Cartilage ; pathology ; Catheter Ablation ; adverse effects ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Laryngeal Nerves ; Microwaves ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Thyroid Gland ; surgery ; Trachea ; pathology ; Vocal Cord Paralysis ; etiology

Objective To investigate effects of magnetic stimulation on apoptosis of nerve cells and the production of inducible nitric oxidate synthase (iNOS) after spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods Thirty-two SpragueDawley male rats were randomly divided into a magnetic stimulation group (n = 16) and a control group (n = 16).SCI models were established by spinal cord transection in both groups. Rats were sacrificed at the 6th, 12th, 24th and 72nd hour post-injury, but the rats in the stimulation group received magnetic stimulation before being sacrificed.Apoptosis index (AI) and iNOS-positive cells rate were recorded at each time point. Results Apoptotic cells could be observed by the 6th hour post-injury, and were elevated from the 24th to the 72th hour. iNOS-positive cells were few at the first two time points, but had increased significantly at the 24th and 72nd hour post-injury. Compared with the control group, the apoptosis index of the stimulation group decreased a little at the 6th and 12th hour, but not significantly. The difference was quite significant at the 24th and 72nd hour, however, and the AI in the stimulation group decreased much more than that in the control group. There was little difference in the rate of iNOS-positive cells between the control and stimulation groups at any time point. Conclusions Magnetic stimulation could inhibit neural apoptosis and protect neurons from secondary SCI, but it has little effect on iNOS production.

Endoscopy ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Meningocele ; surgery ; Middle Aged ; Pterygopalatine Fossa ; surgery

Objective To evaluate the quality and proficiency testing of HIV confirmatory laboratories in China.Methods Sevenyear consecutive assessments of the laboratories added up to 297 times,including function and serum technology evaluations from 1997 to 2004.Questionnaires were used for the evaluation of function,including laboratory quality management, training and quality validation of the lower level laboratories.The serum technology evaluation used the same serum panel to screen HIV antibody and perform western blot(WB) confirmatory test.The two parts of evaluation results gave 100 scores each with excellent(above 95),good(81～95),pass(71～80),weak(60～70) and failure(below 60).Results The consistency rate between ELISA and WB in all laboratories was above 85 percent from 1998 to 2004,with a rate above 95 percent from 2001 to 2004.The excellent rates were all above 55 percent during these years,among which the highest is 91.67 percent in 2003.Only one laboratory failed in 1999.Conclusion The strict quality evaluation shows the testing ability of HIV confirmatory laboratory is improving year by year.The standardized management,performed with the training,validation and technical guidance to the lower level laboratory would continuously improve the quality of HIV confirmatory laboratories.

BACKGROUND: To summarize the progress of tissue engineering in repairing spinal cord injury in recent years.DATA SOURCES: A computer-based online search of PubMed database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed) and CNKI database (www.cnki.net/index.htm) was performed for articles published between September 1999 and September 2009 with the key words of "spinal cord injury, tissue engineering" in English and Chinese, respectively. Articles published recently or in authoritative journals in the same field were selected.DATA SELECTION: Inclusion criteria: clinical or experimental study about tissue engineering in repairing spinal cord injury.Repetitive studies were excluded. A total of 29 articles were included.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Seed cell selection of tissue engineering; requirements of scaffold materials of tissue-engineered spinal cord, neurotrophic factor for regeneration, special internal environment construction for regeneration.RESULTS: Seed cells of tissue-engineered spinal cord include Schwann cells, olfactory ensheathing cells, embryonic stem cells, neural stem cells and bone marrow stromal stem cells. Scaffold materials involve synthetic or modified natural materials, such as polyglycolic acid, polylactic acid, and lactic acid/glycolic acid copolymer, which benefit cell attachment and nutrition factor aggregation following surface modification. Antibodies that promote or inhibit nerve growth factor in combination with polyoxyl are coupled to function as tissue-engineered scaffold, which may be approaches to repair spinal cord injury by tissue engineering in combination with stem cell transplantation and electric field/magnetic field stimulation.CONCLUSION: The optimal elements for tissue engineering are the key role in repairing spinal cord injury by tissue engineering.

