Animals ; Cytidine ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; DNA Methylation ; drug effects ; DNA Modification Methylases ; metabolism ; Gene Knockout Techniques ; Histone Acetyltransferases ; metabolism ; Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Hydroxamic Acids ; pharmacology ; Neoplasms ; genetics ; physiopathology ; therapy ; RNA Interference ; Valproic Acid ; pharmacology

Cancer stem cell hypothesis has become a new theory. According to this theory, cancer stem cells play a decisive role in car-cinogenesis, progression, and metastasis. This theory offered new ideas and strategies for cancer treatment. However, only a small fraction of cells in a tumor were cancer stem cells. Therefore, the identification and enrichment of these cells are significant challenges for numerous researchers conducting further study. Micro-sphere culture has been an effective tumor stem cell enrichment technolo-gy in recent years. The application of this technique makes the cancer stem cell research process easy. In addition, it makes the evalua-tion of tumor progression and prognosis of patients in clinical possible. This article will focus on the applications of this technology, and microsystem integration will be described in detail.

The formation of macrophage-derived foam cells is a typical feature of atherosclerosis (AS). Reverse cholesterol efflux (RCT) is one of important factors for the formation of macrophage foam cells. In this study, macrophage form cells were induced by oxidized low density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) and then treated with different concentrations of ferulic acid, so as to observe the effect of ferulic acid on the intracellular lipid metabolism in the ox-LDL-induced macrophage foam cell formation, the cholesterol efflux and the mRNA expression and protein levels of ATP binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) and ATP binding cassette transporter G1 (ABCG1) that mediate cholesterol efflux, and discuss the potential mechanism of ferulic acid in resisting AS. According to the findings, compared with the control group, the ox-LDL-treated group showed significant increase in intracellular lipid content, especially for the cholesterol content; whereas the intracellular lipid accumulation markedly decreased, after the treatment with ferulic acid. The data also demonstrated that the mRNA and protein expressions of ABCA1 and ABCG1 significantly increased after macrophage foam cells were treated with different concentrations of ferulic acid. In summary, ferulic acid may show the anti-atherosclerosis effect by increasing the surface ABCA1 and ABCG1 expressions of macrophage form cells and promoting cholesterol efflux.
ATP Binding Cassette Transporter 1 ; analysis ; genetics ; ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Sub-Family G, Member 1 ; ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters ; analysis ; genetics ; Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Cholesterol ; metabolism ; Coumaric Acids ; pharmacology ; Foam Cells ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Lipoproteins ; analysis ; genetics ; Mice

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Fructose ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Tourette Syndrome ; drug therapy

OBJECTIVE:To study the effects of exogenous abscisic acid(ABA)on salt-alkali tolerance of Scrophularia ning-poensis seedlings,and to provide theoretic evidence for cultivating S. ningpoensis in salt-alkali soil. METHODS:50 S. ningpoensis seedlings were divided into control group,salt-alkali group(75 mmol/L),salt-alkali(75 mmol/L)+ABA low-concentration,medi-um-concentration and high-concentration groups(10,50,100 μmol/L),with 10 plants in each group. 20 days after transplanting, the plants were sprayed with drugs every 4 days. Growth indexes of the plants(length of stem,fresh weight,dry weight,survival rate),physiological indexes [the contents of chlorophyll,soluble sugar (SS),soluble protein (SP) and free proline (Pro)],the contents of MDA and H2O2,the activities of antioxidase [the activities of SOD,POD,CAT,GR] and the contents of Na+ and K+in stem and root were determined in each group 2 weeks later. RESULTS:Compared with control group,stem height and survival rate of S. ningpoensis seedlings,SP,the contents of Na+ and K+ in the stem,the contents of Na+,CAT and GR in the roots were all decreased significantly in salt-alkali group;while chlorophyll,Pro,MDA and H2O2 contents,the content of K+ in the roots and the activities of SOD and POD were all increased significantly(P<0.05 or P<0.01). Compared with salt-alkali group,stem height of S. ningpoensis seedlings,fresh weight and chlorophyll content were increased significantly in salt-alkali+ABA medium-concentra-tion group,while MDA and the content of Na+ in the stem were decreased significantly;dry weight,the contents of SS and SP, the activities of SOD and CAT were increased significantly in salt-alkali+ABA low-concentration and medium-concentration groups, while the SS content was increased in salt-alkali+ABA high-concentration group;stem height and dry weight were decreased signifi-cantly in salt-alkali+ABA high-concentration group;Pro content of salt-alkali+ABA low-concentration and high-concentration groups were decreased significantly;H2O2,Na+ content in the roots were decreased significantly in salt-alkali+ABA low-concentra-tion,medium-concentration and high-concentration groups;while GR activity,K+ content in the stem and roots were increased sig-nificantly;POD activity were decreased significantly in salt-alkali+ABA medium-concentration and high-concentration groups. CON-CLUSIONS:The addition of a certain concentration of exogenous ABA can effectively increase salt-alkali tolerance of S. ningpoen-sis seedlings and strengthen the ability of the plant adapting to salt-alkali environment.

