OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of integrin-linked kinase(ILK) in renal tubular epithelial cells and its relation to tubular epithelial-myofibroblast transdifferentiation. METHODS: Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, Group normal control (n=10), Group diabetic without therapy(n=10) and Group diabetic with Losartan 20mg/(kg . d)(n=10). Five rats were killed in each group at the 8th and 16th week. The left kidneys were kept for HE and Masson staining to observe the pathological variations in the renal interstitium. ILK, alpha-SMA and Vimentin in renal tubular epithelial cells were detected by immunohistochemistry analysis. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, ILK, alpha-SMA and Vimentin in renal tubular epithelial cells in Group diabetes gradually increased in immunohistochemistry (P<0.01); ILK was consistent with the pathological variation of renal interstitium and was positively correlated to alpha-SMA(rs=0.621, P<0.05). In comparison with the Group diabetes, the expression of ILK, alpha-SMA and Vimentin in renal tubular epithelial cells was apparently declined (P<0.01) in Group diabetes with Losartan. CONCLUSION Tubular epithelial myofibroblast transdifferentiation and the over-expression of ILK, between which there may be significant connections, are important events in the progression of diabetic nephropathy. Losartan, a blocker of angiotension II type I receptor, which may down-regulate the expression of ILK in diabetic renal tubular epithelial cells, can restrain the procession of epithelial-myofibroblast transdifferentiation.
Actins ; biosynthesis ; Animals ; Cell Transdifferentiation ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Epithelial Cells ; drug effects ; enzymology ; pathology ; Fibroblasts ; drug effects ; enzymology ; pathology ; Immunohistochemistry ; Kidney Tubules ; pathology ; Losartan ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; biosynthesis ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Vimentin ; biosynthesis

In this article, based on the analysis on the regional information system's development background and its applications, the construction of the regional medical information system through creating the electronic medical record and the medicine image data centers is proposed, for information resource sharing. And then, the system's software construction and various subsystems functions are mainly introduced. Standardization and the middleware platform are suggested as the effective way of constructing these two data centers in the present situation in our country.
Computer Security ; Computer Systems ; Hospital Information Systems ; Humans ; Medical Records Systems, Computerized ; Radiology Information Systems ; Software

China ; Cost of Illness ; Demography ; Female ; Humans ; Maternal Mortality ; Poverty Areas

Objective： There were variations of EBV genome from different areas and they may affect the biologic function of EBV (such as LMP1). EBV-BARF0 was highly detected in the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) and it s variations have not been reported. This study was designed to determine the sequence and variation of EBV-BARF0 gene in the patieats with NPC from Guangdong area. Methods： PCR was used to amplify the EBV-BARF0 gene in 20 patients with NPC and the productions were sequenced on the ABI377. Results： Comparing with standard B95-8, there were four loci with variances including： 160473 （ G→ T） , 160545 （ C→ T） , 160701 （ C→ A） , 160707 （ G→ C） of sequences and 2 （ Ala→ Ser） , 26 （ Leu→ Phe） , 78 （ Arg→ Ser） , 80 （ Ala→ Pro） of amino acid in 20 patients with NPC. Conclusion： Since the BARF0 gene of EBV is expressed in all nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line and biopsies, but it is not expressed or less frequenly in lymphoma tissues and cell lines,the authors firstly reported the variation of EBV-BARF0 which compared with B95-8 in the patieats with NPC from Guangdong area. These suggest that the gene may play an important role in the carcinogenesis and development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Schizophrenia is one of the common mental diseases. Because the mechanism of the schizophrenia is significantly complicated, the cause is still unknown. N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist can simulate the positive and negative symptoms, as well as the cognitive disorder of schizophrenia. Thus it has been widely used to establish the animal models of schizophrenia. The relationship of the three blocking agents of ion channels (phencyclidine, MK-801, ketamine) and the establishment of schizophrenia animal models is reviewed in this article.
Animals ; Behavior, Animal/drug effects* ; Brain/physiopathology* ; Consciousness Disorders/physiopathology* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Dizocilpine Maleate/pharmacology* ; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists/pharmacology* ; Humans ; Ketamine/pharmacology* ; Mice ; Phencyclidine/pharmacology* ; Rats ; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/antagonists & inhibitors* ; Schizophrenia/physiopathology*

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects of prevention and control strategies on hepatitis A.

