Objective:To observe the level of endogenous cortisol in patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer, and to evaluate the effect of exogenous glucocorticoids treatment on patient's malignant symptoms and serum cortisol level. Methods:Thirty-one patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer who were given 40 mg/d methylprednisolone for continuous 5 days. The patients included 8 patients with esophageal and cardial cancer, 12 patients with gastric cancer, and 11 patients with colorectal cancer. At the same time, 30 healthy adults were selected as control group. The cortisol radioactive immunoassay kit was used to determine the level of serum cortisol in the gastrointestinal cancer patients and controls. The life quality changes of gastrointestinal cancer patients were evaluated. Results:The serum cortisol level of 31 advanced gastrointestinal cancer patients was higher than that of healthy volunteers [(312.39±57.64)vs(144.64±52.20) μg/L,P<0.01]. The average serum cortisol levels in the patients with esophageal cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer were higher than healthy controls (P<0.05). The serum cortisol level in gastric cancer patients was the highest among the three types of gastrointestinal cancers (P<0.01). After being treated with exogenous glucocorticoids, the five parameters such as appetite, spirit, sleeping, fatigue and pain in gastrointestinal cancer patients were improved significantly. During the course of exogenous glucocorticoid treatment, there were no serious complications. The serum cortisol levels after exogenous glucocorticoid treatment did not change significantly in the patients with esophageal cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer (P>0.05). Conclusion:Endogenous serum cortisol levels of gastrointestinal cancer patients were significantly higher than those of healthy adults. Short-term treatment with medium dosage of exogenous glucocorticoids had little effect on the endogenous serum cortisol level.

Objective To investigate levels of IL-17 and IL-22 mRNA in the blood of type 2 diabetes(T2DM)patients with the different stages of kidney injury and explore the relationship between the gene expression levels of IL-17,IL-22 and renal lesions in patients with diabetic nephropathy(DM).Methods Subjects included 60 T2DM patients with or without kidney injury and 20 normal controls(NC,n=20).Diabetes patients were divided into 3 groups by level of urinary albumin to creati-nine ratio (ACR):no proteinuria group (NA,ACR<30 mg/g,n=22),microalb uminuria group (MA,30 mg/g>ACR>300 mg/g,n=18)and diabetic nephropathy group (DN,ACR>300 mg/g,n=20).Quantitative Real-Time RT-PCR was used to detect IL-17 and IL-22 mRNA levels.Analysis differences of IL-17 and IL-22 mRNA levels among NA,MA,DN and NC groups.Results The levels of IL-17 and IL-22 mRNA were significantly higher in DN group than that in MA,NA and NC group (P <0.01,respectively),However,there were not significant difference among MA,NA and NC group (P >0.05,re-spectively).Conclusion Levels IL-17 and IL-22 mRNA were increased in blood of T2DM patients with nephropathy.IL-17 and IL-22 may play role in the pathogenicity of diabetic nephropathy.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic values of diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)in early radiation-induced brain injury of the temporal lobes.Methods Conventional and MR diffusion tensor imaging examinations were performed in 23 patients following radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC)and in 28 age-matched healthy controls.Isotropic apparent diffusion coefficient(ADCiso)and anisotropic index were measured in the white matter on both of the temporal lobes.Results The value of ADCiso,fractional anisotropy(FA),relative anisotropy(RA)and 1 minus volume ratio(1-VR)were(644.08?56.80)?10-6 mm2/s,0.394?0.074,0.344?0.075 and 0.182?0.072 respectively.In comparison with control group,these values were significant decreased(P

Objective To compare the success rate, time of tumor formation and number of tumors in three methods of tumor transplantation, in order to seek an ideal animal model for molecular imaging study. Methods Forty-eight BALB/C-nu/nu nude mice were randomly divided into three groups (each n=16). Tumor tissue mass of 2 mm3 was injected into subcutaneous of nude mice in experiment group. Tumor tissue mass of 1 mm3 was applied in control group 1. Tumor cells suspension liquid was injected into subcutaneous of nude mice in control group 2. The tumor formation rate, the time of tumor formation and the number of tumors were observed. MRI scanning were performed 3-6 weeks after implantation. Results The rate of tumor formation of three groups was 93.75%, 75.00% and 43.75%, respectively. The time of tumor formation was (21.7±2.4), (29.8±2.9) and (34.6±3.9) days, respectively. The rate of solitary nodule implanted tumor was 93.33% in experiment group, higher than that in control group 1 (75.00%) and control group 2 (14.29%). The tumors were hypointense on T1WI and hyperintense on T2WI. Conclusion Transplantation 2 mm3 tumor tissue mass is effective to set up the subcutaneous implanted tumor models with a high success rate of tumor formation, a short time of tumor formation and high rate of solitary tumors, being suitable for the study of molecular imaging. The models can undertake conventional T1WI, T2WI and T2-mapping imaging, and the imaging qualities are good.

