Ectodermal Dysplasia 1, Anhidrotic ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Ectodysplasins ; genetics ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Mutation, Missense

Objective To explore the value of intra-voxel incoherent motion diffusion weighted imaging(IVIM-DWI)in brain perfusion of early hypertensive patients. Methods Totally 36 hypertensive patients and 14 volunteers were recruited and scanned using routine MRI sequences including axial T2WI, T1WI, T2FLAIR, TOF-MRA and IVIM-DWI sequence. Perfusion-related diffusion coefficient (D*) values and perfusion fraction (f) values in various regions were measured separately.The independent sample t test was used to analyze the data.Results Compared with the volunteers,both D*values and f values in lenticular nucleus,thalamus,superior frontal gyrus,occipital lobe,genu of corpus callosum(CC)and posterior horns of periventricular WM, were found to be lower (P<0.05) in hypertensive patients. For other regions, there were no significant difference(P>0.05).Conclusion IVIM-DWI has the ability to detect subtle brain perfusion abnormalities at early stages of hypertension.It has an important value to the prevention and treatment of hypertensive encephalopathy.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the time course of let-7a microRNA expression in the cell cycle of HeLa cells.

METHODSHeLa cells were synchronized in G(1), S and G(2)/M phases using double-thymidine block, and the cell cycle phases were defined by flow cytometry. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR was used to examine the expression of let-7a in HeLa cells in different cell cycle phases.

RESULTSThe synchronization rates of G(1), S and G(2)/M phases were 84.81%, 83.65% and 77.69%, respectively. Let-7a was constitutively expressed throughout the cell cycle in HeLa cells, but the expression levels in G(1) and S phases were lower than those in G(2)/M phase.

CONCLUSIONSCell cycle can significantly influence the expression level of let-7a, which may provide new clues to the understanding of the cell cycle control mechanisms.

Cell Cycle ; genetics ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; physiology ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; metabolism

BACKGROUNDSuperficial urothelial carcinoma (SUC) of the bladder is a common urinary tract tumor in China. There is a high recurrence rate of this tumor even after surgery and intravesical instillation. Previous reports have described a suppression of the immune system in cancer patients. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in the induction of an effective antitumor immune response. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of surgery and epirubicin intravesical chemotherapy (IC) on peripheral blood DCs in subsets of patients with bladder SUC.

METHODSA total of 66 SUC patients and 38 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. All the patients had undergone transurethral resection (TUR) of their cancer and adjunctive IC after tumor removal. The patients were divided into a non-recurrence group (n = 40) and a recurrence group (n = 26) based on the presence or absence of tumor recurrence. Blood samples were taken preoperatively (PreOP), on postoperative days (POD) 1 and 7, and at postoperative month (POM) 3. Flow cytometric analysis was used for the determination and quantitation of the surface markers CD80 and CD86 in circulating DC subsets.

RESULTSThe preoperative percentages of myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) and expression of CD80 and CD86 were impaired in SUC patients compared to healthy controls (P < 0.05). The percentages of mDCs and these surface markers decreased significantly on POD 1 and increased on POD 7, remaining higher than the preoperative values in POM 3 (P < 0.05). The percentages of mDCs, and CD80 and CD86 in the non-recurrence group on PreOP, POD 7, and POM 3 were higher than those in recurrence group.

CONCLUSIONSSurgical removal of SUC and adjunctive IC were associated with improved circulating mDC counts and function. Persistent depression of mDC counts and function after treatment in recurrence patients indicated lower antitumor immunity that may lead to tumor recurrence.

Adult ; Aged ; China ; Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; metabolism ; Epirubicin ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; immunology ; surgery

OBJECTIVE: To detect the activation pattern of the thalamus in human by the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with the electrical stimulation of different intensities, and to explore the mechanism of this area in pain modulation. METHODS: Ten healthy right-handed volunteers were given different electrical stimulations of 1-, 2-, and 3- times pain threshold respectively. The whole-brain was scanned simultaneously by GE 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging system. The data were postprocessed by analysis of functional neuroimages (AFNI) to establish the regional activity maps of the thalamus. RESULTS: Patterns of functional activity showed a positive linear relationship between the activation signals and stimulation intensity in bilateral thalamus, whereas the BOLD signal of bilateral medial thalamus demonstrated that the curve was similar to the exponential function. Meanwhile, the activation in the contralateral lateral thalamus (cThl), but not the contralateral medial thalamus (cThm), was prominent compared with the corresponding ipsilateral subregions, and only the lateral thalamus displayed a contralateral biased representation while the medial thalamus lacked this property. CONCLUSION Thalamus is one of the vital components in the pain modulation network, which can present spatial segregation activations with unique characteristics of stimulation intensity-response in each subregion. All the results are helpful to understand the crucial role of thalamus in processing the pain information.
Adult ; Electric Stimulation ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Pain ; physiopathology ; Pain Threshold ; Thalamus ; physiology