METHODSSurveillance data on hepatitis A from 1990 to 2006 in Tianjin was analyzed, and the coverage rate of hepatitis A vaccine among targeted population was estimated, to compare the anti-HAV IgG level of children younger than 15 years old in 1999 and in 2005.

RESULTSResults showed that a) the morbidity of hepatitis A decreased from 25.26/10(5) in 1990 to 0.82/10(5) in 2006; b) the ratio of hepatitis A in viral hepatitis decreased from 30.43% in 1990 to 1.05% in 2006; c) the estimated coverage rate was 72.7%; d) the positive rate of anti-HAV among children younger than 15 years old in 2005 was distinctly higher than that in 1999.

CONCLUSIONPositive results showed that it was successful to use hepatitis A vaccine as the strategy to prevent and control hepatitis A in the past five years in Tianjin.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Hepatitis A ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Hepatitis A Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; Hepatitis Antibodies ; blood ; Humans ; Immunization Programs ; Incidence ; Infant ; Population Surveillance

OBJECTIVETo analyze the epidemiologic characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and to evaluate the effectiveness on its major control measures in Tianjn.

METHODSAdopting two case reports 1 and 2, designed by the Tianjin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a unified case-tracing table including the map of the distribution of close contacts to SARS patients. With those methods, investigation on patients and their close contacts at hospital wards, families, communities and institutions of the patients were carried out.

RESULTSFrom April 13 through May 8, 2003, there were 175 SARS cases including imported ones, were identified with an incidence rate of 1.9 cases per 100,000. Among them, 14 died with a fatality of 8.0%. The whole process of epidemic in Tianjin was less than one month with the following features: (1) 93.7% of the total SARS cases in Tianjin were directly or indirectly transmitted by a super-spreader. (2) 68.6% of the total SARS patients were concentrated in 3 hospitals A, B and C which was menifastated in 'clustering'. Through study on the rest of the SARS patients, results showed that 16.8% of them were transmitted through family close contact and 2.3% due to contact to colleagues. However, 12.6% of the patients were not able to show evidence that they had any contact to a diagnosed SARS patient. At the early stage of the epidemic, a number of medical practitioners were infected, taking up 38.2% of the total SARS cases. Among the total number of 1 975 medical workers who participated in the SARS medical cares and treatments, 3.4% of them got infected. During the outbreak, all index cases and chains of transmission seemed to be clear, with only 3 patients not able to be traced for the source of infection, taking up 2% of the total SARS patients in Tianjin. Among the 10 index cases, only the super spreader and another one index case transmitted the virus to their contacts but the rest of index cases did not cause any secondary infection.

CONCLUSIONThough SARS is clinically severe and can be spreaded quickly, the epidemic can be under control within a short period of time if chains of SARS transmission are broken down and effective measures as isolation and quarantine against patients as well as underscoring awareness among the publics in a scientific way, being carried out.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; China ; epidemiology ; Contact Tracing ; Cross Infection ; transmission ; Disease Outbreaks ; Family Health ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ; epidemiology ; mortality ; transmission ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo investigate the role of monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) in enhancing the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to 3-bromopyruvate (3-BrPA).

METHODSThe inhibitory effect of 3-BrPA on the proliferation of breast cancer cells was assessed with MTT assay, and brominated propidium bromide single staining flow cytometry was used for detecting the cell apoptosis. An ELISA kit was used to detect the intracellular levels of hexokinase II, lactate dehydrogenase, lactate, and adenosine triphosphate, and Western blotting was performed to detect the expression of MCT1. MDA-MB-231 cells were transiently transfected with MCT1 cDNA for over-expressing MCT1, and the effect of 3-BrPA on the cell proliferation and adenosine triphosphate level was deteced.

