Cancer metastasis is composed of a complex cascade that involves a variety of critical steps beginning with detachment from the primary tumor and ending with growth of tumor at a distant site, such as bone. The "seed-and-soil hypothesis" predicts that the bone microenvironment expresses factors through which attract a variety of cancer cells and promote the tumor development. The ending point of tumor development in bone is achieved through the bidirectional and dynamic interaction between tumor cells and the cells in their growth microenvironment. A variety of factors produced by the bone microenvironment, contribute to the pathogenesis of cancer skeletal metastasis. In this review, using prostate cancer (CaP) as an example, some of general mechanisms of cancer metastasis will be summarized. In addition, the current understanding of the interaction between tumor cells and the bone microenvironment will be addressed. Finally, the research directions in the near future will be suggested.

A simple and effective method for the duplex PCR detection was developed by using sequences of exogenous gene(RDV MP-)and endogenous gene(Zein)as templates for PCR amplification.The results of routine PCR amplification for RDV MP-gene in transgenic maize suggested that RDV MP-gene can stably inheritate in transgenic plants and their progenies;The duplex PCR detection of all negative and part positive samples that obtained by routine PCR amplification confirmed that above negative results were exact,also showed that the quality of extracted DNA can meet the need of PCR amplification.The error ratio of negative samples was 1.4%.The method used in this study was simple and credible and can be used to detect transgenic plants and their products.

Objective This paper aims to make clear the post-disaster medical needs of residents in the disaster areas and changes among the poor population, for the purpose of policy recommendations on post-disaster medical assistance. Methods Such methods as in-home questionnaire survey and literature study were used to study the income, prevalence rate and mental health of 4 380 households in 10 counties (cities and districts) in the disaster areas. Results In the hardest hit areas, 80. 4% and 52. 8% of residents in rural and urban areas are dependent on government relief respectively;the proportion of poor population resulting from the disaster rose from 5% before the disaster to over 75% afterwards in the hard-hit areas, while such a population rose to 15% in the hardest-hit areas and about 10% in general disaster areas;It is estimated that the new medical aid funds in Sichuan Province will reach 350 million yuan, two-fold that of the budget for 2009;In the hardest hit areas, the two-week prevalence rate per thousand people is twice that found in the third survey of health services in 2003, characterized of acute respiratory illness and rheumatoid;In the hardest-hit areas, nearly 70% of the residents are exposed to high mental health risks. Conclusion Recommendations: Strengthening the raising and use of medical aid fund;dynamic management for the population in need of post-disaster medical aid;Developing appropriate medical aid packages to fit post-disaster health needs and postdisaster disease characteristics;and consolidating the connection between medical aid and primary medical insurance system.

OBJECTIVE:To improve the drug delivery procedures and reduce the defects occurred in drug delivery.METHODS:The five procedures of six sigma including defining,measuring,analyzing,improving and controlling were applied to improve the drug delivery in our hospital's single dose dispensing(UDD)center.RESULTS:Due to the application of the six sigma method,the defect rate of drug delivery dropped from 25.1%(before the initiation of the six sigma method)to 5%(after the initiation of the six sigma method),which was significant lower as compared before the initiation of the six sigma method.CONCLUSION:Six sigma method contributed to the reduction of defect rate of drug delivery,so it deserves to be widely used in each management link in UDD center so as to improve the quality of dispensing.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of clinical application in diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa) by prostate biopsy guided by rectal ultrasound contrast guided biopsy.Methods One hundred and ninety-eight patients with prostate in Punan Hospital of Pudong New District of Shanghai were investigated.According to different detection methods, the research objects were divided into two groups, the patients were performed with the ultrasound contrast guided biopsy as the imaging group (n =96), the patients with Doppler ultrasound guided biopsy as the ultrasonic group(n =102).The puncture Results were compared with pathological diagnosis.The positive rate of PCa and number of puncture needle were compared with the two puncture methods.The value of the application of the prostate biopsy guided by rectal ultrasound in diagnosis of prostate cancer was evaluated.Result One hundred and ninety-eight patients were all received pathological diagnosis,78 cases benign lesions, 120 cases were diagnosed as PCa.Thirty-six cases of benign lesions were confirmed by pathological biopsy, 60 case PCa.There were 42 cases of benign lesions in ultrasonic group, 60 case PCa.The positive rate of PCa in the imaging groupwas 62.5％ (60/96), the ultrasonic group was 58.82％ (60/102).There was no difference in Pca positive rate between the ultrasound group and the contrast group(x2 =0.104, P=0.747).The positive number of Pca in the imaging group was 28.50％ (17/60), the difference was statistically significant higher than that of the common group(18.80％ (11/60), P =0.001).The average of the patients in the imaging group was 8.19 needle,less than the ultrasonic group per capita 11.31 needle less.When f/tPSA less than or equal to 0.15, Pca positive rate of the contrast group was 46.55％ (27/55), higher than the ultrasonic group(9.30％ (4/43)), the difference was statistically significant (P =0.001);when f/tPSA more than 0.15, the positive rate of Pca in the contrast group was 92.11％ (35/38), less than the ultrasound group (94.92 (56/59)), the difference was not statistically significant (P =0.89).Anal pain, hematuria and hematochezia in contrast group (7.29％ (7/96), 2.08％ (2/96), 10.42％ (10/96)) were significantly less than the ultrasound group(22.55％ (23/102), 8.82％ (9/102), 23.53％ (24/102)), the difference was statistically significant (P =0.003,0.039,0.014).Conclusion Under the guidance of ultrasound contrast, rectal biopsy has important diagnostic value for prostate cancer.Under the premise of reducing the number of puncture needle,can improvethe positive rate of Pca, reduce the pain of patients and the occurrence of complications after puncture.When f/tPSAless than or equal to 0.15,puncture positive rate in contrast group is higher than the ultrasonic group, puncture effect is better.

