ObjectiveTo determine whether simvastatin alleviates lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in patients with metabolic syndrome (MS) coexisting with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and explore an optimized scheme of treatment. MethodsFrom February to June in 2011,30 male subjects with MS and LUTS caused by BPH in out-patients and in-patients from geriatric department were recruited.The patients were randomly assigned to receive orally simvastatin (40 mg) and tamsulosin (0.2 mg) quaque noete as combination treatment group or only tamsulosin (0.2 mg,quaque nocte) as single treatment group for 8 weeks.International prostate symptoms score (IPSS),quality of life (QOL),maximum flow rate (MFR) and prostate volume (PV),liver enzymes,creatinine and routine urine test were monitored to evaluate the effectiveness and safety before and after the treatment.Results In the two groups,the significant differences were found in the levels of IPSS,QOL and MFR,while there was no difference in PV between pre-treatment and post-treatment.The scores of IPSS after treatment were (6.4 ± 4.4) in combination treatment group and(4.2±3.3)in single treatment group (P＜0.05),and there were significant difference in scores of IPSS before and after the treatment between two groups (P＜0.05),suggesting better improvement in combination treatment group than in single treatment group.In two groups,there were no adverse events,and no changes were found in liver and kidney function,muscle enzymes and routine urine test.Conclusions Combined tamsulosin and simvastatin treatment may alleviate LUTS caused by BPH and are well tolerated with no adverse events.

The source of seed cells has always been the major problem in cartilage tissue engineering.Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) have gradually become an optimal source of seed cells for cartilage engineering due to their high proliferative potential,multi-lineage differentiation potential and easiness to be obtained with minute trauma.The great challenge is how to get abundant BMSCs with a high purity and how to induce them in vitro into chondrogenic phenotype.This review aims to discuss the various strategies that can induce BMSCs chondrogenic differentiation in vitro so as to offer beneficial reference for constructing cartilage with BMSCs as seed cells.

Articular cartilage defects are commonly found in clinics. It is always a great challenge for the repair of cartilage defects due to the limited self-regeneration after injury. Tissue engineering,a newly emerging biotechnique to regenerate cartilage with chondrogenic potential cells and biodegradable scaffolds in vivo and in vitro,provides a promising method to solve the challenge in cartilage defects repair. To regenerate cartilage with favourable structure and function,it is essential to gain a deep insight into the biochemical structure,biomechanical property and their relationship of articular cartilage. This article gives an introduction to the biochemical structure,biomechanical property and their relationship of both native and tissue-engineered cartilage.

Aim To investigate the effects of rosiglitazone(ROZ)combined with cisplatin(DDP)on the growth of transplanted lung adenocarcinoma in mice and the corresponding mechanism.Methods The human lung adenocarcinoma mode was established with A549 cell in nude mice.Twenty eight female Balb/c-nu mice with lung adenocarcinoma were randomly divided into seven groups.① control group;② low-dose DDP group(1 mg?kg-1);③ high-dose DDP group(4 mg?kg-1);④ low-dose ROZ group(10 mg?kg-1);⑤ high-dose ROZ group(30 mg?kg-1);⑥ low-dose DDP plus low-dose ROZ group;⑦ low-dose DDP plus high-dose ROZ group;all the mice were sacrificed at 48 h after the last injection.Subcutaneous tumor was subjected to histological examination.Expressions of PPAR?、PTEN and pAkt in tumor tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results ① In every treatment group tumor growth was suppressed significantly.Intraperitoneal injection of low and high-dose DDP,low and high-dose ROZ,low-dose DDP plus low-dose ROZ and low-dose DDP plus high-dose ROZ group resulted in a significant inhibition of the growth of A549 cells in vivo compared with that of control group(P

Objective To investigate the effects of 15-deoxy-?12,14-prostaglandin J2(15d-PGJ2) and DDP on the growth of human pulmonary carcinoma PLA-801D cells and the mechanisms of apoptosis.Methods The human pulmonary carcinoma PLA-801D cells were selected and added to each well of 96-well place and cultivated for 24 h.Then the cells were treated with different concentrations of 15d-PGJ2(0,5,10,20,40 and 80 ?g?L-1) or 15d-PGJ2 combined with DDP(3 mg?L) for 24 h.0 ?g?L-1 15d-PGJ2 group was control group.The morphological changes of cells were observed under inverted microscope.Microculture tetrazolium(MTT)dye was applied to detect the proliferation of the human pulmonary carcinoma PLA-801D cells treated with 15d-PGJ2 and DDP.Diphenylamine assay(DPA) was used to evaluate the activation.Flow cytometry assay(FCM) was used to detect the apoptosis proportion and the changes of cell cycle.Results When the human pulmonary carcinoma PLA-801D cells were treated with low-concentration 15d-PGJ2 alone(5,10 and 20 ?g?L-1),no significant difference was observed in the inhibitory rate of cell growth and the apoptotic indexes such as the apoptosis proportion,the percent of DNA fragmentation and the activity of caspase-3 compared with control group(P

