Adult ; Arm ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; metabolism ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; pathology ; Carcinoma, Skin Appendage ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mucin-1 ; metabolism ; Skin Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of recombinant human Interleukin 11 in the treatment of pre-aplastic anemia, six patients with pre-aplastic anemia were injected with rhIL-11 of 6 million units once a day during 7-14 days. Blood platelet counts were taken on day 8, 15, 30 and 60 after the treatment, and bone marrow examination was performed on day 15 as compared with those before treatment. The results showed that platelet counts in 3 out of 6 patients increased remarkably (50%), one of the six increased moderately (16.7%), another case of the six increased slightly (16.7%), platelet in one out of six did not significantly increase (16.7%), the total efficacy rate is 83.3%, the amount of megakaryocyte in bone marrow of all six patients increased, the side effect of the rhIL-11 treatment was light. In conclusion, the efficacy of recombinant human Interleukin-11 in the treatment of thrombocytopenia patients with pre-aplastic anemia is satisfactory. As the number of the cases is too small to conclude, further exploration needs accumulation of more applications.
Adult ; Aged ; Anemia, Aplastic ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-11 ; genetics ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Platelet Count ; Recombinant Proteins ; therapeutic use ; Thrombocytopenia ; blood ; drug therapy ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinicopathologic features of epididymal cyst in von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) syndrome.

METHODSWe reviewed the clinical data of 3 epididymal cyst patients treated by surgery, and detected the expressions of HIF-1alpha, VEGF, alpha-SMA and CD34 in the epididymal tissue samples by the immunohistochemistry SP method.

RESULTSAll the 3 patients underwent surgical removal of the epididymal cyst. Immunohistochemistry of the epididymal tissues showed HIF-1alpha, VEGF, alpha-SMA and CD34 to be positive. All the 3 cases were confirmed to be VHL syndrome, 1 right after surgery, and the other 2 within 8 years postoperatively.

CONCLUSIONEpididymal cyst is a usual benign disease, which may occur independently of or be complicated by VHL syndrome. If immunohistochemistry of epididymal tissues shows HIF-1alpha, VEGF, alpha-SMA and CD34 to be positive, VHL syndrome should be considered, and further clinical examinations and post-operation follow-up are necessitated.

Actins ; metabolism ; Adult ; Epididymis ; pathology ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Spermatocele ; etiology ; metabolism ; pathology ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; metabolism ; von Hippel-Lindau Disease ; complications ; metabolism ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinicopathologic manifestations of non-compaction of ventricular myocardium (NVM).

METHODSClinical data, electrocardiograms, echocardiography images and pathologic changes were studied in five cases of non-compaction of ventricular myocardium.

RESULTSThe patient's ages ranged from 29 to 57 years old, all were males. Abnormal electrocardiograms were obtained in all of the 5 cases. Among them, 3 were diagnosed using echocardiography. Histopathologic examination showed that there were abnormally coarse muscle trabeculation and deep recesses, interlacing in arrangement, over the inner wall of the heart chambers. The compacted myocardium became thinning down gradually from the base to the apex of the heart. The non-compacted myocardium bundles locating close to the endocardium were coarse and orderless in arrangement, nuclei were irregular and abnormal, nevertheless, the arrangement and appearance of the muscle bundles near by the pericardium part were essentially normal and the cell nuclei were evenly distributed.

CONCLUSIONThere are no specific clinical manifestations obtained in patients with non-compaction of ventricular myocardium, however, the pathologic changes are characteristic and a clinical diagnosis can be made by using echocardiography.

Adult ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Ventricles ; pathology ; Humans ; Isolated Noncompaction of the Ventricular Myocardium ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardium ; pathology ; Ultrasonography

BACKGROUNDPosterior pedicle screw device is widely used in treatment of thoracolumbar burst fractures. As the clinical operation is not based upon quantitative data of adjustments, the results are not optimal. At present, no study has assessed the associations between the device adjustments and the restoration of stiffness. We investigated the biomechanical effects that adjustments of a pedicle screw device had on the burst fracture, and explored an optimal adjustment.