Animals ; Decompression ; Decompression Sickness ; physiopathology ; Electrocardiography ; Electroencephalography ; Electromyography ; Electrophysiology ; Male ; Rabbits

A new nonviral gene vector--urocanic acid-coupled chitosan (UAC) was prepared by the reaction of the activated urocanic acid (UA) with the amine group on the chitosan (CTS). The structure of UAC was confirmed with FT-IR, 1H NMR and element analysis. The influencing factors of substitution values were studied by orthogonal test, and the substitution values of UAC increased with the prolongation of activating time of UA and the increasing ratio of UA to CTS. The condensation ability and the resistance to DNase I of UAC/pDNA were evaluated by agarose gel electrophoresis, and UAC showed good condensation ability with pDNA, well protecting pDNA from the degradation by DNase I. The particle size and zeta potential were evaluated by zetasizer, and the results showed that the UAC/pDNA complex was well stable and could easily enter into cells. The transfection studies were performed with HepG2 cells in vitro. It showed that the in vitro transfection of UAC/pDNA was efficient in HepG2 cells and could express more green fluorescent proteins than that of CTS. So the UAC is easy to prepare and a promising non-viral gene vector.
Chitosan ; administration & dosage ; chemical synthesis ; metabolism ; DNA ; genetics ; metabolism ; Deoxyribonuclease I ; metabolism ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Genetic Therapy ; methods ; Genetic Vectors ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; Particle Size ; Plasmids ; Transfection ; Urocanic Acid ; administration & dosage ; chemical synthesis ; metabolism

Animal models with kidney disease are generally divided into two types. One belongs to the models which imitate human kidney disease by the artificial operations, such as anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody nephritis, Heymann nephritis, anti-Thyl. 1 antibody nephritis, BSA nephritis and puromycin nephropathy. The other one pertains to the models which make themselves kidney disease, and appear the pathological characteristics naturally as like as human, such as HIGA mice with IgA nephropathy and NZB/WF1 and MRL/1pr mice with lupus nephritis. In addition,the transgenic animal models with kidney disease can also be established by the modern molecular biologic techniques including gene knockout and siRNA transfection. As for the studies related with kidney disease in pharmacodynamics and pharmacology of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), it is important to understand deeply the features of each animal model with kidney disease, and select accurately the proper models according to the different experimental objectives, and then, build the special models provided with the combination of disease with syndrome in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Therefore,it is the developmental direction for the further study to establish animal models with kidney disease, which should possess the characteristics of syndrome in TCM.
Animals ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; etiology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Humans ; Kidney Diseases ; etiology ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Mice ; Streptozocin

Objective To measure the financial burden incurred by hypertension to urban patients in Beijing, Nanjing and Hangzhou cities. Methods Two communities were sampled from the three cities randomly, and 300 hypertension patients were sampled randomly from hypertension control files in each community for questionnaire survey. Results Health expenditure of the families with hypertension patients accounts for 14. 4% of the family's income, and 18. 2% of the family's expenditure, a ratio far beyond the national average (10.6 %). However, the majority of them report the burden as affordable.The basic medical insurance for urban residents helps alleviate the financial burden of hypertension patients and the extent of such burden has a close bearing on the outcome of hypertension treatment and prevention. Conclusion Effective community-based blood-pressure monitoring and control system is key to reducing the financial burden of hypertension. The reimbursement policy for hypertensive patients within the basic medical insurance is expected to be further improved.

Aim To observe the effects of the ethyl ace-tate extract from Coreopsis tinctoria on glucose and lipid metabolism and liver, kidney function in diabetic rats. Method By high-sugar, high-fat diet combined with intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin ( streptozoto-cin, STZ ) Type 2 diabetes SD rat model was estab-lished. Model rats were randomly divided into six groups ( control group, model group, three dose groups Coreopsis tinctoria extract:low, middle,high 0. 15 g· kg-1;0. 3 g·kg-1;0. 6 g·kg-1 , positive drug met-formin 0. 16 g · kg-1 group ) . The control group and the model group were given physiological saline and the remaining groups intragastric administration coreofosis tinctoria extrat. Random blood glucose and body weight of rats were measured weekly. After 4 weeks of admin-istration, The rats were killed and rat serum was col-lected to detect serum lipids ( TC/TG/HDL/LDL ) , liver and renal function indicators, serum insulin, and glycated hemoglobin levels. Result Coreopsis tincto-ria ethyl acetate extract effectively reduced the diabetic rats random blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin,serum triglycerides, LDL, total serum protein, serum creati-nine and uric acid levels, and increased serum white protein content in diabetic rats. Conclusion Coreop-sis tinctoria ethyl acetate extract can reduce blood glu-cose and lipid in diabetic SD rats and protect their liver and kidney function.