Objective To study the incidence,risk factors and prognosis of stroke-associated infection(SAI) in acute stroke patients.Methods 382 serial acute cerebral stroke patients were retrospectively surveyed.Results The incidence of SAI was 29.3% in all cases,mainly involved lower respiratory tract(63.0%) and urinary tract(28.4%).Escherichia coli,Coagulase negative staph and Streptococcus viridans were the main pathogenic organisms.Developments of SAI were closely related with aging,diabetes mellitus,the application of antimicrobial agents and invasive procedure.The mortality was 10.7%(12/112) in the cases with SAI,but 1.9%(5/270) in the cases without SAI.Conclusion SAI is caused by various factors in acute stroke patients.Controlling SAI can help to succeed in treating stroke.

Objective To study the relationship between monoeyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1)-2518A/G polymorphism and lung cancer in Han nationality of North China. Methods One hun-dred and thirty-four unrelated consecutive patients with lung cancer(112 with NSCLC, 22 with SCLC)and 82 healthy individuals were studied. The polymorphisms of MCP-1-2518A/G were detected with polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP). Results The distribution of AA, AG and GG genotypes of MCP-1-2518 was significantly different in lung cancer patients compared with controls (X~2=8. 486,P=0. 014). There was a significant increase in the frequency of the AA genotype (OR=2. 645, X~2=6. 532, P=0.011) and a significant decrease in the frequency of the GG genotype (OR=0.519, X~2=4.929, P=0. 026)in the lung cancer patients, compared with controls. In the NSCLC patients the fre-quency of the AA genotype was higher than controls(OR=3. 138, X~2=8. 905, P=0.003) and the frequency of the GG genotype was lower than controls(OR=0. 516 ,X~2=4. 613, P=0. 032). The frequencies of AA, AG and GG genotypes in SCLC patients and controls had no difference. Conclusion This preliminary study showed that MCP-1-2518A/G polymorphism was associated with NSCLC but not SCLC.

Objective To analyse the multi-slice spiral CT(MSCT) findings of small cholangiocarcinoma of common bile duct.Methods 15 cases with pathologically verified small cholangiocarcinoma of common bile duct were undergone unenhanced and three-phase contrast-enhanced MSCT scan.The entire morphologic changes of common bile duct were analysed with curved planar reformation(CPR).Results The attenuation of tumor relative to pancreas was iso-density in all cases at plain CT scan,hypo-density in 10 cases,iso-density in 3 cases and hyper-density in 2 cases at arterial phase,hypo-density in 1 case,iso-density in 3 cases and hyper-density in 11 cases at portal phase,iso-density in 5 caaes and hyper-density in 10 cases at delayed phase.The focal wall thickening of common bile duct appeared as circular or eccentric in 13 cases,intraluminal nodule in 2 cases,common bile duct was narrowing sharply in 11 cases and ending abruptly in 4 cases at obstructive level.Conclusion The small cholangiocarcinoma of common bile duct is of certain characteristics at unenhanced and three-phase contrast-enhanced CT scan.

BACKGROUND:Inflammatory factor plays an important role in restenosis after bal oon injury. Sphingosine1-phosphate receptor 1 can enhance the expression of inflammatory factor and promote development and progression of this pathological process.
OBJECTIVE:To observe the expression of the inflammatory factors and sphingosine1-phosphate receptor 1 after bal oon injury of the rat carotid artery and effects of fingolimod hydrochloride on reducing inflammatory reaction.
METHODS:Sixty Sprague-Dawley rats were equal y and randomly divided into four groups. In the blank control group and negative control group, left common carotid artery was only isolated, and left external carotid artery was ligated. In the bal oon injury group and drug intervention group, rat models of carotid artery injury were
established by bal oon injury on the left common carotid artery. In the negative control and drug intervention groups, the rats were intraperitoneal y injected with fingolimod hydrochloride 1 mg/kg. In the blank control and bal oon injury groups, the rats were intraperitoneal y injected with an equal volume of saline. Samples were col ected at 3, 7 and 21 days.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that the proliferation of blood vessel was remarkable in the bal oon injury group, but attenuated in the drug intervention group. The appearance of blood vessels was normal in the blank control group and negative control group. Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR revealed that cyclooxygenase 2 and prostaglandin E2 mRNA expression levels were significantly lower in the drug intervention group than those in the bal oon injury group at 7 days (P<0.05). Cyclooxygenase 2 and prostaglandin E2 mRNA expression levels were significantly higher in the bal oon injury group and drug intervention group than those in the blank control group and negative control group at the same time point (P<0.05). Western blot assay results revealed that sphingosine1-phosphate receptor 1 expression was high in early stage of injury, and then reduced in late stage of injury. In particular, protein expression further decreased after drug intervention. Results indicated that fingolimod hydrochloride suppressed inflammatory reaction of injured blood vessels and lessened the stenosis of injured blood vessels by regulating cyclooxygenase 2 and prostaglandin E2 mRNA expression using sphingosine1-phosphate receptor 1.

