ObjectiveThis study was to review our experience for the management of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) invading the inferior vena cava(IVC). Methods Eleven patients were operated on. Tumors were first resected under portal triad clamping(PTC) and then the tumor emboli in the IVC were removed either under hepatic vascular exclusion(HVE) or under side clamping of the IVC. Results Surgery was successful in all cases, without operative death and complication caused by the removals of tumor emboli from the IVC. The mean operative time was 179 min (range 120～255 min) and the mean intraoperative blood loss 1 482 ml(range 600～3 000 ml). The mean PTC and HVE times were 27 9 min(range 12～83 min) and 16 5 min(range 7～28 min), respectively. The postoperative complications included pleural effusion in one needing thorancentesis and bile leak in one. During the follow up, 3 patients died at 30, 10 and 14 months, respectively, and the remaining 8 patients were alive at the follow up of 1 to 14 months. ConclusionsHCC with tumor thrombus in the IVC is operable and the proper procedure is hepatectomy plus thrombectomy with a favourable postoperative prognosis.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as an injury caused by a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. It is a common emergency and severe case in neurosurgery field. Nowadays, there are more and more evidences showing that TBI, which is apparently similar in pathology and severity in the acute stage, may have different outcomes. The known prognostic factors (such as age, severity of injury and treatments, etc.) explain only part of this variability and the concept of genetic susceptibility of traumatic brain injury has already been accepted by more and more people. It is now demonstrated that genetic polymorphism may play a key role in the susceptibility to TBI, even outcome following TBI. Although there are many genes that may involved in pathophysiological processes influencing TBI, apolipoprotein E gene has become one of the most extensive studied genes in neurotrauma and neurodegenerative disease and seems to take an important part in the neural responses to TBI. In this article, we will review the current understanding of the genetic susceptibility of TBI and the advancements regarding the impact of apolipoprotein E genotype on the severity and/or outcome following TBI.
Animals ; Apolipoproteins E ; genetics ; Brain Injuries ; genetics ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Mice

OBJECTIVETo search for a simple surgical procedure for the treatment of concealed penis that may have better effect and less complications.

METHODSWe used a modified surgical method in the treatment of 58 patients with concealed penis aged from 3 to 15 (mean 6.8) years. The operation was simplified and involved the following steps: wholly unveiling the penis glans, half-degloving the foreskins, cutting off all the adhesive fibers up to the penile suspensory ligaments, and liberating the external penis.

RESULTSThe operation was successful in all the patients, with the operative time of 15 -45 (mean 33) minutes, hospital stay of 2 - 5 (mean 3.5) days, but no complications except mild foreskin edema in 5 cases. The external penis was prolonged from 0.5 - 2.8 (mean 1.4) cm preoperatively to 3.2 - 8.5 (mean 3.9) cm postoperatively. The patients were followed up for 1 -3 years, all satisfied with the length and appearance of the penis, and their sexual and reproductive functions were normal.

CONCLUSIONThe modified surgical procedure for concealed penis is simple and effective, with desirable outcomes, few postoperative complications and no damage to sexual and reproductive functions.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Foreskin ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Penis ; abnormalities ; surgery ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; methods

Objective To study the effect of curcumin on rat model of N-methylnitrosourea ( MNU) -induced bladder cancer and its mechanism. Methods One hundred SD rats were randomly divided into four groups:control group (n=10), model group (n=10), intervention group (n=40) and treatment group (n=40). Rats in the control group re-ceived intravesical infusion of distilled water. Rats in the other three groups were given MNU (1 mg/mL) in 2 mL saline at 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th weeks to induce bladder cancer. In the model group, the rats were injected with distilled water in the bladder. The rats in the intervention group received 2 mL curcumin solution (400 μmol/L) at the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th weeks, and were sacrificed at the 11th week. In the model group, the rats were injected with distilled water in the bladder. In the treatment group, the rats had intravesical instillation of curcumin in the bladder (400 μmol/L, 2 mL) at 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 weeks, and sacrificed at the 19th week. Bladder tissue samples were taken for pathological exami-nation using hematoxylin and eosin ( HE) staining. TUNEL staining assay was used to detect the apoptosis in tumor tissue. The expression of apoptosis-related proteins was detected by Western blot. Results The incidence of bladder cancer was 90% (9/10) in the model group, 12. 5% (5/40) in the intervention group and 92. 5% (37/40) in the treatment group at the 10th week, showing a significant difference between the intervention group and model group (P<0. 05), indicating an obvious interventional effect of curcumin on the bladder cancer. The incidence rate of bladder cancer in the treatment group was 78. 4% (30/37) at the 19th week, and compared with the 10th week before treatment, showing that curcumin can de-lay the recurrence of bladder cancer. TUNEL staining assay confirmed that curcumin significantly promoted the apoptosis in bladder cancer cells and inhibited their proliferation. The Western blot analysis showed that curcumin inhibited the activa-tion of NF-κB and effectively down-regulated the expression of NF-κB-regulated gene product. Conclusions Curcumin has a significant interventional effect on MNU-induced bladder cancer in the rat models. The mechanism may be through inhibi-tion of NF-κB activation and effective down-regulated NF-κB regulation of the gene products, and to regulate the expression of related proteins in bladder cancer, i. e. , inhibition of proliferation, induction of apoptosis, and further play a role of an-ti-cancer intervention and prevention of bladder cancer recurrence.

