Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by enterbaeterial repetitive intergenic consensus-polymerase chain reaction(ERIC-PCR)DNA fingerprint. Methods Mycobacterium tuberculosis positive sputum samples between September 2003 to May 2006 were collected and cultured.Chromosomal DNA were extracted and ERIC-PCR DNA fingerprinting was analyzed by software,such as RAPD PHYLIP and Treeview.Results A total of 42 different fingerprints were detected.Phylogenetic analysis showed that they could be classified into three clusters,the clustering rate was 72.6%.The characteristics of ERIC-PCR fingerprint patterns were related to age,drug resistance,and type of resistance.Conclusions ERIC-PCR DNA fingerprinting technique used in this study is good for epidemiological studies with its strong discrimination,simplicity and rapidness.A high level of recent transmission is found in our city.

This article reviews that as a functionally and phenotypically distict immunoregulatory T cell subpopulation, CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells can suppress the activation and proliferation of CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells and CD8(+) T cells and the production of IL-2 and IFN-gamma. These regulatory cells play an important role in allograft tolerance, although the mechanisms are not completely understood to date. CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells can be isolated, activated and expanded in vitro without loss of their immunoregulatory function. The suppressive function of activated CD4(+)CD25(+) cells is antigen non-specific. Ex vivo activated and expanded regulatory T cells have a perspective for practical use.
CD4 Antigens ; blood ; CD8 Antigens ; blood ; Cell Division ; immunology ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; blood ; Interleukin-2 ; blood ; Receptors, Interleukin-2 ; blood ; T-Lymphocytes ; cytology ; immunology ; metabolism ; Transplantation Tolerance ; immunology

Objective To evaluate the effect of health education in controlling the iodine deficiency diserders(IDD) in order to provide reference data for the further prevention and control. Methods Each village of 3 towns in Congjiang County was selected in 2007, where the health education lasting for 10 months had been implemented in the school students of 3-6 grade and the villagers. The school students of 3-6 grade and 30 housewives in the villagers were investigated for their IDD control knowledge, the salt consuming conditions as well as the sales of both rough and fine salt at a salt retail site in each village before and after the health education was implemented. Results The awareness rate of the knowledge of IDD control in the students and housewives was 91.4% (581/636) and 78.3% (282/360), respectively after intervention, which significantly increased (χ2= 532.044, 326.117, both P < 0.01) compared with the rate of 28.2% (184/652) and 11.4% (41/360) before intervention. The proportion of consuming fine salt was 91.8%(146/159) and 95.6%(86/90), significantly inereased(χ2= 236.623, 135.350, both P < 0.01) compared with 6.1%(10/163) and 7.8% (7/90) found before intervention. The selling proportion of fine salt at the salt retail site in the village was 60.0%(900/1500), significantly increased(χ2= 824.176, P < 0.01) compared with 10.0%(150/1500) before intervention. Conclusions Health education and promotion is solid foundation for effectively controlling IDD, through which the students and villagers are actively and voluntarily involved in the program and hence have formed good living and hygiene habits, thus expected effect has been obtained.

OBJECTIVETo detect the expression profile of NK ligands in acute leukemia cell lines and investigate the differential expression pattern between acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

METHODSUsing quantitative real-time PCR, 23 NK ligands (MICA, MICB, ULBP-1, ULBP-2, ULBP-3, ULBP-4, HLA-E, HLA-G, CD48, NBTA, HLA-F, LLT-1, PVR, Nectin2, CD72, CD80, ICAM-1, LFA-3, CRACC, Fas, DR4, DR5, TNFR1) were detected in 6 acute leukemia cell lines, including 3 ALL cell lines (CEM, Jurkat T, Reh) and 3 AML cell lines (HL-60, KG-1a, NB4), respectively. Independent-samples t test analysis was performed to determine statistical significance.

