BACKGROUND:Silicon plays an essential role in bone development and bioactive silicate glasses pioneered the current era of bioactive materials. Various biomaterials have been developed based on the biological function of silicon. OBJECTIVE:To explore the biological function of silicon and research process of silicon in biomaterials. METHODS: A computer-based retrieval of CNKI, PubMed, SpringerLink and Elsevier ScienceDirect databases was performed to search the relevant literatures concerning the biological function of silicon and its application in biomaterials. Al data were primarily screened to exclude repeated and irrelevant articles. Literatures about the application of silicon in biomaterials were included. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:A total of 68 eligible English articles are enroled. Silicon plays important chemical and biological roles in bone. Silicon in the extracelular matrix interacts with glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans during their synthesis and form ionic substitutions in the crystal lattice structure of hydroxyapatite. In addition, the dissolution products of bioactive glass (mainly silicic acid) expose significant influence on the molecular biology of osteoblasts in vitro, and can regulate the expressions of several genes including osteoblastic markers, cel cycle regulators and extracelular matrix proteins. Silicon has been proved to improve the bioactivity of numerous materials and do no harm to their mechanical properties and without cytotoxicity.

This study was aimed to compare the function of dendritic cells (DCs) in patients of Y in-Huang syn-drome and Y ang-Huang syndrome from the peripheral blood of HBV related hepatic failure. Jaundice patients of HBV related hepatic failure were divided into two groups, which were the Y ang-Huang syndrome group and Y in-Huang syndrome group. And a healthy control group was also established. The DCs were separated and cultured in vitro from PBMCs in the peripheral blood. Surface molecules such as HLA-DR, CD80, CD86, CD83 and CD1αwere detected by the flow cytometry. And the level of IFN- α and IL-4 in the supernatant of DCs were also de-tected. The expression difference of inflammatory cytokines and immune cells between Y in-Huang and Y ang-Huang syndrome in patients of HBV related hepatic failure were compared. The results showed that compared with healthy people, the expression rate of DCs phenotype such as HLA-DR, CD1α, CD83, CD80, CD86 in patients of HBV related hepatic failure was significantly decreased (P < 0.01); the excreted factor IFN-α had a significant rising (P < 0.01). Compared to Y ang-Huang syndrome group, the expression rate of CD83 and CD86 in the Y in-Huang syndrome group of HBV related hepatic failure patients was significantly reduced (P < 0.01). And the ex-creted factor of IL-4 had a significant rising in Y in-Huang syndrome group (P < 0.01). Compared to the Y in-Huang syndrome group, the excreted factor IFN-α in the Yang-Huang syndrome group had a significant rising (P< 0.01). It was concluded that DCs function of patients with HBV related hepatic failure in both Y in-Huang syn-drome and Y ang-Huang syndrome group showed low immune function. And the immune function of the Y in-Huang syndrome group was lower. There was excessive releasing of inflammatory factors in the Y ang-Huang syn-drome group. And there was enhanced anti-inflammatory cytokine expression in the Y in-Huang group.

Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the technique of transoral Orvil EEA stapler (OrVil) for laparoscopic gastrectomy of gastric cancer in our hospital.Methods Between Sep 2012 and Aug 2013,73 patients at our department underwent open (n =36) or laparoscopic (being reconstructed by OrVil,n =37) gastrectomy.Early surgical outcomes of the two groups were compared to assess the effectiveness,security and postoperative complications of OrVil procedure.Results The two groups had similar mean numbers of dissected lymph nodes (29 ± 10 vs.31 ± 14,t =-0.697,P =0.488),lengths of postoperative hospital stay (14 ± 5 vs.12 ± 3 d,t =1.933,P =0.057) and postoperative complications (11 vs.11,P =0.939).Intraoperative blood loss was significantly less (189 ± 79 vs.343 ± 90 ml,t =-7.782,P =0.000) and time to first flatus significantly shorter (2.9 ±0.5 vs.3.5 ±0.6 d,t =-4.714,P =0.000) with the use of OrVil.Operation time of laparoscopic group was significantly longer than that of open group (266 ± 97 vs.204 ± 39 min,t =3.607,P =0.001).There was one each anastomotic leakage in both groups.Conclusions With the suitable approach and skillful technique,OrVil is a technically safe and feasible surgical procedure for the treatment of gastric cancer.

