OBJECTIVETo investigate the character, diagnosis and treatment of multiple-level fractures of the cervical spine.

METHODSForty-three patients (38 male, 5 female) with multiple-level fractures of the cervical spine were retrospectively analysed in our hospital from 1988-2001.

RESULTSAmong 36 patients with multiple contiguous fractures of the cervical spine, 32 cases were injured at low cervical spine; 7 patients were non-contiguous spinal fractures in which there were 5 cases injured at upper and lower cervical spine. The frequently injured sites were vertebral body (31 patients), laminae (25 patients), spinous process (9 patients), vertebral arch (4 patients), transverse process (5 patients), lateral mass (5 patients); level frequently affected were C(4), C(5), C(6) and C(7); 21 patients were treated with anterior vertebrectomy and fusion, 10 patients with posterior laminectomy and fixation, 2 patients with both anterior and posterior decompression and fixation. 60.5% were flexion-compression injury. 10 patients with conservative treatment.

CONCLUSIONSContiguous type was more common than non-contiguous type in multiple level cervical spinal fractures; Injured sites always located at lower cervical spine in contiguous cervical fractures different from that fractures of atlas, axis and lower cervical spine in non-contiguous type; Unstable segments and level of spinal cord injury were at lower cervical spine; Operations must obtain both decompression and stability of spine.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Cervical Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Laminectomy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Trauma ; diagnosis ; surgery ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fusion ; Spinal Injuries ; diagnosis ; surgery ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo investigate the mechanism of Hangman's fracture and its clinical manifestation and treatment.

METHODSTen patients with Hangman's fracture treated at our hospital from 1988 to 2001 were analysed.

RESULTPatients were injured by motor vehicle accidents (7 patients), object hitting on the head (1), and fall (1). Injuries were classified as type I (1 patient), type II (5), type IIa (2) and type III (2).

CONCLUSIONSMotor vehicle accident and fall are major causes of Hangman's fracture with neurological deficits but limited motion and neck pain. Hangman's fracture is easily diagnosed using lateral cervical X-ray and CT. Hangman's fractures of types I, II and IIa can be treated conservatively, but those of type III or spinal cord injury require surgical stabilization.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; injuries ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Fracture Fixation ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fractures ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Spinal Fusion ; Traction ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between sensitivity to cisplatin (DDP) and the expression of HSP70 in cervical cancer cells in vitro.

METHODSCervical cancer Hela229 cells treated with different concentrations of DDP and the HSP70 inhibitor (PFT-µ) were examined for cell viability using MTT assay and colony forming ability. The cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry with propidium iodide staining and DAPI staining, and JC-1 staining was used to determine mitochondrial membrane potential. The expressions of HSP70, Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-3 were measured with Western blotting. A nude mouse model bearing Hela229 cell xenograft was used to evaluate the effect of DDP and PFT-µ on tumor growth.

RESULTSHela229 cells expressed a higher level of HSP70 than normal cervical cells. The combined use of PFT-µ significantly enhanced the inhibitory effect of DDP (P<0.01) and increased the cell apoptosis in Hela229 cells. JC-1 staining demonstrated that DDP combined with PFT-µ more obviously reduced mitochondrial membrane potential. DDP combined with PFT-µ more strongly lowered Bcl-2 expression and increased the expressions of casepase-3 and Bax than DDP alone. In the nude mouse model, PFT-µ significantly enhanced DDP sensitivity of Hela229 cell xenografts (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSInhibition of HSP70 expression can enhance the sensitivity of cervical cancer cell to DDP both in vivo and in vitro possibly by promoting cell apoptosis, suggesting the potential of HSP70 as a new target for gene therapy of cervical cancer.

Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Survival ; Cisplatin ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Female ; HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins ; antagonists & inhibitors ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial ; Mice ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Sulfonamides ; pharmacology ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism

Objective:To explore that if the weak central coherence cognitive characteristic exist in metaphor semantic integration and how does it change through the familiarity of metaphor in the adults with high functioning autism (HFA).Methods:Totally 20 adults with HFA from a service institution of autistic disorder and their 20 typically developing (TD) peers from ordinary schools were recruited into present study who were matched on intelligence quotient (IQ).Priming task was used in present study,in which were set two groups of metaphor sentences (novel-metaphor sentences,conventional-metaphor sentences) as priming sentences and four groups of word (metaphor-relationship-explaining word,vehicle-relevance word,irrelevant word,pseudo words) as target words.A recognition task was used to support the results of priming task.Results:HFA adults showed the highest processing efficiency of vehicle-relevance word in the novel-metaphor and conventional-metaphor priming conditions,the reaction time were (960.7 ±9.7) ms and (747.5 ± 12.8) ms,and the accuracies were 94.8％ and 98.4％.TD adults showed the highest processing efficiency of metaphor-relationship-explaining word in the novel-metaphor and conventional-metaphor priming conditions,the reaction time were (817.4 ± 9.0) ms and (619.5 ± 9.9) ms,and the accuracies were 93.3％ and 98.2％.In recognition tasks,HFA adults showed the highest recognition efficiency of vehicle-relevance word in the novel-metaphor and conventional-metaphor conditions,the reaction time were (732.2 ±11.9) ms and (788.8 ± 11.7) ms,and the accuracies were 78.9％ and 81.8％.TD adults showed the highest recognition efficiency of metaphor-relationship-explaining word in the novel-metaphor and conventional-metaphor conditions,the reaction time were (694.0 ± 10.8) ms and 696.1 ± 11.2)ms,and the accuracies were 76.7％ and 84.2％.Conclusion:It suggests that HFA adults have weak central coherence cognitive processing characteristic on the deep semantic processing level such as metaphor,and this kind of characteristic would get more obvious from conventional-metaphor to novel-metaphor.

OBJECTIVE: Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a member of the neurotrophic factor family and plays a vital role in the physiological processes of organisms, especially in the nervous system. Many recent studies have reported that NGF is also involved in the regulation of tumourigenesis by either promoting or suppressing tumor growth, which depends on the location and type of tumor. However, little is known regarding the effect of NGF on interspinal schwannoma (IS). In the present study, we aimed to explored whether mouse nerve growth factor (mNGF), which is widely used in the clinic, can influence the growth of interspinal schwannoma cells (ISCs) isolated from IS in vitro.METHODS: ISCs were isolated, cultured and identified by S-100 with immunofluorescence analysis. S-100-positive cells were divided into five groups, and separately cultured with various concentrations of mNGF (0 [phosphate buffered saline, PBS], 40, 80, 160, and 320 ng/mL) for 24 hours. Western blot and quantantive real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were applied to detect tyrosine kinase A (TrkA) receptor and p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75(NTR)) in each group. Crystal violet staining was selected to assess the effect of mNGF (160 ng/mL) on ISCs growth.RESULTS: ISCs growth was enhanced by mNGF in a dose-dependent manner. The result of crystal violet staining revealed that it was significantly strengthened the cells growth kinetics when cultured with 160 ng/mL mNGF compared to PBS group. Western blot and quantantive real time PCR discovered that TrkA receptor and mRNA expression were both up-regualated under the condition of mNGF, expecially in 160 ng/mL, while the exoression of p75(NTR) demonstrated no difference among groups.CONCLUSION: From these data, we conclude that exogenous mNGF can facilitate ISC growth by activating both TrkA receptor and p75(NTR). In addition, patients who are suffering from IS should not be administered mNGF in the clinic.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Gentian Violet ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Kinetics ; Mice ; Nerve Growth Factor ; Nervous System ; Neurilemmoma ; Physiological Processes ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptor, Nerve Growth Factor ; Receptor, trkA ; Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor ; RNA, Messenger

Female ; Humans ; Lymphoma, T-Cell ; diagnosis ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma ; diagnosis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of EBV immediate-early protein Zta on cell cycle of Daudi cells and the involved mechanisms.

METHODSThe expression vector encoding Zta was constructed and electroporated into Daudi cells. Flow cytometric analysis was used to detect the cell cycle, Western blot to the protein levels of p21, Rb and E2F-1.

RESULTSThe vector was constructed successfully, the expression of Zta protein inhibited the proliferation of Daudi cells and promoted cell cycle from G(0)/G(1) phase \[(30.0 ± 3.4)%\] to S phase \[(47.7 ± 1.1)%\]. Meanwhile, Rb expression was significantly downregulated, E2F-1 and p21 expression upregulated by Zta.

CONCLUSIONZta could promote G(0)/G(1) phase to S phase transition in Daudi cells, which might be associated with the reduced expression of Rb and increased expression of E2F-1 and p21 protein.

