Objective:To determine whether ox-LDL (oxdized low-density lipoprotein) is highly deposited on the uremic vessel wall and its influence on the vascular remodeling. Methods: Segments of radial arteries were obtained from 21 uremic subjects during the operation of A-V fistula prior to hemodialysis. Segments of internal thoracic arteries of similar diameter were obtained from patients with benign chest tumors as control.The vascular lesions and ox-LDL, CD68,MCP-1, eNOS,ET-1, PCNA,FN on the vessel wall were determined by means of H-E stain and immunohistochemistry. Results： With H-E stain,atherosclerotic plaques were found in the radial arteries of 4 uremic patients. The middle layer of the arteries in uremic patients were obviously thickened, and the T/D　(thickness of the wall/external diameter) ratio was significantly higher than those in control group(P<0.01). ox-LDL,CD68,MCP-1, ET-1, PCNA,FN on the vessel wall in uremic patients were much higher than those in control group (P<0.01). Moreover, ox-LDL on the vessel wall was positively related to the expression of other above mentioned substances on the vessel wall (P<0.01). Whereas the expression of eNOS on the vessel wall was lower than control group (P<0.01),and was negatively related to ox-LDL on the vessel wall(P<0.01). Conclusion: ox-LDL is an important factor contributing to uremic vascular remodeling by increasing the migration,adhesion and infiltration of monocyte,the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cell and dysfunction of endothelia.

Objective:To determine whether ox-LDL (oxdized low-density lipoprotein) is highly deposited on the uremic vessel wall and its influence on the vascular remodeling. Methods: Segments of radial arteries were obtained from 21 uremic subjects during the operation of A-V fistula prior to hemodialysis. Segments of internal thoracic arteries of similar diameter were obtained from patients with benign chest tumors as control.The vascular lesions and ox-LDL, CD68,MCP-1, eNOS,ET-1, PCNA,FN on the vessel wall were determined by means of H-E stain and immunohistochemistry. Results： With H-E stain,atherosclerotic plaques were found in the radial arteries of 4 uremic patients. The middle layer of the arteries in uremic patients were obviously thickened, and the T/D　(thickness of the wall/external diameter) ratio was significantly higher than those in control group(P<0.01). ox-LDL,CD68,MCP-1, ET-1, PCNA,FN on the vessel wall in uremic patients were much higher than those in control group (P<0.01). Moreover, ox-LDL on the vessel wall was positively related to the expression of other above mentioned substances on the vessel wall (P<0.01). Whereas the expression of eNOS on the vessel wall was lower than control group (P<0.01),and was negatively related to ox-LDL on the vessel wall(P<0.01). Conclusion: ox-LDL is an important factor contributing to uremic vascular remodeling by increasing the migration,adhesion and infiltration of monocyte,the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cell and dysfunction of endothelia.

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a newly recognized fibro-inflammatory condition of autoimmune etiology in recent twenty years, mainly manifesting as mass-forming lesions in single or multiple organs. In the past, it was often missed or misdiagnosed as inflammation or tumor. Patients may die from multiple organ failure due to end-stage fibrosis if they are not treated promptly. However, the number of clinically confirmed cases has gradually increased with the improvement of diagnostic level in recent years, and these patients have benefited greatly after receiving early treatment. Although patients generally respond well to traditional immunosuppressors including glucocorticoids and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, refractory and recurrent cases, even patients with glucocorticoid contraindication are common. Important mechanistic insights have been derived from studies of B-cell depletion therapy, but greater awareness of the pathophysiology of IgG4-RD is still badly needed to identify novel therapeutic targets. In this article, we reviewed the pathogenesis progress and promising therapy of IgG4-RD to seek better clinical management of IgG4-RD.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of compound qingqin liquid (CQL) on Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in rats with urate nephropathy, and to explore its renal protection mechanism.

METHODSTotally 55 SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups, i.e., the normal control group (n =5), the model group (n =10), the positive drug group (n=10), and the high-, medium-, low-dose CQL groups (n=10) respectively. The urate nephropathy model was induced by intragastrically administering adenine and feeding yeast. Distilled water was intragastrically administered at the daily dose of 10 mL/kg to rats in the normal control group and the model group. Allopurinol was intragastrically administered at the daily dose of 9.33 mg/kg to rats in the positive control group. CQL was intragastrically administered at the daily dose of 3.77, 1.89, 0.94 g/kg to rats in the high-, medium-, and low-dose CQL groups. Rats of each group were executed in batches at the 4th and 6th week respectively. Their kidney tissues were taken out to determine the mRNA transcription level of TLR2 and TLR4 by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The protein expression level of TLR2 and TLR4 were determined by Western blot. The protein expression level of TLR4 was also detected by immunohistochemical assay.