Objective To discuss the clinical value of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) combined with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)/endoscopic Oddi sphincterotomy (EST) on treating choledocholithiasis with cholecystolithiasis. Method The clinical data of 48 patients with choledocholithiasis complicated by cholecystolithiasis treated with LC combined with ERCP/EST from January 2005 to August 2010 was collected and analyzed retrospectively. Results Forty-six patients achieyed success by ERCP,and 45 patients finished LC,all patients underwent LC combined with ERCP/EST were recovered more rapidly,with shorter hospital stays. No severe complications or residual stone and refluent cholangitis in the follow-up of 3-12 months of 46 patients. Conclusions Combining the advantages of LC with ERCP/EST treating patients with choledocholithiasis complicated by cholecystolithiasis,according to the theoretics of minimally invasive surgery, with less invasive and the advantages of shorter hospital stays and rapid recovery. It is the comparatively ideal choice for the treatment of choledocholithiasis complicated by cholecystolithiasis at present.

Aged ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Laryngeal Diseases ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; Male ; Neoplasms, Muscle Tissue

Objective To investigate whether baicalein inhibits the proliferation, cell cycle of and pseudopod formation in A431, a skin squamous cell carcinoma cell line, by suppressing the expression of ezrin protein. Methods A431 cells were grouped to be transfected with ezrin-targeting siRNA (siRNA group), treated with baicalein of 5, 10, 20, 40 μmol/L, respectively (baicalein group), or remain untreated (control group). After additional culture, wound healing assay and Transwell assay were performed to observe the migration and invasion of A431 cells, RT-PCR to detect the mRNA expression of ezrin in A431 cells, Western blot and immunoflu-orescence to measure the expression of ezrin protein and its phosphorylation. The pseudopod formation in A431 cells was observed by using scanning electron microscopy. Results After 24-hour culture, wound healing assay displayed that the percent wound closure was 13.3 ± 1.7, 7.6 ±1.6 and 5.9 ± 1.3, respectively, in A431 cells treated with baicalein of 5, 10, 20μmol/L, significantly lower than that in untreated A431 cells (16.3 ± 2.3, all P < 0.01), and the inhibition of baicalein on the migration of A431 cells was concentration-dependent. In the Transwell assay, a significant decrease was observed in the number of A431 cells per high power field permeating through the artificial basement membrane in the groups treated with baicalein of 5, 10, 20 μmol/L for 48 hours compared with the control group (46.5 ± 3.8, 34.3 ± 3.4, 25.3 ± 2.3 vs 56.3 ± 3.8, all P < 0.01), whereas no significant difference was noted between these baicalein-treated groups and siRNA-transfected group (28.3 ± 2.1, all P > 0.05). RT-PCR analysis showed that the mRNA expression of ezrin in baicalein-treated A431 cells significantly decreased compared with that in untreated cells (all P< 0.01), but showed no difference from that in siRNA group (P > 0.05). A statistical difference was also observed in the expression of ezrin and phosphorylated ezrin protein between baicalein-treated A431 cells and untreated cells (all P< 0.05), but not between 40 μmol/L baicalein-treated A431 cells and siRNA-transfected cells (P> 0.05). Furthermore, the suppression of baicalein on ezrin protein and mRNA expression was concentration dependent. The number of pseudopod per cell was significantly lower in 20 μmol/L baicalein-treated A431 cells and siRNA-transfected cells than that in untreated A431 cells (5.3 ± 1.9, 4.5 ± 2.8 vs 22.6 ± 2.8, both P < 0.01), while no significant difference was observed between the former two groups of cells (P > 0.05); the length of pseudopodia also reduced in baicalein-treated cells. Conclusions Baicalein may inhibit the proliferation and invasion of A431 cells by directly or indirectly suppressing the expression of ezrin and phosphorylated ezrin, which in turn contributes to the effect of baicalein against tumor proliferation and metastasis.