Objective To investigate the effect of bacillus Calmette-Guérin(BCG)on bladder cancer cells and their metabolites, and to preliminarily explore the possible mechanisms of BCG in the treatment of bladder cancer. Methods The rat model of bladder cancer was induced by intravesical instillation with N-methylnitrosourea(MNU). Bladder cancer cells and normal transitional epithelial cells were isolated and primarily cultured, and were divided into 5 groups according to the different components of the culture medium. The concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and interleukin-10(IL-10)in the supernatant of each group was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The concentration of BCG to inhibit the cancer cell growth was determined by MTT assay. Apoptosis of bladder cancer cells was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling(TUNEL). Results Among the 15 rats,2 rats died after 2 times of instillation, and 3 rats died after 3 times of instillation, without obvious tumors found at autopsy. The other 10 rats were killed after completion of the intravesically instillation of MNU, and obvious tumors were found in 8 of them after dissection. The results of MTT assay showed that BCG had an inhibitory effect on the growth of bladder cancer cells,and the inhibitory rate was positively correlated with the concentration of BCG. The results of ELISA showed that the concentrations of TNF-α in the supernatant of groups B and D were(160.654 ± 5.775) ng/L and(124.443 ± 4.972)ng/L, respectively, with significant differences from those of the other three groups. The concentrations of IL-10 in the groups B and E were(16.973 ± 3.428)ng/L and(20.327 ± 2.721)ng/L, significantly higher than those of the other three groups. Apoptosis of cancer cells was not found in all groups. HE staining of the primary bladder cancer cells showed that the volume of cell nucleus was increased, and the nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio was increased. The number of nucleoli in some cells was increased and some nuclei appeared like ink drops with prominent nucleoli. Conclusions BCG has an inhibitory effect on the growth of rat bladder cancer cells. IL-10 and TNF-α secreted by the tumor cells might be involved in this regulatory process. However,apoptosis does not show an obvious effect on this inhibitory process.

MISA (MicroSAtelite) software was employed to screen SSRs in 68 787 contigs of Swertia mussotii transcriptome sequences. 5 610 SSRs were distributed in 5 099 contigs which accounted for 7.41% of 68 787 contigs. There are 220 kinds of SSR motifs existing in S. mussotii transcriptome. On average, SSRs occurred every 12.60 kb in length. In the SSRs, the tri-nucleotide repeat motif was the most abundant (45.99%), followed by the di-nucleotide (41.62%). AT/TA and AAT/TTA were the main types of motif in di-, tri-nucleotide repeats. The repeat numbers of SSRs which from S. mussotii transcriptome SSRs were mainly from 5 to 10 and motif length of them mostly ranged from 12 bp to 30 bp. A total of 30 651 contigs were annotated, and only 1 447 SSRs were occurred in protein-coding regions. In the six repeat motifs, tri-nucleotide repeats were the most abundant in coding regions (928). There are abundant SSRs in S. mussotii transcriptome with high frequency and various types, indicating their usefulness in theory. This research may lay the foundation for designing the targeted SSR primers and developing SSR molecular markers by mining the information of SSRs loci in S. mussotii transcriptome sequences data.
Data Mining ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics ; Swertia ; genetics ; Transcriptome

OBJECTIVETo test whether tanshinone II A (Tan II A), a highly valued herb derivative to treat vascular diseases in Chinese medicine, could protect endothelial cells from bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharides, LPS)-induced endothelial injury.

METHODSEndothelial cell injury was induced by treating human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with 0.2 μg/mL LPS for 24 h. Y27632 and valsartan were used as positive controls. The effects of tanshinone II A on the LPS-induced cell viability and apoptosis rate of HUVECs were tested by flow cytometry, cell migration by transwell, adhesion by a 96-well plate pre-coated with vitronectin and cytoskeleton reorganization by immunofluorescence assay. Rho/Rho kinase (ROCK) pathway-associated gene and protein expression were examined by microarray assay; quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to confirm the changes observed by microarray.

RESULTSTan II A improved cell viability, suppressed apoptosis and protected cells from LPS-induced reductions in cell migration and adhesion at a comparable magnitude to that of Y27632 and valsartan. Tan II A, Y27632 and valsartan also normalized LPS-induced actomyosin contraction and vinculin protein aggregation. A microarray assay revealed increased levels of fibronectin, integrin A5 (ITG A5), Ras homolog gene family member A (RhoA), myosin light chain phosphatase, phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K, or PIP2 in Western blotting), focal adhesion kinase, vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 in the damaged HUVECs, which were attenuated to different degrees by Tan II A, Y27632 and valsartan.

