Objective The purpose of this study was to discuss the clinical significance of serum levels of Pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP) in diagnosis,therapy monitoring and prognosis in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC).Methods Clinical diagnostic trial.Serum levels of ProGRP were measured by ELISA assays in 413 SCLC patients,418 NSCLC,120 with benign pulmonary diseases patients and 200 healthy subjects.Patients were recuited by the Shanxi Cancer Hospital from Dec.2005 to Oct.2008.Three hundreds and sixty-eight patients with SCLC were followed up from Dec.2005 to Oct.2011.The receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) was used to set the cut-off value of ProGRP and the area under ROC (ROC-AUC).The sensitivity and specificity of ProGRP were analyzed for diagnosing SCLC.The survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox's proportional hazards model for multivariate analysis of prognosis.Results Using healthy subjects group as control,the largest Youden index point of ROC was used to set the cut-off values of ProGRP and NSE (45.3 ng/L and 12.4 ng/L).The ROC-AUC of ProGRP was 0.798 (95％ CI:0.746-0.850)the sensitivity and specificity were 79.2％,98.1％ respectively.The AUC of NSE was 0.786(95％ CI:0.726-0.746),the sensitivity and specificity were 71.9％,96.7％ respectively; Combing detection of ProGRP and NSE,the sensitivity and specificity were 88.1％,95.8％ respectively.Serum levels of ProGRP in healthy subjects,benign pulmonary diseases,NSCLC and SCLC groups were 6.9 (5.3-8.6),36.8 (26.3-43.4),21.3 (18.6-35.2) and 1758.7 (368.4-2967.3) μg/L respectively.The serum levels of ProGRP in SCLC groups were significantly higher than those in the healthy group,benign pulmonary diseases group and NSCLC group (H =103.66,P =0.000).Serum levels of ProGRP in SCLC at stage Ⅰ-],stage m,stage Ⅳ were 543.3 (256.8-843.2),1440.6 (1042.4-2543.3) and 1897.6 (1586.5-3958.7) μg/L,respectively (H =25.974,P =0.000).Serum levels of ProGRP in 165 SCLC patients with complete remission(CR) were significantly declined after treatment (U =11.65,P ＜ 0.01).The levels of ProGRP in 146 SCLC patients with partial remission(PR) slowly decreased (U =9.17,P ＜ 0.01).Thirty-nine cases with progressive disease (PD)and 63 cases with stable disease(SD) presented elevated ProGRP levels (U =3.314,P ＜ 0.001 ; U =2.54,P ＜ 0.01,respectively).By the end of October 31st 2011,a total of 368 cases with SCLC were followedup.Ratio of follow-up was 89.1％.There were 56 deaths in 119 SCLC patients with ProGRP ＜ 1000 μg/L (median time =16.0 months,4-23 months) ; 159 deaths in 249 with ProGRP ＞ 1000 μg/L (median survival time =12.0 months,2-18 months).Median survival time of the two groups showed significant differences(x2 =11.04,P =0.001).Multivariate analysis by Cox's proportional hazards model revealed that ProGRP was independent prognostic factor related to the overall survival (OS) of SCLC patients.Conclusions The serum ProGRP is valuable tumor marker for diagnosis,treat monitoring and prognosis of SCLC.It's important to predict relapses and recurrence of diseases earlier,instruct therapy and prognosis assessment.

