Objective To determine whether ultrasound mediated microbubble destruction could increase naked human wild type p53 plasmid delivery to ovarian cancer in rats by intratumoral injection. Methods Forty rats with ovarian cancer successfully induced by chemical intoxicant were divided into four groups.The wild type p53 gene was cloned into a high expressing efficiency eukaryotic plasmid pcDNA 3.1+ and the mixture of naked human wild type p53 plasmid was carefully injected directly into the center of ovarian neoplasms with or without echo contrast agent, and it was exposed to ultrasound for twenty minutes once a week.Two months after p53 gene transfection, semiquantitative RT-PCR was used to detect wild type p53 mRNA expression and western blot was to evaluate p53 protein expression level. Results Recombinated eukaryotic expression plasmid DNA encoding pcDNA 3.1+ /p53 was successfully constructed and confirmed by sequence analyzing and endonuclease cutting. The ovarian cancer model of rat was obtained by exposure to intoxicant. Expression of human wild type p53 mRNA was significantly higher in rats transfected with wild type p53 plasmid by means of ultrasound and contrast agent than others(P

OBJECTIVETo research the distribution characteristics of Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome and syndrome elements of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) by analyzing literature in recent 20 years.

METHODSRelevant literature on treating CFS by syndrome differentiation of CM at home were retrieved by computer and manual ways. Database were established by using EpiData 3.1 to conduct frequency analysis of syndrome and syndrome elements.

RESULTSThe most common clinical syndromes were Xin-Pi deficiency syndrome, Gan stagnation Pi deficiency syndrome, Gan-Shen yin deficiency syndrome, Gan qi stagnation syndrome, and Pi-Wei qi deficiency syndrome. Disease locations were sequenced as Pi, Gan, Shen, and Xin. The clinical pathogenesis of CFS was characterized by deficiency of vital energy, complicated with intermingled excess and deficiency. Asthenia of healthy energy was mainly manifested as qi deficiency, blood deficiency, and yin deficiency, while excess of sthenia was mainly manifested as qi stagnation, phlegm dampness, and static blood.

CONCLUSIONSResearch of CM syndrome starting from syndrome elements can better unify and standardize clinical syndrome differentiation. Results of literature analysis can provide reference for further studies.

Objective·To investigate and compare the clinical characteristic of non-organic dyspnea and asthma both with complaint of dyspnea.Methods·Seventy-four consecutive patients with non-organic dyspnea,and 74 age-,height-,weight and sex-matched patients with asthma were recruited for investigation in the study.The self-assessment surveys were conducted for the two groups by means of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale,Nijmegen Questionnaire and Athens Insomnia Scale.The words for describing dyspnea,clinical symptoms,effective sleep hours and items of pulmonary function test were collected and analyzed Results·Non-organic dyspnea patients tended to describe psychogenic aspects.Asthma patients tended to describe airflow limitation.Non-organic dyspnea group mainly performed psychogenic symptoms.The sleeping time in non-organic dyspnea group was significantly lower than that in asthma group(P＜0.05).The score of anxiety,depression,Nijmegen Questionnaire,Athens Insomnia Scale,FEV1,FEV1％Pred,FVC％Pred,FEV1/FVC in non-organic dyspnea group were significantly higher than those in asthma group (P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in FVC between two groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion·The non-organic group feel more anxiety,depressed and insomnic than the asthma group.Lung function test of asthma group is often abnormal.To discriminate non-organic dyspnea with asthma,clinicians should pay more attention to emotion,sleep,somatoform symptoms,medical history and so on,and do pulmonary function test,improve the understanding of the characteristics of the two diseases,decrease misdiagnosis and wrong diagnosis.

