A retrospective study was made on the diagnosis and microsurgical management of 38 cases of cranial orbital tumors treated in our hospital in order to improve its clinical outcome. 29 males and 9 females with an age between 5 ～45 years (mean 32 2 years) were included in this series. 33 cases had their tumor located in anterior fossa, and 5 in middle fossa. 35(92 1%) cases showed malfunction of optic organs. 23(60 5%) cases had symptoms of intracranial hypertension. DSA and preoperative embolization of supplying arteries of tumors were performed in some cases. Microsurgical techniques and different approaches were used to remove tumors. 28 cases received total removal and others subtotal resection. No postoperative morbidity was found. 7 months～9 years follow up study showed that 24 cases resumed normal life, 6 had a dependent life and 5 had a certain recovery. One of the most frequent clinical manifestations of cranial orbital tumor was disorders in optic organs. The preoperative embolization of supplying arteries of tumors makes it possible to decrease bleeding during operation and increase the possibility to remove the total tumor. Microsurgical and piecemeal techniques as well as combined approaches may improve its clinical results.

Objective To investigate the effect of 1, 25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 (1, 25 (OH)2D3) on adipocyte differen-tiation and the underlying mechanism. Methods The mesenchymal stem cell line C3H10T1/2 was randomly divided into 6 groups including control group, differentiation group and 4 different doses of 1, 25(OH)2D3 groups. The control group was treated with vehicle. The differentiation group was supplemented with adipocyte differentiation reagent. And the 1,25(OH)2D3 groups were treated with adipocyte differentiation reagents and 10-9, 10-8, 10-7 and 10-6 mol/L of 25(OH)2D3. After culturing for 5 days, the cells were stained with oil red O, and the expression levels of adipocyte-specific transcription factors and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway related genes were examined by RT-PCR or Western blot methods. Results 1,25(OH)2D3 sig-nificantly reduced the number of differentiated adipocytes and blocked the mRNA levels of adipocyte specific transcription factor PPARγ(peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma), C/EBPα(CCAAT enhancer binding proteinα) and adipo-cyte characterization factor aP2 (fatty acid binding protein 4). These were paralleled by the decreased mRNA expression of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway inhibitor sFRP1 (Secreted frizzled-related protein 1) and the increased level ofβ-catenin protein. Conclusion 1, 25(OH)2D3 inhibits adipocyte differentiation, which may be related to the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling.

Background and purpose:Kiss-1 and nm23 have been identifi ed as tumor metastasis suppressor genes,and they have been associated with the metastatic potential of breast cancer.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of Kiss-1 and nm23 expression with lymph node metastasis in breast cancer.Methods:The expression of Kiss-1 and nm23 protein was detected by immunohistochemistry in 70 patients with breast cancer.Results:The positive rate of Kiss-1 and nm23 were 62.86% and 68.57%,38.46% and 50.00% in breast cancer patients with lymph node metastasis,markedly lower than the 77.27%,and 79.55% in patients without lymph node metastasis(P

Objective To develop a new type of lumbar puncture needle to facilitate to measure intracranial pressure,decrease the risks for intracranial infection and brain hernia.Methods The needle was composed of a body,no.1 and no.2 sleeves,a stylet,a needle base,a catheter,joints and etc.The needle had body and stylet made of stainless steel,the catheter manufactured with medical silicone tube,the joints produced by medical rubber and the remained components by medical plastics.Results The developed needle executed pressure measuring,cerebrospinal fluid collection and medication injection with no extracting the stylet.The outflow velocity of cerebrospinal fluid was limited,and the incidences of the complications were decreased including infection,brain hernia and etc.Conclusion The lumbar puncture needle has simple structure,easy operation and high safety,and thus is worthy promoting practically.

Objective To investigate the correlation of diabetic skeletal muscle disease with macroangiopathy, and to explore the related genes of Shenqi Compound Recipe (SCR) in preventing and treating diabetic skeletal muscle disease by using gene chip technique, thus to reveal the molecular mechanism. Methods KKAy mice were fed with water containing nitri oxide synthase inhibitor of Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester ( L-NAME) and high fat diet to induce the macroangiopathy complicated with type 2 diabetes. The experimental animals were divided into normal c57BL/GJ group, KKAy group, model group, SCR group (in the dosage of 14.4 g·kg-1·d-1) and rosiglitazone group ( in the dosage of 1.33 mg·kg-1·d-1) , 15 in each group. The medication groups were administered the corresponding agents for 8 consecutive weeks just as the modeling began. During the experiment period, blood glucose was monitored. At the end of the experiment, the abdominal aorta and skeletal muscle of mice were taken out for the observation of morphological changes, and differentially expressed genes of skeletal muscle between SCR group and model group, and between model group and KKAy group were detected by gene chip technique. Results SCR had an effect on relieving the atrophy, edema, fracture, and inflammatory changes in the skeletal muscle. There were 198 genes differentially expressed between model group and KKAy group, including 119 up-regulated genes and 79 down-regulated genes. There were 70 genes differentially expressed between SCR group and model group, including 33 up-regulated genes and 37 down-regulated genes. In the two comparison groups, 7 genes ( Celsr2, Rilpl1, Dlx6as, 2010004M13Rik, Anapc13, Gm6097, Ddx39b) showed reversed differential expression. Conclusion Diabetic skeletal muscle disease is associated with macroangiopathy. SCR has preventive effect on diabetic skeletal muscle lesion, and the mechanism may be related to the regulation of Celsr2, Rilpl1, Dlx6as, 2010004M13Rik, Anapc13, Gm6097, Ddx39b gene expression.

