Accumulating studies have proved that systemic inflammation is one of the important pathophysiologic mechanisms of heart failure. This article focuses on the sources of inflammation mediators and the causes of inflammation activation in heart failure including hemodynamic changes and oxidative stress, Toll-like receptors, microbial antigens and microorganisms, endotoxin hypothesis and neurohormonal activation. Furthermore, the effects of inflammation mediators such as cytokines and chemokines on heart failure are introduced. All lead to the conclusion that heart failure is a process with complex inflammation.

To investigate the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in occurrence and progression of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), enzume linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used for detection of VEGF concentration in plasma from AML patients and normal bone marrow donors.The mean VEGF concentration in the plasma from refractory (558 90pg/ml) and non refractory (392 54pg/ml) AML patients was higher than that from normal donors (57 27pg/ml) and AML patients post Allo BMT (77 31pg/ml).There were significant differences between refractory and non refractory AML group. The baseline VEGF level (196 14pg/ml) of patients in complete remission (CR) after a median follow up of 6 months was significantly lower than that of patients with newly diagnosed or relapsed AML, but significantly higher than that of patients with Allo BMT AML and normal donors. Therefore, abnormal VEGF expession may play an important role in development of AML, and VEGF might be used to evaluate prognosis of AML.

Objective To evaluate the safety and feasibility of totally laparoscopic radical distal gastrectomy (TLDG)and intracorporeal gastroduodenostomy using laparoscopic linear staplers in gastric cancer patients.Methods Clinical data were reviewed on the perioperative outcomes of 17 gastric cancer patients who received totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy and intracorporeal gastroduodenostomy using endoscopic linear staplers from June 2012 to June 2013 at Department of General Surgery,Lishui Central Hospital.Results The mean operation time were (2.6 ± 0.4) h,TLDG with deltashaped anastomosis was successfully carried out in all the patients except for 1 case who was converted to open surgery.There was no serious complication and no death in this series.The postoperative pain in TLDG was less than laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy.Conclusions Totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy and intracorporeal gastroduodenostomy using endoscopic linear staplers is a new method with high safety and feasibility.

Objective To study the efficacy and safety of caspofungin for the invasive furlgal infection in hematopathic neoplasms patients.Methods The retrospective study of effeacy,influencing factors and adverse reaction in 64 patients with hematopathic neoplasms have been treated with capofungin from January 2007 to February 2009.The SPSS13.0 software Was used for statistic analysis.Results The overall efficacy in 64 patients was 54.7%.The median of effective time for patients with fever and non-fever were 1(1-10) day and 12.5(2-30) days,respectively.There were no significant difference in age,detection of fungus,duration time of neutropenia,hematopoietic stem cell transplant,sraft versus host disease,immunoppressive agents,CT scans,loading dose of caspofungin and salvage therapy between two groups.Drug-related toxicities was low and reversible. Conclusion This study strongly supported caspefungin as an option for empiric and salvage antifungal therapy,and therapeutic effect of caspefungin was not influenced by immune state,neutrophils and CT scans,drug-related toxicities was low.

Penaeidin-2 (Pen-2) is an important antimicrobial peptide derived from the Pacific white shrimp, Penaeus vannamei, and possesses both antibacterial and antifungal activities. Recent studies suggest that recombinant penaeidins show similar activities to the native Pen-2 protein. Previous researches have shown that some antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) exhibit cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. To date, there have been no studies on the antitumor effects of Pen-2. This study evaluated the potential of recombinant pen-2 (rPen-2) in the selective killing of kidney cancer cell lines ACHN and A498, and its action mechanism. MTT assays found the maximal growth inhibition of HK-2, ACHN and A498 cells treated with 100 μg/mL rPen-2 at 48 h was 13.2%, 62.4%, and 70.4%, respectively. DNA-specific fluorescent dye staining showed a high percentage of apoptosis on cancer cells. Flow cytometry revealed that the apoptosis rate of HK-2, ACHN and A498 cells was 15.2%, 55.2%, and 61.5% at 48 h respectively, suggesting that rPen-2 induced higher apoptosis rate in cancer cells than in HK-2 cells. Laser confocal scanning microscopy demonstrated that the plasma membrane was the key site where rPen-2 interacted with and destroyed tumor cells. Scanning electron microscopy showed the morphologic changes of the cell membranes of kidney cancer cells treated with rPen-2. These results suggest that rPen-2 is a novel potential therapeutic agent that may be useful in treating kidney cancers.

OBJECTIVETo test the different contrctile responses of extracellular nucleotides, such as ATP, UTP and nucleotide uridine adenosine tetraphosphate (Up4A) in gastric longitudinal muscle (LM) and circular muscle (CM). Examined the effect of P2X and P2Y receptor antagonists (in this study, we used IP5I and suramin) and cyclooxygenase inhibitor (indomethacin) on Up4A induced contractile responses in LM and CM.

METHODSThe rats were sacrificed and the stomachs were opened to gain LM and CM. Using organ bath system to assess contrctile responses of smooth muscle.

RESULTSUp4A could induce contractile responses in both CM and LM, which were similar with ATP and UTP. IP5 did not attenuate Up4A could induce contractions in both LM and CM, but suramin and indomethacin significantly inhibited Up4A contraction in CM, but not in LM.

CONCLUSIONOur results suggest that extracellular nucleosides and their inhibitors induce different responses between LM and CM.