Objective To synthesize 99Tcm labeled VEGF fragment (VEGF125-136) and evaluate its biodistribution and imaging in the nude mice bearing human osteosarcoma,in order to find a probe to improve the early diagnosis and targeted therapy of osteosarcoma.Methods VEGF125-136 was synthesized by conventional solid phase synthesis method,and directly coupled with MAG3 to form MAG3-VEGF125-136,then MAG3-VEGF125-136 was labeled with 99Tcm.The osteosarcoma bearing nude mice were randomly divided into four groups by random number table and studied for 99Tcm-MAG3-VEGF125-136 distribution at 0.5,1,2,4 h,respectively.The other 10 osteosarcoma bearing nude mices were divided into the experimental group and competitive inhibition group,and underwent radionuclide imaging.The T/NT ratio was calculated.Data were analyzed using two-sample t test.Results The radioactive labeling rate was greater than 95％,radiochemical purity was still greater than 85％ after 12 h in room temperature.The 99Tcm-MAG3-VEGF125-136 was cleared fast in blood and mainly excreted through the kidneys and liver.Tumor uptake of 99Tcm-MAG3-VEGF125-136 was highest at 1 h with (0.28±0.02) ％ID/g.The T/NT ratios of experimental group at 0.5,1,2,4 h were 1.07±0.10,3.10±0.19,2.63±0.14,1.90±0.09,respectively.In competitive inhibition group,no obvious radioactivity concentration was observed in tumors.The T/NT ratios were 0.99± 0.05,1.06± 0.06,0.98±0.03,0.97±0.03 at 0.5,1,2,4 h respectively.The T/NT ratios were significantly different between the two groups at 1,2,4 h (t=22.52,26.36 and 22.31,all P＜0.05),but no significant difference was observed at 0.5 h (t =1.44,P＞0.05).Conclusion 99Tcm-MAG3-VEGF125-136 has high labeling efficacy,good stability and high specificity to osteosarcoma.It can be used as an agent for early diagnosis and therapy monitoring in osteosarcoma.

Metallothionein ( MT ) is a cysteine-rich and low-molecular metal binding protein. Three isoforms of MT have been found in the central nervous system, including MT-Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ. MT is widely involved in many critical activities in the central nervous system, such as neuronal growth, auto-defensive reaction, immune-regulation, and repair of cerebral injury. MT exerts many important biological functions like scavenging of free radicals, regulation of ion homeostasis in brain cells, detoxification of heavy metals, anti-inflammation, and anti-apoptosis. Recently, MT has been increasingly shown to have protective effects against cerebral ischemia. MT promises to be an important target for prevention and/or treatment of cerebral ischemic disease. ln this review, the expression and regulation characteristics, and the effect of cerebral ischemic stress on MT expression have been summarized, with focus on the neuro-protective effect of MT and its possible underlying mechanisms.

Background and purpose: It has been reported that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and epidermal growth factor receptor variant Ⅲ (EGFRv Ⅲ) play important roles in the progression of various cancers. This research was to detect the expression and relation of EGFR and epidermal growth factor receptor variant Ⅲ (EGFRv Ⅲ) to human esophageal carcinoma. Methods: In 66 human esophageal carcinoma tissues, the expression of EGFR and EGFRv Ⅲ were detected by imrnunohistochemistry and western-blot. The expression of EGFR and EGFRv Ⅲ along with the patients' clinicopathologic factors was retrospectively analyzed. Correlation analysis between EGFRv Ⅲ and EGFR was analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: The average gray scale values of EGFR in esophageal carcinoma and normal tissues by immunohistochemistry were 25.4±3.2 and 5.0±3.5, which showed a significant difference (t=5.574, P=0.000). And the average gray scale values of EGFRv Ⅲ in esophageal carcinoma and normal tissues were 22.5±4.2 and 5.5±3.0, which also showed a significant difference (t=6.701,P=0.000). The average gray scale values of EGFR in esophageal carcinoma and normal tissues respectively by western-blot were 1.37±0.41 and 0.21±0.09, which showed a significant difference (t=10.704, P=0.000) And the average gray scale values of EGFRv Ⅲ respectively were 0.828±0.15 and 0.083±0.049, which had a significant difference (t=9.362, P=0.000). Significant differences were observed in TNM-stage, lymphatic metastasis and tumor classification in both the expression of EGFR (P<0.05) and EGFRv Ⅲ (P<0.05), and but there were no obvious differences in gender, age, minor size, growth pattern in both the expression of EGFR (P<0.05) and EGFRvⅢ (P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that there was strong association of the expression between EGFR and EGFRv Ⅲ both detected by immunohistochemistry (r=0.701,P<0.0001) and western-blot respectively(r=0.556, P=0.031). Conclusion: Our data suggests that EGFRvⅢ is over-expressed in human esophageal carcinoma. Combination of EGFR and EGFRvⅢ could be useful markers for tumorgenesis and differentiation of human esophageal carcinoma.

