Autophagy is a kind of ubiquitous physiological mechanism in normal and abnormal cells.Autophagy plays a key role in protein equilibrium and cleaning impaired organelle to maintain homeostasis in cells.It plays different roles at different stages of carcinogenesis by promoting tumor development or inhibiting tumor growth.It has potential applications for tumor therapy by up-regulating or down-regulating the level of au-tophagy in tumor cells.

Objective To determine the prevalence and influencing factors of urinary calculi,to explore the interIrelationships between urinary stone disease and various risk and protective factors,to determine the potential implications for intervention and prevention in Changsha,and to evaluate the relative importance of each risk factor,with the objective of providing scientific guidelines for urinary calculi prevention and diagnosis. Methods A case-control study was designed,and 66,772 people were surveyed.Ultrasound examination,blood biochemistry,general physical examination,gender and age were asked in a questionnaire to determine a diagnosis of urolithiasis.By means of SPSS software a x2 tendency test and non-condition Logistic regression were conducted. Results A multivariate Logistic regression analyses was conducted.The final factors entered into the model were sex,age,profession,dietary habits,drinking habits,smoking and level of uric acid. Conclusions Hazard factors associated with urolithiasis are male gender,age,profession,dietary and drinking habits,smoking and level of uric acid.

Interleukin-24 (IL-24) is a novel cancer suppressor cytokine. It can suppress cancer cell growth, induce cancer cell apoptosis, inhibit angiogenesis, stimulate the PBMC secretion of cytokines, and enhance the antitumor activity of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeting gene-virotherapy. It is reasonable to suggest that IL-24 may be a powerful and effective protocol for combinatorial cancer treatment in the clinic.

BACKGROUND: To review progressions in the pharmacological study of natural plant Ficus carica L. (fig), summarize its main pharmacological effects so as to manifest values in clinical practice.DATA SOURCES: .By computer retrieval system, the relevant papers on the researches on Ficus carica were retrieved on Medline from January 1950 to September 2004 and limited at the referred word "Ficus carica" in English. Simultaneously, the relevant papers were searched by the computer on China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database from January 1999 to September 2004, focusing on the referred word "Fieus carica" in Chinese.STUDY SELECTION: Of all the relevant papers, ones focusing on the pharmacological study of Ficus carica were selected and the whole text were checked, meanwhile those had no relation with the pharmacological latex as well as various constituents and preparations. Exclusion criterion:repeated studies.DATA EXTRACTION: A total of 226 papers were checked on the study of Ficus carica, 30 papers were consistent with the standards. Among the 196 excluded papers, 189 were excluded because they were clinical experience report or repeated studies, 7 were reviews.DATA SYNTHESIS: Investigations of the fig, its leaves and latex as well as various constituents and preparations, have revealed many pharmacological effects such as: anti-tumor effects, the ability to mediate body metabolism, mediating hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and cholesterol levels, enhancing oxidation resistance, antibiotic effects, antivirus effects, the ability to mediate immunity, activating blood coagulation etc. It also may play an important role in supportive therapy in tumor treatment by reducing toxicity and side effects in actinotheraphy and chemotherapy. Several reports of anaphylaxis after fig intake have reported both in China and abroad.CONCLUSION: As an herb, fig has wide pharmacological effects and clinical practise values. The main pharmacological studies of it were focused on its anti-tumor effects and the ability to mediate body metabolism.Separation and purification of its active components and determining the interactions between them as well as the pharmacological and toxicological effects need further study. New pharmacological effect s will be found by studying various fig extracts.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC), which accounts for about 15%of lung cancer cases, is an aggressive disease characterized by rapid growth and early widespread metastasis. Despite sensitive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, SCLC is vulnerable to get resistant and has high recurrence rates. Therefore, novel therapies are desperately needed to improve treatment efficacy and increase overall survival. A complex molecular biological alteration of SCLC accounts for its pathogenesis and chemo-resistance. With the understand-ing of SCLC biologic behavior and improvement of detection technique, immunotherapy may be a viable therapeutic approach and bring breakthrough to the treatment of patients with SCLC. In this review, we will discuss the rationale for immunotherapy and recent clinical trials of immunotherapeutic agents for SCLC.

AIM:To determine whether imperatorin would enhance the effect of doxorubicin therapy on cervi -cal cancer in vitro.METHODS:The viability of HeLa cells treated with imperatorin and doxorubicin was determined by MTT assay in vitro.The expression of Bcl-2 protein family ( Mcl-1, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bad and Bax ) in HeLa cells treated with imperatorin and doxorubicin was evaluated by Western blot analysis .The apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane poten-tial (ΔΨm ) in the HeLa cells treated with imperatorin and doxorubicin were analyzed by flow cytometry .A Mcl-1 expres-sion vector was constructed , and its role in the cytotoxicity of imperatorin plus doxorubicin to HeLa cells was detected by MTT assay.RESULTS: Addition of imperatorin significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin to HeLa cells in vitro.Mcl-1 expression was down-regulated by imperatorin but was not influenced by doxorubicin in the HeLa cells .A com-bination of imperatorin and doxorubicin induced apoptosis and ΔΨm collapse more significantly compared with the treatment with imperatorin or doxorubicin alone .Furthermore, the imperatorin-induced sensitization for doxorubicin cytotoxicity to HeLa cells was abolished by the transfection with Mcl-1 expression plasmid .CONCLUSION:The combination of doxoru-bicin with imperatorin enhances the antitumor effect of doxorubicin on cervical cancer cells via targeting Mcl -1.

