The effect of retinoic acid (RA) on renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) is important. Notch signaling is known to play an important role in the pathological injury of RIF. This study summarized recent research progress of the effect of RA on RIF and Notch signaling. Interruption of Notch signaling by RA might be a potential anti-fibrotic strategy in RIF.

Objective To explore the relationship between expression of p27 and cyclin D1 protein in keratinocyte－ derived tumors. Methods Expression of p27 and cyclin D1 protein was determined in various keratinocyte－ derived tumors by immunohistochemistry techniques. Results Significantly higher expression of p27 was found in both Bowen′ s disease and actinic keratosis(AK) than that in basal cell carcinoma(BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma(SCC)（ P

Objective To evaluate the clinical application of 3 D ultrasound in the diagnosis of bladder diseases. Methods In 21 patients with bladder disease,3 D images were studied with a Voluson 530D diagnostic system.At first,the two dimensional images of lesions were collected,then defined 3 D volumes of interest were stored,reconstructed and analyzed. Results 3 D ultrasound provided a clear stereoscopic view and depicted the appearance of the 21 bladder diseases,displayed the internal structures,and showed invasive depth within and outside the bladder wall and also metastasis of the adjacent organs. Conclusions 3 D ultrasound can clearly demonstrate the morphologic characteristics and internal structures of the bladder disease and provide much more reliable information for the diagnosis of diseases.

Objective To establish a rat model of persistent intestinal mucosal injury.Methods The rat model of persistent intestinal mucosal injury was induced by intraperitoneal injection of methotrexate.The food intake and body weight of all the rats were recorded.Pathological changes were observed using HE staining, the level of D-lactate and diam-ine oxidase in plasma, and myeloperoxidase and malondiadehyde in the intestinal tissue were measured by biochemistry. Results After modeling, the rat body weight and food intake were decreased.On day 4, the scores of mucosal damage, the levels of plasma D-lactate, DAO, MPO and MDA were significantly increased (P<0.05).On day 5, the intestinal damages of rats began to restore, and there was no significant difference among groups on day 6.The symptoms after the secondary injection were similar to those after the first injection, and the rats recovered gradually at day 12.Conclusions Intestinal mucosal injury in rats induced by 20 mg/kg MTX is an acute injury process, the course only lasts for 4-5 days. Intermittent injections twice of 10 mg/kg MTX can cause persistent intestinal mucosal injury in rats.This persistent injury model is more suitable for nutritional therapy evaluation in medium-and long-term studies of nutritional therapy.

Objective To evaluate the effects of peptide-based enteral nutrition (PBEN) on inflammatory response and immune function in rats with intestinal mucositis.Methods 48 Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (all n =8):basal feed group (BFG),PBEN group (PBENG),intact protein enteral nutrition group (IPENG),methotrexate (MTX) + BFG,MTX + PBENG,and MTX + IPENG.The rats in MTX + BFG,MTX + PENG,and MTX + IPENG were intraperitoneal injected with MTX 10 mg/kg on day 0 and day 6 to induce sustained intestinal injury.From day 1,BFG and MTX + BFG were fed with basal feed,PBENG and MTX + PBENG with PBEN,IPENG and MTX + IPENG with IPEN.The daily energy intake of each rat was 1.80 kJ/g body weight.All the rats were sacrificed on day 11.The pathological changes of intestinal tissue were observed with HE staining,the levels of tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO),nitric oxide (NO),inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS),the thymus index and spleen gland index of intestinal tissue were measured using colorimetry,and the serum levels of immunoglobulins IgG,IgA,and IgM were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results There were no significant differences among BFG,PBENG,and IPENG in each index.Serious injury of intestinal mucosa was observed in MTX groups.Significant differences were noted in all indexes between MTX + BFG and BFG (all P ＜0.05).The mucosal damage score (Chiu score) and the level of MPO and iNOS in MTX + PBENG were significantly lower than those in MTX + BFG [2.3 ± 0.69vs.2.96 ± 0.75,P =0.003 ; (2.30 ± 0.42) U/g tissue vs.(2.98 ± 0.23) U/g tissue,P =0.040 ; (0.37 ±0.06) U/mg prot vs.(0.44 ±0.10) U/rag prot,P =0.030] ; the serum levels of IgG and IgA were significantly higher than those in MTX + BFG (P =0.015,P =0.021) ; however,the levels of NO and IgM were not significantly different between the 2 groups (P =0.597,P =0.160).There were no statistically significant differences between MTX + IPENG and MTX + BFG in terms of the indexes (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion PBEN can reduce the inflammation response and improve the immune function in intestinal mucositis rat.