Objective To investigate the expression and the effects of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) on lungs of rats with sepsis.Methods Forty Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into two groups,namely sham group (n =8) and sepsis model group (n =32).The rats of model group were modeled by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP),and were further divided into four subgroups as per the time after modeling,namely 6 h (n =8),12 h (n =8),24 h (n =8),48 h (n =8)subgroups.Blood and lung samples were taken 6 h,12 h,24 h and 48 h after modeling.The histological changes in lungs of the rats were observed under light microscope.Expressions of TIMP-1 mRNA,Bax mRNA and Bcl-2 mRNA in lungs were measured by RT-PCR.The immunohistochemistry was used to label the CD18 in lungs during different phases of sepsis.The data were processed by t test.Results Compared with sham group,the lung tissues of rats in model group were injured to a certain extent after CLP.The expression of TIMP-1 mRNA and the number of CD18 positive cells increased at the same time (P ＜ 0.01),and peaked 24 hours later (P ＜ 0.01).While the expression of Bax mRNA in model group decreased markedly 12-48 hours after modeling (P ＜ 0.01-0.05),and reached minimum 48 hours later (P ＜ 0.01).The expression of Bcl-2 mRNA in model group changed unnoticeable.The positive correlation between variations in number of CD18 positive cells and expression of TIMP-1 mRNA was found in model group (r =0.426,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions The increase in expression of TIMP-1 mRNA in lungs is closely associated with the lung injury of sepsis.The mechanism of lung injury is likely attributed to the preservation of inflammatory cells from apoptosis,and the persistent inflammation response causes tissue damage,leading to organ dysfunction.

Objective To determine the diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted imaging(DWI)in hyperacute and acute cerebral infarction by using Meta-analysis.Methods Based on validity criteria for diagnostic research published by the Cochrane Methods Group on Screening and Diagnostic,studies in English and Chinese from 1 997 to 2007 were selected from Medline,Cochrane,Springer,Ovid,Elsevier,LWW and CNKI(China National Knowledge Infrastructure).The characteristics of the included articles were appraised and extracted. Statistical analysis was performed with the software Meta-test 0.6 and Comprehensive meta-analysis 2.0.Heterogeneity of the included articles was tested.which was used to select proper effect model to calculate pooled weighted values of sensitivity and specificity and the corresponding 95% CL Summary receiver operating characteristic(SROC)curve was performed and the area under the curve(Az)was calculated.Publication bias was analyzed by Funnel Plot in Comprehensive Meta.analysis 2.0.A sensitivity analysis was performed.Results Twelve articles meeting inclusion criteria were analyzed for the value of DWI in hyperacute cerebral infarction.The pooled seusitivitv.specificity and diagnostic odds ratio was 92%,87%,180.37 respectively,Az=0.9717.Novice is a main factor for total diagnostic effect(Q=4.34,P>0.05).Non-asymmetric funnel plot suggested the publication bias.Fifteen articles meeting inclusion criteria were analyzed for the value of DWI in both hyperacute and acute cerebral infarction(≤24 h).The pooled sensitivity,specificity diagnostic odds ratio was 92%、91%. 623.62 respectively.Az=0.9659.Fixed effects model used in Meta-analysis for database suggested homogeneity(Q=2.70,P>0.05).Nonasymmetrie funnel plot suggested the publication bias.Conclusions As a noninvasive method,diffusion-weighted imaging is valuable in detecting hyperacute and acute cerebral infarction.More support from multi-center prospective researches is desirable.

