ObjectiveTo investigate the role of caspase 3 in HMME-induced apoptosis in hypertrophic scar fibroblasts (HSFs).MethodsFibroblasts were obtained from 10 patients with untreated hypertrophic scar,and subjected to a primary culture.After 4 to 6 passages of culture,the HSFs were divided into 3 groups to remain untreated(control group),be treated with HMME followed by photodynamic therapy (HMME-PDT group),or the combination of HMME and Z-DEVD-FMK followed by photodynamic therapy (caspase 3 inhibitor group).At 12 hours after the therapy,HSFs were collected and immunofluorescence microscopy was used to observe the fluorescence intensity of caspase 3 after staining with fluorescein isocyanate (FITC) and popodium iodide (PI),flow cytometry was performed to determine the percentage of caspase 3-positive HSFs and apoptosis rate in HSFs after single staining with FITC and PI respectively.Results The fluorescence intensity of caspase 3 was weak in the control group and caspase 3 inhibitor group,but was strong in the HMME-PDT group.An increased percentage of caspase 3-positive HSFs was noted in the HMMEPDT group compared with the control group and caspase 3 inhibitor group(30.86％ ± 1.21％ vs.3.12％ ±0.28％ and 2.46％ ± 0.18％,t =19.92,21.76,both P ＜ 0.05).The apoptosis rate in HSFs was significantly higher in the HMME-PDT group and caspase 3 inhibitor group than in the control group(30.54％ ± 3.78％ and 10.46％ ± 2.15％ vs.2.45％ ± 0.22％,t =35.90,27.97,both P＜ 0.05),and higher in the HMME-PDT group than in the caspase 3 inhibitor group.ConclusionsThe apoptosis in HSFs induced by HMME-PDT is closely related to the activation of caspase 3,while caspase 3 seems to be dispensable for the apoptosis.

Objective To detect the expression of a novo tumor suppressor gene PTEN and DNA direct repair enzyme MGMT in gynecomastia. Methods Immunohistochemical SP method was used to detect expression of PTEN and MGMT protein in 68 cases of gynecomastia(experiment group) and 24 cases of mammary gland of control group. The selected examples were divided into three different age groups and three different histological types. Results The PTEN and MGMT protein were all expressed in nucleusr of ductal cellula epithelialis. The expression level of PTEN and MGMT proteins in gynecomastia was significantly lower than that of mammary gland of control(P

Objective · To investigate the prevalence of passive smoking among pregnant women in Shanghai and to analyze its influencing factors and to provide the basis and suggestion for making related intervention measures to reduce the harm of secondhand smoke on the health of pregnant women. Methods · From July to October 2014, pregnant women and their spouses were recruited for a questionnaire investigation at the antenatal care clinics of 3 maternity hospitals and 3 community hospitals in Shanghai. The questionnaire included demographic information, family basic situation and cognitive status of passive smoking. Results · The passive smoking rate before pregnancy in the 2831 pregnant women, who were involved in the investigation, was 17.1%. The passive rate during pregnancy was 7.8%. The difference between these two rates was statistically significant (P<0.05). 71.0% of the pregnant women have passive smoking for 15~59 min each day. Relative to home and work place, the passive smoking rate of pregnant women in public place was the highest (P<0.05). The passive smoking rate of pregnant women was significantly associated with the educational level of smoking spouses and the attitude of pregnant women when they faced the smokers. Conclusion · The passive smoking rate of pregnant women is influenced by the educational level of their spouses and the pregnant women's feedback to the smokers face to face. Public places are the most important exposure places to secondhand smoke for pregnant women. In order to reduce the harm from passive smoking to pregnant women and their fetuses, the related measures of smoking control at home education and smoking ban in public place should be made.

