Objective To investigate the chemopreventive potential of salvianolic acid B against 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene(DMBA)-induced hamster buccal pouch carcinogenesis with respect to angiogenesis. Methods(Sixty) male Syrian golden hamsters were randomly divided into 4 groups(group A and B,n=20;group C and D,(n=10).) DMBA solution(0.5% in acetone) was applied topically to the right cheek pouch of male Syrian golden hamsters in group A and B,while animals in group C were painted with acetone,3 times a week for 6 weeks.Animals in group D received neither DMBA nor acetone in the first 6 weeks.Two days after the last treatment of(DMBA,) animals in group B and D received salvianolic acid B daily(10 mg/kg) by gavage,while animals in group A and C received same volume of saline,for the next 12 weeks.At the end of the experiment,animals were sacrificed and tissue samples were collected for histopathological and immunohistochemical examination. Results Salvianolic acid B significantly decreased the incidence of squamous carcinoma(P

Humans ; Osteotomy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Scoliosis ; surgery

Objective To determine whether the small intestinal submucosa(SIS)/nano meter crystal ?-tricalcium phosphate(nm ?-TCP) composite can enhance the regeneration of rabbit mandibular defects. Methods Twenty-six mandibular defects were made on thirteen New Zealand rabbits,and were ramdonly divided into four groups: groupⅠ,single SIS was applied to each defects;group Ⅱ,nm ?-TCP;groupⅢ,the composite scaffold materials of SIS and nm ?-TCP;groupⅣ,control.Twelve weeks after the operation,the samples were extracted for gross observation,histological analysis,X-ray examination,and relative bone density(RBD) recording.Results Twenty weeks after the operation,the newborn bone trabecula took up most of the area with defects.The restorative materials in the SIS group and composite scaffold materials group had almost degraded,and little remained in the ?-TCP group.The composite scaffold materials group was found more newborn bone trabecula with mature formation,and the average RBD was relatively higer,while less newborn bone trabecula with irregular formation and more collagen were observed in the control group. Conclusion The composite materials of SIS and nm ?-TCP,which enjoy favourable bone formation characteristics and histocompatibility, can enhance bone regeneration in rabbit mandibular defects.

OBJECTIVETo transfect pcDNA3.1/hTM plasmids containing human thrombomodulin (hTM) gene into human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and investigate the expression of hTM and anticoagulating function of transfected HUVECs.

METHODSHUVECs were transfected with pcDNA3.1/hTM by lipofectin. Expression of hTM mRNA was determined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, hTM antigen on HUVECs membrane by immunohistochemistry, and activated protein C (PC) in HUVECs by chronometry. By using a semiautomatic coagulator, the effect of the reacting liquid from transfected HUVECs mixed with PC from normal peripheral blood was assayed.

RESULTSAbout 10% HUVECs were transfected by pcDNA3.1/hTM with high-level hTM mRNA and protein expression. Activated PC produced by pcDNA3.1/hTM group, pcDNA3.1(+)/neo group and untransfected group was (2.80 +/- 0.43) microg/ml, (0.75 +/- 0.08) microg/ml and (0.85 +/- 0.11) microg/ml, respectively. APTT was (51.68 +/- 2.73) s, (38.38 +/- 2.44) s, (39.65 +/- 2.39) s, (33.93 +/- 1.73) s and (34.60 +/- 1.86) s and PT was (21.89 +/- 1.66) s, (20.56 +/- 1.74) s, (20.42 +/- 2.04) s, (19.57 +/- 1.36) s and (20.16 +/- 1.35) s in pcDNA3.1/hTM group, pcDNA3.1(+)/neo group, untransfected group, inactivating PC group and control, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThe pcDNA3.1/hTM plasmid could be transfected into endothelial cells and expressed biologically functioning hTM protein on HUVECs membrane. Activated PC could inhibit intrinsic coagulation pathway obviously with slight effect on extrinsic pathway.

Cells, Cultured ; Endothelial Cells ; metabolism ; Endothelium, Vascular ; cytology ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Genes, Transgenic, Suicide ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Partial Thromboplastin Time ; Plasmids ; Protein C ; Prothrombin Time ; Thrombomodulin ; genetics ; Transfection ; Umbilical Veins ; cytology

OBJECTIVEGingival crevicular fluid (GCF) analysis of various inflammatory mediators has been investigated as a means of providing objective criteria of peri-implant tissue health. In this report, the crevicular fluid levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8), GCF volume and clinical parameters were studied.

METHODSGCF was sampled from 35 healthy and 35 inflamed sites of implantation patients. IL-8 levels were analysed using ABC-ELISA. Clinical parameters were measured, and data analysis was performed using the software package SPSS10.0.

RESULTSSignificant difference was observed between healthy implant sites and peri-implantitis sites. GCF volume was positively correlated with PD, PI, GI and MOB. The total amount of IL-8 was positively correlated with PD and GI.

CONCLUSIONThis investigation suggested that GCF volume and IL-8 cytokine may be of value as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for peri-implantitis.

