Objective To investigate the serum levels of anti-BRAF antibody in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its clinical significance.Methods Blood samples from 129 patients with RA,71 patients with other rheumatic diseases and 68 healthy controls were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA).The serum levels of anti-BRAF antibody in patients with RA were divided into high,medium and low groups,each group had 43 cases.The clinical symptoms,immunological findings and related imaging data of all cases were recorded.We investigated the relationship between the serum levels of anti-BRAF antibody and the clinical symptoms,immunological findings and related imaging changes of the RA group.Chi-square test,Mann-Whitney U test,Spearman's correlation test were used for statistical analysis.Results ① The serum levels of anti-BRAF antibody were significantly higher in RA group [A:1.093 (0.150-3.210)] than in other rheumatic diseases group [A:0.278 (0.093-0.455)] and healthy controls [A:0.202 (0.121-0.443)] (Z=-11.223,P=0.021 ; Z=-7.839,P=0.008 7).The serum levels of anti-BRAF antibody was not significantly different between patients with other rheumatic diseases group and healthy controls (Z=-0.905,P=0.445).② The difference in positive rate of rheumatoid factor (RF) in different groups of anti-BRAF antibody levels was statistically significant (λx2=10.14,P=0.006),namely the positive rate was significantlyhigher in the low-level group (88％) than in the high-level group (58％) (x2=10.03,P=0.002).Thepositive rate of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody and anti-keratin antibody of the three groups was not significantly different (x2=0.721,P=0.697; x2=1.735,P=0.188).③ There was significant negative correlation between the levels of anti-BRAF antibody and the course of disease (r=-0.233,P=0.047),RF(r=-2.84,P=0.039),IgM (r=-0.234,P=0.038),and hemoglobin (r=-0.287,P=0.032).There was no significant correlation between the level of anti-BRAF antibody and the joint swelling index (r=-0.133,P=0.230),joint pain index (r=-0.173,P=0.100),other clinical and laboratory parameters.There was significantly negative correlation between the ESR and hemoglobin level.④ There was no significant difference of the level of anti-BRAF antibody between the normal group and patients with bone destruction in the RA group (Z=-0.642,P=0.521).⑤ There was no significant difference in the level of anti-BRAF antibody between the normal group and patients with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis group in the RA group (Z=-0.121,P=0.904).Conclusion The anti-BRAF antibody can be used for the diagnosis of RA as a new autoantibody,and it can also be used in the diagnosis of early or RF-negative RA.There is no correlation between the level of anti-BRAF antibody and bone destruction and interstitial pulmonary fibrosis.

The G protein-coupled receptor, GPR40, is a specific receptor for free fatty acids. Singnaling pathways are activated in islet ?-cells by fatty acids as binding to GPR40. Fatty acids regulate insulin secretion and cause ?-cell hyperplasia through GPR40. GPR40 also mediates responses to antidiabetic drugs like thiazolidinediones. GPR40 agonists and/or antagonists show potential effect in the development of new anti-diabetic drugs.

AlM:To determine the relations between the changes of vascular endothelial growth factor ( VEGF ) concentration in plasma, aqueous humor and vitreous of patients with diabetic retinopathy ( DR ) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy ( PDR) , as well as to find if the condition of metabolism control of patients with DR may affect the VEGF level.
METHODS: Double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the levels of VEGF concentration in plasma of non-diabetic retinopathy ( NDR ) patients group, background diabetic retinopathy ( BDR ) patients group, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy ( PDR) patients group. The levels of HbAlc in plasma of patients in above three groups were measured at the same time. The VEGF concentration in aqueous humor, vitreous of PDR patients group and normal group was also measured for further comprehensive analysis. Human VEGF immunoassay Quantikine with high sensibility and quality was imported from R&D Co. LTD. , USA.
RESULTS: There was an increasing tendency in the VEGF concentration in aqueous humor of PDR patients group. There was no statistically significant difference as it was compared with normal group (P>0. 05). The VEGF concentration in vitreous of PDR patients group was obviously increased, there was significant difference as it was compared with normal group (P<0. 01). lt showed an increasing tendency of VEGF concentration in turn in plasma, aqueous humor and vitreous of the 3 PDR patients selves. lt showed that there was significant difference among VEGF concentration in plasma, aqueous humor and vitreous of all the PDR patients (P<0. 01). ln normal group there was no significant difference among VEGF concentration in plasma, aqueous humor and vitreous ( P > 0. 05 ). ln normal group the VEGF concentration in plasma was the highest, but in PDR patients group the VEGF concentration in vitreous was the highest.
CONCLUSlON: The significantly increased VEGF concentration in eyes, especially in vitreous of PDR patients may play an important role in development and deterioration of DR. lt was clear that VEGF played its normal biological functions mainly in plasma in normal human. ln severe DR patients, abnormal high may come from ischemic and VEGF concentration in vitreous suggested that it hypoxic retina and there was a tendency to diffuse towards the front of eyes.

Asymptomatic bacteriuria is common in diabetic patients. This article reviews several aspects of asymptomatic bacteriuria in diabetes mellitus, including prevalence, mechanisms, coexisting risk factors, bacteriology, treatment and prognosis.

