Objective To explore the changes and relationship of serum insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) and leptin in children with growth hormone deficiency(GHD).Method Serum IGF-1 and leptin levels were measured by immunoradiometric assay in 20 prepuberal normal children and 23 children with GHD.Results Serum IGF-1 level in GHD group(51.158?29.988)?g/L was significantly lower than that in controls(112.680?41.540)?g/L.Serum leptin levels in GHD group(6.002?2.204)?g/L was significantly higher than that in controls(4.523?2.204)?g/L.There was no significant correlation between serum IGF-1 and leptin.Conclusion IGF-1 and leptin regulate growth in children with GHD in their individual way.

The successful suppression of clutter arising from stationary or slowly moving tissue is one of the key issues in medical ultrasound color blood imaging. Remaining clutter may cause bias in the mean blood frequency estimation and results in a potentially misleading description of blood-flow. In this paper, based on the principle of general wall-filter, the design process of three classes of filters, infinitely impulse response with projection initialization (Prj-IIR), polynomials regression (Pol-Reg), and eigen-based filters are previewed and analyzed. The performance of the filters was assessed by calculating the bias and variance of a mean blood velocity using a standard autocorrelation estimator. Simulation results show that the performance of Pol-Reg filter is similar to Prj-IIR filters. Both of them can offer accurate estimation of mean blood flow speed under steady clutter conditions, and the clutter rejection ability can be enhanced by increasing the ensemble size of Doppler vector. Eigen-based filters can effectively remove the non-stationary clutter component, and further improve the estimation accuracy for low speed blood flow signals. There is also no significant increase in computation complexity for eigen-based filters when the ensemble size is less than 10.
Blood Flow Velocity ; Color ; Humans ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Ultrasonography

Geriatrics develops relatively late in medical education, but geriatric medical education is rapidly rising for aggravation of the aging of population.And geriatric medical education is desired of the properties medical sciences, and is also the need of the development itself. Therefore, geriatric medical education should be internationalized, to eventually form distinctive education.

Triptolide (TPT), an active compound extracted from Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii , has been used in therapy of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, after synovial fibroblasts from rheumatoid arthritis (RASFs) were treated with TPT, we investigated its effect on the differentiation of Th17 cells. Firstly, the mRNA level of cyclooxygenase (COX) wad detected by qRT-PCR and the protein level of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was tested by ELISA in RASFs treated with different concentrations (0, 10, 50, 100 nmol L-1 ) of TPT. Then after TPT pre-treated RASFs and RA CD4 + T cells wer e co-cultured for 3 days in the presence or absence of PGE2, IL-17 and IFN-gamma production in CD4 T cell subsets were detected by flow cytometry. The results showed TPT decreased the mRNA experssion of COX2 and the secretion of PGE2 in RASFs in a dose-dependent manner(P <0. 05). We further found that differentiation of Thl7 cells was downregulated in a dose-dependent manner, and exogenous PGE2 could reverse the inhibition of Th17 cell differentiation(P <0. 05). Taken together, our results demonstrated that TPT inhibited the mRNA level of COX2 and the secretion of PGE2 in RASFs, which partly led to impaired Th17 cell differentiation in vitro.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; immunology ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cell Line ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Dinoprostone ; metabolism ; Diterpenes ; pharmacology ; Epoxy Compounds ; pharmacology ; Fibroblasts ; drug effects ; immunology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic ; drug effects ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Phenanthrenes ; pharmacology ; Synovial Fluid ; drug effects ; Th17 Cells ; drug effects ; pathology

Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Granulosa Cells ; drug effects ; secretion ; Ivermectin ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Rats

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Solvents ; analysis ; chemistry ; Volatile Organic Compounds ; analysis ; chemistry

Objective To investigate effects of different doses of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in fetal mouse osteoblasts.Methods Calvaria osteoblasts of fetal mice of 19 days were cultured.The effects of rhBMP-2 at different doses and different action times on VEGF expression patterns in fetal mouse osteoblasts were observed with reverse transcrip- tion-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot staining.Results In the present study,RT-PCR detected a steady expression of VEGF mRNA in the control fetal mouse osteoblasts.The levels of VEGF mRNA increased in an apparent biphasic manner with a maximum stimulation (about 2-fold above the control,P＜0.05 ) in both VEGF mRNA species observed at 300 ng/mL of rbBMP-2.After 48 h of rhBMP-2 treatment,the VEGF mRNA levels approached those in the control.The VEGF mRNA levels appeared to be biphasic in rhBMP-2-treated cultures,showing peak induction at 3 and 24 h and remaining elevated at 48 b.Compared with the individual control value at each time point,an apparent maximum increase (about 2.5-fold above the control,P＜0.05) occurred at 6 h.The second peak induction,about 2-fold above that in the control,occurred at about 36 h.Conclusions The expression of VEGF mRNA is steady in the control fetal mouse osteoblasts.RhBMP-2 can promote the expression of VEGF in dose-dependent and time-dependent manners.

