Objective To evaluate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of selective portal vein embolization (SPVE) in treatment of liver tumor in rats and to provide the groundwork for its future clinical applications. Methods 24 healthy rats underwent the embolization. Pre and post SPVE portogram and liver chemical profile were obtained. Four rats were sacrificed at 10 min, 7,14, 21 and 28 days respectively following follow up portography. The liver, heart, lungs and kidneys were examined macroscopically and microscopically. Fifteen rats implanted with Walker 256 tumor sized from 3 to 10 mm in liver were scanned with MRI and portography pre SPVE taken. Post SPVE 3 rats were examined with MRI for each group at the same interval as above and the lives were examined microscopically. Results (1) The blood flow to the target portal branches were immediately halted after SPVE. These vessels remained occluded without collateral formation up to 28 days. (2) The liver indexes and BUN level increased after embolization, but returned to normal within 21 d. Macroscopic and microscopic changes were not found in the heart, lungs or kidneys. (3) In the healthy rats, the affected segment was atrophic and the remaining liver underwent compensatory hypertrophy. Histologic examination revealed that the targeted portal veins were coagulated, the endothelium were degenerated and the local hepatocytes were necrotic after embolization. (4) In the rats with implanted liver tumor, the affected segment including the tumor was necrotic and atrophic. The tumors were completely necrotic, and no viable tumor cell was seen under microscope in 12 among the 15 rats. Three tumors 10 mm in diameter were not completely necrotic. Part of tumor cells were still alive and infiltrated into the surrounding liver. Conclusion SPVE with ethanol is effective in the treatment of small liver tumor in rats. However,in case of bigger tumors involving several segments, SPVE should be combined with other treatment.

ObjectiveTo discuss the effects of apoptosis and invasion of RBE cells caused by miRNA 21 suppression and further investigate the potential role of miRNA-21 plays on target mRNA regulation. MethodsThe RNAi technology was employed to suppress the expression of RBE cells.The changes in RECK mRNA and protein expressions were detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting respectively. Changes occurred in apoptosis was closely monitored by flow cytometry (FCM). The invasion of RBE cells was analyzed in vitro by invasion assay (transwell). ResultsThe expression of miRNA-21 was clearly suppressed while the RECK mRNA and protein were over-expressed. The rate of apoptosis was significantly accelerated and there was a dramatic decrease in RBE cells' ability to invade after miRNA-21 knockdown. ConclusionThrough miRNA-21 suppression, the rate of apoptosis of RBE cells was accelerated whereas their invasion ability was greatly reduced. RECK was found to be the target gene of miRNA-21 which participates in the regulation process of regulation.

Filamentous fungi have been used in industrial fermentation extensively. Based on non-phosphorylating electron transport process, alternative respiration pathway (ARP) acts as an energy overflow, which can balance carbon metabolism and electron transport, allow the continuance of tricarboxylic acid cycle without the formation of ATP, and permit the turnover of carbon skeletons. Alternative respiration pathway also plays an important role in the stress response of fungi and the physiological function of conditioned pathogen. Alternative oxidase (AOX) is the terminal oxidase responsible for the activity of alternative respiration pathway, which exists widely in higher plants, parts of fungi and algae. Owing to the property that alternative oxidase (AOX) is sensitive to salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM) and insensitive to conventional inhibitors of cytochrome respiration, alternative respiration pathway by AOX is also named as cyanide-resistant respiration (CRR). In recent years, the study of the alternative respiration pathway and alternative oxidase has been a hot topic in the area involving cellular respiration metabolism. In this review we summarized the latest research advances about the functions of alternative respiration pathway and alternative oxidase in industrial fungi.
Electron Transport ; Fermentation ; Fungi ; enzymology ; Industrial Microbiology ; Mitochondrial Proteins ; chemistry ; Oxidoreductases ; chemistry ; Plant Proteins ; chemistry

