Objective To evaluate the value of (1 ,3)‐β‐D‐glucan(G test) in the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary fungal infection (IPFI)in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) .Methods 96 COPD patients with high risk of IPFI were en‐rolled in the study ,and were divided into IPFI group and non‐IPFI group .The G test were performed on those people while the tra‐ditional methods sputum smear and fungal culture were also performed .The (1 ,3)‐β‐D‐glucan concentrations of IPFI group and non‐IPFI group were compared ,and then the areas under receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) were calculated .The sensi‐tivity ,specificity ,positive predictive value ,negative predictive value ,and the area under ROC of the two methods (G test and tradi‐tional methods) were compared .Results The sensitivity ,specificity ,positive predictive value ,negative predictive value of G test were 89 .5% ,89 .6% ,68 .0% ,97 .2% ,respectively ,when 20 pg/mL was the critical value .Areas under curve were 0 .942 for G test ,and 0 .790 for traditional method .Conclusion The detection of (1 ,3)‐β‐D‐glucan might be faster and with higher positive rate than traditional method ,and could be used for the early diagnosis of IPFI ,provide reference for the treatment .

An 11 year old girl presented with dyspnea and a rough cough, after having mistakenly swallowed a steel ball and unable to relieve the symptoms. Chest X-ray showed an image consistent with a 10 mm diameter circular object, embedded in the right mainstem bronchi near the fifth thoracic level and the medicastinal moving to the right. A clinical diagnosis based on these findings: foreign body of the right bronchial.
Bronchi ; pathology ; Bronchoscopes ; Bronchoscopy ; Child ; Female ; Foreign Bodies ; surgery ; Humans ; Laryngoscopy

OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation of the deleted azoospermia (DAZ) gene copy related to gr/gr and b2/b3 deletions in the AZFc region with male spermatogenic impairment.

METHODSThis study included 121 infertile men with different de- grees of spermatogenic impairment and 95 healthy donors from the sperm bank. Using PCR, PCR-RFLP, and Y chromosome specific sequence tagged sites (STS) , we analyzed the association of DAZ gene copy deletions related to gr/gr and b2/b3 deletions in the AZFc region with spermatogenic impairment.

RESULTSThere were 15 cases of gr/gr deletion (12. 40% ) and 6 cases of b2/b3 deletion (4.96%) in the infertility group as compared with 13 cases of gr/gr deletion (13.68%) and 1 case of b2/b3 deletion (1.05%) in the control. Analysis of the DAZ-specific single nucleotide variant (SNV) loci revealed 11 gr/gr-DAZI/DAZ2 deletions (9.09%), 4 gr/gr-DAZ3/DAZ4 deletions (3.31%), and 6 b2/b3-DAZ1/DAZ2 deletions (4.96%) in the infertile men in comparison with 3 gr/ gr-DAZ1/DAZ2 deletions (3.16%), 10 gr/gr-DAZ3/DAZ4 deletions (10.53%), and 1 b2/b3- DAZ3/DAZ4 deletion (1.05%) in the control.

CONCLUSIONPartial deletions of gr/gr and b2/b3 exist in both healthy men and male patients with different degrees of spermatogenic impairment and cannot be considered as a risk factor for spermatogenesis impairment. However, deletions of different DAZ duplicons in gr/gr and b2/b3 deletions have different effects on spermatogenesis. DAZ1/DAZ2 instead of DAZ3/DAZ4 deletions might be associated with spermatogenesis impairment.

Deleted in Azoospermia 1 Protein ; Gene Deletion ; Gene Dosage ; Humans ; Male ; RNA-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Spermatogenesis ; genetics

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignant tumors as well as a frequent cause of cancer-related mortality in men worldwide. The test of serum markers has dramatically improved the early diagnosis of PCa, but its underlying molecular mechanisms are not yet completely identified. Long noncoding RNA (IncRNA) is emerging as a new player in the PCa paradigm demonstrating its potential roles in both oncogenic and tumor suppressive pathways. LncRNA is frequently aberrantly expressed in the majority of PCa cases. This review highlights recent findings of the aberrant expression of lncRNA in PCa and discusses its novel roles in the diagnosis, prediction, prognosis, metastasis, and potential clinical treatment of PCa.
Humans ; Male ; Prognosis ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; RNA, Long Noncoding ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the factors influencing the prognosis of penis-sparing surgery (PSS) for early-stage penile cancer.

METHODSWe retrospectively studied the clinical data about 45 cases of early-stage penile cancer treated by PSS from January 2007 to December 2014. We calculated the rate of local recurrence-free survival by the Kaplan-Meier method, and conducted univariate and multivariate COX regression analyses on the relevant factors including the patient's age, marital status, tumor location, tumor size, postoperative sexual life, histological grade, and TNM stage.

RESULTSOne-year and three-year local recurrence-free survival rates were 95.5% and 52.2%, respectively. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the histological grade (P = 0.039) and postoperative sexual life (P = 0.049) were independent factors for the prognosis of PSS. Logistic regression showed the patients age to be significantly associated with histological grade (P = 0.014).

CONCLUSIONHistological grade and postoperative sexual life are important independent prognostic factors of PSS for early-stage penile cancer, and the patients age is associated with the prognosis of PSS through its influence on the tumor grade.

Age Factors ; Disease-Free Survival ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Grading ; Organ Sparing Treatments ; Penile Neoplasms ; surgery ; Penis ; surgery ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Quality of Life ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo screen the learning and memory mutant from N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) mutagenic zebrafish F1, and to get the new model animal to study the mechanism of learning and memory.

