Objective: To investigate the expression of ?-catenin and epidermal growth factor receptor in non-small-cell lung cancer and its clinical significance. Methods: The expression of ?-catenin and epidermal growth factor receptor in 58 cases of non-small-cell lung cancer tissue sections were detected by immunohistochemistry. Correlations were investigated between fj-catenin and EGFR immunostaining in primary tumors and histological grade, lymph node stage.Results:23 of 58 cases showed strong ?-catenin immunostaining and 27 of 58 cases showed strong EGFR immunostaining. ?-catenin expression showed significant correlation with grades of differentiation. There were significant correlations between ?-catenm and ECFR. expression and lymph node metastasis. Conclusion: The change of ?-catenin and ECFR expression in surgically treated NSCLC are clearly associated with lymph node metastasis and histological grade.

Objective To investigate the mechanism of airway neurogenic inflammation by studying the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and substance P in C7-T5 dorsal root ganglion sensory neuron cells induced by nerve growth factor (NGF) and the role of interferon regulatory factor-1 (IRF-1).Methods The dorsal root ganglia neuron (DRGn) cells were primary cultured,and then stimulated with or without NGF or NGF+interferon (IFN)-γ.Subsequently the DRGn cells were transinfected with or without green fluorescent protein (GFP)-IRF-1-vshRNA,and then stimulated with or without NGF.The expressions of iNOS and substance P were detected by real-time PCR.Results NGF induced the mRNA expression of iNOS and substance P in dorsal root ganglion sensory neuron cells,and IFN-γ increased NGF-induced iNOS mRNA expression.The expressions of iNOS and substance P in sensory neuron cells were decreased significantly at the mRNA level after IRF-1 was blocked down by IRF-1-vshRNA transinfection.Conclusion NGF is involved in the airway neurogenic inflammation by prompting the expression of iNOS and substance P through transcription factor IRF-1 in airway sensory neuron cells.IRF-1 may be a therapeutic target for airway neurogenic inflammation.

AIM: To observe the effect of myocyte enhancer factor 2C (MEF2C) on the expression of substance P (Sub P) and neurofilament triplet L (NFL) in rat dorsal root ganglion cells (DRGn cells). METHODS: DRG neurons were dissociated and cultured, and then exposed to different concentrations of nerve growth factor (NGF, 10 μg/L, 30 μg/L, 100 μg/L or 200 μg/L) for 24 h. The neurons cultured in media with the lowest concentration of NGF (10 μg/L) served as control. Real time PCR was used for detecting the mRNA of substance P and NFL in the DRGn cells. Three MEF2C-siRNAs were transfected into PC 12 cell line by the way of chemical mediation. The best siRNA with the highest interference ratio was determined by real time PCR. The DRGn cells knocked out MEF2C gene were also transfected with siRNA, and the expressions of substance P and NFL were measured by real time PCR after stimulated with high concentration of NGF. RESULTS: The expressions of substance P and NFL increased in primary cultured rat DRG neurons in a dose-dependent manner of NGF stimulation. The expression level of MEF2C in experimental group was lower by 50% than that in control group. No change of cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (CREB) was observed. The substance P decreased by 41% in experimental group than that in control group at the same time point. The NFL was decreased by 61%. CONCLUSION: NGF may promote the synthesis of substance P and NFL in rat DRGn cells. MEF2C regulates the expression of substance P and NFL in DRGn cells in rat embryo and MEF2C may be a critical transcriptional factor involved in the airway hyperresponsiveness.

