Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Parkinson Disease ; Zebrafish

Objective To evaluate the CT features and pathologic findings of MTC. Methods The CT features of 28 patients with MTC confirmed pathologically were analyzed retrospectively and correlated with pathologic findings. Results The tumor invaded one lobe of the thyroid in 22 cases(78.6%), two lobe in 6 cases(21.4%). 5(17.9%) of them presented with heterogeneous hypodense masses and 23(82.1%) of them presented with homogeneous hypodense solitary masses . 20 patients had metastatic lymph nodes. The thyroid masses were enhanced slightly, while the lymph nodes were enhanced obviously. Correlating with pathologic findings, the heterogeneous lesions composed of cystic areas and/or necrosis, while the homogeneous lesions composed of homogeneously distributed tumor cells with no cystic areas or necrosis. The metastatic lymph nodes were hypervascular. Conclusion The CT features of MTC may be described as homogeneous diffuse hypodense mass, with slight enhancement,and invasion of one thyroid lobe in most cases. The metastatic lymph nodes are characterized with enhancement.

Monascus spp.,a kind of filamentous fungi,produce abundant of important metabolites which were widely used in the fields of food and medicine.Until now,there are few reports on the important functional genes of the Monascus spp.due to little genetic information.In this paper,the feasibility of gene deletion mediated via Agrobacterium tumefaciens on the basis of homologous recombination was analyzed by studying on the deletion of the RGS domain of putative G-protein signaling regulator gene mrfA in Monascus ruber.The length of homologous arms of deletion vector pC805S were 958 bp and 824 bp,respectively.There were 26 transformants in which homologous recombination occurred in 138 transformants and the recombination rate was 18.8%.The result showed it was feasible to identify the function of unknown gene in M.ruber with the targeted-deletion technology mediated via A.tumefaciens.

OBJECTIVE:To explore basic technology for synthesis of active ingredients of Ophiocordyceps xuefengensis,and provide necessary technical support for comprehensive development of O. xuefengensis sourse. METHODS:Submerged fermenta-tion method was used to cultivate the mycelium,achieving efficient synthesis of active ingredients by controlling medium composi-tion and cultivation conditions. Using the bacteria as starting strain,the effects of different carbon sources (sucrose,glucose and soluble starch),different nitrogen sources (peptone,yeast extract powder,yeast extract,sodium nitrate,potassium nitrate and urea),different vitamin B(vitamin B1 and vitamin B complex)and different initial pH(pH was set at 4,5,6,7,8 and 9,re-spectively)on mycelial growth,extracellular and intracellular polysaccharide synthesis,cordycepin synthesis and intracellular triter-penoid synthesis were investigated to screen the optimal medium composition. RESULTS:The optimal carbon source,nitrogen source,vitamin B and initial pH were sucrose,yeast extract powder,vitamin B1 and 8,respectively. High biomass and metabolite accumulation levels can be obtained when carbon source was sucrose,nitrogen source was yeast extract powder,adding 0.1 g/L vi-tamin B1 with initial pH of 8. CONCLUSIONS:O. xuefengensis can efficiently accumulate metabolites,and achieve the optimiza-tion of strain cell growth and synthesis of active metabolite by optimizing and controlling the fermentation process.

Objective To investigate the clinical features and characteristics of coronary artery lesion between Hui and Han nationality young pa?tient with acute myocardial infarction(AMI)who were referred to the affiliated hospital of Ningxia Medical University. Methods A total of 189 con?secutive AMI young patients(age≤44 years)who underwent coronary angiography were retrospectively retrieved from the database.Those patients with AMI were divided into Hui group(46 cases)and Han group(143 cases). The clinical features and results of coronary angiogram were com?pared between the two group. Results Compared with Han group,Hui group are more younger than Han group,high prevalence rate of diabetes, lower smoking history and lower drinking history(P<0.05). Coronary angiography showed the incidence of three?vessel lesions was significant low?er in Han group than in Hui group(P<0.05). Both group showed single vessel was the most common lesion. Conclusion Hui nationality patients with acute myocardial infraction are more younger and are are more prone to suffering from diabetes history、lower smoking history and lower drinking history than Han nationality patients. The coronary artery lesions of Hui nationality patients with acute acute myocardial infraction are more three?branch lesions than Han nationality patients.

