ObjectiveTo study the MR Imaging features of breast phyllodes tumor (PT),and to correlate it with pathological results.MethodClinical and MRI findings were retrospectively reviewed in twenty-seven women with 28 PTs lesions confirmed by surgical pathology.Statistical analyses were one-way ANOVA for size analysis,Fisher exact test for analysis of MR appearances and Spearman correlation to study the relationship between MRI findings and BI-RADS categories.Results( 1 ) The histologic findings were benign,borderline and malignant PTs in 14.3％ (4/28),53.6％ (15/28) and 32.1％ (9/28) of lesions,respectively.(2) The mean maximum-diameter were (6.4 ± 3.9) cm,(5.7 ± 2.2) cm in borderline type and (4.8 ± 1.8)cm in benign type respectively.The results showed differences in lesion's size among the three type (F = 287.541,P =0.000),especially between malignant and benign type (P = 0.033 ).(3)Internal non-enhanced septations and silt-like changes on enhanced images,as well as time-signal curve on MRI correlated significantly with the histological grade ( P ＜ 0.05 ).( 4 ) If the category BI-RADS ≥ 4a was considered to be a suspicious sign for malignant lesion,the diagnostic accuracy of MRI would be 96.4％ (27/28),and the BI-RADS category of the MRI could reflect the PT's histological grade with a low correlation coefficient ( r = 0.382,P = 0.045 ).Conclusion The findings of PT on MRI have some characteristics,with tumor size and several MRI features correlating with the histological grade of breast PT.

Selective markers used in yeast vector for gene manipulation were usually drug resistance or autotrophy. Unfortunately, drug resistance selective marker requires drug sensitive host and most industrial strains were not autotrophy. In this paper, flocculation gene (FLO1) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae ABXL-1D was amplified by PCR, sequenced and cloned to construct an expression vector. The new vector was easy to manipulate and suitable for broad host of yeasts without either autotrophy or drugs. beta-glucosidase gene from Bacillus polymyxa was cloned with the vector and expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The specific activity of beta-glucosidase of the recombinant yeast cell-free extract was 3.91 u/mg protein. The residue glucose of the recombinant yeast was considerably reduced in mixed fermentation of glucose and cellobiose. It should be favorable for ethanol fermentation when utilize lignocellulosic biomass as raw material.
Bacillus ; enzymology ; genetics ; Flocculation ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; metabolism ; beta-Glucosidase ; biosynthesis ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the relationship of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha expression with chemotherapy response in gastric cancer and its clinical outcome.

METHODSLeucovorin (CF) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in combination with oxaliplatin (L-OHP) were used in 52 patients with gastric carcinoma (GC) at advanced stage. CF 200 mg/m(2) was intravenous drop for 2 h at day 1 and day 14. 5-FU 1500 mg/m(2) was continuously intravenous drop for 46 h at day 1 and day 14. L-OHP 85 mg/m(2) was intravenous drop for 2 h at day 1 and day 14. Four-week was one cycle. All the patients received 4 cycles of chemotherapy at least. Chemotherapy response and clinical outcome were evaluated. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the protein expressions of HIF-1alpha, P-gp and MRP4 by tissue microarray in GC. Twenty-seven normal gastric tissue samples were used as control group.

RESULTSThe positive expression rates of HIF-lalpha, P-gp and MRP4 in tumor samples were 53.9%, 51.9% and 57.7% respectively, which were significantly higher than those in normal gastric tissues (0, 18.5% and 14.8% respectively) (P<0.05). In cases with positive expression of HIF-lalpha, the response rate was 14.3%; whereas in cases with negative expression of HIF-1alpha, the response rate was 50.0%. There was significant difference between two groups (P<0.05). In patients of HIF-1alpha positive expression,the median progression-free survival time was 4.7 months,the median survival time was 8.8 months, and 1-year, 2-year survival rates were 37.5% and 21.5% respectively. In patients of HIF-1alpha negative expression, the median progression-free survival time was 8.4 months, the median survival time was l2.6 months, and 1-year, 2-year survival rates were 51.2% and 33.5% respectively. There were significant differences between two groups (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONHIF-1alpha expression may be a useful indicator to predict the chemotherapy response and clinical outcome in gastric carcinoma.

Adult ; Aged ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the relationship between Modic change and disc height together with lumbar hyperosteogeny and study the role of Modic change in lumbar degeneration.

METHODSThe imaging data of 150 elderly patients with chronic low back pain were analysed retrospectively. All patients underwent MRI and lumbar lateral X-ray examination. The lumbar disc from L1-L2 to L5-S1 were selected for this study, including 750 discs, vertebral and endplate close to disc in 150 patients. The incidence rate of lumbar endplate Modic change, disc height and the degree of vertebral bone hyperplasia were recorded. The ratio of disc height/lumbar intervertebral disc height < 50% was defined as disc collapse. The patients were divided into 4 groups in the basis of imaging changes. Group A1:disc collapse without severe lumbar hyperosteogeny; Group A2: disc collapse with severe lumbar hyperosteogeny; Group B1: Neither disc collapse nor severe lumbar hyperosteogeny; Group B2: severe lumbar hyperosteogeny without disc collapse. The incidence rates of Modic change were compared between the 4 groups by χ(2) test. Finally, the influence of disc height and vertebral bone hyperplasia on the incidence rate of Modic change was analysed.

