Objective To investigate the role of the imbalance of Th 1/Th 2 cells in the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD). Methods Thirteen patients with Graves′ disease (GD), 12 patients with Hashimoto′s thyroiditis (HT) were recruited for the study, and 8 patients with non-toxic nodular goiter served as controls. The expressions of interferon-? (IFN-?) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) of intrathyroidal mononuclear cells (ITMC), representative cytokines of Th 1 and Th 2 cells respectively, were assayed by immunohistochemical technique. Thyroid stimulating antibody (TSAb), thyroglobulin antibody (TGAb) and thyroid microsome antibody (TMAb) in peripheral blood were detected by routine methods, and their correlations with the IFN-? and IL-4 were analyzed. Results (1) Compared with the controls, the IL-4 and IFN-? expressions of ITMC in GD and HT patients were remarkably increased (both P

Objective To know the heart involvement in Behet′s disease.Methods Echocardiography (UCG) and clinical characteristic evaluation were performed in 30 patients with Behet′s disease.UCG findings were compared with those in 30 control subjects.Results Valve abnormalities were common on the UCG.Valve prolapse was observed in 10% and proximal aorta dilatation in 7% of patients.The positive rate of antinuclear antibodies was very low (7%) without differences between both groups.Conclusion Heart valve diseases are common in patients with Behet′s disease.

The response of normal islet β cells to insulin resistance is compensatory insulin hypersecretion in order to maintain normoglycemia. The mechanisms involved in the compensation process including the expansion of β cell mass and enhanced β cell performance via various molecular cascades, signaling pathway sand their interactions have been extensively investigated in recent years.

Thyroid hormone insensitivity syndrome is an inherited syndrome characterized by high serum concentrations of thyroid hormone,accompanied by normal or slightly high serum TSH concentration due to the reduced responsiveness of target tissues to thyroid hormone.Thyroid hormone insensitivity syndromes are related to gene mutations of thyroid hormone receptors,thyroid hormone cell transport defect,and thyroid hormone metabolism defect.This article reviews the progress of pathogenesis,diagnosis,and therapeutics of thyroid hormone insensitivity syndrome.

Objective To study the altered expression of dopamine transporter (DAT) in substantia nigra and striatum in postmortem human brain of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods Immunoautoradiography was used to reveal DAT distribution in postmortem human brain. Results Strongly labeling signal of DAT was mainly found in the substantia nigra, the putamen and the caudate nucleus in controls. In contrast, it was drastically reduced in the putmen and the dorsolateral caudate nuclus in PD brains, but the ventromedial part of the caudate nucleus showed a significant sparing adjacent to the border of the lateral ventricle. In the substantia nigra, the ventral and the lateral parts of the substantia nigra showed an obvious decreasing of DAT and the reducing degree of DAT labeling signals in those regions is smaller than that in the putamen and the caudate nucleus. Quantitative analysis revealed that 90.9% and 66.7% of the labeling intensity of DAT were decreased in the putamen and the caudate nucleus as comparing with the corresponding controls respectively (P

Objective:To investigate the effects of survivin antisense oligonucleotide (ASODN) on expression of survivin and ACC-M cell apoptosis. Methods: A phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotide (ASODN) of specific target survivin was designed and synthesized and then transferred to ACC-M cell line by lipofectin. At the same time blank control group, sense oligonucleotide (SODN) group were set up for comparison. MTT assay was used to detect cytotoxicity. Apoptosis was observed by flow cytometry. Survivin expression was determined by RT-PCR and Western-Blotting. Results: Compared with control group and SOND group, in ASODN groups, the expression of survivin mRNA and protein were obviously weak, apoptosis rate apparently increased, cells growth was inhibited. There was no obviously difference in SODN and control groups.Conclusion:ASODN can down-regulate the expression of survivin gene in ACC-M cell line specifically. It plays an important role in inducing tumor apoptosis and suppressing cell proliferation.

Objective To create a MIN6 cell line overexpressing murine Reg3? cDNA and to investigate its cell viability character under low glucose concentrations.Methods The full-length murine Reg3? cDNA was inserted into the plasmid pcDNA3.1(-).Then MIN6 cells were transfected with the Reg3?-pcDNA3.1 and pcDNA3.1 vector alone to establish Reg3?-overexpression and empty vector MIN6 cell line.Reg3? protein in the low glucose concentration cell medium was detected by Western blot.Cell viability was evaluated by an MTT reduction conversion assay.Results Three Reg3?-overexpression MIN6 cells were confirmed by real-time PCR and Western blot.Reg3? expression was barely detectable in the cells transfected with the empty vector alone.In contrast,the levels of Reg3? mRNA and protein in three pcDNA-Reg3?-transfected clones were increased by an average 10-and 6-fold,respectively.Western blot also revealed Reg3? protein release into the culture medium.In MTT cell proliferation assay,compared to vector-transfection alone,three clones of Reg3?-overexpression MIN6 cells exhibited 2-fold increases in cell number over 7 days when cultured in the presence of 10 mL/L fetal bovine serum and 5.5 mmol/L glucose.Conclusion The Reg3?-overexpression MIN6 cells have been established.Reg3? protein was detectable in culture medium,supporting an endocrine action,and Reg3? overexpression promoted islet cell growth.

