Objective: To detect the expression profile of NDRG1 gene in different tissues and cell lines and explore the relationship of NDRG 1 with liver tissue differentiation and hepatocarcinogenesis. Methods: The expression profiles of NDRG 1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues, paired noncancerous liver (PNL) tissues, adult normal liver (NL) tissues, baby mouse liver tissues and fetal liver tissues in different developmental stages and cultured cell lines were performed using RT PCR and Northern Blot analysis. Results: Expression of NDRG 1 was significantly up regulated in HCC tissues compared to that of NL tissues and PNL tissues, however, the expressions of NDRG1 in NL and PNL tissues showed no evident difference. In ten cell lines, the highest expression was in the 293T human kidney cell line, the next one in liver cell L02, and the lowest one in the undifferentiated HLE cell line. Expression of NDRG1 in liver tissues enhanced with the development of the baby mouse and human fetus. Conclusion: NDRG 1 is probably related to the liver cell differentiation and is highly expressed in the specific stage of the differentiation. However, it could not be recognized as a marker of differentiation. The high expression of NDRG 1 in HCC indicates that HCC is not just distributed to a simple de differentiation. Much more study is necessary in understanding the comprehensive relationship of the disorder proliferation and differentiation of HCC and the related genes.

Young talents are the reserve forces of hospital's discipline construction.The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University has made remarkable achievements in the young talent construction by taking some innovative measures.These measures included actively exploring evaluation methods for new staff during probation period,strengthening their scientific,English and clinical skills,selecting excellent young talents and encouraging them to further their study abroad,setting up position of scientific research assistant and cultivating backbone professionals.The hospital has gradually formed a complete step and strategy for implementing talent construction and disciplinary development.

BACKGROUND: As a kind of filling material for wedge-shaped defects, GC Fuji Ⅸ glass-ionomer cement has arose more and more attention. However, the comparison of repair results between GC Fuji Ⅸ glass-ionomer cement and reinforced glass-ionomer cement are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical effect of GC Fuji Ⅸ glass-ionomer cement and reinforced gtass-ionomer cement for repairing wedge-shaped defects of old people. METHODS: Totally 80 teeth were randomly divided into 2 groups, and filled by GC Fuji Ⅸ glass-ionomer cement (experimental group) and reinforced glass-ionomer cement (control group), respectively. The clinical effect of 2 materials were evaluated on color match, edge density heterozygosity, restoration integrity, occurrence of secondary caries and pulp symptom at immediately, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year after placement. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The color match of the experimental group was better than that of the control group at 3 months, 6 months and 1 year after placement (P < 0.05); and the edge density heterozygosity of the experimental group was superior to the control group at 6 months and 1 year after placement (P < 0.05); in addition, the restoration integrity of the experimental group was surpass the control group at 1 year after placement (P < 0.05). It demonstrated that GC Fuji IX glass-ionomer cement is an ideal choice for wedge-shaped defects of old people, which exhibits superior effects to reinforced glass-ionomer cement in 1-year follow-up.

Arsenic ; urine ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Formamides ; analysis ; Humans ; Urinalysis ; methods

Objective: To study the biological effects of the novel gene LAPTM4B high expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma on cell proliferation and tumorigenesis of NIH3T3 cells. Methods: Eukaryotic expression plasmid pcDNA3 TM4B was constructed and transfected into mouse NIH3T3 cell line using Lipofectamin 2000 mediating gene transfer technique. Monoclonal transfected cells with high expression of LAPTM4B gene were identified and selected by RT-PCR, Northern blot and Western blot method. Cell surface morphology was detected by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The cell attachment /spreading on various matrices was examined. The cell growth curves were measured by acid phosphatase method. Cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry (FCM). The expression level of Cyclin E protein was examined using Western blot. Results: The cell surface of the LAPTM4B transfected cells showed abundant tube/finger like microvilli, which were distinguished significantly from the MOCK cells. The cell attachment/spreading of transfected cells increased on fibronectin, matrigel and laminin. The growth rate of transfected cells was faster than that of the MOCK cells. FCM analysis indicated that the amount of the transfected cells in S phase was increased significantly. Cyclin E protein expression of transfected cells was much higher than that of the MOCK cell. The serum dependence of transfected cells was decreased. The fibrosarcoma was formed at a tumorigenic rate of 50% in NIH mice inoculated with LAPTM4B transfected cells.Conclusion: LAPTM4B gene promotes the cell proliferation by involving in the regulation of cell cycle control and causes tumorigenesis of NIH3T3 cells, indicating that it plays important roles in tumorigenesis.

Objective To study the fecel-oral and blood transfusion of TT virus. Methods Paired feces and serum samples from 6 patients with type B and/or C hepatitis were tested for TTV DNA and its titers by PCR with seminested primers.Genotypes were determined after their sequences were compared with the original N22 and TA278 clone.Results TTV DNA was detected in sera from all patients,while it was detected in feces from 3 patients,including 2 with high viral titers in serum.The detection of fecal TTV DNA was dependent on the viral titers in serum.TTV isolates in 3 pairs of feces and serum had identical sequence of 222 base pairs.Their genotypes were 1a,1b and 2,respectively.Conclusion The excretion of TTV into feces indicates that TTV would be transmitted not only parenterally but also nonparenterally by a fecal-oral route.