Objective To study the effect of cadmium on the spatiotemporal sequence of Zic_2 expression in the development of the nervous system.Methods Wistar rats were used in the initial portion of the study.Male and female animals were housed together overnight;the presence of sperms by vaginal smearing methods the following morning indicated that copulation had occurred,and that day was designated embryonic day 0.5(E0.5).Forty dams were divided randomly into the control group and the cadmium exposure group.The dams in the cadmium exposure group were treated with cadmium at a dose of 4 mg/kg by intraperitoneal injection.The dams of control and cadmium exposure groups were divided 4 subgroups respectively,sacrificed at various times on embryonic days 9.0,9.5,10.5,and 11.5,laparotomized and the one half pregnant uterus were taken out.The embryos were taken out under stereomicroscope and the morphological score of the nervous system were calculated.The other pregnant uterus were fixed fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde routinely embedded in paraffin and coronally sliced into slice 5 ?m of thickness for immunohistochemical staining.Results Cadmium could lead to dysplasia of nervous system in embryos of rats.The main manifestations were growth retardation,delay closure or unclosures pre- and post- neuropores,and so on.Developmental scores of the forebrain,midbrain and hindbrain of rat embryos in the cadmium exposure groups were lower than the corresponding control groups,and in cadmium exposure groups had significant difference compared with those in control group(P0.05).According to developmental overall scores of nervous system,the scores of the cadmium exposure groups were lower than that of the control groups with significant difference on E9.5,E10.0,E10.5 and E11.5(t=2.71,4.72,3.78,and 5.61 respectively,all P

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect and safety of L-carnitine in the treatment of idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia based on current clinical evidence.

METHODSWe searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CNKI, VIP, CBM and Wanfang Database from the establishment to April 2014 for the published literature on the treatment of idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia with L-carnitine. We conducted literature screening, data extraction, and assessment of the methodological quality of the included trials according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, followed by statistical analysis with the RevMan 5. 2 software.

RESULTSSeven randomized controlled trials involving 751 patients with idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia met the inclusion criteria, and 678 of them were included in the meta-analysis. L-carnitine treatment achieved a significantly increased rate of spontaneous pregnancy as compared with the control group (RR = 3.2, 95% CI 1.74 to 5.87, P = 0.0002). After 12-16 and 24-26 weeks of medication, total sperm motility (WMD = 5.21, 95% CI 2.78 to 7.64, P < 0.0001 and WMD = 9.29, 95% CI 1.28 to 17.29, P = 0.02) and the percentage of progressively motile sperm (WMD = 12.44, 95% CI 4.58 to 20.31, P = 0.002 and WMD = 9.76, 95% CI 3.56 to 15.97, P = 0.002) were remarkably higher than those in the control group, but no statistically significant differences were observed in sperm concentration between the two groups (WMD = 4.91, 95% CI -2.63 to 12.45, P = 0.2 and WMD = 0.93, 95% CI -3.48 to 5.34, P = 0.68). After 12-16 weeks of treatment, the percentage of morphologically abnormal sperm was markedly decreased in the L-carnitine group as compared with the control (WMD = -2.48, 95% CI -4.35 to -0.61, P = 0.009), but showed no significant difference from the latter group after 24-26 weeks (WMD = -4.38, 95% CI -9.66 to 0.89, P = 0.1). No statistically significant difference was found in the semen volume between the two groups after 12-16 or 24-26 weeks of medication (WMD = -0.13, 95% CI -0.43 to 0.18, P = 0.42 and WMD = 0.28, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.58, P = 0.07). No serious L-carnitine-related adverse events were reported in 4 of the randomniized controlled trials.

CONCLUSIONThe current evidence indicates that L-carnitine can improve spontaneous pregnancy and semen parameters in the treatment of idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia, with no serious adverse reactions.

Asthenozoospermia ; drug therapy ; Carnitine ; adverse effects ; pharmacology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Semen Analysis ; Sperm Count ; Sperm Motility

Objective To sum up experience with surgical excision of isolated local recurrence for renal cell carcinoma. Methods From March 2004 to November 2007, 7 patients (five cases un-derwent radical nephrectomy and two nephron-sparing surgery) with isolated local recurrence of renal cell carcinoma were treated at our department. All patients underwent extensive surgery for local re-currence. Results The mean patient age was 42 years (range 19 to 6). The mean time to local re-currence was 23.3 months (range 12 to 54). The Mean size of the recurrent tumor was 5.2 cm(range 2.5 to 10.5). Peritoneal exploration was performed in 7 patients and 5 had complete en bloc excision of the renal cell carcinoma mass. 2 patients gross disease was excised. The mean blood loss was 1050 (150-3000) ml. Surgical complications occurred in 2 patients, iliohypogastric nerve injure in one and ileus performation in another one. All patients recovered finally. Six patients were followed and one lost follow-up. Mean follow-up time was 13(8-27) months. One patient died of metastatic disease at 22 months after excision of the renal cell carcinoma mass. Conelusion En bloc excision of isolated locally recurrent renal cell carcinoma is possible, and complete surgical resection could lead to pro-longed disease-free survival.

