Objective To discuss the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of multiple nerve entrapment in the brachial plexus and around anterior and middle scalene muscles in 179 cases.Methods From July 2003 to January 2006,179 outpatients in our department were diagnosed as thoracic outlet syndrome(TOS)with a variety of symptoms of the nerve entrapment in the brachial plexus and around anterior and middle scalene muscles.They were treated with drugs,local block injections,or operations,depending on their severity of the condition. Results Of the 128 cases who were followed up for one to 29 months,the symptoms were significantly relieved with drugs and massage in 55 cases,with local block injection in 58 cases of whom 24 received the second in- jection,with operation in 15 cases of whom 10 returned to work.One of the operated cases reported symptoms of injury to the long thoracic nerve which responded to further therapy.The visual analogue scale(VAS)evaluations after the first injection were one point in two cases,two points in 16 cases,three points in 20 cases,four points in 12 cases,five points in three cases,six points in three cases,and seven points in two cases.The VAS scores after the second injection were two points in five cases,three points in 16 cases,and four points in three cases. Conclusions The entrapment of the anterior anti middle scalene muscles can affect many nerves around the muscles,and cause clinical symptoms other than the TOS ones.The conservative treatment,such as drug,massage, and local block injection,can work well.When the non-operative methods do not work,operation can be consid- ered.

Epilepsy ; diet therapy ; metabolism ; Food-Drug Interactions ; Humans ; Ketone Bodies ; biosynthesis

Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Female ; Heart Failure ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Hemodynamics ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Phytotherapy ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Rhodiola

OBJECTIVETo study the expression and associations of three survivin splicing variants in gastric cancer and normal gastric mucosa, and to evaluate the prognostic significance.

METHODSReal time quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of three survivin splicing variants in tumor and matched normal gastric mucosa specimens from 77 cases with gastric cancer.

RESULTSThe expression of three survivin splicing variants than upregulated significantly in gastric cancer than those in normal mucosas (P< 0.01). In cancer tissues, the expression rates of survivin, survivin-2B, survivin-deltaEx3 were 100%, 79.8% (61/77), 64.9% (50/77) respectively. The survival rate was significantly lower in the patients with high survivin expression than those with low survivin expression (P< 0.01).

CONCLUSIONAmong three survivin splicing variants, the expression level of wild-type survivin mRNA is an important predictor for prognosis.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biomarkers ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastric Mucosa ; pathology ; Humans ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; Male ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Proteins ; genetics ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prognosis ; Protein Isoforms ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Stomach Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Transcription, Genetic

Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Thyroid Cartilage ; abnormalities

Short tandem repeats (STRs) have been widely used in forensic sciences such as stain analysis and paternity testing. Although most of STR typing could give the reliable and clear results, some unusual typing have been observed in forensic practice. The anomalous typing could result from a lot of causes, including DNA genetic variation, poor quality or quantity of DNA template, different typing system or method, nonspecific reaction in PCR or anomalous electrophoresis migration. The unusual results may disturb the right interpretation of STR typing.
DNA Fingerprinting/methods* ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods* ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Tandem Repeat Sequences/genetics*

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects and the mechanisms of cell growth inhibition in hepatocellular carcinoma cells after induction with antisense survivin-liposome (LIP) complex, and to provide evidence in treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma and tumors expressing survivin.

METHODSSurvivin ODNs was transfected into HepG2 cells mediated by LiP reagent. The expression of survivin mRNA and protein was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. MTT assay was applied to determine cell proliferation in HepG2 cells. Active caspase-3 and apoptosis rate were evaluated by flow cytometric analysis. The morphological changes were assessed by electron microscopy. Cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry in the cell cycle-synchronized hepatocellular carcinoma cells treated with the antisense compound.

RESULTSAntisense compound efficiently down-regulated survivin expression (mRNA and protein) in a dose-dependent manner with an IC(50) of 250 nmol/L. Its maximal effect was achieved at a concentration of 600 nmol/L, when expression levels were down-regulated by 80%, as revealed by gradually increase of caspase-3-like protease activity and apoptosis rate in a time-dependent manner. Morphological apoptotic changes such as membrane blebbing, loss of microvilli, cytoplasmic vasculization, condensation of cytoplasm and nucleus, chromatin fragmentation, and apoptosis and cell growth inhibition were observed. In the cell cycle-synchronized hepatocellular carcinoma cells, antisense compound induced cell cycle arrest followed by apoptosis. After treated with low concentration of compound, the cell cycle was arrested at S phase or G2/M phase; while at high concentration, the cell cycle was mainly arrested at S phase. Apoptosis was obviously observed and the rate of apoptosis was increased in a time and concentration-dependent manner.