Adenosine Triphosphate ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Dinucleoside Phosphates ; pharmacology ; Indomethacin ; Muscle Contraction ; Muscle, Smooth ; physiology ; Nucleotides ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Suramin ; Uridine Triphosphate ; pharmacology

Objective To investigate the alterations of invariant nature killer T( iNKT) cells in peripheral blood samples from patients with rheumatoid arthritis ( RA) and to clarify the correlation between the percentage of iNKT cells and the ratio of IFN-γ/IL-4 in order to further understand the significance of iNKT cells in the development of RA.Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( PBMCs) were isola-ted from 70 patients with RA and 40 healthy subjects.Among them, thirty patients in the stage of inactive RA were involved in a follow-up study.Fluorescence activated cell sorting ( FACS) was used to detect the percentage of iNKT cells.PBMCs were cultured in vitro for analysis of cytokine production.The dynamic changes of iNKT cells in percentages were analyzed by FACS.MILLIPLEX MAP Human Cytokine/Chemo-kine kit was used to measure the secretion of IFN-γand IL-4 in serum samples and culture media of PBMCs. The expression of IFN-γand IL-4 in iNKT cells at mRNA level were analyzed by RT-PCR.Results Com-pared with the healthy subjects, the patients with active RA showed the delayed proliferation of iNKT cells and the decreased percentages and proliferation rates of iNKT cells (P<0.05).The percentages and prolif-eration rates of iNKT cells in patients with active RA were significantly lower than those in patients with inac-tive RA (P<0.05).No statistical significant differences with iNKT cells were found between healthy sub-jects and patients with inactive RA (P>0.05).The ratios of IFN-γ/IL-4 in serum samples and culture media of PBMCs were increased in patients with active RA as compared with those in patients with inactive RA and healthy subjects (P<0.05).No statistical significant differences with the ratios of IFN-γ/IL-4 were observed between healthy subjects and patients with inactive RA (P>0.05).Compared with healthy subjects and patients with inactive RA, patients with active RA showed increased transcriptional level of IFN-γand decreased transcriptional level of IL-4.No significant differences with the expression of IFN-γand IL-4 in iNKT cells at mRNA level were observed between healthy subjects and patients with inactive RA.The per-centage of iNKT cells was negatively related to the IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio in patients with RA (P<0.05).Con-clusion Decreased percentage and impaired function of iNKT cells were detected in patients with RA. iNKT cells were closely related to the development and disease activity of RA.

Objective To investigate the variation of immune index in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) treated with autologous purified CD+34 cells transplantation and to clarify the relationship with pathogenesis and prognosis. Methods Flow cytometry (FCM) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) were used to test lymphocyte subsets, C3, C4, CH50, autoantibodies and immunoglobulin for 18 cases of SLE before and after transplantation. Results The results showed that the ratio of all the T cell subsets reduced obviously in early postgraft and recovered gradually in 1 to 3 months after transplantation except CD45 RO+CD+4 cells. The levels of serum C3, C4, CH50 increased significantly after transplantation. No case relapsed within one year after transplantation, but 2 patients relapsed one year after transplantation. The levels of the indexes in the patients with relapse were significantly lower than those in the patients with persistent remission, including C4 in the entire course, CH50 in the 3rd and 12th month after transplantation and CD45 RA+ CD+8 cells in the 6th month after transplantation. However, the ratio of CD45 RO+ CD+4 cells in the first month after transplantation in the patients with relapse was higher than that in the patients with persistent remission. Conclusion Autologous purified CD+34 cells transplantation is effective for treating SLE. Survey of immune indexes before and after transplantation is important to investigate the pathogenesis of SLE. Moreover, these immune indexes can be used to predict therapeutic efficacy of SLE.

Objective To investigate the effects of a novel synthetic immunostimulator CH2b containing thiazolidin-4-one on the function of invariant nature killer T (iNKT) cells isolated from patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from patients with active RA were in vitro cultured with α-Galcer and IL-2.The iNKT cells were separated by using magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) method.The effects of CH2b on the proliferation of iNKT cells were analyzed by using MTT assay.MILLIPLEX MAP Human Cytokine/Chemokine kit was used to measure the levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 in the supernatants of iNKT cell culture.The expressions of IFN-γand IL-4 at mRNA level in iNKT cells were analyzed by RT-PCR.Western blot assay was used to detect the levels of T-bet and GATA-3 in iNKT cells.Results CH2b significantly enhanced the proliferation of IL-2 activated iNKT cells isolated from the patients with active RA.CH2b promoted the secretion of IL-4,resulting in a decrease in the ratio of IFN-γ/IL-4.Moreover,CH2b promoted the expressions of GATA-3 and IL-4 at mRNA level in iNKT cells.Conclusion The novel immunostimulator,CH2b,might enhance the immunoregulatory effects of iNKT cells by promoting the GATA-3 pathway-mediated secretion of Th2-1ike cytokines and inducing the differentiation of Th0 to Th2 cells.

Objective To observe the expression of AdipoQ in Sj?gren's syndrome (SS) mice and its role in inflammation was investigated by recombinant gene transfection study in vivo. Methods As spon-taneous SS mice model, a total of 30 NOD mice were divided into 3 groups randomly: recombinant adenovirus (rADV-AdipoQ) group, normal saline control and simple adenoviruses (control group). The submandibular gland morphology, histopathological grading and the level of serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), AdipoQ was compared between the three groups. The expression of AdipoQ on mice submandibular gland was assessed by means of semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Results The submandibular glands of the mice of the control group were destructed, with focal lymphocytic infiltration and acinus atrophy. Compared with control model groups, the serum TNF-α and salivary gland AdipoQ expression was significantly down-regulated in the rADV-AdipoQ group [(248 ±30) vs (162 ±73) ng/ml] (P<0.05). Conclusion AdipoQ gene transfected SS mice can significantly improve the morphological features of tissues and decrease the concentration of TNF-αin serum, in addition, it can effectively inhibit inflammation, decrease the degree of protein and AdipoQgene expression. So the AdipoQ may be the protective gene in SS mice.