Adult ; Colon, Transverse ; pathology ; Hernia, Diaphragmatic ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; pathology ; Spleen ; pathology ; Stomach ; pathology

AIM:To compare the clinical effects of 25G+ and 27G+ transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy in treating idiopathic macular hole.METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical outcomes of 56 eyes (56 patients) with idiopathic macular hole which were treated with micro-incision vitrectomy from June 2015 to September 2016.Patients were divided into two groups, 28 patients (28 eyes) were treated with 25G+ vitrectomy and the rest (28 eyes) were treated with 27G+ vitrectomy.The operative time and intraoperative complications were recorded and patients were followed up for 3-6mo.During the follow up period, best correct vision acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure, macular hole healing and postoperative complications were documented and statistically analyzed.RESULTS: BCVA in two groups were significantly improved after surgery(P<0.001) and there was no significant difference between the two groups(P=0.84).No serious complications occurred.No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in surgical time and healing rate of macular hole (P=0.57, 0.64).The incidence of low intraocular pressure (IOP<10mmHg) in 27G+ group was lower than that in 25G+ group on the first day after surgery(P=0.31).There was no significant difference between preoperative and postoperative intraocular pressure at 1wk after operation in both groups (P=0.72, 0.92).CONCLUSION: Both 25G+ and 27G+ vitrectomy are safe and effective technique in treating idiopathic macular hole.Besides, 27G+ showed better superiority on the maintenance of intraocular pressure and reduce the trauma.

Objective To observe the phosphorylation of Smad3 in hyperplastic scar fibroblasts (HSFs) induced by hematoporphyrin monomerthyl ether (HMME) followed by photodynamic therapy (PDT).Methods Fibroblasts were isolated from the hypertrophic scar tissues of 10 patients and subjected to culture in vitro.After 3-5 passages,the HSFs were divided into 4 groups:control group receiving no treatment,PDT group pretreated with HMME of 4 μg/ml followed by PDT,HMME group induced by HMME alone,and laser group irradiated with laser alone.Fluorescence microscopy was used to observe the expression of Smad3 after immunofluorescent staining with anti-Smad3 antibody,and Western blot to detect the expression of Smad3 and phosphorylated Smad3 in these HSFs.Paired t test was conducted to compare the difference in Smad3 and phosphorylated Smad3 expression between these groups.Results The total fluorescence intensity of Smad3 was similar between these groups,but the intranuclear fluorescence signal was significantly weaker in the PDT group than in the control group.The level of phosphorylated Smad3 was statistically decreased in the PDT group compared with the control group (0.20 ± 0.02 vs.0.92 ± 0.15,P ＜ 0.05),but no significant difference was observed between the HMME group and laser group (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion PDT may inhibit the proliferation of HSFs via attenuating the phosphorylation of Smad3.

Objective To explore the value of preoperative spleen-liver volume ratio for predicting recurrence of primary liver cancer after hepatectomy.Methods Clinical data of 75 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing hepatectomy were analyzed retrospectively.According to the preoperative spleen-liver volume ratio,these patients were divided into 2 groups:those with spleen-liver volume ratio ＜ 0.8,and spleen-liver volume ratio≥0.8.Patients were followed-up until March 2014.Cox ratio risk pattern analysis was used for the recurrent correlative factors.Results Univariate analysis showed that preoperative AFPL3％ ≥ 10％,the maximum diameter of the tumor ＞ 5 cm,the number of tumor ＞ 3,spleen-liver volume ratio ≥0.8,vascular invasion,positive resection margin and hepatic or portal vein tumor thrombus were all risk factors of poor disease-free survival (P ＜ 0.05).Cox regression analysis revealed that spleen-liver volume ratio ≥0.8,AFP-L3％ ≥10％,the maximum diameter of the tumor ＞5 cm and hepatic or portal vein tumor thrombus were independent predictors of poor disease-free survival after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Preoperative spleen-liver volume ratio ≥0.8 was an independent adverse predictor of poor disease-free survival.