Objective To investigate the effect and safety of comprehensive therapy based on femoral head arthroplasty in treating old femoral neck fracture in the elderly complicated with other severe basic medical conditions.Methods Thirty-six elderly patients with old femoral neck fracture were treated with femoral head arthroplasty.Mean age of the patients was 78.2 years, and mean duration since injury was 13.7 months.All the patients had at least one severe basic medical problem.Perioperative complications were retrospectively analyzed, and function of hip joint was evaluated 6 months after operation.Results One patient died because of severe pulmonary infection, while 16 electrolyte imbalance, 7 hypotension, 4 arrhythmia, 2 acute heart failure and 1 acute kidney injury were cured in the rest 35 patients.Harris hip score of the 35 patients increased from (22.0 ± 6.8) points pre-operatively to (69.2 ± 10.8) points 6 months post-operatively (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions Comprehensive therapy based on femoral head arthroplasty is effective for old femoral neck fracture in the elderly suffering severe underlying diseases.Early treatment, perfect pre-operative preparation, correct manipulation and appropriate perioperative management play important roles.

Objective:To investigate the role and action mechanism of aquaporin 3 (AQP3) in skin photoaging.Methods:Normal human skin fibroblasts (NHDF) were divided into several groups: NHDF group receiving normal culture without transfection, AQP3 cDNA group transfected with AQP3 cDNA, AQP3 siRNA group transfected with AQP3 siRNA, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein Q (hnRNPQ) cDNA group transfected with hnRNPQ cDNA, hnRNPQ siRNA group transfected with hnRNPQ siRNA, AQP3-hnRNPQ cDNA group transfected with AQP3 and hnRNPQ cDNAs, AQP3-hnRNPQ siRNA group transfected with AQP3 and hRNPQ siRNAs, cDNA empty vector group transfected with a cDNA empty vector, and siRNA empty vector group transfected with a siRNA empty vector. Transfected or untransfected NHDFs were irradiated with ultraviolet A (UVA) at a dose of 10 J·cm -2·d -1 for 3 consecutive days to establish a model of cellular senescence, and NHDF receiving no UVA irradiation served as a control. A cell counting method was used to evaluate the cellular proliferative activity, a senescence-related β-galactosidase staining kit to evaluate the senescence level of NHDFs in each experimental group, and luciferase reporter gene technology to assess the transcriptional regulation activity of p53. Western blot analysis was performed to determine the expression of AQP3, hnRNPQ and senescence-related proteins p53 and p21 in NHDFs. Two-independent-sample t test was used for comparisons between two groups, and one-way analysis of variance for comparisons among multiple groups. Results:After 3-day consecutive irradiation with UVA, the expression of p53 and p21 in NHDFs and the percentage of β-galactosidase-positive cells significantly increased compared with the unirradiated control group (all P < 0.05) , but the expression of AQP3 and cellular proliferative activity on days 5, 6 and 7 significantly decreased in the UVA group compared with the unirradiated control group (all P < 0.05) . After 3-day consecutive irradiation with UVA, aggravated senescence-related phenotypes of UVA-induced NHDFs were observed in the AQP3 siRNA group compared with the siRNA empty vector group, and there were significant differences in the expression of p53, p21 and hnRNPQ, percentage of β-galactosidase-positive cells, p53 transcriptional regulation activity and cellular proliferative activity between the 2 groups (all P < 0.05) . Further silencing of the hnRNPQ gene could reverse the above effects. Compared with the siRNA empty vector group, the senescence-related phenotypes of UVA-induced NHDFs were attenuated in the hnRNPQ siRNA group, and significant differences were observed between the 2 groups in terms of the expression of p53, p21 and hnRNPQ, percentage of β-galactosidase-positive cells, p53 transcriptional regulation activity and cellular proliferative activity (all P < 0.05) . After 3-day consecutive irradiation with UVA, the senescence-related phenotypes of UVA-induced NHDFs were significantly attenuated in the AQP3 cDNA group compared with the cDNA empty vector group (all P < 0.05) , manifesting as significantly decreased expression of p53 (0.25 ± 0.06 vs. 0.56 ± 0.08) , p21 (0.23 ± 0.06 vs. 0.70 ± 0.07) and hnRNPQ (0.82 ± 0.09 vs. 0.92 ± 0.03) , percentage of β-galactosidase-positive cells (31.23% ± 6.54% vs. 81.53% ± 7.62%) and p53 transcriptional regulation activity (2.52 ± 0.36 vs. 7.16 ± 0.25) , but increased cellular proliferative activity ([2.93 ± 0.33]× 10 6/ml vs.[2.15 ± 0.23]× 10 6/ml) , and further overexpression of hnRNPQ could reverse the above effects. After 3-day consecutive irradiation with UVA, the expression of p53, p21, percentage of β-galactosidase-positive cells, p53 transcriptional regulation activity and cellular proliferative activity in the hnRNPQ cDNA group were 1.41 ± 0.09, 1.42 ± 0.06, 91.06% ± 4.24%, 12.35 ± 0.88 and (1.23 ± 0.41) × 10 6/ml respectively, and the senescence-related phenotypes of UVA-induced NHDFs were significantly aggravated in the hnRNPQ cDNA group compared with the cDNA empty vector group (all P < 0.05) . Conclusion:AQP3 may alleviate the UVA-induced senescence of NHDFs by regulating hnRNPQ and downregulating p53 expression.