METHODSBurst fractures were produced at L1 vertebra in 24 fresh calf spines (T12-L3). The specimens were divided into four groups at random. Pedicle screw devices were attached to T13 and L2. Four device adjustments, consisting of distraction and extension, were applied. Adjustment 1 was pure 6° extension, adjustment 2 was pure 5 mm distraction, adjustment 3 was 6° extension followed by 5 mm distraction, and adjustment 4 was 5 mm distraction followed by 6° extension. The effect of each adjustment on the stiffness restoration, anatomical reduction, and neural decompression for the burst fractures was analyzed and evaluated.

RESULTSPure extension (Group 1) produced the closest segment height and the least restoration of the canal to the intact. Pure distraction (Group 2) restored stiffness most, but with only 60% stiffness of the intact value, and lost the segmental angle most to the intact. The combination of extension-distraction (Group 3 and Group 4) produced the maximum reduction of the anatomy and restoration of the canal in the burst fracture, and the least stiffness restoration. The sequence of extension and distraction did not affect stiffness restoration, anatomical reduction, and neural decompression.

CONCLUSIONSThe device adjustments affected stiffness restoration, anatomical reduction, and neural decompression. The combined extension-distraction adjustment may be the most suitable considering the anatomical reduction and neural decompression, but the stiffness decreased the most; it should be considered to reconstruct L1 vertebra.

Animals ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Cattle ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; instrumentation ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Spinal Fractures ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo establish a model of acute lung injury induced by paraquat poisoning and to observe the effects of anticoagulant therapy on acute lung injury induced by paraquat poisoning.

METHODSOne hundred twenty adult healthy male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: the paraquat poisoning group was exposed intragastrically (IG) to 50 mg/kg paraquat, anticoagulant therapy group was exposed intragastrically (IG) to 50 mg/kg paraquat then administrated subcutaneously with 68 U/kg low molecular heparin calcium 2 times a day and administrated intragastrically with 1.67 mg/kg aspirin one tome a day for 3, 7, 14 and 21 days, respectively, control group exposed intragastrically to normal saline. After exposure the rats were sacrificed, the venous blood and lung tissues were collected to detect the prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen, thrombin time and D-dimer in blood and the hydroxyproline in lung tissues, and to examine pathological changes in lung tissues with HE and Masson staining under light microscope.

RESULTSAt the 3rd, 7th, 14th and 21st days after exposure, the hydroxyproline contents of lung tissues in paraquat poisoning group and anticoagulation therapy group were significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.05), but the hydroxyproline contents of lung tissues in anticoagulation therapy group were significantly lower than those in paraquat poisoning group (P < 0.05). At the 3rd day after exposure, the PT, APTT, Fib and D-dimer levels in paraquat poisoning group and anticoagulation therapy group were significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.05), the D-dimer level of anticoagulation therapy group was significantly lower than that of control group (P < 0.05). At the 7th, 14th and 21st days after exposure, the TT and D-dimer levels of paraquat poisoning group and anticoagulation therapy group were significantly higher than those of control group (P < 0.05), the TT and D-dimer levels of anticoagulation therapy group were significantly lower than those of paraquat poisoning group (P < 0.05). The lung injury in paraquat poisoning group increased with exposure period, the lung fibrosis in anticoagulation therapy group was lower than that in paraquat poisoning group.

CONCLUSIONAnticoagulation therapy can improve hyper-coagulation state and acute lung injury in rats induced by paraquat poisoning.

Acute Lung Injury ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Animals ; Anticoagulants ; therapeutic use ; Aspirin ; therapeutic use ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Paraquat ; poisoning ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

OBJECTIVEo clone angiotensin-converting enzyme 2(ACE2) gene, to analyze its amino acids and nucleotides sequence and to investigate tissue distribution of ACE2 in adult mice.

METHODSThe full-length ACE2 encoding sequence was amplified from the RNA of mice kidney tissue by RT-PCR technique, cloned into plasmid pGEM-T easy, then subcloned into plasmid pcDNA3.1+. After identification of DNA sequence, the recombinant plasmid pmACE2 was transfected into Cos7 cells with lipofectin reagent. The transient expression of ACE2 molecule was detected by SDS-PAGE. Sequence analysis was conducted with CLUSTALX program. Tissue distribution of ACE2 in mice was detected by RT-PCR.

RESULTSA fragment about 2.6 kb was amplified and the recombinant plasmid pmACE2 was confirmed by two-enzyme digesting and DNA sequencing. The cloned DNA sequence was consistent with that previously reported, except for 3 variations: A701G, T1102C and T1330C. SDS-PAGE proved that expression of a soluble, truncated products form of ACE2 was a glycoprotein of approximately 80 kD in Cos7 cells. The predicted mice ACE2 sequence contained an N-terminal signal sequence (amino acid residues 1-18), a single HHEMGHIQ zinc-binding domain (amino acid residues 373-380) and C-terminal membrane anchor (amino acid residues 738-765). Mice ACE2 showed 84 % identity with that of human, and 90 % identity with that of rat. Expression of ACE2 was the greatest in lungs, hearts and kidneys, and moderate levels were also detected in testes and livers.

CONCLUSIONMice ACE2 gene has been cloned and successfully expressed in vitro. The tissue-specific expression of ACE2 in different species is not identical.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; Carboxypeptidases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; Gene Expression ; Kidney ; metabolism ; Lung ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A ; Sequence Analysis ; Tissue Distribution

OBJECTIVETo compare the position and magnitude of internal target gross volume (IGTV) of primary hepatocarcinoma delineated by three methods based on four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT) and to investigate the relevant factors affecting the position and magnitude.

METHODSTwenty patients with primary hepatocarcinoma after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) underwent big bore 4D-CT simulation scan of the thorax and abdomen using a real-time position management (RPM) system for simultaneous record of the respiratory signals. The CT images with respiratory signal data were reconstructed and sorted into 10 phase groups in a respiratory cycle, with 0% phase corresponding to end-inhale and 50% corresponding to end-exhale. The maximum intensity projection (MIP) image was generated. IGTVs of the tumor were delineated using the following three methods: (1) The gross tumor volume (GTV) on each of the ten respiratory phases of the 4D-CT image set was delineated and fused ten GTV to produce IGTV10; (2) The GTVs delineated separately based on 0% and 50% phase were fused to produce IGTV(IN+EX); (3) The visible tumor on the MIP image was delineated to produce IGTV(MIP). Twenty patients were divided into groups A and B based on the location of the target center,and were divided into groups C and D based on the tumor maximum diameter. The patients were divided into groups E and F based on the three-dimensional (3D) motion vector of the target center. The position of the target center, the volume of target, the degree of inclusion (DI) and the matching index (MI) were compared reciprocally between IGTV10, IGTV(IN+EX) and IGTV(MIP), and the influence of the tumor position and 3D motion vector on the related parameters were compared based on the grouping.

RESULTSThe average differences between the position of the center of IGTVs on direction of X, Y and Z axes were less than 1.5 mm, and the difference was statistically not significant. The volume of IGTV10 was larger than that of IGTV(IN+EX), but the difference was not significant (t = 0.354, P = 0.725). The volume of IGTV10 was larger than that of IGTV(MIP) but the difference was not significant (t = -0.392, P = 0.697). The ratio of IGTV(IN+EX) to IGTV10 was 0.75 +/- 0.15 and the ratio of IGTV(MIP) to IGTV10 was 0.78 +/- 0.14. The DI of IGTV(IN+EX) in IGTV10 was (74.85 +/- 15.09)% and that of IGTV(MIP) in IGTV10 was (68.87 +/- 13.69)%. The MI between IGTV10 and IGTV(IN+EX), IGTV10 and IGTV(MIP) were 0.75 +/- 0.15 and 0.67 +/- 0.13, respectively. The median of ratio of IGTV(IN+EX)/ IGTV10 was 0.57 in group A versus 0.87 in group B, statistically with a significant difference between the groups A and B (Z = -3.300,P = 0.001). The median of ratio of IGTV(MIP)/IGTV10 was 0.51 in the group A and 0.72 in group B, with a significant difference between the groups A and B (Z = -3.413, P = 0.001). The median of ratio of IGTV(IN+EX)/IGTV10 was 0.79 in group C versus 0.74 in group D, with a difference not significant (Z = -0.920, P = 0.358). The median of ratio of IGTV(MIP)/IGTV10 was 0.85 in group C versus 0.80 in group D, with a non-significant difference (Z = -0.568, P = 0.570). The median of ratio of IGTV(IN+EX)/IGTV10 was 0.87 in group E versus 0.68 in group F, with a significant difference between the two groups (Z = -2.897, P = 0.004). The median of ratio of IGTV(MIP)/IGTV10 was 0.85 in the group E versus 0.81 in the group F, with a non-significant difference (Z = -0.568, P = 0.570).

CONCLUSIONSThe center displacement of the IGTVs delineated separately by the three techniques based on 4D-CT images is not obvious. IGTV(IN+EX) and IGTV(MIP) can not replace IGTV10, however, IGTV(IN+EX) is more close to IGTV10 comparing with IGTV(MIP). The ratio of IGTV10 and IGTV(MIP) is correlated to the 3D motion vector of the tumor. When the tumor is situated in the upper part of the liver and with a 3D motion vector less than 9 mm, IGTV10 should be the best IGTV.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Female ; Four-Dimensional Computed Tomography ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Respiration ; Tumor Burden

OBJECTIVETo study the real effect of IL-15, a kind of T lymphocyte activators which were derived from lymphocytes, on the acute rejection process in heart and liver transplantation in rats.

METHODSMale (body weight 200 - 250 g) 1A (RT1(a)) and LEW (RT1(l)) rats were selected as donors and recipients, respectively. Heterotopic heart transplantation (in abdomen) and orthotopic liver transplantation were performed as the acute rejection model group (experimental group); LEW (RT1(l))-->LEW (RT1(l)) as donors and recipients to establish isografts transplantation as the control group. Animals were sacrificed on day 1, 3, 5, 7 and graft specimens were collected. Microarray, immunohistochemistry and Western-blotting methods were used to detect the expressions of IL-15, IL-2 and IFN-gamma, etc. 48 rats were divided evenly into two groups and each time-point consisted of 6 rats.

RESULTSAcute rejections which were clarified by pathological findings and animal manifestations were found 3 days after operation in the experimental group. The early expression of IL-15 was found on endothelial cells in allografts 1 day after operation in contrast to IL-2, which expressed lately and only be found on inflammatory cells including lymphocytes and Kupffer cells 3 days after graft implantation. The result of INF-gamma was the same as that of IL-2.

CONCLUSIONSIL-15 appeared earlier in heart and liver allografts than IL-2 and IFN-gamma in rat acute rejection model, and the expression site differed from the later two. IL-15 participated in acute rejection reaction earlier in this process and the pathway may be different from IL-2 and IFN-gamma. Early blocking this pathway combined with other blockade would have a promising result in control of the progression of acute rejection.

Acute Disease ; Animals ; Graft Rejection ; etiology ; Heart Transplantation ; adverse effects ; Immunohistochemistry ; Interleukin-15 ; physiology ; Interleukin-2 ; physiology ; Liver Transplantation ; adverse effects ; Male ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred Lew

Adult ; Aged ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Bone Transplantation ; Female ; Fibula ; transplantation ; Fractures, Bone ; surgery ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Transplantation, Autologous