Objective To compare the therapeutic effect between routine shunting and selective shunting in patients with moderate and severe carotid artery stenosis undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Methods One hundred and ninety-two patients with moderate and severe carotid artery stenosis undergoing CEA were selected, and the patients were divided into control group (routine shunting) and observation group (selective shunting) according to the random digits table method with 96 cases each. The intraoperative carotid artery occlusion time and incidences of stroke event 30 d after operation were recorded. Results In the observation group, the rate of carotid artery shunting was 35.4％ (34/96), among which the rate of carotid artery shunting in patients with contralateral severe carotid artery stenosis or occlusion was 8/13, the rate of carotid artery shunting in patients with unilateral carotid stenosis was 31.3％ (26/83), and there was statistical difference (χ2 = 13.006, P<0.01). There was no statistical difference in intraoperative carotid artery occlusion time between control group and observation group ( t=2.091, P>0.05). In the observation group, the intraoperative carotid artery occlusion time in patients with carotid artery shunting was significantly shorter than that in patients without carotid artery shunting:(4.36 ± 0.48) min vs. (10.15 ± 0.91) min, and there was statistical difference (t=7.884, P<0.05). There was no statistical difference in the incidence of stroke event 30 d after operation between control group and observation group (χ2 = 1.189, P>0.05). Conclusions The selective shunting during CEA can reduce the incidence of postoperative stroke event in patients with carotid artery stenosis, and especially it can give a good clinical effect in the patients with contralateral severe carotid artery stenosis or occlusion.

Attention was gradually paid by biologists to the using of RNA secondary structure in the classification of microbiology and phylogenetic relationship analysis in recent years. The development around the research was summarized here briefly. And more emphasis was given to the part introducing the application of RNA secondary structure to the analysis of phylogenetic relationship.

Some types of bacteria swim through rotating their flagella. The swimming mechanism of bacteria during flagella bundling and tumble process is analyzed. The effects of body rotation and flagellum′s polymorphic transitions on bundling processes and the wall effect phenomenon are also discussed. Finally, based on dynamics similarity, a new microrobot module is put forward to further studying the flagella swimming phenomena. The research would be very helpful for constructing the bionic swimming robots under the low Reynolds number.

This study is to investigate the anti-tumor activities of a novel cyclophosphamide derivate 4, 6-diphenyl cyclophosphamide (9b) in vivo and in vitro, and its possible mechanism of action. The inhibitory effects of 9b on human hepatoma cell line HepG2, human breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7 and human myeloid leukemia cell line K562 were measured by MTT assay in vitro. Cell cycle distribution and apoptotic rate were evaluated by flow cytometry. To evaluate the anti-tumor effect of 9b in vivo, mouse model bearing inoculated H22 tumor was established. The results indicated that 9b could inhibit the proliferation of HepG2, MCF-7 and K562 cells in a dose and time dependent manner. The ICo50 values of 9b were 32.34 micromol.L-1 to HepG2 cells, 87.07 micromol.L-1 to MCF-7 cells and 149.10 micromol.L-1 to K562 cells after incubation for 48 h. The results of flow cytometry indicated that after being treated for 48 h with different concentrations of 9b, the ratios of HepG2, MCF-7 cells at the Go/G1 phase and K562 cells at the G0/Gl phase and G2/M phase increased significantly compared with control group, and the apoptotic rate increased with the increase of the concentration of 9b. 9b could significantly reduce tumor weight of H22 solid tumor mouse model in vivo. To summarize, 9b showed significantly anti-tumor activity in vivo and in vitro, of which the mechanism might be associated with the change of cell cycle distribution and induction of tumor cell apoptosis.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cyclophosphamide ; analogs & derivatives ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Humans ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental ; pathology ; Male ; Mice ; Molecular Structure ; Random Allocation ; Tumor Burden ; drug effects

