Objective: To study the origin, morphological structure, and functional regulation of osteoclast(OC) for further investigation on the mechanism and regulation of bone resorption. Methods: The OCs were isolated by two kinds of traditional method. Osteoclasts were isoclated from neonatal rat long bones. The cytochemistry was observed. The osteoclast-like cells (OLC) were derived from the mouse bone marrow cells in the presence of 1,25(OH)2VitD3 in vitro. Results: Both morphological and functional studies showed that the isolated cells shared some of the typical characteristics of osteoclasts, that is A. multinuclearity; B. developing spreading and pseudopodial activity when cultured on glass; C. high tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP); D. resorption lacunae could be found when the cells were cocultured with devitalized bone slices and the number was increased as the time followed. OLC had the same histological and structural traits as the OCs by the former method. The concentration of Ca 2+ and acid phosphatase (ACP) increased gradually. Conclusion: Different kinds of method fit different experiments. The OC obtained by the first method has more activity of bone resorption. The OLC by the second method has more in quantity and can be used in the study of cell differentiation.

Objective To evaluate the clinical and histological features of patients with abnormal liver tests of unknown etiology, and then to investigate the diagnosis and differential diagnosis. Methods Patients with abnormal liver function test hospitalized and had liver biopsies during 2008-2009 constituted this retrospective study cohort. After excluding those patients diagnosed with hepatotropic viral hepatitis,space occupying lesions of the liver, alcoholic liver disease and obstruction of bile duct caused by stone or malignancy and AMA/AMA-M2 positive of primary biliary cirrhosis ( PBC ), the clinical and histological characteristics were evaluated. Results Out of the 180 patients who underwent liver biopsy, 88 patients were included in the present analysis. The final diagnosis involved 15 categories of diseases, with druginduced liver injury ( DILI ) [34. 09% ( 30/88 )], autoimmune liver diseases [22.73% ( 20/88 )], and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) [12. 50% ( 11/88 )] being the most common causes, following by genetic and other rare diseases. Conclusion DILI, autoimmune liver disease and NAFLD were the most common causes of abnormal liver tests in these non-viral liver diseases. Some rare diseases such as hereditary metalbolic liver disease also represent a considerable proportion in patients with abnormal liver function test.

OBJECTIVETo investigated the bone resorption caused by osteoclasts and modulating functions of a Chinese herb, Epimedium on bone resorption.

METHODSOsteoclasts were separated from long-limb bones of new born rabbits, cultured with de-activated human tooth slices and glass slices, and treated with different concentrations of Epimedium. Osteoclasts on glass slices were stained by HE staining, TUNEL staining and absorption pits on tooth slices were observed by light microscope.

RESULTSHE staining shows that the Epimedium treated cells showed shrinkage of cytosol and condensation of nuclei. Some treated cells showed breakage of nuclei. TUNEL staining shows that treated cells showed shrinkage of cytosol, dark stained nuclei and light stained cytosol. These results indicate that Epimedium can induce osteoclast to commit apoptosis. Further study shows that the number and area of absorption pits formed on treated tissues are significantly different from those on control tissues. So the effect of Epimedium on bone resorption is dose-dependent.

CONCLUSIONSEpimedium can induce osteoclast apoptosis and inhibit bone resorption. The effect of Epimedium on bone resorption is dose-dependent.

Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; genetics ; Bone Resorption ; prevention & control ; Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Cells, Cultured ; DNA Fragmentation ; drug effects ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Epimedium ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Osteoclasts ; cytology ; drug effects ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Rabbits