CONCLUSIONAntisense survivin has significant inhibitory effect on growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro. This is associated with cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; pathology ; Caspase 3 ; Caspases ; metabolism ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Humans ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; Liposomes ; Liver Neoplasms ; pathology ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Neoplasm Proteins ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Oligonucleotides, Antisense ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, on the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and its mechanism. METHODS: Primary HSCs isolated from SD rats were cultured and treated with different concentrations (1, 3 or 10micromol/L) of ADMA for various periods (12 approximately 48h). Expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and synthesis of type-I collagens in HSC were determined. Messenger RNA levels of the transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta(1)) in the HSCs were determined using RT-PCR. Intracellular reactive oxidant species (ROS) production was measured using oxidant-sensitive fluorescent indicator. Activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) was detected by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). RESULTS: ADMA could increase alpha-SMA-positive cells ratio and Type I collagens production of HSCs in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, concomitant with the increase of the TGF-beta(1) mRNA level. Treatment with ADMA (10micromol/L) significantly increased the intracellular ROS production and activated NF-kappaB. Such effects of ADMA on the level of TGF-beta(1) mRNA could be markedly attenuated by pretreatment with antioxidant pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (25micromol/L). CONCLUSION ADMA can induce the HSC activation by increasing TGF-beta(1) expression through ROS-NF-kappaB-dependent pathway. Therefore, ADMA should be a novel and endogenous activator of HSC, which may be involved in the development of liver fibrosis.
Actins ; biosynthesis ; Animals ; Arginine ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Cells, Cultured ; Collagen Type I ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Gene Expression ; drug effects ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; NF-kappa B ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; genetics

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics,diagnosis,treatment and prognosis of human swine streptococcosis occurred in some areas of Jiangsu Province from late summer to autumn since 1998.Methods The epidemiologic and clinical features of 42 cases were collected and analyzed.The bio- chemical features of strains isolated from patient's blood or cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) were tested,and the homogeneity were compared among 15 Streptococcus suisⅡ.Results All patients had acute infection toxe- mic symptoms such as chill,fever,headache and malaise etc.Toxic shock syndrome or meningitis syndrome were the major clinical manifestations.Forty two cases of human swine streptococosis were classified into 3 types:the rates of general,shock and meningitis type were 7.1% (3/42),38.1% (16/42) and 54.7%(23/42),respectively.Ten patients were died of shock type,32 were cured.Strain isolated from patients was identified as Streptococcus suisⅡby API-Strep,the biochemical reactional code was 0641473,and appraised result was 99.9%.There was highly homogeneity in the strains of Streptococcus suisⅡisolated from patients and sick pigs identified by genomic fingerprinting.Com- bined therapy of large doses of penicillin G and ceftriaxone was effective in these patients.Conclusions Human swine streptococosis is zoonosis caused by Streptococcus suisⅡand the clinical manifesta- tions are variable.In the cases of shock type,the onset of disease is stormy and the fatality rate is very high.While the prognosis of general and meningitis type is good and the majority of the cases are cured by effective antibiotic therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To obtain the genetic polymorphism data of Guangxi, Hunan, Henan, Sichuan, Taiwang Chinese Han population and compare the polymorphism of PentaD and PentaE STR locus. METHODS: The two loci was analyzed by using the PowerPlex 16 System. RESULTS: 10 alleles of PentaD and 19 alleles of PentaE were found in the five Han population. PentaD and PentaE have the expected heterozygosity values of 0.7746-0.8047 and 0.9005-0.9219, the polymorphism information content values of 0.7710-0.8025 and 0.8969-0.9176, the discrimination power values of 0.9223-0.9341 and 0.9471-0.9782, the power of exclusion values of 0.5435-0.6325 and 0.6785-0.8465, respectively. CONCLUSION The result showed that these two loci were highly informative and suitable for forensic application.
Alleles ; China/ethnology* ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 15 ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 21 ; Forensic Medicine ; Gene Frequency ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Mutation ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Tandem Repeat Sequences