at admission [0.32 (5.68) ng/ml vs 0.71 (8.14) ng/ml] (U =19.34,P ＜0.05).Conclusion PCT plays a certain role in etiology diagnosis of sepsis in children.The increased PCT levels which can be reduced by anti-inflammatory treatment indicate the likelihood of bacterial infection and sepsis.The increase of PCT induced by viral and mycoplasma infections is not obvious,but bacterial infection can not be completely ruled out.

Objective To discuss the correlation between residual urine volume after catheterization and body positions for patients with spinal cord injury using B-ultrasonography. Methods 34 patients with spinal cord injury were randomly selected, the residual urine volume in urinary bladder was detected with bed-side B-ultrasonography under different body positions such as supine position, lateral position and fowler position, the results underwent variance analysis. Results No significant difference was seen in residual urine volume in urinary bladder under different body positions. Conclusions Body positions play no significant influence on residual urine volume in urinary bladder after catheterization.

Folic acid-O-carboxymethyl chitosan ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (FA-OCMCS-USPIO-NPs) are a novel molecular targeting MR contrast agent. This paper reperts the pharmacokinetics and magnetic resonance response characteristics of FA-OCMCS-USPIO-NPs in normal rats and mice, and discussed its distributing regularity in animals, providing basis for tumor targeting imaging. O-phenanthroline method was used to determine iron content in rats' plasma and mice's organs following high and low doses of nanoparticles injected through tail vein, and the blood concentration-time curve was drawn, the calculated t1/2 of two groups were greater than 7 h. The results of tissue distribution showed that only a small part of nanoparticles were swallowed by the liver and spleen, while none in the heart, lung and kidney. At the same times, the phagocytosis of nanoparticles did not change with the dose. The results of MRI showed that renal excretion occurred 4 hours after injection, and signal to noise ratio (SNR) of liver and kidney returned to normal levels 24 hours after injection. There were no nanoparticles in the lungs. So a part of nanoparticles escaped from phagocytosis of liver and spleen, and it owned lower toxicity and longer half-life. indicated its use for tumor-targeting imaging. All of these indicated its use for tumor-targeting imaging.

Objective:To explore the proliferation inhibition and radiosensitization of Biyanqing granule on nasopharyngeal carci -noma cell line CNE-2 in vitro.Methods:CNE-2 cells were cultured in vitro.The inhibition of Biyanqing granule on the proliferation of CNE-2 cell was evaluated by MTT assay .Radiosensitization was explored by clone formation assay , and cell cycle and apopotosis were observed by flow cytometry ( FCM) .Results:Biyanqing granule could inhibit the proliferation of CNE-2 in a time-and dose-dependent manner.The IC50 in 24, 48 and 72 h was 70.79, 60.13 and 51.63 mg· ml-1(calculated according to the weight of all medicinal ma-terial), respectively.The colony formation assay showed that Biyanqing granule combined with radiation could significantly reduce the colony formation of CNE-2 cells.With the concentration increase of the main drug , the colony formation of CNE-2 cells was reduced . The number of colony formation in the negative control group , the radiation group , 10 mg· ml-1 and 20 mg· ml-1 Biyanqing combined with radiation groups (calculated according to the weight of all medicinal material ) was significant different (P<0.05).With the main drug concentration increasing , the percentage of G 2/M phase and apoptotic cells were both increased , and compared with the con-trol group, the difference was significant (P<0.05).Conclusion:Biyanqing granule can not only inhibit CNE-2 cells but also block CNE-2 cells in G2/M to improve the radiosensitization of CNE-2 cells.

