ObjectiveTo explore the application of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWMRI) in precise radiotherapy of esophageal carcinoma.MethodsThirty-seven patients with biopsy proven esophageal cancer from March 2010 to January 2011 were included.To delineate the gross tumor volume (GTV) using CT and DWMRI images,each patient was examined by DWMRI and CT scan using the same position before radiotherapy.To compare the maximum diameters and volumes of tumor between CT and DWMRI. The tumor lengths measured by esophagogram,esophagoscope,CT and DWMRI were compared.ResultsTumor lengths under esophagogram,esophagoscope,CT and DWMRI were 5.70 cm,6.06 cm,7.97 cm and 5.79 cm respectively. The lengths between CT and esophagogram,CT and esophagoscope,CT and DWMRI had statistical significance respectively (F=4.88,P=0.003).The maximum diameters of tumor shown on CT and DWMRI were 3.79 cm and 3.81 cm respectively ( t =-0.32,P=0.751 ).The GTV were 45.75 cm3 and 38.05 cm3 in CT and DWMRI respectively (t=5.30,P =0.001 ).53 lymph nodes were assessed positive on both CT and DWMRI.DWMRI excluded 25 positive lymph nodes assesed by CT; also confirmed 15 negative lymph nodes excluded by CT,6 of which were paraesophageal lymph nodes.The addition of DWMRI information altered the clinical stage in 6 patients.ConclusionsTumor lengths measured on DWMRI and esophagogram had the optimal approximation.It was easy to find paraesophageal lymph nodes via DWMRI.With the addition of DWMRI information,the target range and clinical stage were alerted in some patients.

ObjectiveTo analyze the prognosis of 784 patients according with clinical staging of esophageal carcinoma treated with non-surgical methods,investigate the predictive value and deficiency of the clinical staging.MethodsFrom July 2003 to January 2009,784 patients with esophageal carcinoma received 3DCRT treatment.The prescribed doses ranged from 50 Gy-70 Gy with median dose of 60 Gy,1.8-2.0 Gy/fraction,1 fraction/day,5 fractions/week.65 patients received prescription dose of＜60 Gy and all the others'≥60 Gy.All the patients were divided into subgroups according to different T,N and TNM stages.Therapeutic effect was evaluated.ResultsThe follow up rate was 97.1％,503 patients were followed up for more than 3 years and 122 were followed up for more than 5 years.The 1-,3-,5-year local control rates and overall survival rates were 77.2％,54.2％,46.5％ and 69.5％,34.9％,23.9％,respectively,with median survival time of 21 months.There were significant differences of survival curves for different T stages,N stages and TNM stages.For the groups of stage Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ,the 1-,3-,5-year survival rates were 86.4％,47.6％,45.1％ ;84.7％,46.3％,36.4％ and 64.0％,30.9％,19.1％,respectively ( x2 =29.34,P =0.000).There were 752 patients with squamous cell carcinoma ( 95.9％ )and 32 patients with non-squamous cell carcinoma (4.1％ ),the median survival time were 21 and 16 months,respectively ( x2 =4.44,P =0.035 ).There were significant difference of survival rates for the subgroups whose GTV volume ≤20 cm3,20 -40 cm3,40 -60 cm3 and ＞60 cm3 (54 months,29 months,21months and 14months,x2 =68.71,P =0.000).ConclusionsThe clinical staging of esophageal carcinoma treated with non-surgical methods could predict the prognosis accurately,for patients with different pathology and GTV volumes,there were variance in the prognosis,so we advised the complement of the two factors in the draft of clinical stages.

Objective To compare the formation and evolution of left ventricular flow between the patients with the bileaflet artificial mechanical mitral valve and normal adult using vector flow mapping (VFM). Methods Thirty healthy controls and 30 severe mitral stenosis patients with bileaflet prosthesis mitral valve were involved. The left ventricular flow and the vortex description parameters were comparatively studied between two groups. Results Two small symmetric rotating vortexes and a big counter-clockwise rotating vortex appeared alternately in the left ventricular through cardiac cycle with control group. In case group,only large vortex could be seen in the mid-late diastolic and maximum vector velocity was faster than that in control group in statistics( P <0. 05). Especially the postoperative direction of blood flow was clockwise shif ting from the interventricular septum to the posterior and lateral left ventricular wall inversely to control group. Conclusions VFM can show the complex vortex flow patterns in left ventricular in the patients with bileaflet prosthesis mitral valve preliminarily and may be useful to assess and improve the function of prosthesis valve in future.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the inhibitory effect of puerarin on invasive and metastatic abilities of tumor cells, and its possible mechanism through observing its impacts on the migratory, adhesive and invasive capacities of human oophoroma cells HO-8910 to the artificial recombined basement membrane.

