AIM: To observe the effects of porous polyethylene ( Medpor) as a spacer graft in the reconstruction of large areas eyelid defect after the operation of malignant tumors of lower eyelids.
METHODS: Nineteen cases ( 19 eyes ) of malignant tumors of lower eyelid underwent the eyelid reconstruction were selected. Medpor lower eyelid inserts implantation were used to replace tarsal joint sliding conjunctival flap and pedicle flap, and repaired full -thickness lower eyelid defects then underwent eyelid reconstruction.
RESULTS: Appearance of eyelids and functional improvements were satisfactory with no stimulation on the eyeball and no effect on the visual function. Implants is with no absorption, shift, exclusion or infection and no tumor recurrence in all cases during the follow up for 6-36mo.
CONCLUSION: Medpor lower eyelid inserts implantation can instead tarsal plate for the reconstruction of medium to large areas lower eyelid defect, which is easy performing with rare complications. It is an ideal alternatives of tarsal plate.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association of SOX9 expression and clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of gastric cancer.

METHODSA retrospective cohort study including 112 gastric cancer patients admitted to the Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital from 2004 to 2006 was performed. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to evaluate the expression of SOX9 in the 112 specimens of gastric cancer tissues and 70 non-cancerous tissues adjacent to the tumor.

RESULTSLow expression of SOX9 was seen in 5(7.1%) tissues out of 70 non-cancerous tissues adjacent to the tumor. A total of 94(83.9%) patients had varying expression of SOX9, of whom 51(45.4%) had overexpression. Univariate analysis demonstrated that the expression of SOX9 was significantly associated with Lauren classification (P<0.05), tumor invasion(P<0.01), lymph node metastasis(P<0.05), distant metastasis(P<0.05) and tumor stage(P<0.05), however there was no significant association between SOX9 expression and sex, age, histological type, histology differentiation or tumor size. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the 5-year survival rate of patients with SOX9 over-expression was significantly lower than that of patients with low expression(29.4% vs. 49.2%, P=0.031). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that histology differentiation(P=0.046), tumor invasion(P=0.001), and distant metastasis(P<0.01) were independent prognostic factors for gastric cancer, however the over-expression of SOX9 was not significant(P=0.948).

CONCLUSIONSThe expression SOX9 is associated with the growth, invasion, and metastasis of gastric cancer, as well as the prognosis. However, SOX9 expression is not an independent factor for the prognosis in patients with gastric cancer.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; SOX9 Transcription Factor ; metabolism ; Stomach Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology

This study was purpose to examine the effect of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and Tween 80 on the growth and viability of stromal cells (BMSC), colony-forming units for granulocytes and macrophages (CFU-GM) and bone marrow endothelial cell line (BMEC) from murine bone marrow in vitro, and to analyze the concentration-effect relationship. The colony yields of colony-forming units fibroblastic (CFU-F) and CFU-GM were assessed in the murine bone marrow cell cultures at various concentrations of DMSO or Tween 80 and in the control groups. The MTT assay and trypan blue exclusion were used to determine the cell viability and percentage of survival in BMSC and BMEC cultures with or without either of these organic solvents. The results showed that the colony yields of both CFU-F and CFU-GM were decreased significantly (p<0.05 or <0.01) at the concentrations (v/v final) of 2% DMSO or 0.005%-0.01% Tween 80 respectively, as compared with control. The cell viability and percentage of survival of BMSC and BMEC cultures were significantly reduced (p<0.05 or <0.01) at 0.5%-1.0% DMSO or 0.002%-0.005% Tween 80, as compared with control. With the increase of volume fractions of these solvents, the decreased percentages of corresponding measurements were increased by degrees. It is concluded that when the concentration of DMSO or Tween 80 goes to a certain level in cell culture medium, either of the organic solvents has an inhibitory action or/and cytotoxicity on the growth and viability of BMSCs, CFU-GM and BMECs. The growth inhibition and cytotoxic response are more significant at higher concentrations of these solvents.
Animals ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Line ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Dimethyl Sulfoxide ; pharmacology ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Endothelial Cells ; cytology ; Female ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Progenitor Cells ; cytology ; Male ; Mice ; Polysorbates ; pharmacology ; Solvents ; pharmacology ; Stromal Cells ; cytology