RESULTS3-BrPA did not produce significant effects on the proliferation and apoptosis of MDA-MB-231 cells, and the cells treated with 200 µmol/L 3-BrPA for 24 h showed an inhibition rate and an apoptosis rate of only 8.72% and 7.8%, respectively. The same treatment, however, produced an inhibition rate and an apoptosis rate of 84.6% and 82.3% in MCF-7 cells, respectively. In MDA-MB-231 cells with MCT1 overexpression, 200 µmol/L 3-BrPA resulted in an inhibition rate of 72.44%, significantly higher than that in the control cells (P<0.05); treatment of the cells with 25, 50, 100, and 200 µmol/L 3-BrPA for 6 h resulted in intracellular adenosine triphosphate levels of 96.98%, 88.44%, 43.3% and 27.56% relative to the control level respectively.

CONCLUSIONMCT1 can enhance the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to 3-BrPA possibly by transporting 3-BrPA into cells to inhibit cell glycolysis.

OBJECTIVESTo observe the role of PPARgamma during the activation process of hepatic stellate cells (HSC).

METHODSBy morphology and RT-PCR, we study the changes of expression of PPARgamma in culture-activated HSC or in vivo activated HSC induced by dimethylnitrosamine (DMN).

RESULTSIn vitro, the expression level of PPARgamma in freshly isolated HSC (0.72+/-0.01) significantly reduced to 0.48+/-0.03 on the third day of culture (t = 19.8372, P<0.01), and reduced 70% on the seventh culture-day and could not be detected after the second passage. In vivo, HSC freshly isolated from normal control rats expressed PPARgamma (0.76+/-0.01). During the development of rat liver fibrosis induced by DMN, the expression level significantly reduced to 0.46+/-0.02 after the third injection of DMN (t = 29.5318, P<0.01), and reduced 66% on the end of first week and could not be detected on the end of second and third week.

CONCLUSIONThe expression of PPARgamma might play an important role on the maintenance of resting-form of HSC, and the reduction of expression of PPARgamma might be an early event during the activation process of HSC.

Animals ; Liver ; cytology ; Liver Cirrhosis ; etiology ; pathology ; Male ; RNA, Messenger ; analysis ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear ; physiology ; Transcription Factors ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo screen hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) autoantibodies as diagnostic biomarkers or therapy targets by serologic proteome analysis (SERPA).

METHODSTotal proteins extracted from human HCC cell line HCCLM3 were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and then transferred onto PVDF membranes, which were subsequently incubated with sera from HCC, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infected patients or healthy volunteers. All immuno-reactive protein spots on blot films were matched to those on 2-DE gel maps by image analysis and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS/MS).

RESULTS2-DE gel maps of HCCLM3 and corresponding blot films of good quality and reproducibility were established. The number of spots on HCCLM3 2-DE reference gel totaled 603 and those on HCC, HBV and healthy sera blotted films were 70.75+/-24.25, 68.5+/-23.44 and 41.38+/-15.05, respectively. Blot films of HCC and HBV groups had more spots than those of the healthy group (P < 0.05) while no significance was found between films of HCC and HBV groups. By identification, those HCC autoantibodies could be classified as nuclear proteins, cytoskeleton proteins, heat shock proteins and metabolic enzymes.

CONCLUSIONSerological proteome analysis is a high throughput technique for screening tumor autoantibodies. Those newly identified HCC associated tumor antigens and corresponding autoantibodies can be used in the early diagnosis or immuno-therapy of HCC.

Antibodies, Neoplasm ; analysis ; Autoantibodies ; analysis ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; immunology ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; immunology ; Proteomics ; methods ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization ; Tumor Cells, Cultured