RESULTSUsing β-actin as reference gene, the relative expression results showed that the expression of 4 NK ligands between ALL and AML is significantly different. Specifically, the level of ULBP-2 is higher in ALL (CEM: 1, Jurkat T: 0.617, Reh: 0.246) than that in AML (HL-60: 0.000, KG-1a: 0.003, NB4: 0.000)(P = 0.047). However, the expressions of CD48, PVR(PVR-1, PVR-2) and DR4 is higher in AML (HL-60: 13.987, 4.403, 10.334, 8.711; KG-1a: 5.387, 2.900, 7.315, 4.512; NB4: 7.763, 3.248, 7.049, 6.127) than that in ALL (CEM: 1, 1, 1, 1; Jurkat T: 2.035, 1.553, 3.888, 0.449; Reh: 1.559, 0.000, 0.000, 1.304) (P = 0.044, 0.014, 0.014, 0.011). And there're no significant differences between the rest 19 NK ligands.

CONCLUSIONSULBP-2, CD48, PVR and DR4 might play an important role in the distinct mechanisms in leukemogenesis between ALL and AML and could be potential targets for diagnosis and treatment.

Acute Disease ; Antigens, CD ; genetics ; metabolism ; CD48 Antigen ; Cell Line, Tumor ; GPI-Linked Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Leukemia ; genetics ; metabolism ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; genetics ; metabolism ; Ligands ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; genetics ; metabolism ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand ; genetics ; metabolism ; Receptors, Virus ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the effect of seafood intake on the urinary iodine level in women for exploring an alternative to iodine supplementation.Methods Healthy pregnant women and non-pregnant women, aged 20～40 years,were selected during their health examination in local women'S health care in 2006.The types of seafood and its intake frequency were recorded from these women.and urine and kitchen salt samples were collected for iodine determination.Results A total of 198 women including 148 pregnant and 50 non-pregnant women were recmitod for this study;they had a median level of urine iodine of 87.51 mg/L.The median levels of urine iodine of83.49,91.52,166.45μg/L in three group women classified as hardly,seldom and often intake of see food showed significant difference(X2=6.202,P<0.05).Urine iodine level in non-pregnant women taking seafood (90.94μg/L)was higher than that in pregnant women(84.79μg/L),the difference being statistically significant (U=3318.00,P<0.05).The urine iodine in pregnant women with seldom intake of seafood(94.46 μg/L)was significantly higher than that in the hardly intake women(83.28 μg/L),the difference being statistically significant (U=1257.5,P<0.05).During late period of gestation,the urinary iodine in the women ofthree statUS of hardly. Seldom and often intake of seafood were 81.93,97.97 and 140.18 μg/L,respective,with significant differences among them.Conclusions A certain amount of seafood taken every week Can increase urine iodine levels,and a direct relationship Was observed.Therefore,we suggest that it is necessary to advocate taking seafood to pregnant women for prevention of cretinism,particularly in the air.as where iodized salt was difficult to implement.

This study was purposed to investigate the therapeutic effects of early transfusion of immunized donor lymphocytes after haploidentical transplantation by means of mouse model of nonmyeloablative haploidentical bone marrow transplantation. CB6F1 female mouse was served as recipient and C57BL/6 male mouse was served as donor. Each CB6F1 female mouse was subjected to intravenous transfusion with 1×10(6) erythroleukemia (EL9611) cells at day 4 before transplantation, followed with intraperitoneal injection of Ara-C (0.015 g) respectively at day 2 and day 1, then conditioned for BMT with TBI (450 cGy) at day 1 before transplantation. After conditioning (day 0), each of recipients was transplanted with 6×10(7) mixture of bone marrow and spleen cells from the C57BL/6 mice, and was infused with 6 × 10(7) immunized donor lymphocytes at day 15 after transplantation. All treated animals were evaluated for survival, development of leukemia and aGVHD. The donor CD3(+) cell chimerism and sex determining region Y gene (SRY)in recipients were monitored periodically after transplantation. The results showed tht all mice with only inoculation of 10(6) EL9611 cells survived for 15 ± 1 days (n = 4); all mice of other groups obtained the varying degrees of implantation. SRY could be detected at day 30 and 60 after transplantation. The chimerism of donor CD3(+) cells in mixed bone marrow transplantation (MT) group at day 14, 30 and 60 respectively reached 17.95% ± 12.03%, 37.34% ± 2.78% and 47.06% ± 6.1%. In donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) group it reached 69.78% ± 12.62%, 75% ± 15.97%, 83.41% ± 16.07% at day 30, 45 and 60 after transplantation. The mice of MT and DLI group survived for 66.66 ± 1.47 days and 78.2 ± 7.82 days. It is concluded that the high tumor burden before transplantation can affect donor cell engraftment and prognosis.Early post-transplanted infusion of immunized lymphocytes from donor can help to improve the therapeutic efficacy and survival.
Animals ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; methods ; Female ; Haplotypes ; Leukemia, Erythroblastic, Acute ; therapy ; Lymphocyte Transfusion ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Tissue Donors ; Transplantation Conditioning ; methods ; Transplantation, Homologous