Objective To evaluate and compare the immunopathological changes of lumbar disc herniation and discogenic pain. Methods Seventy-one lumbar disc nucleuses were collected intra-operation,and they were divided into four groups. Group A: 30 cases of disc herniation, Group B: 22 cases of sequestered disc herniation, and the patients in Group A and B received discectomy; Group C: 10 cases of discogenic pain were confirmed by discography, and the painful disc was excised through anterior retroperitoneal approach; Group D: 9 cases of lumbar bust fracture who received anterior subtotal corpectomy and discectomy, and the nearly normal caudal disc was collected as control. The disc nucleuses were processed in the following methods: 1) HE stain and pathological observation; 2) Immunocytochemical test using monoclonal antibodies to CD68 and CD45RO molecule for macrophage and T lymphocytes, respectively. The positive cells were counted and analyzed with statistic method. Results 1) Pathological observation with HE stain: compare to control group, the degeneration of nucleus cell was evident in the other groups. There were obvious infiltration of inflammatory cells and focal neovascularization in group A and especially in Group B.In Group C, only diffuse inflammatory cells was found without neovascularization, but the degeneration of matrix was more severe. 2) Positive rate of CD68 cells: Group B (63.6%)＞Group C (40.0%)＞Group A (26.7%)＞Group D (0%). There were significant differences among groups (P＜0.05). 3) Positive rate of CD45RO cells:Group B (59.1%)＞Group A (13.3%), Group C and D were negative, and the positive cell were found in slice of the same site of positive CD68 cells. The differences between each group were significant (P＜0.05). Conclusion The nucleus of herniated disc has evident inflammatory and autoimmunity reaction. The nucleus of discogenic pain is infiltrated with diffuse inflammatory cells and some macrophages, without T lymphocyte and neovasularization, so the autoimmunity course is not evident.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of total flavones of Epimedium leptorrhizum (YYH-C) on osteoporosis in ovariectomized rats.

METHODOvariectomized female rats were randomly divided into the model group, YYH-C lower, middle and high dose (0.7, 1.4, 2.8 g x kg(-1)) groups, the positive drug Bujiale (0.15 mg x kg(-1)) group, and the sham group. The rats were orally ad-ministrated with drugs for three months. Parathyroid hormone (PTH), procollagen I N-terminal peptide (PINP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), calcium (Ca) and phosphrous (P) in serum were detected. Femur bones and vertebrae bones of left side were collected to determined bone metrological indexes, including bone mineral density (BMD), bone Ca, and bone ash weight/dry weight percentage. Femur bones of right side were collected to for a morphological observation of bone.

RESULTCompared with the sham group, the model group showed significantly higher PTH and ALP content but obviously lower PINP and Ca content. The three YYH-C 3 groups could resist the decrease of PINP. Specifically, low and middle dose groups could remarkably inhibit the increase of PTH, and the high dose group could increase the Ca content in serum, but without significant effect on the rise in ALP. There was no significant difference in P content in serum in each group. BMD, ash weight/dry weight percentage, Ca and P content of the model group were significantly lower than those in the sham group. The high dose YYH-C group could significantly increase BMD. All of the three YYH-C groups could notably increase ash weight/dry weight percentage and Ca, P content in femur bones and vertebrae bones. YYH-C could significantly increase average thickness, area, area percentage of bony trabeculae, cortical bone area percentage of femoral shaft and the number of osteoblasts on the surface of bony trabeculae, and decrease the number of osteoclasts.

CONCLUSIONYYH-C can effectively control the bone mass loss of rats with ovariectomy-induced osteoporosis, prevent the changes in bone microstructure, and inhibit bone absorption, so as to resist high turn-over osteoporosis after ovariectomy. [Key words] total flavones of Epimedium leptorrhizum; ovariectomized rat; osteoporosis

Alkaline Phosphatase ; metabolism ; Animals ; Bone Density ; drug effects ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Epimedium ; chemistry ; Female ; Flavones ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Ovariectomy ; Parathyroid Hormone ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Objective To investigate the best protocol of liver 31 P MR spectroscopy . Methods The 31 P MRS was performed using 1.5T MR scanner,heart/liver surface coil and prone position with Resp/Trigger gate in the normal volunteer and the cases with liver diseases including hepatic cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and benige hepatic tumour. The age ranged From 15 to 58 years old. The related data were processed and compared using several kinds of protocol methods.Results By using the edit skills with Filter, Zero-filling and Curve fitting under the type of J-coupling peak, the curves corresponding with the request and precise data had been obtained for 31 P MRS of the liver. By the simple protocol methods, the 31 P MRS, concentration and ratio of the materials in the liver could be obtained in all cases.Conclusion The process of MR spectroscopy is easy to apply. The requested curves and the accurate data will be obtained by using the editing skill of edit.

Distal radius fractures (DRFs) are one of the most common injuries in orthopaedics,accounting for up to 20％ of all fractures seen in the emergency room.At present,the optimal treatment of these fractures remains controversial.Although most DRFs can be treated non-operatively,such as immobilized by plaster,splint or brace,surgical management has become more and more popular with people's living standards improved and expecting better functional outcome.Surgical treatments for DRFs include percutaneous fixation with Kirschner wires,skeletal external fixation,open reduction and internal fixation,intramedullary nails,fixation using the mini-invasive approach,arthroscopy,and total wrist arthroplasty.Currently,open reduction with volar plate fixation is the most popular and widely way for DRFs,while a mini-invasive approach is a new reliable and reproducible procedure with few complications.Despite recently surgical treatment has become more and more popular,it is also unclear whether surgical intervention will produce better long-term outcomes.The aim of this paper is to present the studies in the literatures about the treatment for DRFs and an update of existing techniques.