Background Superficial urothelial carcinoma (SUC) of the bladder is a common urinary tract tumor in China.There is a high recurrence rate of this tumor even after surgery and intravesical instillation.Previous reports have described a suppression of the immune system in cancer patients.Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in the induction of an effective antitumor immune response.The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of surgery and epirubicin intravesical chemotherapy (IC) on peripheral blood DCs in subsets of patients with bladder SUC.@@Methods A total of 66 SUC patients and 38 healthy controls were enrolled in this study.All the patients had undergone transurethral resection (TUR) of their cancer and adjunctive IC after tumor removal.The patients were divided into a non-recurrence group (n=40) and a recurrence group (n=26) based on the presence or absence of tumor recurrence.Blood samples were taken preoperatively (PreOP),on postoperative days (POD) 1 and 7,and at postoperative month (POM) 3.Flow cytometric analysis was used for the determination and quantitation of the surface markers CD80 and CD86 in circulating DC subsets.@@Results The preoperative percentages of myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) and expression of CD80 and CD86 were impaired in SUC patients compared to healthy controls (P <0.05).The percentages of mDCs and these surface markers decreased significantly on POD 1 and increased on POD 7,remaining higher than the preoperative values in POM 3 (P <0.05).The percentages of mDCs,and CD80 and CD86 in the non-recurrence group on PreOP,POD 7,and POM 3 were higher than those in recurrence group.@@Conclusions Surgical removal of SUC and adjunctive IC were associated with improved circulating mDC counts and function.Persistent depression of mDC counts and function after treatment in recurrence patients indicated lower antitumor immunity that may lead to tumor recurrence.

Objective To establish an easy culture method of successively getting high purity and yield of microglia. Methods Cortices of neonatal Wistar rats (1-3 days old) were employed in this experiment. The first-generation microglial cells were isolated from the mixed glial culture by mechanical means (gently shaking and blowing with pipette). After the mixed glial cells being passaged at a density third generations ofmicroglial cells were harvested. CD1 lb/c, CD45, CD80, CD86 and GFAP were employed as the identification markers in detecting the phenotypes and purity of different generation of microglial cells by scanning electron microscope and flow cytometry. Immunofluorescence staining and CCk8 vitality measurement were used to judge the expression of CD11b/c and detect the proliferation of microglia cells. Microglial phagocytotic function was evaluated by phagocytosis of fluorescent microspheres. Results High yield and purity of microglial cells were stably obtained in this experiment. CD11b/c, CD45, CD80 and CD86 positive expressions were noted in the first and third generations of microglial cells by flow cytometry; CD1 1b/c positive expression was noted in the first,second and third generations of microglial cells by immunofluorescence staining. No obvious differences in the 3 different generations of microglia cells were found on proliferation ability by CCk8 vitality measurement, and on morphology and phenotypes by scanning electron microscope; no obvious differences in the first and third generations of microglia cells were found on phagocytic ability (P＞0.05).Conclusion High yield and purity of microglial cells can successively obtain through the above method;no significant differences are noted among different generations of microglia cells on purity, morphology,phenotypes, proliferation activity and phagocytic ability.

Objective: To investigate the dynamic expressions of tenascin-C (TN-C) at different phases of atherosclerosis in ApoE-/-mice. Methods: Our research included in 2 groups: ApoE-/- group, n=50 SPF male mice with ApoE-/- and Control group, n=50 wild male C57BL/6 mice. Atherosclerosis model was established by high fat diet in both groups. The mice were sacrificed at 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 weeks, blood lipids were examined, pathologic changes of plaque were observed by microscope for quantitative analysis and TN-C expressions in atherosclerosis plaque were measured by immunohistochemistry. Results: Compared with Control group, ApoE-/- group had elevated blood levels of total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), both P<0.05. In ApoE-/- group, plaque area and the ratio of plaque area/lumen area were increasing upon prolonged modeling time, all P<0.05; TN-C expressions were increasing by progress of atherosclerosis, the highest TN-C expression was found at 32 weeks of modeling (0.49±0.07) which was higher than it was at 8 weeks (0.04±0.02), 16 weeks (0.12±0.03) and 24 weeks (0.21±0.04), all P<0.05. Conclusion: TN-C expression was increasing with plaque progress which might be related to the development of atherosclerosis and plaque instability.