Dental Implants ; Gingival Crevicular Fluid ; Humans ; Interleukin-8 ; Prostheses and Implants

OBJECTIVETo find out the status of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) infection in children under 14 years old with acute respiratory tract infections (ARI) in Guangzhou, analyze the epidemiology and clinical characteristics among the hMPV-infected children, and provide some basis for research of hMPV.

METHODSAll 521 throat and pharyngeal swabs were collected among the children with acute respiratory tract infections in outpatient departments and those admitted to the wards from September 2006 to August 2008. Then total nucleic acid was extracted from respiratory specimens. The 213 nucleosides of nucleoprotein gene were detected by RT-PCR and 16 strong positive samples were picked to compare with the sequence of hMPV in GenBank after the sequence of the amplification products were determined. Then applied statistical analysis to the data of the collected patients.

RESULTSAll 521 samples were detected by RT-PCR, and confirmed that N gene was positive in 39 samples with a detection rate of 7.49%, and the peak time was in October and April. The 16 amplification products were compared by using the analysis of gene sequence. The nucleocapsid protein (N) gene similarity to BJ1897 of Beijing was up to 99%, and to AY550156 of Thailand was up to 97%, genotype B was the most common genotype.

CONCLUSIONThere existed hMPV infection in children acute respiratory system diseases in Guangzhou areas, in which the children under the age of 6 years were accounted for the main group, however there was no difference in gender. The main symptoms of the patients with hMPV infection were high fever and cough symptom of catarrh. Co-infections other than respiratory virus with hMPV were detected as 41.03% of positive samples.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Metapneumovirus ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Nucleocapsid Proteins ; genetics ; RNA, Viral ; genetics ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; epidemiology ; virology

OBJECTIVETo prospectively evaluate the clinical effects of posterior paramedian approach in nerve root decompression and reducing muscle damage in low back surgeries.

METHODSStudy group included 30 cases treated from January 2007 to May 2008, DDD 8 cases, spondylolisthesis 6 cases, LDH 11 cases, Low back surgery failure re-operation 5 cases. Based on the comprehensive understanding of modern spine anatomy, we abandoned laminectomy in our procedure, applied a mid-waist skin incision, dissect to the paraspinal muscles where you could easily reach the facets by separating between the multifidus and longissimus, enlarge the canal by performing resection along ligamentum flavum and the inner broader of the articular process, remove enough tissue till you could expose the traversing root and the disc space, this method could achieve a limited but precise and effective decompression with not taking out all of the articular process. Once the anatomy mark of the pedicle is located (usually would be at the central area of the incision), pedicle screws placement would be precise and easy without struggling with muscle traction. The following procedures would be Spondylolisthesis reduction, discectomy and interbody fusion.

RESULTSPost-op patients of study group all showed significant improvement of pain symptoms, VAS reduced from 7.14 + or - 1.8, pre-op to 1.39 + or - 0.72 post-op, narrowed disc space regained height, spondylolisthesis reached anatomic reduction, no complications such as pedicle screw misplacement and nerve root damage were found, the lumbar spine regained it's physiological lordosis structure. Significant difference is discovered (P < 0.001) in statistic study concerning the rate of intractable low back pain between pre-op and post-op.

CONCLUSIONSApplying low back surgery through posterior para-median approach could directly reach the inferior/superior facets and the "soft" structures of the spinal canal, expose the exact decompression region and anatomy mark of the pedicle in the central surgical field without strong retraction on the para-spinal muscles. This approach has the advantage of lowering the surgical difficulty of implantation, reducing the risk of nerve damage and is also a minimum invasive procedure. In many cases, laminectomy is unnecessary, leaving the lamina intact could preserve the physiological anatomy of the spine.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Diskectomy ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Low Back Pain ; surgery ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Spinal Fusion ; methods ; Spondylolisthesis ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effectiveness of chemotherapy (CT) and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) as post-remission treatment for adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (AL) patients.

METHODSSeventy-four ALL patients achieved first complete remission (CR(1)) with induction therapy, and then received early-stage sequential intensive consolidation chemotherapy. After that, 40 patients received chemotherapy (CT group) and 34 received ASCT (ASCT group) as post-remission treatment. The median follow-up was 20.5 months. The rates of leukemia free survival (LFS), overall survival (OS) and relapse were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS(1) The median LFS and OS were 14.0 and 20.6 months respectively for CT group and both were more than 53.5 months for ASCT groups. (2) Relapse occurred in 28 patients (70%) in CT group in a median time of 8.5 months (range, 1-72 months) and 20 of them (71.43%) relapsed within 1 year. Eleven patients (32.35%) relapsed in ASCT group, in a median time of 6 (2-30) months after transplantation. (3) There was no statistic difference in LFS, OS and relapse rate at 1 year between CT and ASCT groups (P > 0.05), whereas both LFS and OS at 3 and 5 years for ASCT group were significantly better than those for CT group (P < 0.05). Relapse rate for ASCT group was lower than that for CT group. (4) Higher LFS and OS and lower relapse rate were found for those who received monoclonal antibody purged autografts followed by immunotherapy and (or) maintenance therapy after ASCT (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSEarly sequential intensive consolidation chemotherapy followed by auto-HSCT could significantly reduce late relapse rate for adult ALL patients, and those received ex vivo purged autografts and immunotherapy and (or) maintenance therapy after ASCT have lower late relapse rate and superior survival.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Humans ; Male ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; drug therapy ; surgery ; Retrospective Studies ; Transplantation, Autologous ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the pathogens of acute respiratory infection (ARI) in Guangzhou from 2006 to 2009.

