BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with a high mortality. This study was undertaken to detect the factors associated with the prognosis of AKI. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 98 patients with AKI treated from March 2008 to August 2009 at this hospital. In these patients, 60 were male and 38 female. Their age ranged from 19 to 89 years (mean 52.4±16.1 years). The excluded patients were those who died within 24 hours after admission to ICU or those who had a history of chronic kidney disease or incomplete data. After 60 days of treatment, the patients were divided into a survival group and a death group. Clinical data including gender, age, history of chronic diseases, the worst laboratory values within 24 hours after diagnosis (values of routine blood tests, blood gas analysis, liver and renal function, levels of serum cystatin C, and blood electrolytes) were analyzed. Acute physiology, chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II scores and 60-day mortality were calculated. Univariate analysis was performed to find variables relevant to prognosis, odds ratio (OR) and 95％ confidence interval (CI). Multiple-factor analysis with logistic regression analysis was made to analyze the correlation between risk factors and mortality. RESULTS: The 60-day mortality was 34.7％ (34/98). The APACHE II score of the death group was higher than that of the survival group (17.4±4.3 vs. 14.2±4.8, P<0.05). The mortality of the patients with a high level of cystatin C>1.3 mg/L was higher than that of the patients with a low level of cystatin C (<1.3 mg/L) (50％ vs. 20％, P<0.05). The univariate analysis indicated that organ failures≥2, oliguria, APACHE II>15 scores, cystatin C>1.3 mg/L, cystatin C>1.3 mg/L+APACHE II>15 scores were the risk factors of AKI. Logistic regression analysis, however, showed that organ failures≥2, oliguria, cystatin C>1.3 mg/L +APACHE II>15 scores were the independent risk factors of AKI. CONCLUSION: Cystatin C>1.3 mg/L+APACHE II>15 scores is useful in predicting adverse clinical outcomes in patients with AKI.

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Membrane ; metabolism ; Cell Nucleus ; metabolism ; Cytoplasm ; metabolism ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Signal Transduction ; TCF Transcription Factors ; metabolism ; Transcription Factor 7-Like 2 Protein ; Wnt Proteins ; physiology ; beta Catenin ; metabolism

Aged ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; metabolism ; Carcinoma, Adenosquamous ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Cecal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Cecum ; chemistry ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Membrane Proteins ; metabolism

Problem-based learning(PBL)is an important part of creative education in medical colleges.Choice and design of cases are of the vital importance to success or failure of PBL course.To enhance students' ability of independent,creative thinking,and their ability of analyzing and solving problems,the roles of primitive cases and model cases as well as interrelation between them were discussed respective- ly.Moreover,five basic principles to be followed in model case design for PBL in Medical Microbiology and Human Parasitology,i.e.objec- tivity,flexibility,consistency,illumination and relevance,were proposed in this study.

Objective　In view of the fact that asbestos is not only a key occupational hazard, but also an important environmental pollutant, it is necessary to develop a proper method to decrease the carcinogenecity of asbestos fibers. This study was designed to determine if the surface modification of chrysotile asbestos fiber (CAF) with rare earth compounds (REC) can ameliorate CAF-induced DNA damages in human embryo lung (HEL) cells. Methods　After incubation with REC solution at different concentrations at room temperature for 1 h, natural and REC-pretreated CAF was added to cell culture at various doses. At the selected time as the experiment designed, DNA damages of the HEL cells were detected by Unscheduled DNA Synthesis (UDS) and Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis (SCGE) assays. Results　The UDS induced by natural CAF was elevated with the increase of CAF doses. There was a good dose-response relationship between the UDS and the amount of CAF in the medium and the coefficient of correlation (R) was 0.958 at P<0.05. In REC-pretreated CAF groups, the UDS declined with the increase of REC doses. Both catalase (CAT) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) also reduced the CAF-induced enhancement of UDS. In SCGE assay, CAF induced DNA chain breakage and the magnitude of DNA chain breakage increased in a dose-dependent manner and the coefficient of correlation (R) was 0.992 at p<0.01, while REC-pretreated CAF significantly decreased the induction of DNA chain breakage in a dose-dependent manner(r=0.989, p<0.05). Conclusion　It can be concluded that CAF-induced DNA damages in HEL cells may be partly mediated by oxygen derivatives, and the surface modification of CAF with REC might hide critical sites on the fiber surface, thereby reducing the fiber-mediated production of oxygen derivation and lowering the CAF-induced UDS and DNA chain breakage in HEL cells.