METHODSExpression of estrogen receptor (ER) in HO-8910 cells was detected using PCR assay. Effects of puerarin on HO-8910 proliferation was detected with MTT assay; on its adhesion potential was tested with cell-matrigel adhesion assay, and on invasive and migratory capacities were measured with Transwell matrigel invasion assay and Transwell motility assay respectively.

RESULTSER was positively expressed in HO-8910 cells. After being treated with 20 micromol/L puerarin for 12 h, the adhesive test showed that OD value in the tested group was significantly lower than that in the control (P < 0.01), the inhibiting rate reached 50.63%; and the Transwell assay showed a significant lowering of penetrated cells (P < 0.01), the inhibition rate for invasion was 38.59% and that for motility migration 40.63%. The number of penetrated cells was lower in the group intervened with combination of Puerarin and estrogen than in the group intervened with estrogen alone, 33.40 +/- 3.30 vs 48.05 +/- 3. 56 for invasion and 35.35 +/- 3.03 vs 52.45 +/- 1.04 for motility (all P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONPuerarin can inhibit the adhesion, invasion and migration of HO-8910 cells, plays an antagonist effect against the stimulation of estrogen on the malignant behavior of tumor cells.

Cell Adhesion ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement ; drug effects ; Female ; Humans ; Isoflavones ; pharmacology ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; pathology ; Receptors, Estrogen ; metabolism

Objective: To construct an expression system containing the N-terminal segment of Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) in E. coli. To investigate the activity of TSF. Methods: thbs1 gene fragment was amplified from human fetal cord vein endothelial cells and inserted into plasmid pET32c ( + ) which was then transfected and expressed in E. coli. Investigate the effect of recombinant TSF to the proliferation of ECV304 in vitro with MTT. The expression level of CD36 was assayed by FACS. Results: Recombinant TSF was purified. TSF could restrain the proliferation of ECV304 with CD36 low-expression. Conclusions:Low dose of rTSF was a latent assistant treatment of anti-cancer.

Objective To observe the relationship between computed tomography-gross tumor volume (GTV) and non-surgical T stage in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the survival rates of patients with different GTVs,and to investigate the impact of GTV on the prognosis of ESCC after three-dimensional radiotherapy.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 223 ESCC patients without lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis who were hospitalized from July 2003 to January 2009.The prescribed doses of three-dimensional radiotherapy ranged from 50-70 Gy.These patients were divided into 3 or 4 groups according to different percentile intervals of GTVs.The Spearman rank correlation analysis was used for investigating the relationship between non-surgical T stage and GTV.The Kaplan-Meier method was used for calculating survival rates,and the log-rank test was used for survival difference analysis.Results The follow-up rate was 98.2％.A total of 163 patients were followed up for at least 3 years.The median GTVs of patients with T1 +2 ESCC,T3 ESCC,and T4 ESCC were 19.31 cm3,33.69 cm3,and 41.25 cm3,respectively,exhibiting a positive correlation between non-surgical T stage and GTV (P =0.000).The 5-year survival rates were 59％,43％,and 24％ (P =0.000) in 3 GTV-based groups and were 55％,51％,31％,and 24％ (P =0.004) in 4 GTV-based groups.The primary cause of death for the patients with GTVs of ≤35 cm3 and ＞35 cm3 was failure of local control (57.9％ vs 52.1％) ; 21.9％ and 13.8％ of the patients with a GTV of ＞ 35 cm3 died of uncontrol and excessive bleeding,versus 9.4％ and 3.1％ of the patients with a GTV of ≤ 35 cm3 (P =0.046 ; P =0.029) ;2 of the patients with a GTV of ＞ 35 cm3 died of grade 5 radiation pneumonitis.Conclusions GTV is positively correlated with nonsurgical T stage in esophageal cancer patients who receive radiotherapy.The 3-level and 4-level grading of GTV can be used for prognostic evaluation,and the 3-level grading of GTV is more closely related to prognosis.The patients with a larger GTV have higher incidence of uncontrol and bleeding and risk of treatment-related death than those with a smaller GTV after radiotherapy.