CONCLUSIONTan II A exerted a strong protective effect on HUVECs, and the mechanism was caused, at least in part, by a blockade in the Rho/ROCK pathway, presumably through the down-regulation of ITG A5.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Adhesion ; drug effects ; Cell Movement ; drug effects ; Cell Shape ; drug effects ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Cytoprotection ; drug effects ; Cytoskeleton ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Diterpenes, Abietane ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Down-Regulation ; drug effects ; genetics ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ; drug effects ; enzymology ; pathology ; Humans ; Integrin alphaV ; metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Myosin Light Chains ; metabolism ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-Diphosphate ; metabolism ; Protective Agents ; pharmacology ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; Up-Regulation ; drug effects ; genetics ; Vinculin ; metabolism ; rho GTP-Binding Proteins ; metabolism ; rho-Associated Kinases ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo study the expression of nNOS and ultrastructural changes in the penile tissue of rats with prolactinoma-induced erectile dysfunction (ED).

METHODSWe established the model of prolactinoma in 20 male Westar rats by peritoneal injection of diethylstilbestrol (DES) and treated the control rats with normal saline (n = 10) or sterilized arachis oil (n = 10). After 8 weeks, we performed the apomorphine test and measured the weight of the pituitary gland and the levels of serum prolactin (PRL) and testosterone (T) to confirm the successful construction of the prolactinoma-induced ED model. Then we determined the expression of nNOS in the penile tissue by immunohistochemistry and examined the ultrastructural changes of the penile cavernosum under the transmission electron microscope.

RESULTSThe prolactinoma-induced ED model was successfully established in 15 rats. The weight of the pituitary gland was significantly increased in the rats treated with DES as compared with the normal saline and sterilized arachis oil controls ([46.7 ± 15.5] vs [11.7 ± 2.4] and [12.4 ± 2.3] mg, both P < 0.05). The level of serum PRL was markedly higher while that of T remarkably lower in the former than in the latter two groups ([1,744.9 ± 304.5] vs [11.5 ± 2.4] and [10.6 ± 1.9] ng/ml, both P < 0.0l; [1.54 ± 0.46] vs [3.11 ± 1.08] and [3.04 ± 1.11] ng/ml, both P < 0.05). The rate of penile erection was significantly reduced in the prolactinoma-induced ED model rats in comparison with the normal saline and arachis oil controls (16.7% vs 100% and 87.5%, both P < 0.05), and so was the expression of nNOS in the penile tissue (0.024 ± 0.011 vs 0.066 ± 0.019 and 0.058 ± 0.021, both P < 0.05). Transmission electron microscopy manifested significant ultrastructural changes in the endothelial and smooth muscle cells of the cavernous tissue in the prolactinoma-induced ED models.

CONCLUSIONThe ultrastructural changes of the penile cavernous tissue and the reduced expression of nNOS in penile tissue may be the most important mechanisms of prolactinoma-induced ED in rats.

Animals ; Apomorphine ; Carcinogens ; Diethylstilbestrol ; Erectile Dysfunction ; etiology ; Humans ; Male ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; ultrastructure ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I ; metabolism ; Organ Size ; Penile Erection ; Penis ; enzymology ; ultrastructure ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; chemically induced ; complications ; Prolactin ; blood ; Prolactinoma ; chemically induced ; complications ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Testosterone ; blood

Objective: To evaluate the immunogenicity of HIV-1 clade C/B’ vaccine based on modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) vector in mice. Methods: Mice were inoculated with 3-dose HIV vaccine by intramuscular injection. Blood sample were collected every second week, and then the antibodies against HIV were detected. At week 6, mice were killed and cellular immune responses were examined by ELISPOT. Result: The number of spot forming cells in the 107 pfu/ml -dose group was more than those of 105 pfu/ml -dose and 106 pfu/ml -dose groups significantly. HIV specific antibodies emerged at week 2 and elevated rapidly at week 4 and week 6. The level of specific IgG in the 107 pfu/ml -dose group was more than those of 105 pfu/ml -dose and 106 pfu/ml -dose groups significantly. Conclusion: The ADMVA induces both humoral immunoresponse and cellular immune responses.

OBJECTIVESTo discuss the diagnostic approaches of neurogenic erectile dysfunction(ED), and to improve the diagnostic efficacy.

METHODSTwo hundred and one patients with ED were evaluated by physical examination, IIEF-5, intracavernous injection, colour duplex ultrasonography and bulbocavernosus reflex latency, respectively.

RESULTSAmong those ED patients, 173, 201, 106, 57 and 27 cases had undergone above-mentioned examines, 13 neurogenic ED and 188 miscellaneous(and unknown-causes) ED were diagnosed.

CONCLUSIONSNeurogenic erectile dysfunction is a common disorder, the diagnostic approaches should be based on patient's situation.

Adult ; Aged ; Erectile Dysfunction ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Penis ; innervation ; Severity of Illness Index ; Surveys and Questionnaires