BACKGROUND:Animal experiments have demonstrated that transplanted bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs)in the myocardial infarction region can directionally differentiate into myocardial cells with normal physiological function and promote neovascularization. Clinical studies have also showed that the cardiac function can be improved in myocardial infarction and cardiomyopathy patients after stem cell transplantation.OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of autologous BMSCs transplantation on short-term cardiac function of patients with heart failure of ischemic cardiomyopathy.DESIGN: Self-control study.SETTING: Department of Cardiology, Xiangtan Central Hospital.PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, including 13 males and 8 females, aged (64±6)years,who received treatment in the Department of Cardiology,Xiangtan Central Hospital of Hunan Province from March 2004 to January 2006 were retrieved. Inclusive criteria: with previous myocardial infarction at least once, B-mode ultrasonic cardiac examination showed that cardiac chamber was expanded, obvious cardiac inadequacy or stenocardia existed before stent implantation and hospitalized repeatedly, underwent percutaneous coronary artery intervention for restoring blood flow of infarcted vessel to TIMI3 degree over 3 months,but cardiac inadequacy existed to different degrees.Coronary arteriongraphy showed that no stenosis was found in the stent implanted in the coronary artery.Informed consents were obtained from all the patients.METHODS:After admission, all the patients received BMSCs transplantation based on routine drug treatment.Infarction-related arterial passage was established by percutaneous transluminal catheter technique and occluded by balloon.Isolated bone marrow stem cell suspension was injected into infarction-related arterial passage through the central cavity of catheter. ① Left ventricular ejection fractions (LVEF) and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter(LVDd)were measured before and 6 months after transplantation.② 24-hour dynamic electrocardiogram evaluation was conducted before and 6 months after transplantation under the precondition of not taking antiarrhythmic drugs. ③Clinical cardiac functional grading was conducted before and 6 months after transplantation by NYHA grading method: Grade Ⅰto Ⅳ: the higher grade, the severer symptom. ④ Adverse events and side effects were observed after operation.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:① LVEF and LVDd were measured before and 6 months after transplantation. ②24-hour dynamic electrocardiogram evaluation results. ③ Clinical cardiac functional grading evaluation results. ④ Post-operative adverse events and side effects.RESULTS:All the involved 21 patients participated in the result analysis.①The LVEF of patients 6 months after transplantation of BMSCs was more than that before transplantation [(54.4±6.2)％, (44.6±6.4)％,t = -5.946, P＜ 0.01], and LVDd of patients 6 months after transplantation was smaller than that before transplantation [(54.6±4.2), (60.2±4.4) mm,t = 5.306, P ＜ 0.01]. ② No new arrhythmic types appeared, and case of malignant serious cardiac arrhythmias were not increased. ③ Six months after transplantation of BMSCs, there were totally 9 patients with cardiac function of grade Ⅲ and Ⅳ, while there were 18 patients before transplantation. ④ The whole transplantation was safe.No patients were found to undergo re-examination of coronary arteriongraphy, which showed stent necrosis, due to chest pain, and no dead cases were either found.CONCLUSION:It is feasible to treat ischemic cardiomyopathy by percutaneous coronary transplantation of BMSCs,which can boost LVEF and improve cardiac function after transplantation.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of tumor volume on the radiation dose and efficacy of locally advanced cervical cancer patients undergoing radical radiotherapy and chemotherapy.Methods:Clinical data of 126 patients who were diagnosed with cervical cancer (stage ⅡB-ⅣA) and underwent radical concurrent chemoradiotherapy in Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital from November 2019 to November 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The cut-off values of tumor volume before (pre-TV) and after (post-TV) external radiotherapy and tumor volume reduction rate (TVRR) were calculated by Jamovi software. The effects of pre-TV, post-TV and TVRR on short-term efficacy, progression-free survival (PFS), brachytherapy (BT) mode , high-risk clinical target volume (HR-CTV) and organs at risk (OAR) dose were investigated by univariate and multivariate analyses.Results:Pre-TV≥67.03 cm 3 and post-TV≥14.88 cm 3 were poor prognostic factors for 6-month PFS and objective response rate (ORR) (both P<0.05), and post-TV was an independent prognostic factor. In the TVRR≥73.0% and <73.0% groups, no statistical differences were observed in the 6-month PFS and ORR. In the pre-TV≥67.03 cm 3 group, the cases number of intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) and intracavitary / interstitial brachytherapy (IC/IS-BT) was 36 (50.0%), while in the pre-TV<67.03 cm 3 group, the cases number of ICBT and IC/IS-BT was 41 (76%) and 13 (24%), respectively ( P=0.003). In the post-TV≥14.88 cm3 group, the cases number of ICBT and IC/IS-BT was 28 (47%) and 32 (53%), while 49 (72%) and 17 (26%) in the post-TV<14.88 cm3 group, respectively ( P=0.002). The dose of HR-CTV D 90% in the TVRR≥73.0% group was significantly higher than that in the TVRR<73.0% group ( P=0.014), but there was no significant difference in the dose of bladder D 2 cm3, rectal D 2 cm3 and small intestine D 2 cm3 (all P>0.05). The dose of HR-CTV D 90% in the post-TV<14.88 cm 3 group was significantly higher than that in post-TV≥14.88 cm 3 group ( P<0.001), and the dose of bladder D 2 cm3 in the post-TV≥14.88 cm 3 group was higher than that in the post-TV<14.88 cm 3 group ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the dose of rectal D 2 cm3 and small intestinal D 2 cm3 between two groups (both P>0.05). The number of concurrent chemotherapy (≥4 times vs.<4 times) had no statistical difference for 6-month PFS and TVRR. Conclusions:Pre-TV and post-TV are the influencing factors of short-term efficacy and BT mode selection for locally advanced cervical cancer. Post-TV is an independent prognostic factor and also indirectly affects the dose of HR-CTV D 90% and bladder D 2 cm3 Increasing the number of concurrent chemotherapy (≥4 times) does not improve TVRR and short-term efficacy.