The gene nhaA encodes functional protein that may play an important role in salt tolerance of Escherichia coli In order to study bacteria salt tolerance, a pair of primers were designed according to public nhaA sequence and was used to amplify 1 1kb DNA fragment with PCR The nhaA gene from E coli DH5?was cloned into a T vector and sequence analyses reveal that the cloned fragment contains entire nhaA gene coding region To apply the method of homology analysis,the result shows that many kinds of bacterium have nhaA gene, such as E coli K12, E coli O157:H7, Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella enterica , et al This analysis suggests that nhaA gene lie generally in bacterial; and it has intimate relation with salt tolerance of E coli that may be of great importance in improvement of the salt tolerance of plant

Objective To study the impact of QseBC on the motility of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi ( S.Typhi ) . Methods The motility of wild-type ( WT) and null mutants (ΔqseB and ΔqseC) at mid-log phase was investigated by swimming assay.Quantitative RT-PCR was carried out to calculate the transcriptional variation of flhD and qseB among WT,ΔqseB andΔqseC.QseB overexpressing strain was constructed to compare its motility and flhD expression with the wild-type control.Results The result of motility assay showed that the motility of ΔqseB was similar to that of the WT strain , while the motility of ΔqseC was much lower than that of WT .qRT-PCR revealed that compared with WT , the expression of flhD was significantly decreased in ΔqseC while the expression of qseB was increased considerably .The motility of QseB overex-pressing strain was lower .Conclusion The expression of flhD may be regulated by QseBC which has an effect on the motil-ity of S.typhi, and the overexpression of QseB may inhibit the motility .

In the criminal cases of driving under the influence (DUI), DNA evidence can be collected from the deployed airbag of the motor vehicle and submitted to the crime lab for touch DNA analysis. The evidence can be acquired when the skin cells are observed on the surface of the airbag in a traffic accident. However, the low quantity or quality of the evidence collected from a crime scene prevents further identification analysis in many cases. In the current study, we reported a case of identifying touch DNA extraction from the shed skin cells from the deployed airbag of a motor vehicle. We managed to collect DNA evidence from the shed skin cells in an airbag using a proper approach of collection and extraction. The 5.87 ng of extracted DNA was sufficient for genotyping and forensic identification, which helped to identify the driver of the car in collision with a pier in the street. In DUI cases and other traffic accidents, therefore, the amount of touch DNA extracted from the deployed airbag can be sufficient for DNA marker genotyping and further analysis.
Accidents, Traffic ; Air Bags ; Alcoholic Intoxication ; Crime ; DNA/analysis* ; Genotype ; Humans ; Motor Vehicles ; Skin/cytology* ; Touch

Objective To investigate the phenotypes and the HIV-1-specific T cell responses of KIR3DL1 positive CD8 cells in patients with early HIV-1 infection. Methods Fifty-six HIV-1 antibody negative individuals and thirty-two patients with early HIV-1 infection were enrolled in the study. Fluores-cence-activated cell sorting (FACS) was performed to detect the phenotypes of KIR3DL1 receptor expressed on the surface of CD8 cells. The levels of IFN-γwere measured by intracellular cytokine staining assay after the PBMCs were stimulated with an HIV-1 Gag peptide pool. Results The percentages of KIR3DL1+CD8 T cells in HIV-1 negative individuals and patients with early HIV-1 infection were 1. 45% (0. 12%-8. 4%) and 0. 82% (0. 14%-6. 14%), respectively, and there was no significant difference between them. The percentages of KIR3DL1+CD8 Temra cells in HIV-1 negative individuals and patients with early HIV-1 infec-tion were (4. 55±3. 84)% and (6. 71±8. 50)%, respectively, which were significantly higher than the per-centages of KIR3DL1+CD8 Tem cells, which were (0. 50±0. 59)% and (1. 18±1. 39)%, respectively (all P<0. 01). Moreover, the percentages of KIR3DL1+CD8 Tem cells in patients with early HIV-1 infection were higher than those in HIV-1 negative individuals (P=0. 001 2). The percentage of KIR3DL1+CD8 Temra cells was positively correlated with the HIV-1 viral load in patients with early HIV-1 infection ( rs=0. 576,P=0. 000 9). The percentages of KIR3DL1+CD8 Temra cells in HIV-1 patients, whose viral loads were larger than 4. 0log, were much higher than those in HIV-1 patients with viral loads less than 4. 0 log (P=0. 002). Additionally, the levels of IFN-γsecreted by KIR3DL1 positive CD8 cells were much lesser than those secreted by KIR3DL1 negative CD8 cells (P<0. 000 1). Conclusion The receptor of KIR3DL1 was mainly expressed on CD8 Temra cells in both HIV-1 negative subjects and patients with early HIV-1 infec-tion. High HIV-1 viremia was associated with the high percentage of KIR3DL1+CD8 Temra cells. The KIR3DL1 positive CD8 cells induced lower HIV-1-specific T cell responses.