OBJECTIVETo explore the correlation between Pi and Shen by observing the relationship between the metabolism of aristolochic acid (AA) and mRNA and protein expression levels of organic anion transporting polypeptide (oatp) superfamily member 2a1 and 2 b1 (oatp2al and oatp2bl) in renal, small intestinal, and large intestinal tissues of Pi deficiency syndrome (PDS) model rats.

METHODSTotally 46 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups, i.e., the blank group (n = 12), the PDS group (n = 22), the AA-I group (n = 6), and the PDS AA-I group (n = 6). PDS model was established by subcutaneously injecting Reserpine at the daily dose of 5 mg/kg for 16 successive days. Carotid intubation was performed in 6 rats selected from the blank group and the PDS group. Pharmacokinetics of AA-I were detected at 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60 min after gastrogavage of AA-I. AA-I concentrations in renal, small intestinal, and large intestinal tissues of 10 rats selected from the PDS group were determined. Normal saline was administered to 6 rats selected from the PDS group and the blank group by gastrogavage. Renal, small intestinal, and large intestinal tissues were collected in the AA-I group and the PDS AA-I group at 60 min after gastrogavage of AA-I. mRNA and protein expression levels of oatp2a1 and oatp2b1 in each tissue were detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT- PCR) and Western blot.

RESULTSCompared with the blank group, plasma concentrations of in vivo AA-I were obviously higher in the PDS group at 15, 30, 45, and 60 min after gastrogavage of AA-I with statistical difference (P < 0.05). Plasma concentrations of AA-I were obviously decreased at 60 min after gastrogavage of AA-I; AA-I concentrations in renal and large intestinal tissues were elevated; AA-I concentrations in small intestinal tissues were obviously reduced in the PDS group. There was no statistical difference in mRNA expression levels of oatp2a1 and oatp2b1 in the aforesaid three tissues of rats between the blank group and the PDS group. Compared with the blank group, mRNA expression levels of oatp2a1 and oatp2b1 decreased in small intestinal tissues of the AA-I group, and the mRNA expression level of oatp2a1 in large intestinal tissues significantly decreased (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Compared with the PDS group, mRNA expression levels of oatp2a1 and oatp2b1 increased in renal tissues of the PDS AA-I group (P < 0.05); mRNA expression levels of oatp2b1 increased in large intestinal tissues of the PDS AA-I group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe difference in AA-I metabolism might be associated with changed expression levels of oatp2a1 and oatp2b1 in renal, small intestinal, and large intestinal tissues under Pi deficiency induced loss of transportation. Shen and Dachang played important roles in substance metabolism under Pi deficiency state, which proved Pi-Shen correlated in Chinese medical theories.

Animals ; Anions ; Aristolochic Acids ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Kidney ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Organic Cation Transport Proteins ; metabolism ; Peptides ; RNA, Messenger ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Background: In China, most patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) are diagnosed at a late stage and con-sequently have a poor prognosis. This study aimed to investigate potential factors associated with the clinical stage of NPC at diagnosis. Methods: Data were obtained from 118 patients with early-stage NPC and 274 with late-stage NPC who were treated at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between August 2014 and July 2015. Patients were individually matched by age, sex, and residence, and a conditional logistic regression model was applied to assess the associa-tions of clinical stage at diagnosis with socioeconomic status indicators, knowledge of NPC, physical examinations, patient interval, and risk factors for NPC. Results: Although knowledge of early NPC symptoms, smoking cessation, and patient interval were important fac-tors, the number of cigarettes smoked per day, motorbike ownership, and physical examination exhibited the strong-est associations with the clinical stage of NPC at diagnosis. Compared with smoking fewer than ten cigarettes a day, smoking 10–30 cigarettes [odds ratio (OR) 4.03; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11–14.68] or more than 30 cigarettes (OR 11.46; 95% CI 1.26–103.91) was associated with an increased risk of late diagnosis. Compared with not owning a motorbike, owning a motorbike (OR 0.38; 95% CI 0.23–0.64) was associated with early diagnosis. Subjects who under-went physical examinations were less likely to receive a late diagnosis than those who did not undergo examinations (OR 0.50; 95% CI 0.28–0.89). However, indicators of wealth were not significant factors. Conclusions: Initiatives to improve NPC patient prognosis should aim to promote knowledge about early symptoms and detection, health awareness, and accessibility to health facilities among all patients, regardless of socioeconomic status.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the constitution and health status of the Beijing residents, and the primary influencing factors on nutrition and health, as to finding out the epidemiological characters and the changing trend of chronic diseases and to establish scientific basis for the establishment of public health and disease prevention policies of Beijing.