Objective To improve the phacoemulsification (PHACO) technical level and management level for hospitals and to support the health decisions of health administration departments , we establish an index system of PHACO quality control of Guangdong province. Methods We determined the critical value , screened indicators and calculated the weight value with a method of literature analysis , Dephi method , percentile method, correlation coefficient and so on. At last, we tested the content validity through literature research and expert opinions and tested construct validity of the indicator system using factor analysis. Results An index system of PHACO assessment of 5 first grade indicators , 11 second grade indicators and 20 third grade indicators was established. Reliability analysis showed that three rounds of positive coefficient were 80.00%, 90.00% and 92.59%. Experts' authority coefficient was ranged from 0.710 to 0.921. Coefficient of concordance were 0.400 , 0.395 and 0.278 (P < 0.01). The standardized Cronbach α was 0.837 and the construct validity was good. The corresponding rate between simulation results and expert assessment was 94.55%. Conclusions It is reasonable and practical to use Delphi method to construct the index system of PHACO assessment. Reliability and validity of the index system and empirical application indicate the feasibility of its practical application.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation of the autophagy-associated gene Atg5 with the pathogenesis of prostate cancer.

METHODSUsing real-time fluorescent quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry, we detected the expression of Atg5 in 50 cases of prostate intraepithelial neoplasm (PIN), 69 cases of prostate cancer (PCa), and 30 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

RESULTSThe expression level of Atg5 mRNA was significantly higher in PIN (5.270 ± 0.230) and PCa (5.131 ± 0.252) than in the BPH tissue (1.723 ± 0.017) (P <0.01), and so was the positive rate of the Atg5 expression in the patients of the PIN group (94%) and PCa group (88.4%) than in those of the BPH group (6.7%) (P<0.01), but with no statistically significant differences between the PIN and PCa groups (P >0.05). No significant correlation was observed between the expression of Atg5 and the Gleason score of PCa (P >0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe upregulated expression of Atg5 might play a role in the tumorigenesis of prostate cancer.

Aged ; Autophagy ; Autophagy-Related Protein 5 ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; genetics ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Up-Regulation

It is critical to preventing gut-originaltel infection to attenuate bacterial and/or endotoxin translocation, maintain bacterial balance, improve gut mucosal barrier function and elevate local immunity. Probiotics beneficially affect the host by improving its intestinal microbial balance, by preventing gut mucosal barrier breakdown and bacterial translocation, by modulating immunity,and by promoting gut movements and absorption. The role and new progress of probiotics in enteral nutrition are reviewed .

0.05). The most frequent side-effects were abdominal pain and fever. The degree and duration of abdominal pain were higher and longer in group B than those in group A, but the occurrance rate of fever was lower in group B. The occurrance rate of severe complications showed no significant differences for both groups. The increase of embolization degree may aggravate post-embolization side-effects and raise the incidence of complications. Conclusions PVA may be used as the embolic material of PSE with embolization degree ranging from 50% to 70% which may alleviate hypersplenism in patients with cirrhosis, relieve post-embolization syndrome and decrease the incidence of severe complications.

Objective To investigate the genetic association of complement factor B (CFB)gene polymorphisms with the susceptibility and prognosis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN).Methods Four hundreds and sixty-three Northern Han Chinese patients with IgAN and two hundreds and ninty-six geographically and ethnic matched healthy volunteers were recruited.Peripheral blood was collected from recruited individuals for DNA extracting.After amplified by plymerase chain reaction (PCR),genotyping of the four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CFB gene,which were rs4151667,rs12614,rs641153 and rs117314762,were performed by sequencing.Differences of allele and genotype frequencies were analyzed between IgAN patients and healthy controls.Moreover,the association between these SNPs and disease clinical manifestation,pathological features and long term renal outcome in IgAN patients were further analyzed.Results The G allele and GG genotype frequencies of rs117314762 in CFB gene were significantly higher in IgAN patients than that in healthy controls.No difference in allele and genotype frequencies of rs4151667,rs12614,rs641153 between IgAN patients and healthy controls was observed.Furthermore,no association was found between these SNPs in CFB gene and clinical manifestation,pathological features and long term renal outcome of IgAN.Conclusion Association between rs117314762 in CFB gene and IgAN susceptibility suggests that there may be functional variants in CFB gene or its linked genetic region,which needs further exploration.

AIM: To evaluate the relationship between axial length ( AL ) , corneal and lens refractive power, and the refractive error in children.
METHODS:Totally 44 children 88 eyes with refractive error who underwent retinoscopy with cycloplegia, to be measured spherical equivalent refractive error. Axial length was measured by a noncontact optical biometry ( ZEISS IOL-Master) , and corneal K and anterior chamber depth ( ACD) were also measured by the same machine. The refractive power of the lens was calculated by using the SRK formula. The patients were divided into 3 groups, myopia (SE<0), hyperopia (SE>+0. 50D) and emmetropia ( 0 to + 0. 50D ). Linear Correlation and Regression were used to evaluate the correlation among the optical parameters.
RESULTS:Totally 44 subjects, 88 eyes, average 9. 04±2.39 years, spherical equivalent (SE) -3. 50D to +8. 75D. Hyperopic AL was shorter than the other two groups ( P<0.05), same trend in lens power. No significant differences among the 3 groups in corneal K and ACD. There was a negative correlation between age and SE, SE and AL, SE and lens refractive power, and there was a positive correlation between age and AL, age and lens power.
CONCLUSION:As the children's growing up, SE trends to myopia, and AL becomes longer, and lens power is stronger.