Objective:To explore the impact of the number of pathological lymph node metastasis areas on the prognosis of patients with thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after radical surgery.Methods:The clinicopathologic data of 153 patients with ESCC treated by radical surgery at the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the Affiliated Taixing People′s Hospital of Yangzhou University from January 2012 to December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Among these patients, 76 had no adjuvant therapy, and 77 received adjuvant radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy after surgery. According to the lymph node classification criteria of American Thoracic Association and the number of pathological lymph node metastasis areas, the patients were divided into non-regional lymph node metastasis group ( n=68), oligo-regional lymph node metastasis group (1-2 regional lymph node metastasis, n=54) and multi-regional lymph node metastasis group (≥3 regional lymph node metastasis, n=31). Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival rate and survival comparison was performed by log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze prognostic factors, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the predictive value of the number of lymph node metastasis areas. Results:The median overall survival (OS) was 37.0 months for the 153 patients, and the 1-, 3- and 5-year OS rates were 97.4%, 51.0% and 30.7% respectively. In the non-regional lymph node metastasis group, the median OS was 46.0 months, and the 1-, 3- and 5-year OS rates were 97.1%, 58.8% and 39.7% separately. In the oligo-regional lymph node metastasis group, the median OS was 39.0 months, and the 1-, 3- and 5-year OS rates were 94.4%, 55.6% and 35.2% respectively. In the multi-regional lymph node metastasis group, the median OS was 26.0 months, and the 1-, 3- and 5-year OS rates were 98.1%, 25.8% and 3.2% separately. There was a statistically significant difference among the three groups ( χ2=18.257, P<0.001). Among the 76 patients without adjuvant treatment, the 1-, 3- and 5-year OS rates were 94.7%, 50.0% and 34.2% in patients with non-regional lymph node metastasis, 90.9%, 36.4% and 9.1% in patients with oligo-regional lymph node metastasis, 97.4%, 18.8% and 0 in patients with multi-regional lymph node metastasis, and there was a statistically significant difference ( χ2=8.201, P=0.017). Among the 77 patients with adjuvant therapy, the 1-, 3- and 5-year OS rates were 97.7%, 66.7% and 46.7% in patients with non-regional lymph node metastasis, 96.9%, 68.8% and 53.1% in patients with oligo-regional lymph node metastasis, 93.3%, 26.7% and 6.7% in patients with multi-regional lymph node metastasis, and there was a statistically significant difference ( χ2=18.083, P<0.001). Univariate analysis showed that age ( HR=1.534, 95% CI: 1.041-2.260, P=0.030), T stage ( HR=1.757, 95% CI: 1.197-2.579, P=0.004), N stage ( HR=1.548, 95% CI: 1.043-2.297, P=0.030), TNM stage ( HR=1.392, 95% CI: 1.114-2.459, P=0.015), adjuvant therapy ( HR=0.545, 95% CI: 0.370-0.803, P=0.002) and number of lymph node metastasis areas (multi-regional lymph node metastasis versus non-regional lymph node metastasis: HR=0.385, 95% CI: 0.238-0.624, P<0.001; multi-regional lymph node metastasis versus oligo-regional lymph node metastasis: HR=0.442, 95% CI: 0.269-0.726, P=0.001) were closely related to OS in patients with ESCC after operation. Multivariate analysis showed that T stage ( HR=1.699, 95% CI: 1.143-2.525, P=0.009), adjuvant therapy ( HR=0.577, 95% CI: 0.386-0.864, P=0.008) and number of lymph node metastasis areas (multi-regional lymph node metastasis versus non-regional lymph node metastasis: HR=0.553, 95% CI: 0.411-0.996, P=0.011; multi-regional lymph node metastasis versus oligo-regional lymph node metastasis: HR=0.550, 95% CI: 0.328-0.924, P=0.024) were independent prognostic factors for OS. The number of lymph node metastasis areas (AUC=0.648, 95% CI: 0.560-0.735, P=0.004) was better than the number of lymph node metastasis (AUC=0.595, 95% CI: 0.497-0.694, P=0.061) in predicting OS of patients with ESCC after radical surgery. Conclusion:The number of postoperative pathological lymph node metastasis areas in thoracic ESCC has important value in predicting survival prognosis, and adjuvant therapy can significantly improve the OS of patients with oligo-regional lymph node metastasis.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of delta-opioid receptor (DOR) in electroacupuncture (EA) protecting the brain against acute ischemic injury. METHODS: Fifty-one rats were randomly divided into sham ischemia group, ischemia group, sham EA group, EA group, and EA+DOR antagonist (naltrindole) group. Transient focal cerebral ischemia (1 hour) was induced in rat brain by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) method. EA was applied on Shuigou (GV 26) and Neiguan (PC 6) for 30 min, starting immediately after the onset of reperfusion. Neurological deficit scores and volume of cerebral infarction were detected after 24-hour reperfusion. Other 12 rats were randomly divided into sham ischemia group, ischemia group, EA group and EA + naltrindole group. DOR protein expressions were assessed by Western blotting after 24-hour reperfusion. RESULTS: In comparison with the ischemia group and sham EA group, EA significantly reduced ischemic infarction and neurological deficits (P<0.05); EA significantly increased the expression of 60 kD DOR protein (P<0.05) and tended to increase that of 36 kD DOR protein (P>0.05). When naltrindole was combined with EA, the naltrindole completely abolished the EA-induced protection in ischemic infarction and neurological deficits, and also arrested the expression of DOR. CONCLUSION: EA can up-regulate DOR expression and protect the brain from ischemia-reperfusion injury.