METHODSA stratified multi-stage cluster randomly sampling method was used. In total, 18 districts were surveyed, and among them, 9 were conducted dietary survey. The investigation was based on household, and all family members were surveyed at their home. After having got the compliance from the family members, question asking, medical examination, laboratory test and dietary investigation were carried out in these people.

RESULTSThe incidence rate of hypertension was 25.0% for the resident > or = 15 year-old, and over 50% for middle-aged and elderly people (> or = 45 years old). The incidence of diabetes for those not younger than 15 years old was 7.7%. The over-weight rate and the obesity rate for adults were 35.1% and 20.6%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe following risk factors of chronic disease, such as unreasonable diet pattern, deficient intake of some micronutrients, over-weight and obesity, lack of physical examination, smoking and over-drinking, should be the important factors influencing the health of Beijing residents severely.

China ; epidemiology ; Diabetes Mellitus ; epidemiology ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Hypertension ; epidemiology ; Incidence ; Life Style ; Male ; Nutritional Status ; Obesity ; epidemiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

The study was aimed to investigate the potential immunotherapeutical values of umbilical cord tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSC) on patients with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). UC-MSC was cocultured in vitro with splenocytes isolated from ITP patients who experienced splenectomy. The level of IgG antiplatelet antibody (PAIgG) was determined by a competitive micro-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. The proliferation of platelet-reactive CD4+ T lymphocytes was also measured in the presence of UC-MSCs. The results showed that UC-MSCs could stimulate the spontaneous secretion of PAIgG in supernatants; In the platelet-inducing condition, UC-MSC inhibited the production of PAIgG at a low ratio of 1 UC-MSC to 100 splenocytes, but promoted at a high proportion of 1 UC-MSC to 10 splenocytes. Moreover, UC-MSC exerted a suppressive effect on proliferation of platelet-reactive T helper cells in a dose-dependent manner. It is concluded that the UC-MSCs can regulate secretion of antiplatelet antibodies in vitro. Its concrete regulation mechanism and potential immunotherapeutical value are need to further study.
Antibodies ; metabolism ; Blood Platelets ; immunology ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; cytology ; Cell Proliferation ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Lymphocyte Activation ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; physiology ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic ; metabolism ; Spleen ; cytology ; Umbilical Cord ; physiology

Detection of the PML/RARalpha fusion gene by RT-PCR in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) blasts is not only critical to commence promptly the specific therapy with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) or arsenic trioxide (As(2)O(3)), but also essential for the definition of PML breakpoint type and subsequent monitoring of minimal residual disease (MRD). The current PML/RARalpha amplification techniques with conventional nested PCR are laborious and time consuming, which fails to meet the requirements for rapid diagnosis of APL in clinical practice. Therefore, an easily handled RT-PCR methodology for the rapid and accurate amplification of PML/RARalpha fusion transcripts is needed. A modified one round RT-PCR protocol was described with a few variations which includes rapid extraction of high quality cellular total RNA, cDNA synthesis with random hexamer and M-MLV reverse transcriptase, optimal concentrations of MgCl(2) (1 mmol/L), PCR primers (0.4 micro mol/L) and Taq polymerase (0.01 U/ micro l), hot-start procedure, and concomitant amplification of PML/RARalpha fusion gene and RARalpha internal control under the identical thermocycle parameters. The results in 40 patients with newly diagnosed APL showed that the improved RT-PCR protocol allowed the rapid detection of PML/RARalpha fusion gene and the accurate discrimination of its transcript types, and simultaneous amplification of RARalpha internal control under the identical program in less than 6 hours. There were no false positive or negative results found with the assay. In conclusion, the assay reported here is proved to be a simple, easily handled, and highly specific procedure for the diagnosis of APL cases, particularly those requiring such urgent therapeutic intervention as ATRA or As(2)O(3) and meriting its further application in APL management.
Humans ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Neoplasm Proteins ; genetics ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Bmi-1 is a transcriptional repressor, which belongs to the polycomb group family. It has been demon- started that over-expression of Bmi-1 occurs in a variety of cancers, including several types of leukemia. Bmi-1 gene plays a key role in regulation of self-renewal in normal and leukemic stem cells. Acute myeloid leukemic cells lacking Bmi-1 undergo proliferation arrest and show signs of differentiation and apoptosis, which leads to the proposal of Bmi-1 as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in leukemia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting Bmi-1 on functions of K562 cell line. The shRNA eukaryotic expression vector targeting Bmi-1 was constructed and transfected into K562 cells through lipofectamine 2000. The mRNA and protein levels of Bmi-1 were detected by PCR and Western blot respectively. The proliferation of K562 after Bmi-1 silencing was measured by using MTT assay and clone formation assay. The cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry. The results indicated that among the four shRNA designed, there was a shRNA which efficiently interfered with the expression of Bmi-1. The results of PCR and Western blot validated that the Bmi-1 gene of K562 cells transfected with such a Bmi-1 shRNA was suppressed successfully. Although levels of Bmi-1 mRNA and protein were significantly reduced, delivery of this siRNAs had no effect on cell viability or growth. Flow cytometry analysis suggested that Bmi-1 inhibition did not affect the cell cycle. It is concluded that the suppression of Bmi-1 expression is not able to reduce proliferation of K562 cells, suggesting existence of some other parallel signaling pathways, which are fundamental for leukemic transformation and are independent of Bmi-1 over-expression. Bmi-1 over-expression may play a secondary role in chronic myeloid leukemia transformation.
Cell Proliferation ; Cell Survival ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; genetics ; Nuclear Proteins ; genetics ; Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins ; genetics ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Repressor Proteins ; genetics ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo study the in vitro antitumor activity of bcl-2 fully phosporothioated antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (bcl-2 ASODN) to malignant lymphoblastic cells.