Yeast is a widely used host for recombinant protein expression. However, glycoproteins derived from yeast contain N-glycan of high mannose type and are usually hyperglycosylated. alpha-1,6-mannosyltransferases gene (och1) encodes the enzyme that initiates the first step of out-chain elongation of high mannose type N-glycan in yeast, which is different from that in human. So, a high efficient method to knockout target gene by two-step recombination was established and was used to delete och1. In the first recombinant, a plasmid with och1::ADE1 and ura3 gene was linearized in the downstream of och1 and inserted to the och1 site of P. pastoris genome, where the upstream and downstream of och1 were duplicated. In the second recombinant, the duplicated fragments of och1 were exchanged and the och1 deletion strains were selected on the plates containing 5-FOA, but no adenine. Then the och1 deletion strain was applied to express an human serum albumin (HSA) granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) chimera. Different with the hyperglycosylated HSA/GM-CSF chimera expressed in wild type P. pastoris, the chimera expressed in the och1 deletion strain, contained smaller N-glycan. The results suggested that the och1 mutant yeast may be more suitable for production of recombinant glycoproteins. And the och 1 deletion strain could be used for further re-engineering to produce complex human glycoproteins.
Chimera ; Gene Deletion ; Gene Knockout Techniques ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Mannosyltransferases ; genetics ; Pichia ; enzymology ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Serum Albumin ; biosynthesis ; genetics

Mammalian cells are prone to apoptosis when cultured in large scale for production of biopharmaceuticals. And this will reduce production duration and result in high cost of production. Apoptosis is triggered by various factors, and delicately regulated by a set of genes. Bcl-2, a component integrated in mitochondria membrane, is an important member of these genes. By maintaining the integrity of mitochondria membrane, Bcl-2 keeps cytochrome C from releasing into cytoplasm, and thus blocks the activation of caspases, and subsequent onset of apoptosis. Over-expression of Bcl-2 has proven to be useful in blocking apoptosis in various cell lines, including CHO, hybridoma, myeloma, lymphoma and insect cells. Ammonia, a metabolite of cultured cells, however, showed apparent pro-apoptosis activity. In living cells, ammonia can be utilized by glutamine synthetase (GS) to synthesize glutamine, and thus lower the concentration of ammonia in medium, and its negative effects. Glutamine is essential to living cells. If not added into medium, glutamine can only be synthesized by GS, which makes GS a qualified selection marker. This marker can be used for gene amplification by adding into medium increased concentration of MSX, an inhibitor of GS. In this study, we over-expressed Bcl-2 using GS amplification in a recombinant CHO cell line stably expressing human interferon-beta. The modified cell line, with higher expression of Bcl-2 and lower production of ammonia, exhibited good anti-apoptosis quality and higher interferon-beta production in continuous culture.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; genetics ; physiology ; Biopharmaceutics ; CHO Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Cricetinae ; Cricetulus ; Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Interferon-beta ; metabolism ; Models, Genetic ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To assess the heritability of serum uric acid in adult,using the classic twin design.Methods Adult Twins were recruited from the Qingdao Twin Registry.Uric acid,height,weight were measured.Zygosity in all the same-sex twin pairs was determined by 16 polymorphic markers.Heritability was assessed by structural equation models,with age,gender and body mass index(BMI) included as covariates.Results In total,687 twin pairs were available for data analyses,including 420 pairs of monozygotic and 267 pairs of dizygotic twins.After logarithm transformed,uric acid in males ( 17.47±1.91 ) was significantly higher than in females ( 15.22±1.70,P＜0.0001 ).After adjustment on age,sex and BMI,intraclass correlations for uric acid were 0.70 for monozygotic twins and 0.40 for dizygotic twins.The sex-limitation AE model,combining additive genetic and unique environmental factors,could produce the best fit for the data.Heritability estimate for uric acid was 70.5% (95% CI:65.9-74.6),with the proportion of unique environmental effects as 29.5%(95%CI:25.4-34.2).Conclusion Additive genetic effects appeared to be the major contributor to the variation of uric acid in this twins sample being studied.

Two new species of Fulvifomes are described from specimens collected in rainforests of Nonggang Nature Reserve of southern China, based on morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA (nLSU) sequences. Fulvifomes nonggangensis sp. nov. is characterized by perennial, sessile and solitary basidiocarps, applanate pileus, small cystidioles of 9.9–15.4 Â 2.9–3.5 lm, large pores of 5–6 per mm, a dimitic hyphal system, and broadly ellipsoid basidiospores of 4.3–5.3 Â 3.3–4.2 lm. F. tubogeneratus sp. nov. is characterized by perennial, sessile, and imbricate basidiocarps, a duplex context, small pores of 7–8 per mm, a dimitic hyphal system, and ovoid to subglobose basidiospores of 5.72 Â 5.00 lm.

