Autoimmunity is influenced by genetic,immune,hormonal,and environmental factors.Viral infections may trigger autoimmunity.It has been established that autoimmunity may be a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of heart disease.Myocarditis is defined as inflammation of the heart muscle associated with impaired function of the myocardium.Myocarditis is considered as the most common cause of dilated cardiomyopathy.Myocarditis may be caused by infectious factors and noninfectious factors,noninfectious factors including autoimmune diseases with myocarditis.To gain a better understanding of autoimmune myocarditis,we summarize the pathogenesis and clinical significance of autoimmune myocarditis.

Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; diagnosis ; therapy

Objective To employ intraoperative discography to determine the injured intervertebral disc segments that can not be identified on the preoperative MRI in patients with cervical spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation for confirming the responsible segments needing surgical decompression and fusion.Methods The study involved 85 patients with cervical spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation treated from January 2007 to December 2011,among which sixteen patients had not been identified with the responsible segments by preoperative MRI.The average preoperative Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score was (9.1 ± 1.8) points.There was no obvious fracture or dislocation of the cervical spine on preoperative X-ray film,CT and MRI,but all patients displayed high intense signal in cervical spinal cord on MRI T2 weighted imaging.Besides,MRI revealed hemorrhagic swelling of anterior cervical soft tissue in nine patients and cervical intervertebral disk hernia in all patients.Annulus fibrosus rupture of cervical intervertebral disc with contrast leakage in intraoperative discography of suspected injury segments in all patients under direction of C-arm X-ray machine was set as the injury criterion.The patients with pure ruptured discs received cervical discectomy,interbody fusion and titanium plate fixation.The patients associated with multilevel cervical intervertebral disc hernia or ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament underwent anterior cervical corpectomy,bone graft with titanium cageand titanium plate fixation of ruptured discs.Results Nineteen injured discs were identified eventually by discography,including 2 discs at C3/4,4 at C4/5,8 at C5/6 and 5 at C6/7.Moreover,anterior annulus fibrosus rupture with intact anterior longitudinal ligament was found in 11 patients.The follow-up lasted for (24.4 ± 10.0) months.JOA scores were (13.3 ± 1.5) points and (14.5 ± 1.6) points at two weeks and three months after operation,and (15.1 ± 1.5) points at the last follow-up,indicating a relevant improvement rate of 53％,68％ and 76％ respectively.Mean operation time was 110 minutes and blood loss was 120 ml.Three patients had pain on shoulder and back and one patient had hoarse voice,but all the patients were relieved in two weeks after conservative treatments.No serious complications,such as deep infection,deterioration of neurological dysfunction,vertebral artery injury or internal fixation failure were noticed intra-or post-operatively.Conclusion For the intradiscal rupture that is hard to be determined by the conventional imaging methods,intraoperative discography can be used as an auxiliary method of imaging diagnosis in early surgical determination of responsible segments for cervical spinal cord injury without fracture and dislocation.

Objective To investigate the effect of clemastine fumarate on lung ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rabbits.Methods Fifty New Zealand white rabbits of both sexes,weighing 2.0-3.0 kg,were divided into 3 groups using a random number table:sham operation group (Sham group,n =10),I/R group (n =20) and clemastine fumarate group (Cle group,n =20).The model of lung I/R was established by clamping the left hilum of lung and decreasing the tidal volume followed by restoration of perfusion and ventilation 1 h later in I/R and Cle groups.At 3 h of ventilation in group Sham and 2 and 4 h of reperfusion in I/R and Cle groups,blood samples were collected for determination of serum tumor necrosis factoralpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) concentrations by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The left lung was lavaged,and the broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was colleted for determination of white blood cell count.Lung specimens were obtained for microscopic examination of the ultrastructure of lung tissues and for determination of wet/dry weight ratio (W/D ratio),expression of IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA (by real-time polymerase chain reaction) and cell apoptosis (by TUNEL).The apoptosis rate was calculated.Results Compared with Sham group,the W/D ratio,white blood cell count in BALF,serum concentrations of TNF-α and IL-8 and apoptosis rate were significantly increased,and the expression of IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA was up-regulated in I/R and Cle groups (P＜0.05 or 0.01).Compared with I/R group,the W/D ratio,white blood cell count in BALF,serum concentrations of TNF-α and IL-8 and apoptosis rate were significantly decreased,and the expression of IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA was down-regulated in Cle group (P＜0.05 or 0.01).The pathological changes of lung tissues were significantly attenuated in Cle group than in I/R group.Conclusion Clemastine fumarate can attenuate lung I/R injury in rabbits.