METHODSProliferation and apoptosis of Raji cells incubated with bcl-2 ASODN were evaluated by MTT assay, flow cytometry (FCM) and electron microscopy, and the level of bcl-2 protein and mRNA expression were assessed by FCM and RT-PCR, respectively.

RESULTSMTT assay demonstrated that bcl-2 ASODN could partially inhibit the growth of Raji cells. After incubated with ASODN for 48 hours, Raji cells exhibited characteristic morphologic changes of apoptosis, including cytoplasm membrane blebbing, chromatin condensation crescents formation and nuclear fragmentation. The apoptosis rate of Raji cells treated with 20 micromol/L bcl-2 ASON for 72 hrs was 43.86% which is significantly higher than that of control (10.05%). The bcl-2 ASODN induced apoptosis of Raji cells was accompanied by declined expression of bcl-2 mRNA, which decreased to 0.88% at 72 hrs and was significantly lower than that of control (79.54%).

CONCLUSIONbcl-2 ASODN induced Raji cells apoptosis by downregulating bcl-2 protein.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Division ; drug effects ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Flow Cytometry ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; drug effects ; Humans ; Oligonucleotides, Antisense ; pharmacology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; drug effects ; genetics ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; drug effects ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo retrospective analysis the complications after treatment of metacarpal and phalangeal fractures with internal fixation, and propose measures to prevent or reduce surgical complications.

METHODSFrom July 2007 to October 2009, 342 patients with metacarpal and phalangeal fractures were treated with internal fixation,including 203 males and 139 females with an average age of 30.4 years old ranging from 18 to 56 years. There were 217 right hands and 125 left hands, 38 cases of the first metacarpal fracture, 47 cases of the second metacarpal fracture, 52 cases of the third metacarpal fracture, 40 cases of the forth metacarpal fracture, 39 cases of the fifth metacarpal fracture, 43 cases of the proximal phalangeal fractures, 52 cases of the middle phalangeal fractures, and 48 case of the distal phalangeal fractures. The fractures were fixed with K-wires in 129 patients, mini plates in 153 cases, screws in 48 cases, wires in 12 cases.

RESULTSAll 324 patients were followed up for 3 to 15 months (averaged 8.5 months) and complications occurred in 74 patients (22.84%). The main complication was unhealthy wound healing in 24 patients (7.4%), others was adhesion of tendon in 54 patients (16.67%), malunion in 34 patients (10.49%), nonunion in 13 patients (4.01%) and shortening of metacarpal and phalangeal in 21 patients (7.41%).

CONCLUSIONThe important reasons responsible for complications are iatrogenic factors such as unsuitable implant selection, unskillful surgical technique and improper post-operative functional rehabilitation.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Female ; Finger Phalanges ; diagnostic imaging ; injuries ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; adverse effects ; Fractures, Bone ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Metacarpal Bones ; diagnostic imaging ; injuries ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; prevention & control ; Recovery of Function ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo report 7 cases of acquired hemoglobin H in myelodysplastic syndromes.

CASE DATA AND DISCUSSIONClinical materials of the 7 cases were retrospectively presented. Clinical features of the similar cases in literatures were reviewed. The criteria for diagnosis of this entity by Steensma and its pathogenesis were discussed.

CONCLUSIONThis entity is a new subtype of MDS with unique clinical features and pathogenesis, and might be a proper model in the study of MDS transformation.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; complications ; alpha-Thalassemia ; complications