Objective To observe the post-systolic shortening (PSS) during isovolumic relaxation phase and its clinical significance in regional myocardium in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients.MethodsLeft ventricular regional myocardium movement in 60 CHF patients (CHF group) and 30 healthy volunteers (control group) were assessed with tissue velocity imaging (TVI). QLAB software was used to measure the systolic peak velocity (V_s), regional systolic time (T_s), post-systolic shortening velocity (V_(pss)) and post-systolic shortening time (T_(pss)) at the basal and middle levels of left ventricle. Results In CHF patients, the rate of isovolumic relaxation phase PSS was 34.44% both in basal and mid segments, the rate of pathological PSS was 29.44% and 29.72%, respectively. The rate of isovolumic relaxation phase PSS in control group was 26.11% and 20.56%, respectively; none pathological PPS occured. Compared with the physiological PSS of control group, the pathological PSS of CHF group had a higher peak velocity and a longer time (P<0.05). Conclusion The pathological PSS of CHF patients has high peak velocity and long duration, which may be one of the causes leading to the asynchronous movement of left ventricle in CHF.

OBJECTIVEThe SSR information in the transcriptome of Erigeron breviscapus was analyzed in this study, in order to further develop new functional genes SSR markers laid a solid foundation.

METHODSSR loci were searched in all of 52,060 unigenes by using est_timmer. Perl program and SSR primers were designed by Primer3. Furthermore, 36 pairs of primers were randomly selected for the polymorphism analysis on 13 Erigeron breviscapus plants collected from different places.

RESULTA total of 3639 SSRs were found in the transcriptome of Erigeron breviscapus, distributed in 3260 unigenes with the distribution frequency of 6.99%. Di-nucleotide repeat was the main type, account for as much as 34.41% of all SSRs, followed by mono-nucleotide (31.41%) and tri-nucleotide repeat motif (28.08%). The di-nucleotide repeat motifs of AT/AT and AC/GT were the predominant repeat types (28.71%). The tri-nucleotide repeat motifs of AAT/AT was the predominant repeat types (7.94%). For validation the availability of those SSR primers, we randomly selected 36 pairs of primers for PCR amplification. Among them, 34 pair primers (94.44%) produced clear and reproductive bands, 19 pair primers showed polymorphism (52.78%), and 13 Erigeron breviscapus plants were divided into 2 groups.

CONCLUSIONThere are numerous SSRs in Erigeron breviscapus transcriptome with high frequency and various types, this will provide abundant candidate molecular markers for genetic diversity study and genetic map in this plant.

China ; DNA Primers ; genetics ; Erigeron ; classification ; genetics ; Genetic Variation ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Phylogeny ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Transcriptome

Objective This study is to investigate the set-up accuracy of thermoplastic mask used for immobilization of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients being treated by Intensity Modulated Radia- tion Therapy (IMRT).Methods Nineteen patients with early stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (T1- T2N0M0),treated by fractionated intensity-modulated radiation therapy,underwent repeated CTs during their 6-week treatment course.We evaluated their anatomic landmark coordinates in a total of 85 repeated CT data sets and respective x,y and z shifts relative to their position in the 19 treatment-planning reference CTs.Results The translation in x,y,and z-axes with their mean value derived from both positive and negative set-up errors was-0.84 mm(x-axis),+0.65 mm(y-axis) and +0.01 mm(z-axis).Mean target isocenter translation was (0.89?0.69) mm,(0.82?0.79) mm,(0.95?1.24) mm in x,y and z-direc- tions,respectively.The mean total magnitude vector and 95% CI of isocenter motion were 1.87 mm and 4.65 mm.The data measured over the 6-week fractionated course of treatment revealed a slight deterioration of isocenter accuracy.The 95% CI,considered by us to be a valuable parameter for characterizing the sys- tem,of 4.17 mm for measurement within the first 3 weeks increased to 5.12 mm in the last 3 weeks of treat- ment.Conclusions The sequential CT scanning is a pronounced valuable method of evaluating the quality of departmental specific patient positioning procedures.The thermoplastic mask is eyed as well suited tool for immobilization and repositioning of NPC patients receiving intensity-modulated radiation therapy.