BACKGROUND:Normal stem cells and tumor stem cells have differences in cellsignaling pathway of gene expression and dependence. How to find a therapeutic method of selectively kil ing tumor stem cells is a topic that should be studied greatly. OBJECTIVE:To isolate human liver cancer stem cells MHCC97 and to investigate the biological characteristics of them. METHODS:Tumor stem cells were selected from highly metastatic human hepatoma cellline MHCC97 by flow cytometry. CD133-CD34-MHCC97 from normal human liver stem cells and CD133+CD34+MHCC97 from tumor stem cells were isolated. Their phenotypes, growth curve, cellcycle and multi-lineage differentiation were measured. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Phenotypes of CD133+CD34+MHCC97 cancer stem cells were CD133+and CD34+and they had the same growth curve and cellcycle with the liver stem cells CD133-CD34-MHCC97, besides, they had the differential ability to epithelial cells and endothelial cells that proved to be stem cells. These results indicated that human cancer stem cells CD133+CD34+MHCC97 had the specific characteristics of tumor stem cells, could differentiate into epithelial cells and endothelial cells, had the biological property of tumor stem cells, was an origin of tumor relapse and metastasis, and a target of clinical therapy.

Objective To investigate the similarities and differences of endoscopic and pathological char- acteristics between long and short segment Barrett's esophagus.Methods One hundred and twenty-eight cases of Barrett's esophagus identified both by endoscopy and pathology were enrolled in this retrospective study. Among them,40 cases were long segment Barrett's esophagus (LSBE) and 88 were short segment Barrett's esophagus (SSBE).The age distribution,sex distinction,endoscopic manifestations and pathological changes were assessed.Data were statistically analyzed by t-test or u-test.Results There were no differences in age distribution and sex distinction between LSBE and SSBE groups (P＞0.05).The ring pattern was the most prominent type accounting for 62.5% in LSBE group.The island pattern was the most prominent type accounting for 85.2% in SSBE group.There were significant differences in the rates of specialized intestinal metaplasia between LSBE and SSBE groups(47.5% vs 14.8%,P＜0.01).Moreover,among the special- ized intestinal metaplasia,low grade (15.0% vs 4.5%),medium grade (12.5% vs 3.4%) and high grade dysplasia (5.0% vs 0.0%) between LSBE and SSBE groups also had statistical differences (all P＜0.05).Conclusions LSBE may have more tendency in dysplasia than that of SSBE.We should pay attention to the importance of endoscopic manifestations and pathological diagnosis.

Aim To explore the possible protective effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on oligomeric Aβ1-42 induced apoptosis and its possible mechanism. Methods The damage was induced by oligomeric Aβ1-42 in primary cortical neurons. Cells were incubated in the absence or presence of Aβ, or co-incubated in sp600125 with Aβ, or pre-incubated in ginsenoside Rg1 then co-incu-bated in Aβ. The p-JNK, JNK, caspase-3 activity and TUNEL-positive cells were detected. Results In Aβ1-42 treated group, the ratio of p-JNK/JNK level was increased more than that in non-treated group for 15 min. However, in neurons preincubated with (2. 5, 5, 10 μmol·L-1 ) ginsenoside Rg1 and then co-incuba-ted with 5 μmol·L-1 oligomeric Aβ1-42 , the p-JNK/JNK ratio, caspase-3 activity and TUNEL positive neu-rons were significantly decreased compared with those of Aβ1-42 treated group. Conclusion Ginsenoside Rg1 can attenuate the oligomeric Aβ1-42-induced apop-tosis by JNK pathway.

Objective To investigate the possible effect of ginsenoside Rg1 and oligo Aβ1-42 on PKA/CREB pathway.Methods The damage was induced by oligomeric Aβ1-42 in primary cortical neuron.Neurons were incubated with or without glutamate,or incubated in Aβ,or pre-incubated in Rg1 and then co-incubated in Aβ.The proteins of p-CREB,t-CREB,PKA Ⅱ α and BDNF were detected by Western blot.Results After the treatment with Oligo Aβ1-42 for 2 h,the p-CREB/t-CREB level induced by glutamate was obviously lower (P＜ 0.001).However,in neurons pre incubatedwith 2.5,5.0,10.0 μmol/L of ginsenoside Rg1 and then co-incubated with 5μmol/L of oligo Aβ1-42,the p-CREB/t-CREB induced by glutamate was significantly increased as compared with that of Aβ1-42 group (P＜0.05).Upon Aβ1-42 exposure for 2 h,cortical neurons showed a statistically significant increase in PKA Ⅱ α as compared to the control group (P ＜ 0.001).Pre-treatmentwith varying doses of ginsenoside Rg1 (2.5,5,10μmol/L) showed a decrease in PKA Ⅱ α as compared to neurons treated with Aβ1-42 alone for 2 h (P＜0.001).Furthermore,BDNF level significantly increased in Rgl-pretreated cells as compared to cells treated with Aβ1-42 alone for 24h (P＜0.05).Conclusions Ginsenoside Rg1 attenuates the oligo Aβ142 inhibition of PKA/CREB pathway.