Objective Toevaluatethediagnosticvalueofhumanepididymisprotein4(HE4)andcar-bohydrate antigen 1 25 (CA1 25 )for distinguishing between benign and malignant ovarian neoplasms.Methods 1 1 09 patients with ovarian neoplasms were enrolled in this study,serum concentration of HE4 and CA1 25 was assayed using ELISA technique.And the markers were evaluated for significance separately and in combination. Results 1SerumlevelsofHE4andCA125weresignificantlyhigherinpost-menopausalwomenthanthosein pre-menopausal women(t=8.40,P<0.05;t=7.02,P<0.05).In addition,the more children the patients born,the higher serum levels of these two markers were(F=1 5.36,P<0.05;F=1 3.00,P<0.05).2 Serum HE4 levels were significantly higher in the ovarian cancer patients compared with those seen in patients with benign or borderline tumor(t=1 3.68,P<0.05;t=1 4.94,P<0.05).Serum CA1 25 levels were significantly higher in the ovarian cancer patients compared with those seen in patients with benign or borderline tumor(t=1 4.1 6,P<0.05;t=1 7.27,P<0.05).Morever,it also appared in the ovarian cancer patients with ascites and vascular embolism.Morever,the levels of HE4 were significantly higher in the ovarian cancer with ascites and vascular embolism than without it(t=7.08,P<0.05;t=4.41,P<0.05),the levels of CA125 were signifi-cantly higher in the ovarian cancer with ascites and vascular embolism than without it(t=9.67,P<0.05;t=4.75,P<0.05).3 During follow-up,serum HE4 and CA1 25 levels significantly decreased at 3 months after operation(t=9.86,P<0.05;t=5.12,P<0.05).4 Receiver operating characteristic curve,ROC)analysis revealed that no difference was observed in AUC values for HE4,CA1 25 and risk of ovarian malignancy algo-rithm(ROMA).5 Compared to CA1 25 ,HE4 had significantly higher specificity and lower sensitivity.Howev-er,sensitivity were increased when the two markers were combined with each other.However,the sensitivity of combination with two markers was higher than single detection and ROMA,but the specificity was lower in com-bination with two markers than single detection and ROMA.If we divide the ROMA by a woman′s menopausal status,ROMA has a higher sensitivity (73.84%,84.1 9%) and lower specificity (66.06%,66.67%). Conclusions ThelevelsofCA125hasahighsensitivity,andthelevelsofHE4isahighspecificity.CA125 combined with HE4 can provide a more sensitivity and accurate predictor of ovarian cancer than either alone.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical effectiveness of Yiqi Huoxue Tongyang Xiezhuo Recipe (YHTXR, capable of supplementing qi, activating blood, warming yang, and discharge turbidity) in treating coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CAHD). and chronic heart failure (CHF) with carotid plaque patients, and to explore new ways of Chinese medicine (CM).

METHODSTotally 69 CAHD-CHF patients of qi deficiency phlegm stasis syndrome (QDPSS) with carotid plaque were recruited in this study using parallel cohort method. They were assigned to the treatment group (35 cases) and the control group (34 cases). Patients in the control group received routine treatment of Western medicine, while those in the treatment group were additionally treated with YHTXR (twice daily). The therapeutic course for all was three months. Cardiac function levels, echocardiography, carotid plaque, blood lipids and safety indicators were observed before and after treatment.

RESULTSAfter treatment the improvement of cardiac function levels was better in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05). Decreased LDL-C levels were higher in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.01). There was statistical difference in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), LDL-C, TC, TG in the treatment group between before and after treatment (P < 0.05). LDL-C and TG also decreased in the control group after treatment (P <0.05). There was no significant difference in the left ventricular ejection fraction, carotid IMT, or TC in the control group between before and after treatment (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in stroke volume, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, the area of carotid artery plaque, or HDL-C in the two groups between before and after treatment (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSYHTXR could effectively improve cardiac functions of CAHD-CHF patients of QDPSS with carotid plaque, reduce blood lipids and IMT. It had no significant adverse reactions for elderly patients in short term.

Carotid Intima-Media Thickness ; Coronary Disease ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Heart ; Heart Failure ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Lipids ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic ; drug therapy ; Qi ; Ventricular Function, Left

Lipase-mediated biodiesel production becomes increasingly important because of mild reaction conditions, pollution free during the process and easy product separation. Compared with traditional immobilized lipase, whole cell biocatalyst is promising for biodiesel production because it is easy to prepare and has higher enzyme activity recovery. Rhizopus oryzae IFO4697 can be used as the catalyst for biodiesel production. To further study the stability of the whole cell biocatalyst is extremely important for its further application on large scale. This paper focuses on the stability study of Rhizopus oryzae IFO4697 when used for the methanolysis of renewable oils for biodiesel production. The results showed that water content was important for achieving high catalytic activity and good stability of the biocatalyst. The optimum water content was found to be 5%-15%. Both particle size and desiccation methods showed no obvious effect on the stability of the biocatalyst. With GA cross-linking pretreatment, the stability of the biocatalyst could be improved significantly. When Rhizopus oryzae IFO4697 repeatedly used for next batch reaction, direct vacuum filtration was found to be a good way for the maintenance of good stability of the biocatalyst. Under the optimum reaction conditions, the methyl ester yield could keep over 80% during 20 repeated reaction batches.
Biocatalysis ; Bioelectric Energy Sources ; microbiology ; Biofuels ; Cells, Immobilized ; metabolism ; Lipase ; metabolism ; Rhizopus ; metabolism ; Soybean Oil ; metabolism

