Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; etiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; POEMS Syndrome ; complications

Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) is an important and key cytoplasmic enzyme in the metabolism of thiopurine drugs,whose activity can directly determine the amount of thiopurine drugs metabolized to cytotoxic 6-thioguanine nucleotides and consequently influence clinical efficacy and adverse drug reactions of thiopurine drugs.In order to deepen knowledge and role of genetic polymorphism of tpmt in the individualized thiopurine drug treatment,this present review mainly covered the following three frequently concerned aspects,including i) whether or not to determine the activity of TPMT priot to treatment of thiopurine drugs;ii) to genotype or to phenotype;iii) how to choose genotype methods.

OBJECTIVE To search a method for identifying Clostridium perfringens and genotyping their toxin for gene diagnosis by multiplex PCR.METHODS The mutiplex PCR was developed with three sets of primers(designed) based on the sequences of three C.perfringens toxin genes(CP?,CP? and CPE) published in GenBank to identify C.perfringens and genotype their three toxin genes.RESULTS Three expected(sequences) were (obtained) successfully by multiplex PCR and identified by electrophoresis.CONCLUSIONS The(specific) sequences of C.perfringens could be amplified and their three genes of toxins could be identified by this multiplex PCR(system).Such method should be helpful for developing gene diagnosis well.

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of repeated intravitreal conbercept injection in patients with macular edema (ME) of retinal vein occlusion (RVO),guided by optic coherence tomography (OCT).Methods It is a retrospective case study.Forty patients (40 eyes) diagnosed as ME secondary to RVO were enrolled in this study.There were 19 males (19 eyes) and 21 females (21 eyes),with the mean age of (53.58 ± 13.19) years and the mean course of 1.5 months.The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA),indirect ophthalmoscopy,fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) and OCT were performed.The mean baseline of BCVA,central macular thickness (CMT) were 0.25 ± 0.18 and (509.48 ± 170.13) μm respectively.All the patients were treated with 10.00 mg/ml conbercept 0.05 ml (including conbercept 0.5 mg).Follow-up of these patients was 1 to 6 months after treatments,the BCVA,fundus manifestations,OCT were retrospectively observed by every month,the FFA was retrospectively observed by every 3 months.When there was retinal edema or CMT ≥ 50 μm by OCT during follow-up,those patients were retreated with intravitreal conbercept injection.The changes of the BCVA,CMT were evaluated before and after treatment.Meanwhile,complications in eyes related to medicine and treatment methods were evaluated too.Results At the 6 months,the BCVA was improved (increase≥2 lines) in 25 eyes (62.50％),stabilized (± 1 line) in 13 eyes (32.50％) and decreased 2 lines in 2 eyes (5.00％).Retinal hemorrhage and exudates were absorbed in most patients.FFA showed no fluorescein leakage in 1 1 eyes (27.50％),minor fluorescein leakage in 26 eyes (65.00％),and retinal capillary non-perfusion in 3 eyes (7.50％).OCT showed absorption of the subretinal fluid.The mean CMT were (235.20± 100.44) μm at 6 months.Intravitreal injection of conbercept was applied for 4 times in 8 eyes (20.00％),3 times for 18 eyes (45.00％),and 2 times for 14 eyes (35.00％).The mean number of intravitreal injection was 2.85 times.There were no ocular or systemic adverse events observed in all patients.Conclusion Intravitreal conbercept injection is an efficacy and safe treatment for the patients with ME of RVO guided by OCT.It can stabilize and improve the visual acuity.

0.05) ,but the differences reached statistical significance compared the positive ratios of two index together to urine NAG and ?2 - MG (X2 = 4.41,7.28 P

Objective To investigate clinical features and prognostic factors in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients with opportunistic infections.Methods Forty-two cases of AIDS patients with opportunistic infections were enrolled in this study.Clinical data and major factors affecting the prognosis were analyzed using Logistic regression.Results Bacterial infection was the first etiological factor(57.1%) of opportunistic infections in AIDS patients.Eighty-three point three percent of patients infected with more than two kind of etiological agents.Fifty-seven point one per- cent of cases were infected in multiple sites.CD4~+ T cells count was associated with the opportunistic infections.Conclusions The CD4~- T lymphocytes count is the key factor affecting the prognosis of AIDS patients with opportunistic infections.The average of CD4~+ T lymphocytes count is significant- ly related with the major opportunistic infections in AIDS paitents.

To control the quality of Maca, the quality standard was established in this study. According to the methods recorded in the Appendix of Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 Edition), the water, extract, total ash, acid insoluble substance, and heavy metals inspections in Lepidium meyenii were carried out. N-benzyl-9Z, 12Z-octadecadienamide in L. meyenii was identified by TLC, and it was determined by HPLC. The results showed that the N-benzyl-9Z, 12Z-octadecadienamide identification of TLC was a strong mark and specificity. In content determination experiment, the linearity of N-benzyl-9Z, 12Z-octadecadienamide was in the range of 0.01-2 microg (r = 0.9998), and the average recovery (n=9) was 99.27% (RSD 2.0%). The methods were simple, accurate, with good reproducibility. It is suitable for quality control L. meyenii.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Chromatography, Thin Layer ; methods ; Lepidium ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry

Transthoracic echocardiographic characteristics of 17 cases of cardiac amyloidosis (CA), a rare disease in China, were analyzed in order to improve the understanding of the disease. Seventeen cases of biopsy-proven CA, admitted to Wuhan Union Hospital from June 1994 to September 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. Twenty normal volunteers served as control group. Left atrial and ventricular functions and mitral inflow velocity were measured by two-dimensional, and Doppler echocardiography, and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI)-derived peak systolic wall motion velocities (Sv), peak early diastolic wall motion velocities (Ev), and peak late diastolic wall motion (Av) were measured at the septum, lateral, inferior and anterior corners of mitral annulus from the apical 4- and 2 chamber views. Compared with the control group, the interventricular septal thickness (IVSd), the left ventricular posterior wall (LVPWd), right ventricular transverse diameter (RVTDd) near the end of diastole and the interauricular septum thickness (IASs), left atrial anteroposterior diameter (LAADs), right atrial transverse diameter (RATDs) near the end of systole were increased significantly (all P<0.05) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) decreased (P<0.05) in the CA group. Compared with the control group, Sv, Ev at each wall and Av at almost all walls were significantly decreased in the CA group. In the CA group, Myocardial echoes of interventricular septum and free wall of left ventricle were enhanced evidently and distributed unevenly. The echoes presented as ground glass-like images, with some spotty hyper echoes. Both atria were enlarged, and LVEF decreased, with diastolic function impaired, and mild-moderate hydropericardium found in the CA group. It was concluded that echocardiography was a relatively sensitive and highly specific non-invasive method for the diagnosis of CA.
Amyloidosis/*ultrasonography ; Cardiomyopathies/*ultrasonography ; Case-Control Studies ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Doppler/*methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Background Diabetic retinopathy (DR) leads to blindness because of the retinal angiogenesis caused by the ischemia of retina.Vascular endothelial growth inhibitor (VEGI) is a recently identified anti-angiogenic cytokine,which can suppress endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis.Objective The aim of this study was to detect the change of serum and vitreous VEGI/TL1A and its relative cytokines in patients with DR.Methods A non-randomized controlled clinical trial was performed.Fifty-five DR patients were enrolled in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from November 2012 to March 2013 with the informed consent.The patients were divided into non-proliferative DR (NPDR) group (20 cases) and PDR group (35 cases).Eleven cataract patients served as normal control group,and 15 patients with diabetic mellitus (DM) were included as DM group.The demography was matched among the groups,but the course of DM and the blood glucose level were elevated in the PDR group and the DM group compared with DR group (all at P＜0.05).We collected the serum of all the patients above.Another 23 PDR patients (25 eyes) were enrolled in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from November 2012 to March 2013 with the informed consent and served as PDR group,healthy corpse's eyes (n=7) as control group,the patients were assigned to the retinal photocoagulation group,surgery group and photocoagulation +surgery group according to different treatment procedures.Vitreous samples were collected during the progress of vitrectomy.TL1A/VEGI 251,VEGF,TNF-α,IL-1β and NF-κB p65 concentrations in the serum and vitreous specimens were detected using ELISA.The differences of serum and vitreous TL1A/VEGI 251,VEGF,TNF-α,IL-1β and NF-κB p65 in various groups were statistically analyzed by ANOVA and independent sample t test,respectively.The correlation between TL1A/VEGI 251 and VEGF,TNF-α,IL-1β,NF-κB p65 were calculated by Pearson correlation analysis.Results TL1A/VEGI 251 concentration was elevated in the DM group,NPDR group and PDR group compared with the normal control group,with significant difference among the 4 group (F =27.431,P =0.009),and TL1A/VEGI 251 concentration was higher in the PDR group than that in the DM group or the NPDR group (P＜0.05).VEGF,TNF-α,IL-1 β and NF-κB p65 concentrations in serum were increased in the PDR group in comparison with the DM group,NPDR group and the normal control group (P＜0.05).However,no significant difference among the DM group,NPDR group and the normal control group (P＞0.05).Serum TL1A/VEGI 251 concentration was significant correlated with VEGF,TNF-α,IL-1β and NF-κB p65 concentration (r=0.951,0.951,0.851,0.944,all at P＜0.01).Vitreous TL1A/VEGI 251,VEGF,TNF-α,IL-1 β concentrations were ascended in the PDR group compared with the normal control group (P =0.024,0.001,0.000,0.037),but there was no significantly difference in vitreous NF-κB p65 concentration between the two groups (P =0.073).Vitreous TL1A/VEGI 251 concentrations declined in the retinal photocoagulation group and the surgery group compared with the normal group (all at P＜ 0.05),and significant positive correlations were found between vitreous TL1A/VEGI 251 concentration and VEGF or TNF-α concentration (r =0.675,0.950,P ＜ 0.01) ;while Pearson correlation coefficient was not statistically significant between vitreous TL1A/VEGI 251 concentration and IL-1β or NF-κB p65 concentration (r=0.233,0.318,P＞0.05).Conclusions VEGI is involved in the pathogenesis of DR,and it interacts with VEGF,TNF-α,IL-1β and NF-κB to affect the development of DR.These results provide a new clue for the further study of DR.

Objective To investigate the contribution of hypoxia-inducible factor inhibitor YC-1 to cisplatin chemo-sensitivity to human ovarian cancer cells A2780s in vitro. Methods Ovarian cancer cells were divided into four groups which were treated with saline, YC-1, cisplatin, and YC-1+cisplatin, separately, mRNA of HIF-1αand VEGF in the A2780s cells were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR by calculating 2-△△CT;the protein were detected by Western blot, to evaluate the change of hypoxia and angiogenesis capabilities under the ovarian cancer microenvironment. Results Compared with the control group, mRNA and protein of HIF-1αand VEGF expressed less in the group of YC-1, cisplatin and YC-1+cisplatin;while, those in the group of YC-1+cisplatin were lower than the monotherapy (P<0. 05), but no significant difference was detected between the YC-1 and cisplatin groups, and the expression of HIF-1αand VEGF mRNA were positively related(r=0. 830 5)in each group. Conclusion YC-1 exerts the antitumor effect and may contribute to sensitivity to cisplatin in the therapy of ovarian cancer.