METHODSZebrafish mutant was screened by inhibitory avoidance behavioral test and identified by the expression of gene c-fos with qRT-PCR.

RESULTSWe isolated a zebrafish mutant related to learning and memory, fgt. In this fgt zebrafish mutant long-term memory was much lower than that in wild-type when tested at 24 h after training. The 24 h long-term memory in about half of fgt mutant F2 (13/30) were significantly lower than those in wild-type, and the others relatively normal. Compared with the expression in wild-type fishes, the expression of immediate-early genes (IEGs) c-fos in half of fgt mutant F2 (13/30) after exploring in a novel environment increased distinctly from the basal control levels statistically, and the others relatively normal, which were in accordance with the behavioral results.

CONCLUSIONThe zebrafish mutant fgt is a dominant mutant with defect in long-term memory.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Genes, Immediate-Early ; Genetic Testing ; Male ; Memory, Long-Term ; Zebrafish ; genetics

For studying the expression and distribution of angiotensinogen (AGT), the C-teminus of rat AGT gene was expressed in E.coli. Rabbits were immunized with expressed AGT protein and sera from different rabbits were raised. ELISA showed a high titre (1:25600) of the antiserum. With the antiserum, Western blotting recognized not only the prokaryotic expressed AGT, but also the endogenous AGT protein in liver tissue of both rats and humans. Using this antiserum, immunohistochemistry showed the expression of AGT protein in islet cells of human pancreas as well as in epithelium of human bile duct. These results suggest that the prokaryotic expressed AGT protein is an effective immunogen for the preparation of anti-AGT antiserum. Our present work provides an important tool for study of the pathophysiological role of AGT as well as local renin-angiotensin system.
Angiotensinogen ; genetics ; immunology ; Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; biosynthesis ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; biosynthesis ; immunology ; Immunization ; Rabbits ; Rats ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Renin-Angiotensin System ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo assess the clinical efficacy and safety of surrounding needle, moxibustion and hot compress of TCM herbs for localized scleroderma.

METHODSForty-two cases of localized scleroderma were randomly divided into an acupuncture + herb group (23 cases, group A) and a heparin sodium group (19 cases, group B). Both the two groups were orally administrated with centella triterpenes tablets and vitamin E, group A was additionally treated with surrounding needle at local area, moxibustion at affected site and Hegu (LI 4), Zu sanli (ST 36) as well as hot external application of "hot compress herbs" at local location, while group B was treated with external application of heparin sodium cream. Both the two groups were treated for consecutive 6 months, and scores of skin sclerosis, joint pain and function were compared before and after the treatment. Also the efficacy and safety of TCM syndrome were assessed.

RESULTSCompared with that before the treatment, the scores of skin sclerosis, joint pain and joint function in the group A after treatment were significantly decreased (all P < 0.01), the score of skin sclerosis in the group B was improved (P < 0.05), and the three types of score in the group A was obviously lower than those in the group B (both P < 0.05). The total effective rate was 86.4% (19/22) in the group A, which was superior to 52.6% (10/19) in the group B (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe surrounding needle, moxibustion and external application of "hot compress herbs" could improve skin sclerosis in patients with localized scleroderma, which has obvious efficacy and relative safety.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; Scleroderma, Systemic ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Han Chinese children and Val158Met polymorphism of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene caused by the missense mutation of G158A in exon 4.

METHODSBy using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms the Val158Met polymorphism of COMT gene was tested in 117 children with the diagnosis of ADHD as defined by DSM-IV and in 105 healthy controls living in Shanghai.

RESULTSThe frequencies of A allele were 25.21% and 23.81% in the ADHD group and the health controls respectively, which showed no significant difference between the two groups (Chi2=0.5197, P>0.05). There was also no significant difference in the distribution of all genotypes of COMT gene between the ADHD patients and the controls (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONIt was suggested that for the Han Chinese children with ADHD in this study, there was no association between ADHD and Val158Met polymorphism of COMT gene.

Adolescent ; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; enzymology ; genetics ; Catechol O-Methyltransferase ; genetics ; Child ; Exons ; genetics ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Objective:To investigate the role and mechanism of miR-143 in the proliferation and migration of gastric cancer (GC) cells. Methods:Western blot was performed to detect the expression level of avian erythroblastosis oncogene B-3 (ERBB3) in GC tissues, paired non-cancerous tissues, and SGC7901 GC cells. RT-qPCR was conducted to determine the mRNA and miR-143 of ERBB3 quantita-tively. Bioinformatics tools were used to predict the target gene of miR-143. Luciferase reporter assay was carried out to confirm the predicted target gene. Transwell and EdU assays were applied to observe the migration and proliferation of SGC7901 GC cells transfect-ed with miR-143 mimics/inhibitor/NC mimics/inhibitor. Results:Compared with the expression levels of ERBB3 and miR-143 in the paired non-cancerous tissues, the expression level of ERBB3 was upregulated and the expression level of miR-143 was downregulated in GC tissues. In the prediction of the potential target gene, miR-143 could bind to a specific sequence of the 3′-untranslated regions (UTR) of the mRNA of ERBB3. This finding was supported by luciferase reporter assay results. In vitro, ERBB3 protein expression and cell migration and proliferation were suppressed significantly in the SGC7901 cells transfected with miR-143 mimics. By contrast, these processes were remarkably enhanced when the cells were transfected with miR-143 inhibitor. Conclusion:miR-143 can suppress the migration and proliferation of GC cells by downregulating the expression of ERBB3.