OBJECTIVETo evaluate the relationship between changes and clinical significance of serum glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and the degree of liver lesions in chronic hepatitis B (CHB).

METHODSExaminations of serum ALT, AST, GGT levels and liver biopsy were carried out and classification and staging of liver fibrosis and inflammation were performed for 70 patients with CHB. The relationship between ALT, AST, GGT and CHB was analyzed.

RESULTS(1) ALT, AST and GGT increased with the degree of inflammation and fibrosis, but their levels declined with the degree of G4 and S4. The correlation coefficients of ALT and GGT, AST and GGT were (0.322 and 0.328, P less than 0.05). With liver-protective treatment, in the cases with mild CHB, ALT was normalized quickly but GGT remained at a lower level. While ALT declined, GGT was still at a relatively high level for moderate and severe CHB cases, among them the level of GGT fluctuated.

CONCLUSIONSerum GGT reflects the degree of liver inflammation more accurately than ALT and AST do and GGT activity can provide important evidence for clinical assessment of chronic hepatitis B.

Adult ; Alanine Transaminase ; blood ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; blood ; Female ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; Humans ; Male ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase ; blood

OBJECTIVETo construct a recombinant adenovirus vector that expresses small hairpin RNAs (shRNA) against COX-2, AKT1 and PIK3R1 gene and to evaluate its potential for suppressing the cell proliferation of human gastric adenocarcinoma SGC701 cell in vitro and in vivo, which will enable the development of a gene therapy protocol for the treatment of human gastric adenocarcinoma.

METHODSThree strips of shRNA targeting AKT1, COX-2 and PIK3R1, was subcloned into adenovirus expression vector. After verification, it was amplified and titered. The recombinant adenovirus expression vector was infected into human gastric adenocarcinoma SGC7901 cells in vitro and the infected cells were injected in nude mice. The mRNA and protein expression levels of AKT1, COX-2 and PIK3R1 were determined by real-time PCR and Western blot respectively. Cell proliferation in vitro was determined by methyl thiazolyltetrazolium (MTT) assay and flow cytometry, tumor growth in vivo was measured by volume of tumor in nude mice.

RESULTSRestriction digestion and sequencing analysis showed that the rAd5-C-A-P adenovirus expression vector was constructed successfully. It significantly inhibited the expression of AKT1, COX-2 and PIK3R1, and cell growth was inhibited over 70% as indicated by MTT assay and accompanied with G0/G1 phase arrest. Cell growth on matrigel matrix showed that the rAd5-C-A-P transfected cells were detached from the matrix or grew in a scattered clustering pattern, indicating poor cell growth activities in 2-D matrigel. Tumor growth in nude mice in the C + A + P group was inhibited (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONshRNA targeting COX-2, AKT1 and PIK3R1 down regulated significantly the expression of the three genes in a sequence-specific manner, exerted proliferation inhibition effect on SGC7901 cells in vitro and in vivo.

Adenocarcinoma ; genetics ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Adenoviridae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Disease Models, Animal ; Down-Regulation ; Genetic Therapy ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Inverted Repeat Sequences ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; genetics ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; therapeutic use ; Stomach Neoplasms ; genetics ; physiopathology ; therapy

This paper elaborates the specific implementation process of the "research-based learning" teaching reform of genetic experiment in medical undergraduate education, including the change of teaching philosophy among teachers, the integration and expansion of experimental contents, the innovation of classroom-teaching model, the compilation of proper textbook, the update of assessment methods and the establishment of evaluation mechanism for teaching and so on. Preliminary research shows that RBL teaching reform can stimulate medical students' interest and potential in learning, and improve their practical and scientific research innovation ability.

In recent years,natural antimicrobial peptides have become an important direction in the development of novel antibiotics.Cecropin has the characteristics of wide antibacterial spectrum,good tolerance and low adverse drug reactions.As the first antimicrobial peptide discovered in the family of Cecropin,Cecropin A has many important biological activities.In this paper,the research on the antibacterial,antifungal,antiparasitic and antitumor activities of Cecropin A and its derivatives in recent years was reviewed,and its application prospect was prospected,in order to provide reference for further research and development of cecropin.

Objective To study the effect of atmospheric particulate exposure on the expression of key molecules of Nrf2 signaling pathway involved in oxidative stress and inflammatory response factors in myocardium of rats fed with high-fat and high-glucose diet. Methods A total of 48 SD male rats were randomly divided into control group (CC group), high-fat and high-glucose diet group (HC group), atmospheric particulates group (CP group) and atmospheric particulates plus high-fat and high-glucose diet group (HP group), with 12 rats in each group.Rats were fed in individual ventilated cages (IVC).The CC and HC groups were placed in IVCs equipped with the atmospheric particulate filter, however, the CP and HP groups without the atmospheric particulate filter to make the air composition similar to the outdoor.A total of 24 rats were sacrificed for acquiring myocardial tissue after 3 and 6 months of exposure.The mRNA expression of Nrf2, HO-1, NQO1, VCAM-1 and MCP-1 were measured using RT-qPCR and the protein expression of VCAM-1, MCP-1 detected using western blot. Results The mRNA expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1, NQO1, VCAM-1 and MCP-1 and the protein expression levels of VCAM-1 and MCP-1 in HC, CP and HP groups were higher than CC group (P < 0.05).The mRNA expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1, NQO1, VCAM-1, MCP-1 and the protein expression levels of VCAM-1, MCP-1 in the HP group were higher than HC and CP groups (P < 0.05).The mRNA expression levels of Nrf2 in CP and HP groups after 6 months of exposure were lower than that at 3 months (P < 0.05). Conclusion The exposure of atmospheric particles, high-fat and high-glucose and their combination diets could cause myocardial tissue inflammatory responses, and activate Nrf2 signaling pathways to protect against myocardial damage.

