Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; genetics ; pathology ; Female ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; genetics ; Liver Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the genotypic profiles of Candida albicans isolates from erosive oral lichen planus (OLP) and nonerosive OLP, and then to compare the results with their virulence attributes.

METHODSA total of 112 isolates from healthy control (26), erosive OLP (62) and nonerosive OLP (24) were screened for genotypic profiles by using the randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay. In addition, adhesion to buccal epithelial cells assay and phospholipase activity assay were used to evaluate the virulence attributes of these isolates.

RESULTSRAPD analyses with some random primer revealed 4 different genotypes among all isolates, and there was significant difference in the geneotypic constitution between every two groups. Statistically, in healthy group the major type was B and D, however, the major type in erosive OLP was A and C, and the major type in nonerosive OLP was A and D. The isolates with genotype A had the strongest adherence among 4 genotypes. The phospholipase activity of the isolates with genotype A and C were higher than that with genotype B and D.

CONCLUSIONSSome Candida albicans isolates with special genotypic profiles and virulence attributes may contribute to the development and progression of OLP.

Adhesiveness ; Candida albicans ; classification ; enzymology ; physiology ; Genotype ; Humans ; Lichen Planus, Oral ; microbiology ; Phospholipases ; metabolism ; Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique

OBJECTIVETo investigate the adhesion to buccal epithelial cells of Candida albicans isolates from erosive oral lichen planus (OLP) and nonerosive OLP, and its role in the development of OLP.

METHODSA total of 112 isolates, comprising healthy control (26), erosive OLP (62) and nonerosive OLP (24), were screened for the adhesion by using buccal epithelial cell (BEC) assay.

RESULTSThe adhesion to buccal epithelial cells of the isolates from erosive OLP group was stronger than that of those from healthy control.

CONCLUSIONCandida albicans, some isolates with a special virulence attribute may contribute to the occurrence and progression of erosive OLP.

Candida albicans ; Cell Adhesion ; Epithelial Cells ; Humans ; Lichen Planus, Oral

OBJECTIVETo monitor the systemic gene expression profile in a murine model of lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury.

METHODSAcute lung injury was induced by intratracheal injection of lipopolysaccharide in 3 mice. Another 3 normal mice receiving same volume of normal saline were taken as the controls. The comprehensive gene expression profile was monitored by the recently modified long serial analysis of gene expression.

RESULTSA total of 24,670 tags representing 12,168 transcripts in the control mice and 26,378 tags representing 13,397 transcripts in the mice with lung injury were identified respectively. There were 11 transcripts increasing and 7 transcripts decreasing more than 10 folds in the lipopolysaccharide-treated mice. The most overexpressed genes in the mice with lung injury included serum amyloid A3, metallothionein 2, lipocalin 2, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A, lactate dehydrogenase 1, melatonin receptor, S100 calcium-binding protein A9, natriuretic peptide precursor, etc. Mitogen activated protein kinase 3, serum albumin, complement component 1 inhibitor, and ATP synthase were underexpressed in the lung injury mice.

CONCLUSIONSSerial analysis of gene expression provides a molecular characteristic of acute lung injury.

Animals ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; blood ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; blood ; Disease Models, Animal ; Gene Expression ; genetics ; Gene Expression Profiling ; methods ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Male ; Metallothionein ; blood ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Neoplasm Proteins ; blood ; Nuclear Proteins ; blood ; Protein Folding ; Reference Values ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; chemically induced ; genetics ; S100 Proteins ; blood ; Serum Amyloid A Protein ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo assess the effects of penehyclidine hydrochloride on patients with acute lung injury (ALI), to observe the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) on the peripheral monocytes of ALI patients and changes of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and to investigate the mechanism of TLR4 in ALI.

METHODSForty-five patients with ALI were randomly divided into penehyclidine hydrochloride treatment group (P group, n equal to 21) and conventional treatment group (control group, C group, n equal to 24). Patients in both groups received conventional treatment, including active treatment of the primary disease, respiratory support, nutritional support and fluid management therapy, while those in P group were given penehyclidine hydrochloride (1 mg, im, q. 12 h) in addition. The TLR4 expression of 20 healthy volunteers were detected. The clinical effect, average length of stay in ICU and hospital, values of PaO2 and PaO2/FiO2, expression of TLR4 on the surface of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and some serum cytokines were evaluated for 48 h.