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of Bisphenol A in adult rats and its possible mechanisms.

METHODSBPA (in corn oil) was administered orally to 9-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats for 14 days (0, 1 and 5 g/kg bw), and incubated primary Sertoli cells from pubertal SD rats with 0, 10(-7), 10(-6), 10(-5), 10(-4) mol/L BPA.

RESULTSAfter oral administration, a significant decrease in right testis weight was observed in 5 g/kg dose group, but not in the 1 g/kg bw dose group. Germ cells were detached from basement membrane of seminiferous tubules and Sertoli cells in BPA-treated groups. Administration of BPA at 1 g/kg bw and 5 g/kg bw produced both nucleus pycnosis and vacuolized nucleus in germ cells and Sertoli cells. A marked loss in vimentin staining in Sertoli cells from testis of BPA-treated rats was detected. No change in levels of serum estradiol and testosterone was observed after two-week exposure to BPA. In Sertoli cell primary culture, BPA destroyed the cytoskeleton and cell-cell junctions, and elongated Sertoli cells.

CONCLUSIONThese results suggest that BPA may injure reproductive function of male rats by destroying the cytoskeleton and changing the form of Sertoli cells.

Animals ; Benzhydryl Compounds ; Cells, Cultured ; Cytoskeleton ; drug effects ; Male ; Organ Size ; drug effects ; Phenols ; toxicity ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sertoli Cells ; cytology ; drug effects ; Testis ; anatomy & histology ; cytology ; drug effects ; Vimentin ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo study the regulatory mechanism of SATB1 repression in cells other than T cells or erythroid cells, which have high expression level of SATB1.

METHODSHeLa epithelial cells were treated with either histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) trichostatin A (TSA) or DNA methylation inhibitor 5-Aza-C before detecting SATB1 expression. Luciferase reporter system was applied to measure effects of EZH2 on SATB1 promoter activity. Over-expression or knockdown of EZH2 and subsequent quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction were performed to determine the effect of this Polycomb group protein on SATB1 transcription. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay was applied to measure enrichment of EZH2 and trimethylated H3K27 (H3K27me3) at SATB1 promoter in HeLa cells. K562 cells and Jurkat cells, both having high-level expression of SATB1, were used in the ChIP experiment as controls.

RESULTSBoth TSA and 5-Aza-C increased SATB1 expression in HeLa cells. Over-expression of EZH2 reduced promoter activity as well as the mRNA level of SATB1, while knockdown of EZH2 apparently enhanced SATB1 expression in HeLa cells but not in K562 cells and Jurkat cells. ChIP assay Results suggested that epigenetic silencing of SATB1 by EZH2 in HeLa cells was mediated by trimethylation modification of H3K27. In contrast, enrichment of EZH2 and H3K27me3 was not detected within proximal promoter region of SATB1 in either K562 or Jurkat cells.

CONCLUSIONSATB1 is a bona fide EZH2 target gene in HeLa cells and the repression of SATB1 by EZH2 may be mediated by trimethylation modification on H3K27.