BACKGROUND:Studies have found that combination of two of chitosan (CS), nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) can improve the mechanical properties and biocompatibility of the composite stent in certain extent as wel as improve osteogenic differentiation of the cels, but there is a certain distance from the ideal bone tissue engineering scaffolds.
OBJECTIVE:To study biocompatibility and osteoinductive activity of nHA/CS/PLGA scaffolds with different proportions in vitro.
METHODS: nHA/CS/PLGA scaffolds were prepared at mass ratio of 10:10:80, 10:20:70, 20:10:70 respectively by particle leaching method. And human bone marrow stem cels (hBMSCs) were co-cultured with these scaffolds in vitro. Adhesion, proliferation, and osteoinductive activity of these scaffolds were examined qualitatively and quantitatively by growth curve of hBMSCs on scaffolds. Gene expression of alkaline phosphatase activity and osteocalcin was detected by RT-PCR.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: hBMSCs could be attached, proliferated, and osteoinduced better on the nHA/CS/PLGA scaffold with the mass ratio of 20:10:70, compared to the other two groups of scaffolds. The differences were significant statisticaly (P< 0.05). Alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin expressions were respectively higher in the scaffold with the mass ratio of 20:10:70 after 9-27 days of co-culture and 15-27 days of co-culture, in comparison with the other two groups of scaffolds. These findings indicate that the nHA/CS/PLGA scaffolds with the mass ratio of 20:10:70 demonstrated preferable biocompatibility and osteogenic inductivity, which is expected to be a promising scaffold material for bone tissue engineering.

ObjectiveTo observe the curative effect of marrow stem cell transplant on bone nonunion and bone defection.Methods140 patients were randomly divided into the group A (with auto-iliac bone transplant) and group B (with auto-marrow stem cell transplant). There were 70 cases in each group. All patients in two groups were treated by operation and inside and outside fixation.ResultsAfter treatment, the average cicatrization time of group A was (7.0±2.0) months, that of group B was (5.0±1.5) months, there was a significant difference between two groups( P<0.05). There were no obvious adverse reactions found during the treatment period.ConclusionCompared with the traditional bone grafting, treating bone nonunion and bone defection by auto-marrow stem cell transplant has obvious superiority with better curative effect, short course and no adverse reactions.

Objective To provide a practical device and protocol to hold conscious rats for subsequent operations which can overcome the disadvantages of existing methods .Users can complete the experiment more efficiently , with or without prior experience .Methods Using transparent plastic film , plastic sealing machine and sponge to make a simple device for holding rats , by taking advantage of their escaping nature .To compare the performance of the new method and existing methods for holding and injecting rats .Results Compared with existing methods , the new device and method can reduce the time-consuming to hold rats by 44.7%, from 18.13 seconds to 10.03 seconds.For holding and injecting , the new method can reduce the time-consuming by 55.3%, from 139.33 seconds to 52.26 seconds .Conclusions The new device and method is good for holding and injecting rats or drawing blood from the caudal veins .It can shorten the time of operation and reduce the stress reaction in the animals .It’ s especially helpful for inexperienced experimenters such as students in teaching and research tasks .