Objective To construct the has-miR 146a eukaryotic overexpression vector pmR 146a and to explore its effect on the expression of c-Myc gene in HepG2.2.15 cells.Methods The has-miR-146a precursor gene fragment pre-has-miR-146a was amplified by PCR,then connected to the pmR-mCherry plasmid vector after double enzyme digestion,the accuracy of recombinant vector was verified by colony PCR,double enzyme digestion and sequencing;then the recombinant vector was transfected into HepG2.2.15 cells as the experimental group,meanwhile the empty vector group (transfecting pmR-mCherry empty plasmid group) and blank group(transfecting reagent lip2000+PBS),then the fluorescent protein expression amount was observed under the fluorescence microscopy at 24,48 h;the expression of has miR-146a was evaluated by qPCR;at 24,48 h after transfection,the expression levels of c-Myc gene mRNA were detected by qPCR,and the c-Myc protein expression level after 48 h was detected by Western blot.Results The colony PCR,double enzyme digestion and sequencing verified that the pre-has-miR-146a gene fragment was inserted into the pmR-mCherry vector;at 24,48 h after transfection in the experimental group and empty vector group,intracellular strong fluorescence was seen by fluorescent microscope,the transfection efficiency was at 50％-60％ contrasting without fluorescence;the has-miR-146a expression level in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the empty vector group and blank group (P＜0.01);the c-Myc mRNA expression at 24,48 h after tranfection was significantly lower than that in the empty vector group and blank group (P＜0.05);the protein expression amount at 48 h after transfection was lower than that in the empty vector group and blank group (P＜0.01).Conclusion The pmR-146a eukaryotic overexpression vector is successfully constructed,this recombinant vector can express miR-146a stably;miR-146a can down-regulate c-Myc cancer gene expression,which can serve as one of potential targets for treating hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective To observe imaging characteristics of carotid body tumor and schwannoma in carotid space. Methods CT, MRI and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) appearances of 16 patients with carotid body tumors and schwannomas in carotid space confirmed pathologically were retrospectively analyzed. There were 8 patients with carotid body tumors and 8 patients with schwannomas. Six patients with carotid body tumors and 5 patients with schwannomas underwent CT plain scan. All the patients underwent MR plain and contrast-enhanced scan. Four patients with carotid body tumors and 2 patients with schwannomas underwent DSA examination. Results CT: Six carotid body tumors were lobulated soft tissue masses. The density of the tumors was similar to neck muscles. Two carotid body tumors involving jugular foramen expanded jugular foramen, and the margin was irregular and erosion-destructive. Five schwannomas were ovoid or fusiform soft tissue masses. The density of the tumors was mixed. Two schwannomas involved jugular foramen expanded jugular foramen, and the margin was smooth. MRI: Eight carotid body tumors were lobulated, well-defined, longitudinal growth masses with characteristic high-velocity flow voids. The tumor splayed and surrounded internal carotid artery and external carotid artery. The diameters of the arteries were normal. The tumors intensely enhanced on contrast-enhanced MRI. Eight schwannomas were ovoid or fusiform, well-defined, longitudinal growth masses with heterogeneous signal, splaying carotid artery and jugular vein. The diameters of the vessels were narrow. The tumors nonuniformly enhanced on contrast-enhanced MRI. DSA: Four carotid body tumors showed intense tumor blush, while 2 schwannomas showed slight tumor blush. Conclusion According to the imaging characteristic of the tumors, carotid body tumor and schwannoma in carotid space can be accurately differentiated.