METHODSA total of 1554 cases of ARI patients in Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College from September 2006 to September 2009, were recruited in the survey. The sample of throat and pharyngeal swab were collected from each patient.11 types of virus including influenza A (FluA), influenza B (FluB), adenovirus (ADV), human rhinovirus (HRV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), parainfluenza virus type 1, type 2, type 3 (HPIV1, HPIV2, HPIV3), human metapneumovirus (MPV) and human coronavirus (HCoV) type 229E, type OC43 were detected by Fluorescence Quota PCR method. The epidemic feature and clinical characteristic of each virus were then analyzed.

RESULTSVirus were found in 1024 samples in total, accounting for 65.9% (1024/1554). RSV was the most common virus, which was found in 261 samples (16.8%); and followed by HRV as 13.9% (216/1554), FluA as 11.6% (181/1554), MPV as 6.5% (101/1554), FluB as 6.4% (99/1554), HPIV as 4.9% (76/1554), ADV as 3.5% (55/1554) and HCoV as 2.3% (35/1554). HPIV and HCoV shared a similar infection ratio among different age groups. The infection ratio of FluA and FluB was highest among 15-24 years old group, accounting for 16.5% (29/176) and 7.4% (13/176) respectively. MPV, RSV and HRV were the main pathogens caused infection among children under 4 years old, accounting for 9.7% (49/503), 21.7% (109/503) and 18.9% (95/503). The infection ratio of ADV was 6.0% (19/318), which was the most common pathogen among 5-14 years old patients. The incidence rate of HPIV and HRV showed no obvious seasonal features; while the prevalence of FluA, FluB, RSV, ADV, MPV and HCoV changed significantly in different seasons.22.2% (227/1024) ARI patients co-infected other respiratory virus.90.1% (163/181) FluA patients, 88.9% (88/99) FluB patients and 92.7% (51/55) ADV patients had high fever symptoms.

CONCLUSIONRSV was the main pathogen of ARI, and the new-found virus MPV was also another crucial pathogen. Some pathogens' incidence rate were related to the season and patient's age. Co-infections of other respiratory virus were also detected in parts of ARI patients.

Acute Disease ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Metapneumovirus ; isolation & purification ; Middle Aged ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses ; isolation & purification ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; epidemiology ; virology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficacy of imatinib in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and analyse the treatment outcome and related factors.

METHODSNinety five CML patients were treated with imatinib in our hospital from May 2002 to May 2006. The outcomes and related factors were analysed.

RESULTS(1) One year after therapy, there were 95.5% of chronic phase (CP) patients achieved complete hematologic response (CHR). Fifty-two patients with complete cytogenetic dates were divided into primary-therapy group (n = 19) and secondary-therapy group (n = 33). The major cytogenetic responses (MCyR) at 6-, 12-, 18-, 24- and 30-months after therapy for the former group were 84.2%, 84.2%, 89.5%, 89.5% and 94.7%, and for the latter group were 36.4%, 39.4%, 39.4%, 39.4% and 39.4%, respectively (P < 0.01). The expected survival at 12-, 24-, 36- and 50-month after imatinib treatment for CP group was (98.1 +/-1.9)%, (87.8 +/- 7.1)%, (81.9 +/- 8.7)% and (81.9 +/- 8.7)%, respectively. (2) Twelve month after therapy, there are 70% of accelerated phase (AP) patients achieve CHR and 10% get MCyR. The expected survival at 12-, 24- and 36-month after imatinib treatment for AP group was (63.0 +/- 17.7)%, (15.8 +/- 14.3)% and (15.8 +/- 14.3)%, respectively. (3) Six month after therapy, 57.9% of blast crisis (BC) patients achieve CHR, with the expected survival at 12- and 24-month of (40.6 +/- 12.3)% and 0, respectively. (4) COX analysis CP group indicated that imatinib therapy administered for previously untreated was an independent favorable prognostic factor. Conclusion (1) Imatinib as a primary treatment for CP CML can significantly improve the survival time as compared with that AP or BC patients or with that used in previously treated patients. (2) Imatinib could induce hematologic, even cytogenetic response to a certain extent, in CP or BC patients and prolong the survival time.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Benzamides ; Female ; Humans ; Imatinib Mesylate ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; drug therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Piperazines ; therapeutic use ; Pyrimidines ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult