Objective To observe the concentration of the inflammatory cytokines in vitreous of severe proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) after intravitreal ranibizumab injection (IVR).Methods A total of 80 PDR patients (80 eyes) were enrolled in this study.The patients were randomly divided into vitrectomy group (group A) and IVR combined with vitrectomy group (group B),40 eyes in each group.The differences of sex(x2=0.05),age (t=0.59),duration of diabetes (t=0.36),HbA1c (t=0.13) and intraocular pressure (F=0.81) between two groups were not significant (P＞0.05).The eyes in group B received 0.5 mg (0.05 ml) ranibizumab injection at 7 days before operation.The vitreous samples (0.4 ml)were obtained before operation.The concentration of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF),interleukin (IL)-6,IL-8,intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.Results The concentration of VEGF and ICAM-1 were (10.70±3.60),(224.64±90.32) pg/L in group B and (72.38±23.59),(665.61±203.34)pg/L in group A.The differences of VEGF and ICAM-1 concentration between two groups was significant (t=16.34,12.53 ; P＜ 0.001).The concentration of IL-6 and IL-8 were (210.64 ± 80.27),(156.00±57.74) pg/L in group B and (45.78±33.82),(41.07±13.82) pg/L in group A.The differences of IL-6 and IL-8 concentration between two groups was significant (t=11.97,12.24; P＜0.001).There was no difference of CTGF concentration between two groups (t=1.39,P=0.17).The CTGF/VEGF in group B was higher than that in group A (t=14.75,P＜0.001).Conclusions One week after IVR,the concentration of VEGF and ICAM-1 are decreased,while IL-6 and IL-8 increased.There is no obvious change in CTGF,but CTGF/VEGF is increased.

Objective This study is to explore the expression of CIP2A mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its correlations with clinicopathologic features and prognosis of HCC patients.Methods CIP2A mRNA expression was analyzed in four liver cancer cell lines (Hep-G2, MHCC97,SMMC-7721 and BEI-7402), one immortalized liver cell line L-O2, neoplastic tissues and adjacent matched non-neoplastic liver tissues in 120 HCC patients and normal liver tissues of 20 cases using semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The correlations between CIP2A mRNA and clinicopathologic features and prognosis of HCC were analyzed. Results CIP2A mRNA was detected in Hep-G2, MHCC-97H, SMMC-7721 and BEL-7402, but not in L-O2.The positive rate of CIP2A mRNA expression was significantly increased in HCC tissues (78.3%)than in adjacent matched non-neoplastic liver tissues (28.3%) and normal liver tissues (5.0%,P＜0. 01). CIP2A mRNA expression was correlated with tumor size, differentiation and TNM stage (P＜0.05). Patients with positive expression of CIP2A mRNA had lower overall survival and diseasefree survival rates. Conclusions CIP2A mRNA, which is highly expressed in liver cancer cell lines and HCC tissues, may be involved in hepatocarcinogenesis. CIP2A mRNA may be a valuable biomarker for assessing the prognosis of HCC.

Contemporary hospital information systems normally contain multiple applications,which are traditionally deployed as one application per server.More servers in the system will incur high system costs,low server efficiency and poor management and maintenance.The information system reform project of Wuxi Maternal and Child Health Hospital called into play the virtualization based on VMware.The project brought forth a number of merits,namely sizably raising efficiency of servers integration,simplifying server group management,reducing cost and promoting hospital informationization.

[Objective]To investigate the value of"pericardium crescent sign"in the diagnosis of non-calcified con-strictive pericarditis in CT.[Methods]Twenty-seven patients with non-calcified constrictive pericarditis and forty-six cardiac tumors confirmed by surgical pathology were analyzed retrospectively. All patients underwent non-enhanced and enhanced CT scan preoperatively.Pericardial morphology,density,enhancement features,appearance of atrium,ventri-cle and inferior vena cava of non-calcified constrictive pericarditis were analyzed. Pericardial morphology of cardiac tumors was also analyzed.[Results]Of the 27 patients with non-calcified constrictive pericarditis,18 patients developed"pericardium crescent sign",accounting for 66.7%,ventricular varying degrees of deformation in 13 cases,accounting for 48%;venous dilatation in 26 cases,accounting for 93%;atrial enlargement in 7 cases,accounting for 26%. In 46 patients with cardiac tumors,only 1 patient had a similar"pericardial crescent"sign.For the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis using pericardial crescent sign,the sensitivity was 66.7%,the specificity was 97.8%,Youden index was 0.64. The area under the ROC curve was 0.82([0.71-0.94],P<0.001).[Conclusion]"Pericardium crescent sign"is important CT features of non-calcified constrictive pericarditis. It has high specificity for differentiating non-calcified constrictive pericarditis from pericardial tumor imaging.

OBJECTIVETo extract RNA from Pinellia ternata and lay a foundation for studying the formation mechanism of P. ternata.

METHODBy modifying the method recommended by Guanidinium for extracting total RNA from plant tissues rich in phenolic and polysaccharidic compounds, a simple and convenient method for extraction of total RNA from the tubers, stems and leaves of P. ternate containing abundant polyphenols and polysaccharides was established. High concentrated p-mercaptoethanol was added in the RNA extracted buffer to remove polyphenols, phenol and chloroform were used to eliminate proteins, and isopropanol and sodium acetate were used to precipitate polysaccharides.

RESULTThe A260/A230 value of RNA extracted with improved method were all over 2.0 and the values of A260/A280 were between 1.7 and 2.0. The electrophoresis bands were cleared on agarosegel and integrity of RNA was good.

CONCLUSIONThe results showed that RNA obtained from the tubers, stems and leaves of P. ternate with this method had high purity and quality and could be used in molecular biological research, as DDRT-PCR and reverse Northern blotting analysis directly. This method is simple, economic, stable performance, and has a good repeatability as well as is suitable for extracting total RNA of medicinal plants with high concentrations of phenolics and polysaccharides.

Blotting, Northern ; Pinellia ; genetics ; Plant Leaves ; genetics ; Plant Stems ; genetics ; Plant Tubers ; genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Plant ; isolation & purification

Computer aid vaccine design (CAVD) is a new area of biomedical engineering. This article reviewed the background of the coming of CAVD and its main research contents, methods and applications. Free tools of the trade in CAVD are listed; the implication and the perspective of CAVD are also suggested.
Animals ; Biomedical Engineering ; instrumentation ; trends ; Computer-Aided Design ; Drug Design ; Epitope Mapping ; Humans ; Software ; Vaccines ; biosynthesis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the chemical constituents from Hedyotis diffusa.

METHODThe compounds were isolated and purified by various chromatographic techniques and identified by their physicochemical properties and spectral data.

RESULTEight compounds were isolated and identified as octadecyl (E)-p-coumarate (1), p-E-methoxy-cinnamic acid (2), ferulic acid (3), scopoletin (4), succinic acid (5), aurantiamide acetate (6), rubiadin (7), robustaquinone D (8).

CONCLUSIONCompounds 1-8 were obtained from genus Hedyotis for the first time.

Anthraquinones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Coumaric Acids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Dipeptides ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Hedyotis ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Scopoletin ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Succinic Acid ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

AIMTo explore the differentially expressed proteins between hypobaric hypoxic delayed preconditioning (HHDP) and normal mouse hippocampus.

METHODSAfter the animal model of HHDP was constructed, hippocampal proteins were obtained by a series of abstraction with lysis solution containing high concentration urea. As soon as isoelectric focusing and SDS-PAGE was performed. The resolved proteins in the 2-DE gels were visualized by Coomassie blue R-250. The gels were scanned, and the images were processed with PDQuest software. Differential proteins were exactly excised from the gels, destained and digested with trypsin. The peptides were isolated and sent for MALDI-TOF-MS testing. Database searching was performed using peptide masses obtained from MALDI-TOF-MS.

RESULTSAverages of 481 +/- 38 and 477 +/- 21 protein spots were detected in control gels and preconditioning gels, respectively. 169 +/- 6 protein spots were matched between these two types of gels. Among the matched spots, while the quantities of 21 +/- 12 spots in control gels increased by above 2 times than that in preconditioning one, the quantities of 33 +/- 10 spots in preconditioning gels increased by the same times than that in control one. The correlation coefficient between these two patterns were 0.7748 +/- 0.0267. 12 spots in preconditioning gels significantly increased compared with the control (P < 0.05, n = 4). Among 12 spots excised from the gels, perfect peptide mass fingerprinting spectrums of 8 spots were acquired. The results showed that one protein was fructose biphosphate aldolase A. Three proteins matched nothing might be new proteins. The other four proteins just matched the partial sequences of the proteins of database were no coincidence to it's isoelectric point and molecular weight. So they might be homological proteins.

CONCLUSIONMany proteins, for example fructose biphosphate aldolase A, has been differentially expressed in hippocampus of mice during HHDP. This may be one of the molecule mechanisms of HHDP.

Adaptation, Physiological ; Animals ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Hypoxia ; metabolism ; Hypoxia, Brain ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Proteins ; isolation & purification ; Proteome ; analysis

AIMTo provide experimental basis for clinical use of cryopreserved dendritic cells (DCs) by investigating the biological properties of cryopreserved DCs derived from cord blood.

METHODSThe biological discrepancies between unfrozen DCs (UFDC) derived from unfrozen cord blood (UFCB) and DCs from cryopreserved cord blood (CPCB) or cryopreserved DCs (CPDCs) were explored by morphological observation and immunophenotype analysis. Moreover, the stimulating index (SI) in mixed lymphocyte culture and cytotoxic eliminating rate (ER) were measured by MTT.

RESULTSThe TBR of CPCB and CPDCs were 95.8% and 88.7% respectively. Compared to UFCB, CPCB differentiated toward DCs in a delayed and decreased mode, displayed lower expression of CD1a, CD83 and HLA-DR, and had reduced SI and ER. Similarly, the CPDCs became adherent DCs later and grew less in number than UFDCs. After culture, the expression of CD1a, CD83 and HLA-DR as well as SI and ER were lower in CPDCs than those in UFDCs.

CONCLUSIONThough the biological properties of CPCB and CPDCs were injured after cryopreservation, they still had relatively complete basic function. Their recoveries rate were > 85%.

Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Cryopreservation ; Dendritic Cells ; cytology ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; Humans