Objective To discuss the value of MR T2 mapping in the research of the biomechanics and function of cartilage of knee joint.Methods Knees of 20 healthy adults before and after jogging and 19 osteoarthritis patients were examined with sagittal 8-echo SE sequence.The T2 value of cartilage was selected and calculated.The T2 values in the superficial and deep cartilage of femoral and tibial joint before and after jogging were compared,so did between the osteoarthritis patients and healthy adults.The source images were sent to the workstation to get T2 mappings.The T2 value of cartilage between before and after jogging was compared with paired-samples t test.The T2 value between superficial and deep cartilage before jogging was compared with independent-samples t test,so did between the osteoarthritis patients and healthy adults.Results The T2 values in the superficial and the deep tibial cartilage were(48.8±6.3)ms,(44.3±5.7)ms before jogging and(43.4±5.0)ms,(40.3±6.1)ms after jogging.The T2 values were significantly different between before and after jogging(t=6.004 and t=5.037,P＜0.05).There was a significant difference between superficial and deep tibial cartilage before jogging(t=3.148,P＜0.01).The T2 Values in the superficial and deep femoral cartilage were(52.1±5.7)ms,(47.7±5.3)ms before jogging and(47.2±4.5)ms,(43.6±4.1)ms after jogging.The T2 values were significantly different between before and after jogging(t=6.169 and t=5.957,P＜0.05).There was a significant difference between superficial and deep femoral cartilage before jogging(t=3.384,P＜0.01).The T2 mapping showed those changes.The mean T2 value in the tibial cartilage of osteoarthritis patients was(56.0±9.1)ms and was higher than that of healthy adults.There was a significent difference between osteoarthritis patients and healthy adults(t=-3.446,P＜0.01).Conclusion T2 mapping can be used in the research of biomechanics and function of cartilage and has a prelimilary value in the diagnosis of cartilage degeneration.

This paper analyses the defects of bubble oxygen inhalators currently used, and investigates into their solutions for improvement.
Oxygen Inhalation Therapy ; instrumentation ; methods ; Oxygenators ; standards

Assessment mode is a bottleneck in medical education reform nowadays.Although traditional assessment tools,such as written examination,are still widely used in medical education assessments,they have obvious limitations.With the enhancement of requirements in physicians' abilities,assessments on some basic abilities of physicians are still insufficient.The United States and Europe not only focus on the curriculum reform but also the development of appropriate assessment tools,therefore,some new assessment tools are invented.These assessment tools are applicable to the formative assessment and are student-centered,being able to promote the development of education and provide new options for medical education assessments.

Objective To explore the value of Gadofluorine M,a novel M RI enhancement agent,in the diagnosis the early radiation brain injury.Methods Seventy-two Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 equal groups.To establish the radiation injury model,the rat's posterior brain was irradiated with 0(blank controls),25,35,45,55,and 65 Gy,respectively.After irradiation MR plain scanning and Gadofluorine M enhancement scanning (after the T1WI and T2WI scanning Gf at the dosage of 0.1 mmol/kg was injected intravenously and scanning was performed again 12 h later) were performed once a week for 8 weeks.Another 12 rats were randomly divided into 2 equal groups to exposure to 55 and 65Gy,respectively,and MR scanning was performed once a week for 8 weeks since the third week after MR.After T1WI and T2WI scanning Gd-DTPA was injected intravenously,MR was conducted again 30 min later,and Gf was injected intravenously (Gd-DTPAenhancement and Gf enhancement contrast).The MR image and the pixel count were compared.Since the third week 2 rats from the Gf enhancement scanning group and 1 rat from the Gd-DTPA enhancement and Gf enhancement contrast were killed after MR with their brains taken out to undergo pathological examination.Results No abnormal signal changes were found in MRI in 25 and 35 Gy groups within 2 months after irradiation.A high signal in the Gf enhancement T1 WI image was found in 45,55,and 65 Gy groups within the period of 4-6 weeks after radiation.The signal intensity was significantly higher than that of the control,25,and 35 Gy groups(F =2.15,P <0.05).The emerge time of this signal was negatively correlated with the dose of radiation(r =-0.62,P < 0.05).When there was no obvious change was found by Gd-DTPA enhancement,a high signal representing change of injury could be found in Gf enhancement in the same rat.The signal intensity was significantly enhanced in Gf enhancement compared to the Gd-DTPA enhancement (F = 2.74,P <0.01).Histopathology examination of the 65 Gy group showed frosted degeneration in part of the region,however,no obvious necrotic damage was found in other groups.Conclusions The Gf enhancement change appears before histopathological changes,it helps discover early radiation injury in brain.Compared to the regular MRI and Gd-DTPA enhancement,Gadofluorine M enhancement has obvious advantage and is worth further research and application.