Objective To determine the relationship between characteristic damages in white matter and its executive dysfunction by magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the patients with leukoaraiosis (LA). Methods A total of 23 patients with LA and 19 age,sex and education-matched healthy people as control were enrolled.Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA),Stroop test,trail making test (TMT),digit-symbol test(DST),verbal fluence (VF) were applied to assess cognitive and executive functions.Fractional anisotropy (FA),apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and mean diffusivity (MD) in white matter lesion (WML) and normal appearing white matter (NAWM) were measured in LA group,the bilateral centrum semiovale,anterior and posterior periventricular white matter in control group were measured by DTI. The white matter DTI parameters were compared between the groups, the relationship between DTI parameters and executive function was investigated in LA group. Results In LA patients,distinct executive dysfunction were found.The scores of Stroop B [(69.4± 13.4) vs.(43.3 ± 5.0),t =8.03,P＜0.05)],Stroop C [(141.4±42.1) vs.(65.4±10.3),t=7.66,P＜0.05)]and Stroop C B[ (72.0±41.4) vs.(22.1±9.6),t=5.13,P＜0.05)],TMT-A[(73.2±15.3)vs.(31.2±7.2),t 10.97,P＜0.05) ],TMTB[(125.6±18.0) vs.(81.6±5.9),t=10.22,P＜0.05) ] andDST[ (24.8±5.6 )vs.(36.8±5.1),t=7.19,P＜0.05) ] were inferior in LA group to control group.The values of FA in centrum semiovale [(0.2±0.1) vs.(0.4±0.1) and (0.4±0.1),F =45.08,P＜0.05)],anterior periventricular white matter [(0.2±0.0) vs.(0.4±0.1) and (0.4±0.1),F =70.11,P＜0.05)] and posterior perivcntricular white matter[ (0.3±0.1) vs.(0.4±0.1) and (0.4±0.1),F=8.54,P＜0.05) ]of WML were reduced as compared with those of NAWM and control group.The values of ADC(×10- 3mm2/s) in the above three regions of WML [(1.2±0.2) vs.(0.8±0.1) and (0.8±0.1),F=46.77,P＜0.05)],[(1.2±0.3) vs.(0.8±0.0) and (0.8±0.1),F=68.22,P＜0.05)]and [(1.4±0.3) vs.(0.8±0.0) and (0.9±0.1),F=17.08,P＜0.05) ] were elevated,as compared with those of NAWM and control group,and the values of MD ( × 10-5 mm2/s) in the three regions of WML[ (127.8±14.5) vs. (95.3±26.4) and (100.8±9.4),F 19.72,P＜0.05) ],[(127.4±16.0) vs.(101.8±13.9) and (93.4±5.6),F=39.26,P＜0.05) ] and [(134.4±21.2)vs.(114.8=14.5) and (114.4±11.7),F=10.66,P＜0.05) ]were also increased,as compared with those of NAWM and control group.There was negative correlation of FA with Stroop C-B (r=-0.46,P＜0.05),TMT-A (r=-0.48,P＜0.05) and TMT-B (r=0.46,P＜0.05),while FA was positively related with DST test (r=0.42,P＜0.05) in anterior periventricular white matter.Conclusions DTI can detect the characteristic damages of white matter,which is strongly related with executive function impairments possibly induced by the damage of prefrontal-subcortical loop in the patients with LA.

In this study, five rhesus macaques were inoculated intravenously with SIVmac251 to establish a model of simian autoimmune deficiency syndrome (SAIDS). Peripheral blood samples were collected at different time points to monitor changes in the total T cell number and T lymphocyte subset. Plasma viral loads, cytokine expression levels and anti-SIV antibody levels were also assayed to acquire certain basic indexes to evaluate disease progression in the rhesus macaque SAIDS model. During the acute stage of infection, plasma viral loads reached a peak at week 1 post-inoculation and lasted for approximately 3 to 44 weeks. The CD3+ CD4+ T lymphocyte count in peripheral blood also transitorily decreased. During the same period, the level of interferon-gamma show an increasing trend, whereas IL-12 levels decreased; IL-2, IL-4, IL-10 and TNF-alpha were maintained at normal levels or could not be detected. During the asymptomatic and ARC phases, plasma viral loads persisted above 10(4) RNA copies/mL and either increased or declined during the later stages of disease; CD3+ CD4+ counts showed a steadily declining trend and the ratio of CD4 to CD8 decreased during late-stage disease. Moreover, antibodies against viral proteins were detected in the plasma and showed a significant increasing trend, while there were no apparently changes in the levels of IFN-gamma, IL-12, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10 and TNF-alpha. In conclusion, the characteristics of the SIV animal models in our study are similar to those of patients with AIDS. Therefore, the rhesus macaque SIVmac251 infection models can be applied for further studies into AIDS.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; CD4 Lymphocyte Count ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; virology ; Cytokines ; genetics ; immunology ; Disease Models, Animal ; HIV Infections ; genetics ; immunology ; virology ; HIV-1 ; physiology ; Humans ; Macaca mulatta ; Male ; Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; genetics ; immunology ; virology ; Simian Immunodeficiency Virus ; physiology ; Viral Load