RESULTSThe general conditions of the two groups were improved gradually and PaO2 increased progressively. Compared with 0 h, PaO2 and PaO2/FiO2 at 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after treatment were significantly increased (P less than 0.05). The improvement in P group was obviously greater than that in C group (P less than 0.05). The average length of hospitalization showed no difference between the two groups, but penehyclidine hydrochloride significantly decreased the average length of stay in ICU (t equal to 3.485, P less than 0.01). The expression of TLR4 in two groups were both obviously higher than that of healthy volunteers (P less than 0.01). It decreased significantly at 24 h (t equal to 2.032, P less than 0.05) and 48 h (t equal to 3.620, P less than 0.01) and was lower in P group than in C group. The patients who showed a higher level of TLR4 expression in early stage had a worse prognosis and most of them developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The incidence of ARDS was 23.8% in P group and 29.17% in C group at 24 h. Untill 48 h, there were other two patients developing ARDS in control group. Serum IL-1, IL-8 and TNF-alpha expressions reduced after 24 h in both groups. The reduction in P group was more obvious than that in C group (P less than 0.05). IL-13 increased gradually from 0 h to 24 h, and decreased slightly at 48 h, which showed no difference between two groups (t equal to 1.028, P larger than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSPenehyclidine hydrochloride improves the arterial oxygen pressure, down-regulates the expression of TLR4 and restrains the inflammatory cytokines in the downstream of TLR4 signaling pathway. It prevents the development of ALI and can be considered as an important drug in ALI treatment.

Acute Lung Injury ; drug therapy ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Cytokines ; blood ; Heart Rate ; drug effects ; Humans ; Oxygen ; blood ; Prognosis ; Quinuclidines ; therapeutic use ; Toll-Like Receptor 4 ; genetics ; physiology

Antitubercular Agents ; adverse effects ; Chronic Disease ; Heart Failure ; complications ; Humans ; Isoniazid ; adverse effects ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rhabdomyolysis ; chemically induced ; etiology

OBJECTIVEBy means of phage-display technique, to screen polypeptides that specifically bind to human gastric cancer with high metastatic potential to peritoneum.

METHODSTwo human gastric cancer cell lines were used: GC9811-P with high metastatic potential to peritoneum and its wild type parental GC9811, to carry out subtractive screening with a phage display-12 peptide library.

RESULTSAfter three rounds of screening, 40 phage clones bond to GC9811-P cells were randomly selected. When injected into the peritoneal cavity of nude mice, 6 of the 40 clones did not bind to mouse peritoneum as examined by immunohistochemical staining. They were considered to be capable of binding specifically to GC9811-P cells. Sequence analysis revealed two different exogenous peptides: TLNINRLILPRT and SMSI(X)SPYI(XXX).

CONCLUSIONTwo peptides have been obtained that specifically bind to a gastric cancer cell variant GC9811-P, which easily disseminates to the peritoneum. Whether or not they could block GC9811-P metastasis to peritoneum in vivo remains to be determined.

Animals ; Binding Sites ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Peptide Library ; Peptides ; metabolism ; Peritoneal Neoplasms ; secondary ; Protein Array Analysis ; methods ; Protein Binding ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stomach Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology

BACKGROUNDAccurate assessment of intra- as well as extra-cardiac malformations and radiation dosage concerns are especially crucial to infants and children with interrupted aortic arch (IAA). The purpose of this study is to investigate the value of prospective electrocardiogram (ECG)-triggered dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) angiography with low-dosage techniques in the diagnosis of IAA.

METHODSThirteen patients with suspected IAA underwent prospective ECG-triggered DSCT scan and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). Surgery was performed on all the patients. A five-point scale was used to assess image quality. The diagnostic accuracy of DSCT angiography and TTE was compared with the surgical findings as the reference standard. A nonparametric Chi-square test was used for comparative analysis. P <0.05 was considered as a significant difference. The mean effective radiation dose (ED) was calculated.