Objective To investigate effects and safety of dexmedetomidine on the prevention of abnormal mental in patients after liver transplantation.Methods 160 patients after liver transplantation were randomly divided into the two groups using the drawing method:midazolam group(n =80),dexmedetomidine group(n =80),compared the two groups of patients with general,mental abnormality and the occurrence of adverse reactions.Results There were no significant differences in the general situation (gender,age,postoperative ventilator time,ICU stay time,oper-ation time,blood FK506 concentration,APACHEII score 24 hours after operation)of the two groups of patients (P >0.05),the spirit of the abnormal rate of the observation group was lower than that of the control group (P =0.009), incidence of hypotension and hypertension in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (P =0.035,0.029).Conclusion Dexmedetomidine can effectively reduce the postoperative mental disorders in patients in the early stage after liver transplantation.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare outcomes effects of Chinese recognition materials in post-lingually deafened patients with cochlear implant. METHOD: Thirty-two post-lingually deafened cochlear implant users participated in the study. Each one of them was given a series of speech recognition tests including the speech recognition score of monosyllable words, spondee words, Chinese BKB sentences and MHINT in quiet, as well as speech recognition threshold of HOPE corpus in babble noise. Speech recognition scores and thresholds were compared among these test materials using histograms , scatter diagrams and statistical methods. RESULT: Recognition scores for spondee words, Chinese BKB sentences and MHINT were affected by ceiling effects, with 1,14 and 4 cases scored 100% respectivelty. Meanwhile, 17, 26 and 14 cases scored more than 85% correspondingly. On the other hand, speech recognition scores for monosyllable words in quiet and speech recognition threshold for HOPE corpus in babble noise were not affected. CONCLUSION For a considerable part of post-lingually deafened patients using cochlear implant, some Chinese speech recognition materials have demonstrated different degrees of ceiling effects. While speech recognition scores for monosyllable words in quiet and recognition threshold for HOPE corpus in noise can evaluate the performance of speech recognition abilitymore objectively.
Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Humans ; Language ; Noise ; Speech Perception ; Treatment Outcome

Starch a natural polymer that is characterized by cheap, regenerative, and good biodegradation is generally mixed with low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystryrene to prepare degradable materials. In order to relieve "white pollution" due to undegradability of plastic materials, starch is mixed with polyvinyl alcohol, polylactic acid, poly-hydroxybutyric acid, polycaprolactone, chitosan, derivatives, and other degradable polymers to prepare fully degradable biomaterials. With gradual exhaustion of petroleum and progressive depravation of environmental quality, starch that is regarded as a reinforcing agent is widely used in rubber industry. Starch is characterized by hydrophilicity, difficulty in processing, and poor compatibility to plastic materials, rubber, and other polymers, so starch is firstly modified and then mixed with polymers to make starch. This study was designed to summarize the application of starch in plastic materials, rubber, and other polymer blends and to investigate the latest research progresses of starch in polymer materials.

Objective To establish a three-dimensional finite element model of thoracolumbar fractures treated by mono-segmental instrumentation in the fractured part for testing effect of such fixation mode on adjacent segments.Methods CT scanning data of T10-L2 were used to build a normal model at T10-L2 region,a fracture model at T12 segment as well as a mono-segment fixation or short-segment fixation model.Stress of discs and vertebral body adjacent to the fixed vertebrae were tested in axial compression,anteflexion,extention,lateroflexion,and axial rotation.Results The fracture model presented significant increase concerning stress of nucleus pulposus and annular fibrosus at T10-T11 segments and annular fibrosus at L1-L2 segments in anteflexion,extention,and lateroflexion when compared with the normal model.General raise range of the stress reached around 75％,but was dropped to 23％ after short-segment fixation and to 18％ after mono-segmental fixation.And again,stress of nucleus pulposus at L1-L2 segments was increased by 46％ or so,which was declined to 12％ after short-segment fixation and to 8％ after mono-segmental fixation.Stress at lower endplate of T10 and at upper endplate of L2 in the fracture model group were increased by 24％ and 43％ respectively when compared to the normal model,but both presented a notable drop after internal fixation.The latter was decreased to a level slightly higher than that of model group,namely 8％ more after short-segmental fixation and 4％ more after mono-segmental fixation; the former was decreased to a level even lower than that of control group,namely 2％ less after short-segmental fixation and 8％ less after mono-segmental fixation.Conclusion Mono-segmental fixation reduces adjacent disc stress in contrast to conventional short-segmental fixation and hence is an effective alternative treatment of monosegmental thoracolumbar fractures.

Objective In this study,we aim to investigate and evaluate the application of peer education on the teaching of medical graduate students and to evaluate the teaching effect,in order to provide the basis for subsequent practice reform.Methods 49 graduate students majoring Internal Medicine-Pulmonology were randomly divided into traditional teaching(24) and peer education groups (25).We chose the primary culture technology of rat distal pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells to be the teaching contents.For the traditional teaching group,we used the mode of class lecture giving and experimental skills learning under the assistance of the teachers; while in the peer education group,students benefited from the combination of class lecture given by the teacher and the seniors fixed teaching in which seniors help younger students.We selected the experimental operating time,cell purity and the practicing time to reach a standard culture as the evaluation indexes by filling a follow up questionnaire.The SPSS 13.0 was applied to the related data forx2 or t test.Results In the traditional teaching group,the average time to reach three times of standard culture was(3.2 ± 0.5) hour,which was(2.3 ± 0.4) hour in the peer education group.The cell purity was 80.1 ± 3.6％ in the traditional teaching group,while(85.4 ± 5.9)％ in the peer education group.The average practicing time was(6.3 ± 1.0) in the traditional teaching group,while(4.9 ± 0.6) in the peer education group.The peer education group master the teaching content better than the traditional teaching group (P=0.00).95.8％(23/24)of the students in the peer-education group considered the teaching contents simple,which was statistically higher(P=0.00) than traditional group (62.5％,15/24).Meanwhile,95.8％ (23/24)of the students in the peer-education group considered the teaching methods easy to accept,which was also statistically higher(P=0.02) than traditional group(70.8％,17/24).The difference was statistically significant (P=0.02).Conclusion The application effect of peer education is good and there is high degree of acceptance among the students.Besides,peer education accords with the medical postgraduate experiment teaching rules,and can cultivate medical graduate students' spirit of cooperation and communication ability in the process of implementation.