Objective: To investigate the characteristics of renal papillary calcareous deposits and their role in the formation of calcium oxalate kidney stone, and to explore the formation mechanism of renal calcareous deposits. Methods: A total of 21 patients with calcium oxalate kidney stones were included in the present study. The components of the calculi were detected by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The calcific plaques were observed and the renal papilla biopsy specimens were obtained during PCNL. The specimens were then subjected to alizarin bordeaux staining and light microscopic examination. The expression of osteopontin, BMP-2, and type II collagen in the kidneys was examined by immunohistochemistry. Seven resected renal specimens from patients with non-urolithiasis served as control. Results: Renal papillary calcific plaques were found in all the 21 patients with renal calculi. Local calcareous deposits were found in the renal interstitium around tubular basement membrane and extended toward the mucous membrane in the renal papillas. Microscopically, once the calcareous deposits pierced into the collection system, tiny stones could be seen growing on the deposits. Immunohistochemistristry showed the renal tissues of renal stone patients and normal renal tissues both expressed osteopontin, but not BMP-2 or type II collagen. Conclusion: Renal papillary calcareous deposits may be one of the initiating nidi for kidney stone formation and they may not be an osteoblastic reaction resembling arteriosteogenesis.

Objective To observe the effects of exercise on serum adiponectin and adiponectin receptor (AdipoR) level in skeletal muscle of insulin-resistant rats. Methods A total of 30 healthy male rats were randomly divided into a control group ( NC, n = 8) and a high-fat group ( HF, n = 22), fed with normal chow and high fat diet, respectively. Eighteen weeks later, the high-fat group was randomly divided into a high-fat diet control group (HC, n = 10) and an exercise group (HE, n = 12). The HC and HE group were continually fed with high fat diet, while the HE group was administered with swimming training for 6 weeks in addition at the same time. After 24 weeks, the insulin sensitivity index was calculated, and serum adiponectin level was detected by using ELISA. The expressions of AdipoR mRNA in skeletal muscle were detected with real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results After 18 weeks, compared to NC group, the insulin sensitivity index of HF group decreased significantly. It suggested that insulin resistance appeared in HF group. Twenty-four weeks later, compared to NC group, the ISI of HC group was significantly decreased, meanwhile the level of serum adiponectin, expression of AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 mRNA in skeletal muscle of HC group were 71.9% , 59.9% and 69.2% of those of the NC group, respectively; compared to HC group, the ISI was increased significantly by exercise, meanwhile the expression of AdipoR1 mRNA in skeletal muscle was significantly increased by 1.33 times, however the level of serum adiponectin and the expression of AdipoR2 mRNA in skeletal muscle were not altered in HE group. Conclusion Six weeks of exercise improves insulin sensitivity through increasing the expression of AdipoRI mRNA in skeletal muscle.

Microtubule is one of the key components of the cytoskeleton and plays an important role in the maintenance of cell shape and the process of signal transduction and mitosis. Due to the extreme importance of microtubule in the process of mitosis, tubulin becomes one of the most important targets for development of new anticancer drugs and tubulin inhibitors are used for the treatment of cancer nowadays. These inhibitors have antitumor activity by inhibiting or promoting the assembly of tubulin to microtubules and interfering the process of cell mitosis. This review summarized the research progress of the tubulin inhibitors, especially the introduction of the tubulin inhibitors of pharmacological activities and the progress of clinical research. Also, the development trend of these inhibitors is discussed.

[Objective] To study the factors relative to the delayed diagnosis of spontaneous dual arteriovenous fistulas (DAVF) and its influence on the prognosis.[Methods] We included 102 continuous patients diagnosed DAVF in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University,and analyzed the correlative factors and impact on outcome of diagnostic delay.Outcome was whether symptoms were non-improvement,improvement or restoration at discharge.[Results] Median delay from onset to diagnosis was 3 months (interquartile range,1 to 6).Compared with patients diagnosed carlier(diagnose time≤3 months),patients diagnosed later (diagnose time ＞ 3 months) had a lower frequency of headache (P =0.012),ptosis (P =0.035) and parenchymal lesions (P =0.001),a higher frequency of conjunctival congestion (P =0.004),tinnitus (P =0.021),visual dysfunction (P ＜ 0.001),isolated visual dysfunction (P =0.007) and delayed imaging scan (P ＜ 0.001),a higher frequency of endovascular treatment,and a lower frequency of improvement or restoration at discharge (P =0.033),in which patients with visual dysfunction had a lower frequency of improvement or restoration than those without visual dysfunction (P =0.023).Compared to those with visual dysfunction and other symptoms,patients with isolated visual dysfunction had a higher frequency of onset with paroxysmal blurring or blinding (P ＜ 0.001),two eyes involved (P ＜ 0.001) and more severe visual loss (P =0.057),a higher frequency of draining into transversesigmoid sinus (P ＜ 0.001) instead of cavernous sinus (P ＜ 0.001),and suffered intracranial hypertension all (median intracranial pressure,405 mmH2O;interquartile range,370 ～ 512 mmH2O).However,no statistically significant differences were found in the frequency of improvement or restoration at discharge between two groups (P =0.739).[Conclusion] Diagnostic delay was considerable in this cohort and was associated with outcome,especially in patients with visual dysfunction.

Objective To study the temporal changes of alveolar epithelial type Ⅱ cells and surfactant pro-tein A in young rats with acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaecharide. Method Totally 110 SD young rats (male:53, female : 57) were randomly divided into ALI and normal control groups (six subgroups in each group).LPS(4 mg/kg) was given intraperitoneally in ALI group. The same amount of normal saline was given in the con-trol groups. Eight rats in each subgroup were sacrificed at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72 hours after the injection.Lung samples were taken for transmission electron microscope examination. RT-PCR was epmloyed for the mea-surement of SP-A mRNA. Western blot was used for the detection of SP-A in the lung tissue. ANOVA and homo-geneity of variance test were performed by SPSS 12.0. Results The microvilli disappeared at 24 hours after the injection of LPS. The number of lamellar body (LBs) was provisionality increased at 24 hours and 48 hours. The ring-like an'angement of LBs around nucleus and the giant LB with vacuole-like deformity were found as the main characteristics of AEC- Ⅱ in ALI at 48 hours. The number of LBs reduced and broken and residual LB remained at 72 hours. SP-A elevated greatly from 24 to 48 hours (P < 0.01), reached peak at 36 hours (6.94 ± 0.80, P <0.01),reached the lowest level(3.87 ±0.50, P <0.01)at 72 hours. Conclusions The pathological changes of AEC-Ⅱ and SP-A in lung tissue wiht ALI are time-dependent. The typical alterations of AEC- Ⅱ occurs at 48 hours accompanied by the compensatory increase of SP-A. AEC- Ⅱ is seriously injuried with the typical changes of LBs and the diminishing of SP-A in lung tissue.

Female ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; administration & dosage ; Lymphomatoid Papulosis ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Mechlorethamine ; administration & dosage ; Middle Aged ; Recombinant Proteins ; administration & dosage ; Solutions

This study is to investigate inhibitory effects of lidamycin (LDM) on the proliferation of HERG K+ channel highly expressing cancer cells and its synergy with anticancer drugs. MTT assay was used to examine the inhibitory effects of lidamycin combined with various anticancer drugs on the proliferation of human lung cancer A549 cells, human colon cancer HT-29 cells and herg-stably-transfected A549 cells. Using the xenograft model of subcutaneously transplanted HT-29 in nude mice, inhibitory effect was appraised in vivo. The coefficient of drug interaction (CDI) was used to evaluate the synergistic effect of drug combination. LDM significantly inhibited the proliferation ofA549 cells and HT-29 cells with IC50 values of 2.14 and 4.64 ng mL(-1), respectively. The efficacy in HT-29 cells with high HERG potassium expression level is less potent than that in A549 cells with low expression level. In terms of IC50 values, LDM suppressed the growth of herg-stably-transfected A549 cells less potently than pCDNA3.1-stably-transfected A549 cells. There existed synergistic effects in the combinations of fluorouracil (5-FU) and LDM, doxorubicin (DOX) and LDM, or hydroxycamptothecine (HCPT) and LDM. CDI values of the combinations of 5-FU and LDM were more than 0.75. CDI values of LDM and DOX were more than 0.70, but some CDI values of LDM and HCPT were less than 0.70. As for the CDI values, synergistic effects of the combination of LDM and HCPT were the most potent of the three groups. There is no relationship between the inhibitory effect of the growth of cancer cells by 5-FU and HERG potassium expression level. HERG expression level negatively correlated with inhibitory effect on the proliferation of cancer cells by DOX. HERG expression levels and chemosensitivity were positively correlated for HCPT. In the model of subcutaneously xenograft transplanted HT-29 in vivo, LDM and/or HCPT effectively inhibited the growth of HT-29 in nude mice, and the optimum CDI of the combination of LDM and HCPT was less than 1. HERG expression level negatively correlates the chemosensitivity of cancer cells to LDM. There exist synergistic effects in vitro and in vivo in the combination of LDM and HCPT, which inhibitory effects of the proliferation of cancer cells positively modulated by HERG potassium expression level. HERG K+ channel may become a target of combined therapy for choosing anticancer drugs.
Aminoglycosides ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; administration & dosage ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; pharmacology ; Camptothecin ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Doxorubicin ; administration & dosage ; Drug Synergism ; ERG1 Potassium Channel ; Enediynes ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels ; metabolism ; Fluorouracil ; administration & dosage ; HT29 Cells ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