Objective To investigate the long-term survival of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients of different ages after three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3 DCRT).Methods From July 2003 to September 2008,769 patients with stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ ESCC were eligible for the analysis.All patients were treated with 3DCRT.The prescribed dose was 50-70 Gy (median,60 Gy),1.8-2.0 Gy per fraction,5 fractions per week.The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival (OS) and local control (LC) rates; the log-rank test was used for survival difference analysis and univariate prognostic analysis;the Cox regression model was used for multivariate prognostic analysis.Results The follow-up rate was 98.3％.For all patients,the 1-,3-,and 5-year LC rates were 76.3％,52.8％,and 48.5％,respectively,and the 1-,3-,and 5-year OS rates were 70.1％,36.2％,and 23.0％,respectively.The 1-,3-,and 5-year OS rates were 71.2％,38.8％,and 24.9％,respectively,for patients aged 45-74 years,versus 69.6％,26.6％,and 15.4％ for patients aged 75-89 years (P =0.008).Multivariate prognostic analysis showed that age was also a prognostic factor in ESCC patients after 3DCRT.A total of 620 patients died.Patients aged 45-74 years had a significantly higher proportion of individuals that died of distant metastasis (23.9％ vs.14.2％,P =0.009),while patients aged 75-89 years had a significantly higher proportion of individuals that died of non-cancer diseases (14.1％ vs.4.9％,P=0.000).Conclusions Survival varies between ESCC patients of different ages after 3DCRT.The survival of elderly ESCC patients is poor,and the relatively high mortality from non-cancer diseases may be an important reason for poor survival.

Objective Todiscuss the diagnosis and therapy of the pancreatoblastoma(PB).Methods The data of 2 cases of PB were analyzed retrospectively and related literatures were reviewed.Results Both cases were males,11 years old and 8 years old respectively.The 2 cases both had solid mass located in the tail of the pancreas.Alpha-fetal protein(AFP) was normal in case 1 and 2 903 ng/ml in case 2.The 2 cases underwent resection of the pancreas tail,and the postoperative pathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of PB.Followup of 26 months in case 1 and 10 months in case 2 showed that the survival was good.Conclusions PB is an extremely rare tumor of exocrine pancreas and often occurs in male children.The solid mass located in the pancreas with elevated AFP can be considered as PB.Our experience showed a pancreatic mass with normal AFP can also be PB.Surgery is the best management of PB.

Objective To study effect of bufalin on invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer cells and related mechanism.Methods AGS human gastric cancer cell line was used for in vitro experiments.Cultured cells were treated by negative control group,bufalin group and oxaliplatin group.Cell proliferation was determined by MTT.Invasion and metastasis were observed by Wound-Healing Assay and Transwell Assay.Expression levels of E-cadherin,matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2,MMP-9 were detected by Western blotting.Results Bufalin was found to significantly inhibit the proliferation of AGS cells in a dose and time dependent manner.Wound-Healing Assay and Transwell Assay showed that as compared with the blank control group,bufalin inhibited invasion and metastasis of AGS cells (P＜ 0.05),but there was no statistically significant difference between bufalin group and oxaliplatin group (P＞0.05).Western blotting showed the expression of E-cadherin was increased in bufalin group as compared with the blank control group while the expression levels of MMP-9 and MMP-2 were down-regulated (P＜0.05),but there was no statistically significant difference between bufalin group and oxaliplatin group (P＞ 0.05).Conclusion Bufalin has anti-cancer activity on gastric cancer cells,and it has the ability of inhibiting cancer cell invasion and metastasis,and regulating the expression of some related gene.

Platelets play a key role in the pathogenesis of atherothrombosis, and also perform the physiological hemostasis. The platelet function assays have values in the investigating patients with suspected platelet disorders and in studying the effects of anti-platelet drugs. There are increasing assays for investigating platelet function, including assessment of platelet adhesion, activation and aggregation, etc. However, all of these assays have certain limited sensitivity. It is necessary to develop a simple, sensitive assay that measures the activated platelet. This article reviewed advances of researches on platelet function assays, including assay for general function of platelet, assay of platelet adhesion function, platelet activation assay, platelet aggregation assay, platelet coagulation assay and application of flow cytometry in assessment of platelet functions, etc. and looked forward to research prospect in this field.
Blood Platelets ; physiology ; Humans ; Platelet Activation ; physiology ; Platelet Adhesiveness ; physiology ; Platelet Aggregation ; physiology ; Platelet Function Tests ; methods ; trends