Earthquakes ; Humans ; Rescue Work ; Wounds and Injuries ; surgery

Objective To investigate the value of detecting methylated SEPT9 gene (mSEPT9) in serum and stool in screening colorectal cancer in elderly people.Methods Subjects were divided into three groups, the colorectal cancer group (n=82), the colorectal polyps group (n=80) and the healthy control group (n=100).Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect mSEPT9 in peripheral blood and feces.The relationship between mSEPT9 and clinical and pathological characteristics of colorectal cancer was analyzed.The agreement between serum and stool results was analyzed.Results The positive rate of serum mSEPT9 was 73.2％ in the colorectal cancer group, 6.3％ in the colorectal polyps group and 4.0％ in the healthy control group, with statistical significance between the colorectal cancer group and the other two groups (P＜0.01).The sensitivity and specificity for plasma mSEPT9 detection in screening colorectal cancer were 73.2 ％ and 95.6％, respectively.The positive rate was higher in patients with tumor maximum diameter over 3.0 cm, invasion of the entire serosa layer, lower differentiation or advanced clinical staging (P＜0.05).The detection results of plasma mSEPT9 were in complete agreement with those of stool mSEPT9 from the same patients.Conclusions The expression of mSEPT9 is high in elderly patients with colorectal cancer and has a high sensitivity and specificity for PCR detection.Complete agreement can be seen in results from plasma and feces.Detecting mSEPT9 can be a valuable approach to screening colorectal cancer in the elderly.

Objective To explore the occurrence and development of schistosomiasis japonica hepatic fibrosis, and the treatment countermeasure. Methods Three groups of patients,including advanced schistosomiasis (splenectomy involved), non-advanced schistosomiasis splenomegaly and advanced schistosomiasis with hepatitis, were followed up. Biochemical tests including hepatic fibrosis indexes, liver ultrasonography,lymphocyte subcluster, and membrane CD35 were examined. Immunohistochemical tests of liver cells were performed in some patients. Results A total of 94.06% of 1212 patients took various anti-schistosome treatments. The difference was significant for positive antigen and antibody to schistosome, LN and HA ,and the ultrasonic indexes of liver fibrosis among the three groups. The degree of liver substance pathohistological examinations showed inflammation had a positive correlation with hepatic fibrosis. The contents of C-Ⅰ, C-Ⅲ in portal regions, central vein and hepatic sinusoid were increased in advanced schistosomiasis hepatic fibrosis. In hepatic fibrosis, hepatic sinusoid showed two pathological changes of dilation and stricture. Conclusions In schistosomiasis japonica, hepatic sinusoid changes play a great role in hepatic fibrosis.Hepatic fibrosis would still develop even after the thorough anti-schistosome therapy. So, anti-fibrosis therapy is necessary.

BACKGROUND:Chondrocytes may dedifferentiate when they are cultured in vitro,and the capacity of synthetizing glycosaminoglycan (GAG)is also reduced,how to delay the dedifferentiation of chondrocytes is a crucial topic in the field of tissue engineering.OBJECTIVE:To observe the performance of chondrocytes synthetizing GAG at different inoculum densities.DESIGN,TIME AND SETTING:A controlled cellular experiment was performed at the laboratory of Department of Orthopaedics in the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University between January 2007 and May 2007.MATERIALS:Five New Zealand rabbits of one month old were used in this study.METHODS:Articular chondrocytes were isolated from both knees and digested using 0.4% pronase enzyme and 0.025% Ⅱ type collagenase.The chondrocytes harvested from the same rabbit were divided into two sets,one was seeded at a constant density of 2×104/cm2 in primary and subculture,the other was cultured at a reduced density of 2×103/cm2 following cellular adhesion.Cellular morphology and proliferation were observed under inverted microscope.The culture media were renewed after the primary cells and passage 1 cells were confluent.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:GAG concentration was determined using the modified precipitation method with Alcian blue at 12,24,36,48 and 60 hours following the renewal of culture media.RESULTS:Articular chondrocytes in the primary high-density culture group were polygonal with clear boundaries,they have shown to form colony at 3-4 days.Cells around colonies were more slender than those in the center of colonies,shaping as long polygon.There was no obvious change observed in the morphology of passage 1 cells.In the low-density culture group,cells scattered at early stage and formed colonies at 7 days,cellular morphology showed no significant differences in comparison with high-density culture group.The time of primary cells becoming confluent in the low-density culture group was prolonged compared with high-density culture group.The GAG concentration in supernatants in the primary cells of low-density culture group was significantly lower than that in primary cells and passage 1 cells of high-density culture group (P＜0.001,P＜0.05).The GAG concentration showed a greater difference along with the prolonging of culture time.CONCLUSION:High-density culture is better then low-density culture to enhance the performance of chondrocytes synthetizing GAG and to retard the velocity of chondrocytes dedifferentiation,which suggests high-density culture contributes to maintain the chondrocytes phenotype and can be considered as a good way of plate culture.