BACKGROUND:Platelet-rich plasma has benefit in diabetic wound healing;however, the effect of al ogeneic platelet-rich plasma is stil unclear. OBJECTIVE:To observe the effect of al ogeneic platelet-rich plasma on col agen synthesis during diabetic wound healing. METHODS:Streptozocin-induced diabetic rats were randomly divided into al ogeneic platelet-rich plasma group and saline control group. Each group had 15 rats. A 1 cm2 ful-thickness skin defect on the rat dorsum was excised. Platelet-rich plasma or saline was applied. Platelet-rich plasma was prepared from the whole blood of al ogeneic healthy rats. Animals of each group were sacrificed on 3, 7, 14 days post operation. The differences of the wound closure rate, morphological character, hydroxyproline content and the relative mRNA expression of the col agen were observed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The wound closure rates were lower in control group on day 3, 7, 14 post operation (P<0.05). Masson staining showed a decreased, disorder, loose col agen fibers distribution in diabetic control wound tissue. The results of the hydroxyproline test showed hydroxyproline content was significantly higher in platelet-rich plasma group at each time point (P<0.01). The relative mRNA expression of type I and III col agen presented a higher expression in platelet-rich plasma treated wound tissue at each time point (P<0.05). And the ratio between type I and III col agen was higher in platelet-rich plasma group at each time point (P<0.05). In summary, al ogeneic platelet-rich plasma can promote diabetic wounds healing, which may attribute to an enhanced col agen synthesis.

Objective: To observe the clinical effects of tuina therapy for cervicogenic headache. Methods: Fifty-four cases were randomized allocated into tuina group and medicine group, 27 cases in each group. The patients in the tuina group treated with tuina therapy, and the patients in the medicine group take ibuprofen orally. The headache degree (Visual Analogue Scale, VAS), frequency of headache occurrence and the neck disability index (NDI) were compared 2 weeks pre-treatment and 2 weeks post-treatment. Results: Before treatment, there were no significant differences in the headache VAS, frequency and NDI between the two groups. After treatment, headache VAS, frequency and NDI were significantly decreased, and there were statistical differences between the tuina group and the medicine group (P<0.01). Conclusion: Tuina therapy is more effective for treating cervicogenic headache than routine dose of ibuprofen.

Objective:To quantitively detect TfR gene expression of human white blood cell before and after iron supplementation. Methods:Before and after iron supplementation,10 healthy women were phlebotomized separately,and the real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR method was used to analyze the expression difference of TfR gene in human white blood cell. Results:TfR gene expression decreased after iron supplementation in 10 women,more evidently in 7 cases,where the expression level was half less than before iron supplementation. Conclusion:TfR gene expression of human white blood cell could be quantitatively measured by FQ-PCR,and was decreased after iron supplementation in 10 women. It explained that the regulative mechanism of TfR mRNA expression by iron is also suitable to white blood cell.

Objective To study the antitumour, immunomodulating and enterobacteria regulating effects of exopolysaccharides (EPS). Method The suppressive rate of growth of sarcoma 180, the index of immunity, and the intestinal microflora were determined. Results (1) EPS inhibited the growth of sarcoma 180 by oral for BALB/c mice significantly. The suppressive rate at the dose of 120mg/kg bw?d was 42.7%. (2) At the dose of 120mg/kg bw?d the index of thymus and IL-2 in serum increased significantly. There was increasing trend in respect of TNF-? and killing activation of NK cell. (3) The amounts of Lactobacillus in groups treated with EPS increased significantly, and the amounts of Enterobacteriacea and Enterococcus droped significantly. Conclusion EPS had the antitumour effect in vivo, and could modulate the immune function, improve the microbial balance in the intestinal tract of tumour bearing mice to some extent. So the antitumour mechanism was probably correlated with the immunomodulating effect.