Two new species of Fulvifomes are described from specimens collected in rainforests of Nonggang Nature Reserve of southern China, based on morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA (nLSU) sequences. Fulvifomes nonggangensis sp. nov. is characterized by perennial, sessile and solitary basidiocarps, applanate pileus, small cystidioles of 9.9–15.4 Â 2.9–3.5 lm, large pores of 5–6 per mm, a dimitic hyphal system, and broadly ellipsoid basidiospores of 4.3–5.3 Â 3.3–4.2 lm. F. tubogeneratus sp. nov. is characterized by perennial, sessile, and imbricate basidiocarps, a duplex context, small pores of 7–8 per mm, a dimitic hyphal system, and ovoid to subglobose basidiospores of 5.72 Â 5.00 lm.

Objective To investigate the influence of the diameter and length of the mini-implant on the primary stability after loading with composite forces (CF) which contained torque and horizontal forces (HF).Methods Ninety-six finite element models were established by the combination of mini-implant and bone,diameters (1.2 mm,1.6 mm,2.0 mm) and length (6 mm,8 mm,10 mm,12 mm).There were 12 sizes,each size corresponded with 8 models.Group HF (each size n =4) was loaded with 1.96 N horizontal force and Group CF (each size n =4) was loaded with composite force which contained 6 N · mm torque and 1.96 N horizontal force.The maximum displacement of mini-implant with different force directions,implant diameters and lengths were evaluated.Results The effect of force direction on the displacement related to diameter of mini-implant.The maximum displacement under load with HF respectively was changed with the changing of diameter[1.2 mm:(7.71 ±0.49) μm; 1.6 mm:(3.94 ±0.31) μm; 2.0 mm:(2.32 ±0.43) μm],which were smaller than the maximum displacement of Group CF[1.2 mm:(9.22 ±0.63) μm; 1.6 mm:(4.62±0.52) μm; 2.0 mm:(2.69 ±0.49) μm](P＜0.05).When diameter was 1.2 mm,the difference of the maximum displacement[(1.61 ± 0.22) μm]between Group HF and CF was more obvious than that when the diameter was 1.6 mm or 2.0 mm[(0.64 ±0.12),(0.49 ± 0.06) μ m] (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The composite force had unfavorable effect on the primary stability of the mini-implant.The diameter of the mini-implant had better be larger than 1.2 mm when the composite forces were applied.

OBJECTIVETo study the epidemiological features of tic disorders (TD) among schoolchildren in Wenzhou area.

METHODSStratified cluster sampling was carried out to investigate TD in 9742 schoolchildren aged 7 to 16 years old in Wenzhou.

RESULTSThe average prevalence rate of TD among school-age children was 104/10 000 (166/10 000 for males, 29/10 000 for females). There was a significantly higher prevalence rate for males than that for females (chi(2) = 43.96, P < 0.001, prevalence ratio = 5.7, prevalence ratio 95% CI: 3.20 - 10.30). The prevalence rates of clinical subtypes in males was significantly higher than that of females while pupils was significantly higher than that in high school students (chi(2) = 11.33, P < 0.01, prevalence ratio = 2.2, prevalence ratio 95% CI: 1.37 - 3.43). Prevalence rate of transient tic disorders (TTD), chronic motor vocal tic disorder (CMVTD), tourette syndrome (TS) were 34/10 000, 27/10 000 and 43/10 000 respectively with the highest among 9-10 years old group. The mean onset age of TD was 8.5 +/- 2.8 years. The peak of onset was among 6-10 year olds. The rate of delayed diagnosis of the disorders was 69.3% and the median in delayed diagnosis was 1.0 year.

CONCLUSIONTD is a common disease with high rate of misdiagnoses among schoolchildren in Wenzhou area. Physicians and population should be trained to identify the syndromes and to practice correct diagnosis and effective treatment as early as possible.

Adolescent ; Child ; China ; epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Prevalence ; Sex Factors ; Tic Disorders ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Tourette Syndrome ; epidemiology ; prevention & control