RESULTSDiagnostic DSCT images were obtained for all the patients. Thirteen IAA cases with 60 separate cardiovascular anomalies were confirmed by surgical findings. The diagnostic accuracy of TTE and DSCT for total cardiovascular malformations was 93.7% and 97.9% (P > 0.05), and that for extra-cardiac vascular malformations was 92.3% and 99.0% (P < 0.05), respectively. The mean score of image quality was 3.77 ± 0.83. The mean ED was 0.30 ± 0.04 mSv (range from 0.23 mSv to 0.39 mSv).

CONCLUSIONSIn infants and children with IAA, prospective ECG-triggered DSCT with low radiation exposure and high diagnostic efficiency has higher accuracy compared to TTE in detection of extra-cardiac vascular anomalies.

Aorta, Thoracic ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Coronary Angiography ; methods ; Electrocardiography ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Radiation Dosage

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between PPARdelta + 294T/C gene polymorphism and lipid profile, obesity and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients with metabolic syndrome (MS).

METHODSThis study was conducted in 300 patients with MS and 174 patients with essential hypertension (EH) and 143 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). MS was diagnosed according to 1999 WHO criteria. Fasting insulin (FINS), fasting blood glucose (FBG), plasma lipids levels were measured, LVH was examined by Doppler echocardiography. The PPARdelta + 294T/C gene polymorphism were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction and subsequently digested by BSLI restriction endonuclease.

RESULTSThe frequencies of the PPARdelta + 294T/C genotypes were not different among three groups. Compared with T2DM and EH, MS patients had significantly higher body mass index (BMI), plasma total cholesterol, TG and LDL-C levels (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). LVM, LVMI and incidence rate of LVH were significantly higher in MS and EH patients than that in T2DM (P < 0.01). MS patients with CC genotype had significantly higher total cholesterol and LDL-C levels than those with TT and TC genotypes (total cholesterol in CC genotype: 6.13 +/- 1.86 mmol/L vs in TC genotype: 5.14 +/- 1.10 mmol/L, P < 0.05, and CC genotype: 6.13 +/- 1.86 mmol/L vs TT genotype: 4.99 +/- 1.42 mmol/L, P < 0.01; LDL-C in CC genotype: 3.82 +/- 1.52 mmol/L vs in TC genotype: 3.14 +/- 0.88 mmol/L, P < 0.05, and in CC genotype: 3.82 +/- 1.52 mmol/L vs in TT genotype: 2.90 +/- 0.87 mmol/L, P < 0.01). BMI and LVMI in MS patients with C allele carriers (CC + TC) were significantly higher than that of TT genotype (LVMI in CC + TC: 46 +/- 10 g/m(2.7) vs in TT: 44 +/- 10 g/m(2.7); BMI in CC + TC: 26 +/- 3 kg/m(2) vs in TT: 25 +/- 3 kg/m(2), P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSIt is indicated that PPARdelta + 294T/C gene polymorphism in subjects with MS may be involved in the occurrence of obesity and dyslipidemia. MS patients with C allele had a predominant LVH than subjects with TT genotype.

Aged ; Body Mass Index ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; genetics ; physiopathology ; Female ; Genotype ; Humans ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; genetics ; physiopathology ; Lipids ; blood ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome ; genetics ; physiopathology ; Middle Aged ; Obesity ; genetics ; physiopathology ; PPAR delta ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Ventricular Remodeling

To investigate the expression of phospholipase C-gamma1 (PLC-gamma1) in mouse embryonic tissues, serial tissue sections were prepared routinely for immunocytochemistry for PLC-gamma1. The results showed that PLC-gamma1 was expressed in the cartilage, skeletal muscles, myocardium, the collecting tubule of the kidney, connective tissues and the brain, suggesting the important role PLC-gamma1 and the related signal pathway may play in the development of mouse embryonic tissues.
Animals ; Brain ; embryology ; enzymology ; Cartilage ; embryology ; enzymology ; Embryo, Mammalian ; enzymology ; Female ; Fetal Heart ; enzymology ; Immunohistochemistry ; Kidney ; embryology ; enzymology ; Mice ; Muscle, Skeletal ; embryology ; enzymology ; Phospholipase C gamma ; biosynthesis ; Pregnancy