Objective: To study the apoptosis and the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in colorec-tal neoplasms and their relationship with neoplasm biological behavior. Methods: Apoptotic index (AI) and proliferative index (PI) were determined in paraffin-embedded tissues from 62 cases of colorectal carcinomas, 15 cases of colon adenomas and 10 cases of normal colon mucosa with immunohistochemistry S-P method and TUNEL technique. Results: The difference of PI and AI was significant in normal colon mucosa, colon adenomas and colorectal carcinomas (P

Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of antinuclear antibody (ANA) and ANA repertoire in the diagnosis of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods ANAs were tested in 64 pa tients with SSc and 30 healthy controls by applying indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) and immunoblotting (IB). Results IIF-ANA assay showed that the positive rate of ANAs was 98. 4% (63/64) in SSc, and ANA staining was mainly shown as homogeneous-nucleolar pattern; IB-ENA test indicated that the antinuclear antibodies were mainly anti-Scl-70, anti-SS-A and anti-nRNP in SSc, and the positive rate was respectively 65.1% (41/64), 29.7% (19/64) and 6.3% (4/64). Conclusion Existence of multiple antibodies in SSc patients may hint that the patients might have other autoimmune diseases or increased risk for other autoimmune diseases. Besides, IB assay significantly increases the sensitivity and specificity of ANAs measurement, and contributes to the diagnosis of SSc.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of thunder-fire moxibustion at Dazhui (GV14) and Shenshu (BL23) in treating mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to ischemic cerebral stroke. Method Sixty patients with MCI due to ischemic cerebral stroke were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 30 cases each. The control group was intervened by joint treatment plus cognitive training, while the treatment group was by thunder-fire moxibustion in addition to that given to the control group. The two groups were evaluated by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), the major symptoms were observed, and the clinical efficacies were compared between the two groups. The two groups were both treated for 8 weeks. Result The total effective rate was 80.0%in the treatment group, versus 70.0% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05). Conclusion The selected acupoints can improve the cognition and activities of daily living (ADL) in MCI patients;thunder-fire moxibustion at Dazhui and Shenshu plus cognitive training can produce a better clinical efficacy than dry cognitive training. Therefore, we can combine thunder-fire moxibustion with modern rehabilitation to enhance the therapeutic efficacy in preventing and treating MCI.

Objective To extract characteristic parameters of ECG signals a new method of non-invasive diagnosis for coronary heart disease with artificial neural network. Methods ECG signals were digitized with A/D converter and filtered to eliminating the noise. Span of QRS interval, R-R interval,and voltage of S-T segment of filtered ECG were detected. These 3 characteristics were as the input parameters of the input layer. Samples were trained with an improved 3-layers back propagation(BP) artificial neural network, as trained samples. The non-trained samples were recognized with these BP neural networks. Results After 12 samples had been trained about 1500 times, the BP neural network could accurately distinguish samples of coronary heart disease from the trained samples and also recognize 20 non-trained samples, 19 to be correct except one. Conclusion It is showed that based on BP network and characteristic parameters of ECG, a new and promising method of non-invasive diagnosis for coronary heart disease has been found.

0.05). Conclusions The high expression of GATA3, a Th2 inducer, may correlate with the disease acti vity of SLE, while T-bet, a Th1 inducer, may not correlate with the disease acti vity.

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of Nazi method of midnight-midday ebb flow plus warm needling moxibustion in treating transient ischemic attack (TIA). Methods Sixty patients with transient ischemic attack were randomly allocated to treatment and control groups, 30 cases each. The control group received routine medication and the treatment group, Nazi method of midnight-midday ebb flow plus warm needling moxibustion in addition. The main clinical symptoms were observed by TCD monitoring of microembolic signals in the two groups before and after treatment. The clinical therapeutic effects were compared between the two groups. Results After treatment, the positive rate of microembolus monitoring was 3.3%in the treatment group and 20.0%in the control group;there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). There was a statistically significant pre-/post-treatment difference in the traditional Chinese medical syndrome score in the two groups (P<0.05). There was a statistically significant post-treatment difference in the traditional Chinese medical syndrome score between the treatment and control groups (P<0.05). The total efficacy rate was 96.7% in the treatment group and 80.0% in the control group;there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). At six months after treatment, the rate of disappearance of TIA, the rate of recurrence of TIA and the rate of occurrence of cerebral infarction were 90.0%, 6.7%and 3.3%, respectively, in the treatment group and 60.0%, 20.0%and 20.0%, respectively, in the control group;there were statistically significant differences between the two groups (P<0.05). Conclusions Nazi method of midnight-midday ebb flow plus warm needling moxibustion can decrease the positive rate of microemboli and shorten transient ischemic attack to prevent cerebral infarction in patients with transient ischemic attack.