Objective To discuss the signiifcance of serum albumin level in assessing severity, progress and prognosis of sepsis in children. Methods The clinical data of 212 patients diagnosed with sepsis admitted to PICU from February 2010 to July 2010 were retrospectively analyzed, and 52 patients had severe sepsis and 31 patients had septic shock. Meanwhile, 110 non-sepsis patients were selected as controls. The relationships of hypoalbuminemia with pediatric critical illness score (PCIS), pediatric risk of mortality III (PRISM III) and prognosis were evaluated, and the change of albumin level in patients with dif-ferent severity of sepsis was observed. Relative factors analysis of albumin level ≤25 g/L was performed. Results As the serum albumin level was decreased, the PCIS was signiifcantly decreased while the PRISM III was increased (P<0.01). The se-rum albumin level was signiifcantly different among children with septic shock, severe sepsis and sepsis and controls (F=13.938, P=0.000). The results of relative factors analysis showed that sepsis children with an albumin level≤25 g/L had more organ failures, higher mortality, longer hospital and PICU stay and more likelihood for ventilator support (P<0.01). Lower albumin levels were accompanied with lower rates of recovery and improvement but higher mortality (rs=-0.161, P=0.000). Conclusions Hypoalbuminemia can be used as indirect indicator for severity of infection. The albumin level≤25 g/L indicated the severity of illness and prognosis in children with sepsis.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer stem cell is an important reason for the invasion and recurrence of prostatic carcinoma. However, separation efficiency of prostate cancer stem cells is very low.OBJECTIVE: To explore the efficient method for isolating and identifying the prostate cancer stem cells from human prostatic carcinoma cell lines PC-3 and LNCap. METHODS: Prostate cancer cell lines PC-3 and LNCap were cultured in serum free medium (SFM) and serum supplemented medium (SSM), respectively. The percentage of prostate cancer stem cells from different medium was detected by flow cytometry through markers CD133 and CD44, and the properties of prostate cancer stem cells were preliminarily identified using inducing differentiation experiments.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: PC-3 and LNCap formed sphere cells in SFM, which can be induced into adherent cells after culture in SSM. Higher percentage of CD44+/CD133+cells was obtained from LNCap cells (1.71%; 0.73%) than PC-3 cells (0.59%; 0.32%) in both SFM and SSM. The number of CD44+/CD133+ LNCap cells was more than PC-3 using both methods (P < 0.05), but the efficiency of SFM and SSM had no statistical significance (P > 0.05). However, the culture cycle was longer and number of obtained cells was less by SFM culture, directly influencing functional determination of prostate cancer stem cells. Compared with suspension culture method with SFM, SSM is more convenient and effective in isolating prostate cancer stem cells from LNCap cells.

Objective To investigate the expression of Dysadherin and analyze its role in renal clear cell carcinoma (RCCC).Methods RT-PCR and immunohistochemical were used to detect the expression of Dysadherin in 60 cases of fresh RCCC and 60 adjacent normal renal tissues(male 35,female 25; age 37-78,median age 61; ＞7 cm 24,≤7 cm 36; Ⅰ/Ⅱ 39,Ⅲ/Ⅳ 21).Results Dysadherin mRNA expression in RCCC tissues (2.0043±0.2890) was higher than that in adjacent normal renal tissues (0.8461 ±0.2479) (t =6.8020,P ＜ 0.05).Dysadherin expression was associated with nuclear grade.The expression of Dysadherin in nucleus grade Ⅲ and Ⅳ tumors were significantly higher than that in nucleus grade Ⅰ and Ⅱ tumors [the mRNA expression were 4.6224±0.3194,2.7780±0.2288,the positive rates of protein were 64.1％ (25/39),95.2 ％ (20/21) (t =6.5750,x2 =5.495,P ＜ 0.05)].There was no association between the expression of Dysadherin with sex (t =1.0530,x2 =0.023),age(t =0.0511,x2 =0.089) and tumor size (t =1.0330,x2 =0.370) (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion In RCCC,Dysadherin expression is positively associated with tumor aggressiveness based on grading.It seems that Dysadherin may be a valuable prognostic marker in RCCC.