RESULTSFour groups of patients observed a total of 750 discs. The number of intervertebral discs in the group A1 was 208, the incidence rate was 54.3%. The number of intervertebral discs in the group A2 was 135, the incidence rate of group A2 was 34.8%. The number of intervertebral discs in the B1 group was 225, the incidence rate of group B1 was 16.9%. The number of intervertebral discs in the B2 group was 182, the incidence rate of group B2 was 29.7%. There was significant difference of lumbar endplate Modic change incidence rate among the 4 groups(χ(2) = 69.565, P < 0.05). The results of post hoc test showed that the incidence rate of Modic change in group A1 was higher than group A2, B1 and B2 (χ(2) = 12.524, 66.701 and 24.102, P < 0.00714). There was significant difference of Modic change incidence rate between group A2 and B1(χ(2) = 15.032, P < 0.00714), but there was no significant difference of Modic change incidence rate between group A2 and B2 (χ(2) = 0.945, P > 0.00714) . There was significant difference of Modic change incidence rate between group B2 and group B1 (χ(2) = 9.395, P < 0.00714).

CONCLUSIONSThe incidence rate of Modic change with disc collapse but without severe lumbar hyperosteogeny is high in elderly patients with chronic low back pain. There is no significant difference of Modic change incidence between patients with both disc collapse and severe lumbar hyperosteogeny and patients with severe lumbar hyperosteogeny but without disc collapse.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; pathology ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration ; pathology ; Low Back Pain ; pathology ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; pathology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychostimulant. It is often adopted as a tool to modulate brain activations in fMRI studies. However, its pharmaceutical effect on task-induced deactivation has not been fully examined in fMRI. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of caffeine on both activation and deactivation under sustained attention. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Task fMRI was acquired from 26 caffeine naive healthy volunteers before and after taking caffeine pill (200 mg). RESULTS: Statistical analysis showed an increase in cognition-load dependent task activation but a decrease in load dependent de-activation after caffeine ingestion. Increase of attention and memory task activation and its load-dependence suggest a beneficial effect of caffeine on the brain even though it has no overt behavior improvement. The reduction of deactivation by caffeine and its load-dependence indicate reduced facilitation from task-negative networks. CONCLUSION: Caffeine affects brain activity in a load-dependent manner accompanied by a disassociation between task-positive network and task-negative network.
Brain ; Caffeine* ; Eating* ; Healthy Volunteers ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Memory ; Memory, Short-Term*

BACKGROUNDReports on mood regulating circuit (MRC) indicated different activities between depressed patients and healthy controls. The functional networks based on MRC have not been described in major depression disorder (MDD). Both the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and thalamus are all the key regions of MRC. This study was to investigate the two functional networks related to ACC and thalamus in MDD.

METHODSSixteen patients with MDD on first episode which never got any medication and sixteen matched health controls were scanned by 3.0 T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during resting-state. The pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) was used as seed region to construct the functional network by cortex section. The thalamus was used as seed region to construct the functional network by limbic section. Paired-t tests between-groups were performed for the seed-target correlations based on the individual fisher z-transformed correlation maps by SPM2.

RESULTSDepressed subjects exhibited significantly great functional connectivity (FC) between pgACC and the parahippocampus gyrus in one cluster (size 923) including left parahippocampus gyrus (-21, -49, 7), left parietal lobe (-3, -46, 52) and left frontal lobe (-27, -46, 28). The one cluster (size 962) of increased FC on thalamus network overlapped the precuneus near to right parietal lobe (9, -52, 46) and right cingulate gyrus (15, -43, 43) in health controls.

CONCLUSIONSAbnormal functional networks exist in earlier manifestation of MDD related to MRC by both cortex and limbic sections. The increased functional connectivity of pgACC and decreased functional connectivity of thalamus is mainly involved in bias mood processing and cognition.

Adult ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; physiopathology ; Female ; Gyrus Cinguli ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Male ; Thalamus ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of long-term exposure to particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) from automobile exhaust on the reproductive function of Sprague Dawley (SD) rats.

METHODSForty-five male SD rats, weighing 80 - 94 g and aged 28 days, were randomly assigned to receive intra-tracheal administration of 0.9% normal saline (control group, n = 15), PM2. 5 at 2 μg per 100 g body weight per day (low-dose PM2.5 group, n = 15), and PM2.5 at 16 μg per 100 g body weight per day (high-dose PM2.5 group, n = 15), qd, for 60 successive days. After the last 24-hour exposure, 10 rats were taken from each group for copulation with normal female ones, while the others were sacrificed, their testes removed for sperm count and deformity, pathological examination, and determination of the Connexin43 expression.

RESULTSThe conception rate was significantly decreased in the low- and high-dose PM2.5 groups as compared with that of the control (70% and 50% vs 100%), and so were the sperm count and quality. The rats in the PM2.5-exposed groups showed significantly disordered histological structure of the seminiferous tubules, reduced sperm count in the testicular lumen, some exfoliated secondary spermatocytes, downregulated Connexin43 expression in the testis, and damaged blood-testis barrier.