200 citrinin mutants were screened with the inhibition zone method from the transformants library of Monascus ruber M-7 by Agrobacterium-mediate DNA transfer, which contains more than 5,000 transformants.Then 53 mutants, whose citrinin contents ranged from 0.04?g/g to 154.57?g/g in the red fermented rice (RFR), were achieved by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).Color values of RFR prepared by these mutants were also detected.The results showed that there was a positive correlation between the citrinin content and the color value among the mutants.These results provide materials and research bases for ferrther studying the relationship between the production of citrinin and pigment of Monascus ruber at molecular level.

Background Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) leads to blindness in many fundus diseases.Study showed that naringenin suppresses CNV,but it presents with poor bioavailability because of its poor solubility in water.β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) can increase the water-solubility of drugs, however, whether the inhibitory effect of naringenin on CNV can be improved after clathrated with β-CD remains unclear.Objective This study was to compare the inhibitory effects of naringenin with naringenin/β-CD compounds on CNV in rats.Methods Naringenin/β-CD clathrate compounds were prepared with saturated solution,the solubility of naringenin in water was calculated based on standard curve.Thirty-two male Brown Norway rats were randomized into normal control group, model control group, naringenin group and naringenin/β-CD group.Laser-induced CNV models were created in the right eyes of rats from the model control group, naringenin group and naringenin/β-CD group.Naringenin and naringenin/β-CD clathrate compounds were intraperitoneally injected at a dose of 20 mg/kg in the rats of naringenin group and naringenin/β-CD group since the day after modeling, respectively, once per day for 4 weeks, and equal volume of DMSO was injected in the same way in the model control group.Fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran (FITC-D) was injected via rat hypoglossal vein for the preparation of flatmounts of choroid in the fourth week,and the areas of CNV were measured and compared among the groups.The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)-choroid-sclera tissues were isolated from the rats, and the relative expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) , cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2),phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K),p38mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9 mRNA and their proteins in RPE-choroid-sclera tissue were detected using real-time PCR and Western blot.Results The solubility of naringenin in water increased by 11.8 folds after encapsulated with β-CD.The CNV areas in the model control group, naringenin group and naringenin/β-CD group were (34.56± 1.67), (20.90± 1.47) and (13.20± 1.38) × 103 μm2 , respectively, showing significant reduces in the naringenin group and naringenin/β-CD group compared with the model control group (t =3.973 ,P＜O.05;t =5.532, P＜0.01) ,and the CNV area in the naringenin/β-CD group was significantly smaller than that in the naringenin group (t =3.605,P＜0.05).The relative expression levels of VEGF, COX-2, PI3K, p38MAPK, MMP-2, MMP-9 mRNA and their proteins were significantly declined in the normal control group,naringenin group and naringenin/β-CD group in comparison with the model control group (all at P＜0.05).In addition, the expression levels of VEGF mRNA and COX-2 mRNA and their proteins were significantly lower in the naringenin/β-CD group than those in the naringenin group (all at P＜0.05).Conclusions The naringenin/β-CD clathrate compounds can improve the water solubility of naringenin and enhance their inhibitory effect on rats CNV.The inhibitory effect of naringenin on rats CNV probably is associated with anti-inflammatory pathway.