RESULTSAt week 4 and 6, the protein expression of TLR2 and TLR4 as well as the mRNA transcription of TLR4 increased in the model group, when compared with the control group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Compared with the model group, there was no statistical difference in the transcription level of TLR2 mRNA or TLR4 mRNA among the 3 CQL groups (P > 0.05) at week 4 and 6. Additionally, at week 6, the protein expression of TLR4 and TLR2 could be reduced by CQL (P < 0.05, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONCQL might protect kidney tissue against inflammatory injury by inhibiting the protein expression levels of TLR2 and TLR4.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Kidney ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Kidney Diseases ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Male ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Toll-Like Receptor 2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Toll-Like Receptor 4 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Uric Acid

OBJECTIVETo study the clinical characteristics of male urethral duplication infection and offer some guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

METHODSWe analyzed the pathological types, clinical characteristics, therapeutic processes and follow-up results of 9 cases of male urethral duplication.

RESULTSAmong the 9 cases of urethral duplication, 7 turned out to be of Type I, 1 Type II A2 and 1 Type II B. The disease courses varied from 2 to 420 days, with an average of 77.2 +/- 141.5 days. Four cases with longer disease duration were identified with a history of repeated use of various antibiotics for treatment. Their clinical manifestations varied, with the outflow of excretions or pus from the duplicate or normal urethra as the cardinal symptoms. The pathogens detected from the secretions were mainly Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Ureaplasma urealyticum, and Chlamydia trachomatis. The consistency rate of the same pathogens detected in the vaginal or cervical secretions from the sex partners of the patients was 87.5%. All the symptoms disappeared after a sufficient-course treatment with sensitive antibiotics, and the patients' sex partners received the same medication simultaneously. No recurrence was found during a 3-month follow-up.

CONCLUSIONUrethral duplication infection has various clinical manifestations, and thus is easily missed in diagnosis. Sufficient-course treatment with sensitive antibiotics is recommended for those that prefer conservative therapy, and their sex partners should be treated simultaneously.

Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Urethra ; microbiology ; Urethral Diseases ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; microbiology ; Young Adult

Objective To explore the characteristic of the genetic frequency distribution of human leukocyte antigen(HLA)-DR alleles in children with bronchial asthma in Guangxi area.Methods Eighty-four unrelated asthmatic individuals and 168 healthy people without asthma and atopy living in Nanning region of Guangxi as control group were involved in the study.All asthmatics had their serum total IgE levels measured with Pharmacia UniCAP system,and skin-prick test with 10 kinds of inhalant allergens were taken,and pulmonary function were measured among the asthmatic.HLA oligonucleotide array was used to 21 gene frequencies of HLA-DR.Results The frequencies of HLA-DR B1*070X allele and HLA-DR B1*11XX allele among the asthmatic(2.98% and 13.69%)were significantly higher than those in control group(0.3% and 5.95%)(?2 =6.915,9.478 P

Objective To explore the risk factor of chronic disease-related behaviors such as smoking, drinking, exercising and eating habit among residents in Liubei District, Liuzhou City. Methods 2 487 adult residents in Liubei District were sampled by multistage sampling method and surveyed on their way of life and behavior risk factors. The content of questionnaire involved familial population information, past medical history, way of life and eating habit. EpiData 3.1 was applied to install database, SPSS 17.0 was used for data analysis, multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factor of chronic disease-related behaviors. Results The rates of hypertension, diabetes, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were 13.63%，4.22%，3.62%,0.36% and 6.84%, respectively. The rate of smoking, drinking, doing physical exercise and eat breakfast regularly were 22.92%, 5.43%，52.87% and 93.07%. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that older and smoking were risk factors of chronic disease, while physical exercise was protective factor of chronic disease. Conclusions Intervening measure taken in chronic disease demonstration zone were effective in the past 5 years， and health education on behavioral intervention should be carried on continuous to reduce incidence of chronic disease.

OBJECTIVETo acquire sufficient PDGF-BB protein and provide the basis for the further studies of its role on the fracture healing and trauma reconstruction and its clinical applications.

METHODSConstructed the prokaryotic expression vector pQE-PDGF-B with the gene rearrangement technique, and the monomeric form of recombinant PDGF-B expressed in E. coli M15.