Objective To study the morphology and the effect of bovine lactoferricin (LfcinB) for Jurkat T leukemia cells and HFL-I cell and further validate and analyze the signal transduction passage way of LfcinB-induced apoptosis. Method The Jurkat T leukemia cells and fibroblasts stained with Hoechst 33258 after in vitro treatment with LfcinB were observed through fluorescence microscope, compared with positive and negative control groups to analyze the difference between the effect of LfcinB on Jurkat T leukemia cells and HFL-I cell with gel electrophoresis analysis of DNA fragmentation. Early apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane potential of Jurkat T leukemia cells were analyzed by flow cytometry, and the changes of caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase-9 and cytochrome C in endochylema of Jurkat T leukemia cells after exposed to LfcinB during 4, 6 and 8 h were detected by Western blotting. Results DNA Ladder was shown by gel electrophoresis analysis of DNA fragmentation in Jurkat T leukemia cells following treatment with LfcinB, which was not found in HFL-I cell. Through fluorescence microscope, we found that nucleus of LfcinB-exposed Jurkat T leukemia cells stained with Hoechst 3325 became condense, but the nucleus of HFL-I cell was not changed. The results of flow cytometry analysis indicated that apoptosis rates of Jurkat T leukemia cells exposed to LfcinB for 2, 4 h were 11.5% and 17.8% respectively, with decline of mitochondria membrane potential. Immunoblot analysis showed that LfcinB could increase the content of cytochrome C, with the activated caspase-3 and caspase-9 increase gradually in endochylema of Jurkat T leukemia cells, however there was no effect of LfcinB on caspase-8. Conclusion LfcinB induced apoptosis of Jurkat T lenkemia cells, but not affected fibroblasts. After Jurkat T leukemia cells, contacted with LfcinB for more than 2 h, the contents of caspase-3, caspase-9 and cytochrome C in the cells were cumulatively increasing, which further validated that LfcinB induced Jurkat apoptosis by intra-cellular signal pathway depending on caspase family.

Objective To provide an experimental tool for explo ri ng pathogenesis and experimental treatment strategies for primary lymphoma of th e liver. Methods Histologically intact lymphoma tissues from pa tients with primary lymphoma of the liver were transplanted into hepatic parench yma of nude mice. Tumorgenecity, invasion, metastasis, morphological characteris tics(light microscopy, electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry), serologica l test(AFP, HBsAg and LDH), karyotype analysis and DNA content of orthotopically transplanted tumors were studied. Results Orthotopically trans planted model of human primary malignant lymphoma of the liver in nude mice(desi gnated as HLBL-0102) was successfully reproduced. Histopathology of transplante d tumors showed primary lymphoma of the liver(non-Hodgkin's, B cell). The cells were positive for CD19,CD20,CD45RO and CD79a, but negative for CD3 and CD7. Ser ological tests showed that the serum was AFP negative and HBsAg positive, and t he concentration of LDH was 1267.5U/L. The number of chromosome was between 55 and 59. DNA index(DI) was 1.57~1.61(i.e. heteroploid). So far, the strain HLB L-0102 has grown for 3 years and been passaged for 37 generations in nude mice. Altogether 283 nude mice were used for transplantation. The growth rate and res uscitation rate of liquid nitrogen cryopreservation of transplanted tumors were both 100%. The transplanted tumors autonomoasly and invasively grew in the live r of nude mice, damaging adjacent liver tissues, bile ducts, and veins in the po rtal area. There was no involvement of other tissues and organs or distal lymph nodes. Orthotopically transplanted tumors were consistent in histopathological a nd ultrastructural features, DNA content and chromosomal karyotype with the orig inal human tumor. Conclusions The study is the first attempt to successfully reproduce orthotopically transplantation model of human primary ma lignant lymphoma of the liver in nude mice. HLBL-0102 completely replicates th e natural clinical process of primary lymphoma of the liver, and provides an ide al animal model for further research on the biology and experimental therapeutic strategies of primary lymphoma of the liver.