BACKGROUNDOccult stress urinary incontinence may lead to de novo stress urinary incontinence after pelvic floor repair surgery. A measurement of pudendal nerve terminal motor latency can reflect the integrity of the nerves. We aimed to explore the value of pudendal nerve terminal motor latency in the diagnosis of occult stress urinary incontinence in pelvic organ prolapse patients.

METHODSTen patients with stress urinary incontinence (SUI group), 10 with SUI and uterine or vaginal prolapse (POP + SUI group) and 10 with uncomplicated uterine or vaginal prolapse (POP group) were evaluated for their pudendal nerve terminal motor latency using a keypoint electromyogram.

RESULTSThe amplitude of positive waves was between 0.1 and 0.2 mV. The nerve terminal motor latency was between 1.44 and 2.38 ms. There was no significant difference in the wave amplitudes of pudendal nerve evoked action potential among the three different groups (P > 0.05). The pudendal nerve latency of the SUI group, POP + SUI group and POP group were (2.9 ± 0.7) seconds, (2.8 ± 0.7) seconds and (1.9 ± 0.5) seconds respectively. The difference between the SUI group and POP + SUI group was not statistically significant (P > 0.05), whereas the difference between the SUI and POP groups and between the POP + SUI and POP groups were statistically significant (P < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between pudendal nerve latency and the severity of SUI; the correlation coefficient was 0.720 (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSPatients with SUI may have some nerve demyelination injuries in the pudendal nerve but the damage might not involve the nerve axons. The measurement of pudendal nerve latency may be useful for the diagnosis of SUI in POP patients.

Evoked Potentials ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pelvic Organ Prolapse ; physiopathology ; Pudendal Nerve ; physiopathology ; Urinary Incontinence, Stress ; diagnosis ; physiopathology ; Uterine Prolapse ; physiopathology

Objective To study the effect of velvet antler polypeptides (VAP) on antioxidant in Alzheimer' s disease model mice. Methods Eight months old male amyloid precursor protein (APP)/presenilin-l (PS1) double transgenic mice were selected as Alzheimer' s disease (AD) model and divided into the model group and the VAP intervention group, 12 in each group. Besides, normal mice of the same brood (with no transgene) were recruited as a control group (n= 12).After 6 months of intragastric administration, behavior, morphology and oxidative stress related indicators were detected.SH-SY5 cells were used to establish AD model of damaged by Ap2535. The expression levels of APP and p-secreatase-l(BACE1) protein in mouse hippocampus were detected by Western blotting. VAP intervention group SH-SY5Y cells was cultured with VAP (500 g/L) and amyloid P(Ap) 2535(25 ixmol/L) for 24 hours. Control group cells were normally cultured by DMEM medium. Cell apoptosis, membrane potential, reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and oxidative stress related indexes were detected. Results In animal models, compared with the model group, the escape latency of mice in the VAP intervention group was shortened (P<0. 05). The neuronal cells in the CA1 region of the hippocampus of the model group were reduced and arranged disorderly. The arrangement of the VAP intervention group was relatively regular, and the morphology was significantly improved. Compared with the model group, senile plaques were decreased in the VAP intervention group. Compared with the model group, the malondialdehyde (MDA) content ol the VAP intervention group increased, and the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) content increased, the difference was statistically significant. Compared with the control group, the APP and BACE1 content in the model group increased. Compared with the model group, the contents of APP and BACE1 in the VAP intervention group decreased, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0. 05). In the cell model, the apoptosis rates of the VAP intervention group decreased. Compared with the model group, the mitochondrial membrane potential of the VAP intervention group increased, the content ol ROS decreased, the content of MDA decreased, and the content of SOD and GSH-Px increased. The difference were statistically significant (P<0. 05). Conclusion VAP has a protective effect on oxidative stress damage caused by Alzheimer' s disease model animals and cells, which may be achieved by reducing ROS production and increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes to reduce Ap deposition.