This study was aimed to investigate the expressions of genes hoxb2 and hoxb4 after interference of the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) to the erythroid progenitors (CFU-E) in vitro by using all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA). The cord blood was collected from 12 cases of fetal placenta umbilical vein and cultured by using culture technique of HSC in vitro. The proliferation and differentiation of HSC to CFU-E were interfered with 6 x 10(-8) mol/L of ATRA. The expression levels of genes hoxb2 and hoxb4 in blank control and ATRA groups were detected by FQ-RT-PCR on day 3, 7 and 10 of culture. The results showed that the expressions of genes Hoxb2 and hoxb4 were a little on day 3, obviously increased on day 7 and reached highest level on day 10 in 2 groups. The expression level of hoxb4 on day 3, 7 and 10 in blank control group was obviously higher than expression level of hoxb2. As compared with blank control group, the expressions of genes hoxb2 and hoxb4 in the ATRA group were significantly up-regulated. It is concluded that the genes hoxb2 and hoxb4 all expressed in process of proliferation and differentiation to erythroid progenitors, which suggests that hoxb2 and hoxb4 relate to erythroid hematopoiesis, and the hoxb4 has more great relevance to erythroid hematopoiesis as compared with hoxb2. The ATRA (6 x 10(-8) mol/L) can up-regulate the expression of hoxb2 and hoxb4 significantly.
Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; Gene Expression ; drug effects ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; drug effects ; Homeodomain Proteins ; genetics ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Transcription Factors ; genetics ; Tretinoin ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo compare the outcomes of total proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis performed by hand-assisted laparoscopic(HALS) and laparotomy.

METHODSClinical data of 78 patients undergoing HALS(n=36) or laparotomy(n=42) from January 2009 to June 2011 were retrospectively studied. All the operations were performed by the same surgical group. Patients safety, postoperative recovery, complications were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSAs compared to laparotomy group, HALS group had longer operative time[(300.3±56.4) min vs. (227.2±34.0) min, P=0.001], less intraoperative bleeding[(150.2±42.2) ml vs. (213.5±61.0) ml, P=0.043], shorter interval to first flatus[(2.4±0.9) d vs. (3.1±1.2) d, P=0.026], and shorter hospital stay[(9.3±2.6) d vs. (11.6±3.4) d, P=0.039]. There were no significant differences in the incidence of complications such as anastomotic separation, hemorrhage, wound infection, pelvic sepsis, and intestinal obstruction between the two groups(P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSHALS is as safe as open approach for total proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis, and short-term outcomes are better than laparotomy.

Anal Canal ; Anastomosis, Surgical ; Biopsy ; Colectomy ; Colonic Pouches ; Digestive System Surgical Procedures ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Laparotomy ; Length of Stay ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo detect the expression of fibroblast activation protein(FAP) in colorectal cancer tissue, and to investigate the association between expression of FAP with pathological parameters.

METHODSFifty-five cancer tissues and 50 normal colorectal samples were examined using immunohistochemistry with anti-FAP polyclonal antibody. The distribution of positive cells in different tissues, and associations of positive cell number with tumor staging, lymph node metastasis and tumor invasion were investigated to evaluate the effects of FAP on pathological progress in colorectal cancer.

RESULTSNo FAP expression was observed in 50 normal colorectal tissue samples. FAP positive cells were seen in carcinoma associated fibroblasts(CAFs), and in few colorectal cancer cells. The numbers of FAP positive cells in tissue samples of TNM III(-IIII((40.1±15.9) was significantly greater than that of TNMI(-II( (18.3±7.7)(P<0.01). Furthermore, the number of FAP positive cells in tissue samples with lymph node metastasis (44.4±13.3) was also significantly higher than those without lymph node metastasis (18.5±8.1)(P<0.01). Significant positive correlations were found between the number of FAP-positive cells with the tumor TNM staging and lymph node metastasis(r=0.544 and r=0.793, respectively)(P<0.01). The number of FAP-positive cells was 25.2±8.9 in T2, 32.41±19.30 in T3, and 29.2±16.5 in T4. The association between number of positive cells and depth of invasion was not statistically significant(P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe FAP mainly expresses in CAFs locating in colorectal cancer tissues. The number of FAP positive cells is positively correlated with TNM staging of colorectal cancer and lymph node metastasis.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Case-Control Studies ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Gelatinases ; metabolism ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Membrane Proteins ; metabolism ; Middle Aged ; Serine Endopeptidases ; metabolism