In order to evaluate the effect and mechanism of the mulberry leaf alkaloid, flavones, and polysaccharide intervention on diabetes, the overall metabolite profiling characteristics for the plasma of diabetic mouse was performed by using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS). The 8 potential biomarkers were found in diabetic mice plasma based on the data of MS/MS characteristics obtained from the UPLC-OrbitrapMS analysis, which mainly involved in sphingolipids, amino acid metabolic pathway. The principal component analysis showed that the normal group and model group were obviously distinguished and implied that metabolic disturbance was happened in diabetic mice plasma. The extracts of mulberry leaf flavonoids, polysaccharide, alkaloid had exhibited the effects of callback function for diabetic mice through regulating the amino acid metabolism and sphingolipid metabolism.
Alkaloids ; chemistry ; Amino Acids ; metabolism ; Animals ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental ; drug therapy ; Flavones ; chemistry ; Flavonoids ; chemistry ; Metabolic Networks and Pathways ; Metabolomics ; Mice ; Morus ; chemistry ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Sphingolipids ; metabolism ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Needle sticking method, which can be combined with multiple needling techniques, has been attached with great importance in recent years by doctors in clinic. Combining with the clinical experiences, the authors expounded the needle sticking method through its unified concept, differences between needle sticking method, which was an acupuncture technique, and stuck needle which was an accident during acupuncture, selection of needles, manipulations, mechanism of treatment, range of application, attentions and advantages of popularization. It is held that the technique can be widely applied for treatment of acute and chronic diseases of various departments with filiform needles. Easy to be manipulated, understood and mastered, the technique is without side effect and valuable to be popularized.
Acupuncture Therapy ; instrumentation ; methods ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Objective To explore the roles of frequency domain OCT in measuring the retinal thickness around the optic disc and optic disc parameters in early glaucoma diagnosis.Methods The optic disc parameters and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in the 40 healthy volunteers (control group) and 85 cases of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG),including 36 patients as the early glaucoma subgroup and 49 patients as the glaucoma evolutum subgroup,were measured by frequency domain OCT.Then,the correlation analysis of RNFL thickness,optic disc parameters and the mean deviation (MD) of visual field in each group was performed,and the area under the curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of RNFL thickness around the optic disc and optic disc parameters in the diagnosis of glaucoma.Results The RNFL thickness and the complete cycle mean RNFL thickness in the temporal,upper,nasal and inferior quadrant in the glaucoma patients were significantly lower than those in the controls (all P ＜ 0.05),and the above indexes in the glaucoma evolutum subgroup were significantly decreased compared with those in the early glaucoma subgroup (all P ＜ 0.05).There were statistically significant differences in the optic disc parameters between the groups except the optic disc area (all P ＜ 0.05).Pearson correlation analysis showed the RNFL thickness and the complete cycle mean RNFL thickness in the temporal,upper and inferior quadrant were negatively correlated with the MD in the glaucoma patients (all P ＜ 0.05),and the parameter of optic cup volume and cup/disc area ratio were positively correlated with the MD (both P ＜ 0.05),and the rim area,rim volume and disc volume were negatively correlated with MD (all P ＜ 0.05).The ROC curve analysis showed that the largest area under the curve of RNFL thickness in the inferior quadrant of the optic disc region was 0.886,and the specificity and sensitivity was 0.775 and 0.924,respectively.Moreover,the area under the curve of the optic cup/optic disc area was the largest,with sensitivity and specificity of 0.741 and 0.815,respectively.Conelusion OCT for measuring optic disc structure and RNFL thickness can be used for early diagnosis of glaucoma,and it has a high sensitivity and specificity.