PBL teaching method is a new mode of teaching which is originated from the West and implemented into China in recent years with an expectation that it would mainly develop the students’ self-learning ability,and enhance their skills of comprehensive thinking and solving actual problems.The author summarizes the practical experience of using PBL teaching methods in the theory teaching in Department of Medical Microbiology and Human Parasitology,China Medical University in the past three years,and then proved this method is very helpful to improving the students’integrated thinking by analysis of sample.At the same time the results also suggested that the students showed high enthusiasm in discussing the cases.By this way,the students showed great subjective intiative in their studies.

Artemisnin is a novel sesquiterpene lactone with an internal peroxide bridge structure, which is extracted from traditional Chinese herb Artemisia annua L. (Qinghao). Recommended by World Health Organization, artemisinin is the first-line drug in the treatment of encephalic and chloroquine-resistant malaria. In the present study, transgenic A. annua plants were developed by overexpressing the key enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathway of artemisinin. Based on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation methods, transgenic plants of A. annua with overexpression of both HDR and ADS were obtained through hygromycin screening. The genomic PCR analysis confirmed six transgenic lines in which both HDR and ADS were integrated into genome. The gene expression analysis given by real-time quantitative PCR showed that all the transgenic lines had higher expression levels of HDR and ADS than the non-transgenic control (except ah3 in which the expression level of ADS showed no significant difference compared with control); and the HPLC analysis of artemisinin demonstrated that transgenic A. annua plants produced artemisinin at significantly higher level than non-transgenic plants. Especially, the highest content of artemisinin was found in transgenic line ah70, in which the artemisinin content was 3.48 times compared with that in non-transgenic lines. In summary, overexpression of HDR and ADS facilitated artemisinin biosynthesis and this method could be applied to develop transgenic plants of A. annua with higher yield of artemisinin.
Artemisia annua ; genetics ; metabolism ; Artemisinins ; metabolism ; Biosynthetic Pathways ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Mixed Function Oxygenases ; genetics ; Oxidoreductases ; genetics ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; Plants, Genetically Modified ; genetics ; metabolism ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics ; metabolism

Adolescent ; Gait ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism ; complications ; Male

The present study is to investigate the quality changes of ginseng stems and leaves before and after frost. The contents changes of ginsenoside, free amino acid, and total phenolic compounds, as well as DPPH radical scavenging effect before and after frost were measured. The content of 9 ginsenoside monomer in ginseng stems was decreased except for Rg, and Re after frost, but in ginseng leaves was all decreased. The total content of amino acids was decreased in ginseng stems after frost, while increased in ginseng leaves. The content of phenolic compounds in ginseng stems and leaves were both decreased after frost while the ability of DPPH radical scavenging was improved. The factor of frost has great impact on the quality of ginseng stems and leaves.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Ecosystem ; Freezing ; Panax ; chemistry ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; Quality Control

Objective To explore the role of NF-kB activation on spontaneous formation of germinal centers in spleen in BXSB mice and it's mechanisms.Methods Eighteen BXSB mice were divided to control group and pyrrolidine dithiocarbonate(PDTC)group randomly.PDTC group was given PDTC 120 mg/kg?BW ip every other day and control group was given the same dose of dissolving solution.NF-kB activity was deter- mined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay.Two color flow cytometry were used to detect CD154 expression on splenic B cells and germinal center B cells apoptosis.Germinal centers were stained for histochemical analysis.Results PDTC could inhibit the NF-kB activity in spleen tissue in BXSB mice.It decreased the NF-kB activity by 62.82%.Spontaneous germinal center formation was detected in spleen in BXSB mice.In- hibiting NF-KB activation could down-regulate CD154 expression on splenic B cell,retard spontaneous germi- nal center formation and increase germinal center B cell apoptosis.Conclusion NF-kB activation may induce spontaneous germinal center formation in spleen in BXSB mice by upregulating CD154 expression on splenic B cell and decreasing germinal center B cell apoptosis.The autoreactive B cells generated during spontaneous germinal center formation may escape apoptosis and then differentiate to autoantibody-producing plasm cells.It suggests that NF-kB can be a therapeutic target.