Objective To investigate the effectiveness of problem-based learning in the biochemistry teaching in merging class of minority and Han students.Methods Totally 460 clinical medical students were divided into PBL group which contained 252 students and the traditional teaching group which involved 208 students,respectively.According to each team of seven to eight students,minority and Han students randomly arranged.Control group used classroom teaching mode,experimental group in addition to classroom lectures,had additional 12 hours of PBL teaching,but the theory classes for the two groups of students were taught by the same six teachers with rich teaching experience,and the teaching content and teaching material selection were also the same.At the end of the course,the learning outcomes were evaluated by using descriptive analysis and t test (α=0.05) based on the combination of theoretical examination,experimental practice and the questionnaire survey method.Results Compared with the traditional teaching group,the final scores were higher than those of PBL group (84.72 ± 6.99 and 80.34 ± 7.12,P＜0.05).There were also statistically significant between two groups according to different nationality(Minority:85.65 ± 5.27 and 79.70 ± 7.14;Han:83.91 ± 8.26 and 80.95 ± 7.08;P＜0.05),and interestingly the increased ratio of scores was higher in minority than that in Han.The questionnaire surveys indicated that the PBL teaching method could enhance professional and comprehensive qualities of students and more than 81.83％ students were satisfied with the new teaching mode.Conclusions The combination of tradition and PBL-based teaching methods improved the quality of biochemistry teaching of clinical medicine in merging class of minority and Han students in Xinjiang Medical University.

Objective:To study the expressione of autophagy-related protein Beclin-1 and LC3 in cortex and hippocampus of rats after cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury and the efficacy of Edaravone.Methods:Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group,model group and Edaravone group.The cerebral ischemia reperfusion model was induced via Zea Longa with blocking the middle cerebral artery of 2 h and reperfusing of 24 h.Animals assigned to sham group were only separated left common carotid artery.Edaravone was injected intraperitoneally at a dose of 1 0 mg/kg at 15 min before reperfusion.The condition of nerve injury of rats was conducted by Neurobehavioral score.The degree of brain injury and success of model were determined based on 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride(TTC)staining.The changes of neuron stained by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) in cortex and hippocampus were observed.The expression of Beclin-1 and LC3 was measured by immunohistochemistry.Results:After cerebral ischemia reperfusion the neurobehavioral score of edaravone group was(2.00± 0.67),which was obcviously less than(2.50± 0.53) of model group(P＜0.05).The infraction focus and the neuron injury in cortex and hippocampus neurons were also observed in model group,and the edaravone group reduced above expression.The positive rate of Beclin-1 of each group in cortex were (1 1.08± 0.85)％,(33.42± 1.57)％ and (25.61± 1.39)％,there was significant difference between model group with sham group and edaravone group (P＜0.05).The positive rate of Beclin-1 of each group in hippocampus were (10.34± 0.21)％,(31.82± 1.73)％ and (22.74± 1.26)％,there was significant difference between model group with sham group and edaravone group(P ＜ 0.05).The positive rate of LC3 of each group in cortex were (15.33± 0.47)％,(39.72± 1.73)％ and (28.53± 1.61)％,there was significant difference between model group with sham group and edaravone group(P＜0.05).The positive rate of LC3 of each group in hippocampus were (13.74± 0.37)％,(32.53± 1.43)％ and(25.38± 1.23)％,there was significant difference between model group with sham group and edaravone group (P＜0.05).Conclusion:The expression of Beclin-1 and LC3 was increased after cerebral ischemia reperfusion.Edaravone may reduce autophagy and brain injury through downregulation the expression of Beclin-1 and LC3.

Objective To investigate the relationship between platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase gene Arg92His(4, 275; G→A), Ile198Thr(7, 593; T→C) and Val279Phe(9, 994; G→T) mutation and cerebral artery athero-sclerosis stenosis. Methods Six hundred forty-twopatients with cerebral infarction underwent cerebral digital subtrac-tion angiography (DSA).The patients were then divided into cerebral artery atherosclerosis stenosis (CAAS) group(n=477) and control group(n=81) accroding to the site and severity of their cerebral artery stenosis. Furthermore, the CAAS group were divided into intracranial artery stenosis(ICAS) subgroup(n=251), extracranial artery stenosis(ECAS) subgroup (n=115) and extracranial-intracerebral artery stenosis(ECAS) subgroup(n=111). The distributions of genotype and allele frequencies of Arg92His,Ile198Thr and Val279Phe mutation of platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase gene were ex-amined and comparied in different groups. Results There were significant differences in the distributions of genotype and allele of Arg92His mutation between ICAS subgroup and control group(42.6% vs. 30.3%;23.3% vs. 16.4%, P <0.05). These associations were not detected in ECAS and IECAS subgroups. There was no significant association be-tween Ile198Thr and Val279Phe and stenosis at any site(P>0.05). The distributions of genotype and allele of Arg92His, Ile198Thr and Val279Phe mutation were no significantly difference between CAAS group and control group (P >0.05). Conclusions Arg92His mutation may be associated with intracranial artery atherosclerotic stenosis.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association between receptor-interacting kinase protein 4 (RIPK4) relative copy number (RCN) and prognosis of stage III( colorectal cancer (CRC) patients treated with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy.