Objective To evaluate the influence of ProTaper rotary nickel-titanium files root preparation on root canal filling . Methods 30 cases of molars pulpitis and 20 cases of premolars pulpitis or periapical periodontitis were equally divided into two groups .The group A(30 cases) used the ProTaper rotary nickel-titanium files in root canal preparation and the group B (30 cases) adopted the common K files modified step-back technique for root canal preparation .The influence of the root preparation by 2 sets of apparatus on the effect of root canal filling ,and the several aspects of the root canal filling time ,the matching degree of main root canal file and master gutta-percha ,proper filling rate ,postoperative reaction of root canal filling were compared for conducting the e-valuation .Results In the mean root canal filling time of the group A ,average premolar time was 4 min 25 s and molar was 1 min 30 s ,however in the group B ,average premolar was 5 min 30 s and molar was 11 min 41 s ,the time in the group A was greatly short-ened with statistical difference(P<0 .05);the matching degree of main root canal file and master gutta-percha in the group A was 86 .37% for premolar and 88 .89% for molar ,however in the B group ,which was 62 .50% for premolar and 26 .67% for molar ,the matching degree in the group A was greatly improved with statistical difference between them (P<0 .05);the proper filling rate of upper premolar from the X-ray film was 72 .73% in the group A and 70 .83% in the group B ,while which of molar was 80 .0% in the group A and 77 .78% in the group B ,here was no statistical difference between them (P>0 .05);the postoperative pain reaction of root canal filling in both groups were very low and weak without statistical difference .Conclusion The ProTaper rotary nickel-titanium files root preparation can accelerate the root canal filling speed ,improve the matching degree of main root canal files and master gutta-percha and simplify the root-filling therapy procedure .

The technique of Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been widely applied as alternative treatment for non resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and has equivalent efficacy in prognosis.However,because of the restriction of current heat ablation technique and tumor's special location in liver,it is difficult for some physicians to obtain the ideal of one-off complete ablation.Therefore,incomplete destruction of tumor and multiple ablation processes resulted in miserable consequence in prognosis.So,to achieve one-off complete ablation,it is essential to evaluate the anatomy location of the tumor before RFA procedure and to establish the specified approach and adjuvant method.This article is to systematically analyze the theoretical hypothesis of this technique and to explore possible strategy for a safe approach based on characteristics of liver anatomy and combined with the professional advantages of hepatobiliary surgery.

BACKGROUND:In recent years, the morbidity of chronic pancreatitis has been increasing dramaticaly with lifestyle changes. Fortunately, endoscopic pancreatic stenting for patients with chronic pancreatitis shows favorable clinical prospects.OBJECTIVE:To introduce the advantages and disadvantages of various stent materials and to review the development and clinical application of pancreatic stents.METHODS: With the key words of chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic stent in Chinese and English, respectively, a computer-based search was performed for articles published in CNKI and PubMed databases from January 2005 to November 2016. After the initial screening, articles related to endoscopic pancreatic stenting usedin vitro,in vivo or in clinic were included.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Endoscopic pancreatic stenting has become a recognized treatment for chronic pancreatitis in recent years. Therefore, the development and application of the materials of pancreatic duct stents appear to be particularly important. According to different materials, pancreatic duct stents can be classified into plastic stents, fully covered self-expandable metal stents, and biodegradable stents. The complications, including stent migration and secondary surgery, frequently appear in the clinical use of plastic pancreatic duct stents and self-expandable metal stents, although they have been widely used in clinical practice. Biodegradable pancreatic duct stents can be degraded completely in the pancreatic duct within the expected time, and thereby avoid several complications. Consequently, the exploitation and application of biodegradable pancreatic duct stents have become an issue of concern.

OBJECTIVE: To review the outcomes of experiments about vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and the effect of it on bone formation, and to make sure whether VEGF can promote bone formation or not.DATA SOURCES: Electronic data searches were performed to obtain data from the databases of http://www.ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed and http://www. zglckf.com. DATA SELECZION: Nearly 30 articles about VEGF and the role of VEGF affecting bone formation were selected, regardless of the randomized design,blind method involved in or not.DATA EXTRACTION: These researches proved the structures, biologic properties and expression of VEGF and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor(VEGFR), and showed that VEGF plays an important role in endochondral ossification by promoting angiogenesis, bone turnover and preventing apoptosis of chondrocyte. In intramembranous ossification, absence of cartilage, osteoblasts are likely producing, and responding to, VEGF. VEGF also acts to recruit and activate osteoclasts as well as stimulate osteoblast chemotaxis, differentiation and matrix mineralization. It is debatable whether local application of exogenous VEGF can promote bone repair or not. However, in certain situation such as ischemia, the increase of VEGF locally may promote bone repair.DATA SYNTHESIS: Compared with the control group, VEGF can promote osteogenesis, bone formation and remodeling through the effect of VEGF on endochondral ossification and intramembranous ossification.CONCLUSION: One possible advantage of local VEGF therapy may be its ability to couple angiogenesis with bone formation and remodeling. If we can ultimately apply VEGF to treat osteonecrosis, bone defect and nonunion, we will find a new therapy for these diseases.