AIM: To investigate the effects of PAR-2 agonist peptide on the proliferation and cytosolic calcium concentration ([Ca~(2+)]_c) in human hepatoma cells HepG2. METHODS: Human hepatoma cell line HepG2 was cultured. The cells were treated with PAR-2 agonist peptide SLIGKV-NH_2 and the reverse PAR-2 agonist peptide VKGILS-NH_2, respectively. The [Ca~(2+)]_c of hepatoma cells were measured by microfluorimetric techniques based on calcium indicator fura-2/AM. The influences on proliferation of hepatoma cells were determined by MTT method. The changes of cell cycle were evaluated by flow cytometry, and the changes of cyclin D1 mRNA expression were detected by RT-PCR. RESULTS: After treated with 50 μmol/L SLIGKV-NH_2, a rapid rise of [Ca~(2+)]_c in HepG2 cells was induced (P<0.01), percent S phase, G_2/M phase and proliferation index (PI) of HepG2 cells were elevated (P<0.01), and cyclin D1 mRNA expression was significantly upregulated (P<0.01). The proliferation rates of HepG2 cells treated with 1-50 μmol/L SLIGKV-NH_2 were significantly increased, and the effect was in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.01 or P<0.05). No statistical significance of the difference between VKGILS-NH_2 and control group was observed (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: PAR-2 agonist peptide induces the rise of [Ca~(2+)]_c in HepG2 cells, upregulates the expression of cyclin D1 mRNA, accelerates the progress of cell cycle, promotes the synthesis of DNA and the proliferation of hepatoma cells via activating PAR-2 in vitro.

Objective To investigate the changes of serum apolipoprotein A-I and its clinical significance to acute respiratory infection.Method Totally 44 patients with acute respiratory infection were divided into three groups according to various concentration of Serum apolipoprotein A-I.They were procaleitonin(PCT)＜0.5 ng/ml group,0.5 ng/ml≤PCT＜2 ng/ml group and PCT≥2 ng/ml group.We measured apolipoprotein A-I,C-reactive protein,procalcitonin and albumin within 24 hours after admission.Results With the increase of serumPCT,the production of ApoA-I and albumin were down-regulated,while CRP up-regulated.Conclusions Apolipoprotein A-I has a sound relationship with the acute respiratory infection.It can be used as one of the diagnostic criteria in severe infection patients who have disorders of lipometabolism.

Objective:To investigate the effect of intermittent hormonal therapy(IHT) for patients with different stage/grade prostate cancer(PCa).Methods:The number of cycles and the duration of ON/OFF therapy for 45 PCa patients receiving IHT were observed.Maximal androgen blockade(MAB) the-rapies were used for six to nine months,and then stopped until the serum prostate specific antigen(PSA) was decreased below 0.2 ?g/L,which lasted for three months.It was decided whether MAB went on according to the level of PSA.Results:The average follow-up time was 40.7?13.4 months.Forty-one patients started the second cycle of treatment,of whom,8 became androgen-independent and 7 were at T3-4M0 or M1 stages and the Gleason scores were above 8.Sixteen patients entered the third cycle,of whom,14 were at lower than stage Ⅲ and 13 had the Gleason scores below 7.From the first to the fourth courses of treatment,the average intervals were 8.7?5.4(47.1%),8.4?4.9(49.3%),7.0?3.4(43.7%),and 3.7?0.6(42.5%)months respectively.Five patients developed bone metastasis.No one died up to now.According to the evaluation criteria,patients were divided into tolerance(n=16) and intolerance groups(n=29).Compared with the intolerance group,the patients who tolerated the treatment well had lower Gleason scores(P=0.002),lower PSA levels(P=0.053) and lower tumor stages(P=0.001).There was no evidence that age,lymph node metastasis,bone metastasis and the state of recurrence were associated with an increased risk of the outcome.Non-conditional Logistic regression analysis showed that the proportion of patients at stage Ⅳ was the only independent risk factor for the tolerance of the treatment(OR=12.113,95%CI 1.330-110.312,P=0.027).Conclusion:Intermittent hormonal therapy is more effective and proper for the patient with highly differentiated tumor and at lower stages(≤Ⅲ).The patients who progressed to hormone-independence are mostly at stage Ⅳ with poorly differentiated tumor.Intermittent hormone therapy could be more adaptive for the patients at lower than stage Ⅲ.

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of oxymatrine on invasion and metastasis of human pancreatic cancer line SW1990 in vitro. Methods Human pancreatic cancer cell line SW1990 was cultured in vitro. Oxymatrine was added into the culture media of SW1990 cells. Then MTT assay was used to determine the effect on proliferation. The adhesive capability, the mobile ability and invasive ability of SW1990 cells were detected by the adhesion assay, the crossing-river test, the transwell migration assay and the matrigel invasion method, respectively. RT-PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of MMP-2 and VEGF. ELISA method was used to detect the protein levels of the VEGF. Results The growth of SW1990 cells was inhibited by oxymatrine in a dose and time-dependent manner. After 2 mg/ml of oxymatrine treatment for SW1990 cells for 1 h, the adhesive capability inhibitory rate was (35.23 ±8.56) % ; 24 h later, crossing-river time was (65.46 ±4.25) h, which was significantly longer than that in control group [ (34.50 ± 4.12) h, P <0.05)], the number of penetrating cells was 91.9 ±9.6, which was significantly lower than that in control group (144.2±17.2, P <0.05). The mRNA expression of MMP-2 and VEGF, expression of protein of VEGF in SW1990 cells was significantly down-regulated [0.515 ±0.063 vs. 0.817 ±0.054, 0.343 ± 0.072 vs. 0.650 ±0.068; (265.50 ±5.45) pg/ml vs. (441.06 ±16.70) pg/ml, P <0.05]. Conclusions Oxymoron can inhibit the invasion and metastasis ability of pancreatic cancer line SW1990 in vitro, and the mechanism is possibly related to the down-regulation of MMP-2 and VEGF expression.