Objective To explore the relationship between folic acid levels of cord blood and birth weight, hyaline membrane disease in newborns. Methods Eighty-seven newborns were divided into premature infant group(42 cases) and term infant group(45 cases),intrauterine growth retardation group( 28cases) and control group (59 cases), hyaline membrane disease of premature infant group ( 13 cases) and premature infant control group(15 cases) according to the gestational age, birth weight, clinical manifestation and chest X-ray, respectively. Folic acid levels of cord blood were measured. Results The folic acid level of cord blood in premature infant group was lower than that in term infant group [(10.87 ±4.31) nmol/L vs.( 13.56 ± 5.07) nmol/L,P ＜0.05 ]. The folic acid level of cord blood in intrauterine growth retardation group was lower than that in control group [(11.01±4.29)nmol/L vs.( 14.87 ± 5.14)nmol/L,P＜0.05]. The folic acid level of cord blood in hyaline membrane disease of premature infant group was lower than that in premature infant control group [(9.15 ±4.02) nmol/L vs.(12.91±4.51) nmol/L,P＜0.05]. The positively correlation was found between the folic acid level of cord blood and birth weight in newborns (r =0.1825).Conclusion The folic acid level of cord blood is correlated with the occurrence of premature infants,intrauterine growth retardation and hyaline membrane disease in newborns.

Objective To investigate the incidence, imaging and clinical characteristics in elderly patients with coronary artery ectasia (CAE). Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with CAE who underwent coronary angiography between January 2006 and December 2012. According to age, the enrolled patients were divided into two groups (elderly group, age≥ 65 years; non-elderly group, age < 65 years). The clinical feature, imaging characteristics and the 5-year survival rate of the two groups were compared.Results The preva-lence of CAE in elderly patients was 0.33%. Patients in elderly group were found to have significantly higher proportion of female (30.1%vs. 10.1%,P< 0.001), three-vessel disease (60.5%vs. 45.2%,P = 0.003) and localized ectasia (55.0%vs. 40.2%,P = 0.003). In addition, body mass index (20.90 ± 2.71 kg/m2vs. 22.31 ± 2.98 kg/m2,P < 0.001) and percentage of current smokers (45.0%vs. 64.6%,P < 0.001) were significantly lower in elderly group. Cumulative survival curves demonstrated reduced 5-year cumulative survival at the follow-up in the elderly group compared with the non-elderly group (88.0%vs. 96.0%,P = 0.002). But the 5-year event free survival rate failed to show a significant difference between the two groups (31.0%vs. 35.0%,P= 0.311).ConclusionThe prevalence of CAE in elderly patients was 0.33%, which was about 1/3 of the entire numbers of CAE patients. There were significant differences between the elderly and the non-elderly patients with CAE in terms of coronary artery disease risk factors and coronary artery ectatic characteristics. CAE might be asso-ciated with increased mortality risk in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE The aim was to explore the clinical experiences and access the auditory performance and speech intelligibility of cochlear implantation in patients with inner ear malformations. METHODS Among 700 patients who received multi-channel cochlear implantation from 1997 to 2007 in Beijing Tongren Hospital, 108 patients were diagnosed with malformed inner ear. A retrospective study was performed about the surgical characteristics and the mapping characteristics after implantation. The long term follow-up of the rehabilitative efficacy will also be presented. RESULTS ①All patients restituted auditory after operation. ②After the regular rehabilitation, the long term follow-up of the auditory performance and speech intelligibility were very positive. Everyone has shown improved listening and communication skills evaluated by Categories of Auditory Performance and Speech Intelligibility Rating. ③Most of the children are studying or working and are actively involved in their local communities. CONCLUSION The cochlear implantation can be performed safely in patients with malformed inner ear. The results suggest that cochlear implantation could also provides long-term benefits to those malformed inner ear cases.