OBJECTIVETo study the morphological features of secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) in adult and the implications for transcatheter closure.

METHODSTranscatheter closure using Amplatzer duct occluder was performed in 272 adult patients with ASD from September 1997 to December 2005. The morphological features were evaluated by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). The size, length and thickness of rims, occluder diameter, the complete closure rate, residual shunt rate and complications were compared in patients with deficient and/or thin rims (Group A, n = 135) and patients with well-developed rims (Group B, n = 137).

RESULTSThe complete closure rate was 97.8% (132/135) in group A and 99.3% (136/137) in group B. There were 74 cases with deficient rims, 39 cases with thin rims and 22 cases with both deficient and thin rims in group A. Gender distribution, age, operation successful rate, residual shunt rate and complication rate were similar between the 2 groups. The defect diameters measured by TTE (18.9 +/- 5.5 mm vs. 16.5 +/- 4.8 mm, P < 0.01), TEE (22.7 +/- 5.0 mm vs. 20.0 +/- 5.5 mm, P < 0.01) and occluder diameters used (29.1 +/- 5.7 mm vs. 26.0 +/- 5.9 mm, P < 0.01) were significantly larger in groups A than that in group B. The systolic pulmonary artery pressure was also significantly higher in groups A than that in groups B (36.9 +/- 11.9 mm Hg vs. 32.6 +/- 9.1 mm Hg, P < 0.01). There are significant correlations between occluder diameters and defects measured by either TTE or TEE in both groups (group A, TTE: r = 0.709, TEE: r = 0.850; group B, TTE: r = 0.716, TEE: r = 0.915, P all < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSPoor residual rims were found in around 50% of adult patients with ASD. Transcatheter closure of these defects could be successfully performed with larger occluders. The defect diameters measured by TTE and TEE, especially the latter, could guide the occluder selection.

Adult ; Cardiac Catheterization ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; etiology ; pathology ; therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged

Objective: To research the functions of miR-3960 in all-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) induced cleft palate mouse model in order to provide the theoretical basis for gene therapy of cleft palate. Methods: Excessive atRA induced cleft palate mouse model was established and palatine process tissues were collected. qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-3960. miRBase was used to analyse the characteristics of miR-3960 sequence. TargetScanMouse Prediction of microRNA targetswas used to predict the target genes of miR-3960. DAVID v6.8 database was used to perform bioinformatics analysis of target genes. Results: miR-3960 was up-regulated in the experimental group. From the analysis of miRBase, we only got the sequences of miR-3960 in two species, and the two sequences were the same. There were 320 predicted target genes, the functions were mainly concentrated in cell proliferation, cell differentiation, embryo development and tissue development and so on (P<0.05), the signaling pathways were mainly concentrated in the calcium signaling pathway, cAMP signaling pathway and cGMP-PKG signaling pathway and so on (P<0.05). Conclusions In excessive atRA induced cleft palate mouse models, the up-regulated miR-3960 may result in cleft palate by inhibiting the proliferation and differentiation of palatal mesenchymal cells.

Aim To study the effect of three kinds of active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine (sinomenine, rhynchophylline and isorhynchophylline) on dre-miR-723-5p expression in morphine-induced zebrafish brain. Methods Morphine was injected intraperitoneally to zebrafish, conditional position preference (CPP) was trained and then the behavioral of animals were observed; the miRNA expression profiles of morphine-additive zebrafish were determined by small RNA sequencing; qRT-PCR was used to verify the expression of dre-miR-723-5p, three target gene databases (miRanda, miRDB, andRNAhybrid) were used to predict the target genes of dre-miR-723-5p; Kobas 3.0 was used to perform Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway analysis of these target genes. Results Morphine-induced CPP model was established successfully. Compared with control group, the resident time and movement map in drug-pair box of zebrafish in model group significantly increased. After drug administration, the resident time and movement map in drug-pair box of zebrafish decreased. The verification results of qRT-PCR were consistent with the results of small RNA sequencing. Ninety-nine putative target genes of dremiR-723-5p that were common to all three target gene databases, which were mainly enriched in biological process, cell composition and molecular function, involved in the positive regulation of MAPK signaling pathway, lysosome, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, and apoptosis. Conclusion Morphine can increase the expression of dre-miR-723-5p in the zebrafish brain, which can be reversed by sinomenine, isorhynchophylline, and rhynchophylline treatment, and dre-miR-723-5p may participate in the mechanism underlying morphine-induced damage of brain.

Human brain banks use a standardized protocol to collect,process and store post-mortem human brains and related tissues,along with relevant clinical information,and to provide the tissue samples and data as a resource to foster neuroscience research according to a standardized operating protocols(SOP).Human brain bank serves as the foundation for neuroscience research and the diagnosis of neurological disorders,highlighting the crucial rule of ensuring the consistency of standardized quality for brain tissue samples.The first version of SOP in 2017 was published by the China Human Brain Bank Consortium.As members increases from different regions in China,a revised SOP was drafted by experts from the China Human Brain Bank Consortium to meet the growing demands for neuroscience research.The revised SOP places a strong emphasis on ethical standards,incorporates neuropathological evaluation of brain regions,and provides clarity on spinal cord sampling and pathological assessment.Notable enhancements in this updated version of the SOP include reinforced ethical guidelines,inclusion of matching controls in recruitment,and expansion of brain regions to be sampled for neuropathological evaluation.