Objective To report the primary experience of open placement of triple-branched stent graft for acute Stanford type A aortic dissection. Methods Between June 2008 and September 2009, 20 well-selected patients with acute Stanford type A aortic dissection underwent open placement of triple-branched stent graft for total arch reconstruction. When core cooling to a 20℃ nasophageal temperature, perfusion to the lower body was discontinued and the ascending aorta was transected at the base of the innominate artery. Through a transverse incision, the triple-branched stent graft was inserted into the true lumen of the arch and descending aorta, and each side arm of the stent graft was positioned one by one into the arch branches.The transected stump of the ascending aorta was reconstructed by inner proximal stent-free dacron tube of the main graft and outer teflon felt, and subsequently continuous anastomosis to the 1-branched dacron tube graft was made. Results Open placement of triple-branched stent graft was technically successful in all patients. The mean cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic cross-clamp time and lower body arrest time were (163.2 ±19.2) min, (89.4 ±10.0) min and (32. 7 ±6. 6)min, respectively. Transient postoperative neurological dysfunction was observed in 1 patient and acute renal failure in 1 patient. All patients were discharged from the hospital. Their computed tomographic scans at 3 months postoperatively showed that all stent grafts were fully opened without distortion. In the vascular stent implantation site the dissected false lumen was eliminated. The false lumen of the descending aorta distal to the stent graft was closed with thrombus in 16 cases. Conclusion Open placement of triple-branched stent graft is a new effective technique for total arch reconstruction in acute type A aortic dissection. Patients have the indications of the extensive primary repair of the thoracic aorta without primary intimal tears in the arch may be the best candidates for this new technique. The size of the stent graft, the distances between two neighboring side arm grafts and the prevention of the intimal trauma during the placement are crucial for successful open placement of triple-branched stent graft.

Objective To evaluate the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in quantitative diagnosis of chronic kidney dysfunction(CKD) by comparing it with color Doppler imaging (CDFI). Methods Tirty-three cases (15 males and 18 females) of clinical confirmed CKD (stage Ⅲ～Ⅴ)were included. Forty-five healthy volunteers were performed as control group. CEUS and CDFI were performed on each patient. After intravenous bolus injection of 1ml SonoVue each side,CEUS of renal cortex blood perfusion was collected successively,and a time-intensity curve(TIC) was created with Philips iU22 system's QLAB software. Resistance index(RI) and peak systolic velocity(PSV) of renal partial arteries were also tested. Results Compared with normal kidney,CKD patients had delayed perfusion and decreased intensity. Changes of area under curve(AUC), derived peak intensity(DPI), slope rate of ascending curve(A)and time to peak(TTP) were statistically significant ( P ＜0. 05). Sensitivities of AUC,DPI,A and TTP in diagnosis of CKD (stage Ⅲ～Ⅴ ) were 91.2% ,84. 9% ,90.9% and 85.3%, their specificities were 95.4%,88.9% ,93.3% and 90.9%, their accuracies were 93.6%, 87. 2%, 92.3% and 88. 5%, respectively. The results of CEUS were better than RI in CDFI (sensitivity 70.4%, specificity 37. 8%, accuracy 52.2%).Conclusions CEUS can precisely display the hemodynamic change in CKD ( stage Ⅲ～Ⅴ ), and is more sensitive than CDFI.