Cell Cycle ; genetics ; Cell Division ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21 ; metabolism ; E2F1 Transcription Factor ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; genetics ; Humans ; Immediate-Early Proteins ; genetics ; Retinoblastoma Protein ; metabolism ; Trans-Activators ; genetics ; Transcriptional Activation ; Viral Proteins ; genetics

This study was aimed to investigate the immunological effect of modified dendritic cells (DC) which inducing cytotoxic T cells (CTL) against lymphoma cells. The DC were isolated from the lymph node and peripheral blood of patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). DC were transfected with recombinant adenovirus vector carrying human p53 gene (rAd-p53-DC). The expression of p53 gene was detected by flow cytometry. Western-blot was used to detect the expression of P53. ELISA was used to detect IL-12 level in supernatant. The mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) was used to detect the proliferative ability of auto-lymphocyte stimulated by DC. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release test was used to determine the cytotoxicity of CTL. The results indicates that the expressions of DC surface molecule (except for CD1a) such as CD83, CD80, CD86 and HLA-DR were significantly higher in experiment group than that in control group and blank control group. The secretion of IL-12 in supernatant was higher in experiment group than that in control group. The autologous T lymphocyte proliferation and cytotoxic activity against the same kind of DLBL-cells increased in experiment group as compared with control group and blank control group (P < 0.05). The ability to stimulate T lymphocyte proliferation increased with the rising of the ratio of DC and T lymphocyte. However, there was statistically significant difference between rAd-p53-DC derived from Lymph node and peripheral blood (P < 0.05). It is concluded that rAd-p53-transfected DC can induce CTL response in vitro against lymphoma cells.
Adenoviridae ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Dendritic Cells ; cytology ; immunology ; Genes, p53 ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; Lymphocyte Activation ; Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse ; blood ; immunology ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the neuroprotective effect of tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) against focal cerebral ischemic injury in rats with diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWMRI).

METHODSRat models of focal cerebral ischemic injury were established in 16 male SD rats. They were randomly divided into the TMP group and the control group, eight in each group, and pretreated with TMP and normal saline respectively before modeling. Change of infarcted cerebral focus was observed with DWMRI at 1, 2, 6, 12 and 24 hrs after infarction, and the infarction volume (IV) at 24 hrs after modeling was estimated by triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) stain.

RESULTSThe IV in all time points observed in the TMP group with DWMRI was significantly smaller than that in the control group (P<0.01). Compared with that at 1 hr after infarction, in the control group at 2, 6, 12 and 24 hrs after modeling, the IV enlarged by 13.3%, 29.7%, 50.3% and 57.3% respectively, while that in the TMP group 9.9%, 21.3%, 37.1% and 40.5% respectively. The cerebral IV estimated by TTC stain 24 hrs after modeling was larger than that estimated by DWMRI.

CONCLUSIONTMP pretreatment before modeling was effective in protecting brain against cerebral ischemic damage in rats. DWMRI dynamic scanning observation has important significance in observing the cerebral ischemic developing process and evaluating the effectiveness of brain protective measures.

Animals ; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Male ; Neuroprotective Agents ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Phytotherapy ; Pyrazines ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo observe the intervention of liuwei dihuang pill (LDP) on therapeutic effectiveness and adverse reaction of hormonotherapy in treating nephrotic syndrome.

METHODSPatients allocated in two groups were medicated with initial dose of prednisone 1 mg/kg once a day at 8 am in the morning. After being medicated for 8 to 12 weeks, the dose of prednisone was decreased by 5.0 mg every 2 weeks till 0.5 mg/kg per day. Then the medication was changed to that two days' dosage orally take once a day with the daily dose reduced by 5.0 mg/kg every 2 to 3 weeks, and maintained at 0.4 mg/kg once every two days. At same time, necessary symptomatic treatment was given. To the treated group oral administration of LDP 8 capsules was given additionally, 3 times per day until prednisone decreased to maintenance dose.

RESULTSTherapeutic effect in the treated group was significant better than that in the control group (P < 0.05). Urinary protein, plasma albumin, triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) in both groups were obviously improved (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). However, as compared with the control group, the improvement was better, and the recurrent rate was lower (P < 0.05) in the treated group. Scores of Yin-deficiency caused excessive Fire syndrome and incidence rate of adverse reaction in the treated group were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONLDP can markedly improve the therapeutic effectiveness and counteract the adverse reaction of hormonotherapy in treating nephrotic syndrome, and reduce the recurrence of the disease.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nephrotic Syndrome ; drug therapy ; Obesity ; chemically induced ; prevention & control ; Phytotherapy ; Prednisone ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Yin Deficiency ; chemically induced ; prevention & control