CONCLUSIONLong-term exposure to PM2.5 from automobile exhaust damages the reproductive function of male SD rats.

Animals ; Blood-Testis Barrier ; Body Weight ; Connexin 43 ; metabolism ; Down-Regulation ; Fertilization ; Male ; Particulate Matter ; toxicity ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reproduction ; Seminiferous Tubules ; Sperm Count ; Spermatocytes ; Testis ; metabolism ; pathology ; Vehicle Emissions ; toxicity

BACKGROUNDDegenerative lumbar scoliosis is common in older patients. Decreased bone density and the degeneration of intervertebral discs are considered to be correlated with degenerative lumbar scoliosis. A means of quantifying the relative signal intensity for degenerative disc disease has not been previously discussed. The purpose of this study was to compare bone mineral density and intervertebral disc degeneration between degenerative lumbar scoliosis and lumbar spinal stenosis patients in a nine-year retrospective study.

METHODSFrom January 2001 to August 2010, 96 patients with degenerative lumbar scoliosis were retrospectively enrolled and 96 patients with lumbar spinal stenosis were selected as controls. Cobb angle, height of the apical disc and the contiguous disc superiorly and inferiorly on convex and concave sides, the height of the convex and concave side of the apical and the contiguous vertebral body superiorly and inferiorly were measured in the scoliosis group. The height of L2/L3, L3/L4, L4/L5 discs and the height of L2/L4 vertebral body was measured in the control group. The grade of intervertebral disc degeneration was evaluated using T2WI sagittal images in both groups. The bone density of lumbar vertebrae was measured with dual-energy X-ray.

RESULTSIn scoliosis group, the intervertebral disc height on the convex side was greater than the height on the concave side (P < 0.001). The vertebral body height on the convex side was greater than the height on the concave side (P = 0.016). There was a significant difference between the scoliosis group and the control group (P = 0.003), and between T-value and the rate of osteoporosis between the two groups (both P < 0.001).

RESULTSwere verified using multiple linear regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONSDegenerative lumbar scoliosis is accompanied by height asymmetry between the intervertebral disc and vertebral body regarding the convex and concave surfaces. There is a positive correlation between the angle of scoliosis and the disc index, the degree of degeneration of the intervertebral disc, and a negative correlation between the angle of scoliosis and bone density.

Aged ; Bone Density ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; pathology ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Linear Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Scoliosis ; pathology ; Spinal Stenosis ; pathology

BACKGROUNDFunctional imaging studies indicate abnormal activities in cortico-limbic network in depression during either task or resting state. The present work was to explore the abnormal spontaneous activity shown with regional homogeneity (ReHo) in depression by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

METHODSUsing fMRI, the differences of regional brain activity were measured in resting state in depressed vs. healthy participants. Sixteen participants firstly diagnosed with major depressive disorder and 16 controls were scanned during resting state. A novel method based on ReHo was used to detect spontaneous hemodynamic responses across the whole brain.

RESULTSReHo in the left thalamus, left temporal lobe, left cerebellar posterior lobe, and the bilateral occipital lobe was found to be significantly decreased in depression compared to healthy controls in resting state of depression.

CONCLUSIONSAbnormal spontaneous activity exists in the left thalamus, left temporal lobe, left cerebellar posterior lobe, and the bilateral occipital lobe. And the ReHo may be a potential reference in understanding the distinct brain activity in resting state of depression.

Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; pathology ; Female ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occipital Lobe ; pathology ; Temporal Lobe ; pathology ; Thalamus ; pathology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo construct different mutants of human p53 for expression in eukaryotic cells and investigate the effects of these mutants on stress-induced cell apoptosis.

METHODSHuman p53 cDNA was amplified by PCR and cloned into pcDNA3/HA vector following the routine procedures. The Ser15 and Ser46 of p53 were mutated to Ala and identified by enzyme digestion and PCR, and these mutants were expressed in NIH3T3 cells and detected by Western blotting. After transfection with the plasmids of different p53 mutants, the NIH3T3 cells were double-stained with AnnexinV-FITC and propidium iodide for apoptotic analysis using flow cytometry.

RESULTSThe recombinant plasmids of HA-tagged wild-type p53, HA-p53(WT), and its mutants, HA-p53(S15A) and HA-p53(S46A), were successfully constructed and expressed efficiently in NIH3T3 cells. The apoptotic ratio of p53(WT)-transfected cells induced by arsenite increased and that of p53(S15A)-transfected cells decreased significantly after arsenite stimulation, but no significant changes occurred in the apoptosis of p53(S46A)-transfected cells.

CONCLUSIONThe phosphorylation on Ser15 of p53 plays an important role in mediating arsenite-induced cell apoptosis.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Arsenites ; pharmacology ; Base Sequence ; Eukaryotic Cells ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; Mice ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation ; NIH 3T3 Cells ; Phosphorylation ; Transfection ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; genetics ; metabolism