Objective To study the feasibility of using fractional flow reserve (FFR) to guide whether to perform coronary revascularization of non-culprit moderate stenosis in patients with unstable angina and estimate their clinical prognosis. Methods This study enrolled unstable angina patients with multivessel disease. First successful stenting of the culprit artery, then the other non-culprit moderate coronary stenosis were randomized into PCI guided by angiography or guided by FFR measurements. Death from any cause, nonfatal myocardial infarction, unplanned hospitalization leading to urgent revascularization and clinical manifestations with angina were followed during the first year. Results 71 patients were included, among them 35 patiens were randomly assigned to angiography-guided PCI and 36 patients to FFR-guided PCI. In FFR-guided PCI group, FFR was successfully measured in all of non-culprit moderate coronary stenosis. In 23 stenosis, the FFR was greater than 0.80, and stents were not placed in these stenosis. In 13 stenosis with FFR<0.8, stent were inplant and FFR was raised≥0.95 after stenting. The percentage of patients who had a primary end-point event was higher in the angiography-guided PCI group than the FFR-guided PCI group (P<0.05). Neither the rate of mortelity from any cause nor the rate of non-fatal myocardial infarction had significant difference between the 2 groups. Related to the target vessels rates of nonfatal myocardial infarction (5.6%vs. 28.6%) and target lesion revascularization (5.6%vs. 31.4%) were statistically different (P<0.01 and P<0.05, respectively). Conclusions In patients with unstable angina, it is safe to use FFR values to guide decisions on the revascularization of angiographically moderate non-culprit stenosis. Routine measurement of FFR in addition to angiographic guidance, as compared with PCI guided by angiography alone, results in a significant reduction in major adverse events at 1 year, particularly in urgent revascularization, and clinical manifestations with angina get better.

Aim To study the pharmacokinetic char-acteristics of serial compounds that took the scutellarin and scutellarein as lead compounds by using the model of in vitro liver microsomes, and to screen compounds whose medicinal properties were superior to scutellarin and scutellarein. Methods The content of candidate compounds at different times by incubation system of rat liver microsome was determined using UPLC-MS/MS method. Candidate compounds that contained opti-mum T1/2 and CLint were screened. Enzyme kinetics and conversions of candidate compounds were com-pared with those of scutellarin and scutellarein. Re-sults The T1/2 and CLint were optimum of W11 com-pared with those of scutellarin and scutellarein; the Vmax, Km and CLint of compound W11 were (10.25 ±2.59 ) μmol · min-1 · g-1 , ( 4.64 ±0.24 ) μmol · L-1 and ( 2.29 ±0.23 ) L · min-1 · g-1; the Vmax , Km and CLint of scutellarin were (45.95±9.50) μmol · min-1 · g-1 , ( 10.19 ± 1.66 ) μmol · L-1 and (4.48±0.20) L·min-1 ·g-1; W11 might be me-tabolized into scutellarin and M1 ( a compound with mo-lecular weight of 577 after demethylating ) . Conclu-sion The pharmacokinetic properties of candidate compound W11 are better than those of scutellarin, and it could release scutellarin.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the in vitro proliferation of CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of the chronic myelocytic leukemia patients and the inhibitory effect on CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells.

METHODSMagnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) was used to separate CD4(+)CD25(+) T and CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells from the PBMCs of patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia, and the purity and activity of CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells were analyzed with flow cytometry. After stimulation with anti-CD3 mAb, anti-CD28 mAb and recombinant human interleukin-2 (rhIL-2), the CD4(+)CD25(-) and CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells were cocultured to observe the inhibitory effect of CD4(+)CD25(+)T on CD4(+)CD25(-)T cells using MTT assay.

RESULTSAfter cell sorting, the purity of CD4(+)CD25(+)T cells from healthy control and chronic myelocytic leukemia patients were (84.93-/+2.55)% and (86.32-/+2.40)%, respectively, showing no significant difference between them (P>0.05). The activity of CD4(+)CD25(+) and CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells from healthy control and the leukemic patients was also comparable [(98.12-/+0.68)% vs (97.33-/+0.78)%, P>0.05). In the coculture, CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells obviously inhibited CD4(+)CD25(-) T cell proliferation in vitro, and the maximum inhibition occurred when CD4(+)CD25(+)T cells were cocultured with CD4(+)CD25(-)T cells at the ratio of 1:1.

CONCLUSIONThe MACS system can effectively isolate CD4(+)CD25(+) and CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells. CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells obviously inhibit the proliferation of CD4(+)CD25(-)T cells in vitro, and the effect displays an effector-target ratio relationship.

Adult ; CD4 Antigens ; immunology ; Cell Proliferation ; Coculture Techniques ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit ; immunology ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; blood ; immunology ; pathology ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; immunology ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; immunology ; pathology ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; immunology ; pathology ; Young Adult