Objective: To explore the change of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and its correlation with forced expiratory volume in the ifrst second (FEV1), the ifrst second forced expiratory volume percentage of forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) in bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: FeNO, FEV1 and FEV1/FVC were measured in 57 suspected asthmatics (21 acute onsets, 12 non-acute and 24 non-asthma), 38 COPD patients (25 acute exacerbations and 13 stable stages) and 26 healthy subjects. Results: In the 57 suspected asthmatic patients, when the optimal cut off value of FeNO was 20.15 PPb, which was used to diagnose asthma and differentiate asthma and non-asthma, the positive predictive value, the negative predictive value, the sensitivity and the speciifcity was 94.1%, 95.7%, 97.0%, and 91.7% respectively. hTere was signiifcant difference in the FeNO level between the 33 asthmatics and 26 healthy subjects (P<0.05). There was also significant difference in the FeNO level between the acute onset and the non-acute (P<0.05), but not in the FEV1 and FEV1/FVC level (bothP>0.05). hTere was no signiifcant correlation between FeNO and FEV1, FEV1/FVC in patients with asthma (r=-0.186,-0.236, bothP>0.05). hTere was signiifcant difference in the levels of FeNO, FEV1 and FEV1/FVC between the 38 COPD patients and the 26 healthy subjects (all P<0.05), and also between the 25 acute exacerbations and 13 stable COPDs (allP<0.05), but not between the 13 stable COPDs and 26 healthy subjects (allP>0.05). FeNO was not correlated with FEV1 and FEV1/FVC level in COPD patients (r=-0.167,-0.285, bothP>0.05). Conclusion: FeNO level is increased obviously in patients with asthma. hTe optimal cut off value of FeNO at 20.15 PPb can differentiate asthma and non-asthma with high sensitivity and speciifcity. FeNO is higher for the acute onset than non-acute, which may be useful to evaluate the control degree. FeNO level is increased in COPD patients in the acute exacerbations, but there is no change in stable COPD patients compared with the healthy subjects.

Objective: To improve the understanding of pulmonaryStrongyloides stercoralis. Methods: Two paients were diagnosed with severe infection with pulmonaryStrongyloides stercoralis by respiratory ICU of Xiangya Hospital. The clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, imaging and pathological data were analyzed. Another 87 cases in the literature were reviewed from 1973 to 2013. Results: In the 2 cases, digestive symptoms were the ifrst symptom andStrongyloides stercoralis was found in the lungs. Eosinophils was detected in the 13 death cases by blood routine examination, with 10 cases≤0.05×109/L. Conclusion: The farmers were the main infected people. Patients with basic diseases or with immunosuppression due to long-term glucocorticoid treatment tend to infect and even die atfer the infection withStrongyloides stercoralis. Eosinophil granulocyte reduction shows poor prognosis, which needs early diagnosis and treatment.

Nocardia is a genus of gram-positive,weakly acid-fast,filamentous aerobic actinomycetes,which mainly causes infection in immunocompromised persons. We reported a successfully treated fatal case of severe pneumonia caused by Nocardia farcinica in a hospital,then reviewed 25 domestic and abroad case reports about nocardiosis combined with severe pneumonia occurred since 2006,so as to improve health care workers'cognition on clinical manifestations,image features,pathogenic characteristics,and diagnostic and treatment schemes of se-vere pneumonia caused by Nocardia farcinica.

Objective To investigate the prevalence and relative factors of cognitive disfunction among the community- dwelling old adults. Methods 766 participants over 60 years old dwelling in Luzhou, Sichuan, China were enrolled with Multi-stage stratified sampling. Information about sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, health condition, nutrition were interviewed, and their cognitive function was evaluated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results The prevalence of cognitive disfunction was 19.7% among them. Gender (male vs. female, OR=0.577), age (over 90 years vs. 60- 64 years, OR=29.857), administrator (administrator vs. not administrator, OR= 0.360), farmer (farmer vs. not farmer, OR=2.121), nutrition (malnutrition vs. eutrophia, OR=2.460), body weight (underweight vs. normal weight, OR=3.222), living status (UN-Habitat vs. living alone, OR=0.658), marital status (widowed vs. not widowed, OR=2.208), education attainment (junior college vs. illiteracy, OR=0.328), income (over 1000 yuan vs. no income, OR=0.596) significantly related with cognitive disfunction (P<0.05). Multiple Logistic regression analysis showed that old age, occupation (farmer) and malnutrition were independent risk factors for cognitive disfunction. Conclusion The cognitive disfunction related with multi-factors, and need more effective and available intervention in the old adults.