Objective To investigate the effect induced by specific inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor 1 400 W on nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE-2 cells lines and its mechanism.Methods CNE-2 cells were treated by different concentrations of 1 400 W,diamminedichloroplatinum (DDP),and both chemicals.Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to examine the viability of cells.Quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was applied to detect the iNOS mRNA expression.Results The expression of iNOS mRNA was down-regulated by 1400W and was positively correlated with inhibitionrate of cell proliferation.1 400 W inhibits proliferation of CNE-2 cell in a concentration-dependent manner.The proliferation inhibition rate of CNE-2 cells treated by 1 400 W combined with DDP was not enhanced.Conclusions Specific inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitor 1 400 W can exerts anti-tumor effect though inhibiting the expression of iNOS mRNA;The mechanism of chemosensitization induced by iNOS inhibitor on CNE-2 cells may be closely related level of down-regulation of iNOS expression.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the best time of intratympanic dexamethasone injection to treat sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) as salvage therapy so that to improve the curative efficacy on sudden deafness at the utmost. METHOD: A total of 192 patients with SSNHL were included in this study, among whom 63 cases received the systemic steroid therapy throughout the study, while the other ones were treated with systemic steroid as initial treatment and were given intratympanic steroid administration as salvage treatment starting at different time point. The salvage treatment started on the 3rd day after the beginning of the initial treatment for 29 cases, on the 7th day for 38 cases, on the 14th day for 43 cases, and 1 month later for 19 cases. All the patients were followed up for 2 months. RESULT: The recovery rates and total effective rates showed no statistically significant difference between the patients received only systemic steroid therapy and the ones received intratympanic steroid administration on the 3rd, 7th day and 1 month later after the initial treatment. The recovery rate and total effective rate exhibited statistically significant difference between the patients received intratympanic steroid administration since the 14th day after the initial treatment and the ones received only systemic steroid therapy, with the numerical value of P 0. 037 and 0. 034, respectively. CONCLUSION (1) As an initial management plan, the curative effects. between the intratympanic steroid administration and the systemic steroid therapy were not significantly different. (2) As a salvage treatment, intratympanic steroid was a better choice for patients who have not completely recover from ISSNHL after failure of initial management with systemic steroid only. (3) The best time point of salvage treatment with intratympanic steroid was about 2 weeks after initial management with systemic steroid.
Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; drug therapy ; Hearing Loss, Sudden ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Injection, Intratympanic ; Salvage Therapy ; Steroids ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome ; Tympanic Membrane

Objective:To investigate effect of acacetin on alveolar epithelial cell damage caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae(SP)infection by regulating sirtuin 1(Sirt1)-mediated 5'-AMP activated protein kinase(AMPK)/nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2(Nrf2)signaling pathway.Methods:Alveolar epithelial cells A549 cultured in vitro were infected with SP to establish a cell damage model.After treatment with acacetin at final concentrations of 0,5,25,50,100,150,200 μmol/L,CCK-8 was performed to detect cell viability of each treatment group and optimal concentration of acacetin was screened.A549 cells cultured in vitro were ran-domly separated into five groups:control group,model group,acacetin(150 μmol/L)group,EX527(Sirt1 inhibitor,40 μmol/L)group,acacetin(150 μmol/L)+EX527(40 μmol/L)group,control group was not treated,other groups were infected with SP to establish a cell damage model,and then treated with 150 μmol/L acacetin and 40 μmol/L EX527,CCK-8 and flow cytometry were performed to measure cell viability and apoptosis rate in each group;kits were performed to measure levels of reactive oxygen species(ROS),superoxide dismutase(SOD),malondialdehyde(MDA),lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)and IL-10,IL-1β,TNF-α levels of cells in each group;Western blot was performed to measure proliferation-related proteins Ki-67,proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA),apoptosis-related proteins caspase-9,Bax,Sirt1 and AMPK/Nrf2 signaling pathway proteins p-AMPK/AMPK,Nrf2 expres-sions of cells in each group.Results:Model group had decreased A549 cell viability,SOD and IL-10 levels,p-AMPK/AMPK,Sirt1,Nrf2,Ki-67 and PCNA protein expressions(P<0.05),and increased apoptosis rate,MDA,LDH,ROS,IL-1β and TNF-α levels than control group(P<0.05).Compared with model group and acacetin+EX527 group,acacetin group had increased A549 cell viability,SOD and IL-10 levels,p-AMPK/AMPK,Sirt1,Nrf2,Ki-67 and PCNA protein expressions(P<0.05),and decreased apoptosis rate,MDA,LDH,ROS,IL-1β and TNF-α levels(P<0.05);EX527 group had decreased A549 cell viability,SOD and IL-10 levels,p-AMPK/AMPK,Sirt1,Nrf2,Ki-67 and PCNA protein expressions(P<0.05),and increased apoptosis rate,MDA,LDH,ROS,IL-1β and TNF-α levels(P<0.05).Conclusion:Acnestin can activate AMPK/Nrf2 signaling by up-regulating Sirt1 expression,thereby promoting secretion of anti-inflammatory factors,reducing production of ROS and pro-inflammatory factors,reducing inflammation and oxidative stress,and finally alleviating neuronal damage.