Objective To explore the correlation between lymphatic metastasis and central lymph node metastasis and pre-surgery levels of serum thyrotropin (TSH), thyrobolulin (TG), anti-thyrobolulin antibodies (A-TG), anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies (A-TPO) in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Methods The clinical characteristics such as sex, age, tumor diameter, and some markers of thyroid function detection in 289 simple PTC cases were retrospectively analyzed, and their roles in lymphatic metastasis and central lymph node metastasis were discussed. Results Age < 45 years old (χ2= 5.86, P =0.02),multifocal(χ2=38.95, P<0.001), serum increased A-TG level(χ2=13.31,P <0.001) or A-TPO level (χ2= 7.30, P< 0.01) leaded to higher rate of lymphatic metastasis. Different TSH levels had different impact on lymphatic metastasis (χ2= 11.81, P = 0.02). When at 1.81-2.52 mU/L, the lowest rate of lymphatic metastasis was 34.68 %. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that focus (OR= 3.29, 95 % CI 1.85-5.52) and serum A-TG level (OR= 2.17, 95 % CI 1.11-4.26) were risk factors, whereas TSH at 1.81-2.52 mIU/L was more safe factor in simple PTC cases with lymphatic metastasis (OR= 0.28,95 % CI 0.09-0.85). Different groups of age (χ2= 11.54, P= 0.001), focal (χ2= 38.95, P< 0.001), serum TG level (χ2=9.01, P=0.01), A-TG level (χ2=14.51, P <0.001) or A-TPO level (χ2= 6.78, P= 0.02) leaded to statistically different central lymph node metastasis ending; further analysis showed that age (OR= 0.96, 95 % CI 0.94-0.98) and focus (OR= 5.47, 95 % CI 3.09-9.69) were risk factors of central lymph node metastatic in PTC patients. Conclusion Higher pre-surgery serum A-TG level and multifocal predict lymphatic metastasis, TSH level in 1.81-2.52 mU/L indicates lower rate of lymphatic metastasis, but age<45 years old and multifocal PTC patients are apt to occur central lymph node metastasis.

Abstract?AIM: To investigate mechanism of bradykinin ( BK) on inflammations of retinal pigment epithelium ( RPE) cells.?METHODS: ARPE -19 cells were cultured in vitro, stimulated by 100nM BK for 24h. Cell morphology changes were observed by microscope, and BK receptor localization was detected through cell immunofluorescence. Changes of Ca2+in BK and BR antagonist stimuli were detected by laser scanning confocal microscopy.The expressions of COX-1, COX-2, eNOS and iNOS protein in control group and BK group were detected by Western Blot.?RESULTS: After the stimulation of BK, there was no significant changes of ARPE-19 cells in morphology.Kinin B1 receptors ( B1R ) and B2 receptors ( B2R ) could be detected in ARPE-19 cells.Compared with control group, Ca2+concentrations significantly increased in BK group; in B1R antagonist group and B2R antagonist group Ca2+concentrations increased less than BK group; B1R and B2R antagonist group showed no obvious changes in Ca2+concentrations.Compared with control group, COX-2 and iNOS protein concentrations were significantly increased in BK group (P<0.001).?CONCLUSION:BK induces the increasing expression of COX-2 and iNOS in the cultured ARPE cells through binding with either B1R or B2R.

OBJECTIVETo discuss the application of multiple seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) predictive model of time series and to establish a predictive incidence model of tuberculosis.

METHODSParameters of the model were estimated using conditional least squares method according to the data of tuberculosis incidence and the averaged population in a district in Chongqing from 1993 to 2004. In a structure determined according to criteria of residual un-correlation and conclusion, ARIMA predictive model was established and the order of model was confirmed by Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC, for short) and Schwartz's Bayesian Information Criterion (SBC or BIC, for short).

RESULTSThere were significant differences of the fitted multiple seasonal moving-average coefficients with the nonseasonal and the seasonal moving-average coefficients being 0.84076 and 0.46602 respectively. The estimated variance was 0.088589, AIC = 19.75979, SBC = 23.28219. Autocorrelation check of residuals of model was white-noise residual. ARIMA(0,1,1)(0,1,1)4NOINT seemed to be the most appropriate model by chi2 test.

CONCLUSIONThe multiple seasonal ARIMA model can be used to forecast for tuberculosis incidence with high prediction and precision in a short-term.

