Purpose It is still undetermined about the application of regular ultrasound (US) combined with ultrasonic elastography (UE) in diagnosing superficial lymph nodes disease.Therefore our aim is to evaluate the value of US combined with UE in diagnosing superficial lymph nodes disease.Materials and Methods The ultrasonography and pathological data of 214 patients (with 266 superficial lymph nodes) were analyzed retrospectively.The US and UE data were compared with the pathologic results.Results The elastic classification of reactive hyperplastic and lymphomatous lymph nodes were no greater than grade 3,respectively;that of malignant metastatic lymph nodes was greater than grade 4.The accuracy of UE or US+UE was higher in diagnosing reactive hyperplastic lymph nodes and metastatic lymph nodes' nature compared with US (P＜0.05).The sensitivity and accuracy of US+UE in diagnosing malignant superficial lymph nodes were higher than those of US (90.13％ vs.72.37％;86.09％ vs.68.05％,P＜0.05).Compared with UE alone,those of US+UE were also higher (90.13％ vs.77.63％;86.09％ vs.72.56％,P＜0.05).Conclusion The accuracy of differential diagnosis of benign or malignant superficial lymph nodes can be improved by US+UE method.

Objective: To investigate the anticancer action of taurine and its potential mechanisms. Methods: 101 weanling female SD rats were randomly divided into four groups. They were:(1)control group (CL):fed a basic diet;(2)high fat group(HF):fed a high fat diet (10% lard);(3)taurine group (Tau):fed a taurine diet (5% taurine);(4)taurine and high fat group(TH):fed a mixed diet (5%taurine and 10% lard). 10mg DMBA were given to each rat by gavage at age of 6 weeks. Then the rats were fed assigned diet for 26 weeks. By 5 weeks after DMBA administration the rats were palpated once weekly and the time, size, location of each tumor were recorded. The examinations made at the end of experiment were listed below: CI, LTT, serum antibody, SOD, MDA, GSH Px, TC, TG, LDL C. Results: The tumor incidence in group HF rats was higher than that in group CL, Tau and TH rats (P

OBJECTIVEStudy on the promoter effects of sodium butyrate in high or low dosages on carcinogenesis process, based on the immortalization of human fetal esophageal epithelium induced by human papillomavirus (HPV) 18E(6)E(7) genes.

METHODSThe immortalized esophageal epithelium SHEE was treated with high concentration of the sodium butyrate (80 mmol/L) and then with low concentration (5 mmol/L) for 8 weeks respectively. The cells were cultured continuously without sodium butyrate for 14 weeks. The morphology, proliferation and apoptosis of the cells were studied by phase contrast microscopy, immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. The dead and the viable cells were assayed by fluorescent microscopy with Hoechst 33342 and Propidium iodide staining. Tumorigenesis of the cells was assessed by soft agar colony formation and by transplantation of cells into nude mice and SCID mice.

RESULTSWhen cells were exposed to high concentration of sodium butyrate, cell death was increased leaving few live cells. When cells were cultured in the medium with low concentration of sodium butyrate, the first proliferative stage appeared. Removal of the butyrate caused the cell to enter a crisis stage with a long doubling time resembling senescent cells. After the crisis stage, the cells progressed to the second proliferation stage with continuous replication and atypical hyperplasia. At the end of the second proliferative stage, carcinogenesis of the cells appeared with large colonies in soft-agar and tumor formation in transplanted SCID mice and nude mice.

CONCLUSIONSThe malignant change of the immortalized epithelium by the effects of sodium butyrate is the consequence of a two-stage mortality mechanism: cells death by butyrate cytotoxicity and cell crisis by abrogation of sodium butyrate. These data reveal that in high dosage, sodium butyrate induces cell death and in low dosage, it induces cell proliferation, which emphasizes the importance of butyrate as a promotor of carcinogenesis.

Animals ; Butyrates ; toxicity ; Carcinogens ; toxicity ; Cell Death ; drug effects ; Cell Division ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Transformed ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ; chemically induced ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; etiology ; Esophagus ; pathology ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Papillomaviridae ; pathogenicity

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of methyltransferase-like 3(METTL3)on the pro-liferation,migration,and secretion of inflammatory factors by synovial fibroblasts from rheumatoid arthritis(RA).Methods The expression of METTL3 in synovial tissue(SF)from 25 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 25 pa-tients with osteoarthritis was detected by RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry,respectively.The concentration of RNA m6A was detected by ELISA.RA synovial fibroblasts were isolated and cultured,and divided into NC(nor-mal control)group,hi-METTL3(overexpression of METTL3)group,si-METTL3(knock-down METTL3)group,and STM2457(METTL3 specific inhibitor)intervention group.Cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 method.Apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry.And the concentrations of interleukin-6(IL-6),interleukin-17A(IL-17A),receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand(RANKL),and osteoprotegerin(OPG)in the superna-tant of cell culture were detected by ELISA.Results Compared with synovial tissue of osteoarthritis,the expres-sion of mRNA m6A and METTL3 in synovial tissue of RA significantly increased(P<0.05).After overexpression of METTL3,the expression of m6A in synovial fibroblasts increased.The proliferation and migration abilities of SF in hi-METTL3 group were significantly improved,and their apoptosis did not change significantly.The secretion of cytokines IL-6 and RANKL of SF in hi-METTL3 group significantly increased,while the OPG significantly de-creased(P<0.05).After interfering with METTL3 expression,the expression of m6A in synovial fibroblasts de-creased.Cell proliferation and migration of SF in siMETTL3 group significantly decreased.The secretion of cyto-kines IL-6 and RANKL significantly decreased,and OPG significantly increased(P<0.05).After intervention with METTL3 inhibitor STM2457,the proliferation and migration of synovial fibroblasts were significantly reduced,and the secretion of cytokines IL-6 and RANKL significantly reduced,and OPG significantly increased(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in the expression of IL-17A among each group.Conclusion METTL3 may promote the proliferation and migration of RA synovial fibroblasts,enhance the expression of IL-6 and RANKL,and inhibit the expression of OPG through RNA m6A methylation modification.

It collected relative policy documents systematically and analyzed the development process and policy objective evolution of Chinese basic medical insurance system.Based on this,it determined the performance assessment objectives of the designated medical institutions of basic medical insurance and constructed the assessment framework guided by the goal realization.Then,from the perspective of contract management and performance management,it determined the assessment elements of contract enforcement assessment system of designated medical institutions and the logical relationship between the elements,and to construct a conceptual model,which provides a reference for guiding the research of the contract enforcement assessment of the designated medical institutions of basic medical insurance.