It is one of the key points for modernization and internationalization of traditional Chinese medicines to construct the Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) base of Chinese materia medica (CMM).GAP helps to minimize contamination and improve the quality of CMM during the plantation and the production of Chinese crude drugs.In this article,the status and development of CMM production bases of GAP in Guangdong Province,China,are presented.The suggestions upon the problems during the development of GAP for Chinese crude drugs are also provided.

Objective:To characterize the allele frequencies and its polymorphisms of human platelet antigen (HPA) in Guangzhou population.Methods:A total of 500 samples from healthy voluntary platelet donors in Guangzhou were genotyped for HPA-1 to-17 by PCR-SSP.Results:HPA-1a to-17a alleles were found in each of the samples;The gene frequencies of HPA-1a to-17a were 99.8%,99.85%,56.3%,99.9%,98.8%,98.6%,100%,100%,100%,100%,100%,100%,100%,100%,55.1%,and 100%,100% respectively.The gene frequencies of HPA-1b to-6b and-15b alleles were 0.2%,0.15%,43.7%,0.1%,1.2%,1.4% and 44.9% respectively;HPA-7b to-14b and-16b-17b were not detected.In summary Guangzhou population displayed higher frequency of HPA-1a to-17a and HPA-3b,-15b.Compared with those of other Han populations in China,HPA frequency of Guangzhou people was significantly different from that of Beijing;Compared to that of the European,American,English and Egyptians,HPA frequency was different significantly.While HPA frequency was different from those of Japanese and Thais.This study for the first time investigated the assortment of HPA genes and its frequency,there were 40 assortments in Guangzhou population,only 5 assortment of HPA gene frequencies more than 10%,35 assortment of HPA gene frequencies less than 9%.Conclusion:HPA distribution in Guangzhou population appears to have local characteristics.This study confirms the ethnic and original difference of HPA.The allele frequencies and its polymorphisms of HPA in Han population are shown North-South differences.Races and countries outside Asia are also shown differences.The basic information provided by this study of the HPA system polymorphisms is useful to guide the design of the local HPA genotype database of volunteer platelet donors.It's also useful to avoid the PTR,and the HPA related clinical research.

Objective To establish a flow cytometric measurement of detecting minimal residual disease(MRD) according to the leukemia-associated immunophenotypes in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL) and to explore the significance of MRD detection in ALL children for a individualized treatment. Methods A variety of four-color fluorescent antibody combinations were used to investigate the children's normal bone marrow. The normal bone marrow pattern at two-parameter plots was established to identify the residual tumor cells, seventy-five bone marrow samples from newly diagnosed ALL children were analyzed with four-color cytometry to determined the optimal combinations which can clearly distinguish the tumor cells from normal cells. The bone marrow samples were monitored with the combination panel in 60 patients at the end of induction therapy and follow-up treatment. Cytomorphology test, PCR amplification of 29 fusion genes as well as IgG and TCR gene rearrangements were performed simultaneously. Results Sixty-nine cases (92.0%) could be identified for effective antibody combinations to monitor MRD by four-color cytometry. Fusion genes or IgG and T cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangements can be detected in 21 cases (28.0%) to monitor MRD by PCR. No MRD can be detected in 25 bone marrow samples at the end of induction therapy and follow-up treatment. Four-color cytometry could detect as low as 0.021%-4.130% residual leukemia cells. Conclusion MRD can be monitored by flow cytometry which is faster than PCR, and the sensitivity is superior to morphology method.