Objective To investigate the CT features of pulmonary sarcoidosis.Methods Ninety patients with histologically proved pulmonary sarcoidosis were retrospectively studied by using CT scans and clinical recording.Results The main CT findings of pulmonary sarcoidosis were nodules which were seen in 69 cases(76.7%),and the nodules mostly distributed around the bronchovascular bundle(n=37, 41.1%).Other abnormalities included consolidation(n=31,34.4%),ground-grass(n=39,43.3 %), thickening of bronchovascular bundle(n=30,33.3%),interlobular septal lines(n=58,64.4%), fibrosis(n=17,18.9%)including bronchial distortion(n=8,8.9%),linear shadow(n=5,5.6%), and honeycombing shadow(n=4,4.4%),air-trapping(n=3,5.3%),bronchial straitness(n=8, 8.9%),pleural thickening(n=42,46.7%),and hilar and mediastinal adenopathy(n=76,84.4%). Two or more abnormal findings co-existed in 83 cases.The pulmonary lesions co-existed with hilar and mediastinal adenopathy in 76 cases.The nodules(n=25),consolidation(n=9),ground-grass(n=11), thickening of bronehovascular bundle(n=10)were improved after therapy.Ten cases of the interlobular septal(10/22),0 of bronchial distortion(0/4),1 case of diffuse linear(1/3),and 0 case of honeycombing(0/2)were improved.Conclusion CT manifestations of pulmonary sarcoidosis are varied, but has some specific radiographic features.A correct diagnosis can be made.combined with hilar and mediastinal adenopathy.

Objective To investigate calcineurin signaling pathway which mediates myocardium apoptosis of right heart in rats with chronic hypoxia and the potential mechanisms of it.Methods A rat model of right ventricular hypertrophy(RVH) was established induced by chronic hypoxia(95-105 mL?L-1 O2).Used randomized block design based on different brood,30 rats were divided into 3 groups:treatment group with cyclosporine A(CsA,10 mg?kg-1?d-1,intraperitoneal injection),chronic hypoxia group,normal control group(with normal oxygen).The rats in CsA treatment group and chronic hypoxia group were exposed to normobaric chronic hypoxia(95-105 mL?L-1 O2,21 days).Apoptotic index(AI),calcineurin A?(CnA?) mRNA levels,Bcl-2 mRNA levels and the protein expression levels of CnA?,nuclear factor 3 of activated T cells(NFAT3) and Bcl-2 in right ventricle were investigated.Results 1.The AI of treatment group with CsA was higher than that in chronic hypoxia group(P

AIM:To evaluate the repeatability of axial length (AL) and anterior chamber depth (ACD) obtained by A scan ultrasonography, and to compare AL and ACD obtained by A scan with those obtained by IOL Master.METHODS:Two hundred and fifty-seven cataract eyes of 170 patients were included.IOL Master and A scan were performed for each eye.Five measurements of IOL Master and 3 measurements of A scan were obtained.All the tested eyes were divided into 5 groups according to AL obtained by A scan:Group A (2129mm, 21 eyes).Cronbach's Alpha coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were applied to evaluate the repeatability of AL and ACD obtained by A scan.Paired t test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze the differences and correlations of AL and ACD obtained by the 2 devices, respectively.Bland-Altman plots were presented to analyze the agreements of AL and ACD obtained by the 2 devices.RESULTS:All the Cronbach's Alpha and ICCs of AL and ACD values were more than 0.98.The differences of AL values between A scan and IOL Master were-0.11±0.08mm in Group A,-0.15±0.10mm in Group B,-0.19±0.15 mm in Group C,-0.29±0.16mm in Group D and-0.45±0.29mm in Group E, respectively (all P<0.01).The differences of ACD values between A scan and IOL Master were-0.10±0.16mm in Group A,-0.06±0.13mm in Group B,-0.06±0.13mm in Group C,-0.19±0.10mm in Group D,-0.18±0.21mm in Group E, respectively (all P<0.01).In all groups, the AL and ACD values obtained by A scan and IOL Master presented good correlations (all r>0.89, all P<0.01).CONCLUSION:The AL and ACD values in cataract eyes obtained by A scan were repeatable.The AL and ACD values obtained by A scan were smaller than those obtained by IOL Master.With the increase of AL values, the differences of AL values between A scan and IOL Master increased.