Azacitidine ; pharmacology ; Base Sequence ; Cell Line ; Chromatin Immunoprecipitation ; DNA Methylation ; DNA Primers ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; physiology ; Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 Protein ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; physiology ; Epithelium ; metabolism ; Gene Silencing ; Humans ; Hydroxamic Acids ; pharmacology ; Matrix Attachment Region Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Transcription Factors ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether α-hemoglobin stabilizing protein (AHSP), the α-globin-specific molecular chaperone, is regulated by erythroid transcription factor NF-E2.

METHODSWe established the stable cell line with NF-E2p45 (the larger subunit of NF-E2) short hairpin RNA to silence its expression. Western blot, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis were performed to detect the expression of AHSP, the histone modifications at AHSP gene locus, and the binding of GATA-1 at the AHSP promoter with NF-E2p45 deficiency. ChIP was also carried out in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-induced DS19 cells and estrogen-induced G1E-ER4 cells to examine NF-E2 binding to the AHSP gene locus and its changes during cell erythroid differentiation. Finally, luciferase assay was applied in HeLa cells transfected with AHSP promoter fragments to examine AHSP promoter activity in the presence of exogenous NF-E2p45.

RESULTSWe found that AHSP expression was highly dependent on NF-E2p45. NF-E2 bound to the regions across AHSP gene locus in vivo, and the transcription of AHSP was transactivated by exogenous NF-E2p45. In addition, we observed the decrease of H3K4 trimethylation and GATA-1 occupancy at the AHSP gene locus in NF-E2p45-deficient cells. Restoration of GATA-1 in G1E-ER4 cells in turn led to increased DNA binding of NF-E2p45.

CONCLUSIONNF-E2 may play an important role in AHSP gene regulation, providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the erythroid-specific expression of AHSP as well as new possibilities for β-thalassemia treatment.

Base Sequence ; Blood Proteins ; genetics ; DNA Primers ; GATA1 Transcription Factor ; physiology ; Gene Expression Regulation ; physiology ; Gene Silencing ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Methylation ; Molecular Chaperones ; genetics ; NF-E2 Transcription Factor, p45 Subunit ; physiology ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Objective To study the correlation between fractional anisotropy(FA)and tumor microarchitecture(MVD,VEGF and celluarity).Methods Fouteen gliomas(5 grade Ⅰ and Ⅱ,4 grade Ⅲ, 5 grade Ⅳ)confirmed histo-pathologically were performed on diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)using a GE Signa Excite Ⅱ 3.0 T MR scanner(8-channel head coil,SE echo planner imaging(EPI),thickness:5 mm, spacing:0,directions:25,B values:0 and 1000 s/mm~2,TR 6000 ms,TE minimum,FOV:240 mm? 240 mm,image matrix 128?128,NEX 2).Postprocessing was done using a DTI specific software to gain FA image.ROIs were drqwn in tumor parenchyma and the value of FA was recorded.The positive expression of VEGF and CD34 was shown using immuno-histochemistry method.The VEGF,MVD,and cellularity of every slices were recorded.Pearson correlation analysis was used.Results FA(which is 0.102?0.080 in grade Ⅰ and Ⅱ,0.171?0.037 in grade Ⅲ,0.200?0.021 in grade Ⅳ)has the trend to raise with the increasing grade of astrocytomas.FA has significant positive correlation to MVD(40/HP in grade Ⅰ and Ⅱ, 86/HP in grade Ⅲ,101/HP in grade Ⅳ),VEGF(8% in grade Ⅰ and Ⅱ,47% in grade Ⅲ,55% in grade Ⅳ),and cellularity(104/HP in grade Ⅰ and Ⅱ,160/HP in grade Ⅲ,265/HP in grade Ⅳ).The correlation coefficients between FA and VEGF,MVD,and cellularity were 0.748,0.668,0.625 respectively.Conclusion As a new imaging method,DTI can reveal the microarchitecture in gliomas and be value of distinguishing gliomas of different grade.DTI provides a new method of precise diagnosis to glioma preoperatively.