A retrospective analysis was performed among 8 patients with unilateral intraarticular calcaneal fracture, who were selected from the Department of Orthopaedics in Yangpu District Central Hospital of Shanghai. They were treated with the injectable bone graft MIIG[R] X3 combined with percutaneous reduction by leverage and axial fixation from June 2005 to November 2006. After treatment, the function of affected feet was evaluated according to the ankle-hindfoot score of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (totally 100 points). All the patients were rechecked with X-ray films periodically to observe the reaction between the materials and the host, the healing of fracture, the pain of limbs and joint motion. Eight patients were all followed up, the complication rate reached 12.5% (1/8), the improvement of Bohler angle excelled 18° to 25°, and that of Gissane angle exceeded 30° to 35°. Among the included patients, 6 cases achieved excellent effect and 2 cases good. All developed the bone union. None of all had complications, such as necrosis of skin, hematoma and deep infection.

Objective To explore the relationship of molecular biology characteristic and the treatment outcome,and influence factors of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).Methods The clinicopathological data of 103 IBC patients who were treated with NAC from January 2005 to June 2013 were analyzed retrospectively.Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of estrogen receptor (ER),progesteron receptor (PR),human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) and E-cadherin.The treatment outcome were evaluated.Results In 103 IBC patients,ER negative was 48 patients,PR negative was 51 patients,HER-2 positive was 45 patients,E-cadherin positive was 66 patients.The effective rate of chemotherapy was 72.8％ (75/103).The effective rate of chemotherapy in taxane-based group was significantly higher than that in anthracycline-based group [80.6％ (50/62) vs.61.0％(25/41)],and there was significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).The effective rate of chemotherapy in ER,PR,E-cadherin negative patients was significantly higher than that in ER,PR,E-cadherin positive patients [83.3％ (40/48) vs.63.6％ (35/55),82.4％ (42/51) vs.63.5％ (33/52),83.8％ (31/37) vs.66.7％ (44/66)],and there was significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).The effective rate of chemotherapy in taxane-based group with E-cadherin positive patients was significantly higher than that in anthracycline-based group with E-cadherin positive patients [77.5％ (31/40) vs.50.0％ (13/26)] (P ＜0.05).No correlation existed between the expression of HER-2 and the treatment outcome of chemotherapy (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion ER,PR and E-cadherin negative patients with IBC is chemosensitive to NAC.The positive expression of E-cadherin may be an important factor of chemotherapy resistance.For the patients with E-cadherin positive,taxane-based chemotherapy regimen can achieve a better effective rate.