China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Models, Statistical ; Tuberculosis ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Weather

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate association of response depth and prognosis in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)patients treated with first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Methods: The clinicopathological data and prognosis information of patients with locally advanced or metastatic (ⅢB or Ⅳ) lung adenocarcinoma with EGFR classical (19del or 21L858R) mutation who were treated in our hospital from 2015 to 2016 were collected. The tumor remission depth [stable disease (SD), partial response (PR), complete response (CR)] was measured by recist 1.1 standard. The survival curve was drawn by Kaplan-Meier method and log rank test was performed. Results: During the study period, 204 advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients with 19del or 21L858R mutation were treated with TKI drugs of the first generation. Among them, 24 patients were lost or unable to evaluate the efficacy, 20 patients were evaluated as progression disease (PD), 62 patients as SD, 98 patients as CR or PR. Disease control rate (DCR) and objective remission rate (ORR) were 88.9% and 54.4%, respectively. The median progression free survival time (PFS) was 12.6 months (95% CI: 10.9-14.4 months) and 13.1 months (95% CI: 11.6-14.7) for patients assessed as SD (group A) and CR or PR (group B), respectively, with no significant difference (P=0.27). Subgroup analysis showed that the median overall survival of patients with EGFR 19del and 21L858R mutations was 12.5 months (95% CI: 9.9-15.4) and 12.7 months (95% CI: 9.4-16.1), respectively, with no significant difference (P=0.66); Similar result was also observed in Group B with a median PFS of 13.9 months (95% CI: 12.3-15.5 months) and 12.3 months (95% CI: 9.5-15.1 months) in patients who had EGFR 19del or 21L858R mutations (P=0.41). Conclusions Response depth was not a positive predictor for prognosis in EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients treated with first-line TKIs.

Objective :To construct and identify a ScFv phage display library against human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells.Methods: BALB/c mice were immunized with cultured UC-MSCs.After the third immunization,the total RNA was extracted from the spleen cells of the immunized BALB/c mice and purified by affinity chromatography with mRNA Purification Kit.The heavy-chain and light-chain variable region genes(VH and VL) were amplified by PCR using relevant primers.PCR products of VH and VL genes were cloned into the phagemid vector pSEX81 and electroporated into the XL1-Blue strain of E.coli.The ScFv phage display library against human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells was constructed and the capacity of library was measured.The library was panned by three cycles and screened with purified UC-MSCs.The percentage of clones containing a full-length scFv-encoding insert and their diversity was determined for unselected and selected libraries.Results: The amplified fragments of VH and VL genes by RT-PCR were about 399bp and 357bp,respectively.VH and VL genes were all successfully cloned into the phagemid vector pSEX81,which were confirmed by the amplication of 786bp full-length scFv fragments by PCR.The ScFv phage display library had a capacity of approximately 2?107 cfu.After three cycles of panning,PCR of plasmid DNA prepared from 15 individual phage clones showed that the recombination rate increased from 93% to 100%.BstN1 fingerprinting of insert DNA showed that the diversity of clones decreased with increasing rounds of selection.After three rounds of selection,3 clones showed an identical restriction enzyme pattern.There was a 330-fold enrichment of library phage after 2 rounds of selection and after 3 rounds,a further 8-fold enrichment of library phage was obtained.Conclusion: The ScFv phage display library against human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells was successfully constructed.It can be used for succeeding screening of specific antibody against human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells and further studying of the cell surface molecules of mesenchymal stem cells.

Objective To retrieve,evaluate and summarize the best evidence from home and abroad on the management of enteral nutrition complicating gastric retention in critically ill patients,and to provide a reference basis for clinical nursing staff to manage enteral nutrition complicating gastric retention in critically ill patients.Methods We searched websites and databases,including UpToDate,BMJ Best Practice,National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence,Guidelines International Network,Registered Nurses Association of Ontario,Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network,JBI,World Health Organization,Yimaitong guide network,Cochrane Library,PubMed,Embase,Web of Science,Sinomed,CNKI,Nutrition Society website,CINAHL(EBSCO),Wanfang Database,and collected relevant clinical decisions,guidelines,evidence summaries,expert consensuses and systematic reviews.2 researchers independently assessed methodological quality of included papers and extracted data.Results A total of 18 publications were included,including 3 guidelines,4 expert consensuses,4 systematic reviews,5 randomized controlled trials,1 quasi-experimental study,and 1 best evidence summary.18 pieces of the best evidence were summarized in 5 areas,including identification of gastric retention,management of enteral nutrition,management of monitoring,management of threshold determination,and management of treatment.Conclusion This study provides evidence-based evidence for nursing staff to manage enteral nutrition in critically ill patients with concomitant gastric retention,which can help reduce the incidence of gastric retention in critically ill patients.