METHODSRIPK4 RCN was determined by real-time PCR and then dichotomized into high RIPK4 RCN group(n=35) and low RIPK4 RCN group (n=104) using the third quartile as the cut-off point. Overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were compared between high and low RIPK4 RCN groups. The subgroup prognostic analysis was also conducted based on tumor site.

RESULTSThe median follow-up period was 49 months (ranged 4 to 98 months). Patients with high RIPK4 RCN had poorer OS than those with low RIPK4 RCN, which reached marginal significance(median OS, 43.0 months vs. 53.5 months, P=0.074). Meanwhile there was no significant difference of RFS between two groups (P=0.352). In colon cancer subgroup, high RIPK4 RCN was significantly associated with poor OS (median OS, 31.5 months vs. 56.6 months, P=0.015) but not with RFS (P=0.135). In rectal cancer subgroup, RIPK4 RCN was not associated with both OS and RFS (P=0.981, P=0.738). Multivariate analysis revealed that high RIPK4 RCN was an independent prognostic factor of OS in stage III( CRC patients treated with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy (HR=2.903, 95% CI: 1.275 to 6.610).

CONCLUSIONRIPK4 RCN is significantly associated with OS in stage III( colon cancer patients receiving oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy and may be a novel biomarker that can predict the efficacy of oxaliplatin in colon cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate 19 short tandem repeat (STR) loci in Chinese Kazakh population in Barkol County with Goldeneye™20A multiplex amplification system. METHODS: DNA samples were screened from 81 unrelated individuals. The 19 loci were D8S1179, D21S11, CSF1PO, D3S1358, D7S820, TH01, D13S317, D2S1338, D18S51, D16S539, TPOX, vWA, D19S433, D5S818, PentaD, PentaE, D6S1043, D12S391 and FGA. The PCR products were analyzed and genotyped by ABI3130XL sequencer. RESULTS: These loci were highly polymorphic. The combined power of discrimination was 0.999999999 and the combined paternity of exclusion was 0.999998914. CONCLUSION Goldeneye™20A multiplex amplification system is very useful in forensic case investigation for Barkol Kazakh population.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; China ; Forensic Genetics ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Loci ; Genetics, Population ; Humans ; Microsatellite Repeats ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic

Obesity is one of the most serious global public health issue. In addition to advocating healthy lifestyle, scientists are devoted to developing healthy and effective ways to tackle obesity. In recent years, vagus nerve stimulation has been revealed to have potential therapeutic effect on obesity, which may be related to regulating endocrine hormones and body metabolism, affecting different nerve functions, regulating inflammatory and immune pathways, adjusting intestinal flora and circadian rhythm, and so on. Current researches focus on percutaneous stimulation(auricular vagus nerve stimulation), subcutaneous stimulation(cervical and abdominal vagus nerve stimulation), and gastrointestinal stimulation(the implantation of vagus nerve stimulation device and vagus nerve blocking device). Growing number of studies have confirmed that these stimulation methods have favorable effects on obesity with less side effects. Moreover, the mechanism of Chinese traditional acupuncture for obesity treatment is similar to that of vagus nerve stimulation. Most of vagus nerve stimulation is conveyed via physical therapy. It is highly feasible and theoretically has few side effects, therefore is easy to be accepted by obese subjects and may become a promising approach for obesity treatment.

Objective:This study was to investigate the expression of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) KCNQ1OT1 during the differentiation program of human preadipocyte and to look for the changes of its expression in adipose tissue in obese subject, as well as to clarify the correlation between KCNQ1OT1 and obesity, and to provide clues for further understanding the role of lncRNA in the development of obesity.Methods:Quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression of KCNQ1OT1 in human preadipocyte at day 0, 1, 3, 5, 9, and 12 during differentiation program, quantitative PCR was also used to detect KCNQ1OT1 expression in white adipose tissue of obese and normal people, which related to PPIA internal reference gene. Pearson correlation analyses were used to explore the relationships of KCNQ1OT1 with body mass index, triglyceride, and total cholesterol.Results:During differentiation program, the relative expression of KCNQ1OT1 levels at day of 1, 3, 5, 9, and 12 were (25.89±3.10), (24.78±5.58), (15.53±2.11), (6.75±0.71), (4.81±0.84), which showed an upward trend compared with day 0. This difference was significant ( P<0.01), especially in the early stage of differentiation (day 1 and day 3). The relative expression of KCNQ1OT1 in visceral adipose tissue of obese subjects was 0.79±0.05, which was significantly higher than that of normal people ( P<0.01). KCNQ1OT1 was positively correlated with body mass index ( r=0.569, P<0.01), triacylglycerol content ( r=0.489, P<0.05), and total cholesterol content( r=0.591, P<0.01). Conclusion:KCNQ1OT1 expression level, which was up-regulated in adipose tissue from obese subjects, increased during the differentiation program of preadipocytes, and also positively correlated with body mass index and serum triglyceride content. These results suggest that KCNQ1OT1 may be an important regulator of human preadipocyte differentiation and a potential target for prevention and treatment of obesity.