Objective:To investigate the expression of TIP30 and its relationship with clinico-pathological characteristics in patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC).Methods:The expression of TIP30 in 78 cases of ECC tissues and 78 cases of para-cancerous tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results:The positive expression rate of TIP30 was 43.59％ and 75.64％ in ECC tissues and para-cancerous tissues,respectively.Differences were statistically significant (P＜ 0.05).The expression levels of TIP30 were not correlated with age,gender,degree of differentiation and tumor size(P＞0.05),but correlated with lymph node metastasis,distant metastasis and TNM staging(P＜ 0.05).The median overall survival of 78 ECC cases was 14.8 months,and it of TIP30 positive expression cases was 20.3 months,statistically higher than 11.5 months in TIP30 negative expression cases(P＜ 0.01).Conclusion:The downregulation of TIP30 is closely correlated with the development,metastasis and prognosis of ECC.TIP30 may be used as a molecular marker to identify and predict the progression,metastasis and prognosis of ECC.

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of contrast-enhanced transrectal ultrasound(CE-TRUS) in the perineal prostate biopsy. Methods A total of 116 patients was undergone prostate biopsy through the perineum under the direction of tansrectal ultrasound. Prostate biopsy standard was based on 2007 CUA revised guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of urological diseases.Color Doppler ultrasonography was used to check the prostate and to learn the prostate focal lesion,size, number and echo color Doppler flow characteristics. Of the 116 cases, 43 patients was undergone contrast-enhanced transrectal ultrasound. Results The biopsy results confirmed the diagnosis of prostate cancer was 64 cases, Benign prostatic hyperplasia was 52 cases. Of 43 cases who undergone contrast-enhanced transrectal ultrasound, Prostate cancer and Benign prostatic hyperplasia were 25 and 18 cases, respectively. CE-TRUS group and TRUS group showed no statistical difference between two groups. Analyzed the cases with PSA≤30 ng/ml, CE-TRUS group had a higher positive rate of biopsy (P=0.046). Conclusion TRUS guided transperineal biopsy of prostate might be an method for the diagnosis of prostate cancer with a higher accuracy rate. CE-TRUS can improve the biopsy positive rate of prostate cancer.

Objective To investigate the relationship between plasma levels of chromogranin A (CHGA) and adi-pose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) combined non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods The plasma levels of CHGA and ATGL were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in T2DM patients with NAFLD (group A, n=74), T2DM without NAFLD (group B, n=76), and normal group (group NC, n=75). The correlation between CHGA, ATGL and other metabolic index was analyzed. Results The plasma level of CHGA was significantly higher in group A (83.15±9.46) and group B (70.90±2.75) than that of group NC (46.74±8.15, P<0.01), and the level of CHGA was significantly higher in group A than that of group B (P<0.01). The plasma level of ATGL was sig-nificantly lower in group A (21.36±13.42) and group B (40.29±22.83) than that of group NC (72.30±26.41, P<0.01), and the level was lower in group A than that of group B (P<0.01). There was a negative correlation between the plasma CHGA, AT-GL and carbohydrate oxidation rate in group A. There was a positive correlation between fasting insulin (FINS), insulin resis-tance index (HOMA-IR), free fatty acid (FFA) and fat oxidation rate in group A. There was a negative correlation between plasma level ATGL and body mass index (BMI), FINS, cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and HOMA-IR, meanwhile, it was positively correlated with FFA. The multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that FINS, ATGL and FFA were indepen-dent variables for CHGA. The Logistic regression analysis showed that plasma levels of CHGA, ATGL and FFA were the in-dependent predictors of T2DM with NAFLD. Conclusion The plasma levels of CHGA and ATGL are closely correlated with substance and energy metabolism, and the interaction between them may play an important role in the pathogenesis of T2DM with NAFLD .

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasal Septal Perforation ; surgery ; Perioperative Care ; Young Adult

Objective To evaluate the prognostic significance of MMP-2 , MMP-9 and Cathepsin-D expression in lymph node-negative human breast carcinoma. Methods Specimens from the primary breast tumors of 270 axillary lymph node negative breast cancer patients were studied for MMP-2 , MMP-9 and Cathepsin-D protein expression by immunohistochemical staining. Results The positive expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and Cathepsin-D was 56.7%(153/270),59.6%(161/270) and 55.6%(150/270), respectively. In univariate analysis, MMP-2, MMP-9 and the co-expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were significantly associated with tumor free survival. In multivariate analysis, co-expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was unfavorablely related with tumor free survival(RR=2.487; P