Objective To elucidate intracellular transcription factor activation of C_7～T_5 dorsal root ganglia in rats recurrently infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Methods Eighty 1～2 weeks old Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 2 groups: a control group and a RSV-infection group. The rats in the RSV-infection group were infected with 5 ×10~5 U/mL RSV once a week and the rats in the control group were treated with culture medium without RSV. Airway response was measured after 8 weeks. Lung tissue was submitted for HE staining and in situ hybridization. The C_7～T_5 dorsal root ganglia were obtained for the preliminary screening of the intracellular transcription factors by TranSignal~(TM) protein/DNA combo array. Nuclear protein of C_7～T_5 dorsal root ganglia were extracted and submitted to Western blot. Results Airway response in the RSV-infection group was higher than that in the control group (P＜0.05). HE staining showed inflammatory cell infiltration, and in situ hybridization demonstrated positive RSV RNA in the RSV-infection rat lung which was not present in the control group, thus validating the efficacy of our model. TranSignalTM protein/DNA combo array screening showed that 55 transcription factors increased by at least 2 folds in the C_7～T_5 DRG cells of the RSV-infection group. The transcription factors Smad and interferon regulatory factor (1 or 2) were the 2 most upregulated transcription factors identified by combo array screening (59 and 43 fold increase compared with the control, respectively). Western blot confirmed Smad(1/2/3) and IRF-1 upregulate while IRF-2 remained unchanged. Conclusion Respiratory syncytial virus infection results in airway hyperresponsiveness and transcription factor activation in C7～T5 spinal adorsal root ganglia in rats, which may contribute to airway nerve network dysfunction and airway hyperresponsiveness.

Objective To explore the effects of high background radiation on the expressions of miR-16, miR-106b, miR-449a, miR-34a and let-7g in peripheral blood plasma of the residents .Methods Totally 110 healthy female long-term local residents aged over 50 years were randomly selected from the high background radiation area and the control area , while their age, body mass index(BMI) and other indicators were surveyed .The relative expression levels of miRNAs in peripheral blood plasma of these women were quantitatively detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR ( RT-PCR) .Then t-test was used to analyze the cumulative dose , age and BMI between the high background and control group .Mann-Whitney U-test was used for statistical analysis of miRNA expression levels between two groups , and the multiple regression analysis was used finally .Results Compared with the control group , the cumulative dose of individuals in the high background group was about four times higher (t=42.803, P<0.05), and the levels of miR-16 and miR-106b in plasma of high background group were down-regulated, while the level of miR-449a was up-regulated ( Z =4.180, 2.422, 2.794, P <0.05 ).After controlling of confounding factors such as age and BMI , the expression levels of miR-16 and miR-106b were negatively correlated with the cumulative dose of individuals (P<0.05).On the contrary, no significant correlation was observed between the levels of miR-449a, miR-34a, let-7g and the individual cumulative dose (P>0.05).Conclusions miR-16 and miR-106b may serve as biomarkers for the early stage of low dose radiation health effects .

Objective:To examine the pathological change and intima thickness of thoracic aorta, detect the serum concentration of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α), oxidized LDL (ox-LDL), and pentraxin 3 (PTX3) in the rat model of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), and to determine the effect of CIH on endarterium injury and its possible pathway.Methods:Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into 4 groups:a CIH+N-acetylcysteine (NAC) group, a CIH+normal saline (NS) group, a CIH control group and a control group. CIH rats were subjected to alternating cycles of hypoxia (6%-8%O2 in N2 for 20-25 s) and normoxia (21%O2 in N2 for 2 min) every 180 s for 7 h/d. Rats in the control group were not treated. Rats in the CIH+NAC group were treated with NAC [800 mL/(kg.d)] intraperitoneal injection, and rats in the CIH+NS group were treated with NS [5 mL/(kg.d)] intraperitoneal injection. Atfer 42 day treatment, the rats were sacriifced, blood taken, and thoracic aorta cut off. hTe serum concentration of HIF-1α, ox-LDL, and PTX3 were detected by ELISA. hTe thickness of intima was taken by computer digital image analysis. Results:Vascular endothelial cell injury and detachment were found in the thoracic aorta in the CIH and the CIH+NS group. The intima in the CIH and the CIH+NS group was thicker than that in the control and the CIH+NAC group (P<0.001). The serum concentration of HIF-1α, ox-LDL, and PTX3 in the CIH and the CIH+NS group was higher than that in the control and the CIH+NAC group (P<0.001). The serum concentration of HIF-1α, ox-LDL, and PTX3 was pairwise positive correlation, and the serum concentration of ox-LDL and PTX3 was positively correlated with the thickness of intina (P<0.001). Conclusion:hTe vascular endothelial cell injury and endarterium thickening can be induced by CIH. It is an important pathway that CIH activates oxidative stress and elevates the levels of HIF-1α, ox-LDL, and PTX3.