Objective To investigate the effect of saturated fatty acid palmitate acids(PA) action on viability,proliferation and apoptosis of murine insulinoma MIN6 cells,and the possible intracellular pathways activated by PA.Methods Cell viability was evaluated with MTT reduction conversion assay.The Annexin-Ⅴ/FITC cell death detection kit was used to monitor PA-induced apoptosis.(IAP) family(XIAP and cIAP-2),cyclin D1 and CDK4 were further detected using Western blot.Results ① PA of different concentration significantly inhibited the proliferation of MIN6 cells(P

Objectives To analyze the relationship between phosphorylation of serine-3 of cofilin1 and Taxol resistance of ovarian cancer and to evaluate the prognostic value of cofilin1 phosphorylation in estimating ovarian cancer survival using clinical samples.Methods Wild type (WT) plasmids with over-expression of wild cofilin1,S3L plasmids with over-expression of cofilin1 and inhibited phosphorylation at serine-3,and siRNA-C plasmids with down-regulation of cofilin1 were constructed using molecular biology techniques.After the SKOV3 and SK-TR30 cell-lines were transfected with these plasmids,changes in biological characteristics and drug resistance after instant transfection were compared.Fifty-one elderly female patients with microscopically confirmed ovarian cancer,who had received chemotherapy with Taxol and cis-platinum (TC)after surgery,including 30 chemo-sensitive and 21 chemo-resistant cases,were recruited in this study.Immunohistochemical methods were used to detect the expression of cofilinl and phosphorylated cofilin in tissue sections from the two groups.Progression free survival(PFS)was analyzed.Results Compared with the control group,the proportion of cells increased at the G0/G1 phase(P=0.034)and decreased at the S phase (P=0.031),and the apoptosis rate decreased(P=0.020),in SKOV3 cells with high expression of cofilin1.However,these characteristics disappeared when the wild type was replaced with the inactive mutant S3L.When cofilin1 expression was down-regulated in SK-TR30 cells,the proportion of cells at the G0/G1 phase decreased(P=0.020).The expression of cofilin1 was detected in 56.7 ％ (17/30)and 57.1％ (12/21),respectively,sections of ovarian tumor tissues of the chemo-sensitive and chemoresistant groups,and there was no statistic difference (x2=0.332,P =0.943)between the two groups.The expression of phosphorylated cofilin was much higher in the chemo-resistant group (85.7％ or 18/21)than in the chemo-sensitive group (53.3％ or 16/30),and the difference was statistically significant(x2=5.829,P=0.016).The higher expression of phosphorylated cofilin was also correlated with shorter PFS(x2 =21.440,P＜0.01,95％ CI:0.068-0.883),especially in the chemo-sensitive group.Conclusions Serine-3 phosphorylation status of cofilin 1 is associated with paclitaxel resistance in ovarian cancer,but the underlying mechanisms of regulation need further investigation.

Objective To evaluate the clinical performance of CLINITEK Atlas urine dry chemistry analyzer and its supplementary strips,which could be used for other hospitals as reference.Methods Five hundred and one samples of random fresh urine were collected and analyzed by CLINITEK Atlas urine dry chemistry analyzer.10 parameters were reported for each sample,including SG,pH,BLD,LEU,PRO,GLU,KET,UBG,BIL and NIT.According to the medicals standard of the People's Republic of China,General Technical Requirements for Urine Analyzer(YY/T 0475-2004),General Technical Requirements for Chemical Reagent Strips for Urinalysis(YY/T 0478-2004)and physical,Chemical and Microscopic Examination of Urine(WS/T 229-2002),the precision,accuracy,carryover,stability,sensitivity and consistency of each parameter were evaluated.The agreement was assessed between the results for BLD and LEU obtained from CLINITEK Atlas analyzer and phase contrast microscope,and calculated the sensitivity and specificity of CLINITEK Atlas analyzer for BLD and LEU using phase contrast microscope as the gold standard.SG and pH test was performed among 200 specimens by CLINITEK Atlas analyzer,and then compared with the results obtained from MASTER-SUR-NM specific gravity refractometer and pH precision test strips respectively.In addition to SG and pH,the other eight parameters were compared with the results obtained from CLINITEK 500 urine analyzer,and Kappa value and consistency were calculated.Results The accuracy,precision,sensitivity,carryover and stability of 10 parameters could meet all the requirement of standards.SG and pH had good correlation with urine specific gravity refractometer (r =0.9838,P ＜0.001)and pH meter (r =0.8884,P ＜0.001),respectively.Compared with phase contrast microscope,BLD and LEU had coincidence rates of 90.4％ and 90.8％,respectively; Sensitivities were 90.7％ (301/332) and 83.3％ (200/240) ; Specificities were 89.9％ (152/169) and 97.1％ (255/261).Compared with CLINITEK 500,all the parameters,except for SG and pH,had good coincidence rates of ＞ 87.6％.Conclusion The performance of CLINITEK Atlas urine dry chemistry analyzer can meet the clinical requirements of all standards.