RESULTSPDGF-B mature peptide gene was inserted into prokaryotic expression vector pQE30, which was confirmed by PCR, enzyme digestion and sequencing identification; the expressed products of pQE-PDGF-B in E. coli showed a single protein on SDS-PAGE, and their expression level was about 15% of the total bacterial protein. The molecular weight of the purified PDGF-B protein was about 15 KDs on SDS-PAGE.

CONCLUSIONSThe construction of recombinant plasmid and preparation of the monomeric protein of PDGF-B provides a solid foundation for further studying the function of PDGF-BB and producing biologically PDGF-BB protein.

Cloning, Molecular ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Platelet-Derived Growth Factor ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-sis ; genetics ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo screen active components in Compound Danshen (CD) based on pregnane X receptor-cytochrome P450 3A4 (PXR-CYP3A4).

METHODSBy using PXR-CYP3A stable transfection human hepatoblastoma G2 (HepG2) cell lines engineering cell strain combined reporter genes technology, active components that induce or inhibit PXR-CYP3A4 paths in CD were screened, and confirmed at the level of enzymic activities. The experiment was divided into the positive control group (RIF 10 micro mol/L), the DMSO group (DMSO 0.1%), each dose of treatment groups (ginsenoside Rc, Rf, Rb2, Rg2, F2, F1, tanshinone I , isoborneol 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 200 micro mol/L; each with six duplicates). Cells medium was removed 36, 48, and 60 h after treatment. The activity of CYP3A4 was then determined in the supernant and the fold induction was calculated.

RESULTSCompared with the DMSO group, the fold induction increased when ginsenoside Rc, Rf, Rb2, Rg2, F2, F1, tanshinone I , and isoborneol 50 and 100 micro mol/L was respectively intervened for 36, 48, and 60 h (P <0.05). When cells were treated with isoborneol 200 micro mol/L for 48 and 60 h,the fold induction of ginsenoside Rb2, Rg2, and F1 was significantly higher than that of the RIF group (P <0.05). Enzymic activity results showed that ginsenoside Rc, Rf, Rb2, F2, and F1 could increase the enzyme activity of CYP3A4 at 48 h (P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONGinsenoside Rc, Rf, Rb2, F2, F1, tanshinone I, and isoborneol in DC could induce CYP3A4 enzymes.

Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A ; metabolism ; Diterpenes, Abietane ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Genes, Reporter ; Ginsenosides ; metabolism ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; Receptors, Steroid ; metabolism ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; Transfection

BACKGROUNDLymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare disease that predominantly affects young females. It is considered as an "orphan" life-threatening disease of unknown etiology, with uncertain clinical prognosis, and no effective treatment. LAM can arise sporadically or in association with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), an autosomal inherited syndrome characterized by hamartoma-like tumor growth and pathologic features that are distinct from manifestations of pulmonary LAM. The clinical course of LAM is characterized by progressive dyspnea on exertion, recurrent pneumothorax, and chylous fluid collections.

METHODSFourteen cases of LAM from Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University are reviewed, twelve were confirmed by lung biopsy, one by retroperitoneal lymphangioleiomyoma resection, and one by autopsy.

RESULTSAll 14 patients were women, aged 18 to 69 years (mean 43.3 years, median 46.5 years). Haemoptysis (57.1%) and chylothorax (35.7%) were more frequent than those described in previous case series. Extrapulmonary findings such as renal angiomyolipoma (AML), enlarged abdominal lymph nodes, liver AML and retroperitoneal lymphangioleiomyoma were seen in 21.4%, 14.3%, 7.14% and 7.14% in 14 cases respectively, which is remarkably lower than in the previously reported. Abnormal smooth muscle cells (LAM cells) were found to line the airways, bronchioles, lymphatics and blood vessels leading to airflow obstruction and replacement of the lung parenchyma by cysts. There were some surprises in the autopsy case as several LAM cell emboli were found in the veins of mediastinum lymph nodes; LAM cells were found to be disseminated in soft tissues adjacent to the ilium.

CONCLUSIONSWomen with unexplained recurrent pneumothorax, tuberous sclerosis, or a diagnosis of primary spontaneous pneumothorax or emphysema in the setting of limited or absent tobacco use should undergo high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scan screening for LAM. Routine abdominal and pelvic imaging examinations should be performed to detect extrapulmonary involvement. The autopsy studies histologically suggested that LAM could be a multisystemic disease and LAM cells might possess metastatic potential.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Contraceptives, Oral, Synthetic ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymphangioleiomyomatosis ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Medroxyprogesterone ; therapeutic use ; Middle Aged ; Ovariectomy ; Progesterone ; therapeutic use ; Progestins ; therapeutic use ; Young Adult