Objective To observe whether the expression of Annexin A5(ANXA5) changes in human uterine cervical squamous cell carcinomas(UCSCC).Methods 25 UCSCC tissues and 15 normal human uterine cervical tissues were collected.Each sample was lysed in lysis buffer.Whole protein of the supernatant was estimated by BCA-100 Protein Quantitative Analysis Kit.The expressions of ANXA5 in UCSCCs and normal uterine cervical tissues were detected respectively with Western blotting.To further ensure the expression of ANXA5 in UCSCCs,another 45 UCSCC specimens and 20 normal cervical tissues were collected.ANXA5 expression was detected by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry respectively.Results The staining of ANXA5 band with Western blotting in UCSCCs was much heavier than that in normal uterine cervical tissues and the expression of ANXA5 was found much higher in UCSCCs by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization.Conclusion Expression of ANXA5 was up-regulated in human UCSCCs.There's some relationship between uterine cervical squamous cell carcinoma and ANXA5 protein.

Objective To investigate the gene expression differences of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells treated with astaxanthin and to analyze its biological information. Methods After treated with astaxanthin, the total RNA of HCC cells was extracted with TRIzol reagent. Illumina Truseq^TM RNA sample Prep Kit was used for RNA-seq library construction and sequencing. We analyzed the differentially-expressed genes and function enrichments. Results Transcriptomic analysis showed that there were 39 642 566 and 497 155 920 reads in the control group and treatment group, respectively; the proportion of clean reads obtained by filtration were 94.89% and 93.56%, respectively. A total of 77 344 transcripts were detected, with 4 997 genes with significant differences in expression, among which 1 564 genes were up-regulated and 3 433 genes were down-regulated. Conclusions Astaxanthin may participate in several biological processes and signaling pathways of tumors. Significant repression of translation process by astaxanthin may result in the growth inhibition of HCC.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of Fuzheng Huayu decoction (FHD) intervention on hepatic fibrosis.

METHODSWistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: rats in the normal group only treated with subcutaneous injection of saline, rats in the model group and the FHD group were made into hepatic fibrosis by subcutaneous injection of 40% carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-olive solution and then those in the FHD group were treated with FHD by gastric perfusion after modeling. Liver samples of the rats were obtained for routine pathological observation, hydroxyproline determination and proteome quantitative determination. After then, the proteome profile was obtained through 2-dimensional electrophoresis and silver staining, and analyzed. More than 30 proteins with different expression were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS.

RESULTS(1) The integral response of vital movement such as body weight and activity of hepatic fibrosis declined in the CCl4 induced liver fibrosis rats; (2) Liver fibrosis were associated with abnormal metabolism; (3) There were four material metabolism-related protein showed by hepatic proteome mass spectrography, which expressed different between the normal and the fibrotic rats, i. e. the perchloric acid soluble protein, the phosphatidylinositol transferase, the phosphoglycerate kinase and the endoplasmic reticulum-60 protease; (4) The expressions of the above-mentioned four proteins in the FHD group were nearly the same as those of normal level.

CONCLUSION(1) Liver fibrosis is accompanied with abnormal protein synthesis and decomposition, as well as the enhanced activity of glycolysis; (2) The existence of metabolism-related proteins is one of the elements for the liver in regulating metabolism; (3) The regulation on the expressions of metablism-related proteins is one of the pathways for FHD to exert its anti-hepatic fibrosis effect.

Animals ; Carbon Tetrachloride ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Hydroxyproline ; metabolism ; Liver ; metabolism ; Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Male ; Phosphoglycerate Kinase ; metabolism ; Phytotherapy ; Proteins ; metabolism ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Hydrogen production from lignocellulosic biomass is both sustainable and environmentally friendly, which is garnering more and more attention across the world, with an expectation to challenge the shortage of fossil fuels supply and climate change as well. In this article, the update research progress and technology development of biohydrogen production are reviewed, with a focus on biomass pretreatment, hydrogen-producing microorganisms and process engineering strategies. And in the meantime, a roadmap for more efficient and economic biohydrogen production is envisioned.
Bacteria ; metabolism ; Bioelectric Energy Sources ; microbiology ; trends ; Biomass ; Biotransformation ; Fermentation ; Hydrogen ; metabolism ; Lignin ; metabolism