Objective To investigate the prevalence,missed diagnosis rate and causes of acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospitalized children,and its impact on hospitalization cost,length of stay and outcome.Methods The data of children admitted in Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics from December 1st to 31st 2014 were collected,and those whose serum creatinine (Scr) were measured at least two times were selected.Patients were diagnosed as AKI according to the diagnostic criteria of 2012 Kidney Disease:Improving Global Outcomes,then divided into AKI group and non-AKI group,the former of which was further divided into AKI1 group (Scr peak value in normal range) and AKI2 group (Scr peak value above normal range).The causes and impact of AKI on hospitalization cost,length of stay and outcome in different groups were compared and analyzed.Results (1) Among 921 patients with at least two Scr results,170 patients met with the diagnostic criteria of AKI,including 100 males and 70 females.There were 112(65.9％) in AKI stage 1,43(25.3％) in stage 2,and 15(8.8％) in stage 3.The overall prevalence of AKI was 18.5％.With only 7cases getting diagnosed,the diagnostic rate was 4.1％,while 95.9％ of patients missed diagnosis.(2)Among AKI patients,67 cases had pre-renal causes,103 cases had intra-renal causes and mixed factors.100(58.8％) cases got complete recovery,34(20.0％) cases recovered partially and 36(21.2％)cases did not improve,including 4 cases of death.(3) The prevalence of AKI among those below 1-year old was higher than children elder than 1-year (23.0％ vs 15.5％,P=0.004).The prevalence of AKI in surgical ward was higher than medical ward (30.7％ vs 15.8％,P ＜ 0.001).(4) Compared with those in non-AKI group,there was lower age [1.1(0.2,3.5) year vs 2.0(0.3,4.9) year] and higher hospitalization time[12.5(8.0,20.0) d vs 8.0(6.0,11.0) d],hospitalization costs [25 279.2(13 822.8,48 856.7) yuan vs 12 616.9(8680.1,19 345.1) yuan] and mortality (2.4％ vs 0.3％) in AKI group (all P ＜ 0.05).(5) There were 126 cases in AKL group and 44 cases in AKI2 group.The costs of hospitalization,outcome and mortality showed no difference between two groups (all P ＞ 0.05).The hospitalization time in AKI2 group was shorter than that in AKL group (P=0.038).Conclusions Among hospitalized children the missed diagnosis rate of AKI is high.Pre-renal factor is the main cause of AKI.Children younger than 1-year old are more susceptible to AKI.AKI children have lower age and higher hospitalization time,hospitalization costs and mortality than non-AKI children.The effect of Scr fluctuation within normal levels needs to be further studied.

Objective To study the changes and significance of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells and C-reactive protein(CRP) in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). Methods Flow cytometry was used to detect the frequency of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in peripheral blood from 36 patients with acute exacerbation of COPD( COPD group) and 36 patients with clinical stability of COPD(control group one)and 36 normal individuals(control group two). The level of CRP was detected routinely. Results The ratio of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells number in peripheral blood of COPD group to the total number of CD4+T cell was (2.56±1.83 )%, and it was significantly decreased compared to the other two groups (P all<0.01 ). The level of CRP in COPD group was markedly higher than that in the other two groups (P all<0.01 ). The level of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in patients with acute exacerbation of COPD had negative relation with CRP. Conclusions CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells participate in inflammatory response. The proportion of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells decreases in patients with acute exacerbation of COPD, and it may result in maladjustment of cytoimmunity.

Recently, the droplet microfluidic system attracts interests due to its high throughput and low cost to detect and screen. The picoliter micro-droplets from droplet microfluidics are uniform with respect to the size and shape, and could be used as monodispensed micro-reactors for encapsulation and detection of single cell or its metabolites. Therefore, it is indispensable to characterize micro-droplet and its application from droplet microfluidic system. We first constructed the custom-designed droplet microfluidic system for generating micro-droplets, and then used the micro-droplets to encapsulate important amino acids such as glutamic acid, phenylalanine, tryptophan or tyrosine to test the droplets' properties, including the stability, diffusivity and bio-compatibility for investigating its application for amino acid detection and sorting. The custom-designed droplet microfluidic system could generate the uniformed micro-droplets with a controllable size between 20 to 50 microm. The micro-droplets could be stable for more than 20 h without cross-contamination or fusion each other. The throughput of detection and sorting of the system is about 600 micro-droplets per minute. This study provides a high-throughput platform for the analysis and screening of amino acid-producing microorganisms.
Amino Acids ; isolation & purification ; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques ; Microfluidics ; instrumentation