Objective To investigate the value of MR imaging methods for the quantification of fat content in a customized lipid phantom at 3.0 T.Methods Eleven homogeneous fat-water phantoms (50 ml)with fat volume percentages from 0 to 100％ were constructed with reference to Bernard's methods.Fat tractions of the lipid phantom were acquired using water selective saturation (WS),fat selective saturation (FS),in-and out-of-phase imaging (IOP),iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation (IDEAL) gradient echo imaging and IDEAL Quant imaging methods on a 3.0 T MRI system.For statistical comparisons,paired-sample t test,Pearson correlation test,and Bland-Ahman maps were applied.Results Evaluated fat fractions acquired by WS,IDEAL Gradient echo imaging and IDEAL Quant were (49.6±28.8)％,(46.0±28.4)％,(51.0±32.0)％,the result has no significant difference with the true fat contents(t values were-0.186,-2.218,2.713;P values were 0.856,0.051,0.055).Evaluated fat fractions acquired by FS,corrected algorithm and IOP were (64.2±26.7)％,(58.9±31.9)％ and (45.3±32.3)％,these three kinds of methods have significant difference with the true fat contents (t values were 5.168,4.273,-6.441;P＜0.01).All the chemical shift imaging methods correlated with the true phantom model fat fractions,r values were 0.977(FS),0.978 (corrected algorithm),0.982 (WS),0.99 8(IOP),0.993 (IDEAL Gradient echo imaging),0.999 (IDEAL Quant) (all P＜0.01).Each method's 95％ confidence interval of the mean difference acquired by Bland-Altman map was WS (-14.7％ to 13.8％),FS (-3.6％ to 32.0％),corrected algorithm (-4.6％ to 22.5％),IOP(-9.4％ to 0.0％),IDEAL gradient echo imaging (-15.9％ to 7.8％),IDEAL Quant(-2.0％ to 4.0％).IDEAL Quant had the best correlation and confidence with the true fat fraction.Conclusions Chemical shift imaging methods (IOP,IDEAL Gradient echo imaging,IDEAL Quant) can acquire more accurate fat quantification results than chemical saturation imaging methods (FS,Corrected algorithm,WS) in a customized lipid phantom at 3.0 T.IDEAL Quant can acquire the best fat quantification result compared with the other imaging methods.

Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. ex DC is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Among its various active components, glycyrrhizic acid is believed to be the marker component. Squalene synthase (SQS) and beta-amyrin synthase (beta-AS) are key enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of glycyrrhizic acid in G uralensis. To reveal the effects of co-expression of SQS1 and beta-AS genes on this pathway, 7 yeast expression vectors harboring different SQS1 variants and beta-AS were constructed and expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as fusion proteins. TLC and GC-MS results showed that co-expression of SQS1 and beta-AS enhanced the accumulation of beta-amyrin. The effects of SQS12 were more obvious than the other two SQS1 variants. This study is significant for further investigations concerned with exploring the biosynthesis of glycyrrhizic acid in vitro and strengthening the efficacy of G. uralensis by means of increasing the content of glycyrrhizic acid.
Farnesyl-Diphosphate Farnesyltransferase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Glycyrrhiza uralensis ; genetics ; Intramolecular Transferases ; metabolism ; Oleanolic Acid ; analogs & derivatives ; metabolism ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; Recombinant Proteins ; metabolism ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; metabolism

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the prognosis of coronary heart disease complicated with heart failure patients abandon-ing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and receiving drug comprehensive therapy. METHODS:From Dec. 2010 to Jul. 2012,217 patients with coronary heart disease complicated with heart failure in our hospital were divided into operation group (105 cases) and non-operation group (112 cases). Based on routine treatment,operation group was given aspirin combined with clopidogrel before and after PCI,and non-operation group was given aspirin combined with clopidogrel all the time. The patients were followed up regularly during discharging from hospital to May 2015 by outpatient,telephone and coronary angiography re-checking,lasting for 24-38 months. Death cases,readmission and revascularization again caused by main adverse cardio-cerebrovas-cular events were recorded during follow-up period. RESULTS:7 cases and 8 cases in operation group and non-operation group did not accept follow-up;median follow-up time was 33 months and 32 months,respectively. Case number of myocardial infarction, heart failure and death in non-operation group was more than operation group,with statistical significance (P<0.05). 94 patients survived in operation group in 3 years,with survival rate of 95.9%;66 in non-operation group,with survival rate of 63.5%;with statistical significance(P<0.05). The survival time of non-operation group was shorter than that of operation group,with statistical significance(P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS:Although we still cannot get the conclusion that PCI is a better treatment or drug therapy is better. But the survival rate of patients are not optimistic 3 years after abandoning PCI coronary heart disease patients with severe myocardial ischemia should choose PCI firstly.