Objective To assess the clinical factors impacting on the effective time of endocrine therapy for patients with prostate cancer.Methods The chnical data of 432 patients with prostate cancer who accepted endocrine therapy were analyzed retrospectively.The endpoint of the study was failure of endocrine therapy which was defined as continuous elevation of prostate specific antigen (PSA) from nadir for 2 times and more than 0.2 μg/L.The clinical data such as age,clinical stage,lymph node metastasis,bone metastasis,Gleason score,initial PSA,and PSA nadir were collected and their rehtionship with the effective time of endocrine therapy were further assessed via COX regression model.Results Age of onset was 57-88(73.70 ± 7.28) years.Initial PSA was 10.30-588.10(27.15 ± 75.90) μ g/L.The effective time of endocrine therapy was 3-62 (27.01 ± 13.10) months.Univariate regression analysis showed that initial PSA,clinical stage,Gleason score,PSA nadir,lymph node metastasis,bone metastasis were correlated with the effective time of endocrine therapy (P ＜ 0.01).Multivariate regression analysis showed that only Gleason score was correlated with the effective time of endocrine therapy(P=0.001).Compared with patients with Gleason score equal to or less than 3+4,patients with Gleason score equal to or more than 4+3 showed 2.49 fold increased risk of therapy failure (OR =2.49,95％ CI 1.44-4.30).Conclusion Gleason score has close relationship with the effective time of endocrine therapy for patients with prostate cancer,Gleason score equal to or more than 4+3 is an indicator for poor response to endocrine therapy.

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects and action mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) on Parkinson's disease (PD).

METHODSForty-eight healthy male SD rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a sham operation group, a model group and an EA group, 12 rats in each one. Rats in the model group and EA group were treated with subcutaneous injection of rotenone (1mg/kg, dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and 0. 9 % normal saline) on neck and back for 40 days to establish rat model. Rats in the sham operation group were treated with injection of identical dose of dimethyl sulfoxide and 0. 9 %o normal saline at identical location which did not contain rotenone. After model establishment, rats in the EA group were treated with EA at "Fengfu" (GV 16) and "Taichong" (LR 3) with continuous wave (2 Hz, 1 mA), which was given 20 min per time, once a day for consecutive 28 days. Rats in the remaining groups were treated with fixation and immobilization without any other intervention. The rats behavioristics changes were observed and scored; immunohisto-chemistry was adopted to test the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH); fluorescence spectrometry was used to detect the activities of 20 S β1, β2, β5; western blot method was applied to measure the expression of 20S proteasome and its a subunit.

RESULTSCompared with the normal group and sham operation group, there was significant change of behavioristics in the model group, and TH positive neuron counting was obviously reduced; after treatment, the behavioristics score in the EA group was lower than that in the model group (P<0. 05), and TH positive neuron counting was significantly increased (P<0. 05). Compared with the normal group and sham operation group, the activities of 20 S β1, β2, β5 in model group were significantly reduced (all P<0. 01), and those in the EA group were higher than those in the model group (P<0. 01). Compared with the normal group and sham operation group, the expression of 20S proteasome and its a subunit was reduced in the model group, and that in the EA group was higher than that in the model group (P<0. 05).

CONCLUSIONEA could improve the loss of dopaminergic neurons induced by rotenone to prevent and treat PD, which is likely to be related with protecting the activity and expression of proteasomes in substantia nigra.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Electroacupuncture ; Humans ; Male ; Parkinson Disease ; enzymology ; therapy ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Substantia Nigra ; enzymology