Objective To observe the effect of resveratrol on arterial remodeling in spontaneous hypertensive rats.Methods Spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHRs, n=20) and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKYs, n =10) were randomly assigned to three groups: control group, model group and resveratrol group.Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) of the three groups was observed.Morphological observations were obtained by hematoxylin and eosin or victoria blue and picrosirius red.The content of nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) were determined to assess the endothelial function.Oxidative stress was assessed by malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) , and activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT).Results Compared with control group, SBP, PWV, wall thickness, wall-lumen ratio,vascular cross-sectional area (VCSA), luminal cross-sectional area (LCSA) and collagen-elastic ratio were increased, and the levels of NO, SOD, CAT in rat aortic tissues were decreased, while ET-1,MDA, H2O2 levels in rat aortic tissues were enhanced in model group at the end of 22 weeks.After the treatment of resveratrol, SBP had no significantly difference between model and resveratrol groups, while PWV, aortic wall thickness, wall-lumen ratio, VCSA, LCSA and collagen-elastic ratio were decreased in resveratrol group as compared with model group [(6681.1 ± 2154.9) cm/s vs.(4283.1±946.1) cm/s, (234.7±51.8) μm vs.(123.4±21.5)μm, (10.3±2.3) ％ vs.(5.8±1.4) ％, (6.4±0.4) mm2 vs.(4.8±0.6) mm2, (4.1±0.1) mm2 vs.(3.2±0.4) mm2, (1.1±0.3) vs.(0.4±0.2), P＜0.05 or 0.01].Compared with model group, the expressions of NO, SOD, CAT in rat aortic tissues were increased and levels of ET-1, MDA, H2 O2 in rat aortic tissues were decreased in resveratrol group after treatment of resveratrol (P＜0.01 or P＜0.05).Conclusions Resveratrol has an antioxidant effect, and it could attenuate arterial remodeling by improving oxidative stress.

Objective To investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognostic factors of primary clear cell carcinoma of the liver(PCCCL). Methods A total of 214 PCCCL patients treated by curative resection from January 1996 to March 2006 were retrospectively analyzed. Results The 1-,3-,and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates for PCCCL patients were significantly better than those of non-clear cell hepatocellular carcinoma ( NHCC ) patients ( 90.2％,70.6％,and 55.9％ vs 82.8％,62.7％ and 47.7％,P =0.001 ).Tumor size was significantly smaller in PCCCL group than in NHCC group ( x2 =4.37,P =0.04 ).Tumors of PCCCL group had a lower incidence of vascular invasion ( x2 =9.42,P =0.002) and a better differentiation than those of NHCC group ( x2 =4.30,P =0.04).Serum a-fetoprotein (AFP) level,tumor size,liver cirrhosis,and vascular invasion were independent risk factors impacting OS and disease-free survival (DFS) of PCCCL. Conclusions PCCCL is an uncommon subtype of HCC and has different clinicopathologic characteristics from NHCC. Complete surgical resection is the optimal treatment for PCCCL and its prognosis is much better than that of NHCC.

Objective To observe the changes of multi-noninvasive indexes including endothelial function, arterial flexibility, carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and serum inflammatory cytokines in patients with mild coronary stenosis. Methods One hundred and five patients were divided into three groups according to the result of coronary angiography: coronary heart disease (stenosis ≥ 50% in at least one coronary segment), mild coronary stenosis (stenosis < 50% in at least one coronary segment) and control group (normal coronary). Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and ankle-brachial index (ABI), reflecting arterial flexibility and the lower extremity vascular disease respectively, were measured by a Colin system, carotid artery IMT was detected echocardiographically. Serum levels of NO, vWF, hs-CRP were measured before coronary angiography in all patients. Results baPWV [(1482±155) cm/s vs. (1249±158)cm/s] and carotid IMT [(0.88±0.18)mm vs. (0.72±0.20) mm] were significantly higher while serum levels of NO [(64±17) μmol/L vs. (83±17) μmol/L] was significantly lower in mild coronary stenosis group than those in control group (all P<0.05). vWF, ABI and hs-CRP were similar between the two groups (all P> 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that NO, baPWV, smoking are independent predicting factors for mild coronary stenosis (all P < 0.05) . Conclusions Endothelial dysfunction, reduction of the arterial flexibility as well as increased serum inflammation were associated with mild coronary stenosis.